Chapter 102: Reaching An Understanding

Eddie lays on the couch resting when she hears the sound of the garage door open. She opens her eyes and looks down on the floor to see Jamko – who is curled up asleep next to the couch as well – lift his head up too.

Eddie slowly sits up "Okay come on Buddy." She prompts "Let's put you in the study for now while I try to explain why you're still here…"

….

Eddie watches as Mia, then Rosa carrying Reagan in a cat carrier and then Jamie carrying a boxed up pet crate enter into the house.

"Vet says he's got a bad sprain." Rosa tells Eddie "But nothing is broken so that's good. He just needs to stay off it as much as possible until it heals."

Eddie nods her head up and down in understanding as she gestures to Jamie and the box "So that explains that."

"Yup." Jamie agrees when suddenly a bark is heard.

Eddie cringes as Jamie, Rosa and Mia all look over towards the sound in shock and surprise then slowly all three turn to look back at Eddie with questioning eyes.

"What?" She defends "He didn't want to leave and he did find Reagan!"

The trio continue to stare at her dumbfounded.

"Look, Reagan will be in the crate." Eddie decides "At least for tonight, we'll keep Jamko in a separate room with the door shut AND LOCKED and we'll figure it out in the morning K? Good." she bossily decides before turning to walk away.

Mia watches her Aunt leave then turns to look up at her Uncle "Can we set the crate up in my room? I'm not letting Reagan out of my sight."

Jamie lets out a heavy breath then nods yes.

…..

"Alright Buddy." Jamie soothes as he places an awake but still subdued Reagan into his bed in a pet crate on the floor in Mia's room "Watch that leg now okay?" he prompts as he positions the cat so as not to put pressure on the injured leg.

Reagan tries to stand but then wavers and just lays back down.

"Exactly." Jamie reiterates as he backs out of the cage and shuts the door.

"Does he really have to stay in there?" Mia pouts.

"Yes." Jamie reiterates "He's a cat. He doesn't understand he needs to stay off that paw while it heals. This is for his own good. He's got his bed, water, a litter box and food. Everything he needs."

"Okay." Mia sighs in defeat as she sits down on the floor next to the crate. She crosses her legs props her elbows on her knees then rests her chin in her hands as she settles in next to her cat to wait.

Jamie looks at his god daughter and frowns in sympathy "Mia, you can't sit there all night. You need to go to bed too."

"I know. Just until he falls asleep." Mia explains.

Jamie nods in acceptance, then heads for the door. He goes to open it then pauses and looks back "Remember to keep the door closed." He reminds the young girl.

"I know." Mia promises.

…..

Mia is woken up in the middle of the night by sounds from the pet crate, she groggily opens her eyes to see her cat limping to step into the litter box and as he does he jostles his body against the water bowl and some spills over so sleepily throwing her covers off, Mia gets out of bed and moves to the crate. She surveys the little mess then sighs and rubbing her eyes trying to wake up as she gets up and heads out of her room to get some paper towels to clean in it up but being half asleep she forgets to close her door.

In the spare room next door, Jamko lifts his head at the first sound of noise. He gets up, paws at the lever door knob over and over and over again with such persistence that he manages to turn the lock and open the door. He silently moves from his room into Mia's room where he pauses when he spots Reagan in the crate. A second later the dog walks over. He sits down then a moment after that he simply lays down resting his head on the floor as he watches Reagan.

Coming out of the litter box, Reagan eyes the subdued dog. He let's out a half hearted hiss of protest but when the dog doesn't move or make a sound, Reagan's exhaustion wins out and the cat moves back onto his bed to just lay down.

Walking back in her room a moment later, Mia for a moment panics when she sees Jamko but then she notices both animals seem copacetic so she slowly walks forward.

Jamko lifts his head and shifts his gaze to Mia when he hears her coming but then looks back at Reagan and once again settles his head on the floor.

Mia eyes the dog a moment wondering if she should try taking him back to his room herself or go wake someone up but as she stands there looking at him her mind rejects those ideas – things were calm – she didn't want to risk riling everyone up so she decides to try an experiment instead. Taking a deep breath, Mia cautiously begins to kneel down in front of the door to the crate. As she does, she eyes Jamko. Jamko never moves so taking the next step, Mia slowly opens the door.

Jamko still never moves, the dog just lays there so Mia leans into the cage, wipes up the water, then reverses herself out of the cage and closes the door.

