Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It was funny how little it took to completely ruin everything.

Or, at least, it would be funny, if everything in Judith Laverne Hopps' life hadn't just come crashing down around her.

A shrill wind blew through the streets of Zootopia, carrying with it the scent of coming rain and a chill that seeped to the bone. Lightly shivering, former meter maid Judy Hopps pressed her back up against one of the relatively oversized wooden benches that lined the roads. Though clouds covered the sky, the dimming light and subsequent switching on of the city's street lamps indicated that the absent sun would be setting soon, and with the coming of the night the temperature was surely only to drop further. Not that she could do much in the way of keeping warm, nor could she buy for herself any extra layers.

It hadn't been more than a handful of months, but it felt like years had passed since that fateful meeting in Chief Bogo's office. Following her termination from the ZPD, her life had descended into what seemed to be a never-ending downwards spiral from bad to... more bad, to somehow even more bad than that. With her inability to find some other form of work following her firing, she'd been unable to continue paying rent, and now that she was homeless any prospect of finding some way to earn a living had just gotten substantially more difficult. 

Bringing her knees up to her chest, Judy crumpled up a newspaper that the wind had just blown into her face into a tiny ball, not even bothering to read the front page article about the continued missing animal cases that seemed to be piling up higher and higher as the days went on. Throwing the ball in frustration, the bunny watched as it slowly hit the ground, bounced, and then rolled onto a nearby patch of grass between the sidewalk and the street. 

That didn't make her feel any better, littering was still a crime and while her dreams of being a police officer might have been crushed, that didn't mean she was just going to break the law. Sighing as she hopped down from the bench, she slowly trudged over to where the ball had landed. In sluggish fashion, she bent down, swaying her hand towards the ball and swiping it up, dutifully turning around to place it in a nearby recycling bin for paper products. Unfortunately, her diligent adherence to the law was only rewarded with the startling rushing past of a nearby car, which sped through a puddle on the side of the road that subsequently showered Judy with a spray of cold, dirty water. Letting out a quick shriek as she vainly attempted to shield herself from the wave, Judy rushed back away from the road, but tripped on a piece of cement sticking up an inch from the rest of the sidewalk in the process. Tumbling to a stop at the foot of the bench, Judy could barely manage to keep herself together. Unable to find it within her to hoist herself back up onto the bench, she folded her arms across her knees and buried her face in them. 

In Zootopia, anyone can be anything, that's what she'd always told herself, what she grew up believing, what she'd had in mind with every step forward in life. Every setback was just an obstacle, and when she encountered obstacles she had always pushed ahead. It's what got her through the academy after all, the pursuit of the dream that she could be whatever she wanted, that she, Judy Hopps could become a police officer. But now... now that dream seemed almost intangibly out of reach. 

"Everyone comes to Zootopia thinking they can be anything they want. Well you can't. You can only be what you are."

Those stinging words danced back into her mind, the words that had sent her home from her first day on the Force upset as can be. At the time she'd believed those words to be a stinging insult from a jerk with no ambitions, but it continually seemed that the world was only trying to confirm the fox's sentiment as pure, unadulterated truth. She wanted to keep believing, she didn't want to descend into that kind of mentality, but-

Her thoughts were cut off by the ringing of a bell, signaling that the door to a shop across the street had just swung open. Chancing a look, her brow immediately furrowed and she had to fight to suppress the sigh rising from her throat. It was as if her mere thinking of his words had summoned him to existence, a beacon for the world to send unto her another plague to make things even worse. Nick Wilde, popsicle hustler extraordinaire, emerged from an ice-cream shop, carrying on his back yet another jumbo-pop. His ever present smirk lining his muzzle, his stride as annoyingly smug and confident as ever, and his fashion sense still just as loud and aggravating as it was the last time she'd seen him all those months before.

The details of his and his partner-in-crime's scheme jumped to the forefront of her mind, along with it the precautionary measures that they'd taken to avoid trouble. The permit, the receipt of declared commerce, the technicalities of his speech; it was maddening, ever-maddening. She stared at him for a time as he adjusted the jumbo-pop on his shoulder, watching as he got a better grip on the oversized treat. The Fox turned on his heels, swiveling around to prepare to head south down the street, but as he did, his gaze passed over Judy, and for a momentary few seconds, their gazes locked onto each other, long enough for her to see the emerald tinge of his eyes. 

Oh no. No no nonono she did NOT need this today. Slamming her eyes shut and burying her face back in her arms, she averted her gaze. Maybe she'd just imagined it? Surely he'd just been glancing around and hadn't noticed her at all? And if he did, surely he didn't remember her, right? She had been just a momentary bump-in-the-road for him that day, maybe he'd just take his treat and go? Yes, yes that's what he would-

"Well well well if it isn't Officer Toot-Toot." 

No such luck, why should anything go her way?

Tearing her gaze up with a groan, she found the fox standing right in front of her, his height combined with her spot on the ground granted him a towering feeling that practically radiated off of him in waves. His smirk still plastered to his face while he arched one of his eyebrows, "Been a while, Carrots, though I must say if you were wanting to play in the water I'd suggest a pool rather than the rain puddles, unless the state of your clothing is just a natural preference to being soaked rather than a failed attempt at swimming."  

She clenched her hands into fists, gritting her teeth she narrowed her gaze down to slits and spat out a simple, "Shut up." 

"Ouch, got me with that one Officer Fluff, truly you have bested me in the game of wits and wordplay." The Fox placed his free hand on his forehead, leaning back a ways as he feigned hurt in the most exaggerated manner possible, mouth agape and eyes half lidded as he turned to stare upwards. It was infuriating. 

"I have neither the want, nor the desire, to play any type of game with you." 

Nick only chuckled at that, his smirk keeping firm as he turned his head back down to look at her. Was this funny to him? Seeing her miserable like this? Letting out a contented sigh, Nick gave a 'tsk tsk' before clicking his tongue, "In an all-business mood today, I see."

"Just leave me alone." The bunny shoved her face back into her arms, shifting in her spot to turn away from the snarky fox, she was inwardly losing a battle with herself to keep from just falling onto her side and crying. She was starting to believe that, at this point, Nick's being here was the proverbial cherry on top of the painful sundae that had been her time in Zootopia thus far. After all the things she'd suffered, here was this fox to rub it in, to remind her of just how wrong everything she'd believed had been up until this point. A sickeningly cruel joke the world couldn't resist playing on her.

Yet, for a bit of time following, there was an unusual stint of silence. A silence that she hadn't quite expected. After perhaps a minute of it, she was almost curious enough to turn and look back at him, just to see what he was doing, but before she could he cleared his throat and finally spoke again.

"Not up for the speech today, Officer? Not going to threaten to arrest me at all? If I'd have known my little talk back then would have dissuaded you to this degree I would have tried it out on all the other Officers who've tried arresting me sooner!"

And that was the straw that broke the camel's back, to use a somewhat speciesist term. Jumping to her feet, the bunny whipped around and jammed a finger into the fox's chest, the tears already beginning to stream down her face as she lost all sense of composure she had left. "Shut up! Just shut up! I've had it! I couldn't arrest you if I wanted to! Isn't that just hilarious?! Such a fantastic joke for you to get your kicks in over! I bet you feel real proud about all this! I've been fired you dumb... stupid... jerkface!" Her insult game was never on point, but she felt that at the very least, her tone could carry along the message. "Go find someone else to bother! Leave. Me. ALONE!" 

Her words were met with even more silence, and it seemed like, if for but the briefest of moments, the smirk on the fox's face faltered. Not waiting to know if she'd seen it correctly or not, the bunny turned about on her heels, stalking off down the street. She had nowhere to go, but surely anywhere would be better than here. However, maybe half a minute after her abrupt departure, she heard a pitter pattering of steps behind her. Risking a glance, she found, to her shock and horror, that the fox was following her. Nick had completely abandoned the jumbo-pop he'd been holding onto and was now just following her down the street as she walked. Snapping her gaze back ahead, she tried quickening her pace, and yet the sound of the following footsteps remained a constant in her wake. Trying to wipe the tears from her eyes with one hand, she shouted back over her shoulder. "Don't follow me! I told you to leave me alone!" 

The fox seemed undeterred, his footfall didn't even falter. "So they let you go, huh? Fired you with an 'au revoir, don't come back'?"

Was he mocking her now? As if things couldn't get any worse! "Did you not hear me?!" 

She heard Nick give off a scoff of his own, "Oh I heard you loud and clear, Carrots, but you didn't seem to hear me. I asked a question! They fired you?" 

"Yes, dang it, they fired me! Now buzz off!" 

"Can't imagine why they'd do that, with such a sunny disposition you've got about you." There was quiet between the two for a time following that, as Judy absolutely refused to respond to it, but when she didn't give him anything more to work with he simply continued right on with his irritations. "Is that why you're looking like you've spent the last night in the gutter? What, were you living in some sort of police housing and now that you're off the Force you've got nowhere to go?" 

"Why do you even care?!" 

"Can't a guy be curious?" 

She let out the longest, deepest, most frustrated sigh she'd ever given off in her life. "No, I wasn't living in 'police housing', but yes, I've got nowhere to go. Not in the city, anyways. That satisfy you enough? Going to poke fun at my misery some more now?" 

She turned to shout the words at him, but as she did, she found the Fox only a tail length behind her, close enough that when she turned, he had to stop walking immediately to avoid bumping into her. The Fox had an unreadable expression on his face, his smirk was just... gone. It was a surprising sight, but she suddenly became more focused on the Fox's hands as he reached out and grabbed one of her wrists. "I then must assume that I am also correct in the idea that you've got nothing to eat, then. Come along, let's get you taken care of." Now it was the Fox who was taking the lead, dragging the bunny along behind him as he took a turn down a different street. 

The shock of the sudden change in action, and the seemingly even more sudden shift in his attitude, practically stunned the rabbit for a handful of moments before her brain caught up with reality. "Wha- hey! Let me go! What are you-" 

The Fox abruptly turned his head to face her, tossing her a smile and a wink, catching her completely off guard. "Relax, Carrots, I'm just doing my good deed for the decade. You don't seem to be in a position to exactly turn down any help, so come along." 

She ripped her hand from his grasp, coming to a complete stop and folding her arms in front of her chest. "No, you just wait! Why should I go anywhere with you?! I barely know you! You could very well be-" 

She couldn't finish the statement before Nick simply grabbed her wrist again and continued pulling her along, "I told you to relax, Carrots! I'm not going to do anything to you, I'm just going to get you some food and some clothes that aren't soaking wet. It's going to rain tonight, and I doubt you want to be caught out in it in your condition. Now quit whining!" 

She opened her mouth to protest, but closed it just as soon as she did. He wasn't... wrong... about the position she was in or the rain and not wanting to be caught out in it. She could smell the rain coming on the wind, he was most definitely right about that, and if she stayed out in the streets the way she was, she'd more likely than not catch hypothermia. And there had been... dare she even say it, some semblance of care in his tone, no, no that couldn't be it. Understanding? No that seemed even stranger, but something was assuring her that, against her instincts, he wasn't lying about his intentions. It was an idea that she couldn't wrap her head around, but she very much could wrap her head around the idea that at this point, she could either go with the fox or continue wallowing on the ground. Gritting her teeth, she resigned herself to her fate. This fox might be taking her somewhere unpleasant for all she knew but... 

...what else did she have to lose?

Chapter Text

The diner was, in the nicest terms possible, decrepit and disgusting. 

The walls that showed signs of once having been white were now a tinted yellow from years of cigarettes being smoked inside the building, and a random assortment of stains from maker-only-knows-what were splotched here and there at random intervals. The floor consisted of a mishmash of carpet in some areas that absolutely reeked of stale fries, while other areas nearer to the countertop and kitchen had tiles with loose, cracked pieces lying all about. The booths were very well past their prime, with rips and tears covering every inch of them, and on the way in Judy had spotted a practical sea of old chewing gum sticking to the underside of the tables and she absolutely refused to take a second glance. 

But at this very moment, she was far from being able to care a single bit about any of that. 

The salad she'd ordered had arrived much quicker than the food Nick was currently still waiting on. It was clearly hastily thrown together with ill-regard for presentation. A head of lettuce chopped up and thrown into a bowl, alongside haphazardly tossed in vegetables, with enough dressing on top to successfully drown a mammal if they fell asleep in their food, as if they'd just dumped half a bottle onto it then served it with a 'good enough' mentality. It was, by far and away, the worst looking salad Judy had ever seen, but then again, she was starving. Though she had tried to eat it slowly to avoid making herself sick, she still managed to down the whole thing within minutes. 

Across from her, Nick Wilde let out a low whistle as he leaned back, drumming his clawtips on the table's surface in a rhythmic pattern, "You know, Carrots, I think you're probably the first person to have ever ordered a salad from this place. You must have been positively famished to willingly eat that slop." 

At his comment, Judy flicked her gaze up to him, perking a brow as she folded her arms and leaned forward on the table, still a bit damp from the passing car's splash from earlier in the night. "What do you mean? Salad's a pretty normal food option." Nick could only shrug, his smirk back on his face as his gaze flickered around the diner, "Maybe so, but I doubt most mammals come into a diner meant to serve insect-based foods looking for one." At his mention of it, Judy took a quick look around, discovering what she should have noticed on the way in but failed to, in that she was the only prey in the establishment, everyone else was a predator. 

Suddenly feeling a tad self conscious, Judy turned her gaze back towards the fox, letting out a small sigh, "Right, well... I was... I really needed this regardless. Thank you for the food."

The fox made an elaborate swirling motion with his hand, giving a slight dip of the head as he swished the hand down to his side, as if to bow. "Think nothing of it, Carrots. As I said, this is my good deed for the decade! But don't you worry you'll have plenty of time to worry about how to repay me later." Judy let out another sigh as she shook her head, having to remind herself that this fox was indeed, a con-man. The type of character she'd been warned about all her life, and yet here she was, relying upon him for a basic meal.

A brief silence fell between the two as Nick's food, some sort of bug burger, arrived. Taking it up in his clawed hands the fox took a big bite out of it before leaning back, seeming to study the rabbit while he chewed. She met his gaze with a stare of her own, furrowing her brows and sitting up as straight as she could, trying to avoid appearing as helpless as she had a mere hour before. They remained like that for a stint, before Nick swallowed his bite and gestured to her broadly. "So, I presume that your lack of a place to go indicates that you're... on your own? No family? Or not on the best of terms with said family, maybe estranged from them because of your ludicrous dreams?"

Judy fell back into her chair at that, but she quickly let out a scoff and bolted back up, pointing accusingly towards the fox across from her. "No! That's not the case at all! And that's a VERY nosy thing to ask about you know! What business is it of yours?"

The fox held up his hands in mock surrender, "Easy, easy Carrots. It's a prudent question I'd think. Logic would dictate that you'd be safe at home back in Bunnyburrow rather than stuck out in the cold streets if you were on good terms." 

