Dog Heaven: Pack Mates - Part 2/5
Title: Dog Heaven: Pack Mates
Summary: Jack gets in touch with his animal side after accidently participating in a ritual off-world.
Timeframe: Mid-season two-ish
Characters/Pairing: Team, Sam/Jack, Janet
Genre: Humor, Drama, Hurt/Comfort, Friendship, UST to RST
Rating: G
Part Two
After Janet advised her to take the Colonel to an emergency vet clinic, and his leg was wrapped with a pressure bandage, Sam got O’Neill in the back of her car, lying across the backseat. She knew there was a vet just a few short blocks from her house, and had found the number in the phone book, calling to let them know to expect her.
When they arrived at the clinic, Sam got out of the car and quickly went to the back, holding the obligatory leash. “Colonel, can you walk or do you want me get someone who can carry you?” she asked, seeing him struggling to rise on the seat.
He gave a snort, and Sam took that to mean he could walk.
Stepping back to give him room, Sam held the door open as he began to climb down. She winced as he hopped down from the car and yelped softly as the movement jarred his injured leg. “I’m sorry about this, sir,” she told him as she clipped the leash to the dog tag chain around his neck. He’d balked at the suggestion of wearing an actual dog collar, and the tags would have to suffice.
Sam walked slowly at his side while he limped to the front doors of the clinic. She stepped in ahead of him, holding the door open before taking him up to the front desk. Their appearance drew many strange looks from other owners and their pets in the waiting area. Sam knew it was due to the Colonel’s sheer size and intimidating presence alone, and not because of his bandaged leg and limp.
She smiled tightly at a man with his Golden Retriever who stared in awe and commented, “Big dog.”
“I assume you’re the one who called about the dog with the gunshot wound?” the receptionist asked, looking compassionately down at the Colonel and his bandaged leg.
“Yes.” Sam nodded quickly.
The receptionist handed her a form on a clipboard. “Doctor Flynn will see you soon. She’s already prepping the operating room for you. You’ll just need to fill out some paperwork since this is your first visit to our clinic.”
“Alright, thank you.” Sam turned, slowly leading the Colonel to a solitary corner of the waiting area. She sat down once O’Neill carefully lowered himself to lie on the floor, and then took a look at the form. She filled out her own information first, and then when it came to filling out the patient’s info, she paused at ‘name.’ Knowing she couldn’t very well write ‘Colonel O’Neill’ on the form, she simply decided on ‘Jack.’ For the age slot, she took the Colonel’s natural age and divided it by seven, coming up with approximately six and a half. She’d remembered that one human year was the equivalent of seven dog years, so she’d played on that a little and went backwards.
Sam found a problem as she looked at the rest of the information she was required to fill out. She checked off all the questions that asked if he were vaccinated against this and that, up to date on shots, negative for worms, etc, but then the form asked her to write down the info for his primary veterinarian. Sam paused momentarily before scribbling down ‘Dr. Janet Fraiser,’ and giving her friend’s cell phone number. She’d let Janet know as soon as she was able just in case they called her to verify the Colonel’s information. Sam wouldn’t want her friend caught off guard.
Letting the Colonel stay put, Sam got up and handed the receptionist the form before sitting back down. It didn’t take long before a vet tech came out of a back room and waved for them to go with her.
O’Neill let out another soft, pained whine as he got back on his feet and limped at Sam’s side.
.
Jack couldn’t believe how much he hurt from that little .22 caliber bullet. What the hell had he been thinking going after those chickens? He hadn’t been thinking, that’s what. He’d loosened the stranglehold on his willpower and let the wolf take over. Jack didn’t plan on doing that again anytime soon; at least if he could help it.
When he and Carter got to the exam area with the vet tech, Jack felt his hackles rise as an uneasy feeling washed over him. He truly understood why dogs hated going to the vet’s office. It must have been some ingrained fear. The smells, the sounds, everything was just grating on his nerves and he wanted to leave.
“Okay,” the vet tech said in a soft, kind voice as another tech walked in. “We’re just going to get him up on the table so the doctor can do an preliminary exam. Will he need to be muzzled?”
Muzzled? For cryin’ out loud, he wasn’t going to bite anybody! Jack thought with a mental frown, glancing up at Carter.
“No, I don’t think so.”