She sits back on her heels to again look at the dog.

The dog shifts his gaze from Reagan to look at her then back to Reagan.

A bit blown away with what she is witnessing, Mia stands back up then again looks between the dog and her cat for one last sign of stress from Reagan that Jamko is there.

The cat didn't seem to care…

"Okay you can stay." She tells the dog "But I'm warning you right now…" She adds with a point of her finger at him "No funny business got it?"

The dog simply closes his eyes to go to sleep.

….

Jamie and Eddie are asleep in bed when a dawn of realization hits Eddie and she groans "Jamie." She mutters as she rolls over slightly and pushes her hand against her husband "We didn't take Jamko for a bathroom break before bed. Go take him before he makes a mess."

Groaning in reluctance, Jamie slowly rolls out of bed and still half asleep heads for the spare room but when he gets there he immediately wakes up and his eyes widen in absolute disbelief at seeing the door open "Oh seriously? Now you can unlock doors too? Ugh! Where did you go?" he mutters to himself trying not to panic as his mind fills with all the mayhem the dog could be creating. He hurries down the stairs and begins to look around "Jamko!" He urgently hushes out when he sees no sign of the dog anywhere "Damn it." he mutters at the thought of ANOTHER lost pet.

He makes his ways back up the stairs to get his wife and is about to move past Mia's door when something stops him so turning, Jamie slowly cracks the door open and peaks inside to see Mia in bed asleep as well as Reagan and Jamko - although at the sound of the door, both pets open their eyes and look towards the door but neither one makes any attempt to move.

For a moment Jamie stands there looking at the dog and cat a bit speechless "Okay then." He finally mutters out as he turns to leave but Jamko gets up, moves towards him then past him down the stairs and to the front door. He looks back at Jamie expectantly.

"Yeah that's what we thought." Jamie tells the dog as he comes down the stairs and reaches for the leash.

….

Coming back inside the house, Jamko begins to trot back up the stairs as Jamie reactivates the alarm before heading up to follow. The dog heads back into Mia's room and just settles himself beside Reagan's crate again as Jamie stands in the doorway watching.

He again sees Reagan open his eyes, see Jamko but then just shut his eyes again.

"Okay." Jamie accepts before pointing a warning finger at Jamko "Don't make me regret this." he adds before pushing himself off the frame and heading back to his room. He carefully crawls back into bed.

"Hey." Eddie's sleepy voice sounds "Did he go? You've been gone a while."

"He did." Jamie confirms "And that's because I had to find him first. Now not only can that dog open doors, he can unlock them first too."

Eddie's eyes fly open "What?"

"Yup." Jamie confirms "Somehow he found his way inside Mia's room…"

"Oh my god no." Eddie breathes out in a seer panic.

"It's fine, it's fine." Jamie promises "Dog and cat seem to be getting along just fine now. Reagan's sleeping in his crate and Jamko is sleeping on the floor next to him."

Eddie rolls over slightly so she can look at her husband's face to see if he's telling the truth or pulling her leg.

"Go look for yourself if you don't believe me." Jamie prompts "He did his business then came back in and headed straight back into Mia's room again. Kinda think that dog sees himself as Reagan's protector now or something."

A great big grin breaks out on Eddie's face.

"Yup, knew that would make you happy." Jamie states as he watches his wife throw her covers off and get up.

Sighing, Jamie again gets up himself as he follows his wife out of their room.

They silently pad down the hall and into the doorway of Mia's room where Eddie indeed sees Jamko curled up next to Reagan's cage and a happy pout appears on her face "Oh look at them." She giddily whispers causing Jamko to again look towards the door. He goes to get up and come to Eddie but Eddie moves towards him instead "No, no, you stay here." she whispers to him as she gives him pets and snuggles "You are such a good boy." She happily praises.

"5 more minutes." Mia mumbles in her sleep causing Jamie to walk over and reach for his wife. "You stay." He whispers to the dog "You come on…" he tells his wife "Before we wake Mia up."

So the couple walk out of Mia's room. Jamie goes to shut the door, then changes his mind and leaves it open – wanting to be able to hear if a kerfuffle happens before they head back to their own room and as they go Jamie notices that Eddie can't stop smiling.

"Yes." he relents the second they get back into their own room and they split up to head to their respective sides of the bed "Provided they are still getting along in the morning, we can keep the dog."

