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Chapter Five: My enemy is my friend

In the five days since Dawn was released, once again free to walk the streets of Zootopia, she had tried her hardest to get her life back on track. While her job at Bug-Burga was a disappointment from a societal standpoint she found herself actually feeling relaxed working there. This was helped along by how welcoming her co-worker was. Despite his intimidating appearance, Vernon had turned out to be surprisingly friendly. With each shift they worked together she found herself more at ease around him. Most of their conversations had been centered around their shared love of various puzzle games, the rest fell under the usual gamut of light conversation. But Dawn couldn't help but be bothered by the fact that Vernon had yet to mention his feelings on her criminal past. The topic sat in a tight knot in her stomach. Everyone she had met so far had at least acknowledged what she had done, for better or for worse. But not knowing her co-workers stance kept her on her guard.

She also had the benefit of not having to hand food to the customers. Vernon had volunteered to handle it, and Dawn was just fine with that. With no face to face interaction with the customers, Dawn wouldn't be faced with any angry tirades or altercations from mammals that recognized her. Very quickly, her place at Bug-Burga became a reprieve from Zootopia at large.

It was the days off and the down time that Dawn struggled under the worst of it. The morning after her first shift she made an attempt to re-activate her bank account but was summarily thrown out without a chance to protest. And over the days that followed she would find similar outcomes played out at each place she went. Whether it was the carrot phone store, the post office, even the local grocery store she was met with nothing but dismissal. Some mammals would calmly ask her to leave, while others launched into tirades and clamored for the ZPD. Dawn had made an effort to contact Polaraski for help, but it would take a week or so for him to be able to escort her to these locations and read them the riot act. For food Dawn had been relying almost solely on the same pizza place she had ordered from on her first night, as well as her dinner breaks at Bug-Burga. But pizza was quickly becoming repulsive to her, and she was starting to get desperate.

It was these circumstances that found her shoving various Bug-Burga meadow menu items into a large bag as her shift was coming to a close, more than enough to get her through the day. She stopped when she heard a soft "Ahem." From behind her, and turned to find a concerned Vernon standing over her.

"Uh, Dawn?" He scratched his head. "I know we get unlimited free food, but er...I wouldn't exactly grocery shop here. These aren't exactly top of the food chain ingredients."

Dawn looked nervous; she wasn't sure how to respond to the wolf. She didn't exactly want to admit why she was taking this much food.

"That stuff doesn't re-heat well either, like at all." The wolf continued. "I've tried it, it generally tastes like hot cardboard."

After turning over the various poorly thought out lies she could spin she sighed in defeat. She thought she might as well go for broke and be honest, no reason to make a bigger mess to clean up later.

"I've been living on pizza for four days, I need something different but no one else delivers to my complex." She groaned.

The wolf leaned against the counter. "You know, they have these places called 'grocery stores'? Surely you've heard of them." He threw her a smug grin.

The ewe placed the bag down and let out a deep sigh before staring the wolf in the eyes. Her voice trembled a bit as she spoke.

"T-They" She steeled herself. "They won't allow me in any of the because of who I am."

The wolf looked at her, first puzzled, then seemingly incised. He walked over to the bag and grabbed it. In a swift motion he tossed it in the nearby trash container. Dawn was shocked.

"What the hell Vernon!?" She sputtered before clasping her muzzle with her hooves.

The wolf crouched down to the lamb's level, his face one of sympathy.

"You ain't gonna need that. We are going grocery shopping. Got that?" The wolf looked at her, determination in his eyes.

"I don't th-"

"As soon as our shift's over, were going. I won't hear of it otherwise." The wolf cut her off as he rose to his feet.

Despite the lamb's feeble protest, the wolf was adamant and unrelenting. And when six a.m. rolled around and the morning staff filtered in, Dawn barely had time to change back into her day clothes before the wolf grabbed her by the hoof and pulled her along with him.

