"So, an anonymous source gave you a tip that the meet is happening at Mystic Springs Oasis."
"Yup."
"And to catch the suspect, you and I have to go undercover in a naturalist club."
"You got it."
"And that this will be the fifth time in two months?"
"Pure coincidence, Carrots. I assure you."
Stepping into the Mystic Springs Oasis, Judy paused to take a deep breath and let the warm incensed air roll over her. Her eyes were slow to adjust to the dimly-lit foyer, but as she approached the front desk she could clearly hear the familiar chanting of the spa's bovid desk-mammal. She let out a little cough to get his attention and, blinking slowly, he peered down at her. "Hey, bunny! How's it hanging?"
"Hello Yax." She smiled politely, eying the ever-present cloud of flies circling his head. "I'm alright. You?"
"Keepin' on." He grinned lazily. "They got you here for another stakeout?"
She sighed at his lack of subtlety. "Yup, it would seem so."
"Got it." He nodded. "Well if you catch the bad guys in time, Nangi's afternoon class starts 'round three."
"Thanks."
"Cool." He lowered the large sign-in book to within her reach. "Just need your autograph and you can go on through. I'll let your know fox you're inside."
Judy thanked him and headed to the female changing room. She was barely out of the lobby when a particularly smug-looking fox came sauntering in the front doors with a spring in his step. "Yax, my mammal! Having a good morning, I trust?"
"Oh, yeah fer sure." The yak nodded, disturbing his swarm. "You here for another stakeout?"
Nick's ears twitched as his grin widened. "I am indeed, my friend."
"Right on, man." Yax nodded. "Your bunny is getting changed, but I'll give her the heads up that you're getting ready."
Yax calmly returned to his meditative chanting as Nick gave him a jaunty salute on the way to the male locker room. Even as he hummed a cheerful little tune to himself, Nick still felt the familiar tingle of guilt in his stomach.
ooooo
As she got undressed and placed her clothes in the nearest empty locker, Judy wondered how much longer she was going to allow this to go on. Obviously she didn't believe these anonymous tips, and she doubted Nick did either. As likely as not, it was some teenager trying to put one over on the ZPD for a laugh. Nick had to have realized that by now, judging by the hidden smile when he didn't think she was looking.
Judy took a deep breath, concentrating on not being annoyed at her partner. Was it really necessary to keep volunteering them for these stakeouts, just to have a laugh at her expense?
She'd gotten used to his occasionally sharp-edged sense of humor over the last year and knew that this was exactly the kind of thing he'd find hilarious. He'd never admit it, though. If she asked outright, he would look at her with that mockingly serious expression and remind her that she'd been the one to convince the Chief that it was their duty to follow-up on any tip, no matter what. Of course, that had been before she'd known where the tip would be leading them.
She didn't have the best memories of this place. Mystic Springs had been the first place she and Nick had ever gone together, and a small part of her still resented his petty attempt at upsetting her that day. Even though she fully understood his reasons, she could clearly remember the smirk on his face as he enjoyed her discomfort.
Shaking her head and closing the locker, Judy resigned herself to being a professional and made her way out of the locker room, clutching a wide-brimmed sun hat to her front, her back firmly pressed to the wall.
Lifting the fur from his eyes, Yax stood and walked to where the small officer was obviously trying to psych herself up. "Hey, bunny."
She snapped her head round to look him directly in the... "Gah!"
Rolling his eyes, Yax kneeled down to look her in the face. "Look...I hate to mess with your whole tough bunny vibe, but you're really killing the atmosphere 'round here."
"I..." She cocked her head to one side. "...what?"
"Animals come here to chill, man." He let out a slightly uncharacteristic sigh. "They want to feel like they can express themselves without being, like, judged or sexualized. And that's tough 'round someone who's all...y'know...wound up."
"Sorry." She looked away guiltily. "I'm working on being more relaxed, but..."
"Whoa now. Hittin' that ol' pause button right there." He interrupted, holding a hoof up. "You don't work on relaxing, man."
She shrugged helplessly.
"Look, you just say the word and I'll tell the fox you had to leave for some super important reason."
His words seemed to reignite the fiery determination in her eyes. "No. No, I'm fine."
As if on cue, Nick strolled up to them wearing nothing but a pair of aviators and his customary smirk. "Ready to go, Carrots? We're burning daylight."
It wasn't fair, she decided as she followed her partner out to the main courtyard. What gave him the right to be so damn casual about this?
"Ready to have some fun, Carrots?"
She narrowed her eyes at the insufferable smirk he aimed down at her. "Nick, can you at least try be professional about this?"
