Disclaimer: Zootopia and all Canon characters are owned by Disney. All other characters, product names, trademarks, and copyrights, belong to their respective owners.
.....
"Shh, you'll wake him up, it's not time yet."
Nick stirred slightly. He was warm and comfy wrapped up in his blankets. Sleeping under a bridge wasn't as bad as other mammals made it out to be. He'd blocked off a section to keep the wind out and it was usually warm and dry enough that he could get a good night's sleep.
Sensing that it was still dark out, a nocturnal mammal superpower that he relied upon regularly to avoid getting out of bed, he squirmed himself deeper into the blankets, sighed and then settled back into his slumber. Unfortunately, something was interrupting his bliss and was trying to drag him to consciousness. His conscious-self took a sniff and was confused, it should smell more like a musty tunnel, but it didn't. His unconscious-self stood with its paws on its hips, 'You're in your new place, not under that old bridge, go back to sleep.'
"Mm-hmm." Nick smiled and floated back to sleep. Until his conscious-self took control of his ears and swiveled them toward what sounded like quiet giggling. His unconscious-self quickly jumped in, 'Must be the neighbors, ignore them and go back to sleep.' He could buy that until his conscious-self countered with, 'Your neighbors are an old raccoon couple, scowl yes, giggle never.'
Conscious-self took another sniff, bunnies, young bunnies. Nick rolled the scents around in his head, definitely a Hopps base, but not Judy. As more mental circuit breakers closed, he finally remembered where he was.
A muffled voice came from the blanket pile, "Steven, Spencer, Scotty, aaaand Sunni, what are you guys doing in here? It's way too early to be awake."
More giggling, "How did you know it was us, you're still buried in your blankets?" Sunni reached into the pile and carefully lifted a blanket off of Nick's head.
"Foxes use more than just their eyes and ears, we use our noses too." Nick poked his nose into Sunni's paw. "Yup, smells like a Sunni Hopps."
"Eww, your nose is cold."
Nick stretched in his blanket pile and yawned. Reaching over to his phone on the nightstand, he tapped it and saw that it was 5:30 am. "Guys, it's kind of early don't you think?"
"Nope, it's breakfast time, you don't want to miss out on Mom's blueberry pancakes, do you?"
That got Nick's attention. Suddenly fully awake, he decided going to breakfast was a good choice. "Alright, I need to change, save me a seat and I'll be right there."
The kits scampered out of his room, letting Nick get dressed and run a grooming brush over his head fur before heading down to the dining hall.
Arriving dressed in a ZPD t-shirt and shorts, Nick joined the food line in the kitchen. The line moved quickly and within minutes he had loaded up his plate with a stack of pancakes, poured on some maple syrup, and then added some hash browns and fresh fruit. Licking his chops, he went over to the kit's table and sat down.
"Yum, this smells terrific." Nick joined everyone in eating.
A few minutes later Janae walked over, "Good morning kits. Did everyone sleep well?"
Everyone, including Nick, replied in unison, "Good morning, Janae." And then they all giggled.
Janae smiled back. "Sunni, would you please hand Mr. Nick a napkin, he has syrup all over his muzzle."
Nick grinned and then with a sweep of his long tongue licked all the syrup off his muzzle. The table suddenly went quiet as Nick looked around and saw all the kits staring at him.
"What? I can't help it if bunnies have little tongues." Smirking, he went back to eating his stack of pancakes.
"Janae, can I be a fox?"
"Me too!"
Janae rolled her eyes, "I'm sorry kits, only Mr. Nick is allowed to be a fox."
"Awww, no fair."
Janae rubbed the head fur of one of the disappointed bunnies and added, "How about tonight you guys let Mr. Nick sit at the big kits' table for dinner?"
Disappointed looks swept around the table until Nick said, "Don't worry as soon as I'm done eating dinner, I'll be in to watch movies with you guys."
A chorus of happy 'okays' turned into a debate on whose turn it was to pick the movie.
-/-/-
Clawhauser waved a box in front of Judy as she sat on his desk checking email on her phone. "Come on Judy, it has carrot shavings in the icing."
Sighing, "Fine, you win, I'll have one." Judy tried to look beaten, but no true bunny can turn down a carrot flavored doughnut with shaved carrot icing. 'Yum'
Judy flipped to another app on her phone as she started nibbling on the treat.
Clawhauser hummed, "Where'd Pawson go?"
Judy licked some frosting off her lips and replied, "He got a call from his girlfriend, she thinks she left her lunch bag in his car." Taking another bite of the doughnut, she looked up at the cheetah who was nodding toward her phone.
Judy lifted her eyebrows, "What?"
"Hear anything from Nick on his first day in Bunnyburrow?"
Judy scoffed. "No."
"Come on girl, you guys talk all the time, how can you have not heard anything?"
Looking back down at her phone and tapping the screen, she replied, "I'm mad at him and when a girl is mad at a boy, she stops talking to him."
