You Shouldn't Kiss Me Like This

A/N: This story is inspired by the Toby Keith song of the same name. Hope you enjoy!

At the end of the day, Nick Wilde was exhausted. Being a police officer was a gratifying job, but it was far from easy. He had to always be on the top of his game, ready for action, any action. And with Judy Hopps as his partner, there was sure to be some. Today they had pulled over a dozen drivers for speeding, investigated a disturbance in a neighborhood, and broke up a fight between a cat and a dog. The latter of which was arrested for assault and battery. As exhausting as the job was, Nick had to admit that he enjoyed it. It felt good to be giving back to the community in a positive way, instead of cheating animals out of money or other material goods. Judy, was to thank for that. If it weren't for that persistent little bunny rabbit, he'd still be selling pawpsicles at a cheap price. Since they solved the missing mammals case, the two had gotten along splendidly. With Judy's intuition, and his charm, the two made a great team.

As the two finished filling out the last bit of paperwork they had for the day, Nick gave a sigh of relief. "I am so glad this day is over," he said, putting his signature on the dotted line.

"I take it you've had a long day," Judy said.

"You could say that."

"Well, at least it was a constructive one. We got a lot accomplished today," Judy said, brightly.

"Yes, we did. I tell you that fight between the cat and dog was intense. I thought we'd never break them up," Nick said.

"You just got to stay calm, and take it one step at a time," Judy explained. "Although I doubt I would have been able to subdue the dog had you not been there."

Nick laughed. "Why's that? You have a tranquilizer gun, don't you?"

Judy smiled. "Yes, but your presence just makes me feel better. It's always comforting to have someone by your side in a dangerous situation like that. Who knows what that dog could have done?"

"Hey, remember don't judge an animal by its species," Nick reminded her.

"Oh, I'm well aware of that," Judy said.

Nick finished the last bit of paperwork he had, and stood up, and stretched his arms. "Well, I'm going to head out. Good night, Carrots."

"Good night, Nick. Have a good evening," Judy said.

Before he left, Nick turned back to look at Judy. She still had a huge amount of paperwork on her desk left to fill out. It would take her all night to get through it. Judy had been working really hard lately, she needed to take a break. In fact, Judy deserved a treat for all her work.

"Hey, would you like to have dinner with me this evening?" Nick offered.

Judy smiled politely, and shook her head. "I'd love too, Nick, but I have a lot of work to catch up on."

"Come on, you've been working hard all week. You deserve a little downtime."

"I know, but I just got to get this paperwork done," Judy said, looking unpleasantly at the huge stack of papers on her desk.

"Carrots, it'll still be there in the morning, I promise. How about you and me go out to dinner, maybe see a movie, and afterwards we'll go for a walk on the beach?" Nick suggested.

"How romantic," Judy said, sarcastically.

"This isn't a date, Carrots. It's just two friends spending time with each other. What do you say?"

Judy looked at the stack of papers on her desk. She really wasn't looking forward to the evening going through all of them. Today was long, and she was exhausted to say the least. As much as knew she should finish what she was doing, she had to admit that even police officers needed time off from serving and protecting the community. She put the piece of paper she was working on into the stack beside her, and walked over to Nick.

"Sounds like fun," she said, smiling.

The two arranged for Nick to pick Judy up at her apartment in an hour. For the evening, Nick decided to just dress casually. He wore a polo shirt, and khaki pants, nothing special, but enough to look presentable. At around 7:00, he showed up at Judy's apartment, and knocked on her door.

"Just a minute!" she hollered from inside.

"Take your time," Nick replied.

The door swung open, and Judy stepped into the hallway. She was wearing a red blouse with a pair of jeans.

"Are you ready?" Nick asked.

"Sure am."

Nick drove the two to a restaurant that he heard great things about on the lower east side of Zootopia. Judy ordered a plate of lemon-glazed carrots, while Nick stuck with a salad. During dinner, the two conversed freely about what was going on at the ZPD. They talked about Zach, a zebra who had recently gotten engaged. They spoke of a recent string of burglaries that had occurred recently, and what they should do to try and stop them. Nick suggested a stake out in order to catch the crooks in the act, which Judy liked. After dinner, the two went to the beach on the other side of Zootopia. The weather was perfect; not too hot, not too cold, just right for a nice walk on the beach. Getting out the car, Nick and Judy walked down the steps into the sand. The soft, warm feeling of the sand felt good to Judy. Before she came to Zootopia, she had never been to a beach before. At night however, it was much quieter. There weren't nearly as many animals there. In fact, it wasn't long before it was just the two of them on the beach.

