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Nick couldn’t say he was particularly happy with the situation, his thoughts clouded with worry as he slung the duffle bag over his shoulder and stepped away from the trunk. They were going from bad to worse. Sure, I’ll bring you to Minnesota, drop your dog off and make my merry way home. That’s what he’d agreed to. Not: sure, I’ll dump the rental car with the GPS tracker in the ditch somewhere and we’ll see how we ever make it to Minnesota now. He was pretty sure the veterinarian had caught a glimpse of the licence plate, and although he hadn’t given his real name to the rental company -a precaution many famous people tended to make-, he was positive that they’d have a way of tracking the car to avoid it getting stolen. He groaned out loud at the thought of another headline that had ‘Nick Carter’ and ‘police’ in it, even though all of it was Brian’s fault.

The white wolf tried his best not to yelp with ever step he took, but Nick could not be bothered to care about his pain at this very moment. “You better suck it up,” Nick grumbled, leaving the car keys in the door; “It’s at least twenty miles to the next rental, and you can forget it if you think I’m going to carry you for one more second.”

Brian gave a frustrated growl, but Nick just shrugged, “Y’all didn’t have to leave the car and go on an adventure in the woods. It’s your own fault, now lie in it.”

The wolf silenced, slowly limping behind them as they walked along the road to the city. Nick still had a hard time believing any of his current situation was actually happening. Maybe it was one of those weird ass stress dreams? He’d had them quite frequently lately, with the prospect of a son on the way. Was this what it was like to have children, he thought wearily as he watched Baylee and Brian saunter behind him. They’ll worship the ground you walk on for ten years and then they’ll turn you into an animal?

No, thank you.

He’d always seen Brian as the perfect father type, and Brian had acted like he was the perfect father type as well. Nothing was ever wrong in camp Littrell, but what if that was not the case? What had made Baylee decide -although it probably had been meant as a joke originally- to take such drastic measures and get involved with this kind of powerful magic? Even if Baylee hadn’t believed that it would work, there had to have been some underlying motivation for him to even attempt this kind of foolishness.

Was it any of Nick’s concern?

No. But now it was. Now he was involved. And if something was wrong between Brian and Baylee, he didn’t have a lot of faith that he and his own little Odin would make it fine. Growing up in the show spotlight was extremely hard, Nick could attest to that, and he imagined that it would be even harder if your father was a popstar legend that you had to somehow live up to. He’d suspected that that was Baylee’s main problem, because wherever he went, people would always mention his father instead of focusing on him. Is that what it all boiled down to? Did Baylee just need the attention from the world, or from his dad, for that matter?

Could it really be that simple?

And how was turning his father into a wolf going to help? So many question swarmed around in Nick’s mind.

Why was Brian a wolf? If he’d ever imagine him as an animal, a wolf would have been the furthest from Nick’s mind. A monkey, definitely. A cat, maybe. Not a wolf.

Not even a dog.

Maybe he didn’t know Brian as he thought he did.

He looked behind him, sighing as he saw Brian getting slower and slower. The burning afternoon sun was making matters worse and Nick ruffled around in his back to retrieve a bottle of water. Missouri was no place for a wolf, Nick thought as he poured the contents over the wolf’s head, who gave him a grateful look as he licked his lips. They needed to stop and rest, he noted as he looked at the wolf’s paw, which was already swollen again and looked extremely painful. “Why did you have to leave the car, Brian?” he mumbled, refastening the cap of the bottle and putting it back in the bag. “We could have been in Iowa by now.”

It was the main thing Nick didn’t understand. There had been no incentive last night for the wolf to ever need to leave the car and venture out into the woods. None.

It didn’t make any sense, and Brian would just guiltily look at the ground whenever Nick asked him about it. Nick suspected that there was a part of the whole transformation story Baylee had purposefully left out and it made him angry. What was Baylee so afraid of? It couldn’t possibly get any worse than this. But deep down, Nick knew. He’d seen the way Brian had devoured that duck, or how he’d growl menacingly at Keeko if she as much as came near his food. It was more than terrifying and Nick couldn’t begin to think where this kind of behaviour came from or where it would lead them. Because that wasn’t Brian; that wasn’t human. Not in the very least.

