Chapter 3

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Stepping back into the main lounge, the three conspirators looked at each other and nodded before splitting up. Mr Fox immediately went towards Judy (the bunny dressed in a pink plaid shirt and dusty blue jeans and not her ZPD blues) smiling as he did so. He couldn't help but notice that she was talking to one of Badger's kids, the one who always wore a skeleton costume, in a very cute scene, even with the potential of cross fraternization between enemies.

"And… and I hear you got it all on record," he was saying, "with your special carrot pen!"

Smiling, Judy fished out the device in question, the cub bouncing up in excitement. "Can… -Can I touch it?"

"Here you go," she said, smiling as she passed it over into his trembling paws. He went giddy for a second or two, before thrusting it forwards and shouting out.

"You'll never get rid of us Predators you mean old sheep! We're super awesome, unlike you!"

Judy laughed. "It'd be a bit odd if I said that to her."

"Why's that?"

"Well, I'm a bunny, ain't I?"

He looked at her for a second or two, thinking it through, before his eyes widened and he giggled. "That would be silly. What did you say?"

"Well," she said, leaning in. She looked from left to right, and whispered it out. "I said: What are you going to do now, kill us? -And she said, 'Oh no, he is!"

"Was that Nick Wilde?"

"Yes, it was," she said. "She thought she'd hit him with one of the darts, but that clever fox had switched the nighthowlers for blueberries."

"He must be a clever fox," he said. "My dad said, 'well that was a clever fox.'"

"Oh, he's certainly very clever when he wants to be."

"Oh, so he's a massive idiot the rest of the time."

Judy was taken aback a little. "I wouldn't say a massive idiot, or the rest of the time."

"My daddy says Mr Fox is a massive idiot ALL the time."

Letting out a nervous laugh, she looked around, pausing as she saw Mr Fox looking at her. Their eyes met for a second or two and he nodded. He didn't care what Badger thought or taught his son, every mammal was entitled to their own wrong opinion.

"Well, that's what he thinks," she explained. "Everyone thinks things, and sometimes they're right, and sometimes they're wrong."

"You weren't wrong though."

She flinched back a little. "Well, I was wrong plenty of times," she said sadly, her ears drooping down. "When I didn't think things through and spoke too fast, and I said things that hurt other mammals."

"-But you weren't wrong about it being blueberries in the gun. Otherwise Nick would go all crazy and eat you. Nom-nom-nom-nom… Burp!"

That knocked her a bit, and she giggled. "Well, I was right then, and I was wrong other times. Just be careful and think about what you say and do, you don't want to go and hurt anyone by mistake." There was a pause and a smile. "After all, saying all the right things can do a lot of good. It was saying all the right things that got her to confess."

"You tricked her into telling all her plans, which you recorded here!" he said, holding out her pen and pressing the play button. The scratching of the internal record came out, before Judy's voice sprung into life.

"Note to self…" she groaned. "Next time... pre-soak lentils… overnight… with baking soda or whatever… My insides feel like the mudbath at Mystic Springs Oasis…"

A knock on a door followed, as Nick whined out. "Nice Taka Carrots…" he whimpered. "But D'AHL!"

…

"Did you have a stomach ache?" the badger cub asked.

Shaking herself back to attention. "Did I? Yes, yes I did," she said.

He nodded. "I hate stomach aches."

"Me too," she replied, taking the pen back. The cub nodded before racing off, leaving the bunny to relax back down.

And for Mr Fox to make his move. "Pretty embarrassing, wasn't it?" he said, giving her a wink as he sat down next to her.

"Oh, I've had worse," she said, making sure to click her carrot pen and wipe the stored message. "Waaayyyy worse."

"And it must be far more humiliating given that you're such a mammal of grace, virtue and heroism. Looked up to by the common mammal as a shining example of what they can do."

"I wouldn't quite say that," she mused, turning to look at him. "I mean, everyone has a stomach ache or little goof all the time, don't they?"

