A/N: Oi, it's been way too long since this was updated. I got caught in a loop of wanting to make too many jokes and it wasn't advancing the story in any way, shape, or form. I seem to have found a nice balance, but I don't know how long this will last. *shrug*

Hope you guys enjoy regardless, and again, I apologize for the four, almost five month wait on this. :)

EDIT: I fixed it Drake, don't worry. Also fixed a little section of the abbreviations that the doc manager didn't translate right.

[҉]

Chapter IX — WIGBY

[҉]

Seemingly just as fast as Fox fell asleep for the night, he was right back up and awake again. The reason for this was his phone, the chirp and accompanying vibration against the nightstand causing enough of a disturbance to wake the exhausted vulpine. Adding insult to injury, his phone displayed it was only a quarter 'til nine, signifying he had only received roughly five hours of restless sleep when taken into consideration how many times he had woken up during the night. However, what kept him from falling back asleep was the notification listed underneath the date and time.

Lil' Sis: Come to the hospital on Corneria NOW. Dad is hurt BAD.

Shit, I totally forgot about dad— wait, what!? He's hurt!?

Panic quickly settled in for Fox, but his mental knee-jerk reaction was hindered by the physical predicament he found himself in. His awaking senses allowed him to feel the soft touch of silky fur against his back, shoulders, and neck. He looked down to see Sheila's muzzle still burrowed below his jawline and her arms wound around his torso like an adorable straight-jacket. Her silent breathing washed over his sensitive neck fuzz, causing waves of oddly stimulating chills to span the length of his spine.

Now how was he going to get out? Luckily Sheila's hold was more of a friendly, comforting hold rather than needy and possessive, so moving her arms would not be an issue. However, her muzzle was only being supported by his neck. And, in moving his leg, he realized her tail was wound within their legs as well. He didn't want to wake her peaceful slumber, but there wasn't going to be a way to escape her presence without doing so. Plus, he wouldn't ever hear the end of it from her if he escaped without telling her.

"Psst," Fox started out as a faint whisper, almost inaudible to his own ears. "Sheila… Sheila, wake up…"

No response from the husky; she just continued to breathe out of her nose.

"Sheila, let go please," whispered a desperate Fox, his voice slowly climbing in volume. "Can we cuddle some other time? I need to go."

As before, Sheila stayed oblivious.

"Okay, Sheila; you're cute and all, but this is too much," Fox began to breathe more hoarsely as he attempted to wiggle out of her grasp. "I don't like being the little spoon here… Okay, okay, I'll let you be the big spoon if you let go… …If you don't, I won't let you do this anymore— come on Sheila."

Still, the husky didn't even recognize a slightest bit of his attempted disturbance. Fox began to get wilder with his movements, considering that he just found out how much of a heavy sleeper she was. He used his tail and started batting at Sheila's backside. Though, he didn't realize that with how he was positioned, his tail was swatting directly underneath the base of her own tail.

She murred in her sleep and unconsciously mumbled, "Mmm, get it… Fill me up, you sexy beast."

"What the fu— AH!" Fox initially blurted out at full volume before bolting out of her embrace. His impulsiveness rewarded him by falling straight out of the bed, nicking the side of his head on the nightstand in the process. On the bright side, the ensuing racket finally broke Sheila out of her detached slumber. With an adorable yawn, the husky stretched her arms out and sat up, a tangled plume of hair following her.

She looked over at Fox lying on the floor. "I didn't take up all the bed, did I?"

"No, it was just… uh, allergies; yea."

Sheila flipped the covers back and rolled out of bed. Her ears perked when she heard some clatter from beyond the door. "I think the guys are awake out there already. I'll go see what's up."

Still lying on the ground, Fox watched as her swishing tail slipped out of the doorway.

Several minutes later, after Fox had put on a fresh set of clothes and groomed his fur, he exited the small guest bedroom and stepped out into a crowded living room and kitchen. Both his brother and brother-in-law were in the kitchen, fixing up a shit-ton of breakfast while his ever-more-distant cousin watched on ravenously. Oddly enough, instead of focusing in on the cooking bacon as if it was his trigger, his eyes gravitated towards Sheila, who was shamelessly standing in her lingerie and sifting through a box of—

"Whoa…" Sheila gasped, holding up handfuls of various and brightly colored wristbands. "Jared, I didn't know you were a Swan Cena fan!"

