Chapter XI: You're gonna have a bedtime
Aran knocked on the door with the bottom of his fist to catch the attention of his caregiver.
"Jennifer? Can you open the door?" he called out.
He looked through the glass pane and saw the collie coming towards the playroom.
"I can, but there is this special word I didn't hear."
'Oh come on,' the wolf thought, 'I asked nicely, didn't I?'
"Can you let me out, please?" he rephrased.
The collie answered by opening the playroom door.
"Thanks, I guess."
"I see you put everything back where it belongs," she observed.
The wolf nodded.
"Good boy," the collie praised, ruffling Aran's headfur. "You can play here again tomorrow, but it's time for a certain little black wolfie to go to sleep now."
"Seriously? What time is it?"
"Your bedtime, for now."
"But I'm not sleepy. Like, not at all," Aran reclaimed.
"Are you coming with me, or do I need to carry you upstairs?" the collie asked, ignoring Aran's objections.
"I'll walk," he replied with a tone of defeat.
While climbing the stairs, the wolf noticed that his wet diaper forced his legs apart somewhat, making it harder to walk properly. This was no real problem, since his caregiver still did not allow him to climb the stairs like he normally would.
Once upstairs, Jennifer led him to the bathroom first. Aran had not paid attention when she had bathed him and he had been blindfolded most of the time, so the bathroom was new to him. He saw a changing table, a bathtub and a walk-in shower, all large enough to fit even a seven foot tall charge.
Next to the changing table was a washing stand with a round mirror above it, mounted on the wall. The shelf displayed a couple of plastic cups, all in a different color, with a tub of toothpaste and one toothbrush in each cup. Jennifer took one of the brushes and put some toothpaste on it. She grabbed Aran's wrist again and looked at him with a serious expression.
"I guess you know what's going to happen now?"
"I'm going to brush my teeth?" the wolf replied, extending his arm to take the toothbrush.
"Not quite. I'm going to brush your teeth, so open up that muzzle for me."
"I can do it myself, you know."
"Where did I hear that before?" the collie teased. "Come on, this'll be over before you know. Just open your muzzle and let me do the hard work."
Aran reluctantly gave in and let his caregiver brush his teeth. When the collie was satisfied, she let him rinse his mouth while she cleaned the toothbrush.
"See? That wasn't too complicated, was it?"
He shook his head.
"Come," Jennifer invited, "I bet my puppy could use a clean diaper."
The wolf whimpered in embarrassment, realizing that his caregiver had caught up on his 'accident'. With drooping ears and his tail tucked between his legs, he followed the collie inside the nursery. Jennifer opened the door and Aran saw 'his' room for the first time. Of course, he had been there before, but the blindfold had prevented any visual input.
There was a spacious wooden crib in the far corner of the room, supposedly large enough to fit two 'puppies' inside. The mattress was covered with a light blue blanket, adorned with yellow stars and moons. Above the crib hung a mobile with matching figures. Right across from the crib was another changing table, on which Jennifer put him down for his diaper change. She took off his shirt and Aran looked away from his waist. He did not like to see the result of his earlier wetting.
Instead, he looked around the nursery some more. Next to the crib was a wooden chair, which was probably where Jennifer had fed him the bottle of milk when he first woke up. Only one wall had windows in it, but they were rather small and it did not look like they could be opened. Lastly, there was a large wardrobe in the nursery.
Aran had some suspicions concerning what the wardrobe contained, but did not dare to fantasize about it. Chances were that Jennifer could dress him in clothes even more childish than the outfit he had worn that day.
"There we are, all better," she said, snapping Aran back to reality.
The collie wrapped the used diaper up and threw it in a diaper pail next to the changing table. Not taking his diaper into account, the wolf was stark naked as he laid on the foamy plastic surface of the changing pad.
"Let's put you in your sleeper and then you'll be good to go," Jennifer mused, retrieving a blue footed sleeper from the wardrobe. To Aran's dismay, the garment came with mittens, just like the one he had worn when he woke up.
