Here's another long chapter for you, we're slowly building up the plot and we hope you're enjoying this story.

Chapter 3

Max was delighted that his grandchildren had decided to stop by. They'd had so much fun that day that his sweethearts wanted a sleepover. His daughter and Booth had given their consent and Max couldn't be happier. Having his grandchildren around was the best thing. To think that at one time he'd wanted his daughter to abort Elena... unthinkable.

They'd just had breakfast and Elena was finishing her shower. When both kids were in the living room again, and they were enjoying a cup of hot chocolate with whipped cream and a cookie, Max spoke up. "Grandchildren, I have a proposal. You've told me that you want to have a dog. That's a big responsibility. A dog is a member of your family. Your dad doubts you'll be able to handle all that comes with taking care of a dog, so here's what I think we should do. We can go to the animal shelter today and pick a dog to walk. We'll do it the entire weekend, to practise the responsibility. What do you think?"

"Yes!" Tommy shouted as he ran over to his grandfather and wrapped his arms around him. "Yes! Thank you, Grampa, thank you, thank you, thank you!" He released his grandfather and ran over to his sister. "Isn't this wonderful?" he asked her enthusiastically.

Elena smiled, too. "Awesome, Grandpa," she agreed and stood to ruffle her brother's hair. He was cute when he was excited.

"Great!" Max said enthusiastically, glad he'd been able to come up with an idea that his grandchildren were excited about. "Once you've finished your drinks, we can go to the shelter."

Tommy emptied his cup as fast as he could and then disappeared upstairs, rushing out of his pyjamas and into his clothes. When he came back downstairs, he rolled his eyes at his sister who was cleaning the cups. "Elena!" he shouted and ran over to her, "You have to get dressed! Come on! And don't take forever in the bathroom, please?" He gave her his best puppy dog smile. "Please? For me?"

Elena put her hands on her hips. "Do you have any idea how long it takes to tame these curls?" she spoke to him strictly. Then, she smiled and gave him a kiss. "I'll take however long I'll take, brother. We have all day at the shelter. Go brush your teeth or something."

Thomas had more in his arsenal than that, though. He was his father's son after all. "But Elly..." He wrapped his arms around his sister's waist and looked up at her, pouting sadly. "Don't you love me anymore?"

"Oh my god, Tommy!" Elena exclaimed, bursting out laughing. "You know I can't refuse you anything if you make that face. I don't feel like rushing," she pouted back.

"Maybe a little? How about I'll be patient and you rush... maybe just the teensiest bit? You can do that, right? Besides, I love your curls wild." Thomas released his sister and placed his hands on his head. "My hair is always so flat."

Elena huffed. "Flat is easy." She squeezed her little brother. "I'll do what I can," she promised, then went to the bathroom to put her wild curls into a ponytail. Meanwhile, Max was quickly preparing a picknick basket.

Now that he had his sister on the move, Thomas turned around and ran over to his grandfather. "Can I help?"

"Sure thing, Thomas," Max said, and gave his grandson a few sandwiches to put cheese and vegetables on.

"Grampa? Do you think that if we walk the dogs really well that Daddy will change his mind?"

"Well, I don't know about that, but it will strengthen your case." Max ruffled his grandson's hair.

"I really want a puppy, Grampa," Thomas told him and crawled onto his grandfather's lap. "Did Mom have a dog when she was a kid?"

"No, she didn't. She and your uncle Russ didn't have any pets."

"Do you think Dad had a pet? Maybe," Thomas' eyes widened, "maybe that's why they don't want one! They've never had a pet before, either!" The revelation was somehow soothing. Elena and him could learn how to take care of a dog and then he could teach his mom and dad.

Elena came into the kitchen. "Want to braid my ponytail, Tommy?"

"Yes, of course." At this point, he would've done anything to leave faster. He sat down on the table as she sat down on a chair in front of him. Thomas helped his sister to braid her hair. When they were done, he leaned forward, wrapping his arms around her shoulders. "Can we go now, Elly?" he asked sweetly.

"Yes, yes, yes," Elena sang as she held on to her little brother's arms as she stood up, carrying him easily on her back. "Ready, Grandpa?"

"Yes, ma'am," Max said and grabbed the picknick basket. They all put on their coats and Thomas left the house riding on his sister's back.

The car ride seemed to go on forever, even though both Grampa and Elena insisted that it had only been twenty minutes. When Thomas finally got out of the car, he ran around to the driver's side and took his grandfather's hand. "Let's go look at the doggies!"

Elena put on her shades and carried the picknick basket. They entered the shelter and Elena put the basket on the ground while they looked for someone from the staff. A boy around her age came walking up to them. She took off her shades and recognised the person. Damn it, damn it, damn it. "Alexander," she nodded coolly, the way her dad had shown her he spoke to suspects.

"Elena, right? Good morning. Welcome to the Washington Shelter. Would you like a tour?" Alex was surprised to see her here. She'd seemed such a loud, intimidating person back at school that the image of her in a t-shirt and skirt, with a picknick basket on her arm, was not something he would readily associate with her. A younger boy, he suspected it to be her brother, stepped forward and held out his hand.

