Author's Note: PLEASE READ IMPORTANT!
Okay, so while doing some research - I found I made a mistake with Chief Bogo (he's a cape buffalo, not a wildebeest). So I'll go back to fix that mistake later, but from here on out, I have it corrected.
Also, this chapter was getting super long, so some pieces will be continued in chapter 10.
Additionally - Fennec foxes range from 9 inches to 16 inches. For the sake of this story, Finnick is 16 inches tall (putting him just below Judy's shoulder) and Ali (the OC fox) at 12 inches - She'll be closer to Finnick's size portrayed in the movie. It had annoyed me that some of the concept art and even some scenes in the movie they shrunk Finnick at certain points. So for the sake of visualization while reading this fic, he's about an inch or two under Judy's shoulder. (His HEAD, not his ears. Otherwise he'd be as tall as Nick cuz fennec's ears are freaking massive (and adorable beyond words).
If you have not already seen the cover art for this fic, click on it. It's not that great of a drawing of Ali, (a little 'cuter' than she really is) but I wanted to get her proportion and her fur pattern down for better reader visualization. Also, FYI, (and spoiler) she's NOT a pure-bred fennec. She's a 'mutt'. Arctic marble fox and fennec fox are her parents (this is super important way, way, way later in the fic, probably in Pt. 2).
If there are any questions, please P.M. me. If you have requests for shorts or want a sketch of any of the OCs, let me know. If people want them I'll start doing them and posting them online.
Now, without further ado...
Chapter 9
Judy's frowning to herself as she enters her room, dropping her veggie-burger take out bag on her desk before flopping face-down onto her mattress, groaning.
The day had been worse than she feared. She had hurt her partner's feelings, and to top it all off, Judy had realized that she had completely forgotten to drop by the front desk to ask after Nick's birthday that afternoon – too concerned with the way Nick was picked up by the Chief almost the moment they returned.
The bunny knows that Nick and the Chief have a good relationship, but she has been noticing an increase in the number of times Nick is called into his office, with or without her. She knows they don't associate outside of work (because she's almost always with the sly fox) so it can only mean he's talking with Nick about work… because, as friendly as Bogo can be (which is not at all) she knows the wildebeest would not talk about outside stuff in the office – much preferring to pretend he's made of stone.
Judy turns over and lays on her stomach, pulling out her cell phone when she feels it buzz in her hip pocket – she really should change out of her uniform.
Nick: "Sorry for leaving you with the report, Carrots. Bogo wanted me to give some files to Fin."
She blinks a few times at the message, surprised (and delighted) that the fox had texted her.
Me: "It's ok. It is not like you meant to."
After sending the message, she is quick to add –
Me: "I wouldn't blame you if you did, though. I am sorry about today…"
Judy holds her breath as she waits for a reply, trying to swallow the lump forming in her throat.
Her and Nick have had fights and arguments before… but it has always been about trivial things, or stupid things – and although this is both trivial and stupid… but… for whatever reason, it feels like this is about much more.
Something is off, and she's scared.
Nick is the one animal she can't be without. She's hoping to dispel whatever awkwardness is between them, and awkward distance she knows she's causing.
"For such a stupid reason, too. Seriously…"
She's about to toss her phone across the room and bury her head when her screen lights up with a new message.
Nick: "It's okay, Carrots. I overreacted. I was just worried about you."
Nick: "And if I did anything wrong... I hope you tell me."
Judy is about to send a hasty reply when Nick sends another text.
Nick: "But you were right."
She's staring at the screen with wide eyes… what was she right about? What did she say? She hopes it's nothing bad – Nick is sensitive, and she doesn't want him being self-deprecating again.
Nick: "There are things we rather keep to ourselves."
Okay… now Judy's confused. She's glad that he's not going to try and pull information out of her that she's not even sure of yet…
But if he's saying that… that means there are some things he's not telling her.
And now that's all she can think about, but for now – she needs to send him a response.
Me: "Nick… you didn't do anything wrong. It's just me, and I don't even think I would know how to explain it anyways."
