Chapter Text
“Dad, are you okay?” Winnie had asked Fido one weekend afternoon nearly two months later.
The question was seemingly out of the blue, but the chocolate lab knew that it wasn’t. He’d been stressed and struggling every single day since his car broke down. A busted transformer meant the “quick mechanic fix” he was anticipating actually turned into trying to find a new car. He started picking and choosing which bills to pay. He’d gotten numerous warnings from his property manager to pay his rent and threats from the electricity and gas companies that they would close off power and gas to his apartment if he didn’t give them what he owed.
But he couldn’t pay. He didn’t have the money. Every paycheck, the money would disappear to the endless pile of overdue bills whose prices kept growing since he was always short. Late fees, service charges, taxes, convenience fees, other fees that he was too overwhelmed to even read. The numbers on the bottom of the ledger kept growing and growing with every new letter that contained bigger and bigger warnings and more urgent wording.
And the most terrifying part was that there was nothing Fido could do about any of it.
He’d finally quit his job after having his hours reduced to one day a week. And since he had no car, he had been walking more than an hour to get to work and back. It was too much for his legs and back to walk all the way to work and back and then play with Winnie and make her dinner and make sure she did her homework and also try to keep on top of chores and bills. He couldn’t do it.
He’d had the forethought to give Bandit the spare key to his apartment so the blue heeler could pick up his daughter and bring her home without waiting for Fido. And though he’d asked, Fido never told him how far his work was for him to walk. Bandit had been doing enough for him. And besides, it didn’t matter anymore.
He knew that walking was good for him, but it was all too exhausting. His muscles constantly ached, and all his energy was sapped away the second he got home. It just wasn’t sustainable. There was no way he could keep it up long-term. He needed an out.
The Heeler family, however, had been a beacon of light and an absolute lifesaver to the chocolate lab. Fido wasn’t sure what he’d done to earn such a great friend in Bandit. The blue heeler picked Winnie up from school and when Fido wasn’t home because he was at work, he took her to his own house to play with Bluey and Bingo. And on the days Bandit had to work or was swamped with chores or other commitments, Chilli would take care of his daughter.
Winnie, for one, absolutely loved this arrangement. She was even more thrilled that it had lasted for as long as it did. That was one good thing about it, Fido figured. There were even a few times that Fido was so late and tired that the Heeler family even fed his daughter dinner.
Bandit was being more of a father to his daughter than he was. He truly appreciated the help, but the chocolate lab couldn’t deny the slight sting of jealousy that pierced his heart. And he hated it. Why couldn’t he just be the father his daughter needed? Why was Bandit so good at it? What did he have that Fido didn’t?
You know, aside from a job, a car, a spouse, a big house, lots of friends, and family that didn’t live across the ocean.
Fido knew that pitying himself wasn’t going to help. He was in a rough patch, yes, but it would get better before he knew it. He hoped. The growing pile of overdue bills on his kitchen counter seemed to taunt him and tell him otherwise. The end couldn’t come soon enough.
“I’m fine, hon.” He had responded. A lie. He patted the top of her head, giving her a little noogie. “Just dealing with some boring grown-up stuff.”
“Is that why Mr. Bluey’s Dad takes me to school and brings me home?” She asked innocently, moving her head away to free herself from the noogie.
“Yeah, that’s part of it.” He swallowed his pride and explained as little as he could. She didn’t need to know or worry about this. It was just too bad she was as observant and smart as she was. “You like riding with him?”
“Yeah!” She cheered. “He plays car games with us! And Bluey is really good at making up new games, too!”
He bit back the sting that her happiness caused. He knew it wasn’t that he didn’t also make her happy, but it hurt knowing how much she loved Bandit’s company. He tried not to get too jealous. He kept reminding himself that Bandit was doing him a huge favor, especially since the few days of giving Winnie rides turned into two months of extra work for the blue heeler. Fido couldn’t even pay him back, even though he had tried. He gave her a smile that only half hid how much her words unintentionally hurt him.
