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The Stone of Gideon A Zootopia fiction based on William Borba's "I will survive." comic

By Dan 1966

(c) ZOOTOPIA 2016 Walt Disney Animated Studeos (c) "I will survive" by William Borba 2017

All rights respected. For fandom enjoyment only. No monetary gains desired or expected.

Part 3

1st Precinct Head Quarters Downtown Zootopia 14 hours after the Lickety Splits incident

Benjamin Clawhauser knocked on the door to Chief Bogo's office and slowly entered...

"Chief? Mister Gray is on line three." Clawhauser said. Bogo gave him a waving hand away before he picked up the receiver and took a deep breath....

"Mister Gray...." The big Cape Buffalo said in a very angry but refrained tone of voice. "Do you know how I have occupied the last ten or so of my hours?"

"Not pleasantly I take it." Gideon replied.

"Allow me to give you some particular notes of mention. Oh? Should I address you as "Pie King", "Your Honor" or "Miscreant bastard who's ass I will be more than happy to kick into orbit when I get my hands on you?" Bogo said as he sat back in his chair. "I'll let you decide the title because frankly? I don't care. You've broken a string of laws and if not for Officer Hopps calling me and telling me the whole honest affair? Right now you would be looking down the gun barrels of my SWAT team."

Bogo stopped for a moment. "Oh yes....and one wolf officer in particular is missing half his furry ass for violating department protocols. That! Is how I have spent the past many hours because you want to bring "your" style of country justice to my city!"

A moment of silence went between them...

"Chief Bogo." Gideon said. "Right now myself, my close friend Travis Halfgate and Nick Wilde are in room 817 of the Royal Palms Hotel in Sahara Central. You have every right to send in your officers to arrest us and ensure Mister Wilde's safety or you could heed what Officer Hopps has told you, allow me to do what I need to do and then I'll fully accept any and all legal charges against me."

Chief Bogo thought for a moment..."What was the condition of Officer Wilde when you found him and I am very surprised you found him at all since he is well capable of hiding himself well even in plain site."

"He was very drunk, very despondent and I dare say....suicidal." Gideon replied. "He got a little "liquid-ee-ous courage" and...I laid him out. So add assault to all my charges."

Bogo closed his eyes and groaned..."Is it your intention to further harm Officer Wilde?"

"No." Gideon replied. "I'm just going to say what needs to be said and then I will be on my way and he will go his....or I'll be in jail. That decision I leave to you. But I hope for all the trouble I've caused you, you will still have two good officers and not a worse tragedy to have to deal with. Besides...there is a "home style" tradition of "debt of honor" component to all this that I need not explain."

Bogo sighed deeply..."You are sorely testing my better judgment Mister Gray. I absolutely abhor anyone using my precinct and my Department for "their purposes" no matter how honorable they may think they are! But.....sigh....Wilde and Hopps are two officers I can not adequately replace. You have.....my "tentative" trust. The outcome will determine what actions I may or may not order against you."

"I will do my best not to further strain your trust." Gideon replied. "There will be no further incidents I assure you."

"One more thing?" Chief Bogo prodded. "Your Yak-berry strudel? I believe a hint of sour cream is need however? I enjoy it immensely."

"Always wonderful to hear a satisfied customer." Gideon replied. "I will speak with you later. I have also checked our firearms into the front desk. Safety locker four and the clerks have the keys. There are no weapons present in our room and we will not resist arrest. I will call you after Nick has been let go."

The sounds of someone throwing up in the hotel bed room got Gideon's attention. "Speaking of Nick?" Gideon said to himself as he got up from the writing desk to stand in the bed room door jam and watch poor Nick chucking up into a plastic basket with Travis slowly rubbing his back...

"Easy there sport." Travis said as he helped Nick to lay back..."You about replaced your blood with booze."

"I killed all my brain cells too." Nick yelped as he winced. To his surprise... he was awake. To his real surprise...he wasn't tied up or shackled or cuffed or dead in a ditch...though the thoughts of it coming were pretty strong the more his eyes came out of their post-binge stupor and focused on the huge fox dressed in a light gray T-Shirt and a pair of Blue Jeans.

