Peace

(Chronological index: Shortly after Testing (Annie XX))

Pet wanted to stop the fight before it broke out. She saw it coming, but she wasn't quite sure what it was about.

And she'd learned a long time ago that commenting on stuff she didn't understand just made things worse.

It had been a fun morning. Ray's company was shut down until they could fix all the hole in the wall that had sent Ray's remote and Annie's realio-trulio body on a water adventure through downtown Jacksonville during a hurricane. So Ray had the day off for all week. Denny still had to go to work because she was saving her vacation up for Christmas when they were all four going to go someplace fun, though they hadn't decided yet where fun was.

Pet went to work with her owner one day and then spent the next day home with Annie and Ray and having fun on the Vacation of Doom, referring to the flooded gutters that earned them the holiday not any sort of doom here in the house.

So they'd been watching some comedy on TV and Pet laughed at the facial expressions of the British guy and the accent of the German guy and at the silly, complicated underwear of the French woman and someone had a whip and Ray made a joke.

Pet didn't 'get' the joke. She had never really been all that concerned with her autonomy because she loved Denise and Denise loved her and as long as they were together Pet just didn't notice any issues like Annie did.

So Pet didn't try to demand autonomy, nor would she have if she knew what the word meant.

She felt Annie stiffen beside her and heard the sylph fire a sneering comment back at her master about slave masters.

And Pet could see, she could watch it happening, seeing what was about to happen, but paralyzed by her limited vocabulary.

Ray thought Annie and he were sharing banter so he made another joke at Annie's freedom's expense and she pointed out that she had just helped design and program the sylph remotes at Ray's job and he owed her actual wages not treats. And her voice had that coolness Pet associated with the nickname 'Lurch' and plans to hide part of a gummy bear on The Lurch's pillow.

Ray missed it high, wide and handsome which was odd since usually the master/owner relationship was so close the two of them could have an entire conversation with eyebrows.

But he did miss it and made another joke. And Annie flew off the handle. She cursed him and his height and his thick shoes, thicker skin and ultimately thick skull and jumped off the table to stomp off under the sofa.

And Ray didn't understand how the repartay they were sharing pissed her off so bad and made some derogatory comment about her hormones that his facial expression indicated even HE knew he'd gone too far but was too mad to apologize when he was sure none of this shit was his effin' word fault.

So an hour later he was sitting there, reading, all alone and Annie was kneeling over a scroll, all alone, in another part of the room. They both ignored each other and Pet couldn't pick a side without UN picking one side so she was alone in the middle of the room.

Trying not to cry.

And Ray went out to get some M&M's from the candy jar in the fridge and didn't offer any to EITHER sylph. Pet sniffed and chose sides right then, running off to sit by Annie, trying really hard not to cry.

Annie didn't look up but she did reach out to give Pet's hand a squeeze.

"He's not mad at you, Pet," the older sylph assured the younger one.

"He's not giving me chocolate. He's just eating it all by himself!" Pet pointed out.

"Yeah," Annie sighed. "He just doesn't want to put you in the middle of this."

"What IS this?" Pet asked. Annie shrugged, then shook her head.

"It's nothing to do with you, Pet."

Pet crossed her arms and pouted her lip. "Tell that to my tummy that's not getting any chocolate."

"Just go ask him, Pet," Annie said softly. "He won't offer, because then you'll have to choose sides." She looked the blonde in the eye. "And he won't do that to you. But if you ask, he'll know you took a side."

"But I haven't!"

Annie raised an eyebrow. "Did Lurch see you run off to where I'm hiding?"

"Oh."

"But if you go ask him, he'll know you're trying to take both sides. Which is very, very, very much the Pet we both know and love. So go ask."

Pet stood up, made fists and steeled her courage. She walked over to where Ray sat and stood by his ankle. "Ray?" she called.

He moved his book aside and smiled down at her. And lifted his hand, showing one M&M pinched between two fingers. She smiled and nodded.

Then he glanced towards where Annie was out of sight. He raised an eyebrow. Pet thought he was asking if she was going to share with Annie. And that question would definitely have her choosing sides.

But as she started to get angry, because Annie said he wouldn't put her in the middle and she started to wonder if Annie knew her master all that well, which on second thought was a stupid question because Annie could even predict words Ray would say in his sleep, so maybe Annie was trying to get Pet to choose sides, but that was even stupider because…because…because it just WAS and Annie never lied to her.

But anyway as soon as she started to get angry, Ray shook his head. And lifted another finger, which pinched another M&M, so he was offering her two. HE wouldn't offer one to the sylph that pissed him off so very much but he'd make sure it was clear that Pet didn't have to choose sides.

She nodded happily, and wondered if this was the peace offering that would bring them together but it wasn't, it was the last time either of them mentioned or indicated or eyebrowed the other for the rest of the day.

Dammit.

-------------

Denise came home to find a terribly stressed household. Her husband's kiss was nice, and Annie's welcome seemed sincere, but there was no way to miss the ire of the other two.

Especially when Pet tried to explain it all, including how she saw it coming but was afraid to make it worse.

"It's alright," Denny soothed her by talking soothingly and it worked and so did the soft petting of Pet's head and hair and back. "I'll fix it."

She leaned in and whispered for Pet to get Annie up on the TV tray where the sylphs watched TV from and Pet was too upset to try to be sneaky so when she was put on the floor, she ran to the knitted ladder and climbed up and called for Annie to come up there and Annie did.

She stood with her arms crossed over her belly, back to the giant, waiting.

Denise moved the table closer to Ray. He started to get up and Denise snapped, "Stay!"

Then she went through the record collection.

Pet watched carefully but couldn't see which album she chose. The record was placed on the turntable and Denise placed the needle very carefully.

Ballroom Blitz started to play.

Pet kind of liked the song, because everyone that ever heard it started to sing along and she didn't understand it but it was fun that way.

Annie didn't sing. Annie fumed in silence. Pet turned to see that Ray also fumed, eyes on the back of Annie's head.

But his foot started to tap.

And so did Annie's.

And when the song said that the woman could kill you with a WINK of her EYE, Ray sang that part.

Instantly, Annie turned around with an invisible mike in her fist, held to her face as she and her Master both sang, "OOOOOH! YEAAAAH!"

Pet clapped just once as Ray began air-drumming. Annie acted as lead singer, though Ray took some lines. He got to describe the Girl in the Corner while Annie held her mike towards his face.

Between the lyrics, Annie shook her head back and forth so violently that it looked like she was fighting off a wild animal of some sort, bouncing down to her elbow and then up to the shoulder blades and back again.

The song ended. And Ray smiled at Annie and Annie smiled at Ray and Pet was afraid to move because she didn't want to spoil the moment.

Ray was the first to speak. "I could do that again…" He glanced towards his wife.

"We need a guitar section," Annie replied, glancing towards Pet.

"Dibs bass guitar!" Denise said immediately. Pet wasn't sure what that meant but then Ray told her what lead guitar did and Annie told her what sounds to listen for and Denise showed her how to stand and they played it again and Pet thought her Denise was the most brilliant person in the whole house because no one was angry anymore.

Until Ray asked, "So why'd you pick a fight with me?"

And Annie called him three names and Ray called her two and Denise turned around to find Bohemian Rhapsody because clearly this required major therapy and they were up until one o'clock that morning.





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