Cody learns to love

The one chapter where Fox gets lost

  Cody went about his day like he would any other day. After the end of his shift, he picked Wooley and Boba up. Boba was crying for whatever reason. He seemed to be doing that a lot. Wooley was his usual sweet self. He decided to draw Boba a picture because he apparently thought that Boba cries because he is sad. Cody didn't have the heart to explain that Boba is too young to really appreciate the picture and promised to hang it above Boba's bed.

  They picked Fives and Echo and later Jesse and Kix on their way and Cody let the kids convince him to stop at the park for half an hour. He already got used to the weird stares he sometimes got being in his twenties with so many kids.

  When Fox was little, he didn't like people thinking Cody was his father and sometimes proudly informed random people they met that Cody was his "big brother". The other kids either didn't notice people were referring to Cody as their parent or they didn't care. Cody didn't care either. Well, there was this one time when Jesse told some kids at the park he had nine brothers and some lady later approached Cody and explained that condoms were available on Coruscant. Cody gave her Jango's number.

  After their little stop at the park, they finally got home. They were welcomed with a soap opera playing and Bly ironing clothes. Rex was at the workshop where he was working part time with that Skywalker boy he always talked about and Wolffe and Fox were in their room.

  "This is boring!" Fives exclaimed as he eyed the TV. He took the remote from it's place on the table and switched channels.

  "Hey! I was watching something!" Bly complained but couldn't argue against four children that all agreed that some random animated show about two worms was far more entertaining than Bly's soap opera.

  "I will fix us some snack. Do you want too, Bly?"

  "Sure."

  Cody gently placed sleeping Boba on the couch next to Kix. "If Boba wakes up, call me," he instructed, just in case he didn't hear the crying, before he jogged up the stairs to ask the teenagers if they wanted something too.

  Wolffe, Fox and Rex had their rooms in the attic. The arrangement was less then ideal. The stairs ended in the middle of the attic, meaning it ended in one of the rooms. In order to get to the other rooms, one must pass the middle room.

  The middle room happened to be Fox's, something the teenager wasn't exactly happy about. Rex and Wolffe teased him for it but were careful not to annoy Fox too much. Whether that was because there was some good left deep inside their souls or the fact that Fox would bite them, Cody didn't know.

  He was surprised to find the room empty. He checked the bathroom attached to Fox's and Wolffe's room. Nothing.

  He tried looking into Rex's room. Maybe Fox hid there? No luck. Then maybe he was with Wolffe? "Wolffe," Cody knocked and opened the door to Wolffe's room. Wolffe was there, playing a game on his computer. Fox was nowhere to be seen. "Wolffe!" Cody raised his voice so Wolffe would hear him even with earphones on.

  For a few seconds, Wolffe didn't react. Then he paused the game and removed the earphones. "What?"

  "Have you seen Fox?"

  "No. He hasn't come back from school yet."

  "Did he say something? That he was going somewhere or had some additional class or... something?" Cody tried and Wolffe responded with a no. "So you have no idea where he is?"

  "Nope."

  "I will call him. By the way, are you joining us for snack?"

  "No, I had some crisps earlier."

  "Okay," Cody forced himself to smile for the entire time he was interacting with Wolffe but on the inside, he was dying with worry. Where could Fox be?

  Cody found his smartphone and dialed Fox's number as he started chopping some fruits. "Come on, Fox, pick up..." he whispered to himself. No such luck. The call was denied. He tried again. Then again a few minutes later. And then again and again.

  He prepared the snacks without even thinking, helped Wooley with his food mindlessly and then returned to calling Fox. The call got denied again. The other call went straight to voice mail. Fox either blocked him or he shut the phone off or he ran out of battery. Was it even Fox who had the phone? What if something happened to him?

  "Bly? Have you seen Fox today?"

  "No. I assumed he's in his room," Bly shrugged.

  "Well he is not. Any idea where he might be?"

  "I don't know. Maybe he is with some friends. Or a girl."

  "Fox never mentioned anyone."

  "Then maybe he got detention."

  "Fox?"

  "You know he is just as capable of biting as Wolffe is. He's just more selective about who he bites. Relax, Cody. Fox is fine. He's not a kid anymore, he can come a bit later."

  "Yeah... probably."

  The conversation with Bly helped. Fox was a teenager. He could hang out with friends or maybe even a girl. Of course he didn't have to tell Cody everything. Maybe he had a lot of friends and Cody just didn't know about it. And he was in the age when he could get a little rebellious so maybe he got tired of someone watching him and decided not to answer the calls.

  But time was passing by and Fox still wasn't back. Wooley had his afternoon nap, Cody fed Boba two times, Jesse and Kix did their science projects. It was getting dark outside already.

  Cody tried dialing Fox's number again. Still voice mail.

  He waited some more. Wooley and the twins had gone to sleep. Rex came back from work. It was dark outside already.

  Cody tried calling Fox again. Nothing. Just voice mail.

  Bly and Rex insisted Fox was fine and probably just got held up at school or was with some friends and forgot about the time. Little Keldabe was a safe neighborhood, after all, no one would hurt a child and if someone did, they would be stopped.

  Another hour passed. Wolffe left his room to grab something to eat. Jesse and Kix went to sleep. Still no traces of Fox.

  "Seriously, Cody. Relax. It's 9 in the evening. When I was Fox's age, I usually returned even later," Bly said.

  "But you had a girlfriend. And I knew you were with her."

  "Fox is fine," Rex assured him.

  But Cody wasn't so sure. This has never happened before. Fox always came straight home from school. And the two times he didn't, he let Cody know. Something was wrong.

  Cody ignored Rex and Bly teasing him about being too overprotective. He called the Guard.

  "This is the Coruscant Guard, how can we help you?" a mechanic voice asked.

  "I want to report a missing child."

  "How old are they?"

  "Fourteen."

  "When was the last time anyone has seen them?"

  "Uh... one a clock," Cody said. That was when Wolffe saw him on the lunch break. Cody had no way of finding if Fox finished his classes.

  "That is not a long time for a sentient of their age," the dispatcher droid said. "Call back later if they don't come until morning. Have a nice day."

  The droid hung up. Cody cursed the lazy asses in the Coruscant Guard. This didn't help at all.