The Cost Of Winning

ASHLEY'S POV :

"No, no, no! Yous no can has that, her's mine!" I hear Bren shriek from the hallway, so I put down my guitar and step out of the music room, almost running into Fianna, who is coming from the living room. Something bumps into my leg, and I look down to see Yoda, dragging Pickle by one ear, and Bren chasing behind in tears.

I bend down and grab the puppy, while Fi pries his mouth open, and Pickle falls to the floor, somewhat the worse for wear. Her ear is mostly detached from her head, and stuffing has leaked out onto the floor. Bren takes one look at this, and cries harder as Fi picks her up.

"Bad Yoda! Me ams mad on you, yous bwoke Pickle!"

"Brenna, you shouldn't be mad at Yoda, he's too little to know better, we have to teach him. I seem to remember Mommy telling you to keep your toys where he can't reach them, if you don't want him to have them, don't I?"

She pouts slightly, but nods and hiccups, "Uh huh, but Pickle were on mines chair, her no were on the fwoor, Daddy! And her ams all bwoke now, and me no more cans pway wif she, or has she for seepin'! That were naughty! Her were mines fwend!"

She buries her face in Fi's neck and keeps crying, so I put Yoda down and pick the toy up from the floor. I look closer at it, and realize that he just pulled the seam open, and didn't tear the actual fabric too badly. "Hey, cutie, it's okay. I can put her ear back on for you, and then you can play with her all you want. It'll just take a few minutes."

She lifts her head to look at me, just a bit doubtfully. "Yous for weally cans fix she, Daddy? How yous can does that?"

"Yes, Smidge, Daddy can really fix her," Fianna says. "Daddy makes clothes at his office, so I'm pretty sure he can fix Pickle's ear. And from now on, lets keep her and Wockles on your bed, since he's not big enough to reach them there yet. Your chair is short enough for him to get into, and I guess he wants to play, too."

"That's right, Bren, puppies like toys, too," I tell her, as I pick stuffing off of the floor. "And we have to be very careful anyway, because if he eats any of this stuff, it could make him very sick, and we'd have to take him to the doctor. He might even have to have an operation, kind of like you did."

Her eyes get big, and she makes an "O" with her mouth. "Him's tummy might gots bwoke, too? No wants Yoda to goes byebye, me wuvs he! Me wills puts Pickle and Wockles on mines bed now, so him's can no more eats they."

"Okay, then why don't we go wash your face while Daddy gets the stuff to fix Pickle?" Fi suggests. "Then when we finish, you can watch him, and see how he does it."

They head to the bathroom, and I go to the closet in the music room where I store the design stuff that I keep at home. I pull open the drawer where I keep my thread and stuff, and dig out the closest one I can find to match the nearly-fluorescent green shade of the plush fabric. I grab an upholstery needle, so I can work around the curved areas, and get it threaded as they come into the room. Bren comes to stand by my chair as I sit down, and Fi announces that she's going to take Yoda outside to "do his business" while I perform the repairs.

She grips the arm of the chair, and looks at the needle in my hand. "That don't wook wike Mommy's needlers, Daddy. Why it ams bended?"

"Because Pickle's head is round, cutie, and the straight needles won't go in right," I explain.

I put the stuffing back into the hole, getting it as even as I can before I tie a knot in the thread and start fitting the ear back into place. Bren stands and watches, seeming to be totally fascinated, until I fasten off the last stitch and cut the thread. then she claps her hands and says, "Yay, her's all gooder now! Thank yous, Daddy!"

I hand her the toy, and reply, "You're welcome, Bren. But you can still see where I fixed it, because the thread isn't quite the same color, okay?"

"That otay, it ams wike mines tummy when me has mines oppytation, 'member? Mines were bwack, so they's no the sames color, too. But hers ear no more falls off, and me cans has she for night night."

She runs to put Pickle on her bed as Fi comes back in with Yoda. I reach out and ruffle his ears, saying, "What are we going to do with you, Trouble?"

"First of all, I think a trip to PetSmart is in order, to get him some more toys," Fianna responds. "And then I think we need to check on getting him into obedience school, as soon as they'll take him. I'm not sure how old they have to be for that."

