Opening Authors Note: You're in bed, face stuffed into your pillow. Secretly, you have a dopey grin on your face and butterflies flittering in your stomach. Your phone is on and it casts its white light up at your bedroom ceiling. On its screen is a simple text: 'Sleep well'. Does this remind you of anything?
…
The simple horizontal line break (the vaguely opaque line, exemplified below) is used to denote "flashback" sequences (which are denoted by the glyph: …). When you see the horizontal line break, a flashback has begun, not a simple scene transition. The flashback ends when you see the horizontal line break again. Remember these rules so as to avoid confusion. Happy Reading!
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…
It's frustrating to be woken up suddenly, even if you had just been in the throes of a nightmare.
Angela tossed her covers off her cot in search of her phone. Not finding it, and in a sleep-drunk state of pissed-off-ness, her paws fumbled around for the light socket next to the cot, feeling for the phone charger. Once they found it, they followed the cable down under the cot, scratching at the tile floor until she could just barely feel the mobile device. She scraped the damned thing with her index claw to bring it a little closer.
Mornings that don't begin with her searching under her cot for her phone, knocked off the bed due to her constant night-fits, have become few and far between. Oh, but still, it would have been nice to deal with the issue in the morning. If only it hadn't gone off, with its damned ding-a-ling pricking her ears. Now she very well has to look, doesn't she?
She pinched it between two sharp claws.
Gotcha, fucker.
She lifted it slowly, cautiously, but eager to set it back on the cot…
And, predictably, it slipped, falling back down to the floor below.
Angela collapsed back onto the mattress pad, muzzle smushed into its foam.
So be it. Doesn't really matter. There are all kinds of webs down there and she didn't fancy being bitten by some arachnid arthropod anyways. Thanks, but no thanks.
And then it beeped again.
She let out a whine and down the side of the cot went her arm again, wiggling and clambering for the stupid, stupid device.
There it is.
She'd dropped it closer to the wall this time, so she only had to grip it with her whole paw and lift it up. She let it rest in front of her for a moment, blinking sleep away from her eyes. With a press of the home button, the lock screen blinded her. She unlocked and checked the notification. It was a text.
Ah.
What an exceptionally interesting development, one which nobody could have possibly seen coming. Nobody ever texts her.
Not that she'd ever admit such a thing to anyone, especially not to you.
Her index claw hung shakily over the little text bubble icon, a glowing 2 overlaid in its bottom right-pawed corner. Should she press it? Does she really want to open this can of worms?
Oh, what does it matter, we all know she's going to press it. There'd be no point not to. Guess there's no point in pressing it either.
Just press it, Angela.
Angela?
With a shaky finger, she pressed it.
Jack: Angela
Jack: Angela?
Of course! Of course, it was him. Who else would have the bunny balls to bother her at… (hold on, she had to check her the time in the upper-right pawed corner of the screen) three in the morning? She pressed her face in the pillows again before mustering up the energy to reply.
This ought to show him:
Angela: What the fuck is your deal, dude? Why do you only ever text me in the middle of the night?
There we go. She set him straight. Hope that teaches him not to be an inconsiderate douche bag, though it probably won't. Now she just has to wait for him to respond with his usual onerous bullshit. Lucky for her, and unlucky for him, she has a myriad of tricks up her sleeve to deal with mammals like him. She'd been dying to try out some of these one-liners. Forays into the world beyond the walls of her little mechanics shop are rare, so she doesn't run into bothersome folk very often.
Whatever, he'll be dead as soon as he responds. Bam, pow! Tirer commes des lapins, and through no one's fault but his own.
Yes.
Oh, as soon as he responds, she's going to rake him over the flames. She'll just let him have it. It'll be like a Thanksgiving feast up in here. Or at least it would be if they lived in a backwards world where rabbit is a Thanksgiving feast staple. Or a world where Thanksgiving was a holiday period.
Regardless, it'll be like a holiday or whatever, one where rabbits are totally cooked by sick one-liners.
Strangely, he didn't respond.
Some sort of worry seed was planted in her gut at that moment.
Perhaps the guy needed more prodding. Of course, she'd have to then accept part of the blame for the ensuing argument. If she didn't want to talk, she'd ignore him. Whatever. Blame like that could be easily shouldered. What couldn't be shouldered was that awful feeling pressing at the back of her mind.
Angela: Jack?
And still no response.
Queer thoughts began to seep through her head and down into that gut of hers, watering those worry seeds.
Where was he supposed to be right now? He said something about finding that Nick Wilde guy. What part of town did he go to? Was it dangerous over there?
Now that she thought about it, this rabbit was the only one who'd ever seemed to understand what she was going through. Compounding that, he's the only one mammal to text her in several months. She might act like he's a nuisance, but there was something about that rabbit. She thought she hated him, but something in his little blue eyes told her she could trust him, even if the whole his trustworthy parts formed seemed altogether untrustworthy. Dreadful branches spread throughout her body and up her throat, choking her.
What if he was in danger? What if he was dying? What if he chose to try and talk with her one last time before he bled out?
What if she just read that desperate plea and laughed at him?
Angela: Are you there?
Angela: Is everything ok?
It's strange how nothing seemed to matter in this world anymore, and yet her heart was crawling up her throat. Shaky paws can't hold phones, so she set hers back down on the mattress. The crown forming at the top of her tree split her head and made it hard to breathe.
But her phone beeped again.
Jack: Are you nagging because I woke you up?
Jack: Aren't foxes nocturnal?
Relief. Relief washed over her completely, and in its hot floods that bastard tree was swept away. She knew that none of this should matter to her, but relief flowed freely anyways.
Ah,
She was going to kill this rabbit.
…
The moon seemed so red tonight.
At least, that's how Jack's strained eyes saw it. Luckily for him, there was no Hopps farmer around to catch him resting out in the wheat grass near the farm. He thumped his phone against his stitched-up paw in frustration.
Why was he doing this? What could this possibly achieve? It all seemed very stupid, even in that moment.
"C'mon… C'mon!" he hissed under his breath. There was trouble brewing in his chest again, like he was going to vomit.
Bad luck! Couldn't get a signal.