Dawn didn't fight, not that she could have anyway. The wolf was far stronger than she was. But she found herself more than curious at exactly what the wolf planned to do that could even help the situation. As he pushed the door open, Dawn shielded her eyes from the morning sun with her free arm. The freshly risen spring sun hung in the east, gleaming brightly as it shown through a slit between two skyscrapers, basking the city in its warm glow. Once outside the wolf released her hoof, and gestured for her to continue following him. Dawn dutifully followed, doing her best to keep up with Vernon's larger strides as they entered the back lot.

The wolf abruptly stopped as they reached a space. "And here we are."

Dawn couldn't see around the wolf until he sat down on a rather unimpressive moped. Its was clearly very old, its green and black paint scraped in several spots exposing the metal underneath. The seat had a few small tears that marred its surface, and it had quite a number of dents in the rear. As Vernon placed a helmet on, Dawn couldn't help but at smirk at the spectacle of the large wolf riding such an undersized vehicle. As she suppressed a laugh, Vernon turned to her and patted the space on the seat behind him,

"Sit on down." He flashed his teeth.

Dawn gave him a bemused look. "You can't be serious."

"What? Just hold on and you'll be fine." The wolf beckoned.

She crossed her arms and shook her head. "What if I fall off that thing?"

The wolf gave her a dull look. "Dawn, this is a Vixspa. Its max speed is nineteen miles an hour. Most you'd get is a scrape. Ain't like that death trap of a motorcycle Val rides. Now get on."

Dawn reluctantly walked over, and slowly eased on to the back of the seat. Timidly she wrapped her arms around the wolf's torso, and when Vernon seemed satisfied that she had a good enough grip he turned the Vixspa on and made his way out of the parking lot. Dawn's mind began to wander a bit as she found her muzzle pressed against his back. Vernon had an earthy smell, like the ground after a rain storm. As his warmth permeated through the coat, a comfortable sigh involuntarily slipped out. It was only when Vernon pulled up to the exit and interrupted her reverie did she realize the odd place her mind had drifted to.

"Where's this grocery store anyway?" Vernon asked.

Dawn snapped to attention, shaking her head to clear her thoughts.

"O-Oh!" She stuttered, her muzzle tinged red. "Um, the Green Meadow Market, it's about three blocks from here, on Walnut Street."

"Ah yeah, think I've seen that place. Hold tight." And with that Vernon pulled onto the highway.

Dawn watched as the various buildings slowly crept by. "Vernon wasn't kidding" She thought. "A sloth could probably outpace this thing." As the Vixspa putted its way down the relatively inactive street Dawn broke the relative silence.

"So, is this moped like a trainer vehicle? A gift from your family until you could get a better one yourself?" Dawn asked innocuously.

The wolf turned and gave her sheepish grin. "Trainer vehicle? Just how old do you think I am Dawn?"

Dawn was immediately embarrassed, she stuttered in an attempt to respond.

"Thirty Dawn, Thirty years old. And I don't need much more than this, it does the job. Certainly better than wading through subway stampedes." The wolf turned back to the road.

"That's nearly as old as I am...I mean-." She sputtered. "I'm thirty one. I shouldn't have assumed, its just-."

"-Because I'm working at Bug-Burga instead of something more prestigious I'm a teenager?" The wolf asked.

The ewe nodded into his coat, and the wolf sighed.

"I'm studying at Zootopia University, this is just to help cover my tuition. Not like I'm planning to make this my life like Gus." He said with a laugh.

"Oh, are you studying to get into the ZPD?" She suddenly felt the wolf's body stiffen. The discomfort was palpable and Dawn became equally unnerved.

After an awkward silence Vernon finally spoke. "Architecture." He said flatly.

"Sorry!" Dawn immediately spat, regretting her words. Vernon's body softened and he turned to look at her again.

"S'right Dawn, no harm." He slowed to a stop as he came to a red light. After a few moments of lingering silence Vernon spoke up again.

"It's kinda expected when you see a wolf that they are involved in some sort of rough and tumble job. Police, Fire Fighting, Bouncing, The Military, that's the roles society sees us in. I can't fault them really, those jobs make the best use of our species natural skills." He lamented.