Jack stiffened slightly as the small woman gestured for the much larger male vet tech to help her. The guy stooped to pick him up, carefully reaching beneath his hips with one arm, the other below his chest at the backs of his front legs.
As soon as the guy began to lift him off the ground, a spike of agony went through his left leg and without his own volition, Jack growled and snapped at the guy.
The tech jerked his head away from the business end and nearly dropped Jack before gingerly setting him back down. “Whoa, easy boy. I know you’re hurtin’. I’m sorry.”
A look at Carter showed her smiling apologetically at the tech. “I guess we might need that muzzle after all. Sorry.”
“Don’t worry about it,” the guy assured her, waving a hand dismissively. “Even the most docile dogs can be a little snappy when they’re injured. It’s okay.”
Carter glanced down and mouthed, ‘Sorry,’ when the techs weren’t looking, and Jack turned his head away in shame. He swiftly realized he wouldn’t be able to suppress some of the animal instincts, no matter how hard he tried.
Carter held out her hand when the young woman came back with the muzzle, looking a little tentative. “It’s alright, I can put it on him. He’ll probably be less likely to snap with someone more familiar.” The tech nodded gratefully and Carter crouched down to strap the muzzle on his face.
.
As she was clipping the muzzle strap in place behind the Colonel’s head, Sam instantly felt a wave of fear and pain, and knew it had come from him. She looked down to find his soulful brown eyes intently staring back into her blue ones; he knew she’d felt it. “It’s okay.” She smiled reassuringly, and couldn’t help gently patting him on the head and stroking his soft, pointed ears.
The sense of fear subsided, but Sam could still detect the pain as she continued to caress Colonel O’Neill’s head, enjoying the softness of his thick fur. She could feel him start to calm down, then rose from her crouch as the male vet tech came closer to try and get him on the table again.
Once he was on the table, lying on his right side, Sam stood by his head so he could see her.
When the veterinarian walked in and introduced herself as “Doctor Flynn,” Sam smiled politely and nodded at her. The woman was in her forties, dark brown hair pulled into a loose bun, with faint freckles on her face. She looked kind and trustworthy, Sam thought.
The two techs left, and Doctor Flynn crouched slightly in front of the table where the Colonel lay, reaching out a hand to pat him gently and look him in the eyes. “Hey, boy, we’re going to fix you right up, don’t you worry.” She looked up at Sam, brows furrowed slightly. “How did this happen?” she asked while moving down the table near O’Neill’s injured leg.
Sam grimaced momentarily, composing her thoughts with the half-truth she’d prepared in her head. “I accidently left the back door open and he got out. He was caught going after a neighbor’s chickens and the man thought he was a wolf and shot him.”
“Ooh.” The doctor made a sympathetic face and looked down at the bandage wrapped around the Colonel’s upper hind leg. “Well, I can see how anyone could mistake Jack here for a wolf. He’s quite a large, intimidating looking dog.”
“Husky mix,” Sam blurted hastily with a quick smile. She was inexplicably worried that the seasoned veterinarian could pinpoint Colonel O’Neill’s true heritage.
Flynn nodded. “Okay, well I’m going to just briefly examine the wound before we take him to X-ray to find that bullet. Would you mind holding his shoulders? He might try to get up while I’m doing this.”
Nodding quickly, Sam moved to lean over the Colonel, holding his shoulders and looking into his piercing brown eyes while Doctor Flynn began to undo the bandage.
O’Neill bucked on the table once the bandage was free and the vet had to gently push aside thick fur matted with blood to examine the bullet wound. He was strong and Sam struggled to hold him, frowning sympathetically as she knew he was in pain. She kept getting flashes, bursts of emotion from him.
The vet stopped what she was doing and took a step back. “You know what, I think it might be better if I give him a little sedative before we continue any further.”
Sam agreed, absently stroking O’Neill’s fur while the doctor went over to a cabinet to get the syringe.
By the time he was sedated and the doctor did a quick check of his wound, it was time for them to take the Colonel out of her sight and into the operating area. He was pretty out of it already, and they were going to put him under anesthesia, but she could still sense the lingering panic from when she’d last touched him. The normally unflappable Air Force Colonel wouldn’t have been ruffled, but the part of him that was the wolf was anxious beyond reason.
