Apparently, when her parents had said that this was something everyone needed to hear, they really weren't kidding—originally she kinda thought it was an exaggeration, but nope, she could kiss that assumption goodbye. One by one, the others appeared in the living room as the couple in question stood on the couch, paws interlocked and smiles on their faces.

Audrey had yet to figure out what all the fuss was about, but she was sort of glad that it clearly wasn't something only directed to her—assuming that her parents didn't have a change of heart and decided to call her out in front of everyone. Of course, those odds were as low as they could be, it was a safe bet to assume that they didn't have such an evil streak on them.

But at the very least, now she could focus more on being curious than...well, more nervous than she might've been, she definitely was still nervous and that wasn't changing anytime soon—one with the rest of her family who was just as clueless as she was. Even her cousins, who eagerly sat down next to her were, blissfully unaware of wherever this was going (then again, odds were they were just here for the ride).

"Do you know what's going on?" the Border Collie asked the Cockapoo who was sitting down next to her. Skye narrowed her eyes at the two on the couch, softly smiling before she turned her head back over—her smile was almost smug, and Audrey wasn't really sure how she was meant to take that.

"I think I have a hunch." Audrey raised her eyebrow, somehow even more confused as the tan dog turned back over to the ones supposed to be giving the announcement, apparently under the mindset that this was as simple as her ABCs. As if it was any consolation, she looked over at Chase who could only shrug, just as out of the loop and just as clueless as she was.

It was nice to know that she wasn't the only one who hadn't solved the mystery, but it still got her insides twisting and her mind running freely—as if that hadn't happened enough today with her new friend. Luckily, even though she had just recently betrayed her own question, Skye nudged her side and passed over one of her beloved fidget toys to get her through the meeting. How the Cockapoo had even gotten it was a question for another day, odds were it was just laying around, but the collie was more than happy to take what she could get.

And as much as she sort of wanted to figure out who else had a suspicion—or at the very least, interview them all to see what their best guess was—a cough broke through the silence. It did its job well; regaining everyone's attention. She did have to say, her parents seemed excited about whatever it was they had to say, that much was a good sign.

"Well, my lady, would you like to do the honors?" the Dalmatian asked, looking over at his mate who playfully glared at him—this was not part of their little rehearsal script, but she supposed a little improvising would be fine. 

She wrapped her leg around him, pulling him against her as she grinned at the crowd below her—holding eye contact with her daughter for a short moment in which she turned it into a more sympathetic smile. This was supposed to be fun, and with a little bit of luck, not a dull face would be in the room.

"Marshall and I decided that we wanted to have another puppy. So...I'm pregnant!" Almost immediately, everyone's faces lit up in excitement, a rush of wagging tails and howls. All of these were considered good reactions—not that they really expected anyone to complain, Ryder could probably survive with one more dog here—all of them being filled with happiness and joy (albeit confusion out of some of them).

"So...does that mean we're gonna have another cousin?" Gus called out, with just about everyone nodding to him as his and Ruby's tails started wagging in excitement—as happy as they were, Chase and Skye were really hoping that this wasn't going to start them down a rabbit hole of...questions that no would want to answer. 

But all that they were hearing is that they were getting another playmate, and one that they would finally be older than! Hopefully, Audrey would be willing to pass down the ancient knowledge and experience that came with being one of the elders.

"I'm so happy for you!" Skye exclaimed, leaping up on the couch and tightly hugging her friends—an equal treatment between the two of them before she turned her attention mostly to Everest. The lavender dog was sort of shocked at first, though that was only from her friend throwing herself onto the couch, the reaction itself was kind of what she expected from her. From a mother to a mother, it was only natural for the Cockapoo to be jumping with joy. "I kinda had a feeling, but I didn't want to say something. I'm so glad I was right."

"I'm not surprised, we both sorta figured you or Chase might catch on. But thanks for not saying anything, glad we could still make a surprise." The husky eventually had to fall out of the hug, but even if the initial embracing was over (from them, at least), Skye was still smiling like it was her having another pup, and her fluffy tail was rapidly trailing across the ground—something that the lavender dog knew all too well to take as a warning.

