A Drive
"Carrots!" Nick yelled at judy from the car, honking the horn while she rushed to get ready.
"Hey kid! Wilde is here! Go down there and shut him up!" Her crazy neighbors yelled through their paper thin wall. Judy sprinted to the car and was surprised to see Nick at the wheel, she usually did all the driving.
"I'm driving today." Nick claimed. Judy smiled and hopped into the passenger side of the car. Today was Ben Clawhauser's birthday so the fox and the rabbit got up early to surprise him with a doughnut cake from Gideon, a pastry chef and Judy's
old bully. While slowly coming to a halt at a stoplight, Nick turned to look at Judy, "Why so quiet, Fluffy Tail?"
"Just enjoying the view," Judy sighed. The drive out to Bunny Burrow was long, but Judy always enjoyed the view of the Zootopia. She felt so lucky that she even got to be in Zootopia, let alone living her childhood dream of being
a cop, too.
"I know, I look great this morning," Nick chuckled. And wiggled his eyebrows before the car started moving again.
"That's not what I meant and you know it," Judy laughed and punched him in the shoulder, he yelped but otherwise showed no sense of emotion. From a young age Nick learned that emotion can get you in big trouble, kids used to tease
him all the time for being a fox, but it still hurt that he refused to show emotion around her. Judy always tries her best to get a little emotion out of him, but he was like stone, and to a small bunny, immovable. She knew he meant nothing by it,
/but it almost seemed like Nick didn't trust her with his feelings, "Aren't you so excited for Clawhauser's Birthday Nick? I know I am."
"Yeah Hopps, it'll be great." He replied on auto pilot. He pulled into Gideon Grey's driveway and jumped out of the car, Judy on his tail- not literally of course. They silently walked into the bright pink shop, where Gideon sat
at the counter. It was crazy for Judy to see such a tough and mean fox grow up to be really sweet and work in a pink shop. The place was almost filled to capacity, with bunnies, sheep and a few foxes. Judy spotted her long ago bestie, Bethany the
/sheep. "Beth, my bestie! OMG, I missed you so much!"
"Judy, my sista from anotha mista, what are you doing out here?" Beth asked in her heavy sheep accent after being tackled by the overactive bunny.
"Just picking up something for a coworker, speaking of which," Judy nodded over at Nick who tapped his wrist signaling that they were going to be late if she didn't get over there soon, "gotta go. Call me!"
"See ya Judy!" the sheep called after her. Judy skipped over to the counter, pushing through everyone in her lots of shoving and elbowing she finally got to Gideon.
"Hey Gideon!" Judy joyfully said staring at the menu, hopping from foot to foot, "We're here for our doughnut cake."
Nick positioned himself slightly between Gideon and Judy, he knew what Gideon had done to her when they were little, Judy had forgiven him, but Nick didn't like her around other foxes anyway, most of them were con-artists like he was before
the Otterton case. Judy didn't notice the change in position, but Gideon definately did, he raised his eyebrows and shrugged, "Yeah, I'll go get for you, Darlin'."
"Thank you." Nick said in his usually sly voice. He plopped onto one of the barstool that emptily sat in front of the tall counter, "So, Miss Hopps, what mystery will we solve today?"
"I don't know Mister Wilde, whatever life throws at us I guess, hopefully something simple, our last big job wore me out." Last week a group of bandits and thieves stole from all over Zootopia. This wasn't the first time either,
it was happening more and more often. The robberies were becoming a common thing, and no one ever seems to see anything. Strange things they pick up to, all plants, food and alchemy supplies such as mixing bowls, grinders, lemon juicers they also
/picked up computer supplies and all of the outlaws were raccoons, weasels and foxes. Judy knew that Nick was reformed, but with his criminal past, she was still a little questioning. She knew almost nothing about him, besides that he worked
with her, was and wanted to be a scout when he was little, whenever they got into a conversation deeper than teasing and playing, he would shut down. She didn't even know where the fox lived, and they'd been friends for at least a month. "Nick?
/Can I ask you a question?"
"You just did. And no, no you can't." he answered coolly. Nick didn't want Judy to know about what he'd done in the past, and if she saw how he live he knew she would feel sorry for him.
"Oh, okay." Judy frowned as her ears drooped. He noticed and instantly felt bad. He couldn't stand to see the bunny sad. Funny, just two months ago he had tried to crush her dreams without even caring. But now, Judy was too important
for him to lose.
Gideon walked out from the back carrying a big cake box, a wicked grin across his face. "You can ask me a question, Judy."
"Okay, how old are you Gideon?" Judy smiled but it was clearly forced.
"Thirty-three." Gideon answered and glanced over at an angry Nick. It bothered him that Judy wanted to know something about Gideon, he used to be her enemy. It also annoyed him that Gideon was staring at her in a way that he should
not be using for someone seven years younger than him.
Nick put a possessivearm around judy and started pulling her to the door. Judy grabbed the cake and followed Nick out the door calling over her shoulder, "I guess we're late, bye Gideon! Thanks!"
"Your welcome. See ya, Judy." After they got out of the door Judy pulled out of his grasp and tried to keep about a foot worth of distance between them. She started wondering what just happened, Nick wasn't the touchy-feely type. They walked
in awkward silence towards the car.
