If you could see how many pictures of long coated German Shepherds I've saved on Instagram you would think that I own one but no, my heart is just bursting with the love of a fictional dog. Also, I have never owned a dog or cat and have no idea how they should be introduced, so please don't introduce your pets the way it's done in here. Everything I know about training dog/service dogs is from Victoria Stilwell and many service dog videos on YouTube, so some things may not be exactly right. If anyone has any tips or certain tasks that a service needs to know, please let me know!

Just... go look up German Shepherd puppies on Google. You will thank me.

Also, Kaz-Inej-Alec-Magnus-Four-Tris, I can't reply to your comments but I've seen them all and I love them! Thank you so much! I'm so glad you're enjoying the story!

Two weeks later, they were on their way to Sheffield again. This time, though, they didn't have to leave quite as early so Will wasn't falling asleep the second the car started. He probably couldn't have slept even if he tried anyway. He just kept thinking about the leash and collar on his lap and the crate in the back seat filled with a very cushy bed and more toys than one puppy could ever need. The bed was a pretty cheap one, basically bought just for the car ride, and the crate was borrowed from a friend. The puppy was going to get very big very fast, so it was kind of a waste of money to buy puppy-sized products for a dog that would quickly be 40 kilograms. He had his "big boy" bed set up in their room at home and they would

The leash and collar, however, were a different story. They'd been a bit expensive, but Will didn't care about that. They were both real leather and the collar had a metal plate with the puppy's name and Will's phone number engraved on it instead of hanging tags. It was also the perfect size so that it would fit both an eight-week-old puppy and a fully grown German Shepherd, so he wouldn't have to buy multiple ones. Will had never had a dog before, but this one was extra special and he was going to spoil it as much as he possibly could.

"Are you excited?" Jem asked when they were only about fifteen minutes away from the breeder.

"You could say that," Will said with a shrug. "He hasn't seen me in two weeks and even then he only saw me for about an hour. He probably won't even remember me."

"You never know. He seemed to be very attached to you last time so he'll probably be excited to see you."

"Yeah, but puppies don't have a great attention span."

Jem rolled his eyes. "They're not goldfish, William. They do remember things and people. If he doesn't remember you, I'll pick up the poop for two weeks. How does that sound?"

"Now you're just making me hope that he doesn't remember."

Despite Jem's very enticing offer, Will was still worried. Worried that the puppy wouldn't like him as much as last time, worried that he should have chosen a different puppy, worried that this whole thing was a bad idea…

There wasn't time for that, though. They were pulling up in front of the house again and Elizabeth was standing outside waiting for them. This time, the fenced yard was holding a group of puppies instead of the adult dogs it had had before, but they couldn't care less about the new arrivals and were too busy playing with each other.

"Welcome back!" Elizabeth said. "Ready to see your little boy again?"

"He's worried the puppy isn't going to remember him," Jem said.

"It's been two weeks! What else would I expect?"

"Let's find out, shall we?" Elizabeth led them through the gate into the yard with the puppies. They didn't even notice that anyone had come in at first until Elizabeth closed the gate and the noise made some of them look up. One of the puppies immediately stopped playing and came sprinting towards them as fast as his little legs could carry him with his ears flapping in the wind.

The puppy stopped in front of Will and jumped up on his legs with his tongue hanging out of his mouth. Through the fur, Will could make out the same red collar he had seen two weeks ago.

"I told you he would recognize you," Jem said.

"You're just happy you don't have to pick up the poop," Will replied. He leaned down and picked up the puppy, who looked and felt like he'd almost doubled in size since they last saw each other. He was still very fluffy, but his legs were a bit longer and his ears had grown to a size that looked way too big for a puppy. He clearly still had to grow into them and his paws, which sort of made him look like he was wearing clown shoes.

"See, he's very excited to see you," Elizabeth said. "He's also responding to his name most of the time now. He's a very smart little boy."

