Author's Note: Nothing really new to say here other than thanks for the support and to follow, favorite, and review.
***DISCLAIMER: I own no part of Zootopia***
Chapter 9: Partners
The alarm clock blared at the normal 5:30 AM wake-up time. Luke immediately leapt up out of his bed and hopped into the shower. Today was the first day of his internship and he was going to make sure arrive looking ready for it. After drying his fur and brushing his teeth, he dressed in a red button down shirt with a pair of khaki pants. He looked at himself in the mirror, puffed his chest, and headed out of his room.
As Luke walked into the dining room he saw Nick and Judy already sitting there reading the newspaper. A bowl of fresh oatmeal sat on the table garnished with fresh blueberries. Luke sat down as he began to dig in to his breakfast.
"You're looking quite nice today Luke", Nick complimented.
"Thanks, I figured since it's my first day at this internship I would dress to impress." Luke replied.
"Well even without the outfit I think you'd be just fine", Judy said.
"Well I think I'd get arrested for public indecency but yeah I guess I'd be fine-d" Luke said with a smirk.
"You know what I mean!" Judy laughed as she punched him in the arm.
After Luke finished his breakfast, the three of them hopped in the car and drove over to the ZPD. After they arrived, they headed straight up to Chief Bogo's office so Luke could learn his way around.
"Come in", the same gruff voice of the cape buffalo came from the room as Nick opened the door for Judy and Luke. Chief Bogo stood up and shook paws with Luke before speaking to him.
"It's uh, nice to see you again Luke" He said hesitantly, still obviously uncomfortable from Luke's emotional display a couple days back.
"Likewise Chief" Luke said confidently.
"Chief, Luke is here for his orientation. We've already toured him through most of the building so I think all you need to do is to bring him down to the lab so he can get started with his work." Nick explained.
"Very well", Bogo replied. "You two will be down for role call later? I'm sending you two to go on patrol at Sahara Square. We've gotten word that there's been suspicious activity down there. Not quite sure what it is but that's precisely why we need some eyes down there to check it out."
"Yes sir." Nick and Judy said affirmatively.
"Come on. Let's go." Bogo guided Luke out the door as he waved goodbye to Nick and Judy.
Bogo showed Luke to the elevator as he clicked the button that took them to the basement. The elevator ride was completely silent as they traveled down to the lab, not that Luke cared of course. He was nervous for his first day in the lab but was also filled with excitement. As the elevator doors opened, Bogo guided Luke down a long hallway to a pair of double doors. A large sign was posted saying "Forensics Laboratory: Authorized Personnel Only". The two walked into the lab where they were met by a tall, female leopard.
"Hi, my name is officer Clawson. You must be Mr. Luke Barrett." Clawson held out her paw.
"Yes, that's me. Nice to meet you", Luke smiled as he shook her hand.
"Alright Chief, I can show him around from here. You can go up for role call." Bogo turned around without another word and promptly walked out of the lab.
"Quite a delight, isn't he?" Clawson said as Luke chuckled. "Come on, I'll show you around the lab."
The two of them walked into Clawson's office as she took out a box with Luke's name on it.
"Here, I got this for you." Clawson smiled as she handed the box over to Luke. Luke opened it and he immediately smiled. He pulled out a white lab coat. As he held it up, he noticed "Barrett" finely embroidered in black on the right breast of the coat. He slipped it on over his shirt and he looked at himself in the mirror. The coat was a perfect fit and complimented his grey fur.
"Thank you!" Luke said to Clawson.
"No problem. You're part of the team now Luke!" Clawson said with a smile. "There are lockers right outside the lab that you can use to store your stuff. Now come on, let's go meet your partner." The two walked out of her office and walked into the main lab area. They walked past several rows of lab equipment when they approached a figure staring into a microscope.
"Sarah, this is Luke Barrett, your new partner" Clawson said as Sarah turned to face Luke. Luke was face to face with a white wolf, her fur was sleek and she had bright blue eyes. She stood up from her chair and held out her paw.
"Hi Luke! I'm Sarah, Sarah Wolford, the other intern here at forensics. It's really nice to meet you and I'm looking forward to working with you."
"I-uh-likewise, Sarah." Luke stammered. His heart was going a mile a minute. He was shocked by those electric blue eyes of hers.
"Hey, I like your shirt." Sarah replied as she pointed to the red button down Luke had purposely chosen to wear.
"So glad I chose this shirt" Luke thought as he replied, "Thanks, you look nice too." He saw Sarah blush but she quickly regained her composure as she pulled up a chair for Luke.
"You wanna see what I'm working on?" Sarah asked.
"Yeah, sure!" Luke exclaimed as Sarah gestured towards the microscope. He looked down through the eyepiece, quickly realizing that this was a blood sample from someone.
"Is this someone's blood?" Luke asked. He already knew the answer but he just wanted an excuse to continue the conversation with Sarah.
"Yeah! It is!" Sarah said excited. "This case belongs to officers Hopps and Wilde. It was a possible domestic abuse case where the suspect allegedly beat up his wife. She fended him off with a knife so that's where we got the blood. We'll be comparing the DNA samples of the suspect and this blood soon but I just wanted a look at the sample first because I'm really fascinated by this kind of stuff."
"Oh yeah, me too!" Luke said happily despite the brutal nature of the case.
