Chapter Forty-Six
A Stitch in Time...
'T' minus 195 minutes and counting...
The chill wind had picked up indeterminably as Hopps and Wilde maintained their drive towards the industrial sector of Precinct One. The wind was not yet enough to cool the heat of the day, but was sufficient to suggest of a shivering night to come. After reaching a decision about Judy and a particular teaching of her parents, Nick and the rabbit had forced themselves to return their minds to their jobs. Seeing that time was limited, they needed to get that warrant because now the stakes were too high for comfort and security, especially after the failure of capturing that elderly professor.
"Nick," Judy said in the slowness of the traffic itself, "if we've got the time... could we pop into my place quickly?"
Nick peeped to her, a sharp grin on his muzzle. "As much as I'd love to, darlin', we seriously don't have the time for any of that."
"No," she mumbled nervously with a small blush sprouting. "I just have something I want to pick up: a couple of pills."
"Pills?"
"Uh-huh. The relaxant kind."
"Oh, for your heat?"
"Yeah. I knew I should've brought them with me this morning but… Like I said, my heat wasn't supposed to start for another day or so."
"I know," Wilde acknowledged with a glance towards the digital clock on the dashboard. "Well, we should just about have the time for that. Shall we?"
"Please. I'll need to pick them up sooner or later. If we get them now, it'll save time later. You know: a stitch in time; all that."
"You mean," Nick corrected, while maneuvering the car to the outside lane and taking the next left he came to, as he made their way towards his partner's apartment, "we can head straight over to mine after the raid?"
"And after I've talked with Jack. Any idea what you'll do while we're talking?"
"I was planning on taking a seat in the back somewhere, hiding behind a newspaper so I can keep an eye on the two of you."
"Hah, you mean like the old spy thing with the eyeholes cut out of the paper?"
"Something like that. But, erm..." he added with caution, "taking a step back in our conversation, we could, you know… save even more time." Nick didn't utter anything more, as though that alone should've been enough for the rabbit to catch up to what he had meant.
Naturally, she didn't and turned to him with a bewildered expression. "Save more time for what?"
"Well," he explained with a forced chuckle, teasing the steering wheel uneasily as he gave clarity, "I think we both agree that it's a little awkward having all your clothes round yours and none round mine."
"I could pack a few spare outfits," Judy said strangely, still unsure if she had the right idea of what Nick was implying.
"Okay. Yeah, okay," he continued, "but erm, you know… you'll still have all your possessions over at your apartment, like the pills for your heat and all that. I think it would save a lot of time for both of us if your things were, erm..." Nick trailed off, while Judy was left to give wonder to what he was trying to say in the jumble of words. An idea began to surface tho, and it appeared as if he wanted to take a very large step with her, or maybe it was just her imagination?
"And it's not the cleanest of environments you live in. There are certainly nicer areas in Zootopia to live in. Plus, I'm sure you have better things to spend your wages on than your rent, and, an—" Wilde gulped softly and his voice broke, "and… my place is more than big enough for two."
Understanding dawning, Judy lightly turned to face the fox with seriousness incarnate. "Nick... is this going where I think it is?"
He maintained staring out of the front window. "Where do you think it's going?"
Judy's voice fell deathly hushed, "I think you're about to ask me to move in..." She observed his body language, but he was in a blank trance of immobility and lackluster words. Doubt crawled towards Hopps' mind with the passing of these long moments. She was unsure if she had jumped to conclusions that she had no right to make, and entered worry that this sudden silence was Nick's attempt of saving her from the embarrassment of being rejected, hence, Judy looked out of her window at the busy streets and tall buildings; the average citizens were going about their daily lives. But truthfully, her mind was entirely occupied on tonight and on what she and Nick would later be doing.
Her eyes drifted shut, and she couldn't hold-off her heavy sigh. Whether Nick wanted her to move in or not, what they had planned to do with each other tonight was still very real. Was she ready for this: that was the thought going round and around her mind. Was she ready to share her body with Nick's, with a fox? It wasn't that the rabbit doubted her feelings for the red, handsome tod, and it certainly wasn't because he was a fox that put her off; it was simply the insecurity all fememmle had, fememmle who had been in the same situation of pure inexperience whatsoever, with the next steps looming close to the result in what she and Nick had planned for the hour of the wolf.
