Thank you so much for the reviews! I'm quite pleased with the response this is getting and have plans for its continuance throughout the rest of this season and probably after to hold us over until the next.

Chapter 7: First pet

"Please," he asks for the tenth time.
"I already said no," Audrey crosses her arms and narrows her eyebrows at the man before her.
"I let you hold two dinner parties, why can't we have this?"
"For the last time Nathan, no," as the last syllable leaves her mouth the squirming puppy in Nathan's arm lets out a soft yelp.
"See," Nathan says as he scratches the dog behind the ear, "he likes you."
"Neither of us are ever home, how would we even take care of him?"
"We'll feed him in the morning and leave water out and as soon as either of us get home we'll feed him and I'll take him for a walk and teach him how to sit and lie down and fetch and-" Audrey holds up a hand to stop his rant.
"You really want this dog, don't you?" Audrey asks, reaching out to stroke the puppy's soft ear. Nathan nods, excitement evident in his face. Audrey sighs as the dog turns his head to lick her hand.
"Is that a-"
"Yes," she says quickly, taking the puppy into her own arms, "yes you can keep the dog." Nathan gives her that grin he saves only for special occasions and only for her before giddily stopping the man and telling him they'd take the dog. The man giving the litter away thanked the cop and wished him luck with the new pet.
"We'll have to go to the pet store to pick up some stuff," Audrey says, "he'll need a leash, a dish, a collar, food of course, what else?" She takes her eyes off the animal to address Nathan.
"A name," he says, petting the puppy's snout.
"Oh yeah, that could be important."
"Buddy?" Nathan offers.
"Too cliché, what about Max?" She looks back at the dog. "Are you a Max?"
"Max Hanson," Nathan reminds her as they start walking back to the truck.
"Never mind, Pooka? I've always wanted to name a dog Pooka."
"What the hell kind of a name is that?"
"It's from Anastasia," she shrugs as she climbs into the passenger seat, the nameless puppy on her lap.
"What about Rudy then, like the football player," Nathan says.
"Rudy? No, he's not a Rudy," she inspects the puppy.
"How about-"
"Chief!" Audrey cries suddenly.
"Yeah?" Nathan asks, assuming he's addressing him.
"No, the dog, we should call him Chief."
"No way," Nathan objects.
"Yes, it's the perfect name for him," she holds up the dog and rubs her nose against his own wet one, "we're going to call you Chief."
"You can call him that, I'll think of something better," Nathan says.
"We'll confuse him by calling him two different names; we may as well both call him Chief."
"Audrey, Chief is not a name for a dog," Nathan argues, "Buddy and Rover are dog names."
"Look at that little face," Audrey pouts as she strokes the still nameless dog, "doesn't it just scream 'Chief" Nathan quickly glances over at his new dog.
"No," he says quickly, turning his eyes back to the road.
"I let you keep him so it's only fair that I have final say on his name."
"Don't pretend you didn't secretly want him even more than I did."
"And don't pretend that you don't think it's a great name." Nathan pulls into the driveway of their small house.
"Look chief we're home," Audrey coos, holding up the puppy to look out the window. Nathan can't help but smile when he hears her say home, or course that is what it is, their home. He just likes the way she says it, as if it becomes more real each time. Audrey takes 'Chief' around a tour of the entire house before they decide to go back out to the pet store.
"Come on Chief," Nathan says, beckoning for the dog to follow him out the door. Audrey tries to hide her smirk as her boyfriend picks up the dog.
"It's only a temporary name," he assures her. She nods but she knows exactly what will be engraved on their pet's new collar.

Thank you again for reading and all your reviews, why not do it again? Until next time I suppose…