A/N: Thanks again for all the reviews! They really encourage me to keep writing! Enjoy!
Chapter 10 – Picnic in Zootopia Commons
Judy woke up to the light steaming in through her window. "I don't have a red blanket," was her first thought reaching out for the furry red cover keeping her warm. She glanced up that sound of a snore and realized that her pillow was Nick's arm and her blanket his tail. The events of the evening came back to her. "Well it was a bad night, but it ended well," Judy thought as she snuggled in closer to Nick and ran her paws through his tail. "Good thing I'm used to sleeping with hundreds of snoring bunnies or sleeping with Nick would be a problem." The thought struck her as a little odd, but she shook the feeling away. She considered herself a lucky bunny to have such a good friend who would stay all night with her when she needed him…
Nick started awake at the feeling of his tail being petted. He yawned and stretched his arms over his head, robbing Judy of her pillow. His shifting caused Judy to fall back against his torso. She leaned against his chest and looked up at him cheekily, "Good morning Mr. Snoring Fox."
Nick brought his arms back down and tugged on one of Judy's ears, "Well I wouldn't have snored if I didn't have to sleep sitting up all night because a certain bunny decided to use me as her own personal reclining chair." His eyes went to his tail which Judy still had her arms around, "And use my tail as a blanket as well."
"That's what friends are for?" Judy asked innocently.
Nick shook his head at her with a smile, "They sure are." Nick glanced at Judy's digital clock, "But if you are quite done using me as a giant stuffed animal, I do need to get going. We are meeting my friend at the park in two hours you know."
"Oh, yeah." Judy reluctantly moved away from Nick holding onto his tail until the last minute. "Should I bring anything?"
"Just your cu…cuddly self," Nick stretched as he stood up from the couch, catching himself before he used the C word.
"Sounds, good. I'll meet you at the Balto statue!"
Nick waived as he walked out of the door and whistled all the way home.
After cup of coffee and a long shower, Judy was skipping her way towards Zootopia Commons a few blocks away from her apartment in City Center. She swung a basket full of her family's blueberries (delivered that morning, thanks mom and dad!) on her arm as she listened to her I-paw. Judy could see her favorite statue in the commons from a few blocks away.
Nick showed it to her while they were patrolling the commons a few weeks after they became partners. Balto was a hero to the mammals who settled in Tundra Town. Balto was a mixed species animal, half wolf and half dog. He was shunned by the other mammals in their small village of Nome in the Artic Circle because he was mixed species predator. Everyone assumed he would be unbalanced and untrustworthy. One winter, a terrible blizzard rolled in just as all the young mammals were sick with Diphtheria. The storm prevented the delivery of the vital medicine the children needed to survive. Balto was the only animal brave enough to go out in the storm and make the 100-mile trek, both ways, in the deadly storm. When Balto returned, half dead from the cold, with the medicine, the citizens of Nome welcomed him into their community and homes. The citizens of Tundra Town erected the statue to Balto in the Zootopia Commons to commemorate his bravery and his example that anyone can be anything!
Judy absolutely loved the story! It reminded her how Nick was so much more than any expectations anyone, including herself, tried to place on him by. "Speak of the devil," she thought as Nick came into view at the base of the statue. He was leaning nonchalantly against the statue with a blanket draped over his arm. Judy raised her hand in greeting, about to shout out his name. She paused when she saw a tall, lean coyote step out from around the statue. The coyote was beautiful. She had shiny fur and was wearing a form fitting sun dress. She was laughing at something Nick had said and placed a paw on his shoulder. Judy slowed her approach and her nose started to twitch. Old friend, Nick had said. She was secretly hoping it was Nick's mother, he had only mentioned his mother once, a long time ago. If not, Judy had expected an older woman at least, not one so… attractive.
Nick spotted Judy and waived her over. Judy headed that way, feeling a little dumpy in her black tights and baggy shirt compared to the pretty coyote.
"Hey Carrots! Let me introduce you to my friend, Lola."
Judy held up her paw with a small smile at the coyote, but Lola drew her into a hug. "It's so great to finally meet you, Judy. Nick never stops talking about you!" The coyote pulled back to look at the smaller mammal. "You are just as pretty as you are on all those press conferences on TV!"
Judy blushed at the compliments and stuttered out, "So nice to meet you too, Lola."
Nick shook his head, "Your embarrassing her, Lol- Omfh!" Nick was interrupted by the fluffy little ball of energy that was Remmy. The pup almost knocked Nick off his paws with his hug squealing "Uncle Nicky!"
"Easy, Champ," Nick grunted.
Nick pulled Remmy off of him and turned the coyote pup to face Judy. "Remmy, I want you to meet my partner, Officer Judy Hopps."
Remmy stared at Judy with wide eyes, "You…you're THE Officer Judy Hopps?"
