Chapter Four
The walk to Nick's apartment was a long one and Ella was getting a little tired. Nick started to notice how tired Ella was getting before he began to speak to her.
"We're nearly there kiddo." said Nick as he encouraged Ella onwards.
Ella only nodded as she fallowed Nick to where his apartment was. Soon Nick turned around a corner with Ella fallowing him and that was when she saw Nick's apartment. The apartment was a 20 story building made of red bricks, the windows of the apartment were slightly dirty but anyone who wanted to look out through them would still be able to see the sights of Zootopia, the sign that was hanging above the main entrance of the apartment read 'Jungle Rumble' and the main doors of the building were made of red wood with a rustic design to it.
"Wow." Ella breathed as she looked up at the apartment in fascination "This is where you live?"
"Yep," Nick answered as he and Ella continued walking towards the apartment "It's nothing fancy, but at least it will give you a roof over your head. So you can stay here until we're able to find that group of yours again."
"Thank you Nick." Ella said as they walked through the main doors of the apartment building "So... where's your room?"
"It's on the fourth floor." Nick replied "But we'll be using the elevator."
Ella sighed in relief at what Nick had just said before she fallowed him towards the elevators. The trip up to the forth floor was a quiet one as they rode the elevator up to their destination. The elevator soon stopped and opened it's doors for it's passengers when it had reached it's destination. Ella and Nick began to walk down a long hall until they stopped at a door that had the number '490' on it.
"Well, welcome to my home." said Nick as he took out his key and slipped it into the slot before unlocking it.
When Nick opened the door, Ella took her first look of Nick's home and she had to say the fox's home was a mess. A few pieces of dirty clothing were scattered on the floor that needed a good cleaning, some dishes within the kitchen were unclean as they were stacked on top of each other on the kitchen and the accessories with in Nick's home were made of a dark green lump couch, a small TV, a coffee table and a bed that was big enough for both Nick and Ella to share. Ella bit the bottom of her lip as she walked into the room and tried to find the right words to say to Nick, worried he might offend him for his sloppy housekeeping.
"Um... you have a nice home here." Ella complemented.
"Yeah, but I'm guessing that your one of those people who like things neat and tidy, right?" said Nick with a smirk as he closed the door when he and Ella entered his home.
Ella only gave Nick a sheepish smile and shrugged her shoulders, saying "Guilty as charged."
"Yeah well, I wasn't expecting guests to stay with me for... how long are you going to be staying in Zootopia?" asked Nick.
"Just two weeks." Ella replied as she walked over to the couch and placed her suitcase down beside the coffee table. "That's how long we're allowed to stay here for."
Nick hummed thoughtfully at that before speaking again "Well, I better start ordering our supper. So what kind of pizza do you want to have?"
Ella thought for a moment before answering "I'd like Hawaiian, please."
"Alright then, i'll start ordering while you make yourself comfortable." Nick said as he took out his phone from his pants pocket and began to dial the number to order their pizza.
Ella sat on the couch and kept quiet as Nick began to talk to the animals on the other end of the phone. She took in more of her surrounding as she looked at the walls of Nick's home. The wallpaper was plain light green in color with no designs on it. Leaning against the left wall was a wooden desk with a chair and sitting on the desk was a picture frame that had a picture of a beautiful slender female fox in it. The lady fox was wearing a blue blouse and her eyes were light green in color. Ella kept staring at the picture, wondering who she was, before Nick snapped her out of her thoughts when he spoke to her.
"Well, pizza's ordered and it should be on it's way in fifteen minutes." Nick said as he tucked his phone back into his pocket "And while we're waiting, we should take care of that cheek of yours."
Ella nodded as Nick walked towards the bathroom and he began to search through the cabinets until he found what he was looking for before he came back. In his right paw he held a healing cream before he unscrewed the lid, took out a decent amount of the healing cream and began to gently apply it to Ella's injured cheek.
"This cream will heal you in no time flat." Nick said "You just have to apply some of it to your cheek for at least four days or so and it'll be as good as new in no time."
"Okay," Ella said with a smile.
Nick smiled back before looking down when he heard a jingling sound coming from Ella's left wrist. The fox spotted her bracelet and quickly became fascinated with it.
"So... where did you get that fancy bracelet?" Nick asked as he screwed the lid back on the healing cream.
"The bracelet belonged to my mother." Ella answered as she held her left wrist up to look at the bracelet "She gave it to me on my fourth birthday before she..."
That was when Ella trailed off as a sad look came over her face. Nick's ears lowered sadly down to his head as he felt ashamed for what he had brought up.
"Sorry," he apologized as he looked away from Ella "I didn't mean to bring..."
"It's okay." Ella said with a forgiving smile "She died a long time ago. I barely even remember her."
