Chapter Fourteen: The Calm After the Storm

A/N: No more naming the next chapters. I never commit to it. Also, I was mainly doing it as more of a description than a title.

BTW, we got about two chapters before the story is completely wrapped up and the epilogues start.

Late Evening in Downtown Zootopia

Brie, Melody, Bruno, Louie and the cobras were all dining in a restaurant for small mammals called "Short Order" They had menus and water at their table.

"I've got to say, what a stroke of luck getting here just as everyone else was leaving!" said Victoria.

"And in quite a hurry." Reginald replied. "It's almost as if our arrival...oh." Reginald bent his head down in sadness.

Brie gave the cobra a rub. "I'm sorry Reggie. People around here...they're just not used to snakes. That reminds me." Brie stood on her chair. "HEY EVERYONE IN THE BACK! THEY'RE MY FRIENDS! THEY'RE NOT GOING TO EAT YOU! IT'S OKAY! I'M A COP!"

One waiter peeked his head out from the back counter. "...A-Are you sure?!"

"Yes! They're hungry for salad! Not you!"

The lemming waiter approached very timidly. "Well...we have a m-mice, I mean nice! A nice Ceaser salad! We don't serve mice. I-I-I mean, we DO serve mice! Ha-Ha! Just...not on a plate...for you to eat. Y'know?...Okay! Wow. What a first day on the job! We also have tofu ranch and ...shredded cheddar with fake bacon bits."

The cobras though it over. "I'll have the Ceaser." said Victoria.

"Tofu with ranch for me." said Reginald.

The waiter wrote it down. "Okay then. And for the ladies?"

"Sweet cheese and crackers!" said Melody.

"Was that a swear or..."

"No. I actually want sweet cheese and crackers."

"Okay! I always like to double check. And for our officer?..."

"A chunk of cardboard to munch on with Parmesan cheese."

"Excellent! One of my favorites too!...And people thought I was weird for liking it. Now, how about the gentleman?"

Bruno got upset. "You can serve 'da gentleman later. It's OUR turn now! I'll have 'da grilled cheese with crackers."

"Same here." said Louie.

The waiter left with their orders. Louie then spoke to Melody. "Melody. I just wanted 'ta say...thanks fer 'da sex. 'Dat was 'da best minute of my life!"

Melody was a bit embarrassed. "Ummmm...thanks?"

Bruno then turned to Brie. " 'Tanks fer not turnin' us in right away...It's gonna suck 'ta go back."

"Yeah." Louie replied. "We get stepped on...a lot."

"ZPD prison ain't really made fer us rats OR mice! And next week I'm gonna have to have gay sex with Louie!"

Brie was shocked. "What?! Why?!"

Louie explained. "Well, since we're in prison. It's gonna happen sooner or later. Better with a best friend than a random stranger. I wish we never listened to 'dat Clara chick, but she was so convincing!"

"...What did you and Bruno do before you met Clara?"

"Worked retail."

"Not much worse 'dan prison." Bruno added.

Brie then thought of something. "...Will you folks excuse me for a moment? Melody honey, can you come with me?"

Bruno replied "Yeah, if yer gonna do 'dat, it's better to do it in 'da bathroom and not in front of everyone."

"What the hell are you?...Eww! Bruno no! Just come with...follow me Mel!"

Melody followed Brie to the bathroom. Brie confessed. "I can't let those guys go back to prison!"

"What?! You have to!"

"Are you forgetting one of them may now be the father to our baby?! Plus, they're right?! The ZPD jail isn't quite built right for tiny mammals. Not only are they getting stepped on, there's too many cracks in the walls for them to escape. I've heard complaints from Bogo that they went missing a few times, but came right back. One time, they went out and got ice cream! But they still came back to prison! They're good guys and I...I love them!"

"What?!"

"Not sexually! But like brothers! Dumb, little brothers."

"...I know how you feel. They are sweet guys, but that doesn't change the fact that they helped kidnap a little girl!"

"That's because of Clare's influence. They're dumb and easy to manipulate. They don't deserve to be there!"

Melody hugged Brie. "...Awww Brie. You really care for them! If only they made a mouse prison in Little Rodentia."

"...That's it. THAT'S IT!"

"...We don't have a mouse or rat prison."

"Not yet! But I can present my case to Bogo! I'll tell him about how Louie and Bruno are getting stepped on and constantly breaking out but coming back because their model prisoners. Tell them we need a proper mouse prison and ask them to place Louie and Bruno under house arrest!"

"...You're not thinking of having them live with us are you?"

"No way! I'm too used to walking around the house in my undies."

"And I'm too used to loving it."

"However, the apartment next door is available. I can have my private life AND keep tabs on them."

"Sounds good. Let's go back."

Brie and Melody went back and explained everything to Louie and Bruno. They had to explain it to Bruno about three more times, but he finally got it and started to cry.

