*12 hours later*

All of Bravo platoon were sitting in the waiting area of triage along with Brigadier General Wolverton, Lead Whiskerton, Micheal Fangsworth, and Evelyn. They had all been there since Jack had been brought in. Echo and Bravo getting to personally see Jack die on the table. When Jack flatlined they were escorted out of the room and sent back to the waiting area.

They then had to tell the rest of the team that they may have just lost Jack. The entire platoon promptly sank into chairs trying to comprehend what they heard. Comprehend that the mammal who had saved their lives so many times, who had just been drinking with them not even an hour ago, might have just died.

Fortunately for them a nurse popped their head out and informed them Jack was breathing again and had a pulse, but he wasn't NEARLY out of the woods yet. That gave Bravo Platoon hope, as long as Jack was fist fighting death and trying to stay. That's what counted.

After they were updated the CIA mammals had entered the waiting room asking about Jack. Bravo had filled the mammals in telling them Jack was fighting and told them just how bad it was. Then about half an hour later Brigadier General Wolverton arrived in the waiting area, all of Bravo Platoon leaping to their feet. General Wolverton was having none of it though. "At ease mammals and sit down! First Lieutenant Bravo Lyaconian, fill me in. From the moment your team responded."

Bravo had filled in General Wolverton on everything that happened and Wolverton had some colorful words at several points. Once the brief was over General Wolverton had muttered he needed a cigar before saying, "Jackson Hunter is a tough ass mammal. Knowing him he's told death to fuck off and come back when Jack's good and ready not the other way around." General Wolverton had then told Bravo platoon that since their overwatch was down they weren't going out before leaving.

One hour then turned into two. Then two turned into four. Four turned into six. Six turned into eight. At eight General Wolverton returned to the waiting room taking a seat of his own. Eight then turned to twelve hours.

It was at the twelve hour mark a very tired male timber wolf surgeon came out to a full waiting room. "I take it you all are here for Lt. Hunter?"

There was a swift collective agreement and the surgeon nodded. "Okay. Well in short he'll pull through, he's stable now."

The room promptly erupted into cheers but General Wolverton brought the party down to earth. "And the long of it?"

The surgeon let out a sigh. "The long of it is it's pretty bad. Two shattered femurs, a shattered left collarbone, pretty bad damage to his calf muscles, right radius shattered, right ulna broken, his right kidney couldn't be saved, his right lung had a big hole in it that needed patching. One of the shots in his back hit his liver, had to take a quarter of it. But the worst is his other back shot clipped his spine, and his movements damaged it. We know he's not paralyzed from the waist up, but we won't know if he's paralyzed from the waist down until he wakes up. Odds are 50-50."

That quickly sobered up the celebrations Echo asking, "I take it you have him in a medically induced coma?"

The surgeon nodded. "Yeah and he'll stay in it for at least a month. His body has sustained way too much trauma to risk him trying to move around. After that month we'll see if he's progressed enough to wake him. But either way after this month he's going home. His recovery if he can still walk will be a minimum of six months. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to call his listed next of kin and inform them. They need to know what's happened to their son."

*David Badgerton, midnight*

David Badgerton was snuggled in bed with his wife fast asleep when his cell phone started to go off. Clara let out a groan waking up before him and smacked his chest to wake him up. "Honey shut the damn phone off!"

David was awoken by his wife and his ears were assaulted by his ringing phone. David sat up and fumbled for his cellphone, finally grabbing it and promptly got blinded by the screen. "Agh! I swear I'm going to start turning this thing off before bed."

Clara, who was hiding under her pillow let out a muffled "please!"

David chuckled before going to the ignore call button, but then he noticed that the caller ID was placing the call in Afuristan. "Afuristan?"

That caught Clara's attention and she sat up. "It couldn't be Jackson could it?"

Jack had called David a few months ago telling him that he was going back to Afuristan. David had asked why and he received a bullshit answer but couldn't dig any further. Now with the potential of it being Jackson David shrugged and said, "one way to find out." Placing the phone on speaker David answered the call. "Hello?"

A voice he didn't recognize spoke. "Hello, am I speaking to David Badgerton?"

The fur on the back of David's neck stood up and suddenly he had a very bad feeling starting deep down in his core. "This is."

"Alright, Mr. Badgerton my name is Doctor Daniel Howler. I am calling you today because you are the registered next of kin of Lt. Jackson Hunter."

David's heart fell to the floor and his eyes immediately teared up, "no. Not my boy. Please."

"Is he dead? Is my son dead?" David choked out as he reached out for his wife, Clara immediately side-hugging him tight.

"No Mr. Badgerton, he's alive but very critically injured."

"Oh thank the gods!" David cried out as he hugged his wife tight. "At least he's alive."

