After far too many days of not being able to get a good night's sleep, Audrey was happy to report that she had finally gotten enough rest in a night to scratch that itch of hers. Of course, she was humble enough to know that she couldn't take credit for this one, that honor went to another. Never in her life—or at least, since she was a puppy and still slept with her parents—had someone's mere presence helped her sleep so comfortably.

Then again, it wasn't every night that she got to fall asleep with a girlfriend from all of her efforts finally paying off. Yes, this was technically the first night she had gone to bed with a girlfriend, but she was allowed to have her fun, and besides, it wouldn't be the last. So far this left her with two life-changing moments in the span of two different days, and while she never would've wished for it...she definitely had her favorite out of the two.

Somehow, everything good that could've happened here had happened, even waking up against Emma's side wasn't as big of a deal as usual (it was still embarrassing, sure, but now it was more or less allowed). But it made it just it harder for her to leave, especially when everything was actually going in her favor.

Thankfully, a quick phone call confirmed that her dad was fine with her staying at Katie's for most of the day, just as long as she was home by dark.

And that was exactly what she did, staying by the shepherd's side throughout what was mostly a day of recovering from their initial rush of emotions, dreading the moment when the sun started to lower below the horizon; something that was mere minutes away now. Barely enough time for them to get their handful of affairs in order.

"Okay, okay, okay, so you'll call her in and I'll tell her the news, right?" The Border Collie excitedly asked, her tail swishing back and forth against the couch as Emma nodded in agreement with the plan that they had been waiting all day to finally enact.

"Yep! That sounds good to me," the shepherd answered, taking a deep breath as she turned over to the door—waiting for the inevitable return of their owner. And as amazing as the timing would've been if the girl stepped through the door right as they had gotten their script memorized, they weren't lucky enough to get a second one-in-a-million today. "How much are we betting she already knows?"

"...Yeah, she probably does," Audrey softly muttered, a bit annoyed until they looked up at each other and broke into laughter—it wasn't like they were actively trying to hide their new status.

Sure, they could probably get away with leaning on one another or holding paws every once in a while, but nearly all day? That had to raise at least some suspicion. And as the laughter died down, the collie sighed quietly as she nuzzled against the warm side of her girlfriend; after all, Katie wasn't here yet.

"Are you alright?" The moment the words registered in her ears, the Border Collie jumped back up and nodded, at the very least having a genuine smile to try and back her up. Emma smiled softly, resting her paw on the other's cheek, which from the looks of it, she still wasn't used to (not that either of them were). "You know, as your new girlfriend, you're gonna have to tell me this stuff. Can't have my cute Border Collie dealing with stuff alone, now can I?"

"S-shut up, I-I wasn't lying," she nervously stuttered, her eyes drifting away to spare herself being flustered even more—yet another thing that the shepherd was starting to learn was incredibly easy. And she had no shame in using that knowledge to her advantage, now she could get away with it since now she wasn't spending all that time wondering if Audrey was just nervous around her or actually liked her. "I'm just...still trying to process all this, you know?"

"Oh, yeah, I get what you mean. Trust me, I'm in the same boat, but hey, at least we get to learn with each other, right?" Of course, Audrey could only smile and nod in agreement, though admittedly, processing that she was someone's girlfriend was only half of her battle, grief was still taking its toll. Regardless, there was no one else she'd rather be learning with.

"Yeah, I get what you mean, don't worry. As much as I've always wanted to date someone, I gotta say, I don't have the slightest clue what I'm doing. S-so, thanks for bearing with me." Emma nodded softly, clueless or not, she was more than happy to be her first—she wasn't any more educated herself.

And as much as perfectly happy as they would've been to stay leaning against one another for the rest of the time they shared tonight, the door suddenly flew open as their owner appeared in the room—barely noticing Audrey's eyes widening while she jumped off the shepherd's shoulders.

