Disclaimer: I do not own anything you can recognize.
Claimer: I do own anything you can't recognize.
WARNING: mild injury, mild sexual reference, mild swearing, ect.
"Finding Home Again"
Chapter 5 "The Puppy"
Spike and Lou had spent most of the morning putting up a fence around Suzy's garden. She had decided she wanted to get a puppy but didn't want a puppy destroying her small garden. Suzy had gone out to get puppy food an hour ago
"Do you think she is trying to tell me something with this whole getting a puppy thing?" asked Spike as he looked around for screws.
"She is using a puppy to try not to counteract the desire to have a child. Spike, you have to just let her work through it," said Lou.
Spike let out a sigh.
"Did she find out what breed yet?" asked Lou.
"German Shepherd, she found a puppy and she just wants everything ready before she picks it up," said Spike.
"She isn't joking around," laughed Lou.
"It's like nesting. I've been patient but it's annoying," said Spike.
"Sooner we finish this the sooner you get Suzy back," said Lou.
"Let's hurry up," said Spike.
"You should talk to her about kids, I know neither of you want to bring it up but it's an important thing to know in a relationship," said Lou.
"Lou, stop giving me advice on my relationship, I can handle it myself," said Spike.
"I'm just telling you what I've seen Suzy break up relationships over," said Lou.
"You always talk like you know her better than me," said Spike, bringing the hammer down harder than usual.
"I've known her longer then you think," said Lou.
"I'm back!" called Suzy, opening the back door.
BANG!
Spike hadn't been paying attention to what he had been doing and hit his thumb with the hammer.
"Damn it!" yelled Spike.
"Is everything okay?" asked Suzy.
"No, Spike just decided to hammer his thumb," said Lou.
"Come in here so I can put ice on it," said Suzy, finding a plastic baggy then putting ice in it.
"Fine," said Spike before going into Suzy's house.
The backdoor was in her kitchen. She always told Lou how much she loved the idea of being able to watch kids in the backyard while she was in the kitchen cooking dinner or something. Spike just thought she liked it so he didn't track mud everywhere.
Suzy forced him to sit down on the couch in the living room. She put the ice on his hand and turned the television on.
"I'll have Lou finish up the fence, you need to ice that," said Suzy.
Spike said nothing. Suzy was puzzled by this but still went into the kitchen.
Spike could hear Lou and Suzy talking in whispers. He was trying to keep his anger to himself. He wanted to know what they were talking about.
Suzy sat down next to Spike. She went to take the ice off so she could see how bad it was but he pulled away from her.
"What were you and Lou talking about?" asked Spike, a hint of irritation in his voice.
"I asked what happened and he explained," said Suzy, taken aback by Spike.
"Then why were you whispering?" said Spike.
"I don't know why. I can't believe you don't trust your best friend and your girlfriend," said Suzy, losing her own temper.
Spike saw her hazel eyes light up with anger. That spark he used to see so often came back.
"I never said I didn't trust you or Lou," said Spike.
"Then why are you always talking to Lou rudely, I do notice you know," said Suzy. "It's not the Spike I know when I see you doing that."
"I don't mean to," whispered Spike.
"You don't have to get so upset that Lou knows so much about me. We meet in high school when we were juniors. He knows more about me than I sometimes know about myself," said Suzy.
"I didn't know that," said Spike.
"You never asked how we meet. We were just sort of friends and then when we ended up in the same language class at the academy we became close friends," said Suzy. "I knew about his past in the gang and he knew about my past also."
"What past?" asked Spike.
"In my early teen years I moved in with my aunt. Her son was in the gang, he was in his mid-teens. He was high up in the gang too. He took me and his younger brother, Leo, to meetings all the time but we never joined. I saw Lou a few times back then but had no idea who he was. He didn't act like the others did back then but I was too scared to talk to him. Neither Leo nor I would ever join the gang but people thought we were part of it because we got in so many fights and stood up to teachers who were assholes," said Suzy.
Spike was speechless. He couldn't see Suzy being at a gang meeting or getting into fights in high school.
"My aunt found out that he was part of the gang and had taken me and Leo to meetings when we were just twelve years old. I would never see her as mad as she was that day she found out. My older cousin, David, had also taken his little sister, who was a year younger than me, to meetings when he was supposed to be babysitting her," said Suzy, taking a deep breath.
"My senior year things changed a lot. David never came home anymore and was now very high up in the gang but not quite leader. My younger cousin, Tracy, was now high up in the gang too. Tracy, Lou, Leo, and I were driving home from school after a basketball game; actually Tracy had been driving. We had to drive through Regent Park. We stopped at a stop light and all of a sudden we were being shot at. Sometime during this I was shot. The last thing I remember was Leo jumping into the front seat and trying to drive while still halfway in the back seat. According to Leo and Lou we were able to get a few neighbourhoods away and were able to call for police and paramedics. By the time they arrived Tracy was dead and I was in critical condition," said Suzy.
"Where was Leo when you needed someone when Rosie died?" asked Spike.
"Afghanistan, he is returning next week," said Suzy.
"I'm sorry I've been such a jerk lately," said Spike.
