dog. “Hey, bro, your customer just nicked all of our food!” He barked, starting to chase him.
 Alarmed, Zero set the glass down fast and followed his brother after the thief. He felt particularly responsible about this because he had sat the dog down by their set meals, and felt it was his duty to get the food back. The mutt glanced back a moment and gave a growl of irritation that he was being followed, starting to try and lose them.
  All three of the dogs had to fight through the morning crowds, all of whom stared and yelped as they were shoved by them, the large canine ducking into an alley. Zero and Chandler reached it just in time to watch him use a dumpster to get a leg up and jump over a chain link fence to get a lead.
  Cursing softly, Chandler dragged Zero out of the alley and ran quickly to circle around the building and they saw the mutt across the street, seeing him turning into another alley as cars drove by. Luck was on the brother’s side, the nearby street light turning red. They quickly crossed the street, rushing down the sidewalk to the alley the hound had vanished into.
  As they turned, they saw the hound’s footpaws disappearing under a wooden fence. The hole was deep so a dog his size could fit, and Chandler dived into it, easily getting to the other side, Zero right behind him. When they emerged, they froze in place, the hound hunkered down and growling at them.
  The tablecloth was behind him, open, and there were some puppies on it, about to eat but stopping when the two came into their home. The other side was fenced just like where they came from, making a sort of cubbyhole where they lived. The mutt stepped forward aggressively, eyes flashing dangerously. He gave a gruff, low bark, and the pups instantly hid behind a few trash cans, peeking out.
  Zero realized what he had stolen the food for: the pups looked thin, but not overly so, this being one of their few meals it seemed. Chandler looked from the large mutt to the pups that were looking fearfully out. The dog stepped slowly up to them, his growls getting deeper.
  “Woah, woah hang on buddy.” Zero said stepping forward, lowering down really low as a sign of truce. The mutt paused, watching them suspiciously with his eyes narrowed. “We can talk; we won’t take the food from you.”
  “Yeah, you can keep it if it’s for them.” Chandler said, nodding at the puppies.
  “… Promise?” One of the pups squeaked from behind the trash can, a young male with white, albeit dirty, fur and brown patches over each eye and his ears. The two other pups, another male and a girl, looked at him before looking back at the grownups.
  “Cross our hearts, kiddo.” Chandler said, holding one of his paws up and putting it on his chest.
 The girl watched them a moment before looking towards the scarred mutt. “Can we eat now, Mister Elliot?”
  Elliot glanced back a moment, slowly standing up straight. “Yeah, go ahead gang.” He said, giving a smile. The pups pounced onto the meals and starting filling up, little tails wagging. The other male was a small pit-bull, coffee brown with a white underbelly, the girl a young Saluki with a scruffy brown coat.
  The mutt turned his attention to the Shepherd duo, his frown returning. “So… If you aren’t here to take the food I’ll assume you want to drag me to the pound?”
  “If you’re these pups only benefactor, I would hope neither of us is heartless enough to do that.” Zero said, shaking his head. The marked Shep also stood up, looking Elliot in the eye. “Still, stealing isn’t right you know.”
  The white pup swallowed some pancake that was in his muzzle before he spoke. “Mister Elliot tells us that all the time when he comes back with food. We ask why he does it, and he says that it’s for us so we can stay to learn lessons.”
  The pit-bull chipped in, adding, “He’s always honest with us, telling us he stole something and telling us to never do the same.”
  Chandler looked surprised, looking at the mutt. “You teach kids well, guy.” He said, chuckling.
  “Well when you don’t have pups of your own, it’s easy to teach others…” Elliot said, giving a small shrug. “I try my best to be a father for these kids.”
  “How is it living here?” Zero asked, looking around. There was a dirty mattress, a tarp that hung overhead to keep rain away and a mess of other table cloths and such that Elliot had stolen to carry what he needed and used to keep the pups warm.
  “It’s okay, no complaints really.” Elliot said, looking around. “When it gets cold we just huddle together and wrap up, and if it’s warm we just lounge here in the shade.”
