Okay. Let me first start off with this: SO SORRY FOR THE LONG WAIT! I've been caught up in other things. Work. School. My mind has been all over the place. I just haven't been able to focus. I've actually had this chapter half complete for ages now. And it's not even long! So yeah, sorry that I've had a lack of focus for a while. However, I'm going to try and get another chapter going straight away. I just wish it won't take too long...
Anyways, enjoy the long-anticipated but frustratingly short chapter... Sorry...
Chapter 24: I Need To Ask You Something
Judy laughed as she climbed the rest of the steps to the hospital entrance, Gerry still in step beside her. She looked up at the jaguar with an amused look.
"Seriously? You just came out and said it."
Gerry was covering his face with a paw in embarrassment but with a smile on his face. The feline gave her a nod.
"Yep, that's the result of me having a couple beers too much and a pretty vixen there before my eyes." He groaned.
The rabbit shook her head with a grin.
"Wow. So, you just went up and complimented her butt. Really slick there, Gerry."
The jaguar chuckled a bit as he rubbed the back of his neck.
"Yeah well… Hey, somehow it worked! Worst pick-up line ever, but at least I now have a very nice fox girlfriend."
Judy nodded with a shrug.
"So, Vivian, the same vixen that is Nick's nurse, is your girlfriend? Small world." She commented with a grin.
Gerry nodded as he opened the door for her.
"Yes, it is. After you, miss Jane Doe." He said with a grin, gesturing her forward.
Judy gave him a grateful smile and strolled into the airconditioned lobby of the hospital, pulling her hood further over her face after seeing the usual reporters lying in wait, hoping for a story.
The lobby was large, fitted to accommodate mammals of all sizes. Desks lined the far wall at different heights for the various sizes of the citizens that come to the hospital. Corridors spanned off of it in various directions, including one that led to the elevators to the upper levels.
Gerry walked in behind her.
"Well, I guess this is where we part ways. Nice to meet you." He commented with a smile, extending his large paw.
Judy beamed up at him and gripped his paw with both of hers since it was too big to shake with one.
"And you, Gerry. Thanks for walking with me."
The blackspotted feline nodded his head.
"No problem." His ears perked up as someone called his name. A wide smile spread across his face as he lifted his head to spot someone behind the rabbit. "Vivian!" He greeted happily.
Judy turned around to see a dark-furred vixen approaching them in pink scrubs. The fox smiled as she recognized Judy after the couple times they had met when the rabbit was visiting Nick. She happened to be the same fox that had been led by instinctual urge to try and seduce Nick. Fortunately, she had took Nick as an inspiration and had broadened her range of possible boyfriends to include other species.
That's how she ended up with Gerry, and she had to admit that although it was a little awkward to have a jaguar as a boyfriend since he was so much taller than her, she was enjoying his company.
Vivian greeted the rabbit with a smile.
"Hey."
Judy grinned.
"Hey, Vivian." She greeted in turn.
Despite her initial misgivings about the vixen—since this vixen did try to make a move on her fox—Judy had warmed up to her.
The fox grinned at her before beaming up at the jaguar as she slipped her arm around his.
"I see you've met, Gerry." She observed with a smile to her voice.
The feline smiled as he slid his arm around his vulpine girlfriend. Judy grinned and nodded a response to the fox.
"Yeah, we met on the subway. You never told me you had a jaguar for a boyfriend." She accused in an amused tone.
The vixen's head lowered a bit with a bashful look but a grin on her face nonetheless.
"I wasn't sure how you would react, but I guess I should have realized that you of all people will be okay with interspecies relationships. Anyways, the clock is ticking for my lunch hour, so…" She informed as she looked up at Gerry suggestively.
The jaguar smiled as he looked back at Judy.
"We best be going. Nice to meet you."
Judy nodded her head in understanding.
"Nice to meet you too, Gerry. See you, Vivian. Have a nice lunch!"
Vivian smiled in gratitude and offered a wave of her paw as she and Gerry began to walk away.
"Thank you. You best get going. Nick is waiting for you." She informed in a lowered voice so no one could overhear her.
Judy nodded as her eyes flickered to the cluster of reporters before giving a final wave to the departing couple and cautiously walking towards the elevators, trying to be as inconspicuous as possible. A sheep reporter glanced her way and she tensed a bit, but didn't stop walking. She breathed a small sigh of relief when the mammal returned back to his smartphone.
She walked around a corner, out of sight of the reporters, and only then did she spring forward into a sprint for the elevators.
She hated doing this. She hated sneaking around, but it was the only way she could get anywhere without people harassing her. When she had entered the Mystic Springs Oasis, she had been paranoid that everyone would be critical of her, making her even more uncomfortable than she would have already been—damn naturalists and their naked tendencies. However, she found everyone to be quite openminded, or they didn't seem to care. Either way, that had at least been a highlight in the otherwise traumatizing and never-to-be-repeated experience.
She heard the large elevator ding and open up to reveal her sanctuary, the ward of the hospital where one special fox was scheduled to reside for months still.