Dawn listened intensely as the wolf continued. The light changed, and he turned down the next street.

"My family is pretty much all law dogs too. 'But the heart wants what it wants' as my Mom would say. So I turned away from all that to pursue my crazy dream. I'm dead set on becoming the best architect in Zootopian history." He laughed.

Dawn felt guilty; it seemed like every topic she tried talk about ended in accidental put-downs at Vernon's expense. Though he seemed to take it in stride, Dawn wanted to make him feel better.

"When I was younger, most mammals expected me to be a librarian or some quiet desk job. I guess they weren't that far off. " She chuckled to herself. "But I'm sure you'd make a great architect." Dawn said softly.

She suddenly felt Vernon's tail softly brushing back and forth against her chest. He quickly turned, seemingly embarrassed.

"S-sorry, it's um-"He met Dawn's gaze for a moment only to quickly turn away. "It's involuntary." He shook his head before turning back to the road. Dawn couldn't help but giggle.

A few moments later they pulled up in front of the grocer and came to a stop. Vernon turned off the moped and hopped off on to the side walk, before ushering the reluctant lamb off the moped after him. She softly dropped off the seat. Standing on shaky hooves, she looked up at Vernon with questioning eyes. Vernon simply met her gaze and waived his arm forward.

"You gotta lead the way Dawn. You know what the Manager looks like." He said.

"B-But I...oh..oh mutton chops." She muttered.

The wolf crouched down and put a paw on her shoulder, meeting her gaze. "Relax Dawn, I've got your back okay?"

Dawn looked back with her worry stricken face, but reluctantly nodded. The wolf softly pushed her forward, and as she began to move on her own he stood up and began to walk behind her.

She entered the store in a reluctant trudge trying her best to keep her head down, only looking up occasionally to try to spot the ram in charge. After a few quick glances she sighted the particularly older ram who ran the place, his back turned to the duo.

"T-that's him." She mumbled nearly soundless.

Vernon crouched down to her again. "Go on, get his attention." He whispered to her.

Dawn hesitated with each approaching step, and when she was finally no more than two steps away from him she turned to look at Vernon, crippling worry etched on her face. The wolf simply gestured to her to get the rams attention. Dawn slumping her shoulders, letting out a heavy sigh before loudly clearing her throat.

The weary old ram slowly turned in response, and when his eyes fell on the ewe his face screwed up in disgust.

"Oh it's you." He growled. "I thought I told you to get lost. We reserve the right to refuse service to garbage like you."

His sneer slowly dropped as he noticed the lamb was draped in a strange shadow, and as his eyes made their way up to the source a look of mild fear came over the old manager.

"'I'd watch your choice of words sir." The wolf glared at the ram, his arms crossed.

He was visibly shaken, but his resolve held. Returning his glance to Dawn he attempted to keep a brave front. "You think you can scare me? I may be old, but I can take that big mutt on if I have to." He sneered. "I should have expected you to resort to hired thugs, but where did you find a predator willing to work for you?"

"I'm a friend." Vernon stated flatly, his ears back. Dawn looked back at Vernon surprised, his words causing her to blush.

"Friends with her? A predator? Mam I knew wolves were dumb, but you've got to be the dumbest wolf I've ever met. You know who she is right?" The old sheep's focus was on Vernon now.

Vernon seemed to ignore the question. "All she wants to do is pay you for food, how is that a problem for you?"

"And be known as the grocery store approved by 'criminal masterminds'? Yeah, I'm done discussing this. Now get out of my store before I call ZPD and tell them a wolf is harassing my establishment!" The ram put all of his anger into that statement, looming himself over Dawn while staring daggers at the wolf.

The wolf sighed, and looked down at Dawn who was now cowering under the ram. In an instant the wolf lunged forward, now hovering over the manager. The old manager seemed to pale under the wolf's gaze. Vernon pulled out his wallet and opened it revealing several photos of wolves in police clothing, as well as a citizen badge granted to the family of police officers.

