Thanks to the following people who commented on the previous chapter: GhostWolf88 (AO3 and FFN), sapperjoe85, BrutusDeagon, aomagrat, x_uve

THE SON

Nick could count on one paw the number of times that he had been stunned into silence. This was definitely one of those occasions. Everything Nick had noted now made sense.

"What…" Nick said, once he had regained his composure, "did you just say to me?"

"I said 'you're the deadbeat Dad who ran away when my Mom was carrying me'!" the youth said, picking himself off the ground.

"She… didn't…?" Nick began. He caught himself, before he let slip: 'She didn't go through with it'.

There was another thought that entered Nick's mind after that one.

'I have another Son.'

"'Didn't' what?" the youth snarled. "Come running after you, you waste of space?"

Nick decided not to rise to the jibe, but there was something he wanted to know.

"If you know who I am," Nick began, "then you know who Ma is. How long have you been visiting her?"

"What's it to you?" the youth retorted.

'If Ma knew, why didn't she say something?' Nick wondered. 'She doesn't know who this kid is now, so there's no point getting her upset over it… but still…'

Realising that Viola had been keeping more than just her cancer secret from Nick did hurt, but he couldn't afford to let that get the better of him in a delicate situation.

'Not like before.'

Taking a deep breath, Nick steadied his gaze.

"Here's what I'm going to do, kid," Nick said. "I'm going to take you back to your mother. We're going to come to some sort of arrangement."

"I'm going nowhere with you, and you're not going to stop me from seeing my Grandma," the youth snarled.

"I have no intention of doing that," Nick held a paw up, "but there are things that need to be said, and by goodness, I intend on saying them. Do you know where your mother is right now?"

"Why don't you walk right in to Precinct One and ask?" came the sarcastic reply.

"Well, that's a start," Nick fished his phone from his pocket and started dialling. Chances were that Judy had changed her phone number in the years since, but there was one phone number he did know.

"Good afternoon, this is the Zootopia Police Department Precinct One, you are through to Officer Benjamin Clawhauser. How may I direct your call?" came the voice at the other end of the line.

'Clawhauser… at least it's a familiar voice,' Nick repressed a smile.

"Can you put me through to… Officer Hopps, please?" Nick asked.

"Officer…?" Clawhauser repeated, "I'm sorry, sir, but you either must have been away for some time, or this is your first time in the city if you know Hopps but don't know…"

"Don't know what, may I ask?" Nick interrupted. A small chuckle came from the other end of the line.

"'Officer' Hopps is actually 'Chief' Hopps, sir!" Clawhauser said.

'Well, would you look at that,' Nick thought to himself.

"Okay, can you put me through to 'Chief Hopps', please?" Nick asked.

"I'm afraid that, unless it's an emergency, I can't interrupt her," Clawhauser said. "She's currently busy with important business."

'Pretty sure I'm about to give her some different important business,' Nick thought. He paused for a moment, considering what he could say that would possibly get Clawhauser to forward him through.

"Tell her it's about her son," Nick settled for that. It wasn't a lie.

A sigh came from the other end of the line. Nick guessed that Clawhauser had taken quite a few calls about him.

'Hearing that weary sigh, I'm going to guess the boy is a lot of trouble,' Nick deduced. He glanced at the still-angry hybrid.

"Oh, Chief won't be happy…" Clawhauser remarked. "I probably shouldn't tell you this, but you wouldn't be the first to ask to speak to her about Nicholas."

'Nicholas? Did she… did she actually name him after me? Why?' Nick's eyes flicked to the youth again, who held his angry scowl at him.

"What's the issue, before I put you through?" Clawhauser asked.

"The issue?" Nick repeated. "Well, I don't know if you can call it an 'issue', but you can tell her that he had an unexpected run in with his father."

Nick wondered if, by the silence, Clawhauser had suddenly died from the shock.

"Nick Wilde?" Clawhauser ventured.

"The one and only, Spots," Nick replied.

Nick anticipated the squeal about to come from the cheetah and held the phone away from his ear.

'Some things really don't change,' Nick held his smile in. He brought the phone back to his ear.

"Well, I'll be blessed! Nick Wilde, back in Zootopia! We've gotta catch up sometime! Oh…" Clawhauser's happy voice trailed off,"I'm happy to hear from you, but I don't know if she's going to want to talk to you," Clawhauser said.

"She probably didn't expect me to meet the son I didn't know I had, so I think she will want to talk," Nick replied.

"Please don't be angry at her, Nick," Clawhauser pleaded.

"I'm not going to be," Nick answered. "Being angry isn't going to help either of us. Are you going to tell her it's me?"

"I'll tell her it's an emergency, but if I tell her it's you, she'll either not believe me, or maybe she'll refuse to speak to you," Clawhauser explained.

"Does she hate me that much that she won't speak to me if she knows it's me?" Nick asked.

"It's not that… I don't think the Chief hates you. It's just… it's been a long time," Clawhauser remarked.

