Chapter 2 - In The Lap of Luxury
The parking lot was filled to capacity. Every single size, shape, and color of vehicle imaginable was parked there, from single seated large-mammal cars to the tiny vans that could carry a whole generation of mice. They were all there, and not a single parking space was free, at least not for an over sized, turbo-charged monster of a police cruiser.
Judy Hopps looked over to her partner at the same time as she skillfully pulled the black and white police car into the busy parking lot. Then, with as much pep and spunk as she could put into her smile she asked him, "How about this one?"
Next to her in the passenger seat sat a fox with a burnished red coat who was almost twice her size. The todd was clothed in a standard issue police uniform that could only barely pass inspection. He stared out of the thick, impact-resistant window at the flow of traffic, not noticing anything the gray and white plush rabbit driving the car had to say.
"Nick!" Judy exclaimed and reached across to give her unaware partner a good shove to wake him from whatever daydream held his mind captive. In response, his slightly rumpled uniform barely shifted under the force of her soft paw. A moment later she heard a deep, "hmmm," come from his long muzzle, but his eyes continued to stare lazily out the window.
With a fair amount of care, the rabbit was able to weave the over sized cruiser through the rows of parked cars while reaching across the seat to grab his arm and viciously shake the daydreaming fox into mindfulness. "Dispatch to Officer Dumb-Fox, come in Dumb-Fox, what's your twenty?"
Two lazy, green eyes above an orange and black snout turned from their intense inspection of the inside of the car window to face the sweet fury of the uniformed bunny. "What, Fluff?" his voice sounded dry and husky like he had barely awoke from a long fox-nap.
"For our lunch break, silly mammal! I hear this place has a great lunch menu." She stopped shaking him long enough to point out the window to the front of Nelly's Diner and carefully dodged a small coupe whose driver was also looking for a parking space in the busy lot.
Nelly's was one of those old fashioned type of diners, with a modern style make-over, placed smack in the middle of downtown Zootopia. The sleek wood and leafy exterior gave it an earthy jungle look that let most forest dwelling mammals feel right at home amongst the bustling city streets. With it's cozy atmosphere and centralized location, it was a perfect stop for business meetings, or casual meet and greets. Today however, there was a moderate line of hungry mammals at the door waiting for the daily lunch special.
"Oh sure. Sounds great," he mumbled in his partner's general direction with as much enthusiasm as a sloth on a coffee break.
"What's going on today Slick? What is soooo important that you can't even look up for two seconds to see where we are?"
"Oh sorry Bun. So where are we?" He finally turned to actually look at their location and replied, "Oh, Nelly's! Nice choice Carrots, but that line looks a little savage don't you think?" As he spoke he casually gestured to the herd of wildebeest piled up outside the door.
"Har, Har," the cute grin barely visible on her face. "It will be fine, as soon as I can find a place to park."
"Sorry I've been out of it all day. I keep thinking about our last case. Something just keeps bugging me, that I can't get out of my mind."
Judy looked up from the steering wheel of their cruiser, her nose twitched curiously, "You mean the break in out by the edge of the Meadowlands?"
"Yeah that's the one! I keep replaying everything over and over again in my head like a bad movie."
"The place was pretty trashed. It would give me nightmares too, thinking about who could do such a terrible thing to that nice couple."
"Right," said Nick rubbing his muzzle with both paws, "and none of the pieces seem fit together."
"Well, it had all the earmarks of some sort of wild party, " the sharp minded bunny added, "but it was obviously some how staged. Maybe they were looking for something?"
"That is what bugs me Fluff. This whole thing has me on edge. I really feel like I'm missing something," the fox explained as Judy reached out to hold his nearby paw.
"I am sure we will figure it out eventually," she said patting the dark fur on the end of his fingers, while making sure to avoid the sharp claws.
"I just need to go over the facts in my head some more."
"Ok," she said very enthusiastically. "This place is packed, maybe we should find somewhere that isn't so busy." She made a another loop around the lot and started to head for the exit.
"Naw this is fine." Nick pointed to a bright red vehicle several cars ahead with a small group of well-fed reindeer climbing in and exclaimed, "Look, someone is pulling out. We could wait for them."
"Thanks! What would I ever do without you?" Judy squeezed his paw firmly before grabbing the wheel and waited for the other car to move.
"Alright, back to the case at paw."
"Right!" Her eyes brightened with curiosity. It was always so much fun to watch, or listen, to how his sly fox mind worked through problems. That was one of the reasons why she loved having him as a partner. He always saw the little details she missed and could look at them from so many different angles that would often surprised her.
