After recovering their thoughts and curing their hangovers to the best of their abilities. Nick and Judy left the aging apartment complex for Nick's mom's apartment, slowly walking down the sidewalk enjoying each other's company.
"Where exactly does your mom live?" Judy asked.
"She's about a thirty-minute walk from here, in the northern part of central." Nick responded.
A silence then broke out between the two as they walked for several minutes, Nick acting like he wanted to say something but didn't have the courage to start. Fortunately for him, Judy knew exactly what to ask.
"So Slick, I've haven't heard much about your mom, tell me more about her, if that's okay of course." Judy asked. She was genuinely curious about Nick's past, the fox never talked much about it. She could tell that it involved lots of pain and regret, but the few times Nick had mentioned his mom he always had a warm expression on his face. It was obvious to Judy that Nick's mom meant a great deal to him, and that she was one of the few people of his past that he had positive memories with.
"Well, to begin her name's Marion." Nick answered.
"Huh, like from the- "Judy began.
"Yeah like Maid Marion from the Robin Hood stories." Nick chuckled, finishing Judy's sentence before she could complete it. "Although she's never had her Robin as long as I've known her." "My dad left when I was just a kit, I think his name was John. That's about all I remember about him. After he left my mom was burdened with being a single parent, she worked three jobs to make ends meet for us when I was a kid." Nick continued, "by the time I turned twelve, I decided I wanted to help out my mom in any way possible."
"And that's where you started hustling?" Judy asked.
"Correct." Nick answered. "I didn't want the weight of the world to be all in my mother's hands, so I did what I could to help her out." "I've never let her know how I've made the money all these years though; I doubt she would be happy hearing that her only child made a living through conning."
"Nick, I'm so sorry you had to go through all of that when you were so young. I can't believe your father up and left your family like that, leaving your poor mom broken. Why would he do such a thing?" asked Judy in a disgusted tone.
"Beats me, mom's barely talked about him. Every time I've tried to bring him up in conversation, she'd either get very upset or very sad, so I learned to drop the questions. All I know is that my mom was heartbroken and was never the same after he left. Sure, she's always been a kindhearted and loving mammal as long as I've known her. But according to those who knew her before my father left, she was apparently a lovely artist and had quite the knack for singing." Nick chuckled, "Mom always said to me to 'play with the cards you're dealt', I think that phrase explains her headstrong personality the best. She always was my anchor in life."
"Well she certainly sounds like a wonderful fox," Judy smiled. "I'm looking forward to meeting her."
"Look no further Carrots, because we're here." Nick said with a greeting tone.
Laid before them was an average looking apartment complex, about eight stories tall. A small sign by the entrance walkway read 'Badger's Paw Apartments'. The front grounds looked rather well kempt, especially compared to Judy's less than luxury apartment complex. Nick confidently led Judy through the front door of the red brick apartment building. Upon entering the complex, an elderly looking badger searching for his keys was attempting to enter a room with the word 'Landlord' on the door. Upon noticing them enter, the badger immediately smiled when he saw Nick.
"Well hey there Nick! It's been a few months, here to see Marion again?" the badger said with a warm smile, almost the way a grandfather would talk to his grandson.
"Good morning Mr. Badgersson, yes I'm here to see Mom. It's good to see you again, how've the tenants been treating you?" Nick asked in an equally warm tone.
"Oh, you know, the long-term tenants like your mother have been nothing but great, other than the occasional party animals that pop up from time to time it's been wonderful." Mr. Badgersson replied. "And who might this lovely doe accompanying you be?"
"Judy Hopps sir, pleasure to meet you!" responded Judy before Nick had the chance to answer, she always loved talking and interacting with elderly mammals. She loved the immense knowledge and stories that they carried, as well as the unique sense of humor that they possessed as well.
"It's my pleasure to meet you as well young lady, I hear you finally managed to get Nick here on the straight and narrow. I never thought I'd hear the day!" said Mr. Badgersson in a teasing manner towards Nick.
"Hey now, everyone thought you'd hustle until the day you'd die, and then who got you on the straight and narrow? Oh, right, that was me." Nick retorted in his signature confident manner.
Laughter erupted between the two as they reminisced, and Judy couldn't help but join in as the two were quite contagious.
"Well, I best be getting back to finding my dammed key, I really need to organize this keychain someday," sighed Mr. Badgersson, "tell Marion hi for me."
"In case you were wondering, Badgersson was also a hustler like me." Said Nick as he and Judy began climbing the stairs of the building. "Although he was on the streets for a while even when I first started hustling."
"How'd you help him into a better life like you mentioned before?" Asked Judy.
