Life was good. It'd had been several months since Judy had moved to Zootopia. No more Night Howlers, no more savage animals, just her doing what she loved. Sure, that whole case had been quite the experience, but she preferred to keep her work on a much smaller scale than city wide conspiracies. She also appreciated another new part of her life, her partner, Nick. Sure, when they had first met, he was a total jerk, but as they worked more together, a mutual respect and friendship formed between the two. Now, they were working together every day, and even on their days off they'd try to hang out with one another. She had just about everything she could want really, her dream job, respect from her co-workers, and even a best friend.
Today was just like any other day really, she got dressed, and made her commute from her small home to the ZPD precinct building. However, about halfway there, Judy heard her phone ring. She fumbled around a bit, pulling it out and checking who it came from. Sure enough, it was her Mom and Dad, probably calling to make sure she's okay and safe. Despite their supportive behavior over her career choice, they were still worried sick about her constantly, even more so after they heard that her first case had her dealing with predators going savage and trying to kill her. Sighing a little, Judy answered the phone call. "Hello?" she asked.
"Hey! Jude the Dude!" her Dad cheered, reciting the nickname she'd had since childhood.
"Hi dad" Judy said in a cheery tone.
"So, are you gonna make your way down here tonight?"
"Huh?" Judy asked, a puzzled look spreading over her face "Why should I be heading down? I thought we had planned you guys would come up here next time we met up"
"Oh, you must not have heard, I could have sworn I told you already... Anyways, there's a little festival here in town starting tomorrow, and everybody would just love to see you there!" This would have annoyed Judy, she liked having some semblance of order with her schedule, but in this case she was more excited. She had followed her dreams and is now living the life she always wanted to live, and if she could inspire the young bunnies in her hometown to do the same, she'd be even happier.
"I had no idea! If I had more prior notice, I'd probably already have taken the next, what... three, four days off? I'll check with the Chief, but scheduling is pretty tight. Speaking of, I've gotta go before I'm late! I'll call you around noon with my definite answer! Bye!" Judy hung up the phone and raced to work, not wanting to be scolded for her lack of punctuality.
Once she got there, she instantly bee lined for Chief Bogo's office, hoping she can squeeze out the days off. The stars must have aligned for Judy, because Bogo was in a pretty good mood. Their relationship had greatly improved after that first case, there was an understanding between them that they're both stubborn and if left to their own devices will get the job done. However, not even on their best days did she ever expect to get a full week off for something as trivial as wanting to go to a festival. Yet, there it was, a full week, no paid vacation of course, but she didn't mind, she was just happy to go. Giving the chief a swift salute, she ran off to go meet up with Nick.
The Fox was lounging in a chair, wearing those sunglasses he had adopted to his uniform. One thing Judy had to admit, was that he definitely had the cool and collected persona for the job, and it had already helped when questioning witnesses that weren't open to talk right off the bat. Together, the duo had quickly become the premiere team at the ZPD. "Hows it going Carrots?" Nick asked, sitting up in his seat.
"Pretty good!" Judy replied, noting how almost everyone close to her had a nickname or two for her. "Though you may not be seeing much of me for a little while"
"Pursing your lifelong dream of being a carrot farmer?" He asked, in his always calm sarcastic tone.
"Closer than you think actually, I'm heading home for a week, there's a festival and they wanted me to show up"
"A week huh?" Nick asked, a pensive look creeping on his face "Well, you have fun with that." Judy noticed that Nick seemed a little off, he'd usually make some joke or sound pretty eager, but that felt a little different. She tried to shake the feeling, but something about the way he said it just burrowed deep into her mind. However, she couldn't let anything that trivial bug her all day, so she went straight to a question.
"Is... that okay Nick?"
"Huh? Oh totally, I was just thinking about how sad you'll be not seeing this handsome face for a whole week!" Nick jeered, his signature fox grin showing once again. Judy rolled her eyes a little, tugging on his tie and stiffing a giggle.
"But in all seriousness Carrots, you have fun, I don't want your week long absence to be a total bore for both of us." Judy assured him that she'd have fun, but then, something stuck out once again in her mind, she was beginning to think that this was bugging him more than he let on. Why did he say "both of us"? He could just be setting up some witty comeback again, but Judy felt like there was a bit more behind it. Taking a deep breath, pushing the thought to the back of her brain, she decided that she can ponder on Nick's feelings about her vacation later, but right now that both of them had work to do.