Important: Last update I said I was focusing on my original novel and so now I am promoting myself as an author. Some of you mentioned enjoying my writing style in your reviews and so I thought you might want to follow me and my updates concerning my upcoming novel Forever Twenty One. I'm making the updates on facebook at /ToriConleyAuthor.
Anyway, this chapter is a request and the idea I mentioned planning to do but not getting to it back in April. Enjoy!
Jenny pops up out of bed wide eyed and with a grin on her face. "Saturday!" She leaps from the bed and zips out of her room. She races toward Judy's room and throws the door open. "Time for fun." She throws herself onto the bed and bounces lightly. "Come on mommy."
Judy groans and rolls over, away from Jenny.
Jenny puffs out her lip. "I waited till ten, just like you said. So come. On." She shakes Judy by the shoulder.
Judy covers her mouth as she coughs. "Not now…" She mumbles. She pulls the blankets up farther and draws them tight around her body.
Jenny's brows knit together and she frowns. She bites her lip as she thinks hard on what she should do. Within a minute she decides. She hops down and scurries off to Nick's room. She is more tentative with him and only peeks in through the sliver of the door. "Uncle Pib…"
Nick yawns and stretches his arms high above his head. He rolls over, his eyes fluttering open to reveal her blurry form. "Hey, sweetie." He offers a smile. He hangs his arm over the side. "What's up?" Usually Judy is there with her when she comes to wake him up. As the blurriness fades he notices the concern shining in her eyes and his smile falls. "Something wrong?"
Jenny's ears droop and she ducks her head. "I think something's wrong with mommy."
Nick's ears stand on end. As a cop his first thoughts are nothing good. He imagines all the worst case scenarios, only keeping a calm front for Jenny's sake. "A-Alright." He swallows hard. "Let's go see." He swings his legs over the edge and slips to the floor.
Jenny shuffles over and grabs his hand. She tugs him along toward Judy's room. When she reaches the doorway she stops and stares at the inside, where Judy lays curled up. "I think she's sick." She frowns.
Nick lets out a breath. Sick, of course. He nearly laughs, just barely catching himself. "Yeah, she did say she was feeling a bit off yesterday." He should have known it wasn't something serious. He just can't shake that cop instinct. Still, he heads into the room just to be sure. He takes a seat on the edge of her bed and leans over. "Hey Carrots, what's wrong? It's way past your wake time." He half laughs.
Judy grumbles. "I don't feel so good."
Nick lays a hand over her forehead. Hot. "When you get sick you really get sick, huh? Not just measly coughs or sniffles." He retracts his hand.
Judy manages a small smile. "At least I'm not puking my guts out like you did that one time." That was a day to remember, that's for sure.
Nick chuckles. "You got me there." He stands and returns to where Jenny waits.
Jenny peers up at Nick. "She is sick, isn't she?" She grimaces.
Nick nods. "Yep, looks like it." He knows exactly what comes next.
"Does that mean we can't go to the park today?" Jenny's gaze is full of disappointment.
Nick offers a sympathetic smile. "Fraid not sweetheart. We should be here to take care of your mother. Don't you think?"
Jenny perks and her eyes light up. "Like playing doctor?"
Nick hesitates. He isn't sure what she has in mind when she says that, hopefully not what he pictures when he hears 'playing doctor'. "Well-"
"So I get to make her food and tuck her in and stuff. Just like she does for me." She clenches her fists in anticipation.
Nick chuckles. "Yeah, just like that."
"Alright!" Jenny beams.
"So why don't you go ask her if she's hungry and what she would like." He pushes her lightly in Judy's direction.
"Okeydokey." She hurries over to Judy's side. "Hey, mom." Her voice is a whisper. "I know you don't feel good, but do you want something to eat?" She leans onto the bed, close to Judy's face.
Judy opens her eyes a sliver and peers over at Jenny. She smiles for her daughter. "Just some toast will be fine." She reaches out and ruffles Jenny's fur. "Thanks, sweetie."
Jenny giggles. "No problem!" She twirls and runs out of the room. She goes to a sharp halt when she sees that Nick is still there by the door. "Oh, you didn't go to the kitchen." She grins. "She said toast."
Nick nods. "Sounds good. You think you could find the bread for me?" He raises a brow.
Jenny nods fervently. "Yep!" She hurries forward. "And I'll beat you to the kitchen too." She yells over her shoulder.
Nick shakes his head as he trots after her. "You cheater."
Jenny giggles. "It's called a hustle sweetheart." She flashes him a grin as she opens a cabinet and carefully gets the bread out.
Nick grins from ear to ear. "That's my girl." He'll miss hearing that every day. Hopefully at the very least she'll keep saying it even without him here to hear it.
"Here ya go." She sets the bread on the counter as she bounces in place. "Anything else?"
"Good job." Nick gets out a couple pieces and slips them in the toaster. "No, you did good princess." He ruffles her fur as he pulls a plate out from a high cabinet. He wanders toward the fridge, digs through the contents to find the ginger ale, and pours Judy a glass just in time for the toast to pop up. "Wanna take it to her?" He offers the plate, but not the drink. He knows better than that. There will be a trail from here to Judy's room by the time this is over.
"Yeah!" She seizes the plate from him and zips off to Judy's room.
