Chapter 4: Peel the Paint

"Your, mother?", Judy hissed as she cast Nick a glance. While his mother unhooked the chain, Judy continued to give her fox an icy glare.

"What? Am I not allowed to have a little fun?" Nick kept his voice low, making sure to avoid his mother overhearing. He had donned his conman smirk.

Judy knew to never let Nick see that he got under her skin. Keeping her composure, she instead let out an aggravated puff of air.

"There is a fine line between having fun and then making me almost faint from nervousness. You have blown clear across that line, Mr. Wilde."

They broke their gaze as the chain clunk and fell against the door. It swung up, revealing a vixen standing before them. She stood shorter than Nick, but still had a considerable height advantage over Judy. Although some areas of her fur had grayed with time, she still managed to give off a lively attitude. She shot them both a huge smile and opened her arms.

"Hey mom!" Nick hurried forward and wrapped his arms around her. She returned the embrace, and Judy noticed her emerald eyes glowing with excitement.

So that's where Nick got his eyes.

"You sure have gotten stronger! Just don't squeeze too hard; I'm not getting any younger", she spoke with a gentle and caring tone.

Nick let his mother go and placed a paw on her shoulder. He stood beside her, turning to face Judy.

"Mom, there's someone I would like you to meet. This is my girlfriend, Judy Hopps."

Judy extended her paw for Nick's mother to take, but was instead engulfed into a hug. Even at her old age, she was able to come close to squeezing the life out of Judy. After they parted, she studied Judy.

"So this is the young rabbit you've been telling me about? I must say Nicholas, I never thought you would ever find someone that could keep you in line as well as I can. As he been any sort of problem for you my dear?"

"Really, mom? You honestly think I would give her any trouble.?"

Mrs. Wilde turned around, giving her son a questioning stare. This soon gave way to her laughing and slapping a paw on her knee.

"Well considering how many times I almost beat your ass as a kit, it's not a strange question to ask."

I also guess that's where he got his potty mouth…

"Anyway, it's very nice to meet you, Judy. I'm glad that my Nicky seems to have finally found someone to keep him happy and out of trouble."

Judy blushed, the insides of her ears turning a light shade of pink.

"Well he's keeping me just as happy as I'm keeping him, if not more. You certainly know how to raise the perfect fox."

"If by raise you mean 'tanning my hide at the smallest incident', then yes. She knew how to raise me perfectly."

Mrs. Wilde turned to her son again and lifted her paw up. She grabbed hold of his ear and pulled him down to her level. Even as tough as Nick tried to appear, he still winced in fear at any sort of verbal or physical punishment from his mother.

"What did I tell you about sarcasm?"

With the last word, she gave his ear a small tug. Nick held back a whimper as he stood and took his verbal assault.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm SORRY!"

She let go of Nick, causing him to spring back up and rub the sore base of his ear.

"I better not hear another such comment out of you tonight. If I do, your girlfriend will have to take you home in a wheelchair."

She turned back to Judy and gave her a smile. It struck Judy just how well Mrs. Wilde managed to completely turn her attitude around 180 degrees in a split second.

"Now let's get inside. I think our dinner is just about done."

Mrs. Wilde turned inside and motioned a paw for both of them to follow suit. Judy walked inside and shut the door behind her, making sure to lock it and put the chain back in place.

"So what do you think, Carrots?"

Judy turned to her fox, not giving off any sort of emotion.

"Well, she's a character. I'll tell you that much. I do like her, though."

Nick placed an arm over her shoulder and guided her down the foyer. As they walked, Judy's heard turned from side to side as she inspected the multiple pictures on the wall. One she recognized as Nick's sister. To think that their whole relationship had begun as a misunderstanding. As she passed the portrait, Judy said a quick prayer that wherever Nick's sister was now, she was happy.

"She may come off as harsh, but never believe half the things she says. Take it from me; she's all talk and no show. Well, at least ninety percent of the time."

"That still means that one of ten times, she actually did give you quite a beating."

Nick's tail wrapped around her waist and pulled her in further.

"You just have to take everything so literally, don't you?"

They continued behind Mrs. Wilde, following her into the dining room.

"You two can take a seat. I need to go pull our meal from the oven."

She disappeared around the corner, the smell of cooking food wafting into the dining room. Nick and Judy took a seat. He looked at over at his bunny to find her drumming her fingers on the table. She refused to speak a word. All she did was sit and stare. With his mother temporary out of sight and ear-range, Judy was free to express her concern.

