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“UNHAND ME YOU FOOLS!” Bellwether shrieked. A pair of kangaroos handcuffed her and shoved her into the back of a police car.
OIPD, the vehicle read. Bellwether banged her fluffy head against the window as she screamed bloody murder at Nick and Judy, who stared at her smugly from the outside.
The OIPD officers gave the fox and rabbit awkward smiles.
“I have never seen a sheep filled with so much rage,” one of them said.
“Don’t worry, she’s all bark and no bite. Without anyone thrice her size to do her dirty work for her, she can’t even harm a fly.” Judy said, waving off Bellwether’s empty threats. “Just have her transferred to Sahara Square. Any future correspondence that may be needed can be handled by Clawhauser. Our chief is still recovering from his snake bite.”
The kangaroos gave Judy a nod, then got into the car and drove off.
Nick, who had been standing behind and letting Judy do most of the heavy lifting and talking, stepped forward and looped his arm around her waist, pulling her back.
“Alright carrots, we did our civic duties for the day. Now that we’re off the clock, it’s time to hit the dock.” He inclined his head towards the ocean that could be seen in the distance. The setting sun left the sky drenched in a warm orange that cast a surreal glow over the waters. It was a beautiful sight.
Judy turned to look at Nick, scowling when she saw he was still wearing those stupid pink glasses and mustache.
“Take that off, we don’t have to hide ourselves anymore.”
Nick snorted, tossing the accessories into his bag as they walked over.
Tern-t Up Beach, the sign to the beach read, with a few of the punny namesakes sitting on top and pecking at the wood.
“Two pina koalas please but hold the pina.” Nick said as he placed his arms beneath his head while laying on a lounging chair.
The koala who was taking his order was entirely unamused.
“It was a joke, what’s with the grimace?” Nick asked. The koala scribbled their orders down wordlessly and walked away.
“Geez, tough crowd.” Nick huffed, turning to his partner curiously. Her beautiful purple eyes were glued to her phone, furiously scrolling down her feed. “Hey, what are you doing?”
Judy glanced at him for a split second before turning back to her phone, scrolling just a tad slower in a feeble attempt to seem less suspicious.
Nick leaned over, his head nearly touching hers as he took a not-so-subtle peek at her screen. She was refreshing the webpage for ZNN.
“Seriously, carrots?” Nick whined, “I said we’re off the clock!”
“A policeman’s work is never finished,” Judy replied stubbornly, “Thanks to your stunt at the county jail, our colleagues are working overtime to catch all the inmates who escaped. We did well catching Bellwether, but there are other dangerous criminals who are eager to wreak havoc on the city. We can’t dilly dally. I booked our return flights for tomorrow morning. We fly back to Zootopia at 6am sharp. Which means we’ll need to be at the airport at 3am sharp!”
Nick’s eyes widened.
“You… what!? Judy! Are you serious? This is supposed to be our vacation! I wanted to read Lionheart’s tell-all Pride & Prejudice while sunbathing, eat radish pâté on a scenic boat ride, and see the Amphibi-Friends at the pavilion.”
“Okay, okay,” Judy relented, swapping to a different tab on her phone that read ‘United Harelines,’ and logged into her account. “I’ll just move your flight to the day after. You can have an extra day of relaxation while I get a headstart on the other escapees.”
Nick looked down, still bothered by Judy’s rash decision-making.
“No.” He simply said. “We fly back together. Which means if I get an extra day, you do too.”
“Ha! That’s a funny one dumb fox, but if I want to fly back to Zootopia tomorrow, then that’s what I’ll be doing.”
“There’s no wiggle room with you, is there?” Nick asked solemnly.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means that everything is your way or the highway. We’re supposed to be partners, Judy, but you’re always ready to jump the gun without listening to what anyone else has to say about it.”
“It worked out pretty well in the end, didn’t it? If I didn’t take the initiative that I always do, we wouldn’t have learned the truth about the Lynxleys.”
“That’s not the point, carrots. You’re a rabbit who charges into battles headfirst like a stocky bull. And I’m the rider who tries to pull the reigns when you get ahead of yourself. It would be nice if you were more willing to listen to me.”
Judy frowned, not wanting to hear the truth in his words, still holding onto the high of the case they’d just solved.
Nick didn’t stop talking, taking her hand within his.
“You’re staying an extra day. With all the executive decisions you’ve made for both of us without my approval, I should be allowed to make this one. When I said I wanted to do things, I meant that I wanted to do them with you. Because you’re my pack.”
