Cubs and Kits: Chapter 2

Reg was bored.  The 8 year old bear cub had been suspended for 3 days from school after punching out a former friend (“Cool Brad”) at recess. Mrs Nichols had just picked him up from school and taken him back to her home.  The mother red fox hadn’t seemed too mad and just said they would “talk later”.
Brad had it coming. He used to be a good friend, but him making fun of Reggie at recess and telling everyone that Reggie wasn’t a “real male” because of his cerebral palsy went too far.
In the meantime, because he didn’t go to school today, Reg had no electronics until the hour school ended. Becky, his foster mother’s rule was “No school, no electronics” so Reg had no TV, computer, or cell phone all day.  Because today was a Friday he wouldn’t go back to school until Wednesday next week.
Looking over at the clock showed it was near 3:30, so Tina 7 year old vixen foster sister should be home soon.
At least he his legs were getting better from the pulled muscles when his leg was twisted, and he didn’t need his crutches any longer.  Mrs Nichols had helped massage his legs this morning, and a hot soak stopped the worst of the leg cramps caused by his cerebral palsy.
There was a knock at the front door, and Reg went to answer it.  He swung open the door and stopped short,  recognizing who was there.  His eyes went wide, and he froze in terror.
A paw of a female badger reached out to grab him. “There you are, you little monster. I’m taking you back to the group home and out of-” said Mrs Balbrucker.
 
“No!  You can’t take me BACK!” the terrified bear cub screamed.  He slammed the front door as fast as he could, and locked the door.  Immediately there was a heavy pounding on the door as the Child ‘Protective’ Services worker tried get at the cub.

*****
Becky was sitting in her home office, writing up an entry for the Cape Cod style home she was listing over on Smith Street when she heard a knocking at the front door, making Bernie the feral pit bull bark from the yard.   The vixen ignored the knocking since Reg could answer it.
She was considering opening the web-page for the “Fang” doorbell-camera when the knocking stopped.  Becky was placing the “featured photo” when she heard a terrified scream, the door slam, and then the sound of breaking glass, a large bang, and furious pounding on her front door.
Jumping up, she ran across her attached office, opening the inner door to the house, and was nearly knocked over in the hallway by a bear cub running past her in a blind panic, screaming “I won’t go back!”.
Mrs Nichols tried to grab Reginald by the arm to find out what was wrong, but he didn’t even slow.  Her claws caught in his shirtsleeve and he kept running, leaving the shredded sleeve behind, running in his slightly awkward gait as fast as he could go.
On the way into the living room, the cub pulled over a bookcase, partially blocking entry to the living room, as it crashed to the ground, spilling books, and dropping knickknacks on the floor to shatter.
Becky went into the kitchen, seeing the kitchen table overturned, barricading the front door. The kitchen floor was littered with the remains of the drinking glasses and a butter dish that had been on the table when it was flipped against the door by the terrified bear cub.
Hearing the pounding at the door, she grabbed the fireplace poker and held it behind her back.
Pushing the table aside, Becky Nichols opened her front door, and saw a middle aged sour looking female badger.  The badger pushed her way inside until being stopped by Becky.
Who are you and why are you here?” Becky demanded.
“Evelyn Balbrucker, CPS.  Ronald has been in some incidents at school, so I am here to collect him.  No worries Mrs Nichols.  You can have another foster cub who is well behaved.  The checks will still keep coming.  
Now, where is that cub?!  I’m here to bring it back to the group home and out of your fur.” said the uncaring CPS worker.

Tina walked in the open front door, carrying her schoolbag looking worried and confused.  “Mom, what is going on?” she asked.
Becky put on a sweet smile.  “Tina, why don’t you go find Reginald and go check on him.  Stay with him, OK dear?”

“OK, Mom” said Tina, with a worried look at the intruder in the kitchen.  The small vixen started to run off down the hall, then said  “Mom!  The bookcase fell-”
“Don’t worry, Tina.  Just climb over it and go play with Reggie.”
Once Tina was out of sight, the expression on the motherly vixen changed, and she bared her fangs.  In a low growl she said  “Reginald will not be going anywhere,  Mrs Ball Breaker.”
“That’s pronounced ‘Balbrucker’ Mrs. Nich-”
Becky continued without a pause.”Why don’t you leave and find the house where ‘Ronald’ lives and bother them, Ball-raker?”
“I don’t care what names you call me, Mrs Nichols.  I will still be taking that cub with me.  I am with CPS. I will put him in a group home instead of rampaging around destroying your home like the little feral he obviously is.  We have a newly re-approved family who can teach him some discipline he is lacking.”
“I know all about your ‘group homes’ BallBreaker.  I spent a year in one until I was 17.   I regularly got the hell beat out of me by another inmate that didn’t like foxes.”
“Sorry that happened in your history Mrs Nichols, but CPS has the right-”, started Mrs Balbrucker.
“No, BallBreaker, you do not.  You have no police escort, and no warrant to enter my home.  Suspension from school is not an ‘imminent danger’ problem.
If you do call the police the ‘first responder’ will be Bill Clavens.  He is a neighbor who also happens to have been my foster father from age 17.  He likes both these cubs and will not be on your side.
Getting you fired for home invasion would be icing on the cake.”,said Rebecca.
“What home invasion, you reeking fox?”, sneered Mrs Balbrucker.
“That would be you pounding on my door, trying to break in, threatening a child under my care, pushing into my home without invitation, a warrant, or a police escort.”  said Becky.
The vixen raised up her arm holding the iron fireplace poker, getting ready to strike with it.  “In fact, BallBreaker, I don’t think you ever identified yourself at my front door before entering.  The recording shows a home invasion.  If you don’t get out now I’m going to bash your rutting brains in!  Now get the hell OUT OF MY HOUSE before I rutting KILL YOU.”

