This was supposed to be a oneshot posted on Saturday, but I completely ran out of time to get it done and I realised I wanted to focus more on Ange and Dom's relationship, so it's now a two-parter- part II will hopefully be coming next week! I know it's been forever since I uploaded, RL stuff has been quite intense but I should have more free time for the next few months at least, so look out for more Godards content soon!

I know canon Chloe's birthday is in December, but by the time that was revealed onscreen I'd already planned my fanfiction universe timeline around her birthday being 16 May, so I've stuck with that for all my stories.

I feel like I've forgotten how to write atm, so if you enjoy this (or you have any feedback!) it would be so so appreciated :)

-IseultLaBelle x

Saturday 15th May, 2021

Part I

"That's the third time now, Mum!" Chloe shouts from downstairs, as the shrill wailing of Ange's mobile ringtone interrupts the peace and solitude of their first shared night off work in a fortnight. "It's Dom again! Are you sure you don't want me to answer it for you? He clearly wants you for something, he's not usually this persistent, is he…"

"No, no, leave it, sweetheart!" Ange shouts back, panicked. "Leave it, I'm coming down…."

"It's going to ring out, though, Mum!" Chloe protests. "Why don't I just answer it and tell him you're…"

"That's fine! That's fine, let it ring out!" Ange calls urgently, frantically shoves the birthday presents she's in the middle of wrapping back into the bottom of her wardrobe, out of sight. "I'll be down in a minute!"

Perhaps it would have been easier to have simply banned her daughter from entering her bedroom for the evening. But despite having her own room now she's moved in- despite having had her own room at Ange's house since long before she moved in at Christmas, come to that- Chloe has hardly spent a night in her own bed since Cameron Dunn's arrest, and the master bedroom is so full of her possessions now that leaving her unwrapped birthday presents on full display in there had seemed like a recipe for disaster, caused Ange to opt for slipping away upstairs while her daughter was suitably preoccupied to wrap her birthday presents instead.

If only she'd thought to bring her phone upstairs with her.

"Something might have happened though!" Chloe worries, apparently oblivious, won't let it go. "He might be having problems with his stoma again, or…"

"No, it's alright! It's alright sweetheart… I think I know what it's about!" Ange covers carefully, pulls her bedroom door shut behind her, races down the stairs just as her mobile falls silent. "It's alright, don't worry! It's nothing bad… have you got my phone?" she asks as she rushes into the kitchen, takes in her daughter sat at the island, mess of acrylic paints and brushes and discarded tissues and newspaper sheets and god only knows what else strewn out in front of her. "You're not getting paint on my nice new island worktop?"

"No," Chloe pouts, rolling her eyes. "That's what the newspaper's for, give me some credit!"

"Alright." She frowns suspiciously, peers. "What is it you're doing?"

"Painting," says Chloe. "It's going to be Fairy Glen, see? On Skye. I'm using a photo I took when I was staying with Seanmhair last summer, look…"

"How do you have the energy to do that when you've just got home from pulling a double? I haven't even fed you yet!"

"Because it's relaxing! I've just come off, what, my tenth double shift since Nicky quit? Maybe? Eleventh? I don't even know, I'm so tired lost count," Chloe admits, yawns loudly. "And it's like a war zone up on Darwin, running on as few staff as we have. It's almost worse than when I was on AAU with you last spring, to be honest. I need to do something like this tonight so I can unwind properly, or I'm going to be wide awake at 2am again."

"You know, when I need to unwind, I tend to just collapse on the sofa in front of a good boxset."

"That's so boring," Chloe dismisses. "I like to be doing something, you know?"

"Do you actually understand what 'unwind' means?"

"Are you actually going to call my brother back and check he's okay?" Chloe retorts back, playing along with her, thoroughly at ease with their dynamic, and yet she holds Ange's phone out for her to take all the same. "You know, given he's having to get his head around living with a stoma for the second time…"

"Awwww."

"Hmm?"

"You being such a lovely concerned sister." Ange smiles fondly. "I'm so glad you two have such a strong bond now. Have you… have you spoken to Dom today?" she panics suddenly.

Chloe frowns. "Not really. I had a bit of a strange text from him earlier, he just said he was having the weekend from hell and he'd tell me about it when he comes over tomorrow… do you think…"

"He's fine," Ange covers quickly. "He's fine, I'm sure he's fine. You know what he's like…"

"Drama queen of the century?" Chloe offers up helpfully.

