#also I low-key keep forgetting that Frank bought a dog lol

[coffeealwayshelps]

man's best friend

Bear did not listen to Abby.

Oh, Bear (named by 3 year old Ava Langdon, who insisted very loudly, "Daddy, he looks just like a TEDDY BEAR) was a good dog. Great, actually. The dog was beyond gentle with the kids, which was the most important thing to Frank. Bear was very protective of Tanner and Ava, actually, to the point where if the kids did something even halfway dangerous, Bear was barking loudly and alerting Frank or Abby that something was going on. Bear also herded Tanner and Ava when he was playing with them, which was just funny for everyone involved.

Really, the only thing that could have been considered a problem with the dog - and it hardly was one, honestly - was how big Bear had gotten. When Frank had first bought Bear, through a friend of a friend, he'd thought he was getting one of those small goldendoodles. You know, like those little ones that... well, that wasn't much larger than Ava's teddy bear. Either Frank hadn't been paying attention when he'd bought Bear, or his friend's friend didn't know what the hell they were talking about, because Bear turned out to be a standard goldendoodle. And a whopping seventy-five pounds, at that.

Bear was a beautiful rusty-red color, with big brown eyes and giant paws that he was constantly flinging around at everyone to get pets. He was sweet and a bit of a dope, and in Frank's opinion, Bear was pretty much the perfect dog for him and his family.

Well, perfect except for one thing.

Bear just didn't listen to Abby.

Once she'd gotten over the whole thing (and by whole thing, that meant the revelation of Frank's drug addiction, his leave of absence from work, his upcoming stay at rehab, and the fact that he'd just bought a dog without consulting Abby), she'd declared that they were taking Bear to puppy training classes. Frank had assumed that they went well - he'd never asked, but he knew that they had been completed. When he'd gotten back from his sixty days in rehab (which had been followed by another thirty three months later), Bear would come to Frank when he called for him. He would sit. He would wait, he would stay.

It wasn't until three months after Frank's return to PTMC that he noticed that Bear never listened to Abby.

He wasn't a bad dog, and he didn't act out around Abby. He didn't do the opposite of what she asked him, and he didn't run away from her. Instead, he just stared at her.

Abby would tell Bear to come, and he would stay across the room, staring at her. She'd tell him to sit, and he'd stare. She'd try to play fetch with him, and he'd stare.

Now, it wasn't that Abby wasn't a pet person. She could take or leave them. She liked cats and dogs in general, had grown up with a pet or two, but she didn't need to stop and pet every single dog that she came across. Not like Frank, Tanner, and Ava did. So she liked Bear, and she pet him and tried to play with him, and she thought it was cute when her kids played with him. But if she had to choose... well, she would have loved it if her husband who spent more time at work than he did at home hadn't brought home a dog.

The thing about Bear not listening to her had become something of a sticking point in their already rocky marriage. They'd been in marriage counseling for six months now and it wasn't going well, to the say the least. Frank and Abby now used therapy speak to fight with one another, which Frank was pretty sure wasn't the point of the whole thing. Abby had brought up divorce two weeks ago. Frank hadn't disagreed. Neither had their marriage counselor, noticeably.

Just out of curiosity - "Bear. Sit."

Bear sat obediently, big brown eyes looking up at him, tail wagging.

Frank smiled a little as he pat the top of the dog's head. As he always did, Bear leaned his head into Frank's touch. "Good boy, Bear."

They continued on their walk down the path in the park. Tanner and Ava were running a few feet ahead of him, playing some sort of relay race thing that Frank didn't really understand the rules of. They were shrieking with laughter and clearly having the time of their lives, which was all that really mattered.

"Dr. Langdon!"

Turning to look over his shoulder, Frank saw the golden-blonde head of Mel King. He couldn't help the grin that spread across his lips and he called out to Tanner and Ava, asking them to stop where he could see them. He pulled gently on Bear's leash and murmured for him to sit and stay.

Before Frank could say anything, let alone hello, he was interrupted by his children screaming, "DR. MEL! DR. MEL!"

Mel's eyes were bright as she knelt down, accepting enthusiastic hugs from Frank's children. She had met them at the end-of-summer cookout that Robby always threw, and she and Becca had drawn with chalk on Robby's driveway for quite a while with them. It was clear that neither of the kids had forgotten. "Hi, guys!"

