Dogs
By Dimgwrthien
Disclaimer: I do own anything pertaining to CSI:NY or affiliates.
Mac Taylor did not approve of dogs, even at the age of thirty. Of course, he could handle seeing so many of his coworkers over the years hanging up dog-based calendars, but the living animals made him uneasy. He always assumed that it was because of one of the incidents of his childhood where he had been chased down the street by a dog, then tackled. The scar sat on his arm, deep and a slightly darker color than his skin.
Claire, however, loved animals of all kinds. There were some that she was wary of, like spiders.
A spider, possibly two inches wide, crawled over Claire's laptop. It had long, scrawny legs an a small body, but it kept moving over the keyboard. Claire just stared at it, watching, afraid to move it off.
Mac walked up behind his wife, following the trail of her eyes. "Need me to kill it?"
Claire looked offended, but didn't take her eyes off it. "No! Why would you kill it?"
Mac raised his eyebrows. "I just assumed you wouldn't want it there. Did you put it there?"
She shook her head. Mac nodded. "Alright. Then you can get it off if you don't want it."
Claire's eyebrows furrowed together. She spoke in a low, embarrassed voice. "Could you get it out? Just don't kill it." And Mac would pick up the spider with a paper and toss it outside.
Mac could never be bothered by the fact that she loved animals. It was a nice addition to her personality, one that was usually seen in small children. The love of animals, the love of taking care of them and watching them….
This just took it too far.
Claire waved the Yorkee in Mac's face, grinning at the small puppy. It had light brown fur and dark brown eyes. The ears seemed too long for it's body, and it's head too large to support. He seemed to grin at Mac.
"Claire, darling," Mac said slowly, looking at the scruffy dog as he panted, "in five years of marriage, I have never questioned your choices. But this time… do you really want him?"
She turned the dog to inspect his face. "Yes, I do. Look at how nice he is!" She set him on the floor of the pound and let it jump onto Mac's pants, still grinning up at him. "I've always wanted a dog. My mother is allergic to them, you know."
"I know," Mac answered, and thought, 'That's why I like her.'
Claire hugged the dog close and moved over to the desk to sign papers and pay a ridiculous amount of money to take him home.
She never regretted it as the dog spent a very long time with her. He was a hyper dog, yet nice, and never growled or bit. He had a sentimental value to her, one that would break her in nearly twenty years when the dog finally passed away to old age.
Mac, however, regretted every moment being with that dog. It urinated all over their Chicago house, yapped at night, sat on his lap when he needed to work…
… yet he refused to admit that he cried once after the dog died.
