Authors note: I have been away from writing fanfiction for a long time but Teen Wolf plus no wifi for a week sucked me back into this madness. This story is the result.
I would love to find a Beta Reader to give me a hand searching for Spelling and Grammer mistakes. And to help hunt out and destroy my trend towards run on sentences.
I have a lot of chapters written but I need someone to proof read them for me. Pm if interested.
Job Search
The first night in a new town Jess always stayed in a motel. She used a fake I.D. with the name Jess Black that put her age at 19.Having a fake I.D. that made her older but not old enough to drink made people less likely to look too closely or ask too many questions. Jess would pick a hotel with free wifi and spend the entire first evening researching the town and the places with job openings that she was considering. She looked up the owners of the places, checked their buisness reviews and ratings, and tried to learn a bit about local history.
Settling onto the bed with a salad and a bottle of water Jess read about the mysterious fire that killed the Hale family, and about the high rate of deaths by animal attack in the parks and forests around the town. There was a recent report about half of the body of a young women being found in the woods. It was suspected that an animal had killed her and dragged away or eaten the missing parts of the body.
"Note to self. Carry pepper spray, and a keep a few fire extinguishers in the truck at all times." Jess muttered to herself. "Might be a good idea to aim to find a big brute of a stray to take on and keep it with me while I live in the area." In Jess's opinion nothing made her feel as safe as having a big dog loyal to her as a companion.
Finishing her supper Jess packed her things to be ready to leave early in the morning and lay down to sleep for the night. Enjoying the luxury of being able to sprawl out in an actual bed. Instead of her normal bed for most nights, scrunched up on the reclined front seat of her truck.
Jess was up at first light. After a quick shower she brushed her teeth and started trying to fix her hair for the day. The long brown hair with natural highlights and lowlights that ranged from bright blonde to dark red was a constant source of frustration for the girl. As a child her mother had used special shampoos and conditioners that left it falling in gentle curls or soft waves. But years of neglect while in Foster Care had left it dry, brittle, and frizzy. After nearly a year on her own Jess had managed to reclaim some of it's former curl and shine but she hated the complicated routine she needed to follow to keep it looking even remotely decent. 80% of the time she just pulled it into a messy bun and wore a head scarf to keep it looking neat. But today she planned to stop at prospective jobs so she needed to put the time and energy into taming the thick mass of hair.
Managing to put her hair into a respectable looking up do with hair pins and clips Jess turned to walk away from the mirror then paused and turning back pulled one of her plain black scarves out of her bag and tied it around her neck. With the long sleeved, loose emerald green blouse, over a black tank top, and black jeans she should be presentable enough for a vet clinic. Untucking, and unbuttoning the blouse would hopefully make the outfit casual enough for an auto shop. Squinting her green eyes Jess stuck her tongue out and squinted as she carefully applied eye liner around her eyes, then smoothed on some eye shadow. She hated makeup but found that a small amount of eye liner, eye shadow, some foundation, and a touch of blush helped to make her appear older. She tried to wear it as little as possible and even after nearly an entire year using it she was slow and slightly inept at putting it on.
Packing up her things she brought all her bags to the truck then did one last sweep of the room to be sure she hadn't forgotten anything. Turning one last time to the mirror she squared her shoulders and scanned her reflection. From the top of her head to the tips of her toes, encased in cheap black running shoes, Jess looked neat and put together. Just an average young adult looking for work. Stopping at the front desk Jess paid in advance for another night in the motel to be sure she would have a room when her job search was over for the day.
Pulling out of the motels parking lot Jess headed first for the local auto shop that had advertised a position available looking for someone to do minor engine repairs, tire changes, oil changes and other simple jobs. When walking in for a impromptu job interview Jess liked to stop at auto shops in the early morning before things got busy, and leave animal clinics until around noon or later. Animal clinics needed to feed their animals, handle cases that cropped up over night, and deal with early morning drop offs. They tended to be so busy first thing in the morning that any attempt at a walk in job interview was almost guaranteed to fail.
