In Zootopia, it doesn't matter what day of week it is or time of day, if you are a bar owner and there is no one in your bar, you have a serious problem. That being said, Judy had her concerns as she and her partner doubled the patronage of the sketchy little bar close to her apartment when they walked in. She sat down at the bar, feeling naked wearing only her two toned nylon body suit. The pull of the stretchy material without the familiar weight of the kevlar tactical vest and heavy duty belt made her feel more vulnerable than if she were out wearing her normal civilian clothes. Nick, on the other hand didn't seem much more comfortable as he pulled yet again at his white v-neck undershirt to keep his thicker tufts of chest fur tucked in. They sat themselves at the bar and ordered their first round of drinks, a light beer for Judy and something more full bodied for Nick. Nick savored the bitter drink as he tried to ease the stress of the day away. A sigh from beside him revealed that his partner was trying to do the same. They sat in silence for some time, nursing their drinks, and Nick became aware of how heavy his eyelids had become and he let out a sleepy sigh. His eyes slid closed but snapped back open when he saw the mangled meerkat on the back of his lids.
"Sorry if I'm being boring," Judy said after draining her first bottle and ordering a second for the both of them, "I'm trying to think of something to say, but I'm not sure what. I keep thinking to when I saw my first body, I really didn't want to go home afterwards. I just wanted someone to talk to, someone to be near, but, without you, I didn't have anyone at that time."
"Why didn't you call me? I'm guessing this was while I was at the academy, right?" He asked.
Judy shrugged her shoulders, "I don't know. I was having trouble processing what happened and I think I didn't want to scare you. Plus, I wasn't sure if you could relate to how I was feeling."
"I probably could now," he replied sadly. "Do you want to tell me about it now?"
She shrugged her shoulders again before she took a long drink, "It was a fatal gunshot wound from a mugging gone wrong. The vic took the shot at almost point blank range through the eye." Nick shuttered but Judy continued to describe the scene. "And the thing I found most disturbing, wasn't the fact that his brains were splattered on the wall behind him, or that his head was hollowed out like a coconut, but his face. His face was perfectly intact. He must have watched that damn bullet come into his head, because both eyes were wide open, one glazed over, and the other just a bloody socket. Even his eyelids were fine. I watched the coroner do that thing where they close a dead person's eyes. He looked like he was sleeping. He didn't even have blood on his face, it was all behind him."
"Jeeze, Fluff. What did you do?" He asked horrified.
"Well, I was all by myself so I tried to focus on my training."
"Like you told me to do."
She nodded, "I swept the area, to make sure it was safe, which, luckily for me, it was, because my paws were shaking so badly I don't think I could have even fired my gun if I wanted to. After that I made the call to dispatch and while I was waiting for homicide, I went behind the building and threw up everywhere. Tanuki was not happy, let me tell you what. Apparently it was still within the range of the active crime scene. He yelled and threatened to report me for tampering with evidence and disturbing an active crime scene. I couldn't take it, I cried and begged for him not to do it. Luckily he didn't report me but he kicked me off the case and called in a new set of officers to replace me. He didn't even want my report when I handed it in the next day."
Nick was aghast at the story. "That's bullshit! Why did they even send you into a murder scene alone to begin with, especially as a rookie, and, no offence, being a smaller mammal."
She sighed and rubbed her neck, trying to ease the painful memory before she spoke, "I think I should have started out with a partner, but Bogo had it in for me when I first started, as you know. Then, after the night howler case, I guess everyone thought I could handle whatever came my way. I thought I could handle whatever came my way. Then that happened right after you left for the academy and I didn't quite know what to do. I couldn't sleep because every time I closed my eyes I saw that leopard with the hollowed out eye socket. He would talk to me in my dreams in the most casual way, like everything was fine."
Nick watched her eyes fill with tears as she spoke but she squeezed them tight and chugged down the rest of her drink before they could fall. She waved to the bartender for another as she covered up a burp. Nick could relate to her story. Even when he was outside he had been haunted by the images of the blood soaked couple, no matter how hard he tried to put it out of his mind. It was depressing to think that even when he got home, the specters of the dead mammals would be there waiting for him.
"How did you get over it?" he asked, afraid of what the answer could be, but she just shrugged.
