A/N: As the big day approaches, Judy tries her best to get Nick ready for his admission to the academy. Nick isn't quite as ready to be ready.
Thanks to MelyRomo1983, Thanash, thecrazystorywriter14, Jknight97, Guest, Tinbuzzard11, WolfofAvalon, Twinboy1995, dispix94, Omnitrix 12, Cimar of Turalis WildeHopps, side-fish, 22animals, Thou Craggy Knob, InTheLionsDenOnDA, GhostWolf88, BeecroftA, Metal Amadeus, Fox in the hen house, Kochich, and Minion Master 1 fo reviewing!
Chapter 12: Dreams
Ten days more.
Ten days till I enter the academy.
A small drizzle was beginning to form in the sky as Nick made the long walk back to Judy's place. It wasn't nearly heavy enough to be annoying, but it did make his ears flick when the raindrops brushed across his head. At least it didn't look like the rain was going to get any heavier, from the placid expression of the clouds above. It was probably just a passing shower.
Everything is changing so fast.
Nick could still hardly believe all this was happening. It didn't even feel that long ago that he was counting Pawpsicle money in the back of Finnick's van, before heading back under the bridge for a nice afternoon nap. He was leaving it all behind. His old life, his hustles, everything. There wasn't any going back. It was pretty much a big jumble of turbulent emotions inside him that he couldn't quite place. Nick liked to think he always had it all planned out, but in times like this, he wished he had someone to ask…
"You do have someone to ask." A familiar voice in his head echoed.
"Oh hey, haven't heard from you in a while," Nick mumbled sarcastically to himself. "And the answer is still no."
"It doesn't make sense. You're coming clean. You're doing what she always wished you could do. Why won't you see her?"
"Coming clean now doesn't erase the last ten years. And you know how she felt about this sort of thing. She'd probably disown me on the spot."
"Do you think she won't notice the news if you make it through the academy? First fox on the force isn't something that you can hide from her. And you know she'll start looking for you once that happens."
Nick bit his lip.
"I'll worry about that when the time comes."
"You know how well that's going to turn out."
"Oh be quiet." Nick knocked the side of his head with a fist. Another voice was starting to fill his head anyway.
"…yes, Wolfard dropped me off a while ago. Is something the matter?"
Carrots?
Her voice was soft, but loud enough to be heard. A bunny was standing near the road, leaning against a lamppost. She was on her cell phone, talking to someone. Any doubts that Nick had about the bunny's identity were quickly dispelled when he saw the country bunny getup, topped with a straw hat. He started to turn the corner.
"…You mean Nick?"
Nick froze in his steps at the mention of his name, before pulling himself back and ducking behind a brick wall. He leaned a little closer, trying to listen in on the conversation. It was difficult to hear who was on the other end of the line, but the voice sounded gruff. Probably not female.
"…Rhinestone…letter…end of next week." The voice was distorted, barely intelligible.
"I understand," Nick heard her say. After a few more mumbled words from the other end of the line, the call came to an end.
Nick scratched his chin, confused. None of the words made much sense. And that both intrigued and worried him. What was the bunny planning? At least it didn't sound like it had anything to do with his mom. But then again, it was Carrots, so he could never quite be sure.
Well, there's always an easy way to find out.
He backed away from the wall, counted to five, and then turned the corner as casually as he could.
"Carrots? What are you doing out here?" He called out. The bunny quickly turned at the sound of his voice. "And what's with the country bumpkin getup?"
"Oh, Nick, you're back!" Judy said, lifting her straw hat and smiling. "I'm trying to be inconspicuous, you know. My leg's feeling better, so I went for a walk. I've been trying to give it some exercise."
"I think you and I have very different ideas of 'inconspicuous'." Nick chuckled. "Also, knowing you, you'll probably end up overdoing it and tearing your stitches. And then I'll have to bring you to the hospital again." He walked up to her.
"Relax, that won't happen." Judy replied. "How were the aptitude tests?"
"The tests were fine. Annoying, but nothing too difficult. But then they asked a new trainee to take my blood…I swear, he probably wouldn't be able to find a vein if you slapped him with one." Nick shook his head.
