It was a wet, timid little thing whimpering in a Port Melbourne alleyway gutter, an alleyway that was one big gutter. Jack couldn't leave it, so it ended up by his fire, in his cold, empty flat, dirtying his only blanket. He pulled the bundle closer, hoping it would survive, wondering why he'd taken in a floppy black spaniely thing, and what to do with it. It shivered, whimpered and yawned, of course he knew why he'd taken it in. He wasn't a monster.

There was a knock at the door. It was after ten, but the long suffering Mr. Butler was well and truly accustomed to late night visitors, especially this one.

'Thank you Mr. Butler, is she in?'

'I'm sure she'll see you, Inspector. Shall I take...?'

'No, I'll hold him, I'll keep him off the carpet.'

After a few minutes of furious effort, Phryne swept into the drawing room dripping with effortless glamour, ready to take on whatever the world threw at her. Almost.

She stopped in her tracks at the sight of Jack, sitting quite nonchalantly on her tiny couch, cradling a fluffy black puppy. To add to her surprise, it sat up, upon seeing her, wagged its tail and barked a few times for good measure. In any other circumstances she would have hidden her surprise with a combination of challenge and sarcasm, this case was a little different. She melted and, ignoring tension, proximity and basic manners, she immediately sat down beside him and ruffled the puppy's scruffy hair.

'Where did you get him? Does he have a name?'

'Leper.' He had the decency to look suitably embarrassed 'I found him in an alley last week, but' he lifted her chin, which took some doing as she was determined to pay her full attention to the dog 'I'm here to ask a huge favour...'

'And thus to become hugely in my debt. Go on.'

'I have to go, tonight. I have urgent business in Sydney...'

'Police business? What could take you suddenly to Sydney?'

'I know what you're thinking, not your sort of urgent police business, the beurocratic kind, not the blood and pistols type. You'd only be bored, and I need you here.'

'What for?'

'To look after ...Leper. If you could.'

There was a knock at the door. It was a lovely warm sunny morning. Mr Butler was enjoying tea to himself in the kitchen. Visitors at this hour were unheard of. Only he and Jane were up, and she had gone back to her room to play with the puppy.

'Good morning Mr. Butler. I'm sorry to visit so early, I'm here to pick up the dog.'

'You might have some trouble there. He's settled in rather well. He'll be in Jane's room, she's up, I'm sure she won't mind...'

'Thank you.' Jack replied, already heading up the stairs. Strangely enough, he missed the dog.

Jane's room was open, and she was sitting at her desk. He tapped gently on the door.

'You're back! Leper's missed you! He likes it here, maybe you could convince Miss Fisher to let him stay. Then you'd have to visit him...' It was a rather salacious tone, from such a young girl.

'Where is he?' He said with a patient smile.

'He's in Miss Fisher's room. Don't worry, she's still out from last night.'

'I'm sure I'll find him.' There was a twinge of disappointment. While he'd been off galavanting, she'd been totally unaffected. He opened the door gently to find the spaniel lying comfortably on the bed. And it wasn't the only one. Phryne was fast asleep, sprawled over three pillows and under two duvets, with one hand tucked under the puppy's chin. He would have stepped quickly back and quietly shut the door, but he didn't, and that said everything, really.

The puppy looked sleepily at him and halfheartedly wagged its tail. It didn't lift its head from Phryne's hand. Silently he thought 'You too, then.' with absolute sympathy. He stepped forward and reached out, the puppy scrambled forward to meet him, but the hushed reunion was short lived.

'You can't have him back.' Phryne murmured, apparently in her sleep.

With uncharacteristically quick temper he set his face and growled 'you can't stop me.'

'I can' now awake, she grabbed his wrist as he went to take the puppy. He pushed back at her and encountered a sudden lack of resistance, losing his balance just as he realised that he should have known she could fight. He landed on two hands over her, in what would have been ideal wrestling position if not for the psychological element, which was already inches from defeating him. He leaned back on an elbow, between her and the puppy, daring her to move.

'Jack, why would you want a dog? What would you do with it? Anyway, Jane likes him...'

'No' he interrupted. 'He's mine. We'll visit.'

'He'll be very happy...' She was immediately interrupted again.

'No! Look what you have! Doting staff, Dot to scare, Jane to spoil, a manservant to bring champagne at any conceivable moment. A whole family constructed around you, do you have ANY idea how lucky you are? When I get home, I'll have a cold, dark empty flat with an empty kitchen, an empty fireplace and him. That's all.'

'You could stay too...'

'And wait for you to come home so late that the staff don't know whether to serve breakfast?'

'I'm normally with you when I do that.'

'Not last night' he knew he had no right, but he was angry.

'I was at home last night! Playing cribbage and drinking cocoa!' She replied, full of argumentative indignation rather than self defence.

'Jane says otherwise! That's why I'm in your room, by the way, she thinks you're still out.'

'No, she doesn't. She was playing cards with me...' the angry tone melted away and was replaced with a warm, knowing smile. 'I think you should question her motives, not mine.' There was a slightly nervous pause. 'So... Jane wants you to stay, and I'm sure Dot would thank her lord if I actually lived in sin rather than letting it come and go at all hours...'

There could have been plenty more argument, there probably should have been, but there wasn't, he snapped and interrupted again, he was getting good at it.

After a few ferocious, carnal moments, Jack quickly jumped up, kicked the door and was back in bed with his best shirt being ripped or at least losing buttons, he didn't stop to check which.

Jane had been sitting in her room for some time, doing her homework. She could hear the heated argument through the wall.

Phryne's playthings always had plenty in common. They were gregarious, easy going, easily manipulated and invariably, at this point in the proceedings, very quiet. This was clearly different. At the first little squeal, Jane smirked to herself. After a few more odd noises, she decided it was time to go down for breakfast. Her education could wait. There were some things she'd rather discover for herself, and the increasing volume (and, indeed, strangeness) from the master bedroom fell firmly into that category.

The superfluous bedding landed on top of a combination of Toorak's best lounging couture and South Melbourne's cheapest ready-to-wear for the working gentleman. Few of which would ever look the same again, they wouldn't need to. If walls had ears they'd be surprised by the lack of the usual alluring giggles, sweet moans and soft gasps. They were replaced by the totally uninhibited sounds of true love off the leash, which is, it must be said, far more like the sound of a series of woodland creatures being strangled.

Jane walked into the kitchen to find Mr. Butler obliviously enjoying his tea, he poured her some as she sat down.

'Has the Inspector left?'

'No, they're upstairs fighting over the puppy. Loudly.'

'The dog has been hanging around my feet for ten minutes!'

'I don't think they've noticed.'

There was a little shared grin of understanding.