Trust Me, I'm A Doctor (Sophie)

[Dr. Taylor Ward]

Taylor still wasn't quite used to hearing and responding to calls of Dr. Ward. It didn't seem to matter that he had spent most of his life so far striving to be where he was now. In his mind, Dr. Ward was, and forever would be, his father.

Which was the primary reason as to why he nearly jumped when one of the technicians addressed him as such to alert him to a waiting patient.

He'd get used to it. One day.

Maybe.

Seeing patients was becoming fairly routine now, and his need for direct supervision from the clinic's much more experienced doctor had become less and less as he started to become more comfortable in his role. Surgery still made him nervous, but time would eventually wear those nerves away. That's what everyone said, anyway. For now he was fine manning the exam rooms.

After a quick peek at the file he'd been handed, he stood up and rolled his shoulders before making his way out of the office and down the hall. Tie straight? Check. Name badge with 'Dr. Taylor Ward' in nice, neat block letters? Che - nope, it was upside down. Making a face, he unclipped it and righted it before inhaling slowly and twisting the knob that led to the exam room.

The exam room that held Miss Tillman and Sandy.

"Good afternoon Miss Tillman." Professional face, Taylor. "I heard someone has a sore ear." Huh. The dog looked kind of familiar...

Taylor froze like a deer in the headlights for a moment before moving and smashing his knee into the counter.

Well. There went that first impression.

"Sophie! I'm sorry. I didn't... hi." His expression turned sheepish as he crouched to pet Sandy, trying to keep as cool as he could. "I didn't realize it was you. Sorry. ... Again." Maybe at least Sandy would still think well of him.

[Sophie Tillman]

To Sophie, Sandy was the best dog in the world. Adorable? Check. Friendly? Check. Well-behaved? Check... except for one little weakness. For some reason, Sandy just could not resist ponds. Sophie had no idea what sort of siren call the things held for him, especially when it was still this cold out. But sure enough, when she'd taken him to the park last week, he'd made a mad dash to the nearby, nearly thawed pond while Sophie was locking up her bike.

One thorough bath and a lot of fur-shaking later, Sandy was back to his usual dry self. Before long, though, Sophie noticed him shaking his head more than usual, emphasized by the obvious jingly tags on his collar. The timing wasn't great; the vet they'd been seeing for years recently closed her practice to move west, and Sophie hadn't found a new one yet. So with her poor Labrador shaking and jingling around the house, she got to work Googling other options.

The lobby of this new practice was welcoming enough; not only in decor, but also in the way the receptionist and passing vet techs would coo at each animal they saw. (Although, Sophie noted proudly, if she wasn't mistaken they cooed a little more at Sandy than the rest.) Before long they were led to an exam room, where one of the vet techs saw to the basics and then assured them that a vet would arrive shortly.

And arrive he did, with a bang that startled all three of them.

"Are you okay?" Sophie asked, voice heavy with concern. "That sounded painful."

Sandy pressed his snout to the vet's outstretched hand, tail wagging gently. Sophie tried to puzzle through where he apparently knew her from. Sure, he looked a little familiar, but in a town as small as Pilot Ridge, everyone knew everyone else to some degree. Not from work, she was pretty sure, nor from church or the center, maybe -

"Wiley!" Sophie's eyes lit up with realization, and suddenly she was smiling again. "I'm sorry, I didn't recognize you without, you know, the costume."

[Dr. Taylor Ward]

If Nick had any say, Tesla would be declared Best Dog of the Universe. Fortunately, Taylor wasn't as partial. Especially with the volume of dogs he saw in a week. Tesla was awfully cute, yes, but... so were Labradors.

It was just too bad that he was incapable of acting like a human being in front of their owners. Especially their pretty owners, with the incredible eyes and... and he needed to stop thinking before he got himself in deeper trouble.

The concern in her voice made him both anxious and happy - anxious because she'd noticed, but happy because she cared. Still, he had to downplay it, because what idiot walked into the counter. Seriously. He had to get a grip. "I'm fine," he answered. He'd just have to make it look that way to back up that claim.

At least Sandy didn't seem to mind his idiocy. Smiling as he ran his hands through his fur, he tried to pretend that he wasn't going to be nursing a bruise later. As he fussed the dog, he began to take a cursory look at his ears.

When he heard his nickname, he raised his head and smiled, relaxing a little. Of course that was all she knew him as. Nick could be such a brat sometimes. He hadn't even tried to offer Sophie his real name. Well, he wasn't going to correct her now. "It's okay. Don't worry about it. It's good to see you again." Wow, did she ever have a pretty smile.

"So. Uhhhh. Is it one ear, or both? Does this happen often with him?" He had to remember to be at least a little professional. Even if the woman who owned his patient was a distraction and a half. In a very, very good way.