Skyebound: Chapter 1 - The Day Things Changed by Oddly Unaccomplished Productions
Jack Savage’s lonely and humdrum existence as Precinct One’s underrated detective is turned upside down on one fateful day when an arctic vixen sits next to him for lunch. Strap in for a journey of romance, action, comedy, and whatever else we can throw in the mix in Oddly Unaccomplished Productions’ first feature length fanfic! Also all art is contributed by the wonderfully talented w4g4 who you can find here: https://w4g4.tumblr.com/
The monotonous electronic bleep of an iCarrot phone resounded around the tiny flat, the screen obnoxiously flashing on and off as it announced to its owner that 5:00 am had arrived. A pair of long ears twitched slightly at the irritating sound, before their owner rolled over and instinctively shut off the incessant sound.
Sitting up, Jack rubbed his eyes, trying in vain to remove the early morning groggy feeling. Going into autopilot, Jack threw his covers into a messy heap at the foot of his bed and walked through the open bedroom door into his dinky kitchenette.
Within minutes, Jack had prepared, boiled, and poured a piping hot mug of coffee and was taking his first tentative sip. Coffee wasn’t something lagomorphs usually drank, their species usually having so much energy that giving them any amount of caffeine was the equivalent of giving any other mammal a large hit of cocaine. Yet Jack, forever having to be different, needed the coffee.
Jack remembered his first few years where he would struggle to keep his eyes open to watch TV, let alone pay attention at school. Eventually his parents took their perpetually sleepy kit to the doctors to see whether there was something preventing him from being as spritely as his siblings.
Though Jack was still tired at the time, he clearly remembered his worried mother and father looking as if they had been smacked across their faces as the coyote doctor prescribed their low energy kit some caffeine tablets. He also remembered the loud voices and speciest comments being flung at the patient canine, calling her a trickster and fraud, as they led the half awake Jack out in a huff.
After a few failed alternatives, most of them being vile herbal remedies that only made Jack feel as if he would lose his sense of taste, Jack swiped two of the illicit tablets his parents left in the medicine cabinet. Upon seeing their otherwise drained and droopy eared son bounding into the living room with all the energy of a firecracker, caffeine became an integral part of Jack’s life, though not before his parents returned to a certain coyote with bowed heads and tearful apologies which she gracefully accepted. While Jack now preferred a bitter mug of caffeinated deliciousness, he still kept a few tablets on him just in case he started to feel low, the same coyote dutifully keeping him supplied whenever he needed.
Feeling revitalised as he downed the last dregs of his coffee, Jack quickly returned to his bedroom and donned his usual work attire. Jack admired himself in his wardrobe mirror. Admittedly it was a standard look. Sleek black suit, white shirt and black tie, but Jack thought he pulled off the look pretty well.
“Heh, I almost look like a secret agent.” Jack chuckled at the thought, before grabbing his detective badge, his phone and keys from the bedside table before quickly heading out of his front door with a spring in his step.
After a crowded trip on the subway, Jack popped up at Precinct One in Savannah Central, bounding through the door and heading straight towards his office. Draping his jacket on the back of his chair, Jack sat himself down and booted up his computer.
While Jack had loved the atmosphere of the bullpen, in amongst his fellow officers, all readying for their assignments, Jack couldn’t deny that he preferred getting on with his own tasks and only being supervised as and when necessary. What he didn’t like however was the work he was being assigned.
Emails flooded his inbox sending him attachments, links, and instructions to complete mountains of digital and physical admin.
“Damn it,” Jack said, dragging his paws across his face. “I’m never going to finish this in a month of Sundays.”
Staring at the long list of emails, Jack resignedly clicked on the first one, silently praying that today was going to be a slow day.
Jack let his head thud against the table and he quietly groaned as the sound of yet another email hitting his inbox. No matter how quickly he completed his work, it always felt like another three admin cases fell into his lap. It wasn’t as if they were his cases either. In the two years he had been at Precinct One, Detective Jack Savage had been on precisely two cases, neither of which was he lead investigator on, or even much of an investigator. He’d pretty much been foisted upon the other detectives by DCI Longtooth so that he wouldn’t have Bogo breathing down his neck. So every once in a while Jack would be allowed a brief outing to show he was a valued part of the team before being shut back up doing everyone else’s admin. Well, that and being a part-time clock watcher.
