Meanwhile, Luna was feeling pretty confused herself. She loved Toby and knew that he loved her; there was no dog she was closer to outside her family and she wanted nothing more than to be what he'd asked her to be, but his insistence that she stay behind while they went to look for his father's assailant had hurt her more than a little. On top of that, a little voice in her head was asking her the very question she least wanted to think about. Why did you turn him down? This has been your dream ever since you two started dating!

Oh, shut up, she retorted. I haven't felt this strongly for that long. You make me sound like Haley or Phoebe.

Then when did you start wanting him to pop the question?

The amnesia incident. Why she was wasting her brain cells arguing with this unwanted voice in her head, she'd never know, but far be it from her to let herself win an argument by default. The way he coached me back to full memory after fighting Pete to get me back, that's what got me thinking about something long-term.

Okay, so what about that little 'comment' after the incident with Loki? You said he'd make a great father someday.

I was teasing him.

Teasing that gave you dreams about you and him raising a litter of puppies?

Just my stupid subconscious. Which is probably what you are, just extra-stupid.

Says the girl who thought, "Wow, I love this guy!" when he kissed you for the first time. And speaking of kisses…

"We're getting off the subject," she snapped, then realized she'd shouted and wanted to hit herself. Good grief, I'm losing my mind.

"Luna?"

She groaned inwardly. She'd know that bark anywhere. Leave it to Dad to be in earshot right when I go off the deep end. Painting her best mask of normality on her face, she answered, "Hey, Dad."

"What's the muttering about?"

Luna turned to see Copper rounding the corner in her direction. "Just having an argument with myself. Where's Mom?"

"She's already home. I wasn't quite tired yet, so I decided I'd go for a walk." His reply hardly surprised her. Being one-quarter wolf, Copper was more prone to taking nighttime strolls than Taya, though she sometimes joined him. Sitting down in the snow, he resumed his previous question. "So, what are you and yourself arguing about?"

Luna sighed. "Toby."

"Ah." Copper looked around. "Where is he, anyway?"

"Probably looking for me. Speaking of which, can we walk? I'd rather stay ahead of him just now."

Following her lead, Copper raised an eyebrow. "You want to avoid him? What's going on here?"

"Toby asked me to be his mate, that's what."

Copper sat down to scratch an ear. "I must be going deaf. You want to avoid him because he popped the question? Why?"

"Because…" Luna frowned. This would be so much easier to discuss with her mother. "Because he put me under house arrest so I wouldn't follow him on that trip."

"Yes, but you sorted that out, didn't you? He said such good things about you on stage tonight."

"After I proved myself, yeah. That's the problem; he wouldn't even listen to me until I'd pretty much cornered him."

Copper's face scrunched, considering her complaint. "From what I heard he was just trying to keep you safe. And protect your reputation."

Ordinarily Luna would have considered her father's point. Being out of sorts as she was, however, she looked away and muttered with a snort, "I should have known you'd take his side."

Copper was a bit put off by his daughter's attitude. "Is that what you think?" he asked. "Okay, young lady, let's go."

"Where to?"

"My house. Maybe you'll listen to your mother."

Luna was more than ready to argue, but then again, she knew well enough that her mother of all dogs never hesitated to speak her mind. Maybe she'll back me up, she thought. What she failed to consider was that Copper knew Taya far better than she ever could, and with good reason.

After nudging Taya awake, he had Luna explain everything again from start to finish. In response, Taya shook herself. "Kids," she muttered. "They haven't changed a bit."

"I'm not a pup anymore, Mom; I'm an adult. And I want to be recognized as someone who can make her own decisions."

Taya nodded. "I realize that. You want a relationship where you and Toby will talk things over as equals, not just him always having his own way all the time. Right?"

"Yeah."

"Then tell me something: Were you ready to hear his side of the argument when you wanted to go?"

"What?" Taya was making about as much sense as gravel in a food dish. "Of course I listened to him, but he was wrong."

"Maybe I'm not being clear. Were you willing to consider his point of view as openly as you wanted him to consider yours?"

"I…" Luna stopped. Had she been? Did she really want to hear Toby's two cents about not wanting to take her with him? Now that she looked back on the whole thing, she realized that she hadn't even considered Toby's argument against her accompanying the team, and suddenly what Taya was saying made complete sense. "I guess not," she admitted. "I just wanted to go with him because I was worried about him."

"And he wanted you to stay for the same reason," Copper put in.

Luna gave her father a look. "Dad, no offense, but this is girl talk here."

Taya raised her brow. "Is it? I thought it was family talk."

Luna snorted. "There! That right there is how I want things to be like for me and Toby―backing each other up instead of arguing all the time."

"Do you argue all the time?"

"More than you and Dad."

Taya chuckled laconically. "Sweetheart, you have no idea how much we argue. Half the times we left you kids with your grandparents were because we needed to sort something out. Now I wish we'd let you stick around; you might have learned a few things about settling your differences."

Luna scrunched her face and folded one ear. "I'm confused."

"It's like this," Copper replied. "Any time there are two individuals, they'll disagree sometimes. That's what make us individuals: We think and act differently, and sometimes that means someone gets the last say. Sometimes one or the other will get their way, sometimes it's a compromise. In the end, though, it's like the humans say: 'Two can't walk together unless they agree to do it.'"

Luna frowned. "I don't think I've heard that one."

"Well, it's not verbatim," Copper admitted, shrugging. "I heard it a while back when I passed by that tall pointy building. Anyway, the point is that you and Toby are going to disagree sometimes. That doesn't mean you have to split up every time you want things one way and he wants them another way."

"So what am I supposed to do, let him have the last word every time?"

"Of course not," Taya answered. "It just means you two need to discuss things calmly and sensibly. And sometimes that may mean going along with something you don't really agree with. But if you two really are committed to each other, it'll work out."

"You really think so?"

Taya nodded and smiled, nuzzling Copper. "I know so."

Luna sighed. "Well, I guess one way or the other I'll have to talk this over with him anyway."

"You know, I think she's getting it," Copper told Taya, then nosed his daughter affectionately. "Go home and get some sleep, then talk it over with him in the morning."

"I guess you're right." Luna yawned and suddenly realized just how tired she was. "Boy, all this has worn me out." She nuzzled them both. "See you tomorrow."

"Goodnight, Luna," said Copper.

"Goodnight, sweetheart," added Taya.

After she left, Copper chuckled. "You'll have to stop calling her that. If things work out right, Toby's going to have exclusive rights to that title."

"I guess he'll just have to yield to my authority." Both of them laughed. "Speaking of yielding, I can't seem to remember something."

"And what's that?"

"Which one of us won that argument about whether or not to have pups?"

Copper eyes twinkled as he answered, "I think that one was a tie."