Chapter 16. All the King's Horses...
This is not a new chapter! If you have followed the updates this week, this is just all five parts of chapter 16 stuck together for better reading comfort.
Next chappie be up as soon as I am done melting - heat wave here folks, but should be gone this week-end.. ta :)
Well. *Cough* This is awkward (:
Hi everyone *ducks behind a tree to avoid tomatoes being hurtled her way*.
OK, look. Major life changes, unexpected hiatus and huge break, sorry about that, yadda yadda, no one cares, right. Been thinking on and off about coming back to the story (and very much wanting to! We were just getting to the best part!), rereading it, and the problem with that is that the more times passes, the more you see the flaws in the chapters already written out :/ Meh.
Add to that a feeling of shame for making all you nice folks who have supported me wait -_-
And the fact that my time is now organized in such a way that I can only work in bursts -_- Instead of writing down a long chapter at a time like I used to. -_-
But then my friend The Red Omega wrote such a nice message to me and got me thinking :) Thanks buddy, I owe you one *virtual high five* That's what's so cool about fan fiction, the community *heart*
So here is the verdict y'all:
1 - The story shall now proceed *ta-dum*
2 - The story shall be updated daily from now on till it is done (yes, you read that right), but it will be done in short segments, about a thousand words daily (that's a couple of pages. My usual chapter is about eight thousand words to give you an idea). That is realistically the best way for me to work right now, but if anyone is really annoyed about reading such short bits then I suggest that you check back every week or so when you will have a full-length chapter to read, kay? We are about half-way to two thirds into the story, to be clear. (OK, maybe there will be an occasional missed day if I am entirely burnt out, kay?)
3 - Your feedback is always welcome and welcomed ;) And I am very aware unfortunately about the flaws in the chapters already published -_- But I will first write out everything till the end and then circle back and correct the mistakes, kay? As most readers want to know what happens next IMHO.
Once again thanks for all your support (:
And now STORYTIME!
"It's common knowledge, and it ain't as though you married Rule for love after all."
"N-no," agreed Horatia , rather forlornly.
- The Convenient Marriage, Georgette Heyer.
"I find it maddening," Pansy Hopps said, taking a hearty sip of her mint herbal tea and frowning over some sewing patterns.
"What was that?" Judy came out of her reverie with a start at the sound of her sister's voice. "What's maddening now?"
"You're so jumpy," Pansy chortled, cocking an eyebrow and looking up from her work. "It's me who's the bride, aren't I? So I should be the one who comes over all jittery, not you, Jude the Dude."
"Hu-um," Judy replied unintelligently. She passed the heavy roll of embroidered ivory silk she had been holding up for her sister to see unnecessarily from one paw to the other and tried to collect her scattered thoughts. "Well you know," she chuckled rather weakly. "I'm the bridesmaid aren't I? So maybe I am allowed to be a little bit nervy too."
"You're one of twenty seven bridesmaids sister dear," Pansy was pulling the silk forward and breaking out her tape measurer. "So don't go getting ahead of yourself."
"I am bridesmaid of honour though," Judy shrugged in what she hoped was a comical jokey way. "That's something."
Pansy's head snapped up as she goggled at her sister.
"No you're not! Haven't you been listening to a word I said? Lilith begged and begged to be bridesmaid in chief - you know how she gets - so I promoted her over you - and I have just spent -" she consulted her wristwatch, - "precisely thirty three minutes apologising in front of you... only to learn you haven't even been listening"
"Right. Sorry about that Pansy," Judy said hurriedly. She cast her eyes around Pansy's little room that was bathed in the warm sunshine wafting in through the cheerful oblong window on the eastern side and dancing merrily, reflected off the many mirrors propped up here and there.
One need not assume though that Judy's sister Pansy was incredibly vain. This was as far from the truth as it gets. Pansy was a rather modest and discreet creature, though she could joke around mercilessly with her close friends and siblings. The looking glass came with the turf - Pansy was a professional dressmaker, had been these last few years since finishing her studies, and had been doing rather well, all things considered. By 'all things' we do mean that she was, after all, 'just' a bunny from Bunnyburrow, expected to go into carrot farming like the vast majority of her peers.
Pansy had always been taken by sewing and dress design and had stated rather fiercely (and surprisingly for those who were more accustomed to her usually quiet nature) that she would pursue a career in that field and nothing else at the ripe old age of thirteen. Her parents, Bonnie and Stuart Hopps, had not even put up a fight or raised objections. One of Pansy's elder sisters was a cop in the city. What else was there to say?
Pansy had it right, Judy thought, obediently abandoning the roll of silk to fetch some buttons her sister now wished to inspect. She had pursued what she wanted, had met the guy of her dreams along the way, was now simultaneously planning her nuptials, designing her own wedding gown and all her sisters/bridesmaids' gowns, and preparing to move all of her stuff to the studio she could now afford to open. Her dreams and projects had been out of the ordinary for your average Miss Hopps, but just out of the ordinary enough. Compared to you, you freak of nature, Judy added mentally to herself, scowling at the innocent buttons.
"Hello? Earth to Judy, calling Officer Hopps!" Pansy waved a paw in front of Judy's face.
"Sorry," Judy snapped out of it yet again, hastily proffering the buttons. "Here they are Pansy!"
"Uh-huh, I can see that," Pansy shook her head, bemused. " I just said, leave the buttons and hand me the lace basket please, about four times."
"Lace basket coming up," Judy dropped the buttons like an automaton and bent over for the lace.
"What is with you Judy?" Pansy gesticulated with a pair of scissors dangerously, running a hand through her fur. "I was thrilled when you agreed to come home this weekend and lend me a paw with getting my wedding dress done. But frankly... It's like your head is a zillion miles away my dear! What is up?"
