Alright peeps, this is it, the final chapter! Woot!
Thank you to everyone who read this fic and stuck with it until the bitter end, you guys ROCK! Thank you to everyone who left a review, you guys are amazing!
Thank you as always to my lovely beta Marie Allen who beta read this whole fic for me and allowed me to bounce ideas off! You are amazing!
And now, please enjoy!
Epilogue
Nick glanced over at Judy as they stood outside of Precinct One. "You sure this is what you want to do?" he asked curiously, a slight edge of uncertainty in his voice.
Judy gave him a bright smile. "Yeah, I'm sure. I've arranged everything with Chief Bogo," she affirmed.
"Alright, Carrots, after you," he motioned towards the door with his good arm, his left arm free of its sling, but his mobility still not even close to where it needed to be to return to active duty. He was still unable to lift his arm over his head, but he was ready to return to the ZPD, as was Judy.
He pulled the door open for her and she confidently strode forward, no hitch in her gait to indicate that five months ago she had been in a wheelchair, her right leg suffering from nerve damage.
There had been constant physiotherapy to get her to the point where she was able to walk, run, and leap the way she had before she had been shot, and he had been right there with her, not willing to be left behind or give up. He wouldn't let her quit when it had gotten hard, and she wouldn't let him quit when he was tempted to give up.
Luckily for them, there had been so many mammals that had been there to help them along the way, not just with their physical recoveries, but with support of their relationship as well. Finnick had been right, there were many mammals that had either hid their relationships or had ignored their feelings and Judy kissing Nick on TV had caused many mammals to be brave enough to accept their feelings and .
There were those who weren't as open and accepting of course, but Nick and Judy ignored them.
A crowd of ZPD officers cheered their return, a giant banner with the words WELCOME BACK written in multicoloured letters hung from the ceiling.
They were quickly surrounded by officers excited about their return.
It was good to be back.
"I believe you all have somewhere you need to be," the stern voice of Chief Bogo cut through the air like a knife, sheepish, guilty expressions crossing the faces of their co-workers as everyone filed into the bullpen for their daily briefing and assignments.
Taking up their usual seat, they sat as Chief Bogo stood before the podium a clipboard placed upon the wooden surface, his expression serious.
"As you all know, we are welcoming back two of our officers," he paused for a minute looking down at his clipboard, flipping the page and mumbling, "who cares," with a mischievous smile and the room burst out laughing.
Chief Bogo glanced back up at the room of officers, his expression turning serious again. "There have been reports of break-ins in the Rainforest District…"
After Chief Bogo had finished assigning the officers their tasks and they had filed out to fulfil them, only Chief Bogo, Nick, and Judy were left in the room.
"Officer Hopps and Wilde, as requested, you will be working in Records."
"On it, Chief," Nick said with a grin.
Judy hadn't talked about what she had wanted to do once she returned; if she was going to return to active duty with a new partner right away, or if she would remain on light duty until she was sure that her leg could hold up under the strain of being back at work, but he never would have guessed that she wanted to return to Records.
At first he had believed that it was because it would take him longer to be able to return to the field and that she hadn't wanted him to feel as if he was being left behind, but when she had suggested they go into Records, she had explained that half the reason so many mammals had been killed and kitnapped, was because the justice system had failed them.
All the missing mammal cases had made their way into the Cold Case boxes because no one cared enough to want to look for the mammals that had been from Happytown.
Judy couldn't stand the thought of any more missing mammals, who might still be out there, suffering, not having anyone working on their cases, and for those who were no longer missing, to bring closure to their families.
They would work each case, follow any leads they could find, even if they led straight into Happytown, because the residents deserved to have someone looking out for them.
This prospect would have sent a shiver of terror down his spine, but for the knowledge that Happytown was…under new management.
The arrest and sentencing of Ben Gahl, who would be enjoying the hospitality of the Zootopia prison for the rest of his life, his prison mates giving him a not so warm welcome, had left a power vacuum in Happytown that no one knew existed.
