Well well, the first chapter of a long ride! Hope it's exciting for me as it is for you all!
These first few chapters are gonna be a bit tricky because it's been nearly a year since Primal came to a close. I recently re-read it and was appalled by my writing style - brute and ugly - of the first few chapters. Unfortunately I don't have the hours in the day to go back and re-write half the book, so it will stay in its current format until it drives me crazy enough that I get around to doing it.
I've attempted to tie in themes, plots, and details from Primal into these first few chapters. There'll be quite the amount of interweaving going on, so I hope you all don't mind a few callbacks here and there. Since my primary story is still A Fox in Shining Armor, and will remain that way for some time, I can't exactly guarantee that the release of chapters for Intrigue will be as punctual as I make them out to be. I apologize in advance if this causes any problems.
Before I leave you to it, I'd like to mention with a heavy heart that Intrigue will be put on a brief hiatus until AFISA is done and dusted. My average chapter length has nearly-doubled over these past few years, and I'm mostly unable to continue two stories at the same time. Expect an update on Intrigue at a later date (June, maybe?) when AFISA is approaching its conclusion.
Edit 1, 3-4-18: Fixed Formatting issues.
Let's jump straight into this first adventure, shall we?
Judy couldn't stop her gaze from darting back to the station's clock, hanging behind the front desk as it ticked away, every second painfully slow.
7:17, Nick. She impatiently thought, her foot tapping apprehensively as she turned back to the station's sunlight-stained glass doors, her ears straight and eyes searching amid the bustle of the morning commons. Eight minutes 'til assignments. Better get your tail here soon...
Another idle minute flew by, followed closely by a second, and then a third. Her frowning gaze fell to the floor as she let loose a curt sigh, her arms crossing over her tight chest while her already speedy tapping increased tenfold. This would be the first time she saw her partner in a battle-ready state ever since he left for Arctic One. Excitement bubbled beneath her fur as much as apprehension did; she'd grown so used to seeing him with wintry fur and a sickly thin body that the thought of him being as muscular as before made her ears rush with red.
But that's not even the half of it. She reminded herself, stifling a gulp as her expression became marred by worry. He's not Nick Wilde anymore. At least, not to anyone except me...
The Mayor's brilliant plan was to slip her partner back into society under a thoroughly detailed guise, that she knew nothing about. She hadn't been told if he'd look different, if he'd smell different, if he'd be different. She didn't even know his alias! Being kept in the dark made her furious nine times out of ten, but this morning and last night it had left her more sleepless and stressed than fuming. At the end of the day she'd be working with a friend she'd thought gone forever.
"What's going on in that fluffy head of yours, Judy?" Clawhauser politely spoke up, leaning over his desk and staring down at her with a fascinated expression and powdered sugar around his muzzle. "I haven't seen you this nervous since that outbreak of fleas that one summer!"
"Don't remind me of that," She curtly replied, rubbing the sides of her skull and shuddering as her mind dragged up that suppressed memory, but she turned up to the chubby-faced cheetah with a clear smirk once she'd swept it back under. "I'm just a little nervous at the buzz that a fresh recruit starts today, and that the Chief's assigning him as my partner."
"You really think that's true?" Clawhauser asked, ears high but doubt rife in his gaze, and Judy couldn't help but grin at his giddiness that almost instantaneously erupted into amazement. "Wow! I never thought that'd ever happen after... well, everything. I'm so sorry If I sound rude, but are you sure you're ready for a new partner?"
"You have no idea, Ben," She merrily reassured, arms crossing over her uniform again in concerted anticipation while her ears shot high and folded comically over each other. "Fingers crossed he's as skillful as Wilde!"
"You bunnies, always looking on the brighter side of the fence!" Clawhauser lightheartedly laughed, waving a downward paw at her before he sat his plump cheeks in his palms, his perky tail swaying behind him. "So what's this guy like? Have you met him before?"
