Despite saying 'ow' multiple times, Launchpad had been prodded way more than he was comfortable with. The doctor had kept at it until he'd mercifully declared he didn't have any broken bones and could go home. Launchpad usually didn't like hospitals, apart from the food, partly because he could never understand what everyone was doing to him, but mostly because he didn't like being left alone after his friends had to go home. But today, he would've happily stayed overnight if it meant he could just go straight to sleep.
Finally free of his tormentor, Launchpad pushed his soggy clothes into his duffel bag with leaden arms. No broken bones, but his entire body ached. He had bruises absolutely everywhere and his muscles felt like he'd way, way overdone it at the gym. His stomach was still knotting up with cramps and he'd only stopped coughing up water about an hour ago.
And he couldn't stop sneezing. Launchpad felt another coming on, screwed up his face, but to no avail as it only came exploding out with greater force. It jarred his whole body, and Launchpad groaned.
"Bless you." Della stood in the doorway to the hospital room.
"Oh, hey. You got here quick."
"Um, yeah? You dropped my kid in a river and I got a call to say you were both been taken to hospital, of course I…"
Launchpad lowered his gaze. "I'm sorry."
Della held up her hands. "No, no. You jumped in after him! I didn't mean… wow, I'm bad at this. I mean… thank you. You jumped in after him; you got him out. That's the important part."
"Is he…?"
"He was right here…" Della leaned back out into the hallway. "Dewey. Come on, sweetie, it's okay."
A sneeze sounded from down the hallway and then Dewey stuck his head around the door. He was far from his usual exuberant self, shivering and wrapped up in one of Della's spare jackets.
Launchpad swallowed the lump in his throat. They'd said Dewey was fine but it was different actually seeing him standing there. This time, he'd been strong enough to save his friend. "Hey Dewey, how are you feeling? That river was really cold."
Dewey stared up at him, wide eyes filling with tears, then rushed him. Launchpad dropped to his knees and grunted as Dewey slammed into him, buried his face against his chest, and sobbed into his one dry shirt. "I thought…" Dewey finally choked out. "I saw you go over the waterfall. I didn't know what happened to you, and you were only in the water because of me, and…"
Launchpad squeezed him back tight. "It's okay, I get it. It's scary, huh?"
Della stepped over and gently squeezed her son's shoulder. "Huey told me the guy assessing you was a real jerk. Both to you and the kids. Why the hell have they got someone like that in the Junior Woodchucks? If I get my hands on him…"
"I'm going to talk to the Duckberg head leader," said Launchpad, as he rubbed Dewey's back. "She needs to know he hasn't changed. I don't know why they even brought him back."
"Won't that look bad? You dobbing him in when he's probably going to give you a bad report?"
Launchpad gulped. He hadn't thought of that. "She'll… she'll listen to me. And I've got to try, even if Jack's report gets me kicked out. He made me feel like garbage as a kid. I can't let him talk to kids like that."
Dewey sniffed as he extricated himself from Launchpad's arms.
"You okay, honey?" said Della.
Dewey pushed the remaining tears from his eyes and squared his shoulders. "You're not garbage, LP. If Mr Russell won't give you a good report, I'll go in and give you one. I mean, I'm not one of your Woodchucks so I can assess you, right?"
Launchpad ruffled his hair. "I'm not actually sure. But thanks."
"Come on," said Della. "The other parents have picked up their kids already. But I figured I could drive the bus back for you. You've been through enough for one day. It's the least I can do."
Launchpad's shoulders slumped. "Aw man, thanks Della. I need to sleep. And it'll be way comfier on the back seat than in the driver's seat."
"Um… right."
"Launchpad, Launchpad!"
"Huh?" Launchpad snorted and sat straight up, then winced and put a hand to his stomach. The world spun in a groggy dimly lit soup and, for a moment, he wasn't sure where he was.
Concern creased Della's face under the harsh bus lighting. "Aw, man. I'm sorry. You were really out of it. I already took Dewey and Huey home, you slept right through it. But you can't stay on the bus all night, you'll be super stiff."
Launchpad sneezed, then rubbed at his beak. He could already feel his muscles stiffening up, although he wasn't sure how long he'd slept. It was dark outside.
Della grabbed up his duffel bag and carried it into Mr McDee's garage for him, so at least he didn't have to do that. Launchpad trailed her inside. He picked his jacket up where he'd left it slung over his curtain railing, put it on, then sunk onto the sofa.
"You're… going to sleep in that?"
Launchpad hugged his arms. "Yes." Somehow, the jacket felt warm and safe.
