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Part 26 - Recovery...

(Alexei)

The half-hour journey that brought Alexei to the old docks that afternoon lasted thirty minutes too long for his liking, such was his urgency to seek Nathan and his captors out.

Raindrops collected upon his phone's screen as he checked yet again for some trace of contact from his husky, though more in hope than expectation at this point. Dejected, Alexei moved to put his device away; the only clue to go on in his hunt being Yuri's connection to an ironworks in the area.

The clock of his phone shone brightly amid the thick darkness of the abandoned complex, giving the time as approaching eleven.

"Oh, Nate... where are you!?" he whimpered, maintaining the rushed pace at which he'd toured the sprawling docklands five times over already. Alexei's feet throbbed in protest of the exertion, though they could never have beat out the pain in his heart spurring him on continue his search. "I do not know where else I can look."

For almost six hours he'd scoured the blustery, rain-soaked docklands, an area so large and derelict that the wolf hadn't been sure he'd even found the old ironworks until his third time of passing. By that point, the factory laid devoid of life; Nathan and those responsible for taking him long gone, if they'd ever been there to start with.

With no other ideas forthcoming, Alexei snatched at his phone again. He tried to call his husky once more as he turned back onto the docklands' access road, trotting one final time towards both the starting and finishing point of his search route.

"Still cannot connect," he gruffed, throwing his head back to stare up to the storming heavens above. The prospect of having to leave here without Nathan safely in his possession made Alexei shudder, but as time went by, the idea that he'd never been here to start with gathered momentum.

'Maybe Erik lied to me... said he was here to keep me from finding him. Maybe that fucking Yuri told him to do it, and forced Nate to send his message also. Maybe it has _all_been to make me waste time here.'

"No. For all that has happened... Erik would still not do this, I am sure." He turned onto the highway, still busy with traffic even at this time of night. "I can try the police again. There must be someone there who does not hate Polcians." The attempt at positivity did little to help Alexei, his feet dragging reluctantly towards the footbridge that would carry him back to the train station. "Perhaps if I explain things differently. Perhaps--"

A faint squeak in the wind derailed his train of thought, ears perking swiftly. He stopped dead, scanning the ground urgently for a source for the tiny sound.

"I must be hearing thing--" Another whine, quieter but far more pained caused Alexei's ears to flick even taller. He stuck his nose out into the darkness, hoping that smell could outdo sight. "Nate?" His eyes widened and his heart warmed, tracing the scent he'd grown so fond of in the past two weeks. It was hours old, fading, but he'd have bet his life on it being Nathan. Alexei carefully strode onwards, following his nostrils for guidance until the sweet smell lingered close by. "Nate!?"

Rustling in the overgrowth caught his eye, a small collection of weeds beside the pavement twitching quickly in the windswept night. "Is that you?" He crouched down, gasping at the frigid concrete's touch as he planted a hand for balance. Slowly, he extended the other paw towards darkened greenery that must have resembled a jungle through the eyes of a Polcian. Alexei pushed the plantlife aside, revealing the damp soil that lied below. A sight that wrenched the wolf between the highest crests of joy and deepest depths of despair greeted him.

"Alex!" Nathan squeaked, fiddling with the voice-booster around his neck as he crawled hurriedly from beneath the thick gathering of weeds. "It's really you! I didn't want to trust my ears... incase it was them again."

"By the stars." Alexei's lips quivered, whining loud enough to drown out the whistling wind. what have they done to you?" To see Nathan lying there with tattered, dirty clothes and a host of cuts and bruises visible beneath his matted fur proved almost too much to bear. Without a second though, he gathered him up with the softest of touches. "Oh! You are so cold!" Alexei unzipped his jacket, unbuttoning the top of his shirt to expose his chest ruff. "Come here." He cradled Nathan in both paws, hugging him into the warmth of his fur while rubbing two finger pads over his back. At the same time, he dipped his muzzle to nose at the shivering husky's flattened ears.

