Summary:

Judy gets to know Skye's bike, and Skye gets to know Judy's troubles. Hugo talks to Emmi about discovering Judy, and how his Grandmother fits into all of this. They make plans for a welcoming home party for Judy, and Agent Daman seeks Hugo's advice. In the end, Fennick proves to be bossy. (No surprise there)

Current Day: Wednesday Evening at Crazy Steve's Resturant in Savanah Center

Judy sat back with a gasp, "I'm sorry, Skye! I didn't mean to kiss you! Please don't be mad!"

Skye, taken aback both by the kiss and the apology, confusion etched on her canine features, stammered out, "Um.. Uh.. Wow! That was… Why would I be mad?" She asked the rabbit.

"Your girlfriend! Won't she be angry?" Judy replied.

"What girlfriend?" Skye looked around, clearly missing something.

"The one you came in with! The tall wolf?" Judy held her paw up over her head.

"Oh, no!" She laughed, "That's Marilyn! She's Fennick's mate." She assured the rabbit, "She's just a customer and a friend."

"Oh… She's really tall, like twice your height!" Judy frowned, "How do they..." her line of questioning faltered.

"I don't know! But somehow they make it work; they're inseparable, those two." Skye shook her head.

"Okay..." Judy looked down for a bit, trying to work out the logistics of that relationship before giving up. Her head snapped up, "Where did you get another Pale Rider? Didn't you sell your old one back in Gateway Bay when you left?"

Skye just laughed at Judy's quick change in direction back to motorcycles. The rabbit was still more of a motorcycle nut in someways than even Skye ever was. She explained, "It's not the same one, if you're asking that. It's a 1960 model, four years older than my last one. I found it moldering in a barn in the Upper Territories, and I've spent the last few years restoring it."

"Oh, Great!" Judy squirmed out of Skye's grip and hopped to the ground, "Come on, I want to see it!" She skittered back down the sidewalk a few yards before stopping and turning, "Come on, Skye!"

Skye looked down and picked up her photo of Judy off her lap, a new crease etched into it's surface after it had been crushed between them during Judy's grateful kiss. Shaking her head in bemusement, Skye returned it to her wallet, and put the wallet back in her vest as she stood up. She turned and followed the scampering rabbit back to her bike parked in front of the the restaurant.

As she watched her old lover run down the sidewalk, her coat billowing behind, she noticed that the rabbit had a slight hitch in her stride; Judy must have injured herself at some time in the past eight years. She was also certain she had heard a slight wheeze in Judy's breathing, like that of a smoker, but she hadn't smelled the acrid odor of spent tobacco so the breathing problem must have another source. Judy hadn't been asthmatic when they first met, Skye knew, so the source of the wheeze must be recent.

The fox was bursting with questions for her rabbit, which is what she still thought of Judy even after all this time, but it was obvious from Judy's line of questions and her professed interest in the Pale Rider that she didn't want to talk about that just yet. Skye was just going to have to be patient, and wait for Judy to tell her.

Out of the corner of his eye, Fennick saw the rabbit come bounding back up the sidewalk, with Skye following at a more leisurely pace. They stopped at the bike, and Judy to be seen gesturing wildly at Skye. He had no idea why the rabbit was so excited. He turned back to his maned she-wolf.

"So now what?" He asked her rather impatiently, "What are we going to do?"

"Now we are patient, and we wait for her to decide to tell us what she needs. She's not a client yet, Fenni." Marilyn gently chided him, kissing him on his ear.

"Yeah, well, I'm not the most patient of foxes." Fennick huffed.

"No?" Marilyn asked, "You're always patient with your kits."

"Yeah, because it isn't my ass that's on the line with them." He pointed out at the rabbit, "She's a disaster waiting to happen, and I want to know when I'm supposed to duck!"

Marilyn looked down at her little titan with a hint of humor to her brow, "Awfully cranky, big dawg."

"Yeah, well, I'm hungry." Fennick said without apology. He ducked down under the table and skittered out of the the booth. He quickly made his to the door, and pushed it half way open. He opened his maw and bellowed at the two distracted females.

Judy stroked her paw over the seat stitching, admiring the grain of the carefully stretched alligator leather, "Did you do the seat yourself?"

