((OOC: This thread ends up taking place after the brawl and after Airing Things Out))


They'd gone to IKEA, they'd bought a whole bunch of stuff to fill up the apartment, shelves so they could at least make it look like they had stuff on there, a couple extra little tables scattered here and there, and even pictures to fill the open expanses of walls throughout the apartment. Lee's hunt for a digital picture frame had turned up two of them, which were now sitting in their apartment on a couple of those little tables they had bought.

But as Lee sat there on the couch, her legs tucked up beside her, she frowned as she glanced around the apartment. They probably had twice the stuff that they had had in the old place, yet this apartment still felt sparse.

"I don't know what else we can do, hon," Lee called toward Tarin, who had gotten up to grab a drink. She still had that bit of a frown on her face. "It still feels like there's something missing here, but I can't figure out what it might be."

Ice from the ice maker in their fridge clinked into the glass as Tarin was reminded, yet again, why he loved this apartment so much. The appliances were new, he and Lee were cooking more. Yes, he and Lee. Lee was an eager student, even if she was a little lacking in skill and Tarin was sure that with time she’d stop scorching the water.

They’d been busy little bees the last couple weeks as they settled into their new place. The people at IKEA had been more than happy to relieve Tarin and Lee of their money in exchange for furniture. Tarin had been right, too. The novelty of shopping had worn off. Fast. Lee had done a really good job, though and their apartment looked like something Tarin had never thought he’d live in.

He was filling his glass of ice with water when Lee called out that she didn’t know what else they could do. Lee had been pointing out, more and more, that there was something missing in the apartment, and what was more, she’d continued to buy things to try and fill it out.

Tarin had a feeling what the problem was, and while he liked the things Lee kept bringing home, he didn’t think that they were going to fix it. The apartment felt empty to him too, it had since the night he’d woken up during a thunderstorm from a dream he still wasn’t convinced was a dream.

Back to the living room he went, dropping onto the couch next to Lee and setting his water glass on the coffee table. Around Lee’s shoulders Tarin’s arm went, pulling her close and toying with her hair as he thought about a reply. “I think it’s Alice.” He said, knowing that he was possibly opening up a huge can of worms. “It’s so quiet around here…and I know it’s always been quiet…but it’s so quiet since that dream.”

Tarin was silent as he finished in the kitchen and then came back to the living room. Still silent as he sat down on the couch beside her, his glass on the table in front of them. A moment later, his arm was wrapping around her shoulders, and Lee reflexively rested her head against Tarin's shoulder as she felt the embrace.

And then he spoke.

It wasn't what Lee would have expected him to say, at least not how he said it. Well, most of the time she seemed to forget about it, forget about that dream, almost to the point that she would forget it even happened. But then there were times, like this, when even with just a word, just that one little name, unexplained feelings would fill her. Not quite memories, but more than she would expect to be there simply from a dream.

Squeezing her eyes closed, Lee just sat there for a couple moments. It was simple, it was just four words, and yet Lee heard things behind the words, beyond them: he wanted kids.

"But she's not real..." Lee finally whispered. Tarin was right, though. Since the night of that storm, the apartment was feeling emptier than it had when they had first moved in, despite the fact that they had so much more stuff in it now.

“I’m still not completely sure about that…” Tarin said when Lee pointed out that Alice wasn’t real. “You don’t get feelings like this for things that aren’t real, Lee.”

Tarin shrugged his shoulders, holding her close still as he thought about what they were going over again. If Tarin wasn’t mistaken, his wife thought that he was a little crazy for just how intense he was about their little girl. Tarin had stopped referring to her like she was a dream a long time ago. Alice was real, and it was one of those crazy alternate universe things. Tarin simply couldn’t imagine feeling this wealth of emotion for a figment of his imagination. It was fine if Lee didn’t get it, but he wasn’t going to ignore it anymore.

“But…let’s say that she wasn’t real. We still have the fact that this place feels dead and empty no matter how much stuff we fill it up with. We’re not ready for kids, we’ve been over that more times than I can count…so what are we going to do?”

It was an honest question, and it was posed without any malice or chagrin. Tarin was genuinely curious what it was they could do to fill the empty place that seemed to be filling the apartment. Brainstorming always helped, he and Lee hadn’t come up against a problem yet that they hadn’t figured out a way to work around. “Any ideas?” Tarin said, his mind frustratingly blank as he turned to watch the TV.

