Author's Note: The Following story is part of the current "Big Cheese" Saga, but is also standalone. I'll fill in everything that happened in the past during the course of the story so everyone is caught up.
Cry! Scream! Run! Shout!
It's feeding day! The Hawks are out!
Mark an "X" upon the floor.
Your weakest ones shall be no more!
Hide your wife! Hide your kits!
Or with talons, their throats be slit!
They'll eat your flesh. Your blood they'll savor.
….And say they're doing you a favor.
Chapter 1: Beginning at the End
Tuesday Morning, October 27, 10:15am
Chief Bogo's office was dimly lit. Not for dramatic effect, but just because all but one of his lights was working. That light was aiming right down on fox officer Nick Wilde, sitting in the overly large chair. It's as if a spotlight was made just for him. He sat there with no partner, alone. His fur was ragged and he smelled poorly due to not having a shower in two days. He sat fully on the chair with his arms wrapped around his knees, hugging them for some form of comfort. He wasn't looking at Bogo. He looked at the floor, thinking of the past three days. One was wonderful up until the evening and the other two...well... we'll let him describe it.
"You look like crap Wilde." Bogo said, pulling no punches.
"I feel like crap sir." The fox replied back.
"I can't believe what you're asking of me." He looked over the paperwork. "You and Judy wish to be assigned new partners?"
"Yes sir, effective immediately." He said with a somber tone. "Also..." He closed his eyes and a few tears ran. "Also, I-I recommend Judy Hopps be relieved of her duties. I believe she is no longer mentally fit to do her job to the letter."
Bogo fell back into his chair, shocked beyond belief. "...Why?...Why on EARTH would you, of all people believe that?!"
"She...she murdered someone." Nick held himself tighter. "Right "SNIFF!' right in front of some children!"
Bogo's jaw was opened and his bottom lip was trembling. "...I don't believe you! I'm...I'm sorry Wilde, but I can't believe that!"
"We had the suspect cuffed. He walked, NOT RAN, WALKED over to her and she called it a threat and shot him dead with her dad's rifle in front of his nieces and nephews! She did it purely out of vengeance! Trust me though, she'll call it 'self defense' and probably get off scott free!"
Bogo rubbed his face and chin. This news was hitting him like a freight train. "Where is officer Hopps now?"
"She reluctantly is doing what I begged of her and getting herself mentally evaluated. As bad as my weekend was, hers was five times worse." Nick dipped his head into his lap and sobbed. "She...she HATES me! I proposed to her and she said I wasn't good enough! I had a holiday named after me and that's not good enough?! That...that ROACH!"
Bogo got on the com. "Clawhauser! I want you up here with donuts and a LARGE pot of coffee! Also, cancel all of my afternoon appointments!"
Bogo got up from his desk and walked around to the front of Nick's chair. He sat down on the floor in front of Nick so he was eye level with him. Nick was still sobbing and Bogo rubbed his back gently.
"Take it easy. Nick, we have all afternoon. I want you to take your time and tell me everything. How did it come to this?!"
Clawhauser came with the coffee and gave Nick a cup. If lifted his spirits a bit and he sat up. "Overpopulation sir. Overpopulation and utter greed which let monsters into Bunny Burrow. I've got a tale to tell you. It's not the WORST ending. I have 3 wonderful, but challenging children and Miss Hopps has one herself, but it is horrifying at times and my life may never be the same after this. I'll have nightmares for years!"
"It started on the train there and the surprise reception I got from the family..."
Saturday Morning, 7:30am
Nick and Judy were sitting near the back of the train on their way to Bunny Burrow. They wanted some space to be alone so they could talk in private and not have any onlookers bothering them if they wanted to get a little affectionate.
The night before, they DID get affectionate. They had a wonderful time bowling with their friends. Clawhauser and Fangmeyer finally got over their shyness and became a couple, Wolford found out his wife was pregnant and they made Fangmeyer godmother to the cubs. Also, after Little Rodentia declared it "Nick Wilde Day" in their tiny city, Nick Wilde felt like he was a great enough fox to no longer care what other people thought about him and Judy and he finally broke the friend zone with a passionate kiss in front of his co-workers. They then confirmed it back at their apartment with some passionate love-making before finally going to sleep.