Skye nodded, "Yeah, the old seat was cracked and had pigeon shit all over it, so it was a total loss, and the after market seats are still hideously expensive for this model." Skye was standing with her back to the door, so she didn't see Fennick come partway out, but she heard the door chime as it opened. Judy, alerted to the change in Skye's ears, also heard the door chime, and she leaned around to see who had come out.

Fennick drew in his breath and bellowed, "YO! MAMMALS! I'm hungry! Let's order so we can eat! You can admire the bikes later!"

Judy looked back up at Skye, who just rolled her eyes. Judy, cued in by this display, skipped around the front of the bike, "Sorry, Skye. I have to go home now. My dad's calling me!" Judy slumped her shoulders in a slouch as she whined, and dwaddled off to the door.

"Get in here, rabbit! I will belt your ass if I have to!" Fennick mock-threatened her.

As she passed through the door that he held open, Judy looked down at him coyly, "Ooo… threatening a gal with a good time, are we?" She grinned at the clenched expression on his muzzle and she scampered over to the bench. Skye followed in, her eyes alight, and a grin barely contained on her muzzle.

Fennick looked up at her, "Not one word, Skye, not one word!" He shook his finger up at her as he let go of the door.

"Sure thing… Dad." She assured him. He glowered up at her.

Judy walked up to the maned she-wolf sitting at the booth, and held out her paw, "Hi! I'm Judy, Judy Hopps!" She greeted the wolf using her real name. Not much point in trying to hide now, she thought, Fennick knows my real name, and so does Skye.

Taken aback by the rabbit's boldness only for a moment, Marilyn took the dainty offered paw and shook it in return, "A pleasure. I am Marilyn Vega." She let go of the dainty little paw, and smiled down at the small rabbit, careful to keep most of her teeth hidden. Judy grinned back up at her without fear.

Skye came up beside Judy, and slid into the other side of the booth. Fennick came up behind Judy and reaching up, he tapped on her shoulder with one paw, and used to other paw to tap the empty space next to Skye. Just like in group, Judy thought, telling me where to sit. She sighed dramatically, and crawled up into the bench, causing the other two females to stifle their snickers. Fennick, crawling in under the table, missed the byplay.

Crazy Steve, the owner of the establishment, walked up and handed them all menus, "I'll give you mammals a minute or two to look over the menus." He walked away, leaving them to read.

Marilyn looked down at Fennick, and pointed out to him, "You didn't need to do that. I could have lifted you up."

Standing on the booth seat, Fennick replied, "Yeah, well, I wanted to climb up." He looked over at Judy, who was hiding her grin behind a paw, "Not one word, rabbit! I know that Hugo picks you up too!"

Skye looked up from her menu at them, "Who's Hugo?"

Marilyn spook up, "He's a neurologist and a work colleague of Fennick's, but he doesn't ride, so I don't think you ever met him."

Judy turned back to Skye, "He's my doctor."

Fennick snorted at this completely inaccurate description of their relationship, "Was your doctor, maybe 13 years ago, rabbit. Now, the Cat's your roomie, since you're sleeping at his place." Also not accurate, but since they weren't banging, Fennick didn't see a point in muddling the waters any more than they were.

"Cat?" Skye asked, "Is he the Jaguar that I'm smelling on you?"

"Jaguar?" Judy was confused, "No, he's this little forest cat, from Amazonia, barely a head taller than me. I think he's a margay."

"Half margay, rabbit." Fennick pointed out, "His dad's a margay, but his mom's a jaguar. Probably why he smells like a jaguar to you, Skye."

"Really?" Judy leaned back, "How does that work?" Cross-breeds were rare in Zootopia, and they rarely lived into adulthood, or so she thought.

"It has to do with the gestation period being long enough, I think." Marilyn explained, "It works if the mother is a jaguar, but not if the mother is a margay. But even so, the resulting offspring still have health issues, since the parents don't have the same number of chromosome pairs. I know that he was sick for most of his kithood."

"Yeah, but that's because he's allergic to Amazonia's jungle leaf molds. Gives him asthma." Fennick pointed out.

Judy sat up straight, "Oh, is that why he lives in Tundra Town?

Fennick nodded, "Yup, no leaf molds to make his life miserable. I mean, he can still visit the Rain Forest district, he just has to wear a surgical mask to filter out the mold spores. It does make him look like a stereotypical tourist from the Sunrise Islands. The only thing missing in the big camera hanging around his neck."

