A/N: I decided to put all of the Zillah fics in one place, as I'm attempting to complete something that was floating around on Livejournal several years ago. Basically, there was a table of 100 prompts, and you had to write a fic for each one.
So the Zillah Chronicles will contain 100 chapters in the Zillah-verse, most being one-shots that are loosely connected but with some being direct follow-ons. Each chapter will contain the prompt, and where it fits in the time-line.
Arc One: Zillah, My Shadow
Chapter One: Distractions
Prompt: 001 Beginnings
Summary: After a home invasion goes awry for the bad guys, Alan reflects on the position of Charlie's pet dog in the family.
Timing: After season one ends, but while Terry is still on the team, with flashbacks to earlier.
-ZMS-
There was still blood in her teeth, and her eyes begged him to release her.
Alan Eppes swallowed hard and looked away. The past forty-eight hours had been pure hell for the whole family. Charlie was still in the ICU, in critical condition. Don was trying to help his team figure out what had happened. And Alan was trying to keep the authorities from destroying Zillah.
He wished that Don was there. He could testify that none of the blood on the large dog was Charlie's. Well, not from her attacking him, at least. After her master had been shot, Zillah had been spattered with his blood. However, she had also ripped the shooter's throat out with her powerful jaws.
Alan shuddered again. Those jaws… when he and Don had been tied in the garage, Don had spent several minutes working his hands free. He had made some comment about wishing he had his gun. A few seconds later, there was a scream of pain from outside, and the sounds of a struggle. Shortly after, Zillah had trotted through the dog-door and dropped something at Don's feet.
It was a pistol… still clutched in a hand that was no longer attached to a body.
Alan had been sick, then. Zillah had whimpered in confusion and tried to lick his face, though Alan wouldn't let her. Even Don had looked a little green around the gills, but had picked up the weapon anyway. At least he was now armed, and could go save his little brother.
Now Zillah was in a holding cage, obviously uncomfortable and distressed. It was too small for her, and Alan remembered the first time he'd met his son's beloved pet. It was a welcome distraction from his current hell.
-ZMS-
"Charlie!"
"Hi Dad!" Charlie threw himself into his father's arms. It had been far too long since he'd been home.
"How was the flight? Crowded? Did you get any sleep?" Alan fussed over his youngest, causing Charlie to laugh. He was twenty one, just home from his stint at Oxford in England.
"It was good, but we gotta hurry. Zillah's sedatives will be wearing off soon."
"Zillah?" Alan froze. "Who is Zillah?" Charlie paused as well.
"Didn't I tell you?" At his father's shake of the head, Charlie winced. "Oh… man, I'm such a pillock." Alan smirked – Charlie had picked up a few Briticisms during his stay. "I, uh, I adopted a dog a while back, and couldn't stand to leave her in England. So I brought her back with me. Is… is that okay?"
"Ah, a dog," Alan sighed in relief. "For a minute there I was afraid it was a kid."
"No fear of that," Charlie laughed. "She's a pretty big dog, but so beautiful. And smart, and loyal… wait until you see her!" He enthused as they made their way to the animal collection area. Alan smiled, glad to see his son happy about something that didn't involve numbers.
Once there, they were taken to a particularly large holding cage, and Alan swallowed nervously. They heard a whimper come from inside, and Charlie quickly moved to the mesh door.
"Hey girl," he whispered soothingly. "It's okay. I'm here."
"Good thing too," an attendant quipped. "I doubt that door would do much good if she started to panic."
"Probably not," Charlie shook his head. "But she wouldn't hurt anyone, would you girl?" Another whimper answered him. "Can I let her out? I got her lead right here," Charlie held up a solid-looking lead, and the attendant nodded.
"Normally you'd have to take her out in the cage, but it's bigger than what we usually deal with, and all the carts are being used at the moment… just make sure you keep her under control, okay?"
"Will do," Charlie nodded as he signed the release forms. The attendant unlocked the cage door and stepped to the side.
Alan swallowed hard as the… creature emerged and stretched.
"Charlie," he said slowly, "I thought you said she was a dog. Not half bear, half pony."
Charlie laughed as Zillah shook herself, then sat down. She was enormous. Sitting up at Charlie's side, her head was level with Charlie's hip, and Alan was sure that if she stood on her hind legs, she'd be about as tall as her master. Then he looked closer at the dog's coat and colouring.
"Is she a wolf?" Alan asked in surprise, but Charlie shook his head.
"I let the biology students run a DNA test on her. She's at least half European wolf, but they're sure that there's some German Shepherd, as well as a few other large breeds. She needs a fair bit of exercise, but for the most part she's happy to just lie at my feet while I work."
Alan nodded slowly as Zillah yawned. Every story about wolves he'd ever heard came right back to him as he stared at the powerful jaws and large teeth. It was little comfort that she seemed so attached to his son.
"Well," Charlie stroked Zillah's head and clipped the lead to her collar. "Let's get going. I'll need to take her for a nice long run once we get home."
-ZMS-
The ride home was uneventful. Charlie sat next to his father, chattering away. Zillah lay stretched out on the back seat, still whimpering every now and then. Alan glanced in the rear view mirror, concerned.
"Does… she need something?" He was at a loss as to how he could get the dog to stop emitting those heartbreaking sounds. Charlie just shook his head again.
"She's still coming out of the sedatives, they probably made her feel pretty sick."
"Ah," Alan nodded. He could sympathise with that.
"Will Mum mind?" Charlie asked, suddenly nervous. He couldn't believe that he hadn't warned his parents that he was bringing a dog back with him.
"I doubt it," Alan hastened to reassure his son. "Just as long as she doesn't dig up any of your mother's plants. Or destroy any of the furniture."
"She won't," Charlie grinned. "I have a box filled with ropes tied into knots. I give her one, and she'll spend days destroying that. Once she's done, she'll sit at my feet and whimper until I clean it up and give her a new one."
"That's good. I can't foresee any clashes then."
-ZMS-
It had taken a while for Alan and Margaret to get used to having Charlie had home, and to having a dog around. But Zillah was so obviously attached to Charlie, and he in turn was incredibly attuned to her needs, that soon it was hard to recall what Charlie had been like before the dog came along.
Once Margaret had worked out what the name meant, she and Alan had both laughed and agreed that it was quite appropriate. Zillah meant 'shadow' in Hebrew.
Alan sighed. For a long time, the large dog had almost never left Charlie's side. As she grew more used to the family, and the house, she had started to explore a little on her own. Eventually, after several months, she had gotten to the point where she would no longer stand at the front door and whimper when Charlie left the house. It had been over a year before she was completely comfortable with her master not being there.
After that, she tended to stick pretty close to the two remaining Eppes'. She wasn't constantly at their sides, but she was always in the same room as one of them. She seemed to have accepted that Alan and Margaret were part of her 'pack'.
And Alan realised that the large dog had wormed her way into his heart as well. She was a comforting presence, willing to do anything to protect her pack. Zillah was always aware of when one of them was hurting, either physically or emotionally, and would be there to comfort them. Hell, she'd been the first one to realise that Margaret was sick.
Shaking himself, Alan returned to the present. Enough distractions. Zillah was part of the family, and he wasn't going to let some bureaucratic red tape destroy her for protecting her pack.
