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Substitution - Chapter 12

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Another exciting chapter for Nex_Canis after a small break - enjoy! This has been a most interesting story to explore, and I am glad that so many of you have tuned in! Please keep commenting and remember that all votes, faves and watches will help others to find these stories to enjoy as well!

;)

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Brantley arrived to the Institute with the usual mixture of trepidation and excitement at seeing his father again. Meeting Miss Lane, the orca psychologist, made his mood drop, like it always did, although she seemed a bit more of a sour influence than usually today.

"I have to warn you, Mister Kyle, your father is somewhat agitated today," the orca told Brantley on the hallway outside his father's rooms.

The young wolf's face fell. This had not been an unusual report as of late during his visits to the Institute.

"How is he this time, then?" he asked. Brantley wondered if this was one of the so-called good days or bad ones.

"He is very...talkative, and he changes the topic often, and he has trouble staying still," Miss Lane explained.

One of those days then, Brantley thought almost boredly.

"Is the Cytocotropine still not working properly?" Brantley heard himself say. A few months ago such a monster of a word would have made him as baffled as if he'd just been asked to explain the fine points of the string theory. Now he didn't even flinch.

Miss Lane wouldn't budge.

"You will have to speak with one your father's physicians to talk about his medication," the orca said."I'm sure they are more up to date than I am."

"Hmmm," the wolf rumbled. "I'm going to see him now."

"Indeed, Mister Kyle."

Brantley didn't have patience to talk with her more, especially knowing that his father would be a pawful. He left the orca into the corridor and slipped into his father's locked room with his new personal key.

Roman Kyle was pacing the room. His tail swung about rapidly, and his ears were animated as well. Brantley followed him with his gaze, although he quickly tired of such a game of chase.

"Hey, dad."

"Hmmmmhph," rumbled Roman Kyle," I can't find the Halsey papers anywhere."

The large wolf stomped over to the window, glanced out, and then turned around again. He was facing Brantley now - an imposing figure wearing a white T-shirt and blue pants that had been supplied by the hospital. Brantley had brought him some of his old clothes in the past in the hopes that they would help to spark memories, but they had ended up being tossed all around the room. He hadn't thought about the fact that his father's new body was much larger than the 'old' Roman Kyle, and hence every piece of apparel had been found to be inadequate for his new bigger frame.

"Dad, the Halsey project finished almost five years ago," Brantley told his father.

His ears flicked rapidly, while he continued to pace and twists his paws.

"...I've got workmen waiting to start pouring concrete...if the plans for the reclamation section are not found..." the senior wolf growled.

Brantley gathered himself before he spoke again.

"Dad, you're not building Halsey anymore," he said.

"What do you mean I'm not?" Roman Kyle grunted. "It's my biggest project going!"

"I know, dad," Brantley said. "You're just having a bit of trouble remembering what's happening."

"The pad is useless!" Roman Kyle pointed out the personal data device sitting on the bed where he had apparently thrown it in a fit of displeasure. "I can't access any of my files. Maybe the wireless is bad here or something!"

"That pad can't access your files, dad," Brantley said.

Roman Kyle looked at his son curiously. It was a gaze eerily familiar for Brantley, yet it seemed so alien on a face so young that he had only seen it when he himself was a child, and even then it was only an...approximation, as far as he could tell. It was the same, yet it was not, and he could not point a single fact that did it. Maybe it was the chin, or the brow, or the general shape of his muzzle. Maybe his eye color wasn't exactly the same. Brantley had spent a lot of time thinking about it without coming to a conclusion.

"Why aren't you in college, anyway?" Roman Kyle asked.

This again, thought Brantley.

"Dad, I graduated years ago. You can't remember because you were in an accident, and now you're suffering from what the doctors keep calling 'reassociation syndrome', whatever that is. It means that your memories are reorganizing in your brain, and that's why you have trouble remembering."

Roman Kyle's ears flattened.

"Accident?"

"You don't remember the accident, dad, everything close to it has been wiped away and they're not sure which parts of your memory will return at all, but you're making progress every day," Brantley tried to sound as reassuring he possible while talking to his father.

"Accident..." Roman Kyle muttered again.

"Yeah," Brantley said. He hated even thinking about it, let alone talking of the terrible incident that claimed his father's life. Roman Kyle's fluctuating memory meant that more often than not he would have to do just that whenever he came over.

"Must've been pretty bad if I can't remember why I'm here," Roman Kyle said.

Brantley rubbed his neck uncomfortably.

"It was, yeah, but they say you're getting much better now," he said. "You look good."

Roman Kyle growled.

"I don't know," he said. "I don't know what's going on here."

"What do you mean?"

His father's paws and tail twitched while he paced again.

"They come here and they talk to me like I'm not really in the room..." Roman Kyle grumbled, "like I don't understand...and I do know I sometimes don't get all the words..."

His ears went flat, briefly, before they rebounded.

"That's also part of the reassociation syndrome," Brantley said. "The nerve connections are re-growing so rapidly that it doesn't all happen at the same time and the mind just keeps racing and trying to keep up with it all."

Roman Kyle gave him a curious look.

"How do you know all this?" he questioned. "You're not a doctor."

"I've had a lot of time to read up on all this," Brantley said. "I've had to try to learn it all because the staff won't tell me everything, at least not in terms that I can understand."

"A lot of time?"

Brantley shook his head.

"I've told you many times that you've had to spend several months here," the wolf told to his elder lupine.

"Have you?" Roman Kyle asked. "I can't remember."

"That's because you are having trouble remembering sometimes. Sometimes you do remember."

Roman Kyle rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

"Is that why I'm..." he waved at the pad, "why I was trying to find the Halsey papers?"

"Yeah," Roman nodded. "You couldn't remember what year it is. Do you remember it now?"

"These memories just...they just keep on coming and it feels like I'm there..." Roman Kyle said in a quiet voice, "I don't know what happens..."

"Doctor Joliot says that it's a process," Brantley hoped that would sound assuring. He wasn't sure what his father thought about it. He was difficult to read now, with such a different face. "She says that it will take some time."

The wolf frowned.

"Who's that?"

"She's your doctor, dad," Brantley replied patiently. "One of them, anyway, and she's responsible for your brain. She's a neurologist."

"I know what a neurologist is!" Roman Kyle opined. "They are responsible for your brain. Doctor Joliot is a neurologist."

"That she is," he said.

"Who?"

"Doctor Joliot."

"Ah, right," Roman Kyle nodded enthusiastically. "She's a neurologist."

"Yes dad, she is."

Roman Kyle smiled.

"But it's really nice to see you, " the wolf said with his big grin.

Brantley almost hated how much he liked his father saying that.

"It's really good to see you too," he said.

"Six months in Germany and no home visits!" his father laughed. "So wonderful to see you again, sen!"

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Thank you for reading! I hope you had a good time, and I look forward to your feedback! Remember that all votes, faves and watches will help others to find these stories to enjoy as well!