"I just took some time and I decided after that, that I definitely needed a partner. I went to Bogo and insisted that on you becoming my partner after you graduated. I pulled out every reason why we should be partners I could think of and even made up a few reasons. I told him two small mammals working together would have certain advantages. I said you might still be rebellious, and would need a familiar partner. I said that it was really you who did all the work on the night howler case. I talked you up and down so many times I think I finally annoyed the Chief into agreeing." she looked up at her partner with big wet eyes and she smiled. "I wanted to make sure I was here for you when this day came, but I really didn't think it was going to come so soon."
"Wow, Carrots. That's really sweet of you, in a kind of a pathetic way," he responded as he reached for her paw.
She squeezed his paw back and took a big breath before giving him a big smile. "Ok, enough about my story. Now it's your turn. Hopefully you've got enough alcohol in you to loosen that muzzle of yours. I want to hear all about that vixen from earlier."
"Oh, I see how it is. You take me out and pretend to be my friend only to get me drunk and take advantage of me" he said with a smirk.
"That's right!" she said with a big grin.
"Unfortunately, I'm not nearly drunk enough for this, you're going to have to buy me a couple of shots first," She smiled as she gave the order for four shots of his choice.
"My choice? Oh you dear sweet bunny. Don't you know you shouldn't trust a fox?" He said as he ordered the strongest drink he could think of. He would need the extra buzz if he was going to open up about about Vicky.
"I think I can take my chances, they wouldn't make just any fox into a cop," she replied as she held the small glass full of yellow liquid. It smelled like lighter fluid. Nick eyed her carefully as he picked up his own shot glass. He expected a big reaction when the innocent bunny tasted the alcohol but was impressed when she threw the drink down her throat in one gulp. Her nose wrinkled for just a moment before she released a satisfied "Ahh!"
"Well, I'll be. Look at you Officer Toot Toot, drinking like a big girl," Nick laughed as he tossed back his own drink.
She smirked at the fox, "Well, there's not a lot of cash to throw around when you have hundreds of siblings, and there's not much to do in the middle of nowhere on a farm. We learned quickly to tolerate the cheapest, most effective drink we could get our paws on. We even had a number of sills making moonshine stashed across the property."
"This is not the naive, make-the-world-a-better-place Officer Judith Hopps I know. Who are you?" Nick asked, his voice was shocked but a smile stretched across his face from ear to ear.
She giggled at the attention as she reached for the other glass. "I'm not always such a goodie-goodie, I have a wild side too," she snickered before she threw the other shot back, "Ahh! Although, I guess every side of you is wild. Huh?"
"That joke was terrible and you're getting drunk," he huffed as he rolled his eyes. Normally when mammals made a joke at the expense of his name it was annoying, but he found this particular joke a bit more endearing. Maybe it was jokester who said it, or maybe it was how her little nose twitched as the alcohol's effects started kicking in.
"Hey, I've got the size disadvantage and I've been setting the pace! You need two more shots to catch up. Bartender! Two more please!" She scolded the fox before calling to the other side of the bar. She swung back quickly to her partner, "Also, don't think just because I'm lightening up, doesn't mean I will forget about that vixen. I want to know everything." She demanded, slamming her paw onto the bar which resulted in only a soft thud. "Finish those drinks quickly and either start talking or we get out of here and start making some bad decisions," she said with a mischievous smile.
He took immediate notice of the opportunity to get out of talking about his ex and, by God, he was going to take it. Nick wondered what counted as a "bad decision" in the little bunny's book. She was always so steadfast and straightforward, but tipsy Judy was an entirely new animal as she swung her legs under the bar stool like an excited child. He tipped back the shot as his imagination took off. He leaned in towards the bunny and with a sly smirk he replied, "Let's go make some bad decisions."
She crinkled her nose in a playful smirk before she fished out some cash for the bartender. She slapped it on the bar, downed the rest of the alcohol and grabbed Nick's wrist as she hopped off her stool and out the door. She dragged him quickly down the street, bouncing and running at different points and he marveled how she could move so quickly with a belly full of booze. They ran no more than three blocks before they were scurrying over the chain link fence of an abandoned factory along the bank of one of the many river branches that wound through the city before they finally stopped. Nick glanced at the grimy, graffiti covered concrete building and yard, the broken windows, with their glass scattered like snow, and bits of rusted broken metal machines that stretched up into the air and hung perilously over the water's edge as his breath slowed from their flighty arrival. His pants turned to coughs as he saw his partner pulling her bodysuit off her shoulders and down her hips revealing a plain black sports top and simple black panties.
