After Hours, Clocked Out
Judy had never been one to indulge in drinking – not social, not any other type.
Maybe it had been due to the severe lack of company her otherworldly drive to chase her dream had caused. Or maybe all the negative views her parents had imprinted on the insides of her eyelids about alcohol – and other drugs alike – had kept her from becoming acquainted with the neck and bottom of the bottle.
"So as we scrapped, this guy had somehow managed to get his junk in between the, uh," Grizzoli paused, shutting his eyes, knitting his brow, and snapping his fingers in the air rapidly. It was a common occurrence for the white-furred canine to have everyday words escape his mind – especially when alcohol was involved.
"Fly? Zipper?" Pennington, a towering female elephant offered.
His eyes shot open as his smile returned, wider than before. "No! The waistband!" he held up a claw proudly and took a swig of his drink.
It wasn't that Judy had never drunk before. Ample weddings, birthday parties, holiday fests, and other special events had taught her the basics about wines, ciders, even champagnes. The taste of ethanol dancing on her tongue had become a pleasantness instead of a burden, but only when applied with classy clothing, lots of noisy and nosy relatives, delicious food, and sunshine.
The constant presence of elders fawning over her had also meant that she hadn't strayed far from daily limit recommendations. Only once had the doe tested the waters when it came to stronger liquids, some of her cousins having nabbed a bottle or two of her uncle's infamous moonshine and sharing them with her and a few of her siblings. Having not only been annoyed with her parents at the time for not supporting her choice of career, but also – and more importantly – young and inexperienced, she'd downed more than necessary.
A valuable lesson learned, not to be forgotten easily.
"So, Delgato cuffs him and gets him up – in more ways than one, apparently," the wolf continued, barely able to stop himself from laughing as he glanced at the lion whose face was cupped in his paws. The smiles around the table grew larger and larger by the second.
"Our Del's always been such a charmer," McHorn chimed in gruffly.
All that had been before she'd joined the force. Well, more precisely, before she'd earned the respect of her colleagues. It had been an arduous task – very unfairly so – but the dozens of large detainees the bunny had brought in, the hundreds of parking tickets she'd handed out in record times, and the sheer love for her work she so clearly radiated had slowly eroded away the doubts concerning her. Having been half the reason for a certain sheep sitting behind bars hadn't hurt the process either, she imagined.
Simple greetings from her fellow officers in the mornings had turned into a few lines of small talk. On duty chatter in the cruiser during patrols had evolved into sharing gossip and jokes. Before long she was chanting with the rest of the bullpen whenever Chief Bogo walked in.
Naturally it was nice to have mutually appreciative company. The fact most of her coworkers aligned with her on making the world a better place in high regards made her all the gladder. Day by day and week by week, the mammals sitting around the ten-top had discarded their biases and solidified their importance in her life, eventually having earned spots as her friends.
"But that's not the best part!" Wolfard hurriedly cut in, unwilling to lose his momentum. "I started reading this guy his rights, and about a third of the way through he – with a completely straight face – starts pissing with his dick still pointing straight up!"
There were laughs and disbelieving gazes. Delgato groaned and Grizzoli looked close to double over. He fought to keep the story going, "The stream made it over his head right into Del's mane!"
The entire room erupted in roaring laughter. The only ones not partaking were Delgato and Johnson, a fellow lion whose expression was a mixture of amusement and horror.
"It must've gone on for twenty seconds before Del realized!"
Delgato revealed himself from behind his paws to gulp down the rest of his gin and tonic. "I'm never partnering with you again," he said in a monotone, only causing more noise around him.
The first invitation to join the group of officers for their weekly bar night had taken her by surprise. She hadn't expected the second one either, but there'd been no need for a third. Thursday nights had never been so rowdy, blurry, and – most of all – enjoyable.
The laughs eventually died down and everyone went to grab their glasses. Judy took a mere sip, but the bitterness still made her scrunch her face a little. She liked the almost stereotypically greasy and dim atmosphere of the long-standing establishment, but they could've done with higher quality beverages.
