Chapter 21: A Raccoon Trapped
(Part 3 – Family Obligations)
Author's Notes:
Our raccoon survived, thanks to Savage. But he may be trapped by two visitors, but does he really want to escape this time? Also he learns that he may have to make another more dangerous choice.
Jake looked around and he stood alone on the dirt trail. Tall trees surrounded him as he smelled the fresh morning air and listened to the birds singing. His ears picked up the sound of rushing water just around the bend, but he stared back at the trail behind with a feeling that he was leaving something important undone. Instinctively he began to walk towards the water, the source of all life for a raccoon. Suddenly the path was blocked by a larger raccoon, who appeared both young and ancient at the same time. He had an earring made from beads and feathers, which was much like the one's worn by many of the coyotes. The black band of fur around his eyes looked almost burned on. "Where are you going my little one?" the raccoon's gentle voice asked. "It's not your time to cross the river yet. Did not my brother Apesi, promise my little Thief a reward? Run back home little one, you haven't received what you are due."
Gasping for air, Jake awoke from the dream and blinked at the bright light. Slowly he focused on the hospital room's ceiling. He tried to sit up but a great pain shot though his stomach. Lifting his left paw he felt wires and tubes. A large gaze pad was covering most of his arm and he could see large chunks of fur had been shaved. He felt something familiar was holding his right paw down. He slowly moved his head, licking his dry lips, and saw Marie slumped over in a chair. Oh, that's right I'm in the hospital, he remembered, surgery for the knife wound. Lying back, he tried to recollect what happened. He could remember fainting and then someone yelling for him to wake up and talk to her. When he opened his eyes and he thought at first the arctic fox was Skye. Then he heard her shouting that he was going into shock. Tired he closed his eyes again and fell back to sleep.
It seemed like eternity before he awoke once again. Marie was looking at him and whispered, "Good afternoon, Sugar." He yawned and tried to move, but the pain was too great. "Don't move I've called the nurse to let her know you're awake."
"Hey buddy," a familiar red fox in his police uniform stepped behind Marie. "You plan to sleep all day?"
"What the…uhnn… who the hell let you in…fox," Jake finally mumbled.
Nick smiled and quipped as he placed his paws on his chest, "It's the uniform, who could say no to such a dashing specimen as maw?"
Marie squeezed Jake's hand and his eyes moved to her.
"I heard that you've finally awoken Mr. Runnel, how are you feeling?" asked a deep kindly voice. Jake looked towards the door and a large moose was standing in the doorway. "Let's see if we hear anything from below."
The doctor was joined by nurse, a white snowshoe rabbit in purple and pink hospital scrubs. She smiled at Jake and said, "Afterwards, it's time to change those dressings. For modesty sake anyone leaving had better go now."
Nick rose to leave but Jake mumbled for him to stay. Instead he sat back down and continued to text Judy, trying not to gasp at the sight of how bad his friend looked as they rolled the sheet back. Fighting back his urge to try to say something witty, which was his coping mechanism during stress, he just looked on with sad eyes. A tremor ran though his belly as he remembered the pain he was in after he got shot.
Marie stepped out of the way, she had seen this all before having almost never left Jake's side since he was moved from the ER room. The only times she left him were when Nick or Judy were there to sit with him, then she would walk down the hallway to cry. She walked towards the window and sighed, causing Nick to jump up and walk over to her. Silently, he put his arm over her shoulder and hugged her closer as they both stared out the window.
"Sly fox trying to..ugh..steal my girl," Jake moaned. The two turned to look at him as he offered them a weak smile.
"I'm a one bunny fox an you know that," chuckled Nick.
The moose was gingerly moving the stethoscope around Jake's stomach and signed with relief, "Ah, bowl sounds…gas…music to my ears. Let's check back in a little bit later and if things continue, then we'll take out the tube out of your nose and get you some broth to try. Until then, you can suck on some ice chips for the thirst. If everything goes okay, then tomorrow I want you to get up and move around to stimulate your bowl functions and get you blood circulating."
As the doctor excused himself, Kevin was standing in the doorway. "Jake, you've got visitors who are insistent on seeing both you and Marie," he said. Just as he finished speaking a portly middle-aged female raccoon in a pink and green checkered dress pushed passed the polar bear and slipped into the room. She was quickly joined by a slender raccoon of the same age wearing jeans and a flannel shirt. He had a pair of wire rimmed glasses perched on his muzzle.
"Mom! Dad!" exclaimed Marie, "What are you doing here?" Her eyes went wide and her muzzle fell open with shock.
The older male raccoon looked down at Jake and said, "Son, you look like you fell into a chipper shredder machine."
