Judy stood with Officers Snarlof and Jackson behind a one way mirror looking into an interrogation room. "So Hopps, this is one of the two they picked up in the quarry. It just so happens we were investigating him as one of the narcotics distributors in the Rainforest District," Snarlof said.

"Yep this is the one who knocked himself out," Judy said looking at the brown bear fidgeting in his chair alone in the otherwise empty room.

The tiger, Jackson, continued where his partner left off, "Well we easily got a confession out of him about the narcotics dealing. He seemed really relieved when we brought it up. No one has questioned him about his involvement that night at the quarry."

Snarlof interjected, "Yeah, we figured we ought to leave that to you and Wilde. When's that lazy fox coming back anyways," he said jokingly. Jackson elbowed the polar bear in the side when he noticed Judy's reaction. Her ears had drooped and she shifted her view to the floor.

"Look Hopps we are sorry about Nick. He'll be fine cheer up. Now don't you have a suspect to interrogate?" he suggested hoping to raise her spirits.

Judy perked up a little but made no movement towards the interrogation room. The tiger said, "Here Hopps watch this."

He entered the interrogation room and addressed the bear, "Heya Mac. You want to run me through your confession again? Just so I'm sure I have it all straight." He sat across from the bear and tapped his claws idly on the table.

"Uh yeah, ok. Umm I was selling cat nip in the Rainforest District. That's pretty much it right?" he said anxiously.

"Yep. Seems to be it. Catnip isn't a very serious charge. Looks like you'll probably get a fine maybe community service," the tiger said inspecting a claw.

The bear gave a sigh of relief, "Great glad that's over with. When can I pay and get out of here."

Jackson turned his attention to the bear, "Oh soon don't worry. Another officer just had a few questions for you..." the tiger motioned to the door and Judy Hopps strolled into the room causing the bear to physically shrink back in his chair.


The lion officer stepped towards Judy and handed her a folder on his way out. As he reached the door he said, "I guess I'll leave this to you," he gave a wide smile and left the room.

Judy took a seat opposite of the bear and looked into the folder. It contained all of Jackson's information on the suspect. Most of the information pertained to Jackson and Snarlof's drug investigation. Judy silently studied the document while the bear fidgeted in his seat. She was looking for something damning, she needed a way to convince him to give her information on Big's enemies. And hopefully on the three murder victims, she thought.

Judy felt a pang of guilt. From the moment Nick got hurt the case changed for her. It wasn't about the victims, it was about her and Nick. At that moment she decided she would have to work twice as hard, for Nick and the murder victims.

Judy set the folder down and glanced up at the bear who shrunk back at her gaze. "So Ronald? Or should I call you Mac?" Judy asked.

The bear started to speak but had to clear his throat, "Uh Mac is fine, that's what the boss calls me." He gave a nervous laugh but stopped himself short. His expression changed from just nervous to a mixture of shame, embarrassment, and fear as he know he had already said the wrong thing.

Judy smiled, "Alright Mac, let's get started who's your boss," pulling out a notepad and a pen.


Clawhauser nodded to Officer Fangmeyer, "Thanks for covering for me."

Fangmeyer smiled, "No problem Clawhauser."

Fangmeyer made his way down the hall and out of the hospital, it was his day off but the tiger had covered for Clawhauser when he had to take Judy her case files.

Clawhauser took a seat outside, he had the day shift to guard Nick's room.

After around thirty minutes of sitting around on guard duty Clawhauser was understandably bored. The cheetah took out his phone to check out all of Gazelle's social media. He was so immersed in his phone he almost missed the sound...

"Carrots?" barely a whisper.

Clawhauser came to alert, he looked around and saw no one. He looked back to his phone and heard it again.

"Hopps?" a little louder this time.

Clawhauser again dismissed it as the wind or maybe just boredom. Then it hit him and he hopped up from the chair and turned around. He attempted to peer through the frosted glass of the hospital door but he couldn't really see through it.

"Judy, are you there?" louder still but hard to understand due to the speaker having not said anything for days.

