Chief Bogo was rubbing his temples as he waited for the Tygerol to kick in. If he had known that his job would be as stressful as it had been for the last four months, he would have never accepted the damn promotion. Every day had been a nightmare with the ZPD constantly lurching from one major crisis after another. And then there was the recent shooting at the headquarters building. Ever since, at least one member of the city council had been on the news every day blaming everyone but themselves. Unfortunately for him, their favorite scapegoat always seemed to be the ZPD. Frankly, he was astonished that he hadn't already been relieved of his duty, although he secretly suspected it was probably because they were having problems finding anyone else dumb enough to accept his position.
He looked again at the list of names on his desk. It consisted of all the officers that had either quit or just stopped showing up for work over the last three months. While he had been expecting tensions in the city to start to abate after the capture of Bellwether, it just hadn't happened. With the majority of the mammals in the city being prey, most predators still weren't convinced that former Mayor Bellwether would get what she deserved.
Then there was the whole mess involving all the predators that had been affected by the Night Howler toxin. Many prey groups refused to accept that the predators that went savage were also victims and were demanding that they prosecuted for assaulting the mammals that they attacked. Which in turn was resulting in protests from both predator and prey groups.
He glanced back at the list. He hated to beg, but in this case, there was no choice. He was growing desperate for personnel. He had already had to reduce the number of patrols for the second time in the past month, and he would soon have to do it again. He just couldn't expect his officers to continually work the number of hours he was demanding of them without accidents happening or without more officers leaving the force.
Compounding the issue was that over the last three months, most of the predator candidates enrolled at the Academy had become disillusioned with all of the constant protests against predators, and had dropped out. While prey may outnumber predators by ten to one in the city, the ZPD had always had far more predator officers then prey. The aggressive traits required to make a good officer were just much more common in predator species. The result was that there were far fewer recruits to pull from, and based on the number of mammals currently in training, and that had been accepted into the next class, it didn't look like that trend would change anytime soon.
As he reached for the phone, he was interrupted by a knock on his door. He paused, thankful for the excuse to put off making the calls even if just for a few more minutes. He slipped the list into his desk before calling out, "Enter."
He tried not to smile when the lynx cautiously entered. While he was supposed to be above the office rumors, he had been more than a little curious if the current one was true. As Becky approached his desk, he caught a whiff of a familiar scent intermingled with that of the lynx, and he couldn't help but smile. So apparently the rumors were true, and in his opinion, it was about damn time. He didn't know what had been holding the wolf back for so long, but it would take a blind mammal not to see there was something between the two. He had been tempted on more than one occasion over the past six months to slip a book on mammal mating practices into the wolf's desk. One with small words and big pictures since the wolf had apparently forgotten how it was done.
Becky's voice quickly pulled Bogo back from his musings, "Chief, I have a problem I'm hoping you help me with."
"Sure, what's the issue, Becky?"
"I need to update two personnel records, but the system says they have both been locked by you."
The smile immediately fell from Bogo's face. He had only locked out two records, and with good reason. In Hopps' case, it was because with her name constantly being mentioned in the news, he couldn't allow any curious mammals at the ZPD sneaking a peek at her record or reports. They contained a lot of sensitive information regarding the Night Howler case, and he had no intention of allowing any of it to leak to the press and possibly compromise the case against former mayor Bellwether.
No, what concerned him was how anyone had found out that Mr. Wilde's record even existed let alone that it was locked. As far as he could tell, only six mammals knew Mr. Wilde was a city employee, and one of them just happened to be sleeping with the lynx standing in front of him. If Wolford had let it slip, he would have that damn wolf issuing parking tickets for the rest of his miserable life!
He tried to sound casual as he replied, "What changes do you need to make?"
Becky merely handed him a small stack of documents she had been holding.
Bogo flipped through the papers for a moment before returning his gaze to Becky. "Okay, assume for a moment that I don't work for the Mammal Resources department. What exactly are these?"
Becky smiled, "Don't be too hard on yourself Chief. I had to look up what they meant myself since we don't have many rabbits that work for the ZPD. From what I can tell, those are the rabbit equivalent of both a wedding certificate and a prenuptial contract all rolled into one. So as of two days ago, Judy Hopps and …" she reached out and took the documents back flipping them "Nicholas Wilde are now married."
