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CHAPTER VII

Healing

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Tiffany sat petting Friday's head as it lay in her lap both looked desperately to the door they took Jake into to take care of him. Tiffany broke the monotony by occasionally looking at the receptionist in hopes she would have something to tell them. She remained polite and busy, but as mute about Jake as Friday herself. Neither dog or woman noticed when Mr. and Mrs. Athens walked in the door and stood in front of them, but not in front of the door they took Jake so it was a while before Tiffany noticed them when she made one of her occasional glances to the receptionist, "Mom! Dad!" she squeaked and began to cry as she pet Friday who still watched the door unabated.

"Hey honey" Mr. Athens said as he squatted down and looked at her as if she were still ten, "We came to see how your dog was and take you home if you need."

Tiffany shook her head and held onto Fridays' head, "I dunno what happened to Jake yet, no one has told me anything, I dunno what I would do without him mom." She said as tears filled in her eyes.

Mrs. Athens sat beside her daughter and rubbed her hand over her shoulders. "It'll be alright dear, that dog of yours is a fighter."

Tiffany sniffed and nodded, "I know he is."

"You will be happy to know your mother shot him in the thigh with her anti personnel load" Mr Athens said trying to lighten the mood and received help from his wife, "I was aiming for his balls" she said with an involuntary laugh from her daughter and a smirk from her husband who went on.

"One dog was alive, Jake probably choked him out, but I have to go to the police station to file a report." Mr. Athens said before he stood and gave his wifes' shoulder a squeeze and his daughter a small kiss on her forehead "everything will be alright," he assured her before heading out the door.

Mrs. Athens stroked her daughters head soothingly, "he'll be alright, he was always strong." Tiffany nodded as she began to cry again and leaned into her mothers embrace as she still pet Friday. Clearing her eyes she looked to Friday, to the dog that cuddled to her. "He'll be alright." She said to Friday more for her benefit than Fridays.

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Friday looked into the large clean metal cell that Jake laid in. Tiffany was talking to the doctor and stealing looks at her wounded Jake. Friday saw tubes going into his good arm and his other arm was bandaged but no longer was bleeding through. Most of his fur had been shaven off to expose long wounds now stitched up, but the disturbing part was the rubber things that stuck out his wounds bringing pus and fluid out to be soaked up on the towels he laid on. He was asleep still and looked so weak and frail. Friday mourned one more loss, Jake was the only member of the family that could understand her. She sighed and was startled when Tiffany put her arm over her shoulder as she looked in at Jake. "He looks so frail." She sniffed and rubbed her eyes. "The vet said he wants to keep him here for observation for a while to make sure nothing else is wrong." She left out that with no vaccination records on the attacking dogs they had to keep him under observation for ten days. Tiffany for the first time in her life knew the fear of loosing someone she dearly loved, something Friday knew too well and the scent of the woman's fear only compounded hers. She turned and hugged Tiffany hard, her head just under the woman's chin. Friday was confused and unsure, she never had a human comfort her before, she was partly fearful of being hurt again but still held on and found herself held. She felt a little better there was someone who knew her pain and shared her feelings about Jake.

For half an hour the two females held each other and looked at the repaired body of Jake, before they were asked to leave. Tiffany was surprised to see her mother still in the waiting area when they left. Tiffany smiled and pet Fridays back as she smiled to her mother. "He'll be okay." She said with tears welling in her eyes.