Clawhauser pulled open the door and saw Nick sitting up in his bed rubbing his paws into his eyes and looking around.

Nick gave the cheetah a grin, "Oh hey Clawhauser, are those flowers for me?" Nick croaked out, pointing to the pile of flowers and get well cards at the end of the bed.

Clawhauser's jaw hung down in shock, only a day before the doctors had questioned if Nick would ever wake up but here he was.

"Cat got your tongue?" Nick asked with a smirk.

Clawhauser ran over and gave Nick a big hung, "Oh I can't wait to tell Judy you are awake!" Nick's muzzle contorted in pain as the cheetah put pressure on his still healing wounds.

At the mention of her name Nick's grimace of pain desolved and he frowned, "Where is Hopps at? I figured she'd be here..." He said sadly.

Clawhauser released Nick from the hug and said, "Oh she's questioning the suspects from the quarry. She also had a uh... meeting so she wasn't here. Judy waited here all night when they brought you in, and the next day and that night."

Nick seemed to be in deep thought, "Alright Clawhauser let's get to the precinct, I should be there for the investigation."

"No! I can't take you out of the hospital, the doctors will want to know you are awake," Clawhauser exclaimed.

Nick looked around the room and let his eyes come to rest on the dresser by the bed, and then the window. First floor, he thought, lucky.

Nick smiled at him in the way he would when pulling a con, "Oh, but of course. You get the doctor and I'll wait here."

Clawhauser nodded, "Alright, I'll be right back Nick." The cheetah left the room and closed the door behind himself.

Nick hopped out of bed and rubbed his paws together. He pulled open the drawer at his bedside and smiled.


Judy sat at her desk typing up an updated report on the case thus far. She frequently referenced the case files and her notes as she typed. Judy had just started updating the report with information from her interrogation of the first suspect when she noticed Officer Snarlof on his way over to her desk.

"Hey Hopps I'm going to go get the second suspect and bring him to the third interrogation room. Are you ready for question him?" Judy asked.

"Uh yeah, sure. Let me just finish this up and I'll get to it," Judy said returning to her work.

The polar bear nodded, "Alright, third interrogation room." He went on his way through the busy precinct.


Judy entered the third interrogation room closing the door behind her. She walked over to the single table that took up the majority of the room and took her seat opposite the large white wolf.

Upon seeing Judy enter the room the wolf had stopped his fidgeting with the handcuffs upon his wrists. He held up his paws, "Is this really necessary?" he asked pointing to the chain that held the handcuffs to the table.

Judy smiled and said, "It's for your safety," tapping a paw to the taser at her side, "not mine."

The wolf frowned but said nothing letting his paws fall back to the table.

"So, Dennis Reynolds is it?" Judy asked looking over the file Jackson had given her.

The wolf made no attempt to confirm or deny this name. Judy went on with the actual questions.

"What were you doing that night in the quarry Mr. Reynolds?" Judy asked calmly.

"I'll tell you the same thing I said to the tiger. I was shot with a tranquilizer and woke up there getting picked up by police," he said with a smirk.

Judy sighed, "Mr. Reynolds, we both know I shot you with that tranquilizer after you shot my partner."

Dennis shrugged and smiled, "Like I said rabbit I don't remember anything. Plus all you have in regard to convicting me, on any charges, is the eyewitness testimony of a rabbit?"

Judy raised an eyebrow. The wolf continued, "Don't rabbits have terrible eyesight at night," his grin was from ear to ear.

There were both silent. Judy wondered what she could do. She had her eye witness testimony, they could definitely pin him for assault of an officer, and trespassing. But she needed information, information on Frank and on Big's rival. Information on those poor murdered mammals, she thought to herself again with a twinge of sadness going through her.

Both Judy and Dennis looked over towards the door as they heard the metallic click of a lock as the door swung open.

Officer Nick Wilde stepped into the room. He strode in confidently even though his uniform was creased and it's buttons mismatched. The fox gave them a wide grin as he headed towards the table.

