Prologue 2: Baby inbound.

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One month earlier:

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"Finnick's going to jail…"

"I know," Nick grunted. He was sat in an open back chair, required given that the top half of his tail was in a cast and thus stiff as a rod, making the whole thing look like a paint brush rather than a foxes brush.

Judy, meanwhile, lying on their couch paused, turning towards him. "You did more than enough. It was his decision…"

He sighed. "I know… But I thought I could make him crack. I know how your mind works if you're in that kind of thing, and I gave him chances. Chance after chance after chance. The best kind of hustle is a no risk hustle, and even when I was in my biggest ruts, I'd have pulled myself out if someone had given me a decent job… I did more than that, he still refused."

Judy sighed. "I know, he was just stubborn."

"I think he was angry," Nick noted. "Angry that I went straight." He paused, before scoffing. "Or he was a criminal puritan. I still say that my best hustle was getting on that business scholarship out of highschool. Free room, classes and food… and it taught me some things… He said that that wasn't a hustle, and I was an idiot for calling it that."

"Will you visit him, in jail?"

"Even if he screams at me, yeah," Nick said. "Give him some company, given that he may well die in there…"

"Or not," Judy pointed out. "Might get one of those new alternative punishments."

Nick paused slightly, before turning over to a case file. He picked it up and laughed. "I know the perfect one for him," he noted.

"Which is," Judy asked, moving over next to him.

Holding up a case file, Nick studied it curiously. "A common one is age regression, the idea being that a big, full of himself thug won't really want to show himself again if everyone learns that he's been dressed up and treated like a cub for the last few years, pooping diapers and all."

Judy paused, before chucking. "I thought the idea of this was to punish Finnick, I thought he enjoyed playing dressup."

Nick looked down at her, a faint smile on his lips. "Do plumbers like putting their arms down blocked toilets?"

"Touche," the bunny cop commented.

"Anyway," Nick continued, "they get the full baby treatment, plus a ton of other stuff to keep them in line and extra humiliated."

"So, you'll visit him in the nursery instead?" Judy asked.

Nick paused, before looking back to his case file. "Ever heard of the Surika incident?"

Judy paused, before shaking her head. "No."

"Poor young meerkat, came out as an inter to her mother," Nick began. "Said mother framed her for robbing from her, getting her onto this program. As a key idea was to let parents re-raise wayward children, that mother adopted her and treated her to the full extent of the punishment and then some. Thankfully a friend discovered it about halfway into the sentence, six months or so, and the roles then inverted. That poor meerkat looking after her mother, with her gopher mate."

Judy was silent, just having a mad look on her face. She blinked, however, as she realised something. "So wait, you're thinking of…"

Nick nodded his head.

"Awwwww."

Cracking a smile, the fox stood up and walked to their apartments spare bedroom, opening it up. Judy had slept in there when they first moved in, but their relationship soon meant they were sharing the same main bed. As a result, all that was left was a bare and empty room with a bed and a wardrobe in it. Add in a microwave, Judy thought, and it would just look like an up to date (but twice as wide) version of her old place in the grand pangolin arms…

There was also something else they'd been thinking of using it for, or at least joked about it being used for.

"So," Nick said, "looks like it might be a nursery a bit earlier than expected."

"Yeah," Judy noted. In the past, they'd both talked about the possibility of adopting in the future. Now, though, it might be happening a lot earlier.

"How do you feel about it?" Judy asked.

Nick paused, scratching behind his ear as he thought. "I… I always had that little mammal urge, to have a little guy running about, you know?"

"I know," Judy said.

"Ever since I graduated, really. You'd just sit, and then think of a little chap laughing as you tickled with them…" he said with a sigh. "I told myself that I was in no place to do that, being a legally adjacent con artist and all, but doing cons with Finnick let me pretend. In those moments… moments when he was playing my little kit…. I was happy, and I felt like he was."

