Tad went about his work to help care for his wounded pride mates and their friends in the "Big Bad Wolf-Pack". Of course some things did raise some chuckles. The knowledge that MJ was good friends with a man named "Pete" and its ironic matching the pairing between two comic book characters gave many in the pride some humor... although it was never aggressive or with the intention of hurting MJ. It would have been uncivilized to do so.
Now, while Tad was not that great a fan of medical care, he was more then willing to do it. It allowed him to help his sister, and to check on Lexi and Nellie. The "love triangle" that had long gone on between the three of them had one of the more interesting things. As one of the Pride's eligible bachelors, the vast majority of the Pride's females commonly came to him. Lexi and Nellie had proved to be the most determined, and he really liked both of them... but with his drive to protect his sister, he hadn't come to any decision as to which of the two sisters he would have as his "Prime Mate", and was privately sure hat he'd end up with both of them.
But as he saw the clock slowly tick away into the evening hours, he knew he had to leave.
"Ms. Julie..." Tad began.
"Fran," Fran corrected, "Julie is one of my sisters."
"Sorry," Tad sighed looking down.
"It's alright," Fran told him, "my sisters and I look exactly alike."
Tad nodded, "anyway, I don't want to hurt your work, but I need to get going. I have work tomorrow and can't stay all night."
Fran glanced over to the clock in the "recovery" room they were in.
"I understand," Fran nodded, "we're about to change shifts soon anyway... and I think we're to the point where all the extra hands aren't needed. Everyone is stable, and no one's seemed to lose any feeling, so some of the fear of various pride and pack members not being able to walk has abated a bit. I think everyone should make a full recovery... although that will take some time. Especially for those with a multitude of broken bones."
Tad gave a slight smile at Fran's confidence that everyone would eventually recover. He then turned to Wanda.
"You'll be alright?" Tad asked as he rubbed his muzzle to hers.
"I will, brother," Wanda answered, "and again, I'm sorry we didn't call you."
Tad nodded and then moved between Lexi and Nelli's beds.
"And you two, be good," Tad said in a slightly teasing voice.
"Aren't we always?" Lexi teased back.
"Just checking," Tad replied and rubbed the shoulders of each lioness. He then turned to leave.
"You can tell the Glens and the Yorks that were doing well enough now that we aren't needing as many constant helpers," Fran told him as he approached the door, "I'm sure Julie and Darla would accept the help if they truly wish to stay to help, but with the part of the Pack that didn't go to the island, we have enough helpers to deal with the small things..."
"Okay..."
"I can tell them that!" Penny spoke up from where she was chatting with lioness Megan, "Kirk and I came up with them and Mother Glen, it'd be proper for us to go together... along with Umeko until Yamato and I can walk again."
"Alright," Fran nodded and then turned back to Tad, "thank you for volunteering, Tad. You've been a big help."
"I'd do more, but I have work tomorrow."
++++++++++
Marie and Linus returned their camp in the woods exhausted bruised. They found Draco seated with a blanket around him looking into he fire. Katherine lay nearby trying to stay warm. Her contact with the spell protecting Joella and left half her body heavily scarred. Her fur had taken the worst of the flames but the skin underneath did not escape the flames, and Marie had been forced to shave off the other half of her fur, to double check to make sure nothing else was damaged, and to give her best guess as to whether or not the fur that had been burned would grow back.
Vatican was also nearby, but for him, nothing could really be done until a female gargoyle decided to come to the new world.
"Are you alright, Marie?" Katherine asked as Marie and Linus sat down on some makeshift stools that went in a circle around the campfire. Linus lay his musket down beside them.
"Physically, yes," Marie said weakly, "though everything stings a little."
"You look like a couple of mundane lion cubs worked you over," Katherine commented.
"That's what happens when you end up facing a horde of zombies," Marie grumbled.
"Zombies?" Draco wondered, "we're fighting witches."
