Baby Fever.

It was the morning after the triplets’ birth, with Bonnie laying out his and Jack’s breakfast as the birds began to sing their sweet songs outside. He had been thinking all night after Freddy had been carried off to bed by Fredbear. About how he wanted a family, to have it be more than just him and Jack. He had half hoped it would fade. He had just seen how difficult labor and delivery would be. How bad it would hurt. He had never cared for a kid in his life. Not once. Ever. He had been an oddity at birth. A singlet kit born to a mother and father who had been expecting more than one. Rabbits almost always had more than one. Jack had 4 brothers, 5 sisters. Half of them had been born from the same pregnancy as him. He had even more cousins. If he made the decision to have kids with him, there was almost a guarantee that he’d have to push out more than one. Yet even with that knowledge, his heart and brain were both saying ‘I want that’. Theyhadn’t even gotten to the discussion of marriage yet, and he was already wanting kids. Oh, what to do? He knew he wanted to ask him if children were something he even wanted in life, but he wasn’t sure how he’d respond if he said he didn’t. If they both wanted different things, maybe they weren’t the right match like he had thought. But he was getting ahead of himself. Focus on breakfast, he told himself. Chica came into the dining room not long after that thought.

“Something bothering you, sweetheart?” The older hen asked, smoothing down the front of her dress as she came over. She had noticed how out of it the bunny looked, and so she had decided to ask.

“I think I’m having a bit of baby fever.” Bonnie replied, pouring Jack his usual coffee before moving to prepare his own. “I guess seeing how happy Freddy was with his kids showed me how much I had wanted kids before I even knew I wanted them.”

“Ahh… Baby fever. I remember I experienced it after my older sister had her first. I was only 16 at the time, so it was completely off the table for me back then, but once I was old enough, I had been given enough time to decide if it was what I truly wanted. For me, the answer was yes.” Chica replied with a knowing smile. Then she folded her hands at her waist before continuing. “So now I have to ask you this, Bonnie. Would you be willing to stay up late nights when they get sick to keep their fevers down, be ready to wake up in the middle of the night to change and nurse them, and deal with the noise that young children are bound to make?”

“I’d have to gain experience with them before I could accurately answer that.” The bunny replied, looking up from where he was mixing in sugar and cream into his coffee.

“And that’s a perfectly respectable response. But I’d like you to think about it before you have that discussion with Jack, okay honey?” The old, motherly hen gently pat his shoulder gently before pulling away, off to help out in the kitchen if Bonnie had to guess. Chica had always been an amazing cook in his experience.

Bonnie sighed with a smile, making sure his and Jack’s breakfast was neat before he went to wake up his partner.

Around Lunch, Bonnie had helped Chica prepare a fruity mocktail and a couple other treats for Freddy. Since he couldn’t have alcohol while nursing his and Fredbear’s cubs, the two had prepared the next best thing. A mix of a couple different types of whole fruit juices which tasted like the bear’s preferred alcoholic drink without actually having any of the alcohol in it. Plus some baked goods to distract him at least for a little while from the pain he was still in while recovering from the birth.

“He’s already eaten, right? Don’t want him to get an upset stomach from having nothing but sugar on an empty stomach.” Bonnie asked the hen, cutting up some fruit and other small snacks for Fredbear as well, since he was sure that the don hadn’t left Freddy’s side to go eat for himself.

“Yes, dear. We’ve made sure Freddy’s had everything he needs.” Chica answered, plating everything before placing it onto a silver tray. “He’s probably gotten tired of all the protein he’s gotten today. He deserves a little treat now.”

“Fredbear likes all these things, right?” Bonnie asked, letting Chica look over his work.

“Only thing he might not like are the pumpkin seeds, but I’m sure he’d just give them to Freddy instead of wasting them even if you did give them to him and he didn’t like them.” Chica replied, taking the extra plate of snacks and setting them on the tray next to the others.

