Chapter Text
Chapter 1: Hearsay
It was Tuesday afternoon, and something was wrong.
“Nick, have you tried this one yet?”
Judy glanced over her shoulder, to see her fox partner in uniform casually sauntering up to the large door that she was standing in front of. He reached into his shirt pocket and pulled out a blue access card, holding it up to the reader beside the door. The reader flashed red, letting out an angry beep as it did so.
“Nope, looks like this one doesn’t work either.” Nick shrugged.
“That’s weird. Did you try turning it over?” Judy asked.
The red fox turned towards her, giving her a half-lidded stare.
“Carrots, this is an access card, not a USB drive. I’m pretty sure turning it over isn’t going to magically make it work.”
“Hey, you never know till you try, right?”
Nick rolled his eyes, making a show of turning the card over before holding it up to the reader again. The light flashed red.
“Wow, what a shocker.” Nick deadpanned.
“Okay, something’s definitely wrong.” Judy frowned, tapping her foot on the ground.
“Welp, I guess that can only mean one thing.” Nick declared, turning to face her with a solemn face. “It has been a pleasure working with you, Officer Hopps, but it looks like the ZPD finally decided to get rid of me. I’m surprised it took them this long, to be honest.”
“It’s only your second day!”
“Which is one day longer than I expected to last,” Nick replied without missing a beat. “Maybe they finally came to their senses and remembered that it was a terrible idea to hire an ex-confox to be your partner.”
Judy glared at him straight in the eyes.
“Nick, you went through the same training everyone else here did. You deserve to be here just as much as everyone else, if not more.”
“Aww, there’s my obligatory 5pm motivational pep talk,” Nick cooed, placing a paw on his chest as his mouth curled up in a faux smile. “Which is perfect timing. Shall we go now? Since I’m out of a job, I don’t want to be here any longer than I absolutely have to.”
Now it was Judy’s turn to roll her eyes.
“First of all, the ZPD didn’t fire you; your access pass is probably just broken or something. Second, we can’t leave now—how are you even going to get into the bullpen tomorrow morning?”
Nick shrugged. “Same way as always. I’ll just ask you to open the door for me once I get here.”
“And what if you get here earlier than me?” Judy asked, crossing her arms.
“Pfft!” Nick choked on his laugh. “Never happening, Carrots. The day I get to work earlier than you is the day you can check me into a cell at Cliffside.”
Judy sighed. “Look, the IT department is just through here. We go in, get them to fix your pass, and then we get out. Ten minutes tops. And then we can go grab dinner, alright?”
Nick glanced at the card in his paw, then at her, and then he finally let out a defeated sigh.
“Bah, fine. You would think that the ZPD could afford better quality control on these things…” he grumbled, slipping his card back into his pocket before motioning towards her. “Your pass, if you please.”
Judy reached into her pocket and pulled out her own access card, holding it out to Nick. The fox took it from her, tapping the reader. The light flashed green, and a second later, she heard the sound of the lock unlatching. He pulled the door open, and they both walked in together.
The office inside was surprisingly quiet. There were a few mammals walking about, but most of the desks in the office were empty or being vacated. Most of the mammals packing up were headed out of the office through a door on the opposite side of the room. Nick glanced around, looking like he was about to ask which way to go, but he then noticed the sign in front of him. Calling it a sign was generous, considering it was just a piece of paper with the words ‘IT SUPPORT THIS WAY’ scrawled in black marker, with a poorly drawn arrow right underneath. There were a whole bunch of papers like that pasted haphazardly throughout the office, all pointing towards a bunch of desks in the far corner of the room.
“Very eco-friendly,” Nick remarked with a smirk.
They followed the signs, eventually coming to a stop at a desk with four smaller desks set up on top of it. Only two of the desks were occupied at the moment, with two moles currently sitting on the tiny seats on the table. There was also a slightly older boar in uniform standing behind one of the moles in the middle of the table.
Judy walked up to the unoccupied mole at the far end of the table, giving him a little wave.
