This is Chapter 11 to a commissioned novel. It is set in the Two Weeks universe, and is universe canon. The story follows Talikin, a 29 year old fox who's fed up with nearly everything, and is looking to make a serious change in his life, and his boyfriend, Matt, a German Shepard that never outgrew his selfish, childhood habits. Unexpectedly, that change comes in the form of the pair being targeted by a secret society.

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Story Text: (FA formatting is crap. Download to read it the way it was meant to be read.)
The Vacant Years: Chapter 11
Matt's head was a train wreak as he slowly drifted out of the drug induced stupor that he had spent the past hour in. He had slept deeply but fitfully after his bottle feeding that afternoon, and experienced vivid dreams that might better be referred to as hallucinations. As he might have expected, the thing that finally brought the Shepard out of his muddled comatose state was a natural function that, try as they might, even the caretakers couldn't eliminate quickly. Matt had to go to the bathroom.
The overgrown puppy groaned as his eyes drifted open, and glanced around the room he was in. It wasn't one he had seen before, maybe a guest bedroom from the look of the empty bedframe in the far corner. He had been dropped down into a crib nearly identical to the one he had trashed the previous night, except that this one was significantly smaller, and sat on the ground instead of being supported by legs like a normal bed. One look around showed him just how hopeless his situation was. Taking no chances, the tigress had bolted some sort of thick plastic cover over the top of the crib, which now might better be referred to as a cage. There was no escape this time, and, to matt's discomfort, he had already wet the heavy padding between his legs significantly, probably in his sleep. What was the point of resisting, when the deck was stacked against you from the beginning?
There was something of a relief in that moment of broken resistance. Matt inhaled deeply, somehow not too concerned about the prospect of messing his pants, or, rather, diaper as it were. He could squirm and fight and hold back, but he wasn't getting out of that crib without a messy accident and everyone knew it. He might as well save the time of day, and maybe score some points with Telia while he was at it. The shepard couldn't keep the blush off his face as he rolled over and crawled awkwardly over to a corner, not wanting to have to smell himself any more than he'd have to, then relaxed his clenched behind and felt the contents of his bowels spill out and into the seat of his diaper. His face burned red with embarrassment, and, second guessing himself when he smelled his own waste filled diaper, tried to hold back, but it was far too late for that. The few minutes it took for the shepard to void his bowels stretched and distorted into hours, drawing out his torment as his diaper filled and grew squishy and lumpy in the back, but, when it ended, he couldn't say he didn't feel better. Nobody could say he hadn't resisted, hadn't fought at every turn, but there simply was no fighting... whatever this was. The tigress had the strength, training, and resources to bully him into any sort of humiliating act she felt like, and his rebellion against her wishes was of no more consequence than pinpricks to a giant.
Having finished his mess, Matt crawled back under his blankets and cuddled up to the big, fleece dragon plushy that had been left in the crib with him for just that purpose. Snuggling a plush critter would have been embarrassing to him under normal circumstances, but, in the wake of what he had just done, it was small potatoes, and Matt wasn't about to turn down an offer of comfort, wherever it might be offered. He pulled the sheets over him and his dragon plush, and tried to ignore the smell of his diaper as he drifted off to sleep, but a gentle creaking as the door opened brought him back to full wakefulness.
"How diff yoo know?" Matt babbled around his pacifier, then started at the realization that he had, the whole time, been sucking on it without so much as a second thought. The Shepard blushed, and spat the pacifier out into his snug, padded mittens. "How did you know?" he asked again, less garbled this time, but tried to keep the obvious accusation out of his voice. Telia walked over to the bed frame in the corner and tapped a little black sphere on top of a post, a baby monitor. "Oh... Had to keep an eye on me, right?"
"It is my job," Telia said, pulling over a folding chair and sitting down in front of Matt's crib with a blank expression, "to watch over you, care for you, love you..."
"Yeah, sure," Matt said, averting his eyes, and made the mistake of sitting on his badly messed seat. He cringed, and felt some of the steam fall out of his argument. "C-could you change my..." Matt trailed off, not wanting to have to say it, but then bowed to the inevitable, "I need a diaper change, please."
