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Catboy!AU: Cuddles are the Best Medicine, Part 2
[ooc: continued from here.]
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When Joe walks back into Sid's office from reception Sid is still in the adjoining room clearing up the counter just beside the reclining bed. Joe knows that the first thing Sid is going to ask is, "who is next?", so he cuts in first as he walks through the open door.
"It's lunchtime," he says. And before Sid can open his mouth to protest, he adds, "there are no walk-ins waiting at the moment; everyone out there has a scheduled appointment. It's time to eat."
It's not even that Sid means to neglect his body's need for food - he would never do himself any purposeful damage. He just gets too carried away at the surgery sometimes - helping people in need - to think about eating. Joe doesn't mind having taken up the responsibility to make sure that Sid looks after himself when he should. George has always tried his best, but his bossiness tends to melt in front of Sid, and he can't help but agree, "yes, maybe just this next one before you stop, Doctor Sid. I think he really needs your help."
And it isn't like Joe doesn't have any compassion; he knows a lot of the catpeople who come to the surgery are in desperate need of help. But his priority is to make sure Sid stays fit enough to be able to keep on helping them all. And right now there really is nothing pressing, nothing that can't wait until the appointed doctor gets to it.
He gets out the sandwiches for lunch, ("I'll make them," they both always seem to offer at exactly the same time in the morning; Sid always solves the problem by suggesting they do it together) and sets them on Sid's desk in front of each seat.
"Is there anything else that needs to be cleaned up?" Joe asks before he even thinks to sit down and start eating. It's one thing to keep Sid from overworking himself, and another for there to be actual health and hygiene reasons for him not to have stopped and sat down yet. But if there is anything, they can do it together and it won't take anywhere near as long to complete.
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When Joe walks back into Sid's office from reception Sid is still in the adjoining room clearing up the counter just beside the reclining bed. Joe knows that the first thing Sid is going to ask is, "who is next?", so he cuts in first as he walks through the open door.
"It's lunchtime," he says. And before Sid can open his mouth to protest, he adds, "there are no walk-ins waiting at the moment; everyone out there has a scheduled appointment. It's time to eat."
It's not even that Sid means to neglect his body's need for food - he would never do himself any purposeful damage. He just gets too carried away at the surgery sometimes - helping people in need - to think about eating. Joe doesn't mind having taken up the responsibility to make sure that Sid looks after himself when he should. George has always tried his best, but his bossiness tends to melt in front of Sid, and he can't help but agree, "yes, maybe just this next one before you stop, Doctor Sid. I think he really needs your help."
And it isn't like Joe doesn't have any compassion; he knows a lot of the catpeople who come to the surgery are in desperate need of help. But his priority is to make sure Sid stays fit enough to be able to keep on helping them all. And right now there really is nothing pressing, nothing that can't wait until the appointed doctor gets to it.
He gets out the sandwiches for lunch, ("I'll make them," they both always seem to offer at exactly the same time in the morning; Sid always solves the problem by suggesting they do it together) and sets them on Sid's desk in front of each seat.
"Is there anything else that needs to be cleaned up?" Joe asks before he even thinks to sit down and start eating. It's one thing to keep Sid from overworking himself, and another for there to be actual health and hygiene reasons for him not to have stopped and sat down yet. But if there is anything, they can do it together and it won't take anywhere near as long to complete.
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"Thank you," Marvelous says, another thing he isn't prone to saying to people much. And, "I'm sorry we're taking you away from your work." Not sorry enough to go back on the request, but he says it because Don definitely would if it were him speaking.
"He's calmed down a little," Marvelous replies to Sid's question. He feels awful for not even thinking of offering Don something for the pain, but-
"Maybe because we put ice on it?" he says. "To ease the swelling. And I thought that if doctors were going to be seeing patients they'd prefer to give their own medication?" He lowers his voice a little automatically, even though Don can obviously hear what he says; it's more of an attempt to hush his own ignorance. "Is it different with catpeople?"
He's practically asking Don this at the same time he asks Sid, looking his way for some sort of reassurance. Don might not even know himself; Marvelous is a human but he doesn't know everything a doctor does about the human body and medicine, so why would Don in regards to catpeople?
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“I’m glad to hear that he’s calm,” Sid continues, “and it’s good that you put ice on it. As for the medication, it’s alright that you haven’t given him anything. Catpeople can take some of the same medications as humans, but not all of them, so if you didn’t have any around that are formulated for catpeople, it’s better that you didn’t give him any. And I do prefer to give the medication out myself; I just needed to know in advance if you’d given him anything so I’d know what kind of dosage he’d need. Don’t worry, you haven’t done anything wrong.”
