Judy woke the next morning to find another surprise outside of her door. This one was a bouquet of red tulips. Nick had to be behind this one, unless someone else had guessed her favorite flower and chosen it over a rose. So much for hoping that these were platonic gestures.
This was starting to get a little frustrating. The bunny sat on her bed and moodily pulled the flowers apart, munching the blooms listlessly as her thoughts drifted to her partner. Nick was a really nice guy, and he was being very sweet. He was also handsome, and worse, he knew it. If he was trying to win her over then chances were good he'd succeed.
This wasn't going to be a fun day. There wouldn't be time to talk before the morning briefing, so Judy was going to have to wait until lunch to speak with Nick about their relationship. Doing it over the phone felt cowardly, and she owed him more than a text turning him down. What in the holy rabbit holes was she going to tell him? Was there a way to shut this down without risking their friendship?
"Just take it easy," Judy told herself as she checked her uniform in the mirror. "Nick is a good friend. He'll understand." With those halfhearted words of encouragement still ringing in her ears, the bunny snapped on her belt and hopped out the door.
Business as usual. Morning briefing seemed to take forever, and Judy was sure that she caught Nick staring at her once or twice. Did he look a little more shifty than usual? Was she just imagining things? Maybe her friend was a bit tense when they parted ways, the corners of his mouth turned up less than she was used to. Was it possible that she was just projecting? All of this self-doubt was really starting to bog her down, and the day had only just begun!
The first half of her shift dragged on even more than usual. Judy tried to approach everything with the same enthusiasm and optimism that normally made her day fly by, but it was a doomed effort. The poor bunny had only written eighty-nine tickets by lunchtime. Her record was more than twice that!
At least it would end soon. Judy approached her favorite cafe with a knot in her belly, still running through gentle ways to turn Nick down in her mind. She needed to make sure that she wasn't being patronizing. He hated that, which was pretty ironic considering his main method of dealing with anyone he didn't like was to patronize them until they went away.
Nick was late as usual. He never walked into a room unless animals were waiting impatiently for him, whether by design or because he was just awful at managing his time. Judy waved to the barista, who made up her usual without a word, and sat next to a window to watch the crowds outside.
It was only a few minutes later that a familiar presence loomed over her. "You know I don't like it when you pretend to stalk me," Judy muttered. "Can't you just say 'hello' like a normal person?"
"I can't help myself." Nick slid into the booth across from her and took off his sunglasses. "You looked so darn cute the first time that I have to keep trying. Something wrong, Carrots? Your battery finally stop going and going? Your ears are all droopy."
Judy cursed inwardly and tried to force a smile. Sometimes being easy to read was helpful, like when she needed to convince a witness that she could be trusted. Other times, not so much. "It's nothing. I've just got something on my mind. How was your day?"
"Boring and safe, just like they usually are. You won't hear me complaining. This is half as much work as I ever had to put into one of my totally legitimate business ideas. It's half the pay, too, but I don't have to worry about getting hassled by the cops." The fox reached across the table to touch her paw. "You sure you're okay? I haven't seen you this unhappy since they busted Gazelle and sent her to rehab."
"That was one of her dancers and you know it!" Judy felt the corners of her mouth turn up a little. "Alright, fine. I was trying to think of a good way to approach this, but I suppose there isn't one. How do you feel about me, Nick?"
Before her friend could answer he was interrupted by their server. Nick always made a point of not remembering his name even though 'Jack' was written on his nametag in big, bold letters. Maybe he felt threatened by another bunny.
They placed their orders and Jack scurried off, nimbly crossing the room in a few quick bounces. "I always worry he'll land on someone's plate by mistake and get eaten," Nick said. "Well, maybe worry is the wrong word. What's a better one...wish? Yeah, I'll go with wish."
There was something subtly different about his smile now. Nick was a natural at hiding his feelings, no doubt a product of his troubled childhood and his time as a con artist. Judy still had trouble noticing when something was bothering him. "Please, Nick? I really think we need to talk about this."
Nick took a drink of water and cleared his throat. "Not sure what you mean. We've been through a lot, and now we're partners even if we usually just write tickets all day. You're probably the best friend I've ever had, and that's including the little guy who threatens me with a baseball bat when I win at cards. I tell ya, he isn't an easy act to follow."
"And that's it?" Judy fidgeted with her paws beneath the table. "Just friends?"
