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The very first day that The Baby came to live with them was the very worst day of Pesto's life, and he had had quite a few bad days recently, so that was saying a lot. It was bad enough that Jemma had been sick for so long that Pesto had long given up hope that she would ever be well again. But went she went away for two days—a whole two days —Pesto did not expect her to come back with another pet.
That, really, was the worst thing about it. Wasn't he enough of a pet for them? After all, he had a long, curly black coat that Jemma loved to twirl about her fingers. He had a soft belly that Fitz liked to rub. He never ran away on walks (even when Fitz stopped to look at something and dropped the leash); he always made sure to make his messes outside; and he was very good at staying off of the couches, the lab counters, the kitchen counters, the chairs, and the bed. To be blunt, he was fully-trained and absolutely adorable. Why, then, would anyone ask for another dog?
Unless, of course, it was a better dog. He had seen those, the ones that had those special harnesses and were allowed to go inside shops. Did they never think that he would like to wear that harness and go into shops? Clearly, no one had thought to ask him. So, instead, they brought in this new thing, and Jemma smiled at it the way she had once smiled at him when he was small and wrapped up in a blanket. Fitz smiled at it too, but his eyes darted between it and Jemma, and he barely even noticed Pesto or even Daisy, even though both Pesto and Daisy had been standing there waiting ever since they heard Fitz and Jemma coming down the street.
"Can I help with something?"
Daisy's feet scuffed at the floor, and Pesto could look up and see that she was twisting her hands together the way Fitz did.
"No," said Fitz, "I think we're just going to—"
"Fitz, the baby," said Jemma.
Fitz rubbed at his eyes. "We're going to take the baby."
"Ugh, Fitz!" Jemma rolled her eyes at him, or tried to before she screwed her face into a wince. "She hasn't met the baby!"
"Oh, right."
Fitz stepped out of the way, and Pesto was very interested to see just what a baby was and why anyone thought they would need one when Fitz scooped him up and carried him off. Pesto, for one, knew that humans had the tendency to be a little rude, but he could not fathom that Fitz would be so barbaric as to cart him away before Pesto had a chance to get a decent sniff of the creature.
And it was a while before he ever got to properly smell The Baby, because, for some reason, they decided to keep Pesto in the guest room like a puppy who hadn't been house broken. Why he was the one being punished when The Baby was the one barking at all hours of the night, he did not know. But he did wonder if Fitz and Jemma would have second thoughts about their new pet, since it seemed nearly impossible to train.
He should have known, though, that Fitz and Jemma would be unreasonably stubborn. They not only endured the barking for weeks, but for months, and it wasn't until The Baby had been living with them a good long while that Pesto realized the thing couldn't even feed itself. Every morning as Pesto obediently munched on food from his bowl, they would parade that thing around like it was made out of sausage and feed it by hand. Pesto considered himself to be a very patient person, but he found himself wondering if it would be best just to escape into the wide, wild world and be done with them.
In the end, he stayed because he was afraid of the birds that nested in the trees at the end of the lane (he had insisted that they were eagles, no matter how much Jemma reprimanded him for darting off), and because he liked his home and his Fitz and his Jemma far too much to go anywhere.
It took forever for The Baby to learn to walk, and even then, it didn't do it very well at all. It could only roll itself from one side to another, and Pesto started to worry. Maybe it couldn't walk because it's legs were far too long. If it did ever get upright, it would have to walk on its knees instead of its paws. What if The Baby ran into other dogs that were not trained as well as Pesto was? Dogs that would make fun of it or tease it? He shuddered to think.
Pesto had a reputation to maintain, so he waited for both Fitz and Jemma to turn away before he approached The Baby cautiously, nudging it with his nose. The Baby was surprisingly soft, bald as it was. Maybe that's why Jemma liked to hold it so often.
The Baby smiled at Pesto and giggled, reaching forward with one tiny hand to grab for Pesto's nose. Pesto was so unaccustomed to such uncivilized behavior that he froze, discovering too late that The Baby's claws were very sharp. He let out a yelp of surprise and, for some reason, The Baby started barking.
"Fitz!"
"Hold on, Isaac. Daddy's coming."
"Oh, poor Pesto!"
