Chapter 10: Wild Night - part III

After a walk through long corridors, Judy and Nick came into a big ballroom. Everyone were seated at the same place. The Wolf didn't move an inch. He was talking with Gazelle sitting next to him right now. They weren't sure what they were talking about, but it looked like a nice conversation. Gazelle was smiling the entire time and she laughed with Al from time to time. It was a really great sight for Judy. But not only for her. However, Nick still didn't know about Gazelle's sweet secret. He enjoyed this show, too. It was nice to see the best unofficial pair from school once again.

"Aww!" Judy sighed after a while of watching them "They look so cute together, aren't they?"

"Yeah, but you know what was cuter?" Nick asked and looked at her with an inquisitive face.

"Enlighten me"

"You, when I was kissing your ears" He blinked to her "You cute bunny".

"Nick stop... You know that you can't call a bunny cute, don't you?" This time Judy reacted to the C word. Nick didn't know why Judy started acting like that. He knew that she doesn't like when someone calls her like that, but this word from Nick's mouth seemed not to have offended Judy even once. By now.

"Ok..." Nick broke through awkward silence and looked at her with stone face "I won't say anything about your cuteness anymore... Is that okay?"

"No, Nick..." That moment, Judy realized why she has never reacted when the Fox called her that way. "I don't mean that..." She said with dropped ears. She doesn't like when someone calls her cute but Nick was an exception. Judy was upset at the thought of Nick never calling her this way again. She really wished to put the clock back and avoid that mistake.

"So, what do you mean, then...?" He continued, without any bigger expression on his face.

"I'm not cute..." She said to turn this situation on its head. She was afraid that Nick could be mad at her, especially since he had a stone face. Nick saw how Judy was embarrassed, so he decided to lighten up.

"What? You aren't cute?" He started with a little smile on his face "Great joke! Carrots, you again toying up with me... It's really rude to delude a detective..." He went a bit closer and kneed in front of her "Didn't learn you something 5 minutes ago?" He asked, wrapping her with his tail and grabbed her ear again.

"Nick... not again... No here..." She was afraid that someone could watch them right now.

"So don't play with me like that anymore" He said and loosened his hold on her ear "Let's go finally"

Two empty seats beside Gazelle were waiting for them. They joined her t the table that sneaky, that she didn't even noted that. Judy and Nick could hear their conversation, but only for a moment. Gazelle looked around and then noted them here.

"Oh, who have we got here?" She greeted the returned pair as they sat "Where have you been you two?"

"Oh, you know..." Judy started, but she didn't know what to say. She knew that she couldn't tell her about Nick's successful attempt to get the secret. The Bunny became quiet now. Fortunately, Nick answered instead of her.

"We were wandering around this complex you know. It's really big" It was a simple and sly answer from him. Gazelle knew that he tried to hide something, judging by Judy's awkward behaviour. However, she decided to ignore this odd situation.

000

After good two hours when everyone finished eating all dishes, the waiters cleaned up dirty dishes from all tables, everyone was still talking with each other. Some animals went outside to smoke from time to time. It was still like a normal meeting. In other words - nothing special. At some point Gazelle disappeared with her friend and Alan left outside with his friends he met here. Nick was sitting alone with Judy now.

"To be honest, I thought this party would be something more..." He started.

"Oh, really Nick...? You think it's everything for tonight? Soon you will understand why this party is called Wild" Judy assured the bored Fox "What time is it, Nicky?"

Nick looked at his watch "It's 9 o'clock"

"Already?! Wow... I thought it's maybe six or seven..."

"Well... you were wrong..." Nick looked through the big windows in the hall. It was a really nice sunset to watch at. The orange sun with light clouds around it and the sky covered with orange light color. It was a really beautiful view. The entire wall was vitreous and the Gazelle's entire complex was on a big hill. The hall's floor was all glistening thanks to the light coming through the windows. All the effects made the atmosphere even more wonderful. Nick looked at Judy sitting next to him. He looked at her face, at her sensitive ears he massaged and kissed not so long ago. Her nose was twitching every time he embarrassed her or when he gave her pleasure. Her purple eyes he was looking at so intensely made him smile brightly. She finally looked at him too. Without saying anything, Nick looked the other way at the window's direction. Judy did the same thing after a while.

"Really beautiful view, isn't it?" Nick asked, when he noticed that Judy was looking at the orange sky too.

"Absolutely"

"So... When we are alone, you could..." Voice from the scene interrupted him. It looked like something is going on.