But oh, the swelling began in his chest grew. The pain above his stomach ached him into a rocking position. If only he could just sink down into the ground. Or maybe just fall asleep. Lose consciousness.
Wait. Opening his eyes, he saw that the signal bars grew.
His texts went through.
Jack: Angela
Jack: Angela?
He waited, staring blindly at his phone for a minute. And then another minute. The thought suddenly occurred to him that she was ignoring him. Perhaps he deserved it. This was his second time texting her in the middle of the night. Nobody wants to be texted at three in the morning.
Somewhere between seeing his texts go through and the realization that he was being a nuisance, he lost his breath. If he could only get comfortable in the grass…
No matter which way he tossed or turned, he still felt sick.
His phone beeped.
Angela: What the fuck is your deal, dude? Why do you only ever text me in the middle of the night?
Oh, god, this was a horrible idea. He pissed her off. He dry-heaved into the Hopp's wheat grass.
His phone beeped again.
What's he gone and done this for? God, he fucked up. It's just fuck up after fuck up-
And again, the phone beeped.
Should he bother checking to see what she sent? There's no way it's going to be pretty.
Angela: Jack?
Angela: Are you there?
Angela: Is everything ok?
W-Woah…
It almost seemed like she cared.
Does this mean she cares? Cautiously, he smiled at his phone.
Jack: Are you nagging because I woke you up?
Jack: Aren't foxes nocturnal?
Angela: …
Jack: C'mon
Angela: …
Jack: Don't give me the ellipses treatment
Jack: knock it off
Jack: !
Angela: No foxes aren't nocturnal, you fluffy fucker. Whoever told you that was a blubbering nincompoop
Angela: A total waste of space
Angela: Did you tell it to yourself?
Angela: Seems like you something you would say
She called him fluffy, and for one reason or another, that made him smile.
Jack: My biology textbook told me that
Jack: You
Jack thought hard for a second.
Jack: damn idiot
Slain.
Angela: Well I'm not nocturnal so you can stuff it.
Angela: I swear to god, you beeter have a good reason for waking me up
Angela: better*
Angela: See? I can't even correctly
Angela: I can't even type correctly
Angela: My phones too bright
Jack: too bright for your nocturnally adapted eyes?
Angela: Yeah. Also, it's three in the morning.
Jack: Can you relax a little?
Jack: do you have the capacity for such things
Angela: I have the mouth capacity to eat baby bunnies like you
Jack: You can't threaten me
Jack: I'm a cop
Jack: asshole
Angela: yes, you're a cop asshole
Angela: Excellent. I'm glad we've reached this conclusion, pipsqueak
At the sight of the vixen's shitty joke – which was not funny in any way, shape or form, by the way – Jack relaxed further into the grass. An easiness took hold of him and all his queasiness left him. He started to feel a little hot.
But then he looked back at his phone. The signal bars dropped.
Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck…
With a few quick thumps of his filleted hand - though he was pretty sure this wasn't actually doing anything and the signal bars were jumping of their own accord - the signal restored itself.
Jack: Sorry, phone lost signal
Angela: Oh good. I was afraid I was going to have to actually get some sleep
Angela: Where are you anyways
Jack: Bunnyburow
Angela: Nice nice
Angela: Lots of bunnies
Angela: and burrows, I'm guessing
Angela: Sounds like your kind of place
The moon shone violently above him.
Jack: I thought I'd like it
Jack: But we're staying with Judy's parents. And I think it's driving me nutty
Angela: then why don't you just leave
Jack: I can't. I think it's going to be good for Judy
Angela: I think little ms. Hopps can take care of herself. She's a big girl
Angela: bigger than you
Jack: We're the same size
Angela: no
Jack: yes
Angela: no
Jack: Please don't start
For a moment, not a text was sent from either side.
Jack: You can sleep if you want
Jack: I know you're probably busy all the time
Jack: fixing stuff or whatever for people
Angela: No
Angela: It's whatever. I don't even have anything to do tomorrow. Nobody gives me work anymore
Angela: Plus, you're the only one who ever texts me. So I think I'll suffer through this
Somewhere, a vixen's muzzle is pressed against her pillow. And, like, not in the good way or anything.
Jack: Cool. You're the only one who texts back.
That same vixen breathed a sigh of relief. But a rabbit moaned at himself.
Angela: Are you guys still chasing after Nick
Jack: Caught
Jack: I caught him
Angela: did you really?
Jack: yes easily
Angela: Yeah?
Jack: yes, I tackled him
Angela: Did you now
Jack: we wrestled but I won because I'm surprisingly well built and large for a rabbit
Angela: ok somehow I doubt that it happened like
Angela: anything like that
Angela: because you are a horrible sarcastic devil rabbit which I hate
Angela: but I assume you are not being sarcastic when you say you caught him
Jack: yes
Jack: caught isn't really the right word
Jack: but yes
Jack: we're together again
Jack: Judy and I also decided against turning him in for making a break for it
Jack: which I think you might appreciate
Angela: yeah
Angela: I've actually done some thinking on the subject, and I've come to the conclusion that it doesn't matter what you do with him
Jack: what
Angela: He's going to die anyways
Jack: Ok
Jack: stop
Jack: lets stop with this nihilism bullshit
Angela: ?
Jack: Nick said the exact same goddamn thing
Jack: And I'm sick of it
Jack: as in I think I'm going to actually be sick
Jack: the thought makes my fucking stomach churn.
Angela: but it's unavoidable
Angela: you're going to die too
Jack: Ok, now that is an actual threat
Angela: look at you. You drink constantly, every day, and you're half my size
Angela: why
Jack: you're not exactly sober yourself most of the time
Angela: I have shit to forget
Jack: I could stand to forget a few things
Jack: maybe we're more alike than you thought
Angela: funny
Angela: we're all going to die, Jack. And I don't just mean in the way that most fatalistic mammals mean it.
Angela: I mean we're all going to be killed eventually
Angela: The worlds gone and fucked itself to shreds
Angela: You trust the mammals up top to have anyone's best interest in mind?
Angela: Who are we to them
Angela: Who are they to us?