"Yes, I am. What's your name?" Judy said leaning down to be eye level with the young pup. "Re-re-remmy," he stuttered out shyly.
"It's so nice to meet you, Remmy," Judy smiled. "What has your Uncle Nicky told you about me?"
Remmy shed all of his shyness and exclaimed, "Everything! How you're the first bunny to be a cop and how you saved all of Zootopia and how you were nice to Uncle Nicky when no one else was and everything!"
Judy laughed as Remmy grabbed her hand and started dragging her after Nick and Lola as they went to find a spot to set up their picnic. Remmy chattered non-stop about everything he knew about the famous hero cop.
The group enjoyed their picnic together. Remmy provided most of the conversation. He never left Judy's side the entire time and told her all about his school, friends, favorite games, and how much he wanted to be cop like her and Uncle Nicky. After they finished eating, Uncle Nicky took Remmy to go play in the nearby playground. Nick allowed the pup to pull him by the paw while shouting at the two females not to talk about him the whole time he was gone.
After the two males left, Judy smiled pleasantly at Lola and asked her how she and Nick knew each other.
"Oh, it's a long story. We've know each other for 5 years now," Lola waved her paw dismissively. "I'm so glad we were finally able to meet you, as you can tell, Remmy is quite a big fan of yours. I've been bugging Nick for the past two years to introduce us."
"I'm so glad he finally has, Remmy is such a sweet pup," Judy replied with a smile.
"Thank you, he is a good pup," Lola smiled turning her eyes to watch Nick and Remmy play. "I'm so happy that he has a good male like Nick in his life."
"Is his father out of the picture?" Judy asked softly, also watching the two males at play.
"Yes, and it's for the best," Lola replied sadly.
"I'm sorry," Judy replied a little uncomfortable.
"Don't be. Like I said, I'm lucky Nick is in his life." Lola turned and looked slyly at Judy, "I've been wanting to thank you for being such a good influence on Nick. He was always a good fox, but you've made him… want to be a better mammal."
Judy laughed and shrugged, "I don't know about that, but I will take credit for his change in profession!"
"I can tell you how much I prefer that Remmy wants to be a cop now, instead of a con-mammal!"
The two females laughed together. Judy then picked up the courage to ask the question she had wanted to ask since first seeing the beautiful coyote. "Soooo, you and Nick are just friends then?" Judy asked, not quite making eye contact with Lola.
Lola, caught a little off guard at the question, tilted her head at Judy, "Yes, of course. He really hasn't told you anything about us?"
Judy looked away embarrassed, "He doesn't really talk about his past much. Well, at all really."
"Oh, Nick," Lola said shaking her head. "I hope you didn't get the wrong impression, Judy. Nick is a great friend, but that's all."
"Oh, it's not… I mean it would be fine if… I was just curious," Judy stuttered.
"Speaking of more than friends, last time I saw Nick he said that you had a male rabbit in your life?" Lola asked, raising a perfectly shaped eyebrow.
"Hah, yeah well, he turned out to be a speciesist ass-hole," Judy said, crossing her arms and frowning at the memory of last night.
"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that," Lola said. "It's amazing how a handsome face can hide something rotten underneath," Lola said. Judy looked up at Lola, Lola had a far off look in her eyes.
"How did you know he was handsome?" Judy asked, breaking Lola out of her reverie.
"I assumed. Nick didn't like him so he must have been handsome," Lola winked at Judy.
Judy shook her head, "Well, I'm sure that wasn't why Nick disliked him, but he was able to see what I couldn't."
"Good thing you have Nick in your life too then," Lola smiled at her.
"He's the best friend and partner I could ask for," Judy smiled back. Just then Nick and Remmy came back to the blanket the two females were sitting on.
"Officer Hopps, junior officer Remmy here has a mission for you, should you choose to accept," Nick said in a formal voice, standing at attention.
Judy hopped up to attention and gave Nick a salute, "I am ready to accept junior officer Remmy's mission, sir."
Remmy bent over laughing at the two adults' performance. After he recovered he grabbed Judy's paw and dragged her away to recreate the famous Night Howlers case. "Uncle Nicky and I play this all the time, but this time I can play Uncle Nicky and you can be you," the little coyote told the bemused rabbit.
After Remmy dragged Judy away, Nick settled down next to Lola and grabbed some of the remaining blueberries from the basket that Judy brought.
"So, you didn't tell Judy anything about me or Remmy, did you?" Lola drawled causing Nick to choke on a berry.
Nick coughed, "N-no, but to be fair we had a busy night last night!"
"Nick!" Lola swatted him on the arm. "The poor thing thought I was your girlfriend! How was I supposed to make a good impression on her if she hated me from the start!"
"What! Why would she think... She wouldn't hate you!" Nick exclaimed.
