The Breakthrough
Judy had retreated to her parent's farm, her fuzzy-wuzzy tail between her legs, just like Nick had predicted, her dream at Zootopia becoming a dead end. Her parents tried to comfort her, and it was quite sweet of them, considering their initial opposition to her dreams. Sure, they had always voiced their dislike for her vision of being a cop, but they never stopped loving and supporting her, even now, they tried to lift her spirits up.
"You've always been a trier," her father confirmed, as if that would help remedy the guilt that Judy felt over all the animals that she had inadvertently hurt.
"Oh, I tried. And it made life so much worse for so many innocent predators," she said bitterly.
"Oh, not all of them, though," her father happily remarked. "Speak of the devil. Right on time." Judy stared openly at the van that was pulling up next to their farm stand, recognizing the fox driving the vehicle.
"Is that… Gideon Grey?" she asked almost in disbelief.
"Yup, it sure is. We work with him now."
"He's our partner. And we never would have considered it, had you not opened our minds."
"That's right. I mean, Gid's turned into one of the top pastry chefs in the tri-burrows," her parents explained, almost finishing each other's sentences.
"That's," Judy paused as she tried to contain her emotions, she was so touched that her parents took her words to heart about giving predators a chance. "That's really cool, you guys."
Judy walked up to the back of the van to face the past that had haunted her for so long.
"Gideon Grey. I'll be darned," she said quietly, almost a murmur as she put her paws in her pockets, feeling surprisingly vulnerable in front of her childhood enemy.
As Gideon stuttered his apology, words tumbling out of his mouth, his explanation of what went wrong, Judy felt another pang of longing for the fox that she had called friend, and she couldn't help but compare Gideon to Nick. The rough country accent instead of polished sarcasm and hidden wit. The broader, bulkier frame of Gideon that had acquired after years of hard work along with his natural raw power instead of the lithe, lean body that fitted the lucrative life he led. She missed Nick, his green eyes, smooth mannerisms, sly demeanor… Everything. Gideon was blunt and rugged, almost simple in a way, but he was still a fox, and Judy found some sort of comfort from his presence on her family's farm.
"Well, I know a thing or two about being a jerk," she replied with a smile after Gideon apologized, feeling the familiar wave of guilt wash over her as she recalled her words that had hurt her friend.
"Anyhow, I brought you all these pies," he said warmly, almost shyly.
"Hey, kids! Don't you run through that Midnicampum holicithias!" her father shouted to her siblings. They all turned to watch the younger rabbits make their way around the dangerous flowers.
"Well, now. There's a four-dollar word, Mr. H," Gideon commented. "My family always just called them Night Howlers." Night howlers?
"I'm sorry. What did you say?"
"Oh. Gid's talking about those flowers, Judy," her father explained, and Judy put all her attention to him, her mind whirling with this new information. "I use them to keep the bugs off the produce, but I don't like the little ones going near them on account of what happened to your Uncle Terry." Terry? Meek Uncle Terry?
"Yeah, Terry ate one whole when we were kids and went completely nuts," her mother added.
"He bit the dickens out of your mother." He went savage… Uncle Terry went savage!
"A bunny can go savage," she murmured to herself, her mind racing as her parents continued to talk.
"Night Howlers aren't wolves, they're flowers," she exclaimed, all the pieces coming together as she started to see the whole picture. "The flowers are making the predators go savage. That's it! That's what I've been missing!" She ran to the truck, she had to return to Zootopia. "Oh, keys! Keys! Keys! Keys! Hurry, come on! Oh. Thank you! I love you, bye!"
She had to return to Nick. She had to tell him about the Night Howlers.
She needed to get her friend and partner back, she would make amends if it was the last thing she did.
*~*JH*~*NW*~*
A/N: Hello everybody! And I am back in business! Kinda… I'm trying to find a beta reader for my Teen Titans story (it's a struggle). Anyhow, I came up with this idea while watching the movie (probably for the thirtieth time). I really like this pairing. A disclaimer: I did not come up with Zootopia. I wish I could work for Disney and be a writer, but that probably won't happen, soooo, just for now, I shall write fanfiction of their works. Let me know what you think!
Thanks for reading!