"I have a lot of relatives in the ZPD." The wolf bared his teeth. "And I'd bet they'd be none too happy to hear about the discrimination going on here, let alone your comments on the intelligence of wolves in general."

The old manager began to shrink, uncovering Dawn from his shadow. Vernon's voice was even and low, but stern.

"They might even miss a few call-in emergencies at this address if anything went wrong here. And we wouldn't want that to happen now would we?"

The sheep was now taken aback, he did his best to stand his ground but he could barely suppress his intermittent trembling."

"Y-You. YOU!" He sputtered! "That's EXTORTION!" He growled.

The wolf placed his paws on Dawn's shoulders as he continued to lean over the ram. His grin grew wide and fierce as the old manager crumpled further.

"I fail to see how that's extortion. After all, all you have to do is let Dawn shop here, and she'll pay for her food. What the ZPD does " Vernon coughed "-or doesn't do has nothing to do with me."

The ram was defeated, he nearly tripped over himself as he staggered away from the two.

"F-fine....okay FINE!" He choked out. "She can shop here from now on...I-I'll" He slumped in defeat. "I'll let the other employees know she's permitted. J-j" He bit his hooves, trembling nervously. "Just try to keep a low profile okay...I don't want to lose customers." He said, warily eyeing Dawn.

"We'll be quick." And with that Vernon turned Dawn and himself away from the ram and into the aisles.

With the shopping done, the two made their way out of the store. Vernon only stopped to wave to the now sickly looking ram, assuring him Dawn would be back 'real soon' before departing. As the two clambered back onto the small moped, bags in tow, Dawn spoke.

"T-that was incredible. I-" She tightened her grip around the wolf's waist for a hug. "Thank you." Dawn couldn't see the red tinge growing beneath the wolf's muzzle fur, but she could feel his tail weakly attempting to wag under her clamp. After she loosened her grip, it freely wagged a bit before settling down.

"That was a huge risk you took for me, you could have gotten into serious trouble." She chided.

"Eh, um." He stuttered. "I knew that would work." He grinned sheepishly.

"Oh you did?" She giggled at him. "Why is that?"

"Fear always works." The wolf said with a laugh.

Dawn went limp as she heard Vernon's words. Flashes of the museum flickered in her mind and her grip tightened around the wolf.

"H-hey, you alright back there?" Vernon, feeling the change in pressure looked back at the ewe who's face was now buried in his back.

"I-I'm fine." she mumbled through the cloth.

"You sure?" He pressed.

Dawn simply nodded into his jacket, doing her best to push the horrid memories out of her head.

"Well, whenever you want to talk about it I'm here." He sighed, before turning away.

"Now where to next?" He announced loudly.

Dawn snapped out of her funk, raising her head to answer him. "What?"

"Which place we going to next?" Vernon clarified.

"O-oh...well." Dawn pondered for a moment, bringing her hoof to her chin. "I guess...I really need my bank card back." She said softly.

"Alright!" Vernon powered the moped back on. "Lead the way Dawn."

And so it continued, from the bank, to the post office, to the carrot phone store Vernon used his 'influence' to break down the proprietors of each institution. The young Gazelle at the carrot phone store practically clambered over a counter under the wolf's glare. And four hours later when Vernon pulled up to dawn's apartment building Dawn had access to everything she needed to function in modern society. As she unloaded the last bag from the scooter, the wolf powered it back on.

"Welp, I gotta get some sleep before our shift tonight. Don't let that phone keep you up for too long now." Vernon joked.

"Vernon." Dawn paused. "I-I can't even begin to thank you for-" she sighed. "For everything today."

"Don't worry about it Dawn, just trying to help out." He revved the weak engine of the moped. "I'll see you at work tonight, alright?"

As the wolf turned to drive off, he felt the lamb abruptly grasp his arm.

"Wait!" Dawn shouted. The wolf turned to look at the ewe.

"Forget somethin'?" Vernon questioned.