"SNIFF! 'Dat's so nice Brie! Y-Your 'da best cop to evah arrest me!"

"Thanks. I guess...Bruno, I have some questions. Why did you and Louie agree to kidnap that little girl for Carol?"

"Oh 'dat! Sorry about 'dat. She promised us ten gazillion dollars each and that she would never actually harm 'da girl AND I got to set off the fireworks outside once she was done getting 'da money."

Louie continued. "That's no excuse. We should have stopped when the boy got shot...but we didn't."

"Yea." said Bruno. "We didn't think about it until we got to jail. She hurt a kid and I didn't do nuthin'! Me and Louie, we deserve 'ta be in jail. 'Dats why when we sneaked out for a few minutes, we went right back. So 'tanks, but no 'tanks Brie. We don't deserve 'ta be out."

Brie argued. "But you wouldn't be out! You'd be under house arrest. Next to me and Melody. That's still a jail, only nicer and without anyone stepping on you by accident."

"Well...as long as it's still jail."

The cobras then excused themselves. "Well, that was a lovely meal." said Victoria. "Now if you'll excuse us, trains are starting to leave again and we want to sneak on board one to head back home to Scaleberg. We shouldn't stay to look around anyway. Victoria's pregnant and due any day now. The little ones have TONS of venom and don't know what vegan means yet. Basically they'd kill all of you."

"Wow!" Bruno said. "Ya don't look 'da least bit pregnant Vicky!"

Victoria blushed. "Oh! Why thank you! Aren't you so kind? Well, we best be off!"

The cobras left just as the waiter came with the check. "Here you go! I'm hoping for a big tip seeing as how your cobra friends ran our other customers out."

Brie then realized something. "Those sneaky snakes left without paying their share!"

"I got ya covered." said Bruno. "How much is 'dis in prison money? I got...three cigarette packs! I collect a lot since I don't smoke."

Melody looked at Louie. "Louie, could you do the honors?"

"Certainly Melody dear!" Louie the slapped Bruno in the back of the head.

"Thank you." said Melody.

Meanwhile, at the Hopps Homestead...

"Just what the hell is going on?!"

Spots stared at the drawing. Very detailed. There were tears, but also smiles of joy. She also knew that this was in the near future. The clock on the wall was in the drawing, showing a mere three minutes from now. "This drawing is gonna happen in a few minutes! Cotton, I thought your drawings happened hours apart?!"

"They can." Cotton explained. "But not always. It's kinda random. So what did James say?! Are mom and dad okay?!"

Spots was stuck. She didn't know how to tell them. "Well ummm...Mom lost some of her right leg."

"Oh no!" said Michael. "Is she gonna be okay?! What about dad?!"

"I-I dunno...I...I..."

Just then, Michael heard something. "Hey! There's some kind of buzz coming from the bathroom. Is it your vibrator?"

Spots was offended. "No! It's my phone! I threw it on the floor. Why would you go straight to vibrator?!"

"I used to live in a house with a ton of teenage siblings. You hear their vibrators a lot...and some weird moaning. Grandma told me they were playing 'ghost'."

"Just...hold on okay guys?!"

Spots ran to the phone. The buzzing stopped and a text message was in it's place. It was from James.

"NICK'S ALIVE! You didn't let me finish! He died but some possums revived him! He's injured, but okay! PLEASE DON'T DUMP ME! I LOVE YOU!"

Spot's hyena laugh kicked in uncontrollably. "Hee-Hee! Hoo-Hoo! HAHAHOOHOHOHAHAHOOO! Dad's alive! DAD'S ALIVE! They survived!"

Spot quickly texted back. "Thank you! Thank you! I love you!"

Spots ran into the room and scooped up all of her siblings in her longs arms. "They survived! They're injured, but they beat Rusev and survived! They're gonna be okay! We're all gonna be okay!"

Once again, the drawing came to life. There was tears of joy raining down. They kissed and held each other close. The nightmare was over.

"Stay here!" Spots told her siblings. She then ran out of the room and looked down where Vivian was. "Grandma! Grandpa! Mom and dad are alive! They're okay!"

Vivian started crying. "My baby! My baby! I'll be right up there! C'mon Bobby!"

Spots ran into the room where Bonnie and Stu were lying. Some of their kids were there checking out the new litter. "Other Grandma and Grandma! Mom and..."

Bonnie hushed Spots. "SHHH!"

"Sorry!" Spots spoke more quietly. "Mom and Dad are alive! The drawing must have not come true! Except Mom did lose her leg."

"Oh no! That's terrible!" Bonnie replied.

Stu added. "At least she'll be safe now."

"What do you mean?" Spots asked.

"The ZPD isn't going to keep a police officer with a missing leg! Unless it's all desk work or reception."