*****
Tina had come home, and found the strange fur in her home, talking about taking Reg away, and found broken glass all over, and the bookcase tipped over.  Mom kept telling her to go find Reggie, so she began to search.  
She did not see Reggie in any of the rooms, by opening the door and looking, then finally started looking under things.  Hearing a low whimpering she looked under her bed and hidden behind a blanket was the shaking bear cub.
Tina tried to talk to him but he just sat there and shook and would not come out.  Every time she reached for him, he would back up further and further into a corner, curled into a ball, and was leaving huge claw marks on the hardwood floor.

*****
Mrs Balbrucker exited the home and dialed 9-1-1 to get police assistance.   Within 5 minutes of calling the an older wolf driving a squad car pulled up.  Just as predicted, it was Sheriff Clavens, whom she related her story to the moment he hopped out of the squad car.
“So, Mrs Balbrucker, you claim you needed to force entry into a Private Domicile without escort or warrant, physically threaten a disabled cub, refer to same cub as ‘it’ and need to be forced out with a makeshift weapon by a terrified adult trying to protect her cubs?” asked the wolf officer.
“That is not the way this happened, Sheriff.” said the irritated badger. She had expected the usual “rubber stamp” support of the local police department for anything she did.
“I have video proof and reliable testimony.  I would highly suggest you leave while you can, and never come back, unless you would like to spend the night in a cell.  In fact I can arrange it so you spend the weekend there before you can be arraigned in front of a judge on Monday morning.” said the wolf with a wag of his tail.
The irritated badger chose to leave.  For now.  She hoped he didn’t mess up her metrics too bad.

*****
Becky walked back into the home after the nasty CPS worker left, and flipped the table back the right way, and started sweeping up the broken glass off the floor.
Tina walked into the kitchen, worried. “Mom, is anyone going to try to take Reggie away?”
“No, Tina.  Me and Grampy Bill made her go away.” was the reply.
Tins smiled for a moment, then looked worried. “Reg is under my bed and he won’t come out.  He is upset and crying and shaking.”
Dumping the broken glass in the trash can, Becky started to walk towards the bedrooms, pausing only to sweep up the broken glass in the living room, and slowly flip the bookcase upright.  The books could be picked up later.
Entering Tina’s bedroom Becky couldn’t see anything, but listening carefully she could hear a slight whimpering.  After her daughter pointed under the bed, Mrs Nichols looked under the bed, and hidden behind a blanket on the floor was a shaking bear cub, curled up as tightly as he could into the corner.
“Reg, do you want to come out from under the bed? The nasty badger is gone.  I had the Sheriff make her leave.” said Becky.
Reg didn’t move but just shook harder when she spoke, curled up into a shivering ball with his eyes tightly closed.
“Tina lets just sit and wait for Reg to be ready to come out, OK?” said Becky.
“OK, Mom”, said the small vixen.
“Tina, why don’t you tell Reg about your day at school today?” suggested Becky.
Tina broke off into a long winding story about who did the best at artwork, and who misbehaved during music, but there was no change to Reg’s condition.  It was starting to get late so Becky pulled out her cell phone and ordered 2 pizzas to be delivered.
A little while later, there was a knock at the door, Becky went and grabbed the pizza and brought back pizza, soda and plates and napkins to Tina’s room.  The two vixens started to eat and put a piece of pizza on a plate for the bear cub to eat.  It made no difference. He did not change position or try to come out and eat.
Becky was starting to worry, wondering if she needed to call anyone,  when Tina grabbed Reg’s plate and crawled under the bed with it, trying to hand the pizza off to him.  
“Reg, try some 3 meat pizza it’s your fav-”
When she got near him Reg opened his eyes, reached out and in a flash grabbed Tina in a hug and held on to her, completely ignoring the food.  The shaking stopped, but the whimpering continued.
“Just let him hold you, Tina.” said Rebecca soothingly.  The hug seemed to settle Reg down.

