Buster Moon had only love for the theater. In his nearing 40 years of life, he'd never thought about stopping to start a family, never even taken it into consideration. As Nana would put, it simply wasn't his cup of tea.
Nana would ALSO he was married to the theater, as she once was and Buster couldn't disagree. Though Rosita would call him more of a workaholic and he couldn't disagree with THAT either.
But Buster was happy. That's all that mattered right? After his father passed away, Miss Crawley and Eddie were the only family he had. Then he put on a singing competition and gained a bigger family, Nana Noodleman included.
Then Red Shore brought new members to his family.
Safe to say his family had grown quite a bit in the last few years.
Somehow, he had found himself in the position of uncle, brother, son, grandson and even gained the title father figure.
Gunter, Rosita and Eddie were his siblings, no doubt. Eddie had been his best friend since college. He was now back IN college pursuing new interests. Rosita was his sister and sometimes the Mama-bear. Then there was Gunter, his eccentric brother and his muse, at times his inspiration.
Miss Crawley, Nana and Clay practically claimed the grandparent role and even Marcus and his gang found their place in the little family.
Then there were-
"Mr. Moon?"
Buster jumped, shaken from his thoughts as he turned to the door.
"Ye- come in!" He said.
The door opened and Rosita walked in, carrying a lunch box. "Hey, Buster," she smiled, dropping the formalities.
"Rosita! What a nice surpise! What are you doing here?" Buster asked, racking his brain, trying to remember if he had scheduled rehearsals today.
"I brought you lunch. Figured you'd be too busy to remember it."
"You know me so well. Thank you!"
Rosita placed the lunch box on his desk and looked at him in concern. "Have you been sleeping?"
"I took a power nap." Buster replied.
"When?"
Buster nervously drummed his fingers on the desk and Rosita frowned. "Buster-"
"Rosita, you know we have a show in less then 2 weeks! I'm just trying to make sure we don't fall behind. I still have to make reservations with the hotel, contact the theater and make sure they-"
"Buster, you have plenty of time to do all that and we're WAY ahead of schedule. You need to take a break. You promised you'd start taking it easy."
Buster sighed. "I know. But old habits die hard."
Rosita smiled. "Tell you what. Why don't you come over to my place and have supper tomorrow night? The kids would love to see their favorite uncle. And then we'll all watch a movie together."
Buster smiled at that. "Alright, that actually sounds nice." He admitted.
"See you at 6, then?"
"Yes, ma'am. Should I bring anything?"
"Only your charming self." Rosita said, hugging him.
Buster returned the embrace before Rosita smiled and left him to his meal.
Buster felt hunger gnawing at him as he tried to recall the last time he had actually eaten. Was it yesterday? Shrugging, he pulled the container close, but before he could dig in, a sudden rumble of a familiar guitar shook his nerves.
Buster pushed his food aside and hopped off his chair.
Strolling down the stairs, he peaked in to each practice room before he found Ash, rocking away at her guitar. The forced she was applying told Buster she was angry about something. Her fingers practically clawed at the strings. The speaker next to her rattled and thundered out her notes. Buster winced as his sensitive ears began to scream in pain. Trying his best to drown out the sound, he made his way to the speaker plug in and all but ripped it from the wall.
Ash played for a good few seconds more before she realized how quiet her playing had gotten. Confused, she turned and found Buster slumping to the wall, sighing in relief.
"That's better." He said.
Ash raised an eyebrow. "Buster?"
"Hey, Ash. What's up?"
The porcupine frowned as she turned away. "Sorry, I got carried away."
Buster leapt up. "No, no! Don't be sorry! It sounded great! But, I was just curious as to what you were doing here? I mean, you know you're ALWAYS more then welcome here, it's just I thought you had a sound proof room in your apartment."
Ash removed her guitar from her side and balanced it on the wall before slumping to the floor.
Buster frowned as he approached her and took a seat next her. "Ash?"
The rock star sniffed as she leaned and put her head on Buster's shoulder. "Lance came by."
Buster felt his entire body stiffen with anger. Forcing himself to stay calm, he asked "What'd he want?"
Ash was silent a moment before replying. "He wanted to get back together. Again."
"How'd he even find your apartment?" The showman asked.
"I don't know!" Ash suddenly screamed as she jumped up, quills shooting from her back, some struck the wall, others found their way to Buster who yelped. "He just came knocking on MY door and was 'hey, Ash, I really, really, really miss you, can we get back together?'" With this, Ash put on a dopey voice and strolled around the room, mimicking her ex-boyfriend's walk. "Then he barges in like he freaking owns the place, then-"
Buster's ears shot up as he gave up trying to wrestle a quill from his face. "Wait, wha- he came in? Why didn't you call the police? Or me?"
Ash stopped, Buster could tell she was avoiding his gaze. "Ash?"
When she didn't reply, Buster stood and put a hand on her shoulder. "Ash?"
The young woman then turned and flung her arms around the koala's neck. Buster took a step back before wrapping his arms tightly around her as her body began to shake from sobs.
Buster spoke gently to her, trying to calm her down as she's cried. "He came in and he was angry and then, then he slapped me, said I wouldn't be anything without him. That I wouldn't be here without here. Then he grabbed my wrist and, and-" Ash couldn't finish as she sobbed in Buster's shoulder.