"And texting?"
"We don't do that either."
"Muzzlebook?"
"Definitely not."
"Sending selfies?"
"No way."
"SnapJabber"
"Nope."
"Staring at your phone wallpaper that happens to be a picture of Nick buried in a pile of bunny kits?"
"Uh-uh."
Judy sighed distractedly and licked some icing off of her fingers and then slipped her phone into her pocket. Hearing cooing noises from her friend, Judy looked up at a smiling Clawhauser, "What?" Licking her lips again, she asked, "Did I miss some frosting on my fur?"
Before Clawhauser could do more than look pleased with himself, Pawson walked up to the reception desk with a pink soft-sided lunch bag in his paw.
Lifting the bag, he said, "Hopps, she was right, she left her bag in the back seat. Okay to drop it off at Zootopia Central on the way to our patrol area?"
"No problem, it's on the way." Judy jumped down from Clawhauser's desk. "Why don't you text her and let her know we'll be there in about fifteen minutes." Waving at Clawhauser, Judy added, "See ya later, Ben."
Clawhauser 'cooed' again and wiggled his fingers in goodbye.
Pawson leaned down and quietly asked Judy, "What's up with Clawhauser, one too many Gazelle videos?"
"No idea. Hey, do I have any frosting on my muzzle fur?"
.....
Traffic was light and Judy was making good time to the hospital. "What does your girlfriend do for the hospital?"
Pawson's face broke out with a proud smile, "She's a Pediatric ICU Nurse Practitioner. She started at Zootopia Generals' Meadowlands unit as a nurse straight out of school and then transferred to Central for their PICU Nurse Practitioner program. She finished the program with higher scores and ratings than anyone else who's ever gone through it." Looking a little sheepish, he added, "Not that I'm bragging on her or anything."
Judy laughed, "Don't worry, it's okay. I have around fifteen siblings that have jobs in various medical fields and I know how hard they've had to work to get where they are. I can see why you're so proud of her."
"Yeah, why she ever agreed to be with a guy like me, I'll never know. She's amazing."
Judy had seen enough love-sick siblings to know that Pawson had it bad for his girlfriend. For the longest time, she had wondered what being that in love would feel like. Wanting to spend all your time with the same mammal, the butterflies in your stomach whenever you think about them, trying to help them and support them with their goals, standing up for them when no one else will, trusting them with your life and worrying about them even if they are being dumb.
It wasn't until a couple of weeks ago when Nick had asked her out that she'd realized her own feelings. She'd been 'that in love' for a while now, she just hadn't recognized it. Now she was stuck, the decent, upright population of Bunnyburrow would never accept them being together and she didn't know what to do about it.
Judy turned into the hospital parking lot when Pawson pointed at a set of double doors under a glass-enclosed walkway that spanned between two of the four large buildings that made up the hospital complex. "Stop over there out of the way, Olivia should be right down."
Judy pulled over and parked. Pawson got out of the cruiser and waited outside on the sidewalk holding the pink lunch bag. Judy looked around wondering what kind of wolf Olivia would be. Pawson was a big guy, and she expected any mate of his to be a relatively large and intimidating she-wolf, a mammal that would easily dominate other pack females.
Pawson slapped the top of the cruiser and quickly walked around it toward the far set of double doors. Judy looked out her window trying to see Pawson's girlfriend, there were a couple of mammals inside the door, but Judy couldn't tell because there was a small she-puma in scrubs and a lab coat blocking her view. Judy leaned back and forth trying for a better view when Pawson lifted the she-puma out of the way. Finally, Judy could see around her. 'A coyote and an older hyena, where is his wolf girlfriend?' Judy thought to herself.
Looking back at Pawson, she could see he wasn't going to be any help in figuring out who the she-wolf was since he was lip-locked with the puma.
Judy's mouth dropped open, 'Whoa, his girlfriend is a puma.' Covering her mouth with both paws, she shook her head in disbelief. The she-puma had a lithe build and looked barely two-thirds the size of her wolf boyfriend as his arms easily encompassed her frame in a loving hug. They each had their tails wrapped around each other and were clearly oblivious to anyone around them.
They finally separated, and Judy saw Olivia was blushing while trying to smooth out her scrubs and make sure her golden brown fur wasn't tufted up anywhere. Pawson leaned in for another kiss when Judy saw Olivia's paw come up and playfully push his muzzle to the side. Olivia lightly pushed him toward the cruiser and before going back inside, she gave a quick wave to Judy, who lifted a paw up and gave a tentative half wave in response.
Pawson slid into his seat in the cruiser, "Thanks, Hopps. Head straight that way and turn right at the stop sign and that will get us to Central Parkway."
Judy gripped the steering wheel but made no move to put the cruiser in gear.
They were an interspecies couple.
"Hopps?"
A wolf and a puma.
Pawson finished putting on his seatbelt and looked out the front expecting that they would be moving, instead they were still parked. A look of confusion swept across Pawson's face as he turned to Judy who was still staring out the front of the cruiser, paws on the steering wheel.