Their conversion took a break when Crazy Steve came back to take their orders. Marilyn and Fennick had their usual, sharing a big plate of antipasto, and Skye went with salmon and rice. Judy thought for a moment, but finally went with the vegan lentil soup and a watercress salad. They gave their menus to Steve and returned to their conversation.

Judy turned back to Skye, a little embarrassed, "You can smell him on me?" ***Duh, of course she can, Judy. If Fennick could, so can she!***

Skye just tapped her canine nose, "Yeah, but I didn't know he was a doctor. I thought he was your pimp or pusher or something."

"WHAT?" Judy exclaimed, "I'm not on drugs, Skye!"

Skye gestured up and down Judy's skinny body, "Yeah, well you look like a meth-head, all skinny and with mangy fur."

Judy grabbed her ears in frustration, "I'm not skinny because I'm whoring myself out for drugs! I'm skinny because I've been homeless and living on the streets for three years!"

Skye sat back in shock. Marilyn looked over at Fennick, who just nodded. Judy went back to staring back down at the table, so she missed Skye reaching over with her two strong arms and pulling her into the vixen's lap. The fox embraced the smaller rabbit, and put her muzzle down alongside Judy's head, murmuring "I'm sorry, I'm sorry..." over and over.

Judy batted at Skye's arms with a free paw, "Stop it, you're making me cry." as a tear trickled down her cheek.

Sky loosed her grip, and sat up, "I'm sorry, if I had known..."

Judy twisted in her lap to gaze up at the vixen, "There was nothing you could have done, Skye. It's okay..." To silence the protesting vixen, Judy reached up with a paw, and drew Skye's muzzle down to hers to reassure her with a kiss. As their kiss deepened, Skye slid one paw around to support the back of Judy's head. Fennick cough broke across the table, and they both stopped the kiss long enough for each of them to lay an eye on him.

He cleared his throat, before he looked at them both, "Ain't you forgetting something, rabbit?" Judy broke off the kiss, and looked at him in concern, plainly not understanding. "You've got pneumonia, don't ya? Are you trying to give it to Skye here? You know that foxes have weak immune systems!" He pointed out to her.

Skye sat up, scowling at Fennick, while Judy fell over herself trying to apologize. She shushed the rabbit and kissed her on her forehead. "It's okay, it's okay." She turned back to Fennick, "I will have you know that my immune system is just fine!"

Fennick just waved his paw at her, "Yeah, yeah. Ya can't be too careful. Nick's is crap, so I might have generalized a bit."

Marilyn spoke up, "Nick's immune problems are the result of work stress and poor sleeping patterns, which causes his Lepto to flare up. Not because his lungs are bad."

"What's wrong with Nick?" Judy spoke up, her paws tugging on one ear.

Bingo! Fennick thought, I wondered if that might get a reaction out of her. "Nick's got a case of chronic Leptospirosis that he picked up about three years ago, during the species riots." Judy was watching him very carefully now, but Fennick continued, "He was on ZPD SWAT duty during one of the riots when he was bitten by a rat. Nick, being the macho fox that he is, didn't get it treated by the ZPD medics afterwards, and so of course he went off and developed an infection, which got him hospitalized. Now, most of the time he doesn't show any symptoms, but any time he gets really stressed out, his immune system seems to crash and he gets a Lepto flare up."

Judy looked very concerned at this, enough that even Marilyn picked up on it from across the table. Judy asked, "Isn't that a rodent disease? They can cure it, right?"

"Yeah, ordinarily, but apparently this version seems to have adapted itself to his body, so most of the time he just acts as a reservoir host. He doesn't seem to be able to pass this variant on to other mammals, so his wife and kit are just fine, and don't get sick. Except when he crashes hard, gets hospitalized, and they get worried sick."

Fennick just shook his head, "Eventually his partner, Sargent Wolfard, had enough of that, and he start carrying around Nick's antibiotics for him. That way, when he sees Nick starting to have a flare up, he can shove a pill down the stupid tod's throat."

Judy just replied, "Oh..." as she sat back.

"In fact, I think he may just have had a flare up." Fennick considered for a moment, "That must be why he was off for the past few days, spending time with the family. De-stressing." He turned to Marilyn, "Although, you have to wonder, if that's why he's such a dick these days."

Marilyn responded, "Maybe, but my money is still on his stressful job on the task-force."