“I know roasted and salted pumpkin seeds are like crack to Freddy in the fall, so I’m sure he’ll eat them if Fredbear doesn’t.” Bonnie joked, laughing lightly to himself. Chica rolled her eyes in amusement.

Only a couple minutes later, Bonnie knocked lightly on the door to the nursery, carrying the tray in his free hand. Fredbear of course was the one to answer. The dirty blonde bear looked tired, but he was still in a good mood. Which was good, because when he and Freddy first moved in here he seriously intimidated him with his typically poor attitude.

“Ah, have you come to visit him now that everything’s settled down?” Fredbear asked through the crack of the door. He hadn’t wanted the outside noise from the rest of the house to disturb Freddy, and so he had started cracking the door when family members visited until Freddy said they could come in.

“Yes. I brought you and Freddy some food, too. Snacks to keep your energy up, and some treats me and Chica made for Freddy to congratulate him for making it to this point. The juice is for Freddy too. We thought since he can’t have alcohol, we’d try to recreate his favorite drink with just fruit juice.” Bonnie replied, moving the tray to his other hand so Fredbear could see it.

“Give me just a minute to see if he wants visitors. If he doesn’t want anyone coming in, I’ll let him know you delivered this for him.” Fredbear remarked, taking the tray and quietly shutting the door. Bonnie could hear quiet voices for a minute before it went silent behind the door again and Fredbear returned, opening the door for him to come in. “He’s given you the green light to visit anytime throughout the day as long as he’s not sleeping. You just have to be quiet when talking to him. He’s in a bit of sensory overload right now.”

Bonnie gave a firm nod before entering, Fredbear shutting the door silently behind them. The lights were dimmed, with a sound machine playing ambient ocean waves from on top of a bookshelf. Bonnie had mostly forgotten what the nursery looked like after not being allowed inside for months, even though he had helped set it up with Jack and several other men in the family. The only things he could remember were the beautiful hand made cribs that Jack’s father had made for the cubs. All polished wood that had become a staple of that old rabbit’s craft. He had made one for each one of his kids and grand kids, and had now shared that craft with the Don’s new family. Bonnie remembered that neither Freddy or Fredbear even had to ask, because during one their discussions of potential places to buy cribs, old one-eyed Aithne had offered to make them himself. It made Bonnie wonder if each member of the family Fredbear led pitched in to help with their specific set of skills when there would be new arrivals… or if this had been reserved for Fredbear, out of their respect for him as don of the family. He shook his thoughts away, even though it had only been a few seconds of walking over to the bed where Freddy was currently nursing two of his three cubs. The third, the eldest, was currently sleeping in his crib, blissfully blind and deaf for his first weeks of life. Those tiny eyes and ears were closed up tight for now.

“How are you feeling?” Bonnie asked in a hushed voice as he sat down in the rocking chair across from the bed.

“Still exhausted, but we’re all settling in. Feeding babies every four hours or whenever they’re hungry enough to latch, and changing as needed. For the most part they’ve been quiet. Only really crying when I have to get up to go to the bathroom. They’re very clingy until they’ve went down for a nap.” The bear replied, rubbing Fern’s back as she wiggled against his chest. Finley made small noises of contentment while he nursed.

“Have you gotten any rest?” Bonnie questioned, watching as Freddy carefully sat up against his mountain of pillows.

“I rest when they do. So I’ve gotten a couple hours of sleep in-between feedings and changing them.” Freddy chuckled before adding to his statement, though he was still in pain. “They haven’t decided that it’s time for their first full sleep cycle yet. They’ve just been taking naps so far. Otherwise they’ll get fussy that I’m not holding them.”

“Oh, goodness.” Bonnie replied with a chuckle of his own. He glanced over at Fredbear, who was checking on Finch. He smiled softly as he looked back to Freddy. “I spoke with Chica about this earlier this morning, but I’m thinking about asking Jack if he wants kids.”

