Summary:
This is it, the end of Judy's Wednesday evening. It's a beast - 12,000 words. But it's worth it because Judy finally gets to riding with Sky, while Nick is off hunting for a mysterious rabbit. Finnick takes some very pretty pictures of some very pretty females in the sunset, and Judy catches him in the act. Hugo Meets Skye for the first time, and Skye's not sure she like the competition. Finnick finally brings the Mystic Coyote Cheryl Silverheels up to date, and Judy figures out how to make Hugo purr.
Notes:
Dakzoo, I am sorry this one took so long to get done, blowing past my Tuesday dead line by two days. I'm sorry it's so big, but I had to wrap up six different plot threads before I moved on to the Current Day: Thursday arc, and I didn't want to screw up the order of my Flashback chapters any more that I've have already. It had to be said, and now it is done. I can now go soak my hands in ice water.
Current Day: Wednesday Evening in Zootopia
Finnick brooded. He seethed. He was a little ball of hellfire wrapped in fur, about to explode, and nobody seemed to notice. It was so frustrating being the smallest mammal at the table. Even the skinny homeless rabbit was bigger than him.
Marilyn and Skye were arguing with Judy about something absolutely inane, and they didn't seem to be at all interested in leaving. They had already paid, with Marilyn and Skye splitting the bill, and now they were discussing some upcoming spy thriller movie.
Sitting down in the booth seat, Finnick could barely see over the table edge. So when his paw phone vibrated on the table top, he didn't immediately notice. But when it vibrated again, skittering across the table towards him, he stretched upwards and grabbed the edge of his little paw phone. Pulling it down, he pulled up the screen and looked at the message notifications. There were two and he pulled them up.
Shit… It's Cheryl...
Silver-Heels:
Hey there, Counselor! You free?
No, Cheryl, I'm 125 bucks an hour! I'm not free! What do you think? He sighed. He looked at the next one.
Silver-Heels:
I need to talk to you.
He looked over the table at the rabbit gesturing wildly. He could well imagine what Cheryl wanted to talk to him about, and he was sure it was going to be weird. Well, shit. I guess it is down to me, after all. And you're the first, you crazy coyote. I hope you haven't been smoking the peyote again, because you're gonna have to be cold stone sober to handle this.
But this wasn't the time, not yet. He had three other gals that needed his attention, and he needed privacy to talk to the dream-walker, because he needed her wisdom as well. He was in over his head, and sinking fast.
Judy sat back in her seat with a thump, breathing hard. Skye looked at her, a question on her lips, which Judy just tried to wave off. The rabbit was trying to put on a brave front, but Finnick could see she was fading fast, even with the large meal she just had. He'd been around enough desperately homeless mammals to recognize the signs of somebody running on the last dregs of their reserves. The rabbit needed rest. She needed care. She needed Hugo.
Marilyn looked down at him. He looked back up at her, and held his phone up for her to read. She plucked it from his paw, and scanned the two messages. She looked across at the rabbit for a moment, and then nodded, giving him his phone back. Under the table, he first pointed at the rabbit, then the door, and hooked his thumb at the bikes. Marilyn nodded again, and slid out of the booth, motioning to the other two that it was time to go.
He turned his attention back to his phone, tapping out a message.
Big-Ears:
I'm gonna go do an evening sunset ride with the ladies. Can I call you afterwards?
After a short delay, a message popped back up.
Silver-Heels:
Yeah! Sure. No hurry. It's okay.
No, it's not, Cheryl. He knew her well enough to tell the level of her agitation just from how those six words were delivered. He asked her a question.
Big-Ears:
Is it the dreams?
Silver-Heels:
Oooh Yeah! They've… Changed. It's really weird, even for me.
Finnick looked out the window at the rabbit, bouncing on her heels as she strapped on her new helmet. Yeah, it's gonna get even weirder, he knew.
Big-Ears:
We'll talk later, I promise.
Silver-Heels:
Okies!
He shut his phone down, and slipped it back into his pocket. He slid out from under the table, waved goodbye to Steve, and sauntered out the door after his ladies.
"I mean it! You can stay with me, if you want." Skye offered Judy again, as she straddled her Pale Rider.
"Skye, you live in a little tiny trailer behind your uncle's shop. It's cold and cramped there." Marilyn observed as she shook her head.
"What's this?" Finnick asked as he strode quickly up the sidecar.
Marilyn pointed with her chin over at Skye, "Our little white vixen wants Judy to stay with her tonight."
"Oh Ho! Skye, you can't keep the rabbit. I have to give her back to Hugo tonight. Besides which, I said you could come along as long as you didn't try to kidnap her." Finnick pulled his helmet and googles out of the side car's little trunk, and started to put the on.
"Yeah, but he doesn't know her like I do." A desperate edge crept into Skye's voice. Judy, concerned, walked over to her and laid a paw on the fox's thigh, the black leather covering it cool in the evening air. She gazed up into those mismatched eyes and saw a desperate longing. She smiled, realizing that perhaps it was possible after all this time for Skye to still need her rabbit. She had always thought that their previous relationship had been a little one-sided, with Judy doing most of the needing and Skye doing most of the patient giving, but that seems to have changed.
"Fox, are you a board certified Neurologist? Do you have years of experience treating homeless mammals, or the resources to meet their needs?" He bluntly asked the vixen.
She shook her head, "No, but..."
"No Buts!" Finnick shook his finger as he came up to her other side. "She might have been your girlfriend years ago, but right now she's in Hugo's care. She's his responsibility now." He also lad a paw on her leg, although a bit lower down than Judy could reach on the other side. "So drop whole fox possessiveness thing, and let her recover before you start dictating her future." He scolded her.
Judy reached up to grab Skye's paw from the handlebars. She rubbed her cheek on the back of the paw before turning to look back up at that fine muzzle, "Skye. I'm not going anywhere. I promised Hugo that I'd stay, and I'm going to. We'll have plenty of time to get to know each other again." She held the paw to her chest, "Besides, we're not the same mammals we were eight years ago. A lot has changed for us both." She let go of the paw. "We need time to talk, and to figure out what we are to each other now."
Skye laid her paw back on her handle bars, and grinned wryly back down at the smaller mammal, "Look at you… When did you get so wise?"
Judy looked back down and snorted, "Years of experience." She thought about Lance, and Dawn, and the years of being alone. She had learned much about herself, her fears, her doubts, and her convictions. She shook her head, "Who would have thunk it, no?"
Skye chuckled, as she pulled the bike upright, and kicked up the stand. She reached out her paw, and helped Judy to climb up behind her. Judy sat back and arranged her coat so that it wouldn't get caught in the rear wheel while Skye thumbed the starter. The beast beneath them coughed and growled, then caught itself with a low grumble. Judy leaned forward, resting her cheek on Skye's spine while her paws grasped the side of her riding jacket. She felt the vibrations of the v-twin reach up through Skye's body and into their connection, bringing back memories that evoked a sigh from her chest.
Finnick trotted around to Marilyn, and jumped into the side car. He stood in the seat and held up his fist, twirling it in a circle before bellowing out over the rumbling beasts.
"LET'S RIDE!"