Glancing over to the clock, Jack noticed that it had mercifully turned 12:30 to which Jack eagerly jumped out of his swivel chair, grabbed and donned his jacket, before making way over to the cafeteria.
Pushing through the large swing doors, Jack made a beeline to the counter. Grabbing a tray, Jack hopped up and filled his tray with a large dollop of carrot salad. With tray in paw, Jack made his way over to the smaller mammal section of the cafeteria. Despite now having a few more smaller mammals working with the ZPD, the smaller mammal section was still relegated to a corner of the room, a few tables directly in sight of the doors which suited Jack fine. Despite rabbits and hares being incredibly social creatures, Jack seemed to miss out on that trait as well, preferring to be alone and observe others. Despite his lack of sociability, Jack’s perceptive character had allowed him to work well as a detective, when he got the chance to. Right now though, it was only helping him mammal watch.
Seating himself down at the end of an empty table, Jack began to lazily munch at the carrot salad while regretting his lack of coffee, despite having drank a large mug not an hour before.
Two thuds across the table made the hare detective look up from his meal. A russet coloured fox and a grey rabbit, otherwise known as the famous Nick Wilde and Judy Hopps, had sat across from him on the other side of the table, a single bowl of salad placed in front of the two of them.
“Come on now Carrots,” Nick said, spearing a fork into the salad. “you know I’m right! Clawhauser so fancies Buffalo Butt.”
“And I’m telling you Nick,” Judy replied as she stabbed a load of salad with her own fork. “that you’re wrong. I saw him the other day with a lovely jaguar. They were holding paws and and everything! You just don’t know when to admit defeat Slick.”
“Oh contraire, my dear Fluff Ball. I’ll admit you saw Clawhauser out on a date with another mammal, but I still say that marshmallow’s heart still belongs to our one and only Chief Stick in the Mud.”
“And I still say you’re wrong.” Judy replied, taking a huge mouthful of her salad.
“Jeez Carrots, an Officer for how long and you still eat like a kit.”
“Do not!” came Judy’s garbled reply, lettuce leaves and carrot shavings sticking out her mouth.
“Oh yes, because a grown-up would totally do that Carrots.” Nick laughed as Judy swallowed her leafy mouthful. “If you’re gonna eat like a kit, I might as well feed you like one.”
“Don’t you even dare Nick Wilde!” Judy threatened, pointing her fork at him as if it were a deadly weapon.
Quickly disarming her and setting the weapon aside, Nick held his lettuce laden fork up to Judy’s face.
“Come on Carrots, here comes the aeroplane!” Nick said, making aeroplane noises as he moved the fork closer.
“If you think I’m going to degrade myself to that Nick you’ve got another thi-”
Judy’s protests were cut short by sudden laughter, Nick having moved his paw under her chin and began tickling her gently with his claws. Moving swiftly, Nick pushed the salad into the laughing lagomorph who, although shocked, chewed and swallowed her airborne meal.
“You’re so dead Wilde.” Judy half-threatened.
“So, you don’t want more then?” Nick asked coyly.
“Shut up and give me food you dumb fox.”
Jack, having stopped to watch this production play out in front of him, felt a pang in his heart. It had been a while since Jack had dated anyone though dating had always felt like a hassle to Jack. Being a bit of loner didn’t help his love life but it wasn’t as if he was against finding someone. He’d even catch himself daydreaming sometimes with a future with some delightful mammal in future.
With most of his siblings married or at least engaged, Jack was one of the last of the litter yet to find a mate. His worrying parents had set him up a few times with some lovely does and even a buck or two, but nothing ever came of it. Even after coming out as inter didn’t help things. All the mammals Jack went out with were usually funny, kind, attractive, intelligent mammals. Perfect partner material. Yet they had never flicked a switch in his head to go from friendship to something more. And so Jack remained alone but content.
Now though, looking at a pair of mammals that clearly had the switched flipped to the extent of being broke off while their careers were heading in the right direction, Jack couldn’t help but feel little despondent at his sad state of affairs.
“Excuse me.”