Dawn looked down and nervously fiddled with her hooves. It was now or never for her, that knot had been in her stomach for far too long.

"V-Vernon." She stuttered. "Y-you called me your friend."

The wolf smiled broadly. "Yeah, I assumed we are. Aren't we?"

The ewe nodded vigorously. "Yes, yes, of course!" She meekly smiled at the wolf before drooping her head back down.

"B-but I have to know." She twisted her foot awkwardly. "Y-you...know what I did right? You must." Her lip quivered as she spoke.

The wolf nodded solemnly. "I do."

Dawn looked up at him, slightly bewildered. "T-then why, why help me? Why be me friend?" She sputtered.

The wolf was silent, and with each passing moment Dawn grew more and more nervous. After what seemed like an eternity Vernon finally spoke.

"My Momma always told me everyone deserves a second chance, especially if they are trying." The wolf darted a finger at her. "And I can tell you are trying."

Dawn felt a wave of relief wash over her. She felt a smile begin to form as her eyes began to tear. "H-how can you tell?" She sniffled slightly, trying to hold back the tears.

The wolf pointed to his nose. "My family can smell bullshit a mile away. My pop swears we have a scent for it. I don't personally think we smell anything though, I think it's just good intuition. That much I'll swear by." He smirked.

Dawn and Vernon smiled at each other before the wolf returned to his Vixspa, revving it's engine again.

"See ya at work Dawn." And with that Vernon was gone before she could say another word, waiving as he turned the corner and out of sight.

After returning to her apartment, stowing her groceries and setting up her phone Dawn plopped into her bed ready for a heavy sleep. That day's sleep was not clouded with the hideous nightmare that continually plagued her, allowing her a much needed comfort that had eluded her for quite some time. Waking up refreshed, Dawn headed back to the Bug-Burga in high spirits. The day had been the best she had had in a long time, and she was more than happy to tell Vernon that over and over again on shift. As Dawn toyed with her new carrot phone, Vernon sat next to her making puzzle game recommendations.

The wolf pointed to the face of the phone the ewe was holding. "And another good one is-" The wolf stopped and suddenly placed the paw over his face. "Ah you know what, all this chatter and I didn't even give you my cell number." Vernon laughed.

"Oh! of course. Hold on!" Dawn beamed as she opened up her contacts entry. "Okay, I'm ready.

The wolf held out his phone, reading off the face. "It's three three three-" His phone suddenly buzzed in his paw, causing the wolf to groan.

"That's probably Wade." He muttered.

"Who's Wade?" Dawn was curious.

"My brother, he works at Precinct Three in Tundratown. Probably got some complaint about our little exploits today." The wolf muttered, turning away from Dawn while checking his phone.

"You have a brother?" Dawn asked.

"Several, although he's the only one in the official ZPD." The wolf muttered.

"Several..."Dawn lingered on the word, something about it was nagging at her memory.

"Yeah, listen to this, he says 'C'mon P, I got enough headaches without hearing from mammals about my big scary brother terrorizing their shops. You're lucky the law is on your side, but still? Bellwether? You make some pretty weird friend choices.'" The wolf read in a mocking tone.

"P?" She leaned in to the conversation, something was coming back to her.

The wolf turned back to her putting his phone down. He ran his paw through his head fur looking embarrassed.

"Y-yeah, it's a nickname my brothers gave me. I was the runt of the family, so they called me-"

"PUPPY!" Dawn's eyes went wide as she leapt to her feet. The wolf actually flinched in turn, somewhat confused by her reaction.

"That obvious huh? I suppose it makes sense see-"

"IT'S ME! FLOOFY!" She gestured hard at her chest, staring at the wolf in pure disbelief.

"Dawn, what are yo-" The wolf's face went blank, and slowly a smile crawled across his muzzle as the realization hit. "Meadowland elementary school?"

Dawn nodded vigorously. "Third grade recess!" She was beaming now.

Vernon's eyes had widened to match hers, and in a swift motion he swept Dawn into a tight hug.

