Almost to chapter 13 ;)

Chapter 12: Picnic!

They sat under the old oak on a black picnic mat, looking out at the town and countryside. Zoe was spread out at their feet, enjoying the shade from the warm sun. Sadie looked over at Anubis, for the first time noticing the jackal tattoo on his arm. "What's that?" she asked.

"Oh, your dad did that, it allows me to stay in this world permanently."

Sadie nodded her approval, wanting to say something but not wanting to sound lame.

Stretching, Anubis faded back to his preferred form, his jackal/human hybrid form. This time he was in a pair of black shorts, golden kohl highlighted his deep brown eyes.

Sadie lay resting her head in his lap, looking up at his furry features, hugging his tail to her body, finding comfort in it for some reason.

Reaching into the picnic basket she pulled out an apple, taking a bite she held it up to Anubis, who took a bite of the sweet fruit. Sadie sat up, moving herself in front of Anubis, she held the rest of the apple out to him in her teeth. He took the apple, eating it all. Sadie couldn't help but laugh at their antics. Anubis soon joined her in laughter. Zoe wagged her tail, enjoying seeing Anubis so happy; Zoe barked to Anubis so he could translate to Sadie.

He turned to Sadie, smiling, tail wagging, "she says she's glad that you make me so happy." Anubis translated.

Sadie looked over at Zoe, "Well, he makes me happy as well." She replied to the dog.

Sadie grabbed Anubis' bowl from the duat and filled it with water, placing it on the ground for Zoe. The dog looked at Sadie, slightly cautious. "It's ok Zoe, he doesn't mind."

"Go on, its only my bowl, heck, you can have it. I've got loads." Anubis assured her, smiling.

Zoe lapped up the water in the bowl, tail wagging excitedly at her new gift.

Sadie rest her head on Anubis' soft, furry chest. With her finger she drew lazy circles on his fur, looking up at the sky, watching the few clouds that made their way lazily across the sky.

Looking at her watch Sadie decided it was time for lunch.

Opening the basket Sadie set out a plate of sandwiches and got out a six pack of coke. Pulling out a can of dog food she placed it in another bowl for Zoe, who barked in thanks, tail wagging happily. Cracking open two cans of coke she handed one to Anubis, taking a drink from the other.

Anubis attempted to drink from the can, managing mostly. Causing Sadie to let out a laugh when she saw the coke dribbling down his furry chin.

Anubis mumbled something about 'cans not being made for dogs' as Sadie wiped his chin with her finger, licking it clean.

Standing up, Sadie looked for a suitable branch. When she found one, she scrambled up the trunk, raining small chunks of bark onto an unsuspecting Anubis. Which was met with a surprised yelp from Anubis.

"Sorry" Sadie said weakly, blushing slightly.

She carried on up the tree till she reached the branch she was looking for, snapping the foot long piece of wood off with ease.

Down below Anubis was watching her, an amused look on his face, "what are you doing Sadie?" he asked.

She looked down at him, holding the stick up and smiling, "for Zoe" she replied simply.

Sat on the lowest branch, Sadie slid off into Anubis' waiting arms.

Sadie looked down at Anubis, smiling, scratching the base of his ears with her free hand.

"Sadie, please stop, I don't want to drop you" Anubis said, hastily putting her back down.

Blushing, she apologised, "Sorry about that".

"Don't do it again, I don't want to face Bast and explain how you got dropped" Anubis said, sticking his tongue out at Sadie in an unusually cheeky manner.

Sadie walked her fingers up his bare chest, "Does doggy need training?" she asked seductively.

"Not in front of Zoe please" Anubis managed.

Sadie remembered the stick she had just gone up the tree for, holding it up she checked it was big enough. Satisfied, she threw it as hard as she could and shouted "Fetch!".

Zoe bounded off after the stick. Anubis however restrained himself as best he could, although he couldn't stop his tail wagging excitedly.

"I said fetch to Zoe, not you, silly thing" Sadie teased Anubis.

He responded by pushing her gently on the shoulder.

