Chapter Text
“What has got into that boy?” muttered Bard as he tried to drag Kíli along on the way home. Normally when he came to pick the two of them up he’d be met with yapping and licking, but today it was only Fíli who greeted him as such. Instead, Kíli had tried to remain in the room with all the other dogs and he had to ask Eowyn for her help in extracting him, as Gandalf seemed to have disappeared off somewhere.
They eventually got his lead on him and his brothers barks and growls seemed to calm him down. He wagged his tail as Bard ruffled his coat as a greeting, but when they tried to leave the centre, he started barking madly and scrabbling to get back into the room again.
It was like there was something in that room he couldn’t get enough of. Something he needed more than anything else, something –
“Oh no” groaned Bard “Tell me you didn’t boy. Please tell me you didn’t.”
Grudgingly, he went back inside to make some inquiries. If his suspicions were correct, then he’d kill that Vet for taking his life savings and then not performing the task. He looked guiltily at Fíli, who seemed unaffected by it all. “Sorry boy.” He muttered “It was for the best you know…”
*
Thranduil couldn’t understand it. Normally when he came down to feed Tauriel in the morning, her bowl would be completely empty from the night before, licked clean, even. But over the last week it’d been barely touched, and when he’d replaced the uneaten pellets with fresh ones, she’d seemed more interested in licking him and getting red hairs all over his suit, than actually eating her food.
“What is with you girl?” He cried as he attempted to put on her lead and get her into the car. She just kept pawing at him and whimpering. She’d never wanted this kind of attention before. Was she sick? Was something going wrong at Gandalf’s? He paused. Thinking for a moment.
If it was nothing serious, than taking her to Gandalf’s was probably the best option. If it was serious though, and it was Gandalf’s fault, then taking her there could make things worse, and Legolas would never forgive him if anything happened to her.
He tapped his phone against his leg, car keys in hand with Tauriel standing up on her hind legs, paws resting on his suit trousers. Gandalf had never messed up before, she’d always been most happy there, if anything was seriously wrong, then surely he’d know what to do. He made a compromise and decided to phone the office. After a moment, a deep voiced man picked up the phone and spoke
“Gandalf’s Hound Activity Centre. Speak.”
“It’s my son’s dog, Tauriel. I think there’s something wrong with her. She’s one of yours. Can you tell me what it is?”
There was a long pause
“Tauriel is not one of mine. She is one of Gandalf's.”
“Yes I am aware of that, but could-“
But the man had already gone. Thranduil stared at his phone. Nobody ever hanged up on him. Let alone mid sentence! He was stunned. The phone began to ring again soon after though and he answered it in such haste he almost dropped it on Tauriel's head.
“Mr Greenleaf!” Cried a familiar voice “I was expecting you to call. Is Tauriel on her way here?”
“Well I was going to bring her to you yes, but she’s been behaving in quite a ridiculous fashion of late, I don’t think you’re the person I ought to be speaking to right now. Who was that man though? The rude one. I demand to know his name! Nobody behaves that way to Thranduil Oropher Greenleaf and”
“Calm down Mr Greenleaf. All is well with Tauriel. Our veterinary team are waiting for her arrival. Dr Evenstar is here specially.”
Thranduil blinked.
“So there is something wrong with her? How do you already know that? Gandalf what are you hiding for me? I demand to know!”
The man chuckled down the phone. “Nothing is wrong with her, Mr Greenleaf. She’s quite well indeed. The father is here as well, so there’s nothing to worry about at all! We can sort it all out like gentlemen. See you in half an hour, Mr Greenleaf.” That was the second time that day he’d been hanged up on, and it was not a nice feeling.
“Right. Tauriel. In.” He demanded, pointing at the open boot. She gave him a wag of her tail and the stared at the boot, but didn’t move. “Oh for goodness” he sighed “Get in the boot, now.” He barked. But the bitch refused to move, instead licking him some more.
In the end he’d had to throw one of her old slobbery chew toys in there for her to fetch, before slamming the door down on her before she could get out. He sighed once more, sat down in his now ruined suit, and drove off, Tauriel’s howling drowning out the radio.
*
“Gandalf, how could you let this happen!” Roared Bard. “We had them both fixed when they were pups! How did this happen!”
“No procedure is 100% effective. Mistakes do happen Bard, it’s not Gandalf’s fault.” Smiled Eowyn, stroking his arm affectionately, as though he were a particularly angry hound in need of calming down.
“Dogs shouldn’t be treated in such a way.” Stated Beorn, solemnly, a floppy eared spaniel in his arms.
