Chapter 3: Evening at home.
With their shift ended the partners split up heading to their respective locker rooms. Nick walked off to the males side while Judy and Soniko headed off to the females. Once inside Cindy had to look for her locker, seeing as it was her first day but found it rather quickly located a couple of lockers down from Judy's.
As she opened it she noticed that Judy had already stripped her uniform and having a towel wrapped around herself was heading into the showers. After the doe turned the shower on, she made sure the temperature was just right before stepping in. While she lathered up, she addressed the panda who was struggling with the clasps that prevented her from removing her vest. "Well, apart from a rather boring first day and you getting rained on was it everything you hoped for?"
Cindy finally succeeding with removing the cursed vest started to unbuttoned her shirt. "It has been fantastic thank you. Apart from how slow it was though is it always like that?"
The doe turned the heat up a little and began to rinse the soap out of her fur as she enjoyed the warm water. "No, sometimes it gets downright dull." As she saw the face of the red panda fall, she had to laugh. "But no seriously it's 20 percent paperwork, 5 percent excitement and 75 percent of patrolling."
The panda finally having undressed hung her uniform into the locker and grabbed a towel. "So 95 percent boredom to 5 percent excitement?" She had to smile though as the reality behind the numbers probably meant that excitement equaled mammals being in harm's way.
Judy was already rinsing the last soap out of her fur as Soniko entered the shower. "Pretty much, but while patrolling you sometimes get to interact and help the mammals of Zootopia and bringing smiles to their faces makes the boredom worth it." The doe thought lovely about her fox and the smiles he brought to the children and mammals he helped.
Cindy nodded at that and took notice that Judy had already finished showering as the doe shook herself a little to remove excess water. "Wow, you showered fast. You late for a date or something?"
"Nah I'm heading home with Nick, but if I hurry, I can get in some gossip with Clawhauser before Nick finishes showering." She grabbed her towel and quickly dried off before walking towards her locker. Her statement seemed to have gotten the interest of the red panda who looked up at the mention of the name.
"The Receptionist? Does he have such a wealth of information then?" Cindy was already excitedly thinking up ways to chat up the feline as getting insight into her coworkers could make the task of befriending them all that much more comfortable.
Judy having dried herself put on her trousers. "You bet. If it's juicy and mammals don't want it to be known all over the precinct, there is a good chance Clawhauser already knows it." With that she checked her clothing and confirming that everything was perfect, she said goodbye to her coworker, grabbed her wallet and her keys and headed for the reception to gossip with her favorite gazelle-fan.
Being left alone Cindy resumed lathering up her fur, but her thoughts turned towards the end of her shift. Namely to the mammal, she had seen, and as she finished lathering up and moved on to rinse out the suds made a mental note to find out where he currently lived so she could pay a visit to her dear old 'friend.'
An hour later Nick and Judy entered their shared apartment. It had been a couple of months ago that they had confessed their love for each other. And while they had vowed to take things slow, as neither of them had much experience with relationships, they had realized that keeping two apartments would be a significant waste of money. Getting one apartment for them both meant they could share not only the rent but also the household tasks. As a bonus they got lucky and the apartment they had managed to get turned out to be much nicer than their apartments too.
Not only did they save on rent and had nicer living quarters, but they could share a ride to the precinct too. Judy had bought a cheap, sensible car (with the help of Nick) and while it was not the biggest on the block (even considering their size), it could comfortably hold both her and Nick. There also was enough room in the back seat for a couple of passengers to sit comfortably (although the smaller size meant that there was almost no room for baggage).
The two of them had decided to go out for dinner as neither of them had been in any mood to cook. Judy threw her keys into the key bowl and wanting to get out of her work clothes headed towards their shared bedroom. Nick felt a little drowsy and went towards the kitchen instead to make a pot of coffee to wake himself. "Carrots I'm gonna make some coffee you want some too?" He started pouring water into the machine and grabbed the coffee tin from the counter. Judy bought the tin because she loved the pattern of smiling carrots in different poses that went all around it. After opening it, he measured out the right amount for a couple of cups and took a sniff enjoying the aroma, after finishing putting the coffee into the filter he turned the maker on.
