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Chapter 7: The Right Place at the Wrong Time

October went as fast as it came, and soon the holidays would make themselves present. Ty and Alex were coming to a close on their sports seasons, which was huge for them as they would soon have a lot more free time for studies and themselves. They swore they would never get that wrapped up in school activities like that ever again, but it would still be a handful of weeks until they could look forward to that, in the meantime adding hanging out with Aaron now too, to the mix of their already packed schedule.

Terry was finally back to normal with his dad. Terry and his mom finally opened up about the truth about Shawn and why Terry was going by him practically every weekend. They both apologized to Michael for lying in the first place, explaining that they were just trying to give him time. It was hard to stomach at first, because he felt that they have grown as a family and were finally building trust again. In hindsight, seeing how happy Terry has been and how well he was doing in school helped put Michael's mind at ease. It was Michael that suggested they could invite him over for Thanksgiving so Michael could finally meet the man who stole his son's heart.

While everything was good on the home front for Terry, the one thing that has continued stressing Terry out, however, was his dark stalker that he continued being plagued by. He still hadn't told Tyler what was really going on in fear of the wolf losing it, especially if he knew it was Tony. He had no idea that Nolan was keeping an eye on things in Ty's absence and didn't know that it was that reason why things hadn't gone farther than they could have already.

(Last week)

Nolan finally got evidence that it was Tony that was harassing him. He casually followed Terry one afternoon after Terry had missed the bus. He followed far behind so Terry couldn't see him, as he walked to the train station one day. Terry was acting odd as if he felt he was being watched. Every time he crossed a side street, he was looking down the street, examining it as if he was trying to make sure he could run if someone had popped out of the bushes, he wasn't himself, and that piqued Nolan's curiosity. Tony finally did surface near the train station entrance, but Nolan caught up to the Shepherd before Tony could approach him, giving him an "I mean business" glance. Nolan had made an excuse that he decided to pay Ty a visit, and discreetly escorted him home.

Nolan did stop by Tyler that afternoon to let him know what was going on, and why he showed up in person instead of giving him a call. Tyler was very un-nerved, but very grateful for Nolan doing what he did, and after that conversation, Ty, Alex, and Nolan, all agreed it would be best to consult Alex's dad since it has come this far, and that would be a conversation for the very near future. It has only a week since this incident, and things were getting progressively worse.

(Present day, Tuesday afternoon Thanksgiving week)

Greg shows up at Terry's front door, hoping to talk to Michael and Jean. Jean was home but Michael hadn't made it home yet.

"Uh, hi Greg" the female greeted as she opened the door.

"Hi Jean, I hope you're well today, is Michael home yet?"

"No, he isn't due back for another hour yet"

"I was really hoping he would be here so I can discuss some things that have been going on with Terry."

"Uh.... did he do something wrong? Is it something with Sh-..."?

The Pit bull stopped her, "no no, he hasn't done anything wrong, but he is in a difficult situation right now. Has he mentioned anyone giving him a hard time, or did he ever tell you what happened regarding Ty and a classmate?"

"He hasn't, sorry. I know about the kid that got expelled for cheating, not in detail, but I know of it yes."

Greg placed his paw under his chin taking in a breath. "So, here's the deal...... This kid, uh, Tony.... Has been stalking him pretty much every day for like the last six weeks or so. One of Tyler's friends at Terry's school has been keeping an eye on Terry to find out who has been giving him trouble... He hasn't wanted to talk about it, but the boys just felt something is wrong. Anyways, their friend identified the human boy and has been trying to look out for Terry, to keep this guy off him...... This recently came to my attention when the boys came to talk to me about it, I've been so busy otherwise I'd have come sooner."

Jean looked at Greg confused and annoyed, "why hasn't anybody said anything to me about this? Why am I just hearing about this now?" she growled as she looked at her son.

Terry's ears pressed flat against his head, sinking into himself. "I-I didn't want Tyler to get in trouble for beating him up. This was the kid that got expelled right before the school year ended, because he was stealing Ty's school work, and Ty was facing summer school and failing the class because of this guy...... I was just standing up for Tyler, mom. That guy was just wrong!"

