In the Days that Followed Chapter 1

Authors Notes: Normally I don't jump on the bandwagon so soon after a truly great movie's release. Zootopia's wonderful story and characters so moved me that I was inspired to continue the story. To me, Nick and Judy's relationship is far deeper than a simple buddy movie, and this story explores that, with some adult themes at a T rating. I haven't read any other Zootopia fan fic on ffnet, so if this repeats another story, I'm sorry. This is the way I see the story proceeding from the end of the movie. Disney owns these amazing characters. Look for a weekly publication of the chapters.

...

Judy Hopps felt warm and very cozy under the bedcovers. The bed was nice and soft. She was snuggled against something very nice and warm and fuzzy, and cuddled in the embrace of well-toned, red, and furry forelegs with sharply clawed paws. The face in front of her was sleeping. And snoring.

But this was not where she expected to be. Or the face she expected to be sleeping with.

Confronted with all of this, she was startled awake from her half-dream world of coziness. She was not in her smelly, hard, tiny bed. This was Nick's bed. Or at least she was in bed somewhere with Nick.

Judy lifted up the covers a bit, her eyes widened, and she gasped, "Uh oh."

She was naked.

She saw red body fur. A lot of it. And all of it was Nick's fur.

He was naked too. And she could see his…

"Ohmigosh…" she instantly looked away, forcing herself to whisper to not awaken him.

Judy looked between her legs and touched herself.

She thought frantically, "Omigosh. Omigosh. No. It can't be."

It was very clear from the evidence – they'd made love.

She sat straight up, clutched the covers over her lapin bosom, closed her eyes, and screamed, "NOOOO!"

…

But as she ran out of breath to scream again, she heard a frantic scampering of clawed feet on a wooden floor. An urgent knock came. The door to this unknown bedroom opened quickly and a fully clothed Nick ran into the bedroom, and he exclaimed, "Judy! I heard you scream. Are you all right?"

Holding the covers in front of her defensively, she cried, "I screamed because I was naked with you and in bed with you… and…"

But she realized reality was different and stammered, "Uh… No, I'm not. And you're not."

She looked at herself and discovered she was still fully dressed in her party clothes from last night, though they smelled of liquor. And so was he. He had 'bed head' fur. It almost made her giggle, but she was still very distraught.

"Awkward, partner," Nick grinned and raised an eyebrow.

Judy patted the pillow and sheets, "But you were just here. You were spooning with me."

"Lucky me," he thought, but he laughed, "Well, It looks like I was just cuddling with you in your head. I warned you after the third drink to stop, Carrots. To newbies, straight carrot vodka can be almost hallucinogenic."

"I know, I know," Judy admitted, and hung her head in shame at her behavior. While it was not as bad as she thought it had been, she was still in fact in Nick's apartment alone with him.

Nick thought she might be ready for a little teasing, "Do you want me to be naked and in bed with you?"

She blushed right straight through all that fur, which Nick enjoyed immensely, and she shouted, "No! Of course not!"

He kidded her further, "You sure brought it up enough last night after the Gazelle concert."

She was aghast at her 'loose bunny' behavior, but through the lifting fog in her head, Judy remembered the fun, wild night with Nick at the concert and dancing. And far too much carrot vodka. She blushed deeper. Her upright ears burned with embarrassment. She knew Nick was seeing her ears as red as his fur. She made them flop behind her head, and even clutched them against her neck, but knew from his snicker it was far too late. He was seeing her at her absolute worst.

She gathered her thoughts, "I would never want to be in bed with you, Nick. You're a fox and I'm a rabbit. We're police partners. We just can't do that sort of thing."

He was a little disappointed at the strength of her denial, but he scoffed, "Kinda like being the fox in the henhouse, eh, partner?"

This was no time for a crummy pun. She openly fumed with her face scrunched up in a scowl and her fists balled on her hips. She couldn't think of anything to respond to that except to complain, "I didn't mean it that way, Nick. We're partners on the job only. Friends for sure, but nothing more."

He rolled his green eyes, "There you go with those prejudiced stereotypes again, Carrots. Didn't we just put all that kind of nasty 'prey vs. predator stuff' to bed a year ago? Oops… I guess we didn't."

She remained annoyed with his ''being in bed comments, "Shut up, Nick. You are enjoying this far too much. So… you weren't ever…"

He assured her, "No bunny lady. I was sleeping last night off in my own bedroom. This was my roommate's bedroom. I put you here myself when you passed out at the doorway."

She was more reserved when she asked, "Then we…"

"No we didn't."

She was very relieved and knew she'd been cross with her friend, so she apologized, "I'm sorry I was mean to you. We're still partners, right, Nick?"

Nick looked her straight in the eye with conviction, "Yes, Carrots, we are professional partners. I promise you, Judy. I would never take advantage of you. I am not that kind of fox."

She smiled at him and relaxed, "OK. You're sweet Nick. Thank you. I do trust you. I was just… um… shocked. My dream was… uh… kind of… vivid. I don't remember much of last night, honestly, past the show and dancing with you at the night club down the street."