A boy and a girl in love.
Waving a paw toward the windshield, Pawson said, "Hopps, fun and adventure is thataway, how about we get to it?"
Judy slowly turned to face Pawson.
Pawson, for his part, was oblivious to the storm of thoughts raging through Judy's brain. Instead, he was still smiling and humming a happy tune and why wouldn't he? He'd gotten a second round of nuzzling with his girlfriend, and now he was thinking of ways to help her start forgetting her lunch more often.
It's a known fact that a male's ability to think is hampered by certain situations. Unfortunately for Pawson, he was very much a male. To his credit though, he was also a cop, able to think quickly under high-stress situations and as these superior cop capabilities started to take control, he turned to face Judy, saw her confused face and picking the best response for the situation, asked, "What?"
"You neglected to mention that your girlfriend is a puma."
Once again, putting his cop intellect to the task, he replied, "Um, my girlfriend is a puma," and smiled.
Judy continued to stare at him trying to formulate what she should say next.
Pawson sighed, given that Hopps and Wilde were best friends, he'd hoped Hopps was a little more open-minded about interspecies couples, but apparently, she wasn't. "Look, Hopps, I'm sorry I didn't warn you up front. There are a lot of mammals in the precinct that think what Olivia and I have is disgusting or unnatural or immoral or whatever else gets their blood pressure up. Olivia and I love each other more than I thought it was possible for two mammals to love each other and it's never mattered to us that we're different species."
Pausing he tried to read Hopps' face for what she was thinking, having no luck, he soldiered on. "As much as we love each other, we don't force ourselves or our relationship on anyone. Over the years I've had to go to Bogo for a few partner changes. If patrolling with me bugs you because of my relationship status, let me know now. I have no problem letting Bogo know we can't work together and that it's my fault. No harm, no foul. I just don't want to find out what your real feelings are in the middle of a firefight and you leave me hanging when you're supposed to be backing me up."
Disappointed, Pawson leaned back into his seat and spun his finger in the air. "Flip a U-ey and head back to the precinct. You can drop me off and patrol by yourself today. I'll talk to Bogo."
-/-/-
Nick was enjoying the warm morning as he walked from the sheriff's office to the City Hall building where the Mayor's office was. The park area of the town square was a lush green space with a variety of flowerbeds and trees. Benches were conveniently placed near the trees to create several areas that mammals could sit and read a book or just relax.
As Nick reached the City Hall building, he saw a thirtysomething rabbit doe with a half dozen kits walking his way on the sidewalk. Nick stopped and toothlessly smiled at the family. Giving them a little wave with his paw, he greeted the group, "Good morning."
The doe paused, looked at Nick and continued on without saying anything. As the kits passed, Nick wiggled his fingers. A couple of the kits ran up to grab their mom's paws, but a few of the others slowed down to look at Nick, giggled and shyly waved back.
The older doe turned her head and called after the slow-moving bunnies, "Kits, come on or we'll be late."
Nick watched for a moment as the group walked away and then turned and headed up the steps and into the City Hall building.
"Good morning, I'm Officer Nick Wilde." Nick smiled at the older bunny doe behind the desk. "Sheriff Hoofson told me the Mayor wanted to speak with me."
"Good morning Officer Wilde, my name is Daisy Moses. Please have a seat, the Mayor is expecting you and will be right out."
Nick sat and scanned the office. The office décor was on the old side but well maintained. Dark paneling with large double doors to the Mayor's office, not large enough for an elephant but sufficient for Chief Bogo to visit comfortably. The receptionist's desk was a little large for Daisy, but she seemed to be able to make it work. Nick focused in on some of the newer additions to the office. He saw a high-end wireless access point in the ceiling and from the looks of the gear he could see on the admin's desk, someone had recently spent some serious IT budget on this office.
"May I offer you some juice, Officer Wilde?"
"No thank you, ma'am. Although a cup of coffee would be amazing. I meant to look around for a Snarlbucks before my shift started."
Daisy tittered as she politely covered her mouth, "Oh my no, there are a few places that serve coffee, but it's not too popular in Bunnyburrow. I shudder to think of the damage that could be caused by hundreds of over-caffeinated rabbits running around bouncing into each other."
Nick mentally shuddered at that thought too. Imagining Judy drinking something more potent than her usual half-calf was kind of frightening. She was already high-energy enough without any extra help, now multiply that by hundreds of rabbits and you'd have chaos.
"Yes, ma'am, I suppose you have a point there. I take it there aren't enough other species in town to support a coffee cart or two?"
A new voice broke in before Daisy could reply. "Not really, Officer Wilde, and that's one of the reasons I need your help." Stepping out of the office doorway, the owner of the voice, a doe, extended her paw out. "I'm Mayor Ackerbunn, nice to meet you."
