Chapter 29: Face to Face

"Your mum seems like a nice lady," Judy said as they drove the police car up the highway toward Zootopia. The task for tonight was done, now they could return to the station with a sense of pride and accomplishment of their task, where they were to take back the evidence and data they had collected and await their next orders, which they would most likely get the next day.

"Yeah...you know, my mum has always been... my best friend. Not that I didn't have them heh, I just felt I could tell her everything and she would understand everything" replied the fox calmly. Once he was past visiting his family home a calm and relaxed look bloomed on his face. Ever since they had crossed the borders of the fox's neighbourhood a grimace had appeared on his face which indicated that he was stressed or it meant that he did not want to be here. Now that it was over you could see that he liked the fact that he could leave this place.

"Why did you break contact with her ? I understand with my dad but..."

"You know Judy..." Interrupted Nick for Judy pointing his finger for her to be silent for a moment. Judy obeyed with slight surprise closing her mouth.

"Curiosity pays dividends until you ask counter-intuitive questions. You asked me a dozen of them in one night. I promised I'd tell you everything at home, and you still want to know as much as possible," Nick accused. His voice did not sound pleased, the girl could see that the fox was not joking. When he tells a joke moments after finishing it he himself starts laughing giving a sign that it is just a joke. Now, however, Nick with his eyes fixed on the roadway accused Judy of curiosity.

"I just wanted to help you...I thought if you told me you'd feel better" replied Judy quietly. She felt remorseful, she wanted the best for her boyfriend, not to irritate or further hurt him. However, how could she have predicted that such questions would upset Nick?

"If I upset you then I'm sorry..." Judy added a moment later. The word sorry for a rabbit came very easily to her throat, she had no trouble using it compared to most people in society who had most likely already forgotten the existence of such a word.

"You don't have to apologize to me, Judy, I appreciate what you do for me, just don't ask about things I'm not comfortable with, okay? If I feel the need to talk about them I will ask you to talk to me" Nick communicated. Judy nodded with a movement of her head turning towards the window resting her head on it. They were both seriously affected by the tiredness they were already feeling quite strongly. It had been a very long night for them, the cold temperature causing their bodies to have to expend more energy to warm up. Moreover, running away from a group of enraged foxes also made them more tired than they would have assumed.

"Good thing we're back now... I don't know if I would have been able to Interrogate more people" Judy said quietly looking at the passing lamps dotted around the road. With the speed that the policemen were moving the lamp points were yellow, or orange streaks of light.

"To be honest, it was one of the longer nights of my life" replied Nick. He corrected his position a dozen times during the ride, and had to refresh his head regularly with dynamic head movements.

"Out of curiosity, could you check what time it is?" The fox asked. Judy took out her phone so she could check the time, she herself was also interested. She opened her eyes wide when she saw 2.40 a.m.

"It's 2.40 a.m."

"So late! Ah see, the police profession has its downsides too," said Nick.

"Well, at least we don't have a 48h limit" replied Judy, laughing. It took Fox several seconds to understand what she meant, but when he managed to associate the facts, he laughed too, nodding at her joke.

"We may not, but the newbies sure have it tough."

"What do you mean?" Judy asked curiously. Her fatigue was so bad that she was now driving with her head leaning against the window with her eyes closed.

"Did you see that new guy at the front desk?"

"That boy?" Judy asked.

"Yes, he's just starting and already he's had a problem with Commander Bogo. That's called a record, I don't think I even had that..."

"You haven't, but to pull off a prank like you did on the commandant takes guts," pointed out Judy.

"Let's just say I don't much care if the commandant likes me. He's just doing his job" replied Nick. His natural, neutral approach to others might seem strange to some, or even repulsive, but one has to remember that with such a lifestyle, it's easier for a fox to come to terms with the loss of someone you had very close to you. At least that's what Judy thought in her head as they continued to drive to the police station. It seemed to her that at times she even squatted because, when she opened her crocus eyes they were in a different place. Nick most likely didn't see it or didn't feel like talking because he didn't pay a single attention for the rabbit and knowing his nature he would have immediately pointed it out for his partner in a humorous way. At times it was hard to decipher from the fox's words whether he was really speaking or joking, he seemed to have mastered speaking issues really well. Fortunately for others, his face betrayed almost his every intention, he couldn't help but show emotion on his slick face, even when he wasn't saying he was depressed, Judy knew it, his green emerald eyes were too telling.

Half an hour later, the partners had already crossed the border of Zootopia and were soon at the police station where they were stationed. In the car park for officers, despite the late hour, there were a dozen police cars, which meant that a large number of officers were still on duty. Judy and Nick got out of the car, to their consolation there was virtually no snow in the car park, all due to the cars that had turned that snow into water.

Stepping inside the facility, sitting at the front desk was the same boy they had met before leaving town. The man looked as if he was already sleeping with his thoughts, but with his body he pretended to be active and ready for action. With half-open eyes he stared at the monitor and occasionally tapped something on the keyboard.

"Hi!" Nick greeted as he approached the reception desk. To get extra attention he knocked rhythmically on the wooden desk. The boy turned lazily and looked with tired eyes at the fox and rabbit standing before him.

"Ah it's just you...I thought Commander Bogo had come to chastise me again" replied James.

"Hehe, no, and just in case you mentioned him. Do you happen to know where he is? We were supposed to go to him..."

"Not to him but to Caroline, he's in the courtroom" replied James pointing with his hand to the east corridor that led to that room.

"Great, thanks!" Replied the fox then walked away with the rabbit.

"Super have a job. There's something going on at their place all the time, and I sit here for a few hours and tap out something on the keyboard" James said quietly, improving his position in his chair.

