Chapter XXVI: Return and remember
The next morning started in a haze for Aran. He woke up in his crib, again with little memory of how he ended up there. Additionally, he noticed that he was wearing a thick diaper. At first, he thought this was just because he was wearing a nighttime diaper, but the wolf soon found out that he had wet during his sleep.
On the other paw, 'wet' might not be the correct word, as it was more in the range of 'soaked', or 'flooded'. His diaper had not leaked, but the garment was moist, and Aran found it very uncomfortable.
Having spent some time in a wet diaper before, the wolf slowly started to grow accustomed to the feeling, but something else popped up in his body as well. Initially, the sensation resembled an itch, and Aran thought that his wet diaper was the cause, but quickly discarded that conclusion as soon as the 'itch' started to spread throughout his chest.
As the sensation became more powerful, it took over all of his body, from head to toes and from his fingers to the tip of his tail. The wolf tried his best to sit up, and only barely managed to do just that. The feeling was growing stronger every second, and Aran realized what it was.
He had to warn his caregiver, but just as he opened his muzzle to call out to her, a surge of burning pain shot through the muscles of his upper body. Instead of calling Jennifer's name, he let out something between a growl and a howl, expressing the inescapable pain.
The collie, at this point, knew what to expect from her charge and hurried to the nursery, carrying a small puppy bottle of water in one hand, and the antidote in the other. Her suspicions turned out to be correct as she found a suffering wolf in a corner of the crib, leaning against the headboard and the bars of the far side.
Aran felt relieved when he saw Jennifer enter the nursery. Within the blink of an eye, the collie had mixed the antidote in the puppy bottle and offered the nipple to her charge. The wolf tried his best to drink his medicine as fast as possible, being interrupted by a surge of pain a couple of times.
When he had finished the bottle, his caregiver put Damian in his arms and said that she would return soon. The wolf wanted to protest, as he felt like Jennifer was leaving him, but he could not find the strength. Besides, she said that she would be back, and the collie had never lied to him before.
A few minutes later, Jennifer entered the nursery again, carrying a larger puppy bottle filled with mealtime formula. She estimated that Aran would not feel like being spoon-fed, let alone sitting up in the somewhat uncomfortable highchair.
The wolf mumbled a 'thank you', and started to nurse. As the antidote kicked in, his pace slowed down a bit, but it became steadier as well. He was fully focused on the bottle, and had not noticed that the collie sat down next to him, until she started to pet him.
With his body calmed down and his stomach filled, the wolf declared he was ready for the rest of the morning rituals. Jennifer smiled and carried him over to the changing table, where she put Aran in a fresh diaper and changed him into daytime clothes.
By now, the antidote was fully active and Aran no longer experienced the burning pain. He did feel sensitive, though, and he was thankful that Jennifer did not make him sit in the highchair. She offered to carry him downstairs, but the wolf turned down her offer.
The drowsiness from the previous day had passed, and even though the wolf did not feel like his limbs were fully cooperating, the high amount of sleep he had reinvigorated him. The collie decided to put him down in the playroom for some quiet time. She clearly appeared to have more than one reason for this, but she refused to talk about it. Aran mentally shrugged and turned to one of the toy boxes.
A while later, the black wolf was indulged in planning yet another railway, a task that was fine in theory, but could be harder in practice. The antidote was still impairing Aran's dexterity and hindering the control over his body. Despite the impediment, the wolf pushed on.
His pondering was interrupted by the sound of the doorbell, however. Who could this be? Was Kaiser paying them a visit? 'For the grace of all that is good and sacred, not Kaiser', Aran thought. 'Bad things happen whenever he is present.'
He perked up his ears, hoping that any spoken word would reach him. Jennifer talked to a male with a deep voice, one he estimated to be a little older than the collie, judging by the sound of the voice. He could not make out the words, unfortunately.
A minute or two later, he heard the front door being closed. His caregiver now spoke to someone else, and her tone was different. She entered the living room with the other person, which allowed Aran to actually understand the words.
"It's good to see you again, princess," she said.
Why was she talking like she was speaking to a child?
"Did you have fun at Primrose's place?"
"Yush, miss Hyzenthlay is really kind. She kept calling me 'homba', though," a playful female voice sounded.
'Wait, where have I heard that voice before?' the wolf wondered. It sounded so familiar, but the carefree tone and the heightened pitch puzzled him.
"You know that's just Lapine for 'fox', right?" the collie replied.
_ 'A fox? You're not telling me...'_ Aran thought.
"Yush, but it still sounds silly," the voice said with a chuckle. "It's good to be here again, Jenny."
No. Hell no. Of all people, not her.
"I'm glad to have you back as well, dear," Jennifer reassured.
"How's your new puppy?"
"He's in the playroom. Why don't you go look?"
Aran cursed under his breath. What would she do with him? Why would Jennifer let her in here? Wait... Jennifer sounded like she knew what she was doing. As if all of this was planned.
In a split second, he realized that whatever was coming would be inevitable. If she intended to hurt him, he could not properly defend himself. The wolf told himself that he deserved it, and that it was better this way. He went back to his railway and pretended like he had not heard the conversation.
"So, you really are Jenny's new puppy, huh?" the 'princess' asked.
Aran slowly put down the piece of wooden railway he had held in his hand. Even thought she spoke with a higher-pitched voice, the wolf was sure it was her. Gina.
"Does that mean you're her second charge?"
"Uh-huh," she replied, "Watcha doing?"
The wolf turned around to face the muzzle he was now certain to see. He saw a female red fox of about his age, a few inches taller than him, with a smile on her face. She wore dark purple shortalls over her fiery red and pristine white fur, but the piece of clothing did little to hide the obvious bulge of a diaper around her waist.
The image was completed by the elephant plushie Gina carried in her right hand. Aran noticed that her nails were surprisingly short, especially for a female. It looked like they had not only been clipped, but blunted with a file as well.
"I don't get it," he said after a few seconds.
"Why not? It's an easy question, wolfie," she quipped.
He shook his head.
"No, no that's not what I meant. Last time you spoke to me, you sounded like you were angry. You even said that you were afraid of me," the wolf said, still puzzled. "What changed?"
"I'm in the same program as you, remember? I've been here for weeks, even months. They've helped me to deal with everything that happened to me, including what you did to me."
"So... you're not afraid of me anymore?"
She shrugged.
"Good," Aran said. "You shouldn't be anyway. Right now, I'm not capable of physically hurting you, even if I wanted to. But I don't, so there's no reason to be afraid."
"Stop being so silly, wolfie," she replied as she flopped down on the floor next to him. "You didn't answer yet. Watcha doing? This is the playroom, so what're you playing?"
The vixen appeared to be ignorant of her pain in their mutual past, so Aran decided to drop the matter for the time being.
"I'm trying to build a railway," he responded.
"Oh, that's fun! May I help you?"
"There's plenty of pieces to be laid, so I don't mind, I guess."
"Yay!" the vixen replied as hastened to one of the toy boxes.