Epilogues
A/N: Well, here it is. The last bits to this story. I gotta admit, I've been very unsure about "The 'A' Word" and only have certain bits in my head done. I've done dark stories before and they rarely come out well, so I'm looking at changing the tone and possibly dropping the abortion angle altogether and just focus mainly on Greg's first week at school. Instead of Julie being forced to go through abortion of two kits or dying, I'm going to change it to a miscarriage. Still somber, but less controversial. With that, I'm changing it to "School Haze".
What I am VERY confident in is the story after this "Judy and the Bandit" It's a story I'm very excited to write. It's got mystery, action, betrayal, and redemption. Judy's back at her job at the ZPD. The crime rate has risen as Mr. Big has taken over more territories (hinted at in this story) and the police are having trouble stopping it because one of their own is on the take! While Bogo tries to find out who the traitor is, the Wilde's end up taking in an orphan raccoon girl they found on the streets named "Bandit". She seems nice a first, Bandit has a dark secret that ends up putting Judy at the heart of the war between the police and Mr. Big! Judy's not alone though as Bogo gives Nick his badge back for one last case! A hero turns into a villain! A villain turns into a hero! This is gonna be an exciting one!
Epilogue One: A tale of 4 beds.
Late Thursday, 11:38 pm December 29th
Greg was deep asleep and dreaming. He was at school on his first day. He was tepidly walking towards the entrance to his classroom. He couldn't see inside. The lights were out and it was dark. He could barely see inside. Legs trembling, he called out. "H-Hello?"
A scary and familiar voice came from deep within. "Come on in little one…so I can teach you."
It was the coyote from Targoat. He leaped out of the room and straight at Greg. His fangs were bared. "RAAAAWWR!"
Greg woke up screaming. "AAAAAHH!" He immediately started crying. As he was wiping his tears, he heard the voice of his sister who peeked her head up from the bottom bed. "You woke me up, dummy."
"SNIFF! I had a nightmare."
"SIGH! Okay. Get down here."
"I-I'm okay."
"No, you not. Bring you stupid bunny."
Penny grabbed Greg and carried him down to her bed. Greg protested. "Hey! Don't carry me like that! I'm your big brother."
"You tiny."
"Shut up!"
Penny threw him onto her bed, against the wall. She gave him Mr. Jingles and she took her doll foxy and put her next to the raggedy plush. "Cootie barrier."
"Why are you doing this?"
"Cuz I wuv you, 'toopid!. New rule. No one who has a nightmare sweeps awone. Okay?."
"Why?"
She smiled. "Bad dream can't get us if we team up."
"SNIFF! Okay."
"You 'till 'tawed?"
"Y-Yeah. That guy was really scary."
"But you 'top him."
"Mommy stopped him. I just kicked him in the head and he swatted me down hard. It really hurt!"
"You 'topped him first. You hewp Mommy catch up. You my hero."
Greg smiled. "Yeah?"
"Yeah. You bwave,"
"...I'm not that brave. I'm scared of school too. Like, REALLY scared. I don't wanna go."
"I don't want you ta go eiffer."
"What?! Why?"
"I'll miff you."
"I'll only be gone until one o'clock."
"I dunno how long 'dat is."
"I'll be back in the afternoon."
"Dat's wong! You miss all 'da good cartoons!"
"I know."
"Don't go 'den. You not fart enough for kindergarten anyway,"
"I am fart eno- I mean, smart enough! That's why mommy's putting me in kindergarten. I'm too old and smart for preschool anymore. I gotta go!"
"What about boowies?"
"I won't let bullies push me around. You said I'm brave, right?"
"Yeah?"
"I'll be fine. You'll see."
"Okay."
"Thanks, Penny. I feel a little better."
"Why? What I do?"
"More than you know."
Penny had the two plushes hugging. "Wook! Foxy's cuddwing wiff Mr. Tinkle."
"They can hug. They're just plushies anyway. Ummm… up on the shelf. Why do you have that Ball Doll holding the Stormtroopers paw?"
"'Dey married."
"Oh, brother."
"Bark Vader wuz at 'da wedding."
Moments earlier…
Nick and Judy are in bed. Nick's laying down trying to sleep while Judy's sitting up and playing Fartnite. As she is playing, one of her ears shoots up towards the wall. "Greg's crying."
"Probably a nightmare," Nick replied. "Do you want me to go check on him?"
"I can check on him in a second. I'm close to Victory."
"I wish you hadn't found out that thing was portable. You sure he wouldn't rather have his 'mommy' check up on him?"
"You heard me and mom?"
Nick's ears drooped. "...Yeah. You're not wrong though. I am soft."
"That's not true! You were great on the force!"
