"Captain, Captain, look out the window."

"What is it priv- Oh my god !"

"It's gaining on us !"

"It's not gaining on us, it's all around us ! Divert all power to the shields, we need to get through before the pressure gets to high !"

"The meters are already maxed out ! The fluff is already to dense, sir ! It'll crush us as soon as we'll reach it !"

"How long will the hull hold ?"

"Impossible to know, a few chapters, at best."

"May god have mercy on our soul."

Chapter 13 : Detention and Pie

The fox enters the study room. The orange light of the late afternoon it's the white tables just at the right angle, making the tod raise his arm to protext his eyes. As he move toward one of the few tables that are paired together, he notices that the room is mostly empty of students, except for a senior year wolf, who's picking at something between his teeth, while his feet are resting on the seat next to him.. The cow in charge of keeping attendance of the students in detention doesn't seem to care about it, and only lifts her gaze from her book as she hears the scraping of Gideon's chair against the tiled floor. She takes the attendance book and writes something in it as the tod takes out his school supplies.

"Hey !" Comes the wolf's voice. "Hey, you, the fox ?"

Gideon wonders why the wolf would feel the need to precise who he's talking to. "Yeah ?" He whispers back.

"What are you here for ?"

Gideon feels a bit taken aback that the other canid wouldn't know about him.

"Fought with a buck."

The older canid shoots him an interrogative look. "Why ?"

"He insulted a friend of mine. You ?"

"Go caught smoking behind the science lab." He shrugs.

"You got detention for that ?" Reacts the tod. He got caught smoking a couple of times the year prior, but the worst thing he ever got was a warning.

"It wasn't tobacco." The wolf grins and winks.

Gideon snorts. Yeah, that would deserve a detention.

"Don't make me put down my book." Absentmindedly utters the herbivore, shooting each of them a quick glare.

Then they hear a knock at the door, and Judy pushes it open. The cow lifts a brow as she notices the doe. Opening her attendance book, she checks to see if she was supposed to be expecting another student. Nope. She's even more surprised when she sees the bunny walk straight to the fox and sits next to him, before taking out her own supplies. Then the two mammals start whispering to each other.

"What do you think you're doing ?"

"Erh… I'm tutoring him." Judy answers.

The supervisor's gaze travels between both mammals. "Really ?"

"Yes."

The cow shrugs before taking out her earbuds. "Don't talk too loud." She states before plugging them into her ears. She doesn't like being interrupted when she reads. And if the bunny's going to tutor the fox… Well, it's not her problem. It's not as if she was going to report students for studying.

- 1 -

As the detention ends, Judy and Gideon make their way toward the bike lot. The doe unlocks hers and sits on the saddle when the tod stops her. "Hey… Uh, d'ya have some time before goin' home ?"

Well, she usually use the time he spends figuring things out to work on her own homeworks, and it's not as if she had things planned for the evening either. Her parents don't want her going home after dark, but they probably still have a couple of hours before the sun sets.

"Sure. Did you have other questions about your lessons ?"

"Nah… I mean, yeah, but it's not about that. Ma' wanted to see ya."

"Why ?" Reacts the bunny.

"Hell if I know. She just told me she wanted to meet, and since ya have some free time now..."

"Okay. Let's go."

- 2 -

Gideon's old house feels more familiar this time around. Remembering that his little sister might be sleeping, the bunny tries to be silent as she enters through the front door.

It proves to be useless when she sees Willa playing with her daughter, rolling a ball toward her, the kit sending it back while giggling.

"Hey Ma'."

"Hey son." The vixen smiles, picking up her daughter, before giving a kiss to her son. The tod blushes a bit, as he's not overly comfortable with the display of affection in front of his friend. He doesn't seem that embarrassed when his sister grab one of his finger and her mother puts her into his arms. There's a little part of the old Judy that fears he might mishandle the kit or hurt her, but the gentle way he holds her puts it to rest.

"Hey you." He whispers. "Whatcha do today, lil' devil ?"

The bunny stifles a giggle at Gideon's cooing. This is so cute it makes her heart ache. "You wanted to see me Mrs Grey ?"

"Didn't I tell ya to call me Willa ?" She scolds with a grin. "I actually received a letter from highschool about Gideon's detention and the reason behind it."

Lead fills Judy's stomach. "Oh… I… I'm sorry. If Gideon-"

"I was a bit mad at my son for gettin' yet another bad mark on his school record, but it came with dis." The vixen cuts, handing the bunny a letter. It looks like a quarter school report but without the teacher's assessment. However, the marks are detailed, showing their progression in time. The tod averages at about 55, and the marks range from 22 for the earliest, to 64 for the latest. "He's made a lot of progress. When you started tutorin' him, I knew he would, but I… I didn't think he could get that high !"

Judy almost cringes. That Willa considers 64 to be high marks feels… Weird. To her, it's still a rather low score. And that she didn't thing her son couldn't get there… She doesn't know what to make of that. Plus, Judy herself doubts he could get much higher grades without a goal in sight. The other problem is that even if he get higher mark during the last quarter, the school still might not let him pass to the next class. If he keeps up, she knows he'll consistently score at over 70, but it still might not be enough.

Gideon's eyes have widened like saucers as he reads the paper. It seems that despite having seen his own grades, he hadn't tried to calculate his average.

"I wanted to really thank you, and uh… Maybe, ya could stay for dinner ? I know it ain't much, but I really want ya to know how much I appreciate everything you did for Gideon."

