Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Disney, least of all Zootopia (yet)
Late morning of the next day
"When you said that we could do anything we want this was not really what I imagined." Whined Nick.
"Oh come on Nick, we did what you wanted for the first half of the morning and now it is my turn." Judy replied with a sigh. She knew what was coming and so she did not even flinch when Nick tried to sway her with puppy dog eyes. An annoying trick that he had learned from Aileen.
And Judy knew that she could never ever let him know just how effective this tactic was and how much restraint it took for her not to give in.
"Stop looking at me like that!" Judy said the firm voice that normal mothers usually only reserved for their kits.
"But, Carrots, why this?" Nick whined once more.
And Judy just gave him a firm look in an attempt to just push this conversation aside.
"I mean,"Nick started saying in his most dramatic voice while raising one paw over his head as if he was about to faint,"my heart is not ready dear. How could you force this on me?"
Any normal wife would have been embarrassed to see their husband like this, Judy thought, so what did it say about her that she wasn't even the least bit surprised?
"Oh suck it up Slick." She replied a little bit annoyed, this was shaping up to be harder than taking Aileen to the dentist and that was usually a chore in and of itself.
But that did not mean that she was out of ideas yet.
"You know Nick," Judy said while turning around and putting one paw on her chin as if in deep thought,"the way you are dodging this makes it seem as though you are trying to hide something."
Even with Nick now at her back she had no need to look at him in order to know that he was probably panicking right now.
While Nick was really good at hiding stuff and manipulation others he was at the same time also very careful about his standing with others. Which meant that he was actually scared of her getting the wrong idea about him.
This was a problem that had lead to them hooking up much later than either of them would have liked.
And while Judy disliked using Nick's insecurities against him,desperate times always call for desperate measures, right?
"I mean it is just a bank visit we are talking about." Judy added with a smirk which Nick luckily could not see.
She calmly started walking towards the entrance of their apartment building which they had been standing in for what felt like an hour to Judy but couldn't have been more than ten minutes in reality.
"Maybe you scammed someone at the bank and that is the reason why you are hellbent on staying at home?" Judy suggested not without noticing the small noise that Nick made when she said these words. I sounded almost like a whine but with the way that he suppressed the noise it was hard to tell.
And after that he actually still answered firmly with,"Of course not!"
Which was to be expected since Judy knew that he was actually just to lazy for all the paperwork.
"Or maybe you are in crippling debt and haven't told me about it?" Judy asked while she turned around to look at her mate who was currently vigorously shaking his head.
"Fluff I used to make..." He was about to start his monologue but Judy quickly interrupted him, she was on top right now and she would stay there.
"200 bucks a day Slick, I know. But that gives me another idea." Judy said and Nick gulped when she came so close that her chest almost touched his belly.
"Maybe...maybe you are not in crippling debt!", Judy said in the most overly dramatic way possible.
"I told you I am not. I..." Inserted Nick but she shushed him right away.
"Maybe you are sitting on a fortune my red furred rouge."
She grabbed his tie and pulled him down so that she could whisper,"And you are keeping it from me so that you can use it to one day run away with some vixen isn't that right?"
That was so amusing to see Nick's eyes go wide while his ears flattened against his skull.
However when she saw real guilt in Nick's eyes Judy felt her joy fade just as quickly as it had come.
Before she could even react, and before she had any time to apologize, Nick went on his knees and embraced her with his eyes tearing up.
"I am so sorry Judy! Please forgive me if I made you think that I would ever just leave you like that."
WAIT WHAT?
Judy was confused by this reaction. She could have imagined him trying to brush it off or actually pout about the fact that she would insinuate something like that.
Maybe at best just give in and go to the bank with her without any more complaints just to clear things up.
But crying?
That was entirely new and pretty concerning to Judy.
The fact that Nick, the mammal who never showed anyone his emotions was openly crying in the middle of the apartment building lobby was indeed very concerning.
It showed her that she had struck a nerve and it alarmed her to the fact that she needed to tread very carefully from here on out.
This thought of hers was only reinforced when Nick tightened his embrace and started to nuzzle her back with his long snout.
And so she started to stroke his side lovingly and said,"come on Nick, I know that you would never do that. I was just joking." Smooth Judy, very smooth said a sarcastic voice in her mind.
Nick did not answer, in fact he did not even react at all.
And so they were just sitting there, embracing each other until his little emotional phase was over.
She would absolutely have to talk to him about this, but not now and most definitely not in public.
It took a while for Nick to actually calm down and Judy thanked the stars that no mammal entered or left the building during this time.
Dealing with concerned neighbors would be the last nail in the coffin and she had no intention of being the new hot gossip around the neighborhood and thus, thanks to her hero cop status, the entire city.
