Chapter 2

The Return

Noah POV

I do not own Zootopia, as much as it is to my dismay. I only own Noah Cartige, and the plot.

The sound of an alarm bursts through my dream, making me fall out of my bed and knocking everything off of it. A lamp, the alarm clock, and my phone came down and hit me on the head, lightly of course. I get up slowly, rubbing my head, trying to dull the pain. I also grab the alarm clock and turn it off.

"Why do I have to get up…?" I ask myself, slowly getting up. I walk out to the kitchen, grabbing a coffee mug and starting up the coffee brewer. I lightly 'growl' at myself, but it sounds more like a dying chicken than anything else.

"Why do you take forever to warm up?" I ask the coffee maker, hoping to hear some kind of response. Nothing is said from the machine, big surprise, so I walk away. Looking at the clock that was hanging on my wall, I saw that it was just past noon. On my days off, I like to sleep in, makes me feel like I am still a kid still. Grabbing the remote, I plop onto the couch and turn on the tv.

"And in the latest news, Zootopians should expect in the increase of human activity inside of our fine city. More and more humans seem to flock here, either for jobs or for other small reasons." I watch on, not surprised at all. I mean, I was one of the first humans to move into Zootopia. "I don't know what to think anymore about these humans, but I think that they mean no harm, or they wouldn't have destroyed that wall a few years back." I changed the channel right after that, not really caring about anything else that was happening in the world at this current moment.

Hearing the coffee maker go off, I got up and walked right back to the kitchen. I look straight at it, seeing the once glossy finish start to peel off and parts of it were tapped right back on, due to budget reasons. I poured myself a cup of coffee and start to down it.

"Why do I even try anymore…?" I ask myself, looking at the cup. "Caffeine just makes me even more tired…" I put the cup into the sink, and was about to pour the coffee away when I heard a knock on the door. Groaning lightly to myself, I walk towards it, putting the coffee pot down.

"Who is it?" I ask through the door, trying to mask my tiredness. I could hear whispering outside, so I thought it was just some kind of bunny scouts making the yearly trip, selling cookies. (I usually buy around 6 or 7 boxes. I still have a few sitting in the cupboard somewhere.)

I unlock the door and swing it open, expecting to see a few young bunnies in my doorway. What I wasn't expecting to see were two police officers, standing there. One was a bunny, so I was sorta correct, but the other was a fox, who looked strikingly familiar.

"Woah, hold up. I had until Friday to pay my rent! Mary promised me! Look just give me…" I was cut off by a hand being held up by the fox, who was wearing sunglasses… indoors. The bunny looks at me, just kind of weirded out by what I said.

"That isn't why we are here. We got a call from one of your neighbors that you were causing a ruckus. Is this true?" The fox asks me. I look at him weird for a minute, then realization hits me. I grit my teeth, holding back some words that I would have to say to these "neighbors".

"No officers, that is not true. I just got up around…" I look at my watch, seeing it was almost 12:45. "45 minutes ago." They look at each other. I sigh. "It was a prank call. The people across the hall have twins, that so happen to be boys and are both teenagers. They are always calling the cops on me. The little…" I stop myself, calming down and looking at them.

"Uh… Would you officers like to come in? I could explain it a bit better if we were in here. They could be listening, and then use whatever I say against me…" I ask them, ranting for a minute.

"We could, if that is ok with you." The bunny says. I nod my head, moving to the side. Both come walking in. The fox takes off his sunglasses while the bunny is taking everything in with her lavender eyes. I close the door, looking around at the slight mess.

"You guys want coffee? I just made some." I ask them, slipping on my slippers. Both shake their heads at me. I notice them taking in the small apartment that I have. There is stuff laying everywhere, making me feel embarrassed.

"Sorry about the mess. Like I said, I just got up a while ago, and I have had no time to clean, what so ever." I tell them, pouring the coffee down the drain and putting the pot into the dishwasher. "Take a seat on the couch, I will be in there in a second." I grab the glasses from a small pouch and put them on. "Always forget to do that…" I say to myself. I walk into the living room, seeing that the tv was still on, and on some Spanish channel. I grabbed the remote and turn it off.

"I'm guessing that you guys have questions, so shoot." I tell them, sitting down in a small chair that I had against a far wall.

"Yes, you said that we were prank called, or whatever…?" The bunny asks. I nod my head.

"Yes, officer…?" I start, realizing that I didn't know the name of either officer. Neither one gets my hint, so I just stare back at them. Finally, the bunny catches on, and mouths 'oh' to no one, but I understand that what I was trying to get from them was starting to dawn on her.

"Officer Judy Hopps," The rabbit, as I now know as Judy, put her hand out, trying to get a small hand shake. I grab her hand, lightly of course, since her hand is smaller than mine, and shake it slightly. I smile at her, and she smiles right back.

