One-Shot: This story is separate to the rest of the verse.

He came to bound, gagged, bloody, and feeling nauseous in the back of a 4x4. Everything was a little blurry for a few seconds before he finally was aware of his surroundings.

Sam's first observation was Bones. His companion was lying a few metres away, shaking violently with blood dripping from a bullet hole in his side. Tears pricked at Sam's eyes at the sight of his friend in pain.

Before he could try and attract someone's attention, they were stopping. As the vibrations cut out, everything was still for about a minute and a half before the trunk door opened and the bitch who'd shot him was looking in along with a bodyguard and some other guy, who genuinely seemed concerned.

The guy quickly began to shake his head but the woman opened a purse that seemed to contain thousands of dollars, and amazingly, the guy ended up agreeing to whatever she had proposed.

In the minutes that followed he was roughly dragged from the 4x4, up the stairs to the guy's house, and shoved on a metal examination table.

The guy leaned down over him with a terrified expression before his gaze flew to something else.

Sam tried to get up slightly to see what he was looking at, but was roughly shoved back down against the table by the bodyguard. Instead, he turned his head and immediately found the source of the guy's concern.

They had also brought Bones inside and his injured friend was lying on an identical table to his own looking pale.

The woman was nowhere to be seen and the bodyguard was gone too. Sam presumed that they had left this guy to deal with them, whoever the fuck he was.

A hand on his shoulder pulled Sam from his thoughts. He looked up to see the guy with an expression of confusion.

"Are you ignoring me, man?"

Sam shook his head, cursing his gag and bounds.

The guy sighed before pulling down the fabric handkerchief being used as a gag.

Sam licked his dry lips before speaking up. "Deaf."

The guy's eyes widened. "You can understand me though, right?"

"Yeah." He answered, despite being pre-occupied trying to check on Bones.

"So I need to get that bullet out of your leg and suture it. I'll worn you though, it's gonna hurt like a bitch."

"Help my dog." Sam stated.

The guy furrowed an eyebrow. "But you're bleeding out quite fast and..."

"I not care! Just please, please help my dog." He begged.

The vet nodded before walking over to the other table.

"Hey, boy." Sam read. "Hey, it's okay. It's okay. We'll get you nice and fixed up." The vet turned to him. "What's his name?"

"Bones."

"He's beautiful." The vet smiled before his expression darkened. "That woman, did she do this to him?"

Sam nodded.

"Jesus..." The vet shook his head before offering a stroke to Bones' fur. "Hey, don't growl at me, the quicker I fix you up, the quicker I can help your owner."

Sam smirked, proud of the fact that even in pain, Bonesie was still looking out for him.

"He needs a few stitches, but he'll be fine." The vet explained.

Sam let out a sigh of relief.

"What is she going to do with you two?"

"I don't know." Sam answered, truthfully.

The vet was silent for about a minute as he got Bones stitched up before he eventually spoke up once again. "I'm sorry."

Sam shook his head. "Save my dog and we even. I not care what you do with me."

The vet smiled. "You really love him."

"He's one of only two people that I have left in my life. Bones is everything to me, and he has been for years, and not just because of the hearing thing. He's one of my best friends."

The vet nodded. "This woman, she clearly has plans for you, and there's nothing I can do about that. But I can try and save your dog. I'll talk to her about him staying here. Obviously it's your choice, but she clearly is not a good person and this way you would know Bones was in safe hands here. I don't hurt animals, and I do not like people who do. If she even tries to hurt him again then things will get ugly."

"Thank you." Sam smiled, genuinely. "Honestly, thank you."

"You're welcome." He finished stitching up Bones. "There you go buddy." The vet offered a scratch to the dog's belly before turning and walking over to Sam. "She wouldn't let me give you any anesthesia before I did this, and I can't risk giving you a dose if she's going to be administering it to you too."

"I've had worse, just do it." Sam nodded.

The vet nodded before picking up a pair of tweezers from the silver tray and putting the gag back in place.

"You'll probably need that."