Lucas

Turns out, the dalmatian puppy doesn't have an owner. She had no microchip either, and the vet was leaning much more towards abandoned rather than lost. According to her size and her teeth, the vet confirmed to us that she was around two months old, not much older than that.

When the vet asked us if we were thinking about keeping her, it wasn't even a question in mine and Nicole's head - we were absolutely surrendered to that little puppy and her cuteness.

We gave her a bath, bought her a bed, a few toys for her to play with, a collar with a name tag, a leash and she was just as happy to go home with us as we were to take her.

Deep down, and as selfish as that may seem, I'm glad she was in fact abandoned, so we could keep her. Not getting attached too her was hard. So hard that on the first night after a few whines I picked her up and let her sleep on our bed. 

However, she had been with us for over two whole weeks and we still haven't agreed on a name for her. 

Spots seemed too obvious. Same goes for Freckles. 

"What time is it?"

"Good morning to you too." I walked towards Nicole who made it from the bedroom to the kitchen with one eye closed and one open, and kissed her lips. "It's almost eight."

"Oh."

"Go back to bed." I offered, nodding towards the bedroom.

"I can't. Diane and I are meeting with the publishers one last time before I sign the contract. What are you doing up so early?"

During the course of these past six months, Nicole and Diane teamed up to face the editors and publishers, and were working hard in order to avoid any changes being made to her book. It was the story she created, the story she wanted to tell, and it should be published the way she intended to write it and not the modified version. 

"It's my first day at Pixar today. Actually, that's not true." I corrected myself. "I'm gonna sign all the papers today and actually start tomorrow."

"Oh, right. I'm sorry I forgot, it's just... it's too early and my brain isn't functioning yet." She bent down to pick up our dog and the four legged friend gladly accepted her cuddles.

I finished my breakfast and with a goodbye kiss from both my girls, I walked out the door, sat in the driver's seat and drove to The Pixar Animation Studios. 

After all this time it's still surreal to me that this was where I would be working, where I would be living my dream.

After passing under the Pixar logo at the entrance of the headquarters, I was stopped by the security. A tall man with a muscular body asked me who I was, I answered him my name and the man immediately let me through.

If I had to describe this moment, I'd describe it as the turning point in my life - when the security guy at Pixar knows my name and let's me in.

"Lucas! It's good to see you back here!" Robert Smith said with excitement before giving me a firm handshake. This was the man who spoke to Nicole on the phone and one of the people I met with back in November. Also known as the brains behind the creative team.

"I'm happy to be back here."

"Follow me into my office."

I did as told and sat down on one of the acrylic, transparent chairs that laid in front of his desk while he took the seat behind the wood table. 

"So, how was your semester in Santa Monica College? Tell me all about it." He interlaced his fingers as his hands rested on the table.

"It was amazing. Definitely very different than my college experience in London, but I loved it."

"Are you already living here? Have you officially moved in? Got a place and all?" He inquired.

"Oh yeah. I'm living with my girlfriend at her place in San Francisco."

"Ah, that's quite near our studios." He seemed satisfied with my response.

"Yeah. It all turned out for the best, I guess."

"Well, I can tell everything seems to be on track with you and your move to the US. Now, let's sign some papers, shall we?"

It was like he was speaking but my brain wasn't comprehending. 

When will it sink in that I'm doing what I've always dreamed of doing?

Robert opened this small drawer under his desk and took out a load of papers. The thick white block captured all my attention, and suddenly, my palms moist and sweaty.

I rubbed my sticky palms on my formal beige pants and sat up straighter, hoping a better posture would make me prepared.

"As you can see this is a lot for you to read, so I'll do a quick and brief summary for you. All of this is," He held the papers in his hand, indicting that was what he was talking about."Is a way to put into words that you're working for Pixar. That said, all these documents state that you can, and should, work with the members of the creative team, always work with them in order to achieve the best result possible. A couple of other documents state that you are not allowed to sell or give away the designs, ideas or any other details of any upcoming project to anyone else, much less another company. Then there's the confidentiality contract that says basically the same but with the condition that you are not to speak about anything related to the upcoming projects with anyone, no matter how close you are with them." 

That was a lot of information to take in, in such a short amount of time, but at the same time, it was all I expected.

"Between you and me, my wife always knew what we were working on. Are you seeing where I'm going here?"

I nodded in agreement and replied with a "Yes."

"But my wife is that kind of person that even if I wanted to hide anything from her, she'd find out in less than ten minutes, so it was plain pointless to try to hide her anything. But I never had any trouble with her 'cause she could not care less about animated movies."

"Okay." I chuckled at his comment about his wife, who I presumed was the blonde woman next to him on the picture he had framed and was sitting on his desk.

"I took the liberty of marking all the places where we need your signature." He pointed to the colorful sign here post it flags. "Then you can take all of this and read it at home whenever you can."

Robert handed me the white and blue Monsters Inc. pen and once I took it in my hand, I knew what I had to do. 

I signed my name a lot of times. I lost count after the fifth autograph, but I'm sure it was around a dozen signatures. 

"I'm really glad you're joining our team. I'm sure you'll be the gem our team's been missing."

"Uh, thank you." I said between soft chuckles that escaped my lips without my realization.

"Now, you wanna go see your office?" Robert flashed a cheeky smile at me when he asked the question.

"Sure." I returned the smile and got up from my seat, following him out of his office. 

