TW: Meations of someone getting attacked and Mentioned Suicide Attempt

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Sunny had a hard time trying to hail a cab when trying to get to Toad's place. She held a hand over her eyes. Squinting from the rising sun. She had just about had it when she spotted two familiar faces.

"Aren't you meant to be working?" Catriona jested as Liena ran towards her mother.

"I am," Sunny told her as she returned her daughter's hug.

"Don't tell me they've got you doing coffee runs?" Catriona suppressed a laugh.

From the outside, Catriona often came off as aloof or uncaring. Due to knowing the woman her whole life, Sunny was aware this was how she covered up her worry.

"I'm just checking up on someone," Sunny told her.

"Can we come with you?" Liena asked hopefully.

"I don't think that's allowed," Sunny said with an unsure shrug.

"We were actually heading that way," Catriona grinned as she managed to hail a cab.

"You don't even know where I'm going," Sunny pointed out.

"Well, you can tell us on the way," Catriona said as she stepped into the cab.

"How-" Sunny stopped herself mid-sentence. There was no point in questioning it. She hopped into the taxi after her daughter. She knew by this point if Catriona wanted to do something, 'protocol' wasn't gonna stop her.

During the drive over to Toad's, Sunny chatted with her aunt about the events of the previous night. A part of her brain knew that she shouldn't be saying anything, but Catriona would get the truth out of her eventually.

"There's a kid who lives there?" Liena asked with a glint in her eyes. "I didn't think there were any other kids around here."

"He's around your age, I think," Sunny humoured her.

The taxi dropped them off at the apartment as Sunny recounted the events. "And they ended up going out the window and landed on Toad's car."

"Toad must have loved that," Catriona chuckled.

"It looks so much worse in the light," Sunny said to herself.

"There's someone upstairs," Liena pointed to the hole in the second story.

Sunny looked up to see someone who seemed to be shifting through the Woodsmen's apartment. At first, she thought it was maybe a glamoured Toad.

"Is that you, Toad?" Sunny called. Only for the person to book it.

"Wait here," Sunny told Catriona and Liena. Her aunt took Liena's hand. Keeping the younger Fei from running off.

Sunny rushed up the stairs and around the corner. Making her way through the busted open door. Only to find nothing. Whoever it was disappeared by the time she got there.

"Damnit!" Sunny frowned as she walked to the hole. She looked down to check on Liena and Catriona.

Sunny was gonna look around to see if she could tell if the man had taken anything significant. Only to stop when she heard crying from downstairs.

"I'm sorry!" The voice cried as Sunny made her way back to the first floor.

"That's enough, alright! Just shut it!" An older voice that was definitely Toad's shouted.

"Is that his son?" Liena asked. Now standing in the doorway with her great aunt.

"I think so," Sunny nodded. She looked to Catriona, who only gave her a concerned look.

"You in there, Toad?" Sunny asked after she knocked on the door. Only to hear shushing from the inside.

Sunny opened the door to the small apartment. Finding Toad leaning down towards his son. Only to jump back up when he heard the newcomers make their way in.

"Ms Fei! And Catriona! It's been a long time." Toad greeted in an unusually friendly manner for him.

"How are things, Toad?" Catriona asked with an indifferent look.

"Can't complain," Toad shrugged while trying not to look either of the women in the eyes.

"Really?" Sunny said. Somewhat bewildered. She had only met Toad twice now, and he seemed like the type of amphibian to complain about anything and everything when given the chance.

"I'm sorry, Ms Fei. It's embarrassing to have to admit, but, eh, I thought there was someone else in Woody's place. There wasn't, though, not when I checked-nothin' but a leaky drain pipe. Imagination must have got the best of me. So, ya know, false alarm. Sorry for dragging you into this-but thanks for coming; much appreciated."

Sunny looked around for a moment. At first glance, everything seemed fine. It was your average New York apartment. A bit worse for wear, but again that was normal.

"We heard someone crying," Sunny told Toad.

"Oh! The boy stubbed his toe on the bedframe, is all," Toad gestured to his son. Who was trying to hold back tears. "It stings, you know, but it's nothin' to kick up a fuss about! A li'l tub swim, he'll be right as rain, I'm sure.

"Are you okay?" Liena poked her head out from behind Catriona and asked the boy.

"TJ's fine, lass. Just stung his little toe. Better swimmer than a walker, just like his dad." Toad tried to laugh.

Sunny and Catriona weren't buying whatever Toad was trying to sell them. Something was going on, and Toad was doing a very poor job of hiding it.