"I'm going to take a wild guess and say something's bothering you."

Judy cocked her head to the side. She gave him a look of 'gee, you really fucking think so?'

"Let me see… what have I done wrong?

Nick gazed up the ceiling and pretended to be dwelling deep in thought. He rubbed a paw under his chin, making a 'hhmmm' sound.

"Damn it, Nick. I'm serious."

He chuckled and turned back to face his girlfriend. Outstretching an arm, he grabbed hold of her paw and gave it a gentle squeeze.

"Alright, fine. You win. Go ahead and tell me what I did."

Judy let out a sigh.

"You really had to keep it a secret that this is where you taking us? I mean honestly, Nick. Why on Earth did you feel the need to keep me meeting your mother a surprise?"

Nick squeezed her paw tighter. He rested his head against his arm and gazed into her eyes.

"Tell me one thing, Carrots. What is the most common thing you do before something important?"

Judy sat in silence, unsure of how to answer the question. Nick did not let the awkward silence hang in the air for long.

"You overthink it."

Looking for any sort of response, Judy found nothing to muster up. Her paw remained raised in front of her open mouth, not a single sound escaping.

"You know I'm right. If I had told you where we were going before we left, it would have been a nightmare. Knowing you, it probably would have meant an hour of picking out the perfect outfit and then being completely unsatisfied with your choice in the end. Not to mention at least an hour and a half grooming yourself to perfection in the mirror."

No matter what ideas came to her mind, Judy realized she had absolutely no counterargument. That's what bothered her the most about the whole ordeal; having to admit that Nick was actually right.

"Now that we've settled everything, try and enjoy yourself. I kept this a surprise because I didn't want you to spend the entire night worked up."

Judy breathed deeply and squeezed her fox's paw tighter.

"Alright, dinner's hot!"

They both watched as Mrs. Wilde turned a corner into the dining room. Between her gloved hands, she held a smoking porcelain tray. The aroma of melted cheese, basil, and tomatoes filled the room.

"Come on, mom! You really didn't have to go all out for us. I know it takes you at least three hours just to do the prepping for lasagna."

She leaned down and pinched Nick's cheek.

"Nonsense, Nicky. It's not every day my little boy brings home a special girl. It would be rude of me to not prepare my best meal."

After releasing Nick from her grasp, he rubbed his sore cheek.

"Can you not call me your little boy? It's kind of weird."

"It's suddenly a crime for a mother to tease her son? What is my big, brave police officer going to do? Arrest his own mother?"

Nick rolled his eyes, unable to stop a smile from tugging at the corner of his lips.

"It smells great, Mrs. Wilde! You really didn't have to go through all this trouble just for us."

Mrs. Wilde cut into the lasagna and served a slice onto a china plate. Passing it to Judy, she flipped a paw in the air and shook her head.

"Nonsense, dear. I have nothing else to do all day. Might as well do something I enjoy. And please, call me Melanie. Being called Mrs. Wilde makes me feel old."

"That's because you are old."

"Just because you are a grown-ass tod does mean I can't still smack you upside the head."

Nick played it off, letting out a laugh as Melanie served him a plate. After all were served, she took her seat at the head of the table with Nick and Judy at each side. They all dug into their meal with excitement. After the initial hunger pains had been subdued, Melanie put her fork down and turned to Judy.

"So Judy, tell me about yourself."

Judy stopped her fork inches from her mouth, setting it back down on her plate. Perhaps she needed to take a break from devouring her meal since almost half of it was already gone.

"Well as Nick probably told you already, I am a police officer. I also trust he told you that I was the one who asked him to join the force?"

Melanie rolled her eyes and gave her son a small grin.

"Yes he did. In fact, it's one of the few times Nicky has been honest to me. Usually he'll tell me the truth only after he's been caught lying."

Nick put his head into his paws and let out a small moan.

"This really isn't how I pictured the evening going…"

Judy leaned over the table and joking punched his shoulder after he took a sip from her wine glass.

"Oh come on, Nick. We're just having a little fun!"

"Yeah, at my expense."

Melanie swallowed the bite she had taken.

"Lighten up, Nicky. You'll never have any fun if you don't learn to laugh at yourself."

Nick let out a fake cry and squeezed his temples.

"Oh God… why me?"

Melanie rolled her eyes and turned her attention away from Nick and back to Judy. After taking another sip of wine from her glass, she continued the conversation.

