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“Oh, please, Dr. Callahan. Please don’t call her!” Marty whined. “She’s mean and makes us eat brussel sprouts.”

Dodo nudged Autumn’s hand seeking more doggie doodles. She gave her one. She glanced over at the children. “Guys, we’ll talk about this in a minute. I need to get Dodo inside and take this chain out of her neck.”

Jackson handed her the bag of treats. “Can we do this without a muzzle?”

Autumn nodded. “With a wound in her neck, I’m going to give her the shot in her back. Talk to her. Get her attention on the food.”

Jackson mimicked Autumn, talking to Dodo to focus her attention on the biscuits. Autumn knew she had one shot and a few seconds before the drug took effect. She took a breath and timed it just right. When Dodo filled her mouth with two dog biscuits, she stuck her. Autumn jumped back while the dog snarled, bits of food flying from its mouth. Dodo hunched down, ready to attack.

“Autumn,” Jackson commented, with unease. “Please tell me that drug is going to work.”

Autumn silently counted in her head. Dodo’s demeanor changed, though her shiny canines gleamed in the sunlight. She stumbled to the side like a drunk before falling to the ground.

“Thirty seconds!” Autumn exclaimed going to the dog to check its pulse. Dodo wasn’t completely knocked out, but the growling stopped and her eyes closed.

“You didn’t kill her, did you?” Malcolm asked coming up behind Autumn.

“No. I’m taking her inside. Please tell your dad to come pick her up when he gets home.” Autumn stood and brushed a stray hair from her face. “I’ll go get the portable bed. Stay with her.”

Autumn entered the clinic with one thing on her mind. Although the place was a mess, she was still a doctor and her patient would be treated with utmost standards.

“I just got off the phone with the babysitter. She didn’t even know the kids were missing.” Summer came around the corner of the counter. “She said she couldn’t come get the kids.”

“I’ll send them with Jackson while I work on Dodo.” She grabbed a portable bed from the back room and pushed it toward the door. “I’m probably going to have to stitch her neck. The chain agitated the skin when Dodo tried to get loose. Can you man the front while I’m in surgery?”

Summer nodded. “Of course.”

Autumn pushed the gurney toward the front. After she and Jackson loaded up the dog, she pushed her into the clinic and to the back surgical unit.

“I need you to take the kids to the babysitter.” She scooted Dodo to the surgical table. “And make sure you give them a lecture about running off and getting into trouble.”

Jackson watched her. “I will. You okay with this?”

She started to set up the anesthesia and grabbed the supplies to intubate. “It’s my job. I do it all the time.”

“It’s not just a job to you. You really calmed that dog down when it could have potentially hurt you or those children. That’s pretty brave and admirable.”

“I grew up being brave. Admirable is a matter of opinion.”

Jackson brushed a strand of hair from her face when she turned and bumped into him. “I suppose so. Either way, it was pretty impressive.”

Jackson left her to take care of the kids. Something stirred inside her that she didn’t understand. She glanced out the window at the picture he painted. All four of them, climbed into his truck as if it were the most natural thing in the world for them to do. The callous man of fourteen years ago wouldn’t have come within ten feet of four rowdy children, and here he was strapping them in seatbelts. She even saw a small smile on his face when one of the kids talked to him. No matter how many times she reminded herself nothing would come of them being together, the hope still remained.

Turning back to her patient, she took a deep breath. “Let’s get this over with.”