"What's the matter, Hopps?" came the expected comment from Fangmeyer, the tigress grinning toothily her way from the opposite end of the circular table. "Taste don't please ya?"
Judy, smirking, rolled her eyes and shook her head in mock annoyance, the action making her feel a little more lightheaded than she would've liked. She was about to quip back when Wolfard spoke.
"No wonder," the gray wolf said matter-of-factly. "Little birdies tell me Hopps has a very", he paused for dramatic effect, "peculiar taste."
Her eyes widened and she scanned the table, seeing at least Wolfard and Andersen, a polar bear, give her knowing looks. Maybe it was just the ethanol in her blood making her imagine things? Hopefully?
"Anything over that liquorice stuff you like, pelt," she replied, hoping the jab was a sufficient distraction.
"I don't think he was talking about types of drinks, Hopps," Andersen noted.
"Ooo, does the famous Bunny Wonder have something to hide?" Pennington inquired.
"Whatever Ben told you, it's all manufactured rumors to keep you bringing him donuts." Her speech was noticeably slurred but she didn't care.
Judy wasn't dumb. She'd known Clawhauser couldn't keep her secret forever, but that didn't rid the cheetah of the promised consequences. Also, more than half a week shouldn't have been too much to be expected!
"Oh really?" Wolfard raised his brow, his super-sized fish-eating grin never having faded. "So this taste of yours had nothing to do with your resignation, then?"
Judy had to force her smile from slipping, but it was too little in her intoxicated state. The corners of her lips twitched slightly, her ears dropped a few degrees, and her eyes lost some of their happy gleam, letting everyone see right past her attempted facade. She didn't give him a verbal answer, but the change in her demeanor was answer enough.
She fiddled with the edge of her coaster with a single claw, inspecting it. Come to think of it, she didn't know why she bothered to use one considering that the entire table – just like all the other tables, she'd noticed – was covered with greyish rings anyway. The oak surface more resembled the inside of a tentacle than a tabletop.
Nick would've made fun of her for thinking that. He'd be calling her weird and mention how she probably hadn't ever seen an octopus for herself. He'd probably tell her a story of his own encounter with the sea creature and end with a dumb joke, likely at her expense. He'd smirk at her smugly, the greens of his eyes covered halfway. And when she'd inevitably give his side or shoulder a whack for being unnecessarily annoying, he'd act like a little kit.
Judy smiled, her gaze empty and claw tracing along a ring, drawing circles.
It wasn't the first time that day her thoughts had centered around him. It had been happening more and more often after she'd admitted her feelings to herself a few weeks ago. They still talked, of course – almost daily. But it wasn't the same through the screen of her phone. She'd known beforehand she'd miss him a lot while he was in the Academy, but she'd never prepared for this.
"Hopps?"
She swiftly raised her eyes to meet Fangmeyer's.
"Huh?"
The tigress looked concerned. "You ok?"
She snorted and picked up her all but finished pint. "Yeah. Why wouldn't I be?"
Grizzoli and Wolfard grinned at her, smug. Andersen exchanged whispers with Johnson and soon their expressions mimicked the canines', although the latter's was mixed with surprise. Pennington looked her way in puzzlement, as did McHorn and Delgato.
"You zoned out," the largest of the bunch stated curiously, "you never zone out."
The rabbit rolled her eyes and clicked her tongue, all the while smiling. "I'm not a robot, Francine. I zone out the same as you all."
There were snorts and headshakes all around the table.
"Not my experience," Andersen commented.
"Aye," followed Johnson.
"Do I need to preach to the choir?" Wolfard added.
Unamused, she pouted at the group. "Guess I've had just the perfect amount then," she said with a shrug and brought her pint up to her lips.
Delgato, sitting next to her, grabbed the miniscule vessel with two fingers and pulled it back to the table, chuckling. Yeah, let's keep it that way. We don't want a repeat of last time, do we, rookie?"
She relented, but not without scrunching up her face and sticking her tongue out first.