“Yeah, he’s good fun, ain’t he?” And that wasn’t a lie. Fido’d never met another man as good with children as Bandit. It was kind of how they met and became friends in the first place. He was just so quick with instantly jumping into whatever games his kids were playing and committed 100% no matter what. It was sweet to watch. And made it easier for the chocolate lab himself to get involved.
“Yeah!” Winnie agreed, wagging her tail. “I wish we could play with Bluey and her dad every day!”
Fido gave that a chuckle and patted her head again. “That would be fun, huh, kid? Anyway, don’t let my boring grown-up stuff worry you, okay? Go play for a little while.”
“Okay!” Winnie looked up at him and gave a bright smile before skipping off to play in her room. Fido let out a breath and let his own fake smile drop when her door was closed.
He couldn’t play with her as often these days since he was constantly working on finding a job, a car, and a new place to live. Having to walk to interviews and apartment tours took up way more time than they should’ve, too. Bandit and Chili always volunteered to look after Winnie whenever he had anywhere to go if she wasn’t at school, thank goodness, but he still hated having to go through all of the hoops.
They couldn’t afford to eat out anymore. A shame because Winnie loved going to restaurants. She liked helping in the kitchen, too, whenever Fido cooked (though lately it’s been more microwave and easy meals than anything). Her favorite games were restaurant and café, and she loved both bringing the food out to her hungry customers(him), or cooking up the food herself for her hungry customers(also him). She was very attentive and made his imaginary meals correctly for him at least 30% of the time. 60% was usually her adding something disgusting or really spicy just to get a reaction out of him, and the final 10% she got bored or distracted and stopped playing halfway through.
It broke his heart that he couldn’t afford much when grocery shopping because he could see that Winnie didn’t really like the cheap meals as much as the fresh, homemade ones. But he didn’t have the energy anymore. Or the money. The important thing was that she was still getting fed. Which was more than what he could say for himself.
Fido’s diet pretty much wholly consisted of leftovers from Winnie’s meals, whatever pieces of fruit or veg or candy he got from any of his job interviews or apartment tours that they had out for guests, and some frozen meals that Winnie didn’t want (even though she said she did when he had bought them). He went to bed hungry most nights.
Walking everywhere, the stress of everything, and the fact that he barely ate these days also took a huge toll on his energy. He couldn’t bring himself to fully commit to her games like he used to on the off chance he did have time to play with her. It only made him feel worse. He was doing everything he could for her, and he knew that it wasn’t enough. It would never be enough.
The piles of bills were climbing, and the companies and his property manager were getting impatient with him. A new pile made its way to his mailbox which he hadn’t looked through yet. He knew it would all be the same stuff, so he put off opening them and left them in a pile on the kitchen counter. He’d also been getting a lot more calls, both from companies trying to collect and job prospects that were turning him down. He hated when his phone rang.
Speaking of, that very phone started ringing from where he’d left it on the kitchen counter. The device shook and vibrated on the countertop while playing the annoying tune that Fido had come to loathe. He groaned and almost instantly swiped to cancel the call, but paused when he saw the caller ID. It wasn’t some unsaved number from some business. It was Bandit.
Well, that changed things.
The chocolate lab wasted no time picking his phone up and answering it.
“Hello?” He put the phone to his ear. His voice a little out of breath.
“Hey, Fido!” Bandit’s cheerful voice greeted him and instantly made him feel a bit better. “Hope you’re not busy.”
“Bandit!” He greeted, leaning back against the countertop in a more relaxed pose. “No, no. I’m free. What’s up?”
“Well,” The blue heeler trailed off for a moment, as though he wasn’t sure what to say. Fido was about to encourage him to keep going when he started speaking again. “I was just thinking of you and Winnie. You doing alright?”
“Oh, yeah.” Fido answered quickly with an easy lie. But he couldn’t hold it. Not fully. Bandit had been there for him for the last two months, and his situation was worse than ever. He couldn’t keep all of that from him. “I mean, well…”
Fido looked over his shoulder just to double check that Winnie wasn’t close by and listening. She was still playing in her room. He lowered his voice anyway, so she wouldn’t overhear and worry or start asking questions. “Eh…Honestly, things could be better.”
