Gwen remembered. Vividly. A bad break, one of the worst Gwen had seen in a good while. But the Beta had held stoic through all of the pain, and although the rehabilitation had been a trial, Gwen had never been more impressed than to see the young hybrid grit her teeth and determinedly push herself through it only by sheer willpower.

The strength of these amazing creatures--it never ceased to astound her.

"No, definitely nothing specific," Gwen agreed, just imagining the consequences of doing otherwise. It only made her headache worse. "He's been behaving admirably since we found them, it's amazing, how far she's come with him in just a short year and some months." She slipped her arm through Owen's, offering whatever comfort and support he'd take.

"I'll have to run him out in a little bit, anyway," she told him. "He can't go with us into the x-ray room, so you'll probably need to keep an eye on him then. Debra's got us covered for a few days, at least--celebrity surgery for a very important client, all hush-hush, but the University handles quite a bit of those every year."

She gave his hand a thoughtful little squeeze. "You want to come take a nap with me? There are a couple of couches in the Rec room we can push together, just for an hour or so." Power naps had saved her ass, back in vet school; Gwen had become a pro at snatching one whenever it was necessary.