Nick, this is humiliating."

"You were the one complaining about using your crutches yesterday. I thought you would be happy that I'm not making you use them."

"Okay, I was wrong. Please, Nick, let's get the crutches out of the truck. I promise I will use them and not complain."

"Sorry Carrots, that's not going to happen, this is allowing us to get all of my things into the building without anyone noticing. Besides, the cover story is supposed to be that you are severely injured after all."

"You're enjoying this aren't you?" she accused glaring up at him.

"Just a little," he admitted as he looked down at the bunny sitting in the wheelchair, he was pushing up the ramp. Judy's right leg was elevated, and a plaid blanket was covering her legs and lap, he started to laugh, "Okay, a lot."

"You are so sleeping on the couch tonight."

Nick continued to laugh, "Totally worth it."

…

The vixen at the reception desk glanced up noticing the fox and bunny entering the ZPD building through the automatic doors. She did a double take and stared wide-eyed at the approaching fox. He was wearing the kind of blue scrubs you would expect from someone working in the medical field. The auburn shading on his ears started near the base of his ears instead of the middle, then transitioned to a color so dark that the tips were nearly black, something rare in a fox, so were the small black spots flecked in the tan fur under his muzzle and on his neck. The eyes behind the wire framed glasses were crystal blue. His build was perfect, and he walked with an assured gliding manner. Without even thinking about it, she unbuttoned the top button of her shirt, then thought, to hell with it, and undid the second one too.

Nick stopped the wheelchair several feet from the front desk, then approached it alone. He saw the vixen was leaning forward over the counter. She was beautiful, and if he had met her in a bar a month ago, he would have tried to pick her up.

His eyes lock with hers as he flashed her his most charming smile. He leaned against the counter. His muzzle only inches from hers. His peripheral vision took note of her loose open shirt and with the way she was leaning towards him he could glimpse what was beneath it. He looked down at her badge and casually ran his claw over her name. "Hi Tammy, my name is Nick, and the bunny over there is Officer Hopps. She's here to see Chief Bogo. Do you think you can help me out and see if he is available?" Nick could smell the musky scent of the vixen mixed with the pheromones she was giving off. He breathed in the scent waiting for his body's reaction to it and was a little surprised when it never came.

"Hi, Nick. Just a moment." She moved back slowly and placed the call never taking her eyes off of him. She came back a minute later, leaning back in, while smiling at him, "He says to go on up."

He returned her smile, "Thank you, Tammy. Maybe I will see you again when we leave." He saw her inhale deeply, then saw the puzzled look on her face which quickly turned to one of disappointment. He turned and went back to the wheelchair. He knew exactly, why she had looked disappointed. She had expected to smell his returned interest in her but hadn't.

As he reached the wheelchair, he exhaled through his nose trying to clear her scent but failing. Without thinking about it, he leaned in and deeply inhaled Judy's sweet, earthy scent that was so different from that of a vixen. He immediately felt his body's reaction to her scent. He smiled and started pushing the wheelchair towards the elevator.

When they were halfway to the elevator, Nick dropped Tammy's ID badge into Judy's lap, "Keep that for me Carrots, I'm probably going to need it later, and have I mentioned just how good you smell?"

…

Judy's claws were digging into the wheelchair's armrests as she watched Nick openly flirting with the vixen at the desk. She tried to see any flaws in the vixen, but couldn't find any. She was beautiful, and Judy knew that was probably the reason she was working at the reception desk. The two fox's muzzles were so close to each other they were practically kissing. From where she sat she could see just how interested the vixen was in Nick and apparently Nick was equally interested in her.

She didn't know whether she wanted to cry or be furious with him. Soon it was the fury that won out. As she thought, I swear to god, I'm going to neuter his ass. She was seriously debating rolling the wheelchair back over his tail when he finally returned from the desk. She glanced up to see his head close to hers. She saw his eyes close before she heard him inhale deeply and saw a smile come to his face. His head vanished from her view, and she felt the wheelchair start to move. They had only moved a few feet when she heard the vixen at the desk, cursing in a quiet but angry voice, "God damn, perverted bunny chasing fox."

They were halfway to the elevator when she felt and saw the badge drop into her lap.

…

When they reached the elevator, Nick moved forward and glanced at Judy as he went to press the button and froze as he saw her ears were down as she avoided his gaze. Then he noticed the tear running down her cheek.

"Judy, what's wrong?"

"That hurt me, Nick. That hurt so much."

