Chapter 19—The Most Amazing Things

A/N: And the cherry on top is here.

Camoss and Libious, thank you again for looking over this, encouraging me and offering suggestions. Camoss has been there for every step of this project and helped me find the courage to start posting it in the first place. Libious became an editor for me later, but his friendship was changing my life even before that. Both have been incredibly accommodating and supportive in every possible way, both in this story and everyday life. I owe so much to you guys.

Thank you, too, to The StarsShadow15, who offered his comments and support during the earlier stages. I'll always value his friendship as well.

Of course, thank you to all of you who have stuck by me and spurred me on with your reviews, follows, favorites, and/or kudos. All these small things have had a powerful impact on me. Thank you, thank you.

And here we go.

Day 22: Friday, July 11th, 2016, 11:28 a.m.

The skies were so clear and blue that if it weren't for the prairies rushing past, it might have been impossible to know that the train was moving. Occasionally, a bird fluttered along the breeze. The flowers interspersed within the tall green grass created a blurry stream of bright colors.

It was a beautiful sight, but the bunny and fox sitting alone in a room on the train were mostly looking at each other.

Honestly, it was a little ridiculous. When they weren't exchanging smiles, they were cuddling, holding each other's paws, and generally too enveloped in their togetherness to care about much else.

That was perfectly fine with them.

Upon arriving at their destination, Nick and Judy made their way toward the doors, the fox carrying the wicker picnic basket they had brought with them. They both smiled widely at the sight of a pair of rabbit and cheetah kits playing on the floor together while their parents sat nearby, no trace of unease among them.

Then they stopped in surprise when a familiar bespectacled cougar hurried from one end of their car to the other, dressed in a conductor's uniform.

"Cam!" Judy blurted his name.

The cougar turned and blinked at the sound of his name. Then he waved at them with a broad smile. "Hey, guys! Sorry, can't stop to talk, but great to see you. You coming to the next PHA meeting?"

The fox and bunny exchanged raised eyebrows for a moment, then nodded at each other before looking back at Cam.

"We probably will," Nick answered.

"Awesome," Cam said as he continued hastening toward the other end of the train car. "See you guys then."

Then he disappeared behind the door.

"Hmm," Judy hummed as she and Nick exited the train paw-in-paw. "It's nice to see him doing okay after... you know... the library."

"True," Nick agreed as they emerged into the fresh air and sunlight, greeted by a sign reading in huge, cursive letters, "WELCOME TO THE MEADOWLAND DISTRICT."

Judy took a breath, hesitating for a moment. "What about Finnick?" she inquired in what she hoped was a casual tone. "Have you heard from him yet?"

The fox shook his head with a sigh, leading her toward the park he had shown her not long after her arrival in the city. "No, but there's also no word on his arrest, so I have to assume he's fine."

Glancing up at him, Judy's chest sunk to see the way he stared distantly ahead of them. The fate of many former members of the Den of Thieves was still unknown, but after Judy recovered from the effects of the Night Howler serum last week, they had at least found out that Duke was living freely again. Finnick seemed to have fallen off the edge of the world, for all the information they had about him. Anytime the topic came up, Nick went quiet for a while. She opened her mouth, paused—

"Judy!"

Blinking, Judy whirled to see a grinning bobcat jogging toward them. It took her a moment to realize why he looked familiar, but then she grinned and waved.

"Randol!" she exclaimed as he got near enough to exchange a short hug with her. "How are you doing? I haven't seen you in weeks!"

"Yeah, I..." Suddenly, Randol paused to clear his throat and glance down at his shoes. "I was, uh... in the hospital."

Judy hoped that the way she widened her eyes conveyed the surprise that she didn't feel. "Really? Why?"

The bobcat merely shook his head and shrugged. "Not important." He nodded amiably at Nick. "Hi, I'm Randol Whiskerton."

"Nick Wilde," replied Nick, holding out a paw, which Randol accepted with a single firm shake.

"So how have you been?" Randol asked Judy. "Still working at Basic Instinct?"

With a shrug, Judy shook her head. "I actually quit last week. It just wasn't really a good fit."