"We've been in touch, but only a little bit," She warmly explained, cheeks blushing as she pictured her words very literally, paws curling awkwardly around her biceps, and she distantly watched as Clawhauser glanced across the common's floor as a tide of cool morning air rushed indoors. "All that I know is that he's a-"
"Fox!?" He exclaimed in utter disbelief before she could finish, eyes and mouth agape as he flew straight out of his office chair. Her heart skipped a beat as her stare whirled towards the station's glass entrance, and her jaw dropped to the ground when she saw who was striding through the bright doorway.
Nick was clad in a brand-new uniform, a ceremonial golden badge pinned to his chest and an impenetrable pair of thick, black sunglasses concealing his eyes that stared straight ahead. His characteristic grin wasn't present on his sleek muzzle, but his coat had thinned to a summer length while his fur had transformed a shade lighter, making the white under his snout stand out like blood on snow.
He took a sip of his steamy coffee as he waltzed across the commons in an orderly manner, not giving even the slightest flick of his well-groomed tail to reveal the emotions behind his expressionless face. That didn't stop Judy from quickening her breaths at his unhurried approach, her mouth agape and her chest pounding to the point of pain as she studied the muscular build beneath his button-up shirt and his foreign cover-scent that forced her nose to twitch erratically. Had she not known his true identity, she wasn't certain she'd ever crack it using her own sleuthing skills!
Her gawking mouth snapped shut and her paws fell politely to her sides as he strolled within earshot after what felt like an eon of being lost in her own bewilderment. Her fur heated beneath her bodysuit and her ears shot stiff when she realized the idle chatter from her scattered coworkers had faded, leaving a stunned silence in the cavernous room; aside from a few whispers and footsteps. The entire station seemed to be watching the two of them, yet all she heard was her own thumping heartbeat echo as he strolled to a stop beside her, not so much as an ear perked in her direction as his pursed lips took another sip of his beverage.
Judy had to clench her fists and bite the inside of her cheek to halt the burning urge to scream in excitement and leap onto him with everyone around as witnesses. Her zealous exhilaration at being this close to her partner, even in disguise, after seeing him thoroughly vulnerable and unsteady only a few weeks before made itself known in her wide pupils, her expectant face leaning towards his as her ears stretched higher, her swollen chest begging for him to say something, anything!
Her neck went rigid when her prayers were finally answered, his face stiffly glancing down at hers, a sole finger pulling his sunglasses down his muzzle. She inhaled a breath of surprise as two exceptionally blue eyes pried into her very soul.
"Hopps?" Nick curiously pushed in a light Vulch[1] accent, his impassive glare flicking over her from head to toe without even the slightest sign of the enthusiasm that broiled beneath her own fur.
"That's me!" She over-enthusiastically exclaimed, a wide, nervous grin growing on her muzzle as her paws raised awkwardly halfway up her sides, as though she was halfheartedly inviting him into a hug. "It's a pleasure to welcome you to the force, Officer…?"
Nick didn't reply immediately, taking a few extra moments to study her unnerved expression critically, enough time to let a gnawing silence hang in the air. When he finally did speak he readjusted his sunglasses back over his eyes and coolly downed another sip of his coffee.
"Vos[2]," He flatly answered, strolling off from her side with his perky tail swaying and without so much as a tilt of an ear back to her. "I pictured you taller, and quieter, Officer Hopps."
"What..." Judy distantly started, watching limp-eared as her new partner glided down the station's array of hallways, confusion rising in her voice while a disgruntled frown entrenched into her forehead.
What a jerk! An irked voice shouted from inside her skull, her ears flattening and jaw stiffening as the silence in the room transformed into fascinated mumbles unintentionally directed at her. Nick's workplace identity would not be some stuck-up, disinterested, silent fox - she was certain of it! They'd just gotten off on the wrong foot; maybe this 'Vos' was just a little anxious in front of so many mammals he didn't kno- err, hadn't seen in so long! That seemed like a suitable answer.
Judy sent a quick, apologetic smile up to Clawhauser before her itching feet carried her across the commons, her cheeks burning at the scorching touch of his half-lidded gaze and ear-to-ear grin.
