October 30, 2038

"I don't know why we're here," Percy said softly, feeling much better now that the infection was all but gone.

"Because I've been talking to a person here since Paul death and I think this will help cheer you and your sister up. I know loosing Paul has been hard, but we'll get through it. Together," Elijah said as he lead Percy to the back of the room.

There, sitting in the middle of the room was a petite woman holding a soft pink leash. Sitting beside the woman calmly, even panting a little as the tail wagged back and forth softly, was a black Caucasian Shepherd Dog, standing calmly, but seemed aware of it's surrounds.

"This, is Mrs.O'Leary. No I didn't name her, but I think it works for her. She should be a good pet for you to have. She's fearless, bold, but I will say protective. So be careful of anyone you bring home. She will also more than likely be aggressive with anyone going into your house without you or someone she knows, but she is very well trained and will listen to your commands."

Percy didn't say anything as he slowly approached the dog and knelt in front of her. Raising his hand, he let her sniff it cautiously before her tail wagged softly and nudged it with her nose.

"Hello, Beautiful Girl," Percy said softly, his hands raking through her fur.

She scooted closer to Percy and Elijah just knew, that getting Percy the dog would help him. He saw the smile on his friends face and knew that his mind has retreated from the shadows for now.

"She's amazing, can you tell me more about her breed?" Percy asked as the man and dog seemed to instantly click together.

"They were breed initially to kill Bears, so she's got some power on her. Underneath all the power are good house pets that are very loyal. So, like I said be careful with who you bring into the house.

Percy nodded as he scratched Mrs.O'Leary's neck and watched her fall in love with him.

The smile on his own face showed how much he was falling in love with her. "She's amazing, thank you Elijah!" Percy said happily as he grabbed the leash the lady was indicating for him to grab.

"We will need to stop by Pet Smart and grab some things, but she should fit right into your weird family," Elijah said as he lead the man and dog out of the building.

"Sounds good. How did you know my apartments take pets?" Percy asked curiously.

Elijah looked sheepish in his reply, "I might've gone down to your landlord ready to be bribe them if they didn't. Go for us that they do and she didn't seem to mind he large dog as long as they were well trained."

Percy laughed at Elijah's reply because it was such an Elijah thing to do. "Alright, lets get this big girl home sooner then later. Plus some research I'll need to do," Percy said as the duo and dog made their way to the closest pet shop.

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The first time Markus met Mrs.O'Leary surprisingly wasn't with Carl.

Carl wanted to paint in order to get ready for the art museum he was opening in the next few months and was feeling inspirational, at least that was his excuse.

So, Markus went to Percy's apartment alone. Knocking on the door, there was a deep woof that resounded and some giggling before the door opened to reveal a ten year old small girl with brown hair and bright blue eyes

"Markus!" Estelle said excitedly as she hugged the unsuspecting Android.

They only met very few times, but the times they had Estelle seemed to imprint on Markus and had a habit of wanting to be just like him or her big brother.

Something that always made Paul exasperated because she only wanted to be those two, and not say her actual parents.

"Hello, Estelle," Markus replied as he patted her should awkwardly. Not use to being hugged by anyone.

"Come on! Meet Mrs.O'Leary!" She replied as she dragged the android into the room. There, waiting calmly was probably the biggest dog the Android has seen. Sitting up to the height of a grown mans hips, or just above, was Mrs.O'Leary.

Estelle seemed to dwarf in comparison as she stood nearly as tall as the dog sitting. Mrs.O'Leary herself had ears perked, but she didn't seem to be too aggressive.

Markus, scanning the breed and quickly reading the information given in a blink of an eye he knelt a bit away from child and dog and put his hand out slowly.

Mrs.O'Leary approaches, ears perked and seeming ready to protect Estelle, sniffed the hand and nuzzled it and made the hand stay on top of her head.

Markus smiled unknowingly as he softly pet the dog, aware of Android strength and to not press too hard on the head.

Whatever he was doing, was apparently right as Mrs.O'Leary's eyes closed in bliss and barely opened when Percy's bedroom door opened

"Hey, Markus," came the sleepy reply from Percy. "Honestly, forgot you were coming here today."

Markus looked up from the giant dog and stared at his friend, Percy was still in his pajamas which apparently consist of no shirt and low-riding pajama pants that had Finding Nemo decorating it.

