Nick was almost to the fence, but he slowed intentionally. A red flag flew in Judy's mind even though Bo urged her on to overtake and win the race. With a mighty bound, the two rabbits sprung nimbly over the picketed fence... while Nick ducked behind it. It was too late and the trap sprung, a line of readied bunny children stepping on the hose to build up pressure, and letting fly a torrent of water as Judy & Bo cleared the fence. With the fox's height, he must've seen it at the last minute and reacted appropriately. As for the older rabbits, they couldn't stick the landing and so fell upon soft grass, all while the hose kept spraying to the cheers & laughter of her siblings.
"Judy, Mom says you took too long talking, so we were t'come out and get you," said one of her younger sisters.
"Yeah, but she also, she also said you weren't t'come in all dirty, and stuff," said a younger brother.
"That tricky fox called for a race after he started running," laughed Bo, standing and helping Judy to her feet, "Some would call that 'cheating'."
"How else could I get you two lovebirds back to the house?" smirked Nick, leaning on the fence.
"We saw Mr. Wilde running up, so we got the hose!" said another younger brother.
"But we're not suppose t'spray him, 'cause he's a guest," said another younger sister.
"Finally," said a voice from on high, about 3 feet off the ground and hanging out a window, "the both of you, change into some dry clothes, breakfast is almost ready. Come around to the patio, I'll bring you some towels. Nick, sweetie, it's great to see you again," Bonnie greeted, and then withdrew back inside.
Judy & Bo shook water from their fur as Nick sauntered to the gate and let himself in, the younger rabbits running to the front at the promise of breakfast. He had that air about him, that sure-of-everything, untouchable air of when she first saw him, "Better hustle, you two, wouldn't want to keep the family waiting."
Oh, Nick... thought Judy.
Gideon sat in the porch swing with a mug of coffee, idly rocking to-&-fro, chatting with a towel-pile adjacent Bonnie; the motherly rabbit rose up to address the three of them but paused, instead descending the steps and meeting them on the grass. "I saw the boulder as it ran by, the thing was enormous," she said in a sweet tone, handing out the towels to each of the rabbits. Gideon wasn't far behind, handing off the mug to Nick.
"Don't worry, I didn't drink any, can't stand the stuff," he said to the other fox's questioning glance.
"Bo, you get to the outdoor shower first, Judy, you don't mind waiting, do you?" instructed Bonnie, already ushering the larger rabbit towards a shed jutting out from the side of the house. Judy, a bit taken aback, shook her head in agreement but it seemed her mother already accepted some implied compliance, and instead turning to Gideon to solicit his aid, "Gideon, dear, could you help with the water boiler? The hot water spigot is sticking again."
"I could help with that, Mrs. H," offered Bo, draping the towel around his neck.
"Oh, you're a sweetheart, but the boiler's around the corner from the shower shed, you know that. I want you cleaned up ASAP, so you head off and we'll go to the boiler," insisted Bonnie, "it'll be quicker that way." By some unknown strength of will, Bonnie was guiding the farm boys away from Nick & Judy, and soon enough, it seemed like they were the only living souls for miles. Nick glanced back to a nearby planter, and had himself a seat on the knee-high brick wall; Judy joined him.
"Moms, right?" commented Judy.
"Yep," said Nick, thoughtfully. He sniffed the coffee, and then sipped it, made a delighted noise at the taste, and drank a bit more, "She makes amazing coffee, though." He handed the mug off to a towel-shawled Judy, whom took a sip from the other side of the mug's rim, and then folded his paws to lean forward, arms resting at his knees.
The early-to-mid morning light and sounds covered the silence between them, before Judy spoke up, "I owe you an explanation, Nick."
"You don't need to," he said, looking to his partner and friend.
"I want to," she replied, and looked up at him, handing back the coffee mug for the fox to sip. "Bo & I... we knew each other since we were kids. We were in all the same classes, we graduated together, and I didn't know it until recently, but he had a crush on me." She smiled, and chuckled a bit, "The other kids called him 'Bo Branches', because he was tall, gangly, and looked like a tree. Everything about him was long, except his ears.
"When I came back, during the pred-scare, I was officially on sabbatical but honestly, I left the force. I was in a deep, dark place those months away from Zootopia," she accepted the coffee mug and took another sip, "It took everything I had to get up each morning, only to wait for the day to end. I couldn't sleep, but I couldn't stay awake, either. I heard the news from the city, about another 'savage attack' or another protest. It felt like the world burned and I was the spark. Everything I believed in, everything I tried to do to help the world is what broke it." She looked down into the black coffee, and softly smiled, "Then I met Bo. I didn't recognize him at first, because he was already 3'2" and 64lbs, but I saw him digging out a boulder in the fields. Mom told me to bring out some lemonade to him, and I didn't realize she put two glasses on the tray until I almost dropped them. He came out of the hole, and I reacted in the same way you did."