Cuddling down into Skye's arms, Judy asked, "What task-force?"

Rather nonchalantly, Fennick replied, "Why, it's the biggest task-force in Zootopia – the Night-Howler task-force, tasked with investigating Dawn Bellwether and her band of merry zealots. Nick is the number two mammal in charge."

Across the table, he caught Judy's eyes widen in fear. Even Skye seemed to catch the change in the rabbit, looking down at her head. Now why the hell is she afraid? She was Nick's confidential informant back then, right? She voluntarily gave that info to Nick, didn't she? She shouldn't have anything to be afraid of, then, right? Or is there something in all this that Nick hasn't told me about, something that would make her act all so afraid now? Wait a minute! Was she coerced into being a CI?

Fennick's eyes narrowed as he considered that possibility. That might account for Nick's inability to get along with Hugo! Guilt! Is Nick guilty of doing something horribly unethical, something he could never admit to Hugo? Did he actually pressure Hugo's favorite stray into going undercover in Bellwether's camp, coerced there against her will? Is that why he thought she died? Did she get caught by the PF while she was turning in the evidence to the ZPD? Did Nick abandon her behind enemy lines, and leave her out to dry? Is she afraid of the fox, and what he'll do if he finds out she's still alive? But then why would she still be so interested in him, so concerned for his welfare, if he indeed had done that to her? Why would then Nick name his daughter after her if she was just a means to an end? Where is this intense mutual emotional connection on both their parts coming from? A radical thought intruded into his mind, Were they … lovers?

Fennick couldn't even fathom how that could happen. But before he could think of a way to test that bombshell of a theory, Steve arrived with their food.

* * Meanwhile, Back at the Hospital * *

Hugo walked down the hall towards Clawhauser's ICU room with Emmi. He turned to the muskrat and asked, "Are you and Leah free tomorrow night? I would like to host a dinner tomorrow night to thank Dale and Meredith for their help with Judy on Monday night, and I was wonder if you would like to attend, assuming of course that we can actually get of this hospital tonight."

"Judy? Who's Judy?" Emmi asked him in confusion.

"I'm sorry, did I not tell you?" Hugo looked over at him, "I finally found my last stray Cliffside student, Judy Hopps."

Emmi slammed on the brakes and exclaimed, "What, the rabbit?! When did this happen? Where did you find her?"

Hugo, brought to a stop by Emmi, replied, "Yes, the rabbit. I found her in Tundra Town on Monday night. Did I not actually tell you yet?"

Emmi walked up to Hugo and laid his paws on the cat's chest, "No, you did not." He gestured to a plastic covered bench alongside the hall wall, "Here, sit, tell me about your stray." He hopped up on the bench, and waited for his partner to sit.

As he was sitting down as well, Hugo asked him, "What about Clawhauser? Should we not talk to him first?"

Emmi just shook his head, "He's fine, other than his ribs. Not much we can do for him now. Let his boss glower at him for a few minutes. That should make the water buffalo happy." He patted Hugo's paw and asked again, "So you finally found her, eh? And in Tundra Town no less?"

Hugo nodded, "Yes, but it would be more accurate to say she stumbled into me Monday night in a Tundra Town alleyway, soaking wet and delirious from exposure. She was dressed only in shorts, a torn blouse, and a light jack, which is not appropriate street wear for a Tundra town night, as you well know. She would have died of hypothermia that night, had I not rescued her."

"Monday? What were you still doing in town on Monday night? I thought you were going home after the office closed?" Emmi asked him.

"Oh, I was planning on it, but after the phone call, I ended up going to the Neurological Societies monthly dinner..." Hugo paused as Emmi interrupted him.

"Wait, wait! What phone call, Hugo!? You're generating more questions than answers, Doctor Wiedii!" Emmi smacked Hugo's arm with the back of his paw, "Clarify, please!"

"Fine! Fine." Hugo held up his paws, "I'll start at the beginning, alright?" Emmi nodded, and held his paw out for Hugo to continue.

"After you and Leah had left for the day, I had stayed to finish out some paperwork when my mother called from Amazonia to talk. My brother had come over with his husband and their twins to celebrate the cubs' birthday, and they wanted to say 'Hi' to me as well. After that I talked to my brother, and then my dad, and at the end my Abuela came out to talk to me. She asked me how was, was I eating enough, and have I done my rituals today. I told her I was fine, and I wasn't starving, and that I haven't done my rituals in 30 years. She always asks that, and I always tell her that." Hugo shrugged.

