Part 5
Dr. Voss took Nell into the examination room while Ben held Finn back. The vet checked the swelling, compared the earlier images, and ordered fresh images of the injured leg. Ben waited beside the table with his hand beneath Nell’s chin.
The new images helped Dr. Voss assess the swelling beneath the skin, which had healed over. An infection had developed deep near the joint. She showed Ben the area she was concerned about and explained that she needed to open and clean it before it caused more damage.
“Today?” he asked.
“As soon as we’re ready.”
Nell lay on a folded towel, unusually still. When Finn moved at the far end of his lead, the tip of her tail stirred. Ben shifted his hand so she didn’t have to lift her head.
“Can she get back on her feet?”
“That’s what we’re working for. She’s young, and we’ve caught this while we can do something about it. I won’t know everything until I’m in there.”
Ben nodded. Dr. Voss explained the consent to Mara, who signed for the rescue, and the veterinary staff began preparing Nell. Ben moved out of their way. There was nothing he could carry or hold that would help now.
Finn went to the treatment-room door and lay down facing it. He sniffed the food Mara brought, then turned his muzzle away. Ben set Ranger’s ball beside his paw; it had been on the truck seat when they left home. Finn didn’t pick it up.
The bench stood opposite the door, beneath a notice about keeping leashes short in the hall. Ben sat with the puppy’s lead gathered in his hand. On the other side of the wall, people moved quietly, and he could hear the brief clink of metal against metal.
He had heard that sound in another clinic. His thumb found the worn place in the webbing of Finn’s lead, and for a moment he felt Ranger’s collar beneath his palm, the heavy head no longer turning toward him. He stood before the memory reached the drive home.
Mara was at the desk. The vet had everything she needed. Nell would receive the same care whether Ben stayed on that bench or went back to his truck. He could tell Mara to call him, come back when there was something useful to do.
He walked several steps down the hall. Finn raised his head but remained at the closed door. The puppy hadn’t scratched once since Nell went through it. He simply kept his body there, facing the place she had disappeared.
Ben stopped with his hand on the bench’s far end. He looked toward the lobby, where daylight showed through the glass, then back at Finn. His keys were in his pocket. He could feel them against his thigh.
He returned to the bench and sat on the floor beside it. Finn looked up, and Ben laid a hand on the small shoulder. “I’m staying. Move over a little.”
The puppy made room by leaning against him. Ben stretched his legs out, keeping the hall clear, and waited there while the building opened around them. A delivery came. Someone needed the copier unjammed. Mara handled both without asking him to get up.
When the treatment door finally opened, Ben had to brace a hand against the bench to stand. Dr. Voss still had a crease across her forehead from her cap. He couldn’t read her expression quickly enough.
“She’s through,” she said. “She’s waking up.”
Ben let go of the bench. Finn stood too, his nose working toward the opening. The vet crouched briefly to keep him from slipping past, then told Ben what she had found.
The infected pocket had been cleaned, and she hadn’t found the extensive joint damage she had feared. Nell would need prescribed medicine, close monitoring, and restricted activity as she healed. There was reason to be hopeful, though her earlier injury might still leave the left leg weaker as she grew.
“Even if this heals?” Ben asked.
“Yes. We may still see a limp when she gets tired. We’ll have to follow her.”
Through the small window, he could see Nell beneath a light blanket. Her head rested sideways, one ear flattened against the towel. He asked whether she would be able to have an ordinary life.
“I expect so, with care,” Dr. Voss said. “The leg may never look quite like the other one. She’s still the same dog you brought in this morning.”
Ben looked at the white puppy waiting beside his boot. Nell had been stealing his ball only days ago. He wanted to see her do that again, however she moved when she tried.
Later, once she was awake enough and the vet was satisfied, Finn was allowed a short, supervised visit. Ben kept him on his lead. For once he approached slowly, sniffing at the edge of the recovery bed before lowering himself to the floor.
Nell raised her head. Her front paw moved toward the edge of the blanket, and Finn shifted until his own reached it. Ben loosened the lead enough for him to settle there. Dr. Voss checked Nell once more and left them with Mara.
“I’ll need a medical foster when Ellen clears her,” Mara said. “Somebody who can keep track of the medicine and get her back for checks.”
Ben looked at the bandage, then at Nell’s water bowl, set just beyond the bed. “Put me down.”
Mara didn’t reach for a pen. “This won’t be another week and done. And it’s different with two of them.”
“I can take leave for the first few days. After that I’ll need help around shifts.” He rubbed a thumb along the edge of his coat. “I’ll work out the visits with you.”
“The leg could need attention later, too.”
“I heard her.” Ben glanced toward the treatment room. “I’d like to start whatever paperwork you need.”
Mara watched him for a moment. “Foster to adopt?”
“For Nell. And for him.”
Finn had put his chin down beside Nell’s paw. Ben went with Mara to the desk, left his phone number where she pointed even though she already had it, and signed the preliminary forms. She set the two files together while he checked the instructions for bringing Nell home.
He stayed until she was settled for the night. Before they left, Finn went back to the recovery bed and stood there a few seconds. Then Ben called him, and he came along without pulling. In the lobby, Mara asked whether he wanted a hand getting Nell settled at home.
“Please,” Ben said. “I’m bringing Finn when I come for her.”
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