Jared blushed redder than the cherry red band the husky pulled around her wrist. "It's a guilty pleasure," he said bashfully with his ears folded back. "I try to get Todd to watch, but—"

"It's okay, don't get me wrong," Todd interrupted. "It's kind of silly though. Well, then again, it matches you in a way."

Jared smiled brightly. "Aww, Toddy…"

Everyone cringed when Wolf let loose a snarling growl. "I'm not in the mood, foxes."

"Honestly, boss, when are you in the mood?" Adam commented.

Fox ignored the bickering teammates and slipped into the kitchen. He leaned on the kitchen's island counter and eyed the food already prepared. His eyes flashed in either direction, then in one fluid, split-second motion, he swiped a single piece of bacon and crammed it into his maw.

"Guys, look!" Sheila yipped, showcasing her arms. She managed to pile on wristband after wristband to the point where every inch of her arms were covered in the scratchy material. Giggling, she continued, "I'm a rainbow!"

"You look like the Michelin Man at a Pride march," Patrik deadpanned.

Sheila glared at the malamute. "Oh, sure; be a buzzkill. You better watch your mouth before I FU you through that table."

"For one, that's not PG, and two, I'd love to see you try, sweetie."

"Everyone should know by now not to call me sweetie!" yelped Sheila, still glaring at the canine. "And you: Swan Cena once lifted up a five-hundred pound bear onto his shoulders, so I could do that to you."

Adam cocked his head. "Well, by that logic, Sheila, you'd be able to do anything someone else did just by impersonating them. I'm sure you couldn't be as great of a pole-dancer as Scarlet just because you wear one of her tight catsuits."

"Oh, that reminds me!" the husky belted out, seemingly ignoring the blue jay as she clambered onto the couch between him and Patrik. "Scarlet, where in the world do you get those amazing catsuits? I've always wanted to get one just like yours."

Scarlet merely chuckled. "I'm not telling. I don't want to give Sheppard any more fanservice to work with."

"Aw, boo," Sheila pouted, sticking out her lower lip as she rested her muzzle atop the back of the couch. "You're no fun."

"We don't need any more fetish material here anyway," Fox commented. "Anyway, Wolf, listen—"

"What do you want, runt?" the lupine growled.

"I need to drop by the hospital real quick," the vulpine answered surely. "My sister texted me and said that my dad is hurt. Must've happened at the rink. I need to see him."

"Oh no you ain't," Wolf retorted, swiftly clambering up to his feet. "Not after that whole incident yesterday. In case you forgot, it was you that blew our cover."

"Ah jeez, not this argument again," Fox moaned to himself. "Sheila, get the drugs."

"You almost got us caught, McCloud," Wolf interjected. "Who's to say that you'll get us spotted for real if you go out again?"

"I'm just going to the hospital," Fox dismissively waved Wolf off as he inched for the far countertop. "If they ask, I'll just magically turn into my stunt double." At this, Fox grabbed Todd's thick-framed glasses from the counter and draped them over his eyes. "See?" he asked rhetorically, a confident smirk on his face as he pushed the glasses farther up his muzzle.

Todd shrugged. "He does look like me."

"I don't care," Wolf interrupted. "Besides, we need to get moving. You've got Scarlet, and the sooner she gets us to Vince, the sooner we can quit hiding out with these stupid idiots."

Jared gasped. "What did he just call us?" he asked to the other vulpine.

"I think he just called us idiots," Todd answered.

"Hey!" barked Wolf. "I didn't call you idiots, I called you stupid idiots." Loosing no momentum, he turned to Fox and pointed. "McCloud—no, not you," he turned right back around towards Todd with his finger still extended, but he merely shrugged it off and continued making breakfast. "You're staying here."

"Wolf, come on," Sheila scoffed. "Just let him see his dad for a little bit. I promise he'll be back as soon as he's done."

"Can it, marshmallow," the lupine snapped.

"She's right, Wolf," Fox stated flatly. "I'm not gonna try anything. Hell, you can send one of your guys with me just to be sure."

Wolf returned a less-than friendly glare. Surely he was skeptical with his narrowed eyes, but over time, noticing Fox's unrelenting stance, he eventually snapped his fingers and pointed at the couch.

"Kajær; Dahlstrom," he commanded. "Go with 'im. Don't let him try anything."

As the two stood up and walked over to Fox, Wolf pawned off two different tablets to the both of them. "While you're waiting, might as well try to sort out the system architecture. We still need to find a way to attack the servers."

As the three of them sorted out the extra jobs, Scarlet blurted out, "I'll stay here and entertain our guests."

At this, Todd let loose a mild whimper and snaked his arms around Jared. "Jay, please give me strength for this."

