"So did everyone."

"Yeah?"

Angel smirked and nodded. "Everyone including..."

"Is that Fang?"

"What! Where?"

"There!"

"Oooooh, there he is! That's him! Ohmigosh, look, Annette, it's Fang!"

"No way! Faaaaang!"

Fang's eyes crossed in fake-horror. "Uh-oh. Quick--" he ducked behind Angel. "--hide me!"

"Uh-uh, bigshot, take them on yourself. Leave me out of it." Angel smiled and slipped off to join Scamp, who was oblivious to the new arrivals as he raced around Junior near the shallows of the water.

"Ah, snap," Fang groaned to himself.

The three Cocker Spaniel triplets bowled him over and licked him, pinning him to the sand and giggling hysterically. Danielle was practically bouncing on her paws.

"Hey, hey, gals, yer kinda crampin' my style here. Off--you don't wanna ruin my image, do ya?" Fang coughed as a paw pushed against his belly fur. "Oof--uh, Annette, doll, couldja maybe--"

They were oblivious.

"Um, okay, look--ack, yowch, gals!--hey, yeah, but how 'bout--uh, SHARK! Yeah, over there, that's right. Nah, no, don't--" Fang wheezed as they continued to smother him as if they hadn't seen him in years. "'Kay, new plan. Everybody off, I ain't gonna be able t'breathe! Like, now!" He let out a bark.

They clambered off of him.

"Is that who I think it is?" Jim Dear put a hand on Darling's shoulder. "Dear, look!"

"Oh my stars--that can't be little Fang, can it?" said Darling with a hand over her smile. "Junior, look over there. Who is that?"

The blonde toddler took one look at the Golden Retriever puppy and squealed, racing toward him. "Fa-a-ang!"

Tramp and Lady exchanged glances and took off after the child.

Scamp's attention was dragged away from the sand he was rolling in next to Angel as he spied the Golden Retriever, Afghanna, Skip, and Rose crowding Fang almost protectively.

"Ang'?" Scamp cleared his throat and stood up next to his best friend.

"Did I mention Fang dropped by?" Angel giggled nervously.

"You forgot that little detail, yeah," Scamp muttered. He trotted toward where his family was stroking and petting Fang and his gang.

"Scamp, wait, don't--" Angel said. It did no good, he was already on his way. "Great." Angel groaned and followed him.

"...Ah, yeah, it was a sinch," Fang was saying proudly to the dogs of the Darling family as Junior wrapped his arms around the Golden Retriever's neck. "Sat on yer back platform on th'stagecoach. No big deal. Y'didn't even scent us, didja?"

"Nope!" Danielle shook her head enthusiastically. Annette smiled wistfully at Fang while Collette batted her eyelashes at him.

Scamp entered the group with Angel on his heels. He locked eyes with Fang.

"How's it goin', Chew Toy, remember me?" Fang smirked at him, but it wasn't unfriendly.

Skip grunted.

"As if you'd let me forget," Scamp suddenly smiled a large, happy-to-see-you smile. He even panted in a doggie grin. "I knew you'd be back."

"Anyway," Angel interrupted, glancing at Fang's gang. "Say hey to Fang's friends, too," she reminded the rest of the dogs almost sternly. "Afghanna, Skip, and Rose. You remember 'em, don't you?"

"Yeah, sure," Annette nodded, but her eyes were still on Fang like her sisters' were.

"How's picking's, champ?" Tramp added.

"Back 'ome? Slim. Here? Ain't hadda chance t'figure it out yet." Fang shrugged one shoulder and kept his cool look, half-smiling in pride. "But I'm pretty sure when I'm done, I'll own this place."

"Fang, you tripped over something," Angel suddenly pointed out.

Rose looked confused and worried for the Retriever. "He did? What?"

"His ego," Angel replied teasingly.

"An' I perfected it," Fang shot back.

"You dropped something too, looks like."

"Lay it on me."

"Your dignity."

"Need some ice for that burn?" Afghanna nudged Fang and grinned slyly.

Fang seethed inwardly. Out trash-talked by his former love life. Perfect reuinion, yeah right.

"Good to see you, Skip," Angel added. "Still a pup of few words, right?"

Skip growled in reply.

"Well, yeah," Scamp mumbled to Angel, "A pup of few optimistic words, anyway."

