Good Dog

Still There

"Alright Chica, lets get you a bath." Mark grunted as he grabbed the groceries out of the trunk before picking up the puppy in his arms and carrying her inside.

"Home sweet home." Mark sighed in relief as he let the puppy down.

Chica barked excitedly as she bounded off across the wooden floor, her paws skidding across the surface before she ran into a wall.

"You gotta be careful bub." Mark warned her as he left the groceries on the table to make sure she was okay.

Chica continued panting happily despite her clumsiness, her tail rapidly wagging back and forth.

"C'mon." Mark smirked as he grabbed the supplies for the bath before walking to the bathroom.

"Chica!" Mark beckoned.

Chica obediently padded in and sat at his side, watching as he prepared the bath for her.

"I even got you a little rubber duckie to play with." Mark told her as he dropped the yellow duck in the soapy bath before picking the puppy up.

Surprisingly Chica didn't whine much as she was bathed, her attention mainly focused on the toy more than Mark's hands gently massaging bubbles into her fur to wipe away the dirt and remove the tangled knots.

"The receptionist was an ass-bag, I think you're a good dog and not a bag of hair like his brain is." Mark mumbled to himself, still sour about the encounter.

He actually preferred if he had made fun of him instead of Chica.

Mark was yanked from his brooding when he realized that Chica and the duck was gone, a trail of bubbles left on the floor.

"Chica!" Mark sighed in exasperation as he followed the trail to find a wet Chica curled up on the living room floor chewing on the duck.

"Chica!" Mark repeated, patting his legs to get her attention.

Chica only looked up at Mark as he kept biting the toy, the squeaks echoing loudly through the house.

"We'll play after you're cleaned up." Mark promised the puppy as he scooped her up and placed her back in the bath, this time making sure he watched her closely in case she tried to escape again.

After he dried her off with a fluffy white towel, he picked up one of her new toys so he could play with her like he said he would.

"Hey Chica, look what I got!" Mark exclaimed as he held a squeaky lamb dog toy up in the air.

Chica jumped up in the air, fiercely biting the toy with her teeth while her tail wagged in victory.

Mark laughed as he watched her dangle  slightly shorter than a foot off of the floor, her jaws refusing to unclamp from the toy as she wrestled to tear it from Mark's equally unrelenting grasp.

"God you're so adorable." Mark chuckled, lowering the toy so Chica could reach the floor before just letting her take off with the toy.

Mark listened to Chica's claws clacking against the wooden floor of the living room while he went into his recording room to set up his recording equipment.

Mark jumped in surprise when he felt something soft bump up against his leg, making him nearly drop the camera he was fiddling with.

"Hey Chica, you scared me there bub." Mark chuckled as he set the camera down to pet Chica before going back to what he was doing.

Once everything was ready, Mark took a deep breath before pressing record.

"Hello everybody, my name is Markiplier and I've got some news both good and bad..."

Mark spent what felt like hours talking to the camera as he informed his fans about how he had cancer, tears spilling down his face as he remembered how his dad had died of cancer.

Mark still remembered his last words as he died in his arms.

"I love you so much".

Mark changed the mood of the video by drying his tears, then introducing the fans to Chica.

Chica licked the camera in greeting, her chocolate brown eyes sparked with curiosity and excitement as Mark held her in his arms.

They played together in the padded room, Chica's happy barks reverberating around them as well as Mark's laughs.

"...and as always I will see YOU," Mark paused to point at the camera before scooping Chica up so she was in view of the camera.

"Buh-bye!" Mark waved, Chica wagging her tail enthusiastically as always Mark ended the recording.

"And now for the harder part of telling my family before I post the video." Mark sighed as he picked up his phone from the desk.

Chica seemed to sense his hesitance and licked his hand as if to assure him that he wasn't alone.

Mark dialed in his mom's number, listening as it rang before she picked up.

"Hello Mark, how are you?" She asked cheerfully.

"Hey mom, um, I've got a lot to tell you..."

Mark called each of his family members and told them the news, feeling his heart break when he heard Thomas's shouts of denial and his mom's sobs of despair.

When it was all over, Chica was there to snuggle with him as he curled up on the floor and sobbed his heart out after trying so hard to hold it in, feeling as if he could do nothing but cause pain and sadness.

Chica was still there by his side when he wiped the tears away and stayed up late into the night editing the vlog he had recorded before posting it, his dark thoughts and fear keeping him awake even as he trudged to bed.

And Chica was still there when he laid in bed and prayed for sleep, his mind racing with thoughts as he tossed and turned before falling into a fitful sleep.