Two hours later, after proving she could do all the little simple jobs that the licensed mechanics were sick of doing Jess had a part time position at the auto shop. The mechanics had been uncertain when she first walked in but after securing her hair under her scarf and borrowing a pair of coveralls Jess had dove straight in to the list of common jobs that they were looking to have done and finished them all easily without fumbling or having to ask any questions. The owner of the shop agreed to pay her in cash once a week. The shifts for her to cover would depend on how much work came in to the shop. She would be paid by the job and not by the hour. So Jess could finish the jobs at her own speed as long as they were done on the day they were assigned.
After leaving the auto shop Jess stopped and grabbed a bagel and a steeped tea for lunch at a local coffee shop. Sitting in a chair by the window Jess endured in her favorite past time, Dog Typing.
Dog Typing was a made up game Jess had created with Miguel and Joe back in New York. While they ate lunch or had a coffee break they would sit in chairs in the door of the shop and watch passing pedestrians walk by. As they passed by each of the strange trio of friends took it in turns to say what breed of dog each person would be if they were a canine. Or possibly what type they should own. A short balding man would often be matched with a pug, the short but spry old men who walked by on their way to hang out at the men's only hair salon down the street were often matched to a type of terrier. The lanky joggers were whippets, Grey hounds, and other Sight Hound breeds. The local police were German Shephereds, Doberman, Rottweilers, and Malnois. Firemen were ALWAYS Dalmatians. The game was more fun played with friends but Jess hadn't had a friend close enough to play the game with since she had started her nomadic way of life. Miguel and Joe had made the game available through email by sending lists of celebrities with the breeds they imagined them to be. They had many lengthy phone debates over the choices each of the friends made. Though they all agreed unanimously that Chris Hemsworth was either a Golden Retriever or possibly a Golden Doodle.
Sitting in the window of the small coffee shop Jess muttered dog breeds under her breath as people passed her by. "Bichon Frise, Cocker Spaniel, Shih Tzu, Toy Poodle, French Bulldog." Jess recited as a group of women with shopping bags and high heels swayed their way down the side walk. Taking a sip of her tea Jess saw the group of women suddenly crowd closer together and move to one side of the side walk to avoid a tall dark haired man, wearing a gorgeous leather jacket. As he strode confidently down the street his eyes were constantly moving scanning his surroundings. He was the very picture of carefully constrained power. As he past her window and Jess got a close up look at his dark eyes and brooding face she automatically typed him out loud. "Wolf!" Jess was shocked when the man suddenly tripped over his own feet as he passed her by. He managed to catch himself and shot a look back at her over his shoulder as he tucked his head low and suddenly hurried away down the street. He ducked around the first corner he came to. Turning and looking around the inside of the coffee shop Jess tried to see what had shocked the man so badly it caused him to trip and scurry away like a scared puppy, but she couldn't see anything alarming. Carefully tilting the metal napkin holder on the table Jess tried to check her reflection to be sure she hadn't accidently left the auto shop with grease smeared on her face. Seeing nothing alarming about her appearance Jess continued to glance around the shop searching for the cause of the handsome strangers alarm.
Seeing the time on the clock hanging behind the counter Jess jumped up and quickly gathered her trash and cleaned up the table. Bringing her dishes to the counter in the front Jess thanked the Barista and hurried out to her truck. It was best to show up around lunch when trying to get work at Animal Clinics. Mornings were too busy with animal care and early morning surgeries. Then most clinics scheduled a slow period around lunch to catch up on anything leftover from the morning and have a space for sudden emergency calls received during the morning clinic hours.
Parking in the parking lot at the Animal Clinic Jess was surprised to see two other vehicles with their doors open wide and a small crowd of people milling around going in and out of the door of the animal clinic. There was no obvious leader in the group and everyone was arguing with each other. Then Jess saw the dog! It was laid on a blanket on the back seat of one of the cars. The poor dog was panting heavily and whimpering.