"Can I trust you, now?" Telia asked, raising an eyebrow, "last time I went easy on you it kind of backfired."
Matt sank, not even paying attention to his squishing seat, "you win, I'll be your... your puppy, if it means you'll stop hurting me..."
"That's a start," Telia replied with a sigh, "but it doesn't answer my question. Can I trust you to behave yourself, Matt? I need to hear you say it."
"I- I'll behave myself," he said, looking away in shame, "I promise. C-can I get out of this diaper, now?" he wrapped his mitted hands around the bars of his crib and shot a begging look up at Telia, still emotionally fragile until the drugs had fully made their way out of his system.
"Sure, puppy," the tigress replied, and gave the pup a loving smile, "let’s get you changed." She lowered the bars of Matt's crib and the pup crawled out, still too disoriented to properly walk, not that he'd want to with a loaded diaper behind him. Telia didn't save him the trouble of having to crawl all the way to the changing mat in the corner, but Matt didn't object. Being carried would mean having his diaper squished, more likely than not, and, his pragmatic side taking over, Matt decided getting used to crawling might become useful down the road. It came to him surprisingly easily, considering how heavily medicated he was, and Telia was surprised to watch the pup crawl across to the changing mat and lay down on his back almost effortlessly. "There's my cutie pie," Telia said, kneeling down next to him and giving his belly a gentle scratch, "did puppy make messies in his pampers?"
Matt flushed bright pink and squirmed on the mat, "do you really need to talk to me like that?" he asked, wiggling a bit as his belly was scratched.
"As a matter of fact, I do," Telia replied, gently undoing the snaps on his onesie and pulling it up around the Shepard’s belly, exposing his diaper for changing.
"Why?" Matt said, arms crossed and pouting, "Just to embarrass me?"
"Sheesh, you are quite the stinky baby, aren't you?" Telia cooed down at him, giving the pup a wily grin as he squirmed and grunted, "Sure you don't have to mess anymore? You're not getting another change until this evening."
"I don't need to go anymore, now will you please change me! This is so gross..." Matt begged, feeling uncomfortably emotional from such a relatively small occurrence.
"Matt," Telia said, giving his messy behind a grope and redoubling the pup's whining and squirming, "I'm changing you off schedule because I felt like being generous, otherwise you would have been stuck in this for another hour. Do not make me regret it."
The Shepard’s squirming and whimpering stopped almost instantly, and he looked purely abashed, "Oh... sorry..."
Telia sighed, and squeezed his leg, "It's okay, buddy. Let's get this off you," she said, tearing the tapes on his diaper and pulling it down, both of them whining at the much stronger smell of messy diaper now that there wasn't a layer of plastic between it and them. The tigress took Matt's legs by the ankles and lifted him out of the filthy diaper. She had intentionally applied as much cream and powder as she dared before diapering him, so, luckily for her, cleanup on the pup's bottom was minimal, and a small handful of wipes was enough to clean the muck out of his fur. Matt visibly relaxed as she wiped him down, humming a light melody to herself as she worked, then set him back down on the cool, plastic mat, clearly in a much better mood. She disposed of the diaper, and a question occurred to her, "Hey, Matt?" Telia asked, inquisitive suddenly, "What’s the last thing you remember before I put you down for a nap?"
"I was..." Matt trailed off before he had even begun, looking confused and a bit concerned, "I was in that room... the one downstairs... and then you came back... and then... I don't know, I can't remember." He looked up at her, concerned, "what happened? Why can't I remember anything?" There were a few, shattered bits of memory that flashed through his head, mostly weighted down with heavy, powerful emotions, like he had been in the midst of a storm, but he couldn't remember any of the details.
"It kind of came out of nowhere, actually," Telia said, formalizing the lie in her head before she tried to recount it to the pup, "I fed you dinner, and then took you upstairs to the nursery for a change, but you kind of lost it in there... crying and wailing and apologizing for everything. It took me half an hour to calm you down and feed you your milk, and then you just passed out as soon as I brought you in here."
