Chapter 5: Winner Winner Salmon Dinner

Tuesday

It wasn't true. She imagined it all. She was delirious. She took her bath, immediately fell asleep and just dreamed she called Nick, in the middle of a late night show. Now apparently the most watched late night show episode ever.

It was on one of those days that Sam just wanted to hide away and cry. She couldn't sleep from the embarrassment of it all. She didn't even want to check social media, knowing she was most definitely trending. She couldn't even distract herself by working, since it was her day off.

Speaking of work, she was getting a call from Gerald. She didn't know what to expect. Please don't fire me, she thought.

"...hello?" She asked weakly.

"PAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAA," cried Gerald, making Sam wince from how loud his voice was. She could almost feel the rain of saliva she would've received had he been there personally to laugh at her misfortune. "Very savvy with the tongue, I must say, hehehehehe."

"Laugh it up, big guy," Sam told him sternly. She was in no mood for his mockery. "Did you call me just to bully me?"

"Au contraire, my dear server. I've come to give you the good news."

"Good news? What good news could there possibly be? I humiliated myself on national television!"

"And in the process became a sensation overnight! You will forever be remembered as the otter who crashed the wedding! Sam the "Unforgettable Ride" otter!"

"Wedding? What wedding?"

"Nevermind that. Can you come to work today?"

"What for?"

"There's a lot of people asking for you here. They want to meet you!"

"Gerald…did you forget yesterday at all? I got assaulted by my ex! Don't you think this is too much attention to have?"

"Hey, I wasn't the one who called Officer Wilde during a late night show to congratulate him for his lascivious acts!"

"That was a mistake! I didn't do anything with him!"

"Tell that to the fanimals. They're calling you a homewrecker!"

The term Fanimal brought her back. A silly word, but one that described all of the fan groups for a specific type of media. Sam used to be part of a Fanimal group during her high school years, but quickly grew out of it due to how toxic they could become.

"Homewrecker? Oh God I'm gonna pass out," she sighed, touching her forehead and panting. "Why?"

"Most of them think you might have crashed their relationship reveal."

"What?!" It was too much. Too many revelations, one after the other. "They were gonna reveal their relationship!? This is bad! This is so bad, I'm sure they hate me now! Bury me in a ditch, please!"

"How could you not realize? They were wearing very suspicious clothes!"

"Clothes were the last thing on my mind, Gerald! I didn't even know they were on TV!"

"Anyways, can you come to work?"

"Over my dead body, Gerald! I'm not showing up anywhere near there today."

"Hundred dollar bonus today with a ten dollar raise on your pay."

"Say less," the otter said, hanging up and getting ready to work.

"Otter reveals a dirty secret with Officer Wilde." By PenderLaw46 on Zootube. A recording of that event, lasting a total of two minutes and fifteen seconds, had taken the world by storm, and Floor was loving it.

This is the most relevant she had been in years. The acquired interview with Officers Wilde and Hopps had already been an incredible success in viewership, as well as the most fun interview she had been in. She thought the call at the end soiled all of her hard work, but it only made her show much more viral.

"Who is this Sam the otter?" She asked herself, as she started reading the comments of the video.

'This is straight out of a cartoon. If you told me this was AI-generated I would believe you'

'Oh, man, now I'm wondering what they wanted to say at the end. Relationship reveal perhaps? UwU'

-'You shippers are weird. They're real mammals, you sickos.'

That thread turned into a flame war of about two hundred comments. She had no interest in reading all that.

'God I wish I was that otter. *shivers violently*'

She snickered at that. Very relatable comment.

'Anyone see that? Just me? They were wearing each other's primary colors. If that's not a sign they're together idk what is.

-Oh, for real, they're not even hiding it at this point.

"Floor! Get off your ass and come here!"

"Very colorful, Banshee," said Floor, getting up from her chair and going towards her boss' office. Yeah, she might have her own show, but she didn't own the partner company. That was Banshee, a tigress with an iron rule. "What do you need?" She asked, now at the mammal's office.

"Close the door, please," Banshee said, and Floor obeyed, slowly sitting down at the other side of her table after closing the door.

