XII. No reception
XII. No reception
As told by Kaeden
"Ow, Kaeden! Loosen up!"
It took me a minute to get my wits back in the darkness. I hadn't even been aware I'd been squeezing my girlfriend's paw that tightly. With great focus, I forced myself to loosen up, although I was still panicking. Things had been going so nicely, and then, this sudden change...
Lily and I were both frustrated by my phobia regarding thunderstorms. I wasn't consciously trying to react like this, I reminded myself, as Lily pulled me into a hug. I buried my face in her shoulder, trying to block the outside world. It was as though my body was on autopilot, and although I could keep myself from sheer panic, it was a constant struggle to focus my mind.
"That's better. Just settle down; you're good. You're fine," she said, trying to soothe me.
At some point I felt a blanket being wrapped around me, and Lily telling someone 'thank you', but I was still too inwardly focused to really notice what was going on around me.
Some distant time later I finally relaxed enough to look up. I was still shaking a little, but I could function again. Looking at the clock, I realized Lily had been holding me for nearly an hour, and that she'd evidently carried me to the living room couch.
"Hey there little guy," she cooed. "Better now?"
I nodded slowly, although I still had hold of her shirt sleeve, just to maintain some physical contact.
"I suppose I don't really need to check after that big scare, but all the same..."
Lily reached a paw down to check my diaper, and it wasn't until then that I realized that I was even wet.
"You're gonna have to let go, honey, but here's Ikici to keep you safe in the meantime," she said, handing me my beloved plush wolf.
I whimpered, my eyes darting back and forth with indecision, but I eventually nodded and hugged Ikici to my chest. The toy had long since lost the comforting smells I'd used to get past the separation anxiety I'd had over my caregiver, but it still held all the good memories, and that was enough to get me through until I felt Lily's paw grab my own again.
I leaned against her shoulder for comfort as she led me to the doorway to the kitchen, where Milo and Nina were seated, talking. I noticed then that they had lit a few scented candles in the kitchen and living room to living room. The light they provided, and the floral fragrance blocking out the scent of the storm helped to calm my nerves.
"Oh, hey, Kaeden!" Nina said cheerily.
"You seem a lot better now," Milo added.
I nodded. "I-...." I trailed off. "S-sorry."
"Hey, it's fine. Don't worry about it. You had us pretty worried there for a bit, but Lily assured us you'd come out of it."
I nodded again. "I thought I was doing pretty good, b-but..."
"The power went out," Lily finished for me. "That sudden scare..."
Both Milo and Nina nodded appreciatively.
"Kaeden needs changed pretty badly, and I'd prefer to keep him where it's light. We just need a few moments of privacy in the living room here, if that's okay?"
Milo and Nina nodded their approval, and Lily led me back to the living room where she gently laid me back on a towel. It was easy enough to fall into routine at this point, so after she untaped my diaper, I barely needed to think about it to roll to my side so she could get the tape above my tail, then lift my hips so she could remove the soaked garment from me. A few baby wipes, some powder, and a clean, dry diaper later and I was ready to face the remainder of the evening.
There was one last routine that Lily insisted on following through, however. I was a bit embarrassed about it - for no real reason, I knew - but in retrospect, it was probably a good idea. Routine was the best thing for me right now.
Grabbing my diaper bag, she brought it and me back to the kitchen, where she sat me down next to Milo and Nina. She asked if it was okay to use their stove to heat up some water for my formula, which produced an excess of blushing and shy expressions from me. After a few minutes, my bedtime bottle was ready.
We all went out to the living room then, and, laying my head down on her lap, I nursed the offered bottle.
"Cute," Nina said, and despite the fact that my eyes were closed, I could all but see her smile. "You know," she continued, "the roads are likely to still be pretty bad until sometime tomorrow. Me and Milo were talking..."
"If you need a place to stay," Milo offered, "we can leave the couch out and bring some blankets in here and everything."
"Oh, I wouldn't want to-," Lily started. "Well... if it wouldn't be too much trouble..."
"Of course not!" Nina countered. "We insist. No sense in traveling until the roads are better."
"I appreciate it," Lily said. "Kaeden's in no shape to travel either, I guess." I shook my head in agreement as I neared the end of the puppy formula.
She helped me up into a sitting position, then pulled out her cell phone. "I should probably call the hotel to cancel my re-"
I perked my ears, giving her a curious look at the sudden cut-off.
"No reception," she explained. "Must be all the electrical interference from the storm, or something. At least the room wasn't very expensive, so I guess it's not that big of a deal."
I flattened my ears against my head at that news. I'm not sure why that made me nervous, but it did. I had Lily, sure, but being out of power, stuck in the dark, in the middle of the phone, communications cut off from everyone...
Well, at least I didn't regress back into the state I'd been in an hour ago.
"D-does your laptop have enough battery?" I asked, looking at Milo.
"Maybe... but what for?" he replied.
"Another couple episodes? I-I could use something to distract me for another hour."
"Just an hour?" Nina asked. "What about after that?" I blushed, and tried to answer, but nothing came out of my muzzle.
"It'll be his bedtime by then. Puppy goes to bed early when he has a big upset like this," Lily explained for me. "It's not, like, y'know, a punishment or anything, it just helps him relax."
We went back out to the kitchen table, and Milo set up his laptop and picked out which episode to watch. It was pretty easy to sink myself into it. I didn't generally have much trouble involving myself in children's television shows, especially when I was feeling as vulnerable as had been all afternoon, and Roundup Adventures had a small level of appeal to my adult mind, regardless.
Perhaps it was just the part of me that never really grew out of wanting to go on adventures. I love exploring the woods behind our house, and seeing what new things I can find. I _have_been told that I'm a puppy at heart, after all, so maybe it's just that part of me is never really going to grow up. Not that I find that a bad thing at all.
Far too soon for my liking, it was my bedtime. I tried pleading with Lily, wanting to watch 'just one more' but she wouldn't relent, even after nearly five minutes of constant begging.
"Kaeden, I already told you you're going to bed early tonight. It's not up for discussion. You don't need a spanking, do you?" I could tell by her expression she _was_serious, but still mostly playful - she was just indirectly warning me that I was getting close to 'the line'.
"Okaaayyyy...." I pouted, earning a grin from my girlfriend.
We both said goodnight to Milo and Nina, who said they were probably going to turn in early as well. Without any power, and with the laptop battery quickly draining, there wasn't much else left to do.
"Come on pup," she said, offering me her paw, when I hesitated too long at the doorway.
I let myself be led out to the pull-out couch. A customary diaper check before bed found me a little damp, but Lily told me I didn't need to be changed until morning. I was a bit surprised when, after tucking me in under several layers of blankets, she crawled in with me. Lily always made me to go bed before her, even if it was only twenty or thirty minutes earlier.
"Isn't it early for you?" I said.
"Maybe. But I have a puppy who needs me, too." I felt my tail thump against the mattress at the nose-lick I got.
Early bedtimes are no fun, but they're pretty awesome when your girlfriend is willing to take them with you. Despite my insistence that I was fine for one more episode of Roundup Adventures, I drifted off to sleep pretty quickly.