Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

She's going to do it again.

Nick watches with a sense of defeat and exasperation as Carrots takes one look at the suspect, a twitching bobcat who is more that likely on something (probably that new strand of night howlers that's become so popular with the underbelly of Zootopia lately) and leaps into action. He wants to help, but that would mean letting go of the other perp, a ram, that he literally barely had by the horns.

It's over in a blink. All Nick sees is Judy striking out with one of her feet, and the next thing he knows, the bobcat is on the ground, chained, muzzled, and whimpering.

The bobcat may have had the added advantage of the drugs effects, but there was nothing that could stop Carrots on a tear. And these guys had been trying to sell to kids. Nick discovered that day that Hopps was both beautiful and absolutely terrifying when properly angry.

The sun was beginning to peak over the buildings when they drag themselves from the precinct. Judy squints at it with a betrayed look. “We still have to file the paperwork.” She groans.

“I would rather do that now than only get a couple hours of sleep, and come back early for our next shift to do it later.” Nick points out. “You know I need my beauty sleep, Carrots.”

“Yeah.” Judy rubs her face with one paw. “I'm with you on that. Especially since it'll be easier to fill out while it's all still fresh in our minds.”

The fox glances at her. She looks exhausted, bags already forming under her eyes from the strain of their most recent case. Three days of barely any rest can do that to an animal.

Something in his periphery catches his attention. The cafe across from the precinct flooded the still dark street with light from its now open doors. Nick eyed it, an idea forming in his clever mind.

“Hey, Carrots, what do you say to a shot of caffeine to tide us over until we can get to our beds? My treat?” He offers. Judy looked up at him, then over to the cafe. The tired smile on her face was worth more than all the money he never claimed on his tax forms.

The barista is a bright eyed squirrel who chatters happily at them while she makes their coffee. Nick learns that her name is Nelly, her mom is a teacher, her younger brother wants to follow in Judy's footsteps, and that her grandmother owned the cafe. And that was all before she even took their order.

Nelly fills the store with her voice, leaving no room for Nick to talk to Judy. Judy listens intently to the squirrel's story, as if she was taking notes for later use. Honestly, the fox wouldn't be surprised if she was. He had heard the story of how she figured out the break in their first case together, learning that some people called a plant she'd known by it genus and species by another, more popular name she had never heard. She probably used that as a reason to justify listening to everything everyone had to say, in case it could come in handy later too.

That of course means that Nick can't use the time that they are technically off duty to enact his plan. He was gonna ask her to dinner while she was soft with lack of sleep. Maybe delirium would work in his favor. But there was no break in the stream of information coming from the bushy tailed girl behind the counter.

No matter. By the end of the month, Judy Hopps was gonna be his.

“-and that's how my family ended up in Zootopia here's your coffee.” Nelly says brightly. Nick's fairly sure there hadn't been any punctuation in her entire life story. She should probably stick to decaf, he thought.

Judy turns to hand him his coffee, and something else in a small bag emblazoned with the shop's logo. Something he didn't order.

The fox opens the bag slowly, though he can already smell what's inside. A fresh warm blueberry muffin. Judy must have ordered it while he was lost in thought.

“This was supposed to be my treat!” He cries in dismay, even as he takes a bite of the muffin. Judy grins and sips her latte.

“Well, I saw Nelly's aunt bring those out and knew you would want one, so I got it for you. You were a million miles away anyway. What were you thinking about?” She asks curiously.

Nick busies himself with the muffin in lieu of answering. Carrots snorts slightly. “Yeah, I guessed you were just spacing out. Well, we only have an hour of paperwork to do, then we don't have to be back at work for... Seventeen hours, I think? That should give us both enough time to get used to working days again, instead of nights.” She's already brightening up. Her ears are perkier, swiveling with every sound the awakening city makes.

His window to catch her off guard was closed.

“Yeah.” He sighed. “You know, we could work like normal cops. Break a big case, take a few days off. How is it that you're always ready to be back at work the next day?”

It was mainly a rhetorical question. He was ready to get back to work too... after a few hours of uninterrupted sleep, of course.

Judy shrugs her thin shoulders. Her face is set when she looks up at him. “Because being off for a few days could mean that we're a few days too late to save someone.” She says seriously.