They sat there in that position for nearly an hour before another issue soon appeared.
“Ewww!  Mom!  Reggie is peeing all over!” said Tina, pulling away and quickly crawling out from under the bed where a huge puddle of urine was forming.  Her shirt and tights were soaked.
Reggie seemed started to cry.  “I’m sorry!  I didn’t mean it.  Please let me clean it up!” said the sobbing cub, as he crawled out from under the bed, his pants drenched.   Becky reached out for him and he flinched, positive she was going to start hitting him.
The mother vixen ignored the wet pants, plopped the wet cub on her lap, facing her and just held him.  Reg looked surprised, but then returned the hug and Becky rubbed his back and shushed him until he stopped sobbing and lay there quietly.
When Becky added a little rocking back and forth the exhausted cub finally he fell asleep in her arms.

*****
“Mom, my floor and blanket have pee all over them!” whispered Tina.
“Tina, go take a quick shower and change into your pajamas.” whispered Becky as she held Reggie as he slept.  Tina went off, took her shower, and came back wearing her pajamas.
“Tina, please go start the bath for Reggie. He needs to be cleaned up so he doesn’t get a rash.” said Becky.

The sleeping bear cub was stripped down, and gently placed in the bubble bath filled tub, and woke up while being washed by Becky.  “Where am I?” asked Reggie, confused..
“Just relax, Reg.  We are giving you a quick bath.  You accidentally wet yourself.” said the motherly vixen.
Starting to remember, the cub began to get upset again, until Becky said “Reg.  You are not in trouble I would have let you sleep, but I didn’t want you getting a rash.”
The cub started to say something, then his tummy gurgled.  “Tina, go get Reggie some pizza and some soda to drink,  please.”
Tina raced off and came back with the leftover pizza, and some cola, and Reginald began to eat pizza while sitting in the bathtub being scrubbed and held by his foster family.
He wished it could go on forever like this, but forever only lasted until the muddy-pawed Bernie walked in and tried to climb in the tub for some of the pizza.

******

After Reg was dried off and had clean pajamas on, Becky announced to the cubs that it was bedtime. Reg looked at Becky.  “Mrs Nichols...would...it.  Would it...be...OK-” stammered the bear cub.  He looked ashamed.
“Reg, it’s OK, go ahead and ask whatever you want.” said Rebecca.
The bear cub looked at his own foot paws. “Would...it...be OK...if I slept with you?  Just for tonight?”
Becky considered.  Any other day she would not blink an eye, but with CPS in the house today she hesitated.  Especially since Reg never admitted when he couldn’t do something or needed help.
Tina piped up.  “Mom, my blanket needs to be washed, so I need to sleep with someone else until it is clean.  Bernie chewed up the spare blankets in the closet.  Can I sleep with Reggie tonight so he is not alone?”
The vixen looked at the two. “What difference does it make? They are too young for anything worse than staying up late talking.” she thought.
“If Reggie is OK with it, yes you can sleep with him tonight.  But you two need to sleep with no staying up all night, OK?, said Becky.
“Thank you, Mrs Nichols” said Reg, relieved to not be alone.
“Thanks, Mom!” said Tina.

The two ran off to Reg’s bedroom and climbed in.  Tina turned off the lights, and Reg immediately sat up straight grabbing the blankets in his paws.  “Tina, can you turn the lights back on?”
“Hold on, Litt-, I mean Reg.  I’ll be back!” said Tina, racing off to her own room. A moment later Tina came back and plugged in a few unicorn shaped night-lights.  It lit up the room enough to have some light to see, but still dark enough to sleep easily.

Seeing the lights in the room relaxed the bear cub a little even with the lights off.  Tina climbed back into bed next to her foster brother and lay down.
In a whisper, Tina said “Reg, can we touch each other to feel good?  I want you to lick and tickle my cunny.”
“I’m sorry, Tina.  I don’t want to now.  Please don’t be mad.” said Reg.
Reg hesitated then said “Tina...can...can you...please just hold me?”, he asked.
Tina smiled, and hugged her favorite bear cub, while he hugged her back.  It was nice and warm and comfy being held like that.   The bear cub and fox kit held the hug and soon fell fast asleep.

*****

Becky finished putting the wet and dirty blanket in the washing machine and quietly went to Reggie’s door and listened.  After a minute or two of hearing nothing, she silently opened the door.  Both cub and kit were fast asleep hugging each other in the low light of Princess Unicorn night lights positioned around the room.
The vixen pulled out her smartphone and snapped a couple pictures of the two, including one closeup with Tina drooling on Reg’s pillow.  

*****
Reg heard knocking at the front door and opened it seeing Balbrucker standing there. “Reginald Higgins you are coming back to the group home now!  I’ll place you with the Potter family again, you broken little bastard!  The Potters will teach you to mind this time!”
Reg tried to close the door, but as he went to slam it shut, Balbrucker jammed her paw in and stopped it from closing, and shoved her way in the rest of the way.
Reg tried to block her with the kitchen table, to slow her down, but it wouldn’t flip.  It only tilted far enough to have the glasses and butter dish fall and break, making a mess.
Reg turned to find a way to escape and saw Mrs Nichols and Tina there.  Becky turned to Reg, a furious look on her face  “You broke my mother’s butter dish she gave me before she died!  I took you in and fed you and took care of you and you break my favorite things?!  Get out of here you freak!”
Reg turned to Tina, and she looked away.  “I don’t want you here anymore, Little Reg!  Brad is way cooler and all the cubs at school will like me more if I am his friend instead of yours. Go back to your group home.  You are bad.”
Hearing a noise, Reg looked and saw Balbrucker coming at him holding the “punishment stick” the Potters used to hit him with.  The cub saw a way out down the hallway.  If he just made it there he maybe he could hide!  He took off running as fast as his legs could go and hoped he was fast enough to get away.