"How do you even know wh-...... you know what, it doesn't matter, when were you going to tell me about this young man? After you were beaten or worse?"

Greg intervened attempting to calm Jean down. "Hey now Jean, calm down a minute. He's just a teenager coming into his own. Maybe he felt that it was something not as serious as it has become, but it has proven to be serious, and that's why we're here now."

Jean took a deep breath, exhaling slowly. "Okay, so where do we go with this?" She looked back at Terry, "Has this kid touched you?" Terry said nothing, only shaking his head no in response.

Greg stood up looking at them both, "What we're going to do, is wait for Michael to come home, so we can all talk this out, and then, in my humble opinion, I want to know where this kid lives, it'd be best to pay his parents a visit too". Jean nodded in agreement, and they waited for Michael to come home.

Later that evening there was a lot of discussion surrounding this incident and how it was going to be handled. Terry felt like an invalid, just worthless, weak, and stupid for not wanting to cause more trouble than he already had. As the adults conversed, he zoned out thinking about what was going to happen to him after they did show up at Tony's house. Was he ever going to be safe after this happens? He was finally shocked back into reality when Greg grabbed his shoulders.

"Hey kiddo, I know you feel like you're in trouble right now, but we're only trying to protect you here. We're worried because we care about you. We don't want our boys getting into any trouble either if it does come down to it. We taught you all right from wrong, you boys are all better than that."

Terry shrugged, he knew Greg was right, but he still felt awful about the situation.

"S-so how do we fix this then?" Terry asked Greg.

"Well, we start by putting in an official report at the precinct where the school is. I can do it at mine, but it would still need to be transferred. Then some officers can pay this guy a visit. Hopefully that will be enough to stop the games and he will leave you alone. If not, we have a formal report and a positive ID. If he does assault you, then we can arrest him, especially if he has any priors. The one thing we do need is a full name."

Terry gulped, "I-I don't know it, I'm being honest."

"Does Ty know his name?"

"I, I don't think so, but our friend Nolan might, he was in lots of sports with that guy."

"So, there's a start, I can go talk to my boys some more and see if we can get that information. If they can get me a last name, we can probably get school records."

Greg smiled at the family as he got up, getting ready to leave the house. "Hey guys, I'll take care of this, I don't want you to worry too much, it will most likely resolve itself. I'm going to head out, you guys try to have a good evening alright. We'll be in touch soon." With that, the Pit bull left the house and made his way home for the evening.

Greg got home and walked into Alex's room. No surprise that both pups were there, studying for class. Ty and Alex had their headphones on forcing Greg to stoop down to eye level, motioning the boys to take them off and pay attention.

"Uh hey boys, I just got back from Terry's, do you happen to know this kid's full name Ty?"

Tyler nodded in a manner suggesting he didn't. "No, but I can ask Nolan, he might know, they were on the football team together."

"Great, if you get that information, I can find a way to find out where he lives."

Alex and Tyler nodded, and Greg waved a hand as he left the room, walking out to the living room to spend the rest of the evening with his wife.

(Wednesday)

Terry was getting ready for school as he always did, he brushed his teeth, got dressed, then went down to the kitchen to grab something quick to eat. He finished his morning ritual and got ready to leave. He made his way to the living room ready to leave out the front door, only to find his mom sitting there waiting for him.

"You're up early mom, you okay?"

"I was going to take you to school today and pick you up afterward. It would make me feel a lot better knowing where you are"

Terry sighed in defeat, he knew that this was the better option, he just didn't want to put everyone through this inconvenience. He waited for his mom to gather her purse and keys, shortly after locking up the house and making their way to the car.

It was a quiet drive to school, neither Terry nor Jean said much to each other in the car, just quick glances occasionally. Jean wanted to comfort her son, and Terry just wanted this whole mess to go away. They both knew that they weren't going to get the desired outcome until whatever happens with Tony, finally happens. Jean finally arrived at the school, driving past it and into the parking lot, allowing Terry to open the door.

"I love you sweetie, I just want you to be okay, you know that right?"

