15 – The Ethos of Paternity

The next several days were a blur to Fox and Wolf. Lance was promptly rehired to Arspace after his terribly misguided pass at Slippy. Fox still couldn't get the idea of someone even being attracted to Slippy out of his head. Perhaps that was a bit harsh. After all, Cecilia had the hots for the toad too. That's when Fox knew the universe wasn't quite in order: two people attracted to Slippy.

Fox and Wolf had righted themselves after their relationship teetered on total implosion. That anxiety was replaced with anxiety on the impending Lylat Unity Conference. There were dinners, interviews with magazines, networks, stressful days of running around in circles, talking in circles, posing in circles.

It was the day before the Lylat Unity Conference, one of those rare days when Fox actually set foot in the Government Plaza. He sat on a couch in the Chancellor's chamber office. He watched as Wolf, Chancellor Cardus, and the rest of her cabinet posed for press shots. More magazine covers. Attendants fluffed Wolf's fur, combed his eyebrows, adjusted his white eyepatch, shined his gold buttons, smoothed his blue uniform. Fox couldn't help but grin. Wolf gave him a look of death.

Olivia casually discussed business with Wolf while photographers and press people milled about the large ornate office. "You're going to give a speech," she said as an attendant held a light sensor over her beak and then gave a thumbs up to a photographer. Dozens of shutters clicked all around from different cameras. "As the Head of Interplanetary Affairs your voice will be critical to unity at this meeting. The heads of state in Lylat are going to look to you for confidence. You're my linchpin."

Wolf wanted to shove away the attendant who kept fiddling with his wrist cuffs. "I don't make a good linchpin."

Fox perked up with a sly eyebrow raised. "Wolf unconfident? Blasphemy!"

Wolf looked at him tiredly. "Would you like to take my place and interface with the governments of three other planets?" He turned to Olivia. "What kind of speech specifically? Are we talking the whole Confederate manifesto? Or just a warm up before you speak?"

Olivia was handed some papers which she stamped quickly with a device attached to her wrist, then handed them off to another scurrying attendant with frazzled hair. "A little bit of both. There'll be a speech writer. Everything will be holo-prompted for you at the podium. The speech should essentially cover the main bullet points of a Lylatian Confederacy and how that'll help with system stability, interplanetary security, trade, et cetera. Think you can handle it?"

"So he'll just be reading?" Fox asked.

Wolf sighed. "Fox please. And yes Olivia I can handle it."

"Good!" she chirped.

Cecilia, Olivia's secretary, bounced into the room, shoving aside photographers, attendants, and press people. "So tomorrow's the big day!" The orange tabby handed the chancellor a stack of papers.

Olivia casually leafed through them. Security protocol. Random news from around the planet. Clips of what different senators were saying about her in the media. The conservatives had it in for her. They didn't like the idea of this interplanetary meeting of governments. Several weeks earlier they had succeeded in getting the senate to officially condemn the Lylat Unity Conference.

And they were going to freak out even more once they heard all the details of a Lylat Confederacy. Planetary sovereignty was too important to them. Planationalism was what they called it. And it was a destructive ethos. It led to isolation. It led to feuding planets. It led to a weakened system, vulnerable to being preyed upon by the likes of Andross, vulnerable to insurgent terrorism. Weakened trade. Why couldn't these conservatives see that? Lylat must be unified. A unified Lylat would mean a safer Lylat. A safer Corneria.

Olivia sighed and set the papers aside. "Thanks Cecilia. Yes, tomorrow will be a long day. How's everything coming on your end?"

"Catering and food will be top notch!" Cecilia saw Fox sitting on a couch across the room and skipped to him. "Fox! How's Slippy? Have you seen him lately? Has he said anything about me? He must be busy! He hasn't called me in a few days?"

Fox shrugged. "Hi Cecilia. Slippy's fine. Though he had a brief brush with alternative sexuality earlier this week."

Cecilia's face fell.

"Relax. He likes girls. And no I can't recall if he's mentioned you. Though we've hardly talked."

Wolf laughed. "Give him a rest C. Slippy's been pretty busy preparing the Great Fox for launch. That's probably why you haven't heard from him."

The tabby sighed with relief. "Of course! Right. That makes sense. I'm silly." Then she turned sour. "But he could still call me! At least two times a day. That's my minimum."

Wolf looked at Fox bemused. "And what's your minimum?"

"I can't hold you to such a high standard."