"But it pulls them down a level of two, don't you think?" Mr Fox continued. "Consider the well renowned Angel of Horns, if you will. A shining and radiant peak of mammalian beauty, with a voice that can entertain millions, standing up on stage with a whole city enraptured by her. Every second you see her, she's working at a level high enough to draw up your gaze, acting in a way that makes you think of her as fantastic in every sense of the word. A simple greeting to the crowd can stir the heart and soul of millions, and she becomes an icon, not a mere normal mammal. Sure, in private she might have a stomach ache, or spill a hot drink on herself in a way that sets off an ungainly chain of random cussing, but you don't see that. And, if you did, wouldn't it break the illusion that she put her heart and soul to create?"

"I guess, for a bit," Judy said. "But then a day later, everything's back to normal. You're still Gazelle, you still have your music."

"But, you might not quite be this truly amazing and perfect mammal in everyone's eyes?" Mr Fox countered. He gave her a quick nudge. "I for one can testify to the effort needed to keep yourself at such a level."

She rolled her eyes. "Well, good thing I'm not interested in that."

"And what are you interested in, mayhaps?" he enquired.

"Well," she said, looking around before pointing out the cub she'd been talking to.

"That can have many worrying implications there, miss."

She looked at him and smirked. "You're sounding like Nick, you know that?"

"Well, he is a fantastic Fox. We do have certain things in common."

She nodded, before looking back out. "It's about cubs and kits and calfs like him," she said. "And other mammals, just living their lives. It's about making the world a better place for them. I always had this dream, to be a police officer, and that was so I could protect them and help them, making their world a better place." She paused and laughed. "And okay, mammals said I couldn't be a cop because I was a bunny, but it was something I wanted to do. Proving them wrong, and showing them that I could do it, however hard it was, was a massive thing for me too. If I work hard enough, I can do anything, but I wouldn't say I'm on a higher level like Gazelle. Cheese and crackers, she's probably interested in making the world a better place and pushing her art further and further, sort of like me." She paused, before reaching out and holding Foxy's paw. "Deep down, you're probably interested in keeping your family nice and safe, while pushing yourself to new limits as well."

"Well," Mr Fox replied, pausing as he turned to look at his wife. "I never plan or do anything that I know will drag them down and, as for new limits… I happen to enjoy it when life gives me chances to reach them."

"Yeah," she said, patting his paw hard. "That's the spirit."

"Yes it is," he agreed, before standing up. They quickly parted, and he mentally scribbled her name off of his list given the lack of any tells or slip-ups.

Again, it was a long shot.

His eyes narrowed though as he saw the black and white mammal standing off in a corner. Paws on his hips like an old gunslinger, he imagined he had a wheat straw in his mouth, moving it around to one side and giving a chew, baring one side of his teeth. "Showdown time, Badger."

Judy, meanwhile, decided to catch some fresh air. She slipped out of the building, passing Kris and Kylie as she went. The latter looked at her, turned back to the mammal he was charged with confronting, and took a deep breath in.

"So…" the opossum said, his voice trailing off a little.

"Yes?" asked the silver fox.

"I… uhhhh…. -Well, I was just wondering," he said, fumbling around with his paws a little as he thought. "Might you, ever… Or perhaps in certain situations… I'm…"

…

"Kylie?"

He huffed, fidgeting with his ubiquitous fishing vest before turning away, scratching behind his ear. "I'm sorry, you're just a bit intimidating, and…"

"Oh," he asked, a little confused. "Am I?"

"Well," Kylie said, before bringing out his fingers to note off of. "There's your high intelligence and perceptiveness, likely seeing through me right now; your high moral fiber which is giving me issues of guilt and poor self-worth already; the overall stress I'm facing given what rests on this; and the fact you know karate."

One of Kris's eyes narrowed, his gaze growing skeptical and inquisitive as it bore down on the smaller mammal.

"Okay, okay!" He said, panicking. "I'll come clean with you."

"Clean about what?"

"I'm…. -Pondering ethics! For instance, do you believe that consequentialist utilitarianist theory as defined and promoted by Jeremy Batham is a valid tool for guiding behavior in this day and age, in particular when seeking to manipulate the two postulated sovereign masters of our existence, even if it requires a temporary compromise of deontologic principles."

Kris paused, thinking a little. "You know, I think I meditated over that a bit a few years back. I didn't know you were interested in it."