"And then she asked what I was going to do tonight, which was a little odd, but not terribly so. She is rather nosy, for an old jungle jaguar. I told her I was thinking about going to the dinner, but I was pretty tired so I was probably going to go home to sleep." Hugo made a face before continuing, "At that point she interrupted me with 'No, No, pequeño! You need to go! You will meet somebody who needs your help, somebody nice! You'll see! Promise your Abuela you will go, por favor?'"

"I tried to beg out, but she made me promise, and since she always seems to know when I don't follow through on my promises, off I went. And I had a good time there, talking to the mammals there, and while some wanted to talk to me, none really needed my help. I didn't really think all that much of it." Hugo took a deep breath, "That all changed about a half a block from my SUV."

He pointed across the hall with his paw, "I heard mumbling come from an alleyway across the street from me. At first, I thought it was maybe muggers, but they sounded drunk, so I figured that they were probably a homeless mammal and I could do my duty to La Diosa and escort them to a shelter. No big deal, no?" He turned to look at Emmi, "That all changed when I saw her standing there, soaking wet, slowly freezing to death. I yanked off my coat, wrapped her up, and carried her off to my SUV."

Emmi leaned his arm on the backrest of the bench as he asked gently, "Did you know it was her when you saw her, there in the alleyway?"

Hugo shook his head, "No. I mean, her scent was familiar, but I couldn't place it at the time. She had her eyes closed, and she was whispering to me, but I didn't recognize her face, it was so gaunt. It wasn't until I got her back to my SUV, under the streetlight, that she finally opened her eyes, and I recognized her." Unbidden, tears started to collect in the corner of his eyes. He rubbed them away.

Emmi, sympathy showing on his face, ask his next question gently, "Gaunt? Why was she gaunt? Some kind of eating disorder?"

Hugo shook his head, as he leaned back against the seat-rest, "No. She apparently had been living over in the Rain Forest district, homeless for the past three years. Hiding."

"Hiding?" Emmi asked.

"Yes, hiding. She said that. The Rain Forest district had good places to hide. And while there can be plenty of things for her to eat in that district, it can't provide everything. But she never went to a shelter; at least I never heard about her showing up at one, and I have contacts in almost all of them. They would have told me if she had shown up."

"Not once? Not even for medical attention?" Emmi was flabbergasted.

Hugo shook his head, "Nope. I even talked to her sister, Beth, about it. She's a social worker over in Bunny Burrow, so she knows about how the homeless think and behave. We both agreed that Judy didn't want to be found. Why, I don't know, but she has been acting paranoid, afraid that someone will catch her."

He shrugged, "Somehow she managed to stay off the radar for three years, and I never heard a peep. But now she's here and I don't quite understand why. I mean, she's happy to see me, very happy at times in fact, so she wasn't avoiding me, I don't think. I just don't know why she never tried to contact me in all that time."

Emmi thought for a moment, before he pointed out, "You said Rain Forest district. Hugo, you never go to the Rain Forest District."

"Not if I want to breathe, no." Hugo agreed, "And I can understand why she would never go to Tundra Town, since there is no wild vegetation for her to eat."

"No, you miss my meaning, dear friend." Emmi, laid his paw on Hugo's arm, "I know that you give lip service to your goddess."

Hugo bobbled his head at that comment, "I'm mostly a rationalist these days, which gets me into trouble with some of my friends."

Emmi nodded, "I know, I'm one of those friends. No, what I am trying to say is that this looks, to me at least, like the very heavy hand of Yahweh." Hugo looked away and down at the floor. "Please, Hugo. I am not trying to preach to you, it's just that I feel something more is going on here."

Hugo was still for a moment, before he nodded in agreement, "I know. I feel it too."

"You do?" Emmi was surprised that Hugo would admit to that, "So you do think your goddess is trying to tell you something?"

Hugo looked over at Emmi and smiled, "Emmi, La Diosa is a living goddess, an embodiment of all living things; 'Gaia' if you will. Serving her is serving all living things, part of why I am a doctor, I suppose. And Gaia is more my mother's thing. No, what I am feeling can more properly be traced back to my Grandmother." He paused.

