Outskirts Of Appleby, North Lincolnshire

Rachel was then sprawled out on the floor with her new puppy, playing tug-o-war with an old newspaper.

[*Takes puppy home*]

"... What is this?" Nicolas asked as he entered the kitchen. "Rachel, what did we agree on?"

"We agreed that we would talk about getting a dog," she said as he continued to pull on the newspaper, while the puppy was trying to act ferocious. "And here we are now, talking about it! This is Logan by the way. He's a German Shepherd. Isn't he adorable?!"

"Talk about it BEFORE we got one!" Nicolas tried not to shout, but his voice raised a bit. God, how he always hated it when Rachel went and spent his money.

Rachel just rolled her eyes, and began to stroke Logan's little head. "Hold your horses, Mr. Scrooge. I bought him with my OWN money I earned selling sweaters. And besides!" she scooped Logan in her arms and faced him towards Nick. "How could you possibly say no to this adorable, innocent sweet face?!"

Nicolas stared at it for a moment, straight into those dark eyes. But then he melted and took Logan in his arms. "Whoooo's a cute puppy? You are!"

Rachel laughed. "I KNEW you'd like him! Just look at you melt!"

The doorbell rang 10 times in rapid succession.

Rachel shook her head. "Just a minute," she mumbled, and she went to answer the door.

Even after Rachel opened the door, Olivia continued to set off the bell. "I cannot get over this! I mean, yours has an actual melody, or something!"

"Um..." Rachel looked taken back. "Thanks? Olivia, do you have a doorbell collection or something?"

"No." She stopped ringing and looked up. "Looks like rain; may I come in?"

"Oh, yeah! Of course." she said, opening it up wider to let Olivia in. She secretly hoped that she wouldn't notice her tensing up.

"Sorry if I'm bothering you. I just needed to talk to--" Liv crossed within view of the living room, and she gasped. "PUPPY!" she exclaimed.

Rachel laughed. "Yeah, I got us a new puppy today! But what did you want, Liv?" she asked quickly.

It seemed, upon laying eyes on the dog, Olivia had completely lost her train of thought. "Who's a cute little woojaaboo YOU ARE! OH-YES-YOU-ARE!" And the like.

"...Olivia, please?" she asked desperately.

"Oh, I'm sorry." Olivia released the dog. "I'm intruding. Okay. Let's say... Okay, this girl where I work? Today she was all, 'Oh-I-hate-kids-I'm-getting-an-abortion-what-do-you-think'. And I was just wondering what you'd have said, being so wise about this sort of thing and all..."

Rachel took Logan and held him in her arms, while looking very thoughtful. "It's against my Church's doctrine to believe in abortion, Olivia. But, from a non biased standpoint..." She stroked her head, gazing at the floor for a couple minutes.

"I think she should keep the baby, unless she has a truly justified excuse, like she would die giving birth to it. I think she would highly regret it later, and would hate herself for doing it. I mean, it's her BABY. Her flesh and blood. You wouldn't do that to your child. Besides," she stretched back. "Her and husband should have timed better if they weren't interested!"

Olivia looked at the ceiling. Awful plain. She mulled over Rachel's opinion for a minute or so. "No scotch for six months?"

"No scotch for six months." she said bluntly. "I had to give up wine when I was pregnant. You get used to it."

"That sucks."

"Yes. It does. But Liv, you're going to be SOOOO happy in the end!"

"Parasites! I bet you're hollow in there by now."