Bogo couldn't help rubbing his temples again, as he felt the headache that had been dissipating, suddenly returned in full force, "Of course they are. After all, why would anyone in this damn City possibly try to make my any life easier?"
"Sir?"
Bogo waved a hoof, "Nothing. You can use my computer to make the changes. But I want to be clear on one thing, nothing you see in those records leaves this room, or it won't just be your job on the line. Understand?"
"Uh… Yes, sir." Becky was confused not sure at all, but merely deciding it would be easier just to agree with the massive mammal.
Bogo logged into his computer, unlocked the records, then got out of his chair. Becky climbed into the chair and struggled a bit as she dealt with the oversized desk and computer. As Becky started to update the records, the water buffalo sat down in one of the guest chairs. As he settled back, he was already trying to determine the ramifications of this latest twist. He would, of course, have to notify the Mayor as soon as Becky left. The Mayor had given him standing orders that she was to be informed immediately with anything regard either the fox or the rabbit.
He wasn't sure exactly what the Mayor was planning, but it didn't take a genius to see that Hopps and Wilde were a part of those plans. He wondered idly if this news would affect those plans or not. While having someone as powerful as the Mayor of Zootopia take an active interest their careers could be a great benefit it could also be a great risk. If those two weren't constantly on their toes, it could just as easily result in disaster for them.
He considered that there was now no question of them having a relationship. He wondered idly what, if anything, he should or even could do about it. There were good reasons why the ZPD fraternization rules were in place, and he happened to agree with them.
Unfortunately, the Mayor had been quite clear that unless a problem occurred that affected their performance, they were going to be partners once Mr. Wilde graduated from the Academy. Bogo sighed, knowing that he would need to find the time to meet with them and lay down some ground rules as to how they would have to behave while on duty.
Bogo's thoughts were interrupted as he heard Becky's gasp, "Oh my God, it's him."
Bogo eyes closed as he thought that Mr. Wilde's identity and involvement in the Night Howler case was rapidly becoming one of the worst kept secrets in Zootopia.
Now he had to yet another mammal he had to explain why it was important that his identity shouldn't be revealed at this time. He groaned as he wondered just how much longer they would be able to keep the vulpine's involvement in the cases off of the evening news.
Nick shifted uncomfortably on the park bench. He was sitting with his wife nestled in his lap, and while this would normally be quite reassuring, the presence of the matronly vixen sitting beside them was anything but.
He listened as his mother clapped her paws together and asked, "So tell me, what are the two of you looking for in your new place?"
As he glanced down, he could see his wife looking hopefully up at him. Ever since the bunny had revealed that his mother apparently really was a realty agent, he had known exactly what the two mammals were up too.
Well, actually three mammals. He definitely wasn't going to forget Finnick's involvement in what rapidly appeared to be a conspiracy aimed at getting him and his mother back together. He couldn't help the malicious grin that briefly slipped across his lips as he considered what Fin was going to look like duct taped upside down to the nearest wall when Nick finally got his paws on him. Or better yet, just how much fur the little fox was going to lose when someone eventually got around to removing the duct tape. They would probably need to use a razor to help remove it, and accidents with razors do happen.
The grin vanished as he refocused on his wife. He could now see the concern in her eyes, knowing that she must be wondering what he had been thinking. He was tempted to tell her it wasn't going to work and that they were leaving. To make one final attempt to shore up at least a few of the internal barriers he had erected so long ago to protect himself from the frequently harsh world and the situations he had found himself in. But, the truth was that ever since he had allowed Judy behind those barriers, he had found it impossible to prevent others from joining her there, and he couldn't deny that had missed his mother so much over the years.
He sighed and finally responded to his mother, "I'm not sure if Carrots will agree, but for now I think we are simply looking for a nice apartment in a safe neighborhood."
"I will be leaving to get training for a new job in a few weeks, and I want us to move into the new place as soon as possible. Preferably in the next couple of days. I want to have as much time as I can to help get the apartment set up before I leave, so she doesn't have to deal with everything on her own." Judy leaned back, snuggling against him, and he couldn't resist briefly rubbing each cheek once over the top of her head refreshing his mark.