"Yeah, yeah, now give me details. Are they a boy or a girl? When are they due? Do you have a name picked out?" she excitedly asked, hardly breathing as Everest softly set her paw on her shoulder. Never did she even consider underestimating the Cockapoo when she was excited, it was almost as bad as when she was angry.

"First of all, he's a boy, and he's due in about a month, give or take. And as far as names go...me and Marshall wanted to wait until we saw him to fully decide on something, but we've talked about it and we have a few ideas we really like," she explained, only then temporarily satisfying Skye—also partially because the tan dog didn't have the heart to overwhelm her friend.

"Well, how are you feeling, buddy?" Chase asked, stepping aside from the two girls with his own tail wagging as he tightly embraced Marshall—not that it was all harmless, brotherly love, of course. The shepherd wasn't going to let him go without playfully rubbing his paw against the Dalmatian's forehead (an example that better not be handed down to his pups, the Dally could rarely fight him off, three of him would be his doomsday).

"At the moment, I feel like I'm going to have a headache. If you do that again I'm not letting you meet him," he shot back, pushing Chase's paw away—and thankfully, the brown dog took it the way a responsible adult should, only laughing as he surrendered and sat back down. Then again, anything was more responsible than the previous act. "But I feel great, dude, I really do. I'm really excited."

"Yeah, I bet, I'm happy for you." The two of them shared a second, shorter hug, the only difference was that this one didn't involve them at each other's throats—a much more relaxing alternative if you asked him. 

And the next few minutes contained just that, a hug and words of support repeating with every other dog—and human—around them until they had all given their congratulations and the warmest of welcomes to the newest member of their family; leaving only one left who had been standing in silence the whole time.

And once Marshall finally got to her, he smiled warmly, stepping forward and welcoming her into his arms—the Border Collie tightly hugging him back as she nuzzled against his shoulder. This was what he had been worried about, but for time being, she seemed to be holding up fairly well. 

But he also never knew how much he could trust that, she could be surprisingly good at her feelings if she really wanted to, and he wasn't really sure how that one worked out because she was a horrible liar. Either way, the former was one trait they wished they had never passed down to her.

"So...I'm gonna have a brother now, huh?" she quietly asked, slowly pulling away as the Dally rested his paw against the side of her cheek, ever so gently caressing her fur. And now he could see the conflict in her eyes, having yet to fully give into one side or the other. He could've only guessed, just about any reaction from her would probably be considered a valid one.

"Yeah, you are. How do you feel?" The Border Collie pursed her lips, still smiling softly—most definitely a good sign so far. He could see her tail slowly wagging, not as fast as he had seen it in a while, but it was still wagging (then again, that wasn't a very fair comparison given the recent events in her life).

"I...I'm happy for you, I really am," she muttered, her voice shaking until her mouth was given the sweet relief of being closed. Marshall eyed her carefully, slightly tilting his head to the side, a light act that seemed to make her even more panicked. 

For the first second, he felt guilty, only a psycho would've wanted to purposely add more stress to her plate—but he still had every intention of doing everything he could to take it away once he fully understand her stance on the matter.

"...But?" Audrey sighed, lowering her head as she tried to force herself to talk, her words stumbling over each other and snowballing into an incoherent mess. While he had no issue with it—it wasn't like this was a rare spectacle—she was clearly annoyed with herself, simply keeping her head down to the ground as she managed to stammer out an answer.

"I-I don't know, sorry, I really mean it when I say I'm happy for you," she tried to explain, her attention being roped away as Everest walked beside them. Yet another ounce of pressure being added to her desperate shoulders as she tried not to sound, well, desperate. "B-but...I-I just don't wanna lose you guys, you know? I-I know that sounds bad, I really am excited to have a brother, it's just...I-I'm not sure, sorry."

"No, no, Princess, it's okay, it's a big change, neither of us expected you to ease into it right away. You are not going to lose us. We're still going to love you just as much, us having another puppy around isn't going to change that. You're still going to be our little girl, that's not changing," he reassured her, wiping away the small tears building up in her eyes. She nodded softly, but even then they both knew she wasn't fully buying it, looking between her parents as if she were taking one last look at them before everything faded to black.

