Hey guys, how are you?
Damn, this is the 60th Chapter already. Never thought it would go on that long, but here we are. I hope you still enjoy this story a little!
Have fun ;)
Zootopia – Springtime Circumstances
Chapter 60 – Way bigger than a concert
POV Hazel
I never had something this exciting before in my entire life. With the golden backstage-tickets Daniel presented to the security guard, they really let us into the private area of the artists. I still couldn´t quite believe it. From the distance I already spotted two wolves who were heading into the same direction as us, and after another door Daniel opened just after them, we already saw a giant buffet and an even bigger couch in the hall that fallowed. My knees felt like butter all over sudden, but Daniel just kept on pulling me with him carefully.
The two wolves were standing right next to none other than the Gazelle herself and talked to her just like good friends as it seemed. Just like that I was in the same room as her.
"Hey Max" Daniel greeted the wolf who just had hugged the well-known popstar and was about to greet all the others too, "Where have you been this whole time? I haven´t seen you anywhere!"
"I wouldn´t have spotted you either if you hadn´t confessed your love to Rico in front of twenty thousand people!" he replied with a chuckle and a well-executed fist-bump.
"Hey!" he greeted me with a charismatic smile while offering me his paw, "Max Wolford."
"Hazel" I replied shyly while shaking it, "Nice to meet you!"
"Hey Dan!" a very familiar voice chuckled from behind us suddenly, "…I would totally do you too, but I guess Nick is first in line for that matter…"
"Look who joined us" Gazelle chuckled in amusement.
I just had accepted where I was, and now that I just turned around, I got so excited that I nearly fell into unconsciousness once again.
"Oh my god" I whispered, not knowing what else to do. He surely noticed my excitement, but he didn´t act offended or anything. He was rather amused about it.
"Rico!" Daniel greeted him just like an old friend, shaking his paw calmly, "Congratulations man, your performance was awesome!"
"Thank you!" he smiled in a humble way, "Glad you liked it!"
Without further ado he went towards me and quite like a gentleman reached me his paw as well.
"Rico, nice to meet you!"
"I…I´m Hazel" I stuttered, "N-Nice to meet you t-too!"
"Oh, you don't have to be scared of him" somebody else told me in amusement, "He really is nice and fluffy!"
When I noticed who said that, my heart nearly stopped for a third time in just five minutes.
"And my other favorite foxy is here as well" Gazelle chuckled.
Slowly but surely I wasn´t really sure if all of this was real anymore. Nick Wilde himself just had joined us, and he was just as nice and friendly as all the others.
"I…I was told so, yeah" I stuttered, just afterwards realizing that I really said that out loud, "I…I mean that he´s nice…"
There was a short little awkward moment of silence among us, then Rico couldn't hide a little, very sympathetic giggle anymore, although he really tried to hide it.
"I´m so sorry!" I whispered in shame, but he just waved it off already.
"Don´t be sorry for being nice" Rico just laughed with a little wink, "How could I be mad at you for that? "
"Yeah…" I chuckled nervously, "…you´re right…"
I somehow still was kind of fixated on the red fox who just joined our little circle. He still wore his black suit and up close looked even better than on TV.
Just a moment later, Gazelle suddenly came a little closer and slid her hands through the fur on Rico´s head. "You´re right, Nick" she chuckled, "He is really fluffy!"
"What do you think?" Nick asked in return, "Does he get the title next year?"
"The SMA?" she asked, "Yeah, I see good chances…"
"Got to work out a little more for that, don´t I?" Rico asked jokingly.
"I think your voice will do mate" Max told him confidently, "Even Daniel wants to be your girlfriend at this point…"
"Yeah…" the lion agreed, "I´d even cook for you all day long and do the dishes, but you have to sing for me every day though…"
"Not a bad offer, actually" Rico chuckled, "But I´m not quite sure if you can massage me as good as Anita does…"
"I´d go and learn that just for you…" Daniel joked while blowing a kiss towards him.
"Where is she by the way?" Nick wanted to know.
"She was with Sarah and the other girls" Rico told him, "They promised to visit us as well after the show…"
"Oh there they are!" Max pointed out just in that moment.
Quite a lot more people joined us in the backstage-area slowly but surely. There were two young vixens, a young otter girl, a rather large buffalo, two big cheetahs, a grey bunny with horizontal black stripes all over his body, and a whole selection of adult foxes and vixens. I just noticed that Judy Hopps was here too in the meanwhile, and just like Nick she went towards all the new people who arrived and greeted them happily. They all shook Rico´s and Gazelle´s paws as well of course, and the general excitement was just overwhelming. I was so happy that I came here with him tonight. Finally I had made the right decision just for once.
POV Nick
"Skye, Charlie, Jacky!" I greeted them happily, "You really followed our invitations!"
The notoriously stubborn bunny pointed at his partner first of all. "She forced us to come!" he added with an ironic but still very little smile.
"You can thank me later, sweetheart" Skye chuckled while hugging me.
