I had fallen asleep in Warren's arms, and woke up as he carried me inside. I opened my eyes, but didn't make a move to get out of Warren's hold as he carried me into a house that was most definitely Steven's. I almost started crying all over again in relief when Warren carried me into the elevator of Steven's house, and took me down to the lab. Warren set me on a metal table, and Steven had Warren and Jess step out of the room while he examined me, much like the vet had done. I wondered for a moment if I was going to have to have another surgery.

However, nothing was injected into me, and I didn't black out. Instead, Steven stepped out of the room for a little bit, then came back in with Warren and Jess. I could tell that all three of them had been crying, and I came to a conclusion right away. I swallowed thickly, and tried to speak, figuring that I didn't have much to loose.

"Am I going to be put down?" I asked weekly, and the others looked at me in shock for a moment, before fresh sets of tears began rolling down their faces. Jess let out a sob, and turned to Steven for comfort, who hugged her sadly. Warren, however, stepped forward, and captured me in a tight, and protective hug.

"No Gill. We would never, ever do that to you." Warren told me, and he kissed me on the top of the head, holding me close to him. I just nodded weekly, trying not to feel too much hope in the idea of a promise that I couldn't guarantee was true.

***

That first night back at Steven's house was probably the hardest one, and not just for me. Warren had made dinner, and sat me down at the table with everyone else, and gave me the same food, human food that everyone else was getting. I struggled with it. Almost immediately after I was sat down at the table, and food was placed in front of me, I panicked, and hopped down to all fours on the floor, and even tried to take off the clothes that I had been given, hoping to lesson the punishment that I was sure I was going to get.

Warren walked over to me slowly, and I whimpered, trying to back away, but it was useless. Warren crouched down in front of me, and gently scooped me up, just like he did when he got me from Peter's house, and placed me back on the chair. Warren was quick to assure me that it was ok, that I was safe, and that I was allowed to sit at the table to eat.

I waited until all the others began eating their food to start eating mine. Holding the silverware I was given was natural, thanks to muscle memory, but using them was harder to relearn. I fumbled around, trying to cut and eat my food, but not doing very well. Eventually, Steven got up and came over to me, I panicked thinking that Steven was probably mad at me for making a mess, and dropped down to my knees on the ground, pushed the knife I was holding into into Steven's hand, and pulled my shirt off enough to expose my back to Steven.

Nothing happened for a little bit as Steven looked over at Warren and Jess, seemingly not knowing what to do. I flinched when I heard the sound of the metal knife being set down on the table, then flinched again when I felt gentle hands easing my shirt back over my head. Steven helped me up, guided me back to the chair, and proceeded to cut my food up for me without another word.

There were no more issues during dinner, but taking a shower was a bit hard, so I kind of just stood there in the water until I heard a knock on the door, and Warren asked me if I was ok. The water had long since turned cold at that point, and I was relieved to be done. After the shower, Warren took me to a room that I recognized as mine right away, and tucked me into the bed. Being in a bed felt wrong, and I wanted to climb out of it, because dogs don't sleep on human beds, but I didn't dare leave when Warren was sitting on the edge of the bed looking down at me, just in case he might get mad.

"Sleep for as long as you need Gill. Give your body time to rest. I'll be in my room, so don't be afraid to come get me if you need anything at all." Warren said, looking down at me. Warren then kissed me on the head once again, and left the room, closing the door behind him. When I was sure it was safe, I crawled out of the bed, stripped off all but my boxers, and curled up on the bedroom floor.

***

Getting back into the life I had before Peter had taken me seemed impossible. Steven, Warren, and Jess all had to constantly tell me that I was safe, pull me up off the ground when I thought I had upset them, and even had to reteach me my real name. Warren had been trying to get my attention by calling out my human name when he found out that I didn't register my name as anything other than 'Bitch'.

I was constantly worried that everyone was going to be mad at me, and I did whatever I could to be small, silent, and easily overlooked. However, no one got mad at me. Everyone was very gentle, patient, and understanding. Because of this, after a few days, I found myself trusting everyone more, dropping to my knees to be punished less, and even forcing myself to talk a bit more. Everyone seemed to appreciate it when I would speak, and I was rewarded with soft smiles and kind words. So I tried to talk more.

I thought I was making progress, and doing better at getting to where Steven, Warren, and Jess wanted me to be in terms of how I was before Peter took me, so when I was taken back down into Steven's lab, sat on a metal table, and asked questions while Steven wrote down my answers, I was feeling pretty good about myself.

"Can you tell me what your name is?" Steven asked me.

"Bit- G-Gill." I said, and Steven looked a bit happy that I had referred to myself by the name that he and the others called me.

"Good job. Can you tell me what species you are?"

"I'm...a dog." Steven seemed a bit disappointed in my answer, but he just continued asking me different questions.

"I want to try something real quick." Steven said after asking me a bunch of questions as he stepped forward, grabbed my hands in his, and made me look at him dead in the eyes. "Repeat after me, ok? Your name is Gillian Matthews, and you're a seventeen year old boy who goes to a private school. You live here with Warren, Jess, and I. You have a boyfriend, named Mike. You are a human being, and what happened to you was wrong, and not your fault. Can you say that all back to me?" I repeated Steven's words back to him twice until he was satisfied that I believed him and would be ok. 

"You did a good job. Thank you Gill." Steven told me seriously, then he turned around and grabbed something off of the counter beside him. "I have something for you." 

Steven was holding a thin but wide black band, and my first thought was that it was a collar. I reached up with my left hand and grabbed my neck gently, worried that the black band that Steven had would be far too small for me, and would choke me. However, Steven softly grabbed my wrist, and moved my hand off of my neck, holding it in front of him. 