"Don't worry, it'll be off-screen," Jared assured.

[҉]

The team of Fox, Adam, and Patrik soon filed out of the apartment with their appropriate belongings. As Fox spearheaded the group down the hall, Patrik spared a glance at the tablet Adam was holding and made a vaguely irritated face.

"How come you get the big screen? Are you trying to compensate for something?"

Adam rolled his eyes. "It's just the one Wolf gave me."

"So Wolf is trying to cover something up for you?"

Disgruntled, Adam grunted, "Okay, fine, you want the big tablet for those big-ass paws of yours?"

Patrik merely smirked. "No, you still need it. Something needs to throw shade on that tiny—"

"How about this?" interrupted Adam as the group stopped to file into the elevator. He curled up his fingers. "Winner gets the big screen."

"I know how it works," Patrik deadpanned as Fox punched in the ground floor button. As the elevator descended, the two teammates held out balled hands. In unison, they both chanted "rock, paper, scissors, shoot," while they bobbed their arms. Patrik stuck out two fingers while Adam kept his hand balled.

Adam returned a smirk of his own. "Suck it."

"I should've known you'd throw rock," Patrik commented blankly. "That's all you know in Katina anyway. It's in your blood. Don't you guys just call it "rock, rock, rock"?"

"Oh ho, that's funny," Adam chortled sarcastically, trying to withhold his laughter. "You should type up all your racist jokes on your tiny tablet."

Patrik just grumbled incoherently and shook his head.

Banter aside, the three trekked the unconventionally difficult way from the lobby to the parking garage. On the key ring he swiped from Todd's apartment, Fox found a parking tag that read "Jared Reimer-McCloud — Floor 4 – Lot 45-C." He shrugged, then instructed his posse to follow.

Omitting pointless detail, Fox finally stepped up to the designated lot and found a relatively small silver compact sedan residing in the spot. Sure enough, the car unlocked when Fox pressed the button on the keyring. He climbed into the front seat while Patrik scurried around the car to steal shotgun. Begrudgingly, Adam filed into the back seat.

As Fox pulled out of the garage and merged into the downtown streets, Patrik rolled down the window and let his elbow hang out.

"I don't understand why he chose both of us to go," Adam blurted out.

The malamute shrugged. "He might want to keep more than just him in line," he pointed a thumb at Fox. "He knows that we aren't all that content."

"I know, but maybe he shouldn't try to do all of this convoluted shit when we could've easily done it ourselves with a bit of extra time."

"He's got a deadline to meet," Patrik commented.

"Doesn't matter if he has a freakin' deadline. If he can't do what he needs to do without going utterly mental and constructing this ludicrous plan, he shouldn't've accepted the job."

"He really didn't have much of a choice in the matter, Kaj. That's his father he's taking the job from, and you know boss has his image he wants to keep with him, and us for that matter."

"Fine. I'll give him that."

"So what's next?" Fox interjected.

"Next for what?" Patrik asked.

"The mission. Surely we didn't waste three chapters messing around at a hockey rink for nothing, right?"

Adam grunted and started looking at his tablet. "Well, your friend Vince needs to clear our names from any identifying agencies so we can fly free without being flagged. As soon as we do that, we have free roam to do whatever dirty work Muzzin has in mind. It's really all up to him."

Fox's face shrunk. "So this is just buildup for the actual mission?"

Patrik chuckled. "You've obviously never worked in our field before. We can't just take a job from a superior officer and just go right into it. There's prep for our work, and lots of it if we want to come away with any sort of profit and not end up in a jail cell."

"But this buildup has already gone past 60K words! How long is this story gonna be?"

"Beats me. It'll be over sooner if you comply though, so I wouldn't try to make the plot more complicated than it already is. That make sense?"

"Yea, yea, whatever," Fox muttered. "I didn't even want this to be easy anyway. Where's the fun in having an easy job? I sure don't see it. It's got be difficult as all hell if it wants to be fun."

Later on in the ride, the group got stuck in traffic. It didn't look like it was gonna move anytime soon based on how many cars there were and how many traffic lights separated them from the hospital a few blocks down the road. To pass the time, Fox sneaked a peek at his "plot/character progression" notecard stuffed in his pocket, then posed the question:

"So what's up with you two and Wolf?"

He looked in his mirror to see Adam, but his gaze seemed to be fixed on Patrik. The malamute grunted, "What about us?"

"What's the affiliation there?" Fox elaborated. "You two seem to work better as a team by yourself."