Her reply came from behind the door. "None for me thanks if I have too much caffeine this late I'll never get to sleep, but could you put a kettle for some tea on for me?"
"Sure hon. Hot water for tea coming right up!" With that, Nick opened the kitchen cupboard and grabbed the kettle. He loved living together with Judy. Nick loved the way she felt as he woke up with her in his arms, he loved how she looked all ruffled up before her morning brush and how she could look at him with her beautiful purple eyes filled with love that made him feel like he was the luckiest mammal alive. Going to work together, spending the day together and finally coming home together. He loved every minute of it, and it would be a very very cold day in hell indeed before he would allow anyone or anything to come between them to ruin this happiness he found in her embrace.
The source of his musings left the bedroom, and while he looked at her, he found himself mesmerized once again. She had already gotten into her silk pajama's and was moving towards him. The material showed all the lines of her figure while keeping just enough of it hidden to keep him guessing how she would look without them. Even though he found her beautiful beyond words and as arousing as a wildfire, it was still a sure thing that the most they would be doing that evening would be a lot of cuddling and some heavy kissing. They both loved each other, and they would end up mating of that there was no doubt in their minds, but for now, they were both contents to enjoy this time together. Both enjoyed the teasing and flirting with each other, and it would be a waste to just rush past this phase. Plus they also got a kick at seeing how far they could push the excitement of their mate.
"See anything you like slick?" The doe softly hugged the reynard and standing on her toes gave him a soft kiss.
"Just my beautiful girlfriend." Nick softly hugged her back and pulled her in for a deep kiss that left them both breathless. "Did I already tell you how much I love you today?"
Judy pretended to think about this question and with a devilish twinkle in her eyes kissed Nick on his nose. "You know I believe you forgot to mention it this afternoon." At this statement, the fox had a playful shocked expression.
"Ah, my apologies my beautiful Carrots. I must have been distracted by my duties as a role model for the next generation of police officers." Nick kissed her on her head before nibbling a bit on one of her ears. He had found out her ears were very sensitive and it had become one of his favorite ways of bothering her.
The doe closed her eyes and gave a little whine. "Niiiick please stop that you know what that does to me!." She softly thumped him on his shoulder, and he released her ear before moving his muzzle down so he could whisper to her.
"Yeah I know, but you know the rules we have set up. First to drag the other to bed loses." The bet, while made during the first weeks of their relationship, had turned out sort of a safety measure against them starting the next phase of their relationship. They both realized shortly after implementing it that doing so meant that the one who started it lost and if there was one thing that the fox and bunny both hated it was to lose. Still, both were also determined to make sure that the other one would lose control, meaning it became a game of arousing their mate while trying to stay calm and collected themselves.
Just as Judy was contemplating how to go about her counterattack the shrill whistle of the tea kettle jostled them from the slowly steaming up makeout session, and Nick went over to turn off the stove. He looked back at his mate and was pleased to see that a blush still darkened her ears. "I'm pretty sure I'll be winning that bet when this is all over fluff."
Judy scoffed and put a paw on her hip then proceeded to bend over a little to let her pajama accent her curves. She gave her boyfriend a smirk as she indeed heard him gulp as he looked her over. "At the risk of repeating myself. Ahum. See anything you like loverboy?"
"I do believe you are trying to cheat my lovely bunny." Nick had turned around to pour himself a cup of coffee and at the same time try to pull himself together as much as was possible. His girlfriend, while still being new to the field of dating, had certainly been quick to learn the arts of seduction. "What kind of tea do you want Carrots?"
"Do we still have vanilla flavor left?" If one thing was for sure, it was that they desperately needed to do some grocery shopping. The weekend before had seen them too busy as they decided to make a start with redecorating their apartment finally. The first room they chose to do first was the extra bedroom. Not having much use for an additional bedroom they decided that, for now, it would serve as their office for the times they needed to catch up on paperwork, but didn't feel up to finishing it at work. This way they could do it when they got home and have it ready when they had to report back.
Sadly the work on the room had taken them longer than they expected and when they discovered how late it had become the grocery store had closed. It had been worth it though as the new office space looked great and the only thing it needed was for them to buy the desks and furniture to finish it.