"Look at the sky!" Judy said, pointing up. An array of stars was shining brightly against the pitch black sky. "It's beautiful!"

"Yeah, it sure is," Nick said, looking up. He looked back at Judy who was still gazing at the stars. In the moonlight, she looked very pretty. The light from the moon bounced off her eyes, making them glow. Nick felt something strange within him. As he continued to walk along the beach with Judy, he found himself frequently glancing at her. Something was different this time around. It wasn't him or her; it was the situation. Before tonight, he had only known Judy as his partner on the force, and as a close friend. Tonight, seemed to be more intimate.

When they came to the pier at the end of the beach, they took a seat at the edge, and watched the tide come in. For a moment, neither of them spoke, choosing to just enjoy the tranquility of the evening.

Nick watched as a wave splashed onto the shore, and slowly pulled back. He was so mesmerized by the waves that he didn't notice Judy speaking to him.

"Nick, Nick, can you hear me?" she asked.

"What! Oh, yes," Nick said, snapping out of his trance.

"I said that this was a very nice evening," Judy said.

"Oh, good…I'm glad you enjoyed it," Nick responded. Truthfully, he didn't want it to end just yet.

"I appreciate you taking me out here," Judy said.

Nick smiled. "No problem, Carrots." He scooted closer towards her, feeling that same sensation that he felt earlier. Why was he feeling like this?

"I could stay out here all night. I love nature," Judy said. "At Bunnyburrow I used to go out with my friends, and we'd sit on the roof of the barn, watching the stars like this. It's very peaceful."

"Yeah, it is," Nick said, barely registering what she said. His mind was still on Judy, and the feeling he got with being with her like this.

"You're right, I really do need to relax, and rewind every once and a while. Protecting the citizens of Zootopia is a big responsibility."

"No doubt about it," Nick said. The red fox thought back to his past year on the ZPD. It was miraculous how one animal can have such an impact on someone's life, but Judy did just that to him. He remembered the speech she gave during his graduation ceremony. What she said really hit home with him. "Look inside yourself and recognize that change starts with you. It starts with me. It starts with all of us," she had said.

Though he thanked Judy many times for all that she did for him; most notably, changing his life around, he still didn't feel like he had shown his appreciation enough. Whenever he did thank her, Judy reminded him that the goodness was inside him all along; he just had to find it. Nevertheless, Nick realized how grateful he was to have Judy Hopps in his life. That little rabbit who at first annoyed him like crazy, turned out to be the best friend he could have ever asked for. But could there be more between them? Granted, he was skeptical at first, seeing as how they are both different species. But the more he thought about it, the more he began to think that it didn't matter. Judy meant so much to him; so much that he…he loved her. More than as a friend, more than as a partner in the ZPD, he loved the sly bunny more than he could ever imagine. This night was supposed to be just a get together between friends, but now it felt like it could lead to something even bigger.

Judy noticed Nick staring off into space. Immediately, she wondered what was wrong.

"Nick, are you OK?" she asked, putting a paw on his shoulder.

Nick turned towards her, and kissed her on the lips. Judy's eyes opened wide the second she felt his lips touch hers. The tender moment between them lasted for at least a minute before Nick pulled away slowly to face Judy again.

The red fox tried to speak, but found that the words just wouldn't come out. As much as he enjoyed the kiss the two just shared, he began to feel regrettable that he came on to Judy so quickly like that. He should have talked to her first; no woman likes a guy to just randomly kiss them out of the blue like that. He just gave into his feelings.

The next few minutes passed by in silence as Nick and Judy continued to look each other in the eye. For all intents and purposes, Judy did not look upset. She just stared at him with those mesmerizing amethyst violet eyes of hers. Before Nick could find something to say, she opened her mouth to speak.

"You shouldn't kiss me like this," she said, softly. "Unless you mean it like that."

"I…I do mean it," Nick said. His entire body felt numb with passion.

"Well, if you do, then kiss me again. You dumb fox," Judy said, smiling brightly.

Nick couldn't believe what he was hearing, but it didn't matter. What mattered is that Judy wanted him as much as he wanted her. Without thinking twice, Nick kissed Judy again on the lips; this time with more fervor than the last. The young rabbit wrapped her arms around Nick's shoulders, and pulled him even closer so that their bodies were touching each other. Judy fell back onto the pier with Nick on top of her. Not once did the two stop kissing each other; not once did they think about getting home because it was late. They just enjoyed each other's touch under the starlit sky. For that was all that mattered right now.

A/N: Thank you so much for reading! Please review and let me know what you think. If you want to check out another story focusing on Nick and Judy, I would highly recommend my story "Guilty of Love." Thanks again for reading!