Now is not the time to insinuate that stuff, Ben! Her mind agitatedly reprimanded. Her frown dissipated and a forced smile dominated her expression when she followed Officer Vos's scent down the station's main hallway, running up to his side and leaning around him, trying to catch his attention when he didn't stop to glance down at her.
"My apologies if I'm a bit chatty, Officer Vos," She hastily started, darting to walk in front of him with her clenched paws held politely over her cotton ball tail. "I guess you can expect I'm a little keen to know more about you, if we're going to be partners and all that."
Part of her half-expected Nick to reply with a wry grin before trading back a quip about her being an 'eager bunny', but she twitched an ear when all he did was take the final sip of his coffee and toss the paper cup into a passing bin, his sunglasses and ears still trained forward as though he couldn't be bothered sparing a glance at her.
"I'd be the same," He bluntly countered, finally managing a show of mammality with a reflective grin while a paw placed his sunglasses into his uniform's pocket, his icy eyes still faced further down the hall. "But your reputation for flirtation precedes you, Officer Hopps. I'm sure you'll discover more about me in our free time, but I come to work for work. If you want to know more about me, read my profile."
"Trust me, I would've if I had the files," She mumbled, showing her annoyance at being kept in the dark with a flick of her ear and a slowing of her pace – enough that the Officer slipped past her - but her senses shot to code red no more than an instant later.
"What do you mean flirtation?" She demanded, visibly irritated, stomping her foot and marching after Officer Vos down the thankfully noisy hallway when he didn't turn to respond. He was the one who had started flirting with her all those years ago; she had only done it because she could tell he liked it!
"I don't flirt with anyone! I have normal chats with friends!" She defensively explained, darting to his front and staring up at him, waiting expectantly for his reaction.
"Tell that to Officer Wilde," He tonelessly retorted with a dismissive flick of his ear, waltzing through the open doorway to the briefing room with her fuming breaths hot at his heels. "You two seemed awfully close on television."
"Oh. My. God," She growled, following him up onto a seat at the front of the room with a menacing stamp of her foot, completely ignoring the curious stare the bull to their right was giving them. "Don't bring Nick into this, Vos. We were friends – nothing more."
"Reallllly?" He drawled rhetorically, raising a doubtful eyebrow while the rest of his stiff expression remained unamused, as if he wasn't doing this to rile her up but to prove a point. "From what I hear you two shared an awfully close moment in the records room one evening…" [3]
Gossipy chatter echoed from the corners of the room at that, and Judy felt her teeth grind as her paws clenched into fists, while her face turned a shade of tomato-red. He remembered that night?! He'd been so drunk he could hardly make it to work the next morning! Had he been playing her for a fool all this time, making her think she could keep a private moment just for herself? And to top it all off, he'd just told the entire precinct. She'd never hear the end of it from Clawhauser; but this fox was a good as dead.
"Shut up, or I'll make you," She threatened with genuine, low-voiced fury almost as crimson as her flushed ears that bristled as she rose up on her heels in a fruitless attempt to match his height and levied a claw at his deadpan face.
"How?" He questioned in his robotic accent, arms folding over his chest and his expectant blue stare only fanning the flames inside her. "Chatting me up?"
Judy felt her nose wrinkle and muscles tense, incapable of hearing the gasps and childish ooos that their colleagues uttered above the sound of blood roaring. That was the last straw. As long as he made fun of her with humorous intent she didn't care who heard their banter, but this?! She was going to wring that snarky throat of his until-
"OFFICERS!" A booming voice erupted, shaking everything not nailed down and startling Judy and the emotionless fox in front of her. Chief Bogo stormed into the room, pushing past Officer Higgins with an irritated snort, one of his hooves pointed down at them commandingly while his other clutched his clipboard and pen. "SHUT IT AND SIT DOWN."
They both obliged instantaneously, Judy clutching her paws together and snapping her jaw shut as she darted onto her rear, all her attention entirely focused on the Chief's critical glare instead of Officer Vos. He scorched her fur while the remainder of the room's chatter quieted down until her feet were fidgeting anxiously below the chair and heat pulsed beneath her cheeks.
