Author's Note:

This short series was fun to write, but it's intended as a short series. Duke's fun to have around, but we can be sure to see more of him in Guardian Blue, provided I am able to continue that series.

If you are just joining this series for the first timethis story is in the continuum AFTER Season 2, so you will definitely want to read Thanks for the Fox and Guardian Blue Season One and Season Two for important context!

I do not own Disney, Zootopia, nor am I in any way financially supported by Disney. All my support comes from words of encouragement from you, the readers. Thank you.

Also! A HUGE shout-out to J. N. Squire for assisting with editing this series! It's a lot to do, particularly as I am writing this one AS I write Season 2, so he's got both going at the same time! A real champion, that Squire...

The Duke of Absolution

Chapter 5: Desserts and a Denouement

Knowing who Vivienne was did change a few minor things for Duke. He felt slightly more connected to his new boss and, as a result, he trusted her more. He questioned so many other things less. The situation stopped feeing uncertain and scary to him. This all made sense. Life made sense. Where he was going didn't feel like a wholly fabricated hope. He belonged there. She told him that. He believed her.

He used some of his earnings to buy things to cozy up his small room upstairs, since he was no longer holding on to every penny he made to plan for the unknown. He hadn't discussed with Vivienne what his salary would even be, but he really didn't care. When it came time to collect his first regular pay check, it was signed by Gideon, not Vivienne, and the amount was perfectly fine to him. The other fox's mark on the check was also proof that Duke had a job, and wasn't just getting a handout. He proudly opened a real bank account, and then got a rather nice smart phone so that he had a normal bill to pay like every law abiding mammal in the city. It was such a seemingly small thing, but it felt unreal to the changed mammal.

While the days whipped by alarmingly fast, it still took another week and a half to finish refitting the store to get it looking the way Vivienne wanted. There were new fittings to put in, special lighting for the display case, a colorful sign to put in the window, and a sound system to put in for the purpose of background music. Duke was happy to find that rock and roll was the music of choice. It would be tolerable background noise, at least. They had to wait about three days just for the health inspector to go over everything and then to make a few necessary repairs to the venting. The weasel became increasingly excited about how much he was able to actually help with just by watching videos of how to do it and competently mimicking the techniques he saw. Where he thought he might eventually become dead-weight for the different sorts of remodeling that needed to be done, he was able to do pretty much anything he really attempted to do. The warm glow of feeling welcome here was not even close to how it felt to feel like he was actually needed.

A day before the grand opening, Duke helped his new boss bake a wide variety of treats. While he would be running the counter most of the time, Vivienne wanted to run things up front occasionally as well. This would allow her to interact with the local guests, she had explained. This meant that at least some of the tasks, like putting things into the oven or taking them out, or even doing some of the preparation, were things Duke could easily help with. That morning, he was given a pale pink polo shirt with his name stitched into it. Duke remembered in his past he'd made fun of folks that wore things like this, but he put that small shirt on with pride. He felt a sense of belonging that this uniform shirt was intended for. It wasn't the understanding that he was part of a lawful enterprise that bolstered his self-esteem as he wore it. He was part of Vivienne's success. He wanted that. For the first time, the smaller mammal had discovered that he could still want something for himself and not feel guilty. What he wanted for Duke was still valuable to Vivienne. His success would be hers as well.

A few shop owners from the same street got to come in and try an assortment of the test-baked goodies which Duke and Vivienne had made. Occasionally, the pair looked up to see a random passer-by nose-printing the glass from outside. Vivienne invariably beckoned them in to try out the confections. There was a promise from nearly any who sampled something that they would be buying more of them. This encouraged the weasel, but he certainly wasn't surprised. Vivienne really could make the pastries just the same as Gideon. The 'Happy-Pie' logo on the door and the pink and cream colored awning outside were simple and eye-catching, so it drummed up interest even on the first day it had gone up. Some mammals were even familiar with the brand from Bunnyburrow already, and were very openly excited about having a shop in Zootopia proper.