Cecilia eyed the two jealously, then jumped to attention. "Was it that Lance guy? Is that what you meant by him having a brush with alternative sexuality? I knew he'd try something! Every time I'd stop by Arspace I'd see that skinny little fawn giving him googly eyes!"

"Cecilia, relax," Fox said. "I said nothing happened. Slippy even fired him. What is it with everyone wanting Slippy these days?"

Olivia rubbed her forehead. "I don't mean to interrupt relationship drama hour, but we're trying to have a photoshoot here."

Cecilia looked around at all the photographers. "Sorry!" She jumped out of the way. "Chancellor Cardus, I better get back to my office. I have a ton of calls to make. So much to be done!"

Olivia feigned importance in her voice, "We're all relying on you Cecilia, to ensure our finger foods and wine list are in perfect order."

The tabby stiffened up. "Everything will be pristine!" Then she scurried out.

Olivia relaxed. "At least I have Cecilia to be nervous for me."

"Not nervous?" Wolf asked disbelieving.

She looked at him with regret. "Actually, I'm terrified."

A photographer snapped a picture of the two in that pose: the cardinal looking at the wolf with intensity and poise, her hand outstretched toward him, fingers delicately turned upward as if lifting a clump of air for Wolf. And he stood strongly with his hands at his hips, head cocked slightly up toward her, studying her inquisitively.

-.-.-.-

"What do you mean I can't go?!" Falco groaned. He followed Katt through their bedroom and into the bathroom. She unbuttoned her stuffy pantsuit top and pulled it off her arms revealing a simple black tanktop underneath She pulled earrings off in a rush, converting herself from Ambassador Monroe into just Katt.

"Because!" She tossed the jewelry into a drawer. "Olivia's egg is in our bedroom. What the hell is it going to do if it hatches and the only people taking care of it are three light-hours away?"

"I could get a baby-sitter or… egg sitter or something."

She swerved at that. "Falco! No one can know this egg even exists. Did you forget it belongs to the Chancellor of Corneria. Everyone knows who we are. Some lowlife off the street who baby-sits will definitely know it's not mine."

"I'm sure there's a lot of baby-sitters out there who take offense to that. Okay, we can take the egg monitor with us." He held up the small video device, the size of a playing card. It had a readout of vital signs and a small camera-fed image of the egg.

She started washing her hands. "The egg monitor is for when you're in the living room or if you have to run to the store and you can come back quickly if something happens. If it started hatching it would take hours to get back from Zoness. You have to stay. You're a bird." She dried her hands. "This is an egg. You know these things."

"I just want to be there with you." He pouted at her in the mirror.

She brushed a lock of white hair out of her view and sighed at him exasperatedly. He put his hands on her bare shoulders and she shrugged out of them.

"I want you there too," she said shrinking back into the bedroom.

Falco followed her impatiently.

"But you have to stay," she said. "If something were to happen to Olivia's egg, or the condo, or if someone found out about—"

"What the hell is Olivia's plan?" Falco cut in. "I mean, when this thing hatches, what are her and Max going to do? Will Olivia be its mom? Will it be there in the Government Chancellor House with her? Max himself doesn't even live there. They had this thing based on an affair—and from what it sounds like, their relationship ain't going so hot either."

Katt snapped her suitcase open on the bed, hurried and angry. "Don't call it a 'thing.' There's a child in there." She looked at the incubator in the corner of the room, at the spotty watermelon sized 'thing' that sat inside bathed in gold light. Calm. Serene. A constant reminder, a phantom in the corner that Katt could see at night when she blinked between deep sleep, catching the glow. "We should be proud of Olivia. She's having a child. She's starting a family."

Falco put a clump of Katt's clothes in her open suitcase. "Oh. I get it."

She pulled the clothes out and set them aside. "What is there to 'get?'"

"I don't really know but I get the feeling that since this egg landed in your lap you've thought more about things… like family."

She stopped and held the suitcase with both hands, leaning forward. "Falco. My job doesn't allow me to have kids. I have to travel all the time. I work long weeks. I'm an Ambassador."

"Good, because I didn't sign up to be some stay at home dad."

"Then why do you even bring this up!" she hissed. He recoiled and she turned on him, as if about to hit him. "Did I say at any point I didn't want kids? God, you're thickheaded. You should want to be a stay-at-home dad. You don't do anything! You don't even have to do anything! You don't have a job! I'm the one who's bringing in the fifty-thousand-credit a week paychecks."

