A/N: Another day full of reviews on this story. Thank you all! It's good to know that I can throw a few of you for a loop still. I fully agree, rescued dogs are the best! Of the seven pups I have had in my life, five of them have been rescues. All of ones I have had in my adult life have all been adopted. I dedicate this chapter to Copper, Peanuts, Rascal, Rocky, Chewy, Chase, and Max. Although six of you have passed over to the Rainbow Bridge, I cherished the years we had together and still love and miss you all! Max is still here keeping me company and tormenting the neighbor's cat, but that is another story!


Mac grabs the umbrella off the passenger side floor, cinches her coat, and opens the door. Walking around the front of her vehicle, she walks carefully over the slippery terrain to head over to where the dog went, just past where the grass ends and the forest begins. When she reaches the animal, she cautiously extends her hand in front of the dog's nose, and the poor baby whimpers. Mac looks down in the box next to the dog and notices six soaked puppies that can't be any more than a few weeks old. Cursing silently to herself, wanting to murder whatever jerk dumped these animals on the side of the road, she heads to the back of her SUV. She doesn't want to anger the pup that is clearly protecting its young, but she also knows that they need to get out of the elements. There is no way she is calling Animal Control, so she will just have to figure out a way to handle this herself.

They always keep a box of snacks in the car for when the kids need something to munch on. Mac opens the trunk of the SUV and rummages through the box, looking for something that she can use to perhaps coax the mother toward her. She doesn't have any idea what dogs eat although its possible they will eat just about anything right now. She doesn't find anything other than chocolate chip cookies and she vaguely remembers hearing that chocolate can kill dogs. She is about to slam the door in frustration wondering what she is going to do when she hears a vehicle approaching behind her.


Harm is just turning on the same street and notices his wife's SUV pulled off on the side of the road with her at the back of it barely shielded from the rain. Immediately on high alert, he pulls off the side of the road behind her, slams the car in park and jumps out, not caring how wet he gets. Running frantically towards her he yells, "Mac, what's wrong? Do you have a flat?"

She turns around grateful to see her husband, and offers him a small frown. If it wasn't for the difference in temperature, she wouldn't have noticed the warm salty tears intermixing with the cold rain on her cheeks. "Nope, the car is fine. I almost hit a dog. Trisha yelled for me to 'stop' and I did, and it ran off toward the woods. I went to make sure it was okay."

Harm wraps his big arms around her, "Are you too upset to drive? I can take you guys home and ask the neighbors to bring me back to my car. You need to get out of the rain!"

Mac pushes him away. Sometimes his overprotectiveness really drives her nuts. She is about ready to give him her "I'm a Marine speech" but instead tells him, "I'm fine, I'll go sit in the car." She points to the area where the dog ran off to and says, "But you walk towards that box over there and tell me what you think we should do? I swear the universe is playing some sort of cosmic joke on me today and for once I'm going to blame a Marine!"


Mac sits back down in her warm vehicle, slightly shivering from the dampness of her clothes. She reaches over and turns the heat on full blast. Trisha, wondering what took her Mom so long to get back, cautiously asks from the backseat, "Is the doggy okay, Mommy?"

Mac replies, "Yes, honey. It ran off into the trees. It didn't get hurt."

Trisha smiles, thankful that the dog is okay. She didn't see her Dad pull up behind them at all. She asks, "Can we go home now. I'm hungry."

Mac answers, "We'll go in a just a few minutes, honey."

Harm heads over in the direction that Mac indicated and his heart simply melts at the sight before him. The momma dog has her nose buried deep inside the box and she is licking the fur of her young. He runs back to his car and calls Mac on her cell so that the kids don't know what is going on, "Sweetie, I think we are going to have to take them in, at least for the night. I know that you aren't thrilled about the idea of a dog, but I don't want to leave them out here. We can see if there is an emergency vet or rescue that we can contact, but I'm not sure that we will be able to do anything with them until the morning. I don't think we should call Animal Control, but I'm not sure what we need to do for them either other than get them warm and dry and comfortable. Why don't you head home, put some fresh clothes on, and call the Peterman's to ask if you can borrow Louie's leash and see if one of them can stay with the kids. Bring some hot dogs and blankets back and we'll see if we can get Mama on the leash coaxing her with the food and get her and the puppies in the car."

Mac sighs deeply, resigning herself to the fact that at least for the night they will have seven dogs in residence. "Okay, Harm. I'll be there as soon as I can."

As Harm watches Mac drive towards their house, he puts on his hazard lights, pulls out his large umbrella and walks back over to keep vigil over the pups until the cavalry arrives with the needed supplies.