"Ladies and Gentlemen! Welcome to the Greatest Show On Earth!"

Salvatore's speech was really starting to grate on Dean's nerves. Maybe it was more just the man himself, warbling on about how proud he was of his circus when Dean now knew that the guy was too cheap to upgrade all the broken equipment or pay out for medication when the performers or animals got sick.

Dean knelt down and buried his face against Dolores's fur, attempting to shut out the rest of Salvatore's boasting and puffed up claims.

Although there was nothing false about his "Most Dangerous!" announcement. Dean knew the Flying Foxes were on right after the animal acts tonight. He hadn't seen Billie since lunch but he had been informed by Elmer that Billie and Juan had been squirreled away somewhere rehearsing furiously.

Not exactly the 'resting' that Lawrence had instructed was necessary then.

At least Dean had an excuse for being in the Big Top tonight and wouldn't have to lurk in the shadows at the back in order to watch Billie perform.

Once or twice he had thought that the other boy had noticed him there, green eyes flashing and narrowing, but Billie would always look away a moment later with a wide smile on his face. Probably a trick of the light.

There was something addicting about watching Billie' routines, the way he worked in such perfect harmony with Juan, the way his slim muscles flexed under his costume, the way his feet arched so gracefully as he sprung through the air as if propelled by wings.

Dean could never see it enough times, and yet he simultaneously craved and dreaded show nights with the unmistakable danger they would bring. Dean couldn't understand why he was spending so much time watching this young Polish boy bending his body and balancing on hoops.

He guiltily figured some of the ranch hands he'd had the displeasure of working with over the years would have had something to say about it. But he was in the circus now, everyone was a freak in one way or another.

He was pretty sure Walter knew where he disappeared to for an hour every Show Night, but the larger man never mentioned it. Walter was pretty stoic about everything it seemed.

After a hard day's work Walter seemed content to sit in the Cook Shack smoking a cigarette with Marie laughing on his knee. No one seemed to have a problem with that unconventional relationship between different skin colours.

Not that Dean's obsession with Billie was anything close to a relationship. More a one-sided fascination.

"What are you doing? We're up!" Lola announced suddenly, shaking Dean's shoulder. "Have you fallen asleep on that wolf?"

"Her name's Dolores," Dean murmured, pressing his face closer against the fur and breathing deeply before standing up.

The audience cheered wildly as Lola strutted into the ring wearing her white dress and some high heeled shoes her and Viv had stuck plastic gems on. Behind her went Arnold and Willard the lions, followed by Lucille and Bernice the tigers.

A moment later, Dean was announced. For some reason Salvatore had felt the need to jazz him up a bit and so introduced him as "The infamous boy who was raised by wolves! It is said that on a full moon he himself turns into one!"

Dean rolled his eyes as he jogged out into the arena, flanked by Dolores, James and Anna.

The act went smoothly, although Dean knew Lawrence was waiting in the wings with a first aid kit just in case. All the wolves jumped through each hoop that Dean held up and the double act with the lions went seamlessly.

The wolves ran, as rehearsed, under the legs of the lions whilst Lola jumped between the big cats' backs, landing with a beaming smile and a shake of the ornamental baton she was holding.

Dean felt a rush of exhilarated pride as he took his first bow to thunderous applause.

"Not bad for a First of May," Lola whispered in his ear as they both stepped back in sync to bow again. Dean grinned, he had recently learned that 'First of May' was circus slang for a novice performer.

Dean led the wolves back out of the ring towards the holding pens, bending down and ruffling their fur appreciatively.

"Attagirl," he praised Dolores as he locked the gate behind them and turned to walk straight into Billie.

"Woah!" Billie chuckled, "Sorry, I was standing a bit close. I just wanted to say that was really great Dean!"

"Er...thanks Billie," Dean nodded, suddenly feeling rather awkward, his tongue going dry. The face painter Lorraine had done a wonderful job in hiding Billie's injury.

She had coloured nearly Billie’s entire face a deep dappled orange with streaks of delicate brown whiskers running across his cheeks, where Dean knew he had constellations of faint freckles that darkened after sunny days.

"Your makeup looks good," Dean said before kicking himself. He had no idea if that was an appropriate thing to tell a seventeen year old boy.

Apparently it was okay however, as a moment later Billie threw his head back and started laughing. It was a wonderful pure sound and made Dean hunger for more.