"When Star Fox gets back on its—"

"There won't be any wars Falco! What, are you going to do? Chase pirates for the next ten years? Do you ever think about stability?" She calmed herself. "I was in the same career. I've played that game. And you know, we had fun, but it's time to move on. It's time to grow up. Peppy's left. The team is over. There will be no wars in a Lylat Confederacy. There won't even be regional conflicts. There will be stability and security. Star Fox as you know it is over."

Falco backed away. He fiddled with the bedpost. "You know—I hear you guys talk a lot about this Lylat Confederacy, as if it's the great coming of some messiah." He dropped his head and laughed a little to himself. "And I just can't help but think that it's total bullshit. That you have all set yourselves up for failure. System-wide security sounds like some weird flirtation with fascism. Planets won't give up sovereignty. People won't give up sovereignty. I might not be an Ambassador, or in the government, or some political expert on how you all do this shit, but I know people. The farmer on Katina is going to want to be a Katinian. The miner on Macbeth is going to want to stay Macbethian. The bar owner on Zoness will want to be a Zonessian. They aren't going to want some system-wide entity telling them how to do things, how to trade, how to protect themselves. And what about trade? I heard you guys are going to sneak in free trade with Zoness to get them to the table on this. Wow. How are hard working Cornerians going to feel when their jobs get shipped off to Zoness? Oh they're going to love the Lylatian Confederacy once that happens. Katt, this is a disaster in progress. Olivia has no idea what the hell she's doing and she's selling out people in the process. The idea of all this Lylatian unity is flawed."

Katt took this all in. The weight of months of labor were crashing over her head like an egg. She felt her temper boiling, ready to lash out in a rage. What did he know? How could he know! He wasn't involved. Baseless ideas. People want security. But then she dwelled on it, turned the words over and over. Then she felt close to crying. "I've worked so hard on this."

"I know, I know." Falco rubbed his forehead. "I'm just telling you the truth, what I think. I've always done you that favor."

"The free trade agreement," she started quietly, "is just a tentative compromise. It can be amended, adjusted—oh God." She nodded knowingly and turned away. "I want to have a child Falco." She hugged the bedpost where his hand touched, clung to it. "I want it so bad that some nights I sit in front of that incubator and stare at that egg and hope that something will happen that'll make it mine." She covered her mouth and turned her fingers. "That sounds awful."

Falco grabbed her shoulders. "No. It doesn't. Quit your job. We could live on whatever pension. Quit this."

"I can't!" She didn't shrug out of his hold this time. "I'd be abandoning Olivia. And Wolf."

"He should quit too."

"It's not that easy. There's too much inertia behind us."

He sighed and rested his beak on her head. "Then get through this bullshit Unity conference or whatever you're calling it. Then quit."

She looked to her suitcase, then clenched her eyes shut. "The Great Fox leaves tomorrow at 10. You'll have to tell Fox at dinner tonight that you're not coming. He was counting on you being there since he'll be one of the few non-government people."

"Great."

She turned and looked at him, in between his arms as he held the bedpost behind her. "I'll quit when this is over."

"Can you define over? Because this whole damn saga seems to just go on forever."

"Let's just go to dinner and pretend like everything is all right. Like everything is perfect. Like we have something to celebrate. Can you do that for me?"

-.-.-.-

Wolf and Fox pulled up in their car to the security gate of the Chancellor's House. Everyone was going to be showing up for dinner. Wolf held a bottle of wine in his lap. The occasion was hastily arranged as a sort of 'night before hell' get-together for friends. Falco and Katt would be there along with Bill and Elena, Slippy and Cecilia, and Max. It was the first time they'd been able to get together as one big group in a long time. The security guard quickly recognized Fox and Wolf and attached a tag to their antenna and waved them through the gate. Armed guards nodded.

Olivia greeted them in the foyer of the Chancellor's House. Gold curtains ordained the Monticello windows, marble columns. The pink marble floors glistened as though they were constantly buffed. Olivia looked radically different, wearing just an old rock band shirt and sweats. Fox blinked at the sight. "Olivia?" Two attendants quickly took Fox and Wolf's coats. Three security guards scrutinized everything—one on the stairs, one in the doorway behind them, and one in the arch leading to the den.

Olivia glanced regrettably at Fox's classy striped suit and Wolf's bright red cardigan vest over a white collared shirt. He even had a tie on underneath. "Guys, I wanted this to be casual," Olivia chastised. "I want you all to be yourselves."

