Author's Note:
I took longer to write this chapter to mourn my grandfather's passing. Subsequently, this chapter is dedicated to E.L. And his memory.
Chapter XX: On the Road Again
Judy had taken Nick along a tour of the town, introducing him to her childhood friends, taking him to the stalls down at the central marketplace, and ultimately found themselves at Gideon Grey's Foxhound Bakery. Gideon, Judy had told him, was the reason her parents had sent her off with a bottle of fox repellent during her first week in Zootopia. Nick had almost kicked in the door to the shop after hearing about his past demeanor, only restraining himself when Judy had clung to his arm and Gideon emerged from the backroom followed by a slender female fox, cradling a kit in her arms and joining Gideon in laughter. He set down a batch of pies on the counter and looked out the glass doors onto the pathway outside, waving at Judy and Nick and running over to them. He opened the door and hugged them both, forcing them together. Nick shot an uncomfortable glance at Judy after he let go, giggling at them.
"Judy, it's so wonderful to see you again! How long has it been? Two years now? You just have to see my son. Come on, come on!" he said, pushing them inside. Judy shrugged at Nick, trying to keep his mild annoyance from boiling over into outright anger. She could, through his ruffled brows, that he was trying desperately to contain himself from punching Gideon in front of his family.
"Well, well, well – you must be Judy Hopps," the female fox said, lightly stroking her son's head, soothing him. "My husband wouldn't stop talking about you when he heard you were back in town. My name is Marian, nice to meet you. And you must be?" she asked, looking at Nick.
"Nick Wilde, Judy's partner," Nick said, crossing his arms. His voice was tense and he kept shooting glances into the display window to get a glimpse at Gideon behind him. Seeing that the younger fox was completely hapless around his child, Nick began to relax. He took deep breaths and began counting in his mind. He couldn't assault an animal in front of his family. "What did you husband say, exactly?"
"You're Nick Wilde?" Gideon said, turning Nick around and grasping his paws in a firm grip, shaking them wildly up and down. "My God, it's so good to finally meet you! We need more foxes like you for my son to look up to when he grows up!" A smile broke out on Gideon's face so wide that he could barely keep his eyes open. Nick turned his torso around, still shaking Gideon's paws, distress dawning on his face. Marian rolled her eyes and laughed.
"You two are pretty famous around these parts. Gideon kept telling me that Ms. Hopps over here saved Zootopia from that Bellweather gal two years ago and you helped her. He said that Judy was the best animal that ever came out of Bunnyburrow and that you were the perfect role model for our son," she said, shaking her head. "I'm not from these parts myself, so I can't say I'd know, but if you two are everything my damn husband makes you out to be, then please, take seats. We can whip something up for you that'll make your mouth water so good you'll remember it all the way back to the big city."
Gideon nodded, eagerly returning behind the counter. "You like blueberries, Mr. Wilde? I make a mean blueberry pie," he said, picking an apron off a hook on a wall and calling out as he went into the back room. Marian got out of his way and sat down by the pair at the counter, still cradling her son in her arms. The child had barely stirred since Gideon began raising his voice and hollering – perhaps he knew a future lifetime of this loud, boisterous, good-natured fox lay ahead of him and he was simply accustomed to him by now, even at such a tender age. Nick couldn't help but laugh. He cupped his paws around his muzzle and called out to Gideon.
"I love blueberries! We'll take some pie, sure."
Judy smiled, reaching under the counter to grab at his paws, looking up at him.
"Gideon's changed a lot since when we were kids, Nick. He's a decent animal, now, and I'd like to think he's my friend," Judy said, looking over to Marian. "Cute kit."
"We named him Robin. I think it fits, don't you?" she asked.
Judy and Nick smiled as they looked at the child. Nick couldn't stay angry for long and his ears folded back behind his head and Marian stroked her son's fur. He looked over at Judy, studying her. What did she think about kids? He knew that rabbits were notorious for their rapid and hyperactive breeding cycles, but Judy had never displayed any of that in the years he'd known her. She was almost the opposite, devoting herself entirely to aspects of her life that drew her away from family – he was sure that the last few days were the longest she'd talked to her family since moving to Zootopia.