"Katie! We have good news, get over here!" the shepherd called out, wrapping one of her forelegs around her girlfriend as her tail started to wag again. The vet eyed the two of them for a second, softly laughing and shaking her head as she walked over and sat next to them on the couch; leaving enough space between them so they could still be against each other without interruptions.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm sure you do. C'mon, spill it, did you two beat a game or something? If it's the one we all agreed to play together I can and will take it away from you," she asked, at least willing to give them the benefit of the doubt that they had the level of respect to stand by that sacred oath. Then again, that would be far from good news, if the two of them did something bad she'd expect them to not add lying on top of that—or at the very least, do a much better job at it.

Emma turned over to her side, nudging Audrey with her nose before the black pup shook her head—dragging herself out of fantasy land to carry on with the conversation.

If it meant anything, she was dazing off while thinking about her girlfriend, that had to be a good excuse. And if it wasn't, then oh well, she still gladly hugged the shepherd while looking up at their owner.

"W-we're...d-da—" she tried to say, though she wasn't cut off by her own accords (the world could hear her for all she cared). Instead, her words were silenced by another, who smiled widely as she wrapped one of her forelegs around her back and carefully pushed her over.

Of course, she never had a single issue with jokingly pushing and stuff like that—after all, most of the time it was her own doing. Unlike what she was expecting, she was never met with the sweet relief of landing on the couch. She was caught, and while yes that certainly sounded like a better alternative, this one ended with Emma looking down at her, the tips of their noses touching as the grey pup smirked and kissed her cheek before looking back to the vet.

"Dating. We're dating, Katie," the shepherd announced, helping the Border Collie back up onto her paws—though she was a bit dazed with her confused, flustered expression and hardly a grip on reality. "Okay, maybe that was a bit much, but we agreed we wanted to tell her to be exciting. And besides, I warned you that you'd have to get used to it."

"There we go, jeez, you two were starting to drive me insane. I don't think either of you know how hard it was to stand there and know that you both liked each other while not being able to say anything. But really, that's great, I'm happy for you too." As happy and well-intended as Katie's reaction was, the two pups only narrowed their eyes at her—the audacity of their owner! Did she truly think she could just carry on with the conversation after that?

"You knew she liked me back?!" they both exclaimed in sync, looking over at each other for a short moment while half-considering to tell the other that they owed them a soda or something along those lines. "Don't you think we would have loved to know that?"

"Oh hush, first of all, you two would kill me if I started handing out your secrets just because I thought it was a good idea. And more importantly, aren't you glad that you got to hear it from each other and not me for the first time?" the girl asked, calmly raising her eyebrow with hopes that her friends weren't going to turn against her. Thankfully, they never called her bluff and just huffed while hesitantly nodding. "Well, what's the plan now, you two gonna go out?"

"We want to, probably sometime in a few days. We don't know where we wanna go yet, but, w-we'll figure it out sooner than later." Audrey finally snapped herself back into being able to speak properly, though still not quite done on her journey to recovery from the sudden kiss. It was yet another thing that she noted she needed to get a lot better at reacting to, dating and kissing tended to be a package deal.

Though on the bright side, a certain someone in particular claimed that it was cute that she would always get so flustered and embarrassed by these sorts of things, so maybe it wasn't all bad.

Oh well, it was the recurring theme of today, she had basically been in the exact same love-struck mindset all day, she just hadn't really processed how big of a moment this was for her. She was never blind to how cruel the world often was to her, she had grown used to that, and at this point, she was willing to take whatever small tokens she was occasionally given.

But a girlfriend who was both just as much of a nerd as she was and yet also perfectly accepting of her and all of her problems? She hadn't felt this happy since...well, she didn't actually know when—even with Miracle still living in the back of her head. And to think, a few weeks ago she thought having a best friend was an enigma of a thought.

Of course, she loved these little thought trains of hers, but it did come with a price; she was smiling and nodding and all of that stuff as the girl's mouth moved, but truth be told, she barely caught a word of what she was saying. She did catch their owner offering to pay for their date, but that alone probably did more bad for her attention than it did good.

