Author's Note:

Well, I even surprised myself with this one. Whipped this out in about two days and it doesn't suck!

I've decided to separate each chapter into different parts so here is the first part of chapter one. Like I said in my previous author's note, a bit dramatized but hoepfully you don't mind for this one.

Soooooo...was going to wait a few days before I posted this, but I couldn't wait. :D

Enjoy, and as always REVIEW! -I can't emphasize that enough. I MUST improve.

Rush

Chapter 1: Working Man

Part 1: Middle Class Life

"What do you mean, you didn't get my payment?" An aggravated Fox shouted to the handset of his landline telephone. The other end of the phone buzzed with the chatter of the unfortunate soul on the other end. "Declined?" Fox shouted again, baring his teeth and growling slightly.

Fox was in the kitchen, pacing back and forth whilst being tied down by the phone cord running from him to the wall, trying to sort out more financial troubles. The white porcelain tiles reverberated a soft 'slap' with every step of the angry vulpine's bare feet. The residence of the McCoulds wasn't a big one but it wasn't small either. Two stories was a good enough standard for any house but the upstairs consisted of only Fox and Krystal's room, Marcus's room and a bathroom. Down stairs, the Kitchen was attached directly to the dining room and a living room which caused the three rooms to create a full circle where one could walk from room to room. There was only one bathroom on this level as well. Their Master Bathroom was almost too small to be considered a bathroom but the Jacuzzi bathtub they had installed shortly after moving in made up for the cramped space.

At this time Fox took a seat at the breakfast table in the kitchen and continuously was tapping his fingertips just livid that he was down another multi-hundred dollar payment. Marcus was in his own world in the dining room, playing with a train and a model Arwing on the soft white carpet and Krystal was off getting groceries. "Uh huh. Yup." Fox passive-aggressively made small nippy responses to try and hurry up the phone call. He was done with the bundler on the other line and just wanted the call to be over. "Yeah. Yes, well…. Ok." He quickly hung up the phone once the conversation was done. He let out a heavy sigh and rubbed his eyes with his fingers.

The world slowly came back to him as he heard his son make a child's impression of the sound of an explosion. He looked over and saw him with the Arwing in his hand, making it swoop down over the train, swooshing sounds included, as if gunning it down or dropping a bomb. He made another explosion sound and flung his arms in the air. This put a smile on Fox's face as it reminded him of the time his team destroyed a freight train on Macbeth that was harboring one of Andross's Bioweapons during his first excursion against Andross' forces. The only difference was that Fox was in the Landmaster and not an Arwing.

He got up from the chair and pushed it aside to allow him to get out from the table easier. He slowly moved over to Marcus and squatted down to his level. "Whatcha doing?"

"Playing." The cub said innocently, still focused on the scene that was enveloped in his imagination. Fox adjusted to sitting on the floor next to him and watched him for a moment long with the same content smile on his muzzle.

After a moment, he moved in and grabbed hold of the train and began making childish mechanical sounds. He lifted a back hatch on the tail end of the train engine. "I didn't expect I'd have to use this." Fox said in an obviously mock menacing tone. "Oh no, it's the secret weapon!" Fox playfully sounded off.

Marcus smiled. "That's no problem for Marcus McCloud!" He said as he made another swooshing sound and drew the Arwing in his hand back down over the train. He made a sound that was supposed to be lasers firing but ended up sounding like 'chu chu chu.'

"Nooooo!" Fox made the same voice as he did earlier as he then made the fake explosion sound while Marcus continued to have the Arwing 'fly' around making more laser sounds.

*o*

"Hmm… Peanut But…. Soap…." Krystal mumbled under her breath as she ran through a small list help up in her paw while pushing a cart full of boxes and cans and bags down a grocery isle. "Casserole mix…Skitt, wait, Skittles?" She puzzled as she pulled her head back a bit. She couldn't help but grin at the horrible hand writing of her sever year old as he tried to sneakily throw some candy on her shopping list. "Well, it's on the list." She said casually, not being completely serious but made sure to grab a bag while in the check-out counter.

As she made her way to the cash register, she passed a familiar feline staring at the ice cream freezer, rubbing her pregnant stomach. "Katt?" She turned her head revealing her other paw was rubbing her chin in contemplation.