I put Yoda back down on the floor, and he dashes back into the hall as I say, "Yeah, that's probably a good idea, since I'm gonna be starting the tour soon. You'll have enough on your plate with Bren , your website, and planning the wedding, without trying to corral an untrained puppy."

She opens her mouth to answer, but we hear Bren from the hall again, yelling, "No! Mommy ams gonna be mad on you, Yoda! You ams making messies!"

We walk out of the room, expecting to find a puddle on the floor, but instead, he's dashing out of the bathroom, with a mouthful of toilet paper, which is still unspooling from the dispenser as he trots down the hall. She grabs for the paper, while I chase the furry little wrecking ball, catching up to him just before he gets to the living room. "Gonna have to keep the bathroom door closed too, apparently." I observe, as I pry soggy tissue out of his mouth, while he tries to lick me repeatedly.

Fi's phone rings, and after glancing at it, she switches on the speaker, saying, "Hey, Mik! How are the munchkins?"

"They're fine, Ryan and I are somewhat insane now, though," we hear. "I think we've got a couple of night-owls on our hands, because they seem to like sleeping during the day, and keeping us up all night. How's everything on your end?"

"Semi-controlled chaos," Fi answers. "So far today, the waffle iron crapped out in the middle of making breakfast, we've had an emergency stuffed-cat surgery, and the house just got TP'ed from the inside."

Miki breaks out laughing, and says, "Y'know, now that I think about it, I'm not sure which of us has more to deal with. Me, with a pair of insomniac newborns, or you, with a new puppy, a toddler, and a rock star."

"Hey! I'm right here, y'know!" I yell, trying to sound offended, which makes them both crack up. I go to throw the paper streamer in the trash, and I hear Miki ask Fi, "So, are we still on for trying to find your dress tomorrow? Ryan's going to have his first go at watching the girls on his own if we are. And I was thinking, Ash. If you're not too busy, do you think maybe you and Bren could come over, and hang with him?"

"I'm free, but it might be better if they come here. I'm not sure the house will survive if we leave Mr. Fuzzy-Butt here alone for any length of time," I tell her. "We can have a Daddy-Daughter day, and I guess that'll give me a chance to see if I can actually figure out what the heck to do with a baby."

They start discussing what time they want to get started tomorrow, and I'm sort of half-listening, when my phone rings. I check my Caller ID, and see that it's Andy, so I take the call.

"Hey, man! What's up?"

"Dude, I've got bad news, and... other news. Which do you want first?" he asks.

"Always start with the bad news first. What's wrong?"

"Well, we've hit a snag with the artwork for the album," he informs me. "And there are some other issues going on that Blasko is dealing with."

I sigh, and rub my temples. "Yeah, that definitely sucks. So what's the 'other' news, then? And is it good or bad?"

"Kinda depends on what you and Fianna have going on so far. Because of this, it looks like we're going to have to push back the release date, and the tour, of course."

"How far back?"

"As of right now, it's looking like January through March, then a month off, picking back up in late April, and working through some of the summer festivals," he says. "Beyond that, nothing's definite right now."

I consider this for a minute, and then tell him, "Yeah, I can work with that. Fi and I have been talking about having the wedding in December, so if we do it early in the month, we'd still have time for a honeymoon trip, and Christmas with Bren, before I have to leave."

As I'm talking, I notice that she's finished her talk with Miki, and is now giving me a rather confused look. I tell Andy that I need to go explain the situation, and we end the call.

"What was all that about?" she asks, and I tell her about the new schedule, and what I've thought of as far as wedding arrangements go.

"Yeah, that sounds like the best plan," she concurs. "So I guess now we actually have to pin down a date, so Miki can get her people started on the invitations and stuff."

We grab a calendar and flip to December, checking to make sure neither of us already has anything booked that can't be moved. After a couple minutes of this, I ask, "So, how is December 2nd looking for you, babe?"

"It looks great to me!" she says, smiling brightly. "I'll fill Miki in tomorrow, and she can get her crew started on everything."

I lean in to kiss her, and then we hear, "Mommy! Daddy no puts away he's boops, and Yoda tries to eat they!"

Fi dashes out of the room, and I sigh, then call out, "And I guess I'll start looking up obedience schools. Before we all end up barefoot and with no furniture."

Notes