Judy rubbed her forehead as she thought, a low groan escaping her. Then, she felt warmth on her leg and noticed the auburn paw resting in sooth on her knee. It wasn't an intimate or teasing touch, just one of support. "Feeling alright?" Nick asked with deep care.
"Yeah, just... well, huh, you know."
"I know, Hopps. Trust me, I know."
The rabbit's face brightened a little. "So, what was your first time like with Scarlett?" She didn't receive a positive reaction, thus, came the quick drooping of her ears and sever of eye contact. "Oh. Sorry, I probably shouldn't have asked that one..."
Chuckling softly, Nick's sharp glare grew into a smiley flower. "It's okay, Hopps," he assured, "you just surprised me is all. I guess you have a right to ask, but erm... I don't think recounting every move and every word would quite be respectful to her memory."
"I understand. Don't tell me if you don't want to."
"Not much to tell really… there seemed to be a lot of tension in the air that night as I remember. A kind of tension that made the ears pop. We didn't have a place together yet, so it must have been her little flat The Firm provided. She phoned me at my place one night and asked me to come round for a visit. It was late by then, late in the year too. But I wasn't about to argue."
Slowly as he talked, the fox's voice gradually became less vague and more vivid, his gaze apparently lost in his old memories, with a kind of reverence entering his words while he drove absent-mindedly. Reverence, fondness and a touch of sadness too. "I took a drive over to hers, entered the flat, walked up the stairs, went in and found her in her bedroom. She was there in the corner, draped over the edge of the bed and wearing this loose, duck-egg-blue nightgown that was so thin you could practically see her fur through it. Not only that, but it brought out the color of her eyes and made them glow in the candlelight."
"Her eyes were blue?"
"Yeah," he reminisced dreamily, as though talking from afar, "the softest pair of blue eyes you ever could see. They were so calm and cool when it was just the two of us alone. And yet, if we were in company or if she felt threatened, they would blaze up so sharp and cold. I was the only mammal who she would ever let see her true self, and vice versa… until I met you." Judy took that with a nervous rub of her paws.
"You really did love her, didn't you?"
Wilde snapped from his trance. "Oh, obviously, but not as much as I—"
"It's fine that you did," she interjected with the attempt to make him see that it was fine. "After all, it would be selfish and immature of me to think I was the only femammle in your life. Of course you would've had other love interests in the past."
Nick rested his breath at her with fortunate consideration. "Thanks, Hopps."
"So, what happened then?"
"Well," he said with a newly forming grin, "when I asked her what this was all about: the candles and the nightgown and everything, she just smiled and told me I should slip into something more comfortable. I, the immature young goof that I was back then, innocently asked, 'Like what?' Then she let her gown slip to the floor and just stood there, looking at me in her nakedness. Then said, 'Like me.'" Wilde was silent for a moment, then chuckled. "Ooh, she was a temptress alright."
"I can see why you liked her," Hopps quietly added.
"Huh. You can see why The Firm liked her too. When they eventually caught on to just how good at her job she was: twisting males 'round her finger. They started finding her other jobs to do along those same lines. And it was on one of her, shall we say, more challenging jobs that she first met me."
"Which was?"
"That's another story altogether, Hopps. Let's just say it didn't take long for us to realize what a great team we made together. And for The Firm to personally assign us to one another."
"They assigned you to work together?"
"Yep."
"And was that before or after the two of you, you know, found each other?"
A small smile grew on the fox's muzzle. "If I remember right… just a few weeks before."
"So," Judy wondered, her voice now a conspiratorial whisper, "how did it happen? When did you and Scarlett admit you loved each other?"
"That's yet another story. And one which we certainly don't have time for right now. We'll be at your place in a minute. Anything else you want to know quick?"
"Yeah: what did she actually do for The Firm, anyway? You mentioned it involved her being something of a temptress. But I don't quite have you down as the type to date a call girl."
"Well, you'd be right there, Hopps. Scar could easily have made it as a fille de joie, but she had smarts enough to keep well-clear of that kind of thing. No, she found her own little niche to work at."
"Which was?"
