The Search

Judy stopped the van in front of the ZPD as Finnick cringed.

"Sure it's wise to involve the police in this?"

"We have a better chance at finding Nick if we get the police to help look for him. Besides, I'm being recruited in their academy. They have to listen to me, right?"

"Actually, no. You're still a civilian in their eyes until you pass training."

"Well, I still have to report a missing mammal to them." She got out of the van, saying, "I'll be right back."

She walked into the building in awe by the sight. Officers much larger than her were going about their day, and some were on their coffee break, eating donuts that she had noticed by the front desk. She went up to the cheetah and said.

"Excuse me."

The cheetah had a doughnut stuffed in his mouth and looked around, trying to find where the sound came from.

"Down here." Judy motioned.

The cheetah gulped the doughnut and started to squealed, "Oh, my goodness! Aren't you just the cutest thing?!"

Judy winced at the word 'cutest' and cleared her throat, "Sorry, um, I don't mean to call you out on that, but it's offensive to use the word 'cute' for a bunny. Only other bunnies are allowed to say it."

The cheetah quickly apologized, "Oh, my gosh! I'm so sorry! Of course you don't want to be referred to that way. My bad!"

She smiled, "That's okay. You'll know better once I start working here."

"Huh?"

"Well, I'm a recruit that'll be heading off to the academy soon, so once I'm done with training, we'll be working together!"

"Really? Wow, they recruit anyone these days…"

She frowned at the comment, but chose to ignore it. Finding Nick was a bigger concern right now to her.

The cheetah noticed her look and quickly added, "Not that I don't think you won't get in, but the Chief has other ideas of recruitment…"

"Clawhauser!" a booming voice came, startling both Ben and Judy. Chief Bogo came closer, "What are you doing sitting there? There are papers that need filing and-" He stopped when he saw Ben was talking to the small rabbit the whole time, "Oh." he cleared his throat, "What can we do for you, ma'am?"

Judy stared at the large police chief, Okay, relax, Judy. This is your future boss you're talking to. Make a good impression… "Uh, yes, sir. My name is Judy Hopps. As it so happens, I need to report a missing mammal case."

Ben mentioned, "I was wondering why you came in. I thought maybe for a second there, you were taking notes for the academy."

"Academy?" Bogo questioned.

"Yes, it also happens that I'm a recruit to Zootopia's Police Academy, but that's beside the point. I need help finding a missing mammal that's a dear friend of mine."

"Aww…" Ben touched his heart, "Of course, we'll help!" He handed her some forms, "Just fill in this information and sign at the bottom."

"Now wait a second!" Bogo snatched the forms away. He lowered his face to the bunny, causing for her to feel the hot air. She winced at his closeness. "I usually like recruits to learn all of this at the academy…"

Judy was appalled at what he was suggesting, "Sir! That's not the case at all! There really is a missing mammal and he's my best friend! He's a red fox, tall, has green shimmering eyes, and his name is Nicholas Wilde."

Ben questioned, "Green shimmering eyes?"

Judy blushed at her mistake of revealing a bit much on her attraction to Nick. "Oops… I didn't mean to describe it like that."

"All the more reason you need the training at the academy. They'll teach you to be discreet, but chances are they'll fail you on the first day."

Judy was shocked and was on the verge of tears, but remembering Nick's lessons of not letting them get to her, she took a deep breath and pointed, "Sir, what you think of me is of little importance. All I care about right now is finding Nick… Now as officers of the law, it's your duty to find missing mammals that are being reported missing, and I have a missing mammal that needs finding." She grabbed the papers back from the cape buffalo, who was wide-eyed at how aggressive the bunny was. Even Clawhauser was taken aback as well.

She quickly filled out the form and handed it back to Ben.

The cheetah said, "We'll call you if we find him."

"Thank you, that means a lot to me." She smiled at him and then saluted at the Chief, "Sir." She hopped on out, leaving the two officers stunned.

"How could I have been so blind…?" she muttered as she drove.

"Don't be so hard on yourself. We all knew how much you wanted it." Finnick said sympathetically.

"Nick had the right to laugh at me… He did me a huge favor showing me the harsher side of reality…"

Fin smirked, "All the more reason you love him, right?"

"Yep. If it weren't for him, I never would've had the guts to do what I did in there, talking back to the head of the ZPD."