Judy sat back down, dropping her hand down to use as a rest for the side of her head. "I... I haven't... told them... about my situation." 

Now it was Nick's term to perk a brow, he took another bite out of his bug burger and gave her a quizzical glance, starting speaking with a full mouth. "You haven't?" 

"I haven't, and I won't, I can't." 

"That seems to be a bit of a stupid decision, Carrots. There's your ticket out of poverty right there! Head on back home to mom and dad, get your old room back, farm for your food, easy!" 

Judy let out another sigh, dragging her hand down her face, "It's... it's complicated, alright? You wouldn't understand." 

Nick took another large bite, quickly finishing off and downing the rest of his burger as he licked his fingers clean. Then he crossed his arms and leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table. "Try me." 

Judy couldn't help but let out a frustrated grumble beneath her breath. Here was this fox, this con artist who had ridiculed her for most of the time he'd known her, who'd swindled her without a second thought and without a hint of remorse, and then what, he buys her a salad and now expects her to just open up to him about her family and their issues with her dreams? And yet here he sat, still here with the ever present smirk, but with the supposed intent to listen to her anyways. A twisted form of therapy if ever she'd seen one, but... with how these weeks had gone, maybe getting it off her chest would do her some form of good. She was almost certain this would come back to bite her later but, screw it.

"I've wanted to be a police officer ever since I was a child, and while my parents and family never outright told me to give up the idea, they very much tried to encourage me to just settle down in Bunnyburrow to become a carrot farmer. All 'there's never been a bunny cop' this, and 'carrot farming is truly a noble profession!' that. To them this city is just one big terrifying deathtrap waiting to hurt me at every turn! If I tell them about all this, it's only going to confirm in their minds all of the things they've been spouting off for years!" 

Nick couldn't help but interrupt with a bit of a shrewd laugh, "Ha! Sorry to say it, Fluff, but they may have had a point if your current predicament is anything to go by." 

She cast him a glare, "My current predicament is a setback, nothing more! I have every intention of convincing Chief Bogo to let me back on the Force! I just need to think of a way to do that! I can't just give up because of some... some minor complications!" 

"Riiiight, minor complications, because everything is just going so well so far. Just another normal day for one Officer Hopps, huh?" 

Judy threw her head back, letting out an "uggh!" before sitting back up properly straight. "The point of all this is that I can't let them know about this! If I told them they'd just rush over here and drag me back to live on the farm for the rest of my life! Then I'd have no chance at all of getting my job back! Everything I've worked towards for my whole life would have been put to waste!" 

Nick only shook his head, leaning back in his seat and giving her a look as if to suggest she were insane. "This seems like a massive stretch of logic when compared to your pitiful living situation at the moment, Carrots. Can't exactly get back to tending to parking meters if you end up dead on the side of the road from malnutrition or hypothermia." 

"I'm not going to end up dead!"

"Right, because you were doing fantastic out there just now." 

Judy opened her mouth to spout a retort, but nothing came. Instead she could only sigh again and stare down towards the table, muttering a bit quieter than before. "Every time they've called I just... I've pretended to be on the job. It feels... it feels horrible, sitting there on a park bench and just... just lying to them. I want to tell them all about how horrible things have been going, to just talk to them about how I'm feeling, but if I do they'll only worry about me even more! They wouldn't understand that I can't just... I can't just..." She sighed again, letting out a scoff and turning away. "Just, just forget it. Never mind, I told you that you wouldn't understand." 

Nick was again silent for a time, long enough that she turned her gaze back up towards him to see if he was silently mocking her, yet when she looked at him she saw his expression was completely unreadable. He seemed to be in deep thought about something following her words, just... staring at her for a while. It felt like an eternity of silence, which only meant that when he abruptly slapped his knees and stood up the sudden motion and sound startled her, causing her to nearly jump backwards into the booth. "Well, Carrots, I can't offer you any sagely advice about your occupational woes, aside from telling you to just suck it up and head home with that cute little tail between your legs-" 

"DON'T call me cute."

"Yeah yeah, whatever, but while I can't offer counsel there, I will at least make good on my once-in-a-lifetime bout of temporary altruism. Now hop to it, Hopps, we've got to get going before the rain comes in!" The Fox rounded the corner of the table and extended a hand to her, his smirk back in its normal place. Judy let out a huff, taking his hand and getting pulled to her feet out of the booth. "What do you mean 'get going'? Go where?" 

"To get you a change of clothes and a place to sleep, of course! Continuing to wear those damp things will only give you problems with rashes later on, of that I assure you! After that, I've got an idea about how you can help me, help you, by helping me in getting you and I some much needed cash in the meantime. Until you get your meter maid spurs back, of course." 

Judy's brows furrowed once more, "What? What do you mean-" 

"Don't you worry yourself about that just now, Hopps." He said with a grin, interrupting her before she could even get the sentence out. "Save the worrying about details for me! Now come along!" He grasped her by her wrist once again, and after slapping down a couple bucks on the countertop, he quickly dragged her out of the diner and into the night. 

Chapter Text

"Personally, Carrots, I'd say it's an upgrade!" 

Judy could only stare at her reflection in pure disbelief. Standing there in front of the mirror, her eyes traced down her figure and the absolutely hideous shirt she was currently dressed in. By all appearances it appeared to be a complete copy of the scheming fox's tacky green Pawaiian shirt, missing only the tie, and instead of the tan pants Judy wore instead a simple pair of jeans. The main difference was that the clothing was closer to her size than his. She didn't want to complain, after all it was a dry and clean change of clothes, but if beggars could be choosers then sweet cheese and crackers she'd definitely be choosing something, anything, else. 

"Why do you even have these?" She turned away from the mirror, crossing her arms and leaning her weight to the left as she gave the Fox an inquisitive glare. "There's no way you'd be fitting into this size." 

Nick placed a hand on his chest, feigning a look of shock and hurt, "Are you calling me fat, Carrots?" He let out a stark laugh before she could answer, waiting only for her expression to harden before speaking again. "I originally bought those for Finnick as a gag gift for the Holidays, he stuffed 'em in a dresser and never took a second glance. I don't think he'll be too upset that you're taking those off his hands." 

Judy could only sigh, shaking her head as she pinched the bridge of her nose. Nick cast her a wink as she did, before turning around and stalking off towards the kitchen, where he grabbed an old looking coffee cup, took a sip, looked disappointed, but then kept on taking an occasional sip from it anyways. Taking the opportunity, Judy took a glance around the apartment. It was clearly a cheaper bought place, with a number of burnt out lightbulbs hanging from most of the light fixtures. The wallpaper was peeling in a couple spots, there was a bucket sitting on a stool beneath a leak in the ceiling in the dead-center of the room, and half of the windows that overlooked the slummy part of the city in which the apartment block resided were cracked. Yet for all its faults, the apartment still had a kitchen, a bathroom, a comfy looking if a bit worn down couch in the living room, and two bedrooms off towards the back. She hated to say it, but it was leagues above the Grand Pangolin Arms. 

"If you want, Carrots," Nick's voice interrupted her thoughts, and she turned her head to find that he'd been watching her look about the place, causing her face to heat up from embarrassment. "-you can take my bed while you're here. I pass out on the couch most nights anyways." 

Judy politely shook her head, "No I couldn't ask that of you. I'm fine with the couch. It's much better than the holes in the wall I've been using these past few months." She cupped her hands over each other, letting them hang down in front of her. "I... thank you for giving me a place to stay, you didn't have to-" 

"Oh hush now, Carrots. It's no trouble at all!" He waved away whatever she had to say further with a flick of his wrist, "If anything, this is going to be worse a situation for you! Finnick snores louder than an elephant! Believe you me, you'll hear him through that door all night long." He gestured towards one of the bedroom doors, presumably the one leading towards the bedroom of the fennec fox. 

Judy let out a bit of a chuckle, the first one she'd had in quite an amount of time. "Oh that's no issue at all, I grew up with two hundred and seventy five siblings. You get used to sleeping through that kind of noise." At that bit of trivia, Nick seemed to nearly spit out a gulp of coffee he'd just swallowed. Struggling to down it he let out a number of coughs before turning towards her with a shocked expression on his face. "Two hundred and seventy five?! Jeez, Carrots, I thought that was just a stereotype!" The Fox set the coffee cup down, "I feel bad for any poor buck you took home to meet the parents, all those brothers to beat the sap down!" 

Judy held her hands up, palms facing outwards as she shook her head. "Oh I never had time for that kind of thing, was always too focused on... well..." she dropped her hands, and her smile rapidly fell from her face, "...too focused on my dreams, on getting to the academy so I could be an Officer." She let out another sigh, but to her surprise, Nick didn't seem to take the opportunity to mock her about it further. Instead he was quiet for a minute, before clapping his hands together once, "Well! Maybe you'll find someone in the meantime, Carrots! Or not, hey, whatever floats your boat!"

The Bunny stared at him for a bit, before giving a shrug and a nod, "maybe, but it's not high up on my list of priorities." 

The Fox's smirk returned at the word, "Yes! Priorities, we should focus on what those should be, which we'll discuss when Finnick-" 

Almost immediately at the mention of the name, the sound of a key entering and turning in the front door lock sounded out through the apartment. "Speak of the devil!" With a turn of the latch, the small fox entered from the hallway, having used his foot to kick open the door due to his hands being full carrying a number of plastic bags. "Hey Nicky, I've got the-" The small fox paused, having caught a glance of Judy standing in the middle of the room. Judy shifted a bit awkwardly in place as a silence fell over the three of them while the smaller fox stood perfectly still, like a deer caught in headlights, to use yet another speciesist term. 

Finally the silence was broken when Finnick's head swiveled to look at Nick, "Why is the bunny cop standing in the living room wearing your clothing?" 

"Technically, those are your clothes." 

"That somehow does not inspire any further confidence, moron." Finnick dropped the bags on the floor, which landed in such a way that they spilled out their contents: a number of popsicle sticks, "Why the hell have you brought a cop into our house?!" 

"She's not currently a cop! And she needed some help, and I figured she could help us out in the process of being helped!" Nick shot the smaller fox a couple finger guns and a wink, "Trust me, I've got a whole plan worked out. This will be a beneficial arrangement for all of us!" 

Judy furrowed her brow, and folded her arms across her chest again, "Hang on a minute there, Slick, I'm not just going to help you with your schemes!" 

"They're legitimate business practices, Fluff! Legitimate. Business. Practices!" He turned his smirking face towards her direction, "We've got all the paperwork, we buy all the materials ourselves, everything we're doing is perfectly legal in every way! No different from any joe selling anything else on the street!" 

"You scammed me into helping you with your two's whole father-son routine!" She laid her hands out towards the pair, raising her voice as she spoke. "I'm not going to help you scam anyone else-" 

"Relax, bunny cop." Finnick spoke up, folding his own arms and sneering. "Don't take it personally. It's just business." 

"That's not an excuse!" 

From his spot in the room, Nick let out a resounding sigh. "If you're going to get so caught up on that one little thing, then here" Nick stepped over to her, producing a twenty dollar bill from his pockets which he held out towards her, "Repayment for your buying that jumbo pop for us, and tell you what, I'll throw in as an additional offer that we won't be tricking anyone else into buying them for us while you're working with us, if that's what it takes to calm your ire." 

Finnick scoffed, shaking his head and scowling, "You're getting soft, Nicky. We don't need her! We've been doing just fine without her all this time! Why should we even let her in on this?"  

"Because, my vertically challenged compadre," Nick patted the fennec on the top of his head a number of times, causing the smaller fox to swipe at him, though Nick had moved out of the way before the swipe could connect, "Our bunny associate here provides us with unique marketing potential!" He gestured broadly to Judy, extravagantly waving his hands as though he were showing off some type of trophy. Judy narrowed her gaze down to slits, "What do you mean to imply? I told you I'm not-" 

"Ah ah ah, let me finished!" Nick pointed broadly, smiling as he leaned back against the counter. "What I told you that day was true, Carrots. Zootopia is built up as a place where preds and prey all get along, but the sad fact of life is that we don't. It's why Finnick and myself here have to shack up in a place like this, no one in any of the good parts of town are willing to rent out an apartment to a couple of foxes like us, and you saw how that elephant responded to us when we were trying to buy that Jumbo Pop!" He gestured to Judy, "That's where you come in! You're not going to be seen as a shifty salesman! If anything, they'll trust you implicitly! On a standard day, we can get in about two hundred bucks, but that's with me doing all the sales pitches! If we had you, however, doing that, any potentially biased customers wouldn't be as dissuaded. More cash for us, and coincidentally, more cash for you." He smiled wide, gesturing wide with his arms and letting the pair of them think about the proposition. 

Finnick was the first to speak up, having let out an aggravated sounding sigh, "It... could... work. It has... some potential. Though I still think letting in a bunny cop on this will only bite us in the ass later on." Judy could only shift her focus between the both of them a number of times, holding the sides of her head, "You want me to... I... I don't want to be doing anything illegal! I'll never get my job back if-" 

"I already told you, you won't be breaking the law, Carrots! You'll be selling pawpsicles on the side of the road! It's like a kid's lemonade stand! You're over thinking it!" He produced the cards from his back again, showing off the permit and receipt of declared commerce, "We've got everything all accounted for. You'd be breaking no laws, and we'd all be making a bit of much needed cash! C'mon Carrots." 

Judy held the sides of her head, as though the strain of the situation was causing her physical pain. Sitting down on the couch, she took a couple seconds to just think. The whole proposal wasn't... technically illegal, in fact she couldn't think of anything that they could be charged with that wasn't accounted for the day she herself tried. Still, the whole thing just felt... wrong to her. It felt dishonest, and it felt like something she would've been disgusted to imagine herself doing when she was still an Officer. But... she needed the money, and despite Nick's attempts to appear to be in this entirely for himself, he still did offer her a place to sleep, food to eat, and clean clothing to wear. It still felt off, but maybe it wouldn't be... that bad?

Letting out a sigh, she turned her gaze up. "Fine. I'll do it. But absolutely NO scamming people! Got it?" 

Nick swished a finger in a figure-eight pattern across his chest before holding his hand up, palms open. "Cross my heart and hope to die, Fluff. You've got my word." The action elicited another scoff from Finnick, but he didn't voice any further complaint. "Now that all of that is out of the way, we have details to plan!" 

...

The process of actually creating the popsicles, or... pawpsicles as Nick insisted on calling them, went about exactly as Judy had seen before. With the procurement of a jumbo pop, the three of them melted it down atop a rooftop and filled up a number of jars. Heading to Tundratown, they then refroze the liquid into mini paw-shaped treats, created by pouring them into pawprints Finnick stamped into the snow, before placing them in icy coolers. Then it was just a matter of transporting them to where they'd be selling them on the streets. Nick had taken half and headed down to where the Lemmings would be exiting their bank (easy, non-discriminating marks, he'd called them), and Finnick had gone with him to hide out in a nearby trashcan as he'd done before. But as for Judy, she was situated on the opposite side of town.  