“Hi, we’ve got a problem with my partner’s access card, and—”
“Sorry, I’m off shift.” The mole in the chair immediately cut her off, still packing his things into his briefcase. “If you want help, just wait over there. My friend will help you out once he’s done with that other guy.”
With that, he turned off his desk lights and hopped off the table, immediately making a beeline for the exit.
“You see, that’s a guy that knows what ‘working hours’ means,” Nick whispered to her.
Judy ignored him, walking towards the single remaining mole at the desk. Said mole was currently glaring intensely at the boar behind him. Judy was barely able to read the nametag on his shirt from where she was standing. It read “Paul Moledebrandt”. The face on the nametag looked considerably less annoyed than the mole who was wearing it.
“…Again? Do you know how many times this is now?” Paul asked, the irritation clear in his voice. The boar scratched his head.
“Uhm…I don’t really remember—”
“Five! This is the fifth time this year that this has happened, Boardoh! How many times do I need to tell you not to go clicking on random emails that you get?!”
“Well, the email said that my password expired and I needed to reset it, and it looked legitimate, so I clicked the link that was in the email…”
Paul pointed at Boardoh’s computer screen.
“Did you even look at the link address before you clicked on it?”
Boardoh opened his mouth to answer but then paused.
“…What’s a link address again?”
“I don’t get paid enough for this…” Paul grumbled under his breath, soft enough that Judy could barely hear him, even with her ears. The mole cleared his throat.
“Hover your mouse over the link and read what it says.”
Boardoh leaned forward to stare at the screen. He moved the mouse towards the link that was written in the email. The moment he got there, he clicked on it.
“NO! YOU FOOL!”
But it was too late. The computer screen in front of him went completely white. There was a loud error message sound, and then shortly after, a skull and crossbones appeared on the screen along with a single message.
“YOU HAVE CLICKED ON A SIMULATED MALICIOUS PHISHING EMAIL, WHICH WAS SENT AS PART OF THE ZPD’S CYBERSECURITY TRAINING PROGRAM.
FOR SECURITY MEASURES, YOUR COMPUTER HAS BEEN TEMPORARILY LOCKED. PLEASE CONTACT THE ZPD IT DEPARTMENT IMMEDIATELY TO UNLOCK YOUR LAPTOP.”
“Oh,” Boardoh said after a moment. “Right, right. Hover, not click.”
“Were you dropped on your head as a baby?” Paul deadpanned. He shook his head and sighed, pressing a few keys on his own computer. After a few seconds, the error message on Boardoh’s computer disappeared. The mole crossed his arms and glared at the boar.
“Try again. And this time try to be less of an idiot.”
Boardoh leaned forward and squinted at the link address. Both Judy and Nick found themselves leaning in closer as well to see what was on the screen.
“It says ‘ZPDTotallyLegitITSupport.gov’,” Boardoh said.
“And?”
“…Is there something wrong with that?” Boardoh asked, sounding genuinely confused.
“Rrrrrgghh.” Paul clenched his paws midair in front of him, looking like he was moments away from strangling the boar—if that were somehow physically possible.
“How is there so much anger concentrated in such a tiny thing?” Nick pulled back and whispered into Judy’s ear.
“I know a similar kangaroo in records. I think the two of them would get along pretty well,” Judy whispered back, holding back a giggle.
“Do the two of you need something?” Paul’s irritated voice called out. Judy quickly turned towards him, offering him an awkward smile.
“Oh hi! My partner’s access card doesn’t seem to work. Could you help to check if there’s something wrong?”
“Put it on the reader there, I’ll get to it in a second,” Paul grumbled. Nick did as he instructed, while Paul turned back to Boardoh with his arms crossed.
“As for you, I would really like you to leave so that I can pretend today never happened…”
Boardoh grinned sheepishly. “Oh! Well, since my laptop is okay now, I could just go—”
“—Unfortunately, because this is your fifth time, ZPD regulations state I’m required to make sure you know what to do before I can let you go.” Paul sighed. “Let’s get this over with. You get an email asking you to reset your password within a day or your account will be locked out. What do you do?”