Nick placed the healing cream on the coffee table before he sat down beside Ella "Sometimes it's hard to remember the ones you care about when they're taken away from you so soon within your life."
Ella only nodded before she and Nick lapsed into uncomfortable silence. Nick nervously scratched the back of his neck before he began to speak again.
"So... not to pry or anything, but how exactly did you lose your parents?" Nick asked.
Ella thought about it before she replied with a sad story to tell "Well, it all started when I was two years old. My father got into a car accident when he was driving home late from work. It was a rainy night and he was driving carefully through the streets, but soon he got into a collision with a driver who was driving too fast on the wrong side of the road. My mother got news of it the next morning and she became so heartbroken by the news that she nearly fell into depression, but my mom somehow got through it and continued looking after me until I became four. She got sick a few weeks after my birthday and the funny thing was that nobody knows what kind of sickness she had. She died soon after and I was left alone so I was sent to the orphanage and I've been living there for seven years. While living there, i'd always hoped that someone would come and adopt me, but so far... no one has. Today was adoption day back at the orphanage, but I lost the chance when I entered the contest... don't get me wrong I'm glad I'm here and met you... but still..."
"Why did you want to come to Zootopia in the first place?" Nick asked
"Because... I've always dreamed of coming to this city and meet my favorite animal, which is you, and probably make some more animal friends while i'm here." Ella said with a small smile.
Nick began to think over what Ella had said and sighed before he began to speak.
"That's one big dream you have kiddo," he said with a sad frown "But sometimes dreams like that don't always come true."
Ella looked at Nick in confusion "What do you mean?"
"Well..." Nick started before he took in a deep breath "Sometimes people here in Zootopia aren't as friendly as they might seem and the animals, mostly predators, all have a dream that they want to fulfill in this city. The policy in Zootopia always says 'Where anyone can be anything' and animals think that it would mean that they can create big dreams within this city, but they find out soon after that what they wanted to do here, can't really happen. No matter how hard a predator tries to fit in amongst all the prey animals, their dreams wind up being crushed in the end. Believe me, I've seen it happen all my life... I know."
Ella curiously looked at Nick for a moment before saying "Did something like that happen to you when you were trying to achieve your own dream?"
"Yeah," Nick replied with a shrug "But it happened a long time ago and I don't really feel like giving out all the details right now."
Ella sadly looked at Nick after hearing what he had just told her before the young girl lightly hugged the fox to comfort him. Nick stiffened in surprise when he felt the girl hug him before he awkwardly patted her back for a moment.
'This is really awkward for me,' Nick thought before letting out a sigh. 'But I guess I'll just have to get use to it... eventually.'
"Okay..." Nick said as he coughed in embarrassment as he lightly pushed Ella away from him "Why don't you go wash your hands for dinner, because I have a feeling that the pizza will arrive soon."
"Okay," Ella replied cheerfully before she stood up and made her way towards the washroom.
The pizza arrived and after paying for it, Nick and Ella sat down to eat and Ella thought that it was the best pizza she had ever tasted, especially since this was the first Zootopian meal she ever had since she first got here. After dinner the two got ready for bed. Nick put on a stripped button up pajama top and pajama bottoms to match, while Ella got herself dressed in the washroom.
"Hey, you almost done in there?" Called Nick
"Yeah, almost!" Ella replied before she came out in her pajamas.
Nick turned before jumping in surprise when he saw Ella standing in her fox pajama sleepwear. Nick took a deep breath before he scold Ella.
"Don't you scare me like that." he said
"Sorry," Ella said as she gave the fox a sheepish smile.
"Your forgiven," Nick replied before he cleared his throat "Okay, so you'll be sleeping on the couch tonight, alright?"
Ella nodded her head before walking over to her suitcase and pulling out Hal as she gently hugged her stuffed fox toy against her chest. With arrangements made, Ella made herself comfortable on the couch and Nick slipped under the covers of his bed sheets. The apartment was quiet for a while before Nick was suddenly poked awake by Ella.
"What is it?" he asked in a tired voice
"I tried but I couldn't sleep." Ella said as she held Hal to her chest "Your couch is too lumpy. Is it okay if I sleep with you tonight?"
Nick stared long and hard at Ella for a moment before he gave in with a sigh.
"Alright, but just for tonight." Nick said "Just do me a favor and don't snore."
Ella smiled before she climbed into bed with Nick and settled down immediately. Nick soon laid down beside her as he stared up at the roof of his apartment for a moment as he began to think over the day he had just gone through, but his thoughts were interrupted with Ella snuggling up to his side. Nick blinked in surprise as he looked down at the girl for a moment before a gentle smile appeared on his face.
'Yep, this had turned out to be on heck of a day,' thought Nick before he closed his eyes and fell asleep himself.