As if on cue, one of those ASPCA commercials with the singing and the sick/abused/caged puppies came on. Slowly, Tarin’s eyebrows raised and he turned to look at Lee. “Hey…what if….” He said, then gestured towards the TV.

Lee tensed slightly in Tarin's hold when he said that he wasn't so sure that Alice wasn't real. Somehow, despite how impossible it was, he seemed convinced that that dream, that Alice, were somehow real.

Thankfully, that's all he said an that, though, he didn't push her to try and believe that that little girl from the dream was real. Instead, he almost seemed to be humouring her with the whole 'let's say she's not real' thing.

Thankfully, Tarin kept talking, and he said that he knew they weren't ready for kids. Damn right they weren't, Lee wasn't sure she'd ever be ready to even consider the idea of having kids.

But at least Tarin wasn't pushing the idea of having kids again, and Lee relaxed that slight tenseness as she reclined against him again. As Tarin asked if she had any ideas. Of course she didn't have any ideas; if she had, she wouldn't have had to ask him, if she had, she probably would have already solved the problem.

Then she heard Tarin speak again, and she frowned. What if? What if what, she silently asked. Then she saw him gesturing to the TV, and Lee actually turned her attention to it. Only to see images of injured and sick animals flash across the screen.

What if this? Lee frowned more as she stared at the TV, trying to make her head wrap around whatever kind of plan was forming in Tarin's mind.

Slowly, things clicked in Lee's mind. But she'd never been stead enough, secure enough, in one place long enough, to be able to actually have a pet.

Except that she was now. Where her and Tarin were now, the fact that they'd lived in these two apartments for as long as they had, if this wasn't steady and secure, nothing was. And there hadn't been a merging incident since he'd woken up from his coma...

That small frown slowly turned into a small, one sided smile as Lee turned to look at Tarin. "What, you want to get a pet?" She asked. She didn't know exactly what else to say at that moment.

Tarin nearly sighed in relief when Lee relaxed against him. It would have sucked to ruin their lazy Saturday in the apartment over the same old debate they seemed to be having more and more often as of late. Lee was still so set against even the possibility of having kids, it was something he was going to have to work on over the next couple of years. Until Lee was ready to consider the possibility, there was going to be no convincing her that it was a good idea. That time she’d thought she was pregnant she’d absolutely panicked, she wasn’t ready.

It took her a few moments to figure out what he was talking about when he gestured at the TV and just about the time Tarin started t wonder if the idea had been that bad she spoke. Her voice was slightly incredulous and Tarin found himself feeling slightly defensive of the idea. “Well…the thought occurred to me that maybe it would be nice to have some noise around here. Maybe a puppy would be a good idea.”

Tarin shifted slightly so he could actually look at Lee as he spoke, “Just think about it Lee…for the most part, we’re home every night. It’s not like we’re going anywhere any time soon. After Colombia, I think Slate’s ready for a bit of a break. I think that this would be a perfect time. “

Tarin paused, then grinned, “I always had pets growing up…but I haven’t been able to have one for years. “ he poked Lee gently in the side, “And a pet would probably help get my mind off this whole kid thing…”

As she felt Tarin shifting on the couch, Lee lifted her head off his shoulder and turned slightly herself so she could look at Tarin easier as well. "If all you want around here is some noise, I can always go buy a radio..." Lee said softly.

But she didn't get a chance to get anything else out, Tarin was already continuing on, and before she knew it, he had even poked her in the side. Squirming away slightly, Lee poked Tarin back.

And especially if he thought that getting a pet would help him get over the whole kid thing, that was definitely reason to lean toward getting one even if Lee wasn't already thinking it might be a good idea too.

"So you want to get a puppy?" Lee asked, a smile growing on her face. "You know, that means you're going to have to walk more, then. Cause I'm definitely not going to be the only one walking the dog."

Lee turned to look at him and Tarin loosed his arm around her shoulders so that she had an easier time of it. She brought up buying a radio and he waved his hand dismissively, giving his wife a derisive look. “We have music everywhere around here. I didn’t mean noise. I meant something to cause the noise.”

Lee poked him back, and Tarin squirmed, then wrapped his arms around her to pull her close. She was thinking about what he’d said, and as much as it irked Tarin that she was willing to think about anything other than actually having a baby he held his tongue. Time and time again he’d promised Lee that he would wait until she was ready, told her that if she was never ready that was fine with him. Tarin Brooks wasn’t a man to make empty promises, and when it came right down to it he wanted Lee more than he wanted anything else in their life. It simply wasn’t worth arguing over.