Fox and hare both lapsed into a painfully uncomfortable silence. Nick was the first to break it. "I was afraid it would complicate things."
"Well, it does." Judy had to clear her throat to remove the lump forming there. "Nick, I like you. In fact I think I like you a little more than I should if we're going to be working together. We can't act on that. It's too risky. Plus, I-I mean, it's not really common for animals to date outside their own species."
Nick's stricken look hurt a lot more than she was prepared for. "I'm not turning you down because of that!" she insisted. "Believe me, I wouldn't hold something like that against you. I learned that lesson the hard way. We just have to play by the rules from now on, okay? I bent a few of them already and almost got fired for it. The last thing either of us needs is to keep pushing the envelope."
"It isn't against the rules for cops to date each other," Nick pointed out. "Just discouraged. Sort of like how it isn't against the rules to sell popsicle sticks to mice as building material. I think we both know how well that works out." His smile showed nearly every tooth in his mouth, which sent a very strange tingle down his partner's spine. That had been happening to her a lot lately.
"We'll stay friends," Judy insisted, and took his paw with both of hers. She was glad that he could joke about this. If he could do that, then he could handle being turned down. "I mean it, Nick. We can't be romantically involved, but I don't want that to come between us."
Romance movies never made the "just friends" ending seem like a happy one, but Judy could tell that her words had helped. "You're right," Nick agreed, and gave a sad little smile. It wasn't much, but it gave her hope. "We'll always be friends, Carrots. I promise. Just...if you ever change your mind, you know where to find me."
As much as she wanted to believe that the problem had been resolved, Judy had a bad feeling that Nick might not give up that easily. He knew how charming he could be when he really tried. Later that night, long after she should have been asleep, the bunny lay awake in bed wondering what tomorrow would bring. Would Nick accept her decision, or take it as a challenge?
Just as she was about to nod off there was a quiet scratching sound from the hallway. Judy groaned and buried her face in a pillow. Had that cocky fox come back again with another gift? Was he just doing it to annoy her this time? It seemed like the kind of thing he'd do, making a little joke to show that he had no hard feelings.
Judy rolled out of bed and pulled on a shirt. Her old training sweats usually just served as gym clothes or sleepwear these days. They weren't very warm, a fact that she came to resent as she trudged across her cold floor.
Whoever was on the other side of the door froze as the knob turned. Judy was already picturing the dorky look of apprehension that Nick got whenever someone caught him red-handed doing something wrong.
It was quite a disappointment to find the hallway completely devoid of foxes. Instead there was only a familiar rabbit with a box of chocolates that had to weigh almost as much as he did. "H-Hi!" he stammered. "You were supposed to be asleep. Not that I'm unhappy to see you or anything! I just didn't want to make a fuss, and it's pretty late. Um, do you remember me? I-I was your waiter today. And yesterday. I guess I've been your waiter almost every day, actually."
The surprise wore off quickly, giving way to something that Judy couldn't identify and didn't want to deal with at the moment. "Sure I remember!" she said, forcing a smile that only Nick would have seen through. "Jack, right?"
"Yeah. Uh, here!" He pushed the cardboard heart into her arms and smiled bashfully. "I wanted to say that you're sort of...well, I'm a big fan. L-Lots of us are. There aren't many hares doing important things in this city, so you're sort of an inspiration. I've got a little brother that wants to be a cop when he grows up because of you."
This wasn't the first time that someone had given Judy more credit than she felt she deserved, but it was certainly the most personal. "Aww, thank you! That's really sweet, but you didn't need to get me all of this. You could have just come up and said hello!"
Jack chuckled nervously and shifted on his feet. It wasn't hard to tell that he had trouble meeting new people. Introversion was a very common trait for rabbits. "D-Don't be too proud of yourself. Last month he wanted to be a Power Ranger. Still, I wanted to thank you for giving us all something to be proud of. The little guys out there don't have many animals looking out for them."
For a moment Judy was reminded of the first time she'd met Bellwether, back when she'd have been glad to call Dawn her friend. "Well, I'm flattered. I don't know how much I deserve it, but it was really nice of you to say so." They shook paws, and she took the opportunity to pass the chocolates back to him. "I don't think I can accept this, though. You've already done too much for me. Go enjoy them yourself, okay? It can't be easy to afford all this on a waiter's budget."
"Maybe I did go a little overboard. I, uh, guess that's a no?" Jack's ears drooped a bit, but he didn't push the issue any further.