"I am." He insisted, leading her to a pair of lounge seats by the pool. "We're surrounded by mammals that are relaxing and having a good time. Anyone who isn't sticks out like a sore tail, so you could at least pretend to be enjoying yourself."
"Right." She put on a sickeningly sweet smile and once again resisted the urge to smack him upside the head. "Is this better?"
"Much."
ooooo
"Well, there's another eight hours I'll never get back." Judy muttered as she waited for Nick in the lobby. "What a colossal waste of time."
"Well, that's just, like, your opinion, man." Yax responded as he lowered the sign out book to her height.
"Sorry, Yax. I didn't mean..." She gestured vaguely at the doors separating the lobby and courtyard. "I just meant the stakeout was a flop."
"Don't sweat it." The yak shrugged. "By the way, if you two are gonna be having any more stakeouts this month it'd be way cheaper to get a membership than to keep paying the drop-in rate."
"No offence, but I'm hoping we're done with the stakeouts." Judy shook her head. "Besides, I doubt the ZPD would spring for two memberships. I'm surprised they've paid for us to be here at all."
"Dunno what to tell ya, bunny." Yax shrugged. "They only paid for the first one. The fox has been picking up the tab since then."
"Nick?"
As if summoned, the fox emerged from the male locker room. "Are my ears burning, fluff?"
"Nick, have you been paying the fees for our stakeouts here?"
He froze, eyes wide and ears pinned sharply backward. "I..."
She huffed. "I can't believe the department is making you submit for reimbursement every time. You're not made of money!"
"No...it's..."
"It's ridiculous, that's what it is!" She planted her paws on her hips, features set in a determined expression and completely unaware of the panic on her partner's face. "First thing tomorrow I'm going right to Chief Bogo and saying..."
"No!" Nick cried. "I mean, there's no need for that. It's fine."
"It's not fine, Nick." She scolded him. "It's completely unreasonable that the department only fronted the cost of one stakeout."
"Heh...funny you should say that." He rubbed the back of his neck uncomfortably. "The department may only have been aware of one stakeout."
Judy stared at him, dumbfounded.
"I mean, the first stakeout was one hundred percent necessary. Some dealer thought it'd be safer to do business if everyone was too embarrassed to look at you in the eye."
"Embarrassed?" She asked, confused. "But no one here is..."
"The slightest bit embarrassed to look at a naked mammal?" He finished, laughing nervously. "I guess he didn't think that far ahead, or consider how tough it is to conceal anything without pockets because he never made it past the lobby."
"He didn't?"
Nick shook his head. "Yax here noticed a skunk acting suspiciously in the locker room and trying to conceal a packet of something in the fur of his tail."
The yak had called the ZPD, dispatch had forwarded the information to Nick, who had then notified their backup. The suspect had been in custody moments later, without even setting foot inside the club.
"How long was that after we arrived here?"
He winced.
"Nick." She warned him, her voice eerily similar to the one her mother had often used when Judy was still a kitten.
"About an hour." He answered hesitantly. "And a half."
"An hour?!"
"And a half."
"So we stayed for another seven hours because...?" She left the question hanging, eyebrow raised expectantly.
"Well, we were already here." He shrugged. "I thought it'd be nice to relax?"
"And the reason we came back on four other occasions?"
He shrugged, apparently lacking a better answer.
"Nick..." She repeated, her voice rising.
"C'mon, Carrots." He whined, looking away.
She crossed her arms, scowling as her foot drummed a rapid staccato on the floor.
Nick gestured indistinctly at her, not quite making eye contact. A long silence followed as the gears in Judy's head began to turn. As it drew out, he began to shuffle his feet awkwardly. The faint buzz of flies seemed to grow steadily louder as his partner stared at him, her eyes widening in disbelief. "...what?"
He took a cautious step closer. "It's not what yo..."
"Stop." She threw a paw up between them. He halted in mid-step, jaw snapping shut.
"Are you honestly going to tell me," She asked slowly. "That you've been dragging me here - under the false pretense of actual police work, no less – just so you could get an eyeful?"
Yax's eyes darted back and forth between them as he shuffled toward the door. "I'm...uh...gonna give you two a minute."
"Umm...no?" Nick responded weakly.
"I...I..." Judy stammered. "I don't..."
"Okay, I think I know what you're thi…"
"No." She cut him off sharply, taking a deep breath as she locked eyes with the nervous-looking fox. "Here's what's going to happen. I am leaving, you are not coming with me, and I'll let you know when I'm calm enough to talk about...this."
"You...um...seem pretty calm now." Nick ventured.
Judy grasped his necktie and ignored his frightened yelp when she wrenched him downward, eyes blazing as she growled at him. "I'm not calm now, Nick."
