Disclaimer: I do not own any of the rights to this movie. The only character I own is Rick.
Thanks to everyone for the support you've given me and my story. You guys motivate me to keep writing another chapter. Speaking of which, here's chapter five for you guys! Enjoy! Let me know if you see any mistakes that I can correct!
The rays from the newly rising sun shone through the window onto a sleeping fox's face. It took a few seconds for him to acknowledge it and half-mindedly swipe at it as if it were an insect trying to bother his blissful sleep. Unable to swat away the pesky sun, Nick turned over, a bit more awake thanks to the ball of fire in the sky that decided to wake him up at such an early hour.
"You really need to get some curtains, Carrots," said Nick, his voice dripping with sleepiness. "Carrots?" Nick groaned and turned over again, sitting up to avoid the rays of the sun as much as possible. Judy wasn't in her bed. Nick looked over at her closet, spotting her police uniform.
'At least she didn't go to the precinct without me. Not that I would've cared,' thought the fox. As he was rubbing his eyes, he heard the door open, and in walked the very bunny that changed his life for the better. Judy was holding a grocery bag with that overly cheery smile on her face. As much as Nick hated mornings, he couldn't help but send her a tired smile of his own, and then a loud yawn.
"I got some things for you since you're going to be staying here a bit," Judy said, placing the bag down on the desk, looking very proud of herself.
"I hope you bought curtains. Your neighbor, the sun, is why I'm awake right now," Nick joked, too tired to add a sly smile.
"Thank you, sun," said Judy with a laugh. "Maybe this will cheer you up." As if from nowhere, Judy handed Nick a cup of coffee. His eyes immediately lit up, grabbing the warm styrofoam cup and taking a careful sip.
"Is this from that new place down the street?" Nick asked with another sip. He smacked his lips a few times. Was that hazelnut?
"Yep, good huh? I already had mine on the way here." Nick ignored Judy, taking sip after sip of pure bliss. "I don't think I'll be able to fit in a morning run today." She looked at the time on her phone. Nick watched her put the phone back down and start emptying the bag. Lettuce, broccoli, mushrooms, and other varieties of vegetables were taken out and put in her tiny fridge. Once all of the items were in their proper places in the fridge, Judy looked at the very last item in the bag, reluctantly putting her hand inside to grab it. Her orange furred friend immediately noticed the hesitation. That was something he learned from surviving on his own. No matter how distracted, he always tried to notice strange behavior. And that one hesitation was as obvious as putting up a neon sign while singing a Gazelle song. The fox's partner took a deep breath, before planting a smile on her face. Nick had a half smile and a raised eyebrow of curiosity.
"Did you get me a present, Carrots?" his voice was full of sarcasm, but she heard an almost shakiness in it. Was Nick Wilde nervous? Did he know? He wasn't stupid, but he wasn't psychic either.
"While I was there, I saw this all natural-um...well, this," Judy said, taking the item out of the bag for Nick to see. He stared at it blankly, the remnants of his expectant smile still present, as if he hadn't actually processed what was happening. It was an all-natural stress relieving medicine in the form of chews. "I figured-"
Nick laughed suddenly, interrupting what she was about to say, "Come on, Carrots, I know being a police officer can be a lot of work, but you don't need that. You always know how to keep your cool."
"Nick, this isn't for m-"
"I know who it's for, Carrots," Nick said, shaking his head, unable to make a joke at the current moment. Again, he was feeling that regret for telling his partner that stupid secret. "Oh well, we'll just have to return it to the store on the way to my apartment." He planted his smile back on. "Speaking of which, we really should be going. Ready?" Not waiting for an answer, Nick headed out the door, leaving Judy to throw the grocery bag away. She would just "forget" to bring the receipt. Maybe she could convince him to take the medicine. He wouldn't have to worry about side effects or anything, but Judy knew that that wasn't what was bothering him anymore. He still knew that she felt bad for him. She slipped the small container of medicine in her back pocket, joining her friend in the hall, his sly grin looking as authentic as ever. Well, it looked authentic, at least.
