Author Notes: I hope you all enjoy this next chapter. Please let me know your thoughts and reviews on the story as it unfolds. As always, thank you to those of you following this story. Please keep your comments coming, I really do enjoy reading all of them.

CHAPTER 7

In the months that followed since Nick's return, Judy felt an unknowing sense in the fox, and his mannerisms. While the two of them rarely saw one another Judy felt, whenever they did cross each other's paths, warm inside for the briefest of moments.

During an early spring day, Sophie and Judy, taking a short break with lessons, chose to enjoy a few hours outside. Sophie, having grown just slightly since the winter months, was happily playing Judy in a game of badminton along the manor's back gardens. Full of energy and laughing, Sophie was becoming very good, having only just learned the game a few weeks prior. Judy, happy to be out in the warm sunlight, felt as if she were alive once more. The warm sunlight hitting upon her face, Judy laughed as she missed the shuttlecock Sophie had struck toward her, landing a few feet away from them.

Walking over and bending down as she retrieved the shuttlecock along the well-manicured lawn, Judy's ears quickly began hearing something nearby. Looking along the manor's beautifully kept low gardens, what she saw simply amazed her. Henry Patterson, the manor's old lovable beaver gardener, was hard at work with his apprentice, Kreston, and astoundingly, Nick himself. Nick, Judy thought, his shirt sleeve cuffs rolled up along his arms, actually engaged in physical labor. Together, working as a team, Judy and Sophie watched as all three mammals were attempting to remove a rather large stump from out of the ground.

"Henry, easy now, Kreston lift your end up higher." Nick could be heard calling out instructions. Turning his head, Nick looked toward the direction of the two ladies, giving both a slight grin as he held tightly to the stump.

Judy, transfixed by this sight, quickly turned back toward Sophie, her cheeks suddenly becoming flushed as she continued on with the game.

"Your cheeks are rosy Miss Hopps." Sophie said laughing slightly as she stared at Judy a few minutes later.

"Are they?" Judy said shockingly, touching her face with her free paw. "I…I think it's getting too cold out here. Let's go back inside and finish today's lessons, yes." Judy said walking over and setting her and Sophie's rackets down quickly at a nearby wooden bench.

Later that evening Judy, having left Sophie in her day nursery, reached the great hall and turned to glance into the side parlor. She noticed the low burning oil lamps along the room walls. Turning her head once more, suddenly along a low lit passageway, softly in the distance, the sound of a violin being to play. Walking along a corridor unknown to her before, having never ventured fully within the manor, she listened as soft music continued to lead her through the lonely passage. Stopping suddenly, she listened as the violins beautiful music suddenly stopped. As she turned, her eyes searching, she felt uneasiness start to come over her, "Where am I?" Judy asked herself as she simply stood along the corridor's high walls. As she began taking deep breaths, fear slowly building up within her, the violin once more began to play. Nearing a single door along a side passageway, Judy slowly leaned her head against the cold wooden door. Closing her eyes, she listened happily to the rhythm of the strings as they vibrated, her heart entranced by the tones emanating from it.

Grasping the door handle, she felt the door latch slowly release, as she pressed lightly on the door. Peering into the room, Judy became utterly breathless with what lay within. The room, Judy observed, was large and ornate, adorned by elegant gold inlays and white walls. Turning her eyes high above, hanging from either end of the room were two elegant brass eight gas light chandeliers. A powder blue ceiling encircled both chandeliers high above white Italian tile flooring, its beauty lost by the low illumination the room's low lit surroundings. Lowering her eyes back down, she quickly noticed, in between two large grand windows draped closed by white silk curtains, the rather small fire burning from within a large white marble mantel fireplace.

"Miss Hopps. Please come in." A voice spoke from within the depths of the room.

Judy, not noticing the mysterious figure standing close to the fire, suddenly felt shocked and amazed to discover it was Nick. Dressed in a dark pair of trousers, he wore a white long sleeve shirt with a black burgundy patterned vest. One paw held loosely to his side with a violin, the other, a violin bow.

"I am sorry, Mr. Wilde, I just heard the violin playing and I wanted to…I am sorry I will leave you, forgive me. "Judy said nervously as her eyes meet his from across the room.

"Nonsense, Miss Hopps, please come in." Nick said as he sat the violin and bow on a small pedestal table.

Motioning his paw toward a pair of upholstered arm chairs close to him, Nick silently began to walk toward the closer of the two chairs. Reaching it, he immediately sat down. Judy, hesitant in allowing herself to be drawn into close interactions with Nick, watched as he sat down, the fire light bouncing off his red fur.

"This is my dear father's work you see before you." Nick said, noticing Judy as she continued to look about the room. "He used to love going to dances, so he had this…" Nick raised his paws around the room. "…ballroom built to accommodate local dances and grand balls in his time."

Nick continued to observe Judy as she stood just inside the ballroom.

"Miss Hopps, if you like your position here, I must asked at you at least obey my wishes when I address them to those in my household." Nick said, staring at Judy from across the room, and again motioned to the empty arm chair across from him.

Slowly, Judy walked over to the arm chair and sat down, not fully able to look at Nick.

