Now the real work begins

You'd left Ollie alone in the bed as you went to take care of other chores around the house. A very grumpy Sabel expected you to be punctual with her meal time, and you had missed it by a whole fifteen minutes, so you had to make sure the little princess had an extra treat in her bowl with some leftover shredded chicken from earlier in the week. You did dishes, sorted laundry, moved Tori's boxes to the guest bedroom finally, and tidied up as much as you could. Given that you hadn't owned this house long, there wasn't much to tidy, you still even had quite a bit in boxes and furniture still sitting in the garage. In fact, while you had anticipated spending time with Tori today, since she was napping in your room, that actually gave you a bit of time to start setting up your home office properly rather than doing all your work at the kitchen table.

After a couple hours of carrying in pieces of your disassembled desk and shelves and trying to remember how to piece them all together because like a genius you recycled the instructions almost immediately after completing their construction in your old house, you heard something from the bedroom.

"Pete?"

Leaving the messy home office as it was, you hurried to the bedroom, looking at the girl on the bed. Tori's normal hair and notable lack of dog features were the first things you noticed. She kept the comforter wrapped up around her chest with one arm, the other petting a curled-up Ollie lightly on her head as the dog lay next to her. Once more, the dog's fur looked matted and filthy. "Darn, I hoped when I gave you a bath that would carry over to her somehow."

Tori couldn't help but giggle at that. "You gave me a bath? Oh my gosh, Pete, that might be the sweetest weird thing, or the weirdest sweet thing, I've ever heard you say to me. I do feel very clean, though, so thank you." She scritched at Ollie's chin. "Plus, I have to say, you did a very good job here. This was a big risk to approach her, if you hadn't been here I would've probably called someone because I couldn't imagine where I might have ended up if she'd had control of me without someone to guide her to a safer place. Could you hand me the robe?"

You nodded and set the bathrobe on top of her. Tori made a little twirling motion with her finger, and you took that as a sign that you should spin around. Regardless of Lucinda and Ollie's acceptance with letting Tori's body be naked, Tori seemed to prefer a little more modesty at the moment. You did as asked, before you felt Tori hug you from behind, resting her chin on your shoulder. "I won't ask a lot of questions," Tori said quietly. "I have brief flashes of memories of what happened, at least in here. You made her feel comfortable, and I'm glad you could get something out of it too..! Like with Lucinda, I am happy to let you do whatever needs doing with my body. I still get to keep the emotions and sensations from within, and everything was really pleasant. It can take weeks for a dog to learn to trust someone new, but you accelerated her recovery by leaps and bounds. I guess that's one big benefit of channeling, when you can communicate that much more effectively."

Even though she'd said it before, you were glad she reiterated that she was okay with this outcome. There was this fear in the back of your mind that she might think you're taking advantage of her, which you didn't want to be misinterpreted as the case. You were just trying to extend kindness to her channeling subjects in their various states, and they seemed to tap into Tori's libido to demonstrate their appreciation..!

"How's the arm?" you asked, trying to change the subject.

Tori wiggled the fingers on her right hand. "Everything's fine, no pain or anything. But I do need to properly stabilize Ollie's front leg and give her a painkiller. Cute name, by the way! Anyway, it will help her relax, and then I'd like to take her to the clinic for an x-ray so we can get her properly set. The channeling magic seems to stop injuries from progressing, so we can probably get her set and get a proper cast in place without too much trouble. I think we can get her washed up, and then after that you have to give her a lot of attention," Tori said with a wink. "I think she already has quite the bond to you, I can just feel it. Can you watch over her?"

You nodded, climbing onto the bed. Ollie's leg remained stretched out, not wanting to move it. Still, when you sat beside her, Ollie turned to look closer at you, licking at your hand before resting her chin in your lap. You pet her softly as Tori returned with her medical supplies. "Hold her firm at the shoulder for a moment, okay? Just a brief pinprick, and..." Ollie winced at feeling an injection, but it didn't take her long to relax again from the anesthesia.

You watched Tori work, carefully putting the leg in a splint while she assessed the rest of Ollie's condition externally. She had plenty of an idea from what she remembered feeling via the pain she'd shared, but she was able to take some time to properly clean some of the smaller wounds as well. Ollie was far better behaved than you would have expected for a stray dog, so Tori must have been right when she said that the channeling sped up the bonding process. Once Tori had finished and felt the border collie was safe to move, you scooped up the dog in your arms, since she seemed to respond very well to you still. Tori drove you down to the clinic she occasionally worked in on days where she felt safe from the threat of involuntary channeling, taking charge of the medical care while she suggested you pick up a few things at the pet shop across the street. This was a pretty big, sudden change to suddenly have to think about where to put a dog bed, or what sort of food to buy! But, you picked up everything you thought would be useful for taking care of the dog, including a collar with Ollie's name on it--and most importantly, a frisbee, as you'd promised.

With your shopping complete, you returned just in time to be taken in to see Ollie with a newly-made cast, the dog perking up when she saw you. As promised, Tori and one of the grooming experts at the clinic helped clean Ollie up, although she still looked a little fuzzy from the towel drying--but her coat looked far better than before, albeit a bit patchy in some areas. You pet her again, as Tori hugged around your waist.

"We'll need to keep an eye on her," Tori said. "She's not chipped or anything, no signs to indicate ownership. But Lisa and I assessed her overall health, I think it's safe to say that her condition is more complicated than the fractures, so we have grounds to label this as neglect if her original owners start asking around. She's underweight, malnourished, she's likely going to need a few other treatments as well after the blood results come back, but I think there's nothing that tells me she won't make a full recovery, especially if she feels comfortable."

Pulling the collar out of the bag, you put it around Ollie's neck, and she seemed to know it meant you were going to keep good on your word that she could stay with you. Her tail wagged and she licked at your hand again. "Well, her owners wouldn't even be able to recognize her now, I bet. She almost looks like a totally different dog." You shook your head as you thought about how she was just hours before, looking at Tori. "I can't believe anyone would have a pet just to treat them like this."

"There are plenty of people out there who can't handle the responsibility of being respectful to their pets. I wish this was something I hadn't seen before. Still... I think maybe it's fate that she found her way to us, huh?" Tori smiled, picking up her things. "I'm glad that's all settled, we'll just keep treating her over the next couple week, get some good food in her, all that. I think there's one other problem that you'll have to consider, though."

You rubbed the back of your neck, dreading more news. "What's that?"

"Sabel is going to be extremely jealous! I can just tell."

Of course, Tori was right on the money with just about everything. After a few weeks, Ollie was looking better and better, with a cleaner coat and more spirit in her eyes. Tori took time off from her own work to stay at the house and help Ollie recover, but the dog definitely seemed to favor your company. Which worked out fine, for the most part, as Sabel indeed seemed to not be so interested in sharing, and so the cat found her way into Tori's arms more often! As much as you and Tori tried to acclimate the animals to be around one another, it almost seemed like Sabel was feeling like she needed to do something to get some attention from you, instead..!