The two walked out of the apartment building and made their way down the street until they spotted a taxi cab nearby. They flagged down the driver, who was a pig, and got in. Nick told him the address of his apartment, and the pig silently sent the vehicle forward, heading towards wherever this fox wanted to go. As wordless as the pig was, Judy noticed the dirty look he gave her partner in the rearview mirror.
"So, Nick, how have your first days been in the ZPD?" Judy asked loud enough for the pig to hear. His eyes flashed with a bit of fear and embarrassment as he suddenly focused solely on the road, never once daring to glance back into the rearview mirror.
"Pretty good, I guess," Nick said, seemingly not noticing the encounter Judy just had with the driver. "The big cases are fun and all, but I would like something a little less life threatening next time." Judy laughed in agreement. It was supposed to be a simple string of robberies, but this was definitely becoming something more. She only hoped that Mr. Big had something that would help them. Besides, maybe she would get to see Fru Fru again.
Nick was looking at the back of the driver's seat a bit more intently than he should've been, but he was just lost in thought. Judy wondered what it was like, never telling anyone about his problems. Not only making sure that people didn't see that they got to him, but never trusting anyone enough to speak of his traumas and fears. For all Judy knew, this fox next to her could have been mentally organizing all of the emotional traumas he'd experienced over the years. Nick was the closest friend she had ever had in her entire life, and yet she knew almost nothing about him. The saddest part was that she probably knew more about him than anyone else.
Judy didn't realize that she was staring at this fox the same way he was staring at the seat, the both of them completely lost in the labyrinth of their own minds. Neither was sure how long they had been doing it, but once the taxi driver announced their arrival at the destination, they both returned to reality. Without hesitation, Nick told Judy to stay in the car while he got his stuff.
"Let me come with you," she said simply, taking off her seatbelt.
"You're really anxious to see my apartment, huh, Carrots? Are you stalking me now?" he asked with the most evil little smirk, like a little child about to pull the biggest prank in the world. "Don't worry, I'll give you the grand tour when this is all over." And just like that, Nick got out of the car, watching to make sure no traffic was coming, and headed straight into the apartment building. He put on his shades that Judy didn't remember him bringing, keeping as low of a profile as he could. He took casual, lazy glances around before entering.
'Slick little fox,' Judy thought with a mischievous grin. That grin of his annoyed her sometimes, but she was starting to love it more and more. Her own silly grin at the fox's cheerful nature disappeared when she remembered that maybe he wasn't always that cheerful. 'Maybe he really is cheerful at heart,' Judy thought hopefully. 'Sure, he has panic attacks, but maybe he doesn't let it depress him.' The rabbit's head started to hurt from all of the heavy thinking about her partner. He really was a slick fox, managing to confuse Judy beyond reason, even when he did decide to open up to her a bit.
Nick stepped into the apartment building, looking around carefully, calculating the every move of every mammal from prey to predator. He stuck to the walls, walking casually, letting his peripheral vision do the work for him. No mammal got close to him, not that he would allow it, anyway. The lobby was semi-crowded this morning, not making things much easier, but helping him all the same. If anyone was looking for him, they would have to look past everyone else first. Nick took a glance above, as if expecting there to be someone dangling from the ceiling, watching him.
In a way, he was kind of walking down memory lane. He remembered his first days out on the streets. He would do this exact thing, walking into a place, checking for guards, cameras, and marks. People to scam or trick. He couldn't say with confidence that he missed such a life, but at the same time, it was a way for him to survive, and a way to show the mammals just how shifty he could be once they realized they had been hustled. The best part of such a job was that he had been virtually untouchable, except for the whole felony tax evasion thing. Even Finnick warned him about it occasionally, and that was the fox that didn't waste any time in hitting mammals with his bat...repeatedly.