"Oh," Randol blinked. "Well, that's too bad. I heard they have an open cook position again, so I thought I'd see if they'd give me the job back. It will be weird without you there."

Judy smiled when she felt Nick's arm slide behind her back, his paw grasping her waist.

"Almost everyone else is still there, though," she said. "I'm sure they'll be happy to see you."

"And I'll be happy to see them," Randol replied, quizzically but silently eyeing Judy's closeness to Nick. "Honestly, I'm just looking forward to leading a normal life again, so it doesn't matter who's still there."

"Understandable," Judy agreed, then heaved a sigh and slipped her arm around Nick's waist. "Well, for now, we'd better get going, but I hope everything goes well with Basic Instinct. I'm sure we'll see you there later."

"Yeah, for sure," Randol nodded, tossing them a casual salute as he stepped away. "Have a good day, you two."

"You, too!" Judy sang jovially. Then she twirled around and intertwined her fingers with Nick's again, motioning toward the park, which was just entering their line of sight. "Shall we?"

As they neared the entrance to the park, Judy glanced at a newspaper stand—and gasped. Suddenly unable to control herself, she bounced, squealed, and pointed at the headline while Nick stared wide-eyed at her.

"Look, look, look, look, look!" Judy exclaimed, insistently tapping the glass to force his attention there.

Finally, Nick leaned forward and studied where she indicated. Judy couldn't help grinning as she watched a satisfied smirk light up his face.

"What do you know? The old lion kept his word," he said, peering closer to read the print. "'As promised, newly reelected Mayor Leodore Lionheart's first act in office is to approve the Mammal Inclusion Initiative through executive order. Expected to take effect by the end of the year, the MII represents a step forward in guaranteeing equal opportunities for all mammals, regardless of size, species, or family. Lionheart credits the controversial figures known as Crossfire and the Hustler for convincing him that the act needed to be passed.'"

Judy hadn't read that part. She'd only focused on the headline proclaiming, "MAYOR LIONHEART PASSES MAMMAL INCLUSION INITIATIVE." Upon hearing Nick read more, she smiled wider, twirled in the air with her fists raised triumphantly, and then pounced on Nick, who laughed as they both tumbled to the ground.

Were other mammals staring? She didn't know. She didn't care. As she jubilantly nuzzled Nick's neck, her entire mind was enthralled with only one thought:

Everything that mattered to her was already in arm's reach.

Day 22: Friday, July 11th, 2016, 12:39 p.m.

With Judy's head on his chest, a blanket underneath them, a full stomach, the scent of fresh grass and flowers, and a clear sky above, Nick decided that if time were to freeze at this very moment, he would be absolutely fine with it.

Eventually, he and Judy had made it to the spot where they wanted to have their picnic in the park. After discussing their joy about recent political developments over a decadent meal of homemade sandwiches, chips, and fruit juice, they had settled into lying on the blanket and quietly cuddling. Idly, Nick scratched Judy's back, closing his eyes to better savor every sensation. When was the last time he had felt this peaceful?

"You know," Judy murmured into his shirt before rolling onto her back, "as much as I love this, we can only live on the remainder of that stolen money for so long."

Nick sighed. "I know."

Neither of them stated the obvious questions, but they let silence settle gently upon them, broken only by bird chirps and the occasional rustle of grass. There were no answers in the sky, but they stared at it anyway for what felt like hours.

"Um, actually..." Judy softly broke through the silence. She carefully rose to her knees and planted her palms on either side of his neck so that her face was inches from his. Normally, of course, he wouldn't mind, but her sly smirk had him a little on-edge. "There's an idea I wanted to run by you."

"Oh?" he inquired, pasting a hesitant smile on his face.

"Weeeeell," Judy sang. "Everybody thinks our secret identities are dead."

"Right."

"And our civilian identities have no criminal records."

"Yeah."

"And we make a great problem-solving team."

"Okay, sure."

"And Mayor Lionheart is going to pass the Mammal Inclusion Initiative."

Suddenly, Nick knew where she was going with this. He let out a groan and rubbed his forehead.