"That's cuz we were," Patrik replied in that same toneless voice of his. "Kaj and I were—and still are—partners. We partnered up as system architects for various companies; he wrote the code and I built the servers to run the system. He creates, I protect. No different than when we jumped ship to pursue a better deal. Now we're on the opposite side of the bridge, so to say."

"Wolf hired us for that reason," Adam jumped in. "One of the companies we worked for early on, we worked with Leon; Wolf's second pilot. We were deemed trustworthy by his standards and by the word of his teammate, so here we are now."

"Have you ever thought about bailing?" Fox inquired.

Both Patrik and Adam looked at each other. "That's a stretch to say," Adam commented hesitantly.

"His promise of a payday is enticing," Patrik added. "For the work that we're doing compared to what we did before him, and comparing the pay as well, this is the better deal by far. As for working outside of the law, we had already done it before so it was only a matter of time before the CDF caught onto us. Adam modified governmental algorithms—and still is right now, obviously. I was basically Kajær's protection if shit hit the fan, so grouping myself with him just furnished a jail cell with my name on it."

"Now Wolf is letting us use our full potential because of his team safeguarding us—"

"I wouldn't go that far, Kaj," Patrik interrupted. "In case you forgot, we've still been fighting our way around. We had to get our own equipment to set up the infiltration software since Wolf didn't have any, hence why it failed because my severs had to compensate for your shitty, on-the-fly coding. Do I need to remind you of the game last night too?"

"Fair enough," Adam nodded, ignoring his jabs. "I guess we've still been fighting on our own, in a way."

"Wolf hasn't done much to help."

"But I feel bad talking down about him; he did give us this chance at a proper payday," the bird continued.

Patrik shrugged. "True."

"Wolf just… lacks in that true leadership department," said Adam with hesitance. "But that doesn't subtract from the fact that he's a brilliant pilot and tactician."

"He's a great tactician, yes," agreed Patrik. "But his temper is a hindrance when we're talking important business."

"But he is a great businessman," reasoned Adam.

"Okay," Patrik started. "We both have a lot of shit to talk. Do we have to keep prefacing it with all this nice-guy stuff? If so, we're gonna be in this car all day."

"We kinda have to just to offset the shittiness of all the shitty stuff we say behind his back," answered the avian.

"Why don't we just use an acronym?" suggested the canine. "To compress all the nice-guy stuff… Wolf is great, but, y'know… W, I, G, B, Y.

"Wigby?" echoed Adam.

"All the nice-guy stuff," Patrik repeated.

"Okay, wigby," Adam started. "But I think it's weird that he's treating us as expendable resources."

"Wigby," grunted Patrik. "We dropped our guaranteed salary with a halfway-decent firm for him; what's keeping us from going back to that firm and bailing on this shit-storm of an operation? At least we were guaranteed safety, healthcare, insurance, and a goddamn paycheck while working there. Wigby."

"Wigby," echoed Adam again. "Just because he's so set on privacy and security to make sure that our operation doesn't get uncovered doesn't mean he needs to treat us like second-rate employees."

"Wigby; I think he knows that we don't really have an option now that our faces are associated with his team. He's got us leashed like… like Scarlet when she wants a round of fun even with a few cocktails in her system."

"Wigby; now I'm really starting to get pissed off," Adam tried to hush his rising voice. "I mean, we put in so much work for no pay as of now, and now he thinks that he can get away with devaluing our skills? Seriously, fuck him. Fuck that guy… Wigby."

"Wigby."

"You two are unbelievable," Fox grumbled.

"I'm sorry, were we talking to you?" Patrik questioned flatly.

"I kinda asked the question to set you two off on that tangent," reasoned Fox.

[҉]

Before they even knew it, they finally cleared the mess of traffic and managed to get into the hospital's parking garage. Fox agreed to wear a tracker just on to offhand chance that he would ditch the team, even though he gave his word that he wouldn't. Nevertheless, with Todd's glasses draped over his eyes and blurring his vision somewhat, Fox made his way through the garage and down to the main lobby of the hospital. It was a long and boring walk, I'll write that much, okay?

He gingerly approached the reception desk, where a young jackal nurse sat behind two monitors and a stack of paperwork. "Can I help you?" she asked with vague disinterest.

"I'm here to visit someone," Fox replied. "James McCloud. I'm his son."

"Can I get a name?"

"Todd."

She looked through one of her computer screens, obnoxiously chewing her gum in the process. "Todd McCloud… he's got you on the clearance list. ICU room 14. Down this hall, take a left at the end, third door on your right."

