Curled up in his doggie-bed, Jackson had been napping with his head resting on his forepaws. He perked up when he heard the door open, Lance was home! But he heard someone else, too. Sniffing at the air, Jackson realized Lance had Justin with him. That was good; Justin was one of Lance's pack-mates, and Lance hadn't seen any of his pack-mates in far too long.
Jackson thought about getting up and going to greet his master and his master's pack-mate, but he was comfy, and it really had been too long since Lance had seen any of them; he didn't need to be distracted. And Justin was so easily distracted by so many things; Jackson was sure his presence would qualify, and Justin really should be paying attention to Lance, not Jackson. He had just said he couldn't stay long, so Jackson wasn't going to take any of his limited time, even if he did like Justin.
He listened to the humans' conversation for a moment, just to make sure he wasn't missing anything important, but they were just talking about drinking, and music. Which was what people usually talked with Lance about, especially his pack-mates. Listening, Jackson frowned, or at least came as close to a frown as a dog could. Justin didn't want to talk about music, which was very un-Justin-like behavior; even Jackson knew that. He listened closer, listening to Justin's thoughts, too, to make sure everything was okay. For some reason, humans couldn't hear other humans' thoughts the way dogs could, so oftentimes dogs had to help the humans in their lives see what they were missing. There was a reason dogs were man's best friend.
But things were okay; Justin was just feeling a little unsure of himself, and even if that was somewhat out of the ordinary, Lance knew Justin well enough to know what he needed and reassure him, even if he couldn't hear Justin's thoughts. Justin's thoughts were generally pretty strange anyway, why would Lance want to hear them?
Jackson had just begun to drift back to sleep when suddenly a very large hand was petting him, larger than Lance's. Jackson blinked awake to see Justin crouching over him, smiling and making happy nonsense noises at him. The noises pretty much matched what he was thinking, and if that hadn't been hint enough, Jackson could smell the alcohol on Justin's breath. It was hiding under the scent of fresh toothpaste, but any dog would still be able to smell it.
Justin told Lance he was going to bring Jackson in, and then Justin was picking Jackson up in one big hand, petting him with the other as he carried Jackson toward the den. The petting was nice, and so was the humming Justin was doing under his breath, but his thoughts were ridiculous. Jackson often wished all humans could hear dogs' thoughts, not just rare exceptions like that nice Sonya lady.
Justin hurried into the den, his scent quickly shifting to elated, but then Jackson was nervous, because he could feel Justin looking at him, and Justin wasn't just looking at him; Justin was thinking at him. Specifically. He was thinking, "Jackson, can you hear me?" and then he would stop thinking, apparently waiting for a response. Justin was so hopeless.
Jackson eagerly scurried into Lance's lap when Justin set him down on the couch, and his master began scratching his back just right. Life was good, even if Lance had weird pack-mates.
Lance was asking Justin about his own dogs, but Jackson could tell just from the sound of his master's voice that Lance was suspicious that Justin was up to something, never mind listening to his master's thoughts. Jackson couldn't tune out Justin's thoughts at all anymore, because Justin was still thinking right at him, but Jackson figured if he ignored Justing long enough, the silly human would stop.
But Justin didn't stop; he just blithely answered Lance without paying attention and kept thinking at Jackson.
Lance asked Justin what the fuck he was doing, and Justin answered that he was trying to make contact.
Jackson rolled his eyes, but the humans were arguing now and not actually paying any attention. Lance tightened his hold on Jackson after a moment, and then Lance was thinking at him! Asking him if he was there.
Jackson sniffed at a tiny spot of wine that had dried on Lance's skin some time ago, wondering if the wine was what was making his master and his master's pack-mate so ridiculous. Of course he was there; Lance was holding him, for goodness' sake. Jackson decided to ignore the ridiculous humans and licked at the spot on Lance's arm, wondering if maybe tasting the wine would help him understand them. They were so strange sometimes.
Then Lance was giving Jackson back to Justin, and the big freak put one of his big freaky hands on Jackson's back and started petting him again, still thinking at him while he called him a good boy. Jackson shivered, realizing that he should have been paying attention after all. Darn humans.
Justin picked him up with both hands, which was distressing, so Jackson held very still. Lance warned Justin to be careful, and he was, so that was good, but then Justin was touching his forehead to Jackson's back, still thinking at him.
