A/N: Here's another HSM drabble-y ficlet from me. This idea was originally going to be Troyella, but then I liked the whole one, two, three section and that wasn't Gabriella so I landed on Jelsi and I think that fit well. So, enjoy! R&R! Thanks! –Mac
Disclaimer: I don't own HSM.
No Greater Gift
She had always wanted a dog. It wasn't a particular love of dogs that made her want one. It was more that she saw it as normal. A normal family was two happily married parents, two children (one boy, one girl), and a dog.
Her family was far from normal. One, the boy never came. Instead, after Kelsi, two more pink bundled babes followed. Two, her parents were anything but happily married, at least to each other. After they got divorced when Kelsi was seventeen, her father had remarried twice more (both ending in divorce) and when she was twenty-seven, he married a woman three years younger than her. Her mother had remarried within a year of her first divorce and gone on to pop out another pink bundle of joy. And three, they never had a dog. Her mother was allergic.
She had always wanted the normalcy that having a dog encompassed. She just never had a chance to have one.
During college, when she was finally on her own—and free of her mother's allergy—she was staying in the dorms and an apartment where no pets were allowed. The first time she was living in a house with a backyard suitable for a dog was after she and Jason got married. They were in their home for a few months and she hadn't gotten around to looking for a dog. It was already Christmas—their first Christmas as a married couple—and she still had not gotten that dog.
It was Christmas Eve and they were exchanging gifts. She gave him his new watch to replace the one that had fallen in the sink a couple months back. He smiled, kissed her lightly and then retreated into the kitchen to retrieve her gift. He came back with a large box and placed it in front of her. She looked at him oddly, unable to think of what he could buy her that was that large—save for kitchen appliances.
But then the box shook, and a gentle yip could be heard muffled by the box.
Her eyes widened and he gestured for her to open it. She reached over and pulled off the lid. She peered inside and her smile widened. Inside was the most adorable puppy, curled up in a ball with a large red ribbon attached to its collar.
For their first Christmas, Jason had given Kelsi her normalcy, there was no greater gift.