Imagines and One-Shots (Book Three)

Goodnight Moon (Calum Hood) *

Warning: Mention of cancer, death of a pet

~

You were sitting in the vet's office, trying not to cry, but it didn't work. It never worked around Luna. She always knew when you were sad.

Luna had been the family pet since the summer before you were went into high school – your parents had adopted her as a puppy from the shelter as a surprise since you were so nervous about going to a new school. When you officially moved out after college, they insisted on you taking the dog with you, telling you they'd feel better about you living on your own if you had Luna there to keep you safe.

Luna was a purebred pit bull, but while she looked intimidating, she was anything but. No matter who was at the door, she would bark once and then go sit in front of it until you answered, ready to happily greet whoever it was. The more frequent visitors – such as your close friends and family members – would never fail to bring a treat or two for her, creating the running joke you had about how they only ever came around to see her.

And to know that they would never be holding treats as they came through the door anymore reminded you just how real this was.

Everyone that looked at the dog could tell she was nearing the end. She couldn't take as long of walks as she used to, she needed help getting onto your bed at night... She was just getting too old.

When you noticed her limping on her front left leg, you started to get worried. Luna recently started doing everything she could to just avoid using it at all. And that was when you found out about the cancer.

It was a regular vet checkup for Luna, but you'd told the doctor about her leg and he said he would do some x-rays on it. He had you wait while he took the dog back and when he returned, you could tell by the look on his face that it wasn't good news.

He said that they could remove her leg and begin treatments to get rid of the cancer, but she was in such a late stage of it that it had spread past the point where amputating would get rid of it completely. Your only other options at that point were to either continue as you normally would – but that would only cause her more pain in the long-run – or have her put down.

The doctor told you to go home and think about it for a couple days, but you already knew what you had to do. You called your parents the second you got home and told them what was going on, and they made the drive to stay with you for a couple weeks so they could be with Luna one last time.

And now, here you all were – sitting in the vet's waiting room. Your mom and dad were on chairs while you were on the floor with Luna, her head on your lap as you scratched her head the way she always liked.

But she could tell when you were upset or sad.

When she knew, she would stand up on your lap and lick your face until you smiled again. And that was exactly what she did.

She slowly got up, hobbling up to you, putting her paws on your calves, and licking the tears off of your cheeks. Your parents smiled through their own tears as you finally smiled for what felt like the first time in two weeks. You wiped the dog's slobber off of your face with the sleeves of your sweater before kissing the top of her head and petting her again.

"Y/N," you heard off to the side. You looked up and found the veterinary assistant, Calum, smiling slightly at you. He motioned for you to follow him, wordlessly letting you know that it was time.

You looked back at your parents and they each had a brief moment with Luna, kissing her head and telling her they loved her, telling you that they would wait so you could be with her until she was gone. Calum walked over to you, holding his hands out for you to take. He pulled you up from the floor and greeted your parents softly before leading you back.