Eddie's smile grows as the couple climb back into bed and she leans over and gives Jamie a quick kiss on his cheek the moment they are back within reach of each other "Thank you."

"Yeah. Uh huh." Jamie mutters as they settle themselves in "But I still reserve the right to say I told you when he destroys some furniture piece or a shoe you love."

….

Eddie awakes the next morning and before she even heads to the bathroom, she slips out into the hall and makes a beeline for Mia's room to check on things.

When she gets there, she sees Mia is still asleep but is surprised to see Jamko all curled up on his dog bed next to Reagan's crate "How did you get that in here?" Eddie quietly asks the dog.

"I gave it to him."

Eddie turns around to see Rosa standing behind her.

"He did find Reagan." Rosa simply states in explanation before moving to head down the stairs.

A wide smile graces Eddie's face knowing Rosa's words and her gesture are her way of letting Eddie know Jamko can stay. She looks back at the dog "Welcome Home Buddy."

….

Danny cautiously walks into the bullpen of the 5-4 and looks around. He takes a step inside and then another and he leans over to look at his brother and sister in laws office to see the door open.

"What are you looking for?" Jamie's voice asks from behind him.

Spinning around, Danny looks at his brother and a satisfied smirk plays on his face "I don't see a dog anywhere."

Jamie sighs "That's because he's at home."

Danny points a finger at his brother in triumph "Hah! I knew it!"

"Yeah, yeah." Jamie placates as he pushes past his brother to head back to his office "You were right."

"I'm always right." Danny boasts "You really should just listen to your older brother, now you owe me 50 bucks."

Jamie's face scrunches up "For what?"

"Dog food." Danny simply explains "I already put it in The Chevelle."

Jamie just stares at his brother in disbelief.

"What?" Danny defends "You make more then I do."

So heavily sighing, Jamie reaches into his back pocket of his pants. He pulls out his wallet, opens it and hands over $50 just as Eddie walks in and sees.

"Thank you!" Danny quips as he takes the money, spins and heads for his desk.

Eddie walks over to her husband "Why did you just give Danny $50?" she inquires as she watches Danny sit down at his desk.

"Dog food." Jamie simply replies.

Eddie giggles "Well we do make more then he does."

"Yeah, Yeah." Jamie again states before turning to head into his office.

Eddie watches him go then heads for Danny and his desk to see him digging is own wallet out of his pocket "Morning." She greets as she positions herself just so next to Danny with her back to hers and Jamie's office blocking any view her husband might have. She holds her hand out to Danny "So the portion of your cost for Jamie's gift is $50."

Freezing right before he is about to slide the $50 he got from Jamie into his wallet, Danny slowly turns his head to look up at his sister in law.

She smiles sweetly at him.

"Is it now?" Danny challenges.

Eddie nods "Yup."

Sighing, Danny begrudgingly hands the $50 bill back over.

"Thank you!" Eddie quips as she takes it then discreetly slides a small wad of cash out from her bra strap under her shirt. She adds the $50 to the pile then hands the entire stack over to Danny. "Here you go, the full amount. I'm going to need you to pick it up Saturday morning on your way to help set up. I'll text you the details."

"Yeah, yeah, fine." Danny mutters as he takes the stack of money and quickly counts it before jamming it all in his wallet.

"Oh and can you pick your Grandfather up on the way?" Eddie inquires "The fine print says some assembly required and from listening to you and Jamie put the crib together that's apparently not your strong suit…"

Danny shoots his sister in law a very unhappy look at her words.

"…and I can't risk there being any hiccups…" Eddie rambles on not even noticing her brother in law's look "…you can't have a backyard barbecue party with no barbecue." She adds with bits of stress creeping into her voice.

Picking up on her tone, Danny decides to not add to it "Fine." He relents knowing the assembly WOULD indeed go quicker and easier with his Grandpa in charge.

Eddie flashes him a quick smile "Thanks!" She quips in triumph before turning to walk away.

Danny thinks as he watches her walk away "She played me." He realizes "She totally just played me." He adds with a shake of his head.

….

The moment Eddie walks into her office Jamie glances up at her

"Okay two trackers are on order." He announces.

Eddie gives her husband a quizzical look.

"One for the dog." Jamie pragmatically explains "And one for the cat."

Eddie laughs.

...