"Except you squeaked?" Nick asked with a smirk.
"No!" she snapped, but admitted, "...Yes. It was the first time in almost a month that I felt anything. I watched him dig out the boulder, and he said he could get it out faster if he had someone scooping out the dirt while he braced from underneath. So, I helped; we got it out, and then talked, drank lemonade... that helped, a little. He was only a friend at that point, but it was nice to have a friend." She handed the mug back to Nick, and as he took a sip, she leaned on his side.
"Umm..." said the fox, "...There's more, isn't there."
"Yeah..." she sighed, bringing her legs up and under the towel, now wrapped around her with only her toes sticking out. "I was still in a bad place, Nick, because whenever I thought I could lift myself up, I remembered what I did to Zootopia. There were some nights, when everyone was asleep, that I snuck into the kitchen..." She took a deep breath, "At first, I only stared at the knives..."
Nick's fur stood on end, and his arm hugged around her protectively.
"Every night, I got a little closer, a little surer that it was the right thing to do. I managed to get a hold of one, draw it out so I could see the blade. Eventually, I stood with my wrist over the sink, and knew how to... how to do it so it was fast, so that it would... ya'know, do it. I read police and coroner reports like magazine articles, because I wanted to be prepared for anything & everything in the ZPD. I also knew how it would affect my loved ones, but I still thought it was the right thing to do. To atone for what I did.
"I didn't know it then – I didn't really notice much of anything – but Bo slept on the couch because he was working double-time to get the crops out for market. I guess he heard me, because the next thing I remember, he grabbed the knife away from me and I was crying into his chest with a whirlwind of emotion. Bo carried me to the couch, holding me all through the night, and it was the first time I really slept in weeks.
"After that I went to therapy, and eventually fell more in love with Bo. Everything he did made me happy, even when he wasn't trying to... especially when he wasn't trying to," she said with a giggle, "We talked about him going to the MMA, I helped him with digging rocks or plowing the field, and he helped me become me again." Her legs folded out from the towel to rest on the ground again, reaching out to grab the coffee and sitting up, Nick stretching his back.
"He's my rock," said Judy.
"He's a rock, alright," answered Nick.
"Hush, you," she reprimanded with a smirk.
"Since we're opening up, I have a secret, too."
"Is that so," Judy swirled the coffee in the mug, "Is this something I'll need to write you up for?"
"Only if you have jurisdiction from a much higher court," he said, glancing skyward. Judy saw this face only once before, and that as on the train of the night prior. She was excited and scooted closer. "I visited my parents yesterday, and truly spoke to them for the first time in nearly 20 years." Judy gasped quietly, clutching the mug and raptly listening. "My dad's a tailor, and my mom keeps house. They're both alive & well; as it turns out, they've been waiting for me all this time. It began on that night I told you about, with the Junior Ranger Scouts.
"I ran home after the meeting, crying, but it was the same day that Dad opened his own shop, and they were so happy. I didn't want to ruin it, so I kept it all in and pretended everything was okay. This went on for years, until teenage angst came out, and I hated them for loving me with all the hormonal logic I could muster. It got worse, and when I finally came to my senses, it seemed too little, too late.
"So, I drifted from them, and pushed away from them, but never forgot them, always wondering if they still loved me. I couldn't go back until I made something of myself, something they could hold up and say, 'That's our son, that's Nick Wilde'." He pulled out his phone and brought up a photo of him & his parents to Judy's gasp of delight, "This is us from yesterday. I'm seeing them again next weekend and you're welcome to come along, if you want." To this, Judy balled up with a high squeal of glee. "I'll take that as a 'yes'," Nick said with a smile, and put away his phone. "Speaking of parents," he continued, rising to his feet and accepting the mug of coffee, "I think yours grow impatient, but before that you need to know what I found in my short time here: I think that 'pie-eating contest' was a ruse to poison a lot of rabbits at once, and Gideon was the intended scapegoat."
"'Poison'?" exclaimed Judy, leaping to her feet, "Nick, this is something you should lead with, not drop at the last minute."
"I got caught up in the moment," he explained, "Anyway, the danger is neutralized. The poison was in the whipped cream, not the pies. As long as it stays locked up in Gideon's fridge, it won't hurt anyone."
"What does this have to do with Night Howler pollen?" she asked, thinking back to the coded signals.
"That was the 'poison', probably some new kind of concentration. I only had a little bit of whipped cream and my heart stopped," he sighed, shivering at the realization of how close to death he really was, "thankfully, Gideon knew CPR."
"Oh my gosh..."
