FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Chapter Twenty-Eight: Girls Night: The Art of Romance

"When did you know?" She asked.

"Hmm?" Dawn replied.

"When did you know you loved him?" The diminutive fox added. "That he was the one?"

A warm smile crept across Dawn's muzzle as she thought back to early days when she first met Vernon. Despite all the terror, and danger that the "Zootopia's Last Night" case sent rippling through her already troubled life, it had all been worth it to have been lucky enough to reconnect with the wolf. And even now, looking back on those early days in their relationship filled the ewe with renewed warmth and love for her soulmate.

"Well, I would be lying If I said it was the moment we met." Dawn said with a chuckle. " Despite having shelves filled with books filled with all sorts of tawdry romances, with couples knowing as soon as they laid eyes on one another that they belonged together, I don't believe it works like that in real life." The ewe shook her head dismissively. " Well at least, not in my case."

Dawn shifted up Vanna's bed slightly, the large tigress moving over a bit to allow the lamb to lean her back against the head of the bed. The ewe leaned back slightly, placing her hooves on her chest as she continued to recall the day Vernon and she had first reunited.

"I should mention first, that Vernon and I did know each other briefly as kids." Dawn said.

"Really?" Qali chirped.

"Aw...puppyhood love huh?" Malcolm cooed.

Dawn giggled. "Unfortunately no, although I certainly wish things had gone that way." The ewe flashed a warm smile. "Perhaps if we had actually had the time, maybe something like that could have happened. But we didn't get to know each other long enough."

Qali frowned sharply, the little fox's ears flattening out in dismay. "Why?" The vixen asked, concern in her voice.

Dawn frowned as she remembered the miserable day when her Father had ended her friendship with Vernon. The drunken ram nearly tearing her arm off in an effort to rip away the _'offending'_friendship bracelet she had made while berating her in the process. The day that had left her with a dislocated shoulder, a blackened eye, and the death of the only friendship she ever had.

"M-my Father put an end to things." Dawn sighed sadly. " He was..." Dawn closed her eyes, the memories of that day causing a dull ache to ripple through the areas her Father had hurt all those years ago. "A very cruel mammal."

Ada let out a low growl, and as Dawn turned her attention to the large canid she could see her expression was a mixture of disgust and ire.

"I get ya." Ada growled. Clearly the hyeness had picked up on Dawn's subtle implications. "He's dead now right? Because a dat Night Howla ting?"

Dawn nodded affirmatively, her response seeming to ease Ada's attitude as a smug grin returned to her face.

"Good ting." Ada snorted. "Oddawise I'd love to pay him a visit and teach him how it feels to be at anuddah mammal's mercy."

Dawn felt a paw on her shoulder and turned to find Vanna now looking down at her with sympathetic eyes.

"I'm sorry Dawn." Vanna said sadly. "No mammal should have to go through that kind of thing."

Dawn placed her hoof on Vanna's paw, rubbing it affectionately as she offered the cat a small smile. " Thank you..." The ewe turned her smile to the rest of the girls. "All of you, but I'm okay now." Dawn rolled her eyes slightly. "Well, mostly okay. But there's little left to be said about my Father, and I'd rather not dwell on it any more than I have to." Dawn gingerly removed Vanna's paw from her shoulder, smiling widely at the rest of the Hunter girls. "This story is about love, not my lousy childhood."

Slowly but surely, Dawn's smile seemed to infect the others, pulling the atmosphere back to the previous warmth it had held before.

"When I first met Vernon..." Dawn chuckled, shaking her head. "I mean again. I didn't know how to feel." The ewe adjusted her glasses. "We didn't recognize each at first, it was only after working together for a while that we sort of rediscovered our friendship." Dawn placed her hooves on her hips, tilting her head toward Vanna slightly as she eyed the looming tigress. "So imagine me, this little runt of a ewe who just got out of jail. Predator enemy number one. And my new boss introduces me to the biggest wolf I've ever seen and tells me we'll be working together!" Dawn laughed. "I was terrified!"

"I hear that." Qali said with a smirk. "The first time I met Trenny was a real trip. A six foot four wall of ice that made the primal part of my brain scream 'run away'!" The diminutive fox giggled. "But the rational part of my brain was like, 'Hello handsome.'!"

Ada chuckled. "Yeah, and you didn't even have dat whole anti-pred criminal past to add to it." Ada quirked an eyebrow at the ewe. "I can't even begin to imagine what was runnin' through your head dere Fluff Butt."

Dawn shook her head as she chuckled. " Pretty much everything you could expect. Fears of being eaten, or being made an example of, or the gods know what." Dawn sighed. "I mean it was silly, but the place I was in at the time, any terrible thing seemed possible."

Dawn smirked. "But Vernon, he was a gentlemam' through and through. If he held anything against me at the time, he certainly didn't show it."

"That sounds like a Hunter for ya." Malcolm interjected.

"Except for maybe Dori." Qali huffed.

Dawn winced at the mention of the large white wolf, but did her best to keep the memories of her conversation buried by pressing on through her story.

"He even went so far as to help me to get some semblance of a life together. When the bank, or the grocer had refused to deal with me, Vernon stepped in and made sure they stopped discriminating against me." Dawn let out an affectionate sigh. "And this was before we even found out we were friends growing up. He just did it out of the goodness of his heart. Because he was willing to give me a chance."

"Which is more than the city sounds like it was willing to offer." Vanna added, earning a nod from Dawn.

"I don't fault the mammals in Zootopia for feeling the way they did, but how could I even start to try to turn over a new leaf if no one was willing to give me the opportunity?" Dawn asked.

"So what happened when you two figured out who you guys were!?" Qali jumped in, the fox now laying across the bed with her head on her paws. Qali was trained on Dawn, her eyes focus on her own as she eyed the ewe expectantly.

Dawn offered a wide grin in response to the eager fox. "Oh, we were ecstatic, especially Vernon." The ewe flicked a hoof lazily. "He was keen on making up for lost time, and making our shifts as fun as possible." Dawn sighed dreamily, her eyelids fluttering softly as she recalled the warm memories of the silly fun the pair had on their many night shifts at the Bug Burga. "And it was during that time I started to feel...things..."

"Tings huh?" Ada cooed, quirking her eyebrows playfully at the ewe.

"I wouldn't say it was love just yet." Dawn held up a hoof to the snarky hyena. " After all, the lamb in me couldn't conceive attraction to a predator, especially a wolf." Dawn chuckled, shaking her head dismissively. "I mean, I had never even dated outside my species. I had only ever been in relationships with rams, and anything beyond that was alien to me."

"I can sort of understand that." Vanna said, scratching the back of her head idly. " It was strange for me to....figure out I was attracted to Zach." Vanna paused, rolling her eyes slightly as she chewed on her lip. "I mean, accepting that I was."

Dawn nodded. "I think I was really able to start to grasp it when Vernon and I were forced to move in together."

"Wait, you two moved in togeddah?" Ada asked. "Why?"

"Well, my apartment burned down." Dawn said somberly.

Each of the Hunter girls flashed the ewe a puzzled and concerned look, but Dawn simply rolled her eyes, dismissively flicking a hoof. "It's a long story, but with nowhere else to stay, Vernon was dead set on me living with him."

"And then the sparks started flyin'?" Malcolm asked, a warm and silly smile crawling up his muzzle.

Dawn giggled, shifting back against her pillow as she found herself recalling some of the things that had happened during their 'friendly co-habitation', most notably Vernon helping her shear, and accidentally walking in on her in the bathroom.

"You could say that." Dawn said, with a knowing grin. "But honestly, by then I was struggling with my growing feelings for Vernon. I couldn't tell if it was just because he had been kind to me and I latched on to him, or if it was something about his smell, or because I hadn't lived so close to a male in years." Dawn chuckled. "I was looking for any way to rationalize it, to chase it away as silly infatuation."

"But obviously it wasn't." Vanna said with a knowing grin of her own.

Dawn let out an amorous sigh. "It took my therapist to kind of drive it home for me, but it was true. I had fallen head over hooves for a wolf."

"Aww..." Qali cooed. "That so sweet!"

"So whendya tellum?" Ada grinned.

Dawn grimaced slightly. Realizing she was in love with the wolf hadn't been as wonderful as it should have been at the outset. She struggled with the complex problems and emotions that such a love could carry with it, especially considering her place in Zootopia at the time. In that way, her love for the wolf was an agony the ewe simply couldn't endure living under, for the safety of each of them.

"I...didn't..." Dawn muttered sadly.

"What!" Qali yelped, frowning sharply. The fox pressed her paws against the mattress, leaning her body closer to the ewe. "Why!?"

Dawn shook her head. "I just..." Dawn placed a hoof to her head. "With who I was, and what Vernon wanted to be, I couldn't take a chance at ruining his life like that." Dawn sighed. "I didn't want to hurt him because I selfishly expected him to love me."

