Chapter 5: Dumb Fox

After Nick began to perceive slight relief from the painkiller Linda had injected him with, the officer sat up straight and turned his whole body to face left. Supporting himself with both arms, he suddenly felt a little dizzy and exceptionally stiff. Nick was not a bed mammal. Ever since his early years, he preferred being up and about doing something or another over staying in the confines of a room resting. Unless he was going to sleep for the night -where he would simply flop on a bed and be in the realm of dreams before he could count a minute- being bed ridden for an extended period of time unnerved him.

With his feet hanging over the side of the bed, Officer Wilde craned his head forward, closed his eyes, and stretched his back as far as his partially numb body allowed. A watchful eye upon him, Judy tensed up at this sight: Her colleague was too fragile at the moment to stretch as briskly as he had. All emergency protocol manuals she had read back in the academy had said as much. Opening her mouth to speak, she meant to tell her partner to be a little more careful with himself; but before she could, Nick cautiously scooted himself to the edge of the bed, and prepared to leap to the ground. This alerted Judy further. The nurses that had been watching over him had gone with Linda to help her fill out the officer's release papers, and were not there to provide any assistance; and, while they had told Nick to remain in bed until they had returned, Judy knew, in the back of her mind, that he would not follow the order. The damn fox was just too stubborn that way. Realizing only she could help him get off the bed and on the floor, she rushed to the side her colleague hung over, put herself in front of him, and, without thinking, put her paws on his knees. Immediately, Officer Wilde shot a glance down to the bunny officer.

"May I ask what you are doing?" Officer Wilde asked, leaning closer to Judy as he lifted an eyebrow. Judy looked up at the fox's visage, and noticed the urgency he had from the moment she had told him the otter suspect's name. Putting her paws down, she took a few steps back.

"I could ask you the same question," she retorted as she put a paw on her hip. "The nurses told you to stay put." Nick rolled his eyes and sighed.

"Well, I'm fine, Carrots," Nick argued, as he looked down at the floor and calculated his maneuver off the bed. "And since it's clear that we're in a hurry, I might as well make myself useful." Judy shook her head in dissaproval, fearing that his rashness would get him hurt. Nick heeded no attention though, and proceeded to scoot off the side of the bed. Suddenly, when the fox's rear was at the very edge of the mattress, he realized there was no easy way off the overly-tall bed, and decided to leap. The fall was not big, but he still managed to land with comical clumsiness on the ceramic, stumbling forward and crashing into Judy. As his weight came down on the rabbit officer, she tried to support him, but miserably failed and fell on her back. Hitting her head the moment she crashed onto the floor, she lost orientation, and her vision blurred for a moment; but as her eyes focused, she noticed Nick was atop her on all fours, with his arms by her head and his legs around her hips. She looked up, and realized how close Nick's face was to hers. In panic, Judy's eyes widened, and her heart skipped a beat. She then lifted a knee, in a desperate attempt to scurry away from underneath him, but only managed to rub her thigh against his upper hamstring.

"Nick!" she shouted in disdain as she pushed up on the fox's chest with her paws, trying to distance him from herself. Officer Wilde cringed, his pain levels skyrocketing.

"Ow! Paws, chest!" Officer Wilde bellowed out as he frantically rolled to the side, and managed to successfully get off Judy. On his back, he put a paw to the side of his chest where his ribs hurt again. Clenching his teeth, he turned his head to look at Judy with derision. "That was uncalled for!" he shouted.

Feeling a mixture of frustration and embarrassment brewing within her, Judy clenched her paws, shaping them into fists. She had warned Nick not to jump, but he still did, and so there they were on the floor, laying like fools. She turned towards Nick to belittle and criticize him, when she noticed that her colleague wore a worried, solemn face. This made her lower her guard and soften her face. Perhaps she had gone too far with the way she had reacted, and hurt her colleague, she thought. Reaching out from where she laid, she put a paw on his shoulder. Nick rolled his eyes, and shrugged Judy's paw off his shoulder as he wordlessly struggled up into a sitting position. Judy followed suit immediately, rising and sitting on her calves. Taking one of his paws, she placed it on her lap, successfully catching the officer's attention once again. "I'm sorry, I panicked," she apologized, as a frown grew on her face. Keeping a steady gaze on her, Nick retained his silence for a moment, making the bunny officer feel uneasy. But after a moment's time, he suddenly dropped his shoulders and let out a long sigh.