Nick decided the elevator was a bad move. Someone could be waiting for him, and stop the elevator mid-lift, leaving him open for an ambush. With the stairs, there was less traffic, and more room for him to make someone fall down them. It was a dark observation, but a necessary one, as Nick had never been much of a fighter. He had claws and teeth, but his frame was overall quite small. He doubted he would be able to throw a very strong punch. In the academy, he had actually managed to talk a few of the less intelligent mammals not to fight him…and that was in the ring. His polar bear instructor was always speechless when he did this. She couldn't technically scorn him for talking his way out of a fight, as she had previously taught that in the field, it is best to try and avoid a fight if possible. But, at the same time, this was the ring, a place specifically designed to teach cadets about hand-to-hand combat.
Of course, Nick did get unlucky enough to have to fight some mammals. It didn't help that the first opponent he couldn't talk out of a fight was a lion who put earplugs in under the instructor's orders. With no ability to talk his way out, and not being allowed to use his God-given claws and teeth, obviously, he was forced to dodge every attack until the lion got worn out. At that point, all Nick did was dodge one last attempted blow, and the lion tripped over himself, hitting his head on one of the posts. Even when he was in the car with the polars bears, Judy actually fought hers off, while Nick simply jumped and dodged his polar bear's attacks.
So far, so good. Nick was at his apartment, looking both ways, making sure that nobody would surround him, and checked the door for any signs of forced entry. Nothing. He took his keys out and unlocked his door as quietly as possible, praying to anything that would listen that the door wouldn't creak. Unfortunately, a dull creak did rear its ugly head when the door was about half-way opened. He took one more look around before slipping into the room, closing the door quietly behind him, taking the extra precaution to lock it. Slowly, he padded his way to each room, checking for any nasty surprises. It didn't take long, as his apartment was a bit spacious with few rooms. The kitchen and living room were one big open space. There was a hallway on each side of the apartment. One lead to his bedroom and bathroom, the other led to the laundry room, closet, and extra room that he never used for anything. After checking the apartment thoroughly, Nick felt safe enough to walk normally, heading straight for his bedroom.
As soon as he walked in, he noticed that nothing had been changed. The bed was unmade and littered with old clothes. An empty pizza box and soda can lay on the floor next to it. He looked up a bit. There it was. His laptop, still plugged in, ready to be taken. Nick grabbed a suitcase and packed a few necessities, such as clothes, a toothbrush and toothpaste, and other things. After zipping the suitcase up, he grabbed his laptop and put it in its own case, putting it around his shoulder. Before he left the room, Nick spotted his lucky tie laying on the dresser. He allowed himself a sad smile before grabbing it and tying it around his neck. Suddenly, he felt much better. The annoyance at himself for allowing Judy to know about his problem washed away as he tightened the tie securely around his neck.
With a deep breath, Nick walked out of his apartment, closing and locking the door on the way out, and headed back to the taxi. When he exited the building, he saw Judy looking at her phone in the taxi. He smiled at the bunny, wishing that he could rewind time for about the fifth time that day. He could see her worry for him every time they made eye contact. Maybe that was a comfort to some people, but to this particular fox, it was quite the opposite. And he couldn't just tell her that he hated it, for he had already done that.
'Stubborn bunny,' he thought, getting into the taxi with his laptop case on his shoulder, his suitcase in his hand, and his lucky tie around his neck.
Judy looked up from her phone, "Hey, I haven't seen that in a while." She swatted at his tie with a giggle. Nick gave her a grin while taking his laptop out. He told the taxi driver the address to Mr. Big's. The pig didn't exactly look happy about that, but drove on anyway. Nick took the flashdrive out of his shirt pocket, plugging it into the laptop. It didn't take long before a screen pulled up, showing the camera footage that they had been investigating. "That's one smart wolf."
"He learned from the best," Nick responded with a smile, clicking the play button. He fast forwarded the footage until it showed the store after hours. A little bit of waiting revealed the door opening, and in walked an all too familiar rat. Judy groaned.
