Chapter 16: He's My Best Friend

A fox intervenes in his best friend's life.

After the red fox had received the call from Trisha over at the Regency Hotel, Nick didn't go to Jake's place when he got off of work. Instead he found himself standing in front of Marie's apartment still in his police uniform and giving a long sigh, he rang the doorbell.

There was a rattling of a chain followed by the door being cracked open before a cute female skunk peeked from behind the door. "How may I help you officer?" she asked.

"I would like to speak to Marie, my name is Nick Wilde," the fox replied. "Is she available?"

The door closed and he could hear voices, then there was the rattling of the chain again and the door was opened by an attractive female raccoon. Her eyes were puffy and there were tear streaks matting her fur. "He lied to me!" she sniffled.

"No, he just didn't tell you everything that he should have," the fox said while he slipped his dark blue uniform windbreaker off and draped it over his arm. "May we talk?"

The raccoon nodded before she stepped back into the apartment's den and motioned for him to take a seat. The skunk had retreated to her room and shut the door.

"Look, Marie, Jake is a child of the streets," the fox began after he had hung his jacket by the door and sat down on a chair. "It's hard for us to be open about things with others, we learn early to suppress our emotions and bury them deep within ourselves in order not to get hurt. It becomes second nature because after what we've been through it difficult to open up to even those we trust. For years it drove Judy nuts and I didn't mean to treat her that way, heck I didn't even know I was doing it."

"So are you saying that there is more that he didn't tell me?"

"I'm not sure what he's already told you, but let me tell you what I know about him. I know he's never passed a beggar on the street who needed help without giving something, often too much. That he sometimes sneaks into the old church a few blocks from the hotel just to leave money in the poor box and tries not to get caught doing it. He is also very insecure and hates being all by himself, which I can understand having been left alone as a child for long periods of time too because I had a single parent just like Jake did. Jake also has a tendency to be over generous with his friends, almost as if he thinks he has to buy their friendship. I'm sure that's because when he lived on River Street and he really used to have to buy time with his first real friends. He believes in second chances, most of his employees were once criminals who have gone straight and I've seen him go face to face with the Chief of Detectives to defend them."

"But what about Mister Big, why didn't he tell me about the mafia?"

"So Mister Big is a friend of his? He's really not a bad guy, did Jake tell you that Judy is good friends with Mister Big's daughter Fru Fru and godmother to his granddaughter little Judy?"

She shook her head no.

"Mister Big is more complicated than just another mobster," Nick continued. "He's twice forgiven me and I betrayed him. Those two never cross paths professionally, but in some ways Jake looks at the shrew almost as a surrogate father and I know the Mister Big considers him almost like a son. So life is complicated in the big city, we all know that."

"How did you know that Jake and I had a fight?" the raccoon skeptically asked the fox. "Did Jake ask you to come here and talk to me?"

"He doesn't even know I'm here," Nick answered. "Look, there are a lot of folks who care deeply for Jake, you two were seen having a fight at the hotel and someone concerned called me. Instead of going to console my best friend, I came here to see you. "

"Why?"

"Because he loves you! He loves you deeply and I don't want him to blow the only chance he has for finding happiness because he's just being…well, being Jake!"

She stared at the floor, but didn't reply. After years of being a con artist, Nick could easily read others' emotions and he could tell that she was torn with uncertainty about where to go after this.

"Marie, look at me!" he pleaded. "Please tell me the truth…do you love Jake?"

She looked up at him with tears streaming down her muzzle and nodded. Then a voice spoke out from behind them and Nick could see the skunk was standing in her room's doorway. "So girl if you love him, why are you just sitting here? Now let's get you cleaned up so you can find that raccoon!"

Nick began to stand, but then the female raccoon launched herself into his arms. "Thank you!" she cried while she clung to him with a hug. "Thank you for being his best friend."

The fox hugged her back. "Your welcome," he chuckled. "So go clean up and let's go find that dunderhead before he gets himself in anymore trouble."

"You mean he's not at the hotel?" she asked.

"I doubt it, but I do know where he goes when he really needs to think," the fox answered.

Jake sat in the very back corner pew inside the old church. It wasn't a grand building like the cathedral several blocks away, which had soaring marble towers and grand stained glass windows. No, this church was simple with wooden walls and worn stained carpet. This was a working mammal's church that cared more for the community around it then any fancy statues of saints. The church's alter was a simple table with a faded piece of linen covering the top. Two stone statues, one of the Mighty Lion and the other of the Meek Lamb adorned the table along with two brass candlesticks. There was nothing grand about this place but to the raccoon, it had a sense of peace and hope.

"There you are my friend," a voice spoke from the narthex. "What storm are you seeking shelter from tonight?"

Jake looked over at the priest in his simple black worn robe and white collar, he recalled the stormy night they first met. It was after he had stolen some illegal blood diamonds and feared that he had lost his best friend because he had returned to burglary after promising Nick he never would. The priest had greeted him that night with the old river boatmammal's saying "Any port in a storm, my son."

The otter sat down next to him on the pew. "What ails you tonight, my son?" the priest asked after he put a calloused paw tenderly on the raccoon's hunched back.

"How did you know I was here?" the raccoon asked, still looking down at the floor. "I tried not to make any noise."

"The Poor Box was stuffed to overflowing again," the otter answered with a shrug. "So I knew it was you. What is wrong?"

"I lost the woman I loved tonight. Too many secrets, I was ashamed to tell her everything about my life."

"Ashamed? Were you ashamed of what you did or did you fear she would be ashamed of who you were?"

"Both!" Jake replied as he wiped his eyes with his paws. "I've done some bad things in my life."

"That's what forgiveness is about," the otter replied with a kind smile. "Forgiveness and redemption."

"Some things cannot be forgiven," the raccoon said bitterly. "I am responsible for the death of someone and he was a priest just like you."

"Did he deserve to die?' the otter asked.

Jake looked at the priest in astonishment. "No one deserves to die?" he said in disbelief.

"So why did you killed him? Why did you do it if he did not deserve to die?"

"I didn't kill him, but led him to his doom and left him to die. I'm responsible for his death!"

"Perhaps?" the priest replied

"I left him on a platform on an icy pond, where the ice was too thin for him to walk upon. I just wanted to punish him for killing my friends!" Jake cried out in anguish. "I would have called the cops to get him, but I had this stone that he wanted more than anything else and so I threw it just out of his reach just to make him suffer. He walked onto the ice to get it and drowned when it broke. I led him to his slaughter, who can anyone forgive me for that?"

"He chose his own fate," the priest softly answered. "If this is who I think you are talking about, his arrogance and misguided beliefs killed him not you."

"But!" the raccoon started again and then just hung his head in shame.

"If you are seeking forgiveness, then ask for it and if you truly are seeking it…well it will be granted," the priest said as he folded his paws in prayer.

"It can't be that simple?"

"It is, my son. It is that simple, ask and you shall receive. It's called redemption."

She found him knelling next to the priest before alter. Quietly she knelt next to him and took his paw.

In the doorway to the chapel, a red fox in a police uniform leaned against the wall and smiled while he watched.

Author's Notes:

Jake broke into a mansion to steal some illegal blood diamonds from their sleazy owner in Sins of Our Fathers, Chapter 19: A Broken Promise. He had further embarrassed the mansion's owner by dressing as the video game character Sly Cooper. Later that same night, he broke back into the same mansion and returned them to the safe, where the police discovered them after receiving a tip of their whereabouts from Melinda Velt.