Chapter Nine "Cold Shower"

Eight o'clock on the dot.

I hit my alarm before it could blare its second buzzer. I then jumped to the floor of my old bedroom and got to work preparing for Nick's half-date.

One hour until Jeanette showed up and I had a lot to do to complete my morning rituals.

First on the list: five minutes of stretching.

I raised a foot up on the bed and leaned forward as I pondered what the day was going to hold for Nick and I. Especially after what happened the night before...

The bad feeling in my gut didn't disappear, even after we left the tavern.

Nick had been quiet the whole ride home, making me feel worse. It was like I had asked him to do something he found horrible. But he didn't have the stomach to tell me what was wrong. His silence only made me angry and I took out my rage on the road. Somewhere last night, I remembered stumbling to bed. I was exhausted and tipsy, even though I only had one drink.

Stretching my legs made me realize that I had a throbbing headache and I cut my morning exercise short.

I hopped to the bathroom to brush my teeth, trying to keep quiet so I wouldn't wake Nick.

The whole J section of the burrow was abandoned.

It didn't look like Jenny had come home last night, judging by how her door had remained closed. Most of the family would probably be out in the fields or at the faire preparing for tomorrow's festival.

"Crackers," I muttered as I reached the sink. "Out of toothpaste…"

Nothing soiled a day quicker than a bad start.

I borrowed some toothpaste from Jenny's cabinet and grabbed some medicine for my pounding head.

Eight o'ten. Fifty minutes to get some breakfast and get changed. And wake Nick up.

I wasn't left to ponder my foul mood for long. As soon as I stepped into the kitchen, Nick was there waiting for me.

"Yo, Fluff."

"I thought you were asleep, Nick."

"Nope. No sleep all night."

Nick looked as if someone had taken a baseball bat to him and dragged him through the dirt. His fur was disheveled, with mats everywhere and split ends up and down his chest. He had an empty mug of coffee in his paw, and I had reason to suspect that it wasn't his first cup.

I didn't even realize that he was standing in the middle of the kitchen wearing nothing on but his boxers until I looked down.

A blush burned down my ears and onto my face as I looked away instantly.

"Sweet cheese and crackers, Nick! Put some pants on!"

"What?" He asked in an almost drunk sounding voice. "Nothing you haven't seen before, Carrots. I know for a fact they teach you about anatomy and how to properly pat down mammals at the academy."

"That's not the point, Nick! What if my family comes through here?"

"Oh, don't worry. Someone already saw me."

The imaginary scene of Nick flashing one of my little brothers or sisters in his underwear caused me to see blood red for a moment. Nick must have realized what he had said and raised his paw to reiterate better.

"I didn't come out until everyone had left for the day around seven," he began. "But while I was making coffee, Jenny stopped by."

"Jen? She stopped by?"

"Sure did."

"What did she say?"

"That I needed to put pants on and take a cold shower to wake up. Not necessarily in that order."

"That's not what I meant! Did she...Mention anything about mom? Or me?"

I was fast losing my patience with Nick. His smarm was not helping my headache. But he genuinely looked like he was having trouble remembering what my sister had told him.

I sighed and buried my face into my palm.

"Nick, you really didn't get any sleep last night, did you?"

His smile was there, but his eyes suggested he was somewhere else. Like he was still lucid dreaming.

"I'll be fine, Carrots. Just need a fourth cup of coffee."

I glanced to the clock above the fridge.

Jeanette would be at the burrow in forty-five minutes, expecting to have a wonderful time with Nick. She'd be completely unaware that Nick was in absolutely no condition to be walking around town.

What should I do? Call off the date? No. That would probably break Jean's heart and we were only in the burrow for two more days. She wouldn't get another chance and neither would Nick.

How to wake up a sleep-deprived fox?

I'd normally suggest coffee, but I think Nick had built up an immunity to caffeine at this point. That left only one sure-fire way to get him up: Jenny's suggestion.

"Come on, Nick. We're going to take a nice, cold shower."

I had never seen Nick so out of it by the way he stumbled across the floor.

Under normal circumstances, I wouldn't have been able to push him along like I was. He allowed himself to be guided back to the J section and waited patiently as I set the water for him in the bathroom. I don't think he was fully aware of what was going on and he was staring into space.