Dawn leaned back, staring up at the ceiling as she rested her hooves on her chest.

"I gave serious consideration to moving out." Dawn murmured.

The room remained quiet for a moment, the Hunter girls falling deaf at how heavy the ewe's story had grown. It was clear the girls were unsure of what to say, at least at first. But eventually, Ada broke the deafening silence.

"Butcha didn't, did ya?" Ada asked.

Dawn sat back up, propping up the pillow before leaning against it again.

"Before I could, things went kind of crazy..." Dawn said. "I trust most of you heard about that story. About the wine bottling plant, and my Father's attempt to destroy the city. And then after that...well..." Dawn winced, recalling her stay in the hospital, her brush with death at the hooves of the night howler toxin. It would have been a fitting end for someone like her. At least that's what she had thought at the time. "I was out of it for a while."

"I remember reading about it." Vanna added, scratching her head awkwardly. " You were the only survivor out of the mammals that were exposed."

Dawn nodded slightly. "Myself and Doug, not that it mattered."

"So what happened next?" Qali asked, now using her paws to sort of bounce in place.

Dawn smiled warmly as she recalled the moment Vernon had first told her how he felt. At a time where the wolf was unsure if she could even hear him. Somewhere through the dreamlike haze of the coma and lingering night howler effects, the wolf's words had managed to reach her, and spurred her back to the waking world.

"A lot of what happened was...fuzzy." Dawn said. "I'm not well versed in about how a coma will affect a mammal in most cases. But for me...I was vaguely aware Vernon was near me." Dawn sighed. "I could hear him sometimes, and I always sort of felt him."

A wide, warm grin crawled across Dawn's muzzle as she readied to tell the girls what she had heard. "And somewhere through the fog hanging over my brain, I heard Vernon tell me he loved me. That he always had."

That managed to earn a collective 'aww' from the Hunter girls, Ada excluded. Qali was practically in awe, the fox beaming in response to Vernon's declaration.

"That's soo adorable!" Qali squeed. "He loved you just as much the whole time!"

Dawn giggled at the enthusiastic fox.

"Y-yes well, keep in mind he didn't know I heard him." Dawn said, regaining some of her composure. "So when I actually woke up, Vernon didn't exactly repeat himself."

"Pft...ain't dat like a guy." Ada scoffed. "What is it about tellin' a goil ya love 'em dat scares 'em to death?"

Dawn giggled, raising a hoof to Ada again. "Well don't worry, I didn't plan on letting it go." Dawn grinned widely. "I just needed to wait for the right moment."

"So when was the right moment?" Vanna asked.

Dawn adjusted her glasses slightly. "When we got home of course. When it was just the two of us." Dawn smirked. "I told him that I heard what he said, and I needed to hear it again." Dawn let out an amorous sigh, holding her hoof against her heart as a heat welled deep inside her chest. "And that's when he told me how much he truly loved me, and that I was the one."

Another series of 'awws' rippled through the group, with Ada even contributing this time. Malcolm dabbed the corner of his eye as he began to waft a paw toward his face.

"Shoot, I'm wellin' up here..." The chubby wolf sniffled.

Dawn was smiling broadly now, but more at the thought of Vernon than the story. Of that moment in her life, and how it felt. The fire inside her chest practically stung with love for the large wolf, and in that instant she wished he had been in the room, just so the ewe could plant a kiss on his muzzle. Vernon would never know how much his love had truly saved her life in so many ways, but when it came to moments like this it only strengthened the ewe's resolve to do her best to show him every day.

"And I finally got to tell him the same." Dawn sighed.

"And then you kissed right!?" Qali added with a gleeful grin.

"Dey probably did more den dat." Ada chuckled, flashing the ewe a grin.

Dawn placed her hooves over her muzzle as a harsh blush began to form. The heat that had been in her chest was now flushing to her face in full force.

"Y-you aren't wrong..." Dawn trailed off.

With that, the other girls, as well as Malcolm, burst into giggling, Dawn joining just moments later. The girls seemed to spend a good while giggling before they managed to compose themselves, Dawn being one of the first to manage to catch her breath despite herself. Turning her attention to Ada, the ewe arched an eyebrow curiously at the hyeness.

"What about you Ada?" Dawn asked. "I'm kind of curious as to your relationship with Yuri."

"Yeah, it's a curious one all right." Qali said through giggles as the fox tried to regain her composure.

"Oh yeah?" Ada snickered. "What's so curious about it?"

Dawn winced slightly, biting her lip as she tried to figure out exactly how to phrase her response without accidentally offending the hyena. After a few moments with no success, the ewe found herself looking up to Vanna with pleading eyes. The large tigress briefly quirked an eyebrow before seeming to get the ewe's message.

"I think she wants to know what you see in Yuri." Vanna said bluntly.

"Yeah." Malcolm added. "I mean that boy sure is...a erm..." The wolf mumbled, playing with his paws nervously. "I mean he's a pill."

"I was just wondering..." Dawn said, continuing to wince. "When did you figure out you loved him?"

"Do you even love that jerk?" Qali added, the fox had returned to leaning on her paws as her attention now fixed on the large canid.

Dawn grimaced sharply in response to Qali's bluntness, worrying for a moment that Ada would take to arming pillows like Vanna had before. But the hyeness simply cackled in the trademark fashion of her species before trailing off into a wistful sigh.

Ada turned her attention to the group, her expression surprisingly gentle and warm in spite of her usual personality.

"I know Yuri's a jerk." Ada said with a chuckle. "But he can be a sweet fella when it comes down to it."

"On what planet?" Malcolm laughed.

Ada closed her eyes, shaking her head as another laugh escaped her throat. "He's just really insecure, and more worried about what everyone tinks of him den he wants to admit." Ada smiled. "I guess I'm de only one who really gets to see dat dough."

"I'd say so..." Vanna replied.

With that, Ada leaned back onto her pillow, placing her paws behind her head as she stared at the ceiling above.

"Me and Yuri, we both got pretty demandin' jobs." Ada said, raising a paw. "Yuri's runnin' detective woik, on call almost twenty-four seven. And me, I'm a noise at da hospital workin' night shifts."

"You're a nurse?" Dawn asked.

Ada chuckled. "I work mostly in da morgue, figurin' out what killed mammals. Sometimes I woik Emergency, but I prefer da morgue." The hyena turned her head to Dawn, flashing the ewe a playful grin. "Dey don't complain' about my jokes."

Dawn placed her hooves over her muzzle as she let out a giggle, to which Ada replied with a wide, over dramatic open mouth smile as if inviting the other girls to laugh at her joke. Sadly, there were no other takers, and with that the canid continued her tale.

"Yuri and I had been togedduh for..." Ada tapped a claw to her muzzle as she tried to pin down a date. With a nod, the hyena continued. "It was about a year, yeah, one year exactly actually."

Ada smirked. "I remember because it was our anniversary, or raddah, it was supposed'ta be."

Dawn frowned. "Oh, what happened?" Consider Yuri's general demeanor, the ewe found herself already assuming that the wolf and hyena had gotten into a fight.

"What happened?" Ada repeated, arching an eyebrow at the ewe briefly before turning her attention back to the ceiling. Ada let out a long, tired sigh. "Woik happened."

Ada dragged a paw over her face, allowing it to rest on her chin before she continued.

"Lotta crimes at da time. O course dat meant Yuri's phone was ringin' off da hook at all howers of da day." Ada placed her arms behind her head. "And as fa me? Well da hospital was going trew a really bad period, where we was horribly undastaffed." Ada rolled her eyes. "So dat meant old 'good goil' Ada was runnin' extra howers and back to back shifts."

"Oh." Dawn said, frowning.

"I just remembah bein' so tiyad..." Ada groaned. "I swear sometimes I just wanted ta crawl up onto one of da body slabs and have someone roll it inta da wall so I could get some real shuteye." Ada smirked." I don't tink da neighbors wouldda complained, but my boss sure would have." Ada grinned, winking at the ewe and earning another giggle.

"And Yuri was busy too?" Qali asked.

"And grumpy" Ada chuckled. "Da both of us was. We was too tired to even argue!" Ada leaned up, facing the rest of the girls. "We'd just get home, say hi, and go ta bed, if we was that lucky."

"Ugh, that sounds rough." Malcolm winced, the wolf seemingly disgusted at the prospect of being pushed that hard. It was something Dawn was at least familiar with, having spent many late nights prepping work that Lionheart would always take credit for. Sufficed to say it was not something she missed, and she could certainly relate to Ada's predicament.

"We was supposed tah do a dinner ting." Ada raised her paw. "Fancy restaurant in Seaodder, evening at da top of da Space Needle havin' drinks. Da woiks." Ada shook her head. "We had reservations."

"And I take it you had to cancel?" Dawn asked sadly.