"Great," she whined. "Weaselton. Why is it always Weaselton?"
"Aw, come on, Carrots, it's not that bad. At this point, I'd say that Duke Weaseldork is pretty scared of you. I trust you'll be able to get some info from him." The two watched as the spastic rat stole jewel after jewel quite clumsily. Nick was actually a bit impressed that the rat even knew how to pick locks.
"Oh well, at least we have a new lead after our current one," said Judy, refraining from directly mentioning the name of one of the most feared crime bosses in Zootopia. Nick agreed, before abruptly telling the driver to stop the car. "What is it?" Judy blurted out, looking out the window to see the drug store.
"Returning something," Nick said.
Judy pretended to look for something in her pockets, "Aw, man. I think I forgot the receipt...and the medicine. I guess you'll just have to-" Judy stopped in her tracks when she saw her friend take the receipt and medicine out of his back pocket.
"Don't worry, Carrots. I got the medicine from you while we were walking down the street, and the receipt, well, I took it from the bag before we left. You know, that bag that I heard you crumple up from the hall? Yeah, that one." Nick had a proud grin on his face, and Judy was once again left in the taxi, unable to fathom how he had slipped the receipt from that bag without making the slightest of noise, or the medicine from her pocket without her feeling it. Nick returned a few minutes later with nothing in his paws. Judy had her arms crossed, looking out the window, angry for being tricked so easily. She didn't care how sly the fox was, that didn't mean he couldn't just let her get the upper hand for once. Nick let the driver continue on his way to Mr. Big's, and Judy could feel his cocky stare burning into the back of her head. She looked at his translucent reflection in the window, spotting that self-satisfied smile.
"I was just trying to help," she whispered, partly so the driver couldn't hear, and partly because she suddenly lost the strength to speak any louder. She watched Nick's reflection become serious and somewhat grim. It was one thing for Nick to not have a witty response to something, but to not respond at all was worrying. At the very least, he would always let his smile widen as a way of "getting the last laugh" one way or another. But there was nothing. He looked down in what appeared to be shame, or maybe he was trying to think of some way to apologize to his bunny. Whatever was going on in his head, Judy felt a little better already knowing that he was taking her seriously.
"I'm sorry," he said simply with an equally low volume. After that, he sat up straight, looking back at his laptop, probably searching for some kind of extra clues. But Judy could tell, even through the reflection, that he wasn't actually focusing on anything in the laptop. He was in thought again. Judy had an awful thought pop up in her head.
'Is this going to ruin our friendship?' she thought with horror. For a second, tears threatened to blur her vision. She blinked a few times to be rid of them, but they wanted to come out badly. The realization that she could possibly lose her friend over her own nosiness made her feel dead. She couldn't go without her friend, her partner, her fox. After everything, she couldn't allow such a beautiful friendship to be tainted so easily. But at the same time, what kind of friend would she be if she let Nick suffer by himself? If he was dealing with his own personal demons, the least that the bunny could do was be his support.
She knew that he wasn't used to relying on someone, but if he just knew how wonderful it was to go through hard times with a friend, he wouldn't be so hesitant. She heard the click of a laptop closing, and watched Nick put it back into the case and lean back into his seat. A few seconds later, he started absentmindedly playing with his tie. That was new. She had never seen him do that before. His paw held onto it quite firmly, his thumb slowly going up and down, feeling the soft material.
Judy allowed herself to look away from the mirror, changing her position so that she was now facing Nick. If he noticed, he certainly didn't let her see it. Almost as if she was possessed, Judy's paw went to Nick's free one. He stopped fiddling with his tie, but still didn't look at the bunny.
