Family Issues

Chapter 5

Things were difficult.

It wasn't like they had never been difficult before, this was just different... And he was by far not the person that dealt with the most complicated parts of this mess.

He really wouldn't want to be chief right now... Not that he really wanted to be that at any other point in time. He couldn't imagine how he should be able to match the elites' expectations and pull off projects like this... So, that was something positive to think about. Stickmin, Ellie and his dad had it worse than him.

After the... incident in communications, Earrings was sent to earth. Which was surprisingly easy. When she finally calmed down she was unusually easy to deal with. She probably felt horrible for causing her brother even more pain than he was already going through...

The chief held a meeting with the elite to discuss the urgency of certain matters. Which Gene, Sheriff and even Albert weren't convinced of at all. Half the room had been boiling from contained rage. Gene and Albert were the two who wired the most money to the clan. But due to Gene losing his office and quite a few assets because of the failed diamond heist, his were almost matched by Fredricks' contributions. So discussions about finances were off the table surprisingly fast.

Just the rest... was complicated again.

Finding 'normal' doctors was difficult enough. Most of their staff were nurses or just versed in alternative medicine. Most people in the field of psychology were paid too good in their positions to risk their reputation to treat criminals or join a clan of thieves with a questionable financial situation.

Which was kind of ridiculous considering the fact that they had built a space station...

In his free time, he was carrying boxes.

When moving into the station he had put off to sort through his things to throw some out, like old clothes or books he didn't need anymore. Now he had to do it, so his and Burts' belongings all fit in their new room. It wasn't that they hadn't enough room, he just didn't want to clutter everything with things he didn't need anymore.

He wasn't that surprised when Ellie already had a room ready when he asked her. Someone had to have heard him yell and probably listened for... some time. He couldn't really fault them for doing it... He probably would've done the same. Make sure that they were okay...

Burt had been kept in med bay for another night.

In that time, he had managed to move all of his belongings so they could work together to move Burts'. He just wanted this move to be done as soon as possible. But that just lead to a lot of boxes being stacked in their new room, all to be sorted through and the contents to be stored away. They had time to do that. He could take breaks and do his paperwork in the room and Burt... Burt wasn't allowed to work. It wasn't even the chief who forbid it. The chief had looked like he was walking on eggshells while trying to explain that he wanted Burt to take a break, while the very head of the medical department had barged in and had spoken some very clear medical advice that just boiled down to 'He's not allowed to work until all issues are resolved'. Nobody wanted to stress him out even more or accidentally enforce any of his insecurities.

It somehow seemed to work.

Burt looked everything but happy about it but at the same time he seemed relieved that he didn't need to be around other toppats right now.

Henry... wasn't exactly happy either. He tried not to show it, especially around Burt, but he looked nervous and worried almost every time they met. Which wasn't that often actually. Henry was working more and he spent more time just in his and Burts' room.

During moving time and while they were unpacking Hattie was around a lot. She helped carrying boxes and cleaning up their old rooms and brought them up some food whenever they lost track of time and missed dinner.