Her long ears perked up upon hearing that familiar smooth voice in the distance as she stepped from the elevator.
Judy grinned as she padded down the hallway towards Nick's room.
She paused outside his room to let a few nurses out, greeting them with a smile before entering.
"Hey, Nick." She greeted.
The russet-furred tod's ears flicked towards the door at her entrance as he glanced at her with a wide grin.
"Hey, Carrots. Took your time. You told me fifteen minutes. It's been thirty." He smirked as he folded his arms across his chest. "Honestly, you got to get better at your time estimating skills."
Judy rolled her eyes as she hopped up into a chair by the bedside.
"Har har. I ran into someone, and we got talking. Sorry it took me so long."
Nick waved his paw with a chuckle, his emerald half-lidded gaze looking at her.
"It's fine." He assured before focusing inquisitive eyes on her. "So who did you meet?" He asked as he reached over to get a drink from his bedside table.
The rabbit doe smiled excitedly.
"A jaguar. His name was Gerry, and get this. He's dating Vivian."
Nick nearly spat out his drink in surprise as he turned his wide eyes back to her.
"No… No kidding? I didn't know Vivian was the interspecies type."
Judy nodded in agreement as she climbed into bed beside him to snuggle against his side as much as she could with his back brace on.
"I know, right? But I saw them with my own eyes walking out paw in paw."
Nick hummed before shrugging with a grin as he draped an arm around his rabbit.
"Huh. Well, good for her. Now you don't have to keep giving her death glares each time you see her around me."
She frowned up at him, her amethyst eyes narrowing.
"I do not!"
"Do to, Carrots." Nick insisted with a smirk. "Do to. Can't deny it, Fluff."
Judy rolled her eyes as she sank against Nick's side, ears lowered behind her head as her anxiety and paranoia of the outside world were soothed away by the vulpine's warmth.
"Okay. So maybe at first, but honestly, she's nice. Can't say the same about you, Sick." She quirked, nudging the fox in the side with a grin.
Nick feigned a hurt expression, paw coming to rest over his heart dramatically.
"Hurtful, Carrots! Is this how you treat a poor fox who is confined to a hospital bed?"
Judy smirked.
"Yup, pretty much." She affirmed, making the fox grin.
He chuckled as he reached over to pick something off the nearby table. He sighed as he handed her a container of salad.
"So… lunch?"
She smiled gratefully.
"Thanks. Any news from the doctors?"
Nick shrugged a bit as he glanced at the television.
"Same old. Same old. They say I'm healing nicely. Still have months left in here though." He informed indifferently, but Judy saw beyond the mask.
She placed a paw on his arm reassuringly with a knowing compassionate look.
"Don't worry about me, Nick. Just focus on getting better. You'll be back on the job in no time." She soothed his unspoken concerns.
Nick smiled at the gesture.
"I love you, Carrots. You know that?"
Judy smiled as she swallowed a fork-full of romaine. She snuggled into his side as he tightened his embrace.
"Do I know that? Yes…" She looked up at him fondly. "Yes, I do."
The fox's smile grew before his face fell in thought. He averted his gaze slightly with a nervous twitch of his ear.
"Uh, Judy…?"
The lapin blinked in surprise at the use of her real name, something Nick rarely used. She looked up at him quizzically.
"Yeah?"
Nick sighed as his emerald eyes remade contact with her deep amethyst orbs.
"If I… If I ask you to do something… will you do it?" He asked in an unnaturally nervous voice.
Judy set down her salad with a frown, giving him her full attention.
"Of course. What's this about, Nick?"
The fox closed his eyes as he let his head fall back to rest against the inclined bed.
He was silent for a few moments before sighing heavily.
"Have I ever told you about my mother?" He asked in a soft voice.
Judy's eyes widened at how small and fragile the voice coming from her fox's mouth was. This was a side of Nick she had only seen a few times. This was Nick speaking about something close to his heart.
Her brow furrowed as she twisted in his embrace to place a paw against his chest.
"You've told me how she raised you after your father passed away and how she has been sick and you go to visit her sometimes. Why? What's wrong?"
Nick sighed with a frown, opening his eyes with a pained look.
"I didn't tell you everything…" He started as he pulled her closer. "She's sick, yes. But it's worse than that. She's been in a coma since I was thirteen."
The rabbit's ears drooped as her breath caught in her throat.
"Oh…" She breathed, her heart pained at the emotion dwelling behind her fox's eyes.
She never knew that about his mother. Nick made it a habit to not talk about his past. He's only given her snapshots of what it was like. She had known that he had a rough childhood and that had culminated into his life of a streetwise hustler, but certain areas of his life he had kept to himself or given only vague details about. His mother was one of those unclear parts that made up what she knew of Nicholas Wilde's past. She had never thought much of it, but now…
Her eyes welled up to glimmer with compassion as she hugged his side tightly.
"Oh, Nick… I'm sorry. I didn't know."
He sighed with a small smile.
