thirteen
Milton wakes back in bed. Not his bed, decorated in little blue cars.
But the big bed. Where both men slept. Blankets are piled upon him, soft cotton and fake lamb's wool making a toasty little cocoon.
Aldric lies beside him with a laptop perched on his lap, fingers clicking against the keyboard in an almost rhythmic dance as Milton blinks awake.
His hot water bottle, still dressed as a teddy, rests tucked under his arm and Milton can't help but scrunch his fingers in the soft fur, unknowingly letting out a little content hum.
Aldric's typing pauses, a crooked smile appearing as he looks down at the boy beside him with the messy bed hair ad flushes cheeks.
"Well, hello again," he rumbles, closing the laptop.
Milton looks up at the man with a shy little smile of his own, watching as the sun highlights the side of Aldric's face, casting a glow across his imperfect jaw.
"Did you have a good sleep?"
Milton nods against the pillows, sucking in his bottom lip before opening his mouth in an attempt to say... something.
No words come out. Milton frowns at himself, looking down at the blankets, but the soft touch of Aldric's large hand on his head makes the frown turn into a blush.
"Don't worry, little one. You'll get there."
Callum walks in the bedroom, hair thrown up in a small bun, dressed in long sleeves and jeans. "Oh! You're awake. Did you have a good nap?"
Aldric chuckles. "He slept like a log. Didn't make a peep."
Milton blushes again as Callum takes a seat on the bed, reaching out to pat his covered legs.
"Good. Did you get your work done?" The question is aimed at his husband, who hums happily.
The two continue to softly converse, Milton's attention switching between the two as he listens to their voices, not really taking anything in. He just enjoyed being around them. Was it odd? Too enjoy the company of two people who are still very much strangers? Milton didn't know.
"Sweetheart," Callum calls, tapping Milton on the leg. "Did you hear what I said?"
The boy blinks at him, shaking his head. Callum only smiles.
"We've got an appointment to go to today."
Milton tenses.
"The doctor is going to see if we can take your shoulder brace off." Aldric pipes in.
Take it off? So soon?
Callum was nervous about it, but after a short phone call with the doctor to confirm their appointment, he was optimistic. Even with Milton's frail body and sickly complexion, it seemed like his fast-paced healing had definitely kicked in. Positive news despite, well, everything.
Milton frowns, looking down to his arm pinned to his body. It didn't really... hurt. Not like it had been, anyway. Was he really going to get it off so soon?
Cal smiles at him, brushing his hair away from his eyes. "Hey, it'll be okay. Al and I will be with you the whole time."
Milton nods, leaning into the soft hand that rests on his head for a moment before Callum slides off the bed with a sigh.
"I'll pack us a bag for the trip and then we should probably get going."
Aldric raises a brow. "A bag? For what?"
His husband frowns at the question, feigning offence as he crosses his arms against his chest. "For snacks!"
Aldric playfully rolls his eyes, scooting himself off the bed, leaving his laptop behind.
It doesn't take long for the three to be ready to leave, Milton dressed in three layers and wrapped in a blanket. He barely remembers the short walk down to the carpark where they settle in, Aldric behind the wheel while Cal sits in the passenger seat with Milton in his lap.
"We should get a car seat. This isn't exactly safe." Cal mutters as he smooths Milton's hair back.
The boy makes a noise in his throat, cheeks turning pink as he frowns up at the man.
"I know, I know, but you're too small for the backseat, sweetie."
Al turns the car on, reversing from their undercover parking spot and turning the car down the pack's long driveway.
"We'll get one of those booster seats instead." He says with a thoughtful hum.
"Is it safe though?"
Milton was very small after all.
Al lifts a shoulder. "It should be. I'm sure there's someone at the pa- uh, at the house that knows what kind of seat would be best for someone of Milton's... stature."
Milton pouts, turning to look out the window as they make their way out of the forested area and onto the main road.
It wasn't fair, but he understood their concerns.
Sitting on Callum's lap let him see out the window, but if he had been sitting on the chair by himself, he doubted he would have been able to see anything.
The drive is short and soon the three fin d themselves sitting in the empty waiting room, Milton now seated on Aldric's lap and Callum rummages through the snack bag.
He was nervous, but also a little hopeful. It would be nice to have both his arms free. Not that he really had the strength or coordination to use his hands at the moment.
The door to the side opens up, a young man with glasses stepping out with a smile on his face.
"I assume you'd be the Wrights?"
Callum stands, a smile on his own face as he shakes the smaller man's hand.
"Yes, thanks so much for seeing us on short notice."
Aldric stands as well, placing Milton on his hip as he introduces himself before the three are taken into the appointment room.
"Marcy has already sent me your files, and after a lengthy discussion with all the options, we're hopeful we can take your shoulder brace off today." The doctor smiles at him as he says this, gesturing for the men to take a seat on the two black chairs to their right.
