"How in the fuck do you work a washer and dryer, Luisa?" raged the tiny brunette into her cell phone as she glared at the washer's control panel. "This is absolutely ridiculous. There is, like, ten million buttons, how am I supposed to know which I should use?"

"Tiny maus, calm down. I will be at the apartment in fifteen minutes. In the meantime, could you start unpacking the kitchen things, bitte?" soothed the blonde as she turned on her Bluetooth and pulled out of the animal shelter's parking lot.
"Fine," huffed Beca as she shuffled to their kitchen and placed her phone on her shoulder while she grabbed a box out of the corner.

The two women were in the process of moving in together and the first two rooms they had set up were, understandably, the closet and laundry room. Luisa had a surprisingly large amount of clothing (most being quite expensive and intricate designer pieces) for being a recent college graduate and it had actually sent Beca into shock when Luisa had told the realtor how much closet space they would need. It had taken both women an estimated two days to organize and unpack just Luisa's clothing and only a half a day to unpack and slot Beca's clothing into their shared walk-in closet space. The laundry room was the obvious second choice considering how many items of clothing they now had in their new apartment. They had just taken the washing machine and dryer that Luisa had bought for her previous apartment to put in their new home. The thing that Beca was having trouble with is that she had never had such a high tech appliance in her prior laundry rooms so the extra buttons that didn't read 'wash' and 'dry' were quite a bit confusing.

"Did you want the plates in the cupboard above the dishwasher or next to the oven?" asked Beca as she unloaded a stack of blood red plates onto their granite countertops. She shifted her phone to her other shoulder as she kicked the step stool over so she could reach the shelf.

"Ja, tiny maus, that sounds good," replied Luisa as she flipped on her turn signal and absent-mindedly started humming "Uprising" by Muse as she took the turn. "The cups can go in the cupboard right next to the one the plates are going in."
"Gotcha. Dankeschön, babe," mumbled Beca as she lifted the plates into the open spot in the cabinet. "How long again until you are home?"

"Well, since I sped a bit, I should be only ten minutes now," responded the German as she merged onto the freeway. "I have a surprise for you when I get home."

Beca almost dropped a plate. "You got me a surprise?" she asked, filled with a sudden sense of excitement obvious in her now slightly higher-pitched voice. When her girlfriend answered in an affirmative ("ja, tiny maus"), she actually dropped a plate and shattered it completely.

"Maus? Is everything alright? I heard something break," Luisa asked concernedly as she took the proper exit and slowed down. "Did you hurt yourself?"

Beca had bit her lip trying to contain her low whine as she bent over to pick glass out of her left foot. "Luisa, can you get here faster? I have some glass in my foot and I don't think I can get all of it out by myself," confessed the nervous and panicky brunette as she carefully stepped off the stool and sat on the kitchen's cold tile floor.

"I will try, little maus," answered a frantic Luisa. She sped up in an attempt to get home as fast as she could to aid her girlfriend and accidentally ran a stop sign. Looking to her right, she could see headlights heading straight for her, heard a blaring horn, and she accelerated just in time to get ahead of the oncoming car.

"Did I just hear a car horn?" demanded the American.

"Ӓhm… ja?" admitted the blonde as she took another turn, only a short distance away from their apartment complex. "I am close to home, maus. I will be there soon."

"Thank God. Babe, I think I'm starting to panic a little," breathed Beca as she pulled out a large piece of red-colored glass and set it on the floor in a small pile of the other pieces she had already removed. "I have most of the larger ones out, I think."
"Good, I will find the tweezers and get the smaller pieces out."

Luisa parked her car and grabbed the cause of this whole mess out of the backseat before she rushed up the stairs to her panicking girlfriend. She quickly unlocked the door and set down the surprise in the bathroom before shutting the door and finding the box labeled "bathroom things".

"I got all the big ones out for sure and there are just little tiny pieces left," shouted Beca as she pulled out the last of the big pieces.

Luisa stuck her hand in the box and felt around for the small instrument and finally grasped it and yanked with a flourish. The German stood up and made her way to the kitchen and it was definitely a sight to see.

Beca sat on the floor in the kitchen with the broken plate beside her and a small pile of its larger shards next to it, covered in blood. Beca's foot was bleeding; fortunately, it was not a profuse amount. "Scheiße, maus. You have made a mess of yourself, haven't you?" stated the blonde as she sat down next to the brunette and started to pull out the fragments. "And to think, engel, that all this started with you not being able to operate two simple machines."

Beca's girlfriend removed the last bit, cleaned up her foot, and wrapped it in gauze and an Ace bandage. The small woman stood up with the help of Luisa and was immediately thrown over the German's shoulder and taken to the laundry room. She was set down in front of the matching black washer and dryer. The taller woman simply said, "All you needed to push, little maus, is the 'normal wash' button on the washer and then hit 'start'. On the dryer, you must twist this little knob to 'normal' and hit 'start' once again." Then Beca was picked up once again, this time though she was deposited onto their fluffy white comforter. "Wait here, maus."

Luisa left the room and walked toward the faint whining sound coming from the bathroom. Opening the door, she picked up the small bundle of fur and whispered little words of comfort before returning to her bedroom. She braced herself and walked in the door frame. Beca spotted the animal in her girlfriend's arms and let out a little squeal which caught the attention of the eight-week old Chow Chow puppy.

"Oh my god, Luisa, you didn't?" half-shouted Beca out of pleasant surprise. "What's its name?"

"Her name is Bertha, I got her from the shelter on Howell Mill Road," answered Luisa as she set the little off-white puppy on the bed. Bertha immediately bounded over to her second mom and rolled over for a tummy rub.

"She is so cute, oh my lord. How did you find her?" questioned Beca as she rubbed Bertha's tiny, fluffy tummy which caused the small dog to shake her hind legs in happiness.

"One of my friends works at the shelter and she said that they had just cleaned out a puppy mill and they needed homes for the babies so I offered to look at one to take home. I knew you have been talking about getting one since we had started planning to move in together so I thought it was perfect timing. One look at her little face and I was sure that you would fall in love with her—" babbled the German woman as Beca silently laughed at her girlfriend's antics.

"Babe, thank you," Beca stopped Luisa from rambling even more and made a 'come hither' motion with her hand that wasn't occupied with puppy and grabbed the collar of her shirt. "I am so in love with you, you huge adorable nerd." And with that, the smaller woman planted one on the blonde that shut both of them up for a good two minutes until Bertha interrupted.

"Well, I guess this is what having a kid is like on a smaller scale, huh?" asked Beca playfully.

"Ja, it must be," she answered. "Come on, Bertha, you must need to use the restroom by now."