Chapter 2.

AN: OK so I think I've sorted out any formatting issues that a reviewer was kind enough to point out. Just a quick note on where this story is going; I'm planning on keeping it light because as Leonard Nimoy said in The Simpsons: "The world needs laughter!" I've got plenty more ideas for stories and I plan to update as consistently as I can, twice weekly at best ort once at worst. I appreciate any and all feedback which has been overwhelmingly positive so far so let's keep the fun going and the love flowing!

Did she want to be sexy or cute? Did she want to be both? Both, both was good. Judy Hopps nodded as she looked at herself in the mirror. She was dressed in just her underwear, purple because it matched her eyes, trying to decide on an outfit. She was ninety-nine percent certain she was wearing the tennis skirt she'd bought with Francine and Clawdia on their shopping trip four hours ago. Judy wasn't really one for skirts usually but it was cute, it fit her and it was a cool dark blue. Now all that remained was the top.

She tried on a white shirt one of her sisters had left in her apartment on a visit. It knotted at her naval and didn't have many buttons. Or fabric. Or coverage. It didn't have much of anything really and her purple bra was showing through it. She tossed it aside. Too slutty, she thought and caught herself. What would the girls at her local branch of the Zootopia Feminist Association think of her using that term? It'd inspire some discussion at the very least. Some intense discussion. Judy had joined the ZFA because of Nick. Not because he was sexist and she wanted him to change but because he'd been concerned about her.

"You need a hobby Carrots," he'd said one day after a long shift in Tundra Town.

"No I don't," she'd retorted. "Work is what I enjoy the most and I hang out with you or the girls on my days off. I don't need a hobby."

"Yeah you do," he'd said quite seriously. "Arresting mammals, enforcing the law, solving cases it takes a toll on you even if you don't know it. You're gonna be one burnt out bunny if you keep this routine up. It happens with any job."

"Even being a con artist?" She smiled and he flashed her a smirk.

"Even being a con artist. Selling pawsicles to lemmings was the most legal con I've ever pulled. The others, without divulging too much, were stressful. Me and Finnick were always on edge, looking over our shoulders for cops or one of the mammals we'd hustled. So I took up crocheting and that stress just flowed outta me."

"You did crocheting?" Judy asked disbelievingly.

"How else do you think Finnick got that cute elephant costume?"

So she'd joined the ZFA and she'd made friends, opened her mind and felt a weight lift off her shoulders. Nick had been right though he was amused at her choice of hobby. He must have thought she'd take up pottery rather than protesting with lionesses. Still he'd been happy for her and that was all that mattered. She smiled at the memory. Last Christmas Nick had knitted her a yellow beanie with matching ear warmers. He'd called her cute and she hadn't corrected him on it. She liked it when Nick called her cute. It made her feel warm inside. When he said it, it felt right as if it was meant for her and her alone. She smiled again and turned back to her shirts.

One was a white off the shoulder crop top and the other was a light blue denim shirt with pearl coloured buttons. Nick had called it her farm girl shirt and she'd never worn it in front of him again. She struggled into the crop top and looked in the mirror. Too adolescent she decided. If she wore that shirt the Banana Peelers' infamous gorilla bouncers wouldn't let her past the door. She sighed and threw it on the floor. She pulled on the shirt and looking at the knotted shirt she'd thrown away she had an idea. She buttoned her shirt except for the last three buttons, rolled it up to her naval and knotted it tightly. Next she rolled up the sleeves and left the top three buttons undone. Sexy, cute and she looked her age. The perfect outfit for a night in Zootopia's hottest club. She posed in the mirror and took a photo.

"Farm girl hitting the town!" she wrote in a Furbook message to Nick before blushing furiously and deleting it. She sent it to Clawhauser instead. He wouldn't understand the message but the picture was the important part. She checked the time. Eight o'clock; it was time to go. Some of the girls were meeting up at Kelly Neckson's house beforehand for cocktails. The guys were at Lieutenant Bungo's supposedly slick bachelor pad across town. A lot of other officers were just heading straight to the club.