Lee spoke and Tarin nodded to affirm what it was she said about the puppy. “I think a puppy might be good. It’ll give us something small and kind of helpless to take care of. We seem to be managing really well with things and as comfortably slow as it’s been at the shop…he could probably go with us during the day.”

The ideas were flowing quickly now and Tarin grinned when Lee pointed out that he was going to have to start walking more. It didn’t matter, he should have been walking more anyway. Then a thought occurred to him and he scowled, “Can’t we just teach it to run on a treadmill during the winter…I don’t think I like the idea of walking a dog in the middle of the blizzards we have up here.”

Another thought occurred to Tarin and he squeezed Lee again, “So…now that I think we’ve settled on getting one…Now we just have to figure out what kind to get. Any thoughts on that one?”

They did kind of have music everywhere in the apartment, didn't they? They even had her guitar, on a proper stand now, sitting in the corner of the living room. Not that it was played as often as it should be, but it was getting more use now that it had when she'd first bought it.

Smiling as she saw Tarin squirm in reaction to her poke, Lee didn't have time to react herself when Tarin started moving, and as she felt him pulling her against him, she snuggled against his shoulder.

But then Tarin suggested the idea of teaching the dog to run on the treadmill so he wouldn't have to take it out in the winter, and she simply turned her head to look at him with a raised eyebrow. "It'll still have to go outside, you know," Lee reminded him. There really wasn't much of a way of avoiding that.

What kind of dog to get, though. That was a good question, and as she felt Tarin squeezing her again, she smiled slightly. "Something small," Lee said almost at once. "I don't think we could really have a larger dog in here, or at the shop. Plus, I don't really feel like being pulled off my feet by a large dog when I don't have energy."

Pausing, Lee took a deep breath as she continued to think. "But I don't really know what kind I'd like. What if we just start looking and see what we like?"

Lee pointed out that even if they managed to teach their dog how to run on a treadmill it would still have to go outside during the winter and Tarin scowled at that. “Well, I’ve got that beast of a coat you helped me find that first winter…so it should be alright. We’ll just have to teach it how to be sensible and realize that it doesn’t take four hours in the snow to figure out the perfect place to pee.” Tarin felt that this was very fair. If Tarin was willing to trek outside in the frozen tundra that was New York City in the winter, their future canine could at least have the decency to expedite the process.

Lee suggested that they get something small, and Tarin wrinkled his face in momentary distaste. “Large, no, but I think something medium sized would be good. I am not carrying the thing around in a purse.” Tarin was actually a little surprised to hear that Lee wanted a little dog, she didn’t seem like the designer dog type. It all remained to be seen, though. Personality was so important when choosing animal companions.

Lee almost echoed his sentiments exactly with her next statement. They really would have to wait until they’d had a chance to look around. Comfortable silence ensued after they’d spoken and for a while Tarin just enjoyed the silence and the snuggle he was getting from his wife. Saturday’s were great, and the whole rest of the day stretched out in front of them. With that though, another occurred to Tarin.

“Want to go look now?” he said, quite hopeful that Lee would. Even if they didn’t come home with something…there was just something about looking at puppies that made a day a good one.

The image of Tarin carrying around a purse containing a tiny little dog was too much, Lee burst out laughing. "Ok..." She said after a few moments. "Not that small. But I grew up with a German Shepard, so anything small enough for the apartment will seem like a small dog."

And then they just sat there. This is what Saturdays were normally like for them. Sure, they did have a tendency to go out and do something, lately shopping, but most of the day was normally just spent sitting there together.

Except, it seemed, Tarin didn't want to do that for the rest of the day. His suggestion caused Lee to smile, though. Sure, it wasn't sitting, snuggling on the couch with her husband, but going to look at puppies did sound like a good way to spend the rest of the afternoon.

"Sure, why not?" Lee said, glancing over at Tarin to see the slightly hopeful look on his face.

Something about what he had said was really funny to Lee and Tarin couldn’t do anything but look at her with his head slightly tilted as she vented her mirth at the fact that he was opposed to tiny dogs. She spoke, relating to him how she’d had a German Shepherd and the laughter made a little bit more sense.