Judy spoke and acted for him as he stared at Robin with a glazed look, stroking the child's fur with her own paws and chatting with Marian about life in Bunnyburrow over the last few years. She and Gideon had met shortly after he opened his business, with her delivering fresh fruits and flour to the bakery every morning. It hadn't taken long for them to develop a business partnership, and before long, a physical one. They'd married in the span that Judy had been divorced from Bunnyburrow, but Marian let Judy know that she was most definitely still a household name in the Grey home. Not a day went by that Gideon talked about the Hopps family – mostly owing to their business dealings but partly owing to Judy's status as the star of the town, a ray of hope for any animal who wanted to be more than they were and wanted to work hard to break out and succeed: a poster child of the Zootopian Dream.
After about a half hour, Gideon emerged again, bringing by two pies and a tub of vanilla ice cream. Nick's mouth salivated at the sight, looking between the food and the fox, conflicted over whether it was right to be so graciously accepting a gift from an animal that so deeply hurt Judy. She made the choice for him, digging her fork into the pie and loading it with a scoop of ice cream. She made a content noise as she savored the flavor, grabbing Nick's face after she finished.
"Nick, you have to try this!" she said, moving in for another piece.
Gideon encouraged him. Losing his trepidation, he began to eat, losing himself in the desserts and finding that, if nothing else, Gideon was an exceptional baker. They shared conversation and revelry as they ate, chatting up who had come and gone to the town since Judy had left, what their plans for the future were, and what life in Zootopia was like. Nick, the only urbanite-by-birth in the room, found himself lost when the conversation took itself toward farmhands and country life, but was able to jump back in when they began talking about the police academy and what life was like as the first fox officer in ZPD's history. It seemed strange to him, three foxes and a rabbit enjoying themselves together, almost as if they shared a common history and story, but the scene set him at ease. He lost himself in the moment.
Before long, the sun began to set. Judy made an effort to get up from her seat, but collapsed into Nick when she tried to do so. Nick, similarly tired, simply laid his head down on the counter, looking at the two foxes at the table and tucking his ears behind his head.
"Sorry, it looks like we both have a bit of a food coma," Nick said, trying to laugh and holding his stomach. "Would you be willing to drive us home?"
"Oh, we'll do you one better, dear," Marian said, Judy's head but speaking to Nick. She looked at her husband, who only offered a nod. "Why don't you stay at our house for the night? It'll be a chance for you two to get to chat with Gideon a little longer."
Both Nick and Judy grunted in approval. It was the only confirmation they would need. They graciously accepted Marian's invitation, and now, after having spent an hour over scotch with Gideon, Nick and Judy shared a futon in the Grey's living room. Their home wasn't as large as the Hopps's by any means. By some measures, it felt almost like a duplex in Zootopia, with its brick walls and bay windows with cracked lead paint pealing off the walls. Despite these deficiencies, or perhaps, because of them, Judy found herself immersed in the rich text of Gideon's life that had been so off-limits to her until now. She laid next to Nick, who seemed to be able to find sleep almost anywhere, and stared at the ceiling, losing herself to thought.
What exactly were they? All this time, the years they'd spent at each others' sides, protecting each other and the city from evils within and without, and they'd hardly been able to get past ribbing the other in public. Now, it seemed that their intimacy, physical and emotional, grew day-by-day, hour-by-hour, filling the void that their absence from the ZPD had left.
She reached out and scratched Nick behind the ears, watching his reaction. He took a paw and grabbed hers, yawning and smacking his lips, barely breaking his snores. Why did he tolerate this? Did he want this? Want her? She knew Nick was naturally playful and outgoing, but why did he always surround himself with her and make her life his own? At times, it felt like Nick had an ulterior motive, perhaps, she thought, owing to the trickster nature of his species. Perhaps she was reading too much into their relationship – partners, after all, had to trust each other with their lives, and it would be natural for Nick to want to associate so much with an animal that he had to be confident would save his life one day. But there was a third option, lined up in the meals they shared after hours or their dates to the police union balls: that Nick cared for her, and she for him. The animal she was lying next to, she thought, was more than a partner and more than a friend; at once part of her and distinct in his own right, someone she could trust and place her life in, and someone she couldn't live without.
