Doggie!

Who: Nic and Dan
Where: Their Room
When: Morning

Nic was still struggling with this whole sleeping thing, afraid that the moment he crashed, someone would find a way into their room and would hit them over the head with wrenches. It was unlikely, sure, but Nic didn't want to risk it. Staying up all night, though, was something he was unable to do for multiple nights, and he'd gotten his sleep schedule all off balance after sleeping throughout the day yesterday. Now he was curled up with Dan, having slept half the night accidentally, his body bent awkwardly from how he'd been sitting up when he'd fallen asleep. That didn't matter. He was warm, and in sleep, he felt safe.

Dan had fallen asleep cuddling up in Nic's lap. Since his boyfriend had apparently been staying awake, his head resting on Nic's stomach, his arms around his waist, the rest of his body drapped over his thighs and sprawled across the bed. He woke first, dozy and half asleep as he looked up at Nic. Safe and sound as they were, he could be grateful that his boyfriend had fallen asleep despite his protests and Dan carefully extricated himself from the position, slipping out of the bed and heading towards the bathroom to relieve himself, brushing his hair back off of his face. He glanced towards the door, which was still safely barred, with no sign anyone had tried to get in overnight, which was good.

And then he pushed the bathroom door open - to be greeted full force by a series of barks, then two great paws as a dog launched himself at Dan, jumping up, its paws on his chest as it attempted to lick his face to death - not that it was big enough to get up that far.

Nic barely stirred as Dan slipped out from under him, filling the warm spot beneath the covers that Dan had vacated. His eyes slowly blinked open, then closed, prepared to continue sleeping. If Dan was up and walking around, there was no reason for him to be awake quiet yet. Though he'd once been an early morning riser, that was finally coming to an end. He was almost out again when he heard the barking, at which point his eyes opened wide and he rolled over to face the bathroom. "You found a friend," he said sleepily, a wide grin spreading across his face. There was nothing that could have made him happier that morning. After having no dog the day before, he'd decided that the scientists had ignored their request.

Dan pushed the overly-eager dog off of him and took a step back, getting over his surprise quickly, looking between the bathroom and the bed. Nic wasn't the only one that had already written off their request as 'never going to happen'. "Hello," he said, turning back to the dog and bending down to stroke the top of its head, a little tentatively. He'd never owed a dog before and wasn't really sure where to go from here.

From the way Dan handled the dog, Nic immediately knew that he'd never spent much time around one. It was truly unfortunate that they had to get one under such unpleasant circumstances, but if it made Nic feel safer, it was worth it. "I suppose it would be bad to call her from the bed," Nic said, slowly pulling himself towards the side. He'd never had an inside dog, and he'd never had one that was well trained, but he still wasn't sure he wanted the dog thinking that getting in bed with him was okay.

Being that he got a good reaction from the dog, Dan got a little bolder and knelt down, scratching behind its ears. He looked back at Nic. "Her?" he asked, then looked. "Oh! Right, yes." Definitely not a boy-dog. "So, you got a name, girl?" he asked her, but she wasn't wearing a collar. Hmmm. Dan leaned back as she tried to lick his face, laughing a little. She definitely was friendly. "So she's not allowed to sleep on the bed then?" he asked his boyfriend, getting up and walking to the computer to see if there was any note or anything there. Nothing.

Nic pulled himself to the edge of the bed, then put his hand out, calling the dog as Dan headed for the computer. "Come're girl," he said, and almost got a dog in his lap, rather than just there to pet. Laughing, Nic pushed her down, but lovingly scratched behind her ears as well while looking over to Dan. "I don't know. I don't mind sometimes, but--" But he wanted to make sure their bed remained theirs, at least for private times. "I've never had an inside dog. I guess I need to read up on them now. Any information?" he asked, indicating the computer.

"Nothing," Dan confirmed, turning back to his lover and resting his arms on the back on the desk chair. "Maybe she's well-trained enough to know when to get down off the bed?" he suggested. "I mean, we did ask for a guard dog, and that suggests a certain level of training, right? And she's no puppy. C'mere girl," he called, giving a bit of a whistle. The golden retriever looked up and bounded over to Dan, nuzzling his hand. He laughed a little. "Well, that worked."

"That's true," Nic smiled, watching Dan interact with the dog. Their dog. Who would help keep them safe. "I don't mind her up on the bed, so long as she gets down when we tell her to." A guard dog, one that was trained, should know that, Nic figured. "Do you think we get to name her?" Nic said, rising from the bed. The dog had come out of the bathroom, therefore it was where Nic went to see if anything else was there for her. "We got dog stuff in here," Nic called back with a smile. It felt a little like Christmas.