Around the end of the day, Duke and Vivienne relaxed in the well-lit bakery together. The ceiling fans in the rafters hummed quietly and 'Eye of the tiger' played an inspiring background to their preopening. Duke felt content with how things had gone, and he savored the relaxation at the end of a test day that had gone swimmingly. There was a soft tap on the door. One of the other local shop owners had just left with a sample, so the weasel suspected he'd sent someone else to try something. That had been happening all day. Duke groaned, however, as he spotted a familiar couple of faces in the door. The smaller mammal whined softly and shook his head at his boss, but Vivienne kindly opened the door anyway.

"You came back!" the vixen chimed with a genuinely delighted tone. Mike and Rudy. They were the coyote and bobcat associates from the weasel's less reputable former life. The two entered with smiles. While Duke appreciated that his boss could still be so civil given how Mike had insulted her before, the smaller mammal was not feeling quite as forgiving.

The coyote chuckled. "I figured you was open with all the good smells, but the door was locked. Saw us comin' down the road, didja?" he asked wryly. The weasel remained quiet, not wanting to put himself in the way of Viv's wit. He'd learned over the days working with her that she was very mentally agile. No defense was needed from him.

Viv just grinned sunnily, however. "Of course not!" she chimed, "We don't open officially until tomorrow. We're testing out the ovens and everything, making sure we don't have technical issues to take care of. You can certainly try something, if you like." Duke frowned at that. This guy needed to be verbally bounced around some more, in his honest opinion. Still, he let the vixen control the situation. Vivienne was the one that got insulted, after all. Rudy was already moving over to the case to see the few remaining desserts on display. A lot of what they made earlier had been cleaned out already.

"Peach. A peach thing. I need dis." The friendlier cat said with a wide grin, pointing through the glass.

Vivienne chimed brightly, "Sure! What would you like, Michael?" she asked. The coyote seemed a bit tense, as if having really expected that he'd be further abused by the vixen. Duke couldn't blame him. He had kind of expected it too. Maybe Vivienne's kindness was even more painful to him. Duke narrowed his eyes a bit as he considered that. It was. This fox was so good at the psychological warfare thing. Rudy, however, seemed unaffected. He had obviously been the one to convince the uncomfortable coyote to come.

A little uncertain, Mike pointed to a cherry Danish. "I'll have uh… that one. That looks super warm… and buttery!" He seemed to be trying to compliment the lady fox, as it seemed she was playing nice. That put Duke at ease a little bit. Her verbal slam the other evening had actually earned the crooked coyote's respect, perhaps.

"Certainly! Nice choices, both of them." Vivienne used tongs to put them on paper wrappers and gave them to the uninvited guests. "Thanks for helping us with the samples! It would be a tragedy to have to throw any of them out." There was another tap on the door. The weasel perked up. That would be the guests the last shopkeeper had sent.

"I'll get it," Duke said, hopping down off the tall stool behind the counter. He could hardly stomach how kind Vivienne was to that jerk, so being a little further from them was a good thing for him right then. However, as he arrived at the door and looked up, he froze as he saw two more familiar faces on the other side of the glass. Duke felt a wave of raw emotion blow hard through him as Judy Hopps smiled through the door at him and waved. Her partner stood right behind her. They were both in uniform.

His heart hammered painfully in his chest. He knew he would eventually see them the night he found out who Vivienne really was, but did it have to be now? He wasn't ready to do this right that moment! When would he ever be ready though? He'd thought a lot about this eventuality and knew it would happen, but there they were.

"Uh oh." Rudy said under his breath, distracting the almost shaking weasel.

"What? Oh." Mike tensed up noticeably. Duke had been, a second before, so anxious about seeing Nick and Judy again after everything that happened. However, seeing how uncomfortable the presence of uniformed police officers made Mike helped guide the weasel's paw to the door. It chimed as Nick and Judy entered.

Vivienne spoke gleefully from behind the counter. "Hey, you two! I'm glad you made it out to this side of town. Rainforest today, was it?" she asked. It was obvious why. Nick's longer tail-fluff was a bit wavy, a sign of having to wander around in the wet heat of that side of town. District locals called it the Sun-Claw Falls Wave, after a popular attraction there.