"That explains the bandages around your arm," Judy grinned. "Oh yeah, what did they say about you not having a driver's license?"
"They're giving me a couple of months to get it. Guess I'll have to go see Flash sometime soon. Anyway, we'll think about that later. How was your day?"
"Terrible. Staying at home is boring me out of my mind," she replied, groaning.
"Surprising absolutely no one."
She ignored the quip. "Anyway, since I can actually walk properly now, how about we go out to eat for once? We can talk more over dinner."
"Sure. Lemme just go put my stuff upstairs first. Be right down."
With that, Nick climbed the flight of stairs towards their shared apartment. He began replaying Judy's words in his head, but nothing she said seemed to hint at anything obvious.
What are you up to, Carrots…?
"We have to go to court?" Nick asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Well, yeah. We were pretty much as involved as we could've been," Judy replied, flattening her ears to let a tiger carrying a tray of food past. "What's wrong?"
"Well, I've never actually testified in court before. Never been on trial either. You never need to if you never get caught hustling." Nick leaned his head on his arm, while his elbow rested on the table.
"You've never been caught by the police? Not even once?"
"Nope. Too good for that."
"So that means I was the first…" A cheeky grin grew across her face.
"Let's not go there again…" Nick mumbled.
They were at a street side noodle shop somewhere near the edge of town. Even though Nick had said that it was one of the less crowded places to have dinner, from the look on Judy's face, she definitely didn't seem to think so.
"How did you even get a table? This place is crazy packed." Judy asked, glancing around at the mammals that were standing around, waiting for a table.
"I know the chef. His father has been doing this before I was born, and he knows his noodles. Also, aren't you bunnies used to eating in more packed places than this back home?" Nick raised an eyebrow.
"Not at this time. Where I come from, most places are closed by sunset. There isn't really much to do at night when you're living on a farm, anyway. Too dark to do anything. Not like here. Here is…"
"Bright?" Nick offered.
"Glaring, more like. But yeah, there's definitely more stuff to do in Zootopia." Judy popped a dumpling in her mouth. "Mmm…this is really good."
"His dumplings are the best. The best thing after eating a big bowl of noodles and dumplings is a nice long nap. That really hits the spot." Nick murmured blissfully, before slurping the noodles from his own bowl.
"Don't get too used to it," Judy replied. "When you're in the academy, you won't get that much time to sleep. Also, a big tummy isn't going to help you."
"Says the bunny who ordered a second helping…with extra dumplings."
From the sudden erection of Judy's ears, Nick could pretty much tell he hit the nail on the head.
"I'll…work it off!" she protested, going a little red.
"And so will I," Nick countered, winking at her. "So, when's this court appointment, anyway?"
"That would be…the Monday after." Judy glanced over at her phone, presumably double checking the details. "It's at nine in the morning."
"Isn't that the day I enter the academy?"
"Well…yeah. Chief Bogo said that you can go after the court session. You'll just miss out a bit of the morning admin stuff."
"I get to avoid boring paperwork to go to court? Sounds great." Nick slurped up the last of his noodles. As he did, a badger zoomed past, dropping a fresh bowl onto the table unceremoniously before disappearing back into the crowd. Judy gave the fox a quizzical look.
"Wait, you'd rathergo to court? Seriously?" she asked, an eyebrow raised.
"As long as I'm not the one on trial, for sure. Have you actually sat through a court proceeding here in Zootopia yet?" Nick leaned over and scooped up a dumpling from Judy's second helping.
"No, why?"
Nick felt a grin growing across his face.
"Oh, you'll see."
Seven days more.
"Today marks a historic day for the city of Zootopia, for all the wrong reasons—"
Click.
"I will bow to your experience…as the fool—"
Click.
"YOU WILL NOT TAKE HER FROM ME!"
Click.
"So, you'll have to wake up at five pretty much every morning, unless they're doing live-firing training, in which case you'll probably have to wake up an hour earlier than normal…" Judy said, flipping through a large notebook.
"Uh huh," Nick replied, staring straight ahead at the television.