Now Justin was thinking about cars, or about one car, at least. Jackson held very still and waited for the weirdness to be over. Lance's pack-mates were all weird, and most of the time, too. It had been so long since any of them had been over, Jackson had kind of forgotten.
Eventually Justin straightened up and let Jackson go, so he hurried back to his doggie-bed in the kitchen. Justin was now thinking that Jackson had been thinking of the car, and that was ridiculous. He had only been thinking of it because Justin had been thinking of it, right at Jackson's head.
Jackson had experienced enough of *NSYNC's weirdness for one day. He would come back out when Justin had left and Lance was just his master again.
After a few moments Lance came in and got a drink of water. Jackson didn't perk his head up, but he did cock an ear in Lance's direction and listened. Lance didn't say anything, and he wasn't thinking about Justin anymore, almost like he didn't want to. Jackson worried about that, listening closer, but Lance was just worried about his party tonight; he needed to rest first if he was going to enjoy it at all.
Lance went upstairs to take a nap, so Jackson followed him and jumped up onto the bed, curling up against his master's chest so that Lance could relax. Lance called him a good boy and put a hand on his back before falling asleep.
Jackson decided life was still good and went to sleep too.
The following night, Lance brought home someone to rut with. Jackson waited until they were done, knowing he would not be getting any attention while they were occupied with each other. Once they had gone quiet, Jackson padded up to the bedroom door, waiting to see if he would be noticed and invited in.
Lance's bedmate noticed Jackson, and when he pointed him out, Lance patted the bed in invitation. Jackson scampered in and jumped up onto the bed, where Lance scratched his ears just right. Jackson cocked his head at Lance to show his appreciation, because he knew Lance thought it was adorable when he did that, and Lance smiled, sure enough. The new man, Robert, asked to pet Jackson, and Lance said yes. Jackson relaxed into the perfection of being both scratched and petted, inwardly smiling when he noticed how sensitive Robert was. Lance needed sensitive people.
Robert was aware of his sensitivity and commented on something he called Jackson's aura. Jackson wasn't sure what an aura was, but he liked that Robert liked his. Lance asked something silly, if Jackson had said anything, and Robert laughed. Jackson agreed with Robert, that was silly. He was a dog, he couldn't say anything. Lance was starting to sound like Justin, which was just silly.
Two days later, there was a car honking its horn, right outside the house. It was loud, and it was also annoying. Jackson went to look, and saw it was Justin. It was the car Justin had been thinking about the last time he had been there. Now, he was thinking about Lance, wanting to show him the car, to spend time with him, and also about Jackson. He wanted to thank Jackson for "telling" him to buy the car. Jackson wuffed at Justin's ridiculousness and went to wait on the couch when he heard Lance coming down the stairs to see what all the noise was.
Jackson listened once the horn stopped honking; Justin and Lance were talking and happy. Justin liked his new car, and he also liked that Lance had come outside with nothing on but sweat pants. Lance didn't care about the car except to think that Justin was silly for having bought it on Jackson's supposed say-so, which Jackson agreed was silly. He hadn't said anything, of course. But it made Justin happy, and Lance liked Justin to be happy, and liked Justin's new tattoos. Apparently he had lots of tattoos for a movie he was doing, and Lance liked looking at all of them on Justin's chest and abs, too. Or at least he liked looking at Justin's chest and abs. Jackson didn't like movies; he never got to go to them, and he got left home alone when other people did. And when people made movies, they disappeared for a long time. Jackson was happy that Justin had time to come over even though he was making a movie.
Lance was feeling nervous and embarrassed, so he went upstairs to put a shirt on. Jackson thought that was silly; Justin liked looking at Lance's chest and abs just as much as Lance liked looking at his. He even told Lance he looked cute with no shirt on, so it wasn't the fact that Lance couldn't hear Justin's thoughts that was the problem; Justin had told him. But Lance went upstairs anyway, so Justin came into the living room and joined Jackson on the couch.
Jackson gave his little doggie smile when Justin started thinking at him again, thanking him for his advice to get the car. Jackson couldn't help thinking Justin was adorable; he was just too silly. And apparently the rest of the world thought Justin was adorable, so why should Jackson be any different?
