Chapter 3: Mom

Waiting, he braces the impact of the bullet and the metal barrel smashing against his vulnerable cranium. After about ten seconds, a short, metallic sound comes from the back of his head. No explosion, just a click.

Am I dead? Nick questions himself. He takes a short breath and the cool air of that Saturday morning still penetrates his fur. Nope.

Either, he rationalizes, since I already ruled out death, someone's playing with me, or, the robber isn't bright enough to pack bullets in his gun.

Multiple of the identical clicks emerge from the gun, with less delay between each, and the same result occurs as the robber frantically finds a way to properly operate the firearm. Sure enough, the gun is empty. A metallic clink fills the air as the robber slams his empty gun to the ground.

No bullets.

Footsteps begin to register in Nick's ears. Soft, furry footsteps. He glances up and finds the robber strolling from the location of his murder attempt. He now stands about ten feet from June's deceased body, and still, with tiny steps, inches away. The unidentified mammal remains still, standing for a moment, then falls to the soft grass, making a soft rustle as he touches the plants. A sharp, needle-like bullet with an empty cartridge protrudes from his thigh.

Nick hadn't done it - and the guy sure hadn't just dropped dead. He's unconscious, Nick realizes, his head still low as he examines the victim, who still aspirates, identifiable by his chest slowly rising with each breath. Nick still lays on his deceased grandmother. So, if he's unconscious, he didn't have any disease, or if I didn't do anything, then who did? he wonders. Glancing up from his grandmother, he finds a tranquilizer gun hovering in the air. Tracing backward, past the trigger, a grey, small hand grasps the handle of the visible gun. An arm of similar color connects to the hand and attaches to the shoulder of short, leporine mammal at a distal point.

Judy.

Smiling after seeing her friend laying over June, she figures no injuries until she inches towards the dead grandmother. "Nick! What happened?" she says, slowing her pace and inching toward her. Her eyes are closed and wrinkles are visible under them.

"I'm sorry, Judy," he says, cuddling his head onto his grandmother's still chest.

She looks Nick in the eyes, then down at the grandmother. "You said my first name. Something's up. And she's on the ground. Something's really up."

"It's the sky, Carrots, if that's what you're wondering," he smiles slightly and cheers the mood slightly. "But, Carrots, she-" he nods slightly, tears flooding his eyes. "She didn't want to be taken to the hospital. The last thing she said was 'grandpa'."

The word last chills her to the bone. She begins to shake her head, side to side, very subtly, and then, after a moment, progresses it into a violent head shaking, not progressing any further to end up snapping her neck. She stops and violently weeps into her hands. "You can't tell me she–"

"She's gone," he says, tears flowing down his cheeks.

As they approach his bedroom, the scent of his room again become detectable. Judy sits on his bed, next to him. Judy wipes his tears away with her finger. "It's my fault she's gone."

His jaw drops halfway open. "Your fault?" he lifts both eyebrows up, pivoting his head slightly to the right. "I'm the one who tried to protect her. You had nothing to do with this," he lifts both paws, palms up, in a comfortable position in front of himself.

She wipes her eyes with her arm. "No. I was the one who killed her. I interrupted that conference. I was the one who said that it wasn't fair that prey are treated unfairly."

He furrows his eyebrows. "And how is that connected to the violence?"

She wets her teeth with her tongue. "They're hunting me."

"Oh, Carrots," he palms his face and remains still for a moment. Slowly, he lifts his face from his palm and starts to smell the air purposely. "Um..."

"What are you doing?"

After a short delay, he says: "Smelling."

She rolls her eyes. "That's obvious. I know you smell something, but what do you smell?"

"One thing that you did not know-" he stops sniffing and manages a momentary grin. "Foxes have the ability to smell feelings."

"What? Smell feelings? What are you talking about?"

He continues to sniff the air and his eyes widen. "You don't need to go to the bathroom, do you?"

"What type of question is that?" she looks at him skeptically. "You're really giving me the creeps. Cut it out."

He continues to smell and stops once again. "Oops. That's not discomfort. That's guilt," he pauses, then continues. "Yeah. That's right," he ceases at his smelling frenzy. "You feel guilty."

Her eyes widen. "What? How did you know that?"

He rolls his eyes. "Geez, Carrots. I told you twice already. Foxes can smell feelings."

She shakes her head and stomps her foot on the ground. "I know that. But how? How do you smell feelings?"

He grins. "Why didn't you ask? That's simple. We have such a keen sense of smell that we can smell the differences in sweat."