Skip gave them a brief, sneering grin before returning to the comfortable frown settling on his muzzle.

"Nice seeing you again," cooed Darling as she stroked Fang's ears. "Good boy."

Junior giggled and kept clinging to Fang's neck, nearly choking the golden pup. "C'mon, Fangie," he gurgled. "Let's play!"

He let go of the Golden Retriever puppy and took off down the beach, looking behind his shoulder to make sure Fang would follow.

"Yeah, Fangie," Skip grinned, showing his teeth and shouldering Fang. "Let's play."

"Knock it off, shorty, or I'm--"

"We could play pretend," Afghanna teased as well on Fang's other side. She had the same expression as Skip. "You be the House Dog. Where's that red collar of yours?"

"Oh, that's it," Fang growled. "I'm gonna--"

"You guys, cut it out," Rose sympathized with her hero. "He's a Street Dog."

Afghanna stared at her for what seemed like a long time and then said bluntly, with no emotion, only blinking once, "You don't understand sarcasm--do you?"

Rose looked confused.

"Fa-ang!" Junior called, waving his hand to beckon the Golden Retriever.

"Duty calls. When y'got it, y'got it." Fang winked slyly at his gang before barking and rushing after Junior.

"So now it's his duty?" Skip grumbled.

"Oh, hush," Rose smiled dreamily at Fang as the leader of the gang tugged at the hem of Junior's shirt playfully.

Chapter 2

The next few days, the gang slept in the alley behind the hotel the Darlings were staying in, always managing to show up when the family of dog-loving humans packed their towels and headed for the beachfront. Some days Fang teased Scamp, trying to make parts of the mutt-pup's vacation miserable. But Scamp was tough; he seemed to take it in stride more often than he was beaten down by the Golden Retriever's jibes. Angel was looking more comfortable around Fang and his gang all the time, and the Cocker Spaniel triplets--though they looked on Afghanna's grooming habits (or lack of) and Skip's sour moods with disapproval--couldn't help but romp in the sand with Fang and the gang. And Junior couldn't get enough of Rose and Fang. He made friends with a toddler on the beach one day named Daisy, a redheaded little girl with blue eyes and soft hands, stroking Rose and Fang as if they were precious newborn puppies. Whenever Fang tried to slink away, Daisy would giggle and nudge Junior, who would smile and teeter after Fang, dragging him back to wherever the human toddlers were playing on the beach at the time and making him play whatever imaginitive pretend game they could come up with. Rose usually joined in without effort, and enjoyed sunbathing with little Daisy, snoozing in the redhead's lap sometimes. Whenever Daisy's mother was done chatting with Jim Dear and Darling, she would gently take Daisy's soft hand and lead her back to their car. They always came the next day to have Daisy play with Junior and the dogs.

Other times Scamp suggested they explore the tropical forests on the hills of the beach. Skip refused every time, saying the woods were big and the weather was hot, too hot to get lost in the forests. Fang blew him off and was all too ready to explore the palm-tree foliage, but not without the rest of the gang.

Finally Angel trotted up to them when they were all taking a break in the shade under the Darling family's umbrellas.

"Who's up for some forest-hiking?" she panted.

Scamp sprang to his paws. "Yes!"

"Uh, think again," Skip raised his head and resituated it, resting it on his paws. "I'd rather sit here and bake."

"What should we set the oven for?" Fang pushed himself to his paws and glared at the Yellow Lab pup. "'Dull' or 'boring'?"

"Oh, shut up," Skip growled.

"Chill." Afghanna stood up and shook herself off, glancing at Angel. "I'm in."

"All right!" Scamp grinned. "You coming, Rose?"

Rose glanced at Fang. "If he goes, I'll go."

"Fa-ang?" Angel smiled at him. "You know you wanna come."

Fang lowered his eyelids. "How ya gonna find yer way back without me? I'll come. Y'need me."

Scamp scoffed. "Yeah, all you had to say was 'I'm coming'."

"I like to make an impression, Chew Toy, ease up," Fang teased.

"So is Skip coming too, or what?" Rose asked, coming up beside Fang.

"I dunno, 'pends on what time shorty's finished 'baking'," Fang answered sneeringly. He leaned down toward Skip, who hand his back to the group, flopped down. Fang pretended to check