Nick's eyes went wide, and he knelt down next to her, "Judy, I'm so sorry. I saw her badge coming in and thought it would come in handy tonight. I'm so used to just acting when an opportunity arises. I just did it without thinking. She was nothing but a mark, I swear."

"I know, I realized that afterward, but it still hurt," She glanced at him, then looked away, "It still hurts. Would you be comfortable with me hitting on and touching a handsome bunny in front of you just to get a stupid ID card?"

He cupped her cheek and turned her head towards him, "Of course I wouldn't, I would be hurt and angry." He gave her a small smile, "If that happened, I would probably also be going to jail for beating the crap out that bunny. I really am sorry. I will try to make sure it never happens again, and if it ever does you have my permission to stomp on my tail to get my attention, okay?"

Judy looked at him with a small smile as she wiped away a tear, "You were lucky this time, I was seconds away from running it over with the wheelchair."

"And I would have deserved it," Nick chuckled as he kissed her. He was starting to pull away when the thought of Judy with a male bunny flashed in his head, without thinking leaned in and began to rub his muzzle along her cheek. He suddenly realized what he was about to do and jerked his head back. His ears folded back and his eyes wide.

"I'm sorry Judy, I didn't mean to do that."

Judy was puzzled, as she saw the fear in Nick's eyes.

"It's okay, Nick, what's wrong?" She saw Nick start to relax at her response.

Nick just shook his head, "I'm sorry, but I'm just not doing anything right tonight, am I?"

He stood up and glanced at the elevator, "So are you ready to go up or do you need a few minutes?"

"Let's go."

Nick reached out and pressed the elevator button.

As they waited for the elevator. Judy asked, "So, did you really need to steal her ID?"

"Borrow Judy, I borrowed her ID, and I fully intend on returning it after I'm done with it."

"Nick, the last time I checked, when you borrow something the owner is supposed to give it willingly."

"She liked me. She probably would have."

"She was cursing you out when we left."

"Oh well, it's too late now," as he pushed the wheelchair into the elevator and pressed the button for the top floor.

"Nick, she's only 30 steps away."

Nick paused until the doors closed before replying, "Nope, definitely too late."

As they rode the elevator up, Judy asked, "Nick, she said something pretty bad about you when we were walking away. How did she know about us?"

He shrugged, "The same way she knew that I wasn't interested in her. She could smell my excitement when I inhaled your scent, but not hers."

"So I excite you, and she doesn't?"

"Absolutely," as he leaned in and kissed her between her ears.

What he had said suddenly hit her and Judy groaned, "So wait a minute. You're telling me that you know every time I'm…," her eyes opened wide, and she blushed, thinking of all the times over the past couple days she had been thinking about Nick and what kinds of thoughts they were.

"Uh," Nick pushed the elevator button several times, thinking open damn it, he was getting decidedly uncomfortable with where this conversion was heading. The doors opened, and he pushed the chair out before the doors had a chance to fully open. "We really should hurry, I'm pretty sure we're running late."

He could hear the anger rising in her voice, "Nick, this conversion is not over. You are going to tell me exactly what that nose of yours is capable of detecting."

Nick sighed in relief, as they reached Bogo's office door. "Of course Judy, we can discuss it tomorrow."

"Fine, but don't think you are off the hook mister, we are going to have that conversion."

As Nick knocked on the door, he thought, now all I have to do is to find a cooperative mole who can do me the favor of shooting me before tomorrow.

…

Bogo looked up from his desk as he watched the two mammals enter his office. He had not been expecting this. He wondered whose idea the wheelchair was since he had to admit, it was a good one. It certainly was in line with the cover story.

His eyes studied the fox, knowing that if he had walked past Nick on the street, he probably wouldn't have recognized him. It wasn't just the makeup and glasses. The fox carried himself and moved differently than he had seen in the past. More like a business executive, he stood straight, and all of his movements were precise and thought out.

Bogo got up, "Both of you stay here. I'm going to locate Wolford since I want him to sit in on this meeting. I'm also going to get a couple of officers to watch the door for when we go and check out the surveillance room."

Nick asked, "Chief, while you are gone, would you mind bringing back some water for Judy? She is going to need to take her medication soon."

Bogo just nodded as he headed out the door, "Certainly."

Once the door closed, Judy turned to Nick, "What medication? We already agreed I wasn't going to take any today so it wouldn't affect me while we are working the case."

Nick grinned at her and immediately headed for Bogo's chair. "I want him away for as long as possible."

Judy watched as Nick scrambled up into Bogo's chair. He stood on the chair and started searching the chief's desk.

"Nick, whatever you're doing, you're going to get caught, and then I'm going to get in trouble for it."