Looking up at the unexpected voice, Jack looked up to see who had managed to sneak past his enhanced hearing so effectively. Clad in dark blue, oil stained dungarees with a turquoise shirt underneath, stood a breathtakingly beautiful vixen. Her pristine white fur stood in stark contrast to her messy attire, but she radiated elegance as if it were her natural scent. Her sapphire eyes were deep and full of understanding, as if she could see into his very being and pluck out his entire meaning from within him. Looking lower, Jack saw that her mouth was moving.
“Wait, is she talking to me? Why is she talking to me? No-one talks to me unless they have to!” Jack’s mind raged against himself. The vixen’s mouth stopped moving with not a word of it going into Jack’s mind.
“Erm, sorry, could you repeat that?” Jack said sheepishly, mentally slapping himself for not paying attention.
“May I sit with you?” the vixen repeated sonorously.
“Yes of course.” Jack said nervously as the beautiful vixen smiled at him.
The beautiful vixen sat down next to him, her elegant white tail swaying back and forth hypnotically, Jack’s eyes taking quick peeks at sensual fluffiness.
“Adorable, isn’t it?”
“Huh?!” Jack blurted, his eyes shooting back up, his cheeks turning a deep crimson at the thought of being caught peeping at her tail.
“Those two, the fox and that bunny sitting over there. They look so happy.” The vixen said in a sweet soothing tone that made a shiver run up Jack’s spine.
Looking back over, the red fox was making aeroplane noises as he fed the giggling bunny a forkful of their shared salad. In quick succession, Jack felt a wave of relief at not being caught, another pang of jealousy towards the couple across the table, and a huge dollop of anxiety as the vixen waited for his answer while her mesmerising sapphire eyes looked down at him.
“Erm, yeah, they seem… comfortable… together.” He muttered nervously, suddenly finding his cold carrot salad incredibly interesting as made a show of stabbing at it.
The vixen could sense something different about this rabbit but she couldn’t put her paw on what it was.
“Comfortable? More like playfully in love.” The vixen pointed out with a sweet giggle, looking back at Jack whose heart had now skipped a beat.
“Yes… playfully in love” he replied, trying not to stare at this vixen he had only known for a minute.
As the vixen tore into her turkey sandwich, Jack was still watching the red fox and the euro bunny across the table, thinking about how he much he wanted something like that.
His melancholy thoughts were interrupted by loud, yet satisfied, moan emanating directly beside him. Glancing back at the still nameless vixen, his eyes went wide as her as her sharp, predatory fangs sunk back into the turkey sandwich, giving another happy hum as the she swallowed the poultry’s flesh. Almost in slow motion, she licked her lips, revealing her pearly whites. Despite have grown up in Zootopia, brushing shoulders, or rather knees, with all types of predators, seeing this vixen’s teeth up close and personal set off all his alarms. His primal instincts screamed at him to make a break for the door before he joined the turkey as her next meal. Yet, he remained glued to his seat, transfixed by her teeth. Those deadly, threatening, murderous… exciting… beautiful… sensual… sexy teeth.
All thoughts of the couple across the table vanished into the ether, the world not existing for but himself and the arctic fox sitting so close to him. Jack suddenly felt as if he was burning up. He could swear steam was rising from his ears, his cheeks as hot as furnaces. And when the vixen looked over to him, flashing him a wide smile, all her fascinating fangs on full display, Jack was using every ounce of self-restraint to not launch off the chair like a rocket, powered by sheer embarrassment and lustful need.
Nervous and enchanted all at once, Jack started thinking about how he would keep the conversation alive between him and the goddess with fangs white as pearls and yet sharp as knives. He knew he had to say something but what? Then it hit him.
“A compliment.” he thought to himself.
He glanced back up in a flash to a glimmering smile.
“I don’t know what’s whiter: your smile or your coat.” he blurted out, immediately regretting what he had just let out of his trap.
To his surprise however instead of a scoff, he heard a cute giggle from a blushing vixen whose tail was now swaying elegantly.
“I bet you say that to all the arctic foxes.” the vixen said with a coquettish grin, turning the hare such a deep shade of scarlet he could have passed for a rabbit shaped strawberry. She was enjoying the flustered bunny’s shocked look, drinking in every second, before he turned and directed all his energy to devouring his carrot salad that would even put a wolf off his meal.
