It was a fact of dating service personnel that just because you had something planned in advance, didn't mean you'd get to do it. Trish would never say she exactly liked that element of her relationship with Nikki, but she understood and accepted it.

So, after half an hour had elapsed since their vid call had been scheduled and she still hadn't received any kind of explanation or apology, she didn't bother getting angry.

Sure she was disappointed. She'd been looking forward to it all day. However it was hardly the first time it had happened and she knew it wouldn't be the last.

Instead she made herself a hot chocolate with marshmallows, made sure the volume on her omni-tool was on max in case Nikki finally tried to call and curled up on the sofa to binge watch her latest guilty pleasure.

Four episodes later she was struggling to keep her eyes open, the clock on the wall informing her it was nearly tomorrow already. Giving up and calling it a night, she was halfway through brushing her teeth when she was startled by a far too loud message alert as an email made it to her inbox.

[Hey babe, I am so so sorry. Something unexpected came up at work. Any chance we can try again same time tomorrow? Let me know. Love Nikki. (P.S. Hope I didn't wake you, sorry) ]

Trish finished getting ready for bed, snuggling under the duvet before typing a reply.

[Figured it was something like that. You ok? I'm busy tomorrow, if you plus two hours to the start time I should hopefully be free. It's ok, didn't wake me, just turning in now.]

[Plus two hours, copy that. Hopefully we can get tomorrow to work out. Don't worry I'm five by five, so's all my guys. Night then, sweet dreams.]

...

"Sorry about last night." Nikki apologised again as soon as Trish answered the call. The civilian gave her a subtle once over to check for wounds, relaxing when she didn't find any.

"It's alright."

"So, uhh... I know this might seem really random but are you still wanting a puppy?" There was something slightly off in her partner's voice but Trish couldn't work out what it was.

"Yes I am." She hedged cautiously. She'd been thinking on and off about getting a pet for a while now and while there were plenty of lower maintenance, much more logical options, her heart kept coming back to rest on a dog.

"You haven't got one yet have you?"

"No, but-"

"Oh good!"

"That's it? You're not going to let me talk about it?"

"What? No no no, wait babe, I didn't mean it like that. I just wanted to make sure you didn't already have one, I might have found you a possible candidate. Ramirez bring her over!" Nikki turned her head and raised her voice on the last sentence and there was a pause before another pair of arms entered frame, carefully depositing a small bundle of fluff on the table. "What do you think?"

"Where did you find her?"

"Remember that unexpected job last night? Ghost ship. Little critter here was the only living thing onboard. Well... Unless you count the flora, two cacti plants and a bonsai tree, they've already found new homes though."

"The plants found homes before the puppy?"

"Well uh... I err... may have pulled rank on the rest of the response team to get you right of first refusal." The soldier looked sheepish, rubbing the back of her neck in embarrassment and Trish couldn't hold back her laugh.

"What happened to 'I'm not going to be one of those bitches who goes around pulling rank all the time'?"

"You kept saying you wanted a dog!"

"I did! I do. This isn't going to turn into one of those horror vids where it turns out the only reason she was found alive is to act as host to some creepy malevolent being so it can escape to civilization and find more prey is it?"

Nikki smiled but offered neither confirmation or denial as she simply shrugged.

"Med team did a full check up, there's starting signs of malnutrition but otherwise healthy and no abnormalities. We've still got a long way to go before we next make planetfall so I'm sure if it is a demon dog it'll start picking off crew members before then." The soldier's face suddenly grew more serious. "You can say no if you don't want her you know. There's plenty people on the ship willing to adopt her. Pretty sure the only reason the captain didn't pull rank on me is because her husband's allergic."

"Does she have a name? The dog, not the captain I mean."

Shepard smiled at the way Trish felt a need to clarify.

"Not yet, you can pick one if you decide to keep her."

"Let me see her paws, I want to know how big she's likely to get." The camera tilted to fulfill her order, showing off fuzzy black and tan paws on a spotless mess table. "Great, now any chance I can see them next to something I actually know the size of for comparison?"

The camera moved back to its original position, Nikki picking up the pup and holding it up to her face, extending one paw out and placing it over her lips.

"You can quit with the puppy eyes."

"Don't be silly, she can't help it, she's a dog!"