Judy answered energetically. "I said we'd be here!" The bunny took a longer look at Duke, eyes gleaming with interest in the uniformed and properly employed mustelid. It made him feel a sudden sense of apprehension. He'd not spoken to the bunny since it happened. He told her where to get her partner, but he also sat on that information a while. Was 'Flopsy' happy about that, or angry? She had every right to be both.

"Hey, look who it is, Fluff!" Nick chimed, crossing his arms. Duke immediately assumed the fox officer was talking about him, and prepared to hear him make fun of his pink-toned uniform shirt. He had steeled himself up for that. He'd deserve it. He didn't mind. Instead, Nick redirected the attention away from the former bootlegging weasel. "Latrans! We haven't seen you since… let me seeeee…" The uniformed canid tried to remember.

Mike barked out sharply, "Haha, yeah, it's been a while, huh?" He was obviously trying to cut Nick off.

"Oh, that's right, the canal! How's your back?" Nick asked with a tone of actual concern. Duke found himself studiously peering at the male fox's face, almost not even paying attention to what he was saying to Mike. How? How had he not immediately seen the resemblance? It was especially telling when Vivienne had joked and looked so smug. It was just crazy that the weasel had no idea!

"What happened to his back?" Rudy asked. Duke was suddenly curious about that too. He was pretty sure he knew why the police officers would have known the coyote though.

"He didn't tell you?" Nick asked incredulously, as if just immediately knowing the cat and coyote were pals. "A good while back, he went and tried to bludgeon Officer Hopps here with a broom handle. It was so unfair." Duke, having been on the receiving end of a Hopps takedown, knew why Nick had stressed that last word. It wasn't unfair to the bunny.

"Sad?" Rudy said sharply. He looked with sudden disgust at the coyote he had come in with. "That's awful! Dude, she's a bunny." Yeah, the cat didn't know.

The larger canid snapped back, "Shut it, Rudy. I wasn't trying to hit her! I was trying to scare her. I never even swung at anyone, or I'd be in jail right now, doofus." He then pouted as Viv's tongs whipped back over to him and his Danish went missing. The vixen had taken back his treat. "Aw man. Really? I didn't hurt nobody. I was runnin' scared! That bunny wrecked me for it too. That is how I hurt my back." Duke grinned. He knew it. Flopsy gained a few points in his book.

"Oh. Okay then," Vivienne responded calmly as she placed the treat back on the paper wrapper in Mike's hand. The coyote wagged his tail. Duke furrowed his brow. How had everything gotten so casual? Was this really life now? His past and present and future were melting together in a fever-dream scenario.

Judy spoke up Duke digested the scene. "We are a lot later than we'd hoped to be. What's left… anything?" she asked. The bunny moved over by Rudy. The bobcat was still tense. It was likely he was more anxious now that he'd been informed that she was physically dangerous. "Oh, the lemon tart, I'll have that please, Viv." The vixen happily got a treat for her, and the weasel took a moment to consider the fact that he was actually privy to something most of the city was not. Vivienne was actually family to Judy. It provoked another wave of emotion through the smaller mammal. That bunny got her fox back. Duke was partly involved in that. Would they try to say anything to him about it? It was a sensitive subject for him because it was at the center of his new world. It was the event that changed everything for him. He didn't know what to say. Maybe they would just not say anything due to the mixed company.

"I'll have the blueberry muffin!" Nick chimed. "Ooh, those look pretty heavy on the berries, too!" The vixen gave her son the indicated treat, leaving just a few tarts and another Danish in the case. The uniformed fox whipped his tail about, stating politely, "Thanks, Mom." The coyote and bobcat both visibly flinched at that.

"Mom?" asked Mike with a slight whine to his voice. Duke felt the desire to physically roll around in the perfume of Mike's agonized realization. This was incredible. Please let it last forever.

"Yep!" Vivienne chimed proudly. "You seem to already know him, but Officer Wilde is my son."

"Cool..." Rudy said uneasily, and took a bite of his treat. His expression lit up and his little tail flitted rapidly side to side. Duke couldn't blame him. He felt the same way about these desserts. "Oh geeze! This is amazing!"

"Wait, you don't know Mike?" asked Nick, turning to his mother. Viv's son had an expression of genuine confusion.

