Lucas

Sparkles turns ten months old today. This was kind of an important age for dogs, they're only a couple of months away from becoming adults, so yesterday we took her to the vet so she could get some more shots taken that she needed.

She was also growing crazy fast. The small little puppy wasn't so little anymore, but she sure was still a puppy at heart.

"You wanna go out don't you?" I asked the dog that sat on the carpet right next to my side of the bed, while I sat up on the mattress, my eyelids still dragging themselves down.

She whined at me in response and I got up.

"Shh, don't wake up mom." I whispered before scratching behind her ears.

I looked at the digital clock on my bedside table - it read 7:41 A.M. Then I looked to the bed and noticed Nicole was sleeping peacefully with her head on my pillow. I noticed that a strand of her hair had fallen down during her sleep and was now in front of her closed eyes, and I gently tucked it behind her ear and kissed her forehead. She didn't even budge and I tried my best to shower and get dressed in silence, not wanting to wake her up from her peaceful sleep.

Just like I do every morning, after I was ready for the day, I picked up Sparkles' leash and took her out for her much needed walk. Ten minutes late we walked back into the house, I gave my furry baby her food, and I started fixing up my breakfast.

That was our daily morning routine before I went to work and before Nicole woke up.

Actually, that's not true. Usually I don't have to go to work this early but we're having an early meeting today with the producers and we have the rest of the day off.

Her book has been doing really well in book stores across the country, and I couldn't be happier or prouder of her and everything she's accomplished on her own.

The publishers have been talking to her about making it a global hit and releasing it on a bunch of other countries and then doing a little book tour. Ever since the day she came home and gave me that news, she hasn't been able to stop talking about us going to London again on the tour.

I looked at the watch on my wrist - 8:49 A.M..

Damn.

I threw one last piece of the pancake in my mouth before I went to our bedroom to say goodbye to my girlfriend. She was still looking as peaceful and comfortable as before, as she slept through the morning light and I chose not to wake her up and only kiss her goodbye on the forehead instead.

I watched her body rise and fall rhythmically, her breathing was like music to my ears.

I looked down at my wrist again and left the room. I quickly grabbed my keys, phone and wallet and walked out the door, but not before scratching behind Sparkles' ears as she laid on the couch.

"Bye cutie."

* * *

The meeting was actually pretty long, about three hours or so, but it went so well it felt like time was flying by.

Finally! A meeting that goes well.

The producers seemed really happy with all the work we've been doing as a team to create the characters they had envisioned. Thank God.

It had been a few hard months. Nothing seemed to be working, I designed hundreds of sketches that were thrown in the trash, in the middle of all that I was still adjusting to the team, to a new job, to a new place... I'm not gonna lie, I was pretty close to losing it, but I'm glad it all worked out in the end.

My work was done here. Now, it's all up to the designers and engineers who are going to make the characters come alive on the screen.

An animated motion picture takes about three years or more to be finished and ready to premiere at cinemas worldwide. It's a long time, but my part is only the beginning, the sketching and the creating and that part is finished. I was obviously going to help out the animation team, but that wasn't on my job description, so I guess I could sleep better at night knowing I did my job, and I just did my first sketches for a Pixar movie.

I parked the car and made my way to our apartment, with a smile on my face. I don't think anyone could wipe my grin off anytime soon, or at least not today.

When I turned the keys to open the door, Sparkles came running at me and tried to jump towards my face. Which she easily could by now, since she was so much bigger than the small puppy Nicole brought home months ago.

"Easy there, Spark." I closed the door behind me and bent down to the dog's level to properly pet her, like she wanted to.

It's amazing how dogs behave around you. I was only gone for a few hours, but it was like she hasn't seen me in months.

"You missed me, uh?"

She whined in response and licked my face.

I stretched my neck and turned it to both sides, looking around the living room and kitchen to look for Nicole, but didn't find her anywhere.

"Where's mama?"

Sparkles was much more interested in laying on her back and showing me her belly so I could rub it than to let me know where Nicole was and I obliged to her wishes.

Maybe she had gone out for lunch with Diane and forgot to tell me. Which, thinking about it now, was weird, because we had plans for my afternoon off to go to the beach.

After my legs grew tired of crouching to pet the dog, I stood up, threw my keys into the small table in the hall and took a better look around the room.

I walked towards the bedroom and as I opened the door, there she was. Laying on the bed, the comforter covering only her bottom half and resting her head on my pillow, still with her pajamas on, there was Nicole.

"Hi." I said softly, not too sure if she was in deep sleep or not.

She wasn't. She opened her eyes slowly as soon as I spoke.

"Hey babe." She said, her voice sounding groggy and tired. She tried to get up from her comfortable position but I stopped her and sat next to her, avoiding her from feeling worse.

Because she clearly wasn't okay.

"What happened?"

"I think I'm sick."

"Aw." I ran my hand through her hair and pulled in back, around her neck. "I'm sorry. You threw up?"

"Yes. And I feel... queasy. I also feel pain all over by body and my head feels funny."

I ran my hand this time through her forehead and pulled her closer to my chest, wrapping my arm around her. She laid her head on the crook of my neck and wrapped her arms around me too.

"You're kinda hot."