"Hi! I'm Thomas, but I like Tommy better. I want to walk the dogs! Can you show me where they are?"

Alex shook his hand, then looked up at the older man that was accompanying them. "If it's okay with your grandfather, yes, I will."

Max nodded towards the boy. "Go right ahead, Alexander." When the boy turned around to start the tour, Max made sure to keep a suspicious eye on him, and he held his granddaughter back. "How do you know that guy, honey?"

Elena rolled her eyes. "Not you also, Grandpa. You're just like Dad. He's a guy from school and I don't even like him. I'm not looking for a boyfriend."

Max secretly took a relieved breath and patted her shoulder. "Good girl."

Alexander took them on a tour, showing them the yard, where the dogs could run and play. The places that were reserved for the dogs to poop, the doggy baths and the kitchen. He was starting to lose Thomas' interest, so he stopped in the reception area and handed him a leash. "Why don't you and your grandfather take a walk with Milly? She's one of our new puppies. You'll love her."

Thomas turned around and looked up at his grampa with hopeful eyes. "Can we?"

"Sure!" Max smiled at his grandson, glad to see the kid was enjoying himself. His granddaughter, however, was acting aloof. So she really didn't like the guy. Good...

Alexander helped them to leash Milly and when they were on their way, he looked at Elena. "So," he shrugged his shoulders, "Do you want to walk one of the dogs?"

Elena sent him a sharp look as his gaze flicked over her body. If her grandfather hadn't been here, she'd have attacked Alexander just for looking at her. She crossed her arms in front of her chest. "No, I'm here to walk the chickens," she replied sarcastically.

Alexander was insulted and in a heartbeat, he wanted to show her that walking a dog wasn't as easy as it sounded. "I have a dog that still needs to be walked... but I don't think you could handle him."

Elena snorted. "Will the dog attack my brother?"

"Worse than that. He's proud and stubborn, but mostly scared. Look," he sighed in annoyance, "do you want to walk Ripley or not?"

"I'll keep some distance between the dog and my brother. Where is it? I'll walk it for you."

"Come on, I'll show you." They walked to a kennel at the end of the shelter and Alexander went to sit down in front of it, with his back to the dog.

"What are you doing?" Elena asked him, confused. Wasn't he supposed to get the dog out of the kennel?

Alexander sighed in annoyance and frustration and reached out without thinking about it. His bruised, scratched wrist was visible for a split second as he grabbed her arm and pulled her to sit down next to him. "Look, Ripley has to come to us. He'll just become aggressive if we go in there before he lets us know that he wants to spend time with us. So sit. And be quiet," he told her as he adjusted his sleeve. Good thing that it hadn't slipped further. He didn't need Miss Know-it-all to see the scars on his arms and the insides of his elbows.

Elena noticed the angry skin on his wrist and her first thought was 'grips'. Her wrists sometimes looked like that after practising uneven bars. But Alexander didn't do gymnastics. Oh well, a skin-scratched wrist never killed anyone. Annoyed that he touched her, she pulled her arm free and sat down with him, waiting for this apparently life-threatening dog to decide he wanted to take a walk.

After a few moments, Ripley came to lay down behind him and when Alexander felt his snout against his elbow, he stood and opened the gate. He held out the collar and when Ripley sat down, he put it on. "Let him sniff your hand. Let him come to you," he told her as he put the leash on the floor, but held onto it, alert and focussed, but without being threatening. Ripley sniffed her hand and pushed his snout against it. Alexander handed over the leash. It had taken him three days to get the dog so far as to touch him. And here she was, getting it accomplished in the first five minutes.

"I don't understand why you're so scared of this dog. He seems pretty tame to me," Elena commented as she took the leash. "Where's the exit?"

"Maybe you're just lucky. I'm staying close to you. And the exit is over there," he pointed to the big sign.

"No, thanks. You go do what you need to do. I'll bring this one back in an hour or so. Alexander." She gave him the nod again and calmly walked out of the building, the dog walking next to her.

Left alone, basically treated as a servant - and not a very good one at that - Alexander kicked against the kennel as he turned around to continue cleaning the doggy bathroom, so they could all have a bath later.

Max spotted Elena finally exiting the building and he strolled over to her. "That must be quite some dog, honey. You must have had much to discuss?" he prodded, not at all subtle.

"Grandpa, stop it," Elena pleaded. "Apparently this dog requires you to sit next to his kennel for an hour before making the decision to come on a walk with you. That or Alexander's scared of him. And for the record, you and Dad can both consider me a lesbian from now on. You're acting like teenagers. I don't even want a boyfriend."

"You know, that reminds me of another young lady. A pirate lady... who met a Zorro? And had a princess baby girl? Does that - does that sound familiar to you, too?"

Elena groaned. "I'm Mom's daughter, not her clone. And I'm fifteen, you and Dad should be ashamed of yourselves for even vaguely suggesting that I would sleep with a guy," she lectured her grandfather.

