Annie XXVI, Pet's Heart

(Chronological index: Ray/Denise Married, Ruth known)

Annie was once again struck with the sniffles. She blamed her inglorious masterd for her catching a cold.

"Ruth took you to Fort Caroline for a picnic in winter," he protested. "You froze half-solid rather than 'spoil the moment' for her and her admittedly lovely gesture."

"Id's till yore fawt," she insisted. "Neber tode Ruth how fwajul siffs are!"

"Fragile!" he shouted. "Last time I said you were fragile you tied my nose hairs together as I slept!"

Denise didn't look up from her magazine but did wave her hand in the air and point. Pet followed her gesture and saw that the pot of hot water was through the #2 coffee maker. Ray also noticed and broke off the argument.

"What do you want first," he asked his sylph, his voice as calm as if they'd never been fighting. "Hot chocolate or soup?"

"Soup," she said miserably. Pet watched from the paper towel holder as he opened a pack of instant chicken noodle and made a bowl. He used an eyedropper to fill a tiny earthen mug.

It looked like a beer stein in Annie's hands as she hugged it for warmth and sniffed at the steam.

She was just working up the nerve to sip at it when he offered her a similar mug of cocoa. Pet saw that he'd even managed to crumble marshmallow bits on the top. Green, but still marshmallow.

The sylph was surprised at that. They hadn't had Lucky Charms in the house in months.

"Danks," Annie said. He made sure the fluffy towel was tucked in all the way around her perch on the dining table and slid a little box over her lap. She put both mugs down on it and let them cool.

Pet and Buttercup also got soup and chocolate, but not quite as much attention. Ray didn't part with any hoarded marshmallows on their behalf. Then he sat down with the cup and bowl and started to eat.

"Ahem?" Denise asked, still not looking up.

"Oh. I'm so sorry! Did you want cocoa? Or chicken noodle?" he asked. He tilted his head towards the pot. "Water's ready."

"Ass," she muttered.

Pet looked worriedly from human to human, then stood and walked to her owner. "You can have a sip of mine," she offered Denise.

"That's a lovely gesture," Denise said. "It's nice to see someone in the house loves me. But I don't really like soup. Or cocoa."

"I'm sure he loves you," Pet said. "But you know how Annie gets when she's not the center of attention."

"It's okay, Pet, really," Denise said. She smiled and stroked the little blonde's hair. "I'm just trying to tease him, and he's teasing me back. And Annie is the center of attention."

"As id should be," Annie said almost happily and took a careful sip.

Pet returned to her perch and thought about relationships. Annie and Denise both argued with Ray, and that seemed to show love.

She sighed, wishing she had a man to love that way.



When lunch was finished, Ray put on a sweatshirt. "You'll bake," Denise warned.

"That's the idea," he said. He lifted Annie and eased her inside, up against his heart.

"You'll bake her!"

"She'll let me know when she's done." He walked carefully over to the living room door. "Won't even need a fork."

Denise followed. Pet glanced at her mom. Buttercup was walking across the page of Denise's magazine, absorbed in the story. Pet scampered for the rope ladder tacked to the table.

Out in the living room, Denise looked scornfully down at Ray where he sprawled across the sofa. "So that's it? Your whole day is to be an incubator for your old girlfriend?"

"You can crawl in here, too," he offered, lifting the bottom of his shirt.

"PUD OUD DAT LIGHT!" Annie screamed as a gust of room temperature air flowed into the body temperature space. He let go and it fell back in place.

Denise smiled and bent down to kiss him. "I have to take Buttercup to the doctor for her checkup. Watch Pet?"

"Of course."

Denise winked as she walked past where Pet crouched by the magazine rack. Pet watched Ray position a pillow behind his head, careful not to disturb Annie. She sighed.

Some time after Denise drove off, Ray noticed that the TV remote wasn't on the table by his head. He started to get up but stopped when his sweater groaned.

Pet stepped forward to catch his eye. "Hey, Pet! Do you know where the remote is?"

"Yes, Ray!" she said cheerfully. She started running and jumped up onto the side of the loveseat. She climbed up and ran to where Denise had left the remote the night before.

She pushed it to the edge of the cushion and down to the floor. After jumping after it, she slid it across the carpet to where Ray could reach it.

He picked up the remote and Pet. One got a kiss, one got their buttons pushed.

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Pet watched an episode of The Simpsons from a perch on Ray's shoulder. She laughed into his ear and he laughed at her enjoyment.

As the credits rolled, Annie crawled up to his throat and croaked something about needing water. She was breathing more easily, but covered with sweat and phlegm.

Pet scampered over to Annie's side. Ray cupped his hand around them and sat up. Annie got a single drop of icewater in the kitchen and started to shiver.

Ray took them into the bathroom and started running a very hot shower. The room filled with steam as he took his shirt off. When the mirror was fully misted over, he turned the hot water down and changed to running a bath.

Pet slipped her shirt and shorts off, then helped Annie get naked. She groaned and leaned on her friend.

Ray slipped Pet into the tub and let her adjust to the temperature. When she flashed a thumbs-up he cupped Annie and lowered her into the water.

Pet got soap and a bucket from the sylph shelf under the faucet. She put a dollop of soap on his thumb and they washed Annie.

The patient melted under the heat and attention as they sluiced the nasty off of her.

He dipped her a couple of times for a rinse, then wrapped her in a clean fluffy washcloth.