"So tell me Miss Hopps, I never got around to asking you the other night. You disappeared from us so soon that evening." Nick said cheerfully. "So now, tell me, what is your sad story?"

"Sorry? What do you mean, sad story?" Judy said suddenly turning to face Nick.

"Don't all you governesses have some form of a story about your life? I quite remember my dear late sister's governesses, Miss Prairie, talk of hers in the day nursery when I was a young kit." Nick smiled, thinking of his late younger sister for the first time in years.

"I was raised by my uncle, Mr. Footerton at first. When he died, my aunt took over with my upbringing. At around the age of ten she sent me off to Clawood. It was there I learned and received a proper education any lady would be happy to acquire. So no, Mr. Wilde I do not possess a sad story." Judy responded back, not fully convincing.

"Your parents?" Nick asked

"Dead sir, a deadly infectious fever spread throughout our village when I was an infant, I was sent to my uncle's for safe keeping." Judy replied.

"Do you have memories of them, your parents?" Nick asked, watching her.

"No sir." Judy replied in a low tone.

"So why are you not with your aunt, Mrs. Footerton?" Nick said, watching her reactions toward his questioning.

"She never loved me, she only thought of me as a threat to her own children. So she sent me to live at Clawood, to be fully rid of me." Judy said, taking a deep breath, as she prevented those unhappy memories to manifest.

"How long were you there for?" Nick asked.

"I remained at Clawood for fourteen years, sir. Five as student, three as a teacher's apprentice, and a further six years as a teacher." Judy said with confidence.

"Yet through all that, you claim to tell me, you have no sad story." Nick said, laughing softly, grinning back at Judy.

For nearly twenty minutes, neither one spoke to one another. Judy, not wishing to, slowly began glancing up at Nick as he watched the fire burn down in the fireplace.

"You are examining me, Miss Hopps." Nick spoke softly as his head turned to face Judy's eyes. "Do you find me handsome?"

"No, sir." Judy said quickly, not thinking of what she was saying.

Nick simply laughed at this quick answer.

"What I meant to say was…" Judy spoke quickly, but was interrupted by Nick.

"No, do not try to change your answer, it was an honest one." Nick said to Judy as he stood up laughing once more, walking up to the fire to warm himself. "What faults do you find in me, by your observation?" Nick said, turning around to face Judy once more. "Does the sheer fact that I am a fox revolt you, Miss Hopps?"

"No sir, I…"

"Are my looks not charming enough, my eyes, ears…my smile?" Nick asked, interrupting Judy.

"They are all charming in their own right, Mr. Wilde." Judy said not wishing to give herself away with thoughts rushing through her head. "What I mean to say, is that in the matters of beauty and looks, I find them of no real importance."

"The facts are, Miss Hopps, I ask you these questions to draw you out, so to speak. A sense in which we may speak openly, you may even say." Nick walked back to the chair next to Judy. "So, talk to me, Miss Hopps."

"You wish me to talk to you openly and as equals, yet you command me to engage in this action in manners equal to an officer giving orders to their troops." Judy replied back.

"Do I come across to you as an unequal? That you are harmed by the manner in which I, the master of my own house, ask of my employees? "Nick said in a heavy tone, though not wishing to.

"It is of my own opinion, Mr. Wilde, there far too few masters who feel at all concerned enough to have such a need to ask of their paid employees such things. And if the manner in which they instruct them is or is not harmful to the individual." Judy responded to Nick questions.

"You are a rare breed, Miss Hopps, by the manner in which you, yourself, speak." Nick said rising up from his chair.

"Thank you Mr. Wilde, I will take that as a complement." Judy replied to Nicks remarks, allowing herself a small smile.

"Now I feel its best if we leave our discussion for another time, do you not agree?" Nick said reaching for the violin and bow.

Yes, perhaps we should, goodnight, Mr. Wilde." Judy said rising out of her chair. Slowly, Judy began to make her way back toward the door. Reaching it, she turned back to watch Nick start to play once more close to the fire.

Over the course of the next few weeks, Judy found herself having several more intriguing conversations with Nick. While she continued to show no physical emotions toward him, she found herself longingly waiting each time after, eagerly waiting to be in his company once more.

"Mr. Wilde, could you tell anything more about Sophie's mother? Judy asked one day during a wonderful spring day, walking along the manors ground, close to a lovely stream.

"Sophie's mother was from the capital city, Zootopia. During my younger adult years, I was called upon to take over the major running of the manor, due my father's untimely sickness and later passing. Business, I came to find out, forced me to the capital almost weekly." Nick spoke as both continued to walk along the water's edge. "One night, I ventured to this stage performance. I do not even recall the name of it now, if you would believe me." Nick laughed to himself at this realization. "Seeing her on the stage, Elizabeth, was her name, I was simple struck by her beauty.

"So you married her." Judy said softly.

"No. But she was my grand passion. Sometime later, on one of my return trips to her, she had simply vanished. I searched for her, spending nearly a small fortune in the course of it." Nick, taking a deep breath, stopped along a tall oak tree, motioning to Judy to sit with him at a nearby bench. "When I finally did find her almost four years ago, I immediately went to her, only to find her destitute and dying. She asked me, lying there on her death bed, asking me for her forgiveness. It then she told me of Sophie."