The room is cozy, the walls painted soft blue and white with health posters decorating the walls. Little cartoon animal stickers dance across the wall to the left beside a hospital bed, and a desk with files sits at the other end.
"Will we need to do any exercises to help strengthen his arm?" Callum asks, placing their snack bag on the floor beside him.
The doctor nods, taking a seat on his own chair.
He was quite a bit smaller than Aldric and Callum, his height making both wolves tilt their heads down to look at him.
Humans always were a little smaller than average, but Milton didn't know that.
He kept looking at the doctor, then turning to look at Aldric who has been seated back on his lap, the man's large hands supporting him against his chest.
"Yes. I'll teach you all what to do, but for now let's take a look and see what we're dealing with."
Milton tenses, but the doctor doesn't seem dissuaded. He simply rolls over with a gentle smile, hands resting on his legs as he addresses Milton. "Would it be okay for me to touch your arm?"
Hesitantly, Milton nods.
The doctor reaches out slowly, gently reaching out to skim his fingers along the brace, unbuckling it and removing it with such quick efficiency that Milton doesn't even realise what he's done until the small man is holding the brace in his arms.
"How does it feel?"
Milton frowns, letting his now unsupported arm fall to lie on his lap. It didn't really hurt, but it felt... weak. Maybe a little sore too.
Callum leans a little closer. "Does it hurt?"
Milton pauses a moment before shaking his head.
The doctor looks between the two, realising the situation before trying again. "Do you feel a dull ache?"
Milton nods, pressing back into Aldric's chest.
"That's okay. Your muscles will be a bit tender still. Is it alright for me to touch again? I promise to be careful."
Milton nods again, watching the kind man reach out and begin to softly prod at his arm, checking his shoulder before gently grasping his elbow and wrist.
"Now, I'm going to stretch your arm out a bit. It may feel a bit tight, but let me know if it's painful, okay."
He's careful as he stretches out the arm, gently rotating Milton's shoulder and wrist as he tests the muscles. He speaks softly as he does so, and Milton begins to relax as the stranger manipulates his arm in different ways. It doesn't hurt, just like he said it wouldn't.
"What do you think?" Callum asks, biting at his lip.
The doctor's smile turns brighter. "I think his shoulder has healed up nicely. A little faster than normal, sure, but there doesn't seem to be any adverse effects from that."
Callum sighs in relief.
"I do want you to take it easy though. I'll have you keep your arm in a simple sling, and we'll get your muscles moving with stretches twice a day. In about a week you can forgo the sling, but still be careful. It'll take a while for you to build up some strength."
Aldric hums, rubbing a hand over Milton's hair as the boy leans back on him more.
The doctor rolls a little bit away, hands in his lap as he takes a look at all three.
He had been heartbroken when Marcy first gave him the news of the human teenager and a little worried about his health in the hands of the pack.
He knew they were good people, but humans were much smaller and much more delicate than a wolf.
"How well have you been eating?" he asks, looking at Milton first before looking to Callum.
"He's been eating meals three times a day. Mostly soups or stew." Callum glances to his husband. "We try to have him snack throughout the day as well and he's started having some of that formula after every meal."
Milton flushes at the mention of the formula, turning his head into Aldric's shirt like a child as his cheeks turn pink for the hundredth time today. Aldric smiles gently down at him, placing a kiss to his head that only brightens his coloured face.
Choosing to ignore the conversation, Milton instead focuses on the deep rumble of Aldric's chest as he speaks, the noise soothing his embarrassment. He wished they didn't have to tell the man.
"How long do you think it will be until his leg is better?"
The doctor hums. "I want to keep in the cast for the six weeks. I know he's been healing faster, but his break was severe and his body is still very weak."
Cal frowns, shifting nervously in his seat. "We, uh, we had a bit of a situation last night."
The doctor frowns. "What kind of situation?"
"He had a nightmare of some sort. Woke up drenched in sweat. I- I don't think he's been sleeping all that well."
Aldric steps in as his husband's voice quietens. "Milton had an accident. We know it may be just a one-time thing, but we're concerned this is the start of something more."
Milton frowns into Aldric's shirt, mind turning fuzzy as the adults keep talking about him, their words becoming too fast for him to keep up as his world grows a little hazy with sleep.
He didn't want to sleep, it felt like all he did was nap, but he couldn't stop it either.
The gentle sounds of Cal and Aldric turning into an oddly soothing lullaby as he drifts off in the man's lap.
The doctor nods, scooting back to his desk to type on his computer.
"It's not unheard of for children to have accidents when they're young.
Milton's too old to be put in that category, but with all his health conditions and the stress of a traumatic dream, it could happen.
Has he had issues using the bathroom any other time? "
Callum and Aldric shake their head and the doctor hums.
"I know Marcy has already told you that brain damage could lead to a loss of muscle control, but we can't draw those conclusions yet."
