#pippa isn’t a service dog btw she’s a therapy dog

[sunshowersanddandelionwine]

mmmmmmm post medical discharge ghost who’s struggling with the change, plus dealing with the injury that took him out of the service to begin with. he goes to all his appointments like clockwork, makes sure to keep himself fed and watered etc, but it’s all on autopilot. he isn’t really present in his own body anymore (unless it’s after a flashback or nightmare, when he’s TOO aware of the limits of his skin)

he’s spent so long just coasting on muscle memory, that when he finally gets taken out by a panic attack in the middle of physical therapy (or whatever the British equivalent of the VA is) it’s a fucking doozy

he can’t see, can’t hear, can’t feel anything but that raw buzzing emotion. he can’t fucking breathe, everything feels too tight and too loose and too much and not enough and he’s drowning

and then there’s something soft and warm under his hands. a warm wet feeling against his fingers (that doesn’t feel like blood for once). a weight leaning against his shins, a steady heart beating against his skin (that he knows isn’t his, because he can feel it racing behind his ribs). the weight doesn’t move, and slowly ghost finds himself settling back down to earth

when his vision clears enough, all he can see is a big bright yellow blob and the warmest brown eyes he’s ever seen. it’s a dog, a golden retriever, leaning all of their weight against ghost and staring at him with the most lovestruck expression he’s ever seen.

“looks like you made a new friend, ey pippa?”

ghost nearly leaps out of his skin at the voice. the dog’s tail thwacks against the ground and she wriggles with so much joy when she hears it

ghost looks up to see a man with the brightest blue eyes and a warm cheeky smile on his face leaning against the door frame. a leash is wrapped loosely around his wrist, the same color as the dog’s - pippa’s - collar.

ghost feels fully present in his body for the first time in what feels like years.