"Believe it or not, I won this building in a game of cards from a real estate mogul." Replied Nick. "It took a bit of convincing as well as some mild blackmail for him to actually hand over the deed to the place, but it happened."
"Nick! I can't believe you'd take such a risk in a game of cards; I don't even want to know what his gain was if he won." Judy gasped.
"Oh trust me Fluff, you don't want to know. Just know that I won and that we're here now." Nick affirmed. "Anyways, since I suddenly had a whole apartment building to worry about that I realized I didn't really want after I got the damn thing, I realized Badgersson had always talked about getting out of the hustling business, although he always said he felt trapped and couldn't escape."
"That sounds like someone familiar." Said Judy as she looked at the fox.
"Yeah, yeah," grumbled Nick. "Well I decided all Badgersson needed was some purpose in life, so I decided to hand the deed over to him, in a perfectly legal manner must I add, and I told him to do whatever with the place under two conditions: give my mom a good place to live, and to never tell my mom about what I was doing for a living. And here we are about eight years later."
"Wow Slick, never thought you had that level of kindness in you." Sassed Judy.
"Hey now, not everything I did was bad okay?" Retorted Nick. "Anyways, this is our floor. Lucky number seven."
Judy and Nick entered through the door to the seventh floor and only walked a few doors down to a door marked 7303. Nick then gave a look down to Judy and raised his eyebrows in an excited manner while knocking on the door three times.
"Coming!" A kind female voice responded from the other side of the door as quick pawsteps approached the door.
The door flew open and immediately a squeal of excitement greeted the pair.
"Nicky!" cooed the vixen as she flung her arms around her son. "Oh, it's been too long since I've seen you!"
"Ah come on mom, it's only been a couple of months. That's not too long in the grand scheme of things if you think about it." Replied Nick in a playful manner.
"It's way too long for a mom of not seeing her boy, and you know it!" Marion retorted in a scolding, yet loving, manner. Marion then turned her attention down to the bunny accompanying Nick, "And if this isn't Officer Judy Hopps? It's so nice to meet you! I heard about what you two did on the news, I'm so proud of you two! You'll have to tell me everything"
Upon getting a better look at Marion, Judy noticed that she was a few inches shorter than Nick. Her fur was the exact same color as Nick's, but her eyes were a very icy blue compared to Nick's green eyes. What shocked Judy the most was how young Marion looked. She had to at least be in her fifties, but she didn't look much older than Nick at all. Marion also had a much slimmer face than Nick's, yet she shared many of his similarities in terms of complexion.
"Well don't just stand there! Come on in! We have so much to talk about" Marion hummed as she gestured the two into her apartment.
The first thing Judy noticed as she entered the apartment was not only how clean it was, but also how cozy it was too. The floor consisted of dark oak wood and the walls were painted a warm beige color. Each piece of furniture in the apartment was greeted with a very well knitted blanket and several bookshelves filled with books were against the walls in the living room. The lighting of the apartment was even a dimmer shade than most apartments and the little tables by each of the two chairs on either side of the couch filled the empty space between them perfectly. Judy almost wanted to curl up on one of the chairs and dive right into one of the countless books that Marion had in her possession.
Marion immediately made a beeline for the kitchen taking teacups and saucers out of a cabinet, she then focused her attention on an electric kettle, flipping the switch on it to boil the water.
"Would any of you like some tea?" Marion hummed with a warm tone to her voice.
"Yes please!" Judy responded enthusiastically as she took a seat on the soft couch. She couldn't say no to the vixen, who seemed happy to be providing any level of comfort to her guests.
"Marion is so nice; I can see why Nick cares so much for her." Judy thought to herself.
Meanwhile Nick made himself comfortable on one of the chairs adjacent to Judy on the couch, lazily daydreaming as he observed the décor in the apartment.
"So, you two, tell me more about the big case you solved together!" Marion asked as she gingerly carried three teacups and a pot of tea into the living room.
"Well, it's a funny story. There I was, just leaving work for the day when suddenly this crazy bunny comes out of nowhere. Stating that I have evidence on a lead for a missing mammal case she was investigating." Nick began. "Of course, I tried to squirm my way out of it since I didn't know what the hell she was talking about, but she couldn't be convinced otherwise. So I decided to go along with it, and here we are!"
"You did leave out a large amount of details, Slick. But that is a good elevator speech if I do say so myself," Judy chuckled. "For example, you did leave out all of the whining you did while we solved the case, plus the many times you were screaming like an injured goat." Teased Judy as she turned to Marion, prompting a laugh out of the vixen.