“Miss Carter?”
“Sam,” she corrected absently as she was brought out of her pensive stare by the vet’s voice.
“Sam,” Doctor Flynn conceded with a smile. She gestured at the wheeled cart the vet tech had moved Jack to so they could take him out of the room. “While I was examining Jack I noticed that he’s unaltered. Would you like him neutered while we’ve got him under?”
“No!” Sam blurted quickly with alarm, fumbling to hide her reaction when the veterinarian gave her a strange look. She cleared her throat uncomfortably and shook her head. “No, um, no that’s alright. Please, just…just take care of his leg.” Oh God, Sam didn’t even want to THINK what would happen to the Colonel once he was human again if certain…parts of him were removed in his wolf form. She cringed at the thought, and the vet must have seen, because she placed a soothing hand on Sam’s shoulder.
“It’s okay, Sam, we’ll leave him intact if that’s what you want. I just thought I’d offer.” Doctor Flynn smiled reassuringly.
Sam sagged with some relief and sent the vet a wan smile. She rubbed her arms and then waved off to where the Colonel had been taken. “Will it take long?”
“No, it shouldn’t,” Flynn assured her. “You can stay in the waiting room if you’d like. Or if you want to leave and come back that’s fine, too. In fact, it might be best if we keep him here overnight.”
“Overnight? Here?” Sam tensed and the vet was giving her that strange look again. She quickly fabricated an excuse. “It’s just that… Well, Col-Jack gets severe separation anxiety when he’s away from me or home, and I’m just worried that it will effect his recovery if he wakes up from the anesthesia here and…gets too agitated.”
“Hm,” the doctor nodded thoughtfully, stroking her chin. “Well, if you’re overly concerned, then I suppose you can take him home after his surgery as long as you’ll be there to keep an eye on him.”
“Yes, I’ll be there. I’m off work for a few days,” Sam half-lied.
“Okay. I’ll give you the antibiotics and pain reliever now. Just meet me back out at the front desk.”
“Alright, that sound’s good. Thank you so much. I really appreciate it.” Sam breathed out in relief. She was so afraid about the Colonel staying the night locked up in a cage in a strange place, she honestly didn’t know how he would react.
.
Part Three
Summary: Jack gets in touch with his animal side after accidently participating in a ritual off-world.
Timeframe: Mid-season two-ish
Characters/Pairing: Team, Sam/Jack, Janet
Genre: Humor, Drama, Hurt/Comfort, Friendship, UST to RST
Rating: G
Part Two
After Janet advised her to take the Colonel to an emergency vet clinic, and his leg was wrapped with a pressure bandage, Sam got O’Neill in the back of her car, lying across the backseat. She knew there was a vet just a few short blocks from her house, and had found the number in the phone book, calling to let them know to expect her.
When they arrived at the clinic, Sam got out of the car and quickly went to the back, holding the obligatory leash. “Colonel, can you walk or do you want me get someone who can carry you?” she asked, seeing him struggling to rise on the seat.
He gave a snort, and Sam took that to mean he could walk.
Stepping back to give him room, Sam held the door open as he began to climb down. She winced as he hopped down from the car and yelped softly as the movement jarred his injured leg. “I’m sorry about this, sir,” she told him as she clipped the leash to the dog tag chain around his neck. He’d balked at the suggestion of wearing an actual dog collar, and the tags would have to suffice.
Sam walked slowly at his side while he limped to the front doors of the clinic. She stepped in ahead of him, holding the door open before taking him up to the front desk. Their appearance drew many strange looks from other owners and their pets in the waiting area. Sam knew it was due to the Colonel’s sheer size and intimidating presence alone, and not because of his bandaged leg and limp.
She smiled tightly at a man with his Golden Retriever who stared in awe and commented, “Big dog.”
“I assume you’re the one who called about the dog with the gunshot wound?” the receptionist asked, looking compassionately down at the Colonel and his bandaged leg.
“Yes.” Sam nodded quickly.
The receptionist handed her a form on a clipboard. “Doctor Flynn will see you soon. She’s already prepping the operating room for you. You’ll just need to fill out some paperwork since this is your first visit to our clinic.”
