Chapter Text

"God gives grace to the humble, but He flattens the hotshot."

Mrs. Martin, The Adventures of McGee and Me

"Hey, watch it!"

Nick darted aside as a rhino's foot came down uncomfortably close to where he had been standing. It was late morning the day after his rounds with Judy, with the early part having been spent contacting his most promising acquaintances. That task completed, he'd remembered that the food supply at his apartment was a little scant. He was supposed to meet with Judy that afternoon once she was done interviewing some of the victims in the recent drugging incident to see if that might turn up any leads.

On the whole, he found he preferred crooks and cons to the daytime crowd in Savannah Central.

The massive mammal glanced down at him. "Watch yourself, short stuff," he rumbled, moving on as if Nick had just inconsiderately put himself in a position to get stomped.

Nick shook his head. "How can someone look down his nose with those big horns in the way?" he muttered, going back to browsing the dried bugs. It crossed his mind to wonder why an herbivore was even in an aisle specifically geared to pred foods, and he considered asking if the rhino was looking for a relative among the beetles. However the jerk was leaving, and the quip wasn't worth bringing him back – much less potentially getting flattened. Instead, Nick just made a mental note to look more carefully for other large animals passing through. The fact that he kept looking high might have been the reason why he failed to notice when a mammal much nearer his size range stopped and stared at him. It took her a moment to recognize him, but her jaw fell open when she did.

While Nick failed to observe his observer, he did spot a lioness walking by, trailing a cub with a balloon on a long, long string. Ever the sales-fox, it occurred to him that balloons would make a handy solution to the visibility issue. His mom had done that sometimes back in his cubhood when they went to fairs.

"Only, I'd look ridiculous walking around with a balloon tied to me," he uttered under his breath. Pawaiian shirts – like the very loud red one he was currently wearing, bedecked with yellow flowers outlined in gold – were one thing. They were fun in their own way, especially today when he felt the need to reassert himself by wearing something outlandish even by his standards. A balloon, though, would be going too far. Catching a glimpse of a passing antelope buck with a doe on his arm, he noted another snag with the idea: "And it would wreak havoc on my charm."

"Do you always talk to yourself?"

He turned around and froze. There in front of him was the vixen from the day before. His words to Judy came back to him: 'You know this is going to bite me on the off chance I bump into her later, right?' He tried to push that less-than-cheerful thought aside. Maybe she had forgotten their last run-in.

She apparently took his silence as a cue to continue herself. "So, it's 'Junior Detective,' right?"

Nick wanted to dig a hole in the floor. Then again, maybe not. "Nick Wilde, actually," he replied, hoping to salvage his dignity. "Only Carrots ever calls me... Junior Detective." He trailed off, realizing he had just admitted to being on a nickname basis with the cop who had pulled her over. Someone slap me already, he thought.

"Carrots?" Taelia tilted her head, wrinkling her face in confusion.

"The cop who, uh... the rabbit," he amended. "You might know her as Judy Hopps?"

Nick figured an offhanded delivery of news like that was sure to get a reaction. The vixen didn't disappoint as her eyes popped open.

"The Judy Hopps?!" she echoed. She'd thought the rabbit looked familiar the day before, but she'd been a little too busy hoping to avoid a ticket to think about it. Now she almost wished she had been ticketed. It would practically be an autograph.

He shrugged apologetically. "That's the one. Sorry about the traffic stop."

She waved a hand, brushing the matter aside and trying not to blush. "Nah, it's fine. I was a little out of it. Sometimes I just get too into the music, you know?"

Nick, who preferred to take a 'too cool for this' approach to most tunes, nodded anyway. "Yeah, I gotcha."

By some unspoken signal, the two of them went on with their shopping in tandem, still chatting. Nick was taking mental notes on the vixen's selections the whole time; a hard-wired habit from years in the sales world. He also made note of the fact that neither of her paws had a ring on it. That was as much a survival skill as anything else, really; a hefty number of his narrow escapes in the past had come from trying to steal someone's girl. She picked up on his attentiveness, but pretended not to notice.

"I don't think I caught your name," he mentioned.

"That's because I didn't throw it," she replied, sticking out a paw. "Taelia Fangaster." She pronounced it 'Tal-ya.'

Interesting name, he thought. "You seem to know the store pretty well," he noted as she unhooked a small stepladder from her shopping cart and climbed up to reach a deal on one of the higher shelves.