Jess sprang out of her truck and rushed towards the dog. "What happened? Why isn't the vet helping this dog yet?" She called loudly to the crowd of arguing people.
A older woman with some blood smeared on her hand rushed forward and replied. "He isn't here! I don't know where he is. The office is unlocked, but we looked around and called out for him and we can'tfind Dr. Deaton anywhere!"
Looking at the state of the dog Jess made a split second decision. Jess chose to risk the chance at getting the job by treating the Vet's patient without their permission. "OK, that's fine. I can help stabilize the dog until he gets here." Jess carefully knelt beside the dog and started examining it closer. A quick glance told her it was a young to middle age, medium sized, long coated, female. From the short tail, general body conformation, and the red Merle coloring Jess assumed it was an Australian Shephered. Gently feeling along it's body for injuries Jess noted extreme tenderness and badly torn skin on the ribcage on the right side, and a possible hip dislocations of the hind left leg. The dog had good membrane refill in the gums and around the eyes. With the amount of anxious panting from the pain it was hard to determine if a broken rib could have shifted and punctured a lung.
"I need a few sets of hands to get this dog into the office." Jess called to the crowd hurrying to her car and grabbing her first aid bag. She was sure the vet clinic had the supplies she wanted but she had no idea where anything was stored and didn't want to take the time to search for them. "Grab the edges of the blanket and use it as a stretcher to carry her into the office. Be gentle and try and keep her as level as possible." Jess called while running ahead into the vet clinic and starting to search for the x-ray machine. Pleasantly supposed to find that the office had one of the more expensive portable x-ray units she pulled it close to the table and making an educated guess she opened a door in the wheeled cart it rested on and found prepared x-ray slides. Pulling a few out she set them up on the table and had them lay the dog gently over them. Positioning the three slides so she would get a clean shot of the ribs, spine, and hipJess quickly put on the protective apron and waved the crowd out of the room and started taking the x-rays.
What felt like minutes later but could have been much longer Jess heard relieved chatter suddenly coming from the crowd in the waiting room. Ignoring them Jess continued to clean and stitch the large wound on side of the dog's ribs. She had a piece of drain already in place at the lowest edge of the wound that she was gently closing the gash around to help ensure it healed from the inside properly. Suddenly Jess felt a strong presence enter the room and stand across the table from her. Tensing slightly Jess continued working on the dog's wound. The presence moved around the table and stood before the line of x-rays Jess had developed and hung showing the ribs, spine, and hip of the dog. Then it moved to the rolling table where Jess had placed a paper she was using for notes on the patient. Jess had been grateful that the exam table was a newer model that doubled as a scale, allowing her to weigh the dog without having to move it to the large scale on the floor. It meant that all of her notes had the correct calculations to determine the perfect dose of the drugs she had used to help ease the dogs general body pain and anxiety and to numb the area around the wound. A note explained the need for each x-ray and told what the x-rays had shown. A few fracturd ribs, a clear spine x-ray, and the last x-ray showing a clearly dislocated hip. There was also a note suggesting which drug to use to loosen the muscles once the dog was fully sedated to allow the dislocated hip to be maneuvered back into the socket. They were drugs that were harder to come by and not needed as often in emergency animal medicine so Jess tended not to carry a large amount of them in her emergency kit. She was hesitant to use them up while standing in a fully stocked vet clinic. The hip could wait a short while before being reset without risk to the dog as long as she was lying sedated and calm on the table. The presence stopped at the table with Jess's open emergency bag for a moment before continuing it's path around the room. The large wound slowly bleeding on the dog's side over her ribs had needed to be dealt with first. Jess had manged to find the surgical drapes and properly draped the area around the wound after clipping the fur and cleaning the exposed skin. One hand held the wound closed around the drain while here second hand alternated between stitching and cleaning the still slowly bleeding wound. The presence finally returned to the far side of the table but still said nothing. So Jess continued her work on the dog.