“Aww… such a shy sweetie.” the vixen thought, taking in the still beet red buck. Through the expensive looking form fitting jacket and suit trousers, the vixen could see the power within him. His clothes hugging his muscles in a way that sent a jolt through her being. His grey fur, marked with those black stripes across his head and ears only served to define his chiselled features. Her eyes drifted down to his cottontail, perked up and twitching slightly, her mind only just restraining her from running her claws through the alluring soft tuft of fluff. Then his scent which, though she knew rabbit’s scents to be more subdued then a fox’s musk, he radiated something… powerful. Breathing it in like a divine fragrance, causing another hit of heat coursed through her being, the vixen shook her head quickly, freeing her head of some not so innocuous thoughts.
“So, it seems we’ve not introduced ourselves,” the vixen began, extending a paw. “I’m Skye Frost, resident ZPD mechanic. Nice to meet you.”
Jack wiped his mouth with a napkin that came in the plastic silverware package then, dusting off his paws, shook the vixen’s right paw with a firm grasp.
“How rude of me,” Jack said, embarrassed at forgetting his manners. “Detective Jack Oliver Savage and it’s an absolute pleasure to meet you Ms. Frost.” he said with a grin starting into her royal blue eyes, his heart beating as fast as a humming bird’s wings.
“The pleasure is all mine.” Skye replied, flattering her hare companion.
“Please Ms. Frost, forgive me for saying this, but you don’t really a lot of foxes working as mechanics.” Jack said cautiously, not wanting to offend the angelic fox. Slightly bewildered, Skye didn’t know what to think as all she could think of is how strong of a handshake he had and how flattering he was.
“Oh, don’t worry Mr. Savage, that’s only you and everyone else.” she chuckled, looking back into Jack’s turquoise eyes.
She had to give it to the hare though, as Skye was a little more than mildly surprised that he was taking her pawshake in his stride, not even remotely flinching, making Skye grin a little.
Working as a mechanic on all manner and sized of vehicles, as well as keeping herself in top shape through use of the ZPD gym, Skye had more strength than mammals gave her credit for. Usually some mammal would saunter over to her, all swagger and bravado, and throw some cliché line that would make her cringe so much that it almost caused internal bleeding. But she would turn around, greet then so sweetly, then shake their paw. She didn’t even need to exert much pressure before the would-be suitor was trying to hide the pain behind their shocked and pained eyes. They’d all give her some saccharine pleasantry through gritted teeth, before skulking off, tail between their legs, nursing their wounded pride and bruised paw.
Now though, even as she squeezed a little more than usual, the hare didn’t even seem perturbed in the slightest, his smile resting easy on his muzzle. “Clearly that muscle isn’t just for show.” Skye thought, a hot flash fluttering in her chest.
“I hope you don’t take this the wrong way either, but you don’t exactly look like the usual brand of detective.” Skye commented, releasing his paw.
“Please call me Jack and no worries. Believe it or not it’s actually an advantage being a rabbit detective. Trust me when I say… you would be surprised.” He replied with a sly grin gazing into her azure gems for eyes. Skye’s heart fluttered hearing that last sentence and she could feel herself on the brink of losing her composure as she gazed back at Jack.
Just as Skye was thinking about her next move her watch began to beep. Jack watched her as she tried to shut the annoying beeping up, pushing its buttons frantically before the incessant beeping was halted.
“Well I would love to continue this conversation but, I’ve got to get back to work. Unit 206 needs a new transfer box and I’ve got to have the old one out by the end of the day or I’ll never get home.” Skye explained as she got up from the table.
Trying to look as he knew what a transfer box was, Jack nodded as Skye stood up, popping the last bite of the turkey sandwich into her paw, swallowing it with a delighted moan.
“I guess I’ll see you round Sherlock.” Skye said with a playful grin, before turning to walk away, giving a frisky flick of the tail that she knew would get Jack’s ear all hot and bothered.
The hare’s eyes lingered on her tail for a moment, before drinking all of her form in as she sauntered towards the door, stopping and giving a little smirk before she left, leaving him with flushed cheeks and a pounding heart.