When I was satisfied with the frigid temperature of the shower, I faced him and crossed my arms.

"Alright, Nick. You're going to step under that water and you're not allowed to change the temperature or leave until I say so."

I wasn't about to force him to take off his boxers, it made my job easier. Nick took two steps under the ice water and yelped.

"No," I stopped him before he could turn around to escape. "Deal with it."

All the fight had gone out of him and he stood shivering in the bath.

It was up there with one of the most heartbreaking sights I had ever seen. Nick hung his head and let the water soak him, all while holding his arms in a desperate shiver. I didn't care so much about him shampooing, the point wasn't to get him clean. But my gaze did drift to his tail, heavy and drenched with water.

And then to his firm butt outlined underneath his soaked boxers…

I shook my head. Get a grip, Judy.

After averting my eyes for a few minutes, Nick became livelier. Good enough.

"Alright," I said. "You can come out now."

The tiredness had gone from his eyes, though he still looked haggard and waterlogged. He had on the expression of someone who didn't fully know where he was. The blue pie mark still stained his chest and his boxers were clinging tightly to his fur. He realized his exposure as he turned around and did me the decency of covering himself with his paws so the sight wouldn't leave little to my imagination.

"...Sorry, Carrots," were the first words out of his mouth.

"Don't be sorry," I said, handing him one of the towels we kept on the racks. "But you have a sleeping problem, Nick. You need to take better care of yourself. Get help when we get back to the city."

"Nah. I don't need help. Thanks though, Fluff."

I frowned and tossed Nick another towel. He had used the first one to wrap around his waist.

I checked my cell phone for the time as Nick dried off.

Thirty minutes until Jean arrived. And I hadn't even had my breakfast or changed yet. But there was a more pressing matter on my mind.

"What did my sister tell you?" I asked as Nick wiped his fur.

"She said she was going to be hanging at Rocky's until lunch. She wanted to avoid your mother. And you. Wasn't too happy with either of you, actually."

He paused and yawned.

"Why did you do that?" I asked as I repeated the infectious yawn. "Now I'm not going to stop…"

"Heh, sorry. Looks like you're pretty tired too."

I chalked up my exhaustion to my headache, which had evolved from a dull throb to a buzzing pulse with every heartbeat. I seemed to recall sleeping well, if only because I couldn't remember anything after getting to bed.

"Right," I said, pinching myself to stay awake. "I'll talk to Jen later. For now, get dry and get dressed. You have thirty minutes before your half-date."

The sly grin on Nick's face disappeared.

"You don't want to go?" I asked.

"I said I would. She's a nice fox and it wouldn't be fair if I didn't give her a chance, right? Unless you don't want me to..."

"Why wouldn't I want you to go?"

He shrugged and dodged the question by turning around and removing his soaked boxers.

That was my cue to leave. Between the date and Jenny, I had enough on my mind without being scarred by a completely naked fox.

I returned to the kitchen and distracted myself by making some toast with blueberry jam.

By the time I was finished eating, there were only fifteen minutes left. And I still hadn't changed out of my pyjamas.

Nick was finishing up drying and dressing, judging by the locked door to his bedroom.

I settled on wearing something plain and non-distracting to give Jeanette a little bit of an edge, in case she wanted to stand out. Blue jeans and a green turtleneck sweater.

When it was time to go, I saw that Nick had put on his maroon high neck sweater from Friday with the sleeves rolled up. His exposed head and arms were neatly combed, though I detected the snarls of unkempt fur beneath his shirt.

I rolled my eyes. Good enough.

Jeanette arrived five minutes early, dressed in a beautiful orange sundress. I was suddenly glad I had picked muted colors in comparison.

"H-Hi," she managed to sputter after looking Nick up and down.

"Morning," he put on a smile. "So, what are we doing today?"

"Mom gave us the morning off," I answered. "And Nick hasn't really seen much of the burrows yet outside the faire grounds and the tavern. So…"

I was trying to help Jeanette along. Thankfully, she got the hint.

"Oh! We can give him a tour of the town square then."

I smiled at my success. Nick just shrugged.

"Sure, I'm game."

"Great...Uh...I guess...I guess I'll drive."

Jeanette was a bundle of nerves as she shuffled out the door and into her van.

She had driven in Gideon's pink delivery truck, which was roomier than my parent's pick-up and smelled of fresh baked goods.