"Krystal?"

"Oh my god, how are you? Long time no see."

"I'll say! I'm good, how are you?" She answered back with just as much enthusiasm as her old friend.

"Good. Just stopping by for some groceries." Krystal responded pointing her eyes in the direction of her obviously overloaded cart.

Katt let out a sympathizing huff. "Been there." She redirected her attention back toward the ice cream. "I swear, ever since this thing has been growing inside me, I've had this unquenchable craving for ice cream…" She trailed off as she thought for a moment longer before opening up the freezer and pulled out a Ben and Jerry's pint sized personal serving.

Krystal had never tried Ben and Jerry's but she has heard Marcus talk about having it at a friend house. "You know, I think I'll bring home some ice cream for the boys as well." She said cheerfully. She reached out for the normal cheap 'Great Value' brand but stopped. She let out a sigh before looking back up at Katt. Without looking back at the freezer, she pulled out a Ben and Jerry's quart size and placed it in her cart.

"So how far are you?"

"Too far if you ask me." She said, not waiting to open the pint sized treat as she stuck a finger in the cup, using it as a spoon. "It should be ready to pop out by the end of summer."

"Well that's good." She paused a moment, trying to think of something to keep the conversation going. "I've never seen you here, do you come often?"

"No. Was just driving by and the craving got the best of me." She said with a bit of a chuckle as she stuck her finger back into the soft serve dairy product and brought it up to her mouth to consume.

Krystal let a small giggle arise from her throat as she moved closer to the check-out. "Well I better get going. Dinner's not going to be cooking itself." She said as she grabbed a bag of Skittles and threw them in the cart.

"Alright. Well it was nice to see you again!" Katt smiled. Krystal smiled back in response as she turned back toward her groceries. "Hey Krys?" She turned back around. "We should get together sometime for dinner or something. Catch up a bit."

Krystal replaced her smile. "That sounds wonderful." Katt stuck another finger full of ice cream in her mouth as she turned away to check out her purchase as well.

Krystal arrived back at her house soon after and somehow managed to walk through the door with a bag of groceries in each hand. How they managed to fit all her items in two bags even amazed her. She came in and saw Fox next to their son laughing at one of Marcus' kid's shows. She smiled a bit before calling to them. "I'm home." The two simultaneously turned their head and cocked them slightly to look over the top of the couch as if they were expecting someone other than Krystal to call out to the house that she was home.

"Go help your mother with the groceries." Fox said as he tapped Marcus on the back a couple times.

"Okay." He said a bit reluctantly but still quickly got off the couch and dashed over to his mother and grabbed a bag. He could hardly carry one of them in both hands but somehow was able to and waddled over to the kitchen to put the bag's contents away.

"Got everything for dinner?" Fox asked as he placed an arm and an elbow on top of the back end of the couch to help pivot his body so he could face his wife more.

"Ah yes! Skittles!" Marcus shouted out of sight from inside the kitchen.

Fox chuckled a bit. "I guess so."

"Not before dinner honey!" Krystal called out.

"The bank called. Said they didn't get the last mortgage payment." Fox said a bit more solemnly.

"Shit." Kyrstal said with a complete change of mood as she nearly dropped the last bag of groceries in a nearby chair in an attempt to set it down gently. "So how far does that put us?"

"Another few hundred."

"Damn it." She said quieter as she ran her paw through her hair.

"If I was on hourly pay instead of salary, we should be able to cover that." He hinted with a bit of aggravation as he normally complained about that fact. He never gets paid for overtime.

"Yeah, you're telling me with how late you work." Krystal chimed in with the aggravation.

"Well it's not like I'm the only hard worker there." Fox stated sarcastically.

"Sorry. It's just you usually don't get back until it's practically Marcus' bedtime."

"Well I got off early today didn't I?" He responded with a bit of a shout.

"Yes, and I'm glad you did. We haven't had a decent dinner together in a while." Krystal said at first ignoring Fox's tone then joined in with an annoyed one of her own.

