A/N

Sorry for the delay, someone bought tea instead of coffee. Simply doesn't work as well. I know you all are probably complaining that it's been forever since I updated, (the pirates are) so here you go. Now give me my damn coffee please.

…

Also on a cool note, there turns out to be these nifty newfangled group things called 'communities' on FanFiction. My encyclopedia (yes I still have a hardcopy encyclopedia, stop laughing), was not able to explain this internet phenomenon. So I grabbed my caveman's club and cautiously went exploring to figure out why it appeared two 'communities' had claimed this story. Did my story cause a war between two 'communities'? (cool) Was I being subjugated (again) and going to owe them taxes? (that would be bad) Did they have coffee? (I hope so). Well it turns out they seem to be spots to collect like minded stories or maybe the evolution of the good old reading clubs/circles. You clever little Neanderthals and your 'agriculture' and 'internet', constantly having new ideas (Shakes head in amused exasperation)

So this story now has proud citizenship in 'Savage Wilde' and 'Zootropolis Public Library' communities, how cool is that?

Also Disney sent Boba Fett after me. Too bad for them we're old friends. We had a fun lunch and swapped stories. I almost got him to get me out of here, but the pirates paid him double my offer not to, damn it.

Disclaimer: Gonna have to try better than that! HA!

Chapter 19 – A New Job

"WILDE, HOPPS. MY OFFICE NOW!"

Judy flinched at the shout. She'd been yelled at plenty of times by large mammals at the academy and that had never phased her. But Chief Bogo somehow managed to get the same reaction of dread out of her that her mother did when preparing to scold her for something she'd done. Her mind stuck between the thoughts of her mother and the Chief conjured an image of a mad squeaking rabbit sized Chief Bogo in her mom's carrot apron and she almost laughed at the ridiculousness of it, but the guilty terrified portion of her mind absolutely squashed the reaction. If Chief Bogo was anything like her mom, then antagonizing him would be a bad, bad idea.

Clawhauser, who also looked a little cowed at the angry shout, gave them a smile and a thumbs-up as Judy lead Nick past him toward the chief's office.

Nick who was looking as calm and unfazed as he normally did, shot Clawhauser a cock-sure grin and two fingered salute in return.

When they got to the chief's door, Judy knocked twice.

And there was an immediate and gruff, "Enter."

Nick without a word lifted Judy up to sit on his shoulders. She reached up, grabbing the door handle and twisted while Nick moved back, opening it. She was about to jump down but felt Nick place his paws on her legs to hold her in place as he walked into the office and over to the too large chair in front of the chief's desk, where he released her so she could clamber onto the uncomfortably hard surface of the unpadded seat. After she was seated Nick jumped up in a graceful leap and settled next to her. He didn't hold her paw but she could feel his tail wrap around her, as he gave the chief a smirk and said, "Long time, no see Boss mammal."

The chief hadn't said a word about their unorthodox entrance but narrowed his eyes at Nick's comment. He slowly reached up and took the reading glasses off. Setting them slowly and carefully on the side of his desk, he looked at them and in a calm voice, like the thin ice covering a raging river started, "Hopps, you want to be a police officer correct?"

Judy's paw was trying to sneak its way over to Nick's, but she stopped the motion and instead, casually laid her other paw on Nick's tail tip at her side, before speaking up in a slightly nervous voice, "Yes, sir."

"You want to make police detective someday, right?" Chief Bogo said, voice still as pleasant as frozen water, eyes unmoving.

"Yes, sir." Judy's ears were down and plastered to her back now.

"Then let's see how good those detective skills are, shall we?" Judy was sure the rooms temperature dropped a few degrees. She just nodded this time.

"So tell me what conclusions you draw from this. Officer Clawhauser, the front desk officer, receives an anonymous tip of a gang shakedown. The officers that respond not only find the gang members but a certain bunny and fox who are coincidentally friends of said front desk officer. The couple who were apparently there just to get popsicles, seemed to have not only inadvertently interrupted a shakedown but then out of purely self-defense subdued most of the criminals."

Judy was surprised that there wasn't frost forming in the room, "Umm, sir, well…"

Nick piped up with a smug tone, "Well it's obvious that the store owner, getting robbed of valuable popsicles, anonymously called their biggest customer who happened to be on the police force, and the unlucky couple at the shop was just protecting themselves."

Judy felt the winter gale of Bogo's gaze shift over to Nick. There was a creak and pop from the chief's neck muscles like that of cracking ice as his gaze turned to settle on its new target.

"Wilde, where were you and your mate a few hours ago?"

Nicks tail curled in a bit more around Judy, but his hustler face was holding under Chief Bogo's barrage.

"Just checking out of the hospital."