I crammed myself into the back with the shelves of pies, giving Nick the front next to Jean. I peeked out in the middle of the seats between the two foxes.

The drive started in silence, with Jeanette too frightened to even look at Nick outside of a few awkward glances. He was perfectly content sitting in his seat, sleepily smiling and staring out the window.

Jean gave me a lost look.

"Try asking him what he thinks of the burrows," I whispered in her ear, so Nick wouldn't hear.

"So...Mr. Wilde...What do you think of the burrows so far?"

"They're alright," Nick replied, giving me a glance that knew I had prompted the conversation. "Very quiet. Very lonely, it seems. Completely unlike the city, though sometimes you can feel like an island in an ocean of bigger mammals there too."

"Ah...I see…"

Just as quickly as it began, the conversation died.

I palmed my face.

This was probably why Jeanette wanted me to come along. She was terrible at small talk. And Nick's tired, aloof nature wasn't helping matters.

My mind scrambled for some topic Jeanette could focus on. What were her skills? Baking?

"Mention something about blueberry pies."

"I...I was thinking of trying a new recipe with blueberry pies."

That got Nick's attention. I suddenly recalled he hadn't eaten any breakfast.

"Is that right? Hard to go wrong with a blueberry pie as it is."

"I...Like to experiment. It's fun to make something new from the mundane."

"Mundane? You wound me, Red. Blueberry pies are my favorite dessert."

It was a good sign if Nick had given Jeanette a nickname. It meant he was getting more comfortable around her. He had only started to call me Carrots after we had interacted with each other a few times.

It was actually a little surprising that he had come up with one so quickly for Jean…

"That's right," he said tugging at the collar of his shirt. "I still have the stain from the pie you slammed into me."

My ears dropped slightly. I hadn't heard about that. I thought the blue stain had happened with Gideon.

"I'm sorry about that…"

"Hey, I said don't worry about it. It was an accident and I wasn't looking where I was going. It's kinda cool, actually. I thought it made me look like Iron Mammal. Do you watch the Maulvel movies?"

"N-No, actually...Gideon thinks they're stupid and doesn't take us to see them."

"Really? Well, that's a missed opportunity then. But, regardless, don't worry about the stain. It got us talking, didn't it? They say the best stories of how folks meet is through funny coincidence."

Nick thought for a moment and chuckled.

"That's right. You said you wanted to open a bake shop in the city."

"A-At some point, yeah..."

I sat back in the van. My work was done and the two were actually talking to each other.

I chalked up the worms in my stomach to the bumpy dirt road. It would pass once we were on the smooth streets of the town square.

Jeanette had mentioned she met Nick before, but I thought it had been a brief encounter when they passed each other at the faire. From how their conversation sounded, they had a rather personal moment. Surprising, given how shy a vixen she was.

"I think you should go for it," said Nick. "The city could always use some more good, honest foxes. And in Zootopia, anyone can be anything. Isn't that right, Carrots?"

I jolted up, getting pulled back into the discussion. "Right…"

We eased into the town square as we chatted.

In the morning light, the main street was a much different sight with crowds of mammals about. The road was filled with old fashioned vehicles, piloted by rabbits older than the three of us put together. Most of the elders came out in the early morning to shop, with nothing better to do all day and no farms to manage. Any younger rabbits had either taken to the fields or were managing the stalls and stores.

Jeanette parked outside her brother's bakery. The smell of toasty crust and fresh baked cookies suggested that the building had seen activity in the wee hours of the morning to prep for the faire. I hopped past the rows of baked pies in the back of the truck and out onto the street.

Nick squinted in the sun to get some bearing of where he was. "We're near the tavern."

"It's a small town, Nick. We're near everything."

The town square was just that. A square.

The center was devoted to a small park, which housed a statue of the burrow's founders. They were rabbits, of course. Tales of old Major Pepe and his troop were stories told to me and my siblings for years. Especially by Pop-Pop, who was a boy when the Major was in the army. Old stories for old rabbits, or so Jenny used to say.

These days, the burrow's center saw a more diverse selection of deer, sheep, pigs, horses, and even foxes. Most of them were visitors from the city coming to the burrow for the Harvest. With a city fox in tow, I realized that I probably looked no different in their eyes.