"Just blame it on me, it's not like you could stop me with that leg of yours."

She shook her head as Nick continued rifling through Bogo's desk.

After a minute Nick stopped and laughed, "Why is it that so many mammals write down their account and password? Is it really, that hard of a thing to remember?"

She heard Nick typing on the keyboard. "Nick, he's going to arrest you if he catches you on his computer. What are you looking for anyway?"

"I just want to check his emails for the last month to see if there is any connection to Bellwether."

Judy considered it, "Okay, but hurry it up."

After several minutes Nick sighed, "Nothing, there are a couple of emails between the two, but it is just standard work stuff."

"Well, if you're done, then get down here before he gets back."

Nick checked the desk making sure everything was where it originally was. Then he smiled down at Judy, "We probably still have a few more minutes, so want to check out his internet history? I'm more than a little curious, aren't you?"

…

Wolford was the first to enter the office as Bogo was out in the hall giving instructions to the two officers that would be guarding the door.

As he came in, he saw Judy in a wheelchair in front of Bogo's desk and a fox crouched next to her. He had barely entered the office when the fox shot to his feet and moved placing his body directly between himself and Judy.

"Relax, Nick. That's Wolford."

"I know who he is."

Wolford noticed that the fox didn't budge. What was odd was he didn't recognize the fox. Then Wolford caught the fox's scent, and recognition dawned on him. While he looked different, this was the insane fox that had climbed the pipe at the museum. The one Judy had said had helped her crack the case and had saved her life.

Judy hit Nick's leg. "Move out of the way, Nick. I want to see Wolford."

Nick sighed and moved to the side.

Wolford walked over, crouched down and took Judy's paw, "It's good to see you again Judy, how are you doing?"

She smiled at him, "Just a little banged up, but I'm recovering."

Wolford was close enough the catch both of their scents. What was surprising was how thoroughly intermingled their scents where. It was not the kind of thing that could happen with a simple casual contact between two mammals.

He handed her a water bottle, "The Chief said you needed this."

She took the bottle and placed it in her lap, "Thanks."

As Wolford took a seat in front of the desk, he saw that Nick was casually wandering around the office.

Bogo entered and took a seat at his desk and looked at both of his officers, "So, any suggestions on how we are going to root out the moles?"

Judy shrugged, "I have been thinking about it for a while, and it shouldn't be that hard. If Nick can figure out the issue with the building's surveillance system and we can fix it, then we can set up a trap for them."

"What are you proposing?" asked Chief Bogo.

"Pretty simple actually, we check in a set of fake evidence into the evidence room and then monitor who accesses it. Then interrogate that mammal to learn if there are others."

As Judy was talking, Nick walked over to the safe and examined the front of it for several seconds before pulling out his phone and starting to type on it.

"And what do we do if that doesn't work?"

"Then during the day shift when the facility is at its busiest, we secure the exits and leak that that Bellwether has made a deal and has named several mammals as being moles and that the building is going to go into lockdown shortly so they can be apprehended. Then we see who bolts for an exit."

"Unfortunately, with that plan, we will probably catch a bunch of other employees that just don't want to get stuck in the lockdown or really do need to exit the building, so it will be harder to sort out who the real moles are. But at least we would have a smaller group of mammals to investigate."

"Your first plan is pretty much in line with what Wolford and I had discussed earlier. So I think we will try it first," the water buffalo conceded, before adding, "assuming that Nick can determine the issues with the building's surveillance system and fix it. Well, Nick, do you think you can do it?"

Nick wandered over to where Judy was sitting, "Probably, though I won't know for sure until I can figure out what exactly is wrong."

Bogo started to get up, "Okay, let me show you two to the surveillance room."

"Not yet, I want to secure the safe first."

"Nick, I already told you that is a top of the line safe. They shouldn't be able to get into it."

Nick grinned and winked at Judy, "Chief, twenty bucks says I can open it first try."

Judy glared at him, "No Nick. You are not going to hustle the Chief by intentionally failing and then raising the stakes."

Nick put his paws on his hips and frowned at her, "Well, obviously I'm not, now. I will have you know. I could have easily gotten enough for us to go out for a nice dinner and maybe even a movie."

"Okay Nick, new rule, no hustling any members of the ZPD. I need to work with them, and I don't need you pissing any of them off."

"Fine, but you do realize you are taking all of the fun out of this operation don't you?"

"Too bad, now show us what a clever fox you are and open the safe."

He flashed a grin at Judy, "Okay, time me Carrots."

Judy chuckled and pulled out her phone as she watched Nick stretching and cracking the knuckles in his paws as he walked over to the safe.