"Anyway," Fangmeyer spoke, "what I asked was if this was about that fox friend of yours."
It could've been her imagination, or the alcohol, but she thought the word "friend" had been said in a very different tone from the rest of the question.
Judy's eyes quickly met those of the two wolves and the polar bear, all of whom – as far as she could tell – had already been filled in by Ben. At least one of the two lions seemed to buy into the cheetah's tales too, and the other half of the table must've had their own guesstimates.
She let out a long sigh. By the looks of it, it was only a matter of time before the entire precinct knew.
"Fine," she conceded. Her paw swiftly grabbed her pint and she gulped down the rest of the unpleasant liquid before the lion could prevent her. The mammals around her sat in enthusiastic attention.
Her drunken mind deciding it would be a good idea to display a poor imitation of Nick's trademark mask, she smirked at the group.
"I find it flattering you're all so invested in my personal life, first of all," she spoke as smoothly as she could. Her face had started to go numb.
There was a loud huff from the trunk of the elephant. "Don't act like those ears of yours aren't standing up when we're out on patrol, you hypocrite."
Wolfard, seated next to Pennington, shoved the trunked mammal in the side with his elbow. "Always knew you couldn't be trusted," he stage-whispered with a devious grin.
"Besides the point!" Judy announced loudly with a haphazard wave of her paw. "And let me make this very clear before we get any further," her tone lowered to a warning one, "It's not a taste, it's an isolated case of interest. So no" – she pointed at the two wolves and tilted her head to the side, voice overdone with condescendment – "you two stand no chance."
"Must be one hell of a guy if he outshines me," Wolfard chuckled. "No offense, Grizz."
The white canine shook his head, unimpressed.
Andersen's paw landed on the table with a loud thump. "What's caught the eye of the great Judy Hopps in a fox?"
"The fox's name is Nick," Judy pointed out sharply, a dreamy smile threatening to present itself just at mentioning his name, "and you'll get to see for yourself in 124 days."
"Am I going to be all head over heels too?" Delgato teased.
"It wouldn't surprise me."
She felt an immense sense of pride about the quick, minimally thought-out retort until a loud wave traveled through the bar. It was as if the mammals at the table were balloons popping from too much excitement being blown in.
McHorn, occupying the stool to her right, much like in the bullpen, gave her a nudge. While barely a light touch to him, Judy nearly went tumbling to the floor. "Head over heels, huh?"
"'Interest' must mean something different in Bunnyburrow," Johnson followed up.
"Counting the days, too," Pennington chimed in, ears held up high and wide.
The bunny's brow scrunched. She scanned the entertained faces of her company.
A bewildered "What?" and an accompanying awkward chuckle had already left her lips before realization of her slip-up swept over her. The group could've eaten a shared order of wings and veggies from the plates her eyes had turned into. Her jaw fell and rose repeatedly as her brain desperately worked on a clarification – one that didn't lack clarity and cohesion, that is.
Just one problem.
There was nothing to clarify.
Which left her with the sole option of playing it off.
She was sputtering as soon as control over her speech was regained, "Maybe I'm just that eager for better company on duty."
"Eager for anything else?" Wolfard suggested across the table, brow wiggling up and down like an elevator.
Judy flushed – hard. What she was supposed to communicate was "Let's not go there" but what came out instead was a badly stumbled "You don't want to know."
Well-earned, inquisitive looks ensued.
Thankfully rescue arrived swiftly in the form of the ever so compassionate Fangmeyer. She'd have to thank her later if her memory didn't escape her by the end of the night. "So you think he'll make Precinct One?"
Judy, recollecting herself and brushing off the embarrassment, casually waved her off, "Oh, not only that, I'm sure he'll make valedictorian."
"Isn't he over thirty?" Delgato asked dubiously.
The rabbit's head bopped up and down in affirmation. "Thirty-three, to be exact."
"Are you sure love isn't, you know," Grizzoli stalled, drawing a circle in the air.
"Clouding your judgement?" Pennington offered.
"Hazing sounds better," Johnson proposed.