Wilde regarded Judy for a moment at a set of convenient traffic lights. "Do you honestly think I should tell you?"
Hopps turned to face him, her expression radiating nothing but innocence towards him. "Only if you think I should know."
"She was basically a hired girl-on-the-arm. At least, that was her cover. See, The Firm owned a number of high-class casinos back in the day, and it was her responsibility to tend to the wants of all the wealthiest casino-goers. She'd make sure they were supplied with free drinks to lubricate the flow of cash, use her feminine ways to persuade them to play another game or bet a little more. And if they tried to walk out the building with too much cash, she'd slip them a little piece of card with a name and an address on it, which would lead them to a very 'special' kind of establishment."
"You mean one of... 'those' kinds?"
"A whore house, yes."
"Right..."
"If she'd done her job right, the wealthy millionaires would be so tanked-up on alcohol that they'd be straight over to buy themselves some fluff... and all the money her targets had just won would be spent on prostitutes, and would fall straight back into the Krays' pockets."
Judy shook her head in disbelief as Nick drove. "One thing that always strikes me about those kinds of criminals… some of them sure did have brilliant minds."
"Yep. While they may never be seen of as anything but crooks, those twins were both geniuses in their own right." Wilde grimaced, shifting in his seat. "And to this day, the thought of those bastards still makes my fur crawl."
As the car rounded the corner and her apartment came into view, the rabbit took in a breath and prepared herself for what she had to further say. "Nick, whatever happens tonight, whether what we do works or doesn't work: you will always be my fox; I will always love you. Even if it goes wrong, and… and we—"
"Honestly, Hopps, what could go wrong?"
Judy sighed. "I wish I was relaxed about this as you are."
"Oh yeah?" the fox chuckled dryly, holding out one of his own paws in front of her nose and startling the rabbit with just how much his own paws were shaking too.
Hopps snorted. "But, you seem so relaxed!"
"I'm driving… I've got something to focus on to distract my attention. But, erm... you know," he mumbled in nervousness," it might hurt you a little. I mean, the first time."
"I know…" Her nerves felt prickly, despite her confidence of the abilities of her own tough body. "They talked about that back in sex ed. I'm prepared for the fact that our difference in size will cause us some... complications. I'm just a little nervous you won't fit, or it'll hurt like hell or—"
"Hey, Judy," he stopped her and slipped his paw into hers, "don't worry. I'll take things as slow and as gentle as I can. I'll let it take all night if I must. But I promise you, I will do everything in my power to make this evening as pleasant and painless as I can. You can trust me."
Hopps smiled, taking his grip with a mix of intertwined gray, auburn fingers. "I know I can." Paw in Paw, the fox pulled the car up to a stop in front of Hopps' apartment. The rabbit slipped from the car, winked to the fox, about-turned and started skipping up the steps just outside her flat's door, the fox watching her fluffy, white tail fondly as it swished its way up the stairs and through the door which clicked shut with the rabbit on the inside.
"Okay, Nick," he whispered easily to himself, settling down a little in the car seat as he waited for her to return, "maybe you were wrong. Maybe tonight will pan out just fine after all..." A warm smile growing, the fox reached and clicked on the radio.
"I messed up tonight, I lost another fight—"
Wilde winced. "God awful song," he muttered, flicking the radio immediately over.
"— heads held high, touch the sky, you mean everything to—"
"— once more if we don't comply, with the locals wises I—"
"— put that thing back where it came from, or so help me, so help me—"
"— then woop, oh lordly, I kissed her again because, she had kisses sweeter than wine—"
"— and marriage, love and marriage, go together like a horse and carriage—"
"— wild slogging and boundaries and all sorts of rubbishy things. And now Nat Newton of Notts is running up to bowl to Cowdery... he bowls... and no shot at all! Extremely well-not-played there. Yes, beautifully not-done-anything-about. A superb shot of no kind whatsoever. And that's the end of the over, and drinks, so that's all from me at Lord's and now back to the news."