An alleyway deep in the Rainforest district
The drifting evening rain fell from the sky as a slow breeze wafted down the alleyway. The water collected on his long whiskers, cooling them as it ran down the length until at the ends gravity claimed the drops once more. Nick glanced upwards through the buildings and even taller triple canopy trees at the sparse evening clouds drifting overhead, blazed in blood borne flames from a sunset hidden from him by leaf and branch. He breathed slowly, taking in the scents of a city masquerading as a tropical forest, tasting ozone in one breath, and wild flowers the next. He stood in the alleyway, staring into the dark bridge overhang before him, the inky depths hiding a ramshackle hut of moldy cardboard and frozen detritus.
What am I doing here? he asked himself. I should be at home resting, which is what Miki thinks I'm doing. I should be home watching 'Friendship Is Magic' with my daughter, instead of out here chasing ghosts. She's real, my little Judy Grace, and she needs her father now. She won't be a small kit forever. I should be there.
He sighed.
I can't keep paying the dead for my mistakes...
His feet stood frozen to the dank pavement, the only motion upon his person was the wind ruffling his ZPD poncho. He didn't know why he didn't duck into the rude hut before him. Was it fear? Fear of the unknown? Fear of being wrong? Fear of failure? Fear that he could never be forgiven?
Some cop you've turned out to be, Nicholas P. Wilde. Afraid of some nameless homeless rabbit who ran away as soon as they saw you? What's the world coming to? He just snorted at his melancholy, Just get in there already, ya dumb fox.
Almost of it's own accord, his left foot slid forward a few inches. He stared down at the traitorous member of his own anatomy, daring it move again, only to be startled when his right foot started moving. He snorted and shook his head. Fine. I guess we're doing this after all.
He stepped up on the curb that ran next to the bridge as the sounds of tires rumbling overhead became less heard and more felt as he was swallowed by the gloom. His eyes adjusted easily to the dirty darkness, but his nose was going to take longer to accept the miasma of sadness that penetrated the nook. He looked about the dirt and rocky plot he stood on for any other resident mammals of misfortune, but there were none. He was alone here.
He turned his gaze back to what he could only describe as a pile of refuse. What had been once been a cozy little hut was now just a mound of wet cardboard and mildew. He reached down, and pulled out what would have been the roof, it's sodden mass collapsing in two around his paws, and tossed it to the side. He turned to look back into the small space, and saw that it was empty of rabbits. Who ever had lived here once had never returned. They were gone.
He stepped into the small space, now open to the evening mist, and knelt in what was once the doorway. On either side of him was a pillar of carefully folded newspapers, piled in an alternating pattern, like they were bricks of a chimney. He ran his paw down them, but he didn't see or feel any rubber bands or plastic wrap. Had the rabbit read all of these before carefully refolding them and placing them in the stack? He asked himself, It spoke of an ordered mind, but was it a sane mind?
Empty food containers were piled in one corner, and in the other was a pile of discarded mammal clothes, piled into a little nest. As he reached for the clothes, he stopped and stared at the food containers. That's funny, he thought, where are the alcohol bottles? He looked around quickly, but he didn't see any cans or bottles. This rabbit doesn't drink? What about drugs? He pulled the pile of clothes over, looking for a stash, but all he found was a small bag of gold stickers. He picked it out, and held it up to examine it, turning it over in his paws. Huh! He thought, It's just those Junior Detective badges we give out to the kits. I wonder how the rabbit collected all of these?
He was confused by the evidence before him. Why was this rabbit homeless? No drugs, illicit or legal, and no alcohol. They aren't addicts. The tidy nest and the organized newspapers doesn't say schizophrenia to me. He wondered to himself. He looked down at the pile of clothes in his other paw, questions forming in his mind. He held the wad up to his nose, and inhaled deeply.
ACHOOOO! He sneezed mightily.
Oh, that was foul! He thought as he shook his head to clear it, before delicately trying again to sniff the bundle. A female rabbit with dirty mangy fur, he thought. But he couldn't tell if she was the rabbit he sought. He thought he was thoroughly familiar with her scent, after the exhaustive search for her that he and Wolfard had performed. Maybe my scent memory had degraded in time? He wondered.
Wolfard would know. Yeah, he could take these clothes to Wolfard, and the old wolf could tell him if they belonged to their lost rabbit. Except… He would have to explain to Wolfard how he found them, explain that instead of resting after his latest attack he was instead traipsing around the Rain Forest District chasing a ghost. His partner would nod sagely, say something wise and profound and biting at the same time, and then pick up the phone to call Miki to report his truant behavior.
I swear, I'm the only fox in existence with three mothers! Mom, Wolfard, and Miki! Between the three of them, I'll always be a kit in need! He sighed and yawned. As he clapped his jaw shut, his tongue tasted the scents before him. Surprised, he looked back down at the bundle of clothes in his paws.
Wait, why do I taste ketones and ammonia? Was she suffering from malnutrition? Why? There's plenty around here for a herbivore to eat around here. Maybe she had some underlying medical problem after all? Wait a minute…!
He froze, his mind racing. Poor hygiene, but a well organized den. No drugs or alcohol seen, but evidence of malnourishment. Homeless, but well read. This rabbit was used to a regimented lifestyle, like in the military.
Or in prison. Maybe even a very special prison. A special prison for special mammals with very special mental illnesses.
Come on, Nick. All the evidence is right in front of you! How many rabbits do you know with gray fur, black tipped ears, and purple eyes, that did time in an asylum but have no known histories of substance abuse, and are fascinated with the police?
Just one, and you named your daughter after her, ya dumb fox!
Except… Except that these clothes really don't smell like her… If there was anything he should have remembered well, it was what Judith Laverne Hopps smelled like. He and Wolfard had p u rsued her for days, trying to track her down after she went savage three years ago, but they eventually lost her here in the Rain Forest District. He looked around. Maybe she never left? But… but… untreated night-howler intoxication is always fatal, isn't it? Eventually the infected mammal would succumb to the terror and pain and then die, right? She can't be alive now!
He stared at the bundle of clothes in his paws. Could she? If there was a chance that she was still alive after three years, how could I find out? Nick's head came up as he consider that excitedly, until he realized exactly who he would have to ask.
T here is a mammal in Zootopia who could t ell me that. He k nows more about night-howler toxin than any one else I know , about how toxic it really i s and if recovery i s possible. Except that I can't possibly face him now; certainly no now! If Judy is alive and he found out that I kept that all that information about her from him, preventing him from finding her after thirteen years, he w ould never forgive me for it!
Nick reproached himself, Which on the whole makes you a spectacularly shitty fox, Sergeant Wilde, especially since you owe Hugo your life!
They stood on the western docks, silently watching the sun begin to dip down behind the mountains across the bay. Finnick sighed contently as he lounged in Marilyn's lap, held there by her long elegant paws. He turned his head to look at the other two females. Their pose echoed his, with Judy standing in front of Skye, held there by Skye's smaller paws resting on her shoulders. Skye's cloud white fur was lit with orange and red highlights, and even Judy looked spectacular in the setting sunlight, the light masking her slimness and making her body look elegant, if not regal, in the dying light. He smiled as he realized that he needed to immortalize this.