"Do you promise?" Of course, there wasn't a world in this vast universe in which he wouldn't have nodded his head—and he liked to think that his word meant something, to her at least. He softly pulled her closer, letting her head fall against his chest as he gently kissed her forehead.

"I promise." Even though she was refusing to let her head leave his fur, the Border Collie gave a small nod, one that was hopefully more believing than the last one. And just in case she was just trying to convince them, just in case she was still scared and fearing for everything she held dear, Everest stepped in and grabbed onto both of them with a bear hug that kept all three of them together; as one.

"I just don't wanna lose this," she whispered, wrapping her forelegs around her parents in an attempt to drown out the bad thoughts. Everest licked both hers and her mate's cheek, smiling as brightly as one could—half for Audrey's sake, and half because she really was just that happy.

"You won't. I know this is hard for you, but you're not going to lose us. You just might have to share us, that's all. If you need us, we'll still be here for you in a heartbeat," the husky gently told her, soothingly running her paw through the fur on the pup's back. For the short time that they were able to stay like this, the collie could let herself smile alongside her family. Even if it couldn't last forever.

"I-I know, I...think that I just need a few minutes by myself, if that's okay" she requested, hoping it wasn't blatantly obvious that she was still on the fence about this whole thing—she didn't have much hope for that though. Marshall and Everest both turned to each other, softly nodding before the group hug broke apart, Audrey taking a few steps back as she looked up at them.

"That's okay, we know this is a lot for you. But thank you for being so understanding, it really means a lot to us. We love you, sweetheart." The Border Collie forced an absolute lie of a smile (the group hug had been the only thing allowing it to be real previously) before turning away, letting herself breathe as she heard the muffled voices behind her, all getting quieter and quieter as she went down the elevator to her safe space.

The moment she was inside her dog house, she let her defeated head fall against her bed. The emotions were already welling up inside her, she needed this peace and quiet of her own privacy before she lost her mind—well, not that she found much peace, but the quiet was nice. The outside world had too much going on, there was too much to process from the past twenty-four hours for her mind to be able to handle it, honestly, she could've said that before learning about her brother.

Trying to distract herself might be with a shot, but she was smart enough to know that it was a short-term solution to a long-term problem—not that it wasn't a valuable one, it would get the job done and there weren't really any negative consequences. Company wasn't much of an option either, the best she could do now was to wait it out for as long as she could before she felt strong enough to renter life and go back to socializing with the others.

If she was really desperate to talk to someone, she knew what she could do, but even that felt like a gamble. Within the click of a button, she could call Katie and probably talk to Emma, but she didn't feel like she had it in her to dump everything onto her friend. She already felt like she had done that enough, and besides, she wasn't even sure what plane of existence she was on whenever she talked to the shepherd, that was something she still needed to figure out.

However, now she had bigger fish to fry. To say that she saw her reaction as selfish would've been an understatement. She really was happy for her parents, she couldn't lie about that, and she really was excited to meet her brother, she always had a sweet spot for puppies (even if they could be kind of annoying sometimes). But even the smallest chance of them being ripped out of her life terrified her. Surely that wouldn't happen, the odds were slim to none. But they weren't zero.

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"Well...that could've gone worse?" Marshall said, meaning to start the conversation with the fullest intention of keeping the mood high (puppies were supposed to be an exciting matter, after all). The husky stared blankety at him and raised an eyebrow—a blank expression that would've hid her worries from anyone except for him. "I mean, at least she's not upset with us, right?"

"I...I'm not sure, Marshy. She's clearly worried, I-I mean, we knew this would happen to some extent." The Dalmatian groaned and leaned against the wall, gripping his forehead with his paw. Everest didn't blame him, it wasn't like she was any calmer—her emotions were just internalized instead of being something she openly showed, even if he was aware, old habits died hard.

"I mean, yeah, but that doesn't take away from how she feels now? Should we have told her sooner? I-I don't want her to be scared if she thinks she losing us," he whimpered, his tail sneaking in between his legs as he leaned his head back. For the sake of hopefully both of their moods, the husky forced herself off the bed and back onto her legs, only to gently cup his face with her paws.