"Can I have your attention, please?" The cougar dressed up in bright pink suit said. He meant to be DJ for tonight's party "I know that I'm in charge of this party for an hour, but the look outside is absolutely wonderful and I think it would be a sin if we missed it. So I offer to start our first part of the party right now" Since Nick didn't know anything about this party, he felt a little lost. He didn't know what DJ meant when he said first part. And what this sky outside has in common with it.

"What does he mean with the first part thing?" Nick asked the Bunny, who was more familiar with it.

"You will see, silly" She wanted him to be unsure, but Nick didn't need to wait long to see what's going on.

"Gentlemen... Grab your ladies, it's time for dance with your sweethearts" He said as peaceful and slow music started playing from speakers placed around the hall. That was the first part DJ meant - slow ballroom dance. Most of guests woke up and headed to the middle part of the hall. There was a lot of free space, so there wasn't a problem for anyone to find a room to dance with other half. It was a big shock for Nick, because the name Wild Night suggested him something else. He thought it would be a really hard party... and he was actually right. But the ballroom dancing was a part of this party since the very beginning. Judy has known it for a long time and she couldn't wait to dance with Nick. She had a drive to ask him to dance for a few days... to date. Something happened at this moment. She didn't know why, but when music started playing and many pairs started dancing to it, she didn't feel that brave to ask him. Despite that she didn't feel confident, she tried to choke it out. She looked at him and sighed.

"You know... I'm tired of sitting here..." She suggested him with red cheeks a bit, playing with one of her dropped ears. Nick knew what she meant, but he decided to play with her a little.

"So... I guess you can go outside"

"No, I don't think about that..."

"So, what do you want to do?" Judy got more red here.

"Huh? Nick... Do you really... don't know...?"

"C'mon, Carrots. I want to know what you mean"

"Why do I need to tell you?" She reserved this situation cleverly "You are a detective here. You should ask the questions, right?"

"Oh, you sly bunny. So... you play open cards right? I get it" He stood up and stretched his hand out to her "Do you want to dance with me, Mrs. Judith?"

"Of course, Mr. Fox *giggle*" She said and gave him her paw. Her secret, little dream was about to come true. Her heart started skipping a beat when he held her paw in the way to the floor, where pairs were dancing already. Judy earlier was overtaken by Gazelle and Al's relations, but at this moment she completely forgot about them. Now she just wanted to spend wonderful evening with the Fox she loves so much. When they joined other dancers on the floor, Judy found one problem. Nick was over two times taller than her. Well... It's nothing big in general, but when it comes to dancing it could be a little problematic.

"Nick?" She raised her head and gazed at him.

"Mhm?"

"You know... You are pretty tall..."

"I'm tall? Maybe you are a half-pint?"

"No, I'm not!" She firmly denied and stomped her foot on the ground. Nick found her really cute in that situation.

"Okay, okay... Take it easy you cutie"

"Never mind. You are tall or I'm small - all the same"

"What do you mean?"

"I won't dance with your stomach you strapper!" She carried away her paws to him "Pick me up" She said with quiet voice, but Nick could hear her.

"Okay, c'm here, you little bunny" He opened his arms and let her come in. Judy didn't wait any second - she hopped in his shoulders instantly. Nick complied with her request and lifted her up.

"So... what you want to do now?" Nick asked.

"Isn't it obvious? I want to dance!"

"Yeah, but... how? I need to hold you with my paws" And actually he was right. It's hard to perform ballroom dancing without free paws.

"I don't know detective. Figure it out! I want to dance!" She said and hit his shoulder.

"Okay, okay... Give me a second" After a while of thinking the Fox found a way to solve this problem. He placed his paw on her ass.

"NICK!?" Surprised Judy screamed out and interrupted him "What the hell are you doing?!"

"Just let me do it, ok?"

Apparently, Nick didn't do anything dirty. He just dropped her a little lower. Now she was sitting on his paw at the waist level. Since Judy was light, Nick had no problem to hold her in this position for a long time. Maybe they looked pretty funny right now, but it didn't matter. The thing was that Nick had one free paw, so they could dance without any problems.

"You... you sly fox..." She said and hugged to his chest.

"You dumb bunny"

After this short josh they got quiet. Nothing was standing between them at that moment. Finally, they could enjoy themselves. Judy felt wonderful, being held by Nick and hugging to his chest. What is more, she was wearing a beautiful red dress and Nick had a white tuxedo. She found him really handsome in that outfit. All that combined with slow ballroom dance with Nick made the Bunny on cloud nine. It was a little bit different with Nick. Of course, he enjoyed this situation like Judy, but for him a slow-pace dancing was somewhat scary. He thought he's not good in things like that. Maybe he's a sly fox, but he easily could lose himself when it comes to affairs of the heart. The situation with Gazelle in the department showed it clearly. The one thing he could do was just dancing with her. It became easier for him when Judy was hugging to his chest and not looking straight into his eyes.