"I can't believe it! Floofs, it's you! I can't believe I didn't recognize you!" He squeezed tightly.

Dawn tried her best to get her hooves around his frame, but she couldn't quite reach. She squeezed as tightly as she could muster. "Lamb sakes, you've gotten so big. They still call you Puppy?"

Vernon gently placed her back down, then rubbed the back of his head. "Unfortunately. I could be as big as an elephant and I'd wager my brothers would still call me that."

Dawn laughed. "Well, I guess I'll try to keep from calling you that then."

The wolf turned his head, a red tinge barely visible across his muzzle. "Well, y'know." He coughed. "I can always make an exception for you Floofs." He grumbled, the lamb smirked in response. There was an awkward silence before Vernon sat back down on the counter and sighed.

"Where did you go Floofs? You just, disappeared one day." His tone was sad. Dawn sat next to him, placing a hoof on his leg.

"M-my Dad found out I was playing with a predator..." She said somberly. "So he took me out of school." The wolf glanced at her sadly. "He put me in an all prey academy. And it was basically all down hill from there."

Vernon put an arm around her, pulling her into a side hug. "I'm sorry to hear that Dawn."

The lamb sighed deeply, taking solace in the embrace. As he released her she glanced back up to him. There were so many questions to ask him. Eventually she settled on starting from the beginning.

"What about you? What did you do after I left?" She said, her eyes filled with sorrow as she looked at Vernon.

The wolf sighed deeply, staring up at the dingy ceiling of the Bug-Burga.

"I..." He looked down again. "I was really sad about you for a while. Outside of my brothers you were the first friend I had."

Dawn was shocked. "No."

"Yeah." He smirked. "I had a bad habit of throwing myself into fights when I was a pup. Standing up for little mammals, as you probably remember."

Dawn giggled at the thought.

"Welp, whether I won the fight or not, and more often it was 'not'. The mammals I stood up for were usually too scared of me to even thank me, let alone be my friends."

Dawn patted his leg sympathetically.

"When I got older, I started feeling guilty about hurting anyone, even if they were jerks. I didn't really want to fight if I didn't have to. I was afraid I was kind of playing into wolf stereotypes. Luckily I shot up like a corn stalk just before high school." He illustrated his growth by raising his paw above his head.

"After that I could rely on intimidation and words. The fact that I was huge, and I had six brothers all in the same school caused most of the bullies I came across to back down. And I think not hurting any mammal ended up earning me all those friends around then. They didn't really see me as a violent savage as long as I wasn't scratching and biting." He mused.

"So when Gus said that you didn't have a mean bone in your body?" She queried.

"Technically he was right, but my glare could practically bore holes through a mammal." Vernon chuckled.

"You know, I didn't have any friends until college myself." Dawn interjected.

"Ouch." Vernon remarked. Dawn gave him a gentle punch in the arm, which the wolf rubbed in response.

"Oohhh, mean sheep." He laughed. Dawn simply stuck her tongue out in response.

"That reminds me, Sheepdog?" Dawn quizzed.

"Gus penned that one, though to be fair most of my friends were caprids, I mean it was the Meadowlands." He chuckled lightly. "One giant wolf friends with a bunch of small prey animals, it was quite a sight." The two shared a long laugh, which Vernon ended with a contented sigh.

"After that I lingered around the Meadowlands for a few years. Dad was pushing for me to get into police work, but I didn't really want to. I kinda got into designing buildings in high school, and I really loved it. So when the starter money came in for my turn at college, I wanted to pursue my dream."

"That's really noble." Dawn said.

"Pfft...tell that to my Dad." The wolf muttered.

"He didn't take it well I guess?" She said knowingly.

"He was disappointed, he said I 'had the most potential' out of all of my brothers when it came to being a cop. Pointed out all those mammals I helped as a kid as a sign that I was meant for it_. 'Justice is in your blood son'_ he told me, 'And one day you'll be a sheriff like me.'" The wolf chuckled softly.

"Wow..." Dawn smirked. "Your Dad seemed to really believe in you."