“Job search not turning out?” Bandit asked. He tried to be gentle when asking, but Fido could tell that it was the subject he was most concerned about. Fido couldn’t decide which one of his problems was the biggest right now. He didn’t want to think about it that way.
“Nah, not really.” Fido confided, then turned to do something with his hands while he talked. He vied to clean up the kitchen counter a bit to keep him occupied. “Most places are the same. Go in and interview, find out they either already filled the position or want to pay me way less than originally offered or only want a part-timer, and then come home and get my rejection call or email. I just need something stable so I can take care of Winnie.
“And it’s not like I’m trying to be too picky about what the job is, either.” He continued, holding the phone to his ear with his shoulder while he cycled through the mountain of mail. “I’m this close to working at a takeaway if that’s what I gotta do, y’know what I mean?”
Bandit hummed in agreement.
“Sorry, don’t mean to rant.” Fido continued as he looked at his mail from today. There was an urgent notice from his property manager. He sighed and opened it.
“It’s just frustrating when I’ve got t-“ He skimmed the letter, then his eyes widened in surprise and he cut himself off with a small gasp.
“Something up, mate?” Bandit’s voice asked in his ear, though the chocolate lab barely registered it. “Fido?”
“We’re being evicted.” Fido’s voice was no more than a whisper. It took his full self-control not to drop the phone in his shock or crinkle the paper in his hands as they began to shake. His heart rate tripled in an instant. He couldn’t breathe. His grip on the notice tightened till he almost tore the paper into pieces.
“You’re what?!” Bandit started coughing, seemingly inhaling wrong at the sudden news. That or he was eating something, and it went down the wrong pipe. It would’ve been humorous in any other situation. “F-Fido *cough cough*…talk to me, mate.”
But Fido couldn’t speak. His voice broke and cracked as he fought off the tears that threatened to overtake him. He started hyperventilating and his whole body started shivering, though he wasn’t cold. He couldn’t get his mouth to form the words and it took everything in his power to stay on his feet and not collapse on the floor and start blubbering like a baby. If he wasn’t currently on the phone with someone who’s been an anchor for him and Winnie the past two months, he probably would have.
“Okay. Breathe, mate. Just breathe.” Bandit seemed to have caught his breath after the initial shock and was trying to console him through the phone as the chocolate lab panicked. “Just listen to me. Breathe in and out. Easy.”
With Bandit’s encouragement, Fido was…well, he wasn’t okay-he was far from okay-but it did help. Tears managed to worm their way out of his eyes no matter how hard he tried to hold them back and they streamed down his face. He tried so hard to keep quiet so Winnie wouldn’t hear him and check in on him. Just imagining her seeing him sobbing on the kitchen floor only made him cry more.
Oh, Winnie. What was he going to do? He couldn’t even keep a roof over her head. How was he expected to provide for her? He’d failed her as a father. He wasn’t fit to be a parent. She deserved much better than him.
He started whimpering in response to those thoughts.
“Easy, Fido. I’m coming over now and we’ll figure this out, okay? Just keep on the line and keep breathing.” Bandit’s words cut through his downward spiral and grounded him. The chocolate lab could only nod his head because he couldn’t form the words at the moment, not that anyone could actually see him nod.
“Everything’ll be okay, mate.” Bandit assured. “Listen, just sit down and hold onto something for me, okay?”
He did what he was asked to. His brain didn’t connect that he should sit in a chair, so he just sunk onto the kitchen floor and curled into himself. He managed to gain enough control of his hands to let go of the stupid eviction notice and hang onto the phone. He looked around for something to grab. What was he supposed to hang onto? Did it matter? Should it be soft? Probably not something that could hurt him, right? He couldn’t even do this one simple task Bandit had asked him to. He was so pathetic.
Before he could get too consumed by his thoughts, his eyes spotted something that had wormed its way underneath the cupboards. He reached out, ignoring the dust that had accrued there due to him not having the energy to clean up much, and grabbed it. It was a bit stuck, so he tugged at it a bit to pull it out.
He recognized it as one of Winnie’s stuffies. A battered old rabbit. He couldn’t remember her name now, but it didn’t matter. It would have to do. He wasted no time clinging onto it, despite the dust.
