Ray ran lightly up the stairs to Benny’s apartment, whistling happily. He had planned to be on a stakeout all night tonight, but the arrest had happened unexpectedly just a couple of hours ago, so now he had the night free. He had come over to Benny’s apartment to surprise him and spend the night doing things much more enjoyable than watching for bad guys.
He entered the apartment and stopped in the door of the kitchen, silently watching the scene before him.
Benny and Dief were in the kitchen, Benny still in full dress uniform. He was busy filling Diefenbaker’s food and water dishes while the wolf watched him, Dief’s tail beating lightly against the floor.
“There you go,” Ben said, straightening up and gesturing grandly towards the bowls on the floor.
Dief looked at him and whined.
“What?”
Dief whined again, sounding slightly impatient.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Dief walked up to Ben and nudged the pouch on the Sam Browne belt.
“What?” Ben said, the very picture of wide-eyed innocence.
Diefenbaker nudged him again, harder, and Ben had to place one foot behind him to keep from losing his balance.
“Honestly, I don’t know what you could mean.”
Diefenbaker sat down on the floor and looked up at Ben, a note of pleading now in his whining.
“Well all right,” Ben said, opening the pouch on his belt, “let me see what I can-”
He gasped and looked at Dief in wide-eyed surprise. “However did that get in there?” He pulled a cookie from the pouch and showed it to Diefenbaker.
The wolf was practically shaking now, his tail swishing wildly back and forth across the floor.
“And sugar cookies are your favorite, aren’t they?”
Diefenbaker emitted a low whine that turned into a bark.
“Hmmm. I don’t know, you haven’t even had your dinner yet.”
Diefenbaker just looked at Ben, silently pleading, and Ben held the cookie out to him with a smile. Dief lunged forward and took the cookie from Benny’s hand in a surprisingly gentle manner, then devoured the treat.
Ray cleared his throat loudly, and Ben started and turned towards him, an expression of surprise and embarrassment and guilt on his face.
Ray smiled at him. “You’re busted, Benny.”
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