"And," The chief's gaze hardened though Judy hadn't thought that was possible a moment before. Nick's mask was starting to show a few cracks, "what is your wife's condition right now? Is she fully recovered?"

Nicks ears dropped, and in a smaller voice he simply said, "No."

"That was stupidly reckless of you two. Calling the police was the right move, but you should not have gotten involved, and if Hopps," he shifted and gave her a blast of his gaze again, "felt like she had to do something, then you two could have stayed back and just taken video to give to us. Getting involved in a situation for the police especially when you're not even fully recovered was dangerous."

Nick, eyes still downcast, tried to rally, "Judy's still on the force right now, she's just inactive."

Judy could hear the chief's molars grind for a moment before he grunted, "Not anymore." and slapped down two pieces of paper in front of them. Nick grabbed them and his face went blank; he handed them over to her to read. One was her official discharge form and the other was a letter from the academy informing Nick that due to policy change it was forced to rescind his acceptance.

Bogo sighed, His demeanor losing some of its frigidness. And punched a button on his battered looking desk phone.

"Clawhauser!" The chief barked, "Come up here."

A nervous voice said, "Yes, chief!" through the tinny speaker.

"Hopps, Wilde. Excuse me for a second, Clawhauser has to run some paperwork down to the administration department." The chief looked at Nick expectantly.

His ears perked up a bit and he pulled out the packet of forms they'd been reviewing earlier at the diner.

"Oh, ah Sir, we had some paperwork that'll need to be approved by the police department. We were going to drop it off at the administration office but if you," Chief Bogo reached over grabbing the packet. With startling efficiency, he daintily placed his reading glasses on the bridge of his nose and scanned the documents. His rapidly shifting eyes stopped for a second as he seemed to reread a single line before he grunted, "WildeHopps" and continued. He finished, pulled out a stamp, and with enough force that the heavy desk bounced, stamped a few of the sheets before writing a note and sticking it on top of the packet which he dropped on top of a stack of other papers in the corner of his desk.

"Since you just happen to be here already, I can approve it directly. The ZPD extends its congratulations to the latest two mammals to be approved as fugitive recovery agents of Zootopia. However, be aware that while it grants additional privileges to your new status as private detectives it also puts your actions involving any fugitives under the oversight of the Zootopia police department."

There was a knock on the door, and the chief barked, "Enter."

Clawhauser came in, looked at her and Nick and then at the chief, and stood to attention, though his tail was whipping back and forth in a nervous erratic fashion.

"You asked for me Chief?"

"Yes, I understand there was an unusual anonymous tip that you received a little while ago." The chief said sternly looking at him.

Clawhauser tail twitched at that and he quickly glanced at Judy, eyes wide, before turning back to the chief and squeaked, "There was, Chief."

"Well, the source turned out to have provided some good information. I don't care why whoever they were decided to contact us in such an unusual fashion, but if you get any additional anonymous tips make sure to forward them on, understood?"

The much relieved looking Clawhauser chirped a happy, "Yes, Chief!"

"Now, please take this stack of paperwork," he gestured at the stack which he'd dropped their forms on, "to the administration department and have them deal with it promptly, dismissed."

Clawhauser grabbed the stack and gave Judy and Nick another bright smile and a wink as he headed out the door.

Chief Bogo reached underneath his desk and dropped a small box in front of them. This time Judy beat Nick to it. Inside it there were two police style wallets. When she flipped one open, the top half contained a clear plastic sleeve showing a card with her photo on it and identifying her as one Judith Laverne Wilde, a licensed private investigator and certified fugitive recovery agent. It also had a section giving her license information for class 2 weapons and concealed carry permit. The bottom of the flip wallet held a metal shield, similar to but different from her previous police officer's badge, with the words 'Fugitive Recovery Agent' and her name and new license number stamped into it. It reminded Judy more of the badges she'd see watching old western movies that the sheriffs and deputies wore. She opened the second wallet and saw it was Nick's; the only difference was his did not have any weapons license on it.

The chief had apparently caught something in her expression as she with Nick leaning over her shoulder examined the wallets, because he spoke up.

"Hopps your police training prequalified you for everything, however Wilde has no documented weapons training on file. His weapons license and carry permit is pending the completion of a written and practical examination. Drill Sergeant Friedkin from the ZPD Academy is overseeing a round of cadet weapon examinations this Friday and has offered to let Wilde sit in and take it since he is an official fugitive recovery agent, I'd suggest you take this opportunity rather than waiting." Chief Bogo looked hard at Nick, emphasizing the last portion.

Judy certainly remembered Friedkin, the phrase, 'You're dead' might as well have been engraved into her ears from how many times the instructor had yelled that at her. Friedkin cared about one thing and one thing only and that was competence. She didn't care if you were an elephant or a bunny, if you failed to meet the standards she required, then you failed. She would cut Nick no slack what-so ever in his examination and three days was a very, very short time to try and train someone to Friedkin's high standards. Judy wasn't sure it was possible, so why was Chief Bogo pushing him to try so soon?