At this, Judy had to blink back tears, using her other paw to claw at Nick's ears and feel the skin under his fur, watching his face contort in annoyance and amusement as the stimulation. She smiled, bringing her face to the back of his neck and pressing into him, rubbing her forehead along his fur and allowing it to tickle her. She kissed his neck and brought an arm around him, intertwining their legs so he wouldn't get away if he rolled over in his sleep and laid her head down to rest. After twenty-three years, she'd found another soul that she could call her own. She thanked him for it – thanked him and, ultimately, she declared silently, loved him. Sleep took her, then, and kept her long.
She woke past noon to Nick amusing himself on her phone, caught red-handed but otherwise in healthy spirits. She took her phone back from him, surveying the damage he'd done to her battery life as they laid in the futon, endlessly talking for hours on end as the day passed them by. Marian and Gideon, he'd told her, had gone to the bakery for the day, to be back by night. The two of them had been entrusted with looking after the house and the young kit, who Nick pointed was sleeping soundly on a cushioned chair just outside of the kitchen. They'd been roped into playing the baby-sitters, it seemed, but between their conversation, drawn between Judy's life in Bunnyburrow and Nick's childhood memories, and his wish that his father could have been by his side as Gideon would be for his son, hours passed by like minutes. It wasn't long before the Grey's came home, laughing together as they crossed the threshold, as Gideon tossed an envelope onto Judy's lap.
"What's this?" she asked, opening it and finding several tickets inside.
"Those are tickets to Gazelle's concert tonight. I figured you two could join me. I love her music, but I'd hate to go alone and Marian flaked out on me," he said, scratching behind his ears much in the same way that Nick did. Perhaps it was a common fox mannerism?
"I didn't flake out, you know tonight is when my shows come on," she said, defensively, crossing her arms and shaking her head. "Honestly, Judy, you'd better get used to that one." She pointed at Nick. "Male foxes are so dramatic."
Judy seemed flustered, struggling to form a proper response, but Nick cut in, saving her. "I think she's plenty used to me by now, Mrs. Grey," Nick said, giving Judy a friendly elbow to the arm. Judy tried to respond, looking up at him and ultimately shaking her head. She couldn't dispute was was indisputable. She followed Marian into the kitchen, helping her prepare meals for later, leaving Nick with Gideon in the den. The two foxes stared at each other, not quite sure how to react. Gideon was the first to speak.
"She's a strong one, ain't she?" he asked, turning his head toward the two females. Nick simply grunted, not yet fully awake. "I remember when we were kids – she had flare, then, too. It doesn't surprise me at all that she'd be able to save an entire city like that. We're all proud of her, especially me."
Nick stared at him; Gideon's face seemed contorted between a mixture of reverence and remorse. "Why's that? I thought you two didn't get along as kids."
"Oh we didn't. I was Judy's arch-enemy for the longest time. I had a lot of problems back then: personal and emotional and spiritual. It wasn't till I found God that I let up on all that anger. I started to forgive myself for the pain I caused," Gideon said, stuffing his paws in his pockets, his tail lazily waving from side to side. "And then Judy went off and left Bunnyburrow before I got a chance to make amends to her, but she left to serve and protect something bigger – something that I'm sure would make sure that us foxes weren't forced into the kind of life I had to live."
He paused, looking at Nick, taking a paw and placing it on his shoulder. "And then you came along, and you two worked so well together to bring down that Bellweather lady that everyone here couldn't help but think it had to come out of a movie. We've worked so hard to make amends and patch rivalries out here in the countryside and you two up and made it a big issue. Animals like me can get along with folks like the Hopps just fine – and the whole world knows it now. There's no more reason for animals to get upset with one another, now that you two proved it was possible."
"So what is it that we represent to you, exactly?" Nick asked, folding his arms and taking a step back. He'd never experienced a fox act so openly to a total stranger before. He'd never known one to trust another so intimately. The stereotype of the lone-fox, skulking his way through the world was so deeply ingrained in Nick's mind that it baffled him that Gideon was a real animal. Before long, he had his answer.
"Hope," Gideon said, bringing Nick in for a hug. Only slightly reluctantly, Nick returned it – the smell of blueberry pie wafting from the kitchen.