"I wouldn´t believe him if he said that he didn´t at all enjoy it" I grinned at them.
"Me nether" Charlie agreed while shaking my paw with a happy grin, "There is nowhere in hell you can dislike this music…that guy just is a genius!"
Suddenly, Gazelle stood by our side and greeted them as well quite excitedly "You´re the guys who helped Nick and Judy on the square in front of the ZPD building, right?" she asked, "I´ve seen it all on television! I was so glad that all went well!"
"Yeah" Jack sighed, "We´re those agents who got a little assistance by officers Hopps and Wilde…"
"Jack!" Skye giggled before covering his mouth with her paw, "I´m sorry" she then told her, "Yeah, we´re the agents who were involved in that case as well…"
"He´s quite a show-off, isn´t he?" Gazelle asked Jack with a little wink.
"Well" he sighed, "Can´t deny he´s a good detective…"
Gazelle just nodded in agreement.
"And I´m a good liar too, don´t forget about that…" I chuckled with a little wink, just before Cammy and Suzanne arrived.
"Without a doubt" Max agreed with me, "The biggest one I´ve ever encountered."
"The biggest what…?" Cammy asked us with a big grin when she joined us.
"Hey Ladies!" I greeted them happily, "Have you enjoyed the show?"
"Are you kidding me?" Cammy asked while hugging me back, "I freaking loved it! And I´m so madly in love with that guy too!" she grinned with a little wink, "…would totally shred a prison cell apart for him!"
Although I couldn´t hide a little chuckle for myself about that, the one who was laughing the most about that right now was Gazelle, who now seemed to have realized who the white vixen was who I just greeted. And she immediately used her chance, naturally.
"Hey Cammy" she greeted her just like a good friend, which naturally surprised her a little, "Since Nick refuses to tell me more about it, how exciting was that whole thing actually?"
"Oh god, here we go again…" I sighed while I hugged Suzanne, who couldn´t hide a wide grin either.
It was no surprise that Cammy enjoyed this just as much as Gazelle.
"Oh, it was very exciting!" she began, "So first of all I need to tell you: I´ve been in that prison cell for over two whole days before he finally saved me, and I drove everybody crazy because I made such a racket…"
Gazelle was so excited about this that she uncontrollably started giggling in anticipation.
Rico quietly joined us and came to a halt right beside me, without any of them noticing at first. He listened in great amusement, while Cammy went into great detail of her prison-story with me.
"…and then he just sat there in this room and ate blueberries" she kept on telling, "…nothing and nobody was there to hold me back or protect him…"
"And you couldn´t stop yourself at all?" Gazelle asked with great excitement.
"Well, there was a reason why he went all naked through the ZPD building afterwards, wasn´t there?" she asked me ironically.
"We must thank you so much for that in the end" Gazelle chuckled, "The show broke all the records because of it!"
"You´re welcome" she giggled proudly, "But as you maybe can imagine, that wasn´t my first priority in that very moment…"
"Nick" Rico chuckled while shaking his head a little, "You really have to stop breaking the girl´s hearts…"
"She just had been talking about you" I told him while pointing at Cammy, "You´re the next one on her list…she would even go to prison again for you to save her…"
Now she noticed him for the first time and folded her paws in front of her mouth in shock. "H-Hi…" she stuttered excitedly.
"Hi" Rico chuckled back in amusement, "When and where?"
Cammy really was a little surprised to meet him all over sudden, even more than when she met Gazelle, but she caught herself pretty quickly.
"Wherever you want, sweetheart! Right here, right now!"
"Can I at least get out of my cloths before I have to go home naked afterwards?"
We all laughed about in great amusement, but Gazelle really was the one who enjoyed that topic the most. "That´s all part of it, I guess" she added laughingly.
"But at least you get a good coffee every now and then…" I threw in.
"You would get free coffee every day of the week!" Cammy told him, "That´s the smallest problem!"
"Heh…well…" Rico chuckled with an ironic smirk, "I feel very honored, but I think I must turn your offer down as weird as it sounds…"
"Yeah, I know" Cammy chuckled understandingly, waving it off already.
"But you can get a hug if you want…" Rico told her, "…better than nothing I would say…"
"That would be pretty nice!" she agreed while coming closer slowly.
"This is so nice of you" she told him while he hugged her, "I´m so happy!"
She almost even cried a little while it happened.
"Is everything alright?" Rico wanted to know with a little bit of concern in his voice.
"It´s just…you´re just so endlessly talented and your voice sounds so beautiful! And your performance was just out of this world!"
"It really was" Gazelle agreed, "You could easily fill that hall all by yourself by the way…"
"I really had fun out there tonight" Rico let us know, "And my colleagues enjoyed it too as far as I understood them…"
"That really was the most fun I ever had" his pianist Ilya threw into the conversation, "I never knew he was such a rock star…"
"Will you do more concerts in the future?" Mia asked excitedly, who was sitting on her mother Katy´s shoulder I just noticed. They came together with Sarah, Christian, Ivonne, Lily, Ava and Anita into the backstage area just a minute ago and Judy had already greeted them with open arms.
