"Daddyyy, you're on my tail!"

The red hybrid continued to feign sleep as the silver pup butted against his shoulder, trying unsuccessfully to move the paw that was pinning her tail to the floor.

"Daaad, come on Daddy, wake up!" Paige barked, propping her paws on his back. When Dallas did nothing more then flick an ear, Paige sat down with a huff. Her eyes lit up when she saw her fathers tail. Crouching, she prepared to pounce on her target. Dallas chose that moment to release her tail, and Paige, not realizing it, leapt foreword with far more force then necessary. The result ended in the silver pup tumbling across the floor and into the wall.

Paige, blinking in confusion, righted herself and scampered back across the floor. "That's cheating!" she cried, pouncing on Dallas's tail. The red hybrid merely swished it across the floor, quickly freeing it from the pup's grasp. Paige blinked as her catch slipped right out from under her paws. Growling as ferociously as a pup could, Paige pounced. Dallas once more moved his tail out of the way, and Paige somersaulted into the wall again.

A chuckle sounded as Paige managed to get on her paws, feeling slightly dizzy from the rolling. She looked to her left and saw a red husky standing by the door. Paige yipped excitedly as she ran across the floor. "Ty!" she cried, trying to stop, but instead sliding on the slippery floor and into her older brother's legs.

Ty chuckled and ruffled the top of her head affectionately. "I think your brakes are broken, kiddo," he said with a grin.

Paige beamed and wagged her tail. Out of all her siblings, Ty was her favorite, possibly because they were closest in age, or because he came around the most. Whatever the reason, the two were close.

"Paige, Ty, what's all the noise?"

The voice made the siblings look up just as a silver husky entered the room. The slight frown on her face said their mother was not pleased. "Well?"

The two exchanged a quick look, then pointed accusingly at Dallas. "Daddy did it," Paige quipped.

The red hybrid raised his head at that, and Shelby frowned.

"We should go," Ty whispered loudly to Paige, his way of letting Shelby know Paige was with him.

"Is Daddy in trouble with Mommy again?" Paige asked, whispering loudly like he had.

Ty couldn't help but grin at the question, knowing she didn't quite understand that their father was in trouble because she had said he was making noise. He nodded and motioned to the door. Paige trotted after him, her tail a silver and red blur.

It took about three seconds for Paige to start bouncing around Ty like a jack rabbit. "Where are we going Ty? Can we go to the beach? Please, please, please? It's warm out and it'd be fun! Please Ty! Please!"

Chuckling, Ty placed a paw on his little sister's head and she stopped bouncing. "Sure, we can go."

Paige squealed and started bouncing again, darting back and forth in front of Ty as they started walking. She nearly tripped him three times before Ty got smart and broke into a slow run, letting Paige keep up with him as they raced down the streets and to the beach.

~^~^~^~^~^~

Paige chased her tail several times before she got dizzy and had to stop. Shelby chuckled as she watched the pup try to walk, only to sway and totter sideways. Night had fallen, Ty had gone home (after dropping Paige off, both had been thoroughly soaked), and Paige was trying to entertain herself. So far, the pup had only succeeded in making herself dizzy. Repeatedly.  

"Paige, dear, it's time to settle down," Shelby said gently.

Paige turned her large doe eyes to her mother, lowering her ears for added effect. "Awww, Momma, I'm not tired," she said, unsuccessfully trying to stifle a yawn.

Shelby smiled. "Of course not, but it's still time to settle down," she said, her tone slightly firmer.

Paige knew the tone, and with a small sigh, padded over to the basket. With a hop and a scramble, the pup climbed up and cuddled up to her mother.  

Paige was the first one up the next morning, and after getting a drink of water and a bit of food, she poked her head out the door. Usually, Paige would wait until her mother was up, or Ty had come over, but she was wide awake and didn't want to have to be quiet until Shelby or the Mister and Miss got up.

Carefully, as not to make the door creak, Paige slipped out. The brisk morning air was chilly, but Paige's coat kept her nicely warm. Pausing to listen for Shelby, Paige bounded off the porch and onto the frozen ground. Slipping slightly, Paige trotted around the front yard, sniffing everything she could reach.