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CHAPTER VIII

A New Chapter

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Friday woke with Tiffanies' arms wrapped about her. Usually she would have slipped from her grasp but she enjoyed the warm comfort that was usually provided by Jake, who was in the vet hospital. She relished in the warm hold but knew she had to get up and take care of the sheep. They depended on her, something she never realized, that she was depended on and needed, especially now that Jake was gone. She missed Jake all the more after she realized how much responsibility he had. He kept things running smooth on the farm even though the humans ran it. Now his burden was on her to run the farm. She wanted to do him proud and slipped from Tiffanies' warm embrace and bed to go do her job. She walked the hall to the living room and then the kitchen for a new meal she enjoyed called breakfast. The scheduled feedings here were a treat from random times if at all sometimes. She was hoarding less now, not that she didn't have a few rats and parts of dead sheep she salvaged from Mr. Athens before he took the carcass for disposal. She looked at the can with the picture of a genome and a dog of the same breed, it was a Labrador but she could care less, the milk bones had a collie on it so it made her happy to eat collie treats so she could eat Labrador food, if she had paid attention to Jake when he tried to show her how to open the can with the can opener, or was this one that you pulled on? She sighed and resolved to pay more attention to Jake when he taught her things. She realized for the first time how helpless without him she was. She put her paws flat on the counter and sighed as a single tear crept down her muzzle. How did he become such a part of her, how did she come to rely on him so much? She looked at the can and beat it on the edge of the counter succeeding in denting the can on both ends and one side was caved in where she really tried to get into it. She looked at the can and sighed tossing it on the counter, abandoning it in disgust as she left to tend the sheep.

The summer air was warm and the dew on the grasses wet the white fur that socked and gloved her, her white belly was also dripping with the moisture as she led the grazing mass to the furthest pasture. It was something she did back when she lived with Fred. The snow and ice and just plain cold made taking the sheep in the back pastures a hell, so in the summer she took the sheep there to clear that section out as much as sheepily possible. She let them overgraze the area at her original home but I kept them closer to the safety of the barn and paddock and was easier to manage. If she was in charge of the sheep then her plan was what was going to be in effect.

She sat watching the sheep wander about aimlessly eating everything they could. The familiar sound of the ATV made her look back watching it come closer. Tiffany was checking up on her she guessed, used to Jake and his way of doing things she would probably tell her she was doing it the wrong way, so she would play deaf as well as mute.

Tiffany stopped the ATV beside where Friday sat disregarding. She let the ATV idle making Friday look back curiously. Her mouth watered as she saw the woman had brought her a Tupperware bowl of the dog food and peeled off the lid for her, "you missed breakfast, thought you would like some." Friday gave Tiffany a nod and a smile, the only way she had of thanking her and took the bowl and as per her upbringing ate like a normal dog just able to hold the bowl in both paws as Tiffany surveyed the flock. "You're doing a fine job." Was all Tiffany said, the words making Friday stop eating and look up unsure if she was talking to her. But Tiffany was smiling at her so she nodded again and continued to eat happily. Tiffany scritched Fridays' head and hopped back on her ATV and back down to the farm to tend to her jobs leaving the collie to continue her job, unabated. Friday felt pride, real pride that she was trusted by Tiffany to do the job that Jake had done for so long.

Fridays' realization that she was truly a trusted member of the family and with an ever increasing sense of responsibility she had to clean the water troughs and rewater the sheep. It was a big job that she had never had to do before, but she did and was praised by Mr. Athens. She ate lunch that Mrs. Athens made as the whole family short of Jake attended laughing and petting her., then she was off to watch the sheep and finally bring them home and she herself went into her home and cuddled up to her masters' daughter and watched TV until shower time.

Things were pretty routine, they had showered a lot together with Jake but now Tiffany did something that mystified the collie. She had seen her shave the tiny amount of fur from her arms and legs but this time the human was removing the fur from her groin and sex. Friday looked at her own body and then poked Tiffany and with a few gestures asked what she was doing.

"Well tomorrow after we visit Jake I'm going on a date, I want to find a mate too." She said with a fake smile and went back to her careful grooming. Friday watched, then looked at her own furry body. She had thin fur on her belly and her sex did not have fur on it directly like Tiffany but her fur was thick and long and pretty well hid it by the time her heat period came. Friday brightened, the human was removing the fur for mating, the fur interfered with breeding and she was removing it, like sheep get wool blind perhaps the humans had to see to breed like they had to see to know anything else their sense of smell so dull. She thought about Jake and as Tiffany assured she was going to be breedable. Friday picked up the scissors and began clipping between her thighs. The thicker longer hair caught Tiffanies eyes and made her look to see what the collie was doing.