"You two are awfully talkative for your first day as partners," He warily grumbled, stalking away to the podium at the head of the room with a sharp shake of his horned head. Judy didn't need much help to hear the hidden message in his words, and she clenched her jaw even tighter and lowered her head in shameful embarrassment as her eyes cut over to Officer Vos.
Nick was a hell of a performer, she'd give him that. Her fury wasn't directed at him, no matter how much of the sly con-mammal she saw in his stoic, alert expression. Instead, it was pointed entirely at this 'Officer Vos' he was now playing. It certainly didn't help her that everything about him wasn't him. His fur, his smile, his scent, even his walk was different for carrots' sake! It both drove her mad and made her stop and appreciate his dedication to the carefully-constructed façade.
"To the zero mammals in the room that haven't noticed, we have a new member on the force starting today," The Chief stiffly announced with a twinge of irritation still infused in his tone, and he unfolded his reading glasses as he flipped a page on his clipboard. "Officer Vos has just transferred from Hollantler. This isn't his first day on the streets, but let's show him how we do things here in the big city. Hopps, I trust you'll make a better impression on our new officer than what I'm seeing now."
"Grizzoli. Johnson. Keep on the suspect from Friday," Bogo ordered, passing a red folder to the two huge mammals as they walked past the podium, and Judy perked up as the Chief pointed a finger at her, not bothering to look up. "Hopps, Vos – Sahara Square. Patrol. Now."
In this heat? She silently exclaimed, managing a dread-filled glance out the cracked open window right beside her and feeling the humid, sticky air waft over her face. With a resigned nod and a suppressed groan she slipped from the chair, following Officer Vos across the tiled floor with her eyes focused on his rigid, light brown tail.
"Try not to spill too much blood on the seats, please," The Chief called out in farewell, a disgruntled scowl taking over his face as he stared at a grimacing grizzly bear at the back of the room. "I'm still getting flak for that stunt you pulled at the Waterhill stakeout, Officer Bearnstien."
Judy smirked and huffed dryly, following the Chief's glare towards the uncomfortable officer cowering under the weight of the room's stare, but her feet froze solid in the doorway when she noticed not everyone had shifted their eyes away from her.
Out of the dozens of her coworkers only a few were staring down at her and Officer Vos, who'd stalked out into the empty hallway, but it was their raw, touched expressions that made her heart thump up her throat. Officer Wolfenstein had a genuine smile painted onto his muzzle, as did a sparse pawful of her other coworkers, while Officer Rhinowitz was grinning and giddily tossing his head as though she and Vos had triggered some childish reaction inside him.
These were her colleagues who'd accompanied her and the Chief on the fateful excursion to Arctic One all those months before. Aside from the Chief, Doctor Zdanskyi, and some half-dozen of the Mayor's political associates, these were the only blue-collar mammals who knew the submerged truth about her new partner.
It dawned on her in that instant that they also probably knew about everything that'd happened since then – the exact details the Chief had spilled to them she didn't have a clue, but judging by their toothy grins they were entirely aware of the tumultuous ride they'd been on; they knew it all.
A flustered, thankful grimace took hold of her muzzle as her eyes darted between their stares, and her feet pulled her out after her partner a moment later when the rest of the room started to turn back to the Chief.
I suppose it was only a matter of time before that cat was let out of the bag… She distantly reminded herself, her eyes facing the beige tiles along her path as she squeezed a paw and brought it up to rest on her vest, a smile rising in unison. And I haven't seen anyone that glad to see Slick since… well, when was the last time I looked in a mirror?
Really, they weren't just looking at him like that. She went on after a moment's thought, her blushing ears perking up along with her eyes when an ill-tempered horse stormed past in gym clothes, forcing her closer to Officer Vos' side. It almost seemed like they were happy to see us back together!
Still beaming, she glanced over to her left and looked up at her partner, nearly expecting him to turn down to her with a snide remark that'd make her chirp with laughter. But the humor in his face she'd grown addicted to was all but buried beneath his stark, focused eyes, no longer the warm green so characteristic of his wry demeanor but a merciless shade of blue that somehow reminded her of her duty.