Spots looked all sad. "Wow. I never thought of that...You're a real buzzkill Grandpa!" She then stormed out.

She went back into the room with the siblings only to find Vivian and Bobby there, hugging and kissing the happy, but crying kids. Spots joined in on the hugging festivities.

"Can we go see them now?!" Michael asked. "I wanna see them now!"

"Yeah!" said the rest of them.

"Now kids..." Vivian said. "It's late and your mother and father will need their rest."

"AWWWW!"

"Grandma's right." said Spots. "They might be in surgery right now and they're gonna need their rest after all they've been through. Not to mention the streets are probably still unsafe. We'll see them in the morning."

"First thing?" Cotton asked.

Vivian reassured them. "First thing! I want you all up and dressed and ready to go by 8am. We'll get breakfast through a drive-thru on the way there."

"...Okay then."

Spots continued. "Let's find a room for us to sleep in."

"Can me and Cotton snuggle together?" Michael asked.

"Just this one time. It's been a very rough day."

"...Can we grab each others butts?"

"No! Don't push your luck!"

They found a room with a large bed and said goodbye to their grandparents. They all got into their pajamas and snuggled up together. Spots wrapped her long arms around all of them.

"I'm sorry you guys had such a bad day." Spots said.

"I had a FUCKING! great day!" Petey replied while snuggling with Cindy.

"Really?!"

"Yeah! We watched mom and dad get married, I got my twin sister back, I came out, I got a boyfriend, grandma Bonnie had babies, I played in a rock band and despite Cotton's drawing, mom and dad lived!"

"...Wow! I...I didn't think of it like that! You're right Petey! It was an okay day after all!"

Cotton then started crying. "B-A-A-A-A-H!"

Spots asked. "What's the matter?! Still worried about mom and dad?!"

"SNIFF! No...Michael has no butt!"

"No squeezing butts! Knock that off right now!"

Late Evening at the Clawhauser's home

Tim, Auburn and James Wolford were all snuggled together in their clothes on the Clawhauser's couch. Juanita was curled up on a large pillow on the floor. Juanita was waiting for her husband to pick her up and the Wolford's home was half-burned so they had no where to sleep. There was a knock on the door. Then suddenly, they heard the barricade boards being ripped away.

The Wolford's panicked. They leaped off the couch. James and Tim stood by the door while Auburn ran into the Clawhauser's room. "Ben! Terry! Wake up! Someone's trying to break in!"

Auburn lead Ben and Terry out of their room. They were in their bathrobes.

They heard another rip of the boards outside followed by. " 'Dats 'da last one! I'll go in first and explain."

Duke peeked his head through the flap door only to be grabbed by Tim and James who started beating him up. "We'll teach you to break into our friends house!"

Duke yelled while they were pummeling him. "GUYS! It's me! OW! Duke Weaselton!"

James and Duke stopped punching him. Paco then came through the flap. "Stop hitting my Papi!"

"PACO!" Juanita yelled. She ran up and hugged her son, kissing him all over and talking to him in Spanish. "OH my dear, sweet boy! I was so worried about you!"

She then walked over to Duke and slapped him hard in the face. SLAP! "Qué te tomó tanto tiempo?!"

"OW!" Duke yelled "What'd she say?!"

Auburn explained. "She said...SLAP! Where have you been?!"

"You didn't need to translate 'da slap!"

"Yes I did."

"GRRR! Look! It took us longer 'dan expected! We had 'ta make 'da dome extra strong fer Little Rodentia. 'Den we realized were were stuck 'dere and had 'ta help defend it from...Were is he? Hey Vic! Come in here!"

The puma, Victor Velvet poked his head through the flap. "Is it okay to come in?"

"Guys, 'dis is my willing sla-errr.. new associate, Victor."

"Hi everyone! I tried to attack Duke, but he stabbed me with a 2X4 in self-defense and then saved my life even though I didn't deserve it! He's even giving me a job! Isn't he great?!"

Tim winced. "Uhhh...yeah. Attemped murder does bring people closer."

"Says who?!" Auburn asked.

"Nobody."

Duke continued. "Anyways, after we got him up and on his feet, we went out fer dinner with Rico. 'Den we came here 'ta pick up. Juanita. Vic here's gonna escort me home. Ain't that right Vic?"

"Yes Sir! Although, can we hurry? The touniquette worked well, but I really need to go to the hospital and get stitches."

"Don't be so impatient Vic! Anyways, don't worry about boardin' up the doors again. With 'da dome down, 'da resistance gave up and 'da streets are real quiet. I'm having Vic escort me and 'da family home."

Auburn was upset. "You stopped for dinner?!"

"Well...Vic here ain't eaten in two days. He's homeless and he needed food."

Ben was confused. "So wait...He atacked you, you stabbed him with a broken 2X4. But instead of letting him die, you saved his life?!"

