what?"

Taelia hesitated. Normally she wouldn't say what she was about to say; forward wasn't her style when it came to guys. Still, she'd been getting some pretty distinct signals from Nick during their shopping trip – and she liked what she'd seen so far. "On whether you were going to ask me to lunch or a movie."

"Ah." Nick coughed. "Well, do you mind if I stop at the bank first?" he asked, holding up his wallet. He made it a habit to only carry enough cash to cover whatever errand he was on at the moment. "I don't think I've got enough on me for lunch."

Taelia shrugged as she hefted her two sacks of groceries. "The nearest bank's two blocks away. How about I treat? Call it a thank-you for what you did for all of us."

Nick was a little thrown. "Well, if you insist," he said, without much reluctance.

 

Taelia led the way to a Chez Cheese outlet just around the corner. Business was fairly slow at that time of day, so they hardly had to wait in line at all – something Nick suspected was not just lucky timing. He recognized the air of someone who, like him, had what she did down to an art form.

"What'll it be?" asked the mouse behind the counter.

The vixen smiled. "Got any mild cheddar with bits of dried strawberry in it?"

Nick blinked. He'd long been in the habit of trying new things in food, but that was a new one even on him.

The mouse looked equally confused. "Uh, no," he said slowly, "but we've got it with basil and sun-dried tomato."

"Mmm, nah." Taelia shook her head. "I have that all the time. How about a slice of the jalapeno cheese on a fish patty sandwich, with a side of mozzerella sticks and horseradish dip? Oh, and a small fountain drink."

"Yep, we've got that," the mouse agreed, punching in the order. He turned to Nick. "What about you?"

Nick thought for a minute and, not wanting to be outdone by a vixen, ordered a grilled cheese sandwhich with interspersed layers of horseradish and habanero cheese, some spicy fries, and a medium fountain drink. "Upgrade her drink too," he added, pulling out a couple of bills.

Taelia turned to him with a raised eyebrow, but she was smiling.

"You didn't have to do that," she told him en route to the table. "Refills are free, so I always get the small size when I'm eating in." She slipped her bags under the table and added, "I appreciate the thought, though."

"Anytime," he said, half-wishing they'd picked a free-standing table instead of a booth so he could draw out a chair for her. He hadn't gotten to be one of the best hustlers in the city without knowing how to charm a lady, but a restaurant like this limited the options for sweeping her off her feet. Taking note of her idiosyncrasies, however, was still an option.

"So," he asked, "what was with the strawberry cheese request?"

"Oh, that," she laughed. "Well, I came across some free samples once at a store, so whenever I come to one of these places I ask just in case they break down and add it to the menu. It's really good, actually. I'd buy a wheel of it to use at home, but specialty items like that are so darn exprensive."

Nick thought about that. He liked a good bit of berry once in a while, so why not? Then he remembered that, now he was trying to put scams behind him, his finances were a little tigher than usual. Maybe when I get my first bonus check, he thought, assuming police get bonus checks.

They left their table briefly to fill up; Nick with a Koala Kola and Taelia with strawberry milk. It looked more and more like she had a regular plan for these things, because that took exactly the time that it took for their order to come up. Nick was impressed, and maybe that was why he paused at the condiment station to squeeze some extra hot sauce onto his sandwich.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" asked Taelia. "I don't know if you know this, but the hot sauce here is kind of... intense."

Ah-ha, thought Nick, priding himself on being the last one to blink. "I've had their hot sauce," he assured her.

They sat down, and he waited smugly while she took a bite. Her cheeks bulged for a moment as she chewed; then she swallowed with maybe just a hint more effort than one would expect for the bite she took. Nick, in turn, took a bite of his own sandwhich.

AHHHHHH! The hot sauce was like pepper spray in the mouth! He grasped at his throat, trying not to spit out his mouthful, and then frantically started slurping at his soda.

"Nick, hold it!" Taelia cried. She snatched the soda away from him and offered her own drink instead. Confused but not really caring about details, Nick accepted the milk and drank.