"Such a sharp mammal," she thought with a smile.
Judy's hind paw tapped slowly as she not so patiently watched two of the youngest reindeer help their elderly grandmother climb into the shiny, red and white trimmed van, before they began the process of slowly backing out of the parking spot.
Halfway through backing out of their spot the reindeer decided to pulled the car forward again and right back where they had just been a few moments prior. The bunny let out a short frustrated groan, and thrust her forehead into the steering wheel while two fluffy long ears flew forward and slapped the inside of the car window. "You know, it's really cute when you do that Carrots." Judy glared fiercely at Nick and missed that the young of the teenagers was at the wheel of the other car. Probably her first time diving.
After a few minutes of maneuvering the reindeer-filled van finally moved on, leaving the space open for Judy's much bigger cruiser.
Still staring out the window while concentrating on yesterday's case, Nick finally spoke up, "None of this makes any sense. And the more I think about it the more I just get an upset stomach!"
"That's why you should stop thinking so much and come have lunch with me you silly fox," the rabbit chirped happily exiting their cruiser, and the two smallest ZPD officers walked into the busy dinner.
Inside, the restaurant was crisp and modern. The large seating areas were built out of smoothly comfortable yet curvy lines and all the available space was filled with green, leafy plants and bright blooms. Every seat was packed with hungry mammals and the air was filled with conversation. The ambiance really gave the sense of being lost deep in a wild jungle, yet it was also very cozy at the same time.
Nick was seated on a comfortable, faux leather bench in the lobby, while his fingers played with the curled leaves of the dark green fern next to him. As he rolled them back and forth between the three longest fingers on his paw a smaller, furry grey shape brushed swiftly against them knocking the curled leaf out of his grasp.
"Stop fidgeting Nick! Leave the poor plants alone."
Nick barely giggled at the rabbit's poor attempt to chastise him, "So says the bunny who hasn't stopped jumping around for the last twenty minutes since we got in here. Besides they are fake!"
"Its called 'dancing' Nick. They are playing really good music, and I just have to dance!"
"Of course, very attractive," he commented, his voice dripping with sarcasm, and his eyes taking in her every move as Judy twisted and swayed her hips in time with the soft music coming from the overhead speakers.
"You really think so?" A light blush filled her soft cheeks and ran up to her ears, and she quickly pulled them back behind her head before anyone else noticed.
"Absolutely, one hundred percent." Nodding with his usual shifty smirk to cover any other emotions that might have appeared on his face.
At that exact moment, a tall beige and white striped antelope with a fresh grown pair of short heart shaped curly horns, approached them carrying two menus. "Hopps, Wilde, party of two?" she asked politely with a slight mix of urgency and boredom. When they both stood and said, "Yes," her eyes brightened into a slight smile and she turned with a quick swish of her tail, waving a free hoof towards the seating area. "Follow me please."
As was every server at Nelly's Diner, this waitress was dressed in a brightly colored outfit, complete with a skirt and apron. Her pockets were also filled with a notepad, spare napkins and straws. The whole ensemble fit well with the jungle theme but somehow made the restaurant staff look like exotic birds flittering about a forest canopy, carrying heavily laden trays of food and beverages. With as tall as this middle aged antelope was, her uniform didn't seem to fit quite right and the skirt was just a wee bit too short for her build.
Nick noticed the discrepancy almost immediately and could not help staring at her long shapely legs, as she lead the two officers to the waiting table. After a few moments Judy happened to follow Nick's eye and gave him a sharp punch to the shoulder.
"Quit staring! It's rude," she hissed, then rolled her eyes at his antics. This was only Nick being Nick of course.
"Here you are," said the pretty antelope as she showed off the table, like it was a prize antique at an auction house, and laid down both menus. "My name is Sharline and I will be your server for today. Can I get you anything to drink first, while you look over the menu?"
The table was quite clean and still slightly damp from the towel that had graced its surface only moments before they arrived. It was a two seater made for medium sized mammals as large as wolves or deer. For the two small officers it was almost too large, making them look like a pair of kits standing next to it.
"Um, just water will be fine," the todd replied, and casually climbed into his seat.
"I'll have a large carrot juice, please." said the rabbit staring up at the chair that was much larger than she was, and tried to decide weather to leap into it or try climbing up as her partner had already done.
Once she found her seat the fox across the table couldn't help stifling a vibrant chuckle when he looked up from the menu to see nothing of Judy but a pair of fuzzy rabbit ears sticking above the table. One of the ears twitched in annoyance. "Nick, Stop," came an agitated voice from under the table.
"Sorry Fluff, can't help myself. It's just so ... so ..."