Terry sighed again, "I-I know mom. I love you too, and.... I'm sorry for all this trouble."

Jean gave a small smile toward her son, and a quick kiss on his head. "I know, you were just trying to handle a bully on your own...... but it really does sound like more than just a bully situation hun, it sounds like he's really trying to hurt you, and we just want to keep you safe."

"......Thank you, mom...."

"I'll be here after school sweetie, be here waiting, I'll see you then" and with that, Jean took off.

Terry padded his way into the school and down the east wing to his locker. After packing up his class books he needed, he closed his locker and made his way to home room, waiting for the day to get started. Classes felt incredibly long today, Terry couldn't focus on any of his classes. It felt like he had a heavy rain cloud over his head and it as going to rain for days. He didn't even know this guy, and he didn't know why he was gunning for him so badly. He didn't understand why he was going off the deep end, none of this made sense. But now that everyone was involved, it just seemed to make it that much worse.

Lunch time finally came around, Terry made his way to the cafeteria. He stood in line at the atrium shake shack to get a couple of snacks, then walked down the hall off the cafeteria atrium, over by the gym entrance, sitting on one of the steps quietly eating his food. He was completely zoned out, not even paying attention to the pair of large black and brown foot paws directly in his vision.

"Hey bud, was lookin' for you in the lunchroom but didn't see you there. Why ya sitting way over here all alone?"

Terry looked up to see Nolan standing in front of him. Nolan could see the look on his face, and he knew he was stressed out.

"I-I.... don't really want to talk about it..."

"You sure little buddy? I can take guesses and I've been in touch with D-wolf. I'm just checking in on you is all."

Terry wanted to be mean and angry, but for Ty to care that much about him to ask this dog for that kind of help, he couldn't point that aggression at Nolan.

"I...just feel like somehow, I made a huge mess of everything, and I... I just don't know what to do anymore."

Nolan took a seat on the step next to Terry, crouching down so he could see the little Shepherd's face.

"Hey man, it's okay. You're D-wolf's best friend, we're friends too yeah? Nobody wants ta see you get hurt by some dipshit that deserved what he had coming to him."

"B-but.... Why didn't YOU say something to Kehoe in the first place? Why did I have to be the one? ....."

Nolan threw a paw on Terry's shoulder giving him a gentle rub, "that dude liked to talk out his ass so much man, it was so hard to tell what was real and what was bs half the time. When Kehoe came to me questioning me about stuff, that's when I knew it was for real and told him what I knew. It's not that I wasn't tryin' a get involved, just... didn't know I needed to is all."

Terry looked toward the big dog as Nolan continued, "believe me little buddy, if I knew something was up, I'd a done something about it sooner, and you wouldn't be here.... stressin' out like you are now.... I'm sorry little buddy... but like I told Ty, I'm not gonna let anything happen to you on my watch."

Terry gives the big dog a shallow smile which Nolan returned in kind. He didn't know that Nolan cared as much as he did. He was always so out in the open and playful, very confident and wise cracking, very much a muscle head sometimes, he never saw the gentler side of the big dog before. He also never had a heart to heart with him either.

"So uh, what's gonna happen now little buddy?" Nolan asked.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Terry replied

"Well Tyler said he was going to talk to uh, Alex's dad? who was a cop right? I suppose things are gonna get crazy."

Terry gulped, thinking of how to explain the situation. Finally, he did tell Nolan about what happened the night before and what they were going to do about in hopes of stopping the situation, or at least easing it immensely. Nolan listened as Terry spoke, feeling better that something was going to be done instead of chalking it up to kids and bullying.

"Sounds like everything will hopefully work out."

"Y-yeah... I hope so too.... I don't want my mom to have to keep driving me to school every day. I don't want you to have keep fighting my battles either."

Nolan ruffled Terry's head fur, "it's okay little buddy, you're alright in my books, I don't mind looking out for ya, I got yer back."

Terry smiled and nodded, "I really can't thank you enough. There is one thing that Alex's dad does need to know though, I just don't. Do you know his last name?

"Heh......Bremmer...... can't forget, as many times he got yelled" the dog chuckled.

