Chapter 2 - 9 Months
Written by Zanrok
Edited by Cimar
Artwork by Mr. Punctual
ZPD Academy - 1st Month
Nick watched in terror as the ground rapidly approached and was pretty sure he was dead...
SPLAT
...again.
He belly flopped into the mud soaked ground under the Jungle Obstacle Course and the only thing that his mind could comprehend, besides how everything hurt, was the shout.
"You're Dead Fluff Tail!"
Yep, he was pretty sure he'd died and gone to hell. Nick groaned. He'd thought that the worst thing he'd have to deal with when he'd first gotten here was the smell of the dorms and the locker room (which to put it kindly could curl a mammals whiskers from a hundred paces with a single wiff). The smells had been even worse than he'd imagined they would be, and he'd had one hell of a good imagination... but his nose had been erratically over-sensitive since the train crash and seeme to be taking the longest of his injures to recover from, which had only made his academy experience so far all that much worse.
Now though, he wasn't sure if he could even feel his nose beyond how every muscle and cell in his body was screaming in agony… that though, on second thought, might be a blessing considering how his mouth and nostrils were filled with mud. Mud that he was sure was probably some vile concoction of the sweat and tears of those poor mammals forced through this hell. He snorted to clear his nose.
Yep...jaguar, polar bear, musk ox *gag*, rhino, elephant and...Judy?
"This ain't No Mud Spa, Wilde! Now get up, and do it again!-"
Nick's mind wandered back to his predicament. He didn't think he could move, he didn't want to move, and being dead in the mud was better then being about to be dead as he fell back toward it… again. How could anyone be expected to do this? It was impossible, inconceivable, it wasn't even worth trying, why would anyone put themselves through this?
"-Do it again and do it right! The real world is harder than this easy little obstacle course Mrs. Pretty Tail! Fail there and it's not just you who'll be dead but your partner too!"
Nick groaned and lifted his utterly exhausted and mud soaked body out of the muck, wearily starting back toward the beginning of the course. He couldn't do this… not if it was just for himself…
"WILDE! Savage mammal on your tail! 5 seconds to get to those vines or you're DEAD! MOVE! MOVE! MOVE!"
Groaning was too much effort and Nick put every last ounce of his will into forcing his body to sprint, which to others looked more like a forced slog through the waist deep mud back toward the vines at the beginning of the jungle course.
Even after being back on active duty for a few weeks, Judy had a hard time containing her excitement while she sat in the oversized chair as Bogo entered the briefing room. And she apparently wasn't the only one feeling more pumped up than usual by the truly deafening level of noise coming from the other officers' table pounding, foot stomping and riotous hooting as Bogo made his way to the podium. Today's cheering seemed nearly twice as loud as the normal amount but Judy joined in with enthusiasm even if she did wince at the assault on her ears.
"Alright, Alright! Enough!" Bogo shouted, taking his position at the front of the room but the noise if anything only grew and he glared at them all, "That means Shut It Already!" he bellowed and the room finally qui eted much to Judy's relief.
"We have a busy day ahead of us so let's skip the pleasantries and get right to the assignments! Wolford, Fangmeyer, Delgato; Tundratown had an entire cargo shipment of fish go missing, track it down!" Bogo said pulling a folder out of his stack and slamming it down in front of them. "Grizzoli, McHorn; Sahara Square…"
… "and officer Hopps," Bogo finally said after most of the other officers already had their assignments and gave her a appraising look. "Since you've shown yourself to be more capable than I originally thought, you will be working with Francine on the precincts most important case." Judy beamed at the praise and the Chief snorted, smacking down a folder in front of her with a resounding thwack that made her ears ring. "Savannah Central, Parking Duty!" He bellowed and without another word turned and walked from the room, leaving Judy's smile feeling like it was blown away along with her ears.
Parking Duty? Judy's whole head along with her ears seemed to be ringing. Parking Duty?! For a moment it felt just like her first day in the precinct but before her head could clear and her spirit drop there was a friendly tap on her shoulder and Judy looked up at Francine who was grinning.
