A/N: Just a little oneshot that came to mind the other day as I was getting ready for work. I thought back to my college years when my roommate's dog found my retainer after I dropped it when I was brushing my teeth one morning. Thankfully the dog hadn't chewed it up, he just carried it around like it was a treasured jewel of the most fragile glass. But I also use personal experience of removing things that are on me as a theme in this story. I have to be careful of my watch, necklace or my earrings because I've taken them off while asleep and have lost them many times.
Reviews appreciated. I am working on a follow up for A Home to Call His series and hope to have it done shortly. I've also recently thought up some other new little stories that I've been working on when I get the chance.
Hope you enjoy!
Sad-Blue-Eyed-Angel 2010
A knock sounded at Jeff's office door, and he called a soft "Come in" before he was greeted by a nervous Alan. His fourteen-year-old son looked rather sheepish as Jeff watched him expectantly.
"Hey, uh…dad?" Alan seemed more than a little subdued, which piqued Jeff's curiosity. Alan didn't normally behave this way unless he'd done something wrong that he knew he'd get in trouble for.
"Yes son?" Jeff asked, wondering what Alan had done this time.
"Is there any possible way for you to get in touch with my orthodontist?" Alan queried, looking like the previously shy four-year-old instead of a boastful fourteen-year-old.
"Do I dare ask why?" Jeff asked, dreading the upcoming question. Alan was terrible when it came to his orthodontics. He'd even once taken his own braces off because he swore, they were incredibly too tight.
"Um, because I might need a new retainer." Alan said as he chewed on his lip nervously.
Jeff was left to wonder how exactly Alan managed to either lose or damage his brand-new retainer. He just got it last month after officially being able to get his braces removed.
"What…?" Jeff asked, heaving a deep sigh as he leveled a stern look at Alan. "How?"
Now Alan had seemed to shrink visibly in front of his dad due to his rising irritation.
"Uh…you know…how in the past I've had the odd habit of taking off my watch or my cross pendant from grandma or sometimes even my clothes while I'm asleep?"
Jeff slowly nodded. How could he forget? It was a sight to behold when Alan had fallen asleep in the lounge where command and control was and woke up when his family returned to a buck-naked Alan. The security camera in Jeff's office caught Alan after he sat on the couch and proceeded to play with his mobile phone until the time which he'd fallen asleep. He'd remained clothed until a half hour prior to learning the rescue had been completed. Then he fell asleep and at some point, had undressed himself. He still got teased by his brothers for it...
"Well, I seemed to have done it again and this time Geronimo got ahold of my retainer, and he chewed it up." Alan said as he dug into his pocket to get out the mangled piece of plastic.
"Who is Geronimo?" Jeff asked as he accepted the destroyed retainer from his son.
"Tarl's dog." Alan answered simply like Jeff should know that by now. "He's a Great Dane."
Jeff looked at the retainer to see it had clearly been chewed up. He gave Alan another look and that prompted Alan to speak.
"I didn't just leave it laying around. I apparently took it out of my mouth while I was asleep, and Geronimo got ahold of it."
Jeff gave Alan another long look. Apparently, Tarl's guide dog acted like a normal dog while off shift, and by off shift Jeff meant while Tarl was asleep. Tarl was a student that was rooming with Alan at boarding school and happened to be the son of one of Jeff's associates in the Tracy Corporation line of work. The boy wasn't permitted to go to a boarding school until Alan had volunteered himself to be roommates with the other boy. Then he got the opportunity of a lifetime and as a bonus, Alan was also taught a thing or two by his roommate.
Tarl was born blind. He never knew anything else, so to him he was fully capable of living everyday life as a normal person even if his father and mother…both of which were helicopter parents in their own right hovered around him and did everything they could to protect their child even if it did annoy him. Bring in Alan, a headstrong child that insisted on being Tarl's friend from the get-go and you've got a friendship that never wavers. Tarl taught Alan his world being blind, and it was a lesson Alan wasn't soon to forget. Alan unlike his brothers could read braille and he tried to teach them even if he wasn't successful.
"Yes Alan, I'll put in a call to get you in to be re-fitted a retainer." Jeff said, running a hand down his face in exhaustion. Only his son could do these things to give him grey hairs.
"Thanks dad!" Alan said, glad his father wasn't too mad at him. It's not like he could help it if he took his retainer out while asleep.