"That reminds me," Jem said. "You still haven't told me what his name is. Do I get to know now or will it forever be a secret?"

"Where are my manners?" Will said. He turned around so Jem could fully see the puppy and continued, "Jem, meet Ajax, the fluffiest boy in the world."

Jem grabbed Ajax's paw and shook it like he was shaking someone's hand. "It's very nice to meet you, Ajax."

Ajax responded by politely licking Jem's hand.

"I guess he won't be needed this now," Elizabeth said. She reached forward and unbuckled Ajax's little red collar and put it in her pocket. "I assume you brought his new one with you?"

"Of course. If you could please hold the fluffy boy, Jem?" Will deposited Ajax into Jem's arms and took the collar from where it had been hanging out of his pocket. He tried to buckle it around Ajax's neck, but ran into a bit of a problem. "How are you supposed to do this with all this fluff? I can't even see what I'm doing."

"It gets easier the more you do it," Elizabeth said. "Just think of it like putting in a belt, but backwards and under a bunch of fur."

As soon as the collar was buckled, Ajax immediately started wriggling to get out of Jem's arms but calmed down as soon as he was back with Will. He was clearly very attached. Hopefully that meant that he was going to be successful in his future job.

"He had his first vaccine two days ago, so his second one should be in about two to four weeks. I assume you have an appointment scheduled for him?" After a nod from Will, she continued, "Great. I'll have our vet transfer his records over and they can decide when he'll come in for his next shots. After that, you can start taking him outside about two weeks after that. Until then, either take him out in a clean area that other dogs don't use or keep his time outside very short. We already started his house training and he's doing very well but he may have an accident here and there because he's still a puppy. Any questions?"

"Does he know any commands yet?" Jem asked.

Elizabeth smiled. "He knows sit, but he'll only stay sitting for about a second before he goes off and does something else. I can't blame him, though. He only knows it because he saw his mother doing it."

Ajax shifted himself so he had his legs hooked over Will's shoulders and his head resting on Will's right shoulder. He was staring back at the other puppies, almost like he was saying goodbye to them. He didn't seem sad about it, though. He seemed like he was very excited to go home to his new future and didn't want to get more than a few inches away from Will.

"Are you enjoying yourself there?" Jem asked.

"It feels like I'm carrying a child. A very fluffy- and very slobbery," he added as Ajax licked his ear, "and very wriggly child."

"We're certainly going to miss him here," Elizabeth said while giving Ajax a scratch between the ears. "I still think he's the cutest of the whole litter. There's no obligation but I'd love some pictures of him now and then. Especially when he completes his training because I just know he's going to."

"I think we can handle that," Jem said. "Did you see how many pictures he took last time we were here?"

"I had to make it last two weeks, James. Why don't you show us how many pictures you have of the cat?"

"I have fifteen dogs," Elizabeth said. "How many dog pictures do you think I have? I'm not going to get any pictures if I don't let you two get going, though. Might I recommend seeing if he needs to go so you don't have any accidents in the car?"

Will reluctantly put Ajax down on the ground and the puppy immediately trotted over to the fence to take care of his business. When he was done, he came right back over and whined until Will picked him up again, then assumed the same position with his head on Will's shoulder.

They said their goodbyes to Elizabeth, then started walking back to the car. Jem purposely walked behind Will so he could take a picture of Ajax peering over his shoulder and sent it to Tessa with the caption, "I think I've been replaced."

Tessa replied immediately with "Oh. My. Gosh. That. Is. Adorable. Who's dog is that?"

Tessa's reply got Jem thinking. He couldn't remember telling anyone about Ajax, mainly because he was a prospective service dog and that was Will's story to tell. "Did you tell anyone about him?" he asked.

"I don't think so," Will said. "I think I was waiting until it was confirmed to say anything and then I just forgot."

"Tessa just asked whose dog he is so I guess neither of us told her."