Sometimes Nick is struck by how she can say things that are both simple and entirely profound at the same time. He falls a little bit more in love with her.

They pass by the empty reception desk. Clawhauser's shift doesn't start until much later in the day. Judy pauses to lay another bag from the cafe that Nick hadn't noticed her carrying on the empty desk. No doubt a doughnut or three, which would wait there for the enthusiastic cheetah to come in, the fox thought.

The paperwork is nearly as draining as apprehending the actual criminals had been. Judy is drooping across her desk by the time they've both put their signatures on the last page, and he doesn't feel much better.

They both put their last folders in the 'out' boxes on their desks at the same time, and smile wearily at each other.

It's only twenty minutes later that Nick is stripping down to his boxers and flinging himself on to his bed, which has never felt more comfortable.

He's out like a light, and dreams of bright amethyst eyes and a cute little cotton tail.

Chapter Text

Judy holds out her pen to the witness, her eyes wide and sincere as the hippo spins her wild tale. The hippo in question, a nine year old named Grizelda Gray (that poor girl) had been there when the ram and bobcat had been trying to push a new drug on her impressionable classmates. She was sweet, with wide brown eyes and ribbons on both of her tiny ears, but... imaginative. That was a good word for it.

Her story changed three times in the past ten minutes, each amendment more outlandish than the last. At first the ram had called the group of children over and the bobcat offered them the 'strange looking candy', then that changed to the ram actually grabbing Grizelda by the shoulders and pushing her forward from behind while her friends followed after curiously. The 'strange looking candy' had first been green and the shape of a ball, the striped blue/green and heart shaped. The bobcat had been scary, then friendly, then terrifying. At some point in the story a prince came and rescued them.

Nick let Judy handle the interview. He wasn't good with kids anyway. Not real ones.

Carrots patiently listens as the tale wound down. “Are you sure that's what happened, Grizelda?” She asks after a minute. Nick had to bite back a snort when the girl nods seriously. “Well, thank you very much for telling me all that. You've helped so much! Here, because of your help, you've earned this.” Judy gushes. The fox recognizes the shine of the 'junior detective' sticker as the rabbit presses it to Grizelda's overalls pocket.

The little girl gasps and admires her new decoration, then sticks her chest out proudly when Judy salutes her.

The rabbit was smiling when she turned to walk back towards Nick.

“Was any of that actually usable? I mean... could you actually understand all of that?” Nick has to ask when she's standing beside him again.

Judy consults her notebook. She had been writing and recording at the same time, in case she missed something important. “Well, I'd say that it probably happened closer to the first version than any other. And none of the other kids we interviewed mentioned the color of the 'candy' so that's new information...”

“Yeah, but I doubt drug makers are creating striped heart shaped drugs.” Nick points out, pulling himself up into the cab of their police car.

Carrots hums. “Well, when she first talked about it, she said it was a smooth round shape. Sound familiar?”

“But green...?”

“Well, they had to either add something, or take something away to phase out the aggressiveness side effect.”

“That's what I was thinking. Just making sure we were on the same page. So how did you get to be so good with kids. You've handled all four interviews today, and I swear, I probably would have ended up pulling my fur out by the second.”

Judy shrugged her thin shoulders. “Yeah, well, you were an only kit. I have 275 siblings, 206 of them are younger than me. I got used to baby sitting duty.”

Nick shudders. “276 kids... you rabbits are crazy.”

“Not all rabbits have so many kids anymore. I mean, my parents have a huge farm, and they needed the animal power to keep it going. A lot of city rabbits only have one or two.” She says defensively.

Nick kept his firmly forward, on the road, when he said, “So what about you, Carrots? You planning on having a few hundred kids and settling down?”

Her response is instant. “Oh goodness no!” She snorts. “Can you imagine me as a stay at home mom? I'd go insane! I mean, I haven't really thought about it, but I think I'll probably go the city rabbit route... if I decide to have any at all.”

The fox gasps in faux horror and presses on paw to his chest. “A rabbit that's thinking of not having kids?!” He breathes. “What would your parents say?”

“I think they'd be glad to not have to baby sit any kids of mine. They always said my kids would be just like me. They had their paws full with just the original.” She snarks back as they pull into the officer parking lot of Precinct One.

Before they climb down, Nick reaches out and ruffles her ears. “I like the original.” He says, and drops to the ground before Judy can respond.