Lola just gave Nick a knowing look and shook her head at him. "Anyway, as much as I wanted to meet Judy, there is something I needed to tell you." Lola checked to see that Judy and Remmy were out of ear shot.
"What's up?" Nick asked curiously.
"It's about those missing girls you told me about," Lola said quietly.
Nick looked surprised, "What about them?"
"Well, one of the girls I used to know from back… in the day. She came by the club the other night, asking about a job. She said that she and some of the other girls were scared, that some of them had gone missing."
Nick listened intently as the coyote continued, "She said that some of the girls who went missing had all been hired by a mammal who drove up in a limo. They were last scene getting into the limo and hadn't been heard of since."
"Who was this girl you talked to? I could go interview her and see if anyone got a license plate number or something," Nick asked pulling out a notepad from his back pocket. (Hopps had yelled at him every day for a month to get him to always carry his notepad, even off duty.)
"No, Nick," Lola shook her head sadly. "She wouldn't talk to a cop. She only talked to me because she knew me. And even then, I think she wanted someone to talk to because she was scared."
"Did she tell you anything else?" Nick said, biting back his annoyance.
"She mentioned something about a new ring in town, one that catered to special clientele. That this new pimp," Lola said with disgust, "was only taking the best girls for his parties. There have even been rumors of brining in girls from outside Zootopia. My friend said that there was an artic fox from Moscow staying at the Château Marmot bragging to some local girls he had hired about the quality of his imported wares." Lola stopped abruptly, seeing Judy and Remmy heading back towards them.
"Did she say anything else?" Nick asked quickly and Lola shook her head. Nick finished scribbling quickly in his notebook and slid it back into his pocket by the two small mammals returned to the blanket.
Remmy flung himself onto the blanket, completely tired out after playing for so long. Lola told Nick and Judy that she had better get going. The adults tidied up and then Nick lifted up and carried a sleeping Remmy out of the commons. At the entrance to the park, Nick and Judy said good-bye to Lola. Nick told Lola to take care of herself, Lola nodded back with a knowing look. Judy gave Lola a big hug and told her how great it was to meet her and promised that she would make Nick bring her with him next time he visits. Nick handed over a sleeping Remmy back to his mother. The group split off into different direction, Nick walking with Judy back towards their apartments.
The rabbit and fox walked in companionable silence, both occupied with their own thoughts. Judy reviewed the version of the Night Howler case Nick had taught Remmy, which included an over the top rendition of Judy's apology to Nick under the bridge ("No, you have to be waaaaaaaaaaaaaay sadder than that!" directed Remmy), a monologue about Nick's brilliance for changing the Night Howler serum for bluberries, and a gushy speech by "Nick" about how "Judy saved my life" at the end.
Nick's mind was occupied with grim thoughts of this new prostitution ring and the missing females. So much so that Judy had to yank his shirt to get his attention when they arrived at her building, startling him out of his thoughts.
"Oh, sorry Carrots, got lost in my own mind."
"I had so much fun meeting your friends today, Nick," Judy beamed up at him. "Do you want to come up and finish our leftovers from last night? I think Sharknado II is playing again tonight if you want to finish it?"
Nick smiled at her hopeful tone, but he knew her game. She just wanted to question him about his past with Lola. "Aww, carrots. I know you just want me to come up so you can use me as a stuffed animal again, don't you?" he smirked.
"Weeeeeeeeeell, I wouldn't say no if you want to cuddle," Judy said looking away.
"Wish I could, Cottontail, but I have to run a few… errands before we go back on the clock tomorrow. Rain check?"
Judy gave him a disappointed look. Nick raised his paw and rubbed the fur along her nose and between her eyes with one of his paw pads, saying, "I promise, I'll cuddle with you any other night you want."
Judy was surprised at Nick's touch, no one had ever pet her there before. It felt nice.
"What did you do that for?" she asked softly with a smile.
Nick smiled back, a little embarrassed, "It's just something my mom used to do when she said good-night."
Judy paused for a second, this was the second time Nick had ever mentioned his mother to her.
"Let me try?" Judy asked raising her paw as Nick bent his head down for her to reach. Judy rubbed the fur between Nicks eyes and said, "Good night, silly fox!" Their noses were close to touching as Judy looked into Nicks eyes to see his reaction. To her surprise, Nick swept her into a hug and said, "Good night, silly rabbit."
Nick let her go and turned to walk away with a waive. Judy stood on the doorstep to her apartment and watched her fox partner saunter away for a moment before she went inside.
Nick looked over his shoulder to make sure Judy had gone, then speed up and hurried to get to the precinct as quickly as possible. He had to make sure the ZPD acted on the information that Lola gave him. He knew it would be a long night. He would have to convince Chief Bogo that it was a good tip without revealing Lola as his source.