Judy softened. Truthfully, the plane ride back to Zootopia would be lonely without her fluffle. Staring into his green eyes, she was increasingly becoming more open-minded to the notion of staying.
She opened her mouth to respond, but the moment was dispelled by the return of the koala. He handed both of them their pina koalas, then scampered off before Nick could try to make another bad-faith joke.
“To our 2-week anniversary as ZPD partners, may we make it to 3.” Nick said with a wink as they clinked glasses.
Judy took a sip, loving the flavors of creamy coconut and tangy pineapple on her tongue. Nick watched her as she sipped her drink, his expression unreadable.
“What is it?” She asked, feeling self-conscious at his stare.
He looked away, eyes downcast.
“Nothing.” He said with a shake of the head. “We should go check in to a hotel for the night.”
“Oh, okay.” Judy frowned.
“I’m sorry, but we’re all booked up. We only have one room available. The honeymoon suite.” The front desk agent said sympathetically.
“Heh. I guess your joint’s slogan is a lie, then?” Judy asked, pointing a paw to their hospitality sign.
‘Mane Attraction Hotel & Resort: Where There’s a Cubby for Everybody’
The agent frowned. “We technically do have a cubby for you though, if you’d like it. It really is a beautiful room. Has a stunning view of Tern-t Up Beach, a king-size bed with heated blankets, flat-screen television.”
She glanced between the unconventional pair, as though trying to parse the nature of their relationship, and how long it had been going.
“Also, you don’t have to be on your honeymoon to reserve it…”
Ah, there it was. The agent believed they were a couple.
Very well, Nick thought to himself slyly, his hand wrapping around Judy’s waist as he pulled her closer. She understood the assignment, snuggling into his chest. Her fluffy ears tickled the back of his neck and the pit of his stomach responded to the sensation with an ache that only she could cure.
“We’re well past the honeymoon phase,” Nick said cheekily, the words equal parts truth and lie. “Actually, we’re celebrating our 2nd anniversary this week. Surely, that would net us a discount for the room, right?”
The agent cooed adoringly at the pair.
“Oh! So you two are truly together? A fox and a bunny, such an unusual pair! We don’t usually do discounts unless you guys have some rewards points with us or pay for the room with a credit card. What kind of credit card do you have? We’re partnered with Quackback, Purr-Fection, and Ssspend Wisely.”
“Er, we’ll be paying with cash?” Judy replied nervously.
After a little bit of sweet-talking and a lot of negotiating, Nick talked the front desk agent down to a price at least 60% lower than the original.
Judy had packed light, her intent to leave as soon as their work was done painfully evident. She tossed her suitcase onto the couch, scoping the room they’d rented for the evening. The walls were light pink with tiny red hearts. The bed was king-sized with dark red bedsheets. The blanket was fluffy and soft; the material almost looked woolly. She shivered as she thought back to the angry sheep they’d just sent back to the pen. She plugged her phone into the outlet near her bedside lamp, and flopped onto the bed, scrolling through ClipClop. She gave Nick an absent minded glance, and in that split second he was already staring at her with a look that ended the second her eyes met his. He looked away, turning his back to her as he faced a double door that led out to the balcony.
“What was that?” Judy asked, mildly annoyed.
“What was what?” He replied.
“That look you just gave me.”
Nick turned his head slightly, not fully facing her. He sat on the other side of the bed. The distance between them at that very moment felt much larger than it actually was.
“Is this about what we were discussing earlier? Are you still upset?”
“I never stopped being upset,” Nick replied defensively.
Judy’s ears flattened. She wasn’t used to seeing or hearing Nick be upset with her. His dips in mood from charming, sarcastic fox to Grumpy McGrumperson were unusual and felt like a glitch in the Matrix. This wasn’t him, wasn’t her fox, and she couldn’t understand what he was so worked up about.
“Do you value this partnership the way I do, carrots?” he asked suddenly. “Do you see me as your equal, or your pull-string toy who follows you around everywhere you go?”
“Don’t be ridiculous Nick, of course I value our partnership! How could you even say that?”
“We survived Bellwether and her night howler operation, great. We survived the Lynxleys’ attempts to conceal the true history of Zootopia’s weather walls, fantastic. But how do we know we’ll survive the next mission? Or the one after that? The longer we work for the ZPD, the more we’ll move up the ranks and get tasked with increasingly dangerous cases. I can’t keep saving your tail just because you’re addicted to danger.”