"We do?" Dan asked, rising from the chair and heading into the bathroom. There was, indeed, a load of dog stuff there. In fact, everything they needed - illustrated by the fact that she went straight for a ball that was lying in the dog basket and picked it up in her mouth. Padding back to Nic, she dropped it at his feet, barking once before looking what Dan actually thought was pleased with herself. "Think she wants to play with you, honey," he said, peering over Nic's shoulder - which he had to raise himself up on his toes to do, since his boyfriend was several inches taller than he was.

"What makes you think that?" Nic asked, smiling over his shoulder at Dan before he bent down to pick up the ball. "You want this?" he asked the dog enthusiastically, which in turn received Nic a happy bark. Though he knew it wasn't a good idea to throw it in their room, he did so anyways, aiming in a direction that didn't appear to have anything breakable in it. As the ball went into the air, the dog launched after it immediately,and Nic began to laugh, turning so that one arm wrapped around Dan. It felt good to laugh, to forget for one second in time that they were stuck in the house for nine more months of hell.

Dan watched the dog jump after the ball and catch it on the second bounce, sliding across the floor slightly as she did so. And then he turned in to Nic as he felt the touch and heard the laugh - both almost bringing tears to his eyes because they were sounds he hadn't actually thought he'd hear again for some time. For that alone, this dog had his eternal love and affection. He reached up and kissed Nic, slipping an arm around his shoulders and pulling him down a little, even as he felt the ball - now slightly damp - land on his foot.

For all the time they'd spent together the past few days, Nic didn't realize he hadn't properly kissed Dan since before the attack. He hadn't been in the mood to be close in that sense, as he'd been so focused on being safe, rather than being comfortable. A little bit of tension left his shoulders then, and he rested his forehead against Dan's when he eventually broke the kiss. We'll be okay, he thought to himself, knowing that they might not be there yet, but this would put them good in the right direction. "I'm glad we asked for a dog," he said softly, one hand dropping to his side, only to be licked by their new friend.

Dan closed his eyes, breathing in the smell of Nic so close to him, licking his lips to taste him on his mouth. Right now, for the first time, he felt like maybe they could one day get back to normal and until this moment he hadn't properly realised everything that had gone from their relationship, the fact that since the attack, they'd been a shadow of what had been. "I love you," he whispered and he could have stayed there forever, except then the retriever barked, impatient at being ignored.

Nic grinned as the dog barked, then shushed it, as if that would do much good. "I love you, too," he said softly, not wanting to let Dan go. He was warm and it felt like he'd been cold for days. Things might not be perfect, but they were far better than they'd been the day before. Slowly he pulled back to look down at the dog, though he never let go of Dan's hand. "What?" he asked her, noticing the ball at Dan's feet. "Should we take her out?" he asked, but a glance towards the window easily said that was a bad idea. Plus... Nic wasn't quite ready to leave their room. "Do you mind letting her play fetch in here?" he asked. He couldn't see anything she'd easily break, but he thought he should ask.

"We can do that," he agreed, bending to pick up the ball and holding it out above her head. The dog sat back on her haunches, tongue hanging as she looked up at the ball. Dan pretended to throw it and she was off, half way across the room before she realised he was still holding it and came skidding back. "Oh, go on then," he said, lightly tossing the ball across the room. "So," he said, slipping his arm around Nic's waist as he watch her chase the ball. "Assuming that she hasn't got a name - what're we going to call her?" he asked, laying his head on Nic's shoulder.

It was fun to watch Dan play with the dog, to see his boyfriend smile. It made Nic realize that he'd not been doing that much of it himself, and he resolved to at least try, when things weren't that bad. Part of the problem was that, while Nic knew that things weren't bad now, he'd been dreading each minute of each day. Baby steps, he told himself. Things were good now, and he needed to embrace them while he could. It was easier said than done, but also easier done when he had a happy boyfriend and dog surrounding him. "I don't know," Nic said, his hand rubbing gently up and down Dan's back. "I've never gotten to name a pet before. Any ideas?"

"To be honest, neither have I," he admitted. "Oh, no - that's a lie. I had a goldfish when I was a kid. Called it Jeffrey. Don't ask - it was random," Dan advised, enjoying the rubbing immensely as the dog chased the ball under the bed and disappeared with a wriggle and bump. "What kind of name do we want? Something cute? Something very female? She doesn't really shout 'aggressive' at me - she's bouncy and friendly and her name should reflect that," he decided.