"Ready, go."

Nick put his ear to the safe then started turning the dial.

Bogo shook his head, "That isn't going to work Nick, that model of safe is specifically designed to mask the sound of the tumblers."

They all watched as Nick stop turning the dial, then moved it back slowly in the opposite direction, then finally dialed it again in the original direction.

Bogo sighed, "Are you done playing around, Nick? Can we get on with what you are here for?"

"Absolutely," he turned the handle, and they all heard the loud 'thunk' of the lock releasing before the door swung open.

Judy laughed, "Twenty seconds."

"Damn, I'm getting rusty."

Bogos eyes were wide, "That's not possible."

"It's all in the wrist, though the incredible hearing, sense of touch, and paw to eye coordination that we foxes have, certainly helps. It's why we are the best species to have around when you need something important done."

"Okay Nick, enough messing around with him. Tell him what you did."

"Judy, I have no idea what you're talking about," he replied in a mock tone.

"Nick, do you really think I didn't notice you examining the safe and looking something up on your phone while I was explaining my plans?"

He chuckled at her, "That's my bunny."

"Okay, it's called Locksmithing 101. A lot of safe manufacturers add a secret master combination to their safes just in case the owner loses the existing combination. Those master combinations are top secret and only authorized locksmiths have access to them," he shrugged, "so of course, they can readily be found in various forums on the internet within weeks of a new model being released. It only took me a minute to determine the make and model of safe then, less than that to look up its master combination on the internet."

"It's possible that the moles are unaware of this. But even if they are, I suspect this safe has already been used for a while somewhere in this building. So, who knows how many mammals may already know its combination. I'm sorry, but I'm not willing to stake our lives on it."

"So, as I said before, I'm going to secure the safe as best as I can."

He walked over to the wheelchair, "Okay Carrots, get up for a minute."

"It's about time. My leg is falling asleep."

As Judy removed the blanket, Bogo could see there was a small gym bag hanging under the elevated leg rest that was supporting her leg. When Nick helped her out of the chair, Bogo noticed that she had also been sitting on another bag. His eyes narrowed as he could just make out a third bag suspended under the wheelchair. His first thought was, "Just how many things did they sneak into this building?" While the second was, that he needed to review the building security plans once this mess was straightened out.

Nick removed the small gym bag from the leg rest and pulled out two devices. "These are simple battery powered motion activated alarms. What's nice about them is that the alarm is a compressed air horn. So I can guarantee that if one of these goes off, it will be audible anywhere in the building," he grinned, "I suspect it will also be a real eye opener for whoever opens the safe. I would recommend that if any of us needs to open the safe that whoever does it, should be wearing some serious hearing protection when they do."

Bogo asked, "Can you adjust the time before the alarms go off?"

'You can, in increments of 30 seconds, but I wouldn't recommend having any delay. If whoever opens the safe sees them, they can quickly turn them off or break them. They are just cheap commercial alarms after all."

"Well, I don't want to alert everyone in the building that they are there if we do need to get into the safe, so please set them with a 30-second delay."

"Fine," Nick adjusted the alarms and placed them on different shelves. Bogo and Wolford then confirmed the contents of the safe and examined the devices ensuring they knew how to disable them. Nick then bent down and reached into to activate the alarms, his claw brushing over the delay setting on each device just before activating them. Once he set everything, he quickly closed and locked the safe.

Bogo clenched his hoof as he watched the fox bending over and activating the alarm. He hadn't noticed it before because of the loose fit of the scrubs he was wearing, but with Nick crouched down Bogo could see the noticeable outline of a pistol in the small of his back.

Nick stood up and turned to Bogo, "Well, now that that's taken care of, let's go check out your surveillance system."

Bogo held out his hoof, "First, hand over the gun, Nick."

Nick only smiled and shook his head, "No."

"Nick, there is no way I'm letting a civilian walk around my precinct armed."

Nick's grin widened, "Actually, you are going to since you have no choice in the matter."

Nick walked over to Judy and held out his paw to her.

Judy looked up at him, "Nick, are you sure about this?"

"Yes, and remember you agreed that I'm in charge of this part."

Judy sighed and pulled the folder out of the wheelchair's side pocket and handed it to him. Nick took it and handed it to Chief Bogo who didn't even bother to open it.

"So, what's this supposed to be?"

"That contains a copy of my concealed carry permit. There is also a copy of the contract between myself and the city of Zootopia as Officer Hopps' personal bodyguard. It also contains a copy my class A bodyguard license, which authorizes me to carry firearms into any public, private or governmental facility where my principal is located. That license allows me to discharge said firearms at anyone I deem to be a threat to myself or my principal. So no Chief, I will not be giving you any of the weapons I am carrying."