"You're still new here bunnygirl, it takes a while to get used to the chief's sense of humor," she said moving her trunk from Judy's shoulder and pointing toward the folder. "Might want to read that first."
Judy looked over at the rather thick folder and the assignment sheet labeled, 'Operation Parking Duty' and her sinking spirits stopped plummeting and began to rise as she reached over opening it.
Judy trudged up the stairs and through the door of her small apartment before taking the fluorescent orange vest and meter maid cap off and none too gently throwing them onto her desk. Then without any ceremony she back-flopped onto her creaky bed sending a few of her bunny dolls tumbling off, but glad to have finally escaped all the angry citizens complaining about being ticketed. At least in her apartment there was only the muffled sounds of the other residents, the constant background din of traffic outside, Old Ms. Hawthorne watching her soap opera 'All My Kittens' upstairs and down the hall, the sound of two sets of hooves clomping there way up the staircase…
"I told you not to park there!" Pronk's voice echoed through her apparently paperthin door from all the way down the hallway.
"No you didn't! You said the parking meter was good!" Bucky's voice responded angrily.
"I said the parking meter's time was about gone!"
"Well we were only there to get your special grass shake"
"Only because you decided you wanted take-out tonight!"
"You said you wanted take-out too!"
"Ya, take-out, not Tick-et! Idiot! Have you seen how much that parking fine is?!
"I'm not an idiot because you're the idiot!
"Well if I'm an idiot you're twice the idiot! You got us that ticket!"
"Am not! How was I supposed to know we'd be one minute late back to the car?"
"Because of the last three times we've gotten ticketed for being one minute late back to the car! Those meter maids are like meter ninjas!"
Judy cringed at the sound of her neighbors door being yanked open then slammed closed.
"No they're not! We just got unlucky!"
"Oh yes they are! The news said that bunny next to us fought two rams on a runaway train car during that night howler conspiracy thing! That's all sorts of ninja like and she's a meter maid!
Judy groaned and grabbed her pillow before shouting into it. "I'm NOT a Meter Maid! I'm a REAL cop!" there was a pause, then...
"HA! See that, Idiot! I was right!"
"Oh really, Idiot? Who says cops can't be meter maid's?"
"Uh-huh, so meter maids are really ninja cops? That doesn't sound idiotic at all!"
"Oh shut up! That's not what I said!"
"You shut up! And yes it was!"
Judy groaned as the argument got louder and the light headache that had started earlier in the day resurfaced. Judy looked for anything around her apartment to distract her when when her vision landed on the clock and she realized with a start it was almost time to call Nick.
One month… That was all Nick could think about as he dragged himself toward his bunkbed in the dorms after Major Friedkin had finally released them from training at the end of the week. I've only been here one month… it had felt more like a small eternity, and I have to survive eight more months of this? He wasn't sure he could survive that, but even worse was the memory of the deal he'd struck with that sneaky old Buffalo. Just passing seems impossible! How am I going to not only pass but be top of the class?!
The thought was eating at him because if he wanted to be Judy's partner, that was what it was going to take, and he was currently dead last in the academy's rankings. Even behind Bucky Beaverton who was put on latrine duty for chewing down the jungle vines climbing station's wooden supports to ring the bell at the top instead of climbing the rope and who had somehow pawcuffed his paws together to a ceiling fan...
Nick flopped face first onto his bed and groaned… only to sneeze and cough as the harsh laundry detergent used with the sheets seemed to sear his nostrils bare, and he rolled over quickly to get his nose away from the sheets.
One month. Thirty one days of this hell. 744 hours without even seeing anyone outside of the academy. 44,640 minutes since he'd seen Judy. Well... 44,641 now. He could still remember the way she'd held onto his tail in that ambulance, the way she'd smelled…
Not that he was counting or missing her that much or that he'd been awake at night and began counting the minutes since last time he'd seen her smiling face, the adorable way her eyes lit up, her fluffy puff of a tail...
