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"Welcome back, Mr. Wilde," said the otter, not even raising her eyes from the monitor.
"Thanks, Sam. Did anything happen while I was out?" asked the fox.
"Nothing Sir," replied Sam, checking the agenda, "But remember that the meeting is this afternoon, at 2 PM."
Nick chuckled, "Well, I'll try not to be late this time."
The otter rolled her eyes at him but suppressed a smirk. This time, she had actually scheduled the meeting half an hour later than she told her boss.
"Since you have nothing for me, I'll go down on the floor and mix with the crowd. If you need me, call my number, and tell Honey and Fin the same if they show up. We still have to work on the renovation plans for the Roar-A-Coaster scenery," said Nick, turning back and walking towards the elevators.
Nick liked to walk around the paths and the attractions of Wilde Times, his indoor amusement park. He needed it to ground himself in reality, as a reminder that it was all real, that he really did it. He had the original idea for it back when he was 16. A place where predators could be themselves without having to worry about the prey around them. They could roar, yip, and snarl as they wanted. They could eat without fear of showing their fangs or making prey uncomfortable by eating bugs, fish, or poultry. They could sneeze without risking that some prey took it as a threat. They could even yawn in public! A safe place for every pred in the city.
When the banks refused his loans to fund it a couple of years later, he had been angry. He felt like the world was set up against him. He used to say, "Obvious! All the banks are owned by prey mammals!"
He chuckled out loud at the salty teenager he had been. Yeah sure, it wasn't like the stigma against predators, his species in particular, wasn't there. A couple of times they even called security on him before he could even start pitching his idea. But, in hindsight, who would give that kind of money to a kid fresh out of high school? It took a business management degree from an online school and 15 years of his life to get here.
He chuckled again. Said like that made it sounded like he worked really hard for those 12 years. In reality, he had given up, choosing to live by the stereotype of his species, to only give the world what they expected from him.
He looked at the time on his phone. Four years ago at this hour, he would probably be in Fin's van, heading towards Tundratown to freeze the Jumbo Pop juice back into individual Pawpsicles. Things had changed since then, since the Night Howler crisis hit the city. He smirked at himself in the mirror. He was wearing his signature tie and Pawaian shirt. Yes, lots of things changed, but not everything. One of the advantages of being the owner. The dress code doesn't apply to you. Not that the company had one, not outside of the park staff uniforms. Most of his employees simply assumed there was one and dressed formally on their own.
He chuckled every time he saw the small group of formally dressed mammals walking towards an old rundown airship hangar at the edge of Happytown.
Finding this location had been a real stroke of luck. The old hangar had been scheduled for demolition for years, but the company that owned the place went bankrupt just after the Night Howler crisis when it was found out that the CEO was in on the conspiracy and using the scare to buy predator-owned land for cheap. After the arrest of Bellwether and her cronies, the mammals at City Hall were more than happy to sell the land to him. After all, he was instrumental in the missing mammals case, and his plan for opening a predator safe haven resonated well with them after the crisis. That also solved the problem of what to do with the historical building. Part of the conditions for the lease was that he had to take care and preserve it.
The elevator finally reached the ground level, the indoor park itself. The noises from the park hit him as soon as the doors opened. Good soundproofing was paramount for a place like this. He started walking around the park, enjoying being immersed in the crowd and especially enjoying the typical sounds of an amusement park. The intermittent screams coming from the Roar-A-Coaster, the distinctive "Roar" of the carts running on the rails, the mix of 3 or 4 different songs from different genres from the various rides, the laughter, the talking, the... Angry screaming? OK, that was strange. He started walking towards the voices.
"...Ma'am, please understand, I really can't compromise on our guest's safety," it was Bob, the weasel in charge of the Ghost Train ride.
"But that's not true! It's just a load of crap based on a stereotype!" shouted a familiar voice. How? It couldn't be her, could it?
"Move on, bunny! You're holding up the line!" Came another voice.
Nick went around the corner and, finally, had a view of the scene. A smile immediately came to his face as he saw her. She was turned the other way, so she hadn't seen him yet, but Bob saw him. He was about to say something, but Nick shook his head, silencing him.