The white wolf tilted his head at the lion. "Little too posh for the setting, don't you think?"
"I get the" – the group watched intently as the tiny rabbit on top of the fully extended bar stool held in a burp – "point. And I've got full trust in him."
"Think I'll start counting the days, too!" Andersen piped up, "I need to meet this Superfox."
"How long have you been hiding this from us?" the tigress asked.
She hung her head and pressed her finger against the sticky tabletop and lifted it repeatedly, concentrating in the way her fur planted into the visible stains. "Week or two, three at most."
"The way Benji told it made it sound like you've been shagging since you got your badge back," the darker wolf's comment earned nods and sounds of approval from both Grizzoli and Andersen. Judy's blush grew in severity.
"Have you even told him yet?" Fangmeyer continued the interrogation.
Unable to speak through the tornado of emotions and thoughts raging inside her head, she shook her head.
"You wanna know what I think?"
Judy barely had time to take note of the wickedly grinning wolf speaking, much less so to answer the rhetorical question.
"I think you should grab this fox of yours by the scruff."
When all Wolfard received in response was puzzled looks and a lion excusing himself to the restroom, he spoke again, confidence in his tone, "Call him and tell him."
Johnson quickly shuffled on his feet and sat back down, earning a quiet chuckle and a nudge from the polar bear next to him.
The doe looked at the canine as if he'd just shot her and the gun barrel was still smoking. "No way! I won't tell him over the pho-"
"C'mon, Hopps! When'd they cut off your balls?" the wolf whined, secretly amused by the rabbit's shock morphing into offense in the form of a small pout.
"How 'bout a little incentive?" he spoke, fishing out his wallet from his jeans pocket. "Besides getting to live out all your fantasies, that is."
A gray pair of black tipped ears dropped like they were targets at the precinct's shooting range. Even so, her embarrassment was indicated to the world by her overly perfect posture, stoic expression, and the small twitches of her nose; things not even a drunk cop would miss, and there were eight of them.
A mental note was made to have Nick teach her a thing or two about acting.
"I'll give you twenty bucks if you do it," Wolfard finished alluringly. His paw reached into his wallet, pulled out a wrinkled note and waved it in the air.
A click of her tongue, an eye roll and a firm shake of her head must've gotten her point across.
As if she'd exchange getting to admit her feelings to Nick face to face for any amount of money.
"I'll chip in with ten," came the abrupt shout from the other wolf, setting a bill and pile of coins on the table.
Frantic pocket digging ensued.
"You can't bribe me into riskin-"
"A tenner here too," announced Delgato, holding out the payment app on the screen of his phone for her to see.
"Me, Clawhauser and Johnson can contribute hundred plus," Andersen bellowed, fingers tapping away quickly as he negotiated with the cheetah who was stuck doing the night shift.
"Plus being a whole 75 cents," the lion specified.
"I've got a fifty."
The collective attention of everyone at the table turned to Pennington.
"What? I wanna see this happen."
Judy couldn't think straight. Even staying on top of the stool felt like a difficult challenge. It was as if the world had always been nothing but the drum of a washing machine and some higher power picked this specific moment to do laundry.
"Fang? Big H?"
Alcohol played a major part in her state, there was no denying that. But while any type of motion – or even lack thereof – felt next to impossible to accomplish, she hadn't lost control over cognitive functions just yet.
Her thoughts simply wouldn't straighten out no matter how hard she tried to iron them.
"I'm not coercing her to call him if she doesn't want to!" the tigress condemned her coworkers, appearing and sounding appalled. The sentiment soon vanished from her face however, being replaced by a look of bashfulness as she hastily finished with a mumbled "Doesn't help that I'm broke."
Judy was torn. It felt as if she'd be breaking some sort of an unspoken agreement if she were to tell the fox over the phone. She knew if it was the other way around, she'd want to hear it from his muzzle, not a speaker.
Then again, hearing such words at all would be a dream come true in itself. And it wasn't like she would leave her confession to a single phone call.