She gulped. "Did I do something wrong? I thought yesterday went pretty well."

"Oh, it went amazing, dear. Hopps and Wilde were simply spectacular. There was just one teeny tiny little thing that you forgot to do."

"Which is…?"

"That stupid freaking otter! Why did you continue with that prank if you knew this was an important interview!"

"I-it's a fan favorite, Banshee, I couldn't just not do it."

"Yes you could have!"

"We got more publicity from it! Shouldn't that be more important?"

"No, Olivia, it isn't," she said, putting her paws into fists and planting them on the table. "Hopps and Wilde are the most talked about duo in the history of Zootopia, and you wasted them. For a joke!"

She didn't want to lose her job. She went too far in her life to just lose it. "H-how can I make this better? You know I always do my part, Ban. How can I fix this?"

Banshee realized the tone of the rabbit and calmed down. "Don't worry. Your job is safe. But I do want you to do something for me."

"Anything."

"Find me that otter. I want to have a talk with her."

"That was pretty funny," I say to the groggy bunny drinking coffee next to me.

"No it wasn't, Nick. Now everyone thinks Sam is some kind of…harlot."

"But we know she isn't, and that's all we should care about. You're not angry at her, are you? I know she kinda ruined the reveal."

"Eh, it's fine. What's a few more months? Why does it need to be public at all?"

"Carrots, we talked about this. There's no backing out."

"Ugh, I guess," she said, taking another sip from her coffee.

A funny thought crossed my mind. "Did you think that was actually another woman I was seeing?"

"Nick, you're insane, but you're not that insane."

"I'm very glad you think so. My insanity does indeed reach a limit."

"What did you think she called about, though?"

"Well, it was my emergency number. Oh, crap, it's my emergency number! I have to call her back." I grabbed my phone and went to dial the number that was saved on my recent calls tab. I smiled and looked at Judy. "Permission to call the other woman?"

She sighed. "I guess you can. My heart is still very much broken," she said, slumping on the table funnily.

"Pawscar performance right there," I say. I focus on my phone and call Sam.

It didn't take long for her to pick up. "Oh my god Mr. Wilde I swear to whoever is up there that I had no clue you were in a show and apparently I ruined your relationship reveal and that makes me feel absolutely horrible, wait are you in another show, lemme turn on the TV again just to be sure."

"Sam, calm down, please. It's fine, I don't hold anything against you. It was pretty funny."

The line was silent for a few seconds. "Even when I ruined your relationship reveal?"

"Who even told you that? You ruined nothing, Sam, okay?" Technically she did, but me and Judy don't hold that against her. It was a silly mistake.

I heard a sigh at the other end. "You don't know how relieved that makes me."

"And stop calling me Mr. Wilde, please. I told you, just Nick."

"Okay. Thanks, Nick."

"So…" I tried changing the conversation, but it was a bit awkward now. "Why did you call me?"

"Um, you called me."

"Why did you call me yesterday, Sam?"

"Oh, that. I'm trying to forget that ever happened. It was to ask for help."

"So you do need help," I say, making Judy's ears jump at the thought of a new case. In order to indulge her and me not wanting to tell her the whole story a second time, I put Sam on speaker. "Alright, you can tell Judy and me what's going on."

"Oh Judy's there too? Judy I am so sorry, I didn't mean for any of this to happen."

"It's alright, Sam," Judy said kindly. "Everyone seemed to have fun with it. I just worry people will be mean to you."

"Oh I can handle that, you don't have to worry about it. Anyway, I was calling about an incident that happened to me yesterday morning."

"We're all ears," Judy said.

Sam proceeded to tell us about Max, the most obnoxious mammal I've never met. He tried to change her name to Xam? To match his name backwards? That's not how palindromes work at all! That was not all that bothered me, of course. He threw a glass pitcher at her feet, and it made her bleed. I could tell Judy was just as furious.

"I tried getting a restriction order on him," said Sam. "But he paid off the judge."

"What a scummy bastard," said Carrots, unusually swearing. "Do you know where he lives? Did he follow you home?"

