Even with the constant noise going on around them while lunch was still going on, it still felt to Nick like there was a vacuum around him, the sheer lack of sound becoming unnerving as he watched Stu Hopps greet his daughter one seat away from him.
"Jude the Dude! Glad to see you've finally decided to come visit your family."
"Dad, seriously, you know I can't just drop everything to come all the way out here. I've got a job to do." said Judy, a hint of exasperation in her voice.
"I know, I know. I'm just playing with you."
Stu then playfully ruffled the fur on Judy's head, smiling when he noticed the grin on his daughter's face.
Eventually, Stu's attention turned to the mammal next to her, and that was when Nick's eyes widened, as he wondered just how Stu would react to seeing him.
A few seconds passed as Stu and Nick stared eye-to-eye at each other, getting to the point where even Judy could feel the supposed tension going on between the two of them.
As for Nick, he couldn't stop staring at the mix of emotions going on in Stu's eyes. Nick prided himself on being able to read most mammals like an open book thanks to his hustling days. That wasn't the case with Stu, though, as his eyes remained impassive.
Thankfully for Nick, spending so much time with Judy helped him to learn some tells when it came to her species, and after looking down at Stu's nose, he could see the buck trying to resist the urge to let it twitch.
Soon enough, the silence at the table was starting to get to Nick, so he knew he had to do something before someone else had to step in and get them to coexist, so after a few seconds of sizing him up, Nick reached out with his paw.
"Uh, glad to meet you, Mr. Hopps. I'm Nick Wilde, Judy's partner."
Nick was glad that his introduction went smoothly, as he was admittedly worried that he say something that would screw things up immediately. However, what Stu did next caught even the normally unflappable Nick off guard.
"Dad, no!" shouted Judy as she watched Stu quickly reach into his pocket.
Nick didn't move, as he was fully expecting to get a face full of fox spray or one of those other Fox-Away products that he remembered Judy carrying on her back when they first met.
To his surprise, though, that move ended up being a fake out, as the next thing Nick knew, his paw was clasped inside Stu's as the two of them shook.
"How do you do? I'm Stu Hopps, the father of this family."
"God Dad, you nearly gave me a heart attack! I almost thought you were going to taze Nick!" said Judy, desperately trying to will herself to calm down after the scare she received.
"Oh come on, Jude, did you really think I was going to do that? I figured that after seeing what we've been doing with Gideon, you'd get the idea." said Stu playfully.
"True, but the way you were acting during our call yesterday made it seem like things were different."
"Oh, that was only because I didn't know Nick as well as I knew Gid."
Judy didn't look too happy with how Stu's explanation felt insufficient, but after a few seconds have passed, Stu kneeled down, placing both of his paws on Judy's shoulders as they met eyes.
"Don't worry, Jude. I promise that your friend is welcome in this house no matter the circumstances."
Judy could see Nick look relieved after Stu's declaration, but the relief was short lived after what Stu said next.
"I'm not one to give guests a free ride, though. You're gonna have to earn your keep."
"And what would that entail?" asked Nick, catching Stu's attention as the buck turned to face him.
"Why, good old-fashioned hard work, of course!"
"Excuse me?"
Nick looked slightly perturbed at the implications of what Stu had just said, but thankfully his facial expression was subtle enough that no one actually noticed.
"You heard me. Sure, I'm not going to need you all week, but I could really use some extra paws while the older kids are away. Don't worry, I'll let you know when you're needed."
Without even waiting for a reply from a flabbergasted Nick, Stu gave him a light pat on the shoulder before heading into the kitchen.
Stunned, Nick barely noticed Judy shuffling a little closer to him. She quickly snatched a piece of the pie while he was busy, but while she dug in to her piece, she couldn't help but tease him a little.
"Did you really think you could get away with not having to put some work in here?" she asked, pointing her fork at him.
"Well, that is what a vacation entails, Carrots. Not having to do work."