Ada sighed. "We sat down, had a talk about it." Ada raised an arm before letting it flop back to her side. "Wit our howers bein' what dey were, we knew it wasn't happenin'. So we decided to move it a few months. Till our schedules cleared up." The hyeness placed her paws on her chest. "It was sad, but we accepted it."

The room was quiet for a moment, the awkward somber silence from before returning to once again hang over the room. Dawn wanted to say something, but found herself unsure exactly what to say. Much like her own story, Ada's had taken a disappointing dip, and the mood in the room had shifted to reflect it.

"Geeze, I thought this was supposed to be a romantic story." Qali muttered with a yawn. "You're starting to bum me out Chuckles."

Ada let out a hyena cackle, leaning her head on her paw as she turned toward the group.

"I'm gettin' dere squit. Stop gettin' ahead of everybody!" Ada laughed.

Qali winced, her ears flattening as she looked around at the others in embarrassment.

"Sorry..." She whined, returning to her prone position on the bed. Ada simply rolled her eyes before continuing.

"So, as I was sayin'. We agreed to put off da anniversary for a while." Ada sighed. "And I was fine wit dat." Ada raised her paws. "After all, it's justa day."

Ada turned around, laying on her stomach as she stretched out across the center of her bed, allowing her to now fully face the others.

"So fast foward to da night right? Yuri's out on a case, and I'm at da hospital." Ada wiped her eyes with her paw. "I was on the bad end of a back to back twelve hower shift, wit only about two howers total snooze time, and I was feelin' it bad."

Ada shook her head sharply. "I felt like my guys on da gurneys did, only at least dey got to lay down." Ada cackled, drawing a few stray giggles from the other girls. "And I needed a cawfee bad."

The hyeness' normally jovial expression shifted to a scowl as she rested her head on both of her paws. "Unfortunately da hospital cawfee tastes like a weasel piss, and is about as eneagetic as a sloth."

Vanna arched an eyebrow curiously. "How do you know what weasel piss tastes like?" The tigress asked.

Ada shook her head. "Kit Kat, I woik at a hospital. At one point or anuddah a tiyud noise or doctor is gonna accidentally take a sip of a specimin." The hyeness grinned widely. "Sadly I didn't notice I was drinkin' Mr. Weasletto's sample till dere was only a toid of it left. I really tought it was da cawfee!"

Dawn found herself chuckling slightly despite her disgust. She hoped that the hyena was simply making another lousy joke, if not for her sake then for Ada's own.

"Anyway, so I'm practically fallin' asleep in da Emergency Room when finally, by da grace of da gods, I get my break." Ada sighed. "toity minutes of not doin' anyting neva sounded so sweet, I tells ya." The hyeness grinned widely. "So I skulk off to da morgue to just sit in silence and try to keep myself up with some dumb phone games."

"Anything good?" Qali asked?

Ada shrugged. "Day're phone game, of course not!" Ada chuckled. "Mostly crosswoids and dose numbah puzzles. Da stuff you don't have to keep payin' to play."

"You do crosswords?" Dawn asked, flashing the hyeness a surprised glance. The ewe couldn't help herself. Despite not wanting to make assumptions about Ada, the canid didn't seem the type that was particularly wordy.

Ada shook her head slightly, her grin widening as she regarded the ewe. "Hey, just because I'm a street goil don't mean I don't enjoy eduactin' myself!" Ada raised her paw, flicking it outward as she rolled her eyes. "I'll have you know I didn't get to bein' a noise by sittin' on my paws all day. I hustled!" Ada let out a barking laugh.

"Or the standards for medically trained mammals in the Seaodder area are really, really low?" Vanna said with a smirk.

"Shh!" The sudden exclamation had come from Qali. The little fox was now standing on her tippy toes, reaching a paw to Vanna's lips as she stared at her with a deadly serious stare. "I want to know what happened!" Qali said, raising her eyebrows as she gazed into the tigress' eyes. Vanna stared back at the diminutive fox in surprise.

Ada let out another barking laugh. "Geeze Snowball, youse I really into dis stuff huh?" Ada shook her head dismissively, rolling her eyes as she leaned back against her pillow. The hyeness placed her paws behind her head again, her gaze lazily returning to the ceiling.

"I'm nearly asleep sittin' up, when someone knocks at da morge door." Ada said, arching an eyebrow in the groups direction. "Obviously dats not sometin' that usually happens in da hospital, so naturally my curiosity is peaked."

The hyeness slowly rose up before shifting into a prone position, a smirk on her face as she struck a stalking pose on her bed.

"So I creep over to da double doors, and who do I find?"

"Yuri? Was it Yuri?" Qali chirped. "It was him right?"

Ada rolled her eyes as she slipped back into a seated position, crossing her legs on the mattress.

"A 'course it was Yuri frost fa brains!" Ada chuckled. "Uddarwise why would I be tellin' dis story!?"

Dawn watched as Vanna gave the tiny fox a soft but playful nudge, pressing her head down slightly with one of her massive paws. Qali was quick to pull away, swatting at the cat as she giggled.

"So dere's my favorite little mook, standin' in the hall with two extra large pipin' hot cawfees from Snarlbucks. One of dem brewed to da nines wit all my favorite mix-ins." Ada's eyes took on a dreamlike glimmer as she stared off. "Dat night, it smelled like heaven itself." The hyena let out an amorous sigh as she clasped her paws together. "Toins out, my little mookie lined up his break wit mine so he could spend it wit me, and he brought me my favorite cawfee cause he knew I needed it."

Ada leaned back on the bed, allowing her head to lean on her shoulder as she flashed Dawn a warm grin. "He drove halfway across town just to spend like ten minutes wit me, and make sure I had da energy to keep goin'." Ada sighed. "I can still remember just sittin' dere, and Yuri's got his arm around me. We was just talkin' and drinkin' our cawffees, and makin' sure we was both alright."

Ada turned to face the group, laying horizontal across her bed as she rested her head on her paws.

"It was sumtin' so small, so paltry ya know?" Ada chuckled. "And it was probably da least romantic place in da world." The hyeness let out a warm, contented sigh. "But damn it, It made my day. Heck it made my year." The hyena offered a wide, toothy grin. "And dat's when I knew, I loved dat mook."

"Wow." Malcolm said, the heavyset wolf matching Ada's pose with a dreamy look of his own crawling across his muzzle. "I gotta say, I'm really surprised."

"That Yuri showed he cared for someone other than himself?" Vanna smirked.

Malcolm let out a hearty laugh, nodding slowly through the chuckling as he placed a paw to his muzzle.

"Aw c'mon, I'm openin' up here!" Ada barked, wafting a paw at the pair dismissively. "Whatddya tink I made it up to make him look good!? I ain't dat nice!" Ada chuckled. "If he's bein' an ass, I ain't gonna cover for him!"

Qali rolled her eyes, a bemused smirk plastered on her muzzle. "Uh-huh." The fox cooed sarcastically.

"Look, you want confirmation? You ask Yuri's partnuh!" Ada snickered. "Dat poor stag had to wait in da car while Yuri took his break wit me. Let alone da fact dat dey had to drive twenty minutes outta duh way to get to duh hospital, which dat prissy buck was none to happy about." Ada grinned. "He always brings it up every time I see him!"

"Oh that's convenient." Qali grinned, lolling her head back and forth on her paws as she continued to tease Ada. " We're never even going to meet that guy, so how are we supposed to confirm it?"

Ada scoffed. "Jeeze, what's wit da toid degree!?"

Qali began giggling, rolling slightly in her seat in amusement.

"I-I'm just teasin'" Qali stuttered through her giggling. "It's very romantic, honest!"

"Well, I thought it was lovely Ada." Dawn added, trying to sound as sincere as possible. As much as she believed Ada, the ewe still found it hard to picture the wolf doing such a thoughtful, albeit simple gesture. Then again, she really didn't know much about the wolf to begin with other than what Vernon and the others had said about him, and her limited interaction with him at breakfast. Ada certainly was in a unique position to see a side of the dark furred wolf that no one else could, much in the way Dawn was when it came to Vernon. But picturing the seemingly cold wolf being anything close to affectionate was practically as mind-bending as catching him kiss the hyeness on the muzzle earlier that day.

Ada lowered her eyebrows, letting out an irritable grumble. "Alright den Squoit, why dontchu tell us your story so I can poke holes in dat!"

Qali jumped up almost instantly, standing on Vanna's bed as she clasped her paws together. Her eyes shone with a glee and enthusiasm that was almost scary to Dawn, as if the fox were ready to simply burst through the ceiling at the prospect of being invited to tell her tale.

"Gladly!" Qali chirped happily, grinning widely as she quickly laid back down on Vanna's bed. The fox once again leaned herself on Vanna's leg, laying her head on her arms as her eyes flicked from mammal to mammal. Qali brought a paw to her muzzle, chewing on her claws idly as she began.

"So, I should mention first that my sisters and I, well we help our parents run a Yule tree farm." Qali raised an eyebrow in Dawn's direction. "Did I mention that before?"