Matt clearly didn't know what to say about that new development. Bawling and wailing? Him? He'd always been something of a whiner, but a crybaby? Never, at least not in his own imaginings. But he wasn't about to call out Telia on blatantly lying to his face, which would most likely incur one of her strict punishments. He was on thin ice as it was and he knew it, so he decided not to rock the boat. "Okay..." Matt said, blushing as the tigress got out another diaper, this one slightly thinner than the previous and printed with little dragons, which somehow made him feel a bit better, and slipped it underneath his bottom before gently massaging more lotion, cream and powder into his fur and taping the diaper up around his waist once more.
"There we go, nice and clean and cozy, right?" Telia said, grinning, and gave his diaper a soft pat.
Matt blushed, but couldn't deny that it felt better. He was getting used to the bulk between his legs, using his diapers for their intended purpose, being fed his meals, sleeping in a crib, not being able to grip things properly... Matt could see the path he was being pulled down clear as day, and the compliant, helpless little puppy that he'd be at the end of it all. Telia buttoned up the Shepard’s onesie, and helped him gently to his feet, still wobbly and uncertain as though he'd never walked before.
"You've got some cleaning to do, Matt," Telia said, a bit firmer once she started leading the pup out of the spare bedroom and into the ruined nursery. She clearly saw him start and cringe at the sight of the wasted room, wallpaper torn down and the half laminated half carpeted floor covered with feathers and fluff.
"I thought I was supposed to be a baby?" Matt said, starting to pout again, "babies make messes, and other people clean up after them. So it should be you cleaning this up."
Telia laughed at him, shamelessly, and right in his face, "Do you really want me to take away what little independence you have, Matt?"
"Oh, wait... never mind," the Shepard said, realizing how stupid he sounded, and kicked at the fluff under his paws, "I have to clean all of it...?"
"Every. Last. Bit," Telia said, crossing her arms and looking as stern as she could. The pup was off balance at the moment, so this was her opportunity to cement her dominance, "and I'll be here to watch you every step of the way. Hop to it." She gave the somewhat dumbstruck shepard a courtly swat on the behind, and his head sank into his shoulders, beaten down.
"Alright..." Matt muttered, blushing and slumping, "can I have a broom... or something?"
"Everything you need is in the hall closet, and don't let me see you sparing the elbow grease. I'm being awfuly generous with you, probably more than I ought. This is your chance to show me that I'm not being foolish again."
Matt didn't reply, at least not vocally, but he did gently nod his head and waddle out into the hallway. Telia was right on his tail, of course, not about to let the pup out of her sight after what had happened, and observed as he obediently searched out the hall closet, examined its contents, mostly cleaning supplies, spare linens, and diaper changing materials, nothing he hadn't expected, then began picking and choosing what he thought he needed. A broom and dustpan, a mop and bucket, a sponge, rubber gloves, detergent, and a handful of plastic garbage bags. Telia raised an eyebrow at the sight of the sponge and bucket.
"What are those for?" the tigress asked, looking somewhat suspicious, and watched the pup cringe in embarrassment and something akin to anxiety.
"I... might have peed in the corner last night... I thought you'd noticed..." Matt whimpered, not meeting her eye, and realized just how childish that made him sound, like he hadn't been able to hold his bladder all night, when in reality it had only been to spite her.
Telia rubbed the sides of her head and grumbled, "Oh you silly bugger..."
"Hey, what was I supposed to do?" Matt replied, growing indignant, "I was locked in there all- Mmpph..." The shepard's mini-rant was cut short as Telia, who was sick to death of the pup's whining, used her feline speed and reflexes to force a hidden pacifier between his lips mid-sentence.
"No more big boy talk today," Telia said, giving him her sternest glare, "I don't want to see that pacifier leave your muzzle until you're done cleaning. If you need something, you can talk around it like the puppy you act like."
