Pupzor and Mac lay on the living room floor of Toby and Justine's apartment; with no one to entertain them, they had resorted to sleeping most of the day until a friend (usually Sean) arrived to walk and feed them. There was a noise coming from outside and Mac lifted his head and looked towards the front door. A few days before, both dogs would have jumped up and been wary of what was on the other side due to their ordeal with Justine's attackers, but they had recovered quickly and now simply expected to see Sean.
There was a click and the front door opened to reveal, not Sean, but Toby and Justine. Pupzor leaped up and hurtled towards the two followed by Mac excitedly. Quickly, Toby stood in front of Justine and took the brunt of the dogs force, protecting Justine. She looked far better than she had done a few days earlier. The stitches on her head were obscured by her hair, and the black eye was now a faint green and yellow as oppose to the previous dark purple. Justine still looked rough, but to Toby who had seen her on that night, she looked a million times better, despite the stitches, bruises and cast on her arm.
"Hey guys! You miss us?" Toby asked and was answered by the high-pitched yelps coming from the dogs as they tried to get past him to see Justine. "Oh so you missed Mom then?" he smiled, pretending to be offended.
"Hello babies" Justine cooed "I can't pet you unless you calm down. Broken ribs and wrist plus jumping dogs does not work out" as if on command, the two dogs stopped barking and, tails still wagging violently, stood still at Toby's feet. He allowed them past and they began brushing up against Justine's legs, but not jumping up as they had been at Toby.
"She said calm down, not act like cats" Toby laughed, closing the front door and bringing in Justine's bags.
Mac and Pupzor followed Justine to the sofa and watched carefully as she slowly lowered herself down onto it. "I'm okay guys" she said, stroking their heads.
"They've been worried about you I think. Sean said they didn't want to go out on walks" he came and sat down next to her, carefully wrapping his arm around her waist. Justine cuddled into Toby and rested her hear on his chest; Toby kissed the top of her head.
"They were probably scared. I would be too if I had been locked in a dumpster"
"Well, you were attacked. Are you scared?" Toby asked, concern apparent in his voice.
"I'm glad to be home" she said, ignoring the question and shifting awkwardly to stroke Mac's head.
"Me too. I'm glad you're okay" he smiled, leaving the subject of her being scared, sensing she did not want to talk about it.
"Yeah. I feel much better here than in that horrible hospital bed. I never want to be there ever again." Justine shuddered at the thought of the hospital.
"I've been thinking" Toby started.
"Oh dear, that's never good" Justine joked.
"How attached are you to this apartment?" Toby asked.
Justine sat up and looked at him in confusion. "Why?"
"It's just that, now that the dogs are getting bigger and we have a lot of stuff, I think we might need a bigger place"
Justine seemed to consider this, looking around the small room slowly before finding herself looking back at Toby. "Hmm, I think you might be right. We are running out of plugs and I could do with a studio"
"Yeah. That IKEA green screen can't really contain your dancing. So you agree? We should move?" Toby asked.
"This apartment was never meant to be permanent. I think we need a house"
"A house? Like, rent a house" Toby clarified.
"Well I don't want a mortgage" Justine laughed as relief flooded over Toby's face. "Toby, I've never even bought a refrigerator before, how do you think I would cope with a mortgage?"
He laughed along with her before suddenly becoming serious. "This changes everything; we might have to purchase a fridge, and furniture."
"Oh God. We're grown-ups now, aren't we?" Justine said, just as serious as Toby.
"No! Not until we buy a fridge!"