“Alright, thank you.” Sam turned, slowly leading the Colonel to a solitary corner of the waiting area. She sat down once O’Neill carefully lowered himself to lie on the floor, and then took a look at the form. She filled out her own information first, and then when it came to filling out the patient’s info, she paused at ‘name.’ Knowing she couldn’t very well write ‘Colonel O’Neill’ on the form, she simply decided on ‘Jack.’ For the age slot, she took the Colonel’s natural age and divided it by seven, coming up with approximately six and a half. She’d remembered that one human year was the equivalent of seven dog years, so she’d played on that a little and went backwards.
Sam found a problem as she looked at the rest of the information she was required to fill out. She checked off all the questions that asked if he were vaccinated against this and that, up to date on shots, negative for worms, etc, but then the form asked her to write down the info for his primary veterinarian. Sam paused momentarily before scribbling down ‘Dr. Janet Fraiser,’ and giving her friend’s cell phone number. She’d let Janet know as soon as she was able just in case they called her to verify the Colonel’s information. Sam wouldn’t want her friend caught off guard.
Letting the Colonel stay put, Sam got up and handed the receptionist the form before sitting back down. It didn’t take long before a vet tech came out of a back room and waved for them to go with her.
O’Neill let out another soft, pained whine as he got back on his feet and limped at Sam’s side.
.
Jack couldn’t believe how much he hurt from that little .22 caliber bullet. What the hell had he been thinking going after those chickens? He hadn’t been thinking, that’s what. He’d loosened the stranglehold on his willpower and let the wolf take over. Jack didn’t plan on doing that again anytime soon; at least if he could help it.
When he and Carter got to the exam area with the vet tech, Jack felt his hackles rise as an uneasy feeling washed over him. He truly understood why dogs hated going to the vet’s office. It must have been some ingrained fear. The smells, the sounds, everything was just grating on his nerves and he wanted to leave.
“Okay,” the vet tech said in a soft, kind voice as another tech walked in. “We’re just going to get him up on the table so the doctor can do an preliminary exam. Will he need to be muzzled?”
Muzzled? For cryin’ out loud, he wasn’t going to bite anybody! Jack thought with a mental frown, glancing up at Carter.
“No, I don’t think so.”
Jack stiffened slightly as the small woman gestured for the much larger male vet tech to help her. The guy stooped to pick him up, carefully reaching beneath his hips with one arm, the other below his chest at the backs of his front legs.
As soon as the guy began to lift him off the ground, a spike of agony went through his left leg and without his own volition, Jack growled and snapped at the guy.
The tech jerked his head away from the business end and nearly dropped Jack before gingerly setting him back down. “Whoa, easy boy. I know you’re hurtin’. I’m sorry.”
A look at Carter showed her smiling apologetically at the tech. “I guess we might need that muzzle after all. Sorry.”
“Don’t worry about it,” the guy assured her, waving a hand dismissively. “Even the most docile dogs can be a little snappy when they’re injured. It’s okay.”
Carter glanced down and mouthed, ‘Sorry,’ when the techs weren’t looking, and Jack turned his head away in shame. He swiftly realized he wouldn’t be able to suppress some of the animal instincts, no matter how hard he tried.
Carter held out her hand when the young woman came back with the muzzle, looking a little tentative. “It’s alright, I can put it on him. He’ll probably be less likely to snap with someone more familiar.” The tech nodded gratefully and Carter crouched down to strap the muzzle on his face.
.
As she was clipping the muzzle strap in place behind the Colonel’s head, Sam instantly felt a wave of fear and pain, and knew it had come from him. She looked down to find his soulful brown eyes intently staring back into her blue ones; he knew she’d felt it. “It’s okay.” She smiled reassuringly, and couldn’t help gently patting him on the head and stroking his soft, pointed ears.
The sense of fear subsided, but Sam could still detect the pain as she continued to caress Colonel O’Neill’s head, enjoying the softness of his thick fur. She could feel him start to calm down, then rose from her crouch as the male vet tech came closer to try and get him on the table again.
Once he was on the table, lying on his right side, Sam stood by his head so he could see her.
When the veterinarian walked in and introduced herself as “Doctor Flynn,” Sam smiled politely and nodded at her. The woman was in her forties, dark brown hair pulled into a loose bun, with faint freckles on her face. She looked kind and trustworthy, Sam thought.