Nick seemed to have a similar concern, he raised his hand almost like a kit in school but with his smarmy grin back, "Um, Chief sir. Why that one? Couldn't I take an examination in a week or two or say three? I'm pretty sure it'd be wise to, oh train a bit beforehand."

"Yes, it would advisable to train beforehand. I'd suggest starting as soon as possible." Bogo dropped a heavy book that was awfully familiar to Judy in front of Nick. "You'll be cut no slack in the examination. That's the academy handbook that was assigned to you before your application was rescinded. The last quarter is everything you need to know for the weapons exam."

"Last quarter?!" Nick bit off, looking at the thick book.

Chief Bogo continued right over him, "I suggest you also go to one of the weapons and defense schools in the city to use their ranges and get as much practice as you can. You could always sign up to take one of the certification tests they usually offer quarterly but it would be wiser to have all your paperwork completed and filed away before something happens to slow it down." The chief emphasized again giving Nick a very pointed look.

Nick seemed to understand something Judy didn't, because he nodded his head with a muttered, "Oh."

Chief Bogo leaned forward grabbing their attention again. He didn't have the anger underlying his voice like he had before but he was still dead serious.

"I need to make some things clear to you two. First, those," he nearly jabbed the badge wallets in Judy's paws with his hoof while pointing, "are NOT police badges. You need to understand exactly what you can and can't do with those. If you break the law even if it is for a good reason, I'll be forced to either suspend or revoke your licenses. Do I make myself clear?"

Both Judy and Nick nodded their heads.

"You two may have some friends in the police department, but that will not mean you can pull favors like getting access to our records or resources. You two will have to play by the rules, just like everyone else. If you don't it won't come back to just hurt you, but also whoever in the department helped you." He turned and looked right at Nick, "Don't rut up again like with your taxes, in fact I'd suggest you play it a bit safer than you're used to. If you mess up now, you're going to hurt more than just yourself."

Nick looked at her with far more emotion slipping through to his face than she was used to seeing, before he looked back to Chief Bogo, and gave one clear nod.

"The department has gone out on a limb to try and get you two on the force with this legal proceeding we've started. You two have come to the attention of quite a few mammals through your recent actions, and there are a number of those mammals, some even in high places, that for one reason or another have it in for you two. So you need to watch each other's backs and don't do anything stupid."

Chief Bogo leaned back in his chair.

"Since you two were part of breaking the Nighthowler conspiracy you should also be aware that Doug, Bellwether's chemist, has not been apprehended."

This came as a shock to Judy. Bellwether might have been the mastermind, but Doug had been the one with all the knowledge and ability to refine the flowers into something far more dangerous. Having him on the loose certainly made her uneasy.

"Also Bellwether had a source or sources of funding we haven't been able to identify. That piece of information is confidential and only being shared with you because it is possible that you may be targeted for your role in upsetting her plans. We don't have any evidence to support it or to place you two in protective custody even if you wanted it but you should be aware of the possibility.

The uneasy feeling had settled into one of queasiness in her gut at that. She felt Nicks paw quickly take hers and give it a squeeze before releasing it.

"I expect you two to call us if anything happens. I don't care if it is so much as an odd coincidence or a gut suspicion. The police cannot shield you from political pressures and annoyances but we can and will damn well protect our citizens from any threat of harm." Chief Bogo finished with a tone of absolute certainty, like he was daring the universe to try and prove him wrong and was ready to pummel it into submission if it did.

After he was sure his message had sunk in he gave a snort and picked up another file on his desk, "Now I still have work to do, so scram"

Nick took the police academy book and the box with their new badges before he got off the chair and helped Judy down to the ground. He moved to the side with her injured leg and wrapped his arm around her shoulder and lead them to the door.

This time Nick jumped up grabbed the handle and while twisting it pushed off the wall to open the door. He dropped down and rejoined Judy. Right before the door closed Chief Bogo spoke up again.

"See Clawhauser on your way out. Oh, and Hopps make sure to teach Wilde right, so he doesn't tranq himself in front of Friedkin."

That and Nick's grumble at the comment almost made her smile, but she still had that that queasy feeling in the pit of her stomach from the news about Bellwether's funding and Doug's escape. She'd been so certain that it was all over. It should have been over. But to find out now that it wasn't…

The stop near the end of the hallway jarred her out of her spiraling thoughts, which promptly scattered with Nick's sudden passionate kiss. The feel of his mouth against hers, the heat from his body as he pulled her into the kiss, the scent of her fox temporarily overpowered everything else.