"No, I'm sorry," Nick said in downbeat voice. "I was the idiot who decided diving from a hospital bed was a good idea." Hearing his words, Judy was taken by surprise. Nick was not one to apologize often, and whenever he did, it was because he truly felt like he had made a mistake. Giving Nick a concerned smile, Officer Hopps squeezed his paw. With his eyes still fixed on her, Nick smiled softly in return. "I guess I'm just tired of being nailed to a bed," he added, apologetically, as Judy put a paw on the back of her head. Frowning, Officer Hopps felt empathy for her colleague fill her heart. Dropping her arm to her side, Officer Hopps realized she needed to cheer him up, and suddenly started to chuckle and shake her head.

"Well, if you keep this up," she started in a joking tone, winking at the officer. "You might be forced to stay on a bed even longer." Nick took a moment, but eventually a grin grew on his face. Winking back at the bunny officer, the fox stuck his tongue out at her in an infantile fashion. Judy snickered in return.

"I'm sure you'd like that," Nick teased. "With me out of the picture, you could pick any other partner you'd like; and maybe that way, he won't be as stubborn." Officer Hopps rolled her eyes. Catching sight of his precious green irises, and his small, sly smile, the bunny felt her heart quake from delight. She was making him feel better, and that was good.

"First," Judy said in a joking voice. "You've already said that one. Find a better repertoire of jokes." Again, Nick stuck his tongue out, getting Officer Hopps to smirk triumphantly. "And in all honesty," she added, inching closer to her partner as she feigned a scowl, getting Nick to purse his lips and lean away from her. "I think you're the right partner for me," Judy said as she suddenly softened her face, appearing tender and sweet. Loosening her grip on Nick's paw, she held it with lovingness instead. Officer Wilde smiled unnervingly, caught unprepared for Judy's switch in tone.

"Heh," Nick chuckled, his chest jumping up from that single audible noise. Noticing this, Judy winked at her partner again.

"You were the right partner when I first decided I wanted you to work with me, and I still think you are today." Nick grinned, as he thought back to that day he finally convinced himself to fill out his application form to become an officer of the law. A pleasant shiver ran down his back as he evoked memories of those days, and remembered the long lines he had to suffer though as he waited to hand this form, and the many questions they asked him the moment the mammal resources committee had told him he was considered a viable candidate. While both were truly a hassle to deal with, he bore with them for Judy. "And well," Judy continued, interrupting his line of thought. "Now it's been a year."

"Yeah, it has been a year," Nick mused, moving his paw to the tip of his chin. Grabbing Nick's paw with both paws again, Judy inched closer to the officer.

"Happy anniversary, Nick," Judy said in a tender tone of voice.

"Heh, thanks," Officer Wilde replied, gazing at his colleague's gentle face. A moment passed, and the two sat in silence, lost in a trance of wordless intimacy. Judy, holding Nick's paw, gently moved her thumbs over his fingers, feeling their furred texture. As she did, the bunny officer began to fear that the longer she continued to hold his paw, the more likely it was that she would estrange her colleague. Nick, however, did not lunge back, or give her a look of bewilderment. Instead, his eyes scanned her face, as if trying to read her like the words on a page. As their eyes locked, Judy felt her butterflies jitter as her face got warm. It seemed, the bunny officer thought, that from this point on, she would not be able to escape her butterflies ever again; not as long as she was around the fox she had found out she liked. Bowing her head, she realized she still had his paw, between hers, on her lap. Feeling slightly ashamed, she suddenly and quickly put his paw down on the floor in front of her. The fox, looking down at his own appendage, appeared to frown ever-so-slightly, before he retreated it back to his own lap. As he did, Judy eyed the action carefully, when she randomly remembered the reason they were on the floor in the first place: Nick had rushed himself after hearing the suspect they held at the police department was an acquaintance of his. Looking up at the clock on the wall -also remembering they were in a hurry- she noticed that it was already 3:08 p.m. She puffed her cheeks… they were going to be late, she thought as she closed her eyes and imagined Chief Bogo's reaction to her not only getting there late, but also defying her boss by waiting for officer Wilde. As she opened her eyes, she sighed, surrendering to the inevitable… She had already committed to waiting for Nick, and there was no going back.

