Piper and Alex are driving down the road one night. Rain pouring down, so dark, fall evening.

Something runs out form the woods maybe 30 feet in front of them and Alex hits the brakes.

"Jesus Christ!" she says, the car sliding to a stop. She looks over at Piper who is wide eyed, hands over her heart. "Babe, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. You?"

"Yeah. What the fuck is that?" Alex says, looking back at whatever was just ahead of the car. It's small, whatever it is, and they came very close to hitting it.

"I don't know. Get out and look." Piper says nervously, trying to look over the hood of the car.

"Why do I have to be the one who goes out in the dark, when it's raining to see what's in the road?"

"Aw, is big bad Alex Vause scared" Piper teases her, nudging her arm to make her go and look.

"I'm not scared it's just raining. I don't want to."

"Alex Vause. You get out and see what you almost just hit." Piper says, trying to sound as serious as possible, while trying not to laugh at how scared of the dark her wife really is.

"Fine. But if whatever it is tries to kill me, you're to blame. Okay?" and she opens the door.

She leaves it cracked, so she can talk to Piper, grabbing an umbrella, not to keep the rain off of her, but as a weapon, because she's convinced whatever is will attack her.

"Well what is it?" Piper says

"It's…well, I can't really, it ran to your side." Alex says, using her phone to try and see better. "Oh God. Seriously?" Alex says, finally seeing what she almost hit

"Al, what is it?" Piper says nervously

Alex walks back to the driver's side door, and uses her foot to open the door.

"It's a fucking dog", she says, showing off the little black dripping wet hairball to Piper.

The blonde squeals, "Aw, Al, it's not just a dog, it's a puppy. Oh, come here. It's okay." She says, taking the little guy, and putting him in her lap.

Alex gets in, tossing the umbrella in the back, and looking at Piper.

"Aw, Al, he's terrified. Did that mean lady scare you with her car and her umbrella?" Piper says, rubbing his ears, and talking to him like it's a baby.

"Oh come on. Pipes, what the hell. It just ran out. What the hell are we gonna do with it?" Alex asks, looking at him sitting there in Piper's lap.

"Al, he's soaking wet, he's probably freezing, and he's hungry."

"No. No way. We are not—" Alex says, gripping the steering wheel

"Al, you almost killed him! It's the least we could do. Right little guy? You want to come home with us." She says, and the little thing lights up, licking her fingers.

"Only for the night. He is not staying." Alex warns, staring the car, and driving the rest of the way home.

"Aw, the mean lady says you can't stay." She lifts him up, pretending to speak for him, "Please Miss. Let me come live with you. You almost killed me, and I have nowhere else to go."

"Tough luck kid. I've got 3 kids to take care of already, and the last thing I need is a four legged hellion running around tearing things up." She says, eyes glued to the road.

They get home, and Piper puts the little puppy down. He's small, a little lab puppy, can't be more than 7 or 8 weeks old. Cute as a button.

"Nope. In the garage, Pipes. It is not staying in the house." Alex says, watching it run down the hall.

"Why not?" Piper asks, scooping the little dog up.

"Because it'll piss everywhere, and I don't want to have to get the carpets cleaned or anything."

"Fine. But he's getting a bath first, and then I'll feed him and take him out to the garage."

"Fine." Alex says

"Come on little man. Let's go get you cleaned up."

Alex walks in to Piper singing to the little puppy in the bath tub. He's sitting there, and she sees how dark the water is, knowing he must've been just filthy. Ew. What if he has fleas. Oh God.

Alex is standing in the door way, watching Piper with him. He is kind of cute. The floppy ears, the big eyes. But no way. He isn't staying. Dogs are a lot of work and Alex has too much to handle already.

Piper picks him up, using a towel to dry him off, and carries him to the kitchen.

"What do you think he can eat?" Piper asks, looking through the fridge, with the squirming puppy in her arms.

"I don't know. We don't have any dog food." Alex says

"I guess I can cook some chicken for him. I'll just google something." She says. "Here, hold him while I figure out what to feed him." And she passes him to Alex

He's pretty freaking cute. He gnaws on Alex's fingers, and she flicks him on the nose, and he just looks at her.

"That hurts, you little shit." She says, and he just stares.

Piper cooks some chicken, and adds a little rice from leftovers to a small bowl, and the little guy devours it.

"Jesus, it eats better than we do. Fresh chicken and rice." Alex laughs

"Oh come on. He's hard a rough life. A good meal will help.

"Okay, take him out, and then put him in the garage." Alex says "I'm going to bed." She says, kissing Piper goodnight, and heading to their room.

"Alright, come on, let's go outside for a few minutes."

He runs in the darkness, luckily it stopped raining. He's got so much energy. Piper takes him to the garage, picking up everything her could chew on or get into, and puts him down. Playing tug of war with an old rag hanging up. She tries to tire him out, and eventually, he is all played out, and lays down.

She quietly gets up, backing up to the garage door, opening it.

"Goodnight Mr. Puppy." She quietly says, closing the door.

She crawls in bed next to Alex, who is already fast asleep. She inhales when Piper settles in next to her, turning, and pulling her into her front, to be her little spoon.

Alex sleepily asks, "In the garage, right?"

