AN: I own nothing, no vampires are mine, no wolves, either. They either belong to SM or to Ninadoll! However, Abby and the O'Brien sisters, are my babies.
A special thanks to Ninadoll for betaing, creating the universe, and for her support. You have no idea how much I appreciate you, Nina! Please check out her stories "The Rest of Forever" and "How Wonderful Life Is, Now You're in the World."
To see pictures of Seth and Abby's homes and other aspects of their lives, please check out my blog at liljenrocks{dot}blogspot{dot}com. I imagine Seth as the actor Nathaniel Arcand and he is hunky!
Without further ado, here's Dr. Seth Clearwater… Enjoy!
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Chapter 2: The Happy-Go-Lucky Doctor Wolf
Seth's POV
Ring! Ring! Ring!
I let out a small growl. "No, too early," I groaned, turning to the ringing phone. I flipped the phone open without looking at the Caller ID. "Yeah," I grumbled.
"I'm sorry to disturb you at home, Dr. Clearwater, but I wanted to remind you that we have a delivery coming in this morning. You said you wanted to be there to supervise it since I will be late. I have to run by the police station to drop of some stuff for my brother. Is any of this ringing a bell?" Sky my receptionist asked.
I rolled over, rubbing my neck. "Yeah, sorry, I just forgot. What time is the delivery?"
"A little after 9. It's just normal medical supplies," she said.
I cleared my throat and sat up, pulling the sheet up from the bottom of the bed. Since I'd been a wolf, I'd taken to sleeping in the buff. It was the only way I didn't burn up sleeping. In the last few weeks, though, sleeping in my bed felt a little lonely. I, Seth Clearwater, was no Casanova, per se. I mean, being a wolf had its advantages, including a plethora of women willing to do anything to please you. This had come in handy as a teenager, but now, things just felt different.
As a wolf, there was always one thing that we had to consider when dating or basically doing anything romantic. The big I word: Imprint. The threat of imprint kept all unimprinted wolves limited to sex and short-term companionship. It was a fear we all had, though some, like Embry, played it off better than others. Originally thought to be something rare, we all knew, now, that imprinting in the pack was anything but.
It had only been in the last few weeks that I had started to feel lonely, feel like I was missing something. I didn't know what that meant, I mean, I had a great life. I was a successful doctor, having graduated from the University of Washington Medical School, trained with Carlisle Cullen, and been Johnny-on-the-spot for any sort of medical emergency the pack might have. Not to mention, I lived in an awesome modern cabin, drove a nice car, and had dinner every Sunday with Mom. There was still something not there and I couldn't help but touch the pillow next to me lovingly.
"Maybe you should get a dog," Quil had said to me one afternoon when I was dumb enough to express my concerns.
"Ah, if our wittle Seth wants a puppy, I'll phase for you and keep you warm," Paul teased.
But our brilliant Alpha, Jake, was more than understanding. "Just be patient. She's out there, man."
So I took his advice. I was patient. I was biding my time, and waiting for the day that I would find her. Right now, I was concerned about getting to the office before the delivery truck. I slowly got out of bed, smelling the coffee brewing in the automatic coffee pot downstairs. I stood up straight, stretching, trying to ignore the activity below my waist.
I turned on the cold water, then the hot, just slightly twisting the knob. It was nice to get in and let the water fall, washing the important places and then getting out, feeling refreshed and ready to go. I put on grey slacks and a black polo. As a doctor it was important to look nice, but as a wolf, any type of clothing was restrictive and I always carried a bag of shitty clothes in the back of the Land Rover just in case the need to phase ever arose. Worse than the clothes, though, were the shoes, they were much harder to get off in time and I'd taken to a life of barefootedness. That said, I played the part of the normal doctor, keeping my secret life separate from my practice, until I was needed for the pack.
I poured my coffee in my travel mug and looked out the window in the kitchen. It was nice, the temperature was crisp and I slid on a light jacket, picking up my cell and the keys to the Rover. I walked down the stairs to the garage and opened the door, feeling the cool breeze as I stepped into the car.