Duke was fidgeting in embarassment. "Y-Yeah so?"

Ben picked him up and hugged him tight. "That's so selfless of you! You're a hero!"

"ACCK! Why does everyone want to thank me by squeezing my guts out?!"

Late Evening at the ZPD

Swinton was preparing to get ready to go home. She was worried about her review with Bogo tomorrow when she saw Francine heading her way. "You need to help the other officers! There's a giant hawk that landed with two wolves!"

"Aww shit. Zeke!"

"You know the hawk?!"

"He saved Higgins and Trumpets life and has been saving civilians all night! Let's go!"

"How come I didn't know about this?!"

"He's the one who's been calling in as 'Wing One'. I told you about him!"

"You didn't tell me he was a hawk!"

Outside, several ZPD officers who just started the overnight shift cornered Zeke who just dropped off the two unconicous wolves. Zeke put his wings up. "Look! I'm just turning in two perps! They were with Rusev!"

"A likely story winger!"

Zeke got angry. "Don.t Call. Me. That. Word. That's a specist word! And the name of a cheesy 80's rock band!"

Swinton got in the middle. "WAIT! Wait! Wait! Hold up! He's with us! He's been helping us out!"

One of the officers was very upset. "You mean to tell us you let a bird into Zootopia?! You know they're not allowed!"

"He was already here for awhile and he saved Higgins and Trumpets lives! He saved a ton of civilians and brought in some criminals!"

"She's telling the truth!" said Zeke. "These wolves I just brought in were with Rusev."

"And where is Rusev now?!" said Bogo who came in from behind.

"He's dead." said Zeke.

"Did you kill him?!"

"No. Jo-...Dapper Dan did."

Bogo sneered at the hawk. "It sounds like you're lying! Where's Dapper Dan!"

"I killed him to protect Judy and Nick! Then I dumped his body in the Tundratown river. Damn my honesty! Sorry...I have a moral objection to lying."

Swinton got in front of Bogo. "Bogo, this is the backup I was telling you about. He saved dozens of lives tonight!"

"And killed one! How could you keep this from me?!"

"Because it's against city law to have birds and reptiles here at any time! But he saved our men and several citizens!"

"I read up on him! He's Zeke! The child murderer that Bunnyburrow suffered through. He should be rotting in jail right now!"

"We made a deal. If he saved twenty lives, I'd let him..."

"You are not judge and jury here!"

"You decided not to be around to make the big decisions! I did! And I don't regret this one! For God's sake Bogo! He's trying to redeem himself!"

"I don't care! He's a child killer!"

Zeke was getting angry. "I didn't want to kill those children! But I had to feed my own! They were starving thanks Bunnyburrow cutting off the dam to my town! That's no excuse for what I did, but I can't take that back! All I wanted to do was save some lives tonight to try and make up for it, then leave!"

Swinton looked at Bogo. "Bogo. Legally, he has to be deported. He's not even allowed to be put in our jail cells. Let him go home."

Bogo looked at the hawk. "One question. Why did you dump Dapper Dan's body deep in the freezing river where you knew we could not retrieve it."

Zeke looked at him. "...I'm not at liberty to say. I made a promise to keep it secret."

"TO WHOM?!"

"I know whom!" Swinton said. This scared Zeike a bit. "Zeke forgot he was wearing a earpiece on him the whole time. I overheard everything."

"Oh shit!" said Zeke. He quickly removed his earpiece and threw it away.

"That's also how I know he saved over 50 lives and quickly dumped off several criminals. He may have been a killer in the past..."

"CHILD killer!" Bogo said.

"But!...He was a hero tonight. Let him go and I'll tell you everything in private."

"You'll tell me right bloody now!" Bogo demanded.

"GRRRR! FINE!" Swinton jumped up to Bogo's shoulder and grabbed onto his horn.

"Hey! Watch it!" Bogo shouted. She whispered into his ear and explained everything. "SIGH! I suppose he's here becuase of Wilde?"

"Yes. If his memory of tonight comes back. It will mentally scar him for life."

"That damn bleeding heart. Let him go men."

The officers were surprised. "Chief?!"

"Do not make me repeat myself!"

The officers lowered their guns.

Zeke bowed his head in gratitude. "Thank you Bogo. Swinton. It was an honor to help serve. Goodbye." With that, the hawk flew overhead and dissappeared into the darkness. Flying back home.

Bogo leered at Swinton. "This is going on your report tomorrow."

Swinton didn't back down. "It was the right thing to do and you know it!"

Bogo stormed off. "Go home Swinton or go...go fuck an elephant! I don't care! Just get out of my sight!"

Swinton and Francine looked at each other. "Don't look at me!" Francine said. The two of them then laughed.

NEXT CHAPTER

The kids reunite with Nick and Judy. James deals with his house being half burned down and Bogo reviews Swinton...and himself.