Disclaimer: I don't own anything except my OC(s).

Thanks so much for the reviews for the last chapter! I am so sorry it has taken so long to get this chapter up, but I was very happy to be able to start writing for this fic again. I've missed it. I hope that y'all can forgive me for the long wait between chapters. I really hope that everyone is still interested in this little fic of mine. Anyway, thanks so much for reading and I really hope that y'all enjoy this latest chapter!

Man's Best Friend
Chapter Three: The Diagnosis

"Sophie Reigns?"

Roman jolted so forcefully he was surprised he didn't pull something. He grasped the leash in his hands and walked to the vet tech that had called out his name, finally acknowledging their presence after what seemed like a century. This tech was completely different than the one who had talked to them earlier - that crazed red-head with her vibrant foolishness. This tech was male - tall, calm, yet very friendly looking, with a mop of sandy-brown hair. He gave a smile and motioned for the two of them to follow him.

Sophie padded along slowly beside Roman, her nails clinking slightly on the tiles of the floor. That sound made a certain sense of calm wash over him. It was familiar, soothing, something that he could not imagine not hearing.

"This way," the tech said, opening the door to one of the back rooms. A table stood in the center of it, a chair to the side. There was a spot to clip x-ray results, a stethoscope slung through the handles of the nearest cabinet, and various posters advocating vaccinations as well as different types of dog food and spaying and neutering your pets.

The tech - whose name tag read Matthew - looked at the clipboard in his hands, flipping through the pages and scanning over them with an eagle-sharp gaze. Roman thought for a moment that the tech was going to start asking him some questions, but then - as soon as Matthew started to open his mouth - the door opened yet again and that odd blonde vet was standing in front of him, running her hands through that mass of blonde hair before tying it back in a low tail and giving him what could only be described as a "lazy smile."

"Dr. Knight," Matthew said, smiling. He handed her the chart. "This is Roman Reigns and his labradoodle - " Roman twitched. " - Sophie. She's here for vomiting of unknown origin."

Dr. Knight's lazy smile never left her face. She looked positively blissful. It was the oddest thing and made Roman start to wonder if they allowed the staff to smoke pot here. Drugs would definitely explain whatever was wrong with that chick Julie.

"Alright," she said, and that voice just screamed Matthew McConaughey. She flipped through the chart and looked over what Matthew not-McConaughey just gazed at.

"Have these symptoms just started, Mr. Reigns?" she asked, in a drawl that would make molasses seem like water bursting from a hose.

"Yes."

"Mmm," she mumbled. "Okay. I'm going to do a quick assessment on her and then we'll do a few tests."

"Tests?"

"Just some blood work," Dr. Knight clarified. "Nothing major. Just to see what the main problem is here, if it can't be determined by my initial assessment."

Roman nodded. It felt as if it were the only thing he could do at this point.

"Could you put Miss Sophie up here?" Dr. Knight said, placing a hand on the exam table.

Miss Sophie, Roman thought, echoing her words. A smile threatened to overtake his features, but he stamped it down. Instead, he nodded and scooped Sophie into his arms, placing her on the exam table as if she weighed nothing. Sophie sat down and gave a very human-like sigh.

Dr. Hannah Knight might talk in such a slow manner it was a wonder she got words out at all, but her assessment looked to Roman like it was very thorough. She listened with her stethoscope, kneaded certain areas with her hands, looked in Sophie's ears and nose and mouth, pressed a nail to her gums, examined the nails and spine and general well-being of the dog herself. After it was all said and done, Dr. Knight pursed her lips and ruffled the mop of fur that was Sophie's head.

"She is a very healthy dog," Dr. Knight commented, looking at Roman. "I believe she might have just eaten something that didn't agree with her." She gave Sophie a smile. "We'll just do some blood tests to see for sure what's going on." Her eyes met Roman's. They were a soft hazel in color, Roman noticed for a moment, before taking his eyes from hers. That was not a territory he wanted to go into right now.

