Chapter 13:

.

"So…" Nick began as he sat down, joining Skye in the ZED cafeteria. He breathed out, pausing as the rest of the sentence hovered uncertainly on his tongue before coming out as if he was stepping on thin ice. "You were... the one... Jack... -injured."

The cream coloured vixen hummed a quick 'uh-huh' as she sat down next to him, a fried chicken sandwich in her paw. She nodded sharply for good measure, looking at him before her food took her attention once more. Turning towards it and opening the top, she exposed the meat and, pulling a small bottle from a pocket, added a liberal application of a potent smelling hot sauce. "Yeah," she noted. "I was… -now how about a nice tasty chicken sandwich!"

Nick rolled his eyes as she took a deep bite, tearing off a chunk of her meal. Crumbs from the chicken breading along with fragments of the sliced onions, pickles, cheese and all other kinds of filling sprinkled down in front of her, and he thought for a moment that some more might escape from her mouth as she chewed. It didn't come to pass though, and instead he looked away from her, up at a corner somewhere. "Given how mad that little sorceress was when she thought I was the one who injured you… -and what she and Carrots said later, and how Bogo acted. I'm guessing you were more than just 'injured', am I right?"

He looked back at her, and pulled back slightly as he began to see the tears flowing from the corners of her eyes. She was sniffing, breathing hard through her nose, and Nick's ears immediately drooped down at the sight. "Hey…!" he stammered out, looking around sharply before scooting towards her, arms out to reach around her shoulders. "Woah! Sore subject, I'm sorry," he hushed. It didn't work, and he looked on as she got worse, her head bucking down as her paws came up to cradle her eyes. Her sniffing was turning into full on sobbing, and even through his cynical exterior he was feeling pangs of guilt for triggering her or something. "Please don't cry!" he urged. "Can we… -can we turn off the waterworks, just a little bit?"

He pulled back as Skye rose up, her head tilting back as she took a giant swallow, emptying her mouth. "YAHOOOOO!"

…

While a red fox's mouth couldn't physically drop to the floor, Nick's gave it its best shot possible, even if it remained within the bounds of being subject to a figurative expression. "Uh…."

His head tilted to the side in confusion as Skye sat back down again, chuckling. She licked her chops before grabbing the rest of the sandwich, pausing as she went for a bite to look at him. Another quick chuckle, helped by the red paw gently sliding his own sandwich away from him, before she spoke out. "This stuff really scratches my spice itch," she said, gesturing to her hot sauce bottle. Looking over at it, Nick paused as he noticed a very large public safety warning printed over it.

"I didn't know lava flavour was a thing."

Skye rolled her eyes and shrugged. "I always enjoyed spicy food, and given that your healing power really dampens the spiciness you need something to compensate."

Nick remained unconvinced, looking down at the bottle and back up at her several times. "I've seen car batteries with fewer warning symbols on it than that."

There was a soft shrug from Skye as she brought up her sandwich again. "Well, thanks to your healing powers it's not like it can do any real damage?" She took another big bite, and after a few chews she returned to her previous sniffling state, albeit with a new side of table banging.

"True," Nick replied, turning back to his own sandwich as it jolted up and down with each impact. "But my food tastes tend to involve experiences that aren't outlawed by the Geneva convention." He took a bite and moaned slightly, smiling and nodding as he savoured the food. Fresh vegetables, creamy and smoky cheeses, juicy chicken with a soft breaded cover, crisp and sharp vegetables, a sweet hickory barbeque sauce and soft bread with a flaky crust all danced on his tongue. "Bonus points if it's awesome, like this."

"Yeah, it's awesome," Skye boasted. "But even more so with MOLTEN FIRE ON IT!" She jumped up in excitement, Nick's eyes widening as she carried on rising, almost bumping her head against the ceiling. She sunk back down again, turning to see that the red fox had a slight smile on his face. "Enjoying this?" she teased warmly.

His mouth piqued, and he coughed slightly as he turned away. "Probably not, I…"

"Naaah!" Skye jokingly dismissed. "Just me being nice and sunny, am I right?"

"Great. Now there's three types of burns I have to fear around here."

The cream coloured vixen paid him no mind, sinking back down to her seat and ready to continue on with her meal. She paused though, before shaking her head and placing it down, facing him properly. He looked down to see her put one of her paws on his, cradling it slightly as a thumb pad ran over his knuckles. What surprised him was when she looked him in the eyes. She wasn't smiling and she didn't look happy, but she didn't seem upset either. If anything, she looked bashful as she turned away for a second or two before turning back. With a huff she spoke out, scratching behind an ear as she did so. "Anyway… yeah. I have to thank you for what you did. For me… You gave me my life back."

