"We should get a dog." Spencer Cavanaugh Hastings 27 years old announced to her husband, Toby Cavanaugh.
Toby shook his head in disbelief, "What?!"
"I want a puppy."
"Why, Spence? Why do you need a dog?" He asked, genuinely curious. He knew Spencer was not the type to abruptly ask for something, so... lifechanging.
"Well, we have been married for some months now, and we both have been talking about starting our family. I think a dog would be a good starting off point."
Toby pondered her reasoning for a minute.
"Okay. If you want a dog, lets get a dog." He knew putting up a fight on this would get him nowhere, except sleeping on the couch tonight.
Spencer let a grin escape through her lips and planted a kiss on Toby's cheek.
A few days later Spencer and Toby Found Themselves at the local animal shelter. The overwhelming smell of dog food, and wet fur was quite offensive as they both entered the kennel part of the shelter.
"These," The worker started and she led them through one of the hallways "are our older dogs, most of them do not have much time left"
Spencer peered into one of the cages, which was currently occupied by a 9 year old Bull dog. The glassy eyes that peered back at her made her wonder what these animals had endured before they were rescued and taken to this shelter.
The rattling of the hallways was very overwhelming, barking still rang in her ears as they entered the nursery where most of the puppies remained.
The nursery was a large room, filled with little whining pups. Crates were stacked against the walls, and play crates stood in the middle.
"And these, are our young ones." The worker said as she picked up one of the puppies and presented it to them.
"This, is little Ted, he is 6 week old rottweiler, rescued from an abusive breeder." Ted let out a yawn, clearly exhausted from playing with his brothers and sisters. He curled up in the workers lap.
"Here, why don't you hold him." She said, and handed him to Spencer. Both Spencer and Toby cooed at the little pup, who could barely keep his little eyes open.
"He is so cute." Spencer said, and glanced at Toby. "I think He's the one." She said.
"You haven't even seen the other dogs yet," Toby started, "How do you know he is the one?"
"I just, know." She said, and gave Ted a cuddle.
Ted would arrive at the Cavanaugh household a mere 4 weeks later. Both of the soon-to-be pet parents had thrown themselves into the "puppy proofing" of the house.
"I have to get to work Spencer, I will pick up the crate though on the way home." Toby announced as he picked up the plans for a clients home. Toby was a up and coming rosewood architect, and almost everyone and anyone wanted a home remodeled or built by him. Spencer was following in her mothers footsteps and was a respectable lawyer, working for one of rosewoods biggest law firms.
Toby left the house, and drove off into the distance to god knows where. Although close with each other, the couple rarely talked about work.
Spencer sat down with her iPad and opened one of the ebooks she had downloaded. The book covered how to raise a well behaved dog right from puppyhood, but Jesus, was it boring. The book was just facts. Facts listed one after another, no context to keep it interesting. Spencer rubbed at her eyes, and then glanced at her new watch that Toby had gifted her for Christmas. It was 7 in the morning. The February morning began to peek through the snow covered windows.
Spencer got up from her chair and headed into the bedroom. She practically tore off her jammies, and hopped into the steaming shower. The warm water was inviting, compared to the below freezing temperatures outside. After working up the courage to leave the warm water cascading over her, She dried off, threw her hair in a bun, and put on some makeup. The dress she chose was mainly black, and had little blue and white dots running up and down the side of it. The dress was simple yet classy. She put on the set of pearls her mother gave her as a wedding gift. Her Christian Louboutin's where sitting by her briefcase, she grabbed both and her coat which was hung on the coat rack.
In her car, she turned on the radio, the song that was playing was the song in the background when Toby had proposed to her. Her mind span back in time to about a year ago, when Toby had surprised her with a trip to Tahiti.
"Toby! Where are you taking me!" Spencer squealed as Toby led her onto a picture perfect sandy white beach.
"I thought we could go swimming, and have dinner on the beach." He stated smoothly, almost as if he had rehearsed his every move.