"I almost finished a master's degree in moral philosophy."

"Oh! Cool. I never knew. Why did you stop?"

"The professor had an existential incident that involved canned chili and marshmallow snacks. I entered a long Nihilistic phase after that. It wasn't a good place."

Kris nodded, before stepping forwards, a paw on Kylie's shoulder. "You have my sympathies."

"They're appreciated."

"Anyway, back then, I came to the conclusion that the means may well justify the ends when increasing pleasure and reducing pain, but such means shouldn't involve breaking basic rules of conduct and ethics unless it is the only option to prevent a great and terrible harm."

"Even if no-one is ever the wiser of the rules being broken?" Kylie asked.

"If a tree falls in the woods with nobody in it to hear, does it still make a sound?"

"Isn't the answer to that intentionally ambiguous?"

"Ambiguous as far as the basic laws of physics are, which they aren't."

"So, I'm guessing noise then."

"Yes," Kris said, smiling. "Maybe we could talk about this more later. It's very interesting."

"Yes, it is," Kylie agreed, before slipping away. Scurrying on his two feet, he looked over his shoulder and made sure that he Kris wasn't looking, before he slumped into a nearby chair, panting hard as he tried to catch his breath.

Before he was stirred by a heated discussion between Badger and Mr Fox.

"Foxy! What you are describing is an act of pure vandalism."

The red fox shrugged, before waving off a paw. "I'd call it a fine external extension to my living space. You're just playing the oversensitive conservationist here, aren't you?"

"Pah! Hardly," the mustelid ranted, marching in front of Mr Fox to block him in his tracks. He looked around, before waving at the interior. "This is one of the finest Canyon Live Oaks in the world, with a perfectly formed trunk, and a remarkably symmetrical and free-standing crown. I've… -You know that there's architectural blogs that cite this place for its non-intrusiveness!"

"Please," Foxy dissuaded. "You're bluffing."

There was a slight grumble as a phone came out, a pair of paws starting to tap away. "I… know… you… still… won't.. cussing… listen… to… me…"

As he did so, the red fox sidestepped up to Kylie and nudged him. "How's the hustle going?"

Kylie blinked a few times, confused. "The hustle?"

"The new name for the job. New times, new setting, new terminology!"

"Right. Good news, he's cleared."

"-And the bad news?"

"-I was this close to doing the opossum thing."

"Well, onto the next stage of the hustle," Foxy replied, just as he had a phone thrust in his face,

"Exhibit A: A recommendation about the simple elegance of this structure, as compared to Exhibit B, a primarily external tree house," Badger lectured. "Foxy, do you even need more living space?"

"Well," he said with a smile, closing his eyes and succinctly ignoring his lawyer. "A new play room would be nice, attached to an expanded lounge in order to convert this area into one of those fancy snug places which are in vogue now… I'd also fancy a billiard room, a nice conservatory…"

"Fine then," he barked. "But why not dig out some new underground chambers? If it's light you're worried about, then just get some big roof lanterns."

Mr Fox folded his arms. "I'd like to think that my family is above living in holes…"

Badger grumbled and set off again as Kylie slipped away. Now he had to find Skye, something that was seemingly harder than he first though. Guessing she was outside, he left through the large doors at the back of the room, pausing as he spotted Jack. "Have you seen Skye?" he asked.

"She heard that someone's car was making a sound, so she offered to go and have a look."

"Right then," he agreed, before slipping out. The striped bunny was left where he was, not really doing much, until his ears rose as a voice called out.

"Hey there, Stripes." Jack smiled, holding himself up a bit, as Nick turned up next to him. "Interesting. Not helping your special vixen out I see?" he teased. "Does 'new Jack' need a missing mammals report filed, I wonder?"

He closed his eyes and bucked up his head, a finger out. "He happens to be here and very well, thank you. It's just that a boar offered to carry her down." There was a pause, and he gave Nick an almost patronisingly smug look. "I'm improving myself, but I learned from the best about not going too crazy."

"Touché," Nick said. "You got me there."

