“Come on, if you’re not sick you don’t need to be in here.”

 “That’s what he thinks,” winked a dog two cages to Rex‘s right.

 Terry rolled her eyes and let out a breath. “I’ll see you soon, Rex,” she promised. “Hurry up and get well.”

 “Gladly,” he assured her as the vet led her out.

 As the door closed, Rex could hear the Pomeranian start up again. “So, you two got some big plans when you get out of here, huh?”

 Rex glared in the direction of the yappy voice. “If we ever meet without cages separating us,” he joked, “Remind me to do something I will regret.”

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

 The very afternoon Rex was released from the vet’s, Terry came to see him. As she approached his house, she thought over again everything they’d been through, and what they were now considering. She had let go of Yuke, she was ready to move on, but she knew that in itself was not reason enough. She also knew, however, that somehow it was meant to be, just as it had been with Yuke.

 What she didn’t know was that she was being followed.

 Rex smiled as Terry came in. “Hello,” he greeted.

 Terry blushed. “Hello yourself,” she replied. “Leg feeling better?”

 Rex stretched it out with a contented mix of sigh and grunt. “Good as new,” he grinned. “For all his beads and rattles, that doctor knows his business.”

  Terry started to laugh, but was interrupted by the sound of someone entering through the pet flap.

 “I knew it,” snarled an irate voice.

 Both of them stared at the sandy-colored husky coming in. “Pete, I presume,” Rex observed. “I wish I could say it was a pleasure.”

 Pete growled at him. “Listen, you creep. You stay away from my-”

 “Pete,” Terry cut him off, frowning. “Enough is enough.”

 “What about Dad?” Pete protested.

 “Your father is dead,” Rex replied. “Your mother is doing nothing…”

 “This isn’t right!” Pete snapped.

 “…wrong,” Rex said, both concluding his statement and answering Pete’s. “And let me assure you that as an officer of the law, I don’t want to cause…”

 “Then get lost!” Pete barked at the top of his lungs.

 That bark was Pete’s mistake. The chief came in, saw Pete growling at his dog, and needed ask no further questions. With a skill born from years of handling troublemakers both human and canine, he seized hold of Pete, maneuvered the door handle with his foot, and heaved the husky out, quickly slamming the door shut and moving a box of firewood to cover the pet flap. It was only when he turned around that he actually saw Terry.

 “Well, what are you doing here?” he asked. He had seen Terry once or twice outside, but never inside the house where she had always been careful not to be caught.

 Hoping to fend off further trouble, Rex nuzzled Terry to show she was a friend.

 Chief Scotty laughed. “Well, just don’t get into any more trouble,” he instructed them, and walked back to his office to resume his paperwork. Canine visitors were nothing new to him, just an oddity he had long ago accepted as one of the many mysteries of the canine world. True, Rex had never nuzzled a guest before, but since guests were so common the man gave it no further thought.

 Meanwhile, Terry was blushing from the touch of Rex‘s nose. ’I guess Pete’s interruption was good for something after all,’ she thought. “So,” she asked slowly, “Since Pete brought it up…”

 Rex sighed. “I know what you’re getting at,“ he confessed. “And I do want to, more than anything. But deep down I only want it if it will make you happy.” He deliberately looked away from her. “I know what your heart is telling you, but I don’t want to cause problems between you and Pete.”

 She shook her head. “You don’t know Pete. Once he sets his mind on a way of thinking, nothing shakes him out of it. He’s determined to believe what he wants to, no matter what.”

 Inside, Rex was decided on what he wanted. But everything in him was telling him loud and clear that he shouldn’t pursue something which might cause Terry such sever family problems. Heaven knew she had enough already. “You could lose your son,” he insisted. “Look at what just happened.”

 The husky sighed. “Rex, I lost Pete the day his father died. He loved his father, and so did I. But I’m ready to let go of that. What I’m not ready to do is to spend the rest of my life alone. It’s not what Yukon would want, and it’s not what I want either. I want you.”

 Rex hung his head for a long moment. She had him convinced, but there was one more thing that needed to be said. “Police work is my life, Terry. It’s everything I have. I’ve spent my whole life committed to it. Committed to staying out of any relationship, any attachment that might interfere.”

 Terry blinked. Was he saying no? After everything that had happened, was Rex backing out? “But…” she protested.

 He stopped her. “Yes, there is a but,” he continued. “I always fled from anything that might get in the way of what I do. But you have not. You helped me understand the mystery of the strays. You helped me stay alive in the fight. In the fight, and after, you gave me someone to fight for. I understand now that I don’t have to be one thing and one thing only, and I‘ve been cheating myself by trying to do so.” He kept his face and posture firm, despite Terry’s wagging tail. “So now I have three questions for you: can you live knowing I’ll be in and out without any say on my part or yours? Can you understand that as much as I love you, I do have a commitment to live up to? And if those are yes… will you be my mate?”

 She didn’t answer with words. Instead she kissed him right on the mouth for a long, long moment. When she pulled out of the kiss and pressed her neck against his, she only spoke one word.

 “Always.”

……………………………………………………………………………………………

Many months later…

 The two dogs smiled at the puppies in the basket. Terry’s smile was sweet and serene. Rex’s was every bit as happy, but at the same time just a little uncertain. Even after all of this, the future held some sweet, uncertain scent of the unknown, a thing which he both craved and feared. It was fatherhood. “So,” he commented, “You know more about this puppy business than I do. Think they’ll be any trouble?”

 Terry laughed. “Puppies are always trouble,” she answered. “That’s the fun of it.” Looking back down at the litter, she added, “But with a daddy like you, I don’t think they’ll be too much of a problem.” She bent down and nuzzled one of the pups. “Isn’t that right, Toby?” she asked in a cooing sort of voice.

 Time would tell just how wrong she was.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Balto, Jenna, Steele, and company: © Universal Studios

Ewan, Comet, Captain Orde, Deputy Williams, Mac, and nameless comrade: © Kelev

Chase, the white Akita, and Ketchikan: © redwolf03

Everyone else: © Dragon Tamer

And last but not least, ‘The Matchmaker Song’: © to the person who wrote the music for ‘Fiddler on the Roof’