It's absence as sudden as it's arrival, left her reeling. Her ears shot straight up as her mind reengaged and she quickly looked up and down the empty hallway to see if there were any mammals who'd seen them.

"Nick! Cheese and Crackers! What were you thinking, doing that here?"

Nick was grinning down at her now. "Well, I can't have my bunny all sad and gloomy now, it simply isn't right. I don't care where we are, if something manages to get to you and hurt your optimistic happy spirit than I'll be forced to take emergency actions to fix it, no matter how drastic." He grinned more and leaned down to plant a quick kiss on her nose which had started twitching as she looked around.

Judy punched him lightly in the arm and grumbled, "Stupid fox." She wanted to feel angry at him for kissing her in the precinct but she had to admit that she did feel a bit better now.

Nick made a show of rubbing his arm and moaning before coming back to her side and wrapping his arm back around her. He started guiding her toward the precincts central atrium.

"That news about Bellwether come as a shock?" Nick asked her, the playfulness in his tone gone.

Judy sighed, "Yes, I just thought it was all behind us. You seem to be taking the news well though."

Nick shrugged, "I was half expecting it. That kind of operation couldn't have been funded on an assistant mayor's salary."

Judy put her paw over her face in frustration, "I should have noticed that. But now there are probably mammals out there who might try to continue dividing the city, and there's nothing we can do about it!" Judy said exasperatedly as they entered the elevator to go down to the first floor of the atrium where the front desk was.

"There isn't?" Nicks sarcastic response surprised her. She looked up at his grinning face.

"Nick you heard Chief Bogo, we're not police officers!"

Nick brought a claw up and scratched his chin as if thinking. "Humm, I guess you're right." He pulled out his wallet and took out the check the chief had given him yesterday and handed it to her.

She looked at it in confusion. "What's this for?"

"I want to hire you." He said with a grin.

"Hire me? hire me for what?" she asked having no idea what he was up to.

He pulled out the flip wallet with her new badge and gave it to her. "Well, that says that you're a private detective. I have reason to believe that there are mammals that are out to get me and my wife." He pointed his claw at her. "So, I'm hiring you to find out who they are, and bring proof of it to the police."

Judy looked between Nick and the check a few times in shock. "You want to hire me?" She looked back at the check, and as an afterthough said, "For a dollar and thirty two cents?"

The elevator doors opened and Nick left in an exaggerated huff, "fine, Fine. You know that you're awfully greedy for a P.I., you're going to bankrupt me, but I'll double that once the jobs done. Now will you take it or not?" He stood facing her from the lobby, he looked as if she was skinning him alive with the price haggling.

Judy looked back down at the check. She could feel the warm glow of affection for her fox grow stronger and hotter. Whenever she thought she'd hit a dead end, he'd pull that smirk of his, make some sort of joke and come up with some half crazy plan. No matter the situation he was there for her, and she loved him for that. She smiled and tucked the check into her pocket before stepping out of the elevator.

She stopped next to him and looked up, "Alright, I'll take the job, but" she started walking away, leaving him behind. She wasn't surprised to see his nose twitch and then flare as he sniffed the air. With all the heated feelings that were bouncing around in her she'd expected he'd be able to pick up on it. "I'll expect some bonuses for taking this job, and if I've bankrupted you, you'll have to find some other way to pay me." She smirked back at him and twitched her tail for good measure. Nick dropped the book he'd been holding, as he stared at her retreating form mouth now hanging slightly ajar. It took him a few seconds before he managed break out of his stupor. And he scrambled to pick up the book and hurry back to her side.

Judy was feeling happy and rather smug as Nick nearly plastered himself to her side, in his supposed act of supporting her injured leg. She could feel him rumbling softly. That, she thought to herself, couldn't have worked any better.

She looked forward and the smugness vanished, though the happy feeling refused to go.

In front of them Clawhauser was standing behind the front desk bouncing in place as his eyes tracked their every movement. He had both paws on his cheeks and he looked like he was going red from holding in his breath. Judy saw his mouth open and cringed.

A/N

Bit shorter than what I'm trying for with the new chapters, but this was just too good of a spot to stop. *smirk*

I was going try put in a snippet her from the song 'bad boys' and replace the bad boys with typos and deputy with gonekrazy3000 bit it didn't quite flow. sorry gonekrazy3000 you won't be immortalized in song but thanks for getting those typos.

Also as gonekrazy3000 noted, while Bogo's 'admiration' department was a typo it was hilarious.

*Evil note accidentally left in story* - Come Max, we will accept these 'communities' offers of citizenship and worm our way into their leadership, then use them to conquer other communities, and then after we've conquered them all, we'll steal all their presents, and feasts, and puddings, and even the roast beasts, we'll steal…