The Jackrabbit relaxed somewhat, only to end up looking even more proud of himself. "In fact, her letting someone carry herself down there and back up is something much bigger for her than me assisting her is for me! So I was putting her character improvement drive over my own, therefore doing more, therefore fulfilling my 'New Jack' drive excellently."

"Okay, yeah, I can see the logic there! In any case, it's always great when following your goal to do more instructs you to do nothing."

"It certainly is a splendid coincidence," Jack chirped up.

…

"So, Skye's improvement drive is 'letting people carry her'?"

"Help her, actually," Jack noted. "She used to be happy doing everything herself, and I was happy letting her do everything by herself. Now, she wants to be better at letting others help her, and I want to be better at helping others. So we're a pretty great match, don't you think?"

"Well I'd say," Nick agreed, smirking. He paused, thinking, before carrying on. "Let me ask you if this sounds familiar. Dumb boy thinks that life is set as it is, and he can get on quite easily by just doing the things he's always done. Only, whoopsie, he's suddenly thrust into close contact with a certain member of the opposite sex. Double whoopsie, she makes an impression on him. You begin to feel different, you look back at the way you acted before and realise that that just can't do, and you want to go out and change it. You have to… -otherwise, like me, you will end up in levels of emotional squalor that can only be fixed by devious therapists and an acting hustle performed by two highly talented super sly bunnies."

Jack nodded. "Yup, that. But not the emotional squalor stuff. I'll change, but again, not going crazy." There was a pause, and he gave Nick a sly look. "I did learn from the best."

"Happy to get the appreciation I deserve. But still, you have changed though," Nick parried back.

Jack bristled a little. "Ahem. I happen to be the one called Jack, so I get to use the 'but you have 'insert-word-here' me' retorts."

"Right, right," Nick said, rolling his eyes. "You know, despite being a bit of a slob, you're still the most aloof actor I've ever met."

"But you have met me," the jackrabbit said back, a grin on his muzzle.

"Have I, yes I have," Nick replied.

There was a pause, and then the two laughed, buckling over.

"Seriously though," Jack replied, smiling. "I feel like I am changing, and I like it! I even cleaned my office up!"

"Great!" Nick noted, giving the Jackrabbit a pat on the back. "Next time I come, I won't need a gasmask."

"There may also be this thing called the floor that you can see," Jack said, crossing his arms and nodding. "Though, may I say something?"

"Yes."

"Cleaning is sooooo boring!" He groaned. "And my paws still ache from cleaning out all that stuff, and emptying the vacuum into the bin sent me choking, and I'm gonna have to keep doing it! Week after week! I've performed entire plays about the futility of existence and the nihilistic and entropic nature of all things… But this is the best advocate of it ever! Forget rolling a boulder up the hill, just clean your room. Then do it again… Then again… then foreveeeerrraaaannnddddeeeevvveeeerrrrr…. No way out…"

"Is it me," Nick pondered. "Or are you articulating the thoughts of every grumpy teen ever?"

"I don't know, ask Ash."

Nick nodded. "In a bit," he said. "Hmmm… Thinking about helping him out a bit?"

"No, why? You planning something?"

"No," Nick replied. "Just wondering about you and your helping drive."

Jack shook his head. "I don't know him, so how would I help? Does he even need it? I only got the baby box to cover all the bases. Anyway, I think I've met my 'do more for them' quota for now."

Nick nodded, scratching the Jackrabbit firmly off the list. He smiled, then spoke smugly. "You know, for someone aiming to 'do more', making a quota sounds awfully like a way of doing less doing more."

"Ah," Jack pointed out, sounding oddly pirate-ish. "But you do admit that I am 'doing more'."

Both their mouths slowly pulled into a little smile, before they simultaneously relaxed, gave each other double finger guns and nodded their head head in appreciation. "Yeeeaaahhhh!"

As they did so, Nick spotted Skye arriving back at the house, looking bashful as the boar who'd carried her placed her down. Back on one foot and two crutches, her head and ears were folded down and her tail curled up around her. She fidgeted the tip a little with one before paw before setting off back to the house.

"Well, Jack," Nick said, fussing with his tie a little. "Seems like another special fox has arrived, so I'll bid you adieu. Don't want to overload you or anything."