"So I guess you'll be taking off now. No need to hang around here anymore. I mean, I'm sorry you came all the way here for nothin'...but it was nothin', really." Toad asked them.

"I'm just gonna have a look around, Toad," Sunny told him. "Just to be thorough."

Toad curled his lips up at Sunny. "Just don't want to waste your time, is all."

"It's fine, relax. We'll be out of here in a minute." Sunny smiled at him though it was somewhat satirical.

"Alright, alright. Have a seat, have a cup of tea, whatever you like." Toad sighed.

Sunny walked further into the apartment. Looking around for anything out of the ordinary. Meanwhile, Liena approached the younger Toad with a smile.

"Parents, right?" Liena jokingly asked. The boy didn't seem to know how to respond. "So TJ, right? I'm Liena, but my friends call me Ace."

"Do you like bugs?" He asked awkwardly. Pointing to the ladybug clips holding Liena's hair in place.

"Yeah?"

"Wanna see my collection? It has a weevil."

"Woah, really?" Liena said. Standing on her tiptoes in excitement. "Can I?"

Sunny nodded to her daughter. Silently giving her permission. The two children wandered away through a nearby door. Meanwhile, Catriona made herself comfortable on one of the chairs.

"Just mind the upholstery while you're looking for nothin'." Toad rolled his eyes at Sunny.

Sunny looked around the living room again. The wallpaper was a dark swampy colour and had a weird pattern of racing flags going up and down it. Sunny couldn't tell if it was some kind of reference to Toad's story or if it was here when he moved in. She didn't see a point in asking about that.

What she did want to ask about was a smashed lamp on the floor. "What happened?"

"Fuckin hell, damn thing must have fell off the table."

"By itself?"

"The boy was fapping about. Playing salts and swordfish. Who knows with the lad," Toad said anxiously.

The deputy didn't say anything right away, but she noticed how both of the outlets were already plugged in, and the lamp wasn't one of them. What was Toad trying to cover up? Or maybe, who was he trying to cover for?

"Your locks are broken too," Sunny told Toad. Moving the busted latch back and forth for empathise. "It looks like somebody kicked in the door."

"For Christ's sake, the fuckin' lock's been busted for weeks, lass," Toad shouted, then muttered to himself. "Rotted just like everything else in this bloody building."

Sunny moved to the living room. She opened the window. Just to check if anyone was hiding outside. She didn't see anyone but did see some finger marks on the windowsill.

"Who came through the window?" Sunny asked with her arms crossed.

"What?"

"There are marks," She explained.

"Just last night, when I'd come out, I was in a, a downright tizzy, lass, as you would be, and I plum forgot the keys to this place. And I had to climb in through the bloody window." Toad lied.

"But the lock's broken," Catriona said from the sofa chair. "You said so yourself."

"Huh?" Toad was sweating.

"If the lock's been rotten for weeks... You wouldn't have needed a key to get in." Sunny expanded.

"Fuckin' hell, just what are you on about, lass? After the state I was in, I didn't have me head, that's all it was, I forgot the fuckin' handle was fuckin' busted. And I'll tell you what else, it's embarrassing, you bringing all this shit up, alright? So quit it with the third degree and all that." Toad shouted.

Sunny started moving forward but stopped when her foot hit something. A fire poker on the floor. Covered in blood.

"And what happened with this?" Sunny asked as she picked up the bloody instrument.

"The poker? What of it?" Toad said.

"The tip's covered in blood," Sunny told him. "And it can't have been here long. It's still wet."

"I... I was poking the coals, and it slipped a bit, sliced open my foot like a seashell. Hurt like a shit, the ugly thing."

"You alright?" Sunny asked as she placed the poker back down.

"Oy! Don't you go Mother Henning now!" Toad huffed. "The wound didn't sit very long, you know. Perks of being a Fable, I s'pose. And a frog."

"Of course," Sunny nodded. Then turned towards the wall. "And how did that get there?"

"Christ, I've been meaning to clean this place. Wood rot everywhere." Toad said, but his tone wasn't as loud as it usually was.

"No," Sunny pointed to a deep red mark on the wall. "There's more blood."

"Oh, really?" Toad adverted his eyes again. "Well, like I told you, I cut me hand. Ran around like a tit trying to pick out a wrap."

"You told me it was your foot," Sunny narrowed her eyes at him.

"Yeah, no, I, I did cut my hand. I cut my hand first, and that made me drop the damned thing on me foot," Toad laughed nervously. "Ruinous flip of events, really."

As Toad explained it, Sunny picked up the poker again. Moving it around to try and visualise how the other stain got there.