Matthew stepped forward and took the leash from where it lay on the table. Roman almost wanted to reach out and grab it in both hands, so reluctant he was to let his dog go with these people. Dr. Knight seemed to notice, and gave him an oddly reassuring smile, one that lit up her whole face - transforming it from laid back stoner to happy stoner.

"Don't worry," she reassured. "It will only take a few minutes. You can wait for us out in the main waiting room, if you don't mind."

He minded being away from Sophie, that much was certain, but Roman gave a curt nod and complied, giving his dog one last pat on the head before leaving the room.

As Roman found himself back in the waiting room, he also found himself having to deal with Julie again. "Doing blood tests, huh?" she chirped, brightly, as if blood tests were cotton candy and he just left the fair.

"Yeah," he said, and found himself surprised that he didn't mind her company.

The entire waiting room had cleared out in the span of time that he was in the back with Sophie and the veterinarian. It was toward the end of the day, so Roman figured that was the reason for it. Julie was sweeping the floor, humming a tune, and for a moment Roman was reminded of Seth, cleaning up after all of Dean's messes - well, except that Seth was usually a bit more irate when he had to clean up after Dean...

"Do you know how long it takes, usually?" Roman was, again, surprised to find himself talking to the girl, but she looked at him and smiled so brightly it took Roman aback.

"Not long," Julie answered. "Thirty minutes or so, I believe. Then again, I usually just draw the blood, I'm not the lab tech."

"Right," Roman replied.

The Powerhouse found himself settling into a comfortable silence, the sweeping sounds strangely soothing in the silence of the building. Julie asked him a few questions about Sophie - how old was she, where did she get her name, what kind of treats did she like? When he answered the latter question, her eyes sparked and she propped the broom against the wall before going over behind the front desk, disappearing for a moment, and producing a bag of the very treats Roman had mentioned.

He found himself strangely touched by this gesture - even though, once he told Julie he had a plethora of the treats at the house, she insisted, saying, "We try our hardest to ease some of the worries that having a sick pet can bring," she spoke, oddly profound in contrast to the hyperenergetic way she had about herself when Roman first met her. "So, take 'em, big guy."

Roman snickered at being called big guy, his mind drifting to a very specific co-worker who used the moniker. He could practically see Ryback's face, contorted in some grin-slash-grimace and shouting, "Feed me more!"

And, for some reason, the image he had conjured of Ryback started to eat dog treats.

Shaking his head to rid himself of the strangely hilarious and yet horrifying image, Roman took out his phone and started to flip through its contents, discovering a few text messages - one from Dean, two from Seth. He found his mouth curving in a smile as he moved to respond to them. However, that action was cut short when the door to the back opened and Matthew popped his head out.

"Mr. Reigns?" he called, smiling.

Roman nodded briefly, suddenly feeling a nervous wreck, before rising and making his way to the back room yet again. It seemed as if no time at all had passed, and yet the opposite was true. It was about forty-five minutes since they sent him out in the main waiting room.

The Powerhouse was led to the examination room where he had taken Sophie before and was greeted by Dr. Knight and Sophie, who was sitting happily on the table, her tail wagging just at the sight of him. Roman immediately reached out a hand and petted her; she leaned into his touch.

"We have the results back, Mr. Reigns," Dr. Knight spoke, and there was something amusing in her tone. "It turns out the vomiting was caused by her ingesting some kind of houseplant. It's nothing poisonous to dogs, but it irritates the stomach, clearly."

"So, she's going to be alright?" Roman asked, feeling relieved before he even knew the answer.

"Yes," she replied, smiling. The sight automatically made Roman feel reassured. "But, there is one more thing our tests revealed."

A sense of horror enveloped him. "And..." He was almost afraid to voice the question. "What is that?"

Dr. Knight looked over at Matthew before glancing at Roman, her eyes twinkling with something Roman could not put his finger on.

"Well, Mr. Reigns, you see," she spoke carefully, weighing her words, but her tone was light. "Your Sophie is pregnant."

End Chapter Three.