"I've been out here for so long," Nathan threw his arms to the wolf's chest, his voice small and fragile, even with his Normaliser now fastened. "I couldn't get hold of you. I couldn't get across the road. I didn't know what to do. I--"

"It is okay." Alexei's warm voice cut through the ramblings, his similarly cozy paws helping to ease the little husky's shaking. "I'm here. You do not need to be afraid any longer."

Nathan pressed himself even deeper into the white-tinged, grey fur surrounding him until it muffled his words. "I didn't think I'd ever see you again."

Tears streamed freely down Alexei's cheeks from eyes already stinging in the chilling air. "I feared this also, when I saw you missing from the shop." He licked gently at Nathan's muzzle while his sad ears dipped further. "I am so sorry for allowing them to take you. If I had not gone to the office... If I kept you safe... If I was there, this--"

"You're here_now_," Nathan murmured, wriggling even closer. "That's all that matters."

He smiled back through his regretful frown, relief that he'd finally found his husky slowly breaking through the sorrow. "Come. Let us get you out of here and into the warm."

"I like the sound of that," came the reply, along with a gentle lick to his chest.

With Nathan safely secured within his paws, Alexei moved off along the highway and up onto the nearby footbridge. After a spell of mutual quiet, the reunited couple toyed with the topic of what had happened that evening, with neither particularly wishing to dwell upon details. Even so, Nathan did divulge an overview of what had happened at the ironworks, how he'd been locked up and abused before thankfully managing to escape his captors. All the while, Alexei kept him close, almost constricted between his paws and chest. If he felt uncomfortable, the little husky certainly didn't show it. In fact, the creeping smile and continuous nuzzling he offered out suggested quite the opposite.

"Those sizeist bastards," Alexei rumbled, a low, challenging growl his response to Nathan's harsh treatment. "A prison is too good for them."

"Unless it's one that gets knocked and thrown about by its guards."

He frowned sympathetically at that, rubbing Nathan's nose on his descent of the footbridge stairwell at the other side of the highway. The swarming crowd of pedestrians that had been here when he'd arrived that afternoon had all but depleted, with most of the nearby stores and businesses closed for the night. "This I cannot arrange..." Alexei looked ahead to the glow of the train station's access hall, beckoning them from the street corner a short distance away. "Still, we will head home and I will call the police again."

"You think they'll actually do something this time?"

He hesitated, also contemplating the answer to that. "If I explain what they have done, and do not mention you are Polcian--"

"Besides, even if they do... I don't know if it's safe back there. They've got in once before..." "This will be different. Shop door, side-door and apartment door; all will be locked. They will not get you again--"

"No, Alex, you don't understand... That gang... I didn't tell you some of the things they were talking about."

His brow furrowed. "What kind of things?"

Nathan's eyes glinted in the streetlight, the terror still lingering behind them all too visible. "They were talking about getting you to pay a ransom, before I escaped. They also said..."

Alexei slowed, stroking his husky with a comforting paw. "What else did they say?"

"They said... they were talking about your shop, basically threatening to do something to it if you didn't give them the money. Sure, they never got the chance to ask for it, but... I don't think that'll stop 'em from trying to get even. After all, they were chasing me pretty hard after I got away."

Alexei lingered on that revelation, baffled at how this situation had escalated so far since their first run-in with the gang on Nathan's first night here. He padded into the relative warmth of the small station's hall, though it could do little against the chilling anxiety spreading within him. "Then... we shall definitely_call the police and tell them of this. Even if some of them have a problem with Polcians, the police _must respond... This is serious."

"I hope you're right." Nathan rested his little head against the white paw surrounding him, staring silently into the distance as they wandered onwards to their platform.

To Alexei's surprise, and relief, the authorities appeared far more receptive to the call he made to them the moment he arrived home. Whether he'd finally encountered an operator that bore no ill-feeling towards Polcians, or rather the seriousness of the day's events outweighed their beliefs, he didn't really care. The fact that genuine concern appeared present in the feminine voice at the other end of the line was enough.