Me: "Can we please be back to normal tomorrow? I can't do another day like today."
Nick: "Okay Carrots. But only if I get a doughnut and a hug tomorrow. :P "
Judy laughs and tears of relief well in her eyes.
Judy: "You are becoming like Ben. Be careful."
She laughs out loud and she starts to undress after not receiving a message from the fox right away. Judy is in her PJs when she hears her phone buzz twice.
Nick: "I do want to talk with you about some things tomorrow though."
Judy feels her heart skip a beat, and now she's nervous. Maybe Nick wasn't okay with things – what if he suggests they give each other space? She already feels a distance growing between them, that won't help –
She reads the next message.
Nick: "It's about the case."
Judy can breathe again.
Me: "Okay. Am I picking you up at the same place and time?"
Nick: "No. Fin will drive me in. I'll meet you at the front."
Me: "Ok… have a good night, Nick."
Nick: "You too, Carrots. 3 "
Judy giggles at the heart he tacked on the end and she sends back a heart and a winky-face before setting her phone aside again.
After the bunny returns from brushing her teeth she sees she has another new text message, and she smiles, thinking it's Nick again.
She's mildly surprised to see a text from Clawhauser.
Ben: "Hey Judy! PheeBee got Nicks bday for you! See you tomorrow!"
Judy grins and bounces on her feet a little before replying.
Me: "Thank you guys! 3 I'll bring doughnuts!"
Ben: "Noooooo thank you, bunny-bun. PB and I have had toooo many lately. But thanks! :3"
The bunny officer smiles and sets her phone over by her desk to charge it before sitting down and finishing her cold veggie burger while she opens her laptop to watch a movie before bed – silently wishing Nick was there, so she could tease him with her carrot-broccoli burger.
And maybe… maybe so she can lean against him again.
Nick pretty much glides through the glass doors of the ZPD that morning with his trademark smile, not letting the grumpy fennec trailing along behind him dampen his mood in the slightest.
"Well, well, well… look who's on time?" Judy has a playful, teasing smile on her face and it loosens the small knot of apprehension that the fox was trying to squash all morning when he was getting ready.
"Oh… Carrots!" He gasps, holding his paws to his chest and smiling at her, teasing. "You really think so little of me? Of course we'd be to work on time!" He's grinning now, and completely ignores the questioning look on her face as he steps aside and looks behind him for Finnick. Whose ears are drooping so much they almost touch the floor, and he's rubbing at a brown eye like a toddler. The red fox winks at his bunny counterpart as she covers her smile behind a paw.
"You gunna wake up soon, buddy?"
"I got us 'ere, din' I?" The sand fox mumbles and then yawns loudly.
"Where you two up late last night?" Judy asks, crossing her arms over her vest.
"Yup! Up late and hard at work, speaking of…" Nick takes a few steps closer to Judy and hesitates to put a paw on her shoulder. He notices that the hesitation puts a sad look in the bunny's eyes so he takes another step forward and sets his paw down on her arm before leaning in to stage whisper. "Chief wants to speak with me and Finnick after roll call, I want you to be with us."
Nick leans back to see the look on the bunny's face and it's not one he particularly likes… but he'll take it over anger any day.
"Okay…" she mumbles back, a suspicious tone to her voice and face. It makes him twitch nervously for a moment.
"Fin, could ya wait here? I'll come get you when we need to meet with the boss."
"You want to take the files?"
Nick shakes his head, paw redirecting Judy to start walking towards the bullpen, "Nah. Keep them with you. For our eyes and Chief's only, at least right now."
"M'kay," is the distracted fennec's reply and then the partners are off towards one of the many hallways from the lobby.
"Nick, what's all that about?" Judy asks in a quiet voice, not wanting to be overheard. Nick is grateful for it, as he pockets his paws and leans forward and towards the bunny slightly.
"It's part of what I wanted to talk with you about today, but it needs to be in private," and, already knowing his bunny won't be satisfied sitting with just that, Nick adds, "What I can tell you right now is that Bogo has enlisted Fin as a CI to help us with our case, and wants his involvement under-wraps."
