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Bonnie could barely keep up with Brian as they were on their way to exit the building. That said a lot, considering he had only two legs, and she had four. He was unbelievably angry, that much the Brown Border collie could tell. Which was why it was probably better to actually keep a bit of distance. Bonnie didn’t understand what exactly had happened to get her owner in such a state, she just remembered a lot of yelling and then they just left. She didn’t like it when Brian was angry, and it seemed to happen a lot more frequent lately.

“Brian, Brian, wait!” Nick’s voice rang down the hallway.

Brian didn’t stop his fast pace one bit and just continued walking with his head down, his hands wrapped around the leash so that Bonnie had no choice but to be dragged along with him.

“Bri, let’s just talk about this like normal people!”

Brian swirled around so fast that Bonnie fell over the leash from the sudden change of direction. He pointed his finger angrily in Nick’s direction, “I hope you’re joking,” was all he said before turning around again and walking around the corner.

“Look, we wanted to tell you, okay, it’s just...”

“You had over a year, Nickolas,” Brian yelled without looking back. “And I suppose if I hadn’t overheard you guys just now, I still wouldn’t have known.”

“It’s been a difficult time for everybody-”

“Good thing I managed to block out half of it then, huh?” Brian turned around again and this time Bonnie had anticipated their change of direction and didn’t fall. “But here you guys are, and y’all apparently know exactly what happened to me, because y’all have gotten front row seats to the show.” There were tears in his voice now and Bonnie looked up at him in concern.

“Look, we never asked for those videos, okay? Those were the most fucked up thing I have ever seen, nobody wanted that.” Nick finally caught up to them, panting slightly. “I’m sorry we didn’t tell you, alright? We just... you were doing so well, you didn’t need to know.”

“Don’t you think that’s for me to decide?” Brian said, the tears now also visible in his eyes, “Don’t tell me that is was a difficult time for everybody, okay? Because watching someone get torn to pieces on a video is a bit different than actually getting torn to pieces.”

“That’s not what I was trying to say,” Nick said dejectedly.

“Give them to me,” Brian replied, his jaw set.

“Brian, no,” Nick said softly and Bonnie sensed the fear in his voice. “Trust me, I would give anything to not have seen those videos, some parts of it are still seared into my brain, man. You don’t wanna know, you really don’t.”

“I need to know what happened, Nick,” Brian said, his voice void of any emotion now, “I need to deal with those memories, or-”

“Can’t we just... move on?” Nick asked desperately, “Just leave it all behind?”

Brian bit his lip, but seemed determined, “I have to know, Nick,” he said softly.

“Well, I don’t have them,” Nick replied.

“Ugh, great,” Brian rolled his eyes and wanted to turn around again.

“AJ has copies of everything,” Nick interjected.



Bonnie didn’t understand why they weren’t just going home. She had been looking forward to dinner and laying beside the couch like always. Instead, she found herself in a car with Brian and Nick, going dog knows where. She didn’t recognize the streets at all and whined softly to let Brian know they were definitely going the wrong way. He just laid a hand on top of her head to shush her. He seemed nervous and tense and Bonnie figured it had something to do with where they were going and she didn’t like it one bit. Still, since abandoning her owner would go against everything she’d ever been trained to do, she stuck with it and wondered what was going to happen.

They got out on a random street, in front of a random house. No, not random, Bonnie thought, because she could smell a familiar scent in the air. It took a while to identify it, but then...

AJ!

Bonnie was extremely font of AJ, and she bounded forward to the driveway, taking Brian, who held a grip on her leash along with her. AJ opened the door even before they reached the porch. Bonnie started to circle him excitedly, panting and whining in joy as he bent down and took her head in his hands. “Very happy to see you too, Bon-Bon,” AJ laughed and ruffled her fur. Bonnie sat down promptly, waiting for the inevitable; and there it was, a godly smelling piece of bacon, dropped right in front of her. She munched it down hungrily.

So good.

“So, you guys sure about this?” AJ said uncertainly.

Brian gave a short nod, walking past him into the house. Bonnie followed him meekly, looking around.

Woowoowoowoowooh.

The loud barking made her jump and she whirled around on her feet, sensing a shock travel through Brian as well. Two fat bulldogs came bounding into the hallway and Bonnie shrunk back, unsure of what to do.

“Peppy, Bogo, down,” AJ commanded sternly. Neither of the bulldogs paid him any mind. They circled Bonnie curiously, sniffing her and studying her tail. Bonnie stood up a little straighter to show them that she was unafraid of their thorough inspection. The female bulldog ran away across the hall, stopping after a few feet to look back and see if the other two dogs would follow her. Bonnie looked up at Brian questioningly. He nodded at her and clicked the leash from her collar.