Right as Jess was preparing to set down the needle and pick up some gauze to clean the next area she meant to stitch a hand encased in blue surgical gloves entered her field of vision. It was attached to a dark skinned arm and it held a square of gauze and deftly cleaned the area. A second hand came into view and carefully nudged aside her hand that was holding the wound closed. A calm, slightly amused, low voice spoke for the first time since entering the room. "I would ask what you thought you were doing in my clinic, treating one of my patients..." The voice paused for a moment. "...but it's clear that you know what you're doing and seem to be using your own supplies, aside from the few x-rays that needed to be done. And frankly I haven't met many small animal vets who can do such neat stitches one hand. Much less seen the skill executed so well by such a young women. My name is Dr. Alan Deaton and this is my clinic."
Suddenly free to use both hands Jess managed to whip out the last few stitches needed in just moments. "Normally I would never let myself into some else's clinic like this." Jess said quietly while pulling a jar of honey and a wooden tongue depressor from her bag and smearing it liberally along the wound. "But there was a bit of an emergency happening what with the possibility of a punctured lung. And then once I had made sure that wasn't an issue I just didn't feel right leaving the poor girl to suffer and bleed while waiting and hoping someone would show up." Jess said all this in a rush while carefully closing the honey and placing it back in her bag and toss the sticky tongue depressor in the trash. Glancing up Jess watched silently as Dr. Deaton opened a drawer on the counter behind him and pulled out a bin holding everything needed to finish dressing and bandaging a wound. He placed it alongside the dog but made no move to take over the bandaging. Jess slowly got started glancing upoccasionally. Deaton watch her every move silently. When the wound was properly taken care of. Jess cleared the area of any garbage dropping it into a bin beside the table.
"What next?" Deaton asked gently.
Surprised, but pleased that she hadn't been kicked out yet Jess replied instantly. "I would start some I.V. fluids with some added antibiotics and pain relief to help deal with possible infection from the wound and to prevent shock from the blood loss. Then I would administer medicine to fully sedate the dog and a slight muscle relaxant and would get some help holding the dog in place while I put the hip back into joint." While she rattled off her answer Jess had grabbed her notes and added info about the amount of stitches put in and the drain placement. She scribbled down info about the care and maintenance that the wound would need and made suggestions about oral antibiotics and pain killers. One last note about materials likely needed to be supplied for the cleaning and treatment of the wound and when the wound needed to be rechecked by a vet finished the updating of the temporary chart. Looking back up Jess saw that Dr. Deaton had pulled out the needles, drugs, and fluid she had suggested using and pulled an I.V. stand and pump close. Picking up the small shaver used to clip the fur to expose the skin Jess deftly continued caring for the dog. A short while later the dog was fully sedated and her muscles were relaxed. Picking up a blanket Jess folded it and placed it around the dogs waist to use to help hold the dog steady while the hip was put back into place. Handing the ends of the sheet to Deaton Jess carefully took hold of the dogs leg and started gently applying pressure to gently stretch the muscles and try to shift the leg back into place. A few minutes later Jess was standing back and watching as Dr. Deaton examined the dog's hip gently flexing it and maneuvering it around to check that it had settled back into place. Jess turned and pulled out a new prepared slide for another x-ray to check just as Deaton released the leg and turned to Jess.
"It looks wonderful but we will need..." His voice dropped off mid sentence as he saw the slide Jess was holding. Stepping back he watched as she placed the slide then donning the lead apron prepared to take the x-ray. Pausing Jess waited for Deaton to leave the room. When he just stood watching Jess tapped the apron she was wearing while she cleared her throat softly. The vet shook himself and chuckled. "Right. I will just step out of the room a moment so you can get the x-ray. I can update the crowd in the waiting room while I'm out there. When I get back we can talk about your hours and wages."