"I don't know the motive of poisoning a bunch of rabbits with Night Howler pollen, but I think the distributors are using food and flower vendors to sell their product. I saw some suspicious individuals yesterday, and from what information I could get from Clawhauser, one of them has a criminal record. I should hear back from him when I return to the city on Monday."
"Nick, we can't go back to Zootopia if there's something going on in Bunnyburrow! This won't be the only attempt, and bunnies from all over the city, all over the country will be here," she said with growing dread, but also determination, "Young, old, all kinds could be targeted, and much more than poisoned whipped cream."
"Juju!" came a voice, the two of them spinning about with bright, cheery faces, bantering idly as Bo and Gideon came up, "The shower's all ready for you, hun," said the boy rabbit, himself still looking matted with damp fur, but significantly cleaner; as it turned out his fur was actually earthen brown underneath all that mud. "Thanks, Bobo," she said, ignoring a muffled snicker from Nick.
"You two go on ahead, I need to make a phone call," he mentioned. And so, the two foxes remained in the yard as Nick turned towards the fields and pulled out his phone, dialing up Chief Bogo.
"Who ya' callin', Stretch?" Gideon asked, paws on his hips and smiling wide.
"You know who I'm calling," replied Nick blandly, not sparing a glance as he put a paw in his pocket.
"What?" replied the stouter fox, expressing amused incredulity, "Now how would I know something like that?"
"Because you're up here," he explained, and pulled his paw from his pocket to tap at his head, "Everything I know, you know, ergo, you know who I'm calling. Now go away, I have important police business to discuss." Gideon stood in front of him, not wearing his flannel and jeans but the tropical shirt, tie, and slacks, arms crossed and smirking, "Clever fox. How'd you know?"
"Judy didn't even glance in your direction," Nick began, putting the phone to his shoulder and speaking softly, "The fact that you're antagonizing me means there must be something very important to discuss, but it can wait." He put the phone back to his ear and grinned, "Good morning Chief, sleep well? ... (Loud, disgruntled noises)... Uh huh, uh huh, that's super, listen, I and probably Judy caught ourselves a real nasty cough down here in Bunnyburrow... yeah, we're both staying a few extra days until we get over it... thanks for understanding, big guy, I owe you one. Yeah huh, buh-bye."
"More code, Officer Slick?"
"The chief now knows that Judy & I are on the prowl for Night Howler pollen activity, and our absence from Zootopia will be put down to sick days. If we're caught frolicking about, he'll yell at us and 'punish' us with parking duty, the whole shebang, but it won't go on our records as delinquency or insubordination," he continued to speak in a disinterested, unattached manner, "But you already knew that, being a hallucination, as you are, and talking aloud helps me think."
He stashed his phone and picked up the coffee from the planter, having himself a seat once more. Facing the house and reclining, putting on his best relaxed demeanor, Nick raised the mug to his mouth to sip minimal amounts of coffee and speak with his imaginary associate.
"So, Dawson, what's on your mind?"
"You're a laugh riot," said 'Dawson', sitting himself adjacent, his face then softening into a smile, "Seems to me there're easier ways to kill a bunch of bunnies than 'poisoned' whipped cream."
"It's a singular way to go about it, I'll admit, but manufacturing pollen into a stable, cream-like substance can't be easy or cheap."
"Or, if mass death is really the order of the day, why use something as haphazard as a 'pie-eating contest'? Why not simply... poison the water supply? With poison?"
"There's no guarantee that the rabbits who ingest it, even the sensitive ones, will react the same way I did. They could go into shock, or roll around on the ground in a crazy acid trip," pondered Nick, ruing the fact that he didn't have any coffee left in his mug, but still he held it to his mouth to cover his moving lips.
"You'd think whatever villainous mastermind behind this scheme would have some kind of tried-&-tested poison to fall back on, like arsenic."
"What if the Night Howler pollen wasn't meant to kill a bunch of rabbits?"
"A bunch of diff'rent kinds of rabbits, 'from all over the country' she said, young & old, from burrows & cities alike."
"It's a field test," realized Nick.
"And poor ol' Gideon would be an easy patsy to blame it on if things went wrong, and they will."
"One thing I can't quite figure out, though..."
"And what's that, Stretch?"
"Why are you still here?" asked Nick, looking directly at 'Dawson' as he set his coffee mug down, "After sleep, food, and caffeine, why am I still suffering hallucinations from the small amount I ingested?"
"Well," the faux fox said with a wide, toothy grin, "that's the million dollar question ain't it, Basil?" And then he wasn't.
Nick loosed a heavy, annoyed sigh before standing and making his way to the farmhouse. He glanced off to the distance at the distinctive midnight shade of flower, standing vigilant against the insects that proved so harmful to the Hopps' produce, Something synthetic, maybe?