"No, not personally," Vivienne said. "He dropped by to say hi to Duke a while back, but that's the first I'd seen of him." Mike suddenly whined pitifully and took a huge bite of the Danish.

"This is so delicious!" he said with a bit of forced enthusiasm. He looked horrified even as he said it. Watching the coyote devolve into apparent insanity was as delicious to Duke as any pastry here.

Nick crossed his arms, brow furrowed, "Wait, Mike… you said-…"

"Oh hey, Rudy, we need to get to the train stop! We're gonna be late!" He grabbed the still treat-nibbling feline by the wrist and pulled him toward the door.

"Bye, Mrs. W! This is the best!" Rudy said, seeming confused, but not about to stop his distressed friend. Duke figured that they were just trying to get away from the two cops. The weasel was mirthfully pleased to have watched the bad-mouthing coyote get his fur ruffled by a fox again, and locked the door behind the departing pair. He turned to see Nick talking to Judy about 'criminal mischief charges' due to the number of blueberries used in his muffin, obviously complimenting his proudly grinning mother. It made Duke feel immediately self-conscious for being a part of the moment, even if indirectly.

This was Vivienne's real family. Duke was enjoying Viv's company so much as if it were some special privilege that he had, but a pulse of near electrical realization rippled through him as he understood. It was how she treated them. It's how she treated her family. He struggled with what his right was to any of that. But Duke didn't ask for it. To Vivienne, he'd earned it. To her, this very moment had been given to her by the weasel nervously observing her real happiness. She really would not have had this chance any other way. The smaller mammal had to stop denying it. He gritted his teeth, his chest suddenly aching a bit. This family moment, and all the ones she still had to look forward to were why he got his second chance. More of the uncertainty about whether his boon was deserved eroded away in the moment. As he watched Nick and Judy joke with one another and laugh with Viv, Duke saw how deeply happy the older fox really was. Silently, maybe even selfishly, the weasel smiled and enjoyed their interaction too.

Finally, after they had finished their selected treats, Judy spoke up cheerily. "Do you need any help with the cleanup, Viv? I'm off duty and I don't mind helping a little before we head out." She beamed at the lady fox.

Viv smiled sunnily to the bunny. "Oh no, dear, we just have the pans there in the case, that can wait till morning."

Judy crossed her arms. "No, I'm sure I can help a little. I did promise, and you didn't let us help out at all with setup." Vivienne looked back and forth between her and Nick, then Duke, and then back to Nick. The other fox nodded to his mother. Vivienne widened her eyes just a tick, as if getting what was being requested. Duke's heart sank. Nick wanted to talk to the weasel, and Judy was taking Vivienne out of the room. He swallowed. He knew it was coming eventually, but he wasn't really ready to deal with this. The weight of that day still filled him with a kind of unreal level of overwhelming raw emotion, even months later.

Vivienne spoke in a honeyed tone, "I suppose I could use some help folding the towels, they just finished drying and all." She smiled meekly to Judy.

"Great, I'm good at folding square fabric!" the bunny laughed. The suggestion there was that she might not be a domestic diva beyond that.

Vivienne laughed, "They're rectangles, dear."

"I'm gonna need help." Viv and the bunny laughed as they exited stage 'out of earshot' and the small weasel looked up with bulging eyes at the taller red vulpine.

Duke had known Nick for a few years before the fox moved to the other side of the legal fence, as it were. They had a conflicted relationship from the very beginning because they were technically in competition for angles to take advantage of the general public. Nick even squeezed Duke out of a lucrative deal with Mr. Big. However, after he switched sides, there was even more conflict between them. Nick and Judy were always just around the corner, and Duke had trouble with his usual line work even before the incident under the city. He was constantly interrupted in his business ventures by the energetic and highly capable officers.

Looking back on it, Duke understood it more. They didn't want him to go back to getting into trouble when they'd advocated for him after the Nighthowler case. They stuck their necks out for him. His conspiracy charges got dropped because of those two. It he got arrested again right after that… it would have looked bad for the duo.

Now, though… it was different. Duke had no idea how to deal with this fox. He didn't know how Nick should feel about him. It was like looking at a stranger that he was somehow irrevocably connected to, especially now that he was working closely with the officer's own family. There would be no avoiding Nick, starting right that moment. And one thing needed to be made immediately clear.