How the hell am I supposed to feel? She demanded, visibly aggravated, flexing her paws at her sides while a frown took hold on her forehead as they passed through the end of the hallway and into the cavernous commons. Excited? Anxious? Furious?
"I trust you'll be the one driving, Officer Hopps?" Officer Vos pressed, derailing her train of thought and rotating a nonchalant ear towards her as he popped his sunglasses back over his face. "My license is still in the mail."
"Yeah, I'll pull the cruiser around front," She tonelessly confirmed, almost hurt by the disinterest in his voice as she stared up at his deadpan tangerine face.
Sitting in the cruiser's driver's seat and starting the ignition, Judy breathed a deep sigh, her eyes focusing in on the dirty wall of the underground car park as she took a moment to collect her thoughts before she pulled out in front of the station. She remained incapable of pinpointing her emotions accurately; she was just as excited to be working with her partner again as she was nervous that someone would see right through his disguise. Maybe stressed beyond belief would be a simpler way of putting it.
The road in front of the headquarters was sealed off to non-police vehicles, making the drive smooth as she pulled the cruiser over to the sidewalk and unlocked the doors. Her critical gaze remained glued to Officer Vos as he came striding from the station's doors, a manila folder in his paw and his sunglasses facing down the street like he was already scanning for crime.
He hopped in the passenger's seat and slammed the door shut, sealing them from prying ears and eyes thanks to the tinted glass. Her paws tightened around the rim of the steering wheel and nose twitched erratically as he opened the folder in his paws, not sparing her so much as a flick of his tail as he read over red-inked files.
Yet she couldn't be dissuaded so easily; she was Judy Hopps! Hero cop of Zootopia! One grim fox wasn't going to stop her from getting what she wanted. Her arms crossed over her chest as she rotated towards the silent Officer, tapping her foot impatiently and twitching an ear to send a signal for him to speak.
Her message clearly got through his thick sunglasses, cause with a wide grin he snapped the folder in his paws shut and tossed the eyepiece into the cupholders separating them before he turned to face her, his expression packed full of sarcasm and affection like a tower about to be demolished.
"Convincing enough of a performance for you, Carrots?" He dryly joked without the forced inflection of his accent, leaning towards her with a tilted eyebrow, and at the humor in his tone she scoffed and shook her head, much to his amusement.
"Nicholas P Wilde, consider yourself lucky if I don't tear your tail off by the end of today," She grumbled as she fell back into her seat, body tensing at the lighthearted chortles coming from her partner, but the irritation ruffling her ears nearly instantaneously shifted into amazement and excitement.
"I mean, you pull it off!" She hastily clarified, darting onto her knees in the oversized chair and leaning forward with her paws on her thighs, smiling wildly while her nose twitched, her bouncing body hardly believing she was sitting next to her partner on the job once again. "I don't think anyone suspected you were… erm, yourself! I mean, you look and act like you're a completely different mammal! Who are you, and what've you done with Nick?"
"Was there ever any doubt I wouldn't be able to?" He rhetorically asked, running his paws down his midsection and puffing his chest proudly.
"Yes," She mischievously answered with a bluntly honest nod, and the whites of her teeth emerged in a toothy grin when he rolled those big blue eyes of his and huffed an unamused breath.
"I can't take all the credit," He cheerfully conceded, shaking off his irritation and flicking her shoulder with the tip of his tail, a toothy, proud smile pulling at his cheeks. "Your fuming tirade in front of Buffalo Brains was better than any acting I could've done, especially when I thought up that story about us making out in the records room."
"You lied about that?" She stammered, her shocked tongue working faster than her instinct to play along with his lie, flinching away with rose-red humiliation burning her cheeks while her rigid ears fell like anchors, but her eyes remained locked onto her partner's humorous face. "You mean… you didn't… know?"
