Chapter 26

The door opened, revealing the somewhat amused look on Nick's mother's face. Her free paw was firmly placed on her hip.

"Decided to visit your mother again?" she asked, keeping that amused look.

"I figured you'd like to see the handsome face you created," Nick smiled back at her, his ears flat against his head, embarrassment showing on his features.

"Mhm, I figure your girlfriend's been getting plenty of looks at the handsome face I created."

Nick's face fell into a look of annoyance. "She's a bunny, Mom."

"I don't judge." She walked to her kitchen and took two mugs out. "I'm just glad you finally got yourself a girl. I started to wonder if you'd ever date anyone for real."

"No, I mean, she's a bunny that I'm not interested in." He chuckled nervously. His mother had always been like this. If he so much as talked to a girl that she deemed acceptable, she'd hound him about being her 'boyfriend'.

"I'm just saying, that Judy Hopps sure kept you straight. She even got you out of that scamming stuff you always did. She's not bad looking either. So forgive me if I think something may be going on when you spend quite a few nights with her." Nick heard his mother laugh quietly to herself as she filled the two cups to the brim with coffee and set them on the table. Nick sat down across from her and sipped from his cup. "Okay, so you two aren't a thing. But after all that's been going on, I can only assume you had something to do with the capture of these Prey people? They were going after you, after all. It was you, right?"

"Yes, Mom," he said, tapping his claws gently on the mug, the clicking noise helping him think. "They were trying to find out who the infected mammal was. However, thanks to the brilliant work of a certain doctor, I no longer have that nighthowler junk in me."

"Well that's good," she said, her face growing worried. "So no more pills right?"

"No more pills."

"And I did work with the ZPD on helping them arrest Prey. It seems like I'm always finding my way back to them."

"So are you going to reinstate?"

Nick stared at his reflection in the black liquid in his cup, wondering who he was looking at for a second. He still had a lot to figure out about himself.

"Judy talked with me about that at dinner tonight." He leaned back and took a long, slow sip of coffee. "I just don't know. She says Bogo would have me back after all I did in helping arrest Prey, but I don't know if I should do it. What if something else happens and I end up putting the ZPD in danger again?"

"Is this about that whole 'telling the mayor to keep everyone quiet' thing?"

"I didn't tell the mayor to keep everyone quiet, I just... I just asked for him to let me go so I could get out of Zootopia. That lion has always tried to hard to be helpful to me. I wish I knew why." Nick saw his mother's face fall, and he knew she remembered that day. That day the mayor himself had come to tell them the news of his father's untimely death. To this very day, he still didn't know his real reason for doing that. Maybe the lion had something to relate to in the situation. "But he did make sure that nobody would ever find out that I was infected, so I am kind of the catalyst that pushed this whole mess into exploding."

"I've never been one to encourage lying, Nicky, you know that," his mother said, "but I think the mayor was pretty smart for saying that. I saw what Prey did, watched the news on T.V. This group was dangerous and willing to hurt a lot of innocent mammals. Stopping them was necessary. Telling everyone that they weren't lying about one of ZPD's officers being infected wasn't. It would make Prey seem more valid, which is dangerous. Nobody knows the backstory, how you got infected, or what you did to keep people safe from it. I know about the collar, Nick. Finnick told me about it."

Nick closed his eyes. Another perfect example of why he didn't usually trust anyone with sensitive information. "Did he tell you willingly?"

"I may have tricked it out of him. You can't out-sly a Wilde." She took a confident sip from her mug. "But telling Zootopia about your problem would have just caused unnecessary doubt. Foxes are hated enough as it is. Could you imagine what people would do when they found out a fox was infected and the ZPD knew? And that the ZPD didn't disclose the information? There are some things that mammals just shouldn't know."

"I guess I didn't think of it that way," Nick said. "Which is rare." He smiled at his mother.

"That's what I'm here for." She picked up his cup and her own to refill them. "Thinking of everything you don't. Relationships, for example." She refilled the cups and brought Nick his fresh cup of coffee.

