Eddie had his head resting on his hands as he leaned over his desk, watching the tiny bobblehead gnome wobble in front of him. He should be getting up to leave, but he had a few more minutes before he needed to get home and let his dog Keno out. The dog had an iron bladder, which was good for a doctor. He could always just call his mom or Lisa to let Keno out, but then he would have to deal with dog guilt when he got home. Yes, six-year-old Malamutes could totally make you feel guilty for ‘neglecting’ them.

At least neglect in their doggy mind.

“Dr. Eddie?” A voice came from his open office door. A nurse wearing scrubs with kittens on them leaned against the door frame.

“Yeah?” he returned, not moving from his slumped over position.

“Do you have a minute, or fifteen? Got a little boy in the ER with a nasty cut on his head. Needs stitches, and you just have a better way with the kiddos,” the nurse said.

“It’s because I give them candy before the shots. Dr. Platt makes them wait until afterward,” Eddie said with a chuckle. He tapped the gnome again and stood up.

“Show me the way, Patricia,” he said to the nurse.

“I’ll show you something,” she snorted.

Eddie smiled. He loved the staff at the hospital. They were all a big family, and he loved coming to work every day. It was his favorite place to be.

Following Patricia down the hallway, he smiled and nodded at everyone he passed.

“Way to go, Mr. Marks,” he called out to the old man scooting down the hallway with a walker. For a man a week out of a stroke, he was doing well.

“Almost dancing,” Mr. Marks called back, his voice a little slurred.

Eddie gave him a pat on the back as he passed.

Following the nurse into the ER, he grabbed the chart she pulled off the counter and handed it to him. Looking it over as he walked, he pulled open the curtain on a cubicle across from the nurse’s desk.

The smell of blood and something else hit his nose. His bear picked up the scent of dirt, and the sweet smell of a little boy who used grape bubble bath and liked sugar, but there was also something else. A floral scent that wasn’t coming from the boy or the woman next to him. It was heady, deep and intoxicating.

“Is there a Mr. Dashiell Ellis in here?” He looked up from the chart to the young boy on the bed. He had big brown eyes and scruffy brown hair. There was a large piece of gauze being held to his forehead by a young Latina, who wore a baby in a sling on her hip. Judging by the bright pink bow tied to the tiniest wisps of hair, Eddie assumed it was a girl. She couldn’t be more than eight or nine months old. Her head was buried in her mother’s chest, and she appeared to be sound asleep. The little boy was staring back at him with a look of trepidation. He had a large bloodstain darkening his shirt.

“I’m Dash,” the little boy said with a whimper, his eyes welling with tears.

The woman’s eyes got big as she watched Eddie stride into the room. “I’m Jamie; I’m his babysitter.” She gave Eddie a small smile. Eddie nodded and focused his attention back on Dash.

“Dash? That is an excellent name! I’m Dr. Eddie, nice to meet you,” he said holding out his hand.

The little boy looked at the hand, then shook it solemnly.

“I see here you are four years old. Where do you work?” Eddie asked while pulling out a stool by the bed.

The little boy frowned. “I’m a kid,” he said like it was obvious.

“So, no job? What do you do all day?” Eddie pulled on a pair of gloves and brought his hand to the gauze. He smiled at the woman and gave her an eye slide to move her hand away. Taking hold of the gauze he waited for Dash to respond.

“I pway and watch my movies,” he said thoughtfully.

“Hmm, sounds like hard work. How did you bump your head?” Eddie asked, lifting the gauze to see the large gash in the skin.

“Twuck,” Dash replied.

“Like a real truck?” Eddie asked in a shocked voice.

Dash giggled. “No! Pway twuck. I ran around. Made Kiki laugh. Fell on it and made me bleeded all over my shirt.” He looked down at the damage to the faded t-shirt. It had an action hero on the front, and from the wear, it appeared to be a favorite.

“Well, that wasn’t very nice of that truck. Did you kick it? I always kicked my toys when they were bad.”

Dash’s eyes widened. “You shouldn’t kick toys.”

“No – probably not, but I was a naughty boy. You seem like a smart kid. So the mean truck got you, but I think we can get you all fixed up. Who’s Kiki?” he asked Dash.

Dash pointed to the baby in the sling. Ahh, little boy showing off for the girls already, Eddie thought.

“Do I hafta have a shot?” he asked, his little lower lip jutting out.

“Yeah, buddy, you do. But I am a magician with injections. You won’t even know when I do it. Plus, I’m going to get you all hopped up on sugar before I do it,” he promised.

“Momma says too much candy is bad,” Dash said warily.

“Ahh, but it’s okay if the doctor orders it. It’s part of your treatment, she’ll understand.”

Turning to the woman he asked, “Do you have consent for treatment?”