He trailed off, though his ears perked up as he felt Judy touch his paw. She looked forwards and smiled. "Let's look into this," she said. "It could give us practice for the real deal…"

"Yeah," Nick chuckled. "If we can handle Finnick, we can handle most things…"

"And if you enjoy it…"

They turned to each other and nodded. Over the next few days, they enquired with the judge and he agreed that they would be perfect foster parents for Finnick's re-raising. Judy found it fantastic with how much Nick was enjoying it and, while she was at work, he spent his time on leave getting things ready.

The paint had come first, Judy declining to do it with him, given that she wanted to see what he could do. She'd come home from work and peek in to see stencils appearing, along with pots of paint. Nick, who'd spent the last hour or so preparing their dinner, would then retreat back in, with a kit like smile on his face.

One warm today afternoon, Judy had an off-day, and woke up to the smell of fresh fruit. She enjoyed her salad with Nick, before he waved her on, ready to show off his work.

She entered, and burst into laughter.

Elephants…

It had to be elephants.

Up to about Nick's shoulder height, the room was painted a grass green, and above that a sky blue. Stencilled hills, mountains, houses, cars and trees dotted the area, while next to the door was the sun, a clock mounted on it. Little stencilled elephants, waving with their hands and trunks, were spread about too. Some farming little farming patches, others selling icecream. There was even a band, a conductor elephant in front of a whole group, dressed in smart army uniforms, their trunks all raised and going 'toot-toot'.

"Finnick's going to love this," Judy said, giggling.

"He's gonna hate it so much," Nich replied back with a smile. "He does deserve to be punished, that's the idea. I'll be fair, of course, treating him like my own. But is there no reason I can't enjoy doing it all?"

"I'm kind of looking forwards to it too," Judy said, happily.

Over the next few days, other changes were made. A pair of nice thick curtains were added, fluffy and with pictures of smiling stars, rocket ships, and all other sorts of space stuff. Nick, ever the finder of good deals, found a beautiful wooden wardrobe and got it for twenty bucks. Varnishing it out on their balcony, he moved it in with the help of Clawhauser (who knew about the plan, and was happy to be uncle Ben), slipping it perfectly into an alcove to the side and behind of the door. Due to the walls either side, he could only open the wardrobes doors to ninety degrees, but he worked with it, adding little metal trinkets that would lock them open. Inside, one half of it was taken up with shelves, the other half by an area for hanging clothes, a hanger rail at its top. Below this, on either side, he fitted rows of hooks, ready to hang things up on. The bottom of the space, meanwhile, was given over to a plastic tub, for 'random stuff'.

Judy, getting into it, also had an idea, one that Nick loved. The door adjacent to the shelving area had a full height mirror on it, and the one adjacent to the hanging area its own hanging rail. She suggested adding a baby bouncer to the rail, so that, if given a time out, Finnick would have to hang there and look at himself in a mirror.

Nick did one better.

Instead of a baby bouncer, it was a little hair clip like thing that was mounted on. "Hold him by his scruff," Nick explained, giggling.

More furniture came next, Nick managing to purchase a small crib off the internet. It was painted orange, and just about big enough for Judy to lie in. The front of it could be lowered to take him in and out, while the bed area could be lowered up and down, depending on the baby's age.

Nick lowered it right down, to help stop any escape attempts. To further aid in that goal, a new top was built, fixed to the back rail of the crib by hinges. It could be held against the wall via a hook and loop, or locked to the front rail via a combination lock.

By this point, guides for foster parents in the program had come through and, studying the variety of punishments, more tweaks were made. Out came the panel of the crib that faced away from the door, towards the window. His B-grade woodworking skills pushed to the max, Nick build several sets of stocks and pillories into it. Neatly added to other areas were mounting points for restraints, which were stored in cosy little baskets beneath the crib.