Officer Hopps focused her eyes on Nick's face once more, when she realized her partner looked worried and contemplative again. Cocking her head to the side, she wondered what had upset him again. Perhaps, she assumed, it was Franklin Longtail, the suspect that had riled him up in the first place.

"Hey," Officer Hopps broke the silence that had flooded the room, prompting Nick to look her way, as he lifted an eyebrow.

"Yeah? What's up?" Nick asked, as he tried to bury his concerns beneath an inquisitive face. Judy pursed her lips as she wondered of how she would ask him about Franklin without seeming too intrusive. At last, she figured she had to simply be honest.

"Do you mind telling me why you're in such a hurry to meet our suspect?" Judy inquired, leaning closer to her partner. "I mean, I don't know about you, but I wouldn't be too overjoyed to see the guy who shot me," she added, jokingly. Nick eyes shot down as his shoulder dropped, making Officer Hopps fear that she may have hurt his feelings with her last remark. Stupid! She thought to herself. With a moment or two, however, Nick looked back up at Judy.

"Franklin and I became good friends after I decided to leave home to make it on my own," Nick started, a distance growing in his eyes as if he looked back upon memories long in the past. "I was eighteen when I met him. He was only seventeen and lived in an orphanage close to where I set up. After a while, we were pretty good buddies, and did lots of work together. He was the guy I'd always turn to whenever I'd have some brilliant new idea on how to make a good buck." Still mentally distant, Officer Wilde began to chuckle. Putting a paw up to his chest, he grabbed a hold of his gown and he shook his head. "In fact, he was the one that introduced me to Finnick, my colleague you met, and suggested we start the pawpsicle business." Hearing his words, Judy could not help but to slightly drop her jaw and glare at her partner. In return, Nick smeared a malicious smirk on his face, knowing her scowl was not ill-intended. "Anyway," the officer continued. "I stayed his friend until, on his 24th birthday, he decided to team up with Mr. Big and his gang. That's when I lost touch with him because, honestly, I didn't want to work dirtier than I already did." As Nick lowered his eyes to ponder about the story he had told so far, Officer Hopps cocked her head to this side. Curiously enough, hearing that Mr. Big was involved with 'dirty work' did not make sense in her head right away. From what little she knew about him and his family, he seemed nice enough as he was. Sure, his personnel were intimidating, and appeared to have lots of power and wealth, but she had never truly imagined the small shrew being involved in anything truly foul. Then again, Judy thought, he did try to drown them in a pool of freezing water and ice….

Perhaps Nick was onto something. Perhaps, Officer Hopps added in thought, Nick still knew a lot more about Zootopia's underbelly than she did. Realizing this nearly obvious fact, a cold chill ran down Judy's back. Despite the fox's sly, light-hearted demeanor, his knowledge made him intimidating.

"It's been eight years since then," Nick suddenly continued, snapping Judy out of her thoughts. "And now, knowing he was the one that shot me makes me want to go find out why." After Officer Wilde ceased to speak, he let out a long breath. Judy scooted closer to her partner and put a paw on his shoulder, showing him sympathy. The warmth of her paw made Nick feel comforted. Lifting his own paw, he placed it over Judy's.

"You okay, partner?" Judy asked in a low voice, showing all the concern she had for him. Tightening his grip on her paw, he nodded.

