Taking My Heart (Completed)

7. Checked Out

I watch Samantha as she looks at the screen in front of her, without just being a noticable creep. Tanker moves his body where to tell me where he wants some pettings.

"If you come over here, I can show you how his scans look this morning." Samantha looks over to me.

I stand up and walk over, with Tanker following even though it is just a few steps.

"So if you look here this is the first scan from last night and then this here is this mornings. The area in his leg is much better and the swelling has resided already and there is just a normal bruise. So for that just make sure he doesn't put full weight on it while jumping in and out of the truck for a few days to keep from it breaking easily." Her voice is soft but serious.

"Good news there and easy to handle." I nod.

"Good now for this set. When you look here you can see the blood that was slowing coming out from last night. As you look through the scans we done, you can see it gets smaller and smaller. This mornings scan it is clean." She turns her head up to look at me.

"That is great." I whisper.

Her lips are so close and I just now notice how kissable they seem to be. Just by a glance they look soft and warm. Parts of me come alive that I hadn't felt in awhile. Or well not this hard, if you get what I mean.

I clear my throat and back up before I over step the line with this lady. The last thing I want to do is over step the kindness she has so graciously shown to us.

"The only thing I ask is that Tanker be on soft foods for two days to make sure his stomach doesn't get over stretched. If he has any of these signs call me immediately." Samantha hands me a piece of paper.

She has already wrote down the things to watch for with Tanker as he finishes out recovery.

"I made it last night before I slept, because I knew he wouldn't be able to stay here the entire recovery time. It would make it hard for you and with your work. So if something happens and not close to here I can at least find the next best vet for him to see in the area your in. My vet contacts go out over the states because of the vet conventions hosted every year." She smiles.

"I can't thank you enough." I smile, which still feels very odd to do but I am liking it. It has been years since I truly could give a genuine smile.

She waves her hand.

"Well let's get you guys checked out." She smiles but looks down quickly, grabbing for his paperwork.

We follow her out to the front and stand in front of the counter. Lola steps to the back to make coffee with us not in there talking business and it makes Samantha laugh. I watch her fingers move over the keyboard before she looks up at me, where I hold the card out ready to pay the total.

I know it is going to be a hefty bill from the test and overnight stay but Tanker is worth every penny. He is my baby and best friend.

Samantha calls out the total with a sly smirk. My jaw drops open.

"There is no way it is that low. Not for everything you done and for staying overnight, plus it was an emergency visit." My filter just doesn't even work at the moment.

Samantha laughs and takes the card.

"I am the owner here. So what I charge goes." She sasses.

Another shocker for me. I didn't know she actually owned this clinic.

"That is still to low you should have charged at least another two hundred to that minimum. Because a simple hundred dollars is nothing for everything that you done." I try to get her to charge something more.

I don't want to feel like we cheated her out of money. Especially not when she done the work and made sure Tanker is okay.

"Can't you just say thank you?" Samantha hands me the card back and the reciept to sign with a smirk.

"Thank you, but this still isn't enough." I sigh.

"Sure it is because Tanker is on the right track and healing nicely without much actually help from me other than observation." She shrugs. "Tanker done it all by himself."

I smile softly and hand her the signed reciept, as she hands food over for him.

"Thank you Samantha." I nod and we walk out of the clinic.

I pick Tanker up and place him in the passenger seat. I jog around and get in, starting up the truck before getting in the sleeper. I pull the curtain and at least put on some deodrant, at some point I need to get to a truck stop again, but may just get a room tonight once we get half way through the journey for this new shipment.

I watch the pressure gauges come up. My mind still wonders to the hot vet that I just spent the entire night with in the same building.

Here I thought my hand has been doing the trick for years but apparently not when I just came across the first person to be so different from everyone else I have ever met. My party days have been over for seven years and that is because of the scars I now bare.

Tried once I healed and the reaction I got from the girl was just to much to handle. It went from fixing to get laid to a thousand questions. I had made sure the lights were off but her hands felt the scars. Which got her to questioning everything and I had to leave before it sent into flash backs.

Tanker nudges me and I smile softly over to him and pet his head. My best friend here always knows when to stop me before I let myself fall into the dark pitch to far. I think he has some of the best senses when it comes to feeling me and I am forever grateful he is okay and Jermey didn't hurt him any worse than what happened.

A/N---
Hey Hey Guys!!!

Seems like Shane is currently thinking a lot of Samantha. Little bits of his past keep coming up. Has it helped to clue in?