"Yew don't owe me nuttin'" the weasel immediately blurted.

"I know that," Nick said calmly. Duke blinked at that. Oh. That was… abrupt and easy.

"Oh. Well," he murmured, trying to get his conversational bearings in the moment of awkwardness. "Yeah, so. It's alright. Nothing owed." This wasn't as bad as he thought it might be. Nick was being cool about it. Maybe it had way less emotional impact on the normally trash-talking, snarky fox.

"Sit down, Duke." Nick nodded to the stool on the other side of the counter where the weasel might normally sit. Okay, so maybe not quite that easy. Duke climbed up onto the stool.

"Yeah, sure… hup! So ah… I'm happy to see yer doin' well with th' police work and everything. Hey, and I'm tryin' hard too, see?" he indicated his pink shirt proudly. Make sure the fox knows the opportunity Vivienne gave me is appreciated, that's the ticket, thought Duke.

"I want to make one thing clear to you, Duke," Nick said, leaning over the counter a little, sitting on another stool, level with the smaller mammal. The little weasel stared back with round eyes. "To owe you anything, I have to ask first, Duke. I did not ask you for anything. The bunny did not ask you for anything. And I know that you never even meant to give… the thing you ended up giving her… to me." Duke remained stoically silent. Okay, so it had emotional impact on the fox. He was being serious.

"Okay, so I agree, and it's cool, yeah?" Duke offered. He was a little confused by what was becoming a speech from the former con artist.

"See Duke… we foxes have a very… defined sense of debt. We have very specific rules in place. If a thing is asked, or a trespass is made, a favor is owed. But if a thing is given unasked, it's a gift. So you are right. To a fox, nothing is owed. But, at the same time, I cannot deny… it is a gift. But whose is it? Who do I thank, if not you?" Nick sat back with evident frustration. "How exactly do we come to this place?" The weasel sat up straighter. The way Nick spoke pulled Duke out of the spotlight slightly to let him appreciate the absurdity of the situation that delivered them there. What the fox was saying also made it clear he had spent time thinking about this conversation too… likely more than Duke had.

The smaller mammal finally broke the awkward silence. "Look, I'm really glad you made it. I swear… I had no idea that yew could be alive down there, fox… I mean… I waited a week. Yew coulda got helped sooner, Wilde. You coulda died 'cause I waited." He needed to say this part. It was, to Duke, his last terrible deed before his absolution.

"Shut up Duke." Nick said flatly. Duke stopped talking. "The entire city overlooked my fate, and assumed I was dead. You thought I was dead. So… I gotta know. Why did you go find Judy?" Duke blinked at that.

"Yew didn't deserve to be down there," he answered, going with what was really in his heart.

"We weren't what you'd call friends. Why?" he asked.

"Cause yew was always a jerk, Nick." Duke deadpanned.

"No, not asking why we weren't friends, Weaselton. Why did you care?" Duke looked up incredulously at Nick. What kind of question was that?

"What do you mean why did I care? Why shouldn't I? It wasn't right you was down there, that's why!" He felt like Nick was questioning his integrity. The fox could call into question every deed the smaller mammal ever did except that one.

"You're offended," Nick observed annoyingly.

"Yeah. So what?" he asked.

"I hit a nerve," the fox added.

"God, are you serious? What the hell?" he asked.

"You know what strikes nerves?" Nick asked.

"YOU!" Duke snapped.

"The truth," came the vulpine's reply. Duke paused, looking at the quiet fox. Nick didn't seem to be smug or condescending. His expression was actually serious.

"What?" Duke asked.

"You had every reason and excuse to stay out of it… but you got involved. You had to. You printed and drew and carefully labeled a damned map, Duke. Maybe you didn't understand then. Maybe you still don't. So… tell you what… I will thank you for your gift of one map for Judy Hopps by giving you a map of my own." Nick leaned back, looking up at the spinning ceiling fan. The weasel was a little lost. The idea of a map seemed genuinely helpful just to get through this meandering vulpine soliloquy. Nick spoke again, slowly. "That fox you knew years ago… The one you didn't have any reason to care about before… that wasn't the real me. It never was. You've hurled a few barbs my way about me going straight, but something happened to me over a year ago that made me throw away that… insufferable fraud. You had some choice words the first time you saw me in blue, but I didn't care how you felt about it."

