and then swam to the water surface. He gasped and coughed. Chad swam to the shallower end of the lake and lay there. He was exhausted. He was about to surrender to blackness. As he closed his eyelids, the first thing that came to him was a bright flash of light.

Wait... that wasn't light...it was fur! On a dog's pelt. The dog had lovely gold fur and icy blue eyes that were the prettiest he had ever seen. The dog! The gold-furred female!

Chad stood up before he had even fully opened his eyes. He looked around frantically for her. What if he was too late? Could ten seconds of sleep really end her?

Finally, Chad spotted her. She was struggling to keep her head above the water. She was becoming weak and wouldn't be able to fight for much longer.

"Hang in there! I'm coming!" Chad called. Her only response was a cough.

Chad leapt into the water and swam towards her. She was started to sink. Chad was able to dive under and grab her scruff. He had to fight even harder this time. Especially now that he had someone to carry.

Chad felt like he was going to give up. But the thought of letting the dog in his jaws drown encouraged him to stay strong. She wasn't going to be concious for long. Finally, after much struggling and grunting, Chad had managed to drag them onto the forest border. He collapsed, panting and exhausted.

He heard a cough and the gold dog came back to her senses. "What happened?" she asked after spitting up some water.

Chad coughed too. "I might've jumped in after you and dragged you all the way out here," he answered.

Lily looked around. She blinked. "Well, thanks. But I must be going now." She stood up and began to walk away.

"Huh? Wait, what?" Chad jumped to his paws, alarmed.

Lily didn't stop walking. "I have to get home," she said over her shoulder. "Well, first to Snob Hill and get dinner that I dropped."

Chad blinked. "Well...who says you have to go? You nearly drowned. I saved you. You owe me something, right?"

Lily stopped. He was right. She needed to be fair. She turned to face him. "You're right," she admitted. "What is it that you want?"

Chad thought carefully. He brightened at his first thought. "Rest. You should rest. You nearly got caught by a goofy dog catcher and then nearly drowned. Now you want to go back to Snob Hill and then go all the way to wherever your home is? I just saved you, so naturally, I'll be concerned. You must be exhausted."

Lily's ears drooped. She really couldn't argue. But how could she sleep knowing her family would be worried sick? But the way his eyes shone with a mizture of charm and pleading just wouldn't let her resist. Lily rolled her eyes at herself. "Fine, but just an hour or two okay?" she told him.

"I can deal with that," Chad smirked at his victory. He trotted to the closest tree and curled up among its roots. Lily trotted over to curl up beside him. Chad looked at her, surprised.

"What? You save my life so I can't use you as a blanket?" Lily demanded.

Chad shook his head. "Oh, no. You're fine. Just surprised me is all."

Lily let out a small 'hmph' before setting her head down. Chad set his down too and realized the right side of his face was brushing her neck. Ignoring it, he yawned and said, "I'm Chad."

"Lily," she muttered through closed eyes. With a sigh, she was in sleep. Chad smiled. She was so pretty! He drifted off to sleep as well. The way the two young ones were curled up would've convinced anyone passing by they were love ones.

____________________________________________________________________

Chapter 3

Lily awoke to her head on something soft. It was someone's neck. She scrambled to sit up. She was alarmed and prepared to fight, Then, she saw the familiar form of the brown dog's sleeping with his head on his paws. She stood up and shook some water that hadn't dried up from her fur. The few droplets splashed Chad's face and he raised his head with a snort.

"Ya done there?" he asked with an amused gleam in his eye.

"Maybe," Lily teased. She looked at the sky to see it almost sunrise. She hadn't intended to stay all night! She suddenly froze and sniffed the air.

"What do you smell?" Chad tilted his head, intrigued.

"Some kind of party or picnic," Lily replied.

Chad stood up and began to walk. He smelled it too. He looked over his shoulder. "You coming?"

Lily brightened up, but tried to hide it. She cleared her throat and trotted behind Chad.