"I don't know, and I don't know. But something weird happened when I left work."

"What was it?" I asked.

"I saw a deer, just looking at me. It was really creepy. I took my scooter and left as quickly as I saw him."

Me and Judy gave each other a look. She nodded, and I addressed Sam again. "Sam, we can help you."

"You can? It's not a bother?"

"Not at all, Sam," said Judy. "You're a very nice mammal and you don't deserve what you're going through."

"That's very nice of you, Judy."

"Here's what we're going to do, Sam," I start telling her. "We're a bit caught up this week, so I'm gonna need you to hold up until next week, where one of my special agents will greet you and write down all the details."

"Yeah, I can do that. I'm a bit caught up this week too, so next week works."

"Perfect, then. Talk to you later, and forget about yesterday. It's water under the burrows."

"Will do, Nick. Thanks for the help," Sam said, and hung up. Judy looked at me with a puzzled expression.

"Nick, I might be wrong but I don't think you have any 'special agents' to take to Sam."

"That's where you're wrong, Fluffy. I have just the perfect person to help her." I tell Judy, while also laughing sinisterly.

"You're insane," she told me. She didn't mean it, though, just laughing and giving me a kiss on the cheek. I'm a lucky fox.

Wednesday

Yesterday had not gone as awfully as she thought. Yeah, most of the patrons were just there to see her, but in the process she received the most tips ever, getting to a few thousand dollars, even more than her total savings a year before.

Still, her popularity brought about the wrong kinds of patrons as well, asking her for her details or just plainly asking her to hang out after work. Clearly they thought she was some sort of escort, which was extremely disrespectful. She was just a plain old server, nothing more.

She tried to protect Nick's honor as much as she could, saying she had never done anything besides talking with him. She explained that her wording at the time was just because she was nervous. Some people bought it, but others were too fixated on the crazier outcome of her being a past flame of Nick's, which, as Gerald told her, made for a good topic of discussion in the webs. She was too afraid of corroborating those details herself, so she took his word for it.

"Would you like a free sample, ma'am?" Said a female lioness at the grocery shop she was in. She was offering what looked to be a shrimp-flavored popcorn. She wasn't much for shrimp, but no one refused a free sample. It was surprisingly tasty, but not enough for her to want to buy it.

But what if Nick wants to watch a movie after, she thought. Maybe the shrimp popcorn would be a great snack. After much deliberating, she snatched one of the bags, blushing. She didn't even cook for him and she was already thinking of what came after.

Speaking of cooking for him, she had a hard time deciding what to actually cook. She could just try a shrimp-based recipe, but she thought that was too much of a cop-out. She could decide on a type of poultry, but even then she didn't know his favorite, and she wanted it to be a surprise. She spent about an hour coursing through the deli, trying to decide what food would go well for their…date? She could call it a date, right?

The search became even harder when she received a text from the fennec. It was a picture of an interesting-looking salmon, with a color she had never seen before.

Fennick: Winner Winner Salmon Dinner! Meet Mrs. Frizzle.

She cackled loudly, earning a few weird looks by the other grocers.

Sam: That's the salmon's name? xD

Fennick: Indeed. The person who sold it to me gave it that name.

Sam: Strange selling point, naming your food. What is that salmon, though? I've never seen it before.

Fennick: He called it a Socking Salmon. Apparently it's really rare.

Sam: Wow! Can't wait to see what you do with it.

Fennick: Making it edible is the first step.

Sam: Here's hoping!

"Crap. I really need to get something good now," she told herself. She couldn't just barge into his home with something he won't love. If he was going to far lengths to get something unique for her, she should do the same.

This required an emergency. She called the only one who could help.

"Sam? Is something wrong?!" Said Nick Wilde, on Sam's phone. "Where are you? I'm coming over, just hold on!"

"No, wait, Nick, I'm fine! I just wanted to ask you a question."

"Oh, thank heavens," Nick said, breathing heavily. "I'm glad you're okay. I was just about to get in the car to get you."

"Sorry…I think it's better if I have your actual number, so you don't think it's something bad every time I call."

