It's almost midnight! I'm sitting here waiting to post this chapter (I try and post one a day).On Saturdays and Sundays, I try to post them in the wee hours of the morning, not because I have no life...Okay, because I have no life, but also, it saves me from having to go on the computer tomorrow, therefore giving me time to have a life. Oh! My logic astounds me! Oh right, sending out my thankyou's. Thanks to darkdestiny2000 for reviewing, yourcomments made me laugh with "no pun intended" andI wasthrilledthat you said my story rocks. To everyone else, thnaks again for reading these chapters.I know I've said it a million times before, but you can never give enough thanks.I've finally incorporated a love interest in this chapter for two characters. I hope I do a good job, so let me know what you think. So I hope you all enjoy this chapter (I know I've said that a million times as well, but now it's a million and one), and here it is, at exactly 12:00am!

Puppy Love

"Jack!" Gunner thought as she nudged him. He was sitting on the couch watching television. Gunner was bored and wanted to go for a walk. "Come on!" the dog barked impatiently and this time nudged him with more force. "Shhh! Quiet Gunner. It's getting to the good part." Gunner turned towards the box. She stared at it. She figured it was going to move. All it ever did was sit there and all the boys just loved watching it. The dog believed she was much more interesting than that. She turned back to Jack expectantly with a look on her face that seemed to say "I thought you said this was gonna be good?" Jack laughed and ruffled her fur, but then turned all of his attention back to the show. That was it. Gunner would not be shown up by a wooden box. She crawled behind the television and began pulling at the cord that plugged into the wall. She had seen Evelyn do this numerous times to get the boys' attention.

Pop. "YES!" thought Gunner as the cord came out. "Gunner!" Angel said from the chair, "What in the world are you doing!" "Jack did you take Gunner for a walk?" Bobby questioned from the kitchen with a smirk. Jack sighed, "Not yet." Walking Gunner had been dubbed unto Jack. Bobby said it helped him get exercise for his leg and heal the gunshot wounds, but Jack knew it was mostly because Bobby was too lazy to do it himself anyway. There was no arguing with Bobby though. He put so much effort into trying to get people to do things for him, that Jack began to believe that if Bobby did them for himself it would be less work! It also didn't help that he was hung over. Christmas and New Years had just went by and it had been the first time they had all been together for it in awhile. Gunner loved the feeling of waking up on Christmas and spending it with her family. It was how it should be. She had also enjoyed New Years because it involved lots of yelling and best wishes for the new year. Gunner had wished they could all stay together forever. Anyway, New Years also meant lots of drinking, for Bobby anyway, and he was still feeling all the alcohol he had drank, so messing with him probably wasn't in anyone's best interest.

"Let's go!" Gunner whined, and jumped up onto the couch, pawing Jack with her foot. "Okay! Okay!" Jack finally said, "You win!" Gunner excitedly ran to the door, than remembered Jack still had a bit of a limp and went back for him.

As they walked down the street, Gunner felt a sense of pride helping Jack get better. She knew that if he just sat around waiting for his leg to heal it never would. As they neared the park, Jack reached into his pocket for the tennis ball. He looked down at Gunner. "You remember fetch don't ya girl?" "Remember!" She barked excitedly, "How could I forget!" "Don't over do it!" Jack warned her, "You're still healing too." Gunner barley heard him. Her bandages were off and she felt fine! All she wanted to do was run. He threw the ball and Gunner dove after it. She jumped and caught it in mid-air. "Girl got game!" Jack laughed. "Oh yeah!" Gunner thought. She knew she had skill. She then decided to play tug-o-war. After ten minutes, she let Jack win. He had gotten better at these games too. He was able to throw farther than she remembered. As she chased after the ball, she ran right into another dog. She looked up into the eyes of the most handsome dog she'd ever seen. The German Shepard had a smirk on his face. "Nice one." He jabbed. Gunner immediately got over his good looks and decided that she was going all out Mercer on him. "I'm not the one who ran into the speeding path of a ball you klutz!" She blurted out, not caring that she had run into him, and pushing him over. How dare he try and make fun of her. "Oh, okay, so ya wanna play, huh?" The male dog replied, getting up and attempting to tackle her. A Mercer didn't go down easy though and Gunner took him by surprise and ended up knocking him over again. At this, the other dog leapt up, grabbed Gunner's ball and took off in the other direction. By now, Jack was approaching Gunner, but she took off after the other dog. How dare he rob her!