"Oh hey, Mia!" Rico greeted her happily, "Did you enjoy your evening too?"
"Yeah, it was so cool to see you on the stage!" she told him, "I´m so proud of you!"
"Awww!" Gazelle chuckled with her hand over her heart.
"Thanks! You know… I´m proud of you too, because you chose just the most beautiful dress for Judy to wear tonight!"
"Seems like I´ve finally found my perfect dressing assistant" Judy chuckled proudly. They all still were gazing at the beautiful, sparkling red dress she wore, and Mia still smiled about it happily.
"You looked just so gorgeous on the stage" Ava told her with gleaming eyes.
"I told her that too" I pointed out, "I think we can all agree on keeping Mia as your dressing assistant."
"You see, Judy?" Gazelle asked her with an amused smile, "I pay a lot of money to me stylists and you got the best one just right there!"
They all giggled with happy smiles about that comment from her, and Mia was about the happiest I´ve ever seen her.
"Hey Mia" Rico asked her while slowly walking up to Katy and then letting the little vixen climb onto his shoulders, "You think you could help me as well on that matter?"
"Oh yes most certainly, Mr. Capaldi" she told him in a quite professional manner, "I just have to talk to my management and then I´ll give you an appointment!"
"Mia" her mother laughed out, accompanied by all others, "Your management may have a word with you in the near future!"
We all just giggled about it happily while Katy shook her head with a little smile. "Unbelievable."
Judy jumped from my shoulder onto Rico´s as well now and gave Mia a high five that everyone could see.
"Hey Jacky…" I asked him, because I noticed that not even he could hide a little smile anymore, "…you´re not getting emotional right now now, are you?"
Skye´s grinned even wider now as she took the striped bunny into her arms from behind.
"You´re misjudging that, Nick" Charlie chuckled, "Jack is a cold blooded killing machine! No emotions and no signs of weakness!"
Hearing that, Skye now grabbed him by his sides carefully and lifted him onto her shoulders without giving him the chance to do anything about it.
Accepting his defeat, he just sighed with a smile and a little shake of his head.
"Aww" Charlie said teasingly, "Just look at the cute little bunny up there enjoying himself!"
"Why only why have I agreed on this?" he asked with a little sigh because of everybody´s giggling.
"I knew you would miss me, Jacky" I told him with a little smirk.
"More than anything" he replied with an ironic little sigh.
From the corner of my eye I noticed that Rico now slowly but surely walked up to Anita and lovingly returned the kiss she gave him. I was not the only one who noticed it, but nobody said anything for now.
"What did you think of our version of Hallelujah?" he wanted to know with a little smirk, "Was it to your liking?"
"Oh, very!" she affirmed with a big smile, "Sounded even better than I ever imagined it!"
"That was such a great idea by the way" he told her, "I had so much fun performing that!"
"I had more fun watching you than singing it for myself" Gazelle chuckled, "And you completely blew me out of the water! They should have warned me about you!"
"Uhm…yeah" he apologized, "I guess I got a little too excited there…"
Gazelle now came up to him and continued to stare into his eyes with an evil expression, but then a second later she smiled once again and patted his shoulders proudly.
"Don't worry about it" she grinned, "I kinda wished for something like this to happen, because you now have more trouble with the press for a little while!"
"Dammit" Rico chuckled.
"She has a point there, Rico" I grinned at him, "Walking through the city should be close to impossible by now."
"Why?" Mia wanted to know from on top of my shoulders.
"Because they all like him so much" I told her, "They all want to make silly photos with him and ask for autographs…" I explained.
"Oh, I want a photo as well, please!" Mia told us happily, "That would be soo cool!"
"Why don't we do a photo with all of us on it?" Judy suggested, "And everybody gets a copy!"
"That sounds fun!" Gazelle agreed, "Let´s do it!" she then announced with a motivating smile.
Soon later we had agreed on who should take the photos and then gathered up for a few pictures with everybody on it. Eventually, after a few tries, everybody had something on their phone they were happy with, and then the little talks split into different groups slowly but surely.
Katy and Mia said goodbye after a little while and went home to get a good night of sleep. Soon later, Ava and Lily got picked up by one of their parents. It really was late for them too in the meanwhile, so we were glad they had a way to get home safely. I felt like they all had a very nice evening in the end, and I was pretty proud of that.
And I was pretty sure the fun wouldn´t end just there for us. I was pretty sure there was a lot more to come later.
POV Ivonne (a little while later)
"Nick, can I talk to you alone for a minute, please?" I asked him, as I met him in the hallway when he was coming back from the toilets.
I went to meet him here on purpose, because I wanted him to know about it first and that opportunity was just the best one I found.
"Uhm…sure" he affirmed, not knowing what this could possibly be about.
I grabbed him by his paws gently and led him further down the hallway. He followed me without any hesitation and that was a good sign I believed. At least it boostes my confidence a little. I had no idea how he would react to this, but I had to tell him now anyway.
