Disclaimer: I still don't own Glee or any of the characters ;)
Saturday…
Santana wakes up and immediately notices the puppy is no longer on her bed with her. She quickly scans the room for the dog, and any messes, and is relieved to find her floor void of any accidents. However, she is NOT happy to see two of her favorite pairs of flip-flops all chewed up. Before she can yell at the puppy, she sees it start sniffing around, a telltale sign of needing to relieve itself – according to Sugar – so she jumps out of bed and asks the puppy if it wants to go out. She grabs the leash and rushes the puppy out the door, onto the grass in the front yard. As soon as the puppy does its business, Santana praises the heck out of it…another tip from Sugar. She brings the puppy back inside and gives it some breakfast, then calls the Vet to set up a new patient appointment.
"Thank you for calling Dr. Pierce's Veterinary Clinic, my name is Tina, how may I help you?" a woman answers.
"Umm, hi. I found a puppy last night outside of my work and was calling to set up an appointment for a check-up or shots or something. I really don't know what it needs to have done."
"Not a problem. Dr. Pierce has an open spot today at 3pm, if that works for you."
"Sure, that'd be fine. Thank you."
"Perfect. What name should I put it under?"
"Well, the puppy is still nameless, so I guess mine for now. Santana Lopez."
"Okay Ms. Lopez, we'll see you and your puppy in a little bit then."
"Thank you. See you then." Santana says before she hangs up.
"Well, Little One," Santana says, kneeling down and addressing the puppy "it looks like you have your first doctor's appointment today…please don't hate me afterward!" The puppy bounds over and gives her kisses. She picks it up and heads toward her bedroom to change out of her pjs and get ready for the day.
Santana walks in to her room and is reminded of the puppy's destructive ways overnight when she sees the chewed up flip-flops on the floor. "I'm still mad at you for this!" she says, giving the pup a stern look and pointing at the ground. "Those were my two favorite pairs!" The dog just yips at her and licks her cheek. Santana can't stop the huge grin from forming on her face. "Ugh, you're lucky you're so cute!"
"What's on the agenda for this afternoon, Tina?" Brittany asks while they are sitting down for lunch.
"Just the usual, check-ups and nail clippings. One appointment to check on the stitches of a dog you performed surgery on last week. Oh, and a new patient examination for a puppy at 3pm. That's our last appointment of the day. A woman called this morning saying she found it outside her work last night."
"Aww, a stray. Hopefully this woman plans on keeping it. Probably will if she's already calling for an appointment here instead of just taking it to a shelter or something."
Brittany and Tina finish up lunch and tend to the next few patients. Before they know it, it's 3pm and they are prepping the exam room for the new patient's appointment. The bell above the front door dings, letting them know someone has arrived. Tina goes out front to greet them while Brittany sets up the last of the instruments she'll be using during the exam.
"Hi! Welcome to Dr. Pierce's Veterinary Clinic!" greets Tina when she sees the attractive brunette holding a puppy in the waiting area. "You must be Santana. I'm Tina. We spoke on the phone earlier."
"Hi. Yes, that's me" Santana says with a smile. "And this little one still remains nameless."
"Don't worry about finding a name just yet. It'll come to you at the most random time. C'mon in back, Dr. Pierce is just finishing setting up the room for the exam."
Santana nods her head and follows Tina. She's expecting to meet an old, balding guy who's been running this practice for the past few decades. Instead, she's pleasantly surprised to see the back of a tall, blonde haired woman. When said doctor turns around, there's a brief moment where both women freeze in their spots, an action that does not go unnoticed by Tina. Standing in front of Santana is the sexy blonde dancer from the bar last night. The doctor recovers quicker than Santana, offering up a handshake and a greeting.
"Hi, I'm Dr. Pierce. I'm glad you chose our clinic for your puppy's care."
Santana feels a spark as soon as her hand makes contact with the doctor's and wonders if she felt the same thing. Based on the semi-surprised look on her face and a glance down to their still-joined hands, Santana thinks it's safe to say she did.
"H-hi. I'm Santana. I found this puppy late last night so I took it home. My friend, Sugar Motta, recommended you as a Vet, sooo here we are."
"Ahh Sugar. She's a sweetheart. A little...easily excited haha but one of my favorite patient parents."
At Santana's confused look, Brittany elaborates, "I don't really like the term 'owners' so I just call them 'parents' instead." Brittany says with a wink.
Blushing, Santana giggles. "Ohh. That's actually pretty cute."
Now it's Brittany's turn to blush. Tina isn't quite sure what's going on here, but she's definitely enjoying this interaction. She's also certainly going to question Brittany about it as soon as they're done with Santana's puppy. She wants to stay and see if anything else unusual happens during this visit, but she hears the front door ding again so she leaves to go see who just arrived.