Angela: I've seen photographs of parliament members, but when have they ever made a public appearance
Angela: When have they ever shown that they give half a shit
Jack: I liked this conversation before it devolved into your deterministic musings
Jack: or evolved
Jack: that remains to be seen
Angela: I can stop
Jack: No
Jack: No, it's ok. I just wish you weren't so capricious
Curiously, seeing words pop up onto the screen and knowing that they come from her sort of healed Jack. He wasn't about to tell her to stop texting him.
Angela: Why'd you text me anyways, rabbit?
There was an answer to this question buried somewhere within Jack's psyche, but he couldn't find it.
Jack: Just wanted someone to talk to
Was that a weird thing to say? Yes, yes it was.
Angela: Then why didn't you just come here in person
And things just got weirder. His breath became shallow again, but not for the same reason it did before, and not shallow enough for him to notice the change. If he did notice, he wouldn't have acknowledged it.
Jack: I can't just go back to Zootopia alone
Angela: why not
His paws trembled slightly.
Jack: I don't have any reason to leave the burrows
Angela: Well, find one sometime
Angela: But I'm going to back to bed
Angela: Good night
That worked out better than anyone could have predicted. He sat his phone on his chest, looked up at the moon and smiled. Wait, she just told him good night. He picked his phone back up.
Jack: Goodnight
Jack: Sleep well
With that, he placed his phone on his chest again, clasped his paws together. So the moon looks awful to him without all the light pollution of the city. So the open hills gave him anxiety. So he felt truly alone out here. He still had pleasant thoughts of this conversation to fall asleep to. He looked up and smiled again.
Sleep overtook him
…
Such a strange rabbit, Angela thought to herself. She wasn't sure what to think of him. He knew so much about her, but she knew so little about him.
It wasn't like her to obsess over a person like this. Yet, here she was, dedicating her sleepless morning to it. She'll just have to make up for it by getting more sleep here and now. Yeah, she'll sleep until the afternoon. That way she can stay up till three in the morning, so that when the if the rabbit decides to text her again, she'll actually be awake for it.
Not that she wants him to text her again.
…
This morning,
A rabbit has killed a hunter.
…
The morning felt wrong. You may think this a strange thought to have, but Nick's sleep-addled mind expected to wake up to cold feet and a thin gray sheet draped over his torso. Instead, his naked body was wrapped in a billowing comforter that draped over the edges of the mattress. Speaking of mattresses, his wasn't made of hard brick. No, he sunk into it.
It wasn't the sound of blackjacks across bars that woke him up, but the chatter of rabbits a floor below him. Gelid halls weren't there to surround him and make him feel half-frozen as he woke up. Being on the upper levels of the burrow, he had a window, and the sun reached through and rested on his lap.
It suddenly dawned on him just where he was.
When he looked to his right, there wasn't a concrete wall. There was an empty bed.
Jack?
With an airy head, he shifted the covers off himself and stood up. The closet across from him was mirrored, and he took a second to look at himself. He raised his arms above his head, twisted one way and then the other way. Wiggled a little.
Hehehe
He took his clothes off the lounge chair and threw them on, looked in the mirror again, licked his paw and teased the fur above his brow into a lick.
Finger guns.
Ugh, what a loser, but a familiar one.
It was when he peeked his head out of the bedroom door that he finally found his missing bunny rabbit. Jack Savage walked in a stupor, a smile on his muzzle and mush for legs. There was something he wanted to say to the rabbit, but he swallowed the words when he heard the door to the bedroom beside his close. Judy was just on her way out; she glanced at him and then at Jack.
"Something wrong with your bed?" she asked as the buck ambled closer to her. With a licked paw, she tried to get the stray fur at the top of the rabbit's head to stay down. He only smiled at her. "Alright…" she said, smiling back, though clearly confused. There was a bit of dirt on his shoulder pads, so she brushed it off.
Wait.
She turned him around. He didn't resist, swinging his arms, oddly delighted, when she spun him. "Did you sleep outside?" He nodded. "Ooh-k..."
She looked at him with her front teeth out and head cocked to the side. He mirrored the look, clearly thought he was being funny.
"Are you feeling any better?" she asked.
"Much," mumbled Jack, first thing he'd said all morning.
Nick looked from rabbit to rabbit. Natural light poured through high-hallway windows. Something about the scene made his lips curl sweetly.
Judy just shook her head, looked at Nick, looked away from Nick, looked back at Nick, timidly, almost like she was unsure about something, but smiling politely just the same.
"Joey stopped by my room to tell me that Mom and Dad wanted us over for breakfast with them in the kitchen instead of the hall today." Judy nodded down the hall and turned so that the guys would follow her. "Just down this way-"
"Yeah, yeah, I know…" said Jack, wiping a little drool from his chin. "I can smell the baked muffins from here. Don't need to tell me where to go."
Nick and Judy laughed.
"I've gotta wonder what's got them wanting us in the kitchen though," said Nick.
Judy waved sheepishly at one her nieces as they passed by her bedroom door. "They probably wanted privacy so that we could chat without needing to yell over five hundred other rabbits.
Jack had a glossy, but happy, look in his eye. "Maybe they want to talk where it's not so loud." It was barely a thought, spoken aloud. He seemed to understand that a conversation was currently happening, and was thoughtful enough to contribute, but he hadn't fully been listening.
Nick laughed again. "I understood that much, carrot-cake. I'm wondering just what it is about this conversation that needs to be kept under wraps. Jack seemed to have stopped paying attention halfway through the sentence, but Nick didn't mind.
For a fraction of a second, briefer than the flutter of her eyelashes, Nick noticed Judy take another glance at him. There was something like curiosity in those large rabbit eyes.
Of course, he pretended not to think anything of said glance.
…
"Come in, sit down, make yourself comfortable," said Bonnie, dragging a wooden chair over to the table. The squeak made as it traveled across the floor mixed with the chorus of bickering bunnies in the dining room adjacent to them. The kitchen table itself was covered with muffin platters, pancake stacked plates, and rolls of steamy coffee cake. Jack followed Bonnie's insistent motioning towards his seat before either of the other two even passed through the door frame. He wondered for a moment about how the table wasn't there the night before, and how that meant they must have dragged it all the way over into this room just for breakfast – but that hardly mattered to him.