Nick shook his head quickly to clear his wandering thoughts. He might not be able to see anyone, i.e. Judy, but he still talked to her every Friday like clockwork so they could share how things were going and he wasn't sure how he was going to tell her how badly he was doing. She'd put so much hope and trust in him and he couldn't let her down, but he was, and that hurt.
Ring-Ring, Ring-ring…
Nick nearly fell of the bed as his phone rang and he scrambled to get it, only to freeze with his finger already on the answer button as he realized he had no idea how he was going to explain his predicament to Judy
"Nick? You there?" Judy asked, sounding almost desperately hopeful amid the background noise of her neighbors arguing and Nick quickly bought the phone back up to his ear.
"No, I'm pretty sure I'm not there because I'm right here," he said automatically, but then actually smiled as Judy laughed. "So what has the world's greatest bunny cop been up to this week?" he asked, hoping he could maybe get her to laugh again.
Instead though there was a groan and a mutter before she added, "… and I'm the only bunny cop, Nick."
"Sure, and that also makes you the greatest as well as the cutest bunny cop there is," he said nonchalantly and then grinned at the, 'NICK!' that came shouting though the phone before a huff and a half playful, half threat soon followed.
"You know Major Friedkin and I our friends now on muzzlebook, I can ask her to punch you for me."
That got a reflexive shudder from Nick. "Gahh! Don't do that! I've already died figuratively a hundred and thirteen times this week. I don't need to die for real, Carrots!"
There was a pause on the other end of the line as Judy apparently picked up more from his voice than he'd wanted to show and Nick winced. He kept forgetting just how acute her hearing was.
"Academy life a little harder than you expected?" Judy asked after a moment with an understanding tone.
Nick sighed, "You know… I heard that this little country bumpkin bunny breezed through the academy and thought, well how hard could it be?"
That comment did get another laugh which made Nick feel a bit better.
"I think 'breezed through' might be a bit of an exaggeration, Slick. I had a pretty rough time to start but maybe I can help out, give you some pointers or tips." Then she asked in an almost gleeful way, "Been having any trouble with the ice wall?"
Nick laid back back on the bed and snorted. "Don't rub it in Carrots. Friedkin uses your record time like a club on all of us." He imitated the polar bear's voice, "Is that the best all you can do?! Half of you all are DEAD and the fastest time out of the lot of you sorry excuses for cadets is four times slower than a half-pint-fluff-butt bunny's! Now get up and do it again!"
There were some groans from other cadets in the dorm at Nick's over dramatized rendition of their instructor and even someone muttering. "I'm going to have nightmares about that damned wall."
"Well, maybe you just need an incentive to beat that 'half pint fluff butt bunny's' record then." Judy said smugly, adding in a almost childishly teasing tone. "Tell you what, if you beat my record, I'll kiss all your boo boo's and ouchies away from that mean old polar bear's training."
"Oh really?" Nick asked, ears perking up as the first smile he could remember in days crossed his face. "You just remember that promise, Carrots, because I'm going to be collecting on that."
There was another one of her light laughts before a "In your dreams, Slick Nick!"
"You never know Fluff," Nick replied smoothly. "I do know everyone in Zootopia and I've got a friend that says she can give me some inside tips on how to beat your record. I hear she's pretty good too, has a few of her own records here on other courses, so I'd be worried about that ice wall record time of yours."
That got Judy giggling and they chatted pleasantly for a few more minutes until Nick asked her how her week had gone. Judy gave out an exasperated groan a bit of her happy mood eroding before bursting out irritably. "I've been stuck being a meter maid all week Nick! A whole week!"
Before she could continue her outburst there was a muffled shout through the phone,
"You hear that Bucky! I was right, she is a meter maid!
"Wait, what? She just said that she was a cop!"
"Well she's on her weekly call with her boyfriend and just said that she's been stuck being a meter maid! Who's the idiot now?"