Judy wasn't one to fear doing things in public. She wasn't shy by any means, and growing up in Bunnyburrow you picked up the ins and outs of selling from an outdoor stall once you visisted the local farmer's markets. The problem for Judy was that this particular endeavor still gave her a sensation of unease. Legal though it may be, it still felt off. 

"Just stick with it, Judy. You need the money, and surely finding work while you wait to get your job back at the ZPD can't be something to be held against you? You were looking for work before this anyways, Judy, you can do this." She muttered to herself, beneath her breath. It wasn't the most effective at easing her worries, but it was something.

Standing on the street, Judy's eyes shuffled between from mammal to mammal. "Pawpsicles! Get your pawpsicles!" She'd call out from time to time, but she knew that such a tactic was meant more to attract attention, and that the real sales could only be made through a more personal touch.

Coming up the street, Judy's gaze caught on the shape of a hippo waddling his way along the sidewalk. The hippo was wearing a slightly torn shirt, and had on a pair of khakis that were clearly stained with a number of food condiment sauces, furthermore, she could make out the shape of his wallet poking out from one of his pockets, a wallet that clearly held cash. The perfect type of customer, as Nick had described. Gritting her teeth, Judy sucked it up and put on the most convincing smile she could. "Excuse me, sir! Would you be interested in a pawpsicle?" 

The hippo stopped in his walk, turning to look around him before finding the source of the voice and looking down. "Oh! Well... what are they?" 

Judy plucked one from the chest, holding it up and out towards the hippo, "An Icy Treat to sweeten the day, of course! Today I've got them cherry flavored! Would you like one?" She waved it about in as subtle a manner as possible. "Always keep their attention on the merchandise", Nick had said. The hippo's eyes traced the treat's path in the air as he tapped his chin. "I dunno, I'm supposed to be on a diet... how much are they?" 

And then, to clench the deal. She let out a smile, "Two dollars!" 

After an exchange of cash and treat, the hippo moved along on his way, and Judy was one treat down, several more to go. 

The hours whittled away, and as the day went on the treats kept selling. Judy fell into a steady rhythm after a while, and the nagging voice in her head that kept telling her how off this all felt seemed to go away. It was just another job, and it was a job that was going well! Soon enough, she found herself with only a couple treats left to sell.

With the coming of a pitter pattering of steps behind her, Judy put on the salesman smile once again. Turning, she saw a pair of children running up the road.

"Pawpsicles! Get your pawp...sicles..."

Judy's smile suddenly transformed into a frown. As the children approached, she was overcome with the feeling that she recognized them, though she couldn't quite put a pin in it. They were... otters, they were definitely otters. One was slightly taller than the other, wearing a blue shirt, while the slightly shorter one wore orange. They were making noise, as children often do, and had seemingly zeroed in on Judy and the last few remaining treats she had on display. They spoke to her, asking the typical questions of their price and if she had any other flavors, but Judy was unable to properly respond. Where had she seen them before?

It only took a moment to register in her brain, but so focused she was on recalling the details that she almost didn't notice when a taller, older female otter approached alongside them. 

"...Is that you, Officer Hopps?"

Chapter Text

"You're. Fired." 

"What?! Why?!" 

"Insubordination! Now, I'm going to open this door and you're going to tell that otter that you're a former meter maid, with delusions of grandeur, who will not be taking the case." 

Judy Hopps' breath caught in her throat as the door swung open to reveal Mrs. Otterton standing there, her purse clutched to her chest. Judy's gaze shuffled between Chief Bogo to the otter, there... no surely there was a way to fix this. Surely she could prove that she... 

"Oh thank you both so much!" Mrs. Otterton's voice cut through her thoughts before the bunny could even muster up the strength to speak, "I'll leave my details with your man at the front desk, I cannot thank you enough! Please bring my Emmitt home to me and my babies!" The otter rushed forward, giving Judy another big hug. Judy's breathing came to an abrupt stop, eyes wide. "I-" 

She never got her chance, Mrs. Otterton gave her a smile as she released the bunny from her surprisingly strong grip. "Thank you so much again! I won't take up any more of your time!" The otter was practically beaming, and scurried off towards the staircase, leaving Judy and Bogo standing there in the doorway. 

From behind her, she could hear the cape buffalo let out a frustrated sigh, a bout of silence fell over the office before the Chief cleared his throat. 

"Badge, Hopps. I'll be needing your badge, then I'll need you to get out of my sight." 

...

Judy had spent much of her life trying to master her fears, after all, surely she'd be in some harrowing situations as a police officer, and she'd need to be in complete control of her emotions so as to be able to properly handle anything that might come her way; however, the one thing she hadn't anticipated was that she'd also need to be prepared for situations where she'd need to come absolutely clean with someone, and in the process, dash their hopes against the rocks. 

"M-mrs Otterton!" Judy managed to stammer out, "H-hello! I-..." Her voice caught again, unable to properly formulate a sentence with her mind racing at a thousand miles an hour. What was she even supposed to say? What could she say? How was she supposed to break it to this woman that in all this time, she hadn't been working on her case because she physically couldn't? 

"I didn't know you were a street vendor on the side, Officer Hopps!" The Otter's voice cut through her thoughts, bringing her abruptly back to the present. Snapping her wide eyed gaze to the otter's face she could see a clear dose of confusion in her expression, as well as a hint of humor. "Being an Officer doesn't pay much, then?" 

Judy's gaze flashed towards the pawpsicles, to the two bouncing kids who'd lost interest in questioning Judy once their mother had arrived, and then back towards the mother in question. What was she even supposed to say? That she was undercover? That she was, indeed, just doing this on the side? Or should she just tell the truth? 

As unappealing as the idea was, Judy's heart seemed to weigh down into her chest at the thought of lying to this woman in any way. She could, she very much could. It'd be so easy! But... Judy Hopps didn't do anything the easy way. Impersonating an officer was a crime, and despite how much she might wish it, Judy Hopps was unfortunately no longer an officer. She couldn't break the law, but more importantly she wasn't going to offer her any false hopes. She didn't think she could live with herself to promise that she, or anyone was working towards finding her husband if she wasn't and she couldn't guarantee that anyone else was. 

Taking a deep breath, she decided to rip the proverbial band-aid off. 

"I'm... afraid this is my main, and only, source of income at the moment, Mrs Otterton." Her ears fell down behind her back, and as soon as she said it, she saw the humor die from the otter's eyes, alongside the questioning glance. Now, now there was only a face of concern. "You're... what do you mean, Officer Hopps?" 

Judy's paws cupped themselves, and she let them linger in front of her. Wincing she held her eyes closed for a second, before charging ahead. "Just... it's just Judy Hopps now, Mrs. Otterton. I was let go from the force." 

"What?! Why?!" 

It was a fair question, a fair question indeed. One Judy couldn't help but ask herself in the long hours of the night when she only had her thoughts to keep her company. Thinking back to that day, she couldn't help but feel like the chief had just wanted to get rid of her. He'd never wanted her assigned to his precinct to begin with, he'd only ever shuffled her to parking duty, and he'd never been shy from admitting it. Judy couldn't help but feel that maybe, if she'd been given a chance, she could've proved to the chief that she could have been an asset! The best officer he could have ever hoped to have! But... real life was harsh, and cruel, and despite what Judy may want, she had to accept that she was not given that chance. 

"Insubordination." She wasn't going to lie to this woman, she'd tell her the whole truth. "The Chief believed me to be stepping out of line to take on any cases at all, and before I tried to take on yours I'd been in his office for... decisions that he already deemed as both inappropriate, and far above what I should have been doing with my station." Judy could feel her heart breaking in two as she spoke. She didn't believe at all that the Chief was right to make any of those calls, Judy had only been doing her job! She'd only ever been out to help people, to make the world a better place! But the minds of those judging her actions had been made up long ago, and while she would not offer Mrs. Otterton false hope, she wasn't going to sully the name of the ZPD by claiming their actions unjust to a woman solely reliant on the ZPD to find the love of her life and the father to her children. 

"So... so is anyone working on finding my Emmitt at all?! You were the only one who even said they'd take the case!" The grief and despair on the woman's face was clear as day. This, above all else, was the hardest thing Judy had ever done in her life. Harder than anything in her childhood, and tougher than anything she'd experienced at the academy. "I'm sure someone is, Mrs. Otterton. The detectives at the ZPD are some of the finest in the world, I'm sure they'll find him soon." She could only, at this time, offer the poor otter that.

The otter looked downtrodden and upset, at a loss for words. She didn't seem to be able to muster up the will to ask anything further, she only looked sullenly down to the ground. Judy had the overwhelming urge to shoot forward, to hug this poor woman and offer any consolation she possibly could, but she was rooted to the spot, and she doubted heavily that Mrs. Otterton would want such things from the former Officer who had failed to do anything for her. 

"Mama?" 

The attention of both women shifted towards the voice, which belonged to one of her children, the taller one wearing a blue shirt. "Can we please have some pawpsicles! It's so hot out and they'll probably melt soon! Please please pleeeeaaaase?!" 

The two boys had, by all appearances, seemed to have not paid attention to the conversation at all, their focus having been entirely on the two pawpsicles left over. Judy's gaze shifted between the three otters in front of her, biting her lower lip, she snatched up the pawpsicles and handed them off to the boys, putting on the most convincing smile she possibly could. "Well you're in luck! You're the... forty-ninth and fiftieth customers today! Special offer! They're on the house!" Judy could do nothing to help this poor family find their husband and father, but she sure as hell wasn't going to charge them for anything. The two boys shouted out gleefully, grabbing at the pawpsicles and gnawing on them as they went back to whatever it was that the two had been discussing previously. 

Turning her gaze towards Mrs. Otterton, she was surprised to see that she was offering her a small smile, "Thank you, Ms. Judy." 

Judy flicked her hand in dismissal, "Oh it's nothing, Mrs. Otterton. Just part of the business. I... I hope you'll hear from the ZPD soon. If... if there's anything I can do for you-" 

"You're very kind, Ms. Judy. It's appreciated." Her face contained a definite undertone of melancholy, but the small smile held firm. "Have a good day, Ms. Judy." The otter gave her a wave as she herded her two boys off down the street, continuing on their way. Judy's gaze followed them briefly all the way until they disappeared around a corner, and she could no longer see them. With a sigh, she turned back towards the small cooler that had contained the pawpsicles. They were all gone now, so it was time for her to get moving, to make her way back towards the meet-up point and- 

"That was very kind of you, Carrots." 

Judy practically leapt out of her skin, jumping a good four feet into the air and whipping around, landing back on her toes and facing towards the direction of the voice. Before her was the smirking visage of Nick, who seemed utterly amused. "Dang, they must make you rabbits with springs in your legs. Impressive, Carrots, impressive." 

"Nick! Don't do that!" She sent a jab towards his arm, and the fox was pushed back a foot, rubbing his arm as he did. "Ow! Springs in the legs and concrete in the fists! Remind me not to pick a fight with you anytime soon!" The Fox's smirk remained constant throughout, so it seemed as though he wasn't really all too broken up about it. 

Judy let out a huff, placing her hands on her hips before her ears perked up and she glanced up the street, then back to Nick. "How... how much of that did you-" 

"Quite a bit of it, Carrots, quite a bit." He shrugged, "and before you worry your cute lil' head over it-" 

"I told you not to call me cute!" She raised her fist up to punch him in the arm again, but Nick just held his hands up in mock surrender.

"Yeah yeah yeah whatever, as I was saying before you worry too much about it, I may be a business fox at heart-" he placed a hand to his chest, "but that does mean that there is a heart underneath all the astute business acumen, dashing good looks, and wonderful personality. As far as I'm concerned, and as far as Finnick needs to know, we ate the last two ourselves after a long day's work." He grasped onto the handle of the cooler, "Now come along, Carrots! Time to count out a days wages, and then get some victory chow! Finn's parked up the road. Hit the legs, Carrots!" The Fox turned, heading down the road in the direction he gestured, not even waiting for Judy to get in a word. 

For a time she stared after him, utterly perplexed... but when her stomach grumbled she was jostled back to reality. "Hey! Wait up!" She cried out as she hurried on after him. 

...

"So, I was able to sell the Lemmings the standard amount, twenty, and I managed to sell off another five after that. That's fifty dollars, and Carrots, you knocked it out of the park! Forty-eight pawpsicles! That's ninety-six bucks! So all in all we made one-forty-six! And that's before we take into account the bundle we made selling the sticks in Little Rodentia, all in all, we've raked in quite the good amount today!" Nick split the cash three ways, shuffling the larger of the stacks towards Judy, "Usually me and Finn split it sixty-forty, since I do most of the selling." Nick flashed his smirk towards Finnick, who only responded with a scoff from his spot in the driver's seat of the van and turned up the radio. "But since there's three of us, we're splitting it up forty-thirty-thirty, and since you sold the most today, Carrots, you get the big stack." 

Judy took the cash as it was offered, looking it over in her hand then looking up towards Nick. The generosity was a bit... unexpected, but before she could get a word out, Finnick let out a laugh. "Ha! I knew it, you are getting soft, Nicky!" Nick leaned over, ruffling the fennec's head, causing him to swat at Nick's arm. "You read too much into it Finn, she did the most selling, she gets the biggest cut." 

"Or maybe you're just trying to impress your new girlfriend, Nicky." 

Judy felt her face, and the insides of her ears flush with embarrassment, was that how the little fox was viewing this arrangement? As though she and Nick were-

Nick let out a laugh of his own, though, and Judy's alerted gaze focused in on him. Maybe this was just... how they bantered with each other? Nick shook his head, turning towards Judy, "He thinks he's funny, fluff, but alas he has yet to master the art of comedy as I have." Nick shuffled up off his spot in the back of the van, "Now, there's a nice little restaurant around the corner in Savannah Central, I say we go and treat ourselves for a successful day of a new partnership!" 

Finnick gave a shrug, "I'll drop yous two off, but I aint going. Gonna swing by that one shop outside of Happytown with that arctic fox girl and see if I can't secure myself a date." 

Nick rolled his eyes, "Ah, should have known. Alright Finn, your loss! I hear the salmon dishes are to die for!" 

Nick hopped up over into the passenger side seat of the van, while Judy tried strapping herself down as the van lurched ahead. After a couple minutes of driving, Finnick let the two of them out in front of what appeared to be a rather nice looking establishment, then sped off down the road. Judy's gaze swept around, noticing a rather long line that extended down the block. "Quite a long wait, Nick. And this place seems like it'd be kind of expensive. Are you sure?" 

