Leonard "Bones" McCoy (justmybonesleft) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2019-05-16 19:30:00 |
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One good thing about the van his parents had bought him for his sixteenth birthday was that he could use it when he needed to drive Old Lace places. Which hadn’t happened very often but maybe he could if things worked out with this vet he was taking her to see. He was a little bit worried about whether or not he’d actually been looking after her health right since there wasn’t exactly a book on how to take care of your raptor. He heard her grumbling in the back and glanced at her in the rearview mirror. “We’ll be there soon and you can get out I promise. Remember what I said - no charging. And we’re just going to talk to him.” He told her as soothingly as he could.
He made the turn into the drive at the address he’d been given, looking around him as he came to a stop and walked around to the back. “Stick with me okay?” He told her as he opened the door so she could get out. He put one hand on her back soothingly as he started to walk. “Hey doc. You here?”
***
Now Leonard McCoy he’d seen a lot of things in his time and they ranged from the good, the bad and the just plain ugly, but what he had not seen was a fully grown velociraptor in the flesh (what? Joanna had gone through a dinosaur phase when she was younger) because generally speaking? Dinosaurs were extinct and all they had were their fossils to prove that they’d existed.
The conversation on the network system had suggested otherwise but seeing was believing.
“Yeah I’m he-” And whatever else he was going to say died a very quick death in the back of his throat as he took in the sight of a dinosaur walking alongside the young man. “What in the Sam hill?”
***
Chase had to bite back a laugh at the reaction to seeing Old Lace that the doctor had and she made a soft sound that he knew meant she was amused too. “Chase Stein. We talked over the network about me bringing her out here to see you. This is Old Lace. My raptor. My very not extinct raptor. She’s friendly for the most part.” As long as nobody struck her as a threat at least. He rubbed one hand along her neck as they walked up to the other man, stopping a little bit before reaching him. “I told her no charging and that we were just here to talk to you.” Unless it worked out that the man was willing to give her a check up and she was okay with it. He wasn’t going to put her through anything she wasn’t comfortable with.
***
There were days when Leonard was genuinely afraid for his sanity. Today, in this moment, was definitely one of those days. Of course Chase was talking to him and he was definitely real so clearly he wasn’t having some sort of mental breakdown but he could be forgiven for thinking that as it wasn’t every day you came face to face with a real life dinosaur.
“Well, don’t I feel better,” he drawled, sarcasm at its finest, but he was still a vet and Old Lace was still an animal. Granted a very dangerous one and one of the smarter ones if you believed everything you read. “So, uh, are you worried about anything in particular?”
***
Old Lace made a sound that Chase interpreted as her trying to laugh and he smiled, scratching her neck as he looked at the doctor. She didn’t seem upset at the sarcasm. More amused by it which was a good thing in his book. “I was just looking to see if you’d be willing to give her a look over now and then. I try to keep her out of fights but when things get crazy we go out to try and help and sometimes...fights are unavoidable. I also feed her a diet of meat and try to keep it organic so there aren’t a lot of chemicals going into her. There’s no handbook for taking care of her so I’m just going by what she seems to like.”
***
Leonard couldn’t blame the kid. There was no such thing as a owner’s guide on how to look after and raise a healthy toothy dinosaur. “Lemme get my things,” he said as he figured he might as well take the plunge. He’d handled a gator and that definitely hadn’t had the same awareness about it as Old Lace seemed to. “Figure it might be easier out here where there’s a lotta space and she doesn’t feel closed in.”
And with that he vanished back inside to get the tools of his trade along with a clipboard and patient sheet so he could make some notes.
***
“It’s okay Lace. It’s okay. He seems nice enough right?” Chase murmured to her as she moved closer to him. “I’m not going anywhere. I’ll be right here. No biting though.” He told her, hand moving to the back of her neck as he waited for Leonard to come back.
“I’ll try to stay out of your way doc but she’s not feeling much like letting me move too far away. So if you need me to move to the other side just say the word.”
***
“No worries,” Leonard assured Chase as he came back out with his tools and clipboard that had the patient sheet attached to it. “Maybe you can give me a hand by filling out some of this.” The clipboard was offered before Bones took a wary look at Old Lace. “Alright, Old Lace, let’s get you looked over and if you don’t make a snack outta my hand I’d be much obliged.”
And then he stepped in and gave his first dinosaur a full check up and physical.