At the end at the story, I was listening to 'Somewhere Over The Rainbow' by 'Israel Kamakawiwo'ole' It fits really well
So this is the last chapter I need to revise! So If you see this message-I'm already writing chapter 13! Again thank you so much for staying this long! And tell me if I need to fix anything.
Somewhere Over The Rainbow
"Well, that went better than I thought," Judy said as she carried Lynn up the stairs of the apartment ahead of Nick, as he carried the carrier.
"Yeah… I guess." Nick sighed. He didn't want to make a big fuss out of a public apology. He would have felt much better if they left this whole thing alone. They were both quiet the whole way home, and this is the most conversation they had after the whole thing. "Ugh!" he groaned tiredly, yet he was grateful to be so close home. "I can't WAIT to finally lay down and forget any of this-" he stopped as he got to the top. Judy was standing and looking ahead. Nick followed as he saw a pig, standing outside of her door. Both Nick and Judy looked at one other, and then made their way to the mammal.
"Hello, can I help you?" Nick asks. The pig looks up from her clipboard, a little startled.
"Oh! Oh yes! I am here for Mr. Wilde, I heard I might be able to find him here."
"Yes…" He said uneasy, not sure what to make of all this, "This is he. Can I ask what this is all about?"
"Oh! Yes! I'm sorry! It's just that I've been tracking you down, trying to find you for so long." She sighed exhaustively. She placed a hoof over her chest, " I am Rosita Swine, from child protective services. You were told that someone would be coming in to check on you right?"
"Uhhhhhh…." was all he could say.
"I'm so sorry, but we have to make them unexpectedly, if we give a heads up, then mammals would hurry and clean up, and we don't really get to see what the conditions are really like." She seemed really nice but has to do her job type.
"Oh no we understand," The rabbit cut in, "Hi, Officer Judy Hopps." she went out to get her a shake.
"Nice to met you both-three." She smiled, "And this must be Lynn," she smiled. "She is so adorable. So, Hopps, this is your place?"
"Yes-OH! Come in, please! How long have you waited here?"
"Oh, not too long." She said politely, but they both knew she had to have been there for a while but didn't want to make a big fuss. Judy passed the kit to her uncle, while she started to unlock the door."
"So Wilde, are you just staying here a few nights? Or-what's the plan?"
"Oh! Uh, well… ummm…" He didn't know how to answer that question because he didn't know himself. Judy opened the door and Swine got to see how small the living space was. It was even smaller being all the new baby stuff all around.
"All THREE of you live here?" She asked in shock.
"Yes-well it was just for me at first," she then remembered about they had to act like a real couple. "But then my boyfriend moved in not too long ago. We have been planning on getting a new place, especially after getting Lynn.-Oh! Please! Come in!" the pig looked at her in question, but walked in and took a seat in the only chair in the room. Then the other three came in and sat on the bed, it was a tight fit. Nick hoped that their guest wasn't claustrophobic.
"Ok look. I know you two aren't a real couple. I've been in this business for years." Rosetta said seriously. "We need to think what's best for the kit."
"We are what's best for her." Nick said a little too fast, but he worked too hard for this all to end.
"I understand how you feel, I do. I have 25 piglets of my own, but… from what I've seen today… It doesn't look good."
"I told you, we are already planning to get a new place." added Judy.
"Mr. Wilde. When I was looking for you, I first stopped at your place. Bad part of town. Living under the building itself. From looking at the small window, I was horrified, thinking that's where you were raising your niece. It looked cold, dark, dripping pipes everywhere-please note I am not trying to offend, but for a newborn… And now that I'm here, seeing that you're staying here at such a small place." Nick and Judy knew this wasn't looking good for them. "Look, I don't like being a bad guy. You two seem very nice, and police officers if that. It's just. I have to report my information, and they are wanting to see a stable place and FAMILY for her."
"What if we get married. This weekend." Judy responded instinctively.
"WHA-JUDY!" The fox was so taken back from this, he didn't know what to say. But the bunny wasn't listening.
"And then shortly after, we can get a bigger place, and have enough money left over to save for anything else she would need." Rosita looked off to the side to think about all this for a bit, meanwhile, Nick tried to talk to Judy without the pig hearing him, though he knew it was pointless because she was right in front of them.
"Judy!" he hissed in a hushed voice. "We can-NOT afford this! You know as well as I do, cops don't make much money!" But she gave him a look to tell him to shut up and be quiet.
"Yes... Yes, that could work-but Judy dear, are you sure. This is what YOU want?"
"Yes. I'm 100%."
"Ok then! We will pop in shortly and see how things are going! This will DEFINITELY look good!" She smiled warmly at them, "Mr. and Mrs. Wilde. Your future looks bright ahead. But before I go, we do need to discuss legal things and paperwork." It was another 20 minutes before they said their goodbyes, and Nick was freaking out the whole time, yet he was good at keeping it hidden like always. Once Judy closed the door, Nick couldn't wait any longer.
"Judy. What. Did. You. DO?! We don't have the money for all this!"
"Nick, Nick. Calm down, it's gonna be ok. Ok?"
"How?-Carrots, look I appreciate all of this. I do. But… Are you sure about this? And you lied-"
"I didn't lie." she said calmly.
"What would your parents think?! Your family!"