“You want to join the new parent party, huh?” Freddy smiled back, his exhaustion evident despite his amusement.

“You’ve given a mild case of Baby Fever, I’m afraid. Birth still terrifies me, but even so, I can’t help but look at kids, especially newborns, and think to myself that I want kids of my own. Not now, and probably not for a long time, but I know I do want them.” Bonnie admitted, shaking his head lightly. “I just hope Jack shares my desire to have children someday.”

“I can tell you now that he’d be a good dad to them, at least. He was helping his mom take care of his younger siblings when they were born while he was a teenager. He knows what to do to care for them, I just couldn’t tell you if he’d actually want them. He’ll have to tell you that himself.” Fredbear commented as he walked over to the bed, sitting down at the foot and looking between Bonnie and Freddy slowly. “It’s definitely something you’re going to want to ask him about before you commit to marriage with him. Because if you both want different things, it’s going to put a lot of strain on your relationship.”

Bonnie sighed softly. “Yes. I’m very aware. That’s what worries me.” He fiddled with his thumbs a bit, then glanced back up. “So what did you think of our mocktail?” He asked, looking at Freddy.

“Tastes just like my favorite,” The brown bear responded, taking the glass from the tray and taking another sip of it. He offered a smile as he continued. “You and Chica have got to teach me how to make sweets like the ones you made today once I’m done recovering.”

Bonnie’s ear twitched. “I’m sure that can be arranged.” He giggled, watching Fredbear begin eating the snacks he had prepared for him. Simple things, really, but he seemed to enjoy them. The blonde gave him an appreciative dip of his head before he continued eating. Seems he had been right that he hadn’t eaten today with how quick he inhaled it.

By the evening, Bonnie was sure about where he stood about wanting children. He had thought over the questions Chica had asked him multiple times. He had never been bothered by noise. He’d happily stay up taking care of his sick child. He’d fight through the exhaustion that would come with waking up in the middle of the night to feed and change his children. The only thing he was left still wondering about was if his partner would share the desire for the life he wanted to live. But as the time grew near that he had planned for, he grew nervous. Yet he didn’t back out.

“Hey, Honey? I need to ask you something.” Bonnie began, forcing his voice to remain steady despite his heart pounding against his ribs. Jack looked up from his book.

“Okay. Sure, what is it?” The fiery rabbit asked as he sat up, swinging his paws over the edge of the bed and placing them down on the cool floor.

“It’s something that I’ve been thinking about a lot today, and… I just need to know. Would… you ever want children, Love?” Bonnie asked, his voice calm even though he was sweating bullets from the anxiety of the potential that his answer would be no. “Because it’s been in the back of my mind since I was little that I wanted children of my own someday, though I guess I only truly realized it now.”

Jack paused, his face blank. He thought about it for a couple moments. “I’ll be honest with you, love. I’ve never really thought about it outside of passing thoughts that having a family would be nice. And believe me, I do like the idea of having kids. But making a decision like that would mean a life-long commitment. Not just to you, but to the children as well. They’re always going to need parental guidance and love, no matter how old they get. And I’d have to get down on one knee before any of that, per my family’s expectations. So I have to ask you, do you feel ready for that kind of commitment? Both to me and any children we may have?” Jack asked, having put in his stance on the matter. There was a twinge of hope in his eyes, though his expression was serious.

Bonnie walked over and sat beside Jack, wrapping slim arms around his waist as he gave him a peck on the cheek. “Of course I would.” He finally answered, laying his head gently on Jack’s shoulder. “I’m willing to promise myself to you, always and forever if you’ll do the same for me.”

“Not one member of my family has ever broken their wedding vows, and I don’t intend to be the first.” Jack said firmly, wrapping one arm under Bonnie’s to hook around his waist and bring him closer. Though after a moment, he allowed himself to relax again, kissing Bonnie’s forehead in the process. They'd navigate this... together.