"New collar, Wilde?"
Nick had to keep himself from groaning out loud at the doe's remark. In fact, it was all he could do to calmly fold his menu, set it on the table, and grin in her general direction. "It's called a necklace, sweetheart." He twisted it around his neck so that the box, usually on his right side, was visible to her. "See? This has all my police information stored inside, so if I die in the line of duty, the world will still remember my name. Nicholas Piberius Wilde."
The doe's expression remained dull. "Hip-hip-hooray," she mumbled. "Nick Wilde, hung by his own collar."
Nick sneered. "Always one to cheer me up, aren't you, Deloris?"
Her face unchanged, she held her pad and pen up. "Shall I start you with an appetizer today, or are you just here to admire the scenery?"
Nick raised a paw. "Now, now, Deloris. Don't rush me. I only sat down twenty minutes ago."
"Thirty-six, but who's counting?" Deloris maintained her stance, pen at the ready. "Usually when you come in here, Wilde, you order the pancakes and poached eggs."
"Maybe I'm in the mood for something different today," Nick suggested.
Deloris ignored him. "When the food arrives, you spend ten minutes drowning your pancakes in blueberry syrup before eating them, and only eat one of your eggs." She maintained the exact same expression she had when she first approached his table. "Every single time, Wilde."
Nick fought to keep his signature smile. There were some mammals even he had a hard time putting up with for long periods of time. "In that case, as I see it, I'm doing you a favor this time around." He spread his arms across the table. "As you can see, no syrup-drowned pancakes. No untouched eggs."
"And no order yet," Deloris pointed out, "which means no tip for me." She tapped the back of her pen against the notepad once, then a second time several moments later. "Do you need time to continue looking over your menu, sir?"
Nick finally lost his smile; the word "sir" had done him in. Deloris had called him, Nick Wilde, by a well-respecting honorable name. He wouldn't stand for that. He calmly collected his menu, and opened his mouth to begin a joke. "Actually, I was going to ask you to just give me the whole left side of this thing, but—"
"Coming right up." Before Nick could react, Deloris reached over, grabbed his menu, and began walking back to the kitchen. Even as she left, he remained transfixed in his seat, wondering how a doe with her personality could move so fast.
It was only when he realized that he had, in fact, ordered the entire left side of the menu, that he was able to formulate words. "Oh, dear," he murmured.
"Ha, ha," Deloris mocked. "It's funny because I'm a deer." Her monotonic voice was then, to Nick's relief, cut off by the sound of the kitchen door closing behind her.
Nick forced himself to forget about Deloris—and the unfortunate bill from the food he had just ordered—and took out his phone to once again check the time. 7:22. He shifted his weight on the cushion of the booth he was sitting in. How late is considered too late? Do I call her? Do I text her? Is that considered rude?
He fidgeted, unsure of what exactly to do. Normally, in situations where he was clueless, Nick could at least pretend he knew what he was doing. But this was such a new experience for him. Nick had been on dates before, but they were always with foxes. This time, the date was with a rabbit—and it was hard for Nick to accept that it really was a date.
This whole day had been a whirlwind of new emotions for him. First he was given this stupid shock collar, which he absently twisted on his neck back to its original position to make it more comfortable. He was going to be stuck with this for the rest of his life, and the more he thought about it, the less he liked it. Sure, he could have just left it on his desk at the ZPD and walked out the door, but Judy had touched his arm, and…
That bunny is doing things to me. Nick looked at his phone again. It now read 7:23. Never let them see that they get to you, huh, Wilde? You haven't kept that rule once since you met her. After his conversation with Dr. Wood, Nick was slowly beginning to accept that he had feelings for Judy. The full extent of those feelings, however, he wasn't quite sure. He had slipped enough when meeting the psychiatrist—the kind of mammal he should have hidden his feelings from the easiest. And if it was possible for Dr. Wood to see that he cared about Judy as more than a friend, it made Nick wonder what Judy herself saw.
That thought scared him. These feelings were still so new to him—and he still didn't know exactly what he felt—that he was worried he might push Judy away if she found out about them. As much as it would pain him to lose any possibility of the two of them ending up together, it pained him more to consider the thought of losing her even as a friend.
His grip on his phone tightened. Calm down, Wilde. He took a deep breath. Just take this slowly. Figure it out for yourself first, then figure out the rest later. He closed his eyes, grip tightening all the more. So you have feelings for the rabbit. So what? Big deal. You're still Slick Nick. You're a fox. You're sly. You're in control. You're prepared for anything.