Judy grinned up at him, then reached up to rub her paw along his muzzle, "I'm alright with that, but if possible, I would like it to either be close to downtown or have a quick train or bus route to there."
Nick shook his head, "While that would be great, we will buy you a car if necessary." Nick considered the matter briefly, "Actually, the more I think about it, we are probably going to buy one anyway. I don't like the idea of you riding on a train or bus late at night by yourself."
As Jane looked at her son and his mate, half-a-dozen questions sprung to mind from their short exchange that she wanted to know the answers to. She felt like growling in frustration, but decided to ask the most pertinent one now and leave the rest for later. "So, I take it you work downtown. What do you do for a living Judy?"
"Actually, I'm a…" She couldn't finish due to the large finger that was suddenly pressed against her lips.
"Carrots, I think we need to have a private conversation…Now!"
Once they were out of earshot from his mother Nick could see the concern on his wife's face, "Nick, is this because you want to leave?"
The fox shook his head, "No, I just don't want you telling my mother that you're a cop. She also doesn't know your last name, and I want to keep it that way."
"Why? She's family. She has the right to know."
"No, she doesn't. I barely know her anymore. But I do know she betrayed me in the past. I can't think of any reason why we should trust her with that information. What if she starts telling everyone who her son has married? You know perfectly well that your fellow cops have been telling everyone that will listen that a fox was involved with the cases. It wouldn't be hard for people to put the pieces together. "
Judy crossed her arms as her right foot tapped rapidly, "So, what? What if they do? I have never liked hiding your involvement. Nick, I may have agreed not to change my last name for the moment, but there is no way in hell I'm going to hide our marriage! You are mine, Nicholas Wilde, and I want everyone to know that!"
The bunny took several calming breaths, "Look, we still have that document from the Mayor ensuring your acceptance into the Academy, and it's not like she and Bogo haven't been taking plenty of risks revealing your involvement by having us hunt down those moles at the ZPD. Honestly, I'm surprised it hasn't all come out already considering the incident at the headquarters building."
Nick sighed, "Carrots, don't put too much faith in that document. The Mayor is a lawyer. I'm sure there are at least a dozen ways they can get out of that agreement if it suits her."
Judy considered her husband's eyes and could see that he was wavering. She reached up and pulled him down gazing into his eyes, "Nick, your mother wouldn't be trying to get back together with you after all of these years if she didn't still love you. I know you don't want to hear it, but your mother just did what she thought she had to do."
When her husband still didn't look convinced, she took out the big guns. "Are you seriously going to tell me that if a kit of ours ended up living out on the streets and was dealing with all the terrible things that you did, that you wouldn't do whatever you felt necessary to get them safely back home? Would you really stop and think of the possible consequences, or would you simply act and worry about them later?"
She watched as her husband closed his eyes mulling it over until eventually the vulpine groaned and opened his eyes, the hint of a smile playing on his lips, "You know you're not playing fair, don't you? You're a bunny. You're not supposed to counter years of raw emotions with cold logic. If you keep doing that you're going to make me feel worse than I already do for holding a grudge against my mother all these years."
Judy pulled her husband into a quick kiss, "That's why we got married so that we can knock some sense into each other when we need it. Besides, think of it this way, this will be the perfect opportunity for both of you to start regaining some trust in each other."
Jane looked on as the two mammals argued about something. As the argument continued, she kept going through their conversation trying to figure out what she might have said that would have led to this, but couldn't think of anything. All she had asked was what Judy's job was? Then she remembered the guns, and she felt a chill travel down her spine as she wondered again just what her son had gotten the bunny involved in.
She watched as the two finally walked back. She noticed that neither chose to sit down this time.
Nick cleared his throat, "Mother, Judy and I…" He looked at his mate, hoping for a little help but growled lightly in annoyance as she merely smirked at his difficulty.
He closed his eyes a moment, "Mother, I don't want you telling anyone anything I'm about to tell you."