"Thank you," Fox answered before stumbling around the desk and down the designated hallway. As soon as he wound the corner at the end of the hall, he froze.

Garrick. The CDF officer he fought at the game, evident with the clean white gauze wrapped around the canine's head. He was talking with another officer, a doctor, and a very familiar nurse. Since the doctor and the two officers were busy talking with the nurse just listening, Fox retracted into the hallway, but tapped his knuckles on the wall lightly. She didn't seem to notice. He tried it again, and this time he got a reaction. Her face immediately lit up, and after a quick apology and excuse, she was out of the conversation and rushing down the hall.

Fox backed up to keep out of sight from the others. Seconds later, the nurse wound the corner and instantly hugged him tight. The vixen in the light blue nurses' garb had that same iconic fur color palette; the controversial red/orange/tan primary color matched with the wavy light tan hair that spanned the length of her shoulder blades. Plus, the matching green eyes gave it away that she was Fox's younger sister Paige.

"I'm so glad you could make it, Todd," she said, backing away to part her hair correctly. "Listen, before you ask, I have no idea what happened—"

"Wait, Paige," Fox started, but the vixen didn't listen.

"I'm just as clueless as you right now. Like, I know what happened, but I don't know what actually happened and why and all that—"

"Paige," Fox interrupted, shaking her out of her ramblings. "Sis, I'm not Todd. It's me."

He removed the glasses from his muzzle for a second, then set them back over his eyes. Paige initially looked flabbergasted, but as reality set in, steam began to seep out of her ears.

"What the hell F—"

Fox panicked and clamped her muzzle shut, hissing at her as he looked out of the sides of his glasses. "Keep it down," he commanded, pulling her in behind the wall. "Listen, for right now, I'm not Fox, m'kay? I'm not sacrificing my vision without good reason."

"Why?" she whispered back. Breaking off of him, she continued. "I'm glad to see you and all, but what the hell? What's the issue?"

"I really don't have time to explain right now," Fox insisted.

Paige blew some hair out of her eyes. "Oh no, you're not blowing us off again." She grabbed the collar of his shirt and pulled him down to be eye-to-eye with her. "Talk, Fox."

"I'm not Fox, sis," Fox argued nervously.

"Just talk."

"I'll explain later," Fox replied. "I need to talk to dad, okay? It's my fault I got him in here and I need to—"

"You did this?" she growled.

"Again, it's a very long story that I don't have the time to retell."

Paige huffed and pushed him off. "Fine. I'll get you in. Just… follow my lead."

Fox followed Paige around the corner and all the way up to James' door. Fox cringed when Garrick stopped her before she could open the door.

"Who's this fella? He looks awfully familiar."

"This is my brother, Todd," she said, though with slight hesitance since she knew she was lying to an officer. Fox followed along by nodding, a convincing grin on his face.

Garrick's narrowed eyes returned to normal. "Oh. My apologies, Todd. You and your brother look very much alike. I'm sincerely sorry about what has happened with Fox. He used to be such a reliable asset."

"Oh, uh, it really is," Fox stammered, putting on a slightly higher voice to sell his identity. "I'm disappointed in him too."

"He just came by to see dad," Paige interrupted. "He won't be long."

"Okay, I'll wait out here," the officer nodded.

Paige practically pulled Fox into James' room. He was awake, but his head was wrapped in bandages and his entire body was obscured by a sheet. Paige then shoved him in further, hissing, "Don't take long."

The shutting door caught James attention. The injured fox sighed and let his head fall back.

"Thanks for stopping by."

Fox's ears fell. "Listen, dad, I'm so sorry."

"Sorry for what?" James asked, visibly confused. "I may not be the most coherent thing right now, but I do know enough to know you shouldn't be sorry."

Fox noticed that his words were slurring ever so slightly. Only then did he notice the multiple IV bags surrounding his bed.

James continued, "Are you still not over it? Listen, I told you that I supported your decision ever since you came out, and I supported your wedding and put in that good word for you and Jared to get that nice apartment downtown. You're my kid, Todd; I have to support my kids no matter what direction they take."

Fox froze. "Oh, wait, dad, I'm not—"

"You know, I always thought I was gay for a while," James yammered on, staring at the ceiling. "Well, at least I was, until I saw that little piece of tail known as your mother for the first time. She literally had the looks that could turn any gay guy straight, cuz I was that guy, ya know what I'm sayin'?"