"Smooth, Sammers."

"You know that's not what I meant," she said.

"I know. I'll text you the number after we're done with this call. What did you need to call me for, anyway?"

"I got a question to ask you."

"Hopefully I got an answer for ya. What is it?"

"...what do foxes like?" she asked shily.

"Beg your pardon?" Nick said, his voice sounding shaky.

"Like…to eat."

"Sam, I'm very flattered, but I am spoken for."

"I know that, Nick! I'm not an airhead! I knew you two were a thing from the beginning." That was partly true. She'd had her suspicions when she went to the concert with them, but she hadn't spent nearly enough time with them to really tell.

"Whatever do you mean? How do you know you've met her?" Asked Nick, with a dismissive aura.

"Call it an otter's intuition. A-anyway, what do you usually like to eat? I'm kinda…going on a date with a fox."

"Not me, right? I'm joking. Anyways, wow! And you're cooking for him on the first date. Boy, you know how to earn a fox's heart."

"Is that how Judy earned it?" She asked him smugly. He couldn't be the only funny one.

"...moving on, I personally enjoy really good shrimp-fried rice. Never goes wrong. You can also try some poultry. Honestly, any bird works, we foxes love birds."

"I'm just having so many second thoughts. He already came to my restaurant and ate fried shrimp, but I don't know if he'd like shrimp again."

"Do I know this fox? I know everybody in this city, maybe I know him."

"He's actually called Nick, just like you."

"...really, now? He wouldn't happen to be a fennec fox, would he?"

"Yeah, he is! How'd you know?"

"A…fox's intuition. Are you sure this fox is safe? I mean, did he do anything weird when you met him?"

"He was just really sad that his wife left him, so I let him eat for free."

"For…free," Nick said, in a skeptical voice. "And you said his wife? What was the appearance of this wife?"

"Why are you questioning so much? Is there something wrong?" Sam asked him. Nick was acting strange.

"No, no, Sam, of course not. I guess I still don't know everybody…"

"Okay…" she said slowly. He was definitely hiding something.

"A-anyway, my fox's intuition tells me that this fox will really enjoy a seafood risotto with mostly squids and crab meat, gotta go, Judy's calling me," he said quickly and then hung up. Sam wondered what that was about, but she received a great cooking idea, and she would definitely use it.

"Winner Winner Risotto Dinner," Sam said, smiling.

Thursday

"Uncle!" Greg called the fennec loudly. It was nearly noon, and Finnick felt like doing nothing that day. Ravi's 'you suck' speech really gave him a lot of fish for thought (Darn that otter for all those fish puns). It's not like he never thought of turning a new leaf and having a more lawful profession, it's just that the opportunity had never been placed upon him. Besides, he was comfortable as a hustler. There was no need to have a nice house, with a fine view of the city, a nice lawn, a grill to call his own, a treehouse, a pool, a garden, a nice playground for his future children to play in. All material, no soul to it. He was happy with his van, and his two pillows that he called beds, and his bats, his knives, his loneliness…

"What do you want, Greg?" he asked the arctic fox. Sometimes he wondered why that kid spent so much time with him.

"You have to see this!" Greg screamed again, shoving his phone into his face, close enough for his eyes to be damaged by the light at full brightness.

"Alright, alright! Don't blind me, kid!" he took the phone and moved it to a more comfortable watching distance. When his eyes adjusted to the phone light, he was greeted with the sight of his mortal enemy and ex. Ex-best friend and work partner Nicholas Wilde, alongside his toy bunny, on the talk show he refused to watch three days ago. Huh, he's gotten fatter, Finnick thought. And what the hell is he wearing? Purple looks awful on him, and why the hell do I even care? "Greg, I told you I don't want to watch this!"

"Wait, just trust me! Watch it to the end. Something surprising happens."

"Does he publicly humiliate himself? That I have to see!"

It all went like a normal talking show. Boring questions, and even more boring answers, with the most lazily-written jokes ever created. It all took a turn when a ring from a phone happened. The white rabbit explained that Nick had to answer the phone and put it on speaker. Immediately, Finnick got excited, hoping that the call was actually really embarrassing for the fox. Serves him right, he thought.

