"After you, my good mammal," Nick declared with an inviting flair, swinging one of the smaller doors to All Kinds open for Judy. following the motion with a paw.
"Thank you, kind sir!" Judy replied with politeness that sounded silly on her.
The establishment was much as Nick remembered it. It seemed to have been remodeled exactly once, bringing up the fresh "new" feel of the place. As the two walked up to the bear seater, Nick's eyes caught on some larger mammals murmuring about them. Training his senses on them, he couldn't quite make out what they were saying, but they seemed moderately displeased. He wondered why; "all kinds" were welcome at the restaurant. Within reason, of course.
An idea hit him suddenly. Maybe a few of them had watched or been protesters at that anti-mixed couple rally the previous day. Nick was watching for signs of anyone mouthing anything about "hypocrite" when he noticed the bear was staring at him, almost concerned.
"Table for two, sir?" It might not have been the first time he asked.
"Ah yes, yes," Nick nodded, clearing his throat.
"It'll be about five minutes," the bear said politely. "Little bit of a packed house tonight, but I think we can find a smaller table for you two."
"That's fine," Nick nodded, sitting down at the waiting area with Judy.
Judy pat herself on the lap with both paws, leaning back and looking around with interest. "I can see why you're so distracted, Nick. This place is gorgeous! And the view. Wow. This city is really something special in the evening, huh?"
Nick nodded and smiled. Cheerful obliviousness did tend to look cute on her.
They were led to their seat in short order. It was in a table in practically the middle of the establishment, which just made Nick feel self-conscious and a little exposed. He wasn't here to do battle, he tried to remind himself. Melanie and Judy were like night and day. Of course, he couldn't expect a great seat when he hadn't even made a reservation. The noise was a bit louder than he remembered, too.
"Tiff will be your server tonight, she'll be right up," the bear said pleasantly. Nick's eyes widened a few degrees.
"So what do they have here that's good, I wonder?" Judy asked, opening up a menu. "What kind of things do you like to eat?"
"I... their shrimp noodle pasta is supposed to be pretty good," Nick shrugged his shoulders. "Maybe you can get it without the shri-"
"They have a salad with apples? No way!" Judy's jaw dropped. "I want that!"
Nick was mildly blindsided, and huffed in amusement. His expression melted when he saw that cottontail Tiff return to the table. He instantly knew she recognized him, too. Her bright countenance fell to something like disappointment.
"Hello, I'll be taking care of you tonight," Tiff said with somewhat blank friendliness. "Start you off with something to drink?"
"Water with lemon's fine," Nick pulled his eyes away from her and pretended to be puzzled by his menu.
"I'd like a cherry cola!" Judy said exuberantly. Nick shot her a "really?" look and she just smiled ingratiatingly.
"Okay, coming up," Tiff said, turning tail and walking away swiftly.
"Hey... something seem off about our waitress?" Judy frowned. "It's like the air went out of her tires when she came near us. ...Do you think we offended her somehow?"
"Uh- I dunno," Nick blinked. "...Have I committed some sort of bunny faux pas?"
"Not that I know of," Judy shrugged. "Maybe it's different for city bunnies. I'll go ask." The gray bunny shot up from the table and pursued.
"What!? Judy- you can't- you can't just-!" Nick held out his paw after her, then looked left and right as his raised voice got some stern looks. He hoped he hadn't detected a whining tone in his babbling. He bit his lip and ran his paws through his head. There he was, alone at All Kinds again.
Night and day, he repeated to himself, they're like night and day.
Judy approached Tiff, who was facing away from her and talking to a rhino. Huge, but rather small for a rhino, actually. He looked familiar to Judy.
"I just don't think I can serve them, sir," Tiff murmured, her voice nearly a tremble. "Can anyone else pick that table up?"
The gray bunny took in a quiet gasp. Why would she say that? She wracked her brain. Uh oh, might it be because she saw them at that rally the other day? Come to think of it, this place seemed to cater to mixed couples, and there they were defending their opponents yesterday.
"Tiffy, I'm not unsympathetic to your personal issues," the rhino said, and Judy ducked behind a smallish wall, "but you can't just hide whenever you see a fox!" He looked out to the table. "There now, that's Nick Wilde! Saw him just yesterday at the- ...well, neve rmind where I saw him, heh. He's harmless."