Nick checked the cupboard in the kitchen. "You're in luck there are a couple of bags left, but I'm gonna pop out to get some groceries after I finish my coffee. Anything we're out of I don't know about?"
Judy quickly went through her mental checklist of stuff they needed and quickly made a list of items for Nick to restock. "This should be all we need to last us through the week. We can get the rest when we're off this weekend." She gave him the list and accepted the cup of tea that he had made her. Smelling the heavenly aroma, she walked to the couch and turned on the tv. Nick downed his coffee then grabbed his wallet and keys before kissing Judy. After their kiss, the bunny settled back on the couch to enjoy her program while Nick opened the front door and left to get the groceries they needed.
Cindy in the meanwhile had taken Judy's words to heart and had taken the opportunity to get to know the portly receptionist before going home. As they chatted about her first workday as well as Clawhausers first day on the force the panda found out that the cheetah not only knew every cop that was working in the precinct but that just as Judy had foretold knew amazing facts about his coworkers as well. While Clawhauser was still a bit tightlipped about most of these facts he couldn't help to let slip little bits of info that the red panda made sure to remember for the future when she would try to befriend said mammals.
Just before leaving she remembered what she intended to do the next day and asked the friendly cheetah if he could look up an address up for her. "No problem Soniko. Any reason why you need this address?"
Seeing as the force might frown on confronting mammals with clean records the panda kept her reason vague. "Saw an old friend and was thinking about looking him up over the weekend." While not entirely a lie it was still far from the truth.
Clawhauser took notice of the fact that the red panda before him wanted to visit a male friend and giving her a sly wink looked into his terminal if he could find the address to the name she provided him. As he saw it, he printed it out for her and waved goodbye as she left for the night.
Cindy felt kind of bad for lying about why she had needed the address, but she required to have a confrontation with her old 'friend.' Events at the academy had shown her that he was not the kind honest mammal she had believed him to be and wanted to make damn sure he knew that she would be watching him. This way she would make sure that he didn't have a chance to hurt anyone like the coward that had hurt her father.
As the red panda reached her destination and opened up the front door to her parent's house, she heard the excited shouts of her little brothers and soon saw them come running down the hallway. She smiled lovingly at them as they enveloped her in as tight a hug as they could manage while shouting their 'welcome home.' Her mother Lilly, following her sons, hugged her daughter as well before looking her over. "How was your first day as an officer dear?"
Cindy hung her jacket on the coat rack before answering. "It went well. The chief assigned me to some great senior officers, and I'm learning a lot from them." She knew that her little brothers worshipped Nick and Judy as the heroes of Zootopia and didn't want to give away that they were the senior officers she got assigned too. It would leave her brothers in shock if she could convince the pair to come in for coffee. At the very least it would make for a great surprise for her family.
Her mother gave her a warm smile and kissed her on the cheek before standing back up. She was happy that her daughter's first day seemed to have gone by without problems, however looking at her face she could quickly tell that not everything had gone as smooth as her daughter let on. "Good to hear you had fun, but you're not telling me something."
With that simple question, Cindy felt a chill creep up her back. Her mother always had possessed the ability to tell whether something had upset her and it had been proven time and time again that trying to lie or deflect the reason for her being upset would only lead to more probing until her mother got the answer. Feeling exhausted by the day, the red panda decided that the least painful way was to suck it up and tell her mother what bothered her and hopefully have her mother satisfied with that so no further probing would ensure. "I saw Joe today while patrolling."
Her mother sighed. She remembered their old neighbors kit with the red eyes. Not only had her daughter cried her eyes out for days when she got forced to part with him, but she never again made such a close connection as she had had with him. It, therefore, confused Lilly that when they were dropping Cindy off at the police academy and saw that he was enrolling too that her daughter was less than pleased to see him.
It was months later that her daughter had come home during one of her breaks and declared that the skunk had been booted out of the academy, but refused to give the reason why. Not only that but when she went and called the skunks mother who she had kept a friendly, if distant, relationship with to try to find out what happened it seemed the relationship between their kits had soured to the point that they had become enemies.