He tapped his she-wolf's paws, and she let him slide down to the ground. He pulled out his phone and held it up, motioning her to go stand next to the other two mammals. They all looked at him expectantly as Marilyn slide over to side on Skye's Pale Rider, but he waved over their gaze at the sunset. They all turned their eyes off of him, and on to the spectacle before them, leaving him to be witness to their ethereal beauty.
Finnick had long understood his fascination with the larger female form, part of the result of having made peace with his small stature years ago. He had never considered his size would in turn make him attractive in their eyes, but after meeting Marilyn, and how she had responded to his attentions, he had come to realize that he had much to offer them. Sometimes it was as the court jester, the butt of their jokes, like their tugboat joke at his expense during dinner, but most of the time it was as their greatest fan, always there to tell them how beautiful they were in his adoring eyes.
He took photo after photo, getting closer and closer to them, until he stood under Judy, looking up the three of them. His closeness and his stature created a forced perspective through the camera lens, with their heads all the same sizes, lined up in a diagonal across his frame. The splashing light ignited the golden highlights in Judy's fur and brought a commanding sparkle to her royal purple eyes, eyes that made him want to fall to his knees before her and beg forgiveness for all his transgressions. Skye's blue and gold eyes blazed fiercely, sending a shiver of fear to play down his spine, as her fur glowed through with a play of pale greens, blues, and yellows, almost like he could see the northern lights dancing on the tips. And Marilyn, his beautiful Marilyn, her long elegant muzzle pointed arrow-like at the western sky. Her brow angled sharply forward, her fur glowed a blood red, and her ruff blew gently in the breeze. He could almost see the tall grasses swaying around her form.
They were perfect.
He sighed, and breathed a thank you. Judy's eyes snapped down, as her long rabbit ears picked up his whisper. Her brows narrowed, an evil grin playing across her muzzle as she watched him attempt to regain his self control, but her look simply made him shudder from ear tip to toe. Of course she would recognize what he was, he realized too late. She was a former sex worker; his fetish would be well know to her. She smiled cruelly down on him, and he waited for a scathing retort, some revenge for the shit he had given her earlier today, but she was above that pettiness. She slowly raised her eyes back up to the vista before her, relegating him to the background of her consciousness. He faded to invisibility once more.
Hugo, my friend, I envy you. For you don't yet understand the power she will bring to the fore, but you soon will, oh yes. She has set her eye upon you, and it will be only a matter of time before she stakes her claim upon your soul. She had mine with a glance.
He quickly turned away. Professional, Fox! Be a professional! Drag your mind out of the kinky gutter and put your game face on! You don't like this rabbit, and you don't like her problems, and you certainly don't like being dragging into this mess! He sighed. Trust the Powers That Be to give him a problem that he had to solve that involved a female who had just figured out how to push his buttons. He was so doomed. But he had a job to do, and then sooner he got to it, the sooner it would be over.
As the last sliver of glowing orb slipped beneath the mountain tips, a green flash sang out for just a few seconds, and it was gone. He put his phone away, and clapped his paws together. He barked out, "Alright mammals! Enough lollygagging! We need to get back."
Skye just rolled her eyes, "God, he's bossy!" as she looked back at Marilyn.
Judy commented to the group, "He's probably just compensating."
"Compensating?" Skye asked back at her. Judy held up her paw, her thumb and forefinger just a few millimeters apart, a grin spreading across her muzzle. Skye's eyes got wide with that gesture.
Marilyn stifled a giggle at their interplay as she stood up and strode over to her favorite little fox. She reached down and swung him up to her chest, clasping him to her bosom. She spun lightly on her feet, a glad laugh escaping her lips. Stopping, she stared down at him, before she dipped her muzzle down to his and shared a long kiss. She turned to her bike, and slowly lowered him into the sidecar.
Skye let go of Judy and turned back to her bike. Judy tried to turn as well, but she caught her foot and stumbled. Only Skye's quick canine reflexes caught her before she crashed to the ground. She pulled Judy back upright, but kept her paw on the smaller rabbit's shoulders as she peered down at her face.
"I'm fine, Skye! I just tripped!" Judy batted at Sky's paw.
Skye held fast to the little rabbit's shoulders, her grip feeling the tension radiating from the slim frame. She reached across with a paw, and lifted up Judy's muzzle as she knelt before her. She could see the quiver in the long ears, hear the hitch in her breathing, and the eyes that struggled to stay open in the darkening evening. "You're not fine, Judy. You're so exhausted that you can barely stand up straight. You're not going to ride back with me, that's for sure."
"But, but..." Judy protested.
"No buts, littlest rabbit. You said that we needed time to get to know each other again, and that means more rides. But this one is done for you. I just found you, and I'm not going to loose you again just because you fell off my bike in the dark. It's into the side car with you." Skye picked Judy, and swung her into the side car next to Finnick. She placed Judy's helmet in her lap, and gave the rabbit a kiss between the ears as she grumbled her protests, which just gave Skye a little smile. Skye left her there and strode back to her Pale Rider.
Judy buckled on her helmet. She turned back to Finnick before remarking, "Well, if I have to take a nap, I might as well have a pillow."
"You use me as a pillow and I will bite you, rabbit!" Finnick tried to threaten her.
Judy snorted as they pulled out of the docks, "So you keep saying, little fox."
Finnick glared back at her.
Nick ran, his nerves singing, as he hunted his mystery rabbit. He might not be the stalking expert that his partner was, but he was still a good cop. When he lost her trail, and her scent had faded, he asked around. Here, a shopkeeper recalled her running by. There, a group of kits had their Monday night pickup hoops game interrupted by a rabbit barging through.
Following the clues, he quickly developed a pattern to her movements. True to form, she minimized energy expenditure and moved to the path of least resistance as she ran. Where there was a wall she had gone around, and where there was a fence, she had gone under. In the protected spaces, safe from the rain, her scent still lingered.
What he couldn't figure out is why she kept running after the first few blocks. He hadn't pursued her Monday night and she should have seen that. Yet she had continued to run, as if Death itself was nipping at her heels. He had examined her scent when he could find it, but he could never smell any other mammals chasing her. Nor did he smell the sharp tang of fear, which was odd. Mammals ran like she had for two reasons: either they were fleeing for their lives, or they were on a timed cross country marathon.
He didn't think she was running a Spartan, not as a homeless rabbit. What drove this rabbit to flee across the whole of the Rainforest District was a mystery to him. What wasn't a mystery was her destination; she was headed straight for the tunnels that passed under the barrier mountains separating the Rainforest from Tundra Town.
As he ran, he mulled over her scent as he found it. While there wasn't the tang of fear in it, there was something else there. Something pervasive and yet less tangible. It's presence was hard to comprehend, but if he had to give it a name to describe it, he would only use one word.
Grief.
They rolled back into the hospital parking garage in Tundra Town. Finnick was cold. Skye obviously didn't care about the temperature, being an arctic fox, and Marilyn had a big heater strapped under her thighs, but he didn't. All he had was a thick woolen blanket from the trunk of the sidecar and the rabbit who laid across his lap, snoring away. She didn't generate all that much heat, and seemed to be stealing all of his.