Boardoh tapped his chin.
“Well, first I would open the email to read it.”
“Do it.” Paul pointed at the computer.
Boardoh did as instructed, getting in front of his computer and moving his mouse to click on the email.
“You read the email. You’re not sure whether it’s legitimate. What now?”
“I, uhh…I report it?”
“How?” Paul’s eyes narrowed.
“It’s over…on one of these tabs, I think…”
The three smaller mammals watched with bated breath as Boardoh moved his mouse—agonisingly slowly—around the screen. Paul looked like he was developing an aneurysm with every passing second.
Oh boy.
Judy glanced over at Nick, who was currently tapping his chin with an expression she couldn’t quite place. A moment later, she saw the fox shuffling himself over to the boar’s side.
“Maybe try the tab that says, ‘Email Reporting’,” Nick whispered.
Boardoh blinked in response. “Oh right! The email reporting tab, that’s right. I click on that, and then…”
“Then select the email you want to report,” Nick continued.
“Then I select the email that I want to report, which is this one…and then I…uh…”
“You click on the link.”
“I click on the link!” Boardoh parroted happily, doing just that.
“NOOOOOOO!!!!!” Paul screamed as the computer screen went white once more. The incoherent, furious warbling that immediately followed didn’t seem like it could have physically come from a mole. Nick burst into fits of laughter, slapping his knee and wiping a tear from his eye.
“Ahh, that’s a classic.” He grinned, taking a step back and admiring his handiwork. His mirth was short lived, however, because of a rabbit paw that promptly jabbed him in his side.
“Ack! What was that for?” Nick yelped.
Judy gave him a glare, though it was hard to when she was trying to hold back her own giggles herself from the absurdity of the situation.
“I thought you were trying to get out of here quickly.”
“Hey, this was too good of a chance to pass up.” He smirked at her, before turning and raising his paws apologetically towards Paul. “Sorry, Paul. It’s just a little joke. Fox humour and all that. No hard feelings, right?”
Paul glared at him with a look that suggested very much otherwise.
“Sorry about that, he’s new here,” Judy added apologetically.
“Anyway, you were almost there, bud,” Nick continued, giving Boardoh a reassuring pat on his shoulder. “After you select that email, all you have to do is to press the green button at the bottom of the screen, and you’re done! Oh, and don’t click on the link again, or Paul might blow up. Literally.”
The boar turned and looked down at Nick. “Ahh, okay, got it. Thanks a lot, uh…”
“Wilde. Officer Nick Wilde.” The fox extended a paw, which the boar shook enthusiastically.
“Nice to meet you! I’m Boardoh, I work in logistics.”
“And I’m Paul. I work with idiots.” Paul grumbled under his breath, typing on his computer for a bit before turning to Nick. “There, I’ve reset your card. Please leave—and don’t come back.”
“Aww, don’t be like that, Paul. I’ll make it up to you next time, I promise.” Nick picked the card up from the reader, flashing the mole a grin. Paul muttered something incoherent under his breath as he turned back to his computer.
“Boardoh! Quit your yapping and show me how to report that email!”
“Right, right!” Boardoh quickly scrambled to find his mouse. “Anyway, it was nice to meet you, Officer Wilde. See you around sometime!”
“See you, Boardoh.” Nick tucked his card into his pocket, before turning to Judy. “Well, looks like we’re done here. Ready to grab some dinner?”
“Yup. C’mon, let’s get going.”
With that, the two of them began walking off. As the two of them passed by a couple of rhinos carrying a stack full of books, something suddenly clicked in her head.
“Oh right! Before we go, I almost forgot—your induction booklet is still with me. It’s in my locker.”
“Induction booklet?” Nick replied, confused. “Oh! You mean that little pamphlet that they gave us yesterday? I thought I already threw it away.”
Judy gave him a look. “You did, and I fished it out of the recycling bin for you. It’s a useful book, Nick, there’s tons of good information inside. I still refer to it sometimes, and I’ve been on the job for a year.”