"Yeah," Nick dryly chuckled, forcing her head to shrink into her shoulders shamefully as she buried herself into the padding of the driver's seat, and he studied her curiously for a second longer before his fluffed tail shot straight and all the blood drained from his expression, his body recoiling as though he'd just been shot. "Wait… what?! Are you saying we-"
"That night the unit threw a welcome back party for the Chief, after he had the flu…" She unenthusiastically confirmed before he'd finished, nodding grimly and grimacing as embarrassment razed every inch of her pelt. If she hadn't been such a dumb rabbit and jumped to conclusions back in the briefing room, then there'd be no need for the awkwardness of this conversation. But on the other paw, maybe that's what made their exchange believable.
"You were drunk and making a fool of yourself, so I pulled you into records and you… sort of… got frisky…"
She crossed her arms and dug her paws between her thighs in a vain attempt to draw the crimson from her ears and cheeks, but the supple way his paws held her body off the ground and that wide grin he sent her in a drunken lust haunted her like a ghost, only expelled with a sharp clearing of her throat. From the corner of her vision she saw Nick turn to stare out his door's tinted window, his tangerine face almost back to its usual shade of red and his tail curling around his waist.
"Oh…" Was the extent of his reply. It about summed up the level of joy she felt right now, and she writhed uncomfortably and suppressed a humiliated shudder when he turned back towards her with a ruffled grimace.
"No wonder you were red-faced for the rest of the week," He nervously reminisced, shifting on his rear as he tried to deescalate the tension between them with a forced laugh. "That must've been the spark that sent your 'rabbit instincts' for me into overdrive!"
The red in her cheeks was clouding her sight in a matter of instants, and she darted onto her feet and pulled her partner by his uniform's collar, teeth bared menacingly, her ears bristling wildly, and her irate frown swimming in a concoction of embarrassment and fury.
"Hey, remember what the Chief told us, Carrots!" Nick nervously reminded, his paws shooting up innocently as the discomfort in his grimace slowly transitioned to misguided coolness. "No blood on the seats!"
"One of these times you'll push me over the edge," She growled, begrudgingly letting him fall back into his seat – not without first placing a warning step on his tail - and she returned to the steering wheel with her paws clenched into fists and her head slowly shaking.
This fucking fox is going to get himself killed. She silently grumbled, folding her arms over her chest as her eyes cut across to study the immortal grin on his muzzle. Her nose twitched as she picked up the strange scent radiating from his clothes, and she darted back onto her feet with a stiff flick of her ear, knowing she wouldn't be able to stay angry at him forever. Flippant jokes were just part of what made him who he was.
"How did you changed your scent?" She disbelievingly pressed, genuine curiosity pulling at her as she hopped over the gearbox between their seats and inspected his neck fur with her paws, examining the dyed roots while her nose incessantly breathed in his foreign scent. "And… how is your coat so perfectly colored? It's like, abnormally natural!"
"Remember that undercover sting we got sent on in the Baaaaad side of Tundratown?" He asked, his smirking stare cutting across to watch her while she ran her fingers through his soft fur, and she suppressed a groan at his atrocious pun but nodded. "It's just like then. There's a masking spray that drowns out my own musk, a dye I mix with my shampoo every morning to lighten up my coat, and the colored contacts are self-explanatory."
"What I'm really dying to hear is what you think about Officer Vos, Carrots," He went on, raising an intrigued eyebrow and tilting his ears at her as she stepped away from him to lean against the side of the gear stick while she stroked his tail. "Do you love him, or do you hate him? And don't try to swindle me, 'cause I told you it was either gonna be one or the other."
"I love the fox who plays him," She drolly answered, smiling at the tickling touch of his bushy fur against her palms as she stared into his sapphire eyes with less amusement. "Vos just kinda seems like a stuck-up workaholic, though. Definitely not my type, and I'm one for working a year's worth of overtime!"
"His profile says he's 'married to the job'," Nick explained, unfolding the manila folder in his lap and skipping through the walls of text that seemed thick enough to make a politician cringe. "Born and raised with blue blood. The polar opposite of the vulpine archetype and every fox I've ever met if you ask me, but I'm not the one who wrote this steaming mess."
