Chapter 3: The Truth Hurts But Family Heals

Wow, I don't know where Doug ordered from but this is the best Chinese takeout I've tasted. Though that might've been from the fact that when my dad ever fed me which was rarely, it was a week old slice of pizza that he ordered for himself. Amongst the whole family of Dalmatians, I could see some of them even playing tug of war with their spring rolls like regular dogs would, which was a pretty funny sight.

"Man, I tell ya. Mr. Chincrest does some awesome fried rice!" Said a Dalmatian with a black hoodie, grey jeans and his most prominent feature, a pair of red headphones around his neck. "I know, right! I heard that all of the guys who work there all came from China so it really adds to the flavour!" Another Dalmatian replied, this one donning a dark blue vest with a white under-shirt and regular jeans.

As the size of my meal got smaller and smaller with every bite, more and more of the dread I had before came back. Why was it so hard to just speak up and tell them what happened? Didn't I want to make things awkward? Would they assume I was lying? Would they tell my dad and lead to him trying to hurt me? I don't know… I was getting so slowly distressed that I couldn't even eat anymore.

"Woah Cody, you okay, dude?" I looked over to see the Dalmatian with the headphones looking over to me. Even with the pressure, I just felt the need to lie. "N-No, it's nothing." I falsely reassured, trying to resume eating but I could just about notice Delilah having noticed me and was now whispering to Doug. Oh boy… Now I've really caused some problems.

After I was done eating, I leaned back a little on the chair trying to relax myself of what I'd have to face. Hopefully, they wouldn't find him and maybe take me to an orphanage. ...Or maybe they could-

"Cody?" After hearing that, I felt a gentle hand on my shoulder making me look up to see Delilah with a worried look on her face. "Would you mind coming with me? You're not in trouble. I just… want to talk something through with you, okay?" I had a really bad gut feeling in my stomach on what she meant by that but there was no chance in me refusing now, not after Delilah had been so good to me. Defeated, I got off from the chair and was lead out of the kitchen to another room in the house. Delilah then kneeled down to my level, still with that warm yet worried look on her face.

"Cody? ...Is there something bothering you? I think me and my family can tell from the look you had back there." My face creased in despair as I looked down, I was so scared with how she'd react if I told her. "Cody… You can tell me what's wrong. I've always made sure my children know this lesson: If you say what the matter is, it will get better." I felt Delilah's soft hand on my arm, which only made it harder and harder for me to not crack.

"I-I-I…" I clenched my eyes shut as it felt the familiar heat of new tears threatening to escape. Delilah could tell I was really despairing over this as she gently caressed my shoulders to try and calm me down. "Whatever it is, I won't think any different of you."

I couldn't hold it in anymore, the pressure from what I would have to suffer through if I didn't say anything combined with what could happen next. Finally, I mumbled it out.

"Mh dmd lmft mm..."

"...Sorry. Could you please speak up, Cody? I couldn't understand what you-"

"MY DAD LEFT ME, OKAY?! HE TOLD ME HE DIDN'T WANT TO DEAL WITH ME ANYMORE AND HE THREW ME OFF THE BRIDGE!" I finally snapped, no longer caring about the tears that flowed on my face, I just crumbled to my knees and sobbed hysterically, hands covering my face.

Dee Dee's POV

I watched mom take Cody away from the kitchen before sharing a worried look with Dizzy. We both knew that something was upsetting Cody and most of the others could see it. With our share of the takeout finished, we excused ourselves and sneakily followed mom and Cody before stopping at the doorway of the room they were in, standing close enough to hear so they wouldn't see us.

"Cody… You can tell me what's wrong. I've always made sure my children know this lesson: If you say what the matter is, it will get better." I heard mom in the room and she was right about that. Whenever me or Dizzy had a bad dream, we'd tell her and what the dream was about, and it always feel comforting to tell her.

"Whatever it is, I won't think any different of you." We heard mom again, whatever problem Cody had, it must be pretty bad. Actually, now that I think about it, I did notice Cody's face change whenever mom or Dylan mentioned his parents. Did something happen to them?

