Chapter Text
The case was closed. Gary and his family were finally living peacefully in the Reptile District.
He threw a party with pawsicles, Nibbles, some officers, Nick, Judy, and most of her family. The district was now lively and full of happy reptiles.
Everything was completely perfect. Even the weather cooperated: a big sun was shining high in the sky when Judy arrived at the police station the morning after Gary’s party.
When she got there, Nick was obviously not there yet. She was getting used to it, to be honest.
Nick indeed woke up at 9 a.m., which was basically the time he was supposed to leave for work. So he arrived at the station peacefully at 9:28 a.m. Judy spotted him from across the lobby and walked over to shove a stack of papers into his arms before proceeding to pull him by his tie toward the meeting room.
“You’re getting later every time. What’s your deal? Chief Bogo is going to start the briefing in two minutes!” Judy said while throwing her empty coffee cup in the trash can.
“I’ll have you know that A) last week was exhausting, and B) foxes need sleep. We are nocturnal animals,” he answered, watching her speed up as she dragged him along.
They reached the meeting room and stopped just outside the door.
“Still, you’re a police officer. This is part of your job!” she whispered, careful not to disturb the chief, who was clearly having a phone call in the room next to them.
“Carrots, relax. The Chief didn’t even notice I was late,” Nick replied with a smirk, his hands tucked in his pockets.
She answered only with a doubtful pout.
Nick clapped his hands together and continued, “Now, with those long ears of yours, could you listen to Chief Buffalo’s conversation and—only if it’s none of my business of course—tell me everything? Because I would—ouch! No need to punch that hard!”
Judy rolled her eyes just as Chief Bogo opened the door.
“Everyone, come on in,” he announced, standing by the door while the officers entered the room.
They all sat down, Judy and Nick sharing the same chair since those were ridiculously huge. The Zebras were in the back making noise, Wolford and Hoggbottom were arm wrestling while being cheered on by half of the officers in the room, until the Chief clapped his hands once to get some silence.
“Silence! Silence!... Okay, that’s better. Now, assignments for the day. I’m warning you, it won’t be as interesting as last week’s government secret revelation!” the Chief said rather unnecessarily loudly.
“So, Fangmeyer and Hoggbottom, Sahara Square District. A lady called about loud noises above her apartment this morning. The Zebras—there’s a polar bear in Tundratown who was an important witness in a robbery case last week. Wolford and Delgato, you’ll do some infiltration to bust a hustler selling cheap fake movies near the train station.”
The officers whose names had been called started moving out of the room, yawning and already preparing themselves for a not-so-exciting day.
“And to end this very long list: Hopps and Wilde. You’ll both go to the Rainforest District to check some so-called ‘suspicious’ marks on the wall of an old tiger’s house. Good day.”
He finished and exited the room quickly, waving his clipboard at them.
“Well, that really doesn’t sound like the kind of assignment I became a cop for,” Nick said, stretching his arms upward and getting off the chair.
“Yeah, well, those marks could still be something more. So let’s move,” Judy responded, hopping off the chair to follow him.
They started walking down the hallway toward the lobby.
“Well, don’t we have an optimistic Carrots today. Love the spirit,” he said playfully, glancing at her sideways.
She opened her mouth to answer something teasing, but before she could, Clawhauser called them from his desk to offer some donuts.
Finally, a good thing, Nick thought.
By the time they reached the Rainforest District, it was 11:12 a.m. Nick had started to doze off in the car but got woken up several times thanks to his partner’s awful driving and the loud Gazelle song blasting from the radio.
He strongly suspected she was doing all of this on purpose. Something about her too-smug smirk kind of gave her away.
She parked somewhat chaotically near the tiger’s house and they got out of the car.
“You really should stop driving. Permanently,” Nick offered, grumpy and a little nauseous.
“But then you’d have to drive us everywhere, and I’m pretty sure I’d rather die,” she answered with a teasing smile.
He grumbled something under his breath while she knocked on the door.
~
By 3:28 p.m. they were back in the car with empty stomachs, Clawhauser’s donuts long forgotten.
The tiger had talked a lot. About approximately everything.
All it took was a few questions before he realized on his own that the marks were made by his grandson, who came every Sunday, was named Clark, and whose favorite color was green—like the forest. Isn’t that funny?
He really talked a lot.
They were exhausted, the rainforest weather not helping. Judy started driving again, but this time Nick didn’t doze off. He simply stared out the window, dreaming about food.
“When we finish all the paperwork… want to grab something to eat?” Judy’s voice cut through the silence.
“You read my mind,” he answered, impressed.
She grinned proudly at him.
They spent the next thirty minutes arguing about what to eat: Japanese or Chinese.
When they arrived at the station, every other officer was already back and looking just as disappointed about their assignments as they were.
Nick got to his desk next to Judy’s and sat there, staring into nothingness.
“Hey, I’m getting some coffee. Do you want some?” Judy asked.
“Please,” he answered.
His eyes moved down to the one and only picture on his desk: a picture of the two of them after the Nighthowler case.
He liked that picture.
First of all because he looked pretty handsome in it—obviously. And second of all because of, well her.
She looked insanely proud and happy in that photo, her lavender eyes sparkling with something uniquely hers.
Seeing it made him happy in a way he knew wasn’t completely normal for partners and friends.
Though he had known he was screwed about this since the very first second he saw her. And since the reptile case—the big, deep, heart-opening conversation they had—it had only gotten worse.
He just wasn’t sure what to do about it, and had decided long ago that denial seemed like a great short-term option.
“Here!” Judy said from behind him, putting a full paper cup on his desk.
He jumped rather dramatically.
“Nick! You haven’t started the paperwork?!” she added louder than necessary.