"Ugh....." Nick lay clicking his chops and trying to water his parched and burning throat. His head was burning hot enough from the amount of booze he took down and from the obvious feeling of his ass getting well kicked...

"She lied to me." Nick said as he regarded Gideon. "You're huge."

"Yup." Gideon replied. "I got me some freaky Brontosaurus genes. They needed a block and tackle to get me out at birth."

Nick chuckled a little but he was sore all over the place. "So...how does this work? You take me someplace and blow my brains all over a wall or do you stretch my neck?"

Travis snickered..."Boy been watching way to much "Hatferrets and McShrews"

Nick suddenly gestured and Travis helped him to bend over the side of the bed as he upchucked again...

"Well...." Gideon said as he rested his paws on his big belly. "You abysmally failed in the "poison by booze" department so I don't know if anything else will work. Is that what you think Judy would ask me to do to you?"

Nick finished puking and sat holding his poor suffering head. "Why else would she call a guy who was her worse school nightmare?"

"Because she trusts me to be honest and fair. She didn't tell you I was the county judge did she?" Gideon replied.

Nick snickered. "You look like a hick sheriff. Got the pot belly for it. Honestly? I wasn't expecting you to be so huge. The pictures on all those pie boxes are poorly proportioned." Nick accepted a glass of water from Travis and rubbed his head. "So.....if you're not going to kill me? Then why are we here?"

Gideon leaned forwards in his chair...."For both your sakes. To say what I need to say and then we go our own ways. You deserve as much a full and fair accounting as she does. And understand this Nick....both of you are guilty in this affair.....it started out innocent between you, you both didn't expect this would happen. Bunny? Fox? Only in rare infinitesimal odds does a conception ever happen....but? As Judy told me? The lottery balls fell in the right order."

Nick snorted. "Yeah....and she wants to kill it."

Gideon raised a paw..."He's the ground rules Nick. You listen and allow me to speak my peace and we keep this civil. You start calling Judy what your drunk butt was calling her last night? And it is on and I promise you? It Won't be on for very long so let's not go there?"

"I have a right to vent! I have a right to be angry!" Nick snapped. "Ugh!....my damn head hurts!"

"Yes...." Gideon replied. "You have the right to be angry. But the law gives her the right to a choice...but no choice is free of consequences. You both chose to get passionate and you gave her your seed and the result of that choice was this...you trying to booze yourself into never never land, she faces a difficult and terrible choice and we're here now having this discussion."

"Well....the law sucks." Nick huffed.

"You and I didn't make the laws Nick. The people made the laws to bring some sort of order to a chaotic society. In terms of time it wasn't that long ago when you and I would have been two naked feral beasts chasing Judy down in some long grass to rip her in half. The people enact the laws as they deem are needed to fit how society functions. When the society changes to where the law is rendered meaningless? Then the law gets dumped. Till then? If the law gives someone the right and authority to perform an action or a function? No individual alone may over ride their choice. That's plain and simple."

Gideon took a moment to think. "Now....I'm not covering for Judy nor making excuses for her. In hindsight? She should have taken better time after she tested herself to sit and talk to you."

Nick huffed..."Yeah....she suspected it before she tested herself but she thought it was upset stomach or just a passing cold. What does it matter though? Knocked up by a filthy fox, Don't want the family to find out she's carrying a puffy tailed, dirty rotten fox baby in her belly. Screw you Nick Wilde."

Gideon waited for a moment...."You put that baby in her belly."

"So it's my damn fault?!" Nick snapped.

"Both of you share the blame." Gideon replied. "But you both didn't expect her to conceive. The issue is not how it came about but if it's safe for her being so small to carry that child to full term."

"But it's such a rare occurrence!" Nick yelped. "We just don't know. It's possible the baby could be...."