Della looked about awkwardly, then tucked the duffel bag away into a corner. "Are you going to be alright? You know if you need anything… ?"
Launchpad smiled faintly. "No, I think I just need to sleep. Not on a bus. I'm probably going to feel this in the morning anyway."
Della winced. "Yeah." She rubbed at her arm. "Listen, I know you and Dewey are real close anyway. But what you did… I mean, you didn't have to do that, and…"
Launchpad blinked up at her. "Of course I did."
Della's shoulders slumped. "Aw LP, I… stuff it…" She thew her arms around his neck, eliciting a grunt, and her fingers dug into his jacket. "Thank you." She held him for a long moment, before pushing him back. "Just get some sleep, okay?"
As he strode into the Duckberg Junior Woodchuck headquarters Launchpad checked over his prompt cards yet again. He'd written a few of them himself, most had input from Violet and Huey, and they'd had to explain the one to him that said 'conflict of interest.' Despite the preparation Launchpad still had no idea how this would go down. But he had to speak up for his Woodchucks.
As he approached the Duckberg head's office, voices carried down the hall, and Launchpad stalled.
"I'm done I tell you. One ran through camp and…. and I don't think he was even wearing any underwear. I had to retrieve three items of my clothes from various trees. What the hell does 'Boomer' mean anyway? And then the damned kid had to go and throw himself in the river; I can't deal with crap like that anymore. I don't need to go on camping trips to do assessments, let me handle the paperwork, and if you need me to chew out any of your leaders who get out of line, I'm your man, but keep those kids away from me."
Launchpad gulped and forced himself into movement. "Um…" The door to the head's office was open, and he knocked tentatively on the frame.
Jack whirled around. "Launchpad…"
Behind her desk, Emily Hooterman, head of the Duckberg Woodchucks, stared wide-eyed between the two of them and visibly winced.
How the heck was he supposed to do this with Jack here?
"I'll… just… yeah, I've had my say, Emily. I've… paperwork." Jack moved for the door, stopped, then loudly cleared his throat.
"Oh, sorry." Launchpad stepped back to let him through.
Jack moved into the hall, slowed, then spun around and stabbed a finger into Launchpad's chest. "What you did was really dumb!" He glared at him for a moment, chest heaving, then lowered his finger. "But, I guess you can swim through a bloody raging torrent, so… I'm glad you and the boy are okay." And with that he turned and ambled off down the hallway.
Launchpad stared at his old leader's rapidly retreating back. What the heck had just happened?
"Wow…" Emily shook herself. "Launchpad, sweetie, you look… it's okay. Get in here and close the door."
"Um, sure, Ms H." Launchpad gulped, shut the door, then sat down in the chair across the desk from the old owl.
She looked at him over her glasses. "Launchpad…"
Launchpad winced. "Sorry. Emily. See, this is why it's great my Woodchucks can call me Launchpad. It is going to be so much less confusing for them when they're adults."
Emily didn't appear to be listening. She stared at is chest, then a faint smile touched her beak as she looked back up. "You've put on your swimming badge."
"Ah, yeah…" Launchpad fingered his sash self-consciously. The morning after Della had taken him home, he'd woken sore and stiff, and a little melancholic. He hadn't had the energy to do anything useful, so he'd ended up going through some of his old Woodchuck stuff. He hadn't realised he'd been looking for something that reminded him of Calvin, not until he'd found the old badge. As he'd held it in his hand, it had seemed silly not to put it where it belonged. Even then, when he'd sewed it on, it'd felt like a tiny hotspot on his chest, something that shouldn't be there, and any second someone was going to call him on it. "I mean, the kids saw me swim over a waterfall so, I guess, I can't really pretend that, I, I can't…"
"Sweetheart," Emily said gently, "you've more than earned that."
Launchpad straightened. "I need to talk to you about something important."
"Your assessment?"
Of course. Jack had already handed it in. Emily had read it. Launchpad could feel his guts tightening, but he shook his head. "No. Not exactly. Mr Russell… Jack…" He pulled out his prompt cards and shuffled them shakily. One slipped to the floor. He groaned and looked at it mournfully. He was still too sore to stretch that far. As long as it wasn't the 'conflict of interest' one.
Emily winced. "Launchpad, wait…"
Launchpad's gaze hardened. He shoved the rest of the cards back in his sash as he turned to Emily. "I don't like the way Jack spoke to my Woodchucks, and I don't think he should be in a position where he can make them feel like… like he did to me when I was a kid. I know he's supposed to be the one reporting on me, and this probably looks bad, but… well, I'm really mad at him."