Abashed, Matt looked like he might try to argue his case, or fuss, but then considered the consequences and only tucked his tail between his legs, and padded back towards his ruined bedroom. Again, it almost startled him how much damage he'd done, and quietly enough that it hadn't so much as roused the feline from her sleep. He hadn't intended to wear her out during the day, then attempt an escape during the night, but the improvised plan had been sound, even though it hadn't worked. With a defeated air, the scolded puppy stacked his cleaning supplies on the more or less intact changing table, then silently plotted out how he was going to clean up this disaster, Telia keeping a close watch from a folding office chair by the door. First he'd sweep the floor and surfaces, and get all the broken bits and scattered fluff bagged and disposed of, then trash everything that needed to be removed, such as the ruined armchair, then scrub his reeking urine stain off the corner wall and carpet, then get rid of all the broken nursery bits, such as the toys and clothes, then finish by vacuuming the carpet. There had been more he had destroyed that night, such as the cracked ceiling windows, torn wallpaper and smashed cabinets and drawers, but he didn't think that fell under Telia's definition of cleaning. No, if she wanted that stuff done, she'd need to get someone qualified. "Talikin could probably do it..." Matt grumbled to himself, wishing his boyfriend was here to do all this for him... But that had been the whole problem, hadn't it? These people, these... caretakers, they'd taken him because he'd been so irresponsible, coasted through life on the backs of others. First his parents, then his boyfriend...
"Let's have some music, shall we?" Telia said, seeing that the pup had taken the reasonably mindless work as an excuse to contemplate his situation. There would be a time for that, but it wasn't yet, so Telia tapped on her cellphone for a few moments before coming up with some of the pre-loaded music that came on every junior caretaker's emergency contact cell. She chuckled in time with Matt's groan as the all-time classic 'wheels on the bus' turned on, and Telia turned up the volume so it would fill the room. She had always hated that song with a passion, it was one of the few that, once in an initiate's head, could get stuck there for days and days, slowly driving them mad with its childish repetition. Clearly Matt thought the same thing, but didn't complain, and continued his sweeping.
The whole cleaning of the nursery took Matt somewhere in the neighborhood of two hours and some spare change, and, to Telia's happy surprise, his grumbling gradually subsided as time passed, and progress was made. The room wasn't spotless by the time he was done, and he had had to skip the moving of the heavy furniture as he had planned on Telia's order, but the tigress was satisfied that pretty well everything he could do, he had, and gave the pup an approving nod when he looked at her for a reaction.
"You're still in trouble, but this is a good start," Telia said, nodding at him, then walked over to the uncomfortably padding pup and put a finger up through the leg band of his diaper.
"H-hey! What are you doing?" Matt said, trying half-heatedly to push her away.
"Bone dry. You're holding back," Telia said, looking up at the Shepard with an amused expression, "I bet you need to tinkle, don't you?"
"Please don't call it that..." Matt said, squirming under her touch, and subconsciously wiggled his hips to help hold his full bladder.
Telia put on a sly smile, and nudged his nose with hers, "Come on, pup, I'll make you a deal. Use your little pamper right now, and I'll let you stay up a little later tonight and watch cartoons during dinner, okay?"
"Do they have to be cartoons..." Matt said, blushing, realizing that he was going to have to wet himself at some point or another, so he might as well get something in return for the embarrassment.
"Yes," Telia said, firm on that point, and Matt slumped, but mumbled his agreement.
"I can't go with you watching... Shy bladder," he grumbled, and Telia nodded.
"Yes you can, you just need to trust me," the tigress gave the flush pink faced shepard a knowing and affectionate smile, then led him over to her chair and had him sit down, rather reluctantly, on her lap. She wrapped her arms around his belly gently, then nuzzled into his fluffy neck, "Come on, puppy, just let go of your fear. Nobody's here to judge you, relax..."
"I don't think I can..." Matt said, more whimper than whine, but couldn't help but feel intensely comfortable on the feline's lap for some inexplicable reason. He felt loved and safe and powerless all at the same time, and Telia's gentle cooing in his ear wasn't helping at all, her nosing about the scruff on his neck reminding him of the days of being licked clean by his mother. He had always loved being bathed like that, barking happily as he was briefly the center of his mother's attentions, which were normally spread over the entire litter of five, and let himself drift away into the happy memories of being nuzzled and cuddled, the warmth and the comfort and the snug, soggy wetness... "Wait, what?" Matt practically squealed, snapping out of his stupor, and practically leapt out of Telia's loose grip, his bottom squishing horribly as he brought his legs together.
