Chapter 7

"Aw come on! You gotta to go with Hopps-Wilde." Natalie joyfully jeered Judy. "I mean it totally fits, doesn't it? Judy Hopps-Wilde." She wiggled her eyebrows at the innuendo.

Judy couldn't help but smirk as she rolled her eyes, glad Nick wasn't as bawdy as his sister.

"That's one of the reasons why we're going with Wilde-Hopps." Little Marian giggled in the bunny's arms.

It had been some months since Judy's tenacity brought the Wilde family back together, every visit since seemed to only bring more joy for them all. They had begun in earnest to plan for the wedding, but today they had taken a break from looking at caterers and banquet halls. They just wanted to enjoy some family time.

While Natalie joked with Judy as she played with Marian, Nick was in the kitchen with his mother. He wasn't much of a cook, but he could wash a mean set of dishes. As quick as she dirtied a bowl with batter or some other mixture ready to become something edible, he dashed it into the soapy waters and scrubbed them to complete cleanliness. But his efforts were not as welcome as he would have wanted.

"You don't need to be bounding around me like that Nicky. I can take care of the dishes later; Go spend some time with your fiance and sister."

"But I want to spend time with you."

Marie-Ann could feel a warm tear welling up in her eye. Nick had been trying to make up for lost time with her and she loved that he was trying. She just wished he would stop getting in the way of her cooking.

"Do you bother Judy this much when she cooks?"

"No."

"Yes he does!" Judy shouted from the living room, which was followed by the two girls' laughing.

"Only because I don't want you burning down the apartment!"

Marie-Ann chuckled. "Let me work. I can take care of the dishes later. You go enjoy the company of your family." She kissed him on the cheek and turned him toward the door.

Nick took in the contrasting sight before him. Judy, raised with the manners to always dress up for a family dinner, was wearing a sundress of vivid blues and purples. Natalie, on the other hand, had a different approach. This was just another meal in the place she lives. No need to dress up. So she wore dark shirt with some indecipherable logo of a metal band that looked more like wreckage from a plane crash than words and a pair of jeans Nick wasn't sure were pre-torn by the store or if she just put a lot of miles on them. She topped off with a black bandana tied between her ears. Nick knew his sense of fashion might not be the most glamorous, with his assortment of Pawiian shirts, but at least he didn't look like a roadie.

Slowly making his way across the room, he looked at the photos on the wall. Marie-Ann began rehanging his photos the day after he came back. He stopped at one she put on the mantle. It was one of the few photos he remembered taking with his dad. They had gone camping that weekend and little Nick was sitting next to him on a picnic table. That trip was where he first taught Nick the special song. After they ended up burning most of the marshmallows, his mom went to bed but his dad pulled out his guitar and told him the legacy of the song.

"And one day, kiddo, you're going to meet someone who's going to change your life forever. Your heart's going to skip beats, your mind is going to go a million miles a minute and be at a dead stop at the same time."

"That sounds painful pa."

He laughed that deep throaty chuckle like always. "In a way it is. But it will make you want to sing her a song. A very special song. But it's just so much more…."

Nick was never too fond of camping, but that weekend was different.

He turned to the trio of girls, still chatting away, and smiled. Bending down, he kissed Judy between the ears.

"I'm going to go for a walk. I'll be back before dinner."

"Where you going?"

"Around." He shrugged and began fanning himself like there was an offending odor. "Want to get some fresh air. Too much estrogen in here."

"Okay." She said, but with her drooping ears and wide eyes he knew she meant "Is everything alright?"

His smile widened with his partly lidded eyes adoring her, wordlessly telling her everything was alright.

Ever since they reunited, Nick never went beyond his mom's house. This was the first time he wandered around his old stomping grounds. There weren't as many changes as he would have figured. A few houses were a different color than what he remembered. Surprisingly old mammal Miller's yard was still filled with gaudy lawn ornaments. That fox had seemed older than dirt when he was a kid, so either they had the elixir of life or whatever family member inherited the place had the same love for gaudy lawn ornaments.

The most surprising thing to him was the lack of kids. On a bright sunny day like today, as a kit, he'd be bounding around the neighborhood. Playing with neighbor kids or just exploring. At least before he started hustling. But there was not a little ankle biter in sight.

He could almost see himself, as a tiny fox, running through the yards he was currently walking past. Getting to the end of the block he thought of turning back or maybe just going one more block up. But the phantom of little Nick took a left, through the bushes Ms Reynard loved more than her own children. Obviously the new owners were a tad more apathetic towards the shrubs. Nick followed his phantom, not through the bushes though. He was a bit too big for that.

Zigzagging across the streets, Nick followed his little imaginary self. The young apparition laughed and chortled, the older, realer one chuckled and chuffed. Nick had no idea where little Nick was going but it sure wasn't a straight line. It reminded him of one of the comics in the newspaper. The one where the young son would wander around with a little dashed line showing the reader what kind of ridiculous route the boy had taken.

But then he stopped. Nick stared at his imaginary self confused. He stopped in front of a valley or park, he could see rolling hills of green in his peripheral. His little self turned and looked at him. Nick felt like that wasn't something that was supposed to happen. He turned back towards the park and Nick finally looked up. He knew where he was.

Oakwood Cemetery.

When he looked back, little Nick was gone. Vanished back into his mind. Nick started walking again. Walking to the only place he knew there. He'd only been here a smattering of times as a child, but he could never forget the way. He got there quickly at just a casual pace, he marveled at how long it seemed to take as a child.