******
When Tina woke up hearing Reg whining and seeing him jerking around in his sleep.  Looking she could see tears on his muzzle.  “Reg is having a bad dream, I should wake him up.”she thought.
Tina started to reach over to shake the cub and wake him up, when Reggie sat up quickly.  His eyes were wide open in shock and he didn’t seem to focus on anything in the room.  All of a sudden the bear cub jumped up and took off in a lurching run, and sped up until he slammed headfirst into the closed bedroom room, and bounced off and landed on his back.
Reg grunted, and moved his paws towards his forehead which was bleeding badly with a large cut.  Looking at the door, Tina noticed he had run face first into the coat hook hanging on the inside of the door facing the room.
As Reg touched his bleeding forehead he let out a cry of pain and pulled his paws away.
Tina panicked and started yelling.  “Mom!  Mom! Come help, Reggie is bleeding!”

*****

Becky was in the kitchen drinking her first cup of coffee and reading news from her tablet when all of a sudden there was a loud slamming noise down the hall, a cry of pain, and Tina started screaming that she needed help, Reggie was bleeding.  
Running down the hall, throwing open the door she found the cub lying on the floor, dazed and bleeding all over.  A cut on his forehead was pouring out blood down into his eyes and across the black fur of his muzzle, dripping onto the floor.
Grabbing a towel from the bathroom, Becky held it against Reggie’s forehead firmly, and yelled for Tina to hold it in place.  Grabbing her keys, Becky jammed shoes on Reg’s foot-paws, and slowly managed to get him to stand up.
“Tina, get your shoes on, hurry.  We are taking Reg to get a better bandage, OK?” said Becky.  “Reggie, you have a small cut, we are going to get you all fixed, OK?”
The hopped in the car and raced down to the local hospital emergency room.

Luckily, the Emergency Room was not too busy.  With the patient being a cub, and no critical cases ahead they were shown to the back within 20 minutes.  Reg’s forehead cut continued to bleed, soaking the former white cotton towel.  
“Mrs Nichols, can you sign this consent to treat form for this cub?”, asked the sheep in a nurses uniform.  “We think he will need stitches, and afterwards we would like to do a full exam if that is OK.”
“Yes, his name is Reggie...Reginald Higgins, he is my foster cub. Go ahead and do whatever you need to fix him.”said Becky.
The nurse went back, and about 20 minutes later a male raccoon nurse appeared and approached Tina.   “Hey, little fox, I’m Jerry, nice to meet you.” he said brightly.
“I am Tina.  Is Reg going to be OK?” asked the vixen.
“He should be fine.  Hey Mrs Nichols is it OK if I take Tina to go get a snack and a drink? While you fill out paperwork?” Jerry asked.
“That would be fine, thank you, Nurse Jerry.” said Becky.
Tina wandered off with the raccoon and almost immediately another nurse appeared in front of the vixen who was filling out paperwork.
“Nice way to start the morning, isn’t it?” said a sheep.  Looking up Rebecca noticed a sheep in a nurses uniform with a badge that said “Janet, Pediatrics Nurse.”
“Oh, definitely a joy, Janet.   I didn’t even get to finish my coffee.  Tina told me Reg had a nightmare and walked head first into a door this morning.” said Becky.
“Bear cubs at that age are a handful.  I don’t know how you manage.” said the sheep sympathetically.
“Not at all.  He is one of the best behaved cubs I’ve ever seen.” said Becky.
“How long have you had him with you?” asked Nurse Janet.
“Only about 4 months.” said Becky.  “Let me know when his full exam is done, this would be his first exam with us since we took him in.”
Becky stopped for a moment and looked around and noticed something.  She was separated from Reggie.  Her daughter was nowhere to be seen, and a couple other male nurses were lounging around nearby. She might be a suspect here.
“Oh! I’ll be upfront with you, Janet.  If you need to call CPS, then do not allow Ballbreak...sorry ‘Balrucker’ anywhere near Reggie.  Sheriff Clavens is trying to file a restraining order against her coming near him. Any other agent coming would be fine.”
Janet smiled and seemed to warm up immediately. “One moment, Mrs Nichols,  I’ll be right back.”
About 5 minutes later a female rabbit wearing a lab coat appeared.  “Mrs Nichols, I am Doctor Price, please follow me.”
Becky got up and followed the bunny doctor into a private room, where the door was closed tight and locked by the rabbit.
Walking over to a computer, the bunny tapped on some keys and pulled up an ultrasound image of a bear cub from the back.  Clearly visible were lines going across the buttocks, some thicker, some thinner, but overlapping.
“What is that?” asked Becky, pointing to the lines.
“Those lines are scar tissue under his fur.  This isn’t from a spanking, or a whack with a belt, or even an old back-country ‘switching’.
To get these lines on his bottom, a full grown adult would have taken a sturdy stick and given a full strength swing.  Many times.  Some of the scars are older, some are newer.  They are all at least 6-8 months old.
He would have been in agonizing pain for at least a week each time this happened, unable to sit.  More than likely he would have been lucky to crawl around.” said the obviously disgusted bunny. 

