Soli Deo gloria

DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own Epic. It was only a matter of time before I wrote a fic for this. :) Please forgive the weird subject I chose to write about. He he he.

M.K. was not a very patient person.

That was a proven fact, and the fact that she was not a patient person prompted her to ask questions constantly. Normally this annoyed people greatly after a while, wearied them, but her father took her questions in stride and answered them the best he could.

But even he couldn't help but feel a little weary inside when one fine spring morning, she came around to his lab and said, "Hey, Dad, have you seen Ozzie? It's time for his rabies shot."

"Oh," Bomba said, bumping his glasses back over his nose. He sighed and straightened from beside the table, which contained his maps and coordinates. "Ahh . . . he should be here somewhere. I—I think he may know that you're trying to find him."

"Yeah. It's that annual time again. He probably does this every year, right?" M.K. said, and that's when she saw the uncomfortable look on her father's face. She let out a slight laugh, leaning against the doorway, and said, "I mean, you do give it to him every year, right, Dad?"

Bomba didn't respond.

M.K.'s smile dropped and she simply turned around and, shoulders slightly slumped, yelled through the big empty house, "Ozzie!"

She sighed as she looked around the kitchen. She had taken to helping her father with the dishes, so he could have time with his researching of the Leafmen. The place was now only covered with a few dirty dishes and a couple of limp towels, but no Ozzie. M.K. put her hands on her hips and bent down to look under the kitchen table, calling, "Ozzie! Where are you?" For, honestly, how was a little one-eyed, three-legged, old pug able to hide himself away from her? And how had he known that she was going to give him a shot?

But M.K. smiled to herself when she saw who was under the table. The little dog saw that she saw him and he gave a loud yelp and scrambled to his feet and began skating across the floor, his body tilting to one side as he scrambled to get away from M.K., who stood up straight and went after him, saying, "I found him!"

"Oh, good," Bomba said from the lab.

M.K. stopped to take a breath at the doorway and said, "He's in the lab."

Bomba looked at her, Ozzie skating around his legs and the table legs, and said, "Oh, is he?"

"Dad," M.K. said, putting hands on her knees. "Can you help me catch him? I mean," she pointed a hand out to him in frustration, "how can he run that fast?"

Gomba let out a laugh as he bent and watched Ozzie hurry away from him and slide into one of the large bookshelves. "I—I think our dog wants to prove us wrong every chance he gets."

"Apparently." M.K. straightened and clapped her hands, walking into the lab, "Come on, Ozzie. Just this once. And then next year we'll get you a three-year dose."

At the sound of that, Ozzie stretched his head up and looked at M.K., his tongue hanging out and dripping with drool, his face looking terribly goofy, but then he hurried through the gap between her legs and escaped her as she reached down with her hands to try to grab him. She brought her hands up over her head and groaned as she turned and brought them down, walking at a slow pace in order not to let Ozzie run into her, for he was running back and forth in front of her, too fast for her to catch him, as if he was teasing her.

"Ozzie!" M.K. said, and she thought of something and sat down, cross-legged, and waited for him to approach her. She put her head in her hands and watched him jog all around the kitchen, hitting the cupboards, bringing himself to a stop before he stood back up, wagged his ears, and started happily skipping around once more.

He finally did stop, though, panting and very, very tired. He came over to M.K. and walked over her legs and laid on her feet, glad to be with his human someplace nice and comfortable and warm.

M.K. smiled and reached over her shoulder for the rabies shot on the kitchen table. She pulled it back and making sure it worked, gently injected the vaccine into his little body. He let out a little whimper, and then his tongue came out and he panted, looking placid.

M.K. smiled and put the shot away and petted him, and Bomba peeked his head around the doorway and said, "Is it safe now?"

"Yeah, I think so," M.K. said.

"Oh, good," Bomba said. He let out a sigh and then said, putting his glasses back over his nose, "So, this is going to have to happen again next year?"

M.K. sighed and nodded; Bomba winced and turned back to his work.

M.K. turned her head and bent so she was closer to Ozzie, who looked completely content sitting there.

"What are we going to do with you?" M.K. asked, nuggying his head.

He only panted and looked adorable, and M.K. sat back up and said, smiling, "I guess we're just going to have to live with you, huh?" After all, Ozzie wasn't going to be gone for a long time yet. He was old, but he was still going to last, because that was what Ozzie did. He fought and stayed, and M.K. knew that, and she was counting on giving him his shots for a long time yet.

DON'T JUDGE ME. :)

Thanks for reading!