This time it was Fox's turn to ignore his spouse's tone. He walked over to the last bag and picked it up but before even taking another step toward the kitchen, he saw the Ben and Jerry's. He put the bag down and pulled it out. "What's with this?" He said puzzled. He looked at the box long enough to read the label and look at the price tag. "Six bucks?" His curious and shocked eyes shifted toward Krystal. "Did you have a coupon?"

"No, I just thought–"

Fox let out a huff and turned his head away almost like a flinch. "This stuff is expensive. What's wrong with the regular stuff?" His voice turned back aggressive.

"Nothing, I just ran into–" She said raising the pitch of her voice and trying to sound a bit innocent but it wasn't good enough as Fox cut her off again.

"We need to save whatever we can."

"Oh come one Fox! Like two more dollars is going to be much of a difference!" She didn't notice but she was at a soft yell now.

"Mom? Dad? You're not fighting are you?" Marcus said shyly as he stood in the doorway of kitchen and living room.

The two stood frozen for a bit, wide eyed. Fox was the first to drop his expression and sighed causing his ears to unperk and drop a bit. "Not at all son. Just... a disagreement." He said comfortingly as he pick up both his son and the other bag of groceries and walked into the kitchen. Krystal then dropped her expression and plopped down on the couch, releasing a heavy sigh. She reached for the remote, needing to change the channel from Marcus' show as she has seen it way to many times.

"Cut your debt in half! One simple phone call could change your life!" The television shouted.

Krystal smiled with a light humored grin. "Yeah, if only it was that easy."

Dinner time was approaching and Krystal was busy trying to perfect her casserole. Fox, in the meantime, was still playing with Marcus. The last thing she remembered, they were playing catch in the back yard. She didn't mind he was spending time with their son. In fact, she was pretty happy he was; that was one of the main reasons he got off work early today. He either never had time to play or came home too late to make much of a difference. But a bit of her wished he would spend time with her as well. She never really got to see him often during the day and was usually too tired to do much in the evenings. Not only that, they haven't been out for a weekend dinner in almost a year. Since their recent financial troubles, they have been fighting more. She knew it was nothing more than the ordinary married couple's disputes but she hated how they weren't as close as they were when they first met or when she rejoined the team. She continued to let her mind wander and sighed in amongst her thoughts.

Not too long after however, her nose twitched. She snapped back with a bit of a shock. "The casserole!" She quickly moved to the oven where she threw down the door releasing a bit of smoke. She pulled it out and quickly smacked it down on the counter as a response to the heat, all the while forgetting about the hole in her oven mitts. The small burn wasn't bad but it just took her by surprise. "Do we have anything new around here?" She pondered as she took off the old mitt. She looked down at the casserole. It was a bit blacked on the edges and a bit darkened in the center but luckily it was not completely ruined. Just a bit….crispy. She opened up the backdoor next to the kitchen and called out to her boys. "Dinner's ready!"

Soon after, they came into the house and dropped their ball gloves next to the door. "Smells good honey." Fox said as she gave her a small peck on the cheek. She smiled not sure if the slight burnt tint of the main course was noticeable or not. The two boys sat down at the kitchen table. They usually only used the fancier dining room table for certain occasions and parties. It was just one more of the gilded furnishes that was used to make the impression of a higher lifestyle. Fox was the first to scoop out some of the grub. He soon slapped some on Marcus' plate before continuing to dish out his own sides. The boy soon followed by serving himself the smaller sides.

"Careful, it's hot." Krystal warned as Fox stuck a fork full into his mouth. Immediately after closing his mouth, he threw it back open to let the food cool as it was now balanced on his mandibles to keep from burning his tongue or the roof of his mouth. A moment or two later, he deemed it cool enough to chew and moved on to do so. "So how was work?" She asked, hating how their best dinner time conversation was simple small talk.

"Good. Short which is what I'm not used to." Fox said casually. He too hated how that was the best he could come up with as a response. "We did some testing on the X-72 Carbine today."

"Oh?"

"Yup. Sadly, the wall behind the target wasn't strong enough." He explained as Marcus chuckled a bit. "Need to tune it down a bit unless we want the rounds to go on forever."

"Now, that's the upgrade from the X-22 Automatic that was standard during the Aparoid invasion right?" Now they were getting somewhere. Krystal couldn't help but smile as she thought, what other family would be talking about this over dinner? Not only that, she loved reminiscing about the old, more adrenaline-rushed days.

