The Thing About Timing (The Becoming of Elliott Goode)

Chapter 17:

About an hour later, Misty and Cordelia burst through the front door, their arms so covered in bags they could barely fit through the doorframe. Once inside, they looked at each other and giggled. "Do ya think we got enough?" Misty said, throwing a playful smirk towards the older woman.

Cordelia looked at her then looked at the bags surrounding them and bit her lip, unsure that the mounds of supplies they had were enough. "No, but we can always go back I guess." She said, throwing the remaining bags in her arms down as Misty headed back out to the car to get the crate and playpen for the dog. A sleepy Elliott heard the women's arrival and walked down stairs to see them, puppy in hand. About halfway down the stairs she caught sight of the sheer amount of bags Cordelia had and her eyes went wide. Cordelia looked up at her and smiled a half smile, "Opps, caught." She paused, "What? Max needs this stuff. I'm just being a good dog mom. Also, he definitely peed on you."

Elliott looked down and her damp shirt then shrugged, "At least it wasn't on the bed." The young girl walked all the way downstairs and Cordelia met her with a hug and a kiss on her forehead as Misty brought in two very large boxes in one trip.

"There, all done." Misty said, obviously proud of herself.

"Mist, you should've waited for me, I would've helped you." Cordelia said exasperated, grabbing one of the boxes from the taller woman.

"Did you buy the whole store?" Elliott joked and she looked in the bags, "Delia, what does this dog need a sweater for in New Orleans? We don't even have winter!"

Cordelia bit her lip to keep herself from laughing, she knew Elliott was right, she had gone overboard. "He's so small, he might get cold at night. Plus, I travel a lot. Now he can go with me."

Elliott rolled her eyes and smirked at the older woman, who poked her sides in return. "I'm going to take him outside, although he probably doesn't even have to pee anymore. Did you happen to get a collar and leash while you were there or was it purely an excursion for sweaters?"

The supreme rolled her eyes, "Yes, I got a collar, AND a leash. Give me a second I just have to find it and his tag..." Elliott laughed at the woman as she searched through each of the many bags, coming up with items that were not what she was looking for. "Ah hah!" She finally said, grabbing a baby blue collar and matching leash, holding it up as Elliott chuckled at her. "What?" she said, "It matches his eyes."

Elliott chuckled but nodded as Cordelia tried to fit the collar around Max's neck, "It does, good job." Cordelia smiled and her and stepped away from the dog, his collar far too loose around his neck, one ear standing straight up as he looked at her. Elliott snickered as Cordelia bust out laughing. "Well, it looks like I'll just have to keep a close eye on him. Shouldn't be too hard, little dude trips over his own feet every other step. How fast can he move?" Elliott said, taking the leash from Delia anyways as she headed outside.

Cordelia laughed at the girl and made her way over to help Misty set up the playpen for the dog in the living room, laying down puppy pads as Misty set up the walls. "Why do we have this and a crate again?" Misty asked, stepping away to admire her handy work.

"Because this house is too big to let Max roam free when he's this young, plus he isn't trained yet. Once he is a little bigger and goes to the bathroom outside he can wander, but right now when we can't watch him he'll stay here. And when he's bigger we can crate train him so he doesn't tear things apart while we're gone." Cordelia said matter-of-factly, standing up with Misty. The two high fived and walked towards the front door, standing out on the porch watching Elliott and the dog.

The young girl was sitting on the steps while the puppy jumped at his leash that she was dangling above him, falling over himself with every leap. She looked up at the two women and smiled, and the puppy managed to grab the leash and yank it down, Elliott scooping him back up and heading back toward the two women. "What's up?" She said brightly.