"Nick?"
The sudden voice caused Nick to yelp and jump in his seat. The phone left his grip and went flying out of his paws, landing hard against the table. The abruptness of his reaction caused Judy, who had just arrived, to flinch, taking a step back and standing on her tiptoes.
After a few seconds of them staring at each other in awkward silence, Judy slowly asked, "Nick, are you okay?"
Nick took some time to gather himself. He forced a wide smile. "Oh, me? Yes. I'm okay. I'm fine, as a matter of fact. Never better. Why do you ask?" He stumbled through his words—and even as he did, he knew how horrible it all sounded. After another awkward few seconds of silence, he grabbed his phone, pocketed it, and motioned to the booth opposite him. "Would you like a seat, Carrots?"
Judy glanced at it cautiously. "I'm not sure," she replied, quite honestly.
Nick quickly jumped up, mentally kicking himself for not doing so earlier. "Oh, where are my manners?" He stood beside the opposite booth and held a paw out for Judy to take hold. "Please be seated, Officer Hopps," he finally said with his normal suave tone.
Even though she still seemed unsure of how to proceed, Judy took Nick's paw, smiled, and sank into the booth. Nick had specifically requested a booth in the restaurant with one seat higher than the other, so there wouldn't be a height discrepancy between the two of them. Once she was seated, he reseated himself and began to relax.
The first thing he noticed was Judy's outfit. When he had texted her the name of the restaurant, Pigs in a Blanket, he had assumed she would Zoogle the place and find out it was just a twenty-four-hour diner. Nothing special, certainly nothing dress-up-worthy. Judy seemed to have gotten the memo; she wore a three-quarter-sleeve pink shirt that was complimented by khaki pants.
Even so, to Nick, she stood out as the best part of the diner. He was sure, if he allowed himself, he could stare at her for hours.
Don't rush it, Wilde, he reminded himself. This is just a casual date. Nothing serious. She probably doesn't even know this is a date.
"So…" Judy cleared her throat, obviously trying to break the silence. "Is this a date?"
Crap. Nick feigned ignorance and fluttered a paw in the air absently. "It's as much of a date as you want it to be, Carrots. I just arranged it. You take it however you wish."
"Well," Judy said after a pause, "I've never been on a date before, but how is this any different than what friends do? I mean, you and I have had lunch together plenty of times during work."
This didn't really surprise Nick. Judy had spent her whole life working toward being a cop. Any spare time she might have had for boyfriends had been replaced by more time jogging a marathon or absorbing an encyclopedia of police material. "Well, there's not much to it." Nick spread his arms out on either side of the booth, making himself comfortable. "We just sit here and talk and eat, for the most part."
Deloris appeared by the booth, balancing a tray full of dishes. "Here's the vegetable lasagna and the toast, Wilde." She set them down on the table. "The pancakes are on their way."
Nick barely glanced at her. "Thanks, Deloris." He turned his attention back to Judy. "We can talk about my day—and I did have some interesting things happen—"
"How will you like your eggs?" Deloris asked tucking her tray underneath her shoulder.
Nick groaned. "Uh… Over-easy." He tried again. "Or we can talk about your day, and I'd love—"
"Will you want white or brown rice?"
"White, I guess!" Nick snapped. "I'd love to hear all about it, even—"
"Pred-friendly flies on your burritos, or beans?"
Nick turned to her, fed up. "Look, surprise me!" he begged. Satisfied, Deloris turned and went back to the kitchen.
Judy blinked, confused at the exchange. "Wow, Nick. What happened? Did you order the whole left side of the menu?" she joked.
If only she knew. Deciding it would be for the better if she didn't, Nick instead suggested, "How about you tell me something about your day, and then I tell you something about mine?"
"You mean, we go back and forth?" Judy asked, making sure she understood correctly.
Nick nodded. "Yes, back and forth." He smiled, this time genuinely. "Please, ladies first."
Judy took a nervous breath. "Okay," she began. "Let's see. I don't know where to begin." She paused for a second, thinking. "How about I tell the story of why I was so late?" she asked.
"Sure, start with that," Nick encouraged.
Judy took a deep breath, then began. "Well, I was about to start on this big new case that Chief Bogo gave me, but when I was walking over to my desk, a Furrari just blew past the ZPD, and I decided to chase it, but when I reached the parking lot I saw all the police cruisers were gone except Chief Bogo's, so I ended up taking that, and let me tell you, he did not like that one bit, but it didn't matter because I caught the guy at the end, and Bogo ended up being okay with it all, but I'm getting ahead of myself, because that wasn't until after a long chase that went all the way to the Meadowlands District…"
Somehow, during her story, Judy didn't take a single breath. She rushed through, trying to explain every detail as it popped into her mind, but also trying to make sure she didn't leave a single thing out. All the while, Nick listened intently, barely noticing her lack of punctuation, and only vaguely surprised by how many words could fit into one tiny bunny breath.