Steeling her resolve Lilly put a paw on her daughter's cheek. "Why don't you try to patch things up between you two? As kids, you were the best of friends, and now it almost seems from time to time like you two hate each other's guts. I don't know where things went wrong or who hurt who, but this will only lead to regret later on if you lose each other because you let it fester like this!"
Cindy's gaze hardened as she remembered the locker room and the stuff found in his locker. "Mom it's ok. Joe screwed up big time and believed he could lie his way out of it. He just proved to me that what I was saying that he can't be trusted was correct." As she said it she felt the grip on her face from her mother tighten slightly as her eyes hardened as well.
"That's just dung, Cindy. You know better about him, and I believe it isn't a coincidence that you seemed to start talking badly about him right after your dad got attacked by that other skunk. If that is the reason than it's terrible that what happened with your father has given you so much anger that you are taking it out on him as well make you harbor so much distrust towards a single species." With this, she let go of her daughter's face and walked away.
Cindy held her cheek as the warmth of her mother's hand slowly faded and wondered if she was wrong in her thinking. As she thought back at that critical moment in the academy as her old friend asked her to believe him, but how could she when the evidence had been so clear and the testimony of the instructor who found them so justifiable. No, she wasn't wrong. He had felt the need to cheat to have a chance to enter the police force and had chosen to do so with forbidden narcotics. She had been more than justified in the fact that she couldn't believe in him. Now she just needed to make sure to lay down the law on him, and everything would be alright.
The panda was brought back from her musings when two small hands grabbed her, and she looked down into the faces of her little brothers. They had noticed the pained scowl that had formed on her muzzle and wanted to comfort her. Smiling she got down to her knees and hugged both boys as she tried to convince herself that the ache she felt in her chest was the result of being exhausted from her first day.
Holding two bags of groceries, Nick walked back into their apartment and saw that Judy had fallen asleep on the couch. His bunny was laying snuggling his pillow she probably had gotten from the bed to get more comfortable. The fox chuckled softly at the sight as he felt the warmth of the love he had for her. The day had been a drawn-out affair with not much happening, and on top of that, she had been the one driving the cruiser for all of it so it came as no surprise to Nick that she would have been exhausted. He quietly went into the kitchen and put away the groceries. With everything neatly stored he walked back over to the couch and softly lifted Judy. The bunny stirred a little but kept on sleeping as Nick carried her in his arms to their bed. He made sure as he laid her down that she was comfortable and covered her up before giving her a chaste kiss on the lips. "Goodnight Carrots. Sleep tight."
Taking one last look at his beautiful girlfriend, he closed the door and pulled out his phone. The events at the end of their shift were bothering him, and he knew one mammal who might have some more info seeing as it was his conversational partner that had drawn the ire of his trainee. As the number rang for the third time a gruff voice answered. "Yo. With Finnick."
"Hey, little toot-toot you miss daddy yet?" Nick couldn't help smiling waiting for the answer seeing as he knew what was coming. "You seriously want me to bite your face off don't you?"
"Ah, you hurt me. Can't a father call his favorite son anymore without risking his health and body in the process." He heard a scoff at the other side of the line. "Ok, Slick Nick spill why are you calling me so late in the evening? I'm pretty sure it's way past your bedtime."
The reynard decided not to joke around too much as what he needed to ask was something he wasn't sure the little fennec was willing to share. "Yeah about that. When we passed each other today, I noticed you were talking with someone. This mammal set off a trainee that's under my wing, and I was wondering if you had any info on him you would be willing to share as I need to figure out what's the deal with them."
The line stayed quiet for a while, and Nick was afraid that he wouldn't be getting the help that he asked for when the fennec spoke up. "You noticed that too huh? Pissed of the mammal I'm currently partnered up with I can tell you that. As what's the deal with them I can't tell you much about that. What I can tell you is that his name is Joe Fragrance, and he apparently was kicked out of the police academy for drug abuse. My best guess is your trainee knew him. Before you start wondering I just asked what was up with them, but he started talking about the academy as he wanted me to know. He probably tried to prevent there to be surprised further down the road. If you wonder how we met you can blame Honey as she sends him my way to talk about an application I had out for a delivery mammal."