*****
Tina was walked around the hospital by Jerry.  They stopped in the employee break room, and Tina was handed a slice of cake from an employees birthday party, which she gobbled down quickly.  After that they made a trip to the newborns area where Tina was able to look at all the newborn pups, kittens and all manner of newborn furs.
Jerry received a text message, and mentioned they needed to cut their trip short, so he brought her back to Reggie’s room, where they were finishing putting a bandage on his head to cover his stitches.
Nurse Janet finished up, and said “OK, Reggie, no more running into walls after a nightmare, OK?”
The cub looked embarrassed.  “I’m sorry, I won’t do it again. I promise.”
Tina jumped in, defensively. “Hey, its not Reg’s fault he did that! He just-”
“I know, I was just teasing a little.” said the nurse.  Turning towards Reg with a grin she said “You know you have one fan in this world at least.”

*****
Walking up to the front door, Reg turned to Mrs Nichols.  “I’m really sorry to cause trouble, Mrs Nichols-”
“Reg, It’s OK.  You had a bad dream, it can happen to anyone.  Don’t worry”, she said, giving Reg a small hug.
The front door was opened and they walked into the kitchen, Reg seeing it for the first time since yesterday.  The table was upright, but out of the usual position, and there was a trash can pulled over next to the table, filled with broken drinking glasses, and the shattered remains of the butter dish.
Tina ran over to the trash and looked in the can.  “Mom, Grandma’s butter dish is all broken!”
Reg looked miserable.  “I’m sorry.”
“It’s OK, Reg.  Don’t you worry one bit about a butter dish, I can get another.”, said Becky.
“But Mom! That one was from Grandma’s fancy dishes that she left to you-” said Tina.
“Tina.  Listen to me please.  Grandma would have understood,  No worries.  Its just a butter dish.  Some things are more important.” said Becky.
Reg walked through the kitchen and down the hallway and stopped.  There were books strewn all over the floor, the knickknacks from the top of the bookcase were gone, probably broken and the particle board bookcase looked like it had seen better days.
“I’m really very, very sorry, Mrs Nichols.” said Reg, as he turned and walked into his bedroom and closed the door, locking it.
******
Becky put some screws and added some glue to the bookcase and it appeared it might live a little longer.  The two foxes had just gotten all the books picked up, and sorted, and jammed back in the bookcase when Reg’s bedroom door opened and he walked out, holding a suitcase.
His eyes looked a little red, and he looked miserable.  Taking a shuddering breath, Reg turned to Rebecca and said “I’m sorry you had to put up with me. I’m sorry I had trouble at school.  I’m sorry you took me to the hospital today.  I’m sorry I broke your things…”
Reg took another deep breath, obviously trying not to try as he spoke. “Can..you...please...call Mrs Balrucker... so I can go back to...to the..home?”

*****
Tina looked shocked.  “Reg, you have to stay with us!  You can’t leave!”
The miserable looking bear cub didn’t respond at all.  He just looked expectantly at Becky.
“Reginald Theodore Higgins!  You have broken my rules and have to suffer the consequences of your actions, do you understand?” said Mrs Nichols with a stern face.
Both the bear cub and the fox kit looked upset at this.
“Yes, Mrs Nichols.” said Reg in a quiet voice.  This had been what he was waiting for.  
“Reg, do you need to use the bathroom?” asked Becky.
“No, I went at the hospital.” said the cub in a monotone voice.
Becky walked over, took the bag out of Reg’s paw, and sat him in a wooden rocking chair with arm rests built in.  “Tina, go get me the small toolbox from the garage.  The orange one.”
The fox girl ran off and came back quickly with a small plastic took chest.  Opening the chest, Becky took out a zip tie, and hooked Reg’s arm to the chair.  He looked a little worried.
“Reg, you just sit there, OK?  You will not be hurt by me or anyone else.  Tina, you watch him to make sure he stays put, OK?” said Becky as she walked into the kitchen and closed the french doors.

