Nick looked uncharacteristically pleased as he and Judy arrived in the auditorium early, both in uniform. Judy's eyebrows furrowed as she looked up in disbelief at Nick.
"You're certainly uh... bright today," Judy observed. "Just a fair few shades brighter than my smug fox normally is. Especially when being assigned to security duty for what... some sort of speech on energy?"
"Goodness, my love, don't you know how adamant I am that we should protect the environment?" Nick flashed a bit smile, giving a little hop.
"Oh, can it," Judy grinned. "Something's up with you and I'm going to figure it out."
"You think so?" Nick smiled brightly. "Well, you have until... ...now!" Nick nodded toward the auditoriums doors, which opened and revealed a well-dressed red fox who took off his shades.
"Nicky!" The fox proclaimed, rushing over to the two. "Son of a... they told me you might be here, but I didn't believe 'em!" The fox shook Nick's hand firmly, and Nick returned it with equal enthusiasm.
"Good to see you, Mr. Sterling," Nick gave a more familiar, smug grin.
"Oh, we're going with that, huh?" The fox replied in amusement, mirroring his look. Then, he noticed the puzzled-looking bunny near Nick. "Ah, there she is. Judy Hopps. The shining jewel of the ZPD!"
"Oh, please don't," Judy sighed with a put-upon smile. "Just a bunny cop."
"Just the bunny cop!" The fox clapped his hands for her.
"And my girlfriend," Nick added matter-of-factually, his hands behind his back.
"Okay, seriously kit, who are you, and what have you done with Nick Wilde?" The fox's voice was low and jokey. "Last time I saw you, you were literally trying to steal candy from babies."
"Things change," Nick said in an airy, flippant voice.
"Can you tell me why my idiot partner has been so excited to see you?" Judy tapped her foot impatiently. "I can't imagine why he'd be this excited about some fox who is giving a speech at an energy convention."
"PFFF!" The fox doubled over and began to laugh. "This guy? No way!" He regained his composure. "I guess I should introduce myself. I'm Terry Sterling, CEO of Sterling Industries. We're taking the lead into miniaturizing energy solutions!"
"Okay, that's still all gibberish to me," Judy shot a wary look at Nick, "at least as far as why Nick would be excited is concerned."
"How long should I keep her on the hook, Nicky?" Terry grinned.
"Long as you want, Mr. Sterling," Nick winked.
"You know," Terry folded his arms, "I'm actually kind of insulted you've never mentioned me to your precious little bunny friend over there! What, were you not going to invite me to your wedding, either?"
"We'll see," Nick grinned. "You're aware of how many bunnies are in a typical bunny family, right?"
"Sure am," Terry had a huge smile, giving an obnoxious tilt of his muzzle to Judy. "They're part of the reason I have to help fix the impending energy crisis!" Judy's eyes half-lid; she was not amused.
"Well, when Judy and I get married, we'll have to save the seats for only the most important guests," Nick wiggled his eyebrows. "So I'm not quite sure you'd make the cut."
"Oh my God Nicky, you're too much!" Terry barked out a huge laugh, tossing his head back.
Judy shook her head over the cloud that was forming around her mind. She was shocked and kind of impressed that Nick had already determined to marry her, but she was also eager to put whatever charade the two foxes were conducting to rest.
"Okay, I got it. I got it," Judy grumbled in aggravation. "You two are related. There's no way you aren't."
"Bingo!" Terry clapped. "I have to tell you, they make you cops smarter and smarter every year."
"Brother?" Judy asked with a forced blithe tone.
"Oh, thanks for the compliment," Terry chuckled. "No, I'm older than that. I'm his uncle. His mom's brother."
"Practically a stranger," Nick insisted.
"Basically, until you turned your life around, you scamp!" Terry poked him in the ribs with his elbow firmly. "I've been wanting to see you since you became one of the boys in blue! My God, your mom must have been a wreck at your graduation. To see her little scam artist back-alley fox become an upstanding member of society..."