Jamie pulled a piece of paper from her purse. “Gemma signed this when I started watching Dash for her. We live next door to each other.”

“Excellent. I’m going to go hunt down Nurse Patricia and find you some suckers. You aren’t afraid of cats, are you?” Eddie asked.

Dash frowned. “No, cats are nice.”

“Good, because Nurse Patricia loves cats. She even has them all over her shirt today. It’s crazy,” Eddie said dramatically.

Little eyebrows shot up. He was clearly intrigued, and not worried about his head for the moment.

Eddie gave his leg a pat and walked out of the cubicle. He came back with Patricia, a handful of suckers and a cute stuffed kitty he found that was donated for kids who had to visit the ER.

“All right, Mr. Ellis,” he said formally.

Dash grinned at him.

“First things first, red or orange?” Eddie asked, holding up two suckers.

“Do I hafta pick?”

“Of course not! This is just to start out. These are all yours,” he said, pointing to the pile of a dozen suckers.

The huge grin on Dash’s face said he was all on board now. “Red!”

“Oh sure, get him all hopped up on sugar for me,” Jamie said with a small laugh.

“It’s medically necessary – can’t be helped,” Eddie smiled at her.

“All right, young man, you start on that sucker and the nurse and I are going to pour some crazy cold water on your owie. After that, it’s gonna start to feel funny, like when your leg falls asleep. Then I’m gonna poke around a bit to see if I can see any dirt in it. I’ll get the dirt out, and then I’m going to use some special glue to close it up.”

“Glue? Like my glue stick?”

“Sorta, but even better. This glue sticks skin back together,” Eddie explained.

“Cool,” Dash said, popping his sucker back in his mouth.

“That’s right, Dr. Eddie has all the cool stuff,” Eddie replied.

He heard a snort from his nurse on the other side of the bed.

Jamie was bouncing little Kiki in the sling while she held onto Dash’s leg. Eddie could tell that this babysitter cared about her charge. She was obviously worried but was acting calm to keep Dash from panicking.

“You call his mom or dad?” Eddie asked as he examined the wound.

“I left her a message, but she can only check on her breaks.” Jamie said.

Eddie took in that she didn’t mention a dad. Wasn’t that uncommon, so he didn’t think much of it.

“Well, you are gonna have a cool bandage to show her later,” Eddie told Dash.

Dash asked if he had cool colors and while they chattered, Eddie cleaned out the wound and was already slipping the needle into the torn flesh before Dash yelped.

“Ouch!”

“Nurse Patricia, don’t pinch the patient!” Eddie said in mock horror, moving the needle through the wound to numb it.

“Uh-uh, wasn’t me!” Patricia said indignantly. “Don’t you go starting rumors again, Dr. Eddie. I’m the sweetest kindest nurse in the whole hospital. Just ask my cats!”

“You can’t ask cats stuff,” Dash laughed, distracted by the banter.

“Of course you can,” she said to him. “I say, do you want some food? And they always say meow.”

“That’s not talking, that’s meowing.” Dash said seriously.

“It’s cat talk,” the nurse said.

Dash smiled. “You’re silly!”

“You think she’s silly? I can do Cookie Monster voices!” Eddie was working as fast as he could to suture the wound. Years of practice had made him a fast hand. Before Dash could even ask about the voice, he’d finished his sewing.

Eddie’s bear was content in his mind, helping the little boy. The smell of him was soothing and oddly relaxing to his animal.

“Cookie Monster? I like him. And Batman,” Dash said enthusiastically.

Eddie remembered that time as a young boy. Still liking toddler things but branching into big boy endeavors.

Letting his bear roll into his voice, he started his Cookie Monster imitation, making nom nom nom noises.

Dash started giggling. Patricia had heard the voice before, but Jamie the babysitter was staring at him, wide-eyed. The low rumbling tone that Eddie produced was funny for a child but shockingly unnatural to an adult.

“That’s him!” Dash said happily.

“I told you I was a good doctor. In fact, young man, you are all done,” Eddie said.

“I am?”

“Yes sir, you have three stitches and some glue closing up that ouchie on your head. I’m gonna put a cool Band-Aid on it. You can pick which one. Then I’m going to hunt down a Popsicle for you and tell Ms. Jamie here how to keep that ouchie clean.”

“Otay,” Dash said, distractedly poking at one of the kitties on Patricia’s shirt.

Jamie snorted. “Well, I see there won’t be any long-term trauma.”

“Kids are tough. It’s we adults who have hang-ups,” Eddie said knowingly.

“Apparently,” Jamie said with a small smile.

“Let me get that paperwork for you. Patricia, you on Popsicle duty?”

“On it, Doc.”

Eddie took in one last lungful of Dash and smiled. He seemed like a good kid.