"Friday, hold on there dear," she said calmly waiting for Friday to recognize her before she took the scissors away from the dog. What are you doing?" she said as she held onto the scissors and crossed her arms over her breasts. Friday pointed to her groin then to her own making Tiffany bite her cheek, "the last thing I need for you to do is hack up your giggy, and have me explain that to the vet, yea, no, I'll take you to the groomer tomorrow after we visit Jake."

Friday nodded and shook out doggy style before she stepped out the shower with Tiffany still cringing trying to protect herself from the spray.

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Jake smiled to his two visitors, he laughed at Fridays signing to him and Tiffany looked to Jake, "what did she say?"

"She is telling me that she is going to the groomers and have a breeding cut like yours." Tiffany blushed red as Friday sat merrily wagging her tail. Friday kissed her mate and scooted in closer.

‘I'm sorry I couldn't save you.' She signed somberly thinking about how she could not save Berry, a tear fell from her eye.

Tiffany watched the pair as Jake spoke to her, "It's okay, if you didn't help, I would have been alone facing five dogs." He smiled and took her paw in his and rubbed it. "You saved me."

Friday reluctantly took her paw from his and started talking ‘Mr. Athens saved me, and you. I was useless, I got attacked and killed one but the second almost killed me.'

Jake held both her paws in his to silence her, "look, we are both alive and I'll heal, and that's the important part."

Tiffany watched with mixed emotions as Friday fell on the wounded dog, him taking the discomfort of his wounds to comfort her. Tiffany petted his head and he looked to his mistress and licked her hand, "I'm alright, I'll be up and in the fields in no time." He grinned and nuzzled her hand before nipping it softly. Dr McKierian interrupted the reunion as he entered the cell. "Hi Tiffany, how are you holding up?"

"Dr. McKierian was just getting his first grey hairs, but was otherwise an average man but his hands were always warm, discrediting the doctors with cold hand stereotype, but he was a vet and not a human doctor where this blessing went unnoticed mostly. Tiffany smiled and rubbed her Jakes' forehead and ears, "I'm holding up, hoping that you have good news?"

The vet nodded and looked down at a clipboard he was carrying, "well he has a lot of slashes and sutures as you can see and we had to do a bit of repair on his left arm, he will need a bit of rehabilitation with it, we are keeping him on some strong antibiotics but we think that he can go home in about three days for home observation on the rabies watch."

Tiffany smiled and rubbed Jakes head and held his good shoulder, the only parts that Friday did not cover. but the look on Dr McKierians' face said there was more and he saved the bad news. "Anything else?" Tiffany asked praying he was just thinking, but to her dismay he nodded, "well the leg, he suffered the worst damage on his right leg, the dog went for his akeelies tendon and wrecked it pretty bad, we repaired it as much as we could at the time. We want to watch that it does not need to be reattached with pins, it was partly torn from the bone but we're hopeful that it will heal on its' own, but there will be a slight shortening or tightening of the tendon and muscle because of the damage done to it."

Friday had taken an interest in what the doctor was saying and had her ears back in a worried expression. Tiffany stopped petting him and held his head in her palm.

"He may need to have more surgery if it detaches and even then there are no guarantees he will have a full recovery." The doctor went on

Tiffany nodded, "so what will,.." she didn't know how to phrase the next question but Dr McKeirian suspected what she was trying to ask, "He will have a pretty permanent limp and if it goes he may have trouble walking bipedal."

Tiffany bit her lip in thought but Friday sat up and began to sign, then she looked down to Jake after he didn't translate and hit him on his good shoulder and signed again. Jake looked at her and got a sour look from Tiffany too for mistreating Jake in his condition, but the dog spoke for her, "will I be able to breed her?" he said pointing to the concerned looking collie who nodded agreement. Dr McKierian chuckled and nodded, you can breed her all you like and depending on both your fertility and ability to conceive, there was no damage done to prevent that." He chuckled a moment then looked back to Tiffany, "any questions comments or concerns?"

Tiffany thought, Fridays only concern addressed to satisfaction, but she could think of nothing but, "can we take him home sooner?" Fridays ears perked at this as well as Jakes'. The doctor shook his head, "No, I'm just worried about his leg and want to be able to watch the swelling and how it's healing."