The mere idea of going out on a date with the girl of her dreams reasonably terrified her. Kissing and, well, literally proclaiming that they were dating was one thing, but a full-on date was the final nail in the coffin, the signature on the paper that really would make them more than friends who just wanted a new title. This was all so scary, but it was thrilling, and like all good things, it had to come to an end (for today, at least).

"Oh shoot, I told Mom and Dad I would be home in like five minutes. I'm sorry, Emma, I have to go, but we can hang out more tomorrow, right?" Audrey disappointedly announced, lowering her head and already getting nervous for the other world that waited for her back at home—not to mention the conversation she'd soon have to start with her parents.

"Oh, well, alright, I get it. And yeah, of course, we can hang out tomorrow, I'll tell Katie to call you or something." The shepherd leaned forward and softly wrapped her forelegs around the Border Collie, who returned the favor as calmly as she could and rested her head against the other's chest. The grey dog smiled and kissed the top of her forehead, ignoring the small "aww" from Katie as the two of them softly laughed with one another.

"Y-yeah, that sounds good. Love you, Emma, I'll see you tomorrow," Audrey quietly agreed, raising her head up and gently kissing her partner's cheek before stepping away—this likely being the first time her tail had stopped wagging since she woke up.

"Love you too, Audrey, take care of yourself. And don't worry about your parents, I'm sure they'll be cool with us," the Australian Shepherd warmly responded, ruffling the top of the collie's head before the latter smiled and walked away. Of course, neither of them were that happy with the circumstances, how could one ever want to leave their newly found girlfriend?

But unfortunately, for now, at least, parting ways was as necessary as it was disappointing. Before she knew it, Audrey had stepped out under the darkened sky above her—only illuminated by the moon and the old street lamps by the road.

At this hour, mostly everyone back home would be getting ready for bed. Hopefully, not everyone would be asleep, she still had her family to get back to so she could have an (if everything went according to plan) peaceful conversation.

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Just as nervous as she could be, Audrey finally managed to step onto the lookout lawn. Thankfully there weren't any cars driving at this hour, but that didn't mean the journey was as fast as it could've been. Admittedly, half of that was her own fault, her mind wandering freely with all those daydreams starring her and Emma. However, another part was wandering with thoughts of the moment present right in front of her; telling her parents about their relationship.

She had her paw raised to their door, all it would take was one solid knock. And of course, she knew that the odds were in her favor, the chance that they wouldn't approve of this was practically second to none.

But she loved Emma, more than she thought she would ever possibly love someone (in that specific way, of course), and they could have plenty of reasons for not agreeing with them being together. She knew her mom was always scared of her dating, or they might just not like Emma as much as she thought they did, or they could simply think she wasn't mentally ready for such a big step in her life.

With a sour note of disappointment, slowly, her paw fell back down to the ground. She couldn't put all of this on them now. They were still grieving, they didn't need to hear about her life, maybe later, but not now. Then again, she really didn't want to be alone, and those two thoughts conflicting in her head didn't really leave her with many options.

She glanced around her, eventually finding her answer of how to kill a few minutes to calm herself down. It might've been a bit of a long shot, and probably a bit selfish, but she needed someone to keep her company, someone who wasn't currently trying to process the loss of a child.

And her answer to that came in the form of a knock on a door, just not the door of her parents. If she didn't know how her parents would react, she may as well get a second opinion from the only other parents she knew.

"Oh, hey, glad your home. What's up?" Skye asked through the now open doorway, glancing in between the Border Collie and the crowd behind her—though regardless of which set of pups she was looking at, she still held her motherly gaze.

"H-hey...what are you guys doing?" Audrey answered with a question of her own, struggling to keep her head up and hold eye contact; she didn't love this plan of hers, her aunt was clearly tired, as they all were. Despite that, the Cockapoo smiled softly and shrugged, seemingly ignoring the bags under their eyes that they all were aware of.

"Just getting Ruby and Gus settled in for bed, they're finally tired enough to stay still, I'm sure you know how that goes. Is...everything okay?" The Border Collie pursed her lips and nodded, all things considered, she supposed things were going as well as they could. Half of her was living its best life, and half of her was staring death in the eyes, the two of those going together were a strange combination.