After that thought David asked, "how bad is it? What's his condition? What happened!?"

"I'm not going to sugarcoat it Mr. Badgerton, it's bad. Jackson sustained 12 gunshot wounds last night. He's got two shattered femurs, a shattered left collarbone, pretty bad damage to both his calf muscles, his right radius is shattered, right ulna broken, his right kidney couldn't be saved, his right lung had a big hole in it that needed patching. Those shots were all to his front. He also took two in his back, one of the shots in his back hit his liver, and we had to take a quarter of it. But the worst injury is the second shot clipped his spine, and his movements damaged it. We know he's not paralyzed from the waist up, but we won't know if he's paralyzed from the waist down until he wakes up. Odds are 50-50. We have him in a medically induced coma and he'll stay that way for a month, and after that month he will be stable enough to fly. we will be flying him home to the hospital of your choice."

Hearing all of this caused David and Clara to break down into blubbering tears. It took about five minutes for David to calm down enough to ask, "what happened? He doesn't do night patrol!"

There was a significant pause on the line and for a moment thought the call may have dropped. But then there was a very heavy sigh. "I am not privy to all the details but...it was friendly fire Mr. Badgerton."

Sadness and grief turned to immediate rage and fury. "WHAT!?"

"Mr. Badgerton please don't yell at me. I understand you're very upset and a military representative WILL be contacting you once the preliminary investigations are complete. Which should be today. In the meantime I need you to take a breath and confirm for me now what hospital you want me to send Jackson too. If you're unsure I will call you closer to his flight date back to the states."

David took a very deep calming breath and said, "no need, and I'm sorry I yelled. Send him to Sparrowtail General."

*two days later, Vivian*

Vivian had been all out of sorts for the past three months. After Jack had dropped the bomb on her that he was The Fox and left she sat in his apartment for HOURS. Vivian just caught in a loop playing back his confession and the hurt and betrayed look in his eyes. She was only snapped out of it by her phone ringing, it being her kit asking where she was.

Vivian then had to walk out of Jacks and into her own and her little kit immediately picked up that something was wrong. "Mom, what happened?"

Hearing her Nicky ask her that question caused the suppressed emotions to come bursting out and she immediately started crying. "Oh Nicholas I messed up so bad. Me and Jackson just had a huge fight and he stormed off! It's all my fault!"

Her kit hadn't hesitated to give her a hug and try his best to soothe her. "Mommy it's okay! You can fix this! Mr. Jack likes you! He'll come around!" Vivian had just knelt down and hugged her kit tight, hoping he was right.

But unfortunately for her mental state one day turned to one week. One week turned to one month, and then one month turned into three. After the third day she had gone to Demetri and told him everything that happened and Demetri had just put his head in his paws.

"Demetri, just tell me. Will he come back? Will he still love me?" Vivian had asked.

Demetri had looked up at her and replied, "honestly? I don't know Viv. I don't know."

No, Vivian didn't care about the fact Jack was The Fox. Not compared to her hurting Jackson so deeply. Jack being The Fox honestly made sense to her now having all the pieces to the puzzle. Did that make her okay with it? She didn't know. She'd dissect that part of the situation only after she talked to Jack again…if she talked to him again.

It was Saturday and Vivian was on her reading chair working on homework for her schooling. Her kit was at the Wolford's again, it actually being Ralph and his litter's birthday. Vivian had the option to stay for the festivities but she had declined, she would have only brought the mood down in her depressed state.

Vivian was pulled from her homework however when there was a knock on her door. Vivian's laptop was promptly thrown on the couch as she all but ran to the door hoping and praying it was Jackson at her door. Looking through her peephole her heart sank a little seeing that it wasn't Jackson, but instead a very large older looking badger.

Vivian promptly unlocked her door and cracked it open, peeking her head out. "Can I help you?"

The badger gave her a warm smile and replied, "I'm sorry to intrude. But are you Vivian Wilde?"

Vivian tilted her head at that and cautiously replied, "yes?"

The badger nodded once and said, "good so I got the right address. My name is David Badgerton. I raised Jackson Hunter after he escaped from Honorhall. I have raised him, I trained him, and I call him my son."

Vivian immediately opened her door and ushered David inside. "Well come in then! Please!"

David nodded in appreciation and stepped inside looking around as he did, "nice place. Is your kit here as well?"

Vivian tilted her head at that as she shut the door. "No, he's at a freinds. Hoping to meet him?"

David turned to face her and said, "eventually. It'd be nice to meet the kit who turned my boy upside down. But no it's probably best he's not here right now. Because I got some bad news. You should probably have a seat."