Jane felt another chill as her son's eyes locked with hers, "Judy and I are involved in several things, and I don't want anyone jeopardizing our plans or putting Judy's life at any more risk than it's already in."
Jane sighed interrupting her son, "Nick, I had hoped you would find a nice girl and finally settle down." Her eyes shifted to the gun partially hidden under Judy's shirt, "I noticed the guns you're both carrying, and I really don't want to know what kind shady business you two have gotten yourselves mixed up in. But whatever it is, please get out of it before you start having kits. You must have plenty of money in the bank by now. Please don't make your kits go through what you did!"
Jane watched as the two mammals looked at each other a moment before they both burst out in laughter.
It took Nick a minute to recover enough to notice that his mother was not pleased by their outburst. The amused vulpine tried to wipe the grin from his lips as he waved a paw as he looked into his mother's angry face, "Sorry mom, I'm not trying to make light of your concerns." He wrapped his arms around his wife, "Mother, I think it's time for a proper introduction. This is my wife, ZPD Officer Judith Laverne HOPPS."
Judy watched as after a moment the vixen's eyes grew wide and her mouth gaped open as the realization struck home. She took Nick's paw, adding, "And this is my husband and partner Nicholas Piberius Wilde. Without his assistance, I would have never have solved either the missing mammal or the Night Howler case. In fact, if your son hadn't risked his life multiple times to save mine, I wouldn't be standing here today."
Jane was still trying to process this latest revelation as she watched the two mammals briefly kiss. As they separated Judy smiled and looked up at the fox, "The reason Nick won't be available in a few weeks is that he has been accepted into the ZPA. So soon he will officially be joining me as a ZPD officer instead of as a consultant and my bodyguard."
Nick looked back into his mother's eyes all traces of humor now gone, "Mom, I am serious about you not telling anyone about any of this. Someone tried to kill Judy a few days ago, and while the ZPD doesn't think it will happen again, I'm not about to gamble on it. That's why I insist that we are always both armed."
Jane glanced uncertainly at the rabbit before asking evasively, "Nick, isn't your past going to cause some issues with that?"
Nick shrugged, "Apparently not. I told the Mayor everything I was involved with, and she didn't care. The crimes I did commit happened so long ago that I can't be prosecuted for them, and all my enterprises over the last ten years were technically legal. Well, legitimate enough that it would be virtually impossible to prosecute me for them. Besides, I stopped running them several months ago."
Jane looked back at the rabbit again, "And does she know what you did back then?"
"Not everything. But I told her most of it, and she didn't even flinch ." He couldn't help chuckling as he eyed the rabbit, "Well, at least not as much as I was afraid she was going to."
After a moment, Nick glanced back to his mother as he changed subjects, "So do you think you can find us an apartment? We weren't having much luck this morning."
Jane chuckled, "Let me guess, the old someone has already rented it spiel?" she just shook her head, "Well we don't have to worry about that. When an apartment is listed, real estate agents can show them without dealing with the manager or owner. They can't pull any of that nonsense since an agreement will already be in place before you even met them. If they were to try to back out at that point, they would end up in court with a hefty fine."
The vixen frowned, "To tell you the truth that type of nonsense is why I chose to become an agent in the first place." She paused a moment before asking, "So, other than location what else are two looking for?"
Nick shrugged, "That will mostly be up to Carrots. I won't be around for a while so that it will be more her place than mine."
Judy glanced up at her husband not sure how he would take it, "Um…I guess the more bedrooms and bathrooms the better. While Nick's away, I will probably have a few of my siblings staying with me. Some will just want to visit the city, but a few will probably want to stay for a bit while looking for jobs."
She relaxed when she saw Nick nod as he said, "Good, I didn't like the idea of you being alone when I was gone anyway."
Judy rolled her eyes, "Nick, I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself!"
"Of course you are, but that doesn't mean I'm not going to worry about you when I'm gone."
Jane stood up and stretched, "Well, my car is only a couple blocks away. Why don't we go take a look at a couple of places so I can get a rough idea of what you are looking for?"
