Serendipity's Shadow

Rated T

Chapter 17

"What happened next? I fell head over heels for the Shadow." Judy stood from the bed heading back to the bookshelf. "And he fell for me too."

Judy remembered it vividly.

They were walking the night streets of Zootopia. It was well past midnight; they had just finished dancing with Finnick and his new 'girlfriend'. Then suddenly Judy was aware of just how close they were. Her arm was wrapped around his in content. While his coat covered her in warmth. And the fact not even an inch of air separated the two.

"How did we get here?" Judy mumbled quietly looking ahead.

"Gee, I don't know. Maybe from walking aimlessly around for fun. " Nick laughed.

"Not here." Judy giggled giving Nick a playful shove. "I meant here. As in how we went from two people ready to…" Judy thought of the words to use not noticing Nick had stopped walking beside her. "Cut all contact when needed. And now we are...actually, decent friends."

Judy had made it at least six feet away from Nick before she noticed his absence.

"Nick?" Judy turned to look for the fox.

Nick after he was playfully shoved away from Judy wasn't expecting this conversation. The longest friendship he ever had was with Finnick. The longest girlfriend he had was six months. Probably would have ended sooner if she wasn't such a good bang in the bed. Judy…Judy was an oddity in his life. She was aware of what he did behind the scenes of Zootopia. And yet she never asked him to change or tried to place herself by his side in that life. She was fun to tease, talk with, and even though she was a cop, she never made herself a threat to him. if anything, she became a valuable ally. This fact alone was strange to all who watched Nick from the outside. But at some point, it just became normal to him to have this rabbit by his side. And when he watched her continue to walk alone without him by her side like…normal, for her. Nick realized something about his friendship with Judy Hopps.

"It's not that weird." Nick finally answered sauntering up to the rabbit. "Are you free tomorrow?"

"Umm.." Judy cocked her head to the side in thought ignoring Nick's relentless gaze that's been more frequent as of late. "Yeah, I'm free tomorrow."

Judy tried to stay calm as Nick wrapped their arms together again.

"Come over to my bar for lunch. My treat." Nick stated with a smile as a plan formulated in his mind.

"Mr. Wilde, what are you planning?" Judy laughed in glee knowing that growing smirk on the fox's face.

"Why Miss Hopps, I am truly offended." Nick feigned a hurt look. "How could you think I, a loveable citizen of Zootopia, could ever plan something in a conniving matter."

They ended their night in laughter when Nick called a cab to take Judy home. He waited, with his returned coat, planning tomorrow in complete detail unbeknownst to the little rabbit.

"I didn't know that all I had to do was ask a question, for Nick and me to really start questioning if we were okay being just friends."

Judy placed the picture back into the book with great care. Then she headed over to the bags she had packed earlier that now leaned against the wall.

Tia watched as Judy searched through her bags before pulling out a little gold chain bracelet. The same bracelet had a noticeable missing charm.

"He planned a small lunch, where we then proceeded to play a few rounds of pool. He let me win each round without making it too noticeable. But I knew, and I was heavily questioning, in my head, why he was buttering me up so much. Only for dinner time to roll around. We ate, conversed, then drank wine merrily on his couch. When out of nowhere he pulled out this little black box topped with a red bow."

Judy looked at the box in the fox's hand with great skepticism.

"What's this?" Judy inquired before grabbing the box.

"Just open it." Nick urged.

Judy laughed raising an eyebrow at him. She was curious what scheme he was planning.

"Trust me." He finally said with an earnest face.

She looked at him quietly before giving a quick nod. Judy had come to trust Nick with her life. So, opening this gift was as easy as pie...to a certain degree. Nick watched intently as she opened the box. Judy's ears went up in alarm as she starred at the jewelry inside the box. Nick remained quiet giving her the time to process what was happening. Judy did exactly that, she processed that Nick had gifted her a bracelet with his symbol.

"Wear this wherever you go." He finally said once she looked at him with a questioning look.

"It's your symbol?" Judy examined the simple bracelet with great care.

