Lost and Found [Ivan, Peony, and Will]

[Ivan Tigorov]

Ivan knew only one place to go. He had met many doctors in his years of police service but had not found one he really trusted. Not for a long time anyways. But recently he had found himself in a bigger trouble and had seen an emergency doctor for the injury, one who has not only helped but been a whole lot easier to deal with… and Ivan wanted somebody who would make this as easy as they could for Peony. The poor little one needed an easy go of it, not more trouble and questions.

The tiger moved into the Tundratown hospital quietly, holding the sleepy little Peony in his arms and trying to keep her asleep. That would make things so much easier on the whole room. The tiger stepped lightly up to the counter, glancing around a bit before he met the eyes of the mammal at the desk. His nose twitched a bit and the feline debated how he might make his peculiar request. He placed a large paw down when he finally just decided to speak, not liking being stared at. For some reason an officer coming into the hospital carrying a small sleeping child was an odd thing to see.

"Hey, is Doctor Tagg working today? He treated me for a shoulder injury a few weeks ago… I need to see him again." The big cat spoke with a feeling of urgency to his voice and a flick of his ears. The intent was that being an officer and the fact that he had seen Will before might persuade the bored receptionist that what he was asking was reasonable. After all, he did have good intentions. He'd just owe the doctor big time since he knew it was normally a different area for checking up on children. "It's kind of an important follow up, so if you could contact him that would be amazing." Ivan added with the most pleasant little grin he could manage. Though he glanced down at a bit of shifting from Peony, leaning close to her with a gentle purr to settle her back down.

"He's in today... I'll let him know, if he's available sir. Please wait." She motioned to the rest of the waiting room as she did before getting up to go check on Will. The police were always so demanding... Ivan took that and moved to sit down in a chair while she went to find Will, rubbing Peony's back softly and just hoping he could keep her comfortable enough. He'd already been so close to crying with her earlier…

"Will, there's some tiger cop here who wants you for a follow up. He's in the waiting room." Another mammal peeked into the room he was in currently, but didn't stick around for the response either.

[Will Tagg]

Will Tagg loved his job. He loved having the chance to use his smarts for something that would help others, especially in a way that specifically forbade him from doing harm of any sort. He'd taken an oath as such, and while he respected the police officers (like his family) who had to do some harm here and there in order to support the common good, he felt he was better off without having to make that sort of judgment call. What he did was entirely benign.

That said, paperwork was a terrible invention, and the reindeer was quite tired of it. Some of it, thankfully, would be over and done with once he was out of his residency and fully licensed to practice independently; for now, though, he had endless reports to file alongside those he would have to spend the rest of his career filling out. It was just the price of choosing this profession. Well, that and the med school tuition, he thought ruefully as he signed another paper. Will may very well have keeled over and died from boredom had a nurse not come in and interrupted his work.

"Will, there's some tiger cop here who wants you for a follow up. He's in the waiting room."

Will quirked a brow. "Tiger cop? You mean Officer Tigo--" he glanced up to find that the nurse had already left. "...rov...?" he mumbled awkwardly. Well, that was rather rude, he thought to himself as he set his papers aside and stood up. Granted, he knew the nurses were every bit as busy as the doctors in the hospital, but was it so difficult to wait five seconds to confirm what he was asking? At times, he wondered if mammals in Hoofentry had been this rude, and he just hadn't noticed. They were, at least, better at hiding it.

It didn't take the doctor long to find Officer Tigorov when he walked into the waiting room; the tiger was large and orange, after all. His initial smile (the one his sister had labelled the "mister professional doctor smile") morphed into visible confusion when he noticed what the police officer held in his arms. "O-officer Tigorov?" he greeted him hesitantly. "Is something the matter?"

[Peony Rìluò]

Peony shifted in Ivan's protective arms, her ears still laid back and cheeks still somewhat damp from a small set of tears. She was still deep in the depths of dreams. She wasn't entirely sure where she was now. There was a darkness as the voices of other animals began to fall into her hearing.

