December had arrived and all the mammals in Zootopia were ready for Christmas, colorful lights decorated the streets and buildings of the city as well as the offices of the Zootopia Police Department, where many officers impatiently waited for their shifts to end and for their vacations to begin. All of them gathered in the mission room and stared at the wall clock for a few minutes until the moment arrived.
"Five!, four!, three!, two!, one!" they counted back before celebrating and leaving the room.
Before they left the station, the bunny and the fox went to the locker rooms to change their uniforms for some more comfortable clothing. Then they walked to the parking lot, where Clawhauser's sister Tina, a forensic scientist at the ZPD, and Officer Alex Felinho, her boyfriend and a panther, were waiting for them to go get some drinks.
"Nick! Judy!" Tina waved her paw at them.
"What's up, doc?...Felinho" the fox greeted them.
"Have you guys seen Ben?...his shift was supposed to end 15 minutes ago" asked the female cheetah.
"Well he isn't in the reception, we would have seen him" said Judy.
"There he is" Nick spotted him walking out of the station.
"Ben, what happened?" her sister asked when she noticed his bummed face.
"Oh nothing, I just sent a text to Bogo, and he gave me a twenty-minute talk about not using the phone during work hours" the male cheetah rolled his eyes and crossed his arms.
"Don't worry, Ben...Chief Buffalo Butt can be a little grumpy sometimes" Nick comforted him.
"Yeah, let's get some drinks...that'll cheer you up" added Alex.
"Thanks guys" Clawhauser smiled and tightly hugged them both.
Once ready, the group of mammals began to walk through the festively illuminated streets of Zootopia until they arrived to a bar, which was decorated with garlands, candy canes, Christmas ornaments and a tree wrapped with red, green and white lights.
Judy, Ben and Tina sat at a round table, while Nick and Alex ordered the drinks. After a few minutes the panther and the fox came back.
"Okay...we have a lager beer for tiny Tina and a light beer for his brother" Alex carefully handled the cheetahs their drinks.
"One with lemon for the cute bunny" Nick's comment made Judy roll her eyes.
"And two pints for us" said the panther before sitting down.
"Ahhh...it feels so good to finally have some rest from work" commented the bunny after taking the first sip of her drink.
"Yeah, we won't be seeing Chief Bogo for a while" said Alex.
"Just for a couple of weeks though" added Tina.
"A couple of weeks is more than enough to forget about Buffalo Butt" smirked Nick.
"Talking about a couple of weeks, you guys have any plans for Christmas Eve and New Year's?" asked Ben.
"Oh! Babe, tell them ours" said Tina excited as she tapped the panther's shoulder repeatedly.
"Okay, okay...we're going to spend a week and a half in Snowy Hills" revealed Alex.
"Yeah!...we booked a room in the best hotel of Tundratown" the female cheetah hugged the panther.
"Wow, that sounds very romantic" Judy smiled.
"Hmm...they're leaving me alone" Ben looked away and crossed his arms.
"We're not!...we'll spend Christmas Eve and New Year's together" said his sister.
"And while we're out...you can invite someone to...watch a movie or something" Alex raised his eyebrows.
"Yeah, what about that cheetah from your cooking classes you told me about?...you guys went on a date, right?" Nick finished his question despite Ben's gestures trying to stop him.
"You went on a date!?" excitedly asked his sister.
"I-It was just once" Ben blushed and took another sip of beer.
"Oh my god, you have to tell me everything!" said the cheetah before the panther hugged and calmed her down.
"Okay, Tina...let him have some privacy...what about you, Hopps?...are you doing something special?" asked Alex.
"Nah...I'm going to spend Christmas with my family...like every year" said Judy before drinking.
"Back to the burrows, Carrots?" asked the smiling fox.
"Yeah, I'm leaving tomorrow...but what about you?...do you have something planned?" curiously asked the bunny.
"Well...I've never been a huge fan of Christmas, so I guess I'll just keep going with my routine"
"You don't like Christmas?" Judy's ears leaned back.
"It's not that I don't like it...it's just that I haven't really celebrated it since I was little"
"Oh, Nick...if I knew that I would have stayed here to make you some company"
"Don't worry, Fluff...besides, you have to spend some time with your relatives, they have been worrying about the first bunny cop in Zootopia all year...and if you don't visit them for Christmas because you stayed in the big city with such an attractive fox, they'll probably worry even more" the fox slyly smiled, making Judy roll her eyes.
After the group finished their drinks, they paid the bill and walked out of the bar before splitting in two groups. Nick and Judy said goodbye to Ben, Tina and Alex before walking in opposite directions. The bunny and the fox enjoyed the walk to her apartment, the many highly decorated trees on the sides of the streets and the lights that hanged between the buildings made it more amusing.
"You didn't have to accompany me" said Judy when they arrived to the building of her apartment.
"Well...since I won't be seeing you for two whole weeks...I wanted to say goodbye" the fox put his paws in his pockets and smiled.
"Merry Christmas, Nick" said the bunny before hugging the fox.
"Merry Christmas, Judy" he corresponded the hug, which lasted a bit less than ten seconds.
"See ya" said the bunny before entering the building.
Nick just stood there, with the smile still on his face, until Judy walked up the stairs. After opening the door, the bunny prepared to go to bed, she took off her clothes and replaced them with a warm pajama before setting an alarm on her phone and getting into bed.
By the time she was asleep, Nick had already arrived to his apartment. The fox took off his sweater and laid down on his bed but due to the many lights that came through his window and curtains, he took longer than Judy to fall asleep.
TO BE CONTINUED...