"Nothing," Judy countered, almost before Pansy had gotten her entire question out. "Nothing whatsoever is up. Here is the lace. Sorry, I'll pay attention more, promise sis'."
Pansy was having none of it.
"Is it work?" She lay a paw on Judy's shoulder, having first prudently dropped the scissors back on her desk.
"Work?" Judy stared at her sister, non-plussed. "No, no, work's great. I love my job, you know that Pansy."
"I do," Pansy blew the air out through her pursed lips with a faint whistle. "That's something we have in common. But I thought that.. well, I know you've been hung up about... not making that test thing, I mean-"
Judy had to actually think for a full ten seconds before she cottoned on.
"The State Exam? Oh Pansy, I don't care. I haven't even thought about that for a few days, not till you mentioned it just now. Honest."
She was met by Pansy's wide-eyed confused stare (the sisters resembled each other quite a bit, except that Pansy had inherited the soft brown eyes that ran on her father's side of the family as opposed to Judy's intense violet colour.)
"Do you know, I actually believe you Judy. But when we spoke on the phone a week ago," Pansy added slowly, "that was all you could talk about. You were all beat up over it."
With a start, Judy realized her mistake. Dumb bunny. Those blessed exams, they were the perfect explanation to keep everyone's questions at bay.
"I am, still," she said hurriedly. "Really." She hung her head theatrically. "I was so sure I'd make them."
"Oh Sweety," Pansy's good natured face wavered and she threw her arms around her sister. "Oh, don't. It's a blip. You'll get them next time, you'll see..."
Like I care, Judy thought wearily, allowing herself to be hugged. She had been quite truthful when she'd said she'd forgotten all about the exams in the last few days. It had needed quite a huge issue to push them out of her mind - but said issue had been provided.
With another start she realized her sister had just finished talking again and was looking et her expectantly.
"Yes, pretty beat up," Judy said hastily, arranging he features into a woeful expression again.
"Judy," Pansy massaged her temples. "I just asked you three times if you wanted to head out for a walk to get a breather."
"Breather," Judy nodded vigorously. "Great idea. Superb; Nice one Pansy," she rearranged her features from the woe-begone look into a cheerful one just as quickly as she could.
Pansy shut her work basket with a snap, shoved a pile of sewing patterns aside with a firm paw and cocked a stern eyebrow at Judy.
"You," she pronounced in a steely tone, holding the door of her room open for her sister, "are hiding something from me, Judy Hopps."
Judy wanted to contradict her, really she did. She just felt at that point like she'd already used up just about all the strength she'd at her disposal. So, shrugging her shoulders in a semi-apologetic gesture and ducking her head, she preceded her sister out the room. Pansy followed, still shaking her head, half-annoyed and half-bemused.
Chapter 16, part 2.
"You're here on your own time, troops," Colonel David Grizzfur, the enormous bear (appropriately, a grizzly) who had been appointed head of the State Examination training committee, growled ominously. "If I don't see commitment from all of you, your chief back at precinct one will hear about it, make no mistake about that." He nodded triumphantly. "And I know," he continued, pacing up and down in front of the police officers seated around the small room, "I happen to know your chief rather well. Something tells me that he won't be too happy about some of you already forgetting such basics between the prequalification examination and today-a."
That was exactly how he pronounced it, 'today-a', like there was an extra syllable at the end of the word, Nick thought dispassionately, as he chewed on his pencil and watched the scene. He had half a mind to start in mock admiration and ask old Grizzly-fur whether he could repeat that last statement making that word even longer. For a special encore.
Getting himself in trouble so early into training seemed hardly worth it though, especially not when he mostly agreed with the commander's sentiments. Taggart, the tiger officer who had joined Nick and the other pre-selected officers, stood in front of Grizzfur, his head hung.
"I'll revise that part tonight, Sir," he volunteered in subdued tones. "It must have slipped my mind."
The grizzly grunted irritably, shuffling his papers.
"Officer Wilde!" he barked.
"Sir," Nick was on his feet, startled out of his seat by the call.
"Perhaps you'd like to answer the question your colleague seems unable to handle at this time," Grizzfur fixed Nick with a heavy eye. "What are the five pillars we currently base our negotiation tactics on?"
Nick swallowed and took a deep breath. The bear was really rather big.
No, he was ginormous. Forget big. Bogo was big, but this guy could definitely take the chief down. Five pillars? Were there really five? Come on now, Wilde-
"Gather infor - intelligence," Nick stood as straight as he could and clasped his hands behind his back. "Secure the perimeter. Collaborate with the feds. Require back-up..." he trailed off; racking his brains. That grizzly sure had an intense stare about him. What the bother was the fifth one?
Deals, Carrots' voice said in his mind.
"No deals!" Nick blurted out, as it came back to him. "I mean, don't make deals under any circumstances. Sir." he coughed a bit and put his best 'smart' look on.
Grizzfur regarded him for a second in silence, twirling his pen between his huge fingers.
"Very good," he said at length, in a hesitant tone that suggested he rather found it surprising that one of the officers had actually gotten it right. He turned, scowling, to Taggart, who was still standing. "That hardly seems like it was unreasonably hard now, does it Officer Taggart?"