Judy yawned. "I only got about four hours sleep. That lousy, stiff mattress!"
"That WONDERFUL, stiff mattress!" Nick replied back. It was the fault of the mattress that allowed him to get lucky that night.
Judy giggled. "It wasn't ONLY thing that was stiff!"
Nick's ears blushed red and he smiled. He was concerned though. "I hope I didn't hurt you any. I know I'm quite a bit larger than you and I imagine 'Little Nicky' is quite a bit bigger than any bunny you've had."
"Oh no! I'm fine! And...yes! Definitely the biggest!...Well...Second biggest."
Nick ears drooped in depression. Judy tried to cheer him up.
"It was a very close second! It was a bodybuilder named "Yohan" and to be honest, he took pills and a pump to get there. That was back in my early college years."
"Yohan?" Nick asked.
"Let me guess." Judy said. "You want to bring up who I've been with?"
"It's going to come up sooner or later."
"Well, let me think.." Judy gave it some thought. "Well, I wasn't serious with Yohan. It was a one time thing. My teenage years tho, WOW!"
"I...don't think I wanna know." Nick said. "I mean, I'm understanding. You are a bunny and...that's kinda what they do."
"Well, not me so much. I was very careful not to get pregnant. I actually went against my religion because of it. Not too many bunnies use protection because it's considered a sin. The Book of Bunny specifically states 'The seed shall not be spilled'."
"Well that's a bit graphic for religious text." Nick said. "Also a bit irresponsible to teach. No offense."
"None taken." Judy replied. "Anyway, I was VERY focused on graduating and making my way into the ZPD academy so, you were my first in about six years. How about you?"
Nick pondered for a moment. "You were my third, but the only good one...I think."
"You think?"
"Well, now, don't get mad, but the first one was when I was sixteen. It was Honey."
"Finnick's badger girlfriend?!"
"Nick shook his head. "She's no one's girlfriend. 'SIGH!' She has bad self-esteem issues. It was just mating, not making love that's for sure. She wouldn't let me kiss her and I couldn't look her in the face during it. Those were her rules."
"That sounds awful!" Judy replied.
"She thinks of it as just a biological urge that needs to be over and done with. Like taking a dump. Personally, I think she hates herself and doesn't think she's beautiful enough to be loved. It turned me off to mating for a long, long time. I doubt her and Finn are an item now. Just 'friends with benefits'."
"And the second?..." Judy asked.
"It was a vixen according to Finn. My own kind for a change." He rubbed his head and laughed. "But I was too drunk to remember any of it!"
"I don't see how that's funny." Judy replied.
"It's not...It was six years ago on the anniversary of my father dying in jail. It's always the most depressing day of the year for me. We went to a more seedy bar and he hired some escorts. I was so wasted that I don't remember a bit of it. He told me all about it the next day."
"Well that's lousy!" She said. "Y'know, in an odd way, I really was your first!"
Nick smiled. "Yeah. Well you were certainly the best!" He leaned in an kissed her. The kiss went on a long while. Then someone in the back made a comment.
"Disgusting!"
Nick and Judy looked up. It was a snow leopard and he was staring a hole right through them.
Nick just looked at him. "You're attitude? Yeah. It is disgusting!"
The leopard got up and started walking towards them in a threatening manner. "You think you're funny little man?!"
Judy and Nick whipped out their wallets and flashed their badges. "Nah-Ah-Aaah! I think you better sit back down." Judy said.
The leopard turned around and sat back down. Grumbling to himself.
Judy then saw an excited young otter who saw her badge. She was making grunt sounds at her parents and making the sign for "police". Judy knew right away she was deaf.
Nick was watching her interact with the deaf child. He was amazed when Judy started signing herself.