"I hope you don't mind me asking, but what exactly happened?"

Skye paused, before her eyes flicked away.

"If you don't want to say, that's fine. I…"

"-Are you sure you want to know?" she asked, interrupting him. "I mean, it's probably really depressing, and it'll make you down or so. It's quite a cloudy thing, so if you don't…"

"I do," Nick interrupted, a smug grin flashing across his muzzle. "I asked, didn't I?"

Skye took a deep breath in and nodded. "You did. Anyway, as you heard I was Jack's partner back when he was in the ZED. We were… -good friends, and I trusted him. We all did. But things began getting hectic, and confused, and one day we suddenly realised that something was a bit off. It got worse the next day, and we began to realise that we had a potential issue on our paws and… -We confronted him. We told him he needed a break and some therapy, but then he began to go crazy."

"Not 'ha-ha' crazy if I remember him," Nick noted.

"Yeah," Skye sighed. "The 'Together we can rule the universe crazy'. I tried to stop him, but he caught me in his gravity well and…"

She paused, and Nick spoke. "Broke every bone in your body I'm guessing. He did it a few times to me… -not nice."

Taking a steadying breath Skye spoke out. "No… I was knocked into a coma for five years, though I could astral project myself before then, so it wasn't like I was trapped in."

"Astral?"

"I can fly out of my body as a ghost," Skye said with a shrug. "Afraid I need to be asleep though, so no demo. Anyways, I could hear and see and speak, and you get used to not being able to feel. But not being able to taste wasn't fun, as was not being able to hug others or such. After five years though I recovered from my coma, which wasn't as fun as it sounds."

"How bad?"

Skye brought up her left paw and wiggled it about. "He missed this chap. Apart from that I couldn't move. It was a struggle to speak. I could tilt my head about, but the rest of my body just didn't work. I couldn't even feel below my waist…"

There was a huff from Nick, as he turned to the side and scratched his head. "Ouch."

"No, actually," she noted, bringing his attention back to her. "They dosed me up high enough to avoid that. But I was still locked in for twelve hours a day or so, though I shifted to a nocturnal sleeping pattern so that I could hang out more with my family."

There was a slight scoff from Nick, piquing Skye's attention. He noticed her gaze and shrugged. "When Bogo offered me a place, I'm afraid that's kind of the reason I said no. In my book, government agencies becoming family leans a bit too far on the two and two is five side of things. The little children they have training up is a cherry on top too. I mean that little sorceress…"

"-Brittany," Skye corrected, smiling.

Nick's eyes opened slightly, and he nodded. "Yeah, her. You realise she called Bogo a father or something?"

"Literally a father?"

"No, 'like a father' really. Or something. Might have just been a figure of speech."

"Probably not," Skye noted sadly, turning away. "While it's apparently all cleared up and forgiven now, she went through a lot of really horrible crap with her parents, and she relied on us for all her support and love for a long time. I'm not going to say anymore as it's not my place… -other than the fact that she named me an honorary sister!"

Nick shrugged and gave a hideously smug smirk. "I rest my case. Do you call Bogo papa too?"

Skye scoffed and shook her head. "No," she said clearly. "But we were all close here, and he worked so hard on this cure of his for me. When I got your powers and healed, it was the happiest day of my life. But, I… Well…" She deflated, and hung her head in shame. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, for putting you through all the crap you…"

"-Hey," Nick interrupted. "No need to be sorry."

She looked up, a hopefully gasp on her muzzle. "You sure?"

"One-oh-one percent?" Nick smirked, turning back to take another bite of his sandwich. "I mean, it was Bogo who…"

"-In my name," Skye clarified, sounding dejected. "In my name. I'd have rather stayed crippled and just suffered by myself than hauling another mammal into it."

Nick, a bite in his mouth, chewed and swallowed before shrugging. "You know the stories of Robin Hood?"

For a second Nick thought he was a mall Santapaws looking into the wonder filled eyes of a kit before Skye answered. "Oh yeah! They were my favourite."