Up the patio steps he climbed, ducking his head to avoid the low (proportionately) porch ceiling, and then the patio door, letting him to the feasting rabbits within. It was cacophonous joy that filled the house, dozens upon dozens of rabbits joined in the kitchen to gorge upon pumpkin pancakes and vegetarian bacon. There at the counter stood busy Gideon & Bonnie, feverishly flipping flapjacks from pan to plates, operating a full 8-burner stove. Much to Nick's relief, he went mostly unnoticed edging along the counter to where three coffee pots steamed patiently; not completely unnoticed, actually, as both a cleaner Judy & Bo waved at him from across the two, long rectangular tables, to which he waved back.
"You look like you're enjoying yourself," said Nick to Gideon, leaning near the kitchen sink with a refilled mug of black coffee, Ahh... caffeinated bliss...
"It was certainly a blessing that Gideon decided to stay for the TBR," Bonnie said as the stouter fox chuckled, "Our house isn't quite so busy the rest of the year, but we've got Stu's side visiting, and my side visiting – don't get me wrong, I love each and every rabbit under this roof – but I won't deny, it's nice to have someone helping in the kitchen that I don't have to watch like a hawk."
"Y'hear that, Nick?" remarked Gideon, exchanging grins with Nick, "A rabbit turning her back on a fox."
"Now stop it, you two, that's quite enough of this 'fox-&-rabbit' business," she said with a quick turn on the both of them, a greasy wooden spoon wagging dangerously, but turning right back to deal with the veggie bacon, "I know you mean it in good fun, but I've been trying to get that out of my bunnies for the longest time now." The air grew heavy in the kitchen, for the voice of Mom spoke and all with ears listened, some not daring to chew. "There're a lot of rabbits coming into Bunnyburrow, and they haven't all accepted foxes as friends, even the ones from Zootopia, but... gosh darnit!" she declared, striking the butt of his wooden spoon into the nearby counter, "If I can trust a fox, then-" she stopped to look about at the gravely silent kitchen. "Alright, let's clean this up; we've got lots of work to do but not all day to do it!"
As a wizard commands the elements and a general their army, so did the dozens upon dozens of rabbits turn from jubilee to pandemonium, clinking dishes and shifting chairs at the Hopps matriarch's command. Nick barely leapt away from the sink fast enough, skulking as swift as a breeze across the counter top and chair backs, straining all a fox's innate agility afforded him to escape the kitchen without spilling his coffee.
In the safety of the patio entryway from whence he came, Nick witnessed a bewildering tumult of washing, drying, and stacking dishes; and poor Gideon, clinging to the counter near the stove while trying to turn off the burners. There stood Bonnie, calm in the storm caused by the swarming rabbits, whose very movements seemed to produce a vacuum of air to whip gales through the kitchen.
It was only seconds that Nick could catch his breath before realizing that he was still in mortal danger: standing in one of three exits from the kitchen. Thanking his advantage of height and all those chin-ups he suffered through at the ZPD academy, Nick reached high to grab one of the patio's rafters and hoist himself away from the path of a bunny deluge.
"You can let go now, Nick," came Judy's calming voice after some many minutes.
"I rather like it up here," he determined, claws digging into the woodwork, feet locked around the rafter, one paw holding out his mug of perked black, and him staring intently into the ceiling.
"I'll take this," came Gideon's voice, relieving the weight of the cup, which Nick released.
"I gotcha," came Bo's voice, whose mitts braced Nick's as he tensed before releasing the rafter. Righted, the taller fox stood and straightened his back, receiving the coffee from his fellow fox, and downed its remains in a single gulp. Quietly and observed, he walked into a kitchen which had not a single dish, pan, utensil, or chair out of place; rinsed out his mug in the sink and set it to dry on a nearby dish rack. Nick strode back to the patio entryway and addressed.
"Well," he said, casually smiling and folding his paws in front, "that was exciting."
"I dunno 'bout you," interjected Gideon, "but I find it terrifying."
"It takes some getting used to," beamed Judy.
"I been here a while and I still ain't used to it," huffed the stouter fox.
"And the day's only begun, so I will need to speak with the two of you," he said, nodding to Gideon and Judy, and then to Bo, "privately." Bo instantly looked put-off, silently questioning between Judy and Nick, even Gideon, who only shrugged in sympathetic confusion. Nick approached the larger rabbit with both paws on his broad shoulders, "This is nothing personal, and I do like you," he began, dropping all pretense in a moment of rare, absolute honesty, "but I cannot stress how important it is that you are not involved in this next conversation. Normally, I would deceive you in some clever and well-meaning way to leave us alone, however, I will not do that, because I suspect there will come a time in the near future when we will need your help; more importantly, I respect the love you & Judy have for one another, as well as your personal integrity. For now, I ask that you trust me, and let us speak privately. Please."