"Bucky! Pronk!" Judy's voice yelped through the phone. "Stop listening into my private phone calls! And I am a cop not a meter maid!" there was just the barest pause before she also added rather more embarrassed now. "And Nick isn't my boyfriend!"
Nick could feel his own face heating up just a bit and kept silent. There was another pause and then he heard through the phone a not very quiet whisper from her neighbors.
"-sounds like she's pretty far into denial stage."
"Yep, calls him like clock work and stays on the phone forever laughing and chatting-"
"-yep boyfriend denial stage alright, how long do you think it will-"
"Aghhh!" Nick pulled his head back a little from the phone's speaker as Judy's frustrated shout erupted through it, followed by a thunk of something, a pillow Nick guessed by the sound, hitting a wall.
There was some shuffling and then after another minute Judy's voice came back, though a bit muffled now.
"Sorry about that Nick… um, you didn't hear any of that, did you?"
A half seconds thought and Nick replied, "Hear what?" and there was a audible sigh from Judy. "You were saying something about meter maiding all week, but are you alright Judy? You sound a bit funny now."
That got an exasperated, though cute, little snort. "That's because I'm hiding under my blankets right now so my neighbors will stop listening in and yes, I've been stuck on parking duty with Francine all week!"
"I thought Chief Buffalo Butt was going start treating you like the cop you are?" Nick said, a bit dismayed at the news but Judy sighed again before saying. "He is. It's not actually Parking Duty, well it is, but it's only a cover for what we're really doing."
"You might have to explain that one Carrots," Nick said, rolling his eyes at her answer. "because unless there's more it sounds a lot like your getting hustled."
That got a tired chuckle from Judy. "I might be. There's a major money laundering operation right in a busy part of Savanna Central that Bogo's been having trouble staking out to get any proof to justify a search and seizure warrant, so since Francine and I have the best ears in the department he has us pulling parking duty right in that area where we can walk right by the front of the business a couple times an hour and loiter, ticketing cars and hopefully overhear anything that might justify the warrants."
"So what's the catch?" Nick asked. "That sure sounds like daring-do undercover cop work."
"The catch is Bogo still expects us to get the two hundred parking tickets a day!" Judy said with exasperation and Nick couldn't help but laugh.
"I have to give the chief credit for that! Two birds with one stone and all," he snickered.
There was the cutest sounding growl from the phone before Judy nearly snarled. "Just you wait until you get to do parking duty, Nick. I can't wait to see you talk your way around an angry porcupine in a huff over his ticket and I'm sooo going to take a picture of you wearing that meter maid hat.
Nick chuckled again before probing a bit more. "So what's really getting to you Fluff? Parking duty can't be that bad, especially with the whole undercover bit."
Another sigh. "Sorry about being so glummy Nick, but I really, really don't like parking duty." There was a slight pause and he waited patiently for her to continue. "That and all the straining to listen in on the conversations amid all the hustle and bustle of the street while angry mammals complain over their parking tickets might be getting to me. My ears have been hurting a little and giving me headaches, I wish I could just rest them for a bit somewhere quiet but there's also the Bucky and Pronk show here."
Nick winced and wished he could go comfort Judy... in a completely platonic friends sort of way, he quickly added to that thought, before clearing his throat and saying teasingly. "You tried using your tv remote to turn that show off? If it's one of those universal remotes that should work, though then again if it's just the noise you could simply mute it, I've always personally enjoyed pantomimes."
"Nick, I don't even have a TV," Judy said and he could almost hear the returning smile in her voice.
"Well in that case, I think Finnick has a good line on some noise canceling headphones too, think that might help with your TV problem?"
"Nick…" Judy started off slowly, a mix of amusement and consternation in her voice. "When you say he has a good 'line'..."