"Hey, what did I tell you back when we first adopted her? Raising a pup is a learning process, and just because she isn't a puppy anymore doesn't mean we won't still make mistakes. Maybe we could've done better with this but what's done is done, we'll keep an eye on her to make sure she's healthy and step in when necessary," she explained, feeling rather confident in her outlook on things—even if again, she was losing her mind on the inside.

"Yeah, I guess so, as long as she's happy. I really hope this is just an initial reaction, I want them to get along once he's born. She might really like having him around, she's already been doing pretty good with Emma, as you already know," he explained, laughing softly as the husky giggled, almost hearing Audrey's voice in her head telling her to cut out the teasing.

"You don't say, I kinda think it was an initial reaction, but obviously we can't know now. But yeah, I really am glad that she and Emma are getting along. I think this is just what she needed right now," she muttered, smirking as they both seemed to remember this yesterday's incident, it being one that they'd probably been holding in their heads for a while now—hopefully, Audrey would never know that they had heard every last word she tried to cover up.

"But do you think Audrey...you know...?" he trailed off, motioning his paw into the air to finish his sentence for him. Everest sighed quietly, hugging him against her as she nodded with certainty—not fully loving her answer, but also not wanting to avoid the truth. They were adults, after all, the whole lying to each other thing was behind them.

"Absolutely, I know that she does. She looks at her the same way that you used to look at me" she answered confidently, smiling as she looked down at the soft, caring eyes in question. The Dalmatian grinned and nodded in agreement, presumably checking to see if she was done or not before he just decided to ask the big question himself.

"And...it doesn't scare you?" Everest eyed him carefully, trying to keep her line of sight on him so her mind wouldn't be as focused on what he was implying. From the looks of it, he knew it would cause her such a reaction, and he softly hugged her to remove some of the tension he was probably heartbroken to know he was causing—all sacrifices they were willing to make for the sake of helping their daughter.

"Of course it does, y-you know how I get with that, it terrifies me. B-but I trust her, and I'm willing to see what happens and only intervene if necessary. As long as she's happy and being safe, that's all I care about," she proclaimed, shaking her head to remove that dreadful outcome from her mind. Marshall nodded softly, loosening up on the hug as he leaned his head on her shoulder as a replacement.

"Couldn't have said it better myself." Even if he knew that they (very reasonably) had different ways of looking at this so-to-speak situation, he could still tell that at the end of the day, they were in support of her being happy, especially if this was what that would mean for her. Everest softly rubbed her temple, glancing over at the smiling Dalmaitan leaning against her—one that once again brought a smile to her own face.

She still found it funny that this was how life ended up during our for her, starting as a miserable spiral with someone who would probably cast her aside within the blink of an eye, and ending up with someone who'd probably do anything for her and the family they had made. She couldn't think of anyone more fitting to raise a family with than her clumsy yet lovable Dally, especially with the precious daughter they already had. Nothing could be better than this.

The two of them held the other's gaze, looking deep into the other's eyes with love-struck expressions, only focused on each other without a single other mattering. For the first few seconds, at least, it lasted up until Marshall set his paw on her stomach—eyes widened the moment he did so.

"E-Eve...d-don't move." With a reaction like that, the husky couldn't help but tense up in a panic, her head leaning back up as she silently looked at him as if asking what was wrong—so much for that lovey moment she was savoring so deeply. And an answer was something she was never lucky enough to get, as much as she felt like her life depended on it.

"What? Is everything okay?" she asked, almost holding her breath. Marshall was silent for moments until finally, a huge smile worked its way onto his face—just as confusing as it was relieving. He gently raised his paw back up, eyeing it as if he was holding something worth millions of dollars before setting it back on the ground.

"I-I...I think I felt a kick." Now just as wide-eyed as he was, the husky placed her own paw on her stomach, immediately forgiving the fear he had caused her with excitement either equal to or surpassing his.

Sure enough, after a few seconds, she felt just what she was promised; a gentle kick. Still shocked, she turned back to Marshall, who was smiling softly. Right then and there, she could've sworn that her life was at its peak, even with the occasional bump in the road, she had everything she wanted. And one more on the way, the second blessing in her life.

"Don't worry, buddy, we'll see you soon. Momma is always gonna be right here, my little miracle."