Work Text:
Scent-sible Policing – by SumDumWriter.
“Carrots, look out!” yelled Nick.
Judy turned, ears shooting straight up as the middle-aged mother weasel growled and slashed her across the chest with a hidden knife. She jumped back knocking over a case of kit formula onto the dirty kitchen floor.
-POP-POP-POP-POP- filled the air as Nick pulled the trigger on his trank-pistol, before Judy could clear her own sidearm. The weasel glared, reddened eyes closing over the tiny pupils as she hit the floor. Judy paw-cuffed her.
The fox ran over. “Are you hurt?!” he asked, running his paws over her vest, looking for a cut. He breathed a sigh of relief, finding the vest protected her.
The weasel kits didn’t even react to the violence.
***
They were in a low-rent apartment to investigate a first-grader caught selling baggies of Nip for lunch money. Nip stolen from his Mom’s stash, he begged not to tell her about.
Judy had grown tired of listening to the stream of lies. The mother weasel, unwashed, wearing dirty clothes, claws chewed to blunt nubs, cursed the officers and kits. The drugs belonged to her first grade son. Not her.
Judy searched for food, finding cabinets empty and a half-eaten moldy loaf of bread, the bottom green and soupy in the bag. The youngest kit pointed to the cookie jar on top of the dirty refrigerator.
When Judy reached up for the dirty ceramic fox-shaped container the ragged weasel screamed and attacked.
“Thanks, Nick,” said Judy, surprised this escalated from possession and neglect to attempted murder. The cookie jar was filled with narcotics.
Nick flinched, surprised when a kit hugged him. “My name is ‘Mal’. Will you please be my daddy?” asked a dirty, thin looking male weasel who needed a bath.
“Do any of you drink this formula?” Judy asked. They were all too old, but there was no other food.
The kits all stared blankly.
Nick hugged the weasel back and said “Judy, its not for them. It gets stolen and sold for...you know,” he said, pointing to the cookie jar.
***
Judy grabbed snacks from the cruiser and Nick questioned the kits about relatives. Protein bars and water bottles were given out while waiting for Kit Protective Services.
“Can we live with you?” whispered the Jill in the sweatpants to Judy.
“What’s your name,” asked Judy, ears drooping as she saw the state the kits were living in. There was no food. No clean clothes. Trash, cans from adult beverages and worse littered the floor.
“Mommy calls me ‘Little’ because she says I’m a little bitc-”
“Hey there! I found more granola bars!” said Nick, interrupting.
When a pair of bored looking K.P.S. workers finally showed up, the kits huddled together only to be roughly torn away from each other by a badger sow and a pig. Mal desperately tried to reach for Nick, only to be pulled away.
“Can’t you keep them together? They will be scared!” said Judy, seeing the kits cry.
“Look, we don’t have five-star hotels, with butlers waiting to wipe their behinds. We have a few homes with one of two spots each. That’s it,” said the badger, Mrs. Growlagan. “If you don’t like it adopt half a dozen.”
***
“Nick, are you okay?” asked Judy.
Nick had been silent since filing paperwork and getting back on patrol.
The fox pasted a wide grin on his face and a bright look in his eyes. “Carrots, I’m as perfect as any completely handsome fox like me can b-”
“Nick,” interrupted Judy. “Please. I’m serious. You don’t need to hide from me.”
There was a pause. “No, Judy. I’m not okay…” Nick took a deep breath, ears folding back. “Those kits are going to a group home. They might never see each other again. And the mother is never going to get them back.”
“But they will be taken care of, Nick.” said Judy, brightly. “Even if the mother doesn’t get off the drugs-”
“She won’t.” said Nick with bleak finality.
“Even if she doesn’t, I’m sure someone will take them in, and they have a safe place to stay in the meantime.”
“You’ve never been to a group home, Carrots. It’s not a sitcom on ZBC, where they pass out hugs and home-made cookies. If you aren’t a pretty newborn, you stay until you age out. I know mammals from group homes.”
