Chapter 10: Old Friends
Judy was banging her head against the window inside the ZPD vehicle. Her eyes closed and her ears falling behind her head. Nick was standing outside on the sidewalk, patiently waiting for his partner, not letting her out of this so easily. After a few more moments the defeated looking rabbit slowly stepped out of the cruiser and walked up to Nick, looking at the ground the whole time. She took a few steps closer to nick and banged her head against his chest which caused him to chuckle.
"Awww come on, it's not that bad!" Nick said playfully as he patted Judy on the head and ran a hand down her drooped ears.
"It's so slow….I can't do slow…" Judy muttered as she nuzzled into Nick's chest, enjoying the feeling a little more than she probably should. "I can't do slooooooooow!" Judy groaned as she looked up at Nick, her purple eyes growing wide," Don't you know anyone else you can help?"
"Nope, besides Dash is the best in the business!" Nick said as he let Judy go, much too the rabbits dismay, and began to stroll towards the large doors leading into the DMV. "Besides I heard a new joke that I am sure Dash would love to hear!" At this point the fox picked up his pace as Judy bounded after him.
"Don't you dare!" Judy shouted as she tried to catch up to her partner who had already opened the entrance doors and slipped inside. Judy was close behind the fox and quickly dashed in as the door started to close. She saw Nick walking down the center lane towards a long line of desks. She began to run after him but suddenly realized that a few mammals were looking in her direction from the long lines. She looked around and gave an embarrassed grin as she slowed down into the fastest walk she could muster without looking obvious.
The bunny officer was so close to her partner that she was sure she had time to stop him and prepare a battle plan for the interview. Her gray paw was reaching out to Nick, just inches away, almost there….
"Flash Flash hundred yard dash!" Nick said loudly as he reached the desk were a familiar looking sloth was sitting. "How have ya been?"
'Don't you dare Nick, don't you dare do it, I swear I will bury you' Judy screamed on the inside as she reached the desk in time to see the familiar sloth slowly look up at Nick.
"Well
Hello
Officer
Wilde" Flash said slowly as he looked at his old friend, playfully using the formal title. The sloth then slowly looked down at Judy and gave her the slowest wink she had ever seen.
"Officer
Hopps
Hope
You
Are
Keeping
Nick
Out
Of
Trouble" The sloth said in a painfully slow manner. Judy gave him a weak smile, doing her best to remain friendly. She knew this was just in Flash's nature. The amusing part was that Nick and Judy's first case together actually involved the sloth that sat before them now. Apparently when not at work Flash had a bit of a street racing hobby and had been using the streets of the city as his own personal race track. If Flash had wanted to go pro he would probably make an excellent race car driver.
Judy and Nick had decided to let Flash off with a warning when they had finally caught up to him and realized who was behind the series of street racing incidents. After all he had helped them in the previous night howler case and in general he was a nice guy. Judy remembered it being the first time she had ever really bent the rules for someone besides Nick, a fact she constantly reminded her fox partner of.
"Good to see you Flash, and I am trying to but Nick always seems to find ways of causing new trouble." Judy said, giving Nick a glaring look, hoping that the fox would just stick to the business at hand.
"Oh
Trust
Me
I
Know
How
Much
Trouble..." Flash began to say but was cut off by the impatient bunny
"He can get into?" Judy said, trying to finish the sloths sentence in order to speed up the already long introductions
"He
Can
Cause" The sloth finished, not noticing what Judy had tried to do.
Flash then slowly turned his head back to Nick and smiled at the fox," So
What
Can
I
Do
For
You
Today
Nick?" Flash asked kindly as he slowly blinked.
'Even blinking takes too long!' Judy could barely take it already. She took in a deep breath to clear her mind and then looked over at Nick.
"Well here's the thing, I am trying to find an old friend to help out with a case I'm working on. Do you remember that giraffe that joined our late night card games a while back?" Nick asked as he leaned casually on the counter and looked at Flash hopefully.
Judy had a sudden image of Nick sitting at a table with Flash playing a game of cards. Her eye twitched at the thought of how long a game of go fish would take with Flash and if she would ever find out if he had any queens before she died of old age. The idea made her chuckle slightly. Her mind then wandered to the thought of playing cards with just Nick. The fox with his sly grin placing a winning hand down on the table ,"guess bunnies aren't so lucky after all, now…off with the shirt.." the Nick in her fantasy egging her on as she lost another hand of strip…. 'Brain what the hell, focus!' her inner voice yelled at her own wandering fantasies, trying her best to bring herself back to reality and focus at the situation she was in.