Even though my office was in Forks, I lived in La Push. It was easier that way. I kept a semi-wolf clinic in the basement with enough normal supplies to take care of deep cuts, broken bones and such. Plus, I was tied to La Push. Even when I went to medical school, I lived here, running back and forth. I didn't want to live anywhere else, ever. This is where my family was, my Mom, the pack, this was where I belonged.
My phone rang as I pulled into town. I looked down at the caller ID. "Hey, Jake. What can I do for you this morning?" I asked.
"Hey Seth, I need your help with something. Could you do a once over on Scott Birmingham? Make sure he's healthy and all," Jake said. I could hear the sounds of a computer keyboard on the other end and guessed that he was probably in his office in Shipo Bikes.
"This isn't like the pack physical you made me give every wolf last year, is it? Because I can only say 'Turn your head and cough' so many times before I want to scream," I chuckled.
"No, I just want to make sure he's in tip top shape. His parents tend to worry a lot. Though now that you mention it, it may be time for the pack physical," Jake said.
"Good bye, Jake," I said, starting to hang up the phone.
"Hey wait! Seriously, though, can I tell his parents to bring him in today?" Jake asked.
"Yep, they can bring him in now if they want. I just got to the office," I turned into the small parking lot of the building complex. The bakery owner's car was out front, the hippy barista's car next to it, and a red Subaru I didn't recognize. Probably the new vet that moved in next door. I wonder if she's ever had much experience with wolves, I chuckled to myself. I should probably be a good neighbor and introduce myself later.
"Okay, I'll let them know. So convenient that you decided to become a doc," Jake chuckled sarcastically on the other end.
"Yeah, it's great," I smirked. It was great, but I liked to let Jake think I felt like I was being taken advantage of.
"Okay, so I'll talk to you later. Send me the bill okay. Bye," he gave one last chuckle before hanging up.
I pulled into my spot, parking the Land Rover and turning it off to get out. The scent that hit my nose shouldn't have surprised me being next to a vet's office but it did. It was clearly a canine scent missed in with a little cinnamon. The latter scent was almost intoxicating and I had to keep my head focused to go to my office and not the vet clinic next door. I unlocked the office, flipping the lights on to hear a scratching noise, a very deliberate scratching, with a little whine mixed in.
I blocked it out as I turned the computer on, then pulled out a clean record and started filling in information for Scott. I had a special locking, fire-proof file cabinet at home with all the wolf records in it. But today, doing the exam in the office, I tried to make it look legit for the clinic's purposes, but I made a duplicate with all the vital wolf statistics. It was hard for my nurse to understand why a teenage boy would have a temperature over 107 and not be hospitalized or on some sort of medication, so, even though I was pretty sure it was highly illegal and unethical by human standards, I fudged records to keep suspense to a minimal. I took care of some of the business aspects of the office, paying bills, checking out the light load of patients for the day.
And then I sat. And sat. And sat. Until my eyes closed in my chair and I drifted off to sleep, letting my dreams take over.
"Daddy, Seth won't weave me awone! He keeps following me," a very young Leah said in my dream, she had to have been eight or nine. Her toothless grin had developed about that time and it was very evident in my dream.
"Seth," Dad said, raising an eyebrow.
"I wanna pway too," a little me frowned.
"No, you're too wittle and we wanna go in the water without you," Leah stuck her tongue out in the gap in the front of her teeth.
"No, I wanna pway," I stomped my little feet and crossed my arms over my chest.
"Seth, Leah. Stop it you two," Dad sighed, standing between us.
"No, he's annoywing!" Leah's scowl matched mine.
"Now, here's the deal, kiddos. One day, it's just gonna be you two. Mommy and Daddy will go away," Dad answered.
"Like when we go to school and you drop us off?" I was quite proud of coming up with that evaluation on my own.
"No, son, like away forever and it will up to you two to take care of each other," Dad said, putting his hands on our shoulders. "Now, Lee, don't you think Seth can go with you and Rachel and Rebecca for just a minute?" He put on the puppy dog eyes.
"Fine," Leah groaned as I followed her in the water.