Justin just kept thinking at Jackson, and trying to listen to Jackson's thoughts, but that was hopeless. Jackson entertained himself by thinking at Justin that he should spend more time with Lance because they made each other happy. He knew Justin couldn't hear his thoughts and never would, but humans said it was the thought that counted, which was pretty impressive since hardly any of them could hear any thoughts at all besides their own in the first place. Humans had an amazing ability to be both very smart and very dumb at the same time.
Lance told Justin to stop it when he came in, knowing that Justin couldn't hear Jackson's thoughts, then told Jackson to come to him. Jackson looked at Lance, knowing both humans were being ridiculous, and Justin looked at him too. Lance huffed something at Justin, which made him smile, which made Lance smile on the inside; Jackson could hear it. Justin murmured another thanks to Jackson, then urged him off the couch. Jackson waddled off and left the humans to it. They would dance around each other forever if given the opportunity; it was like they couldn't leave the stage behind them and had to do the same things in their normal lives, honestly.
Robert came over again one night, and that was good, because Robert made Lance happy, but it was only a temporary happy. Jackson liked Robert because he was sensitive, -unlike some of Lance's past mates- so Jackson was waiting outside the bedroom door, ready to come right in once they were done. Then the phone rang, and Jackson could hear it was JC. Lance was surprised and slightly annoyed, and only grew more annoyed by whatever JC was talking about. Apparently, he had been listening to Justin and was being just as crazy, wanting to get Jackson's opinions on things. If he were human, Jackson would have shaken his head. Last time, Justin had asked for his opinion on something involving Lakers and Nicks, whatever they were. It had something to do with sports and money, and Jackson could neither have cared less nor had any less of an opinion about either of those things. But apparently Justin thought he'd had one anyway. Everyone knew Justin thought he could do everything, apparently including hear dogs' thoughts. Justin was just plain silly, but then again, most humans were, especially Lance and his pack-mates.
Then Lance hung up on JC and got back to business with Robert. Jackson was hopeful for more simultaneous attention from two people before they fell asleep from rutting and waited for his opportunity.
Lance was on the phone with his mother the next time Justin came over, which was fine. Lance thought his mother was the best, and that made him happy, so that was good. Jackson heard Lance's thoughts get irritated with Justin being sneaky about something, but then Justin was talking to Lance's mother, and Lance thought that was cute, so that was fine.
They talked about Lance's mother when Justin put the phone down, and then they talked about Germany, when Lance's and Justin's mothers had been with them and their pack-mates. Then things got interesting when Justin started teasing Lance about rutting when they had both been growing out of being puppies. Lance was embarrassed, and Justin was laughing, big and loud. Lance sputtered back, and Justin teased him some more, and then Lance was getting truly embarrassed. He told Justin that he was delusional, and Jackson agreed with that because he knew very well that Justin was delusional, thinking he could hear Jackson's thoughts, but when Jackson listened to Justin's thoughts, he could tell Justin was only just getting started. That wasn't going to make Lance happy, at all, so Justin needed to be distracted. Fortunately that was easy, since Justin was Justin, so Jackson trotted into the living room.
Sure enough, Justin said Jackson's name with delight and immediately focussed on him instead of Lance. But Lance was still upset, for different reasons now, and was telling Justin he had to stop, that he had made JC crazy too and had to stop using Jackson.
Justin protested that Jackson liked talking to him, liked helping him, just liked him in general. Jackson had to admit that Justin had the last part right, and the first two parts were just his delusions speaking, so on the only part that mattered, he was right. Jackson sympathized with Lance when he huffed in annoyance at that fact; poor Lance was getting jealous of Justin's relationship with Jackson. That was silly; Lance was Jackson's master -Justin was just a friend. One of his master's pack-mates. Justin seemed to understand Lance was upset, though, and whispered to Jackson before putting him down and moving over to Lance.
Jackson was happy that Justin was paying attention to Lance like he should be. He apologized to Lance for sharing his delusions with JC, and he promised to talk with Jackson instead of taking advice from him. Well, that was a start, sort of. Then he kissed Lance's cheek, and that made Lance very happy, even if it confused his thoughts rather a lot, then Justin left.
The time after that when Justin came over, Lance was being very distracted by his attraction to Justin. Jackson could hear Lance's worried thoughts across the house, Lance was thinking them so loud. Jackson wasn't sure why Lance thought being attracted to Justin was a bad thing, especially when Justin was attracted back. They were both thinking about it, and it always amazed Jackson how humans couldn't smell almost anything. Mutual attraction was such a strong scent; how could they miss it so often? Maybe they couldn't smell the other's attraction past their own, or something. Silly humans.