Just when I was about to begin, I suddenly began sweating again.
"So…what is it?" he asked in a calm and friendly way, because he seemed to have noticed that I was a little nervous already.
"I…I didn´t want to tell you this on a night like this…originally" I began stuttering, "But I just couldn´t suck it up any longer…I need to tell somebody…"
I was pretty sure he had a slight foreboding of what this could be about in the meanwhile, but I continued nevertheless.
"For me as a pharmacist, this is even a little more embarrassing as it is already, but…but now it happened, and I can´t…can´t" I tried to tell him, but my eyes began watering already and I ready had troubles to continue. Now I sort of told him about it already. It went even quicker than I anticipated it, but now at least I had done it already.
I was hoping he would understand it, but it turned out that I must not even have worried about it. He didn´t let me down tonight either. He just came a little closer and hugged me gently.
"It´s alright" he whispered, obviously knowing what I tried to say.
"I…I was hoping you would understand me…" I cried.
He just nodded with a warm little smile and patted my back carefully. He knew I had a hard time telling him this, and he understood me perfectly.
"Since when do you know it?" he asked carefully.
"Since about a week" I whispered, "I started getting those weird aches in my stomach and I got a little sick from time to time…"
"I suppose I don't have to ask if you tested yourself already…" he asked, but not at all in a negative or provocative tone.
I nodded weakly.
"Well…" he chuckled with a little smile, "He or she…or they are either becoming brilliant musicians, or…"
"You…you´re not mad at me?" I asked in slight disbelief of his still rather good spirit.
"No matter what happens, it´s gonna be alright and we´re all going to be there for you…" he told me confidently, "Don't worry too much about it!"
"But…but…I´m so worried…because… he´s so happy right now…and…and I don´t want to ruin it for him b-because…"
"You think it´s Rico?" he asked.
I nodded. "I had a lot more sex with him before he got so close to Anita…and even since…"
He nodded understandingly, but he didn´t say anything.
"I…I really don´t want to ruin it for them…" I whispered with tears in my eyes, "He really is in love with her! He brings her flowers, he visits her as often as possible and she really is happy as well when she´s at our place…and Anita is like a sister to me, she´s so lovely too…" I cried, "I don´t want to lose her either!"
"Oh…" he sighed, softly massaging my back once again, "…"
"…But…but I don´t want an abortion either" I whispered, "I could never do that!"
He just nodded understandingly.
"I feel so horrible about it!"
"Hey…" he calmed me down while hugging me a little tighter once again, "…Rico is a lot of things, but I don't think he´s the kind of asshole that would make you responsible for everything…"
"I…I know" I cried, "…but I really don´t want to ruin his life with this! He trusted me when I told him about the pill…"
"But you really took it, right?"
"Yes! Of course I did!" I told him in all honesty, "But maybe the antibiotics I took a while ago had an influence on its effect…that can happen, sadly…"
"Well…" he sighed with an understanding little smile, "Now it happened. But life goes on, trust me! You´re going to be fine and you´re going to be happy!"
POV Nick
I understood her situation pretty well of course. I didn´t quite understand why she choose exactly tonight for coming out with this, but now that she did I couldn´t change it anymore either. I also could understand that it wasn´t easy to keep that secret for so long.
"I…I even thought about moving out of the city without them knowing about it" she confessed now, and that truly shocked me a little bit. She couldn´t be serious about that. But it seemed like she was, because she still cried while saying it.
"Hey!" I told her once again, "Look at me!"
I wiped away a tear that came running down her cheeks. She looked at me with sad eyes.
"You´re moving nowhere, okay?" I told her, "And you´re going to be a happy and proud mother! And we´ll all be there for you if you need us! You guys are the nicest people I know and my only real family. And you know Rico: he thinks exactly the same way about this."
"Y-yeah…but…"
"…I´ll talk to him in private as soon as possible, I promise!" I told her.
She hugged me even tighter now, and I did the same to make her feel a little saver.
"Will you tell Judy about it?" she asked.
"I mean…you can tell her yourself if you want, but she´s going to find it out sooner or later…my guess is sooner…"
"You think she will understand?"
Without any hesitation I just nodded with a little smirk. We had talked about this before.
"And what if it should really be you?" she asked stuttering.
"Like I said" I told her while looking into her eyes once again, "We will be there for you, no matter what!"
"Okay…" she said with a long sigh.
"Have you told anybody about it yet?" I asked her carefully, just so I knew about it.
"Yeah…" she told me nervously, "…since Sarah had noticed my sudden sickness once, I had to tell her about it. But she really can keep her mouth shut about things like this…"
"Alright" I sighed, "I´ll think of something. Trust me, life goes on!"
"Thank you so much! I´m so relieved you understand!"
I nodded with a warm little smile once again.
"We should probably get back to the others now…" I reminded her with a little wink, "It´s been quite a while already…"
"I…I don´t think I should…" she stuttered, "I´m not feeling that well."