The fox let out a low whistle.

"I just hope they'll follow through and try to find him…"

"One thing's for sure, they'd be idiots if they didn't let you on the force."

That made her smile.

They spent the entire day searching, driving down streets and areas and all the major ecosystems of Zootopia. Once they grabbed a bite in Savanna Central, Judy scanned the crowds, wishing one of them had a red bushy tail or pointed ears that were easy to help spot the fox she loved. But no mammal came even close.

They were back in the van as she asked the fennec fox, "Fin, there's got be some place we haven't looked yet."

"We checked all our old hideouts that he and I lived in, but he wasn't in any of them. I don't know where else he could have gone… Unless…"

"Unless?"

"It's a long shot, but I think it's our best bet. Turn here." He pointed in the direction they had to go in.

They were a few blocks away from a park that had a bridge.

"You really think he's there?" she asked.

"Could be. It's one of the few places he goes to be alone. I never cared of course 'cause it wasn't my business. He told you what kind of a life he had, so I knew it was best I left it alone."

"Sure you don't want to come?"

"Trust me, it's better he sees you and you see him…" he gave a tiny smile.

She returned it as she got out of the vehicle.

Nick laid on his chair, holding the tanning mirror on himself. He thought it might help distract him from his lingering thoughts on a rabbit he was so desperately in love with. But sometimes, just as he was about to go to sleep, he would hear her calling out his name.

"Nick…"

There it was again. He sighed, knowing it was just a desperate wish to have her beside him.

"Nick…"

It was louder this time, but it didn't matter. His heart was aching from the pain.

"Nick!"

Okay, now he was going crazy. That sounded like that was almost close to him.

"Nick!" the voice was joyful and loud. He opened his eyes, seeing a bright Judy in the sunlight. Great, now he was having delusions.

He muttered, "It's just an illusion… It'll go away…" he moved the tanning mirror to cover his face.

"Illusion? Nick, do you honestly believe I'm not here?" she grabbed the mirror and pulled it away from him, "Take a good look."

He did and he slowly got up to approach her to make sure she really was there and not some trick of the light. He touched her shoulder. It felt real enough… but then he saw the tears in her eyes. When she moved in for a hug, that was when he knew for sure it was really her… He embraced back and let out his own tears.

"I missed you so much…" she said.

"You did?" he had her face him.

"Yes…"

"But… I thought you would be at the academy by now…"

"Oh, Nick… I tried to go, but I found I couldn't… It became too hard to leave knowing I left something or someone behind… Someone who makes me so happy that I would give up wanting to be a cop just to be with him…"

His mouth gaped at what she was saying, "Do you mean to tell me… that you… you actually…"

"Love you? Yes. Yes, I do." she smiled at him, "I love you, Nicholas Wilde."

His heart was beating rapidly. The fear he held on for so long had disappeared. She loved him. She really loved him. He smiled brightly at her and held her paws, bringing her closer to him.

"And I love you, Judy… I have for a while now… Ever since we danced our first dance, though I like to think you stole my heart on that first day we met…"

"Funny, I going to say the same thing about you…" she laid her head on his chest and they lovingly embraced.

After a brief moment of blissful silence, he said, "You don't know how hard it was letting you go like that…"

She smirked, "I have some idea…" She held out the note that Finnick gave her, "That last part wouldn't happen to be 'I love her', could it?"

He smirked back, "Maybe…" He took the note and crumpled it up, "I was afraid to admit it because if you had read the note with it saying that, you would have gotten scared and would have been forced to break my heart, saying you didn't feel the same way about me."

"Or… it would have made me more determined to find you and tell you that I loved you, too…" she nuzzled his face.

"You have no idea how happy this makes me, Judy… After one disappointment after the other, I thought having your love would be impossible, and yet here you are… proving that there is still good left in this world…"

"Having your love is just as important to me… I know my parents are going to need time to get used to it, but once they see how much in love we are, they won't object."

"How about we go on a couple of dates first before meeting the parents?"

She giggled and kissed his cheek, but he did one better as he grabbed her chin, causing them to stare into each other's eyes and slowly moved in to get in close enough to their lips…

But just as they were about to kiss, a voice shouted.

"Nooo!"

They looked up to see a hare on top of the bridge, trembling with a dart gun in his hands…