"And we're here!" Mariana exclaimed as Carl drove into the animal shelter's parking lot. It was an up kept shelter, much unlike the shabby one in the south side. The downtown shelter was much more cleaner and had better dogs in Mandy's opinion, who was more obsessed with dogs than you'd think.

Carl and Mariana walked hand in hand into the shelter. The checked the directory and went directly to the front desk.

"Hi, welcome to Chicago Animal Shelter, how may I help you?" A familiar voice asked.

"Aspen?"

"Oh, hi Mariana—and Carl. What are you doing here?"

"We're gonna adopt a dog together."

"Cool, there should be assistants walking around, and they can help you look at dogs. Once you've found the perfect dog you can come back to me and I'll help you with the paperwork."

Carl and Mariana walked around, looking at all of the marvelous dogs. Of course Mariana, being the kindhearted girl she is, wanted to adopt all of the dogs. But unfortunately, she could only pick one. Carl, was also like this. Maybe even more passionate about the dogs.

"Maybe we should get some help?" Mariana asked in a low voice.

"No, I'm a man, we don't need someone to help us. It's just picking a dog."

"I'm going to get help." Mariana walked around, looking for one of the familiar purple shirts that read 'Chicago Animal Shelter' in large white letters.

Soon enough she found a girl wearing the uniform. "Excuse me," she tapped the girl. The girl had jet black hair and green eyes.

"Oh, can I help you?"

"Yeah, I need some help—" Mariana tried to look for a badge.

"Franky, Franky Doyle." The girl batted her long eyelashes in a nice mannered way.

"Hey, don't you go to South Side High?" Mariana asked, noticing that she's seen this girl before.

"Uh, yeah actually." Her voice was mellow and soft.

"I recognize you. You're that badass who knocked out Holly Herkimer in eighth grade because she was messing with Debs!"

"Yup, that's me." She slightly chuckled.

"Anyways, I was wondering if you'd help us find a dog."

"Us?"

"I'm here with my boyfriend." Mariana pointed to Carl, whose face was pressed against the glass, staring at a little puppy.

"No way, you're dating Carl Gallagher?" Franky's eyes bulged in surprise.

"Yeah, best friend turned boyfriend."

"Better hold on to him, he's a real gem. Bought so many things for Dominique Winslow when he was trying to get with her. Mink fur coat, saw him give it to her when I was walking past."

"Oh, I never knew that," Mariana mumbled, displease about hearing Dominique and Carl's name in the same sentence.

"I'll help you two meet a dog. What dog do you want to meet?" The two girls walked towards Carl, who was still in awe over the little dog in the window.

"This one." Carl pointed to an auburn dog that looked roughly the size of a small teddy bear. Franky grabbed her keys, opening the door.

"Penny? She gets lots of visitors. An energetic one too, loves people." Franky chuckled at the little dog, which was a tad bit chubby.

"What a cute pupper." Carl couldn't wait to get into the room to play with the dog.

"If you guys need me, just press this little buzzer." She pointed to a red buzzer with buttons underneath it. Franky entered a four digit code, which was the code that connected the buzzer signal to her radio.

Franky shut the door, leaving Carl and Mariana with the dog. Penny started to walk around on her stubbly legs. It looked like she couldn't walk properly, possibly being bow legged. But still, she was ecstatically running around the two.

"Isn't she cute." Carl immediately picked the dog up, hugging it gently.

"Yeah, she really is."

"We should get her."

"Really? The badass Carl Gallagher wants to get a little puppy?"

"Well, what other dog would I get?" Carl scoffed, a tad bit confused at first.

"I dunno, a pit bull or a Rottweiler." Mariana shrugged, then tucked some strands of hair behind her ear.

"But she's so cute!" He whined, squeezing the dog's cheeks together.

"Let's go see other dogs."

Carl sighed,"I guess so. Bye Penny." He hugged the dog one last time before the two exited the room.

"Carl."

"What?"

"This one."

"Which one."

Mariana pointed to the window at the end of the hall. Carl walked over there, and froze dead in his tracks. They found the perfect dog.

Mariana waved down Franky, who rushed over to the couple. "Oh, this is our new dog. She doesn't have a name yet, but she's a good dog. She had an abusive owner, so we took her in."

Franky opened the door, and Mariana and Carl walked in, still mesmerized. The dog was a husky, with light brown fur.

"Throw these treats up, she'll catch them." Franky handed broken up dog biscuits to Carl. Franky threw one up in the air, the dog jumping up and immediately eating it.

"Holy fuck."

Mariana slapped his chest,"language Carl."

Carl threw the treat up, and the dog caught it midair. He put on treat down, the dog laying down and eating it. 'It's the perfect dog.' was all he could think.

"She's so cute, I want her." Mariana pet the dog's soft mane.

"We'll get her." Carl immediately followed.

"Really Carl?!"

"Anything for you princess." He grabbed her by the waist, enveloping her in a hug.

'Told you.' Franky mouthed, Mariana brushing it off.

Franky took them to the administration, where they had to file the paperwork. Everything was filled out completely, due to Mariana. If it was just Carl, it'd be a completely different story.

"So, what do you want to name her?"