"Relax, Cottontail, I know everyone! Just sit back and watch the master at work." Nick cracked his knuckles, and stalked on up to the mammal standing at the entrance, a wolf wearing a nice looking suit. They seemed to exchange words, with the wolf letting out a sudden stark laugh after a moment, then he stepped aside. With a gesture, Nick beckoned Judy over, and not wanting to hold up anything further she rushed up to meet him. The two were led by a waiter towards a nice booth towards the back of the establishment, where they were sat down with a pitcher of water and a basket of bread. 

Judy couldn't help but take in the décor. The lighting was low, minimal and accentuated with a warm orange coloration, most of the walls were colored a light beige and covered with plants in potters, towards the back near the kitchen was an aquarium of fish, and the chairs and tables were all made of a highly polished dark wood. The place seemed to be extraordinarily busy, which made since due to it being just after rush hour, dinner time. Waiters and busboys rushed this way and that, taking orders, handing out food, and cleaning up tables. One such waiter, a female pig, rushed up to them with a big smile adorning their face. "Well aren't you two just adorable with your matching outfits!" 

In all the commotion of the day, Judy had completely forgot what she was wearing, glancing down at herself she saw the Green Pawaiian shirt adorning her person. Groaning she grasped onto her ears and covered her face in shame. Across from her she could hear Nick laughing, "She's not as enthused about the fashion sense as I am, I'm afraid." 

Their waiter let out a chuckle of her own, and placed down two menus. "You just look through that, I'll be back to take your orders in just a minute!" No sooner than she said it, the pig shuffled off towards elsewhere in the establishment. 

Judy flicked her ears back behind her head, grabbing towards one of the menus and avoiding the smirking fox's gaze as she did. Taking one look at the menu she sat back with surprise. "Oh Nick this is really expensive stuff!" 

"What kind of business partner would I be if I let my compatriots pay for a meal I proposed?" Nick tore off a chunk of bread, throwing it up and catching it in his jaws. "Relax, Fluff, this one's on me. Just pick something and enjoy yourself!" 

Judy tilted her head, "I can pay for my own-" 

"Stubborn, aintcha? I told you rabbit, I'm paying. Now pick out something to eat!" Nick picked up his own menu and started thumbing through it, "Ooh! They've got a blueberry salad! I might just have to get that." 

With a bit of reluctance, Judy returned to looking herself, picking out some form of salad for herself to order. Setting the menu down she glanced up towards the Fox, tapping her hands on the tabletop as a stint of awkward silence fell down around the two of them. She wasn't quite sure what they should talk about, maybe work? But they'd just spent the whole day tending to that, and it didn't seem all too fitting for the type of place they were in...

"...You..." Judy took in a breath, it was better than nothing, "...like blueberries, huh?" 

"Love 'em, Carrots, nature's dessert right there!" 

Judy let out a hum, her eyes searching the fox's face for a minute before glancing back down, "Might have to get you some from my family's farm at some point then." 

"You grow blueberries?! I thought you only grew carrots out there!" Nick sat up, his smirk falling for just the briefest of moments to reveal a bit of an excited grin, though it quickly returned to his face as he leaned back in his seat. "Think I can get a few bushels of 'em for a discount?" 

Judy couldn't help but let out a laugh at that, shaking her head she gave an exaggerated eyeroll. "I'm sure I can work something out eventually." She let out another hum as she glanced the fox over for a bit, "You're... you know you don't have to do all this stuff for me. It's appreciated! But you don't need to go out of your way to do it." 

The Fox let out a snort, tearing off another chunk of bread and gobbling it down, "I don't know what you mean, Carrots. I helped you out and put you to work, mutual benefits!" 

The rabbit sighed, folding her hands and placing them on the table, "Yes... but you've... given me a place to stay, clothing, you offered your bed up even though I won't be letting you sleep on the couch in your own home for my sake." She laid her hands out, gesturing to him, "Then you give me the largest cut from your... business dealings, and now you're paying for dinner! This seems to be weighted a lot more in my favor than it is in yours. Why is that?" 

"Worried about an ulterior motive, Carrots?" Nick perked an eyebrow, folding his arms now as he leaned towards the wall, "I don't particularly have one, you needed help, and I found a way for us both to benefit. As simple as it comes." 

Judy shook her head, "No, no when we met we were hardly... on the best of terms. You didn't seem all that interested in helping at all then, but now you are. I don't mean to sound ungrateful, I'm very grateful! But it's not something you just decide to do on a whim-" 

"You're overthinking it, Carrots." Nick leaned forward, his expression now sitting in a more neutral way, leaning more towards a frown, but frustratingly she still couldn't glean much from it. "You've had a raw string of luck, recently. We've all been there, and now I'm helping you out. That's as far as it goes." Clasping his hands together, he gestured broadly to her with his head, "Speaking of, I caught a smidgen of information from your talk with that Otter lady, but I don't think I've got the full story. What exactly did you do to get fired by ZPD's very own Chief Buffalo Butt?" 

Judy's brow furrowed, he was changing the subject. She could tell just based on their interactions thus far that their had to be something more to his generosity, but whatever else was there, the Fox wasn't giving away anything else. She wasn't going to get much out of it from interrogating him any further about it. If he told her, it'd be because he wanted to, and clearly that wasn't going to happen just yet. The change in subject, however, wasn't exactly an appealing one, but well... there wasn't exactly any harm in telling him, was there? "I... that otter is Mrs. Otterton. Before I was fired, her husband, Emmitt Otterton, was one of the fourteen missing animal cases the ZPD was looking into. I... I wanted to take on one of those cases, but the Chief said he didn't care about what I was hoping for and set me to work on parking duty." She gestured to the fox, "Which is the day I met you, actually." 

"Meeting sweet lil ol' me on the first day of the job, huh? If only everyone could be so privileged." 

Judy let out a snort, "Yeah, what a privilege that was." She shook her head, "Anyways, the next day while on parking duty, I chased down some weasel who was stealing from a local flower shop-" 

"HA!" Nick's sudden laugh brought her back to the present, and she perked a brow as he settled himself down. "You're the one who caught ol' Duke? I remember hearing about that from Finnick. From what I understand, Duke was hopping mad about that entire situation!" Nick's smirk returned, and at the pun Judy could only let out a groan. "But please, continue, Carrots." 

"I caught him, but the Chief was rather upset about it. He cited me up for-" she started splaying out her fingers to list off the infractions as she recalled them. "Abandoning my post, inciting a scurry, and reckless endangerment of rodents." 

"All that for catching the bad guy, huh? What a thankless job." 

Judy sighed, "Y-yeah... but... well... that's when Mrs. Otterton burst into Chief Bogo's office. She... she was desperate to find someone to solve her case and... without thinking I said I'd take it." She looked back up, "That's... that's when Chief Bogo fired me, for insubordination." 

Nick was silent at that, his smirk having left his face again as he returned to a look of neutrality. Judy turned her gaze down, having to fight to keep in the emotions as she relived the events for the second time that day.

"That's... rather unfair of our illustrious police department." She turned her eyes back up, finding that Nick had leaned forward, and had placed a hand on her shoulder, "I assume after that things just got worse?" 

"Y-yeah," she wiped the sides of her eyes, trying her best to keep herself from bursting, "much worse."

Nick patted her shoulder, then leaned back, pouring for the both of them some water from the pitcher. "Well, I can't do much to help with what happened to ya, Fluff, but hey, we're here now, best to make the most of it. Here's to better days, right?" He shuffled her glass towards her, and held his glass aloft. 

Judy grasped the glass, looking over the water for a moment, before once more looking over Nick's face. There wasn't any snide or sarcasm in it as far as she could tell. He seemed... genuine, or as genuine as she could tell from the Fox's behavior. He was still an enigma, still a complete mystery, one that she didn't see any hope of cracking any time soon. But, at the moment, Judy didn't find much wrong with that. Putting on her best smile, she held the glass up and clinked it against his. 

"To better days." 

Chapter Text

Dinner with a Fox turned out to be a more enjoyable experience than Judy would have guessed. 

The mood had become more positive overall once the initial conversation was out of the way, and after their food had arrived and they'd partaken in some sort of wine that Nick had ordered (one that Judy may have accidentally overindulged in), their topics slowly slipped into a much more casual direction. 

"Wait wait wait-" Judy's smile was starting to hurt, with the amount of time it'd been peaking on her face, and she could barely contain the laughter as it came out in bouts of snorts, choking coughs, and giggles with her ears standing up straight above her head. "-So you mean to tell me that your-" she paused, taking a breath and giggling some more. "-your name, your full name is Nicholas Piberius Wilde?!" It was hard for her to keep her laughs within a manageable volume, and she couldn't help but notice out of the corner of her eyes that a few patrons had momentarily turned to look, but she was far from being able to care about what they were thinking. 

Nick was leaning back in his spot, arm extended across the rest of the booth as he idly picked at his teeth with one of his claws, though despite this the traces of his ever-present smirk still poked through at the corners of his mouth. "Something wrong with having a fanciful name, Carrots? And here I was thinking it was dignified." He pointed his claw towards her in a lackadaisical fashion, tilting his head as he did. "It's not like you're any better in that regard, Miss Judith Laverne Hopps."

Judy doubled backwards giggling, nearly falling out of her chair, but she managed to grab ahold of the top and pull herself back upright, "Oh come now, Mister Piberius," She said, putting on both a horrific and over-exaggerated nobleman accent, one that caused her voice to crack on a number of syllables. "There is nothing wrong with being a little dignified! A little class can go a long way!" Nick could only shake his head at her, letting out a sigh of his own and throwing up his hands, "Goodness, Carrots, you will be the death of me." The Fox hoisted himself up out of his booth, having planted down the total for the meal on the table, paid entirely in cash. Stepping out towards the bunny, he held out a hand, which she took, and helped her down. "Come along then, Miss Laverne. I do believe we should be taking our leave of this fine establishment. Best to get home before it gets too late." 

"Ahh makes sense! Makes sense." Judy continued chuckling, now a bit under her breath as she looped an arm around the Fox's and winked. "First you wine and dine the girl, then you take her back to your pad! I know your game, Nicky! You sly fox!" Nick's eyebrows practically leapt up off of his face, his mouth hung agape for a second before he quickly regained his composure and his smirk returned. "Jeez, Carrots, you've clearly had way too much to drink. Can't wait to remind you of this one in the morning."

The two of them made their way out, with no Finnick nearby to drive them back home the pair had to walk. They continued to chat along the way, idly talking about various other schemes, or as Nick called them "business propositions" that they could try their hands at. All of them sketchy, of course, Judy was unable to overlook that little fact, but as far as the letter of the law went, Nick had figured out just about every single way to get around any potential issues. It was impressive, Judy had to admit, though she'd never ever say it aloud, she could barely handle Nick's smugness now and there was no way she'd want to feed it and make it even larger. Still, she couldn't help but acknowledge that the Fox's confident bravado was infectious, infectious and dare she say it, charming. On their first interaction it had only served to rub salt in the wound about her predicament, but now that they were more or less working together, it instilled in her a sense of ease. That easy-going smile of his a reassurance that everything was going to... to... 

Woah. Judy shook her head clear, where were these thoughts coming from? She considered Nick a friend now, of course, it made sense that she'd feel comfortable around him, but the direction those thoughts were going only served to confuse her, and on top of that she had a headache forming now. Yeesh, maybe she did have a little too much to drink. 

She was brought back to reality as she ran into Nick's now outstretched arm, turning her gaze up she saw him looking at her. "Alright, Carrots, from here on out, keep an eye out, but don't look at anyone. Don't interfere with anyone's business, and don't call attention to yourself. Got it?" 

Judy frowned, furrowing her brow as she glanced around, "What? Is... is something wrong?"

"Just being safe, Carrots." He nodded over to a run-down looking sign off to the right, narrowing her gaze at it, she could just make out the faded lettering of 'Happytown'. She turned back towards Nick, "What's the issue? Your apartment is in Happytown isn't it? We haven't had all that many issues thus far." 

Nick only shook his head, "It's on the fringes of Happytown, but it's on the other side, meaning we have to walk through it to get there, at night. That's the issue. It's... it's not the safest place at night, Carrots." 

"I can handle myself, Nick." 

"Just humor me, to ease my ailing soul, Carrots." Nick placed a hand on his chest and leaned back with an exaggerated sway, before grasping her wrist and plunging on ahead. 

Alerted now to their current surroundings, Judy couldn't help but "look without looking", taking note of the various individuals that prowled the streets around them out of the corner of her eye. There seemed to be no ZPD presence, no patrol cars, no officers walking the beat, nothing, and she couldn't help but notice that all of the mammals nearby were predators. Leopards, weasels, wolverines, badgers, all of them predators, no prey. 

It seemed that Nick had taken notice of the expression of puzzlement, lowering his voice he caught her attention by clearing his throat. "Most everyone living in Happytown is a predator, Carrots, all down on their luck, all without anywhere else to go. Most are just normal mammals, of course, but there are quite a few criminals mixed amongst the rest of them." Judy gave the Fox a nod, keeping her gaze focused ahead as they continued on through the derelict part of the city. 

It was a saddening thought, when she really focused on it. In all the time she'd grown up hearing about Zootopia, not once had she ever really heard of this part of the city. It wasn't ever spoken about or mentioned in the travel brochures, and just judging by the state of it, it wasn't the most well looked after part of the city either. The first time she'd heard about it had been during her time at the academy, where it had been described as a high crime neighborhood. It almost felt like false advertising that this place existed within a city that marketed itself as a place where anyone from any walk of life could come to find peace and opportunity. A nasty blemish on Zootopia's shiny image, but then again, here she was, living within it. She had to wonder just how many other mammals, just like her, had come to Zootopia with stars in their eyes, only to have their hopes and dreams utterly dashed by the cold, cruel hand of reality, then with nowhere else to go, had ended up here. 

"Help me! Somebody, help me!" 

Judy's ears shot straight up, the sound ripping her from her inner monologue. Without being able to help herself, she turned quickly towards the source of the noise. Just across the street, within a dark alleyway, she could just make out the shapes of two figures. One of them belonged to a tall, broad shouldered tiger, who seemed to be using his height to bear down over a smaller figure, a ferret as far as Judy could tell from this angle. Stopping in her tracks, she kept her gaze focused squarely on the alleyway, something that didn't go unnoticed by her Fox companion. 

Nick grit his teeth, inhaling sharply through them. "I know what you're thinking fluff, but that guy's easily twice my height, and three times yours. You'd get pounded if you went in there!" Judy's gaze abruptly shot up towards Nick's, his expression was strained, but even now she couldn't garner much from it. Looking him over for a time, her gaze slowly drifted back to the altercation, which had escalated, as the tiger had picked the ferret off the ground and had pinned him to the wall. 

"Carrots, whatever you're thinking, stop thinking it." 