"We can FaceTime her on the road," Will said as he leaned down very carefully to open the car door without disturbing his precious cargo. The plan on the way there had been to keep Ajax in the crate in the back seat for safety, but after carrying him for that long, Will was not interested in letting go any time soon. He had to push Ajax onto his lap to buckle his seatbelt and the puppy decided to use the time to explore so by the time Jem opened his door Ajax was sitting proudly in the driver's seat and looking very pleased with himself.

"Excuse me, that's my seat," Jem said. Ajax just yawned and laid down like he was about to go to sleep.

Will plucked Ajax off of the seat and put him back in his lap so Jem could get in. He also clipped on the leash, partly to keep him safe while they were driving but also to start getting him used to having a leash and collar on. Once Jem was buckled in and the car was moving down the driveway, Will called Tessa on Facetime and propped his phone up on the dashboard so both of them were in the frame.

"Will, did you steal someone's puppy?" was the first thing Tessa said when she answered.

"No, but he stole my heart," Will answered.

"I can guarantee that he didn't steal a puppy," Jem said. "Nothing to worry about there. My place in this relationship may be in danger, however."

Tessa rolled her eyes. "Explain, please."

"He's my puppy," Will explained, "and hopefully he'll be a service dog one day."

"Really? I thought service dogs came fully trained from organizations."

"They can," Jem said while Will was busy trying to find a toy for Ajax in the back seat. "They can also be owner trained, which is what he's going to be."

"What's his name?"

Will turned to face the camera again with a rubber bone in his hand and said, "His name is Ajax." Ajax's ears perked up at hearing his name, which was a very good sign because it showed that he recognized it as his.

"Like the Greek hero?"

"No, Tessa, like the dish soap."

"So what kind of things do you have to train him to do?" Tessa asked.

"It's a lot more than just a pet dog has to learn," Will said. "How to do deep pressure therapy, alert to things, find people… He also has to learn how to be a very good boy in public places."

"I don't think he'll have any problem with that, right Ajax?" Tessa said. Ajax hadn't seemed to have noticed her before, but he certainly did when she said his name because he started staring at Will's phone and tilting his head. He was probably very confused about why he could see and hear Tessa but not smell her because he started sniffing around.

"As much as I wish I could just stare at that little fluffball all day, I unfortunately need to go to work," Tessa said. "But maybe I can come visit him soon?"

"I think you'll need to see him as much as you can now because by the time he's six months old he'll be over 20 kilograms," Will said. "You can come tomorrow if you don't have work."

"I'll see you tomorrow, then. Bye, Ajax! I love you! Be a good boy!"

Will grabbed his phone again and hung up. "I don't think my parents will be happy that they weren't the first ones to find out."

Jem shrugged and reached over to give Ajax a scratch without taking his eyes off the road. "I don't think they'll care when they find out why you got him."

"If their reaction when I said I was in therapy is anything to go by, they'll probably be ecstatic," Will said.

"When is the trainer coming again?"

"She's coming on Saturday, so in three days. There's still things I have to do first, though."

"Like what?" Jem asked.

"Work on the basics, like sit, stay, all of those kinds of commands. Start getting him used to wearing a vest, work on potty training, get him desensitized to the vacuum and toilet and everything…"

"You're going to be busy then," Jem said. "Can I help with anything?"

"I think I should probably do the majority of it myself but I'm sure I can find something for you to do."

Jem nodded. "That makes sense. I know I can keep doing what I've been doing until he's fully trained and can take over."

It was at that moment that Ajax decided that their attention had been off of him for too long and let out a sharp puppy bark to make his presence very well known.

. .

They stopped for a quick snack and bathroom break about halfway home. Jem stayed in the car with Ajax while Will went into the petrol station to use the bathroom and stock up on what seemed to be the entire candy aisle. He then took Ajax to go potty while Jem did the same and came out with a single bag of mixed nuts.

