Russell Howard Fanfiction - Love At First Laugh

Chapter 10 - Goodbye Friend

A/N
Yayy I'm Back! Finally I have no exams or mocks left so I can get back to writing!
DISCLAIMER
You might cry at this. Idk I'm not an emotional person so .... I'm sorry in advance

Y/Ns POV

After the recent events with Cerys, life felt a bit more relaxed. Everything had been looking up since then.
I was lounged on the sofa with my laptop on my lap, warming up my legs as I scrolled through different things, waiting for Russell to get back from work.
I then thought of something. Something wasn't right. Normally when I'm in this position with my laptop, Archie will come running in, bounding up on my lap, trying to walk on the surface of the laptop, but now he's not here.
I walk into the kitchen calling "Archie!". No sign of him. I look out of the window into the garden and he isn't there either. I go back into the living room and look around confused. I walk up the stairs, searching through each room for any sign of him. At first I thought he had escaped until I stopped to see him curled up on the cushions of the bed, awake. "There you are!" I said as I sat next to him and stroked his head. Normally Archie would love this and would start wagging his tail and try to lick my face but instead he didn't budge and stayed curled up, staring down at the duvet. Something was definitely wrong. Perhaps he ate something that he wasn't meant to. Or maybe he's just ill?
"Come on" I said to Archie as I stood up. He didn't move.
"Come on I have to feed you!". Normally the sound of the word 'feed' or 'food' would make him go mad. Instead he just raised his head slightly. I started to walk out of the room and luckily Archie followed behind. Not running ahead, not leaping and bounding, just slowly pacing. There was definately something wrong. This wasn't like him at all.
When we got into the kitchen, I filled his bowl with food and placed it on the floor. He started to nibble at it but then stopped and paced into the living room and curled up on the carpet, again not moving.
This scared me ... so much. I didn't know what was wrong. Even though Archie was Russell's dog, I had grown to love him so much and I didn't want something to be wrong with him. I was about to ring Russell when I realised that he would be busy and wouldn't answer anyway. I wondered whether to take him to the vets to get him checked. I could just wait for Russell and tell him then? Yes, that's what I would do.

***

I heard Russell's car outside so I raced to the door and opened it. Russell opened the car door and stepped out with a bag full of files and papers. He walked up towards me with open arms and embraced me tightly as I breathed in the nice smell of his cologne. He looked at me and smiled, but I couldn't smile back.

Russell's POV

I hummed to the radio of my car, excited to be coming home after a long and vigorous day of work. I stepped out to see Y/N standing in the doorway, being lit up by the outside light. I walked up to her and hugged her. She held me tightly, making me grin like an idiot. I pulled back to see her face, not like mine at all. Sad.
I felt a pang of nervousness at the wonder of why she wasn't happy.
We walked into the hall. Everything seemed wrong. Y/N wasn't happy and something else was missing. Archie! Where was Archie? He normally comes in sprinting at the slight sound of an opening door.
Y/N took a slight breath before saying "I think there's something wrong with Archie".
"What?"
"Well earlier he was upstairs on the bed just... lying there. Not moving. Even stroking him did nothing. When I got him to move he didn't run or bounce, and he wasn't eating. I tried to make him Russ but he just ... lay there. He's still there now. He hasn't moved in 2 hours." Small tears started to form in her eyes as I felt myself become, tense. I guess she loves him just as much as I do. I walked into the living room. There he was, my dog, just curled up on the carpet staring into space. Not moving an inch. "Arch? Archie?" I called softly. Nothing. I turned back to Y/N who was looking down with her face frowned as she bit the nail of her thumb. She always does that when she's worried. I walked up to her and slid my arm around her back which made her a bit less tense. "We'll take him to the vets tomorrow. Don't you worry."

***

I was sat on the hard plastic chair in the waiting room of the vets with Y/N sat beside me and Archie on my lap.
"Howard .... Russell Howard" a woman said with her head popped round the door. I nudged Y/N and we both followed the woman who guided us to a room.
She opened the door and left. A man sat behind a desk at a computer. Y/N and I both sat down on the other side of the desk as the man turned to us.
"Hello I am Dr O'Kane and you must be ... Russell and Y/N." He says, glancing at the computer screen.
"Yes" I reply.
"So I believe that Archie here has been having some problems, lack of response, lack of appetite?"
I nodded
"Well this could be because of several things so we need to check what it is. Is it ok if we do some tests on him? It's so we can properly understand what is wrong. It should only take about half an hour." (A/N I'm not a vet idk how stuff works 😂)
"Yeah that's fine."
"Great, you can head back to the waiting room and I will call you when we are finished". I handed Archie over to him and quickly left with Y/N following.
I couldn't bear to leave Archie. I began to worry and panic. I didn't know what was going to happen. We sat back down in the waiting room. Every minuite feeling like an hour. I had completely froze up, stressing out about what was to come. Suddenly I felt a warm hand intertwine with mine. I turned to Y/N who gave me a small smile as she squeezed my hand. This calmed me down a bit, but it didn't stop me worrying. Finally after what felt like eternity, a different woman came in and called our names. We followed her to the same room and sat down in the same seats. The only thing different was that no one was there apart from myself and Y/N.
About 30 seconds later, a woman walks in carrying Archie who hands him to Y/N. She placed him on her lap. He still didn't move much. Then Dr O'Kane entered carrying some papers. He sat down at his chair and turned, pausing with a sigh.
"Sadly it's not good news". Not what I wanted to hear. "The cause of him not eating or interacting is simply old age. Luckily he has no diseases and is healthy but he is getting quite old and unfortunately ..." The Dr paused before saying "It looks like he will soon pass away". My jaw clenched and my chest tightened. I couldn't feel anything. He's may just be a dog but he's my dog. I've had him since he was a puppy and now ... he's about to ... die. I didn't even realise that Y/N was holding my hand again. Her hand was tight and clammy. It was also shaking slightly. I squeezed her hand. I needed to just cope so that I could help her. She needs me.
Dr O'kane talked some more about Archie and what we can do to help him. All I wanted to know was how long he had left, but I couldn't get my words out.
"Can you tell how long he has left to live?" Y/N asked with a slight shiver in her voice. It was like she had read my mind.
"A week if you're lucky, but more realistically a couple of days."
"Oh" She said.
The Dr talked for another 5 minuites but neither of us were paying attention.

When the appointment was over, we both left the room and went to the car. For the whole ten minute drive, no one said a word as I drove and Y/N stroked Archie. When we got in the house we let Archie go as he paced slowly towards the carpet and lay down again. I couldn't handle it anymore.

Y/Ns POV

I watched Archie return to the carpet and I turned around to Russell. Tears were dripping down his face and on to his t-shirt. I have never seen him cry before and honestly, it was horrible. I wrapped my arms around him as he placed his head on my shoulder, crying into it. I held his head, stroking his hair as his wet eyes soaked my top. He seemed broken. We stayed like this for over 5 minuites before Russell had calmed down a bit more and was at that choked up stage of crying. "I'm sorry" He said, rubbing the remains of the tears from his red eyes. "Don't be" I said.

***
3 days later I was on the sofa again with Archie curled up on my lap. His warmth comforted me as I felt his stomach rise and fall softly.
I stroked his soft fur as his body raised up and down gently. Up and down, up and down, up and ...... it stopped.
Had He?
Yes .... he was gone.

A/N
DON'T KILL ME I'M SORRY