Chapter Six "Close Encounters"

When I was a just a kit starting out on the city streets hustling, I made the mistake of purchasing a crate of skunk butt rugs.

I was twenty at the time and it was a shipping error. Stupid amateur mistake. But I did end up getting an excellent discount and I thought to not waste it. That would prove to be an even bigger mistake, as I later discovered.

While I was pedaling my goods in the downtown of Tundratown, it just so happened that the biggest mobster in Zootopia crossed my stall. Mr. Big had a huge interest in what I was selling. I think he had liked my smooth talking and appreciated a young tod trying to make his mark in the world. He said I reminded him of himself back in the day.

It all happened fast, as these things do.

He took me into his home and treated me like family. Suddenly, I had a custom suit and a roof over my head. I was a far cry from being the fox kicked out of his mother's house just a month prior. I was riding high, thinking that this was how I was going to make it big in the city. In my pride, I had forgotten that Mr. Big's prized wool rug was actually a skunk butt.

When he found out, through a fellow collector of rare antiques, I was called in.

It was like there had been a funeral on the estate. Friends I had made around the Big mansion suddenly didn't want to look at me.

When I finally met with Mr. Big, groveling was all I could do to save my own skin. I never knew my father, but I could imagine that the glare from Mr. Big was what it would be like to disappoint my dad.

"I invite you into my home, Nicky. We shared stories and drinks, no less. And this is how you repay me?"

He looked at me with such disdain and pity and he couldn't be bothered to ice me. Instead, he had me tossed out with the threat that if I ever showed my face around his area of Tundratown again, he wouldn't be so merciful.

I managed to walk away with my faculties mostly intact.

I learned two very important lessons that day about the quality of your product and to never get involved with the mob.

That final encounter with Mr. Big, where my very life was at stake, was more preferable than my one on one with Bonnie.

I kept my paws behind my back, if only so Bonnie wouldn't see me fiddle with them as I looked right into her eyes.

Judy had been right. Her mother's eyes were like staring into the dark center of the universe. I found myself getting lost in them, distracting me from where I could begin.

"To put it bluntly," I started. "I sense you have a problem with me and I'd like to mend whatever bridge I broke."

"Mr. Wilde, I don't hate you."

I grunted. "See, I'm sorry. But that's a straight up lie. I recognize the glare in your eyes. The distrustful stares. I used to see it every day when I walked down the streets of Zootopia."

"Used to?" Bonnie raised at eyebrow at me.

"Yeah. Well, you have your daughter to thank for making an honest fox out of me."

"So, you admit that you have a shady past."

I sighed. Already on the defensive...

"Look. Before we start throwing out accusations here, let's agree to something. You can call me dishonest, but you're being passive aggressive. So, let's cut the fluff. From here on out, if you ask me something, I'll tell you the truth. The whole truth. Can I expect the same from you?"

Bonnie digested my words as if there was some hidden meaning or a string attached to them. She crossed her paws in front of her waist.

"Very well. I accept."

I decided to test the waters now that we were on even ground.

"So, do you have an issue with me?"

"I don't hate you, Mr. Wilde," she repeated. "But I'm highly suspicious of your story. And I worry my daughter is being taken for a ride with you as her partner."

I took comfort in the fact that, at least, Bonnie was no longer skirting around her disdain towards me. But her words still hurt all the same.

"A year ago and I would have agreed with you."

"Elaborate, please."

Suddenly, I was back in the skylift of the rainforest district with Judy. It was easy to compare the two with Bonnie's wide purple eyes glaring at me. This time, however, I wouldn't skip all the little details. We didn't have a ten hour time limit to solve the Nighthowler case.

"You're probably not looking for a sob story," I began. "But foxes aren't exactly considered upstanding citizens, even in the city where that kind of mentality is discouraged."

"Yes. Judy has mentioned the problems of the city several times."

