by Sophie Stern
“You’re not so bad yourself,” I say, touching his chest. I don’t know if I’ve ever been taken care of in this way. Not like this. I’ve never had anyone touch me like they mean it. I’ve never had someone dominate me so very deeply and wonderfully without even seeming to try.
“I want to try again.”
“Try what?”
“Our date.”
I raise an eyebrow.
“After everything that happened?”
“Would you be opposed?” He asks, chuckling.
“Not at all. I’m just a little surprised you’re okay with trying.”
“I’m okay with trying.”
“When?”
He laughs and smiles. Then he presses his lips to my cheek.
“Tomorrow,” he says. “Same time. Same place.”
“It’s a date.”
Chapter 6
Robert
The next day can’t come soon enough.
Work seems to drag by. My patients are all pretty easy to take care of and my nursing staff are all wonderful. A couple of my team members are a bit stand-offish, but they’ll warm up to me. I’m certain of it. It’s nearly closing time when I walk into an examination room and see a familiar face.
“Why, hello Miss Foxy,” I say. The redheaded barfly looks up at me in surprise.
“You’re a doctor.”
I glance down at my white coat and stethoscope, and then back up at her.
“Well, look at that. I suppose I am. And who is this?” I walk over to the table where a little redheaded boy is sitting. He looks up at me, blinking in surprise.
“This is Max.”
“Hello, Max,” I hold my hand out to him.
“Hi,” Max says, but he just looks at me. He turns to Foxy, who nods encouragingly.
“It’s okay,” she tells him.
“Nice to meet you,” I say to Max.
He takes my hand and shakes it carefully.
“Nice to meet you.”
“My name is Doctor Rob,” I say. I sit down on my chair and swivel in a circle. Max laughs. Good. As a pediatrician, I’m used to dealing with patients who are a bit timid and shy. Shifters tend to be even more shy than most. Before I moved to Claw Valley, I worked in a large hospital in a big city. My patients were a mix of human and shifter, but the shifters always were a little bit harder to connect with.
Shifters have to be careful.
The world we live in caters to humans. Not us.
“Hello,” Max says.
“What seems to be the problem today?”
I’ve already had a quick glance at his chart. I know that Max has asthma, and that he’s having trouble controlling it. I’m not surprised. There wasn’t a pediatrician here before and sometimes, managing a cub’s health isn’t as simple as just treating them the same way you’d treat an adult patient. Nothing against my fellow physicians at the Claw Valley Medical Clinic, but tiny shifters have tiny bodies.
Sometimes the way we treat them is going to be different.
“Um,” Max looks to Foxy again, and she once more nods.
“It’s okay, Max. Go ahead. Tell Doctor Rob what’s bothering you.”
“It hurts when I run,” he says quietly.
“Where does it hurt?”
He points to his chest.
“Your lungs hurt?”
“Yes.”
“How long has this been going on?”
This time, Foxy answers for him.
“About two weeks. My mom brought him in last week,” she says. “Max is my little brother.”
“And what did the doctor say when your mom brought him in?” I ask.
“She said that he shouldn’t run as much.”
I sigh. The doctor who treated him was on her way out the door. She was retiring, and unfortunately, from what I can tell, she definitely acted like it. Patients should receive the same standard of care no matter when they visit a doctor, but that didn’t seem to happen at this clinic.
“Well, it sounds like there’s a little more going on than just running too much,” I say lightly. Foxy nods.
“Yeah, that’s what I told my mom.”
I look at Max’s chart again. The doctor didn’t run any tests. She didn’t do x-rays. She did nothing at all.
Looking at Max, he appears to be very healthy. I know why the doctor skipped doing in-depth testing. Sometimes, testing can be uncomfortable for a shifter cub and it’s not something most people would ordinarily just try to do. Max’s case is a little different, though.
“It looks like he’s come in several times in the last year for his asthma. Is that right?”
“Yep.”
“And when do his flare-ups tend to happen?” I look at Foxy.
“They’re random,” she says. “At least, my mom said they are.”
“What do you think, Max?” I look at the little guy. He’s sitting perfectly still with his hands in his lap. “When does your chest hurt?”
“I don’t know.”
“What about, at school?”
He cocks his head for a second, thinking.
“Sometimes in PE.”
“When you’re running?”
“Yeah.”
“What about when you’re doing other physical things? Do you ever dance?”
Max blushes.
“Hey, nothing wrong with dancing, my man,” I tell him with a grin. “I love to dance.” I break into some silly dance moves and he starts giggling.
“Sometimes,” he says.
“Swimming?”
“Sometimes,” he says again.
“All right,” I say. “Well,” I turn to Foxy. “It sounds like his asthma is a little out of control right now, but that’s okay. We have a few options.”
“We do?” She asks. “So there’s a way to treat him?”
“Absolutely. The good thing about asthma is that with careful management, he can live an ordinary life. He can do all of his normal activities. He won’t be limited just because he’s got asthma.”
Foxy looks like she’s about to cry.
“Really?”
