Note: I'm not the owner of Disney thus I am not the owner of Zootopia (you've all heard it before)this is my first fanfiction and I hope it goes over well with you all. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy!

chapter 1- the picture

It had been three years since the Night Howler case and three years since the fox bunny duo met. This led Judy to ask the question: "Hey Nick?" "Yea? What's up?" He asked spinning his swivel chair around to face the bunny in their joined office in the ZPD.

"Oh, I was just wondering… Well I saw this nice new apartment that is super close to the ZPD but its too big…" "Oh I see I'll stop you right there. You want me to be your fox roommate don't you?" He said with his trademarked sly grin he always had on. "Well yea! We've known each other for like three years now! Why not?"

"Fine. I suppose I could leave my 'hole in the wall' apartment if you're going to beg. But if this is a trick to make me fall in love with a dumb bunny like yourself you'll have to do better than that." He said in a teasing manner. Judy felt her ears heat up. Does he know?.. How would he know?! Can he see through me?!

Through his cool exterior, Nick was overjoyed to hear that he could spend some time with his partner more and perhaps, like he just teased, they would fall for each other. As the work shift ended the pair walked out of the glass doors of the grand building labled ZPD precinct 1. "I can't wait to move into the new apartment! Here come with me!" Judy said quickly while grabbing his paw in hers. She ran down the road about two blocks until they came to an older looking building that only went up about 5 floors. It looked dwarfed compared to the towering skyscrapers around them.

"So this is it? Hmm… Looks nice I godda say carrots." Nick said looking down at the overjoyed bunny. "Come on! Come on! Lets see the inside!" She said jumping up and down again pulling nick into the building. The room was located on the fourth floor and seemed very spacious.

"If we move in, all of the stuff we own, what little there is, would not even cover a quarter of the space in the house! Where are we going to get stuff to make this house look like a home?" Nick said as he looked around at the bare walls and empty floor of the living room. "Well we don't have too much money… How about we check Gregslist?" asked Judy. Nick let out a chuckle "You must not understand, Gregslist is where people sell old furniture with bugs and god knows what else! I don't want some sort of infestation in my fur when I even go near any of that damn garbage!"

"Well if you're looking for new furniture you wont get it. Do you know how expensive that stuff can be?" Asked Judy in a slightly annoyed tone. "I guess we'll deal with that later. How about these bare walls? We need something fore those." Nick said trying to change the subject. Looking around, she noticed Nick was right.

There was a lot of space on the empty white walls. The pair collectively only had three stand up pictures and one small hang up painting. Not nearly enough.

"Well we always need some nice landscapes! Maybe of Bunnyburro" she said while running her paw along the largest wall until it came to a mantle, which was just as bare as the rest of the apartment. "Oh! And family pictures too." " Yea good idea I think I could get some from my mom's hose." Nick said. "I can do the same for my folks but we can do that some other day." Said Judy. "I think ill go over to my mom's now if you don't mind." He said turning to leave

"I've never met your mom you mind if I tag along?" Judy asked happily. Nick gave a pondering stance with his hand on his chin acting as though he were in deep thought. "Hmmmm… I don't know…" He said, "Come on please Nick… Please?" A smile crept back onto the fox's face as he agreed to bring along his partner.

Just then an idea popped into his mind. "Carrots! We can get old furniture from our parents' houses we don't even need to buy anything!" Nick said excitedly. "You're right!" Judy said laughing, "I didn't even think of that you sly fox!" "That's what I'm here for! To help give ideas to dumb bunnies such as yourself!" He said joking, which earned him a swift punch to the arm. "Oh. Carrots those hurt." He said rubbing his shoulder. "Shut up and lets just go to your mom's house," She said with a slight grin on her face.

Nick's mother lived on the other side of town in the same house he had grown up in. Coming up to the old door, memories began flooding back of all the good and bad times he had at the old rundown building. As he knocked, he heard a muffled voice answer, "Come in!"