"Well, it's where I was born and raised. I grew up without a father. So, it was just me and my mom for a while, me being an only child. The plus side is that there wasn't much in the way of sharing I had to do with other siblings. The downside...Being a single parent and a fox, my mother always had trouble holding work."

There was the slightest flicker of sympathy in Bonnie's eyes before it disappeared in an instant.

"It wasn't a bad way to grow up. I never went hungry. Mom saw to that. However, it did mean cheap clothes from garage sales all the time and very few vacations. Probably why I had never been out of the city until now. But I don't have any bad memories early on. The problems started when I was introduced to the other mammals. I was too young to recognize just how much the world hates you if you're a fox. Things took a real bad turn when I started school. That was when the, uh, incident happened."

I repeated most of what I told Judy verbatim.

As I explained my desire to fit in with the scouts, I began the long, delicate process of drilling through the stone wall. Though Bonnie had a solid poker face, there were occasions where it cracked. But they were far and few between.

When I described the muzzling to Bonnie, I got the slightest reaction out of her. I think it was a wince, but I wasn't sure and was too nervous to find out.

She responded best to the points concerning my mother and the hardships mom faced as a single parent. I detected her eyes soften whenever I mentioned our money situation growing up. Perhaps there was some empathy from one mom to another...

I finished the same way I had on the sky lift.

Talking about it outloud was easier the second time than it was the first with Judy.

"...So, I decided that if the world was just going to see a shady fox, that was what they were going to get."

Bonnie looked down at her feet before returning my gaze. "What did you end up doing?"

"Nothing that hurt anyone," I raised my paws in a meager defense. "I don't think they would have let me join the ZPD if I had that kind of record. Mostly, I was a peddler of sketchy goods and services."

I held up a paw to count.

"First, there was overcharging kits for local bakery cookies in the middle school lunchroom. After I got expelled from high school, I got into selling fake newspapers to build up my contacts in the city until my twenties. There was a repurposed rug vendor career that didn't end well and guided me into less expensive items. Food ended up being a go to, given how necessary it is in the city and how hard it was to find specific goods for picky mammals with dietary restrictions. I conjured together a lot of 'rare ingredients' for the local restaurants to use. After a few close calls there, I switched to making my own food and settled on ice cream, vendoring 'rehabilitated' ingredients from around the city. You stick with what you know, after all."

Bonnie looked unimpressed after I revealed the entirety of my criminal record to her. Perhaps she was expecting something far worse.

The silence was becoming a little awkward and I rubbed the back of my head.

"I, ah, was in the middle of my ice cream career when I met your daughter."

"My point from last night still stands, Mr. Wilde," said Bonnie, crossing her arms. "After all that, you sound like a bag in the wind. You just float to whatever suits your fancy. But it also seems like you enjoyed being a con artist enough to continue it and never sought honest work in your life. Why did you suddenly decide to drop that lifestyle in favor of a respectable career?"

I gulped.

Confessing my feelings about Judy was a lot harder than coming clean about my old life.

I did some mental gymnastics to decide that I wouldn't outright admit my crush unless pressed for it. The truth was messy, anyway.

"To be honest, Mrs. Hopps, I'm still wondering the same thing. Maybe it has something to do with the whole incident with the scouts and the muzzle. You know, wanting to prove them wrong about foxes. Maybe it's just my self-conscious telling me to get a grip on my life and do something more stable than working the streets every day hoping I don't get caught. Or maybe it's just because I'm good at it, according to Judy. Regardless, I'm happy to be doing police work for a change."

"And you went straight, just like that?"

"Well, put me in a few life-or-death situations and everything else seems dull in comparison."

I chuckled but stopped when I realized the look of concern on Bonnie's face.

"Look, I'm not going to pretend I didn't enjoy hustling people. And I was quite good at that too. But there are more important things to me now."

"Like what, Mr. Wilde?"

Don't hesitate, Nick. She'll pick up on it. Those eyes could stare into your soul.