Bill strode into the foyer and brightened when he saw Fox and Wolf. He wore a hoodie and jeans and chewed like he just snuck a piece of food into his muzzle. "Lookin' sharp!" He grinned.

Wolf handed Olivia the bottle of wine. "Here. It's a Katina, year 54."

She turned it once and held it up, looking at the red wine through the chandelier light. "Nice."

Bill looked Wolf up and down, "Nice sweater vest. Congratulations on becoming a grandfather."

"How sweet of you," Wolf said. "Is that hoodie comfortable? Or merely an attempt to look 20 years younger than you actually are?"

"All right guys," Fox said as he undid his tie in an attempt to 'be himself.'

Bill slapped both their backs, "Relax, he knows I like needling him. Let's get some pizza."

"Pizza?" Wolf raised an eyebrow at Olivia.

She sighed. "Try to think casual."

"The wine will have wonderful harmony with the grease and cheese flavor I'm sure."

Olivia followed Bill back to the den—a massive woodsy room with a high ceiling, fireplace, couches and rugs depicting various city-states on Corneria. There was a pool table, and a large holoscreen entertainment center. Fox recognized everyone sitting on the floor in a large circle by the fireplace: Falco, Katt, Max, Elena, Cecilia, and Slippy. The group cheered Fox and Wolf's entrance. Bill quickly plopped down next to Elena and put his arm around her, but she seemed to frown and edge away.

"Just in time!" Cecilia yipped. "We're going to put in a movie."

Falco grumbled and looked at Fox and Wolf. "The movie looks really stupid, just warning you." He checked a small card in his hand which was Olivia's egg monitor.

Wolf pulled off his sweater vest and undid his tie. He and Fox joined the group on the floor.

Olivia followed, "Hey everyone, Wolf brought wine, so if you want wine—oh I'll get wine glasses."

Katt started to get up, "Olivia you don't have to get anything, sit down."

Olivia pushed a button on an end table next to a couch, "Nevel. Wine glasses please."

"Right away!" chirped a voice.

Olivia smiled at Katt, "I want everyone to just relax and not think about anything else that's been going on these past few weeks—or whatever is going to happen tomorrow. We're going to have fun tonight."

Falco reached for the wine bottle. "I'll take that."

Fox put his arm around Wolf and stretched his legs out. "So what time are we leaving tomorrow?"

Slippy picked up on the question, "The Great Fox II should be ready for launch at ten a.m. sharp. We should reach Zoness around three." He smiled at Wolf. "Still up for piloting big guy?"

Wolf shrugged. "The whole process consists entirely of pushing a button and sitting down, correct?"

Slippy frowned at the anti-climacticness of how that sounded. "Well. Yes, I suppose so."

"I have been studying the auto-controls for the ship," Wolf said. "You've designed it to the point where a monkey could fly it."

"The auto-functions are merely for transport," Slippy replied defensively. "In more tactical situations, manual will most definitely have to be used."

"Yeah, by R.O.B." Fox said.

Cecilia hugged Slippy from the side, "I think the ship is amazing, and all your hard work shows." She kissed his cheek. Slippy seemed to turn to goo.

Fox and Wolf looked at each other with mild revulsion.

Just as Olivia sat down next to Max, Nevel, the robot butler, rushed in with wine glasses. He scurried around each person and set each wine glass in front of them. "Enjoy your vino!"

Falco poured for everyone and Cecilia started the movie. "It's supposed to be a comedy," she said as she clamored back to her spot next to Slippy.

They dimmed the lights and each couple got comfortable: Falco and Katt, Fox and Wolf, Olivia and Max, Cecilia and Slippy, and Bill and Elena. The movie was an older one and mildly funny—a comedy about a buffoon chancellor of Corneria, supposedly based on one twenty years before. Olivia was sensitive to the jokes and slowly became disinterested. Cecilia enjoyed herself the most and laughed obnoxiously. At some point, Elena got up and left, probably bored with the movie too.

Fox said, "So I'm not sure how a movie about politics is going to help us forget that we're in politics."

"It's supposed to be making fun of politics," Cecilia said, reluctant to take her eyes off the holoscreen.

Olivia sighed, "I'm going to get more snacks." She thought to push the end table button for Nevel, but decided to get them herself from the kitchen.

Her bare talons clicked across the marble until she reached the double swinging doors of the kitchen. She entered and saw a male calico and a gray female squirrel pressed against the stove, lips locked, arms around each other: Max and Elena.

