by pebble/scifipony
Fandom: Teen Wolf
Characters: Scott McCall, Liam Dunbar
Words: 950
Tags: Post-Series, Pre-Movie, Vet!Scott
Warnings: Injured animal (she's gonna be okay though)
Author's Notes:
- Originally posted to AO3 and SqWA on February 2nd, 2024. Written for the Scottuary Bingo event on tumblr for the prompts "Doctor McCall" and "Animalia".
- Please forgive any medical inaccuracies, I'm not trained in any sort of medical profession. On a side note, while doing research for this fic, I found out it generally takes eight years to become a licensed vet (four years college + four years vet school) and I had no idea it took that long. So I guess this fic is set about halfway between the series finale and the movie.
The door to the Beacon Hills Veterinary Clinic flew open and Scott glanced up in alarm from the medical chart he’d been filling out. He’d already caught the scent of his beta before Liam had a chance to appear through the doorway. The anxiety and panic carried in with him were enough to have Scott’s claws coming out before he had a chance to rein them back in.
Liam barreled into the office with a blanket-wrapped bundle in his arms. “I didn’t see her get out,” he said in a rush, heartbeat wildly fast in a way that set Scott’s protective instincts on high alert. “She must have slipped past me when I came inside—”
“Okay,” Scott said, gently guiding the young man towards the examination room, “let’s just get her back on the table.”
As Liam set the bundle on the table, Scott got his first good look at the situation. The dog was a scruffy little mutt that had shown up on Liam’s doorstep several months ago and never left. Members of the pack had applied a wide variety of nicknames to her before Theo’s somewhat poor taste suggestion of La Bête had stuck.
The dog looked banged up, but not too severely. The immediate concern was her breathing. Her sides were heaving like she couldn’t get enough air, and her abdomen was inflating more than her chest with each inhale. Scott already had a pretty good idea what he was going to find in his examination.
“Okay, Liam, I need you to hold her still for me a second,” he said.
A worried frown settled over his face as he quickly confirmed his suspicion. Pneumothorax. And, from the sound of her breathing, Bête needed the pressure taken off her lungs as quickly as possible.
Grabbing the ultrasound and a few tools, Scott hurried back over to the examination table.
Liam was watching with sadder eyes than the injured pup on the table. “Is- is she gonna be okay?”
Scott could smell the anxiety in his beta so strongly it was almost overwhelming. It set his own nerves on edge, which wasn’t going to help him deal with the problem. He needed to focus, which meant he needed to calm Liam down first. In the more than a decade now that they’d known each other, Scott had learned that the best way to keep Liam from panicking was to give him a purpose — to let him feel useful.
“She has pressure built up on her lungs,” Scott explained as he administered a sedative to the dog. “I need to get the excess air out of her chest cavity to help her breathe easier. This—” he gestured to the drug he was currently setting aside “—will help with the pain, but it will take a minute to start working. Liam, I need you to keep her calm by taking her pain. Can you do that for me?”
“Yeah. Yeah, I can do that.”
Scott gave him a nod of encouragement and Liam closed his eyes to refocus. When he opened them again, he set his hands on the dog gently, giving Bête a few pats of reassurance. The black streaks ran visibly through his veins, signifying the pain and discomfort he was accepting on her behalf.
The swirl of panic and stress that had been stifling the air before now eased down to a manageable level. The tension in Scott’s own body relaxed in response. He offered his beta a quick nod of approval.
With that taken care of, Scott now had to work on settling his own nerves. He took some calm, measured breaths while getting the sterile needle and ultrasound wand ready.
He’d performed plenty of chest taps while in veterinary school, but this would be his first time doing it solo since completing his license. Part of him would definitely feel better if Deaton were here to supervise — he’d never forgive himself if something happened to Liam’s dog because he wasn’t good enough — but there was no time to wait.
Deep down, he knew it wouldn’t make any real difference anyway. He knew himself well enough to understand that these doubts were only the result of his own anxiety. Practically speaking, there was no reason he couldn’t do this alone. Supervised or not, he’d performed this same procedure countless times before. He had the technical skills he needed. It was time to put them to good use.
“Alright,” he said, keeping careful control over his tone so he didn’t make Liam nervous again, “I’m going to start. Hold her steady for me.”
It was almost anticlimactic how smoothly it went. Using the ultrasound to guide him, he inserted the needle where it needed to be and set to work extracting the excess air. Bête’s breathing began to settle down into a normal rhythm.
Once he finished, the relief from everyone rested heavy in the little exam room. It tasted much better than the sour tang of their earlier fear.
“Is it done?” Liam asked, ruffling Bête’s fur softly. “Is she gonna be okay?”
“We’ll need some x-rays to check for internal damage,” Scott told him. “Her breathing is much better, and I don’t feel any signs of broken ribs. The pneumothorax was probably a result of the impact. We won’t know for sure until the scans are done, but I don’t think you have to be too worried.”
Liam smiled, the tension finally leaving his frame as he leaned against the table in relief.
“Thank you,” he said sincerely.
Scott returned his smile. After helping save the entire town a few dozen times, this shouldn’t feel like such a big deal. It still did.
“You’re welcome.”
This fic is also archived on AO3 [Link] and SquidgeWorld [Link] - If it is found anywhere else, it is posted without my permission.
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