Bonnie laughed, not without a certain nervousness, as she watched her daughter sit down beside Jack. "We use this table when we need some alone time; get away from the kids, you know?" She laughed again, shaky. Stu glanced at her. "Need to invent these sorts of tricks as parents, otherwise you'll always be fetching another glass of orange juice." Jack raised his eyebrows and nodded, slowly, dreamily, his question answered without it being asked.
Swallowing unevenly, Stu chimed in, "So how'd you all sleep?"
"Fantastically," said Jack, without any sort of hesitation. He slathered his muffin with butter.
Nick and Judy glanced at each other and wondered why he was lying for no reason. You don't sleep 'fantastically' outside.
"Actually," began Nick, "it was really nice. Haven't slept that well in… well, years, I suppose."
"Did you?" asked Stu. His paws were flat on the table, Nick noticed, and he still hadn't sat down. "Well, I'm mighty pleased to hear it! If you lot would like to stay a couple of more days, that would be perfectly fine by us-"
"-What's going on here?" asked Judy.
Stu and Bonnie looked at her, and in doing so looked like rabbits sorely pretending they didn't understand something.
Nick and Jack looked at her. They looked like mammals sorely trying to understand something.
"We're just extending the paw of hospitality is all," said Stu. He dug at his shirt collar. Bonnie looked at her husband and smiled with her front teeth.
"No, that's not it. You guys are pleasant, but not this pleasant." Judy placed her elbows on the table and her chin in her palms. "What's going on here?"
The couple's act began to deteriorate. Stu looked downcast now, and Bonnie's lips covered her teeth.
"You're right, Jude," said Stu. "We should've known we couldn't get anything past you. You always were our little detective-"
"Don't butter me up," said Judy. "What do you want from us?"
And the last of the act was packed up.
Stu finally took his seat. "Charlie's trial is on Friday. Today's Tuesday."
Bonnie turned to Nick. "Charlie is-"
But Nick couldn't bear to hear her say what she was about to say aloud. "-Yeah, they filled me in."
Stu looked at Nick and then back at Judy. "If you guys could stay, just until the trials over-"
"No," said Judy.
Without even a moment's hesitation, Nick turned to her. "Judy-"
"I said no." The look in her eye made him turn away again. "There's nothing we can do. I'm not going to trial with you. We stayed here last night because Nick needed grooming. We're leaving once we can get our stuff together-"
Kerchink, tink tink tink…
There came a crash from the dining hall, closely followed by the sound of dishes clattering to the floor. The rabbit chattering grew louder, gasps of 'ooooh…" resonating through the closed kitchen door.
Stu clenched his paws. Grumbling, as he's been prone to do nowadays, he stood. "Don't go anywhere, I'll handle it."
The kitchen door glided open. That rabbit kit from before, the quiet one, stood there in the frame, the bawking of his siblings continuing on in the dining hall behind him. Blanky dragging across the floor, eyes like dish plates, he stared at Nick.
"What's up, bud?" said Stu.
Nick turned to look at Stu- that was all it took to send the kit scuttling over to his father, climbing up Stu's pant leg like an eager sort of alien, frightening Nick just as much as Nick had frightened him, and only stopped his frantic scramblings when he was safe in his father's arms. He said nothing but wheezed mutely as he looked at the fox, trying to catch his breath but failing, his father's overall straps clutched in his tiny paws.
What could he do? Nick said nothing but looked around the room. None of the other rabbits turned to look at him. They all seemed tense and eager to pretend what just happened didn't happen.
Stu glanced at Nick then back at the kit in his arms. "Why, aren't you being a grumpy bunny this fine morning!" Stu smiled with his front teeth. "C'mon let's see if we can't find what's bothering you." He looked back at the table. "This should only take a second. Please don't go anywhere, Judy."
She looked up at him, arms crossed.
Nick's hackles raised unconsciously. It felt awful, he thought. Regardless of whether or not he was deserved it, it felt awful to be seen as something to fear. He placed his paws back onto his lap and looked down at the table.
"It's not your fault," whispered Bonnie before taking a muffin off the top of the stack. She picked at its top loaf. Despite the raucous in the room beside them, he didn't need to strain his ears to hear her.
Nick looked up. "It's fine, Mrs. Hopps."
"No, no, I mean it. You haven't done anything wrong." She set the muffin down on the table. Must not have had any intentions of eating it to begin with.
"Who was that little guy?"
"Edmund." Bonnie half-smiled. She looked down at the crumbs in front of her. "He was born a few months after you visited last time, so you never had the chance to meet." Without thinking, she scooped the bread crumbs into a neat pile.
Judy and Jack watched wordlessly.
Nick didn't look at the mother but he opened his mouth. "Can I ask you a question, Mrs. Hopps?"
And still the rabbit officers watched.
She didn't look at him either. "Of course, Nicholas."
"If it's not my fault, who's fault is it?"
"Are you asking me why he's afraid of foxes?" she asked.
"Yes."
Bonnie sighed. Jack, who seemed to have been sobered since his euphoric morning, leaned back. Judy raised out of her chair like she was about to leave, but something made her sit back down.
"I suppose that's a reasonable question." The mother closed her eyes for a moment, hummed softly as though she was trying to remember the inciting incident. Judy knew it was an act. There was no way she could have forgotten the day. She opened her eyes again.
"About a year ago, when they brought my Charlie back from that station up in mainland Zootopia…"
Joey stood on the front porch with two of his siblings, a small doe and an even smaller buck. They watched the police car come to a complete stop in their driveway.
It was another December day when dreaded Barrymore dared to drag Charlie out of the patrol car and toss him on the ground outside his parent's home, paws cuffed behind his back, right in front of Bonnie and Stu.
Joey watched as Jack and Judy made to move, to pick up Charlie.
Barrymore glanced behind himself. The rabbits flinched. "Don't move," he told them, "if you can't touch the patrol car, you're too far away from it."
The officers said nothing.
"Can you touch it?"
Judy and Jack stood with their back against the cruiser. "Yes," said Judy.
"Show me, touch it," said Barrymore.
Willing herself not to scowl at him, Judy took two fingers, held them in front of herself so that the fox could see, and placed them on the hood of the cruiser.
"Ok, good. Things are running nicely then."