Nick followed the Mayor into her office and then the two mammals made themselves comfortable in a pair of chairs in an informal sitting area near a window.
"I agree with you by the way. Some mornings I'd kill for a Snarlbucks half-caf. I wouldn't have made it through college without a cup now and then.
"Thanks for agreeing to do this. Some of the recent press we've gotten has been pretty unfavorable with regards to the treatment of predators here in Bunnyburrow. When I was approached with the idea of adding you to the sheriff's staff, I jumped at the opportunity. I really think your presence here will go a long way toward helping the citizens here better understand predators and the positive contributions they can make.
"And speaking of positive contributions, I had an interesting conversation with Chief Bogo about your tenure so far with the ZPD. He shared a few anecdotes about some of the cases you and your partner have solved and filled me in on a few other tidbits with regards to your problem-solving skills."
Nick perked up, "Really, what did he say?"
"Let's just say, I'd appreciate it if you wouldn't do any of what he said while you're here. The folks around here can be a bit skittish and my goal is outreach."
"Yes ma'am, no eating the townsfolk."
Ackerbunn gave Nick a look, slowly raising an eyebrow for emphasis.
Nick seeing what was happening, quickly backtracked, "I promise I'll be on my best behavior."
"I was told to mention something about a sparring demonstration with your partner..."
Nick gulped.
"...every week for six months."
Nick put up his paws, "Seriously ma'am, no need for that. Well behaved fox here, ready for duty."
"Glad to hear it." Looking at a note on the table next to them, Ackerbunn added, "There will be a few ceremonial functions I'd like you to attend and we'll have a press conference to introduce you at the end of the week. That should give you some time to settle in and learn Bunnyburrow a little before being harassed by reporters."
Standing, Ackerbunn indicated the short meeting was over. "I'll have Daisy send you an email with information on the events for the next couple of weeks. If you have any questions, please let Daisy know, she can get hold of me faster than anyone else."
"Thank you, ma'am. It was nice meeting you." Nick shook paws with Ackerbunn again and headed back to the sheriff's office to find out what his patrol duty for the day would be and then either scope out a cup of coffee or look at ordering a coffeemaker online.
-/-/-
Judy hadn't moved since Pawson had told her to return to the precinct.
Pawson grunted at his frozen partner. Grabbing the radio mic on the dash, he pressed the transmit button. "Unit Z-240 to base, Clawhauser come in."
"Base to Z-240, Pawson are you and Hopps in your patrol area now?"
"No, not yet. We're headed..." Pawson felt a soft paw on his arm.
"Wait, Connor, please."
"Clawhauser, wait one." Muting the mic, Pawson just looked at Judy and waited.
"Tell him we're going 10-7 for a few minutes, we need to talk."
"Clawhauser, Pawson here, Z-240 is going 10-7 for a few minutes."
As Pawson put the mic back in its holder, they both heard, "Base to Z-240, 10-7 acknowledged."
Pawson nodded at the radio and sat back in his seat.
Judy released her belt and turned to sit crisscross in her seat facing Pawson. "Connor, I was surprised when I saw you two together and I didn't know how to react. To be clear, I don't have a problem with you and Olivia being together, I don't have a problem with interspecies relationships, and I don't have any problem being on patrol with you."
Looking the wolf in the eyes, Judy added, "Actually, I think it's pretty cool. Olivia sounds like an amazing girl and you're a lucky mammal to have her as a girlfriend."
"So, if you're okay with everything, what happened? That was more than just being a little surprised. "
Gathering her thoughts, she debated what to tell him. Nick was the only one she'd ever told about the attitudes she'd lived with growing up in Bunnyburrow, and how some of the town might react toward anyone that didn't follow the local moral code.
"You're right, there's more to it than just being surprised. When I was growing up In Bunnyburrow, interspecies relationships just didn't happen, at least not publicly, and definitely not where there was a rabbit involved. My dad especially didn't do well around anyone that wasn't a rabbit, whenever I tried to hang out with a friend that didn't meet with his approval, he would give them the stink eye. You're the first mammal I've personally known who's been involved with someone outside their own species and making it work."
Judy chewed one of her claws, "Connor, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to, but how did you guys' parents react when they found out?"
"Well, Olivia and I met in our senior year at college and it wasn't too long afterward that we got together. So, we all met for the first time at graduation." Smiling, Pawson continued, "Let's just say it was a real tense dinner."
Laughing at the memory, Pawson continued, "Olivia's dad was cool with us being together, her mom, less so. Olivia is their youngest cub and I think her mom had a lot of high expectations for how her daughter's life was going to go. A prestigious career in medical research, meet an upper-class mate and then have a huge, high society wedding.
"Of course, Olivia has a mind of her own and pushed back on the career part of her mom's plan by wanting to be a nurse and eventually getting into the PICU program here. She's always believed that the nurses were closer to the patients and that's where she wanted to be. And then I show up and wreck the rest of her mom's dream. A wolf with a lowly criminal science degree that wants to be a cop. No high-profile mate and no big wedding."