“What terrible life could they have?” asked Judy, giving Nick a skeptical look. “The counselors are public servants too; they want to make Zootopia a better place for kits!”
“You can ask yourself. You know the same mammals. Duke Weaselton is one. Finnick is the other.”
***
Judy grabbed the radio, head halfway out the window of the cruiser, breathing clean outside air.
“Dispatch, Z-240, we have 10-17C suspect in custody, returning to station. Have the ‘Power Shower’ ready. Officer Wilde is 10-102.”
“Z-240, does Nick require medical?”
“Negative. Just a good scrub and a new uniform. The skunk didn’t get his eyes, and no asthmatic reactions to musk.”
Sitting in the passenger seat, the fox had nose out the window, avoiding his own stink while he fumbled in the first aid kit.
Behind the two officers was a desperate rapping on the plexiglass.
“Please, I’m sorry! It was an accident! Please don’t arrest me! I have to go home!”
“Was shoplifting from Mike’s Mini Mart an accident too?” asked Judy.
“But I wasn’t shoplifting! The raccoon said if I cleaned the parking lot and emptied the trash cans he would give me the formula and noodles!”
“You don’t have a store uniform. The Assistant Manager said doesn’t know you. We have no witnesses of you working there. Why would the manager lie?”
The skunk turned to Nick.
“I’m sorry I sprayed you, Officer. It was an accident. When I was trying to run, and you grabbed the back of my pants I got scared.”
Nick, sitting on a disposable seat cover, smeared a gel from a packet on his nose. He pulled his head back inside and passed the packet to Judy who also applied scent blocker.
“Can you please just let me go? With a warning?”
Dead silence.
The skunk doe leaned towards Nick. “Officer, I’ll do anything if you let me go! Anything at all.”
“Oh? What an intriguing offer! Please...tell me more,” said Nick to the 20-something aged skunk. Looking at Judy, he smiled and tapped his left wrist twice, and pointed to the dashboard.
“NICK! That’s not fair!” said Judy, eyes narrowing.
The skunk, tears in her eyes, made a suggestion that made Judy’s ears go red. The type of suggestion usually reserved for obscure movie rentals or the back of adult-only magazines.
Judy got on the radio and called in their position, time and mileage.
Nick reached into the glove compartment, then paused. “Judy, I’m out of my supply.”
“Nick, we’re transporting a suspect. We can’t just stop.”
“Carrots, stop trying to weasel out. It's my turn. You don’t get to deny me the pleasure for a couple of minutes travel time. Your streak is done. Pull over.”
The skunk swallowed hard, looking slightly less desperate. She sniffled, a tear running down to wet the fur on her face. In the mirror Judy saw the suspect shaking from stress, eyes darting wildly side to side looking for escape.
Judy stopped. Nick removed his shirt, exited the cruiser, and opened the trunk. A zipper was opened.
Nick came back around...and got in the passenger seat.
“Please, officer...Wilde... I’ll do anything you want! I LIKE foxes! I always wanted to be with a fox like y-”
“BINGO!” yelled Nick, marking the sheet with the new ink-stamp from the trunk.
“One more, and I would have had it!” said Judy. “Are you sure?”
“Check it and weep, Officer Longears,” said Nick as they pulled to a red traffic light.
The fox held up his card, covered by red fox-shaped ink-marks. He had covered ‘BEDROOM BARGAIN’, the free space for ‘DENY EVERYTHING’, ‘EXCUSES-EXCUSES’, ‘ACCIDENTAL SKUNK ARTILLERY’, and lastly ‘HOT FOR SPECIES’.
***
Judy pulled up to the run-down apartment building, headlights shining on a female capybara standing next to the mailbox. Nick and Judy got out, and were approached.
“Officers, those kits in apartment 4a have been noisy and running wild for hours! Every time I knocked, they would quiet down, and when I left they would start all over! That...mother...hasn’t shown up once!”