Dawn gave a slight nod. "I've heard you mention it a few times." Dawn tapped her chin with a hoof. "Well, at least about climbing trees anyway."

Qali nodded briskly. "Well, that's what my sisters and I do, more or less." Qali's tail idly flipped from side to side as she continued to speak. "We plant 'em, trim 'em, and sell them just in time for the Yule Season. And we do a pretty good job!" Qali leaned up on Vanna's leg, placing a paw to her chest as she puffed it out proudly. "Mammals come from all over The Burrows to Fox's Glen to get their holiday trees from Pelagere Farms!"

Qali raised and lowered her eyebrows playfully. "And not to brag, but when it comes to tree trimming, I'm the best out of my sisters!" Qali leaned forward, placing a paw by her muzzle as she leaned toward Dawn and Vanna. "And don't let them tell you otherwise, they know it's the truth." Qali whispered before letting out another giggle.

Vanna and Dawn traded glances for a moment before the large tigress simply rolled her eyes, causing Dawn to let out a giggle of her own as Qali settled back into her position on Vanna's leg. Qali let out a soft sigh as she leaned her head on a free paw.

"Anyway, So I first met Trenny around the time of the Carrot Days Festival." The diminutive fox rolled her eyes slightly, waving a paw idly. "It's sort of like the Harvest Festival around the burrows. More of a rabbit thing I think."

Dawn nodded affirmatively. "Yes, I've heard of it." The ewe found herself thinking of her dear friend Judy, the rabbit now on her own holiday vacation with similar goals of introducing her family to Nick as her new mate. The only difference being was that the family already knew Nick fairly well. The fox had long since earned a place among the Hopps as the mammal who kept Judy's dream afloat, and was there to save her life. Dawn frowned slightly as she imagined the announcement of Judy and Nick being an item would probably go over with significantly less friction than Vernon and herself.

"A friend of mine is actually out there right now with her mate enjoying the festival." Dawn scratched her chin as she realized she hadn't heard back from Judy since the train terminal two days earlier, making a mental note to check in on her later in the evening. "I really should see how they're doing. I hope it's going better than things are here." Dawn said with a dull chuckle.

"Aw c'mon, don't be like dat sis." Ada reached over, giving Dawn's arm a playful poke with a claw. "Rememba da old sayin', it could always be woise!" Ada offered a reassuring smirk.

"Besides, you have us on your side." Vanna placed a paw on Dawn's shoulder, squeezing slightly.

"Although your friend bein' a rabbit probably mean she's got way more sisters." Malcolm said with a laugh, drawing a giggle out of Dawn.

"Over one hundred actually." Dawn shook her head dismissively. "I've heard family weddings are a real mess."

"Hey!" Qali chirped, drawing the groups attention back to her. The tiny fox was pouting slightly as she glared back at the group. "I'm trying to tell a story."

Ada chuckled loudly. "Alright Pipsqueak, sorry." The large hyeness waved a paw in the fox's direction. "Go on, go on, dere was a fair and den...?"

Qali let out a soft huff before flopping back down on Vanna's leg, drawing a grumble from the tigress. Qali leaned a paw against her cheek as she took a slow, deep breath.

"Well, see..." Qali trailed off, rolling her eyes as she seemed to be recalling the memory from the depths of what Dawn could only assume was an extremely active and scatterbrained mind. "We had been having a problem with someone stealing trees from the property at night." The fox quickly drawing a paw horizontally in front of her, making a 'chop' motion. "Loppin' them down and sneaking them out without so much as a footprint left behind." Qali raised a paw and shrugged.

"So my Pop called the Troopers out to investigate, because he was pretty sure the culprit wasn't a local." Qali said.

"Why did he tink dat?" Ada asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Our family is the only ones out in Fox's Glen who are experts when it comes to cutting trees, and whoever was stealin' them was a pro cutter." Qali held out her paws. "It turned out it was these two Lion Brothers from Tsavo farms a few towns over, one of our competitors." Qali rolled her eyes lazily. "But that's not the point of the story, the point is that when the trooper came out, that's when I first met Trenny."

Dawn scrunched her muzzle up in confusion. "Wait, I thought Trenton didn't become a Trooper until very recently." The ewe scratched her chin. "At least that's what Vernon had told me."

Qali gave a brisk nod. "Yeah, he was still studying at the time." The fox raised a paw. "But while he was in school, he participated in a few ride-alongs." Qali wiggled her paw back and forth. "You know, where a friend or officer in training can ride with a cop to see what it is like to be on duty?"

Dawn nodded, she had heard of Nick and Judy participating in a few during their years in the precinct. Most of the ride-alongs she had heard about featured Judy's siblings, most of them very young and eager to see how _'cool'_being a cop was only to be disappointed by a series of very slow afternoons. Although she had heard that Nick had taken his own Mother on one. Apparently, the older vixen wouldn't take no for an answer when the opportunity arose to see her son in action on his first legitimate job.

"Anywho, that's where we met." Qali mused, letting out an affectionate sigh as she rested her head in her paws. "I can still remember when I first laid eyes on that tall drink of water." Qali's eyes seemed to shimmer. "His gleaming white fur shining in the sun as he stepped out of the car, and those piercing baby blue eyes of his. Mhh-Mhh!" The fox clasped her paws together, letting out a squee as she fawned over the mental image of her mate. "I knew I had to get to know him right away, I needed that wolf in my life!"

Dawn raised an eyebrow curiously. "So, you fell in love the moment you first saw him?"

Qali giggled, shaking her head with a terse no. "Oh no, no, no." Qali grinned mischievously. "I just wanted to take a bite out of his tight little butt at that point."

Dawn felt a harsh blush creep onto her muzzle, and she quickly clasped her hooves over her face to cover it up. Glancing up at Vanna, the tigress seemed to be holding together better than she was. Her face remained mostly expressionless, however, the ewe could see the hint of red just below the surface of her fur.

Qali's giggling trailed off into another soft, pleasant sigh as she eased her head back into her paws. "No, that was around Yule when I figured out we were going to be more than just a 'fling'."

Qali cocked her ears, raising her head off her paw and allowing it to bob lightly as she kept her attention on the other girls.

"You see, my sister Matsa was overseas at the time. She was staying with our Grandmother while taking classes over at the 'PranchSchool of Fine Arts' or whatever..." Qali rolled her eyes, waving her paw more dismissively than before. "So we were a little understaffed." Qali rested her head back against her paw, raising her eyebrows before flicking her fingers with her other paw. "Not that that was a problem between me, Pop and Auniq, we could tackle the field easy."

Qali rolled her eyes slightly as she winced. "We would have been cutting it close to the season, but we could have just made it."

"Could?" Dawn asked, picking up on the arctic fox's uncertainty in her phrasing. Qali grimaced sharply, her ears sagging flat against her head as she let out a sigh.

"We had about a week left to finish the last of the trees in the field..." The fox trailed off as her frown deepened. "When Dad threw his back out."

The group let out a collective hiss of mock pain, Dawn gritting her teeth as she tried to imagine just what such a condition might feel like. Vanna had already begun to rub her own back as if she were afflicted with memories of a back injury of her own.

"Poor Dad." Qali sighed. "He could barely even get out of bed, he was practically crippled from the strain."

"Youch." Ada said, the hyeness bearing a tight grimace of her own. "What didja do?"

"Well, Dad couldn't help us anymore at that point." Qali raised a paw. "The local doc said he was going to be recovering for at least a month and a half." Qali leaned her head back into her paws as she idly kicked her legs. "So needless to say he wasn't going to be helping us trim or sell trees for the rest of the season. And without him, there was no way we were going to have the field prepared in time."

"And I take it that's where Trenton came in?" Malcolm asked. The chubby wolf was now laying on his stomach, his attention fixed on the small white fox as she gave a brisk and enthusiastic nod.

"Once Trenny heard we needed help, he was eager to volunteer himself to fill in for Pa." Qali flashed the girls a wide grin. " His school was close by, so it wasn't a long trip for him to make when it came to helping out. It was just a matter of finding time around his classes to help with the trimming." Qali placed a paw over her muzzle as she began to giggle. "He was so hard to train, especially with how little time we had." Qali rolled over, leaning her head back as she stared at the group from upside down. "The first tree I set him up to work on unsupervised, he ended up chopping it down to a stump!" Qali kicked her legs as another giggle fit came on. The little fox rolling slightly from side to side as she clasped her paws over her muzzle.

"How da heck did he manage dat?" Ada raised an eyebrow as she leaned on her side, eyeing the fox curiously.

"H-he just kept t-taking too much off one side, and then t-tried to even it out on the other only to do it again." Qali stuttered between giggling.

"Just kept makin' it worse huh?" Malcolm chuckled.

"He was so upset with himself over it." Qali's giggling trailed off into a soft, relieved sigh "It was the cutest thing. Poor guy was trying his hardest out there."

"So I take it he eventually improved?" Dawn asked.