"And his speech?"
The doctor slides his falling glasses back up his nose. He watches as the boy sinks deeper into sleep in the wolf's arms, eyelids fluttering closed and body growing limp.
"Sometimes... sometimes when humans have gone through trauma, their mind tries to find ways to cope with the situation.
In Milton's case, we don't know what he might have gone through to survive up until this point.
Staying quiet might have been a way to keep him safe or a coping mechanism to help deal with his reality.
In time, his mind will heal, but you'll have to be patient.
Humans are often more delicate that wolves. "
He smiles sadly at the two, clenching the hands in his lap before releasing them. "For now, keep doing what you're doing."
Aldric sighs. "Thank you for seeing us. Marcy is a brilliant doctor, but she doesn't deal with humans often."
The man smiles. "It's my pleasure. Did you have any other concerns?"
Cal turns to look at Milton, smiling softly at the squished face lying against his husband. "When will he need the other surgeries to correct his bones? Marcy mentioned it when we first took him in."
The doctor sighs, turning to the paperwork on his desk as he shuffles through them. "Marcy wants to have the procedures done as soon as possible. Now that we know he has healing enzymes, she's convinced he'll be better off having it all done at one time to get it over with."
Aldric frowns. "You don't seem to have the same opinion."
"No. I don't." The doctor clears his throat. "Wolves are conditioned to deal with injury differently. If you break a bone, you set it, heal up, and move on. There's little emotion involved."
Callum hums. It was true, to a degree. Since they tended to heal fast, they often treated more serious injuries as one would treat a cut knee or sore muscle.
It wasn't that they were indifferent to the pain or the wound itself, but it was more to do with their instincts.
A wolf knew they needed to adapt and overcome an injury if they wanted to keep surviving. That was life.
"Humans are more delicate." Callum whispers, reaching out to brush a strand of Milton's hair away from his face.
"Yes." The doctor takes a blue pamphlet off his desk, handing it to Callum. 'PTSD' sits on the cover in bold white font with a photograph of two people comforting each other.
"From what we know already, Milton suffered at the hands of another. Many of his previously broken bones would have been caused by this... unknown person. Breaking them again, even if it is to help him, could very much send his mind back in time to the horrifying moment the injury first occurred."
Callum swallows back his tears as he listens, thumb tracing the letters on the pamphlet.
"But he won't be able to walk until both his legs are fixed."
The doctor shakes his head. "It's not that simple. Even if his legs were fine, he would still need to relearn how to walk. The deteriorated muscle in both his legs shows he hasn't been using them for some time."
"What do we do then?"
The doctor wheels himself a little closer to the wolves. "I suggest that we wait until he has his strength back. Build up his muscles tone again. Once he's more mobile, then we look into the surgeries. It will make recovery easier."
Aldric hums, looking down at the boy. "How many surgeries does he need?"
The doctor moves back to his computer yet again, clicking away as he pulls up multiple pictures of ex-rays and swivels the screen in their direction. Three are images of the boy's legs and feet while the other shows his arm and wrist.
"You see this here?" he points to one of the leg images, finger hovering near a thicker section of white.
"What does that mean?" Callum asks, leaning forwards in his seat.
"That's his left tibia, or as you would know it, his shine bone. See how its fatter in this area and doesn't sit straight? That's what it looks like when someone's bones haven't healed correctly."
The two wolves look at the other images, eyes trying to see the same occurrence on all the images.
The doctor looks down to his notes. "He would need surgery to correct his left lower leg, right upper leg, right arm and one to try and fix the bones in his right wrist as well."
Callum bulks at this, anger spiking at the thought of doing all of that at once on his little human. "Marcy wanted to do all of that?"
The doctor lifts a shoulder. "It's what would be done if Milton were a wolf. With the amount of healing enzymes in his blood, recovery would be much faster, but his body is already working hard to keep functioning."
Aldric brushes a hand through his hair, the stress building beneath his skin. "We will follow your advice. When you think he's strong enough, then we can look into the surgeries."
"Only if he says he's ready." Callum pipes up, worry creasing at his brow.
The doctor nods with another soft smile, standing from his seat. The wolves follow suit, Callum picking up his snack bag while Aldric shuffles the boy still sleeping in his grasp.
"I want to see you all in three weeks. Hopefully by then he's put on a bit more weight and we can start looking into physical therapy to help get him moving."
They all nod, thanking him yet again as they leave the small building with heavy hearts.
"This is good news." Callum says aloud, hands twisting the snack bag strap in his grip.
Al glances at his love, sighing softly through his nose. "These thoughts are for the future. For now, let's be glad he's beginning to heal."
Taking a deep breath, Callum slowly lets it out, the tension in his shoulders dissipating with the breath. His husband was right. They didn't have to focus on the surgeries yet. All they needed to do was keep looking after their boy for another three weeks.
He could do that. They could do that.