I'm heading to work. I work at the zoo in both Seattle and Tacoma. I love being a vet for the animals. I specialize in Arctic animals. I think they are so sweet. Today, Onyx needs a check up. She will be darted to check on her bumps. I head to the wolf's den.
I separate Onyx and pull out the dart gun. I dart Onyx with ease that only experience can give you. I hear crying but I'm under a time crunch. We quickly move Onyx. I check her over, while my assistant get's blood. We get her back into the cage, then head to the den. I let her off into the den and she runs off with her brothers.
I can still hear the crying. I look up and see a woman with two gorgeous men. I see the little girl crying about the hurt wolf. I head over.
"Onyx will be okay," I tell her when I reach her. She wipes her nose on her sleeve.
"Onyx?' She asks with a sniffle.
"That's her name. She's the other wolf's sister. We were just giving her a checkup to make sure she's healthy." I explain.
"Thanks for coming to make Clair feel better." One of the giant gods says to me, when the little girl, who I now know is Clair stops crying. "I'm Sam," he sticks his hand and shakes mine.
"I'm Lindsey," I introduce myself.
"This is my wife Emily and that's Paul." Sam introduces the other two adults.
Paul sticks out his hand. I meet his brown eyes as I shake his hand. It seems like time stands still. Nothing else matters but him and I. I shake my head to clear it and let his hand go.
"I heard they are feeding the polar bears watermelons shortly. You can go watch it if you want." I offer.
"Are you coming?" Clair asks.
"Sure I can. I have some time. I probably should check on my bears, anyway," the past part I say more to myself.
I walk beside them pointing out different things that only I know from working here. We arrive at the polar bears. We watch them chase the watermelons. I notice Hudson is limping. I pull out my walkie talkie.
"Hey, Melody, are you looking at Hudson?" I ask in it.
"Hey, Lindsey, I can. He looks like he's limping." She replies.
"We can take a closer look in a few hours." I tell her.
"Sounds good. I'll call him in them." She says ending the conversation.
"What was that about?" Paul asks.
"If you look closely at that bear." I say pointing at Hudson. "He's limping."
"You're right, he is. I can't believe I didn't notice that."
"You're not trained to, so I don't expect it," I say with a smile.
"I know we just met, but would you like to go out tonight for dinner?" Paul asks.
"Sure," I reply.
"Put your number in here and I'll text you. So, you can tell me what time to come get you." He says handing me his phone. I put my number in and quickly text myself.
"I should get going. I need to check on my Arctic fox before I do a full check on Hudson." I tell him. "I'll text you when I go on lunch. If you are all still here, I'll come meet up with you."
"Sounds perfect," Paul agrees with a smile.
"Bye Clair, enjoy the zoo." I tell her waving to her. She waves back.
I go check on Luna. She seems to be doing great. I make my way to the indoor bear cages. I see Mel going through training things with Hudson.
"Who was that guy you were with and are you two going out?" Mel asks.
"His name is Paul, and he wants a first date, tonight," I say.
"Damn, he works fast," She replies laughing.
"Yeah, if they are still here when I go on lunch, I'll meet up with them." I tell her. "Now, let's check on Hudson."
Paul's POV
Meeting her was incredible. I finally met my imprint and it's everything I thought it would be and more. Sam keeps looking at me funny.
"What?" I ask.
"Are you going to go out for dinner with her, fuck her, then walk away? Because I can't let you do that. She was so nice to Clair." Sam preaches.
"No! I imprinted." I inform him.
"Really? Shit! I gotta pay attention more. That's amazing!" He exclaims practically jumping up and down. He's actually genuinely happy for me.
I roll my eyes at him. I might have secretly always wanted an imprint, but I never expected one as great as her. She's obviously smart and loves animals. So, she will have no problem with my wolf. Now, I gotta figure out a nice place to talk to her, tonight.
"We can stay for her lunch," Sam says interrupting my thoughts.
"Thanks," I say.
Him and Jared are really my only friends. It was just us for the longest time. Then Embry, Jacob, and Quil had to join us. Quil and Embry aren't so bad. But Jacob won't shut up about leach lover. I would understand if she was him imprint, but she isn't. She's just using him.
I get a text. I hope it's Lindsey. Shit! I'm becoming pathetic. Who am I kidding. I've always wanted someone who loves me to come home to after patrol.
Done with Hudson. Ready for lunch. You still at park?
Yeah, heading to polar bears now.
Sounds good, see you shortly.
"That her?" Sam asks.
"Yeah, we should head back to polar bears," I reply.
"Em, can we turn back to polar bears? Paul forgot his soul there." Sam teases.
"His soul?" she asks confused.
"Lindsey said she would meet us for lunch," Sam explains. Emily giggles.
"Sure, I don't see why not." She says giving him a look saying we will talk more later.
"Hey," she says when we arrive.
She's confidentially leaning against the barricade with the bears down below. She's wearing beautiful green scrubs.
"Hey," I reply sticking my hands in my pockets suddenly feeling nervous.
"Hi Clair, ready for lunch?" She asks her. Almost as if she sensed my nerves.
"Yeah!" Clair cheers.