"...Sorry. Could you please speak up, Cody? I couldn't understand what you-"

"MY DAD LEFT ME, OKAY?! HE TOLD ME HE DIDN'T WANT TO DEAL WITH ME ANYMORE AND HE THREW ME OFF THE BRIDGE!"

Dizzy, the others and I had to hold back a gasp as we heard what Cody said. Was it really true? Did his dad really just dump him off the bridge? That was why he was unconscious? Me and Dizzy peeked into the doorway and found mom, hands covering her mouth and looking just as shocked as we were. Cody meanwhile was crying probably the hardest I've ever seen any human cry, I just wanted to hug the poor thing. Mom then slowly reached out to Cody and held him close, trying to comfort.

"Oh Cody… I didn't know..." I glanced back to see that Dylan and Dolly were with us, and judging by their faces, they had overheard as well.

"Oh man… That poor kid. Now I get why he was distant back in the treehouse." Dolly solemnly said with Dylan only nodding in agreement.

Delilah's POV

I didn't want to believe what I heard. I really hoped I had just heard wrong but the little boy sniffling in my arms set me straight. What kind of horrible person would just literally throw their own child away like that? There's no excuse to just neglect your own offspring. It all made sense now as to how he had looked when Dizzy and Dee Dee first found him. All I could do was gently rub his back until I remembered a tune I would use to hum in Dylan's ear whenever he was scared or upset as a little puppy. I leaned my muzzle near Cody's ear and hummed out gently to him. Honestly, the hug he was giving me was rather nice. I never knew humans could have such a gentle warm touch. Among my humming, I could hear his cries of anguish getting quieter and quieter, this was proof enough that what I was doing was working. I didn't stop humming softly in his ear until I noticed that he wasn't saying anything.

"Cody?" I gently called to him, looking at his face to see his eyes closed as my hand on his back felt it gently rise with every breath he took. I smiled warmly before carefully picking the little one up and laying him down on the nearest couch. I then glanced over at the telephone on the wall and… No, I didn't know of any orphanages nearby that could possibly care for him, nor did I know anyone who would be willing to look after a human child. There was one option in the back of my head that I thought on for the longest time whilst comforting Cody, even if it was drastic, but I always know that we all have to make drastic decisions sometimes for the sake of others… Walking out of the room as quietly as possible to avoid waking up Cody, I heard the sound of several footsteps scattering away from outside the door. I shook my head as I knew that some of my children had most definitely overhead Cody, I can only hope they don't mention it and end up upsetting him.

I found Doug putting the empty takeout boxes and bags into a trash bag to have them disposed of as I walked over to him. "Doug. We need to talk about something."

"What, did Dorothy throw up on Da Vinci's painting again because I promise that wasn't my fault this time." Doug asked before I shook my head. "No. It's about Cody." Doug raised an eyebrow at my answer. "Cody? Did something happen with him?" I looked around to make sure the kitchen was empty with no trace of the others before finally telling him.

"...Cody's father left him there at the bridge. He was neglected." Doug nearly dropped the trash bag upon hearing that. "What?! That's horrible! Why would he do that?!" I looked down sadly. "I don't know, and whatever the reason was, it was no excuse. We have to help him." Doug didn't argue there. "Do we know any orphanages or anyone who could take him in? Maybe Clarissa could-"

"No." I cut him off sternly when he mentioned her. There was no chance that Clarissa would want anything to do with a child, let alone a human. "Then what do we do?" I took a deep breath and prepared to bite the bullet.

"We should take him in ourselves." I suggested as straight-forward as possible, this time Doug really did drop the trash bag.

"Delilah, are you sure about that? I mean, he's a human-"

"What difference does that make, Doug? He's still a child with no one to fend for him but himself. The streets of London aren't exactly nice to young children, especially at night-time. What if he was a dog like us, would you still say "No"?" I quickly inquired, knowing very well this was the reaction I was going to get.

"Honey, I… I mean, have you ever heard of a family of dogs raising a human? What would the public think?"