Emily sighed. "You wouldn't be the first leader who's complained. But I think your Woodchucks may have solved both our problems for us."
"Huh? How?"
"Did you hear what Jack was ranting about when you walked in here? Your kids scared him, or at least really annoyed him. He just came in here to tell me he's done going on trips. He still wants to help out with the Woodchucks, just as long as he doesn't have to deal directly with the kids. And, well, he'll probably still upset some of the adults but I think they can handle him."
"So, he's not…"
"He's not going to be anywhere near the kids."
"That… was easier than I expected. I mean, the last time he got kicked out, it took…" Launchpad lowered his gaze and rubbed at one of the bruises on his chest.
Emily chewed her lip. "Listen, Launchpad, lets back up for a second. I need to apologise to you. I don't assign the assessors. Jack got put with you. When I found out I meant to give you a heads up. But I got busy, and… I'm sorry. Especially after everything that happened with the Duck boy, look, I'm so, so sorry. I know it couldn't have been a fun trip for you."
Launchpad shrugged. "So… does this mean I still get to be Woodchuck leader?" He tried to keep the hope out of his voice.
Emily picked up some sheets of paper from her desk. "Well, Jack's assessment was certainly… interesting."
That told him nothing. Launchpad gulped as his gaze sat squarely on the far too thick document in Emily's hands. "I don't know what he said but… I know what I did wrong anyway. I shouldn't have left the kids alone with him all night. He just… he just upset me, and I didn't mean to, but I ended up spending the whole night up on the bus. I dumped them on Jack, and maybe it would've been okay if it'd been someone else, but I wasn't there to stop him talking down to them. They're my responsibility, and I screwed up. Whatever else he's got in there, he's probably being unfair, but if that's there, then… it's true…" He hung his head.
"I'm not surprised he upset you, given your history, and, well… Jack. It's okay, and like I said, I'm sorry I put you in the position. But he doesn't decide who stays and who goes. I do. Most of his report was, well… standard Jack. Although he rambled on a bit more for you than I've seen him do anyone else. He says he still thinks you're crazy, but at least you're crazy enough to do something dumb to actually save a kid… I think he intended that as a compliment."
Launchpad raised his head. "Wait, he said that?"
Emily shrugged. "I think that may have been what he was trying to do when he bailed out of here. And tell you off, but, you know, that's Jack."
"So I can stay right? I mean I figured you keep sending me assessors, I probably was doing something wrong."
"Launchpad, the biggest reason you keep getting stuck with assessors is because you're the only one of our leaders looking after your Woodchucks by yourself. If you had a parter or two, you'd be able to back each other up, and we wouldn't have to keep sending someone to check up on you to settle down concerned parents. But," she winced. "It does help if you don't wake up hibernating bears."
"Okay, I'll try to do better next time…"
"You did plenty good, Launchpad. And I get how hard it must've been jumping in that river for you."
Launchpad smiled faintly. Jumping in the river had not been hard the part. Not to go after Dewey. "Thanks."
"Look, I think Jack's gone. But if you need to stay a few extra minutes to be sure…"
"There was… something else I wanted to ask you about," Launchpad said in a rush, before he could chicken out. He hadn't written it on his prompt cards because he hadn't wanted Violet and Huey to see it yet.
"What is it?"
"I… I just wanted to know if it'd be okay if I… look, the kids got a bit stupid, partly to help me, partly because of the stuff Jack said. What they did with Dewey, I don't think they realised how dumb that was, and I…" Launchpad pressed back into the chair and hugged his arms. "I wanted to ask if I could tell them about Calvin."
"LP… You… you don't need to ask me about that…"
"I mean, I think they kind of know what happened from what I was yelling at Jack. But I thought maybe it would help them understand how stuff can go wrong even when you're trying to help someone? And that how they talk to people matters, and… I'll leave out some bits but I thought I should ask first, because Woodchucks is supposed to be fun, and, well… I guess its just not a very nice story."
He looked up, and far from looking horrified, Emily was smiling at him with watery eyes. "I think that's a great idea. You might even… maybe you could share it with some of the other Woodchuck groups?"
"I… I don't know…"
Emily held up her hands. "Sorry. Just, yes, of course, just tell your Woodchucks. But let me know how it goes?"
Launchpad nodded as he stood to his feet. "Yeah, I can do that."
"Launchpad, wait." Emily got up and moved around her desk to meet him at the door. "Is it okay if I give you a hug?"
"Yeah, Ms H. I think I need that."
This time, as she put her arms around him, she didn't correct him.
A/n: Launchpad gets a couple of hugs, because, well he needs them. Thanks to everyone for reading. Please leave me a review!
