Star date 12202.05 -Ravenswood Estate- 06:30 hours

Sam had to be at school early, so Richard volunteered to take the morning feeding of the animals. He didn't mind it too much. Lynn was inside making breakfast, and then the two of them would head to Star Fleet Headquarters together. His new position allowed him to spend more time with her in preparation for shipping out to observe his first round of students.

Carefully Richard pushed open the barn door just enough to let himself into the barn. It was -3° F with a nasty windchill, and he wanted as little of the cold to get into the barn. Sam had done a good job keeping the barn at a solid 60 degrees, but those cold blasts chilled you to the bone when they hit you.

Soon as he closed the door, he noticed that Draggs was acting oddly. "Hey girl what's bugging you?" Richard began petting Dragg's nose and cheeks hoping to calm her down. While doing so he heard an unfamiliar light whimper coming from Draggs stall. Curious, he snapped a lead onto Dragg's halter, and entered her stall. He found snuggled in the loose straw a young Australian Sheppard. "Who do we have here, Draggs? Seems you have acquired a roommate." Richard maneuvered Drags out of the stall and into the grooming ties in hallway. Leaving her tied there, he slipped back into the stall to check on the dog.

As he walked up, he noticed that the dog needed medical attention from defensive wounds to his face and front legs and some bite marks around his neck and torso. Thankfully they weren't actively bleeding. "Come here, friend." he bent down and scratched the dogs' ears. The dog looked up at Richard as if asking for help. Taking one of the pony blankets from the tack room, Richard carefully wrapped the dog up and brought him out into the hallway. "You are going to need to see Doc Jensen, soon as I finish feeding these guys. Think you can give me a couple minutes." As if in answer the dog snuggled down in the blankets, and let Richard put him in the wheelbarrow.

"Come on girl. Let's get you set up so I can take our new friend to the vet." Richard returned Draggs to her stall and began getting them fed and watered. Their new friend needed to see the doc as soon as possible.

07:39 hours - Dr Leo Jensen D.V.M. Office- Douglas, Illinois

"Doc Jensen is just about finished up with our friend here and would like to speak with you in a moment." said Stacey, Doc Jensen's assistant as she came out from the examination room and found her way behind the counter. Richard nodded and turned his attention back to the examination room door. Doc Jensen appeared a moment later and holding his data pad. Seeing Richard waiting anxiously he walked over.

"It appears as if our friend here's name is Oliver. We scanned him and his microchip record he used to be a farm dog in Brocton." The Doc showed Richard the pad, "His owner died, and he was surrendered to the local Animal Control about 3 months ago where he escaped custody. He's been on the lamb ever since until he showed up at your place this morning. His wounds are healed and his rabies tests negative. He has no permanent damage except for the old injury on his messed up left ear, looks like on a piece of barbed wire. He will need to be kept here for a few days for observation, but if no one claims him, then he will be going to the local animal control to be put up for adoption."

"Noted. Please, keep me posted. I'd like to track his progress." replied Richard.

"Will do, Admiral. You know, this guy would get along nicely with your Border Collie..." said Dr. Jensen cheekily.

"That may be so, but I'd need to run this past someone first or I would need my OWN Doghouse." Richard chuckled.

"Fair enough, fair enough. Thanks for bringing him in Admiral. It is no fun for any creature out in that cold weather." replied Doc Jensen as Richard waved his way out and made his way for home.

19:32 hours- Ravenswood

Lynn and Richard were sitting on the couch watching an old film. He had brought home handmade pizza as a peace offering, since he missed having breakfast with her that morning. She had been annoyed at him, until he told her about the dog, he found that needed the vet. Then she forgave him for breakfast, but he still made sure to guild the lily with the pizza.

"Any word on how your new friend is doing?" Lynn asked as she snuggled into Richard's side, with Remy's head in her lap.

"Doc said he is healing nicely. Once the waiting period is up, he will be up for adoption." He wrapped his arm around Lynn, giving Remy a scratch before doing so.

"He is one lucky dog." Lynn commented.

"Remy just had to find the right person. And that right person was you." Richard kissed her cheek.

"I meant Allie…"

"Ollie..." Richard corrected her, only to get a playful glare up at him.

"Ollie then," Lynn smiled. "He is lucky that you found him. The weather was not fit for man nor beast this morning. Even when it finally cleared up it only got to 17 degrees. As much as the ponies, and Draggs love to run in the fields, even they said no thank you to leaving the barn. He could have frozen to death out there."

Richard remained silent for a while, but just as he was about to say something Lynn interrupted him talking to Remy, "Hey Remy boy, what do you think about getting you a playmate. Someone to play tug a war with, chase the ducks, and sheep, and maybe share your favorite snoozing spots with?"

"Lynn…"

"I assume you wouldn't have a problem with that Love, seeing as you were about to ask me if we could adopt Ollie soon as his waiting time was up." Lynn playfully batted her eyelashes.

Richard rolled his eyes and shook his head.

"Oh, please you had the same look on your face as I did when I first held Remy. There was no way that dog wasn't coming home with us at some point."

"So much for my grand speech." Richard laughed. "Are you sure that you don't mind?"

"Think of it this way, at least we won't have to worry about puppies between our dogs this time." Lynn said cheekily before giving him a solid kiss.

Star date 12202.06 -Ravenswood Estate- 06:47 hours

Richard was awoken from a very pleasant sleep by the sound of a dog barking. He was about to tell Remy to stop it, when he noticed that Remy was still in his bed. Following the sound, he grabbed his dressing gown, and made his way downstair. It sounded as if the barking was coming from the outside. Opening the front door, he was greeted by Oliver waiting on the porch, by the door with his tail wagging. Soon as the door opened Oliver hurried in, shook the snow out of his coat, jumped up on the nearby bench and began licking Richard repeatedly as he shut the door. "Easy buddy, Easy." Oliver settled down a bit but was obviously happy to see him.

Soon as Richard picked up one of Remy's toy balls, Oliver went into a play bow. Smiling Richard tossed the soft ball down the hall, only for Oliver to run and catch it. Bringing it back so Richard could toss it again. Richard played with him for a few moments and once the dog had worked off his energy, got something to drink, he followed Richard into the living room to lazed beside Richard who had taken a seat in a chair.

Scratching the dog's head and neck Richard asked him, "Are you sure you want to join this crew? Do you know what you're getting yourself into?" the dog stared back intently at him.

"Well, as you wish then. Permission to come aboard Granted. But first, we need to do a suitability test." he patted the dog's head and went to fetch Remy from the bedroom. Opening the door, both dogs took off running into the snow. The two dogs instantly bonded and were having a blast playing tag out in the field. Richard was standing by the large front window when Lynn came up to him a cup of tea in her hands.

"Is this the dog that you were talking about last night?" she indicated the black and tan dog playing with Remy.

"One in the same." Richard chuckled.

"He's cute. I think he will do. What's one more stray into this crazy mix?" she teased as she kissed and patted his cheek. Richard grinned and went to contact the local animal control authorities that he now had Oliver.