"C-can I just hang out with you guys for a few? I...kinda wanna ask you and Chase something." To her pleasant surprise, Skye smiled and nodded gladly, standing back and giving her space to step through the door. The collie thanked her and moseyed into the warm, cozy home on the inside, only to be instantly noticed by her cousins whose tails were wagging at her presence—though thankfully, they stayed in their beds.

"Oh...hey, Audrey, why are you here?" Gus quietly asked, yawning while resting his head against his sister's back. Despite usually being the less hyper one of the two, he was actually more awake, Ruby had her head against his back and her paw was holding onto that of her dad's; her eyes barely awake enough to see the Border Collie, but able enough to softly smile at her.

"Just stopping by, I wanted to talk to your mom and dad about something. What are you doin', dude?" she gently questioned him, softly smiling at Ruby (while also trying not to show it so she wouldn't make a scene over her refusal to be called cute or anything of the sort) who was letting her eyes close as she sunk into the cushions of her bed.

"We didn't do much today...but...Daddy told us our favorite story," he whispered, yawning in between his sentences. Audrey quietly laughed, it went without saying what their favorite story was, it was hers as a puppy too. The famous story of the whole team in the city, plus their Aunt Liberty—well, most of the team, her mom actually hated that story out of spite for not being told about such an adventure until afterward. "Did you have fun?"

"Oh, u-uhm, yeah, I did. I just hung out with Emma," she nervously muttered, naturally glaring at him once the smirk appeared on his face. Granted, the comment he probably wanted to make would've been true by now, but still, at this point, it was more of a moral thing than it was a battle over whether it was a fact or not. "Whatever, dude, go to bed."

"Fine, goodnight, Audrey." Gus let out a small giggle as he yawned and rested his head down against his sister's back, turning his gaze up to his parents who smiled and took Audrey's place by his side. "Love you, Mommy and Daddy."

"Love you too, buddy," they each told him, kissing the top of his head as their son drifted off into the land of dreams. Audrey felt a bit like she was interrupting the moment between the three of them, but even if she was trying not to pry, she could still see their light shining through. The unconditional love was showered onto him as he curled into his blanket, soon-to-be sound asleep with his parents standing over him.

"What was it you wanted to ask us, Audrey?" Skye eventually asked, speaking so quietly that even she could barely hear her. The Border Collie opened her mouth, almost committing to the question until her vocal cords gave up and left her in silence. She narrowed her eyes, feeling the love that only a parent could give floating through the air surrounding her, comforting her; giving her the answer that no words ever could.

"I...think I got it now, never mind. Thanks, goodnight, guys, love you," she proclaimed, hugging her aunt and uncle—who although seemed confused, just brushed it off and hugged her back. It wasn't their place to say, after all, from what they could tell, she had gotten what she needed.

And while she had this short, possible curse of a confidence boost, she stepped back out into the night and placed her paws back in front of her parents' house. No matter what happened here, these were still her parents, surely they would have her side.

Besides, she needed this. Their blessing was all she needed to know that this really was happening, that this relationship really could mean something beyond two dumb teenage crushes—that plus the date, but she could only handle so much in a night.

"Dad, Mom, i-it's me," she muttered, knocking on the door that opened after a long, painful pause. Marshall stood in the doorway, his eyes red with tear marks against his furry cheeks—a near-perfect copy of what he had looked like yesterday. But regardless, he showed a sign of a small smile upon seeing her, one that she liked to believe was mostly genuine.

"H-hey, Audrey. You wanna come in?" he offered, his voice low and gravely, robbed of his signature enthusiasm. She nodded ever so slightly, walking inside as he softly hugged him, nuzzling against her fur before stepping back. Tiredly, she lay down next to her mom on their dog bed, nuzzling against the lavender dog as Marshall lay down on the other side of her.

"Hey, Mom," she greeted, only aware that the husky was listening through a small head turn and eye contact. Just as they had been, her mom's eyes were shallow and empty, still mostly lost in their own world—though from the looks of it, she remained one of the lucky two that she would occasionally speak to. Whether her mother had branched out more today was a mystery, but from the looks of it, probably not.