Sid looks back across the desk at Joe, who’s finished his sandwich and is listening intently to Sid’s half of the conversation. One last thing that he needs to ask comes to mind. “I’m guessing you haven’t taken him to a veterinarian before,” he says, since if Don had a vet already, Marvelous wouldn’t have called here. “Is he nervous about having someone look at his injury?”
Sid probably would have brought Joe along to help even if Don wasn’t nervous about it, but if he is, it’ll definitely be a big help to have Joe with him. Joe is such a good, calming presence for the patients at the clinic - it only makes sense to bring him along for house calls as well.
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Hopefully it's just an awkward sprain?
"A vet?" Marvelous repeats. "No. It hasn't really come up until now. And whoever he went to before he moved in with me isn't an option anymore. But he is a little nervous around new people." A little could be considered an understatement, but Marvelous is hardly going to talk about Don like he isn't right here. "That's why he'd rather be in a familiar place. And with me."
He's about to ask Sid if he will be expected to leave the room for an examination, because he has in fact listened to Sid when he talks and knows a lot of catpeople can't be honest with their owners in the room, but realises that even the mere possibility of that being voiced might panic Don. So he decides not to after all. Sid will just have to deal with it if it comes to it, because Marvelous isn't going anywhere.
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“We should be there in about fifteen minutes, give or take.” Sid puts the paper he’d been writing on in his pocket and takes the key to the ambulance out of his desk drawer. “Just try to keep Don calm and relaxed until we get there.”
He hangs up the phone and looks back at Joe. “It’s an ankle injury,” he says, knowing that Joe has already caught the gist of the situation, just not the specifics. “From the sound of it, I think it’s probably a sprain, but I’ll have to examine it to be sure.” He gets up to grab his coat from the coat rack by his office door. “And it sounds like the patient is nervous about being around unfamiliar people, so once we’re there, I’d like for you to approach him first and help him relax.”
Sid slips on his coat and leads the way out of the clinic to the garage where they keep the ambulance. They haven’t had a house call in a couple of weeks, and Logan had just done the supply check on Sunday, so everything they need should already be in it. He climbs into the driver’s side and shuts the door, waiting for Joe to get in on the opposite side before he starts the engine.
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He follows Sid out to the ambulance; it's been a little while since they last did a house call. It's one of the few times they travel together by car, something Joe hasn't done a great deal in his life anyway, so it's still pretty novel for him.
"Someone you know?" Joe asks once he's inside and has buckled his seatbelt. It isn't that Sid doesn't maintain a professional manner; in fact to a person didn't know him well it would've sounded like the call could have been anyone, a complete stranger. But even if it's in Sid's nature to be kind and reassuring to anyone who needs it he wouldn't give out his direct office number to just anyone. Joe doesn't have to be a detective to have figured it out really.
And yet he says the patient is unfamiliar to him. Somebody he knows with a catperson he doesn't? It seems unusual, but Joe won't comment on it.
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“Yeah, I know him,” he answers as he turns out onto the street. “He’s a friend, I used to see him around the coffee shop sometimes. I didn’t know he had a catboy living with him, though. I think he must have just moved in recently. That might explain why I haven’t seen him in a while.” Sid doesn’t want to talk about it in terms of ownership, even though that’s the most likely scenario. He hasn’t heard it for certain, for one thing, and he likes to avoid parsing things as ownership around Joe whenever possible.
“He’s always seemed like a good guy to me,” Sid continues, “which I know doesn’t always count for much. But I don’t think it’s an abuse case.” This is an ugly subject to bring up, not something either of them likes talking about, but it’s not the kind of thing they can afford to be negligent about, either. “Though, we should still be on the lookout for any red flags, just in case.”
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He feels his ears twitch at the mention of something else he hadn't been about to say out loud, but would never neglect. The possiblity of abuse. Especially with Sid knowing this person, it makes it an even more tense subject; you can think you know someone in some respects, but they can still surprise you in others.
"Of course," Joe says in reply. In his case the initial scent when he walks into a room, whether it be someone's home or in the clinic, can be incredibly telling. Humans might talk about being able to smell a lie on someone, but Joe knows that for catpeople deceit really does have a way of permeating a room with its stench.
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