Jack’s gaze lingered on the closed door, feeling a little empty now she was gone. But the recent memory still played in his mind. Her confidence, her charm, her strength, her undeniable beauty. Jack sat there, letting the brief moment they sat together replay in his mind.
“Hey.” came a familiar sly tone.
Startled from his thoughts, the detective looked across the tabled to find the bunny and fox beaming back over to him, the same sly, knowing look plastered across their faces.
“Oh erm… how’s it going Wilde?”
“Fine…” Nick replied in a sing-song tone. “Say Stripes, I gotta ask, did you get a look at that vixen?” Jack’s mind couldn’t help but lose itself immediately to the hypnotic memory of Skye as soon as she was mentioned. For the first time in his life he felt something… different. Yet, for all the words in the word, none of them could help him fully explain it.
He shook his head, snapping himself out of his reverie.
“Yes. Of course I did Wilde. How could I not?” he said, motioning his paws towards the shut door. Nick let out a laugh, already enjoying how easy it was to mess with Jack’s emotions.
“I know you did but, did you notice anything in particular? Like oh, I don’t know, that maybe the fact that she likes you?” he said with a sly grin, making Jacks check recolour themselves crimson.
Jack’s heart began to pound like a jackhammer in his chest. The slightest thought that that Goddess with pearl white fangs and snow-white fur had a crush on him sending him into love-struck reverie.
“You should go talk to her maybe ask her out! Ya know, like, for coffee. That’s what I did with Judy.” Nick suggested, already playing cupid on his theory that the striped rabbit had a crush on the vixen.
“C’mon Nick, leave the guy alone. We just got a call so we gotta go!” Judy urged, already out of her seat and raring to get going.
“Well Stripes I gotta get moving or Carrots will drag me with her by the tie. See ya later and don’t worry, maybe she won’t bite.” Nick said with a wink, hopping off the chair and making his way over to his beautiful bunny. But just as the couple had made their way halfway across the cafeteria, Judy suddenly doubled back, heading straight towards the hare.
“Don’t worry Jack,” Judy said, giving her fellow lagomorph a friendly punch on the arm. “Nick may not be everyone’s cup of tea but, on this stuff, he’s generally never wrong. Besides, the way I heard her heart pounding, I’m pretty sure whatever you’re feeling, it’s very, very mutual.”
With a smile, Judy dashed back over to her partner, the fox and bunny trading quips and jibes as the canteen door’s closed, leaving the lonely hare with a head full of thoughts and ears burning like a gas fire.
After a couple minutes of mulling over the idea of asking the most beautiful mammal he’d ever had the pleasure to meet out for a cup of coffee, Jack finally made up his mind.
“I’m going to do it. I’m gonna see if she’s really interested. I wonder is she a mocha or an espresso kind of gal… or maybe just a strong cup of dark roast?” He wondered to himself, finally getting up from the table, dumping his rubbish in the bin, and making his way out of the cafeteria.
The rest of the day went by in a blur of paperwork, meetings, and innocuous, boring conversations with mammals that Jack had a hard time remembering the moment they left. His thoughts were still completely wrapped up in the burning white-hot light that was Skye Frost.
Individual images of her flitted through his mind. Her piercing blue eyes. Her wonderfully inviting smile, with those menacing yet marvellous teeth. Her ears that twitched a little when he gave her a compliment. Her paws with those wonderfully curious pads and intriguing claws. Her majestic, pure white fur, with that tail of hers that sparked thoughts that ranged from vaguely immodest to borderline pornographic. The memory of his half-baked excuses to his colleagues, concerned about his reddened face and ears, still made him cringe to think of them but even that could not stop his mind wandering back to that heavenly fox.
Finishing up the last of his paperwork Jack turned off his computer and left his cubicle, once again being one of the last to leave the building. Heading over to the locker rooms, Jack glumly thought at what lay ahead of him. Wandering back to his pokey apartment, vegging out on the sofa while lazily stuffing his face with a subpar takeaway meal yet again before crawling into bed and letting another day come where, yet again, he would be passed over for true detective work and shoved back into his pokey cubicle for another day’s drudgery.
