GhostWolf88 : Thank you for the compliment. To be quite honest, I really wasn't sure about this chapter when I wrote it, and even now, I'm not of massive fan of it. Glad you liked it, though. I think I had hinted a Gideon having wife and children in early chapters ? I might have forgotten to do so.

Sapperjoe85 : I have a tendency to try and have reasons for every interaction between characters. Sometimes, I fear overexplaining will break the magic. Glad it wasn't the case.

This chapter serves no purpose whatsoever. It's pure self-indulgence. Joan best girl. You can't judge me.


Chapter 11 - Interlude

Finnick pulled at his collar. He didn't like wearing shirts. He didn't like wearing anything but tank top and cargo shorts.

Tonight, he was wearing a white shirt. And a fuckin' sand colored tie. And cargo shorts, because he wasn't an uptight prick, god dammit.

The MPRD pickup truck was primed and ready to go (His van wasn't big enough for Joan to ride in it). He was holding a bunch of flower that he'd never admit he had gone and picked himself. True, buying flowers was for suckers that couldn't spare two minutes for the people they cared about. But picking them was for broke and desperate romantic saps that tried to compensate for the little they had to put on the table.

Joan was peering through her caravan's window, looking at the fennec who was walking in circles. She took out his phone for the fifth time to check for the time and put it back. One minute left. She had been ready for almost half an hour, and had been fighting herself to not touch up her make-up or change her clothes.

Time was crawling, and she was going stir-crazy. A part of her hoped the vulpine would back down and not knock on her door. She was so nervous she could feel her trunk shaking.

The two mammals had found a way to fit a date in their swamped schedule. With Judy gone for a couple of days, it was paradoxal that they would, but given that the most recent recruits was getting off time, Nick had tried to make it so that everyone's work charge would be lightened while she was away, to make it faire for everyone. Of course, that didn't apply to him, and even now at this late hour, one could still see light coming from his office's window.

The fennec fox took out his phone for the eleventh time and saw the number go up. He froze. Not ready. Not ready at all. Drawing a deep breath, he approached the door, knocked on it, and backed up again to not be knocked bacj when it would open. He heard a couple of heavy steps before it rotated on its hinges.

His jaw went slack.

Joan was wearing a red dress with discreet golden embroidery that hugged her waist and stopped just above her knees. Underneath light orange leggings hid her legs. A long and light scarf was wrapped around her neck and shoulder, dangling almost to her feet. The color of her outfit didn't distract from the elephant grey skin fact. In fact, it had a way to highlight it that sent sparks of fireworks in Finnick's brain.

The fennec fox's gaze slowly ran to her face, to see the discreet make-up she was wearing, and quartz earring that completed her outfit.

"That tie looks good on you." She said, after what seemed like an eternity of him staring at her.

Like a robot, he lifted the arm holding the flowers. She leant down and took them inside without a word.

As she disappeared, Finnick's jaw clapped shut. He slowly ran his paws on his face. "I'm a fuckin' moron."

"Did you say something ?" She was standing at the door of her caravan again, and took a step down.

"Nuthin'." He huffed. "Let's go, we're burnin' nightlight."

...

The ride was silent and tense. Finnick had installed the small mammal contraption in the megafauna sized truck to be able to drive it and was focused on the road. Next to him, Joan was nervously playing with the seam of her dress.

Say sumthin' you bloody moron. Tell her she's beautiful… Tell her ya love her dress…

"Can I put on some music ?" Her voice tore through the silence.

The fennec blinked. "Erh… Yeah, go ahead."

Music filled the car, and Finnick's nervousness cranked up. Their silence was so awkward that she had felt the need to fill it with music.

The road to the restaurant was too long for his taste, and he was glad to find a parking spot easily. He led the way inside and gave his name to the sheep waiter, who showed them to their table. The place was classy, but not overbearingly so. The décor was minimalist and discreet, with rugs over a shiny wooden floor, and painting hanging from the walls. It was more uptight than Finnick had anticipated, but it had a sort of relaxed ambience. The waiters seemed professional without being stuck up, some of them chatting with their clients in a relaxed manner.

Soon, they were sitting face to face, the small vulpine sitting on a stair like bench hooked to the wall behind him, while Joan was sitting on a very large chair. They weren't the only sizely mismatched couple in the restaurant. A spotted hyena and a hare were sharing an ice cream, while an otter and a bear were taking an order from the waiter. There were a few other interspecies couples and a couple of same-species ones, not at all bothered by the choices of their neighboors in their partner.

"Are you alright ?" Joan's voice cut Finnick short in his observation.