"Don't chug it down," she advised. "Just hold it in your mouth; it'll calm down the hot sauce."

It took a lot of self-control to heed her advice, but, to his surprise, he found it worked. "Thanks," he said, breathing hard. "Whoo. I guess it's been a little too long since I had a gutburner special."

Taelia raised an eyebrow. "You know they changed their hot sauce, right? Customers were complaining it wasn't strong enough."

Nick wanted to smack himself in the face. "Thanks for the warning."

She laughed. "Well I did try," she pointed out, "but you were so casual about it I thought you knew."

Ouch. Then it occurred to him that he'd guzzled down most of her drink. "Sorry," he added, lifting the cup. "Uh, do you want this back? I can buy you another one."

She waved a paw dismissively. "No, let's just switch. This one's hardly been touched, and I think you'll need mine to polish off that sandwich. Besides, soda just makes anything acidic worse."

He gazed doubtfully at his chosen (very poorly chosen, in retrospect) lunch. Then, deciding he'd already sacrificed his dignity anyway, he went to the milk fountain for a top-off.

Nice one, Romeo, he thought to himself.

To Taelia's credit, she didn't laugh at what had happened to him – well, not much. "I've got to give you some credit," she admitted when, with great difficulty, he had finished his sandwich, "you're good at this."

He laughed, mostly to cover up the pain in his mouth. He wasn't sure it was possible, but he was fairly certain he'd have blisters on the roof of his mouth later. "Thanks." It occurred to him that Judy would have been reading him the riot act – albeit in a very caring way – for doing that to his insides. Only a day or two before, she had jokingly asked if he had chosen Clawhauser as his idea of a role model when he ate three doughnuts for lunch.

"Well, I guess I should be heading back home," Taelia remarked, picking up her bags.

"I'll walk you to your car," Nick offered, grabbing his own.

"Didn't bring one. My apartment's just a couple of blocks away."

Nick managed to talk her into letting him give her a lift – his thanks for the meal and for her not laughing too hard over the hot sauce. "It was fun," he said when she asked him again if he was feeling alright. Then when she gave him a major 'not buying it' look, he added, "Okay, the sandwhich wasn't fun, but that was my fault. Lunch was fun. We should do it again sometime."

She raised an eyebrow. "Is that your way of asking for my phone number?"

He smiled confidently. "I might have been thinking about that," he admitted.

"Well," she replied, slipping a card out of her shirt pocket, "I might have been thinking about giving it to you."

Nice, he thought as he accepted the card. She definitely had style, and not just when it came to banter. The paper stock wasn't quite top-grade, but the image – her name spelled out in flowing script and underlined by a red and orange electric guitar – was pretty eye-catching. Underneath the guitar was printed, "Sound Technician," and on the back it had her phone number and an e-mail address. Next to these she had hand-written "Best time: 7-10 PM" at some point when he wasn't looking – which couldn't have been an easy feat. She is good, he thought.

"I'll call you," he promised.

She rolled her eyes as he made a show of pulling out some shades and popping them on, but she waved as he pulled away. "See you later, Junior Detective."

He opened his mouth to correct her, then stopped. I could get used to it, he thought.

Taelia waved as he drove off. She'd learned the hard way not to make snap decisions when it came to tods, but she'd decided one thing: she'd be keeping an eye on this one.

And that's it for this chapter. I had received one note that Nick wasn't his usual funny self in the previous chapters, which in fairness was sort of the point, but I hope I got more of his comical side this time. As always, questions and comments are welcome. Don't forget to fave and follow if you want to see what happens next – speaking of which, what do you guys think of Taelia? How do you think Judy will react if/when she finds out? I'm also thinking of bringing Taelia's band in sometime if anyone has thoughts on that.

Quick FYI: In the real world, male foxes (particularly adults) may be known as foxes, tods, or dogs. For the purposes of my Zootopia fanfics, "Fox" will be semi-generic, like "man." "Dog" will suggest that the guy in

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