"Why am I just learning about this now?" Judy scowls a little. Nick frowns and hesitates. He knows Judy won't take all the secrecy kindly, and will want a better explanation – he will have to start considering (honestly considering) Finnick's advice to get her in the loop, even if he has to go against the Chief's orders.
Giving the bunny a sidelong glance as they are approaching the bullpen, he swallows nervously before responding, "Chief told me to keep it between us…" Nick sucks in an audible breath and looks down at Judy, his partner and best friend, before opening the door to the bullpen, "I'm sorry, Judy… I really didn't want to keep it from you."
He doesn't wait to hear Judy's response before he pushes open the door and they are overtaken by the loud whooping and hollering of their fellow officers.
Finnick is sitting, slumped in one of the waiting chairs in the lobby, his small tail thumping against the seat every few seconds. Nick had dragged him out of his van and nearly tossed his ass into the freezing, broken shower of his – Finnick is constantly surprising himself, shocked that he had let Nick live after pulling that stunt.
He must be going soft. There will not be a repeat of this morning ever again. The sand fox almost clobbered his taller, redder counterpart buck-naked, he was so mad. It had felt like the smaller fox had just fallen asleep before being rudely (it was so rude… honestly, that jerk) woken up. Finnick had stayed up a few hours after Nick, scribbling in his messy writing a bunch of notes and little things about the case files and suspects on an old, legal pad Nick had had lying around (he tore out the doodle pages and taped them to the wall – one of them was an outline of a bunny with a badge and a heart next to it. Finnick snickers, remembering the drawing. He had almost taken Nick's phone to send the picture to the bunny, but he honestly had no clue how to work those fancy things. He'd be happy if he could get his old, flip-phone back some day.
The sand fox looks over at the front desk for a few moments and watches the crème-colored, long-earred bunny and her chubby-cheetah partner interact. Then he starts to replay the scene from Tuesday afternoon as continues to stare. He frowns, dropping his gaze to his feet, which are about a foot off the ground from his seat. Finnick digs a paw into his jean pocket and pulls out a neatly folded note, gently smoothing it out with his paws on his thigh before he picks it up, smiling at the name with a heart drawn next to it.
He remembers saying that the fox didn't have a phone, but still had an email address she checked occasionally. Not wanting to ruin the moment or embarrass himself further, he just nodded and accepted the slip of paper with a smile and a quiet wave when she walked off with the long-eared officer.
Finnick heaves a heavy sigh, and touches the neatly written letters and numbers of the email address, frowning. He had never had an email address, rarely did he have the opportunity to have a phone – the few phones he did have were old, outdated models that only called or texted. The longest he had a phone for was one year. Eventually he just gave up having one, because once he partnered up with Nick, there really wasn't a need anymore. And if he hardly used a phone, then why would he ever need an email?
Frowning, he wishes, not for the first time, that things were different.
He really didn't want that to be the last time he saw the pretty, oddly-colored fox. Not for the first time, he thinks about her guitar. If she played the guitar, he wonders if she sings, and what her voice would sound like. The sand fox can't even imagine, but he'd like to find out some day.
Finnick's sensitive hearing picks up the voices of his friend and Judy (who he's guessing is a friend too, so he really should start calling her that in his head), he shakes his head roughly and scowls, quietly cursing to himself.
Since when was he wistful, or nostalgic?
His pansy of a fox-friend is rubbing off on him, what with all his 'flowery feels' for the bunny. Finnick feels silly, but he can't help himself.
Her eyes were beautiful.
"So let me get this straight – we have a positive I.D. of five animals, four are possible suspects to some of these cases, but aren't in our system, and three were completely unknown?"
"More or less." The sand fox huffs, crossing his arms as he shifts in his seat. Bogo sighs and picks up his glasses, holding out another file in front of him.