Judy, not wanting to miss out on the fun, got a rocking chair, placed in the area between the crib the wall with the window. Opposite it, on the other side of the window, Nick placed in a small playpen, retrofitting a lockable roof. He took great fun in pointing out the little bead and loop games and the spinny items built into the front, along with the baby bunnies that adorned the plastic mattress.

Judy, stating clearly that she had years of experience due to her large family, chose to sort out the changing table. They had an allowance for getting ready, and had saved a lot, so she splashed out. That evening, Nick, having come home from his mother's (who was excited about their new 'grandkit'), was led in with closed eyes.

"Woah!" he said, seeing it before giggling.

Like he'd expected, there was a plastic changing surface on top of a storage space. There were high bumpers on this though, along with a pre-made strap to hold the kit down. What made it great though was that half the storage space was made up of a set of pull out steps. He could imagine himself now, helping a very messy Finnick climb up there, his paw on his diaper seat and helping him on.

"You can never know where a criminal psychology course comes in handy," Judy said, giggling.

"Sly bunny."

"Impressed fox."

"Am I impressed?" Nick asked. "Yes. Yes I am."

The court date was fast approaching, so the finishing touches needed to be made. Shelves went up over the crib, to hold spare baby books and toys Judy got from her family. The cupboard also got stocked with spare baby clothes. Lots and lots of them, even before a lot of supplies from the agency came in. The changing table got its own set of stocks at one end, while a bedside set of drawers at the other raised plenty of embarrassing supplies up to just the right level. Given that a cloth diaper service was a major option, half of the storage space beneath the changing table was home to a double pair of pails, the second for disposables. The other half had its own special features added. The doors to it all were lined with airtight rubber, Nick not wanting any smell from there to get out.

The diapers themselves were a big thing that Nick wanted to hold back on, for particularly evil reasons. However, for a birthday surprise, Judy had ordered him a baby box, given how much he was enjoying everything. His expression as he looked at all the supplies was enough to make Judy know that she'd got the right call. He was like an otter in water, and she felt like she was too.

The plain white diapers that they supplied went up onto a big set of shelves that rose above the changing table. Once they were fully stocked, Finnick would be able to see a whole variety of different colours and designs from his crib.

The drawers next to the changing table meanwhile got filled with agency stuff. The phrase anti-tamper or lockable appeared many times, along with various other items, all designed to control, punish, humiliate and restrain. Many of the worst items, though, didn't belong in there according to Nick.

Their flat came with a small utility room, containing the washer, dryer and boiler. It was largely empty though, so it was perfect to be the punishment room. Things such as small lockable cages, a variety of different restrains, and a huge number of nasty looking punishment items went in. Judy, reading up more on the training book, had some tweaks to make. She made it so that the room was split in two. A small punishment area, which the items could be fitted onto securely, and a large area hidden behind curtains, so what was in their remained a secret.

Nick took that time to get a specially modified stroller from the agency. He also grabbed a cheap plastic highchair, which he added restraints too; a plastic baby bath, again getting more restrains; and a baby bouncer that was about to be thrown out by its owner, which he had a very special space for. Finally came the food. Large tins of formula, along with a special kettle that could heat the water to the exact temperature. Plenty of proper bottles, and sippy cups. Plastic cutlery, utensils and bibs for the new 'baby', along with a blender and recipes for easy baby food.

The day of the sentencing came, and Judy followed Nick in to the nursery. She could see he was nervous, but he calmed himself as he stencilled on colourful letters above the crib. 'Baby Finnick'

"I know he might go for the life sentence," he began, sighing. "We could settle for a different criminal…"

"Or an actual kid," Judy said, giggling. She paused though, as Nick sighed.

"You know how hard it is for… mammals like us to adopt," he began. "And even if we do go abroad, I want to make sure I'm up for this before we commit. This scheme gives us a trial run…"

"I know," Judy said, holding his paw. "Now, let's go meet our naughty new baby."

A few hours later, they emerged from the courthouse hugging each other, before being waved on by an official. "If you want to see the processing, follow me," he said, and so they did.