Nick nodded silently. The whole story was pretty intense, and Judy's descriptions of the chase, and the twenty-foot jump, and the burning car, and all the other dangerous things did make him a little bit nervous. However, it was obvious she was okay now, so he allowed for her to keep talking, never once stopping her.
After no time at all, Judy finished her story. "So I finally got home, showered, and ran over here as fast as I could." Her tale complete, Judy took a breath and leaned back in her cushion in relief. "And I hope I never have to do anything like that ever again."
Nick had happily listened the whole time, happy to hear Judy talk about something that excited her so much. In fact, he hadn't said a single word the whole time. Judy just now seemed to realize this. Her face flushed the tiniest hint of red, and her ears drooped. "I've been rambling, haven't I?" she whimpered as she sank in her cushion a little more.
"No, not at all!" Nick assured her.
"I have," Judy retorted.
Nick gave her his signature half-lidded grin. "Carrots, if you were truly rambling, I would have called the waitress over and ordered my food to-go."
"You want it to-go, Wilde?" The voice tore into Nick's ears like nails on a chalkboard. He slowly turned to see Deloris bringing a new round of food to the table, this time including fresh tortillas, beans, scrambled eggs, and cheese for the burritos.
"No. Thank. You. Deloris," Nick responded, forcing himself to keep his expression straight.
As Deloris delivered the food, she asked, "What vegetables do you want for meals number six and seven?"
Nick groaned, struggling to not literally bark at her. "I'll have mashed potatoes," he calmly replied, "and green beans."
Judy tried to make the situation better. "So, Nick," she asked, "how was your day? You saw Dr. Wood, right?"
"Yes, Carrots," Nick replied, glad to stop dealing with Deloris. "And it was—"
"You can only pick two," Deloris responded.
Nick blinked. "What?"
"Vegetables."
"Mashed potatoes and green beans," Nick repeated through gritted teeth. "And Carrots, it was—"
"Do you want carrots?"
"Not carrots, Deloris. Carrots."
"What?" Judy replied.
Nick, finally unable to keep his cool any longer, held up his paw. "Just one second." He turned to the doe, leaned forward in his seat, and glared at her. "Am I your only customer today, Deloris?"
For the first time that night—actually, since he had known her—the deer gave him the slightest hint of a smirk. "No, but you're my favorite," she replied, before finally turning around and leaving them alone.
The exchange left Nick perplexed, and for the second time today, he found himself with his jaw dropped, unable to articulate words.
Judy, not quite knowing how to respond to the whole thing, decided to slide a plate of pancakes over to her side of the table. She leaned to the far end of the table, grabbed the blueberry syrup bottle, and poured it onto the whole stack. "So, Dr. Wood?" she inquired.
Nick figured it was time to dig into the food himself, and quickly made himself a burrito. "Well, he's fine, I guess," he started. "Our talk went fine, even if he did trick me into telling him my true feelings about things."
"That's kind of the point of talking with a psychiatrist, isn't it?" Judy asked.
"Yeah, but that's not how I work. I don't tell people how I really feel." Nick bit off the top of his burrito and chewed it quickly, barely taking the time to taste how good it actually was. "I wanted to just go in there, pretend to be someone else for an hour, and leave with all my private details kept to myself." He bit off another chunk. "I was suckered, though. I think the only thing he doesn't know about me now is the password to my zmail."
Judy started eating some of the vegetables. "What did he say about the shock collar?"
Nick finished the burrito before replying. "Not much. He started quoting a philosopher and…" He paused. "You're not related to a Thomas Hopps, are you?"
Judy thought for a second. "No, not that I know of. Why? Who is he?"
"Never mind," Nick responded; the less he thought of his meeting with Dr. Wood, the happier he would feel. "Long story short, he gave me a complete psychological pass, and I seem to be taking this thing well." He scratched underneath the collar. "I have actually forgotten I was even wearing it during parts of today."
Judy took a bite out of a corn-on-the-cob. "I wish I could forget about them so easily," she admitted. "Actually, I'm shocked you have." Her paws flew to her mouth, but the word was already out.