"Yeah," Nick replied in mirthful voice. "It helps that I could get that out of my chest." He turned his head to the left to have his face meet hers. As his eyes fell on Judy's, he realized their faces were closer than he had originally imagined they'd be. With less than a foot and a half of distance between each other, Nick could very clearly hear his partner's breathing, and catch a whiff of her breath: It smelled like carrots and sweet berries. With a crooked smile, Nick remained in place, at ease with the closeness. Judy, however, did not feel the same ease; in fact, she felt quite the opposite.

With his face as close as it was, the bunny officer's heart began to beat fast and hard. She started to take deep and uneasy breaths as every bit of her body felt the tingles. Contemplating his face, she noticed every aspect she liked about it, from the softness of his fur, to how his emerald hued eyes would dance playfully as they scanned her. Suddenly, the fox's smile grew as he set his sight on her lips. Greater panic struck Judy, and regardless of her attempts to conceal it with a smile, Nick noticed. The fox, keeping his gaze stead of his colleague, lifted himself and moved slightly closer to the bunny. Their faces were now about a foot and quarter away from each other. "You seem troubled yourself," Nick teased in a tender voice as he forgot Franklin and being shot, lost in that silly bunny face her partner had. "Mind sharing what you're thinking?" Judy breathing became more ragged. With her eyes shaking and her nose wiggling, she thought of how stupid it was for her to tense up just for being close to him, as, many times before, she had been just about as close.

But with the passing of a few seconds, she eased herself, and found comfort in having the luxury of contemplating Nick's face from the distance she was at. A new thought bloomed in her mind: Perhaps, she thought, it was time to tell him how she felt.

No, she thought to herself rejecting the idea straightaway. It's too soon, she murmured in her mind. But Judy quickly countered her argument -as she normally would- by stating in thought that she might not have the opportunity to speak to him like this again. This was a blatant fallacy, Officer Hopps knew, but she was also stubborn and headstrong:

Now's not the right time, Judes. Get a hold of your feelings.

But I may as well get this off my chest. If he doesn't like me, fine, if so, then… I guess it's also... fine…

But you just realized you like him! It can wait.

Two things. One, am I ever going to have a moment like this again? Perhaps. But two, am I willing to hold this feeling in my chest for longer…

Yes…

Well, I'm doing it either way.

With her nose still wiggling uncontrollably, Judy carefully moved her face closer to Nick's. As she narrowed the distance between herself and Nick, Nick swallowed hard, and felt his chest rise from awe. Remembering Linda's words, he felt his own heart palpitate.

About a foot away in distance, Judy was also able to sense the smell of her partner's breath, it smelled like nothing she had ever smelled before. It was… different. Shaking her head, she forgot about the scent, and locked her eyes on her partner's.

"Actually," Judy said, letting herself sound sweet and sensual, which Nick quickly picked up on. "I do have something to share with you." Nick nodded slowly.

"Yeah?" he asked, when Judy froze. With her breathing still deep and heavy, she felt as if the air had become harder to push out of her lungs. Slowly, she opened her mouth.

"Nick? Judy?" Linda's voice suddenly filled the room, drawing Judy's attention with such force that she burst up to her feet almost immediately. Nick, seeing the bunny officer's sudden bolt to her feet, let out all the air he had in his chest, before he followed suit, rising with more ease and care than his partner had done so with. Facing Linda, he peered at Judy from the corner of his eye, and could tell she was not only trembling, but had a blush that peaked through the insides of her ears and her cheeks. Suddenly, a chill ran down the male officer's back as his own cheeks got warm. To the fox's surprise, he was also embarrassed to get caught while having such a close moment with Judy, and by none other than Linda. This made him smile in self fascination, for he realized this was one of the first times he was legitimately contrite to get caught doing anything.

As the vixen doctor eyed the two officers, she wondered why they had been on the floor, out of view's way, moments before she had arrived. Focusing her eyes ardently on Nick, she managed to catch his attention, and then hinted confusion with a sideways tilt of her head. Catching her cue, Nick simply grinned, and shrugged his shoulders, getting the vixen doctor smiled disdainfully.