The wolf stifled a laugh and dismissed the air with a paw. "Please, he used that line on all of my brothers. That's why I got three brothers in police, one in criminal forensics, one in legal, and the last one studying to be a trooper. Zachary is even his deputy at North Meadowlands P.D. If anyone's gunnin' for the old mams job it's him."

"When you said your family were mostly police dogs, you really weren't kidding." Dawn said with surprise.

"That's not even counting uncles, aunts and cousins." The wolf gave her a tiresome look.

"Anyway." The wolf continued. "Mom was supportive, she told me to go for it. But Dad had the final say, and he was adamant that if I was going for such a 'unstable' career choice I'd have to pay the full tuition on my own. They weren't going to help out like with my other brothers. So I went to Gus for help, who by that point had moved to Zootopia. His Grandpa franchised this Bug-Burga, and put Gus in charge of the place when he was done with college. So Gus was able to offer me this position which allowed me to pay for my tuition at Z.U., and he let me room with him for a while till I could afford my own place."

The wolf placed his hands on his legs to lean forward, inadvertently forgetting Dawn's hoof was still resting on one. The unexpected touch caused the two of them to draw back quickly, turning away from one another. Dawn felt heat enter her cheeks coupled with a strange flutter, she chalked it up to some lingering fear of the wolf. 'It certainly couldn't be anything else' she thought. The wolf coughed awkwardly.

"So here I am, working at this hole in the wall and about three months away from graduation." The wolf quickly turned back to Dawn. "But listen to me prattling on, what about you? There's gotta be more that happened between when we met and er..." The wolf paused, clearly uncomfortable. "that whole incident."

Dawn shook her head, shaking off the more confusing thoughts in order to answer Vernon. "Ugh..." She groaned. "There really isn't much to tell. My life in the Spiral Horn Academy was mostly studying. No social calls, no friends." She slumped forward.

"I really find that hard to believe, you were a sweetheart when I knew you." Vernon replied.

Again Dawn blushed. "W-well I was shy." She did her best to push her blushing down. "And my father kept me on a tight leash. Grade school friends weren't a priority to his plans for me."

"Sounds like a real hard ass." Vernon muttered.

"You don't know the half of it. He was drunk and abusive, and trying to live out his failed dreams through me." Dawn's ears drooped at the memories, she could feel tears starting to rise but suppressed it. Vernon pulled her in for another side hug, and a tingle ran up her spine.

"That's terrible. You know, my Dad may be a little bit of a grouse. But he was always a good mammal. Can't even begin to imagine what that was like." The wolf shared her pained expression.

"Well the good part of my family wanting nothing to do with me anymore means I don't have to put up with seeing him anymore, so there is that." Dawn gave a halfhearted smirk.

The wolf released her from the hug, but kept a paw on her shoulder. "Surely it was better in college?"

The lamb put a hoof to her chin. "I dormed at home so I still had my father looming over me. I did get a couple of friends then...but." She sighed. "Not like I have them anymore."

The wolf shifted uncomfortably. "I-uh." He coughed. "I'm sorry, seems like everything I'm asking about is just making you feel worse."

The ewe smirked at Vernon, giving a playful swat of the wolf's knee. "Oh Puppy, it doesn't bother me much anymore. Believe me I've been through this all already in therapy, don't worry about it."

The wolf was still visibly reluctant to continue, his ears pinned back. "Well...was there anything good in college?" He asked.

"Well, I got really into writing. It was something I didn't 'share' with my Dad, so I had it all to myself. I really enjoyed it." She fondly recalled.

The wolf seemed to relax and flashed a small smile. "Ever think about picking it up again?"

Dawn smiled. "Maybe I will. I mean, if things get better." She began to swing her legs back and forth idly as she sat on the counter. " I don't really have much inspiration these days."

"You could always write about your time in office." The wolf half joked.

A burst of laughter erupted from the ewe, and she clasped her muzzle. "Oh please, that would just be three hundred pages about how terrible working for Lionheart was."

