Tony pushed his way through bushes to see Haley drinking water.

“Hey come on, we’re gonna be running late. It’s gonna be impossible to get through int valley’s once that storm hits and if we don’t we’re dead,”

“I’m just drinking some water. Please, just give me a minute I’m so thirsty,”

Tony let out a growl but didn’t stop her from drinking. He actually bent down and joined her, looking up every so often as he was taught to do in school when he was a kid. After the two were done drinking and cooling off, Tony looked up to notice that the sun was setting.

“Oh great. We’re never gonna be able to make it the campsite night,” Tony said.

The two of them looked around before Tony noticed a boat getting ready to go out on the river and some acorns lying on the ground.

“Perfect!,” he exclaimed.

“Wha-,” Haley started confused, but in a flash Tony had grabbed the acorns and grabbed haley by the middle of the torso, leading to Haley getting the wind momentarily knocked out of her due to the teenage wolf’s canine’s colliding with her abdomen. Haley yelped as she was carried away at record speed in the rough manner. Tony slammed the acorns into a moose’s hoof and boarded on the steamboat. Once on Tony spat Haley out of her mouth leading to the fox kit landing unceremoniously on the ground.

“Ow! Thanks,” Haley responded bitterly.

Tony lent out a paw to her to help her stand up which she took as she rubbed her sore stomach.

“Sorry. Didn’t have time to think. I didn’t hurt you did I?,”

“No, I’ll be fine I-,” Haley started before looking up at the wolf in shock.

“What?,”

“Aw. You do care!,” she cooed.

Tony looked frantic. “What? No. I just… didn’t want us slowly down to take you to a doctor that’s all. And I’d hate to take you back to your mom and dad with broken ribs,”

Haley smiled. “Uh huh. Sure,” she said and rolled her eyes.

That dusk…

“-at’s when Demetry learned to be carefully about what kind of bugs you eat,” Haley said finishing up a storm.

Tony looked like he was about to hurl. “Please… don’t go into that much detail about someone getting bug poisoning ever again,”

Haley giggled but suddenly lighting flashed and everyone looked up at the storm creeping closer. If Tony didn’t know any better he would have sworn Haley flinched.

“Oh, wow. I've never seen the storm up close before. Man it’s bigger than my mommy told me,” Haley said in awe.

“You’re mother told you about the storm at your age?,” Tony said surprised. His parents never even told him, they let him find out on his own and for the following 2 years when everyone went to Valley’s they comforted the younger pups the entire way there whole Tony was just expected to deal with the fear of being caught out in the open in that death trapper caught by a predator or a human on his own. After all he was the oldest child. He needed to show his little brothers and sisters there was nothing to worry about right?

“Yeah. My mommy says my education is very important, especially when it comes to that storm. It’s killed so many of us in the past,”

“Yeah I-I get it. You know for a change. Maybe parents could just take their own advice,” Tony said rolling over away from Haley.

“What do you mean?,” Haley asked.

“My parents and brothers and sisters were killed by humans. For wolves who always preach being careful they didn’t do that good of a job themselves,”

“Your whole family got caught? What happened?,” Haley asked.

“Stampede. Humans set them off to trap animals all the time when they want to get a whole bunch of them,”

Haley looked nervous. A stampede? A stampede had been set off when she had gotten separated from her parents. What if... No she couldn't think like that. She didn't even know if Tony was talking about the same stampede. Haley walked closer to him.

“What was your mom and dad’s name?,”

“Nicole and Conner,”

“Well, they sounded like they were really nice. I’m sure they cared about you,”

“Maybe at one point but… once I they got ton kid number 5 they treated me more like a caretaker then a son. Not to mention let my brothers and sisters push me around and treat me like garbage,”

“Oh. I’m sorry that’s terrible,”

“Eggh. It wasn’t that bad. Beatrice’s parents showed us how to hunt together when things would get to crazy at home growing up I would usually sleep over. It was fun,”

“Well… I think you’re pretty great,”

Tony looked over to Haley surprised. Haley slid down Tony’s back and curled up into a ball near him.

“For what it's worth. I always wanted a big brother,”

Haley fell fast asleep while Tony alternated between watching her and watching the dusk sky turn to night.