"Your release papers have been filled out, Officer Wilde," Linda said in a voice that suggested bemusement towards the curious situation she encountered. Calmly, she approached the two mammals in the room, and standing in front of them on the opposite side of the bed, she took a paper out of the folder she held, and reached out with it. "Here. Just make sure this form is delivered to your department. It makes it clear that you're well enough to keep on working." Nick reached out and grasped the slip of paper from the doctor's paw, while keeping the crooked smile he had put on moments before. Looking down at the form, Officer Wilde feigned to read the scribbles that had been jotted down, pretending to know what he read. All the while, Judy stood as still as a statue, too shocked to speak or react.

"Oh, alright," Nick remarked as he nodded his head, making it seem like he had read the paper. Lifting his sight from the paper, he eyed Linda, who still seemed entertained by the smile the male fox had. "Well, thanks, Linda." The vixen nodded politely, acknowledging his gratitude. Putting both paws on her folder, she brought it up to her chest.

"One last thing," Linda said, as she noticed Nick's hospital gown. "Unfortunately, it's not in our policy to give away our medical gowns as memorabilia."

As they headed out of police infirmary and made their way to the gift shop in the hospital's main lobby -where Linda promised they would find shirts for Nick to purchase, since he had his previous shirt cut up-, Judy could not imagine ever talking again; the embarrassment she faced moments before was simply too much. It made her feel vulnerable, like she had stood naked in front of Linda and could not change the fact that she had. The bunny officer lowered her head as they walked past entrance after entrance; all the while, she wondered what the vixen had heard before she decided to intercede, and what she assumed they were doing behind the bed and out of view.

The silence Judy held did not live long, however, for her fox companion was too prone to opening his big yap whenever a thought struck his mind, and it was far too difficult to avoid picking up on the conversation.

"You know," Nick started, as he and the bunny reached the end of the corridor they were in, and looked onto an intersecting corridor that ran both to the left and right. Reading the sign that pointed to the left, they confirmed that this direction led to the lobby, and headed that way. "I find it somewhat ridiculous that hospitals have gift shops. I mean, think about it. Doesn't it seem to you like it's just another way for these big enterprises to get more out of everyone's wallets?" Judy shot her glance up to Nick, lifting an eyebrow in the process. Officer Wilde, Judy knew, was a big talker of finances: Something was always a good deal, or too expensive, or a good way to make money. Officer Hopps assumed this was a product of her colleague's life as a con artist, and that he could not help himself. However, sometimes his points seemed a little farfetched.

"Well, sometimes loved ones want to get something for their hospitalized friends or close of kin," Judy remarked, somewhat glad that Nick struck up a conversation that made things seem normal between them. That he did not seem to want to know what she was going to say to him back in the hospital room was a good thing to her. "I don't know about you, but when six of my brothers and I were born, dad had gifts for all of us," Judy added, smiling as she remembered her childhood blankey, with its carrot pattern and flowered trimmings. Her mother still kept it close and dear, she recalled; and would bring it out any time Judy would make her realize how much her baby girl had grown.

As Judy took her mind off her blanket and gave her attention to Nick, she noticed the fox had pursed his lips and looked sour. Lifting an eye brow again, she showed confusion. "You okay, Nick?"

"Yeah," Nick said as he lifted his paw and put it on the back of his head. "You just made me remember Bimzo, the Elephant Clown; a terrifying, porcelain doll my parents gave me when I was born." Nick took a moment to shiver, as he thought back to all the night terrors that figurine would give him. "That thing lived on my nightstand until I was 10, when I was old enough to finally make it go away." Judy burst into laughter, more than entertained by Nick and his remark. Moving closer to her colleague, she threw her elbow in his direction, striking him in the forearm.

"Oh, you cub!" Judy teased mid-laugh, fascinated that she could poke fun at him. Nick, the great, streetwise charlatan was afraid of a clown.

"Hey!" Nick protested, putting a paw where his partner struck him. "I'm not saying I'm afraid of it now!" Chuckling nervously, he added "Still, that clown was scary."