*****
The bear cub didn’t know what was happening.  He didn’t want to ruin their lives by bothering them.  This was the best place he ever spent time in.  He knew he was a bad cub.  When you are bad, you go to one the 9 hells.
When you are really bad they let you visit the 7 heavens first, before they send you to the 9 hells.
He faintly heard a beep from the kitchen and the window being cranked open.
He sat there silently while Tina looked at him sadly. About ten minutes later he faintly heard another beeping noise.
Then he heard Mrs Nichols voice call out.  “Tina, you cover Reg’s head with a pillowcase for me, OK”
The little vixen looked confused but put a pillowcase over Reg’s head.  He faintly heard the french doors to the kitchen open and heard a TV table being placed near him. 
The rustle of plastic wrap was heard, and he smelled...
*****
Mrs Nichols cut the zip tie off Reg’s arm holding him to the rocking chair and pulled the pillowcase off his head.  He looked confused then noticed a plate of chocolate chip cookies next to him.
“Reg, I told you, if you ever tried to take my favorite bear away I would have you paw-cuffed to a chair and stuffed with cookies?” asked Becky.
The bear cub just watched, shocked, not sure of what to do.
Becky grabbed a cookie, and told Reg “Open up!” and when he reflexively opened his muzzle, she popped in a piping hot chocolate chip cookie.  Tina ran up and grabbed a handful of cookies herself and started munching away at them.
Looking the bear cub in the eye Becky spoke.  “Reg, I am a little sad that the butter dish broke.  BUT I would break every single dish in this house right now to keep you here.  If you want, I’ll bring you a hammer and all the dishes to smash.
But you have to promise to stay with us. You are our bear.  We will never give you up.”
Reg ignored the cookies and hugged the motherly fox.  He was crying again, but they were happy tears this time.

*****

That night after supper the three sat down on the couch, stuffed with cookies and cuddled together and watched a movie.  It was one of Tina’s favorites, a story about a rabbit who wanted to be a police officer working with a fox.
One of her favorite lines was at the end.  The handsome tod looked at the cute bunny and said “You know I love you.”  Tina thought that he did love her and they would get married.  That bunny would be all dressed like a princess and lots of furs would come and see them and give presents.  Like on TV.
Maybe when she was older that would happen to her!
“Mom, do you think the bunny and the rabbit will marry in the next movie?” asked Tina.
“I don’t know Tina.  Do you think they should?” asked Becky.
Bernie started to bark at the couch, but was shushed and sent to the other room to go lay down.
“But they aren’t same same mammal!  Won’t they look silly together?  One is way shorter.”, said Reg as he reached for his own foot-paw to bend the toes a little.
Becky looked down, and could see one of Reg’s toes was twitching on its own.  She guessed he needed to be stretched a bit before bed. 
“Reg” said Becky. “The heart wants what the heart wants.  The body doesn’t matter one bit.”
“Yes, they should get married, Mom.  They would be cute together.”, said the vixen.

*****
“Tina, can you go play in your room for a little bit?  I need to stretch out Reg and I would like to talk to him.” said Becky.
“OK, Mom, I will.” said the girl fox.
“OK, Reg, Lay down on the floor, I’ll massage your legs and then stretch you out.  I can see you are tight right now.” said Becky.
Reg lay down on his back and Becky started to massage Reg’s legs, taking the knots out of the muscles.  
“Reg, are you OK to talk about school?” she asked.
“Yes, Mrs Nicho-” started the bear cub.
“No.  Becky.  Remember?” reminded she said.
“Sorry.  Yes Becky, I am OK to talk about things…” said Reg.  He took a deep breath to prepare himself.
******

******
“Brad told me all the boys in school had a contest to see how many girls they would get to kiss them and put it on Muzzlebook.  I told him I didn’t know anything about it. He told me I wasn’t really a real boy cub ‘because of the palsy’ and no girl wanted to be near me.” said Reg.
Becky stopped stretching Reg for a moment and rubbed his ear, and nodded for him to continue.
“The next day Jimmy called me ‘palsy cub’ and told me I was too slow to catch him and…” Reg stopped for a moment and took a shuddering breath. “He said that was how...my real family...ran away from me so easy.”
Reg stopped and calmed himself down.  He was tired of crying every two minutes.
“Then Jimmy asked how many girls had me on Muzzlebook as a cubfriend, and laughed and said it was zero…”

Becky said “It’s OK, Reg.  Take your time, we have all night.”
“Jimmy laughed in front of everyone and said I was pitiful because Tina should give me a ‘pity kiss’ if I begged hard enough to get 1 person.
Then...then Brad...he wasn’t even angry...he just said like he didn’t care...he said I wasn’t a real boy in front of everyone, and he...laughed at me...he was supposed...to...be...my...friend!”
Becky could see Reg’s paws closing into fists, and he tightened up, and closed his eyes and stopped talking.  He gripped his own arms in paw so hard his whole body was shaking.
Looking closer she could see he was whispering something to himself over and over like a mantra.  He was desperately trying not to cry.
‘I will not crack...iron does not crack.  I will be iron.  I will not crack...Iron does not crack…’
“Reg.” said Becky, quietly, grabbing the cub in a hug, knowing what was about to happen.
 “Iron cracks.”

