"I'm sorry, what was that?" Rey's tone held a small hint of hysteria. Her hand gripped her cellphone so tightly it was a surprise it didn't splinter.

"The vet appointment is tomorrow at," Rey heard the sound of quick fingers working against a keyboard, "two o'clock in the afternoon."

"But I never scheduled a vet appointment." Rey tried to insert a note of professional calm into her voice. "There must be a mistake."

"Uh—no. Let me check," more typing. One click, then another, "It says right here that a veterinary appointment was made for Ben Solo on the day of his adoption, roughly six months ago."

Rey's eyebrows shot up. It had been that long already? Or should it feel short? She wasn't sure.

"His name is Kylo," was all Rey muttered into the receiver.

"You changed it?" asked the woman on the other end.

"Yes," Rey confirmed. She was still stuck on what the receptionist had told her. It didn't feel like it had only been six months since she had taken Kylo in. Somehow she felt as though time had flown by while she simultaneously felt as though it had never passed at a slower rate. Her life, while still generally the same at the surface, had shifted in a dramatic way to accommodate a simple creature in her life.

"Alright. I'll change the name in our systems after we hang up. I look forward to seeing you tomorrow."

"Wait—"

Click.

Rey cursed.

"I have a bad feeling about this," she muttered.

The next day turned out pretty much just how Rey had expected it would. Kylo put up a beastly fight against being put back into a cat carrier. In fact, he fought her so hard (and made her bleed in so many places) that she finally just threw a blanket over him, scooped him into her arms and all but sprinted to the car.

Flinging open the driver's side door, she unceremoniously shoved Kylo in and jumped in herself. Blessedly, the drive to the veterinary clinic was only about five minutes away. After wiggling out from under the blanket, Kylo oh-so-conveniently wedged himself as far back under the seat behind the passenger's chair as he could manage. Rey only suffered more battle wounds as she extracted him.

"Rey here with Kylo," she all but growled at the poor, very frightened looking receptionist as she burst through the door. Her arms circled Kylo as if she was his own personal straightjacket. Thankfully, the smell of the place distracted Kylo from his squirming. His nose was sniffing the air with rapt curiosity.

"His carrier?" the receptionist questioned.

"He didn't want to get in it," Rey growled again. She was not about to face a lecture from this woman.

She seemed to get the message.

"This way." Rey was hastily lead through one door and then another. She entered a clean and altogether friendly looking room that had a couple of chairs, a large off-white island where she deposited her angry cat, and a strip that contained a sink and various tools such as gloves and glass containers with cotton balls inside. There were quite a few cheery-looking posters of happy people and their various pets.

After a little while, the door located across from where Rey had entered - presumably leading back to the labs and kennels and such opened. Rey turned from where she stood studying a cheery poster and was surprised to see a very tall, uniquely beautiful, and rather intimidating woman enter the room.

"Hello Rey, I'm Doctor Phasma." Rey took the woman's hand. Her grip was like a vice. The florescent lighting glinted off her short, sun-yellow hair. She took a second to glance around and spotted Kylo – who was preoccupied trying to wedge himself in a very small space between the examination table and the wall. "And who's this?"

Rey cringed when her cat responded to the Doctor with a low, very threatening growl.

"His name is Kylo. Kylo Ren. I'm sorry. He's uh—not used to other people. I only just got him to be comfortable around me," Rey supplied.

Doctor Phasma nodded. "Don't worry. I'm excellent with animals. He won't be a problem."

"I wouldn't go that far," Rey muttered under her breath.

After doing a tame-looking initial checkup where Doctor Phasma seemed to just poke and prod at Kylo (while he appeared to hate every second of it) Rey was told she could stay in the room while Phasma briefly took Kylo into the lab to take a blood sample.

"Good luck," Rey called as Phasma scooped a very pissed off cat into her arms.

Time passed. Brief came and went. Rey tapped her food impatiently from where she sat on one of the uncomfortable plastic chairs. She was beginning to feel anxious – well, more anxious. She began to think that maybe she should've stopped the Doctor from taking him.

So many what ifs began running rampant through Rey's mind. What if they decide he's too dangerous? What if they find something wrong with his health? What if he needs a ton of surgery that I can't afford? What if they tell me the best choice is just to put him down?

Rey felt a weight like a pile of bricks settle in her stomach.

The door opened. Rey jumped to her feet.

Doctor Phasma entered the room, looking rather worse for wear. She was visibly making an effort to maintain her presence and overall dignity, but the poor woman's lab coat was torn in a couple places, her previously-immaculate hair was disheveled, her bare hands had more than their share of wounds, and a single scratch glowed red under her jaw. Rey winced.

"This isn't usually allowed," the doctor started, "But nothing else is working. Would you please come into the back and retrieve your cat?"

"Huh?" Rey asked, still dumbstruck by the blonde's appearance.

"We put him into a cage as soon as we extracted the blood sample. We intended to have him in there for a few moments while we…" She paused for a moment and Rey found herself preemptively cringing. "Cleaned up back there. He hasn't responded well to any of our staff trying to extract him back out."

"Uh—yeah, sure. Lead the way," Rey responded.

Doctor Phasma nodded a quick, brisk nod and then turned on her heel. Rey followed her into the back, having to walk a little faster to keep up with the woman's long strides.

When they reached the wall of cages, it didn't take long for Rey to figure out which one her cat was in.

It was the only one emitting a long string of very agitated yolws.

Swallowing the sudden lump in her throat, Rey peered into the cage. Thankfully for her, it was exactly at her eye level. She spotted Kylo wedged into the right corner as tightly as physically possible.

"It's over now. Time to go home," Rey spoke low and calm. Kylo's ears perked up from where they had been glued flat to his head. He stopped his yowling. A few seconds passed, and he began to inch his way toward Rey.

"Come on, now," Rey encouraged him. After hearing her voice again, Kylo spurred himself forward and all but crashed himself into Rey. Letting out a breath of surprise, she caught him before he could drop to the floor.

"Very well," Phasma began—but was suddenly cut off by a large growl from Kylo and a loud wince from Rey. He had dug his claws into her arm at the sound of Phasma's voice.

"I think I should just go now. Send me a bill?" Rey questioned.

Wisely, Phasma only nodded her head.

Author's note: It's been a while, I know! I've had a pretty crazy year and, believe it or not, I'm currently studying abroad for an entire semester. It's been a fabulous experience, but stressful. I want to get back to my stories, since they've always made me happy and given me a creative outlet. I hope you enjoyed this chapter!