After Ivan had stopped moving, Peony could feel the pain from her arm begin to start up again. She softly lifted her head not too far from the officer's shoulder, letting out a tiny whimper as she laid her head back down on the opposite side, looking around. Her tail twitched as she looked around. She slowly began to tremble again as the pain became a tiny bit overbearing. She'd done pretty well with dealing with the pain so far, but the more she waited, the more little Peony lost her grip at holding the pain back.

Dang. It hurt. And it hurt waaaaay more than she'd remembered it hurting when Ivan found her. Or when she was alone. Why did it hurt now? Was it because she was dying? Peony could feel her heart skip a beat as the word icily landed in her mind. She closed her eyes tightly, quickly doing her best to push it far out of her mind.

Peony felt like screaming. She had no idea where they were and it was making her frustrated. Her nose wasn't picking up on anything familiar at all, and she could only hear the roaring return in her ears as she tried to curl tighter onto Ivan's shoulder.

"O-officer Tigorov?" A familiar voice called out. Peony's ear twitched as the name of the kind doctor came to her mind. She felt herself cringe as she thought of the other mammals that had to be around. Of course, it was almost 11 P.M., so no one was there, but little nose-blind (for the moment) Peony had no way of knowing that. They must think I'm a big baby... She thought as tears began to well up at the edges of her eyes again.

The constant nagging pain from the arm suddenly increased by a tiny bit as she shifted to wipe the tears away before anyone could hopefully notice. She wasn't a baby. 

[Ivan Tigorov]

Ivan looked up intently as just the scent of the reindeer got to him. In this disgusting hospital it was a welcome individual to come into the room. The tiger certainly was large and orange, and his uniform was a clear indication of his job and the fact that he was the tiger that Doctor Tagg was looking for. He met the gaze of the doctor. He knew the professional smile, he was a master himself, and he wasn't feeling up for dealing with fake smiles and business. Not that he wanted the doctor to be nervous around him. He sat up straight and very business like while still holding Peony close to him. He didn't want to wake her or move her too much...

"Well, I could use the help of a doctor." Ivan spoke quickly but for the moment quite level. He wasn't yet upset enough to sound more than concerned for the pup. He after all was trying to avoid making a scene or waking her. He didn't really want to announce that they had found the missing pup. There was the potential that the killer was after her too. She was the only witness and had escaped... Tigorov wasn't taking chances with it. "This child is hurt... and I need her looked at and taken care of." He spoke lower, but looked down as she shifted and moved in his arms more. He had become used to her moving in her sleep but not so much. He looked down to her carefully and rubbed his paw over her back.

He looked down to her with concern, ears moved back. "She's been through a lot and I know she's gotta be hurting... and I really haven't met any other doctors I trust..." He tried to explain as if he needed to explain himself better. The tiger moved to stand up from his seat, supporting Peony so that she didn't have to work too hard to hold herself up. He looked her over once more though.

"Peony, are you awake now?" He asked quietly, not wanting to actually wake her but if she was awake it would be good to be aware of. Given the fact that he noticed building tears, the answer was yes. "We are gonna get that arm fixed, okay?" He assured her softly.

[Will Tagg]

Given that she was nestled against Ivan's shoulder, it wasn't yet apparent to Will just who the child was. He didn't need to recognize her, though, to feel pity for her; she didn't appear to be sleeping peacefully. In fact, for a sleeping child, Peony appeared rather tense, a clear indicator that she had been through some form of recent trauma. Just how bad that trauma was, however, he had yet to find out.

"Well, I could use the help of a doctor."

Will nodded, glancing expectantly at Ivan as he waited for the explanation he was fairly certain was coming next. The tiger didn't appear to be concerned about his shoulder any more, so that had evidently healed up nicely. Unfortunately, that likely meant that he wasn't the one in need of direct medical assistance.

"This child is hurt... and I need her looked at and taken care of."

There it was; Will had managed to infer that much correctly.

"She's been through a lot and I know she's gotta be hurting... and I really haven't met any other doctors I trust..."

Will bit his lip. He was no pediatrician, and a part of him felt deeply uncomfortable being asked to step in and help outside his specialty; there was a reason doctors typically stuck to their specific fields. Really, he could get in quite a bit of trouble for administering to a patient without the proper expertise or authority--that was, at the very least, a malpractice suit just waiting to happen. Unfortunately for Will, the idea of turning away this intimidating police officer and the poor little child who needed his help was gut-wrenching. How on earth was he supposed to even phrase this without making himself sound like a spineless coward or a bad guy?