The fox had to blink a couple of times. "Another delivery mammal? I knew you two were busy with starting up that delivery service. Business must be good if you need more personnel already." The soft growl from the other side showed that the little fox was irritated. "Whatever mammals want to be carried they come for our service more and more dirt for brains! Plants, blankets, toys, hell even ice cream if you can believe it we move it all and things just have been getting more and more hectic as time goes by."
Nick secretly let out a breath of relief that his friend was this successful. While he hadn't been thinking about it lately, it was always in the back of his mind when he went to the academy that one day he could end up having to arrest Finnick for breaking the law. The thought that he would have to be the one that put the cuffs on his lifelong friend had kept him awake at night at times during training. Therefore it had come as a significant surprise when Honey and Finnick declared that they would start a delivery business together with Honey keeping her research projects going to earn some extra cash while Finnick would be responsible for the delivery side of the company. "That's good to hear, but where does Honey know him from then?"
"From what he told me it seems he got wrangled into it by his mother. She and Honey were acquaintances, and she had heard that Honey was looking for someone to fill the position." Honey Badger had been Nick's other friend when he was still a hustler and although Honey had never been one to skirt the edge of the law like Nick and Finnick did it she had always been somewhat out there with her conspiracy theories. During her school years, her beliefs chased away most mammals. While it didn't give her a lot of friends, the badger could at least be sure that the few she had would be for life.
What the fennec said next though made Nick frown as the implications as the info showed that there was more to the story and it could lead to trouble in the future. "Nick we've both seen kids on drugs before and believe me when I say that I believe the guy when he claims that he didn't do them."
Nick had to shake his head at that. They both had indeed seen enough mammals that had thrown their lives away doing the vile stuff, but they had also been fooled enough times by said mammals who claimed that they would go clean. "Finn, we both, know that users will always use every excuse in the book to pretend that they aren't using or that it isn't a problem and you know how sincere they can be when they want too."
"Yeah, but we also both know the telltale signs of drug use and believe me when I say that he doesn't show any of them. He claims to be framed and hearing his side how that went down I can't say that I'm not skeptical about the expulsion. I'll admit there isn't any clear way anyone would benefit with getting rid of him, but that something wasn't right is for sure."
Nick was walking back and fro through his living room as he was trying to think about what it all meant for them and how the expulsion fitted into the big picture, but he realized that there weren't enough of the puzzle pieces to even start fitting it all together. "Thanks, Finn. While this info doesn't help me directly, I can at the very least look into what happened at the academy. If he was using on training grounds and got caught, a simple drugs test should have been used to determine his guilt. I'll check and come back to you with the results, so you know for certain what kind of mammal it is you are going to be employing."
Finnick was chuckling at that. "Ok, Nick while I'm sure Honey, as well as me, appreciate you looking into this I have to tell you something first. You see I already asked Honey to put our recruit through the ringer, and that includes putting him through a drugs test of her making. We do need to have evidence he's been clean if this blemish on his past was brought up by clients."
The fox had to concede that his old partner was covering all his bases, but that didn't mean that he didn't need to do the academy's investigation anyway. "Good knowing you're careful at least Finn. Say hello to Honey for me and goodnight."
With that, Nick ended the call and thought about what he had learned. If the skunk had been Soniko's fellow cadet, her anger could be more understandable in combination with her past, but Nick felt there was more there and with the fact that drugs were on academy grounds he found himself unwilling to let this one go.
First thing in the morning he would fill Judy in on all he had learned from Finnick. She almost every time gave him a new insight or something he hadn't thought about at all. Nick also needed to inquire with Clawhauser about the events at the academy. If there had been any rumors about that fact it was a sure bet that the round cheetah at the reception desk would have heard. If not that it would be sure that he could search for that in the records to see what info could be learned. With his tasks for the next day decided Nick turned off the lights and went to crawl into bed next to his sleeping mate. As her smell softly calmed his senses, he softly and carefully pulled her to him and snuggling up with her fell into a comfortable sleep.