The buffalo looks at Officer Hopps and sighs through his nostrils, resigned. "Since it looks like Wilde is insisting you are completely informed of all operations on this case, Hopps," he tries not to smile fondly at her perking up in attention. If she realized how young it made her look, she'd stop doing it, "Wilde and Finnick are undercover partners on this case."
He lets that sink in, pretending to clean his glasses as he sneaks a glance at his officers and C.I. in the room, taking in their reactions.
"I felt it was best, Hopps, that the less animals who know about this, the better. And since a C.I. needs a handler, and because Officer Wilde brought him in, I have assigned Finnick to report to Nick should he come across any useful information to assist us with cases in the future."
The bunny officer leans forward to look around her partner and at the sand fox smiling, "That's great, Finnick!" The cape buffalo wants to laugh at the scene, but refrains, instead preparing himself for the bunny's following questions.
"And while that's great, sir… I don't understand why I couldn't be let in on this." She waves a paw at Nick, who's (for once) keeping his trap shut.
He sighs and pretends to be annoyed (which if he's honest, he totally is), "Officer Hopps, I ordered Wilde to keep his actions to himself," He rubs at the hide between his eyes, giving said officer a half-hearted glare, "He did disagree with keeping his actions this week from you, though it looks like he didn't last long."
Bogo is watching Nick carefully, trying to gauge how much he wants to reveal to his partner – with a slight nod from the fox (which he would have totally missed, had he not replaced his glasses) he sighs and continues.
"Hopps," he makes sure she's looking him right in the eyes and holds her gaze, pulling rank on the bunny, "while your concern is noted, how I want to use my officers is my business. Nick has, at my order and request, agreed to relinquish and gather information by using his previous… status… as a con-man. It has assisted not only in cases you are in charge of, but about a dozen other cases in the building."
Bogo sees the red fox start to panic, looking between him and his partner almost frantically. He feels for the fox… he really does. The buffalo knows too well how much he cares for his friend, and if he has to appear as the 'bad guy' in this, he will. Regardless of their previous agreement to leave the bunny out of Nick's more… nefarious, dealings on behalf of the ZPD.
There's a moment of silence, and he sees the fox officer about to speak to Judy but is stopped by a small paw on his arm by his friend. He meets the fennec's hard gaze for a moment and nods, silently thanking the smaller fox for the intervention. His rabbit officer needed the moment to process, and doesn't need to hear the guilt and self hatred and apologies that were sure to flow from her partner's mouth.
"I… I understand, sir." Judy looks up at him and he nods settling back down in his large chair.
"So, Officer Hopps… you, Wilde and his C.I. will be the only three privy to this information for the time being. I will repeat this order, since we are now involving you, Hopps – As you progress in this case, you will keep what you find between yourselves and notify me of everything that you find. You will not discuss the case, or any details with any other officers outside this room. I will pick and choose what information is released, and when, and to whom."
He lets that settle in the room for a moment or two before he gets nods from the three animals in front of him.
"Good… now… I'm assuming you and Officer Wilde have more details regarding the individuals you witnessed? Briefly recap that evening, and tell me what new information you were able to glean from the files I sent to you with Wilde."
Bogo smirks at the surprised look on the stoic fennec's face. Before meeting Wilde, he would not have taken anything foxes said seriously – but since they met over a year ago, the red fox has more than proven himself to him. And if one of his best officers vouches for the C.I. he'll listen.
He watches his fox officer nudge the smaller fox and give him an encouraging smile.
"Nick and I hit the streets the evening after I reported the three wolves in the hopes of finding out if they were a part of what's been goin' on –" the sandy-colored fox makes a waving gesture with his paw, as if that explains the rest. Bogo rolls his eyes, but doesn't ask him to elaborate. "Instead Nick found a different lead. Spoke with some porcupine vender that saw the wolves getting yelled at by a bobcat. So we looked for the bobcat and followed him to this abandoned factory – we didn't get close or anything. I climbed up and was able to look through the window, with Nick on the ground as a look out. We stayed for an hour or so then left."