Besides that one little awkward point in the phone call, though as far as Nick or Finnick knew, Fin's contact was straight player… well probably. He wasn't one of the mob fences anyway, and Nick was sure Judy would find out whether he was or wasn't anyway when she went to get her noise canceling sleeping aid tomorrow. They continued to talk and joke late into the evening and by the time they had finished, Nick had a whole slew of tips from Judy too and felt far better than he had in days. He fell asleep for once not bothered by the ache in his muscles or the irritating clash of the scents of all the mammals in the dorm and the industrial cleaning agents that tried to keep the smell to bearable levels.
ZPD Academy - 4th Month
Nick couldn't really believe he'd been at the academy for 4 months. In fact he still debated with himself if during those hellish first few months whether he hadn't really died. In fact he was amazed at the sheer numbers of ways he'd apparently managed to get himself, 'Dead'. That, and he'd taken some notes from Major Friedkin on creative nicknaming because that polar bear had an amazing imagination. But the academy, along with some help and encouragement from Judy, had miraculously managed to change him, mold him into the beginnings of what might actually be police mammal material. That or it had killed him and this was all just some purgatory dream.
Nick grinned though as the class headed over to the not-sooo-dreaded-anymore pain-in-the-tail obstacle course.
Over the last month, he'd finally started to get the hang of the academy. While he'd never really been out of shape running around and hustling on the streets, the academy had done a hell of a job toning and hardening his muscles and he felt more limber and agile than he ever had before. He was actually looking forward to joining Judy on her morning workouts now, once he was out of here. Nick thought that he might even have a chance at beating her and couldn't wait to see the look on her face when he did.
The only downside was that his sensitive nose hadn't handled the forging process of the academy all that well. While the injury to his foot from the train crash had healed quite fast, what ever damage that had been done to his nose had apparently only been aggravated by the ice cold dunkings at the ice wall, the sand blasting from the desert course, that little mishap with the oversized toilet (Judy had laughed hysterically when she'd found out about that though he hadn't thought it was that funny, his nose sure hadn't, to be sure.) the constant abuse seemed to make his nose hyper sensitive and tender and he'd had some difficulty keeping his lunch down a few times, like the first time he'd entered the sweat soaked boxing ring. (though getting K.O.'ed by the rhino instructor, Sergeant Buffinthehorn in the first 2 seconds had fixed that problem that day).
Hopefully though with how much less he was finding himself Dead! DEAD! DEAD!, now a days his nose might have a chance to recover. But Nick put that thought out of his mind as the class lined up at the feared ice wall obstacle course, waiting for Friedkin's command to start. With his claws and some tips from Judy he could make it over the course but he was still nowhere close to beating her record and he was sooo looking forward to claiming that prize from her. She might have thought it was a joke but a deal was a deal, and hey, maybe if she kissed his nose it would make it all better? Nick grinned wickedly thinking about it and his plan for today, then grinned even more. What with how bad his nose had been, Judy might need to kiss it a bunch of times to make it better.
"You lazy excuses for cadets ready?!" Friedkin bellowed raising a stopwatch in her massive paw. "Now lets see how many mammal popsicle sticks we'll get today! GO, GO, GO!"
The class shot forward, slipping and sliding on the ice before jumping the gap and scrambling up the wall and there were a few splashes as some failed to make the jump right or slipped back down.
"Wolfscile! You're DEAD! Deerson, learn to jump you ice sculpture! McHornly, I don't even have words, You're Double Dead! Otter-Ice-pop! You're Dead-"
Nick, using his foot claws for purchase, slid to a stop right before the water gap in front of the wall and shouted over at one of his classmates.
"Hey Lylah, we still have our deal?"
The tigress skidded to a stop next to him and picked him up by the back of his shirt, "You'd better hold up your end Wilde! They're supposed to be serving chocolate cake tonight and I get your dessert!" The tigress adjusted her grip on him and leaned back like a pitcher cocking for a throw.
Nick Grinned manically holding his breath, half terrified at the insanity of what he was doing, and half trying to avoid the strong feline scent that hammered at his nose being this close to the other mammal.
And mammals say foxes have a strong musk?! Nick thought as even holding his breath he could smell the overpowering scent of the other predator. Then he didn't have any time to think more about that as the tigress snapped her body forward, launching him like a javelin toward the top of the wall.
