Chapter 1: Low-Key Morning
"How long does it take to make coffee, tea, and hot chocolate?"
For most mammals, the first time they decide to get Snarlbucks is usually the time where they wonder how long does it really take the baristas to make their beverage. However, for Judy Hopps, this is a reoccurring question that she asks her friends Nick Wilde and Lexi Aries during their routine Snarlbucks run.
"Carrots, it hasn't been a minute since we placed our order," Nick replied in annoyance.
"More like forty seconds had passed, which means I win!" Lexi exclaimed while putting her fists in the air, which made Nick roll his eyes at the excited chinchilla and left Judy in a state of confusion.
"What in the world did you win?" Judy asked.
Nick sighed. "Lexi and I had been making bets on how long it takes you to ask that question from the moment we finish ordering our drinks."
"And the person who is closer to the actual time wins. The loser must pay for the winner's drinks. So, Nick owes me four bucks," Lexi explains, holding out her paw. Nick gives her the cash while glaring at the ecstatic chinchilla.
"I see. And how long has this been going on?" Judy imposed, clearly not satisfied at the fact that her friend had imposed a bet about her.
"Ever since we started working with Lexi. You never found out about these bets because we usually discuss them when you're not listening," Nick explained.
"And it's also because Nick always won. Sadly, I got used to paying for Nick's coffee every day," Lexi added on. This truly was the first time she won the bet against the red fox as he knew Judy for much longer than Lexi. "It's like having to pay for my brother's smoothie along with my hot chocolate for three months!"
This statement had brought up Judy and Nick's attention. Three months had passed since Lexi had started working in the ZPD, forming a bond with both officers since the first day and within every conversation they had, the chinchilla had never uttered a word about her family. This is the first time they heard her mention her brother. Scratch that, they never knew that she had a brother!
Always one to seize the moment of opportunity, Judy decided to press on the issue. "So…how is your brother doing?"
Lexi was caught off guard with Judy's question, to which she nervously replied "He's uh… doing great! Last I remember, he got into high school." She forcefully smiled as she finished the sentence.
Judy and Nick exchanged looks for a moment before a barista called out "Order 34? Your drinks are ready."
"Hey! Our drinks are ready!" Lexi shouted a little too enthusiastically as she reached out for the drinks and pawed them out to their respected owner. "Now let's head on out to the precinct. You know how much Bogo hates it when we're late," Lexi added hastily as she ran towards the parking lot.
Her friends exchange another glance while wondering about the chinchilla's antics. Clearly, she did not want to talk about her brother. While they want answers, the best thing is to not press on the issue.
Well, at least for now.
The whole car ride from Snarlbucks to the ZPD was very silent. No one said anything to each other as the awkward atmosphere that built on from the coffeeshop was still present. It was never easy for Lexi to talk about her family for reasons that nobody knows. For her, it is perfectly normal for mammals to be surprised whenever Lexi unintentionally brings up a family member in a conversation, especially when they know her for so long. As a result, she does not blame Judy and Nick for being surprised in general.
Although Nick was surprised by Lexi's reaction when Judy asked about her brother, he assumed that there might be some issues between Lexi and her family. He knows, as he had been through something similar before. His father had disappeared and ever since the incident with the Junior Ranger Scout when he was eight, he gradually became distant from his mother for a little over twenty years. Everything is good now thanks to Judy insisting Nick to talk to his mother.
As they got out of the car and entered the precinct, the once clear blue sky from earlier this morning was now a sky full of dark clouds.
Finally, Lexi broke the silence by randomly saying "Boy, those clouds had appeared out of nowhere."
"I know! The weather this morning was very pleasant!" Judy added on. Her mind wandered for about five seconds before realizing what Lexi was doing and then blurted out "Please tell me what's going on. We are your friends and you can trust us with anything!"
This led to Lexi entering a state of confusion. "What are you talking about?"
"I am talking about your family! Is something wrong? I want to help in any way I can!"
Typical Judy, Lexi thought. Over the past three months, she got to know Judy very well. Well enough that Lexi knew that her optimistic friend would be more than happy to help her or Nick. Even if it meant intruding into their life. Lexi took a deep breath before continuing. "Judy, I assure you everything is fine."
"What's fine?" A voice asked. The trio turned to face the ZPD receptionist Benjamin Clawhauser.
"Morning Clawhauser!" Judy greeted.
"Hey Clawhauser!" Nick greeted as well.
"Greetings Clawhauser!" Lexi followed with the greetings.
"Morning guys. What's new?" Clawhauser asked.
"Well, uh- "
"Lexi here was starting to talk about her family," Nick interrupted. As a result, Lexi narrowed her eyes at him.