Wilde turns to look at Judy, nodding. "We came here Wednesday morning before you came in to report that to Bogo. He suggested we speak with Mr. Big to see first if he at least could give us a name, since we are… acquainted with him." Here is when Finnick snorts derisively, "I still can't believe he didn't ice you the first time… after that stunt you pulled with the skunk –"
"Thank you, Finnick." The fox officer glares at his friend, who looks smug. Out of the corner or his eyes he sees Officer Hopps roll her eyes.
"Okay, boys. So, I want more details on the animals you saw. You said there were twenty, but we only have details on twelve?"
The C.I. tired of sitting, stands on his chair and leans against the back of it like it was a wall. "Yea, I counted twenty one animals in the room. It would have been wasteful to try and get key details on all of them, so I paid most attention to the animals who were speaking, at one point or another."
While the C.I. was speaking, he was flipping through some of his notes in Nick's report folder. "You said here that they were not The Rogues?" He scowls.
"Yes, sir. Finnick had said that they didn't look like they were all in the same group, rather that the meeting was probably with another gang, or higher-ups."
"What do you mean 'didn't look like'?" Hopps asks, and he nods in agreement, looking to the foxes for answers.
"Look." There's a frustrated growl coming from the fennec before he steps forward on his chair and speaks confidently and with conviction, "I took note of twelve animals, not including the three wolf-bastards from Monday night. They were all wearing different attire. Five of them looked roughed up, like they had recently been in a fight or somethin', then there were some of them that were dressed smartly – I'm talkin' suits and ties. I'm tellin' ya, this was a meeting between several group leaders, I'm thinkin' at least three, based on how they were dressed."
"So what about The Rogues? They are my primary concern right now, fox."
"Sir, we think that at least half, if not a third of that gang was there, sir. Finnick and I think that, based on the demographics and the geography of the rise in crimes – "
"These 'suited animals' were meeting with The Rogues, maybe to hire them as muscle for a job or to do some dirty work for them." Finnick adds.
"Right. At this point, based on the observations and how Finnick was able to positively I.D. at least five of the animals present to the recent crimes in Downtown, we can assume that those five animals are definitely part of The Rogues. Based on the presumed gang's M.O., and the presence in this meeting."
Finnick nods at his partner before catching the cape buffalo's eye again. "Because this meeting looked like it was one with other, higher crime lords or leaders from other groups or gangs, we can safely say that those five animals are either major players, or lieutenants for The Rogues gang."
Judy's eyes are wide, and he himself is leaning forward in his seat. Judy continues the report by asking the question the foxes were waiting for – drama queens.
"So what you are saying is…"
Officer Wilde grins at the fennec before turning proudly to his partner, "We just may have the identity of some of The Rogues' leaders – we are one, major step towards taking them down, sir."
Okay he can't help it. His boys are brilliant. Barking out a laugh and a grin, he pounds on his desk in excitement. "YES! Good work, boys!"
Judy looks between all of them in awe, stuck between being happy and also a little lost – Nick basically did this on his own (well, with Finnick) and with out her. Chief Bogo tries to collect himself again, and in two beats, he's back to business.
"Right. Hopps!"
"Yes, Sir!" She salutes, traces of melancholy off her face. "I want you and Wilde to come up with a strategy to track these animals. We need to take the rest of this case carefully. Evidence is needed to hold charges against these animals, and I'd like to try to get an I.D. on the other players in that meeting. If there's a way we can find out what that meeting was about, we may be able to stop whatever they have planned – but our top priority, Hopps, Wilde, is tracking those animals."
"Wilde, you help your C.I. create suspect files, have him sit with a sketch artist, then turn those files in to Officer Thianta to see if she can't find possible matches in our database. This comes first, tomorrow, you and Hopps will be one of the three teams I will send out on this job. I want to know the movements, and if there's a level 4 or higher criminal activity, I want you to cuff them and bring them in."
There's a chorus of 'yes sirs' and a grunt before he dismisses them all from his office, hoping to get a few moments of quiet before he meets with another team to review their drug trafficking case.
