Title- For Bone Lady

Summary- The last few scenes of The Finger in the Nest, from Ripley's P.O.V.

AN & Warning- Written not five minutes after watching The Finger in the Nest- except for this and the P.S., nothing has been changed or added. It's intense.

Ripley's POV(bit eloquent of a dog, I know).

Lady, oh Lady.

You loved me, even knowing as you did the horrible things that I have been forced to do. You loved me- petted me- things from so far in my past that I had forgotten them. I had forgotten human love, companionship- I had forgotten what it felt like to love my Person in return.

But that is what you showed me, in those last few days of my life. The wonder of a careless hand stroking my fur, the sudden hug into your side when you were excited. You loved me more than the People of my puppy hood, more than the doctor who saved my life. Much more than the man who never even valued me.

And you have no idea of the pain and confusion when that same man ordered me to kill the Person who saved my life- the Person who saw something in me worth saving. I didn't-don't- understand why. But I did as I was told, though it broke my heart. And yet, this act was the reason you came into my life.

You saw past my size, past the vicious beast I had become, past what he had made me. You loved me, and I can never repay you for that.

He- he was my Owner, the one I must serve. You are my heart's chosen Master, the one I chose to serve. And I would not change one minute of my life, if that change meant I would never have met you.

I thought I would remain a fighting dog until my last breaths, but you saved me from that. You wonderful, beautiful-hearted woman. You say that 'dogs have a limited vocabulary', but I agree with your Mate. Dog is God spelled backwards, and we are here, on this Earth, to love. And I did not- could not- until I met you. And then I knew what unconditional love- what the complete surrender of your heart to someone- really meant.

And as I watch you hug your Mate, as I watch you cry over me, I swear that I will watch over you from the Heaven you don't believe in until you come home. And then you and I will pass through those Gates together, and when your Mate joins us, we will be complete. And I will never leave your side, not for all eternity.

Because you loved me, even for such a short span of time, I will love you forever.

Yeah. I know.

Please review.

MannyWitch