"Oh, honey, you're looking at this from the wrong point of view. Neither your dad nor me wants you to sleep with a guy, but you are growing up. And boys are a part of the world. And you are right." He wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "You are not Temperance. You are Elena. And you are not her clone, but I don't want you to not consider love to be a possibility like your mother once did. I don't want you to feel scared, like your mom was, when finally that guy - or girl - comes into your life. And both your parents and me want you to know that you can always come to us to talk." Max chuckled. "Even if it's about sleeping with boys."

"I know you mean well, Grandpa," Elena grinned, "But I really don't want to talk about that yet. I'm married to gymnastics. And to Tommy, in a non-gross way. I can assure you he's the only boy in my life." Elena glanced at the reddish-brown dog. It was walking calmly beside her. What was wrong with Alexander that he treated this animal like some dangerous carnivore?

Thomas and Milly approached them and when he saw the brown dog that Elena was walking, Thomas ran towards the dog. "Oh, Elly! He's so cute!" he yelled out loud.

Max noticed that the dog's ears stood up straight and that he crouched a bit. The dog's whimpers turned into growls and by the time Thomas was almost near the dog, Max called out, "Thomas, don't!"

Alexander, who had been following their progress, came running and skidded to a halt in between Tommy and the dog. Tommy ran into his back, and Alexander spread out his arms to hold the overly enthusiastic boy back. "Shh, Ripley. Thomas didn't mean to scare you." The dog stopped growling and sat back, trembling lightly. Alexander looked up at Elena and took the leash. "I'm sorry, but you all have to give this dog some space. Please go and walk on the other side of the yard." He sat down in front of the dog as the grandfather started to steer them away from the dog.

Elena had looked on in horror as the dog seemed ready to attack her brother. Before she'd had the chance to move, though, Alexander came out of nowhere and threw himself in front of Thomas. For a few milliseconds, Elena had been scared to death that the dog would bite her brother. Her hands trembling, she quickly handed over the leash and ran over to Thomas. She dropped to her knees in front of him. "Are you okay?" she asked him a bit frantically as she held his shoulders.

Thomas wrapped his arms around her and held her. "Yes. Are you? Do you think he's dangerous? Why would Alexander give you the dog if he's dangerous?"

Max intervened and sat down on the grass next to his two grandchildren. "This was an important lesson for all of us. At the end of the day, dogs are animals. And animals follow their instincts. If somebody twice the size of you, Tommy, would run up to you, babbling in a language you didn't understand, wouldn't you get scared?"

Thomas thought about it for a moment, then nodded. "You're right, Grampa. I won't do it again."

"Well, we're not taking that dog, Ripley, that's for sure," Elena said decisively as she embraced her little brother. "Let's continue walking with Milly. She seems like a safer animal." Alexander was such an ass. Why would he give her an unstable dog like Ripley when there were kids around? Unbelievable.

The rest of the afternoon was spent walking Milly. They had a picknick together and by the end of the afternoon, Max knew that his grandson wouldn't really want to part from the dog. And so he made a decision. "Elena, Tommy, we have to talk."

"About what?" Elena wanted to know.

"About getting a dog. Are you really sure after today that you want one?"

Tommy lifted Milly in his arms and went to sit on his sister's lap. "Yes, Grampa. Look at Milly! She's the best dog ever. Can't we keep her?"

"I don't know, Tommy," Elena told him carefully. "Milly seems like a really good dog, but I'm afraid she'll hurt you if she gets scared. I don't want you to run that risk."

"I'm afraid you get hurt when you do all of those crazy flips at the gym, but I let you go," Thomas pointed out.

Max interrupted. "Not every dog is like Ripley, honey. This dog is a cute, safe dog. I suggest that we come back to walk her more often. And we'll see what happens next."

Thomas was immediately over the moon, and Elena smiled tenderly at her brother's happiness. She wrapped her arms around him and kissed his chubby cheek. "Thanks, Grandpa. We really appreciate it."

"Right. Elena, will you take Milly back inside? Thomas, I want you to help me to clean up the picknick and put the basket back into the car."

"Okay," Elena agreed, glad she was taking the dog and not her brother. She sensed immediately that Milly was a much calmer dog than Ripley. A bit boring, but safe. She took Milly back to the shelter, where she found Alexander, and handed him the leash. "I really don't know whether to kick your butt for giving me that dangerous dog knowing he might attack my brother, or thank you for interfering at the right moment," she told him.

"I didn't know he was going to attack your brother," Alexander told her honestly. "He startled Ripley. It wasn't his fault, but it wasn't Ripley's fault either. I'm sorry it happened and I'm glad that nobody got hurt."

"Yeah, me, too," Elena told him coolly. "Well then. We'll be back tomorrow to walk Milly, if that's okay. My brother really likes her."

"Of course it's okay. Would you - would you mind walking Ripley? He seems to trust you and he should trust more people than just me."

"I'll consider it." She put her shades back on and gave him the nod again, hoping she looked at least a little bit as intimidating as her father. "Alexander." With that, she walked away.

So, do you think Elena would do well as an FBI agent, like her dad? And what about little Thomas? Should he get a dog? The story will move forward next week, and we hope you'll be back!