"Let's both become police officers!" Judy finished proudly, sitting back to throw her arms in the air. "We can even be partners! You and me against the world, making it a better place!"

Sighing, Nick propped himself up on his elbows. He wanted to look at her incredulously, but he couldn't help answering her wide grin with a fond smirk. "Seriously? I know this has been your dream for a long time, but you want me to do it, too?"

Judy nodded enthusiastically. "Don't you think it would be perfect for our interests and skill sets? And we could work together! I can't think of anything more fitting for us! Can you?" She jumped forward to hug him, nearly knocking him onto his back again. "We would be legal vigilantes!"

"By definition, that doesn't make any sense."

"Said the fox to his bunny girlfriend."

Nick chuckled and rested his head on top of Judy's, allowing himself a moment or two to think. She had a point. Something about the idea of becoming a police officer further rekindled part of himself that had been snuffed out at that scouts' meeting all those years ago—that part that Judy had helped him rediscover.

Yet he hesitated. When they'd first met, Nick had mocked Judy for this dream. Now he was considering sharing it with her, and all those old doubts nudged the edges of his consciousness. True, there seemed to be proof all around them that they were capable of making a difference. Riots and hate crimes related to genetic family and species had died out almost entirely over the past week. Prey and predators weren't suddenly best friends, but there was less tension. Take the rabbit and cheetah kits they had seen playing on the train a little while ago.

Still, could this really work?

His gaze locked with Judy's. In her warm violet eyes, Nick saw all the hope he would ever need.

"Sure, let's do it," he finally said as he planted a long kiss on her forehead. "Why not?"

THE END

A/N: That's it! This is it! It's done!

...

YOU GUYS! IT'S DONE!

I HAVE FINISHED A NOVEL-LENGTH WORK OF FICTION FOR THE FIRST TIME IN MY LIFE! AND PEOPLE LIKED IT! FREAKIN' TAKE THAT, INNER DEMONS!

I am so elated! Without going into my entire life story, I wouldn't be able to explain why this is such a huge accomplishment for me, but it is! It's been a while since I've felt this happy and peaceful toward myself. I can hardly contain my joy!

SO! Now that it's finished, I plan on taking this story and adjusting some parts to create an original novel about a world with rival god families who inhabit the planet's two moons and their investigations into a mysterious disease that seems to be overtaking the mortals. The Tale of Crossfire and the Hustler will be the skeleton; I just want to change the meat and flesh.

I know that this story isn't perfect, so let me know if there's anything in particular that you think I should improve for the original novel version. You can also tell me if there's anything I should keep the same or continuing doing. I have genuinely cherished every single bit of feedback I've received so far. I'm sorry that I haven't been great at keeping up with comments—truly, nearly every hour of my day has something scheduled for it, so it's hard for me to fit everything in—but your words have meant more to me than I, a writer, could ever verbally convey.

Also, if you're interested, here's the "soundtrack" of every song that served as inspiration for The Tale of Crossfire and the Hustler:

- "From Heads Unworthy," by Rise Against (this was the most oft-quoted song in the story and the most prominent influence)

- "Little Red Riding Hood," by Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs

- "Falling Slowly," by Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová

- "Strawberry Fields Forever," by the Beatles (though I admit to especially loving the cover by Jim Sturgess and Joe Anderson, as well as their other covers of Beatles songs)

- "Count Me Out," by Pusherjones

- "Live to Rise," by Soundgarden

- "Piano Song," by Meiko

- "A New Way to Bleed," by Evanescence

- "Carry On, My Wayward Son," by Kansas

- "Not Strong Enough," by Apocalyptica

- "The World Spins Madly On," by The Weepies (again, though, be sure that you listen to the song while watching the music video called "Thought of You" by Ryan Woodward, because it is genius and incredibly moving)

- "Speeding Cars," by Imogen Heap

- "My Confession," by Josh Groban

- "Some Nights," by Fun

I will continue writing one-shots here and there, but if I write another multichapter story, it will be a while. Got to focus on my original novel and other projects for now. :)

See you lovelies later!