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When Barkingham Palace calls and asks for a photoshoot involving some dogs and the Richmond Boys, could Rebecca even say no?
Rebecca felt guilty saying no, and she just couldn't bring herself to say it!
So, Rebecca had called her boyfriend gaffer and said that there would be some photographers on the pitch, Ted automatically assumed the boys knew about it and didn’t ask questions, she was the boss after all.
They did not know about it.
The Richmond boys were shocked when gathering on the pitch and noticing all the fancy cameras, people buzzing around with excitement as they got stuff ready.
Rebecca had come down to watch and brought Higgins with her, wanting to see how the boys would do with some proper photography. Both of them sat in the lower stands as Ted and Beard approached the group of men with Roy flanking behind them.
“Alright boys! Listen to the photographers and no fussin, the Boss says we gotta do this for the dogs.” Ted had told them as they all gathered around, Dani eyeing the group of photographers. He refused to look over at the portable dog kennels.
“Ey, it’s ok, it’s just a dog.” Jamie assured Dani with a pat on the shoulder, not seeing his friend flinch as one of the kennel workers opened up the crate, which released all the dogs.
The dogs flooded the section filled with people, many of them making a fuss about the new friends as they ran in circles. The director told the team to grab a dog and wished them luck while letting everyone else try and catch the strays. Ted then waved his hand out to signal them leaving, and the Richmond boys were off. Left and right, players were picking up dogs and holding them tight. They were told to play with that dog until the individual photo, where they would have multiple dogs.
The director chose Jamie first, and it wasn't long before the player was sitting on a patch of grass with over four puppies in his lap. Meanwhile, the other players were having the time of their life, not noticing the distressed noises coming from Dani. There was a silver Greyhound who was chasing Dani, thinking he wanted to play.
Rebecca laughed at first while Dani ran around, until he collided into Issac and basically tried to climb the man. Luckily for Dani, Ted stepped up and managed to calm the poor player, convincing him to come inside until it was his turn. She'd have to give him a bonus of some sort, now realizing that he had probably been traumatized by his previous encounter with a greyhound.
Instead of Dani being followed, the Greyhound had spotted Rebecca and trotted towards her with the tail going nuts. She went over to Rebecca's side, butt still wiggling.
"Hello lovely! Aren't you a doll?" Rebecca cooed as she bent down to pet the dog, Higgins following suit. The Greyhound then jumped up into the seat beside Rebecca, turning to face her with what could almost appear as a smile.
"Seems like she was a person in her past life." Higgins joked lightly as he patted the dog's back while her tail thumped against the seat. She kept looking at Rebecca, her eyes pleading for the woman to give her attention. It worked clearly, because Rebecca couldn't help but give the dog some chin scratches. The dog stayed in the seat until Sam's name was called up next, suddenly having another interest as she jumped out of the seat and took off running. After running around, she once again found Dani and followed him quietly, sneaking into the tunnel and into the door before Ted could close it. She was inside!
Nate swore he saw something run past him, something small and grey. He had sent Will out to grab some extra trainers for the boys and bring it to them, unsure how messy the other trainers would become after a day with the dogs. While Will was off, Nate had been doing some laundry in the locker room by himself, until a loud thud scared the life out of him. It sounded close, so Nate dropped what he was doing and listened for the sound again, but was met with a greyhound staring at him from the doorway of the boot room.
"...how did you get in here?" Nate asked himself aloud, completely baffled as the dog stared at him. They had a staring contest for two seconds, then the dog bolted into the boot room. Of course, Nate followed behind the dog, shocked to see that many of the trainers were now on the ground. He gasped as the dog held a semi-wet shoe in her mouth, tail wagging like crazy.
"What? Hey!"
The dog dropped the shoe then bolted once again, going under his legs without even a second to space. Nathan was stunned, unable to move as the very scene played in his mind. There was a dog in here, and it got into the trainers. Wait, why was one of the shoes wet?
"Oh! That's not funny!!" Nate had cried out to nobody in particular, throwing his hands up in the air. He groaned and went to grab a towel, cursing the dog as he picked up the shoe with the towel. At least it was one shoe.
The Greyhound was on a new mission, and that was to find the delicious smell!! Her nose was going crazy, and it led her to the coaches office. She looked up, her nose catching a whiff of a delicious sandwich sitting there. The dog crept closer while sniffing, stopping as she heard someone close by. It was Ted, and he seemed to be in the other office without knowing she was there. Slowly and carefully, the dog placed her paws on the side of the desk, barely managing to snag the brown bag full of sandwich. She tore into the bag and ate the sandwich within seconds, not leaving a single crumb behind. The sound of more rustling startled her, and she jumped in fright.