"I'm not the one you should be apologizing to but thanks anyway," said Suzy.
Before Spike got in another word Suzy kissed him. He didn't notice how passionate they had gotten until he heard Lou laugh.
"Hey, you two, I was just outside and I really don't think you should be doing that when Spike may have broken his thumb," laughed Lou.
Suzy turned bright red when she realized that somehow her shirt had been taken off while they were kissing.
"I didn't even feel the pain of using my hand until you decided to interrupt," said Spike.
"Spike," said Suzy.
"Sorry for being a jerk to you the past few weeks," said Spike.
"We all have our moments," said Lou.
"Now can I see your hand?" asked Suzy.
It had bruised a bit already and Suzy could tell Spike was in pain when he winced when she touched it.
"I better take you to get your thumb looked at and then we can go pick up the puppy," said Suzy.
"I've done my job with the fence so I'm going to head home," said Lou.
"Thanks for your help. Leo is coming home next week," said Suzy.
"Let me know when he's flying in and I'll be there," said Lou.
"Alright," said Suzy.
The hospital waiting room was packed. Suzy couldn't imagine what it was like for the nurses today. She had a feeling they would be waiting a while even after they had an x-ray done.
There were kids running around all over, people moaning and groaning-not to mention the couple fighting next to her. She felt awful for the doctor today.
"They'll have the x-ray read and to the doctor before we see him," said Spike, smirking.
"I'm sure they will," said Suzy, hitting her head on the wall.
"Dang that hurt," said Suzy, trying not to swear with little kids around.
"Don't give yourself a concussion," said Spike.
"I'm going to kill this couple," mouthed Suzy.
"Where are these kids' parents?" asked Spike as a boy around six years old knocked over an old lady who was using a cane while the boy was chasing his four siblings.
Spike and Suzy got up and helped the old lay get up and into a seat. Finally a woman got hold of her kids and made them sit down. She nearly dragged the boy over and made him apologize to the old lady.
Suzy's blood was boiling. She couldn't believe the way this woman treated her kids. She was biting her tongue to keep herself from yelling at the lady.
"That woman has six too many kids," said Spike.
"I agree. She makes my blood boil. She has six kids and treats them all like trash. People like her don't deserve kids. If she does this to them in public I hate to imagine what she does at home," said Suzy.
"I'm tempted to call child services," said Spike.
Suzy saw the women yell at a little girl who looked no more than three years old, making her cry.
Suzy took out her cell phone and called child services herself. She told them everything she had seen and where she was. Spike said nothing, just watched Suzy's wide range of emotions while talking.
"You weren't joking," said Spike.
"I don't joke when I see a mother treating her kids poorly," said Suzy.
"You know you'd make a great mother," said Spike.
"You're just saying that because you're my boyfriend," said Suzy, blushing.
"I really believe it, I always have," said Spike.
"You'd be a great dad yourself," said Suzy.
"We've never talked about kids before," said Spike.
"Michelangelo Scarlatti," called a nurse.
"Go get that thumb looked at," said Suzy, nudging Spike.
"Go get the puppy. I'll call you when I'm done," said Spike.
Spike gave Suzy a look saying that they would talk about kids sometime soon. Suzy sighed as she got up; she was torn between wanting to have kids and feeling like she was forcing it. She saw the child services workers enter as she was leaving the hospital. She hoped the best for those kids; it had to be better than what they looked to be living in.
An hour later Spike called Suzy to tell her he had finished up. She was waiting to pick him up at the front doors when he came out. He got into the front seat and then a small ball of black and brown fur jumped into his lap
"Why hello. I see you like my lap," said Spike petting the small puppy's head.
The puppy lifted its head up to lick his hand. Suzy smiled at Spike.
"Is the puppy male or female?" asked Spike when Suzy stopped at a stop sign.
"Female," said Suzy.
It was several more minutes before Suzy had to stop at a stoplight.
"What are we going to name her?" asked Spike.
"How does Adele sound?" asked Suzy.
"Do you like that?" asked Spike.
The puppy let out a soft sweet bark.
"Adele it is," said Spike.
"We do need to talk about kids," said Spike.
"I know," said Suzy.
Then the light turned green again. Spike sighed. It was five more minutes before they hit another stoplight.
"Do you want kids?" asked Spike.
"Of course I do but I'm not sure I'm ready or if now the right time is now," said Suzy looking over at Spike.
"They say pets are like kids. If we can handle Adele, can we think about it?" asked Spike.
"I didn't think you would want kids right now," said Suzy.
"We aren't getting any younger," said Spike.
Suzy thought hard about what Spike had asked her. She decided before the light changed again.
"We can think about it if we can handle Adele," said Suzy.
"I'm not saying we're going to try to have kids right away; I just want us to think about it more seriously then," said Spike.
"I know that," said Suzy.
Spike stayed all night Saturday and didn't leave until he had go to work on Monday. When he did get to work the first thing he did was show photos of Adele to everyone he saw. Lou knew that it was only a matter of time before Suzy would meet the team and their relationship would get serious.
Thanks for reading. Thanks PSU93Girl, my belta reader. Please review.