Good News, Bad News
Honey sat at the edge of the examination table with a sheet draped over her legs. Her father, Bartrand paced around the room looking down at his watch. The he picked up the empty carton from the counter top. 'Early Warning', was the brand of choice in Zootopia. It could detect pregnancy the very next day after conception. It carried with it a ninety-eight percent guaranteed accuracy. Bartrand had made certain that Honey had followed directions to a tee, now all they had to do is wait. Two minutes never felt so long.
“What if it doesn't work?” Honey asked finally, kicking her legs nervously like she used to when she was a cub.
“It'll work, sweetie. Just gotta be patient.”
“But what if it comes back negative.”
“Then you just try again. I'll give you your shot and you and Nick take care of the rest.”
“Dad, I-”
Bartrand's watch started beeping, it was finally time to look at the test. Bartrand walked to the counter picking up the stick from the cup of urine. He looked down at it and sighed his eyebrows furrowed. Honey touched her chest, her sigh matching his. Bartrand pursed his lips and set the cup back down, bringing the stick with him as he moved to join his daughter.
“Well?” Honey asked, the tone in her voice already accepting the result.
“Well, there's good news and...there's bad news.” A grim look came to the old badger's face as he patted her thigh gently. “Which would you prefer first?”
“The bad, just tell me the bad.”
“You're going to have to buy all new jeans and tank tops because you're not going to be able to fit in your old ones.” Bartrand turned the test so she could see the pink plus sign.
“I'm...” Honey started crying, lunging into her dad's arms.
“Pregnant, yes...yes you are. Oh, I'm so happy for you, sweetie.”
Bartrand rubbed circles on his daughters back. He pushed a warm kiss into the fur on her cheek as she cried into his chest. “Easy. I need you to just take it easy for about a week, so the egg has time to fully attach the wall of your uterus.”
“I know.” She sobbed.
“Try to keep your stress level down, it's very important.”
“I know...I have to tell Nick.”
“He's out right now running errands, he'll be back later. For now, I want you to lie down and rest a bit. These last two minutes have already been incredibly stressful.”
Honey nodded wiping her eyes on the back of her hand before stretching out on the bed. Bartrand pulled the sheet up around her before kissing her forehead. He put a cap on the test and handed to her for safe keeping.
“You keep this for the baby book, I'm going to get you something to drink.”
There was a knock on the door, then it opened. A short Fennec fox walked in. A gloomy look lingered on his face, his tall ears laying back against his head. Bartrand knew all too well that whatever Finnick had to say wasn't going to be good news. Quickly the badger intercepted him with a smile.
“Hello, young mammal.”
“Hey, Doc. There's someone's here. He said somethings up with-”
The badger pointed at Honey laying out on the table. “Nothing, right?” He inferred with the furrowing of his brow.
The fox immediately picked up on the glance, the gritting of his sharp teeth helped get his point across. ”Right, can I talk to you out in the common room?”
“Dad, what is it?”
“Nothing, a scrape at the very least. I'll be right back. You get dressed and wait until I get back.”
Without another word, the old badger stepped out into hall following the small fox. In the distance, he could hear a commotion. A deep unfamiliar voice was talking to, who he assumed, was Benjamin. When he entered the room he was more than a little surprised to see a rather large lion sitting on the floor with a few of the cubs climbing his massive form. Hexter stood behind him working on removing his collar. A beautiful skunk, Lavender crossed the room to bring him some water.
“What's going on here?”
The lion looked up at the badger, an easy smile coming to his square face. “Bartrand?”
“Leodore?”
“What?” Benny dropped his doughnut on the floor watching helplessly as it rolled away. “OMGoodness, you're Leo the Lion?”
“He's who?” Finnick asked.
“Leodore Lionheart, a journalist, who has been trying to shine a light on the collar fiasco for years now. He writes under the name 'Leo the Lion' and he's been a friend of mine for a long time.”
“I went to see you at your old pharmacy. It's all closed up, I assumed the worse.”
Bartrand laughed and knelt down next to his old friend. The badger wrapped his arms around the lion's neck pushing their faces together. The badger looked so tiny next to the hulking mass of the lion.
“No, it would take more than a government takeover to do me in.”
“What happened?” The lion asked touching the badger's shoulder.
“I misread a prescription and filled it wrong. The gentlemammal it was for got sick. I managed to figure out what happened and correct the error but it was too late. I was sued and lost my business. Thankfully, Mayor Bellwether didn't take my license. She figured since I help correct the problem that I was still within my ethical right.”
“Mayor Bellwether, she's got some good policies. If I could just get her to meet with me, she could be our biggest ally.”
“This is all so friggin fascinating, doc, but why is he here?” Finnick stepped up the lion.
“It's Nick...”
Leodore began to explain what transpired on the streets. About how Nick bravely stepped in and was now on the run from the police. Nick told him to come to this sanctuary and they would keep him safe until all the trouble died down. He ended the explanation by pointing out the very valuable information he had stored in his suitcase. There was a possibility that it could help all the preds out and maybe abolish the collars altogether. All he needed to do was get it to the magazine and get it printed.
“Either that or to the mayor herself.”
“Where's Honey, she will want to hear this.” The skunk turned her attention to the badger a strip of white hair fell down over one of her red eyes.
“She is resting,” Bartrand said protectively.
“Why is she resting, Doc? Is she sick.” Finnick asked crossing his arms.
“She's pregnant and I don't want to risk her losing the baby. You will all keep her calm, not one word of this to her, or you will answer to me.”
All eyes were on him, this was the first time they'd ever seen him so serious. “We have to hope that Nick will come home as soon as he can, we'll figure it out then.”
“How long do we wait, Doc?”
“If he's not back in the morning, then we go look for him.”
A white wolf barged into the common room panting heavily. Bartrand got to his feet looking up at him. The wolf slumped against the wall trying to catch his breath.
“What is the meaning of this, Fangmeyer?”
“Nick's back. He's in the tunnels and he's brought a guest.”
“Who?”
“It's a cop.”
“Who's here, what's going on?”
Bartand turned to see Honey standing in the mouth of the hallway with a confused look on her face. Everyone looked back and forth to one another and then to Bartrand who was wringing his hands in front of him.