"If you don't like something you can go run behind the mop" came a loud voice from upstairs. James turned abruptly behind him and nearly went down with a heart attack when he saw the commandant standing on the first floor looking at him with stern eyes.

"No, you know, I'd rather stay here..." James countered, then turned towards the monitor muttering something to himself.

Meanwhile, Nick and Judy knocked on the door of the courtroom where they go every morning to receive their assignment for each new day. From inside they received an invitation to come inside. Fox opened the door, let his partner in as always, then walked inside the room himself where Caroline was waiting.

"Welcome, please have a seat" the girl greeted them indicating with her hand to sit in the front row. Her eyes at this time were fixed on Nick's face, which Judy just like last time managed to notice, which again she didn't like very much.

"I hope you've managed to get any interesting files for this case?" asked Caroline, pointing with her eyes to the folder she had in Judy's paws.

"We have gathered information on where the wanted have been recently, what they were wearing and we have their photographs" replied Judy handing the folder to the vixen. The girl opened the folder where she could see dozens of notes along with pictures of the people they were looking for.

"I have recordings of conversations if that wasn't enough " added the fox handing the woman her small handheld recorder.

"Excellent...great job! The commandant was not wrong about you"

"He probably said we were the best police officers here, didn't he?" Asked Nick with confidence. Caroline's laughter caused the fox's confidence to die down a little, but to his comfort she nodded with a movement of her head.

"Yes, that's exactly what he said. You're quite confident, aren't you?"

"I'm just always right," laughed Nick. Jealousy rose again in Judy's heart, but in order not to create an awkward situation she also laughed delicately, Although her true emotions were coming out of her soul slowly.

"Alright, it has probably been a long night for you. That's it for today, you can march off. If we have a new assignment for you we will contact you, now that we have enough data we can move on" replied Caroline.

"See you later" replied Nick and Judy together, then left the courtroom. Just as the partners were about to leave the room, they were stopped by Caroline calling out Fox by name.

"Mr Nick!" Caroline called out suddenly, which drew the attention of Fox, who was already about to close the door from the room.

"Can we talk in private for a moment?" The girl asked. The question surprised both Nick and Judy, who didn't know what it was about. They looked at each other with surprised expressions on their faces, both having no idea what it could be about, but Nick nodded with a movement of his head, signifying that he had decided to agree to talk.

"Yeah... sure," Nick replied uncertainly, showing with a hand sign that he would be back for Judy shortly. He walked into the hall, closing the door behind him. Rabbit was left alone in the corridor, she felt terribly stupid for having to stay, but at the same time a feeling of anger was born in her, from the very beginning she didn't like the new commandant who apparently had connections with Nick.

"Something wrong?" Nick asked as he closed the door behind him. Caroline looked a little lost, she was a little unsure, and it showed. Her eyes said she wanted to know something, but she lacked the courage to ask a question.

"No, but I am curious about one thing," Caroline began uncertainly.

"What?" Nick asked curiously. The girl sulked for a while with her answer, but finally broke through and after taking a deep breath she relaxed.

"Once, when I was at secondary school a few years ago, in Graham street, there was also a boy in my class called Nick Wilde who looked a lot like you..."

"I knew it!" Exploded Nick with pride, which surprised the girl slightly.

"Hm?"

"Yes, you're Caroline, what went to class with me! I recognized by your eyes" replied Nick triumphantly.

"You remembered my eyes?"

"Let's just say they're quite distinctive...how did you come to be a police officer?"

"Ah, it's quite a long story, a bit by chance, but never mind...you became a policeman too, and I know you've been suspected of fraud more than once," replied Caroline. Nick despite being ashamed,couldn't deny her words because they were true.

"Just like you, by chance"

"We have a lot in common...you remember how ..."

"I remember, I beg you not to remind me of it...it was, but it's over. It's not even worth mentioning," Nick interrupted for Caroline. Mentioning a former, not-so-good relationship wasn't the best thing Nick wanted to talk about.

"I never thought we'd meet under these circumstances..."

"And you thought we'd meet again?" Fox asked.

"Hehe, I love your style of being. You are always confident, always one step ahead of everyone. You don't seem to ever change when it comes to that do you?" Caroline asked to which Nick nodded with a shake of his head.

"Judy accepts me and that's enough," replied Nick without thinking. It only took him a moment to realise that he had mentioned his girlfriend, a relationship that only his friend Finnick officially knows about.

"Judy? Who's that?"

"Judy is my friend, the one behind the door," explained the fox.

"The fox is friends with a rabbit? Ah, and I thought you wouldn't surprise me anymore"

"You don't know everything about me" replied Nick.

"Perhaps. But I know what you were like. Something must have happened if you're friends with her. You wouldn't talk to her for no reason."

"You don't know everything about me," repeated Nick with slight irritation. Caroline's words were already beginning to slowly provoke the fox, who was already succumbing to his aggressive emotions.

"I can see that you two are quite closely bonded. You must like each other very much," Caroline replied thoughtfully.

"Anything else? It's been a very long night as you mentioned yourself, I'd like to breathe a little" dropped off the fox retreating towards the exit. He was beginning to get slowly annoyed by her increasingly embarrassing questions. He hated it when someone crossed the comfortable barrier of questions, so he already wanted to leave the rooms as soon as possible. He also expected that Judy was waiting for him and would also want to learn as much as possible from this conversation. He hoped that Caroline would let him go and not ask him any more uncomfortable questions.

"Yeah, that's it. Nice to see you again Nicki" the girl replied sending a smile towards the fox. Nick smiled briefly, opened the door and then walked out of the room leaving the commander alone.