The wolf chuckled. "Ya' know, I always thought he seemed like a real prick."

Dawn couldn't contain her laughter, she held her stomach as she choked it out. The wolf joined her in the hearty cackle. She was practically in tears when she saw the wolf's ear flicker, and he suddenly stopped laughing.

"Hello, welcome to Bug-Burga, what can I get for you?" He suddenly said into the headset, gesturing for Dawn to be quiet as did her best to stifle her giggling.

"Canid size mango fruit blend?" The wolf suddenly turned to Dawn. "Ah teeth to tails, I never went over how to mix those did I?"

Dawn softly nodded no, and the wolf placed a paw over his face. "One moment sir."

"Dawn, I hate to ask this but" Dawn suddenly felt uneasy, she had a feeling she knew what Vernon was going to ask. "-will you take the window on this? I'll teach you how to make them later, but for now I better mix this."

Dawn nervously clacked her hooves. "O-oh Puppy, I don't know..."

The wolf hopped off the counter and turned to Dawn, placing both paws on her shoulders. "Dawn, I'll be right here. If they try anything I have your back. Trust me."

Dawn was silent for a few moments before slowly nodding. Releasing the ewe, the wolf turned his attention back to the headset.

"That will be two ninety-three, please drive up to the window that you can reach." The wolf said.

He turned back to Dawn, giving her a quick thumbs up as he began to back further into the kitchen. Dawn gave a weak thumbs up in response before hopping off the counter and trudging toward the three different delivery windows. Silently she prayed the car wouldn't pull up to the large mammal window, as that would require a ladder on top of the raised steps it already had. After a few moments the side of a van appeared in the middle sized window. Dawn slowly made her way up the three step platform, and carefully opened the window.

In the driver's seat Dawn saw a small, caramel colored fox wearing sun glasses in spite of the fact it was nearly one in the morning. He turned his head to the ewe, lowering his shades and looking at her dully.

"U-um...that will be two ninety-three li-." She bit her tongue to stop herself from calling him a little boy. Being a smaller than average mammal, she knew nothing was worse than being mistaken for a child. She quickly corrected herself. "-sir."

The little fennec reached out, bills in paw. Dawn had to stretch to reach him, but managed to barely snag the bucks. As she punched the correct info into the cash register she heard a startlingly deep voice.

"I know you?" She snapped her head to see the voice was coming from the fennec. Dawn became more uneasy.

"N-nooo..." She did her best to lie, but her stutter betrayed her.

The fox leaned in slightly, squinting his eyes in suspicion. The ewe's discomfort growing as his stare lingered. Suddenly he spoke again.

"Yeah, you're that sheep. The crazy ex-mayor. Bellwether. Yeah." The fennec fox said matter-of-factly.

Dawn was sweating bullets now while the fennec continued to stare. She began to feel light headed, her legs weakening as the uncomfortable silence lingered. She could feel the little mammals eyes judging her. She was nearly ready to run when she felt Vernon's paw on her shoulder, immediately easing the anxiety.

"One large mango fruit blend." The wolf handed off the drink the tiny mammal.

The small mammal looked at his drink curiously, before turning back to eye the ewe.

"You spit in this?" He asked.

Shocked, the ewe sputtered. "W-what? Of course not."

The fox eyed the drink again, then returned his gaze to Dawn.

"You sure?" He muttered.

"Sir, I made the drink. She couldn't have spit in it." Vernon replied flatly.

The fennec stared at both of them for a while, creating yet another awkward silence. Dawn and Vernon exchanged a confused glance before turning back to the fox.

"Alright, but if you did. I'll be back mam." The fennec huffed. He then pointed two fingers, one at each of his eyes, and then pointed them at the pair. He continued to repeat the gesture as he slowly pulled away from the window leaving a very confused wolf and ewe.

As the large van turned onto the highway and disappeared into the night, the ewe slowly closed the drive-through window. The two turned to one another, and as the absurdity of the conversation hit them, they burst into a fit of giggling.