He chuckled. "Mine too… -and when I found myself thrown on the wrong side of the law for a crime I didn't commit, I thought the idea of being a Robin Hood two would be good. Help out, do the right thing… -and looking back, I should have maybe been trying to explain what happened, rather than being this hero…" He looked away sadly. "I kind of have some of the blame for what happened, and I should have done things a lot different early on. The trouble is I'd dug myself hole too deep by the time I realised that." There was a glance up, and he smiled. "I dug that hole myself, you had nothing to do with it. But thanks for getting me out of it. Good job. Ten out of ten stars would recommend you."

There was a chuckle from the cream coloured vixen. "Thank you too. If there's anyway I can repay you just say?"

Nick turned back to his sandwich and shrugged. "Don't pant it," he said with a smile, before taking a bite. Skye followed, and was soon sniffing out and hammering on the table as she endured the spice. As she swallowed, her tongue was out, panting away for a few seconds as the heat cleared.

"What did I just say?" Nick teased. "Anyway, I might ask a favour in the future. Twenty years down the line, you might owe me a pawpsicle."

Skye giggled, and was about to take another bite of her food when Nick interrupted.

"By the way… how are you settling in with my powers?"

Skye turned and shrugged. "The healing is always on. As for the speeds, it gives my flight powers a decent boost, and I can get really fast with a run-up."

"Any times you've accidentally charged into a wall?"

Skye paused, bashfully looking away. "Maybe…."

"Noob."

"Hey, that was only on the first week!" Skye defended. "Though I don't tend to be able to push it to its limits. Going at what feels like a jog is super scary, while I'm still not sure when punching or such, given the power behind those."

Nick looked at her glumly and nodded. "Yeah…" he said darkly, trailing off as he turned back to his food.

Skye paused, her eyes widening with alarm before she leant forwards. "Oh gosh, I didn't go all rainy Skye on you, did I? Listen, I'm…"

"Don't pant it," Nick repeated, turning to her again and smiling.

She breathed a sigh of relief and smiled too. "Thanks…"

…

"Hey, Nick?"

"Yes?"

"I was wondering," Skye began, as she looked back at him. "I don't suppose you mind… -doing some practice? Like a jam session, but with powers. See what we can do and maybe have some fun."

Nick was still for a few seconds, lost in thought, before he shrugged. "Make it blueberry and we have a deal!"

Skye giggled, leaning over to pat Nick on the back. "Awesome. How about this time tomorrow on… hmmmm -the grand Kula reservoir? We can race across the lake."

"Sounds… good!"

"-And," Skye teased, "I have something super cool that I want to try and do." She smirked proudly, before pausing as a little set of beeps came from one of her pockets. "Ah, I'm clocking on in a bit for my standard shift, so I'll have to be off now!"

Nick nodded in agreement. "Sure… -Enjoy, doing good ZED stuff. Stay away from the bad stuff."

"I will," Skye replied, her eyelids half lidding slyly. She picked up the rest of her sandwich and stepped away, smiling as she did so. "And thank you. Again. Thank you so much for all you did for me, and I'm so sorry that you had to go through what you did."

"Thanks for helping me too." Nick replied, waving her off. She sped off into the distance, at what seemed super-fast for a normal mammal but awkwardly slow for Nick. He turned back to his sandwich, planning to finish it and check up on his mother. See if the poor dear had worn herself out yet. Bringing it up, he held it tight, ready to take a huge bite.

"Hey!"

He flinched suddenly, the new voice sending a quick wave of panic through his body. His claws gripped down onto his sandwich, sending the contents flying. He almost went flying too, before remembering that he had nothing to fear.

BANG!

…

He looked behind him to see that his chair had tipped over. He suddenly remembered that he was halfway up into a flying exit, and his flight or fight response was still coursing through him.

"Urghh, you dumb bunny, I… -You okay?"

He looked up from the chair and saw Judy there, her hands raised peacefully.

"Not gonna bite," she joked.

Nick chuckled, his body buckling slightly. Standing up again, he turned to the bunny and joked back. "Give me a no geyser spiral promise and we're good."

"No nothing," she said, before shaking her head. Wiping her brow, she walked forwards. "Sorry about that, did I scare you or…?"

"Just a learned reflex," he said dismissively. " -shouldn't be too hard to un-learn or something."

Judy relaxed, but looked away. "Listen," she began, jumping up and down on her toes a little. Her voice was nervous, and it spoke out awkwardly just like Nick had when asking Skye about her history with Jack. "I hope you don't hold the past against me, and I want you to know that when I learned the truth I did speak up for you. I'm sorry for pursuing you for so long. It… it must have been rough." She looked up, and smiled. "But it's all good now, right?"