“Meh, alright, fine. You can pass it back to me tomorrow. I’m sure I’ll find some time to read it…eventually.” Nick waved a paw dismissively.
“You won’t have much time to read it at work. I’ll go get it for you so you can read it at home! Don’t worry, I won’t take long.”
Nick stared. “You can’t be serious.”
“About what?”
“You want me to spend my precious time at home…working?” He wrinkled his nose in disgust at the word.
“Of course! I mean, I do that all the time. You saw it while you were staying at my place.”
“Yeah, but you see, that’s a ‘you’ thing. I don’t do work outside of working hours unless there’s overtime or bonuses involved. That’s not how I operate.”
Judy grinned.
“Well, since we’re now partners—and I technically have seniority over you—that is how you operate now,” she declared triumphantly. “I’ll go grab the book. Meet me at the lobby, alright?”
“Do I get a choice in the matter?” Nick raised a finger.
“Nope! See you in a bit, Nick!” she smiled cheerily, giving him a wave as she turned and headed back out the way they had entered. She heard the fox chuckling to himself as she left.
It was a short walk back to the lockers. In fact, it occurred to Judy that her locker was almost directly behind where Paul’s desk was, only separated by a single wall. Sadly, there was no door—or conveniently placed hole—leading straight from Paul’s desk to her locker, so she had to take the long way around. Which was surprisingly far by bunny-sized standards.
After a few minutes, the lockers came into view. She went straight over to hers, opening it and grabbing a thick blue booklet from the top of a pile of other books. She closed the door and turned to leave, but then paused, taking a step back. She took a moment to gaze at the two lockers in front of her. Specifically, at the two nameplates that were on them.
Hopps and Wilde. We’ve finally arrived, she thought, feeling a welling of pride within her.
She took her phone out and snapped a photo of the lockers side by side. This would definitely make a great addition to the “Hopps & Wilde ZPD Partners” album she was putting together. They were only two days into the job, but there were already a considerable number of photos for her to sort through on her phone.
She began scrolling through the array of pictures as she headed out of the locker room and towards the stairs.
Hmm, which one would be the best cover picture for the album? Maybe the one of us saluting each other at Nick’s graduation? Or the one from yesterday in front of the ZPD—
“Wilde? You mean the fox?”
Judy’s ears perked up. She stopped in her tracks, looking up from her phone. Her ears swivelled towards her left, where the sound had come from. It sounded like it was coming from the break room.
“Yeah. The rookie. The one that’s partnered with Hopps,” a different voice replied. She didn’t recognise either of the two voices that were speaking.
They’re talking about Nick? Judy thought. She wasn’t usually one to eavesdrop, but she couldn’t deny that she was curious about what the conversation was about. She took a casual step towards the break room, pressing herself against the wall outside the break room. With how many mammals were moving through the hallway, no one seemed to notice that she was even there.
“Ah right. Biggest joke of the year, that one.” The second voice said with a low chortle.
Judy felt herself recoiling. She flicked her ears, wondering if she had heard wrongly.
“What do you mean by that?” The first voice asked.
“You didn’t hear about what how he joined? He’s the one that Hopps was dragging around back then. The one that sassed the Chief in his face in Tujunga. And even after all that, the Chief personally recommended him to join. Personally! What the heck was he thinking?”
“Not so loud, dude, you don’t know if he might just walk in,” a third voice said in a hushed whisper.
“I’m just saying. Hopps finds the missing mammals, arrests a mayor, becomes famous, suddenly quits without telling anyone, and then reappears a few months later with this random fox, blows up a damn train, arrests another mayor, and then she’s on the force again—now with this random fox as a partner? None of you find it weird? At all?”
There was a pause.
“It is kind of suspicious…” The third voice admitted.
“Do you think they have some sort of dirt on the Chief?” a fourth voice spoke up.
“Or maybe it’s because the two of them were the ones that solved the whole thing. Ever considered that?” the first voice snorted.
“Nah, I don’t buy that. This is some sort of conspiracy, I tell ya. I mean, did you know that they were planning to make her the face of the ZPD? This was a few weeks after they found the missing mammals. I know because I saw the Chief sign off on it.”