"Pregnancies can't afford "possibles"." Gideon said calmly. You can't go on guess work and theories. Is that how you value Judy? As some sort of petri dish science experiment?"

"Fuck you!" Nick snapped. "She was right! You're a fat jerk!"

"I'm telling you the blunt facts." Gideon replied. "Believe me Nick, I wasn't easy with Judy either but....she trusts me both to give her my honestly and respect her silence. She called Chief Bogo which is why we can have this talk and you're not lying in a gutter or worse. Now I'm asking you again....Is that how you value Judy? As some sort of petri dish science experiment?"

Nick took a moment to answer...."No....but....we have three months..."

"No....she has 35 days." Gideon answered.

Nick's mouth froze...."A month?"

"That's how fast a bunny's pregnancy goes." Gideon said. "Every day she carries? If there's any complications, they could quickly put her in danger and the longer we wait for some "hopeful" result where no prior evidence exists to validate it is too much a risk to take with anyone's life.

Nick put his head between his legs....

"You need water?" Gideon asked.

"I need aspirin for my splitting head." Nick replied as he cringed against a paw..."I never realized bunny gestation was so quick. We talked before we had sex that we could never conceive together. We talked about adoption and marriage...so the thought of pregnancy never entered the serious thought that we'd research it."

"And no....I don't value her as a damned experiment. But you're still a fat ass hole. I mean....don't tell me you wouldn't be upset if your wife came to you and said..."Hey Gideon, I'm pregnant but I'm killing the baby so there." Don't tell me you wouldn't be three sheets pissed off at her?"

Gideon replied. "My wife isn't a bunny who can pop in 30 days and our children are not the result of two animals who got froggy thinking they wouldn't have any consequences. Plenty of orphanages right now in Zotopia are filled with "unintended consequences". We have abortion because some people never consider the consequences. And all those consequences, save the rare occasions, were all within compatible family species. You can't compare a bunch of bananas to a banana and an apple. I'm not a dumb school hall roaming jerk any more Nick."

"No...." Nick snorted. "Just a big fat fuck." Nick slipped off the bed and gestured. "Can I have my clothes?"

Gideon gestured to Travis then to the room door. "Guess we're done. You can leave if you want?"

Nick flopped back onto the bed after he got dressed. "No....I'm finding your bull shit too interesting."

"Hmph..." Gideon snorted. "She really hasn't changed much since we were kids you know? She was a stupid dumb bunny then...she's even more stupid and dumb now. For a fox to get taken so easily by a retarded moron like her..."

Nick flew off the bed and got in a pair of good face punches before the large fox snatched his wrists and held him off....

"Well? Got my answer to the science experiment question didn't I?" Gideon said as he let Nick go and shook his head.

"Prick." Nick snorted. "Your head is as much a rock as your brain."

"Yeah....but who's the one with more money here?" Gideon snickered.

"More money hasn't helped your mental illness." Nick snorted back.

" I was just testing to see how you'd react. Guess that's how she felt when you said she'd kill the baby for her career." Gideon said as he watched Nick sit back down.

"She brought it up as a reason." Nick replied. "Then she said I had no right."

Nick Sighed...."Right there I said...."This is it huh? This is the real reason. All for your career."

Gideon replied...."Your correct words were....."It seems you could even kill our baby for your career." Then she slapped you to the floor. You both tit for tat each other until it exploded."

"I walked out to keep it from getting worse!" Nick snapped. "I was upset! Wouldn't you be if you knew your girlfriend was pregnant but refused to carry your baby because she was self centered and selfish for her damn career!"

"Was it right for you to walk out and absolve yourself of your responsibility in the whole matter by calling her honesty to you an "Unpardonable sin" and saying she did it for her career alone when the facts say the first worries were for her own life?"

Nick froze for a moment...

"That's basically what you did." Gideon said. "Sure she didn't have to tell you. She could have kept her mouth shut, gone to get the abortion and that would have been that. Then let's say something went wrong with the procedure? Abortion is not fool proof. She never tells you and there's a horrible result where she can't have children or worse....she dies.....now the next of kin have to be notified. In that case...if she never told you...then the fault is on her alone. But not telling you would have been the wrong thing and Judy wasn't raised like that. So she told you and you decided to absolve yourself and split and call her a sinner when you were just as guilty....wrong choice my friend."

