Mend on Wednesday

There are times in your life when things need fixing. But sometimes… Sometimes things fix themselves while you're not even watching.

Written for the (Smut)Ficathon for cassievalentine. Actual requests will come at the end of the last chapter.

Thanks to llano for the beta :)

Ma used to say:

"Wash on Monday,
Iron on Tuesday,
Mend on Wednesday,
Churn on Thursday,
Clean on Friday,
Bake on Saturday,
Rest on Sunday."

Laura Ingalls Wilder,
Little House in the Big Woods

January 17, 2007

Paul Anka was running. He was running as fast as his furry little legs could carry him, and he was loving every second of it.

There was snow!

It hadn't snowed for so long this winter, and now it finally had, and Paul Anka got to run in it! He got to run and roll and frolic and it was so much fun to do it without a stupid leash on!

Oh wait… He always had a leash on. He hated having it put on, but Mom always made sure to sneak up on him and get it on his collar somehow.

So why wasn't his leash on this time?

Paul Anka slowed slightly, his little doggie head tilting in confusion. No leash. So if no leash… He looked over his shoulder.

Uh oh. No leash meant no Mom either. And no Mom when Paul Anka was outside the house meant Mom was going to be mad at him. The last time he got out, Mom and the mean man with the sweater vest had yelled at him for digging up some flowers. Well, Mom had yelled at first, but back at home she'd just laughed and given him a cookie. But still, since then, Mom always made sure that any time he got past the front door, he had a leash on.

Yup, Mom was going to be reeeally mad.

Paul Anka's doggy brain didn't dwell on that fact very long, however — he was running! And there was snow! He could deal with Mom later.

So Paul Anka kept right on running, dashing from snowbank to snowbank all around Stars Hollow. Across lawns and through bushes and over streams and around trees. He just ran and ran and rolled around and had a blast doing it.

The only problem with this was that Paul Anka didn't get out much. It was that whole leash requirement thing. And Mom wasn't much of a walker either, so even when he was on a leash, they never really got very far. So that meant that pretty quickly, Paul Anka had no idea where he was.

Paul Anka finally slowed down. Yup, he was definitely in a place that he didn't recognize. And Mom was definitely nowhere to be seen. Oops. Plus, now that he was only walking, the erstwhile super-fun snow was starting to feel kind of chilly on his little paws. Snow'll do that. To keep warm, Paul Anka picked up the pace a little again, but he made sure to shake his fur out of his eyes once in a while so he could see if there was anything familiar around.

Pretty soon Paul Anka was past a lot of the trees and bushes he'd found himself in and was back amongst lots of houses with pretty, snowy yards. He could hear more cars too. And wait, wait…

What was that? It wasn't a sight Paul Anka recognized, but a smell. He'd smelled that smell before for sure. And he knew Mom liked the smell too. Perfect.

Mustering up what canine instinct he could, Paul Anka followed that smell, and sure enough, he soon found himself recognizing things around him. Not stuff he saw a lot, so he didn't think he was getting any closer to Mom, but…

There! Paul Anka gave a little shake of doggy glee and scampered a little faster. It was Dad! He could see him through the window, and it definitely smelled good in that direction. That was the smell! It was the stuff in the cup that Dad used to give Mom all the time.

That solved everything! Paul Anka was quite proud of himself for finding Dad's place. He scurried across the street quickly; he would go see Dad and Mom would surely find him there!

Oh, but… Come to think of it, Paul Anka actually couldn't remember the last time he'd seen Dad, never mind Mom with Dad. Actually, the only person he'd really seen with Mom at all lately was that guy who kept taking his spot on the couch.

Why hadn't Dad been around for so long now? And what was the deal with Couch Guy? Just because he didn't have to go to the Inn like Mom or get early deliveries like Dad it meant he could just sit there in Paul Anka's spot on the couch and watch TV all day? Paul Anka certainly didn't think so, but apparently Annoying Couch Guy did.

Plus Annoying Couch Guy didn't even smell good. He smelled like that fancy little bottle on the dresser in Mom's room that Annoying Couch Guy had claimed as his own. Paul Anka had knocked it over once, and both Mom and Couch Guy had yelled at him. Mom had yelled because it was 'expensive,' whatever that meant. Couch Guy just yelled because he didn't want Paul Anka in the room. Whatever. Couch Guy smelled so weird that Paul Anka didn't want to be in the room when he was around.

Dad always used to smell like food. Meat. Hamburgers, actually. And Mom and Couch Guy never cooked anything. Dad always made him perfect hamburgers when he came home. And that always made Mom happy. She'd just laugh and smile while Dad cooked Paul Anka's burger. With Couch Guy around, she never seemed that happy anymore.

Huh. Yeah, come to think of it, Paul Anka really didn't like Couch Guy much at all. Things were much better when Dad was around more.

And Sugar Toes too. Haven't seen much of her lately either. Sure, she does come to see Paul Anka sometimes, but even when she's there, the Evil Tail-Pulling Monster is still there, living in Sugar Toes' room. Ok, so the Monster wasn't quite as evil anymore as the first time Paul Anka encountered her, but he'd certainly still prefer to have Dad and Sugar Toes around.

Well, that just sealed the deal. Since he had no idea where Mom was, or where he was, actually, other than the fact that Dad was over there, just inside the windows in the place that smelled good, Paul Anka was just going to have to use the situation to his advantage. He was going to go have a serious talk with Dad. There were some things that needed to be worked out.

He could deal with Mom and the leash thing later.

To be continued…