Hey guys, what's up. I'm sorry about the long wait, I had a bit of a dental emergency. My wisdom teeth were removed, and most of the experience was unbearable. But now I'm tanned, I'm rested, and I'm ready to make this story explode with material that will make you relate. In case of emergency, the exit should be at your front door.

Oliver took a moment to take in his surroundings then he slowly made his way over to the bed on the other side of the room. He descended his paw on the comforter and sighed at the touch of the warm mattress. To Oliver, it was just like holding a mug of warm milk. Wanting to make the experience last, he slowly turned the blanket over, took his time climbing on the bed, then finally slipped under the covers.

Before Oliver was out on the streets, his mother would just make him sleep on an old, hard mattress without any covers at all. When he was completely satisfied, Oliver's thoughts went back to the guy who called himself Dodger. "What's going to happen now?"

Before his question could be answered, his eyelids felt too heavy to keep up and so he let them close and allowed sleep to take over.

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Dodger hung up the phone after making those calls and went over to the couch where he slowly slouched on with a heavy sigh. The others took note of this and wondered what was going to happen in their lives. Rita was the first to apprehend Dodger on the situation.

"Dodger,", she said in her most serious voice, "are you sure that you know what you're doing?"

"Course Rita," Dodger responded, "the kid was in trouble, I saw that he has nowhere else to go, got to know him a little bit, and decided to help out."

Rita gave him a smile hearing him say this. Dodger then became defensive.

"What?"

"Nothing Dodge, I just think that it's kind of sweet."

That was actually half true. Rita began to suspect that Dodger's act of selfless good will was him relating to the childhood he had as a pup. She didn't want to bring it up because she thought that it was just too cute to spoil.

After about thirty minutes of a quiet afternoon just watching TV, the doorbell rang; much to Dodger's delight. "Great, it's about time."

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Oliver was in peace until he slowly woke up and looked around for a clock to know what time it was. When he realized that there wasn't one, he just looked through the window and saw that the sky was red and that meant that he slept through the rest of the day. Sighing to himself, Oliver went over to the door and hesitantly entered the hallway.

Once he entered the living room, he was surprised to see that the whole group of dogs were at the couch waiting for him with two newcomers, police. One was a thin Siamese cat, and the other was barrel-chested saint Bernard.

"Um," Oliver was very timid around these strangers, "h- hello."

"Hello son.", the saint Bernard used his kindest voice. "I'm Officer Heart, and we're here to help you."

"Help me.", Oliver squeaked a little.

"Don't be afraid,", Officer Heart tried to coax the kitten into cooperating, "we're not going to hurt you, you're not in trouble, we just wanna help. Now, take a seat and we'll begin."

Oliver turned his head over to Dodger.

"It's all right kid,", reassured Dodger, "everything will be just fine."

Oliver trusted his words then made his way to the table to sit on one of the chairs.

"Okay," said Office Heart, "now, from what we heard, and I am trying to say this in a way that won't upset more than you are now, that you've been thrown out by your mother." Oliver looked down with a sad look in his eyes.

"Now take your time. I know that this is very hard for you, and we'll be very patient."

Oliver swallowed a hard lump in his throat before deciding to let it out. "It- it actually started way before that. It's kind of a long story."

"Go on then.", Officer Heart encouraged.

With one last sigh, Oliver began to tell them everything. "Before my mom threw me out, I mostly never left the apartment. I did my best to stay out of her way, but she would always yell and then hurt me. I hated it there. There was always empty bottles, ash trays, and it always smelled. I thought that was all going to be the same until that night."

FLASHBACK

"I'M SICK OF THIS!", Oliver's mother was in another drunken rage, constantly at was with her loose curlers and baggy blue robe. "WHY DO YOU ALWAYS INSIST ON PISSING ME OFF YOU LITTLE SHIT?! DO YOU LOVE IT?! IS THAT IT?!"

"Mama, please.", poor Oliver whimpered as he cornered himself against the wall. "I didn't do anything, I swear."

"OH, THAT'S THE SAME DAMN EXUSE THAT I'VE BEEN HEARING FOR THE PAST EIGHT YEARS! YOU SHOULDN'T EVER BEEN BORN IN THE FIRST PLACE!"

She sat down on chair and clamped a hand over her eyes.

"Oh, life would be so much easier if it wasn't for that damn party. He was so handsome and I just had to have him. My life was going to be perfect, but then you came along. I would've been happy if it wasn't for you. Always getting on my nerves, complaining, and eating away with my money."

"Mama, you're scaring me."

"OH I'M SCARING YOU?! GOOD!"

Oliver's abusive mother stood up again.

"BECAUSE I WON'T BE SCARING YOU ANYMORE!"

"Wh- what are you-"

"ARE YOUREALLY THAT STUPID! I'M THROWING YOU OUT!"

"But-"

"SHUT UP! SHUT THE HELL UP!"

Oliver's mother grabbed the empty wine bottle off the table.

"GET OUT OF MY LIFE YOU LEECH!"

After she threw the bottle against the wall, Oliver quickly got up and ran through the door trying to find a safer place to go.

END OF FLASHBACK

"Then I just kept running until I found an alley where I could sleep in."

"My my.", Officer Heart and the others in the room had open mouths after hearing this heart breaking story. "Thank you, young man. I believe that just about sums it up. You can go back and get some sleep now."

"Hang on.", said Dodger, "Aren't you going to ask him where he lived, so that you can arrest that hateful she-cat?"

"Relax, we've dealt with cases like this before, so I'm sure that we'll find the right messed up neighborhood to find her."

Feeling satisfied, Dodger went over to Oliver to coax him back to the bedroom.

"Alright kid, looks like they know what they're doing. Now get some shut eye. Things will look better in the morning."

"Oh, okay." Oliver smiled at Dodger's caring nature then went back to the bedroom in the hall.

"Are you sure that you want to do this?", asked Officer Heart, "This will probably add more stress in your shop."

"I'm sure that we'll manage.", answered Dodger. "Besides, I'll be sure that he's not in anyone else's way."

"All right. You're meeting with childhood services is tomorrow at 1:00. I hope you know what you're doing."

When the officers left, Rita was again the first to speak up.

"I hope so to Dodge."

"The kid won't be a problem Rita, I promise."

"I'm sure that he won't Dodger.", said Frances, "Though, it's not us that we're concerned about."

"Yeah, man.", said Tito, "I mean the poor chico's been through hell."

"Yeah,", said Dodger, "but he doesn't have to be alone. Not anymore."

taa-daa. Take a moment to breath, I know, it's much, but in case of nausea, barf bags should be in your home bathroom.