For the first time in a while, Riley had the luxury of waking up on her own, her eyes slowly opening to the bright corridors of the clinic, brief glance at the rest of the Ashers revealing two things: That it was apparently Timmy's turn for the checkup since him and Rick were the ones missing-
And that the two remaining kits shared in her exhaustion, asleep in their seats, with Ella looking like she wasn't that far from that fate herself.
With a stretch and a brief jolt of pain on her left shoulder she was awake once more, stumbling back onto her feet, catching the attention of the one still awake skunks.
"Feeling better sweetie?" Ella asked, taking a moment to stretch herself, her tail wavering behind her.
"Y-yeah, guess at least I'm not feeling like death anymore." She answered, her words seemingly pulling Ella a bit closer back into the waking world. She saw her take a groggy look around as well, sighing before sliding out of her jacket, a bit annoyed at getting so sleepy due to all the warmth.
"Well, I'm happy to hear." She responded with a chuckle, thinking briefly about something before adding-
"Oh, I think you can go check at the reception for results of your blood test, it was only a very basic one after all."
She nodded in response, stretching her back before she turned towards the front door of the clinic, catching a glance of a very asleep Andrew. The sight of a large soft skunkie reduced to a slightly curled up snoozing bundle of fur taking up three seats made her stifle a giggle as she walked by.
Thankfully nobody minded him taking UP more space than strictly necessary, with there being maybe a combined total of a dozen waiting patients aside from the Ashers, and at least four times as many spare seats.
After walking over to the reception, and catching the tired nurse's attention by gently knocking on the underside of the desk, Riley spoke up-
"H-Hi, I wanted to ask about the results of my blood test."
The nurse nodded in return, typing quickly for a few moments before looking down at her-
"Date of birth?"
Riley raised her eyebrow at her, the nurse's inquiry answered with a question-
"Why do you need my date of birth?"
The clerk sighed deeply and rubbed her forehead, the oft-asked question giving her conniptions.
"Data protection protocol stuff, I think I'll get an aneurysm if I'll have to explain it one more time, just please give me your date of birth so we can get it over with..."
She didn't expect such honesty from the exasperated nurse, answering back with a hint of an apology in her voice-
"Sixteenth January, two thousand four. S-sorry for that..."
The nurse took a deep breath in response as she typed the numbers in, a slightly less tense voice asking once more-
"Your name?"
"Riley Ash-"
"Yeah, we have results. Want them printed or?"
"Y-yes, printed." Riley was a bit taken aback at the weirdness of the process, not wanting to drag it on for any longer with the questions considering the nurse's attitude.
A few seconds of high pitched machine noises later, she got her results, the clerk busy trying to drill a hole through Riley's skull with her gaze as she scampered off back to the rest of the family.
After managing to get out of... that, she shrugged off the sensation of being watched and took a look at the sheets of paper in her hands-
Before realizing she hadn't the first clue of what she was looking at, dozens of lines of what might as well have been hieroglyphics, with several numbers next to each.
With a few rapid blinks, she shook the initial shock off, taking a second look at the dense document, trying to make out anything understandable.
There were a few lines that seemed to have identifying info about her, followed up by one that she could actually understand:
'''
BLOOD TYPE: B Rh-
'''
Hope that 'Rh' thing doesn't stand for anything bad. Or worse yet, transmissible.
Further down, in the sea of the different symbols and words, she managed to spot the legend for the mess of numbers. So one column was for actual values, and other two for minimum and maximum values, which she inferred to mean min/max healthy, or acceptable ones.
Thankfully, most of the rows had the values firmly within the acceptable range, except for something called 'Cortisol' which was just a bit over the max range, with a plus symbol next to the value. Hopefully she wasn't sick or anything.
"Riley?" Ella's voice took her out of her reading daze, making her realize she'd been standing in the middle of the corridor for the last few minutes like a signpost, busy deciphering the advanced medicalese in her hands.
With a surprised half groan, half gasp she walked over to the corner from behind which the skunk mom peeked out, happy to see that Timmy's checkup had finished in the meantime, the family slowly getting itself together, Lily currently prodding Andrew's nose to wake him up.