Judy nodded, she and Olivia probably had a few things in common at least as far as disappointing parents went.
"Olivia's parents came to our commitment ceremony, but that's a lot different than being legally mated. I'm betting if there were some way for us to have a traditional, legal ceremony, it would go a long way toward her mom fully accepting me into the family."
Smiling now, Judy asked, "So, the biggest issue was that you couldn't legally have an elaborate wedding, not that you were a wolf? I would have thought the whole wolf-thing would have been at the top of the list seeing that felines and canines can be like oil and water, except, you know, with fangs and claws."
Laughing, Pawson replied, "Yeah, sometimes that's the way it seems between the two species. Luckily for me, most of her family is pretty open-minded and ultimately, they really just want Olivia to be happy. Doesn't mean we drink a lot of beers together, but I don't get the door slammed in my face either."
"How about your parents?"
"Don't exactly know. They were cordial enough to Olivia and her parents at the graduation dinner I mentioned, but I haven't seen them since. My mom sent me a note a week later letting me know that it would be for the best for everyone if I stayed away from the pack for a while, give everyone a chance to sort through things. That was about six years ago."
Judy reached out and placed her paw on Pawson's arm, "I'm so sorry."
"Judy, it's okay. Olivia is the most important mammal in my life and I wouldn't give her up for anything. Besides, my mom sends me a letter every now and then, letting me know how the pack is doing and that she hopes we'll eventually be a family again. I even got a nice card from her when I graduated from the ZPA telling me how proud of me she was. So, maybe someday the rest of my family will come around and if they don't, not my problem."
"Thanks for telling me, Connor. If there is ever anything I can do to help you and Olivia, please let me know." Judy patted his arm again and sighed. "We should probably get going, if Bogo finds out how long it's taking us to get to our patrol area, he'll have us both on parking duty for a week."
Judy started up the cruiser while Pawson reported them back on duty. Gripping the steering wheel, Judy thought of Nick and wished with all her heart that things back home were different. If she only had to worry about herself, she already knew what she'd do, but... Sighing, Judy put the cruiser in gear and headed out.
-/-/-
Nick and Deputy Buckstein spent the morning in their cruiser touring some of the different areas of Bunnyburrow. Buckstein had wanted Nick to be able to get around by himself so that he could patrol alone if needed. Bunnyburrow being a farming community, there was a lot of area for the sheriff's department to cover and even with a half a day of driving around, Nick still hadn't gotten close to any of the outlying warrens.
Buckstein's ride-along plan had been disrupted by a call from the dispatcher directing them closer back into town to rescue a bunny kit. Nick had been worried at hearing the call, but Buckstein took it in stride. It wasn't the way he and Carrots would handle a call to rescue a mammal, but Nick decided to wait and see before getting too excited.
Standing in front of a small farmhouse and looking up into a tree, Nick shook his head, "Seriously, Buckstein, how is this even possible?"
"No one knows, it just happens."
"Why us, I would think the Burrow Fire Department could handle this better than we can."
"Yup, except it's our turn."
Nick stood with his paws on his hips, "Fine. So, how's this done then?"
The white-tailed deer just looked at Nick, patted a belly that would have made Clawhauser proud and replied. "This old boy don't climb trees, so we need to find a ladder."
Nick laughed as he looked up into the large tree again. About eighteen feet up there was a small kit sitting on a branch with a sippy-cup. The kit was smiling and giggling like he owned the best play spot in the universe.
Nick turned around to the group of rabbits behind him and addressed the kit's mother, "Are you sure you don't have a ladder tall enough that we could use?"
"No Officer, my mate is deathly afraid of heights and can't stand to have those things around the warren. Sorry."
Buckstein snickered, "I'm guessing being a city fox and all, you've never had occasion to climb a tree."
"Yeah, yeah, don't worry I got this."
It had been a little over a year since the last time Nick had had to carry an elephant-sized jumbo pop up a drainpipe to the roof of a building for melting, but some skills you don't forget. Rubbing his paws together, Nick figured retrieving a tiny bunny kit would be a piece of cake.
As Nick extended his claws and dug them into the bark, he heard a gasp from the group of bunnies and saw a few of the teenagers pull out their phones.
"You're not going to eat him, are you? He's so little," asked Mrs. Davidson.
Nick wrinkled his nose and replied, "No ma'am, I can smell his diaper from here. Your boy is safe as can be from anyone with a functioning nose."
"Hey little guy, Mr. Nick is coming up to rescue you. Just sit still and I'll be right there."
Giggles and coos were the only replies.
Nick was about halfway up when he heard some loud laughter and looked up. "Nooooo." Nick was hit square in the face with carrot juice from the kit's upturned, and now lidless, sippy-cup. "Thanks, kit, you have no idea how hard it will be to get that sticky mess out of my fur."