Judy can feel her face flush red beneath her fur. "Perspiration? You can smell my sweat?"

He nods. "Each type of emotion has a different smell," he points at her. "I was having trouble with guilt and discomfort because they both smell about the same."

She nods. "I get it now. So, when you were younger, your mom could tell your true feelings just by smelling you?"

Nick nods. "Yes," he pauses. "You know what else?" he smirks. "The only feeling we can't detect is boredom. It has no sweat smell, so it's impossible to detect it."

"Let's get back to where we were - I know I feel guilty. But what type of guilt do I have?"

"No need to smell for that," he looks at her. "You have survivor's guilt, Judy," he rubs her head. "It's normal for someone to have it when a someone else experiences something tragic."

"Thanks," Judy smiles at him for a minute, and her ear perks up. "Someone's here," she glances over to the sidewalk, where four figures - one ahead of the other three - walk up the pavement to June's body.

Nick is already walking out. "C'mon, Carrots. You're not the only one who can hear," he smiles and holds his hand up in the air. "Hey, it's Officer Fangmeyer," he grasps the tiger's paw and shakes it. "Nice to see you in a long time."

"Wilde," he chuckles a bit. "The last time I saw you was this morning. In the break room."

"That's right," he realizes he still grasps Fangmeyer's hand. "Oops," he releases his grip and stands to the side. "What are you guys here for?"

"We were on duty across the street and saw you guys over here. We were going to check to see what is with the unconscious person over there on the grass."

Judy frowns. "I almost forgot about him," she looks at the towering officer. "Nick's grandma-"

"Let me see," he interrupts, walking over to the grandmother. She still lay in the same position. Fangmeyer gasps lightly as he examines the wound underneath her still paws. "I'm terribly sorry, Wilde. You know, things do happen like this to a lot of people, especially of our own," he turns around and starts walking away. "I'll grab the mortuary gear from the car, and be sure the three buffoons stay where they are," he motions toward them, makes an unintelligible hand gesture, and continues his journey to the car.

"I just don't know why she had to go like this," he says, pausing. "When I came home those days, she'd say she'd die from natural causes at 110," he laughs, then closes his eyes and frowns. "But she barely made it under 95."

By this time Fangmeyer returns with the mortuary equipment and carefully transfers June's body to the stretcher with Nick's assistance. "Wilde," he says while he does this, "it's just a part of life. We see it all the time. And don't tell the boss–" he leans in closer to Nick as he finishes preparing the body. "–but I'm sure you'll see her again. She'll be watching you every day."

"Well, I hope," he manages a smile. "Well, thanks for the help. Take good care of ol' grandma. She's fragile."

"At first glance, it didn't appear so," he shrugs and looks toward the three officers, slowly sipping coffee. "Hey, won't one you idiots have sympathy on an old tiger and help me carry this poor grandma to the car?" In an instant, one of them quickly rushes over and snags the other end of the stretcher. After a moment, Fangmeyer stops abruptly and the other officer nearly falls over. "Oh, I forgot. When are you planning to hold the funeral services?"

Nick looks up from his daydream. "What? - oh, does tomorrow sound okay?"

Fangmeyer looks back at the two officers in the corner and the other with his paws holding the stretcher. "Do we have time to honor Officer Wilde's grandma, boys?"

The three officers, all drinking coffee, quickly look at Fangmeyer. "Yes, Officer Fangmeyer," they all say simultaneously.

Fangmeyer returns to his duty and stands. "See you tomorrow, Wilde," he says, resuming his transportation of the prepared body. The two remaining officers cuff the unconscious perpetrator and drag him in the same direction.

Judy smiles at the clean front yard, then looks at him and her smile instantly fades. "You're crying again?" Sure enough, Nick's eyes are bloodshot and tears cover them. "And, may I point out, right in front of your fellow officers?"

He nods, wiping away tears with his palm. "It's how you express true feelings, Carrots. It's called being emotional, but I don't do it that much, so enjoy it."

She smiles. "I will," she runs towards the fox and wraps her arms around his waist.

Nick bends down and returns the hug, whispering into her ear: "And you said you didn't want a PDA," and they separate after a few seconds.

She looks at him. "Where are you going to live now?"

Nick pulls out a ring of keys. "I'm living here, Carrots. At least I'm not living alone. I've got Ja-"

At the inopportune moment, Jack walks downstairs in front of Nick and Judy, carrying two suitcases. He smiles and sets them down, taking a large, confident breath.

Nick looks at him skeptically. "What are you doing?"