“Hold on, Ma’am,” said Judy. She pulled out a notebook and scribbled a quick note, before going around to the back door. Nick walked up to apartment ‘4a’ past the darkened windows and knocked loudly, calling out “ZPD! Welfare check!”
Judy could hear faint speech from inside the apartment. There was an infant-aged kit crying, another kit shushing it, and another kit yelling to “hide!” and scrambling of paws across the floor. Through the windows, there was the beam of a flashlight swinging around.
Nick knocked again. No answer, and inside several doors slammed shut. Judy keyed her radio. “Officer Wilde, I see no one exiting the rear. I hear kits inside, telling each other to hide.”
Judy walked to the back door, knocked, No answer. She turned the handle and found it locked. She sent a text message. ‘NICK. Back door locked. Checking windows’.
The windows, were all locked.
She turned back to the street and found the capybara there watching, while other neighbors gathered in a group. “Ma’am, do you have any contact with the parents of the kits?”
“Of course not!” said the capybara neighbor. The shrew lowered her voice. “They are a bunch of REEKERS. I would sooner talk to a porta-potty. It would smell better.”
Judy keyed her mic again. “Z-240 to dispatch.”
“Dispatch, go ahead Z-240.”
“We are on site, we can hear kits inside the address, but no one is answering the door. No adults appearing. All entry points are sealed. Can we get a lookup on the parents before we force entry?”
“Roger that, Z-240. Running a ‘Kit-Check’ for ‘no parents’ at the home address.”
***
Nick finished talking to the last of the neighbors that had gathered. The apartment had been rented to a bunch of ‘reekers’ four months ago. These were the only skunks in the neighborhood, and the other residents didn’t want them there.
“...I hear that if a skunk catches a cold and sneezes they spray everyone.”
“...Mrs. Shrewsbury spent the last of her savings on a plumber, to get rid of the sewer stench. The sewer was fine. It was the skunks that moved in next door, and her kits lost out on a good birthday party!”
“...Once a skunk moves in, the criminals move in next.”
He walked away, not surprised at the reactions. That was Zootopia for you; like being a fox looking for an apartment in a nice neighborhood, made worse by the fact that skunks sometimes DID smell bad. It wasn’t all prejudice and speciesism.
“Hey, Carrots, neighbors don’t have any contact information for the parents. Everyone in the building seems to not want them.”
Judy frowned. “Putrid Petunias! Clawhauser checked and tried to call the mother, but her cell phone is out of service, and her last known work number said they fired her two months ago.”
“I guess we better make entry then,” said Nick, walking towards the front door.
Judy moved with him. “I couldn’t get hold of building maintenance. It went to voicemail.”
Nick looked under the doormat, opened the screen door, and started looking at the edge of the door frame.
“Hold the screen door open, Nick! I’m going to kick in the entrance door.”
“Hold on there, Hopps-a-Long. Save the Bunny Battering Ram.” Nick reached up to the top left side of the door frame and removed a small key hanging from a nail.
“That doesn’t look like it will fit, Slick,” said Judy, still ready to charge the door.
Nick held up a single digit, to signal to wait. He closed the screen door, walked to the mailbox for the unit, and opened ‘4a’. Reaching in he pulled a key taped inside the box, and unlocked the front door.
“Zootopia Police Department! We need to make sure everyone is okay,” he called into the darkened apartment. There was no response. The only light inside the apartment was from a streetlight shining past curtains. Nick reached in, felt to the side of the door, and flicked a switch. No lights turned on.
Judy pulled her flashlight, and stepped in, sweeping the apartment.
“Zootopia Police Department. We need to make sure you are okay. Can you come out?” she asked gently.
No answer. “Nick, I’m going in,” said Judy stepping through, shining the flashlight all around, ears swiveling.
Nick closed the door, locking it from the inside. “I don’t want any scared kits running outside and getting hurt or lost.”
“I’ll do the same to the back door,” she replied, moving into the kitchen.
