Waffles

Daisy looked into her sweet new pet's brown eyes, and wondered why it wasn't working. Waffles was more than adorable, and he was pretty well behaved too.

Her daughter didn't seem too fond of him, but Waffles took it in stride – still looking at Joanna and wagging his tail, waiting for her to come around.

If Daisy really asked herself, she knew it was because she adopted him on a whim. Sure he was cute, well behaved and a sweet watch dog. But her job kept her gone long hours, and she barely had as much time for Joanna as she wanted, let alone extra time to spend with Waffles. She hadn't been in the market for a pet, and she didn't grow up with one, so she wasn't sure exactly why she insisted he was hers only when her boss had shown an interest.

She knew what she had to do.

"This is Henry." Henry answered his phone

"Dr. McCord, it's Daisy Grant." She began

"Daisy, what can I do for you?" Henry asked

"I kind of have a favor to ask you." She stammered.

"A favor?" Henry asked, intrigued

"Kind of, I mean you can say no if you don't think it will work. But do you remember a few weeks ago when we shot that PSA about bomb sniffing dogs?

"Of course. That came out really great by the way."

"Thanks….so while we were there they had a couple of the dogs who didn't pass the trainings up for adoption. I overheard you saying something about getting a dog that day, and I wondered if you were serious."

"I don't know. We've had dogs in the past and I've been thinking it might be nice to have one again. Why?"

"Well there was this one, very cute dog named Waffles that the secretary was fawning over but I kind of adopted it instead. I'm not really sure why…..and I've never had a dog before and Joanna is not a fan, so I was just trying to see if maybe you'd be interested in him?"

"Well…." Henry began, thinking it over. "I won't make any promises Daisy, but I can certainly think it over and talk about it with the family. Could I maybe come meet him first?"

"Of course. Maybe tonight after work?"

"That would work. But Daisy, can I ask you a question?"

"Sure."

"Why are you asking me, and not just asking Elizabeth?"

"I don't know…" she answered, truthfully unable to come up with an answer.

Henry laughed. "It's okay. I'll just see you tonight. "

Henry knocked at the door to Daisy's apartment and heard Waffles barking as they all came to the door.

When Daisy opened the door, Waffles stood beside her and wagged his tail, looking up at Henry. "Dr. McCord, thanks for coming." She said, sounding exhausted. He nodded and followed them into the house, Waffles leading the way.

They sat on the couch and Daisy offered him a drink, and left to make it while Henry got acquainted with the dog. "You must be Waffles." He said, looking at the dog, immediately taken with his kind eyes. Waffles responded and ran to the corner to retrieve a tennis ball for Henry. He took the ball from the dog's mouth. "You want to play buddy?", and threw the ball which Waffles ran after quickly. Henry could easily see he was a well trained, friendly pet.

Daisy had returned with coffee, and Henry thanked her.

"He likes you." Daisy said, as she watched Henry and Waffles engage in a few more catches. Henry then started to pet him as they talked.

"So Elizabeth really took to him you said?"

"Yea, she was really into him at the shoot. He's a really good dog, just not for me, and the more I thought about it the more I realized that he deserves a family that can give him all the attention he needs."

"I understand. I could see him fitting in at the McCord house. He's really sweet. I'll chat with the family and get back to you."

"Thank you Dr. McCord. I really appreciate it."

On the way home, Henry had one thought. Surprise. Even in the half hour he spent at Daisy's, he knew Waffles would be the perfect addition to the McCord household. They hadn't had a pet in several years, but he was teaching again and would be home more. Plus Elizabeth could bring him to the office if she wanted. With the kids in and out of the house and Ali home 2 days a week for her online classes, he knew among the five of them Waffles would have plenty of attention. Plus, if what Daisy said was true about Elizabeth's feelings toward the dog, he knew he had to get him for her, for anything that made her smile was worth having. He quickly made a u-turn toward the pet store to gather some supplies to welcome Waffles into their home.

"Kids!" Henry shouted when he got home, Waffles in tow.

"Where's the fire dad?" Stevie said, leading the charge down the stairs followed by her siblings.

"I have a surprise." He said, holding Waffles in his arms.