Nick lingered, still standing, unsure of whether the grizzly would keep firing questions at him once he was through berating the striped officer. His gaze drifted towards the long rectangular window that ran the length of the classroom's wall. The training grounds glimpsed outside were a bleak spectacle, just several acres of turf designed for obstacle course completion, not for the admiration of the onlooker. Even this simple set-up looked chipper in the golden rays of the late afternoon sun, as it broke through fluffy clouds that looked exactly like sheep wool (Nick rather had a weakness for sheep wool). His somewhat damp spirits rose a mite as he remembered that this was the weekend Judy had been heading home to Bunnyburrow. Perhaps the weather was just as good back there. She needed a breather, that one. Maybe it would put her mind off the failed test.
Nick and Judy had exchanged texts faithfully since bidding each other good bye at the ZPD headquarters. Nick somehow felt that the tone of Judy's messages had shifted at some point a few days prior though. Oh, when he first set off, her texts were exactly what he would have expected - she wrote the same way she talked, bubbling over, perhaps even a touch more so than usual as she obviously wanted to put her best face on him getting to go to training camp and her not being selected. So those first texts were all, 'You can do it Nick!', and 'Give it your best!' and 'I'm looking forward to your feedback, I am sure I will get in next time, so it will be useful, see!' Nick had replied accordingly, just the way he would have spoken face to face. 'Are you paid for each inspirational message Fluff? You're practically spouting rainbows here', 'Don't sweat over the business, just shout and I'll put Fin on it anytime - no bunny'll hustle like a fox anywho, keep your fur on', 'Revise? Why would I revise Carrots? Not like my career is pending here or anything', and so on and so on.
And then there had been a bit of a lull, enough to make him start wondering. Judy was always, always the first who wrote. She woke up so early that by the time he cracked his eyes open there were usually three messages pinging around his phone, each from her. And then silence one bright Thursday morning. He'd waited patiently all the way till noon and finally shot off a short, 'Earth to Carrots - ?'
A reply had come back so fast he blinked. Like she'd pounced on her phone he later thought in amusement.
'Oh hey, hi, how's it going?' and then, as an afterthought, 'Nick.'
'So you are still alive Rabbit! A fox can start worrying here, you normally never shut up,' Nick had written. He would have dismissed the whole incident (maybe she had overslept for once or been pulled into an urgent case super-early) except that once again her reply came back in record time.
'Yes, har har. Well, there's just nothing going on here at all. Nothing. So I didn't want to bore you. You know, nothing to report. Just the same old. Judy Hopps going about her business. That's all. Nothing else.'
Nick had read that message three times over, his eyebrows higher each time, before concluding that yes, it sounded rather... far from normal. Any way one looked at it.
'Say nothing one more time Carrots and I might believe you,' he'd written.
After a somewhat lengthy pause his phone had pinged tentatively.
'Nothing?' the text ran hopefully.
What on earth was going on there? Nick shifted uneasily from one of his feet to the other, still peering out the window. Was it something to do with Savage again? No, it couldn't be. She'd have told him. She would have. What was happening?
The grizzly just kept droning on, laying it on old Taggart stripes.
"Dedication," the colonel huffed. "What we expect from our officers is dedication."
Then why didn't they take Hopps, Nick thought sourly. He could just picture what she would have been acting like, day in and day out. First up every single morning, hovering on the edge of her seat and raising her paw excitedly to answer the trickiest of questions, first one out on the running tracks.
Nick was hardly enjoying himself, training and all. Quite the opposite in fact. But how much more fun it would have been, it could have been, it should have been, if Carrots were only there! Even the food (rubbish, some kind of slop that was handed out under the guise of mashed potatoes, endless tofu 'steaks' and don't even get a fox started on the coffee, or rather, the instant destresso; Nick felt perfectly sure that whoever planned the training went to great lengths to get the worst cooks they could lay their paws on as part of the experience) even the food wouldn't have mattered, nothing would have mattered if only the selection committee had done its job and given Hopps the green light instead of putting useless braggarts like Taggart through, Nick mused glumly. Stuff and bother, the only reason he himself was attending was because the rabbit had coached him through and through.
What were her weird texts about? Something's cooking back home, or my name isn't Wilde. But what, for the love of proper coffee everywhere -
"What have you to say for yourself now, Officer Taggart?" the grizzly growled on Nick's right.
"It was more than he could bear," Nick quipped. "Sir," he added hurriedly, coming back to his senses with a jolt as the colonel's massive figure rounded on him.
Holey moley Wilde, you're in for it now if this one knows what a pun is.
"Chief Bogo warned me about your attitude, officer," the grizzly said slowly, fixing Nick with a beady eye.
Oh bummer. Keep daydreaming you dumb fox. See where you end up. Way to hustle Wilde - not.
So far as our record runs, these were the last words running through Nick's mind just before he was given detention.
Shout out to AeonFeral and RedOmega, you guys rock (:
Chapter 16. All the King's Horses... (3)
We won't keep jumping back and forth between scenes folks, it's just at this point as Nick and Judy are each dealing with their own things...
The afternoon heat was really almost too much to stand. Temperatures had been climbing the last few weeks and the handsome lawns of Bunnyburrow were becoming more and more parched by the day, as the sun made its slow laborious progress up and down a sky that itself looked bleached from the heat. The Hopps family, that after all depended heavily on their crops, had taken every precaution to ensure that their harvest didn't suffer from this prolonged dry spell. The sprinklers had been brought out and installed accordingly among the blueberry patches and tent-like canopies had been set up here and there to keep the plants protected from the scorching rays of the sun. Luckily it was summer, meaning that, thanks to school being out, very many young pairs of paws were available to help their parents out on the farm.