Emmi quietly listened, gesturing for Hugo to continue, "I think I've told you this before, so if so, please let me know I'm repeating myself. Grandma was a lay shamanist, a priestess of a very old religion, if you could even call it that, from the Zoonia Isthmus, north of Amazonia. You ever hear of the ancient 'Rubber People'? They farmed rubber trees, and carved these giant heads that lay all over the place down there." Emmi nodded affirmatively.

Hugo gestured, "They had this cult of death, if you will, where the local jaguars were the priests; I think they practiced mammal sacrifices back in their day. Anyway, she was descended from those priests, or so she says. And while she didn't practice mammal sacrifice anymore, she still had a paw on Death. She always seemed to know when a local villager was about to die, because she would show up at their house and start chanting, giving teas to the rest of the family to drink while they sat the death watch."

"Since I was something of sickly cub in my youth because of my asthma, she spent a fair amount of time caring for me while at the same time she would conduct these rituals for the dying. I learned a lot about those rituals, sitting in her lap, watching. Enough that, when I turned eleven, we did a very special ceremony while my family was off shopping, she and I. She prepared a concoction of leaves and herbs called ayahuasca, made a sacred 7 pointed star in the dirt floor of her hut for us to sit on, and then we drank it."

Hugo took a deep breath, before continuing, "It was a very powerful experience, and even now I still don't quite understand what happened that day. I mean, I understand, as a neurologist, what the effect that the chemicals and poisons in the brew were doing to my brain, but as an eleven year old cub? I had no clue, only that we were floating in an infinite void, resplendent with uncountable stars. And as we floated, something thing, or someone, spoke to us. I never understood what was being said, but later, after we woke up, Grandma hugged me, and told me that Lord Jaguar, Arbiter of Death itself, had accepted me as her acolyte."

"She taught me a vow that day, a vow that she herself had spoken many years before, but because of my youth and inexperience she only had me recite the first part. She also taught me what my duties would be as an acolyte, mostly a whole lot of fetching of things, or preparing basic rituals, etc." Hugo hung his head and gave a snort of laughter, "It was during that lesson that my mother and father returned from their shopping trip and discovered us."

"I don't know if you've ever heard of ayahuasca?" Emmi just shook his head no. "In addition to it being a very strong hallucinogenic, it's also a violent purgative." Emmi made a disgusted look, as Hugo nodded. "Yeah, I must have looked a sight to my parents, finding me like that, especially when I jumped up and told them I was now Grandma's acolyte." Hugo wryly smiled, "I think that episode, coupled with the shenanigans of the local gang of cubs and kits that I was running around with at the time, finally prompted my parents to send me off to boarding school in the capital."

"Which lead, inexorably to medical school?" Emmi asked him.

"Pretty much," Hugo nodded, "I wanted to understand what happened to me, and why my brain worked the way it did. Neurology seemed the best way to do that."

Hugo was quiet for moment, before sitting up. He turned back to Emmi, "Among the sacred duties of an acolyte was a singular task that was performed by only them, not by the priest. Just as it was a priest or priestess' duty to ease the passage of the dying, and to guide them to the spirit world, there was a counterpoint duty for the acolyte, whereby they would be sent to seek those who did not belong in the spirit world, and return them to the land of the living."

Emmi sat up, taking his arm off the seat-back. He cocked his head to the side as he looked at Hugo, who snorted in laughter. "Yeah, it sounds odd, but think of it like a spiritual lifeguard, or search and rescue from the beyond. A distraught family would come to the priestess with a tale of woe, a cub lost to the river, or a woodcutter missing for days, and they would want to know if their loved ones still lived. The priestess would enter into a trance, and if Lord Jaguar was willing, he would send them a vision. Perhaps the victim was dead, and if so the priest would then lead the family to their final resting place. But if the mammal was dying, off somewhere alone but still alive, the priest would dispatch their younger, and presumably much faster, acolyte to aid the dying mammal with whatever arts the acolyte could muster, in order to stave off Death's embrace." Hugo finished.

Emmi absorbed all this, before he turned back to Hugo with a concerned look on his face, "Is this what you believe happened?"

Hugo shrugged, "I do not know. What I do know is that I have searched for her for a decade, and never found her. I've even been in the same city as she was, and either didn't know about it, or if I did know I could never get close to her. But mere hours after a phone call from my Grandmother, she falls into my embrace? That doesn't bespeak of naked coincidence to me."