"Going back to where we were, what exactly made you want to become a police officer? I remember Nicky telling me you were the first bunny cop. I'm interested what put that idea in your head."

Judy swallowed the bite in her mouth.

"Well, ever since I was young, I always felt like I was… 'the lil guy'. There was this voice in the back of my head telling me I had to be the one to give a voice to the weaker mammals of society. So I made it my goal in life to become a police officer. Of course I was told many times that there hadn't been a bunny cop, and that there never would be. But look at me now! Sometimes you have to learn to ignore all the bitterness from others. I quickly learned early on that there's a fine line between constructive criticism and then just being mean for no reason. You have to learn to just ignore that."

Taking a pause, she turned to Nick. He had been listening to the conversation the entire time, studying his mother and girlfriend.

"And recently I learned something else. Never let them see that they get to you."

Nick smiled and gave Judy a wink. Hidden from view, his tail began to lightly wag in delight. Melanie sat straight up again and finished off the last bite of her meal.

"Well I must say that I am thoroughly impressed. Not only have you kept that attitude throughout your life, but you seem to have passed it on to my Nicky."

Turning to her son. Melanie placed a paw on her wrist. Catching Nick off guard, he only had time to stare in surprise as she began to talk.

"I never thought that he would turn his life around. Of course I never really approved of the hustles he pulled, but it was how he made a living. Now that you came into his life, Judy, he really has become the ideal citizen for many other foxes out there. Hopefully he can show them that species is not a limitation on what you can become."

Having to hold a tear in the corner of his eye, Nick leaned over the table and embraced his mother in a hug. She returned the action, and buried her teary face into his neck. They remained frozen in their embrace, letting all the emotions flood out. Judy remained in her seat and watched as mother and son cherished the moment, never wanting to break apart.

"Thanks for helping me, Nick. I'm not used to washing dishes for more than one person."

Melanie rinsed off a plate and began to wipe it with a nearby towel. Nick stood by her side, his sleeves rolled up and arms deep in the sink.

"It really is no problem. After all, I need to repay you somehow for cooking dinner. It really was great."

She nodded a silent reply and went back to drying the towel. As she hummed an unfamiliar tune, Nick stopped and let go of his sponge. It rose to the surface and gently bobbed in the soapy liquid.

"Thank you, mom. Thank you so much for everything."

"Oh Nicky, it really wasn't a big deal. You know how much I enjoy cooking."

Nick sighed and kept his head down.

"It's more than just that. I mean thanks for what you've done for me tonight. You really made Judy feel welcome. Right now, that just means the world to me that you accepted her. I know she's not another fox, and it makes me so damn happy that you didn't let that get to you."

Melanie set the plate down in a dry rack and turned to face Nick.

"Well it's not exactly the first thing a mother wants to hear. The first thing I had wanted to hear about my son's girlfriend wasn't exactly that she wasn't a fox. Not to mention that she's not even a predator. But you know what, I quickly got over it. As long as she makes my Nicky happy, I don't care what she is. Your happiness is what's important to me."

Nick turned without notice and wrapped his arms around his mother. Although the fur of his arms was still dripping with soapy water, Melanie ignored it and didn't move away.

"That's all I ever wanted to hear…"

Nick's voice now seemed more soothing than Melanie had ever heard it.

"You really do love her, don't you?"

Taken aback by her question, Nick removed his head from atop hers. He stared deep into her eyes, his composure lacking no sense of full seriousness.

"I do."

Given his simple yet firm answer, Melanie reached up and stroked her son's face. No matter how much he aged, she still saw him as her little boy. Nothing would ever be able to change that.

"Then I guess it's finally time for me to give you this."

Reaching down, she pulled the wedding ring from her paw. With a shaky hand, she held it in front of Nick. Tears began to form in the corners of her eyes. This time, they were a mixture of both sadness and joy.

"I've continued to wear those since the day your father died. I did so in hopes that one day, I would be able to give them to you. To be honest, I had begun to wonder if I would ever live to see that day. But now, the moment has finally arrived."

She gently placed the ring into her son's palm, closing his fingers over it with her shaking paw.

"M-mom… are you sure about this? After all, it's your most important reminder of dad."

Melanie closed his fingers tighter and nodded her head.

"It's nothing more than a physical object that represented his love for me. Now, it's time that my ring represented your love for Judy. I want you to give it to her. Nothing would make me happier than passing my wedding ring down to my son."

She outstretched her paw and placed it under his chin. Tilting his head up so Nick could meet her gaze, Melanie gave him a smile. He returned it, and once again embraced his mother.