Bonnie clutched at her husband as she saw her child on his knees. Barrymore looked up and around at the burrow, whistling through his pointy front teeth. Jack and Judy stood frozen by the patrol car. Stu's eyes narrowed into a glower that surely would make the worst of criminals cower.
But Barrymore just smiled toothily.
"I like these burrows," he said. "Part of me wants to spend more time around these parts…"
The little rabbit beside Joey watched the fox like a fox from centuries past might have watched a rabbit.
That same red fox walked leisure circles around the driveway. Swung his paws from side to side. Occasionally got deathly close to Charlie, causing the kit to hiccup slightly as the collar administered electric shocks. Stu stood motionless, except for his eyes, which followed Barrymore closely.
The fox stopped. He turned to the farmer. "Mr. Hopps-" He paused as though he had forgotten himself, "pardon, I meant Stuart; You're being rude! Where's that bunny hospitality?"
Wood creaked beneath Joey's feet as he tried to stand perfectly still, watching from afar. "Who is this guy?" whispered the girl beside him.
"Judy's boss…" Joey whispered back to her.
The littlest rabbit continued to watch the scene through glassy, fish bowl eyes.
"C'mon! Show me around your farm, you cute little bunny!"
A growl entirely uncharacteristic of a rabbit caught in Stu's throat. He forced himself to swallow it down; he wouldn't be able to suffer the consequences. Or maybe he wouldn't be the one suffering them at all, which was an even scarier thought. "Ok," he said.
Charlie made to stand, which was difficult with his paws still cuffed tight. Barrymore looked over his shoulder, shot the rabbit a disapproving glare.
"Did I say you could stand?"
Charlie hiccuped the words. "I- I just- I thought-"
"Oh, you- you just- pthhaa! You just don't fucking move a goddamned muscle until I give you the ok." He spoke those last few words through gritted teeth; then he looked back at Stu, completely composed again. He smiled. "I was shitting you, I don't actually want a tour." He laughed loud enough to make Charlie hiccup again and shrugged his shoulders. "If I'd have known your kit was going to get all uppity about it, I wouldn't have brought it up.
"Alright, that about wraps this shindig up then. You'll get a letter in the mail soon concerning this little shit's court date." He pulled a pad from his back pocket, scribbled something down. "The letter should say which court you're supposed to go to – god, I hope it's the one down on Outback Island, they don't fool around when it comes to traitors." The fox rolled his eyes as he continued to make check marks on his pad. "That being said, don't expect to get in for about a year, we're busy mammals. When you go, make sure he dresses well, bring tissues, you know- the usual."
Edmund pushed past is his siblings, tottled down the porch steps, and ran for the fox.
"Edmund!"
"Claire, stop!" Joey caught his sister around her chest before she could run after their little brother.
The rabbit's warpath ended less than a foot away from Barrymore. "Fuch!" he shouted, and he pulled at Barrymore's blue slacks.
Barrymore looked down to find the rabbit, feet planted firmly in the dirt of the driveway, looking up at him.
Stu and Bonnie stared on in horror, but they did not dare speak a word.
"Fuch-" The little one turned his head to cough before looking back up at the fox, "Fuch, oo doo…" But the fox was glaring down at him now. The rabbit's feet were not quite as firmly planted in the ground. He took a step back but didn't stop talking. "ooo doo oo thunk o oar…"
Barrymore brought his head level to the kits, brows furrowed as much in disgust as they were in confusion. The kit swallowed hard but looked the fox in the eyes.
"What did you just say to me, mush mouth?" Barrymore gnashed his teeth and took a quick step towards the rabbit.
The rabbit gasped. With another step forward from Barrymore, he fell backwards onto the ground beside his brother.
The fox looked at Bonnie and Stu. Bonnie shook terribly as she held onto her husband's arm. Stu looked ready to pounce but knew that he couldn't. "Who the fuck taught this thing to speak?" He turned his attention towards Bonnie, who nearly jumped out of her fur. "Was it you?" Bonnie stood shaking in silence. "Was it!?"
Bonnie whispered her words, her tongue too bone-stiff to form proper sentences. "H- he has… he has a speech disorder-"
"What!?" At this, Bonnie melted onto the floor, her legs unable to take it anymore. "Why can't anyone talk right around here?" He looked back down at the youngest child, who trembled violently, winter sweat running down his nose. He growled and took another step toward the kit.
The rabbit scrambled away, and where he went nobody knew. Joey and his sister were paralyzed. They didn't make to follow him.
Murder was not commonplace in the burrows, but if Stu thought he could get away with it, this fox would be dead.
Barrymore made his way over to Charlie, unlocked his pawcuffs, and kicked him square on the ass. "Get up."
Struggling, Charlie tried to lift himself by his arms.
"Wait."
Charlie stopped moving, locked in a purgatorial position between standing and staying down on the ground.
The fox looked at Stu. Bonnie was still crouched on the floor beside him.
"You pick him up."
Judy's breath hitched, and she prayed that her boss hadn't noticed.
Jack refused to watch.
Stu made his way over to Charlie slowly. He knelt beside his son, his overall-covered knees dirtying themselves in driveway dust.
"Ok… ok." The fox looked breathless and alive. "Cool. Right, so, like I said before we got here, the collar's going to stay on until the court date. Don't try to take it off- we'll know. Let me know when you get the letter; Judy, Jack, let's roll."
As it often does when you're telling a story, time fell awkwardly and plainly out of order. What can one say in a moment like this, when a mother is sobbing across from you?
"Edmund hasn't said a word since that day." Bonnie wiped her eyes with the length of her arm. "You've gotta stay, Judith."
Nick and Jack looked to the doe.
"Did they ever assign Charlie a lawyer?" the younger doe whispered.
Bonnie squinted through her tears, trying not to look too venomous. "No. You would have known that if you-"
"We'll stay one more night. I can talk things over with Charlie and make sure he knows what he should and shouldn't say. We're leaving after that." Judy stood up and pushed her chair in. She looked at her mom, who, with a paw to her muzzle, sobbed softly. "Would he be in his room?"
Without looking at her daughter, Bonnie nodded.
So Judy started towards the door.