"Are you going to put the pacifier with the harness in my mouth again?" the wolf queried, somewhat afraid of the possible impending doom.
"You've been a good puppy most of the time, so I don't see why that would be necessary."
Jennifer put the sleeper down on the end of the changing table. She then lifted Aran up and helped him back on his paws, so he could step into the sleeper. To Aran's surprise, the garment zipped up in the back, rather than in the front. He assumed that this was to prevent him taking the sleeper off - or his diaper, for that matter.
The collie rummaged through one of the drawers in the changing table and got out a bright green pacifier. She offered it to Aran, who hesitated at first, but eventually accepted the nipple with his muzzle. Satisfied with the wolf's behavior, Jennifer lifted her charge up and put him in his crib.
"Hey, where's Damian? Did you forget him in the playroom?"
Aran frowned, then nodded in confirmation.
"Don't worry," the collie replied as she slid the side of the crib up, "I'll go get him for you."
She left the nursery to do as she promised, returning a minute or two later with the plushie in one hand and a small book in the other. Jennifer unlatched the side of the crib and handed the stuffed husky to her charge.
"Please don't leave me again," she said with a high-pitched voice, pretending to speak for Damian, "It's so lonely without you,"
The wolf shook his head and took the plushie from his caregiver.
"I also brought you a bottle, so you won't have to wake me up in case you get thirsty tonight," she then said with her normal voice, handing Aran a transparent blue puppy bottle.
He put the bottle aside, next to his pillow, while Jennifer pulled up the wooden chair and opened the book. Aran did not understand what the book was for, until the collie started reading. It was a childish story about a little teddy bear, looking through a window on a snowy winter's day, longing for the spring. She was reading him a bedtime story.
Not really paying attention to the tale, the wolf dug in his memory and tried to remember whether his mother ever read a story to him before bedtime. Unable to find happy memories, he firmly shook his head to pull himself back to the present.
"And that's where snowflakes come from, said Mommy. The end," the collie read.
She closed the book and put the chair back where it belonged.
"Now be a good puppy and try to sleep, okay?"
Aran pulled the pacifier from his mouth, an effort that required his entire hand rather than just his fingers.
"But I'm not sleepy yet. It's way too early," he objected.
"It's never too early to go to Dreamland, Aran. Puppies need all the sleep they can get. Besides, there are nice dreams waiting for you. Just close your eyes and let them come to you," Jennifer reassured.
The wolf wanted to protest, but she put his pacifier back in his mouth and tucked him in.
"Night-night, Aran," she whispered in his ears, then gave him a lick on his forehead.
Leaving the black wolf in a somewhat bewildered state, the collie slid up the side of the crib and secured it. On her way out, she switched the baby monitor on and turned the lights off. Since it was around seven in the evening, it was not quite dark outside yet, but the windows were small and the world outside was shrouded in twilight.
In the now poorly lit nursery, Aran tossed and turned a bit to get comfortable. His substantial diaper did not allow him to find an agreeable position, though. Slightly frustrated, the wolf sat up, in an attempt to reposition in such a way that the thick nighttime diaper would be less of a nuisance to him.
He finally laid down on his side, keeping Damian close to his chest. Even though his adult mind kept telling him every now and then that he did not need the stuffed husky and that he should throw it out of the crib, Aran decided to hold onto it. The plushie was a welcome item during the anxiety attack he experienced earlier, so it was not _completely_useless to him.
The wolf tried his best to fall asleep, since there was not much he could do otherwise. However, sleep is not something that comes when one tries to reach it. On the contrary, falling asleep usually proves itself to be more difficult in proportion as you try harder.
Time passed, but the wolf did not know how long he had spent laying in the crib, mindlessly petting Damian's back. He eventually got a little thirsty and spat the pacifier out, trading it for the nipple of the puppy bottle.
With his thirst quenched, Aran took the pacifier back in his muzzle, wondering why the taste of the water had such a strange connotation. The answer, unfortunately, stayed away, for the wolf soon fell into a deep, helpless sleep.
(Lulu kiva - Naptime for Aran)