Unexpected Reunion
Chapter 1: On the Beat
By Trebor Meerkat
The glass of the surrounding skyscrapers gracefully gleamed in the sunlight from a gorgeous late summer morning of the Savannah Central district of the massive animal metropolis of Zootopia. Several aircraft of various types streaked across the sky, overhead. Unlike Sahara Square with its extreme heat generated by the exhaust of Tundratown's snow making machines, Savanna Central is one of the few districts with a natural climate. A donut shop stood on a busy street corner, packed with animals of all shapes and sizes, a typical morning. The title of the establishment read, "Duncan Roo's Donuts", one of the most popular donut joints in town, with several branches in multiple districts of Zootopia. A black and white police vehicle with a white "Z" on both sides and a number on the front left and right quarters read "Z-240" sat with other cars in the parking lot, parked responsibly in the section for larger vehicles.
Its operators were inside, A fox and a bunny patiently waiting for the coffee and donuts they'd ordered. Nicholas Wilde stood with his back, and one footpaw resting against the wall near the entrance, half awake and browsing his social media app on his phone. His other arm was wrapped around the shoulders of his partner, Judy Hopps, both ignoring the disapproving glares from some of the patrons. Nick let out a yawn, bringing his arm up from Judy's shoulder to cover it up.
"You went to bed late last night, didn't you?" Judy asked, looking up to him from her phone with a simper.
Nick's ears lowered. "Yeah..."
Judy shook her head and looked up at him. "Eight months on the force, and you still haven't figured out how to go to bed at a decent time, dumb fox." Judy said, lightly elbowing his side, a ticklish spot for him, causing Nick to slightly jerk away.
Nick chuckled. "Hey, I'm learning. I just got a little too into it. I love Paw & Order SVU. I can't get enough of that Olivia Bengal." He said, leaning down and kissing her on top of her head.
Judy giggled and kissed him back under his chin. "Elliot Stagler for me, Nick."
Nick put his arm behind his back and Judy turned her attention back to her phone. About a minute passed until she heard some sort high pitched, fast paced gibbering, followed by canned audio that said; "Alright Nick, you win. I'm the dumb bunny this time." Judy's ears perked and her cheeks went beet red when she recognized the audio as her voice from the night before, when they had a slight disagreement about something, and Judy admitted she was wrong. Judy had no idea Nick had her carrot pen last night, nor at this moment.
"Oh, you...gimme that!" Judy said as she leapt for the pen, but Nick swiftly held it out of her reach, smiling at her.
"Oh, I'm sorry, did you want this?"
"Gimme that right now!"
"You leave yourself open to recording, dumb bunny"
Judy let out a giggle. "You are such an ass!"
"Oh no, I'm not an ass." Nick said and pointed to a donkey sitting on the other side of the cafe, unaware of their shenanigans. "He's an ass, I'm a fox." Nick said, pointing to himself, giving Judy a smug smirk. "And you know you love me, Carrots." Before Judy could leap at the carrot pen again, Duncan, the Kangaroo owner of the shop behind the counter placed 2 cups of coffee, one iced, and the other hot; and a box of donuts and shouted in an outback accent "Wilde, Hopps, Order up!" Judy stood in front of Nick with her paws on her hips, smiling at him. "You're right, Nick. I do love you." With one swift motion, Judy softly, but firmly gave Nick a jab right in the gut. Nick folded over, having the wind knocked out of him, allowing Judy to snatch the carrot pen out of Nick's paw, grab nick's tie and look him straight in the eyes. "But that doesn't mean I won't kick your fuzzy butt for screwing with me." She said, smiling and kissing his nose as she deleted the recording.
Nick coughed and chuckled "Hey! that was a cheap shot!"
Using both her paws, she gently picked up the two coffees from the counter, then turned to make her way towards the car right across from the donut shop, making it seem that she was dashing off to quickly leave. "Well, you leave yourself open to attack, dumb fox."
Nick picked up the box of donuts off the counter and looked up to Duncan. "Did you see that assault right there? Someone should call the cops!" Nick said in a playful tone.
Duncan's lips spread into a simper. "Sorry, mate. Didn't see anything!"
"Ohhh, no tip for you, good sir!"
"That's ok, Nick." Duncan said holding up a 20 buck bill. "Judy already gave me one."
"Oh, that sly bunny! "Nick said, laughing "Have a good rest of the day, Pouches!" Nick turned and walked towards the exit.
"You too, Nick! You and Judy be safe out there."
Judy lifted one of the coffees in a goodbye wave. "We will! Thanks, Duncan!"
"You're welcome! Bye-bye!"
"Bye!"
