Quaranteam: Southeast - Team Davies
By 2charlie
The Quaranteam Universe is the creation of CorruptingPower, used with permission.
Thanks to BreakTheBar, AgathonWrites, RonanJWilkerson, The_Licentious_Laureate, BronanTheLibrarian, OtterlyMindblowing, SilverRyden, BirchesLoveBooks, Reader737b, and the other QT Writers for their feedback and contributions with this work. Be sure to check out their work.
Chapter 11
All Characters depicted in sexual situations in this story are over the age of 18.
****Gainesville, FL - 1900, Tuesday, August 11, 2020****
Barney the Rottie was a hit with the kids. The minute he scrambled into the house at the end of his leash, Jan called the children to the kitchen. As soon as all five were present, she introduced them to the newest member of the team. "Kids, this is Barney. He's a Rottweiler puppy, about eight months old. We've adopted him to help protect the house, but he's part of the family now. I want each of you to come up to him and hold out your palm to him like this," and she held her hand out, palm up, just below Barney's nose so he could smell her. After he sniffed her hand and licked it, she scratched his ears, before turning back to the kids. "Letting a dog sniff your hand is a polite way to introduce yourself. Take it very slowly so that you don't spook him, now."
When she nodded to Sean, he stepped forward very seriously, extending his hand as she'd demonstrated, and let Barney give him a good sniff. Afterward, he petted the pup, then stepped back to make room for the next in line.
Ellie was next, followed by Trent, then Emma, and last came Noah. All of the children were excited at the new puppy, so Jan carefully unhooked the leash from Barney's collar and turned to the kids. "Okay, listen up - Barney's new to this house, so he may want to explore. It's okay to play with him, but no roughhousing. And don't try to make him mean - he's to be your guardian, not some mangy cur to be taunted." Giving them each a hard stare, she waited until they all indicated they understood before continuing. "If he starts sniffing around a lot, let me know. He might need to go out for a walk. Understood?"
Following a chorus of "Yes, ma'am", she let go of Barney's collar, and the dog was off, playfully running around and amongst the group of laughing children. Turning to the refrigerator, Jan added a note on the weekly calendar to 'Start Obedience Training with Barney'. For now, she put it in the Wednesday slot, given that Scouts usually occupied Tuesdays or Thursdays. Sometimes, she wished for more days...
Ava walked in from the pantry just then, carrying three family-size boxes of Rice-a-Roni over to the countertop near the stove, where Debra was busy shredding a half-dozen large chicken breasts that she'd boiled earlier. Looking to see where he could assist, Miles went to the cabinet and started to count out plates and utensils for everyone, ruefully noting that there were now a dozen mouths to feed at each meal. He paused for a moment to consider the impact on mealtime and cleanup logistics - the option to get a larger anything right now was off the table, so he'd have to give thought to how to scale capacities out instead of up.
Sophia chose that moment to walk up and pinch his ass, bringing him back to the present. "Mom called. Says she's looking forward to the barbecue this Saturday. Something you were planning to mention, perhaps?" she asked him, with one eyebrow arched as she pretended to be aggravated with him.
Smiling at her cheekiness, he bent down slightly to kiss her. "I'm sorry, dear. I assumed you were in the loop. Your mother and her team will come by Saturday afternoon for a barbecue dinner we are hosting." Turning away, he went to the formal dining room and began setting places there for the adults, then returned to the kitchen to set the table there for five, substituting smaller plates for Trent and the twins, as they tended to eat smaller portions.
Dinner went well. The kids all liked Chicken Rice-a-Roni, as did Barney. The pup found that, if he sat and gave Emma his big sad-eye stare, she'd give him bites of chicken. On several occasions, one adult or another happened to be looking that way or was passing through the kitchen and needed to remind the children not to feed Barney from the table. Many times, the women looked to Miles for support, but his attention was elsewhere. His mind was already working on ideas about how to handle the upcoming Town Hall, assuming it happened.
After the fourth incident involving Barney, Penny took matters into her own hands. Finished with her meal, she took her dishes into the kitchen to give them a quick rinse, then stacked them in the sink. Turning to address the children, she asked them to give her their attention. "You've all been told not to feed the dog table scraps, and yet it keeps happening. That stops now. As a reminder, you all get to wash the dinner dishes by hand. Beginning with yours. Please muck off your plates into the trash, then begin washing them. Sean, Ellie, as the oldest, please show the others how this works, and make sure you wash and dry all of the dinner plates and utensils."
"But, we're too little to do that!" little Emma protested, whining as she did.
"Not in this house, you're not," Penny told her sternly. "Plus, you were the one feeding Barney the most, so the other kids are getting extra chores because of your disobedience. No more back talk, now. Rules exist for a reason, and actions always have consequences. Please do as you've been told."
Penny turned to walk away, brushing her hand through Ellie's hair as she went. As she left the room, she heard Sean and Ellie take charge over the groans from the younger children, and smiled to herself, glad for the values that had been instilled into them.