WARNING: THIS CHAPTER MAY CONTAIN SOME ELEMENTS THAT MAY MAKE SOME READERS UNCOMFORTABLE. I wasn't going to include this portion at first, but for the sake of realism, this subject is unavoidable considering that these are dogs locked in a house for hours. This is not an essential plot point, so if you feel like skipping over it, I have put in place lines to separate the start and stop of it. Don't worry if you choose not to read, all that is important in that segment is an answer to a realism question.
There will also be some other themes introduced in this chapter that will be heavily present in the next few chapters or so, but won't take up the remaining part of the story by any means. This will include a (possible) pairing I've hinted at a few times earlier in the story.
Thank you to everyone for reading, and special thanks to to XLR8 the Fox and EvilFrost-CHS for reviewing, favoriting and following. Lady and the Tramp, 101 Dalmatians and their universes belong to Disney.
Chapter 11: A Shift in Tone
"Cats?" Lucky asked. "How could cats just magically appear?"
Then, Perdita gasped. "Look up there!"
Turning their heads, the others gasped as they saw that the kitchen window looking out into the backyard suddenly had a big pile of snow sitting by it. Looking to investigate it, they then saw as they drew nearer and nearer that above the snow pile, the window had been unmistakably smashed. Glass shards lay around everywhere, from the pile of snow to the counter by the window and the floor all around.
"Darling's china!" Lady exclaimed abruptly. She exchanged a look with the fellow members of her household, looking darkly significant. Darling had a few ceramic plates she had gotten as a birthday gift from her now deceased mother that she had been planning on using for Christmas. Now though, they were gone….
"Cats did this?" Scamp asked, to which Leo nodded his head.
"Not just any cats," a voice came from the other side of the room. Heading back, they saw Annette was looking up at them sadly. "I should've stopped them…"
"Who?" Danielle asked her sister earnestly.
Annette paused a little bit before saying, "I think it was …. Si and Am. I don't know… I couldn't see much in the dark, but I did see two pairs of narrow blue eyes… They broke through the window… It all got really cold. One of them grabbed my mouth to stop me from barking and pushed me over here, and the other nabbed the china…Before I could do anything, they were gone…"
"No one's faulting you Annette," Angel told her, wrapping her paw around her head kindly. "It could've happened to anyone, especially with a bad foot like yours."
Just then though, a particularly fierce gust of wind blew, dropping more snow on the heap stationed outside the window.
"Well, we've got to stop the snow somehow," Pongo sighed. "Anything we can use to block the window?"
"Maybe," Puffball replied hesitatingly, looking for Lady and Tramp as if asking for permission. "We could use a sofa cushion. It's big and can block out the cold air and snow."
"Good thinking," Tramp told Puffball appreciatively. "We'd better set one up."
So Perdita, Pongo, Tramp and CiCi, being the biggest dogs in the house, set off to the living room to pick up the heavy cushion. Leo tagged along riding CiCi's back, telling them the direction to the sofa and helping them keep out of danger. When they arrived, they approached uncertainly, trying to lift the cushion without damaging or tearing it in the slightest. Softly biting uncertainly, Pongo, Perdita, Tramp and CiCi each grabbed one of the top corners of the cushion, trying to pull it out of the sofa. Unfortunately, after several attempts, the cushion only budged a little.
"We've got to do it all together," Pongo said. "Let's all pull… now!"
With a heave, the four dogs lifted the cushion out of the sofa. Swinging frantically, they brought the cushion to ground level, trying desperately to hang on the little bit of cushion they held onto to prevent it from falling.
"You guys have got to walk backwards," Leo told Pongo and Perdita, for he saw that they were standing facing in an opposite direction from the kitchen. "Don't worry, I'll guide you back."
Nodding in understanding, they proceeded to slowly but steadily walk to the kitchen, trying their hardest to not have the cushion drag on the floor and get all dirty and soiled. At last, they reached the kitchen, where they could see much bettle with several candles brightly lighting the room.
"Let's not get too close to the window," Perdita warned. "We wouldn't want to step in any glass shards."
"Okay then!" CiCi exclaimed. "How about we just throw it into position?"
Looking at each other anxiously, the others reluctantly agreed. Swinging the cushion back and forth, they threw it into place as it squished the pile of snow and landed on the counter's surface. It wasn't a perfect fit, but at least the sofa cushion was a solid, large mass to block the cold out.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the room, Scamp suddenly said, "I've gotta go really bad."
At once, many of the others murmured in agreement. "We can't do it here though," Collette said. "Everything would smell disgusting then!"
"Yeah, but I really need to go too," Patch said.
"We could go out the dog door," Lucky suggested.
"Oh no. I'm not gonna freeze my tail off!" Rolly retorted.
"Or we could try the basement," Two-Tone reasoned.
"Nuh-uh, not where I eat my dinner!" Leo cried out indignantly.