"Why don't you ask your grandmother?" Emmi asked.

"Abuela? She can be awfully cagey when she wants to be. She'll probably say that's interesting, and then want to tell me about her latest empenada recipe." Hugo shook his head.

As he looked back down the hall, he saw Agent Daman approaching them. He tapped Emmi on the leg, and pointed at the golden rabbit.

The agent spoke first, "There you two are. I was wondering if you got lost in your own hospital."

"Ah! No, we were making arrangements for a coming home party for one of Hugo's former patients." Emmi assured him and then turned back to Hugo, "How about I bring sushi and sashimi fixings for the party, and Leah can make one of her famous cakes? That would be our gift to your house guest."

Hugo nodded, "That works. And I have enough veggies there that I can make a large salad for the herbivores, so maybe a mandarin pecan salad?"

Emmi agreed, "Ooo that sounds wonderful! We'll see you, what, about seven in the evening?"

"Certainly. I'll let Dale and Meredith know. I think she gets off shift this week at six." Hugo let him know.

"Alright then. How about I go talk to Office Clawhauser and his boss, and reassure them? It looks like Agent Daman has some questions for you." Emmi pointed at the agent as he stood up. The rabbit nodded.

Hugo turned to the rabbit, and gestured at the seat, "You can sit, if you like."

With just a touch of nervousness to his stance, the rabbit declined, "I'd prefer to stand, if you don't mind."

Touched with amusement, Hugo damped down his grin. Reaching into his Abuela's bag of tricks, he worked to project soothing calmness. "You had some medical questions?"

"Um… Not so much medical as… How do I say this?" the rabbit faltered for a moment, "I would like to know how you managed to deal with Bogo so smoothly."

"Ah!" Now Hugo did smile. Sitting back, he put his paws on his knees, and made himself appear as least threatening as possible to the rabbit. "Fighting with the water buffalo, have you?"

"At every turn, yes." The rabbit frowned. "I can't seem to get him to recognize my authority without a fight."

"And therein lies the problem." Hugo told him. The agent quirked an ear at him, so Hugo continued, "You can't win a dominance battle with a water buffalo; you'll just get trampled. Bogo is fiercely protective of his department and the officers on it who have earned his trust. He despises outside interference in what he considers his domain, and have you put in against his wishes rubs him raw, especially if you come in talking about how you are going to fix everything they've done wrong. That will really get his ire going."

Hugo passed on his wisdom, "The way I deal with him is to anticipate his questions before he asks them. That way he doesn't have a chance to stew on the questions, and it makes me look like I understand what is going on. For you, I would recommend taking a more additive approach. You're not there to take over, you're there to add something new to the ZPD investigation. Find some angle, something that Bogo hasn't considered yet, and run with it. Don't point it out as something he missed, but rather that you just had this wild and crazy idea, and oh look at all the things that you just discovered. Add to the investigation, and he will welcome you. Point out the ZPD's shortcomings, and they'll close ranks on you. It's really that simple."

"Huh..." the agent grunted, "And Wilde? How do I get him from stopping snowing me?"

Hugo snorted, "Sargent Wilde? He's just an asshole." Agent Daman was taken aback by this. "I'm sorry, that's inaccurate. Sargent Wilde and I share a somewhat contentious personal relationship that predates him being assigned to the Night-Howler task force. We share some mutual friends in common, but when we are in a purely social setting together, we have difficulty trusting each other. On my part, I am sufficiently trained to recognize his bullshit for being exactly that." Hugo stopped himself before he went too far with that.

Hugo was struggling to give the rabbit advice on how to deal with a mammal that Hugo himself couldn't stand, but he was a professional, and he was asked for help. "Wilde harbors a great deal of self-doubt, in my opinion. He has worked hard to over come species prejudice to get where he is, yet every mammal he meets still expect him to just be a sly and conniving fox. He uses self-deprecating humor and jokes to deflect attention away from those doubts, so the way to gain his respect is to meet him on his level. Tell him dirty jokes, and get him to laugh. Go grab a mid day snack with him; blueberries are his favorite. Don't suggest getting a beer though. He's professional enough that he won't drink on the job, and enough of a family male that he won't drink after work. Ask him for his opinion. Value his advice. Treat him like an equal, and he'll stop treating you like a bureaucrat."