Judy found herself caught between letting him down easy and wanting to be firm. The fact that she didn't know what she wanted in the first place didn't make it any easier to come up with a good answer. "How about this? I'll think about it. It isn't a no, but I need time to figure things out. I've been so busy lately that I haven't given dating much thought at all."
"Oh! No, I totally understand." Jack made an ill-fated attempt at tucking the chocolates under his arm, but the box was too big to be comfortably carried that way. What in the world had made him think that one bunny could handle all of that? "I'll see you around, then. Thanks for not being mad that I woke you up at..." he glanced at his watch and then finished with "two in the morning. Gosh, is it that late already? S-Sorry again. Later!"
With that he scampered away, leaving Judy alone. She shut her door and slumped against it for support, more tired than she had been in a long time. As she climbed back into bed and tossed her sweats aside, Judy realized what the uncomfortable feeling in her gut was; she felt guilty.
Nick had kept his feelings to himself this whole time, and from his perspective she had brought them to the surface for no good reason. Judy had hurt him, forced him to talk about something that he'd buried to avoid complications. He'd done the mature, cautious thing and still ended up getting his heart broken despite it.
She'd have to talk with him again, apologize for bringing it up. Judy rolled over and buried her face in her pillow, finally tired enough to drift off to sleep. She'd think about all of this tomorrow.
Tomorrow came and - surprise! - Judy still didn't know what to do. Her emotions felt like they were all tangled up in knots inside her, and her usual solution to that kind of problem was out of the question. Going to the cafe to think this over would just remind her of the (admittedly cute) bunny boy that had tried really hard to impress her.
It wasn't as though Judy didn't want a boyfriend. She'd been single for quite a while, and it might be nice to have a little romance in her life. There just wasn't a lot of time with the kind of schedule she kept, and she didn't meet many animals when not on the clock. Those she did meet were almost never of her own species.
Still, she didn't want to settle down with the first hare she came across. Her parents had given her a speech long ago about settling and, while they had probably forgotten about it, Judy remembered every word. They had settled for their jobs, their burrow, and the land they'd been working for the last three decades or so. The only thing they hadn't mentioned, the thing that was conspicuous by its absence, was their marriage. No two bunnies had ever loved each other like Stu and Bonnie.
Judy wanted a relationship like that. If it was worth doing then, she reasoned, it was worth doing right. Jack was her own species, and not half bad looking even though he was quite a bit older. Nearly Nick's age, if her guess was right. He'd probably make an excellent partner.
If only it could be that easy. Jack didn't excite her, didn't occupy her thoughts late at night when she should really be getting some rest. He would never be able to step in and support her when the immense pressure of being the first rabbit cop became too much. Only Nick could do that, and in all her life only that smarmy fox had ever made her heart beat faster just because he smiled a certain way.
Seriously, why was she suddenly so drawn to his smile lately? Was she developing predosexual tendencies after the incident at the museum?
There wasn't time to worry about all of this. Crime waited for no one, and she needed to get to work. Judy strapped on her gear, polished her badge, and hopped out of her apartment with a familiar spring in her step. A quick visit to the cafe would help her take care of at least one thing that was bothering her.
Jack was waiting with the same smile that had greeted her almost every morning for the last several months. She felt bad for not paying him more attention before now. How long had it taken him to work up the nerve to approach his hero with a gift?
She ordered her usual, an orange muffin and a pumpkin spice latte. The hustle and bustle outside was just as vibrant as ever. When Jack brought her breakfast she reached out and put a hand on his shoulder to stop him from leaving. "Do you have a second?" she asked. "It's about last night. I thought about it."
The corners of Jack's mouth turned up just enough to show an unusually large pair of buck teeth. "And?"
Oh god, he was adorable. This was going to be hard. "I'm sorry. You're a really sweet guy, but I don't think you're what I'm looking for. Don't be upset, okay? There are a lot of nice rabbits out there. You'll find the right one.
To his credit Jack took the news very well. "I understand. Don't think I'll give up just yet, though. I might end up changing your mind. Can I ask for a favor before you go?" He reached into his apron and pulled out a folded paper, one of the posters that Bellwether had made up to show Judy as the new face of the ZPD. They had never been widely distributed, but a few boxes of them were probably still floating around somewhere. "I found one of these the other day, and I just know my brother's never going to believe that I met you unless I have proof. Do you think you could sign this for him? I'll basically be the coolest big brother ever if you do."