"Who cares what the public thinks? Please don't tell me your personal image matters more to you than the life of an innocent little boy." After letting out that argument, I calmed myself down before continuing.

"Doug? Do you know what my grandfather, Patch said to me when I was little? He told me his father, Pongo's human godfather, Roger nor did his mate, Anita hesitate when they returned home with eighty-four other puppies and took them in as part of their family. Patch said that Roger and Anita were the kindest humans he had ever known and loved and they adopted all of his other brothers and sisters without a second thought. They were so good to our ancestors… So it's time we did the same for them. ...And if we just left Cody out in the streets, we'd be no better than his own father." I finished as I looked at Doug and I could tell he was seriously struggling to come up with a good enough argument to counter that. He knew how wrong it would be if we just kicked Cody out like his father had done before his gaze met mine once more.

"...If we're able to care for ninety-nine kids, then perhaps another, especially a human shouldn't be any harder." He agreed, earning a smile from me.

Cody's POV

I stirred awake and rubbed my eyes, feeling my cheeks still wet from my tears, the last thing I remember before falling asleep was Delilah hugging me close to her and humming in my ear. ...Something my mom used to always do to help me fall asleep when I was younger. Such a memory was causing new tears to flow but I quickly managed to fight them off, wiping the excess tears off of my face and was about to get up until I saw a familiar face resting her head on her arms, looking at me sadly.

"...Hey, little dude. You okay?" Dolly asked as I sat up and gently rubbed my bandaged head wound. "I-I think so… I just… I just feel like such a baby..." I confessed, feeling comfortable enough to admit that as I felt Dolly's soft hand pat my shoulder. "Hey hey hey… Don't worry, we all just need to let it out sometimes. I know you would've needed to after what we heard you tell mom." There was no denying that Dolly and the others now knew, I guess the Dalmatian with the headphones might have told them or someone else but I didn't care, I was at least somewhat happy that I had finally been able to get it out of my system. I was more worried about what would happen next. With such a nice family, I couldn't imagine them possibly having to leave me on the streets, they wouldn't have the heart to.

"Thank you for watching over him, Dolly." I turned to see Doug and Delilah at the doorway with smiles. Dolly, knowing this talk was just between me and the two adults left the room.

Dolly's POV

Geez… Even if I could tell Cody was okay after having his hard moment, knowing that his jerk dad had just straight up abandoned him and left him to possibly die was too much for me to stomach, I really thought he had just gotten lost. I was considering going upstairs to bed to try and sleep off my worries but I felt like I just had to know what mom and dad wanted to tell him and it seemed like Dylan had the same idea as I saw him standing in front of me, so I left the door open a crack so we could peek in.

"Cody? Me and Doug had a bit of a chat of your current situation and we came to agree on a solution." I blinked as I continued listening in, wondering what they had planned for the kid.

"Are you going to take me to an orphanage?" Cody asked, I took one glance at Dylan and I could tell he was thinking they'd suggest something like that but what she said next almost caught him off-guard.

"No orphanages that we know of, I'm afraid." She added before kneeling down and placing a hand on his shoulder.

"...Would you like to live with us, Cody?"

Was I hearing right? Was mom actually thinking about letting a human kid stay and be a part of our family? Dylan was no doubt having the same thoughts as I was.

"R-R-Really?! You don't mind? I'd… I'd really have a new family?" I couldn't help but smile at Cody's face lighting up as mom answered with a nod. "I-I'd love to, Deli- I-I mean, 'mom'!" Seeing him hug mom like that just made me melt, my tail was probably wagging faster than an underground train as dad chuckled. "Welcome to the family, 'son'!"

"Should we tell the others?" Dylan asked having a smile of his own. "Let's tell them in the morning." I suggested, patting Dylan's arm which he seemed to agree with as we quickly headed up to our rooms before either mom or dad would catch.

Man, today was one heck of an eventful day, not only did we make a new human friend but he's now a part of our family. I'm honestly just excited how everyone else will be when they learn that they now have a little human brother. I let out a tired sigh as I took turned in my mattress and feel asleep with only one thought in my head left…

..."Welcome to your new home, Cody."