"If you wear this, you'll be safe. Or at least anyone with a brain won't actively come after you." Nick leaned forward pulling the bracelet out of the box. Then he tenderly wrapped it around her small wrist. "As long as I know your safe, I can sleep just a little easier at night. Because I care about you, Miss Judy Hopps."

Judy wanted to gasp, scream, pace the room questioning Nick if he lost his sanity or something. But all she could do was watch quietly as he placed the bracelet on her wrist. When he finished, she also noticed he had closed the respectful distance between them greatly. And somewhere in her, she found the courage to ask him a question.

"And how do I protect you?"

Nick's ears perked in surprise at her question. No one had ever asked Nick how to protect him. His whole life he either protected, destroyed, or claimed what was his by any means necessary. No one had ever dared to claim the Shadow, Nick Wilde, not even his girlfriends were that clueless. But here, right now, was this little rabbit who wanted to protect him. Nick had found someone who cared about him, as well as might possibly like him, too.

"Stay safe." Nick reached out to cup the rabbit's face. He was fully prepared mentally for Judy to refute him. But she instead leaned into his touch urging him to continue with her eyes. "If you stay safe, I'll stay safe. I promise."

Judy held Nick's paw that caressed her cheek tenderly before closing her eyes in bliss.

"Okay."

"That is when our relationship officially started." Judy smiled clasping the bracelet. "We took it slow as…slow as we were willing."

"Oh~" Tia teased.

"Yeah, let's just say we didn't even make it three days before we had our first kiss. And we definitely didn't make it to a week before we were spending the night at each other's places."

Judy remembered jolting up out of bed hearing the sound of her phone go off.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Jude the Dude-"

"Hello, Judy."

"Hi, Mom. Hi, Dad." Judy yawned into the phone.

"Judy are you alright dear? We tried calling your apartment, but you didn't pick up." Judy's mom asked in a concerned voice.

Judy internally panicked hearing that bit of info.

"Oh, yeah, my apartment…I didn't pick up because…flooding." Judy grimaced face palming as a faint snicker was heard in the room.

"Oh, dear." Judy's mom gasped.

"See that's what I told you about the city. There plumbing is just not as reliable like the good, honest work, of us folk down here in Bunny Burrow." Judy's dad went off on a rant in the background.

"So, where are you staying?" Judy's mom asked.

"Uh…at a friend's."

"Who?" Judy's dad asked.

"…Nick's."

Judy's ears flinched hearing her dad go off in a panic while her mom threw a never-ending stream of questions at her.

"Mom. Dad. Listen to me." Judy began calmly. "Nick is a good friend who offered me a place to sleep after a long workday. He is a good man so don't go thinking anything bad about him."

A moment of silence passed between the two before Judy's parents sighed in agreement.

"I'm glad you have such a good friend there for you in that city." Judy's mom cheered.

"Yep. A good…friend." Judy answered wondering if this counted as lying. "Anyway, I got to go. I'll text you later. Love you guys."

After her parents said their goodbyes, Judy hanged up the phone falling to her side on the bed in dismay. When the warmth of an arm grasping around her stomach caught her attention.

"So, I'm just a friend now am I." The fox teased into the rabbit's ear making her blush.

"Ugh…" Judy groaned with a faint smile feeling Nick kiss her shoulder up and down.

"Even after our little escapade last night I'm just a friend. I'm hurt, Carrots." Nick joked as he pinned Judy down on the bed below him giving her a perfect view of his body. "I thought we had become more than just friends with benefits."

Nick didn't allow the rabbit to answer before silencing her lips with his. Judy wrapped her hands around Nick's head pulling him deeper into the kiss. It didn't take long for this single kiss to become something much more passionate.

"I really thought we could make it." Judy stated quietly to herself.

"Why didn't you?" Tia asked.

Judy refused to look Tia in the eye before gaining her composure.

"I need to shower." Judy smiled pleasantly at Tia. "Let's continue this story another time."

AN: I'm seriously contemplating making a prequel about their, Judy and Nick's, relationship in greater detail. What do you guys think?