THE PROFESSIONALS ARRIVE

23 FEBRUARY, TUESDAY, 11PM

I would never describe myself as a planning kind of person (because I'm not), but at the prospect of having to get Bell down to the pool alone with Delta Oran incited my brain to spin into overdrive and suddenly I had churned many plans. I couldn't underwrite the quality (or sanity) of any of these plans, but they just popped out like magic the way mushrooms appeared after the rain.

PLAN A: This was the most straight forward. We go up to Bell's room. Delta Oran could undress Bell and wrap a towel or something around him. Then I'd help him hoist Bell down and into the pool. Would Bell drown in the pool if we put him in sleeping? Would he need someone to go in to keep him afloat? Omo. All night? What if his towel came off?

PLAN B: Okay, this plan was like an upgraded version of Plan A. In this one, Delta Oran should put Bell in something more secure, like a pair of shorts or boxers. I wasn't sure what clothes he had in the wardrobe. His default clothing at Night Leaf had usually been training gear. Anyway, we get him down to the pool and I made some kind of support with the pool noodles from the pool party we had earlier this year. Then we just needed someone to keep an eye on him, you know, just in case he slipped under.

Overall, I was beginning to think using our pool wasn't the best idea. But Delta Oran seemed quite sure that it would help Bell recover faster, and I should be more supportive as his mate, right?

PLAN C: Maybe we didn't need to change him at all. I mean, whoever said you had to be appropriately dressed at a pool - okay, lots of people said that. But this was a private pool and although yes, it would seem funny to put Bell into the water in his suit and all, but who would know? Heck, let's throw in the jacket too!

PLAN D: We could just move Bell to the bathtub in my room. Then we only needed to make sure the water stayed warm - I guess we could drain the cold water and run in hot water periodically... with him still in it, as long as we were careful not to scald him. We could even use a pool noodle or two to prop up his head... and arm. It's a good thing I was thinking through this or I would have gotten his bandages soaked.

But if we used my tub, I'd have to let Delta Oran into my room, and last I heard, my room had a pretty strict no males policy - except for family and my betas and Bell. Would I be able to take care of Bell alone? Urm... he would be dressed, right?

PLAN E: I don't know why I was being so uptight about Bell getting naked. I mean, we were wolves, and every now and then, guys shift and find themselves naked at arguably inappropriate places - like outside the pack house, and nobody would bat an eyelid. There's even a basket of old but clean warrior jackets and training gear left out for these poor souls, lest they got frostbitten.

So its not big deal. It's nature - our nature anyway. Plus it's not like Bell was very modest to begin with. Bell was a very immodest wolf. He was always shifting right there in front of all the trainees during training runs. I'm not sure if it was a Lorent thing (since Ki did that too), or a fight dog thing (untested hypothesis), or Bell and Ki just liked to show off (totally possible too).

So PLAN E would be to ignore all senses of propriety and just roll up my sleeves and man up, and just help Delta Oran with whatever was needed to get Bell to the pool so that he could recover quicker.

PLAN F was to just connect a hose to the bathroom tap and spray Bell liberally whilst he continued lying in bed like a beached whale. We'd even spray him very frequently and make sure the water was heated so he wouldn't catch a cold.

By now, I had realized my plans were all rubbish. It only proved why I wasn't a planning kind of person - I really s*** at it.

And that was why even though mushrooms sprouted after the rain, most mushrooms were not edible.

Luckily, my terrible weakness never came to light because Delta Oran had decided to take it upon himself to text no other than my good beta.

"If this a agreeable with you, Alpha Princess, I'll ask Beta Harvey to send assistance."

So smart, this Delta.

And then like magic, Harvey's headlights beamed into the pool room as his truck drove up our driveway. At least it sounded like his truck - but with extra wheels. I tilted my head at the vehicle's abnormal noise, through the fogged up windows, I could see something pretty large roll up. I decided to go outside to check it out.

It was indeed Harvey's truck. I've gotten so used to hearing Harvey drive up in his truck, I was very familiar with the sound, so I recognized it even though it was towing another car - an old silver blue Volkswagen Beetle, so I immediately knew it was Delta Simon's car.

Our pack only had two Volkswagen Beetles - an old silver blue one which belonged to Delta Simon and was always breaking down, and a bright yellow one that belonged to a lady named Karen. I didn't know anything else about Karen except that she had a bright yellow beetle. So during summer BBQs, when the streets around the Packhouse were lined with cars, whenever there was a space that was too large for a bike and too small for a "real car", the adults would say, "Someone mindlink Delta Simon or Karen that there's a parking space for them here."

Delta Simon said his car was just right for his job. As the pack's head doctor, his car was easily recognizable so the other wolves could wave him down in an emergency. Also, it was small enough to squeeze into any kind of tight spaces so he would never be short of parking spaces. This was all well and good if it didn't break down so much!