He finds her a few hours later, face intent as she shifts through the witness statements. They both clocked out two hours ago, and he had already hit the showers, changed into civilian clothes, and groomed himself, but here Judy still was in her uniform exactly where he left her.

He couldn't help the fond smile he felt spread across his face as he watched her. After a minute though, Nick cleared his throat. One of Judy's ears twitched at the sound, and she glanced up.

“You're a workaholic Carrots, I swear. Come on, those files will still be there tomorrow morning.”

“There's just... there's something here. I know there is. Neither Grazer nor Rufus would say anything about their supplier, but we both know that neither of them were smart enough to change the chemical make-up of Night Howler to omit the aggression trigger. There is someone behind all of this.” She says in frustration.

“Well, they both insisted that they were the only ones involved in all of this...”

“Then the third animal obviously still has a hold on them. Even after they were offered a deal to give up their boss...”

“So you're hoping something one of the nine year olds said would help us figure out who it it?” He asks.

“I think there's something I'm missing, but I just. Can't. See it.” Judy bites out fiercely.

Nick tosses her jacket at her face. “That's because you're tired Carrots. Overworked and all that. Come on, we can talk this out over dinner. We always think best together.”

The rabbit looks about ready to argue, but then her shoulders slump and she nods slowly. “You're right. I'll go hit the shower, then meet you out front. If we can't figure it out tonight, we will look at it with fresh eyes in the morning.”

“That's the spirit!

Judy is smiling again while they walk together to the small bistro that's not too far from the precinct. Her face is pointed to the moon, her fur ruffling in the wind.

They reach the bistro almost too fast for Nick's liking. During the day it sold good sandwiches and had a nice, open, airy feel to it. At night, though, they closed the blinds and dimmed the lights, turning the casual place of the day into a steamy romantic oasis at night.

It didn't hurt that they gave ZPD officers a pretty good discount, too.

Nick held his breath as Judy looks around, blinking in the dim light. He had 'forgotten' to tell her about the atmosphere change the bistro went through after sundown. He wondered how long it would take her to guess what he was trying to do. He could tell her, he supposed... but it would be so much easier if she guessed.

They were guided to a small, secluded table by a serene looking antelope. The hostess smiled at them as they took their seats. “Your server will be with you soon.” She said in a low voice, nodding slightly and making her way back to the front.

“Huh.” Judy said after a minute. “We've... been here before, right? It looks different.”

“Well, we normally only come during the day.” Nick tells her, eyes firmly fixed on the guttering candle on the table between them.

“Oh...” And she says it so slowly that Nick looks up at her, into her shrewd eyes lit by the candlelight. His heart's in his throat and she's staring at him, her mouth open to say something when-

“Good evening guys. My name is Freya, and I'll be your server for the evening. Can I get you something to drink?” The nervous looking serval interrupts, and the moment is ruined.

Judy turns to smile at her. “Can I get some water, please.” She asks kindly. She's obviously picked up on something, because she's using her 'dealing with a scared victim' voice.

Nick looks at the girl and nearly sighs. She's new. He doesn't even have to ask her, he can tell. She's smiling, but the expression is trembling on her spotted face, and her apron is on inside out.

It's no wonder she interrupted an obviously crucial moment in the middle of one of the most romantic restaurants in town, she hasn't had time to learn how to recognize what was going on.

 “I'll have water too.” He says quickly, hoping to get her to go so that he can get back to whatever Judy had been about to say.

That's when the serval's tail swished absently, and the guttering candle died.

Nick saw his chance dying with it as Judy reassured their distressed server that the candle hadn't been necessary in the first place, and that she didn't need to relight it.

After Freya bustles off to the kitchen, bolstered by Judy's unending kindness, the rabbit turned back to her partner and grinned. “I spent a year as a waitress in a diner near the farm, saving up to buy my parents a great anniversary gift. I remember how stressful it was.” She explained. “She's new, she'll get used to it in no time.”

“Right. So... You were about to say something? Before?” Nick prompts anxiously.

“Huh? Uh... Hmm. I don't remember what it was.” Judy says, tapping a paw to her mouth thoughtfully. She shrugs dismissively after a moment. “Can't have been too important. Anyway, I've been thinking. Why do you think that the dealers were pushing to children? I mean, that sort of thing normally happens later, but this one has only been on the street for a few weeks at most!”