"Oh, dear, the gears are turning," Catriona joked.

"Oh, my god, will you not make a big faff outta this?! There's nothing to solve here, Ms Fei, I'm telling you everything that happened! Why don't you believe me? I mean, things happen, ya know... No crime in a little accident."

"What are you hiding, Toad?" Sunny pressed.

"Hidin' something?" Toad pretended.

"I know you're lying about something."

"But I'm not-"

"And, I'm going to be honest with you." Sunny sighed in frustration. "If you don't tell me, you're eventually gonna have to tell the Sheriff."

"I'm not bullshitting you. Honest."

"You've lied to me a few times now, Toad," Sunny told him. She was embarrassed and annoyed. It felt like questioning a child who had broken the old family vase.

"Ms Fei, c'mon, I'm begging for mercy over here, lass! I was looking forward to a nice afternoon, just me and me son, and you've taken up enough of the day with all this, this sniffing around at me private belongings! I'm sorry I called, really, I am, but...will you please, please just bugger off?!"

"Not yet,"

"Not yet!" Toad shouted. "You say, to my face, that you think I'm hiding something from you. Well, you've had the go of the room for a fair bit of time now. Nothing's here. So when? When are you gonna leave? I mean, I feel like I'm on trial here, in me own bloody home! It's not seemly!"

"When? When I figure out what's going on here, Toad. You can help the process along, you know-"

"How? How am I gonna help the 'process' along?" Toad took a breath. "I cut me hand, I broke the lamp-I forgot me keys so I climbed the sill. There's no more story to tell, lass!"

"Toad... These stories don't make any sense," Sunny tilted her head at him. "You didn't cut yourself on the poker. You didn't forget your keys. You didn't bump the lamp off the table. Please just tell me what happened."

Right as Sunny said this, TJ and Liena walked out of the bedroom. "... she doesn't think much of me, I don't think."

"That's crazy," Liena grinned at him.

TJ went to hug his father. Causing Toad to lean his head down. Catriona looked at the back of his head in concern.

"Toad...you're bleeding," Catriona said with furrowed eyebrows. She got up from the chair to check on him.

The room went silent for a moment. Toad wiped the back of his neck. Finding that there was, in fact, blood running down the back of his head. He slumped in defeat. Knowing what Sunny was going to say next.

"Take off the hat," Sunny said like a disappointed parent.

Toad slowly took off the small hat. Revealing a large gash. He sat down on a nearby box. Letting Catriona look at the wound. She handed him an old hanky, which he pressed onto the injury.

"It was that...butcher, a Tweedle. Dum or Dee. You gotta strip 'em down to their johnnies before you can tell which is which." Toad explained. "He came bargin' in, screaming about something the Woodsman had, or thought he had... I don't know. He tore up the place, beat me up when I said I didn't have it."

"So that's how all the shit got knocked around," Catriona nodded.

"I tried to go out the window...but he pulled me back in," Toad sighed. "It's been a hard mornin'; I can tell you that."

"What was he looking for?" Sunny asked. Trying to think what Woody could have had that would incite this.

"I have no idea," Toad told her. "I would've told you. I wanted to, really, I did... But he said if word of this ever got back to him, if he ever thought you knew, or the Sheriff...he'd come back and kill my boy."

"We understand, Toad," Sunny nodded synthetically.

"I even tried to give the bastard her coat. He wouldn't take it."

"Whose coat?" Sunny's eyes widened.

"The girl."

"It's gonna be Faith's," Sunny said to no one in particular.

"Dad borrows things from people who live here," TJ started to explain with a smile but stopped when his dad gave him an annoyed look. "... Uh...sometimes...?"

"Does he now?" Catriona smirked.

"I don't steal nothin'," Toad defended himself. "The turnaround here would astonish you, lass. I merely...repossess what's been left behind."

"I better take the fur," Sunny exhaled. "She might have family it can be given to."

"Alright. Fetch 'em the fur," Toad told TJ. However, he didn't seem happy to give it up.

TJ led Liena over to the fireplace. The girl reached her hand up the chimney and pulled out a rather scruffy-looking brown coat. Liena wrinkled her nose at the soot.

"Fine bit of dress it is," Toad said.

"Nasty," Liena cringed as she looked into the donkey hood's eyes. She carried it over to her mother. Sunny looked over it to see a letter in the pocket. "What do we have here?"

"Fuckin' hell! With my luck, it's a map to some bloody doubloons," Toad grumbled.

Sunny turned to the letter over in her hands to see a name written on the front of it. "It's addressed to Lawrence."