"No change on me right now, but I can cover your first drink next week," her horned friend offered.
Besides, the fox would just tease her for turning down such a great offer.
"So that makes what?" Wolfard inquired excitedly, "Almost 200 bucks and a beer?"
Intent stares targeted the smallest mammal of the bunch. To everyone's surprise the doe lacked the visible signs of a fight or flight response, instead looking deeply thoughtful. Her blank stare only left the crumbles of peanuts on the floor to inspect her empty pint.
Some extra liquid encouragement wouldn't have hurt. Not that she hadn't had too much already.
Judy raised her eyes to meet those of her friends. A smile creeping onto her face, she leaned back and slammed an open paw onto the table, muzzle turning to the rhino.
"Make it one of your sized ones and I'll do it."
The noise that resulted could've easily been mistaken for a volcano.
"That's the bunny I know!" Delgato gave her a slap on the back.
"Told you she'd do it!" Grizzoli shouted across the table to a surprised Andersen, pointing at the polar bear with his phone still in paw.
Judy held out her own one towards the wolf. "Shut up and give me that thing."
"Hold on," Johnson cut in, watching the rabbit's paw retract with incredible speed, "you have his number memorized?"
The reply was a cautionary and mumbled "Shut up". There were more than a few snickers.
It took all of her focus just to dial in his number. Everyone grinned at her enthusiastically, leaning closer to make sure they would hear her over the music and commotion of the bar.
Her heart beat fast and shallow. Her ears burned. Her temple hurt from how hard she held the gigantic phone against it, but the numb pain was better than letting everyone see how much her paw resembled an alcoholic going through a serious case of delirium tremens.
Worst come to worst, she'd apologize for her drunken antics the next time she'd see him.
And if everything went according to plan, she could cover their first date some place fancy and still have extra left over.
"Hello?"
The all too familiar voice of her best friend broke her out of her stupor. She had never even registered pressing the call icon.
"Hi, it's me."
Had she been sober she would've banged her head against the wall for how stupid she managed to sound.
"Figured as much – the voice kinda gave you away," the fox on the other end chuckled sleepily. "What's up?"
"Just wanted to check in," she lied, looking around at the surrounding grins guiltily. "I didn't wake you, did I?"
"Don't worry about it. It's not like I won't be able to get back to sleep with how Snow White worked us today," he joked, earning himself a snort from the understanding bunny. She felt bad but knew he wasn't lying about getting back to sleep. "How's your night been? Sounds like you've been enjoying yourself."
"Shut up, I don't even slur," she slurred.
There was another chuckle. "Whatever you say, Carrots."
"It's been fun, but I can tell you more about it later," Judy explained and took a deep breath. "There's actually something I should tell you."
"Well, don't keep me waiting. Shoot."
She blinked once, her mouth opening and closing. "Nick, I-"
Her would-be confession was cut short as a more pressing issue surfaced to the forefront of her mind, her eyes going wide. "Oh, by the way, is there any chance I could come over in the next few days?"
"I'd be honored," he replied, sounding oblivious to the severity of her struggle. She'd always hated it when he raised her on a pedestal, especially regarding the Nighthowler case, and he knew it. "Tomorrow's packed, but we have Saturday afternoon off if that suits you?"
"Yeah, Saturday's fine."
It wasn't what Judy would've liked to hear. In a perfect world she could have woken up the next morning and taken the first bus to the Academy. If she was going to go through with her plan – which could only be stopped by the bar catching fire from her raging blush – it would be an unbearably long Friday awaiting her.
"Fluff?"
"Huh?"
...
Smooth. Real smooth.
...
"Right," she blurted, having reestablished control inside her skull. Her audience laughed at her unintentional comedy act. Steeling herself, she ignored the growing unease in her stomach and continued, "Uh, okay, so, you like money, don't you?"
Suspicion and confusion tinged his voice. "Your detective skills have unveiled my sole weakness."
"I'll give you ten bucks if you don't hang up," she more demanded than suggested.
"I don't know. The line may mysteriously die if this is about how many weeds your family uprooted last summer again."