They stopped and fumbled and scurried apart from one another. Elena held her arm to her lips like she just tasted something bad. Max looked away from Olivia, at something up at the ceiling, and his arms went tired with regret.

Olivia froze. "Oh god."

Elena looked somewhere else too. Max said nothing and bit his lip, shifting his attention to the floor.

"No no," Olivia stepped closer, her voice oddly neutral. "Don't stay quiet. Tell me."

Nothing.

"So you were kissing." Olivia's voice quivered slightly. "What else?"

Elena rubbed her neck. "Olivia…"

The red cardinal pointed. "I don't know you."

"I don't know what to say—"

"I just realized right now that I don't know you Elena. But for some reason I always considered you a part of our group. Our team. Because we did something great for this planet. We did it together. We fought together."

"Liv," Max turned slightly toward her, his arm twitching as if he were about to reach out to her.

Olivia recoiled. "Don't." She almost shook, then looked at Elena. "How long?"

The squirrel glanced at the calico. "Two weeks maybe. Maybe three."

"What about Bill?"

Elena shook her head, almost shrugged. She frowned. Her lips trembled. "I don't love him anymore."

Fox and Wolf burst into the kitchen, coming right behind Olivia. "Everyone left us with Slippy and Cecilia," Wolf said. His voice trailed off and the two stopped in their tracks at the odd tense triangle.

"We're having a baby together," Olivia said at Max. Her voice started crack. "A child."

"Liv," Max started lightly. "We need to talk about this calmly." He glanced at Elena, desperate for an escape.

Fox and Wolf stepped back, wanting to leave the kitchen. Fox touched the swinging door, either to stop it from swinging or to back completely out.

Olivia swerved around. "No. Stay. Stay for this. I want you to see how a group like us can break down because of pettiness."

Fox and Wolf looked at each other.

Olivia swung back toward Max. "Talk."

Max grabbed his forehead and scratched slowly. "Liv. We both know this wasn't working."

"How was it not working."

Max took a deep breath and exhaled. "You don't have time for this."

"Time!" Olivia retorted incredulously. "What does that mean!"

"Your time belongs to Corneria. Corneria is your life. The government is your life. You're the leader of this planet. I'm just…" He shrugged. "Max."

"But I love Max," she said.

"No. You love the fun we had, the sneaking around, the late night rendezvous. I did too. But I can't be your call-guy in the middle of the night. I don't want to be that guy. I'm tired of doing everything on your schedule, at your command."

"So it's a power issue," she said. "You don't like that I'm Chancellor."

"I'm not cut out to be the Chancellor's boyfriend."

Olivia sighed and frowned and tried to calm her aching throat. "I wish you could have said that before I had an egg."

Elena glared at Max.

Max looked elsewhere, now feeling two intense stares on him. "You said you couldn't have children."

"And because of that, I thought you were special Max."

"I didn't expect to be some miracle father."

Elena stepped further away from Max. "You two are having a child, and you didn't tell me?"

Before Max could argue, Fox interjected, "Look, we can't deal with this right now. There is too much at stake tomorrow."

"Fox is right," Wolf said. "Olivia we can't be distracted. Especially now. After all we've gone through."

She turned around, "Distracted." She shook her head. "That's been the whole problem. Chancellority has distracted me from who I am. Who I was." She looked past Wolf, at the door. "From the life I should be having. The love I should be having." She walked past Wolf and Fox and out the swinging doors.

Elena cringed, trying to hide tears and shame. She dashed out the opposite doors of the kitchen.

Max glanced at Fox and Wolf as he tried to sneak past them.

Fox grabbed his arm. "Bill is one of my closest friends. I won't let him be duped. Either you tell him what's going on. Or I will."

Max looked at Wolf pleadingly.

Wolf was unsure. "Fox, maybe we should just get through tomorrow, and then deal with all of this afterward."

Fox shook his head. "No. You have to tell him. I won't allow this to go on. He loves Elena."

Max pulled his arm from Fox's grip. "I'll tell him," he muttered toward the door, then walked out.

Wolf met Fox's eyes and then looked away after a second of silence. "Maybe the old days had it right…young people shouldn't be in the government. We're screwed." He smiled at him tiredly. "Back to the den?"

Fox stepped closer and put his arms around Wolf's waist. "No. I think we should give that room about ten minutes or so to cool off."

Wolf smirked as Fox moved in closer. "And until then?"

This five year saga is almost over. Only one or two chapters left.