"Peony, are you awake now?"

The name made Will gasp. "Peony?" he blurted (though still softly). "You might have mentioned it was her! Come with me, I'll see to her right away." Turning to lead the two to a private exam room, he glanced back sorrowfully at the wolf pup. "Poor thing--what's happened?"

[Peony Rìluò]

Peony tried her best to keep her face away from Will, even though he'd realized that the pup in Ivan's arms was her, she didn't want to see his face. She curled her tail as she nodded, responding to the tiger cop's question. Her ears were still tightly placed against her skull as she whimpered softly.

Her arm continued to ring out in pain as Will gasped. He'd said her name. Was his voice full of disbelief or concern? She couldn't tell. Her tail dropped as they continued to move down the hall. She closed her eyes tightly in an effort to stop herself from crying more.

What would he do to her? What was he thinking? She couldn't even imagine the way his face was looking at her. She didn't want him to see her like this. She didn't want to be in this situation at all.

Still being carried in the protective arms of her tiger friend, Peony opened an eye as she noticed that they'd stopped moving. She looked around with tears still shimmering in her eyes. It was a white room, with a bed and a screen on the wall, a computer on the desk under it. There was also a sink to the left. Not much color to the room and there were no posters on the wall. It was nothing like the doctor rooms she'd been to in the past.

Wait - she took that back.

The faint memories of her mother slowly entered her mind. This room... She and her father were in a room just like this when a doctor came in and pronounced her mom dead. She looked around, clasping Ivan's neck tighter as she began to breathe faster. Was she actually going to die? Was that what this room was for?

Great. All that new movement had made her arm start to hurt even worse. She sniffled as she rubbed her tears away, whimpering a tiny bit louder.

[Ivan Tigorov]

Ivan would have understood his concerns, but simply would have tried to ease such a fear. Nobody was going to be filing charges against the hospital if he treated Peony. Ivan trusted him to take care of her and he definitely was not going to turn around and come after him. Or spill to his bosses that he had done it. He would be thankful for the help, and the fact that he didn't have to just go to some stranger. Peony trusted him enough to be holding onto him like she was. To be that close in all the pain she was feeling. He wasn't going to let her down by picking some doctor by chance and being wrong.

"I could have said it was her but..." Ivan started, but then looked to Will with confusion and stopped rubbing her back for a moment. "Wait, you know her?" He asked with a confused tilt of his head at Will. He got up willingly, but he wasn't sure exactly how the doctor might know the child. "I didn't know Peony got around that much..." He whispered and looked to the little girl, giving her a small purr to try and comfort her more as he saw the start of the tears and moved after Will.

The tiger officer didn't know exactly what to say to him. Did he tell him the whole story? Tell him some part? Or just that it was an open case and he couldn't share... that was an option. But he'd already lied to Will the last time he saw him. Well, at least left out the important parts. If he already knew Peony and was worried about her then Ivan was going to have to spill. The officer just waited until the door to the exam room was closed before he even thought to start.

"It's a long story and I don't know how much you know of her but... It's bad..." Ivan took a deep breath and leaned against the table, his tail twitching with some nerves at the idea of deciding how to explain her murdered father. "She's had a pretty bad few days... I don't know how she hurt her arm but... she's the only witness to her father's..." He took a breath and swallowed a bit, closing his eyes for a moment to try and think of how to word it so that Peony didn't freak out worse. He set a paw on her head and rubbed her ears back to comfort her. He hoped that Will got the look in his eyes rather than needing to finish the sentence entirely.

He looked down to Peony with a frown as she breathed harder. "It think it's just her arm physically.... but... she's got to be hurting. But I can't just go to a random doctor. She needs someone to trust, and I trust you after you helped me." He commented and glanced at his shoulder which had healed up very nicely. "And I am sorry for putting you on the line... But the least amount of exposure I can get her the better. We haven't caught the killer yet." He whispered with a look of worry that told just how serious he at least felt it was. Ivan himself was near tears at the thought of the parent-less pup. He had seen her multiple times though. He didn't know how much Will had known.

