"There's one! Maybe it'll be today," Finn said with an eager glance over at his larger brown-and-white brother.

Copper reciprocated with a tail-wag, his huge brown eyes looking up and through the cage while humans arrived.

It was the day of an adoption event, and the pups had never seen one. However, they knew something exciting was going on, because people of all ages flitted throughout the large halls of the kennel rows.

There was Christmas lights strung all around the walls, casting them aglow with all colors of the rainbow. They reflected the light of the other two puppies' eyes, as they stood beside Finn.

Lavender, however, looked less hopeful. She kept casting glances backwards and towards the dog bed, as if she wanted to just go lay down.

"It's okay, Lavender. Someone will stop by soon. Remember that old man? He liked you a lot!" Finn chimed, ever so positive. He liked to uplift the other puppies, make them feel happier and stronger about themselves.

Copper nodded with eyes full of longing agreement, but the black and white she-pup was already shaking her head.. As per usual.

"No, it's not that." Lavender leveled her gaze with theirs, her tail still.

"I just don't want to get adopted. I don't want to change my name. My name's not Hannah." She looked at them, a challenge smoldering in her fiery-brown gaze. "And you know that you aren't Buster and Odie." Her voice was skeptical, even a bit condescending.

Finn stopped his own tail wagging with Copper's. Silence fell upon them, but humans still talked and laughed beyond the fence. They still walked, shambled or skipped along, some with saggy faces, round faces, some short or tall. Some grasped child's toys in their hands, others grasped canes or walkers. It was hard not to pay attention to them, as one walked by particularly close- but then they swept on, uninterested.

Finally Finn dragged his gaze back to Lavender, biting his tongue. Lavender can be such a tail-biter sometimes. She makes it worse by not accepting it.

After a deep breath, Finn responded, "It's alright, Lavender. You know, you don't have to accept your new name. Maybe you will in time."

He looked to the fluffy brown-and-white Copper for approval, and the taller puppy agreed with a nod. He was the spitting image of Bronx, ears and muzzle darker brown with a splash of white across the male's chest.

"Why would I?" The black-and-white pup said with a scornful, yet sad bark before she turned away. However, she kept speaking over her shoulder while she retreated. The white tip of her tail was a splash of white against her dark pelt.

"My mother would have wanted me to keep the name she gave me. And I will," the she-dog scoffed with an unimpressed glance from afar. "Even if you guys don't care for your mother's opinion as much as I did mine."

Stung, Finn shuffled his paws while his face burned.

"That's not it!" Copper, now renamed Odie, shot her a nervous glance.

It was still odd to Finn how Copper was the biggest, yet most skittish puppy out of their litter. Either way, he loved the nervous male pup.

And unfortunately...- his brother was the only one left to love.

My whole family is gone. Besides Copper- I mean, Odie.

"It's just that we want to accept our new life because this is what mother wanted. She brought Finn here to be with me, and we're going to get adopted together."

Finn shot his kin an approving glance with shining brown eyes.

"Yep!" He yipped loudly, towards the she-dog's retreating tail. "And you should get adopted too, Lavender...!" He kept watching, hopeful that she might turn around and join them at the fence again.

But she didn't.

Instead, Finn and Copper spent the better part of their afternoon waiting inside the cage, watching and wagging their tails and barking and jumping when a human approached.

Sometimes, it was just the staff checking on them. But they still did the same display of yearning affection- as much as they could through the fence.

Finn was even growing tired from it all, as the shelter grew close to evening closing time. The people became less and farther-inbetween in their appearances. So he began to sit down more; with his ears drooping rather than pricked all the while.

"Finn! I mean, Buster." Copper said as he corrected the name to the one the shelter had chosen for Finn.

"There's a whole pack of humans coming! There's a... WOW!" He gasped, throwing his paws up onto the fence.

"They're coming right towards us!" He yapped, but Finn was already running on his fat puppy paws towards the fence.

His chestnut pelt was splotched with colors underneath the Christmas lights. Finn's eyes twinkled as he looked up at the humans.

They appeared to be a well-rounded group, all walking within mere inches of each other. One woman was old, with linked reading glasses draped across her eyes and nose. She moved with a hunch and a cane, but the others accommodated her speed as they approached the cage.

A ten year old-girl clutching her brother's outstretched hand followed just in front of the Grandma. She was wearing a pink shirt with yellow lily flowers, had long shining black hair, and teeny light-up sketchers that flashed on and off as she walked.

The brother she shared hands with looked to be only a year or two younger, but was much shorter. His dark brown hair greatly contrasted his light blue shirt, which was accented with with a yellow Nike symbol across the chest part.

And finally, a teeny tiny short-legged little boy in yellow, who was closest to the cage because he was full-on running, came into eye view.

He sort of looked familiar.

Copper wagged his tail all over the place immediately. He whined and shivered, and stuck his nose through the bars, as Finn thought I guess that one's not mine, then...

The puppy held no misgivings. With a wagging tail, he let the little boy admire Copper without shoving in front of his brother.

Instead, Finn was entitled to take up his own tail-wag, as the two older siblings bent closer.

Their faces were so near to Finn's that he began whining, seeing the smiles on them. The older boy stuck a finger through the bar and Finn licked it, then turned around in a circle.

"Look at that one!" The oldest sibling, and the tallest, was leaning back to look over Finn's head and at Lavender.

"She's too shy and nervous. Can't we let her out of here? Maybe she's scared of the other puppies." The girl turned to her mother, as Finn shook with anticipation.

He didn't know what they were saying, but he knew that them talking was good. His brown floppy ears pricked as he listened.

"Yes, honey. Of course. I'll ask one of the employees. You all just stay right here with Grandma, and I'll be right back."

The mother left the grandma and kids, but before she fully turned away Finn searched her face.

It was somehow also very familiar, as if he'd seen her before.

And then he realized that he had. The handbag was the same... Those same bright yellow heels, and chiseled cheekbones with soft green eyes.

"That's her," Finn whispered. He then turned his eyes upon the little boy that Copper was staring at, dancing on puppy paws that were too excited to contain.

He hadn't heard his bronze-and-white pelted brother. And he didn't hear what Finn whispered next, either.

"That's the little boy that my mom saved."

________
Finn