“Off work,” he said absently.

Bonnie hesitated only a second before going after the female bulldog and was unsurprised to see the male one follow her. The pack was established. After only a few minutes, Bonnie decided that she liked both dogs. They were friendly and excitable, probably just a little bit older than her, and above all, they knew all the secret little places in the home where food was stored. And they were unafraid to share. After an hour, the three dogs had broken into the basement and were gnawing on some excellent bones that they’d found in one of the bags on the second shelf. Bonnie wondered if AJ was aware of his dogs’ ability to find all this stashed away food. But Bonnie also knew that bones were not human food, so AJ probably wouldn’t mind it that much.

And Bonnie had a lot of fun in the yard as well, where she and Peppy were teasing Bogo because he wouldn’t give up his spot on one of the weird looking statues near the pool. He’d made sure they knew it was his when he lifted his leg on it and Bonnie and Peppy found that so hilarious that they’d silently made a pact to do everything to chase Bogo off of his statue. The yard was an incredible place, Bonnie thought. It was smaller than hers at home, but it was filled with all these weird objects that seemed to be a dog’s paradise to play with. And Bonnie loved every second of it and she wondered why she and Brian didn’t come here all the time, because surely he must be having such a wonderful time as well in such a great place like this.

“Bonnie, Peppy, Bogo!” she heard AJ call when Bogo was just on the verge of giving up his statue. Bonnie narrowed her eyes and barked loudly at the lazy bulldog, who finally jumped off of his throne in shock. AJ called again, and Bonnie didn’t hesitate before taking off and running towards the house, with the two bulldogs on her heels, albeit a lot slower than her. She jumped up at AJ in the hallway, a thing she knew she wasn’t supposed to do, but she couldn’t help herself this time. She had to let him know that she thought his house and his dogs were absolutely wonderful and that every dog in the world should have to experience it just once. She wanted to lick his face in gratitude, but sat down immediately when he looked at her, knowing there might be bacon if she behaved.

There was something about his face; that much Bonnie remembered.

And he didn’t give her bacon; he didn’t give her anything. He just told her to ‘stay’ and then he left into one of the rooms, which Bonnie found odd, because why call a dog over when you didn’t want or have anything for them? But she was a good dog, and she didn’t have to wait long before AJ returned with Brian and Nick, and suddenly Bonnie could identify the look she’d seen on AJs face.

She whimpered with the feeling of pure dread that settled deep within her and shrunk back when she saw the sheer look on her owner’s face. He did nothing to acknowledge her, his face white as a sheet and his eyes absently staring into the hallway and Bonnie was almost sure he wasn’t actually aware of anything that was happening. Bonnie whined again in fear, then looked past him at Nick, whose face was a mask of pure sorrow.

It was all his fault; Bonnie was sure of it.

And Bonnie was not a violent or aggressive dog by any standards; she was well trained -better than most dogs- and she knew how to behave around people. But a dog’s gotta do what a dog’s gotta do and there was something so entirely wrong about this situation that Bonnie had no other choice. She growled menacingly at Nick and he looked at her weirdly. And when Brian didn’t do anything to tell her to stop, she knew enough.

It was all his fault.

She lunged at him, her teeth bared and caught his hand in her jaw. She didn’t bite down; of course not. It was just a warning, after all. Nick jumped back in terror, howling in pain and wrenching his hand from her mouth. Bonnie tasted blood and Nick clutched his hand, staring at her in shock.

“For fuck’s sake, Bonnie!” AJ yelled, grabbing her by her collar and yanking her backwards, probably afraid she was going to attack again. Humans didn’t often seem to understand what warnings meant.

“It’s fine, it’s not her fault,” Nick mumbled sadly, still clutching his hand, blood slowly dripping to the stone floor.

“You’re fucking bleeding,” AJ said, not letting go of Bonnie’s collar yet.

And Brian did nothing.

Bonnie whined miserably. She’d thought that punishing the probable cause of the ominous mood in the house would make Brian happy again, but it didn’t seem to affect him a single bit. He just kept staring; not even at them, but at some random spot on the wall. AJ let go finally and Bonnie shrunk back, still growling warningly at Nick.

“I’ll be fine,” Nick said curtly.

“Alright, alright; but we need to get that cut disinfected,” AJ sighed, “Did you get your shots?”

Nick shrugged absently, “This was such a bad idea. I should have stopped him.”

AJ nodded slowly, looking at Brian, “He would have found out eventually,” he mumbled, “I’ll get him home, and then we’re going to the doctor.”