"We are," Linus spoke up, "An elderly man in the Praying town was quite helpful... believe it or not, he is the godfather of the witches, but he's no threat... and he feels he's failed as a "parent"."
"I'd say he has," Draco muttered.
"He knows what we are doing and what we need to do," Linus continued...
"And he will not betray us to the witches?" Vatican asked from where he was under a makeshift tent, which would protect him from the elements.
"I doubt he will," Linus told the gargoyle, "if anything, we have the girl to be concerned with in that arena, and even if she has told them, they haven't come to finish us off. The man helped us actually get the ingredients we need to overcome the witches have cast around themselves."
Linus then held up a large bag.
"The bones of the only other witch to live here," Linus spoke, "a white witch named Balthilde Volksheer, the grandmother of the witches."
"One would think she was a failure as well," Draco grumbled.
"She was murdered by a drunk when the witches were likely little," Linus told him, "I'd tend to think that had she lived, she might have able to succeed in saving them from their present actions."
"So, we're to turn the bones into some sort of weapon?" Katherine asked curiously.
Linus nodded.
"Though not that the witches were about to let us get them easily," Marie sighed, "It is bad enough we had to desecrate the grave of their grandmother, but they then reanimated every corpse in the cemetery there... hence zombies."
"It would appear that you were successful despite the witches efforts," Draco commented.
"I don't think they were trying," Marie said weakly, "the zombies didn't rise until AFTER I'd started digging. It was more like a failsafe... though with what happened when we first arrived... it's a good thing we didn't run into the witches."
Katherine could only sigh as she felt the defeated tone in her friend's voice, and that is what scared her the most. For as long as Katherine had known Marie, Marie had always been confident. Not optimistic necessarily, but still confident. But they had been thoroughly beaten in their first encounter, but not killed. This was the real reason why Katherine felt she had come. The coming time to heal would be tough, but Marie would need the help of a friend to help her get her confidence back.
++++++++++
In one of the guest rooms, Maxwell and Sonia began to wake up from what had been a rather restful night. As he stretched and sat up, Maxwell found Penny seated in her wheelchair with Umeko standing behind her.
"Good evening, dear, and Miss Umeko," Maxwell spoke.
"Just Umeko, no need for you to remember all our prefixes," Umeko spoke, "it'd be too much work to force on friends. And until my husband can walk, or until your daughter can walk, I will be serving as her arms and legs."
Maxwell glanced to his wife and then to Penny and then to Umeko and then to Penny again.
"This is part of the penance he was talking about?" Maxwell asked, guessing that Mother Glen already lectured Penny for not telling the whole truth.
Penny nodded, "and since my apartment doesn't have elevators, I thought it best if I stayed with you."
"What about Kirk?" Sonia asked, "I'd thought you'd wish to stay with him."
"He's having to stay with his folks while they go through many of the things that Grandma and Gillian will be doing to set up their new home," Penny explained.
"Gillian? Don't you mean Gillie?"
"No, Gillie's grandfather and grandma's first mate," Penny explained, "Gillian II Daleson..."
"But he was..." Sonia gasped.
"I was able to restore him, much like I did Kirk," Penny answered, "I'll tell you about it on the way home... though we'll also go by the York's home as well so I can say goodnight to Kirk."
"Goodnight?" Maxwell and Sonia asked.
"Beta-Fran feels they're far enough along with the recovery that they do not need you to be around," Penny explained, "and she doesn't want to hold you here longer then is convenient for you."
"But they're... they're Pride... family if not by blood..." Sonia gasped.
"And Fran said she'd accept your help if you wanted to stay," Penny told her mother, "but she's also said that everyone is doing well and that everyone should recover."
"That's good," Maxwell answered.
"And I'm sure she won't mind visits from time to time," Penny nodded, "but we shouldn't get underfoot. Besides, mom, dad, I do have a wedding to start preparing for."
"Of course, dear," Maxwell smiled and licked the tip of his daughter's muzzle.