Judy sighed as she looked around at the apartment. It was the fourth one they had seen. Each one had been progressively smaller and farther away from the downtown area. She had already given up on any notion of a multi-bedroom apartment. While this candidate was newer than their existing one, it was much smaller. She didn't know what Nick was currently paying for rent, but she couldn't believe that it could be anywhere close to the $3000 a month being asked for this place. The country rabbit still found it hard to believe the rental prices they wanted in the city. They were five or six times what she would have paid for something similar back home.
She was tempted to call and see if the Grand Pangolin Arms might have anything available. Her old apartment might have only been a single room, but at least the rent had been only $800 a month, and it had included all utilities. At the time, it was the cheapest room she could find, and she had still thought that the old armadillo landlady was probably taking advantage of her. But now she was thinking it had actually been a good deal considering it's location, just a couple blocks away from the ZPD headquarters building.
Even as she considered it, she doubted Nick would agree to it. She knew from research just how territorial foxes were of their mates and she suspected he would never allow her to share a common bathroom with a bunch of strangers especially when some of them would be single males. Though she had to admit, she wasn't wild about the idea of any of the females in the building ogling her husband either. She had been jealous enough when her sisters had been eyeing him up. She certainly didn't want Nick running into any half naked females or any of them seeing her husband wearing only a towel!
As Nick walked out of the bathroom, he could see Judy frowning while staring out the single small window in the living room. He crossed over to her and wrapped her in his arms. "What's wrong?"
Judy glanced around making sure Nick's mom wasn't near before saying in a quiet voice, "Nick maybe we should just stay in our current apartment. We can't afford any of these places."
"Judy, you know we can't do that. You wouldn't be safe there. You liked the first place we looked at, didn't you?"
"Of course, I did. But there is no way we can afford $6500 a month!" She groaned as she leaned back against him taking comfort from his musky scent, "Heck, we can barely afford what this place would cost. Between rent, utilities, and food there wouldn't be anything left from my paycheck."
"Well, remember I will be getting a paycheck too."
"Honey, you won't be making much while you're at the Academy and while our income will double when you graduate our costs will also go up." Judy looked around the living room, "We can't have kits while living in an apartment this small, and they are expensive. There are always all sorts of unexpected costs. I wanted a house, but if these rental prices are any indication my plans of ever owning one in the city was just a pipe dream."
Nick sighed, "Judy, I told you before that I have some money tucked away. I have no idea what a house might cost, but I'm pretty sure we could swing it."
Nick just held his wife for a little while watching the traffic passing by on the busy street below. A minute later his mother walked over joining them, "So, what do you think?"
Nick sighed, "I guess we are undecided. Judy's a little worried about costs since I will soon be taking a severe pay cut. So, at some point, we will have to start watching our budget. I think she's a little concerned about putting so much into an apartment when we are probably going to want to purchase a house once I graduate."
The vixen considered a moment, "Well, if that's the case, I think I may have another option for you."
As Judy slid out of the car's back seat, her eyes roved up and down the street. They were in an older neighborhood roughly a ten-minute drive from downtown. There was little traffic on the street, and all the houses looked well maintained. Several houses up, she could see two young rabbit kits busy playing tag in the front yard while an older doe sat on the front stairs talking on a phone. There were numerous large trees mixed amongst the houses that helped to hide the downtown skyline and the distant city walls.
Jane smiled and slid out of the car's driver seat and looked at the house, "Well what do you think?"
"Um…It looks nice." Judy answered while looking at the house. The truth was it looked incredible. The landscaping and house both looked brand new.
"Well come on. You haven't seen the best part yet."
As they entered the house, Jane waved a paw, "This is a four bedroom, two and a half bath house. Everything in it has been completely renovated, so you would essentially be buying a new home in a well-established area. It's also in one of the most desirable school districts in Zootopia. Why don't you two poke around a bit and I will meet you out on the patio once you've taken a look."
Nick could help but grin as the bunny practically dragged him through the house.
Nick and Judy were wandering through the bedrooms for the second time when he asked, "So, do you think it's big enough?"