"Okay, you don't have to rub it in," Nick chuckled. "But I do admit I'm proud of myself, and to get to see you give such an important talk."
"Try not to fall asleep; I know it'll bore you," Terry rolled his eyes.
"What exactly is it you're doing?" Judy was suddenly curious.
"We're miniaturizing energy solutions," Terry gestured with both hands emphatically, bringing them together to indicate shrinking. "Pretty soon, you might be able to wear a modest, not-entirely-dangerous reactor on your clothes, or your arm, giving you energy whenever you needed it. In five years, we might be able to apply this to cities and reduce the strain of energy we're putting on fossil fuels. In ten, why, you might have a gauntlet on your arm that can shoot energy blasts capable of subduing any sized criminal!" Terry pumped his arm enthusiastically. Nick smiled proudly. Judy wasn't convinced.
"Uhh... that sounds a bit like science fiction," Judy had to admit.
"Why, my dear gray bunny, everything cool comes from science fiction," Terry explained with a pitying smile. He pulled out his tablet computer. "This thing here? It was inspired by a similar device that was on the show Star Trunk: The Next Generation. No one when the show was first aired thirty years ago thought we'd ever be carrying around computers, but look at what we're doing today!"
"Huh," Judy considered. "That's actually kind of exciting! But you're telling me I have to wait another decade to zap bad guys with a glove blaster or something?" Judy struck an energetic pose with one hand on her other wrist and her palm out.
"You'll be waiting at least a decade, if not more, if we can't make the materials affordable enough," Terry gave an apologetic smile. "But, if you see it happen in your lifetime, won't it be worth it?"
"Yeah, I'd be into that," Judy smiled. "So we're getting like a little sneak preview on the future?"
"Now you got it!" Terry briefly pointed at her, as if he was touching her on the shoulder from far away.
"You're a wizard, Terry," Nick grinned. "I never thought you could get THIS bunny to be interested in technology."
"Hey!" Judy shot back.
"Well, of course I'm going to frame my speech like we're right on the verge of a breakthrough," Terry's smile faltered only a little, "but, in truth, there will be some waiting, worrying and wondering to see if everything falls into place like we hope it will. If not..." Terry pursed his lips and nodded. "More waiting."
"I'll wait," Nick nodded. "Long as it takes. It took more than three decades to get my life where I wanted it to be, after all."
"Ah Nicky," Terry put his hands on Nick's shoulders. "I'm glad you're something respectable now like a police officer, too."
"Well, there's that," Nick gently sloughed Terry's paws off of him, then got behind Judy and placed his hands on her shoulders, making her ears perk up. "And there's this."
"Aw, Nick, c'mon," Judy said with uncharacteristic timidness, her ears drooping. "When Judy's on duty she can't be a cutie." Terry's jaw dropped slightly.
"Oh, you lucky dog," Terry folded his arms. "She's that good, huh? 'The one'?"
"Number one," Nick nodded.
"Don't you think the bunny that saved Zootopia is a bit out of your league, buster?" Terry laughed. Judy rolled her eyes; she almost didn't like it when she was placed on a pedestal because of her heroism. Almost.
"Yeah, somewhere in space, probably," Nick agreed. "But I got lucky."
"Hey, are you calling me spacey?" Judy narrowed one eye.
"Uh, my guys are flagging me down, Nicky, I gotta run," Terry nodded. "Anyway, proud of you, boy. Jealous of you, too!"
"You'll find yours, uncle Terry," Nick grinned.
"Well, given I spend most of my days hunched over a computer; unless I fell in love with a sapient AI, I don't think it's going to happen," Terry gave a snarky laugh.
"That'd made an interesting story!" Nick retorted as Terry started to retreat to the stage of the auditorium. "No, I'm sure you'll find some sort of geeky science nerd girl that'll spin all your dials."
"Only if she's smokin' hot!" Terry winked and was gone.
"Are all of your family members as crazy as him?" Judy had a fond smile.
"You know you love him," Nick chuckled.
"Yeah, he's okay," Judy shrugged noncommittally.