I woke up to my phone ringing again and I contemplated smashing it with my fist. But this time I looked at the Caller ID and decided it was better to answer it than to hear the impending wrath on the other end through a voice message. "Good morning," I smiled answering the call.
"Don't good morning me, baby brother. What's this I hear about your cabin being done and you not inviting me for a weekend retreat?" Leah scoffed on the other end.
"Well, I didn't call because you will make fun of my house and be ungrateful the whole time you're here," I gave it back to her.
"Whatever. Listen, I was thinking that maybe we should go visit Dad," Leah said very softly on the other end. "I've been dreaming about him a lot lately."
It was funny to hear her say that. The exact thought ran through my head when the word 'Dad' came out of her mouth. Of course, visiting Dad didn't entail a trip to the house or to the local nursing home. No, we'd been robbed of those things. Visiting Dad was looking at a hard slab of marble with words etched into it: Harry Clearwater, Beloved Husband and Father, Fisherman and Friend. "Okay," I said, my heart aching all over again.
"Look, I know I've been a bitch, but I don't know. I can't do this on my own and I need to talk to him. I feel like something is different, you know?"
That was another feeling I was familiar with, having felt my life was missing something, and almost feeling a change in the air. "I know, Lee." I heard the scratching, looking at the clock and realizing I was only asleep for about ten minutes. "Lee, let me call you back. There's a really weird scratching noise coming from the vet office next door and I'm hoping some sorta animal didn't escape."
Leah laughed. "Oh, yes, because those animals are so scary."
"Shut up," I sighed. "Okay. I'll call you later. Love ya, sis."
"You too, bro," Leah said as I heard the phone click.
I stood up and walked over to the wall where the noise was coming from. It was a scratching, a constant scratching and it was about to drive me insane. I grabbed my keys, it was 9:30 and the truck was late. Great, I thought as I kept walking, heading out the door and locking it behind me. My door was close to the vet's and I pushed it open.
"Hello?" I asked, seeing the front desk empty. A large black and white dog ran to me, a whine in its voice as it screeched to a halt in front of me, sitting on its back legs. "Exactly," I grinned as I stooped down to pet it.
"Yoohoo! I'm down here," a voice said from behind the counter. I let go of the dog and walked to the counter. I leaned down to see a child with reddish-brown hair, sitting with Post-It notes in one hand and a pen in the other. "Hi. Welcome to O'Brien's Vet Clinic. How may I help you?" the little girl's smile beamed up at me.
"I'm Dr. Clearwater from next door," I smiled back.
"Ooh, you are hot," she blushed. "I mean, I'm Ashley Olivia O'Brien. My sister is the animal doc."
"Ah," I nodded in understanding.
"Her inspectionist is off so I'm answering the phones and stuff. Do you wanna see Abby? I mean, Dr. O'Brien?"
"Is she busy?" I asked, looking around the corner. "I don't want to disturb her."
The little girl smiled wider. "She's with Mrs. Fowler's poodle, Fifi. She's not busy." The little girl hopped off her chair. "Follow me," she said as she grabbed my hand and pulled me down a very short hallway.
"What is with this damn poodle? Can't she sit still?" a voice said.
Another voice giggled. "You try having something shoved up your butt and then tell me you wouldn't squirm, Ava."
"Whatever. Do you think human doctors have to do that?" the first voice said.
"I'm sure," the other said, as Ashley knocked on the door.
There were two people in the room, a tall, thin girl who stared at me, and the other one, the girl I assumed to be the vet, who kept her head down, holding onto the poodle. She was shorter, her hair covered her face and her body was curvier, rounder.
"Who the hell are you?" the thin girl said, catching the others attention as her head popped up.
"Ava!" the short girl said as our eyes met.
It was silent and not at all how I expected it to be, my thoughts on the matter having been explored repeatedly since the day I became a wolf. The only thing I knew for sure was that at that moment, Seth Clearwater's wants and needs no longer existed or mattered. This was it, this short girl with reddish-brown hair, she was it. I lived and breathed, and flat out existed for her. The world seemed to slow down as I looked at her, our eyes still locked, her beautiful eyes a brilliant shade of green. I belonged to her, with her, we were meant for one another. I had finally imprinted.
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