Terry smiled again, "Thanks a lot Nolan, I really do owe you a lot right now"

"Nah little buddy, we're cool, you just take care of yourself ya hear? Don't forget, you need help, you find me." Soon after the bell for next period had rung and Terry and Nolan parted ways.

The rest of the afternoon seemed to go by a bit quicker now that he felt a huge weight lifted from him. Talking with Nolan made him feel much better, and like this wasn't as big an issue as it seemed. Soon the 2:45PM bell rang, and school was out for the day. Terry made his way to his locker to drop some things off, then made his way out of the school and toward the parking lot, where his mom told him to wait for her.

Several minutes had passed as Terry waited for his mom, but he still hadn't seen her car, it wasn't uncommon to get caught in some traffic this time of day, especially in Chicago. He decided to walk over to the other side of the driveway to sit on a large concrete planter box that was nestled under a tree while he waited for her. While he sat, he looked at the ground under his feet, the next thing he saw....... were stars. Something had come around from behind his head, hitting him so hard in the right eye all he could see was a flash of white and felt a searing pain. It hit him with so much force, it knocked him backward onto the flowers in the plant bed. Terry gripped his face covering his now swelling eye, hissing from the pain.

"No one to rescue you now huh fucker? Where's your great protector?"

Terry knew that voice, it was the same daunting, harassing voice he had heard for the last six weeks, it was Tony. Even though human, he was just as big as average beast kin in size and comparably strong. Terry tried shouting for help and shouting for Nolan, but the human didn't give Terry any time to, pulling him up off the flower bed, and giving him a strong knee right in his gut, causing Terry to gasp and vomit from the force of the impact.

Now there were onlookers paying attention to the scuffle, but only a couple had run back inside the school. Terry could do nothing but curl up into a ball from the pain, bring him to his knees. Another blunt knee directly to his nose forced another hot white flash to his vision, putting him on his back. Terry let out a cry for help with his now heavily bleeding nose. There were so many people now, parents and students alike, that did nothing but watch this spectacle, from either the shock of it happening, not wanting to get involved, or too afraid too. The little Shepherd did his best to try and get up and try to get away from the assault on him, but another solid kick landed on the side of his face causing him to roll over.

Tony fumed, "I'm not even close to through with you yet bitch, I got all da-ughrgh..."

Terry still couldn't see anything, but he felt a quick rush of breeze through his fur followed by hearing Tony's taunt interrupted, then there was a very deep menacing growl, followed by a heavy dull thump just feet away from him. It all happened so fast, just mere moments and Terry's head was already in a blur. That was all the time it took for Nolan to walk out of the back school door to see him on the ground getting beat, and rushing to Tony, grabbing him by the throat, and with one huge muscular arm, slamming him into the pavement like a sack of bricks.

Tony's head was scratched up and bleeding from the impact, Nolan had flipped him onto his stomach, holding him down by the neck. "Someone call for help!". People continued to either stare at the scene, or pass by like nothing was happening, it was impossible to know if the event and requests for help had fallen on deaf ears. It was several minutes later before the dean and a few of the faculty members had run out to the parking lot to see what was going on. Mr. Morris approached the scene to see Terry barely conscious with blood all over his face, an expelled student laying on the ground with a senior on top of him.

"What in the HELL is going on here? The mule screamed.

"We need the emergency services Mr. Morris like now! I'll explain once they get here, this kid is hurt pretty bad, and this dude did it, I ain't letting him go."

Terry laid on the ground starting to lose consciousness, trying not to let the immense pain he was in take over him and shut him down. All the commotion now sounded like nothing more than muffled background music. He still couldn't see straight, his vision was blurry, everything was spinning and fading in and out. He just wanted to go to sleep, but random voices kept telling him to stay awake as he felt random shakes.

"Aw what the hell!" Another familiar voice yelled.

Terry knew that voice, it was Kehoe.

"Nolan with the hell is going on?"

"Coach, I'll explain in a bit, hold this guy down for me, I gotta check on Terry"

The big Bulldog reached down and planted himself on top of Tony as Nolan scurried over to Terry's side. "You...... causing enough problems before, and now this? You are completely stupid you know that kid."