"Oh, Fred just leave the poor boy alone and get the box from the waiting room," said the female raccoon as she picked up Jake's chart. "Stab wounds and a perforated small intestine, haven't seen a coon this messed up since your Uncle Billy got in that pub fight with those possums. I hope this isn't a common occurrence with you Jake. I would hate to think your one of those unreliable types, being that you're mating my daughter."
Jake looked astonished and turned to Marie and whispered, "You told her?"
Mrs. Millbrooks chuckled, "I wasn't born yesterday city boy and a mother can tell these things, even over the phone on Muzzletime. It's just the way you two looked at each other. But I hope you two are being careful, I don't want any grandkits born until after the Mating Ceremony."
"Mooommm!" Marie wailed.
Nick smiled and started to slip towards the door. "Where do you think you're going 'Mr. I'm a police fox'?" Mrs. Millbrooks said. "I would assume since you don't have a pen and pad out, this is a social call and not work."
Jake chucked weakly and said, "Mrs. Millbrooks…uh… this is my...ah...best friend Nick Wilde." The raccoon winced in pain.
The female raccoon took Nick's paw and shook it. Nick was surprised in the amount of strength she had, almost crushing his paw with her grip. "Nice to meet you Mrs. Millbrooks and I'm sorry we have to meet under these circumstances," he said to her.
"Did you get him?" Mr. Millbrooks asked as he entered the room with a box. "Don't look at me like that fox, you're his best friend. Did you get the guy who carved Jake up like this?"
Nick grimaced and answered, "No sir, but he was killed the morning he attacked Jake by an unknown party."
"Not to talk bad about any mammal, but maybe that's for the best," Mr. Millbrooks replied as he shook his head. "To cut the boy up like that, he must have been a real sadist. At least we know he won't be around to hurt anyone else. Oh well, here's those berries you asked about Marie. First of the season's crop and I also brought you a couple of jars of Miss. Emily's persimmon preserves."
Nick's eyes went wide at the sight of the blueberries and his mouth watered, "Judy said the crop at her parent's farm in Bunnyburrow wasn't due until next month."
Mr. Millbrooks placed four containers of blueberries on the table and looked at Nick, "So you must be the fox who mates the rabbit, all the coyotes were talking about you. As for the berries, the Lake Country is further south and our crop comes in about a month sooner."
Marie smiled and finally hugged her father, "Thanks daddy." Then turning to Nick she smiled and said, "Three of the cartons are for you and Judy, I figured one each and another because you'll eat one before you get home."
"Thanks," mumbled Nick as he already had a mouthful of berries.
"Maybe I should have brought a crate or two just for the fox," laughed Mr. Millbrook and then he turned to Marie. "So we're going to hang around for the next few days or so until Jake is up and about. I figure your brothers can bring in the harvest without this old coon. Why don't the two of you come down to the farm for the Harvest Moon Celebration this fall, which would be a perfect time for your Mating Ceremony? That is if the boy does the proper thing first."
"Daaaddy!" Marie began to wail again.
"Honey, would you and Nick..uhn… show your mother around the hospital for a while? I think it's time for me to have a talk with your father," Jake weakly asked.
After everyone else left, Mr. Millbrooks sat in the chair that was near Jake's bed and looked him in the eyes, "So talk boy."
Jake tried to swallow, but he was still so thirsty. He rasped out, "I've known your daughter for almost year now and yes, I know it's improper by tradition that we have mated without your permission. My father is deceased and I have no family to have come to you to bargain for her hand. I can only tell you that we deeply love each other and what is mine is hers. I am asking both your forgiveness and permission."
Leaning back in his chair, Mr. Millbrooks smiled and said, "Can't blame you for the mating without doing the asking me first thing, I did it with her mamma before we had permission from her daddy. I know you city coons do things differently than we do down country. So what do you bring to my daughter, any land?"
Jake weakly shook his head, "I don't own any land, I even live in a hotel. A very nice one at that, but I can only offer what money I have in the bank. I think its somewhere around a million or maybe two million dollars or maybe more, I can have Manny give you a proper sum in the morning."
The older raccoon almost fell out of the chair, "Two million dollars! What the hell do you do boy?"
"I own a security consulting firm," said Jake as he licked his dry lips. Then he hesitated and added, "Before we go any further, I've served time for burglary. But I've given up that life and everything I've earned has been legit."
"Yeah, I saw that ZNN show about you leading the search to find those kits on Bell Rock and the reporter said you were supposed to have been pardoned," replied Mr. Millbrooks. "Besides you wouldn't be the first of our family to spend time in jail and most of the coyotes who work with me have been there once or twice. As long as you've cleaned up you act, I won't hold it against you. So I grant you my permission."