Jackson was amused when Justin asked if he was there and Lance told him that Jackson really, really didn't go out without Lance. That was certainly true; Justin should have known that. They went on to talk about Justin's movie, and they both relaxed for a while, so Jackson left them to it. A little while after that, Justin complained his ass hurt from the kitchen chairs. Lance teased Justin that he had no ass, and they bickered good-naturedly for a moment before moving to the couch in the living room, so Jackson joined them.
Justin picked him up and greeted him like an old friend, hugging and petting him and talking to him in a low voice. Jackson was happy he made Justin happy, even if Justin was thanking him for ridiculous things he had no influence on whatsoever. Jackson couldn't help it if Justin was delusional. Then Justin stopped talking and started thinking at Jackson again. Jackson was slightly worried, knowing that Lance didn't like it when Justin did that, but when he listened to Lance's thoughts, Lance had decided not to stop Justin. Apparently Lance didn't think he could help Justin's delusions either, and if Jackson liked Justin paying attention to him, then it was okay.
Jackson did like Justin paying attention to him, delusional or not, but then, Jackson was a dog and just liked attention. Lance should remember that, but he was worrying about Jackson's choices now, something about his "social network", or some such ridiculous human thing. Lance needed to not copy Justin's insanity the way JC did and remember that Jackson was just a dog. Jackson turned his attention back to Justin's thoughts, even if he couldn't answer them the way Justin thought he could.
If he had been a human, Jackson would have gasped at Justin's thoughts; Justin was asking Jackson for advice on loving Lance, if he should try to be Lance's mate. Jackson wished with all his canine heart that just this once Justin could hear someone else's thoughts, either Jackson's or Lance's, because that was exactly what Lance wanted, even if he couldn't admit it to himself. Jackson trembled in his eagerness, staring into Justin's eyes and willing him to understand.
Somehow, Justin understood and thanked Jackson profusely in a tender, gentle tone before patting his back and putting him down. Jackson was so elated he ran from the room, frisking for joy.
He came back to listen to Lance and Justin make out for a while though, filled with joy that they were both making each other happy. Justin's phone rang, and then Lance was slightly mad at him, accusing Justin of making up the part about Jackson telling Justin to kiss him. Jackson had to agree, but only because Justin made up ALL the things he thought Jackson told him. Still, he had understood when it was important; that had to count for something.
They argued for a little bit, but it was gentle, and Justin was coaxing Lance into acceptance. Justin had just began touching Lance, making Lance's thoughts pretty much scatter, when Justin's phone rang again.
Lance had evil thoughts about phones, and Jackson couldn't help but agree, huffing unhappily as Lance went to the kitchen and mentally talked himself back into all his doubts. Justin's stubbornness was a good thing in this case though, because he told Lance they would have to finish the conversation later and ignored Lance's attempts to dissuade him. Jackson smiled to himself, knowing things would work out as Justin left.
A few nights later, Lance came home miserable. Jackson whined at him in sympathy and listened carefully to his master's thoughts to try to find out what was wrong. Lance smelled of fruity alcohol and discount lotions, and faintly of Robert and Justin. Jackson pressed against his master's leg and listened closely; apparently Lance had had a fight with Justin, and now they weren't going to see each other for a while. Jackson whined in distress, whining more when Lance's thoughts turned to the fact that it had been Jackson they had been fighting about.
Jackson fled, and ignored Lance for the next week, other than staring at his master to both accuse and plead. Lance ignored him back at first, distracting himself from thoughts of Justin by keeping himself occupied with useless Hollywood things. Jackson kept up the silent lack-of-affection routine, and Lance finally noticed, taking Jackson on long walks, getting him treats and brushing him, but Jackson made sure not to respond to any of it. He had to make Lance understand that he was making a mistake. He had been so confident when he got Justin to understand; he hadn't realized Lance still needed convincing.
After a week, Lance realized he had to do something different. He sat down in the living room and pulled Jackson into his lap, looking at him intently. Jackson looked back, showing Lance that he was ready to listen and hoping Lance had figured things out.