"S-sorry, just got caught up trying to decipher this thing." Riley answered the unspoken question, gently waving the papers in her hand for emphasis.
Ella chuckled knowingly, suppressing a brief giggle once Lily had finally succeeded in waking her brother up, Timmy trying to help by tickling the bottoms of his shoes.
"Well, Rick knows this stuff much better than I do, I tend to just glance whether there are any pluses or minuses and call it a day."
"The only plus I saw was with this 'Cortisol' thing, hope it's not anything bad?"
"Uh-huh." Riley was a bit unsure of Ella's response, fairly sure she'd caught some concern in it.
"Well, from what I know it has something to do with stress, so you having an excess of that is probably not unexpected, although I'd still ask him if you're unsure. Speaking of-"
Her last words brought Riley's attention back up from the results in her hands, making her realize that the rest of the sleepy family had finally managed to get over to them.
"So, everybody ready to head home and have some ice cream?" Ella asked the entire group, Timmy reacting with a loud 'Yay!' and Rick joining him soon after, the two skunk siblings suppressing yawns in unison as their attempts to add to the cheer backfired.
Riley had less luck in suppressing her own giggle as they all walked towards the front exit, Timmy managing to sneak up on her before squeaking out-
"Riley, I didn't get any shots!"
She smiled in amusement down at him, reaching down to scritch his head, the sensation making the lil' kit squirm a bit even through the thick hat.
"See? Nothing to fear!" Riley kept teasing him as they stepped into the cold parking lot, the girl truly and finally waking up with a slight shudder as a wall of frosty air slammed against her face, along with a couple of snowflakes.
"Dammit..." Rick muttered out as he took a look upwards, the thick gray clouds filling the sky from horizon to horizon, looking ready to amp the snow equivalent of a light sprinkle up to a full blow bli-
*BOOOOOOM*
The rumble of the thunder shook through her body, making her stop in her tracks as the air suddenly felt much colder around her, the entire group speeding up soon afterwards, realizing that a thundersnow was coming, and the less time spent outside in those the better.
They scrambled into the car in a record time, even Timmy noticeably quiet as they all strapped in, Rick wordlessly pulling out of the parking lot and onto the main road, the tension slowly fading as they drove home.
"Riley?" The lil' kit whispered out with a tiniest hint of fear as he slid out a paw towards her, the girl quickly grabbing a hold of it, stroking its back with her thumb.
"Yes, Timmy?" She quietly responded in kind, turning her face towards him, noting his unsure expression. While the growing blizzard made the inside of the car dim, she still could sense his fur standing on end with her fingertips.
"...You snore so loudly!"
Oh, Timmy.
The entire car erupted into a giggling fit, the previous tension quickly evaporating, even Riley relaxing in her seat as the kit followed up, unsure as to the reason for the family's reaction-
"What? Why are you laughing?"
It certainly didn't help, only making everyone giggle harder, even Timmy himself giving in after some tickles to his sides from Ella, before being hugged tightly.
Riley certainly appreciated this release of pressure, despite the revelation making her blush in embarrassment. She leaned over closer to Lily, as they both calmed down, whispering in her ear-
"Do I?"
"Yes, you very much do." She whispered back, her giggling reviving in intensity at recalling her unassuming looking sister erupt into snoring so loud even the doctor peeked out from her office at the noise.
Riley buried her face in her palms with a groan, definitely not expecting something like that to have happened while she was dozing off. Hopefully it was just a one-off thing...
"Every time?" She asked once more, her hopes swiftly squished with- "Every time."
Is it possible to die from embarrassment?
"Look at it from the other side Riley, it was by far the most adorable snoring I've ever seen!" Rick added another portion of exasperation onto her plate, her cheeks red enough to act as a street lamp by now.
If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
"Now now, cut her some slack Ricky, at least *her* snoring never woke anybody up." Ella cut in, sly snark in her voice as she verbally deflected the teasing assault from her daughter.
"That was years ago!" He responded immediately, sounding unusually embarrassed as the attention shifted onto him.
