Chapter 2

Father n' Daughter

Luna and Nick walked in the park, both holding milkshakes in the bright sun.

"Daddy?" Luna said, looking up at her father. Nick looked over to Luna, lowering his milkshake.

"How did you and mommy meet?" Luna asked. "I heard you and mommy talk about how daddy wasn't police before."

Nick chuckled for a bit before answering his daughter's question. "It's a funny story, actually. See, I used to be a hustler, and-"

"What's a hustler?" Luna asked.

"Well...a hustler is somebody that cheats another somebody and-" Nick said, before Luna gasped.

"You cheated on mommy?" Luna said. Those words made Nick flare up in surprise, instantly.

"What?! No!" Nick cried. "See, I used to hustle mammals out of their money, and...well...your mom caught me, being the cop she is."

Aren't you a cop?" Luna asked, before posing a heroic stance, with her paws on her hips. "The first fox cop in existence!"

Nick laughed, before sighing and rubbing his forehead. "Yes, but before I became a COP, I was a HUSTLER," Nick clarified, slurping another swig of his blueberry milkshake.

"Ohh," Luna said.

"Anyway, I hustled her out of twenty bucks when I was getting ice cream for a...gig...that I had. Then she found out, and I was really mean to her about it," Nick said.

"Did you bully her?" Luna said.

"Yes..." Nick said, looking down a bit sad about this. "I said sorry to your mommy, by the way."

"It's OK, I forgive you too daddy," Luna chirped. Nick chuckled and sighed.

"And...have you heard of the Nighthowler Case?" Nick asked.

"What about it?" Luna said, sipping her milkshake.

"Your mom and I actually solved that case. Well, your mom mostly did. I just saved her life," Nick said.

"Wow, really?" Luna gasped. "Are you heroes?"

"Yeah. See, your mommy's very smart. She found out the cause of the whole thing, and she got the bad sheep arrested. And this was before I became a cop," Nick said.

"Isn't the bad sheep the one who hurt mommy last time?" Luna asked, her voice dropping. Nick noticed how her tone had turned from excited to scared in an instant.

"Yeah, but we beat her. With the help of your grandparents," Nick said.

"The Poo Brain superhero?" Luna asked, her earlier tone now gone.

Nick laughed, remembering the first time Luna called his dad that name. "Yeah. But his real name is the Hood," he said. "You know, the one you took out with a frying pan."

Luna beamed. "I took out Poo Brain!" she said, making Nick laugh harder.

"You're gonna kill me at this rate. Anyway, the bad guy, Bellweather, was gonna make me go savage and, well..." Nick said, contemplating whether he should say 'kill', or not.

"Well?" Luna said, in a manner not unlike Nick's.

"She was gonna make me go savage to...hurt Judy. Like how Judy started acting like an animal to protect you?" Nick said.

Luna thought back to the chamber, where the evil sheep made Judy shoot herself with the gun, which made her go "savage". "Oh yeah!" she said.

"Anyway, we replaced the Nighthowlers with blueberries, and I pretended to go savage, but it was a hustle to get her to confess the whole thing," Nick said.

"Wow, you're a hero!" Luna said, finishing her milkshake.

"Yeah, but your mom is the real hero, she saved the city. Guess I just tagged along," Nick said.

"Daddy, you and mommy will always be my heroes," Luna said.

Nick smiled, as he hugged his daughter. "And you will always be my frying pan wielding angel," he said.

Luna broke the hug, to run over to a trash can so she could toss out her empty cup. Nick smiled. "Victoria, you should be proud," he said.

Then his phone rang. He pulled it out of his pocket and saw it was a FaceTime call. "Hello?"

"Hey, Slick!" a familiar striped rabbit on the screen said, grinning into the screen. "How're the kids?"

"Jack! How're you doing? Judy's been OK," he said. "And how's Skye doing with hers?"

"Good. Skye's having mood swings. Crazy ones…" MCB agent Jack Savage said over the phone. Right after he said that, the unmistakable sound of a glass object shattering was heard through the smartphone's speaker. Jack looked around, before a pregnant Skye tackled Jack from behind.

"Jackie...I'm lonely!" the winter vixen whined. Nick could see Jack's ears visibly redden, before looking over at Skye. Nick looked back and forth between the married couple before finally speaking up. "Should I go?"

"No, no, no! I just really need to talk to Luna real quick, it's...important!" Jack said over the moans his wife was making. "I just...need a moment."