"See you; don't go crazy," Jack said with a wave as Nick left, before he turned to Skye. "Doing good?"

She sat down on a chair next to him, her ears showing a definite pink hue, and glanced around sheepishly while fidgeting with end of her tail. "Well, I did it," she said, her voice a little more than a whisper. "I feel like I might as well have been wearing the stuff in that baby box, but I did it…"

She kept on looking around nervously, only to pause as Jack placed a paw on her shoulder. "Nobody's looking. Nobody cares," he said, smiling. "If you were in a wheelchair and I was pushing you, it's not like people would think it's a pushchair, would they?"

"No…" she sighed, turning to him and nodding her head. "But I'd still feel pretty useless if I wasn't using my paws to help push the wheels."

"And what if you were in a straightjacket."

Her eyes narrowed. "This is a family event, remember."

"As if I'd forget," he scoffed. "Just presume this is a thought exercise, Skye."

"What, the family event?" She deadpanned. "What's that trying to prove?"

There was a pause, Skye coyly raising an eyebrow as Jack returned the gesture. "That you can spin a joke," he said, looking at her proudly. "Experiment successful."

"Cuss yeah it was," she smirked, giving him a wink as he relaxed.

"Feeling better then?"

"Mostly, yeah," she said.

"Right, so no emergency bunny therapy required."

"Oh, it will be," she teased, as she looked at him longingly. "But I can wait till we get home."

Jack nodded, before having an idea. He walked up close to her and placed a paw on the arm of her chair. It didn't take long for hers to lie on top, slowly scritching it. "Are you sure about that?"

"Well, you're looking very snuggable right now," she said, a grin slowly growing as she leant forwards, stroking the back of his head. "Let's find somewhere private."

"Let me help you," he said, sauntering forwards to help her up, only to be cut off by a voice.

"-Ah! There you are." Jack turned around to see Kylie there, waiting. "I was looking for you, Miss Autumn."

"Nice to catch up Kylie. How you doing?"

"Good thanks," he said, bringing out a pen. "Could I sign your cast?"

She paused, thinking for a bit, before shrugging. "Go for it."

"Right," he said, leaning in close and carefully signing her ankle. "Say. I heard about an ancient Efrafan play about the morals of the repatriation of ancient goods that was found recently. Any thoughts?"

…

"That's probably more Dr Silverfox's area of expertise," she said, before glancing at Jack.

"What she said."

"Right then," Kylie noted, as he leant in close to the foot. "And I'm done."

Skye nodded and pulled her foot up to have a look, only for a new voice to ring out. "Can I draw on it too?"

She looked up to see a little badger girl, soon joined by a slightly older boy. "Woah! You broke your foot? Did it go snap?"

She smiled and grabbed the pen, passing it to them. "I don't think it made a sound. It just hurt."

"You know," someone else piped up, as a weasel walked over. "My brother broke his arm once…"

"Oh gosh!" An otter chirped. "You know, I could do some pretty flowers on it…"

"I guess you can," Skye said nervously, her ears folding back a little as she noticed a larger crowd beginning to gather around her.

"You know, it's good luck to have over a hundred signings…"

"It may not be much, but I can kiss it better?"

"How's the healing been going?"

"You know, an old trick my mother used…"

"A fox with a broken leg? Gosh, it must be awful for you?"

"Yes," she said, trying to be polite. "One at a time… Yup, it's broken!" The din of strangers voices and well wishes kept getting louder and more intimidating, but she was too polite to tell them to cuss off. Her tail went into her paw, getting fidgeted around as she tried to handle the mob, before she reached for something much stronger.

"Skyyyyeeeee…"

He landed on her lap and was hugged close. "You good?"

"I…"

She began petting his side.

"-Yup."

"Good," she said, relaxing a little as she turned back to the seemingly giant crowd, constantly asking questions while they took turns signing her cast. "Gonna need you for this…"

Jack nodded and relaxed, barely noticing Nick and Ash (who, in a grey tracksuit and hoodie would almost pass as a regular teen were it not for the odd white socks, with trousers tucked in, that he wore) pass by and slip into the staircase.

