((kerrie and syd: sleep... at the petshop))
"Are you sure this is the place?" asked Kerrie.
"It ain’t gonna get any better than this, lady," said Syd with a grin. "Be quiet though. I’unno about any alarms, but it would be a dealbreaker ta’ get caught."
Syd sat down and Kerrie kneeled down beside him, eyes widening.
"They’re just gonna keep growin’, I swear."
Kerrie picked up a puppy, cradling it in her arms. She looked down at all the other puppies sleeping peacefully in the pen.
"And…and I can stay the night here with them?" asked Kerrie. Syd nodded.
"I’ll stay ova’ too," he said. "I can letcha’ know when the others are gonna come in for their shift. Till then, the puppies are alla’ yours to stay with. Certainly beats stayin’ in an apartment with a broken heater, eh?"
Syd couldn’t think of any way to describe the expression on Kerrie’s face. She wasn’t as happy as a kid in a candy shop. Or happy as a clam. She was as happy as…well, happy as Kerrie surrounded by dozens of puppies in a petshop.
Syd made a reminder to himself to remember that new expression and began to doze off, Kerrie falling asleep curled up beside the dozens of puppies huddled around her.