Chapter Twenty-Eight

Even a Gradual Dip…

Languid stillness hung in the main reception hall of Zootopia's Police Department Headquarters. The reception of the ZPD HQ was empty — its lowered shutters blocking the light of the freshly risen sun and the still air of its empty halls and corridors, fresh and chill after the cold night. All of it was such; clean, like the confines of an operating room, empty, waiting, ready for use, prepared absolutely for what troubles the day may bring — the dawn of crisp torment from the ebb of night.

Movement. Sound stirred in the silence. A fresh breath of warmer air following behind, drawn in by the airflow caused from the large figure's entrance to the room — a rather flabby figure. The creature hummed — the tune muffled by the pastry his mouth was stuffed with — as he entered the main reception hall through a side-passage. Accustomed to the museum-like silence, which hung in the air every morning — before the ZPD would be busy with the industrial rush it faced throughout the day — the cheetah broke the silence without care or comment; ceasing the stillness underfoot as he strode to the front desk.

He opened the half-door to enter the receptionist's compartment, closed it behind him, put his boxes of doughnuts and cereal upon the counter and slid into his large chair with all the grace and dignity of a poleaxed pig. He settled himself down, made himself comfortable in the wide chair, which was once less breadthy, but had since been bent out of shape just like the chubby mammal himself, who then proceeded to prepare his first bowl of cereal — since coming into work, that is.

From where he had entered the building, Bogo's presence soon became known. "Clawhauser," Bogo greeted as he neared, not looking up from the report he was engrossed in.

"Hiya, Bogo," the cheetah called back. Yes, standing with a salute to his chief was customary, but Clawhauser was one of the Chief's oldest friends... besides which, if he stood now, he might not have had the breath to stand up again later without calling upon the assistance of a dozen other officers. The buffalo sighed airily, setting his report down upon Clawhauser's desk, and taking a long swig from the strong coffee, which he took every morning in substitute for breakfast.

"Benjamin," the Chief began, "you getting those front gates unlocked yet?"

"Oh! Err, yes, Chief!" With that he pulled a key quickly from his pocket and inserted it into a lock concealed beneath the desk. He turned it, and the electrical signal it triggered shot down the desk, beneath the floor, across the room and into the iron shutters. With the device triggered by the key, the motors above the glass doors of the ZPD HQ jolted into life, rising slowly and giving way to the fresh sun that filtered in as the metal bars rose. Bogo and Clawhauser — who had turned away — looked back to the glass doors with frowns. As the shutters raised and the light crept into the room, a vast black silhouette was lain across the ground. They looked to the source of the shadow.

There were many kinds of species of dogs living in the city of Zootopia — canines were one of the most diverse breeds in the world, in fact — some were smaller than rabbits in size, and some were far larger beasts. This one was big and black — the size of a medium-large wolf — with fur that was rugged and shaggy; he had a single eye, which was of deep brown that could have easily be mistaken for red, and a strong sailor's-swagger, as his old but-large-muscled frame moved into the building. Bogo and Clawhauser observed in silence as he approached, parting his lips and speaking — not shouting — and yet filling every inch of the room with his voice.

"Heed my words well," he began, "for I have a great tale to tell."

...

Amity Avenue was known as one of the oldest standing roads in all Zoophon — the country which Zootopia was the capital of — and unquestioningly, the oldest road in Zootopia itself. Better known simply as 'Old Road' by the locals of this ancient street, many might've thought that it was merely a grotty little street, disused and dingy, forgotten and fading. In truth, it was anything but.

Old Road was the widest and longest single road in all Zootopia. Four lanes wide, it was said that Old Road was the first real road to be built by mammalkind all those hundreds of years ago — back when Zootopia had been a three-hut village, and the idea of predator and prey living in harmony was but a mocking joke in the wind — amidst a medieval world of warring nations. In today's world, however, Amity Avenue was the main artery of Zootopia, pumping lifeblood into the heart of the city, fueling it like coal to the furnace. The four lanes of Old Road ran all in the same direction — inwards — from the edge of the city to the Ringroad, which encircled the Administrators' Tower — unarguably the grandest and most influential building in all Zoophon — at its core.

Nestled somewhere among the continual line of traffic — which ran from dawn till dusk, slowly, like warm treacle — Judy Hopps pulled the ZPD cruiser to a stop before the red lights of a crossroad. Nick let out a slight groan of discomfort as he adjusted the hold of his ice-pack against his face, or — more to the point — his black eye. He had changed his soup-doused uniform since the incident had occurred, and had washed his 'chickened' face. Without turning his head, the fox glanced to Judy, guilt slowly building within him for the silence he was allowing to drag on.

Surrounded on all sides by hundreds of cars — the metal of which gleamed harshly in the early morning sun — the rabbit turned to the silent red fox, hoping to use this pause in her driving to make amends. She spoke softly to the fox, who was gazing out at nothing, thus making his ear flick once by the very tenderness in her voice. "Nick... how— how does it feel?"

He glanced to her, briefly, then replied, "Feelsalright," he mumbled.

"Let me see." Nick didn't move, so Judy sat forwards in her seat and gently took Nick's paw in her own, lowering it and the ice-pack from covering his eye. "Well, the swelling's definitely gone down," she stated carefully.

The fox smirked, and a wry little chuckle escaped him, before he half-glanced to the bunny and said, "You know, that's quite a right hook you've got there. You sure you shouldn't have been a boxer?"

