Judy was frozen in awe. She never thought this day would come. The day she got the opportunity to meet Jack Savage. A million different scenarios flew around in her head. Would he like her? Would she make a fool of herself? Why was he here? She only dreamed of this day, and now that her dream was true, she was overwhelmed and lost in worry.
And what about Nick? Would he be ok with her if she decided to get involved with Jack? Would that hurt him? It was always tough to read what Nick was feeling because he spent his entire childhood masking his feelings. If he wanted to save Judy any hurt, she knew he would do his best to keep his feelings bottled up with cheap jokes and cheesy smiles. She didn't want Jack to cause Nick any problems, but she couldn't just ignore Jack.
Judy took a quick glance at her friend, who was drumming his claws on the table to the beat of his earbuds. So calm and innocent. But anything could be going around in his head right now and she might never know. Not soon after, Nick caught her glance and gave her a reassuring smile in response. A perfectly warm and honest smile.
No way. Judy thought. There is no way that smile is anything but happy.
"Alright ladies." Chief Bogo announced, cutting off her train of thought. "I don't usually introduce anyone, and today is no exception. So Jack," He said looking at the bunny. "figure it out for yourself."
It was at that moment when Judy saw an opportunity to talk to Jack. It wasn't anything too long, just something to get him to see her as a friend.
"That's just his way of saying welcome." She whispered to Jack. "He does it to everyone."
"Thank god." Jack answered with a chuckle. "I was starting to think I already got on my boss's bad side. That's not a good thing to do for the first day on the job."
"Nah, you're fine." She assured with a warm smile.
Relief hit Judy like a tidal wave. The worst part was over. She made a good first impression, she even got Jack to chuckle a bit.
She stood in satisfaction, listening to Bogo call names one by one and assigning everyone to a case.
"Hopps, Savage and Wilde," Chief finally announce. "I want you three on patrol in the rain forest district."
Just when Judy thought her day couldn't get any better, it did. She was working with Jack. They were going to stop the same criminals and ride the same patrol car.
"Hey." Nick said as he waved his paw in front of her, trying to break her from her trans. "Ground control to Judy. I repeat. Ground control to Judy."
"Yeah. I'm here." Judy laughed as she swatted Nick away.
With a smile on her face, Judy happily followed Nick and Jack out the station. The day couldn't have been better.
The day could have been better. For the past few hours, Nick sat in the back of the car, painstakingly listening to Jack and Judy chat away. They were having such a great time together and Nick should have been happy for them, but he wasn't. The idea of Judy leaving him for Jack was driving him insane, even though Judy was having such a great time. It seemed like a crazy thing too even consider, but the more he thought about it, the more plausible it seemed.
Now Nick and Jack were in the car alone, waiting for Judy. She needed to go to the bathroom so they stopped at a gas station, leaving the two guys alone.
Nick didn't stand a chance against Jack. The rabbit was handsome, funny, nice, clever, strong... the list went on forever. And although Nick was many of those things, he didn't have the title that Jack did. First fox officer had a nice ring to it, but Jack was a spy. Jack Savage super spy sounded way better than generic police officer Nick. And to make matters worse, Jack had accomplished so much more than him. Nick got lucky on his first case and was recognition for a week or so, but eventually it all died down and Nick faded into the background. Jack on the other paw, busted drug lords and mafia bosses almost every other day. He was an inspiration, he was Judy's inspiration. That scared Nick.
That was all bad, but it wasn't the worst. Nick and Judy have been wanting to date for a while, but society had imposed a few problems against their happiness. Zootopia was slowly becoming more open minded about interspecies relationships, but there were still too many problems for Nick and Judy to risk dating each other. It was easy to say they could ignore the public, especially considering what they had already accomplished against stereotypes and prejudgment. But actually putting up with it every day could prove to be a much bigger problem for sure. Because of this, they put their love life aside and focused on being platonic because they knew that if they cared to much for each other, their lives could get very difficult very fast.