"No, I was just smart. I would be the bait and you did most of the action."
"You had your fair share of fights too."
"Mostly lost. Then you had to bail me."
"Oh, bullcrap! Nick Wilde, you are all man! What's gotten into you?"
"I keep thinking of…. Wait. Shouldn't we be checking up on him? We're kinda dropping the ball here."
"I've been listening. Penny's comforting him and it's really sweet. I don't think we should interrupt them."
"Okay. But can't he hear us?"
"Not since we soundproofed our room and mom and Finnick's room. I don't want Greg to hear our lovemaking."
"And I really don't want you to hear mom and pop lovemaking."
"So what do you keep thinking of?"
"How useless I was today. Stuck at home while you're saving our kids. Just like how you'll be saving the day every day while I'm being worthless."
"You're not worthless!"
"I should have been there for them! Penny wouldn't have gotten kidnapped and Greg wouldn't have gotten hurt."
Judy turned off the Snitch. "You don't know that."
"We could have had more eyes on them!"
Judy was getting mad. "Are you saying it's my fault she sneaked away while I was picking out clothes for Greg?!"
"No! I just…" He wipes away a few tears. "When you told me what happened, my heart stopped for a moment. I just kept thinking of what would have happened if I was there instead of holding a stupid camera for Finn! I failed this family. I got fired for something stupid. I got no money coming in and.."
Judy grabbed his cheeks and pull him in for a deep kiss. "Now you listen to me, Slick. You are the most wonderful, sweetest, kindest, smartest man I have ever known in my life and if you had been there, you'd be in jail right now cuz that coyote would be dead."
Nick smiled. "Darn right."
"You will get a new job. In fact, I'd bet money that you'll have your own business someday!"
Nick smiled. "Is that true?"
Judy extended her paws. "A hundred bucks."
Nick shook her paw. "I'm kinda betting against myself but, okay! You're on. I'll bet you one other thing."
"What's that?"
"That you can't CENSORED my CENSORED while I'm holding you upside down and take these CENSORED and CENSORED CENSORED."
Judy jumped on Nick. "Oh, it's on!"
Meanwhile…
Finnick is trying to comfort Vivian while she is sobbing and crying. "Aww, c'mon baby! It's not that bad!"
" 'Not that bad?!' I loved her! And now she's gone! SOB! I only knew her for such a short time, but we had gotten so close. I should have talked to her more often. If I'd had known she felt like moving, I would have asked her to stay! Boo-Hoo-Hoo!"
"...We are still talking about that 'Mammal Crossing' game, right?"
"Oh, why did Miss Cluckie have to go?! Why?! Why couldn't it have been that weirdo who dresses like a clown?!"
"You can talk to Isabelle and have him move out."
"Oh, I couldn't do that to her. She gets really nervous if she has to ask a villager to move out. She's so nice and does everything around the village with a smile. She's so sweet."
"Well, it's either that or you constantly talk to every villager in town every dang day. Now, put down that damn game or I'm gonna be the one moving out!"
Vivian put the game in sleep mode and kissed her fiance. "Okay dear, I'll tell her in the morning."
"Good."
She kissed Finick on the lips. "Y'know, you can come to visit my little village anytime. On the southern coast, there's a cave you can explore."
"I don't even play the ga-OH! Heh-heh! Right."
Epilogue Two: Lunch with Stacy
Stacy Longears was nervous. Super nervous and super excited. She was about to meet her idol once again. "Okay Stacy, calm down," she said to herself. "You're just having lunch and chatting with your new friend, Judy Hopps. Your idol. The woman you have a massive crush on. This... This is just friends meeting for lunch. Judy Hopps is my friend now! Maybe we can be best friends. Maybe we can be more! Oh my gosh! OH MY GOSH!"
The people around the restaurant looked over at her and she realized she was being really loud. "Eek! Sorry! Sorry."
She then saw Judy and Nick enter the restaurant. She regained her composure and waved them over. They smiled and went over to her table. Nick slid in first and put himself as a barrier between Judy and Stacy. Judy was quick to notice. "Little jealous there, Slick?"
"Me Carrots? Never. I just happened to go in first."
"Mmm-Hmm."
"Th-that's fine!" said Stacy. "I'm learning to stop fangirling, but being around you gets me… excitable. It's okay if Nick's... Y'know, a barrier. It helps keep me professional. Thank you for coming all the way to Bunnyburrow from Foxden."
"Well, we had to eventually to get Nick's car back. We left it here because of Penny's fear of being driven in a car."
"How is she doing with that?"
"Much better! The comfort mask helps."
Judy talked to Stacy for a while about Penny and Greg, how the family was bonding well, the incident at Targoat, Greg being traumatized by the whole thing, his worries about going back to school and other things. In between, they made their lunch orders.
