#anya rozanov

“oh!”

shane feels ilya jump beside him and quickly tightens his grip around his husband’s arm. his eyes shoot down to the floor looking around for the danger. what he finds is an enthusiastic golden retriever of one or two years old snuffling the back of ilya’s knee. deciding the threat isn’t actually threatening in the slightest, shane lets go and steps away so he can observe ilya’s reaction from a distance.

“why hello!” ilya earnestly giggles in delight and shane falls even more in love with him than should be possible. ilya scans left and right quickly for any indication of who’s dog this is. he lands on a printed picture of the retriever laminated and stuck to a nearby shelf. the sign below it reads ‘say hi to our shop dog! she’s friendly!’

“ah, you are a working girl, i should have know,” ilya grins, squatting down to her level, “and what is your name?”

he fights against her constant excited wiggling to twist around her magenta collar, a distinct metal jingling filling the air. ilya gets a hold of her tags and his whole face scrunches up in deep offense.

“sugar plum!” ilya exclaims, disgust evident in his voice. shane has to shove a fist in his mouth to stifle his laughter, “oh no, милая девочка* that is… unfortunate.” he starts to scratch behind her ears and her drooling tongue enthusiastically tries to lick his left wrist, “sugar plum is not the name of a sophisticated lady like you.”

sugar plum, completely oblivious, flops over happily on the linoleum floor so ilya can scratch her belly.

“hmmm, there’s yelena. good name. have you seen the black widow movie? yelena is blonde and very fierce like you,” he’s rubbing rapidly over her fuzzy ribcage and she’s pawing at him for more, “how about zlata? you know what zlata means?”

his hands stop and sugar plum-yelena-zlata blinks at him once, twice before barking impatiently.

“gold, yes! what a smart dog you are! shane, did you see-“ he looks up for the first time, eyes immediately clocking the phone in shane’s hands, “you have been recording this whole time?”

shane nods and his phone nods with him. an evil smile threatens to cross his face as he waits for ilya to realize his plan. ilya turns back to sugar plum when she jumps up to her feet again, shakes herself off and pads away. shane can see the exact moment it dawns on ilya.

“asshole!” he shoots up and points an accusatory finger at shane’s face, “you will show none of this to anya when we get home.”

his smile finally breaks and shane is practically buzzing with pent up laughter, “she’s going to be soooo sad. so betrayed by her papa, i guess she’ll have to cuddle me tonight. sighhhh.”

“this is parental alienation, shane!” ilya grabs for shane’s phone but he’s just barely able to leap out of the way, “i will sue!”

—

Zelda is my service dog in training, and she is a 3yo border collie/aussie mix. She is a hilarious, intelligent, and loving cuddle bug who loves learning new tasks and being better than everyone. However, I’m not just here to brag about my wonderful daughter. I propose to the HR fandom that my dog should be your fancast for Anya Hollander-Rozanov (until she is officially cast in s2)!

If we were being honest, it took some time for Shane to warm up to Anya. Before Ilya, Shane hadn't really considered himself a dog person. And he was concerned if they had enough time to take care of a pet especially because they traveled so much. But once Shane saw how happy she made Ilya, he was won over.

Today was Anya's first time at the cottage and Shane made a few updates to make sure that she felt right at home. He'd been secretly planning this for a while so he couldn't wait to surprise Ilya. And luckily, he didn't have to wait much longer as he heard the door opening.

"We are here!" Ilya said from the entrance. Then, Anya ran in and beelined it for Shane.

"There's my angel! Hi Anya!" He greeted her, petting her head as she wagged her tail and licked his face. She was excited to see him too.

Ilya walked into the living room. "Hi."

"Welcome home," Shane said as his heart skipped a beat.

They let her out in the back so she could stretch her legs after the car ride.

"There's a water station in case she's thirsty." Shane pointed to a big water bowl on a quick drying floor mat personalized with her name. "There's one in almost every room."

They were watching from the windows now as Anya ran around in circles in the backyard.

"There's also food and treats for her in the pantry. I cleared out a shelf," Shane said, a bit nervous. "There's a chest for her, to keep her toys." Shane continued, "And here's her bed. Well, one of them. There's also one in the bedroom and by the fire pit, so she's comfy when we're out there."

Newfoundland, Clumber Spaniel, Brittany.