"I meant you, doofus!"

...

"I decided on a name. What do you think about Judy?"

Nikki didn't look up from playing with the puppy in question as she answered with a slight shrug.

"Whatever you want babe."

"You don't like it."

"It's fine. I said you could choose, didn't I."

"What's wrong with Judy?"

"Nothing!" Trish fixed her partner with a look. "I just... wouldn't have minded something a little more badass. Judy's fine though."

"A name doesn't guarantee personality traits you know. Besides, two dogs named Judy have won the Dickin medal." She got a blank look of confusion at that but it was one that translated into 'if you're going to talk about this then please explain more' rather than 'shut up with all the confusing crap'. "It's a gallantry award for animals created during the Second World War. That was before the first human in space by the way."

"I know. I do know some history."

"Just making sure, I know how distracted you used to get in Mrs Lewis' class." There was the faintest hints of a blush as the soldier ducked her head down with a smile.

"So, what did the Judys do to earn their medals?" It was the first Nikki had heard about any of this but she knew if Trish had learnt this much then she'd have researched much deeper into it as well.

"One of them was one half of a pair of boxer dogs called Punch and Judy who saved two British officers in Israel from an armed terrorist, getting severely wounded in the attack, and the other was a mascot on a Royal Navy gunboat who had all kinds of crazy adventures. Including surviving two sinking ships, trekking through 200 miles of jungle, three years in various Japanese P.O.W camps. She saved lives, not only helping drowning sailors reach floating debris but distracting guards for the prisoners and warning about tigers and elephants..."

She trailed off, her eyes glistening with unshed tears as she thought back to the heartbreaking details of hardship and heroism in the book she'd downloaded purely out of curiosity. Nikki had a smile on her face as she saw the passion with which Trish spoke.

"Okay I take it back, Judy's a great name for a dog. I love it. It's like a secret badass name, nobody will suspect how awesome it is but we'll know... Nuh, uh, get back over here Judy." The soldier raised slightly from a sitting to a kneeling position in order to overcome the puppy's attempt to wander off and cause trouble. "So did you find all this out before or after I secured you a dog?"

"Well it- Hang on, are you guys playing with a sock?"

"Yeah."

The civilian groaned in despair.

"What? There's not exactly an abundance of dog toys on Alliance warships you know."

"I know sweetheart but you couldn't have chosen something other than an item of clothing? If you're not careful she's going to think all socks are toys, it'll be a nightmare."

"Oh, sorry babe I didn't think of that. I'll find something else tomorrow. Cobb had a baseball but it's too big and hard for her tiny mouth at the moment. Maybe I should hijack the ship's comms, ask if anybody has any little balls I can play with."

There was an instant snort.

"Maybe don't word it quite like that."

...

Trish watched the steady flow of uniforms disembarking from the ship, desperately trying to catch a glimpse of her marine, but it was actually Judy she saw first.

It was lucky Nikki had sent her an almost constant bombardment of photos because she doubted she'd have recognised it as the same tiny ball of fluff she had seen on vid call so long ago. Although, thinking about it, she highly doubted there were TWO dogs on an Alliance vessel.

Then her eyes drifted up, meeting those of the lieutenant holding Judy's leash and she pretty much stopped thinking altogether.

She no longer noticed the people around them, the dropped leash, the instantly obeyed order to sit and stay…

They finally let their mouths part for air but didn't relinquish their hug and Trish rested her head on Shepard's shoulder, gazing contentedly out at the rest of the docks before her attention was drawn to one thing in particular.

"Umm... Nikki?"

"Hmm?"

"Why are people saluting the dog?"

"Ah..." The soldier twisted her head round to see, sure enough a steady stream of enlisted personnel were slowing as they passed in order to salute. The young puppy nodding an acknowledgement back at each and every one of them. "... It's a long story."

"What did you do this time?" Trish demanded with a long suffering sigh.

"Hey! It wasn't actually my fault this time... Mostly..." Trish just stared her down, eyebrow raised disbelievingly. "Well... You know how the navy's such a stickler for regs and traditions right?"

"Mm-hmm."

"Well after you decided we were going to keep her, me and Judy started spending more time together. If I wasn't on duty she'd be with me." Trish had noticed their growing bond even in the photos. "She even started kipping on my bunk and... Well, what with me being in officer's quarters..."

