Puppy Love

Clipping Clue-Pons POV Fic Challenge

Puppy Love

By Bether6074

Rating: G
Genre: POV challenge, Comedy
Disclaimer: Enterprise belongs to Paramount Studios.
Summary: This is just a little piece which takes place right after Captain’s Archer’s presumed death in “Zero Hour”.
A/N: Sigh. This is the third time in a row someone has beaten me to the punch with an original POV idea. I can’t even take credit for the Porthos idea anyway, as it was Distracted’s. I promise I wrote it before Linda posted hers. The pains of being such an incredibly slow writer, I guess.

The small figure moved to the foot of the bed, curling his body up against a leg buried underneath the covers. He put his nose to the cottony sheets and breathed in the human’s scent. Odd. This human smelled rather like his master’s friend, who was definitely not human. The Captain’s female friend had pointed ears, quite different from humans’ rounded ones. The thought of her reminded the pooch of a tall and lovely German Shepherd he met once. The beagle rested his chin down upon the soft blanket and whimpered softly, trying to awaken the sleeping form that lay beneath the comforter.

Commander Trip Tucker didn’t budge. He remained motionless on the bed with the exception of the small, rhythmic movements of his chest. Rise. Descend. Rise. Descend. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale. A loud sound escaped from his lips—a low-pitched snort followed immediately by a high-pitched whistle. The beagle perked up his ears. Snort. Whistle. Snort .Whistle. This fellow sure was a lot louder than his human. Porthos whimpered again, remembering the scent of his owner. He stared for a brief moment at the snoozing engineer and then suddenly darted off the bed.

Back down on the floor, the dog spotted something out of the corner of his eye. It moved very quickly and he’d have to move even more quickly to catch up with it. He stretched out his neck and snapped his teeth at it. Darn. Missed. Boy was it ever fast! The beagle circled around again and again, desperately trying to grab hold of the fleeting black object. Suddenly the beagle picked up his pace and reached his neck out with one last, desperate lunge, briefly grabbing a mouthful of fur and skin between his teeth. The small dog yelped in pain and flopped down on the rug, panting from the exertion of the ordeal.

There was a soft groan followed by the crinkly sound of sheets. Porthos noticed the person on the bed beginning to stir. He still wasn’t sure why he’d been brought here to this strange room or why his master hadn’t come to pick him up yet. The beagle stood up and walked toward the threshold, his big puppy dog eyes fixed upon the doorway. He stared at the entrance, transfixed by its stillness, silently anticipating the arrival of his owner.

Captain Archer.

Porthos cried out and lay down on the floor, his eyes never leaving the entryway. At any moment his master would come through that entrance, scoop him up and take him back home. Then he’d curl up on the bed with the Captain and be rewarded by a gentle pat on the head, some soothing words and a scratch under his chin.

The door didn’t move. Where could his friend be? Porthos began to whine softly. The more he thought of the human’s fingers buried in his fur, the more he thought of his owner’s voice and his owner’s scent, the louder the dog’s cries became.

“Hey, Porthos,” the voice called to him from the bed. It wasn’t his master’s voice. “Porthos, come here, little guy.” The dog turned his head and looked blankly at the man on the bed—the man who should’ve been his owner, lying on the bed that should’ve been his. He spun his head back around and gazed back up at the door. This caused Trip to really cajole him. The pooch had planned on ignoring the pleas, but when the Commander, who’d always been friendly with the dog’s owner, refused to stop, the pooch decided he’d heard enough and leapt back up onto the bed. Some company was better than none, he decided.

The engineer ran a hand down the back of the beagle’s head with long, gentle strokes. Porthos closed his eyes, the image of Captain Archer still vivid in his doggy mind. Trip sighed softly and cradled the dog’s face with both hands.

“I miss him too,” he whispered. “It’ll get better boy, you’ll see. All of us just need some time to heal our wounds. We’re gonna be all right, Porthos. We’ll be all right. The Cap’n would’ve wanted it that way.”

What was he saying? That his owner…his master…his companion…his friend… wasn’t coming back? Was he being forced to live out the rest of his days with Captain Archer’s noisy friend?