Nick opened the refrigerator, and found it empty except for some reused water bottles and a bag of powdered confectionery sugar on the top shelf. He sniffed the air. “Judy, I think we are dealing with a few different skunk kits, but hard to tell how many. I’m getting a weak scent of ‘Strawberry Scented Musk-Mask Shampoo’.”
They walked through the apartment calling out, clearing rooms. Judy heard quiet talking from the bedrooms but muffled. Clearing the small dark unheated apartment, the two entered the master bedroom.
There were several mattresses together on the floor with piles of pillows and blankets. The edge of a blanket was visible under the door of a large closet. From inside, both Nick and Judy could hear kits loudly telling each other to “shush”.
Nick opened the door, revealing a blanket on the floor with a black striped tail sticking out of it on one side and a small footpaw on the other.
“We can see you under the blanket. Come out and talk to us,” said Judy in a gentle voice.
The blanket lifted, and a skunk kit peered out. “We are okay. Mom is at work and will be right back,” she said in a flat, memorized tone.
Under the blanket an infant was starting to cry. Nick pulled the blanket down, revealing four kits. The oldest was the talking kit, who looked maybe six years old. There were two kits around four years old, a boy and a girl, and a single infant kit in a pink onesie, wearing a very plump diaper.
“What are your names?” asked Nick.
“I’m Jane. The twins are ‘Calvin’ and ‘Carla’,” she said indicating the two, pointing as she recited the names.
Jane picked up the infant, who looked about six months old. “Mom calls the baby ‘Little’” she said.
‘Little’ started to cry again, and Carla spoke up. “When is Mom coming home? I’m Hungry!”
Jane shushed the baby, and Carla started crying. “Hungry! Want MOM! I want mom!”
Judy leaned over to comfort Carla, who held her arms up to be held.
“NO! The Police-Bunny isn’t a skunk! You can’t touch her!” yelled Jane, wide-eyed, struggling to reach Carla and pull her back while trying to hold ‘Little’ in her arms.
Judy hesitated, then picked up the little skunk, who grabbed her in a tight hug.
“Nick, go grab some water and granola from the cruiser. See if we have that packet of emergency formula in the first aid kit.”
“I’m sorry! Don’t get mom in trouble because Carla touched you!” yelled out, Jane, wide-eyed, tail shooting up in a panic, making both officers flinch.
“It’s okay...touching a skunk never hurt any animal, no one is in trouble.”
“Z-240, need status update. Have you made entry or made contact with parents or kits at the address?”
Judy keyed her mic. “Dispatch, no parents on site. We found four kits, infant to 6 years, not in danger.”
“Z-240, report living conditions and the 20 of the parents.”
Nick returned with some bottles of water, granola bars, and a small bag labeled ‘Infant Emergency Supplies’. He set down all the items, and quickly keyed his own radio. “Dispatch, Z-240. Kits are in NO, I repeat NO immediate trouble. Kits report mother is running an errand and will be right back. We can wait for her.”
“Z-240, please respond back with current living conditions at location, and expected return time of parents.”
Judy keyed her mic. “Dispatch, Z-240. House is clean. No trash visible. Kits are clean and bathed.”
“Z-240, channel 3.”
Nick passed out the granola bars and water to the older kits, while Judy switched channels.
“Z-240, Dispatch, on channel 3.”
Nick turned to Jane. “Your baby sister needs a change. Where do you keep the diapers? Or the formula for her to drink?”
Jane looked downcast, her cheeks beginning to go pink under the fur.
Calvin spoke up. “Diapers all gone. Mamma gonna get some!”
“Hopps, I know this stinks, but I need to know living conditions. Heat. Food. Clothing. Parents,” said Clawhauser firmly.
Judy sighed. “No parents on site. No food in the house. No infant formula and no diapers. Electricity is out,” she said.
Nick opened the emergency infant bag, and pulled out diapers and some wet wipes, and quickly changed the infant, throwing out the heavy diaper, and applying rash cream.
“Who’s the cutest widdle baby skunk?” Nick whispered to the baby. “Lets see if you have anything you can wear.”