"Say, do you know them? Hopps and Wilde? I thought I saw them walking with you in the lobby earlier." Sarah asked.
"Oh yeah, I do. I'm from out of town so I've been staying with them. They're great mammals!" Luke responded.
"Oh! So they're like your guardians. That's cool. My dad works on the force. You may know him. Officer Wolford?" She asked.
Luke's heart dropped out of his chest. "Oh god, I knocked out her dad in the sparring ring. She is NOT going to be pleased about that." Luke thought.
"Wait, are you the Luke that sparred him a couple days ago?" Sarah asked with wide eyes.
"Guilty as charged." Luke said as he looked down at the floor.
"Oh my god! That's hilarious! Thank you so much! My dad gets really annoying when he's on a winning streak in the arena and it's all he talks about at the dinner table. You killed it so he actually had to pick a different topic to talk about!" Sarah burst out in laughter while Luke followed after seeing such an unexpected reaction from her.
"Um you're welcome I guess" Luke said with a grin.
"So, you want to set up the test for the two DNA samples?" Sarah asked. "It's going to take a couple hours to get the samples prepped and to get the actual test site ready. Then we have to wait for the site to set so then we can grab lunch together if you have any interest."
"Yeah, that sounds great!" Luke beamed as he hopped up out of the chair and followed Sarah to the equipment storage.
The newly formed duo spent the entire morning prepping the samples and test site. What may have usually been seen as tedious work was done with complete smiles as they worked in each other's company. After everything was prepped, the clock read 12:30.
"Well that's that." Sarah said with content as she took off her gloves. "You want to go grab some lunch?"
"Yeah! I'd love to! Let me just text Nick and Judy to let them know I'll be going out." Luke took out his new Carrotphone that Judy and Nick had bought for him and quickly texted them. With that the two of them put their lab coats in their lockers and headed out to Savanna Central.
"Where do you want to go?" Luke asked.
"Oh, I know! We can go to ZFC!" Sarah exclaimed.
"What's that?" Luke asked puzzled.
"You've never heard of ZFC?!" Sarah exclaimed but Luke shook his head. "It's Zootopia Fried Crickets!"
Luke gulped, he never ate bugs when he was a human and he had been living off of purely vegetarian items since he arrived in Zootopia. However, he did not want to be rude so he simply responded; "That sounds great!"
The two of them walked into the restaurant and went to place their orders. Luke was nervous about this new culinary experience but he was willing to give it a shot. The smells certainly were enticing.
"Hi! Can I get the Crispy Cricket Combo?" Sarah asked.
"I'll have the same", Luke added.
"That'll be $10.99", responded the cashier. Sarah opened up her purse but Luke held her paw back as he pulled out some cash that Nick had given him the other day.
"Please, I insist", Luke said as he handed the cashier the money.
"Thanks Luke! That's very generous of you!" Sarah smiled as they grabbed their food and headed to a nearby table. Luke gingerly picked up a cricket with his claws. He noticed Sarah already digging in and he did not want to attract attention to himself in this way.
"Well here goes nothing", Luke thought as he popped the fried morsel into his mouth. He was immediately relieved to taste a pleasant burst of flavor after crunching through the fried coating. He immediately tried dipping the next cricket into the sauce at the side and he was not disappointed. After Sarah and him finished off their meals, they sat content as they began to talk.
"So Sarah, how old are you?" Luke asked
"I'm 16." Sarah responded.
"Oh, same!" Luke replied.
"So how'd you come to be an intern here?" Sarah asked.
"Well, I recently arrived in Zootopia so Nick and Judy suggested I take the academic placement test at the school but I ended up scoring so well that the proctor said there would be no point for me to attend the school." Luke explained. "How about you?"
"I also tested-out!" Sarah exclaimed. "I was so worried about what to do next but then my dad recommended joining the forensics lab as an internship. I love medicine so I figured that it would be great to do."
"I love medicine too!" replied Luke. "Many people are grossed out by bodies and their components but it's really key to understanding who we our."
"Well said Luke", responded Sarah. "You ready to get back to the lab? We've gotta compare those samples now."
"Sure, let's head out."
The two spent the remainder of the afternoon running the procedure. By the time they finished the clock read 5:30 PM but time had flown by for both of them. They sat together as they observed the results.
"Well look at that, it was him", Sarah stated.
"Yeah, guess so. A hard day's work yields results", Luke replied.
"Hey you two. Very well done!" Sarah and Luke turned around to see Clawson standing behind them. "I can file these results up to Hopps and Wilde while you two can head up. You're done for the day."
"Alright, thanks so much for everything today Officer Clawson!" Luke said as the two removed their lab coats and exited the lab. Luke pressed the elevator button and the two waited for the doors to slide open as Sarah began to speak.
"Hey Luke, since we're going to be working together from now on, I was wondering if you wanted my number? It would be great for us to stay in-touch." Sarah asked shyly.
"Yeah! Of course Sarah! We are partners after all." Luke said as he pulled out his phone and entered Sarah's number. "Would you like my number as well?"
"Most definitely!" Sarah beamed as she entered Luke's number. The elevator doors opened and the two entered as the doors shut behind them. Sarah clicked the button to return them to the lobby of the ZPD. The two partners rode up the elevator in silence, each with a smile on their face.
