We walk through the halls of the animal shelter and Max attaches a leash to my collar and I think what the hell as I look at him and he promises its just till we get to the car. When we reach the front counter area Bruce walks over to pay for me and I smile and lovingly rub my head against Max's hand because I missed him so much. Bruce finishes with the paper work and walks out to his van as we follow. He opens the back doors and I see a specially converted area just for me with an extra chair in case I want to be in my human form for a little while, or in this case Max to sit in. I jump in and Max follows, not taking the seat but sitting beside me instead and gives Bruce the go ahead to shut the van doors. He smiles as he does this and as soon as they click closed I shift into my human form and undo the collar and leash and take them off and just hold my brother in my arms. “I missed you so much” I’m crying tears of joy and I lick Max on the cheek

“Eww gross! Sarah what was that for?” He wipes it off giggling and smiling at me as I lay in his arms

“Oh you know you liked it!!” I smile as Bruce gets in and looks back

“I know it's not much bu-” I cut him off as he speaks

“It's perfect” I smile as he smiles and starts the engine and slowly drives away.

Max doesn’t say much in the van on the ride home. I didn’t really want to talk anyways and I’m sure he was feeling that thought coming from me somehow. Max was always good like that, making sure I felt OK. “Is me laying on you like this a bother Max?” He was sitting cross legged and I was laying across his legs on my belly, enjoying the brushing I was getting.

“No No Not at all its fine. Your purring feels good anyways” He smiles down at me and then looks at the other wall and continues to brush me as I purr and wrap my tail around his arm lovingly.

When the vehicle slows to a stop and Bruce declares that we have arrived I begin to transform into a cat, but Max stops me

“you don’t need to do that here Sarah, trust me” He gives me a loving hug as I turn back to human form again. When I step out of the van I gasp at where I am. I’m standing in front of a large house that is around the corner from the street, with a beautiful front yard and a nice fresh breeze.

“oh it's wonderful” I smile and I see the nice average family house behind me and follow Bruce to the front door and inside to a well decorated foyer. “oh Bruce, it's more than I could have ever asked for thank you!” I run to his arms totally happy for the first time in YEARS and I cry tears of joy.

“Sarah, Max” Bruce started “I want you two to have any room you like in the house, then tell me if I can make it better and I promise I will try my hardest to make it happen”

I smile at Bruce and give him a big hug.

“Thank you Bruce. You are so awesome” I smile at him and turn to Max “Pick a room Max. I’m going to be next door to you, in case I get scared.”

Max and I wander around the house looking at all the cool things that Bruce had. We spent well over two hours just spending time with each other in complete silence, each enjoying the other's company. It was Max that broke the silence first.

“Lets go pick our rooms now sis.” He went up the stairs and I followed, being careful not to knock anything over with my tail. The rooms were all so different. One with a view, one without; one with a library' one with televisions; and finally a game room. I look over at max and smile. “which room do you want sweetheart?” [oh I hope he doesn’t want the one without a view...] I think to my self.

“I want the one with a view” he finally says looking at me “that is unless you want it” he hugs me.

“no thank you Max. The view is all yours” I smile and we walk into our rooms. As I walk in I notice how roomy it is and how easy it will be to live in it. I estimate it to be about the size of 4 of my 4X4 kennel I have been living in for the past two years of my life. “Max lets go!” I shout for him to come downstairs to tell Bruce which rooms we have chosen.

Upon arrival down stairs we see Bruce just shut the back door so we walk outside with him and gasp because there is a whole pool in our backyard. I look beyond the pool and into the woods behind the house. They look foreboding, but I see several trails leading into the so I’m not to afraid. “Bruce we picked the rooms with and without a view” I speak softly, as not to disturb the sounds of nature and he feels the same way, only nodding in response. We stand there for probably 15 more minutes before Bruce breaks the silence.

“Come inside Max, Sarah. I have gifts for you” We smile and thank him for the gifts, stating that he didn’t have to. He leads us into the living room and hands Max his git first.

“Gee I wonder what it is” Max said sarcastically and I chirp in “go easy on Bruce, max. It's not easy to wrap a baseball bat, besides I thought you liked basketball.” I look over at my brother Quizzically [how much of him has changed?] I wonder to myself as Bruce hands me a jewelery box. “thanks Bruce you shouldn’t have” I say as I smile at him. Opening the box, I pull its contents out slowly to find out he got me a diamond studded collar. I try to be happy but cant as I tear up and toss it at him. “Really, you shouldn’t have!” I run off crying into my room and hide in the closet like I always did. I didn’t pay much attention as I left, but it looked like Max didn’t even move from his seat.