Judy was just walking into the precinct when she was practically bowled over by a high pitched and delighted, "SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" from Clawhauser.
"Benji!" she shouted, holding her ears flat against her head and squinting through the stab of pain that lanced through her brain at the high pitched sound. "You don't have to do that every time Gazelle lets out a new album!"
Judy cringed as the squeal got louder before Clawhauser shouted. "The Horned Angel is putting out a new album?! I didn't hear about that! When? Where? How did you find out?!"
"Clawhauser, you're blowing out my eardrums!" Judy said pleadingly before asking. "And aren't you squealing because you just found out about a new album?"
"Oh, sorry!" The cheetah whispered, wide eyed with his paws over his mouth as Judy worked a finger in her ear trying to get the ringing to go away. "Um… but, no, I was squealing because Major Friedkin just updated the academy course records on muzzlebook and your friend the flying fox just made the list!"
"Really? Nick made the records list?!" Judy said excitedly and hurried over to the cheetah, the ringing in her ears forgotten. "Which record did he take and what do you mean by 'flying fox'?" she asked rapid fire, as Clawhauser's delighted smile came back.
"Here, take a look!" Clawhauser said, twisting the monitor around as she jumped up onto his desk.
The screen showed a picture from one of the training cams Major Friedkin used to review every last little possible mistake a trainee made after the course. And while the picture showed the normal scramble of mammals slipping, sliding, jumping, and clawing their way to and up the wall, right in the center frame of the picture was the elongated form a wide eyed, grinning fox like he was diving skyward, ears and cheeks flapping back in the wind as his tail streamed out behind him like a fluffy russet streamer.
The text under it read, Flying Fox beats BunnyBumpkins record time on the Ice Wall course! Along with a note about looking into the potential for using the technique in second story entries for SWAT team raids.
Judy just stared for a second as exactly which record Nick had beaten registered. Clawhasuer giggled and asked with a gleefully wicked grin. "Didn't you say something about a bet you'd made with him since he'd never beat your time?"
ZPD Academy - 8th Month
Nick looked at the Boxing ring with no small amount of trepidation. He'd improved with leaps and bounds, which was why he'd practically hopped up the rankings and was now in the top 10 of the class. But that was also what was worrying him, though he didn't let it show. The scores from the boxing finals could make or break his bid for the valedictorian spot and he had to get it.
He'd sure improved a lot but fighting a mammal over 20 times his mass was still no joke and he needed a clear, undisputed victory here. That was what had him on edge, well that and the absolutely horrendous smell of the boxing ring in the already odiferous rank foulness of the gym's mix of sweat and artificial aromas from the cleaning agents. It was enough to make any mammal with even a half decent sense of smell faint, and Nick wondered how the hell the wolves and others mammals with good noses could tolerate it so easily. It made his head spin and his stomach roll.
"Wilde! Hornson! Final match, get in the ring!" Bellowed Friedkin's voice and Nick grimaced and stood up along with the Bogo-sized Rhino on the other side of the ring who huffed and narrowed his beady eyes at Nick as he entered, smacking his gloves together.
"Just remember Judy's advice. Just remember Judy's advice. Use your strengths against their weaknesses," he mumbled to himself for a second before stopping a few feet away from the ring to take off one glove and pull a wooden clothespin out of his pocket, snapping it over his nose before entering too.
He grinned genially despite the way the smells seemed to work their way past the makeshift nose clip and fuzz his mind. The rhino looked puzzled for a second at his odd behavior before Nick spoke up.
"Sorry but you really need to wash those gym clothes," Nick said a little nasally, waving a gloved paw in front of his face with a dramatic 'Peww!' gesture that really didn't take much acting. "K.O. by B.O. is a little unfair don't you think?"
There was a round of laughter from the other cadets and Nick caught an eyeroll from the instructor but Nick's comment (while also true) had its intended effect on the notoriously thin skinned rhino and he snorted angrily, stomped a foot and gave Nick a death glare.