"But the pain of having Lily literally fall asleep face first into a bowl of cereal from exhaustion shall never be forgotten~" Ella followed up, the tone of her voice explicitly jovial as she had to stop herself from giggling at the memory, despite the actual events pissing her off at the time to the point of telling Rick to sleep in the car until he sorts it out.
Riley heard Lily groan at that for a moment, before the old and mostly faded memory made her chuckle as well, despite her not being than Timmy is now when that happened.
Afterwards the car slowly mellowed out as they slowly rode home, Riley ended up holding Lily's paw as well, the sly kit having slid it onto her lap at some point earlier.
Thankfully for her and her blush, she was spared from falling asleep this time, the role falling on Andrew as he stirred in his dreams. Imagining just what it was that made him wiggle like that made Riley chuckle as they drove home.
Some of the more interesting possibilities, however, only added further to her blush...
***
Not too long after they were finally back home, the blizzard kindly waiting with the worst of the snowfall until the car was back in the garage, the outside world becoming a wall of white.
Perfect backdrop for a bowl of ice cream and a cup of hot tea.
Lily took quite a bit of joy in getting to wake Andrew up again, her preferred method apparently being snapping her fingers on his nose, the larger kit groaning and halfheartedly flailing around as he was rudely awoken.
Again.
Before Riley could even slide her shoes off, Timmy was already running around the kitchen, wasting no time in constantly reminding his mom about the ice cream she'd promised.
After sliding her jacket off, Ella obliged with an exasperated chuckle, reaching down into the freezer and pulling out a large blue box, followed up by grabbing six bowls out of the drawer and laying them out on the counter as Riley approached.
"Vanilla or strawberry?" The skunk mom asked as she pried the lid off the box, filling up the five bowls with each person's favorite as she awaited Riley's answer.
In all honesty, she didn't have any better knowledge about her ice cream taste preferences than Ella herself, the last time she remembered having ice cream being...
The better times.
"Strawberry." She chose at random, taking a few moments to bite her tongue down afterwards, stopping after sensing something metallic-tasting on her teeth.
A bit too hard.
After taking a moment to recall the location of the cups, she poured herself some ice-cold water, the stinging on her tongue ceasing and the tiny trickle of blood easing out into just an aftertaste.
Ella looked a bit surprised for a moment before being reminded of the tea, grabbing a sizable electric kettle and filling it to the brim before setting it back on its stand. She walked over, pulling out five more cups and a handful of tea bags, one for each cup, with an additional one waiting for Riley to finish her impromptu drink.
Realization as to why Ella had one bag extra and a cup too few took Riley way too long, the girl sliding over her emptied up with a chuckle, the skunk mom nodding in acknowledgment before throwing the last tea bag into it. With a quiet whistle she reached over for the sugar holder, a precise amount of the white sin going into every cup in turn as she asked once more-
"How much sugar with your tea sweetie?"
The question distracted her even from the prickle on her tongue. The orphanage served tea quite often, sweetened seemingly at random between completely bitter and feeling like it was more sugar than water.
"Uh... enough to make it sweet but not too sweet? Never really had a chance to really dose the sugar myself." She admitted truthfully, Ella nodding in understanding before speaking up-
"Let's try two spoonfuls then."
And adding the mentioned spoonfuls in, white crystals chiming as they bounced off the bottom of the porcelain cup.
"Oh, if you want you can take the ice cream over to the living room table already, the hungry mouths themselves won't even lift a paw..." She chuckled with mock contempt, Riley looking over to see the rest of the family sitting comfortably in front of the lightly burning fireplace, watching something on the TV.
Lazy butts.
She reached over for the first two bowls and carried them onto the coffee table, noting the family watching some sort of local news station, at least judging by the apparent budget.
As she walked back to grab the next two, she watched Ella slowly pouring the boiled water into each cup, slowly rocking back and forth, seemingly not spared from the tiredness that took over everyone.
The news anchor seemed to be talking about the weather, and from what she overheard, it would thankfully improve over the next few days, the ongoing thundersnow in their area estimated to be over by the evening.
Hopefully.