She was snoring as he put her on the counter and lifted Pet out and dried her off.

The younger sylph rode in the crook of his elbow as he put Annie to bed in the drawer on his side of the bed. He set the sylphs' iPod to playing softly and slid the drawer shut.

Then he got his shirt and Pet's clothing from the bathroom and went downstairs.

He snagged a soda and some cookies and went to the living room. Pet took a sip, then sat on his shoulder and gnawed on a cookie crumb.

"You really take good care of Annie, Ray," she said.

He nodded. "I love her."

"Do you love me, Ray?"

"Of course I do, Pet. If you were sick, I'd try to take care of you."

"Thank you, Ray," she said. She stood and hugged the side of his throat. She licked at his skin. Lifting her face, she licked up the side of his face and nibbled gently on his ear lobe. His body tensed under her touch.

"Pet? What are you doing?"

"I love you, too, Ray," she said. She tried to match Annie's throaty whisper. He only got more tense. She hugged tighter.

He tried to turn his face towards her but that twisted his neck. She tipped over, clawing at his shirt as she slipped down between his back and the sofa cushion.

That caused him to lean forward automatically, trying to avoid crushing her. It only kept her from stopping her downward slide.

She fell headfirst, looking straight down his spine. It curved more and more as he leaned farther forward. Then the shirt disappeared into the waist of his pants. She saw a handful of elastic and screamed.

Her fingers met and clenched at the edge of his belt. She stuck there, in an awkward handstand.

"What do I do?" he asked.

"STOP LEANING!" she screeched. With a more stable back she wrested herself around to standing on the waistband. After a second to catch her breath she sidestepped then jumped clear.

When he saw her land on the seat he took a deep breath and edged back. She saw his hand coming down and leaned into it.

He held her up to his face and looked at her. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," she said. She held her arms out to signal that she wanted a hug. He hesitated.

"What were you doing to my ear?" he asked.

"I was just loving you!" she said with a little whine. He looked her over carefully, looking deep into her eyes. She felt like a drug suspect on a cop show.

"Are you in heat?" he finally asked. She stared at him in shock.

"ANIMALS go into heat!" she shouted.

"Okay, I know," he said. "I didn't mean literally, or anything. But… The come-on? The licking? Are you trying to…start something?"

"I don't know!" she wailed. "I just… I want something. I don't know what. I know…I want a man to take care of me. Like you do with Annie."

"Denise takes care of you," he protested. "Good care, I've seen it."

"I know," she said. She slumped down on his palm and covered her face with her hands. "I know. I love Denise. I just… I don't know. Something's different with you and Annie.

"I never… Denise never looks at me like she wants to do me. You and Annie, sometimes… Maybe it'd be nice to get molested by-"

"Pet," he said slowly, "I had a…relationship with Annie before I met Denise. It's special. And Denise respects it. But to start… I'm not sure she'd feel the same way if I were to start… If you and I were to become… Well, Annie'd kick my ass, that's for sure."

Pet giggled at that. Whether the older sylph thought that Pet needed protecting or Ray needed punishing, she'd certainly aim all her ire at the giant.

"I don't want to hurt Denise," she said. "But sometimes, it seems like you have a girlfriend, a wife and… And a Pet," Pet said in an ironic tone. Then she smiled, pretending that it didn't really matter.

They sat for a moment or two in silence. Then he stood and crossed to the stereo. He placed the sylph gently down on the lid then picked through the CDs.

Pet sat miserably alone, leaning against one of the speakers. Soft strains of slow music started to sound, vibrating through her body from the shoulder touching the case.

"Pet?" Ray asked. She turned her head. He stood with his hand out to her, a gentle smile on his face. "May I have this dance?"

"What? I, uh, I don't know how."

"Doesn't matter," he promised. "May I take you in my arms and show you that I love you?"

"Yes," she said. Or tried to. Her voice caught so she just nodded. He didn't pick her up but waited for her to step into his grip.

Then they danced. She'd seen Annie do this a time or two. He draped Pet over his clavicle, at the base of his throat. His body warmed her like the heat from a candle, with a solid pulse that her own heart tried to follow.

One finger rested gently at the base of her spin, another held her wait up by lifting at her buttocks.

He moved nearly on the beat. For an engineer, it was amazing. She felt like she was flying, floating and sinking at the same time.

He whispered to her. Nothing she could quote afterwards, but she never forgot the feeling.

He told her she was beautiful, that she was loved, that he'd do anything for her.

He listed all the people in her life that cared for her. That depended on her. That used her to smuggle partial Gummi Bears onto pillows.

She was lucky, she knew, but Ray painted a picture in her mind of the family she was part of. A vast support system to protect and help her.

Then he got more personal. He described her beauty in detail. And the best qualities of her personality. She realized that he paid as much attention to her as to Annie. And he saw her as a person in his life just as much as Denise was.

And she understood that he loved her. And it was for who she was, not just because he had to love his wife's pet.

She was tearing up just a bit when the dancing changed. His rhythm got better, his moves smoother. There was a kissing sound somewhere behind her head.

Then Denise laid her head over Pet, her cheek brushing Pet's back. "Ditto," Pet's owner said softly.

She didn't know how much Denise had heard of Ray's talk. But she realized it didn't matter. He'd said nothing that her owner would disagree with. Except maybe enjoying the pertness of her little boobies…

She sighed contentedly and floated through the dance.

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