Chawm suddenly shot awake. Huh? Where am I? She turned to her right in great pain and saw Zuma unconscious in the white bed with the white sheets. Hospital. Of course. But how did I get here? She was so sore and her back felt effed up. She felt something around her tail and realized there was an ice pack around it. "Ugh..." she said while getting up dizzily from the bed she was on, pulling the wires from her body and walking slowly to Zuma. She leaned in slow motion to Zuma closing her eyes, puckering her lips. She kissed his mouth and leaned toward his ear and screamed, "ZUMA!!! WAKE UP!!!

"Ah! Shit!" He yelled as soon as he woke up jumping up hitting his head on the ceiling and falling out of bed. He just stayed on the floor lying there. Charm began to laugh uncontrollably. Zuma began to blush. "Shut up," he said quietly. He began to smile. 

Then the doctor walked in. "Looks like you pups are okay. Just your leg will be a little sore for a while, okay?" She said pointing at Zuma. Before Zuma could respond, the doctor went on. "Thank goodness that bullet didn't go any deeper, or you would have been long gone already." Zuma's eyes widened and the doctor began to laugh. "Oh, your face! Priceless. Hey, guess what?" Before the pups could even respond again the doctor spoke again. "That kid, what's his face? Ryder! That's it. He said he would gladly take you in. That's right, he's going to be your owner, he just got out of his hospital bed, he's in the hallway. Want to see him?"

When she finally stopped talking to catch her breath, Charm blurted out, "YES!" The doctor led them into the hallway where Ryder was. "I don't even know who he is," Zuma said. "Ryder? He's really nice, you'll like him," Charm answered. "He was nice to you when you were unconscious. Then there was the car accident."

"Oooh. I was WONDEWING who he was. When I woke up in the car, and saw you guys bleeding, I was so confused. I just called 911 and passed out," Zuma said. 

"THAT explains how we got here then," Charm remarked surprised it was Zuma who called the hospital.  

Then they saw Ryder. "Hey pups!" He said crouching down to their level. "Hey," said Charm. "Hi," said Zuma, who suddenly got very shy.

"It's nice to see you awake Zuma!" Ryder gave him a smile. "I'm Ryder."

"Hi Whyder," Zuma said.

"Whyder?" Ryder asked. "Yeah, it's just a slight speech impediment. I've been getting bettew at pwonouncing the L sounds, but the WRW, like wain, or weally, or Whyder- not so much... ugh..." Zuma answered a little embarrassed. 

"It's cute," Ryder said leaning in giving Zuma a soft deep hug. Zuma didn't realize that he really needed that kind of love. It was different  from romance like with Charm, it was like a mom or dad's kind of love  he never had. "Welcome Zuma and Charm." He held out collars. One was blue and orange and the other one was white and gold. "Choose one."

Charm's favorite color was orange, so she immediately grabbed the blue and orange one with her teeth while Zuma got the white and gold one. Ryder put the collars on them and the pups beamed happily. 

"You pups look great!" Ryder exclaimed smiling. "I can't WAIT until you pups come  home with me and meet  my other-"

Suddenly a doctor walked toward them. It was a different one from earlier. He had red-splotchy eyes, and was lowering his hat. Ryder stopped talking and stared at him. "R-Ryder. The accident and your dad... It was too much... I'm- I'm so sorry..."