"Hey maybe we should go back up and just relax until Aileen gets out of school today." Judy suggested in an attempt to salvage the situation as best as possible.
Nick meanwhile who had recovered quite rapidly in the last two minutes was already back on his feet and wiping the tears off of his face.
"No, lets go to the bank like you planned." Came his monotone reply.
Damn thought Judy, this might have left a scar or maybe she had reopened an old wound who knew.
Nick and her now being mates did not necessarily mean that Nick was ready to open up about everything that had happened in his past. And Judy was sure that he was still hiding some nasty emotional scars from his rough childhood. But that was okay, everyone had secrets and it made Nick opening up whenever he did that much more important and special to her.
Which meant that him showing feelings like that and then not opening up meant that this particular secret or fear was a pretty big one.
One that he was not comfortable sharing with her right now. And while that made her feel a little insecure and sad right now. At the same time she understood the need for secrets, she had never talked about the Gideon incident with Nick after all so she would be a hypocrite if she pressed the topic now.
Damn so many conflicting feelings was the only thing Judy could think of right now.
Both of them dealt with their own problems on the way to the bank.
Judy was wondering what Nicks breakdown had been about and Nick himself felt like shit.
He pulled through though once they reached the bank of Judy's choice in the middle of the downtown area. It was not that far from precinct one and it was a pretty reputable private bank.
With a smirk that was nothing but a farce he masked his real feelings like he had done so many times before and with a wink towards Judy he opened the door leading into the bank.
The bank itself was made for mammals of all sizes and thus it featured impressive stair like floor systems which allowed mammals of different sizes to comfortably use the same space without getting in each others way.
It also prevented bigger mammals from stepping on smaller ones, as long as the smaller mammals stayed in their designated areas.
Judy and Nick made their way over to a reception where they were greeted by a smiling goat which was no real surprise considering that most of the banks official workers were prey.
It was their way of subtly putting the customers at ease and a pretty pathetic and racist tactic of you'd ask Nick, although it was a proven one.
"Welcome Mr and Mrs Wild. It is a pleasure to meet you. May I inquire the nature of your visit?" Asked the female goat whose name tag read T. Hornard in a warm and professional tone.
The fact that the goat knew their names was not really all that surprising when one considered that Judy was still the poster mammal for the ZPD.
Every mammal and their grandmother knew her, so long as they lived in the city or in Bunnyburrow.
Judy seemed somewhat lost in thought and did not react right away so Nick took it upon himself to answer the Ms Hornard's question.
"Hello Ms Hornard it is a pleasure to meet you to. We are here to inquire about merging our accounts and to change her account into a joint account." Nick answered in his smoothest business voice.
He did not do it on purpose really but after twenty years of hustling it had become just become second nature to him whenever money was involved and when a deal was made.
Not even the fact that he had been a legitimate police officer for years now could change that.
The goat nodded and tapped something into a computer.
"Is that true Mrs Wilde?" Asked the Ms Hornard in the same warm formal tone as before.
Judy nodded,"yes, I have been trying to get my husband to come here for close to four years now." She said with a smile on her face before adding,"but being a cop and raising a kit is hard work so we never found the time."
Nick meanwhile was taken aback by the question and wondered if she would have asked the same question if he had been a buck instead of a fox.
His internal question was answered immediately when the receptionist spoke once more when she turned to him.
"I apologize Mr Wilde if I came off as rude by asking your wife this. I know that mammals in interspecies relationships can be pretty sensitive in regards to things like that. But I am bound to protocol and thus I am required to ask the owner of the bank account about these matters."
Nick just nodded, whether that was true or whether this was a gallant way to save herself, he would never know.
The receptionist smiled and turned back to Judy,"Mrs Wilde your usual contact in this bank is Mr Warring, correct?"
Judy nodded,"yes he is the mammal I usually talk to when I am here."
The receptionist began to type in some more things and seemed to be checking something before speaking once more.
"Mr Warring is currently speaking with another client and there is already another client waiting for him. Which means that you would have to wait for him to finish his business with these clients first. Would that be acceptable or do you want me to look if another one of my colleagues is currently free process your request?"
Judy seemed to think for a moment before answering while Nick wondered what kind of mammal Mr Warring would be.
He had to be prey and he had to be in the same size category as Judy, there was also his name to consider and thus Nick came to the conclusion that he was most likely a bunny as well.
"No I would like to speak with Mr Warring since he should already be familiar with my data." Cam Judy's answer and Nick almost gave a sigh. This meant waiting but on the other paw, dealing with a banker who had never dealt with Judy's account could make things significantly longer as well. Nick could only hope that this waiting time would not be too long.
Ms Hornard meanwhile typed something into the computer once more and grabbed a small sheet of paper from a ticket machine and offered it to him.