But Delta Simon really loved his old car, "It was my dad's. My dad really loved this car."

Did that make the car his mum? OMO.

Hahaha, just kidding. But yeah, I guess it wasn't just my betas who had special relationships with their vehicles. Normally, I'd shun stereotypes, but these guys weren't exactly trying to break free.

Anyway, Delta Simon's car had broken down (again) or he would have gotten here sooner. Delta Simon was the kind of old fashioned doctor who carried a black leather bag around with him.

"So, where's the patient?" He asked looking about the pool room - which I would like to point out, would be the last place a patient might be - but then again, this was exactly where Delta Oran was planning to move Bell.

It seemed that Delta Oran and Delta Simon knew each other. Delta Oran's face lit up for the first time since coming here, "Ah, Delta Simon. How are you?"

Delta Simon nodded happily, "Good, good. How is the missus?"

"Same old." Delta Oran laughed, "And yours?"

"Yes, yes, thank you." Delta Simon agreed.

If this exchanged didn't make sense to you, its because that was how adults made small talk. It usually didn't make any sense. They were just babbling meaningless words in a friendly tone to each other.

For example, "Cold weather we're having."

"Yes. Frightful, really."

Usually, these words should be exchanged with all geniality.

Like I said, it was an adult thing. Don't pay it mind. I didn't.

Anyway, someone tapped on the sliding door to the pool room. Harvey opened it.

"Ah, good. My nurse is here." Delta Simon exclaimed when the sexy nurse stepped in - the one who gave me the Hello Kitty plaster and treated me like a puppy the last time she was here. What was her name again?

"This is my nurse, Penelope." Delta Simon did the introductions, "She'd be taking the night shift."

To Penelope who was just taking off her winter coat, he asked, "My goodness, I hope you weren't waiting outside all this while."

Penelope laughed, her laugh was husky, "No doctor, I was helping my mum in the Packhouse kitchen."

It turned out that Penelope was Mama Rosa's daughter. Who knew?

I eyed Penelope carefully, I couldn't decide which was more unbelievable, the probability that Mama Rosa once looked like Penelope or that Penelope would one day look like Mama Rosa.

Penelope noticed me staring and gave me a wide smile, "How are you, princess? I've been seeing you on the news a lot."

I took pause. How was I supposed to respond to that?

"Like the news my Dad watches? Or the news my Mum reads?" I asked because some context would be nice.

Penelope laughed. I liked her laughter, it was husky and confident, "Maybe a bit of both, our alpha princess is one everyone's screen lately."

I tilted my head trying to decide if I liked her. Why did she always talk to me like I was a pup?

"Ah, that's right!" Delta Simon remembered, "You used to help your mum here a lot before you started working as a nurse."

Penelope laughed, "Yeah. This brings back memories, feeding hungry puppies from the back door and all."

Hey... wait! "It's you!" I exclaimed.

When I was a puppy, there was a fat teen who lived in the packhouse kitchen. Wolves didn't grow fat easily, our metabolism was kind of demanding to upkeep, but this girl literally lived in the packhouse kitchen where all the good food was. The other wolves called her Little Rosa, or Penny. And Penny was the best because she always snuck the good stuff to any pup who waited outside the kitchen door long enough. One day, she just disappeared. Admittedly, I had never questioned it.

"You've changed!" I blurted out.

Penny smiled, her smile both familiar and foreign at the same time, "I just lost a bit of weight. You're the one who transformed, princess. But it's nice that you're still so funny and cute."

Eh? I blinked. I wondered what Penny was remembering. I hope it wasn't anything too embaressing.

Meanwhile, Delta Oran had finished explaining his idea about moving Bell down to the pool.

"Alright, can do." Delta Simon nodded, "I'll have some medics come over with the logistics. Penelope can help prepare the patient."

Eh? What? Penelope?

Exactly what did Delta Simon mean by "prepare the patient"?

"Okay, doctor." Penny smiled.

"I'll show you up." Harvey volunteered.

"Thanks, Harvey." Penelope smiled. Harvey returned it with a wry smile.

I watched them both head up the stairs together. Should I go with? And then I got distracted because when Penny climbed stairs, her hips swayed in an hypnotising way.

"Shouldn't you be in bed by now Sam?" Delta Simon asked in a friendly way because here's another wolf who still thought I was a "funny and cute pup".

Heck, Delta Simon was so old, he probably thought Penny was still a pup too.

"Urm... Yeah, unless you need my help for anything." I said meekly.

"No, no, don't worry about us. We've got Harvey around. You better go to bed. The Alpha Princess can't go the school grouchy right?" Delta Simon grinned.

Well, since I'm the Alpha Princess I could go to school as grouchy as I wanted! But I didn't think Delta Simon would understand.

A prophet has no honor in his hometown. And no matter what you become in this world, there will always be those who'd still think you're a funny and cute pup.