The two techs left, and Doctor Flynn crouched slightly in front of the table where the Colonel lay, reaching out a hand to pat him gently and look him in the eyes. “Hey, boy, we’re going to fix you right up, don’t you worry.” She looked up at Sam, brows furrowed slightly. “How did this happen?” she asked while moving down the table near O’Neill’s injured leg.
Sam grimaced momentarily, composing her thoughts with the half-truth she’d prepared in her head. “I accidently left the back door open and he got out. He was caught going after a neighbor’s chickens and the man thought he was a wolf and shot him.”
“Ooh.” The doctor made a sympathetic face and looked down at the bandage wrapped around the Colonel’s upper hind leg. “Well, I can see how anyone could mistake Jack here for a wolf. He’s quite a large, intimidating looking dog.”
“Husky mix,” Sam blurted hastily with a quick smile. She was inexplicably worried that the seasoned veterinarian could pinpoint Colonel O’Neill’s true heritage.
Flynn nodded. “Okay, well I’m going to just briefly examine the wound before we take him to X-ray to find that bullet. Would you mind holding his shoulders? He might try to get up while I’m doing this.”
Nodding quickly, Sam moved to lean over the Colonel, holding his shoulders and looking into his piercing brown eyes while Doctor Flynn began to undo the bandage.
O’Neill bucked on the table once the bandage was free and the vet had to gently push aside thick fur matted with blood to examine the bullet wound. He was strong and Sam struggled to hold him, frowning sympathetically as she knew he was in pain. She kept getting flashes, bursts of emotion from him.
The vet stopped what she was doing and took a step back. “You know what, I think it might be better if I give him a little sedative before we continue any further.”
Sam agreed, absently stroking O’Neill’s fur while the doctor went over to a cabinet to get the syringe.
By the time he was sedated and the doctor did a quick check of his wound, it was time for them to take the Colonel out of her sight and into the operating area. He was pretty out of it already, and they were going to put him under anesthesia, but she could still sense the lingering panic from when she’d last touched him. The normally unflappable Air Force Colonel wouldn’t have been ruffled, but the part of him that was the wolf was anxious beyond reason.
“Miss Carter?”
“Sam,” she corrected absently as she was brought out of her pensive stare by the vet’s voice.
“Sam,” Doctor Flynn conceded with a smile. She gestured at the wheeled cart the vet tech had moved Jack to so they could take him out of the room. “While I was examining Jack I noticed that he’s unaltered. Would you like him neutered while we’ve got him under?”
“No!” Sam blurted quickly with alarm, fumbling to hide her reaction when the veterinarian gave her a strange look. She cleared her throat uncomfortably and shook her head. “No, um, no that’s alright. Please, just…just take care of his leg.” Oh God, Sam didn’t even want to THINK what would happen to the Colonel once he was human again if certain…parts of him were removed in his wolf form. She cringed at the thought, and the vet must have seen, because she placed a soothing hand on Sam’s shoulder.
“It’s okay, Sam, we’ll leave him intact if that’s what you want. I just thought I’d offer.” Doctor Flynn smiled reassuringly.
Sam sagged with some relief and sent the vet a wan smile. She rubbed her arms and then waved off to where the Colonel had been taken. “Will it take long?”
“No, it shouldn’t,” Flynn assured her. “You can stay in the waiting room if you’d like. Or if you want to leave and come back that’s fine, too. In fact, it might be best if we keep him here overnight.”
“Overnight? Here?” Sam tensed and the vet was giving her that strange look again. She quickly fabricated an excuse. “It’s just that… Well, Col-Jack gets severe separation anxiety when he’s away from me or home, and I’m just worried that it will effect his recovery if he wakes up from the anesthesia here and…gets too agitated.”
“Hm,” the doctor nodded thoughtfully, stroking her chin. “Well, if you’re overly concerned, then I suppose you can take him home after his surgery as long as you’ll be there to keep an eye on him.”
“Yes, I’ll be there. I’m off work for a few days,” Sam half-lied.
“Okay. I’ll give you the antibiotics and pain reliever now. Just meet me back out at the front desk.”
“Alright, that sound’s good. Thank you so much. I really appreciate it.” Sam breathed out in relief. She was so afraid about the Colonel staying the night locked up in a cage in a strange place, she honestly didn’t know how he would react.
.
Part Three