Chapter Text
Kate breathed a sigh of relief as the subway pulled up at her stop. She had been to a bar downtown with some friends, and while she loved going out and socialising, she also loved her bed. Kate was definitely an old soul deep down, despite her extroverted personality. She stepped off the train and dodged the crowd as much as possible, her long checked coat billowing out around her as she made it to the top and hit the musky New York air. She was like a woman on a mission as she put all of her power into her strides, the thought of her pyjamas and bed at the forefront of her mind and driving her to walk faster. She pulled her phone from her pocket when she felt it vibrate, smiling down at a message in the group chat telling her one of her friends had gotten home safe. She responded to tell them she was three blocks away from her place before she tucked the phone back, looking up as she heard a car’s tyres screech against the road. That wasn’t uncommon, however her attention was captured when three cars proceeded to do the same thing, clearly avoiding something that was out of her line of sight. Passers-by had fully stopped in their tracks and gathered, but Kate didn’t have time for that. She wanted to get home, and anything and everything happened in New York anyway, so whatever was going on wasn’t worth her time.
She pushed through the crowd, ignoring complaints as she passed by, but as she got to the front she understood why people had frozen still. What she couldn’t understand however, was the fact that nobody had decided to do anything. She watched for a few seconds as a golden retriever scrambled amongst the cars, trying to find a way out and yelping as it nearly collided with another car. Without a second thought Kate ran into the oncoming traffic, using her martial arts training to roll off of a car bonnet before she reached the dog. It had no leash or collar, so getting it out of this was going to be harder. The car horns filled Kate’s ears as she used every ounce of strength she had in her body to pick this dog up. She would later think it was easier to do than it should have been, however the only thought in her mind at that moment was getting out of the road.
She got to the other side, placing the animal down on the floor and taking a few deep breaths to regain composure. People looked at her like she was mad, but what else was she supposed to do? She couldn’t leave the poor dog to fend for itself, and it was obvious nobody else was going to do anything apart from moan about the problem.
“Hey buddy, walking out into traffic is not the way to go.” Kate bent down in front of the dog, taking its head in her hands and gasping at the state of it in the dim light. “Oh, who did this to you?” Kate quickly pulled her bag strap over her head, gently looping it under the dog’s body so it rested on its belly to make a makeshift leash. Luckily, the retriever followed her the three blocks to her apartment, where Kate took a closer look in the lit stairwell of her apartment building. She could feel the tears build up in her eyes as she saw the bones through the matted, dirty fur. She gingerly bent down again, tears spilling over as she took in the bloody, weeping left eye. Kate could see it was a different colour to the right, more milky, and she knew there was a good chance it couldn’t see anything out of it. The dog was shivering too, the cold March nights taking effect, and Kate could only pray that the bitter winter wasn’t also endured.
“It’s OK, we will get you all fixed up” she promised, stroking the top of its head as she grabbed her phone. She Googled twenty-four hour vets, the first result showing as being a ten minute walk away. Kate took another look at the dog, who seemed to still be steady on its feet, and she dialled the number. She will think of the bills later.
“Hello, Beloved Veterinary Clinic, Wanda speaking” the polite voice came through on the phone.
“Uh yeah, hi. Um… I’ve just found a dog that nearly got run over. It-it’s safe now, but its eye it’s…” Kate rambled, the adrenaline of the night wearing off and leaving her shaky.
“It’s OK, just take a deep breath. What’s your name?” Wanda’s voice calmed her almost instantly, and she did as she was told.
“It’s Kate.”
“Hi, Kate. Now, what’s wrong with the eye?”
“It’s bloody, and weeping, and, it just doesn’t look good at all. The poor thing looks like it hasn’t eaten in days, maybe a week, or more. I don’t know how long dogs can go for without food, not sure if it is a week or if that’s exaggerating or-“
“Ma’am, it’s OK, you don’t need to worry about that. How far away are you from the clinic?” Wanda interrupted her, polite but firm, and Kate shook her head to bring herself back to the present.
“Right, sorry. I’m about a ten minute walk.”
“Bring the dog as quickly as you can, we’ll be ready for you.” Kate thanked her and put the phone away, taking her purse now turned leash back into her hand.
“Come on buddy, let’s get you seen to.” She gently pulled at the purse, the retriever following suit as she made her way back out into the city. Kate thanked her lucky stars that the walk there was less eventful, and the dog managed to stay by her side the whole way there. She saw the sign, shining too bright compared to the dark street it sat on, Beloved Veterinary Clinic in red with an image of a paw next to it. Her eyes were brought to the front door when a woman came to unlock it, a soft smile on her face in an attempt to put Kate at ease.
“Kate?” She asked, and Kate saw the name tag which confirmed it was the Wanda she spoke to on the phone. She nodded frantically, walking inside with the dog moments later. The reception desk was directly in front of her, with a waiting room to the right. She tried to calm herself by focusing on Wanda, her auburn hair pulled back into a neat ponytail, soft freckles framing her green eyes. She seemed kind. Not just professionally kind, but genuinely kind and wanting to help.
