Judy's Private Show

Judy's Private Show

Judy Hopps had settled into her seat again, deciding she needed a break from dancing. It'd be a short one, for sure. She loved dancing, especially at family weddings. Luckily for her, bunnies always had a lot of those. Today, her cousin Caroline Cottontail was the guest of honor.

As kits, Judy and Caroline were close. So close, in fact, that there were times when Judy wished she was a Cottontail. Caroline had always been athletic, and her parents were super-supportive of her dream to be the first rabbit in the ZBA. It came as no surprise to Judy that she'd reached her goal.

Caroline had married Jackson Boundswell—a.k.a. Jax; they'd lived across the street from one another growing up. She'd come back to the Burrows needing some downtime from her high-stakes career, she and Jax had reconnected, and the next thing Judy knew, there was another epic Hopps/Cottontail gathering to look forward to!

If only Nick had shared her enthusiasm. She and Nick Wilde had been partners at the ZPD for almost two years, and dating for nearly as long. In that time, Nick had happily been her plus one for no less than 15 weddings—5 sisters, 6 brothers, and 4 cousins. Add Caroline, and the grand total came to 16! To a bunny, that was no big deal. But, to a fox, that was a whopping figure.

At first, he'd teased her about it, making the usual bunny jokes. Then came the sarcastic remarks about how he'd used up his extremely limited arsenal of dance moves. It was only after he'd exhausted all his lame excuses that she noticed how exhausted he was.

Judy had always wanted to be a cop. From her first day at the Academy, she knew what she'd signed up for. Nick was a different story; it was a big adjustment for him. What's more, he had to be hard-pressed to admit any weakness. The ZPD could be intensely draining, physically and emotionally, if you weren't prepared—and even if you were. The fact of the matter was that Nick needed to take it easy for awhile, and he and Judy had different ways to decompress.

She imagined Nick on his apartment balcony, sunning himself in his favorite lawn chair as he sipped an exotic drink. She smiled and took a swig of her pina colada; at least they could agree on one thing!

For Judy, there was no better way to unwind than to kick up her heels with Caroline and the gang. She was about to do just that, scanning the dance floor to determine who was most in need of a partner, when she stopped in her tracks.

She'd spotted Jax—or, more accurately, Jax's tail-end—shaking in perfect rhythm to Robin Redd's “Blurred Lines”. Judy covered her mouth with both paws to keep from laughing. Thank goodness she had a thing for foxes…! Still, she decided to delay her next foray onto the dance floor by a few more minutes and enjoy the show. And when she got back to the city, she'd tell Nick every little detail of this moment, just to annoy him.