They were making their way up the narrow staircase, Ash talking as he went. "I mean the woodland theme is nice for the clothes and stuff," he was saying. "But babies don't really care about themed stuff, do they? They'll mostly forget everything anyway, so why bother with artistic coherence? The only reason things become a theme is that they're cute and easy to draw."

"Ah," Nick replied, "but you forget one thing."

"What's that?"

"Little kits are master hustlers," he said. "They have an amazing ability to make their parents spend all sorts of stuff on them. In fact, I'm even a little envious of their talents."

"Well, okay then," Ash replied. "But still, the whole theme thing is just rolling things over to keep designers in a job, not that the design things are actually that complex."

"I hear you," Nick agreed. "I mean look at how owls of all things became the last cute thing. Before the woodland theme, you had owls on T-shirts, owls on blankets, owls on backpacks, you name it, they put owls on it. Exact same style of owl too. Just an oval, two smaller side oval wings, a triangle beak, circle eyes, and a kind of big V on the face. Easy to do, easy to identify, and they do look cute. Most importantly though, you can use simple colour combinations and matches, and basic expressions, to create multiple adorable little variants! Boom, the perfect cute motif, and they're now literally everywhere and have left pawpads in the dust."

"The old cot we have has a pawpad motif."

"Exactly," Nick replied, "back then everything was paw pads. I was living in places with paw pad wallpaper and paw pad sheets. But then the owls came! It's a motif-eat-motif world out there, and woodland might be about to usurp owls for good… -Which is nice, as I adore that woodland stuff."

"Well, why not have woodland with owls, pawpads and foxes all in one go," Ash countered, as he opened the door to the new nursery, he and Nick immediately pausing as they saw Foxy and Badger arguing.

"-This tree gave us a fine set of primary branches to extend onto," the vulpine crooned, pointing out of the window. "Stout, robust, only two and a half steps up from this floor level and splitting into two level branches that grow out from each other at a near right angle. Perfect to build a platform between. Badger, this tree is inviting me to knock through it and build a bedroom and playroom annex with an attached veranda and roof terrace. I can imagine it now, taking design cues from the ox-tongue fungus and helping to raise this tree's appearance to new heights."

"Ox-tongue fungus? -Tumour, more like," Badger barked. "Besides, you'd lose this room in the process! It'd just by a non-space, a hallway, to get to your folly."

"Or I could create a corridor through, converting the rest into a new family bathroom, enabling an extension of the lounge into the old one."

"Pah! Have you even done the load calculations? With all that sideways force curving into a hollowed out tree, you'd need hideous external supports to…"

Ash looked to Nick and Nick to Ash. "Shall we try my room first?"

"-We can do without, Badger. Trust me."

"Yup. Sounds like a plan," he replied, as they slipped out.

"-It'd be Rowan Point all over again!"

…

One floor above, Nick was led into Ash's new room and let out a whistle. "Cosy."

"I know," he replied, looking around.

It was. About a foot had been taken off the walls compared to the room below, and things were all a bit closer together. Thankfully it wasn't cramped or anything, and everything had its own space here. Looking around, Nick raised an eyebrow as he saw a small hatch above Ash's bed, likely the escape hatch Mr Fox had been talking about.

"Here's the comic pages!"

Looking down, Nick leant forwards and nodded as he saw the drawn files, all in order.

"No spoiling though," he said, as he stashed them away.

"Wouldn't dream of it."

"Yeah."

"Well, actually I would."

"Huh?"

"In nightmares," Nick added, shivering a little for comedic effect.

"Oh, right," Ash agreed, as he closed the drawer. Nick looked on, before pausing as he saw a small cabinet next to it, locked shut by a padlock.

"Say, Mr," he began, before making a spitting sound. "What's in there."

"There!" he exclaimed, flinching a bit. "It's… Uhhhh… -private stuff. Yes, private and personal stuff."

Nick nodded and took a sniff or two. Having known many teens, he knew what kind of stuff they might keep in there and had received a lot of training to sniff it out. There were a few oddly familiar scents in the room, be they from the cabinet or otherwise he couldn't tell, but nothing that he'd been trained to identify as part of narcotics duties. Of course, there might be a scent proof box in there, or things that didn't have a scent at all.