"Yeah." He said hoarsely. "Why ?"

"Well… You've barely said a word since we left."

He kept his gaze on the table, is mind blank, looking for something to answer to that, but she talked before he could.

"Are you sure everything's okay ? I know I kind of forced your paw on this, and..."

"You're beautiful." He blurted before realising what he had just said.

He saw a blush come to her cheek. "Thank you."

"No, I mean… Yer the most beautiful female I ever met. Period. And when ya got out of yer caravan, I just… I ain't good wid' words, okay ? But none would've been good enough anyway."

The blush had now invaded the entirety of her face, and she used her trunk to hide herself.

"Sorry." He apologized.

"No, that's fine. I'm just not used to… Being complimented."

"I'll have to get ya used to that, 'den." The fennec smiled back.

Their discussion kept going and was drawn toward their respective work at the department. It was cut only when the waiter took their order (a massive salad for the elephant, and a plate of salmon and homemade fries for the fennec), and then again when their plate arrived.

"We didn't order the bottle." Remarked the fennec, as the waiter started uncorking a white wine.

"Complimentary." The sheep waiter smiled before pouring some in the fennec's glass. The vulpine wasn't a complete etiquette illiterate, but didn't know the first thing about wine. Still, he sipped it.

"Seems good."

The waiter nodded and poured both their glass before leaving.

"Did you ever take one of your girlfriend here before ?" Asked Joan out of the blue.

Finnick choked on his wine. "What ? No." He said between two fit of cough. "It's not my kind of place."

"Then why bring me here ?"

"I… I dunno. I wanted to make it special." He cut a piece of his salmon an popped it in his mouth. His brows rose, it was really good.

"Wherever you would have taken me would have been special." She smiled shyly.

Finnick's heart skipped a beat as he blushed.

They both dug in, the silence only punctuated by noise of mastication and drinking. "Why did you wait for so long to ask me out ?"

The fennec paused again. It seemed she intended to ask him all the hard questions that night.

"Err… Well… I could always find a reason no to. I mean, when we met, I kinda already was in a relationship."

The elephant lifted a brow. "Was it serious ?"

"I… I never did serious." He wanted to add "Before you." But he wasn't sure if it was going to become a lie. He was taking enough of a gamble as it was, getting her hopes up wouldn't do.

"How was she ?"

"Do ya really want me to talk 'bout my ex on a date ?"

The elephant shrugged. "I've not gone to many dates. The whole point is to get to know each other, isn't it ?"

Finnick sighed. "I guess..." He hesitated before taking a sip of his wine. "She was a panda. A ZPD officer, If ya can believe it. Of course, it didn't work out."

"Why ?"

"As I said, I didn't do serious. And we both had demons, hers were… Massive. Some sorta tragedy in her past she never told me 'bout. T'was more of a fuck buddy deal 'dan anytin' else anyway. We broke it off after a few months. 'Den… Well, you know… I ran out of reason not to try, and... Stuff."

The elephant lifted a brow. "Stuff ?"

"I… I thought it was a bad idea. I still do. I ain't sayin' you're not worth the risk. I just ain't sure I am."

"Fin-"

The fennec fox lifted a paw. "I'm not undersellin' myself or anythin'. Nick'll be the first to tell ya I don't have a self-esteem problem. And as ya know, I don't care about species, or stuff like 'dat. We're just… Like night'n day ya know ?"

"You're saying this can't work." She stated plainly.

Finnick sighed. "I'm old, yer young. Yer kind and tolerant, I'm rash and short-tempered. Yer quiet and patient, I'm loud and impatient… I want it work, but I'm still pretty sure I'll fuck it up at some point."

Finnick kept nibbling on his fries while Joan mulled over his last sentence.

"Why don't we just take it easy ?" She suddenly asked. "I'm not asking for you to promise anything. I like you, you like me, so let's just try. We can talk about our problems when they arise."

The fennec fox chuckled. "Great, yer half my age, and yer already twice as wise."

"They say girls are more clever than boys."

"Well, they're spot on, whoever they are."

Their plates were nearly finished, Finnick was dragging his few remaining fries in the sauce before tossing them into his mouth.

"I've had a crush on ya from the moment we met, ya know ?"

Joan smiled "In hindsight, you were pretty forward about it. You really were trying to push it off." She added, before eating a forkfull of salad.

Finnick was playing with one of his last fries. "Does sound idiotic now."

"It simply means you care."

"Ya can't help bein' nice, cantcha ?"

She nodded and kept eating the last remnant of her meal while the fennec played with his fries. "Did ya ever have a boyfriend ?"