"Don't even think it!" She quickly cut him off before he could call her cute... again.
With a pair of ice cold drinks in her hooves the waitress returned to notice Judy's predicament and had to apologize, "I am so sorry ma'am but all of our small-mammal booster seats are currently being used by the other customers. By the way, we do have a special on each of our Garden Fresh variety salads today. So if you want to look over the menus I will be right back in a few minutes, ok." She gave them both a very cheery smile and walked away to the next table swishing her short, bright tail happily.
Nick continued to chuckle at his partner's expense. "This isn't funny Slick! I've been standing all day giving out tickets to those damn street racers again, and along with that cargo truck roll over on the freeway, my paws are tired. I really don't want to have to stand here and eat my lunch too!"
"Sorry Fluff," he apologized. "How about you come over here and use my lap instead? That way you can rest those adorable little toes of yours and still see over the table at the same time."
"That's a great idea!" she replied excitedly, jumping down off the over sized chair. "And then we can even share lunch together too! It would be so much cheaper if we order one big salad instead of two meals." Pausing next to Nick's chair she looked up at him, the cheerful expression gone from her face and her ears drooped slightly. "But what will the other mammals think if I am sitting in your lap?"
"Don't worry so much, Finnick and I used to do this a lot when a place like this was overly busy!" Chuckling again the todd held out his dark paw for her.
"But he is also a fox and you could always say that he was your son."
"Which of course we did quite often. Besides darling, we can easily write anyone a ticket for obstructing an officer in the performance of their duties."
The rabbit just laughed at him as he helped her climb up the side of the chair and onto his warm, uniformed lap. "You are such a dirty con-mammal. You know that, don't you!"
"But you always enjoy my sly antics, don't deny it."
"I reserve the right to not reply, Officer," she says winking at him.
"Sit down and order our lunch already, ya dumb bunny."
"Sly fox!"
After several minutes, the antelope finally returned with a more than surprised look on her face as she noticed their seating arrangements. "Oh my! Well what ever works for ya sweety." She quickly pulled out her notepad and prepared to jot down their order. "Sorry, it's been an unusually busy lunch rush today. What can I get you two officers then?"
Judy looked up at Nick and gave a little cough. "Go ahead, Carrots pick whatever you like. My treat," he said.
"Um, ok," she quickly scanned the menu's fresh salad section before turning back to the waitress. "We'll take the large Garden Fresh Berries and Greens salad, oh, and," she tilted her head back to look up at Nick. "Do you want some fried bugs on top?"
"Sure," the fox replied almost too casually, still eyeing the tall antelope's too short skirt.
Slowly looking back and forth between the two small cops the waitress casually replied, "A large mammal salad? Are you planning on sharing then?" Judy nods quite energetically and the waitress continued, "We have two kinds of fried bugs today, would you like crickets or cicadas?"
"Oooh, cicadas please!" Nick's eyes sparkled at the thought of having a chance to have the slightly more exotic insects.
"Alright! One large mammal salad with fried cicadas on top. Can I get you anything else to go with it?"
"Um," Nick looked at Judy thoughtfully for a second, "Could we also have some extra blueberries?"
"Great! Large salad with cicadas and a side of blueberries. I will have that out for you in a few minutes," replied the waitress before she dashed off to the kitchen.
For the next few minutes the fox and rabbit officers sat quietly together in their chair, each slowly sipped their drinks. Unconsciously Nick began poking his partner in the soft ticklish spot under her right arm. It only took three pokes of his claw before Judy squirmed wildly and smacked him gently in the jaw with the back of her soft fluffy paw. "Stop it Slick, or so help me you're going to be wearing carrot juice all over your smug face!"
Raising both paws in the air and putting on a totally innocent look he chuckled and replied, "Whaaaaa? I'm just getting bored, and a bit hungry too. The thought of having fresh fried cicadas again is almost making me drool."
"Whoa there buddy! Watch where you're drooling then, I don't want your slobber getting onto my nice clean uniform! I just washed everything last night after slogging through that ransacked house, and I don't want to have to do it again today."
"Ok carrots, I will make sure not to get any of my charming fox drools on your nice uniform," he said with a wink, "however I can't guarantee anything about those big ears or that little pink nose," he gave her a sharp boop on the nose.
Judy groaned inwardly and rolled her eyes, then went back to casually sipping her carrot juice. After only three sips she quickly tried to turn around and almost painfully jabbed Nick in the ribs.
"Oww, that hurt!"
"Sorry, but I've been thinking about the break-in case too."
"Oh, and what has your brilliant bunny mind come up with now? " Nick quipped.