"An interesting idea," Judy decided to humour him, a small smile sprouting on her lips at the fox's return to being receptive to her, "but how could I've had a handsome partner like you if I was a boxer?"

"I could've been your sparring partner — what am I thinking?" he added, touching the black swelling about his eye gingerly, "I already am." Judy's smile phased again and her ears started lowering. She opened her mouth and began to make another apology, but Nick beamed his lips, reaching out his paw and laying a single finger against her lips to silence her, while angling his head to face her.

"Judy," he interrupted, "I don't care how much of a beating I get from you; I'm just happy you feel the same way about me as I do about you." Judy beamed, and allowed her head to move closer to Nick's, her eyelids lowering at the soft touch of his paw which drew her head closer. Their lips moved closer together, the soft sweetness of the one grazing gently across the other, and moving closer to bri—

A loud honk crackled jumps to the both of them, the impatient sound protruding into the intimacy with the closeness of its origin… The partners leaped apart, and Judy hastily put the car into gear and tried to get it moving. In her panic to do so, however, she ground the gears and stalled the car, audibly glowing in embarrassment as her cheeks lit up red, while the cars of all the lanes started to pull away around her.

"It's okay, Judy," Nick reassured comfortingly, and only a little patronizingly, "just relax and take a breath. Try again, and it'll all work out fine." He shifted to the rabbit and smiled. She did the same to him, but bared her teeth. The fox moved back from her expression — knowing when giving Judy a little space was wise — as he adjusted his tie nonchalantly. Nick opened his mouth to respond — but then... something caught his eye. His gaze rose, and the fox looked out at the lane furthest away from them. It appeared their car was not the only one having troubles …

Judy tried a second time, failing to notice anything amiss outside, as a number of small curses passed through her lips — many of which began with 'f's. She started the car, moved properly into gear and set of down the road. Nick twisted himself around in the seat as they pulled away. He stared at the cars behind for a moment, his brows lowering, before he turned back ahead of him.

"Judy, turn left here for me would you?"

"But, the ZPD's ahead...?"

"I know — just — humor me, okay?" Judy started forwards in bemusement, turning the car to the left as the fox had asked.

"Another left here," Nick said, his voice dry.

"We're going back home? Why?" The rabbit tried to figure out some reason as to why Nick was wanting to return home so soon but, to be quite honest with herself. The only reason she could think of was that the fox wanted to drag her from work and have his wicked ways with her... which was an idea Judy didn't mind one bit — no matter how much she told herself she must.

All chances of her mini-fantasy of Nick taking her home and to his bed were dashed, however, as the next set of crossroads were reached. "Left again here," Nick urged averagely coldly.

"Nick, are you feeling alright? I probably hit you harder than I thought, but, you do realize we're going in circles, don't you?"

"Okay... another left," was his only response. Judy said nothing this time, glancing concernedly at the fox before pulling a fourth left, and coming up to stop before the crossroad and traffic lights, which had started this strange adventure.

"You know," Judy drawled, baffled but sarcastic, as Nick twisted in his seat and gazed out of the back window, "it's funny, but I'd've thought you of all mammals would know their way to work after—"

"I thought we were being followed. Okay?" Nick vexed in defense.

Judy's head shot around to face Nick, her eyes wide, her mouth open with shock. "W-what?" She span around further, scanning the faceless mass of cars. "Where?"

"We're not. Least I don't think."

"Who... who did you think was following us?"

"Just some rabbit. Mid thirties I guess, gray fur, black stripes. Kind of a black suit or something."

"Why'd you think they were following us?"

"I just felt like I knew, Judy. It's hard to explain," he responded, gazing off at nothing, trying to put into words that which he had always taken for granted, "but, you just kinda get a scene for that kind of thing when you've been in the trade long enough."

"But... I've been a cop longer than you!"

"And that wasn't the 'trade' I was referring to. Besides, when we— I mean you had that little mishap back there and failed to pull away, they did the same thing. But it didn't look like they were having trouble, just looked like they were waiting and not trying to do anything else. Kinda like they were waiting for us to go first."

"So that's what that was about!"

"Yeah. I was testing how far they'd follow us. It could've just been a coincidence they followed us from outside our apartment to here. But if they followed us around the block, they would've been following us for sure." His words struck speechlessness in Judy for quite some conservative moments…

"Our apartment?"

That question obviously threw Nick off guard. His gaze rose to her. "Wh— what?"

"Our apartment," she repeated softly, carefully. "You said 'our' apartment, like, we're living together or something..."

Even though she was looking at the road and not at him, it was still hard for the fox to hold his eyes at her. "J— Judy," he stuttered, his eyes flicking away and then back again. "Judy, this... this really isn't the time—"

"Why not? Because we're talking about some rabbit who wasn't following us?"

"Why? Because… it's errh. Because—" Nick sought for a way to change the subject — not because he didn't want to commit to Judy or to an answer — but because he wasn't ready to best argue his case. He knew he might get only one shot to convince her to live with him, and if he wasn't prepared beforepaw, he might disgruntle the whole thing up. The fox found an excuse to change the subject — sadly unaware that Judy had pointed out the fact he had spoken, as though they were living together, not to berate him — but to encourage him.

"Because— Look, your favorite song is on!" Judy opened her mouth, but Nick had already turned the volume up beyond reason. The ZPD came into view and Judy Hopps — with a sigh and a frustrated growl — decided this would be a discussion best left...

For later.

…

Author's notes:

Hesitance jumps around your mind,

Grooms decision thus chosen blind.

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