"Look I was wrong…" Duke offered.

Nick interrupted his apology. "You didn't understand then. But I think you do now. The life you had, the one you knew so well… suddenly stopped even being compatible." Nick looked down at his paws a moment, then back to Duke. "My mom probably told you I'd be against you working here with her."

"She ah…" Duke looked down. Nick changed gears too fast. It took him a second to catch up. "She suspected maybe you'd have reservations, sure." No sense saying otherwise.

Nick continued looking down. "She would be right. When she told me what she was going to do, I might have initially said some impolite things about it." He looked back at the wide-eyed weasel, his foxy ears back in shame. "I was wrong." Duke didn't expect that.

"I'm tryin' real hard to prove-…" he was cut off.

"No. I was wrong." Nick calmly interrupted again. "You don't have to prove anything. I realize it now. I don't know you, Duke. I never did. See, the old Duke Weaselton… he went out the same way the old Nick Wilde did. That poor goof wandered too close to the bunny." Duke stared back with huge eyes at the accusation.

He chuckled anxiously. "Blame the rabbit. Gotcha."

Nick continued in a soft, mellow tone. "Old Nick, he was snuffed in the weeks before Bellwether's arrest. And you… just a few months ago, you found yourself in a really strange place. It was like you couldn't even breathe the same air you'd been breathing." The smaller mammal remained completely quiet as tingles buzzed through his slender brown-toned form. What Nick was saying struck so deep that he was barely restraining his entire body from shaking. That was exactly how it could be described. How could he recount the experience even better than the weasel could himself?

"Y-yeah… That's right…" he mostly whispered, peering up at the fox. "It felt like dyin' and bein' just… dropped into a new place." Having another angle with which to view that moment made it easier to decipher for him. It was frightening and he didn't know what to do or where to go. It really was like what the fox was saying. He glanced back down and took a deep breath before speaking again. "Why you gotta make it so heavy Wilde? Why's it gotta be like dyin'?" It seemed more frightening that way.

"Because you can't come back from it, Weaselton," the fox informed. Duke actually physically shuddered from that. That was it. Nick was telling him this because of the finality of it all. The way the fox viewed it meant he couldn't go back to his old ways because the new fox didn't have old ways. That was how dedicated he was to his new existence. And that was how dedicated the weasel wanted to be as well.

"I ain't goin' back, Wilde. I just had a hard time findin' my way forward." He wanted to be clear that he'd been trying hard the whole time, not just now that Nick's mom was helping him.

Nick spoke confidently, "I know. So I am giving you my map, Duke… I've been where you've just started from. My trip wasn't easy, and we both know yours won't be either. My map is easy, see. It only gives you one direction. Find someone on the right road and follow them, Weaselton. I got way more lost than I needed to at first and it was a lot harder for me than it should have been because I didn't have that map. I want you to have it. Do you understand what I am saying?" he asked.

"Y-yeah, fox. I got it. I… Thank you, I understand." Duke looked down, lip trembling a bit. He couldn't help wondering if the old Nick was really like this, just hidden. Was he that thoughtful? Did he care so much? Was this what the road the smaller mammal now found himself on actually did to a mammal? He always thought that everyone was the way they were, and that was how they were. Was it not the mammal, but the journey? Could it really have been that way his whole life?

Nick broke the introspective silence. "I didn't owe you before, but I'm about to owe you now." Duke looked up, giving the fox his complete attention. "My mom moved here because she wants to be close to her family, and she took a big chance moving out here. You know as well as I do that, tough though she may be, it's no place to be alone. Please help me look after her." Duke felt a hard yank in his heart. Nick looked away, ears back. "You maybe don't now, but I nearly lost her once. I want to know she's okay. I need to be sure. Can you do that?" He looked back at the weasel, green eyes anxious.

"Yeah, Wilde. I can to that," the small weasel said in an even smaller voice.