Finally reaching the branch the kit was sitting on, Nick carefully leaned out to pick him up. Fortunately, the kit appeared to be pretty used to this part and didn't try to hop away from Nick's outstretched paw. Securing the kit in the crook of his arm, Nick carefully climbed down.
Once on the ground, Nick adjusted his hold on the kit and walked over to his mother. Before handing the kit back, Nick made a few cooing noises and tickled the kit's chin.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you, Wilde."
"What?" Looking toward Buckstein and then back to the kit he was met by a stream of projectile vomit to his face and chest.
"The kit don't like it when you tickle 'em."
Groaning, Nick handed the kit to his mother, "Here you go ma'am, maybe try heavy ankle weights, might help keep him on the ground in the future."
-/-/-
"Hey Pawson, over there, someone I want you to meet." Judy pulled the cruiser over and parked behind an old, brown van with some pretty impressive graphic art on its side panels.
Judy motioned for Pawson to follow her around the corner where they saw a small, big-eared Finnick fox standing behind a cooler selling Pawpsicles.
"Hey Finn, still trying to hustle your way to riches?"
Finn smiled, "Well, well. If it isn't the bunny cop, how's it hangin' Officer Toot-Toot? Are you surviving with your lesser-half safely out of town?"
"Yeah, doing okay. I wanted you to meet my temporary partner, Officer Connor Pawson. Pawson this is Finn, a good friend of Nick's."
Finn looked Pawson up and down, "Yeah, swell. How abouts you guys move it along. Talking to cops isn't so good for business around here."
Judy pulled out a five and offered it to Finn, "We'll each take a Pawpsicle, that should help protect your reputation as a fine upstanding businessmammal.
"Finn, Nick told you about the drugged caracal that attacked us, didn't he?"
"Yeah, he wanted me to ask around and let him know if anyone hears anything about a new drug on the street or any mammals going temporarily savage."
"Good, even though Nick's in Bunnyburrow, he, Pawson and I are still working the case. I'd appreciate it if you hear anything that you get hold of one of us. If you think it's pretty hot information, I can meet up with you anytime you want."
"Okay, toots, I'm working a possibility with a guy who knows a guy I know of. If anything shakes loose, I'll get hold of you." Handing the two cops their frozen treats he added, "Now get lost, I still have half a cooler to sell."
The two cops walked back to their cruiser as Pawson stared at the red paw-shaped frozen treat. Taking a sniff, Pawson shrugged and took a long lick. Nodding, he smiled at Judy and then took a big bite.
Judy watched as Pawson's face started to contort as he succumbed to a brain freeze. Laughing at her partner, she climbed into the cruiser and let Clawhauser know they were back on patrol.
-/-/-
Nick pulled off his ZPD shorts and put on something a little nicer for dinner. Gracefully moving around the small room, Nick hummed in harmony to the music he was listening too. It was nice scrubbing the remaining smell of that kit's puke out of his chest fur. Sometimes he envied the fact that a lot of prey were a little nose blind.
Checking himself out in the mirror, Nick smiled. "Looking good, Wilde."
Nick heard a knocking at his door, "Mr. Nick, Mr. Nick, it's almost time for dinner."
Nick opened his bedroom door and saw a half dozen young does gathered there. "Mr. Nick, we're here to help you get ready."
Nick knelt down and ruffled Sunni's ears, "What? You guys don't think I'm handsome enough just the way I am?"
All the does giggled and shook their heads. With a knowing look, Sunni said with concern, "Mr. Nick, you get to sit at the big kit's table, so you have to look extra pretty and be on your best behavior."
Nick smirked and leaned close to Sunni, "Oh, okay. What do I need to do to look extra pretty?"
In unison, the does all yelled, "Ribbons!"
.....
Nick was led into the dining hall by two does pulling him by his paws and the rest of the small group following close behind. They led him to his seat at the table and then giggling, hopped off to their own table. Nick spied a look at his tail wrapped in six brightly colored ribbons with the largest forming a bow near the tip.
Janae sat in the chair next to him, looking over at Nick's decorations she laughed. "I see Sunni's been busy."
"Yeah, she wanted to make sure I looked good for my first meal at the big kit's table." Swinging his tail in between him and Janae, he pointed out one of the ribbons, "This purple one is my favorite."
Rolling her eyes, Janae couldn't help but ask, "Has Judy ever told you that you're a goof?"
"Yeah, lots of times, why?"
Holding paws with the bunnies to either side of him, Nick silently bowed his head in respect as Mr. Hopps gave the blessing. Once done, the noise level rose and the eating began.
Janae nudged Nick, "How'd your first full day of being a deputy go?"
Nick shook his head, "You wouldn't believe it, my first call was a kit stuck in a tree."
From across the table, a buck asked, "You mean the Davidson kit, warren on the north side, right?"
"Yeah, how'd you know?"
"You didn't try and tickle him, I hope."
"Uhhh," Nick looked back and forth between Janae and her younger brother who was now laughing.
