Chapter 28: Mum

When Judy and Nick came down to the ground floor they were surprised to see that the street they were heading down was currently empty and there wasn't a single living soul on it. They were rather expecting a group of foxes who would not be one hundred percent friendly towards them. With a sense of security they left the block to get to their car, they had one more flat to visit.

As they walked back to the car, Judy watched the fox's thoughtful, chilling gaze. She knew that look meant anger and displeasure. After briefly observing the fox's thoughtful face, her gaze moved to the leather belt where the policemen kept various items on hand such as a walkie-talkie or a gun when it was time. Instead of a gun, the fox had a white vial in a small compartment, which turned out to be fox spray. She was intensely interested in why he took the spray and why it was humiliating to use it in the fox district.

Her thoughts about it were so intense and strong that she had to ask about it even despite the fact that it might anger the already agitated fox.

"Why is it humiliating to use fox spray here?" Judy asked. Nick, when he heard this question looked at Judy for a moment, which caused her to feel afraid that she had said something stupid again. However, to her surprise, Nick laughed briefly waving his head from side to side letting out a few exhalations from his mouth which turned to steam under the heat.

"You have a childish curiosity, you know?" Asked Nick ironically when he stopped laughing.

"It just makes me curious..." Replied Judy uncertainly. She still wasn't sure if the fox would react angrily to the question. His reaction was surprising in that he gave no clear sign if he didn't want to talk about it. Usually, when Judy ventured into Nick's intimate territory that he didn't want to discuss, the fox would briefly and effectively interrupt the conversation.

"Ah, well I'll tell you," sighed Nick finally, which prompted the rabbit to focus on the fox's statement.

"You see, when a fox uses fox spray it's very awkward...I don't know how to explain it to you, it's just something that shouldn't happen. The fox district works mainly on solidarity between foxes, despite fights and isolated skirmishes we never used spray because it's not right..."

"Yet you did use it," remarked Judy quickly. Again she felt silly for saying something she shouldn't. She knew this, after a heavy sigh from Nick, who in between wiped the drying blood on his nose and mouth area with his sleeve. The blood, even though it was practically no longer flowing, formed a small red trail on the fox's face after a while.

"Yeah,I used it,but I don't live here anymore and you know it doesn't fit here... not anymore," replied Nick.

"It wasn't anyone you knew?" Judy asked.

"Hm? No, no, I generally have a good relationship with everyone in this town. I haven't had a problem with anyone to be honest. Sophia said why they started chasing us" Nick pointed out.

"I know... I'm sorry" Judy replied with a reproachful succinctness. She was remorseful,over the assault on Nick that could have ended much worse.

"Hey, it's not your fault! I mean...in theory because of you it happened, but we're okay! It can only get better now" Nick replied.

"Haha, but now you've cheered me up" replied Judy ironically, to which Nick now laughed sincerely with positive energy.

"I know, Judy...that's why you love me" replied Nick, a smile combined with slight embarrassment appeared on the rabbit's lips. It was the fox's favourite smile and it made him proud that he was able to embarrass the rabbit.

Soon they reached the car, which was standing intact. Fortunately, none of the bandits who were chasing them had the presence of mind to destroy their car or anything like that. They could continue their mission in peace, they had one last address left to check. When they got into the car, Judy tucked a rather large photo compared to the others into a catalogue (she'd taken the photo out of the frame before this one), and Nick sat thoughtfully with the catalogue.

"This is your house?" Asked Judy seeing the fox's thoughtful face again. I don't think she had ever seen Nick plunge into a state of thoughtfulness overnight before. Usually the fox was on the spot with his thoughts, not flying off too far, this night Nick was flying through the skies in his head, more often than not he was somewhere else in his thoughts than in reality.

"Eventually you'll be where you wanted to be" replied Nick handing the catalogue into the rabbit's tiny paws. Judy accepted the catalogue, then opened it reading the address they were to drive to.

"Sandstreet...is that where you lived through your childhood?" Judy asked.

