"And finally, Wilde, Hopps," Chief Bogo said; the buffalo looking down at his duty roster. "You two will be doing your usual traffic rounds in Savanna Central today. Dismissed."
"Traffic rounds, hmh," Nick muttered lowly as he leaped off of the chair he still shared with Judy.
"What's wrong with that?" Judy turned to look at him.
"Does it ever feel like traffic rounds are the new 'parking duty' for us?" Nick wondered, looking down at his paws. "Like we're being kind of punished or undervalued again?"
"Not to me!" Judy chirped. "I get to drive a seriously awesome, imposing vehicle, and you get paid to snark at me all day. Win-win!"
"Remind me why I don't get to drive again?" Nick returned, straightening his uniform's shirt.
"Uh, because you drive more conservatively than the pig that ran against Mayor Mousawitz in the last election," Judy's brow drooped with a wry smile.
"Swinton? Okay, that's a bit insulting," Nick half-smiled. Judy closed her eyes and grinned as the two made their way past the front desk on the way to their cruiser.
"Judy! Nick!" a familiar, cheerful voice yelled out behind them. They turned to see Benjamin Clawhauser sitting there at his desk, waving at them.
"Hey, Clawhauser!" Judy waved at him.
"Mornin' Ben," Nick nodded once.
"Welcome back, you two...!" Benjamin Clawhauser leaned over the desk, an enormous grin on his rotund cheetah face. "How was Bunnyburrow...?"
"Fine, fine," Nick shrugged his shoulders. "Great place to visit if you like bunnies."
"Well, lucky for you, then!" Benjamin grinned. Judy laughed, and Nick shot him a brief, playfully stern look before it melted into his easy grin.
"I think he tolerates them," Judy smiled brightly. "But no, it was fine. The speech went well, but I'm glad to be back and get back to it!"
"Hopps? Hopps are you down here?" a slightly anxious voice rang out. Judy turned to see an arctic hare walking up to her.
"Oh, Karen!" Judy smiled. "Good to see you again. Did you miss us?"
"Uh," Karen Skippel blinked, stopping in her tracks. "Were you- were you gone?" Judy scoffed, feigning hurt.
"Oof, that one got me right here," Nick patted his chest near his heart dryly.
"I, uh, anyway," Karen rolled her eyes. "Hopps, I'm supposed to be updating some software on your station today; you're overdue. Can I get you to come with me and log into your workstation?"
"Uh, okay," Judy shrugged, nodding. "But can't you just hack into it?"
"Can I just hack into it...?" Karen repeated, blinking. "Yes, I can just 'hack into it', but it'd take a lot of trouble and it'd be much easier if you just put in your password!"
Judy giggled. "Okay then. It's-"
"Hopps!" Karen yelled through her teeth. "You're not supposed to- do you even know what a password is for!? You're not supposed to give it to anyone!"
"Not even our Technical Officer?" Judy tilted her head.
"Carrots, quit giving Skip a hard time and just go," Nick chuckled.
"Okay, okay..." Judy relented, smirking.
"It's just going to take a couple of minutes, Hopps, sheesh," Karen said, walking off with her.
"So!?" Benjamin suddenly leaned in. "Anything interesting happen in Bunnyburrow?"
"Ben, don't start," Nick grumbled.
"Oh come on," Benjamin pouted. "Just take her to Different Tails, Nick!"
"I'm not taking her to that..." Nick lowered his voice into a harsh whisper, looking around, "that inter-species bar, Ben! I'm not!"
"What harm could it do?" Benjamin turned his eyebrows up. "You can take her there, kinda guage her reaction..."
"No, Ben," Nick said, keeping his voice low.
"You know most of the ZPD is behind you on this one...!" Benjamin said with a plaintive voice.
"And by that you mean that a lot of officers have money in the 'WildeHopps' betting pool," Nick jabbed a finger at him.
"What- what betting pool?" Benjamin straightened up, folding his paws together, shrugging. His eyes darted off to the side once. "What sort of- I don't know what you're talking about. Betting pool. What?" He giggled.
Nicks eyes half-closed. "You're a worse liar than the bunny."