"Oh, damn," Telia cursed to herself, "I was really enjoying that."
"I peed myself! You made me pee myself!" Matt accused, pointing a finger at her and fuming hot in the face that he almost seemed like he was about to catch fire, "what was all that?!"
"Don't pretend like you didn't like it," Telia said smugly, standing up and giving him a knowing grin, "I saw that look on your face. You were in heaven."
"I- but... n-no!" Matt tried to object, to complain, but it was hopeless. Wet diaper or not, he had certainly enjoyed it, but that didn't make his accident any less humiliating, "C-could you at least change me?" he said, hanging his head in defeat.
"Sorry, puppy," Telia said, patting him on the head, "I need to get you used to a changing schedule. Your next change comes before bed, so you'll have to wait for another hour and a bit."
"W-wait, you're putting me to bed at seven?" Matt said, "You're kidding, right?"
"Do I seem like the kidding type to you, puppy?" Telia replied, taking him by the paw and leading him back down the stairs to the living room, "but I suppose I could put you to bed early, if you really wanted a diaper change right now?"
"I'll wait," Matt said without a moment's hesitation, and allowed himself to be gently led down to the living room, where Telia sat him again back down on her lap for cartoons. To the shepard's readily apparent disdain, she chose to wrap her arms around his midsection again, and insisted on gently nuzzling his neck the whole time. Not ready to be subtly coerced into childish glee once more, Matt fought an internal battle against the desire to simply relax in her arms again, and melt away into the child's playful joy, but he succeeded only in part, and couldn't keep the smile off his face as he was nuzzled and preened over. But when Telia started gently grooming him, the battle was lost and he knew it. Mat sighed in defeat, and leaned back into the feline's gently licking tongue, guiltily enjoying the affection and attention he was getting, and turned to putty in the tigress's arms. This was the life...
"Come on, puppy. Lay down for a few minutes, I'll see if I can find you some gram crackers to snack on before dinner," Telia said, chuckling to herself, and nudged the reluctant pup down onto the couch, his bottom squishing mightily as his rather wet diaper hit the cushion.
"Oh...!" Matt said, ignoring his squishy diaper, and feeling his tail start to wag at the mention of gram crackers, "I love those! Are they animal shaped?" As before, the shepard's memories were drawn back to his childhood, and playfully pretending he was a dinosaur that was eating all the little forest creatures. It didn't even occur to him how much these nostalgic thoughts were gently nudging him into the mindset of an eight year old, and lit up like a boy on his birthday when Telia did indeed come back with animal crackers.
"Well, well, I see someone's hungry!" Telia joked, handing him a small bowl of them, "you have some fun, but try not to make a mess. I'm going to go start on your supper."
Matt hardly listened, having dug his paws into the bowl of crunchy animal shaped crackers and filled his mouth with them, making his old, favorite dinosaur noises as he did, oblivious to the gently chuckling tigress who watched him from the dining room.
Telia concluded that the pup wasn't going anywhere, but turned the baby monitor to face the living room just to be on the safe side. She set about preparing fish sticks and fries in the kitchen, giving the baby monitor a glance every few moments to make sure that Matt was still sitting on the couch and not causing trouble of one kind or another. While the food was in the oven, the tigress cautiously reviewed a list she had written in code during the pup's nap and took out the required spices, or, rather, disguised drugs from the rack on the wall and mixed them into the pup's formula bottle. Formula was fantastically good at hiding the flavor of the various powders, so it was good for the organization that it was so readily available, and fit the theme in question so very well.
"Dinner's ready!" Telia called, glancing out the door at Matt, who broke out of his juvenile tendencies and pawed his way across to the dining room.
"Can I sit at the table, this time?" Matt asked, hoping to himself that he would at least get that privilege, but no such luck. Telia shook her head even before the shepard had finished asking.
