Sleepwalker Wolf

Stitches

Travis

Val and I slept for a grand total of eighteen hours the day she came back. We spent the early morning after we woke catching up. She told me about finding her uncle and father at a bar. I knew she was going to keep looking for her mother, and I wouldn't stop her, but I didn't want her setting unrealistic expectations of how this would go. If Val's uncle has no idea why her mother disappeared or why she would have abandoned her kid, it's likely Melissa just disliked her life as it was and decided to run away, dropping Val like dead weight.

I told Val as much, while stressing that I would still support whatever she wanted to do. Not to my surprise, she gave me a kiss and said she still needed to know.

It took another four days, but I'm finally getting my stitches removed today. I'm so antsy to shift my skin feels like it's on fire and I want to pace, but my leg only holds my weight for twenty minutes at a time before my thigh starts to feel like someone shot me again. My skin is so raw with how much I'm scratching, Val has taken to flicking my hands when she catches me.

Trev drives us out to the hospital in the truck, Mom busy helping Eve with her classes and Dad needing Eli to help him with the taxidermy business we have to keep income coming in outside of hunting season. Val tells him if he plays his "dumb hip hop", getting my stitches out won't be the only reason we're going to the hospital. Trev grumbles and pouts, whining about how she's uncomfortable driving a truck, but decided to live in rural Idaho.

"Fuck you, Trev. Sorry not all of us are able to pilot a land-boat," Val mutters as we pull into the hospital parking lot.

"Jesus, woman, is my brother not satisfying you enough? You're so snippy," Trev gripes, shifting the truck into park.

I slap the side of his head hard for thinking it's okay to talk about my sex life, especially when he's using it to diss my girl. We all clamber out, Val wrapping her arm around my waist for support even though I've been limping around well enough to make it to a seat in the lobby. I don't complain about it though because Val's all pressed up against my side and I can feel her the side of one of her boobs brush up against me while we walk. Trev gives me a look like he knows exactly what I'm doing, and I just smile back innocently.

We get to my doctor's floor and wait in the lobby until his nurse calls me back. Getting the stitches removed is uncomfortable, but mostly painless. They warn me to take it easy, but to keep up some regular activity so my muscles don't seize up. After inspecting the wound and doing whatever it is they do while I ignore it because they thought of them poking around inside my leg makes me sick, I hobble back out with a temporary pimp cane to take weight off my leg.

"Nice cane, old man." Trev snickers when I'm standing in front of them.

Glaring, I use said cane to sweep out his legs when he goes to stand, making him fall back into his chair with an "oomph". I snort and Val laughs while scolding me to be nice to my brother. Trev threatens to leave me here while we walk back out to the truck.

"You won't leave me here because you'll have to listen to Val scold you the entire drive back home. And you already know she bites."

Almost as a threat, Val gnashes her teeth at him, making him squeak and pick up speed towards the truck.

The drive back, I bend my arm at an awkward angle into the back of the cab so I can hold Val's hand. We could have found out days ago if she was pregnant or not, but since I wasn't able to shift, we put it off. Mom and even Dad offered to shift and check for us, but I refused. This was our baby, our first baby, and like hell I was going to let someone know before I did. Val said she was okay with it, but I knew she was getting impatient. We agreed we wouldn't look more into her mother's whereabouts until we knew for certain if she was pregnant.

"I can't believe my own brother is such a bully. I'm so telling Mom when we get home," Trevor grumps as we turn off onto the mountain road that leads home.

"You fucking brat. What are we, four? Something happens and you run to tell Mommy?" I turn from watching the trees that wiz past the window to glare at my brother.

"I am when my dumbass brother decides to embarrass me in a hospital waiting room. If you hadn't already been shot, I'd do it myself," he bites back, scowling at the road.

Val laughs from the backseat and tugs on my fingers. "Don't lie, Trevor. You bawled like a baby when he was in surgery, almost as bad as me and Sandy. You love him~"

Gasping, I clutch at my chest. "Do you really?"

"No, I fucking hate you. Wish I was an only child."

"I'm telling Mom you said that."

"Who's the baby now?"

We bicker the rest of the drive, Val continuing to play with my hand while looking out the window. Trevor and I fight a lot, but if he was the one who got shot, I think my heart would fall out of my ass. Not that I would ever let him know that.

Val and I disappear upstairs as soon as Mom finishes scolding me for using my new gimp cane to trip my brother in front of so many people. I strip the second the doors close, not able to stop myself from shifting anymore. It feels so good to be in my fur side again. I roll around on the floor, accepting a few head scratches from Val until I decide to get down to business.

I push Val until she falls back onto the bed. Resting my head in her lap, she lays her hands behind my head and I push my nose into her lower stomach. I close my eyes and take in a few deep breaths with my nose, taking note of every shift in her hormones. My instincts give me nudges, telling me what every change means. As soon as I clock what the current changes mean, I try to stop my tail wagging as I nuzzle the top of my head into her gut.

 Val laughs, gripping the scruff on the back of my neck as it settles exactly what's going on.

"Oh my god, Travis. This is crazy." She sniffs, laying back.

Hopping up onto the bed, I drop on top of her to maintain contact. There's a fruity scent on her skin along with her natural scent. I tuck my nose back in against her stomach, reveling in what the smell tells me. It's a little scary and overwhelming, but this is probably the best day of my life.

After an hour of absorbing her scent and coming to terms with the new normal, I shift back and pull on a pair of drawstring shorts. Val places a hand over her stomach and stares at the ceiling. I climb back on the bed and curl around her, putting my hand over hers.

"What are we going to tell everyone?" she asks.

"We don't have to tell them anything. It might be a good idea to wait a little while to tell anyone, just in case. Mom will take care of things after that. She even has a doppler and an ultrasound machine."

Sighing, Val turns onto her side to face me with a soft smile. "Travis, we're having a baby." Her smile slowly begins to fall. "What if I'm no good at it? What if I end up like my mom and can't love our baby?"

I pull her closer and kiss her until there's a dreamy look in her eyes. "The fact that you're worried means you'll be a wonderful mother. And you won't be alone. I'll be here every step of the way, I promise."

"I love you, sweets."

"I love you too, sweetness."