Judy half-frowned. This was seeming a bit familiar.
"Yes, sir," Tiff replied dejectedly, starting to fill their drinks. When the rhino lumbered away, Judy cautiously approached.
"Hi," Judy waved tentatively. "Um, just was wondering if you were okay?"
"Wh- what, huh!?" Tiff looked at Judy, alarmed. She nearly spilled her drinks, but managed to catch them just in time. "Oh, ss- sorry, I'll be right out with your drinks."
"That's not too important; you look troubled," Judy frowned. "Is something wrong?"
"Just..." Tiff looked defeated, looking over at Nick. "Seeing a bunny and a fox makes me think of my own boyfriend. He's a gray fox... and... I don't really know if it's working out between us."
"No?" Judy blinked. "What's the matter?"
"He's just... he's kind of fragile, somehow," Tiff shook her head as if in disbelief. "Sensitive... I wouldn't have expected it from a predator. I can never tell what he's thinking. We haven't been very... warm to each other for about a month. And just..." her eyes started to look glassy, "I caught some of that rally yesterday on TV... and I was wondering if maybe it- you know, wasn't worth it. Trying to be with a pred and all- just... ugh-" she looked like she was about to burst into tears; her voice was pinching.
"Whoa whoa, it's okay, it's okay," Judy held up her paws with tenderness. "Believe it or not, I've kind of been where you are." She smiled softly. "And I think I have a little advice."
"Rgh..." Tiff blinked purposefully to try to get rid of the moisture building up in her eyes. "Forget it, I'm just being emotional."
"And that's okay!" Judy nodded. "It's totally okay to be emotional. Just tell your fox about your feelings, and ask him to do the same. Tell him how you feel, how he makes you feel, and how you think he feels about you, and see if he challenges you or agrees, depending on what you say. ...You love him?"
"Yh-yeah," Tiff smiled wobbily.
"Good, then you know he's worth your effort," Judy grinned. "So give it a try, huh?"
"Yeah... I'll think about it," Tiff swallowed. "Anyway, I have a job to do, and it's so serve you guys, so..."
"Oh! Right," Judy waved and rushed back to her seat.
Nick looked like he'd been holding his breath the whole time, and deflated once Judy arrived.
"Carrots, jeez!" Nick hissed. "Do you have any impulse control?"
Judy put a finger to her lip and bobbed her head. "Impulse control? Is that like something an airplane has?"
Caught off guard, Nick barked out a laugh and shook his head. "What the heck were you doing, anyway? Bothering our waitress-?"
"I was making the world a better place!" Judy inrerrupted proudly, sitting down and folding her arms with her eyes shut. "As one does."
"You really are like a kit sometimes," Nick rolled his eyes. "Cherry cola, getting excited over apples... I guess you are eight years younger than me."
"I'll take being silly over being a fuddy-duddy," Judy retorted with a point.
Nick smirked and wagged his head, but was surprised to see Tiff come back with their drinks and basically a completely different expression. She had a warm, relaxed smile.
"You two ready to order?" She asked after placing their drinks down.
"Yeah, do you like the apple bapple salad?" Judy asked her.
"Oh, it's great; like eating candy," Tiff nodded with a grin. The two bunnies suddenly seemed like the best of friends from Nick's read on the cottontail.
"And I'll- just have the shrimp pasta, I guess," Nick blinked, his voice wearing mild astonishment.
"Like before, huh?" Tiff giggled, nodding and jotting that down. Ah, so she did remember.
"Haha, yeah," Nick grinned, poking his thumb at Judy. "You see, it's a lot more fun to eat here with someone."
"Agreed," Tiff laughed a little louder. Judy looked between them.
"Something between you two...?" Her eyes narrowed curiously.
"Nah, I was just here once before," Nick shook his head. "Long story."
"I was this close to just sitting down and talking with you," Tiff said with something like a wistfulness, then looked at Judy. "He seems like a nice guy."
"Oh yeah," Judy agreed with a nod. Her smile turned smarmy and she looked at Nick with mostly-closed eyes. "And, I'm not a carnivore... but that is one prime hunk of fox."
"Sure is!" Tiff stifled a giggle. "Oh, sorry, if that's okay."