"It'll be a stay-in program for the first two weeks, after that you can come back home on the weekends."
"Mm-hm."
"They're going to be very strict with things like posture, movement, and things like that. When they tell you to go somewhere, make sure you run at all times, even if you know you'll just end up waiting there."
"Yeah yeah yeah…"
"Nick, are you actually listening to me?" Judy scowled, giving the red fox a look.
"Not really."
"NICK!"
"Carrots, I'm not even leaving for another few days. And I'm pretty sure other recruits didn't need to go through Judy boot camp before they entered the academy. I'm pretty sure they still managed to pass just fine."
"I'm just getting the feeling that you're taking this too lightly, Nick. This isn't going to be as easy as one of your hustles, y'know." Judy said, her legs hanging off the edge of her bed. "This is a completely different ball game."
"I never said it was going to be easy. Also, hustles definitely weren't easy, if you were wondering."
"You're sure acting like it's going to be easy. It's not just about passing, Nick. You're going to need to impress, otherwise you won't be able to join me in Precinct One. You remember what Chief Bogo said, right?"
"Something about high scores or something, right?" Nick yawned, flipping the channels on the television.
"Highest scores, not just high scores."
"Alright, I'll bite. Tell me why it's going to be difficult." Nick said, turning away from the TV for a moment, although he still left the show running.
"Well, first of all, you're going to have to pass a lot of exams. There will be on average, one test a week. You're going to have to study while going through daily training. And there's a lot of content. Rules of engagement, civil law, radio communication, ethics…"
"Why Carrots!" Nick mock gasped. "Are you insinuating that I can't pass an ethics exam?"
"I distinctly remember you bluffing a cop into buying a jumbo popsicle for you and your 'son'." Judy fired back.
"And because of that, here we are." Nick grinned. "Isn't it great? And for the other exams, I don't think studying will be very difficult."
"It's not just studying, Nick. There's still a lot of physical training. They need to make sure you're fit enough to chase a suspect, for example. Then there's weapon training, obstacle courses, and a lot of scenario training."
"Those don't sound too difficult. What's scenario training?"
"They put you into a lot of challenging situations to see if you can take it. Like working to rescue a hostage within a very short time limit. That means you'll need to work fast and think fast. You also have to make sure you can plan things out well."
"Hmm…does rescuing a crippled bunny from an evil sheep count as a hostage rescue?"
"That's…"
"And the whole blueberry-serum switch? I'd like to think that was thinking pretty fast on the spot."
The bunny still seemed unconvinced, although she didn't seem to have a good retort to that.
Hmm…
Without a word, Nick stood up. He walked over to his small cupboard, opening it and rummaging through the lowest drawer. He pulled out a large brown book from inside, before returning to Judy's side.
"What's that?" she asked. It looked more like a sketchbook than a planner.
"I thought I'd show you this, since I probably won't be using it that much anymore." He opened it gently, being extremely careful with the pages. The crumpled and worn pages looked like they'd been flipped thousands of times. And they were. He felt a familiar feeling building up in his chest. It was probably nostalgia.
On each page, were plenty of handwritten notes, most of them in point form. There were multiple directional arrows travelling across the pages, with several diagrams being referenced every other page. It was almost an overload of information. Some of the pages were crossed out, while others had parts circled here and there. Nick glanced over at her face, following her eyes as they took in all the things that were written on the pages.
Idea 41: Claw machine arcade rigging
She flipped a few pages forward.
Idea 43: Fur and wool resale (carpets and rugs)
"These…are hustling plans." She finally said.
"In case you're wondering, I never do a large-scale hustle without planning it out first. That includes getting all the documentation, market prices, backup plans, and of course, unforeseen circumstances." Nick said.
Judy definitely looked stunned now. She continued turning the pages, skimming through all the different ideas that Nick had come up with over many years. Nick smiled inwardly at the sight of her bewildered face.
"Well, is this convincing enough, Carrots?" he asked, amused. "It took me years to prepare this whole thing. All Wilde trademarked. It's probably worth quite the pretty penny. It's no cop training, but I have been in plenty of dangerous situations before. Including with you. You wouldn't have asked me to be your partner if you didn't think I could do it, right?"