"How was Katie's, sweetheart?" Just like her dad, Everest's voice was dry and quiet, it honestly kind of scared her out lifeless she sounded. Marshall, at least, softly smiled at her response (truth be told, he was just happy to hear her talking to someone other than herself.

Of course, the happy expression began to fade away as Audrey became more and more nervous—she felt bad taking away what little joy her parents held, but it wasn't too late for this to be good news.

"U-uhm...that's what I wanted to talk to you guys about." Now it was her own voice to be filled with stutters, fear, and anxiety running through her. The two judges were sitting above her, questioningly humming.

Unfortunately, this wasn't one of those things she could hide until she felt ready, usually, her parents would understand if she just needed to sleep on it before fully coming to them. But relationships couldn't be hidden, even if they could, she'd be living in constant fear of trying to keep it a secret, and she just wanted to be with her girlfriend. She had a deadline, and that was now.

"So...me and Emma talked....a-and...we're dating," she stuttered out, looking in between them while scanning every muscle on their faces for a reaction.

"Wait, really? You two are together?" Marshall quickly asked, raising his eyebrow as he stood up in bed. Nervously, she nodded, her paws nervously fidgeting with a blanket while she was forced to watch her parents both exchange shocked glances with one another.

It was horrifying, she could only guess what was going on in those heads. There could be fireworks exploding in celebrations, or hammers slamming down against a desk with a punishment already in mind for her. They were taking their sweet time too, it felt like their little staring contest was never going to end until they finally smiled and turned back to her.

"That's amazing! We're very happy for you," the Dalmatian proudly proclaimed, tightly hugging her while his tail slowly wagged back and forth (which, as far as she could remember, was the first time his tail had wagged in days). Of course, she was naturally taken aback, tilting her head to the side just to double-check that everything was going according to plan.

"Yeah, what Dad said. We're happy for you." Audrey was shocked, to say the least, and part of that was just from that small spark of genuine joy in her parents' voices—whether it be happiness or sadness, it was the most emotion she had heard in her mom's voice since she got home.

"R-really? So...you guys are cool with us being girlfriends?" she asked again, starting to let herself trust the smiles on their faces. Parts of her were wondering if this was the first time they had smiled today.

"Of course we do, Princess, as long as she makes you happy. We trust you to be able to make these decisions without us. Plus...we sorta had a feeling that you had a thing for her," Marshall explained, even laughing slightly—yes it was shaky, but it was laughter, and there was no such purer sound. The Border Collie couldn't help but smile brightly, her caged heart finally snapping out of its chains to feel the one thing she had always wanted to be. Accepted.

Now simply reveling in her freedom and newfound emotions, she cuddled against her parents and rested her head down on the side of their bed—subconsciously gripping onto their paws while her starry eyes looked up at the ceiling. The very bed she had slept in as a puppy, it was still so warm and comfortable, and not a single part of her wanted to move. Well...at least now, this would probably be the easiest thing to ask today.

"D-do you think I could sleep in here tonight?" Immediately, her parents welcomed her with open arms, and thank goodness. And doubted she could force herself out of bed if she tried, she just wanted to be with someone for tonight, someone that she could rest against through the darkness of the night.

And that was just what she did. She said her goodnights and portrayed her love, she had done the few things she needed to do before getting in bed, and now all that was left was to enter the safety of her slumber

Gently, she leaned her head against her dad's back, shutting her eyes as her mind ran free with all the warm thoughts in her head—admittedly, most of which were about Emma. Some of them were about Miracle, and although it still hurt to think about him and the brother she could've had, part of her wanted to think that he would've wanted her to be happy tonight instead of mourning him, even if it was just for today.

But now, she let her thoughts come and go, and just as her mother told her, she didn't push them away. In fact, she held onto them, cherishing them and letting herself dream of the future days when some of them may just come true. It was strange to her, now of all times seemed like the last moment she would ever find such love.

But apparently, the old sang in the story books really was true: tragedy really did bring others closer to one another.