“You got something?” Bandit’s voice reached his ear through the phone.
Fido managed to choke out a strangled sounding “mm-hmm” in response.
“Good. Squeeze onto it as tight as you can.” Bandit instructed. Somewhere in Fido’s brain, he could recognize other noises in the background through the phone’s speaker, but he couldn’t discern what they were. He was in no state to do so. He wasn’t even sure why he thought about it.
He squeezed the stuffed rabbit as hard as he could. It was now that he noticed it had a small tear in the side of it that a small bit of fluff threatened to leak out of. Did he do that? Did he pull it too hard and break one of her toys? He would never forgive himself for that.
“Now loosen your grip. Can you do that for me, mate?” Bandit’s voice interrupted him again.
The chocolate lab loosened his grip on the stuffie. He couldn’t help the hiccups and quiet sobs that escaped him as he sat alone on his kitchen floor.
“Do that again for me.” Bandit instructed, his voice gentle and quiet. Fido did as he was asked. “I want you to keep doing that till I get there, okay?”
“P-please d-…don’t hang up.” He managed to get a choked, whining beg out of his throat. He sounded so pathetic. His voice was interrupted with soft hiccupping sobs.
“I won’t, mate. I promise.” Bandit assured. “I’m getting in the car now and I’ll be there in a few minutes, okay?”
The blue heeler continued offering reassuring and kind words, but eventually they fell on deaf ears the longer the call went on.
Fido kept squeezing the stuffy in his hand and then loosening his grip on it. Focusing on doing that helped ease his panic and anxieties slightly. But it couldn’t stop the torrent of horrifying thoughts that came to his mind. Where were they going to live? Would they lose all of their possessions? Would he have to file for bankruptcy? Would he lose custody of Winnie?
That last thought was what broke him even more. The chocolate lab couldn’t even begin to imagine a life without his daughter. She was his rock. His reason for getting up and fighting every day. He wanted to provide and care for her. It was his responsibility and he loved doing it. Sure, not every day with a young child as a single dad was easy, and he had given up a lot for her, but that’s the life he chose. She was worth every sacrifice he made.
But now he’s proven that he couldn’t take care of her. Yes, he’d put her needs above his own, but now that he was completely out of resources, it was only a matter of time before Winnie would have to go without food. Eventually there would be no electricity and no gas. They were about to lose the roof over their heads.
When Winnie’s school found out they were homeless, they would surely take her away from him. He would lose her forever. He didn’t…he didn’t want that. He couldn’t bear the thought of losing her. Just the very idea made him sob harder.
He tried so hard to be quiet, too. The last thing he wanted was for his daughter to hear him crying and start worrying. But he couldn’t stop it once the flood gates opened. He kept trying to squeeze onto the little stuffed rabbit and loosening his grip, but it wasn’t really working anymore. He found he couldn’t relax his grip. His body stopped listening to him. If Bandit was still trying to talk to him over the phone, he could no longer hear it. He was lost in his own mind, on an endless downward spiral into panic, stress, and fear.
Fido hadn’t felt this overwhelmed by life since Winnie was only a baby. He was a fresh-faced father who was forced to take on the huge responsibility of raising a baby alone. Bella, his fiancé at the time, had decided a life with him and their child was not something she wanted. She wanted to see the world. So, she did.
With Fido’s brother.
The two had traveled the world together and had even gotten married in America the previous year. Fido did not attend the wedding. He wished he could say it was because he was the bigger person and the only reason was the ludicrous financial investment it would be, but it was mostly spite. It wasn’t like his ex-fiancé had ever come to visit Winnie. Or made an effort to talk to her or about her.
Winnie only knew about her mum because Fido’s mum insisted that he try to keep ties with his brother. And he only humored his mum on that front because he loved her. But Winnie didn’t know her Auntie Bella was her mum. If it were up to him, Winnie wouldn’t know anything about her uncle or her mum. But she did. She’d even talked to her uncle Bodi on a few occasions, but she’d never seen him in person. They’d never come to visit. Not even on the holidays.