That last problem led into the next one, the future. Nick and Judy both wanted a family. But for the moment, children were just a fantasy. Their biology made it impossible to have kids of their own. And adoption wasn't available because mixed families with predators and prey were stereotyped to be dangerous and unpredictable.
If Judy picked Jack over Nick, all of those problems would disappear. The only things that made their relationship inconvenient would vanish, and all Judy had to do was pick the better partner. The one with stronger muscles and more willpower. The one that made loving easy and simple. The one that made a family possible. Jack was the one.
The toughest thing to figure out was what Nick was going to do about it. Should Nick talk Jack and tell him to stay away from Judy? Should he wait and see what kind of animal Jack was before he talked to him? Should he even do anything? After all, if Nick wanted what was best for Judy, he should stay out of it and let her chose. But what if he looses her?
Nick was lost. He was losing his mind.
"Sooo... First fox officer." Jack mentioned with a growing voice, trying to break the awkward silence. "That must be quite the accomplishment."
"You would know." Nick subtly snapped back.
"Sorry?" Jack asked confused, possibly a bit offended. "What do you mean?"
Nick took a breath and put his anger aside. Maybe he should take Clawhauser's advice and try to befriend Jack. "Just that you're a first for the force too." Nick said with his best smile. "First spy bunny."
"Yeah." Jack agreed as satisfaction cured his confusion. "And Judy is the first rabbit cop, isn't she?"
"She is." Nick confirmed.
"We're quite the trio." Jack said in amazement. "What are the chances?"
"They're stacked against me." Nick muttered.
"What was that?" Jack asked confused.
"Nothing. It was nothing."
Awkward silence quickly settled in after that. So Nick asked Jack a question that had been brewing in his mind for a while. What evil spirit caused Jack to move to Nick and Judy's division. Nick didn't quite word his question that way though.
"So why did you join the ZPD?" Nick asked curiously. "I thought being an agent would be way more fun."
"It is, but it was just too much. I realized that I can't live my whole life with that kind of risk. Eventually, I want kids and a family, but the job was too dangerous. I want a normal life."
"Does our serious spy has a soft side?" Nick teased, trying to make fun of Jack, but he secret grew jealous. Jack was Judy's perfect partner, and now he was looking to settle down. If Judy was ever considering a serious relationship, Jack had Nick beat by a mile.
Jack let out a small chuckle of embarrassment. "Well I don't want to live my life short and alone. I want to live life to it's fullest, not die on the job before I'm thirty."
"Did you say before thirty?" Nick asked. "How old are you?"
"I'm twenty seven."
Damn it. Nick thought. Now I look like an old man.
"Wow twenty seven." Nick said as he reminisced about his earlier years. "I remember my twenties."
"Oh yeah?" Jack asked. "Did you work for the force back then?"
"Nope." Nick answered bluntly. "I lived on the streets and made cheap money conning others into giving me pity."
Nick's past really took Jack by surprise and left him speechless for a few seconds. He didn't expect such a high held animal like Nick to have such a grimy past.
"You didn't have an actual job?"
"No one would hire me because they didn't trust foxes. The only reason I even got this far was because Judy helped me get here, but without her, I would still be hustling animals on the streets."
"Your life was that tough?"
Nick nodded.
"Hello boys." Judy greeted with a smile as she jumped into the back of the police cruiser joyously. "Ready to catch some crooks?"
"Yep." The two answered in perfect synchronization before looking at each other curiously, as if it was a magic trick.
"Good, because we have a stakeout to take care of."
"Uugh." Nick groaned in disappointment. "But stakeouts are boring."
"Come on Nick, it'll be fun." Jack insisted. "It'll give is some time to get to know each other."
Fun, yeah right. Nick thought. He was already stuck in a pretty bad position once Jack showed up. But being stuck in a car with Jack and Judy for hours on end was like the universe giving Nick the middle finger.
But Nick knew that meeting Jack was way bigger than himself, it was Judy's dream. If Nick was really Judy's friend, he would put his own problems aside and let her enjoy the time she had with her idol. Even if it killed him on the inside.
"Ok." Nick said with his most high held voice. "Let's go get some baddies."