Seeing Mel crouch down at his level, Bear had taken that as in invitation to get up and greet Mel enthusiastically by sniffing and licking her. It was the first time that Mel had met Bear, Frank realized with a bit of surprise. Hand tightening on the leash, Frank stepped forward, preparing to stop Bear from licking her too much. Bear could get a little too enthusiastic with his greetings.

"Oh no, it's okay, Dr. Langdon!" Mel was quick to assure him. She ruffled Bear's ears, and the dog practically melted into her. Mel laughed a little as she adjusted her balance on her haunches, running her hand down the back of his head to scratch his back. "I love dogs!"

Frank couldn't keep the grin off of his face. His kids were chattering a mile a minute and his dog was demanding practically all of Mel's attention. It was cute. "Hey, Mel. And didn't I tell you that you can call me Frank?"

"Right, of course. Frank." With one last pet, Mel brushed her hands off and stood back up, teetering a little as she tried to regain her balance. Frank reached out and gently grasped her elbow, helping Mel to steady herself.

Bear was at her side again, snuffling at her thigh and digging his nose into her palm. He shoved his head under her hand, which was his way for asking for more pets. With a laugh, Mel happily obliged as she murmured, "Good boy."

Why was it suddenly so hot? Frank shifted a little and cleared his throat. "Hey, we were about to go hang out at the park for a little while. Why don't you join us? We'd like the company!"

His kids, god bless them, started yelling, "Yes! Yes yes yes!"

Laughing again, Mel agreed. It turned out that Becca's center wasn't far from the park, and Mel had decided to enjoy the nice fall weather before taking the bus back home. Her car was in the shop, and Frank immediately offered to drop her off once they were done at the park. He knew that the city's transportation was... fine, but he would feel better knowing that he could get Mel home safely.

Mel asked him about three different times if he was "absolutely sure" that she wouldn't be putting him out by going out of his way to drop her off, and Frank reassured her each time that it was perfectly fine.

(Abby had more or less kicked them out of the house, claiming that she just needed some time to herself and some peace and quiet. Frank could understand that, of course, but he had also been too happy to take the kids and go. He wondered what their marriage counselor would have to say about that, although Frank could guess.)

So Frank found himself on a park bench next to Mel, arms and knees sometimes brushing together, as they watched Tanner and Ava clamber around on the jungle gym and swing on the swings. Bear had been laying at Frank's feet in the grass for a while, perfectly content to relax while Mel and Frank talked about a million different things.

Suddenly, though, Bear decided that he absolutely just had to have Mel's attention. He clambered up onto the park bench next to Mel like it was their couch at home and proceeded to flop onto her, laying his big head across her shoulder as he draped himself across her lap.

"Bear!" Frank exclaimed, although there was laughter in his voice. Bear was like this with him, and he had seen the dog do this to Tanner and Ava, too, whenever they were on the floor. He'd never seen his dog act like this around a new person, though. "Mel, I'm so sorry, I swear we trained him-"

"No, don't worry about it!" Mel told him as she giggled and wrapped her arms around Bear. She gave him a full-body rub, and that only made Bear lean harder into her. "He's so cute. Aren't you, boy? Aren't you just the cutest puppy?"

Bear was staring at Frank, brown eyes wide and somehow... knowing? Smug? Frank blinked. Was it possible to be jealous of a dog? Why was he jealous of his dog?

"He likes you," Frank finally said, a little stupidly. Well, what else was he supposed to say? Bear was a good dog, and he was gentle and friendly, but he had his people that he generally stuck to. Yet here the dog was, practically trying to meld himself to the front of Mel.

"Well that's good, because I like him, too," Mel said. She gave him one last pet and kissed the top of his head. Bear's tongue lolled out as his tail thwapped on the park bench. Oh yeah, Frank was pretty sure that his own dog was taunting him.

Mel smiled up at Frank before she said quietly to Bear, "Off."

The dog climbed off of Mel and off the park bench, entirely. Mel pointed to the spot next to her, at her feet. Bear sat, and then slid down to his stomach, settling in the grass. He put his head on her foot. Mel reached down and patted his head, and Bear stayed exactly where he was.

Frank blinked at the two of them - Mel King and his dog - and felt his heart beating a little too fast in his chest.

Well, shit.