Pansy felt fervently grateful that her years of lending a paw around the vegetable patches and fruit orchards were through, as she strolled down the neat rows of carrots planted by her parents and observed several of her younger siblings dashing around, tending to their gardening. She had always been better suited to sewing scissors, needles and fabric than to hose, plough and weed-cutters. Which didn't mean she couldn't appreciate how well kept and neat her parents' property was, she added mentally. The Hopps' farm was a pleasant dwelling spot at any time, but the sprinklers going off, the canopies adding shade and the young rabbits hopping around, excited to be out in the air and not stuck in a stuffy classroom - it all completed the scene, she thought cheerfully, strolling along arm in arm with Judy.
Then again, Pansy admitted, she was marrying Bobbie in two weeks' time. And her agenda was full of back-orders all the way till Christmas, some orders running twenty outfits long; business was booming. So all in all, if it had been pouring she would have probably found the storm clouds charming as well.
She let go of Judy's arm at the sight of an early clump of blueberries that appeared to be ripe for the picking, plucked them off their bush and sampled one experimentally.
"Del-i-cious!" she pronounced, twirling on the spot. "Did I tell you we're having blueberry muffins to go with the cake and tea at the wedding supper Jude?" she proffered Judy her blueberry-filled paw, intent on fair sharing.
"Not hungry," Judy replied pensively. "Thanks" The rabbit officer broke a dry branch off the blueberry bush instead and twirled it round and round in her paws, watching it absently, apparently lost in thought.
She hasn't eaten much at lunch either, Pansy thought, snacking on the berries herself and watching her sister out of the corner of her eye. The seamstress looked back over at her parents' house in the distance. They were out of earshot, she decided finally. (Which is no easy matter for a rabbit to assess, you will realize, as that species is blessed with excellent hearing.) And none of the youngsters were likely to heed their sisters' conversation, they were too busy calling to each other and laughing at each other's jokes.
"Judy," Pansy lunged in without preamble. "You're not yourself. You hardly hear a word I'm saying. You seem ill.. you didn't eat any of Mom's cabbage stir-fry for cream cheese's sake!" She put her hands on her hips and faced Judy with the sternest look she could muster. "What is up? And no," she held a paw up warningly as Judy opened her mouth to protest yet again. "No excuses, and no telling me it's a phase at work or it's those exams; The stir-fry, Jude! I've never seen you pass that in my life! I thought my eyes would pop straight out of my head when you went 'no thanks Ma!'"
Judy ran a paw through the fur on the top of her head and gave her sister a somewhat rueful look.
"It's... you know. Different things," she shrugged.
"Can't you tell a body?" Pansy was feeling increasingly alarmed at how subdued Judy sounded (was this quiet creature Judy? Their Jude the Dude, always so bursting with energy, who had told her sister at the ripe old age of twelve, of course you can be a dress designer Pansy! You can be anything you want to be!)
"No, I don't think I can," Judy replied seriously, after apparently considering the question for a moment. "Sorry," she added hurriedly, seeing Pansy's somewhat hurt expression. "It's not that I don't trust you Pansy! Honest. It isn't you sis, it's all me. I just don't know where I'm at anymore."
"Talk it out," Pansy urged her. "Look, I don't mind if you'd rather not - I mean, sisters are sometimes - what I mean is, family can cut close to the bone and marrow," she rubbed her nose in agitation. Pull yourself together Pansy, that's the two of you not making sense now, and you are the one supposed to be providing moral support here. "You could talk to one of your friends then?" she suggested. Her ears perked up at a sudden thought. "I know Jude! You should talk to Nick! He's your best friend! He'll help you out of whatever's bugging you."
Really, Pansy thought a second later. Jude the Dude can look so cynical when she chooses to.
"Can't talk to him," Judy answered curtly after seeming to deliberate for a moment. "He's away on training anyway... He got past screening."
"Oh, right," Pansy winced. See, that explained things. Judy had some kind of issue. Probably work -related; Her best buddy was away. And she didn't feel that whatever it was could be discussed with family. It was probably classified information into the bargain.
"Won't he get a break and come back a bit soon?" she tried tentatively.
"No!" Judy said hurriedly. "The training is three months long. He'll get a longish week-end midway.. we were going to go to that Gazelle versus El Lamo concert in the fall. But you know. That's not even sure."
"What about your other pals at the ZPD?" Pansy queried. "Or," her brow cleared suddenly, "You know, your little friend? The shrew?"
"FruFru?" Judy looked at her sister in some surprise. She mulled this over. "FruFru has her small paws dreadfully full without my problems," she mumbled eventually. "She's got her toddler, and she's knee deep in her new hair salon business -"
Pansy threw her arms up in exasperation.
"Everyone has their plate full Judy Hopps," she exclaimed. "But that doesn't mean your friends won't want to take an hour out of their lives to listen to you. So quit holding the whole world up all on your own and lean on someone instead for once." She stamped her foot to emphasize her point in a gesture much like Judy's, actually bringing a smile to the latter's lips for the first time that morning.
"Alright Miss Pansy, keep your fur on," she cocked and eyebrow at her sis. "I might just go ahead and follow your advice." She was already pulling her phone out of her trouser pockets along with her car keys, having tossed the dry branch aside with a final sort of flick.
"In a hurry now, are you?" Pansy said, amused. When Judy Hopps made up her mind she sure made it up for good.
"Yup," Judy was turning to go. "Sorry about not helping you out more with that wedding dress sis - and make something up to explain my running off before the week-end is through, won't you?"
"Ta," Pansy was shaking her head, looking after her sister's retreating back. Sorry for not helping more? Like Judy had been in a frame of mind to compose herself enough to help with dressmaking. For pity's sake, Pansy muttered to herself, polishing the last of the blueberries off.
*Pensively* does anyone know how to change a story's rating then?
