Judy's eyes opened slowly as she stared down her digital alarm clock. True to form the rabbit had awoken five minutes before her six o'clock alarm was set to chime. Rubbing sleep from her eyes, she reached out and groggily silenced the would-be disturbance. Rolling over in her tiny bed, she set her eyes upon the still sleeping form of Nick Wilde.
By the time their train had arrived from Bunny Burrows, last night, it was already three in the morning. Being that Judy's apartment was closer to the station, the pair had elected to stay at "Casa de' Carrots". Judy giggled at the thought of Nick's pet-name for her tiny studio apartment. She wondered if Nick was capable of not giving a pet-name to every significant item or person in his life.
By the time the duo had made it to Judy's accommodation, it was near four in the morning. While Judy had taken the time to change into an oversized sleeping shirt, Nick shed all but his heart-patterned boxers and passed out in her tiny bed. Judy lifted the blanket to peak at his sleeping physic and ensure that he was still clad in his "Night-Wear."
A mischievous grin made its way to her muzzle as she looked up to Nicks snoring face. Nick had fallen asleep with his mouth open, and while he normally snored a little, it was rare that he was so tired that his tongue was left to hang out of mouth; this was one such instance. Reaching up from the protective embrace of Nick's sleeping arms, Judy grabbed hold of the end of Nick's long flat tongue.
The result was near instantaneous. No sooner had she established her hold, did Nick's tongue attempt to escape her clutches. Judy brought her free paw to her mouth in a failing attempt to stifle her laughter. Nick's head instinctively attempted to recoil away from the assaulting rabbit's hold as his eyes shot open wide.
Attempting to shake his waking confusion, Nick let out a slurred "Caa-wwats?"
Judy released Nick's tongue allowing it to snap back into Nick's head. Judy now had both paws crammed to her face in a failed attempt to stem the tides of her laughter. Her violet eyes met Nick's emerald gaze and she lost control of her joy.
A very tired Nick glared down at the assaulting bunny which now shook with laughter. He was not amused. Clinging desperately to the concept of sleep, Nick elected to smother the giggling rabbit.
Judy let out a laughing yelp as Nick threw himself on her, in an effort to snuff out her joy. Cackling even harder, she now fought to escape the assailing red-menace.
"Sleeeeep…" pleaded Nick as Judy valiantly fought to escape him.
With a final burst of strength, Judy slipped out from under Nick, onto the floor of her apartment. Jumping to her feet, she poked Nick and whispered into his ear, "We gotta get up, otherwise we'll be late."
Nick curled up in the center of the bed under Judy's blanket, trying in vain to steel an extra wink of sleep.
Judy whipped the blanket off of Nick, leaving him mostly naked and exposed to the cold morning air of the apartment. "I'll shower first," she said to Nick as he rolled about the bed in tired-rage. "Then we can trade off. You're extra uniform is in the bottom drawer of my dresser. I'll be out in a few minutes."
Turning away from Nick's feeble tantrum, Judy stepped into the tiny bathroom and closed the door behind her. Giggling at her own morning antics, Judy disrobed and jumped into the small standing-room-only shower and turned on the water. The warm water washed away the previous day's sorrows and grime.
Loosing herself in thought, Judy absentmindedly scrubbed with a bar of soap while she recounted the weekend's drama to herself. Her heart swam with love as she thought of Nick's disastrous accidental proposal the Thursday before they left. A smile came to her as she remembered finding their "spot" at the earthen amphitheater Friday night. Sadness prickled her nose as she remembered Nick's fall from grace during his Saturday fight with her father. Happiness washed away her sorrow as she remembered the exact moment last night that she had followed Nick's voice out the back door of her parent's house, back into his arms.
Judy was snapped from her thoughts as her ears shot up, reacting to the sound of the tiny bathroom's door being opened. Expecting Nick to ask how much longer she would be, Judy waited in silence. To her confusion, she did not hear Nick's voice but instead caught the sound of the bathroom door closing again. Judy tilted her head as she tried to puzzle together Nick's actions. However, Judy let out a surprised yelp as Nick stepped into the running shower with her, still rubbing sleep from his eyes.
"Oh," said Nick as he finally opened his eyes, catching a full view of Judy attempting to cover her indecencies. "Taking a shower?"
Judy stood, frozen in shocked silence, as Nick matter-of-factly grabbed the still sudsy bar of soap from her guarding paw and began to rub it on himself.
Nick smiled groggily at his shocked Fiancé. Giving a quick peck to and squeezing past the still frozen rabbit, into the showers hot stream, Nick chuckled at Judy's deep-red blush.
"Nick," asked Judy in a mixture of shock and embarrassment. "What are you doing?"
"I'm showering," replied Nick as Judy turned about to face him. "What's it look like, you big dumb bunny?"
Judy met Nick's smirk with a glare of contempt as Nick ducked out of the way of the shower head allowing it to shoot Judy in the face. "Nick," hissed Judy, no longer attempting to cover her nakedness. "You need t-"
Nick cut Judy's rage short as he locked her muzzle in a deep kiss. Pulling away, he wiped a dollop of soap-suds on her nose and whispered, "Animals are trying to sleep. So why don't you wash up, and enjoy the show."
