Doctor Dash

Chapter 37

"Hello. And who is this?"

Dash blinked, not recognizing the voice of the man that answered the phone. "Uh, this is Dash Baxter. I'm a friend of Fenton. And who are you?" His mouth thinned as he leaned against the kitchen counter.

"Vlad Masters. I'm," he gave a short snort of a laugh, and Dash could almost visualize the half a smirk on the man's face, though that was all he saw in his mind of the man's face, "a friend of the family. And I'm afraid Daniel isn't home at the moment. Though if you'd like, you can leave your message with me, and I shall pass it on to him when he returns."

Dash couldn't really explain it, but something in the man's voice, or the way he spoke, rubbed the doctor the wrong way. Irritation crawled over his skin as he listened to Vlad. "No, no message. Fenton happens to be here with me right now. I just wanted to see if anyone was at his house to pick up a few things."

"Oh?" Vlad sounded curious. "And why is that?"

"Well, Fenton and his son are sick, could just be a sore throat, so I'm having them stay here with me. I'm a doctor." Dash added the last part because for some reason he had this feeling that the man on the other end of the phone already considered him an idiot, for no real reason. "They came over late last night and weren't intending to stay, so they don't have a change of clothes or other necessities, like a toothbrush. I just wanted to see if someone was there to grab some clothes and stuff for them and bring them over here. That way I don't have to leave them alone." He sighed and added in a mumble, "Fenton's likely to want to sneak off and avoid taking care of himself."

"I see," Vlad said tightly, and Dash suspected the man's mouth thinned when he heard the mumble. "Daniel does have that tendency to put others' needs before his own. As noble as it is, he'll just wind up burning himself out at that rate. He'd do well to be a little more selfish sometimes."

"No kidding." Dash rolled his eyes and felt a little annoyed that he actually agreed with this stranger. "Well, if you can pick some things up, I'll give you my address and you can drop it off any time."

When the man agreed, Dash told him where his house was, even giving the man directions on how to get there from Fenton's house. After he hung up the phone, he rubbed tiredly at his face. Kwan swung by the house earlier to pick up Xander to take him to school. Once they were gone, Dash headed upstairs and opened the door to the guest bedroom to check on his patients. Fenton and Lex were still passed out in bed with son curled up against his father's side. If not for the pair being sick, it would be a rather cute scene upon which to accidentally intrude.

But Dash's checkup only lasted a few seconds before his gaze landed on the green furred dog laying guard at the foot of the bed. Being from Amity Park, the fact that the dog was a ghost didn't frighten him. What had him backing out of the room quickly was when the dog spotted him and jumped off the bed, suddenly transforming into a monstrous beast that growled furiously at him. Thinking on it, now that he wasn't quaking in fear that the dog would bite his head off, Dash remembered seeing that dog before, back in freshmen year. When it appeared in the cafeteria in that giant form, Dash was, like many others, terrified. That was the ghost dog that appeared before his son? Part of him was a little scared of that now, seeing what the puppy could turn into, but other than growl at him, the dog didn't try to do anything to actually hurt him. Dash frowned in thought. Maybe the dog was simply trying to protect Fenton and his son, like a dog protecting its master. But that only brought up new questions in his mind. How did Fenton meet and bond with a ghost dog enough for it to see him as its master?

Hearing a thump, Dash turned and blinked at the raven haired man that entered the kitchen, holding a hand to his head. With a blink, he bit his lip, trying not to laugh at the man for running into the doorframe. It was kind of funny, but the man was suffering from being sick and laughing at him probably wouldn't yield a very good result.