Ted had pulled a brown sandwich bag from his backpack and placed it on Trent's desk, still not noticing the dog in the other room. The smell of the sandwich caught the dogs attention. She watched carefully as Ted had his back turned, creeping up with the stealth of a ninja and slowly trying to grab the bag. It took a few seconds before her teeth could grab ahold of the bag pulling the package without trying to make a sound. Luckily, she managed to set the bag down and tare into both the bag and sandwich, not knowing how much noise she was making was what alerted Ted.
He stepped closer and the dog stopped, turning to face him. She'd been caught in the act.
"Hey! Thief!!" Ted cried out as he took off with a slight 'oof', throwing himself around the corner as the dog took off running. Beard appeared a second too late as he turned the corner, and now both coaches were chasing a Greyhound through the locker rooms.
She was fast!
She ran her little heart out, eventually finding the door out as she spotted it from a distance. Higgins had opened the door on his way in, clearly not seeing the chaos about to unfold. The poor man became startled as the dog whizzed by and under his feet, almost knocking him off balance. Ted and Beard were right behind her, almost running into Higgins on their way out.
The dog had made her escape and was now running wildly around the pitch, her attention now becoming short as she quickly got bored. It took a second, but the dog spotted Rebecca and dashed over to her side, tail wagging in delight as they made eye contact.
From the tunnel, both Beard and Ted came running out, almost exhausted. Beard then threw his hand out, landing in the middle of Ted's chest as to stop him. With a heavy huff, he pointed over to Rebecca with the culprit. She was now in the middle of the pitch with the dog at her attention.
“Boss! How could ya?” Ted cried out in fake shock, watching the scene in front of him while Rebecca ignored him. Her focus was on the dog in front of her, bending down so she could get to the appropriate level.
“Hi darling, can you shake?” Rebecca softly as the dog stared at her, as if thinking heavily on Rebecca’s request. The dog threw her paw up, holding it for Rebecca like it was a must see attraction. Rebecca laughed in response, placing the palm of her hand on the dog’s paw, as if giving her the high five.
“Boss! She ate OUR sandwiches!” Both Ted and Beard cried out at the same time, watching the scene unfold in front of them. It was sudden, but there was another presence beside them, which revealed to be Nate. He looked just as distraught.
“It also peed into Dani’s shoes!.” Nathan added with a huff while adjusting his arms, placing them on his hip while he complained.
“Why, a lady would never!” Rebecca rebutted playfully as she held the dogs paw, shaking it up and down for an official handshake. “She’s precious, aren’t you darling?”
"That is a sandwich thief!" Beard explained loudly while pointing at the dog, causing Rebecca to laugh.
"Oh! There she is! You absolute rotten dog!!"
There was a woman running towards them in high heels, and Rebecca knew this woman as she got closer. It was the head of Barkingham Palace, and she looked furious.
"She's a runner! Goodness, I thought she was back at the facility! Must of snuck in! Naughty lady." The woman told the dog with a pointed finger, giving the greyhound a glare. "I'm so sorry Miss Welton! She's a bit of a stubborn thing, Lady Grey used to be a racing dog! Now she's just a mess."
"It's alright, she's been lovely." Rebecca told the woman softly, standing up and dusting herself off. The dog crept closer and sat right by her side, eyes looking up at Rebecca. "She's a doll."
"I was hoping with her retirement she'd calm down, clearly not! What a wild child." The other woman laughed lightly with a shake of her head. "Not gonna find a home with that kind of energy."
"I will take her, a lovely lady needs a lovely home to call her own." Rebecca admitted proudly as she bent down and pulled Lady Grey into her arms, the dog wiggling her butt in response. "How big should the donation be?"
Clearly the woman was not expecting that, because she stayed silent with her mouth slightly ajar. While she tried to come up with an answer, Rebecca had turned to Ted with a smile while batting her eyelashes at him. It took two seconds for Ted to crumble, letting out a sigh as he turned towards the tunnel.
"I'll get the checkbook!" He called out while leaving, throwing his hands in the air in mock surrender. Rebecca turned back towards the woman, looking more than pleased. Lady Grey did too, giving the supervisor a look that clearly said 'take that, crazy lady! I win!'
Lady Grey: 1, Barkingham Palace: 0