A nap was had on their way back. All of the adrenaline draining from his body left Fox a limp noodle in Amos' lap. The man gently ran his hand over his fur even as Fox dozed in and out of consciousness.

By the time they finally got back to town, he wasn't feeling too hot. When he tried to open his eyes, everything was blurry and edged with black. He was moved about a bit, and he could hear people talking, but it sounded kind of far away.

"He's probably got a concussion," Henry's voice said quietly as a faint light shone in one of his eyes, then the other. "Not getting a very good reaction. He's going to need to be kept calm and rest for a few days."

I'm calm. My head hurts. No ener—Owen's here!

He could feel the man's presence in his mind as his ears picked up at the sound of a car pulling into the veterinary office's parking lot.

"Well, here's our test for that keeping calm part," Amos said right before Owen ran through the door, panting. His eyes immediately locked onto Fox.

Fox tried to lift his aching head but Owen quickly walked forward and gently cupped his face, then leaned over to press a kiss between his eyes.

Owen's here! Amos, Owen is here! Henry, he's here!

Owen pressed a finger to Fox's nose as he leaned back a little.

"Shh. Good foxes are calm and well behaved," he said in a whisper.

Fox's backside was wiggling with excitement, but as he took in Owen's words, he slowly managed to get ahold of himself. Owen left one hand against the side of Fox's face before looking up at Henry.

"How is he?"

Henry began to go into all of the details about concussions and how to treat them, but all Fox could think about was that Owen had hurried to him and was even concerned.

"Calm it down a bit more there, bud. I can feel your crazy in my mind," Amos said, then added, "if only it were for me."

Fox hunkered down a little more and twitched an ear, then winced as it made his headache worse.

You can have a little bit of it.

Fox was surprised by the sudden rush of excitement that shot through his mind from Amos, but Owen quickly smacked the guy.

"You need to calm down now, too."

Amos gave out a quiet whine in response, but it sounded like there was a smirk hidden in the sound.

"You guys can take him home. He needs to stay in a dark, quiet room for a few days. Make sure that he drinks plenty of water and if he can hold down food, give him some light meals."

I like cat.

Owen pressed his finger back against Fox's nose, effectively silencing him... but not stopping him from slipping his tongue out to steal a lick.

He could sense Owen rolling his eyes as Amos gently picked him up and settled him inside his huge coat.

"Thank you, Henry. We'll be in touch and keep you updated," Owen said as Amos walked out of the room with the other man quick to follow behind him.

Henry offered to have Noah drive over one of their cars, since neither Amos nor Owen were willing to risk not having someone holding Fox while they were driving. They really wanted him to shift so that he could put on a seat-belt, but there was no way that was possible.

Amos decided to let Owen drive, leaving his car without any hesitation. Owen got them home in minutes, and Amos was quick to settle Fox on the couch with extra blankets and pillows. He also added a heating pad before sitting down on the floor in front of him to stand guard.

Owen had gone to the kitchen. It was easy to hear that he was cooking, and soon the scent of pancakes and sausage wafted through the townhome. It smelled amazing, but he just wasn't hungry.

His nostrils flared as the food was brought over and Owen knelt in front of the couch.

I guess the eating at the table rule is being pushed aside for now. It's too bad that I'm just not hungry.

"Take a few small bites? You've been gone for almost a whole day. I know that you're hungry," Owen said quietly as he pinched off a tiny piece of pancake and offered it to Fox.

He definitely was correct in his assumption that he hadn't eaten since yesterday, but his head hurt too much to even think about it. There was no way that he wouldn't throw it up, and he definitely didn't want to puke on Owen's furniture.

Owen looked like he was about to say something else, but bit his tongue and stood up.

"I'll put it away and we'll see how you're feeling later," he said, making Fox give a tiny sigh of relief. He would have eaten it if Owen had kept asking him, but he was grateful that he'd relented.

Amos leaned his head back so that the right side of his face was resting on the couch cushion, allowing them to look at each other.

"We'll watch over you, punk. Get some sleep."

Owen sat down beside Amos after putting away the food, though a small pancake was hanging from between his own lips.