"Nick, everyone can see it," Benjamin whispered. "Just... c'mon... won't you at least try something with her?"
"Everyone can see it... except her, apparently," Nick frowned. "But I need you to get off this before someone overhears. Her hearing is quite good."
"Nick..." Benjamin offered a large smile. He gasped as Nick swiped the large cheetah's box of donuts from his desk.
"Drop it, or the donuts get it," Nick pointed at the box.
"No!" Benjamin put his paws on his cheeks.
"I will take them to the restroom and individually soak each one in the sink!" Nick said, turning his head sidelong with a wild look in his eye.
"You wouldn't!" Benjamin gasped again, then made a face. "Ew, that'd make them all soggy and gross..."
"Exactly!" Nick pointed. "So, you behave!"
"I will!" Benjamin straightened up. Nick cautiously put the box back, but took one donut out, pointing it at the cheetah, then snapped it up in his mouth.
"Nick, what are you doing to that poor cat?" Judy chuckled, jogging over to the two.
"Nothing! He wasn't doing anything!" Benjamin grinned pleasantly. Judy looked with a suspicious grin at Nick, then shook her head and started to head out.
"C'mon, silly fox, we've got to get to work," Judy beckoned Nick. Nick started to follow her, but then turned his head halfway back to Benjamin and gave him the same wild look as before, pointing at his eyes, then the cheetah.
"Hngh..." Benjamin slumped in his chair, tossing a donut into his mouth. An elephant officer walked by, looking down at Benjamin, then at the bunny and fox leaving the ZPD.
"So, any progress, Clawhauser?" Francine Trunkaby asked in an excitable, gossipy voice.
"No..." Benjamin twisted his face into a frown. "In fact, Nick threatened to torture my donuts if I don't let it go."
"Torture your...?" Francine blinked. She curled her trunk in confusion. "Is that some sort of weird euphemism?"
"No, he was just going to douse the donuts in sink water," Benjamin murmured.
"Ugh, that'd make them all yucky and disgusting," Francine noted absently, taking one of his donuts with her trunk and popping it into her mouth.
"Yeah," Benjamin said despondently, balancing his cheek on one of his paws.
"Well come on, something HAS to happen between the two soon," Francine grinned. "Those two firecrackers are like a ticking time bomb." She pointed her trunk at Benjamin. "Especially since it'll be winter in a few months."
"Winter?" Benjamin blinked. "Is that...?" He gasped loudly.
"Uh huh..." Francine's grin grew wider and she chuckled. "I don't see that fox making it through too many more winters when he's sitting next to the object of his obsession literally every day."
"Ooh!" Benjamin held his paws up to his cheeks. "Oh em goodness, a catastrophic explosion of emotion would be so them!"
"Right?" Francine giggled, holding a hand up to her mouth. Chief Bogo walked by, glowering at the two in turn.
"Will you two stop gossiping and get to work?" Chief Bogo snorted. The two straightened up and saluted.
"Uh, yes, sir! Sorry sir!" Francine cringed at the buffalo that she towered over. Chief Bogo started to storm off, but then he froze and turned halfway back.
"By the way... Clawhauser," Chief Bogo narrowed an eye.
"Um, yes sir?" the cheetah's nervousness was palpable.
"...Anything changed on the betting pool?" the police chief asked lowly.
"No sir, no change," Benjamin said with a hint of glumness.
"Bah," Chief Bogo snapped his fingers and turned away brusquely, storming off.
It was fairly quiet between the fox and the bunny on their traffic rounds. Judy started to look restless as they came to a stop at a parking lot. The corner was usually known for being sped through, so Judy decided to park there to lie in wait for any red-light runners.
"So!" Judy clapped her paws together, rubbing them. She still seemed quite perky and pleased. "This morning on my jog I saw Vivian..."
Nick appeared to think about this. "Vivian... Radish, was it?"
"No no, that was her old family name," Judy wagged an index finger. "Like, generations ago. It's Vivian Reddish."
"The red fox that we recovered the seven 'rainbow rings' for," Nick nodded. "Yeah, I remember her. But she works in Mezzo Park; it's not exactly a work of Serendipity that you saw her."