"Huh. You rarely mention your family-wait, scratch that. You've never mentioned your family. Is everything alright?"
"That's what I want to know!" Judy blurted out a bit too loudly. Everyone who was able to hear her turned their heads at the rabbit's direction. Realizing this unwanted attention, Judy lowers her voice so Nick, Lexi, and Clawhauser were the only ones that can hear her. Facing Lexi, she continues. "I just want to help. Its not okay to bottle up the issue."
"Yeah. If anything, I bet Carrots here can help fix any issue between you and her family," Nick jumped in.
"Listen, I know you all mean well, but I'm not sure this is something that could be repaired easily." Lexi sighed as this was wearing her out and her day had just started. "Now if you'll excuse me, it's almost time for roll call. I'll meet you inside." She started heading to the briefing room.
Nick, Judy, and Clawhauser briefly exchanged glances as the chinchilla's behavior was very bizarre. The main question is why is mentioning her family or taking about them so difficult?
The briefing room is usually very noisy. It is very common to find the other officers banging, talking, and even arm-wrestling amongst each other. For anyone with sensitive hearing, they would need to brace themselves from the noise that can ambush their ears.
And from the moment Lexi entered the room, she was broken away from her thoughts as she now had a new problem: shielding her ears from the noise level of the briefing room. Curse you chinchilla ears, she thought as she walked to her seat at the front.
Not too long after, the door opened once again as Judy and Nick entered the room. Roll call was about to start and they needed to clear thing up with Lexi. After all, a team cannot function properly if there is a lot of tension between the team members.
Once they got to their usual chair at the front, Judy was the first to speak. "Lexi, we're- "
"Atten-hut!" Officer Higgins shouted.
The typical chaos from the briefing room turned into coordinated banging of the desk and yelling out "hut" as Chief Bogo entered the room and headed for the podium.
"Alright, alright. Everyone shut it!" Bogo shouted. Immediately, the whole room fell silent. All eyes fell on him as everyone listened in for their assignments and for any announcement that the Chief might have. "There are some changes to any routine patrols you have. Go to Clawhauser for the new patrol routes. Otherwise, you may resume solving your cases. Dismissed."
One by one, everyone went out the door to resume their work. As soon as Judy, Nick, and Lexi were about to leave…
"Hopps, Wilde, Aries. A word."
The three stopped in their tracks. When Bogo wants to "have a word" with his officers, it's usually followed by anything bad. Being called over is rarely anything good and those who are called over are one hundred percent filled with worry beforehand.
The three smaller mammals stood at attention and responded, "Yes sir?" in union.
The cape buffalo stared at the for what was 5 seconds before saying "Once again, congratulations on capturing the Grazers."
The Grazers are a notorious gang that pull off well-organized robberies in jewelry stores and banks. Three days ago, Judy, Nick, and Lexi responded to a bank robbery call which involved the Grazers. The gang would have gotten away with it, except a gang member went back to find a family heirloom he dropped while taking the money from the vault. Once the trio got to the bank, the robbers were caught in the act and were arrested on the spot.
"Oh, thank you so much!" Lexi responded with a hint of nervousness.
"We were hunting them down for a long time now. As of this moment, the Grazers gang had been taking down at last. Anyways, back to work," Chief Bogo said before heading out the door, leaving the trio by themselves.
After a few seconds, Judy said "Lexi, we are so sorry about earlier. We want to help, but I guess we should respect your wishes."
"Its fine Judy. This happens so many times with multiple mammals. You guys are not the first to experience this." Lexi assured her friends.
"Now that this is cleared up, can we please get going?" Nick asked his team.
"Right, lets go to Clawhauser's desk for our new route. I'll go get the keys," Judy said before heading out the door to start their day.
Author's Note:
Greetings readers! First things first, thank you so much for choosing to read my story! I am truly grateful, especially since this is the first time I am writing fanfiction (and it's going to appear online). Ever since Zootopia came out in theaters, I had come up with possible storylines and original characters (OCs). This is an idea that kind of wrapped around my head for a while and I finally found time to write fanfiction. Yay! I hope you all enjoy my story as we move forward with the story and questions WILL BE ANSWERED!
PS: I am a very mature individual who can come off as very goofy. Oh well :)
Before the disclaimer, I must say that I have been working on this story on AO3 for the first six chapters and had recently decided to post it on this website, so each available chapter so far has been posted. In addition, this took forever because well...I'll explain later on.
DISCLAIMER: Zootopia and all the characters from the film belong to Disney! This fan made storyline and any of its OCs that appear in the story are the product of my own imagination and belong to me.