"You know detective, you are good at dancing" Judy admitted after good 10 minutes of dancing.

"You know... I think you shouldn't call me a detective"

"Oh, why?" Judy moved her head from his chest and looked into his eyes.

"To be honest, it really suits you more than me"

"Why do you think so?"

"You know..." He stared deeply in her eyes now... "With cuteness like yours you would pump many animals for information. You could just break them with your smile..."

"Really, Nick? Do you really think I could break someone? There is no way..."

"You have already broken someone..." Nick said and looked away.

"Who?" Judy asked with uncover surprise.

"A predator you met two months ago" He got little red on face now "You totally brought him down" He looked into her eyes again. He thought he could handle looking at her, but he was getting more red with every second. At some point he just pulled her head to his chest to avoid eye confrontation with her deep purple eyes. Nick plucked up courage because he didn't have to look into her eyes. It became easier for him to continue this romantic dialogue now.

"Your eyes... your beautiful purple eyes... your sensitive ears... your twitching nose... your smile... your cuteness... All of that broke me... You hunted me, Carrots..." He assured her, still pulling her head to his chest.

These words were the best compliments she could have ever heard this evening. It wouldn't make any difference if the party came to an end. Nick's dancing and playing with her was absolutely enough. Nick seemed to share this opinion subconsciously. At least he danced with Judy in a beautiful scenery with beautiful sky and sun outside.

However, the real party was supposed to get started soon. After a good hour of dancing to slow music, Judy and Nick lost a desire to take part in a hardcore part of this night. But not only them. It looked like the toughest animals stayed here and were still waiting for the Wild Night. Most of the guests were already leaving. Some of them didn't have that much time. Others had to leave Zootopia or just come here to stay for lunch and a ballroom dance. Our cute couple felt like they don't need to stay here any longer, too. For Judy, seeing Al and Gazelle's confrontation, Nick's kisses, his playing with her and that dancing with him was absolutely marvelous to call this day wonderful. The view outside wasn't as epic as an hour ago when there was a sunset. The sky was dark and starry now. It was still a great landscape, but it wasn't that climatic.

"You know..." Judy interrupted dancing with Nick and looked into his eyes. At this moment she found out that many pairs have already stopped dancing and the floor was pretty empty. Only a few pairs except them were still dancing. "I guess we can call it a day..."

"Oh, really?" Nick was surprised, because he thought that she couldn't wait for the hard party, but it seemed like he was wrong. Considering your shape I guessed that you would be the last standing animal here at dawn"

"Very funny... I'm serious right now..."

"Do me a favor, Carrots" Nick lifted Judy up. Now her head was at his head level, and he was holding her with his two paws now.

"What do you have in mind...?" Judy asked him and wrapped her arms around his neck. She hoped he could mean a... a kiss. A real passionate kiss. She was ready to do this. She was ready to start kissing or smooching with that Fox she loves so much. Especially since the mood was absolutely adequate to make her dream a reality.

"You know... It's nothing special, but... can we dance one more time?"

"Of course..." She answered and hugged to his neck. She got a little sad at this moment. She really thought for a moment that Nick would want to kiss her. But at least she couldn't complain at all. She danced with him the entire hour.

Since Nick asked her, Judy stayed with him on the floor and the couple was waiting for a next song. Judy didn't expect anything else, what could make this evening even a little better. But she was wrong. Maybe Nick had a lot of luck here, or maybe he was agreed with DJ, because the next song was Lady in Red. Maybe it wasn't a big deal, but Judy was dressed in a red dress. The Bunny felt like time stopped for her. She felt as if Nick and her was the main pair on the floor right now. They were dancing to this slow and a really peaceful music.

"Carrots..." Nick whispered to one of Judy's dropped ears "You are my lady in red... You are my adored bunny... You are my pray and I won't let you go away..."

"Nick..." She pulled her head up and looked straight into his eyes "I won't leave you..." She scooted her head closer to his face "Never..." She whispered and closed her eyes. She again really wanted to kiss him, but at least she just hugged to his neck, and closed her eyes.

000

Sometime later, Judy and Nick joined Gazelle in her house. It was only 10 p.m., but Judy and Nick definitely got enough positive impressions and good experiences already. Gazelle prepared two rooms for them. Because she was a host here she left the duo alone. She needed to go and check everything etc. - normal things that host usually does. When she left them, they were standing in a living room.