An hour had all but passed and the two found themselves in front the police precinct. The tired pair staggered up the massive stairs, each clutching their respective cups of snarlbucks coffee.
Nick fought with the cord of his police radio as it dug annoyingly into his armpit. "Carrots," he groaned to his partner. "How come I have to carry this heavy piece of police-junk?" The handset of said police-junk clipped to the front of Nick's uniform and sent a cord under his right arm to the compact radio pack which lived on his belt; squarely in the small of his back. Glaring at the offending radio, Nick continued; "How come I get this relic-to-the-old-gods and you get that cute little radio?"
Nick recoiled as he caught Judy's death-glare. "I said the radio was cute, not you, Carrots." Nick's defense shifted as he continued, "But it does make you look cute as well."
Judy elbowed the offending fox in the ribs, assuring him that his comment was not welcome. "I am not cute, Nicholas P. Wilde! And you get to carry that piece of Police-Junk because you're bigger than I am. Just be glad you're not an elephant; I've seen some of those guys carry around 800 pounds of steel plates and gear." Judy nodded at a passing elephant officer for emphasis of her point.
"Ok, I get the whole different sized loads," replied Nick still fighting the radio with his free paw. "But how come they thought it was ok to give me a wolf-sized radio. I'm a fox, there's a clear difference in size alone. That'd be like if they gave you…" Nick waved his paw in front of himself as he tried to form a comparison. "That'd be like giving you a kangaroo's radio because bunnies and kangaroos both hop." Nick smiled at his own analogy as he waited for Judy's rebuttal.
Judy laughed at Nick's comparison and assured him that the larger radio had its benefits. However, the pair were snapped to attention as they were pulled into the police chief's office.
Despite working on the force for two years, the massive Cape Buffalo still commanded a unique form of respect that sat on the brink of intimidation. Both Nick and Judy shared a single proverbial hot-seat, which sat in front of Police Chief Bogo's massive desk. After shifting around some papers on his desk, the Chief removed his reading glasses to look at the miniature crime fighters.
"So, I see you two made it back from the weekend alright," the Chief smiled tensely at the duo, prompting them to stir uncomfortably. "Now I don't want either of you thinking you're too important, but…"
Nick smiled at the opportunity to butt into Bogo's statement; "You sure know how to roll out the welcome mat!"
"Officer Wilde," grumbled the massive mammal. "Do you think anyone would notice if I showed up with a fox-leather belt tomorrow?"
Judy snickered at Nick's near instantaneous recoil. She loved watching the two mammals harass each other.
"As I was saying," continued Bogo. "You two have been on the force for a little over two years now. Since the resolution of the Night Howlers incident Zootopia has seen little more than the occasional speed-pursuit or convenience store robbery." Bogo took a deep breath as he steeped his hooves, preparing to continue; "However, in the four days that you two were away, we've had a rash of missing mammal cases."
Chief Bogo pushed a positively massive folder towards Nick and Judy, who looked upon it with a mix of amazement and shock. The chief continued as Judy attempted to gingerly lift the titanic folder from Bogo's desk; "I'd say something about luck and rabbit's, but honestly I've lost too much sleep trying to keep the media from inciting a panic."
"How many cases is this?" questioned Judy as she flipped through the folder.
"Forty three…" replied Bogo.
Both Nick and Judy's jaws dropped at the astoundingly high number. Forty three mammals in four days was a disaster, and a city-wide panic waiting to happen.
"Every case has come out of Little Rodentia," The police chief shook his head at the epidemic. Steeling himself, the buffalo continued "Now, normally we require six years on the force to become detectives. However, seeing as you two have proved yourselves before, and you're the only mammals on the force who are small enough to reasonably investigate in Little Rodentia; I'm going to make an exception. Congratulations officers, you're both officially junior detectives."
Nick and Judy's eyes lit up at the presented promotion. Nick opened his mouth to speak but was cut down by Bogo's pinned back ears and furrowed glare.
"Officer Wilde, if you make a crack about bubble-pipes or plaid hat's you'll be on parking duty for a month, abductions or otherwise!" The Chief pointed a sharp hoof at Nick, and waited for Nick's mouth to close. The cornered fox's mouth snapped shut prompting a thin smile to crack the Chief's iron façade. Continuing; "If you two plan to keep this promotion, then you have three day's to make headway before this case blows up into a giant fiasco. I want you two to solve this, but if you can't, then we're going to have to call in a federal investigations. This many missing mammals may be too big for the ZPD alone."
"We won't let you down, Chief" chimed Judy nodding assuredly as she tucked the massive folder under her arm.
"I'm counting on it," replied the Chief smiling at the two newest detectives on the force. Standing up, he dismissed Judy and Nick for duty. Watching the tiny duo make their way out if his office, chief Bogo spoke; "And by the way… Welcome back."
"It's good to be back," chimed both Nick and Judy in near unison. Stepping into the hall, the pair exchanged excited glances as they mentally prepared for their newest case.
Oh hot-diggity!
Did you miss reading "oh hot-diggity" at the end of every chapter? I bet you did! If you did, then get ready for more! Big Trouble in Little Rodentia is officially out, and I will be releasing new chapters every Tuesday, Thursday and Sundays until it's over. Be sure to follow, favorite and comment on the new story.
-Enjoy the next chapter!