His smile faded when he heard the voice on the other side of Nick's phone. Sam the otter talking to Nick Wilde. His greatest fear.

"I wanna thank you for what you did for me last year." Okay, he clearly was nice to her last year. Probably talking about the concert. Nothing to be alarmed about.

"It was an unforgettable ride and I definitely enjoyed it." Okay, weird choice of words there. Thankfully, she must have just meant when she took her and Judy to the concert in his car.

"Very savvy with the tongue, I must say."

"WHAT THE HELL?" That one sentence brought him out of his depressed stupor, launching himself out of the bed as though a cannon. "If this friggin' fox did anything to Sam, I'll never forgive the bastard!"

"Uncle, calm down!" said Greg, hiding behind the table in fear of becoming a casualty of his anger. "I'm sure she didn't mean it that way. Didn't you tell me Nick only cares about Miss Hopps?"

"He's a conniving snake! A traitorous fool! He would do this just to spite me!"

"Uncle, stop saying that about Uncle Nick, I mean it!" Greg said, with his face turned to wrinkles, facing the fennec with purpose. "All you do is say how awful he is when you were the reason he probably wanted to leave in the first place! I'm tired of your misplaced anger!"

"Misplaced anger?! He left us! I get to be angry at him for what he did! Isn't that fair?"

"Life isn't fair, isn't that what you said? It isn't fair for me to be hearing everything that comes out of your mouth and for me to just ignore it all day long. It's tiring! I love you as much as I love him, but if you stop it with your petty attitude I'm gonna find a job somewhere else!"

His eyes softened. He really did it this time. The prophecy that Ravi foretold for him was becoming true. He couldn't do it. He couldn't just get Greg to leave him too. He wouldn't handle it. "Greg, I…" he started speaking softly.

"No. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said anything," Greg said, lowering his head in shame. Finnick tried with all his might to say Greg was correct, that he really was an idiot who messed up every relationship he was ever in. But that didn't come out of his mouth.

"Why'd you even show me the video?" Finnick asked, barely a sound out of his mouth, still ashamed.

Greg sighed. "Finish watching it. You can look it up, I'm out for the day. There's some leftover chicken in the fridge if you want it."

"Wait!" Finnick said, getting in front of the back door of his van.

"What is it?" Greg asked, in an unusually dark tone that he never gave Finnick. "I can't stay, I have to find work somewhere, since you don't want to work at all this week."

"Right," Finnick said. He had called the week off, and somehow Greg still came to hang out with him, bringing him food whenever he could. "I guess you can go do that. Be safe out there, okay?"

"Whatever. Finish the damn video."

Out the door he was, never to return for the remainder of the day. Finnick cursed silently and tried as much as he could to forget what he had done, but his negative thoughts became even louder. To distract himself, he decided to heed to Greg's advice, and looked up the cursed video of Nick talking to Sam. It was funny, now that he thought about it. It was his nightmare personified, and he's sure if Nick ever found out, it would be his nightmare too.

There was only about a minute left of the recording. Nick was kind enough to stop Sam on her tracks. There was no trace of embarrassment on his face, his shit-eating grin always prevalent. He was never a straight-forward fox, just telling Sam to turn on the TV. When she did as instructed, her voice turned grim, and unfortunately for Finnick, it made him laugh.

It was definitely embarrassing for the poor otter, but all he could think was her corroded face as she realized she was speaking to all of Zootopia. It was endearing. When she began to repeat Mr. Wilde multiple times after every sentence, it made him laugh. When Nick began to repeat I'm afraid at the beginning of every sentence, it made him laugh. It was mundane, it was awful, but it was real. It was honest. An honesty he didn't have.

When the video was done, so was Finnick's smile. He began to think of all that had happened that week, from Sunday all the way to now. All the fun conversations with the otter, all the laughs he had shared. Something important revealed itself to him.

If I am ever truly honest in my life, I want it to be with her.