Judy clenched her fists. 

"Carrots, I'm serious!" 

Judy broke away from Nick's grasp.

"Carrots!"

Leaping into action, Judy bolted across the street, coming to a stop just before the turn-in to the alleyway. She could hear Nick faintly calling for her to come back, but she was too focused on the tiger, who was now emptying the pockets of the poor ferret by turning him upside down and harshly shaking him. Closing her eyes for a moment, she steeled herself, then stepped out into the alleyway. "You! Put them down, and return their valuables to them!"

The sudden command caused the tiger to pause, turning around the striped feline looked up, expecting to see someone at eye level, but seemed utterly shocked when their gaze flicked down to see a rabbit shouting at them. The shock lasted only a handful of seconds though, before the tiger let out a deep laugh. Hoisting the ferret up by one hand, the tiger advanced a step towards Judy. "Oh look at you, such a brave little morsel you are. Beat it kid, you gave me a good chuckle, so I'll give you one chance to walk away. No need to end up in a ditch tonight, rabbit." 

Judy remained indignant, taking a step forward herself. The tiger towered over her, but she wasn't going to let such a thing as height scare her away. She may not be an officer anymore, at the moment, but she made valedictorian of her class, she wasn't going to back down that easily. "Last chance, drop the ferret, return their valuables, and leave." 

"Or what-" the Tiger barely managed to get the words out before Judy sprinted forward. Jumping to the side, her feet connected against the brick walls of the alleyway, and using it as a launching point, she sprung towards the Tiger, bringing her feet around to land a square kick across the predator's jaw. The sudden motion and impact surprised the tiger, no doubt, and he let go of the ferret as he faltered to the side. The ferret scrambled away as soon as they landed, just in time too, as the Tiger wasn't stunned for long. Letting out a guttural growl the Tiger lunged at her, claws bared as he swiped a paw towards her midsection. 

Missing her by only inches, Judy just barely managed to jump out of the way, dodging by leaping under the swipe and through the tiger's legs, before leaping back up and kicking towards the tiger's back. The inertia from the tiger's swipe, along with the sudden boost from behind, sent the tiger sprawling out onto the ground. Faceplanting straight into the concrete sidewalk, the tiger rolled over, blood staining their face and gushing out of their now broken nose.

"So the rabbit has fangs, interesting! But it won't save you!" The tiger was back on their feet, lunging towards Judy again. With each swipe, Judy swiftly dodged, jumping backwards and from side to side in order to avoid getting nicked by the fierce predator's claws. Unfortunately, she was quickly running out of alleyway, and as she dodged a fifth swipe, she found herself quite literally cornered. When the sixth swipe came, all Judy could do was leap straight upwards in an attempt to jump over, but the tiger had anticipated as much, and managed to rake the claws on his other paw across her left leg!

Falling back down, Judy gripped the fresh bleeding wound with both paws, hobbling to the side as she attempted to get distance between her and the tiger, but there was nowhere to go. She was trapped. The tiger seemed to realize as much as well, and with a sinister grin, he grasped her by the throat and hoisted her up into the air. Struggle as she might, Judy was unable to free herself from his grip.

"Scrappy little thing, ain't ya? Too bad it won't get you anywhere, Rabbit. Time's up, it's-" 

The Tiger didn't get to finish his sentence, as a big metal stop sign careened down against the back of his head. Landing with a metallic thump, the blow sent the Tiger down to the ground, out cold. Judy managed to free herself as the Tiger toppled down, and looking up, she saw Nick drop the stop sign down at his feet. Dusting his hands off, the Fox moved over and hoisted Judy up to her feet. "What on earth were you thinking, Judy?! He could have killed you!" 

Judy let out a gasp as the pressure on her wounded leg caused a surge of pain to ripple through her body. Fortunately, the wound was only just deep enough to draw blood, it'd mend with time, but for the moment it made it extremely difficult to walk. Looking into the Fox's green eyes, she thought she could almost make out a hint of worry in them, and the fact that he'd used her real name seemed to indicate as much. She tried to remain as stoic as possible. "He was threatening an innocent mammal, Nick, I couldn't just walk away!" 

"You can't just go getting yourself killed either!" He put an arm behind her back in order to support her weight as they walked out from the alley. 

"If the wine hadn't slowed down my reaction time, I could've easily handled that, Nick!" 

"You don't know that." The Fox let out a huff, dragging his free hand down his face in exasperation. "Look, I get it, you've still got dreams of getting back to being a cop, but that doesn't mean you can just go throwing yourself into dangerous situations like that on a whim! You've got to think ahead, Carrots!"

She was silent for a moment. He was right, to an extent. While she'd been doing good up until she'd been cornered, logic dictated that the Tiger could've kept going, and in a battle of energy exertion, it stood to reason that if she threw herself into such situations like that eventually she'd meet someone who could keep going longer than she could. Even still, she couldn't have just walked away, pretended she hadn't seen anything and moved on. It went against everything she believed in, everything she stood for! Everything she'd aspired to be growing up. She'd come to make the world a better place, and though it seemed Zootopia was intent on beating her down, that didn't mean she was just going to give up. 

"Then it's a good thing I've got you to back me up, Slick." She threw out at him, the Fox's brows perked up again, but then he shook his head and sighed. "I'm not sure I can promise to be there to hit every giant mammal with a stop sign, Carrots. Just... just think ahead next time, would ya?" 

She gave the Fox a bit of a grin. Nick was good at hiding his emotions, that much was true, even now his expression seemed to be agitated, but she could tell that underneath that, he seemed to care at least somewhat about her well-being. Reading this fox was certainly a challenge, but as they spent more time together, she was slowly beginning to feel like she was able to at least understand him a bit more.

"Well... next time, Nick, you can hit them with the sign to start with." 

Chapter Text

Her uneasiness about the work slowly faded away as the days went by. 

She had to admit that the unnerving thought that she'd spent more time as a pawpsicle hustler than she actually had in the job she'd dreamed about since she was a young kit occasionally sprang unbidden to the forefront of her mind, but she had to work, and with how the operation was set up it all just became routine, and Judy Hopps was a stickler for routine. Every day she'd wake up at the crack of dawn and make herself some breakfast. Finnick would wake up only an hour or two after her, and Nick would wake up just a bit before noon. Then they set off with their tasks already in mind. Grab a jumbo pop from one of the various megafauna ice cream shops in town, melt it down, pour and freeze it into the molds, sell their product to customers until they were all or nearly gone, then split the cash and make for home. Occasionally the three of them would go spoil themselves with a nice meal, but for the most part it was greasy takeout or homecooked food for dinner then a relaxing evening at the apartment. 

At least, for her that was the routine. Finnick seemed to like spending his evenings at bars or prowling around the town, what exactly he did Judy couldn't tell. She wasn't sure she wanted to know, though as long as he wasn't doing anything egregious, Judy figured it was best not to think about it. She had expected that Nick would've gone with Finnick, but he seemed to prefer not to. She'd asked him about it once, and he'd simply shrugged his shoulders, smirked, then downed a number of noodles while gesturing towards the windows. "Hot out there, Carrots! And in here we've got air conditioning." 

She was confident that wasn't the full story, in the time she'd known the Fox she knew one thing for certain: there was always more to him and his thinking than what he presented outwardly. He didn't do anything without reason, but he'd never let anyone in on what those reasons were. Not even Finnick, who had told her "It's just how Nicky is" when she'd asked him. An ever present mystery. It was a good thing, then, that Judy liked mysteries. 

In any case, she couldn't help but be pleased that the Fox stayed behind with her. The company was welcome, even if Nick's teasing and snark was a non-negotiable package deal that came along with it, though if she was being honest she enjoyed that aspect just as much. They'd chat about their days and the craziest customers they'd encountered, occasionally Judy would speak about her life and family back in Bunnyburrow, and sometimes Nick would give recommendations for things to do around the city. Then sometimes they'd just chill on the couch together and watch any number of old cheesy movies that Nick had on hand in the house. It was pleasant, the most pleasant experience she'd actually had since coming to Zootopia, and it quickly became her favorite part of the day. 

"Pure schlock, this." Nick gestured broadly towards the television set as the romantic comedy that Judy had slotted in finally got to one of the more heavy scenes, where the two leads who were clearly going to get together at the end continued to deny their obvious feelings for each other, instead wallowing away in their ignorance of the other's feelings. "There's no way that anyone in this position in real life wouldn't realize what's going on. They should just make out and get it over with." 

Judy let out a scoff, and leaned over to punch the Fox in the arm, to which he let out an overexaggerated yelp as though she'd shot him. "That's the payoff, Nick! You can't just deliver the payoff without the buildup! The extensive buildup is what makes it satisfying!" Nick only responded with a grunt and a shrug, leaning back on the couch, his smirk spreading across his lips again. "You don't do what I've been doing for so long by waiting for the goods, Carrots. Anyone worth their salt would seize the opportunity the moment its within their reach." 

The bunny opened her mouth to fire back a retort, but the sudden ringing of her phone caused her to leap up off the couch, startled. Glancing to Nick she saw him smirking her way, and she stuck her tongue out at him in response as he paused the movie while she answered her phone. "Oh hey it's my parents!" 

Another constant of her life was her parent's calls. They always seemed to want to know what she was up to, how her day was going, and if there was any chance of her coming home anytime soon. She loved her parents dearly, of course, so speaking to them every night wasn't an issue, but with Nick usually lingering quietly in the background somewhere, it unfortunately meant that Nick would be getting a substantial amount of material to tease her with later. 

"Hey Jude! Jude the Dude! How's it going?" Out of the corner of her eye she saw Nick stifle a laugh at the nickname, but she kept her gaze focused on the image of her parents busy crowding around their own phone so that both could properly see her. The sight warmed her heart, and brought a smile to her face. 

"It's going. Typical workload, I spend most of the day out on the streets doing my job so at the very least I do get to see a lot of the city." Even though that part was entirely true, she couldn't suppress the guilt that came along with it. She wasn't being entirely honest, of course. Her parents had been overjoyed to know she'd been relegated to the position of Meter Maid on her first day in Zootopia, something that had deeply upset her, not that they seemed to notice. While she had been kicked from the force months ago, her parents had in all that time never known. As far as they were aware, she was still putting tickets on parked cars, and while she hated to lie to them, she knew that the second she told the truth they'd practically drag her back to Bunnyburrow kicking and screaming. It was the only reasonable choice she could make if she wanted to stay in Zootopia and one day make her way back into the ZPD. 

"Well that's great to hear Bun-Bun!" Her mother's voice rang out, and she could hear Nick snickering at that one. "Any chance of you finding a nice young buck now that you're no longer worrying about making it into the ZPD?" She sighed, shaking her head. Always a one-track mind, her mother. She wanted her to settle down and get her a couple dozen litters of grandkits, but it had never been Judy's aspiration to do so. She had greater things to worry about. "No Mom, no chance of that anytime soon-" 

The front door burst open, an action which again startled Judy as she leapt up and turned to face the door, just as Finnick made his way back into the apartment. The small fox threw down a couple bags, seemingly in a rush, "Ay, Nicky, I got myself another date and I'm in need of your-" Finnick froze as he saw Judy's eyes staring at him in wide surprise. A look of confusion spread across the fennec's face until the sound of her parent's voices sounded up again, causing his expression to become similarly wide. "Judith? Judith is someone else there? Do you have friends over?" 

Judy turned her gaze from Finnick to Nick, then back to her parents. She hadn't exactly introduced her new roommates to her parents yet, partially because it'd be hard to explain, and partially because she could still recall her father trying to send her off to Zootopia with Fox Repellant, Deterrent, and a Taser. But thanks to Finnick's sudden interruption, it seemed the jig was up. Straightening up she tilted her phone so that the camera twisted around to point towards the two foxes for the muzzletime call. "Y-yes, these are my friends Finnick and Nick... uh, say hi, guys." With the camera pointed away from herself, she put on the biggest pleading face she could for the foxes.

Finnick caught on quick enough. Adjusting his stance and returning his face to a neutral expression, he sent a wave towards the two senior bunnies on the phone, "Evenin'." Quick and to the point, the fennec continued on towards the kitchen in order to appear busy, get out of view, and to avoid saying anything further. Nick, on the other hand, seemed stunned for a hot minute, before he shook his head and cleared his thoughts. "A-ah! The elusive parents of our very own Judy Hopps! Heard so many things about you! A pleasure to make your acquaintance!" He exaggerated a bow of the head, but kept his eyes and smile pointed to the camera, "You've got a hardworking daughter, I must say. The very best of the ZPD if I do say so myself." 

Judy sent a silent thank you towards the two before tilting her camera back towards herself. She had to admit, they were better at on-the-spot decision making than she usually was in these scenarios, a result of years of hustling she presumed. "We're just hanging out, you know, as friends do after... work... just, having some fun watching some movies! You know!" She put on her best smile, trying as best she could to appear nonchalant and relaxed. They were just real good friends all enjoying some after-work fun! Normal mammals did this all the time, right?

Her parents seemed skeptical, or maybe worried. They were wearing expressions that appeared about halfway between discomfort and fear, unfortunately not something they could have easily hidden from her two fox friends, as it were. A conversation Judy was sure would come up later. "Oh! That's... how very interesting company, Jude! Glad to see you've found a clique in the city! Heh heh." Her Father appeared to be trying his best, but it still left an incredibly awkward feeling in the air. "Are they... um... are they cops too?" 

Judy's gaze shot up to Nick, but he didn't seem to be too focused on her anymore, his gaze had turned back towards the television set and the paused movie, and his smirk had dropped from his muzzle. Deciding to take a chance, Judy turned back towards her parents. "Ah... somewhat! Not... not official cops... yet, no, but they've helped me out! Best friends I could've asked for!" 

Her parent's faces seemed to ease up a tiny bit, but not by much. Her mother spoke up first, "Well we don't want to interrupt your hang-night! You... uh... have fun, dearie! Make sure to stay safe, and all that... yeah. Buh-bye!" Her mother of her own volition quickly ended the call, leaving Judy in a bit of silence that immediately enveloped the apartment. It only lasted until she heard Finnick clap his hands together and shuffle off towards the back, towards Nick's bedroom. "Uh... yeah Nicky I'm in need of your cologne, so I'll just... yeah." The fennec made his way into Nick's room, and just as quickly left after he found what he was searching for, closing the front door behind him. 

Judy's gaze lingered on the front door for a time before it slowly came to rest on Nick, watching to see if his expression would reveal anything. No immediate sign of any aggravation or humor, but then again the fact that he didn't seem to have any response implied that there must be something on his mind. He must have noticed her staring, though, because eventually his smirk returned and he turned back to face her. "So... not 'officially' a cop 'yet', huh? Gonna try to sign me up for a life of paperwork and tickets along with you, Carrots?" 