Judy noticed his grin waver slightly with every step as pain shot through his body. She stared at Nick completely speechless. Warmth spread through her and she felt a flood of emotion: happiness to see him, a phantom pain in her shoulder in empathy of the pain she imagined Nick felt, confusion as to why or how he was here, and something she couldn't quite place. A warm happy feeling she often felt around nick. A feeling she would have normally shoved away so as to remain professional and to make sure she didn't ruin their friendship.

While Judy sat staring at Nick with mixed emotions Dennis was experiencing one major emotion. Fear. He could smell the wolf's fear and Judy would have too, if she hadn't been staring, Nick thought to himself.

Dennis was panicking, "You... how are you..." The wolf looked as though he'd seen a ghost.

"Nice to see you too Dennis," Nick said with a smile, "How long has it been? Was it that bar just last week?" Nick paused and pretended to think hard, "or... oh yeah the quarry when you shot me."

"B...b... but y... you're. I sho...," Dennis stammered

Nick pulled up a chair to the interrogation table. Nick took his seat and snatched up the case files from the table in one motion. "Hmm. Evidence wasn't very stacked against you was it. If it weren't for me waking up you might have got off."

Nick smiled wide, "Now you have two eyewitnesses and one of them could see pretty well in the dark."

Both Dennis and Judy were overcoming the initial shock of Nick popping up out of nowhere. Dennis was regaining his composure and had stopped speaking.

Judy shook off the torrent of emotions that had overwhelmed her. "Nick how are you...? When did you...?" she questioned.

Nick smiled at her, "Later Carrots, this first alright."

She nodded but said nothing.

"I can't believe you interrogated suspects without me," Nick said with a smirk.

Judy smiled and said, "Well you were sleeping on the job. Sure we don't need to take night shifts?"

"I'll manage," Nick said with a smirk, "though when we are done here I could really go for some coffee."

He turned to the wolf, who still reaked of fear, "So, Dennis why were you in the quarry?"

The wolf said nothing as his eyes twitched between the two of them and the wall behind them. Judy spoke up, "Dennis, we can convict you right now for assaulting an office and most likely attempted murder. You'll go away for a long time."

Still the wolf was silent. He refrained from making any eye contact and Nick could smell anger and frustration mixing with the wolf's fear.

Nick continued Judy's point, "You'll be in prison a long time, unless you cooperate. If you cooperate with the investigation you'll probably get a pretty good deal."

This caught the wolf's attention and his ears twitched at the mention of a deal. "What would I have to do for this deal?" Dennis questioned.

Nick looked to Judy as if to signify he had passed the interrogation back into her paws. Judy said, "Well your friend Mac is already taking a lower charge due to his cooperation and all he did was point you out as the leader there at the quarry."

Judy continued, "He may not be the smartest but even he saw what was in his best interest."

"Alright, maybe I'll cooperate. Ask your questions," Dennis said as his muzzle twisted up in a snarl.

Judy beamed happiness. The investigation was going their way again. Nick smiled as he watched Judy's ears twitch and her foot thump the air in excitement.

Judy again asked, "Why are you at the quarry that night."

"Well our boss told us to go down there and see who was snooping around," Dennis replied.

"There won't be any deals until we get some names," Judy said looking up from her notebook.

Nick inspected his shirt front and ran a claw over one of his out of place buttons, "Better listen to her wolf. She's your only chance."

Dennis cleared his throat, "I ca... I can't give you names. They'll kill me."

"Trust us by the time you get out of jail they'll be taken care of," Judy said reassuringly.

Nick said nothing but he gave the wolf his conman's smile.

"Alright. Fine Mac, Charlie and I answer to your friend Frank. The raccoon you met in our bar," Dennis said looking at Nick.

Nick inspected a claw fairly uninterested, "Back to Frank huh? Who's he answer to?"

The wolf smelled more strongly of fear than before, "I really don't know. We answer to Frank and get paid by Frank."

Judy smiled at the wolf, "Well give us Frank's location and we'll continue the investigation."

"He'll be in the apartment across from the bar. He lives in room 219, good chance you'll catch Charlie there too," the wolf said.