"Should I tell them you went home?"
"Yeah…" she agreed, "Tell them I wasn´t feeling well. Wouldn´t even be a lie."
"Alright" I told her with a motivating little smile, "Get home safely! See you soon!"
"Thank you so much for everything! See you later, Nicky!"
I gave her a quick kiss on her cheek and another pat on her shoulders, then she continued her way further down the hallway towards the exit of the building.
I went back towards the backstage area right away.
"Hey Nicky" Judy greeted me, who just had gotten herself another snack from the buffet, "There you are!"
It was half to midnight in the meanwhile. A few of my colleagues from the ZPD went home already, and so did Jack and Skye, Cammy, Suzanne and Charlie I just noticed. The time really had flown by in here.
"Yeah" I chuckled, trying my best to look normal, "Just met Ivy in the hallway…she´s not feeling very well and went home already…"
"Oh…okay" Rico said, "…that´s a pity."
"Yeah…" Judy agreed, "Hope she gets better soon!"
"She said she´ll be fine" I waved it off, "She´s probably just tired."
While I said that I noticed the way Sarah was looking at me right now, and to let her know that I knew what was going on, I quickly blinked twice while looking just at her for a second. Luckily, nobody else noticed that.
"What are you eating there?" I then asked Judy, just to change the topic a little.
"Some really delicious fruit cakes from the buffet!" she explained, "They just added those to the table. Go get yourself some as well, there even are a few with blueberries on them!"
"Did you make sure that Max and Dan didn´t do anything fishy with them?" I asked in a comical way.
"What the buffet?" Daniel asked with a big grin, who was having a conversation with Hazel and Gazelle not too far away from us, "What do you think of me?"
"Oh, only the best" I grinned back, before I quickly stole the rest of Judy´s cake out of her paws and ate it before she could react.
"Hey!" she chuckled, "Nick!"
"Hmm…" I smiled while chewing, "Those really are good!"
"Aren´t they?" Judy asked ironically, "Sneaky fox."
"I need to get a few more of those" I announced while patting Judy on her head gently and then getting on my way slowly.
"Not a bad idea" Sarah chuckled, "I want some of those as well!"
POV Sarah
I followed him to the buffet as quickly as possible without looking suspicious, and it looked like he was anticipating me to do that. I quickly checked my surroundings to make sure nobody was in hearing range and helped myself from the same buffet table as him.
"She has told you about it, hasn´t she?" I whispered as lowly as possible.
"She has" he affirmed just as lowly, "No wonder she doesn´t feel too well…"
"You don´t seem too mad about it" I asked him in slight confusion.
"I´m not mad at all" he whispered back, "But we should not discuss this tonight. I´ll talk to him about it as soon as possible, don't worry."
I just couldn´t help myself but smile happily about hearing it. I told her he would understand it. I just felt like hugging him at this point, but even that would be very suspicious to the others.
"You really are an angel, Nick" I told him instead, while I picked myself another little cupcake and put it on my plate.
While Nick was still choosing which snack he liked, my phone suddenly began vibrating in my pocket. I got a call from Ivonne.
"Hey" she whispered hectically as I accepted it.
"Hey, what is it?" I asked in a warm tone, knowing what she just went through with telling Nick about it.
"I need help" she stated, "I´m being followed by two creepy guys ever since I left the building…"
"You´re what?" I asked a little louder so Nick would notice it, then I put her on speaker.
"There are like a hundred people still outside the stadium" she explained, "Two creepy guys, I think a wolf and a polar-bear, are following me wherever I go! I´m scared, please come help me!"
"Shit, that´s not good" Nick sighed, "You´re heading towards the subway?"
"Yeah" Ivonne panted, "I just arrived there, but the next train only arrives in six minutes and I can´t walk away very much further, they´ll catch up on me!"
"Okay…" Nick told her while thinking, "…don´t stop walking. Forget the train, get up the stairs at the other end of the train station and walk around the block, were coming to help you!"
"Alright, thank you!" she panted, before she ended the call.
Without further ado, Nick left his plate on the buffet table and went towards Judy as quickly as possible. Immediately, he had all the attention.
"Judy! Ivonne is in trouble, we need to help her!"
"What happened?" she asked in shock, immediately being on high alarm.
"She´s being followed by two guys she doesn´t know. A wolf and a polar-bear. Since she left the building they are behind her. She didn´t take the train but is on her way around the block…"
"Alright" she agreed immediately, not needing any further information "Let´s go!"
"Rico" Nick told him, "We need you as a distraction once again! I´m sorry about this, but Ivonne needs our help!"
Just like the Rico I knew, he didn´t hesitate for a single second.
"I´ll come with you!" I announced, and Christian and Antia immediately followed us as well, "Anything that helps her!"
We all went on our way without further ado, and just like that, Gazelle was alone with Chief Bogo, the two wolves and Daniel and Hazel all over sudden. But I was pretty sure they would be fine without us as well.