Joan blinked. It was a legitimate question. She had spent all her adult life at the MPRD, and hadn't had a boyfriend since she had started working there. "One, once."

"For how long ?"

She lifted her gaze from her plate. "About two years. I broke it off before I left the city."

"Oh. That sucks."

The pachyderm shrugged. "Not really. We didn't share much anyway. It was just kissing, holding hand, having sex. He was nice, I guess… It was just a teenage thing where we didn't know what we were doing but we were doing it anyway."

"Heh, don't worry, we adults don't know what we're doing either."

She giggled while the fennec sighed and leant against the wall. "To be honest, I wos afraid ya didn't have any experience."

"Would it be bad ?"

Finnick blinked. "I… I dunno. Maybe ? Feels like a big responsibility. I feared you'd be nervous with me and all…"

"Sounds like you're already trying to get in my trunks." She grinned.

The fennec fox's skin shot red under his fur. "Yeah, no… I mean..."

"Relax, I'm just joking. You're cute when you're flustered." She ran her trunk on his cheek, but the whole confident and flirty vibe she was trying to give was completely thrown off by her own blush. "I suck at this." She whispered, pulling her trunk away. His paw reached for it, and he ran a claw to its tip.

"You're doing fine. Really, really fine." He said, discreetly crossing his legs.

"Thanks, I…" Silence lingered for a couple of seconds. "I have to go freshen up." She gave him a meek smile and stood up. The fennec fox watched her go away, trying really hard, and utterly failing to not get mesmerized by the swaying of hips.

She had to be doing it on purpose.

Alone at the table, he ran both his paws on his face. "Fuuuuu-"

...

Joan was resting her hooves on the sink's rim. She was staring at her blushing face, trying to calm down her breath. "What am I doing ? Oh gosh, what am I doing ?" She exhaled slowly. "Alright big girl, don't hyperventilate. You're doing fine." She drew a deep breath. "I'll invite him for a last drink. It's fine. It's good. I can do this."

She wanted to run some water on her face, but decided against it, not wanting to ruin her make up.

"Shit, what's she doin' to me ?" Finnick huffed.

"More wine sir ?" The sheep waiter asked, almost making the fennec fox in the process.

"No thanks. I'm drivin'."

The waiter nodded in agreement. "A sensible choice. You seem nervous sir."

"Yeah..."

"Is it the first time you date outside of your species ?"

Finnick chuckled. "Never dated inside it."

The sheep shot him an enigmatic smile. "A special lady then." To which the small vulpine nodded. "That's what Mr Wilde told me." The prey mammal added. "I've watched you both. It's not my business, she seem quite fond of you."

"Thanks, I s'pose… For the bottle, an' stuff."

The waiter nodded with a polite smile. "You're welcome. Any friend of Mr Wilde..."

As he finished his sentence, Joan reappeared. She silently sat back and shot a smile to her date when their gaze met.

"What were you talking about ?"

"Wine."

"Ah."

"So… Want some dessert ?"

...

The pick-up truck was only a few minutes away from its destination. The road changed from concrete to dirt, which barely made any difference for the vehicle's suspension.

"Did you have fun ?" Asked Finnick, cutting the comfortable silence that had installed itself between them.

"Yes. It was really nice, but maybe a bit..." She hesitated.

"Too fancy ?"

"Yeah."

The fennec fox sighed. "Nick gave me the address. I don't know a lot of nice places, aside from… Dives."

"One of your dives would have been okay." Joan smiled.

Finnick snorted. "Yeah, no. They're all kinda rubbish."

"Would you have felt more comfortable there ?"

"Yeah..."

"Then they're good enough. I want to be with you, Fin', not with some 'better' mammal you think I would deserve more."

He felt her trunk against his cheek and leaned into the contact. "Maybe you do deserve a better-"

"If there's someone better, then too bad for them, because it's you I like." She stated.

The fennec fox couldn't help the grin that spread on his face. Nick had always been better at pulling off the 'cool' persona. "You're stuck with me, 'den."

He stopped the truck next to her caravan, she opened the door and put a foot out before turning toward him. "Do you want to come in for a last drink ?"

Finnicks stared at her, the fanfare in his brain drowning all coherent thought. He had to shake his head to be able to talk again. "Ya don't have to push yerself. I'm fin wid' takin' it slow."

"You're right." She smiled, exiting the vehicle. Finnick's heart sunk a bit. It was the right thing to do, but part of him had hoped she would insist. A hoof on the door she leant inside, poking his snout with her trunk, while a blush was spreading on her face. "So… Are you coming or what ?"