Also, dear latest Guest who left several reviews - I am deeply obliged and touched by your faith in me, but I do not speak or understand your beautiful language I am afraid :( Mais ma foi, le français y ressemble pas mal, alors j'ai pu en tirer un peu de sens et je suis ravie que l'histoire vous plaise :)
"And they don't got no record either," Finnick's voice sounded faintly triumphant on the other end of the line. "Clean as clean."
Nick bit back his smile.
"So that's six flats you rented out for us this week big guy?" he asked, just to be sure, balancing his phone between his shoulder and his ear as he simultaneously pulled some of his books out of his bag. The break was rather a short one and he needed to get lunch, change clothes and make it to the other side of the training centre before debriefing. Old Grizzly-guts had already proven he didn't care for tardiness. The tough way.
"Seven," Nick heard Finnick bite into something and chew with relish. "So you owe me big time Wilde. Cough up."
"Fair is square as they used to say on the streets," the red-furred ZPD officer agreed with some amusement.
"They still say that on the streets," Finnick corrected him. "Problem is you're working them from the wrong side now Nick-boy."
Nick clutched his heart theatrically, albeit his conversation partner could hardly have seen him over the phone.
"I detect a note of bitterness that warms my battered old heart," he declared.
Instead of grunting something back (as he was prone to in response to Nick's many quips) the other fox chuckled.
"Battered eh?" he said in Nick's ear.
Ok, whoopsie. Back track Wilde. Change chat lines, Nick berated himself.
"Are you actually chomping and talking at the same time old buddy?" he shot off instead. "Don't you know the gunk they're subjecting me to over here? Now what is it you have the audacity to nibble on in front of me, so to speak?"
"Pig Out coconut flake chocolate crispies," came the ready answer. There was a pause as if Finnick were consulting the packaging to make sure he'd gotten everything right. "They're extra chunky," he added helpfully, chewing again.
"Well, phooey to you," Nick groaned. "You've just put me off my lunch. Never thought of shipping me a care package now, did you?"
"It'd darn put you off your homework and such," Finnick jeered happily.
"How thoughtful," Nick sniffed. "Glad the flats are being rented out anyhow. What else is cooking?"
"Not much," Finnick sounded silkily innocent.
"Rack your brains big guy," Nick suggested sternly. "Did I or did I not leave you with any other requests?"
There was a long slurping sound on the other end.
"That's a frappucino. With mango." Finnick explained. "Extra froth."
Nick massaged his temple with one paw, holding his phone with the other one.
"Some mammals forget," he stated seemingly rhetorically, "that their buddies who are nowadays in uniform have unlimited access to any and all of the ZPD's systems. And the reason they leave their old partners walk free is a warm sense of comaraderie. Which is fading fast as we speak."
"So touchy," Finnick took a long slurping gulp again. "Keep your head screwed on Wilde. When have I ever backed down on my word? I promised you I'd keep an eye on her for you, I done just that."
"Yes?" Nick strained his ears.
"She's fine," came the laconic answer.
Nick waited patiently. Finnick seemed to consider this information sufficient however, as nothing but more munching came down the line.
"Fine?..." Nick asked finally, fishing for more.
"Yes, fine," Finnick seemed surprised that this was in itself not answer enough. "Did you want to hear 'pining'?" he chuckled in his low rumbling voice.
Nick was forced to mentally count to ten this time. He chose a different tactic.
"You know," he said pleasantly. "If you are getting rather old buddy, and don't feel quite up to gathering information - hum, they say intelligence here on the force, and for good reason - all you had to do was tell me straight off."
There was a bit of a fuss on the other end and Nick grinned; he knew when he'd struck gold.
"Old? Old?" Finnick huffed in annoyance. "I'm the sneakiest there is and that only comes with experience. I followed through, like I'd said! I dropped by on the Friday all casual like, had to for the flats anyway. Met the bunny heading out, like she was taking the car and going out to see her folks and such. Looked peaky," he added as an afterthought.
"She did?" Nick frowned.
"That's being a copper for you," Finnick explained wisely. "All work and measly pay. Bad for the constitution"
Nick bit back a smile and decided against explaining to his buddy Fin that everything and anything that had to do with her job always put Judy in a state quite opposite of 'peaky'.
"So I said have a good weekend you, well, you look like you need it, peaky and all-" Finnick was continuing
"Ever the gentleman-" Nick muttered.
"And she was like, will do and thanks, going off for three days and such," Finnick had obviously reached the end of his drink as Nick heard an energetic sound much like a gurgly pipe that suggested the fennec was intent on slurping every last dreg out. "Except I drop by the building Sunday morning again for the keys see, and she was already back," he concluded.
"She was?" Nick was more than a little surprised. Judy hadn't mentioned any change of plans in her texts.
"She was," Finnick agreed importantly, glad to prove that he was indeed capable of gathering fresh insights. "You're back and done then bunny? I asked, casual-like. Said she was, change of plans and all. Be meeting the shrew, she said. Then you gotta get yourself a pair of earplugs, I was telling her, that tiny mammal never stops squeaking. She sort of chuckled and I noticed she did look less, you know. Peaky. More chipper all about. So I told her, well, you look chipper. And she said, I feel chipper, Fin. What they find to chatter about all the time I wonder," he concluded philosophically.
"Huh-hum," Nick agreed absently, his mind racing. FruFru? What did Judy want to come back a day early, pelting to see her for? It was the hair salon, he mused. Maybe FruFru was having some difficulties with her new business and Judy was rushing over to lend her a paw.
Or maybe you're just making things up Wilde, cause you're wondering why she's all happy to run and talk to old shrew-mother and barely sends you three texts together a day, one part of his mind suggested.