She disregarded the jab, instantly adding "Ten more if we're still on for Saturday."
"Okay," he drawled hesitantly, "something tells me I'm not going to like what you're about to say."
Judy nearly choked on air. It was like she was a tube of toothpaste and he'd just emptied all the confidence out of her with a rolling pin.
Nausea became evident both to the rabbit herself as well as the investigative eyes locked onto her.
Her head was spinning and she'd lost all sense of her limbs. Her ears stood upright in worry and shudders traveled through her core.
She'd thought airing out her feelings over the phone would at least be easier than in person, but the leap of faith still felt like a hundred foot drop with nothing but concrete down below.
Well, if she was going to hit the ground, better do so while she was still under influence.
"I like you, Nick."
The shape of her forehead would soon be imprinted in the table if she'd embarrass herself any further. They talked about the stupidest things all the time. Why was this stupid thing so hard?
"I reciprocate the feeling?" he replied unsurely.
Wolfard leaned over the table as far as he could. "Do you like him," he crooned, brow raised, ears erect, and head tilted, "or 200 dollars like him?"
A gallon of saliva appeared in her mouth. Whether it was from her head spinning or drooling after the fox didn't matter to her. She forced herself to swallow so she could talk.
The air tasted heavy and odiously thick.
"Yes, but that's, uh, different," she explained exceptionally gracefully all the while grimacing.
The smiles and encouraging nods of her colleagues were getting annoying. The bunny dragged a paw down her face, sighing deeply.
She needed to get this done.
"Nick," she started over, conveying as much sincerity and remorse in her tone, seeing as she'd just lost control over her facial muscles.
...
Which she of course didn't need because she was talking on the phone and was completely aware of that!
…
Yep.
...
"I think you're the nicest mammal I've ever met."
The brief wait nearly ended her. "High praise, not that I don't get that a lot."
Why would he joke around so casually? Didn't he understand how difficult this was already? Didn't he understand what she was trying to say? Or did he understand completely and was trying to help her save face?
Whatever the case, it was too late.
"I'm serious," she insisted, her voice low but impressively steady, "I love you."
The line went silent.
She thought she was going to die.
Her anxiety was reaching new heights – from which she would soon fall if he didn't respond.
Everyone looked in horror as the rabbit's cheeks protruded with a jerk and a paw covered her mouth. It was solely her resilience that kept her glued to the stool.
She fought with all her willpower to keep the vomit from spewing out.
Her effort was eventually rewarded as noise sounded from the speaker.
It was a yawn – a long one at that.
…
The phone collided with the tabletop as the doe who'd dropped it rushed towards the toilets with violence. The inelegant blur of gray in a pink plaid shirt was tailed by a worried Fangmeyer.
"Judy?"
Amidst the chaos, a dark grey lupine paw snatched up the device.
"'Ellow!" Wolfard all but yelled, grinning at the other wolf who was speaking in at least four different sign languages trying to shut him up. Gradually, as the others realized what he was doing – the power he wielded – they joined in, trying to shush him. The rabbit would have all their tails if they messed something up.
Wolfard gave a goofy shrug in return.
"Hopps had to go take a quick breather. Anything I should tell her when she gets back?"
Not getting a response in the expected timeframe, he checked if the call was still going. Getting confirmation, he swiftly put the call on speaker, cranked up the volume, and set the device on the table, not too far away as to be stolen by any of his good-hearted friends.
The adjustments nearly cost the group the fox's delayed reply.
"Who's this?"
"A future senior officer of yours," he stated with authority, self-satisfaction oozing from his voice. He continued in a cynical tone, "assuming the bunny is right about you."
"That's a rather long name, don't you think?" Nick quipped back without delay, much to the canine's surprise. "'Wolfard' would've been sufficient in my opinion."
The wolf's eyes went wide and his smirk evaporated. His snout snapped to point at Grizzoli first, Andersen second, and the rest of the table in a side to side sweep, flabbergasted.