It ate Fido up inside whenever there was a scheduled call with his brother and Winnie got excited to talk to him. As far as she had known, he was just fun uncle Bodi. It’s not like Fido could bring up the stings of betrayal and the hurt that he felt whenever he saw or talked to his brother, knowing that his brother’s wife was betrothed to him, first.
Bella was barely in any of the few calls they’d made, and Winnie only knew her name and a little bit about her. Fido didn’t want to trouble Winnie with the fact that her aunt was actually her mum. If the little one knew, she’d start down the path of questions like ‘why isn’t she here with you, dad?’ or ‘Did she not want me?’ And Fido never wanted his daughter to ask questions like that. He wasn’t prepared for it.
Because he wouldn’t know how to respond.
Back to the present, the chocolate lab begged whatever forces that existed to not let Winnie ever see him like this. To not let him lose her and to help them. He was finally able to admit that he couldn’t do it anymore. At least to himself. Things were not going to be alright. He felt like he was drowning under the weight of the entire ocean.
He continued sitting alone on his kitchen floor until the tears wouldn’t come anymore. He could start breathing again. He had no idea how long he’d been sitting like that. It felt like both forever and the blink of an eye at the same time. But he started calming down a bit. The worst of the attack seemed to have passed. And by the time he heard a knock and then his front door open, he was almost okay again.
“Heya, Fido.” Bandit greeted him quietly from the front door after a quick search. The blue heeler walked over and knelt by his friend on the floor. Without even hesitating, he put a hand on his friend’s back and rubbed it in comfort. Just that small touch instantly made Fido feel much better. His breathing evened out and his heart rate slowed to something almost normal.
Bandit took the moment to take Fido’s phone from his grasp and hang up the call. He set both of their phones down on the ground and then pulled him into a tight embrace. Normally, Fido would’ve resisted such an affectionate action, especially from another man, but he was so emotionally drained and out of it that he gave no resistance. He leaned into it. And, slowly, he reached his hands up and held onto his friend, clinging to him like a child who’d just awoken from a terrible nightmare.
The tears had stopped now, yes, but the hurt was still there. And Bandit helped make that easier to manage.
“I’m sorry.” He eventually managed to give a raspy whisper when his throat no longer felt like it had closed off.
“Don’t be.” Bandit dismissed him but didn’t let him go. “What’re you sorry for?”
It took Fido another moment to decide how to answer. He finally had time to reflect for a moment without feeling like he was going to sink into the ground or explode. He was warm and safe and grounded in Bandit’s arms. He felt comfortable enough to catch his breath and control his breathing. Eventually, after about a minute or so, the chocolate lab pulled away.
“I…” He started, clearing his throat as his voice was still raspy and raw. “That’s just…I’ve never had that happen to me before.”
He took a breath and his gaze dropped to the stuffed bunny that was still in his hands, he idly turned it in his grasp. “I was just so scared when I opened that letter. And it’s like the weight of everything just…crashed down on me at once. I couldn’t control myself, which made me more scared.
“I’m just sorry you had to see me like this.”
Bandit looked at him for a moment, though Fido couldn’t discern what his friend’s expression meant. He couldn’t read him. All he knew was his friend’s gaze made him shift uncomfortably, though he couldn’t say why.
Bandit grabbed the chocolate lab’s shoulder and gave it a reassuring squeeze. The blue heeler also gave him a small smile which quickly turned to another look of concern.
“How long have things been this bad?” He asked, his voice low. “Why didn’t you tell me, mate?”
Fido felt his stomach drop and he wanted to run and hide with his tail between his legs, as though he were a kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar. If he had any more tears in him, he’d probably start crying again. For some reason, disappointing Bandit made him feel even worse than losing his car, his job, and his home. Being judged under that scrutinous gaze made the chocolate lab want to shrink down to the size of a flea and hop away.
“Uh, a little while.” He tried to dodge the question by giving as vague of an answer as possible. He still couldn’t bring himself to tell the truth. Not aloud. Not to Bandit. “It’s…it’s been okay until today.”
