"Oh my word…"
This was the first thing that came out of Helen Wilde's muzzle as she registered the fact that her long-lost son was now standing in front of her, the younger fox's expression still a little sheepish after the moment when he first spoke.
The moment was soon broken, though, when Nick noticed his mom step forwards, slowly spreading her arms wide. Expecting a hug, Nick opened his arms as well, but to his surprise, pain shot through his cheek as Helen unexpectedly slapped him.
Nick was admittedly a little stunned due to what his mother just did but, being as experienced as he was in dealing with these kinds of situations, he rolled with it as he plastered on a smile.
"Okay, I guess I deserved that."
What happened next, though, was something that even he didn't expect, as Helen went ahead and hugged him like what was going to happen originally, the vixen burying the side of her muzzle into his shirt as she spoke.
"Of course you did, you idiot! How do you think a mother would feel when her son disappears for twenty years?"
Nick paused as he thought about what his mom had just said. While he did have some interest in reuniting with his mother after Judy's suggestion, he originally only really wanted to just coast through the visit so that he could get through it and get on the train to Bunnyburrow.
However, seeing how much Helen was upset about him leaving affected him more than he would have thought possible, which was strange considering he spent all of his days as a confox pretending that he was comfortable all by himself (outside of Finnick).
With a stunned look on his face, Nick did the only real thing he could think of and rubbed his mother's back with his free paw, comforting her as best as he could.
Eventually, though, she did manage to calm herself down, and once she pulled away, she glared at Nick, her paws on her hips as she waited.
"Well? Is there something you want to say to me?"
Nick's eyes widened a bit, not really expecting the third degree from his mother of all mammals, but he really didn't want to make her any angrier with him than she already was, so after a moment or two of hemming and hawing, he finally spoke up.
"I'm sorry for leaving you, mom. Things kind of fell apart for me after dad left. I didn't mean to upset you."
Even though Helen experienced Nick's problems first hand once John left, she could tell that her son was being genuine.
A smile on her muzzle, she beckoned for Nick to join her as she began making her way back towards the door.
"Come on in! I'll make you some tea."
"Oh no, I really should be going. I've got a train to catch."
"Don't be rude, Nick. Your mother wants to spend time with you."
Both Helen and Nick's heads whipped around to where the source of the new voice was to reveal that it was in fact Judy who had spoken, the young doe standing off to the side so that the two of them could freely speak without interruption.
"Oh, and who's your friend?" she asked as she looked back at Nick.
"Oh, this is Carrots. Carrots, this is my mother Helen Wilde."
"Carrots? That's an interesting name." said Helen as she and Judy shook paws.
"It's not my real name, Mrs. Wilde." said Judy, giving Nick a glare as she spoke. "My actual name's Judy Hopps. Nick's my partner…and sometimes best friend."
Judy could see a bewildered Nick out of the corner of her eye mouth the word 'Sometimes?', but her attention was more on Mrs. Wilde as she registered what she had just said.
"I'm sorry, but I'm not quite sure I understand where you're going with this. What do you mean by partners?"
"We're both police officers. Did Nick not mention this to you?" she asked, giving Nick a pointed look as she spoke to her.
"He didn't mention anything about him being one, but I do remember hearing about you on the news as well after that incident with the assistant mayor, if I remember correctly."
Helen's expression was unreadable at this point, so Nick had some trouble trying to figure out what she'd thought about that slight. He felt that it would be better not to take any chances, though, so after sharing a hug thanks to the great news of him being a cop, he spoke up.
"Yeah, sorry about not telling you. I was…honestly, I was too scared to do so after what I've done." he said, surprising Judy with the amount of honesty he was showing.
"It's alright, Nicholas. I know you had your reasons."
This admission caught Nick off guard a bit, as he fully expected to have to convince her that there were no bad intentions with him not inviting her to the graduation ceremony.
However, Helen wasn't entirely ready to give up on this line of questioning quite yet.
"I want to hear everything about what I've missed, though."
"Everything?" asked Nick, suddenly nervous.
"Yes, everything. I watched some of the recent graduation ceremony on the news, but I want to hear what's happened even before that!"
Nick clearly did not look thrilled at the prospect of having to tell what amounted to his life story, but he could feel that he was going to be in big trouble if he tried to hide anything from his mom, so after sighing heavily, he gestured with his paw towards the door.
"Let's go then."
Satisfied with Nick's answer, Helen followed behind Nick as they went inside, Judy following close behind as she considered whether it was the best idea for them to do this considering their limited time before the train arrived.
Inside the house, Helen busied herself by making tea while Nick recounted as much of the big moments that happened in his life that he could remember as Judy sat next to him and listened.
At first, Nick told the story of his time spent with Finnick, and some of what she assumed to be the bigger cons they pulled, and she could see Helen's ear twitch as she listened to what they've gotten themselves in to over the years.
When the story came to when him and Judy first met, though, Judy couldn't help but smile, as everything he'd said was nothing but glowing. What was surprising, though, was that as Nick went through what had happened during the Bellwether case, he'd failed to mention their incident at the hospital and the subsequent apology.
She was admittedly curious as to why he'd omitted that part of the story, but she'd decided to leave that fact alone for the moment, as from what she could tell, Helen had failed to notice anything amiss with his story and she really didn't want to bring it up and make things awkward.
Eventually, after Nick told his mother about his first six months as a police officer, the young tod fell silent, glancing over at Judy next to him as he waited to hear what his mother would think.
"Well, that was certainly a lot to take in." she said, having sat down and drank half of her cup of tea in the time Nick had spent speaking.
"Yeah, it is. Frankly, I wouldn't change it for the world, though. The last year was one of the best I'd had in a while."
