Chapter Thirty-Four

The Slow Approach

Nick wandered through the backways of his mind, recalling and remembering all the memories of his past. Most were painful, a few were pleasant, but that was not the important thing. The important thing was that Nick was mentally able to let himself remember them.

That night, last night, on the roof of his apartment, Nick knew that he had torn open the wounds of his past to Judy. As poison was drawn from a wound, the blood of emotion had bled out into his soul, leaving his body weak and his mind tormented. Without the healing powers and the love of the sweet-smelling bunny to aid him, bunny who had sat beside him in the cold night air, the fox knew that he could never have hoped to ever escape the shadow of his past.

And yet the wounds of sorrow, the rabbit had all but wrenched open, were closed. They weren't just bandaged and covered up, hidden within himself as they had been for so many years, but truly and blessedly... closed. With the healing process now having begun, not that they would've been healed overnight, nor would've Nick ever been truly freed of the scars they had left behind, but at least now the fox no longer had to convince himself that he didn't care about his past and pretend it had never happened. He could accept his lot as it was, come to terms with it and move on.

It had happened... it just didn't bother Wilde anymore. Nick somewhat drew himself back to the moment at paw and sat back in his chair, an ear flicking in adjudication and anxiety at what was to come later this day.

Nick had woken up with the sense that today was going to be a very long and difficult day and that sense still held firm. He couldn't quite put it into words, though he still had this... feeling, this indefinable thing that told him something big was at paw. Nick drew himself back from his broodings fully, hoping to distract himself from the ominously sinking feeling that made him want to take Judy home and hide her under the sheets. It made him feel like a rat in a sinking ship, thus he turned to the gray-furred rabbit as she pulled the ZPD cruiser to a stop before some red traffic lights.

"So, Carrots," he engaged, putting a wry smile over his concern in the way he was so skilled at, "what's the plan? Run in Erkin guns-ablaze or sneak in there subtly like that Joanna character from Perfect Bark?"

Judy turned to him, her brow furrowed as she answered, "What do you mean 'what's the plan?' We talked through all this before we left the station!"

"Yeah... I may have accidently stopped listening to what we were actually talking about and started focusing on... something else."

"Nick," Judy tutted, turning back to the road, "it was me and you stood alone in our office. What was there to distract you?" Nick smirked, leaned close to her ear and whispered something to which Judy started back in shock... then giggled, and brought a paw to her mouth to cover her embarrassed, yet flattered, laughter as she glanced over to him. A blush grew on her face while a grin overtook Nick's.

"You do wear a very tight pair of jeans, after all."

Judy controlled the blush while her face bloomed sultry. "That can come later, darling."

"Apt choice of words, sweetheart."

Her blush crimsoned. "N-no," she stuttered, "I said 'come', Nick, come! Spelt c-o—"

"I know what you meant, you multiplication-mad little minx."

"Nick, I... I—" Judy drew herself hurriedly back from where that conversation was going and focused on the fact that the traffic light had turned green. She shifted the car into gear and pulled it neatly away, being careful to avoid stalling the car like she had last time when things had gotten a little heated at a similar red light.

"So," she tried after calm had entered the air, "since you conveniently lost yourself to thinking about thrusting your meat between my legs 'til I'm sent over the edge—" Nick coughed and choked beside her, a blush just becoming visible at the back of his red neck; consequently, Judy smiled while watching stealthily. Nick could dance circles with playful implications all day, but whenever Judy wanted to get her own back, all she had to do was be blunt and untactful, and he would be blushing and stuttering in a matter of a second."... Then I guess we better go through it all again."

"Erhm," he muttered, "I— I... I guess."

The rabbit glanced to him, a smug smile on her lips for getting him flustered further more. Life was a competition with Nick, but it did keep them on their toes. "Well," she hummed, "the mission objective only states we have to get Bogo a warrant to search the place. That means we don't actually have to go inside or anywhere near Erkin if we can help it, only as a last resort. So I thought: rather than marching right on into the lion's den, we should try and find out everything we can about them first."

"Makes sense to me," Nick approved, resting an arm on the side of the door and gazing out ahead casually, still flustered but doing his best to hide it, "I mean, you never know. If their paperwork's dodgy, we might even get enough for a warrant from the dirt on that."

"Precisely."

"We're heading for Registry House, then?"

"Yep!"

"You know where it is?"

"... Not exactly," Judy muttered in humiliation.

"And you were taking us this direction, why?"

There was a long, uncertain pause… "Instinct?"

Nick shook his head at her playfully. "It's not hard to find. It's just on The Ringroad near Admin Tower's southern complex. You'll spot it. Just carry on down here." Judy did as Nick instructed, continuing her drive through the morning rush-hour traffic as it started to disband to normal-level traffic with the minutes ticking on. Very soon, the streets would be relatively quiet, like they would be through the rest of the day, before picking up again come the time of evensong and the rush-hour that usually followed after that.