"I owe you for this... you don't know how much it means." The tiger looked to the pup in his arms with a sad little look.

[Will Tagg]

"Wait, you know her? I didn't know Peony got around that much..."

Will shut the door behind them once they were all safely in the exam room. He wasn't sure what was going on, but given Officer Tigorov's grave expression and the general air of secrecy about the situation, it seemed like something was seriously wrong. "She didn't on purpose," he replied as he went to grab a fresh pair of gloves. "She took the wrong train by mistake and I found her lost in Tundratown...helped her get back home to her father."

"It's a long story and I don't know how much you know of her but... It's bad..."

That much was already clear, but the fact that Tigorov saw the need to state it outright concerned Will even more. He gave the tiger a nervous, questioning glance as he pulled on his latex gloves. He only hoped that things weren't as bad as he was already imagining. Whatever could shake up a pup as earnest and bubbly as Peony had to be terrible.

"She's had a pretty bad few days... I don't know how she hurt her arm but... she's the only witness to her father's..."

For a moment, the incomplete sentence's meaning didn't register with the reindeer. He furrowed his brow as Ivan screwed his eyes shut and busied himself with patting Peony's head. It was obvious that he really didn't want to say the last word, but what could--oh. Oh, no. No. Will stifled a gasp as best he could, a hoof going to his mouth in horror. "Oh, my God..." he whispered, giving Peony a look of pained sympathy. Somehow, things were even worse than he'd imagined.

"It think it's just her arm physically.... but... she's got to be hurting. But I can't just go to a random doctor. She needs someone to trust, and I trust you after you helped me."

Will nodded dumbly, still too shocked to respond verbally. The entire scenario was just too awful for him to process all at once; he could handle seeing gruesome injuries and ghastly illnesses, he could put up with incredible stress and still function. But the thought of someone committing a murder in front of Peony was sickening. Will wasn't sure if he felt more like crying for her or being sick. Were the wolf pup not injured and already cradled in Tigorov's arms, he'd have been hugging her by now.

"And I am sorry for putting you on the line... But the least amount of exposure I can get her the better. We haven't caught the killer yet. I owe you for this... you don't know how much it means."

"You--you don't owe me thing," the reindeer finally managed to say. He suddenly felt incredibly stupid for worrying about getting in trouble; his problems paled greatly in comparison to Peony's. Taking a deep breath to get his emotions under control, Will nodded at the exam table and did his best to maintain his composure. "I'll need you to set her down," he said softly, glancing at Peony. "Peony, sweetheart, is it alright if I take a look at your arm?"

[Peony Rìluò]

Peony was laying still as Ivan and Will conversed more. She wasn't exactly listening, seeing as she was currently believing that she was indeed about to die. Her arm continued to ring out in pain as she numbly laid her head on Ivan's shoulder.

So this was it, huh? Peony could feel herself begin to shake again. She didn't want to die. Not even after she had no family to return to-

Peony felt herself stiffen at the realization. She had no family to go home to now. No one to welcome her home, no one to hold her or make Oolong tea with. Not even someone to snuggle with after a long day's end. What if she didn't die, but ended up living alone? Peony felt a tear roll down her cheek.

Having spent so much time dwelling on the thoughts swimming around her mind, Peony hadn't realized that Ivan had rubbed her head and that Will had spoken to her directly.

"Peony, sweetheart, is it alright if I take a look at your arm?" He'd said softly to her, his familiar voice ringing throughout her ears. What did he think? Was he going to cut her arm off instead of telling her that she was to die? Not knowing what to say, the usually talkative pup painfully nodded, her eyes tight as she tried to hold back both tears of pain and fear.

As Peony was sat onto the table, the pain in her left arm increased as it began to pulse. Well, all hope of not crying was lost now. She let out a small wail, and that was only the beginning. She began to cry more as she wiped her tears away from her eyes, her mouth widening as she began to cry out louder, speech slowly making it's way into the cries.

"I'm sorry!" She'd repeat in between hiccups and cries. An occasional, "It hurts!" popping in at times.