Alex does a valiant job at keeping a straight face and remaining completely businesslike, as if strange men show up and babble and flirt with him every night of the week. (Granted, plenty of Maggie's regulars are eccentric.) There's a good chance, though, that if Jairo doesn't roll his window up fast enough as he pulls in past the gate, he'll hear a bark of laughter from a very amused Officer Weinstein.

Fortunately the dogs are good at getting out from underfoot, because the sea of them parts around her as she closes the distance between her and Jairo without slowing down at all. His face absolutely lights up when he smiles, she notes with a rush of affection. Lying to herself about how she feels definitely isn't going to be possible.

"It looks like a lot more when I don't just have a few of them on video at a time," she admits, grinning. Maggie always records her first meetings with new additions to her pack of mini bulldogs, and the she's pretty openly vocal about reading breed specifications before buying purebreds. All two dozen dogs are epileptic rescues. Still, two dozen are a lot all at once.

But by this point she's gotten to Jai, and her arms are around him as soon as he's in reach. She's just going to cling for a minute, appreciating how real and solid and here he is. "I'm so glad you came, Jairo," Maggie murmurs against the side of his neck.

Then she pulls back just enough to get another good look at him for a second before crushing her lips to his.