"Now I get to thank you for the other thing you did!" Nick said, his attitude shifting instantly, almost jarringly to something upbeat and playful.

"You're welcome." Duke said, actually startled by the shift. "Wait, what thing?" he asked.

"So, I might not feel indebted to you, but foxes have a very non-emotional idea of debts. It's all about our strict, complex, well-defined rules to govern them," Nick explained, "Bunnies, however, do not. They are very emotional about this... particular sort of debt."

"You can… help her understand how it is then, right?" Duke asked. Judy didn't deserve to be uncomfortable over this. He was on the road. Nick helped him get on the road. All debts were paid.

"Nope," Nick said bluntly. "My life gets better every time Carrots goes with her heart. I know better than to get in the way of her bunny sensibilities."

"Carrots? Seriously?" Duke asked. Nick nodded smugly. The weasel shrugged with a smile. "Well, it's your bunny, I guess." This caused the fox to widen his eyes comically. Duke took a turn at smugness. So it wasn't supposed to be general knowledge. He was right about his assumption. He felt even more privileged to have had that shared with him. The little mustelid could have teased, but he decided to dismiss that. Not now. Later. "So how do I let Hopps off the hook? It's awkward."

Nick shook his head a little, glancing back in the direction of his mother, who had obviously betrayed him in sharing that information, and then back at the weasel. "There's no changing her feelings about that, Duke... You'll just have to wait for some impossible problem to come up in your new life and just… I dunno… try to dodge when she shows up to bunny-suplex it…" Duke looked back at Nick incredulously. He actually seemed serious saying that part. The fox then grinned very urgently at Duke, as wide and forced as a grin could be. It was a little alarming. He said in a lower tone, "But, that's not what I want to say thank you for. What I am most thankful for is… that you went clean forever… and you aren't going to make Judy arrest you ever again after everything that's happened."

"Ah…" responded Duke with a little squeak in his voice. Nick said that in a way that showed all his teeth. It made it clear this was a demand, not an offer of gratitude. The weasel understood why though. Being forced to arrest him again, with how she felt about the weasel's unintended gift to Judy, would be terribly painful to the bunny cop. There was a very careful and unspoken threat in that quiet, smiling moment. If Duke went off the straight and narrow for some dumb reason and forced that unfortunate scenario, it was going to result in unimaginable foxy wrath.

"I'm gonna be stayin' on this side of the law now, Wilde." Duke said in a serious tone. "I promise."

"My mom's eager to help you with that. So look after her, yeah?" Nick said.

"Right. Yeah," Duke replied, slightly choked up.

"You know… This is like having a brother," Nick grinned. Duke flinched.

"No! God, no! It ain't never like that!" he cried, cupping paws over his little ears to keep the notion out. Out, out, out.

"We can go on campouts and start a band!" Nick obviously teased with an excited grin.

"Absolutely not!" Duke threw his paws up in horror.

Nick put his larger paws together excitedly. "We can rebrand our animosity as sibling rivalry! It'll be great! I mean… I'm always gonna give Mom the best birthday cards; that's not even a remotely level playing field."

"I hate you Wilde," Duke said flatly, tiny ears back slightly.

"Finnick and I can take you with us to play mini golf!" Nick bounced a bit on his stool.

"Now I know you're messin' with me, fox. Ain't no one gonna dare suggest mini anything to Fin!" Duke paused, sitting up straighter. "Wait, is Viv's birthday soon?"

Nick's expression brightened to exuberance and he gestured at the grumpy-looking weasel. "Ah? Ah? Think you're gonna get her a nicer card, huh, little brother?"

Duke flattened his ears again. "I'm older than yew, fox! Gah! We are not siblings! And I'm so gettin' her a better card." Duke crossed his little arms defiantly and leaned back, staring helplessly at the spinning fan above. He heavily sighed out a deflating breath. "This is so messed up."

Nick just laughed.

So ends the short series "Duke of Absolution". I hope this little journey has been enjoyable, and I look forward to providing more of Guardian Blue soon. Following this small series should be Season 3 of Guardian Blue. I may have some holiday treats in store as well, so watch the series page for updates! Thank you!

I can be contacted at sarsis or can be found on Telegram as alpssarsis