"Yeah, Lorraine kind of went all out today on the fox theme huh?" Billie grinned, "Juan's got the same - only he's all white because he wanted to be a snow-fox. Did you know those exist?"

Dean smiled as he shrugged, "How are you feeling?"

"Peachy," Billie beamed. "Will...will you watch my act? I'm up next."

"Sure," Dean replied, perhaps a tad too quickly judging by the slight raise of Billie's eyebrows.

"Swell, well - I hope we don't disappoint," Billie winked before turning to walk towards the ring, slapping a suddenly appearing Juan on the back as he did so. Dean noticed that they were both wearing new silver coloured costumes. They were perhaps even more tightly fitted than the blue ones.

Dean's eyes trailed quickly down Billie's form, curving into the delicate bow of his back. He shook his head, tearing his gaze away to check no one was watching him. Dean didn't want to push the 'no judgement in the circus' concept too far.

The high bar itself was wheeled out in front of the performers, who climbed up to the top of it with ease, although it would have been a struggle for anyone else.

The familiar lively music started up as both boys shuffled into position and the lights dimmed, leaving only two spotlights, each focussed on the two acrobats.

"They've been training super hard for this," Lola announced in Dean's ear, making him start. He noticed that Anita and Raymond had also come to the edge of the ring to watch the act.

They were stood in the 'Back Door', the curtained off entrance for the performers, but Dean could clearly see the arena and the audience.

The routine started off well enough with Billie and Juan cartwheeling past each other on the narrow bar, eliciting appreciative gasps from the collected patrons. One particularly impressive move where Billie did a running jump to land in a handstand on top of Juan's shoulders.

Dean found himself grinning as he stared at the dust clouds of chalk puffing out from the boys' connecting limbs.

For the next part, however, Juan and Billie were handed metal hoops similar to the ones Dean had had the wolves jumping through.

"Surely not?" Dean muttered as Billie made a comical show of pretending to be outraged at how small the hoop was, getting the audience to laugh along with him. Juan then held up the hoop with an exaggerated shrugging gesture before theatrically gesturing for Billie to give it a go.

Billie took a few steps back before running quickly forwards, with a hop and a skip he tumbled into a somersault then dived through the hoop.

Dean, Lola and Anita all gasped as he landed in a forwards roll the other side. The audience went nuts as Billie stood back up with a wide smile.

"That's why Salvatore hasn't red-lighted him already," Lola laughed, clapping her hands together in delight. "Show me another acrobat who can do that!"

Dean smiled as he glanced back up to Billie, only to have his heart freeze momentarily as the younger boy clearly wobbled on the bar. Billie righted himself a moment later and the audience was quickly distracted by Juan doing an impromptu flip.

Unfortunately, this had the effect of making the bar shake even further. Billie's foot slipped, forcing him to bend quickly down in a crouch, shooting his arms out wide to steady himself.

"This isn't part of the act?" Raymond questioned in a low whisper.

"It can't be, neither of them are smiling," Anita replied quickly.

Dean focussed his gaze, it was true, in fact Juan was looking rather panicked, he was tiptoeing back towards Billie.

Juan stopped a moment later however, after Dean saw Salvatore shoot him a firm glare from the edge of the ring, rolling his whip threateningly in his gloved hands. Juan looked momentarily torn before taking a running step forward and leaping over the crouched form of Billie.

"Juan's trying to work it in to the routine." Lola announced, "Get up Billie - get up!"

As if he had heard her, Billie stood up again, a fresh but strained smile plastered on his face. His arms were still out wide as if he needed the extra balance.

"He's struggling," Raymond murmured, "How much longer do they have out there?"

"A few minutes," Lola replied.

They watched on tenterhooks as Juan walked backwards to the furthest end of the bar away from Billie, he looked like he was preparing to do a sequence of flips. Dean recognized the tensing of his muscles.

Billie mirrored Juan's actions, stepping backwards to the end of the bar closest to the Back Door.

The audience gasped loudly as Billie swayed violently again, Juan started forwards, clearly breaking character, his arm outstretched.

"He's going to fall!" Lola cried, but Dean was already rushing forwards out into the ring. He could hear a thunderstorm of shouting and murmuring ricocheting around the arena as he jumped forwards.

Billie took another step, clearly misjudging the end of the bar as he toppled backwards into thin air.

It seemed to happen in slow motion as Billie's normally poised and arched shape crumpled into a pile of flailing limbs, plummeting to the hard ground below.

