Boilerplate Disclaimer: The various characters from the movie Zootopia are all owned by Disney. Any and all registered trade names property of their respective owners. Cheap shots at celebrities constitute fair usage.
Tying up a couple more loose ends from Who Do You Trust?
If I'm Not Me, Who Am I?
As she worked in her kitchen Judy heard the sound of a knock on her apartment door and the sound of a key in the lock. "You home?" came the voice of her sister Susan.
"In the kitchen. How was the trip to Zootopia?"
Susan came into the kitchen. "Wonderful! Did my boxes arrive?"
"There were five, right?"
"Yes."
"They're all here. Check the living room."
"Hey, thanks for letting me crash here tonight."
"No problem. Dorm opens tomorrow afternoon?"
"Yep. Classes start Tuesday. Bookstore and... I got the list of things to do somewhere. Oh, exchanged email with my dormmate. She sounds nice."
"Great. After you're in the dorm I want my spare key back."
"What if you need someone to come water plants or something?"
"I'm pretty sure Estelle would water them. And I really don't like the idea of a key to my apartment in a dorm. Too much chance of someone taking it."
Susan left the kitchen to check on her boxes and noticed, "Four places set at the table."
"Oh, I thought you should meet Rick."
"I don't want to meet Rick. And speaking of your love life–"
"I wasn't speaking of my love life."
"Exactly. Ever since you and Nick came back to Zootopia I've heard, like, zilch from you. Last spring all you could do was talk about how wonderful Nick was. Then you were mad at him. Then you started seeing that Rick jerk–"
"Rick is not a jerk."
"Whatever. I was out here and you and Nick were all over each other–"
"No we weren't."
"But you were seeing that Rick. And now you haven't told me anything in weeks!"
"Have you considered that maybe I found your attempts at directing my love life a little intrusive?"
"No. You were telling me everything 'cause you wanted someone to share with. And now you clam up on me."
"Maybe things are fine at the moment, have you considered that?"
"I'd love to believe that. But with whom? You got to bring me up to date."
"I do not 'got' to bring you up to date. You'll like Rick."
"No I won't."
"Yes you will, and stop pouting... Do you need anything from a box or do you have what you need for tonight in your backpack?"
"I'm good from my pack."
"Put it in the guestroom. Then come back here and I'll put you to work."
The sisters chatted, mostly about Susan's plans for the fall semester. Judy felt Suze harbored an underlying resentment about the forced introduction that was going to happen. At the sound of a knock on the door Judy called, "I'll get it!" Susan felt grateful that she would not have to open the door to an unwelcome stranger.
From where she stood Susan could not see the animal Judy greeted with a far too enthusiastic (in Susan's opinion), "Rick! You look wonderful!" There was a moment of silence that Susan hoped was only a hug, but feared might be a kiss. "My sister is spending the night before she moves into her dorm. She wants to meet you. Susan?"
"I don't want to meet him," Susan thought as she reluctantly headed for the doorway. Susan stared. Judy stood in the doorway, her arm affectionately around the waist of... Nick?
"Rick," said Judy, making introductions, "this is my sister Susan. I told you about her. She's going to attend Zoo U. Suze, meet Rick."
Susan just stared. "Pleased to meet you," 'Rick' told her. "Your sister, Trudy, says you want to be a doctor."
"Rick?" Susan asked in a tone of disbelief, wondering if she was in a dream. "Trudy?"
"She's not at her best when meeting new animals," 'Trudy' sighed. "Kiss me, you fool."
'Rick' obediently kissed her.
"Okay..." Susan managed. "I'm not planning to be a head doctor, but this seems like a case of cognitive dissonance personality, or something. I think."
"Told you she was right smart," 'Trudy' drawled. "Don't them big words sound right purty?"
"They shur 'nuf do," agreed 'Rick'.
Susan stood there, looking clueless and Nick and Judy burst into laughter. Finally the younger sister managed, "So, you dumped Rick?"
"This is Rick."
"That's Nick."
"AKA Rick."
"AKA?"
"Also known as."
"I heard Rick, when we were on the train going to Bunnyburrow. Nick was right there."
"I called my friend Hye to tell her I wouldn't be at football that Saturday. She heard me telling someone to give me back my phone and handed her phone to her significant other and told him to say he was Rick."
"She understood the Rick thing? You told a raccoon, but you didn't tell your own sister?"
"Hye only knew I had needed to call Rick a time or two."
"Judy and I didn't want anyone knowing about 'Rick' and 'Trudy'."
"And she was Trudy?"
"Right."
"Okay, WTF?"
"Careful," Judy warned. "Mom would wash your mouth out with soap if she heard you say that."
"I didn't say 'fuck' I said WTF!"
"Doesn't matter. Mom would wash your mouth out with soap for that... If she understood it."
"Your sister and I needed a little space from being partners on the police force and good friends to evaluate our relationship," began Nick.
"He needed space," interrupted Judy. "I knew I was crazy about him."
"Or just crazy," Nick corrected. "Could we see each other in a romantic relationship or not?"