Luckily, Hugo was standing outside his SUV, dressed in his usual black suit, alerted to their arrival by an earlier text from Finnick. The two riders pulled their bikes up next to him, and shut down their engines. Hugo slid over to greet them.
"Hello, Finnick." He greeted the smaller fox and nodded up at Marilyn, "Ms Vega." She nodded back at him. "How was your ride?"
"Just peachy, Cat. Now can you please take your rabbit back? My legs have gone to sleep, and I can't feel my toes." Finnick snarled back at him.
Hugo just smiled at the display of rancor. If the little fox had really been angry, he would have been curt and dismissive. He bent over the unconscious rabbit, and drew back the blanket covering her. Sliding a paw under her neck to support her head, he slid the other under her pelvis and lifted her clear as he leaned back. Setting her head on his shoulder, he carried her over to his SUV, and opened the passenger door. Laying her on the passenger seat, he covered her with his parka, and boosted the seat warmer to max. He shut the door, and turned back to the waiting canines.
"Thank you, Finnick. I appreciate this, I do." He thanked the little fox.
"Yeah, yeah." Finnick muttered as he tried to shake out one leg, and then the other. He pointed over at the vixen, "Hugo, met our friend Skye. Skye, this here is my Cat, Hugo."
Skye dismounted her motorcycle and stalked over to the feline. He held out his paw in greeting. She stood up straight and stared at it for a moment with a scowl, before accepting it by grasping his paw in hers, and squeezed.
That's interesting, Hugo thought, A dominance display, and from a female I've never met before. Why is that? He grinned, and matched her grip, plus a little more. His eyesight never wavered from hers as they matched strengths. She broke first with a yelp, yanking her paw away from Hugo's and stepping back, giving ground to him. She turned to walk away as she shook her mangled paw out.
Finnick and Marilyn both caught the display, and Finnick was the first to respond, "Skye, did you just grip check the Cat? Don't do that! He's a bodybuilder and a climbing cat! I've seen him pulp fruits with those paws of his!" He snickered.
"Cielos!" Marilyn exclaimed, getting off her bike. She leaned over Finnick and whispered "Hush!" to the little fox. He shrank back into the seat. She turned Hugo and tried to explain, "Skye and Judy, they… they were..." She struggled find words that wouldn't offend him, knowing how he felt about the little rabbit.
Ah! That's what this about! I was sure she had a predator lover in her past. I hadn't imagined it to be a vixen, though. This is good! He mused to himself. "Bueno! They were lovers, yes?" He smiled easily back at Marilyn, pleased with this revelation.
Marilyn, taken aback by his lack of anger, nodded, "About eight years ago, she told me." She was curious about his lack of jealousy. He had searched for Judy for years, yet he was oddly dispassionate about this new information.
"That is good! It always helpful for a homeless mammal to have others that love them. It gives them a sense that they can connect with others, and that they belong where they are. I trust they parted on good terms?" He asked her. Marilyn nodded. He nodded back, "Thank you. Please convey to your friend Skye my sincere apologies. I was unsure of the purpose of the dominance display, and I may have over reacted, in part because of the stress of my day. My actions were unbecoming, and I hope she can forgive me."
Marilyn nodded, "I'll talk to her." She walked after the departed vixen.
Hugo turned to Finnick, who was watching his wolf walk away. Hugo spoke first, "Thank you again, Finnick, for taking care of Judy while I worked." He nodded at the two females on the ramp, "I hope that you can explain this all to me? Tomorrow, maybe? I am tired and need to sleep, as the day has been very stressful."
Finnick tore his eyes off the females, and looked back at Hugo, "Sure… Maybe." he semi-promised. Explain all this? I'm not sure I understand any of this!
"Alright, tomorrow it is. Good night, Finnick." Hugo turned to go. Finnick called after him, "Night, Cat!"
Hugo got in his SUV, and pulled away, leaving Finnick alone in the dark garage. He looked around and muttered, "Screw this, I'm gonna go wait inside where it's warm." He clambered out of the side car, and departed in search of an entrance.
Nick stood alone in a dark alleyway in Tundra town. Pallets lined the walls, and squat green garbage bins sat askew next to them. Here, the trail had gone cold, literally. A fresh blanket of virgin snow covered the alleyway before him, erasing any tracks and blurring any scent markers. Here, his hunt had ended in failure, where the only tracks evident were his own.
He had asked around, but none of the local businesses had been open that late on Monday night. Nor were there any security cameras in the blank alleyway. There wasn't even a traffic cam on the street. There was nothing he could investigate, no threads left for him to pull.
It was as if someone had chosen this spot as the perfect location to come in, sweep her off her feet, and make her disappear, leaving him with nothing to show for his search but a bag of old stinking clothes in his paws.
He considered pitching the bag, but it was evidence, and old police habits were very hard to break. He'd keep it with him, and find some opportunity to show it to Wolfard, and see what the old wolf had to say.
He took one last look around the cold bleak space before departing. But he wasn't going to run back. No, he was going to take the train back to his car.
He had run enough tonight.
Finnick sat in a nook he had found just inside the garage entrance. It was quiet and comfortable, with room to pace if he needed to, and it was empty. Just him, a phone, and four bars of cell phone reception strength. He didn't really have any more excuses, since he was sure that Marilyn and Skye were gonna take their time talking through whatever is bothering Skye. He had time, he had the place, he had the phone, and now all he needed was the motivation. That was the hard part.
He sighed, and thumbed on his paw phone, scrolling down until he found Cheryl's number. He hit the dial option and waited.
BUZZ…BUZZ...BUZZ...CLICK!
"Hey there, Fen." Her tired voice came across his speaker.
"Hey back at ya, Professor. You sound tired." He greeted her back.
"Yeah, well grading papers and not sleeping well will do that to you too." Cheryl allowed, as she sat at her low table, slowly stirring the spoon in her mug of spiced tea with her left paw. A stack of student papers sat next to her right paw, a red ink pen clutched lightly in her grip. Her phone lay in front of her, set to speaker, and on the screen staring back at her was an old photo of Finnick, glaring at her over his sunglasses. "How about you? You have a nice ride with your lady friends?"
He laughed, and then sighed. "Yeah… it was nice. Took some nice photos of them in the light of the sunset. Might even show you some." There, now he was committed. Not that he had a choice, he knew. The revelation was coming, so he might as well control it.
"Oh yeah? You enjoy yourself?" She knew all about the little fox's particular interests in female photography.
"You could say that..." He stared at the floor, a slight grin on his muzzle as they bantered before the main event.
"Pervert." She laughed.
"You know it!" He laughed back, and then turned serious, "You still not sleeping, C?"
She sighed. "Gah! No. It was the same dream for weeks, over and over again. I get that They are trying to tell me something, but sometimes I wish they would just sent an email or something. She keeps dying in the snow, and it's horrible and all, but it still doesn't help me find her." She paused, "And the new ones don't give my much to go on either."
"Oh?"
"Yeah. Hell, last week I even asked Clawhauser if he ever did patrols, but apparently since he doesn't have a partner, Bogo won't send him out in a cruiser. So I don't understand why it has to be the poor cheetah that has to discover her." She took a deep breath before continuing, "Anyway, they've changed now. The dream on Monday night was frustrating, because as soon as Clawhauser kneels to touch her face and tell her that she should have been loved, she disappears into the snow bank. He's left touching nothing but snow."