"Well you need to remember how good a great dancer you are, twinkle toes."

She stated proudly, "I took square dancing back at Bunnyburrow's social hall for five years."

He grinned, "Well, none of those moves last night looked like square dancing to me. But whatever that was, it was fueled far too much with all that booze, my cottontail friend. I warned you, Carrots."

She sighed, "Yeah. I guess you did."

He tried to lift her spirits, "How about some breakfast?"

As they walked to his kitchen, she answered, "Uh… OK. But shouldn't we get to work? We'll be late."

"Remember? Work is just out on the street. We just 'hop in' and drive away."

She gave him a fake angry look, "Stop with the puns already, Nick. So how did we get here?"

"I drove home last night. I still have the keys. We didn't want some cop stopping us after all you had to drink."

She chided her friend, "And you, dear sir, had some drinks too. Who drove for you?"

Nick just sipped his coffee smugly, and said, "I can handle my liquor better than you, Madam High and Mighty."

Realizing he was right, she changed the subject, and complimented Nick, "This cereal is yummy."

Offhand, Nick noted, "Organic. Comes from a farm. Like you. I love everything that comes from a farm."

She got goosebumps. He flirted on purpose.

"Who did you steal this from?" she grinned.

He snickered, "Moi? Jeez, Carrots, I'm offended. I actually bought it at the grocery on the corner."

She gave him a dubious look, "Big Giant Beast Foods? That's for prey. You're a carnivore."

"Well remember we are all herbivores now. That's the law. We might be eating someone's cousin. You know that, Little Miss Top of the Class."

He loved teasing her with name-calling. The trouble was she liked it too, and she usually threw it right back at him.

Munching on the delicious granola-like cereal as if it was an animal's hindquarters, Judy kidded as she pretended to rip hunks out of the bowl of cereal, "Oh yes. It's a shame about Uncle Charlie, he's a bit chewy and gristly. He should have been on a diet, poor dear."

They couldn't both help but laugh loudly, but Nick warned in mock sternness, "A word of warning, my little hare friend. No more of that carrot vodka for you ever again. It makes you silly. If I hadn't been there you would have gone home with anyone."

"OK. I promise," she smiled at his protectiveness like a big brother.

They finished up, and she placed her dirty dishes in the sink, with the rest of his soiled kitchenware that had been accumulating for nearly a week. It reeked. She just shook her head, found the dishwashing detergent, and started washing everything and put it in the drying rack as they continued to chat, "You sir, are a pig."

She hoped no pigs were within earshot of that insult.

He grinned, "Well I've been meaning to do those for awhile. Kinda busy lately. You know. Police work."

She gave him a very doubtful glance then said confidently, "Sure, Nick. I bet. But seriously, thanks for putting me up. The way back to my tenement is sort of scary in the dark. Even though I'm a cop, of course, and trained to defend myself against any criminal."

He smirked, "Of course you can defend yourself. Don't mention it. What are partners for? Coming back here was just convenient, being closer to the concert hall and nearer to ZPD Headquarters. It was a short enough night as it was."

"Yes. Staying in your apartment was definitely a one-time convenience, Nick."

Both heard her tone that wasn't so confident about that assurance.

Judy enjoyed having breakfast together with Nick as friends, not just professional partners. She was so relieved that they hadn't been together in bed. She was prouder that he'd been a good partner and friend and not taken advantage of her drunkenness, what appeared to be her forwardness, and didn't let her make a horrible mistake with him or anyone else. They could have ended up in bed together.

But she couldn't shake the thought of being disappointed that they weren't.

She observed, "Nick you have a very nice place."

He shrugged, "It's not much, but it'll do."

She knew she was in that awful tenement, but she teased, "Which is paid for with all that tax free ill gotten loot for a dozen years?"

"You know I'm legit now. Good salary and all as a cop. It's a little hard right now. I just lost my roommate."

She was shocked, "Finnick moved out?"

He noted, "Yeah. Seems he found himself a live-in lady friend."

She grinned, "Well that sly fox!"

Nick raised an eyebrow, "To quote someone I know, 'enough with the puns already'…"

After they finished laughing together, Judy said very seriously looking at the kitchen clock, "Omigosh! We'll be late for muster, Nick. You know Chief Bogo is death on being there on time."

She swigged the last of her coffee, killing the last of her hangover headache. They rushed off to their bedrooms, groomed as best they could, and started to get dressed.

Judy came to a horrible realization, "Aagh! My uniform. It's at home!"

Nick said calmly, "Don't you always have a spare at the precinct locker room, Carrots?"

"Whew! Thanks for reminding me, Nick."

She helped Nick turn off the stove and lights and locked the door. She took one look back, as they jumped in the SUV.

Nick ordered, worried about the time as well, "Carrots, you better step on it. Pretend you're chasing Flash."

"Good thinking," she praised as she put on the lights and siren to move all the traffic out of their way. She gunned the huge engine.

"Roommates…" Judy thought, "It actually has a good sound to it."

But she hid her smile from Nick.