Judy laughed, "It's probably too big. I have no idea what we would use those walk-in closets for. All our clothes combined wouldn't fill up a tenth of one of them. The bedrooms are large enough to house a dozen kits." She grinned at the nervous expression that suddenly came across the fox's face, "And the kitchen is gorgeous, but most of it would probably be a waste." She blushed as she looked up at the fox, "Um…Nick, it hasn't come up yet, but my cooking skills are pretty much limited to nuking things in the microwave and burning toast. With the size of my family, we mostly subsisted off raw vegetables, occasional sandwiches, and various soups and stews."
Nick squeezed her paw, "I suspected that might be the case when we went grocery shopping and only got vegetables, frozen dinners, and cereal. It's okay. It's not like I'm a great cook either."
He cast her a sly smile, "My method in the past was to invite Finnick over for dinner frequently. He always insists on taking over the kitchen the moment he walked through the front door. Hopefully, that won't change now that there's two of us."
Judy laughed, "That's not very nice, Nick."
Nick expression took on a look of mock sincerity, "He likes to cook. I'm just being the accommodating host by letting him do what he likes to do."
Judy chuckled, "How noble of you."
Nick flashed a grin, "Exactly. Anyways, I do like the master bedroom and bath."
The bunny shook her head, "I swear that bathroom has got to be bigger than my last apartment!"
Nick traced her jaw with his thumb, "So you hate it?"
The rabbit rolled her eyes, "You know I love it. It is far more than I ever dreamed of. But, I also know that we will never be able to afford something like it."
The fox shrugged, "Well, let's at least talk to my mother and see what the owners are asking for it."
They found the vixen sitting on one of the several cheap folding chairs surrounding a gas fire pit on the back patio talking on her cell phone. From the nearby trash can and the various items lying around the chairs is was evident that the workers had been using the area for their lunch breaks. As they each took a seat, Jane hung up the phone and asked, "Well, what do you think?"
Nick glanced at his wife and could see a mixture of excitement and dread warring across her face. "The truth is that we really weren't looking at buying a house now. But, we have to admit it is a beautiful property."
The vixen leaned back in her chair, "Well, my company purchased it at a foreclosure auction so that we could flip it. As you saw, they are still putting the finishing touches on it now. I have an open house scheduled for it this Sunday, but I can let you have it for a great price if you're interested."
Nick couldn't help but see the excitement in his wife's eyes, "We may be interested, but even if we were to buy it, we are still going to need somewhere to live until we could close on it."
Jane merely waved her paw, "As I said, my company owns it. If you want it, then you can live here while closing. You can move in tomorrow if you need, as long as you don't mind the workers coming and going for the next several days."
Nick leaned forward in his chair, "So how much does something like this go for?"
Jane considered a moment, "I was originally going to ask 1.2 million, but with the savage attacks a lot of mammals left the city, so there is a bit of a housing glut right now. So, I will be only be asking for 1.1 million on Sunday. But, if you're interested, I will let you have it for a cool million. That would cover what I have invested in it, and it will still provide the company with some profit. The rest you can consider as a wedding present."
Nick had seen Judy's ears droop as soon as his mother had mentioned the price.
Judy sighed, "Well, maybe we will just take the small one-bedroom apartment for now. In a few years maybe we will be able to afford something like this."
Nick looked at his mate a moment, then turned back to his mom, "Mother can we have a few minutes to discuss it?"
The vixen smiled knowingly, "Of course, just find me when you're ready to leave. I still have at least half a dozen calls I need to return."
After seeing his mother enter the house, Nick turned to his wife. "Judy, I told you I have some money tucked away. If you want the house, we can afford to buy it."
The rabbit's eyes narrow on the fox, "So you just happen to have a million dollars lying around?"
Nick shifted a little uncomfortably, "Well, I wouldn't say it's lying around, but a million dollars really wouldn't be a problem, although we would probably actually take out a low-interest loan and make payments on it."
The rabbit slumped in her chair and covered her eyes with a paw, "Nick, please don't tell me you were also a bank robber or a drug dealer in your past."
Nick's face went somber as he replied flatly, "Okay, I won't tell you."
He watched as the rabbit eventually peeked through her fingers at him and he couldn't hold it back any longer, breaking out in a laugh.
He continued to chuckle as the rabbit growled out, "That wasn't funny Nick!"