While Wilde Times was built for and targeted predator customers, it didn't forbid prey to enter. It rarely happened, but if one showed up at the ticket booth, they would be given a small pamphlet containing a disclaimer on the nature of the place and asked to sign a waiver declaring that they had read and understood it. Still, out of all the prey mammals in the city, a rabbit was the last one he expected to find here, especially not her.
Judy was starting to lose her patience. She did understand the disclaimer at the entrance. She really did, this was a predator save haven after all, but this was getting ridiculous. She never would have guessed that someone would have tried stopping her with the old "bunnies can be scared to death" urban legend. And this was just the Ghost Train. If this is how they treated her here, she couldn't imagine they would allow her to go anywhere near the Roar-A-Coaster or any of the other, more thrilling rides.
She was about to give the weasel a piece of her mind when a familiar voice came from behind her, "Well, well, well, look who we got here! Officer Fluff! Long time no see."
She knew that voice! She quickly turned around, and there he was, Pawaian shirt and everything, smiling smugly at her, "YOU!" she exclaimed.
"Me!" replied Nick.
"What are you doing here?" she asked.
He chuckled, "My name is on the door. What are you doing here? This isn't exactly a place for cut—"
"Nicholas Wilde! Don't you dare to finish that sentence!" ride and weasel forgotten, Judy jumped over the fence and ran up to the fox. As soon as she reached him, she punched him in the shoulder. Hard.
Nick winched, "Ouch! Good to see you too, Carrots!"
Suddenly, it was like the time hadn't passed for her, and all the sadness, the guilt, and the anger came back, "You know for how long I've searched for you? I came back to the city, solved the case, and helped with the mess afterward, all while searching for you, but it was like you vanished in thin air! Where have you been?"
The fox tilted his head to one side, "Back to the city? Solved the case? Are you talking about..."
"The Night Howler case, yes," her ears dropped behind her back and looked down. The memory still hurt, "I actually left the city a couple of weeks after the press conference and went back home, just like you said I would do."
"Judy, that was—"
"Let me finish, please," he nodded. So she continued, "A couple of months later, a friend of mine made me find out what the Night Howlers really were, and I immediately came back to the city, looking for you," she took a deep breath and looked back up at him, "I searched you for two days. When I realized I couldn't find you, I went to Bogo and gave him the evidence. He hired me back, and I was in the task force that brought down Bellwether. I wasn't in the news coverage because I explicitly asked to be left out of it."
She looked down again, and in a low voice, almost mumbling, she said, "I owed you an apology."
"What?" asked Nick.
"I owed you an apology and an explanation. I still do," she repeated a little louder.
He shook his head, "Fluff, that was three years ago. It doesn't matter, not anymore. And, anyway I—"
"No Nick. It matters. I was ignorant and irresponsible. I was small-minded," she sniffled, her vision starting to blur with tears, "P-predator suffered because of me, I hurt them, a-and I hurt you," she was now crying, not really caring that she was causing a scene. This had been a long time coming, "I was a horrible friend, and you were right. I really am just a dumb bunny."
She suddenly found herself enveloped in a strong hug, "You bunnies, so emotional," came Nick's voice.
She couldn't help herself and let out a teary giggle, hugging him back. She indulged in the hug for a few moments before separating from the fox. They started walking, and she let him guide her. He looked familiar with the place. After a few minutes of silence, she asked, "So... Where have you been?"
He sighed, "During the crisis, I made myself sparse. It wasn't exactly the right climate for a hustler to operate. I started thinking about leaving Zootopia for good, like many other pred—" He noticed her ears drop again, "No! Stop that! It wasn't your fault, Judy."
"But it was me tha—" she started.
"No," he stated, "You were set up, Bellwether pushed to have you there, remember? And that ram reporter? Didn't you guys arrest him as part of the whole thing?"
She wasn't so easily swayed. She had learned to live with this guilt over the past 3 years, so she tried again, "But the—"
"No 'buts'. If it's your fault, then it's mine, and Bogo's too, just as much. We didn't stop her. On the contrary, we both encouraged you despite knowing you were tired and unprepared. I can't believe you're still beating yourself up for that after three years."