Jack stood. "Judy, hold on…"
But she was already gone and into the hallway, presumably making her way down a few floors to get to Charlie's room. Jack shook his head, slowly took his seat again.
They let silence take over and guide them for another minute. It didn't lead them anywhere.
So Nick spoke.
"I think things are going to be ok, Ma'am."
He didn't believe it, but he said it. Bonnie looked up, stole her paw away from her muzzle, and smiled a weak smile at him. It was clear that she didn't believe it any more than he did, but she smiled anyway.
Jack coughed. "S- since we're here, do you guys need any help around the farm?"
…
For the rest of the morning and late into the evening, Jack and Nick helped tend the Hopps family farm.
…
Down in the far reaches of the Hopps property, on the other side of a hill, there was a fishing pond.
By its waterside, on a log, sat Nick and Jack. Nick looked down into the water and saw the reflection of a moon way past waxing gibbous. Its luster filled nearby flower heads with white light. Beside him, Jack rolled up his pant legs and stuck his feet paws into the water
"You wanna run inside the burrow and get my suit jacket?"
Nick snorted, rolling up the legs of his overalls. "You mean the burrow nine acres that-a-way?"
"Yes, precisely that one."
The fox dipped his feet into the pond next to Jack's. "Not a chance, buck-o."
"Absolutely useless," said Jack.
"At least I don't smell like sweat," said Nick.
"I'm hot!"
"It's cold today."
"We were working all day." Jack frowned. "How can you not be sweating?"
"Foxes don't sweat, of course."
Jack frowned harder. He was beginning to think his old textbooks sold him a lot of bull shit.
Not once did he consider the prospect that maybe the foxes he chooses to hang around find him an easy target to pick on.
Nick stretched his feet paws feeling the cool lake water wiggling between his toes. "Boy, I didn't know what you were getting us into…"
"I don't know. It wasn't that bad." Jack kicked his feet, causing droplets to land in their laps.
"I haven't worked this hard in years."
"You didn't work out or anything while you were-" the rabbit stopped himself mid-sentence. He furrowed his brow. "Uh-"
"While I was in prison? No." Nick chuckled through a closed mouth. "No. You don't try to take the gym equipment from the big guys. Learned that lesson in middle school." They laughed. It felt good to laugh with Jack, Nick thought to himself. He smiled at their reflections in the water, the reflections just below that full moon. "But that's no skin off my back. I was never a fan of the whole working out thing." He splashed, just as Jack had.
"Yeah, Judy one of Judy's brothers, Emmett, I think, said you had a squishy stomach."
Nick snapped his attention towards Jack, looking offended. "He said what?"
"That you're squishy."
"What an asshole…" the fox whispered the words more to himself than to Jack. "Well, it's not like you're much better."
Jack raised an eyebrow. "Man, I'm shredded."
"Yeah, right."
"I am."
"No, you aren't." Nick looked the rabbit up and down. "Show me."
"I can't, my shirts tucked in and I don't want to tuck it back in later."
"Why, are your arms too tired?"
Jack closed his eyes and nodded with enough vigor to make his ears flop back and forth. "Yes."
paws on the log and leaned back, smug. "That's fine, farm life isn't for everyone."
"I grew up on a farm."
Nick raised an eyebrow, unsure if he heard the rabbit correctly.
"What?"
Jack gave a brief chuckle through his nose. He didn't look at the fox. "You were always so sure I was a city bunny, I didn't want to spoil your fun."
Nick was still hung up on his previous comment. "You were a burrow bunny?"
Jack shrugged. "Yeah."
"So you grew up out here?"
"No, there's rabbit land even further south of Bunnyburrow."
"But you had a big family like Judy's?"
In the night scene, Nick thought he saw a flicker of pain in the buck's face.
"Not exactly…" said Jack.
"Tell me about it, then."
Nick's ears wiggled as he looked down at the buck.
"My parents were both very frail jackrabbits." Jack smiled at the fox before turning to look at their reflections again. Nick held his eyes on the rabbit, who continued speaking in a voice growing more and more like a whisper. "Pa wasn't anything like Mr. Hopps. Ya know, big and all that? He wasn't much bigger than I am today. Geez, that feels weird to say. I mean, he looked so big back then. When I was really little, I had no idea how sick he was. He could lift me, so, well, I guess he seemed like the strongest rabbit in the world…" Jack seemed to realize just how quiet he had gotten and sat up straight.
"Anyways, he met my Mama at some point. They didn't really ever explain where they first ran into each other, but they got along alright." He laughed quietly. "She was really sick too. That probably had a lot to do with it. You're drawn to others who are going through the same shit you are.
"Well, they settled down and made like rabbits do, I guess. Where I come from, everyone's basically expected to have a farm. No bunny was ever 'just' a doctor, or 'just' a patrolman. Everyone did a little farming, at least on the side. So, Pa bought a fair chunk of land. Nothing anywhere near this size, but it was fair. Only problem was that neither of them could really work it, being sick as they were. Pa had to sell back most of it, which was a blow to their self-esteem.
"It might have just killed them if it hadn't been for my sister. See, the doctor in town didn't think that a sick couple of rabbits could ever make a rabbit kit, but they did. Clairibelle. She was sick just like our parents, and the nurses weren't sure she was even going to make it through the night when she was born, but she pulled through. Helped a lot around the farm too, once she was old enough." Jack swallowed. "Then, and this is the real kicker-" he laughed, his tongue in his cheek, "they had triplets. Nobody saw that coming. I mean, rabbits are expected to have litters of up to ten kits, but not rabbits like Mama and Pa. Two girls, my sisters Jane and Sue, and a boy, me, heh heh heh… Golly, triplets.
"I don't remember much about those days back on the farm, but I remember being all they ever bragged about. Never said a word to anyone about our farmland, but they'd always show us off to the neighbors whenever they got the chance. Pa would stick me on his shoulders as he tilled the soil so that I could watch from 'the best seat on the farm'. We never got much work done that way, because he was always afraid I might fall off and break, but it was sort of magical in a way. I couldn't ever sit in Mama's lap because it caused her too much pain, but I'd lay by her feet as she worked on her sewing.
"Then, as if she was trying to prove the other bunnies wrong one last time, Mama had another litter of two."