Bard sighed “Yes Beorn, I know your opinions on the matter. But he’s all…twitterpated! He won’t stop jumping around and barking. Haven’t you noticed this behaviour in any of your other dogs? Surely it’s not just my Kíli who’s to blame here!” The dog in question was currently trying to pick a fight with one of Aragorn’s Huskies, who was paying no attention to him at all. “And where’s the owner of this bitch. Why isn’t he here yet to answer for all this?”
“Mr Greenleaf is on his way now. He should be here in ten minutes, please, Bard, take a seat and we can all talk about this like gentlefolk.”
Bard huffed and sat down on one of the plush chairs in the office-come-dog-bed.
“I’m not happy Gandalf. You should have seen something was going on.”
“Well,” Gandalf smirked, “you told me they were both fixed. And Mr Greenleaf said nothing to me of Tauriel being in heat. Who am I to stand in the way of true love?”
Eowyn stifled a giggle at this and Bard rolled his eyes once more. He liked Gandalf, he really did, but the man could be so damn frustrating at times! It was like he fed on the chaos he was always causing.
Aragorn popped his head around the door “Arwen said to tell you Mr Greenleaf is here, and that she’s already looking at Tauriel.”
“Thank you Strider. Tell your wife we’ll be round shortly. Now.” He turned to face Bard once again “promise me you will be polite to Mr Greenleaf. He is the one who will be most affected by this, not you.” Bard let out a huff of disbelief but kept quiet “He is one of our best clients and his late-wife was a very talented breeder you know. Tauriel is a fine young thing. You’re very lucky to have a share in her pups!”
“I’d rather have no pups, thank you very much.” But he got up and accompanied Gandalf to the Vet’s office.
On entering the room, Bard’s mouth fell open. He wasn’t sure what to expect from the dog and her owner, but this wasn’t it. He’d expected Mr Greenleaf to be a businessmen, with a swish suit worth more than his house and a phone that had an app for making toast. Whilst it was clear that Mr Greenleaf was all these things, he hadn’t expected the piercing blue eyes and long flowing blonde hair. Bard’s hair was long out of habit, a relic of his punk days, but he usually kept it tied back and out of the way.Indeed, it still had some small, messy plaits in it where Tilda had been playing Hairdressers with him last night.
He suddenly felt all too aware of how unkempt he must look compared to this gorgeous man and his silken locks. Perhaps gorgeous was the wrong word to describe him, breath taking, possibly? Other Worldly? He held himself with such grace and elegance, that he didn’t quite seem human. He knew that most men did not like being called ‘beautiful’ for whatever reason, preferring ‘handsome’ or ‘sexy’, but beautiful was really the only word that could fit. None of that changed how angry he was at the man, of course.
Then there was the dog to consider. Kíli was only about 42cm high at best, but Tauriel seemed closer to 65cm. How on earth did that happen? The logistics of the matter were quite astonishing. Did he fetch a box to stand on, perhaps? Did Fíli give him a leg up? It wouldn’t be the first time the two had worked together to make his life hell.
“Mr Greenleaf, Dr Evenstar, I’d like to introduce Mr Bowman. Mr Bowman’s wife used to work here before her sad passing three years ago, before you joined us.”
Mr Greenleaf simply nodded at him “A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Mr Bowman.”
“Bard.” He corrected automatically “Nobody calls me Mr Bowman unless they want something.” He waited for a response but Mr Greenleaf just raised a fine eyebrow at him, and gave no sense of comradeship in all of this.
“Well, Bard, Mr Greenleaf, I won’t know for sure until her blood tests come back in a couple of days or so, but I’d be confident in guessing that she’s about 2 weeks pregnant at this point.” Smiled Arwen “I know that this perhaps isn’t the news you were hoping to hear, but I’m sure you’ll get more and more excited to meet the pups once they’ve come! I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Belgian Shepherd-Norwegian Elk Cross before. I’m sure they’ll be absolutely adorable!”
“Norwegian Elk?” Mr Greenleaf questioned “Aren’t they those small husky ones? Like the one outside, all yapping and trying to pick fights?”
“Well. That’s what mine are like, yes. Have a problem with Elkhounds?”
“No. Not per say. I’m just, surprised that such a small thing could cause such a lot of trouble. Are you certain this man’s dog is the culprit?”
“Culprit? What’s that meant to mean? My Kíli was acting naturally. You’re the one who shouldn’t have had her here in the first place! Who brings a bitch in heat to a place like this? You’re glad my Kíli was here to protect her!”
“Tauriel is perfectly capable of looking after herself! How was I meant to know about these things?”
Bard let out a short laugh in amazement “I don’t know, by taking an interest in her health? I mean, she is your dog yes? You’re the one who looks after her?”
Mr Greenleaf bristled at this
“Tauriel is my son’s dog. He is currently away at University, so, yes I'm the one who looks after her.”