Judy motioned her hands. "Hello...my...name...is...Judy...I...am...a...police...woman."
The little otter's eyes lit up she started doing sign language back. "You...can...sign?"
"Yes...I...have..a...little...brother...who...is...like...you!"
Nick just watched as the sign language went back and forth. He was amazed. When they were finished, the little girl gave Judy a big hug and ran back to her parents.
"Wow Fluff! You're just full of surprises! I didn't know you could sign!"
"Well..." Judy replied. "I have a baby brother who is deaf. His name's Jimmy. We all learned sign language just for him. He must about six or seven now."
"Well that's wonderful! You'll have to teach me sometime."
Nick then heard his phone make a tone. Someone left him a message on Furbook. He pulled it out and looked at it. It was Clawhauser. "Have you seen this commercial? Judy didn't tell me her dad was famous!"
Nick tapped the link to the commercial. He couldn't believe his eyes. He paused the commercial so Judy could see.
Judy's dad Stu was front and center of the commercial. "Hello friends! It's your old pal, Uncle Stu here at Hopps farms! We've got the best pies in the whole United Plains and we're bringing them to your grocery store! We got blueberry, strawberry, blackberry, cranberry, apple, peach and many more!"
"'He had me at 'blueberry'" Nick said. Judy shushed him.
The commercial kept playing. Stu is walking through a kitchen and we see some chefs in the background including a fox. Stu continued talking. "Our chefs use the freshest ingredients straight from our farms, including the highest quality milk, butter and eggs!"
There then was a shot of the entire family with the farm way in the back. The family looked so large you'd think they were throwing a concert. "So from our family to yours, hop to your local grocer's freezer and try Hopps Farms pies today!"
Nick put his phone back in his pocket! "That's great Carrots! Your dad's pies are delicious! Now I can get them anywhere instead of waiting on your mom to deliver some! Also, who was that fox in the background?"
Judy looked mad. "That was Gideon Gray. I told you all about him. He's the one who bakes these pies in the first place! Why is my dad taking all the credit?!"
"It makes sense." Nick said. "Who's face would you rather have slapped on a pie? A predator or an adorable bunny?"
"Did you just call my dad 'adorable'?"
"All bunnies are adorable in their own way Fluff."
They then passed into the Bunny Burrow city limits. The sign came up saying "Welcome to Bunny Burrow! Population: 346,247,389"
Judy was shocked. "It...it was at 81 million when I left home!"
Nick look concerned. "Can...can your little Podunk town possibly handle that many people?!"
"I...don't think so!...What's going on?!"
"Do the math Carrots! Your family currently has over 300 members. Assuming even half of those are female, they go off and have 300 and so on and so on with no predators eating your kind to keep the population down anymore." Nick looked concerned. "The environment can't handle that much consumption. It has to stop!"
"You're right." Judy said. "Just wish I could figure out how."
They decided it was best not to think about it for at least awhile. "Well, we're almost here!" Judy said excitedly.
"Yay." Nick said with a ton of sarcasm.
Judy rubbed Nick's arm. "Oh come on Red! I'm sure they'll love you!"
"Be realistic Carrots. It's not gonna be like Little Rodentia yesterday where I had a large banner made for me with my name and face plastered over it. I'm gonna be tip-toeing through a minefield all three days!"
The train slowed down and Nick and Judy looked through the window. Their faces were in shock.
"You were saying?.." Judy said.
"Oh..." Nick said.
"..Em..." Judy replied.
"Goodness!" They both said together.
There it was. Half of Judy's family all out in celebration. Bonnie and Stu were front and center with Stu having a smile on him a mile wide.
But the biggest shock was the banner. It was fifty feet long and on it said "WELCOME NICK WILDE" in giant letters. The right side said "and Judy too" in much smaller letters and what looked like a rush job afterthought.
"Pinch me Carrots!" Nick asked. "I must be dreaming!"
Judy obliged.
"Ow...ow...ow...OW! OKAY! YOU CAN STOP NOW!"
Next Chapter: Farm Life