Nick followed Judy to their police cruiser and caught up with her, catching her stride, and bumped his elbow against hers. she giggled and elbowed him back. They continued laughing and playfully jostling each other like a couple of kids until they reached their cruiser. Judy unlocked the car and the pair hopped inside. She set their drinks in the cup holders while Nick set the donut box on the pedestal between them. Judy stuck the key in the ignition while Nick opened up the box and took out a glazed donut and took a bite out of it.
"Mmmmm, these new blueberry filled donuts are yummy! I'd like to see Gideon Grey tackle these."
"Really?" Said Judy. "Let me try a piece."
Nick broke a piece off his own donut and handed it to Judy. She took a small bit out of it, and her face lit up into a wave of bliss. "Oh my..." She said, and completely devoured the rest of it, inadvertently making small moaning sounds as she did so. She looked up to Nick, who looked at her with his signature smile and a raised eyebrow.
"Little hungry, are we?" Nick said, looking at Judy with her cheeks full like a squirrell. She looked so cute. he smiled wider as he handed her a napkin. "Now I know what it looks like when a bunny goes savage on a donut. I'd better warn Clawhauser."
Judy smacked him playfully on the arm as she took the napkin. "Oh, thut up you thderk." She said with her maw full, wiping it off, laughing.
Judy swallowed the rest of her piece of the donut, started the car and drove out of the parking lot and into normal, busy traffic, starting their daily patrol. Nick took a sip of his coffee as he browsed his baseball app on his phone and smiled when he saw his team, the Seaotter Mariners had beaten Judy's team, the Pawston Red Flocks, 8-4. The cruiser stopped at a red light as Nick looked over to Judy, who'd most likely seen the results earlier.
"So Carrots, how bout them Red Flocks?"
Judy's ears drooped, and her face fell into an expression of annoyance. "Bite me, Nick." she said, half-playfully.
Nick leaned in closer to her."I already did that last night, Carrots." He said with a wide smile and kissed her on the cheek.
Judy's face flushed a deep red as she bonked her head on the steering wheel, snorting in laughter. "Oh my god, Nick! Shush!" She said, giggling and playfully shoving his face away.
Nick sat back in his seat, chuckling, "You know you liked it." He said, under his breath
Judy's ear rotated towards him. "What?" she said, looking at him, not certain what he said.
"Oh, I didn't say anything, Carrots."
Judy cocked an eyebrow, smirked and hummed and turned her attention back to the road.
Nick looked outside, watching the world pass them by as they drove through the streets. "Weather's been pretty hot, recently. It's been making me wanna go for a swim." Said Nick.
Judy's ears perked up at the idea, and she nodded along. "Well, today's our Friday, and I have no plans this weekend, How bout you?"
Nick shook his head. "Nope, I'm free. And I know this one little spot by a waterfall in the Rainforest district where there are no sprinklers, and we can be alone, if that's what you want."
Judy nodded excitedly. "Yes! that'll be so much fun!"
The light turned green and Judy leaned off the brake and back on to the accelerator and moved the car forward. She applied a little brake as a car on the right side in the far right turn lane took a right turn into their own lane.
Nick's smile widened. "Heck, we could even make a camping trip out of it! we buy a small tent, couple of sleeping bags, some other camping supplies. the works! And we go in halves on the more pricey stuff"
Judy thought for a second. "It doesn't even need to be 2 sleeping bags." She said. "We could just buy one that fits a wolf that we can both sleep in." She continued as she flipped the turn signal bar on the steering column and stopped at another red light behind the car in front of them. "Ugh, I hate this one. It takes forever."
Nick chuckled as he browsed Targoat's website on his phone for camping supplies. "That's a good idea. A sleeping bag for a wolf is only 20 dollars." Nick scrolled through his phone more and his eyes widened. "Whoa, look at this! it's a tent that's also a hammock!" Nick said, turning his phone towards his partner and bringing it closer to her so she could see. Judy's eyebrows raised at the photo of the tent-hammock.
"Wow, never seen anything like that before. That's pretty cool. What are the reviews like?" Judy said as she picked up her iced coffee and took a sip.
Nick brought his phone back and tapped the screen a few times, and a smile spread across his face. "Wow, they're pretty amazing. 4.8 out of 5 stars out of over 146 reviews. Though some of those mammals might have been paid to give it a good review. good marketing ploy, but still, it can't hurt to try it. it's only $40, and we can return it for any reason." Nick said.
Judy's smile brightened as she stopped drinking her coffee. "Perfect! Start making a list." said Judy.
