This Heart of Mine

Ch. 27: Another Piece of the Puzzle

Thankfully, Ian didn't bug Naina more about the dream.

Because she really did not want to explain how her repressed desires for him manifested in...that.

Their first patient, a sweet lady cat named Leviathan, was due early morning and Naina waited on the cool porch for the car that would be bringing her. Leviathan, a fluffy, large Maine Coon, needed surgery on her back leg, which some cruel kid had broken for fun. The shelter that'd saved her couldn't do much because it would be too costly.

Like what kind of child thought it'd be great to wreck a poor, young cat's life?

The sun's curve peeked over the horizon, and with it, headlights from Ian's car. He hadn't found someone to run and grab the animals just yet, so he'd taken on those duties.

Like a ninja, he tip-toed across the grass and into the clinic, where Doc and Naina had already prepped one of the surgical rooms. In the big carrier, Leviathan slept peacefully.

As soon as Ian set down the cat carrier, Leviathan awoke and immediately started yowling. The cat limped out onto the table, and her back leg was in a horrible direction.

"She's wearing off of the last pain med they were able to give her," Ian explained.

Doc was already working his charm on the cat, getting her to calm and lay down. As she closed the door, she could see him checking his mask and eye protection and reaching for the syringe of anesthesia.

Naina went to her office. They'd be getting two more pets today and she had to be on alert to make sure everything ran properly. If all went well, Leviathan would be able to be released into her foster home a week from now.

Someone draped their arms around her shoulders, and she felt a chin lean on her head. "You alright?" Ian asked.

"Yeah. Little tired. You?" She'd gotten up early to run a checklist and make sure everything needed was accounted for.

"Oh yeah." His voice passed through his neck into the top of her skull. "Don't mind me if I take a nap this afternoon."

He gave her a small kiss to the top of her head before heading out to pick up the next patient.

Oh dear. How was she supposed to get used to that sweet kind of behavior?

At her previous workplace, Naina used to divide the hours into chunks of fifteen minutes, biding her time until the day ended. It was grueling, annoying and she felt like her wits had turned into a melted wax sculpture, burned away by the nastiness of the women and men who thought they could get their way and verbally abuse the staff.

The afternoon came quicker than she'd expected. They only had three patients that day, so she'd assumed it'd last longer. The last one, a momma chihuahua that was way too rotund to be able to give birth properly, had to have the equivalent of a c-section done.

After finishing up a virtual meeting with another candidate, she found Ian on a visiting chair outside snoozing away. His head, angled little lower than ninety degrees, moved whenever he seemed to have some neck pain.

Naina found a pillow and eased his head to set it in a way that would permit a better rest.

She put on a suit, eye protection over her glasses, gloves, and a mask to finish cleaning down the surgery rooms. The bloody materials were in their trash can, ready to be disposed of whenever the biohazard company came to pick up the bags. After wiping down the entire area once, she went around again and allowed it to air out and disposed of her protective equipment. She then cleaned up her goggles and left them to dry.