Judy huffed slightly as she came to a stop at another set of traffic lights, behind another line of cars that was unhappily stagnated by the traffic, which lied upon the roads almost as thick as the heat that hung in the air. "So," Judy started, due to the boredom of the tedious interlude, "Erkin, Nick: know anything about them?"

"Arrh, not really. Unlike Ladders and Ladders, me an' Fin never took the time to find out anything about the place."

"You mean, 'you never saw fit to rob it?'"

"Well... yeah. I mean, there's probably some pretty expensive equipment in there, but it's not abandoned like Ladders. All I really know is their full title is Erkin Electrical Enterprises. I don't know who runs the place or who started it. I don't know what they make, exactly, or who they make it for. I don't know if they supply businesses with computers or fix hearing aids for old grannies."

"But we know it's something to do with electrics."

"And we know they must have an active presence in the city. You've seen their trucks from time to time, right?"

"Yeah, white trucks, aren't they? With a green, 'EEE' insignia on the side." The light changed green again, and Judy set back off down the long, wide road. She added nothing as she pulled away, the car suddenly still with thoughtful silence, before Judy remembered what she was trying to add and broke it. "Nick, didn't we pull one of their vans over for something a few months ago?"

"You know, I think we did. And you know what that means, don't you?"

"Yeah. Well, nearly. I can feel it on the tip of my tongue... or, mind."

"Carrots," Nick prompted, "what's the worst job in the ZPD?"

"Parking duty?"

"No," Nick argued, "we agreed that was the second. The first was—"

"Paperwork! The details of the Erkin van we pulled over will be in the paperwork!"

"Including a run-down of the kind of stock they were carrying.

"Clawhauser," Judy called, now into the radio, "respond." Anticipation turned to fester on the nerves of impatience that soared in the constricted air. Judy was drumming her fingers on the receiver and was about to call-out once more—

"Clawhauser, responding."

"We need you to dig up some info for us," the rabbit replied back efficiently, "we can't remember when exactly, but about two months ago now, Wilde and I pulled over a van belonging to the Electrics company: Erkin Enterprises. Do you think you could tell us its cargo?"

"Boy, the two of you pull a lot of cars over. Can you remember what it was for, exactly?" the cheetah asked.

Judy looked to Nick for support, but he was only able to provide her with a startled expression and a shrug of shoulders. "Sorry, Claw, that's a negative."

"Okay Hopps," Clawhauser called back, "it might take a while then, but I'll get it for you."

"Thanks Ben, you're a lifesaver." The radio crackled, then went silent. Judy turned to Nick, grinning. "Nick, you are a genius."

"I know, darlin'. I know."

Judy giggled amidst the dance of affection that overtook her energetic eyes. "Gimme a kiss."

"What, just... just like that?" Judy's reply didn't come verbally, but she did reply physically by slowing down the car at another set of traffic lights, reaching out a paw and gripping Nick by his tie that she tugged. His head met hers for a sudden, yet powerful, kiss on the lips that spread a taste of honey to her mind and stem.

Judy giggled and returned all attention back to the road to help hide her embarrassment. Nick's face was flushed with heat, and he swiftly turned away likewise and rested his head on the window so he could look out in a light daze... A silver car in the next lane pulled up to a stop directly beside them, unable to move further forwards for the cars in front; ergo, Nick's face came to be staring directly at the car's driver through the driver-side window.

The fox's brow started to furrow. The black-striped rabbit, who was sitting in the driver's seat of the car, remained utterly motionless in his seat, gazing, nonplused, out of the front window and not acknowledging Nick in any way, shape or form. It wasn't just some rabbit with unique stripes of black, this one was too familiar to not to be easily recognized as none other than… Jack. Nick frowned into the window with the sub-conscious reaction that wanted to attract the attention of the rabbit and prove the truth, but before anything substantial would happen, the light flashed into green and the patrol car rolled forward.

Nick observed the rabbit's car fully, until it moved in another direction and passed out of sight, yet all it did was to further his suspicions and assertions. Eventually, Nick sat back in his seat and said nothing, his mind deep in thought.

Judy beside him was oblivious to all as she drove on down the road, half-glancing to the fox when she asked, "Is it much further? Nick?" Silence was all that spoke. "Nick!"

"Carrots," the fox returned vaguely, "paw me your pen, will you?"

Judy glanced to him a second time, a questioning expression on her face, while she fished her carrot pen out of her pocket and pawed it to him. "Sure. Here...?"