“The vet is just dealing with a cat that’s coming around from anaesthetic, so she will be here in a moment. Let’s have a little look though, shall we?” Wanda kindly bent down in front of the animal, her eyes filling with sadness at the state. “It breaks my heart seeing animals mistreated so badly. The eye looks infected, severely so. I’ll need Yelena to take a closer look, but she might need to perform surgery” Wanda informed her, and Kate’s heart dropped. First at the thought of this poor animal going through such trauma, and secondly at the cost involved.
Before she could think about that, Kate heard a door swing open, and another woman appeared at the desk as she wiped her hands dry.
“You must be Kate.” The woman held out her hand, and Kate could have sworn the air was stolen from her lungs. The blonde woman that stood before her in scrubs was without a doubt the most beautiful woman Kate had ever met. She was shorter than her, her blonde hair pulled back somehow behind her head, and the Russian lilt to her words turned Kate’s brain to mush.
“Ye-yes, Kate. Kate Bishop, that’s me. Kate Bishop.” She internally cringed at her pathetic introduction, not missing how the woman’s perfectly shaped eyebrow arched in confusion and slight amusement.
“Kate Bishop. I’m Yelena. Did you want to follow me into this room?” She gestured to another room as she made her way over, Kate following with the retriever. Yelena gently shut the door behind them and took Kate’s bag in her hand after she said it was OK.
“I like the improvised leash here” she chuckled softly as she unwrapped it from the dog’s waist, handing it back over. “Right, let’s take a look at him.”
“Him? You know it’s a him? How do you know?” Kate was definitely going to slap herself when she got home. She needed to pull herself together, however her tired and still slightly intoxicated brain was not prepared to meet an incredibly attractive woman at nearly one in the morning.
“Have you not seen the balls hanging between his legs? Definitely a him.”
“I didn’t want to invade his privacy.” Yelena scoffed at that, before another chuckle left her plump lips. Stop it, Kate.
“That’s cute, Kate Bishop.” Yelena guided the dog to the weighing scale, noting down the result before guiding him off. “It’s pretty obvious to see, but he’s incredibly underweight. He hasn’t been looked after in a while, probably hasn’t had a nutritious meal in a couple of weeks either.” Yelena moved to grab some pieces of equipment, and Kate moved closer to the dog to stroke him. She hated how much bone she could feel, and prayed with everything she had that he would make a recovery.
“Keep doing that, I’m going to check his eyes and ears.” Kate moved her strokes to his back, watching intently as Yelena looked into his ears first before his eyes. Kate noticed how Yelena’s hair was intricately braided into two sections, before they wrapped over each other at the nape of her neck. It was mesmerising, and she found her eyes following the pattern of her hair while she continued her examination. Yelena stood up a few minutes later, a solemn look on her face.
“He’s going to need treatment. Lots of it. He has maggots in his ears that I need to get rid of as soon as possible, he’s malnourished, and that eye… I will need to operate and go from there. Worst case scenario, he will lose it.” Yelena informed her, and Kate flinched at the harshness of her words. Not at her tone, Yelena made the facts sound as soft as possible, however she also didn’t sugar-coat the situation either.
“That sounds… expensive” Kate commented, a loss for words. She was suddenly feeling overwhelmed, so much had happened in such a short space of time and she wanted to sleep it all away. Yelena sighed, and nodded even though Kate knew the answer.
“It will be. What do you plan to do with him, if he pulls through?” Yelena asked, and although Kate hadn’t thought that far ahead, she felt something shatter inside of her at the word “if”.
“If?” She repeated the word.
“Kate Bishop,” Kate ignored the fact she didn’t drop her last name, now not being the time to argue. “He’s lucky you found him now, however he’s a very sick dog. I need to see the severity of his injuries, of his mistreatment. It’s a very cliché yet accurate saying: ‘the next twenty-four hours are critical’. So I kindly ask again, what do you plan on doing with him? Are you going to keep him? As much as it pains me to suggest it, a lot of people decide at this point to put the animal down.” Kate shuddered at the suggestion. It made sense of course, a one-off payment and the animal is at rest. Her head was telling her this was the better option, that there was no guarantee he would make it through surgery which would cost more money and cause more pain. But her heart, her overgenerous heart, overruled as always.
“I don’t know if I can keep him, but I know I can’t do that. I have to try. I just… I don’t have that kind of mon-“
“We will worry about the cost later. We can come to an agreement, but right now I’d like for you to go home knowing you’ve done everything you can for him.”
“Let me at least cover the consultation? Please?” Kate begged, not wanting to leave without contributing to something. Yelena sighed, and eventually agreed.
“I’ll leave my number at the desk, please can you call me if anything happens?” Kate bent down at that point, gently pressing her nose to the dog’s.
“Bye buddy, you get better for me, OK? Please get better.” She forced the tears to stay at bay as she stroked him one last time, walking back out to the front desk where Wanda was waiting. She charged her fifty dollars, and although Kate was aware that an out of hours consultation should be much more, she was completely out of energy to fight it. She walked back to her apartment, throwing her purse on the table before removing her phone from her coat pocket, discarding that in the same fashion.
Her apartment was a fairly spacious loft conversion above her favourite pizza place, and usually she loved that her bedroom was on another level. Not tonight though. She sent a message to her friends, telling them she was home and she’d explain more in the morning, before dragging herself up the staircase and collapsing onto her bed. She fell asleep before she could change, dreaming of a healthy golden retriever and a blonde haired Russian goddess.