Nick accepts his water from Freya, and accepts defeat for today as they settle in to seriously discuss a new drug's normal timeline and this variant of Night Howler's change from them.

He can always try again tomorrow.

Chapter Text

Judy is already a the precinct when Nick rolls in 15 minutes before roll call. The paper scattered on their shared desk tells him that she's been there a while, and he snorts and rolls his eyes.

His graceful leap onto the chair beside her only earns him a side eyed glance and an absent smile before she's focused on the papers again. Nick looks over her shoulder, trying to figure out what they are.

At first it just looks like the witness statements from the day before, a few dotted with swirly drawings done by the kids when they were asked to draw what the animals that had approached them looked like (mostly as a distraction technique used by Nick when Judy was talking to the teachers and he was left alone for a few minutes with the veritable herd of brats... they didn't even look vaguely like the criminals, but it kept them out of his fur. He didn't know Judy had kept them.) But then he read one that was in strange handwriting, and realizes what she was looking at.

“Are these from the Catatonia outbreak a few years ago?” He asks, pulling one towards him. Judy hums in agreement, her expression serious. “Why are you looking at these? I mean, this all happened way before you got here, and most of the gangs that were pushing it have been Rico-ed into submission.” He points out.

“Yeah, most of them... besides, look at this,” Judy shoves the page she had been looking at into his paw, jabbing at a sentence with her claw.

'-Catatonia, the apparent street name, is known to be yellow in color-' The report goes on, but Nick knows that was what she wanted him to see.

“Yellow...” He says slowly.

“And blue.” Judy follows.

“You think?” Nick asks.

“I mean, it would make sense.”

“And not mixing it all the way-”

“-Would make some of the pills look striped.”

“And calming properties-”

“-Would negate the aggression almost entirely.”

“Judy Hopps, you are a sly bunny.” Nick says with conviction, and Carrots ducks her head with that lopsided smile that was the first thing he fell in love with.

It was then that a throat was cleared by their desk, and both of them look up at Chief Bogo.

“You two are late for roll call.” He tells them. “And do you always do that?”

“Do what?” Nick and Judy ask in unison, and the bison just shakes his head.

“Come one then, it sounds like you two have made a breakthrough... I think. Lay it out for me.” Both of the smaller animals open their mouths at the same time to speak, and the Chief holds up his hoof. “One at a time.” He clarifies.

“Catatonia, sir.” Judy starts.

Chief Bogo lets out a sardonic snort. “I'm familiar with it.” He says, nodding to the paper still in Nick's paw. Nick looks at it again, this time realizing that it is signed 'Detective Idris Bogo', which meant he was the lead detective on the case.

“Huh... Idris... Who would have guessed.” Nick says after a moment. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Judy put a paw to her mouth to hide a huff of laughter. He counted that in the win column.

Chief Bogo grits his teeth. “Go on.” He grinds out.

“See, we thought that what we were dealing with was a new version of Night Howlers, and just that.” Nick tells him.

“But one of our witnesses told us that the pills that she saw were green, not blue like the poison and it's flower.” Judy says.

“So with that, and the fact that the aggressive tendencies and almost all of the feral urges had been nullified, we knew that it had to be modified somehow. Mixed with something to tone it down.”

“All while keeping the severe inhibition suppressors in play. That's when I remembered the Catatonia Case a few years ago. The one that made your career. So Nick and I looked into it, and, honestly, I think we might have something. If we could ask you a few questions about the gangs that created and dealt it, as the main investigating officer, we may blow this case wide open.”

Nick turns to say something to Judy about sharing the credit with him, when she had figured it out herself, but Chief Bogo interrupts him before he could say anything.

“You do do that all the time. And you don't even notice it.” He despairs. Shaking his massive had, the Chief rubs his eyes before straightening back up again. “I'll answer any questions you have of course. If anyone can get this stuff off the street before it reaches the same height as Catatonia did, it's you two. Now come on, you've made us all late for roll call. We'll talk afterwards.”

“Aw, Chief, that's probably the nicest thing you've ever said to anyone.” Nick says as he leaps from the over sized chair. Judy slides lithely down behind him.

“And don't expect it to ever happen again, Wilde.” Chief Bogo barks.