"I didn't lie." she repeated. "Nick. Look… Bunnies… Our culture is… Different. We tend to have a BIG family. Meaning, we need a LOT of land and space, and money to support us all. And if you play your cards right, you can make a lot of money as well. My parents own a farm, and instead of hiring other workers, they have us, and the more kits you have, the more farm you can grow, making more and more money. But, when you are getting married, you can't afford to have a wedding, or get a big house with a lot of land… So… It's tradition for the groom's family to pay for the wedding-Which I know doesn't seem too bad, but, a traditional wedding… for bunnies…. It's a LOT. Think of all the well… friends and families from EACH side. Space. Food. It's a lot. But the bride's family, they give you a LARGE sum of money. So that way you CAN get a starter house and land. And then you can expand on your own as I explained with my parents." Everything clicked now. He felt like the world was spinning.
"Judy… I… I can't do this… That's asking for so much… You can't blow it all on me… That's for when you are ready to start your family… not charity work…" He was feeling so guilty. Honored but guilty. "What if you find the right bunny later and you blew it all on this and-"
"Nick! Nick… I WANT to do this… Please. Let me help." She honestly didn't mind, it felt right, her only issue is that she felt bad that the fox would have to be stuck with her for a long time… "This is the best way we can assure she has a good home. If they take her away, who knows where she will be put in." Nick knew what she meant. If she went to foster care, they weren't always so nice, especially to a fox.
"O… Ok." He said shakily.
"Look," she chuckled to try and brighten the mood. "I'm not a normal bunny, so why not marry a fox, who just randomly has a niece for a daughter. It's perfect." She smiled, making him smile a bit. "And we can put our money together and you can use it for the wedding ok? It's gonna have to be small… REALLY small… But we can use the bride's money for a house and other stuff. Look… We have until the end of the week to get this done ok… So I'm gonna go for a walk and call my parents and tell them about my 'engagement'" She wasn't gonna tell them exactly what happened, only that they want to get married as soon as possible to start a family. That would be the hard part. "You're gonna be ok with Lynn? I don't know when I will be back." he nodded and she made her way outside.
Nick looked at the little fox in his arms, and couldn't help but smile. He brought the sleeping kit to his cheek and nuzzled her a bit before placing her in her carrier. He looked back and the door. He couldn't believe these last 4 days. Last Wednesday, his last normal day, if someone told him that he had a dead twin brother, taking care of a newborn niece, and getting married to Judy next week, he thought you would have to be crazy. He got flustered by the thought of marrying Judy.
It was late, and he knew they haven't eaten anything for a while. He picked up his phone and ordered Chinese food for both of them. He knew that phone call wouldn't be easy and she would just want to come home, and relax. After his order, he got up to look in the fridge for something to drink. He then saw a bag of carrots and a container of blueberries. That gave him an idea.
"Uh." Judy groaned as she made her way back in front of her door. The conversation did not go well. Most of it was arguing that he was scamming her for the money and acting too fast. All she wanted to do is to go home and forget about the whole phone call. She opened the door but noticed that the light was off, but there was candlelight at her desk. Chinese containers of steaming hot food. She saw her fox on the bed feeding Lynn.
"Hi," He smiled happily to her, "How did it go?" he motioned with his head to the food. "Your's is the one on the left." she walked over to it and grabbed her meal, she couldn't help but drool.
"Thank you. But uhhhhh… As good as you would expect." She said tiredly as she sat in the chair. Lynn finished her meal, and Nick started burping her as he got up. Judy was too busy eating to think anything different of what Nick was up to. But she heard the refrigerator door close. She saw Nick lay Lynn on her belly on the bed, and then him walking to her and kneeled. She looked at him shocked. Knowing what was happening.
"Judy… You are an AMAZING mammal. You amaze me every day. You COMPLETELY changed my life… For the better. I was living under a bridge when we met. No job. And always thought the worst in others. But… You have so much heart, and love to give. You always put others first before yourself. I don't know how I could ever repay you for all that you have done for me and Lynn. But, I am SO lucky to have you as my friend. And I would be honored. To have you as mine." He then grabbed her paw and turned it over so the palm was open. He placed his other closed paw over hers and placed something in her paw. She looked after he moved his away.
It was a ring. Made of carrots and a blueberry. For the ring part, he peeled a carrot into thin slices and wove them with the stim. He was glad she took a long time because it wasn't easy. They would break and rip or be too small. He glued a blueberry on top. He figured this would be funny, and personal for both of them. "Judy. Would you do the honors of marrying me?" She knew it was cliche but she couldn't help but place a paw over her mouth and started to get teary-eyed.
"Yes…" she said quietly and nodded. "Yes. I would love that very much!" Then out of impulse, she leaped out of the chair; forgetting about her food, which got everywhere, making a mess. She kissed her fox on the lips and hung onto his neck. It made him knock over and land on his back. All this made a lot of noise. The next thing they heard was Lynn crying. They both quickly got up to check on her. And they noticed her eyes were open, and looking around. At first, they thought that she was just awake, but then they realized that her eyes were open for the first time. Meaning that her ears would be too. She was hearing and seeing the world for the first time.
Tim was on his computer, trying to get any new information on Nick. He knew he was a cop. So where he worked wasn't so hard, with a little digging he found where he lived, and other information. But anything past these two years was hazy. Most of his files were empty like they were erased. Which wasn't normal. But what sealed his fate was where he read where the fox was born. The same place as John. All this information pointed that Ronald right.
"I'm sorry 'Nick'. But I have no choice." With that, he started to make phone calls to get mammals inside his house to finish up the job.
So the reason Nick's files are cleaned is that with him being a cop, I'm pretty sure him not paying for his taxes isn't good or even legal, so I'm gonna say that they pulled some strings for him to get on the force.
But I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, and the Rosita thing as an easter egg for someone that I know who LOVES that movie (and character lol) and I hope you guys caught it too, thank you guys for reading!