“Addicted to… Why I oughta…! Aren’t you the one who gave Mr. Big, the deadliest crime boss in Tundratown, a SKUNK-BUTT RUG and nearly got us killed on the night of his daughter’s wedding? If I hadn’t saved her life earlier that day, we would have been iced. Who was saving who’s tail then?”
“I gave Mr. Big that skunk-butt rug way before he brought us back to his compound!” Nick retorted, pointing a claw at her angrily. “You nearly drowned yourself shooting down the Red Line to chase Gary De’Snake, and couldn’t even catch him!”
“I couldn’t catch him because you cut us out of the tube!”
“Because you were going to DIE, Judy!”
“If you hadn’t cut me out I would’ve caught him sooner, and maybe you wouldn’t have been caught by our colleagues.”
“That’s a real shitty way of saying ‘thank you for saving my life Nicky! You’re so handsome and intelligent and the best partner a dumb bunny could ever ask for!’” He said in an over-exaggerated imitation of her voice.
Judy let out a sharp breath, eyes wide and intently staring at the fox before her. In the heat of their argument, they’d come incredibly close to each other’s faces. His nose was a feather touch against hers, and they were both perched on their soft bed, knees folded beneath them.
Nick’s mind flashed back to that day. They’d went to investigate the Honeymoon Lodge, right after having an argument. And now they were arguing in a Honeymoon Suite. The irony.
“That’s the real difference between me and you, Hopps.” Nick said quietly. “You would die for this job. But I would die for you.”
Judy’s lip quivered at the admission. She felt the ice chill of Reptile Ravine, her body going numb and nearly stilling forever. But in the distance, there was one constant ringing through her ears and in her heart: her loyal partner calling for her, wrestling a distressed Pawbert for her, nearly plummeting to his death for her in the cold winter snow. No matter what else was said, and no matter how much hurt they flung at each other, she knew those words were true.
“I’m tired of yelling at you over things I don’t care about. I told you this when we reunited. But I’ll say it again. You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me, Judy. And I – I –“ Nick furrowed his brow. “Oh, for Pelican’s sake, I love you.” He spat those three words out as if they were a long-kept secret that needed to finally make itself known.
“I love you too, Nick.” She replied innocently.
“No, Judy. No.” He shook his head stubbornly. “Not like that. I love you.” He gestured to his heart.
Judy stared at him, dumbstruck. No words were coming out, which was worrisome to the fox, who already struggled with expressing his emotions.
“We’re partners,” he said slowly, “but I don’t want to just be your friend.” He tipped her up by the chin with an elongated claw, then leaned in and brushed his lips against hers. It was a chaste kiss; he hardly even puckered for it. Judy, still mentally stuck on his confession, sat there frozen in place. When Nick pulled away, he seemed positively mortified at what he’d just done. Immediately, he scampered off of the bed and ran out to the balcony.
Judy sat there, still mentally processing the jump from yelling at each other to him professing that he would die for her, and that he loved her.
He loved her. It was more than just the ‘Love ya, partner,’ that she’d captured on her carrot pen. He was everything she could have ever dreamed of, all rolled into one sly fox. Her best friend, her voice of reason, her protector. She’d been so absorbed by her insistent need to put together the puzzle of the Lynxley Journal that she’d forgotten what truly mattered to her most.
She hopped off the bed and rushed out to the balcony.
At the sound of the door opening, Nick flinched and turned to give Judy an apologetic look. He opened his mouth, presumably to say sorry and that what just happened would never happen again, but Judy held a silencing paw up.
“I’m not a dumb bunny,” she said, starting off strong. “But I do make dumb decisions. I jump into dangerous situations, not because I have a penchant for near-death experiences, but because sometimes following a trail means compromising your safety. I have to go above and beyond with my policework because I wasn’t born with the width and stature of an elephant, or the brute strength of a black bear. And I know I can be bossy and not the best listener sometimes, but it’s because I don’t want others seeing me as the puny, weak rabbit who blindly follows what other creatures tell her to do.”
Nick remained silent, sensing she had more to say. He was right, of course.
“All of this is an explanation. Not a justification. You’re right. You have a voice that deserves to be heard, and I haven’t been listening.”
Judy bit her lip.
“And…” she let out a shaky breath. “We’re partners. But I don’t want to just be your friend either.”
A tiny smile broke out across Nick’s face.
They stood there, basking in a new truth that would change their partnership forever.
“Come here, carrots.” He ordered, beckoning her to him with his arms wide open.
She listened for once, instead of putting up a fight.