Judy, sitting next to him, could do nothing but look at Nick, his head lowered to his chest as he relived such sorrowful memories.

"Have you ever been in love, Miss Hopps?" Nick asked, raising his head up to look at her.

"No, sir, I have not" Judy replied.

"I thought as much from how young you are, for you have never really felt real love. Your heart sleeps, Miss Hopps, so soundly. But I will tell you, Miss Hopps, there will come a day in your life when it will wake, and you will feel so totally helpless to stop it." Nick said, still staring at Judy.

Later that night along Judy's bedroom corridor, a shadowy figure was walking along the lonely passages. Judy, sleeping lightly in her bed, was suddenly awakened by the sound of thumping along her bedroom walls.

"Hello?" Judy softly called out. Her eyes quickly scanned her bedroom.

Suddenly, turning her gaze to her bedroom door, she watched as the door handle began to shake as if someone desperately wanted entrance.

"Sophie? Is that you?" She quickly called out. The sound of heavy breathing and then the grisly sound of laughter began to echo along the hall. "Who's there?" Judy spoke out once more, louder.

Withdrawing herself from the warm covers of the bed, she placed both feet onto the cold bedroom floor, her mind feeling a sense of fear descend as she stood in her room dressed in her white nightdress. Slowly crossing to the bedroom door, she listened carefully as she slowly began to unlatch the bedroom lock. Opening her door, she leaned slowly out along the long dark corridor, gazing into the blackness of the night. Stepping out fully in the corridor landing, a low cackle suddenly sounded to her left as Judy turned staring down the passage. Walking along the hallway, Judy suddenly noticed something as she neared an adjoining hallway. Sitting on the wooden floor sat a small candle burning in a simple holder. Reaching down, she raised the candle to eye level as she turned around, looking for whoever may have left it on the floor.

Suddenly Judy's senses began to notice something quickly and she watched as smoke slowly beginning to creep along the lonely hallway. Following the trail of smoke, Judy stopped near the far end of the hallway at a half opened doorway. Reaching the door, she slowly pushed the door fully open. What her eyes looked upon as she entered sent a strong chill down along her spine. Entering a magnificent large bedroom she found Nick, laying in a king size bed currently on fire.

"Mr. Wilde! Mr. Wilde! Wake up please!" Judy began to call out, rushing to him and shaking him.

Rushing to a nearby wash stand close by the bedroom door, she quickly grabbed a half filled wash bowl, and threw it onto fire. Still unable to wake Nick, Judy, turning back to the wash stand, grabbed the water pitcher and quickly threw the contents into the face of the heavily sleeping Nick, waking him finally.

"Mr. Wilde, you need to get up." Judy called out again.

"What the hell is going on here?" Nick yelled out as he jumped out of bed in his nightshirt. Quickly grabbing and tearing the side curtains off along the bedframe, he quickly began smothering the fire out. Jane crossing the bedroom began opening the windows, allowing fresh air into the room.

"Someone tried to set fire to your bed while you sleep, sir!" Judy said, looking at Nick on the floor.

"So you thought you would try and drown me as well, did you?" Nick said standing up.

"Mr. Wilde, I found that candle…" Judy said pointing to the candle on the washing station. "…sitting on the floor down the hallway from you. I heard someone trying to enter my room moments before that, laughing." Walking back to the door, Judy turned back to Nick. "I'll go wake Mrs. Otterton and…."

"You will do no such thing!" Nick called out. "What could she possibly do?" Nick spoke frantically. "Sit down, Miss Hopps, over here. You're shaking." Nick spoke, motioning her to a chair.

"I must not, sir, I need to go back to my room." Judy said shakily

"You just saved my life and now want to leave me. Do as you are told and sit down." Nick said in stern tone. "Stay here, I will be back in a minute." Nick said speaking fast, leaving Judy in the room alone.

Minutes later, returning to the bedroom, Nick glanced as Judy shivered in the chair, one of his blankets wrapped around her. Walking up to her, he sat down against the slightly burned bed.

"Why do you allow her to stay here, this Anna? Why is she always up on the third floor, laughing throughout hallways at night? Is she another passion of yours?" Judy asked Nick softly.

"Anna? Yes…Anna. She has been a faithful servant of my family." Nick replied back, a little too weakly.

"She could have killed you." Judy spoke, fear in her voice.

"She did not kill me, you saved me, Miss Hopps." Nick spoke, as he knelt down alongside the chair with Judy. Reaching out with his paws he gently enclosed hers in his. "These soft, wonderful paws…" He softly began brushing them, his eyes, level with hers.

"I must return to my room…goodnight." Judy spoke quickly, interrupting Nick, suddenly jumping up, rushing out of his bedroom and leaving him in a state of shock.

Back in her own room, Judy curled up within her own bed, lost in the events which had just fallen upon her. Crying softly, she slowly closed her eyes as she felt her body give way to the emotions now erupting inside her.