Oh, gosh. I'm sooooo sorry guys that this took THIS long…It's crazy how much school has gotten in the way of things…I'm really sorry. Some people even asked me if I gave up on this story. Fear not, I HAVEN'T! What's it been…a month? It's been almost a month since I updated this. I'm really sorry. Don't give up on me!
This chapter is based off of the song, "Looking At Stars," by Kelsea Ballerini. I'll let out a little spoiler. This'll be the last super fluffy chapter that you'll get for a while. You know me, I love my drama. This fic isn't gonna be filled with fluff. I kinda have to cut it off a bit, even though you've been waiting for SO LONG! But anyways, here you go!
4
Looking At Stars
It had been a long week filled with hard work. 2—or was it 3?—weeks after the arrest, Judy and Nick, being the only witnesses, went to the fox's and tiger's court. The ferret was well enough to come to it, but medics were still around her all of the time. Judy was relieved to know that the ferret was okay.
Nick and Judy heard the entire story about the fox's shooting. He and the ferret apparently had a deal. The fox and tiger had hustled her into it, but before it was too late to turn back, she realized that it was a hustle. The night that she was shot, she was supposed to meet up with them for their deal. She was supposed to receive a fake product that he was "selling." The fox and the tiger said that they had to meet up at night after their work because any other time of the day, they'd be too busy to bring her the product. And this product was really big, the tiger explained, so it took time to transport it. But when they met up, the ferret told them that she knew all about their little scheme and she demanded her money back. The fox tried to reason with her and coax her, but the rodent was too smart. When the yellow-eyed fox reached into his pocket to give her back her money, he really grabbed out his gun. And before she could move or say a word, he shot her.
But since that was all taken care of, Nick and Judy thought that they'd have an easier week. But that wasn't the case. They had some other minor cases to take care of, like a robbery. Their week was so full of work that they hardly got any sleep at all. They worked all day and even worked all night. Judy always dragged herself into bed and curled up in it right away, not bothering to put on PJ's. And then the next morning, she'd take a quick shower and iron her uniform before walking out of her apartment, feeling all drowsy and awful. This lasted for an entire week and a half. At work, Nick and she couldn't stop yawning. They both had red eyes from working so hard. They tried their hardest not to complain, but when they were alone, man did they complain.
One morning, Judy walked into the ZPD. She yawned really big, her front teeth sticking out as she did so. She looked up at Clawhauser with really tired eyes. Clawhauser gave her a questioning look.
"Judy, are you okay?" he wondered.
"Yeah, I'm just-" Yawn. "Sooooo tired…"
Judy's eyes dropped for a second. They didn't open until Clawhauser spoke again. Judy jumped up, not catching his words, but definitely catching his voice.
"Yeah?" she mumbled.
"You should go home," he said. "You don't look so well. I can tell Chief that you aren't feeling well and…"
"Oh, no! I can't do that Clawhauser! I have to work, work, work!" another yawn. "I've got lots of paperwork to catch up on, I've got a patrol to be on today, I promised Nick to drive the cruiser this time and…would you really do that for me?"
"Sure would, Judy. I can tell that you need sleep."
"Oh, thank you, Clawhauser!" Judy managed a smile, but it was really sloppy. "I guess I'll go to my office until I get an answer. But poor Nick. He must be more tired than I am."
"I'll be sure to tell Chief about him too. Now go on."
Judy grinned another sloppy, toothy grin. She practically stumbled off to her office. She fidgeted with the door knob. She almost fell asleep just standing there. That's how tired she was.
When she finally managed to open the door, she found Nick sound asleep on the wheelie chair. He jumped up when he heard the door close and brushed his uniform. His eyes showed panic, but settled down when he realized that it was just Judy.
"Oh, Carrots. I thought you were someone else," he sighed.
"Who?" she grumbled. Nick managed a shrug and leaned back against the chair. Judy strolled over and sat in his lap. Half of her wasn't thinking straight and just sat in his chair with him while the other half of her just wanted to cuddle up with him. She was messed up.
"Clawhauser said that he was gonna try and get you and I off for the day," Judy said.
"How about for the week?" Nick grunted, leaning his head back and closed his eyes. Judy lied across his lap, her legs on one arm of the chair and her head resting on his chest. Judy's eyes began to droop. She didn't even try to stop them. She felt herself slowly doze off…
"Officer Hopps and Officer Wilde!"
They woke with a start and jumped up when they saw Chief Bogo in the doorway. Judy practically jumped off of Nick's lap and onto the floor, throwing in a salute. Nick stood up as well, looking nervous and panicked. But he played it cool.
"Hi-ya, Chief," he spoke. "What's up?"
"Don't play games, Officer Wilde," Chief Bogo snorted. "Why are you sleeping on the job? Both of you! I'm ashamed."
"I'm sorry, sir," Judy dropped her head. "We were just…"
"No excuses. You guys forgot that you have a patrol to get to. And after you get back from that, I have a case that I want you two to look at and start ASAP." As the chief spoke, the more Judy's and Nick's ears would drop back. "And then when you get back from that, you have a bunch of paperwork to get to and…"
Chief Bogo almost smiled at the looks on Judy's and Nick's faces.
"Just kidding!" he exclaimed in a high pitch. Judy and Nick relaxed a bit, but still looked at Chief Bogo. "I've decided to let you two have the rest of the week off. You two are such good officers that you deserve a break. You'll start work again on Monday. I wouldn't even bother to make you finish the rest of the work day. Just go home now and start your break."