*****

Reg wiped his eyes again.  ‘Can’t I do anything but rutting cry?’ he thought.
“Becky, how are you going to punish me? For hitting Brad and getting suspended?” asked Reg.
“I think you’ve been punished enough, little cub.” Becky replied, giving him a kiss on the side of the muzzle.  “Are you feeling better now that you got it all out?”
“Yes, but I’m tired of crying all the time. All I keep doing is crying over and over whenever anything happens.” said Reg, frustrated.
“Then go play for a while.  Have fun, go tell Tina you two can stay up til 11 o’clock and play.” said Becky.
Reg got off her lap and ran off to Tina’s room.  Opening the door, he saw she had changed into her Princess Unicorn nightgown and was leaning over the pile of plushies in the corner, across from the toybox.
“Your mom says we can stay up late to play.” said Reg.
“Do you want to play with plushies?” asked Tina, grabbing one of hers.
“OK” said Reg.
Tina looked at Reg. “Do you feel better now that you cried all the sadness out?”
Reg looked embarrassed.  Males weren’t supposed to cry.  “Yeah, I guess so, Tina.”
Grabbing a fox-shaped plush from the pile, Reg went to play, but something didn’t feel right with that one.  He put it back down and looked around.  In the bottom of the toybox he found 2 other plushies that had been missing for quite a while.

“Tina! Look, I finally found Mal and Mara!  They were laying down next to each other in the bottom of the toy box.” said Reg.  Standing up, Reg got up slowly, feeling the strain on his legs from crouching.
Tina grabbed Mara and started to play with her. “I’m a strong Warrior Princess who kicks butt!”
Reg grabbed Mal. “I’m Malcolm Theodore Redfox!  I’m a hero who is brave! I  fight bad guys in sneaky ways so they get laughed at and beaten up!”
Tina joined in, putting Mara on Mal’s back.  “I’m Mara Redfox, and I’ll help, and I’m getting a piggyback ride!”
Reg felt like he had to do something.  He grabbed a plastic toy knife and pressed it into the hand of Malcolm.  “I’m Malcolm Redfox.”.  Reggie felt the urge to say something else.   It sounded silly but he found himself saying “I am the Ironpaw.  I come for you, Roger Redblood and I carry with me your DOOM.”
Tina looked at Malcolm.  “What plushy is Roger Redblood?”
“I don’t know, Tina.  I just felt like I had to say it.” said Reg, puzzled.

*****

“Tina, do you wish Brad was your friend instead of me?  So you would be more popular?” asked Reg.
Tina set down the fox-shaped plush she was holding, and reached over and kissed the bear cub on the muzzle.  He felt his heart beat faster and the world felt like a great place to be.
 “Nope!  Brad is a jerk. I’d rather have you any day, Reg.”  said Tina.  Lowering her voice to a whisper Tina said “Besides you know how to use your tongue.”

******
Becky had dozed off on the couch, and was woken up by Tina. “Mom, can me and Reg watch a movie in his room until we fall asleep?” the kit asked.
Rubbing her eyes, Becky checked the clock, and noticed it was 9:51 at night. “Tina, its a little late for a new movie.  You will need to go to bed before it is finished.”
“Can I sleep with Reg again?  In case he has another nightmare?” Tina asked.
Becky considered.  It seemed harmless enough.  The two shared a bed last night, and if Tina hadn’t been there to know that Reg was hurt it might have been worse today.  “That’s fine, Tina.  But you two need to actually sleep, OK”
“OK, Mom, we promise.  No playing with toys or talking all night and we will sleep.” said Tina, running off to go back to tell the bear cub.
“Even if they play all night, who cares.” thought Becky.  “These cubs need some happy times today.”  Becky went around locked the doors to the house, let the dogs out and back in, and went off to bed.
Pausing by the Reg’s bedroom door, Becky stuck her head in, seeing the two watching some movie about a lonely girl and an armed robot smashing things. “I’m going to sleep.  You two watch your movie, go to sleep right after, and try not to wake me up.”
*****

Reg half-watched the robot movie and shyly half-watched Tina.  His mouth dry, he swallowed, and tried take a deep breath to relax.  “Don’t be a wuss, you broken bastard.” Reg thought to himself.
The two plushies had been cast aside and fallen off the bed earlier.
Looking at Tina, Reg tried to smile, and it looked like a grimace instead.  He took another deep breath and tried again.  “Tina?” said Reg.
The cute vixen looked at the bear cub.  “What is it, Reg?” she asked.
“Can...Can I...kiss you?” he asked, feeling his face turn pink under his fur.
Teasing, she replied.  “Can you kiss me, Reg?  Yes, I think you can.”
Awkwardly, Reg reached over and planted a chaste kiss on Tina’s muzzle.
“Reg, I think you need more practice,  try again.” said Tina.  She liked the way Reg was acting now.  Being a little more bold.  They kissed again, this time an open mouthed kiss, and Reg accidentally scraped teeth with Tina, making them both pull back.
With a nervous grin, Malcolm tried again, pulling Tina towards him, rubbing her pointy fox ears while he kissed, and tried to touch tongues. While kissing, Tina slid her paw down and lifted her nightdress, showing that she had no panties on.
Her paw sliding down, she slowly reached down past her belly, reaching to tickle her own cunny, and Reg batted her paw away.  “You naughty little vixen touching yourself.” he tried teasing and hoped she wouldn’t be mad.
Tina started breathing heavier. “Reg, you are being SO strong right now!” she thought, and it sent a thrill through her whole body.
“Reg, please don’t tease me, I need to tickle my cunny”. She said, reaching for her pussy again and once more her paw was batted away by the bear cub.  
“Please let me touch myself!” thought Tina.
Reg reached up and licked Tina’s ear, licking the sensitive tip then down her muzzle to her neck.  Starting to get seriously heated Tina bucked her hips and reached down between her legs again only to be stopped from playing with herself once more.
“Reg, please hurry up and touch me!” Tina thought.
Tina grabbed Reg’s paw and tried to push it down between her legs.  He was shaking, he was so excited, but he forced himself to stop.  He needed to make her feel good. No one else ever hugged him all night when he was scared.
Tina was such a pretty vixen with such a long soft tail.  He wanted to hold it..no...hold her forever.