"Who's that?" Catriona asked curiously.

"Someone's husband."

"Well, it's been quite a surprising day for all of us, hasn't it? I'd see you out, but I'm afraid of drippin' any more blood in the place." Toad scowled as the family left.

Right as they walked out the door, Liena turned back to TJ. The donkey still draped over her head. "It was really cool meeting you, TJ!"

"You too," TJ fiddled with his hands.

"I'll bring you that book on the bugs of the world next time," Liena told him. Making the young Toad smile.

The three left and stood outside, waiting for a cab.

"Is it always that easy?" Catriona asked with a laugh.

"From my two days of experience? Nope." Sunny joked back.

"Where are you off to now?" Catriona pondered as the taxi pulled up.

"I'll have to drop this off at the Business Office," Sunny told her as she took the coat off Liena's head. Much to the younger girl's displeasure. "Hopefully, Wolf and White should be back."

Catriona nodded in understanding. Most of the drive back was silent. Other than Liena adamantly talking about TJ's bug collection.

"Do you get a badge?" Liena asked Sunny with a grin.

"Not as far as I'm aware," Sunny told her.

"Lame." Liena smiled. "Aren't sheriffs and deputies meant to have badges like in the old west?"

Catriona was uncharacteristically quiet. Sunny guessed that she had something on her mind.

"Is everything okay, Cat?" Sunny said right as they pulled up in front of the Woodlands.

"I'm just," Catriona paused. "I know it's only been a day and a half, but are you doing okay?"

Sunny thought for a moment. Considering the circumstances she was doing alright, but she could also be doing a lot better. She knew better than to tell Catriona about the murder right in front of her kid, but she had a feeling her aunt had worked it out.

"I know it shouldn't still be bothering me, but-" Catriona crossed her arms and looked away from Sunny to the Woodlands.

"You still hate that I have to work here?"

"You shouldn't have to. This 'overdo community service' is absolute nonsense. And it's bullshit that they're forcing you to work it off."

"I know, but it's okay. Just for a few months." Sunny tried to reassure her aunt. "And we needed somewhere to stay."

"But what if-" Catriona started to say but stopped when someone called out to Sunny.

"Fei," White said as she approached the two. "I'm glad you're back. Is Toad alright?"

"I'll explain inside," Sunny nodded to White before turning back to Catriona and Liena. "I'll see you two at home?"

Liena hugged her mother tightly as she made her goodbyes. It seemed that now that the young one had spent some time with her mother, she didn't want to let go. Catriona was eventually able to pry Liena away. There was a small part of Sunny that just wanted to go with them, but she had to find out what happened to Faith.

As the two walked back to the Business Office, they caught each other up on what was going on.

Apparently, Lawrence had tried to kill himself. Feeling that he was nothing but a burden to Faith. In his attempt to do so, he had shot himself in the lungs rather than the heart.

They had told Lawrence about Faith but didn't get much further due to a Fable by the name of Tweedle Dee showing up. He was looking for something. Wolf tried confronting him. He claimed to be investigating Faith for his employer along with his brother. However, Dee refuses to give Wolf any more details, prompting Wolf to try and take him into custody. The brother knocked Wolf unconscious, allowing the pair to escape.

Wolf had split up with White to head to a local bar called the Tip Trap to look for the Woodsman.

"You can try and get some sleep if you want," White told Sunny. "We can't really do anything till Bigby gets back with the Woodman."

"I might go home and check on my kid if that's alright with you?" Sunny asked as she messed with her own hair.

"Of course," White agreed with a sympathetic nod.

In hindsight, it would have been oblivious that nothing that night would go as planned.

Wolf was halfway across town. Currently getting into a fistfight with an ogre named Gren. Turns out that trying to bring the Woodsman in for questioning was harder than anyone thought it would be. It also turned out he had friends, apparently.

Sunny managed to get a few hours (two hours of spending time with Liena and Catriona, plus one of sleep) before White called her up again, just like the previous night.

Apparently TJ, of all Fables, had found a body while out swimming.

Both Sunny and White were expecting it to be Faith's body while trying to pull it out of the river but were surprised to see it wearing a set of clothes that looked similar, to the point where it reminded Sunny of her own clothes to a scary degree.

Sunny's blood would go cold when she saw what was waiting for them back at the Office.

I was debating having the Boy Who Cried Wolf appear as a character in this story, but honestly, there wasn't any place I could put him that didn't feel like a forced cameo.

Also I have a little headcanon that TJ is half Fable like Sunny. It doesn't have a big effect on the plot, but it would explain his age and why there's no "Mrs Toad"