"Right, but she and I got to talking..." Judy smiled, looking at her phone. "I mean, she and I are basically great friends now..."
"Y-yeah?" Nick felt a lurch in his stomach for some reason he couldn't quite explain.
Judy hummed a little laugh. "I got her number."
"Huh, really," Nick managed a smirk. "You two gonna go out?"
"Ha, ha, ha," Judy enunciated, rolling her eyes back and forth. "I got it for you, dingus."
"Really now," Nick blinked. He rubbed at his chin with a paw. "Now why on Earth would my bunny partner have done that?"
"Oh come on," Judy's brow fell as she stared at Nick, looking him over. "I saw you during that case." She wiggled a finger accusingly at the fox. "I saw you trying not to stare at her tail when she went upstairs."
"Uh, yeah? That's called being 'polite'," Nick folded his arms.
"Nick, seriously," Judy shook her head. "Are you honestly going to tell me you aren't the least bit attracted to her? She's a sweet vixen! And she offered up her number like that-" Judy snapped, "-when I told her it was for you! What do you say?"
"Well, what if I told you that I wasn't into vixens, what then?" Nick half-smiled, cocking his head.
Judy's eyes went wide and she blinked. "Uh... oh! Um..." she thought a bit, tapping a finger on her cheek. "Well then. I didn't quite think you were into the tods, but that's cool too!" She gasped tersely. "You know, there's this black and silver fox that I see sometimes at the park, painting things. Do you know what kind of fox that might be? He looks kind of intimidating actually; I've never gone up and asked him what kind of fox he is. That'd be kind of rude, right?"
"A black fox?" Nick tilted his head back. "Never seen one myself, either." He waved his hands back and forth, squinting his eyes. "Anyway, why are you trying to set me up with someone?"
Judy smiled coquettishly, wincing. "I dunno... I just- I want you to be happy, you know?"
"And I'm not happy," Nick grimaced at her.
"Well you certainly don't look like it right now!" Judy laughed. "Did you forget your morning cup of coffee, mister...?"
Nick rolled his eyes. "Gimme her number." He brought out his own phone, getting into his contact lists.
"Ha ha! Yes!" Judy pumped her arm, then offered the number to Nick.
Nick punched the number into his contact list. He misspelled "Reddish" as "Radish" once before correcting it. He stared at the number. If he was honest with himself, calling it would feel like giving up, in a way.
"You honestly see me with a vixen like Vivian, huh?" Nick asked. His voice was much more even than usual.
"C'mon, with you and a red fox you could have kits and everything, and they'd just be the cutest," Judy laughed. "Like dad says, you'd probably make a great father."
"You can see me as a dad, really," Nick huffed in amusement.
"Sure!" Judy smiled.
"And who told you that you could call a fox 'cute'?" Nick raised his brow with an accusing voice.
Judy grinned at him, mischief splaying across her face. "You're cute. What're you gonna do about it?"
Nick sat back in his seat, realizing he'd been starting to lean closer to Judy. Somehow, the words actually did sting a little. He glanced at his phone.
"Hmph," Nick huffed. "Nothing, I guess."
Judy still seemed in good spirits as she claimed her little victory, but she finally read Nick's souring mood and frowned a little.
"Hey, uh, I'm sorry if that was condescending," Judy winced.
"No no, I've got thicker fur than that," Nick laughed.
"Ooh, and it'll be winter soon, you know what that means..." Judy smiled widely.
"I- I do know what that means," Nick's teeth were grit tightly in his muzzle.
"Our winter coats!" Judy held her eyes shut happily. "We'll be fluffier than usual; especially you. You won't be able to escape your adorableness then, Mister Nick."
"Yeah, you're right about that," Nick said distractedly. He felt like he had swallowed a rock. Blessedly, he saw a large car zoom past a red light. "Whoa, look alive, Carrots. That guy just screamed past the light."
"All right! Put the sirens on and lets go ticket the crap out of 'em!" Judy said aggressively, starting the cruiser and mashing on the gas.
"Yup," Nick nodded, putting the sirens on. "You're the boss."