"I love you, mom."

"I love you, Nicky."

While mother and son remained embraced in the kitchen, Judy sat at the dining room table. The entire time, one thought ran through her head.

'How long could it possibly take to wash three dishes?'

Finnick walked out the paint booth with Roger following in close pursuit. They set their paint guns down on a nearby table. Finnick peeled off his paint mask and took off the hood of his paint suit. His ears finally freed, they sprang back up. The fenneck shook his head violently, doing his best to straighten his oversized ears out of their bent shape.

"Go ahead and set the temperature to 72 degrees and the humidity to 40 percent. The basecoat needs to set for about 30 minutes before we can apply the clearcoat. I'll set a timer on my phone."

Roger followed Finnick's instructions and input the command into a nearby keypad. After a beep of confirmation, the hyena locked the doors to the paint booth.

"I gotta hand to you, Finnick, you've had some really good ideas. I never knew tinting the primer the same color as the basecoat adds depth to the color. How did you learn all this?"

The fennec unzipped his paint suit part way. The shop may have been air-conditioned, but it was not nearly enough to combat the thick suits required to be worn during painting.

"Well I can tell you this much. I sure as hell didn't pay for any class. Most of my knowledge came from years of experience. When I was maybe 17 I started helping a friend with body work on the side. He taught me his techniques and gave me pointers. I parted ways with him years ago, but still remember everything he taught me."

Roger walked back from the paint booth doors, nodding his head at his co-worker's story.

"And my god did it pay off. We haven't had someone with this much talent employed here. Hell, you seem to know more tricks and tips than Mr. Rawlings. Just don't tell him I said that. If there's one thing he truly hates, it's being bested."

"Your secret's safe with me."

Finnick set the timer on his phone. Slipping it back into his pocket, the duo continued across the shop floor and back to their work station. Their fellow co-workers were all at work on their various projects. Some were doing body work as well, while others were performing routine maintenance.

"So what do you want to do for half an hour" Roger asked as he ruffled his matted fur. The two of them walked back into their designated section of the shop. Finnick looked over to the white board hanging above their work table.

"Did you replace the differential fluid?"

"Yup. I did that while you flushed the radiator."

Finnick stroked his chin while crossing both items off of their to-do list.

"I think that's everything. After we apply the clearcoat, it should be ready to leave the shop tomorrow afternoon. Giving it 24 hours to dry should be plenty enough time."

Feeling a sense of accomplishment brewing inside, Finnick did his best to keep his tail from wagging. It had been a long time since he had completed a job the honest way without any shortcuts. Although initially a major change of habit for the small fox, the initial awkwardness of changing his ways had long since faded. Performing a task honestly actually felt good.

"Here ya go."

During his thinking, Finnick hadn't noticed that Roger left. Apparently he had gone to the breakroom to retrieve two beers from the fridge.

"The boss allows you to drink on the job? Isn't that… I don't know, against the law?"

The hyena popped the tab on his can and took a sip. He nodded off Finnick's question with a smile.

"Only certain jobs make it illegal. Although, being drunk on the job can lead to lawsuits for negligence if you do something wrong. That's why Mr. Rawlings only lets us have one."

Roger bent down and motioned for Finnick to come closer.

"Just between the two of us, he's been plastered in his office on more than one occasion. Every time it was because a build either went over on time, over on budget, or sometimes both. I have a feeling that since you've been giving such excellent advice, another event like that should never happen again."

He took another sip and let out satisfied laugh.

"Which is kind of shame. It was sort of fun seeing him stumble out of his office and faceplant into a container of used motor oil."

Holding out the other can in front of the fennec, Roger swung it front of his eyes in temptation. Finnick simply put up a paw in protest.

"You know what, I'm good. I made a promise to myself to keep on a straight path. Even if the boss allows it, I still think it's wrong."

After a few seconds of initial shock, the hyena shrugged his shoulders in acceptance of Finnick's decision. He stood straight once more and turned to the lift next to theirs.

"Hey Aaron! You want this?"

The bearded goat at the neighboring station nodded quickly with delight.

"Catch!"

Roger tossed the can through the air, causing the goat to run in an attempt to catch it. The can landed a few feet in front of him, slamming into the concrete and bursting open. The white foam coated the floor and any nearby equipment.

"Damn it, Roger! You know I can't catch with these hooves!"

"That sounds like a 'you' problem. You better clean that up before the boss sees it. He won't be happy to find a stain on the floor when he just had it pressure washed."