"It goes on your wrist. I have one too. It's a bracelet." Steven explained, opening the bracelet, then showing me the one he had on his wrist before clicking mine into place. "There's a button on the inside of it, and if you push it, it will release a distress signal, letting me know that you're in trouble, and allowing me to track you. If you're ever in any sort of trouble, just push the button, and I will find you, and help you as fast as I can. Ok?"

I simply nodded, and smiled a bit. I was glad that I wouldn't have to worry about being held captive for months, and being treated like an animal again. I was going to be ok. For the time being at least, but then my worst nightmares came to life.

By the point in which the event had taken place, I was talking more, staying in my human bed at night, responding to my human name after only a couple calls, and even flinching less when someone moved quickly enough around me. Steven, Warren, and Jess all seemed fairly pleased with my improvement, and that only made me want to improve more. I was recovering, and doing so consciously, and rather proud of myself, even though I still had a long way to go. But then something horrible happened.

Steven told me that he had something for me, and he seemed a bit excited. I followed Steven into the kitchen, actually curious to find out what Steven had gotten me, and found a dog dishes, a collar, dog food, and a few dog toys sitting on the kitchen counter. I stopped in my tracks, feeling like I was going to puke. I couldn't believe that it was happening again. That everything, all the care and gentleness, and all of my progress had all just been a trick to give me false hope. It couldn't be true.

"Are these for me?" I asked weekly, staring at the stuff on the counter.

"Of course it's for your kid. Who it else would it be for? Wait here, I'll be right back." Steven responded before leaving, and I felt tears begin to burn in my eyes as I stumbled over to the counter, and grabbed the collar. I clipped the collar around my neck, took off almost all my clothes, and curled up in a ball on the ground, much like a dog would.

I couldn't contain my sobs as I shivered, and whimpered, my tears burning my face again as they cascaped down it. I should have known that it was too good to be true. That I really was Bitch, and that I shouldn't have thought anything else. I began to sob harder, imagining how much I was going to be punished for, and how much it was going to hurt.

"Gill?" I heard Steven's voice call out to me before too long, sounding confused. I refused to respond, hoping that I would get punished as severely if I stopped acting like a person right away. I whimpered when I heard Steven drop to his knees in front of me, and flinched violently when he grabbed onto the collar. If I didn't know better, I would have trusted Steven's gentle touch as he ran his fingers around the collar, until he eventually found the clip, and undid the collar to take it off of me.

Steven pulled me into an awkward hug, seemingly trying to comfort me, but not really knowing how. Steven began to tell me things he had heard Warren tell me in an effort to calm me down, and it actually worked a little bit. The Steven had me repeat the same thing he had me tell him when he was asking me questions in his lab, about who I was, and how I was a human. When I had calmed down, Steven reached for my clothes and handed them back to me, waiting patiently as I put them back on.

"You said it was for me." I said shakily, looking down at the collar that had been dropped to the ground.

"Oh. No, Gill, I didn't think you meant the dog stuff. I bought you a dog, and I thought you were asking if the dog was for you. You're a person, Gill, just like me. I wouldn't ever treat you like anything else." Steven assured me, looking at me seriously.

"You..bought me a dog?" I asked.

"Yeah. I thought it would help you see that you're a person. I guess I messed up."

"Can I see it?"

"Of course." Steven got up and walked around the kitchen, then ducked down at picked something up. Steven came over to me and offered me one of his hands, holding a golden retriever pup in the other.

Steven walked us into his sitting room, and sat down on the couch. I don't think Steven expected me to sit as close to him as I did, but I was practically in Steven's lap, and had no intentions of moving at all. Steven didn't ask me to move though, and just handed me the puppy, who was wagging its tail so hard that it's whole body was shaking in my hands. This was something that I wasn't capable of doing, no matter how happy I was.

"Does it have a name?" I asked Steven, holding the dog in my lap, and petting it gently.

"You can name him if you want." Steven told me. I thought for a moment, not knowing what on earth to do, before finally coming up with a name that was perfect for a dog.

"Button." I stated plainly.

"Ok." Steven nodded. Button curled up in my lap, apparently tired, and fell asleep. In truth, I was really tired too, which is why I didn't feel bad about resting my head on Steven's shoulder, and falling asleep right there.

***

When I woke up, it was to Warren squatting in front of me, shaking my shoulder lightly. I was laying sideways on the couch, held almost protectively by Steven against his torso, cuddling with Button softly. Both Button and Steven were still asleep, both of them seeming peaceful, but I guessed they couldn't sleep long, because Warren softly told me that dinner was ready, and gently shook Steven awake too.

While Steven, Jess, and I sat at our places at the dining room table, Warren poured some dog food into a small dish. I tensed up for a moment, holding my breath, and only letting that breath out as relief flooded through me when Warren placed the bowl on the floor in front of Button, instead of in front of me. While everyone else started to eat their dinner, I just kept staring at Button. He seemed to be enjoying his food, and perfectly happy with eating on the floor, but I just couldn't get the memories of me having to eat out of a dish off of the floor out of my mind.

I only snapped out of my daze when Warren eventually walked over to Button, and picked him up, and away from his food.

"Let him eat, he didn't do anything wrong!" I cried out desperately without thinking, standing up quickly in my chair and preparing to get Button back to his food. Everyone stared at me in shock for a moment, even I was shocked by my outburst. I worried that the shocked silence was actually anger, and I hurriedly grabbed the fork that was by my plate, and was ready to hold it out to Warren, when the man set Button, and his dog dish of food on the table next to me.

"I wasn't stealing his food. You don't have to worry. I just saw that him being on the floor was making you upset. It's ok." Warren told me, turning the fork in my hand so I could use it to eat, rather than give it to him so he could cut me. Warren was right, I was able to eat easier with Button on the table with us.