"You alright there Nicky?" Finnick's voice asked, interrupting the silence. "You swooned or something?"
"Bite me," Nick countered, snapping out of it. He glanced at the time and cursed under his breath.
"Gotta hustle if I'm to get my fair portion of gray mush for lunch Big Guy. I owe you one!"
"Bon appetiti!" came the sarcastic reply.
"It's bon appetit Bozo," Nick rolled his eyes. "Talk to you later... stay out of the pen."
"Break a leg Wilde."
And the next scene is longish. I just don't think it should be cut up, so I'll post it altogether tomorrow or Thursday. Sit tight all ;)
OK, so this is the last bit of this chapter, chapter 16.
I'll squash all of the bits together properly next.
Out tomorrow so next bit Friday, alright?
Take care WildeHopps shippers! Ta
Judy was feeling rather lame. But then, she'd been feeling lame since the last.. well. Since she'd had that dream anyhow. Why oh why had she had it, Judy groaned inwardly. Why did she have to remember it. And why were her subsequent dreams (when she managed to doze off, mind you, for our dear Miss Hopps had found sleep somewhat elusive as of late) apparently either sequels or renditions of that first one?
Dumb bunny. This was what you'll be known as henceforth, Judy told herself sternly. She pulled herself together with some difficulty; it was hardly a good moment to tune out. FruFru would be annoyed if she'd learn Judy wasn't even listening.
The shrew was even more excited than usual if that was possible.
"And see these little drawers," she was squeaking away, pulling them open as she pranced around her charmingly furnished minute hair salon, little JuJu mimicking her mother gleefully. "See how I've arranged them inside? All the pots of hairspray are in the good order now, from mild to firm hold," she clicked her tongue appreciatively running an expert paw along the long row of tiny cans of spray, each bearing a flashy designer label.
"It's really nice," Judy agreed politely after a perfunctory look.
"Business is pouring in," FruFru heaved a sigh of content. "I am really happy - and relieved! I must say, Judy. I wanted so much to not let you and Nicholas down, venture and all."
"I knew you'd be a star," Judy said warmly, smiling down at her minute friend. "You have the fanciest hairstyles I have ever seen."
FruFru beamed.
"This one is new," she patted her updo (an elaborate affair complete with rhinestones and tumbling loose wavy tendrils). "I have called it the vent du Sud. A French name is very good for marketing, you know. The French mice have always been know for their taste," she sniffed importantly.
"Great," Judy tried to appear serious, covering her smile with her right paw.
"Wish you'd let me have a go at your fur Judy!" FruFru added wistfully, glancing up at the bunny. "I never get to dress larger mammal's heads."
"A very occasional scrunchy is my limit FruFru," Judy replied apologetically.
"I've seen you wear a straw hat," FruFru countered.
"A hat?" Judy blinked, remembering her favourite wide-brimmed one. "Why yes, it's just good common sense back at the farm. I have mine here for extra sunny days too."
"Then let me have a go at decorating it!" FruFru begged, clasping her little claws together pleadingly. "I just got these new paper posies in - they are really rather big for us rodents but might be the good size for a hat of yours."
"Fair enough," Judy nodded warmly. "I've yanked you out of your home for Sunday dinner, I might as well let you have your way with my straw hat."
She picked FruFru and JuJu up carefully in her paws, to bring them up to the penthouse, after allowing FruFru to close the hair salon's door and turn the key in its minuscule lock.
"Yank is hardly the word my dear," FruFru squeaked, as they arrived in Judy and Nick's cosy living room. "I am thrilled to see you any time, not to mention pop over at the salon even though it is a day off. But I have to admit I was surprised. I rather believed you were at the Burrows for the entire week-end?"
"I was going to be," Judy replied briefly, depositing FruFru and JuJu on the sofa safely and heading to the kitchenette corner to collect the colourful cream cheese and veg salad she'd tossed together earlier. "Change of plans," she offered in way of explanation, pulling some black bread rolls sprinkled with sesame seeds on a tray along with the salad and adding a tumbler of lemonade, a glass and two thimbles for the shrews. "Help yourselves please," she added graciously, placing the food and drinks in front of her friends and handing each of them a taco crisp to serve as a plate.
"Pomegranate seeds?" FruFru's ears perked up. "Don't mind if I do Judy dear, don't mind if I do," she piled the taco chips high for herself and JuJu, tying a bright cheerful bib around the toddler's neck first. "This is delicious!" she declared not five minutes later, putting her taco down. "Seconds Ma'am, please!"
"Glad you like it," Judy laughed, laying her plate aside to help FruFru to some more. The rabbit had helped herself to a generous serving of salad as well; FruFru noticed that most of it lay untouched however, as the young ZPD officer seemed intent on twirling her fork between her fingers much more than on actually munching.
Ho ho, FruFru thought, frowning a bit. Aloud all she said was, "Is all your family doing well then, dear?"
"I didn't see all of them," Judy chuckled. "Hard to squeeze three hundred mammals into a week-end, not to mention cousins, uncles and aunts. But Mom and Dad are doing great, and everyone is in a to-do about Pansy getting married in two weeks now. She's the one who's a dressmaker. So everyone is agog as to what sort of gown she'll design for herself."
"The headdress," FruFru laid an urgent paw on Judy's. "This is what interests me Judy. I will need a photo quite as early as you can manage one, once the wedding takes place. Bridal season is coming up and the smaller mammals will follow the larger ones' trends. Your sister will know the last word in fashion, her being in the business; Veil or no veil? I will have to know Judy, I will have to know!" she wrung her tiny paws in agitation.
"I'll get you a photo just as soon as I can," Judy promised FruFru, giggling at the shrew's enthusiasm.