The heads of Zootopia's mob families, the Darkmanes, Greywards, the Blacktails, Mr. Big, and Boris Rundle, all sat down to figure out what to do with Happytown. They were furious that Ben Gahl had managed to run an illegal mammal fighting/death ring out of Sahara Square through a network of tunnels and connections stemming from Happytown and ending in the Meadowlands. As they had been caught with their proverbial underwear down around their ankles, they wanted to make sure such a thing never happened again.
Having one group expand their territory, thus creating an inequity between the families was obviously rejected, as was the idea of dividing it up between them. Mr. Big had complained of the stalled negotiations while Judy had been visiting Frufru, and Judy had come up with a solution.
A new organization would be created, led by a representative from each family to make sure that nothing like the Feral Red incident happened again.
Whether this would work or not was up for debate. Nick foresaw multiple power struggles and intense infighting, but as long as they kept it between themselves and didn't let it spill out into the streets, he supposed it was better than nothing. And it meant that Judy and Nick would have an inside informant from Mr. Big on everything that was going on in Happytown.
As for the residents, there were numerous social programs and policing initiatives being talked about, though with the sloth-like pace of things getting done when City Hall was involved, it was possible it would be a while before those changes could be implemented.
Walking from the bullpen, they made their way towards Records, a room they had not been in since Officer Growle's murder.
Opening the door, they were greeted by a young officer who had replaced Officer Growle, a groundhog with round glasses perched on his nose and a bright, excited air surrounding him.
"It's so nice to finally meet you," the groundhog said enthusiastically, ushering them into the room. "I'm Rick Brightclaw, I transferred over from Precinct Three. You don't have to introduce yourselves; everyone knows who you both are."
Judy gave a pleasant smile and Nick swallowed a sigh of annoyance. Dealing with Freddy and his enthusiastic ramblings about his new job at the Zootopia Building Records and Permits Office looking though old building permits and blueprints to uncover any other tunnel systems, lost subway stations, and underground spaces was bad enough, but now he was going to be forced to work in the company of a mammal just as eager and effusive as the buck.
He was going to have to ask Finnick how he dealt with a constant barrage of good-natured enthusiasm mixed with boundless excitement.
The fennec fox was still living with Freddy, though he continued to say he was going to 'move out soon,' none of them believed he would. They also suspected that the normally solitary fox enjoyed Freddy's company, and the weekly Sunday dinners at Freddy's parent's house seemed to be a particularly heady inducement.
Finnick's newfound fame as a survivor of the Feral Red fighting ring had put an end to his ability to pull any of his hustles, and Nick believed Finnick would be too nervous to venture out alone to do them anyway, (not that the fennec fox would ever admit this). Freddy had convinced City Hall to hire Finnick as a Happytown expert and consultant. A job he seemed to particularly revel in, mostly because he got to tell the city council members what to do and talk down to them as if they were stupid, something Finnick enjoyed greatly.
"I have you guys all set up over here," Rick said, interrupting Nick's musings as he led them towards a table placed at the back of the room.
Walking past the computer desk where Officer Growle and Judy had worked, they both paused. Nick had only been down to Records a few times and though he knew Officer Growle, the workspace didn't hold the same emotional context it did for Judy.
"The filing cabinet is still there," she observed, and Nick gave a solemn nod, understanding that underneath was the word GUILTY scratched into the linoleum.
They gave a moment of silence for their fallen comrade, sadness and regret crossing Judy's features, echoed in his own, for the bear that had gotten in over his head and paid too high a price for it.
Rick, as if sensing their thoughts, gave them a moment before continuing towards the table.
Following the groundhog, he showed them to an old rickety table with one leg propped up by a training manual, a box of Cold Case files sitting upon the scratched surface, two mismatched wooden chairs, and a chalkboard on wheels sitting behind the desk.
"Wow, I see the Chief spared no expense," Nick observed sarcastically.
Judy grinned. "I think we do our best working on cases old-school," she said as she slid her fingers across the desk.
Nick gave a snort. "Well, guess we should get started, those cold cases aren't going to solve themselves.
"No, they won't," she said as she pulled the top off the first box, pulling out a file and sitting down upon the chair.
Nick walked around the table and sat down beside her. "Okay, Carrots, what have we got?"
The End