He was going to tell her the truth. Much sooner rather than later. But not today. Today he'd think of her as the otter who took pity on him for being sad. He'd think about the genuine disgust she had shared about his wife (which was just Nick in a dress, don't ask). But most importantly, he'd think about genuinely being liked by her. She wouldn't talk with him at all if that wasn't true.

He knew it wouldn't last, but he had to be honest. He just had to.

SUNDAY

The day was finally here. It was time for Sam to meet with the fennec fox again. She bought the risotto, she bought the fish, and she was ready to cook. Apparently, he was also preparing a tasty salmon for her, so she will most definitely enjoy that. She was wearing a very simple outfit, considering the fact she would have to cook, so she didn't want to mess up one of her good dresses by getting them stained or pressed up if she wore an apron. She went for a blue denim skirt combined with a simple light blue blouse topped up with a soft white jacket.

She was nervous. It was one thing to text, but meeting in person was a much different ordeal, not to count the fact that she kissed him the last time they met.

She became less nervous when she found a mammal struggling to get out of a gutter. She was walking around the Rainforest gathering a few other things for her encounter with the fennec when she suddenly discovered him. How one gets stuck in a gutter is beyond her, but she wouldn't leave without helping the poor guy. With a little bit of digging through trash(Someone did a crazy job clogging it), she managed to grab the scruff of his shirt and pushed him out.

"To whom do I owe the pleasure of my rescue?" He said, sounding like a knight from the olden days. Now that she looked at him better, he didn't look a day over twenty.

"Hehe. I'm Sam. Who might thou be?" she played along, making the arctic fox grin.

"Gregory Wildkins," he said, meeting his paw with hers, shaking it. "But my friends call me Greg."

"Well, Greg, how come you got stuck in that gutter?"

"Funny story, how about we skip it for now?" he said, very nervously. It was suspicious to Sam, but she didn't want to pressure anything out of him. It wasn't really her business. "Anyway, since you really did me a solid, how about I help you somewhat? Do you need to go somewhere? My car isn't parked too far from here."

"Oh, no, Greg, you don't have to do anything for me, really. I just did what any good mammal would do."

"I insist, Sam. I can't possibly leave without having done anything."

Sam sighed. She wasn't going to get rid of him, so she might as well use this opportunity. "Fine. I'm going to Savanna Central. A place called Sandy Lofts. Do you know it?"

"Do I know it? HAH!" he said. "My uncle lives there, as a matter of fact. You're in good hands, Sammers. Let's go!"

"Alright, thanks. Wait, what did you call me?" she asked him with interest.

"Sammers? Sorry, I tend to give nicknames to people, I'll stop."

"No, no, it's okay, just…nevermind."

"Okay, then. I'll go grab some of my stuff in there, just hold on a sec," Greg said, his head entering the gutter for a second time.

"What were you doing on the roof?" Sam asked him.

"Oh, uhhh," he popped his head out to talk to her, but hesitated to answer. "I was…checking for cracks. Yeah, I was looking out for the people here. I heard some houses are at risk of their roofs falling."

"That's horrible!" Sam replied. "Did you find any?"

"Any what?"

"Cracks."

"Oh! No, no cracks! So, it's all good! There, found ya, dude!" Greg said to a plushie, suspiciously resembling him. Very quickly, he hid it in his bag before she saw more of it. "Alright, then, ready to go?" He asked her, to which she nodded, quietly following him to his car.

For a young fox like him, she really didn't expect him to own such a vintage car. She didn't know much about them, but it was obvious this wouldn't have been cheap to buy. The breeze as the car accelerated through the streets was a nice feeling on her fur after her hectic morning of collecting the last few items for their cooking date. She was also extremely nervous about meeting him again.

"Something on your mind, Sam?"

"You could say that. I have a lot in my mind, actually. There's this date I'm going to, and I don't want to mess it up."

"Ohh, a date, huh? Who's the lucky guy?"

"Some fox I met at the restaurant I work at. His name is Nick."

Greg's eyes widened. "It's not Nick Wilde, is it?"

"Oh, gosh no, hahaha," Sam said. "Between you and me, I'm pretty sure he's taken already. He's very close to Officer Hopps."