"Eder dat, or he ended up payin' for da ruined trees." Ada said with a chuckle.

"He eventually got the hang of it." Qali smirked as she returned to her position lounging on Vanna's thigh. The fox now leaning her face against her paw. "Before I knew it he was trimming trees like a pro. He was almost as good as me by the end of it." Qali raised her eyebrows playfully. " Well, almost."

"Alright, alright we get it." Ada chuckled. "Youse are super good at cuttin' trees. Now can you get to da point?" The hyena crossed her arms.

Qali let out another giggle, raising a paw up toward the hyena defensively. "Okay, okay. Calm down Chuckles." Qali shook her head dismissively. "You were the one who asked in the first place."

Ada sneered slightly at the diminutive fox. "Only because you were-!" Ada shook her head, letting out a derisive snort. "Just get on wit it already!"

Qali placed her other paw on the side of her face, now leaning on both of her paws as she faced the group. "Alright, so it was the last day before the farm was supposed to open right?"

Dawn nodded for the fox to continue. Out of the corner of her eye, she could she Vanna had more or less done the same.

"Between Trenny, my sis, and me we had been working to the point of passing out." Qali said, taking a moment to blow the drooping coif of fur out of her eye. "But we were cutting it so close we really had to hit it hard. We still had one field to go and it was about two hours until sundown."

"You couldn't cut them after sunset?" Dawn asked.

Qali decisively shook her head no. "Despite a fox's keen sense of night vision, the change in lighting tends to lead to us making more mistakes." Qali shrugged. "And on top of that we were all exhausted by that point. Even I could have ended up trimming a stump like Trenny under those conditions." The fox said with a giggle.

"So I'm practically fallin' asleep standing up by the time were half-way through the field." The vixens head dipped slightly as she began to pantomime just how exhausted she had been. "The last thing I remembered was Trenny askin' me if I was feeling okay, and then pomf!" The vixen slapped a balled paw into the other.

"Pomf?" Dawn asked, slightly confused by what the diminutive fox was implying with her strange turn of phrase.

"I must have konked out." Qali shook her head. "I was so tired I just passed out in the field."

Ada let out a hyena-like cackle. "Whadda youse a narcoleptic? You got some of dat goat gene in yas?"

Qali let out another giggle. "No, no, I'm no fainting goat!" The fox replied, covering her muzzle with a paw. "I was just so tired I couldn't help it. Heck, we all were."

"So you passed out? What happened next?" Dawn asked, leaning in slightly as her interest peaked.

"Next thing I knew, I woke up back in the house." Qali shrugged. "I was on the living room couch, wrapped up tightly in a blanket with a mug of hot cocoa sitting on the coffee table in front of me." Qali brushed her hair free of her eye, only for it to slip right back into place. "It was night by then."

"Wait so, how did ya'll get back?" Malcolm asked.

"And where did the cocoa come from?" Dawn added, quirking an eyebrow curiously.

"Well..."Qali trailed off slightly, a warm smile crawling across her muzzle. "That's when I heard my sis let out a laugh." Qali's head lolled lazily on the balls of her paws. "She was sittin' on the armchair across from me, wrapped up in a blanket of her own. She thought I was never gonna wake up with how out of it I was." Qali gestured a paw lazily toward the other girls. "So the first thing I asked her is 'what happened?'"

"And what did happen?" Vanna asked.

Qali chuckled. "She pointed a paw next to me, and when I looked up I saw Trenny." Qali let out a warm and pleasant sigh as she leaned more onto her paws. "The poor lug was passed out, his muzzle pointed up to the ceiling as he was just snorin' away, and one of his arms was draped around me and I hadn't even noticed." Qali smiled widely. "Turns out, when I passed out Trenny hoisted me over his shoulder and finished my trees before taking me back to the house." Qali's arms slipped out from beneath her head, bringing her face against Vanna's leg as she let out another, more romantic sigh. "He took the time to wrap me up in my favorite blanket, and make me some nice hot cocoa before finally passing out himself."

The diminutive fox stretched her arms out, her tail lazily flopping from side to side as she let out a pleased grunt. "Looking up at his big goofy muzzle as I sipped the cocoa he made for me, I just knew." Qali sighed warmly. "Even if we had only been together for about two months, I knew I was in love with the big guy." Qali chuckled. "I was ensnared by that handsome Snowdrift, and I knew I was going to be in it for the long haul, even if he wasn't sure of it yet."

"Aww..." That had come from Malcolm. The chubby wolf had clasped his paws together, leaning them against his was as he cooed warmly. "Ain't that just the sweetest thang."

"Yes, that was a lovely story." Dawn added as she adjusted her glasses. "It's also nice to know I'm not the only one here who fell in love with their mate so quickly."

Qali practically beamed at Dawn's words, giving the ewe a playful swat on the arm as she giggled. "Clearly we know good fellas when we see them, eh Puffy?"

"Ugh, Puffy?" Ada scoffed. "That sounds like da symptom of an illness, we can't use dat one."

Qali frowned, her ears sagging as she eyed Dawn apologetically. "Oh geez, you're right. I wasn't thinking." Qali sighed.

Dawn chuckled, giving the vixen a reassuring pat on the shoulder. "It's all right Qali. No offense taken."

"Y'know..." That had come from Malcolm. The large, chubby red wolf rose to his feet, making his way toward Vanna's bed. With a brief waiving of his paws, he gestured for Qali to move before joining the rest of the group on Vanna's bed. Leaning on his stomach, the russet wolf leaned a paw against his cheek. "Your story kinda reminds of my own." Malcolm smirked. "The day I realized I loved my lil' Xavey somethin' fierce."

Qali let out another giggle, before sweeping a broad paw toward the rest of the group in a grand gesture. "Well then, by all means." Qali smirked. "The floor is open."

Malcolm let out a comfortable sigh, smacking his lips together appreciatively before drifting lazily into his own tale.

"Welp, ya'll probably know I run a diner out in San Francisgoat." Malcolm said with a nod. "Ain't the fanciest place in the world, but it's popular enough."

"I remember you mentioned a diner." Dawn said, tapping a hoof to her chin.

Malcolm flashed the ewe a smug smirk. "You might also remember how I told ya'll that Xavey can't cook worth a damn." The russet wolf chuckled heartily. "In fact, that's more or less how we met."

Malcolm let out a pleasant hum as he rolled to his side, idly scratching his stomach with a free paw as he leaned his head against the other. "Not bein' able to cook meant Xavey was forced to dine out every day, from breakfast to dinner." Malcolm smiled warmly. "And one day he finally stumbled on my humble little establishment, and welp...he never left!" Malcolm said with a laugh.

Malcolm gave Qali a playful nudge with his elbow." He came fer the food, and stayed fer the 'excellent service'" The wolf bobbed his eyebrows suggestively, drawing a fit of giggling from the tiny fox.

"But in all honesty, once he started coming to my place, he never ate anywhere else." Malcolm rolled his eyes slightly, letting out a dreamy sigh as he tapped his fingers against his muzzle. "And seein' that handsome hunk every day just made me pine fer him more and more."

"Did you ask him out?" Dawn asked.

"Eventually." Malcolm winced, drawing a paw behind his head as he looked away from the ewe. "It took me a while to sorta...muster the courage to ask him if he was interested." The red wolf bobbed his head back and forth slightly. "I mean, I wasn't even sure he...played fer my team so to speak."

"Really?" Ada grinned smugly. "You couldn't figure out dat prissy wolf was inta boys?" The hyeness let out a laugh. "Rut me, he's da only mammal I know who puts a napkin on his lap before a meal!"

"Polite and sophisticated fellas do that too." Malcolm chided, waving a finger lamely at the hyeness. "'Sides, San Fran is fulla business mammals with cleanliness issues Darlin', they ain't all gay."

"Dat's not what I hoid." Ada retorted, her grin widening as she eyed the wolf. At that point, Malcolm let out a scoff.

"Anywho..." The wolf rolled his eyes as he tried to change the subject. "Eventually I did ask him out, and he said yes much to my delight!" Malcolm's lids hung low, a grin crawling across his muzzle. "As long as I was cookin' that is." The wolf sniggered.

"Sounds like he was already in love with you by then." Dawn said with a giggle. "Or at the very least, your food."

Malcolm nodded, joining the ewe with a hearty chuckle of his own. "Ain't a clean win, but I was happy to take it just to get into that handsome hunk of wolf's life." The red wolf said with a wink. "And once I had my in, he fell just as much in love with me as he did with my culinary skill!"

"But that begs the question..." Vanna asked, drawing the attention to the large tigress. Her eyebrow raised slightly as she eyed the chubby wolf inquisitively. "When did you fall in love with him?"

Malcolm let out a warm sigh as he rolled back onto his stomach, resting his head on his paws as he returned his gaze to the group at large.