Nick just looked around awkwardly as Luna kept trying to score goals with the empty milkshake cup.

He finished his milkshake and let his arm holding the empty cup drop to his side. "Are you sure? I can call back later-" Nick said, before being interrupted.

"Jack..." Skye cooed, the vixen now biting and nibbling on his ear. Jack, now blushing madly, was now pushing his wife away. "Come to bed with me..."

"Not now. You're pregnant!" Jack said. "You should be asleep. I'll join you later. Please?" Skye just nuzzled into her husband's furry cheek. "No, I want my cuddle bunny!" Skye pouted. Nick laughed loudly, as Jack groaned. "Go back to sleep...please? I'll join you later. I'm on a call, I'll go back I promise, please-"

"Ugh! Fine..." Skye muttered, getting off her husband and sulking away. Jack's method for dealing with the mood swings was to pepper her with the same request over and over until she got annoyed. Nick tried that with Judy, only for Judy to kick him out.

"Anyway, can I talk to Luna?" Jack said, still trying to breathe normally. "It's important. "Before Nick could call his daughter over, Luna came back from the trash can, finally scoring the cup into the trash. "Daddy, who're you talking to?" she asked.

Nick gave Luna the smartphone, putting it in her little paws. "Say hi to Uncle Skippy!" he said, winking. Jack's face was visible on the screen, a big smile on his face. "Hey, Luna!" Jack said.

"Hi Skippy!" Luna said, immediately pressing her face against the phone. Nick laughed as Luna rubbed her nose after smashing it on the screen.

Jack laughed on the other side of the phone. "Hey, Luna! How's my favorite niece?" he said.

"I'm good! How's Aunty Skye?" Luna asked.

"She's...she's OK. She can't talk to you right now. But, she's happy to hear from you!" Jack said.

"Oh. OK," Luna said, a little sad that she didn't get to talk to her aunt.

"Don't worry. She'll wanna talk to when she's feeling better," Jack said. "How would you like to come to a party?"

"Yay! What party?" Luna said.

"A birthday party," Jack said, smiling.

"Whose party?" Luna asked, excitedly.

"It's a surprise." Jack said.

"OK, bye Uncle Jack!" Luna cried, before hanging up. "Uhh, Luna?" Nick asked.

"Yes?" Luna said, giving the phone back. Nick just stared at his now turned off smartphone. "I was gonna talk to him..." Nick said.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" Luna cried.

"It's fine. I can talk later," Nick said, pocketing his phone. "What was Skippy asking you?"

"It's a surprise," Luna winked slyly, before skipping away. Nick chuckled, before catching up with his daughter.

They continued to walk through the park until they reached the street. Luna was skipping the whole way, as Nick easily kept up. "Daddy, mommy keeps yelling. Is she OK?" she asked.

"The babies are growing. They affect her, so she changes moods sometimes. She's OK, don't worry," Nick said. Luna hopped through a hopscotch on one foot, before jumping, doing a 360 in the air and landing facing her dad. "What's moods?", Luna asked.

"You know, when you feel sad, that's a mood. When you're hungry or hurt, that's a mood. Like an-" Nick said, before stopping himself. He knew if he said "emotion", Luna would ask what emotions were. Then he'd have to explain how it was what you feel and how it would confuse her and she'd have an existential crisis and ruin his daughter's future and-

"Like...when you feel something. What you feel is a mood. Do you get me?" Nick said. Luna thought about this, before smiling. "OK, daddy," she said. "I understand."

When they got home, Nick was carrying his daughter on his back. "We're home!" he said. Judy walked in, not looking very happy. "Uh, Carrots, you OK?" Nick said.

"Shut up!" Judy yelled, startling both Nick and Luna. Luna looked sad, her ears flattening in an instant. "Mommy?"

"Uh oh, the mood swings." Nick said.

"You and your dumb daughter! You're always leaving! Why do I have to do everything myself?!" Judy yelled, glaring at Luna and Nick.

"Luna, why don't you wait outside?" Nick whispered, before carrying Luna outside and closing the door.

"Fluff, what're you doing?" Nick said. "Luna's like, right there."

"Fluff this, Fluff that! I'm sick of that name! My name is Carrots!" Judy said.

Nick stifled a laugh, before Judy gave him a death glare that could disintegrate anything. "Come on, it's your pregnancy talking. You're not this much of a jerk," Nick said. Judy let out a sigh.