It looks even more yummy between those lips.

He wanted to stay awake for a while longer, but his mind refused to cooperate. After only a few minutes, Fox was asleep, and throughout the remainder of the evening and into the next day, he only awoke long enough to relieve himself and drink some water.

It was early morning on the third day when he finally managed to open his eyes without a splitting headache. His head still hurt a bit, but he was able to push the pain to the back of his mind as he slowly managed to shift his body to its human form.

He felt warm hands gently grasp his upper arms as he tried to sit up, helping him, but also allowing him to take as much time as he needed. The scent of cigarettes and mint gum told him that it was Amos. He was just about to finally be able to lean back against the couch when his body decided to lean forward, instead. His heavy arms took a lot of effort to lift, but as he fell forward, he wrapped them around Amos' neck in the darkness, then buried his face against his skin.

To his surprise, Amos said nothing. Instead, he simply wrapped his arms around Fox's back and held him close as he turned his body just enough to be able to lean against the sofa. He felt the man's hand slowly begin to rub along his back as the other held his waist. The soothing sensation might have been the cause of the few, tiny, miniscule, tears that managed to slip from Fox's eyes as he sniffled against Amos' neck.

Cry it all out. It never feels good to hold it in.

Fox nuzzled closer and made a few quiet whining sounds. He'd rarely ever been truly scared for his life. Even when he'd been facing down the hawk that had torn him up badly, he wasn't worried about losing what he had, because he hadn't been at the point where he had put value into his situation, yet.

After having nearly been killed days ago, he realized that he finally did feel like he had a reason to live. Said reason was a bit blurry, but he was pretty sure it involved Owen, Amos, Noah, and even Henry. He had people that wanted him around, and not even to harass or hurt, like his siblings had. They just wanted him to exist because they enjoyed his presence.

He felt a light water droplet against his back at that moment, making his right eye open part way. As the tiny ball of liquid slowly began wandering down his right side, Fox leaned back just enough to look up at Amos' face, but the man quickly tucked his head down again and turned it to the side, clearly not wanting to be seen.

"Amo?"

The man before him sniffled a few times, seemingly trying to get ahold of himself, but not quite being able to.

"What's wrong?" he questioned after several moments as he hesitantly reached up to brush a bit of Amos' bangs away from the left side of his face.

The action revealed his half-lidded eye, which widened the moment it met Fox's. He was trying to figure out what was going on through their bond, but he could only feel confusion and upset. There were no words.

Instead of speaking, Amos slowly straightened back up and grasped Fox's shoulders. He gently made him lean back until he was sitting down in his lap. Amos looked him over silently for a minute before sighing and allowing his hands to drop to settle on Fox's hips.

"Fox... they almost took you away from us, permanently," he finally rasped out as his left hand moved up along Fox's torso until it stopped right before a dark bruise. It had been where his brother had kicked him and sent him rolling right before his sister attempted to run him over. The bruise had turned an angry dark purple and covered a good portion of his side, but as long as he didn't accidently touch it, it didn't bother him much.

Normally, he'd come back with a sarcastic quip, but for once, he felt like it wasn't a good idea.

But what is a good idea?

Licking his lips, Fox thought for a few moments before reaching up and placing his hands on either side of Amos' face.

Don't ask.

Blinking, Fox glanced over toward the hall. Owen stood leaning against the wall, a finger raised to his lips to signal that he wanted to remain unknown for the time being. Fox quickly returned his attention to Amos, but bit his tongue on wanting to ask what else was bothering the man. He'd seen him crying multiple times, but Owen was probably right. Now wasn't appropriate.

Instead, he pursed his lips and leaned forward as he tilted his head just-so.

A sudden flood of agitation slipped from Owen's mind into his own, making Fox gasp and begin to lean back. Except, he barely managed to retreat a few inches before Amos' hand found the back of his neck and quickly guided him back down to continue their kiss.

"He can wait his turn..." Amos mumbled against his mouth.

Fox wasn't sure what to make of the situation. The kiss had been intended to try and calm Amos a little, but judging from the emotion that was coming from their bond, it was having the opposite affect.