POV Rico
This sudden turn of events really messed with my head. First we all had a very nice and relaxing night with lots of good food and a fantastic mood, and now it just was a hectic chaos. I wasn´t quite sure what Nick and Judy needed a distraction for at this time of night, but I helped where I could of course.
They were not wrong though. At the back-entrance of the stadium waited at least a hundred fans and reporters and we immediately had about twenty microphones shoved into our faces. God how that annoyed me in the meanwhile.
"Mr. Capaldi! When will be your first solo concert?"
"Mr. Capaldi, what are…"
"Officer Wilde!"
"Officer Hopps!" they kept on yelling, and we couldn´t move an inch from where we were standing.
"Goddammit" Nick sighed after turning towards us quickly, because it was absolutely hopeless to get through that crowd as quickly as we needed it to, "We´re not getting out of here! I don't want to hurt anybody! Carrots, you´ve got to help them alone" he told her, while he lifted her up carefully.
"Take Christian and the girls with you, I know you guys got this!"
They all nodded when he looked at them.
"See you later, let´s go, guys! Go right and around the block, you should find her there!" he motivated them, and they immediately used their advantage of not being famous and forced their way through the gazing crowd. "Carrots, I´ll give you a boost, are you ready?"
She just nodded with a determined smirk, and a second later Nick turned around and catapulted the bunny in the sparkling red dress over the crowd of mammals that stood in her way.
That distracted them only for a moment, sadly, because when the reporters realized that Judy was by far gone before they had the chance to stop her, they turned towards Nick and I once again, this time even louder and more excited than before. Now the truly worst part of this evening began. At least they were on their way to help Ivonne.
POV Ivonne
I have been straight up running for the past three minutes. At first, I had a slight bit of hope that those two mammals just wanted to get to the subway-station as well and would stop following me there, but when they noticed that I knew I was followed, they immediately began chasing after me a little more quickly. I really was chased by them.
"Why me" I asked myself this whole time, "And why now?"
Must have something to do with Nick and Judy I figured.
Regardless, I did what Nick said and went around the block as quickly as possible, effectively back to where I just came from.
"Come on, we must catch her already" the wolf behind me panted loudly, "This really doesn´t have to be more complicated than it needs to be."
"Didn´t…didn´t think she would be this quick…"
"Should have went to the gym more you fat fuck!"
"Oh looks who´s talking…" the polar bear snarled back.
They nearly caught up with me in the meanwhile, and I was really out of breath as well by now, but then a hint of hope finally went through my veins. Just when I was about to arrive at the street of the stadium once again, I saw Judy running towards me with great speed, followed by Christian, Anita and Sarah. I was so happy to see them right now.
They quickly came closer towards me and my chasers, and then something very unexpected happened. Judy jumped onto my shoulders at full speed, repelled herself off of them, and when I turned around in surprise I just witnessed her smashing her feet into the wolf´s face and swiping him right of his feet in quite a brutal way. Then Christian suddenly rushed past me, let himself slide onto his back on the ground and punched the big polar bear right into his crotch when he tunneled his legs. That seemed to have done equal damage to what Judy did to that wolf, because soon later the clumsy bear held onto his balls with his paws while letting out a painful scream.
"Ahhh fuck!" he complained, falling onto his knees still with a painful expression, "Why do we always get the fucked up jobs?"
Just now I noticed that the wolf he was with had hit the ground so hard with the back of his head that he wasn´t even conscious anymore.
"What kind job are we talking about here?" an actually quite relaxed Judy asked him, who was standing right in front of him now while he was still holding onto his crotch in great pain. He now looked at her with big eyes, because she let a tranquilizer dart spin through her fingers I just noticed. I had no idea where she got that from suddenly, but it surely did the trick.
"I won´t tell you shit, bunny…fuck off!" he snarled.
"You better start telling me ´shit´ sweetheart" she told him with a cold chuckle, "Because otherwise you´ll wake up in a prison cell tomorrow. And I promise you, Nick is not as much fun in an interrogation room as he is on stupid TV shows or anywhere else…"
I didn´t really think it would be like that, but now he really looked a little fearful when she presented the dart to him. He just noticed that his mate wasn´t conscious anymore either and was pretty much helpless right now.
"Nick Wilde?" he asked with big eyes.
"The one and only" Judy told him with a sigh, "So what kind of job got you into following an innocent vixen who never did any harm to anybody?"
"Fuck what do I know…" the polar bear replied a little more-lowly now, "…they offered us two grant if we just abducted anyone who got out of the backstage area..."
"Who offered you that?"
"An uncle of mine" the bear sighed, "I owe him money for fucking up one of his cars once…"
"Aw…" Judy chuckled ironically, "You´re the cutest bad-guy I´ve ever encountered!"
"You better shut your mouth, bunny, because I…"
"…because you want to explain to your uncle and the rest of the clan that you got stopped by a little bunny?"
"Clan?" he asked in confusion.
"Don´t act stupid…" Judy sighed, "They need something to stop Nick and I. That´s why they sent you to get a hostage…"
"Shit…that makes sense…" he sighed after thinking about it for a while.