He passed on Nathan's detailed description of Yuri and his gang, to which the youthful-sounding operator promised to alert patrols in the district and instruct them to be on the lookout. While that much was offered, the call didn't allay Alexei's fears completely.

"What do you mean you cannot send an officer until morning?" His grasp upon his home phone's handset tightened. He peered down to Nathan, still in the same position he'd been in since being rescued from the docklands. Even if he couldn't understand Velikan, the husky could seemingly read Alexei's expression like a book.

"What's wrong, Alex?"

"Nothing," he whispered in reply, trying to correct his faltering smile. "All is fine."

"I am truly sorry." The young operator pulled him back to the call. "This is the earliest someone can be with you to take a full report. Patrols on the ground cannot be spared. Your description will be enough for us to seek out your friend's assailants and hopefully arrest them before the morning."

"Would it not be better for me to go to my local station myself? They can take my report in person, I do not mind."

"No, I would advise against this. You are safest in your home. Lock the doors and windows. Stay inside. We will contact you during the night if we have news."

"Okay... thank you." Alexei hung up calmly, still fighting to mask his annoyance. He glanced back at Nathan, finding bright blue eyes still fixed upon him.

"So, are they coming?"

He stood silent, petting his husky as he turned towards the bathroom. "Come, let us get you out of your wet clothes and clean those wounds."

Alexei allowed Nathan some privacy to bathe in his shower, using this time to secure every door and window in the building. By the time he'd checked and double checked each of them, Nathan had dried himself off and donned a clean shirt and a pair of boxer shorts.

"Alex, you never answered my question," he said shortly, reclining in the giant wolf's cupped paw. "Are the police coming?"

"No... not until the morning," Alexei muttered, sitting upon the edge of his bathtub. "They will search for Yuri and his gang though, and will try to arrest."

Nathan's ears splayed, a sigh seeping from his little muzzle. "Better than nothing, I guess... Though I wonder what you'd have to have done to you to get a patrol out in less than a few hours."

"I am thinking that if we had this operator the first time..." the wolf grumbled, shaking his head in disgust. "I cannot believe how bad the police are here! It is not until I need them that I realise this."

"At least they're actually doing something now. That's a damn sight more than they've offered so far." "I suppose." Alexei looked up to the nearby sink, grabbing a small ball of cotton wool from its shelf before dipping it into the cup of antibacterial solution he'd prepared. "Sorry, Nate, but this will sting."

"You don't have to do this," Nathan smiled weakly, his protest half-hearted.

"I wish to be sure your wounds are clean." He lowered the cotton ball, dabbing it gently at a particularly nasty-looking slash running beneath a patch of brown on his husky's white-furred forearm. The treatment drew a sharp, pained sucking of air, but Alexei continued on regardless. He saw to the cuts and grazes across Nathan's arms, legs and muzzle. All the while, he took the utmost care to be as soft with his touch as possible, mindful of the bruising partially hidden beneath the white and brown fur.

The delicate heartbeat pulsing through Alexei's palm pad reminded him of Nathan's fragility. Even with the confidence he tried to exert, the relentless independent streak, he'd always be his little husky. Still, Alexei didn't see that as a weakness, and indeed, Nathan's escape from his imprisonment proved without doubt that size isn't everything. Rather, he saw the husky's small stature as just one reason in a long line of others why he found him so precious.

"Why are you grinning, Alex?"

"Hm?" he answered, brushing the wound on Nathan's muzzle bridge with a fresh cotton ball to win another squirm.

"Ugh... It's as if you like doing this, making me sting."

"The stinging is not why I do this, Nate."

"I know," Nathan replied, smiling as he wrapped his paw around Alexei's fingertip.

He flicked a smile of his own in return, leaning down to give a gentle lick to the husky's nose. "Let us finish cleaning you."

With a satisfied huff, Alexei tossed the final ball of dirtied cotton into a wastebin between the bathtub and sink. "We are finished."