He looks at Nick, grinning. "I'm gonna get out of here. I've been waiting for 11 years to get out of here!" he shouts happily, pulling Nick into a hug. "Love you, bro," he shakes Judy's hand. "It's nice to meet you. Judy, is it?" he says, picking up the suitcases and sprinting out without waiting for a reply. "Wahoo!" he runs around the corner and disappears.

Nick blinks away tears. "Losing one member of my family is already bad enough. But two?" he stands for a moment and puts his face into his hands. "I'm going to be all alone," he removes his hands from his face. "I guess living alone is better than living in the street. Or in a tiny apartment."

Judy grins. "No," she places her hands on her hips, leaning forward. "Here's what I say: living with me is better than living by yourself."

He looks at her, raising an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

She rolls her eyes. "I don't want to put too much of a burden on you, but I want to live here with you. Do you mind? The last thing I want is you to be lonely."

He raises his eyebrows slightly, flashes a slight grin, then relaxes his face. "No, I don't mind," he says, and Judy about says something, but he puts his finger in the air. "Under a few conditions."

She sighs. "Oh, Nick. Always you," she looks at him seriously. "Fine, shoot. I mean, how bad can they be?"

He grins, tapping his index finger on the front door handle. "First, at this point in time, I don't think it would be okay for us to sleep in the same room, let alone the same bed. There is a twenty-five hundred foot room in there; we might as well take advantage of it."

Judy puts on a grin as she finds a loophole. "Emphasis on 'this point in time'," she grins and playfully taps his arm. "So, you are hoping for that to happen, you sly fox!"

"I didn't say I was hoping that would happen, Carrots," he smiles again. "All I said is that I don't think it would be okay at this point in time. We're friends, not a romantic couple, okay?"

"Fine," she frowns. "Is that it?"

"No," he retorts, placing his index finger on his middle and index fingers of his opposite paw. "Second, I don't want to pay for all the bills on the house," he smiles and creates the rule at that specific moment. "So, I want you to pay your specific portion, at least half."

She rolls her eyes. "Yes, okay," she humorously bows down to him as if he is a king. "Oh, righteous king," She says in a deep male voice, "What other requests doth thou have?"

He rolls his eyes, smiling. "He places his index finger on his three center fingers of his opposing hand. "And three, you must pay for all," he points at her. "And I mean all, of the groceries."

Her eyes widen, retreating her hands to her sides, looking at him incredulously. "I'm supposed to pay for all of the groceries?"

Nick bites his cheek to keep from laughing, but a snicker sneaks out. "You're so gullible, Carrots. I'll put a requirement of your portion. If you binge buy, you pay for it, unless it's your birthday or something."

She nods. "That's better," she pauses, scanning the room. "Getting back to our original conversation - if I can't sleep in your room, then where do I sleep? On the floor?"

He nods, looking completely serious. "Although, there's still that vacant box at the toy store…"

She places her hands on her hips. "Seriously? Is this a joke?"

He chuckles, smirking. "Alright, Carrots, I was kidding. You can take my grandma's room."

She turns and smiles. "See you later. Gotta grab my stuff from my apartment and cancel it."

Twenty minutes later, after cleaning his grandma's incredibly hideous clothing off the floor and arranging furniture, Nick hears a crack of thunder and the patter of rain. He looks out the window, and to no surprise, sees heavy rain streaming over everything like fairy dust. He checks his phone for a reply from the text he had sent, asking her if she was okay in the rain, but she had failed to answer. He texts a couple more hesitant messages, retreats to the front room couch, and anxiously waits for her to arrive.

After about ten minutes, she knocks and her small voice echoes through the door. "Nick, it's me."

Nick raises his eyebrows slightly after he opens the door. She stands in the doorway, two wet suitcases hanging from her hands. Her ruffled fur drips water particles which dribble onto the already damp porch. He retrieves the suitcases from her soaked paws, sets them on the ground, and silently ushers Judy into the house by placing his hand on her soaked shirt. "What happened? Couldn't you have stayed under an awning or something?"

She shivers. "I-it hit m-me when I was walking fr-from the car a-as I got out. There was nothing to h-hide under."

He begins to walk away, leaving her standing on the linoleum floor. "The bathroom's right there," he points to a door across the living room. "I'll grab you a towel and I'll warm another one in the dryer. Although, if you want me to lead me in there, I can if you want."

"You're so nice," she remains in her position. "I think I'll wait for you."

