Chapter 3: Evening

The queue stretched for half a shop. And there was probably nothing surprising about that. A lazy man at the cash register was probably the worst thing that could happen to Judy and Nick that day. When Flash was stopped by them he was legally given a $500 fine (practically the highest fine possible in Zootopia). Sloth decided not to pay the fine, causing the case to go to court. Flash worked in a government office, so he faced a minimum one-year suspension. Nick tried a couple of times to convince Judy to change some facts so that his friend wouldn't get such a harsh punishment. Rabbit agreed, but it was unnecessary because Flash, to everyone's surprise, admitted that he had been speeding. Luckily for him, he got the smallest possible punishment, a year's suspension from the profession. As you can see, he didn't take it too well, because he quickly found a replacement job and, to Nick and Judy's misfortune, it was in a shop... in a toy shop.

"You know...thanks for helping me pick out the presents," Judy said. She appreciated every gesture from the fox, even though it was no big deal to him.

"No problem carrot, after all who if not me knows about rabbits" laughed Nick. The queue started to move forward in time, but it was going very slowly. I don't think anyone was even counting how long they were queuing because they guessed that they would be queuing for at least a couple of hours. That was to be expected.

In fact Nick was able to take his place in the queue so that Judy could pick out presents for her family in peace, it was really hard to predict that exactly Flash would be working here.

After 3 hours of waiting, Judy and Nick were finally second and the person in front of her was already finishing wrapping presents. Even though they had waited so long in line, they would probably have to wait even longer for Flash to scan all the products. It was preparing to be a long wait again.

"Ok Nick, just please , don't start a conversation with him, I still have so many things to do" asked Judy to which Nick responded with his ironic laugh.

"Hmm, I actually have a funny joke in my head..."

"Please Nick, I have a train tomorrow morning, you know that " asked Judy, her splashy big eyes and her beautiful intense violet eyes were something Nick could not convince. He sighed and nodded with a slight smile.

"Relax Karotka, just kidding, I don't want to wait here for so many hours myself" replied Nick. Eventually it was their turn. Nick started lining up the goods with Judy on the conveyor belt for Flash to start scanning them immediately. They didn't want the sloth to recognise them, but that distinctive snout of Nick's was too plain not to remember.

"Nick!" said the sloth, opening his mouth wide and laughing a slow laugh (as befits a sloth).

"Agh!" sighed Judy tapping her head against the trolley frame. The plan had backfired. They had wasted several precious minutes in a conversation that would normally have been over in less than a minute.

"Howdy Flash! I didn't know you worked here ?" replied Nick stopping to pack the goods for a moment.

" I found... another..."

"A job?"

"A job..."

"Well, you can scan..."

"No..."

"Please?"

"I complain..."

"Can you scan the products?"

"I'm..."

"Well, I'm glad, now please scan these presents, I'm in a bit of a hurry " laughed the fox nervously seeing the sinister look on Judy's face. He guessed that she wasn't happy that Flash recognised them. Nick wasn't too happy either, but he couldn't just ignore his friend.

"Sure, I'm already scanning," replied the sloth, then with a slow motion of his paw, he reached for the first product.

After several hours of waiting, at last the anguish was coming to an end, the lazy man dragged the last of the goods through the scanner. This was a huge relief to Nick and Judy, who had already been waiting for half an hour ready to march out. Nick was already waiting quietly with his wallet out, and he managed to count how much money he had in his leather wallet several times.

"$650 please..." said Flash when Nick put $700 on the counter for him.

"The rest is fine, see you later," Nick said goodbye as he and Judy walked out of the shop in peace. They didn't even care how long they stood there, the main thing that mattered was that the shopping was finally done.

"Sorry, I got a little too carried away with that...I'll pay you back," Judy said once they were out of the shop.

"Ekh, you don't have to, I'm not that poor yet " replied Nick. Although they weren't extremely poor somehow, they didn't need to save, some money saved would be good to have. When they got to the car, they put the presents they had bought in the boot and on the back of the car (there wasn't enough room in the boot for so many toys). Once the presents were unpacked and the car was put away, they were ready to go back to their shared flat.

"Oh, Co, tell me how I'm going to make it without you carrot" said Nick putting on his glasses and driving out of the underground garage. It was already sunset. They weren't surprised, after the action over 2 months ago when they were looking for license plates nothing would surprise them when it came to Flash. Anyway they weren't in that much of a hurry that day, they had the day off , only Judy had to get a train for 6 a.m the next day.

"Relax Nick, it's only a week's time " giggled Judy. She knew she would miss him too. Even though she would be among friends and family she knew she would miss the ironic guy with the fluffy red hair.

"I can handle it, but you definitely can't. You won't have anyone to cuddle with " replied Nick to which Judy blushed. She knew that this was also true and she would miss the touch of his soft yet warm fur which gave her an extra sense of security and comfort.

"When are we going to tell them?" asked Nick seriously a moment later.

"Ekh... Nick, you know it's not that easy...you're a fox and..."