Making it to the hospital's main lobby -an open space that looked like an indoor plaza more than anything else-, both officers began to contemplate the crowd of mammals in the premise. Like in the emergency room, many were on their phones or with friends, relaying information with worry and anxiety on their faces. Others wandered about aimlessly, devoured by their own thoughts and concerns. But in general, the air in this lobby was lighter, and more happiness was painted on the faces of those about.

From where Judy and Nick stood, a female hedgehog embraced her partner -who had just risen from a wheelchair- and planted a large kiss on his forehead. To the right, a family of ferrets raced to meet a couple, and their newborn child. As the two officers started to make their way across the lobby, Judy looked to and fro, catching each of these heart-felt moments through the butterfly net of her mind. To the left, there were two elephants lifting their small child up just to suffocate him in hugs. To the right, a bobcat held the paw of another fellow bobcat, as they smiled reassuringly at each other.

A moment later, they had crossed the lobby and were standing before the gift shop that Linda promised they would find. Judy, who had slowed her pace and had dragged behind Nick, suddenly bumped into her colleague. Glancing up at Nick's face, she saw her partner observing the display window of the gift shop with cunningly disguised -but not indiscernible- dread. Panning her view over to the store, she saw what he had noticed: Porcelain elephant clowns with bright, terrifying smiles. A mischievous smile sprouted from Judy, as she walked in front of the fox officer, and made her way into the gift shop.

"What are you waiting for?" the bunny rabbit said in a devilish manner. "The clowns aren't going to bite." Nick clenched his jaw as he glared at Judy, but before he could think of anything clever to say, his colleague had already entered the store. Sighing and dropping his shoulders, the officer went in himself.

Once inside the store -and away from the unsettling display of clowns-, Nick and Judy went straight to the clerk, and asked her to show them the shirts they had for sale. The clerk -a gazelle no older than 18 with that brand of rebellious apathy that mammals of her age would wear on her face- looked at Nick, noticed his medical gown, chewed on her bubble gum in silence, and then stepped out from behind the counter.

"Follow me," she said in a tone of disinterest, as she walked over to the opposite end of the store. Getting to the racks that hung on the wall, the gazelle searched through the many articles of clothing, looking back at Nick every so often so as to guess his shirt size. Once she got to the right rack, she pointed at it and stepped back. "Here's all we have for folks your size. If you have any questions. You can find me at the counter." And so, she walked away, leaving Judy and Nick to their own devices. Nick, humored by the girls demeanor, chuckled as he shook his head.

"That girl could win a film award for her dramatic performance," Nick remarked as he reached out to the shirts, prompting Judy to chuckle as she began to look through the shirts herself.

Before long, the two officers realized that the rack before them only had two variants on the same decal shirt. Both types were of white fabric, and had blue and pink balloons surrounding the message in the middle of each of the shirt, which read "I'm going to be daddy!" on one and "I'm going to be a mommy!" on the other. As Judy finished raking through the entire rack of shirts appropriate for Nick's size, she pouted her cheeks, clicked her tongue, and turned her head to look at Nick. Officer Wilde, who had also finished, smirked.

"Hey Judes," Officer Wilde said as he took one of the male variants of the shirt out of the rack. "What do you say to both of us wearing one of these. I'm sure we'll turn a few heads at the P.D." Judy glared at her colleague, as she felt her cheeks get warm from a blush.

"Yeah right," Judy said scornfully. "Dumb fox..."

A/N: Poor Judy... She just can't seem to catch a break, right? :P

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter.

A special thanks to:

- Tumblr's Vetinarini, for providing A LOT of constructive criticism about the chapter, as well as pointing out a few mistakes a made.

- Reddit user eisbaerBorealis, for raking through this chapter for mistakes over and over again, alongside providing some extremely useful feedback in regards to the story itself.

- John Olsen, for also providing some very handy feedback.

- DeviantArt's AIMYY, for catching plenty of my typos and mistakes, while also providing constructive criticism about the story.

Seriously, you guys, without you, this story would be a mess. :P

Anyway, Please comment.

Thankies!