"Like...My apartment. My taxes, which I've started paying. My retirement plans. My health. My co-workers. My...Partner."

Bonnie raised her chin at my last words and I regretted letting them slip out instantly. I was being vague enough to not leave her a clue about my thing for Judy. Right?

She let out a sigh and closed her eyes.

There was the faintest glimmer of unease on her face before she shook her head. She wore a frown as she faced me again.

"Mr. Wilde, I think it goes without saying that if you ever did anything to hurt my daughter, or any of my children, not even your position as a police officer would protect you from me."

There were rules against threatening an officer of law, but I was too paralyzed with fear to remember them. I looked down to my feet.

"Yes, ma'am."

"And I'm going to be watching you very carefully this weekend. If you put one hair out of line, you will answer for it."

"Understood, ma'am…"

"But...It's not an easy thing to turn a new leaf like you did."

When I looked up at Bonnie, she was genuinely smiling back at me. It was slight and barely noticeable, but it was something. A dent in the wall. A start.

How could I describe what I was feeling? Accomplished? Whatever it was, it made me smile too.

"Yeah...I've never been more proud of anything in my life."

"Your mother must be proud too."

Somewhere in the distance, an eighteen wheeler came to a screeching halt.

"Uhhh. She, uh, doesn't know I'm a police officer. We stopped talking to each other after she kicked me out of the house when I was twenty and she discovered my...My work."

I wasn't even aware bunnies had a death glare. I was afraid that a laser was going to come shooting out of Bonnie's eyes and set me on fire like in Raiders of the Lost Bark.

"Nicholas Wilde," her voice hid none of her rage. "When you return to Zootopia, the first thing you are going to do is march your red tail over to your mother's house and let her know that you're not dead."

"Y-Yes, ma'am!"

"If you don't, I'll have Judy hound you down until you do. And don't expect to be welcomed back to Bunnyburrow either until you're on speaking terms with her."

"Got it! Yes, ma'am! The second I get off from work!"

Though her eyes were daggers, I did notice that the soft smirk was still on Mrs. Hopps' face. The rabbit was amused in her torturing of the petrified fox who had just split his guts to her.

So much for being the apex predator in Bunnyburrow...

"Now, get back to work," she ordered. "The faire opens Monday and we have a lot to do."

"On it, ma'am!"

I spun around and practically flew out of the tent while Bonnie returned to her decorating of the tables.

I was in such as hurry to escape, I didn't see the red shape I had bumped into upon opening the flap.

There was a soft yelp as something squishy hit my chest, followed by the scent of blueberries.

I looked down and saw Jeanette collapsed on the ground, an empty pie tray in her paws. My eyes trailed to what had become of the dessert. That's when I noticed the hefty wad of blue flakes creamed onto my black shirt. It took me a moment to realize that I had crashed into the poor vixen, causing her to slam my chest with the pie she had been carrying.

"Well," I sighed. "So much for this shirt."

"I'm so sorry!" Jeanette jumped to her feet and immediately began to fuss over the mess on my chest. "I-I didn't mean…"

Remembering what Gideon had told me about his sister's social issues, I didn't think it was worth it to goad out any pity from her.

"Eh, don't worry about it. It's not like this is a favorite shirt or anything. I should probably get cleaned up though."

"H-Here, let me help."

"Nah, it's alright. I should have watched where I was going."

"Please, allow me," she looked up at her with big blue eyes. There was a blush underneath her dark furred ears. "It was my fault for standing around like that. I, uh, I was eavesdropping on your conversation with Mrs. Hopps..."

"Oh."

I shared in the vixen's blush and rubbed at the back of my head. At least she was honest about it.

"Well...I need to know where the bathrooms are."

"This way…"

One of the porta potties was a hop away from the tent.

It was rabbit-sized, like everything else at the faire. The cheap plastic sink within barely offered enough water to scrub the largest chunks of the pie out of my shirt. A large blue blotch remained, staining my fur underneath.