The doe can't help but smile. Her own mother has always used that same method to show her gratitude. A casserole, fruit cake, vegetable pie… To her, baking for other is a great way to show how much she cares.

"I'll have to call home, though. My parents will be worried if I don't come back soon."

"I have some leftover dough, I'm pretty sure I could do somethin' out of it for dessert." Adds the tod putting down his sister.

- 3 -

"Can I help ?"

The kitchen is indeed quite small. If Willa got in with them, it would start being really crowded. Thankfully, the working surface is large enough for two mammals to stand next to each other. Gideon has finished flattening the dough and putting it in its mould.

All the while, the oven is preheating and there's a pot of something heating on the stove that smells good that she can't recognize, but smells really great.

"Erh… Yeah, you can peel some pears. Your parents are okay for you to eat here ?"

"They were a bit surprised that I ate at yours, but I told them your mom offered."

Judy feels a bit silly has she takes the peeling knife and two pears he gives her. She's always hated working in the kitchen, offering to lend a paw might have been a bad idea. But it's interesting to look at Gideon as he works. Plus maybe she could broach a topic they've avoided this past week ; the rumours about them being together. She wonders if it weighs on him as much as it does on her.

When she glances at him, she notices his focused expression. It looks nothing like the one he sports when they're studying. There's no worry, no boredom in it. His paws moves with precision, and care, the fruits losing their skins only with a couple of strokes of the knife. Then he starts cutting them in thin slices. He doesn't go as fast as she'd expect, but all slices are completely even. He then turns to her and gives a look at the single pear she managed to peel while he took care of his owns.

"Oh… Sorry, I'm not really fast at this." She says, a bit embarrassed about losing herself in her thoughts.

"S'fine. Cut this one while I peel the other."

Judy tries to be as thorough as possible in her cutting, but it pales in comparison to what her friend produced. By the time she's finished cutting, he's already halfway through the last pear. Then he takes out a can of apricot coating, as well as powdered and flaked almonds.

Taking the pear slices, he puts them on the dough in a geometrical pattern, bunching them together, before taking the pot from the fire and pouring some powdered almond in it. He stirs what she now recognises as pastry cream before offering her a spoonful. "Want some ?"

"We're about to eat."

The tod shrugs, though his smile shows some guilt.

"It's really good !" The doe reacts as she gives him back the spoon that he tosses in the sink.

"S'just pastry cream." Her friends answers with a dismissive shrug, before pouring it in the mould, turning the bunches of pear slices into small islands.

The tod looks almost serene as he works, an expression she's rarely seen on his face. There's a confidence to his attitude that stirs something in the bunny.

He then sprinkles a pinch of salt on the pastry before pouring the apricot coating on it in an even coat. "Could've done the coatin' mahself, but it takes a while." He says in an apologetic tone, before adding the flaked almonds on top. "And done. In the oven it goes." He smiles, before turning timer to twenty five minutes.

As he cleans his paws, he seem to realise something. "Sorry I didn't let ya do much." He apologises in a sheepish tone. "I just don't have the habit of havin' someone helpin' me."

"It's fine. I liked watching you work."

"Y-you did ?"

"Yeah, you looked professional… It's, uh… Really cool."

"Cool ?"

Judy nods. "Yeah. I think it's cool that you have something you like doing. I have so many siblings that just want to laze in front of the TV and do nothing of their free time. You learned to do something by yourself, and I think it's cool."

Gideon feels his ears heating up and his throat dry out. He'd never think Judy would found him "cool".

"Thank. Yer really cool too. Like, uh… Badass and stuff."

"Badass ?"

"Yeah. Like, ya stand up to teachers and idiots like me, and ya don't back down. Tha's pretty badass."

Judy feels her ears heating up. She knows she's badass, Sharla and Bobby told her a couple of times. From Gideon, it sounds different, though.

"Okay kids, I have a vegetable loaf to heat up and some soup as well… Ah, Gideon, I'm gonna need some space in the kitchen."

Judy almost jumps as the vixen's voice his heard, and internally berates herself again for not having talked about the topic of the rumours, still stuck in the back of her mind.

"On it, Ma'."

"Erh, what do I do ?" Asks the doe.

"Oh, can you keep an eye on Hailey ? You can also set up the table if ya want."

- 4 -

"I think I should go." States Judy as she checks her phone. The meal wasn't exceptional, the vegetable loaf was a bit bland. The pear pie, however, was fantastic. Of course, she wasn't about to tell Willa that her son was better in the kitchen than she was.

"Take the rest of the pie." Says the vixen, going to the kitchen to grab a plastic box.

"You don't need to-"

"Nonsense !" Cuts the female voice from the kitchen. "It's the least we can do for the mammal that is helpin' my son."

"You know, he works a lot too. I'm not the one making him remember everything, I'm just guiding him."

"Well, you deserve to be thanked for your guidance, then. And don't worry, if I want more pie, I can just ask my son." She smiles, shoving the plastic box in the doe's paws.

Both vulpines accompany her to the door, Gideon's mother giving her a quick hug. Judy hesitates a couple of seconds before giving one to the tod too. "See ya at school." She utters, before leaving.

"I think she likes ya." She hears Willa whisper to her son as she mounts her bike.

"Ma' ! She could hear ya !"

As the doe rides away, she smiles. Of course, she likes him, they're friend, aren't they ?