"You're not a mammal I picture as a book critic," She wittily commented, raising a critical eyebrow and ending her long brushes on his tail as he forced a pleasant huff.
"You'd be surprised," He retorted matter-of-factly, leaning towards her with a roguish grin as he snapped the unassuming folder shut and tapped his knuckles against its blank cover. "I've done a fair bit of reading in my life, Carrots, and not just comic books. The Mayor was acting like this was top-secret info, when really it's about as bland as hotel coffee."
"But if you don't believe me, take it and see if it stirs your pot," He nonchalantly conceded, passing her the files with an outstretched paw, but his daring voice quickly rose. "I already know everything there is about 'Arthur H. Vos', and I don't see why my partner shouldn't be in on the secret. Besides, what's the Mayor gonna do if he wants that back? Kill me a third time?"
"I'd like to see him try!" She brazenly barked, snatching the weighty folder from him and propping it open against her chest with a grin just as affectionate as it was audacious. "I'm not letting anyone ever lay a whisker on you again!"
"Including yourself?" He quietly pressed, resting his chin on his folded paws as he lifted a doubtful eyebrow at her, but she brushed off his stare with an irritated roll of her eyes. She began to thumb through the filled pages, reading a few words here and a sentence there, but the life-draining monotony of the file quickly bored her, and she glanced back up at Nick in astonishment.
"You," She remarked dumbfoundedly, stressing every word with her eyes agape as she motioned between him and the file with her index finger. "Memorized all of this in only a few days? I'm really trying not to doubt you, Nick, but-"
"I bet you the week's paperwork that I can answer every question in there, Fluff," He confidently interrupted, a challenging look in his eyes that dared her to call his bluff. Needless to say, the prospect of an entire week without paperwork was enticing enough on its own, although she couldn't help but suspect the wager was about as loaded as the taser on her belt.
"You're in for it now, sweetheart!" She heartily exclaimed, pouring over a random page with as much attention she'd give a robbery case. "Let's see… what year were you born?"
"Easy - 1985," Nick casually answered without an instant's thought, his curled tail stretching as he faked a huge, disinterested yawn that made her dig through the folder more tenaciously.
"What's your mother's maiden name?" She quizzed, trying to pull more obscure details, and her fluffy tail wagged excitedly when her partner squinted and stared off distantly.
"Vilder," He carefully replied after a drawn-out moment of deep thought, and she couldn't stop a grumble from rumbling her throat at the cheeky grin that met her when she rigidly nodded.
"Lucky guess," She murmured, tapping her foot in irritation as she glanced back down and flicked through a few more pages. "But what's your favorite TV show?"
"Trick question; who has time for entertainment when they could be making the world a better place?" Nick triumphantly declared, puffing his chest and holding a fist against himself while a sarcastically duteous frown emerged.
Almost sounds like me before I moved here… She wholeheartedly reminisced, smirking at the amazement she'd felt when first seeing the station's massive structure nearly four years ago.
"I'm impressed, Slick," She proudly remarked, sliding the folder into the deep glove box and placing her paws commandingly on her hips, and he hastily ended his mischievous display and stared down at her from his knees victoriously. "I guess I'm on desk duty 'til Friday. You know your stuff about the department's newest Officer!"
"A little rabbit taught me some study tips at the academy," He warmly admitted with a doting wink, making her smirk gently and sniff affectionately as her arms folded over her hot chest, yet in the span of a breath the excitement bubbling in his expression erupted in a jocular rant. "But sweet chilis, you don't know how amazing it feels to be back. I'm not cradled in a room like a crazed animal anymore, but here. In Zootopia! With you, and Clawhauser, and Finnick and Voltaire, and Mr. Big and his henchmen! It's just like old times!"
"Everyone's glad to have you back, Nick," She mildly assured, genuinely surprised at how eager he was to get back into the mundane swing of things. Her paw darted down and grasped his of its own volition, and their fingers intertwined as she reeled her catch back and held it against her chest. His handsome face lit up with compassion, a sight she'd only rarely seen before.