"And we don't want to damage Jim Dear and Darling's things," Spunky said.
Lady, meanwhile, had begun to wonder something. How exactly did Jim Dear and Darling do it? How did they relieve themselves while always remaining inside? Seeing her lost in thought, Danielle asked, "What is it Mom?"
"I was just thinking… Maybe we should relieve ourselves like Jim Dear and Darling and Roger and Anita do," Lady suggested.
"How do we do that?" Rolly asked perplexedly.
"They go into there," Angel explained, pointing to a door outside the kitchen.
Uncertainly, they approached the door and opened it up. Standing in front of them was a small room with a tiled floor, and a weird chair thing standing in the room's corner, with a strange roll of paper towel situated at its side. Standing on the opposite side was a strange thing that looked like a birdfeeder with two knobs on top. In the corner lay a large indent in the room, draped off with some kind of curtain.
Lady stepped into the room as the others watched her, and peering into the bowl, she saw that the bowl was made up of nothing more than water. Suddenly getting an idea, Lady jumped onto the seat, and before she realized what she was doing, felt all of the discomfort in her body drain away from her as she relieved herself. Jumping off the seat, Lady suddenly smiled.
"What did you do?" Scamp asked, entering the room curiously.
"I…relieved myself in this bowl thing," Lady said uncertainly.
"What's this thing do?" Patch asked, who also entered the room, looking at a funny knob at the chair's side. Jumping up and pressing down on it, suddenly, a loud rushing sound took place, and before they knew it, the waste disappeared and was replaced by clear water.
At once, they cheered and the rest of the puppies, Peg and Spunky walked into the small room, cramming in to fit. "I think…" Lady explained to everyone, smiling, "We all just relieve ourselves in this bowl thing."
"Okay," Angel said curiously. Hopping onto it, she stood on it, did her thing, and jumped off. Following her example, all of the other puppies followed her lead. Meanwhile, Peg and Spunky approached Lady.
"Wow, how did you think of that, dearie?" Peg asked. "I was gettin' pretty worried. Glad we could do our thing and not make Jim Dear and Darling mad."
"I don't know… I guess it's just come with living here so long and watching Jim Dear and Darling," Lady explained. "I've learned a lot about them from my puppyhood days with them when it was just them and me… I only had them, so I guess I just followed their moves."
"I wish we could get to know them as well as you," Spunky told Lady.
"You will with time, starting when they return," Lady said kindly. Looking at Peg and Spunky's apprehensive faces, Lady understood. They had spent so much time as streetdogs that having a caring pair of pets was still an unusual concept for them. Sighint, Lady then said gently, "But know this, they will return. You can bet your paw on it. I know your experiences with humans haven't been the best, but you can always count on Jim Dear and Darling to always love you."
Peg and Spunky nodded understandingly just as Two-Tone, the last puppy in line, jumped off the seat. "Well, I guess it's our turn then," Peg said, and she got on and Lady then went to get Annette to do her business and then went to let the others who were moving the cushion about the new way to relieve themselves.
Shortly afterwards, everyone, now relieved and more comfortable now that the cushion was blocking off the cold, was in a much better mood. Gathering on the kitchen floor, everyone spent time lightly chatting or just appreciating each other's company before at last, Danielle yawned loudly and groaned, "I'm tired…."
Having heard the grandfather clock ring for increasingly long stretches, everyone knew that it must be getting later and later into the night. After all agreeing it would be a good time to go to bed, Jim Dear and Darling's dogs headed straight to their beds. Lady and Tramp shared a bed, as did Scamp and Angel, Peg and Spunky, and Danielle and Puffball. Annette needed to sleep on her own to avoid her bleeding paw from being uncomfortably prodded, and XL begged to sleep next to Collette's velvety ears, so she smiled and agreed to share the bed with him. This left the Dalmatians, CiCi, and Leo without beds. However, this was quickly solved as Pongo and Perdita went and got the other back cushion and one of the seat cushions for themselves, got two pillows for Rolly and Two-Tone, being the biggest puppies, got Leo a soft piece of carpet with a blanket, and CiCi shared the remaining seat cushion with Penny, Patch, Lucky, and Cadpig, which ended up being a surprisingly comfortable fit.
As time drifted, most of the puppies and dogs, tired out with a long day, fell soundly asleep. However, one of them, no matter how much she tossed and turned, couldn't fall asleep. Looking down at her green pillow, adorned with a dark flower pattern, Two-Tone envied the others, sleeping s.o easily. There was Rolly, sound asleep and licking his lips. Two-Tone smirked, for she knew undoubtedly what Rolly was dreaming about. Looking at her other adopted siblings in their sleep, Two-Tone saw that Cadpig looked deep in thought, Patch looked like he was running, Penny was staying still and smiling, and Lucky had his arms stretched out, smiling softly as he slept. She looked at all of her adopted siblings, especially Lucky, whom she realized whenever she looked at him, she suddenly felt a bit warm inside.