After Percy yawned and stretched, he seemed to realize his appearance from the small giggle of a little girl as she glanced between the two. "I'll huh, go change," Percy murmured embarrassed and disappeared into his room before anything could be said.

Shaking his head, Markus focused back on the dog who has now flopped onto her back for belly rubs and seeming to just enjoy the humans petting her.

The house was quiet for a few minutes, Markus just enjoying the soothing motions of petting Mrs.O'Leary when Percy finally came back out of his room. His cheeks were lightly dusted in a blush but it was quickly fading. 

"I was going to walk her soon, do you want to join Estelle and I?" Percy asked casually.

Mrs.O'Leary bolted upright and quickly started to dance in place as she heard the word walk. Laughing at the dog, Markus nodded and gave Percy a smile. "I would like that very much, she seems excited about the walk."

The word walk caused another dance from Mrs.O'Leary and a soft bark as she waited by the front door. "Yeah, she loved them. Thankfully she's trained to not pull on the leash but walk freely in front without pulling," Percy jokingly commented as he grabbed the leash and his shoes.

Estelle quickly grabbed her own shoes before grabbing the leash from Percy's hand, clipping Mrs.O'Leary and just walking in front of her brother his Markus.

"Will she be alright? Mrs.O'Leary is a strong breed, she could pull Estelle on accident and hurt her," Markus pointed out concerned.

"Elijah got her because she is very well trained and worked with kids. In any case, Estelle knows that Mrs.O'Leary might do that, and if she pulls to hard to cause her to trip, to just release the leash and I would call Mrs.O'Leary back. So, hopefully that doesn't happen but we're both aware Mrs.O'Leary might get over excited," Percy explained as he and Markus trailed behind the child and dog slightly as they went toward the park.

"Are you alright? From your infection," Markus asked as he examined Percy, wondering if the man was still feeling it's affects or not.

"Nah, I don't feel any of the symptoms and the wound is healing very nicely. I'll stay on the antibiotics until their gone but my doctor seems pretty happy with how things are going. In any case, tomorrow is going to be the only day I might overwork myself."

"Why is that?" Markus asked

"Tomorrow's halloween. Mom has to do one last book-signing she had set up before Paul died before figuring out she wants to do. As a result, I get to take Estelle Trick-or-Treating. She wants to be a Hufflepuff from the Harry Potter books and have Mrs.O'Leary be a dragon, we already have the costumes thankfully. And I had brought candy for my neighbor to hand out for us, so we're ready for halloween to come and go."

"What will you be dressed up as?" Markus asked curiously.

"I don't know, I don't have one planned. I probably won't dress up, maybe next year I will," Percy said thoughtfully.

"Percy! Can Mrs.O'Leary and I run around?" Estelle asked as they reached the park that allowed behaved dogs off leash.

Percy nodded and watched as Estelle unclipped Mrs.O'Leary and they instantly started a game of tag between each other, Mrs.O'Leary being very gentle when she did tag Estelle and sometimes letting Estelle tag her so the roles could be reversed.

"They seem to be very bonded with one another," Markus commented as Percy took a seat on the bench and indicated Markus to join him.

Ignoring the looks some people were giving him, Markus did as he was asked. "Yeah, Mrs.O'Leary loves her. Some nights you can find her in Estelle room, Estelle being curled up to Mrs.O'Leary's big frame. Though, more often then not Mrs.O'Leary will stay in my bedroom at the foot of my bed. For the first hour she's very vigilant, and then she seems to finally relax enough to sleep herself. If I didn't know she sleeps a lot during the day I would question how she has as much energy as she does," Percy said shaking his head slightly as the amusing images that passed his mind of Mrs.O'Leary and Estelle.

"Sounds interesting, wish I could see that one day," Markus said jokingly.

Percy held his tongue as his brain instantly went toward flirt mode, but knew any comment he made would be lost to Markus. So, trying to keep his ADHD brain in check, Percy replied, "Maybe someday, if Estelle and I ever came to Carl's with Mrs.O'Leary you'd see them crash with each other one day."

Markus smiled and silently, the two friends watched Estelle and Mrs.O'Leary exhaust themselves with playing tag, or hide and seek. No words were said, but none needed to as android and human just enjoyed the others presence.