It wasn't until she caught sight of something moving by the fence did Paige stop. Cocking her head, she trotted over, sniffing the air. The scent was strange, and she had never smelled it before. Wrinkling her nose at the odd odor, but her curiosity getting the better of her, Paige crept foreword. Whatever was there was rummaging in the garbage. Paige had heard of stray dogs taking food out of trash bins (she thought it was gross), but the smell didn't smell like a dog, and the scratching was quiet, like something smaller.

Cautiously, Paige stuck her head around the corner, and was hit full force by the smell of trash and the creature. Gagging, she stepped back and covered her nose before looking around the corner again. Cocking her head, Paige watched as a flash of red appeared by one of the trash cans. She blinked, and it was gone. Forgetting the smell, Paige took a few small steps closer. The red appeared again, but this time she saw it was a tail. A very bushy one.

The next second, the trash can started wobbling,  then toppled over with a crash. Paige scampered away, ducking around the fence. After a few seconds, she looked again. Some small, strange looking creature with the brightest red fur she had ever seen was backing out of the trash, dragging something that looked like meat in it's mouth.

Starring, Paige took a step closer. The creature's head shot up and a pair of gleaming yellow eyes turned to her. Paige stood still, and for a minute, they just starred at each other. Then, quite suddenly, the creature's fur bristled and it growled.

It didn't look odd anymore, it looked scary. Paige slowly took a step back, but this seemed to anger the creature. It lunged foreword, snarling and snapping. Paige screamed and turned tail. More concerned with getting away from the snarling creature, she didn't notice that she had run straight instead of running around the fence. She ran right into a group of trash cans. Paige scrambled to turn, but with a bang and a crash, the cans fell around the small pup. The creature, startled by the noise, turned around and ran. Coughing from the dust, and limping, Paige stepped out of the mess.

"Paige?!"

Shelby's voice echoed, and Paige gave a small bark in response. Her mother appeared moments later, looking quite startled when she saw the pile of trash cans and Paige standing among them. "Paige? What happened?" Shelby asked as Dallas appeared behind her.

Paige's ears and tail drooped, knowing she was probably in trouble.

After telling them about the creature (which Dallas said had been a fox), and how it had chased her, Shelby carried Paige back to the house, gave her a quick bath to get the dust off her fur, then promptly began scolding her about following strange smells. It wasn't until Dallas spoke up did anyone notice Paige hadn't put any weight on her leg since being set down.

"You probably sprained it," Dallas remarked, watching as Paige gingerly put weight on her leg, only to wince and pull it back up.

"It'll heal in a few days, and until then, you're not leaving this house," Shelby said firmly.

Paige sulked around, bored out of her mind. Ty was busy with his owner, and had only been by once so far (he said he was sorry she had sprained her leg and offered to beat up the fox for her), and Aili, one of Paige's older sisters, had been by a few times, but she had just had puppies and was busy taking care of them.

A few days turned into a week, then two weeks, and three weeks later, Paige's leg wasn't any better. In fact, it was getting worse. Paige tried to put weight on it several times, only to yelp in pain and jerk it off the floor. She began loosing her appetite as well, hardly touching her food. Paige felt sick, both from the pain in her leg and from not eating, but she just couldn't seem to stomach anything.

Soon Mister and Miss noticed the lack of energy from the little pup, since she usually was running all over the place. Miss took her aside one day, setting the pup in her lap as Shelby watched with concern. When Miss tried to look at Paige's leg, Paige whined and pulled it away from her hand. Miss was always gentle, but she didn't want anyone touching her leg. It hurt.

Frowning, Miss called Mister and showed him how Paige wouldn't let her touch her leg. They talked for a bit, finally deciding to take her to the vet. As Mister put on his coat to go and arrange for a appointment, Miss returned Paige to the basket, very carefully putting the pup in the soft blankets. Miss stroked Paige's forehead with her finger, gave Shelby a pat, then left.

"What's going on, Mommy?" Paige asked once Miss was gone.

"Mister is going to ask the vet to look at you, so he can find out what's wrong with your leg and fix it," the silver husky told her.

Paige perked. "He's gonna fix my leg?"

Shelby nodded, and