Bogo growled on hearing that the fox was most likely had more weapons on him than just the pistol he had seen, "I should throw you out of the building."

"That's your choice, and to tell you the truth, I would prefer you do that. It would be far safer for Judy than having her here. But I did agree to help, so the choice is yours."

Bogo's eyes narrowed on the fox, "Okay, we'll play it your way for now, but just be aware that both Wolford and I will be monitoring you closely and if either of us deems it necessary, we will toss your ass out of the building."

Nick only shrugged, "So how about showing us the surveillance room?"

…

Nick was following behind Bogo and Wolford as he pushed the chair at a slow pace, allowing a gap to form between them. He saw Judy glance at him and he lowered his head down next to hers.

She whispered in his ear, "So were you able to adjust the delay before activating them?"

He nodded and whispered back, "Yes, they're set for no delay, just like we planned."

She smiled and kissed his muzzle, "Good, it's up to you now Nick, to fix the surveillance system. Then we can bait the real trap."

Nick stood up straight and increased his pace moving to catch up with the two ZPD officers.

…

The Mayor looked up from her desk as her office door slammed open. She watched as the bunny walked over to the small bar in the corner. She winced at the screeching sound as he dragged a chair over to the bar, then jump onto it pouring two drinks. Her eyes followed him as he walked to her desk and then jumped on top of it. He walked to the center of her desk then sat down cross-legged on the papers she had just been reading.

She could see the fury in his eyes. "We need to talk Catherine," he stated as he handed her the larger of the two glasses.

She smiled at the bunny, "Sure, Simon, thanks for knocking, why don't you come in and we will chat." She sighed when she saw his look hadn't changed at all.

"Fine, but could you at least use one of the chairs?"

"No. I want to see your eyes. I've just spent the past hour on the phone with Doug Ramses' lawyer, the District Attorney, and the doctors working on the cure for the Night Howler serum. What the hell are you thinking not taking the deal?" he watched as she flinched and look away.

"I didn't tell them I wouldn't take the deal. I just told them I would consider it."

"Well, you've considered it. Now take the damn deal."

"Screw that, there's no way I am letting that ram off with fifteen to twenty years in prison. He shot 37 predators with that shit, turning them savage and he's responsible for over 100 mammals being injured from the resulting attacks. That bastard is going to spend the rest of his life rotting in jail." She leaned back in her chair downing half of her drink in a single swallow and glared at the bunny.

Simon sighed, "In a perfect world, I would agree, but this isn't one. Catherine, I've talked to the doctors."

"Well, so have I, and they still have time. There is nothing special about the night howler serum. It is just a highly concentrated form of the flower's toxin. A cure already exists. They just need to figure out how to scale it up."

"Catherine, the current cure is only good at expelling the toxin if a mammal has a small amount in their system. The affected predators have over twenty times that level in them. It's not going to work. Even if we had the cure now, the doctors say it will take weeks to remove the toxin from their systems. Meanwhile, it's doing God knows what to their brains. The doctors all agree if they don't start treatment soon, there is a chance those predators may remain savage even once the toxins are removed."

"Ramses claims to have developed a cure when he developed the night howler serum. We need that cure now. Besides, as part of the deal, he will reveal the identities of everyone he knows that was involved and will testify against them and Bellwether. It's a good deal."

She growled out, "The deal sucks."

Simon sipped at his drink, staring at her, "Fine have it your way. So do you want me to start scheduling in visits the with all of those predator's children so you can explain to them how you could have done something that would have allowed their mom or dad to get better and come home but instead chose not to?"

He watched as she sagged in the chair.

"Simon that's low, even for you."

"What can I say? I've learned from the best."

He took another sip before continuing, "Catherine you're in that seat for a reason. We have both sworn to do what's best for the citizens of this city, even if we don't like it."

She leaned back in the chair and closed her eyes for several minutes before sighing, "Go make the calls, tell them we accept the deal."

She opened her eyes and watched as Simon got up turned and walked off the front of her desk vanishing from sight. When he reappeared walking towards the door, she asked in a tired voice, "Simon, when we came up with this plan in your dorm room fifteen years ago, did you ever think we would make it this far?"

Simon smiled at her, "There was never a doubt in my mind."

Before leaving, he added, "I will tell you how everything went at the morning briefing. You will have a busy schedule tomorrow, and we still have a city to fix. So go home and get some rest, Catherine."