Two hours later find Judy and Nick pouring over the Catatonia case files. Very few animals had escaped the fine tooth comb Chief Bogo had run over his entire investigation, and all that had been arrested and charged weren't set to be even face the parole board for another five years. They were looking for something, anything, that could give them a lead onto how someone had the knowledge to not only recreate, but balance both Catatonia and Night Howlers to the delicate degree it would have taken.

Nick slaps closed another manila folder with a scowl.

“If we are going to keep doing this for the foreseeable future, I need sustenance. And you are coming with me, Officer Hopps.” He announces, and Judy pulls herself from the file to stare at him.

“But we're so close...” She says longingly, even as she's pulling on her vest and hat.

“And we'll be even closer after lunch. We can take a few files with us.” Nick concedes, swiping a few off the desk. “But lunch first.”

He's got the perfect place in mind. It's a bit of a walk, but there's this perfect little restaurant just at the edge of town center that caters to smaller mammals and serves what Nick has been told was the best carrot cake ever.

He's not above bribery in getting what he wants. He'll sweeten Carrots up with the cake, then maybe ask nonchalantly if she wanted to come over to his apartment that night to try this new recipe he'd found... and he only had to actually find a recipe if she said yes.

Judy falls into step beside him, bumping their shoulders companionably as they walk past the reception desk where Clawhauser is staring intently at the screen of his computer (no doubt moderating his Gazelle fansite). Nick nods in the cheetah's direction. “This might be quicker if Chief Bogo had bothered to modernize his files instead of clinging to the Stone Age.”

She smiles, but then her face takes on that faraway look that Nick has grown familiar with. He doesn't even have to hear what she says next to know that they'll probably be grabbing lunch to go. He's got his plans rearranged before she even opens her mouth.

“The Chief's old fashioned.” She exclaims. She was loud enough that Clawhauser even looks up from his screen, but seeing who it was, he just smiles and goes back turns back to his computer. He's not the only one that she's caught the attention of, but everyone goes back to what they were doing in the same manner. “He wrote everything down, but... did he write everything down?” Judy finishes, not even noticing that she'd disturbed a good number of their coworkers.

“What are you getting at, Carrots?” Nick prompts. She's got her teeth in something juicy, he can tell by the gleam in her eyes.

“Hand me the file with the green tab. No, that one.” She says, pulling it out of his grip. “I'm glad you grabbed it. Look-” Flipping it open, she turns a few pages before landing on what she was looking for. “Here, here, and here. Chief Bogo mentions a C.I. Not by name, obviously, but initials. 'M.B.' According to this, he's a 'gangster on the rise'. Who does that sound like to you?”

“No, you don't think-”

“I think it's time we go visit my goddaughter. And her grandfather.”

Chapter Text

On the way to Tundra Town, Nick manages to cajole Judy into actually stopping for the lunch they had talked about. It's not the place with the carrot cake but it's a popular 'to go' place. Which means a long wait for their food. Which was totally not planned.

Not initially anyway.

So there they were, forced to sit hip to hip on a crowded bench and wait for their food for fifteen minutes. And if they wanted to talk to each other, or even turned their heads to look at each other, they were nose to nose practically staring into each other's eyes.

It was certainly more intimate than this place seemed at first.

After a few minutes of silence, Nick glanced over at Judy, and noticed something for the first time.

“Hey, Carrots, what happened to your cheek?” He asks, barely resisting the urge to bring up his own paw and touch it himself the same time she did.

“What?”She says, rubbing at the offending area. “Is there something on it?”

“Well, no, but the fur is kind of... parted there. In like, three places.”

He can see the realization as o what he talking about hit her, and she turns away from him, her expressive ears sweeping down. “Oh, nothing. Just something that happened when I was a kid.”

He frowns, not used to her withdrawing from him. They were always open with each other normally. “Come on Carrots.” He coaxes. “You know you can confide in me. I thought you trusted me.” It's a low blow, he knows. She's been very vocal about how much she's trusted him since their first case, probably so he doesn't question it again. Like he's pretending to do now.

He can see the moment her will crumbles, and she turns back to him, looking up at him through her lashes. His heart lurches in his chest. “Well... You remember when I told you about Gideon Grey?”

“Your parent's partner? The night howler guy?”

“Yeah, well, me n' him weren't always friends. When we were both kits, we got into a bit of a scuffle.”