Judy packed her phone, purse and keys into her carrot shaped handbag. She closed the door to her apartment as quietly as she could not wanting to disturb Bucky and Pronk, her antelope neighbours who had somehow followed her from her first crappy apartment to her new one in Zootopia's central temperate zone. She got on with them but any slight noise could set them off and Judy didn't want to be held responsible for having her neighbours evicted.

On the street she caught a bus to Kelly's house. The sun was just beginning to set reflecting off the glass fronts of Sahara Square's many skyscrapers. Traffic was light and the city felt at peace if only briefly. A lot of mammals were going to be hitting the town tonight to celebrate the start of the weekend. Judy had the weekend off and so did Nick. She wanted to ask him to go to a movie on Saturday evening but at that thought a bundle of nerves twisted in her stomach. This wasn't unusual these days.

Every time she thought about doing something with Nick, even going out on patrol, she felt nervous. Their playful banter had developed a flirtatious edge, she'd overheard Clawhauser gossiping with the other officers about them and occasionally she caught Nick looking at her when he thought she couldn't see; occasionally Nick caught her doing the same. It was an awkward situation but one Judy savoured. It wasn't just a crush anymore. It was something so much more.

Her phone buzzed and she saw Clawhauser had replied. It was a picture of Nick looking out over Zootopia.

"Enjoying the view?" read the message along with a winky face. Judy went to type a reply but then she looked at the photo again and her brain went blank. The sun and camera had caught Nick at just the right moment. His fur shone bright red in the light. His resting smirk was firmly fixed on his face and his ears were flat against his head. A black tie flapped against his right shoulder. He looked happy. He looked cool. He looked handsome. The reply came to her like a flash.

"Cute," she typed and after a moment's thought added a love heart. Flirting through Benjamin Clawhauser might not have been the best idea but it would do for now. Noticing where she was Judy hopped off the bus and walked the five minutes to Kelly's house. The house was huge simply because it had to be. Judy didn't bother trying to reach the doorbell. Instead she texted Kelly. The clip-clopping of hooves and the sound of a female elephant trumpeting in laughter assured Judy that she'd found the right house. The door opened revealing the knobbly legs of her giraffe host.

"Down here!" called Judy. A horned head swooped down and smiled at her.

"Judy I'm so glad you came!" said Kelly, her long lashes fluttering. "Come on in everyone else is here. I've made specific cocktails for all of us. I don't want to stereotype but I know you like those carrot juice cocktails I asked Officer Wilde."

Judy just nodded and let the giraffe talk at her as she led her into an expansive living room. It was a huge house with crayon on the newly painted walls. Kelly worked in records and was married with two young kids. She'd taken the job in records for safety purposes. Judy could understand. No officer had been killed in the line of duty in five years but better safe than sorry. Mrs Otterton had nearly lost her husband and Judy had seen how devastated the mammal had been a year and a half ago.

"Girls Judy's here!" announced Kelly. There were six of them. Francine, Kelly, Judy, Clawdia; a leopard, Sophia; an Arctic fox and Olga; a hippo.

"Refreshed after our trip?" asked Francine, sipping from a large glass filled with a grassy green liquid in it.

"Trip?" asked Judy accepting the cocktail Kelly offered. "That was more of a marathon if you ask me."

"I thought you bunnies were full of beans?"

"Well yeah but it's stamina that we lack."

"Is that why there are so many sex jokes about male rabbits?" asked Clawdia with a wink.
Judy looked around her at the knowing, smiling faces of her friends and grimaced before bursting out laughing. The rest of the room followed suit. Judy wiped a tear from her eye and sipped her drink. It was stronger than the ones she usually drank but still nice.

"You need a guy Judy I'm telling you now," said Olga sitting forward. The others nodded sagely and mm-hmmmed amongst themselves.