"Thank you. Well, it's six minutes past one and nearly time for seven minutes past one. On ZBC Two, it'll shortly be seven and a half minutes past one. Later on this evening, it'll be four o'clock and then at four forty we'll be joining ZBC Four in time for four forty-four. And don't forget tomorrow, when it'll be nine twenty. Those of you who missed eight forty-five on Friday will be able to see it again this Friday at a quarter to nine. And now ZBC Radio One, it's time for something completely differ—"
Nick clicked the radio off once again as the figure of a rabbit caught his attention. Winding down the window, he called to her as she stumbled unsteadily towards him. "Hey, Hopps! Ready to go?" Judy continued stepping wordlessly and looked as if she had seen a ghost, her sluggish, step-by-step stumble bringing her closer. Nick noticed the wildness of her eyes and the silent formations of words flicking across her lips. "Hey, Fluff, you look terrible. Something the matter?"
"Bu, but, bur, b, d, dh, dhe—"
"And where's your pills anyway?"
"Dhe, der, drh, derr—"
Nick developed a confusion of nervousness around this bizarre behaviour. "What, fox got your tongue?"
"— der, darh, deard—" Now it wasn't nervousness, it was straight-out worry. Undoing his seat belt, he slipped from the car and dashed towards her.
"Fluff, spit it out!"
"Derh, dead!"
Wilde blinked. "— dead?"
"D— dea— dead guy, in... in m-my flat, m-my room."
Nick squinted. "Dead guy in your flat...?" The mist cleared suddenly and the fox's realization turned-startled. Nick hastily crossed to the pavement's side and took the rabbit in his arms, leading her unsteadily back towards her apartment.
"Show me, Hopps," he insisted with a haste of step, "let me see."
...
On the edge of the city, a low, black car pulled from around the back of a line of old boatbuilding yards. It drew to a gradual stop just beyond the edge of a fenced-off area of harbor, while two blue-uniformed police officers stood guard by the front gate. "Now, this is the main way into the Zootopia docks," came the gruff voice of the driver.
"But what of the police?" came the soft, Eastern-accented response.
"They'll have to move sooner or later. In the meantime, we stay put."
"But what about the harbormaster? The dog put the hole in your paw?"
"I know the one you mean," the driver shot with a sneer. "And don't worry, when my boys turn up, we'll be more than ready to handle him."
"But your boys aren't here yet. What do we do in the meantime?"
"He'll be too busy answering police questions. He won't see us."
"But isn't that him now walking towards us?"
"What? Hell!" Spotting the approaching harbormaster, the driver of the black car leaped into the back seat and hastily covered his face with a wide-brimmed hat. "You, goat, in the front!" Practically being kicked into the driver's seat by George the coyote, Victor Nyilas rushed to settle himself on the wheel, trying as quickly as he could to make himself appear as the driver, while a large, shaggy dog lumbered up to the side window and tapped upon it.
Clearing his throat nervously, Victor wound down the blacked-out window and addressed the overbearing dog, "Can I help?"
"You can't park here, ser. You'll 'ave to move."
"Oh!" Nyilas whispered with shakes in his hoofs. "Righto, sorry." Leaning in towards the window, the black dog flashed his yellowed, barbed teeth to the goat in a wide smile, and Nyilas cringed back just a touch.
"Wha's the matter?" Shuck snorted without closing his dislikeable mouth. "Never seen a pedigree before?"
"A pedigree?" Nyilas asked, warily. "A pedigree what?"
"Pedigree mongrel." The black dog chuckled, his only eye glinting with an impression of thinly veiled malevolence. "Me dad was a mongrel and the bastard son of a bitch; me mar wer the mongrel bitch of a bastard. And if me dad and me mar are both mongrels, that makes me a pedigree, don't it?" Shuck grinned in foulness.
"Erm... yes," the goat agreed sheepishly with a pleasant, false smile, "quite right, my good mammal."
The black dog regarded Nyilas carefully through his single, sharp eye for a long moment. "Suppose you're wanting to get back to it?"
"Yes, thanks."
"Well... you'd best be on your way, then."
"Okay. Cheerio. Ughm, lovely to have met you." The charcoal-black figure of the dog turned and walked away from the car and back towards the Zootopia harbor, nodding towards Officers McHorn and Delgato as he passed by them.
Author's notes:
Hesitance jumps around your mind,
Grooms decision thus chosen blind.
Your thoughts most succulent of snack,
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