“Little’s clothes are in the small bedroom,” said Jane, pointing.
Nick headed the indicated way, then heard “Mom calls her ‘Little Stinker’ because she says she is-”
The fox officer grimaced, wondering what abusive term he was going to hear now.
-"the stinking cutest little skunk in the world," finished Jane.
Nick walked into the bedroom, finding only one clean onesie left. There was a pile of smelly laundry sitting in a trash bag.
I hate these calls. I hope I can arrest the parents who left these kits alone like this!
He set his flashlight down, took the wet onesie off ‘Little’ and put a nice clean yellow one on her.
Pulling out the small bottle of infant formula, and he kissed her forehead, and started feeding her.
***
Karen Growlagan pushed the porcupine kit into the common room of the group home as her phone beeped again. Great. Another call. Maybe if we could sterilize some animals I wouldn’t have to deal with this.
“Can I please go back home? I can stay with Mrs. Paddlefur next door!” said the kit. Billy, or Bobby, or whatever his name was. She didn’t respond.
“Please?” In a lower voice he whispered “I’m scared! Please don’t leave me here!” and tried to hug her. She saw it coming and jumped back. “Get away before you stick me!” she said, baring her teeth.
The kit backed into a corner, eyes wide. She checked her phone. Emergency call.
She turned and left. The kit could figure out the rest.
***
As Nick watched Little greedily drink down the formula, he looked around the room, noticing a picture face-down. He picked it up. Family portrait, with a date. The kits were all there. The father was clean-cut, smiling, dressed casually.
The mother...she looked familiar somehow.
***
“Z-240, be advised, K.P.S has been automatically alerted to visit your location to take custody if the parents don’t show up.”
Judy switched to channel 3. “Claws, can you check if there are four beds for the skunk kits? Three aged four to six years, one infant in the same group home?”
There was a pause. “No. They will be separated. Too many kits in the system. They are going to be farmed out to different districts. Looks like Bunnyburrow, Podunk, Foxboro, and Tundratown drew the short straw.”
Nick turned to Jane. "Hey, can you tell me where your daddy is?"
She looked down at her footpaws, and her bottom lip jutted out, ears going back. "He...got sick and went to the Rainbow Bridge."
"Do you have any other family? An aunt or grandma?"
"Grandma went to the bridge when I was a baby."
Nick looked at Jane, imagining the sweet and friendly skunk as a fur-tattoo covered convict or cold and cruel street animal, never able to connect to anyone.
There has to be some way to stop this.
***
Judy had set down Carla to eat with Calvin and Jane, the three of them munching on granola bars and water. ‘Little’, fed by Nick had quieted down with a feed and change, and was waving a toy.
He is great with infants.
Judy heard Nick’s heartbeat speed up after hearing that there was no other family, and that the KPS were called. He was quickly scrolling around his phone, back and forth, typing, scrolling, repeat. She motioned him over to her.
"Nick, are you okay?"
"Judy...I can’t do this! I can’t let another whole family of kits get separated out and dumped into the system like this," whispered Nick.
***
The non-emergency phone number was forwarded off to the front desk, and Clawhauser picked it up, spoke with gruff sounding animal with a bad attitude. He dispatched Wolford and Fangmeyer to the location.
He sent a text message to Judy. ‘K.P.S. caseworker is delayed. She said she should be done within the hour, and will be at your 20 to collect the kits’.
***
Nick closed the bottom drawer of the night stand. He found the death certificate of the father, the full name of the mother on her Unemployment Benefits Denial letter. 'Fired for Cause'. Code for "It's a Skunk". Irritated, he slammed the drawer and a picture fell over.
Picking it up, Nick saw a portrait of the mother and the now-deceased husband holding paws together in the park. He frowned, still trying to place the face of the beautifully dressed skunk with the Just-from-the-beauty-salon styled and brushed fur. She didn’t look like the type to leave kits like this.
Not a street animal. I guess you can never tell.
Wait...I’ve seen her somewhere bef-
Nick’s eyes widened, and he dropped the photo, shattering the glass.