“Really and truly,” I smile. “So here’s what we can do. First off, we can get him a nebulizer.”
“Shifters can use those?”
“You know what a nebulizer is?”
“Yeah, he’s been to the hospital before,” she tells me. “And they used one to help him breathe better.”
“Well, we’re going to get one for your home,” I tell her. “It’ll cut back on emergency room visits. The nearest hospital is much too far, anyway.”
“I know,” she sighs. “Thirty minutes doesn’t seem like much, but when you can’t breathe...” Her voice trails off and I know what she’s thinking.
Thirty minutes is an eternity when you’re in trouble.
“What else can we do?” She asks.
“We’re going to try a daily medication,” I tell her. “There are a few options. I’m going to prescribe him one that I feel the most comfortable with. It’s just a little pill. He’ll take it every day. It usually takes a few days to start actively working, but then he should notice quite a difference in his ability to breathe. Sound good, Max?”
“Yes.”
“Are you ready to be able to run again?”
“Yeah,” he smiles.
“Thank you so much,” Foxy says. “This is incredible.”
“Well, it’s not very fun to be laid up, is it? I’m sure Max is ready to be able to play with his friends again.”
“Kyle Winters is having a birthday party next week,” Max says. “We’re all going to play tag!”
“And now he can,” Foxy says, patting her brother’s shoulder.
“Are you going to fill your medication in Claw Valley?” I ask.
“Yeah.”
“I’ll send everything over to the pharmacy digitally then.”
“You don’t need to write me a note?” Foxy asks.
“Nope. Sending everything digitally is
faster and greener than writing everything on pieces of paper. Besides, this way, there’s no chance of you losing it or misplacing it before you can get to the pharmacy.”
“Wow,” Foxy stands up. “Thank you. For everything.”
“Of course. Now, Max will still need to keep his rescue inhaler with him, okay? There may still be times when he needs to take a puff, and that’s okay. He should always take it when he feels like it. The goal of the medication is to help stabilize him and get the asthma under control so he can live a more normal life.”
“You’ve been fantastic,” Foxy says. “Thank you again.”
“Do you have any other questions?”
“Nope. See ya,” Max jumps down off the table and leaves the room, presumably heading for the waiting room. I bite back a laugh. I remember those days of wanting to hurry and get out of the doctor’s office. Now I’m always here, but I don’t mind it at all. Meeting with patients like Max is the reason I do what I do. It’s nice to be able to help patients who are struggling and who might not otherwise have hope.
Foxy stands up.
“It was nice to see you,” she says.
“And you as well.”
“I hear you have a big date tonight,” she winks.
“Oh?” I’m still not quite used to being in a small town. I’m a little surprised, but honored, that Meredith told Foxy about our date.
“Don’t worry,” Foxy says. “She doesn’t bite. Much.”
I laugh.
“Good to know. I was worried there for a minute.”
“You’re different, you know.” Foxy looks at me for a second. I raise an eyebrow. What exactly does she mean by that? Am I different than she expected? Or am I different from the other people in Claw Valley?
“What do you mean?”
“Meredith was scared of you, but it wasn’t you she was scared of. She was scared of getting hurt.”
“She told me.”
“She’s been through a lot, Doctor Rob.”
“I have no plans to hurt her,” I say gently.
There’s a knock on the exam room door and a short, round nurse pops her head in.
“Time for your next patient, doc,” she says. She gives Foxy a nasty look and then gives me one, too.
“I’ll be right there, Lori. I’m just finishing up with Max’s sister.”
“Hmph,” Lori says, and she turns to leave.
“Trouble in paradise?” Foxy asks quietly.
“You have no idea.”
“Give them time,” she says. “They’ll warm up.”
“I hope so.”
I lead her out to the reception area and wave goodbye before I head into the next patient’s exam room. The biggest problem isn’t that people in Claw Valley don’t like outsiders. It’s that they’re untrusting of outsiders. Most of my team members at the clinic are fantastic, but there are a select few who are very uncomfortable with me. Lori is one of them. She’s a bear shifter who has lived here her entire life and has no plans to leave after she retires. She knows everyone in this town. Everyone.
Except for me.
Change naturally makes people uncomfortable, but all I can do is keep trying my best.
When I walk into the next exam room, however, I’m met with a firm, “No.”
“Excuse me?” I ask. The man standing beside the exam table frowns at me. There’s a little girl sitting on the table. She’s got a virus and her parents want to make sure it isn’t anything more serious than that.
“I said no,” he says again.
“No...what?”
“I don’t want you,” he tells me.
“I believe there’s been some sort of mix-up,” I tell him. “I’m Doctor Robert. I’m here to examine Lucy.”
“You won’t be doing a damn thing in here,” the man yells. “Now get out!”
“Woah,” Lori rushes into the room and looks from me to the man and back to me. “What did you do?”
“I walked into the room,” I say drily. Of course Lori would take this guy’s side. What a clown.
“Now Pete,” Lori says with a sigh. “I told you we had a new doctor in town.”
“You didn’t tell me it was a man.”
“He’s an adequate doctor, Pete.”