We should probably stop. I don't want to stress him out further.

At that moment, Owen walked over and knelt down, poking Amos' cheek hard. The gesture made the man relent immediately and lower his left hand, allowing Fox to easily lean away. He could have done so either way, but he hadn't really minded the attention. Of course, he immediately turned toward Owen with a small smile, but it wasn't quite returned. Owen seemed to try, but Fox could still sense the frustration in their bond and the grin was more of an awkward grimace.

"Jealousy looks hot on you," Amos said, his attention clearly on Owen as he looked up at the man with a smirk. "I can share, if you'd like? All you have to do is ask him."

Owen glared at Amos and huffed as he got back to his bare feet and headed for the kitchen. The dimmer light came on a moment later, but was on the lowest setting, making it bearable for Fox's remaining headache.

He's jealous?

He would have gladly kissed Owen if he had asked for it, but he couldn't remember a single time when the man had requested that kind of attention. Unlike Amos, who sang it like a bird as often as he could.

His body was suddenly pulled tightly against Amos' chest, but Fox didn't bother fighting the attention he started getting as fingers sifted through his hair and calm, light kisses peppered the top of his head.

Fox nuzzled closer as he felt a shiver begin to build in his muscles as the air-conditioner kicked on, but before he could start shivering a warm shirt was being tugged over his head. He carefully sat up in Amos' lap so that the item could be settled over him correctly. It was big on him, but that was perfectly fine... and so was the view that he got when he popped his head through the top. Owen had taken his own light blue pajama shirt off and given it to him, leaving a bare chest that Fox wouldn't mind kissing.

When Owen didn't immediately walk back toward the kitchen, Fox let his eyes wander higher past his matching light blue checkered pajama pants until they met the other man's. The look in Owen's eyes had Fox swallowing, but the guy eventually looked away and gave a deep sigh before returning to the kitchen.

Owen returned after a short while with a small plate of pancakes and syrup. Fox straightened immediately, his empty stomach now fully awake and rumbling loudly. He'd barely eaten more than a cracker or two in the past several days.

A warm thumb swiped across his moist lower lip before retreating to Amos' mouth as Owen settled next to them.

"You've got him drooling with your shirt off, Owe," Amos said jokingly.

Now that he thought about it, he wouldn't mind licking either the pancakes, or Owen. He'd take both at the same time, too.

"Mmm, both huh? Can I substitute in for the pancakes?" Amos asked with a smirk before half a pancake was shoved into his mouth.

He chewed it obediently, remaining silent as Owen fed a famished Fox. As he ate, Fox noticed Amos' eyes going back and forth between the two of them. He didn't move a muscle until he eventually decided to lean forward. However, just before he could do whatever he was intending, Owen leaned in and nonchalantly licked the tiny droplet of syrup from the edge of Fox's mouth, then retreated to cut another piece of pancake for him.

The action had Amos flopping back against the couch with a groan as he leaned his head on the cushion to glare at the ceiling.

"That was mine," he eventually grumbled out, only to earn a simple retort from Owen a moment later as he continued to cut up pancakes.

"Tasted pretty good."

Brooding, Amos sat up straight again and watched Owen. It seemed like he was waiting for something, but Fox ignored him as he ate several more bites of offered pancake. It turned out that Amos had, indeed, been waiting for something. The moment Owen tried to take a bit for himself Amos reached over and grabbed his jaw, effectively pulling him closer and leaning toward him in the same action. The stolen kiss was brief, but it lasted just long enough to earn a growl from Owen and a brush of syrup to the underside of Amos' jaw from the blocked pancake.

Seemingly content, Amos leaned back before turning a grin to Fox and tilting his head back slightly.

"Can you give me a hand, Fox? I seemed to have gotten something sticky under my chin."

Not thinking much of his request, Fox began to lean forward to take care of the simple task but was quickly distracted by another piece of pancake being shoved between his lips. He sat back awkwardly, staring at Owen in confusion as he started to chew.

"Don't lick that. I know where it's been."