Dean moved faster than he had ever moved before, coming to a skidding halt just in time to catch the falling acrobat. There were screams as Billie crashed into his arms, one of them Dean was pretty sure was Lola's.

Dean cradled Billie gingerly, freeing one hand to bring it up to Billie's unconscious face. The boy had clearly fainted during his fall.

Dean became aware of the utter silence within the Big Top. He was sure if he bothered to look up he would see hundreds of horrified faces staring back at him, but right now he couldn't care less.

"Billie," Dean hissed, trying to shake the boy awake. "Billie, I've got you."

Salvatore's voice rang out loudly, "Ladies and Gentlemen! I give you, The Wolf-Man!!!"

Dean winced as deafening applause suddenly burst through the silent tent, a tidal wave of shouts and cheers crashing over his hunched body, bent protectively around the unmoving form of Billie.

Dean looked up as he heard a thudding noise above him, Juan was continuing the act alone and soon the audience were 'oohing' and 'ahhing' as the young Mexican boy did his best to entertain them with moves that were probably far too dangerous to really be doing solo.

Dean caught Salvatore's eyes, they were flashing furiously as the ringmaster jerked his head to indicate that Dean get the hell out of there. Dean didn't need telling twice before he rushed out of the ring, still carrying an unconscious Billie.

"Dean - follow me, quickly," Lawrence instructed, pushing forwards through the waiting fray of performers. Dean followed the vet back out of the marquee and down the side of the tents towards Clown Alley, the designated area where the clowns kept all their props and put on their makeup.

"Lay him down there," Lawrence waved towards a low table covered in felt flowers which Dean swept to the floor before laying Billie down as gently as he could.

Suddenly the younger boy let out a low moan and flashed open his eyes, with a clearly panicked look, he took a heaving breath and started grabbing frantically at Dean's chest.

"It's okay, Billie - it's okay."

"Juan!"

"He's okay, Billie, he's still carrying on with the routine."

Lawrence walked back over, carrying a dripping wet rag, he proceeded to dab at Billie' forehead. "Well you haven't started bleeding again, you're lucky Dean caught you before you hit the ground Mr. Mantei."

"I...I fell?"

Dean swallowed hard, Billie looked so traumatised as if he were about to burst into tears.

"Shh," Dean instructed the younger boy, instinctively rubbing his fingers down Billie's arm and drawing the swirling patterns Viv always did to him. "You're okay now."

Billie blinked back up at him with widening eyes that seemed to sparkle with wetness, "You caught me? But you weren't even onstage..."

"I had time to get there," Dean replied with a shrug Billie probably couldn't see. "You were wobbling quite a bit."

Billie squeezed his eyes shut, groaning and throwing his head back. "This is so bad," Billie whined, biting his lip anxiously.

Lawrence sighed, before pulling Dean a few steps away, he turned to him, keeping his voice low, "You need to get him to calm down, stress will only worsen his condition. I suggest getting him back to his bunk and putting him to bed. He should be able to sleep off the dizziness and until then I'll try to keep Salvatore away from him."

"Thanks Lawrence," Dean nodded before he heard voices behind them, he turned around to see Lola and Clara running towards him.

"Is he okay?" Clara cried, "I heard what happened."

"He's fine," Dean replied briskly. "But he shouldn't have been up there in the first place."

"Thank Salvatore for that," Lola pulled a face. "Are you taking him back to the Flyers' bunk?"

Dean glanced back at Billie who was still lying flat, his chest expanding and contracting with panicked breaths.

"Yeah," Dean nodded. "Can you take care of the wolves for me?"

"Like I've been doing for a year before you showed up," Lola replied but her voice wasn't unkind. She walked over to Billie, her heels catching slightly on the grass. Lola bent over and ran her fingers down Billie’s face. Dean turned away, not wanting to intrude on such an intimate moment.

"Are you okay Dean?" Clara asked him with a squint.

"Yeah..yeah I'm fine," Dean sighed, running his hand down his face, suddenly feeling exhausted, "What happened after I left, do you know?"

"Juan finished the routine early then the Breauxs went on after him," Clara replied. "They're extending their set slightly to make up for the lost time."

"And the audience?" Dean winced tentatively.

"Seemed fine," Clara shrugged. "They were all cheers when I checked. Salvatore's really ramping up the introductions tonight to keep 'em entertained."

Lola walked back past them, glancing back at Dean, "Make sure he's not too hard on himself, White."

Dean nodded then turned to pick Billie up again.