Nick quickly returns to where she remains. He unfolds the towel and lays it over her shoulders. He gently ushers her across the living room, oblivious to the puddles she creates with each step. After reaching their destination, he kindly opens the door to the restroom and leads her inside. "The warm towel will be here in a minute," before walking off, he stops the door from closing. "Wait. Don't you need your suitcase?"

"Actually, I do. It's the purple one with the red flowers," she says.

"Okay," he picks up the correct suitcase and hands it to Judy. She smiles and pulls it and herself into the bathroom. Nick retreats to the dryer and returns, bringing it to her just in time. After a moment, she returns with a blue t-shirt and black, pants. "Do I look okay?"

"You're alright," he inspects her head. "Albeit..." he says, retrieving the warm towel from her and rubbing the top of her head with it, then he wets his finger with his tongue and begins to near her, but she slowly backs away. "What are you doing?"

"Don't worry, Carrots," he wets his tongue again, and this time, she doesn't move. It takes a couple of tries, but he manages to flatten the abnormal fur sticking up on her head. "There."

"Was I supposed to like that?" she asks hesitantly. "I don't feel normal feeling like that."

"Carrots, I won't tell anyone. Besides, this isn't romantic at all. I was just concerned about your physical appearance."

"Hey," she offers a short hug to him. "Thanks for the help."

He smirks at her. "Enjoy it. I'm not usually this nice," he smiles at her for a moment, and his eyes widen, slapping his hand over his face. "I forgot. Why'd I forget? Of all things, I forgot that!"

She looks at him. "What do you mean, 'you forgot?'" She wiggles her fingers on the last couple words.

He takes out his phone. "I forgot to call my mom about my grandma," he groans. "My mom, her own daughter..." he dials the number and holds it to his ear.

His mom picks up. Her voice is medium-high but doesn't squeak. "Hello?"

"Hey, mom," Nick says, staring at Judy.

"Nick? You haven't called me for a while. You sound depressed. What's up, Nickety-Nick?"

He slaps his hand over his face. "Please, mom, don't use that name. You know it's really embarrassing for me," he says, and as he says this, Judy's eyes spark with curiosity.

Nick's mom sighs on the other end. "Alright. What's up, Nick?"

He smiles, then frowns at the curious Judy. "Much better," he looks away from her, blinking away tears. "Today something bad happened," he chokes on the words.

"What, Nick?" his mother replies faintly.

He sighs and begins to sob lightly. "Grandma, sh-she…"

She gasps. "No, you don't mean…"

He cuts her off. "I'm sad too," it becomes harder for him to speak. "She passed over two hours ago."

His mom sobs for a moment, and manages to speak. "I'll be right over."

He immediately stops crying, his eyes filling with horror. "No, mom. Don't… I mean… you can't. Please don't."

"I will, and that's that. See you in a minute, Nickety-Split."

His cheeks flush. "Mom, I told you not to say the previous one, but that one is even worse–" she hangs up, stopping him.

He looks at Judy. "Great. First, she calls me a name I don't like, now she's coming over."

Judy begins to jump lightly. "It would be nice to meet her."

He frowns, walking up to her. "No, it wouldn't," he points at her. "For you, maybe. For me, no. There is no way you are going to meet her, and we are going to keep it that way," he backs up. "In fact, when she gets here, I'm going to talk to her and get her away as fast as possible, way before you to say a word to her."

She frowns. "Not where she's concerned. I'm going to meet her, unless," she points at him. "You tell me that name she calls you," she taps her head. "Wait a minute, not one, there's two. There's two she calls you, and I want to know both."

He looks at her calmly. "Using my own medicine against me, aren't we?" He shakes his head. "No way, Carrots. I'm not telling you the names. You'll use them at work, and I'll be teased senseless."

She shrugs. "You'll have to choose, then. Either I meet her, or you tell me both names she calls you. Either I get a passive association with her, or you're embarrassed to tell your friend something quite simple to say."

His eyes fill with horror. "Alright!" he backs up, covering his face with his hands. "She calls me Nickety-Nick or Nickety-Split. There, you heard 'em."

Judy covers her mouth to keep from laughing. Nick looks at her and throws his hands in the air. "Great. Now I've got my own friend teasing me. What's next, my future wife?"

She stands up, giggling. "Sorry," she lets out another giggle. "It's cute, that's all."

He looks at Judy. "Now I'm cute? If you can call me cute, then, why can't I?"

She looks at him blankly. "First, I called the name cute," she points at him. "To answer your question, it's because bunnies have been called cute for years, and we've become tired of it. So, stop asking."

He backs up. "Geez, Carrots, don't get defensive."