Nick noticed that while Judy was talking to Stacy, Stacy was running her paw up and down Nick's leg. "Is there something I can help you with there, Stace?"
"Menage eh trois?"
"... What?!"
"Nothing! I-I'm learning French. I might be going to Canid-a next year."
Nick looked at her sternly. "I know what that means."
Judy looked over at Nick. "I missed it. What did she say?"
"Basically, she wants to be the lettuce in a Wilde sandwich."
"STACY!"
Stacy shrugged in embarrassment. "Sorry."
"I thought you were lesbian?"
"I am!... Mostly. I mean, I'm a big fan of both of you. I wouldn't mind experimenting."
"Well, I would," said Nick. "Foxes are monogamous…. Most foxes anyway."
The waitress came over with their drinks. Nick looked at her and gestured towards Stacy. "This lady's gonna need at least two more glasses because she's SUPER thirsty."
Judy was a bit disappointed in Stacy's actions. "Stacy, I want to be your friend, but you got to get over this….this crush on me! I really like you, but not that way."
Stacy's ears drooped and she looked like she was ready to cry. Judy slid under the table and popped up the other side next to her. "I want us to be great friends, but you're….you're wanting more than I can give you. Tell you what? Maybe sometime next week, I'll bring you by the family farm and I can introduce you to a few of my sisters."
"You… you have lesbian sisters?"
"I have 156 sisters. Some of them are lesbian, yes."
"... I could be a Hopps! I...I'd be your sister-in-law!"
Judy chuckled. "Possibly, yes."
Their lunch arrived. Judy sat back over at her side and started to eat. "One of the reasons we wanted to talk to you Stacy, is that eventually, we want to extend our family."
Nick spoke up. "Not right away, what with our current financial situation. We're thinking more.. 'down the road', like when I have a steady job. I'd be happy with just two or three, but bunnies love big families, so…' when in Rome' as they say. We argued for a while and agreed to three more. Are there some kids you'd recommend to us from the orphanage? It doesn't have to be a fox or bunny. I mean, do you guys have a catalog or anything?"
Stacy laughed. "Ha! No. I mean, we keep track of them on the computer so we don't miss anyone, but each of the nuns has their own section to take care of. I'm… A little worried."
"Why?"
"Well as you know, I quit being a nun. They added a new nun to my section of the orphanage. They want me to help show her the ropes. They say she's going to be my assistant, but I have a feeling they're going to fire me."
Stacy didn't know just how right she was, as they fired her the next week. (But you fine folks already knew that from reading the last chapter.)
Judy tried to console her. "I'm sure they're just getting some extra help. You have 1,200 kids to take care of."
"I guess," Stacy sighed. "I've… just got this bad feeling."
Nick interrupted. "You have any sugar gliders?"
"Pardon?"
"Sugar gliders. They're kinda like flying squirrels. They're really cute."
Judy nudged the fox. "Nick, she runs an orphanage, not a pet store!"
"I know! What? I can't decide what species I'd like to adopt?"
Stacy thought about it. "I think we have one little girl who's a sugar glider."
"Great! I'll put her on the list."
"We're making a list now?" Judy asked.
"Of course, Fluff! It's like buying a car. You decide which ones you'd be interested in, take 'em for a test spin. If they don't work out, try another one."
"I don't think you can treat orphans like that, Slick."
The lunch was over and both Judy and Nick escorted Stacy to her car. "Thanks for stopping by. Sorry if I was too nervous or forward."
"It's okay," Judy replied. "But please, just treat me like everyone else. I'm nothing special."
"Well, I think you're very special."
"The word I use is 'abnormal'," Nick replied. She's abnormally strong, abnormally fast. Abnormally, OOF!"
Judy elbowed Nick in the gut. "Stacy, I want you to just treat me like a friend because you ARE my friend. I don't see myself as a celebrity."
"I understand," Stacy replied. She went over and gave Judy a hug. "Thanks for everything."
"And thank YOU for having the self-control not to grab my rump this time. I'll call you later in the week, okay?"
"Sure! Bye for now!"
"Bye!" Judy got in the car with Nick. "She is so fired."
Nick was surprised. "You think so?"
"They don't have nun interns! She's training her replacement and she doesn't even know it."
"That's terrible! Stacy's a very nice if not a bit obsessed girl."
"I'd like us to help her is she ends up in trouble."
"Sure. As long as she doesn't end up under our sheets."
"I thought that was every guy's fantasy?"
Nick leaned over and kissed Judy. "You'll always be my fantasy, Fluff."
The two sped off from Bunnyburrow and took a long, drive back home to Foxden.