"That is weird." Yeah. 'They' weren't being subtle now, were the they? He was starting to wonder if these dreams that Cheryl has been having weren't actually meant for Cheryl to interpret. She was just supposed to been the conduit and the message was supposed to have been passed on, but they only got as far as Finnick before they got stopped because he didn't take their significance seriously. But if he had told either Nick or Hugo about what Cheryl had seen, like it seems he was supposed to, those two males would have in turn torn Tundra Town apart looking for the rabbit and they wouldn't have stopped until they found her.
Cheryl would never have thought of tell either one of them, since she didn't know about their personal history with the rabbit, nor about the current obsession they both shared with finding her. They in turn were acutely aware of who Cheryl's wife was, so they made sure to never mention the subject in her hearing either. So she didn't know they were looking, and they wouldn't know about her dreams. The only mammal who did was a certain little sand fox.
But since he didn't take any of it seriously, that communication never happened. The message died on his lips. 'They' must have gotten tired of waiting for him to get off his little furry butt and act, and gotten the message out another way. "And last night?"
"Oh, it was a variation on the theme, I guess. I was Clawhauser again, standing over the snow bank, but this time there was no rabbit there. I was staring down at the snow when I became aware of a presence, one I had never experienced before. I looked up and around but I didn't see anything at first. I became aware in the silence of the slight sound of crunching snow, as if they were paw steps. I looked in that direction, but all I saw was an inky blackness that was quickly swallowed up by the snowfall. I wasn't sure, but I thought I heard something whisper, like they were talking quietly down a long tunnel, something along the lines of 'Not yet...'" Cheryl expressed her frustration, "'Not Yet' meaning I'm not supposed to find her yet, or she's not supposed to die yet, or something? I don't know what it means! GAH!" She leaned back on her pillow, and raked her claws through her head fur.
You're not supposed to, Cheryl. The message isn't meant for you. He knew. "Pawsteps in snow, and a darkness? Maybe that's some mammal wearing dark clothing?" Hugo… How did he know to be there? How did he get the message? Shit, I'm gonna have to ask him tomorrow, won't I?
"Dark clothes? Maybe? Oh, like your buddy, Hugo, right? He's the one that always wears black suits? He kinda looks like he's like he's always in mourning, except that he's usually pretty cheerful? Yeah! That's all he wore, back when I worked with him on the Night-howler case. Doesn't he live and work in Tundra Town? Oh, I can ask him if he's seen anything down there!" Excited, Cheryl babbled out this latest train of thought.
"Actually, he's gone home. He said he was pretty tired, so I think he was going to go home and sleep." Finnick temporized. She guessed it was him right away! This is all happening too fast, he thought.
"Oh!… So, what did you talk to him over the phone? Or did he go riding with you too? I didn't get the impression from talking to him back then that he was into motorcycles." She frowned at her phone.
"No, it was face to face, but he didn't go riding. He…." Fuck it, Finnick. Get this over with! "He had me babysitting one of his patients this afternoon, and I had to return her to him tonight."
"Oh yeah? Who?" She asked innocently.
Shit, how do I say this? He stared at the phone for a moment before he had a brainstorm. A picture. He'd send her a picture. They're worth a thousand words, right?
"Cheryl, I'm gonna drop the call for a moment. I gotta send you a photo from today. You'll understand when you see it." He promised her.
"What? Okay?" What the hell. Does he mean the ones from the sunset ride, his ones of his ladies? She was confused. She liked female porn as much as the next lesbian, but she really wasn't in the mood for his usual goddess worship photos.
Finnick dropped the call, and pulled up his photos. Selecting the very last one, the one where he was the closest to them, he send it to Cheryl without a message. He waited for what would come next.
On the other end, Cheryl's phone beeped once. She looked down at the new message icon, and tapped on it. Her message stream with him popped up, and at the bottom was a small image icon. She tapped on it, and it expanded to fill her screen. Looking down the image from the top, she saw his girlfriend at the top, some cute looking arctic vixen, and a gray rabbit. What? She zoomed into the rabbit's face, and froze.
Those. Eyes! Her mind screamed at her. Those purple irises, surrounded by a very living face.
Finnick, you absolute bastard! What. The. FUCK!
She immediately called him back.
"Hey, Cheryl. You get my photo?" He asked innocently.
She all but screamed at him over the phone, "TALK! NOW!"
"Skye! Skye, wait, please!" Marilyn called out, trotting up to her friend.
Skye turned back, a miserable expression on her face and muzzle.
Marilyn pointed to the vixen's paw, "Are you okay?"
Skye looked down at her paw and then shook it, "Yeah, it's fine."
Marilyn stood up straight and pointed back the way they had come, "What was that, Skye?"
At a loss to explain, Skye bit out, "I don't know! I don't know why I did that! I mean, I never play the dominance game. Like, ever!" She shook her head.
Marilyn tilted her head as she looked down on the snow fox, "Well, it's a good thing that Hugo's so polite. He was worried that he overreacted and hurt you. He wanted to apologize."
"Why should he apologize? I started it." Skye pointed out.
"I noticed that, and if Hugo had been any other cat with his background, I would have thought you suicidal to pull that. But as it was, he probably thought it was funny." Marilyn responded.
Skye looked confused, "What's his background have to do with it?"
Marilyn snorted, "You just met him, so you don't know, but he used to run with a rather violent Amazonia street gang as a kit." Skye's eyes got big as Marilyn continued, "I don't think he's ever killed any mammals, but he's been in his share of fights."
"Oh..." Skye let out, staring at her paw.
"Are you jealous? Of him?" Marilyn bluntly asked her.
"I don't know? Maybe? Yes? He has her tonight, all to himself, and … and … I'm just here…" Skye ran down.
"She was more that just a lover to you, wasn't she?" Marilyn gently asked.
Skye nodded, tears coming unbidden to her eyes, "I had asked her to move in with me. We were starting to plan a life together, and then my Mom got sick, and I lost all of that to go take care of her. Then my Dad, being the asshole that he was, intercepted our love letters to each other, and we lost what little contact we had with each other after that."
Skye started to pace in front of the wolf, "You wouldn't think it, right, to know me? That I'd be in some long term relationship with anyone, much less a rabbit? I'm the love em and leave em type these days, but I wasn't always that way, you know?" She looked back at her red friend, "I used to try, try really hard to make it work with my girlfriends. And even with Judy, it took a lot of work, well, because…" Oh Shit, I don't have Judy's permission to discuss this with Marilyn! Skye realized.
"She is so damaged?" Marilyn finished. Skye's paws came up her lips in shock. Marilyn nodded, "Finnick told me all about her. And I've known Hugo for years as well. I know what kind of mammals he works with. I don't imagine that Judy is some simple farm rabbit from Bunny Burrow any more."
Skye nodded, the tears streaming down her face, "I used to be stronger that this. I used to be the strong one, the one others would turn to, but along the way something changed, and now I can't handle this shit. I don't know what changed." She looked up at her taller friend in misery, "I don't know what to do, Marilyn..."
