"So, how are we feeling today?" asked Doctor Tora Tachibana, as he entered the patient's room.
"I feel fine," answered Henry Jenkins, Junior; aka Huck. "But when I find the guy who shot me..." growled the angry weredog sitting in bed.
"There, there," cautioned Tachibana, while studying his patient. "You don't want to overtax your system, let alone risk pulling any of your stitches. Besides, the man who shot you has been arrested by the police and is singing like the proverbial canary, from what I hear."
"Good, but I still want to kick his ass," growled Huck.
"Understandable," agreed Tachibana. But you'll want to be in better health before you try to take a bite out of crime, he joked silently. "Now let's check to see how those ribs are healing," added the doctor, before bringing the stethoscope to his patient's furry chest with the large bandage wrapped around it.
"Heart and lungs seem fine," announced Tachibana moments later. "Any pressure or pain when breathing?" he asked, to which Huck replied negatively.
"Good. Now the most crucial test before I can release you. Please take as much time as you need to doing so, but I need you to defur and resume your normal form."
The brown furred Pomeranian just looked at the doctor and shrugged his shoulders in a very human expression. Then, Huck's black muzzle began receding into his face as his ears started drifting back to their normal position. Soon all the fur was just about gone as Huck's tail had disappeared and his paws had resumed their normal appearance as hands and feet.
Huck just looked at Tachibana as the transformation finished.
"How do you feel? Was there any pain while transforming?" asked Tachibana.
"Pain? No, although it did seem to take a little longer than usual," observed Huck. "As for how I feel, resuming this form always seems like saying goodbye to an old, close friend."
"Many weres feel that way, myself included. Our fursonas seem so natural at times we tend to forget our dual nature," replied Tachibana. "Okay. Once you get home, I'll need you to resume your fursona as long as you can to help speed up the healing process before going back out into public again."
"Can I attend my brother's wedding tomorrow morning?" asked Huck.
Doctor Tora Tachibana had to stop and think about that for a moment. He knew the future of Moon Lake keeping the secret of were's existence depended upon a successful wedding between Jennifer Harper and Harold Jenkins.
"As long as it's just as a happy member of the family and you don't try to work security, I foresee no problem doing so," said Tachibana. "Now then, besides taking it easy until your follow up exam Monday, no physical exertion."
"What do you mean?"
"No running or jogging. No work or exercise. No climbing, whether it be a ladder or a staircase, and no sex."
"My construction jobs are already behind from me being laid up here," complained Huck, "but I guess the others can try to get along without me for a while longer. Yet I wasn't planning any sex until the night of my honeymoon, when I initiate my lovely new bride into were society."
"When are you planning to get married?" asked the doctor.
"After Harry's wedding and you give me a clean bill of health. Next weekend at the earliest," answered Huck. "Depending upon what Betty wants, we were probably just going to appear before a Justice of the Peace. You know, keep it simple. We wasted enough time apart and not acknowledging how we truly feel about each other as it is."
"Well, congratulations," said Doctor Tachibana with a smile. "I hope you and Betty are very happy together. When whoever's taking you home arrives, have me paged and I'll sign the discharge papers and formally go over your health care instructions for the weekend until our next appointment Monday. But in the meantime, after I adjust your bandages, you might want to throw the blanket over you until you get a fresh change of clothes," he humbly suggested, noting his patient was now lying naked in the hospital bed.
Huck just simply nodded and grabbed the cover at the foot of the bed with both hands, silently grumbling about the echo of pain from arching and bending his back in the process.
SOON...
Huck smiled as the hospital room door opened and Betty Timid walked in.
"Hi darling!" she said, rushing to Huck's side to give him a kiss. "I brought the emergency change of clothes with me that you keep at the office so you'd have something to wear when I take you home."
"What do you mean?" wondered Huck, as he accepted the paper bag from her.
"You can't spend your recovery time alone at your place. What if something happens? Besides, I won't hear of it. Now, I know we both agreed to wait until our wedding night, but I just wanted to show you something," said Betty, while fishing in her purse for whatever it was she was looking for.
"Betty, I—" Huck began, when Betty found what she was searching for.
"I just wanted to show you how much I love you and am committed to us finally having the Happily Forever After we both long for," she said, before handing Huck the object.
Huck looked at the small bottle in his hand. "Weredog birth control pills," he said, reading the label. "Betty Timid Jenkins."
"Please say that last part again. It sounds so wonderful hearing you say it."
"Betty Jenkins," repeated Huck.
"Oh darling," said Betty, as she hugged him, which caused Huck a little discomfort, but he didn't mind. If only I knew how she felt about me, I would have proposed sooner, but without getting shot first.
Just as they were breaking the hug, Huck's parents walked into the room.
"Mom, dad. What are you doing here?" asked their son.
"Harry and Jenny are still in school right now, but we've come to take you home to recover," explained Henry Jenkins, Senior, as his wife placed a bag of clothes next to her son.
"We stopped by your place and used the emergency key you gave us to pick up a few of your things."
"That was nice of you, but we may have a problem," said Huck, while still holding Betty's hand.
"Oh? What?" asked his father.
"While I'll still need to see Doctor Tachibana again so he can officially discharge me, he's already given me my preliminary care instructions. Among my restrictions is no climbing. Where would I be staying with you?"
"We figured in your old room... upstairs," realized his mother.
"My apartment is an upstairs unit too," said Huck. "Betty?"
"I'm in an upstairs apartment myself," realized Betty. Although where we live together after the wedding remains to be seen.
"So what do we do?" asked Huck.