The rest of the day passed peacefully as the four of them sat around the den eating sweets and chatting. It was before sundown that Gideon got up from the couch and took his keys from the coffee table, motioning for Nick and Judy to follow him. They obliged him, and Marian got up from her seat, holding Robin in her arms and followed them to the door, waving to them as they got into Gideon's truck and drove off. As they crossed into the dirt roadway leading away from the Greys' house, Judy could hear Marian shout after them: "Have fun! Get home safe!"
The drive to the market and fairgrounds was uneventful by any reasonable measure, broken only by the occasional pothole. As they circled around for a space to park, Judy noticed an increasing number of familiar looking rabbits making their way into the crowd, itself multi-species and exceedingly diverse for such a provincial community. As they pulled around into a space, Judy saw the familiar white bird logo of a certain senator – it was her family. She could barely recognize some of her younger brothers and sisters who had grown in the two years since she'd gone, but Lola's presence definitely confirmed that most of the Hopps clan had turned out to attend the concert. She leapt out of the truck to run up to her sister, jumping up and hugging her. Nick followed closely with Gideon not far behind.
"Judy! You finally decided to have a bit of fun, I see?" Lola asked, grabbing her sister and nodding approvingly. Nick stood by her and placed his arm around Judy, looking off toward the makeshift stage at the center of the crowd.
"Well, I figured that being pent up in a house every day would be bad for her health – a bunny's got to get out sometime, you know," Nick said, breaking out into a wide smile. Judy shot him a glare while Lola laughed, looking over at Gideon.
"Gideon! It's so good to see you! You came here with my sister?"
"Oh yeah, I bought these two their tickets. There's no way I'd let them miss Gazelle while she was in Bunnyburrow," he said, placing his arms around the two of them and his head in between them. "Who knows what kind of trouble they'd get into otherwise, especially this one," he said, nudging Judy. It was her fate, it seemed, to be constantly surrounded by jokers. She rolled her eyes, placing her paws over the muzzles of the two foxes as she saw spotlights come on near the stage, itself being bathed in a fine smoke and mist coming from fog machines. Colored lasers began airing a complicated light show amid the fog and the crowd hushed itself for a brief second, immediately breaking out into cheers and applause as Gazelle took the stage, holding a microphone to her mouth.
"Hello Bunnyburrow!" she shouted, eliciting shouts from the crowd. "Are you ready to have a good time tonight?"
The crowd roared again. Judy could see several rabbits up from hopping up and down excitedly as the pop star leaned down and blew them a kiss. One of them fell over. She thanked the crowd again before heading into her set - "Try Everything" being her opener. The familiar beat and rhythm got Nick to dance – or at least, make an attempt to dance – with Judy in the packed fairground, pulling off the same dance moves that were old in 1991 but unfamiliar enough to the young crowd to be fresh and exciting. Live long enough, Nick assumed, and even one's worst failings would be considered cool again.
As the song ended, the fog grew thicker and the beat changed rapidly, shifting to a new, bass-heavy electronic pop song from Gazelle's newest album. The fog and the lasers made sense to Nick, given the album's heavy reliance on borderline techno synthesis, but something seemed off. Wasn't half the point of a concert supposed to be the ability to actually see the performer? The clouds continued to thicken, enveloping Gazelle, the stage, and the crowd with a dense miasma. Nick could hear some members of the audience close to him coughing from having to inhale the sheer volume of gas being released by the machines.
The music cut off and floodlights cut through the smoke, though the pillars of light were barely visible where Nick and Judy were standing. A calm, computerized voice echoed across the hills.
"We're sorry – due to an equipment malfunction, we ask you to please leave the venue in a safe, orderly fashion."
Nick reached out for Judy's paw, finding her covering her eyes with her shirt and coughing. He led her away from the stage, his eyes beginning to water and the wound on his arm beginning to burn. It felt as if someone were pouring menthol over his flesh. He stopped suddenly, allowing Judy to bump into him to wipe her face on his shirt. Long tendrils of mucus were dripping from her nose as he turned around, trying to find Gideon and Lola.