Toby stripped off his polo shirt, and threw it into the sand. He held out his hand as an invitation, and watched excitedly as Spencer took it, and stripped of her maxi dress, so she was just in her underwear. Toby led her into the water, and they watched as the sun set into the now darkening clear water. Toby grabbed her by her jaw and turned her to face him. He pushed his lips onto hers and she straddled him and threw her hands onto either sides of his face and deepened the kiss.
Toby tipped his head back, and let out a large exhale. The stars now shown brightly over them. Spencer began heading back to the beach, and she noticed that on the side, someone had set up a candle lit dinner, her cheeks turned slightly red when she realized that someone had set this up while they had been making out in the water.
Toby pulled on his Shirt and handed Spencer her dress. She slid it on quickly, embarrassed that someone may have seen them. Spencer let her feet slide into the still warm sand, she relished this feeling, nowhere in Rosewood could you feel like this. The warm tropical breeze swept through her wet hair, and droplets of water dripped onto her dress.
Toby graciously pulled out her chair at the table. He took his own seat and began cutting into his fish that had been glazed with a chili sauce of some sort. The palm trees that stood tall next to them, let coconuts drop down and tumble down the sand. After finishing both of their meals, Toby pulled out a towel and invited Spencer to come lay down on it. She sat down.
"Ow! There is something underneath here." Spencer said as a little lump in the towel poked into her leg. She got up and dug underneath the towel, and retrieved a small black box.
"Whats this?" She asked and handed the velvet box to Toby. He got up and knelt down on his knee. Spencer gasped. He opened the box to reveal a ring.
"Spencer Jill Hastings. I love you, more than words can say, more than this ring can say, and i want to spend the rest of my life with you. I want to watch you carry my beautiful babies, and i want to love you till death do us part. Will you-"
"Yes! Yes Yes Yes! A thousand times Yes!" Spencer said cutting him off. Tears sprung from her eyes and she quickly wiped them away and kissed Toby, who then slid the ring on her.
"I love you so much." She breathed.
When Spencer got back from work, she found Toby setting up the crate for the dog. She slipped off her coat, and put her shoes to the side.
"These instructions are bullshit." Toby said through gritted teeth. He wiped the sweat off of his forehead, and fumbled around with the instructions some more. He groaned out frustration.
"Let me see those." Spencer said and reached out for the instructions.
"Thats the wrong side, Use that one, thats why it didn't work." She said after a minute of reading them through.
Toby laughed. "I can always count on you to tell me when i read the instructions wrong." He gave her a kiss.
She headed into the kitchen and threw her briefcase onto the counter, and poured herself a glass of red wine. Toby joined her in the kitchen and started making dinner for the two of them.
Spencer pulled out her laptop and began to work on her latest case. After a short time, she looked up from her screen and saw a plate of pasta being thrust towards her.
"Thanks." She nodded and grabbed the fork that was placed next to her laptop. Toby came and sat next to her and they both began eating. It was delicious. Neither of the two ate lunch at work, both were too busy. Dinner was always a welcome sight.
Spencer finished her meal in what seemed to be a few seconds, Toby finished soon after.
"Dessert?" She asked, still not fully satisfied.
"How about... Me? In Bed?" A saucy grin spread across his face. Spencer gawked at him,
"That's one way to put it." She murmured and threw her arms around his neck and pulled him closer to her, then led him threw the hallway and int their bedroom. Toby threw her down onto the bed, and took off his shirt. Spencer grinned. He leaned back down and gave her another kiss. She could feel his breath radiate onto her as he began to kiss on her neck, and he worked his way down from there, way down.
The next morning, Spencer was awakened by the sound of her reminder to take her birth control pill, but this time she pondered. She held the tiny pill in her hand. What did she want to do? They were getting a dog to essentially practice with, but what if they couldn't? What if they couldn't take care of the dog and she was already pregnant?
"Toby, wake up." She shook Toby's head. Toby let out a groan,
"What Babe?" He asked, eyes still closed, but at least he was facing her.
