"Surprise!" several voices exclaimed in unison.
From the moment she entered the room and the lights were switched on, Judy was in complete astonishment. She wasn't anticipating to come back home with her fox to such a pleasant surprise. All around the main entrance were all of her friends from the ZPD, as well as the Otterton family and a few others.
"What is this?" Judy asked giddily.
"Something I had planned for quite some time, Fluff," Nick said as he stood by her side, grinning at success of the surprise party.
From the group of mammals that had gathered here, Clawhauser stepped forward to the fox and rabbit. "To celebrate it being five years since you solved the cases with the Nighthowlers," the cheetah said, "Nick came up with the idea to have everybody over. Y'know, like a little surprise party."
"I love it!" proclaimed the bunny out of sheer excitement.
She stepped further inside the house and joined everybody as the little party continued, her fox following her from behind. Around the room were balloons in several bought colors, as well as a small banner, presumably written out in marker, that read "Five Years of Fighting Crime."
On the table next to her was a snack tray with crunchy vegetable slices laid out around two different kinds of dip. One of them looked as if some of the mammals here had already helped themselves to a good bit of what was placed out. She grabbed a plate and put some of the snacks that were sitting there on it, joining Nick over in the other side of the space, where he sat on a folding chair that was right next to a vacant one.
The doe sat down next to him and smiled over at him. "Can't believe it's been five years since we first solved that big case," she remarked.
"Yeah," Nick replied. "Feels just like yesterday that we first crossed paths." Taking a sip from the cup of soda he held in his paw, he added, "And it all began with us encountering one another at a certain café."
Judy laughed as she reminisced about that pivotal moment in her lifetime. "It sure did."
With a pleasant sigh, the vulpine replied, "And I knew from the moment we were on the gondola together—the moment I shared my past with you—that we made a perfect team."
"Yep." Judy nodded in agreement with her companion. "When I was down and had that bad injury, you refused to leave me behind."
"And I never will," the tod promised, looking into the rabbit's eyes. "No matter how bad the circumstances get, I'm never gonna let anything happen to you."
The gray-furred lagomorph blinked away the tear of happiness that she felt taking formation in the back of her eye. Her beautiful smile grew wider and was now incapable of fading away.
A few seconds later, the two heard a glass being clinked. The room suddenly fell silent upon hearing this sound, and everybody around the space turned their attention over to Emmitt Otterton, who was holding the glass up in his webbed paw.
"If I could have everybody's attention," he said to them, "I'd like to make a toast. I happen to be pretty good at them, if I do say so myself."
"And you do," Mrs. Otterton, who stood next to him along with their two children, added with a soft chuckle.
Emmitt cleared his throat before proceeding with what he wanted to say. "Now I don't believe that everything that happens in our lives is coincidental," he started. "I personally believe in fate. Some of you might call it otherwise—the will of the gods, if you will—but that's not what's important right now. What is important and worthy of great celebration is the remarkable feats of two extraordinary mammals." He turned over to look at Nick and Judy and pointed in their direction. "Had it not been for them, I might not have been standing before all of you today. And only heaven knows what might've happened to the city itself if that evil plot hadn't been nipped in the behind." He paused a moment. "But not only was returned safely to my family, along with the others that had gone missing then, but it also introduced me to some amazing mammals that I'm glad to call my friends."
Manchas, who was sitting near the table, stood up and said, "I agree with him. Getting scratched by an otter gone savage isn't the most ideal way of meeting someone for the first time, but we might not have became friends had things been different."
Emmitt nodded his head before finishing up with his speech. Holding the glass in his left paw a little bit higher, he said, "Here's to Nick and Judy, and the accomplishments they have made through the past five years. May they continue to fight crime and keep the city of Zootopia safe from harm."
"To Nick and Judy!" chorused several of the ZPD officers that were present.
The two Otterton children followed up by blwoing into the party horns that each of them were holding, producing a high-pitch toot with them.
After Emmit's little speech was over and he sat back down, the conversations between everybody carried on once again. Some time later, however, some upbeat music started to play over the nearby speaker, and Grizzoli came back into the room. The wolf had a naturally-wide smile on his face as he looked over at everyone.
"Come on, everybody!" he said to the others, gesturing for them to get up from out of their seats. "On your paws. It's time for the conga line!"
Judy quietly laughed as she got up from her chair, Nick joining in soon after. That was Grizzoli for them, always the life of the party and making sure everybody else around him was smiling. That was one of the reasons why everybody liked him.
Wolford sighed as he slowly got up from the chair, shaking his head. "Just pay attention to your surroundings this time," he said.
Fangmeyer, who was standing in the corner next to where the timber wolf was, chimed in, "Last time you were in a conga line, you kept steppin' on my foot paws."
"No need to worry about that," Grizzoli responded, "because I'm gonna be the one leading it."
Nick and Judy walked over to where the two wolves and tiger were standing, the fun of the party continuing on from there.