She shrugged. "Well, I like to try different things when it comes to food, so I explore a lot. So how did you end up riding with Judy Hopps? I didn't think cops gave rides."

He coughed a little. "Uh, actually, I'm not supposed to talk about it," he explained as she came back down the ladder. Then he leaned in closer and whispered, "I'm helping her on a case."

"Really?" she asked, her voice piquing with redoubled interest. A fox being friends with a police officer - and a rabbit, at that - had been enough to fix Nick's face in her mind from the start (and it wasn't a half-bad face, either). That the fox in question would actually be working with that officer on a case... well, that she had to hear more about. "What kind of case?"

"Well, on the record I can't tell you that." He had largely managed to stay out of the news articles. The ZPD made it a rule to keep informants and witnesses anonymous whenever possible. Although word seemed to have reached old associates that he was working with the authorities this time, he was just fine with not helping it along. Taelia seemed safe enough, though, so he leaned toward her and whispered, "Strictly between us foxes, though, it might have something to do with the predators being darted over the last few months."

She blinked in surprise as if a camera flash had gone off in her face, and her ears flicked in bewilderment. "You were part of that?"

He nodded, pausing to pick up a package of Pup-Tarts. "I gave her a few leads, yeah," he replied. He was pleased to see that his charm hadn't abandoned him. It was easy to see that she was eating the story up, so he decided to divulge a little more. "And I kind of helped her out when it came to bringing in Bellwether."

Taelia was intrigued by Nick's claim. She'd outgrown the idea of a selfless hero motivated purely by altruism some time ago (well, sort of), but a girl could still dream, right? "So what kind of help did you give her?"

Nick suspected he had already said more than the ZPD would like, and he definitely didn't want to answer that question too fully. At least, he didn't want to answer it then and there. A well-told story could sweep a female off her paws, but a supermarket wasn't usually the best setting. Time for a quick dodge and switch, he thought, shrugging carelessly to cover his sudden reticence. "Oh, just putting her in touch with a few people here and there. I've got friends all over the city, and Judy has a way of bringing out the best in mammals. I think she'll go far in life."

Taelia caught the effort to change the subject, but decided to humor him. "Hmm, I see. So what do you do when you're not saving the day, Mr. Kent?"

He raised an eyebrow at the joke. "Eh, bit of an entrepreneur, really; mostly in sales."

"What kind of sales?"

"You name it. Pawpsicles, rugs; all kinds of things. I'm thinking about changing careers, though. Judy's kind of got me leaning toward law enforcement."

Taelia looked up from some yogurt-covered raisins. "A fox cop? Has that ever been done before?"

"Nah, but why let that stop me? It's not like there's been a lot of rabbit cops either."

She smiled. It was a tall tale to swallow, but deep down, she really wanted to believe him. "Well, I'm sure you'll do great."

Nick paused. Not many mammals ever expressed confidence in him. Since he'd lost his dad the only ones to say they were "sure he'd do great" were his mother (who would say that, of course) and Judy. "Thanks," he said with full meaning. "That means a lot." Uncomfortable with the silence, he asked, "So what do you do for a living?"

"Oh, me? I'm a D-Jane." In response to the puzzled look this gained her, she explained, "A sound technician. You know, the person in the sound booth at concerts and recording sessions? Kind of like a conductor. I make the music sound better."

"Ah." Nick hadn't really given much thought to that, but he guessed someone had to do it. "So you must work with a band or something, right?"

"A few. I've got some regular bits, but I'm basically a free agent."

'Free agent.' I like the sound of that, thought Nick. "Anyone I'd know?"

She shrugged. "Well, Gazelle for one."

Nick's eyes popped. "You've worked with Gazelle?"

Taelia laughed. "No, I wish. I always say that to see if people are paying attention. Sometimes mammals just kind of glaze over when I tell them what I do."

"No, I want to hear," he insisted, quite honestly. "So what are some of your regulars?"

"Ever heard of Vixen?"

Nick paused. "Vixen. Yeah, I've heard some of their songs on the radio. You were behind that?"

"Every note," she answered with just a touch of pride. "I've been with them since the band got together in college."

The tod made a mental note to look up some of Vixen's music. He was pretty sure he'd heard a few of their songs here and there, but a concentrated study wouldn't hurt.