Vivian's heart plummeted down to her stomach and she quickly took a seat on the couch, David taking a seat next to her. Once they were both seated David turned to face Vivian and said, "look I don't know what transpired between you two, because something obviously did. But whatever happened caused him to throw himself into 'work'. He voluntarily went back to Afuristan. And…look I don't know how to sugarcoat this but…two days ago Jack was shot a dozen times by friendly fire on base."

A sob immediately left Vivian's maw and tears started leaving her eyes as she heard the news. "Is he dead?" Vivian choked out. "Please! Please don't be dead Jack!"

A couple tears slipped from David's eyes as he shook his head. "No. He's alive, but barely. The lost him on the table twice but he fought his way back…but he may never walk again. There's a 50 percent chance Jack is never going to walk again."

Vivian started crying HARD at that. "I made Jack run away back to Afuristan! This is my fault! This is all my fault!"

Vivian suddenly felt a strong pair of arms wrap around her and heard calming words in her ear from David. His tone was strong and…almost parental. It was comforting…but she was still going to cry her eyes out. So Vivian did, for fifteen minutes she cried into David's sympathetic shoulder.

After the fifteen minutes Vivian calmed down enough to separate from the hug apologizing once she did. "I'm sorry, I think I ruined your shirt."

David ended the hug and reached for the box of tissues on the coffee table passing it to her. "It's fine dear. You had to get that out I know. Now Jack will be stable enough to be flown home in 28 days and transported to Sparrowtail General."

Vivian used the offered tissues blowing her nose and wiping her eyes. "Okay, can you tell me his entire condition…please? I need to know."

David nodded and replied, "okay, but after I want to know just what happened between you two."

David proceeded to tell Vivian the extent of Jack's injuries and he watched as Vivian's skin turned pale under her fur. "Jack is looking at a minimum of six months worth of recovery if he can still walk. And if he still can he's still going to have issues because of how much trauma his legs went through." Vivian said before putting her head in her paws.

"Yeah, that's what the doctors figured. But Jack has always healed faster than doctors predictions. I give it four before he's back to back flipping and running circles around all of us." David said with confidence.

Vivian looked over at David and said, "and if he can't walk?"

David locked eyes with Vivian and said with certainty, "then Jack will yell at his legs until he does. Or saw em off and invent robo legs. Not walking isn't going to stop the mammal that is Jackson Hunter. He'll just take it as a challenge."

Vivian let out a laugh at that, realizing David was probably right. "Yeah, that does sound about right doesn't it?"

"Darling you have NO idea. When he was a kit he took EVERYTHING as a challenge and I do mean everything. It took a while to get him out of that faze, but good golly you offer Jack a challenge and he's going to tackle it head on." David said with a chuckle.

The two shared a brief laugh at that before David said, "now I hate to put a damper on the mood we just established. But, I need to know what happened between you and my boy."

Vivian proceeded to fill David in on what had transpired between her and Jack, and when she was done David had a contemplative look on his face. "So he told ya everything huh? Well then he most definitely loves you, but I saw that a mile away when he told me about your first meeting. Fool fell in love at first sight and didn't realize it. Now I'll tell you this Vivian, ya messed up big time intruding on his privacy. Jack is INCREDIBLY anal about his privacy so of course he'd be mad. Plus side is knowing that boy that's not a deal breaker for him, though his trust definitely took a hit."

Vivian's eyes took on a glint of hope with that. "So he'll forgive me?"

David shook his head, "forgive you? No. You messed up. Move past it? Yes, he will. Now I assume you realize you hurting him isn't why he ran, right?"

Vivian let out a sigh of relief at that and responded, "I had my suspicions. He's afraid I'll reject him because of who he was and what he did. So to spare himself and his mind what he thinks would be inevitable rejection he distanced himself."

David shifted his body so he could face her fully and asked, "is it going to be rejection Vivian? I mean based on your reactions I would assume no, but I have to ask."

Vivian took in a deep breath and replied, "I'm honestly still trying to process it. I have SO MANY questions about the whole thing. But my knee jerk reaction is no?"

David could tell her thoughts on the subject was a jumbled mess so he said, "well if you like, I can tell you about his start. How he became NightOwl, which by the way is his real and original moniker."

Vivian perked up at that. "You would? That could help answer some of my questions."

David proceeded to tell Jack's origin story and answered any questions Vivian had throughout, which was plenty. David started with when he found Jack and built all the way until Jack went into the employ of Mr. Big. Safe to say it answered a lot of the questions she had and painted a better picture of Jack as NightOwl.

Once David was done with his story he took his leave, not wanting to intrude on Vivian's time and wanting to let her process things some more. She thanked him profusely for coming in person to inform her about Jack's condition, and for giving her a little peace of mind.

After David left Vivian retrieved her laptop and attempted to get back to work but failed miserably. The only thing circling through her head was a single thought, "I need to tell Nicholas what happened."