Getting back into doctor mode, Brittany says "Okay, let's see what we have here..." as she takes the puppy from Santana and places it on the exam table."Well first off, I can tell you 'it' is a girl. I'd say about 4 months old and obviously a mixed breed. Based on her build and fur tones, I'm guessing she's mainly Retriever with Border Collie and some German Shepard mixed in. I'm going to check her for a microchip. If she doesn't have one, you'll be allowed to keep her, unless someone reports her missing. She's very clean, so she might have just wandered off yesterday afternoon and someone is looking for her."
"Okay." Santana agrees as Brittany starts scanning over the puppy for an implanted chip. Santana secretly hopes she doesn't find one. "She was actually really dirty and hungry when I found her. I gave her a bath after I brought her home so she was clean when we went to bed. I also saw her earlier yesterday morning, but she had gotten spooked off before I could catch her."
"Hmm...maybe she's been loose for a while then. She does seem underweight. Good news is, she'll gain it back in no time with regular meals. More good news, for you, is that I didn't find a chip anywhere. After her exam, you'll be able to take her home with you." Brittany explains to her, much to Santana's delight. "I do want to inform you though, this type of mixed breed requires a lot of exercise or they'll get destructive around the house simply due to sheer boredom. Before you decide to keep her, you have to decide if you can fulfill that type of commitment."
"That won't be a problem. I go running every morning and there's a little dog park not too far from my apartment. She'll be pooped by the time we go to bed!"
"Hmm, I shoulda known." Brittany says quietly...but not quiet enough.
"Should've known what?" asks Santana.
"Oh umm..." not being able to think of a lie, Brittany gives in and continues "...I should have known you are a runner. Your body is very...toned...like a runner..." Brittany sputters out, flushing an even deeper red. "I mean!...I run too, so I know which muscles get a good workout and stuff."
Santana smiles at how flustered Brittany has become. She decides to give her a break and cut in before Brittany has an anxiety attack or something. "Thank you. I think it'll be nice to have a dog to run with. She'll be my motivation to run on the days where I don't really feel like doing so. Don't want her destroying anything else of mine. She already ruined my two favorite pairs of flip-flops, even though Sugar had given me chew toys for her. OH! ROXY! That's what I'm going to name her! Roxy, because she is so fond of Roxy flip-flops!"
Brittany laughs at Santana's sudden outburst mid-ramble. "That's a cute name. And it clearly fits her." She finished up Roxy's exam, running a couple tests and giving her a few shots. Before leaving, she set up a date a couple months in the future for Roxy to get spayed.
When they're ready to head out, Brittany checks the waiting area for other animals and gives Santana the go-ahead to bring Roxy out of the exam room.
"Thank you for everything Dr. Pierce. I'm really glad Sugar recommended you. I can tell Roxy will be in good hands whenever she's here." Santana compliments the Veterinarian, impressed with how she handled the first appointment.
"Please, call me Brittany" the blonde says as her cheeks once again sport a pink tint. "I'm glad you took Sugar's advice too." She says with a smile. "Don't forget to bring Roxy with you on your runs" the doctor says while subtly glancing over Santana's body.
The Latina manages to catch the doctor's wandering eyes and ducks her head. "I'll make sure to do that. See you in a couple months."
"Bye Santana. Feel free to call here if you have any questions on how to care for Roxy."
"Thank you. Again haha. Bye, Brittany."
With that, Santana leaves the office and heads back to her apartment, but not before stopping to pick up a crate to put Roxy in during her shift at the bar tonight.
"What the hell was that, Britt?!"
"What was what?"
"'Please, call me Brittany.'" mocks Tina. "You were just telling me that our titles are for the parents to use. Santana here is the only person I've heard you give permission to call you Brittany. Also, don't think I didn't see that little moment you two had when she and I first walked in! What was that all about?"
"Ugh, so you know the sexy Latina I was telling you about last night? The one who co-owns Pucktana's? Well…"
"Shut up! That was not her!"
"Yeah…it was."
"Holy crap, Britt! Why didn't you say something to her?!"
"Tina, I can't do that here! I am her puppy's doctor. I can't be hitting on her when I'm supposed to be professional. That's unethical."
"Okay, I guess I can give you that. But you ARE aware that Pucktana's is totally going to be our new hangout spot when we go out, right?"
"No! She'll think I'm some sort of stalker!" Brittany cries out.
"Did Santana mention owning Pucktana's during the appointment just now?" reasons Tina.
"Well, no…"
"It's settled then. Besides, you could have decided last night to frequent that bar since you already knew Santana works there. The fact that her puppy is now a patient here has nothing to do with this decision. We should go there again tonight!"
"No! That would be weird. What if she recognizes our group from last night? Or what if Sugar mentions that we were there last night? I really would seem like a stalker then."