"Doesn´t it?" she asked ironically.
"I´m quite new to the business, okay?" he complained.
"Listen to me" Judy sighed, "I´ll let you off with a warning for once, but you better make good use of it. Get your friend checked up in a hospital and then search for a real job to make money. That business won´t bring you very far in life, trust me. Next time I will put you in jail, you got me?"
"Y…yes maam" he sighed while looking at the ground in shame.
She gave him one last quick look, then she turned around in a relaxed fashion and pointed into the direction we came from with a little wink.
"Come on, guys, I think we´re done here…"
"Oh my god" I panted thankfully, "Thank you so much! I´m so glad you guys are here!"
"Of course we help you!" Judy told her, "Sorry we couldn´t make it sooner…"
"Yeah" Christian agreed, "Nick and Rico got completely immobilized by the press once again…"
"By the way" Judy chuckled, "Not bad Christian! Ever thought about becoming a police officer?"
"Haha" he grinned with an amused smile, "Thanks! …but no, I´m sorry…can´t leave Sarah alone with all those little troublemakers…"
"Gotta let that count I guess…" Judy chuckled, "Nevertheless, you really helped me out there!"
"My pleasure."
While they were talking, I turned around once again, and really: the big, clumsy polar-bear tried helping up the wolf Judy smashed onto the ground earlier. They really looked adorably vulnerable all over sudden. But nevertheless, I was so glad that at least this one nightmare was over now.
We kept on walking past the Stadium I started off from earlier but stayed on the other side of the street on purpose.
"So where are Nick and Rico?" I asked them, as we just continued walking past the crowd of people that blocked the backstage-entrance, "Still stuck there in the crowd?"
"Yeah…" Judy sighed, "Not something I´m really jealous about…"
"I was just about to say it" Anita agreed, "I would prefer to head home right now to be honest."
"Me too" Judy agreed, "Why don't we enjoy the rest of the night at your place?"
We all agreed on that suggestion in the end and headed for the same subway station I went to earlier.
"What about your car?" Christian asked.
"I don't think it´ll hurt anybody if it stays in the stadium for tonight" Judy waved it off, "And Nick has the Keys anyway. It´s probably best we go get it when the press hype has calmed down a little anyway…or he´ll take Rico home in it later…"
I didn´t care about any of that right now if I was totally honest. I was just happy that I wasn´t alone right now. And I had way bigger worries than Judy about her car. I felt so terribly vulnerable all over sudden, and I wanted nothing more than just get back home safely.
Nicks words still went through my head over and over again: "Don´t worry, we´re going to be fine in the end. Life goes on."
I was pretty sure those words where the only reason I hadn´t collapsed by now. At least I had my friends around me in times like these.
POV Rico
I couldn´t stand this any longer. I wasn´t sure how Nick was able to stand through it for so long, but I definitively had no need to match him on that matter. I just wanted it to end, finally.
The constantly flashing lights and the loud yelling from all around us really made me sort of numb after a while. I just wanted to get home at this point. It almost made me sort of aggressive, which I just very rarely had felt before in my life. It really got me to a point where I wasn´t as relaxed and nice to everybody anymore. Some of those people just were really rude and egoistic I noticed. The world wasn´t just as nice and bright as it felt like at first.
It took us over fifteen minutes to even get out of the interviews, and then we still got followed wherever we went. I really would have preferred a taxi or some other sort of car for tonight, but Nick headed straight for the subway for some reason.
"Why don´t we get back to the backstage area?" I asked him just out of interest.
"They´ll be fine without us. Pretty sure the girls will bring Ivy home now anyway."
Not wanting to argue with him I just nodded with a little sigh and quickly signed the white t-shirt of the friendly but very loud and excited teenage wolf-girl with the black marker I had gotten from somewhere. I was doing this just like a machine in the meanwhile.
The sign of the subway station was in sight in the meanwhile, but at this rate it would still take us quite a while until we would arrive there. And that wasn´t by far the end of our trip home. I wasn´t the only one who thought like that, apparently.
Nick spontaneously grabbed me by my shoulder and dragged me with him towards the entrance of the hotel to our right.
"Sorry guys" Nick told the people who followed us, "We´re done for tonight! See you later!"
And with that we went through the spinning doors into the hotel lobby.
I wasn´t quite sure what his plan was, but I followed him nevertheless. At least we were alone here for a moment. But Nick went straight for the reception as it turned out.
"G-good evening, officer Wilde" the young Zebra-lady behind the desk told him when we arrived her.
"Hi" he told her with a friendly smirk, "Do you have a room left for us?"
"F-for tonight?" she stuttered in total disbelief.
"Yes, darling" Nick sighed, still in a friendly way.
"I-I´m…I´m so sorry…but all of the two bed rooms are booked out because of the Gazelle-concert…"
"Doesn´t matter" Nick waved it off, "I´m not picky…"
"I-I´m sorry…I…I…let me check this again real quick…I´m so sorry…" she said hectically, and it actually was quite relaxing to see that I was not the only one struggling with my nerves right now.