"I'd say it was about..." The wolf trailed off, tapping a claw to his chin thoughtfully. "Maybe eight months in?" The wolf nodded briskly. "Yep, about eight months. We were still livin' separately then, that's how I know." The wolf continued to nod.

"I had gotten sick with a terrible flu." The wolf furrowed his brow, letting out a slightly annoyed huff." Sneezin', hackin' and coughin', the whole messy thang." Malcolm waved a paw dismissively as he prattled off the symptoms. "It knocked me right off my feet, ran me through the damn wringer."

"Oh my." Dawn uttered, placing a hoof to her muzzle. "That sounds awful."

"Darn right." Macolm replied, balling a paw into a fist and swinging it slightly in emphasis. "Worst two weeks of my life I'd reckon."

"That must have really hurt your business." Dawn added. "Not being able to work for two weeks."

Malcolm shook his head softly. "Thankfully the diner is big enough that I got more than enough staff around to cover fer me." The wolf shrugged. "O'course when customers see the head chef ain't workin', it certainly doesn't do all that well for sales." Malcolm rolled his eyes slightly, offering a playful smirk to the group. "Let's just say _'Malcolm's Eats'_ain't nothin' without Malcolm." The wolf chuckled as he pointed a thumb at himself.

"Alright, enough boastin' Buddabuns." Ada snickered. "Dere was a point to dis story, rememba?"

Malcolm smirked, shaking his head in amusement." Fine, fine..." The red wolf chuckled quietly.

" So the point bein' I was real, real sick." The husky canine continued. "And Xavey, well, naturally he was frettin' somethin' feirce." Malcolm grinned widely. "When I told him about how lousy I was feelin' over the phone he rushed over right after work with two suitcases full of his clothes and a buncha cold remedies from the pharmacy." Malcolm leaned his chin on a paw as his smile grew deeper, and the wolf let out a warm sigh. "He was tellin' me how he wasn't leavin' until I was fit as a fiddle again. And until then he'd be waitin' on me paw and foot." Malcolm began to laugh heartily. "He was going to be 'Mr. Super Boyfriend'!" The wolf puffed his chest up proudly as he aped Xavier's general posture. "I won't stand to let you want for anything while I'm taking care of you!'" The wolf laughed as he slipped back into his natural drawling tone. " That's what my Fluffybuns said."

"Aww..." Qali cooed, the fox now facing Malcolm. The arctic fox was sitting upright, her legs folded neatly as she pressed her paws against her muscle.

"And he was true to his word." Malcolm paused, biting his lip as his muzzle began to twist into a wince. "Well, that was until he tried to make me some old-fashioned chicken soup."

"Chicken huh?" Ada raised an eyebrow curiously. " I thought Francisgoat was too...progressive to let ya cook wit what most prey see as pets?"

Malcolm leaned a paw against his hip, furrowing his brow. "It ain't illegal, just frowned upon among city folk." The wolf grinned. " And my restaurant is one of the few places that offer fresh fowl, so there ain't no shortage of stock at the Hackett house."

Dawn suppressed the slight feeling of nausea at the sheer notion of chickens being used as a source of meat. Like Ada had noted, most prey had come to see them as pets, as well as a steady supply for eggs when it came to the basic building blocks of most recipes. And despite the fact that most urban predators had long since worked fowl out of their diet aside from the eggs they laid, rural preds still commonly ate chicken and various other types of birds. From what Vernon had told her during their time together, his family rarely used chickens other than as a source of eggs for his Mother's pies. But occasionally they prepared a chicken or turkey for a family get together or holiday, and the wolf would seek out a restaurant that served chicken to get a fix from time to time. Although the wolf never brought any back to their shared apartment. It was something Dawn had come to accept when it came to the cultural gap between their respective species, but no matter how much time had past her repulsion at the thought of chicken being consumed never seemed to grow any weaker. It was much the same as how Vernon would often recoil when the ewe offered him a bite of one of her Turf Tart breakfast pastries.

"So he wouldn't cook for you then?" Dawn asked, trying to move away from her internal cultural distaste.

Malcolm let out a loud chuckle, giving his knee a slap. "Wouldn't?" Malcolm shook his head sharply. "The problem was he wouldn't stop cookin'!"

Dawn muzzle twisted in confusion, but only for a moment as she recalled something Malcolm had mentioned earlier. The playful yet disparaging nickname the red wolf had dubbed his mate in response to his pitiful attempts at cooking.

"The Anti-crust?" Dawn murmured softly.

Malcolm let out a hearty laugh as he gave the ewe an affirmative nod. "The Anti-crust struck again and again as pot after pot of soup was burned off, er' boiled to tastelessness, or just burstin' into flame!" Malcolm placed a paw over his muzzle as he tried to stifle his laughter.

Vanna quirked an eyebrow curiously. "Soup doesn't burst into flame."

Malcolm gave another hearty chuckle. "It does when someone mistakes a bottle of my wine with cooking oil." The russet wolf snickered.

"O-one batch he, he even forgot to pluck the feathers outta the damn bird!" The wolf sputtered. "I-It looked like someone was given' a moltin' bird a hot bath by the end of it!"

By now Ada was cackling along with the wolf, seemingly tickled pink over Xavier's terrible cooking disasters. Her hyena laugh nearly drowning out Malcolm's own.

"H-Hell..." Malcolm continued to laugh. "The f-first batch Xavey put the noodles in after he was done cookin'!" Malcolm's muzzle had grown red as the wolf continued to wheeze out his story. "Th-thought they were supposed to just soften as soon as they hit broth!"

By now the other girls had joined in laughing with the hysterical wolf, all of them aside from Dawn who's own laughter was weak and timid by comparison. She was merely trying to laugh along, despite not being able to share in something she assumed was more of a predator problem when it came to cooking.

"By the gods, when I crunched down on the first spoonful I nearly threw up on the spot!" The wolf shuddered slightly as his laughter began to trail off.

"Ahhh...." Malcolm sighed, wiping a stray tear from the corner of his eye as the other girl's laughter began to fade. "It was the saddest thing ya'll could ever see. Not a single batch was fit to eat."

"Musta been a lot of wasted boid." Ada said with a chuckle.

Malcolm gave a soft, affirming nod. "I can't tell ya'll how much he had to dump down the drain." The red wolf gave a mournful sigh. " And each failed batch just broke Xavey up more and more."

"He was upset huh?" Vanna asked.

Malcolm shook his head. "He was tryin' to hide it, but I could tell every mess up was eatin' at him somethin' awful." The wolf frowned. "I tried to get him to stop, to try to calm him down and tell him it wasn't that important. But with him flyin' in and out of the room constantly, and me bein' bedridden and all, my pleas were fallen on deaf ears." Malcolm shook his head sadly.

"So what did you do?" Qali asked, her tail swishing idly as she listened to the wolf intently.

"At some point I lost track of all the batches he made, what with bein' in and out of sleepin and all." Malcolm scratched his chin idly. "But I remember the last batch he made was real slimy and luke-warm. And when I couldn't bring myself to eat any of it poor Xavey just completely broke down." Malcolm's sullen frown seemed to deepen as he recalled the memory.

"He just slumped down against the bed, graspin' on one of my paws and cryin' up a storm." The red wolf continued. "Sayin' he 'was the worst boyfriend ever' and how 'what kind of mammal can't take care of their mate when they're sick' and all." Malcolm sighed. "He was a blubberin' mess, so unlike his usually composed and stoic self. All because he couldn't cook me a dang meal. He was that upset over it."

At that point a warm smile crawled across Malcolm's muzzle, the russet wolf's eyes twinkling slightly with the gleam of burgeoning tears.

"He wanted nuthin' more than to just take care of me. And not bein' able to cook was like he was failin' at that." The wolf let out an amorous sigh. " And it was something he just wasn't willin' to accept. He had to do right by me in his mind, even if he burned down the kitchen in the process."

"And that's when you knew?" Vanna asked, raising an eyebrow.

The wolf gave an affirmative nod.

"I grabbed my Fluffybuns by the collar, and gave him a smooch on the cheek." Malcolm said, leaning his head on his paw with a goofy grin on his face. "And then I looked him right in the eyes and said, 'Darlin' you ain't me, and I ain't askin' you to be!' " The wolf chuckled. "'I like you fer bein' you, and just havin' you here is helpin' me feel better Xavey.'" Malcolm continued. "So sit yer butt down, curl up and watch some movies with me, and we can just order in some damn soup!" Malcolm laughed.

Dawn smiled as the other girls laughed along with the husky wolf. Despite the smattering of humor in the wolf's retelling, the story really tugged at Dawn's heartstrings. The ewe found herself slightly envious in that moment, only because the last time she had been seriously ill was during her time in prison. Even though she had Polaraski to help her through it, and a cell all to herself, it was still a nightmare to suffer so in a place like that with no mate of her own to truly care for her. She wished she had been with Vernon back then. Of course, she also wished she hadn't been in prison either. But even so, it was all in the past now. And now that her devoted Puppy was by her side, she imagined she'd never have to suffer through another flu without him to dote over her as Xavier had with Malcolm.

