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"You took your medicine today?" Roxy asks as she looks over her charts. Darrek nods blankly. "Good, you know you have to take it every day. I might have to change it to twice daily, considering Joel's report on what happened. Would you like to tell me what happened, Darrek?" Roxy never makes eye contact.

"I didn't take my medication yesterday, that's what happened." The wolf says coldly.

"I can see that, Darrek; remember I'm here to help." She twitches her short whiskers and fiddles with her pen and note pad.

And it's true too, Roxy is there to help him out, thought she treats him as just another client, never really trying to connect with him, just doing her job. Darrek's never been the talkative type, just silent and reserved no bother, no trouble. "I know you're here to help, what do you want me to say, Roxy?"

"Well, first off, you can tell me what exactly made you so hysterical last night; and second, you can fill me in on who precisely your cub is." The cheetah's ears pick up as to not miss anything, her pen ready on the paper.

"I just saw some things...that's all, and I don't really feel up to talking about Max with you."

"How do you know Max, Darrek?" Roxy scribbles away.

"I told you, I'm not going to talk about him with you, he's mine." Darrek's ears lay back under his hood; he tightens his hold on his tail to almost vice-like.

"How is he yours Darrek?"

"I take care of him; he's the only one I have..." Darrek whines slightly.

"Where does he live?"

"We live together...just him and me...I take care of him..." His eyes start to tear up

"Why're you taking care of him?"

"Because...his parents...disappeared...when he was young, I was his neighbor...I took him in..."

"Darrek, you know that isn't real."

"Of course I know it's not real! What do you think? It's so lucid, besides Roxy, Who else do I have?" Darrek sighs and sinks down.

"You have Joel." Roxy retorts quickly

"Yeah, right, sure I do." Darrek oozes with sarcasm, snickering slightly and turning his head away from the therapist.

Joel gives off the same impression, just another person, no connection or caring, or understanding. If he even had a shred of interest in Darrek then the wolf wouldn't have to seek out his cub for admiration. His cub doesn't think of him as just another person, he truly cares about his lupine guardian, something in his head caring more about him than anything tangible.

"Joel's real, Max isn't. What can your make-believe cub offer you that something real can't?"

"He's mine, that's what! My friend! My responsibility, he's my time, my effort! You will not address him like that again; you here me Roxanne?!"

"We'll cut today short." The cheetah glares, still writing. "Thursday Darrek, same time."

Darrek just shakes his head, getting up quickly and leaves, the hallway back to the elevator is like a blur. Darrek can't even remember when, and if, he actually walked down the corridor. He stands there for a minute, a paw going to his pockets, his cell phone is gone! Surely he brought it with him before he left, Darrek checks again, front pockets, back pockets, looking around and retracing his steps. Searching the red carpeting till he gets to Roxy's office door, he stops and goes back to the elevator, tapping the down button until the doors open; no one's in the elevator, Darrek nearly jumps inside. He makes the ground floor button light up, he gets fidgety, his knees shaking, keeping both paws on his tail. When the doors open he rushes outside, then just stands dumbfounded on the sidewalk, the air warmer than inside the climate controlled building, the white noise of traffic clogs the wolf's hearing.

Darrek looks around for a place to sit and settles on the edge of the planter that decorates the outside of the building, with tail in paw he sits quietly and waits. He plays with the dirt and grass in the planter, listening to the passing traffic and humming to himself. "Joel will be here any minute now, he probably already realized I forgot my phone, it won't take long." Darrek says to himself

The better half of thirty minutes goes by, Darrek still playing with things in the planter, preoccupying himself as best he can. There are a few footsteps, then the daylight gets sort of dim, the wolf turns back around and he can see nothing but a black furred torso. "Waitin' for someone wolf? I can give you a ride home ifin someone forgot about you. Which way ya headed wolf?" A large pitch black jaguar says in a raspy voice, his eyes blood red, a crooked smile on his muzzle which exposes a few fangs.

"I've been waiting for a while now, he won't take long now, and he's probably already on his way here right now, Roxy probably called him when I left..." Darrek looks down at the cat's paws when he talks, his ears laying back under his hood.

"I can drive you home; I have nothing else to do. I have a cell phone in my car, you can use that to call your friend, tell him you found a way home." The feline stares down at Darrek, that smile still on his muzzle

He seems nice; if he wasn't nice he wouldn't offer me a ride home, why else would he offer? He does have a phone I could use; I could save Joel a drive back here. He seems nice, why else? Why else? Darrek thinks to himself, looking up slightly, only to the cat's chest, he nods a little and gets up, "Okay"

The jaguar puts his paw on the considerably smaller wolf and starts to walk down the sidewalk, "I'm Vince, you?"

"Dâ€"Darrek..." the wolf stutters his name.

"You a shy one aren't you Darrek, Ahh, dun worry ‘bout it." They walk a block and a half then Vince stops at a bulky looking four door pick-up truck that's just as black as the jaguar's fur. "Go on, get in."

Darrek waits by the passenger's door, petting his tail in wait for the large jaguar to get in first, opening the door and climbing inside, sinking into the seat, trying to make himself as small as possible. Vince starts the car and drives down the road until they stop at a red light. "So, where am I taking you?" His question almost makes Darrek jump out of his seat.