Mr. Millbrooks spit into his paw and watched as Jake tried to spit into his. Finally he offered the younger raccoon some ice chips to moisten his mouth enough to do so and they shook paws.
Standing up, the older raccoon looked down at the younger raccoon lying in the bed and smiled. "I still want my daughter to have her proper Mating Ceremony or what are you city folks calling it now? Oh yeah, a Marriage Ceremony," he said.
It took Jake almost a week before he could leave the hospital, during that time Marie and her mother made plans for the ceremony. Jake had put her parents up at the Siltson Hotel, near the hospital during their stay, explaining he got a company discount and he also made sure he was billed for the room. He also arranged for Kevin to drive Marie and her parents around Zootopia and show them all the tourist sites. After Marie's parents left and Jake was discharged, he found the two of them hustled away by the polar bears back to Mr. Big's mansion and compound at the shrew's insistence. He wanted Jake to continue for at least two weeks more of physical therapy at the compound. When Jake attempted to object the shrew just held his paw up and said, "Family takes care of family."
As they were getting ready for dinner one evening, Jake walked over to Marie and hugged her, "Sorry about your job honey. I'm sure that they had to let you go after all this time, it's been weeks."
Marie smiled and placed her paw on his cheek, "Well actually, I'm on an indefinite leave of absence. As it turns out a couple of Mr. Big's companies are the accounting firm's biggest clients. So, I'm on the books in an advisory capacity."
Stretching out on the bed the raccoon flexed his arms towards the ceiling, "I know how you feel since it turns out Ratzolli and Tails are wizards with running the business. The company is making more money with me not being there, then when I was. I've turned into a figure head to be trotted out when they need to impress a client. Washed up and not even thirty."
She sat down on the bed and ran her paw across his chest, the fur on his belly was just starting to fill back in fully and giggled, "Well we can always retire and become coons of leisure. Maybe buy a little farm in the Lake Country, say a couple of hundred acres and raise apples and kits. My parents would love that."
Quickly changing the subject, Jake asked, "What do you make of Antonio?"
Marie laid her head down on his chest and replied, "He's hot and cold with Fru Fru, I'm not sure they get along anymore, but he knows she's his meal ticket. I'm pretty sure he's jealous of you and your relationship with Mr. Big and a lot of the staff. Most of bears don't seem to like him much, especially Koslov."
"Yeah I think I need to watch my back when he's around, my raccoon senses are tingling," Jake joked.
"Oh, so now you have superpowers Sugar?" Marie giggled.
"Just enough to make you squeal and squirm at night," he answered with a grin. As she tickled him he said, "Careful now don't break your coon, I'm still tender in some places."
"Shut up Sugar, you talk too much," Marie whispered as she kissed him.
Jake had to apologize for their tardiness in attending the before dinner cocktails. One of Mr. Big's associates, an artic wolf named Boris Snarloff, sniffed the air. He then smiled and winked at the two raccoons.
After dinner, Boris sought Jake out as they were having coffee in the library. He quietly spoke to him, "I like you Jake and it's too bad you're not the boss's son. He's not getting any younger and one day he will leave the family with a choice to pick a successor. A lot of us are concerned about Fru Fru and especially Antonio, but they are heirs to the blood. Only one of royal shew blood can run the Family."
Jake smiled and replied, "Well, I'm not of the blood nor do I have any interest in that part of his family's business. I'm just a family friend and that's all I want to be."
Boris shook his head and sighed, "You are part of the family, well his family. So let me warn you Jake, because one day you will have to choose so be very careful my friend."
Jake watched as the wolf walked away and sighed and thought, maybe I should tell Marie that a family farm is looking better by the minute?
Sitting in his chair to the right of Mr. Big, Antonio watched the raccoon and his look was of poorly concealed malice. Koslov looked down at the little shrew and just watched.
Later that evening when everyone had left, leaving Mr. Big and Koslov in the study alone sipping on brandy. Koslov quietly spoke, "Bart, I know we've already talked about this, but Antonio worries me still."
The shrew held up his paw, "I know but he is still family, my daughter's husband. Unless he tries to hurt her or the kits, or tries to overthrow me, we will let him be for now."
"It's not Fru Fru or the kits that I'm worried about Bart," replied the bear. "It's what he may do to Jake."
Bartholomew Big looked up at his best friend and sighed, "He touches Jake, he dishonors the Family and I will no longer protect him."
The bear smiled and chuckled, "Let's hope Antonio remembers I owe Jake the debt of a life for a life."