  Zero glanced at Chandler, jerking his head back. They stepped back a bit, huddling their heads together low. “This isn’t really a good place for the pups to grow up.” He said, looking around.
  “Cause of him?”
  “Nah, he’s fine Chand.” He looked back, seeing Elliot slightly fussing over the pups, but keeping his face in a frown as he dabbed crumbs and mess from their muzzles with the table cloth. “I mean this place in general. Open to the elements, no food, these guys need a real home.”
  “I’m sure Charlie would take them in, he knows what it’s like to be in a situation like this.” Chandler replied, smiling confidently.
  Zero nodding in agreement, they broke, stepping back towards the make-shift family. “We’ll pull some strings for ya, but I’m sure we can find you a room back at our place!” Said the marked dog cheerfully, drawing their attention. “But before we go, we gotta know all your names.”
  Swallowing his food, the pit spoke up. “My name is Casper. Funny name though, but I like it.”
  “I’m Julia.” The Saluki said after, giving them a warm smile.
  The white pup seemed nervous, only filling his muzzle up with more food. The huge mutt that was standing behind him gave him a very careful nudge, giving a grunt to tell him to be polite and tell them. He glanced up at Elliot, who only gave a jerk of his head to their direction before looking at the two black-furred dogs. “And my name is Hadley.” He said, giving a nervous smile.
  “Chandler, you run back and tell the gang we’re bringing visitors. And leave it a surprise, blabbermouth.” He said teasingly, nudging his brother towards the opening.
  Elliot had another small smile on his face as he watched him go, looking down at the pups. “Come on bunkmates, eat up and grab your favorite things so we can head off when he gets back.”

***

  Back at Charlie’s apartment, one could hear shouting from near the top floor. Joey glanced up from the bar, shaking his head. Charlie had heard it too, stepping up to the bar and taking a seat. “Give me something strong, would you pal?” He asked, putting some bones on the counter.
  The Doberman could see Charlie definitely wasn’t his usual self, not even trying to persuade him to put the money on his tab. As he started to fill a cup up for the mutt, Charlie pointed up. “Mel and Meph fighting again, Joey?”
  “Yeah, about Phillip, same topic every time they argue.” He growled, setting the full glass in front of the miserable looking dog. “Meph trusts the poor guy as far as he can throw him. Still thinks he’s trying to kill her despite being a changed dog.”
  Charlie took a hard gulp of the brew in his cup, shaking his head quick at the strong taste. “Wonder when he’ll get it into his head that she’s a grown young lady and is fine to be with who she wants? If she trusts Phillip, it should be enough for him. It’s been enough for us.”
  It took them a moment to realize that the arguing from above had stopped, and their heads turned fast as a crash sound came from the open front door of the apartment. They watched as Meph stormed out, a snarl on his face, heading to the street. He nearly bumped into Chandler who, seeing the look on his face, stepped aside and let him pass. Duncan followed out soon after, accidentally running into Chandler and muttering a quick apology as he went after his brother.
  Charlie shook his head and turned his attention to the front of his place, watching as his best pal, Itchy, swept pieces of broken lamp outside and into a dustpan. As the Dachshund put the broken pieces in the trash, the German Shepherd walked into the Fleabite, drawing his attention. “Aren’t you supposed to be working, Chand? And where’s Zero?” Chandler realized that he didn’t know what had happened, which wasn’t a surprise since he hardly paid attention nowadays.
  “We were working, but we ran into some problems that ended up not being problems.” He said, panting lightly.
  “And that means…?”
  “Well…” Chandler rubbed the back of his neck. “Someone stole a lot of our orders from the table.” He nodded towards the empty space and, seeing Charlie about to open his muzzle, quickly added, “I’ll pay for all of them, I’ll work overtime, it’s just there’s a reason the guy took the food that you need to see!”
  The mutt raised an eyebrow curiously. “If you can prove it was for a good reason, I’ll let it off for free.”
  “You won’t be