Chapter 15:
Together
At the end of the day Nick and Judy were walking out of the station hand in hand. He watched her as they walked. Her tiny frame, her long hair, wide bright eyes, and gentle sway of her hips. Her tiny hand fit in his perfectly. It felt good to finally have her as his own. He had screwed up once and he was never going to let that happen again.
"So wait, now you're together?" Clawhauster said as they passed.
"Yeah, we are," Judy said proudly.
She looked up at Nick with adoration. The way she looked at him nearly made his heart stop. He leaned down to her and gave her a kiss.
"In your face Bogo!" Clawhauster shouted across the room to the chief who took one look at the scene and rolled his eyes.
"Oh by the way, if you're together now, there's someone outside that you should explain this to. He's not going to be very happy."
Judy put her face in her hand knowing immediately it was Sam. "Oh no."
"Don't worry baby, I'll take care of it," Nick said. He couldn't wait to rub this into that rabbits face.
"No way! You're going to make it worse!" Judy said as they walked towards the door. "Let me do all the talking."
They got outside where Sam was getting out of his car. He froze when he saw the two of them. Nick couldn't resist. This was just too good to be true. He pulled Judy close to him and gave her a deep loving kiss. She glared at him afterwards. "You're in trouble," she said angrily. "You are in big trouble…"
"You wanna tell me what this is?" Sam said angrily.
Judy twisted her hair around her fingers. "Sam, it's not what it looks like…"
"Yes it is," Nick said with a smirk.
"Shut up," Judy said to him. "You see...it's just that...Nick and I…"
"Are madly in love," Nick said getting more satisfied by the look on Sam's face.
"Nick! What part of let me do the talking is so hard to understand?!"
"And when was I going to know about this Judy?! How long has this been going on?!" Sam exclaimed.
"About 6 hours," Nick said.
"Sam, I'm sorry. I've liked Nick for a long time and I didn't think we had a chance."
"So what was I? A rebound?"
Nick shrugged. "More or less."
Judy sighed. This was not going well at all. "Sam, I'm sorry, but Nick is the man I want to be with."
"I see how it is Judy. Fine." Same walked away and got back into his car and drove off.
Judy glared at Nick.
"I think that went well."
"You're the worst."
Nick hugged her. "You know you love me."
"Whatever."
"So I was thinking," he said with his arm around her shoulders as they started walking.
"What were you thinking?"
"You're my girlfriend now. I'm your boyfriend. That means we have to officially go on a date."
She smirked. "Are you asking me out?"
"Damn it Judy, don't make this difficult."
"Okay, fine," she said laughing. "You have my full attention."
"That's more like it." He stopped and looked into her eyes. "Will you go on a date with me tonight Judy?"
She took his face in her hands and kissed him. "Of course I will. Where should we go?"
"It's a surprise," he said. "All you know is that it's going to be really special."
*WW*
Judy was beyond excited to find out what Nick had planned for their first date. He said it would be a surprise, knowing him it could be anything. As she got ready she wondered what it could possibly be. A romantic dinner? A movie? A walk in the park?
She put on a flowing knee length red dress. It was one that she'd had for a long time but never had anything to wear it for. She curled her hair and put on a bit of makeup. Afterwards she looked herself over in the mirror and suddenly felt nervous. She had never dressed up like this for him before. She was just starting to worry that he wouldn't like it when there was a knock on her door.
She took a deep breath and pulled herself together then went to the door.
When she saw him she nearly gasped. He looked incredibly handsome. His hair had been combed but still had that effortless edge to it. He wore a black button up shirt and a red tie along with some black slacks. His hands were in his pockets and he had that sly smirk on his face as always.
"You clean up well," she said trying to be lighthearted but the words barely came out.
"I can say the same about you," he said as he reached out and brushed his fingers across her cheek. She nearly melted on the spot. Before she could say anything more he leaned in and kissed her. She immediately wrapped her arms around his neck taking in every scent and feeling of being this close to him. No matter what she would never be able to get enough of him.
After they broke their kiss he looked into her eyes with a smile on his face. "Ready to go sweet bunny?"
"Of course," she said smiling again at the words sweet bunny.
They went down to his car. Before she could get in he opened her door for her. She was surprised, he had never done that before.
"You're such a gentleman," she said with a teasing smirk.
"Believe it or not I was raised with manners," he said just as jokingly.
He got in on the driver's side and took off.
"So you never told me where we're going. Let me guess, a movie?"
"That's so basic. You can do better than that."
"A boat ride?"
