Fall Into Me

.XII.

The journey to the farmlands took so long that Mona had fallen asleep, and when she woke, it was to Minerva.

"Hello sleepy head," she greeted teasingly and Mona huffed.

"Not my fault you don't talk and drive."

"I had other things on my mind," Minerva told her, nodding to the still slumbering puppy. "Let's get this done, shall we?"

Mona nodded and Minerva scooped the puppy from her. They exited the van onto a large open space, buildings dotted around everywhere. A couple collies ran over, whole body's wagging in excitement. A sharp whistle called them back, and a woman in dirty jeans and a jumper walked over.

"That the pup?" She asked. Mona was surprised she wasn't Scottish, but American. Minerva nodded and they all headed towards a far off building whilst Minerva explained what she'd assumed happened.

The vet wasn't impressed, and led them into an examination room. Minerva gently put the puppy down on the table and the vet began her exam. She murmured to herself as she worked, typing a few things into the system, checking teeth, ears, eyes, nose, then taking its temperature.

"She's a girl, by the way," she revealed.

"Told you," Mona said and Minerva hushed her softly, which was enough to remind Mona about what she'd said.

"Will you run bloods?" Minerva asked and the vet nodded.

"I'll run everything. Full screen of the whole body, check for every disease I can. It'll take the day, though."

"That's fine," Minerva said, "call me when you're done."

"Will do!"

Minerva herded Mona out of the room.

"A day? Ain't that quick! Vets normally take days for this stuff!"

"Ana has everything she needs here. I made sure of it. There's a team to help her with tests, every piece of equipment she needs is here too. What you must remember, is there are a minimum of fifty dogs on my property. That's just with the shelter and the sheep dogs. I'm not including the cattle guardians or the pets, or the barn cats. I will not have any animal on my property suffer if I can help it."

"You got over fifty dogs here?"

"Yes. There are thousands of sheep and cattle, and the dogs are used for all of them."

"Are we gonna wait here until we find out of the pups okay?"

"Would you like to?"

"Yes, please."

"Lady Edevane!" A man jogged over to them, "we not seen you here for a while!"

"Fly in visit, Arran," Minerva replied, "there was a pup by the waterfall, so we brought it here."

"Really? We had a pup found last night, foxes tried to rip it to pieces. Nasty bastards they are."

"Can we see?" Mona asked and Minerva nodded.

"Afternoon, Ma'am," Arran tipped his peak hat at Mona, who scrunched her face at it.

"Just Mona," Minerva corrected. A look of realisation crossed Arran's face.

"The lass you married?"

"Yes."

"Lovely to finally meet you. This way for the pup."

Arran led them to a barn, a few cats Lounging in the hay bales. He took them to a stall, where a grey lump unfolded its gangly limbs, long tail whipping back and forth.