"Oh, yeah, my unc thinks that too. He was always suspicious about them. You hear they almost confessed on national television?"

"Y-yeah, I did hear about that," said Sam, now covering her face and looking out the window.

"But then they got interrupted by an otter who called Nick. Someone named S…Sam…" Greg gulped, looking at the otter and back at the road, and then back at the otter again. With panicked breathing, the fox turned the car and parked it into a grocery store parking lot in a matter of seconds.

"Uhh Greg?" Sam asked, getting scared about his sudden reaction.

"Y-you're Sam? The Otter Sam? Sam the Otter?"

Oh. boy, here we go again. "Well, yeah, my name is Sam, and I'm an otter. I don't know if there's other otters named Sam but surely there are. Sam isn't that unique of a name."

"You w-were in the show! You called Uncle Nick!"

"It was an accident!" Sam defended herself. "I didn't know he was on a show. Wait wait wait hold on a second! Backtrack right now, what did you just call him?"

"Uncle Nick?"

"Why did you call him that?" Sam asked him, now becoming the panicked one. "What is going on? How do you know Nick?"

"I'm sorry about this, Sam. Really really sorry!" said Greg, clutching his head with his two paws.

"Greg, calm down! I need you to tell me what's going on! How do you know Nick and how is he your uncle?"

Greg sighed. "I can't believe I'm betraying Uncle Finnick like this. I'm sorry, Sam, I'm gonna tell you the whole story."

"What whole story? What the hell is going on? Who is Finnick?!" the otter screamed at the fox, wanting answers.

"You're about to find out," said Greg, who began to tell her everything that had happened the past week.

Nothing beats the aroma of great food. A combination of elements that create something majestic, with a taste able to bring people to tears. That's how Finnick's food felt right at that moment. He channeled his inner Gordon Lambsay and cooked possibly his best meal yet. If Greg or Nick saw him, they would laugh, but he didn't care. Humming a song that was currently stuck in his head, the fennec did the last of his preparations, making sure the salmon was cooked to perfection. He was in a good mood. However the night ended up, he would be happy knowing he tried being honest for once in his life. Hopefully it gives him more of a motivation to continue on becoming a better mammal.

Tommy the bear was not kidding. The salmon smelled amazing, and his seasoning was definitely not the reason. There was something in that fish's diet that made it incredibly delicious, and he couldn't wait to see Sam's face when she tried it. He had given her instructions to go to the entrance of Sandy Lofts, and he would discreetly take her to the alleyway of the apartment complex (with witnesses of course) and finally tell her all of his lies. Whether she hates him or not after the fact, he will accept that. Just being honest for once was enough for him. He wanted to prove Ravi wrong on at least one thing.

He heard a soft knock at the back of the van. It was really quiet, like they were trying not to be noticed. Finnick even thought he might have been hearing something else, but nope, a knock came again, much stronger than the last, actually startling the fennec. He checked his phone. Sam hadn't messaged at all. She should've been on Sandy Lofts by now.

A stronger knock was heard. "Alright, alright, don't break my car down!" Like usual, Finnick would grab his bat and open the van. Usually, when one doesn't even say who they are when they're knocking, they usually mean bad business, and in Finnick's profession, it means most people that knock at his door. With a flick of the latch holding the door in place, he swung it outwards and put on his angry face, making sure the people outside looked at his bat. "Who is i-what the fuck?"

It was Greg, with his paws joined in prayer, silently mouthing I'm Sorry over and over again, while also trembling. To the right of him, to Finnick's obvious discomfort, was the face he least wanted to see looking at his van.

"Hello, Finnick," said the otter, very visibly angry, with her eyebrows furrowed and her arms crossed. "May I come in?"

The fennec, lost for words, let go of the bat and stepped aside, allowing the otter to jump into his sanctuary. He didn't know what to do. So far, Sam was quiet, just observing the new surroundings. Greg, still in his praying position, also entered.

"S-Sam, I can explain," Finnick tried to say.

"Samantha's my name. You don't get to call me Sam. Ever. Are we clear?"