Judy's ears flattened as she let out a little grumble. "Yeah, but it still doesn't mean you can slack off…"
Sigh…typical Carrots.
Nick placed a hand on her shoulder. "Look, how about we go to the DMV on Wednesday to see Flash? We might be able to get my license settled. We've got another week before I'm due for the academy. There will be enough time to do what we need to do, alright?"
That seemed to placate the bunny somewhat.
"Alright, fine."
"Good, now why don't you join me in watching this incredibly cheesy sci-fi flick?" Nick motioned to the television.
"I thought you didn't like to watch TV. You said so back when we were moving your stuff."
"Yeah, but I haven't figured out the Wi-Fi for your neighbours yet. Once I do, I can stream stuff from my phone. Then we can stop watching those annoying ads."
"So much for being ethical."
Five days more.
A fox and a bunny walked through a deserted parking lot, the dim street lamps casting a long shadow across the gravel. Their feet made soft splashes as they tried to step around the larger puddles on the ground. The rain had all but stopped, with only a few stray drops falling from the leaves above.
"I don't see any lights on…" Judy said, squinting at the frosted glass doors. "Are you sure they're open?"
"Oh they're there, don't worry about it," Nick replied, chuckling. "Don't you know that they're always here four hours before it opens? They'd never be able to get through the backlog of work otherwise."
The bunny looked over at the front door, where the words "DMV Operating Hours" were written in large bold blue letters. She then glanced at her phone clock.
"It's five in the morning, Nick…"
"Why are you looking at me like that? I thought you wanted to wake up at five in the morning all the time."
"I'm just surprised you were the one who actually suggested to come here so early." Judy remarked. "It's quite unlike you."
"Not much choice there. The circuit is booked pretty much all day long. This is the only way to get a car without a booking."
"So why didn't you ever bother doing this before?"
Nick pointed wordlessly to the time on her phone. She rolled her eyes.
"…Right."
"I do enjoy my sleep, Carrots. But I can deal with an afternoon nap if I need to every once in a while. Now, let's go in."
"Go in? How?"
Nick pushed the front door open with a hand.
"Like that."
"Wait, it's open?!" Judy exclaimed.
"Yeah, of course it's open. I just said that they're always here early. Why wouldn't the door be open?"
"But there's not even a single light on. Where's…" Judy suddenly stopped cold. Nick could almost hear the bunny's heart jumping. Her eyes were probably adjusting to the darkness inside the room. He couldn't really blame her for having that reaction. The first time he'd seen it, his fur stood on end too. For anyone who had never seen this before, it would look extremely unnerving.
In the darkness, what appeared to be sloth outlines inched slowly behind the table counters, like something from a silent horror film. With only the dim light from outside barely reaching the deeper parts of the room, the figures looked like ghostly silhouettes hovering above the ground.
"Do you see them?" Nick whispered into her ear, making it twitch sharply.
"Y-yeah. But why are they going about without any light? Are they out of power or something?" she whispered back. So far, none of the sloths seemed to have noticed—or reacted—to both of them entering.
"Sloths can see fine in the dark, Carrots. In fact, the only one who can't see well in the dark is you. Now come on, hold my hand. I'll lead you to the front desk."
"I can see just fine, thanks." She huffed. "Besides, it's just a straight walk to the front counter." She started walking forward. Nick started counting in his head.
3…2…1…
There was a loud thwack, and then the sound of a bunny trying to hold back a yelp. Nick smirked and stepped over the bunny, who was kneeling on the ground.
"They don't usually organize the area for another hour at least. Was it the pinky toe that you stubbed?"
"Hnnngh…yes."
"Ouch. Need a hospital?"
"Wipe that smirk of your face, Nick." She groaned softly.
"How do you know I'm smirking? I thought you couldn't see in the dark."
"I can hear you smirking. You're practically screaming." Nick felt a small hand softly clasping around his. The sudden action made him stiffen—but only for a moment. He forced himself to relax and just enjoy the little moment while it lasted.