***
"Hi Mom! When are you coming home?" asked Jane through the speakerphone on Judy’s iCarrot phone.
There was a pause on the other end as Jane DoeSkunk processed that her phone call in the holding cell had her kits on the phone.
"As soon as I can, baby. I promise!" she said, crying. The kits smiled to hear their mother’s voice, and told her how they ate granola with the police. Judy told them to wait a bit and walked to the other room.
"So, Mrs. WhiteStripe why didn’t you tell us you had kits at home?" asked Judy. "Did you want to leave them here all alone?"
"NO! I was afraid you would take them away."
"You should have taken them to a shelter," said Nick coldly.
"I tried! The shelter on Pack Street wouldn’t accept skunks who aren’t de-scented!"
"Maybe you should have gotten a job instead of stealing," said Judy.
"I didn’t steal! I worked for that formula and diapers! When the assistant manager started asking me to go on a date, and I said 'No' he didn’t want to pay me. He told me I needed to get 'friendly' and grabbed my tail. When I slapped him across the muzzle, he called the police on me."
"So why didn’t you tell us that when we arrested you?" asked Judy.
"I told him about my kits! He said he would call KPS and have them taken away if I said anything!"
Nick pulled out his cell phone and looked up the address of the Mini-Mart on ZooMaps. He moved the camera view around, and smiled. He made a phone call.
"Hey Flowers, does your brother still work security for 'PING’? Great. Can you get me his number? I’ll owe you one.”
There was a notification on his phone. Nick hung up, then made another call. "Hey, Pollywog! It’s Nick Wilde. I need a favor, buddy. I’m working as a cop now, but I don’t have time for a warrant. I just need a camera check to see if a skunk was cleaning up trash in a public place. NO, It's not next to a traffic camera. I just need the parking lot of Mike’s Mini Mart from earlier today from around 2 o’clock. There is a camera across the street at 4850 Sandy Paws Lane. Yeah, the 'Elegant Elephant' massage."
There was a pause. "Great! Can you forward it to me? But I said I don’t have time for a warrant! Okay...I understand..." Nick hung up, then called legal, which went to voicemail.
"Z-240 to Z-201. What’s the 20 on your KPS agent?"
"Z-240, this is Fangmeyer. We are wrapping up here and should be leaving in 15 minutes. ETA 45 minutes."
Judy called the Mini-Mart. Nick is too wrapped up in this; he isn’t thinking straight.
"Mr Pebbles, this is Officer Hopps. Would you be willing to testify that the skunk we arrested was shoplifting, and you had no other contact with her?"
There was a pause. "So she did not do any work at all, you had no agreement with her to give her anything, and you are not in a relationship with her?"
"Then can you explain why we have you on camera giving her trash bags and watching her work?"
"Maybe you can explain why you grabbed her tail? Were you feeling lonely? It might be considered...assault. False testimony is 6 months in jail. The tail grabbing...you can grab tails in the prison shower for the next eight years!" Judy smiled. "Good. You can drop the charges. Now. And maybe she won’t file a complaint about you." Judy hung up.
"Carrots, how did you get access to the camera?" asked Nick, eyes wide.
"Nick, you are too upset right now. I didn’t. But he doesn’t know that. The complaint is dropped."
The fox keyed his mic. "Z-240 to Dispatch. Charges have been dropped on the Jane DoeSkunk from earlier. False complaint. Please release her immediately from holding, and bring her to our 20."
"Z-240, we cannot release the suspect. She still has charges for resisting arrest and spraying a peace officer."
"Clawhauser, drop those charges. She accidentally sprayed when her tail was exposed when I grabbed her from behind."
There was a squeal over the radio. "OH! A LOVE TRIANGLE! You have a thing for Skunk Tails! Should I tell Hopps she has competition for you?!"
Judy keyed her own mic. "Claws, knock it off, or I cancel your donut orders for the rest of the week!"