"Exactly. He'll be fine, it'll be something ridiculously minor. Probably just… I don't know. He's probably just dropped his phone down the toilet again, or something…"

"He wouldn't be calling you then, though, would he?"

"True…"

"Is something going on?" Chloe asks suspiciously now, watches her mother for a reaction.

"What makes you ask that?" Too-late, she recognises the unusually high pitch to her own voice as she shuts her daughter dawn- attempts to, at least, does a truly terrible job of it.

"Because you're being all weird, Mum."

"I'm not! You're just tired, sweetheart, that's all," Ange tries, moves to stand behind her daughter sat on the breakfast bar stool, strokes her hair, fussing. "I think you're just tired- and I'm not surprised, after the week you've had. The month you've had, actually. Is there any news on the new clinical lead, by the way? And the new F2s and the new registrars, come to that…"

Chloe shakes her head wearily. "They're interviewing next week, apparently. So pretty much just Kian, the locums and me holding everything together until then. And running on about six hours sleep between the lot of us."

"You sure you don't want me to have a word with Hanssen for you?" Ange offers, wraps her arms around Chloe protectively from behind. "Because I can. I can tell him you're running yourself into the ground and you need…"

"Absolutely not, Mum," Chloe insists, adamant, uncompromising. "Absolutely not, I'm not five."

"No, you're going to be my beautiful, grown-up thirty-one-year-old in a few hours," Ange agrees. "How did that happen, hey? It feels like only yesterday

"Are you going to go and check my brother hasn't tried a DIY stoma reversal now?"

"I probably should, shouldn't I? Alright, then. Hopefully I won't be long. How do you feel about ordering in sushi for dinner tonight?" Ange offers, picking up her phone from the kitchen island, dangerously close to Chloe's mess of acrylics on newspaper. "You know, as it's your birthday tomorrow. Your brother vetoed Yo Sushi for lunch."

"Nah, I wouldn't have suggested Yo Sushi for lunch tomorrow anyway. It's not really fair on Nicky to take her somewhere she can't eat half the menu, is it? I'm quite happy with afternoon tea. Totally up for sushi tonight, though."

"That's settled then. Sushi it is. And that saves me having to think about cooking after I've dealt with Dom. You want to dig the menu out and choose while I call him back?" Ange suggests, casually as she can manage, trying to distract her.

"You sure?" Chloe raises her eyebrows. "You're really going to let me pick for both of us?"

She nods, plays with her daughter's ponytail absentmindedly- and she's fussing over her, Ange knows she is, but she's always a little overprotective on this day every single year, can't quite get her head around where the time has gone, how she's mere hours away from having a thirty-four year old and a thirty-one year old when it feels like only yesterday that she was holding Chloe in her arms, tiny, helpless, utterly dependent on her. "I'll trust you," she shrugs. "I'm going on the basis that you know what I like."

"Teriyaki burger and fries?"

"You've got it. And I'll try a couple of whatever you order, if it makes you happy. Just as long as it's not raw fish."

"Yasai rolls?"

"Is that a raw fish-free zone?"

"Uh huh."

"Alright. Alright, as it's your birthday weekend, I suppose I can cope with that. I'm going to go call Dom, then," Ange tells her, squeezes her shoulder protectively as she slips past her back into the hallway. "You want to write down what you want for me, and then I'll put the order in when I'm off the phone?"

"I can order it, Mum…"

"No, no, I'm paying! It's your birthday…"

"Not until tomorrow…"

"I know! But I have a beautiful, grown-up daughter and she grew up to be the kindest, most hard-working, intelligent person I know, even though I had her when I was a seventeen-year-old high school dropout off my face on all sorts. And she's the best thing I ever did, and I couldn't be prouder of her if I tried…"

"Mum, stop…"

"So I think I can buy her sushi," Ange finishes. "I won't be long, okay?"

"There's no rush, Mum," Chloe insists. "If Dom needs you…"

"Nah, I bet he's fine. He's probably just having a bit of a vain moment over his stoma again, I'll sort him out. Go on, then. We can order as much as you like, okay?"

"Why are you obsessed with feeding me?"