"Should I take my birth control pill?" She asked.
Toby's eyes widened. This, this was the talk. This was when they were going to decide if they were ready for a child.
"I think I could say whatever, and you would do what you wanted to do. You do what you want, and I will support you, whatever your decision may be."
"I think I want a baby." She whispered, and put the pill, along with the others in the trash.
4 weeks later, Spencer and toby headed to the shelter, to pick up Ted.
"Oh my god! He is so big now!" Spencer couldn't help but gasp at the sight of their puppy.
"Quite the ladies man isn't he." Toby murmured as he watched Ted be hounded by the other female puppies of the litter.
Spencer picked up Ted and put the blue collar and leash on that they had bought him.
"Thanks again!" Spencer said to the worker as they left the shelter. Ted began to bark at both of his new owners when he saw the car.
"Oh, Its alright! We are just taking you home." Spencer cooed as the couple plus one began to strap the dog seatbelt onto Ted.
"I can't believe we have a dog." Spencer breathed as she had sat down in the car. Ted sat quietly in the back, clearly frightened by this new situation.
Toby nodded, eager but nervous, a dog and soon a baby? He and Spencer had been trying since she announced that she wanted a baby. No luck so far, but neither of them had given up hope, after all it had only been 4 weeks.
When they arrived at home Ted hesitantly climbed out of the car and sniffed his surroundings.
"He is peeing on everything!" Spencer laughed. Toby joined her by her side and wrappe his arm around her hip.
"I have to say, you picked a good one." Toby grinned, and was relieved that Ted had not chosen to do this in the backseat of his new Mercedes.
To both the new owners surprise, Ted adapted easily, and had taken a liking to Spencer, following her around wherever she went, still the pup got tired but continued following her until she placed him in his crate to get some rest.
Toby poured Spencer a glass of white wine and one for himself. He had lit the fireplace and had placed Ted's crate next to them as they sat and enjoyed the fire.
Toby raised his glass,
"To new members of the Cavanaugh family, and soon to be members."
"To new adventures" Spencer added, and took a sip of her wine.
Spencer walked in the slushy mixture of snow and water on the March day, Ted by her side.
Ted was a quick learner, and obeyed both Spencer and Toby. Ted was the mirror image of the perfect dog. 3 weeks had passed since Ted arrived in his new home, a new day was a new adventure.
Todays adventure was walking around the thawing lake, and looking at the ducks. Ted watched in awe as if aliens had landed on earth. Spencer couldn't help but giggle at this dogs focus toward these ducks.
Spencer's adventure today, was to the drugstore. After the walk with Ted, Spencer dropped him off at home, and went to cvs. Perhaps this time they would "strike gold".
Spencer picked up 2 pregnancy tests, and payed for them at the register. Just while she was walking out, she saw Emily and Allison.
"Oh my God! Is that You Spence!" Emily gushed. "It has been too long. When was the last time we saw each other!"
"Hey Em, I think the last time was at my wedding, about a year ago." Spencer tried to be friendly, but all she wanted to do right now, was to see if she was expecting or not.
"Wow, a year. Whatcha been up to?" Allison asked.
"Well, uh we got a dog, and.." Spencer trailed off, did she really want to say they were trying for a baby? What if there was something wrong with her and she couldn't have kids?
Emily peeked inside her bag,
"A pregnancy test? OHMYGOD are you pregnant?" Emily squealed. Spencer mentally groaned. Shit,
"I don't know, Toby and I have been trying for a while now. You know what? I am in a bit of a rush, would you mind of if we caught up some other time?" She asked, already starting to walk in the direction of her car.
"Yeah! Sure no problem." Alison said.
As soon as she got home, Spencer raced up to the bathroom and tried one of the tests.
The three minutes it took to wait, felt like an eternity. Spencer glanced at one of the sticks.
Two red little lines where across it.
Hope you guys enjoyed this first chapter! More to come in the future.