"Stormé! Don't do this! You know as well as I do that it was for the better."

"No Farace, I don't."

The two dogs stared silently at each other for a moment. The French Spaniel in particular daring the Bulldog to make his move.

"Move." Stormé ultimately spoke up. "Or I'll make you."

Farace shook his head hard. "I don't care if you hurt me or not, I won't let you leave. I won't let you hurt yourself now that..."

Stormé barked sharply before he could finish. She eyed the shorter dog down and growled stubbornly. "Last chance. Move or I'll make you."

The Bulldog remained seated. "I understand why you're angry, but running away is not the way to deal with this." He almost appeared to have stifled a smile, only infuriating Stormé further, "You know as well as I do that you won't last two minutes out there."

"Shut up!" She snapped at him, voice beginning to give away the seething emotions she had pent up inside of her, namely anger and sadness.

Farace rolled his eyes and continued his smooth talk. "Why would you leave behind a family that loves you? One that you've been apart of since you were born, one that you've had so many good times with."

Stormé began to visibly shake and tense up. Her muscles were preparing themselves for something that she felt she had no control over. Try as she might, they refused to relax themselves.

"Why would you leave me, your own brother behind?" He continued. "You love me, don't you?"

Anger continued to build up inside the French Spaniel tears silently began to sprout from her eyes, something that Farace took no note of.

"Do you think that..." He paused, as if hesitant to go on, "Do you think that mother..."

In the blink of an eye, Stormé swung her paw right at the left eye of Farace. He yelped as her paw made contact with his face. She looked away panting heavily. When she looked back, she found that even she had to be horrified at the scene that had just unfolded. Her brother was trying to balance himself after her attack. The eye she had struck was bleeding heavily. He seemed to be trying to focus his dizzy vision on her. Uncoordinated in his movements, he tripped over his feet.

"Oh no." Stormé muttered so quietly, that even she could just barely hear her words.

Farace was now out of her way, the window was wide open. "Stormé..." Her brother's dazed voice rang from behind her. "Please...don't...it's not too late..." He shakily tried to stand up, before falling over again.

Stormé fought back more tears, which threatened to send her into a fit of sobbing. Her mind was already made up, "Goodbye Farace. I...I'm sorry. I love you."

And without another word, she jumped out of the window and went on her way. When she did, she almost thought that he said something, but if he did it was too quiet for her to hear. As she walked through the cool night air, her mind was simply blank. Where she was going, she had no idea. There wasn't a lot around the old, humble house apart from a small shop a little down the dirt trail, but that was too obvious a place to go.

The only thing she knew that she could be sure of though, was that this was the best thing for her. "How could I hurt Farace like that? What would mother say?" She stopped on a hill and almost looked back, but stopped herself right in the nick of time. "She would tell me to pursue happiness, that's what she would say." She looked ahead at nothing in particular for a long moment.

Finally, Stormé ran, desperate to get away from the bad memories, Farace and unhappiness. Her paws were dirty, she was cold, and she had no idea where to go, but the thought of fulfilling her mother's wishes rang in her mind and kept her going. Farace would be just fine, so long as he stayed back.

"Oh Meelus, my love, you are a wonder." Collette stared up at the shaggy dog, as red fur fell from his head and covered part of his face.

Meelus chuckled. "I like you too short dog, how about a nice dinner tonight just you and me, yes?"

Collette turned away with a chuckle of her own, her cheeks burnt a bright red as she blushed slightly. "Dinner sounds nice. You, me and no one else to bother us."

"I like the sound of that." Meelus said eagerly. "Come on, let's go early, I know a place." He led her down a street covered in hearts and balloons, while she followed excitedly. The world was colored pink in that moment.

And just like that they found themselves at a nice little place called Tony's.

She had no idea how, but somehow all Meelus had to do was bark at the two men working there, and they were given VIP attention. She wasn't complaining though, how could she, of all dogs, settle for scraps and bones? No. She had a neat table covered with an exquisite table cloth. Food fit for only the best was set in front of her. The table was completed with candles, a vase of flowers and the most handsome dog she could ever wish for, sitting right next to her.

On top of all that the two men, one fat and greasy and the other one built like a pencil, were playing a romantic tune. There were no words, but it did sound to her like something that her mother had once hummed.

The two men continued to play their strange instruments, while the two dogs both dug into their spaghetti special, enjoying the moment. She thought the moment couldn't get any more perfect. Then with a start, Collette realized that she and Meelus were both sucking on the same noodle. He hadn't noticed, but she could tell what was about to happen. They were getting closer and closer... she braced herself, preparing for what would certainly be the greatest moment in her life...

*Ding* Ding* Ding* Ding*

Collette shifted uncomfortably, it was awfully cold in her sist...her bed. She silently cursed at the clock which woke her. Jim Dear and Darling picked it up not too long ago and ever since then she found herself being abruptly awoken by the thing. They clearly hadn't noticed though, as just the previous day they complimented the annoying thing. She couldn't ever wake up on her own terms anymore.

No one else seemed to mind though. Probably because they were perfectly comfortable laying next to each other.

She glanced at all the other dogs in the room. Her mother and father were curled up with one another, Annette and Killian were still snoozing in Scamp's old bed and Angel and Scamp were out cold on a few pillows.

How she wished Danielle was still here, at least then she wouldn't be so cold in the mornings. Her shivers had been bad enough as of late, that her parents offered to let her sleep with them. She rejected of course, in her mind she was much too old for that.

She got up, not even bothering to try falling asleep again and wondered into the kitchen to grab a bite to eat. While there she looked at the calendar on the fridge, it was on a new page and the page had a big red heart around it. Apparently it was almost Valentine's Day. Despite not fully understanding the purpose of the holiday, she knew that love was involved and to her when love was involved, Meelus was involved.

Collette was still staring at the calendar, when a nose nudged her from behind.

"Morning sunshine. Love is in the air, huh?"

She turned to face her father, and greeted him with a good-natured tail wag. "Good morning dad."

"You're up bright and early." He stifled a laugh. "Was it the clock again?"

"I hate that thing." She said sourly.

Tramp appeared thoughtful for a moment. "You know if it helps, you could always..."

"I know dad, but it's fine really." She said rather quickly.

Sensing her discomfort, he changed the topic. "Anyways, your friend Meelus told me that there's something important he needs to tell you." He seemed to have a rather wide grin on his face.

"Important?"

Tramp began to walk away casually. "Valentines' is in two weeks. That's all I'll say."

Even before he left, she found herself blushing at the various thoughts in her head.