As he opened the door he saw his mother in the living room knitting what looked to be a scarf. " N-Nick? Oh my God its you!" She said trying to get up but Nick stopped and hugged her tight. "Sorry I haven't talked to you in so long Ma." Nick said sadly. "Its okay dear I've known you were in good hands at the ZPD, and I had no worries about you. Im proud of you son." "Thanks mom." Nick said with a sad smile.

"And who is this nice young lady here Nick?" Nick's mother asked turning their attention to Judy who was standing in the doorway. "I'm Judy Hopps Mrs. Wilde, I'm Nick's partner at the ZPD." "Please call me Marry dear. No need to be formal in this household." She said happily.

"Well anyway, we were wondering if you had any spare pictures of family or old furniture we could take." Nick said, "Why might I ask?" said Marry. Judy interrupted what he was going to say and blurted: "Were moving in together." There was silence in the room for a moment. "So you two are dating! Oh that is so cu- oh I mean adorable! I'm so happy for you two!" She said excitedly. "NO!" the pair yelled as they took a step away from each other. Marry only looked between the two with a growing smile on her face much like Nick's. I guess that's where Nick got his trademark grin..

Breaking the silence, Marry said: "well go through the attic that's where the old chairs and other pieces of furniture are. You can take any knickknacks you might want too I don't care. Ill be down here gathering some pictures for him."

"Thanks!" They both said quickly as they darted to the upstairs door that led to the dark attic. "They don't even know it…" Marry said softly to herself. "In time I suppose." She said as she began looking through old cabinets for old photos.

Back in the attic, the two mammals were exploring the labyrinth of boxes. They made a clearing near the door where they were staging items to be taken down. They already had a small sofa and an antique chair along with some quirky little items they found in boxes. They decided to look into the further and more out of the way corners of the room when they came across an old box made of high quality wood. "Hey Nick, this would look good in the house. I like the old-timey feel to it." "Okay just put it with the other stuff. Wait have you checked if there was anything in it?" Nick asked. "One way to find out!" she said as she put it on the ground and opened it.

There was one item inside shaped like a rectangle and covered in old cloth as they undraped it, they found it was an old tintype black and white photo from the 1800's. It depicted a handsome looking fox in a blue federal army coat with a musket lazily slung over his shoulder with him giving a lazy smirk to the camera. The background showed what looked to be a camp with white tents as far as the eye could see. Along with other men like him milling around under a tree.

" Wow Nick I didn't know you had descendents that fought in the Zootopian civil war! That's so cool!" Judy said looking up from the picture. "He's handsome too." She said giving a small and unnoticeable blush. "Not as handsome as me I hope." Nick said looking at Judy and giving her a wink. She could feel her face light up into a much more intense blush.

"Lets go ask your mother about it!" she said quickly getting up and running downstairs. Nick followed slowly and by the time he got into the living room he saw his mother was awestruck. " I thought I had lost this years ago!" she said excitedly. " Care to explain who that is mom?" Nick asked. " Nick, this is your great great great grandfather: Ethan Wilde." She said looking up.

"What do know about him?" Judy asked, curiosity getting the better of her. "Honey, the story of Ethan Wilde has been passed down for years. I've even got the same name as his wife." She said with her head cocked to the side facing Judy. "You never told me mom!" Nick argued. "Well you were too young to hear it the last time I told anyone about it." She said.

"Would you mind telling us mom?" Nick pleaded. "I suppose. But get comfortable this is going to be a long one…" she said taking off her glasses and putting down the half knit scarf. Nick and Judy sat on the couch across from Marry.

"Lay it on us!" Judy said, as she got comfortable next to Nick.

"The year was 1830…" She began.

And so it begins! I hope you will enjoy reading the story as much as I enjoy writing it! Review and follow if you want. I'll update as much as I can but don't expect a stable schedule due to my working hours. Have a good one!