Finnick nodded weakly. "S-Samantha, I-"

"I counted seven," she said suddenly, sighing and sitting on the couch.

"W-what?" he asked her.

"Seven cuts on my feet. Three on my right foot, four on my left. I could barely walk the first two days, but I still went out to work, to get more money for your stupid food!" she threw a bag full of groceries at his feet. "Is it all true? Is all of what Greg told me true?"

"I-I don't know what he told you."

"What a dumb otter, right? Such a dumb otter that she completely believed my plot to get free food. Faked a wife, faked a job, shit I even faked a fucking house!"

"Samantha, please, I was gonna tell y-"

"But not after me feeding you again, right? Not after taking full advantage of my kindness!"

"That's not true! I-I didn't tell Greg, but I planned to tell you! As soon as you walked into Sandy Lofts today."

She looked at him furiously. "Well, at least that's not a fake place you conjured up just to hustle me again."

"I was completely honest with you after that! All of those texts. Everything that I've been telling you there is true."

"Not that Nick was your ex-partner, or that you despise him for leaving you behind despite clearly having the worst living conditions any mammal would want. Nick was smart, leaving you."

Finnick deserved this beatdown. He wasn't angry at what Sam was saying, because really it had been on his mind for months. Sam was being the more honest one out of the both of them. "I'm sorry. I really am."

"What does apologizing do now, after you already emotionally manipulated me? You know, my life was actually going great before you showed up. Right after your little free food fiasco, it all seemed to go down on the poor Sam the Otter, and apparently, nothing happened to you. Not one thing granted me karmic justice. You wanna know how I got these cuts? I don't care if you don't want to know, I'll tell you anyway. My sorry excuse of an ex-boyfriend barged into the restaurant, got angry at me, said all sorts of terrible crap about me and threw a glass pitcher at my feet. In front of hundreds of customers!"

"Oh my god," Greg said, his first words since the encounter began. "Sam, I'm so sorry-"

"You don't get to call me Sam either, Gregory, now shut it! The adults are talking!" Greg did as instructed and shut his mouth. Finnick looked at Sam, and then at her feet, which were visibly bandaged and some of the cuts were still bleeding. "And then," she sniffed, a few tears getting out of her eyes. "Just to try and get some help, I call Nick, only for him to be in the middle of an interview, and now people think I had sex with him! That I'm his goddamn mistress!"

The salmon was still heavily cooking. A certain smell had given away the fact that it was now burnt, and it kept on cooking. Finnick stayed glued to that spot, wanting to listen to everything Sam had to say. The least he can do now is listen to her.

"You know the worst part? I was so blinded by every other horrible shit happening in my life that I didn't even hesitate to get close to you. Gerald warned me, but I didn't listen. I texted with you. I had so much fun, I would never think you were anything else than a poor fox whose life had not gone as well as he liked, just like me. In that, I'm sure we both found common ground. I was so stupid!"

"You're not stupid, Sam-"

"I was so happy," she interrupted him again, her tears still falling. "I was so happy to meet you today. This entire week, all of the terrible shit. I just went along with it. I thought 'It can't be that bad! I'll go on a date with this fennec, he seems like a swell guy!'. But it's just as cursed as ever. Seven cuts, seven days."

"Samantha, at least let me say something."

"You have until midnight to text whatever you want to me before I block your phone. After that, I'll do my best to forget about you and your tattletail nephew. Don't worry, I won't report you to Nick, although I really should, but just for the heck of it, I'll keep being good ol' Sam, the nicest person you could ever meet." After saying that, she got off the couch and stepped out of the car. "For what it's worth, texting you was pretty fun, whether or not that was the real you," she smiled at him one last time. Finnick didn't have time to return the smile before she went back to her angry face, which morphed into a saddened face. "You didn't need to lie. I would've given you the food. It would've been a pleasure to help you…" she wanted to say something more, but hesitated, instead just lifting a paw and waving at him slightly. "Bye then."

With that last sentence, the fennec looked at the otter go. Hopelessly, she walked into the night, slowly but surely disappearing in the infinite darkness of the road back to the Rainforest.