I don't need them, Jack thought to himself, I can handle a mission like this all by myself.
Jack had always been the kind of mammal who's trying to grow up too fast, but his parents tried their best to hold on to what they could – when Jack wanted to stop holding Judy's hand as they crossed the street Judy handcuffed him to her. That was hard to explain the one time she forgot the key. Then there was the time Nick wanted Jack to play catch with him but Jack stubbornly refused because he was busy trying to get the attention of a girl he liked. Sure, Nick helped him out with that, and it didn't end so well, but it stuck out in Jack's mind. His parents loved him, and he knew that and loved them too – but even at his age they were still embarrassing him.
And then he had the everlasting interior conflict of his parents' influential shadow – how do you top your parents when they're so well known? It was like the son of one of the Beagles – the name slipped Jack at the moment, but the comparison was not lost, rather it helped get his point across. He wanted to be someone, but with parents like his, that was pretty hard to do.
Regardless, he eyed the road ahead and kept driving, ignoring the growing guilt he felt inside.
"Wow," Finnick remarked, "that was quite the move, the jerk."
Nobody was listening to him; rather, Nick was holding Judy, trying to calm her down. Regardless, the tears streamed down her eyes.
"Carrots…" he said in a soothing tone. Sure, he was upset, but he tried to keep his cool. He never cried in front of Finnick, and he wasn't going to today.
"Three years!" Judy said between gasps, "He stayed away for three years because of us!"
"That's not true, I'm sure it was some-"
"Nick, we're embarrassing him!"
"Isn't that a parent's job?" Finnick blurted out. Once again, he was ignored.
"Judy," Nick said, his hands on Judy's cheeks, "take a few breaths. He still loves us… he just needs to cool down…"
"Um, I hate to be the burden of bad news," Finnick tried to speak again, "but weren't you two supposed to help him on some mission against those terrorist guys?"
"Finnick's right," Judy finally started to calm down, "we need to focus on HERD. Family issues can be worked out later."
"Marky, I don't think what you did is right," Skye said, stirring the glass of tea in front of her, "but I understand your anger."
"Yeah, I feel really bad," Marcus replied from across the counter in the kitchen of the apartment he and Skye shared, a cool cup of coffee sitting in front of him. He wasn't drinking it, just stirring it. It was rather room temperature by now.
"Maybe you should go and apologize?"
"I probably should, then we can get back to this whole miss-"
Marcus was interrupted by the sound of the TV in the background suddenly changing. He turned to see a ZNN "Breaking News" intro.
"Sorry to interrupt your program," Wolf Blitzer, ZNN's current anchor, started, "but we've received word that a bomb has gone off in Tundra Town. Police are on their way to the scene, and witnesses…"
"I've gotta go," Marcus bolted out of his seat and put his suit jacket on, "I'll be home later. Love you." He quickly kissed the fox and ran out the door.
Nick and Judy managed to catch a taxi, for Finnick had decided to stay behind and as far away from any danger as he possibly could. As the taxi drove on its way back to the Police Station Nick and Judy silently looked out the windows, slowly making their way through the traffic of Tundratown. No one in the cab felt more awkward than the driver, who reached for the radio dial and tuned it to a pop station. Gazelle's "Try Everything" was just starting. As the vocals drifted through the cab Nick chuckled.
"Hey," he bumped Judy on the arm, "it's your song."
"Oh," Judy said, smiling a little, "so it is."
Nick sighed a little, just enough so that his wife wouldn't notice. He knew he couldn't cheer her up, but that wasn't going to stop him. But before he could say anything a boom was heard outside, slightly muffled by the cab. The car slammed to a stop…
"Oh, crap," the driver said, looking at the billowing smoke about two blocks away. He turned to see a small pile of cash on the dashboard and his patrons, the fox and the bunny, running towards it. He would think they were crazy, but he knew who they were.
They could handle it, he hoped.