A sudden, light nudge drew the ewe from her quiet self-reflection. And the ewe looked up to find Vanna smirking down at her. It was clear the tigress had noted the ewe's lack of laughter, and was playfully checking to see if she was alright. The ewe responded with a giggle as she nudged the large tigress back. It didn't do much to move the stone wall that was the massive tigress, but it was enough to draw a wider grin from the feline.

"That was a lovely story Malcolm." Dawn said, adjusting her glasses slightly as she returned her focus to the chubby wolf. "I trust Xavier listened to you?"

Malcolm smirked. "He smiled, then sat his butt right down and snuggled up to me. And that's how we spent pretty much the rest of my recovery." The wolf shrugged. "I mean, he did have to go to work o'course, but he always came home with a heapin' bag of soup from the local Pandese place and some new movie rentals." Malcolm let out a pleasant sigh. "Despite feelin' like death, it was probably the most fun I've ever had in mah life."

"At least he listened." Vanna chuckled. "With Zach, getting him to sit down and actually hear me can be a chore sometimes." Vanna rolled her eyes. "Especially when we were first partnered up."

"Doesn't help dat you ain't big on talkin' in da foist place Kit Kat!" Ada said with a laugh.

Vanna furrowed her brow at the hyeness, shaking her head dismissively. Dawn however, was immediately drawn in, tugging slightly at the tigress' pajama shirt to get her attention.

"Speaking of..." Dawn trailed off slightly. "You are the only one who hasn't shared their story." Dawn rolled her eyes slightly, trying to hide her excitement at the prospect of learning more about the enigmatic tigress' love life. "I have to admit, I'm dying to know exactly when you figured out that you loved Zach."

Vanna chuckled quietly, glancing around briefly at the rest of the group. Out of the corner of Dawn's eye, she could see the others leaning in expectantly, clearly as eager as she was to hear the tale. Even Ada seemed rather curious, her usual smug expression now one of heightened interest.

Vanna crossed her arms, leaning back against her pillow as she appraised the group around her. The large tigress smirked.

"Our relationship was more of a slow burn to be honest." Vanna glanced at Dawn, giving the ewe a slight nod. " Sort of like with you and Vernon Dawn, I said as much earlier."

"I remember." Dawn affirmed with a nod, still eagerly focused on the tigress as she began her tale.

"I had never thought about dating outside of my species before." Vanna continued. "And when I got brought on to the North Meadowland's Police Department, my first impression of Zach certainly didn't do anything to feed into that sort of mindset."

"It was bad den?" Ada asked.

Vanna sighed, shaking her head dismissively. "I had transferred to the Meadowlands seeking a more quiet life, something to help me soften up and develop less of a..." Vanna winced slightly, her voice growing quiet. "Intimidating personality."

"Woiked like a charm." Ada said snarkily, earning a giggle from Qali and a soft huff from the large tigress.

"So when I found out I was essentially going to be playing babysitter to what I assumed was a dumb wolf who's Father had gotten him his position at the station, I was...less than ecstatic." Vanna frowned. "And needless to say, Zach was far from pleased with the arrangement himself." Vanna chuckled. "And he was certainly more vocal about it than I was."

Dawn was quiet as the term 'babysitter' left Vanna's lips, the tigress inadvertently touching on what Dorian had mentioned earlier in his screed aimed at the ewe. Zach's near-death experience, and Vanna's subsequent forced partnership caused by the painful echo of the ewe's actions. She wondered for a moment if the feline knew exactly what had happened before she arrived. Surely by now she and Zach had discussed it, and yet Vanna hadn't brought it up in her earlier talks with Dawn about what drove her away from Zootopia. Perhaps she didn't see the connection to Dawn like Zach hadn't before Dorian had talked to him. Or perhaps she had made her decision on it already when she had chosen to embrace the ewe as her sister. Even so, Dawn knew she couldn't bring it up now lest she be forced to reveal her private talk with Dorian, and his hate-filled words. Dawn could feel her stomach turn slightly, and the ewe did her best to shake the thoughts away.

"Don't tell me he was chewin' you out?" Malcolm asked.

Vanna bobbed her head slightly. "Mostly snarky comments, I imagine most of his complaints were saved for the privacy of the Hunter Ranch post shift." Vanna winced slightly. "I had heard as much from Dorian after the fact."

"So youse two hated each udder's guts den?" Ada chuckled. "Not da best way to start a relationship."

Vanna chuckled a deep, thrumming laugh. "I wouldn't say we hated each other, but we certainly weren't friends." Vanna rolled her eyes. "Zach saw me as what I thought I was, a babysitter who would only get in the way of his police work. And I saw him as a spoiled, nepotistic hire who told terrible jokes and made stupid calls."

"Ouch." Qali said with a pout. "That's blunt."

"Dat's Vanna." Ada said with a grin.

"Naturally it took us a while of working together to grow to understand each other. For me to see the good cop in Zach, to see in him what had earned him his place on the force regardless of Papa Hunter's position." Vanna scratched the back of her head awkwardly. " And for Zach to start chipping away at my inflexible attitude and cold personality."

"You sure he really did?" Ada asked with a grin. "Cause I can't reall-"

Vanna held up a paw in the hyeness' direction to stop her.

"Do you want me to open up or not?" Vanna scoffed. "Because you aren't helping."

Dawn glanced at Ada just in time to see a small pillow slap against her head, causing her to flinch.

"SHHH!" Qali hissed, scowling slightly at the dazed hyena. "I want to hear this!"

Ada sneered, grabbing the small pillow that struck her and hucking it back toward the diminutive fox missing her by inches.

"Alright, geez Snowball!" Ada growled. "Chill out!"

"Are you done?" Vanna asked, sweeping her gaze across the group. Dawn watched as the other Hunter girls gave a meek affirmative nod before joining in with her own.

"By about six months in we were friends more or less..." Vanna said, a warm smirk crossing her muzzle. "And coming up on a year I was starting to...well...feel things." Vanna raised a paw to her mouth, biting down gently on a finger as she looked away from the group. "Confusing, romantic feelings."

Dawn smiled knowingly, remembering her own burgeoning feelings for Vernon and the struggle to make sense of them. It seemed more than any of the other sisters, that Vanna and she had more or less been through the same experience when it came to confronting their feelings.

"Of course, I had no idea if Zach felt anything like that for me." Vanna sighed. " I mean, we were officers of the law, supposed to be married to the job above all else. Wanting that sort of relationship would have been highly unprofessional."

Vanna chuckled, shaking her head softly. "And I was supposed to be the professional one." The tigress mumbled.

"I don't tink dere's any rule about datin' your co-woikers and bein a cop." Ada shrugged. "Least dats how it is at Yuri's precinct."

"Well there was in Zootopia." Vanna sighed, placing a paw to her head. "And aside from that, I was an entirely different species. I wasn't some petite she-wolf that could bury herself in his chest and snuggle. I was nearly two feet taller than he was."

"Wait..." Dawn paused. "O-officers can't date each other in Zootopia?"

Vanna simply shook her head 'no'.

Dawn bit her lip slightly as she thought back to Judy and Nick, worrying for a moment if they were aware such a rule was in place.

"So how did you find out he felt the same?" Qali piped up, pulling Dawn away from her thoughts. "Did you have to drag it out of him?" The fox bounced on her paws slightly as she awaited Vanna's response. The large tigress simply chuckled, looking away from the group as she let out a wistful sigh.

"When I was growing up, some of my favorite memories of life back in San Furnando was spending lazy Summer evening catching fireflies in the park." Vanna smiled, a nostalgic twinkle shining behind her eyes as she stared off and away. It was as if the tigress was looking at a scene the others could't see, a warm memory playing before her eyes as she continued. "I would catch them in jars, and watch them flicker in the dark of my bedroom until I drifted off to sleep."

Vanna let out a pleasant chuffing. "Come the morning, I would release them just to catch a fresh bunch the next night. I found them so fascinating and wonderful." The tigress cooed. Unlike her usual flat and stoic tone, Vanna's voice had become filled with warmth. It had a soothing sweetness to it that dawn had yet to hear the tigress speak in, and until now, wasn't sure she could even produce.

"My room was filled with firefly related trinkets and pictures during most of my teenage years. They were in essence, my favorite insect in the whole world, and they still are."

"Well that sounds lovely." Malcolm said. "But if you'll beg my pardon, what does that have to do with knowin' Zach loved you back?"

Vanna smiled warmly, letting out an affectionate sigh.

"At some point I had mentioned as much to Zach during one of our patrols." Vanna said, placing a paw to her lip. "It was just idle conversation, something I said and forgot about for the longest time. I didn't even remember mentioning it to him when..." Vanna trailed off.

"When what?" Dawn asked eagerly, her focus now unflinchingly trained on the wistful tigress.