"Sorry, buddy. Rules are rules," the tigress said, nodding at the high-chair in the corner, and Matt acquiesced without any fuss or struggle. He had lost the initial burst of resistance that a new initiate always experienced, and had hunkered down for the long-haul. Telia knew exactly what he was thinking, almost like she could see into his head. She had, after all, gone through this exact phase, albeit several years ago, and under a much more experienced caretaker than herself, who had in her tool belt techniques that had since been forbidden, such as, for example, violent punishment. Not that Telia would have done anything violent to Matt, of course. She knew first hand how that kind of thing could break up a budding bond, and all the research had been behind her. There was a right way and a wrong way to punish an unruly cub, and her training had taught her both.
Telia let Matt feed himself more or less autonomously for dinner, since there wasn't much to be gained or lost in the decision, and she had had a rough day as it was. Matt ate his chicken fingers and fries mechanically, then downed his nursing bottle without a fuss, having gotten used to suckling to the point that it wasn't much of an issue for him. Unbenounced to the pup, who was still partially in cub headspace, he had just ingested another small hospital's worth of drugs, though it was an entirely different set from that afternoon.
"Come on, bud, bedtime," Telia said, giving him a wink.
"But it's just six! You said seven..." Matt said, crossing his arms and pouting, "no fair."
Telia nodded, "Lights out at seven, but first you need a bath, diaper change, and the rest of your bedtime routine. Don't worry, you'll get used to the early bedtime, puppy," she said with a chuckle, and unlocked the high chair so he could get out.
"So unfair..." Matt grumbled, but didn't fight as he was led once again downstairs to the bathing complex in the basement, to where the only intact changing table in the house was.
"Fair has nothing to do with it," Telia said, gently patting the laminated plastic surface and nodding in its direction, "up, puppy. Let's get that squishy behind of yours cleaned up for your bath."
"Yeah, whatever..." Matt said, more like a pouty four year old than an adult, and just stood there staring at her, lip out as he fussed.
"Matt, do I need to use the restraints again?" Telia said, giving him her stern caretaker expression, and watched the pup startle and crumble under the threat, though he groaned about fairness a fair bit more as he sat up onto the changing table, a well-established ritual by this point. Unsnap the crotch of his onesie, gently tease him about being a baby that can't keep his pants dry, untape the diaper, pull it out from under him, dispose of it, wipe his diaper areas down with wet-
All of a sudden, and with the weight of a freight train, Matt saw what was going on, the full, twisted face of it all. This was never going to end until they got what they wanted from him, whoever, exactly, they were. Matt swallowed hard, eyes going wide and his heart suddenly pounding like cannon fire in his ears. He couldn't just sit idly by and let this tigress have her way with him... She'd already beat, coerced or manipulated him into these disgusting diapers for two whole days, fed and nursed him like a baby, dressed and treated him like one, and this would never stop until she had destroyed everything that made him, him. Sure, he was by all accounts a bad friend, and a bad boyfriend, with a terrible work ethic, and an entitlement complex that a thirteen year old boy would blush at, but that was part of how he defined himself! That's who he was, and who were these... these caretakers to say what was and wasn't correct behavior? What gave them the right? The authority? In that instant, Matt had had enough. And, if this wasn't the most ideal time for an escape, there were certainly worse.
Completely unsuspecting of what was going through her cubs head, or at least giving that outward appearance, Telia had knelt to search through the contents of the cupboards beneath the changing table for a fresh diaper and some more wipes. She didn't pay much attention to Matt, who subtly edged his way over to one side of the changing table, sat back up against the wall, coiled his right leg, breathing heavily, then waited until the tigress started to stand back up and drove his bony heel right into the feline's nose, sending her wind milling backwards with a shout before slipping and falling against the wall. Matt had never managed to successfully hit the tigress before, but, despite how underhanded the sneak attack had been, to the shepard, who had suffered under her hand for the past two days, it felt really, really good to finally get some pay back. Matt hurled himself from the changing table in her direction, but Telia was groaning in a heap on the tiled floor, her head having bashed against the wall on a bad angle as she fell, and didn't seem conscious, let alone ready to fight.