"Yeah, I guess you're right. Sorry...this pregnancy's got me stressed," Judy said. "I know my family's talking about how you'll get through it and, *sigh* it's just hard. I end up yelling at you and I feel guilty and you forgive me and it starts over and over and-"

"Don't worry, you'll be OK, and it'll be worth it in the end." Nick reassured. "Think of the family we'll raise when this is over. Just a few months to go."

Judy gave Nick a look."We still have like three weeks..." she said. Nick chuckled sheepishly, before smiling. "Right, you're a rabbit. It'll pass fast. You bunnies go fast for life anyway."

Judy smiled and hugged Nick. "You're right." she said. "I'm sorry." Nick returned the hug in an attempt to soothe her. "Relax, you're forgiven. For the next three weeks."

Then the two heard sniffles outside. "Luna!" Nick said. He ran over and opened the door. Luna was crying, sitting on the porch and rubbing her eyes.

"Lu Lu, what's wrong?" Judy asked.

"M-mommy and d-d-d-daddy are fighting! I d-don't want you to fight!" Luna sobbed.

Judy and Nick's hearts wrenched in guilt. "Sweetie, it wasn't a fight! We were having a little problem. It's all better now, no more fighting, OK? We're OK," Judy said.

"I-is it because of me?" Luna sniffed, looking up with bloodshot eyes. Judy and Nick flinched. "N-no! No, of course not!" Judy said.

"Mommy said she's mad because daddy keeps spending time with me! It's my fault!" Luna cried. "Can I run away?"

Nick grabbed Luna by the shoulders and shook her, not too violently, but enough to make her stop crying. "Don't ever say that!" he said in the tone his mother used when he did something bad or when he felt overly guilty. Luna looked up at her father, in a confused and saddened look. "Daddy?"

"Look...mommy and daddy will always love you. That's a promise. We will never hate you. If something bad happens, an argument or such, it's not your fault, OK?" Nick said.

Luna sniffed. "O-OK..." she said reluctantly.

Nick smiled. "We love you, Luna," he said, kissing his daughter on the head. "Don't you forget it."

"I-I love you too, dad." Luna said, hugging her dad tighter. Judy joined in the hug, and the three were silent for a while.

The next week, Luna was on her way to school, Nick driving her to the preschool. Luna was hopping in her seat, her little pink backpack hopping next to her in the backseat. Nick smiled and shifted the gear as he pulled up to the parking lot.

Luna wore a pink polo shirt and a green skirt, while Nick wore his classic Pawaiian green button up and tie, with his khakis.

"OK, remember what I said. If they start picking on you-" Nick said, as Luna grabbed her backpack and slipped it on.

"Don't let them get to me. I got it, daddy," Luna said. She jumped up and planted a kiss on Nick's cheek, before skipping to the building, with Nick following.

A male cheetah was sitting at the attendance table, smiling as a cat student walked into the preschool. He turned around to see Luna and Nick walking up to the table. "Hello, welcome to the Anton Nursery School. Is your daughter signed up on the list?" the cheetah asked in a friendly tone.

"Yes, is a Luna Elise Wilde on the list?" Nick asked. The cheetah looked through the list, before taking a pen and crossing out something on the list. "Yes she is. The kits, cubs, pups, does, etcetera are waiting in the main room. They have cookies, so you'd better hurry and get some!" the cheetah said.

"Cookies?" Luna said in excitement. The male cheetah nodded, and Luna raced inside. Nick chuckled before looking to the cheetah at the desk. "I'm surprised you didn't just turn us away."

The feline simply snorted in amusement. "Not all of us do that," he said, as a deer couple and their kid walked up.

"Hi, mister!" the young fawn said. Nick waved back as the family went up to the desk. Nick smiled as he walked back to the car.

Later, Judy was in the garden, pulling up weeds from the flowerbed. Her ears twitched as the car pulled into the driveway.

"Hey, Slick," Judy said, smiling. Nick walked over, not saying a single word. Judy's smile went away, instantly replaced by an expression of concern.

"Nick?"

Nick sat next to Judy, sighing and smiling. He thought back to his first hustle, his whole path in life, and up to the point he first locked eyes with the first rabbit cop in Zootopia.

He looked over to Judy, the content smile still on his face. "You know, I'm really glad I hustled you," Nick said. Judy tilted an ear, and Nick laughed.

(Spend quality time with your family. They're worth it.

Thank you to Venomheart for spotting that grammatical error.

Song of the day: Grateful - NEFFEX)