Nick was finally brought back to reality after having his episode, and while he did notice the fact that Judy had swiped a piece of his pie, he thought better than to try and steal it back. Instead, he placed his paws over his eyes, letting out a low growl of exasperation before sliding his paws over his head, his ears flicking back into place once they were free from his grasp.
"You ready to go, Carrots?" he asked, his expression brightening in an attempt to hide from Judy what he was truly feeling about how things were going.
Unfortunately, Judy's attention was fixated on what Nick was going through before his mask went back into place, and he couldn't help but be a little worried.
"You alright, Nick?"
"Oh yeah. Why do you ask?"
"Well, you didn't look too happy about having to work."
Judy could tell that Nick wasn't satisfied with her answer, so she quickly sighed before elaborating.
"Look, I know my dad can be a bit difficult sometimes, but he's got an entire farm as well as two hundred and seventy five kids to look after with mom. Frankly, he needs all the help he can get."
"I understand completely, Fluff. There's no need to explain it any further."
Judy didn't look convinced, but she held her tongue, as she really didn't want to get this vacation started on the wrong note, so after taking the last bite of her pie, she hopped off of her seat as she turned to face Nick.
"So, what did you want to do while we've got free time?" she asked as she went to pick up her plate.
"I don't know. I suppose we could take a walk around town. You can show me around."
"Oh, that actually sounds fun."
After picking up his plate (he was too much of a gentlemammal to let anyone else take care of it), Nick followed Judy as the two of them made their way into the kitchen which, while it was only half the size of the dining room, it was still quite spacious compared to kitchens that Nick had seen back in the city.
He could barely manage to resist marveling at the size of the room just like he did before, but luckily he kept himself under control as him and Judy made their way over to a large sink, where Bonnie and some of the older female rabbits were busying themselves with cleaning the dishes.
"Mom, Nick and I are going out for a bit. I was going to show him around town."
"Sounds good, hun-bun. Don't take too long, though. Your father has some deliveries that he wants you and Nick to take care of later tonight."
Judy glanced over at Nick, quickly noticing the nonplussed look that he had on his muzzle before turning back towards her mother.
"Okay. We'll be back soon!"
Judy quickly headed back out of the kitchen and into the dining room, forcing Nick to jog a bit to keep up with her.
Thankfully, though, getting out of the dining room this time proved to be much easier than it was initially, as while the two of them were in the kitchen, the lunch period was winding down, so most of the other family members were filing into the kitchen to hand over their plates.
Nick and Judy's journey through the foyer proved to be relatively short, as most of the family were now outside by the time they came through.
Judy led the way as the two of them made their way out of the Hopps home, Nick taking the time to take in the sights as they walked through the countryside.
"You know, this feels kind of nice."
"I know, right?" said Judy, turning her head to face Nick. "Don't get me wrong, Zootopia's nice, but nothing beats the countryside, at least in my opinion."
"Is that right? Well, how about I take your beautiful countryside and raise you the entirety of the Rainforest District? Then we'll see what's better."
"Oh, I see how it is. I'm not going to fall for your tricks, Wilde. Besides, at least the weather in the Burrows isn't eighty percent rain."
"Touché."
Nick tried to quickly come up with something else better than spending time in the countryside, but unfortunately for him, he didn't get much of a chance after he was pulled out of his thoughts by Judy speaking up.
"Oh good, we're here! Welcome to the main square of Bunnyburrow!"
Nick noted Judy's chipper tone when introducing him to where they were standing, but there was one thing that was going through his mind when he looked around the area and saw the old-style buildings and other parts of town.
"Wow, this looks…homely." he said, unable to think of another word to describe it without offending Judy.
"Well, what do you expect? We like our traditions."
"And there's nothing wrong with that."
Judy nodded, agreeing with Nick's statement.
"Come on, I'll introduce you to some of the others here."
And she did so, leading Nick throughout the town as she introduced him to most of the important mammals around town.
While some of them were a little wary, considering most of them were bunnies, and their only real experience with foxes was with Gideon Grey, they all gave Nick a warm welcome. Some of them even did it in their own special way.
