Isaac knocked on the door and a portly woman opened it.
"Isaac!" she greeted cheerfully.
"Hi Clara," Isaac said. "How are you?"
"Oh good. What can I do for you?"
"Well, this is my girlfriend, Nikki. I uhh... I recently told her about a certain DNA quirk I have."
"Oooh, didja now?" Clara asked, a gleeful glint in her eye.
"I told her about some of our pets and -"
"Say no more, say no more. Come on in," Clara said, holding the door opened for them.
"Thanks," Isaac said.
Nikki held Isaac's hand tightly. She was more than a little nervous about this.
"We got our dogs from Clara," Isaac told Nikki.
"Except, they're not dogs, right? They're ka'millians."
"Exactly."
"I have some ka'millian pups," Clara said. "And a bunch of fuzzles too. There's Bluey over there."
"Where?" Nikki frowned, looking around.
"Over there. See that blue furball?"
"Oh. Oh!" Nikki gasped. "That's a fuzzle?"
"Yes, indeed. Ahh, and here's my Duchess," Clara said as a ka'millian with the appearence of a labrador entered the room. "How your pups, my dear?"
"Duchess is a litter mate of our ka'millians at Mom and Dad's place," Isaac told Nikki.
"That's right. And how are the two buffons?" Clara asked.
"As charming as ever."
Clara chuckled.
"Oh!" Nikki exclaimed. "They're adorable!"
For she had spied four little puppies enter the room, pouncing and wrestling each other.
"These' Duchess's latest litter?" Isaac asked.
"Aye. And probably the last one too, eh Duchess?" Clara said affectionately.
"Can I play with them?" Nikki asked, her eyes not off the puppies.
"Of course, girl. Go right ahead. "They shapeshift, mind, so try not to react if they change shape on you, okay?"
"Okay," Nikki said absently as she knelt down to play with the puppies.
Isaac grinned and Clara gave Isaac a curious look.
"You have kamillians... Taylor still has fuzzles, right?"
"Yeah."
"So..."
"So... Nikki and I have had a bit of an on/off relationship and Tay and Zac disapprove."
"Ahh. But you told her?"
Isaac was silent for a moment.
"I think our relationship has finally managed to mature, y'know? I mean, in hindsight most of our breakups were over stupid pointless things and I think we've finally managed to move past that sort of... childishness."
Clara nodded.
"She's been handling it pretty well."
"Hmm, that's something."
Isaac grinned and then sat down with Nikki to play with the puppies too.
"They're so sweet," Nikki gushed, picking one up to give him a cuddle. "I wish I had a puppy."
"Even an alien one?" Isaac teased. "Although, ka'millians are more the equivalent of monkeys than dogs. A lot of the like the dog shape though."
"Details, details," Nikki dismissed. "He's so cute!"
Isaac chuckled.
"Would you like him?" Clara asked suddenly.
"Oh, no I couldn't..." Nikki said, startled. "I... I wouldn't know the first thing about looking after ka'millians."
"Isaac knows," Clara dismissed. "He could belong to both of you."
Isaac and Nikki looked at each other. Finally Isaac shrugged.
"If you want him, I'm more than happy to help you look after him," he said finally.
Nikki chewed her bottom lip and looked down at the puppy. He nuzzled her face.
"Aww..." Nikki said. "He likes me!"
"Well, you are very likable," Isaac grinned.
"Suck up," Nikki teased, then looked at Clara. "If you're sure... I'd love to have him."
"Wouldn't have offered if I wasn't," Clara replied decisively. "He's yours."
"Oh, thank you. Thank you."