The first thing that his mind registered was how cold it was, the second thing he realized was that there was a distinct lack of breathable oxygen, and the third thing John Watson noticed was that he had shifted. The plunge of the bridge had been so fast, and so much adreneline had rushed through him that he had shifted as he hit the water.
Having never fully intended to survive John decided in a split second decision to vanish. His swan dive had probably been caught on camera and knew that not only would it be humiliating to go back, but he would probably be forced back into therapy.
As those thoughts flashed through his mind he swam to the underside of the bridge. Standing in the water below the bridge John studied the area around him through canine eyes, in front of him was a large open sewer pipe, he wasn't sure where it lead but he decided it was better than going up to street level where the CCTV cameras would catch him.
With a mental shrug John took a leap into the tunnel, the sound of sirens growing behind him, he set off into the dark unknown on four legs with no intention of returning to his human form anytime in the near future.
Mary was on her daily hike through the woods when she came face to face with the biggest wolf she had ever seen. It had been drinking from the stream on her right when she had come upon it, now it watched her with an uncanny amount of patience as she swayed in place.
She took a deep breath and tried to calm her shaken nerves, the wolf was the size of a small bear and Mary could see sharp teeth protruding from underneath its lips.
The wolf stalked towards her, and Mary was certain that she was doomed but the wolf simply pressed his nose into her palm reassuringly. "Well hello, you're surprisingly friendly." She knelt cautiously so as not to spook it and carefully rubbed between its ears.
The wolf huffed and nudged her hand when she stopped petting him. Mary looked closely at the wolf, it's coat was dirty and it had a scarred patch on the front left leg.
His intellegent eyes regarded her intently as she came to decision, "I'm not sure why I'm saying this but how 'bout you come home with me huh? You look hungry and you need a bath."
The wolf huffed again and seemed to almost smile, "Well come along, it's not far." Mary led the giant wolf to her home, semi-surprised that it actually followed her.
Mary's home was small, indeed, it was pretty much just a three room cottage. Just outside the back door there was a small garden and an old wash tub to which Mary pushed the massive wolf towards.
"In you get, I'm not letting you in the house until you have a bath." She rolled up her sleeves and prepared to bodily lift the wolf in when it snorted and jumped in on its own accord. He sat there waiting for her to turn on the water hose and get the shampoo with his tail thumping back and forth on the walls of the tin walls.
She laughed as he bit at the water that she sprayed into the bath, and laughed even harder when it accidently bit a soap bubble from the shampoo. The disgusted look and sounds it made trying to get rid of the clearly horrible taste were priceless.
When Mary finished scrubbing the friendly wolf down and it had let her towel it off she inspected him, the white X above his eyes deeply contrasted the pure black of the rest of his fur. His grey eyes glittered with intelligence, and there was something akin to humour in his eyes.
When Mary let him into the house he inspected each area of the small house very cautiously like he half expected something to jump out at him at any moment. After that he seemd to decide that the area right in front of the small fireplace was to his liking and curled up on the black rug in front of it with a little huff of satisfaction.
Mary shook her head in amusement at the large wolf curled up on her tiny rug, it looked ridiculously large in contrast, as she went to see what she had in the fridge that they could eat.
"Looks like we have chicken and brocoli tonight, and maybe some rice." Mary glanced at the wolf who's ears had perked up at the mention of food.
Smiling to herself Mary began to cook and talk to the wolf at the same time, "So my new friend, what should I call you? Bob?" A soft growl told her that name wasn't suitable, "What about Fido?" a snort was her reply this time, "Okay, how about Thunder?" She looked at the wolf who she could have sworn shrugged.
"Alright, you are now officially Thunder." with a florish Mary spooned rice and brocoli into a large dish over a diced chicken breast and sat it on the floor for her new pet. "Come and eat my friend." She motioned to the bowl and watched bemusedly as Thunder daintly ate the proffered meal.
Sitting down to eat her own meal at the table Mary noticed that once Thunder was done he very carefully picked up his bowl in his great mouth and with a bit of effort put it in the kitchen sink.
"Well that was polite of you." Mary finished her meal and went to clean the dishes while pondering the mannerisms of this strange wolf who had gone back to the rug in front of the fireplace.
Mary sat down in the floor with her back against the couch with a book in hand, "Come here Thunder." she patted the floor beside her. Thunder huffed and scooted himself over to her.
After both were found comfortable positions Mary began to read, the words comforting to both, and by the time she finished the book night had fallen.
"Well Thunder, I think it's time both of us were asleep. You can sleep out here tonight and tomorrow I will go to town and get you a comfortable bed." Mary stood up and gently patted Thunder on the head before she went to her room for the night.
Thunder curled himself up on the rug again, with a wide yawn he draped his tail around him and settled in for the night.