"I've heard tales about you," the stranger on the other end went on. "I look forward to seeing if the size of your mouth matches the legends."
Mildly panicked, he forced the first reply he could think of out of his muzzle, "Don't break your ankle pivoting this hard, foxy."
The fox gave him a dry laugh. "Nothing of the sort. I just find it very impressive you managed to trick my dear friend into this dare of yours," he uttered, a coldness under his otherwise cordial pitch. "Tell me tiger-lover, who's going to spin the bottle next, now that she's away?"
Wolfard looked horrified, blushing hard. He leaned back, as far from the phone as possible. His antics merited many amused, questioning glances.
"It wasn't a trick," the elephant assumed the lead, using her trunk to prod the phone closer. The visibly uncomfortable wolf could wait. "We just encouraged her a little."
"I'm surprised to see the ZPD makes efforts to help citizens with their personal relationships," he said sharply, "Must come up later in the Academy, huh?"
"Just taking care of a fellow officer and a friend," she said, ignoring the hostile sarcasm much like she'd do with any civilian on the street. "She hasn't really been herself recently thanks to you."
"I could go on a tangent about the law enforcement finding the closest fox to blame, but I'll let you off with a warning this once."
The half-hearted joke landed like a commercial airliner in a late night documentary. Toothy smiles faded as a stillness fell upon the ten-top.
"Let her know she has nothing to worry about," at last he sounded candid. "We'll talk on Saturday."
"Is that all?"
"Well, I'd appreciate it if you made sure she survives until then, if that's not too much to ask for?" His request – meant to sound like a command – came out as nothing more but a desperate plea. "And tell Judy to buy the next round. It's on me."
Andersen knocked on the elephant's stomach, motioning towards the toilets with a nod. Not understanding, she followed his gaze to find the hippo bouncer enter the hallway that lead to the restrooms. McHorn got up with a huffed "I'll handle it" and walked after the other giant.
"Yeah," Pennington dragged out the word unsurely, "I don't think she'll stick around much longer."
"Then just hold me to the promise," the vulpine responded effortlessly. "I need to get back to my beauty sleep now. I'll see you all in four months, okay?"
"Sweet bunny-filled dreams!" Johnson shouted seductively.
Emboldened, the other lion spoke up too, "Can't wait to meet Hopps' non-workaholic half!"
The phone's screen lit up to indicate the call having ended. Grizzoli grabbed his phone and stuffed it in his pocket. Many paws moved to their respective drinks in unison.
Wolfard was in shambles, rubbing his neck, eyes alarmed and dashing from the spot the phone had lay on to the exit and back. Pennington stared thoughtfully over the wolves towards the hallway where a third of the group had ventured off to, debating whether or not additional help was needed. Johnson had already excused himself and was sprinting in the same direction, the other maned mammal headed to the counter for a refill. The polar bear smiled, sat, and drank.
"Success?" Grizzoli threw the question in the air casually. Only droplets on the inside of the bottle remained of his own beer so he opted for his friend's, bringing it to his lips without the darker wolf even noticing.
"Hard to tell," Pennington stated absentmindedly.
"Yup, we've just gotta wait until Monday and hope Hopps will spill," Andersen agreed.
"Screw that, I'm texting her first thing Saturday night," Grizzoli chuckled.
"That's still assuming she makes it through tomorrow's shift," the elephant noted, adding, "you know, with the hangover she's gonna have."
"Eh, she's tough, she'll walk it off," the polar bear grunted. "But onto more pressing topics, anything on your mind, Wolfard?"
The wolf's ears jumped up, alarmed. He looked at the remaining officers as if he'd been caught stealing from the cookie jar.
"How could he know?" he shouted, more panicked than their rabbit coworker had been just a few minutes earlier.
A/N: Thanks for reading-again. This wasn't my best work (especially the beginning where the pacing is all over the place) but I wanted to get it out before my studies resume. I've got a dozen good ideas stored up but I don't think I'll be able to produce much in the upcoming five months. We'll see what happens. Have a wonderful rest of the winter, everyone!