Nick paused, before shrugging. "You know, I'm in a forgiving mood today. Guess we can call it evens."

"Good to hear," she replied, her body flopping down slightly as she relaxed before she looked around. "I've still got fifteen minutes or so on my callout shift, but if you want to talk or do something, we can."

Thinking for a second or two, Nick shrugged. "You know, I think I better see if my Mum's okay. Given the state she's in after all this, I'm a bit worried she might Hulk or Roar out or something."

"Urghhhh," Judy shivered, closing her eyes. "Don't remind me."

"Sorry," Nick shrugged, before grabbing his food and making his way out. He passed Judy, who looked at him guiltily and began walking away, her ears drooping behind her as she thought over everything that had happened.

They shot up again though as Nick called out. "You know, I'll be practicing powers with Skye tomorrow. You can join… -if you like?"

Judy smiled, and turned back to face him. "If my shifting can allow it, sure!"

The fox gave a lazy salute back, before zipping off into the distance. The bunny meanwhile sat down and grabbed a tasty carrot and cucumber salad to eat on. As long as no criminals decided to act up in the next eighteen minutes or so, she should be fine.

Should…

Everything about the ZED seemed wrong though. Felt wrong… And though she understood why it had turned out that way, she just wished she could have her carrot cake and eat it too.

.

.

Later that evening Brittany settled down in Clawhauser's office. Skye was there, as was Judy. Finally, with a knock on the door, Bogo entered. "Hey," she said hopefully, pausing as Bogo stood there coldly. "You okay?"

He sighed, and a small smile grew on his face as he walked over and sat down on one of the larger chairs. Brittany felt more comfortable too, but she gritted her teeth as she saw him wince while settling down. "You should have tossed her away or something," she said.

Bogo shook his head. "It was fine."

"No, it wasn't. She attacked you, you should have defended yourself. Grabbed her tail and thrown her into a wall, or…"

She paused as a faint chuckle came from the large buffalo, before he shook his head. "I don't think the news would take kindly to me attacking an old lady."

"But it was self-defence," Brittany repeated.

Bogo sighed. "That could get lost in the media," he noted. "They're good at that. Besides, Wilde pretty much said that if I attacked or sued her, he wouldn't hold back on his charges either. Given what I'd put him through, that time I could turn the other cheek."

The young red fox vixen took it in and mulled over it, before relaxing. "I suppose so… Though I have no regrets defending you."

The cape buffalo smiled warmly. "Given that I'm not the commander anymore, I'm guessing I can say that it was very much appreciated."

"You're welcome," she said proudly. She thought for a few seconds, before her eyes widened. She looked to Bogo and Skye and back again, a hopeful look on her face as she spoke. "You two… you're not…"

"Brittany," Bogo said, huffing slightly. "Skye was right… If I should be mad at anyone, it should be myself."

"Really!?" she gasped.

"Really," he replied, smiling. "I even ordered the others to treat Skye as if nothing happened."

"That's great!" she said, a huge happy grin on her face. She felt so relieved at the news. "-And, given that you're not in any legal trouble, you'll still be able to hang about and help around here!"

A wave of cool dread rippled through Brittany as she saw Bogo's grin falter, and she leant forwards, worried.

"Yes and no."

"What do you mean yes and no?" she said, suddenly nervous again.

Bogo looked over at Ben and Skye, before sighing. "I'm currently employed as the chief advisor. My detection power is still critically useful, so the ZED are keeping me on as an assistor."

"Like me," Brittany said.

"More like McHorn," he interjected, "but we all fall under the same classification."

"So, what's the no for?"

The large cape buffalo looked down at his feet and spoke. "Just because Nick isn't going to press any charges, doesn't mean the city won't."

"But… -But if Nick's okay, who did you even hurt?"

Ben leant over and spoke. "Legally crimes don't have to be against an individual. They're rules designed to protect society, and they need to be enforced. It'll be the city-state of Zootopia charging him."

"But what would he even be in trouble for!"

"I'd guess that perverting the course of justice would be the big thing," Bogo said sullenly. "But it's up to the prosecutors to decide if they want to charge me. If Wilde doesn't… that may sway it. But they might want to make an example of me due to my high position, or be pressured into it given the… -ahem. The new political climate."

Brittany frowned distastefully at that before shaking it off. She might not become the new mayor in the end, but it seemed increasingly likely that she would. She looked up sadly at Bogo and stepped forwards, holding his hoof with her paw. "Hopefully they'll leave you alone," she said. "And if they don't, I promise you that'll I'll keep in touch. If they send you to jail or something, I'll visit! I'll try and visit every week, and if I can't make it I'll call, and I won't leave you alone! I promise! I won't leave you alone."