Matt hadn't planned this out beforehand, only having taken the opportunity out of a spur of the moment, but a plan wasn't too hard to come up with. Matt ran through the tigress's pockets after he was sure she was out like a light, and removed a smartphone, no use to him since it was password encrypted, but depriving her of it was a victory, but that was it. There was no wallet, no keys, no money. Nothing else. "Just take what you need and go," Matt said with a sigh, knowing that he'd be fine once he got to the police and reported this... whatever the hell it was. "Okay, clothes," he said, and began undressing the limp feline, starting with the sweater and ending with the- "What the hell? Is that a... diaper?" Matt was more surprised than confused to see a layer of plastic backed padding between the feline's legs as he pulled down her grey track pants, then shook himself out of the contemplation, "who cares if she wears diapers. Get what you need and go."
Matt's heart had stopped the better part of its furious pounding by the time he'd stripped his caretaker and hastily pulled the generic grey outfit on, leaving Telia naked but for her thin pink diaper and sports bra, but didn't feel a tinge of remorse. He turned to go, but heard the feline groan and roll over a bit, on the edge of consciousness.
"Shit," the shepard said, panicking a bit, and glanced around the room for something to tie her up with, but, luckily for him, the changing table restraints offered a perfect opportunity. Despite being muscular and streamlined, Telia was rather heavy to the dog, who was in no way athletic or in shape, so he only managed to drag her by an arm over to the counter and lock one of the cuffs around her right wrist. It would have to do, and the police would unlock her when he led them back here that evening. With that kink in the plan ironed out, Matt tightened the string in the track pants so they didn't fall down and practically sprinted upstairs and out the front door, pocketing the cellphone while he did.
Telia's station was right in the middle of a large, upper middle class suburb that Matt didn't recognize, so he weighed his options as he speed-walked down the street. How long did he have before Telia woke up, found a way out of the cuff, and organized someone to come after him, or did so herself? He took a look at the CRV in the driveway, and briefly considered searching for the keys and driving out of there, but dismissed the idea. He was already at the end of the driveway and walking down the street at a brisk pace, feet outrunning his plans, and found himself unnervingly paranoid of every passing second. By the time he'd reached the end of the street, the shepard had buckled under the pressure, and headed straight towards the nearest house, panting from the exertion, both mental and physical. He banged on the hardwood door, shifting his weight between his feet uneasily, then knocked again, rapping his fist like gunfire. When the door opened to reveal a confused, but not angry looking bear lady, about a foot taller and a hundred pounds heavier than Matt himself, the shepard practically collapsed from relief. Had he been thinking clearly, he might have noticed that the bear was wearing the same grey sweater and pants as he had taken from Telia, and a very similar set of CRVs were parked in every driveway in the neighborhood.
"Well how can I help you miss... err," the bear said in a warm, semi-formal tone down at Matt, almost as though she were reading a script, but then trailed off as she got a closer look at him.
"Oh my god that's such a relief," Matt said, panting furiously, "Please, you've got to help me. This crazy lady has been... I- I need to use your phone, c-call the-"
Matt lost his frantic speech as the bear wrapped an arm around him and pulled his head into her chest.
"Settle down, settle down little one. Where's your caretaker, sweetie?" the bear said, sweet and motherly into his ear, "are you lost?"
"Oh... no... no-no-no-no..." Matt whimpered into her chest as it dawned on him what this was, why Telia had been so comfortable keeping a kidnapped adult in the middle of a subdivision. She was one of them, and he'd put himself right into her paws... Matt desperately tried to push away from her, to try and run before she had a chance to catch him, but it was fruitless, and he felt her paw close around the nape of his neck in a second and lift him off the ground by it. He yelped and kicked, but the fight was lost.
"Oh my... are you trying to run away, little one?" The bear said to the nearly incoherently whining pup, much less comforting and motherly now that she'd guessed her purpose, "what is your name, and who is your caretaker, puppy?"
"M-Matt," the shepard said, quivering in outright fear, but couldn't make his mouth form Telia's name.
"You're Telia's charge, then," she said, and shut the door behind them without another thought, keeping a firm grip on Matt's scruff and dragging him down the street towards Telia's station and the inevitable, inconceivably harsh punishment that awaited him there. "You should be very ashamed of yourself, pup," the bear said, scolding him, "and after all she's done for you, you steal away like a thief in the night. Bad puppy. Very bad puppy."