"Wait, you didn't know your own dog had a girlfriend?" Ariel giggled, picking up three of the puppies and squeezing them in a hug.

"I didn't know she was his girlfriend! There was just sometimes another dog!" Eric laughed, tending to the other three; scratching their little ears. "There's so many."

"That is the opposite of a problem." Ariel insisted. "Six puppies! Six cute little puppies! Look at them! Such tiny feet, and they have four of them!" She picked up one of the dogs and looked it in the eyes. "Well done!"

Eric laughed and reached over to scratch Max's head. "Well done to you too, the proud papa!"

"To you as well, madam." Ariel scratched the mother's tummy.

Max barked appreciatively, and the golden retriever, which Ariel, had named Sandy, responded as well.

"Whatever will we do with them?" Ariel asked.

"Well, good news about a palace, we have nothing but space." Eric shrugged. "I guess we'll keep the family together."

"Yay!" Ariel exclaimed. "A palace of puppies!"

…

It became not just a palace of puppies, but a palace for puppies. Their toys were littered everywhere, the dogs scampered about, and Ariel and Eric were trying their best just to keep up! They'd have to try and make sure all the dogs got fed, and kept their collars on, and were outside regularly. They couldn't be outside all day, because they'd get dehydrated, but if they were inside all day they would chew.

Ariel had made each dog a different color collar, and gave them each their own name.

"Okay, so here's Sunshine." Ariel picked one dog up off the beach and hugged it against her stomach.

"I've got Summer and Sand." Eric called back, scooping up two of the dogs.

"Sunflower!"

"Sailboat."

"Jenkins."

Eric snorted. "I can't believe you let Grim name one. 'Jenkins'."

Ariel laughed too, but kissed the puppy's head to let it know it was still loved. "Grim was so excited about these little guys – I couldn't say – no!"

With one little wiggle, Jenkins had freed himself from Ariel's grasp, and the rest of the dogs gleefully wriggled out and sprinted after him.

"Eric, the dogs!" Ariel ran after the three of them, but they split up and had a head start. Eric put the three dogs he was holding in their basket. Said "stay!" and hoped, for once, that they'd listen, and ran down the beach after Ariel, Sunshine, Sunflower, and Jenkins.

The pair eventually gathered up the running pups, and brought them back to the basket, only to find that, of course, those dogs had scampered up to. An hour of hunting later, all the pups were gathered up and ready for dinner, while Ariel and Eric were ready to sleep.

"You two can't be going to bed already!" Carlotta chuckled, after the two bid her good night. "It's only eight o' clock!"

"Taking care of puppies is a lot of work." Eric laughed, then yawned.

"Fun, but, yeah." Ariel agreed, her sentence falling apart at the end as she yawned.

…

"Oh, am I tired! Those dogs are fast!" Ariel laughed sliding into bed and sinking into the mattress.

"And they outnumber us!" Eric laughed, flopping down on the bed and laying an arm over his eyes. "All these dogs, it's eight to two!"

"Well," Ariel rolled on her hip and knocked his arm off his eyes. "Eight to three, soon."

"You don't mean…" Eric sat up excitedly, suddenly feeling very alert.

Ariel laid a hand on her lower belly. "Who knows, maybe we'll outnumber them soon enough."