A/N: Written for the Random Generator Challenge on the RANDOM Forum, #50 from Flame's list: Numbered Days. Also for the 5,10,20,50,70,100 fandoms challenge, fandom 79. Everything for a Dog by Ann. .
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I'm Not Ready for Another Dog
Charlie knows his son wants a dog. He knows his son is responsible enough to raise one, and he'll love it as much, or maybe more, than any dog-owner owes to their pet.
It's not Henry who's not ready for a dog. It's Charlie himself. It's been years after Sunny's death, but he's not ready for another pet. He's not ready to have his heart ripped out again. And it will be ripped out again, because he knows the hunters still roam the streets. He saw a dog shot just the other day.
Everyone was surprised he married at all; no-one was surprised he put it off for so long. Because Sunny wasn't the first death he saw; it was RJ. Dear RJ who'd always been daring but perfect, who'd been the centre of their world: Charlie's, and Sunny's too.
But his wife isn't his brother. His son isn't his brother. His son's dog, should he ever have one, will be a different story. Because Sunny hadn't been his dog either; not at first. She'd been RJ's dog. But, in a more general sense, she'd been the family's dog, therefore his dog as well.
And he isn't ready for that, no matter how much Henry wants a dog. He knows though, that one day he'll have no choice but to be ready…and that day comes sooner than he thinks, when Henry barrels home one day crying about a lost dog named Buddy.