Hugo stood up, and turned towards the rabbit, who was nodding. Agent Daman looked back at him, "And you? Where did you learn to do that?"

Hugo cocked his head, "Do what?" He asked.

"Sound so reasonable, so calming." The rabbit gestured up and down him, "Even now, with you standing there, I don't feel threatened by you."

Hugo smiled as he nodded, "My grandmother does a lot of grief counseling for families who have lost loved ones, back in my home town. She's a jungle jaguar, so she has to work hard not to scare them with her presence. She taught me a lot of her arts. I also find that being calm inside helps to project calmness much easier, and for that I use Tai-ji to help me find my center of calm."

"Jaguar?" Agent Daman asked, "You don't look like a jaguar."

"Ah, no, my mother was a Jaguar, and my father is a Margay. I take after my father in size and markings, Agent Daman."

"Agent Chi Dã Man, actually." The rabbit held out his paw. "Thank you for your advice, Doctor Wiedii."

Hugo took his paw, and gave it a firm but gentle shake, "You are most welcome, Agent Dã Man."

The rabbit grinned, "Ah! You pronounced it correctly! Thank you!"

Hugo smiled, "Certainly. It sounds like a word from a tonal language, perhaps from the Mekong region, if I'm not mistaken? I can manage a few words in that language."

"Yes, it is. It's just not a common name."

"Oh? Why's that?" Hugo was making small talk with the smaller rabbit, watching him become more animated and relaxed in his presence.

Chi warmed up to his story, "Actually, it wasn't our family name originally, it just got applied to us when my grandfather emigrated here back in the early 50's. According to the family lore, he got into an argument with the immigration official on how to spell his name, and he got really mad and kept repeating 'dã man' at the official. The official thought that 'dã man' was the family name, so 'Daman' got put on all our paperwork, but all it really means in Mekong is 'furious'." He shrugged, "Grandpa never went back and got it fixed, since he was so mad about it, so now we're the Daman's."

He looked back up at Hugo, "Speaking of dealing with Wilde, the Sargent tumbled on to the other meaning of 'dã man' which is 'savage'." Hugo twitched his ears over this, as Chi held up his paw, "You don't need to say it. I'm not that rabbit, and I never will be. I don't even look like him. But Sargent Wilde has figured out that he can really annoy me when ever I ask him for something by saying 'Sure thing, Jack' or 'You're the boss, Jack'. I can't make him stop." The expression of anger on the rabbit's face was in total keeping with his family name, which was ironic.

Hugo laughed at the juxtaposition before offering some more advice, "So, take it down to his level. Next time he calls you 'Jack', tell him he can only call you that if he dyes his fur white!"

Chi gave him a pained look, to which Hugo simple cocked his head and smiled. Hugo gestured towards Clawhauser's room, to which Chi simply nodded, and they started walking that way.

* * And now back to Crazy Steve's * *

Fennick was trying to get them all to eat faster, as the sunlight was fading, and he didn't want to miss the sunset.

"Hurry up rabbit! We ain't got all night!" He pointed at her half eaten salad.

"Awfully bossy, isn't he?" Judy remarked to Skye.

She nodded, "You know… He's kind of like those little tugboats, down in the harbor, always trying to move the bigger ships around by force of personality alone."

"Ooo..." Judy pursed her lips. "Yeah, he is. He's all Toot-Toot, and they're this deep bass Bwaaa, or a booming Bwooo back at him. He can't get no respect!"

"Are you two through yet?" Fennick demanded.

Judy grinned, as she pushed her plate and bowl aside. She put her elbow up on the table and her cheek in her paw, and slid onto the table toward Fennick. She lidded her eyes, projecting all the ex-porn star sex appeal she was capable of, and smiled silkily at the little fox.

"You know what, I think I'll call you 'Toot-Toot'," she purred.

"You call me that, and I'll bite you, rabbit!" Fennick snarled.

"Ooo... Just so you know, I charge twenty percent extra for biting." she slide right back.

Fennick was a loss for words at that moment as his ears turned red. He inhaled, trying to respond, but he was distracted by Skye who was struggling not to fall over. His eyes flicked over to the other side, where even Marilyn was hiding behind her napkin, her eyes crinkling in laughter.

"Ooo... so dominating… Little Toot-Toot."

Skye lost her battle with gravity, and fell on her side, doubled over in laughter.