"I know the best place to eat in the zoo." She tells us. She walks to a restaurant. "Order what you want we are getting it to go."
"What about, Clair?" Emily asks concerned,
"She will be alright if she gets messy. We keep wipes everywhere." She says waving it off.
We get our food in a bag. Sam goes to pay for the bill, but the guy days its employee comped. Sam looked at her shocked. Clair just took her hand, and they walked in the direction of the bears. We head downstairs of a building that says closed, and we end up in a glass dome where we can see the polar bears and seals swimming. Clair squeals and runs to the glass. Lindsey giggles and heads over to her.
"It's cool, eh?" She says.
"Yeah!" Clair yells. Emily just looks around in awe.
"We should eat now, Clair because the seals will be playing find and the bears will be doing yoga soon." Lindsey says taking Clair's hand. She opens a box on the wall and pulls out a container of wipes.
"How did you get her to sit and eat with no fuss?" Emily asks after we are all sitting and eating. Clair is still watching the animals swim around while eating.
"I realized she might be easier to get to eat in a fun place. She can see everything and it not missing out on anything because I brought her and her food to the fun place. I didn't remove her from it. I also told her about something cooler happening after she eats, so she knows if she eats now, she will get to see the cooler thing. Instead of missing it later to eat." Lindsey explains.
"But what about the mess?" Emily asks worried.
"I didn't grab the wipes for show. It's just in case she needs them. She's young making a mess is what they do and that's okay. It's how they learn," Lindsey says with a shrug. "Young animals are the same way."
"All done!" Clair exclaims holding up her dirty hands.
"Good job Clair!" Lindsey congratulates enthusiastically. "I might have a cookie here for you."
"Cookie?" Clair asks taking the cookie Lindsey was holing out.
I love seeing her with Clair. It gives me an idea of how she would be with our own children someday. I can't wait till it's our kids she's doing this with. Clair quickly gobbles down the cookie. Lindsey pulls a wipe out of the container.
"Now, lets see how well you can wipe your hands." Lindsey says. She pulls a second wipe and hands one to Clair. Showing her how to wipe her hands. Once Clair's hands are clean, she takes the wipe back. "Can I get your face?"
"Okay," Clair sighs not liking her face wiped. She wipes it down quickly. Clair makes no fuss.
"There now you're beautiful for the seals and polar bears." She tells her with a smile.
"Really?" Clair asks her eyes lighting up.
"Yeah, they want you to look good for them." Lindsey tells her.
Clair runs off to watch the animals while we finish eating.
"Thanks. That's a massive pressure off me when I get home," Emily says.
"She will probably fall asleep on the way home, as well." Lindsey points out.
"How do you know?" Sam asks.
"I'll have Mel include her in the exercises." Lindsey says. "She running around lots but that will tire her out extra."
"You are a god sent," Emily tells her. "No fights on anything. If I'm dreaming leave me be."
We all finish eating and Lindsey throws everything out. Sam and I made sure there was no food left over. He head over to the bears. Clair is watching the seals with Sam and Emily.
Lindsey puts her hand on the glass near the bear. The bear puts his paw over her hand. It honestly looks beautiful. I pull my phone out and take a picture. I put it as her contact photo. The bear swims away right after.
"I taught him that right after he got here." Lindsey tells me.
"It was incredible to see that. I thought that only happened in movies." I say and she giggles.
The door opens and we all look towards it. A woman walks in.
"Hey Mel. I thought little Clair here might want to get in on find and yoga." Lindsey tells the woman.
"Sounds like a great idea." She replies with a little too much pep. Clair runs over.
"Clair, this is Mel. She's going to show you what to do." Lindsey crouches down and explains.
She stands back up when Mel takes Clair's hand and heads over to the seals explaining what to do. Sam and Emily come over to us.
"You're good with her." Sam says to Lindsey.
"She's easier then a wolf pup," She says laughing. Sam chuckles.
"I guess you would be right," Sam replies probably thinking about training all us wolves.
He does deal with a lot. Clair puts a coloured dot against the glass and squeals when the seal puts her nose against it.
"Why do you guys do stuff like this?" Emily asks.
"This way the animals don't get bored." She replies to us.
"Animals get bored?" Sam questions.
"Yes, they aren't meant to be kept in captivity. So, we need to do activities to get their minds thinking. Some of the tricks are to help us wets and zookeepers though. Like paw and open mouth or stand. We have a bunch of tricks to aide us in caring for them." She explains.
"Do you need the tricks often?" Emily asks intrigued.
"Yeah, almost daily. We brush the polar bears teeth almost daily. Once a month we take blood. They have vaccines and need to be weighed as well. If someone drops something in their enclosure, we can get it out without having to go in. And that's just a few things for the bears." She explains fondly.
"You really love the animals you work with." I comment.
"It's less like work and more of a hobby." She says. "Each one of the animals I work with have their own minds and personalities. Some can hold grudges; others are more forgiving. Some have attitude problems, others don't. Some like to be left alone, others love attention. They are all unique and incredible in their own way. Just like humans."
I can feel the love coming off of her as she talks about them. She seems to really care about each animal under her care.