"Because you don't eat enough! Make me a list of whatever you want, sweetheart, I mean it. It doesn't matter if you can't eat it all when it arrives, you can take it into work for your lunch on Monday, can't you?"

Her mobile begins to ring again loudly.

"Go, Mum." Chloe rolls her eyes.

"Alright! Alright, I'm going!" Ange surrenders. "I'm going!"

"Why are you going upstairs to talk to Dom?" Chloe shouts after her suspiciously.

"Because I am! Hi," Ange whispers, answers the call only once she's safely up onto the landing, a little more out of earshot. "You can't keep calling, okay? Chloe's starting to realise something's…"

"I can't do this anymore," Dom declares, cuts her off before she can finish. "The deal's off, I can't do this."

She bites her lip, struggling not to laugh. "You realise you've said that about five times an hour since we picked the poor wee thing up from the rescue centre? What's she done now?"

"Barked her way through RuPaul's Drag Race like the little monster she is," says Dom melodramatically. "She's totally meant to end up with Chloe, though…."

"Oh?"

"Well, I accidentally flipped the TV onto BBC Alba trying to wrestle the remote back off her when she decided to put that in her mouth too, didn't I? And she loved that. It was freaky, it was like she was hypnotised by all the weird fairyland language…"

"Gallic?" Ange laughs, amused.

"That's the one. Whined when I turned it off until I put it back on for her, and everything."

"Seriously?"

"Yep. She definitely thinks she's Scottish. But she's a pain in the backside," Dom complains loudly. "A destructive pain in the backside. She's just grabbed all my brand-new Calvin Klein boxer shorts off my clothes airer and ripped them to shreds with her sharp little shark teeth. Just the Calvin Klein ones. She left the Tesco own-brand ones with the holes in them and the dodgy elastic, because she would, wouldn't she?"

"I mean," Ange shrugs. "At least she's got good taste…"

"Yeah, expensive taste!"

"I did warn you the SSPCA said she's a chewer!"

"RSPCA, Mum, please. You're not in Scotland now."

"Oh, you know what I mean. It's your own fault for leaving them where she can get at them! I left you with plenty of chew toys for her…"

"Yeah, she's not interested in those. Only my designer underpants, and my new sofa throw. And my fingers."

"Well, she's only a wee baby, isn't she?"

"A wee baby?" Dom repeats, incredulous. "A wee baby? Is that what you're calling her? She's bloody massive! When you said you'd reserved Chloe a puppy I thought that meant she was going to be small…"

"She is!" Ange argues. "I carried her out of the rescue centre under one arm, when I collected her. I thought she was ever so sweet…"

"You would, you haven't tried living with her yet! I'm serious, Ange," Dom moans. "I need you to come and take this thing away before I…"

"You can't back out now! It's only a few more hours, Dominic!" Ange pleads with him, panicked, her carefully-thought-out plan falling apart prematurely. "A few more hours, and then you can bring her round here and Chloe's going to love you forever, you're about to win every best big brother award under the sun for this. It's only a few more hours…"

"A few more hours? It's not only a few more hours, it's overnight!" Dom protests. "That's why I can't do this anymore! I need my beauty sleep, don't I? You know, recovering from major surgery, and all that. Again. I need my beauty sleep, how am I meant to get that tonight knowing there's a vicious monster in my flat destroying everything in sight…"

"Because she can sleep in her crate! She's going to be sleeping in her crate after tonight anyway, I'm crating her at night once she's living in my house…"

"No, you're not," Dom dismisses, mock-irate. "Come off it, Mum, we both know she's going to be sleeping in Chlo's bed."

"She will not…"

"She will! She absolutely will, you know how I know? Because you don't know how to say no to Chloe. Chloe's totally the favourite child…"

"No, she's not…"

"She is, or you wouldn't be making me live with a fluffy shark in the name of surprising her for her birthday!"

There's faint panting on the other end of the phoneline now, whining, and Dom moans in disgust. "See? She's harassing me, she's…"

"Oh, give over!" Ange laughs. "She's not harassing you! She's probably just trying to make friends with her Uncle Dom…"

"Nah, I don't like the way she's looking at me. You're just a wolf, aren't you?" Dom mutters. "You're just a glorified wolf with stupid floppy ears."

"Oi, there's nothing wrong with her ears!"