He smirked, "It was a little funny. Anyways, rest at ease Carrots I already told you the worst of my crimes."
Judy continued glaring at her husband, "Okay Nick, explain to me how you managed to save over a million dollars on $200 a day?"
The fox sighed and asked, "So, Carrots what do you know about economics?"
The rabbit frowned, "Not much, but what does that have to do with where you got your money?"
Nick chuckled, "Actually, it has everything to with it. It was the cornerstone of my business ventures." He leaned forward as his face took on a serious expression and he steepled his fingers, "Okay, economics 101. At its most basic level, economics boils down to how much it costs one mammal to pay for one meal."
He waved a paw when he saw the confused expression on his wife's face, "I know what you are thinking. How does that work in the Federation with all the different species, each needing a different amount of food for a meal? After all, an elephant probably eats 10,000 times what a mouse does for a meal."
Judy merely nodded while blushing slightly not wanting to reveal that she hadn't thought that at all.
"The Federation does the only thing it can. It tries to regulate everything, and as a result, it has created a bureaucracy so complex that no sane mammal can understand it all. But if it hadn't then every species would be entirely at the mercy of the dominant species in the Federation."
Judy sighed, "And I suppose you're going to tell me that that species is the foxes?"
Nick broke out in a laugh, then quickly apologized when he saw the glare from his wife, "No, I'm sorry Judy. The dominant species by a landslide are the mice."
He could hear the disbelief in her voice, "The mice?"
"Yep, the mice." He paused a moment, letting it sink in before continuing, "Carrots, there are 20 times as many mice in Zootopia than all of the other species combined. Proportionally, Little Rodentia is a vastly larger city than all of Zootopia's districts combined. Without any regulations, the rest of us poor mammals wouldn't stand a chance."
He could see the blank expression on her face. "Okay, let's say you are opening a business like a software company. You would need a bunch of workers and a building. So why would you possibly hire anyone other than mice to run it? Without any regulations, you could construct a building that could support dozens of mice for a few thousand dollars. With the little amount mice eat, and the low cost of housing, you could pay them virtually nothing compared to say an elephant. So, no larger mammals would ever be able to compete in the market place."
"Nick, that doesn't make any sense, programmers make roughly the same amount no matter what species they are."
Nick leaned back in his chair in satisfaction, "Exactly!" After a moment, he frowned when he still saw the confusion evident on his wife's face.
He sighed, continuing, "Okay, you know how much this house costs now. So how much would a similarly proportioned house cost a mouse in Little Rodentia?"
Judy's frown deepened, "Um… A few thousand dollars?"
Nick shook his head, "Not even close, it would cost them the same 1.1 million dollars this place would cost us. The Federation and Zootopia make sure it cost that much by artificially inflating the price and by strictly regulating the cost of building materials for tiny mammals. By doing that they collect enough money from them that they can provide the subsidies required for larger species to afford their own houses."
"It works the same way with my pawpsicles." Nick cleared his throat, "It's actually illegal for a giant mammal ice cream shop to sell a jumbo pop to a fox." He glanced at Judy a moment before finally adding "Or a rabbit. But the funny thing is that it's not illegal for a small mammal to actually purchase one. So, if the shop is caught doing it, they would most likely receive a fine. If they continued to do it, then it might result in them being shut down."
Judy looked in disbelief at the fox, "What are you talking about Nick? It's not illegal for a restaurant to sell food to smaller mammals!"
Nick closed his eyes, "It is if it isn't setup to handle the different transactions and portions required. While all chain restaurants are set up to take care of it, most 'Mom and Pop' restaurants aren't. It just cost too much to deal with the occasional different sized mammal that may walk in."
The fox returned his gaze to the rabbit, "I'm not sure how it is in your home town. Maybe all of the large mammal restaurants are setup to handle small mammals since the majority of the citizens are rabbits, but in Zootopia most aren't."
"The whole point of what Finnick and I were doing was to con those shops into selling us jumbo pops so that we could save money. If we were to purchase that much popsicle syrup from a small mammal supplier, it would cost us well over a hundred dollars. Instead, by conning the shops, we were able to get enough for roughly 200 pawpsicles for just fifteen dollars."