Such as a missing present.

Nick turned up to Ash. He didn't think that the kit had done it, he didn't want to think, but…

There was a chance, a means, a motive…

This was about ruling him out, wasn't it?

"Know the feeling," he said, before looking over to where the comics went. "How do you feel about finishing it? With Kris?"

"I'm proud," he said, crossing his arms and glowing a little. "I mean, I did something. I did a job, and I made something people enjoy… They enjoy what I did."

"And what Kris did," he pointed out.

There was a slight waver of Ash's right ear, and he nodded. "Well, that's his part, and he did really good on it too."

"Can't fault that logic," he noted. "And what now? Any new projects in the works?"

"I'm not sure. I mean, there's the baby coming and then my main exams. Maybe I should take a break."

"Or not. Maybe do a solo project?"

Ash looked on, thinking about it for a second or two before nodding. "Yeah. Maybe. -In fact, I could probably do a great one. -If Kris wanted to do his own thing he could do one too, it'd probably be better, but mine would still be great. -And different. And as long as people like what I do in the end, that's the main thing."

Nick nodded, before being distracted by a knock on the door, Mr Fox calling out. "May we come in?"

"Yeah," Ash said, as his father and Badger entered.

"-Anyway," he carried on, "as you can see here we've done some excellent expansion work. You can still smell the fresh wood scent."

Badger looked on, nodding a little. "Well this kind of work is perfectly sensible."

"-As would be my future extension upwards!" Mr Fox replied, "consider a spiral staircase up to the top, from which you would access a vibrant diversity of new rooms, each more abstract and unique in shape than the last."

"Foxy," Badger warned. "You're trying my patience. You're the only one here who thinks that this is a good idea."

Sensing an opportunity, Nick slipped in. "Why, I perfectly agree with you."

"See!" Badger agreed, "now this is a fox who knows what he's talking about."

Mr Fox shot a level glance at Nick, the fox cop smirking a little, raising and eyebrow in return. "Indeed. A complete house remodel and development with no hot tub?"

"You see Foxy, you don't…" Badger paused, before turning to Nick. "This better be a hot tub in the grounds!"

"The grounds?" Nick exclaimed. "Why would I put it there? Such a waste of the great vantage points up on this tree?"

"Oh, you can't be serious."

"I'm not. I'm Nick. But I'm serious about this. Imagine, an elephant sized hot tub, doubling up as a pool too, suspended up near the crook one-third up the largest branch."

"Ju… You know how far out that is?"

"And with a Buckminster Fawnler inspired glass canopy above it," Nick continued, as the mustelid buried his paws in his face. "Consider you and the missus taking laps and drinking champagne in the hot water, all while the steam does your fur wonders, as you look out at the snow falling down around you due to Rainforest District-effect."

"Consider this tree, ruined by your architectural misadventures, tipping over because you didn't bother to learn about forces and moments in school!"

"I learnt about them!" Ash piped up. "Just put another hot tub on the other side."

"An excellent proposal from both of you," Mr Fox agreed.

"Where would another elephant sized hot tub even go! Tell me that Foxy!"

Mr Fox seemed stumped for a second or two, only for Ash to shoot his paw up. "Maybe instead of another elephant sized hot tub, you could put up a hot tub that's half the size but have it twice as far out."

"Moments!" Nick agreed, giving Ash a thumbs up. "Cuss yeah!"

"Nick Wilde was it? You are not a fox who knows what he's talking about," Badger remarked, before looking down at Ash. "Neither are you."

"I will not be put down or lowered in any way," he remarked stubbornly, before turning to Nick. "Let's go downstairs."

"Right then," Nick agreed, before slipping off with Ash. Back into the nursery, he could see it in more detail. The walls, as before, were still plain wood, albeit with far more shelves. There were some new dressers, as well as other baby stuff set out. Resting symmetrically below the main window was the cot, an old travel one with a white metal frame and fabric mesh walls that held up the mattress below. Just like Ash had said, it was paw pad themed, with hundreds of different itty-bitty paw pads, all in primary colours, on the white mattress. The sides themselves had a few big pads imprinted onto the mesh. In contrast, Ash's homemade mobile hanging up above had smiling pawpads, owls, foxes, letters, numbers, stars, a moon, a sun and clouds.