Tina thinks for a moment. "Now that you mention it, Britt, Santana very well may have recognized you. As soon as you turned around to greet her, she froze up just like you did. Maybe you caught her eye last night! That would explain her having the same reaction as you!" At this revelation, Tina lets out a loud squeal.
"Tina, we don't even know if she's gay."
"Oh please, you had her blushing and giggling during the visit. There's definitely somethinggg there."
"I guess only time will tell," the blonde concedes. "C'mon, let's finish up and head out since Santana and Roxy were our last appointment."
Later that night…
"Puck, I have a problem…" Santana says as soon as he walks through the door to help her set up for the night.
"You got 99 problems, but a chick ain't one," Puck laughs at his own corny joke.
"Actually…"
"Wait. Really?!"
"Yeah, man. You know that blonde woman from last night who I may or may not have had a slight attraction to?"
"You mean the sexy dancer who scared you into hiding in the back instead of possibly striking up a conversation with her? What about her?"
"Whatever. Not the point, jackass. Well, Sugar recommended her Vet to me for Roxy, the puppy from the alley. Turns out…sexy, blonde dancer has a day job as a Veterinarian and Roxy is her newest patient."
"Shut. Up! No way! Dude, this is awesome! Now you can get to know her better and see if it leads to something!" Puck says, clearly more excited about this situation than Santana was.
"I don't even know if she's gay. And even if she is, I already told you I'm still not ready to start a new relationship. Besides, I have Roxy now so she'll be taking up my free time."
"Yeah, yeah. Excuses, excuses."
"Shut up, Puck. It's time to open so this conversation is officially dropped."
For the rest of the night, Santana kept catching herself scanning the bar, secretly hoping that every head of blonde hair she saw would end up being Brittany. Unfortunately, she didn't show up. Santana wasn't all that surprised. She wasn't even sure if Brittany knew where she worked. She thinks the doctor might have recognized her, because she did see her hesitate when they first met today, but that could also be wishful thinking. So for now, Santana just has the appointment a couple months from now to look forward to…and the hope that Brittany would happen to stop by the bar again sometime before then.
Once again, the last two people left cleaning up the bar are Santana and Sugar. As they finish drying the freshly washed glasses, Santana breaks their comfortable silence.
"Thank you again for setting me up with all the necessary supplies to take care of Roxy last night. I really appreciate that. And thanks for recommending Brittany, too. She seems really good at what she does and is super nice. Definitely not what I was expecting when I walked in there today."
"Aww, you're welcome hun. I figured it was the least I could do since I couldn't actually take her home to my place. Who's Brittany though?"
"Umm, the veterinarian you recommended to me. You said you bring all your animals to see her. She knew who you were when I mentioned you told me to set up an appointment with her."
"Oh! You mean Dr. Pierce! I've been going to her since she opened her practice. She never told me her first name. Now that I think of it, I've never heard anyone else call her anything other than Dr. Pierce."
"Really? At the end of Roxy's appointment, I addressed her as Dr. Pierce and she told me to call her Brittany."
"Hmm, weird. Actually, considering it's you, I guess it's really not that surprising." Sugar blurts out.
"What's THAT supposed to mean?" Santana asks, now very intrigued as to where this conversation is headed.
"Dr. Pierce...BRITTANYYY...was totally checking you out last night when you were training the newbie behind the bar."
"No she wasn't…" Santana says, but Sugar can see in her eyes that she wants it to be true.
"San, I can assure you, she couldn't take her eyes off you until I caught her staring. Only then did she turn away and go back to her friends."
"Well, even if she was staring, it could have been a completely innocent act of people watching. It doesn't automatically mean she's interested. You didn't even know her first name before just now…you can't possibly know her sexual orientation."
Sugar opens her mouth to reply, but Santana cuts her off.
"Let's call it a night. Anything left to do can be tended to tomorrow…when I'm not here. Besides, I have a puppy to get home to!" Santana says with a grin.
The two friends grab their things, lock up, and make their way to their cars to finally go home.
Santana unlocks her front door, grabbing Roxy's collar and leash as she walks over to her crate.
"Hey girl! Did you miss me?! I bet you gotta go pee-pee, huh?!"
Roxy starts barking and furiously wagging her tail as Santana hooks her collar back on her and leads her to the front door. Once Roxy relieves herself and they are back inside, Santana takes a quick shower, then completely puppy-proofs her bedroom. After she makes sure there is absolutely nothing Roxy can destroy overnight, she climbs in bed with the little pup to get her snuggle on.
Before they fall asleep, Santana looks down at the little mutt who has already wiggled her way into her heart.
"Sleep tight, love. Tomorrow, we'll see just how much exercise it takes to wipe you out. Hopefully I can keep up with you." Santana says softly before leaning down to give Roxy a quick kiss on the head. The pup just snuggles closer, and soon enough, both of them drift off to sleep.