"Yes, and as always it's about me being a fox " interrupted Nick resentfully. He knew it wasn't Judy's fault, but being a fox it pained him to make such a remark.

"You know it doesn't bother me after all... after all you are my fox right ?" Asked Judy with splashy ears and pleading eyes. That pleading look on her face always convinced Nick and Judy knew it very well. It was her secret weapon that she used when Nick wouldn't agree to something.

"I know Judy, but you know how much I care and don't want to hide it...it hurts..." Nick sighed. He and Judy became a couple a month ago. Nick took a long time to think about whether he was sure he wanted to ask Judy if she wanted to be his girlfriend. They were co-workers. What if she said no ? It would be terribly awkward for both parties. Work would have been a terrible ordeal and someone would have had to eventually lay off to relieve themselves. Virtually no one knew that they were together. It was their secret. The way they explained living together was that they were friends and it just worked for them.

"Relax Nick, I promise to bring up our topic at Christmas...I don't want to hide it either" replied Judy.

"If you say so..." replied Nick. During this conversation they made it to their flat.

They rented a flat on the borders of Zootopia, in one of the new blocks of flats built. It wasn't the cheapest flat, but as officers of the main police station they could afford it. They lived on the 8th floor, so a bit high up, but for that they had nice views over Zootopia. Often in the evenings Nick would sit on the balcony with Judy when the evening wasn't cool and dark. When they stopped, they both picked up a few gifts in their hands to carry back to their flat. They had to repeat this action a dozen times to carry all the presents they had bought. It took them about thirty minutes, but compared to waiting in the checkout line, it was nothing. Finally, when they had brought all the presents, they had a break and a rest. They brewed themselves a coffee and were able to talk to each other while watching the sun hide behind dark clouds. They had a moment to themselves, after all, in a few hours they would be separated, which would be painful for both of them. They had one more task ahead of them - each gift had to be wrapped in a Christmas package. There were 100 presents, it would still take some time to wrap each one.

"Ekh...this still needs to be wrapped...for the life of me I won't sleep for tomorrow" Judy said as she sipped her cup of coffee.

"Don't worry, you can go to bed, I'll take care of it " replied Nick.

"Really?" asked Judy to which Nick nodded affirmatively. Judy smiled warmly then kissed Nick warmly on the cheek.

"You are a sweetheart " said Judy with a smile .

"I know carrot , now go get some rest , you have to go to bed early tomorrow "

"You too "

"I can manage " replied Nick . Judy nodded , then headed to their bedroom. She grabbed her night outfit, then headed to the bathroom. She needed to do her evening toilette.

"Well...I'd better start doing " sighed Nick heavily as he got up from the couch to grab paper scissors and tape. There were 100 packs waiting in front of him to be wrapped. While Judy took a shower, Nick prepared the necessary items for himself then took the first box to pack. It had been a long time since he'd done something like this. The last time he'd done gift wrapping was when he was a kid, and he'd signed up for volunteer work at school to sneak the spare change that had been collected for the needy in front of everyone. Even back then he was doing a bit of illegal business, but the fox did not have an easy past. Fortunately, it turned out that gift wrapping is not that difficult and thanks to Nick's slick moves, the presents were wrapped quickly and nicely. While he was wrapping presents in the living room, Judy quietly walked into the living room and watched Nick from the hallway as he wrapped the packages with decorated paper. It was a sight that touched her heart. She would miss that fox. She would have liked Nick to go with her to her house, but her family was not ready for that...yet. A few minutes later, when she felt even more tired, she stopped watching her boyfriend and went to their bedroom to go to bed.

By the time it got dark enough, Nick had to turn on the light, night had come. In the time it took him to take a break he boiled himself some tea , which he sipped while he wrapped the presents. There were still 10 to go and during that time, he thought about himself and Judy. Since he had been with Judy he had grown to love her even more and he felt that in time the relationship between them would be something too small for him. However, he knew that it would be hard to push their relationship forward, Judy's family would certainly not be happy with who their daughter had become involved with.

"Why do I have to be a fox...if I were a rabbit Everything would be easier" thought Nick as he packed up the last parcel before him. The last one was left. There was still plenty of paper and tape left, so he wasn't particularly worried about that. His paws were already a little sore from repeating this task for the hundredth time, but he felt proud that he had done it. He had done a good deed for Judy.

"Phew, finally finished" sighed Nick with relief as he put the last package on the floor. Everything was ready and packed for transport. All that was needed was to carry all the packages back to the car. Even though Nick literally didn't want to do anything anymore, he had to pack them, otherwise he would have to get up even earlier in the morning, and it was enough that tomorrow's wake-up call would be very early for him. He had to take Judy to the other end of Zootopia, to the station where the train stopped. When the parcels had been carried, Nick could finally go to sleep. It had been a long day, mainly because they had to wait several hours in line. He turned off the light in the living room, then headed for the bedroom. He changed into his night clothes and looked at the rabbit that was lying on the bed, Judy was already asleep. He lay down next to her and placed a kiss on her cheek.

"Good night Judy " said Nick quietly closing his eyes.