Nick smiled.
Jack returned it.
And then he sighed.
"As you can imagine, the story doesn't end there." He looked away from the fox a little too quick. "Things… happened. As they do, I suppose. One of my sisters ran away from home. She had her reasons, I guess."
Things happened.
"Uh… Mama and Pa passed away that night, quietly, in their room."
Jack refused to look at Nick, and Nick refused to look away from Jack.
"I was gone in the morning."
"How old were you?"
"Probably around five or six."
Nick nodded, though the rabbit didn't see it.
"Travelled around the burrow area for a few years. You know all about that sort of thing, right?"
He didn't wait for Nick to respond.
"I never wrote home until I moved to Zootopia with the ZIA."
"But you wrote?"
"Yeah, once. Just to let them know what was going on."
Nick stretched his toes in the water again.
"Did anyone write back?" he asked.
"Clairibelle." Jack chuckled humorlessly, shook his head. "Quite a few times, actually. Wrote directly to the precinct one station."
"Did you ever reply?"
"I never even read the later ones."
"You're not curious?"
"No."
The conversation dropped to a whisper so low that the blades of grass, had they had ears, wouldn't have been able to eavesdrop.
"What happened to the letters, then?"
"Someone at the station probably threw them away."
"Ah."
There's a cool wind blowing tonight.
"I think you should visit them again."
"What?"
Nick gave the rabbit that half-smile of his.
"It'll be nice. We're sort of already in the area."
Jack returned the smile, again, but shook his head this time.
"I-"
Nick's smile didn't falter.
"I don't think I can do that, Nick. There's too much shit back there."
"How about a letter, then?"
The little crease lines that formed in the rabbit's brow when he furrowed it were awfully endearing.
"A letter?" asked Jack.
"You remember the mailing address, right?"
"I… I don't know- I mean, I do know the address, but I don't think writing them would-"
"I stopped writing my mom after a while."
Jack swallowed his explanation. The fox didn't break eye-contact, just kept smiling at him.
"Back when I was in prison, ya know?" he continued. "Thought that if I just avoided her- if I just avoided the issue altogether… I thought things might feel a bit more manageable. You can be damn sure I regret that now." He shifted around on the log. Jack, who had been studying his face, startled a little at the sudden movement. "Family's important, Carrots…" He paused again, eyes flitting away from Jack's face, his own brow furrowed this time. Jack still watched him intently, meeting eyes again when the fox looked back at him. "Appreciate them now, cause if you don't, you might not have them later."
They both turned so as to stare off at the lake again.
In the absence of words to say Nick placed a paw on the rabbit's back. Patted him. "You know, Jack, for as frail as you say your parents were, I think you grew up to be a pretty strong rabbit."
"I'm not so sure that's true, Nick."
Nick didn't think it wise to push it. He just squirmed his paw into his overall pockets and pulled out a crushed carton of cigarettes.
"Want a smoke?" asked Nick.
"I'm surprised Judy's siblings let you keep those."
"Emmet returned them to me. He said I could have them if I let him keep one." Nick smiled.
"Did you?"
"Of course not." He coaxed a cigarette out of the carton with a claw before turning the pack to Jack. "So, do you want one?"
Jack looked at the pack, and though he wasn't much a fan of cigarettes, he thought he might humor the fox again. "Can we?"
Nick chuckled softly.
"We're far away from the burrow. And I used to see Stu smoking his pipe out near the barn, we should be fine."
Jack took a stick, stuck it in his muzzle, retrieved his lighter, and cupped his paws around his cigarette as he lit it, even though the breeze was actually quite faint now. Call it a force of habit. The warmth of the lighter soothed his aching paws. Nick sat there, watching the stars glisten in the reflection of the lake, cigarette hanging out of the corner of his mouth. Finished lighting his own cigarette, Jack watched as the fox studied the night sky above them. Nick turned to meet him.
There was a pause. When they looked into each other's eyes, they seemed to come to an understanding, as though rabbit and fox were ever really only different for superficial reasons. As though they could really make something out of this world if only they worked together. Such an archaic thought, Nick thought to himself. It sounds like something a starry-eyed bunny might have said years and years ago.
There would be time for fulfilling such wishes some day in the future, tonight, they'd smoke.
Without saying a word – none needed be said – Jack leaned towards the fox, flicked the lighter on and lit Nick's cigarette. He held it there for a spell, eye contact never broken. Nick didn't move a muscle. That moment must have lasted only a second or two, but to them, it seemed much longer.
The licking flames in the reflection of the fox's pretty, green irises. He put the lighter out so that the ghostly red at the end of the cigarette paper could serve as their one illumination. Smoke rose up between the two of them, mixed wispily with the fox's cloudy breath.
Finished, Jack leaned back, placed his paws on the stump they sat on. They went back to watching the wavy pond water.
Though it was December, the moon – as full as it was – seemed summery.
.
.
.
"What did I just walk into?"
Nick and Jack turned around to find Judy standing a little ways up the hill, paws in her pockets, moon at her back. They watched her for a while, and she watched them.
They smiled up at her.
Her ears twitched a little, and, they were too far away from her to notice this but, her nose twitched too. She walked down the length of the hill, joining them. They scooted down the log and she took her place next to the fox. Neither Jack nor Nick said a word about the breakfast conversation, though they all knew they would have to eventually, and Judy didn't mention the fact that they were smoking.
…
Quietude can mean tranquility, Nick had come to understand this. The silence between those three as they walked down the side path back to the burrow was anything but awkward; that silence was comforting. They didn't need words. In fact, speaking may just ruin everything. It's times like these, when Judy is smiling – it's small but most certainly there – and Jack is staring off into the crop fields their path over looked, that Nick began to remember what this whole living thing is all about.
They continued on through the wheat grass, past the fields of cabbages, around the silo-
Oh.
As they rounded the silo, they saw a bright light, something like the light a truck's headlights would produce in the dead of night. Whispers touched their ears hushed tones, though what the whispers were saying was anyone's guess. Fulling rounding the silo, they found that there was a truck, and there were whisperers.
Stu and Bonnie.
And Stu's truck.
The older rabbits looked at the trio of mammals and didn't say anything for a moment. Moths flitted in and out of the yellow headlight-light.