Judy looked to Nick and put down her notepad. "Well, Mr. Reynolds thank you for your cooperation. Just one last question. Have you seen these three before?" she asked showing photos of the three murder victims.

"Nope can't say I have," Dennis replied.

Judy gathered her evidence and hopped from the chair heading to the door. Nick followed close behind.

"When can I go?" the wolf asked.

"Go where? Leave jail? Oh no," Judy laughed, "You'll be held now for your own safety then tried for attempted murder."

Dennis stood angrily but was pulled back by his restraints, "What!? You can't do that to me we had a deal."

Judy winked at Nick, "It's called a hustle sweetheart." Together they left the angry wolf behind, while Nick hid his smile.


Judy and Nick sat at their shared desk. Nick sipped coffee while Judy typed away on her computer updating their report.

"Well carrots," Nick said with a smile, "What did you find out while I was napping?"

Judy punched him in the shoulder playfully, "You just stayed asleep to get out of paperwork."

Judy looked back at her computer and continued, "Well I interrogated the bear, his name was Mac, he didn't really seem to know much. He wasn't too smart, just your generic gang muscle," Judy printed off the report on her interrogation of the bear. She handed it to Nick and began her report on the wolf, Dennis.

Nick read through the report on Mac, "Hmm so Snarlof and Jackson already had him pinned for drug trafficking?"

"Yep," Judy said without glancing up from her report.

Nick put down the report, "You think it has anything to do with our case Carrots?"

Judy looked over at him, "It has everything to do with the case Nick. Whoever murdered those mammals also sent Dennis to stop our investigation."

Nick seemed thoughtful for a moment, "Are you sure? Dennis seemed quick to pin Frank... it could still be Big."

Judy started to reply, "It's not Big. I met with..."

"You went and met big without me?" Nick questioned.

Judy looked away from nick, "Well I didn't really have a choice, but the important thing is that it's not Big. He gave me his word."

Nick grabbed Judy's arm and brought her eyes to his, "What do you mean you had no choice?"

Judy paused for a moment then finally said, "Well I was out for a jog and he basically kidnapped me."

Nick's muzzle twisted in concern, "You weren't hurt were you? What happened?"

Judy sorted through her files and handed Nick her report over the meeting with Big.

Nick's eyes scanned the report as they sat in silence. Judy stared at Nick while he read. Her eyes traveled over his concerned muzzle to his creased wrinkled uniform. She noticed a small dark spot over his right shoulder, blood she thought.

"Nick?" Judy asked.

"Hmm?" the fox replied his eyes hardly leaving the report. As Judy shifted in her chair and reached over to his uniform.

Nick felt the button at the top of his shirt come unbuttoned, "Woah Carrots, at least buy me dinner first." He said with a smirk.

Judy laughed but continued unbuttoning his uniform until she could push it aside and inspect his wound. "Nick when did they let you out of the hospital," she asked after placing a paw on his blood soaked bandage.

Nick grimaced as she touched his bandage, "Well about that Carrots..."

"They didn't release you did they?" she said with a frown.

"It's fine Carrots. Honestly." Nick said as he pulled his shirt back over the bandages. "I mean you did leave me a uniform in the dresser by the bed," he said with a smirk.

"That was for when you were released!" Judy exclaimed.

Nick smiled, "You can't blame me. I woke up and you weren't there. Then Clawhauser mentioned you were questioning suspects without me."

"Nick I will personally take you back to the hospital the moment I'm off duty today," Judy said with determination.

Nick looked into her eyes and said, "I'd expect nothing less from you fluff."

Judy smiled, "So how did you get out of the hospital?'

Nick grinned, "The room was on the first floor. I just got dressed and went out the window. Clawhauser is probably still look..."

"There you are Nick! I've been looking all over for you," Clawhauser said as he rounded the corner and stopped at their desk.

Behind the cheetah loomed Chief Bogo, "Wilde. You are going back to the hospital now. No argument."

Nick turned to Judy and shrugged, "See yah Carrots. Come visit me won't you?"

"I will just let me finish up here and I'll be right there," Judy called to the retreating mammals.