A few seats away, a teenaged doe waved her phone around and yelled, "I found it!" Passing her phone to Janae, Nick looked over at the small screen and heard a retching noise come from the speaker.
Janae elbowed him in the side, "You're famous, big guy."
Nick looked stricken, "No. Don't tell me someone recorded me and puke-boy and posted it on EweTube."
Nick heard another puking sound from his right, then from his left, then a chorus of puking noises from all the phones around the table followed by giggles, snickers and outright laughing.
Nick put his head on the table and moaned, "Noooooo."
Another round of puking sounds was the only response Nick got to his pleas for mercy.
"Kits, everyone put your phones away, you've tormented poor Nicholas enough."
"But Mom...." Holding the phone up for his mother to see, "look," glancing down, Bonnie smiled until she heard the young kit puke again. "Lewis, that's enough." Leaning closer to the buck, Bonnie whispered, "Text me the link and then put your phone away, alright."
Once the video noises had quieted, Nick turned his head to look up at Janae, "Is it over yet?"
Janae started to nod until Lewis spoke up again. "Hey Nick, do you know someone named Clawhauser? He posted wanting to know if this was the real Nick Wilde." After a few taps, Lewis looked up. "I told him it was you."
"Noooooooooooooooooooooooooo. You didn't, please tell me you didn't just tell the biggest gossip in Zootopia it was me."
Head rocking back and forth on the table, "Nick Wilde, first fox cop in the ZPD. He had a short, glorious career that ended in epic humiliation."
Janae laughed at Nick, "And I thought Judy could be a drama queen!"
"Cool, the video is trending, that Clawhauser guy sure knows his stuff."
"Doomed, I'm doomed." Nick groaned out.
Patting him on the back, Janae tried to sooth the fox. "I'm sure no one else you know will see it."
"Who's Fangmeyer?"
Nick looked back up at Janae. "Doomed."
Janae laughed again and told her brother to put away his phone.
Nick gave up on the last of his dignity and joined Janae and the rest of the room in laughing at his misfortune.
As their laughter petered out, another buck got Nick's attention. "Hey, Nick. How long have you been a cop?"
Nick looked over at the darker brown, black and white buck across the table from him, "I graduated from the Academy six months ago and started with the ZPD right after that."
"What was your degree in from college? Was it in Criminal Science like Judy's?" asked a doe.
"No, not exactly. I like to say I got my degree from the college of hard knocks." Chuckling he added, "Probably did enough studying to get a Master's degree at least." Reaching for a bowl of beans, Nick laughed, "Seriously though, I finished High School when I was eighteen and went from there."
"Judy said that the only way that she was going to be accepted to the Academy would be for her to get a four-year degree, how did you get in without one?"
Nick paused and frowned in thought, "Needing a degree never came up, maybe the MII waived that requirement, I guess I don't know."
The multicolored buck shook his head, "Actually, Judy said that the MII added some requirements for small mammals. I remember she was in her senior year away at college when the first draft of the MII failed to pass the Zootopia city council and they demanded a bunch of changes. When Judy got hold of an early draft of the revised MII, she was unhappy because the new requirements meant that she had to stay in Burrow's Edge and take another year of required classes and then do a six-month unpaid internship. She ended up spending a semester stuffing envelopes for some Deerbrook County bureaucrat and then waiting tables for a few months before she could even apply to the ZPA.
"When the updated MII finally passed, the ZPA accepted Judy's application, but it was only after she'd been saddled with another year and a half's worth of student loan debt and had turned twenty-four years old which was way later than she'd originally hoped for."
Nick stared at the buck with a confused look on his face. "I had no idea Judy went through all that to join the ZPD." Looking down at his plate, Nick furrowed his brow in thought, "Umm, I had to show up at the academy early and take a couple weeks' worth of pretty hard-core tests, written and physical, before the next class of recruits showed up. I also remember that Judy had a long talk with Chief Bogo and a couple of meetings with the ZPA Commandant before they would sign off on my attendance."
Nick thought about all the mammals that were in his ZPA class and remembered a couple of them talking about being sponsored since they didn't have degrees either. Shaking his head at the memory, he angrily whispered to himself, "I'll bet she sponsored me and somehow got them to waive the special requirements. That crazy rabbit, she probably put her career on the line for me. Why in the world would she do that?"
Rubbing his forehead, he failed to notice Janae's ears twitching from hearing what Nick had whispered to himself.
Nick's thoughts were interrupted by another question from a tan and black furred doe, "Was the academy training difficult?"
"Well-" Nick was loudly interrupted by Judy's older brother, Lucas. "Kristy, look at the fox, he's not a serious cop, he's a joke. They let him into the academy without meeting any of the prerequisites probably because they knew a fox would never be able to meet the minimum qualifications. Seriously, how difficult can the academy be if a loser like him can graduate."