Gunner could hear her name being called, but she wouldn't go back to Jack without first fetching the ball. That was the game, so she figured she wouldn't be in trouble. The thief had run over to a bench, where a pretty young lady, with long brown hair and blond streaks sat reading a magazine. "Tyler!" the woman said as she scolded the dog. "How could you just run off like that? Do I need to get you a leash?" Tyler bowed his head in embarrassment and dropped the ball at her feet. Gunner thought this was kind of cute, but decided she needed to stay focused. She approached the two, and though the woman looked surprised, she did not look afraid. She saw Gunner eyeing the ball and put two and two together. "Tyler! Did you steal too!" Tyler gave her puppy eyes. "Darn it!" Thought Gunner, "Those always worked on humans!"

"Gunner!" Came a voice from behind her. She turned around and saw Jack limping to try and catch her. "Oops." Gunner thought. "Where do you think we are? The Olympics? You can't run any races yet, you just got out of the hospital!" He looked up and saw the girl and immediately his eyes went a bit wider and he seemed at a lost for words. "Is she your dog?" The female asked quietly, also seeming a bit shy about the situation. "Yeah." Jack managed to find his tongue. "Sorry if she bothered you. She doesn't usually run off." "Oh no! It's fine!" The young girl replied. "I think she was playing with Tyler." She said referring to the dog hiding behind her legs. For a big dog who acted tough, he sure was a baby with his owner, thought Gunner. She kind of liked this soft side of him though. "Wait a minute!" Gunner thought. "Playing! We were doing no such thing! I was beating him up for being a jerk." She was trying to inform Jack, but all his attention had gone to the girl. "I'm Elizabeth, by the way." She said, handing Jack the tennis ball. "Thanks. I'm Gunner." "Uhh!" thought Gunner. "I mean I'm Jack. She's Gunner." Jack corrected himself pointing to the dog. "No, you're crazy!" Thought Gunner, "How could he not even remember his own name!" Than Gunner realized it. Jack liked her! She could see it if she looked closer. He was smiling nervously and was fiddling with the tennis ball. Why couldn't she notice it before? She was tackled over and looked up into Tyler's eyes. "What's up good lookin'?" He said. "Jerk." She replied simply. If he tackled her one more time…

"So I guess I'll see you around?" Elizabeth asked, before beginning to pick up her magazine. "Ya, definately." Jack replied. "Do you see what I see?" Tyler asked with a smirk. Even though she hated agreeing with this, animal, she had to nod. "I have an idea!" Tyler said excitedly, his ears perking up (in the most adorable way! Focus Gunner. Focus!). "I'll go home with Jack and you with Elizabeth!" "What will that accomplish?" Gunner asked, not wanting to follow his plan. "They'll have to switch us back sometime and then they'll see each other again!" Tyler said as if it was obvious. "Are you crazy!" Gunner asked, "Like Jack won't realize it's not me." "He will be so love struck he won't realize for at least a block!" Gunner looked over. Jack did seem kind of happy with her and he was laughing. "How long do we keep it up?" Gunner asked giving in. "As long as possible!" the other dog replied with a sense of adventure. Tyler ran up to Jack and he was right. Jack had his eyes fully concentrated on Elizabeth and didn't even notice that it wasn't Gunner. She didn't really feel bad, she was going to have to fool Elizabeth too, and Jack expected her to stay with him. She hoped he wouldn't be mad. She made her way over to Elizabeth and hid behind her legs like she had seen Tyler do. "Goodbye." Elizabeth said before turning away. "Later!" Jack returned the farewell and started to walk off. "Take care of my crib!" Tyler called back jokingly. "Just because I agreed to this plan doesn't mean I'm going to be all nice to you, or that I like you!" Gunner retorted. "Too bad." The male dog responded, "cause I'm kinda falling for you." Gunner watched him walk away stunned. She totally understood why Jack didn't realize she was missing, for at that moment, she barely knew where she was!