The rabbit let out a chuckle, thankful that then tension had eased slightly with Nick's reliable sense of humor, "It was the first thing that came to mind! But... hey, I do think you'd make a pretty good cop too, Nick! What with that sharp wit and analytical mind of yours!" 

The Fox's smirk slipped into a simple smile, "Kind of you to say, Carrots, but they'd never hire a Fox for that kinda job. We're sly, untrustworthy types as far as they're concerned. They wouldn't trust us within fifteen miles of a police station unless they're shuffling us into the cells." Judy's heart suddenly felt heavier, the tension returning to the room, and the pain from his apparent view of himself according to society's standards seemed to leak onto her face. Nick seemed to notice as much too, and offered a simple shrug. "It's just the way the world works, Carrots. They'll never see mammals like me as anything else, which is why I have to do what I do for a living. Don't worry your cute lil tail about that too much, I accepted my lot in life a long time ago."

She didn't even bother correcting him on the 'cute' comment, instead crossing her arms and leaning back into the sofa with a sigh, she mumbled a bit under her breath before speaking back up so Nick could hear her. "That just... I don't think that's fair, Nick! You're... you're so much more than that! Surely... surely if you just showed them how nice and kind you are, how dedicated you are to all the things you do, you could get any job you want-"

"I'm not all that nice or kind, Carrots." 

"Yes, you are! Just look at all that you've done for me!" 

"Look it's just the way it is, Carrots. Everyone sees us that way, from birth to the grave that's all they'll ever see in us." He closed his mouth a moment, then taking a gulp of air pointed to her phone, "I could see it in your folk's eyes there for a bit, and I wager it's why y-..." The Fox tilted his head, seeming to think about his wording for a moment before shrugging and flicking the thought away with his wrist. "Nevermind. Look, it's flattering that you say otherwise, Carrots, but you don't need to worry about it. All you should focus on now is getting yourself back into the ZPD."  

Nick's demeanor suddenly shifted, his smirk returning as he pointed towards himself with both thumbs, "And tell you what, this Fox will help find a way to get you there! That's what friends are for, right?" 

Judy's breath caught in her throat, she so desperately wanted to dig into what else he'd wanted to say, to swerve the conversation back towards what they'd been talking about, that wasn't something you just let go! But... Nick wasn't going to speak about something if he didn't want to speak about it. It hurt her heart that something so clearly was bothering him, but she couldn't seem to talk about it with him. If they were really friends, then she shouldn't be receiving all the attention and help as Nick kept implying should be the case! She should be able to help him as well!

She swallowed, then furrowed her brow. "No." 

Nick's smirk dropped, and he tilted his head, giving her a quizzical look. "Pardon?" 

"Friends take care of each other, Nick! I'm not going to just 'not worry' about things! That's not who I am. If you can worry about me wanting to achieve my dreams, then I can worry about you and yours!" She pointed towards the Fox, "I'm not just going to leave my friends behind to focus on myself! I don't want to focus just on getting back into the ZPD, I want to help you do whatever it is you want too! Friends help each other!"  

The Fox folded his arms, perking a brow of his own, "What I want?- look, Carrots I'm doing pretty well for myself. I'm good." 

Judy shuffled closer to the Fox, laying a hand on his shoulder, noticing that he seemingly tensed up a bit as she did. "Nick, you can't tell me that this is what you've always wanted to do. It's profitable for you, yes, but surely you wanted more out of life?" 

Nick stared at her, blinking a couple times. He opened his mouth, then closed it again, before sighing and shaking his head. "I had my hopes and dreams shattered by reality before I was even ten, Carrots. I never gave it any thought, I did what I could to make money, didn't matter what it was."

Judy balled up her fist, a hint of something there. A short glimpse into his soul, not much but it told her all she needed to know. Of course he wasn't where he wanted to be in life! Having his dreams 'shattered by reality' before he was ten? Something must have happened to this Fox, something she may never know, but something that was hurting her friend and affecting his view of the world all these decades later. It wasn't right! She'd come to Zootopia to make the world a better place, she'd been beaten down by it, and it seemed to be beating down everyone else too from the looks of it. But that wasn't good enough for Judy Hopps, she didn't want to just lay down and accept it, and as long as Nick was her friend, she wasn't going to accept it for his sake either!  

"Then... then come be an officer with me!" 

That seemed to stun the both of them, Judy's mouth hung agape and she seemingly froze in place. Nick stared at her in response with wide eyes. 

Judy grit her teeth, it had popped into her head as an option so very suddenly that she hadn't time to think about it, but it felt completely natural! She was going to make the world a better place, she was going to be the best officer the ZPD had ever seen, but not because she had some vain aspirations for herself. She was doing it to help people! To help others! To help people just like Nick. If Nick joined her in that, they could work together! Work together in making the world a better place for everyone!

"Come be an officer with me," she repeated, "come change how things are with me. It's not right that anyone should limit what you can do, or for them to perceive you in such ways! Come prove how wrong they all are about all of that with me!" 

Coughing quietly, Nick took a minute to gather himself, and to compose his thoughts. Shaking his head, "I... I already told you Carrots, they'd never trust me to-" 

"But what if they did?" Judy grasped one of his hands between both of hers, the determination blazing to life in her eyes. "Together we could make them! And if they did, if they did trust you as I know they should, would you? Would you want to be my partner in the ZPD if you could?"

Nick's mouth closed, and he seemed to stare straight into her eyes for a time, his own emerald colored ones flitting this way and that as if he were trying to search hers for some sort of hidden meaning or message. When he seemingly was unable to find anything, he pursed his lips, "That's... a big change in occupation, Fluff, and I'm not exactly police material, I'd say." 

"That's not a no!" Judy let go of his hand, stepping back. "Look, I know you think it's ridiculous, or that I'm out of my mind. I don't care! We could do so much good, together! If only we could just show the world how amazingly kind, trustworthy, and helpful you are! Just... just don't throw away the offer, alright? Please? Don't forget about it. You're so much more than some con-mammal!" She took in a breath, "If... if I ever get back to the ZPD, no, when I get back to the ZPD, I will find a way to get you in with me, if you want. You can be so, so much more, Nick. I know you can!" 

Nick's gaze had returned to a resting neutral expression, and for another minute he said nothing, until he sighed and shook his head again. "Look lets... first things first we focus on getting you back up to par, Judy. I'm just fine where I am in life... but sure, I won't 'throw away the offer'." He held a paw up as if to temper any energetic reactions she might have before they started, "That's not a yes, not a yes by any regard! That kind of life doesn't seem right for me, Judy, and I've lived this way for so long... but we'll see." He clicked play on the remote, and the movie resumed. "Now, enough with all that kind of talk, let's finish this schlock, yeah?" 

Judy stared at him for a bit, keeping her gaze resting solely on his face. A million thoughts racing through at a million miles an hour... but she could sort them out later. With a smile she sat back down and turned back to the television. The sly fox was trying to distract her, to turn her attention away from the conversation so that he wouldn't have to continue to argue it out with her, but that didn't matter.

Because he hadn't said no.

Tossing the Fox a smile, she lightly punched him in the arm again, "Whatever you say, partner." 

Chapter Text

The fields seemed to extend outwards forever in just about any direction that Judy cared to look. A cool breeze blew across the terrain, ruffling the fur on her face and causing the grass to sway along with rhythmical determination. There were no trees in sight, nor any other type of plant, only the long flowing blades of grass. And oh what amazing grass it was, from the roots to midway through the stalks, they were the most stunningly vibrant green she had ever seen in her life. Like a mix of pine leaves and emerald, accentuated by the midday sun, but above that the grass took a sharp turn, becoming now a deep, pure red, a red that put even the most beautiful of roses to shame. Judy extended her hand down towards the grass, running her hand along the tops of the blades, finding to her pleasant surprise that they did not prick her skin, nor had they any sharpness to their texture, but were instead soft and smooth. With a twirl, the bunny fell down onto her back, cushioned from any injury by the bountiful grass that swished around her, the sun beaming down onto her face and providing an enveloping sensation of warmth. 

In the splendor of the moment, she couldn't help but giggle as she rolled around in it. Making sure to note just how comfortable she felt. With a contented sigh she took in a very deep breath... 

The...

The grass did not smell like grass.

Judy jolted up from her stupor, blinking the remnants of her sleep away as her eyes found the light of morning streaking through a nearby window. Stumbling forward she felt the effects of gravity nearly take her off the edge of the couch, and sticking her hands out for balance while flailing, she managed to fall back onto the couch and into something... fluffy? 

Her eyes immediately turned to her left, and she almost had to suppress a gasp of shock, as she found Nick Wilde laying peacefully on one side of the couch, still perfectly asleep. His mouth was slightly agape, and he was snoring lightly, his fur a bit matted on the side on which he was laying, and also on his tail... matted in the exact shape of her- 

Judy immediately started patting herself down in a blind panic, letting out a slight sigh of relief as she realized that she did, indeed, still have clothes on. Nick did too, actually, so at the very least she was able to take solace in the fact that nothing untoward had happened the night before that she couldn't remember. Searching through what memories were swimming through the fog of her mind, she rubbed her temples and seemed to recall that at some point after their talk, she'd gotten a bit drowsy towards the end of the movie. From all appearances, it seemed that she had collapsed against Nick and curled up into his tail for warmth. Whether this was before or after Nick had fallen asleep himself, she couldn't tell, but the fact that she hadn't been disturbed or moved, and that he had stayed where he was seemed to indicate that it had been afterwards. Surely he would have just... moved otherwise, right? 

Pushing the conflicting emotions into the back of her mind, Judy hopped up onto her feet and down onto the floor. Strange sleeping arrangements aside, it didn't stop the fact that they should probably all be getting up soon anyways. Those pawpsicles weren't going to sell themselves, after all! She found it odd that she seemed to actually be looking forward to that part of her daily routine now, but she brushed that aside as well.

As was typical, the rabbit set about making for herself some breakfast. Pulling out the rather old and nearly broken waffle maker from one of the lower, horrifically unorganized, cabinets, she plugged it in while simultaneously grabbing a bottle of pre-mixed pancake and waffle mix. It by no means could hold a candle to "Bonnie Hopps' World Famous Homemade Waffles with Strawberry Jam" but then again, it didn't really need to. There was something to be said about quick and easy breakfast, mostly that it was in fact very quick, and extraordinarily easy.  

In no time at all, she'd prepared three helpings of waffles, and had laid them out on what clean plates they had left in the apartment. As if on cue, she could hear the room to Finnick's room bursting open, due to his height and her current position in her chair, she wasn't able to actually catch sight of him until he hoisted himself up into his own chair. The little fox's ears flicked once at the sight, before grabbing a fork and pouring some store-bought syrup onto his pile, offering a simple "Thanks, Bunny" towards Judy before promptly digging in. Finnick's "thanks" were always short, to the point, and rather blunt, and she had noticed he only really offered them as a necessity towards the courtesy of being provided food, but even then it warmed her heart to see him appreciating it at all. 

And where there was one fox, the other was sure to be as well. She assumed it was because he'd be more easily able to smell it from the couch than from his room, but Nick had roused himself from his slumber earlier than usual and had groggily made his way over to his own spot, giving a sluggish nod and a murmured "Thanks... Carr-", which was interrupted halfway through with a yawn, followed up immediately by Nick shoving a sizable portion of his plate into his muzzle. 

The three of them ate in relative silence, cleaning their plates before dumping them into the sink, and a half hour later while Judy and Finnick were busy cleaning up the excess of dirty dishes, Nick placed down three mugs of fresh made coffee for them to thoroughly wash down the meal and to properly wake up. With caffeine pumping through their systems, the three were more alert and actually able to handle a conversation. 

Judy, as per usual, was the first to speak up, the abundance of caffeine hyping her up into an excited fervor. "Alright, what flavor are we doing today? In my opinion I think we've stuck to cherry for a bit too long, I'd say it's just about time that we switched things up and-" 

"Slow your role, Carrots!" Nick held his paws up, crossing them in a perpendicular fashion as if he were a referee or a coach calling for a time out in a sports match. "I appreciate your enthusiasm and dedication towards the Wilde Pawpsicle Company-" 

That earned a scoff from Finnick, followed by a long, loud slurp of his coffee. 

"-but we're not selling anything today." 

Judy perked a brow, tilting her head and fumbling with her hands, the insides of her ears feeling slightly warm as she realized she'd gotten ahead of herself. "O-oh? Then, what... are we doing today?" 

Nick snapped his fingers, transitioning them into a finger gun which he "fired" at her, "We, my over-eager bunny, are starting a brand new project! A new endeavor, if you will! A grand new adventure!" The fox gestured broadly above him, as though advertising some fancy new product. "An exciting new frontier! A risky venture! A dive into the unknown! A-" 

Finnick let out a large groan and brought his head to rest on the table with a resounding thump. 

"Ahem," Nick cleared his throat, then pointed towards her. "We're focusing on you today, Carrots." 

Judy seemed taken aback, placing a paw on her chest, sitting up, and leaning into her chair. A look of confusion spreading across her face. "Me? What do you mean?" 

"What do you think he means, Rabbit?" Finnick cut in before Nick could even respond. Draining the rest of his mug, he set it down then gestured towards her with a flick of his hand. "We're gonna get our scheme to get you back into the good graces of the fuzz, for whatever good that's gonna do, started. It's becoming unbearable to see you sitting around moping when the evening news comes on and starts rambling about whatever nonsense the ZPD is doing these days. Do you have any idea how annoying it is to sit through all that angst?" 

Nick snapped his fingers and gestured towards Finnick, "What he said, but imagine I said it in a more charming and less insulting manner." 

Judy couldn't even stop herself, she lurched across the table, wrapping an arm around either fox's neck and pulling them into the biggest group hug she could possibly manage. She was met with the expected sound of sudden choking before they were able to both register what had happened and get a chance to catch their breath. Finnick, due to his relatively small stature, was practically being held up entirely in the air by her hug, while Nick was merely reigned in close. "Thank you! Ohhh thank you thank you thank you thankyouthankyouthankyou!" 

Nick managed to get a chuckle out, "I take it then that you approve of the plan, and we haven't even told you the specifics!" 

Finnick continued wiggling and fidgeting about, "Let go of me you dumb... augh! Too much contact let me go!" 

She promptly let go of the both of them, and crossed her legs as she situated herself into a comfortable position where she was on the table, while Finnick took in a gasp of air and Nick rubbed the back of his neck where her arm had been. Nick chuckled again, shrugging off the sudden hug and standing up. "So! To be blunt, getting back into a job you've been... uh... we shall say 'let go' from, can be difficult, especially in regards to a police force! But here at Wilde and Co-" 

Another scoff from Finnick.