Marilyn stepped forward and gathered her smaller friend in a gentle embrace. "Hey, it's okay, it's okay." Actually, Marilyn had a fairly good idea what was going on with the vixen. From what she could see, Skye had never fully processed the grief from the loss of her mother and the loss of her relationship with Judy, choosing instead to bury that grief deep down inside. It was probably why Skye never risked having a long term intimate relationship again. Now the reappearance of the rabbit had brought all that repressed pain and loss out into the light, and the avalanche of emotions was threatening to overwhelm the poor fox.
Luckily there were grief counselors who dealt with this sort of thing, and Marilyn knew several of them. But that wasn't what Skye needed tonight. Tonight was different. Tonight, Skye just needed a friend to talk to.
"Come, let's go inside. My feet are going numb from the cold." She steered the vixen toward the hospital entrance. "Let's find a quiet couch somewhere, and we can talk, okay."
Skye simply nodded as she let herself be guided inside.
Nick pulled up next to his mother's apartment building and parked his car. He got out and stretched his stiff limbs, marveling at the warm feeling of his muscles. He hadn't run like that in ages.
As he walked up the stairs, he wondered why he felt so light. Relief, perhaps, that he didn't find what he feared was there? Some poor rabbit he didn't know that ran only because they were terrified of him? Or perhaps even a corpse hidden behind a dumpster? Ouch. Now there was a depressing thought.
He scowled to himself as he stood before his mother's door and rang the door chime. A couple of thumps later, and the door opened. His mother stood in the door way, looking at him gently, "Hello dear. Come to pick up my granddaughter?" she asked him.
"I am, o' mother mine." He answered affably.
There was a shriek in the background, another thump, and then the sound of little running feet. "DADDY!" His little kit collided with his shins and almost knocked him over. She held her arms over her head and demanded, "UP!"
He laughed as he bent down to pick her up and swung her up to his chest as he walked through the door. His mother shut the door behind him. He looked at his daughter and asked, "And how is my little blueberry? Still sweet as ever?"
"My name isn't blueberry, it's JUDY!" She shrieked back at him. He blinked at that, and out of the corner of his eye he saw his mother wince. He had to grin, as apparently volume control had been an issue tonight.
"Well, I think you're still sweet!" He told her.
She leaned in and sniffed his head, "And you're STINKY, Daddy!" she scolded him, as she rubbed her nose with the back of her arm.
His mother seconded the notion, "Yes, dear. Have you been rolling around in the garbage bins again? I though I raised you better than that."
He laughed again, "I only do that during an investigation, if we're trying to find evidence or something. No, I was just out running in the city, and lost track of time."
His mother was concerned, a frown playing across her muzzle, "Your infection, dear..."
"It's fine, Mom." He hastened to reassure her, "The docs want me to do more exercise anyway. Apparently it's good for my cardio-vascular system and my immune system, and it helps reduce stress." He sniffed himself, "Tell you what. I'll take a quick shower, and I'll come back and join you two lovely lasses in watching 'Friendship is Magic', for what? The second or third time?" He asked them.
His daughter nodded emphatically, while his mother leaned in and whispered, "Forth!"
"Ah!" He exclaimed as he put his daughter down, "Well, they say that good entertainment is hard to find these days." He dashed off to grab the shower.
Ten minutes later, he dressed in some old ZPD shorts and went back to join his ladies. He grabbed his phone from his jacket, and set it on the arm rest of the couch. He sat down on the couch, where upon his daughter spied the availability of her favorite perch and crawled up into his lap. His poor suffering mother started the movie yet again, and then set down next to him with her knitting, trying to finish yet another sweater for Judy Grace before she outgrew it.
Ninety minutes later he lay back on the couch cushions as the movie credits rolled up the screen. His daughter was sacked out on his chest, held there by his left paw, sucking on her thumb and making cute little whining noises. His mother had put her impossible knitting away, and was leaning on his right arm, dozing in the manner of all truly exhausted grandmothers.
Nick looked at his little family, three generations worth, and marveled. These were the moments that he should be treasuring, not out there brooding on the mistakes of his past. He had enough failures to last a lifetime, and he swore his family wasn't going to be one of them.
His paw phone buzzed as a text message arrived, so he freed up his left paw and slapped at it. Picking it up, he saw that it was Miki texting him.
Miki-tails:
How's it going?
He smiled. She had to be tired after working a new shift at a new hospital, so he should send her something back to smile about. He held out his phone, and quickly took a selfie of the three of them. He sent it back to her.
Nickmeister:
They have finally surrendered to slumber's embrace after the fourth viewing of 'Friendship is Magic'. How's it going with you?
Miki-tails:
Aw… That's sweet. I'm Tired. You know what it's like on a new shift.
Nickmeister:
Ain't that the truth.
Miki-tails:
Yeah. The head nurse, an adorable old doe by the name of Meredith, said that they were having a rash of new babies recently, and it's left their department overworked.
Nickmeister:
Rash? She makes it sound like a horrible disease!
Miki-tails:
Oh, hush. You know what I mean.
Nickmeister:
Yeah, yeah. So, does being around all those newborns make you want another one yourself?
Miki-tails:
Maybe? :)
Nickmeister:
I'm doomed!
Miki-tails:
Hardly that. Actually, speaking of doomed, what was with the whole lock-down thing today?
Nickmeister:
Lock-down? What lock-down?
Miki-tails:
There was a lock-down here at the hospital today. They shut down an entire wing for one patient, and the ZPD got called in. They haven't told us what it was about, so I was wondering if you had heard anything.
Nickmeister:
Nope. Nothing. In theory, I'm supposed be off today, so if they wanted me to know, they'd tell me. Bogo will probably still make me do the paperwork for the lock-down, though. They always involve lots of paperwork. I suppose I'll find out eventually.
Miki-tails:
Okay. I'll be off shift in a few minutes, and then I'll meet you at your mother's?
Nickmeister:
Sounds good to me. I'm not going anywhere - I'm kinda pinned down here.
Miki-tails:
:) I love you.
Nickmeister:
I love you too, babe. See you soon!
He set the phone down, and turned his attention back to his daughter, stroking his paw down her back.
Yeah. This is where he belonged, with his family and his future.
Not out chasing the ghosts of failures past.
Let the dead lie in peace...
(In the interest of the author's aching wrists, we are skipping past some screaming, recriminations, and unnecessary exposition stuff)
Cheryl grilled Finnick over the phone, "Okay, let me get this straight… Hugo's been looking for her for ten years with no success, ever since she left Cliffside, and she somehow stumbled into his arms Monday night?"
Finnick simply replied, "Yup."
Cheryl sat at her table, her tea cold and forgotten in it's cup as she stared at the wall. "Well, damn." She stared down at the flat surface. "You know, I met her once."
"Yeah, I know. In a dinner called Dee's Kitchen in Gateway Bay city." Finnick told her.
"Wait? How the hell did you know that?" She demanded. She had never talked to him about what happened there that day.
"Hugo told me. One of his students had tracked her down, and was trying to make contact, except the two of you showed up and your girlfriend's theatrics got her fired. She ran off, and Hugo was never able to find her again. How'd you to settle on going there, anyway?"