Nolan rushed over to Terry, pushing one of the teachers out of the way to scoop him into his lap and keep him still, speaking calmly. "Hey little buddy, you okay? Talk to me Terry...... you gotta stay with me little buddy, just stay with me". The little dog only mumbled incoherently as Nolan continued to hold him more upright, trying to stop the heavy nosebleed. Sirens could now be heard from a distance, getting louder the closer they came.

Jean made her right turn onto California from Addison, driving past the school to the parking lot. The closer she got she realized that something had happened with the now large number of onlookers. As she pulled into the driveway, she saw a couple of students on the ground and immediately recognized her son. Pulling into the nearest spot she could find. Jean ran over to her son and the big dog that was holding him.

"Oh my God! Baby! Baby, are you okay? What happened, what is going on?"

Terry heard his mother's voice and tried to respond to her, but it only came out as jumbled words and incoherent babbling, with him reaching a tired paw out for her. Nolan did his best to tend to the Shepherd as well as calm Jean down. Just moments later, paramedics and police had arrived at the school. Faculty and emergency services attempted crowd control so the officers and paramedics could do their work uninterrupted, the school parking lot was now a crime scene.

Terry was brought up on a stretcher, getting examined and prepped for transport while Nolan was doing his best to give as much information to them and the police as he could. The extent of the damage done to him was still unknown, although he was responding, his responses were concerning. He was still not able to see anything but blurs and any sound he heard still sound like a hundred echoes in a tunnel. Bright light flashed in his eyes as he made tired efforts to squint. He tried to talk, but still couldn't speak anything that made sense. The paramedics had finished prepping him for transport, before walking over to Jean, to inform her which hospital he was being brought to and possible next steps. Soon after, the ambulance took off, with Jean right behind them.

Nolan had finished giving his statement to the police, they had asked him if he would be willing to testify when this goes to trial, he agreed. He gave his statements to the faculty as this was an incident report that would need to be filed. He walked back over to the rear entrance of the school where he tossed his backpack, watching Tony being put in the back of a police vehicle in handcuffs. People started dispersing as those who gave statements, finished, and went on their way, Nolan followed suit.

This whole ordeal rattled Nolan, he thought about how everything went down as he made his way home. He wasn't a stranger to fighting, he'd been in a few and have seen a few, but what happened with Terry and Tony, this was different. It was malicious, it was calculated, he knew what he was doing, and he didn't care. He started thinking about if he could have done anything differently to change the outcome of today's event. Was Tyler in the wrong for asking for his help? Was he wrong for accepting? He stopped his thoughts, drawing in a deep breath, "focus man, ya gotta clear your head. This is messed up, but no one knew this was gonna happen like this" he told himself as he continued down the street to his house.

A little over an hour later, Nolan found himself in Tyler's neighborhood. He only stayed home long enough to change his clothes and clean the blood that he had on himself from Terry before he took off. After that, he had explained what happened to his mother, asking if he could borrow her car. He pulled onto Tyler's block, wondering how he was going to break the news, how pissed the wolf was going to be at him, and if they were still going to be okay after this.

He found a parking spot near Ty's house, parking the car and walking toward his building. As he got to Tyler's front gate, *sigh* "Here goes nothin' man", he walked down the gangway to the side door.

*Knock, knock, knock* Nolan gave a few thwaps on the door, listening if anyone was coming. He could hear voices inside conversing, one of the voices getting louder as it came closer to the door. When the door finally opened, he saw Tyler, and Alex was sitting in the kitchen.

"Uh-hey, D-wol-uh... Ty...... man, we gotta talk"

Tyler had a weird expression on his muzzle as his ears perked. Nolan continued, "man, it's about our little bud... I mean Terry man......It's not good". Tyler motioned the big dog to come into the house, Nolan did as he requested while closing the door behind him.

"What's going on Nolan?" Tyler asked

Nolan rubbed the back of his neck and sighed, "man, it's uh, it's a long story. Just do me a solid huh, and here me out before you say anything?"