"Right. Anyway, just follow me."
He began navigating through the room, which wasn't too difficult, especially since there weren't many more obstacles in the way. In no time at all, they were at the front desk. This close, it was easier to see what the sloths were actually doing.
"Flash, Flash, hundred yard dash. Mornin', bud." Nick said softly, so as not to startle the others. He waited and watched as his friend turned his head—slowly, of course. He felt Judy's hand shift slightly, and he decided to let go before it became a little too awkward.
"…Niiiiick? What…are…you…doing…here…so…early?" Flash finally managed.
"Yeah, it's unlike me, I know. Remember the appointment I made with you before for lessons? Well, I finally got around to doing it. But I don't want to bother you too much. So I brought my bunny friend here. Remember Judy? She's teaching me how to drive. You won't mind if we do a few laps around the circuit now, would you?"
"Hi Flash." Judy finally piped in. "Sorry to disturb you so early in the morning."
"…Sure." Flash replied nonchalantly. "Go…ahead."
"Thanks bud. I owe you one." Nick gave a thumbs-up, before making a beeline towards a set of double doors towards the back of the room.
"Well, that was easier than I expected." Judy commented. "And faster."
"Are you discriminating against sloths again? I told you they could be fast."
"Don't start with that again!" Judy groaned.
Unlike the main lobby, the parking lot was lit, albeit dimly. A whole array of grey cars filled the lots, with sizes ranging from small to elephant-sized. Although there were many vehicle designs, all of them were marked with the DMV logo, and a large red 'L' plate fixed onto the front and end bumpers. Nick walked a few minutes before stopping at one of the medium sized cars.
"This is it," Nick said, patting the hood of the car before pulling the door open and sliding into the driver's seat. "Hop in."
The bunny gave him a look.
"Please tell me the pun wasn't intended." She deadpanned.
"It absolutely was." Nick smiled. He patted the seat next to him. Her expression unchanging, Judy climbed into the side seat.
"Alright, do you know the first thing you need to do when you get in the vehicle?"
"Of course." Nick replied. He raised his hand and pressed the horn. Two loud toots rang out throughout the carpark, making the bunny jump in her seat. She began to shoot him a glare, but halfway seemed to give up.
"It's going to be a long day, isn't it?" she sighed.
"Always."
Two days more.
Nick whistled to himself as he bounded up the steps to Judy's apartment. Well, technically it was his apartment now, too. He twirled a key ring around his finger as he approached his room door. Inspecting the key for a moment, he nodded, before pushing the key into the lock. It went in smoothly. He turned the key, and the lock clicked once, before the door creaked open.
"Hey Carrots, I'm back." He pushed the door open. "The replica key works great."
The room was lit by the bright glow of the table lamp Nick had donated to her apartment. But the bunny wasn't in the room. Nick glanced over to the shelf where Judy kept her toiletries. A number of the bottles were missing.
Ah, she must be taking a bath.
Nick shut the door behind him, before tossing his key onto the table. The key clattered a few times, bouncing off a notepad and onto the floor. Nick grumbled under his breath, bending over to scoop up the key before firmly setting it on the table.
Something caught his attention in the corner of his eye. The notepad was mostly covered by a stack of flyers and brochures he'd picked up the day before from the supermarket, but he saw a familiar word written in the corner of the page that was sticking out.
Nick
He swept the brochures aside with a hand and pulled the notepad out. It looked like Judy's handwriting. He had expected it to be a message left for him, but the only thing that was written on the small piece of paper was his name, and the word 'Friday'. Nothing else. No notes, no instructions.
"What kind of message is this?" Nick said out loud, puzzled. And if she wanted to leave him a message, why would she keep it hidden under all those flyers? It was as if she didn't want him to find it. As he scratched his head, he noticed that Judy's drawer was slightly ajar. He could barely see the edges of a piece of paper in there. He knew that she was pretty protective of whatever was inside that drawer.
The gears were clicking in Nick's head.
He had a hunch.
Pulling the chair out slightly, Nick placed a hand on the handle.