Judy's attention went back to Flash who sat for a moment looking over at Nick. Then very very slowly a look of inspiration came across his face. Normally by now Judy would be quickly whipping out her notepad. She had given up on obtaining information very quickly from this source. She casually reached down and pulled her notepad from her belt. With every ounce of control she clicked her carrot pen and then rested the point on the pad of paper. This series of events took all of 15 seconds, and the sloth was still opening his mouth to reveal what he knew.
"You
Must
Mean
Mel…
Melman
Long" Flash finally finished as he looked from Nick and then to Judy triumphantly.
"Haven't
Seen
Him
In
A
While
Though"
Judy's ears raised up in surprise. She quickly scribbled down the name and then looked up at Flash. This could really help them in the case. If they could find an expert on how to get equipment to create a new night howler serum then they could hopefully pinpoint who was doing all of these and may be able to stop any more attacks. "You don't happen to know where this Mr. Long is, do you Flash?" Judy asked, the anticipation was killing her as the sloth slowly looked down at Judy and began to open his mouth.
"No
But
I
May
Know
Someone
Who
Can
Look
Him
Up" The sloth said in the slowest joke Judy had ever heard. Flash slowly leaned down over his keyboard and began to type in a few letters. Minutes passed as the sloth spelt out every letter of Melman Long's name as he typed it in. Judy looked from Flash and then back to Nick, realizing that Nick's grin was getting bigger. "Don't you dare..." Judy whispered in Nick's direction, her eyes narrowing at her partner.
"L
O
N…."
Maybe it was because Nick secretly hated her. Maybe he was behind the new night howlers attack. Maybe it was because he secretly didn't want to be a cop and just wanted to ruin everything in Judy's life. All these ideas ran through Judy's mind as she saw her fox partner slowly open his mouth.
"Hey flash, wanna hear a joke?" Nick asked casually.
'Death and doom and fire and more doom upon you! I will destroy you stupid fox! Everything you hold dear will burn!' Judy's inner voice screamed with rage. Judy did her best to maintain some kind of composure but she could feel her carrot pen shaking and she looked down, her paws were trembling in anger. She looked back up at Nick, her nostrils flaring. "I hate you…"she whispered through clenched teeth towards the fox who was grinning from ear to ear.
Flash slowly looked up from his monitor, his clawed hand just inches away from finishing his search.
"Sure
I
Could
Use
A
Good
Joke..."The sloth exclaimed as he looked over to Nick.
"Why are leopards bad at hiding?" Nick asked looking over at Judy and giving her a wink and then back over to his friend across the counter.
"I
Don't
Know,
Why
Are
Leopards
Bad
At
Hiding?" Flash asked, a look of confusion on his face.
Judy thought for a moment herself and then her ears went up and her eyes went wide in a sudden moment of revelation. "Because their easy to spot!" She shouted excitedly, proud of herself that she could figure it out. Though the DMV was normally a quiet place it was even more so as Judy realized just how loud she had been. She didn't dare look behind her at the crowd of mammals waiting in line. She gave Nick a weak grin. The fox returned the expression with a surprised chuckle. Then both officers looked at the sloth who sat silently for a few seconds.
Flash's expression changed from a one deep in thought to one of pure joy as he slowly got the joke. The sloths eyes slowly widened and his mouth hung open for a few seconds before a gasp of laughter escaped. "Ha
Ha
Ha" The sloth exclaimed in a slow laugh.
Judy rolled her eyes and then remembered something," oh no…"she muttered as she looked from Nick, to Flash, and then to a female sloth at next desk over.
"Hey
Priscilla" Flash began to say to Judy's dread. Sher knew what was next, they would spend the next 5 minutes explaining the joke and then listening to the female sloth slowly laugh. Little did Judy know, it was about to get a great deal worse.
"Come
Over
Here,
You
Have
To
Hear
This
Joke" Flash exclaimed.
'No no no no no!' Judy screamed internally as she realized what was happening. Slowly and steadily the female sloth in a purple shirt with matching streaks in her hair leaned back in her chair and smiled.