She looks at him. "Now back to the question of before," she raises both eyebrows, eyes wide. "Does your mom even know I exist?"

He shakes his head. "No, and like I said before, we're going to keep it that way since you agreed."

She frowns. "Ok, fine," she lights up. "How about we go watch a movie? It's like ten-thirty. It'll be lunch soon."

Nick is opening the door, already heading downstairs. "Good idea. C'mon, slowpoke."

As they open the door to the downstairs room – a large, spacious room with a large, electric couch with touch-sensor footrests, an eighty-inch television screen, and carpeted with comfortable, 1/2-inch-thick carpet – Judy's eyes light up with curiosity and she plants herself on the couch, then puts her arms behind her head and stares at the blank TV screen. "Now this is the life."

"For once in my life, I must agree with you," Nick sits beside her, about a foot space between them. "It's a nice place, isn't it?"

"Are we here to relax – and don't get me wrong, I like this – or are we here to watch the movie?"

"How about we relax and watch the movie," he stands up, scrambles toward the movie cabinet, and quickly retrieves a movie without any second opinion. He places the disc into the player, hoping she hadn't seen the title. Unfortunately for him, she had discovered already. "Why'd we have to do the Avengeers? Can't we watch something else?"

He turns to her. "Sorry, Carrots, but it's only fair. I got to tell you those names, and we're not even until we watch my favorite movie," he plops onto the couch next to her.

She grins. "Alright, Nickety-Split."

He turns to his friend, fuming. "Hey. I told you the name; I didn't say you could call me it."

She shrugs. "Sorry, Nickety-Split. What's it going to take to let me?"

He frowns. "I said, stop," he yells. He quickly smirks. "To call me those names, you'll have to pamper me with all you've got."

She frowns. "Don't I pay attention to you enough?"

He shakes his head. "Yes, you do, but pampering is not just paying attention to someone."

She looks at him. "Well, what does it mean, then?"

He already has his phone out, and he presses a few buttons before holding it to his mouth. "Hey Zoogle, define pamper."

The device quickly finds an answer. "The main definition of pamper is 'indulge with every attention, comfort, and kindness; spoil.'"

Judy frowns at Nick's enticing smile as he places his phone next to him. "So not only do I have to pay attention to you, but I also have to comfort you, be nice to you, and not only that, spoil you? What's that all about? I do that enough already!"

"Carrots," he frowns. "Your version of pampering is spilling coffee on my lap."

"Can you please stop bringing that up?" she yells, frowning. "I told you – that was an accident! You were completely fine despite the searing pain–"

"That's quite enough," Nick partially covers his face with his paw, holding the other out to her. "Can we just get on with the movie now? We'll talk about pampering later. And please, those mortifying moments are mortifying enough without you bringing them up."

She sighs, muttering a "fine," and rolls her eyes, then looks at the TV, which is now on. After a few minutes of Nick's attempts to start the movie, he manages to get it to turn on.

"There we go," he says, lying back, eyes focusing on the TV as the beginning scenes begin to flash on the screen. Judy, with short, centimeter-like movements, begins to move over to Nick. At first, he doesn't notice until her hip touches his. Then, he scoots a little bit further away without a word. Finally, she starts with inch-like movements, now reaching him three times faster than earlier. He now recognizes that she purposely is moving onto him, and as politely as possible, starts to push her away, eyes facing the screen. "Stop it, Carrots. Personal space is what I need right now. I don't want any pampering right now."

She again tries to move into him. "The pampering didn't start yet."

He shoves her away, eyes now off the screen. "You should still listen to me. What are you trying to do, cuddle?" She now moves in foot-like movements, reaching him multiple times before he begins to shove her away.

She nods. "Yes, I am. Now let me," she again tries to resist his resentments and again moves in on him.

His eyes again return to the screen. "Please stop, Carrots," this time, he tries to stand from his current spot, but falls back down with her strong grip.

She jumps on him, making him fall flat on his back on the couch. "Stop, Carrots," he yells, and she paws him in the stomach, lightly at first, then quicker and firmer.

He begins to giggle lightly. Judy looks at him in shock. "You're ticklish?" She starts to paw his stomach more rapidly. "Please stop," he pleads, pushing the bunny away for the next countless time.

The door to the basement opens, and Nick's parents walk in. His mom looks at him incredulously. "What are you doing?" Slowly moving in onto the two mammals, her face is visible now, a look of anger on it. She angrily stares at both animals.

Judy now sits next to Nick, and he stares between Judy and his mom.

I'm in trouble, the thought runs through his mind, and I don't like the feeling of this.