"Oh I can definitely see that, Nicky has always been the dramatic type deep down." Marion giggled, furthering the teasing attack upon Nick.
"Well now I see how it is, gaining up on a poor helpless fox I see?" Nick said sarcastically as he placed a paw over his head in a dramatic fashion. "After all we've been through Carrots, and you've already turned my mom against me."
"Well I can certainly tell you two have already been through a lot together, when you two had that falling out that Nick told me about for example, I could tell he had a deep hole in his heart about the ordeal, he was very sad for those three months," Marion smirked, "In fact, if I didn't know any better I'd say you two care a greeaaat deal about one another."
"Mom!" Nick spluttered, covering his face with a paw. He should've known this would happen, his mom has never had much of a filter when it comes to conversation, especially when she had the opportunity to embarrass her son.
Judy receded into the couch while sipping her tea, trying to hide the fact that she was blushing.
"Oh I'm just teasing Nicky," Marion continued, "besides I have no problem with interspecies relationships. I'm not afraid to admit I've dabbled in a little bit of- "
"DAMMIT MOM!" Nick yipped, stopping his mom from saying something he or Judy certainly did not want to hear. "Let's change the subject, there's something else I'd like to tell you about."
"What is it, Nicky?" Marion asked with a curious look on her face.
"Well, after this whole saving the city ordeal, I figured I'd test my luck and send in an application to the ZPD," Nick replied. "And according to one of Judy's coworkers my application got accepted, my letter stating when I go to the academy should have arrived in the mail here."
A face of pure shock and excitement graced Marion's face. Emitting nothing but a squeal of joy as she embraced her son in a hug, practically leaping over the table separating the two from across the room.
"Oh Nicky! My boy is going to be a police officer! I can't believe it! I think I remember seeing a piece of mail with your name on it, I'll go grab it for you." Marion shouted in excitement as she hustled to the kitchen like a moving ball of renowned energy. "Ah, here it is! I didn't even notice the ZPD crest on it." Marion exclaimed as she brought the letter over to Nick.
Upon seeing the letter in his paws, a twinge of nervousness arose inside of Nick. He never thought in all his life he'd be holding this letter. He always thought he'd spend the rest of his days miserable in the streets, hustling countless hours a day just to make a living. Never in a million years did he think he'd have a respectable job, let alone a police officer.
"Well, here goes nothing." Nick said as he carefully opened the letter, Judy and Marion eagerly huddled around him.
Congratulations Mr. Wilde,
You have officially been accepted to the first precinct of the Zootopia Police Department. Out of five hundred applicants, you were one of fifty chosen to arrive at the police academy one week from the posted date. Please arrive at the academy the day of no later that 8:00 AM.
Again, congratulations and it is my pleasure to formally accept you into the first precinct.
Chief Bogo.
Nick saw that the date posted on the letter was yesterday, therefore he had six days until he had to arrive at the academy.
"Welp, looks like I'm going back to school in six days!" Nick exclaimed.
Judy and Marion both immediately embraced Nick in a hug to show how proud they were of him.
"Wow, one second you two want to tease me until I shrivel up into a husk of embarrassment, and the next you two want to smother me to death with hugs. Make up your mind ladies!" Nick chuckled as he returned the hug.
Nick hadn't felt this level of happiness in years, he was finally free of the soul sucking profession he did for a living, he was surrounded by people he truly cared about, and he was finally going to make the world a better place each and every day. Life couldn't be better for this fox.
"Uhm, Nicky, Judy?" Marion chimed in with a concerned look on her face, "I hate to ruin the moment, but there's something I'd also like to tell you two about."
Nick had rarely seen this level of concern from his mom before, she was usually very carefree and easy going. He knew that she had something serious to say.
"Is everything okay, Mom?" Nick replied with an equal amount of concern as the three sat down.
"Well, since Judy here is officially a police officer and Nick is on his way to being one, there's something I'd like you two to help me with." Marion said with a serious look on her face.
"What is it? Is someone harassing you? Are you in danger?" Nick growled, a sudden bout of anger shooting through his body.
"No Nick, I'm quite fine," Marion responded calmly, easing the worry from her son. "It's about your father, Nick."
A cold chill ran down Nick's spine, he hadn't heard his mom mention anything about his father in well over ten years. He'd never heard her even mention him without tears or anger in her voice. Now she was mentioning him in a cool and collected manner.
"What about him?" Nick whispered.
"For all these years I thought he had left you and I, I blamed myself for everything on why he left. Believing it was my fault and that I had driven him away." Marion spoke. "That was, until I got a letter in the mail a few days ago."
"Nick, your father didn't leave us. He was taken from us."