Fox smiled back, catching the small one his wife let out. "Yeah. Except this is a burst semi-auto version. The bursts give it better accuracy but recently, it's been firing too hot and acting like a miniature cannon with every shot."

"Why would that be a bad thing?" Marcus chimed in.

Both Fox and Krystal gave out some light-humored huffs. "Well, normally it's not. But these rifles are intended to be used to subdue an assailant. Not blow him to bits." Fox explained. "The main forces that are looking at the X-72 are infiltration and policing forces so that they can use them against enemies who they wish to capture or interrogate rather than take out." He figured much of what he was saying was far over his son's head but he couldn't find a simpler way to explain it. Besides, he was a smart kid and with all the video game he played, he figured he'd have at least an idea of what he was talking about. He turned his direction toward Krystal. "So what about you?"

She knew without even reading his mind that Fox didn't mean for his comment to make such an impact, but she couldn't help but feel a bit depressed how he still had at least a bit of excitement in his daily life while she just watched over a bunch of toddlers and younger children like a grown-up babysitter.

"Good. We had a bit of a problem with one of the younger children's baby doll strollers. The wheel came off and she would not stop crying. But Marc came over a fixed it for her."

"Oh well that was nice of him." Fox said as he smiled at his son.

He obviously didn't think so, due to his sigh and the rolling of his eyes. "Why do I have to keep going over there anyway? I'm too old to be stuck with all those kids all day." He said with a pucker.

"Ohhh, I know sweetie." Krystal said as she rubbed his hand a bit. "But you know it's just for the summer and it's much easier to take you to work with me. And who knows, maybe next summer you won't need to be there." She finished optimistically.

"Didn't you say that last year?" The boy said staring at his plate as he spun his fork around in circles causing a small divot in his potatoes.

"Yeah, but this time I mean it." She tried to reassure her statement with a smile. It only half worked as Marcus looked up at her without moving his head, still pointed down at his food. He looked back at his plate and scoped up some potatoes and shoved them in his mouth. "Besides, there's that Catherine girl. She's not too much younger than you. And at least you're not there every day like some of the kids. I let you stay at some friend's house sometimes." She said.

"I guess." The child said with unwilling acceptance.

"Now hurry and finish you're veggies so we can dive into that ice cream." Krystal said in one last attempt to cheer up her son, which thankfully worked. His ears perked up and his eyes grew. Soon enough, he was digging into the rest of the meal on his plate.

It was getting late into the night as the McCould family was sitting around the television, watching the day die. Fox was sitting by himself on a love seat while Krystal was sitting on the couch with a sleeping Marcus resting his head on her lap. She constantly ran her fingers, almost in a way of petting him, through the tuft on his head and past his right ear causing it to flap with every passing finger. Two empty ice cream bowls were sitting on the coffee table between the two sets of furniture with the cream of the melted treat in the bottom of the bowls and a small ring of water from the condensing bowls underneath them. Krystal didn't indulge in the dessert as she wished to keep herself fit and by skipping out on Pilates earlier in the day, she didn't feel like she had earned the sugary treat.

But that was the least of her concerns. Her mind was still focused on what happened earlier that day with their payment. Normally she did not like to worry about their finances but recently they have been having more and more trouble and it has been causing some tensions between the two. Today was nothing, today was a good day. Maybe it was since Fox was spending most of his day with Marcus that they only had one small quarrel, if you would even call it that. Usually they argued at least two or three times in the short time they saw each other after work and it was usually about money: they needed to take their car to the shop for a small mechanical problem that somehow mounded up to a few hundred dollars, Fox worked overtime again but couldn't get any pay from it since he was on a salary and not hourly pay, Marcus' schooling, even the occasional times their 'dinner' consisted of fast-food take out because they could only manage to spend a few dollars for food. Once again, Krystal knew he was not mad at her but mad at their situation.

