Ah, the adventure continues! The story is moving along nicely, hopefully you feel the same way! Thank you Whatabummer for editing! Feel free to comment, I always enjoy reading them!

I don't own zootopia.

Red Red Wine

Three mammals sat around two desks, wrapt in a dark cloud of silence that hung thickly between them. The precinct was mostly empty; a few of the night shift workers busied themselves with vacuuming the floors and emptying out the garbage bins. It had been a few hours since the Judy, Nick, and Peter had uncovered the victimology of their killer, and had informed the chief. Since then they had tossed around ideas to whittle away at their suspect list, with little success. For the last few hours the trio had lapsed into quiet, focused contemplation.

Nick stood up, grabbing his jacket and pushed in his chair, shaking his head. "Alright. We aren't getting anything productive done. It's still early enough to get a respectable dinner, so I say we call it for today."

The raccoon across from him sighed, taking off his glasses and rubbing his eyes. "That's probably a good call. I can hardly read any of these files at this point." Peter stood and grabbed his own coat, starting to stuff a few of the files into his bag.

"We've got food at home. I don't feel like eating out again." Judy said, turning towards Nick.

"That's a fair point. Any more fast food and we'll end up looking like that girl from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory that ate the blueberry pie thing,." Nick said, mimicking her waddle.

Judy ignored the red fox, turning back towards the raccoon. "You have a plan for dinner Peter?"

"I think I'm just gonna pick up some noodles from that Panda place on the corner. It's not too far from my hotel and it has good reviews," he replied, wrapping à scarf around his neck.

Judy nudged Nicks arm, tilting her head towards the raccoon with a questioning look. Nick gave a quick nod in agreement. "Why don't you join us?" Nick asked. "I'm sure you've had nothing but fast food since you got here, and we have more than enough."

The raccoon paused as he frowned slightly. "Are you sure? I don't want to impose."

"You wouldn't be imposing, we would love to have you over," Judy replied with a smile.

"Yes, we can spend the evening telling you stories about how great we are and having you agree! Oh just a heads up - we do require a $75 plate fee," Nick joked.

"$75 is too rich for my blood. How about instead I pick up a bottle of wine and I promise to listen to at least two stories," the raccoon shot back with a grin.

"Only if it's a nice chianti to pair with our Fava beans and liver! I've already sent ya the address Ringtail. We'll see ya there," the fox responded, winking as he started to walk out with Judy.

"Wait, we aren't actually eating liver, are we?" Peter asked, following the pair out.


"You have a lovely home!" Peter said, placing the bottle of red wine on the table. Setting his coat on a nearby chair, he looked around at the photos on the wall. "Are all of these of your family Judy?"

"Yup! With almost 300 siblings, the walls get filled really fast!" the rabbit replied.

"300 siblings, and yet you somehow have the same amount of photos of you and Nick as you do your entire family," Peter noted .

"I am more handsome than the rest of her family, so it's not that surprising!" Nick said as he walked out of the kitchen. He stopped in front of the table and picked the bottle off the table, nodding his approval. "And here I thought you said you were no wine expert!"

"I may have asked the lioness working what her recommendation would be," Peter replied sheepishly.

"Well she certainly knows how to pick a good one. Hope you like Ibixian. I'm making a white Alfredo sauce and linguini with some sautéed veggies," Nick said.

"I'm very easy going, I'll eat anything," he replied. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

Nick walked back into the room, setting a bowl down in the center of the table along with three plates. "Tell me I'm handsome and I cook good food."

The raccoon laughed as he took his seat. "The first would be better suited coming from Judy, and I'll reserve judgement of your cooking till I get to try it."

"Fair enough. You heard him Carrots, tell me I'm pretty," the fox said, his grin wide as he sat next to his bunny and began to plate food for the three of them

"You are beautiful hun," the rabbit replied, patting Nick's shoulder. "So Peter, tell us a bit about yourself. How'd you get into the field of studying serial killers?"

Peter smiled somewhat bashfully.

"Police work has always been something I've loved. I remember being a pre-teen, reading murder mysteries in the dark under my blankets with a flashlight. I'd map out the clues on a sheet of paper as I read, trying to guess the killer before the reveal," he replied, pouring wine into each of three glasses.

Judy chuckled and nodded, taking the glass. "I can relate to that, though I never mapped out the clues."

Nick leaned back in his chair as he nodded in bemusement. "I did something similar, but with movies and TV. My mom would work late, and while she was gone I'd put on the TV to one of the few channels that we got without cable. Lots of old police and serial killer classics. I loved watching the chess game between the killer and detective."

"Not nearly as fun in real life, is it?" Peter replied. "When I was 16, my parents went out on a date night ..."

The racoon seemed to shrink slightly, and swallowed thickly.

"They never came back. Drunk driver t-boned them on free freeway. Didn't suffer, thankfully. I was 16, so I was home alone. I found out when the officer knocked on my door. She was so concerned and gave me her personal number. I remember her checking up on me every week. That really kind of made an impression on me, and I decided that being an officer would be something I would pursue."

