Laura had classes all day followed by a shopping trip with LaF, trying to find a birthday present for Perry. So Carmilla decided to take advantage of the unusual peace and quiet by rereading her favourite book. She was just reaching the last few chapters when the door flung open and Laura came rushing in carrying several shopping bags.

"Hey, Carm, did you know we're allowed pets in our dorms? A girl in my journalism class has a guinea pig in her room!"

"Yes, I was just hoping you wouldn't find out"

"Oh come on! I've always wanted a puppy!"

"Cupcake, you do realise I'm a giant cat? Dogs don't tend to like me much, and I don't get on well with them either"

"Will you at least come to the animal shelter and have a look? LaF said they'd talk to Perry and the four of us can go together"

"Yeah, you aren't making this sound appealing to me"

"Oh please, I will make it worth your while"

"… Laura what's in that bag?"

"Just yano… clothes and stuff, I got some new jeans but of course they need altering, the legs are too long but Perry can fix that for me"

"I meant the one from the pet store"

"Well… Laf and I got talking about pets after we found out we were allowed them, and we just sort of wondered into the pet store and well…"

"Laura…"

"It's a dog bowl… I couldn't help myself! There was so much stuff I wanted to get but I limited myself to this"

"Fine. We'll go look at the dogs, but just be aware that none of them will like me, it's like they have a sixth sense or something"

"Yay! Thank you" exclaims Laura before almost knocking Carmilla over with one of her hugs.

"Come on, I told Laura we'd meet her at the bus stop 10 minutes ago, we'll have to get the next bus now"

"I'm just finalising my pros and cons list. Getting a pet is a huge responsibility, sweetie, and I just want to make sure we get the pet that's right for us"

"Can you finish it on the bus? We're super late now" they say checking their watch "we can just catch the next one if we leave now"

"Okay, okay, I'm ready let's go" she says grabbing her list and rushing to the door where Laf was stood.

"Where are the ginger twins? I got out of bed hours earlier than usual and they aren't here"

"Relax, sleeping beauty, they should be here soon… ah look here they come now"

"Sorry we're late! I was carefully planning which pet would be best for us all, here I made you two a list as well …" Perry says handing Laura and Carmilla their own pros and cons list.

"Just because I can transform into a Cat it doesn't mean I'm going to 'catch and kill' a pet mouse"

"Well… I wasn't sure and I thought it's better to be safe than sorry"

"You can see why we're late" Laf turns to Laura "Perr gave me a run through of her lists on the way here also"

"Well you're here now! And I think I've convinced Carm to let me get a dog!"

"That's further than I got! Perry said I wasn't allowed a bearded dragon" they laugh "she wants a rabbit"

"Rabbits are so cute! I love it when their noses do the little twitchy thing when they sniff-"

"Oh look the bus is here, let's go before I kill this one" Carmilla says interrupting Laura

**
The shelter wasn't as grim as Carmilla had imagined, she was expecting a prison like setting for animals. But this place was actually quite nice. Laf had dragged Perry off to look at the small collection of lizards they had here and Laura was talking to one of the volunteers about what sort of dogs they had here at the moment.

"Do you have any that are good with cats?" she heard her asking the woman

"Oh, would the dog be living in the same house as a cat? I think we have a few that should be okay with that"

"We don't have a cat it's just that the neighbours have one so it likes to hang around a lot"

"Ah, I see. Well I can take you to look at our dogs now if you like"

"Yeah that's be great! Carmilla come with me, we need to make sure it likes you too" she says grabbing hold of Carmilla's hand and following the woman into the kennels.

There was a lot of barking in the kennels which did make Carmilla feel slightly uneasy, but they eventually settled down.

"Okay this is Daisy, she's a 3 year old French bulldog, she's great with kids but I'm not sure how she is with cats." Upon seeing Laura, Daisy began to wag her tail but the second she saw Carmilla she started to growl slightly. "Oh! Daisy, no! I'm sorry she's usually great… I don't know what's gotten into her"

"That's okay, I guess she isn't for us, what else do you have?" Laura asks looking at Carmilla

"I told you they don't like me"

"Most humans don't like you" Laura laughs giving Carmilla a nudge. "There's loads of dogs here looking for homes, I'm sure one of them will like you"

Dog after dog and none of them seem to take a liking for Carmilla. One of them was growling so much that when Rachel, the volunteer, was busy talking to Laura, Carmilla let out a quiet growl back at it to get it to shut up. Laura wasn't too happy when she recognised the growl coming from her girlfriend, but it made the dog stop growling so Carmilla didn't care.

"Okay… occasionally we get a litter of puppies; these puppies are 8 weeks old so are ready to leave their mother" Rachel tells the two.

When Carmilla looks into the kennel she can see the mother first laying in her basket, and running round her were 5 tiny puppies.

"Oh my stars! Carmilla look how cute they are!" Laura almost squeals at the sight of the puppies.

"We think these are Cavachons, the mother was pregnant when she came to us, and judging by their fur we think the dad is a Bichon Frise. The mother seems calm so you can go in and play with them if you like, see if one of these is right for you"

Laura couldn't get in there quicker, but Carmilla slowly crept in, letting the mother decide whether she liked her or not. And she seemed okay so she soon joined Laura on the floor to see the puppies. While Laura was playing rope with 2 of them, one decided to try and climb onto Carmilla's lap.

It seemed this one was the smallest of the lot.

"She seems to have taken a liking to you, I guess if you're going to get one, she's the one for you" Rachel laughs. "I need to go check back at reception, I'll let you two talk it over and I'll be back in a bit"

When Rachel leaves Laura turns round to see Carmilla petting the tiny puppy which was now asleep on her lap.

"Of course the only one to like me is the one that's basically the dog version of you" she smiles

"So can we keep her?" Laura beams

"I suppose, but don't expect me to be the one to take her on walks, that's your job"

"We can both take her on walks"

"Fine"

Rachel came back about 15 minutes later, asking the two what they had decided. Rachel told Laura to bring one of the small blankets from the kennel and Carmilla to bring the puppy to the front where they had several forms to fill in before they were allowed to take her home.

"Okay all sorted. Forms filled in, you've paid … you have everything you need for now, collar, lead, bed, food… oh and the blanket, it has her mother's scent on it so she'll have that for comfort for a while"

"Great… urm, have you seen our friends? We came in with them, I think they were going to look at getting a rabbit"

"Yes, they filled everything in, I think they're still in the store buying food"

"Thank you! We should go find them. Carm are you okay carrying her?"

"Yeah… I never thought a dog would like me but she seems perfectly happy right now" she smiles looking down at the sleeping dog in her arms.

"Oh look! There they are!" Perry says to Laf who's stood holding a large box with their rabbit in. "I called a taxi so we didn't have to get the bus back with all these bags and stuff… you got a puppy!"

"Wow, I never thought I'd see Carmilla with a dog" Laf says when they see her.

"Yeah well… this one seemed to like me" she says. Laura and Perry had gone into their own conversation now about name suggestions for their new pets.

"You do have a soft side after all" they say quietly to Carmilla

"Laura was happy"

"Yeah… Perry looked really happy when she saw the rabbits so…"

"The things we do for them, what are we like?"

"Whipped, I believe the word is, whipped."


First attempt at writing Carmilla fic! Do let me know how I did, also if you have any prompts (struggling to come up with ideas) I will look and try to write them whenever I have free time! Thanks ! x