Tiffany sighed and nodded before turning her attention back to Jake, allowing Dr McKeirian the opportunity to slip out to attend other patients and the two females to tend the brave dog that got hurt defending the farm until they were forced to leave by appointments. They wished him well, Tiffany with a kiss and Friday the same but more amorous. They left the vet office and took a short drive to the groomers where Tiffany pointed out how she wanted her dogs cut to be. It seemed that the request was not unusual as it was mostly used for better hygiene for the longer haired breeds. And with Friday at the groomers and Jake taken care of, she had a chance to go on her date.

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Friday was quite impressed with her cut and grooming, she liked the place where she was bathed and brushed and trimmed up to be beautiful. She wondered if humans had a place they went for such a treat but they didn't have fur so why would they. She smiled to herself as she felt the smoothness over her belly and between her thighs. She wanted Jake to enjoy it too, and maybe breed her out of season, but he was still in the hospital. She still felt a lot better, her coat lighter but just as long in preparation for the autumn chill and winter cold. She was proud and showed off to the sheep who took no interest whatsoever. Tiffany called her sexy when she showed her and she felt something she never felt, she felt attractive, but the loneliness of missing Jake dampered the appeal.

the next day Tiffany was thinking about her date. It had been a while and was so much fun. She enjoyed the attention and the dinner and the movie and the club. Then out of nowhere Friday put her muzzle with the squeak bone in it biting her toy to the sound of rushing air, he toy having lost its voice like the dog. Friday made her raspy attempt to bark and then squeezed the bone in her paw with about the same sound.

"so you finally killed it did you?" she chuckled and Friday just squished the toy over and over with a sad look in her brown eyes.

"Alright, alright, I'll get you a new one." Friday smiled and licked Tiffanys' cheek and ran off outside to tend the sheep until Tiffany would call her to visit Jake. It was not long before Friday heard the call and she brought the sheep to the inner paddock and ran for the truck. She rode with her head out the window to fight the queasiness of the ride and was twice as happy to see the store. She leapt out the truck but waited for Tiffany albeit a bit impatiently. Finally in the store Friday bolted to the isle with the squeak toys and came back with two squeak toys and a bag of snausages.

Tiffany shrugged, "Is that all you want?"

Friday nodded her head and put one toy in her mouth to squeak twice. Tiffany was not finished and still looked around with Friday following. She was looking at blankets and pulled out two that she liked and smiled to Friday, "what do you think of these?" she asked and Friday looked at them and took one to lay on the floor with. She looked up to Tiffany and nodded smiling.

"Good, now hand that back and we'll go, I want to run by the feed store before we see Jake. Friday quickly picked up the blanket and handed it balled up to Tiffany and trotted to the cashier line waiting for her.

Finally out of the store and in the car the two made a short trip to the feed store. Friday had never been here, but it smelled interesting and there was food inside so it was all the more interesting. She followed Tiffany in the door, "Hello there Tiffany!" a middle aged man addressed them and smiled widely, "what can we do for you today?" he smiled then looked at Friday, "oh, this must be the infamous Friday I've heard so much about." He said to the collie who was not sure about the man but the things in the store were very interesting.

Friday wandered the more rustic isles of the store as Tiffany and the man talked, it was more rustic and older than the pet warehouse, and a whole lot smaller. Friday was sniffing at some pigs ears. They made her mouth water they smelled so good. She looked about and picked one up licking it just to try it. The flavor was one of the most wonderful things she had ever had, she would have squeaked with delight if she could talk but that was short lived when she herd the man's voice yell to her. she started and dropped the pigs ear and looked back at him. "It's okay," he chuckled, "you can have that if you want it."

Friday looked at the man a second making sure the words she heard were what he said then still unsure she gingerly picked up the treat and nibbled on the tip of the ear watching the man who nodded, "go ahead it's yours."

Fridays tail wagged wildly as she chewed on and ate the pigs ear. She sat on a pile of food and watched the humans talk and the man greet others as they came in and then yelled to his assistants to get food from the back. And load it in specific vehicles. Friday was half done with her ear when Tiffany called for her to follow, but the man called her over. Friday looked over to Tiffany and she nodded it would be alright for her to see the man.