"Look who's being hypocritical," a voice chided in his head.
"I just need to know if she's plotting something against me. I know she hasn't given up on my mother yet."
He pulled open the drawer. The first thing he saw was what looked like a handwritten letter. He decided to at least have some decency and avert his eyes from everything else in there. He gently lifted the letter out and gave it a quick look over. The first thing that caught his eye was his name. And it wasn't just one mention. A quick glance through the mail revealed several instances of his name being mentioned.
"Dear Commissioner Rhinestone,"
"Wait, Commissioner…?" Nick mumbled to himself. The word sounded familiar. And then it clicked. Judy's conversation over the phone from a week ago. It was just a guess, but Nick had a sneaking suspicion that he was right. He glanced back at the door. It was unlikely that Judy was trying to pull off his own trick against him, but he didn't put it past her. He slipped over to the door and yanked it open.
The hallway was empty.
"Now you're just being paranoid."
"It's Judy. There's no such thing as being paranoid when it comes to her."
Nick closed the door gently and returned to the computer, keeping his ears open for any potential footsteps. Regardless, it was probably in his best interest to read the letter as fast as possible.
Dear Commissioner Rhinestone,
My name is Judy. I was informed by Chief Bogo to help clarify his recommendation for Nicholas P. Wilde to the ZPD academy. First of all, I would like to apologise for the circumstances of our meeting last week. Regardless, it was still an honour for me to meet you in person.
Nick raised an eyebrow. Judy had never mentioned anything about meeting a police Chief Commissioner even once in the last week. And she'd been with him for most of it, so when did she find time? He shook his head and continued reading.
I first met Nicholas while I was working on the Nighthowler case several months ago. At first, I had my reservations about him due to his brash personality and sharp tongue—
"Hey!" Nick grumbled.
—but I quickly realized what kind of fox he truly was. He was willing to assist me in my investigation, and his help was invaluable. I can confidently say that without his help, I would never have found the true culprit behind everything. He is an extremely quick thinker, and incredibly resourceful. He saved my life twice during the course of my investigations. Once when I was being attacked by one of the savage predators, and another time when former Mayor Bellwether tried to eliminate the two of us when we learnt the truth about her involvement in the case.
On top of displaying bravery and courage in the face of danger, I believe Nicholas will make an excellent officer because of his values. He may appear to be uncaring and aloof, but I have never met anyone as kind-hearted and caring as him. I unfairly misjudged and wronged him several times, but he still stood up for me when no one else would. He has shown time and time again that he has what it takes to make it as an officer of the ZPD.
He believed in me, and I believe in him. I have no doubt that—
The message ended there. Judy was probably still in the middle of writing the letter. Nick read the last sentence again. And again.
"I believe in him."
"This isn't…" Nick finally mumbled to himself. This had nothing to do with his mom. This was a recommendation letter. She was recommending him directly to the Police Chief Commissioner.
He suddenly felt ashamed to be holding the letter the way he was.
And yet, at the same time, he felt a warm feeling inside him. He couldn't quite place the feeling. Optimism? Fear?
His ears perked up as he heard footsteps approaching. He quickly folded the letter and returned it to the drawer, leaving it ever so slightly ajar. He then slid the notepad back under the stack of flyers, before jumping onto his mattress. The footsteps approached the door, but then faded as they moved past the room. After a few seconds, it was clear that they didn't belong to Judy. Nick slowly stood up.
"I believe in him."
Those words were so familiar. Once again, she was saying things that his mom had always told him. He glanced over at Judy's bed and the assortment of stuffed toys on it.
It gave him an idea.
He plucked his key off the table and headed out, locking the door behind him. There was something he needed to get now. He knew it wouldn't be very much, but it would probably be good enough as a reassuring gift. As he stepped into the evening light, he exhaled softly.
Two more days…just two more days.
The day was almost here. There was no going back from this now. Nick held his hand to his chest. It still felt warm. He was starting to understand what he was feeling.
Hope. Hope that things would turn out for the best. Hope that this time, he would be able to see things through to the end.
And hope…that he would one day be able to face his mother again.