They got so caught up in talking and shopping that both of them were a little surprised when they found themselves on the other side of the checkout. Nick coughed. "Well, I guess this is where we part ways."

Taelia considered. She didn't want to be forward - it wasn't her style and had a way of landing her in trouble - but she liked Nick and had gotten nothing but good signals from him so far. "That depends," she replied.

"Depends on what?"

She hesitated only a moment longer before she said, "On whether you were going to ask me to lunch or a movie."

"Ah." Nick coughed. Way to put a guy on the spot, he thought. "Well, do you mind if I stop at the bank first?" By way of explanation, he dug in his pocket and held up his wallet. He made it a habit to only carry enough cash to cover whatever errand he was on at the moment. "I don't think I've got enough on me for lunch."

Taelia shrugged as she hefted her two sacks of groceries, feeling a tad guilty for springing that on him. "The nearest bank's two blocks away. How about I treat? Call it a thank-you for what you did for all of us."

Nick was a little thrown. "Well, if you insist," he said without much reluctance. Vixen or no vixen, he wasn't of a mind to turn down free lunch.

Taelia led the way to a Chez Cheese outlet just around the corner. Business was fairly slow at that time of day, so they hardly had to wait in line at all – something Nick suspected was not just lucky timing. He recognized the air of someone who, like him, had what she did down to an art form.

"What'll it be?" asked the mouse behind the counter.

The vixen smiled. "Got any mild cheddar with bits of dried strawberry in it?"

Nick blinked. He'd long been in the habit of trying new things in food, but that was a new one even on him.

The mouse looked equally confused. "Uh, no," he said slowly, "but we've got it with basil and sun-dried tomato."

"Mmm, nah." Taelia shook her head. "I have that all the time. How about a slice of the jalapeno cheese on a fish patty sandwich, with a side of mozzarella sticks and horseradish dip? Oh, and a small fountain drink."

"Yep, we've got that," the mouse agreed, punching in the order. He turned to Nick. "What about you?"

Nick thought for a minute and, not wanting to be outdone by a vixen, ordered a grilled cheese sandwich with interspersed layers of horseradish and habanero cheese, some spicy fries, and a medium fountain drink. "Upgrade her drink too," he added, pulling out a couple of bills.

Taelia turned to him with a raised eyebrow, but she was smiling.

"You didn't have to do that," she told him en route to the table. "Refills are free, so I always get the small size when I'm eating in." She slipped her bags under the table and added, "I appreciate the thought, though."

"Anytime," he said, half-wishing they'd picked a free-standing table instead of a booth so he could draw out a chair for her. He hadn't gotten to be one of the best hustlers in the city without knowing how to charm a lady, but a restaurant like this limited the options for sweeping her off her feet. Taking note of her idiosyncrasies, however, was still an option.

"So," he asked, "what was with the strawberry cheese request?"

She laughed. "Oh, that. Well, I came across some free samples once at a store and it was love at first bite." Seeing the skeptical look on his face, she insisted, "It's actually really good. I'd buy a wheel of it to use at home, but specialty items like that are so darn expensive. So whenever I come to one of these places I ask just in case they break down and add it to the menu."

Nick thought about that. He liked a good bit of berry once in a while, so why not? Then he remembered that, now he was trying to put scams behind him, his finances were a little tighter than usual. Maybe when I get my first bonus check, he thought, assuming police get bonus checks.

They left their table briefly to fill up; Nick with a Koala Kola and Taelia with strawberry milk. It looked more and more like she had a regular plan for these things, because that took exactly the time needed for their order to come up. Nick was impressed, and maybe that was why he paused at the condiment station to squeeze some extra hot sauce onto his sandwich.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" asked Taelia. "I don't know if you know this, but the hot sauce here is kind of... intense."

Ah-ha, thought Nick, priding himself on being the last one to blink. "I've had their hot sauce," he assured her with a calm wink.

They sat down, and he waited smugly while she took a bite. Her cheeks bulged for a moment as she chewed. Then she swallowed with maybe just a hint more effort than one would expect for the bite she took. Nick, in turn, took a bite of his own sandwich.

AHHHHHH! The hot sauce was like pepper spray in the mouth! He grasped at his throat, fought to keep from spitting out his mouthful, and then frantically grabbed for his soda.

"Nick, hold it!" Taelia cried. She snatched the soda away from him and offered her own drink instead. Confused but not really caring about details, he accepted the milk and drank like his life depended on it.