"Mhmm. He's okay."

"Good." Alex mumbles, and she falls back to sleep.

A couple of hours later, and Alex wakes up to a noise. She hasn't woken up to this type of noise in a very long time. Crying. She sits up. Baby is crying. No wait, there aren't any babies in the house. Haven't been for years. Kids. Are the kids crying? No. Kids are at a friends for a sleepover.

"What the hell?" she says, reaching for her glasses

"3:47 am." The clock reads

"What the hell is that noise?" she mumbles, getting gout of bed, and hearing the cry again. "Oh that fucking dog." She grumbles, trudging down the hall to the garage.

She opens it, and he's sitting in the middle of the floor, just staring at her.
"What the fuck, man? People are trying to sleep." She says, walking down the stairs to the cool concrete.

The little puppy runs to her, crashing into her ankles. She picks him up by his front legs, holding him out in front of her. "What? What do you need?"

He wiggles around.

"Do you need to go out? What?" She walks him outside, setting him down in the grass.

He looks at her, as if telling her that he's kind of afraid.

"What too dark for you, kid?" She asks. He barks back at her. "Alright, fine. I'll go with you." She slips on her shoes, and walks in the year with him.

He walks a few feet ahead until he finds a good place to pop a squat, and then he comes running back to Alex.

"Better?" she asks, and turns to the house, having him run to keep up with her long stride.

He takes him back to the garage, and closes the door.

Wailing.

"Jesus, man. You're going to wake the whole neighborhood up with your crying." She says, as she opens the door. He immediately shuts up, and wags his tail.

It's chilly in the garage, and he's little, and she feels a little bad.

"Fine. You can come inside, but you have to stay in the living room." She says, picking him up, and setting him inside.

She sits on the floor, and he scampers over to her. Laying next to her, watching her expression.

"You have got a serious staring problem." She says, and he wags his tail.

He pets him, and he rolls on his back, floppy ears splaying across the floor. "I guess you're pretty cute. For a dog." She says, and he wiggles. She smiles, and he inches closer. She lays down, and he comes and settles in next to her. "Keep a foot of distance, man." She says, and he lays still.

At some point she falls asleep, petting the little dog who is also taken by exhaustion.

Piper gets up. No Alex in the bed. She walks out to the garage, and opens the door.

She looks. No puppy. "Shit. Shit. Where the hell did he—" she stops she sees Alex's arm from in front of the couch.

She creeps quietly to the back of the couch to see Alex, her no nonsense, badass, tough as nails, wife, laying on the floor of the living room floor. Best of all, the dog who wasn't allowed anywhere in the house, and wasn't staying here is curled up against her, both fast asleep.

She goes and grabs her phone, taking a picture.

She sits in front of them, smiling, and clears her throat.

"Alex Vause. You have some explaining to do." Piper laughs, and the little puppy wiggles awake, tail wagging a mile a minute.

Alex wakes up, realizing what happened. "Shit."

"Yeah, you did it. Mrs. Don't let him in the house. He's disgusting." Piper laughs.

"Oh shut up. He was crying, and I didn't want to wake you up." She says, fixing her glasses.

"So, I guess we'll go and take him to the humane society in a little bit." Piper says, rubbing the little dog's ears.

"Yeah. Well, maybe we can wait until the kids get back. So they can see him." Alex says, smiling at him

"You know if they see him that they are going to be devastated when he leaves." Piper says, looking at Alex

"Well, you know. He isn't that bad. Maybe he can just stay." Alex says

Piper smiles big, grabbing Alex's hand and pulling her to her lips.

It's a damn good kiss.

"What was that for?" Alex asks, smiling as she pulls away

"Because you are such a softy, and you said we can keep him." Piper giggles

"I am not a softy. And he's nice. The kids will like him." She says, rolling him over to scratch his belly.

"Oh, and it has nothing to do with you wanting to keep him for yourself?" Piper teases

Alex snorts, "Oh of course not. It's for the kids."

"Yeah, okay." Piper says sarcastically.

Alex whispers to the little puppy laying on the floor, "Well maybe I like you a little bit." she smiles. And he wiggles all over the place, barking a little.

Ernest Hemingway. Piper's favorite author. That's the puppy's full name, but they call him Ernie for short. The kids love him, and absolutely lose their minds when the come home and see him playing with Piper in the backyard. He fits in well with them. Piper has a running buddy now, the kids have a dog, which all kids should have growing up, and Alex has a friend, who lays at the foot of her side of the bed, and who she secretly gives little snacks when nobody is looking.

A/N: I'm sorry for making you wait 2 months for an update. I am so, so, so terrible sorry. The motivation to write for this story just hasn't been there, and I can only apologize, because you lovely readers don't deserve this.

I wrote this in an hour because I updated my other fic, and I got a quest review on this story saying they missed it, so I knew I had to give you all something, because you have been patient enough.

I hope you all enjoyed it, and again I am so sorry. I'm hoping that there will be lots of news ideas after I binge season 3 in a month. Thanks for sticking with this. Please review, PM, whatever you would like. Yell at me for not updating, let me know what you think about this chapter. Anything. I'd love to hear. Thanks again, you are all the best!