"Oh, thank you, sir!" Judy smiled a real smile this time. "That means a whole lot to us."
"Yeah, thanks Chief. You're a good sport," Nick winked. Bogo snorted and eyed Nick.
"Shut your trap, Wilde, and get the heck out of here!"
Nick threw up a salute and grinned. "Gladly."
Bogo rolled his eyes and left the room. Nick fell back into his chair and sighed. Judy turned to face him. "What are you doing? Come on, let's go!"
"I'm too tired to get up, let alone walk. I'm gonna take a nap here."
"Yeah, I guess so. I'm pretty tired." Judy curled back up into Nick's lap and closed her eyes.
"Nick?" she whispered.
"Hmm?"
"So…we get the rest of the week off. Do you want to maybe do something?"
"Hmm, let me think about that…oh yes. I want to sleep."
Judy giggled. "I mean later."
"Carrots."
"Okay, okay. I'll shut up."
Judy let her mind drift off for a bit, but before she entered sleep, another thought popped up into her head.
"Nick?"
"What?" he mumbled.
"Can you walk me to the bathroom? I'm too tired to walk on my own."
"Carrots!"
##############################################################################
"Come on, Nick. Let's go do something! I'm so sick and tired of lying around in my apartment!" Judy moaned, sitting in Nick's living room.
"Look, Carrots. We just had a hard week at work. I don't want to do anything. I just want to relax," he argued.
"We don't have to go out and play ball! We can just go out and stroll around or something. We don't have to do physical stuff."
"Carrots, anything with you is physical."
Judy crossed her arms, angry at Nick. "Nick Wilde, get off of your lazy butt and come on outside with me!"
"Nope. Sorry, Carrots. That kind of talk used to work on me, but not anymore."
Judy grew red in the face. "Fine then! I'll go out on my own and do stuff. Maybe Hermit would like to hangout."
"Silly bunny." Nick shook his head. "He's at work, remember?"
Judy huffed and lied back down against the couch, angry with Nick. She sat there in solid silence for a while. Nick soon began to worry about her, but he ignored it. He texted Finnick until he heard Judy speak again.
"I miss the country," she whimpered. Nick looked up from his phone and into Judy's eyes.
"What's that, Carrots?"
"I miss my home. I miss the country side. I miss seeing the sunrise without tall buildings getting in the way. I miss the bright, beautiful sunsets that I always miss since I'm in the ZPD working. I miss my crazy siblings. I miss Gideon Gray. I miss Brittany, my best friend. I miss…"
Judy felt Nick's arms wrap around her.
"So, you miss the country side?"
Judy looked up at him with her big eyes.
"Yeah."
"Then that's where we'll go. To the country side."
##############################################################################
Everything was ready. Their sleeping bags were packed up along with their bag of clothes. They had a tent and a lantern and multiple flashlights, along with firewood and matches. They had newspaper for starting a fire, pillows, food, a first aid kit, and a bunch of other supplies that they'd need. They were indeed going camping.
They loaded up everything in a car and drove a little ways out of the city of Zootopia to a camping park. It wasn't too busy that weekend that they were there. It wasn't bunny burrow, but it was far away from the city where Judy could watch the sunrise and sunset and forget about everything that was on her mind.
"Thank you, Nick," Judy smiled as they were setting up their tent. Nick flashed a smile.
"No problem, Fluff. You deserve this."
"You do too."
"But you're the one who misses the country side. Remember that we're doing this for you. Next time I want something, you better do it for me," Nick said. Judy giggled.
"Alright, slick Nick."
They finished setting up the tent before grabbing everything else out of the car. They set some of it inside of the tent and some of it outside of the tent. Judy cooked them up a nice meal of veggie hotdogs over a fire that Nick built (even though he wasn't part of the Junior Ranger Scouts, he taught himself how to build a fire when he was younger and he had absolutely mastered it.)
Judy and Nick grabbed their sleeping bags after watching a beautiful sunset together. The first few stars appeared in the sky and they brought their sleeping bags out of the tent and lied them in the soft grass. They lied on top of them, looking at the dark blue sky.
"It's so nice out here with no one around," Judy sighed. "There are no troubles, no work, no nothing. Being a cop and all is great and hanging out with fellow cops is great, but I really like this. It's so peaceful."
And then, it grew silent. On the crickets were to be heard and the rushing river which was about a mile away. Nick's breath was so quiet that Judy even wondered if he was alive. But she didn't dare look away from the beautiful night sky. The full moon hung in it and glowed marvelously. It looked so big out here in the open.
Nick touched Judy's cheek with his paw and made her face him. He leaned in and gave her a small kiss that left a beautiful smile on Judy's face. This night was so perfect. He couldn't help it, but he stole another kiss from her. Judy looked a bit irritated by the stolen kiss. That left a smile on Nick's face.
"Come on, Nick. Look at the stars. I remember looking for constellations every night with my siblings," Judy whispered. But then she was quiet and she never said another word after that. Nick grabbed Judy in his loving arms and held her close, looking back up at the beautiful, shining stars. Only the stars had witnessed their love that night.
It's a bit of a shorter chapter, but I don't have all of the time in the world anymore, if you know what I mean.
I'll try to post the next chapter sooner! Thank you!