Sure, Hopps had proved herself and, along with Wilde, were given proper cases to deal with. However, the same courtesy seemed to have passed Jack by when they were doling out assignments. He remembered back to his graduation when he had been assigned to Deerbrooke County. Although a little disappointed to be put in the country and not Zootopia itself, it had its charms and he hadn’t minded the couple of years he spent out there with his little house, fresh air, and friendly townsfolk, yet his true calling was back in Zootopia.
Although it was a hell of a lot quieter than Zootopia, he’d made a name for himself as an efficient and energetic detective, always willing to go the extra mile to solve a particular case which may have resulted in promotions being handed out like candy and him hitting detective rank while others were still waiting to be made Sergeant. It may have been because that cases in Deerbrooke were about as common as a month of Sundays but, when he got the documents through reassigning him to Precinct One in Zootopia, he had thought his talents were finally being recognised. Guess reality had other ideas for him, with his fuzzy butt still sat behind a desk, going through case files and other miscellaneous office admin for over two months. Still, Nick and Judy had made him welcome, even if they were always busy making the world a better place.
But at least there was that vixen now…
Shaking the lewder thoughts from his mind and rising blush in his cheeks, Jack hopped up and grabbed the locker room door handle. Just as he was about to open it though, the hare heard a loud crash, followed by a lot of annoyed grunts and swears, emanating from the garage. Curious, Jack hopped down and plodded off towards the kerfuffle, keen to investigate something, even if it was just Nick and Judy getting up to late night antics… again.
As Jack reached the door to the garage he heard a loud metallic clang followed by annoyed growl. Jack opened the door just enough to see a police SUV up on a lift, air hoses draped over the arms of the lift.
Then he saw her, dressed in blue overalls with a sky-blue t-shirt underneath. It was her. It was… Skye.
She was underneath the SUV making all sorts of noises with her tools usually followed by a hate filled growl. His curiosity peeked, Jack let himself in slowly and quietly closing the door behind him. As he began to observe the goddess with fangs remove bolt after bolt from beneath the 4x4. Jack wanted to get a closer look at her working, using her strong arms to break the bolts loose where her pneumatic tools were useless, Jack began to slowly make his way over to her, carefully trying not to disturb her. As Jack got closer though he let his mind wander thinking about her.
“Strength and beauty has never looked so good.” Jack thought to himself watching her work. But as he was daydreaming Jack broke his number one rule: never lose focus on the task at hand.
Without thinking Jack accidentally knocked over a small metal trash bin full of old oil rags, with it hitting the floor with a loud thunk and spilling the used rags all over the shop floor, which caught the attention of a certain vixen. Jack tried to pick them up before the tall snow-white mechanic could notice, but it was too late.
“You know, I don’t mind that you were spying on me, but knocking over a bin of oily rags that I do.” She said in an irritated tone as she stood in front of Jack looking down at him with those now icy blue eyes.
Busted, Jack knew he had to think of a quick response to get back on the vixen’s good side.
“I’m sorry I um… I was walking by and I heard a loud noise and a loud growl. I thought you might had hurt yourself.” He replied nervously.
Looking at him, Skye felt confused. On one paw, she was ticked that someone entered her shop after hours without her knowing. On the other she was flattered that her once silent observer cared enough to come check if she was okay.
“Well thanks for looking out for me but I need to get back to work, this damn thing is the only reason I’m not at home having warm bath and a glass of wine.” Skye moaned, gesturing tiredly to the 4x4 behind her.
Jack sighed, feeling guilty about what he’d done. He got the gist from the vixen that she was not in the mood for a chat and instead got set cleaning up the mess he’d caused. Soon Jack finished picking up last of the spilled rags and wiped up all the traces of oil on the polished floor. Skye had returned to her place trying to remove the stubborn bolt from the 4x4. He couldn’t help but wonder what was holding her up from going home. Naturally Jack felt a need to help and maybe get the chance to ask her out.
“Hey uh… Skye?” he asked nervously.
Sighing at being interrupted again, Skye looked down at the hare in front of her.
“Yes, umm…”
“Jack. My name’s Jack.” he replied, a little perturbed by the fact she forgot his name.
“Right Jack, forgive me I’m terrible with names.” she responded holding a socket ratchet with a long extension in her right grease stained paw.
“Well… do you need a paw?” Jack asked, gesturing to the stubborn bolt.
