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Nick knows that as soon as Judy has a case, it's almost the only thing on her mind until it's solved. She'll plow forward sans sleep, food, or any other basic survival need until it's all said and done.

None of it mattered if it meant bringing someone to justice and making the world a better place.

And Nick loves that about her, he really does. But he also loves her. Of course he does.

Ever since her first "It's called a hustle, sweetheart."

That's why he spent an entire day and a half desperately following Judy every step of the way. Everything he had done was for her, fleeing from the law, staying close to keep her safe despite all of the stubbornness and shenanigans. Most importantly, save her when she repeatedly put the case above her own life.

She almost drowned for bucks sake

And then she was pulled away from him by a collapsing building, almost falling to her death.

But was saved, just barely, by a snake he barely knew anything about and a Lynx he didn't quite trust.

All of that in the wake of their fight, the look of sorrow and doubt on Judy's face burned in the back of his mind.

"No one will question whether you and I belong together again" had turned into "maybe we are...different."

There was nothing he could do as he watched the Lynx carry her away, she had never felt so far away.

All he had wanted was to run away with her.

And then Nick found himself standing in a cell, pouring out the words he regretted not saying, to a quirky podcasting beaver.

He appreciated her company in that moment at least.

Next thing he knew, he’d escaped and was being driven faster than should have been physically possible by a Sloth to get back to Judy.

And yet all he could think was-

Drive faster!

Finally, they got to the wall and it took him a few (terrifying) minutes to get inside but he did and then he couldn't freaking find her.

The desperation to find her grew the longer he looked, so close yet so far. The panic and fear rose in him every second that ticked by. It was almost unbearable.

...Then the rooftop happened.

He turned around and there was the Lynx, approaching him slowly with this look in his eyes.

A look of sadness but not quite guilt.

That's when he saw it, in his paw. He wasn't sure exactly what it was, but he knew what its purpose was.

But even in the face of death, there was only one thing on his mind.

"Where is she?" He demanded.

"She...she didn't make it."

That's the moment.

That's the moment the air left Nick's lungs. That's the moment he felt his heart drop into his stomach, and despair took its place.

She didn't make it.

Judy's gone.

Judy's dead.

That's the moment his entire world was ripped away from him. Forever.

No.

No.

He tried to say it out loud, but the word didn't get past his throat.

Suddenly, the Lynx was on him, and he's not sure how, but he still found the strength to fight back.

Then, he heard the snake's voice, saw Judy and he had hope again.

And that's all he needed.

—

Then:

Days later, after the party at the De'Snake home, after their names were cleared with the ZPD and they got their jobs back. After the totally completely platonic slip up of "Love you partner" that bled too close to the truth, everything should have gone back to normal. Everything had gone back to normal.

They went to work, wrote up reports, patrolled the city as the Hopps and Wilde dream team they were always meant to be, and then they went back to their respective homes to sleep and do it all over again. Everything was normal, Judy was safe, Nick felt like he could breathe again.

That's when the nightmares started.

And he thought she was dead.

To a man who was just told “she didn’t make it”

“She’s gone”

“It’s not worth it”

To see the limp, lifeless body of the very subject of those statements being dragged around by an animal you don’t know while being chased by someone you know wants you both dead?

Nick didn’t just get traumatized by the THOUGHT of Judy dying.

Nick saw Judy dead.

We all know Zootopia 2 is a romcom, why didn't they do the cliché dancing-for-the-sake-of-the-mission scene?

The same Judy who never reported Nick for his tax evasion? The same Judy who offered a partnership to Nick after only knowing him for a couple days because she saw the potential he had to be a good cop? The same Judy who, immediately after returning to Zootopia after discovering the truth about Night Howlers, rushed to find Nick before even daring to continue working on the case because she knew what she did to him was wrong and had to apologize first? The same Judy who gave Nick his badge at his graduation and smiled at him with such warmth and pride it melted her heart? The same Judy who gave him the carrot pen to symbolize their official partnership? The same Judy who got him a new tie with Night Howlers on it as a gift for their ‘anniversary’? The same Judy who was so desperate to prove that she and Nick ‘belong together’ because the thought of being split up terrified her? The same Judy who knew exactly where Nick lived despite never being invited over likely in case she needed to go over there for an emergency? The same Judy who had Nick’s exact measurements to have a custom-made tailored suit for him? The same Judy who desperately tried to crawl her way to help Nick despite being injected with snake venom, on the verge of her own death? The same Judy who knocked down three animals that were five times her size and threw herself off a cliff, not even thinking she and Nick would survive, but still did it because if they were going to die, they could die together?

take a scroll 😽

Nick and Judy are in the middle of a sting, but when they arrive, they find out the MacGuffin they were looking for is really a Living MacGuffin.

They find a bird egg.

At first, no one knows what to do; there aren't birds in Zootopia, and that opens up the "reason" as to why and the movie can then explain if they aren't there for a specific reason. The A plot would be that either Nick and Judy keep the egg in secret to figure out who it belongs to and they investigate it or the egg hatches soon after they get it and the baby bird was stolen by an antagonist and just wants to find its mama, so Nick and Judy become its surrogate parents while searching for clues to return the baby bird to Mama, and possibly, find out if the reason why birds don't live in the city is related to their mostly mammal population or something else entirely.

Now the B plot? Aka whatever is the personal growth for Nick and Judy?

I'd like it to be Nick's parent(s).