“Wait, what? They were going to make her the face of the entire ZPD? A rookie?”
“Yup. It was the former mayor’s idea—the sheep, I mean.”
“Bellwether? Well now, that makes a lot of sense. She was a huge anti-pred, right? After what Hopps said at that press conference, I bet Bellwether was licking her chops at getting the chance to make her the face of the ZPD.”
“Press conference?” There was a pause. “…Oh. That press conference.”
Judy felt a chill run up her spine at that last statement. She couldn’t see the face of the mammal speaking, but the disdain, the disgust in their voice was clear as day. She clutched the induction booklet more tightly in her paw as her head dipped towards the ground.
“Yup. Anyway, all this sounds real fishy to me,” the second voice said. “I don’t know how the two of them ended up here, but that fox and bunny are going to be trouble. I can feel it.”
“You’re starting to sound like one of those crazy conspiracy podcasters,” the first voice scoffed.
“Yeah, I don’t think it’s anything crazy like that. If you ask me, they caught Bellwether because they got lucky. That’s all,” the third voice said.
“Yup, I’d call it a fluke too. The two of them just happened to be in the right place at the right time. Besides, the Chief would never be involved in anything like that. He might be a big grouch, but he’s still a good mammal.”
“That’s debatable,” the fourth voice replied. Several chuckles went around the table.
Is that what they think of us? Judy thought. A dozen questions were firing around in her head all at once. Who were the mammals who were saying these things? How long have they been saying it?
Another group of officers walked past her. She exhaled, feeling the blood rushing into her legs. She had to know. Before she could stop herself, she felt her legs moving towards the break room.
“So that’s where you were.”
Judy stopped herself short, turning around to see her orange-furred partner casually strolling up to her with his usual relaxed smirk.
“Did you get distracted by the floor? It’s a fairly nice floor, I must admit.”
“Nick! What are you doing here?”
“That’s my question. Weren’t we supposed to meet downstairs? You look like you’re doing something suspicious.”
“What? No, I wasn’t doing anything!”
“Oh? Your body posture and wiggly ears tell me otherwise.” He paused for a moment, giving her a once over. “Ahh, I know what you’re doing! You’re eavesdropping, aren’t you? I love me a good bit of that.” He slid over and pressed himself against the wall beside her.
“No no, that’s not what I—”
“So, what’s the juice? Open comms channel gossip? Someone falling asleep on the job? Clawhauser found himself a date?”
I can’t let Nick hear this.
Before he could hear anything else that was being said, Judy quickly grabbed his paw with her own and yanked him away from the break room, marching herself straight towards the stairs that led down to the first floor.
“Don’t worry Nick, it’s nothing important.” She smiled at him, though she was aware it was forced. “I’ve got your book; let’s just go grab dinner. It’s your pick tonight.”
“Why, Officer Hopps, you’re letting me pick? How nice of you. And by the way, you might want to save the paw holding for after we’re out of the precinct. We don’t want people getting the wrong idea about us.”
Judy felt the fox squeeze her paw gently, and she turned her head to see that she was indeed holding Nick’s paw in a way that could have been seen as mildly suggestive. She quickly let go of his paw, her head swivelling around the lobby. Thankfully, it seemed that nobody was paying them any mind.
Nick chuckled. “Relax, I’m just joking. So, if it’s my turn to pick, I’m thinking of Lana’s. We haven’t been there in a while, and I heard they’ve added waffles and ice cream to their dessert menu. How does that sound?”
“Yup, that sounds great. Let’s get going!”
She quickly led the two of them out the front doors of the ZPD. To her relief, she didn’t hear anyone else talking about them on the way out. As they made their way down the stairs and across the plaza, Nick started saying something about how he was going to double his coffee intake to make it through the early mornings from now on. But Judy barely heard him. She glanced back in the direction of the ZPD building, feeling a growing unease in the bottom of her stomach.
A short while later, the two of them found themselves seated in a large cafe. It was fairly crowded at this time of evening, but the two were thankfully able to get a small table in the corner. After ordering some wraps, a salad, and a serving of poutine to share, they began digging in.