“No, I…” Skye halted her response after gazing at Jack for just a moment. She realized that he had small enough paws and build to get into the area her own paws couldn’t reach. Even with her array of tools she couldn’t the most stubborn inaccessible bolt loose from its hole.
“Yes… would you give me a paw?” She inquired, smiling down at the grey hare.
Jack couldn’t help but become weak at the knees seeing those brilliant white fangs again. He blinked his eyes and shook his head.
“Sure, how may I assist in you getting home for your warm bath?” he said with a sly grin, cocking an eyebrow suggestively.
Skye let out a giggle.
“Could you help me get that last bolt loose. My partners in crime is usually here to help me with stuff like this, but she’s off sick and he’s off on vacation so I’ve been shorthanded for the week.”
“Sure, where’s the bolt?”
“Top right-hand corner, it’s the only one left on the top joining the transfer box to the gearbox. I’d get it myself but the way its mounted up and with that fixed cross-member in the way I can’t get to it.” She explained, elaborating on the 4WD’s over engineered frame.
Jack looked up at her and then to 4WD. Confused to how he was supposed to get up that high.
Skye handed him the socket ratchet.
“Well you have the ratchet go on.” she insisted.
Jack laughed. “What do you think I’m going to jump up there?”
“Well you are a bunny I thought that’s what you do, right?” she asked with a grin showing just a flash of her fangs.
“Well yeah but…”
Before Jack could respond Skye quickly reached down and grabbed him then put him on top of her shoulders.
“Hey whoa! what are you doing?” He said, surprised by the vixen’s quick action.
“Giving you a lift.” she replied in a matter of fact way.
“Don’t you would have a ladder or something?” Jack asked, steadying himself on her soft shoulders.
“Nope. Now look straight ahead… do you see that green dot?” She said describing the color coded bolt head.
Not knowing what he was looking at he searched for the green dot and after a few seconds spotted it in an unusually tight to reach area.
“Found it!” Jack happily exclaimed.
Jack had some knowledge of mechanics but not much. As he worked his way up into the small space to access the stubborn bolt Skye was looking up at him working his strong arms breaking the bolt loose.
“Okay, stop. Don’t loosen it anymore just hang out on to the cross-member while I get the sky jack to lower it down.”
Jack noticed her looking at him he thought this might be another chance to impress.
“Take your time I could hang out here all night.” He said happily, hanging like a sloth from the cross-member.
Skye quickly rolled the tall jack under the transfer box to support it the put Jack back on her shoulders.
“Alright go ahead take the bolt out.” Skye said, holding the transfer box to support it.
“Right.” Jack responded.
Jack gave the bolt a couple of turns and out it came.
Skye held on to the chunk of aluminium as she wheeled it out from under the SUV with Jack still on her shoulders to her work bench, sliding it onto the table and letting out a sigh of relief.
“Thank heavens that’s done. Now I can go home!” she exclaimed.
“This is it,” Jack thought to himself “this is when I should ask her.”
“Before you go I have two questions.” Jack asked quickly, lest he lose the moment.
“Go for it Stripes.” she stated, looking up at the dapper rabbit still on her shoulders.
“First: could you put me down?” Jack said, starting to feel a little flustered again as her soft fur brushed against him.
“Oh, sure!” Skye replied, a little embarrassed she forgot to put him down, grabbing him off her shoulders and setting Jack back down on his own feet, blushing as she did so.
“And the second one?” she asked feeling anxious about the next question not knowing what the handsome stud had to ask.
“Do you want to maybe… go out for a coffee or maybe a drink tomorrow night after work, seeing as it’s Friday tomorrow?” Jack said, hoping it sounded as cool as it did in his head.
Her eyes bulged for a second, before a small smirk pulled at the corners of her lips. Jack, clearly trying to play it all suave and sophisticated, as if he were some sort of secret agent, looked anything but. His nose was twitching nervously, his eyes laced with an earnest and hopeful gleam, his ears quickly turning from a slightly embarrassed pink blush to the deepest beet red.
“Such a nervous Nellie.” Skye thought, repressing a chuckle at the unarguably cute spectacle before her.
“Sure, sounds like fun.” Skye said, the smirk effortlessly transitioning to an easy smile.