"Okay?" Ty asked in a suspicious tone.

"Just bear with me man......It's been a rough afternoon."

It had been well over an hour after Nolan had started telling the others what had transpired after school in detail, his conversation with Terry at lunch time, how he came out of school to find the fight happening in the afternoon, how he stopped it, all the aftermath, and the trip over here. He was exhausted, he was worried about Terry, and he was worried about how Ty was going to take the news.

Tyler leaned over to put a paw on Nolan's shoulder, "please don't put any of this on you, how were we supposed to know he'd be that ballsy man, he must be flat out insane out of his mind to do this where everyone could see it happen. I'm just...... really glad you got to him when you did, who knows how much further he was gonna go?"

Nolan gave a heavy sigh, "the cops did find a blade on him.... When I was rushin' him, I heard him say something about it was just the beginning or something like that. Happened so fast, I had ta keep myself from tearing him apart, ya know?"

"Nol.... I'm just glad you were there. Sounds like you been through a lot, it could have been so much worse......are YOU okay?"

"Yeah...... just wish I could a done more.... Maybe he wouldn't a gotten hurt, ya know?"

"No, I mean are you okay?"

Nolan said nothing, just sighed and shrugged.

"Hey, I know I'd be saying and thinking the same thing you are if it was me, but think about it, everything that happened.... Don't go down that road Nol. I'm pissed he got hurt, I'm pissed I wasn't there for him. You WERE there for him man, that's the important part...... you were there for him. I'm sure he's gonna be fine...... at least, I hope he will be. Which reminds me, we should probably try to figure out what is going on, see if we can see him."

Alex intervened "Right now may not be the best time though hun, I...er.... I mean, it's only been a few hours since and....". *Record scratch noises*

Nolan's face jumped to look at Alex as those words escaped his lips. Tyler's focus on Terry, had now shifted to the accidental outing, and is now looking at Nolan in horror.

Now with a giant blush and red ears of embarrassment, the wolf looked at the Dobie. "Uh, I uh, you got a weird look on your face Nolan... um, is, are we...."

Nolan shook his paw at Tyler, "hey man......not important right now, it's cool, really. I got no problem with it, it's not like it's...... yer still you right? I'm glad you're my friend man, we can save it for another time yeah?"

Tyler scratched his head nervously, "y-yeah"

Alex looked at the two males, coughing to interrupt the conversation, "Uh, maybe we can try calling over to Terry's place, see if anyone answers. Maybe my dad can help...."

Nolan glanced at Alex with a reserved look in his eye. "It's uh, only been a couple hours man, maybe we just wait it out. If y'all are like practically family, I'm sure his mom will call ya when she can."

Tyler and Alex nodded. They hated wanting to agree, but Nolan was right. They were probably going to make sure he was stable before they did anything else with him. The boys just felt awful for the little Shepherd and wanted to see him, to be there for him, though they knew they were just going to have to be patient.

A few hours had passed since the conversation about Terry had ended, they were all taking comfort in each other's presence in the living room conversing about random interests they all had. This was the first time that Nolan really hung out with Tyler outside of school. It was a shame that it wasn't under better circumstances, he enjoyed their company very much, but it was getting to be about time that he had to leave.

"Ty, I uh, think I'm gonna get heading home. It's been a long day, tomorrow's Thanksgiving, and all, should probably get going, see if my parents need any help with anything."

"Y-yeah.... thanks for coming over, Nol. I hope you're feeling at least a little better 'bout everything. I'm really sorry about all of this and well, I'm here if you need me, 'kay?"

Nolan smiled, "Yeah D-wolf, thanks man." Nolan got up from the couch and made his way to the door, Tyler followed behind him.

"If I hear anything, I'll let you know, promise"

Nolan turned around looking at the wolf, smiling again, "thanks......I appreciate it". With that, Nolan pulled him into a hug. It wasn't a bro hug this time; it was a genuine strong hug that seemed to last for a long time. It was almost a full minute before Nolan let Tyler go, he thanked him again, then the Doberman left the apartment while Tyler watched him walk down the gangway and up the stairs, calling it a night.