"That wit of yours is gonna get you into trouble someday little fox," the rhino snarled, lowering into a fighting position.
"Maybe," Nick said dismissively, then gave the rhino his best, most irritating grin. "But that's not going to be today!"
There was a shout of 'GO!" from the instructor and with a outraged bellow the rhino charged Nick where he stood in the corner of the ring, pulled back his massive fist and punched it forward like a piledriver.
Nick stood there nonchalantly until the very last second before springing upward in an agile leap right over the incoming fist which slammed into the corner post, rocking the ring.
Nick landed on the out thrust arm and quickly scrambled up it to the mammals shoulder and sat on it.
"You know, I'll never understand why most mammals seem to forget how good foxes are at leaping. You ask some mammal who they think can jump well and they'll tell you kangaroos or cats, or bunnyrabbits but never foxes. It's kind of unfair don't you think?" Nick said casually while leaning against the rhinos cheek.
The rhinos little back eyes focused on him and an infuriated snort ruffled Nick's fur, making him gag and almost fall off his perch.
"Dear Gods Hornson! What the hell did you eat? Your breath smells like rotten fish and rancid butter!" Nick wasn't even joking and had to work hard not to throw up, as he looked around and asked, "Okay can we get a timeout so he can get some chewing gum or something because that is some seriously foul smelling breath."
The rhinos only response was a truly terrifying roar as his fist came hurtling back toward Nick. The smell had been so bad that Nick almost got hit by it, but at the last second he just gave into his reflect to hunch over and gag and the fist hurtled by the back of his head and cracked into the rhino's own jaw.
Nick's perch swayed for a second and he barely had time to get his feet under him and yell, "TIMBER!" as the rhino fell backwards.
Post Graduation
Judy was having trouble getting to sleep the night after Nick's graduation as Valedictorian. She still felt energized from all the excitement as well as completely exhausted by it. She'd even invited her family down since she was giving the speech, but she couldn't remember much more than the proud happy look Nick had given her when she'd presented him with his badge. Everything else seemed a bit hazy and she kept thinking back to that moment, that smile. Well that and how Nick had embarrassed her afterwards during the party when he'd demanded his prize for beating her record right in front of her parents.
Judy blushed and pulled one of her stuffed animal dolls on her bed closer to her as she thought about how she might get him back for that kiss on his nose. But then again, she was going to have all the time in the world to get her revenge because they'd be starting work together tomorrow as police partners.
She smiled and curled up amid the pile of her stuffed dolls on her bed, and snuggled against the one she was holding as she started to drift off to sleep with a smile.
"You shut up!"
"No, you shut up!"
"No, you shut up!"
"That's what I said already! You shut up!"
Judy groaned as the sound made it's way through the noise canceling headphones she was wearing. The things had worked fine for the first couple of months but then the noise canceling function seemed to degrade. And this was the second pair she'd gotten. The stupid things just didn't seem to be working, that or Bucky and Pronk's arguments just kept on getting louder and louder, but one way or another it wasn't helping with painful sensitivity issue she'd been having with her ears that seemed to only be getting worse not better.
Judy whacked on the wall a few times.
"Guys, trying to sleep. Could you keep it down just a little?"
"Oh, sorry Bunny maid-ninja-cop! You're not going to ticket us are you?"
"Not as long as you keep it to a low roar," Judy replied and flipped back over. Even then though, she could still hear their now whispered argument continue through the apparently broken headphones.
Judy sighed snuggling into her absolutely-not-favorite new doll that absolutely did not look like a familiar red fox, and tried to get to sleep, thinking about all the fun tomorrow was going to be.
She would finally be getting to work with Nick as her partner on the force and it was going to be fantastic. Absolutely amazing. In fact, she was sure it was going to be the best day ever. And to those thoughts she finally managed to fall asleep, even with all the noise around her.
AN: Hmm, I wonder what is happening to our intrepid duo.