"Chance! Pure chance! We were wandering around and got hungry, so we looked up omnivore restaurants on Yowl, and Dee's was what it recommended, so we went there. That's it!" Cheryl gestured to the wall.
"Ah ha..." Finnick snorted, "I'm starting to think that very little in this rabbit's life has been left up to chance."
"Yeah… The Divines can be can be pretty heavy handed with their favorites." She paused, "Hugo, huh? I guess my dream was meant for him, then?"
"Well..." Finnick temporized, "Either him or Nick. Either of them would have worked, probably."
"Nick? Why him?" She was baffled as to why he would be included now.
"What? He never tell you? Never tell you the story of how he named his daughter?" Finnick asked her excitedly.
"Uhhh… He said something about an aunt or something on his father's side."
Finnick laughed, "Yeah, that's just straight up Wilde bullshit. His dad's dead, and he doesn't know any mammals on that side of the family. No, remember all that evidence that he showed up with at the end of the night-howler shit? The stuff that was used to make the cure?"
"Yeah?" Cheryl had been there on that team.
"The rabbit's the one who delivered it to him."
"What?!" Cheryl exclaimed.
"I shit you not, Cheryl! She was his informant inside the Bellwether camp."
"Oh fuck." Cheryl sat back.
"Language, Professor! Language, please." He mocked back.
"Oh, shut up. Okay… So Nick knows about her too? Should I talk to him about this?" She asked him.
"God, no! Please don't!" Finnick begged her.
"What? Why not?" She stared at the wall.
"Because Hugo doesn't know any of that. Nick never told him any of it, and he only told me on the condition that I never tell Hugo either."
"Well, that's stupid." She pointed that out.
"Yeah, well, I know. I've already regretted making that promise today." He agreed.
"Yeah, you were stupid, Mr Counselor, but I was talking about Nick. Why the hell did he do that?"
"Well, he said it was for Hugo's protection, that he didn't want Hugo to go chasing after her and getting hurt. He also seems to think that she some how went savage and died around the same time, so he didn't think Hugo should get his hopes up. I don't quite understand why he thinks that she should be dead."
"Well, she not!" Cheryl pointed out.
"I know that! She's been with me all day." Finnick agreed.
"So why do you think Nicks been trying to keep this a secret from Hugo?"
"Honestly? I think Nick's in love with Judy Hopps." Finnick admitted.
"No WAY! She's rabbit of all things, a felon for that matter who was involved with predator haters, and he's been with Miki since like forever!" Cheryl protested.
"Yeah, normally I'd say yes to all of that, but this rabbit has predators crawling all over her. You remember the white vixen from the photo?"
"Yes?" She hissed at him.
"That's Skye, Judy's ex from eight years ago." Cheryl couldn't see him smirk.
"Okay, Finnick, you have to stop! My head is starting to hurt." Cheryl took a deep breath.
Plainly she was supposed to forgive the rabbit, and somehow help her. The Divines had spent the last month slapping her repeatedly over the head with that. That was obvious. That meant that there was more to the whole Carl thing than meets the eye, since nine year old female rabbit kits were not on the whole murderous little psychos with guns. Every thing else that Finnick had laid out was just icing on top of that cake, and she was having trouble chewing on this mouthful as it was. The final straw for her was that this rabbit was a fellow lesbian fighting for her place in this world, and that fact resonated with Cheryl on so many levels.
She took a deep breath and continued, "They have to talk, those two."
Finnick sighed, "Yeah, I know. Uncle Finnick's working on that."
"Yeah, well work faster." She admonished him. "And I need to meet her. I know she wants to meet me." That had been very plain to Cheryl from that fateful day in Dee's.
"I'll talk to Hugo about it tomorrow. I'm supposed to call him, talk to him about the whole Skye thing anyway. Does that work?"
"For now, yes. At this point, I'm about to fall over with exhaustion, and if I let any of the 10,000 additional questions queued up in my head right now out of my mouth, I won't get any sleep at all tonight. It can all wait till tomorrow, right?" She hoped it would.
"Yeah, it can wait. I'll call ya after tomorrow, after I talk to Hugo, how's that sound?" He offered her.
"That sound's excellent. Thank you, Finnick, for calling to listen to me whine about my dreams and then proceeding to blow up my entire world with this new revelation! I appreciate that, I really do. I bid you good night." She stated.
Yeah, she's really gotta be tired if she's gonna be this sarcastic, he knew. "Night, Cheryl." The call dropped, and he was left staring at the phone.
Well, that was a lot easier than I expected, he mused. Of course, the hard part is now getting Nick to overcome his guilt long enough to finally talk to Hugo, and in turn keeping Hugo from ripping Nick's balls off when he hears what Nick has been hiding from him for the past three years.
Hugo pulled into his garage and shut off the engine. Exhausted from the day's frantic pace, he leaned forward and rested his head on the steering wheel for a moment. He took a deep breath and sat back, before looking over at Judy's sleeping form. He watched her for a few minutes, her chest rising and falling rhythmically under his parka.
He raised his right paw and after a moment's hesitation, reached across the seat and stroked it down one of her ears. He marveled at the impossibility of the action, for after thirteen years of searching he had given up hope, and yet here she was, sleeping peacefully in his SUV. He could actually reach out and touch her.
He smiled with a tired sigh, and stepped out of his door. Walking around, he popped her door open, and pulled her gently into his arms. He carried her inside in the manner that only a cat could, quietly padding up the stairs without a sound.
He walked to the couch, but as he knelt to lay her on the old blanket there, he could smell the foul odor emanating from it. He stood backup, and freed a paw to grab it and throw it over by the door. She needed a clean blanket. Hell, she needed a bed. The couch would not do long term, he knew.
He cradled her in his arms as he turned and sat down on the couch himself. Holding her quiet form to him, he tried to organize his thoughts to her care, but nothing would coalesce for him. His mind was darting back and forth, and focus eluded him. Maybe if he relaxed, leaned back into the cushions, and stilled his mind, he could find his center…
His mind quieted but instead of the focus he sought, sweet oblivion found him instead and he slumbered with the rabbit cradled on his lap.
An indeterminate time later, Judy awoke with a start. She blinked rapidly, trying get her bearings in the darkness. She could smell cat, and disinfectant, and the subtle scent of passion flowers…
Hugo... She was at Hugo's place. The darkness around her was silent. There was no need to panic. She was safe. But still, a need called to her, and so she slipped off his lap, and bumped through the darkness, looking for his bathroom. It was a good thing she had done this exploration last night, or she might have panicked. She found the door at last, and slipped in.
As she sat in the dark and relieved her burden, she wondered about why she wasn't panicking. Usually, by this time of night, she would have at had at least four panic attacks while trying to sleep in her little hut. But here, she had only had the one last night, and it had quickly resolved itself after she had gone downstairs to watch him perform his Tai-ji meditation. What was so different about here?
She knew that she was safe here, but that wasn't all of it, was it? What was it about him that calmed her so, that stilled the mad buzzing in her brain?
It wasn't like that with Skye, she realized, thinking about what had happened today with the vixen. She had felt this desperate need and a terrible sadness, a longing for something that had been long lost to the stormy seas. She had felt passion, and she had felt joy. But she hadn't felt this deep and abiding calm that she felt now in Hugo's presence.
