Chapter 4: Making preparations

Ethan did not know anything about taking care of another human, let alone a young man who was sick. He did however know how to care for sick pets, how much different could it really be? The last time he had had to deal with a sick human, other than himself, however, had been nearly five years ago, when his boyfriend of three years had been hospitalized after a car accident. Ethan had been driving Greg home after a holiday party when a drunk driver had hit them. Their car had rolled, landing upside down in a ditch full of ice-cold water, and Greg had come out of it worse than Ethan had, with a broken leg, internal bleeding, cuts from the broken windows and pieces of the car stuck in his side and abdomen.

Ethan had stayed by his boyfriend’s side for months, first in the hospital, all through his rehab, and then when he had been discharged. Ethan had stayed with him through it all, until Greg had told him he never wanted to see him again. It was the day Greg had gone to have a checkup; they had planned a nice dinner together for afterwards, expecting to hear that Greg was finally healed, finally done with the treatments he had had to have after the accident. It was not to be though; Greg had gotten home after the appointment upset; he had thrown things, broken glasses, plates, and cups. He had even thrown the ham Ethan was fixing in the garbage and started yelling. The doctor had told him something had been missed when they had fixed his injuries; shrapnel had been left in his abdomen, he’d been lucky so far that nothing had happened to him, but it would have to be removed. The surgery would be dangerous, the shrapnel from the accident was dangerously close to his internal organs, and there was a good chance that it might not go well. Whether it was that he blamed Ethan, or that he did not want him to be there if the surgery was a failure, Greg had sent him away. It was the last time they had seen each other; Ethan had moved out, had transferred and finished his vet school elsewhere. He had heard from friends that Greg had pulled through after the surgery and had started dating his rehab nurse, but Ethan had never truly moved on, never let someone in again, not wanting to let anyone make him feel vulnerable like that again, like he had when Greg had told him to leave.

That had been years ago though, Ethan had made new friends, but he would never let anyone closer than that, never had a roommate or a lover since. Now here he was, pre paring to take in a sick young man who had nowhere else to go, no one to turn to. He could feel a bit of warmth spreading through him again, like on some level the boy was melting away a wall he had put up to defend his heart. Dinya was cute, he tried to be strong and not show any weakness, but that only made him cuter, and it made Ethan want to protect him all the more.

In the few days since he had found Dinya Ethan had spent all the time he could spare either at home preparing for his guest or at the hospital, not that it had helped him learn anything specific about the boy he had picked up. Dinya was quiet; he talked softly and avoided it completely as much as he could, even after his throat had healed enough that he could speak without coughing. It did not matter how strong the boy tried to make himself seem, Ethan could see past it, he could see how nervous Dinya was, how he seemed to distrust the hospital employees, and how he clung to his stuffed toy any time a doctor or any of the nurses other than Rose entered the room. It was as if he was afraid they would do something to hurt him, or that they would throw him out in the cold again. Rose had told Ethan that the doctor wanted to discharge the boy by the end of the week, not that he was ready to go yet, he still had to have bed rest for a couple more weeks, and plenty of liquids and easy to digest foods. That would not be too difficult to manage, but Ethan was starting to get a bit nervous about having him around. Not that he thought the boy would be any trouble, no; it was because he really did not know what he was doing when it came to humans, and after living alone for the past five years it would take ab it to get used to it again.

It was Wednesday when he got the call from Rose to go and pick Dinya up; only four days had passed since Ethan had found Dinya, he had the afternoon off as usual, so he had decided to take the opportunity to work on getting things ready for the boy. He had already gone out and bought bedding for the couch, which he planned to sleep on himself for the time being, at least until the boy was healthy and they could think about what he should do next. Not knowing what size clothes the boy needed Ethan had just gotten him some one size fits all pajamas, a pair of slippers, and a couple large, soft sweaters for the time being. They would have to go shopping at some point to get him more clothing, but that could wait until he was well enough to be walking around outside again, even once he was discharged he would need plenty of rest and good food before he was ready to do much of anything on his own.

Ethan had just returned home with groceries for the next few days when he heard the office phone ringing in the clinic. Since his office was closed on Wednesday afternoons, except for emergency patients or overnight stays, it was unusual for anyone to call. Hurrying down the stairs to the clinic Ethan clears his throat and answers the phone.

“Paws and Pads Veterinary clinic, Doctor Ethan Reid speaking, how can I help you today?” pulling the phone away from his ear Ethan winced, Rose’s voice, loud as though she were yelling, echoing from the phone. “Rose…Rose slow down and take deep breath, then tell me what’s wrong.”

“Ethan, it’s the boy, Dinya. The doctors want him out of here now. He is not ready to go yet, but one of the other nurses got cut on something in his room and now they are saying he is bad luck. You have to come do something Ethan, before they throw him out.”