“Okay?” Bandit’s face changed and he looked angry now. Not angry like he sometimes pretended to be when playing with the kids, and not annoyed angry that he sometimes felt when dealing with his daughters’ antics too much. He looked genuinely angry. Fido’d never seen this side of the blue heeler before. “Mate. Look at you.”
Fido did. He looked down at himself. Sure, he’d lost a few pounds in the last few weeks due to his diet, but he was the same as always. And sure, he was currently a mess on his kitchen floor, but that was new. Otherwise, nothing else had changed with him. Not that he could see.
Who was he kidding? He wasn’t okay and he knew it. He was out of money and now he was out of time. He was a disappointment and a failure. His future now was probably going to be a cardboard box on the side of the road and sleeping on sidewalks. He’d miss his shower the most when he went. He hated getting too dirty.
Bandit let out a sigh and let his anger go while the chocolate lab was reflecting more on his situation. The blue heeler got up and wandered through the kitchen. He took in the mountain of bills on the kitchen counter and looked back over his shoulder at Fido. He gave a very small shake of his head before heading to the fridge and opening it.
It was empty.
Not in the “Oh, there’s nothing here I want to eat, whatever shall I do?” kind of way. It was empty-empty. Completely devoid of anything, both edible and non. Bandit’s eyes widened in shock. It couldn’t be that…no. No, there was no way.
“Mate…Where’s all your food?” Bandit asked, his own stomach dropping as he started to piece together the answer for himself. He closed the fridge with a touch too much force and looked at Fido, his eyes stern and hard. “When’s the last time you’ve eaten?!”
Fido winced at his friend’s tone and shrunk in on himself more in embarrassment. His grip on the stuffed rabbit tightened on impulse.
“Winnie eats all of her meals.” He tried to shut down the argument that he couldn’t take care of his daughter before it started.
“That’s not what I asked.” Bandit shut him down with a sharp sentence.
Fido’s ferocity flickered and faded as quickly as it started. He broke eye contact and stared at the floor. He shifted uncomfortably on the ground.
“I ate yesterday…” He mumbled, far too quiet to hear. It sounded way more pathetic to say it aloud than to just keep it to himself.
“What?” Bandit asked and took a step towards him. Fido assumed he just didn’t hear him. He really didn’t want to talk about this right now.
“…I ate yesterday. I’m fine. Really. Don’t worry about it.” The chocolate lab brushed it off despite his stomach’s protests. His own well-being wasn’t his concern. His concerns were Winnie’s well-being. He would be okay if she was okay. They would get by. He just had to keep reminding himself of that.
“What did you eat yesterday?” Bandit pushed, his tone still deathly serious.
“I had a job interview yesterday afternoon and they had some oranges in a bowl, so I took one of those.” He explained easily enough. Then he fell silent. The silence persisted for six agonizing seconds.
“…And?” Bandit eventually asked, prompting the lab to continue.
“And, what?” Fido asked back, not understanding the question.
“Fido! You’ve been living off of handout fruit?!” Bandit lost it at that. The shock alone caused him to raise his voice more than Fido was comfortable with. His voice quieted after that, but he still looked equal parts horrified and…disgusted? “I thought you’d been losing weight.”
Fido didn’t have anything to say in response to that. What could he say? It’s not like he would take back his choices if he had the chance. Not for one second. He would rather wither away completely than have Winnie go without a single meal. And he knew Bandit wouldn’t and couldn’t blame him for that. That’s the length a parent should go for their child.
But that sentiment didn’t stop his stomach from grumbling or the lack of energy his diet provided. It didn’t change the fact that the very idea of eating right now made him nauseous beyond belief and he probably couldn’t eat even if he was given the option.
He would just have to live through the discomfort and the pain.
“Why wouldn’t you tell me?” Bandit’s voice lowered again to a rough growl, and he stepped away and leaned on the kitchen counter. “Fido, mate. It hurts me seeing you go through this. It hurts even more knowing that you won’t talk to me. I can’t help you if you don’t tell me how bad it is.”
