The fox ended up getting to the Station soaking wet, Nick's red fur was all spiky, enough to make Judy stop abruptly while angrily stepping towards him, ready to smash him with complaints, and burst into laughter.
"Yeah, yeah" he shook his head, making it rain all over her ironed uniform and lustrous badge, Judy tap her foot on the floor multiple times and pointed a finger to his face.
"You can't do that, show up late on your first day of work!" her pointed years just couldn't descend anymore, they were already threatening to make her hat fall off.
"I'm sorry, I really am" Nick was telling the truth, he didn't mean to spend all night staring at his ceiling while trying not to think "I didn't mean to let you down, that won't happen again, I promise" he thought he'd seen a smile gain life on the corner of her mouth, but she soon turned around and started to roam through the hallway.
"We need to find whoever is archiving the files of our case" there was already an 'our case', she was unstoppable, Nick thought to himself.
"I didn't know we had a case"
"We don't, they're trying to file it and let it rot among the unsolved ones" she already had given up on her hat, now she was holding it on her hands while turning her ears in all the directions they could possibly reach "Found it!" she started to race towards the administration sector. Nick was still dripping water from the tempest outside and was now arching to follow her through the hallways full of cops that now gazed at him, finally he managed to get their attention hun? They were turning at each other and talking, Nick could feel the words hitting him from behind his back 'fox', 'untrustworthy', 'felon', he could hear them all in his head, he just didn't knew if his ears could hear them as well. He couldn't concentrate on nothing more than this voices, and the next thing he knew was that he was plopped on the floor.
"Look at where you're going" he heard the gazelle growling.
"I'm sorry" he pulled himself up, it was basically all that he could say on that day, on that life.
"Nick, what is the matter?" her voice got to him as she supported his shoulder so he could get up. His head was spinning, he felt like the room was getting smaller and smaller, compressing his lungs so he couldn't breathe anymore.
"I have to…" he stumbled by a group of pigs that were laughing at the scene, as soon as he got to the glass door that opened to the not so fresh air of the city, he heard Judy screaming to the pigs behind him and they all apologizing to her.
It was cold and rainy outside, but he didn't care, the wind caressed his red fur and he could feel free. It almost sounded like the streets were singing his name.
"I'm so sorry" her voice got him by surprise, he looked down to the little bunny that stood in front of him, both of them were under a plafond that offered protection from the water drops, but Nick still felt like all the clouds in the world were just above his head, and the look in her eyes evinced that she felt it too. "I pushed it too far, I just thought that things would change after all the…"
"You were wrong" his words came out sharp as a knife and he instantly regret saying them, but she didn't feel discouraged, instead, she felt more determined to change things so she would never again see that look on his eyes.
"Come, let me show you something" suddenly the rain stopped, and she was halfway into the parking lot when she noticed he wasn't following her "Come on!" she waved and started jumping towards the avenue. He liked to see her like that, he felt fresh as if he was only a kid again and his dreams were all about being the best boy scout the city had ever had "Don't make me…" before she was finished, he jumped towards her and brought them both down to the floor in a very tender hug. Nick was still angry, actually the word that best described his state is furious, but he didn't care, she was now laughing and gingerly punching him in the arm. Now they were both soaking wet from falling on a slop in the middle of that cement forest, they felt happy because they were now on the same boat, nothing was able to get to one of them without getting to both. Life wasn't perfect, July thought to herself while watching Nick shaking his head in hope that would help him getting dry, but sure it was worth living.
They got to her apartment building by lunchtime, the Sun was starting to show it's face behind the dark clouds.
"Wanna come in?" she asked, her nose twitching a little while she was trying to hide her excitement, Nick scuffed his head so the voices would shut up; 'fox on the rabbit's nest', the worst part was that he knew that wasn't him, but the stares seemed to know it best, and to scream louder.
"Yes, I do" he took her hand while blushing underneath his fur.