"Yes...I grew up there" Nick replied. Judy nodded with a movement of her head. After the fox's behavior, she was dumbfounded to ask anything in this situation. She knew that she had already asked him many times that night about his private life in the past, she didn't want to pester him any further. Moreover, she expected him to be slightly stressed about this meeting.

"Are you stressed?" Judy asked.

"Hah, you ask a lot of these questions during this night Judy...let's go, I'm really tired already" replied Nick with a short smile, then started the car engine.

On the drive to their destination, Nick to Judy's surprise did not look as stressed as she had imagined. She had thought that his face would clearly indicate that he was worried about it or that he was stressing about it, but he stared at the snow-white roadway with a slight smile on his face. Although the rabbit was interested in why the fox had such an improved mood, she didn't want to ask him so as not to unnecessarily heat up the temperature between them, which had already risen several times that night. In her mind she still had the thought that the fox had promised to explain everything to her as soon as they reached home.

It had been a good half of the night, maybe even more, as they gathered the evidence they needed for their mission together. They couldn't tell what time it was, but relying on their intuition, they guessed that more than a few hours had passed. By this passage of time, the shouts from the city centre had also managed to settle down a bit, still echoing throughout the city, but no longer as loud as before they entered the city.

When they arrived, they were practically in a small housing estate at the edge of town, where houses stood, on one side of the street and on the other. The warm light from the lamps made it possible to see the snowy pavements, which had footprints trampled on the white fluff. Judy watched the street through the glass of her door with childish interest, watching the scrolling houses they drove past. They didn't look in bad shape, yes the buildings were a bit dated, but quite modernistic.

"This street doesn't look so bad," Judy thought.

"You might think that this street looks quite alright...because yes, it does. It's probably the quietest street in the fox district. Really pleasant to live on, to...you know what" communicated the fox as he slowed down significantly. A moment later he turned into the driveway of a house where a light was on in one of the rooms.

"Is this your house?" Judy asked, to which the fox merely nodded with a motion of his head. When the car stopped, Judy was ready to open the door and get out, but Nick interrupted her by grabbing her arm.

"Judy, I have a request."

"Hm?"

"When we talk, please don't say anything about us...you know, our relationship... I want this to be a purely professional meeting, okay?" Nick asked. Judy's violet eyes betrayed that she was a little disappointed about this, the fox guessed that Judy wanted to talk about it at the first meeting, but he wanted to cool her enthusiasm.

"Okay, if that's what you want..." Judy replied. Fox smiled modestly, then got out of the car with his partner.

The house didn't seem big from the outside to be honest. The dark green walls, and the brown, snowy roof tiles made the building seem quite small, but at the same time warm and cosy.

As they approached the door, Nick took a deep breath, then knocked on the door.

"Hello, is anyone there? My name is Nick Wilde, police, please open" Nick communicated as before knocking on the entrance. Moments later after knocking, they could both hear fairly quick footsteps approaching the door of the house.

After opening them, a vixen of medium height appeared in the passage, dressed rather modestly. From the outline of her face one could not give her more than 50 years, she looked impressively young. The biggest thing that drew attention to her, however, were her blue eyes, which were razor sharp, but at the same time from those sharp eyes you could tell that the woman was a gentle character by nature.

"Oh my god... Nick!" The woman almost screamed. She immediately squeezed him as hard as she could practically unconcerned with the freezing cold that prevailed outside.

"I didn't think I would ever see you again," the woman said during the hug. At the same time the fox let out a smile towards Judy, who was standing next to them being a little creeped out by the situation.

"Okay mum let me go, also meet my friend Judy Hopps" said Nick laughing. He grabbed the woman's shoulders and pushed her back a little giving her a sign to let him go.

"A friend?" Judy thought at this time. She didn't like it when she heard it. It was practically the worst term Nick could have used in this situation, but she didn't want to show her anger now.

"Ah, you're Hopps! I've heard of you, I think everyone has!"