"It's okay, Carrots. I should have told you." He sighed again as he met her gaze. "I've done my best to pay for her medical bills all these years. That's the real reason why I got into hustling people, you know." He admitted with a far away look in his eyes. "I guess that I got too carried away with the game. I was young, naïve, and foolish. I was placed in an orphanage for a while. That's where I met Finnick, and… it all went on from there." He grinned. "I found a way to trick the system to accept my anonymous donations as Mr. VanButtington to pay for the medical costs." He laughed softly.
Judy smiled, her eyes watery.
"Mr. VanButtington?"
Nick shrugged a bit.
"An alias." He explained before continuing, his grin fading. "She's in a nice extended care facility outside of the city. Tranquil Hills Medical Center. I make an effort to visit her every couple weeks..." He informed with a soft voice before he turned his head to look at her with expressive eyes.
Judy hummed with sudden understanding and spoke up before he could continue.
"And you haven't visited her in a while…" She assumed, earning a nod from the tod.
Nick gave a smile and reached over with his paw to grasp hers, his IV trailing behind.
"And since I can't go anywhere…"
"You want me to go visit her for you." Judy finished for him softly, squeezing his paw in reassurance.
He nodded before giving her a questioning look.
"So could you? If you are okay with it that is. I understand if it seems a little weird, but she doesn't get any visitors besides me. It would mean a lot if you could go in my place, Carrots." He told her with a pleading hopeful look.
Judy smiled before pushing herself upward to capture his lips in a quick kiss. She hugged his arm tightly.
"Nick, you dumb fox. Of course, I will go for you."
Nick's face broke into a relieved and wide smile as he hugged her back with a heavy exhale.
"Thanks, Judy. I mean it."
The rabbit nodded against his shoulder.
"I know you do. You're saying my real name."
The fox grinned as he stared up at the ceiling while stroking Judy's fur with his paw.
"Sly bunny." He chuckled.
Judy broke away with a smile, tapping his bicep with a small fist.
"Dumb fox."
Chief Bogo sighed as he took off his reading glasses and leaned back in his chair after several hours of looking over paperwork that was scattered on his desk. He wished that he could put all of this off for tomorrow. Who wouldn't? He may be satisfied with his job, but it was tough work. The type of work that would drive even the most enthusiastic cop crazy when engaged in it for an excessive amount of time. Well… perhaps Judy Hopps was an exception, but she's always been exceptional.
The large cape buffalo rubbed a hoof over his weary face as he glanced about his quiet office. Too quiet…
Secretly, he wished he could be playing Gazelle's newest album over his phone to fill the silence, but… uh, last time he did that, he almost got caught. He had a reputation to uphold!
He sighed again as he picked up a ZPD coffee mug from the desk and got up to make his way to the breakroom to refill it, but not before he paged the front desk.
"Clawhauser." He called.
Immediately the voice of the chubby cheetah responded back through the speaker.
"Yes, Chief Bogo, sir?"
"I'm heading to the breakroom. If you need me and I am not back in my office, you know where I'll be." He informed before making his way to the door as Clawhauser called back.
"Copy that, sir."
Bogo merely snorted in satisfaction as he pulled open the door and stepped out onto the balcony that extended out from the wall and into the same expansive space that encompassed the precinct's lobby down below, but as he turned to close the door behind him, a voice spoke up.
"Chief Bogo?"
The cape buffalo turned around to look down at a slim rabbit buck who was dressed in a sleek professional suit. The white furred lapin with black stripes looked up at the towering mammal with cool blue eyes.
Bogo frowned.
"Yes, I'm Bogo. If you are one of the reporters, I'm afraid that I can't help you." He informed automatically, having already encountered numerous reporters seeking the story on the Wilde-Hopps relationship.
The rabbit shook his head with a professional smile.
"I can assure you I'm not a reporter." He responded.
He held out a paw as he dug into his pockets.
"My name's Jack Savage. Special Agent Jack Savage." He introduced, flipping open his wallet to reveal his badge and ID. "I'm with the Zootopian Bureau of Investigation. Is there any way we can talk? I know it is short notice and sudden, but this is important."
The cape buffalo raised an eyebrow, impressed.
"How important?"
The rabbit's blue gaze looked on seriously back into the buffalo's.
"Very."
Bogo's face fell into a serious frown as he reopened the door, sensing the seriousness of whatever matter that this ZBI agent wanted to address.
"Come in." He invited.
Savage nodded and followed the buffalo into the room, leaping up into the chair that was positioned in front of the desk while the door closed behind him.
Chief Bogo sat back down in his desk, steepling his hooves in front of him with a frown.
"What is so important that the ZBI thinks it's necessary to involve the ZPD?" He asked suspiciously. "Did something bad happen?"
The rabbit merely revealed a file from behind his back and laid it upon the buffalo's desk.
"It's not so much something bad happening than something bad that may happen… again. I need your help to stop the cycle that has been repeating for over a decade…"
Alright, so not long I know. But I am trying to force my creative brain into action again for this story. It's not easy that's for sure.
I hope you liked it enough. I know there is still no real drama yet like this story had previously, but I promise it is coming.
Death is coming...
Anyways, have fun with that thought! ;)
Until next time,
StoryCrusader signing out