Fitz, who had scooped up The Baby, looked back to Jemma in surprise. "Pesto?"
"Yes," she said, "I think Isaac scratched him."
"We need to trim his nails."
Jemma nodded in agreement before she called Pesto over, and Pesto delightedly delightfully obeyed.
"You've been so patient," Jemma said with a yawn, "I'm sorry Isaac hurt you. He's learning."
Pesto had a few things to say about the speed at which Isaac was learning, but they were all forgotten when Jemma started to rub his belly.
"You've been patient for so long, and I know we've been a bit neglectful lately," said Jemma, "but we've never been parents before, you know. The learning curve was a bit steeper than anticipated."
Pesto would have looked up at Jemma if he wasn't afraid that she would stop petting him. Parents? Pesto, careful not to move his head, looked towards Fitz, then to The Baby, then to what he could see of Jemma. Was it possible that The Baby was just the humans' puppy? It certainly looked like them and, now that he thought of it, they were just as hard to train as Isaac seemed to be. But if The Baby—Isaac, he supposed the thing was called now— was their puppy, then he had been looking at this the wrong way the entire time. He also had to take into account the fact that Isaac would likely grow to be as big as Jemma or possibly Fitz was, and it was therefore crucial to develop a rapport before Isaac developed a habit of stepping on paws.
So, the next time that Fitz and Jemma sat next to each other on the couch and stared at the rectangle that made weird noises, Pesto decided to start afresh. He approached Isaac like a human would, or as close as he could get to it, standing over Isaac and offering a paw. When Isaac took the paw, Pesto managed to shake it just a little but before he panicked and pulled the paw out of Isaac's grasp. He avoided getting scratched this time, but he wasn't sure it was worth the risk until a grin spread over Isaac's face, and he let out a sound that was more like a gurgle than a bark.
Pesto decided that this was excellent progress.
Over time, it turned out that Isaac wasn't quite the nuisance that Pesto originally thought he was. He barked less and less, and he started to make a wide variety of other noises that Pesto found very entertaining. It was even better when Jemma or even Fitz would try to imitate these sounds, smiling like they were about to burst. Isaac made them happy just as Pesto did, and it was nice to be in a home where Fitz and Jemma were happy. It was nice, too, when Isaac would try to pet Pesto, though Isaac had much to learn about form.
A real breakthrough came when Pesto decided to take advantage of Isaac’s strange interest in throwing food on the floor. Each time Isaac threw food near Pesto (especially when Pesto could get to it before Jemma noticed), Pesto would reach up towards Isaac’s chair and lick at his dangling toes, causing Isaac to shriek in delight. After a few weeks of diligent training, Pesto found that Isaac would throw food directly towards Pesto and then shriek whether Pesto licked him or not. Pesto could only wonder what other tricks Isaac was capable of.
But it was Isaac who taught him a trick, for one day Pesto was minding his own business when he felt a yank on his tail and yelped in surprise. He should have known Isaac was the culprit, but what he didn’t expect was the way Isaac’s eyes twinkled before he threw himself to the floor. This had an effect that Pesto had not expected. He was scooped up by Jemma while Isaac was scooped up by Fitz, and they were both petted to their hearts content. The next time Pesto wanted a cuddle, he gave a special shake of his tail, Isaac knew exactly what to do, and they both got exactly what they wanted. It was the perfect system, except on the rare occasions when Isaac surprised Pesto with his exuberance.
It wasn't until one day, after Isaac had started the dreadful kind of walking that put Isaac on his knees, that Pesto curled up into Jemma's lap, listened to the crackling fire, and thought that the home just hadn't been right before Isaac came to live with them. How had they gotten along before? It must have felt empty without Isaac batting at his toys or laughing when Fitz made faces. And who would take the blame when Pesto accidentally spilled cups left on the floor, or toppled Fitz's carefully-crafted Lego structures?
So as Jemma twisted her fingers through Pesto's fur, Pesto decided that they needed Isaac just as much as they needed him. Just as much as they needed Fitz or Jemma, if one thought about it.
Pesto couldn't imagine his life without Isaac, really. And he pretty was sure that Jemma and Fitz felt the same way.