And for some reason, that made the chocolate lab’s stomach flip. Maybe it was because they were talking about food, and he was starving, or maybe it was because he was embarrassed of how ridiculous he was being. He couldn’t say, but he suddenly grew uncomfortable from where he sat on the kitchen floor. Well, more uncomfortable. His gaze didn’t leave his feet. He readjusted and rested his head on his knees and picked at the ground like a child who was being scolded.
“I just…” He tried to find the words that would most accurately describe what he was going through mentally. “I don’t…I didn’t want you to see me failing.”
It sounded stupid, but it was true. Fido wasn’t sure why he valued Bandit’s opinion so much-other than the fact that they were friends, that is- but the idea of disappointing the blue heeler was almost as scary as losing his apartment.
Not to mention how embarrassing it was to admit that he’d failed.
“I should be able to take care of things myself.” He kept going, echoing some of the thoughts that had been tormenting him recently. “I’m a grown man, Bandit. I mean, I can’t even drive my own daughter to school. How would you feel if you were me? What would you do?”
Bandit didn’t answer him right away as he thought over the chocolate lab’s words. What would the blue heeler do if he couldn’t provide for his family? If for whatever reason his entire life was being uprooted and he couldn’t do anything to stop it…what would he do?
“…I don’t know.” Bandit confessed and his gaze softened once again as he looked at his friend. But then his look sharpened when he spoke again. “But I can tell you what I’m gonna do for this situation. I’m gonna help you, now. However I can.”
Wasting no further time, the blue heeler picked his phone up from where he left it on the floor and gave Fido another pat on the shoulder in reassurance. He tapped on the screen a few times and then held the small device to his ear.
“I’ll be right back.” He said and walked out the front door to talk to…whoever it was he was talking to. Before he closed the door, he paused and signaled for Fido to stay where he was.
“Right.” Fido gave his friend a very small wave before he was left all alone once again. It’s not like he would have anywhere to go, anyway, other than maybe his bedroom…so he wasn’t sure why Bandit had told him to stay. He still wasn’t in much of a state mentally or physically to run off or anything anyway.
He could still sort of hear Bandit’s muffled voice through the door, but he couldn’t make out what he was saying or who he was talking to. He supposed it wasn’t really his business to know. But it sounded intense. Another thing for him to feel guilty about.
He took the extra time to breathe. Now that the initial panic had subsided, he could start thinking of what to do. If worse came to worst, maybe he could ask Bandit to look after Winnie until he found a job and a place to live. That stung…a lot, but it would be better than her living on the streets with him.
He said he would do anything to keep her safe and to take care of her.
Even if that meant he wasn’t in the picture.
Fido wasn’t sure how long Bandit would be on the phone, but he didn’t want to be on the floor when he got back. He was finally ready to get back up on his feet.
So, he did. He got up slowly on shaky legs, picking up his phone as he did, and leaned against the kitchen counter. If he took things slow, one foot at a time, he could get through this.
He started cleaning up a bit of the clutter that he’d been ignoring to give him something to do. He wasn’t exactly expecting a guest today, and he always tried to clean up a little whenever anyone came over. So, he sorted the overdue bills into piles and ignored the dread that crept into him at seeing them.
If he acted like everything was normal…maybe it would be.
His eyes wandered back to the little stuffed rabbit that he’d put on the counter when he got up. Particularly, he looked at the little tear in its side. He wasn’t an expert seamstress or anything, but he could probably stitch it up. He wracked his brain if he had any sewing supplies tucked away anywhere. He couldn’t remember. It would be nice to fix that up for Winnie, though she’d probably forgotten about the thing if it’d been left under the counter for so long.
Still, it would give him something to do for her.
But before he could grab the thing, Bandit walked back in, staring at his phone while tapping on the screen. He looked up at Fido and gave him a big grin. Fido couldn’t bring himself to return it, instead vying to tilt his head in confusion at his friend’s sudden mood change.
“Everything okay?” The chocolate lab asked, suspicious at his friend’s change in behavior.
“Everything’s fine.” Bandit walked over to him, noticed he was reaching for the rabbit and grabbed it. He smiled at the thing and handed it back to his friend. He grabbed Fido’s hands in his as he passed the stuffy along. “You’ll be staying with us. Come on. Let’s get your things packed.”