"Dad, it's me," Fox said, removing the glasses from his face. James looked over to see, only for his expression to soften to a more somber inflection.

"Oh," he mumbled. "Hey, Fox."

"Dad, listen—"

"I know what you're gonna say," James interrupted. "I may be high on morphine, but I know, okay?"

Fox's ears fell flat.

"What's up, kiddo?" James asked. "Why were they gunning for you?"

The vulpine sighed. "I made a mistake."

"Clearly."

Fox shook his head. "I took a job from Wolf. I'm working for him, basically."

James took a few moments to process it before saying, "Is that it?"

"I wish I could say it was," Fox muttered.

"I'm not mad," James grunted. "This is your first merc job in a while. I'm just… disappointed that you didn't tell me the truth. Like I said, you're my kid; I have to support my kids no matter what. Even if they are stupid or otherwise disagreeable decisions, I have to support them. I'm more upset about the fact that you lied to me."

"I did," Fox admitted somberly. "And I'm sorry."

"It was all one big lie, wasn't it?"

Fox nodded.

"Can I ask what you actually were there for? Or is that classified?"

"I really don't want to say," he replied.

James sighed. "Fair enough. So… you talking to Scarlet was a lie?"

"We needed her for the mission."

"I see," James' eyes closed. "I'm gonna guess that you and Sheila are just teammates?"

"Right."

"There's nothing there between you two?"

Fox breathed. "It's complicated," he replied.

"That girlfriend persona was a lie too?"

"For the mission, yes," Fox answered. "But… She was just playing the part, I snapped at her… She felt bad, and after we talked it out I…"

"You fell for her, didn't you?"

Fox shrugged. "I guess you're right… but, I thought you were supposed to be high?"

"I am, and believe me, it's helping me make sense of the situation you're in," James started to giggle. "If I was sober, I'd be beating your ass all over this hospital for fucking me up like you did. But right now, I can't be anything other than impressed, because you fooled the shit out of me!"

Fox breathed out of his nose. "I'm stuck though," he admitted, his shoulders drooping. "I really want to just say screw it and bail on the team; go do something else with my time now that I'm here… but Wolf has me by the neck right now, and I really can't leave Sheila behind. She's not cut out for that kind of job, and it hurts to think that she might get punished because of what I did."

"I feel ya," James replied, his voice becoming more and more incoherent. "Listen, here's what I want ya to do. I can tell that you have a little crush on her, a'ight? Shippin' little ol' Fox and SheShe. I get it. But you got yourself into a little bit of a stick pickle and you want outta it."

"Dad?" Fox said distantly.

"Ah, sorry Toddy," he started to chuckle. "I might've hit the dosage button while you were goin' on about your little sob story. My ass hurts, kay? I got shot in the back and fell down a flight of stairs for ya, so ya better 'preciate it."

James shifted a little bit. "M'kay, here's what the little McCloud has to do. You need to take a stance and don't let the big bad Wolf shit all over ya about it. Cuz wolf shit stinks, fam."

Fox smirked to himself. "And about Sheila?"

"Don't take her to bed unless you got a scorching good reason to, my dude," James replied. "She might want a full, unsanctioned access to the hot dog bar, but you gotta lay down your rules so that she doesn't overindulge, ka'peesh?"

"No, dad, I mean—"

"Unless you wanna give her that unlimited pass, f'ya know what I'm sayin'" he winked. "…Yo, your eyebrows are on fleek."

"Dad, focus," Fox insisted.

"I'm really high," James giggled, looking up at the ceiling. "I'm in a cloud, bruh."

"Dad, there's no cl—"

"A cloud, bro," James sputtered.

"…I'm just gonna go—"

"Wait, hold up," James yipped, rolling to his side to face him properly. His arm, numb from the painkillers, limply fell forward and draped over his chest and the side of the bed. He instantly lost his composure and started giggling.

"Dad."

"Bitch, dab," he choked out before beginning a round of howling laughter. "I crack myself up."

"Feel better soon, dad," Fox said, sliding the glasses back over his eyes again.

"Bye Todd!" he shouted as Fox stepped out of the room. As he adjusted the glasses and began to walk away from the doorway, Paige came up behind him dressed in a deep blue turtleneck sweater and tight black leggings, with a purse draped over her shoulder.

"Okay, I just clocked out," she started. "You better start talking once we get out of here."

"Trust me, I will," Fox replied. "Just… promise me you won't ever put me on the drugs dad is on if I ever get hurt. "

"Why?"

"He's making pop culture references and it makes my head hurt."