"THIS IS BOGO. STAY PROFESSIONAL ON THE RADIO, OR I ASSIGN PARKING DUTY!"
"Dispatch, Z-240. What is ETA on Jane DoeSkunk aka Mary WhiteStripe to our 20?"
"We’ll have her released and at your 20 in thirty minutes."
Judy called Fangmeyer on her cell. "Nadine, it’s Judy. How long before your K.P.S. worker gets here?"
"She took an extra 10 minutes yelling at a scared kit who wanted his father. We’ll be there in 20 minutes."
"We need at least thirty-five minutes to save these kits."
The Bengal tigress grinned, showing all her teeth, tail wagging. "Got it."
Nadine eased up to Wolford, and whispered something in his ear, making his ears perk up so much, he looked about to howl.
***
"What do you mean I need a 'Safety Inspection'?!" demanded Karen Growlagan.
These two idiot police officers stopped her from driving, mentioning she had flat tires. She could have sworn everything was fine earlier. Now she has two low tires in the back and the tire pressure light was on? She tried to refill the tires with the pump from the trunk, but one tire wouldn’t hold air. That thing in the middle of the air stem thing was missing! She called for road service, when the officers said they couldn’t do anything to help.
***
"Judy, we still need to get power, clothes, and food. KPS will still take them!"
He pulled out a letter he found in the paperwork. The electric bill hadn’t been paid in months, and was shut off. He showed it to Judy. "I don’t know about you, Carrots, but I don’t have a spare $2573 lying around to pay their bill."
Judy looked at the form for a moment, ears droopy. Then her eyes opened wide, ears popped up straight, she grinned. "Watch the Master work, Slick. You're losing your touch."
She dialed the phone number on the form, hit a few buttons and got to an animal on the other side.
"On account 63759325-a I would like to make a payment arrangement. A one-time payment. For $10. Yes, that’s all. No card on file." Judy read off numbers from her iCarrot.
The lights came back on, making the kits all jump in surprise when darkness fled the scene, and the heat kicked on.
"How do you know they won’t keep charging you, Carrots?”, asked Nick as he threw laundry into the washing machine hidden in a closet.
"Easy. These 'virtual credit cards’ only work one time, and it only has $10 on it."
***
Nick received a text.
'The Wicked Witch of the West called a Zoober. She’ll be at your 20 in 10 minutes’
Nick said "Non-PG words" to himself, prompting the kits to waggle fingers at him.
"Carrots, she is incoming in 10!"
"Rotten Radishes! We still need to have food in the fridge and a parent!"
"I have an idea for the food.” He started to text.
***
Karen dialed her phone from the back of her Zoober.
"This is Growlagan. I’ll be picking up some reeker brats. I’ll need some assistance back at the office to distribute them around."
"So you have been on scene and found issues?"
"No. There is an accusation. That means they are guilty until proven innocent. Understood?"
"Um... Yes Ma’am..."
"A couple of misfit cops are waiting. A couple of filthy inters. Some perverted fox partnered up with a bunny. Probably got her badge with 'favors' if you take my meaning."
There was a noise from the front seat of the Zoober as the driver received a text message.
"I should be on site in five minutes or less."
***
It was taking forever to get a response back from his text. They were running out of time!
Nick knocked on the door of apartment '4b’, which was answered by the capybara from earlier.
Before she had a chance to ask what he wanted Nick held up his paw. "I need to inspect your living conditions."
He cited the fact that she had been out of the apartment, leaving her other pups alone and unsupervised for over 30 minutes while waiting outside.
He left 5 minutes later, holding two boxes of cereal, a bag of apples, and a fruit tray.
He walked in and quickly loaded the cabinets.
"Where did you get that food, Nick?"
"It failed safety inspection. Some nefarious evil-doer sprinkled what may be powdered insecticide on these. The tenant was reimbursed."
"So...does that have anything to do with the bag of powdered sugar I found opened in the refrigerator?"
"No comment, Carrots."
***
"Nick...we’re out of time. Watch them." She hopped out the front door.
