Author's Note: Not much to say today, just letting you know that updates may be getting less frequent. And this is my longest chapter in any story ever! Enjoy!

To say that Linus's Christmas Eve was bad is an understatement. His Christmas Eve was horrible from start to finish.

When he woke up, his eye was throbbing. Not to mention that he could only open it halfway due to having a black eye. He couldn't even touch the parts of his face around his eye. Wiping his nose was torture.

It did not help his mood to discover that they were out of milk and cornflakes-his breakfast of choice-due to Lucy taking the last of both. He ended up having to eat a bowl of dry raisin bran, much to his dismay.

After breakfast, Linus elected to go to the brick wall instead of staying in a house with a hyper, excited Rerun and a crabby Lucy. Hopefully, Charlie Brown would be there, pondering life's big questions. Well, at least he would be daydreaming about the little red-haired girl.

Fortunately, someone was at the brick wall when Linus got there. Unfortunately, that someone was Charlie Brown's little sister, Sally. It's not that Linus didn't like Sally, he didn't like the she liked him. She was completely infatuated with him and practically stalked him. Sally was also constantly saying that Linus was her "Sweet Babboo", a nickname that Linus found idiotic and annoying.

"Hello Linus!" Sally called happily.

"Hello Sally," Linus mumbled, taking his usual place at the brick wall. Sally stared at him with an almost uncomfortable intensity.

"Oh no!" Sally squeaked. "My Sweet Babboo's eye is black! Does it hurt?"

"Yes, very much, actually," Linus said. "And I'm not your 'Sweet Babboo'!"

"Let me see it," Sally ordered as she reached out to touch it.

In a panic, Linus smacked her hand away, yelping, "Don't touch it!" Sally shrank back a little, making it obvious she had never been yelled at by a boy who wasn't related to her before. Her fear quickly turned into anger and yanked Linus's blanket from his grasp.

"Give it back," he begged.

"Say you're sorry!" Sally demanded.

"I'm sorry!" Linus whimpered. Sally thre the blanket into the air and, while LInus panickedly snatched at it, kissed him on the cheek before running off, giggling.

Linus blushed. "Hopefully, I'll understand women later," he said to his blanket. "Maybe when I'm thirty." he guessed. "Dad's thirty-nine and he seems to understand them pretty well," Linus rubbed the spot where Sally kissed. "Then again, they are a confusing enigma,"

Linus waited a full half-hour for Charlie Brown to come to the wall. When he didn't show, Linus decided he had better go home.

As soon as Linus walked in the door, he got a Rerun to the stomach.

"Help!" Rerun yelped. "Lucy's gonna kill me!"

"What did you do this time?" Linus asked.

"I cut all the hair off her Barbie," Rerun confessed. Linus sighed. He opened the front door and waiting three seconds before slamming it shut.

"Go hide in the closet," he whispered to Rerun.

"Rerun, where are you?" Lucy yelled from Rerun's bedroom. She sprinted down the stairs.

"Linus, have you seen our brother?" she asked sweetly. Linus nodded.

"Well, then where is he?" she asked.

"He went outside," Linus lied.

"Great! Thanks," Lucy said as she ran outside, thankfully not stopping to get her coat from the closet.

After Linus was sure Lucy was gone, he let Rerun out of the closet.

"Is she gone?" Rerun asked. Linus nodded.

"Thanks, Big Brother," Rerun whispered, wrapping his arms around Linus in a big, grateful hug. Linus patted him on the head, a sort signal to Rerun, telling him that Linus had gotten the hug's message. Rerun let go and ran up to his room.

Linus sighed and trudged into the den, where he sat in his favorite chair. He felt as though he was getting stuck in a rut, always sitting in the same chair, especially since he knew that Lucy would come barging in any second, angry that she had been tricked. And because she was angry, she would force him out of his seat, probably by threatening to slug him. After she got her seat, Linus would either retreat to the beanbag in front of the television or the couch while Lucy changed the station to something that Linus had no interest in whatsoever but would have to watch because a protest was a surefire way to get punched in the nose.

Right on time, Lucy barged in, angrily stamping toward Linus.

"Get out of that seat, you Blockhead!" she yelled. Linus obediently slid down, making way for his sister.

"You told me Rerun was outside, and you know what? He wasn't!" said Lucy to Linus. "And I bet you think you're pretty clever, don't you? But you're not. I knew the whole time and was just humoring you and Rerun,"

"Sure you did," Linus muttered under his breath. They both knew that Lucy had believed Rerun was outside the whole time. He sighed, then sat in the green beanbag that sat in front of the TV.

Lucy began angrily flipping through the channels, growling about how there was nothing on. She eventually settled on a show about giraffes in the wild. Linus did not find it very interesting so he closed his eyes and hugged his blanket.

The siblings sat there, in their respective seats, for a long while. The giraffe program ended and became a program about elephants. Eventually Rerun came in, choosing to sit on the couch. He sighed loudly, trying to call as much attention to himself as possible.

"Yes Rerun?" Lucy asked.

"I'm bored," Rerun complained, kicking his feet against the couch.

"Wonderful. Stop kicking," Lucy ordered. Just as soon as Rerun had started kicking, he stopped at his sister's order. Linus was not surprised by his brother's obedience. If their sister caught on to any sign of defience from him, he would most likely get his face pounded in.