We walked by multiple pictures of the different Pixar characters that were hung on the walls of the hallways - a recurring theme here at the animation studios. When we finally got to the small, square sized room I let out an audible gasp that I know I probably shouldn't have. 

Robert didn't seem too bothered about it, though. 

"This is my office?"

"All yours." With his hands on either side of his waist, he smiled again at me. "We're very sorry we don't have your name on the door yet, but someone mixed up the dates and it's only arriving next week."

"No, that's... It's all good."

"It's small, but it's a start. The more you move up in here, the bigger your office will be."

"Thank you so much, it's..." All my vocabulary seemed to have vanished from my head as I tried to search my brain for the right word to describe this. All of this. "More than perfect." I took a few steps inside and took a look around. Just like all the Pixar buildings, and just like Robert's office, my office  was also decorated with pictures of their original characters. 

"By the way, tomorrow's your official first day and we'll be having a meeting with the entire team. Some people haven't met you so I thought it'd be a good idea to introduce you to everyone. It's at 10 A.M." I nodded in understanding. "Be there or be square."

"I'll be there."

I had lunch at the Pixar restaurant with Robert, we talked a little bit more about my past in London, my work and, without any further subject of discussion between us, and since I'd already had a tour of this place, I was sent home for the day, which I sure as hell appreciated.

I got inside the car and drove my way back to the heart of San Francisco.

The happy barks that I was sure came from our house were audible downstairs by the front door of the building. 

Walking up the stairs to our apartment, I could identify the sound of Nicole's giggles and the dalmatian's barks louder and louder. Once I opened the door, my sight confirmed my suspicions. 

"Hey you two." I carelessly threw my keys onto the small table next to the door. I took off my shoes, leaving only my socks on, and noticed Nicole's high heels were thrown just as carelessly by our door.

"Daddy's home!" The small dog reacted to Nicole's enthusiasm by mirroring her feeling and running towards me. 

"Hi you!" I said scratching the spot behind her ears that she adored. I let her lick my nose and cheeks like she loved to do all the time.

My eyes found Nicole's and we shared a quick welcome home kiss. She had her brown hair in a loose bun on top of her head with some strands falling down on both sides of her head, framing her golden face.

"Hi." I whispered as I wrapped my arms around her waist. "How was your day?"

"Exhausting." She dropped her shoulders in defeat. "The meeting was so confusing. I don't even know how I would manage to have them agree with my terms if it wasn't for Diane. But enough about me, how was your day?"

"Good, very good. To put it a word, surreal." She grinned at my words and my hands traveled involuntarily to her face, cupping it. "When'd you get home?"

"An hour ago. Our furry kid has been cheering me up."

We let go of each other's embrace and made our way to the couch. I picked up the little dog and sat her down between us.

"We need to settle on a name for her."

"It's so hard, though." Nicole complained. 

"We have to. We're gonna have to start training her and we need a name in order to do that."

"Fine." She said in defeat. "Alright, what are your top three names for her?"

"Freckles, Joy and Oreo. What are yours?"

"Polka Dot, Cruella and Sparkles."

"Cruella?! Over my dead body!" I said in outrage, earning a quiet laugh from her. "I think Polka Dot is too long. Sparkles might not be too bad. Did you like any of my names?"

"Oreo is nice. But I feel like it'd suit a male dog better than a girl."

"True." I scrunched my nose as I observed the dog playing with her chew toy in between me and her mama, where I placed her. "Sparkles suits her."

"You think so?"

"Yeah." I nodded. "You like that? Sparkles?" I asked the dog, who was way to busy destroying her toy to give me any attention.

"Lucas, she isn't gonna bark at you in agreement, this isn't a movie." Nicole stuck her tongue out at me and thew me a pillow.

I laughed to myself at Nicole's words - she was right. I was feeling somewhat embarrassed to be called out on my fertile imagination, and changed the subject. "What's the plan for tonight? Takeout and a movie?"

"You know me so well." Her voice melted as she spoke those words before she got up from the couch and came right back with a couple of takeout menus she kept a drawer in the kitchen. 

"What do you feel like?"

"Chinese or Thai." She said, holding each menu in each hand and showing it to me.

"Alright, I choose Thai." I said after my eyes skimmed through the options on the menus. I grabbed my phone from the coffee table and dialed the number displayed on the menu, ordered our dinner and plopped back on my seat on the couch, waiting for the delivery to arrive. "What movie are we watching?"

"101 Dalmatians? Please?" Nicole's brown pleading eyes were opened wide, her palms joined together in front of her chest and pouting her lips.

One of the things I love about Nicole, and I think it was one of the things that made us have such a great start when we met, was that we were very similar in terms of what we are and what we like. 

Despite being a few years younger than me, she was an adult and was not afraid to let out the child inside her and to watch a children's movie with me. 

"You don't have to ask me twice."

I pulled her to my side, wrapped my arm around her shoulders before my lips met her hair in a tender kiss. From the corner of her eye I could see her smile as she let her head rest on my chest and as she wrapped one arm around my belly and kissed my chest through my shirt.

So this is what happiness feels like.

 * * *

Author's Note: 

Hi hi hi lovelies ❤ What do you think of the name? 

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NEWS ALERT: I got a new story coming up and I'm gonna do a cover and title reveal TOMORROW (*screams*) plus the synopsis and a bunch of other great stuff that I'm sure you're gonna love!

Xoxo, Mars