Because driving in London was a bit dicey sometimes, Will decided that it would probably be safer if Ajax was in his crate in the back seat instead of roaming around in the front. Will lured him in with the rubber bone he'd grown quite attached to, then unclipped the lead and closed the door behind him. The puppy seemed to like it at first, until Will and Jem got into the front seats and closed the doors. That seemed to alert him to the fact that he had been cruelly abandoned in the back and was all alone in this cold world and he immediately started voicing his displeasure.

The whining went on for almost ten minutes before Will got fed up. "How can a dog get separation anxiety after being with someone for two hours?"

"I don't think it's separation anxiety," Jem said. "He's used to being around his siblings and you were basically cuddling him that entire time. He's just a bit lonely. Besides, it's probably for the best that he's a bit attached. It's not like you'll be leaving him home alone all day like you would if he was just a pet."

Will reached back and stuck two of his fingers through the bars of the crate. He immediately felt Ajax's wet nose sniffing at them, then an immediate stop to the whining when he realized who it was. He then felt a cloud of fur settle down on his fingers and heard the sound of chewing. It seemed that all Ajax needed was to know that he was there.

Fortunately, by the time Will's arm fell asleep from being stretched behind him like that, Ajax had fallen asleep and didn't notice when he pulled his hand out from under him. He stayed asleep throughout the rest of the drive, until someone honking their horn startled him awake and he started whining again when he realized that Will had reclaimed his hand. It didn't last as long this time though, because Jem was parking the car and soon Will was there clipping his lead back on and picking him up again.

"You know," Jem said, "he does have legs."

"Yes, and he's also not fully vaccinated and he'll be too big to carry in a few months so forgive me if I want to carry my puppy while I still can," Will replied. "He loves it, see?" Ajax certainly did look like he was enjoying it as he looked at all the trees and buildings and cars with his tongue hanging out of his mouth.

"Now it's time to see if Church loves him," Jem said as they walked up the stairs to their flat.

Both Will and Jem had been very excited to bring home a puppy, but Church was the one unknown in the equation. They'd done everything they possibly could to prepare him for this day. As soon as they came home from the breeders two weeks ago, Jem had put the shirt that Will had been wearing right next to Church's bed so he could start to get familiar with Ajax's scent. They'd also played YouTube videos of dogs barking to try to get him used to hearing that sound more often. Will had even shown him the pictures of Ajax, but that hadn't lasted long and he'd narrowly escaped a swipe from a very grumpy cat.

And now, it was time to see if all of that had worked. Church wasn't there when Jem opened the door, but he quickly came trotting out of the living room to say hello and admonish them for leaving him again. He stopped in his tracks the minute he saw Ajax, though. He didn't hiss or yowl or do anything they had been expecting. He almost seemed to look exasperated, like he'd spent the last two weeks hoping that they weren't bringing home a puppy and all his hopes had just been dashed.

Will put Ajax down on the floor but kept a tight hold on the lead just in case. Church slowly crept forward to sniff him and make sure he wasn't a threat, while Ajax pulled at the lead in a very enthusiastic attempt to make a new friend. A quick hiss from Church made him stop and tilt his head in confusion, but neither Will nor Jem was worried. Jem knew Church well enough to know that he wasn't going to do anything to Ajax and was just defending his territory.

"I think they're about the same size right now," Will said. "Although Church is probably still going to be in charge even when Ajax is much bigger than him."

"You're much bigger than him and he still scares you," Jem said. Church ignored Ajax, who he'd deemed safe, in favor of rubbing against Jem's leg and purring.

Will crouched down next to Ajax and scratched him between the ears. "You don't want to be friends with him, Ajax. He's a mean kitty. I'm sure we can find you a much better friend than that."

Ajax spent the next few hours exploring every inch of the flat. Will followed closely behind to make sure that the puppy-proofing was working and to make sure that they hadn't missed anything. He also made sure that Ajax didn't try to jump off of the balcony, despite the railings not being far enough apart to stick his foot through, let alone a puppy's head.

