Colleen made her way to the mirror with bleary eyed sluggishness. Typical for a Monday morning, which was odd considering it was Friday. Once in the bathroom she turned to face the mirror, regretting what she forced herself to see immediately.
Colleen have never been a 'morning dog' by any means but recently things just seemed to get worse. Due to the onset of age the face that stared back at Colleen was a bit of a fright. She wasn't really old old, but she had that distinct look of 'middle age' that was enhanced by baggy eyes, faint wrinkles on her cheeks, and a bit of 'sag' in places she didn't want to think about. Most went away after her morning routine to perk herself up, but it was the initial scare of seeing all that along with her unruly bed head of fur that made the female wince every morning when she looked in the mirror.
Pulling open the cabinet she got out the usual necessities and proceeded through her automatic actions as she brushed her teeth, combed her fur, applied a moderate dose of anti-flea and tick powder (it was impolite to scratch in public after all), and made herself ready. Once done Colleen still had bleary somewhat bloodshot eyes, but the other effects were less noticeable at least.
As she returned to her room to dress, Colleen sighed, she knew getting older was a part of life, but it still frustrated her to know a few more years and missions might not be possible, a decade or two and she wouldn't even be able to show her routines to students, she'd be stuck behind a desk teaching 'theory'. Not to mention her chances of winning the clueless Hunter over were slipping away day by day. Cano-sapians might have aged at near human levels, but it was small consolation. Getting older might have been a thing she could stand if she could find someway to undo the unpleasant side effects of her looks deteriorating at least.
As Colleen slipped on her boots and buckled her belt, she gave one last check in the mirror. With a final sigh she stepped out the door...
"SURPRISE!"
Whether it was Colleens fast thinking or her aging reflexes that saved Hunter from getting a boot to the stomach was something best left a mystery. The fact of the matter was Colleen stood there in shock as confetti thrown by the golden Labrador rained down over both of them.
"What's all this then?" Colleen blinked as she looked around, both Exile and Blitz stood nearby looking pleasantly smug.
"It is, how you say, big surprise," Exile smiled in his typical thick Russian accent, "Comrade Hunter has quite the treat in store." The blue and white furred huskie Colleen had long known looked just as strong as ever, though these days Exile was sporting a touch more of a paunch than before.
"Hey come on Exile," Hunter chuckled gently bumping his fist on the huskies shoulder playfully, "We agreed I'd get to tell her." The leader of the Rovers was looking as good as ever. Though if one were to look very closely, Hunters fur was starting to gray just slightly around his temples.
"I still don't see why you get to," Blitz remarked, rolling his eyes, "I should be the one to tell her." The dobermans thick German accent rolled off his tong with the usual arrogance Colleen had come to expect. While still as physically fit as ever, Blitz was also showing his age with a few more wrinkles around his eyes and cheeks, though he was far too vane to ever really 'show' them, preferring to cover such things with a dab of makeup on his fur.
"And you are...?" Colleen had to hide a smirk as Blitz face-palmed at her continued running gag of forgetting his name.
"Well I get to tell her because I'm the one who bought the tickets," hunter replied with a note of finality.
"Tickets?" Colleen asked curiously, "Tickets for what? Come on, tell me Hunty-wunty."
The golden chuckled again and brandished the printed stubs of paper for Colleen, "Here you go. Round trip tickets for a two month long stay at the latest tropical resort, Paradise Island."
"No way," Colleen gaped, "You mean that place that's opening up on an exclusive south seas island this week? The one that's been in the newspapers for almost a year promising a vacation of ones dreams?"
"That's the one," Hunter smiled, "I've been saving up all year for you. Trust me Colleen, you've earned it.
"Oh Hunter, this is so sweat of you," she smiled taking the tickets, "But I'd hate to leave you out."
"Not to worry," Hunter nodded, "We'll be joining you, but just for the last couple weeks or so. So you get six weeks on your own to have fun and then we'll join you for two more so we can all have fun together."
"Aw Hunter," Colleen smiled and then looked at the tickets in surprise, "These are for tomorrow."
"Yep," Hunter smiled, "Better get packing. Don't worry, we'll handle your classes while you're away. You go and have fun. We'll join you before long."
Colleen couldn't help it and gave Hunter a quick kiss on the cheek, "Thank you boys." She smiled as Hunter blushed and turned back around into her room to being the difficult decision of what exactly to pack.
So, does Colleen make it to the island safely or does something else happen to her?
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