"… Thanks," Bogo replied, smiling warmly. He held up a hoof, and gently brushed away a tear that Brittany didn't release she'd let out, before smiling as she walked forwards and hugged his leg.

"You've gotten more huggy," Skye noted.

Brittany looked over at her and smirked. "My little sis helped teach me how good they are," she replied. "Speaking of which…" She let go of Bogo and walked over to Skye, embracing her. Skye hugged her back, and they held onto each other tight. "-I thought my big sis' would want one too."

"Aaaaaaaaaaaawwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!"

Both vixens turned towards Ben, whose paws were on his cheeks and mouth had opened into a perfect 'O'. Skye laughed.

"I haven't seen that one since you discovered Bogo's favourite app."

"How-did-you…!" Bogo shot out at her before pausing, a frown growing on his face. "-I forbid you to talk about that."

Skye paused, before smiling some more. "Wow, you're one hot dan-"

"STOP IT!"

…

"-Cer, commander Bogo!"

Brittany paused, her head tilting to the side. "Isn't that the…"

"-How was your holiday Brittany?" Bogo interrupted. The red fox vixen turned to him and paused, before smiling.

"Amazing," she said, a happy grin on her muzzle. "Everything's cleared up, everything's forgiven."

In that moment, Brittany saw Bogo looking happier that he'd ever been before. Pretty much the same could be said for Ben. "Wow. What happened?"

"I… -I found that I loved my little sister, and that my mother had always loved and cared about me… -getting pulled into all this by my father and his fears. It was easy to forgive her." She sighed before carrying on. "As for him… well, when learning about how much he'd been spooked I remembered what it was like when Jack attacked… -how I felt then. I immediately understood his experiences at that point, and it made it impossible not to forgive him." She chuckled a little. "It made it harder to forgive myself, if anything," she said, sighing.

Ben paused. "You still feeling that, or you good?"

"I'm good."

"She's great," Skye added, "aren't you?" She leant in and nudged Brittany, winking while giving two quick tongue clicks.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaawwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!"

"I'm afraid I sort of screwed it up, and we decided that we'd be better as just friends."

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"

Skye turned to Ben and frowned mirthfully at him. "You're almost as bad as enforcer Fanghanel, you know that?"

There was a fit of laughter from Bogo, and he shook his head. Looking up again, he turned to Brittany and smiled. "Well, I'm so happy you patched that up. Is there anything else you'd like to go over?"

She paused, before nodding. "Yes…" she said, unsure of herself.

"Go on."

"How… exactly… was the ZED academy formed?"

Bogo paused, before shrugging. "After the ZED was spun out from the military, it was decided that they were best placed to handle those who wanted formal training and those with power issues."

"So… how did they decide on the structure, and the rules?"

Ben spoke this time. "Many of the original ZED commanders, who weren't empowered at this point, were high level military. I believe they brought over staff from the military schools they came from and based it on that. Over time, as more empowered mammals were trained up, fewer non-empowered ones were involved."

"So… Military school. Kind of figures," Brittany noted.

"What do you mean?"

At this point Brittany turned to Bogo. "Apparently, early on in my stay, my parents wanted me home for a weekend. They asked about it and initially the staff opposed it."

"Until I got involved," Bogo noted. "Officially, the rules are that we look after the students full time. The idea is that they're potentially dangerous and need to be kept here for the public's safety as well as their own. Of course, while it's a general rule, whoever's in charge can easily overrule it. I always did if asked."

"But the rule is that once you're in, you can't go home," Brittany said, darkly.

"It's a hangover with a workaround," Bogo noted. "It tends to work fine…"

"Tends to," Brittany noted, before turning to Ben. "Don't you think it's odd that we're kept here full time? We're locked up here, away from our parents."

The cheetah paused, thinking for a second, before speaking. "I think I did a little bit, but I've been used to it for so long. Most of the students are older ones anyway… Why? What's the problem?"

"The problem is mammals like me," Brittany noted, sighing. "The accident… -the one that sent me here. That wasn't me losing control of my powers. I was in control and my dad scared me, and that made me drop the fire I'd decided to take home so it could be safely put out... -eight year old logic, don't judge. The only time I lost control of my powers was right after I'd aged out of the program." She looked over at Bogo and frowned. "Had I been told about that, I could have practiced and been fine."