By the time she delivered the last batch of ice cream bowls, the programming had shifted to some news about local crime or something, Rick reaching over for the remote before a change in topic caught his, as well as her own attention, snapping them both out of their tired, comfy moods.
"And now, a very recent development in the unsettling tale of the one Oakwood Child Care C-"
The anchor was cut short as Rick pressed a button and paused the broadcast, calling over with a slightly trembling voice-
"Ella?"
She caught the waver in his voice, quickly placing the last of the tea cups on the table together with a bundle of teaspoons, looking up at the screen after taking her seat, Riley sliding onto the couch herself inbetween Timmy and Lily, the former sliding up to her before Rick resumed the news-
"-enter, as the Minnesota State Child Care office has released an official statement regarding it just a couple hours ago. To recall the events- Late in the evening last Friday, an unknown person had broken into one of the computers in the office of the Oakwood Child Care Center, scanned several handwritten testimonies of ongoing abuse between the pupils, before sending them to over a dozen recipients, including the St. Louis County Child Care office, the Duluth Police Department, and over six different local news stations, including our own."
"W-wait, isn't that the one Riley was-" Andrew asked in confusion, sounding unsettled by the news as he was cut off by Rick just saying 'Yes', the news report continuing on-
"Following that, Oakwood Child Care Center has come under close investigation from both the St. Louis County as well as the Minnesota State Child Care offices, with some sources stating that the news of the incident has echoed even into the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Following that, the facility was declared as Condemned on Sunday due to the sheer number of violations found within. The fate of the pupils and the staff was unknown until the Minnesota State Child Care office released their statement on the incident. According to it, over fifteen individuals belonging to the staff of both Oakwood Child Care Center *and* the St. Louis County Child Care office have been charged with Conspiracy to defraud the State and Federal offices, Corruption dating back over ten years, Misspending of Federal funds, Child Abuse through Negligence, and Bribery. Along with them, the offender directly named in the testimony and one of the former pupils of Oakwood Child Care Center, Bruce Tyler, along with three other former pupils, have been charged with Repeated Assault of a Minor, Battery, Extortion, Hate Speech, and in one case, Sexual Assault of a Minor."
That last bit chilled the blood of everyone in the room, even those too young to properly grasp the impact of the words. Riley caught Andrew looking towards her with obvious anxiety and an unspoken question, the girl wordlessly responding with a shake of her head and a quietly whispered "I'm fine." before the news anchor continued-
"They are currently being held in St. Louis County Jail, and will be tried as adults due to their age and the severity of their crimes. The rest of the pupils have been spread between over a dozen different Child Care Centers in Minnesota, with the precise information being confidential for the safety of the pupils. Alongside that, all of them will receive proper psychiatric care. All Child Care Centers in St. Louis County will be inspected in a similar manner, over 8 different facilities being suspected of breaking violations and collaborating in the same kind of Corruption that the Oakwood Child Care Center has. As far as the identity of the whistleblower is concerned, the St. Louis Police Department has reported no progress on determining their identity, despite having managed to find their fingerprints on the photocopier located within the office."
Riley took an internal sigh at not being found, but the fact that they have managed to find her fingerprints was concerning in itself.
"According to the press statement, the whistleblower has nothing to fear, with the Minnesota State Child Care office not planning to press any charges against them, even mentioning nominating them for the Minnesota State Governor's Award."
Riiiiiiight. As if the pencil pushers would ever waste an opportunity for some more litigation.
Thankfully, the news anchor changed the subject immediately afterwards, Riley leaning back on the couch in response, hundreds of thoughts surging through her mind before being interrupted by an abrupt hug from her right, Lily shaking a bit.
"H-hey, Lily, I'm fine, don't worry..." She extended her arms around her in return, gently petting her back as the lil' skunk shook in her seat, the sheer amount of misery out there making her cry in despair.
Andrew joined in soon after, sliding in closer and holding his sisters gently, Timmy mimicking him to the best of his ability, unsure of why everyone was so sad all of a sudden, but wanting to hug them since that's what always helped him.
Riley closed her eyes, trying to embrace all of her siblings in one massive hug, their love warming her up on the inside, an addition of two more bodies onto the group hug slightly unexpected but definitely welcome.