“Well you’re doing a grand job of it!” He grinned and left the room.
“What a Prick.” Bard muttered under his breath, just loud enough for Eowyn to hear and spill her tea all over herself in a sudden splutter of laughter.
Thranduil stared after the Welshman. Well! That certainly hadn’t happened before! He was having quite a day of it. He was hung up on twice, his son’s dog was pregnant with some tiny mongrel’s pup, and the handsome owner of said mongrel had insulted him and, and, and, had made him feel guilty about it all!
Maybe, maybe he could have done a better job of looking after her. She’d been nothing but loyal all these years, and she meant the world to Legolas. His relationship with his son had always been strained. He’d been too busy running the company to pay much attention to him, but he’d always thought it for the best, keeping the company healthy and securing his son’s future in the process.
Maybe he should have spent a bit more time with him though. After his mother’s death, he’d thrown himself into his work more than ever, maybe that had been a mistake. Legolas had just lost one parent, had Thranduil made him lose another in the process?
He looked down at Tauriel, still sitting on the vet’s table, head cocked towards him. He gave her an awkward pat on the head
“Well Tauriel, I think perhaps I owe you an apology.” The dog wagged her tail and gave his hand a lick, Thranduil took it as a sign of forgiveness and a small smile edged across his face.
Dr Evenstar coughed then, drawing his attention back to her
“As I said, Mr Greenleaf, we won’t know for certain if Tauriel is pregnant until the results come back, but I suggest you start reading up on the subject a little bit.” She handed him some leaflets “These should be a good start. No pregnancy is straightforward, but Tauriel is a very healthy dog and of a good age to give birth, I don’t think there should be too many complications.”
“How many pups can we expect, Dr Evenstar?”
She shrugged “It’s hard to tell. Anywhere between one and ten. We won’t know for certain until she’s a little further along.”
Thranduil gaped at her,
“Ten? What am I going to do with ten mongrels?”
Arwen frowned at him
“Mongrels, as you call them, tend to be the healthiest of dogs. Pedigrees usually have a whole host of issues to worry about. Why, it wouldn't surprise me if Tauriel has some Irish Setter in her, judging by her coat.”
Thranduil gave out another huff “It’ll so much harder to sell them though. Who will want such, odd looking pups?”
A fire began to kindle in Arwen’s eyes,
“I’m sure we’ll be able to help in relieving them from you, since you seem so incapable of looking after them.” She gave him a business card “I’ll call you when the results come in, but in the meantime, contact me if there are any issues.”
“I’m running late to work as it is, am I alright to leave her here?”
“You’ll have to check with Gandalf.” She replied tersely “Now if you excuse me, I have other animals to look after.”
*
That day, the staff at Gandalf’s were all abuzz with the gossip.
“I can’t believe you didn’t realise she was in heat, Gandalf!” Remarked Eowyn rubbing Tauriel’s belly “Didn’t you see anything?”
“I thought all the bitches here were spayed?” Asked Aragorn, narrowing his eyes at the old man
Gandalf let out an amused chuckle “Well, errors happen in these things. I just assumed she had been spayed. It’s not polite to ask a lady these things.” Completely ignoring Eowyn’s question
“Gandalf. What did you do?” Aragorn said, knowing the worst was to come
“Well. Nothing really. I was barely involved. I just decided not to disturb them too much. As I said, who am I to get in the way of true love?”
“Puppy love you mean.” Laughed Eowyn
“Eowyn! This isn’t funny! We could get sued for this. If Greenleaf figures out what you’ve done, he’ll make sure we fold.”
Eowyn tutted at this “We’ll be fine Strider. He should have known better than to bring her in in the first place! He’s more to blame than we are. What's wrong with it? Their puppies will be adorable!” she said, giving Tauriel an appreciative hug.
“That’s not the point Eowyn, it’s a very ser-” but before he could finish his sentence, he’d been tackled from behind by a St Bernard
“At a boy Brego.” she grinned, snapping a photo of her cousin’s dog as it proceeded to drown Aragorn in saliva.
“You’re not going to put that on Facebook are you?”
“No. There’s enough pictures on there of you wiping drool off your face. I’m putting it on snapchat for Faramir to see.”
Arwen rolled her eyes “Do you think there’ll come a day when my husband won’t be covered in dog drool?”
“Probably not.” Grinned Eowyn “This is why I’m engaged to a horse rider, less unwanted drool. You bought it on yourself, Evenstar!”
Gandalf smiled, none of them realised it, but he’d been the one to set them all up. It was amazing how animals could bring people together. First the Evenstars, then the Rohan-Gondors, and now it looked like his new project was going just swimmingly.