Nick chuckles. Just as he knew she would, she is off at the speed of light. He follows after her with the drink at a much slower pace.
Judy's ears prick and the sound of footsteps and she forces herself into a sitting position. "Ooh, room service." She smiles.
Jenny giggles. "Yep, we're so good at this." She thrusts the plate onto her mother's lap. "Breakfast is served." She steps away and bows.
Judy chuckles. "Thank you." She picks a piece up and nibbles on the edge. Another set of footsteps reaches her in the next instant and she peers over her food to see him.
Nick places the drink on the nightstand by her bed. "Your drink is served." He bows.
Judy rolls her eyes. "I see where she gets it." They are so much alike it's almost ridiculous.
"You know you love it." Nick grins as he raises up.
Judy grins. "Of course I do." They all know it well. Just like everything else he pulls.
Nick clears his throat and his expression sombers. "Are you good for now?" He eyes her with concern.
Judy nods. "Yeah, I think so. Just…tired." She coughs into her arm.
Nick's face lights up as a thought strikes him. He walks over to the dresser and nabs her walkie talkie. "Here." He holds it out to her. "If you need anything…" A shudder races up his spine. It is far too much like that time so long ago when he wasn't supposed to move and it was the best way for them to communicate at night.
Judy grimaces. She remembers those times just as well. Still, no need for that. She shakes it away and takes the device from him. She lays it by her on the nightstand and forces a smile. "Thanks, both of you."
Jenny nods with her whole body. "Your welcome mom." She beams.
Nick smiles. "Come on, sweetie." He takes Jenny by the hand and leads her outside, closing Judy's door on their way out. "So what do you want to do now?" As long as it is indoors and as long as he has his walkie talkie on him then it will be fine to get a bit distracted.
"Movie marathon!" Jenny throws her hands in the air.
Nick hushes her, but a smile split his lips in the next instant. "Sounds good to me."
Jenny pulls out their whole collection of movies and after a quick vote where her picks automatically won they settle on the cough to watch as many movies as they can possibly fit in during a single day. They don't even take breaks for meals they are so engrossed by the movies.
"The Road to El Dorado next." Jenny bounces off the cough to grab it. As her hand closes around it a voice reaches her.
"That movie bombed, you know?"
Nick starts and twists around to see Judy approaching with her blanket draw around her and trailing her like a cape. "Oh, Judy," He hops to his feet. "Are you…uh, feeling better?" He frowns. He gave her that walkie talkie for a reason dang it.
Judy lays her arms across the top of the couch and leans heavily on it. "Better enough." She coughs. "Besides, I woke up and heard you all having fun and who's to say I can't be sick and have fun at the same time."
"I say." He looks hard at her. "You've got your germs all over you. You don't need to be giving them to us too."
Judy waves his words away. "I'll stay in my corner."
Jenny's face lights up. "Yay, mommy's coming."
Judy makes her way around the couch and curls into her corner. "But no Road to El Dorado." She grumbles as she flops her head over onto the arm of the couch. "How about Emperor's New Groove?" It's been a while since they've watched that one. And it is one of her favorite's.
Jenny giggles. "Yes, mommy." She digs it out of the stack and puts it in before plopping down in the center of the couch.
Nick draws Jenny closer, away from the sick Judy. He frowns. "What about dinner?" With their little bubble popped he finally remembers that food is in fact a necessity for survival.
Judy shrugs. "After the movie. Besides, I'm not that hungry anyway."
"Yeeeah Uncle. Stop trying to skip out on movie time." Jenny points two fingers at her eyes and then at him.
Nick rolls his eyes and grins despite himself. "Now who's the hustler?" He shoots Judy a meaningful look.
Judy smiles to herself. "Push play already."
"Yeah, yeah." Nick does as she says.
For the rest of the night they watch movie after movie. They take a short break for dinner, but even then they end up eating in the living room, unwilling to take a longer break. Time and time again they mention needing to go to bed, but they never get up. They fall asleep on the couch in a pile – Judy with her head on one of Nick's legs and Jenny curled up on his other, her head leaned on the arm of the couch and away from Judy. And that's how they stay, all through the night and into the morning, peaceful as can be.
This was a nice little break from working on my novels. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. Please review!
Again, if you enjoy my writing style you can follow me on facebook at /ToriConleyAuthor. I'll even put the summary of the novel here in the author's note: What if there was a world where the biological clock stopped at age twenty one? For Blaise such a world is his life. Everyone is born with a soulmate and it is only upon meeting them that the pair begin aging - together. Blaise, however, wants more than a happily ever after. He wants to live forever, no matter how soaked with blood the trail is. The price of immortality is never too high.
Then he meets Rebecca. He tries his best to ignore her, but she has a presence like no other. Soon he even comes to wonder if he could be happy with a mortal life. Through it all, his search for his soulmate becomes tangled and it isn't long before the Finders catch up to him, forcing him to face his past and the very real possibility of no future as his darkest deeds are brought to light. In the end there is but one choice for Blaise to make, the scariest of all.
For now the page is just for Forever Twenty One but as I complete more and more novels they will all have updates there. I might even post snippets of some of the chapters. Thank you for reading and I hope you decide to follow my page just like you followed this Zootopia story. :)