Nick, unaffected by her poor word choice, couldn't help but chuckle. "You're so cute when you're embarrassed," he teased, twirling a fork in her direction.
Judy kept her paws on her mouth but narrowed her eyes at Nick's mention of her being "cute". She took a moment to recover, before calmly closing her eyes and lowering her paws. "I'm sorry, that was a poor choice of words."
Nick stabbed some fries with his fork and tossed them in his mouth. "Eh, I'm over it," he shrugged.
"You are, but yours doesn't work. I had to deal with three today that do." The news caught Nick off-guard, and he almost dropped his fork. "The polar bear and the tiger that I took into custody, and the lion in the Furrari. All three of them have shock collars now, Nick. None of them had a say. All theirs work." Her ears lowered. "And it's all my fault."
Nick took a hard gulp as he thought about what to say in response. The thought of how the collars would affect other predators did cross his mind several times today, but he had assumed it would happen in the long term. Definitely not right now—definitely not on Judy's watch, with him not there beside her.
Three. All in one day. He took a deep breath as he contemplated it. All within the first day. And knowing how hard Rolfe is pushing this, all the predators with criminal records will be given shock collars within a week or two. Then the preds without records… This is going too fast.
His thoughts were interrupted by the realization that Judy was staring at her carrot soup, not moving. "It's all my fault," she repeated.
The other predators no longer his immediate problem, Nick reached over the newly-arrived bowl of yogurt and grabbed Judy's paws in his. Without a second thought, he let the words flow freely. "Listen to me, Carrots," he told her, looking her in the eyes. "None of this is your fault." He craned his neck, indicating the shock collar on his neck. "This is not your fault. This is something that we will work on fixing, right? We saved Zootopia together, and we can get rid of these together, too."
Hearing Nick's words seemed to help, at least a little. Judy's ears perked a tiny bit, and she forced a smile and nodded. "Right, together," she agreed. "Chief Bogo already gave me access to everything for the predator cases. We'll start on those first thing tomorrow."
Nick squeezed her paws. "Sounds like a plan to me." He let go, leaned back in his cushion, and indulged in a bowl of blueberries that had recently appeared at the table. "So, what else happened today?"
Judy took a few sips from her carrot soup. "Well, I interrogated the polar bear and tiger. The polar bear works for a trash company. He insisted he didn't remember anything, and the way he acted, he was pretty convincing."
"Sounds pretty convenient if you ask me," Nick remarked.
"I'm telling you, Nick. He went berserk." Judy grabbed a banana from the center of the table and began to peel it. "I saw the look in his eyes. It wasn't a mammal who had done something wrong and wanted to get out of it. It was a mammal who was scared…" She stopped mid-peel. "And then I made the call to give him a shock collar…" Her voice faded.
Hoping to get her mind off the event, Nick quickly asked, "And what about the tiger?"
Judy slowly finished peeling her banana and took a bite. "The tiger was going to talk, but then a lawyer came and stopped him."
Nick snorted. "What a rat," he mumbled.
"Hey!" came a small voice from a table near them.
Nick froze, unaware that the rodent family had heard him. He quickly put on his sly smile and waved. "Yes, that Nick Wilde! It's a pleasure!" He turned back to Judy. "We get recognized in the most interesting places, huh, Carrots?"
Judy's resulting look caused him to slowly lose his smile and go back to his blueberries. "Anyway," she continued, finishing her banana, "the tiger signed a non-disclosure agreement, and he can't tell anything to us unless a judge issues a court order. Chief Bogo is working on that, but until he gets it, we have to keep working for ourselves."
Nick smiled. "All right. Anything to get out of another meeting with the good doctor."
Deloris appeared by their side, checkbook in hoof. "Whenever you can, Wilde. My shift ends in three hours. Maybe you'll have this all boxed by then."
Nick sighed, before forcing himself to turn to the doe. "Thank you, Deloris," he grinned. "I'll make sure your tip is appropriate."
"If you have any money left in your wallet for one," Deloris replied, before she left to fetch the boxes.
Judy looked around the table, eyeing the mixture of plates and bowls, some empty but most still full of food. "So," she asked, "is this what a date is like?"
"Some of them. Sometimes dates involve going to the movies. Or going for long romantic walks on the beach."
Judy's ears perked. "'Romantic'?" she repeated. She smiled mischievously. "Ah, so this is a date after all?"
Nick blinked, then quickly retorted, "I was only describing what a date could be."
Judy rolled her eyes. "Nick, this is a date." Before Nick could respond, she continued, "Don't be coy about it. We're both adults here. There's nothing wrong with two friends going on a casual date together."