"Thank you," FruFru seemed to calm herself somewhat.
A comfortable silence elapsed, unless one counted JuJu's annoyed squawking as her mother retrieved the bib she'd discarded and tied it around her neck once again with a firm paw.
"Pansy is so confident of her choice," Judy mused out loud, a bit wistful. "It's Bobbie this and Bobbie that. Just announced to the family she loved him and they were getting married one bright day. Wonder how she knew he was the one."
FruFru snorted.
"Probably had all the usual symptoms?" she suggested, breaking a bit of bread roll into tiny bite-sized pieces for JuJu.
"Symptoms?" Judy echoed, non-plussed.
"You know," FruFru pulled a comical face. "Can't live with him, can't live without him. Can't sleep, or get weird dreams. Thoughts scattering like fieldmice. Heartbeat uneven." She turned her gaze away from Judy, towards her young daughter, ostentatiously to wipe her chin. "Loss of appetite," she added carelessly.
Judy jumped a mite in her seat, seized her fork and unceremoniously stuffed about three forkfulls of salad into her mouth in one go. She chewed this down recklessly and gave an almighty gulp to down the lot bravely.
"It is pretty good," she affirmed weakly.
"Quite," FruFru straightened her skirts and laid her taco chip down beside her. "Now why don't you tell me what it is you wanted to especially talk to me about Judy?"
Caught out, Judy rubbed her nose with her paw, startled. Only way to advance seemed forward hereafter, she concluded.
"I'm in a bit of a pickle FruFru," she started hesitantly.
"Yes?" the shrew nodded encouragingly. "What is it dear?"
"It's... about Nick," Judy tried. She thought she saw FruFru's eyes flicker a bit.
"About Nick?" the small mammal prompted.
"Yes. See, how do I put this," Judy set her plate down and pulled on one of her ears unconsciously. "I was rather beat up about the tests-"
"My dear!" FruFru was beside her in an instant. "Of course! Who wouldn't be! All your hard work! The shock!"
"Well, and also I rather didn't expect that Nick would be going and I'd stay here and... we'd have to not see each other right away like this, you see," Judy pursued doggedly, intent on laying out all the attenuating circumstances.
"Breaking up all your usual habits, missing your friend and housemate, not to mention work partner," FruFru was patting her sympathetically. "You were naturally distraught Judy!"
"I was," the rabbit nodded. "And I didn't sleep so well for a while there. And then one night I did get to sleep finally - and well - I don't mind telling you FruFru, but I had this dream. It was the worst! Well, actually," she tried to be fair. "It wasn't so bad at first. You and JuJu were in it and we were having fun."
"Aw, how sweet," FruFru beamed as behind her back JuJu started gobbling up her taco chip dispassionately.
"That was the good part," Judy said grimly. "The second half was more... Well, Nick showed up. In the dream I mean. And I..." how on earth could she put this? "I hugged him," Judy compromised in the end. She wiggled a bit in her seat. It wasn't a complete lie. She had hugged Nick in the dream. Among other things. She looked down at FruFru hopefully.
"I see," the shrew pronounced, one corner of her mouth twitching curiously. "Yes, I see. How perfectly distressful for you," she coughed tactfully. "But Judy, dear, it was just a dream. Why dwell on it?"
"Can't not dwell," Judy stated flatly. "Tried forgetting about it, hasn't worked. And I've had more of the same sort of dream since. Not to mention felt out of sorts," she slumped in her seat as if to emphasize the point, though she did feel somewhat better after unburdening herself.
"Yes, I see..." FruFru trailed off, looking over Judy's still mostly full plate meditatively.
"Why can't I forget about that stupid dream FruFru?" Judy wailed, pulling both her ears down in frustration. "Why can't I go back to normal for carrot puff's sake?"
"Well," FruFru rose to the occasion diplomatically. "I rather think.. we have covered that sort of issue earlier in this conversation m'dear."
Judy looked her friend over and gasped, aghast, as her vague alarming suspicions were thrown into relief.
"It can't be!" she exclaimed. "I can't be! And with Nick!"
"It happens to the best of us, Judy," FruFru took hold of her finger with both her small paws supportively. "No need to feel bad."
"No need to feel bad?" Judy threw her paws up in frustration, nearly overturning her friend in the process. "How else am I supposed to feel FruFru? This is an unqualified disaster! I need to fix this right away!" She buried her face in her paws.
"And what do you imply by 'fix'?" FruFru asked in some surprise, regaining her balance.
"Go back to the way I was before," Judy had re-emerged, her eyes alert. "Yes, that's it. Help me, FruFru?" she pleaded.
"It... doesn't exactly work that way, I am afraid," FruFru was the one trying to hide her smile now. "Mammals can't just bounce back and forth on their feelings Judy dear."
"But I have to," Judy gasped. "I have to! Nick is my best friend FruFru! I can't just lose that like this!" she was twisting an ear in her paw nervously.
"Judy," FruFru tried to make her shrill voice as gentle as she could, much like the voice she used for soothing JuJu when the latter got a nightmare. "When someone feels what you seem to be feeling... it is already a bit late, you know. Something will have shifted in the friendship, darling."
"So I've gone and ruined everything?" Judy seemed more ashen than before and her lip trembled a bit.
Oh cheesy dips, we need fortification, FruFru thought. These bunnies. So emotional. "Tea!" she said aloud, decisively. "You need a hot drink, my dear! Come now, you must rise, you must brew a pot - your cups and pans are too large for me - come now, come now-"
Judy had her nose buried in some herbal hibiscus tea some short time later, of which FruFru had also taken a thimbleful.