"When are we going to look at the puppies?" Linus asked, breaking the tension. He had been wondering this all day, dreading the arrival of the dog.

"When Mom gets back from the supermarket," Lucy answered, changing the channel to a cartoon she liked.

"When will that be?" Rerun asked.

"In half an hour," Lucy replied. She was beginning to get impatient.

Linus felt knots form in his stomach. In less than an hour, he'd be one step closer to having a blanket eating dog. He knew he shouldn't be letting what Lucy said about dogs and blankets get to him, but he was. Everytime he thought 'dog', 'blanket eating' stuck itself on the end.

Besides his fear of getting the dog, he feared that the dog wouldn't like him. There was a nagging feeling in the back of his head. He kept imagining scenarios where Rerun and Lucy would be laughing and playing with the dog and he'd go out to join them and the dog would turn it's nose in the air and retreat into the doghouse. Linus always feared being disliked, but considered it would be humiliating to be disliked by a dog.

The three sat in awkward silence that was only broken by Rerun's occasional nail nibbling, listening to Lucy's cartoon. None of them would be able to tell you what was happening on the show if you asked them, they were all wrapped up in their own thoughts, excitments and fears.

Their mother came in just as the program ended. She smiled at the sight of her three children who were, for once, watching television without fighting. They hadn't noticed her yet and ever so quietly she slid in to the seat next to Rerun. He noticed her and leaned against her in the affectionate way little boys always do with their mothers. She smoothed his hair in the maternal way all mothers do. Rerun smiled up at her. His siblings were still focused on the commericials that were flashing on the screen.

"HEY LINUS! LUCY! MOM'S HOME!" Rerun screamed. Lucy was unaffected by Rerun's shout, as she often was. Linus, however, was startled and jumped, throwing his blanket in the air.

"Rerun! Don't shout like that!" Linus said once he had recovered, but Rerun was too busy laughing to notice him. "Hi Mom," Linus greeted, smiling a big cheesy grin.

"Hello, Linus," their mother said.

"Are we going to get the dog now, Mom, are we?" Rerun wondered excitedly.

"Yes, Rerun. As soon as your father finishes getting ready, we'll all get in the car and go," she said. Linus felt his heart plummet to his stomach. He was that much closer to getting the dog.

The car ride was horrible. Linus had to sit on the hump seat in between Rerun and Lucy. The whole ride Lucy complained and Rerun bounced with excitement. Linus did his best to calm himself down by using his blanket but he ended up chewing his fingernails off from stress.

Once they got to the farm, Linus had calmed down a little. He was actually feeling more confident by the second. It's just puppies, Linus, what's the worst that could happen? he kept asking himself. It wasn't until his father knocked on the farmhouse door that Linus felt all the fear come wooshing back to him.

The door was opened by a middle aged woman in a pink dress, not unlike Linus's mother. She smiled sweetly at the children before turning to their parents.

"Hello, you must be the van Pelts. I'm Mrs. Byrne, welcome to Daisy Hill Puppy Farm." the woman said. "Why don't you kids go around back and look at the puppies while I talk with your Mom and Dad,"

"Okay," Lucy said. "Thank you, ma'am," She took Rerun's hand and began to lead him around to the back of the house. Linus followed, slightly shaking from nerves.

Behind the house was a big backyard with green grass. There were a few wooden dog houses along a fence in the back. There was a large food bowl and a large water bowl by the back porch of the house. It was the biggest yard Linus had ever seen. He could have stayed there all day, marvelling at the size, except Lucy and Rerun had already started playing with multiple puppies.

The puppies were probably the best part of the yard. There were ten in all. There were some beagles, some labs and one dachsund. Rerun was giggling as one of the labs knocked him over and started licking his face. Lucy stood in the middle, her arms crossed, pouting. Linus was just so mesmerized.

Linus bent over and pet a beagle that was sniffing his leg.

"Hello, little dog," he said. The dog sniffed him once more before sprinting off. "Well," Linus huffed, offended. Their parents and Mrs. Byrne came out into the yard.

"Hey, Linus, that one likes you," Rerun laughed, pointing at the lab tugging at Linus's blanket.

"Hey!" Linus yelped, tugging at his blanket. He and the dog were in a big tug of war. "Please, puppy?" Linus asked. The dog took pity on the boy and let go, causing Linus to tumble backward.

Now that Linus wasn't fighting him, he got a good look at the lab. It had a chocolaty coat of fur and big, black, lovable eyes. It strolled over to Linus, starting to lick his face.

"I like this one," Rerun said, running over to pet the dog.

"Lucy?" their mother asked.

"It's alright, I guess," Lucy responded, half-heartedly.

"That just leaves Linus," their father said. "What do you think, son?"

"I like him," Linus said. He scratched the dog behind the ears, it thumped its tail on the ground happily.

"That settles it then," said their father. "We'll take the chocolate lab," Mrs. Byrne nodded and then had the adults go inside to sign a few more papers.

"What are we going to name it?" Lucy asked, a nasty tone in her voice.

"I don't know," said Linus.

"It really liked Linus's blanket, we could name it Blanket," Rerun suggested.

"I like Blanket," Lucy said.

"But that's what-" Linus started. "Never mind, I like Blanket."

"Do you like Blanket, boy?" Rerun asked, petting their new puppy. It barked happily.

"Blanket it is then," Lucy finalized it.