"Woah! What are you doing there, Carrots?" he exclaimed and he could feel his ears get warm as the half naked bunny stood before him. Even in the late twilight hours, his keen nocturnal eyes couldn't miss the way the dark undergarments contrasted against her silver and white fur. Despite her form fitting uniform, Nick found he was surprised by the exact curves and lines of her body.
"Relax, Slick." She scoffed as she turned towards a tall rusty crane that sprung up and over the water. "Take your pants off and come swimming with me." she began climbing the crisscrossing metal and Nick's heart began to race as he watched her exposed legs stretch from rusty bar to rusty bar.
"This is a really bad decision," he commented as he glanced into the murky, dark water. Rainbows shimmered as the evening light caught thin slicks of oil.
"What's the matter? I know you can swim. Come on."
"Sure I can swim, in a nice clean pool," his voice faltered as she neared at the top of the crane. She stood shakily and took one wobbly step after wobbly step ten feet above the ground and rising, towards the river. "Come down from there, Fluff. What are you doing up there?"
"I'm going to do an awesome cannonball, obviously," She replied with sass as she gave an extra wobble, trying to regain her balance.
"You can't jump from up there! You have no idea how deep the water is. You're going to kill yourself. Get down here!" Nick called not bothering to hide the panic in his voice as the bunny made her way further down the crane. The metal gave a low creak as her meager weight placed pressure on the rusted metal.
"Relax, I know what I'm doing," she called back from the edge of the pipe. It gave another groan, much louder this time.
Fearing the metal would break and fall into the river with his partner, Nick dashed to the machine and held it, hoping to keep it in place. Talking to the crazed rabbit wasn't helping to get her down and his mind searched frantically for another solution. Finally he could only come up with one answer and he yelled desperately to the bunny.
"She was abusive, Ok? You-you wanted to know about Vicky? Fine, she was terrible!"
Judy froze inches from her jumping point before she turned towards her partner. In the dim light she couldn't see the tears well in his eyes but she could hear the panicked desperation in his voice.
"She was awful to me and-and I was just as bad back to her. She-she had a way of pushing my buttons, of getting under my skin. She would make me so mad, and I know it's no excuse, but, I would get so upset that I lashed out at her. I hit her and abused her and I felt like such an asshole but I swear she seemed to enjoy it. She only pushed me further and I was afraid of who I was becoming because part of me enjoyed it too. Now, will you please come down from there?" Nick desperately begged the shocked bunny as a tears soaked his fur. Judy blinked a few times, trying to process this new information before she knelt down and worked her way slowly to the ground. Safely, she stood before him, her eyes cast down and to the side, still trying to understand the weight of his words. He reached his hands towards her but stopped, fearing what was going through her mind.
"I didn't want to tell you," he began with a shuddered breath, "because I'm ashamed and I know how cops, especially, feel about males who hit their mates, but that's not who I am. I don't ever want to be that kind of tod again. I swear." Nick's chest ached as he released his darkest confession and more tears spilled through his soaked cheek fur.
Judy looked up at her partner, the effects of the alcohol were swept from her mind as she looked at his pained face. Her head swirled with confusion and her heart ached for her partner. His shoulders were slumped and defeated and his eyes bore into hers, desperately searching for forgiveness in her face.
He gasped when, fast as lightning, he suddenly felt the crashing embrace of his partner. She wrapped her arms around his ribs and squeezed, pressing herself tightly to his body.
"I'm sorry," her voice was barely above a whisper as she buried her face into his chest, "I should have never pressed you so hard. I should have respected your privacy. I can be such a bad friend sometimes." Nick looked down at the top of her head, her ears drooped back and he could feel her own breathing grow as heavy as his. He wanted to hug her back, but his balled up paws shook from the swirl of emotions.
"Just tell me you don't hate me now. Tell me you don't think I'm utter garbage," he pleaded.
She let out a soft chuckle, "Of course I don't hate you. I don't think I ever could do that. I know you had a spotty past and I shouldn't have pried into it. Forgive me?" She looked up into his glassy eyes with her own filled with tears. He smiled and finally brushed back her ears with his paws and returned her embrace.
"Yeah, I forgive you. Now put your pants back on. Drunk bunny."