"We were looking for you," said Stu.
Nobody asked why.
"Charlie says you talked to him," Stu continued. "Told us about how you reminded him to keep quiet unless he's spoken to, play the child card, don't any leading questions."
Judy didn't say anything, but she nodded.
"That's not going to help him none, we both know that," said Stu.
"It's the best shot he's got," said Judy.
Stu looked hard at Judy, but it very nearly seemed like he was looking through her. If this bothered her at all, she didn't show it. She held the ice-cold visage she always held these days.
But can it be called 'Judy's' visage? Is it all just a façade? Nick thought he saw a flicker of uncertainty in her face; her mouth dropped a little, nose twitched. Or maybe he was just imagining things.
Stu leaned back against his truck. Judy stared back for a little while longer, but – and whether this was out of exhaustion or if her nerves were wearing thin, we'll never know – eventually slumped against the silo doors. She looked at the truck, looked at her mother, looked off into the night sky. She just wouldn't dignify her father with any further eye contact.
"Can't you talk to your boss, get the charges changed?"
"You met him. Does that guy seem the type for changing his mind?"
"You haven't tried!" The sound that came out of Bonnie's mouth sounded more screech-like than she meant it to, but she couldn't help it.
Judy closed her eyes, resting her head against the wooden door behind her.
"He's just doing this because he can. We all know the reason Charlie's in this mess is a bunch of horse feathers."
Jack sort of squirmed in place, but Nick continued watching the rabbit family.
"At least come with us to the court, Judith."
Nick was surprised to hear Stu using Judy's full name. That was something he never did.
"What good will it do, dad?"
"You're still the most prestigious cop in all of Zootopia. If they see you still support him-"
"The law is the way it is, and nothing I can do will change it. This isn't a mistake we can fix."
"Do you know the trouble he's in!?" Stu was yelling into the open air now.
"They're going to kill him, dad!"
Full stop. Her parents looked like parents who'd just heard their child curse for the first time.
"Nobody ever goes to Outback court with charges like those and doesn't end up in the god damned chair." She threw her arms back, rattling the doors behind her. "I'm not going to fucking-"
She shook. Slammed her arms against the doors again.
"I'm not fucking watching it!"
But Stu steeled himself again, narrowed his eyes. "You'd let your brother die over a lie? Like, like some, criminal!?"
Horror collapsed over them all. Everyone's attention snapped towards Nick. Everyone except Stu, who only very slowly turned to face the fox.
"Not- not you, Nicholas…."
Nick raised a shaky paw, a paw extra shaky because he'd been working out in the fields all day and was tired no doubt. "It's fine, Mr. Hopps."
"You don't deserve to be in there any more than… than…" but the buck suddenly found himself a little choked up.
"It's fine…" whispered Nick.
"Um… Judy…"
Jack was speaking now.
Nick looked at him, a little surprised.
"Jack?"
"You're going to regret this." Jack glanced at Nick, who pretended not to notice, but whose mouth tugged up into a sly grin.
Jack took a step forward.
Judy didn't move from him, but her chest rose and fell quickly. She watched him.
He stopped.
"I know you don't want to see it, but you'll regret not being there."
Some gear turned in Judy's head as she studied Jack's face. Did she know about his past? Did she think him a hypocrite?
"
"Fine." Her tongue flicked at her two front teeth as she said the word.
Her parents froze then and there.
Tears simmered near the fur under her eyelids, but they didn't flow.
Stu held onto the moment before asking his question. "F-fine? As in you'll go?"
"Yeah, I'll go."
Judy made to stand up. Jack, still a little surprised himself, offered her a paw, which she gladly took. She dusted her pants off, stumbled a little. Jack steadied her. She wiped her eyes.
Stu leaned against his truck, 'down-right flabbergasted'. Bonnie looked at him and looked at her daughter. Not quite sure if she believed it. Not quite sure why she didn't feel relieved.
"Can… can I interest you kids in a ride?" asked Stu.
"I'm not so sure I'm a kid anymore," whispered Nick, though he wasn't sure why he was whispering. He smiled at the buck.
Though nobody agreed to the ride, they all gathered near the truck anyways.
"If forty years old isn't a kid anymore, then what does that make me?" asked Stu. He opened the truck door and climbed inside. The others followed.
Judy, between Jack and Nick, looked straight ahead. Nobody thought to make banter. Everyone was left to their thoughts.
That is, until they realized the truck wasn't starting.
Stu fiddled with the key. "Wait…" He hopped outside and popped the hood.
Nick couldn't see what was going on behind the hood, but he heard Stu curse. The buck climbed back inside but didn't shut the door. Didn't even sit down, just turned the key again.
"Fuck fuck fuck…"
"What's going on-" but his wife couldn't finish the sentence before he was out the door again and on the other side of that hood.
Thap thap thap-
The sound of bunny paws beating on metal.
"Bon I-" Stu came back around, looked inside the truck. "- I think the engine's finally given in."
Bonnie's mouth opened and her eyes widened, but she didn't say anything. Not for a while.
Stu still stood there, dumb.
"How are we going to get all the way down to Outback island without a truck?" whispered Bonnie.
No responses.
"We can take it in…" said Judy in a raspy voice.
"We only have tomorrow, and there's no way Bunnyburrow mechanic is going to see us on short notice."
"Can we borrow a neighbor's truck?" asked Nick.
"During harvest season?" asked Stu.
The truck was silent.
Until Jack's phone fell out of his jacket pocket, illuminating the seat between his legs. He picked it up and looked at it, almost put it back in the pocket, but he looked at the screen. His text messaging app was open.
And then an idea came to him.
"I, uh… I think I might have somebody who can help us out."
…
Atop a hill, not far from the rabbit family, a fox rested prone, watching them walk back to the burrow home.
…
Author's note: So I had a bit of a medical emergency going on Friday evening, and I didn't get the chance to put this up. Then I looked at it yesterday morning, and realized that I didn't like it. As you can see, I took a bit of time to do some touch ups before uploading it! Sorry about the delay I think I might just start posting on Sundays instead of Friday's now anyways. Makes a bit more sense to me and gives me more time to edit. Hope that's chill with you guys.