Nick was just stunned. "Okay, I'm feeling a little on the spot, here."
"I'll go put in your order," Tiff said quickly, rushing off.
"The heck did you do?" Nick flicked his eyes back down to Judy.
"Just told her to do what her heart seemed to want," Judy smiled, sliding her paw across the table. "It's always worked for me."
Nick looked at her and smiled, giving a warm sigh and going to squeeze her paw softly. "You seem to have that effect on mammals."
"I hope so," Judy looked at him with a dash of romance.
"Wow, what a soft paw," Nick seemed genuinely impressed, petting it with his thumb.
"For a delicate touch," Judy claimed.
"Insert sound of trains exploding here," Nick gave a sneering smile.
"Oh, Nicholas, would you drop that?" Judy rolled her eyes. "I am not going to destroy every train I get my paws on."
"I should hope you don't get your paws on any more trains, just to be safe," Nick teased, leaning in.
"You... c'mon, wasn't that adrenaline rush the best?" Judy shook her head, leaning in.
"I'm not a junkie like you, so I just felt terrified," Nick's expression remained, his familiar insufferable smirk.
"Ooh, takes a big fox to admit his faults," the gray bunny went on, teasing.
"Well, red foxes are the biggest," Nick wiggled his eyebrows.
The two shared a brief, abrupt kiss. It was broken when Judy's ear picked up a voice from another table.
"What kinda 'romantic' nonsense is that?" The voice came. "Is like watchin' a couple of martians flirt."
"Joseph, c'mon, let them be, it's kind of cute," another voice came back. "Weird, but cute."
Judy broke from the kiss in a laugh, and so did Nick. They rested their foreheads together and came to relax for a few seconds like this. Nick found Judy's paw again and held it. She squeezed.
"They used the c-word," Nick's voice had an accusing lead. "You wanna get 'em?"
"Nah, I'll let 'em live," Judy groaned, looking peacefully up at the fox. "Someone much more important I wanna spend my time with tonight."
Nick allowed a moment for the romance to settle into his heart before saying: "Are they here yet?"
Judy laughed and shoved the fox's shoulder.
Several weeks later, Chief Bogo had recognized that Judy and Nick's performance and attention to detail had increased markedly, especially in their case work. He managed to stop them with only a suspicious glare as they were leaving the bull pen to do their patrol.
"Something the matter, sir?" Judy asked perkily.
"...No," Bogo said cautiously. "Keep up the good work..."
Judy flashed a bright, childish smile at Nick, who winked at her as soon as they were out of sight of the buffalo.
"Messing with the boss is one of life's great pleasures," Nick sighed. "Now, for another..." he started to put his arm around Judy, then suddenly pointed to the side. "How about you go get us our coffee?"
"Pah!" Judy laughed. "You are something else. Fine. Your usual?"
"Almost as sweet as you," Nick wiggled his eyebrows.
"Mmm..." Judy narrowed her eyes and gave a scrunched up little grin. She hopped off, almost literally, a skip in her step.
With a free moment, Nick approached Karen Skippel's desk. She looked busy, as usual, and her expression was also blank and unreadable. The fox found that just the smallest bit unsettling.
"Hey, Officer Skippel," Nick waved, losing his smile.
"...Officer Wilde," Karen looked at him cautiously.
"How's it going?"
"...Well, actually," Karen said guardedly. "Haven't actually had any major hacking attempts in at least a week. Maybe two. I'm hoping that persistent hacker finally gave it up."
"Yeah, well, I told her to back off," Nick smiled lazily.
"You what?" The arctic hare's left eye narrowed.
"Nicely," Nick clarified, pinching two fingers on each hand. "You catch more flies with honey, after all."
Karen looked baffled. "You expect me to believe you stopped a hacker that's been plaguing me by speaking nicely to them!?"
"Well, she is a longtime friend," Nick shrugged. "At least, I had figured it was her."
"Well, you should- there are reports to fill out and protocols regarding the-..." Karen looked like all of the words she wanted to say just exploded in her brain. She abruptly relaxed. "You know what, never mind."
Nick grinned and started to walk away.
"Thank you."
He'd never heard Karen say those words to him before.
"Happy to help," Nick said casually, waving to her. And it was true. He was happy.
About a lot of things, really.