The ambient sounds of clinking cutlery and idle conversation grew louder as more mammals streamed in for dinner. But Judy didn’t hear any of it. The only things she could hear were the disembodied voices from the ZPD earlier. Their words still echoed loudly in the back of her head, even as she grabbed a bottle of ketchup from the table.
“Biggest joke of the year, that one.”
“That fox and bunny are going to be trouble. I can feel it.”
“They got lucky.”
“A fluke.”
Her brow began to furrow.
Is that what people think of us? Of me? How many other people think that way? How long have they been thinking it?
“…Carrots.”
The sound of Nick’s voice snapped her out of her thoughts. She blinked, looking up at him.
“Yeah?”
“I think your poor wrap is drowning.”
Judy looked down at her plate, which was covered in a sea of red—her healthy veggie wrap was covered in a less-than-healthy amount of ketchup. She immediately pulled the bottle away and placed it back on the table, before fishing her wrap out with her fork.
“Eugh. Okay, that might be a bit too much.”
“I was about to ask whether you wanted to chug it directly from the bottle.” Nick smirked, though his expression soon turned a touch more solemn. “You’ve been out of it ever since we left the ZPD just now. Is something bothering you?”
“No no, everything’s fine. It’s nothing to worry about,” Judy replied instantly.
“If it wasn’t anything to worry about, you wouldn’t look so worried. Something happened just now, didn’t it? What was it?”
Judy swallowed, feeling her leg twitch. From the look on his face, Nick wasn’t going to let her talk her way out of this one. She gripped her fork tighter, before finally letting out a sigh.
“Alright, fine. I…heard some people talking about us. Being partners.”
Nick blinked, before his mouth fell open.
“Look, I swear I wasn’t trying to flirt with you at work—”
“No, not about that. They were talking about us being partners on the force.”
Nick paused, then heaved a sigh of relief, though a mild look of puzzlement followed shortly after.
“What did they say?”
“They were talking about the Nighthowler case. They couldn’t believe that we were the ones to put Bellwether away. They said that we got lucky, that us solving the case was just a fluke. Some of them even think it’s a conspiracy that you became a cop!”
Nick paused mid-chew, thinking to himself for a moment. After a bit, he shrugged his shoulders.
“Well, they’re not wrong.”
Hearing the nonchalance in his voice made Judy do a double take.
“What do you mean by that?” she asked, her tone more demanding than she had intended.
“I mean, they’re right that we did get lucky. We were lucky that the train we stole was even working. We were lucky that I happened to have blueberries on me to swap the Nighthowler serum with, and we were lucky that Bellwether was dumb enough to yap about her plan for you to record with your carrot pen. We could very easily have died several times over; it was like we had plot armour or something.” He chuckled, taking another bite from his wrap.
“I…” Judy started, but she found the words catching in her throat. She hadn’t thought about it for a long while, but she knew Nick was right. They had gotten lucky on several accounts during their investigation. She remembered how useless she’d felt in the Natural History Museum after injuring her leg. It was her fault that they needed to try and pull off such a risky plan to begin with. And if Bellwether had seen through their little bait and switch…
No, Judy. Don’t think like that. That didn’t happen. That will never happen, she told herself.
“But you know what else was lucky?” Nick asked.
“What’s that?” Judy asked glumly.
“That I met you.”
Judy paused, looking up at him. She had expected to see his usual smirk, but it wasn’t there. There was a smile on his face—a gentle, genuine smile. It took a moment for her to realise that Nick wasn’t cracking a joke. And when she did, she couldn’t help but feel a small wave of relief inside her.
“…Thanks, Nick.”
“Don’t let it get to you, alright? We solved a city-wide conspiracy and arrested two mayors when we both weren’t even cops. I’d find it fishy too if I were those guys. I mean, we did make the ZPD look pretty bad.” He smirked.
“Yeah, but still…” Judy trailed off.