“Relax, Carrots. I’m starting right away. And you’d better start too if you want to eat that Chinese food afterward,” he answered, rolling his eyes while turning his computer on.
“Japanese,” she replied flatly.
“No, no, Carrots. Chinese.”
“Japanese.”
“Chinese.”
“Japane— Nick! Just start working. We’ll sort this out after!”
“Fine, fine.”
~
“Ugh, I’m exhausted!” he said as they walked out of the station two hours later.
“I did all the work, in case you forgot,” she replied, eyeing him suspiciously.
They took the tram toward a place to eat. Judy had won: they were going for Japanese.
He had actually just argued to be annoying. How endearing.
She looked so happy about eating Japanese—and about winning the argument—that he was starting to be happy too.
Probably some friendship thing, right?
~
She got home pretty late, considering he had to eat half the restaurant very slowly. She hung her coat and checked her phone.
Besides the twelve messages from Nick—either stupid videos or awful pictures he had taken of her—she had missed a few calls from her parents.
She was really, really tired and just wanted to sleep. But if she didn’t call them back, they would probably take the first train to Zootopia. Or worse: call Nick.
She hit the “call” button.
“Honey, finally! Were you busy? Are you okay? Don’t work too much!” Bonnie said the second they answered.
“Yeah, working too much will just make you tired, and then who knows what could happen?” Stu added in a very wise voice.
Judy sighed.
When the phone call ended she was even more tired than before—who knows what could happen now—and she had two tickets for the Carrot Festival in Bunnyburrow. For her and Nick.
She really wasn’t in any rush to tell him that.
But her parents liked him and would be sad if they didn’t show up for the “greatest day of the year.”
He had been to Bunnyburrow before. After the Nighthowler case they had visited her parents for the Great Blueberry Day, so obviously he had been thrilled.
Bunnyburrow really did have special days for a lot of fruits and vegetables.
She showered, put on her comfy carrot pajamas, and fell flat onto her bed.
She somehow managed to turn the light off before falling asleep.
~
Nick got to his apartment later. He had visited Finnick after dinner.
Nothing new in the little yellow fox’s life: some hustles here, some hustles there.
Thankfully, the elephant gym upstairs was closed at night.
He showered, put some boxers on, and went to watch TV until he fell asleep.
What a plan.
Unfortunately, he wasn’t tired at all. It was around 2 a.m. when he realized how much time had passed. He finally went to bed since the TV apparently wasn’t helping tonight.
He saw a message from “Carrots” sent three hours ago talking about some Carrot Day in Bunnyburrow.
He huffed a laugh and decided he would make fun of her tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow, and probably all week.
For now, he’d just send her all kinds of stupid videos he found on EweTube.
~
“Sorry… on our last case there was kind of a twist…”
“I know.”
Judy woke up in a panic state, breathing hard, her heart pounding painfully.
She sat up in her bed and stared into nothingness for about a minute.
The same nightmare, almost every night since the reptile case.
She got poisoned. Gary gave her a shot of antivenom, but she didn’t climb fast enough.
Either Nick got poisoned or he fell and never came back up like Pawbert did, just lying unmoving in the snow.
Every time it was her fault.
Every time she was just too late.
Because she had wanted so desperately to save the world that she forgot to save the person who mattered most in it.
She had been so wrong to act like that.
She apologized. He said it was fine.
But she still felt guilty.
She had been a bad partner. And a bad friend.
She got up to drink some water and splash her face. Her carrot pajamas were soaked with sweat.
She sighed and changed into a simple tank top and shorts.
Her phone lit up.
Nick.
At 3 a.m.?
She opened the conversation only to see about a hundred stupid videos he had sent her. The latest one was titled:
“A goat gets hit in the private parts by a tiny otter.”
She rolled her eyes and answered.
Carrot — 3:02
I’m not watching that.
She put her phone back on the nightstand and closed her eyes when a loud PING echoed in the room.
Fluff — 3:04
What are you doing up this late? Are you sick or something?
Carrot — 3:04
Maybe I’m just a cool rebel.
Fluff — 3:05
Yeah right, and I’m ugly and stupid.
Seriously, isn’t 3 a.m. a bit past your bedtime?
She hesitated, then started typing.
Carrot — 3:06
Just had a bad dream. Reptile case related.
Carrot — 3:06
Nothing big though.
He typed for a long time then finally answered.
Fluff — 3:08
I have those too sometimes.
Carrot — 3:08
YOU have bad dreams?
The great Nicholas Wilde somehow gets weak at night?
Fluff — 3:09
Har-har.
A tip to fall asleep: start counting carrots.
Carrot — 3:09
Funny. Goodnight to you too, Slick.
He typed… stopped… started again… paused.
Fluff — 3:11
Hope you don’t have any other nightmares.
See you tomorrow.
She stared at the message long enough to understand it wouldn’t change.
Nick was genuinely being nice.
He must have hit his head.
Still it felt good.
Anyway.
~
After this exchange Nick turned his phone off and lay down, staring at the ceiling.
He had a lot of those nightmares.
Judy dies.
He dies.
Everybody dies.
And it’s his fault for not following her completely into the case.
He hated seeing Judy die every night.
And he hated even more that she was probably having similar dreams.
Hey, that’s probably why I’ve been avoiding sleep lately, he realized.
Wow. Who needs a therapy animal when you can just discover your problems alone?
Maybe to fix them, idiot, he thought.
He didn’t realize he had fallen asleep until his phone rang at 8:30 to wake him up.
He turned it off with a groan and sat on the edge of his bed, feeling heavy, like he hadn’t slept at all.
What a great day full of possible unwanted surprises ahead.