His feet felt extremely sore when they finally reached the next town. He hoisted the duffle bag a little higher on his shoulder and the courage sank into his shoes as he watched the busy streets of the suburban area. “Okay look,” he said after calling father and son over, “There’s no way we can go through this town without being seen. You,” he pointed at the wolf, “Are going to be the poor little doggy that hurt its foot while chasing ducks, and you,” he moved his finger to Baylee, “are the innocent little kid that needs to get to Minnesota. I’ll stay behind and hope no one recognizes me,” Nick grumbled, pulling out the dog leash from his bag. Brian flinched away at the sight.

“Too bad,” Nick commented, fastening the leash around the wolf’s thick neck, “You are going to act like the perfect dog, and you’re going to listen to everything Baylee will tell you. Exaggerate it if you must. People need to think you’re harmless and exceptionally well trained. You’ll do fine, you’re a performer after all. Show them some tricks, because the two of you will get attention, give them no need to call authorities of any kind, got it?”

The wolf nodded, perplexed, and Nick handed over the leash to Baylee. It didn’t take long before the first people noticed them. A boy and a girl sprinted over, glee on their faces, awe in their eyes. “Is that a wolf?” the girl asked curiously.

Baylee shook his head, “Nah, he’s a white husky. He’s very friendly, you can pet him.” Nick saw the quick flash of anger in Brian’s eyes at Baylee’s suggestion but quickly resumed his role as the harmless dog.

“Won’t he bite?” the boy questioned, uncertain. Nick didn’t blame his fear, because the wolf was very large for a Husky.

“Are you going to bite, Thommy?” Baylee asked in a high voice, grabbing Brian by the sides of his head and peering into his eyes. “You’ve never bitten anybody, have you, Thommy-wommy?”

Brian started to pant excitedly and Nick had to keep Keeko from jumping out of his arms and join the excitement. The children stretched out their hands carefully and petted the wolf’s head. “Can he do tricks?” the boy asked with large eyes. “Can he sit?”

Brian promptly sat down at the command.

“Apparently so,” Baylee laughed. The children were beyond themselves, the girl hopping from one foot to another as if she needed to pee, but was actually just really excited.

“What happened to his foot?” she asked, pointing at the wolf’s injured leg. “Did he get in a fight?”

“Nope,” Baylee said, “He was just uncareful while chasing the ducks in the pond, isn’t that right, Thommy? That stone was really sharp, wasn’t it?”

Brian just stared back at him, pretending to be completely clueless, then jumped up and wagged his tail. “You wanna show them our trick?” Baylee asked with wide eyes.

“Yeah! Do a trick!” the children both yelled and the wolf wagged its tail even harder. Nick smiled in amusement.

“Okay, Thommy,” Baylee called to catch the wolf’s attention, “Bang!” he said, pretending to make a gun with his fingers. It took two seconds for Brian to figure out what was supposed to happen and then the wolf fell to the ground, lying completely still with his tongue out of his mouth.

The children cheered and petted the wolf some more, “Where do you live?” the girl asked eagerly, “can we come over and play with the dog some more?”

“Actually, we’re on vacation,” Baylee said, a little bit of hesitation in his voice, “We live in Georgia.”

“Aww,” the boy seemed disappointed. “It was really nice meeting you though, Thommy. And you too-”

“Baylee,” Baylee provided.

“Baylee,” the girl smiled. Baylee smiled back. Nick raised his eyebrows. “You can have my facebook, if you like,” the girl offered.

“Thanks,” Baylee grinned. “But I don’t have facebook.”

Liar, Nick thought, but couldn’t help but grin as well.

They left without the girl’s facebook, but Baylee had scored her cell phone number nonetheless.

“Unbelievable,” Nick grumbled. “That whole dog thing did wonders for you, didn’t it?”

Baylee just smirked back at him. “There’s a car rental place a few street’s over, I checked,” he mumbled.

“You are dismissing the subject,” Nick commented. “Brian, dude, what do you have to say about all this?”

Brian glared at him from underneath the dog leash and Nick heard him grumble something. “Excuse me?”

Brian nipped at his ankles in response and Nick playfully danced away, “Can’t catch me, you’re on a leash!” The wolf knew better than to pull on the leash.

Just one pull and Baylee would be lying on the street.

And he was supposed to be a good dog. He walked elegantly next to the teenager as best as he could, avoiding his front right paw mostly. Nick noticed that most people were trying to avoid them, shooting nervous glances towards the wolf, but not daring to say anything and seemingly confused that such a large canine was following the small teenager’s commands to a tee. Nick imagined it must have looked impressive.

The new rental car was even smaller than the last one, and the wolf barely fitted on the backseat. But it was the best thing Nick could get at the moment and it was far better than walking to Minnesota; that was for sure.