"I guess that settles if I needed a shower or not," I said, trying my best to dry my damp chest with paper towels.

"Sorry…," Jeanette apologized again, still unable to look me in the eyes.

"Hey, don't worry about it."

Neither of us made a move, which only added to the awkwardness of the scene.

It was hard to follow up on anything with the elephant in the room. Not to mention I was off my game after getting reamed on by Bonnie. I offered Jeanette a subject of conversation, even if it wasn't my smoothest segway.

"So, uh, you heard that talk between me and Mrs. Hopps, huh?"

"U-Uh, yeah…"

"I must sound like some scary city fox to you now, right?"

"No, not at all. My brother taught me to never judge others by what they've been through. You should see them for who they are now."

"Mind telling me who I am then?" I chuckled, feinting amnesia. "I'm a little shellshocked after my talk with Bonnie."

"Uh, Nick Wilde?"

I bit my tongue, not taking into consideration that Jeanette was probably a little sheltered to comprehend my brand of humor. Dumb as it was.

"That was a bad joke, sweetheart. Sorry."

"Oh…"

"But, you know, the funny thing is I've never really told anyone the entire story. Not even Judy knows everything I used to do for my hustling days. You and Bonnie would be the first."

"You sound like you've led a very full life."

"Folks say that. But sometimes I wish I had skipped a few parts of it. I could live without having been inside the animal naturalist club or being flushed down a toilet off a cliffside."

"Is...Is that normal for living in the city?"

"Zootopia supports all walks of life. Some normal. Some insane. Every day can be like a new adventure or a depressing slog through mundanity. It just depends on how you look at it."

"What's your favorite part of the city?"

Don't say Judy. Don't you dare say Judy, Nick.

"Uh, the animals, I guess. You wouldn't know it by living in the burrows, but there's all sorts of mammals out in the world. And they all come to this one place to live, from the mice to the elephants. All of them have their own aspirations. It's chaotic and overwhelming, but sometimes it works well."

"It sounds wonderful."

I recognized the doey-eyed expression of a dreamer on Jeanette's face. The realization finally hit me as to why she had a sudden interest in hearing about Zootopia.

"Do you...Want to move to the city?"

"O-Oh," the vixen's ears dropped to hide her blush. "It's just a silly dream I have. Business with Gideon is great here in the burrows, but I've always wanted to be a master baker with my own shop in the city."

"That's right," I remembered a particular scene from the day before. "The, uh, bunny butt cake was your idea, wasn't it?"

Even with all her red fur, there was no hiding the blush spreading across Jeanette's face, though she tried by covering her eyes with her empty pie tray.

"I'm sorry! It was just a silly little idea I had when we saw the Judy cookies were selling so well! I didn't mean for it to explode into our most popular item!"

It was hard not to laugh. "Well, it certainly caught Judy off guard. Don't worry though, I think it's cute."

"You...You do?"

"Certainly. Just don't go telling Judy that. She's a little sensitive about that word."

"Don't worry..."

"Alright," I stretched, trying to ignore the massive stain still on my chest. "Speaking of Judy, I am well past the reasonable time I said I'd take for lunch. She's going to flip."

I stopped Jeanette before she could say sorry again by tapping her on the snout.

"Hey. Quit apologizing. I enjoyed chatting with you."

"Okay...Thank you, Mr. Wilde."

"Call me Nick," I said with a wink. I hadn't been called 'Mr. Wilde' so much since I was in grade school.

I gave a casual salute to Jeanette and went on my way.

As I walked down the path back to the rides, I had a spring in my step.

My talk with Bonnie had brought some progress. I wasn't dead, for one thing. And besides the threat with my mom, I think I managed to at least amuse her. Judging by her smile, anyway. I wasn't in immediate danger of losing my life, at least. It was just a matter of staying on the lighter side of neutrality with the dreaded bunny mom the entire weekend.

Not to mention the ever burning question of when I was going to bring up my feelings to Judy.