This chapter was also written by my friend. In fact, I think the next one was as well, now that I'm going through these.
"Reya will not be pleased," Ira predicted.
"I doubt she will care," Boreas replied, completely unruffled. Stock just kept quiet. He didn't want to do or say anything that might sway Reya's answer toward "no" if he ended up needing her opinion. Still, Ira's next statement was just too damn good to pass up.
"I should just tell Reya to let you keep it," Ira snorted as the liset landed in Harbinger's main hanger, "You would finally have something as pathetic as yourself to keep you company."
"Awe, now my fleas are insulted," Stock smirked, "Still, I'm sure some of Janus' fleas have found a more desirable place to live. She was sleeping in your lady things the other night."
Stock quickly grabbed his rucksack and bundled up the kubrow, then scrambled off the liset before Ira had a chance to respond. Stock grinned and dropped his rucksack to wave to Boreas who was still on the liset, and the frost just tossed his hands in the air before disappearing from the viewport.
Ira was yelling and there didn't seem to be any calming him down. He was mad that Stock had more or less called him a woman, and evidently he was also now convinced he'd contracted a serious case of parasites. Stock hadn't noticed any himself, so he was pretty sure that Janus was clean. Ira just didn't need to know that, maybe if he thought the kubrow had given him fleas he'd go straight to the sterilization shower and leave Stock free to go find Anya.
Janus woke and started to squirm, so Stock attatched a makeshift leash and collar to her, then put her on the floor so she could walk. He went to the galley first, but didn't find Anya. Tess was there though, and she immediately came over to them.
"Oh, aren't you just the cutest little thing!" she cooed, dropping to the floor where the pup happily began licking the mag, "What did you name it?"
"Her name's Janus," Stock grinned.
"I'm afraid to ask, but how many injuries did you take to get her?" Tess asked, "Usually by the time they reach this point, you're better off just hunting up an unattended egg."
"I think she'd probably just hatched, maybe not even an hour before I found her," Stock replied, "Mother kubrow was squished inside the den and the others were all dead. The rest of the dens were completely flat."
"You got lucky," Tess commented, "You show Anya yet?"
"Nope," Stock said, "I actually was looking for her, do you have any idea where she's at?"
"Hmm, probably sleeping," Tess informed him, "She got back only a few hours ago, so she's probably in her room."
"Right, maybe I should wait until she wakes up to show her," Stock said.
"Oh don't be ridiculous, go surprise her," Tess ordered, "It's a puppy! Even if you wake her up you've brought her a cute fuzzy animal, no girl could resist that."
"Yeah, but if she's tired I don't want to just wake her up," Stock said doubtfully.
"Well you don't have to wake her up, let the dog do that," Tess smirked, "Just put her on the bed, she'll do the rest."
"You're evil," Stock laughed.
"Come on," Tess grinned as she stood up, "I'll walk with you."
"You just want to play with Janus," Stock teased.
"Guilty," Tess giggled. Stock laughed then he and Tess headed off down the hall toward Anya's room. Stock moved to push the buzzer when they got to her room, intending to go back to the galley and wait for her if she didn't answer.
Tess rolled her eyes as she playfully swatted his hand away from it and said, "Watch and learn, this is how you make a girl's day."
She picked up Janus and put the kubrow in his arms then opened the door to Anya's quarters. Once inside Tess closed the door behind them then led him into Anya's bedroom where she gave him a shove toward the bed with an encouraging nod before she left. Janus was squirming again, wanting down. Well, Stock supposed the tiny mutt couldn't do much more than walk on Anya and give her a bunch of puppy kisses. He gently set Janus on the bed then pulled a chair over to sit on while he watched.
Janus wasn't impressed at first, not until Anya moved in her sleep. The puppy took interest and began inspecting the bed, climbing over Anya several times before walking up to Anya's head. Janus started shoving her nose into Anya's hair, then Anya groaned before putting her hand to the back of her head and over Janus' nose. Janus shoved her nose into Anya's hand and started to lick, waking Anya up.
"What the heck?" she asked as she reached up with the other hand, then rolled onto her side. Janus crawled over her again and walked up to Anya's face and proceeded to shower the tenno with puppy kisses. "Aww, look how sweet you are," Anya cooed as she sat up and cuddled the pup, then she noticed Stock sitting there and grinned happily, "Hey, welcome home, Stock."
"Hey, Anya," he smiled back, "I'm sorry about this, if you would rather sleep I can take her to my room instead."
"It's fine, stay a while," she chuckled, then she held up the kubrow and asked, "What did you name her?"
"Her name is Janus," he told her, "So, about waking you up, I'm sorry…"
"Oh shush," she laughed, "If I were to sleep too much longer I'd mess up my schedule. I'm fine, really. What do you say we go get something to eat, then we can take your puppy to the garden?"
"I would like that," he said, then he grinned teasingly, "Last chance, are you sure you don't want to sleep anymore?
"I'm sure, Stock," she laughed, "I haven't seen you in a week, and I've been sleeping since I got back. Let's do something, just us. Well, us and the new fur baby."
"I think I can manage that," he chuckled.