"I could."
"Your sister did not take it seriously enough," sighed the fox. "An interspecies romance isn't easy."
"I took it very seriously," Judy assured him, giving him a hug. "You are worth it." She looked over at Susan. "But we had to keep it quiet. I mean, if he decided he couldn't commit... I don't know what I'd have done. Anyway, genius here thought we needed to keep Nick and Judy separate from Rick and Trudy while he worked things through and realized he loved me."
Nick rolled his eyes, "Not exactly."
"That's how it worked out, isn't it?"
"It so happens that I did realize I love your sister," he told Susan. "Even though she is overly ambitious, too insistent on her own way, and stubborn."
"And those are my good points," giggled Judy. "And Nick is wonderful, even if he is a little too laid back, lazy, and cynical."
"I prefer to see it as a realistic view of the world."
"But," Judy confessed to her sister, "while he claims he loves me, I'm still not certain he does."
"What now?" sighed Nick. "Is it that tail thing again?"
"What tail thing?" Susan asked.
"Never mind," Judy said sharply, then addressed Nick. "You haven't made plans to introduce me to your mother. If you felt secure about your feelings for me–"
"Fine, I'll introduce you. Better now?" Judy gave him another hug. Nick looked at the younger rabbit, "Like I said, stubborn and demands her own way."
Susan confessed, "I'm still kind of confused. Basically you were working together as Nick and Judy, and this Rick and Trudy thing was to know each other better outside the office?"
"Told you she was brilliant," Judy reminded Nick.
Susan protested, "You still could have told me!"
"No," Nick reminded her, "this was just your sister and me. We had to figure this out for ourselves. We didn't need people asking how things were going. And if it didn't work out... Well, it did."
"And I didn't need little sister telling me what I needed to do with my love life."
Susan rolled her eyes. "You're chasing after a fox, and you're playing some game where you're Trudy and he's Rick, and you didn't need anyone telling you what to do? Not that you would have listened."
Nick looked at Judy. "I think we've been insulted. You should throw her out on the street."
"Can't do that. First, mom wouldn't like it. Second, we need to set a good example of a forgiving, loving relationship." She paused a moment, then coughed gently. "That was your cue to kiss me again."
After the kiss he commented, "You're very demanding."
"You didn't seem to mind."
"And you two are way too cute," complained Susan. "When do we eat?"
Nick looked at his watch, "Ten minutes? He should be here."
"So the fourth place wasn't to fool me into thinking that Nick and Rick were two different animals?"
"No, we invited someone you know."
"Terry?"
"You sounded way too happy when you said that. You and Terry have something going on?"
"No! But he's at the university and I had some questions. Is is Ben?"
"You're on a first name basis with Clawhauser?" asked Nick, "that sounds suspicious to me."
"He's very nice. And he tried to help you."
"He helped you try and interfere," Judy corrected her. "But he is nice. And it isn't him."
"Who is it?"
"Your friend Ernie is in town, putting in his application at the police academy."
"Ernie is not my friend!"
"He's not?"
"Okay, he's kind of a friend. But he's got this, like, crazy crush on me! I don't want to lead him on."
"You danced with him at Pumpkin Fest," Nick reminded her.
"You made me!"
"I said one dance. You danced with him twice."
"He's a good dancer. I felt sorry for him."
Dinner went well. Nick offered a ride to the weasel, who accepted it gratefully. Judy asked Susan to clear the table and Ernie went out to find Nick's car – allowing Nick and Judy a moment for a proper goodnight kiss.
"Susan is giving my spare key back," Judy whispered. "She wanted to keep it, in case I needed someone to water my plants or something. Can I trust it with you, in case you need to water my plants?"
"That is an interesting euphemism," the fox leered.
"Mom would wash your mind out with soap for thinking that."
"It wasn't what you meant?"
"Uh... Maybe she'd wash both our minds out."
On Monday morning Judy arrived slightly early at the First and warned Clawhauser, "I want you to meet Rick this morning."
"You're still seeing... You and Nick have been so happy the last few weeks!. You're still seeing Rick?"
"Nick and I are happy. But it is time for you to meet Rick."
"Why?" the cheetah pouted.
"It will clear... You'll figure out why when you meet him."
"I won't like him."
"Try and keep an open mind," Judy sighed. She glanced at her watch. If Nick hadn't overslept he should–
The door opened, and Nick strolled in exactly on time. Judy gave him a beaming, 'perfect timing' smile and he responded with a 'nothing to it' grin.
Judy started the introduction, "Ben, I'd like you to meet Rick, a very important male in my–"
Clawhauser seemed visibly upset, "Judy," he managed in a loud whisper, "you were cheating on Nick, with his twin brother?"
"I wasn't cheating on Nick!"
"I know the two of you were having a rough patch, but... I'm very disappointed in you! Nick's brother! How could you?"
"I'm not Nick's brother!" Nick told the desk sergeant.
Clawhauser ignored the fox and turned to Judy, "He even sounds like Nick!"
–The End–