Eight years can change a mammal indelibly, and she had suffered and changed a lot in those years, as had Skye. There was a brittleness to to the vixen's character, a lack of surety, that hadn't been there when they first meet in Gateway Bay City. Her mother's lingering death must have really destroyed her, and her asshole father obviously hadn't helped her deal with the loss afterwards.
Judy got down from the toilet and pulled up her pants. She stared at her reflection in the dimly lit bathroom, the only light coming from the light switch on the wall.
It would be a mistake for me to just jump back into a relationship with her now, pretending like the past eight years never happened. I'm even crazier than before, and that's not what Skye needs right now. She's hurting, and I don't want to dump myself on her like that, not until I can get to a better place and can be a better rabbit for her. She realized.
But we can still be friends, and help each other to heal. And then, then we can see where we go from there…
She left the mirror behind, and padded back to the living room. She stood next his sleeping form on the couch, and searched the couch for her blanket. In the dim light, she couldn't see what had happened to it. Damn it! She really didn't want to just curl up next to him in her coat, but if she had to…
She climbed up next to him and as she did so, her paw reached out and grasped his leg. She froze for a moment, wondering if she had woken him, but he continued to sleep peacefully. Duh! That gently touch wasn't enough to wake him, since he was a sound sleeper. She started to raise her paw up when she realized just how warm he was in comparison to the couch. She put her paw back down and slowly stroked along the length, amazed at the warm muscles she felt underneath the pant legs.
That tears it! She thought, as she quickly knelt on the cushions next to him. Placing a paw on his chest, she whispered to him, "I'm sorry, Hugo, but I need something from you now, and I can't wait any longer. I only hope you can forgive me for what I'm about to do." She took her paw back and shucked her coat, folding it and setting it next to Hugo. She reached down to the hem of her halter top, and pulled it over her head in a single motion before she dropped it to the floor.
Stepping lightly, she straddled his thighs and sank back down in his lap. She leaned forward and reaching up with practiced paws, she smoothly unbuttoned his shirt all the way down to his belt. Reach in, she spread the cloth to either side, and tentatively touched his broad chest. His chest fur was smooth and untangled, and his undercoat was thick and downy. She reached up with her other paw, and slid it along the bulge of his pectoral muscle. She was amazed at the firmness under her paws, and as they slid under the outer coat of fur, she gasped at the heat trapped within.
Her mind swam for a bit, as she slid up to lay her head on his sternum. She breathed in deep of his masculine scent as she rubbed her check on his chest, her ears finding his heart beat, low and steady like a slow metronome. She sighed in desire. If he wasn't a cat, she would have woken him up just so that she could convince him to let her have her way with him.
Her snapped open, and she stifled a giggle. Of course, he'd probably tell me no, that I'm still sick, and he's my doctor, and, and, and, yeah… Yeah, it's a good thing he's a cat, cause I'd probably chase him around the house right now.
Alright, libido, it ain't happening, so let's just get get our coat and settle down, okay? She reached down to the side, stretching to reach the folded up coat, but the change in her balance shifted her weight in his lap, and this finally elicited a reaction from him. His arms reached up and enveloped her, pinning her back to his chest. His left arm slid along the small of her back, while his right slid up her back and grasped the back of her head. Soon he was still again, and his breathing was unchanged. He never woke up.
URK! She was pinned and unable to move, fighting to contain her panic. She couldn't even free her arms, and she was afraid that if she yelled, he'd be so startled that he'd break her neck before he even realized that she was there. This must be what it feels like to be captured by an anaconda! Pinned and unable to move, just waiting to be eaten alive. At least I can still breath.
She lay there for a bit, and gradually her heart stilled and her breathing became regular, and as it did so she became aware of a rumble, emanating up from his chest. She listened, concerned at first, but quickly realized what it was. That bobcat had done it too, that one time she had slept with him.
Hugo was purring in his sleep as he held her tight to his chest.
Okay, she wasn't going to die. Her claustrophobia was being balanced by her libido right now, so there should be no panic attacks from being trapped. Well, if he's happy to keep me here, I'm happy to stay, she thought with a smile.
Her eyelids, lulled by his purr, drooped closed as she continued to sink deeper into his firm, but not crushing, grip. It was if he was saying to her "This is where you belong..."
She certainly wasn't going to argue.
Cheryl stretched her arms, and yawned happily. She finally understood what was going on, and that meant the dreams would finally stop. She could go to sleep in peace. She pushed the stack of student papers back; she would deal with them in the morning. She stood up, and walked off towards her bedroom. She ran through her nightly rituals, and finally slipped into her bed. With a sigh, she closed her eyes and darkness took her.
And she dreamed...
She stood in the night upon a snowy street, the blustery wind swirling the icy flakes around her naked form. She shivered.
Her ears perked up, for in the distance she heard a shrill cry of rage.
"...WHAT'S MY NAME?..."
The echos rang down the street, bouncing off the dark buildings lining either side, until finally silence ruled the space again. She stood for a moment, alone in the dark, lit only by a single street lamp above her.
But only a moment, for behind her came the sound of footsteps crunching in the snow. She turned to look, and all she saw was a deep inky darkness advancing towards her.
A few more steps, and the well of darkness towered above her, resolved itself into the form of a great cat, who's coat was black as night. Actually, the coat was Night, for inside the depths she beheld comets blaze by, galaxies spin like whirlwinds, and stars twinkle and explode. Around his waist wrapped a girdle of light and hanging from that was a golden loincloth. From his head there sprouted long sweeping dark shapes, almost feather-like, but as she stared through them, she could almost catch glimpses of things mere mortals weren't meant to witness, other realities built upon other truths.
Gazing down upon her small form were these great big golden eyes, gentle in their caress of her soul. They could see all that she had been, all that she was, and all that she would be, and even so those eyes loved her all the same. She just wanted to surrender to those eyes, to feel the embrace of his arms, and finally know peace.
Holy… Lord Jaguar, Arbiter of the Infinite and Guardian of the Afterlife. Death itself personified. Okay, this is new!, she thought to herself, frozen in place by his gaze.
Then he spoke to her, his voice more felt than heard, the rumbling of a terrible and gentle earthquake, rolling out from caverns deep below.
"1-3-7-11..."
…
"When madness claims the center and all will stand in final judgment..."
…
"The circle must be drawn with love's sacrifice and wrought with heart's tears..."
…
"So that Death may once again stalk freely the path that no mortal paw may tread…"
…
"Prepare yourselves, for the time is nigh..."
…
"Find my Acolyte, Cheryl Silverheels…"
…
"He will know what to do…"
…
"1-3-7-11..."
With that said, he began to fade away, until only the snow fell before her and she was alone once more.
She awoke with a start and lay there prone in her bed, staring at the ceiling.
Well, she groused , that was decidedly unhelpful as far as prophecies go.
She rubbed her eyelids with the palms of her paws.
GAH! And I had been so looking forward to finally getting some sleep!
Notes: I wrote most of this with "Ciaran McAuley & Clare Stagg - All I Want" on loop. It's funny what you can accomplish with the right music.