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"Are we really doing this?"
Narda takes Regina's hand, threading their fingers together, and squeezes. "Of course we are," she says with all the confidence she can muster. "We've been thinking about this for a long time. We've had all the talks, we've communicated out the wazoo, and we've made the decision together to take this next step in our relationship."
Regina bites her lip. "But what if we're not really ready?"
With a tug on their joined hands, Narda pulls Regina around to face her. She uses her thumb to pull Regina's bottom lip free and kisses it. That earns her a soft smile, even if Regina's eyes still have nervous little creases around them.
"We're ready. The whole apartment is proofed and everything! We are two grown-ass adults in a stable and loving relationship, our financial situation is not critical, and neither of us has had any kind of mental breakdown in at least two years. We're not getting any more ready than that, I guarantee."
Regina snorts. She lets her head fall onto Narda's chest with a muffled thump. "I feel like that bar is set really low."
Once upon a time, she might've said that despairingly. Now, Narda can feel her grin through her t-shirt. With a grin of her own, she wraps her arms around her and squeezes tight enough to make her squeak in protest. She doesn't let go, though, until she starts laughing and slapping at her side. She's flushed when she releases her, hair rumpled and falling in her eyes, and her dimples are out in full force.
"You're a menace," she declares.
"And you're stalling."
Regina pouts. "Am not. I'm just...nervous. Can't I be nervous?"
"Hey, I'm nervous too! You think I'm not nervous? I've never done this before either, you know." Narda reaches up to tug on a stray lock of dark hair. Regina makes a face at her that melts into another of those soft smiles when Narda tucks the hair behind her ear. "But I want to do it," Narda says. "With you."
Regina closes her eyes and lets out a long breath. When she opens her eyes next, they're sharper, more determined. "Okay," she says. "Let's do this thing."
Narda lets her lead the way into the clinic. Bing is waiting for them there, a small stack of forms in his hands and his lips pursed so tight that the smile he's holding back would probably blind them if he let it out. He barely gets a "hello" out before Regina is taking the forms from him and snatching up a pen. Narda mouths "before she loses her nerve" at him over Regina's shoulder, and Bing nods sagely.
"Come on," he says to Narda, "While she's busy with that."
The kennels are down a short hallway, and in one of the pens is a ball of caramel-colored fluff. A pair of equally fluffy ears perk up as soon as it sees them coming, dark little eyes just barely visible underneath it all. It doesn't bark—apparently, chow chows aren't big on barking—but it does put its paws up on the bars and wag its tail hard enough to shake its whole body.
"Hey, sweet girl!" Narda coos. "I don't even own you yet, but I would both kill and die for you."
The puppy wags her tail even harder. She's so focused on Narda that she doesn't even notice when Bing opens the gate and he has to reach in and scoop her up. She almost wriggles her way right out of his arms, trying to get to Narda's instead, which makes Narda feel warm and fuzzy in a way that only Regina usually manages. Bing laughs and readily hands the puppy over. She's warm and squirmy and licky and Narda already loves her so very much.
A gasp sounds from behind her. She turns around, spitting fur out of her mouth, to see Regina with both hands over her mouth.
"Is that her?" she asks, reverent and muffled. "Is that our baby?"
"She's adorable, but I'm cuter" Bing sheepishly said
Regina ignores him in favor of sinking her fingers into that thick pile of fur. The dog immediately yips and pushes off against Narda's chest, trying to turn around, attention entirely caught by the new person petting her. The noise Regina makes is both embarrassing and adorable. Narda lets the puppy clamber into her arms instead with only the slightest pang of dejection. She consoles herself with the fact that they're taking her home today. They get to keep her and cuddle her every single day from here on out.
"She's got all her shots," Bing tells them, watching them with the same unfettered delight he watched all successful adoptions, "so if all the paperwork's done, you should be good to go. You have everything you need at home?"
Narda claps him on the shoulder. "Bro, we have so much stuff. Like, an unreasonable amount. We are egregiously over-prepared."
"Better over-prepared than under-prepared," Regina coos to the puppy. "Isn't that right, sweetie?"
"True that." Bing scratches the dog behind the ears, earning himself a happy wriggle and a whine. "Have you picked a name yet?"
Narda and Regina exchange a look. "That," Narda says, "is an ongoing conversation. We'll get back to you in three to five business days." Regina raises an eyebrow at her. "Or weeks." The corner of her mouth quirks up, eyes sparkling with mirth. "We'll probably have her named sometime before Christmas!"
Over Bing's laughter, Regina says, "It doesn't matter what we name her! The important thing is that she's ours."
She reaches out a hand. Narda takes it, pushing in close to sandwich their fur-baby between them. The puppy squirms around to lick Narda's chin.
"Yeah," Narda says, heart full to bursting. "She's ours."