"So..." Nick started "What do you want to do now...?"

"You know... I think I need massage..." She knew how good masseur Nick is.

"Again? Why? Do you have that backache again?" He asked, when he was about to open Judy's room door. It was a pretty small room painted in black and white. There was a twin bed with modern looking commode next to it and a big plasma TV on the other side. The bed has already been made. There was a white wooden desk with a painting above and a black laptop on it.

"No" She negated "You know, we danced a lot, my feet are painful..." She lied, but she forgot about one important thing... Nick held her for that entire hour.

"Seriously..." He said with a firm voice "I was holding you the entire time... Carrots" He started laughing "How is that possible? You deceiving me again?" Nick took a sit on the bed.

Judy was so ashamed she wished the Earth would swallow her up. She compromised herself badly. She didn't know what to do, so she listened to her heart and simply hugged the Fox.

"Nick..." She looked at him after a longer while "Please *-*" She made big and pleasing eyes. Nick couldn't fight against it.

"Okay, Carrots..." He pointed at the pillow on the bed "Lay down and give me your paws. I will take care of them"

As Nick requested Judy took a pillow and placed it under her head. Nick grabbed her paw and slowly started massaging it. It was really a pleasant touch for Judy. She closed her eyes, sighed and relaxed herself.

At the same time

Gazelle was looking around for Alan. She hasn't seen him since he disappeared when Judy and Nick joined them. She was wondering what he could have been doing for such a long time. She was walking through long corridors, hoping to meet him somewhere. Corridors were absolutely empty. Every animal was jumping around right now.

"Are you looking for someone, lost gazelle?" She heard someone's voice behind her. She was surprised. It was the lost wolf.

"Alan?"

"Yes! I guess..." He came closer to her "Can I help you? You looking for someone?"

"I was looking for one dumb wolfy"

"Abracadabra! He's here" It seemed like Al was drunk a little. He was... I don't know how to say it. More crazy than usual? Yes. I guess that's an accurate term.

"Did you drink anything?"

"Are you kidding me? Of, hell, course!"

"If I can ask, where have you been for this entire time?"

"You know... I met here many great animals"

"Never mind..." She got little upset. She got a thought, than Alan could played around with some girls. She felt sorrow for him. She wanted him to spend more time with her "I guess you had a great time, then..."

"You can't even imagine! I don't know what I drank with them but that shit was crazy!"

"So... If you want you can go to them again..." She said it with unconcealed sorrow this time. Maybe Alan was drunk now, but he isn't born yesterday. He noted what she meant. He wasn't that stupid to left her now.

"You know... It was a great fun, but I think it could be really rude for me to left you here alone now. I mean - Hey! We haven't seen each other for good five years, right?"

"Are you sure? I'm going to my house now. I won't party tonight..."

"Just lead me over there! I think I won't party anymore, too"

Gazelle got really happy, heading with Alan to her house. For first time, she would be completely alone with Alan. It seemed like she was still in love with him.

Well, maybe Alan really wanted to join his still jumping around friends again, but he got two reasons to go with Gazelle. First - he saw how she had a sorrow for him. He knew that she want him to go with her. And second - Deep in his heart he wanted to go with her, too. He wanted to spend his time with someone, who was really close to him in school times.

Five minutes later, Gazelle and Al were in her house already. They entered to her bedroom.

"Do you mind if I lie down on your bed? I'm pretty tired..."

"No problem"

Having said that, he dropped onto her bed. He knew it was rude a little, but it didn't bother him at all. Gazelle didn't mind it, too. She sat on the bed next to him. They were talking for good 30 minutes about many things. Gazelle felt really great with Alan laying on her bed and having a great conversation with him. At some moment Alan asked Gazelle to do something... odd for him.

"Gazelle..."

"Hmmm?"

"I know it could sound a little strange, but... can you scratch me behind my ears?"

"What?"

"I know it sounds stupid... But can you do it for me?" He looked in her eyes now "Pretty please?" he added. Gazelle wasn't really able to say no to him in this situation. At least she could give him some pleasure.

"Yes... I can..." She said, put her hand on his head and she complied with his request.

"Mmmm... That feels so good..." He said and closed his eyes. It seemed like he enjoyed it. But not only him. Gazelle liked that, too. Maybe it wasn't something big, just scratching his ears, but it was nice to her. It was nice to see how he reacted on that.

"Thank you, Gazelle... You are awesome..."

"Just doing what you asked me to do" She smiled at him.

"Will I offend you, if I fall asleep?" He asked with still closed eyes.

"No Alan..." She whispered and started scrapping him behind his second ear.