“And look, we’ve only been on the job together for like, two days. People are bound to have their doubts about us. But there are plenty of people who think you’ve done a good job. Like Clawhauser, and more importantly, our dear old Buffalo Butt. Remember what he said when we went to get your badge back? He believes in you—a lot. Which is more than he can say about me.” Nick rolled his eyes. “Point is, you don’t need to worry about this. You’re doing just fine.”
Judy hesitated, but eventually acquiesced, nodding slowly.
“…I guess you’re right.”
“Yes, I am. So take it easy, alright? There’ll be plenty of time to prove ourselves. Right now, the only thing you should be concerned about is what kind of ice cream you want to go with your waffles.” He grabbed a dessert menu from beside him. “Ooh, they have salted caramel. And coffee! I know what I’m picking.”
Despite the uneasy feeling inside her, Judy couldn’t help but smile at Nick’s attempts to cheer her up. She felt a little embarrassed that he was the one having to do that when she should have been the one trying to encourage him on his second day.
Yeah, I shouldn’t be such a downer. I’m just overthinking it. Everything’s going to be fine.
The rest of dinner went by smoothly, and after polishing off their dessert, the two of them found themselves back on the ever-busy streets of Savannah Central. Thankfully, foot traffic was a lot lighter now that the evening rush hour was over, which meant they could afford a leisurely walk towards the bus stop.
“So, Nick, would you like to come over to my place? We could watch that action flick you were telling me about the other day.”
“The Neighsayer? I’d love to, but I’m honestly pretty tired right now. It’s only my second day and I already feel like retiring. ‘Normal working hours’ isn’t something I think I’ll ever get used to.”
“Ah, you’ll get used to it after a couple of weeks, I’m sure.” Judy smiled.
“Yeah, nope, not happening. Anyway, there’s still a mountain of boxes that I need to sort out back home, which will probably leave me with a grand total of…” Nick checked the imaginary watch on his wrist. “…ten minutes to actually relax tonight before I need to go to bed.”
“Would you like me to help? I could come over. With the two of us, it shouldn’t take too long—”
“No no, I think I can handle this myself. But thanks for the offer, Carrots.”
“Are you sure? It won’t be too much trouble, I promise. I mean, it’s only about twenty minutes from your place to mine.”
“Knowing you, you won’t leave until every last speck of dust is organised, and the last thing I need after a long day of hard labour is a long night of hard labour.” Nick smirked. “Don’t worry, the boxes aren’t going to run away. I’ll get them sorted eventually, and then I’ll have more time to hang out, alright?”
“Oh. Okay then,” Judy replied, trying not to let the disappointment show in her voice. “How’s the new place, though?”
“Well, it’s not exactly luxury living space, but it’s liveable. It’s big enough to have a fridge at least, so that’s nice.”
“You told me that it was under an elephant gym, right? How’s the noise?”
“Let’s just say I’ve considered nailing a couple of things down to stop them from bouncing all over the place.” Nick rolled his eyes. “It gets loud in there for sure, but you know what? I actually prefer it over your place. At least the gym quietens down after midnight—unlike your neighbours.”
“Hey, that’s great news!” Judy exclaimed. “Maybe one day we could have a late movie night at your place! Ooh, I can bring the snacks!”
“Heh heh, yeah, we could do that…eventually.” Nick chuckled, sounding a little nervous. “Anyway, I’ll catch you tomorrow, alright?”
“Alright! Have a good night, Nick!” Judy waved.
Nick gave a two-fingered salute, before turning around to cross the road. Judy watched as the fox blended into the crowd, before disappearing completely. The moment he did, she let out a large sigh. She thought she had pushed it away, but now that Nick was gone, that niggling feeling in the back of her mind was starting to creep back in again.
She stopped herself short and gave herself a few gentle slaps on her cheeks.
No. Remember what Nick said. It’s just a few people who think that. I’m still a good cop. People still believe in me.
The words of self-affirmation were just enough to push away the feelings of doubt. She repeated them once more in her head for good measure. Nick was right, it was only their second day as partners. There wasn’t anything to worry about. Everything was going to be fine.
…Right?