I couldn't help but wonder if our founding fathers would be disgusted with the sight of so many non-rabbits. The diverse crowds didn't stop a few shops run by older rabbits to have signs out front that read "Bunnies Only." Nick winced at the sight of one of them.

The Grey Bakery was on the smaller side in comparison to the other brick buildings surrounding it. It was completely overshadowed by the old mill, though the pub underneath was closed until the evening. The museum inside the mill would be taking tours and might have been a good place to start a date.

"How about a walk through the museum, guys?"

Jean gave the idea some thought while Nick shrugged. "What's it a museum of, Carrots?"

"The history of Bunnyburrow, mostly. The town was founded by an old rabbit platoon major back in the war."

"Weren't they against foxes back then?"

I cringed. "Yeah…?"

Nick furrowed his brow and I watched his ears lower slightly. "Can't say I have much of an interest then."

"M-Me either…"

"Well," I sighed, kicking myself for not thinking of my town's colorful history before speaking. "What do you want to do then?"

"I could go for some breakfast, actually. Did you eat, Red?"

"I could eat..."

I held back groan. So much for waking up on time to get food. My head was starting to throb again. Nick noticed my discomfort.

"You alright, Carrots?"

"I'm fine," I lied. "Well, take your pick then. There's a diner that'll be open on the other side of the square. Or there's the waffle cart that goes around the street, if we can find it."

"Why don't we go for the diner and stop by the waffle cart if we stumble into it on the way? I could go for some blueberry hotcakes."

I held my head as we walked along.

The stabbing pain in my forehead was making it hard to keep my eyes open. And staring at bright colors, like Nick's fur or Jeanette's dress, seemed to be making it worse. I led the way so I wouldn't have to look at either of them.

We didn't find the waffle cart, as we traipsed through the crunching leaves fallen from the trees.

But we did encounter someone unexpected.

"You there," squeaked a voice ahead of us, calling to an out-of-towner bear. "Yes, you, Baloo. You look like you're here for the harvest festival. Am I wrong? Want some cheap fruit?"

I tried not to look at the sight. The squeaky voice clearly belonged to a merchant with a rundown stall set up on the parkside of the square. Just by his tone, I could tell he was a hustler who made his living off vendoring rejected or tossed away foods for undercut prices. Such activity wasn't illegal in the burrows, but it was obnoxious to the local farmers.

Thankfully, the bear showed no interest in what the hustler was selling. The merchant turned to us next.

"Ain't seen your face before," the vendor said to Nick. "You a relative of the Greys?"

"She is," Nick stopped in place and gestured to Jean. "I'm not."

I really, really didn't want to engage with a two-bit hustler who got by pawning overripe vegetables for a living. With one paw on my head, I turned to try and convince Nick to not engage with the lowlife.

That's when I realized who we were talking to.

"You," I growled.

Rocco Larrs sneered back up at me.

In the last ten years since I had seen him, the raccoon hadn't changed much. He stood shorter than I did with white in his fur, despite being my same age. The black around his eyes made him look like a true bandit, giving him a permanent scowl or a sneer. I did notice that his right ear had a bite mark on it. I could only guess how he earned that scar. The other ear had a golden stud in the same area.

Rocky recognized me as well. "Now there's a sight I didn't expect to still see in this dunghill. Judy Hopps. Jen said you were back."

"Were I to never see you again, Rocco Larrs, it would still be too soon."

That disgusting laugh. I knew it all too well from the days when Gideon and his ilk would go around the school bullying kits. Rocky sounded like he had taken up smoking by the way he let out a hacking cough.

"What? So, the bunny cop is friends with the Greys now?" he asked as he glanced at Jeanette, causing the vixen to squirm. "Old Gid has gone soft."

Instinct took over and I was back in grade school again, protecting a helpless kit from the typical school yard bullies. I came between Rocky and Jeanette, glaring at the raccoon with my arms crossed.

"Where's my sister, raccoon?" I asked him, doing nothing to disguise the disdain in my voice.

"Hey now, is that anyway to speak to your future brother-in-law? Jen's fine. She's just crashing at my place."

I let out an annoyed huff and glanced down at the stall.

"She said you were a truck driver now. Not a lowly scraps peddler."

"That's the night job. I vendor scraps in the morning. Need to pay the bills somehow. We can't all be bigshot cops or own acres of farmland."