She sighed, "I-I know, I get your point, but I can't help how I feel. Maybe it wasn't entirely my fault, but still. I feel responsible. If I hadn't talked like that..."
"...then someone else's would have said the same thing, with the same result," he finished for her.
They continued walking in silence. Judy knew he was right from a logical point of view. But even if she was just set up, even if she had been nothing but just a tool in Bellwether's hands, she still said those words, not to mention the reaction to him later. She took a deep breath, "You're probably right. Still, I'm sorry. For what I said at the press conference, but not just that. For having profiled you when we first met, for my casual specism, for the Foxaway spray, for blackmailing you, and for my reaction afterward. For all of that, I'm sorry."
"You're forgiven, Fluff," Nick sighed, "And I suppose I owe you an apology too. I was a jerk back then. I delayed you, insulted you, and hurt you too," she was about to protest, but he waved at her, and she let him continue, "Don't tell me it's not true, you started by saying that I was right about you going home, that shows that I got to you that day. No, I wasn't right, I was just being a major tail-hole. So," he clapped his paws, startling her, "What if we make a deal?"
She raised an eyebrow, looking up at him, "Uh?"
"I forgive you if you forgive me, so we can stop this whole apologizing thing, and go back to catching up and otherwise enjoying our day. What do you think?" He wiggled his eyebrow, his hustler charm turned to eleven.
She giggled, "Sounds like a plan, Slick."
He smiled at the nickname and looked at her straight in the eyes, "Well then, I officially forgive you, Judy," he said, offering his paw.
"And I officially forgive you, Nick," she said in a serious tone, looking back at him and taking the offered paw, shaking it.
The two stood still, gazes locked on each other. After a minute, Judy let her left ear go limp and fall in front of her face. She then blew at it and made it rise and fall again behind her head. It was a dumb trick she used on her younger siblings to win staring contests, and it worked perfectly fine on the fox, who couldn't resist and erupted in a genuine belly laugh. She joined him after a couple of seconds.
It took a minute for the two to recover. Nick was the first, "Sly bunny!"
"Dumb fox!" she replied instinctively. Suddenly, the heavy atmosphere of the apology was gone, "So, what now?" She asked.
He took out his phone and looked at it, "It's 11.45, what about lunch?"
"Sounds like a plan. Where?" She asked, looking around.
He smiled at her. He knew exactly the right place. Now it was only a matter of securing one of the VIP tables with a view. He pointed to a set of balconies overseeing the park from high up on the wall of the hangar, "Up there, that's 'The Lodge.' Originally, it was the control room for the airship operations, now it's the only true restaurant inside the park." he tapped Sam's contact on his phone, starting the call.
Judy looked up at the balconies, "Wow, that sounds amazing. Do we need a reservation?"
"Working on that, Carrots," he replied as he brought the phone to his ear. The call connected, "Sam it's me. I need a favor," he started.
"Yes, Mr. Wilde, what do you need?" the otter asked. Nick noticed Judy's ears perking up at the new voice.
"I need a VIP table at the Lodge ready for two in," he looked again at the time on his phone, "Half an hour. Can you make it happen?"
There was a moment of silence, and he heard the sound of Sam's keyboard, "No problem Sir, it will be ready!"
"Thanks, Sam. I'll explain to you later." He closed the call without waiting for her reply and put his phone back in his pocket. Then he turned to the bunny, "Done!"
Judy shot a glance at him, "You know the waitress?"
He was taken aback by the question, wait... Didn't she know? With a smug smile on his muzzle, he replied, "Yeah, something like that. So, we have a bit of time, you wanted to try the Ghost Train?"
Looking at her, he could see her remembering what happened at the ride by the anger resurfacing on her face, "Yes! But that weasel! He... Urgh!"
"Bob? What did he do?" He asked.
"You know him too?" the surprise was evident on her face.
"Yeah, something like that," he repeated.
"Well, your friend Bob, he is afraid that it's going to scare me to death! Can you believe it? A mammal really thinking that bunnies can be scared to death?"
Nick sighed, "Sadly, yes, I can believe it. Come on, I'll deal with him."
Her ears shot up. Did she get it? "Wait! You work here?"
Nick chuckled, no, she didn't. His smile grew even wider as he replied, "Yeah, something like that."