"Jeffrey the goldfish," Nic said with a little laugh. "Not something too cute. She might not be super aggressive, but I don't think I could take her seriously as a guard dog if we named her 'Fluffy'." Taking Dan's hand, Nic pulled him to sit on the edge of the bed. That way they could still play with the dog, but Nic could rest a bit. Sleep, real sleep, where he felt safe, was definitely needed. "What about Kylie? Or Izzy? I like that," Nic said, petting the dog as she retrieved the ball once more.

"Kylie is a petite Australian singer," Dan told him, seriously. "I couldn't, in all conscience, call our dog Kylie." He paused. "But I quite like Izzy," he mused. He bent down, looking under the bed. "Izzy," he called. The dog ignored him. "Izzy, here girl," he tried again. She looked up on 'girl', dropping the ball she'd been chewing on and crawling towards him, out from under the bed, where she promptly jumped up next to them and snuggled down between the two men.

"Izzy, then," Nic smiled, sure there was someone out there named Izzy as well, but liking that better of the two names. "I think it may take her a while to learn it," Nic said, scratching behind her ears as he made himself more comfortable on the bed. "But I think it's that way with any pet." With the dog comfortably between them, Nic closed his eyes for a moment, leaning towards Dan. "I feel like... I might be able to sleep tonight," he said softly.

Dan met him in the middle, meeting over Izzy, forehead to forehead. "Yeah, me too," he whispered. It really felt like it, that they might both actually sleep, and at the same time, and on purpose and everything. He opened his eyes, kissing Nic on the forehead before drawing back. "You want to see what else they gave us for her?" he asked.

"Sure," Nic said, smiling as he met Dan's eyes. It was hard to believe the scientists had actually given them a dog, and then had gone so far as to give them stuff for the dog as well. Sometimes it seemed like they were trying to help, while others it was obvious that they were just enabling the madness to continue. "We've got food and water, right?"

"Specifically for Izzy?" Dan asked, lapsing straight into using her name. "I'm not sure - I didn't look. I mean, we have water, but I didn't look for dog food," he added, standing and pulling Nic up, Izzy immediately jumping down off the bed - it was quite obvious she was a 'where you go, there goes my country' type. "Let's go look."

Nic liked the fact that Izzy followed. He'd want her to follow, if her job was to guard. "I'd expect them to leave dog food," Nic said, pushing open the door to the bathroom. There they found everything they could possibly need to take care of a dog. There were brushes, bowls, a dog bed, balls, and an assortment of other toys as well. "Score," Nic laughed, bending down to pick up what looked like a stuffed bear. "We've got everything here!"

"Cool, that's great, I mean, really," Dan said, not really believing what he was hearing. The scientists had basically given them exactly what they'd wanted. "Is there a collar there? She hasn't got a collar. She should have one."

There was a basket of dog toys and Nic knelt to shift through it, looking for a collar. Eventually he found one, along with a leash, and he lifted it up to hand it to Dan. "There's a collar, but there're no tags on it. Probably because we needed to come up with a name first," Nic said. Or, that was his guess. He was never quite sure when it came to the scientists.

"You think tomorrow a tag will turn up?" Dan asked, taking the collar and squatting to fasten it round Izzy's neck. "Or I could probably make one, give me a couple of days," he offered. Which was something he hadn't done before, but he doubted it would be that challenging.

"I'd rather you make one, if you're up to it," Nic said, squatting beside Dan and Izzy to pet her as Dan put the collar one. "It's more personal. And it doesn't involve spooky appearances from the scientists." Because Nic doubted it would appear in an envelope slid under their door. No, Izzy would just have one suddenly, and Nic would rather the scientists stay away unless called for.

"I'll give it my best shot," Dan promised, deciding that it'd get more than that - failure wasn't an option here. Nic was on board, Dan would do it. He wasn't going to disappoint his boyfriend.

Nic looked back at Dan, just giving him a smile. A smile for Dan. He wasn't sure what to do now, whether to play with the dog, go back to sleep, or cuddle with his boyfriend, but he felt like they were all viable options, and far better for him than worrying about how might break into their room in the next few minutes. He'd yet to see Izzy in action, but he was confident she'd do as she was trained. He wasn't sure why, as trusting the scientists wasn't at the top of his list, but trusting the dog seemed much simpler.