The feeling of a wet tongue on her cheek never failed to wake her up in the morning.
"Alright, alright! I'm getting up," she said with a slight laugh in her voice. Bella had to use her hands to push the great slobbering beast away from her so she could sit up, blinking the sleep from her eyes. She couldn't help but smile when she saw the enormous dog looking at her with the near perfect depiction of puppy eyes, his heavy tail wagging against the bed with a soft thump.
As she swung her legs out of the bed, the dog nearly sprinted over to where his leash was, grabbing it in his mouth and bringing it back to promptly set it in Bella's lap.
"You know the rules, Mr. Darcy," she scolded, rubbing the dog's massive head as he let out a soft whine. "Breakfast first, walk after." She set the now slobber covered leash down and padded towards the kitchen, the Bernese Mountain Dog lumbering after her as he always did. She had been given the dog as a birthday present from her parents, who had been told by their close friend Gandalf that the pup would only reach half of his current size. The meddlesome man most likely knew that her parents would never agree on the dog if they knew how big he would really get.
After a hearty breakfast of poached eggs, maple glazed sausages (of which Bella happily shared) and a large helping of freshly made scones with jam, Bella quickly tamed her unruly honey brown hair back into a messy bun and threw on her favourite old pair of faded jeans and burgundy jumper. She wrapped a thick scarf around her neck and pulled on some tall brown leather boots, nearly falling over in the process, before heading out of her small apartment with a very happy Mr. Darcy in tow.
The street was bustling with activity, despite the fast that it was barely past seven. Bella wrapped the scarf a little tighter around her neck to protect her from the cool autumn air as she set off down the paved sidewalk, Mr. Darcy obediently walking at her side. People were often skeptical of how a woman Bella's size could control a dog as big as Darcy, but after some training he had become quite manageable (after a few mishaps of being dragged down the street when he was an excitable pup) and listened to almost everything Bella said. They made a long loop around the block before walking into Bella's work.
"Good morning Miss Baggins!"
"Good morning to you, Bofur," she said with a smile to her receptionist. "And for the hundredth time, you know I hate being called that." She took off Darcy's leash and headed into the back to prepare as Darcy plopped down on his large bed right next to Bofur's desk. She came back out after having changed into some more comfortable shoes and her flower patterned scrubs. "What do we have on the agenda today?"
"Well," Bofur said before pausing to flip through his agenda, which was filled with notes as well as some elaborate doodles in the margins. He had used to hide them from Bella, as he thought she would be mad, but Bella loved the way he drew intricate designs for his crazy invention ideas and encouraged it whole-heartedly. "Bombur is coming in with Lopsy at 8 for a routine checkup, at 9:30 Miss Primula is coming in with Daisy for her spay, and um…" He paused and gave Bella a look of sympathy. "Lobelia will be here at 2 with Rosie."
"Of course," Bella groaned. Ever since she had opened her veterinary practice in Bree, her cousin Lobelia had seen it fit to come in every month. There was never anything wrong with her little Pomeranian Rosie, but Lobelia always insisted that her 'precious little angel' was on the verge of death. "Wish me luck," she said to Bofur with a tight smile before heading into the back room to prep for the day.
"You'll need more than luck to deal with that crazy bit-" Bofur called, but thankfully the door closed before she could hear the end of that sentence.
Mondays tended to be pretty quiet in terms of appointments, and much of the day was left open for walk ins and emergencies. Bella made sure that all of her equipment was sterilised before checking in on her only overnight patient, an old cat owned by her neighbour Hamfast who had been having some problems urinating. She had performed surgery on him the day before for kidney stones and was keeping him under observation for the next few days. After she made sure he was eating and using the restroom properly, she set about her day.
Everything went smoothly as it could that day. Bofur's brother came by with his black rabbit Lopsy. Bombur was Bofur's brother and was a cook at one of the best restaurants in Bree. He often thanked her for taking care of his pet by giving her top secret recipes, for which Bella was extremely grateful, but also kind of hated him for it (she secretly blamed her gaining an extra five pounds last summer on the utterly divine mulled wine duck recipe he had given her.) Lopsy was given a clean bill of health and Bella made friendly conversation with Bombur until Primula came in with her puppy. Daisy went under for a perfectly routine spay with no complications and once the sedatives wore off she was sent home with Prim to heal quietly at home.
Figuring she had a few more quiet hours, Bella settled down in the break room with her lunch. She had barely taken a bite of her roast beef sandwich when she heard a commotion coming from the lobby. She quickly ran out and flung open the door, pausing at her tracks at the scene in front of her.
"Please, you must help her!" A man was shouting at Bofur, who was fumbling with the phone in a panic, most likely trying to page Bella. The man held a small dog in his arms, who looked to be in a state of shock and was utterly still except for the rapid rise and fall of its chest.
"What's going on here?" Bella said, finally moving towards the man but nearly pausing as a pair of intimidating ocean blue eyes locked onto her. Oh. Bloody hell, he's handsome, she thought fleetingly. She shook her head and quickly composed herself as the dark haired man turned towards her.
"My dog, she got startled and ran into the street before I could catch her," the man said, and Bella could detect the worry and guilt in his baritone voice. "She got hit by a car, and she couldn't get up - she couldn't move and-"
"It's alright," Bella said, cutting the man off before he continued his panicked ramble. "We are going to do everything we can to help her, I promise." She reached out for the little dog, and the man, almost reluctantly, like his dog would immediately die if he let her go, handed her over. Bella gave the man a small reassuring smile before going back into vet mode and looking towards Bofur. "Call Tauriel and get her to come down. I'm going to need her help," she said before swiftly turning on her heel and heading out back.
"Please. Please save my Lizzie," she heard the man called after her, and Bella's heart ached at the pain in his voice.
She had just finished taken little Lizzie's x-rays when Tauriel walked in, the tall redhead seemingly out of breath from having rushed over. Tauriel worked down the street at the local library most of the time but happily helped Bella out from time to time in emergencies such as this.
"What have we got, Doc?" Tauriel asked, coming go stand beside Bella as the veterinarian held the developed x-rays up to the light, squinting slightly so she could see better.
"Poor little thing," Bella sighed, her heart sinking at what she saw. "Two fractured ribs, but no sign of a punctured lung which is good. Her left rear leg is a mess. Tibia broken in several places, femur cracked clean in half. Right rear leg looks mostly fine on the interior, but she has road rash all over her right side and I suspect she'll be quite bruised and sore all over for the next week." Bella placed the scans down and turned to the little dog, who was lying on a steel table. "Right then, let's get her prepped. Hold on Lizzie dear, we'll get you through this."
The two women both set to work and buckled down for a long and arduous surgery. Bella set her mouth in a thin line, praying to Yavanna that her patient would make it through.