A look of complete and utter astonishment raced across his face. All his nervous movements halted to be replaced by a jaw hanging open, eyes that were nearly bulging out of their sockets, a nose that had halted cutely mid-twitch, his previous blushing ears now stood firmly at attention. With the dazed look he was giving her, it didn’t take a genius to figure out that the million mile an hour thoughts Jack was having had come to such an almighty halt that it crashed his entire thought process. A mental blue screen of death.
Letting the lagomorph quickly reboot himself, he coughed and smoothed down his ears, trying unsuccessfully to appear more relaxed than he clearly was.
“Aweso- I mean yeah, yeah, that’s er, that’s cool. So d’you er, d’you want me to, you know, pi… pick you up after your shift if, if you want. I mean if you’re busy or whatever that’s fine, I can just-…”
“I get off shift about one tomorrow,” Skye interjected, saving Jack from his awkward fumbling. “Got a half day anyway. Even us mechanics have to take a break every now and again. You get off at five but, looking at the way you work, I’m betting that’s more like six, seven-ish isn’t it? So how about I pick you up after work?”
“Yeah, sounds… sounds good.” Jack murmured, looking as if his brain still wasn’t quite registering that this was actually happening.
“Oh, hang on a sec.”
Quickly turning on her heel, Skye sped off to a door on the far side of the garage, leaving Jack alone in the darkened room, still trying to come to grips with everything that was happening, his mind still only working at fifty-five percent capacity.
“She… she said yes.” The thought becoming more solid and and unbelievably real in his mind. “She said yes. She wants to go for a drink with me. Me? Really? The glorified admin worker? The hare holding onto the idea of being an actual detective again by a hair’s breadth? Me? This has got to be a joke. Someone’s got to be recording this for Ewetube or something. Or one of those prank shows. Oh God, she’s going to come out there with a camera crew, isn’t she? This all a big set-up! I knew it was too good to be true! I bloody kn-”
Skye suddenly reappeared from the door, walking now at a calmer pace than the near sprint she left him, hips slightly sashaying, tail wagging slightly, she gently sauntered across the otherwise empty repair space.
Stopping in front of him, smiling as sweetly as ever, Jack was about to call her out on her elaborate ruse, wishing for this cruel joke to be over with, when he suddenly noticed the small black device in her paw.
“Sorry about that, so can you just give me your number? I’ve got a memory like a sieve so unless I put it down now I’ll never remember it.”
“You… you want my number?” Jack asked, almost incredulously.
“Well duh!” Skye commented, as if stating the obvious. “How else am I going to call this buck to tell him to get out of his cubicle and get ready!”
“Uh, sure.”
Jack pulled his phone out of his pocket and read out his number to Skye, with Skye reading it back to make sure it was right, with only one number needing to be changed.
“Okay and… done!” Skye proclaimed, hitting the save contact button with a theatrical flourish. “I’ll text you to make sure it’s right, okay?”
“Erm, yeah sure.” Jack said, still unsure whether the cameras were still rolling.
“Cool! Guess I’ll see you tomorrow then.”
And before Jack could say anymore Skye quickly turned and headed back to the room she been in before, Jack’s eyes drawn to her freely swinging tail before the door closed behind her.
He wasn’t sure when he had left the garage, gone to the locker rooms and changed, but by the time he had come out of autopilot mode, he was out already standing outside the revolving doors of the ZPD.
“That… that happened… right?” Jack thought.
As if to punctuate his thoughts, a sharp ping rang out from his phone. Pulling it out he saw he had one text from an unknown number. He quickly opened it, still not quite believing it could be from her.
Hey, it’s Skye. Was beginning to think you’d never ask. See you tomorrow sweetie. :)
“She… she’s looking forward to tomorrow.” Jack thought. “It wasn’t a set-up. She wants to see me. She wants to see me tomorrow. She wanted me to ask her. She called me sweetie! SHE CALLED ME SWEETIE!”
A few noise complaints were put in that night, several mammals all complaining about a mad hare bouncing all over the place, as if someone had poured an entire vat of coffee down his throat, yelling at the top of his tiny lungs. When asked what he was yelling, they all replied the same thing.
“SHE CALLED ME SWEETIE!!!”
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