She looked over at her husband as he stared blankly at the television. She tried to read his thoughts but over the few years they have been together, he has developed a good defense against her intrusions even if he wasn't focusing on blocking her out. It was for the best of both of them as they knew, but there were a few times a long time ago, back when they didn't have so much worries, that he would intentionally let his guard down so she could play around in his head and mess with him, including the occasional embarrassment, just so they could laugh and have fun at the little things. She let out a sigh, missing those better times. Now most of their focus was not on enjoying life but on the bills to pay and the mouths to feed.

A similar commercial to the one Krystal saw earlier appeared on the television, talking about debt control. Even though she still could not breach the confides of his mind at the moment, she was pretty good at reading the expressions of others and as the commercial continued its rant about eliminating debt, she had found in Fox's mind what she was hoping to find. She was waiting for Fox's mind to get back on money, not so that he could worry again, but so that she wouldn't ruin the moment as they haven't just sat quietly together in a while. But finally she brought it up.

"So what are we going to do about this last payment?" She asked still a bit cautiously as she knew it was the least thing they wanted to discuss at the moment. But it had to be brought up sometime.

Fox exhaled deeply as he closed his eyes a bit longer than a standard blink. "Well we're getting in too deep." He paused. "I wanted to avoid this but I've been thinking for a few weeks, we need to take out another credit loan on the house." He refused to look at his wife for fear of seeing the discomfort his statement might have caused her. He opened up his mind slightly to let her see he was concerned for both of them and was thinking what was best for their family. He had no idea if she caught his little thought but he didn't care. He finally turned toward her, knowing he couldn't avoid the inevitable and was glad to see understanding in her face. Her lips curled into a slight smile. Fox assumed she got his little subliminal message. He gave her a larger smile in return and got up, walking toward her. He stopped in front of her and picked Marcus up, cradling him in his arms as he walked off and carried him off to bed. "We can discuss it another time." He said, trying to avoid any conflicts. He hasn't had a day this good in a while and he didn't want to ruin it by having another argument.

He walked up the narrow stairwell sideways so that he wouldn't ram Marcus' head into the wall or side rail and turned toward the kit's room once he got to the top. He gently laid him down on his bed and began walking out. He turned back to take one last look at his son, like any good father would, as he slowly closed the squeaky door. He turned around and jumped a little as he saw Krystal standing right behind him. She smiled and giggled a little at his reaction. Fox huffed and shook it off, grinning all the while.

"Scared you didn't I?"

"What gave you that impression?" Fox said sarcastically, causing Krystal to shrug her shoulders and cock her eyes a bit telling him a similar sarcastic 'I don't know' in body language. She placed her hand on the wall next to Fox's head as soon as his mouth opened with the words, "I'm pretty tired." It was just bad timing. "I've got a lot of work tomorrow so I think I'm going to hit the hay." He said, turning toward their room and completely missing Krystal's intended message by a long shot. She didn't move as he flicked on the light to their bedroom. Her smile slowly faded from her face as her hand dropped from the wall.

She figured she might as well get to bed as well so she shut everything down downstairs and turned off the lights from the living room to the kitchen where the stairwell lights were obviously the last to get attended to. She got ready for bed pretty quickly and scooped up the covers of the bed and slipped underneath them as Fox was lying on his side facing away. She figured he was already asleep but couldn't help but think; it was a pretty good day. It might not have seemed like it, especially with the lack of excitement as nothing really went on, but it was the best they've had in a while at least. Maybe Fox should get off work earlier more often, she thought. But then their financial problems came back into her mind. Her good feeling about the day ended as quick as it had arrived and she closed her eyes and turned on her side to sleep. Her eyes just couldn't stay shut for more than a few moments as she lay there. She didn't even notice she was facing Fox's back side as they both liked to sleep on their left side. A faint but content smile gently rested on her face as she moved her right arm over Fox's and let it dangle across his chest.

"I'd prefer it if I was the one cuddling with you." Fox said without moving. Krystal had no idea he was awake but that just made her a bit happier. He rolled over to his right side and wrapped his arms around her and they both drifted off to into content slumber. It was just another day in the middle-class lifestyle.

A bit cute and boring, I know. I hope you liked the detail though. I've reverted to my older style of writing from years back where I would vividly describe everything in way too much detail. I've toned it down but I figure I need to give better pictures.

Like I said, just the first chapter but it was get less bland as the story develops. I have high hopes for this one :D

not only that...

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