Sitting atop one of the hills that ran through the cemetery, Nick could just see the entrance he just came through. It was a simple headstone. No etchings of fox tailed angels or words of scripture. Even if they had money for it, he didn't think his father would have wanted it.

Thomas Loxley Wilde

Loving Father and Husband

Nick patted the stone marker, his own engagement band clicking against it. "Hey dad."

He waited for his heart to beat again. "It's been a while."

Sighing, he closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead. What was he doing here? Of all the places he would amble to it had to be here. What good is talking to a slab of rock going to do?

But he could hear what his father would say to him. "It sure has, kiddo."

Looking up Nick saw a new apparition. A fox in corduroy pants and denim shirt. Just like in the photo when they went camping. His eyes were a darker shade of green than his son's but they beamed just as bright.

"Finally made up with mom." Nick choked out after gaining his composure.

Thomas' smile deepened. "About damn time. Good to see all of my family together again."

"And… uh…" he held up his hand showing off the ring. "I'm getting married."

Holding his gut Thomas let out a great guffaw. "Someone finally wrangled my little lady killer to finally settle down? So who's the poor vixen that has to deal with you for the rest of her life?"

"The… ah… vixen, is a rabbit. Judy Hopps."

"A rabbit?" His eyebrow raised teasingly. "No decent fox girls willing to capture my son's heart?"

"A few tried. But none of them… None of them bothered looking too deep into me. But Judy?" Nick smiled thinking back on their gonadal ride out of the Rainforest District all those years ago, "You told me that romancing mom was like a whirlwind. Judy was like a tornado. An unstoppable force."

"With you in dead center of her path." The illusion finished his thought.

Nick chuckled at the thought of a tornado Judy, full of fluffy optimism and bright purple eyes.

"Oo de lally, sounds like you got yourself a great gal." Nick had almost forgot that his father loved using that exclamation. Hearing it again brought up a flood of memories of him using it flashing through his mind.

"Yeah, before her I was… I wasn't a fox you'd be proud of."

"I wouldn't say that exactly. I'm proud of your wits. What you did with them might have been…" He rolled his paws around thinking of how to finish.

Nick finished it for him, "Morally ambiguous?"

His phantom father laughed, "I was going to go with technically legal, but that's good too."

Even though this was just some illusion, some kind of trickery of his own mind, it felt good. But it also hurt. It was a taste of what life could have been like. What it should be like if Thomas hadn't made such a tragic decision.

"Why'd you do it dad? I know how hard dreams are but we're your family. How could you leave us like that?"

The jovial smile faded from the phantom's muzzle.

"I didn't mean to."

"What the hell does that mean?" Nick slammed his paw on the headstone.

"It means," He put his illusionary paw over Nick's, who felt a warmth that was very much real, "I didn't do it. I admit that it did crossed my mind that night, but I could never do it. And I never meant to leave you. Any of you. I made it a rule never to go higher than the third bridge but I was too distraught to realize where I was. It was wet from the morning rain and I wasn't paying attention and slipped."

Nick saw sparkling tears falling from his father's face and realized his own face was just as wetted down. Thomas stepped through his headstone and wrapped his arms around his son. Nick felt the rough denim of the shirt against his fur. The earthiness of Thomas' scent filled his nostrils. Spirituality was not one of Nick's strong suits. While some of the other low lifes he's known had some ritual or charm that would help them get good luck, Nick only needed his wits. No little chant, awkward dance, or bauble was going to make a hustle go better. And right now every bit of his wits were telling him that he was hugging his dearly departed father and not some imagined apparition.

"I never meant to leave you. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

"I miss you dad."

"I know." Thomas leaned out of the hug. "Take care of the girls for me."

"Goes without saying, Pops."

Thomas arched an eyebrow, "Pops?"

"What? Last time I saw you I was still calling you daddy. How about old man? Or Daddy-o?"

Thomas' paw rose up to Nick's neck, his thumb stroking his cheek. "I love you, little Nicky."

"I love you too, dad."

"Do me a favor, though. Have Judy take Nat clothes shopping. She'll never find a good mate looking like she's hauling gear for Panthertera."

"Looks like we feel the same about her fashion sense."

Nick's ear twitched as he heard footsteps behind him. Turning he saw Judy making her way up the hill towards him..

"Who else is up here with you?" She asked.

Nick looked back and saw that his father had gone.

"Just me and dad." He rubbed the top of the headstone.

"I thought I saw someone else up here when I was down at the entrance."

In general it's best not to lie to one's wife, or soon to be wife in Nick's case, but he was still processing exactly what happen.

"Must have been seeing things, Carrots."

"Dinner's been ready. Your mom thought you might have made your way here." She looked at the headstone, reading the meager inscription. "I wish I could have met him."

"Me too. He would have loved you."

"You think so?" She grabbed his paw and began walking back to the Wilde household.

"I know so."

"And why's that?"

"He'd love you because I love you." Nick leaned down and kissed Judy on the cheek.

She wrapped herself around his arm.

"Can we name our first son Thomas?" Nick asked.

Judy stopped. "Our first son?"

Nick pulled her back into motion, "Yeah, first. As in there will be more after that. I mean, you are a rabbit right? Good at multiplying and all that. Just kind of assumed that you'd want a mess load of kits."

He could swear he could feel her blushing against his arm. "Not a mess load. A few. We don't have the money nor the means to have a family like my parents'." She squeezed his arm tightly. "But yes, we'll name him Thomas."