Get Back On

Chapter 8

It was around 1 that night and it was just me and Bing curled up with blankets and pillows. Max wasn't looking any better but we made sure he ate a little something every hour and kept him warm and dry. I had added a thicker blanket on top of his sheet. I had my head on a pillow that sat on Bing's lap and we were covered with two thick blankets.

I jolted awake when I heard I loud thud. I looked to see Max laying flat and he was barely breathing. I screamed and Bing shot up. "Shit!" He quickly dialed the vets number and I crawled over toward Max's head. His eyes were barely open and he was groaning. Tears rolled down my cheeks in rivers and I placed his head into my lap.

"Max please don't leave me. You can't leave us." He nudged his nose into my stomach. I started sobbing and hadn't noticed Bing sit beside me. "Lou, Parker and the vet will be here soon." I nodded and cradled Max's head and kissed his nose.

The vet came running in and sighed at my tear stained face. He knelt down beside me and checked his eyes. "The tests came back. Do you see this." He pointed toward this knot on his chest that I had just now noticed. "I'm very sorry guys but it's cancer. He is too far off for any treatment. So I'll leave the choice to you. You can let him die naturally but he'll be suffering or we can put him down."

At that moment Lou came in with Parker on her hip. They were still in their pajamas and their hair was wild. Parker was bawling and Lou had tears running down her face. Lou sat beside Bing and Parker crawled into his lap. "Let's put him down." Lou said quietly. I pressed a kiss on Max's nose and Parker kissed his neck since he couldn't reach his head. "I love you Maxy." "I love you baby boy." "I love you old man." And finally it was my turn. "I love you Maximus."

We sat there and watched as Dr. Lacks gave him the shot. We all rubbed and kissed him good bye as his nose was still tucked into my stomach. His eyes flickered between us all and he softly nickered. He took his last breath with all of us with him and he knew he would never be left alone.

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The rest of that day was hell. Bing and I were walking zombies and refused to go home while Lou went into complete business mode to take care of all the arrangements.

We had arranged that Max's body was to be sent home and buried in his favorite pasture and a rose garden was to be made. Parker didn't really understand all knew was that Mac was gone. He stayed on Lou's hip most of the day needing his mothers comfort while I needed Bings.

I was currently in Storm's stall brushing him to keep my mind off of the situation. I was still in my sweats from last night and never even thought about changing. I felt someone's arms go around my waist and I instantly knew it was Jake. I turned toward him and stuffed my face into is chest and the tears started to fall. "I know it hurts princess. But there is nothing you could do."

You have to realize the height difference of me and Jake. He was at least 6'4 to my 5'6 so he was pretty damn tall compared to me. But that just made everything easier.

He kissed my forehead and I pulled away, wiping the tears that had fallen. "What are you doing here?" A smirk came onto his face. "I can't come visit my favorite person." I rolled my eyes and went back to brushing storm. "He has really came along." I nodded. "Yea, he still has a long way to go though."

He picked up a brush and walked toward Storm slowly. Storm balked and flared his nostrils. Jake stopped walking and waited for storm to calm down. "I have an idea." I walked over toward Jake and a smirk came onto his face. "I'm going to stand infront of you and you're gonna wrap you arm around my waist and hopefully he'll know your ok."

I turned around to be instantly pulled into his rock hard chest. I rolled my eyes but went with it anyway. I took Jake's hand and let storm smell it and after that he was ok. Instead of letting me go Jake pressed slow kisses on my neck which caused me to elbow him. "Get to work cowboy."