I know the fandom has heavy speculation and there is a little bit of information available, but that's what I think would bring us full circle. My theory is Nick's dad is either dead or MIA and his relationship with his mother is estranged, but I don't know if that was because he changed after he was traumatized as a kid by those awful scouts or did something external happen to him after it that caused him to not be in his mother's life anymore and vice versa. I'd love to unpack what happened and this time, Judy is getting Nick to slowly open up and heal instead of bottling it up and building a bridge over the hurt. By finding their baby bird's mother and returning it safely, it could be a parallel to Nick either forgiving or just reconciling with his living mother (or father; I am also open to the idea that saving the city twice means Papa Wilde comes home to claim his son and there is tension between them, if he is in fact not actually dead or missing) and that could also be the B plot. I think Judy is perfectly suited to help Nick unpack his past trauma and be willing to move forward with her as her partner (whether the writers decide they are a canon romantic couple or they keep it ambiguous again) and I think that would be such a great place to end the tale (ha!) or segway into a limited series after Zootopia 3.

I loved seeing Nick find the words after a whole movie of being too nervous or scared to tell Judy how he felt, and I think they could truly unpack an "unready parent" trope exceedingly well, given how well the writers did with both bigotry and revisionist history as the conflicts in movies one and two. The third one's theme could be anything from being about immigration (using the birds' migration as the metaphor, for example) to parenthood and its many, many complications as well as how it relates to childhood trauma. I really have enjoyed the emotional intelligence that Zootopia 1 and 2 have shown us, where they remind us of the fact that you can be biased without realizing it, and you can cause further harm to your relationship by being avoidant and not wanting to have the hard conversation to unpack your trauma and move past it. I think that would be a great way to tie it all together AND at the end, having "raised" a baby bird together, Nick and Judy go full canon into a romantic relationship and end the franchise on a very sweet, affectionate kiss. Or God save me, a wedding.

NOW.

That's my FIRST choice.

The second choice is probably too risky, BUT...

I'd really love the third one to have the same baby bird idea, but be about the pressure of a fox and a bunny dating in public as the B plot.

Now, we have only seen tiny peeks into their world, so let's use Antony the anteater as the example. Antony seemed surprised, but not horrified or disgusted, so my guess is that Zootopia probably operates like any given American metropolitan area where most couples are "like with like," and then you have a marginalized population of animals that date interspecies. You could REALLY play around with the dynamics of what happens when Nick and Judy go from just partners and best friends to lovers and them realizing they have to be willing to deal with other people's discomfort of their romantic relationship if interspecies dating is unusual in Zootopia. You could also have a small arc with Judy taking him home and Nick notices some odd behavior in Bunnyburrow, but he didn't encounter it when he was just Judy's BFF, not her boyfriend. Of the two of them, I could see Judy being defiant when people act weird around them about it and Nick being the one who might reconsider dating if it means any harm could come to Judy or her reputation. Not that he'd ever want to give up loving her; I feel he'd be willing to make the sacrifice to hide their relationship and Judy would want it out in the open, not caring about what others think, and he doesn't either, but if he saw it hurting her ability to be a cop--the thing she loves to do--then I could see him considering keeping it secret. There are a LOT of really juicy conversations they could have about it, especially since Disney itself has had some things to say about interracial dating and mixed race couples, both good and bad, over the years. It'd be too on the nose for Disney, so I'm setting the idea aside for myself to explore in fanfiction later on, but MAN. I'd really love to hear Disney take a full on stance backing up the idea that love is love, and frankly, if you wanted to even extend the metaphor beyond interracial dating into gay and lesbian couples getting used to being viewed as "unusual" the first time they go out, you could do that as well.

If nothing else, the baby bird idea seems likely, so I would also settle for just an entire fucking movie of these two doing the same antics from the infamously funny and brilliant episode of Batman Beyond, "The Eggbaby."

Give me Nick in a cop uniform chasing after a suspect...in a papoose.

I need it because reasons.

What I think would drive this home the most is if there was some rejection reason that Nick has become estranged from his home/family, and if the birds refuse to take back the baby. Which also alludes to the whole "birds will refuse their own offspring if it's been tampered with" thing, but can draw a parallel between Nick's past rejection and a future he sees for this child. It opens up the ability for him to go into full defensive mode, to openly determine that he will be the presence he never had in childhood, and could conclude the Wildehopps subplot, in whatever form it's taking, with Nick and Judy becoming actual parents to the baby bird. And, if Nick's whole thing in childhood was being rejected for being different, it allows room for a redemption from his family, in showing him in a very, very strange found family, happier than he's ever been, and gives space for them to say "wow, actually, look at you, this is good, I want to learn now" and come back into his life (or, if we can go a tad darker and leave the estrangement as is, to allow Nick to realize the people who love him are all found family, and to conclude that the Hopps', who have always accepted him, are more than enough).

All of this can be played in a way to show Nick's emotional growth exponentially, as well as Judy's. Because Judy, of all people, telling Nick to stop caring what others think? That's the second movie flipped right on its heel. And they both deserve that.

I think a queer/ableism allegory can exist within these margins, and I think it would all flow really, really well if they can manage it right. It's my greatest hope for this franchise honestly. And I have faith, but all we can do is wait and see.

I swear it was way funnier in my head. (yes I'm the worst, have a nasty taste of humor, and I love dirty jokes lol)

+

bonus

If you haven't seen it, the video above is where I got the idea.

I think part of the reason Nick is so much softer towards Judy is not just because he loves/cares about her, but also because of how she reacted to his aggressiveness at the press conference in Z1. Even though he was only pretending & had good reason to be angry, that anger still scared her.

Like, in this scene she is obviously uncomfortable, it is the first time she meets Gary and its totally understandable for her to be on edge.But she forces a smile anyway.

I think this changes after her heart to heart with Nick. She recognizes her martry syndrome and how much she hides herself.