“Alright, alright Rose, I’ll be there shortly. Just take a deep breath and calm down; you don’t want to upset him any more than he already is.” Hanging up the phone Ethan rushed back upstairs to grab his wallet, keys, and one of the sweaters for Dinya, grabbing his half-dead cell phone off the charger on his way out the door. It was a good thing the clinic had an auto lock setting in place for when the clinic was closed, because making sure the door was locked was the last thing on Ethan’s mind as he rushed out the door and got into his beat-up old car.

Traffic was surprisingly light for a weekday, and it was not long before Ethan was parking his car in the hospital parking lot. As a last thought, he grabbed a blanket from the back seat before slamming the car door and heading inside. By the time he had made it up to the third floor where Dinya’s room was he was worked into a fit. The nurses who weren’t already in the room were hot on his heels nearly immediately once he stepped off the elevator, their raised voices ringing in his ears as he stormed down the hallway to Dinya’s room.

“What is the meaning of this? This boy has done nothing wrong, why do you insist that he should leave?” Rose was sitting on the bed next to Dinya, blocking him from view as the other nurses tried to get to him.

“He’s a menace, bad luck, nothing but a stray; who knows what sort of diseases he was carrying when he got here that didn’t even register in the tests. He’s not even human Rose, it’s your duty to help keep the other patients, and the staff, safe. Now get him out of here before something worse happens!” The nurse who had been injured on the bed stepped forward, her voice shrill as she reprimanded Rose for sticking up for Dinya.

“We can’t just turn him out though. He’s not even off the liquid diet yet, and he still needs the antibiotics; he won’t survive if he’s turned out onto the streets. At least let him stay until….” Looking up Rose spotted Ethan pushing through the group that crowded the room to stand beside her. “Ethan, thank goodness you’re here. They want to throw him out Ethan, he’s not ready to leave yet….”

“Relax Rose, just calm down and I’ll take care of everything.” Turning Ethan glared at the nurses, tossing the blanket and sweater onto the bed and pushed his way back out, the nurses following him as he made his way to the doctor’s office, slamming the door behind him. It wasn’t long before the sound of arguing could be heard through the door, when it opened again sometime later he left the office in silence, a folder of paperwork in his hand as he made his way back to Dinya’s room. When he walked in, he smiled gently at Rose and Dinya, both of whom sat on the bed together, the boy clutching his toy, his knees pulled up to his chest.

“It’s alright, everything’s going to be fine now, I’m taking Dinya back to my place with me rose. Can you please go get a wheel chair for him while I get him dressed and ready to go.” Walking over to the bed Ethan sat down, reaching out to gently rub one of Dinya’s ears, something he’d learned helped the boy relax. “Dinya, You’re going to stay with me for a while, do you understand? You’ll be safe, I promise you, you won’t have to go back to living on the streets.” Ethan sat with him for a moment as Rose left to get the wheel chair. Seeing the boy relax Ethan got up and moved around the room getting a set of scrubs for him to wear, Rose would have to remove the I.V. for them of course, since, as he wasn’t an employee of the hospital, he wasn’t allowed to. That didn’t mean he couldn’t otherwise get Dinya ready to leave though. By the time Rose walked in with the wheelchair, he’d helped Dinya get the scrub pants on, as well as a pair of warm socks and some slippers. It took only moments to remove the I.V. and get the scrub shirt and the sweater on the boy, and as soon as he was ready Ethan picked him up off the bed and set him in the chair, covering his lap with the blanket.

“Rose, would you do me a favor please? Get these filled and bring them over after your shift for me, they’re the medicines he needs daily, we’ll need them starting tomorrow.” Ethan pulled out some papers and held them out to Rose, who nodded and put them in her pocket. “Of course Ethan I’ll bring them over as soon as I get off. Do you have everything else you’ll need?”

“I should yes. I’ll need to pick up some more juice and soup since I didn’t get much when I was at the store today. I wasn’t exactly expecting him to be discharged quite yet.” Ethan moved around behind the chair and started pushing it out to the elevator, Rose following along a step behind him. “It the nurses Ethan, they don’t see him the way they see other patients….all the see when they look at him are his ears and tail.” Her voice was low, tinged with a bit of sadness as she spoke, following him onto the elevator and down to the lobby. Ethan understood what she meant; it wasn’t uncommon for those who were like the boy to be looked down on. In fact many were kept as pets or slaves, some were employed as servants or laborers for minimum wage, but it was far less common than most people wanted to believe. “I know Rose, he’ll be well taken care of now though, at least until he’s well and ready to leave.” Stopping just inside the main doors he turned and gave her a hug. “Stay with him while I get the car please?” “Of course…”Nodding Ethan walked out into the snow to his car and brought it over, within minutes Dinya was loaded into the front seat and they were on the road, headed back to the clinic, to his, and now Dinya’s, home.