Lance apologized for Jackson's missing Justin, but he still insisted Justin had been using Jackson and refused to accept that he was attracted to his pack-mate. Jackson's heart broke, but Lance begged him to stop pouting and said that it was a difficult time for him, too, and that he wanted to keep busy and not think about the things that disturbed him.
Jackson sighed, then ran to the kitchen to wait by his treat jar. This signaled that he was no longer pouting, but he also hoped Lance would realize that his bribing Jackson wasn't any better than Justin doing so, even if Justin's bribery was a result of his delusions.
Lance told him he was comfortable with bribery in this situation, and gave Jackson a pig's ear. Jackson accepted the treat because he had decided to stop pouting, but he was still sorely disappointed. He had not wanted Lance to follow Justin's delusions, darn humans.
A few days later JC came to visit, and Lance was testy with him from the get go. Lance thought Justin had sent JC over, but then again, that was exactly what had happened. Lance couldn't hear JC's or Justin's thoughts, but he was still smart and knew his pack-mates well. Jackson waited just outside the hallway to listen to their conversation and thoughts, ready to come in when needed.
They were talking about Justin and Jackson, arguing about being psychic. Jackson sighed, because they were never going to get anywhere if Lance just kept running in circles, no matter who he was arguing with. That, and he was starting to believe that Jackson knew the future, just like Justin and JC did. Jackson did not need his master being just as crazy as his pack-mates, so he trotted in to let JC see him and serve as a distraction.
JC greeted Jackson warmly and called him buddy, so Jackson trotted over to him happily. JC said he wanted Jackson to give him some "intel", and Jackson barked in amusement, because JC was even sillier than Justin was. But he let JC scratch his back anyway, and JC noticed that Lance was getting jealous, just as he had over Justin receiving Jackson's attention. Lance needed to learn to open up and share, silly master.
They argued a little bit, but JC knew his pack-mates and knew their problems; he soon told Lance that he needed to sort things out with Justin. JC's thoughts were about using Jackson as something called "metaphor", and then he was thinking about music, so Jackson stopped listening. He liked his humans' voices, but he didn't know anything about music, nor particularly care, so he wandered away from JC to the middle of the room, waiting for the humans to figure themselves out.
JC had more strange thoughts about Jackson and spiritual wisdom and all sorts of other things Jackson didn't have a clue about, but he knew JC was trying to use Jackson to prove something to Lance. He called Jackson to come over, and Lance was annoyed with JC's "tactics". If JC's strange thoughts were "tactics", he certainly had lots of them.
Jackson laid down and closed his eyes, ignoring them both.
JC laughed at that, then finished talking with Lance about Justin. Lance thought Justin and JC were both very unsubtle, which Jackson thought was hardly a revelation, then he and JC made up as friends, hugging before Lance shoved JC out the door.
The next day, Lance was thinking about taking Jackson to visit Justin, and Jackson was so excited he danced around his carrier, unable to wait to get into the silly thing if it would enable him to see Justin. Things would work out if Lance and Justin just talked to each other, Jackson was sure of it.
Lance was so nervous he was wondering if Jackson hated everything Lance bought for him, which was just crazy. Listening to Lance's thoughts to figure out why on earth he would be thinking such a ridiculous thing, Jackson was unsurprised to learn Justin was responsible. Jackson barked at Lance in frustration to get going, and Lance finally acquiesced, thinking that Jackson must know where they were going. Of course he did; how could he not when his master was thinking about it so nervously? Honestly, humans were just insane.
They got to Justin's house, and a lady told Lance that it was his fault Justin was broken. Lance thought of what Justin would do and did it, smiling at the lady and telling her it was great to see her and they would talk soon. The Rachel assistant lady went away, scowling to herself. Frankly, Jackson thought Rachel was a wonderful assistant and a smart person, too. He had never seen her before, but she could obviously see Lance and Justin's problems with each other and wanted them to fix it. She was quite clearly smart.
Lance hurried up the stairs to Justin's room and pushed his way inside when he saw the door was ajar. Jackson struggled madly in his carrier, practically vibrating with impatience for Lance to open it, scurrying across the floor when he did. Justin was lying on his bed, which was higher than Lance's but Jackson used his claws to climb the side and hurried over to Justin side, wagging his tail in delight, knowing they were about to fix things.