'Bubbly attitude, got to remember that about Miss Hopps here…' I tell myself, not saying it out loud. I look over at the fox, expecting an answer from him as well, but he doesn't say a thing. 'And an antisocial fox. Your luck has struck again, Noah…'

"Well…" I say, seeing as the fox won't speak up, trying to break the small silence that had ensued. "My name is Noah Cartige. It's a pleasure to meet the both of you." I say, standing up. I see that the fox's ears had perked up, and that he was looking at me with quite the interest. "You guys want anything while I am in here?" I ask, walking into the kitchen.

Third Person's POV. (Wanted to do this, gives a little bit of input on both Hopps' and Wilde's side of things.)

Judy Hopps knew when something was up with her partner, and right after Noah had introduced himself, Nick Wilde had perked up, seemingly interested in Noah. She also saw that he was showing emotion. It was a small amount, but it was there. He usually only ever did that with her, and never in public, so it came as a surprise to her when Nick started to show some kind of emotion. It came to an even bigger shock to her when Nick had jumped up, and started to walk slowly to the kitchen, with her following shortly after.

"I have Pawpsi, Coca-Cola, Dr. Pepper… Milk, uhh…" She wandered in through the other side, with her getting a good view of both Nick and Noah. Nick was standing behind the fridge door, looking down at Noah, who was going through his contents inside said fridge. "Sorry about the small amounts of food, though. I haven't been able to make a food run in a few weeks…" Judy felt sorry for the human, seeing as he was in worse conditions than she was. He had little to no food, (from what she could guess) a small amount of money, and the threat of being thrown out, due to the money problem.

"It's no big deal, really. It looks like you need the food more than we do." She says, looking the human up and down. Noah was skinny, not looking like the average human being. You could see his ribs slightly, and he looked underweight.

"It's not a big deal. Always trying to look out for our officers." Noah closes the door to the fridge, and sees that Nick is standing behind it. Noah had jumped, seemingly not expecting Nick to be there, which made the fox in question smirk slightly at Noah. Judy giggled from that, seeing that there was some kind of tension in the air between the two of them.

"Sorry about that, officer. I wasn't expecting you to be there." Noah grabbed at his chest, seemingly trying to slow down his heart rate. Nick looked at Noah, taking a step towards him. Both were nervous, and both were scared. Noah was scared that he had done something wrong, that he had somehow broken the law. Nick was scared that he was mistaking this human for his human, his Noah Cartige.

"Nick, what are you doing?" Judy asked, stopping the both of them. Noah looked into Nick's green eyes, finally realizing who the fox that was standing before him was. All three stood in the kitchen for a good ten minutes, no one moving, no one saying a thing. Finally, after what seemed like forever, Noah put his arms out and hugged the startled fox.

Both Nick and Judy were taken aback at Noah's actions. Due to both Noah and Nick being about the same height, Noah was able to rest his head on Nick's shoulders, tears threatening to come spilling out of his eyes. Nick slowly started to hug him back, still unsure on what was happening, but the hug felt right.

"Tell me… Nick… Did you have a small friend, who was human, and the two of you sat at the fence, talking away about everything…?" Noah finally said, never breaking the hug or looking Nick straight in the eyes. Nick smiles slightly, fully hugging the human back.

"Yes, I did. Why, do you know where to find him?" He asks, teasingly, feeling tears of his own threatening to come out as well. Noah laughs lightly, hugging Nick a little tighter. For a moment, both were happy, both were the small children that had talked, played, and even did jokes with. For a moment, they were themselves once again, and both were ok with that.

After a few minutes, Nick pulls away from the hug, and looks Noah right into the eyes. Nothing was said between the two, both knowing fully well who the other person was. The only thing that was being thought by Nick Wilde was, 'He looks good in glasses.'

"What the heck is happening?!" Judy asks, breaking both the silence and their little moment. For the first time since they had gotten into the kitchen, Nick Wilde had looked at Judy Hopps, a smile on his face, and tears still running down his cheeks. Noah looked back as well, realizing that she was there as well.

"Judy, I want you to meet an old friend of mine…" Nick says, looking over at Noah and smiling even bigger than before.

A/N: Hey guys, sorry for the later update, and sorry for not updating my other fic, but I promise the next chapter will be coming out soon.

As you can see here, there was a touching moment between both Nick and Noah, with Judy there for the ride. I wanted this chapter to be where both of them meet again, after so many years, and the next chapter is where both explain to Judy what happened in their pasts, and they tell each other what happened after they had stopped talking. I have a lot planned for this fic, so stay tuned.

I personally felt like this chapter was a bit rushed, but, however hard I try, I just can't get that to stop. So, I just kind of go with it, explaining things as best as I can do. I also hope that this chapter wasn't too long, because there was a lot that needed to happen, leading up to the part where they meet, with some fill ins, just to give you an idea of what Noah looks like right now and the conditions that he is in. (I do feel like that this chapter was a bit better than the first one, though!)

So, the final question is: What happens next? Will both Nick and Noah fall in love with each other again, or will they move on? Well, you need to read the fic to find out, because, guess what?

A writer never gives away the secrets.

FightingF0RW0lves out, peace!