It was nothing like the previous lab they were at. The room seemed brighter and calmer than the gloomy, dark prison they had escaped. Everyone had been taken into a different room and then brought back to a cage at least once after an hour or two. Still, no one had seen Roxanne as they went around the office.

"Where do you think she is?" Heather asked her father quietly.

"Who knows?" he answered.

"Your lil' raccoon friend?" John asked, "I heard she was taken' to the ER."

Heather glanced at the strange opossum and turned to her father.

"What's an ER?" she whispered, Ozzie shrugged his shoulders.

"Emergency room!" John spat.

Heather backed away from the neighboring cage and nodded quickly.

"Okay, okay. I get it now." She said, and then Heather turned as she saw that her father had been startled by John's outburst. She sighed and decided to let him play dead.

"Gosh, you people need to get out more." John grumbled.

"Tell me about it." RJ agreed from above.

RJ lay on his stomach and watched the humans go by. He hoped that one of them would bring Roxanne back, but he didn't see the two vets that had rescued them.

"RJ is it?" Tim said as he reached his hand through the bars to shake hands with RJ.

"Yeah, and you're Tim?"

"Right as rain… you okay? Ya know, with your friend in the ER and all--" He asked as he sat down.

"Yeah, I guess… unless these humans can't--"

"What? You think these humans can't save your friend…? Uh- I didn't exactly catch her name back at the lab…"

"Oh, Roxanne. Her name's Roxanne…" RJ replied.

"Roxanne… nice name."

"Yeah, sure…"

There was an awkward silence between the two for a while before RJ sighed. As if reading his mind Tim tapped the metal floor, getting RJ's attention.

"She'll be fine. I've actually been here before."

"Ya don't say." RJ said interestingly.

"Oh yeah, People 'round here are very nice. See, I got hit by a car back when I was younger. These people come along, bandaged me up, and I was… well almost as good as new."

"'Almost'?" He asked suspiciously.

"Well, my arm wasn't completely fixed. Now I can do a complete 180 with my shoulder."

Tim demonstrated by pulling his arm back and making it so it snapped back into place the other way. RJ flinched as he heard the snap come from his shoulder.

"Hey, hey Tim! I can burp my ABC's!!" Hammy called from across the way.

The grey squirrel smiled, "Can you now? Why don't you demonstrate?"

"Yay! A, B, C, D, E…"

"The point is RJ; these nice folk will do all in their power to help Roxanne,"

"L, M, N, O, P, Q…"

"I've actually seen one human cry 'cause they lost one when I was there…"

RJ raised an eyebrow as Hammy continued and didn't notice they were talking in a completely different conversation.

"Did you know 'em?" RJ asked.

"W, X, Y..."

"I did actually... she was hit too." He said sadly.

"ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ... How was that?!"

"Brilliant! Hammy right?"

Hammy nodded feverishly and bowed as the porcupine kids applauded.

"Who was it?" RJ asked quietly.

"… My daughter… Roxanne reminds me of her… Dania had the same eye color."

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Now, this was heaven on earth! The human girl had shampooed and conditioned him in wonderful scented soap and in a marvelous warm bath none the less. Although most cats disliked baths, it was an exception for Tiger had not had a bath cense last spring.

The human, Meghan, was singing lightly along with the music on the radio as she gently rinsed him off. The cat hater Tiger had been introduced to earlier came in with a disgusted look.

"Now you're giving it a bath?!" Hannah moaned.

"You're one to talk; you gave the skunk a bath! FYI Dr. Gamin, it is a he…" Dr. Sheehan replied.

"You're gonna take him to the Pet's-R-Us right?"

"Yeah, yeah."

Dr. Sheehan stuck her tongue out before Hannah had left, making her friend do a double take and make a face back. Meghan turned on the blow dryer and started brushing Tiger's fur.

"She's not much of a cat person." She muttered to Tiger.

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"Dr. Gamin!"

Hannah turned as her name was called out at the end of the hallway. She waited patiently for the other doctor to catch up with her.

"Yes Steven?" She said as she entered the room where the animals were being held.

"The raccoon you had sent into the ER is having a few difficulties…" He paused as Dr. Gamin forced him to hold out a bag of food while she gave the food to the animals.

"And?"

"A few of the symptoms have slowed down, but the poor thing is still shaking like a leaf… she doesn't seem to be in pain though…"

"Give her some Proctiadid that should stop the poison from attacking the rest of the red blood cells." She glanced at the food bag and groaned. "And can you order some more food for the animals? We're down to five bags."

"Okay."

She held out her hand before he could leave and added, "Try to feed the raccoon too, the poor thing's probably starving. The stupid "scientists" didn't actually feed their animals."

"Yes Ma'am."

Hannah turned back to the raccoon she was previously feeding.

"Alright lil' buddy, you need…"She picked up a clip board and read it out loud. "Three vitamins… and… two Pain Relievers? Seems you hit your head pretty hard…"

She scooped up some food and added two different powders with small spoons. She shook it up a bit and placed it in the raccoon's cage.

"Here ya go."

She turned to the other side, but turned as she heard the raccoon squeak twice. It began eating the food slowly, almost sadly, and then looked up as it saw the vet watching it.

"Yeah, I've been working here WAY too long."

She turned and chuckled as she watched the little red squirrel chirp excitedly.

"I could have sworn that raccoon said thank-you…"

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JSYK Proctiadid doesn't exist. I just made it up… Pet's-R-Us doesn't exist either... at least not where I am. :'(

R&R Please!