"Unique. I like it," Nick said.

"You can say that it's different if you want," Ash replied, as he waved around. There were some large painted murals hung up here and there, which he'd done, showing cartoonish scenes of pre-evolved fox families playing or living in dens.

"Did your mother do any of these?"

"That one over there with the family sheltering from the thunderstorm," he remarked, as he wandered over to a corner of the room. There was a large bump in the tree on that side, which had been carved into to create a small room, large enough to fit a toilet in if wanted. Instead, soft plastic mattresses had been laid out while the rest of it had been plastered and then painted by Ash in his no-theme theme. Some stuffed toys, a building block set, and other items waited within, while a metal gate had been laid across it.

"Ah. The Bebe' jail," Nick joked, as Ash pointed to the baby monitor fixed in place. "Carrots did say that fox kits are illegally cute. Your new sibling has been sentenced to an extended time in bebe' jail for breaking the law!"

Ash flicked a little smile as he passed by the rest of the place. There were some bookshelves, which had started to be filled out, along with an old changing and cleaning set complete with a sink-tub and small shower attachment for helping with messier incidents. Just like the crib, it was unashamedly paw pad themed.

"You've all done a good job," Nick remarked, smiling. "I think New Fox will settle down here nicely… "

"New Fox…? -Right. Clever."

"I tend to be," Nick smirked. "Say, thought of any names yet?"

Ash shook his head. "Mom said that if it was a girl she'd have Rosalind as a middle name."

"That's nice," Nick agreed.

"But apart from that, no."

"Fair enough," Nick remarked, nodding.

He and Ash were broken off though by a slight knocking on the door as Dr Silverfox entered. "Pardon me, but have you seen Kris anywhere?"

"No," Ash replied.

"Me neither," came another voice, as Mr Fox came down, Badger still in tow.

"-As a learned man," the mustelid immediately pressed, "can you explain to your brother-in-law that he's an idiot."

There was an awkward stand-off, before Ash slipped out, passing Dr Silverfox. "I'm leaving."

"Good idea," he muttered, before turning to Nick. "Have you seen my son?"

"No," Nick replied honestly, walking up to him. If he now had to find his son on top of this missing present then that would really be taking the biscuit. Still, he suddenly had a cunning plan. He made sure to get a little sniff of the mammal before watching him leave, then turning to watch the arguing fox and badger for a little bit, before quietly sniffing out.

He headed upwards, gently knocking on Ash's room before slipping in, turning towards the locked cabinet. Moving in, sniffing close, his eyes widened.

Ever so faintly, he smelt Dr Silverfox.

His ears lowered. It couldn't be Ash, could it? He'd come to peace with everything, he was okay…

But it was Dr Silverfox's scent in there…

But it was weak! Far weaker than if he'd grabbed the present straight up and thrust it in there. Maybe it was something that he'd given to Ash as a present?

Or maybe it was the present, but in a scent proof box. They kept scents in, but generally you needed to rub the outside down in order to clear off any scents that had got onto there. That, and ensure it was properly closed in the first place…

The only way he'd know is if he opened the padlock and snuck in for a peek. After all, he could easily pick it, but…

Whatever he was thinking was suddenly cut off as he heard footsteps, rising up the stairs outside. He realised with horror that it might be Ash, he might get found out, he might shatter the trust between them! He'd only be seen as a sneaky fox, up to no good…

Looking around, panicking, his gaze passed over and then anchored to a spot on the ceiling. The 'escape hatch'. Bolting up, he hauled itself up onto Ash's bed and opened it up, a small rope ladder dropping down. At a speed that would even impress the drill instructor at the police academy he scurried up the ladder before pulling it up and closing the hatch behind him.

Breathing a sigh of relief, he took stock of his surroundings. He was in a short shaft, almost pitch black bar the slight creep of light coming from above. Nudging it, Nick smiled as it moved.

Prying it open, out Nick went.