"One thing at a time, Mom," said Nick, raising his cup in her direction. She picked up her own cup and they dinked the two together before heartily sipping on the delicious caffeinated liquid.

"Just saying, that bunny would make a good mother."

"Mom!"

The older looking fox simply shrugged her shoulders with a knowing smile, enjoying her son's embarrassment.

Judy sat back in her couch, feeling like she could finally breath, glad to be watching a movie on her TV without getting a mysterious broadcast. Dinner with Nick tonight had been fantastic, although she wished he hadn't convinced her to have that chocolate cake.

Of course, she was sure she'd done a bit of convincing herself that evening. She really hoped he'd reinstate. After everything that'd happened, including Stacy's resignation, it left a perfect spot for Nick as her partner.

Stacy. Judy hadn't heard a word from her– no text, no phone call. She wouldn't be surprised if the white wolf had left Zootopia. She forgave her, though. Yes, she'd worked for Prey, but... everyone deserved a second chance. Nick had been a con artist before becoming a police officer, and that change turned out pretty well, for the most part. He could have become the best officer at the precinct easily if it hadn't been for Bellwether.

Judy turned the TV off and sat there in the semi-darkness. The sun had almost set, and night would replace it soon enough. Judy was hoping that the night of Zootopia was over for now, and the sun would come out for a while. She'd gotten what she wished for: action. Now that she'd gotten her fill of it, she was quite certain that a nice long break from the action would be nice. At this point, even being a meter maid for a day or two didn't sound as horrible as it usually would.

She picked up her phone and glanced at it for any messages from Nick or even Stacy, only to see nothing but her lock screen, a picture of her with Nick. She specifically remembered that day. He'd prepared himself for a selfie, and she jumped in.

Literally.

She chuckled at it, then tossed her phone aside and got up for a glass of water. The moment she had a glass full of the clear, hydrating beverage, someone knocked at her door. The bunny smiled, ready to open up to see a smiling fox with food in his hand.

Of course, then she opened the door, and…

"Hey," Stacy said, looking quite nervous as she fiddled with her paws. "I hope I'm not interrupting anything."

"Oh yeah, you're interrupting my boredom. Come on in."

Judy walked to her couch, and the surprised Stacy stepped inside, closing the door behind her.

"You're just going to allow me inside of your apartment? After everything that happened?"

"Everything that happened. Like saving me from Nick when he went savage, like helping us escape from the room in the first place, for abandoning Prey to actually work for the ZPD? I'd say you deserve to come into my apartment."

Stacy took a seat on the couch next to Judy. "Chief Bogo told me about how you convinced him to pardon me."

"Uh huh."

"Look, I get that I helped out in the end, but don't you think I deserve some kind of punishment for what I did?"

"Everyone deserves a second chance, Stacy. And besides, if you want to be punished that badly, punish yourself, 'cause I'm a little too worn out to do anything besides be lazy." Judy couldn't believe she'd just said she wanted to be lazy, and meant it. "Or, if you really want a punishment, ask Clawhauser if you can see his Gazelle app."

Stacy burst out into laughter, and Judy just smiled from the contagious sound.

"Okay, so you forgive me, then. That's a relief."

"And I'm sure Nick's forgiven you, as well. You've talked to him too, right?"

Stacy's smile disappeared and she looked down at her paws, nervous once again.

"Well," the white wolf started. "It just so happens that our mutual fox friend is the reason why I'm here."

Judy blinked, "Oh?"

"Yeah," she said. "That guy really confuses me."

"He tends to have that effect on... well, everybody."

"I thought I hated all foxes, regardless of how good they seemed or claimed to be. I never thought I would be able to make an exception to that rule, especially as easily as I did."

"If there's a way to get you to like him, Nick will find it. Same goes for hating him."

"I never told you what happened to my family." She looked Judy in the eye. "Not everything."

"What do you mean?"

"The foxes that scammed us, made us lose everything, they decided that it wasn't enough. They didn't want any... loose ends, they…"

Judy could only watch as the wolf's mouth formed a deep frown, mixed into a cocktail of sadness and rage. Stacy relaxed, then opened her mouth to continue.