Nick saw the sudden annoyance on the rabbit's face, "Wait a minute. I thought you were conning other mammals into buying them for you."
The fox's ears folded back not liking where this was suddenly heading, "Um… actually we never did that. We wanted to be able to keep going back to the same ice cream shops. Usually, if we could convince them to sell us one jumbo pop, then we could convince them to sell us more in the future. No store would ever let us come back if they suspected we were conning their customers out of their money."
Judy's eyes narrowed on the fox, "Then why did you con me into buying you that jumbo pop? I may not have been aware of it at the time, but you actually tricked me into intimidating that poor elephant into breaking the law!"
The fox was looking increasingly uncomfortable, "The truth is I didn't like that you followed me into the shop just because I was a fox." He looked in her eyes, "Then I saw your reflection in the display case when you unbuttoned that fox repellant you were carrying." The fox sighed, "At the time, I thought I would see if I could teach you a lesson."
Nick watched as the annoyance melted from his mate's features as she got up, moved over, and sat in his lap, "I'm sorry about that, Nick."
The vulpine hugged her, "So am I. Neither one of us were at our best that day."
As Judy settled back against her husband, she reminded him, "So the source of the rest of the money?"
Nick sighed, "There's not much more to it. There's a little-known law regarding reclaimed wood. Essentially, any wood that has been previously used can be repurposed and sold as building material anywhere within Zootopia including Little Rodentia. Reclaimed wood is exempt from all of the construction supply laws. So, I buy popsicle sticks for 5 cents apiece use them for my pawpsicles, then resell them for 10."
Judy looked up at her husband, "Nick selling popsicle sticks for 10 cents each is not going to make you over a million dollars!"
Nick chuckled, "No, but selling them for ten dollars a stick will. Carrots, the city currently has the price fixed at a minimum of twenty dollars for an equivalent piece of lumber in Little Rodentia."
He flashed her a sly grin, "You know the hardest part of the business was keeping track of all those damn used pawpsicle sticks! We tried hard, but it's always possible a couple of hundred new sticks just might have slipped into the bundles of reclaimed sticks I sold every day."
The vulpine shrugged, "It was an all cash business so who knows for sure?" He smirked adding, "Anyways, my business is incorporated within the fox provinces, and I have an excellent accountant who handles the books and the company's taxes."
Nick put on his most pathetic face, "Unfortunately, Finnick and I poured all of our resources into that business. So much so, that we never did receive a salary that could be taxed by the city."
Judy merely rolled her eyes, "So is that it for your nefarious business dealings."
"Um…Well, most of it. There are several loans I made that I'm getting returns on."
Judy sighed, "So, you're a loan shark too?"
Nick looked slightly indignant for the first time, "Am I a loan shark? No, no I am not. I'm actually charging less interest than most banks would. Most of the loans are being used to pay for tuition for foxes that normally wouldn't be able to get a loan. They are risky, but so far they have turned out to be a sound investment."
Judy didn't even bother commenting, but looked slightly abashed and just snuggled in closer against her fox.
After a little while, Nick finally said, "So, basically we have a little over two million in various mutual funds and other investments. We're not rich, but we certainly aren't poor. If the economy is doing well, then we will probably be pulling in more in dividends than either of us will be making at the ZPD."
The fox sighed wistfully, "If I could have kept running my business ventures for another five to ten years we probably could have both retired and lived very comfortably without ever having to worry about money again. But once the Mayor outs me and my life is suddenly under close scrutiny that won't be possible. Well, at least not until everything settles down and no one is paying attention to what I'm doing again."
Judy tentatively rubbed his muzzle, "Nick, I'm sorry. When I got you involved in everything I didn't know I was ruining your future plans."
The vulpine leaned down and kissed her nose grinning as he saw it twitch several times as he pulled back, "That's okay, while it was great making money I have to admit that for the past several years I felt more and more like I was stuck in a rut. I really wasn't doing anything with my life, but making money."
"Until you came along I really didn't know what I was missing. You don't have to worry about it. I don't regret any of my decisions regarding us." He smiled as he glanced at the house, "So now that you know we can afford the house, the real question is, do you want to buy it?"