“He attacked you.” Nick says flatly, seeing through her bluff.

“It wasn't unprovoked.” She defends. Because of course she did.

“He scarred you.” Nick says in a low, hot tone. Angry at a child that had long since become a much better adult. “Did he at least get in trouble? I know you, you probably didn't even tell your parents.”

Judy kicks out her feet. “I didn't have to. My mom took one look at the scratch on my cheek and knew almost the whole story before I could say a thing. Dragged me over to the booth that Mrs. Grey was running and gave her an earful. Mrs. Grey cried.” She told him, frowning at the memory.”That would have been right after Mr. Grey ran off, leaving her with three kits to raise by herself. He wasn't a nice animal. Probably a whole lotta stress in that whole family. I think that's why Gid was lashing out.” Leave it to her to see the pain behind a child's anger.

They both sat quietly after that, until their order number was called a few moments later. Nick accepted the bag with Judy's carrot, lettuce, and broccoli sub and his own chicken melt inside, following her out to their cruiser.

“Thank you for telling me that.” He say after they had been driving for a minute. “It's no wonder you had a thing against foxes when we met.” The air is lighter after that, and he... feels closer to Judy than he was before.

“Honestly, that whole thing was probably the reason I actually became a cop. I mean, I had already wanted to, but after he scratched me and told me that I would never be one...”

“Your stubborn streak kicked in and made you prove him wrong?” He teases gingerly.

She nods with a smirk. Not long after that they pull up to the gates of Big Manor. Raymond squints at them through the glass before Judy rolls down the window, and his expression morphs to a grin.”Judy.” He rumbles as friendly as he gets. “Wilde.” He adds, far less happily. Nick waves weakly. He still hates coming here.

“Raymond.” Judy say sweetly. “Kevin off today... No, wait, today's his anniversary, isn't it? He's taking his husband on that vacation this week, isn't he?”

“He called me today to tell me how much fun they're having. He wanted me to thank you for the destination suggestion.”

“It's the same place I sent my parents to for their thirtieth wedding anniversary. They wouldn't stop raving for weeks. I'm glad he and Carlo are having fun. Is Mr. Big in? Or Fru fru? I would love to see little J today.”

“We actually all just got back. Lunch meeting.” He explains vaguely, moving to open the gate.

“Great. Listen, are you free on next Thursday? I have the day off, and I know you wanted help looking for that ring for your girlfriend. We can do lunch, no business.” She winks.

Raymond shyly draws himself together, smiling bashfully. “Yeah, I can make some time. And that night you can have dinner with me and Claudia. I... well, I would love for my friends to be there. To see it.”

“I would be honored. We'll see you in a couple hours, Ray.”

He waves them off, still smiling. The cruiser trundles up the driveway, and Nick is staring at Judy. “How do you do that?” He asks incredulously.

“Do what?”

“Even before I sold Mr. Big that rug, Raymond was never that nice to me.” He tells her.

“He's sweet, really. All you have to do is listen to people, and get to know the real them. These ears aren't just for listening.” She says with a bit of a laugh. Nick snorts, and clambers out of the car.

Fru Fru meets them at the door, looking frazzled and cradling an infant in her arms. “Judy!” She exclaims, more relief than excitement. She immediately hands off the baby. “You are a life saver in more ways than one. Can you watch Jude for a couple of hours? Do you have time? I am desperate.”

Judy smiles softly down at the bundle in the palm of her paw. Even if she says she probably won't have kids, Nick sees in that expression the truth. He wants to hold her, tell her they'll have as many kits as she wants. One or one hundred. But he can't, not yet.

“Of course, Fru. We came to talk to Mr. Big, and it might take a while. Take some time to yourself. We'll go shopping together at some points.”

Fru Fru smiles tiredly. “I love you so much.”

“More than your favorite purse?”

“Mm... I wouldn't go that far.” She hugs Judy briefly around the leg before shuffling off. Probably to bed.

Almost the second his mom is out of sight, Jude begins to shift restlessly. Judy manages to settle him immediately. Together, and with one more member on their team, they make their way to Mr. Big's office. “You ready for this? He's might not be happy about us knowing his role in the Catatonia sting.” Nick asks.

Judy snorts with her usually devil may care attitude, and rapped on the door.