"Thank you." Nathan's smile had persisted, though a tinge of sorrow had infiltrated it by the time his treatment had finished. Understandably, the events of this traumatic day still weighed heavily upon his small shoulders.

"How are you feeling?" Alexei's voice came cautiously, uncertain as he padded slowly from the bathroom and turned into his bedroom. He hated to ask such a question given the circumstances, but the compelling urge to get Nathan talking, to try and improve his mood pushed him on regardless.

"I'm okay... all things considered."

"I am truly sorry for all of this." He clasped him to his chest once more. "All I wanted was to have you here to stay. I never imagined there would be so many troubles." "It's not your fault, Alex. You couldn't have known." Nathan reached up to stroke the white tip of the grey muzzle pointing down at him. "I don't blame you for this. I blame Yuri and his damn gang."

Alexei reached his bed a moment later, lowering himself gently onto the mattress without once easing the tightness of his cradling grasp. "But, I am thinking you must have such bad feeling for this place now. Towards... other things."

Nathan rested his head upon Alexei's chest. "I have bad feelings towards that fucking tiger. Towards old, abandoned factories, yes, but never, ever towards you... nor people like you." He yawned softly before adding, "And Erik of course." Alexei winced heavily at that, enough for the husky to notice. "What's wrong?"

He reached out to turn on the bedside lamp, using the few seconds it took to try properly weight a response. "Erik... He was involved in this." Nathan fell silent, lying perfectly still beneath the white-furred, blanket-like paw. "This afternoon, he told me that he and Yuri are half-brothers. Yuri, he made threats to him, forced Erik to go along with his plan, or else... This is the reason we went to the office... when you were taken."

Nathan's silence persisted for a good half-minute, right up to the moment he unleashed a surprisingly loud growl. "I can imagine a threat from that psycho would be pretty persuasive... He definitely isn't the kinda person to be on the wrong side of."

"So, you are not angry with Erik?"

"Well, I'm not exactly happy with him! I'm not happy he had something to do with what happened to me... but I guess I can understand."

"You are calmer than I was when he told me this," Alexei rumbled, leaning over to retrieve his phone from the side table.

"Doesn't mean I particularly want to see him again."

He didn't reply to that, the quietness of Nathan's words leading him to suspect that they weren't intended to be heard. "I will message him to say you are safe... Also to tell him to stay home tomorrow, since the shop will be closed.

"Closed?"

"I am thinking it would be best for us to find another place to stay until it is time for you to go home. I wish not for something else to happen to you." "But... what about the shop. You'll lose out on--"

"Nate," Alexei boomed. "I care for nothing but your safety at this moment." He pulled up his bedsheets, momentarily lifting his paw from Nathan to drape them over him also. "Was it not you who worried about coming back here this evening?"

"Yeah, I was worried... but... I didn't want you to close up your shop, too."

"Do not worry for the shop. In the morning, we will speak with the police. After this, we will see what can be arranged. Perhaps I can call Yana, from the café. She has a spare room."

"Alright," Nathan answered timidly, nosing at the white fingers curled softly around his body. "I guess it'd be for the best."

With rapid thumb work, Alexei composed and fired off a message to Erik, set his phone to silent and discarded it on the table a moment later. While he felt compelled to let his colleague know that Nathan had been retrieved and survived his ordeal unharmed, he didn't particularly care to read his response to it. As much as Alexei could appreciate Erik's fear towards his brother and understand his reasons for going along with Yuri's plot, the sense of betrayal still cut deep.

He switched off the lamp and got comfortable, thoughts still swirling about despite his attempts to do the same to his mind.

'I do not know if I can ever trust him again.' Alexei peered down at Nathan, the constant shifting beneath his paw suggesting that peace of mind eluded him also. 'I do not know if I can forgive him, even if Nate is now safe...'

They tossed and turned collectively for another hour, with Nathan finally coming to rest a short time before two in the morning. Alexei would have to wait a little longer however, with one final, wishful thought crossing his mind before he too could depart to the realms of slumber. 'I hope things get better from here. I hope the worst is behind us.'