Nick distracted himself by opening the checkbook, and found himself alarmed at the total listed at the bottom of the receipt. He quickly closed it, hoping it would magically disappear, and returned his attention to Judy. "Yeah, if you're into that kind of thing," he responded, trying to play Judy's statement off like it was no big deal.
"I've never been to the beach before," Judy replied. There was a sparkle in her eyes that Nick had never seen before. Is that…longing? Is she actually longing for something?
Nick chuckled. "Well, the Canal District has some nice beaches. We can go there for our second date, if you want."
Judy blinked. "S-second date?" she stammered. Her insistence just a few seconds ago that there was nothing wrong with casual dating seemed to have completely disappeared in her surprise.
The lump in Nick's throat told him he had said too much. "I mean…" Usually a professional with words, the fox now found himself struggling to find them. "It doesn't have to be a date. We could go to the Canal District and pretend we're working on the case or something. Or I could give you the directions and you can go there by yourself if you—"
"Nick," Judy interrupted, stopping him. After a pause, she smiled warmly. "A second date sounds nice," she finally said.
Relieved by her words, Nick smiled back. "Good!" he squeaked. He quickly cleared his throat and tried again. "I mean, good. How about next Friday? We both have the day off, we can make a trip out of it."
Judy nodded. "Friday it is," she agreed. Almost as soon as she answered, however, her left ear began to droop, ever so slightly. "So, does this mean we're dating, or…?"
It was a question Nick had hoped wouldn't come up. If he were to be honest with himself, he had thoroughly enjoyed his evening with Judy. There was something about the two of them being able to meet outside of work and enjoy each other's company that made him feel warm inside. He had never experienced this feeling with anyone else, and it was one he definitely wanted to keep feeling—especially with Judy.
But on the other hand, he knew he couldn't allow himself to get his hopes up too high. He was still working out exactly what he felt about the whole thing. Do I really want us to be more than just friends? And if so, is this how our relationship would start—with me snapping at the waitress and Judy in despair over shock collars?
He was surprised when his initial answer was, Sure, why not? He had to calm his thoughts and think through it logically. Wilde, she's a bunny. You're a fox. That alone should be enough to keep this from ever happening—from even being possible. You're lucky she's your friend at all.
The events from the past few days played themselves over in Nick's mind. Judy crying on his shoulder, sharing her nightmare of him attacking her; dealing with the tiger and meeting Rolfe afterward; the shock collars this morning; and his talk with Dr. Wood. The whole situation unnerved him, and he was sure there was more to it all…
But for now, he didn't care about any of that. They all helped him to come to one conclusion: He wanted to be close to Judy right now, and help to keep her safe from whatever the world would throw at her.
For a split second, he closed his eyes. To Judy, it simply looked like a long blink, but during that time, Nick weighed his options. He quickly came to the conclusion that he only had two options: Either he could tell Judy that yes, they were dating now, as long as she was okay with the prospect, or that they were going to simply remain friends.
If I tell her my true feelings now, I might push her away forever, he finally decided. Best to take it slow. Besides, friends can go on dates as just friends, right? She said so herself. He thought it over a second. I'll look it up on Zoogle later.
He opened his eyes and put on his signature half-lidded smile. "Nah," he replied. "Just the two of us, going as friends. Nothing more."
It was impossible to read Judy's response. Nick at least expected either a sigh of relief, or a tinge of disappointment—some sort of indication one way or the other. Instead, the bunny simply smiled and nodded. "Then I'm looking forward to it!" she replied.
"Same here. Make sure to bring a swimsuit so we can wade in the water. And sunscreen. Wait, do bunnies get sunburned?" Judy nodded her head. "Okay, bring sunscreen. Actually, I'll bring the sunscreen. Don't worry about that. Actually, don't worry about any of this right now. We'll talk about it closer to when we're about to…" Nick stopped talking, noticing something for the first time all evening. "Carrots," he pointed out, "you haven't even touched your pancakes."
The entire plate, by now, was soaked in blueberry syrup. The pancakes were absorbing it so much, they were practically melting under the sheer amount of it all.
Judy glanced down at the plate. "Oh, yeah," she remarked, as if it was nothing out of the ordinary for her. "That's how I like them." She raised an eyebrow. "Why? Is there something wrong with that?"
"No, not at all," Nick quickly responded. He slowly sat back in his cushion and eyed his receipt, wondering if there was any way to get rid of one of the extra digits in the amount due. That's how I like mine, too, he added silently.