"What if someone was trying to send some kind of message?"
"Huh? What would give you that idea Fluff?"
"Because other than the furniture and the fridge, only personal and family items were broken or destroyed."
"So you think someone is trying to tell that couple 'Don't mess with our family or we will mess with yours'?"
"I don't know. Maybe we should take another look around the place."
"Yeah. Nothing else going on today. We could swing by the scene after lunch and see if there is anything we missed last time." said Nick as the waitress arrived with their lunch.
Judy looked up, her big amethyst eyes full of excitement, as their waitress placed a huge plate of lettuce, berries, and other fresh green vegetables on the table directly in front of them. The salad looked to Nick's eyes like it was big enough to feed a whole family of rabbits.
"Great! Now let's hurry up and finish lunch. I'm starving!"
"Yep, wouldn't want this poor little bunny going hungry now would we? She needs all the energy she can get for catching those big, mean bad guys."
"Har, Har!" Judy quickly dug into the berries and greens with her fork. All conversation ceased between them as the rabbit happily devoured half the plate of lettuce in front of her in a matter of moments.
Nick casually nibbled on the cicadas with a slow and steady pace. He would dip them slowly in the salad dressing one by one, or wrap them in a few pieces of lettuce along with a fresh onion or pepper. The blueberries however disappeared almost instantly once the last cicada left the plate.
About twenty minutes later Judy was chasing the last few vegetables around the plate with her fork but they kept sliding away in the slippery sauce lining the bottom. Nick simply put his finger in the sauce to stop the culprits from escaping. Once cornered, Judy was now able to skewer the offending tidbits.
He soon noticed that his finger was wet with salad dressing and reached for one of the napkins left on the table to wipe it off, but two grey paws suddenly grabbed his and a short pink tongue quickly licked the finger clean. "Mmm," the bunny hummed with a content smile.
"Aww, what a sweet couple," stated an elderly, and nearly blind, badger female to her husband as they walked past the table on the way out of the restaurant.
Judy giggled at their comment and quickly replied, "Oh we're NOT a couple ma'am. We're just bestest friends."
"Come along dear, let's not bother these nice officers," the male badger said trying to shoo his wife closer to the door.
"Well you have a nice day then dearies."
Nick only chuckled as Judy waved at them. "Well that was a bit odd wasn't it."
"Such a nice old couple," said the rabbit trying to hold back a grin so big it almost didn't fit on her small face.
"Well, if you're done Carrots. It's time we got back to work."
"Right!"
Judy climbed down first, followed by Nick who had a slight flustered look on his face and his paws patted his pockets, front and back. "Oh no I think I forgot my wallet!"
"Oh no you don't, not this time Slick!" Judy held up a small leather binder waving it right in front of the fox's muzzle. "I already took the liberty of checking for you. You're not going to get out of paying for lunch today!"
"Fine! You got me this time sweetheart. Nice hustle by the way." He pulled out a 20 from the wallet and laid it on the table, shoving the faux-leather billfold back into his pocket. "You're getting better these days."
"I learned from the best," she said as she gave him a firm hip bump before they both headed for the door.
"Have a great day officers!" cried the antelope waitress from across the room and waved them farewell.
"That was a pretty generous tip there Slick! I usually take you for the stingy type," Judy commented as she stepped through the sliding glass door in the front of the restaurant.
"Well she was very nice considering how slammed it was in there. Plus you were right about buying one big salad instead of two meals. So I just made up the difference in her tip."
Suddenly Judy's shoulder radio cut into their conversation, "Possible 10-34, armed robbery, in progress, corner of Statesmammal and Lime, any officers in the area please respond. Repeat: 10-34 Statesmammal and Lime!"
"Carrots, that's two blocks from here!"
The rabbit didn't hesitate before she was sprinting to their cruiser with her fox partner hot on her bare heels. Before she had taken two steps, the mic was in her paws and she firmly squeezed the call button, "Officers Hopps and Wilde responding, ETA 2 minutes!" She then punched both fists into the air yelling "Woo Hoo!"
[AN] I would like to thank everyone who read my first chapter and all of the wonderful reviews. I also have to thank SkyLansing for the awesome job he did helping me edit this chapter, it really made a huge difference.
Please note that this chapter was actually written before the first one so there may be some inconsistencies between them.
I do have a full story outline roughly sketched in and I am trying to get all the details written down before I forget them and my break is over, so I should have something coming out twice a week if not sooner. If I start writing longer chapters however it will push things back quite a bit, and I am a fan who loves reading much longer works so we will see how it goes.
Thanks again for all the wonderful support!
OneWolfe-