He chuckled. "Just lay back and enjoy the ride baby."
Eventually they pulled up to a restaurant in the middle of Zootopia called the Charleston. Judy gasped. "We're going here?"
"Bingo, we have a winner," Nick said as he pulled into the parking lot.
The Charleston was a five star restaurant. Their prices were outlandish. "We can afford this?" Judy said skeptically as they got out the car.
"Remember the hustling days and the tax evasion?" Nick said taking her hand.
Judy gasped. "Nick, you're taking me out on a date with illegal money?!"
"Is it supposed to sit around and never be used?"
"Well no...but it's still bad!"
"If you want we can go somewhere else. Subway is pretty romantic...or McDonald's."
Judy sighed. There was no way out of this. She might as well go with the flow. "Alright, alright, but if we get caught…"
"Then I'll do all the talking."
They went through the golden doors and were seated at a private table with a silk tablecloth and candles. They were brought the finest wine in Zootopia.
"To us," Judy said holding up her glass for a toast.
"To us," Nick said tapping her glass with his.
Judy took a look at the menu and nearly fainted. She tried to find the least expensive thing on the menu.
"Don't even think about trying to get the least expensive thing," Nick said.
She looked at him in shock wondering how he knew.
"I know you well," he said holding her hand. "Order whatever you want."
The waitress came back to the table. She was a really pretty fox with long hair and breasts that were spilling out of her top. She gave Judy a look of disdain and turned her attention to Nick batting her eyelashes and laying it on thick with the obvious flirting.
Judy couldn't help but be mad. She certainly was gorgeous and she was a fox. What would Nick think?
Nick knew the woman was flirting with him but he didn't pay her any attention. He knew the type of woman she was, only after one thing and validation for her whore-ish ways. He was glad that part of his past was behind him and he had a real woman like Judy by his side.
"I'll have the steak, medium rare," he replied.
The waitress leaned closer to him. "Not a problem sir."
Nick squeezed Judy's hand. "What do you want baby?"
"I'll have the tofu stir fry," Judy said comforted by the fact that all of Nick's attention was on her.
"Make it snappy miss," Nick said to the waitress. Then he kissed Judy's hand and smiled at her. It made her heart sing.
"Coming right up," the waitress grumbled realizing her attempts to flirt had failed.
"Geez, I didn't realize the waitresses here were so thirsty," Nick said.
Judy giggled. "Well too bad for her."
Their dinner cae and it was delicious. Afterwards they left the restaurant and Judy gave Nick a big hug and a kiss.
"Thank you Nick."
"Our night isn't over yet."
"What else do you have planned?"
He put his forehead on hers and looked into her eyes. "We're gonna have a little bit of fun."
It didn't take long to find out what fun meant. Soon they pulled up to an arcade and Judy squealed with happiness. "Oh my god! This is awesome!"
Nick was satisfied. He knew Judy well and he was sure this would make her very happy. She didn't disappoint.
"Let's go!" she said pulling him along towards the arcade. They spent the next two hours dashing back and forth across the arcade. They played bowling, air hockey, and basketball. They got lucky in a few Wheel of Fortune games and won tons of tickets. They played lots of racing games, everything from Mario Kart to Nascar, and got extremely competitive on who would win. They were experts at the shooting games from all of their cop training. And they played multiple rounds of guitar hero. After they had exhausted every game in the arcade the put together all the tickets they won and bought a plushie for Judy and a big goofy hat for Nick.
Nick took her home afterwards and walked her to her apartment.
"Tonight was amazing," she said. "Everything about it was perfect."
"You're perfect Judy."
Hearing that from him warmed her heart. She grabbed his tie and pulled him to her for a long loving kiss. It didn't take long for them to start growing in intensity. He pressed her against the door. She gripped him tightly. The warmth of his body and the smell of his cologne was intoxicating. It was like she was drowning in him and she didn't want to come up for air. His hands began to wander, slowly trailing up from the hem of her dress..
Should they end the night like this? Having all of each other, emotionally and physically? It made Judy shiver to think about it. Yet at the same time she found herself apprehensive. Was it better to savor the moment and wait a bit longer?
She broke their kiss and found his green eyes staring deeply into hers with nothing but adoration for her.
"I love you Judy."
"I love you too Nick."
He gave her one more gentle but passionate kiss. "See you tomorrow sweet bunny."
"Good night sweet fox."
He turned to go and she went into her apartment. She leaned against the door feeling overwhelmed yet at the same time she felt like her heart would explode from happiness.