"It was the end of our shift." Vanna spoke, her voice remaining as smooth as velvet. "We were supposed to head back to the station and clock out for the day, it was our usual routine." Vanna shrugged. "It was usually boring, uneventful, and practically second nature to us by then."

Vanna's eyes developed that familiar nostalgic twinkle again as she stared off toward the bedroom ceiling.

"But that warm August night, Zach said he had to make a pit stop before we clocked out." Vanna sighed. "It was unusual, yes. But it didn't strike me as something to be suspicious about."

"So what was the pit stop for?" Qali asked, her ears perking up as she leaned closer to the tigress.

Vanna's chuffing returned as the tigress ran a paw over her throat.

"I-I started to get curious when he seemed to be taking us out to the middle of nowhere." Vanna raised an eyebrow. "I mean, the both of us knew the roads around the Meadowlands by this point, so at a certain point I became acutely aware that we were on a dead-end road that lead nowhere."

"Ah, I see!" Ada piped up. "Takin' you somewhere secluded so he could put the moves on ya!" The hyeness cackled. "What a nautty boy!"

"Please, Vanna could break that boy in half if he tried to pull anythin' uncouth." Malcolm chuckled. "Unless she was hopin' he would." Malcolm raised an eyebrow suggestively at the tigress, causing Vanna to develop a fierce blush in response.

"H-he was a gentlemam'!" Vanna stuttered slightly as she clasped her paws to her muzzle in an effort to hide her blush. "Just like you'd expect from a Hunter."

"So then, what did he do?" Dawn asked curiously.

The thrum of Vanna's unusual chuffing grew louder as the tigress' smile widened. "We had pulled up to this wide, empty meadow when Zach stopped the car and turned off the ignition." Vanna said. " I was going to finally ask him what this was all about when he shut the headlights down and I finally saw them."

"Saw what!?" Qali chirped, the fox now standing on the bed, clasping her paws at Vanna's shirt excitedly.

"Fireflies..." Vanna said wistfully. "Thousands and thousands of them."

Qali squee'd in delight, rolling back onto the bed as she released her grip on Vanna's PJ's. "No!" Qali barked.

Vanna nodded softly." The meadow was full of them." Vanna sighed. " And not only that, but they were floating in the air all around the car." The tigress placed a paw over her muzzle, seemingly trying to hide her ever-widening grin from the rest of the girls. "It was as if were surrounded by a sea of flickering candles, dancing in the evening sky."

The large tigress glanced down at the rest of the girls, flashing them a sheepish grin. "He remembered everything, every little detail of the stories I had told him about my childhood, about the fireflies I had become so enamored with growing up." Vanna cooed. "It was why he had went out of his way to pick that meadow as his backdrop when he finally confessed his feelings for me. Because he wanted me to know how much I had come to mean to him, and that he wanted to see if I shared his feelings." Vanna smiled. "If I had grown to feel the same way about him, if I could love a wolf."

"Aww...." Qali cooed sweetly. The fox had returned to laying on her stomach, leaning her head on her paws as she stared up at Vanna in admiration.

"How did you react?" Malcolm asked, his invested interest causing him to lean closer. "How's ya'll tell him?"

Vanna placed her paws on her muzzle, blushing bashfully as she looked away from the sea of focused eyes now fixated on her.

"I-I..." Vanna murmured. "I wrapped my arms around him, and pulled him into a really hard kiss."

Vanna covered her eyes despite her widening smile as the collective laughter and giggling of the Hunter girls filled the room. Even Dawn found herself giddy with laughter at just how adorable Vanna's silent confession had been. No matter how many times Dawn's mind repeated the words the tigress had said, the ewe still found it hard to picture the large feline being so passionate and emotional. Yet watching her now, seemingly starting to swoon as she recalled her treasured romantic memories, it was almost as if the ewe was staring at an entirely different mammal. One she had just barely caught a glimpse of the night before during their karaoke session. A strangely soft, mushy big cat with the heart of a smitten young girl. A tigress without claws, without teeth, her defenses drawn back by thoughts of the one she loved. The one mammal who saw her for who she truly was, just as Vernon had seen the ewe.

"I take it he liked that..." Malcolm wheezed between laughs.

Vanna nodded briskly. "He certainly was eager to return my kiss with equal fervor."

"And did you guys...?" Qali trailed off, her eyebrows bouncing up and down suggestively.

Crimson returned to Vanna's muzzle as her paw returned to her lips in a poor attempt at covering her nervous smile.

"N-No!" Vanna protested. "I-It took us a while to work up to that." The tigress bit at her claws slightly. "W-we wanted to take it slow, to make sure we knew it was right."

"But you already knew it was, didn't you?" Dawn asked, a knowing grin crossing her muzzle. Vanna kept her paw over her mouth, and simply extended her left paw out to the ewe. As the open face of her pad came into Dawn's line of sight, the ewe immediately noticed the crimson contrast of the strange half moon marking against the pinkish flesh. It was one the lamb recognized from her studies in regards to Norwulves, and their history regarding tithing rights. The modern seal of the sacred mating contract, one half of the whole, the other she was certain Zach carried on his opposite paw.

"In that moment, that kiss, I knew he was the one." Vanna sighed pleasantly. "Waiting was more of...a formality I guess. To feel out how Ma and Pa felt about us, to try not to scare them."

By now Qali, Ada, and Malcolm had all leaned in around Dawn, all of them staring at the tigress' exposed palm in awe. Qali was quick to grasp at her large paw, clutching it tightly as she stared up at the feline.

"I-Is this?" Qali asked, seemingly too awe-stricken to finish her sentence.

Vanna nodded softly in response, her wide smile practically beaming.

"The ceremony was in August, in the same meadow that Zach and I had confessed to one another how we felt. Surrounded by the fireflies that had sealed our fates just years before." Vanna let out a nostalgic and wistful breath. "I will always remember that evening as one of the happiest of my entire life."

"I rememba." Ada chuckled softly. "You was shakin' like a leaf when they had to do dat tattoo." The hyeness grinned. " I remember bein' shocked such a big kitty was so afraid of a little needle."

Vanna scoffed. "I'd never gotten a tattoo of any kind before. It's not exactly something those of us with fur tend to do."

"You looked great dough." Ada offered a warm smile. "You was glowin' sis."

Vanna's blush returned, the tigress placing her free paw over her muzzle.

"T-thanks." Vanna sputtered, clearly embarrassed at the surprise compliment.

"Make me wish Yuri would Alpha up and ask me already." Ada said with a sigh. "He's kept me waitin' long enough."

That earned a deep chuckle from Malcolm. "Good luck Darlin'."

"I hope he does." Vanna said softly, her eyes shimmering as she turned her attention to the hyeness. "I may not be a fan of my Brother-in-law, but I want you to be as happy as I was when I got this mark."

With that, Vanna turned her attention back to the group at large. "And that goes for all of my sisters." The large feline offered the group a warm smile.

Dawn felt another nudge, looking up from Vanna's palm to find her staring back down at her. Vanna flashed her teeth. " Especially you Dawn."

"Hey, why her?" Qali pouted.

"Because she's my favorite." Vanna asserted bluntly.

"Woah, woah now we ain't supposta' have favorites!" Ada chuckled.

"That's when it comes to your own kits!" Malcolm laughed. "It don't extend to general family members.

"I thought you was suppos'ta be Miss Professional!" Ada whined. "You can't just drop a bombshell on us like dat!"

"Well I did, so deal with it." Vanna retorted, the large tigress sticking her tongue out in the direction of the hyeness playfully.

As the other girls devolved into bickering Dawn turned her attention back to the mark on Vanna's paw. Despite the sweet sentiment behind the tigress' words, Dawn could feel the knot in her stomach begin twisting as she continued to stare into the crimson mark on Vanna's palm. She didn't know, she couldn't. That despite the tigress' hope and well wishes, Dorian had firmly established himself as the blockade between the ewe and a legitimate mark of her own. That as long as he drew breath, the ewe would never be able to proudly wear such a symbol that represented her place in the Hunter pack. Because simply, she had no place among them. Despite Vernon's love for her, and vice versa, Dorian would see to it that the family would be fractured for her past transgressions. Dawn could feel tears begin to well behind her glasses as Dorian's painful tirade began to replay in her mind.

'No, I can't.' Dawn thought, forcing a fake smile to her muzzle as she fought the tears away. She had to keep up the facade, she had to hold out. It was just two more days, and then she would cross that bridge with Vernon in the privacy of their own home. She was not about to cause an all-out war among the Hunters over Dorian's declaration.

"T-thank you." Dawn managed to stammer out, her voice only wavering slightly as the others around her and Vanna continued to argue around them.

The tigress offered a warm smile, placing the marked paw on the ewe's shoulder.

"No need to thank me, we're sisters." Vanna said.

Despite the overwhelming pain now burning inside, Dawn smiled through it.