The two stood alone in the practice room, the only sound were Ash's cries and Buster's attempts to sooth her.
Finally, Ash calmed a bit. Still holding onto Buster, she buried her face in his shoulder. "He tried to pull me outta my apartment, I don't even want to think what was going through his mind, but then a neighbor saw us and threaten to call the police. THAT scared him and then he just dropped my wrist and ran off. She asked if me if I wanted her to call the police. I wanted to say yes, but the words didn't come. I managed to thank her and grab my guitar and come here. How? I'm not sure. All I knew is that I was safe here."
Buster held his daughter close, trying to control his anger. Finally, he spoke. "Come on, we're going to the police station, filing a report and a restraining order."
Ash pulled back to look at him. "Now?"
"Now."
The young woman's eyes were still teared up as she asked, "You go with me?"
"Of course."
"You're the best. But uh, you got something-"
"Wha- OUCH!" Buster yelped as Ash yanked a quill from his cheek.
Before Ash could utter another word, Buster grabbed her paw and pulled her to the exiting doors. Once outside, he hailed a cab, figuring they would not both fit on his bicycle. In the cab, Ash sat, staring awkwardly at her paws while Buster called Johnny's father Marcus.
"Moon! Are you all right, what's the problem?" Marcus asked as he answered.
"Marcus, I need your help."
"You got it. What's wrong?"
"Remember Lance?"
"That two-timing, spotlight-stealing hog of a waste of oxygen?"
"Yep."
"Unfortunately."
"Well, he's been messing around with Ash and-"
"Got an address? Me and the boys will take care of it."
"I want this done within legal process."
"That's a first for you."
Buster ignored that. "We're getting a restraining order against him. But if I know Lance's type, he's not gonna let a scrap of paper stop him. Would you be willing to watch over Ash's place for a few nights?"
"Consider it done." Came the reply.
"Fantastic! I'll let Ash know the good news."
"Tell Ash she's in good hands. If that bastered tries anything, we'll stick 'im with his own quills."
Buster shuddered at that image. "I'll let her know."
With a final farewell, Buster hung up and turned to Ash who had been quiet ever since they left the theater. "Ash?"
The rockstar turned to open her mouth but decided against whatever she was about to say. Instead, she resumed looking at her paws.
When they arrived at the police station, a German Shepherd met them at the desk and Buster and Ash explained the situation. Once the officer was clear on what they wanted, he got down to business. "Alright, ma'am. I'm just gonna need to ask a few questions about the guy. If you're willing?"
Ash agreed and the process began.
2 hours later, they were back outside. Ash felt a great weight lifted, but anxiety still clawed at her chest. Buster noticed.
"Ash, are you-"
"Can I stay with you!?"
Buster blinked, taken back by the sudden request.
"Just for a few days?" Ash realized what she had said and awkwardly turned away, rubbing her arm sheepishly. "I'm sorry, I didn't-"
"Of course you can, kid." Buster said. "You can stay as long as you nee-" Before Buster could continue, she embraced him. "Thank you, so much!"
"You're welcome." Buster smiled.After much insisting, Ash finally relented and accepted Buster's offer to take the bed. After grabbing a few things from her apartment and clearing things up with Marcus, she and Buster returned to the theater where Buster ushered Ash upstairs to have a bite to eat while he stayed and worked on a few more things in his office.
That night, Buster tiredly climbed up the stairs to grab his pajamas and noticed Ash asleep on his bed. He smiled as he hopped up on the stack of books he kept by his bed and pulled the cover to lay over Ash. He then brushed her quills out of her face before grabbing a pillow and small blanket.
He was just heading back down when-
"Buster?"
The Showman paused and turned at the call of his name. "Yeah?"
Ash was sitting up, her knees pulled to her chest.
"Uh... I wanted to say thank you. I didn't... I really didn't feel... safe I guess, going back."
Buster smiled, softly as he made his way back to the bed. "I told you, kid, you're always welcome here."
Ash frowned as she looked away. "I never really had a supportive parent in my life..." she then looked to Buster. "Feels good to have one now."
Buster took her paw in his own. "I love you, kid. You always have my support."
"I love you, too, Dad. And thank you."
Buster hugged her. "Get some sleep." He said. He then replaced the blanket over her and said ome last good night before returning downstairs.
Being up for nearing 48 hours had taken it's toll and Buster yawned as he climbed into his desk drawer. He had almost drifted off when his sharp ears picked up an odd noise coming form downstairs. Now fully alert, Buster popped from his drawer and quietly raced to his door. He peered out, down the stairs into the darken theater. His ears twitched, trying to pick another sound.
Success!
The noise was coming from the back exit. Buster quickly and quietly made his way down the stairs. He peaked his head around the corner just as the back door started to open.
The intruder peaked in, eyes glowing.
Buster looked around for a weapon as the intruder stepped inside, the floor boards creaking under it's weight.
No weapon in sight, Buster tried the next best thing. Fear. Seeing the lightswitch, he leapt into the intruder's line of sight and flicked it on.
The intruder yelped at the sudden light and Buster prepared to defend his theater before his own eyes adjusted and he recognized the intruder.
"Nooshy!?"