Judy couldn't help but feel elated due to Nick's proclamation. Sure, it wasn't entirely sunshine and roses since they'd met over half a year ago, but she had also definitely enjoyed all of the time she'd spent with him, even if there was some times that she wanted to throttle him for one reason or another.
Sighing in contentment as the others sipped their tea, Judy decided to check her phone to see what the time was. As she turned the screen on, though, her expression faltered when she saw what was on there.
"Oh, cheese and crackers, it's already 12:30! We really need to go, Nick."
"Oh, are you leaving already?" asked Helen, her expression a mix of pleasantness and disappointment.
"I apologize, Mrs. Wilde, but we've got a train to catch that leaves in a half an hour, and we don't have much time to lose."
"It's quite alright, Judy. It was a pleasure finally getting to meet you."
"You too, Mrs. Wilde." said Judy, reaching up as she gave Helen a light hug.
As for Nick, he wasn't going to get off as easy as Judy was. After grabbing his bag and making a move towards the door, he was quickly stopped by a paw against his chest.
"Where do you think you're going, mister?"
Nick tried his best to play off this small slight, having originally been planning to sneak out while she wasn't looking.
"Sorry, mom."
Nick gave her one more hug for good measure, but as he made a move to separate from her, she quickly grabbed him by the paw, forcing him to stay where he was as she gave him a stern look.
"You'd better come and visit more often now, or I will come and find you myself."
"Yes, mom." said Nick, now noticeably nervous thanks to the thinly veiled threat.
"Good." said Helen, changing back to her normal sweet self as she gave Nick a kiss on the cheek.
As Nick's cheeks flared up in embarrassment (Judy unable to resist giggling), Helen gave Nick a light pat on the cheek with her paw.
"Now get going, you two. You don't want to be late."
Starting, Nick quickly grabbed his bag, giving Helen his own kiss before the two of them started heading out the door.
"Bye mom!"
Helen waved back as both Nick and Judy waved goodbye, only lowering her paw once the door closed behind them.
Once she knew that they were on their way, she sighed heavily, a mix of emotions as she hoped that she got her message through and Nick would visit more often.
Back out in the main part of the district, Nick and Judy were anxiously waiting for a bus to arrive.
However, as would soon become apparent, buses never come when you really need them, so after five more minutes had passed, Judy really did not want to risk waiting any longer.
Sighing, she turned towards Nick, who still keeping himself busy was looking around the area for any sign of a bus.
"Hey Nick, do you think we should probably call a taxi?"
"You sure?" asked Nick as he looked back at her. "They can get kind of expensive depending on how far you have to go."
"Well yeah, but it's better to do that than try to wait for the next bus to get here and end up missing the train. At least with a taxi we'd have some control over when we get there."
Nick was still a little unsure of how smart this plan was, but there was really no other option if they wanted to get back to the city in time, so after sighing heavily, he pulled out his phone. Thanking his lucky stars that he remembered to put the taxi company he'd had on speed dial into the new phone he'd gotten after his last one ended up in the water, he quickly hit call and placed the phone up to his ear.
"Yes, hi. I'd like a taxi at the corner of Vine and Willow as soon as possible, please. Thanks. Appreciate it."
After hanging up, Nick sighed as he tucked his phone back into his pocket.
"Guess someone was having a bad day." he said to himself.
"What was that?"
"Nothing, Carrots. The taxi should be here in about five minutes or so."
"Oh good!" said Judy, smiling a bit. "I'm guessing they must not be too far, huh?"
"Nope. I used it quite a bit when I was in the area. The guys over there haven't really bothered to learn my name, though. Not too sure why."
Judy had a few ideas considering what she'd heard during Nick's conversation on the phone, but she decided that it was probably best not to voice them and cause problems.
Thankfully, it didn't take too long before a taxi pulled up to their stop just as Nick said they would.
Not wanting to waste time putting their bags in the trunk, the two of them decided to stuff them in the back seat with them. While it did make things a little cramped, neither of them complained as Nick took the lead.
"We need to get down to the train station in Savannah Central as soon as possible. We've got fifteen minutes until our train leaves, so please step on it!"
The driver, an antelope who judging from his expression in the rearview mirror did not look happy, didn't say anything. However, he apparently was listening, as once he pulled out on to the road, Nick could tell that he was going at a faster pace than he remembered them usually going at when he used to use this service.
"So, I'm curious. How come you didn't mention what happened at the hospital to your mom?" asked Judy, unable to take the tense silence that had pervaded through the vehicle.
"I didn't think it was worth mentioning. Besides, I believed you back then when you said it was a mistake, and I still believe you now."
"Okay, I understand that, but to be fair, the way you spoke of me made it seem like I was this perfect little angel that never seems to make any mistakes."
"Well, that wasn't my intention, so I'm sorry if it came across that way. Maybe next time we visit you two can talk a bit."
Judy opened her mouth to say something, but after Nick mentioned the theoretical next visit, she held her tongue.
"Wait…I kind of figured that the whole invitation was for you two to catch up."
"What's wrong with you coming along?" asked Nick, looking down at Judy with an expectant expression on his muzzle.
Once again, Judy held her tongue as she was unable to think of anything, only replying with a shrug.
"See? I'm not going to force you to come along, but I'm not going to stop you if you want to come."
Judy paused, a little caught off guard by Nick's comments.
"Wow. Thanks, Nick. I appreciate the invite."
Nick gave a noise of acknowledgement, and the two of them fell silent for a few more moments before Judy said one more thing that was on her mind.
"You know, I think I'm beginning to like your mom. She's a sweetheart, just like you said."
Nick still didn't reply, only acknowledging her comment with a glance. However, instead of trying to get an actual answer out of him, the two of them simply chose to anxiously await their arrival back in the city, hoping that they would be able to get to the train station on time.