Then she looked at Pongo and Perdita. She noticed how happy they looked together, side by side, their front paws wrapped tightly together. Even though she was only their adopted daughter, so often she had looked at them as her mom and dad and through the love they had for her that she forgot that they were also especially close to each other. They looked way too close just to be cohabitants, the way they nuzzled each other like that.
Looking around at the other family of dogs, she saw even more of this close, strange intimacy. There lay Lady and Tramp, her long, velvety ear draped over his head, sleeping peacefully as Tramp, his head slightly angled to face Lady's, also slept just as soundly. In the next bed over, she saw Peg and Spunky, with similar expressions of profound peace and delight, Peg's thick, plumy tail wrapped around her boyfriend's back, thoroughly covering his short, smooth coat. Nearby were Scamp and Angel, who she just realized were the son and daughter of each of those couples, The two of them were lying on their sides in their soft bed, hugging each other as they both smiled at each other in their sleep. Right next to Annette's blanket was Collette's bed, who looked at peace with XL, even though they knew each other for less than a day. Lastly lay Danielle and Puffball, both with long, floppy ears, breathing in together deeply as Danielle's left ear and Puffball's right ear drooped over their lovers' shoulder. She looked at them, and suddenly realized that she would like to be sleeping with someone just like they were…. And not just any someone.
Crawling quietly off her pillow, Two-Tone waddled over to her siblings, and looked down at Lucky. She smiled and couldn't help staring at Lucky for moment upon moment. She felt tired and could easily have gone back to bed, but for some reason, her legs felt glued to the ground, wanting to remain standing by Lucky's side. When she lifted a paw to go though, to her shock, she found herself suddenly touching Lucky's face. Lucky mumbled a few times but did not seem to notice. Drawing her paw back worriedly and checking to make sure everyone was still asleep, she suddenly felt incredibly hot and uncomfortable with what she had done. Looking at her pillow, she knew she had no chance of getting back to sleep now, or even trying, for her heart rate was far too fast. Instead, she grabbed a candle and hurried up the stairs, her heart suddenly racing really fast. Why did she do that? What was she thinking?
Two-Tone sat and thought, still wide-eyed and awake. It was a good thing the others were asleep, she thought. Looking at the stained glass window, she saw a bit of her own reflection, wide-eyed and scared. But the very next moment, she heard footsteps in the house, coming from the kitchen. Hurriedly, she whipped around, but saw nobody was there. Relaxing her shoulders a bit, she then gasped as she saw that Lucky was walking out of the kitchen, but to her surprise, was grinning. "So it wasn't a dream," Lucky said, beaming at her.
"What wasn't?" Two-Tone asked nervously.
"You…you petted me," Lucky answered.
"Wha?" Two-Tone asked, pretending to be dumb. When she saw he wasn't fooled, she begged, "Sorry Lucky! I didn't mean to…"
Lucky however, shook his head. "I've been dreaming of you at nights," he said excitedly. "Ever since you came back … ever since our first dance at the Four Legged Ball… through all we've done today, doing that dance, getting the crackers, watching the baby, keeping XL out of trouble… I love you Two-Tone. I really have. Always. I just… didn't want to deal with Mooch…"
Two-Tone, however, beamed. "You don't know how much I've always wished to hear that," she exclaimed and suddenly, she leaned forward and gently tackled Lucky onto the ground, where they pushed each other onto the ground, licking each other's faces over and over again. Just then, the clock rang twelve times.
"Well, a new day, a new love is born," Two-Tone said, to which Lucky nodded eagerly.
"Just…let's let Mom and Dad know about it gently," Lucky said. "We don't want them to be shocked about it."
"Right," Two-Tone said. "I guess I'll go back to my pillow then."
"But that doesn't mean you can't bring your pillow closer to ours," Lucky suggested.
Two-Tone's eyes lit up and she nodded as together, the two puppies headed back to the kitchen and this time, really did comfortably fall asleep.
High above in the clouds, a small, fluffy white dog stood on a cloud. She had a pair of wings, some gold rings on her paw, and a bright halo adorning the top of her head. Her large brown eyes stared down at the dark, snowy Earth, tinged with a bit of regret.
"Everything okay?" a deep, serious yet gentle female voice asked. Turning, a dark grey wolf with a thick bushy tail and a curvy appearance approached. She also had a pair of wings, some gold rings, and a bright halo that looked very much like the white dog's, only bigger to fit her larger body.
"Uh-huh," the white dog said sadly in a soft, high-pitched voice. "Only… I don't think now's the right time for this."
"Why not?"
"We'd only be bringing in confusion and heartache… I don't know, isn't there any way to stop it?"
"It's too late, and there's only so much we can do. They're just going to have to solve whatever complications come out of this themselves."
And the wolf disappeared into the clouds, leaving the white dog alone on the cloud, with a few tears from her eyes falling into the dark earthly skies.