"Don't chug it down," she advised hastily. "Just hold it in your mouth. It'll calm down the hot sauce."

It took a lot of self-control to heed her advice, but, to his surprise, he found it worked. "Thanks," he said, breathing hard. "Whoo. I guess it's been a little too long since I had a gutburner special."

Taelia raised an eyebrow. "You know they changed their hot sauce, right? Customers were complaining it wasn't strong enough."

Nick wanted to smack himself in the face. "Thanks for the warning."

She laughed. "Well I did try," she pointed out, "but you were so casual about it I thought you knew."

Ouch. Then it occurred to him that he'd guzzled down most of her drink. "Sorry," he added, lifting the cup. "Uh, I guess I can buy you another drink if you don't want this one back."

She giggled and waved a paw dismissively. "No, let's just switch. This one's hardly been touched, and I think you'll need mine to polish off that sandwich. Besides, soda just makes anything acidic worse."

He gazed doubtfully at his chosen (very poorly chosen, in retrospect) lunch. Then, deciding he'd already sacrificed his dignity anyway, he went to the milk fountain for a top-off.

Nice one, Rameo, he thought to himself.

To Taelia's credit, she didn't laugh at what had happened to him – well, not much. "I'll give you points for effort," she admitted when, with great difficulty, he had finished his sandwich. "You're good at this."

He laughed, mostly to cover up the pain in his maw. He wasn't sure it was possible, but he was fairly certain he'd have blisters on the roof of his mouth later. "Thanks." It occurred to him that Judy would have been reading him the riot act – albeit in a very caring way – for doing that to his insides. Only a day or two before, he had eaten two or three doughnuts for lunch and she had asked – albeit jokingly – if he'd gone and picked Clawhauser as a role model.

"Well, I guess I should be heading back home," Taelia remarked, picking up her bags.

"I'll walk you to your car," Nick offered, grabbing his own.

"Didn't bring one. My apartment's just a couple of blocks away."

Nick managed to talk her into letting him give her a lift – his thanks for the meal and for her not laughing too hard over the hot sauce. "It was fun," he said when she asked him again outside her apartment building if he was feeling alright. Then when she gave him a major 'not buying it' look, he added, "Okay, the sandwich wasn't fun, but that was my fault. Lunch was fun. We should do it again sometime."

She raised an eyebrow. "Is that your way of asking for my phone number?"

He smiled confidently. Some dogs had trouble talking to the ladies. To him, it was like riding a bicycle. "I might have been thinking about that," he admitted without a trace of reluctance.

"Well," she replied, slipping a card out of her shirt pocket, "I might have been thinking about giving it to you." She paused a moment to write something on it, then handed it to him with a surprisingly shy smile for someone who had basically asked him out not an hour ago.

Nice, he thought as he accepted the card. She definitely had style, and not just when it came to banter. The paper stock wasn't quite top-grade, but the image – her name spelled out in flowing script and underlined by a red and orange electric guitar – was pretty eye-catching. Underneath the guitar was printed, "Sound Technician," and on the back it had her phone number and an e-mail address. Next to these she had hand-written 'Best time: 7-10 PM.'

"I'll call you," he promised, tucking it into his shirt pocket.

She rolled her eyes as he made a show of pulling out some shades and popping them on, but she waved as he pulled away. "See you later, Junior Detective."

He opened his mouth to correct her, then stopped. I could get used to it, he thought.

Taelia watched as he drove off. She'd learned the hard way not to make too many snap decisions when it came to tods, but she was at least resolved to keep an eye on this one.

And that's it for this chapter. I realize that Nick wasn't quite his usual funny self in the previous chapters, which in fairness was sort of the point, but I hope I got his comical side this time. As always, questions and comments are welcome.
How do you think Judy will react if/when she finds out about Taelia? Will this have any impact on Nick's pursuit of the case?
When I posted this on , a number of people have commented on the "Mr. Kent" remark. Admittedly I knew from the get-go that putting that in would be a little off, but I figure there would be some equivalent to Superman in Zootopia's entertainment industry (after all, the themes he's built on are pretty intuitive). I've tried to think of a suitable animal-ized parody name, but I must confess I have no ideas there. Suggestions welcome.
Last but not least, I pulled the name of Taelia's band from one in a web comic called The Conspiracy. And no, they are not all vixens or even all foxes, but you'll have to read on to find out more about that.