"Now Judy," FruFru tried to sound firm yet understanding. "You've not spoilt anything. This happens, I tell you."
"But I don't know what to do now," the rabbit stated morosely, seemingly addressing her tea.
FruFru bristled.
"But there are many things you might do!" she exclaimed. "It all depends on the course of action you choose."
"Such as?" Judy looked at her a bit hopefully.
"Well," Frufru adjusted her hair a little. "You might of course go ahead and act like nothing has happened whatsoever and go about your business the way you used to. Take the secret to the grave, so to speak."
"That sounds like it will be rather impossible at this point", Judy said glumly. "I've basically been trying just that - and he's away at this time, mind you - and I don't seem to be able to act as before, even just texting. I re-wrote a message I was sending him about five times earlier today, because I wanted to make sure it didn't come off strange. But I don't know what I used to sound like before now!"
"What did you end up putting then?" FruFru asked, raising her eyebrows.
Judy passed a weary paw over her eyes. "'ROFL'", she quoted ruefully.
FruFru had to hold back her another smile at that, for fear of offending her rabbit friend.
"Yes, I see," the shrew gave Judy a sympathetic nod. "You could vow to never see him again otherwise. If you feel like it's too hard. Move cities."
"So... pretending forever or never seeing him again and rushing off," Judy sighed irritably. "I am brimming over with options here."
"Have you considered telling him then?" FruFru was blowing the steam away from her thimble with a whistle.
"What?" Judy started in her seat, nearly pouring herbal tea over the sofa. "I couldn't do that FruFru! I'm a friend for him, that's all. And it's Nick," she winced. "He'd be mortified if I - he'd be running full speed in the opposite direction before I got one sentence out."
"Well now," FruFru said fairly. "Speaking as a somewhat more objective observer than yourself, let us not entirely rule out the possibility that Mister Wilde's feelings are completely unparallel to your own."
Judy digested this in silence.
"You think?" she felt a little hopeful stir and her ears twitched upwards for the first time in the past hour. She looked down at her small friend properly. "You're not completely astonished by what I've told you, are you?"
"No, not completely," FruFru confirmed, putting her thimble down. "Now if we just lean on this hypothesis for a second - supposing Nick has feelings for you as well. What would he say then?"
Judy tried to consider this.
"Just the same," she said finally. "He'd run away as fast as he could go in the opposite direction. Feelings aren't exactly his strong suit FruFru, he's pretty good at hiding them and at hiding from them."
"Ye-es," FruFru frowned contemplatively. Her eyes suddenly gleamed somewhat wickedly. "Then you should spring it on him before he has a chance to recover," she offered, waving a paw. "See what he really reacts like before he can pull an act on for you."
Judy had to smile at her friend.
"I hardly see how I could 'spring' such a confession on Nick out of the blue," she said, shaking her head.
"Who says you have to say anything," FruFru looked at her wide-eyed and innocent.
"Meaning?" Judy was rather at sea. "What do you suggest I do?"
FruFru arranged her face into a carefully neutral expression.
"You could hug him?" she suggested, completely deadpan.
Judy went red to the tips of her ears, thankfully masked by her fur.
"This conversation is confidential FruFru," she pleaded, just to be on the safe side.
"Naturally," the shrew tutted at her.
"Thanks," Judy sighed gratefully then furrowed her brow. "For listening I mean. But also for your advice. I'll have to mull it over. this is all... rather new for me."
"I hear you sweety," FruFru waved an encouraging paw.
"Why am I such a freak," Judy mumbled, picking her salad up, suddenly ravenous. Speaking to FruFru had helped, though she still couldn't exactly say that she saw clearly how she was to proceed out of this... fix.
FruFru made a reproving sort of hissing noise.
"My dear! Calling yourself a freak is hardly called for," she said sternly. "And, while it is unusual, you are hardly the first, are you? This sort of thing has happened before."
"Where? When?" Judy raised her eyebrows at FruFru.
"Romeo and Juliet?" the shrew suggested after pondering the point for a moment.
Judy snorted.
"So I am like the antelope that poisoned itself in the end of the play," she said, exasperated. "Lovely."
"No need to be negative dear," FruFru clicked her tongue reprovingly. "It does happen at times. Well, the predator/prey factor adds a shade, to be sure," she said fairly. "But this is the twenty first century, for whiskers' sakes. We have many a field mouse in our neighbourhood happily settled with a hamster - less provoking, I am sure, but even this sort of thing was considered impossible in my father's grandmamma's time, and yet here we are."
"Yes," Judy heaved a sigh. "And there's always Savage with his mysterious arctic fox to keep me company," she added gloomily.
"Yes," FruFru agreed, wincing. "There is him indeed."
Judy drank deeply from her mug. To think she'd come to feel sympathetic towards that rabbit, she wondered to herself. The plotting, double-crossing - but what had he said? That he was being blackmailed. That 'they' - whoever 'they' - were, were going through someone 'he cared for'.
Slowly, rather slowly, Judy laid her fork down, as most of her plate was finally emptied. She felt about a hundred percent better than at the start of the evening and she was beginning to form a plan.
Hardly about what she should do about her own predicament as of yet. But somehow she felt that helping somebody else would make her feel a tad better still. Even if that somebody... she gave her mug a rather undeserved dark look.
Even if that somebody did happen to be a criminal.
It may or may not interest our esteemed reader to know that their humble servant has had these sort of talks many many times... from FruFru's POV -_- *sigh*
OK Folks, done splicing this thing together so that the whole thing doesn't hold a bazillion chapters. Get you all the next chapter asap - we have some things to take care of with the heat wave that's hit Europe -_- Aiming for the weekend. Ta.