"This isn't fog," Nick said, panicking. He could faintly see the outline of a red fox like him through the haze, several rabbits in tow behind him. He took a deep breathe, smelling the air. Fifteen years of smoking while he was out on the streets had given his lungs a bit of an immunity to these agents, but he could taste the CS gas in the air.
He felt a heavy paw on his shoulder, turning around to see a wolf in black armor and a gas mask look down at him, assault rifle at the low ready.
"Sir, you're going to have to come with me," the wolf said, bringing his other paw back to his rifle to begin to steady it.
Nick stood there, petrified. What could he do? He was surrounded by innocent bystanders on all sides trying to make their way out of the fairgrounds and Judy was heaving behind him. He was frozen in place, unable to get a word out. His tail shot up from behind him. As the wolf began to bring his rifle to the high ready, a large backpack hit him in the face, causing him to stumble. Nick noticed that the campaign pin of a certain avian senator featured prominently on the face. He looked between the bag and the wolf before he felt his paw being taken by an animal much smaller than him, breaking off into a run. Looking down, he saw Lola Hopps and Gideon all but sprinting next to him. Judy struggled to keep up, coughing and wheezing as they went, herself almost vomiting after they cleared the gas cloud.
"Smokers, huh?" Nick asked when they were clear of the gas, still running through the parking lot.
"Don't tell my mother! She'd kill me!" Lola said, darting her eyes over to Judy and laughing at her suffering. "For once it pays not to be the good one!"
"Who was that animal, Nick?" Gideon asked, slowing down and asking for a moment, bending down and heaving in a great breath. Gideon may have been immune to the gas but he wasn't immune to the running.
"Judy and I may have made some enemies back in Zootopia who may or may not have machine guns," he said, bringing his paws to the top of his head and catching his breath. "Oh damn everything, speak of the devil."
Nick pointed toward the gas cloud, quickly revealing three troopers stepping out of it with their weapons at the ready, pointed at Nick and Judy.
"You two! On the ground! Now! You're both under arrest!"
"Hey hey, we get it! But come on, buddy, my pal here is still reeling from the gas cloud over there, can't we have a moment?" Nick said, shrugging and laying his hands out as if asking a question from a casual acquaintance.
"Shut up!" the trooper said, walking over to him and knocking him in the gut with the butt of his rifle. Nick collapsed on the ground clutching his stomach, nearly vomiting himself.
"Oh, shit that hurt!" Nick shouted. "Not like how Saint used to beat me, but still!"
As one of the troopers hovered over Judy, herself still reeling from the gas, vomiting all over herself, Nick noticed that the trooper farthest away from them was awash in light, almost as if he was being lit up by a spotlight.
Or headlights, as the crash of a pick-up truck into the trooper quickly attested. The two troopers next to Nick and Judy turned around and found their colleague pinned against another truck, blood pooling beneath him. Two rabbits, one of whom was severely obese, hopped out of the truck and started yelling at the wolves in black. Nick, struggling through his pain, could barely understand what was going on. He saw the wolves ready their rifles, followed by a flash of gray. Before he knew what was happening, he was being helped off the ground by Gideon, who handed him his car keys.
"Run, Nick! Take Judy with you! We'll hold these boys off as long as we can!" he shouted, turning toward the troopers and jumping atop the one closest to him, biting down into the unprotected flesh between his gas mask and body armor. Nick saw Lola and other members of the Hopps clan fighting the troopers as well, though with their size disadvantage, they were being thrown about like dolls, only able to land hits due to sheer numbers.
Nick grabbed Judy, only now getting over the effects of the GS gas to comprehend what was going on, by the arm and ran toward Gideon's truck. Jumping inside, he started the engine and reversed all through the parking lot, barely missing several injured bystanders on the sides. As he found the exit and shifted into drive, he could see several new troopers exiting the gas cloud to join the scuffle. He heard gunshots and screams ring out in equal volume as he took the highway exit out of town, back toward Zootopia, flooring it the entire way. Judy's gaze was transfixed on the mirror, unwilling to look back entirely. Nick couldn't tell if there tears in her eyes were from the gas or from leaving her family to fend against the wolves. None of it mattered now, of course. Bunnyburrow, by now, was long gone. A case even more violent than the scene they left behind was ahead.