"Alright then, this is your number Mr and Mrs Wilde, the wait time should be around 45 minutes. Have a nice day."
Judy smiled and offered a courteous,"thank you have a nice day as well."
While Nick grumbled a "you too," and followed Judy who had already started making her over to the big central waiting area in the middle of the bank which was due to the geography of the room the lowest 'floor'.
It looked a little bit like a big bathtub littered with seats and tables in different sizes as well as ATMS which allowed the mammals present to check their account balance and withdraw money while they were waiting for their appointments.
Judy basically jumped onto a couch like seat meant for slightly larger mammals than either one of them.
Nick had no idea why until he saw that a familiar face was now sitting opposite of Judy.
Officer Tom Prexa looked pretty different in civilian clothing. The young hyena had started working on the force two years after Nick had and he admired Judy.
No, admired was not strong enough of a word thought Nick.
Him being such a fan flustered Judy every now and then which was outright adorable to watch. Every other cop in the ZPD, who joined the force because of Judy usually stopped treating her like a star after a few months once they realized that she was just a normal mammal and that they were now part of the same workforce.
But Tom didn't, no he outright worshiped Judy, making her his role model and thus standard in terms of police work.
It sometimes outright annoyed Nick and he had disliked the poor hyena because of it. Even though Nick felt stupid about it he actually had seen Tom as a threat to their relationship since he could try to steal Judy away. But once he had found out that Tom was actually in a pretty serious relationship with a female coyote named Frankie, he dropped these suspicions and warmed up to him.
Nick jumped onto the couch and smirked,"Hey Tom what are you doing here?"
Tom smiled and eagerly replied,"I was just telling Judy. I am here to get a credit so that me and Frankie can move into a bigger apartment."
Judy tilted her head,"why do you need a new apartment wasn't your old one pretty nice?"
Before answering Tom looked around the room as if to check that nobody was listening before leaning closer to Nick and Judy and whispering,"we have decided to try for cubs."
Nick could feel a familiar warmth spread through him followed by a pang of guilt.
He loved having a little bunny kit with Judy and if someone asked him, adopting her was the greatest decision he had ever made, right after marrying Judy of course.
So seeing a friend make the same decision or at least a similar one was really heartwarming.
Judy meanwhile brought both paws to her maw to muffle a happy squeal.
"That is so great Tom!" Whispered Judy back to him or at least she tried as her voice went back to normal speaking volume when her happiness and excitement started to overflow in her voice.
And she didn't stop there,"you are going to make great parents!" Judy added and sounded even happier than before if that was even possible.
"But if you need advice you can come ask me and Nick, right Nick?" Judy asked as she turned to him with a bright smile.
Nick just nodded,"yeah sure."
Tom seemed to be infected by Judy's excitement as he answered just as excited,"I sure will and you can be godparents to one of our cubs."
Judy already had another idea,"you know Tom when your cubs are born and old enough so that you don't have to be around them all day then you could use Aileen as a sitter for your cubs."
Nick smiled at the thought of a slightly more mature Aileen trying to sit one or two hyena cubs all on her own. While she was a smart kit, he imagined that she would fail miserably in this regard.
Tom was just about to answer when a noise like thunder broke through the entire room.
A gunshot had just been fired.
Authors note:
I apologize for the mistakes in this work since I had no time to proofread it a second time and finding all the mistakes after the first time is hard.
I also have to apologize since I said that I would be writing new chapter for my other stories(I am, just not as fast as I thought I would). The reason for this is the fact that the new job that I got is usually from 8 to 4. However we are shorthanded right now and got a lot of work to do so it usually ends up being 8 to 7. Which leaves little time to write.
Disclaimer: do not continue to read from here on out if you are not a fan of gore!
But I am writing and I am coming up with new ideas. I am constantly thinking about how to continue the being a predator story and I started working on it. And this lead to a very funny moment today after work.
I help local hunters that I know by gutting and dismembering the mammals they shoot. Now I was going that in a small warehouse filled with tires where we have a little corner set up for butchering animals.
So it was late evening and I had just cut of the head of a fallow deer doe while 'Try everything' was blasting from my stereo(yeah I do this every so often our mysterious vixen would approve). My pants were covered in blood and guts (because of reasons).Now I about to bring the head to a container that we use for the waste from the butchering and I was whistling to the music while thinking about possible plotslines involving deer. When a receptionist working in our office opened the door to the warehouse and walking in. Seeing me carrying a deerhead which was still connected to the rest of the bloody fur of the deer I had just removed from the meat before, while being covered in blood myself and happily whisteling the music. The scariest thing must have been my empty stare though since I was in such deep thought.
And she just turned around and puked in the corner before wordlessly leaving the room.
I later found out that some colleagues had told her that I was in the warehouse and that I needed some help.
She will probably never help me again.