Jess's jaw dropped open in shock as the vet turned and left the room. Turning to the dog still on the table Jess quickly took the x-ray. Stepping close to the table Jess quietly spoke to the still sleeping dog. "Well girl, I am really sorry you were hurt. But I think you just got me a job. Weirdest job interview I have done yet."
An hour later the developed x-ray had shown the hip was back in place, the crowd in the waiting room had dispersed, Deaton and Jess has worked together effortlessly to clean the office and set everything back in it's proper place. While they cleaned Deaton talked job details. The main help he was looking for was someone to do the morning animal care chores every day Monday through Friday. Someone to feed, water, and exercise the animals when needed. And to clean the pens and cages of the animals staying in the clinic. Deaton wanted someone who could also do simple wound care and maintenance without supervision. Jess was given a key to the clinic and told she could do the chores anytime in the very early mornings before the clinic opened at 9:30 am. She would also need to do the same chores a few nights a week late in the evening when Deaton had other things to do. Deaton also said that he would be able to offer her some afternoon and early evening shifts helping with patients. But he would need some time to figure out the schedule for those shifts. It would likely be a case of different days and hours worked each week and she would need to be quite flexible with her availability if she wanted the job. Once she had made sure that Deaton was willing to pay her in cash Jess happily agreed to take the job. It would work perfectly as a second job alongside her new job at the mechanic shop.
Working together Deaton and Jess got the injured dog settled on the floor in the corner of the main exam room behind a set of sturdy panels to keep her safe and secured while allowing Deaton to monitor her while she woke fully from the light sedation. The crowd that had brought the dog in had been made up of two groups of good Samaritans who had witnessed the dog being hit by a speeding car and left bleeding in the center of the road. A scan to check for microchips and a check of the x-ray hadn't revealed any sign that the dog had a microchip and though she had some flattened fur around her neck that suggested she had worn a collar at one point, none had been found on the dog or around the accident scene. Her splintered nails, matted fur, and the worn down pads on her feet suggested the possibility that she had been dumped along the road and abandoned. As the dog started to wake up she looked around the room and seeing the two people watching her she started to slowly and gently wag her stubby tail. Sitting down beside the sluggish dog Jess let the dog come to her before she started to stroke her. Soon she had a lap full of gently trembling, tail wagging, face licking dog. Settling the tired dog across her lap Jess glanced up to see Deaton smiling down at her. "Poor little Raggedy Anne looked like she needed some attention."
Pulling a stool up to the exam table Deaton pulled a new chart and a pen out of one of the drawers in the counter and reached for Jess's notes. "Name of patient..." Deaton read out loud, glancing at Jess and her lap full of dog. "Hmmm...I think you picked the perfect name for her already. We'll name her Raggedy Anne. We can call her Anne for short." Turning back to the chart he began to fill it out using the notes Jess had took while she treated the dog for the drug types and amounts administered.
The afternoon passed surprisingly fast with Jess spending the majority of her time looking after Anne. Carefully offering small amounts of water and food and taking her outside on a leash a few times before settling on the floor with her again. The dog was desperate for attention and whined pitifully when ever they tried to leave her alone in the small pen in the exam room. Jess finally settled down on the dog bed with her back against the wall and Anne sprawled across her lap sleeping soundly. Eyelids feeling heavy Jess slowly tilted her head back against the wall and fought to stay awake.
For the first full day in a new town Jess was very pleased with all she had managed to accomplish. Normally the presence of a strange male in the room would have guaranteed Jess stayed wide awake. But the warmth given off by the lap full of dog and the let down after the rush of adrenaline she had gotten when seeing the injured dog, then being hired after successfully treating the dog, had left Jess feeling absolutely exhausted. A stranger having such a strong presence like the one the vet gave off should keep Jess feeling alert. But something about his strong presence was also strangely soothing. Jess's last conscious thought as she nodded off was that the strong calming presence was likely what made Dr. Alan Deaton such a good vet.