Sadie and Anubis stood together for a few hours, throwing the stick back out, Zoe content and happy with the little game. So engrossed in their activities they failed to notice dark clouds rolling in.

As Zoe came bouncing back the rain began to fall, slowly at first, but it still threatened to soak them if they didn't get home quick.

"Ugh, typical British weather" Sadie complained.

"Home?" Anubis asked politely.

"Please, I think so" Sadie replied, her expression worried as she looked up at the black clouds looming overhead.

Anubis held out his hand, summoning a door through the duat. "Come on you two, this'll lead us home" he said, herding Zoe and Sadie in, closely following behind.

Sadie, Anubis and Zoe appeared in the living room in front of Bast, causing her hair to bottle brush like a cat's tail.

"Don't do that again" She warned, heart still beating hard from the surprise.

Zoe cocked her head to the side, puzzled as to why Bast was in her new home.

Bast was equally puzzled as to why Sadie had let another dog into her house, she would be having words with that girl later.

"Bast lives with you?" Zoe asked Anubis, Sadie clueless to what the two were on about as she couldn't yet understand dog.

"Well, it's more like I live with her. She had been assigned to be Sadie's protector so she stays here." Anubis explained.

"That's right, it's more my house than his" Bast confirmed to Zoe.

Sadie sighed, "Bast, you couldn't kick Zoe out and we all know it."

Bast was about to raise a finger to object but decided not to, "fine, you win. Just make sure she doesn't chase my cats."

Rolling his eyes Anubis told her that it was unlikely that Zoe would chase any cats while she was pregnant.

"Pregnant!" Sadie blurted out, interrupting the conversation.

Anubis looked at Sadie as it dawned on him she couldn't tell, "yeah, I forgot you couldn't tell, I can because.. well I am part dog, and Bast is the goddess of women and children, so that should explain it."

"oh" Sadie said, wondering why she hadn't thought of that.

Bast stood up, "come on, lets show her to her room." she said, moving towards the door.

"Sadie, I guess by that look your thinking 'but its not ready', you really forget who I am don't you" Bast said in reply to Sadie's puzzled expression.

"Come on then" Anubis said, pulling Sadie along.

The four were soon looking in on a reasonably sized room with a set of bowls and a dog bed. Other than that it was quite empty, leaving space for the pups when they arrived.

Zoe barked and wagged her thanks as they left her to sort out the room.

Downstairs Anubis sat on the sofa, Sadie curled on his lap contently while Bast flicked idly through the channels on the large wall mounted TV, not really paying attention to what was on.

"Well Sadie, you've made the god of death smile" Bast said, smiling herself.

"It appears I have" Sadie replied, stroking Anubis under the chin.

His tail wagged happily, batting the cushions about the sofa.

Anubis tilted his head back and slid down in his seat, relaxing as Sadie petted him. He was woken from his daydreams and relaxation by a hand firmly clamped around his muzzle. Sadie's hand to be precise, lowering his muzzle she looked him in the eyes, "I think you should return the favour now" she smiled seductively.

"Why does she seem to flip moods so often?" Anubis pondered in his mind.

"Ok, I shall" he said with a playful smile, drawing her close to him. The smell of her skin gave him butterflies in his stomach, as did the smell of his fur to her. He sat her on his knee and massaged her shoulders gently. It wasn't long before Sadie spoke, "your good at this, where'd you learn?" she teased, knowing the answer already.

"Oh, err, nowhere, I just guessed" he replied, feeling himself going red.

"you sure it wasn't on wiki-how?" she teased.

"How'd you..." Anubis started.

"You didn't delete your browsing history from my laptop" Sadie cut in.

Anubis sighed, still massaging her shoulders.

"Ugh, I'm off into my room" Bast said, not wanting to witness any more intimacy.

Checking her watch Sadie realised it was 10 o'clock. Zoe had already gone to bed and Bast was in her room. "our room?" Sadie asked Anubis.

His ears pricked up at the suggestion and his tail wagged even more furiously, "Yes!"