Every farm had it's own label to mark goods in trade, usually denoted by a plastic sticker. In my family's case, it was a bouncing grey rabbit under the Hopps family name. I saw the same label on each and every one of Rocky's goods.

"You little weasel," I growled, picking up one of the moldy carrot stems. "You've been stealing from my family's crops!"

"Hey," Rocky snarled. "My best friend's a weasel. Watch your mouth, cottontail."

"Carrots," Nick whispered behind me. "Ease up a bit."

I was forgetting myself. This wasn't Zootopia and I wasn't on duty. Plus, calling someone a weasel was akin to calling a rabbit cute. But the instinct of being a police officer kicked in and I leaned over to stare the raccoon down. In my mind, this scumbag had been abusing my sister and resulted to thievery to earn a living.

"Where did you get these, you little bandit?" I showed my teeth as I snarled. I was no predator, but I knew from my mom what intimidation an angry bunny could conjure up.

"E-Easy," Rocky put up his paws. "Jen gave them to me. They were old or ruined, so she couldn't sell them at the stand. I offered to take them off her paws."

"Why don't we call Jen and ask her then?"

"Go ahead...Though she's probably sleeping right now. It's your funeral."

"Is that a threat? Are you threatening a police officer? Even if I'm off-duty, buddy, I'll write you up so many fines that you won't be able to dig through the trash again."

"Carrots," Nick spoke again behind me with an increasing urgency in his voice. "You're scaring him. Stop."

"Nick, he's a thief. He's nothing more than a—"

"A what? A raccoon? Or, maybe, a predator?"

Looking behind me, I could see Nick staring down at me with an angry glare. Next to him, Jeanette was wearing a similar expression of uncomfortable distrust directed towards me. Around us, mammals were stopping to watch the argument. The realization set in that I was making a scene and my ear tips reddened.

Nick's expression softened to sadness as he sighed.

"Look, I get it. You're worried about your sister. But you're letting past relationships cause you to jump to conclusions. Jenny trusts him, so why don't you give him a chance, huh?"

Because I know him, I wanted to say. But one look at Nick caused the words to die in my mouth.

"I feel for him, you know?" Nick explained. "I was on the end of your mom's ire when I got here. I know that's no fun. And I know this looks sketchy. But let's give him the benefit of the doubt here, okay? You can ask Jenny what's what later."

I found the courage to speak again.

"Nick, you don't know him. He's stolen from the kits in school all the time. He's always been a dirty thief and nothing else. He shouldn't even be allowed to sell his garbage here."

"Carrots, do you hear the words coming out of your mouth? You're starting to sound like your grandpa."

"I'm just stating the facts."

"Well, your 'facts' are starting to sound a little biased against predators. Or maybe you'd like to put out another 'Bunnies Only' sign around the park. Very welcoming, indeed."

"Rocky being a predator has absolutely nothing to do with this, Nick," I growled, prepared to start up my argument against the raccoon's character again.

Nick just sighed and rubbed at his eyes.

"Look. Carrots, enough already. I'm way too tired for this. Just drop it. Okay?"

"Not until he—"

"Judy," Nick snapped with red blood vessels in the corners of his eyes. "Drop. It."

I froze.

That was the first time I had ever heard Nick use my first name.

I think he may have used it once during the Nighthowler case, but I was under water at the time. His green eyes stared down at me, disappointed in me.

Hearing my name in his voice had a weird power over me.

The sudden shock made me realize just how much of a jerk I was being and I instantly had no desire to continue my fight with Nick. Even though my common sense was screaming at me to never trust Rocky, I couldn't be asked to renew my argument.

My head was pounding.

"Fine," I said before slouching over. "Fine. It's dropped."

Though no one looked pleased.

I could feel a bunch of eyes on me, even outside our group. I replayed the conversation in my head and realized how much of a bigot I must have sounded without context. I sighed and rubbed the temples of my head.

"I'm going to call mom," I announced. "And get a ride home. I need a nap. You two...Have fun."

No one stopped me from leaving. Even Jeanette only gave me a passing look of concern as I walked down the sidewalk, getting as far away from the scene as I could. Nick wouldn't even give me a glance.

I pulled out my cell phone when I was a fair distance away and dialed mom.