The goat mumbled something under his breath. Finnick was unable to make most of it out, but was able to hear something along the lines of "fucking pred." He decided it was best to ignore the statement and continue his break. Turning around, he walked to a flat tire and took a seat on the rim. Roger followed and sat down on the concrete floor with his back leaning against the tool cabinet.

"So, would you mind if I asked you a question?"

Finnick wanted to say no, but reminded himself that he needed to change his old habits.

No more hiding in your shell. You gotta learn to open up.

"Yeah sure. We got time to kill. What's on your mind?"

Roger took another sip of his beer.

"You said earlier that you made a promise to keep on a straight path. What exactly did you mean by that?"

Finnick's eyes went wide. He hadn't expected that sort of question to leave his co-worker's mouth.

"Um…"

"Sorry, I didn't mean to put you in an awkaward spot. You don't have to answer if it makes you uncomfortable."

"No, no, it's fine. I need to learn how to open up to people. I can't keep seeking shelter from everything."

Finnick took a deep breath and straightened his posture.

"To answer your question, I decided that I needed to better my life. Before I got this job, I made a living off of hustles and scams. I'm not proud to admit it, but it's something I shouldn't hide from people."

He paused to make sure Roger had no questions. The hyena was sitting at full attention, his eyes locked on Finnick. There was no sign of judgement or disgust in his eyes. His face read of nothing but understanding and acceptance.

"So anyway, I used to make my living by taking advantage of other mammals. A friend and I used to work together to accomplish them. Our most common one involved me dressing up like a kit to take advantage of unsuspecting civilians."

"I guess that's the best thing you could do considering I mistook you for a kit when you first walked in here yesterday."

He let out a small laugh before quickly putting a paw over his mouth.

"Sorry, I imagine you don't like getting told you look like you're five years old."

Finnick laughed as well, his booming voice echoing around the high ceilings of the shop. Aaron looked over from the station next to them, taken aback by the chilling outburst.

"Don't be sorry! You know, I would have let that infuriate me a month ago. But now, I've learned to not let the little things get to me."

Roger smiled and finished off his beer.

"If I may ask, what happened to you friend? I mean, you obviously stopped doing those hustles for a reason."

"You may have actually heard about him on the news. His name is Nick Wilde. He became the first fox officer after helping solve the Night Howler case."

"He was your friend?"

Finnick gave a silent nod.

"Well shit. Now I see why you wanted to go on a different path. It seems pretty obvious that he set an example for you."

Finnick felt a small smile growing across his muzzle. A tear started to form in the corner of his eye, but he managed to keep it from escaping.

"Yeah. I always have looked up to him. He's always been there for me. Life has always been difficult for me, but Nick always knew exactly what to do. He never let life beat him down."

Roger reached out and placed a paw on Finnick's shoulder. He gave it a small squeeze of assurance.

"Well let me tell you something. I can fully guarantee you that he is so fucking proud of you. If I were in his shoes, it would really warm my heart to someone turn their life around because of me."

The fennec wiped an eye with the back of his paw. Over the course of the conversation, his ears had gradually flattened against his back.

"Damn it, Roger. You really had to make me get emotional, didn't you?" Finnick let out a laugh, doing his best to conceal his inner emotions. He would eventually get to the point where his feelings were not a big deal to share with friends, but that moment was far away.

"My bad. I really didn't mean to do that." The hyena removed his paw from Finnick's shoulder. Letting his co-worker recompose himself, Roger sat in silence an simply watched.

They both turned their attention as a phone started to ring, Finnick got up from the tire and grabbed it.

"Looks like it's been half an hour. We can continue this another time. Let's suit up and get that clearcoat done. I'm tired and want to go home."

Roger crumpled his beer can and tossed it into a nearby trash can.

"Being tired will take some getting used to. You'll find that you're on your feet constantly."

Finnick tucked his ears back into his suit and lifted the hood over his head. As he slipped on his mask, he thought just how lucky he was to have Roger as a co-worker. The hyena walked up behind him and grabbed the paint gun Finnick had filled with clearcoat.

"I'll go ahead and turn on the vents."

"Alright."

As Roger left to unlock the paint booth, Finnick found his mind wonder back to his life just over a month. He would have never thought he would be earning an honest living. It may not have paid as much as some of the hustles, but money wasn't everything. The fennec may have given up the hustling the life, but gained a close friend in return.

Edited by Jack_NWH