Justin groaned sleepily, then smiled and greeted Jackson, petting him softly. Jackson basked in the attention because he really had missed Justin, but Lance just waited awkwardly in the background until Justin asked him if he was going to talk or not. Lance carefully approached and asked Justin how he was doing. Jackson rolled his eyes as Justin sat up, because it was obvious Justin wasn't doing well; that's what Rachel had been complaining about. Justin asked Lance to give him a moment with Jackson, then started thinking at him again, quietly.
Jackson took a moment to listen to Lance instead, worried when he heard Lance thinking that Justin wanted to "talk" to Jackson more than to him. Justin was just thinking about Lakers again, but Jackson noticed with curiosity that Justin's delusions were because he deluded himself with his own thoughts. He was thinking about Jackson telling him about Lakers and basketball, which was completely ridiculous since basketballs were too big for Jackson to play with, and he knew Justin knew more about basketball than almost anybody, anyway. But underneath those thoughts, the rest of Justin's mind was thinking about himself and Lance and their problems, how they had misunderstood each other and the fact that right now was their opportunity to make things right. The back of Justin's head finished thinking about Lance for a moment, and Justin thanked Jackson for listening and told him he was going to talk to Lance now.
Good, you idiot. was all Jackson could think about that.
Justin invited Lance to sit beside him on the bed, and Lance did. They spoke of apologies, each thinking the other owed them one, and Lance was irritated by that but impressed with Justin at the same time. It made Lance smirk, and that made Justin smile back, which made Lance think of his heart seizing up, in the good way. He began to apologize anyway, but Justin cut him off impatiently. Lance tried to explain, to tell Justin that if he wanted to be in a relationship, they could try, of course they could, but he couldn't get the words out.
Justin shifted his attention to Jackson in the meanwhile, the top of his head still thinking sports at him, while the rest was figuring out all the things Lance wasn't saying.
"What?" Justin asked him softly, and Jackson just stared back, waiting for Justin's surface thoughts to catch up with the rest of his brain. Lance stared at Justin staring at Jackson, his thoughts turning to consider that using Jackson as a mediator would make for a very strange threesome. Jackson was irritated; Lance was falling under the spell of Justin's ridiculous delusions the same as JC had.
"Are you sure?" Justin asked Jackson, the front of his mind still thinking about Lakers and the rest realizing that he just needed to make a definitive first move for Lance to accept.
Jackson barked at Justin to let him know he was an idiot.
"Absolutely sure?" Justin asked again, and Jackson just stared at him, letting his point speak for itself. Dead people were less dense than Justin sometimes, honestly.
"All right. Okay then," Justin said, then gently helped Jackson off the bed. He lifted the sheet a little and invited Lance to join him in the bed, and the thought that Justin was naked flashed across Lance's mind, making him breathe in deeply and unsteadily. Justin told Lance he knew how Lance felt and that it was going to be all right, so he should just do it. Lance's mind was tangled up with thoughts that he needed more time to think, but his hands took off his clothes until he was just in his boxers, climbing into the bed with Justin, who pressed him back against the mattress and kissed him deeply.
Justin told Lance he was probably in love with him, and that Lance was already half in love with Justin, so they should work out great if Lance just gave them the chance. Lance yelled at Jackson, but Jackson was already hiding under the bed. He hadn't expected Lance to think he had told Justin anything -he had hoped Lance wouldn't believe Justin could hear Jackson's thoughts, since it wasn't true- but he knew he was supposed to wait until after they were done before joining Lance on the bed, and the door was closed, so where else was he supposed to go to be out of sight?
Justin laughed and asked why Lance was mad at Jackson, and Lance explained that he preferred to tell Justin how he felt, not have his dog do it. Jackson thought that was ridiculous, but he was amused when Justin did, too. Justin still thought that Jackson had only been giving him Lakers advice, not Lance advice, and told Lance so. He claimed he didn't need a dog to tell him that sort of thing, and Jackson was thoroughly amused, because Justin had figured that much out for himself, even if he thought Jackson told him other things.
Lance and Justin were still touching each other, but Lance asked for one thing first. Justin wanted to know what was more important than touching at that moment, and Lance answered that he needed to talk to Justin's dogs.
Jackson made a mournful face under the bed.
If Lance was going to assume his new mate's delusions, he would just have to deal with the consequences.
But at least he would have one of his pack-mates as his life-mate to deal with it, and anything else that came along in their lives, and that was good. The very best.
