Ada and the Dog

It rarely happened anymore that Skye got mad at Grant – surprisingly, he excelled as a husband –, but sometimes he still did stupid things that pissed her off, and then – well, let's just say that she hadn't lost her ability to hold a grudge yet.

And he did it again.

He brought home a dog.

Sure, they had been talking about getting a dog, like at an undecided point in the future, but not now, never now, because first they had a surprise baby, then they moved to D.C. when the Triskelion re-opened, then she was pregnant again, and now they had a toddler and a baby, and he brought home a dog. A white, spotted, pit bull-like mutt puppy, who seemed to over-eager to smell everything. Okay, so he was cute, downright adorable, even, but they so not needed a dog right now.

Thus, Grant was in trouble, and as far as she was concerned, he could get used to the idea of sleeping on the couch for a couple of days.

And yet, she didn't tell him to take the dog back – she wasn't that heartless. (But she hadn't told him that the dog can stay, either.)

And okay, the dog was cute – but way too active, and even though he was small now, he was going to grow big, and she wasn't sure it was a good idea to have it near the kids. Ada was only two months old, for heaven's sake.

She even voiced her concern to Grant – tried to reason with him –, but he only shrugged.

"You are worrying over nothing, Skye," he told her, moving to embrace her, but she stepped away. "He is completely harmless. And I'll train him – he'll be a perfectly behaving dog, I promise."

"But if not…" she warned, this time letting him put his arms around her.

"He will." He kissed her forehead. "He'll be the most harmless, most child-friendly dog you can imagine."

She still had her doubts, of course, and kept an eye on the dog.

And damn Grant. Of course he turned out to be right.

It was the second day of the dog's stay with them, and she was outside on the back porch, watching over Haylie as she played in the sandbox, with Ada close to her on the floor in her carrier, while the dog kept sniffing around them, his tail wagging.

She turned her eyes away from Ada for a moment, watching Haylie shovel sand into a plastic bucket with a grin on her face – she really should have had her camera with her –, and when she turned back, the dog was sniffing at her baby's feet.

Skye stiffened for a second, a moment away from snatching up the dog and tossing him away from Ada, but then he gave a little yelp, his tail started swinging from side to side with an even greater velocity, then, putting his front paws on the edge of the seat, he jumped up next to Ada, nuzzled against the grinning baby's face, and finally settled down next her. He looked up from there at Skye, his tail drumming against the cushioning, as if to say "see? I'm happy here," then rested his head next to Ada's and closed his eyes.

Okay, so it might have been one of the cutest things she'd ever seen.

A pair of strong arms embraced her from behind.

"Still afraid of the dog?" Grant murmured into her ear.

She leaned against him.

"No," she admitted reluctantly.

"So he can stay?" His lips gently grazed the sensitive skin of her neck. Damn him.

"Alright…" she sighed.

"And I'm forgiven?"

"Well," she turned around in his arms. "Maybe you should work on that a little more."