Nick brought his paw up to his head in a salute gesture. "Yes, Officer Fluff!" Nick opened a notepad app on his phone and began a camping checklist. Tent, sleeping bag, propane stove, flashlights, water, water filters, lantern, pocket knives.
Judy snorted and shook her head. "Dork." Judy lowered her coffee and set it in the cup holder next to Nick's, and placed her paw back on the steering wheel. She glanced over to Nick, who was busy making the camping list. "By the way, Nick." she said, watching him. "I know this is super off-topic, but how does it feel to finally be paying your taxes?"
Nick stopped typing and looked over at her and rolled his eyes, and took a long breath as he turned his head to look out the windshield. "You know, all these criminals we catch. Burglars, thieves, robbers. Sometimes I feel like I'm the one gettin' robbed. sure, I get a tax return once a year. but only half the taxes that get taken out of my paycheck come back. But...despite that," His lips spread into a sweet smile. "It's worth it to have my life finally going in the right direction. Thanks to a sly bunny." He gave her a wink and leaned over, giving her a kiss on the cheek. Judy kissed him back and turned her attention to the traffic light, an annoyed look spread across her face and her ears lowered when she saw it was still red.
Nick finished the list and hit the save button on his phone and slipped it back into his pocket as he leaned forward and hit a button on the dash, turning on the satellite radio. He grimaced at the rap music that was playing and hit another button
*click*
"I've been looking at the sky 'Cause it's gettin' me high
Forget the hearse 'cause I never die
I got nine lives Cat's eyes
Abusin' every one of them and running wild
'Cause I'm back"
*click*
"Take a little note
To remind you in case you didn't know,
Tell yourself I love you and I don't want you to go,
Write this down"
*click*
"From eatin' humble pie
I believe in rags to riches
Your inheritance won't last
So take your Grey Poupon my friend
And shove it up your-"
*click*
"Mr. Hi De Hi De Ho
Well I know you got the answers
We all wanna know
Mr. Wingtip Shoes, hey Mr. Always On The Go
Well I know you got the answers
We all wanna know"
*click*
Judy turned and looked at Nick with annoyance. "God, just pick something, Nick." She said.
Nick glanced over to her, twisting the dial to decrease the volume. "You sound like me when we're at the grocery store in the produce section." He said, smirking.
"That's different."
"How so?"
"Well, you don't want rotten fruits and vegetables, or stuff that's gonna go bad in a few days. It pays to have someone who grew up on a farm." Judy said, returning his smirk.
"Heh, you got me there, Carrots. But you're no expert on music."
"Neither are you, Mr. Wilde."
Nick chuckled as he twisted the volume dial the other way, returning it to its previous position, and pushed the station button again
*click*
"It's a small world after all
It's a small-"
*CLICK*
"Oh god, ANYTHING but that" Nick said, cringing.
*click*
Nick's ears perked up and a smile spread across his face when he heard one of his favorite songs began playing. He bobbed his head up and down, matching the song's beat and began to sing along to it
"All around the world statues crumble for me
who knows how long I've loved you
everywhere I go people stop and they see
twenty-five years old my mother God rest her soul
IIIIIIIIIIIII just wanna fly"
Nick wrapped his arm around Judy's waist and pulled her closer, bouncing her to the beat of ths song
"Put your arms around me, baby; Put your arms around me, baby."
Judy giggled and struggled from Nick's grasp. "Nick, let go of me! heehee!" she said as she continued to struggle. Once she realized her footpaw was starting to lean off the brake pedal, she gave him a pinch on his side, and his arm released her.
"Ow!" Nick said, rubbing his side, chuckling. "What, you don't like my singing, Carrots?"
"That, and you almost made me rear-end this car, Nick!" Judy said, annoyed.
The light turned green, and Judy pulled the vehicle forward and turned right as soon as the other car in front of them was clear. Nick pulled another donut out from the box. He raised it to his maw to take another bite, when the sound of screeching tires and a force of inertia suddenly lurched him forward with a loud grunt so far, his head was between his knees. The blaring of a car horn and more screeching tires as a car behind them went drove around them with angry shouts from the motorist. It took Nick a second to realize Judy had slammed on the brakes. With another grunt and a sigh, he pulled himself to sit upright with the donut he was about to eat wrapped neatly around his muzzle. He shot Judy an unamused look.
"Yur nur, Currts," Nick said with the donut still wrapped around his muzzle. He reached up and pulled the donut off his muzzle, brushing off the powder, and licking it off as well. "That was only funny the first time." Nick paused as he stared at Judy who was staring at something, looking past Nick. "Carrots?" he said. "What are you-" He was cut off as he turned his head in the direction she was looking and his brow rose when he saw what she was staring at.