"You don't need to," Judy said. "If you don't want to. I know what you mean."

"Thanks," Stacy said, turning her head away for a second, wiping away some tears, then looking back at Judy. "I thought I would never be able to stop feeling so angry. Then that dumb fox rams into my life like that. Jeez, I barely even know him. We had an hour long conversation and dinner, and then another half an hour conversation on the way to my apartment, and I still know hardly anything about him."

"Another one of his talents."

"Yeah, I guess. I don't know why, but after seeing him, after realizing that not every fox in the world was some shady murderer, I... I don't know, I guess I just decided to forgive…"

"Forgive the foxes that…"

"I don't know, Judy, I really don't know." The wolf put her head in her hands and released an annoyed sigh. "All I know is that I forgave and felt better immediately after. Then Nick finds out it's nearly my birthday, and that cake came out and he looked so happy for me, like he actually cared that I was having a good time and wasn't just trying to prove that he wasn't untrustworthy." Stacy cleared her throat and sat up straighter. "I think I'm done now."

"So why are telling me all of this?" Judy asked. "Not that I don't appreciate that you trust me with all of this."

"I guess I just don't know what to say. I don't really know how I would talk to him."

"With Nick, you can't plan out what's going to happen. He's always one step ahead. You just learn to roll with the punches and turn what he says around on him when you can. It'll keep him amused, give him a challenge."

Stacy huffed a breath, resembling a breathy laugh. "Yeah, I guess I'll do that."

Judy extended her arms, and Stacy went in for a hug. So this was what it felt like. This was how it felt to have a friend that you could trust with absolutely anything. And maybe, if she was lucky, Stacy would realized that she had two friends tonight.

Nick walked into his room, having already wished his mother a good night and consumed his fourth cup of coffee. He probably wouldn't sleep anyway, not with all the excitement he'd gotten through. Besides, he liked staying up, even if it meant flipping through channels until the sun came up. He was nocturnal, after all.

He closed his door and flipped the light on, looking around at his room. The moment his eyes laid on the bed, the temptation to sleep became much stronger. As childlike as it felt, Nick jumped onto the bed face first, savoring the smell and feel of the clean sheets. He rolled over and closed his eyes, relaxing. His identity, his reputation, his friends, his mother, and his ability to stay in Zootopia were perfectly safe. It felt good to finally be done with all of this.

Suddenly, his phone started buzzing in his pocket. The fox casually took it out and answered the call without even looking at who it was.

"Hello?" he said into the speaker, expecting to hear the infuriating voice of a telemarketer trying to sell him some obnoxious product that no one had ever heard of or wanted to hear of.

"Hey, Nick," said the voice of Stacy over the phone. Nick froze for a second. He hadn't expected to hear from her again so soon.

"Hey, Snow," the fox said jovially. "How ya been?"

"I just wanted to say that–"

"You're sorry?"

There was a momentary silence before she said, "Okay, well... yeah, that's pretty much what I was going to say, but–"

"Trust me, I've been on both sides of the spectrum, I know what it's like going to the good side. You feel like you need to apologize to every mammal that will listen and feel horrible about what you did in the past. But let me be the first to tell you, Stacy, that the best way to make up for that is to do whatever you can to show that you're not bad anymore. As good as I am with words, they can only take you so far in convincing mammals that you can be more than what you are. Carrots had to show me that."

"Wow," Stacy said. "I... okay. Since when did you become a wise old fox?"

Nick chuckled. "Old doesn't have anything to do with it, sweetheart, but hey, you gotta respect your elders."

"Anyway, I guess that's it. You're really hard to surprise with anything, aren't you?"

"And I always will be. Goodnight, Stacy."

"Goodnight, Nick."

Nick hung up and smiled at his phone. Things were just getting better and better now. Maybe he wouldn't stay up late tonight. His eyes felt droopy, and his bed started getting more and more comfortable. With a stretch and a yawn, the fox curled up in his bed and let himself fall asleep. For the first time in a while, he would just sleep until noon, or whenever he decided he even wanted to get out of bed.