"Nice to meet you, Mrs..."

"Natalia. Natalia Wilde" the woman introduced herself. When the Two girls had introduced themselves, they all went into the living room of the house.

"Nothing has changed here" sighed Nick with a dose of nostalgia in his head. The living room filled with green colours on the walls with darker outlines, they matched the white ceiling. Even though the living room wasn't the largest size, it was very cozy to be in.

"Wait, I'll make you some tea" The woman communicated. She headed to the kitchen to make the warming beverage.

Nick and Judy were left alone, both looking at the flat at the time. Nick out of nostalgia, wanting to reminisce about the days when he still lived here and had nothing to do with the foxy neighborhood, and Judy out of curiosity. She was very curious about Nick's past and more specifically his childhood. She really wanted to ask Natalie about it, but she promised for Nick that she would not ask a private question.

"Judging by your uniforms you're wearing, I'm guessing what you came for," Natalia said as she returned from the kitchen with a tray containing three teas. She set them on the table and then sat down next to Nick.

"We heard Mark was missing" replied Nick touching his hand to the warm cup of tea as if to warm himself with it. Natalia modestly nodded with a movement of her head, then looked straight into Nick's emerald eyes with her sharp eyes. From her son's gaze, Natalia could read that Nick still resented his father for what had happened in the past. She remembered it herself, but she knew that time heals wounds.

"Nick, it was a long time ago, you didn't think about forgiving..."

"If I had forgiven, I would be back here," replied Nick coolly. Although a dozen years had passed, the fox still held in his heart that hatred for his father, who sowed terror in his home.

"He's really changed! Since..." Natalia interrupted.

"Has she..."

"Don't worry, he knows everything" communicated the fox.

"Oh...then I see you're closely related to her" pointed out Natalia, to which Nick laughed.

"He changed Nick, when you ran away from home he was really in a bad way, he hardly got out of bed...he went to therapy, he went to a psychiatrist every day, he was cured of his alcoholism..."

"If he changed then why did he disappear?" Nick asked. Natalia didn't answer. She couldn't find a clear answer to that question, her husband had disappeared suddenly, she didn't even know why.

"I don't know...he didn't have any problems, he found a job, he was earning honestly...everything was normal, fine...until a week ago when he left for work he didn't come back, I thought he would come back after a few days but nothing changes"

"That's what we're here for Mum, tell us how he was last dressed, we'll try to find him" Nick communicated. He pulled a dictaphone from his pocket, then placed it on the wooden table and started it up.

"Black shirt, long grey trousers, red shoes, green eyes, similar to yours..." Natalia replied with resignation. During this conversation, she had seen the resemblance between Nick and Mark: both were defiantly stubborn, defending their opinions as best they could.

"Anything else ?" Nick asked, to which the vixen nodded negatively. Nick switched off the recorder, then put it in his pocket.

"Don't be forcefully angry, it won't help anything. Seriously, when you meet him you'll see that he's really changed."

"I doubt that very much" replied Nick firmly.

"You see, you even resemble him" replied the woman calmly.

"How?"

"He's stubborn too, he stands up for his opinion all the time, you may not believe me, but you are very much like each other" replied Natalia, to which Nick let out a nervous laugh.

"Maybe, but I'm definitely not him." Nick replied, then stood up from the couch.

"If that's all then we can go back now, believe me it's been a really long night for me and Judy" sighed Nick straightening up.

"Yeah, sure... I'll walk you guys" Natalia sighed. All three of them headed out the door so Nick and Judy could finish their long night.

"Well it was nice to see you mum, see you later" Nick said giving his mum one last hug. As they hung up, Natalia grabbed her son's arm getting his attention.

"Promise me that once you find him, you'll come visit us" Natalia said. Nick sighed heavily. He didn't want to promise something that might not come true. He resented his dad all the time. Despite his mum's stories, he still wasn't sure of his better variety

"If I can see and believe that he's changed for good," Nick replied, then started after Judy towards the car.