The fox keyed his radio, on channel 3. "Clawhauser, buddy...we need that mother here. We’re running out of time, and we can’t let this happen."
"Sorry, Nick. They are ten minutes out. Your KPS agent should be there now."
Nick pulled his phone out and started madly scrolling. He stopped short, and started reading.
"Nick, unless we find the mother, we don’t have a choice. KPS takes them."
The fox looked up from his phone, fell to one knee, and took her paw.
"Judy Hopps, will you marry me?"
The bunny officer looked at Nick in shock. Then the lights went out again.
***
"Why are you pulling over?” asked Growlagan.
"Not...allowed...to...text...and...drive."
"Answer your texts on your own time, you imbecile!"
The sloth pulled to the side of the road and opened his messages, then slowly looked back in the mirror at her.
"Put the phone down and drive, if your brain works fast enough to do it."
The sloth dropped the phone and pulled out in traffic, speeding up quickly, then taking a left turn.
"You are going the wrong way, moron!”
There was a pause, and the driver turned on the turn signal to go right.
"I’ll...just...take...a...u-turn...”
"Stop the car!" She unlocked and opened the door. The sloth driver slammed on the brakes and stopped. Growlagan jumped out. "I am canceling the ride and disputing the charge!”
"Go...ahead…and...
She slammed the door and walked away.
"...I'll...call...the...police."
***
Judy stared into Nick’s beautiful green eyes, in shock. Her heart fluttered, pulse racing as her ears turned pink, and a confused smile ran across her muzzle. Did he just ask to marry me? He’s attractive...but we haven’t even gone on a date yet!
"N-Nick?" she asked confused, wondering why the 'yes’ thought ran through her head for just a moment.
"To take custody of kits, you need to have a background check done, and be in a stable relationship!" he explained. "We already had a background check to work at the ZPD. If we get married we can keep them together! Look!" he said shoving his cell phone into Judy’s paws.
"Oh," said Judy, looking at the web-page on Nick’s cell phone and reading the requirements. This is silly. Why the dickens am I feeling so disappointed?
"Nick, this says 'stable relationship’ means 'co-habitation and publicly together for thirty-six months’ or 'married for 24 months’ on the bottom of the page."
There was a pause.
"Nick, let's fix the things we can. Like the light and power issue." Judy dialed her cell phone, and asked for a manager. She was told the power was turned off because a ten-zoodollar payment does not cover a twenty-five hundred zoodollar bill.
"There are kits under the age of ten years old in this apartment. I don’t care what the balance is. Turn the electricity back on! According to Zootopia Code G.L. c. 164, you cannot turn off the power this time of year for non-payment. If it is not turned on in the next 5 minutes, you will get a visit from the ZPD," said Judy.
"I know the balance is from before the exemption period. BUT You turned it on. Then you cut service again today which is NOT permitted."
A few minutes later the lights came back on, and the heat started working again.
***
"Clawhauser, what’s the 20 on the mother?"
"Five minutes out."
Nick looked out the window, and cursed. "It’s too late, Carrots. She is here, and she will take them."
"Nick, get away from the window!"
"What difference does it make, Judy? She is walking up to the apartment. All we needed was a parent!"
Nick looked up through the top of the window to the sky, seeing the full moon.
He bowed in prayer, and whispered "Mother Gaia, please hear me. Please help us protect these kits. I swear, I'll owe a favor to whoever keeps the family together."
There was a pounding on a door. But, not this one?
"Everyone stay quiet!" whispered Judy.
Outside, they could hear the capybara neighbor and Mrs Growlagan yelling at each other. This quickly escalated into a fight. Police sirens were heard.
The back door opened, and the former Jane DoeSkunk walked in, and hugged her kits.
The bunny officer gave a sway to her hips and posed. "Boom!”
"Judy...how?" asked Nick.
"I switched the house numbers."
So, it looks like you owe me a fox-favor, 'Mr. Marry Me, Judy'. Dinner and a movie. Friday night."