"-we value coming up surefire plans for even the most unlikely of scenarios!" Nick pulled a pencil from his Pawaiian shirt's front pocket, and moved over towards the thumbtack board on the wall. Pulling a number of old envelopes, receipts, and coupons off, he scattered them behind him on the floor before reaching towards a nearby stack of newspapers. Rifling through it for a moment, he finally came out with one page which he stuck to the board, then tapped with his pencil. The article was from the previous week's paper, and spelled out in big, bold lettering: "Missing Mammal Reports Continue to Skyrocket!" 

"And this right here is exactly what we're going to use to pull this off!"

Judy tilted her head again, the confusion returning to her face. "The... Missing Mammal cases? What about them?" 

"We're going to solve them, of course!" 

The sheer ludicrousness of the idea seemed to dawn only on Judy's face. Nick continued to stare at her with his trademarked smirk, and Finnick seemed completely indifferent to the notion. Roughly swallowing, Judy managed to stutter out her thoughts. "N-nick, that... that sounds almost impossible for the three of us to do! We're civilians, and... and since I was let go from the Force, the amount of missing mammals has gone from fourteen to near forty to fifty mammals! Even if we managed to solve one, which on its own will be difficult enough, there's no way we'd be able to solve all of those cases by ourselves! If the ZPD can't solve all of those what chance do we have?!" 

Nick's smirk remained constant, and he let out a slight "tsk tsk" noise before tapping the article yet again with the pencil. "You're missing the big picture, Carrots! If you were to stumble across one or two missing mammals, you'd probably just get a finder's fee reward and be sent on your way! But if you, a lowly, unassuming, cute-" 

"Nick!" 

"-lil bunny who was let go from the ZPD was able to put all of their best detectives to shame by finding all of the missing mammals, what choice would they have but to take your request to rejoin seriously?" 

Finnick flicked his hand towards the board, "Then you get your job back and can stop moaning about it, and us grifters like me and Nicky get a friend on the inside of the ZPD. Win-win." 

Brushing the comment about being an insider on the ZPD aside, Judy couldn't help but shake her head slightly. "Even still, that's just way too big of a caseload for the three of us to solve all on our own." 

"You're assuming, Carrots, that these are all separate cases rather than one big one." Nick's grin spread as wide as it could possibly go, and he leaned back against the board. 

"What?" 

"Think about it, Carrots! Haven't you noticed anything odd about these cases? Anything out of the ordinary?" Nick tapped the article another couple of times with his pencil, his smirk still ever-present. Judy frowned. Odd? What about these cases were odd? People went missing in big cities all the time, was there some sort of connection she wasn't seeing? Judy wracked her brain, trying to think of every mammal she'd read about that had gone missing over the past couple of months, and the details of their vanishings. At first there didn't exactly seem to be anything, they were all a variety of different species to start with. Grizzly bears, polar bears, panthers, leopards, wolves, cheetahs, an otter of course. There hadn't really been any information on how they went missing, or where they went missing, just that they were, in fact, missing. What did they have to do with each other... 

"Oh for- they're all predators, Rabbit!" Finnick seemed to take note of the confusion on her face, and with a rotation of his paw seemed to insinuate that the conversation should be moving along. "I guess a prey like you wouldn't notice, but when everyone going missing is of the bug-and-fish eating variety, the other bug-and-fish eaters take note." 

Judy's eyes went wide, that was true! The words that Chief Bogo had said on her first day on the force suddenly sprang to the front of her mind. "Finally; we have fourteen missing mammal cases - all predators - from a giant polar bear to a teensy little otter!" She vividly recalled that she had found that particularly odd at first, but had brushed it aside as she was suddenly struck with the reality of parking duty rather than actually getting assigned to any of the cases. Now as she recalled further cases that the news had reported in the last couple month, she realized that every additional case had also involved a predator! Badgers, cougars, jaguars, lions, tigers, even a number of hyenas, all of them were predators! 

"Bingo," Nick snapped his fingers towards Finnick, "Every. Single. One. I for one, find that in a city this size, with this many people, with a population made up of ninety percent prey, having every single missing mammals case in these past few months involve only predators is a bit odd, wouldn't you say, Carrots?" 

Judy couldn't help but agree, it was odd, it almost made no sense. She didn't want to imply that predators were unruly beasts of course, but predators were by nature... scarier, she'd put it. Yeah, that's the word she would use. They had sharp fangs, teeth, claws! Lots of defensive and offensive mechanisms carried over from their ancient days of hunting prey and defending against other territorial predators. Unless every missing mammal case was simply an instance of a mammal wandering off and vanishing off the face of the Earth, it stood to reason that someone must be targeting them, and it didn't make much sense for only predators to be targeted as of recent. Especially when kidnapping, say, a sheep would be so much easier. It made no sense... unless there was a connection! 

Still, Judy couldn't help but feel that might just be wishful thinking. What were the chances that all of the missing mammal cases in a city as big as Zootopia were related? More than that, how could such a thing go unnoticed or uninvestigated by the ZPD? Surely they already had investigators who'd checked out that avenue and presumably found nothing to chase after, if after all this time not a single case had been solved. 

"So here's the deal, Fluff-" she was ripped from her inner monologue as Nick began speaking again, "-You, Finn, and I are gonna play up the Private Investigator role for the next couple of weeks. We'll poke around, see what we can find, square away as many cases as we can, assuming of course there isn't a connection, which I doubt, and get you back on the ZPD. Then, as a return investment, you uh... you know, keep your pals in mind." 

She opened her mouth to say something but Nick seemingly beat her to it, "Nothing to hurt your prospects at the ZPD of course! Wouldn't want you getting fired again after all that effort, but hey just keep us in mind! A little 'we scratch your back and you scratch mine' kinda deal!" 

"You'd like that, wouldn't you, Nicky?" The muttering didn't go unheard by either Judy or Nick, the latter of which shot the smaller fox a bit of a look before turning back to Judy. "So! Ready to get started?" 

Judy sat there almost entirely overwhelmed. Pushing aside the implications of a big connected case, it was a lot of potential work, and it could potentially be very dangerous, hell it could also potentially be a big waste of time that went nowhere for them. And yet here sat these two foxes, two members of the one species she'd been warned about her entire life as being untrustworthy, backstabbing, scheming, conniving, manipulative wastes of breath that wouldn't hesitate to belittle or harm her, and yet they were seemingly willing to go to such lengths to help her achieve her dreams. They presented it like it was purely for their mutual benefit, of course, but... well... she couldn't help but get the feeling that maybe... just maybe beneath all that bravado, maybe they weren't just in this for themselves. 

Fighting the urge to keep from crying, Judy wiped at the corners of her eyes with her sleeve. To hell with it. Maybe this would all be a waste of time, maybe it wouldn't go anywhere, but she was a tryer, she always had been, and with friends like these, who wouldn't take a crack at it? "Right, yes, let's get started!"

She smiled wide, but immediately her go-getter attitude took a backseat to one little problem that suddenly surfaced in her mind: "Uh... how do we get started? Where do we even start with this?" 

Nick's smirk only widened, "Funny you should ask. I think I've got just the right lead." 

Chapter Text

The van came to a screeching halt just down the road from the Mystic Springs Oasis, and though Finnick abruptly stopping his van when stopping somewhere wasn't at all uncommon, Judy still wasn’t quite used to the sudden stop in momentum and let out a grunt as her shoulder slammed into the back of the front seat.

The smaller fox put the van into park, then leaned over the top of the seat, leveling his gaze at Judy. “A'ight, I ain’t goin’ into that place, and I ain't pullin’ up any closer neither. Got a rep to maintain and I ain't gonna be caught any nearer to that place. Good luck, have fun.” Judy couldn’t help it when one of her eyebrows arched up on her face at his bluntness, but she wasn’t exactly going to push him on the matter, since he and Nick had consciously made the decision to help her out. Giving him a quick nod, Judy shuffled towards the back of the van, swung the backdoors open, and stepped out into the bright midday sun.

Nick, similarly, stepped out along with her, hopping down from the passenger side seat and stretching his limbs. “It'd be remiss of me not to, but I should warn you ahead of time, this isn’t exactly the type of place for a cute little bunny-oof!” He reeled back as she hit him in the ribs with her elbow. Letting out a slight grumble, the Fox gave her a feigned pout and a whimper. “Keep on doing that, Carrots, and I’ll have to report you for assault!”

Judy exaggerated an eye roll, then reached out and grasped his tie, using it to haul him along after her as she approached the building’s main entrance. “I can handle whatever it is, Slick. I doubt it’s all that bad.” From the corner of her eye she saw Nick stifle a laugh, which he passed off as a quick cough, before shrugging and sliding his hands into his pockets. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

The Mystic Springs Oasis itself was a rather large building, with tall stone walls and two big wooden doors. It was decorated in a fashion that resembled towns out in the middle of a desert, and had a number of warm colors painted on its walls. Plants grew up and down the exterior, and hung over the top of the roof. The name of the establishment was painted on with big, stylized lettering just above the door, and two plants nearly three times her height lingered on either side of the door. Whatever ideas the exterior of the building gave off, however, were subverted as she pushed open the door and was immediately met with a wall of hanging beads that were arrayed over an archway. Pushing past, she found herself in a dimly lit lobby, with an array of vases, fancy couches, and decorations littering the room. Off towards her right was a crystalline fountain which led out into a small pool around its base, and just ahead of her was a desk, covered in a rug with a number of lit candles sitting atop its surface.

"Some kind of meditation spring, I'm guessing?" Judy turned her head towards Nick, noticing that his smirk was still laden across his face. Nick let out a slight hum, rolling his paw about. "Something to that tone, yes."

Clearing his throat, the fox took the lead, stepping up towards the desk and rapping on the countertop a couple of times with his knuckles. After a few minutes, he let out a sigh, then turned to face her as he leaned against the desk. "Alright, I'd hoped to perhaps save you the embarrassment of what's to come, but it appears the proprietor, our contact, is probably further inside. Which might be a bit of an issue."

Judy's face must've scrunched up into something resembling confusion, because after a moment, he sighed and reached up onto the countertop. Grasping at a stack of what appeared to be pamphlets for the establishment, and handed one over to her. Taking the pamphlet in hand, Judy flipped to the first page and began reading. The following look of shock and horror that must've followed the confusion was apparently amusing enough to Nick to get him to let out a laugh. "I told you, not the place for a person like you, Carrots!"

Nick shook his head, levying his paws up and taking a breath. "No offense, but this seems like too much for your bunny heart to handle. Can't have you dropping dead of a heart attack on me. If you want, I can head in by myself, find Yax, and just ask the questions necessary on my own."

Grumbling under her breath, Judy ran a paw down her face, before shaking her head. They had a lead, she wasn't going to just sit this out because she was uncomfortable! "I'll be fine, thank you very much. I'll just... avert my eyes."

"You're the boss, Carrots." Nick pushed off of the desk and maneuvered over towards another big set of doors. With one paw, he pushed it open, and light flooded in, momentarily blinding her just before her eyes could adjust. She immediately wished she'd just remained blind. Gazing out into the courtyard of the establishment, she could see a whole array of various mammals, all basking in the sun, by a number of pools, or under the shade of various trees. All of them with a distinct lack of any clothing of any kind. Cupping her paws around her eyes to block out the image, her gaze shot down towards the floor, coming to rest on Nick's tail. She heard a snort of laughter come from him, and she was half tempted to stomp down on his tail in retribution.

"Just follow behind me, Carrots. I'll get us to Yax." Stepping out into the yard, she kept her gaze planted solely on Nick's fluffy red tail, Nick himself acting as the guide as she kept her gaze away from any and all mammals around her. While it was true that she'd grown up with hundreds of siblings, and had seen just about everything there was to see when it came to naked mammals, that didn't exactly mean she wanted to see any of that whatsoever. On the contrary, she didn't want to see any of that at all. Though, she had the feeling that she couldn't just stare at Yax's feet when they finally found him. 

As they walked, she was able to see the feet and hooves of various other mammals that they passed. Rhinos, Zebras, Giraffes, Elephants, Bears, Gazelles, mammals of all kinds. She could feel their gaze resting on her, and she could hear a couple comments about her and Nick as they passed. Perplexed, she let out a huff and whispered towards Nick, "Why are they talking about us like we're the weird ones?" 

"It's a naturalist club, Carrots, and we're still wearing clothes. Technically, we are the weird ones. After all, when in Rome!" 

At length they seemed to finally arrive at their target, as Nick stopped walking, and she practically collided into the back of him. "Yax! Hey buddy, love what you've done with your fur. Is that a new necklace?" 

Chancing a look up, Judy saw before her the Yak known as Yax, and he was just about as stereotypical as one would expect a naturalist animal to be. His fur was long, unkempt, and seemingly unwashed. He was naked, of course, except for a bead necklace that hung around his neck. His fur, itself, was absolutely ridden with various types of flies which buzzed this way and that in a dizzying fashion. He let out a low but quick laugh, and clapped the fox on the shoulder with a paw. "Hey Nick! Long time no see, heheheh!" 

"Long time no see?" Judy whispered as she tilted her head, to which Nick gave her a shrug, "I'll tell you some other time." Turning his gaze back up towards Yax, Nick gestured towards Judy. "Good to see you too, but time's short so let's get right to business. This is my friend, er... Private Investigator Judy Hopps. We're here on official business concerning Emmitt Otterton." 

Judy, catching onto her cue, nodded emphatically and cleared her throat, bringing attention to herself. "Y-yes, yes that's right. Nick was telling me that he last saw Mr Otterton coming to this establishment? Would you mind answering a couple questions for us?" 

"Oh for sure! Heck, I could do you one better, I could take you to his yoga instructor and-" 

"-Oh there's no need for that, Yax! We're just here to pick your brains in particular." Nick cut the yak off, butting in while keeping his conman smirk about him. "We're really in a bit of a hurry, wouldn't want to bug anyone else when you're right here!"

Judy was about to interject, but Nick gave her a bit of a look, one that clearly indicated he wanted her to just trust him on the matter. Biting her tongue, she acquiesced. If Nick didn't think it was necessary to talk to the yoga instructor, then she'd trust him on it. "Yes, Mr Yax, we'd just like to ask you some questions." 

The yak let out a couple chuckles, "Oh I don't know if I'd be of any help, Nangi has a way better memory! But if that's what you're wanting! Heheheheh!" 

"Right, right..." Judy took out her small notepad and pen from her back pocket, flipping it open to a brand new page. "Ok, let's start with the basics. When was the last time you saw Emmitt Otterton?" 

"Oh that's an easy one! He was here on a Wednesday, about four months ago! Seemed to be in a bit of a panic, didn't even take his clothes off when he came in to relax! All panicked and stressed, man! Not good for the soul." 

Judy scribbled the information down as he spoke, without even asking, the Yak had given her a day, and the state of mind that Emmitt had been in. Perhaps this would go better than she'd expected. Swallowing, she glanced back up, "Do you think you could tell me what he was wearing at the time?" 