“I grew up with a number of different dogs. Some of them just lived out with the cows, but there were a couple that my dad was particularly attached to that got to come into the house.” Tarin said with a grin at the memory, “I don’t think any of them were quite as big as a german shepherd, and my dad was partial to heelers, but we didn’t have any purse dogs either…”

Lee seemed to be at least half as enthusiastic about going out and looking at puppies as Tarin was, and he took that as good enough. Quickly extracting himself from her, Tarin hopped up and went about getting his shoes. If they were going to go, they were going to go then and there. “I’ll look up pet shops and shelters on the internet while you’re getting ready.” He called out jauntily, really starting to warm to the idea of a puppy in their house. Something cute and small that would grow into something slightly larger and amazing. Tarin was already daydreaming, maybe a Jack Russell or a French bulldog would be good. Yeah, Tarin was excited.

Lee smiled as Tarin told her about how they had had a number of different dogs, of all shapes and sizes, as he was growing up. Smiled, because she didn't get to hear too many memories most of the time about when he was a kid; those times were divided into the time he had his powers, or the time before his dad died when he was really young. There really wasn't any in between. But then again, Tarin didn't exactly get to hear all that many memories from when she was a kid, either.

The unfortunate part about going to go look for a puppy was that it meant they had to get up, and so Tarin unwrapped his arms from around her and stood. It was unfortunate because it meant they really wouldn't be able to be like that again until after they got home.

But, it was necessary if they were really going to head out, and so Lee reluctantly stood as well.

He was really excited, Lee realized as she heard him calling over to her. Calling over because he'd already moved toward the door to grab his shoes. "Ok, I'll be fast, hon!" Lee called back, turning toward the bedroom. She was already pretty much ready to go out, but if they were going to be spending the afternoon looking at puppies, Lee figured she should probably do something different with her hair.

Hurrying into their ensuite - it was still strange having an ensuite bathroom for their master bedroom - Lee grabbed an elastic and threw her hair up into a quick pony tail. That done, Lee gave herself a quick once over in the mirror, then left the room, making her way toward the front closet to grab a pair of shoes.

A minute and a half later found Lee walking over to where Tarin leaning over the computer, her sneakered feet not making much noise as she moved. "So, did you find anything good?" Lee asked, wrapping her arms around her husband as she stood on her toes to try and see over his shoulder.

Either Tarin’s excitement was contagious or Lee was actually as excited as he was about going out to look at puppies. She’d gotten up and moved for her shoes, and quickly. Tarin had already pulled his on, so he moved to the computer to try and figure out exactly where it was that they were going. There were more than a couple of options and that made him optimistic that their search might be fruitful.

As he waited for Lee, Tarin went back to thinking about exactly what kind of dog they wanted. They’d ruled out both the tiny dogs that fit into purses and the large beastly dogs that were difficult to own in any situation, let alone an apartment. That left lots of dogs in between. There were other things to consider besides size, though, and Tarin’s mind started to buzz with thoughts of grooming requirements, temperament towards strangers, and trainability.

The dogs that Tarin had grown up with hadn’t been trained…per se, they’d just kind of learned. People often liked to point out silly scientific things that supposedly proved that dogs didn’t have the cognitive skills to problem solve, but Tarin absolutely believed otherwise. That was the kind of dog he wanted, and he was convinced that he’d know when they found one.

Lee returned and asked if he’d found anything good and Tarin shrugged his shoulders, “I haven’t been looking at actual pictures of puppies or anything, I’d rather see them in person, but I did find several places that we can go to look.”

Lee was the New York navigational expert, so Tarin moved out of the way, letting her take his place so they could get out and about.

He'd found a couple of places that they could go looking for puppies. That was good.

And then there was another of those moments where Tarin moved, something that Lee really didn't like him doing, but that she knew was necessary. Plopping back down flatly on her feet, Lee let her arms drop away from around Tarin as he moved away from the computer. But he had left the computer exactly where he had left it, and with a quick glance Lee noticed that it was showing the address for a pet store.

Rolling her eyes slightly, Lee stepped forward, reaching to the side to grab the computer chair, and sat down. It didn't take long; after she had grabbed a piece of paper, Lee flipped through the pages Tarin had open, jotting down addresses.

"There's one that's fairly close to here," Lee said slowly, grabbing the pen again as she started jotting down numbers beside each of the addresses. The order she figured they should go to them in. "And if we go through the park, we can just loop around to see all of these, more or less.

"Sound good?" Lee asked, finally looking back up at Tarin.