For instance, the mayor of Bunnyburrow, a hare by the name of Robert Cotton, specifically came out of his office to greet him once word spread of his presence. Even Judy was surprised, as outside of special events, Mayor Cotton only rarely comes out of City Hall during business hours, most likely thanks to the amount of work he has to do.
Eventually, the two of them came up to what was the final stop on her tour, and as Nick read the sign above the door, he couldn't help but be surprised as to where they were going.
"Gideon Grey's Good Baked Stuff." he said to himself, pausing as he connected the dots. "You never told me this Gideon was a baker, Carrots."
Puzzled, Judy racked her brain to remember all the times she mentioned Gideon to him, soon realizing that she in fact never mentioned that fact.
"Huh, I guess I didn't. Sorry about that. It never came up."
"It's alright. Shall we head in?"
Judy looked down at Nick's outstretched paw, which was pointed towards the door, before looking up at his face. Even though she was a little wary, Nick's expression did look genuine, so she wasn't too worried about whether Nick took it the wrong way.
Stepping forwards, Judy opened the door and went through, marveling at all of the sights inside as Nick followed close behind.
As the two of them stepped up to the counter, Nick finally got a chance to see what Gideon looked like. While he was kind of glad that he wasn't going to be the only fox here during the week, he was a little bit surprised with how Gideon actually looked.
It may have been because Nick was so used to foxes being thin, but seeing just how…portly Gideon was caught him off guard a bit.
Thankfully, he didn't have any more time to dwell on that fact, as the bell over the doorway signaled to Gideon that there was a customer, and as he turned around, he smiled when he saw the two mammals in front of him.
"Well, look who we have here! Didn't expect to see you come by, Judy. I thought you were busy busting crooks out there in the big city." he said, his southern drawl as clear as day.
"Well, I still am. I'm just here on vacation for the week."
"That's good. I can't imagine how some mammals can do that kind of work for that long, to be honest."
Gideon's sobering thought was interrupted when he got a good look at Nick. He could see a smile form on Gideon's muzzle before he spoke up.
"So who's your friend here?" he asked as he made his way out from behind the counter.
"Oh! This is Nick Wilde. He's my partner on the force." said Judy, slightly embarrassed when she realized that she nearly forgot about Nick.
"Well, I'm glad to see a fellow fox around here for once. Gideon Grey, glad to meet you."
The two foxes shook paws as Nick couldn't help but voice a thought he had.
"Nice place you got here."
"You think so?" asked Gideon, slightly embarrassed. "I saved up enough money from my delivery service to buy this building a couple of months ago. I tried to spruce it up as best as I could, but I keep feeling like I could do something more."
"Oh, don't be so hard on yourself, Gid. This place is really nice. Besides, I'm sure the townsfolk aren't going to be all that worried about the décor when you have the quality of baked goods like you do."
Judy's mention of baked goods actually ended up piquing Nick's interest, and as Judy and Gideon were in the middle of their conversation, Nick wandered over to the counter where there were products on display. When he got there, though, his maw started to water when he saw just how delicious they looked.
"See anything you like, Nick?" asked Gideon, having noticed Nick's disappearance.
Nick stood up, looking over at the other two as he briefly considered what to say.
"Do you happen to have anything with…blueberries, by any chance?"
"Why, yes I do!" said Gideon, barely noticing Judy's exasperated look in his haste to make the sale.
"Seriously, Nick? We just ate an hour ago!"
Unfortunately for Judy, Nick was barely paying attention to her, as by the time she spoke up, Gideon was already pointing out some of his blueberry-filled pastries to him, and Nick looked eager enough to buy them all.
Luckily, or should I say unluckily, before Nick could actually go through with the sale, a ferret burst through the door without warning, catching all three of them off guard.
"Travis? What are you doing here this late?" asked Gideon.
Travis didn't even acknowledge Gideon's question, though, as his attention was on Nick and Judy, and when he finally explained the reasoning behind his sudden appearance, he said something that neither of them would have ever expected to happen.
"You're police officers, right? Come quick! There's been a robbery!"