It took her a good moment to sort through the warm, fluttering feelings inside her swelling into an unavoidable conclusion, a rarely used word forcing itself onto the forefront of Riley's mind as she aired it out-
"I love you all, you know?"
The hug tightening around her was her initial answer, followed up by every family member whispering "We love you too." one after another, making her tear up just a tiny bi-
Oh screw it, she cried like a baby.
For a good few minutes they just sat like that, the group hug slowly rocking to the sides before Lily spoke up with a bit of a quiver in her voice, changing the subject-
"Riley... do you know who that whistle blowing guy was?"
Well, duh. It is I.
"I... I have a good guess. What about them?"
"A-are they safe now?"
Riley tried as hard as she could to suppress a smile at that question, eventually forcing out an answer with a smirk-
"Oh I'm sure. You heard the guy mention being spread all over Minnesota, right? They're safer than ever."
A couple miles or so from the orphanage still counted as all over Minnesota, just for clarification.
And even on a very pragmatic level, it was hard to be any safer than to have five loaded, loving skunks around you.
"H-hopefully..." Lily remarked, the uncertainty in her voice slowly letting go as the whole family relaxed from the emotional moment, Timmy eventually breaking the ice with a loud squeak-
"The ice cream is melting!"
The message was enough to cause the Ashers to slowly disperse back onto their normal seats, the half molten ice cream quickly scooped up into the six hungry mouths with the teaspoons. The tea having cooled off in the meantime to the point where it could be simply chugged straight from the cup, which the kits wasted no time in doing, the parents sighing at their children not even taking time to taste it before they'd emptied their cups.
The rest the afternoon was rather uneventful, Lily soon heading back to her room and resuming her practice, soft violin music filling the house once more. Andrew mostly sat in his room, and from a glance Riley managed to sneak behind his ajar door, she figured he was just busy playing some game on his computer.
Rick once more toiled with paint in Riley's room, his painting gear growing more and more stained with the different colors every time she got a good look at him.
As for her, she mostly just played with Timmy for a good while, the excitable kit constantly shifting between drawing and playing with modeling clay, Riley proud of her sculpture a human with an apple instead of his head. At least, for the whole thirty seconds before Timmy grabbed it and rolled it into a big ball of reds and oranges mixed together, soon formed into something new altogether.
Or at least, another wonky shaped racecar.
As the lil' kit started getting drowsy on her, she used the downtime to grab her now-charged phone, scouring search engines and local news sites for any details of what happened to Oakwood on top of those stated in the news report.
She didn't end up finding much, but the added information that Bruce was looking at twenty years behind bars certainly did lift her mood, just in time for dinner.
With her phone in front of her, she vacuumed up her portion in just a couple minutes, too absorbed by her search for just one more piece of information. The realization that, indeed, she'd finally dug up all there was to publicly know so far coinciding with another one that she's been futilely banging her fork in an empty bowl for the last minute and a half.
After putting the bowl in the dishwasher and all of Timmy's supplies back into their proper place, she headed for her own shower, catching a whiff of the biting paint fumes as she walked past the door to her WIP room, suddenly agreeing wholeheartedly with Rick's decision to lock the door while the room wasn't being worked on.
Either way, it seems that she would see the end results of Rick's work tomorrow, at least from what she remembered of the Sunday agenda.
The thought melted under the hot water of the shower, especially her sore shoulder feeling quite a bit better. All the little stresses of the day had finally caught up to her as she washed her straw hair, feeling so soft with the conditioner applied she had to shake herself from just standing there and running her hands through it over and over.
God knows she wasn't feeling like leaving that shower anytime soon, her eyelids suddenly so heavy that even locating the water knobs turned out to be a challenge.
After... many minutes to finally finish her shower, and many more to finish drying herself off, she leapt into her bed with one swift motion, reaching for her phone and only finding a knife, a realization that she must have left it in Timmy's room after cleaning one of the last thoughts on her mind before the softness of the mattress dragged her into the unconscious, despite her not even managing to cover herself to any real degree or even turn off the light in the bathroom.
Irrelevant. Too tired.
Too soft...