"Don´t stress yourself" Nick tried to calm her down, "We´re just some customers, and it´s not your fault if all rooms are booked in…"
"I…I could only offer you a queen-size bed with the windows towards the backyard…"
"That would just do nicely" Nick told her happily, "I would sleep on the floor if needed" he pointed out for me then.
The young zebra behind the counter looked at him in total disbelief when she heard it, but Nick looked rather serious right now.
"I…I mean, I´m sure we could arrange a second bed brought into your room if you give us a few minutes…" she stuttered, "That should not be a problem…"
"That´d would be just wonderful" Nick affirmed, "Thank you very much."
"Alright" she said after looking into her computer-screen once again, "Then I´d just need your names and a credit card, please…"
I really didn´t think I would have some nerves left for it tonight, but that really brought a little chuckle out of me.
"Well…" Nick told her with a warm chuckle for himself, "You´re welcome to just call me Nick, but my full name is on my credit card if you need it…"
"Of course" she told him with a nervous but self-ironic little chuckle while typing his data into her computer.
"And you, sir?" she asked, now taking the first look at me apparently. Then she covered her mouth in total shock.
"Oh my god, I´m so sorry, Mr. Capaldi!" she said, "I´m just embarrassing myself tonight…"
"Don't worry about it" I waved it off as well, "My first name is Richard, but just Rico is fine too…"
"Thank you so much" she chuckled nervously, "Tonight really got exciting for me all over sudden!"
"For me too, believe me" Nick sighed with a little smile, just before he received the room card, accompanied by his credit card, "Had the best concert of my life though…"
"Oh, I do believe you! I´m such a big fan of Gazelle…I´m so sad I couldn't go tonight…"
Nick just nodded with another little wink, then he looked at the room-key.
"Oh…yeah, right" the zebra lady told him, "Room 621, sixth floor to your right!"
"Thank you very much! Have a good night!"
"Thank you for staying with us!" she yelled after us.
I waved her as well with another little smile, then I followed Nick towards the elevator.
"Damn, she´s going to have a heart-attack when she finds out who the opening act was…"
"Thanks for not bringing it up" I chuckled tiredly, "I really can´t hear it anymore."
"Don't worry about it, champ" he sighed with a little smile, "You haven´t even reached tonight´s peak yet…"
POV Anita
It really had taken us forever, but we finally had made it all the way towards Sarah´s flat in Tundratown and set up a nice can of tea first of all. It was one in the morning in the meanwhile, and I really was glad we went home as well actually, because although this evening was great fun, it was really exhausting too. All this attention he got was not only annoying for himself as it turned out, and the hateful looks I got from a lot of jealous vixens weren´t very nice either. Wherever I went, they seemed to recognize me, and they really seemed to hate me for being with him. I even got sarcastic comments from customers at work already.
When Rico and I got together that night, neither of us had even considered that to become a problem one day, but it really dragged me down in the meanwhile.
I still loved him very much. He made every single day a special one, brought me flowers, spent nearly all of his free time with me and in general was the nicest guy I´ve ever met in my life, but the thing with his great fame really made it hard for me in the meanwhile. I wasn´t sure how much longer I could take that.
But another thing that really kept me going were all the nice people he surrounded himself with. Ivonne, Sarah and Judy were like sisters to me whenever I met them, Nick was the greatest gentleman ever since I knew him and Christian helped Judy knocking down those guys without any hesitation. It really felt like I finally found the friends I´ve always needed in my life, but it still felt a little wrong ever since Rico got this famous.
We were just chilling on the couches with our heads hung back, waiting for the tea to get ready, when Judy´s phone finally rang. It was Nick and she put him on speaker right away.
"Hey Carrots" he greeted her, "Did you find her?"
"Yeah, she´s here with us and alright" she affirmed, "She was being chased by two teenagers, one of them a nephew of a higher tier clan-member as he told me…"
"Oh looky here…" Nick sighed, "Well…at least that confirms our theory…"
"Yeah…anyway, where are you guys?"
"We were hardly moving when we went towards the subway station…" Nick sighed once again, "It took us nearly an hour to see the sign of the subway station, and I didn´t want those guys to follow us all the way back to Sarah´s flat once again…I´m sorry I ended the evening like that, but Rico and I got ourselves a hotel-room for the night…"
"Oh…okay…" Judy chuckled in amusement.
"Yeah…" Nick told us, "…gonna get the car tomorrow morning and bring you a nice breakfast therefore!"
"Sounds good to me…" Judy agreed with a little yawn.
"Christian, take good care of the ladies in the meanwhile, okay?" Nick said for the farewell, "See you guys tomorrow!"
"Have a good night, guys!" Judy told them with a warm chuckle.
"You too, love you all! Sleep well!"
So…what do you think? Ready for some drama?
Hope you still enjoy this story a little ;)
See ya later, have a good time
~furr