Ajax's first little taste of training came when it was time for dinner. Will attempted to make him sit and stay until his bowl was on the mat on the floor, but Ajax was too little and too excited and it just didn't work. He probably shouldn't have expected it to work, though. Elizabeth had been right in saying that he wasn't very good at "sit". He would sit down, but then pop back up again a second later to go play or bother Church, who had made a nice spot for himself on top of the fridge, or chew on Will's shoelaces. Will gave up after five minutes of trying to get Ajax to have some manners and just put the bowl down and let him eat.

When it was time for bed, Will tried to do some training again by putting Ajax on his bed and saying "bed" every time. It wasn't really to get him to learn that command but more to get him to associate the word "bed" with being on this big cushy thing. As smart as German Shepherds were, he was still a dog and dogs didn't know what "sit" or "bed" or "leave it" meant. Technically any word you wanted could be used for any command, like using "toilet" to get the dog to sit or "car" to get them to lay down. It was all about word association, and the sooner he could get that started, the easier it would be to train him.

Ajax's bed was situated in the corner of the room on Will's side of the bed. When he was older and fully trained, he would be able to wake Will up from nightmares or even stop them before they got bad. He would have to be near the bed to be able to do that, so it was good to get him used to that when he was still young. He'd probably also sleep in the bed on nights that Will knew would be bad, but he hadn't brought that up with Jem yet. In some cases, it really was better to ask forgiveness than permission.

. .

It hadn't even been an hour when the nightmares started. Will soon found himself sitting up in bed, watching Jem slowly die in front of him while a soldier stood over them laughing. This was one of those nightmares that turned into hallucinations when he woke up and it wasn't stopping. He could faintly hear somebody's voice in the background and could feel a hand on his arm, but he couldn't tear his eyes away from Jem. After everything they'd been through together, the months that he thought he was safe, and now Jem was just laying in front of him and dying and Will was too late to save him-

Something warm and fuzzy was suddenly dropped into his lap. This wasn't part of the nightmare-turned-hallucination. This was something completely different. Something… good.

After a few minutes of feeling whatever was in his lap, the soldier just faded away. Jem didn't, but something changed. He wasn't lying there covered in blood. Instead, he was sitting on the bed in front of Will with one hand on his knee and the other holding Will's wrist. He suddenly realized that he could feel the same warm and fuzzy thing under his hand, the same one that Jem was holding. He looked down and saw Ajax sitting in his lap and staring up at him and looking very concerned.

"I didn't know what else to do," Jem whispered. "Nothing I was doing was working. It's been almost an hour since you woke up and it wasn't stopping. He was whining and trying to get on the bed so I thought it was worth a try. I guess it worked."

"I didn't know it was going to start helping that early," Will said. "I thought we'd have to wait until he was trained."

Jem crawled over Will's legs to his side of the bed and sat next to Will. "He can't do any of the actual tasks you need him to do yet but that doesn't mean he won't help. Even just being around him can help."

It was a while before Will had calmed down enough to go back to sleep. Jem had wanted to stay awake with him, but it had been a long day and he was asleep again only a few minutes later. Will had put Ajax back on his bed by then, even just knowing that he was in the room wasn't enough. He needed something more.

As gently as he possibly could to avoid waking Jem up, Will got out of his bed and crouched on the floor next to Ajax's. The puppy was staring at him with his big dark eyes but jumped a bit when Will grabbed the corners of the bed and dragged it closer. He shushed the puppy before he started barking and woke Jem up, then pushed the bed so it was flush with the bedframe. He then got back into bed, laid face down, and dangled one arm over the edge.

Thankfully, Ajax's bed was high enough and his arm was long enough that he was able to rest at least his fingers on Ajax's back. He then went searching through the sheets with his other hand to find Jem's hand and grabbed that.

And finally, with one hand in Jem's and the other on Ajax, he was able to fall asleep.