"You don't realize just how big a family Judy comes from. Her parents are good and precious to me but the whole Hopps clan is spread all over the Tri-Burroughs. They're a gaggle basket of tight bunnies and a lot of them hate us foxes with a passion that no amount of gifts or good will can quench. If something bad happens to Judy and they catch wind you did a "screw and screw" on her boy? There won't be a rock in this whole city you could hide under to escape those piss filled rabbits. And don't think your badge and the big blue line will stop them. They just need to be lucky once and you know rabbits and luck? And they won't just shoot you or stab you. They will aim to torture you before they kill you."

Gideon leaned forwards in his chair. "I came here to save your skin as much for Judy's sake. To appease and slake that big clan's urgings for revenge because they know Gideon Gray is a mammal of his word and a fair judge who'll ensure they have justice. I'm not here to be your friend or Judy's friend but to be a fair judge who lays out the blunt truth and facts to hopefully turn this from becoming a more horrible tragedy and save lives."

Nick sat on the bed playing with his paw fingers...

"Sigh....I need to know Nick Wilde." Gideon asked. "Do you still love her or not? Is there any shred of hope that at the very least you two could make a more amicable parting than what you both did to each other? That Judy can go through this procedure knowing that you still worried for her safety? You don't deserve to live the rest of your life having to watch your back for bullets and knives, Judy doesn't want that for you and she's no less mourning for the baby than you are. She has to bear the memory of this as painfully equal as you...it's the consequence of your shared choice. I don't honestly see any hate in either of you for the other. Am I a liar Nick?"

Nick started to sob....

Gideon stood up and gestured to Travis. "Now I'm going to call Chief Bogo and tell him Travis and I will be leaving you alone in the room and to make sure an officer gets sent to check you out and make sure you're safe. The choice is yours to make Wilde. I've done my part. The rooms paid for as long as you need it but don't spend more than a day or two. Judy can't wait that long....you know that."

Gideon and Travis walked from the room and closed the door behind them. Gideon then pulled out his smart phone and punched Chief Bogo's number...

"Chief Bogo? Travis and I are done. Send an officer up to check Nick Wilde and stay with him a day or two. We'll be coming down to the lobby to wait for a pick up to the station. Our weapons will remain in the safety locker in the lobby."

"Very well." Bogo replied. "It would seem....sigh.....it would seem that you have more fortunes than just the monetary sense of the word mister Gray. The attorney general and the district judge just called me to explain that no charges are to be laid on you and your associate. Now? This "lucky" turn of events could not possibly be because the two are bunnies from Bunnyburrough who just happen to have the last name of Hopps would it?"

"I never met them personally." Gideon said with a smile. "Perhaps they like my Nickleback carrot pie? That's a Bunnyburrough favorite."

"Perhaps." Bogo snorted. "A word to the wise Mister Pie King? I would not be too quick to return to the city unless on official business and a fore-call in advance with a full explanation of your activities...and a Yak-berry strudel pie delivered to the front desk. Consider yourself on a conditional probation there..."Your honor". You may collect your weapons "unloaded" and kindly follow one of my officers out of my city. And I hope.....I hope you were successful."

Gideon replied. "I hope it won't be long any way or another way. Sorry to have caused you such grief Chief Bogo. It will not happen again. Have a good day."

"You too Mister Gray." Bogo replied before he hung up.

Gideon turned to Travis. "We have to go to your place to get my Daddy's truck. Seems we won't have time for a dinner date."

"I can close up the shop and come home later boss." Travis replied as they walked up to the reception desk to get their weapons. "You think Wilde and Judy will be ok?"

Gideon pursed his lips in reply. "We can only see. Don't think we need to call Judy any more. Let faith do its' work now."

End of part 3