"They made the dog an officer?" One corner of Nikki's lips quirked up as she nodded.

"Ensign Judy Shepard." There was a beat, her half smile evolving into a full face grin as she deadpanned: "She's got dogtags and everything!"

...

"Then there was the case of whether or not singing 'Hey Jude' at a dog counts as disrespecting an officer." Nikki continued regaling Trish with the nonclassified highlights of her latest tour, as they made their way back from registering Judy at the vets.

"Seriously? Surely there were more important issues for the navy to focus on than that."

"What can I say? There's a lot more down time now I don't have to constantly fix and maintain vehicles. It was a very serious discussion among the ground team over a game of Skyllian Five."

"Alright I'll bite, what was the verdict?"

"Well we decided that it would depend on whether or not the officer in question felt offended."

"And how did you determine that, did you ask her?"

"We tried, but between Cobb waving his baseball around trying to get her to follow the movement and nod, and Vakas trying the same thing with food to try and get her to shake her head, we felt any answer was void due to attempted coercion and decided it depended on whether or not Judy had a sense of humour."

"And how did you decide if she had a sense of humour?"

"Oh that's easy, she was sleeping with me and didn't attempt either suicide or murder, she must have a sense of humour!"

Trish burst out laughing, before a devious thought occurred to her and she struggled to stifle her chuckles long enough to force the words out.

"Wait... She was sleeping with you? They brought this up as evidence and didn't try to put you on a fraternization charge?"

It was well worth it, Nikki's jaw dropped, face blushing before she released a guffaw of laughter.

"That is brilliant! My new squad suck for not picking up on that. Badger would totally have pounced on the frat card."

...

"Nikki, what's wrong with your dog?"

She'd be honest, that wasn't the first thing she'd been expecting to hear when she walked through the door with the food shopping. Especially when she hadn't been able to hide the large, brightly coloured water gun sticking out the top of one of the bags.

"Uh oh, my dog already? I could have sworn she was ours when I left the house."

"And I thought you said she was already trained?"

"She is! Don't tell me you've broken her already?" Shepard tried to tease but a look at her partner's face warned her off that idea. "What's the problem?"

"She won't sit, or come when I call, or listen when I tell her to do something."

"You sure you're using the right words of command?"

"Yes, I've got your list right here." She waved her omni-tool as proof.

"They worked fine on the ship... Why don't you show me?"

The civilian walked to the other side of the room to get the puppy's attention,

"Judy, sit." Nothing happened.

"Hmm. Maybe make it sound more like an order? Let me try... Ensign, sit!" Judy obeyed immediately and Nikki turned back to her girlfriend with a grin. "See?"

"Seriously!?"

Nicola's grin instantly evapourated.

"What?"

"That's how everybody's been instructing her on the ship?"

She nodded nervously, sensing Trish was upset with something she'd done but having no clue what it could be.

There was a deep sigh.

"You trained her to respond to her rank not her name?"

Understanding dawned and Nikki face palmed.

"Sorry, I didn't think... sorry... I'll retrain her, she's still young enough, it should be fine and-" She was cut off mid sentence.

"You could have just told me you didn't like the name Judy you know. You didn't have to sabotage her training."

Nikki's eyes widened in panic, completely missing the mischievous look that had appeared in Trish's pale blue orbs.

"I didn't! I swear it wasn't deliberate babe, I promise. I didn't think. I've not had a pet before and, and... and... I sure as hell wouldn't use her rank if I was going to do it on purpose! That's just stupid. I mean, what if she got a promotion?"

Trish wasn't able to contain her laughter any longer.

"Calm down sweetie, I've already forgiven you." She gave the lieutenant a quick peck on the cheek to prove it and Nikki took the opportunity of their closeness to grab her partner's hand, entwining their fingers and brushing her thumb over the back of the hand apologetically.

"I'm sorry. I will try and retrain her before I go back to the villa, I promise."

"Don't worry about it. It's fine." Trish's attention finally drifted over to the shopping bags, focusing on the bright blue and orange plastic that she didn't remember putting on the list. "Oh God, what've you bought now?"

Nikki smirked. That was what she'd been expecting to hear when she walked through the door!