"I'm so sorry for your loss. I know what it's like to lose your parents," Nick offered sympathetically.

"Thanks, I appreciate that," he responded with a smile. "After I graduated high school, I immediately applied for the force. I just barely passed at the academy. It wasn't the knowledge part that was difficult, but as you can probably tell, I'm not exactly the top athlete. But my test scores for the written sections were top of the class."

"So I'm assuming you did your time as a beat cop and eventually worked your way up to detective?" Judy asked.

"Pretty much. What I lacked in tackling criminals I made up for in piecing together complex puzzles. The captain took notice of me after a few of the senior detectives I'd worked with said I'd helped them look at cases from a different perspective. Guess he was as tired of grilling me about my PT scores as I was trying to improve them. He figured my skills and talents would be better used as a part of the detective team."

"Wow. You're kind of like, if you took Judy but removed all the bad ass from her," Nick said grinning.

Judy's paw quickly connected with the fox's chest, shaking her head. "Don't be rude."

The raccoon laughed as he nodded. "It's fine Judy, it's not exactly a secret that I'm not a super cop."

"Yup! We got the only supercop right here in Zootopia's precinct one!" Nick said as he leaned back in his chair.

"I'm not a supercop," Judy replied, rolling her eyes as she finished her salad.

"Nobody said anything about it being a bunny, sweetheart. I'm obviously the supercop on the force," Nick jabbed back.

"Ignoring the big red oaf beside me, how did you make the jump from detective to serial killer profiling?" Judy asked.

"After a year and a half on the detective team, my captain came to me with an offer to join the bureau. I was already following some of the studies on criminal behaviors and applying it to my cases, so I jumped at the chance. I didn't have any family or really many friends, so packing everything up and moving wasn't a huge challenge for me," the raccoon said. With a soft chuckle he glanced up at the two mammals across from him. "I'm sorry I'm just spilling my soul to you guys, I didn't mean for this to turn into some soft of therapy session."

"It's the ears," Nick replied, pointing towards Judy. "They're so big you can't help but feel like talking because you know they'll have to listen."

The raccoon nooded, his laughter becoming slightly more boisterous as the night grew later and the bottle of wine dwindled. "You know, when I got this assignment I could not believe I would be working with you two. I was like a teenager when the Night Howler stuff was happening, but it's because of you two that I could even consider a life as a cop. You guys made it possible not just for smaller mammals to join the force, but also mammals that most others looked down upon. I'm part of the first generation of raccoons that aren't looked at as exclusively thieves. You two are like, celebrities! I mean, I literally had the ZPD recruitment poster of you two up in my room!" Peter eyes widened as he glanced down at the glass on his paw. "Well, I uh, didn't mean to share that much…I'm so sorry!"

Nicks paws flew above his head. "Hell ya! I made it into this kids wall!"

"Nick, we made it on to his wall," Judy said rolling her eyes. "It's nothing to apologize for Peter, it's honestly nice to hear we had an impact. It's part of why I fought to become a cop, to open the dream to others."

"Yes we both made it on the wall, but I'm more of an influence, didn't you listen? I broke stereotypes," Nick said, "Right Petey?"

"Don't you make me play favorites, that's not fair! You are both equally influential to me," he replied with a chuckle. "I've been curious though. If it was rough for me to be a small mammal on the force years after you two did, how was it for you being the first small police duo?"

"Oh it was far from easy, I can tell you that much!" Nick said, taking Judy's paw in his. "I know for myself, even if I had proven myself through the Night Howler case and made it through the academy, I still faced many officers that didn't trust me. I had a nice amount in my corner, but the whispers that traveled the halls and the side eyed looks spoke volumes. But with time and the assurance of Judy and some of the other officers, those dissipated until I was just another one of the family in blue."

"Even after the Nighthowler case, we were still looked down upon as weaker," Judy continued. "Looking back at it, they weren't entirely wrong. Sure, we had take down multiple criminals, and in our time as cops we've taken down numerous criminals larger than us. However, for many of those criminals, we had to be smart in our approach and a lot more cautious than other, larger officers might have had to be."

Nick nodded as he grinned. "Of course, they also quickly realized that having smaller officers had its merits. The number of small rabbits and weasels that can get away from a lumbering rhino is outstanding. They are a tank of a mammal, but are terrible at maneuvering. I once watched a ferret hid from a rhino by staying just behind the outline of his horn! That is not something we would ever have to deal with."

"What about when you two started dating? Surely there was some interesting conversations after you two were official," the raccoon said, finishing off his glass of wine.

Judy chuckled and shrugged. "Not too big of a deal to be honest. Most people already thought of us as a couple and were surprised it took as long as it did. There was a few remarks about us finally facing the inevitable, but for the most part nothing changed."

"Nothing changed at all?" the racoon asked, his words slurring just a touch as he tapped his fingers on the table.

