** For authors notes, disclaimer etc. see chapter 1
Puppy Love 14/?
"James what do you want me to do with all this stuff you've shoved in the bottom of your wardrobe?" Jean called making a grab for Archie as he appeared from under a pile of cloths with an odd sock between his teeth and tried to make a break for freedom. He was full of beans after being alone most of the day while they were at work and in spite of the fact she'd gone home at lunch time to check on him and James had called in whenever he was passing with Robbie in the afternoon the puppy had still been a bouncing ball of excitement when they came home. That excitement hadn't abated as they quickly ate dinner then all three of them left for an evening of packing at James's flat. Now he was squirming out of her reach the sock still in his mouth and dashing out of the bedroom.
"I don't even know what's down there." James replied laughing as the bundle of fluff and sock sprinted past him into the hall. "Clearly Archie thinks the bin is the best place for it all."
"I think he just wants a fight." Jean laughed glancing into the hall where Archie was shaking the sock and pawing at it like it was a rival for their attention rather than an inanimate item of knitwear. "Seriously though I know a lot of this is empty shoe boxes and odd socks but don't you want to go through it in case there's anything important?"
"Baby anything important wouldn't be lying in the bottom of the wardrobe. Just put it all in a black bag and we'll add it to a pile to take to the tip later." He smiled bending over the kissing her before heading back to the kitchen "I'm boxing up all the crockery and stuff to take to the charity shop you have enough to keep us and the rest of Oxford going at home."
"Yeah we don't need any more plates." Jean laughed sitting back on her heels for a minute and finally catching Archie as he tried to bolt past her back into the bottom of the wardrobe. "got you cheeky face. Come on I want to talk to daddy a second and I'm not leaving you in here with so much temptation around."
"Don't tell me you've managed to fill three black bags already." James smiled as she came into the kitchen and saw him piling things into a box that was sitting on the counter. "Ah I see you finally caught the sock bandit have you read him his rights?"
"Nah he's too cute he persuaded me to let him off with a caution." Jean replied setting Archie down on the floor where he immediately jumped into one of the empty boxes and started chasing his tail. "Are you ok with all this? I mean emptying things into black bags, filling boxes for the charity shop, I don't want you feeling like I don't think it's as important to have your stuff in the house as it is to have mine it's your home now too and I want it to feel like that for you too."
"Jean, sweetheart, this is all just stuff. Plates bought in Argos the day I move din because I had to have something to eat off, boxes I kept in the bottom of the wardrobe because I never bothered to throw them out, bedding that my aunt gave me because my mother told her I was too busy to even take the time to buy a spare set and had to wash and dry the bedding in one day and put it back on again. It's just stuff nothing special or important. There are things we'll take to the house, important things, my music, my box of family photos, my vinyl records and DVDs but all this stuff is not important.
"Ok but I want you to know that I want anything important coming with you I want you to feel like it's our home not just mine that you happen to be living in." Jean smiled as he pulled her into his arms.
"It is my home already, it feels like my home already because the most important thing in my life is already there. You. You are the most important thing in my life and wherever we are, whatever our surroundings I'll always be at home when I'm with you." He said quietly kissing her gently as Archie yelped at their feet and he bent down and picked him up. "And you too little guy."
"Yeah even if he is heading for being a hardened criminal." Jean laughed leaving the two men in her life to have a discussion about clothing theft as she went back to what she'd been doing feeling much happier about throwing out what she already knew was rubbish but needed him to reassure her anyway.