The door chime sounded out. Porthos leapt off the bed and ran toward the entrance, jumping up and down excitedly. He got up on his hind legs, his tail flapping back and forth furiously with anticipation. The little dog clawed at the door and gazed pleadingly up at the approaching Commander Tucker.

His master had come at last.

The door opened. Porthos dropped his head sadly, a tiny bit of doggy drool dripping down his chin. Definitely not his master. He tipped his head and gazed at the familiar face of Commander T’Pol.

Commander T’Pol…the pretty lady that had somehow left her scent on Commander Tucker. T’Pol the Vulcan…the Captain’s pointy-eared friend...

“I thought perhaps a session of neuropressure might help you sleep…in light of our current situation,” she whispered.

Trip looked intrigued. “Well…the Cap’n was your friend too, T’Pol. Are you havin’ trouble sleepin’?”

She stared back at him in silence.

Porthos sat down, his tail still wagging gently, and watched the two with interest. Being a dog for his entire life had given him certain abilities that neither humans nor Vulcans were even capable of. The beagle was an expert at reading body language. He had to be… if he ever expected to win the affection of a young female during his lifetime.

Extended eye contact. The look-over…

The two Starfleet officers appeared focused on one another for an unusually long period of time. Her eyes to his…no words spoken…This was a way of making interest known, sizing up one’s potential mate…Two-legged species could be tricky though. It wasn’t as if they actually sniffed one another, yet it was clear to Porthos that Trip and T’Pol were aware of one another’s scent and had already become familiar with it.

Hand to shoulder. Physical contact…

Trip had apparently invited T’Pol to stay for a while. Porthos moved closer to the two, jumping up and down and barking excitedly. He put his paws on the Commanders’ legs and shook his head back and forth, intentionally blowing out air and making all sorts of noises. Doing anything to get their attention… Primates could be incredibly dim-witted sometimes. The pair seemed completely oblivious to the little dog’s presence. Porthos sat back down again and gazed up at the couple.

The couple.

He wondered if the Captain knew that his two friends were mates. Heck…he wondered if they even knew.

Porthos felt his spirit brightening. Soon, his master would return to him and maybe…just maybe… there was a chance he could successfully woo that pretty German Shepherd after all. Perhaps when the Captain came back aboard, he would take the little dog back down to Earth to see her again. Opposites did seem to have a way of attracting and… those pointed ears were mighty attractive, he had to admit.

“Ruff. Ruff,” Porthos barked his approval, his little puppy tongue slobbering all over Trip’s hand.

fin

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A whole mess of folks have made comments

Haha, not bad, very cute, I liked it =)

There's something indescribably erotic about the statement "Commander T’Pol…the pretty lady that had somehow left her scent on Commander Tucker."

=D

Bether, I didn't know you were doing a Porthos story too! It is very sweet and I love the references to pointed ears that both dogs and Vulcans have!

Yep, John O., only our Bether could write a G rated story from the viewpoint of a beagle and end up with something erotic, LOL!

Very sweet! I enjoyed this one very much. Poor Porthos, the sad pup! Thank you for writing it!

Very cute! :)

Awwww. Very cute! :)

Makes you wonder just how much our canine friends are aware of.

Loved it.

This was great! Loads of fun to read. And I couldn't agree with John more...

Well, anytime I read the word "erotic" in one of my story's comments (even if I'm writing about a beagle), I take it as a huge compliment.Works for me. : )

Great! I'm beginning to love Porthos' POV.
Is there any chance of getting a sequel to this?

Yeah, Bether. You could call it "The Porthos Chronicles", LOL! You could do the episode where he pees on the sacred tree, a story about the first time he met T'Pol, one about going for a walk and all the stuff he sees... the possibilities are endless! : )

AWWWW!!!! Poor doggy.

Someone please tell me...how did I go from writing NC-17 scenes to Porthos peeing on a tree? Something has gone awry here I think, LOL!

But Bether, you're so good at puppy POV! You're the one who said that you wanted to do more G rated fics. : )

We shall see then. : )

Very nice! Liked it lot:)