"I think I know who's the gladdest," He lightly murmured, cupping the side of her head with a tenderness that a few months ago she wouldn't've believed possible for him. That second her eyes were blinded by a pink curtain that draped over them, and her wobbly heart made her lip tremble as she rubbed her cheek against the press of his paw. All her senses were overcome by the soft brush of his velvety palms, the cohesion of her mind slowly beginning to unravel when the touch gently retreated.
"I don't need to take a gander in the mirror," She stammered back, blinking open her watery amethysts and beaming unsteadily while her free paw weakly clasped the back of her foxy partner's head. "I'm just so… so, so, so, so happy you're back. I never thought we'd be doing this again, I never thought you'd be here again, I…"
"You bunnies," He affectionately butted in, holding a finger to her lips and wiping the corners of her blurry vision with his thumbs while his supportive tail snaked along her spine, drawing her close to his creamy muzzle. "Such emotional little creatures. C'mere."
He didn't need to ask a second time. Her arms wrapped around his neck tighter than a noose and her muzzle plunged into his shoulder, her euphoric mind spinning at the feeling of his fur. She grinned and squeezed her eyes shut as his arms pulled her into a cocoon of nothing but him, their hearts thumping as one as his tail swept up behind her and the bottom of his snout dug into her shoulder blades. She had waited so long for this…
"Love you Judes," Nick quietly murmured into the tip of her ear, his voice so faint she wasn't sure if she was hallucinating it. She couldn't care less, really, because at the 'L' word Judy felt her heart leap skyward and dance among the stars, all her senses becoming lost in the fuzzy moment.
"Love you too, you big, dumb fox," She ardently retorted, burying her paws deeper into the fur bunched around his uniform's collar and trying fruitlessly to taste his natural, musky scent. His snout rubbed against the back of her skull amorously as she further buried herself into his heat, a tingling feeling echoing upwards along her arching spine. Almost instinctively she started to streak the bottom of her chin along the side of his neck, breathing heavy breath after heavy breath as she ground the flowery smell of her scent suppressant into the foreign scent hanging on his coat.
"Hey n-now, we don't want to m-mingle our scents too m-much," Nick shakily warned, the press of his paws and tail releasing from her back as he tried to nudge her off him.
No! A primitive voice echoed from some crevice beneath her skull, yet she withdrew her paws from his back and maneuvered off his lap that she'd subconsciously moved to perch on.
"R-right," She agreed with a taut nod as she scooted over onto her seat with a sharp sniff, not without a little red in her flustered cheeks from both her winded breaths and raw embarrassment. "Wouldn't want Clawhauser breathing down our necks again."
"Ah, let him," Nick casually dismissed with a downward wave of his paw and a sly glint in his sapphire eyes. "Then I can bet against his fantasies with Delgato and make some quick bank."
"There's the partner I know," She sarcastically declared with a wag of her index finger.
"And he's gone," He dryly joked in the heavy accent of Officer Vos and stealing his gaze beneath his pair of thick black sunglasses, but the grin on his muzzle betrayed his real identity. "Now let's hit the streets! We've got some criminal tail to bring to justice."
She didn't know how long she had waited, how many witnesses she'd interviewed, how many sleepless nights she'd suffered through to hear him say that, but it was more than worth it. With an excited exclamation of agreement, she started the ignition and their cruiser roared off down the sunny street.
[1] Vulch - Vulpine + Dutch. This'll be expanded upon in future chapters, so go listen to Dutch people or something, I dunno.
[2] - Roughly translates to fox in Dutch. Not the most creative surname, but neither are most names in Zootopia, so oh well.
[3] - I've actually described this encounter before in Primal. Head back over to Chapter 3 - Hello if you need a catch-up or are a little curious!
Thank gosh some of the turmoil of the past few chapters is over! Finally a little bit of normalization - but not for long!
A Fox in Shining Armor: A Zootopia Fanfiction CH18 - February 28th
Intrigue: A Zootopia Fanfiction CH2 - On hold until mid-2018