Chief Bogo sighs heavily through his nose and frowns, picking up his notepad and skimming the words on the page. Something deep in his gut is telling him that meeting may be a bigger deal than he's bargaining for.
But he's usually a very lucky animal, so he's not that concerned about it.
"Hey Judy, has Mr. Big or his goonies called you yet about that 'contact' of his?" Nick asks around a bite of sandwich, making the rabbit cringe before answering.
"No, not yet – I really hope this person can help us –"
"Let's just hope they're not involved." Finnick intercedes, earning himself a look from the female rabbit.
"What?"
Nick rolls his eyes at his friend and Judy watches them as they bicker. Smiling softly, she redirects her attention to the files the boys had spent the past four hours working on. The Chief was nice enough to have lunches delivered to them, which was probably both out of kindness and hopes that they'll keep working and finish faster.
"These are really good notes… this is your handwriting, Finnick?" Judy asks kindly, looking over at the smaller fox. She watches in slight amusement as the fox shifts a little and scratches his ear, "Yea…" then he seems to collect himself as he glares, defensive, "What about it?"
His snappishness earns him a teasing admonishment from the taller fox, and the fennec returns it with a rude response. She clears her throat (so she doesn't laugh) and when they shut up (finally) she continues, "They are pretty thought out, you were able to get all this from just watching a group of animals talk? You didn't hear what they were saying?"
Nick meets her eyes and his gaze is soft – fond. He smiles gently before turning to regard his friend sitting beside him who is shrugging noncommittally, "Yea… just gotta know what to look for – you can tell a lot about an animal from their clothes and their actions." Here, Finnick smirks at the fox beside him, "It's something you need to know when running a con," he looks back at Judy, meeting her eyes with his own brown ones, suddenly serious, "skills you need to have to know which animals are bad news – who's lying, or who might hurt you..."
Her partner clears his throat, "Yea… anyways, you shouldn't be so surprised, Judes – I learned some of my observational skills from him." Nick grins wickedly and Judy rolls her eyes.
Judy takes in what the foxes are saying before looking back down at the notes, setting them aside to pick up one of their recently created suspect files, "So these are the kinds of animals you steered clear from…" she mumbles, but of course the fennec would pick up on it. His hearing outshines her own.
"Yea… bad news." Finnick leans over the table to tap a claw at the paper she was looking at, a description of a sleek, black panther with an expensive suit jacket and maroon, silk shirt – "These animals are criminals by choice, not by necessity."
She looks up at the fennec, purple eyes meeting brown, "Animals down on their luck, or with limited opportunities… can make a life for themselves – like Nick and I."
Here, her partner continues solemnly. She looks over at her best friend, and sees him looking down at his paws in his lap despondent. "And animals like that, do it for power and control."
Judy watches Nick, as he avoids looking at her and finishes up his chips while taking another file from in front of Finnick and reviewing it.
The rabbit officer looks beside her friend at Finnick, who's looking right back at her with a solemn gaze. They all resume their work, exchanging information or ideas back and forth for the next two hours until the files are mostly finished and ready for the sketch artist who, they found out, would be coming in tomorrow.
The rest of the day and that night when Judy goes to bed, despite the solemn mood it put her in, she felt a little closer to Nick after that day – feeling like she understood his position (and Finnick's) a little bit better.
That night she dreams of a small fox kit, full of hopes and dreams, only to be beaten down and muzzled by those he wished to call friends. Judy dreams of holding him in her arms, and rocking him as he cries.
Author's Note:
And another chapter complete! I'm on a role with this story, found a way to tie a lot of things together, and better weave things through cannon (so awesome I'm jazzed)
But my wrists and fingers are killing me, so need to take a break for a day. So Chapter 10 will be posted most likely Friday night, because I'll be resting tomorrow, then I'll be seeing Batman vs. Superman at the IMAX with a pal of mine. So... YAY. Ish. (I'm a marvel fan, myself. currently superduper into spideypool and GoTG)
PMs are awesome! Reviews are too! Luv likes and favs etc etc.
You all keep me motivated and going... so thank you!
Kallen.
