The night had been interesting. As soon as Julienne had gotten back to the apartment, the squishy little bundle of doggy love jumped out of her arms and ran around the place. He went sniffing every nook and cranny, only pausing at Cowboy long enough for the snake to let out a soft hiss. Peter cocked his head to the side before giving a nod and continuing around. Despite it only being a 2 bedroom apartment, it had taken the dog over 3 hours to sniff and mess with everything to his satisfaction. And even then, it only ended because she poured some kibble into a bowl. Hearing that, he bounded over and went after the food like he hadn’t eaten in weeks.

“Though if you’ve been shy I bet it almost has been, hasn’t it pupper?” Julienne gave him a scratch behind the ear before going and getting ready for bed herself. 

After that, it was just a long and dreamless sleep. Almost dreamless. It was the strangest thing. Just as she was waking up, Julienne could have sworn she heard the tv turn on and stay playing.

“Believe her. She needs your help. Look up your sister.”

As Julienne drug herself out of bed, she could see the TV was on. It looked like Peter was playing with the tv remote and was switching between shows. 

“That explains that.” Julienne muttered as she looked to Peter. “Ok boy. Any accidents?”

Surprisingly, there weren’t. But he was whining a bit, dancing back and forth. Giving a look that screamed if she didn’t let him out soon he couldn’t be held responsible for his actions. Fair enough. As soon as she grabbed the harness, Peter rushed to the door, letting out soft barks. Singing the songs of his people as he bounced back and forth.

She swiped her phone off the counter before getting the harness on the wiggling sack of bones. As soon as the door opened he ran out and down the stairs. 

“Shit! Wait!” Julienne tried to shout while still whispering. It was only 6am after all. Even if some kids were going to school now, that didn’t mean everyone was awake yet.

As it was, a couple people were sticking their noses through the blinds as Julienne ran down in her shorts and tank top. No time for shoes. For all she knew this dog would run for freedom or get scared or… 

Be calmly doing his business.

Alright then.

Julienne gave an approving nod and took the lead back. “Ok boy. Training. That’ll be a thing this week. But for now, let’s just get you comfortable. Ok? We gotta go to work this afternoon and go to the foster care to drop off food. Sound good?”

Whether or not Peter approved, he started sniffing around in the bushes, curious about what was going on. Might as well take him for a walk while she woke up. The sidewalk wasn’t uncomfortable. It wasn’t too hot yet, and one of the neighbors always worked on sweeping it up so it was free of rocks or glass.

She’d just need to make sure to stick to walking around the building since she had bare feet for the moment.

As Julienne and Peter did a tour of the building, she checked her phone. That dream at the end was showing just how weird the whole thing with Hannah was right now. Hannah knew about the dog, but insisted she had a sister. The issue was there were only brothers in her case. The only way she’d have a younger sister would be if.

If.

No. No, surely not? Julienne was sure her parents didn’t have any more kids. They were adamant after getting two boys. Could there be more queer berries on the family tree? But she didn’t remember any signs. Of course, she also left home and stopped talking to everyone. Who knew what happened during that time frame? Sadly, cutting off parents often meant losing contact with her siblings as well.

And she’d changed her number at least 4 times since then. Her sibling could be looking for her. 

By the time the tour was done, Peter was leading Julienne right back up the stairs. As soon as the door was open he bounded over to her laptop bag, which was also by the bag of kibble. Julienne chuckled, pulling out the laptop and turning it on with one hand as she scooped out the kibble with the other. Now his barks became loud and excited as he jumped around, trying to reach the scoop on his own.

“Hold on. I need two minutes ok?” She carefully poured it all into the bowl, watching him go at it with just as much vigor as the night before. 

“Glad you like it. I don’t have money for the fancy stuff.” She patted his head and made her way back to the laptop.

It only took a few minutes. There were some sites you could pay to find out information about family members. Granted, sometimes looking for someone triggered something on a different website. But if Julienne’s thought was true… if Hannah’s potential delusion was true… 

It wouldn’t hurt to check.

Julienne did the final click for payment and watched as everything popped up on the screen. As expected, her brother Mark was still living at home with their parents. It made sense as he was the one that was closest to them. He didn’t hate Julienne or disapproved of how she lived. But he wasn’t willing to take a side that would alienate him from Mom and Dad. 

She couldn’t blame him.

Stealing all her cds to keep for himself? She totally blamed him for that. That was an active choice that caused her to have to rebuild her physical media collection. And was a dick move. But holding back? No. Leaving family was not an easy choice to make when you weren’t the target of the negative things.

When she looked up Arron Fry though? He was living in this city. With a public number. More importantly, he had a name change. To Erin Hope Fry. Julienne could only stare at the screen. Maybe it was a mistake? Was that sibling trans? And Julienne had abandoned him or her to the wolves that was their conservative family?

Now she felt like shit.

A growing unease was also settling in her bones. Hannah knew her new phone number. She knew she was going to adopt a dog and even that it wouldn’t be the golden retriever. And now, possibly this as well? What had started as a possible harmless delusion was looking more and more like they were in some writer's flight of fancy.

There was only one way to be sure. Give a call. She needed to call Erin. Julienne picked up the phone and looked at it. You know, Hannah said the sister would come in a week or more. Maybe she should wait? But then Arron/Erin was looking for her assuming this was the same person she grew up with. Fry wasn’t that uncommon of a name.

Julienne waffled so hard on the choice to call, she didn’t even notice she had started making pancakes. With bacon prepped for the oven. And… did she start making orange juice? 

Ok.

She hadn’t been this bad since she left home, which was where the habit of cooking when debating even started. Her parents were very firm she needed to learn a few feminine skills. And Julienne had agreed to learn cooking because everyone needed to make sure they didn’t starve. But anytime she was overthinking, her parents would point to the kitchen.

“Do something useful instead of whining.”

They never did help her talk through her problems. Or approve of self expression. Or anything that didn’t involve her becoming a proper wife who’d have a career just long enough to find a man and pop out some babies. Not that there was shame for women who did that. Priorities change for some folks. It was more the whole insisting that she just needed to find the right man. Shame they never bothered asking her if she even wanted children. Julienne was simply told she did and was too dumb to realize. And going for a career that’d put her past the prime age for having them.

Julienne wondered what Erin went through. There was only one way to be sure. As Hannah looked down, Peter had his little paws on the cabinet doors as high as he could, trying to get to the silent cellphone. She scratched his ears and picked it up, trying to keep an eye on the pancakes as she dialed the number.

“Ugh. telemarketers…. It’s too damn early.” The groggy voice came across. It didn’t sound familiar but if Aaron had transitioned to Erin, it’d be hard to tell.

Julienne hesitated. She almost hoped it was a wrong number.

“Hello, is this Erin Fry?”

“What do you want?” She asked, grumpy.

Nervously Julienne responded. “This is Julienne Fry. I’m hoping I have the right number.”