Adequate?
Seriously, what the fuck?
“Lori, you know what I think.”
“Sir, if you don’t want me to treat your daughter, I’m sure we can find another medical team member who can examine her.”
“I want a different doctor.”
“Unfortunately, there are no other doctors available today,” I tell him honestly. “But we have a nurse practitioner who has an appointment opening and can see Lucy.”
“No, she needs a doctor.”
I shrug and wait. I’m not going to do anything this guy doesn’t want, but damn if it doesn’t hurt to be treated like a freak just because I was born somewhere else. Growing up, I always thought being black would be the reason I stuck out when it came to small towns. Who knew it would simply be because I’m from another place? Nobody here seems to care at all about my skin tone. They just care that I’m from a different zip code.
“Well, Pete,” Lori says. “You know your options. Choose one. We don’t have all day.”
Lori is a little harsh and a little rough around the edges, but I like her style. I can certainly appreciate all that she brings to this clinic. She might not like me specifically, but she keeps things running smoothly.
Pete sighs loudly.
“All right,” he says. “I guess it’ll be okay.”
“Come on in, doc,” Lori says. I come all of the way into the room then, and as I pass her, Lori touches my shoulder gently. I turn to look at her and she gives me a slight nod, as if to say that I can do this.
As if to tell me that everything is going to be okay.
“All right,” I sit down my swivel chair and turn to little Lucy. She’s holding a plush close to her chest and she looks nervous as hell. Anxiety is wafting off of her, and I take a deep breath. “My name is Doctor Rob,” I hold my hand out. “What’s your name?”
“You know her name is Lucy,” Pete snaps.
“No offense, sir, but I’d like to hear it from my patient.” I look up at him and smile tightly. “Body autonomy is very important to me. My patients, no matter how small or young they might be, deserve to feel as though they are in control of what’s happening to them. Lucy is no exception.”
Pete glares at me, but says nothing.
“What’s your name?” I ask her again.
“Lucy.”
“And who is this?” I gesture to her plush. Again, her father sighs, but building a relationship and stablishing trust is very important to me as a physician. I want each of my patients to know that they’re valuable to me.
“Mr. Fuzzypants,” she says.
“Well, hello, Mr. Fuzzypants.” I pat the little bear on its head, and then I look at up Lucy. “What seems to be the problem, Miss Lucy?”
“My throat hurts.”
“Your throat hurts?” I ask, furrowing my brow. “That doesn’t sound fun. Does anything else hurt?”
“My tummy.”
“Hmm, and how long has this been going on?” I turn to Pete, and he mutters something under his breath before telling me.
“About a week.”
“Hmm,” I take out my stethoscope and I tell Lucy I’m going to check her breathing. It’s a bit raspy and she definitely sounds congested, but nothing that’s making me too concerned. Pete seems to calm down a little once I start the actual examination, and after a few minutes, I turn back to him.
“Well?”
“So Lucy’s got a virus right now. We don’t need to give medication just yet, at least nothing prescription. You have a few options for helping her to feel a little better at home.”
“Like what?” He says. He sounds frustrated and irritated. I know that it’s not easy taking care of a sick kid and he’s probably just feeling ten
se because he’s worried about his child. Still, there’s no reason to take that out on me.
I take a deep breath.
“Hot compresses will help with headaches. You can also have her sit in the bathroom with the shower running. Have her play on her tablet or look at a book while the water runs. It’ll steam everything up and help break down congestion.”
“Really?” He says, suddenly, Pete seems to calm down a little. “And that’ll work?”
“It should be especially effective at helping with nighttime congestion,” I tell him. “So, if she’s been uncomfortable at night, this will help with that discomfort.”
I offer him a few more suggestions, hug Mr. Fuzzypants, and send them on their way. Once they’re out of the office, Lori goes out to lock the door for the night. Then she comes back over to me.
“Good job today, Doc,” she says.
“Really?” I look down at the short little nurse.
“Really. I don’t say that lightly. You had a lot of assholes in here today,” she says. Frankly, I’m completely shocked to hear her saying this. Lori is a great nurse, but she definitely comes across as being closed-off.
“Thank you.”
I don’t really know if there’s anything else to say right now. Lori looks up at me, though, with her big eyes and her button nose, and she smiles slowly.
“You might not know this,” she tells me.
“Know what?”
“You aren’t the first outsider to come here as a physician.”
“Is that right?” I was under the impression that most of the doctors at the clinic had been here forever.
“That’s right. It’s just that the patients in Claw Valley can be a bit...difficult. You understand.”
“It seems as though I do.”
“Hang in there,” she says. She pats my shoulder and turns to grab her things. “It’ll get easier, Doc.”
Lori leaves, and I’m alone. There are a few other staff members finishing up for the day, but they’re in other rooms and I’m alone in the waiting room. I lean against the wall and look around for a brief moment.
This is it.
This is the moment when everything changes.
Today sucked. It was long and exhausting and it makes me question whether I’m doing the right thing, but Lori’s carefully timed words of encouragement make me feel a whole lot better.