"Thanks," Nick said, setting it down on the dashboard. Without a word of explanation, he clicked the 'record' button on the small orange device and spoke, his voice suddenly shifting from deep and brooding to light and conversational. "So, Hopps," he chirruped, "what exactly is the secret to growing such wonderful blueberries?" The car came to a stop at another set of traffic lights. Judy just gawped at the fox, bewildered. Slowly, Nick's head turned to face her, his eyes indicating for her to go on in a similar fashion.

"Well..." she hummed, very unsurely, "it's really more to do with being attentive to everything a plant needs, rather than just one magical secret for perfect berries—"

"Really? Sounds fractionating. Do go on!"

"It's simple when you break it down and look at the process as a set of steps," she replied, casually slipping into a normal-sounding tone of voice, "first of all you've gotta plant the seed in the right location. You have to consider how much light it's going to get, moisture absorption, minerals in the soil, what was planted there the year before. All before the seed's even planted, you know? It might be that there's a natural barrier, like a tree or a hedge, which will block sunlight to certain parts of the field at certain times of the day."

"I get it," Nick muttered, starting to suspect that Judy had forgotten about the pen and was now just lecturing him on plant husbandry. "The idea is not to put a plant there so it'd get as much sunlight as possible."

"Actually," she interjected with decline, "it depends more on the time of year, the product you're planting, the quality of the soil and the air pressure, moisture and temporal climate. You see, at times in the summer, when the sun is shining at its most intense, it may well be the plants are getting too much sunlight and getting burnt up. But if it's closer to the rainy season with thicker layers of cloud and less light getting through, a greater degree of sunlight might be wanted."

"But all plants need sunlight, right?"

"Yep. Unless it's a fungus, of course, in which case you want a darkroom kept at fifteen degrees. Now," she continued, the pen obviously forgotten, "there's also the layout of the land itself to be considered. For example: a dip in the earth means the plants will be closer to the water table and able to draw up more moisture. However, it may also mean more clay in the soil, depending on the earth. That will be drawn up into the plant with the water and minerals and can make the fruit taste kinda musky."

"A musky blueberry?"

"Nothing worse than a musky blueberry, sweetheart. Anyway, once the seed's planted, you've then gotta think about the kind of irrigation system you want to use. Dad's always liked the Claber 8053 Oasis, but I've always prefer—"

"Wow," Nick exclaimed, leaning forwards, "Judy, that was so interesting, but I think that's about as I can take at the moment." Then, the fox picked up the carrot pen-recorder and flicked it off. "Thanks," he finished, slipping it into his pocket.

Twisting the steering wheel, Judy turned the car off the road they had been driving on and onto something not unlike a gigantic roundabout. The speed limit here was, but a leisurely, five miles per hour, since this part of town was constantly full of business mammals from all the highest and most well-off walks of life. The townsmammals of the City Council area filled the Ringroad and its nearby premises. Dressed in the sharpest black suits and carrying the finest quality, imitation-leather attaché cases, they walked about the streets, full of their own pompous self-importance with their black-polished shoes glinting in the sunlight.

The Ringroad circled the Admin Tower: unarguably the most influential building in all Zoophon which stood in the centre of this gigantic roundabout, the home of the immeasurable power that governed and maintained the clockwork-runnings of the city, and the center point for the greatly inspiring guidance Zootopia had upon the rest of the world.

Driving around the outside lane of the Ringroad, the rabbit and the fox passed a number of tall and grand buildings, though none as grand as the Administrators' Tower itself. They passed a metal sign baring the words 'Registry House', and Judy turned the car swiftly into the carpark and shut off the engine. There was a long moment when nothing happened in the air-conditioned space of the car, until such a leisure didn't seem possible anymore. "So... you gonna transcribe that into written text and study it later?"

"Something like that, yeah."

"Seriously, though, what was that all about?"

"Never you mind, my dear Hopps," he beamed with a warm smile and a wink in her direction, a warm smile and a wink which shew no signs of the concern that lied beneath.

"Just... interested?"

"Just interested."

"Then... then why—"

The fox edged forwards and kissed Judy softly on the lips. "I'm dealing with it, Judy," he reassured confidently, "it's alright. You can trust me."

Judy opened her mouth to ask another question, but Nick avoided it by pressing his lips into her opened mouth with heat and deepness of tastiest delight. Hence, when he withdrew his tongue a few seconds later, the rabbit was left in a dizzy daze of pleasure and mild amnesia.

The fox grinned, both for how satisfactory the kiss was and for the fact that he had successfully avoided that line of questioning. He opened the door of the ZPD cruiser and stepped out of the air-conditioned coolness of its interior and into the thick heat of the day outside that was as if waiting for him all this time.

…

Author's notes:

Hesitance jumps around your mind,

Grooms decision thus chosen blind.

Your thoughts most succulent of snack,

All delivered by luscious feedback.

So don't hide like a tiny shrew,

Thus share that belovable review!

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