Warren, PG, Empire Records Title Warren Characters Joe, AJ, Warren Rating PG Prompt #17 Dog (50 Episodes) Summary Warren joins the pack UniverseHuminal
A year after Berko joined the pack it grew again. He had taken to making the trip out to the desert with AJ once a week so he could stretch his wings. His flying had improved dramatically over the last year and he could now take off and land almost anywhere, but the desert offered wide open spaces and strong air currents that he could use to soar. Watching him glide, Joe sometimes envied him his wings; he looked so free and flying looked like such good fun.
The wind changed and Joe stiffened. It was carrying the scent of blood and fear with it. He thought it was a dog of some kind but he wasn't sure. Waving to AJ, he called him down and told him what he had smelled.
“I need you to see if you can see anything from up there, but don't get too close,” he warned. “Come back and tell me what you find. I don't want you getting hurt.”
AJ took off again and Joe began jogging across the open ground, tracking the scent back towards its source. Joe tilted his head back and sniffed the air every few feet to make sure he was going the right way. Then AJ shrieked and folded his wings back, diving towards the ground at a frightening pace. Joe sped up, racing as fast as he could towards the clump of bushes that AJ had headed for.
The scent of blood got stronger and more intense as he got closer. He could smell fear, pain, death; at least one adult dog and some newborns. Not many hours old either; he could smell the afterbirth. He moved the bushes aside and the female hidden amongst them snarled at him. He held one hand out towards her, trying not to spook her.
“It's all right, sugar,” he said softly. “I'm not going to hurt you.”
She was bleeding heavily and was desperately underweight. It must have taken the very last of her strength to crawl into these bushes and give birth to he pups. Her four babies lay next to her, protected from the weather by her body.
“Are you running?” he asked.
“Please,” she begged. “Don't let them get my babies. I escaped from a lab but my pups were born here. They're freeborn; don't let them take them back into slavery.”
Joe beckoned to AJ. “I need you to go back to the car and bring all the blankets we have and the bottled water. We'll take her somewhere safe.” Honestly, he didn't think she would be going anywhere. She'd lost so much blood already and he could see she was pale and weak. If she'd given birth in a hospital or even at home with a doctor she would have survived, but out here in the desert she hadn't stood a chance. How she'd managed to stay alive long enough for him to find her was beyond him.
He reached out and stroked her hair gently. “Your pups will be safe with me,” he promised. “They're part of my pack now and I'll protect them.” Her eyes drifted close and he felt her body relax. Now that she knew her babies would be safe she had let go. For now she could stay here. He would bring Berko out later to help him give her a proper burial. Her pups were his concern at the moment.
He picked the first little one up and cursed as he realised it was cold and limp. He rubbed its small body, hoping to get a reaction and when nothing happened he searched desperately for a pulse, but it was too late. He wasn't sure if it had ever even been alive. With her weight as low as it was, her pups may have died before they could even be born.
It was the same story with the second and third pups. Joe felt worse and worse with each failure to find a sign of life. She'd come all this way and fought so hard; it wasn't fair that none of them had made it. As he reached for the fourth and final pup, it whimpered weakly.
Breathing a prayer of thanks, he scooped it up and held it close to his body, hoping to try and warm it. The pup was a little boy and he didn't even wake properly, just snuggled closer and drifted off again. Joe stood up and started back to the car, meeting AJ halfway. They used the water to clean the pup up a little and then wrapped him in one of the warm blankets.
“What about the others?” AJ asked anxiously.
Joe shook his head. “I'm sorry, AJ. This is the only one that made it. I think the others were stillborn. Their mother died a moment ago.”
AJ started crying softly and Joe wrapped an arm around his shoulders. “We have to concentrate on this little one for now,” he told him. “He's alive and we can help him.” When AJ was safely sat in the car, Joe handed him the small bundle. “Hold him while I drive,” he said.
AJ wiped his eyes and looked down at the small bundle. The pup was covered in soft, velvety brown fur with a cute little black nose. He already had some hair on his head as well as the fur and poking out from it were two floppy ears. AJ smiled at him and cuddled him closer.
It wasn't until they got back to the club that Joe realised he didn't have any idea what kind of supplies he would need to care for a baby this young. Berko smiled down at the pup when Joe introduced them and tickled his cheek gently.
“He's a real cutie, Joe,” he said with a fond smile. “I'll go out to the market and buy some milk and bottles and other things. Do you want me to go to the apothecary and ask Master Snape to visit this afternoon?”
Joe nodded, smiling in relief at his beta. “Thank you, Berko. I was concentrating on getting him home safely; I didn't even think about the changes we would need to make.”
AJ sat down in the living room, still cradling his new brother carefully. “He's so tiny, Dad. Are you sure he'll be OK?”
“Well, I don't know,” Joe admitted. “But we'll do our best to take very good care of him and Master Snape will know what to do.”
“What if Master Snape scares him?” AJ asked, looking up at his father from wide, scared, golden eyes.
“Master Snape is a very good apothecary and the closest thing to a doctor we have here,” Joe promised him. “He'll do everything he can to make sure he survives. And you need to help me think of a name because we can't keep calling him the pup.”
“Well, he scares me,” AJ admitted.
Joe chuckled softly. Master Snape scared most people with his appearance and demeanour, but he was a very talented healer and would often treat people for free or in exchange for goods or services if they couldn't afford to pay him. “Well, he scares me a little bit too,” Joe assured AJ. “But he's a good man. You just have to ignore the things he says sometimes and watch what he does instead.”