The rumble of the dirt road made Nick uneasy as the truck bounced along towards Bunny Burrow. It was nothing like the asphalt in the city, and the constant bumping and shaking made him a little queasy.
"How much longer 'till we're at 'Casa del Hopps'?" Nick asked.
"It's not much longer, but we're going to make a pit stop before we reach my place" Judy said.
"Oh boy, what are we gonna do? Pick up some carrots on the way for mom and pop?"
"Har har, Nick. No. Just trust me, you're going to like it."
"If you say so, Carrots."
After about an hour of driving, Judy pulled over to what looked like a restaurant, built from a remodeled gas station.
"A gas station, Carrots? Wow, am I overjoyed," Nick said flatly.
"Can we tone down the sarcasm for the rest of this trip, please? This is Gideon's Bakery!"
"Gideon? As in Gideon Gray? Your childhood bully who terrorized your youth?"
"He's turned his life around for the better, you know, and his pies are the best. He's partnered with my parents, so those blueberries you like so much are baked into pies here."
Nick's eyes lit up.
"Well, why didn't you say so? Quit talking and let's pay him a visit!"
The bell gave a jingle as Nick and Judy opened the door, only to be hit with the sweet aroma of freshly baked pies of all sorts. Glass cases held several pies all with different brightly colored filling along the counter, and the atmosphere made them feel welcome and at home. Although the place looked nice, there was no owner to greet them.
"Uh, Gideon?" Judy called out.
A voice from the back of the store called back.
"Hold on, ah'll be right thar in a jiffy!"
The door flung open and out came Gideon with oven mitts holding two freshly baked pies, taking extra precaution to not bump into anything with his rather… 'pronounced' belly.
Nick turned around to finally see Gideon.
He's a… fox?!
Nick's paws began to sweat and suddenly he had a lump in his throat.
"Well you must be Nicholas! Judy has told me plenty earful about you!" Gideon said as he took off his oven mitts to shake Nick's hand.
Nick shot Judy a skeptical look as he shook Gideon's hand. Judy replied with an awkward smile and a shrug.
"Heh, yeah, I'm sure she has told you plenty," Nick said.
"Well sit yourselves down and lemme serve ya'll a slice of whatever you want. Any friend of Judy's is a friend o' mine!"
"Blueberry for both of us please!" Judy said.
"Ya'll came at the right time. Blueberry just got done bakin', so it's nice and hot."
Gideon placed the two plates at the counter before taking a seat across from them.
"So what brings ya'll to little ol' Bunny Burrow?" Gideon asked.
Judy glanced over at Nick. He hasn't touched the pie at all. She felt a little worried, but maybe he was just car sick.
"We're in town visiting my parents. WAIT. MY PARENTS. I FORGOT TO CALL!"
"Uh… so?" Gideon asked.
"THEY'LL FREAK OUT IF WE DON'T GET HOME IN TIME! Who knows what they'll do after they start to worry!"
Judy began dialing her parents on her phone, but the call quickly dropped.
NO SIGNAL.
"There's a phone in the back ya'll could use. Hard to get signal out here with your wireless phones. By the looks of how you're fumblin' at your phone, I'd say you'd better hurry."
"Thanks Gideon! I owe you one!" Judy said as she ran through the door.
"Heh, lil fluffball of energy as always, huh Nicholas? Nicholas?"
Nick snapped back to reality as he realized Gideon was talking to him.
"Yeah. Sorry, just daydreaming. It's been a long day," Nick said, shaking his head.
"Look, if you've got a problem with me, outright say it. Us country folk aren't too keen on beating around the bush. And I can see that somethin's up with you that's up with me."
"No, no, it's nothing, really!" Nick said.
He forced a smile that wasn't all too convincing.
"Judy's not here, and you prolly know as well as I do she don't like talking about this serious stuff, so might as well put it out on the table now before she gets back," Gideon said.
Nick sighed.
"I don't have anything against you, Gideon. You're a great fox and all. It's just… I have something against myself. I don't like how I treated Judy the way I did before, especially knowing now why she had such a view towards foxes," Nick said.
"She never told you about this? About me? I thought ya'll were partners!"
"Well, she never told me you were a fox! I just thought it was another cottontail. And the way I made her feel using the fact that I'm a fox means I hurt her more than I could have with just words alone."
"Well now, how'dya think I feel for giving her that fear in the first place? Look, Nicholas, she's told me so much about you the last time she was in town, even more than I care to hear, and she doesn't hold any of that against ya. If you're feelin' guilty about what you did, then that means you're a better fox than you were before. It's what you learn and what you do from then on that really matters. And from the sound of how Judy sees you, I'd say you learned plenty and fixed plenty. Now eat yer pie before it gets cold. Judy says you go crazy fer blueberry."
Nick smiled and took a bite.
"I feel better already. Thanks Gideon."
Nick was glad he had found someone with so much in common to talk to, especially about topics Judy doesn't like to talk about, or understand. It's hard to talk to a rabbit about fox problems. The door opened, and Judy walked in with her hand rubbing her forehead, visibly frustrated.
"Something wrong, Carrots?"
"You know, same old crazy parents. I finally convinced them they didn't need half of the population of Bunny Burrow to search for us and that we'll be home soon. So? What'd you think of Gideon's famous blueberry pie?"
Nick smirked, then bared his teeth.
"So good I could kill for another slice," Nick growled.
Judy snorted and punched his arm.
"You're the least menacing predator I've ever seen."
Nick and Gideon exchanged glances, then laughed.
You don't know how much that means to me, Carrots.
A/N
Criticism can only help my writing, so feel free to review! This was written for the second Zootopia News Network Ranger Scout Challenge.