"Hi there Friday, it seems you are doing a lot better now." He rubbed her ears and head, "I'm Walter." He said and handed her a small paper bag with the scent of another pigs ear in it, "This is for Jake, tell him I hope he gets better soon." He ruffed Fridays head one last time as he spoke, "alright, you go on now and take care," he told her and looked to Tiffany and waved, "see you next time." and then he walked over and began a helpful conversation with another customer with nothing in his hands.

Friday watched one of the assistance finish loading dog food into the back of the truck. She saw the young man smile at her and she wagged her tail.

Friday bounced in her seat her head still out the window but this time having a good time. she was having so much fun and had wonderful treats and her grooming still made her feel attractive. She had new toys and treats for Jake to make him feel better and she was having a great day.

The vet office stank of sickness and clinical cleaner as usual but not even that brought down Fridays' spirit. She fidgeted with the brown bag with the pigs ear and the bag of snausages while she waited for Tiffany to be escorted back to see Jake.

Friday saw the tech that talked to her while she had her ultrasound and the doctor Anna as they made their way back to see Jake. Friday wagged her tail wildly and sat down beside Jake and felt something hard where his leg should be. She lifted the blanket to see his leg covered in white mud. It was thick and hard. She looked to Jake as he spoke, "it's a cast, so I don't move my leg so the tendon will heal hopefully." He said as the doctor came in.

Tiffany smiled to Dr McKeiran who smiled politely back, "Hello Miss Athens," he began, " Jake is recovering quickly, he is a very strong dog and we're thinking about letting him go home a day early, so if things look good tonight we'll let you take him home tomorrow afternoon, how does that sound?"

Tiffany smiled as Friday wagged her tail and licked Jake on his nose. "That sounds great" Tiffany sounded happy and relived and Friday was having the best day she had had in a long time. she opened the bag of Snausages and picked out one of the soft treats to feed to her wounded mate as the doctor continued to talk to Tiffany, "We cast his leg to prevent mobility so we can hopefully have the tendon heal without having to screw it in with surgery. So he needs to stay off it, and he will have to be bedridden and immobile for most of the time but we suggest playing with his good arm and leg to keep them from atrophy too much." He looked at Friday feeding Jake and smiled, "now he tells us that Friday is rather physical so the rough stuff will have to be put on hold, if she cannot be gentle she will have to be separated until he recovers.

"Friday scowled at the doctor, ‘I would like to see them try to keep me from you.' she signed to Jake and he smiled and raised his good arm and took her by the scruff and pulled her to his nosepad, "I would howl all night until they let you in." he smiled to her and licked her from chin to nosetip. Friday reached up and took his paw from her scruff and sat up showing off her new cut, she put his paw under hers on her shaven belly and smiled but was forced to give up her hold on his paw to talk to him, "I can't wait until you recover fully.' She bent over to show off how far her new cut went and Jake lifted up on his good arm and gave her more than a cursory sniff.

"That includes mating or breeding, his arm has the most surface damage but the leg is the serious damage, he can't be strained, that means no work no mating, and no general walking about." Dr McKeiran emphasized.

Tiffany nodded her head, "they will behave themselves when he gets home." Tiffany said to the puppy lovers."

Friday ignored the humans as best as possible and fed Jake the small treats until there was a twittering whistle that made her want to put sheep in a circle, Jake apparently wanted to do the same but both looked to the source and found Tiffany alone holding a shepherds star whistle. She held it on a string in a loop that was not used for whistling and walked up to Friday putting the whistle over her head to dangle past her collar around her neck. Tiffany looked to Jake, "you're gonna have to teach her how to use it, I figure if she can herd with a squeak toy she can help give you directions from afar with this." She pointed to the plastic whistle resting at the beginning of Fridays fur hidden cleavage.

Jake smiled, "well I have nothing but time." Friday smiled and leaned over to kiss Jake tenderly and then sit up to lick Tiffany on her cheek in thanks before she studied her new potential voice.