Joy is gowned and gloved up and examining the dog, who’s whimpering softly and looking up at Joy with scared, brown eyes.

“That’s it, darling girl,” Joy croons to the canine. “These little ones are stuck, aren’t they?”

She frowns up at the owner. “This is what happens when you let a dog get pregnant too young. She’s not even a year old. Her body isn’t developed enough to give birth.”

Joy’s all business. All doctor. I’m standing at the edge of the room, watching her every move, so caught up in all of it that I can’t move.

“We need to do a C-section, Charity,” she says to her nighttime tech.

“Is that necessary?” the owner asks. “I mean, it’ll be so expensive.”

“Get her out of here,” she says to Charity, who immediately escorts the owner out of the surgery room to the waiting room, where I can hear Bill telling her to fuck off.

Seems appropriate.

“I know, angel. It hurts.” She pets the dog gently with one hand while the other continues to examine the business end. “We’re going to let you take a nap while these babies are born. You rest now.”

“Do you need me?” I ask Joy, and she glances up at me as if she forgot I was here. “I’m an extra pair of hands. I’ll do whatever you want.”

“Actually, I might need you,” she says with a nod. “Go ahead and wash your hands and suit and glove up. I may need you to hold puppies.”

“Jesus, that lady is a piece of work,” Charity says when she hurries back into the room. “I told her to stay there until one of us comes to get her.”

“Thank you,” Joy says as she reaches for an IV. “We need to put her under and get these puppies out. They’re stuck in the birth canal. They’re just too big for her. She’s too young for this.”

“Pisses me off when people don’t listen,” Charity murmurs.

“Story of our lives,” Joy replies with a sigh. I scrub, pull on gloves and a surgical gown, and walk toward Joy, but stay back, just waiting to help if she needs me.

I’ve never watched her in action before. I knew she was an animal doctor, and that she’s an excellent one, but I’ve never seen her perform surgery.

She is sexy as fuck wielding a scalpel, already elbow-deep in the abdomen of the dog.

“Here’s puppy two,” she says since the first puppy was born naturally. Charity takes it, wraps it in a towel and begins to rub it vigorously. “She’s keeping it warm,” Joy informs me. “Feels like there are four still in here.”

“Six puppies?”

“That’s pretty small for a German Shepherd litter,” she says as she pulls out another puppy, passing it to Charity again.

“Here’s a towel,” Charity says. “They’ll start coming fast now.”

She’s not wrong. In less than two minutes, the rest of the puppies are born, and we go to work wrapping them, rubbing them to keep them warm, and making sure they’re breathing.

Which, thankfully, all of them are.

We’ve cleaned them up, and they’re huddled together under a heating lamp while Joy takes care of the mama.

“Her uterus is destroyed,” Joy mumbles as she reaches for a sponge to clean up some of the blood. “Charity, I have to do a hysterectomy.”

“That’ll piss the owner off,” Charity says. “She wanted her as a breeding dog.”

“Idiot,” Joy mutters. “Jace, pass me that clamp.”

I do as I’m told, on this side of a surgery for the first time since my residency, and I’m in awe of Joy and the work she’s doing on this animal.

“You know, if this vet thing doesn’t work out, you could be an OB/GYN,” I suggest with a smile.

“I don’t deliver human babies,” she replies with a grin. “Sutures, please.”

I comply and watch as she sews the dog internally before closing her up and suturing the wound.

“Charity, who comes on when you’re done at six?”

“Leslie,” Charity replies as she feeds one of the puppies from the tiniest bottle I’ve ever seen.

“Good. This mama needs to stay here with her babies for at least three days. I want to watch this incision. You can bring the owner back in.”

“How is she?” the owner asks as she walks in. “How many puppies are there?”

“Six,” Joy says as she wipes her hands on a towel. “All healthy. Their mama had some complications, and I had to perform a hysterectomy.”

“What?” The woman stares at Joy in horror. “How dare you? She’s a source of income for me.”

“Not anymore,” Joy replies, tossing her towel into a hamper. “Because you bred her so young, her uterus was destroyed, and any further litters could have killed her.”

“Damn it,” the other woman mutters, shaking her head. “Well, I guess selling these puppies will help pay for what I have invested in her. I might break even.”

“I need to keep all of them here for three days while Mom recovers.”

“More vet bills,” the owner says, rubbing her eyes. I can see Joy getting more and more angry by the moment.

“You know, she could have died,” Joy reminds the woman. “What you did here was very irresponsible.”

“I don’t need a lecture from you,” the lady snarls. “I make a living the best I can, just like you do. I’ll sell her and the puppies, and then I’ll have to start over.”

“How about this?” Joy says, crossing her arms over her chest, “I’ll write off your entire bill and keep the dog and the puppies. You can walk out of here and wash your hands of the whole thing.”

“Those pups were going to be a thousand dollars a piece,” the woman replies with a frown.

“My bill for tonight and the next three days while she’s here is roughly seven thousand,” Joy says without skipping a beat. “I think what I’m offering is more than fair.”

The woman bites her lip and looks at the dog for about three seconds, then shrugs. “Fine.”

“One more condition,” Joy says. “In the future, I won’t care for any of your animals. I don’t work with unethical clients.”

“Whatever.” The woman rolls her eyes and stomps out without even looking at the sweet puppies sleeping under the light or the mama on the table.

“So now we have a dog and six puppies,” Joy says with a sigh. “Jesus, what did I just do?”

“You saved their lives,” I reply softly, running my fingers down her cheek.

“He’s right,” Charity says. “When she arrived, she said the dog doesn’t even have a name. She didn’t care enough to name her.”

Joy blows out a breath and leans in to kiss the dog’s cheek. “You’re waking up,” she murmurs. “You’re a mama now, sweet girl. And they’re all safe and healthy. We’ll let you feed them tomorrow, but in the meantime, my friends are helping you out.”

“Nothing sweeter than a baby,” Charity says, feeding yet another puppy.

“You’re mine now,” Joy says to the dog, surprising me. I thought for sure she’d find her a forever home. “And your name is Angela.”

The dog whimpers groggily, and Joy kisses her again then reaches for a pup. One by one, she shows the dog her babies, lets her sniff and lick them, then tucks them away.

“We’ll put them with her around noon. In the meantime, let’s keep them under the lamp and feed them every hour. I’ll call Mindi in to be on puppy duty for the morning.”

“I can stay, too,” Charity offers, but Joy shakes her head.

“No, you need some rest. Do you want me to stay with you until Leslie arrives at six?”

“Nah, it’s not long,” Charity says. “Angela will sleep, and I get to snuggle brand new puppies. It’s really a tough gig.”

Joy smiles and rubs her face. “I think I’ll go try to rest. I’m off today, but I’ll call and check in later this morning.”