"I don't need a guy," retorted Judy. "Still it wouldn't be something I'd argue against if one fell out of the sky."

"Sometimes the toys just don't cut it," giggled Francine.

"Francine!" Judy nearly shrieked, the skin beneath her fur going a bright, cherry red. The room erupted in laughter once again as Judy pulled her ears over her eyes in embarrassment. A camera flashed and Judy looked up to see Sophia rapidly typing on her phone.

"Officer Wilde is going to love this," she laughed. "What should I caption it?"

"Shy bunny!" called Clawdia. More laughter as Judy stewed in mock anger. Worse pictures of her had been sent to Nick she knew that. Like the time the tiger stripper they'd hired for Judy's birthday had taken her up on stage and… done things. Simulated things but things nonetheless. All while her friends had taken pictures. Turned out he was Delgado's brother and just as good at his chosen profession as his sibling was at his. Obviously he had been dressed as police officer. All the while she'd been up on stage Judy had lain back and thought of Nick which had only made her face grow redder. Nick hadn't let her forget those pictures for weeks. Neither had Chief Bogo in the bull pen.

"And… sent!" called Sophia. "Wonder what Officer Wilde will think of that one."

"Oh I'm pretty sure I know," stated Francine with a wink and a sly smile. "Pretty sure he'd use the 'c' word if he could."

"He already does," mumbled Judy from behind her ears.

"No way!" exclaimed Kelly. There was silence then but Judy knew what was coming. She came out from behind her ears and looked around at her friends' gleeful faces.

"Awwwww!" they all said at once.

"Guys it's not like that," said Judy desperately.

"Try saying that to Officer Wilde and see what he has to say," shot back Clawdia.

"Do not!" trumpeted Francine. "It'd be sadder than the day that Chief Bogo missed out on Gazelle tickets."

A collective shudder ran through the room at that.

"So what is it like then?" asked Sophia kindly. "Cos if it's not like 'that' then you can bet I'm getting me some red fox action tonight!"

Judy bristled at that but no one noticed other than Olga who winked at her. Both mammals knew the Arctic fox was joking or they hoped so at least. All eyes turned to Judy, waiting on an answer to Sophia's question.

"It's complicated," she said finally. The other five female mammals groaned loudly.

"Because you're partners?" asked Kelly.

"Because we're friends," answered Judy, her ears drooping.

"Ah, I see," mused Olga.

"Well honey don't you worry," announced Francine. "Once Nick sees you in that outfit he's gonna be wanting a lot more than friendship before the night's over."

"You think?" asked Judy, visibly brightening. Her friends nodded emphatically and the rabbit smiled. As if on cue there was a knock at the door.

"Minibus!" shouted Kelly. "Drink up girls!"

Judy chugged the dregs of her cocktail before grabbing her bag and heading with the others to the door. Kelly said goodbye to her husband. He looked kind with his bad goatee, sweater vest and tortoiseshell glasses. Judy thanked him and waved as they left. The minibus was multi-mammal and must have cost Kelly quite a bit but she laughed it off as a Birthday present. Their driver was a polite jaguar in a cap and suit. As they hopped in he pushed a button on the dash and a mini fridge opened behind his seat. The mammals cheered as they set off.

"Oh my God!" shouted Clawdia from the front. "Judy, girls check this out!"

Clawdia handed her phone back to them. On Officer Delgado's Furbook page was a video. A video of Nick doing sit-ups, shirtless. With each sit-up he'd pick up a shot with his teeth, down it and go right back up for another. Chants of "Chug, chug, chug, chug!" could be heard in the background along with a basketball game. The video ended with Nick jumping up and smirking at the camera looking only slightly worse for wear.

"I never knew he was so…" began Olga before trailing off.

"Stupid?" supplied Judy playfully.

"Buff," came the reply from five different mouths.

Judy smiled as her friends laughed. Looking out the window she saw the treehouses of the rainforest district come into view. It would be a good night no matter what happened. She could feel it.