Vigilante PAW

Chapter Twenty-Three: Butterfly Effect

A familiar cat woke up from her slumber, uncurling herself and rising to her feet. She found herself standing in the middle of her owner's bed. She had done it again, had she? The cat noticed she had a bit of a habit of sleeping in the middle of her owner's bed at night. She knew it made her uncomfortable, but she couldn't help it!

The cat, Cali, looked over at a familiar blonde sleeping on the left side of the bed, barely hanging on to the bed. Her owner, Katie, had grown used to her nighttime tendencies, and learned to live with it. Covering the majority of her face was her messy, unkempt hair.

Katie opened her eyes, tired eyes looking up at the ceiling, "Well, that's enough. No use trying to go back to sleep when I'm already up..."

Cali gently licked her paw, using the slightly damp body part to lay her fur just the way she liked it to be.

"What's the point of buying you a new bed if you're just going to sleep in mine?" The young vet sat up and gently rubbed crust out of her eyes.

The cat looked away, clearly not knowing the answer herself.

The girl giggled faintly, standing up, "How about we start getting ready for the day?"

Cali, in agreement, jumped onto her shoulder, ready to start the day alongside her owner. Katie opened the door to her room and walked down the quiet halls of her home. Now that she was thinking about it, it had been quite some time since she didn't hear any commotion in the house. At least one of the pups would be awake by this time, usually being Marshall. It almost seemed as though they were used to early rises like she was.

After taming the beast that was her usual morning bedhead, Katie brushed her teeth and washed her face off. She took a moment to touch her looks up, but as a vet, she didn't really care much for makeup. Water from baths and fur from pets would just mess it up if she were to put it on. Besides, she was ten years old either way.

She turned off the bathroom light, walking out of the room behind Cali. Her cat ran off to do whatever she usually did in the mornings while she proceeded down the hall. All of the lights in the house were off, allowing the natural light from the rising sun to illuminate the interior.

Katie then stepped into the living room, the room the pups had taken over and used as their bedroom since Marshall was brought into the house. Using an amalgamation of blankets and pup beds, the trio of pups had managed to create a large bed for all three of them to share.

While both her and her aunt offered to give Rocky and Everest different places in the house to stay, both pups adamantly remained with their Dalmatian friend.

She smiled. That impromptu rescue as well as the loud ride home must've knocked all three of them out. So much so to the point where it seemed like they'd be sleeping in all day. That was until Liz entered the picture.

"Time to get moving! Let's go, let's go, let's go!" A sudden shout from her aunt made her jump in surprise.

Walking into the living room from the kitchen was Liz, who was banging a wooden ladle on a metal pot. She shouted as loud as she could, the banging increasing in pace. Katie, confused, covered her ears and glared at the redheaded woman.

"What are you doing?" Katie asked, trying her best to speak over the banging, "You're gonna wake up the pups!"

Liz stopped for a moment to look at her niece, "That's the idea."

She started the banging once more, finally waking one of the pups. The pup in question was Marshall, who sprang up with a frantic yelp, trying to run away from the noise being made. This caused him to trip over Rocky and go tumbling into a nearby wall.