"Sure
Flash
I
Will
Be
Right
There"
What should have taken only 5 minutes turned into a half hour ordeal. Judy was absolutely losing it at this point, she could feel herself beginning to sweat from all the emotions she was trying to keep in. She couldn't begin to describe how she felt towards Nick. Was it possible for her to beat him up and make out with him at the same time, because that's how she felt towards her partner at that particular moment.
After what felt like an eternity the two sloths finished their flirtatious joking and returned to the task at hand. This only led to another long wait as Flash finished entering the information, only to find several results on Melman Long. Fortunately for the cop duo he was able to narrow it down to a single address, after an additional half hour of slow typing and scrolling through results.
As flash returned from the printer with a sheet full of knowledge on Mr. Long, Judy had all but given up on being professional. She had her head in her arms which were resting on the counter. Nick was amused at the whole situation and looked at his partner's feet, one of which was tapping impatiently and then back to her head. He gently lifted one of Judy's ears so he could whisper into her ears.
"You mad carrots?" he said in a hushed whisper, the smirk on his face revealing he was enjoying this way too much.
"Burn in a fire" came Judy's muffled and annoyed sounding voice from within her arms. She refused to look at him at this point, wondering how much trouble she would be in if she went and got the tranq gun from the car and shot her smug partner in the ass.
"Here
You
Go
Officers" Flash said as he slowly placed the piece of paper on the counter. This caused Judy's head to shoot up and look at the sloth and then to the paper. Before Nick could react Judy grabbed the paper and scanned its contents.
"This is perfect! Thanks Flash!" The bunny said as she began to hop happily away from the counter, not allowing Nick to cause any more delays.
"Thanks Flash, you're the mammal! I owe ya!" The Fox said and winked at the sloth as he began to walk after his partner," just watch that lead paw of yours alright!"
Flash began to say something in return but Judy was already out the door and waiting outside for Nick. She was standing perfectly still as she looked out across the parking lot at the now setting sun in the distance. Nick came strolling up next to her with a happy look on his face. He stopped and looked at the setting sun and then down at Judy. Before he could say anything she jumped him.
"I hate being slow! Why? Why would you tell that cheesy joke? Why can't you take this seriously? We lost so much time!" She shouted at him. She had jumped up to where the bottom of her feet were pressed against his chest. She had grabbed his collar for support and was inches from his face, her eyes a flame with anger.
"You seemed stressed there carrots," Nick stated, still not losing his cool, his hands resting on his own waist, knowing full well that Judy was strong enough to keep herself in her current position without his help.
"Really? What gave you that idea? Is it the fact that we are currently hunting down a new threat to the city? Is it because I just spent the last couple of hours in the DMV because you had to tell a joke? Is it bec….."She didn't get a chance to finish. Nick leaned in and gave her the smallest kiss on her little rabbit nose and then pulled back, smiling at his handy work. Judy had frozen, a sudden look of surprise across her face. She stared at him wide eyed, her ears shooting straight up. She just sat there, still holding his collar for support for another minute. Then she let go and gently hopped to the ground, not sure what to say as she looked down at the ground and then sheepishly up at Nick.
"Better?" He asked playfully.
"Hate you so much sometimes…" She muttered, but gave him a smile to show she wasn't serious. This had not been the first time Nick had done this to her. There had been a few other occasions when she was getting a little heated during work and she needed something to calm her down. A sudden sign of affection from her partner always seemed to do the trick. She had always just written it off as being as bunny. Affection was just in their nature, it didn't have to have a deep meaning. However she could feel her heart skip a beat. Maybe the reason it always worked so well was the same reason she had dreamt about Nick in such a vivid manner the previous night. Whatever it meant, she wanted to explore and find out more, but that would have to wait.
"We better head back to the ZPD and report in what we have to Bogo" Judy muttered as she began to stroll over to the passenger side door.
"You think he's gonna get the day shift to pull doubles tonight?" Nick asked as he hopped into the driver's seat and started the vehicle.
"Gosh I hope not…" Judy said, a little unlike herself. Normally she loved working overtime. 'I don't want to miss my date...' she finished the sentence in her mind. She looked over at Nick from the corner of her eyes, even after all the annoying stuff he had just put her through she couldn't help but smile.