I submitted my final assignment and I think I did quite a lot of revision for my EU law exam today so I wanted to add something.
I'd say slight TW for this chapter, only because the idea of animals suffering makes me cry and so just a warning. Also, I know this doesn't really tally with the previous chapter but I couldn't think of anything, plus idc.
Also, Jen announced she was leaving OUAT today and the reaction on insta was… wow. So I figured I'd write, because I hate the idea that now the show is basically over (there is no show without the main characters, duh) I will have little inspiration to write.
I was gonna write a very short chapter and then get back to revision then this happened. Less than an hour to write, then straight back to revision.
March 31st 2017
Emma sighed as she settled onto the sofa. She had spent the evening explaining to her girlfriend and son when he got home, that she had been called out to some kids playing in a derelict house, and had found the puppy, having been abandoned she believed, with its mother and other puppies.
The blonde had cried when she'd found them, the mother almost starving, the other puppies having not survived the recent bout of cold weather in Storybrooke. Emma had lain her jacket over the mother and remaining puppies while she called the children's parents to come and pick them up while she remained in the house. As soon as the kids were gone, the blonde had taken the dogs to the shelter, having called the vet to meet her there on the way in. She'd wrapped them in blankets and carried them into the building, the vet and another staff member met her at the door and took them inside. It wasn't even half an hour later that the vet had returned from the clinic area and informed Emma that the mother hadn't made it. Emma had shed more tears, asking after the one remaining puppy.
When she'd been told the puppy was being treated and to expect a good outcome, the sheriff had hugged the vet, promising to return towards the end of her shift for an update. She'd taken the document holding the details that had been taken from the dogs chip and gone back to the station, an hour later arresting the drunk owner for animal cruelty and neglect. Soon after she'd called her contact in Portland PD, finalising the case, and had gone out on another call. When she returned, he was gone.
Before Emma had returned home, she had gone back to the shelter. The vet informed her that he was around ten weeks old and was miraculously only a little malnourished and cold. He had been treated and was already almost back to the sort of happy and healthy puppy a well-treated pet would be, if a little shy. When she had gone around the back to see him, he had brightened a little, and had snuggled into the warm blonde woman who happily hugged him to her chest. She realised then that there was no way she was going to let the puppy go, and so signed all the paperwork then and there to foster the puppy, potentially to adopt, dependant on a home check.
A tiny whine pulled Emma out of her daydream, and she realised that she had stopped rubbing circles onto his belly, Buddy wanting her attention so she continued. Of course, while explaining to her family, the once evil queen had cried too, Regina informing her that there was no way that puppy was ever going back to the shelter. They brunette had gone to the shelter to get anything they needed, using her role as the mayor to make them open the doors of the shop section for her and when she returned, they'd fed him with warmed milk and had set up his crate and blankets in their room (surprisingly at Regina's insistence).
Henry, as much as he wanted his own puppy, had noticed how attached it seemed his mothers had got to the bundle of fur so quickly and so went to study in his room, not wanting to overwhelm the young pup.
Said puppy had begun to show his nerves when it came to bedtime, and the house began to get dark, so Emma had volunteered to stay up with him a while till he settled. Looking down at the clearly sleepy golden lab, she lifted him easily and carried him through to the garden so he could do his business. He was wobbly on his feet and quickly returned to the blonde after sniffing around the garden, and she lifted him into her arms, letting him get comfy against her chest. She settled back down on the sofa, switching on the TV, turning it down to quiet, as she stroked Buddy's unexpectedly soft fur.
That was how Regina found them an hour later, as she went downstairs after noticing the blonde was not in bed. She approached the woman quietly, not wanting to scare the puppy awake, and prodded the dozing sheriff's arm, gesturing to the clock on the wall that indicated it was almost 2am.
"Em… come on, we have to take him upstairs… We need to get started sorting a routine for him while he's still young enough to learn…" Emma rolled her eyes with a dopey smile, clearly the brunette had been on the internet. She was happy though, she had expected to get in trouble, yet Regina had accepted the new addition almost straight away, and Emma knew, after only approximately 8 hours, Regina was in love with the golden fur ball. After they'd carried him to their room, Regina had held the puppy as Emma had removed her sweatshirt, lying it into Buddy's crate and when they'd placed him in it, they watched for a few moments as he fell asleep almost instantly.
Suddenly physically and emotionally exhausted, the couple fell asleep quickly in each other's arms, the sheriff's dreams plagued with what she'd seen in that derelict house.
I have no idea where that even came from. Please leave me a review, I need motivation to write these days.