"Kinda hot? I'm your girlfriend." She joked. We laughed and I kissed her forehead again, confirming my suspicions.

I love how even while she's sick, she always finds time to make jokes and lighten the mood.

"I think you've got a fever."

"Ugh. That explains why I feel like shit. And why my head feels like it's about to explode."

"You should take a paracetamol. And drink plenty of fluids, but you should mostly just rest and let it pass. Oh, and obviously avoid eating greasy foods."

"You mean a Tylenol?"

I thought about it for a second and then shrugged. "Sure, if that works."

After a moment of silence, of Nicole wrapped around my body like a koala wrapped around a tree, she tilted her head back to look at me. "How was your meeting?"

"Really good, actually! I'm all done with the sketches, now it's all about animating them."

"Good job. I knew you could do this."

"Thank you. I couldn't have done it without your support."

"You could. I'm so proud of you."

"And I'm so proud of you." We closed the mere inch long gap between us and our lips met in a slow yet passionate kiss.

"You should also probably take a shower."

"You're on a roll today, mister." She joked, taking my previous comment about her temperature and my recent comment about the shower as an indirect.

We shared a laugh and I helped her get up, Nicole still aching as her body stretched.

"I'll help you if you want." I suggested, this time with no second intentions behind my words.

"No, it's okay. Just... order whatever you want for you and choose a movie for us to watch."

"I'll go make you some chicken soup, maybe that'll help."

"You're an angel sent from above." She got on her tiptoes and pressed her lips against mine. I chuckled at her words and made my way towards the kitchen to prepare her the soup, while she walked towards the bathroom.

Sparkles was a pretty good dog overall, she didn't ruin us anything, didn't pee all over the carpets, her only flaw - which isn't really a flaw - is that she is absolutely crazy about chicken. I don't know how her nose is so accurate to the point that I pick up a frozen chicken in its bag and she knows it's chicken. How? It only smells like ice to me.

Today was no excuse, and Sparkles was sitting next to me, watching my every move on the counter, waiting for me to feed her some.

"This is for mum, she's sick." She replied with a bark and I sighed. "And it's frozen so you're gonna have to wait a little before I give you some."

I chose a few of Nicole's favorite movies for us to watch during our impromptu movie marathon and fixed us up with some blankets and extra pillows on the couch.

And I? I ended up ordering chinese food for me. I knew it wasn't her favorite so, I didn't feel that bad that I was eating take out while she was stuck with chicken broth.

"It sure smells good."

She said as she came out of the bathroom, with clean sweats on instead of her pajamas, and walked towards the kitchen.

I showed her a grin and focused back on the soup before I ruined it.

I heard a loud gasp and I turned around in her direction, and saw her going through the DVDs I had laid out on the table.

"Pretty Woman? Mamma Mia? The Devil Wears Prada?" She looked at me with the DVD cases in her hands, and I simply showed her my smile. "You know me so well. God, you're literally an angel."

As peaceful as I wanted this afternoon to be, and as much as I wanted her to just rest and enjoy some of her all time favorite movies, I wasn't so lucky. Or better saying, Nicole wasn't so lucky.

She loved how the chicken broth tasted which was a plus, but she was unable to keep it down for more than thirty minutes.

Two times during Mamma Mia, she had to rush to the toilet and puke her guts out, which sounded pretty painful to me. During Pretty Woman I offered her some tea, but she was feeling so nauseous she looked miserable the entire time and didn't even enjoy the movie as much as she usually does. By the time we were halfway through The Devil Wears Prada she had to rush to the bathroom again, to throw up once more.

"You gotta go see a doctor." I said for the second time that day, while I held her hair back with my hands.

"I don't really want to." She grumpily shot back, with her head still inside the toilet.

At eight thirty o'clock at night, the sky was already dark and the lamps were the only source of light out. The magical season of fall brought it's time change and it's cold breeze with it and we were presented with one of those typical, windy, dark cold October nights, where you want to do anything but leave the comfort of your house.

"Okay, not right now." I cave in. "But at least tomorrow."

"Fine. I'll go tomorrow."

I smiled at her grumpy response and kissed her temple. "That's my girl."

She grinned at my gesture and got up from the ground to move towards the sink. She picked up her toothbrush and toothpaste and started brushing her teeth while I let myself out of the bathroom.

Outside, our dog was sitting by the door, waiting for us. "You're worried about mom, aren't you?"

Sparkles laid down on the floor, her face resting on her two long, front legs. I smiled at her action and went to the living room to put the DVDs back in their places and eat something before going to bed.

It was a long day today, and we both needed to get some sleep.

We had a pretty monumental day awaiting us tomorrow.

 * * *

Author's Note: 

Hello! How are my lovelies feeling after this chapter? I'm feeling so sad that my girl Nicole is feeling so sick lately. Thoughts? Questions? Throw 'em at me!

I know I sound like a broken record, but please vote and comment, those mean the world to me, I swear ❤ And if you're enjoying this story don't forget to add it to your reading list OR follow me so you won't miss out on any other updates. Trust me, you don't wanna to miss those 🤭 And stay tuned cause my new story The Beginning Of The End  will have an update really really soon!

Also this is the last update before I go on vacation (yay!), so that means that for two weeks there won't be any updates, sorry loves 💗

Xoxo, Mars