Waving his paw at some of the rabbits around the table he added, "And the fox proves my point about Judy too, no way did a bunny, especially one as pathetic as her, have a real chance to pass the academy. They must have lowered the standards and moved her through just to get her out of their fur. Her going off to pretend to be a cop was the single most embarrassing thing to ever happen to this family! She should have listened to Dad and stayed here and settled down with someone that could have taken care of her properly."
Nick's mouth dropped open in shock, he couldn't believe what he was hearing. Nick looked over at Judy's parents and saw them both looking absolutely mortified by Lucas' outburst.
Another solid tan doe, a few years younger than Judy, laughed and added, "Oh yeah, a buck wanting to hook up with Jude the Dude, like that would ever happen."
Nick continued looking around, he could tell pretty quickly that most of the siblings didn't agree with Lucas tearing into Judy, but it seemed like no one was willing to confront him.
Lucas scoffed in response, "I'm sure we can find some poor sap to mate with her and after a couple of dozen litters she'd settle down."
Bonnie gasped in horror and shame at Lucas' outrageous statements about Judy, and was about to get up and twist his ears and send him out of the dining room when she was halted by a loud bark from Nick, a bark that silenced the room.
Nick had had enough, he glared at Lucas and spat out, "You have no idea what you're talking about. Judy is an amazing cop, she works harder, is more committed and a better officer than anyone at the ZPD." Pointing at Kristy, "You asked how hard the ZPA is to get through, it's incredibly hard, mammals a hundred times larger than Judy were washed out of the program in the first week. Not only did your sister set an Academy record in sparring by knocking out a rhino with one hit, she also holds more records than any mammal who has ever graduated, and on top of all that, she was valedictorian of her class."
Red-faced and angry Lucas yelled at Nick, "You need to shut up fox, you don't know anything about rabbits or our society. We know what's best for our kind and we don't need some mangy pred interfering."
Nick stood up, hackles raised and his tail bushed out. "You're right, I don't know anything about rabbits, but I know a lot about mammals and Judy is the best mammal I've ever met. Every day she puts herself in harm's way to keep the city safe and she doesn't think twice about going out of her way to help those in need. Everyone in this room should be proud of what she's accomplished, she's done more good in the last year than most mammals could hope to do in a lifetime."
Nick looked around at the silenced group. Seeing many more positive nods than negative scowls, he took a deep breath and tried to calm himself. Looking directly at Lucas and brandishing a clawed finger, he said, "I don't care what you say about me, I'm a fox and I probably deserve it, but Judy is my best friend and family or not, I won't stand by and let you say those kinds of things about her again. Ever."
With his upper lip quivering just enough to expose a single fang, Nick glared at Lucas until the buck, his instincts suddenly reminding him of what predators used to do to prey, gave a single nod and backed down.
Bowing his head slightly to Stu and Bonnie, "Please forgive my outburst, I am a guest in your warren and I meant no disrespect to your hospitality. If you will excuse me, I believe I am needed in the playroom."
Nick left behind a room full of stunned rabbits. No one had ever stood up for Judy like that before. Nick had not only shamed everyone with Judy's accomplishments, but he had also slapped Lucas down hard. Lucas had been Judy's harshest critic for years, no one knew why, but his attitude had gotten old a long time ago. Most of the bucks were thrilled to see Lucas knocked down a few pegs and at the same time, a lot of Judy's sisters experienced a different kind of thrill watching as a big, bad predator took on the largest, most intimidating buck in the family solely to defend the honor of another doe.
Bonnie made eye contact with Janae and nodded. Bonnie's question of how good of a friend Nick was had been answered, now all she needed to do was figure out how to pick his brain on what was upsetting Judy enough for her to stop talking with them.
-/-/-
'Bzzzzzzz'
Judy got up from her bed and checked her phone.
Take a look at DoeNet.
It was a text from Janae.
What am I looking for?
Just go look! Followed by a winking bunny emoji.
Judy hadn't realized the DoeNet chat was still being used, not that she ever really paid attention to her sisters and their latest hormone driven crushes. Clicking on the icon, she waited for the app to load.
'New Male in the Warren!' flashed a banner on the small screen.
A video auto-played and Judy watched a familiar bushy red tail wagging as its barely-dressed owner, wearing only a pair of ZPD shorts, walked down one of the warren's hallways. This was a way better view of her fox than the other night at Toni's house.
Nick looked good.
Judy hummed as she saw his broad, toned back displaying solid muscle that rippled under his fur as he moved. So different from a bunny buck, Nick was all predator.
Judy smiled to herself as Nick, earbuds firmly in place, walked with a little beat to his step, oblivious to the fact that he was being filmed. As the video neared its end, Judy picked up the voice of her sister Amy as she said, "Hey girls, take a look at what Jude sent us."
Judy's eyes narrowed as her sister's voice turned into giggles, and then once Nick turned a corner and walked out of view of the camera, Judy heard a very predatory growl. Looking at the now blank screen, Judy realized the growl hadn't come from the phone.