She released her grip, sending him tumbling backward. By the time he regained his bearings, she was already gone.
ooooo
He managed to hold out for an entire day before he called her, but he wasn't surprised when it went right to voicemail. He texted her and received no response, even though he could see the message had been read. So he called again. And again. And again.
On the fifteenth call, she finally answered. "What do you want, Nick?"
"Can we talk? Please?" The fox pleaded, clutching the phone to his ear.
The line was silent for a long moment – long enough for him to fear she'd hung up on him. Finally, she gave a soft sigh. "Yeah, okay."
"Thank you, Carrots." A wave of relief rushed over him. "I can be there in about fifteen..."
"No, Nick." She interrupted. "Meet me tomorrow at the Snarlbucks on Second Avenue. The one by the waterfront. Eleven o'clock."
"Oh." He paused awkwardly, his smile fading. "Sure."
Judy hung up without saying goodbye; the dull click left a cold lump of dread in Nick's stomach.
ooooo
They sat in awkward silence, staring at their drinks.
"Nick...I thought I was showing up to a legitimate assignment. An assignment I hated, but a legitimate one all the same." Judy let out a faint chuff of air. "At worst, I figured you were just taking advantage of that to have a laugh at my expense."
"I'd never do that..." He responded weakly.
"No? But you'd lie to me, apparently. I was under the impression that we had a real friendship, Nick...not some hustle so you could score a free peep-show." The disappointment in her eyes broke his heart.
"Judy, I..." He looked at her pleadingly. "I was just trying to..."
"To...?" She pressed.
"To show you...how I felt about..." He trailed off again, unable to find the words he needed to say.
"Oh Nick." She ran a paw over her ears. "Not too long ago, I would have given so much to hear you say...well, it doesn't matter now"
Judy looked at him seriously as he idly picked at the edge of his cup. "I've already put in a request to have each of us assigned to a new partner. I said that we both wanted more experience working with larger mammals, so hopefully the Chief won't ask too many questions."
She held up a paw, cutting off his startled response. "I still think you can be a good cop, Nick, but you'll have to do it with someone else. I'll see you at work on Monday."
She finished her tea, put on her coat, and had almost made it to the door when he called out to her. "Carrots, wait!"
She stopped, but didn't turn around to face him. Even so, Nick knew a last chance when he saw one – he'd let enough of them slip through his claws over the years. Not this time, he told himself.
"A long time ago you said something that hurt me, we didn't speak for three months and those were the longest three months of my entire life. I can't...I won't...go through that again. I don't want to lose you just because I was an idiot."
He searched her stance for any indication that he was getting through to her.
"Nick," She finally said, her voice was tinted with anger. "Do you have any idea h-how exposed you made me feel? How betrayed?"
Her response felt like a bucket of ice-cold water dumped over his head.
"Yes." He admitted shamefully, eyes fixed on the floor.
"Do you?" She snapped, turning to face him. "Really?"
He nodded, unable to look at her. "You went somewhere with a mammal you trusted, thinking you were among friends. Then the rug got pulled out from under you. Suddenly it was like the whole world was laughing in your face and you were left feeling confused and humiliated a-and stupid..."
He paused as his throat suddenly went dry, fighting back the bitter memory of a long ago scout meeting. "I-I've been where you are, Judy - you know I have - and I can barely stand the thought that I'm the one that put you there. I was wrong to do what I did, no matter what my reasons were. I was stupid and immature and cowardly. But all I'm asking for...begging for...is a chance to regain your trust. Please don't take another partner."
In the silence that followed, he was suddenly aware of the glares he was receiving from the other mammals in the coffee shop. His ears caught more than a few muttered anti-fox slurs from the crowd, and he heard one of the baristas ask another if they should call the police. Gathering his courage, Nick forced himself to look up. Finding only an impassive gaze, the fox felt a painful tightening in his chest.
"I'm sorry, Nick. Starting next week, I'll be working with someone else." Pushing the café door open, the bunny stepped out onto the street and apparently out of his life.
Nick struggled to think of something – anything – more to say or do. He felt tears prickling at the corners of his eyes as he cursed himself over and over for destroying what may have been been the greatest friendship of his life.
"But..." His eyes snapped up to see the door still slightly ajar, held by a single grey paw. She slowly pushed it open again, looking back to scrutinize the despondent fox.
"B-but...?"
"But...I'll see you at work on Monday." She repeated with a tiny glimmer of warmth in her eyes, and Nick felt an equally tiny spark of hope in his heart. "Don't be late."
Lesson of the day: If you like someone, just tell them. Don't be a creep.