The buffalo sighed, a guilty look on his face. "I don't deny that I punished you for Jack's sins. I'm sorry for that."

"It's okay… -Anyway, the real reason I was sent here was because I'd traumatised my father. But he got no help. My family got no help, even though they were homeless. And they were given two choices. All or nothing. Why does it have to be like that?"

"I…" Ben began. "You know, there's no reason at all."

Brittany nodded. "Why can't we offer things like power control courses, or summer camps instead. Or weekly boarding, or night classes. If a child has to come here full time, why not let the parents come too? There's tons of space out on parts of the campus. Even if it's putting some trailers down there, it can't be that hard? Maybe offer the parents jobs too. And, if they're scared of their children's powers, therapy or something?"

Skye walked forwards and nodded. "I was an academy kit like you," she said, the younger vixen's eyes widening as she said it. "But my father also worked as an enforcer. I got the best of both worlds and I think you're right. Others should too."

"We can reach more kits as well with those other ideas," Ben noted. "I'm happy to work with you on this."

Brittany turned to Bogo, who smiled. "I'm the most guilty here of sticking to the old ways as I'm used to them," he said. "But if I was still in charge, I'd let you two look into it and make a proposal. You'll have to go through Fangmeyer now." He paused, shifting his weight as he thought. "She's an excellent enforcer and commander, though her mammal skills aren't as good." He looked over to Ben and chuckled. "If I could, I'd make you commander too, along with her."

The bombshell has been more than he expected. "Me!?"

"Yes, you. What I think she lacks, you more than have." He chuckled, before shaking his head. "Maybe joint commanders was another thing I should have allowed when I could," he mumbled, before looking down at Brittany. "I know that you got a raw deal. But I'm proud of you wanting to fix that," he said. Her ears perked up and her tail wagged slightly in response, Bogo noticing it and his mouth twinging slightly as a result. He looked over at Ben, and back at her, and nodded. "Work together and plan some changes, and I'll be happy to support it."

Brittany's arm shot into a quick salute. "Yes, sir!"

Bogo paused as his phone suddenly rang. He pulled it up and listened in before turning to Brittany. "Though not right now?"

"Why not?" she asked, confused.

"I've just got a report of a bad fire at a paint factory out at the docks. The firefighters are worried about it getting worse and would like you to assist."

Brittany shot up and nodded. "I'll get changed right away."

"And I'll call Karen. She's still working on your new wand, but she can have the old one waiting in the control centre."

"Sounds good," she said, turning around and sprinting out. "Duty calls!"

She left the room, slamming the door behind her and leaving the three other adults inside. She didn't notice the proud looks on all of their faces.

…

"I still remember when she was a little Kit," Ben cooed.

"She still is, in a way," Skye said softly. She paused though, and turned to Bogo. "When she defended you from Nick's mother, did you hear that she compared you to a father…?"

Bogo looked at her and nodded. "I did. I also read Clawhauser's reports on her from every four months." He sighed, before carrying on. "When her parents started to not visit, I knew and called them. Nudging them, then bluntly telling them that she missed them."

"Didn't you follow it up?" Skye asked.

Bogo shook his head. "Not my duty… -not much I could do to force them... -and when the reports started to talk about her substituting us for her family, I knew that she was looking up at me as a father figure."

"And…?"

Bogo frowned. "Did you expect me to actively try and replace her real father? I tried to get him to go, and when I learned about what his responsibilities actually were I got very verbal. But I couldn't force him to do anything, just shout at him to mammal up. Anyway, it was inappropriate to be that kind of figure, so I tried to nudge it much more towards a teacher and student relationship." He paused and sighed, his head falling into his waiting hooves, which then began to massage his temples. "Anyway, even though I did feel that kind of affection towards her, I was NOT going to repeat what had happened with Jack."

Skye looked on and nodded. "I understand…" she said. "But you can't change how she feels."

"No," Bogo sighed, huffing. "All I could do was be there and disappoint her. Just look at me now..."

There was a soft paw on his back, though he ignored it. It got harder to ignore when it, and its partner, reached forwards and pulled his mouth into a grin. "There-there Yumba," Ben cooed softly, smiling as the ex-commander huffed. "Let's get you some nice hot coco, and turn that frown upside down."

Standing up, the frown remained stubbornly the right way up.

"Besides, now that things are patched up with her family, and you're no longer the commander, you can stop doing that, can't you?"

…

That did it.