His daughters immediately began cooing and moved to pet him as his father set him on the living room floor and flooded him with questions. "What's his name? Can we keep him? Can he sleep in my room?" Even Jason joined in and Waffles enjoyed every second, wagging his tail as he ran in circles around the kids and licked their faces.

Henry smiled at the interaction. "Yes, kids we're keeping him. His name is Waffles."

"Ohhhh Waffles, what a cute name for a cute boy." Ali cooed, kissing her new pet.

"But Waffles is a surprise for mom." Henry insisted, a bit loudly to make his point to the kids. "Waffles was training to be a bomb sniffing dog, but he was more of a lover than a fighter. He went up for adoption and mom met him while she was filming the PSA last month. Daisy tried to adopt him, but it didn't work out, so he's ours now."

"That's so cool." Stevie said. "So he's like trained and everything."

"Pretty much. I've got a bunch of things for him in the car, so help me set up before mom gets home, okay?"

"Okay, I've got some ribbon in my room Stevie…let's make him a big bow for when mom gets home. Come on." Ali insisted. She and Stevie began patting their leg to make Waffles follow her upstairs and he followed.

"Alright Jase, looks like you get to help me get stuff from the car."

When Elizabeth got home she was spent. It had been an exhausting day and she wanted nothing more than to eat dinner, have a glass of wine and relax on the couch with her family as they told her about their day.

As she opened the door however, instead of a chorus of hello's from her family as they prepped dinner in the kitchen, she heard small feet running toward her at a fast pace. She took a few steps in the entryway, perplexed at the noise and immediately gasped when she saw Waffles running toward her, wagging is tail with a beautiful red bow around his neck.

She immediately dropped her bag and bent down. "Hi there buddy….what are you doing here?" she asked him as Henry and the kids were quick behind him.

"Waffles, you weren't supposed to run over there!" Ali scolded. "You were supposed to be a surprise!"

Henry watched with a smile as he saw how Elizabeth had immediately taken to him, much like he heard she did at the video shoot. After a minute she looked up at him for an explanation. "A surprise? Are we dog sitting for the weekend or something?" she asked, knowing full well that Waffles belonged to Daisy.

"Not exactly." Henry said as Elizabeth stood up. "It's like Ali said, Waffles is a surprise…"

"A surprise?" she repeated.

"Yea, Dad adopted him for us….or rather for you and us." Stevie chimed in as Waffles sat down patiently by Elizabeth, as if he was waiting for her approval.

"Adopted him for us?" she processed aloud, wanting to hear the words from her family before she got too attached to the dog.

"Yep. Long story short is…Daisy called, it wasn't working out, she knew how much you liked him so she asked me if we would be willing to take him. And I said yes."

"Really?" she asked, her eyes softening. "He can stay?"

"Forever." Henry confirmed

With that word she broke out into a large smile and bent down to hug Waffles. "Looks like we get to keep you this time buddy!" she told her new friend.

He barked his approval a couple times and licked Elizabeth's face as she rubbed his ears.

"Looks like he's happy about staying." Jason said dryly.

"I'm happy too!" Elizabeth told them, standing to then hug her family in appreciation for her surprise.

Later that night as Henry and Elizabeth got into bed, Waffles laying at their feet, she snuggled up to her husband. "Thank you for getting Waffles for us."

"You're welcome." He said, planting a kiss to her forehead. "When Daisy told me how much you liked him, I knew I had to say yes."

"It was your idea to get a dog in the first place." She countered.

"Well…I had to start getting the idea in your head first."

"Why?" she glared at him.

"Because you'll need him when you run for President. Almost all the President's have had a dog in the White House." He shrugged as if it was not big deal.

Elizabeth rolled her eyes. "I'm not running for President."

"Okay." He agreed for now, but deep down he knew she would – for the idea had now been planted by multiple people. "Then he'll be extra company for you when our nest is empty." He provided an alternate explanation.

She frowned at the thought of their empty nest, but for now it was very full – with him, her kids and their new dog.

AN: Okay. I know i haven't written in a while and I owe you guys some Love Letters, but this one just came out immediately after the episode and I've spent some time tweaking it. What can I say, I don't think Daisy should have Waffles. What can I say, he's always belonged to Elizabeth in my mind. Hope ya'll liked it!