The two walked over to a park (the trek took about an hour, so the sun had risen by the time they got there) that had many humans gathered around one small kid that had a funny-looking hat on his head.

"What is going on?" Lily wondered.

"Birthday party," Chad decided. "Probably for that kid with the hat," Chad pointed with a paw.

"Huh." Lily scanned the area some more. She nudged Chad. "Hey, look. Easy food," she pointed at some unguarded food on a lonely table.

"I think your family could use some of that," Chad said. Lily smiled at him and raced him down the hill towards the table. Chad laughed at the fun and closed in to gentley nip her ear. She squeaked with surprise and pounced on him. They rolled around in the grass and Chad had Lily pinned down. She gave a playful growl and licked his cheek. Chad blinked with shcok. Lily used the moment to throw him off of her and continue their race.

Lily skidded to a halt a few feet away from the table. "I won!" she cheered.

Chad pounced and pinned her down again. "I got you."

"On the contrary," Lily pushed him off with a forepaw to his cheek. "You should keep me."

That hadn't sounded the way Lily had wanted. She realized it when her eyes met Chad's warm brown ones. She tried to hide the awkwardness with a playful smile and another lick on Chad's cheek.

"Am I interupting something?"

Lily's blood turned to ice as she recognized the voice. Chad looked at someone behind her. "Um..no. We're just passing through. Is this your family?"

Lily turned and feared what she saw. Buster. He was the leader of the Junkyard Dogs and hated housedogs severely....and Lily's family.

Buster scoffed. "As if I'd want to be a housedog. Oh no. I have a bad history with housepets. But this is my food to steal."

Lily moved closer to Chad. "Chad, can we go now?" she whispered.

"But what about your family's food?" Chad whispered back. To Buster, he said, "If this isn't your party, then it isn't your food. Anyone can take this food."

Buster ignored him. "Why, you seem familiar," he said to Lily. "Lilah right?"

"It's Lily," she told him.

"Whatever. I remember you. You're Mazie and Ginger's sister. That means you're trouble. I am in no mood to deal with trouble," the bigger dog said as he narrowed his eyes and started to walk towards Lily, making her back up.

Chad stepped between them. "Um...is us being here going to be a problem?"

Buster looked at him. "Well you, I don't care about. But I don't exactly get along with this one and her family." He looked back at Lily who growled defensively.

"Her name's Lily, not 'this one,'" Chad retorted. Lily smiled at the thought of him helping her out.

"Oh, so now you want to get dragged into this?" Buster growled.

"Hey, we didn't do anything," Chad snapped. "There's no need to be a jerk-"

"Um, what's going on here?"

 All heads turned to the beautiful mutt padding up to them.

"Angel!" Lily's tone was excited, while Buster's was another growl.

Angel walked to stand beside Lily. She had a bright, violet ribbon around her neck which signaled she was a housepet now.

"Hey, Lily," Angel said casually. "Who's your friend?"

"His name's Chad. How's housedog life?"

"Okay. We're here for Junior's second birthday. I'm glad to see you again."  

"Same here," Lily felt guilty. This was Angel's family and she was about to steal from it! What a rude thing to do to a friend!

 Buster smirked at the sight of Angel. "Enjoying your housedog life, huh, traitor?"

Angel looked at him and spoke calmly though her look was hostile. "Yes. And you're still getting buried by garbage, right? I can smell it."

"Don't push your luck," Buster snarled.

"Chad, Angel, do you think we should leave right now?" Lily asked for only them to hear. She could sense a fight on the horizen. That was the last thing she was in the mood for right now.

Angel led them away with a friendly smile. "Follow me. I think I could find something for you two to eat and not steal."

Buster watched the three begin to walk away. He envied the way Angel hated him now and wouldn't share her food with him. "Sure, walk away you cowards."

Chad tensed.

"Just keep walking," Angel muttered through closed teeth. "You're encouraging him."

"I'm not exactly the type of dog to back down from a challenge," Chad protested.

"Chad, he's why I fear water. He