Chapter Text
26 years.
It took you twenty-six years to get here.
How did you get here?
Ten years of volunteering, fifteen years of saving up, and twenty years of schooling. You asked for this.
You prayed for this.
To be alone.
Cold.
And covered in dog shit.
How did you get here?
It was your first year as a new-hire veterinarian at the Healing Hands Animal Hospital, specializing in exotics, strays, and the abandoned. And while you put your heart into studying animals who needed immediate care, none of your school practicals could have prepared you for the reality of the job.
A reality that included a lot more blood, sweat, and fecal matter than you thought.
You gagged as you changed your scrubs; running the notes for your next appointment in your head.
How the hell did you get here?