"Well obviously a few things changed. We went from two beds to one, so that gave us a whole extra guest room!" Nick said with a grin. "But as far as work and daily life, no not much changed. We were already so close, that there wasn't much of a difference to how we acted. A few stolen kisses or a holding of the paw, but we swore to each other we would keep it professional at work."

Nick leaned forward, clasping his paws together as he gave the raccoon a knowing smile. Peter shank back in his seat under the foxes gaze, an unsure look flashing across his face.

"So," Nick began, "Who's the lucky lady?"

"I'm not sure what you're talking about," Peter sheepishly replied, avoiding the foxes piercing gaze. Judy chuckled as she shook her head watching the pieces of the past hour click into place in the foxes mind.

"Oh come on Petey! No one is that curious about a couples day to day life unless they are contemplating a similar situation," Nick countered.

The raccoon stared blankly and blinked for a moment, before he sighed and rubbed a paw across his eyes. "Your ability to stare into people's lives and dissect their words and actions is extremely annoying, you know that? Her name is Megan. She's an otter at the precinct I used to work at, one of the dispatchers. We were always pretty good friends, and I thought about asking her out, but I was always too worried it would mess how well we worked together. I'm not sure if hearing how well it worked out for you two makes me feel better or worse about it all," he replied.

"It's never too late you know. Maybe once we wrap up this case, you can bring her to Zootopia for a double date with us," Judy suggested, standing up to start clearing the dishes. "We always enjoy having friends over."

"You'd consider me a friend?" The racoon asked, his eyes widening slightly.

"Eh, jury's still out for me," Nick replied teasingly.

"As always, ignore him. Either of you want tea or coffee?" Judy asked.

A soft chime caused Nick to pull his phone out of his pockets, frowning as he read the message on the screen. Tapping the link sent to him from Clawhauser, the voices of the ZNN nightly report filled the room.

"Aw crap," Nick said, turning the phone towards the raccoon. "You might want to give Bogo a call."

Displayed on the screen above the faces of the ZNN crew, read a bold headline: ZPD investigation links murders to a possible serial killer.

"At this time there has been no real information from the ZPD, but sources tell us that at least 4 people have been murdered. The murders have been connected from what seems to be a signature of sorts, with the killer engraving a number into the back of the victims. Our source tells us that while there hasn't been any real leads, the ZPD has brought in a specialist to help catch this killer. We will update this story as more information is released. Until then we would like to talk to Jeffrey Hudson, a criminal justice professor at Harevard University, and get his thoughts on the-"

Nick shut the phone off biting his lip as he looked up at Peter.

"How long ago was this aired?" Peter asked. However relaxed the wine had made the raccoon, there was no trace of it now. He was back to his usual crisp professionalism.

"About a half hour ago," Nick replied, checking the time on the site. "How bad is this?"

Peter looked up at the two detectives, drumming his paw on the table as he shook his head. "Not great. Honestly, this could draw one of two reactions. This could scare the killer into backing off for a bit, but when we comes back he'll come back with a vengeance. Or it'll send him into an angry fury, trying to complete his mission before we can get closer. I need to call Bogo, we need to diffuse the the media and public, and we need to do it fast," the racoon said, pulling his own phone out, stepping into the living room.

Nick glanced up at Judy, a weary look in his eyes as he frowned. "The media always makes things more difficult."

Judy nodded as she squeezed his shoulder. A few minutes later Peter walked back into the dining room. "Commissioner Bogo is already working with media relations on an official response. As for us, all questions should be directed back to media relations. We need to keep things short and not give up to much information on where we are with the case."

"Well this is all just fantastic. This means someone is selling information about our case to the media as well!" Nick grumbled.

"Leave that to Internal Affairs hun, that's not our department. We'll talk to the captain tomorrow on how we can keep the rest of what we find as restricted in access as we can, but our main job is catching the murderer, not chasing after possible holes in our department," Judy said.

The ringing of Judy's phone killed Nick's snarky remark before it could leave his lips. Judy checked the caller ID and answered the phone on speaker. "Captain Slott. I have you on speaker with Wilde and Baxter. what can I help you with sir?"

"Oh good, you're all together. That saves me a phone call. I'm sure you two already saw the news, but unfortunately that's not why I'm calling. We have another body," the captain replied.

"Already? His time table seems to be speeding up," Judy muttered aloud.

"There is a bit of an unexpected twist to this one however," the bear said, a hint of exhaustion evident in his tone. "The murder was committed in Bunny Burrow."

"Bunny Burrow? That doesn't make any sense - that is wildly outside of his normal radius!" Peter said with a confused frown.

"Right. Like I said, unexpected twist. Bogo and I are dealing with the media, but we want you three to head down to Bunny Burrow to check out the newest addition to this nightmare of murders. This one feels off, and I'm concerned he might be escalating his timeline. The ME will fill you guys in on the rest when you arrive. Call me if you need anything," the captain instructed, before hanging up the phone.

Nick broke the silence as he stood up and gave a strained smile. "Well…. Think your Mom will let me have any blueberries?"