"They're too big for her! Same as her paws. Are you sure she's a lurcher?" Dom asks now. "Because she looks more like a massive sausage dog crossed with a new born foal…"

"The RSPCA said that's pretty normal for lurcher puppies…"

"Nah, there's definitely something suspicious about her," Dom insists sceptically. "She keeps looking at me like she wants to eat me like the vicious wolf she is…"

"Don't be ridiculous, she wouldn't hurt a fly. Come on, Dominic, it's only for one night," Ange tries. "You can bring her over first thing tomorrow morning, okay? Like, crack of dawn, five am first thing. That's fine…"

Dom scoffs. "Have you met my sister? You seriously think you're getting Chloe out of bed at 5am on her birthday when she's been pulling doubles all week to compensate for the mass staffing exodus on Darwin…"

"I will when she realises why! This is all she's wanted for her birthday since we lost Wilbur when she was in med school, she's going to be stupidly excited. And I swear she's got a dog radar. Slightest hint of a puppy whimper and she'll be down the stairs straight away, you'll see."

"She'd better," says Dom sulkily. "If she doesn't, I'm coming upstairs and dumping her needy monster in her bed with her. She's all Chloe's as of tomorrow…"

"I don't think Chloe will object to any part of that plan. Waking up to a puppy in her bed and finding out she gets to keep it, that's going to go down in history as her best birthday ever…"

"I bet she'd be just as ecstatic becoming a dog mum in about ten minutes…"

"No, no, no, you can't ruin the surprise!" Ange argues. "Come on, Dom. She's only eight weeks, she's probably due a nap any minute now. You can stick her in her crate when she falls asleep and then you'll get a good hour or so of peace, and then she probably won't be awake for long before it's her bedtime…"

"I still don't understand why you couldn't just surprise Chloe a day early," Dom complains. "If the RSPCA wanted her gone by five, that's a sign that she's destined to meet her mum today, surely…"

"But it's Chloe's birthday tomorrow! And can you imagine her face tomorrow morning when she answers the door to you and realises we've got her a Sadie?

"Is that a technical term?"

"A Sadie? Absolutely. I mean, like you say, the RSPCA think she might be a cross between a lurcher and something they haven't managed to identify..."

"Isn't a lurcher a crossbreed already?"

"I have no idea. I just put my name down on the waiting list to adopt a puppy, I'm as out of my depth as you are here."

"Except you're not, because you're not the one having to live with her!"

"Yet!"

"Yeah, but Chlo's going to do everything with her, that's not the same thing," Dom sulks. "You're not going to have to worry about her pissing all over the floor every time you turn your back for half a second…"

"I did warn you! I made it perfectly clear, didn't I, when you agreed to do this for me. I said she wouldn't be fully house trained just yet, and you still said you'd have her until Chloe's birthday…"

"Because you didn't exactly give me much choice…"

"Mum?" Chloe calls up the stairs loudly. "Mum, is everything okay?"

"See?" Ange hisses. "You can't keep calling with all your Sadie complaints, Chloe's getting suspicious! Everything's fine, sweetheart!" she shouts back down to her youngest child. "Everything's fine, I'll be down in a minute…"

"You sure you don't want me to just go ahead and order?" Chloe shouts. "Mum? Because I honestly don't mind…"

"No, it's alright! It's alright, I'm on my way down! Right, I've got to go," Ange says firmly, turns her attention back to her son on the other end of the phone. "I've got to go, I promised Chloe I'd order in sushi…"

"Ewww."

"Quite. See, it could be worse! At least your kitchen isn't about to stink of raw fish…"

"I'd take the raw fish stench over wet puppy."

"You're such a drama queen. Just until tomorrow morning, alright?" Ange bargains. "Bring her round as early as you want, I don't mind. And then I promise I'll never ask you to puppy sit ever again…"

"No, not good enough," Dom argues. "Dog sit. Not just puppy sit, dog sit. We're not miraculously becoming besties when she's a fully-grown wolf. I'm never looking after her for you again full-stop, you or Chloe…"

"Alright! Alright, and you never, ever have to look after Sadie again," Ange promises. "I've got to go, Dom. I'll talk to you later, okay? Don't let her get to you…"

"She's worse than Chloe in her annoying little sister phases…"

"Bye, Dom." Ange rolls her eyes. "I owe you."