"For sure! He was wearing a green cable-knit sweater vest, and a new pair of corduroy slacks. Oh, and a paisley tie, sweet Windsor knot. Real tight. He was only here for a bit though, said he had something important to tell someone. Wouldn't say who though." Judy scribbled that down as well, the description of the clothing matched the image of the last known sighting of Emmitt that had been posted to the board in the bullpen all those months ago in the Precinct One bullpen. Meaning it was entirely likely that he'd gone missing the same day that he'd come here to the Oasis. 

"Do you have any ideas on who he was going to meet with?" 

"Nope, though, must've been someone with deep pockets. Me and Nangi walked him out to this big ol' white car with a silver trim that came to pick him up. Real fancy type of car, needed a tune-up, the third cylinder wasn't firing! Still, not something anyone who hangs here usually has, heheheheh!" 

Judy tapped her chin with her pen, a big fancy white car? She couldn't exactly recall anyone to mind who owned such a vehicle, but one thing was clear, this yak had an astonishingly good memory, even if he himself didn't realize it. It had been helpful thus far, but for the most part the only information she'd been able to get was what Emmitt was wearing, and that a fancy car had come to pick him up. That in and of itself wasn't going to be worth much unless...

Deciding to chance it, Judy readied her pen and turned her gaze back to Yax, "You... wouldn't have happened to catch the license plate number... did you?"

...

Judy had never been more relieved to leave a building in her life. Letting out a gust of breath she hadn't even realized she'd been holding onto, she took a second to compose herself before leaping up into the air and wrapping her arms around Nick's neck, giving him a big old hug. Nick let out a choking sound, completely unprepared for the sudden bunny affection. "We've got a lead! We've got an actual lead! 29THD03! 29THD03!" She shouted, repeating the license a few times as she let the fox go and did a little victory dance. "We can trace the car with this! We can... we... oh." 

Her celebratory mood immediately fell away, they couldn't trace the car. Tracing a license plate number was only possible through two methods: either through utilization of a police database, or by going to the DMV to use their systems. But an ordinary civilian couldn't just walk up and ask for either. Since she was no longer a police officer, there wasn't actually a way for them to trace the plate. "Damnit!" 

Nick must've had the same thought, because he gave her a shrug. "Yeah, not much we can do on that front through the legal channels, Carrots." 

Judy dragged her paws down her face in exasperation, every time she thought she'd finally gotten ahead, Zootopia made sure to bring reality crashing down around her! The license plate would have been a phenomenal lead if they could actually make use of it, but as civilians there just wasn't a way to do that! "Carrot sticks! What now? Do... do you have any other leads, Nick? Anything else we can pursue? There has to be something else, right? Something else we can-" 

"Hey... hey, relax. Carrots. Relax." Nick's paws came up, gesturing for her to calm down. "There's... there's still a way for us to trace the plate." 

"What? But you said-" 

"That there's not much we can do on that front through the legal channels." He leveled his gaze at her, "If you catch my meaning." 

Judy stared at him for a time before it clicked in her head. She opened her mouth to object but Nick pushed a finger to her lips. "No no, this is the only way to pursue this lead, Carrots, but don't get your tail in a knot, I won't be making you do anything. I'll sort this out. I have a... friend who can help me... discretely." 

He gave her a sheepish smile, "Just promise to arrest us after we utilize her resources and get you your job back, ok?" 

Chapter Text

The initial plan had been to head over to Honey’s place immediately, but when Nick had phoned her up to let her know they’d be arriving she’d gone absolutely ballistic. Something or other about how doing such a “risky” thing in broad daylight would lead “the sheep” right to her, and then they’d all be “counting sheep in our sleep” in the “secret caverns beneath Sahara Square” while they “mined the aetherial ores” for the “sheep mind control devices” for the rest of their natural lives. This followed by a bout of panicked and laborious breathing, and a flurry of words Nick didn’t feel like repeating, led the ever appeasing fox to decide that maybe they should arrive at a time of her choosing instead.

Unfortunately, a time of her choosing meant arriving at three in the morning, as the sheep were “statistically less likely to be paying attention”. Finnick, unsurprisingly, had tossed Nick the keys to the van and declared he wasn’t going to be dealing with “badger-levels of crazy” that early in the day.

Nick couldn’t exactly say he blamed him either.

Honey was the type of acquaintance he was glad to have when he really needed someone to get him something he shouldn’t have access to… like say a few (totally legal!) permits… but idle conversation with her was more like navigating a minefield in an insane asylum than actually talking with someone. But his newfound bunny cop wannabe was in need and so… here they were.

The exterior of the house was in about the shape that one would expect of such a character. The paint once colored purple was faded and peeling, there were clearly a couple holes in the roof, the windows were boarded up and what little glass remained was cracked and in shards with a number of said shards just lying there in the window and on the ground. The lawn was brown and patchy, clearly having never been watered anytime in the last couple of years. It was a mess all around.

What really stood out was the sheer number of cables wedged between the boards and the edge of each of the window seals, snaking out of the house and around to somewhere in the back. Judy had to avoid tripping over a number of them on their way to the front door. Peering upwards she noticed the roof too was covered in cables, but not only that there were five different satellite dishes, one pointed upwards and the other four oriented towards one of the cardinal directions.

Stepping up to the front door, she couldn’t help but notice that in front of the actual door was an iron bar gate with a keypad and speaker. Peering through the gate, where the doorbell should’ve been there were only loose cut wires, and on the door itself a number of signs reading: “No Solicitors, No Visitors, No Sheep.”

Judy slowly, perhaps intentionally dramatically, shifted her gaze from everything before her to stare puzzled up at the fox to her left. An eyebrow perked, and a frown on her mouth.

Nick held up his hands in mock surrender, “Listen, Carrots, I’m not going to lie, Honey should never be anyone’s first choice of company but she’s good at what she does. Besides! As I told you earlier, I’ll be the one to handle this! Don’t wanna smear your 'good name' with any potential activities which may or may not be considered strictly legal in a court of law. You don’t have to be here.”

Judy looked down at the ground, pursing her lips and clenching her hands into fists. “...No, no I need to be here. If you’re doing all of this for my sake, then I need to be there for every step of the way!”

The fox shrugged, holding his hands back up in that same surrendering pose, “You don’t make any sense to me, rabbit, but... as you wish.” He let his right hand drop to his side as he pushed the call button on the keypad with his left. “Honey! I’m ho-ome!” He called into the speaker.

“Very funny, fox, but don't use my name! You never know who might be listening!” The voice emanating from the speaker replied in a clearly unamused tone, practically a second after Nick took his finger off of the button. There was a loud click, and a buzzer noise sounded off as the iron door unlocked. Reaching forward, Nick pulled the handle and bowed towards his companion.

“Ladies first.”

With a scoff, Judy stomped in past him, but grasped his wrist as she did so. “Let's go, fox.”

“Bold, I like it.” Nick clicked his tongue and flashed a smirk before allowing himself to be dragged in, then picking up speed to stride past her into the badger’s home.

The inside wasn’t much better looking than the exterior. In fact it was considerably worse. Stepping through the hallways was almost claustrophobic, as stacks of paper manuals, old technology, and crates with “do not open!” labels piled high up to the ceiling along every wall. The floors were creaky and scuffed, coated in some sort of sticky film substance. The ceiling was covered in water spots where leaks had coalesced over the years. Under the largest was a bucket and a mop, practically in the middle of the narrow walkway, catching stray droplets as they fell.

Judy would have probably noticed more, had they not quickly arrived in what must’ve been Honey’s room. Computer and television monitors coated an entire wall, sticky notes attached to the bottom of each one denoting certain coordinates, reminders, or what Judy assumed were passwords. On the opposite side of the room was a small twin bed, which in and of itself was covered in old cans, bottles, and unwashed clothing. The windows were, even here, boarded up. The nails sticking out lopsidedly from the wood.

Then there was Honey herself. Standing up from an old folding chair situated in front of their computer, she might as well have been a reflection of the house in which she lived. Her camo-patterned tank top was covered in various stains, be they sweat or some type of food or sauce. Her fur was coated with crumbs, and matted in many places. She wore a loose fitting utility belt around her waist, though it didn’t seem to actually hold anything beyond an old beat up phone sticking out of one of the pockets, and her pants were torn and had holes at the knees and along the lower part of her legs.

“Honey! Long time no see. Still rocking the doomsday prepper look? I’d of course suggest bumping up to a homeless vagabond style of clothing, much less conspicuous.” Nick snapped his fingers into finger guns and pointed them at the badger. Judy was just about to jump up and smack the fox behind his ears for being rude, but the badger just let out a gruff snort before waving it off and sitting back down in her chair. Apparently counting the standing up as some sort of formality for greetings.

“What’dya want, Nicky? I’m busy. Do you KNOW how many codes they've hidden across-.”

“Funny you should ask!” Nick interjected without allowing her to finish. He lifted his hand aloft, revealing nothing in it, but in quick succession he flicked his hand down and back up, revealing now a notepad in his hands… HER notepad! Judy quickly patted down her pockets trying to find it but no, he’d swiped it at some point! Clever sleight of hand she granted but she’d give him a talking to about it later regardless.

“I have got here a license plate number that I would very much like for you to trace. You know, as a favor for your most favorite fox in the whole wide world.” He tossed the notepad down to Honey, who caught it and gave it a look.

“For the record, that's Finnick... and, a license plate, huh? Why do you want a plate traced, Nicky?” The badger’s eyes drifted from the fox to Judy, perking a brow as she narrowed her gaze down to slits. “Is this for your… friend here?”

Before Judy could even say a word, Nick placed his arm atop her head, using her as an armrest as he leaned back. “Who, Carrots here? Nah, this one’s just a part of my marketing team now. You can sell far more product if the one advertising is a cute bunny.”

She abruptly shot her elbow back into the Fox’s stomach, causing him to double backwards, winded for a brief couple of seconds.
“Don’t call me cute, Wilde.”

“Yeah… yeah… whatever…” He gasped in another gulp of air before continuing. “But no, this is a favor for me, Honey. I’m cashing one of ‘em in. I need this traced, and I'd very much like it done without too many questions if you don't mind. After all...” he made a show of leaning down, glancing left, then right, then looking back to Honey, "we don't know whose listening."

Honey didn’t seem convinced, but she nodded along. “Right… I see… fine. Consider one of your favors cashed then. This will be easy give me one moment, keep an eye out for anyone while I work.” The badger folded her fingers and cracked them as she stretched her arms, then turned towards her computer and began typing away. Judy wasn’t able to follow all of the actions, as various windows, tabs, and programs would flash open, then close, then open again, then update to something else as Honey worked. “Two… nine… tee… ache… dee… zero… three…” said the badger as she typed.

Judy had expected it to perhaps take longer than it did, but after only a moment, Honey hit a button on her computer as a dusty old printer to Judy’s right sprung to life, scaring her in the process, as a page printed out. Standing up, Honey reached down with a groan and grabbed the page, giving it a look before handing it to Nick. “Your plate belonged to a limousine based out of Tundratown Limo-Service in…” she looked about ready to say Tundratown again but given it was in the name she decided to just rotate her wrist towards the two of them to imply it.

Judy rolled the words over in her head. Their next lead! She was practically hopping up and down in place, impatient to get going. She was just about ready to bolt and act on the information, the sooner they got there the better after all, but Nick held up a hand to stop her before she could even move. “Belonged? As in, past tense?”

Judy froze in place, silently cursing herself for failing to notice that. She wanted to be a cop, she shouldn’t be missing such things! Beside her Nick cleared his throat and folded his arms, “Does someone else have it now?”

Honey shook her head, “No, from the looks of it the limousine was taken out of service a couple months ago following an ‘incident’. My guess?” Honey lowered her gaze and looked between the two of them, placing a hand to the side of her mouth so as to whisper conspiratorially. “The sheep got to it.”

Nick frowned, but nodded, “R-right… right. Thanks for the heads up. Is there anything else you can give us-" he caught himself, stammering before correcting, "-me. Anything you can give me to go on?”

Honey sat back down and shook her head, “Not without going in and tracing the security footage of every camera on every street in Zootopia over the past couple of months. But that will take some time, time I could spend doing anything else. That’s all I can give you.”

Judy wanted to ask just how she’d be able to do that in the first place but decided the less she knew the better. Nick grumbled next to her but clapped his hands together. “You do that then, Honey, consider it me cashing in a second favor.-”

“Final favor, Fox.” Honey interrupted. “Then we’re even again.”

“Right, right. Final favor. Got it. Just cash it in and get back to me when you can, would ya? This is important.” Nick placed one hand on his hip, tapping his foot as he awaited her answer.

Honey snorted, but waved the two of them off. “Fine fine, fine fine fine. I’ll look into it. Get going. Keep an eye out for the sheep, they’re always watching.”

Nick gave a mock salute, “Whatever you say, see you ‘round.” Before placing a hand on Judy’s back and guiding her back out towards the front door.

The night still held thick above them as they left. The crisp night air settling down on them as they stepped out onto the street, Nick let out a sigh and glanced down towards Judy. “Sorry that the plate didn’t work out, Carrots, but Honey will at least let me know where that limo went if we give her enough time.”

Judy folded her arms, impatiently tapping her foot on the ground, “Yeah…” She wanted to argue for going to check out the Limo-Service facility, but if they’d taken the limo itself out of operation then it was likely that anything they could’ve found went with it. They just had to wait this one out and see what leads came their way next. She didn’t like having to wait, but they didn’t have much of a choice.

She glanced up towards Nick, offering a smile, “Thanks for… well, I guess for placing all of that under your name. Even though I don’t think she exactly believed you.”

Nick’s typical smirk returned to his face, “Oh she didn’t, but she understood what I was doing. Trust me, if any of her ‘sheep’-” he quoted the word with his fingers, “-come a knockin’ in the middle of the night, she’ll point the finger to me rather than you. The scoundrel’s code of honor, that.”

“So you’re a scoundrel now? Here I was thinking that you were supposed to be an honest businessman.” A smirk of her own spread to Judy’s lips, and Nick let out a slight laugh.

“How foolish of me to forget, got me there, Carrots.”

“Foolish you may be, but at least you’re cute, so that makes up for it.” She was blushing as she said it but she wanted to get back at him for his comment earlier, and at this stage she felt she was entitled to rib him a little.

Nick feigned a scoff, “Oh so YOU can say that word but I can’t? This is a shocking display of double standards, Carrots.”

“Oh shut up. Let’s go home.”

“As you wish.”

~~~~~~~~~

Across the city, a mammal hung up their phone. Their next target had been assigned, and they had preparations to make. They opened the back of their weapon, placing a small blue ball into the capsule before slamming it closed.

Some poor fool would find their life upended tomorrow. But… they were a predator…

It’s not like they didn’t deserve it.