"I'm sorry," she said, letting go of his hand. She watched her partner take a deep breath, as if about to say something, until…
"We're here," said the driver, and the two friends looked up in surprise. Judy looked out the window, seeing that they were now in front of Mr. Big's house. How had she not noticed them entering Tundra Town? While Judy was getting out, immediately feeling grateful that she had fur to protect her from the cold, Nick grabbed his suitcase and laptop case before closing the door behind him. They both watched the pig drive away a bit faster than he should have. They hadn't even gotten to pay him.
"Ready, Carrots?" Nick asked as if their semi-awkward encounter in the car never happened. Judy never answered his question, as she noticed the gate was already opened, and there were no guards. Nick gave her a worried glance, letting her go inside first before hesitantly following. He left his luggage in a hidden spot in the bushes, so as to prevent them from being stolen. The two police officers looked around the place, searching for any sign of a guard, but there was no one.
"I have a really bad feeling about this," Judy said as they made their way to the front door of the house. She used the knocker, much to Nick's protest, and waited for any of Mr. Big's guards to open the door.
"Oh well, nobody's home, Carrots, maybe we should go talk to Weaselton now. Come on!" Nick was whispering very frantically, but Judy just ignored it, checking to see if the door was unlocked. She got her answer when she pushed it and the door opened all the way, revealing a very empty house. "Carrots!" Nick whisper-yelled, watching her walk inside. He made a few disgruntled noises before following her. He stayed as close to Judy as possible. Cop or no cop, he was still not the best under pressure.
Nick ended up having to lead Judy to Mr. Big's office, as he was more familiar with the place. Before he had sold the crime boss a rug made from the fur of a skunk's butt, Nick had learned how to get around the house quite well. It didn't take long for Nick and Judy to come face to wood with Mr. Big's office door. They still hadn't seen a single guard in the house, and it didn't help that it was extremely dark in the house, despite it being the afternoon. Judy looked at Nick one last time, before pushing the door open. At first she didn't see anything, until Nick turned the flashlight on his phone, revealing the two unconscious polar bears on the ground. Judy immediately ran to one of them, while Nick ran to the other.
"He's alive," they said at the same time. Nick was looking at the scratches and bruises the polar bear had all over him.
"Nick, over here!" Judy called. He ran to his partner's side, wondering what she saw until the polar bear Judy was crouched next to started to regain consciousness. "Are you okay?"
The polar bear looked distantly at her, "They took him. We couldn't do anything. There were just so many."
"What are you talking about?"
"Someone paid most of the guards off. We're the only ones that didn't betray Mr. Big."
"Can you describe the mammal who took him?" Nick asked. Before he could answer, the bear fell unconscious again. "I'll call an ambulance."
Judy and Nick sat on the stairs outside, watching the paramedics take the two badly beaten polar bears from the house, putting each in an ambulance of their own. Much to Nick's surprise, Judy was actually shaken up from the event. Or maybe she was just freezing from the cold of the snow. Nick put his arm comfortingly around her, bringing her closer to his side. She pushed her head as far into his warm fur as she could, not caring about the strange looks they got from the paramedics. Chief Bogo was also on his way to question them on what happened. Nick rubbed his hand on Judy's arm, reminding her that he was there for her, and creating some warmth from the friction.
"Are you feeling okay, Carrots?" Nick said.
Judy took her head from his fur, looking him in the eyes, "Whoever this mammal is, Nick, he's powerful. Everyone he deals with is afraid of him, he paid off the guards of Mr. Big and kidnapped him. If someone as intimidating as Mr. Big gets kidnapped, then what chance do we have. For all we know, he might even pay off the cops so that we can't investigate anything."
"We'll get through this, Judy. We always do." Nick watched the worry in his friend's eyes diminish. She nodded and buried her head in his fur once again, waiting for Bogo to arrive. She was glad that Nick was with her for this. She wasn't sure she would be able to do this without him.
There you go, guys, another chapter. I hope you enjoyed! Thanks again for all of the support you guys have given me. Don't forget, I still want to see if you guys can guess that song that describes Nick. See you guys in the next chapter.