The bear cub started to lick his way down the body of the vixen, oh so slowly.  “Reg, please lick my cunny, I need it so bad!” begged the furry vixen.  Reg moved his tongue down slow to her chest where he stopped at her nipples and started licking and sucking.
Getting an idea, Reg nipped a little at the Tina nipple and she moaned and pulled his muzzle closer to her body.  Tina looked at Reg, her green eyes begging.  “I’ll suck it for you, Reg.  I’ll suck it every day if you lick me now!” she said in a fierce whisper.
The bear cub relented a little, , his hot mouth starting to lick downwards again, going to her smooth belly and he slowed even more.  The bear cub sniffed and breathed over Tina, letting his hot breath run  across the begging, twitching fur of his foster sister until his snout was near her mound.
Tina grabbed Reg by the ears and forced his head down between her legs and tried to hump his muzzle.  “Please Reg, lick it! Please don’t tease me!”  Tina said.
Reg stuck his tongue out, and placed it ON Tina, but but only held his tongue without moving it at all.  Tina gasped and shoved her cunny on the bear cub’s mouth, moaning as his tongue hit her spots.  If he didn’t start licking she might cum from him being so near.
Reggie finally started to move his tongue around, and Tina bit the pillow to keep from moaning out loud.   The inventive bear cub he gave slow short licks on her cunny, pausing on her clit every 4th lick.  Tina became desperately excited as this tongue punishment went on.  Every so often Reg would stop his lick, making Tina moan and buck her hips and try to shove his tongue in her by pushing and pulling on his head.
Finally, all caution thrown to the wind, Tina frantically begged Reginald to continue licking and sucking on her mound, promising to do anything he wanted if she could finish hard on his mouth.
Finally Tina reached her finish, grunting into the pillow as she came hard, shuddering and breathing heavy.
In a flash, Malcolm lay down, and tore his pajamas down, waiting for Tina to start to touch him too.
Reg reached out to rub his own cock, and Tina stopped him.  “Naughty cub, playing with it in front of me?” she teased with a whisper and ran a slow finger of a paw down the front of the shaft, making the bear cub thrust his hips and moan loudly then cover his muzzle with his hands.
“Shhhh! Mom will hear us!”, whispered Tina as she rubbed Reg’s balls gently.
Tina lowered her head...then pulled away from Reg, and he moaned into a pillow.  She repeated this 4 more times, his hips bucking harder each time.
Reg’s twitching grew to a fever pitch, and his hips were starting to hurt. “Please, my hips are starting to hurt, no more teasing, Tina.” said the horny bear cub.
Tina took in Reg’s cock in her mouth, licking and sucking the exact spots he loved and he bit down on his own paw to keep quiet.
 Reg whispered to Tina.  “Thank you, thank you, oh gods thank you Tina.  You are so good!”he moaned as she used her tongue to lick under the shaft.
Driven mad by touching Tina, Reg did not last long.
A moment later Reg twitched and his dry orgasm hit his head thrashing wildly side to side as he came.  “Please Tina, no more, its too much!” Reg said, begging his foster sister to stop sucking his cock.
They were both completely exhausted
Before grabbing Tina in a hug, Reg fixed his pajamas, as she fixed her nightdress.
Reg and Tina both drifted off in each other’s arms, the ending of the movie long forgotten.
*****
In the middle of the night Becky woke up to use the bathroom.
On the way back to bed, she checked on the two cubs.  As expected they were dead asleep, holding each other, the very picture of cute innocence.
“Taking that bear cub in was the best decision I ever made.” Becky thought.  “I think I’ll have to keep him.

– Sumdumguy, March 2020.

Authors Note:
I would like to thank everyone at Writers Crossing, and in particular WaffleSquadron who did a read on this story before release.  As usual he pointed out the garbage I had in the story, and made some very good suggestions.
Also as usual I recommend reading (On Inkbunny) wafflesquadron’ss work.  I especially like “Play Date” even though I have a m/f preference.  That says a lot.