"I know, Spots," Nick agreed, "Trust me, I know."

Judy was in her office, with the Assistant Mayor Jack Leopardon and Commissioner Bogo. They were discussing plans to recruit more Officers and expand the jurisdiction of Precinct One.

"So, we're in agreement?" Assistant Mayor Leopardon said.

"Yes, I think we are," Judy replied. "We'll take on an additional twenty Officers from the next recruitment, and expand our jurisdiction to the Financial Area."

"A provisional jurisdiction will be written in too, of course," Leopardon remarked. "If another Precinct looks like it could use the help, Precinct One will be within its right to assist in any manner necessary."

"Thank you, sir," Judy said.

"And with that… Bogo, Hopps," Leopardon got up out of his chair and shook each of their hands, right before leaving.

"Of course, you realise this means more work," Bogo said.

"Yes," Judy replied, "but this is something that we've been hoping to do for a while now."

"It also means an extra workload for Deputy Chief Fangmeyer if you do decide to step down as Chief," Bogo pointed out.

"I've had this talk with her already and she's given me her support," Judy said.

The phone on Judy's desk rang and she looked at the caller ID. It simply read 'Call Waiting From Front Desk – External Hold'.

"Please don't let this be a complaint about Nicholas again," Judy whispered, a paw on her face in exasperation.

"I'll leave you to it," Bogo got up out of his chair. "We'll discuss this further later on." With that, Bogo left. Judy picked the phone up.

"What is it, Clawhauser?" Judy asked, feeling weary even as she asked the question.

"Chief, there's somebody on the line who really needs to speak with you, urgently," Clawhauser replied.

"Okay," Judy sighed. "Put them through."

There was a brief click, indicating the call had been transferred.

"Chief Hopps," Judy announced. For a moment there was no answer, but the mammal on the other end of the line spoke after allowing that pause.

"Long time, no speak, Carrots. We need to talk."

For a moment, Judy was stunned. It was a voice and an old nickname she hadn't heard in a long, long time.

'No, it couldn't be… well, it could be if he knew about his mother, but…'

"… Nick?" Judy ventured.

"You do remember me," Nick replied. "We have a lot to discuss. And I mean that. I've just had an… interesting encounter with somebody you know."

'Oh, no…' Judy thought to herself, 'If he's here to visit his Mother, and Nicholas went around there to see her… oh, no. Oh, no… he knows…'

"Is there a place we can speak in private?" Nick asked, "This isn't something we're gonna want to do over the phone."

Nick was right: they had a lot to discuss.

"I still live in the same place," Judy said shakily. "We can talk there."

"Peachy," Nick responded, and the line went dead. Judy stare at the handset for a little while longer, before replacing it and pressing the button that connected her to the front desk.

"Clawhauser, I'm going to take my lunch now," Judy remarked. "I might… be a while."

"Yeah, got it," Clawhauser replied, almost robotically. Judy had to remind herself that he had probably spoken to Nick before passing the call through.

Nick hung up.

"Hey, Nick, you okay?" Finnick emerged from the house, glaring at Nicholas.

"Today has been a lot to take in," Nick replied. "Hey, Fin, could you do me a big favour? Can you keep an eye on Robin for me while I go take care of this?"

"Sure," Finnick replied.

"Robin?" Nicholas remarked, comprehension dawning on him. "Oh, that's how it is, is it?" Nicholas said. Nick turned his attention back to him.

"You ran off to father a son with somebody else rather than stay with the son you had?" Nicholas snarled, "You're pathetic."

"Watch your mouth, foxbunny," Finnick growled.

"Fin, it's okay," Nick remarked, holding both paws up to calm the small fennec.

"Nicky, what's going on?" Viola stepped outside shakily. She spotted Nicholas laying on the ground.

"That's him." Viola frowned, "That's the young jack who's been visiting."

"Ma…" Nick said. "This isn't a 'jack'. It's…" Nick paused for a moment, considering what to say next. "It's best if I tell you later. Could you go back inside, please? I wouldn't ask, but… I need to have a private word with him."

"Okay…" Viola said, ambling back inside. When she was out of earshot, Nick turned back to Finnick.

"Watch yourself, Nick," Finnick warned.

"Will do," Nick nodded. He faced Nicholas.

"Well, it's time to get you home, then," Nick said.

"I'm going nowhere with you," Nicholas growled. The phone in his pocket beeped, indicating a message. Nicholas took it out and read it.

'Head home,' it read. It was from his mother. Scowling at Nick, he turned and stormed away. Nick shook his head.

'How am I going to handle this?' Nick thought to himself as he fished his own phone out of his pocket and dialled the number for the Zootopia Taxi Service. As he did so, the District's artificial rain kicked in.

'Brilliant,' Nick thought to himself, 'I hope this isn't an indication of things to come.'

And that's a wrap for this chapter! Another one where I changed the story around a bit, which was partly a given since I changed the previous chapter to include Finnick rather than treating him like a chauffeur.

See you all again soon!