Disclaimer: Zootopia and all related characters are owned by Disney. All other characters, product names, trademarks, and copyrights, belong to their respective owners.
…..
"Gnghnaaaaa."
Nick's paw slithered out from under his covers and blindly felt around for his phone. Looking bleary-eyed at the dim screen, he groaned, "The one morning Sunni said I could sleep in, and someone texts me. Stupid phone."
Sitting up, Nick rubbed his eyes. Last night hadn't gone well.
After tucking Judy in, he'd taken his plate back to the dining room, sat with Sunni and the rest of his adopted littermates to eat, and then spent the rest of the night running interference for Judy.
"How about you talk with her about that tomorrow? She's super tired tonight."
"No, she's asleep. She's been working a big case and needs to rest."
"That's a pretty drawing, and I know your sister will love it, but she's exhausted right now."
"Uh, yeah, that's a cool video, but I can't tell if it was your sister driving with the cruiser up on two wheels like that."
"No Raven, I don't know his number. Besides, Officer Pawson really does have a mate."
For all of the bunnies asking after Judy, the one he was most hoping to talk to had left by the time he'd come back to the dining room, Bonnie. He'd expected to see her finishing her dinner, or at least supervising the cleanup, but she'd left right after he had.
He found out later, from the same doe he'd talked to in the buffet line, that Bonnie looked to be on the verge of tears when she'd left, and that her dad was in the doghouse for something.
"Where is Dr. Pfill when you need him?" Nick mumbled to himself.
You awake?
Focusing in on his phone, Nick sighed. He'd meant to text Finn last night, but his defense and distraction duties hadn't ended until late, and he'd fallen asleep instead.
Nick quickly typed out a snarky message about instituting an early morning comms blackout when, just as he was about to hit the send button, a shiver went down his spine. 'Pawson had warned him that the ZPD's systems might be hacked and to be careful talking to anyone in the City.'
"Damn," whispered Nick.
Erasing the text message, he typed out a new one.
Reg 46A, you working?
Staring at his phone for a double pawful of breaths, Nick waited.
Yeah, early shifts this week, so boring the hours seem like days, so wtf? -_-
Letting out a sigh of relief, he typed a reply. That package I told you about finally showed up, so I need you to hold the fort down and take all my calls for a few days. Cell service sucks here, emergency calls only.
You want the crew to stand down?
Scratching the back of his neck, Nick thought for a moment and then typed. No, some porch pirate intercepted the package, he was trying to open it up with a knife when he lost it and almost got caught. Best he thinks the package is still missing and we can't find it. I don't want him hitting my place thinking I have it, and I'm trying to glue it back together.
Holy hell, how bad was the package damaged?
It was wrapped with that special packing tape I told you about, so the damage wasn't as bad as it could have been.
Nick thought for another second and then sent another text before Finn could reply.
The B-butt of most of my jokes has a serious plumbing problem, lots of leaky pipes, and he doesn't know how long it will take his donut-loving assistant to fix them all. And since I'm worried my place might have some drips too, work through my howler friend unless there's a major break in the main line.
BTW, you might want to check your plumbing too, make sure you're not seeing any problems.
Don't worry, I've already got a tab open with my favorite plumber. I'll be in touch when it's safe to run the faucets again. Ciao.
-/-/-
Connor yawned, it was early, and thankfully he'd woken up in time to shut off his alarm before it woke up Olivia.
Unfortunately, he'd had to use his tail to shut it off because that was all he was currently capable of moving. Olivia had had a pretty rough night. Well, rough in a very possessive, predatory sort of way, she'd claimed him again.
Aside from the dirty looks he'd gotten from the rabbits at the local gas station, driving back from Bunnyburrow had been uneventful. No assassination attempts and no polar bear enforcers around threatening him. Unbeknownst to him though, he was carrying a pseudo-time bomb on his clothing.
Arriving back home, Olivia had greeted him at the door, promised that dinner would be ready in a little bit, and hugged him. The hug lasted all of three seconds before he heard her sniffing at his jacket and shirt.
"I smell a female on you, and it's not your ZPD partner, Judy Hopps."
Connor had long since gotten used to the fact that a feline's sense of smell wasn't nearly as sensitive as a canid's. So, when Olivia surprised him by A, admitting she knew Judy's scent, and B, stating that there was another non-Judy female scent on him, and C, he only worked with one female close enough for him to pick up her scent on his clothes, Connor was caught off guard.
"It's probably Judy's little sister, the doe has a thing for guys who wear faux leather jackets and ride motorcycles." Chuckling, Connor foolishly added, "Yeah, you wouldn't believe it, barely nineteen, and kept asked me if I had a mate. Said she was going to be at UNZ this fall studying to be a CSI and wanted to meet up sometime."
The roar from his mate was ear-splitting, her attack on him was unprecedented, and the ensuing night of primal passion was mind-erasing.
Carefully extricating himself from his mate's grip, a grip bolstered by claws embedded in his fur, Connor reset the alarm and made his way into the bathroom to get ready. Dressing in jeans and a loose-fitting grey golf shirt, no more faux leather for this wolf, Connor grabbed his phone, keys, badge, and gun from the dresser, kissed his sleeping mate, and left.
When he'd picked up his car at the station last night, and yes, the seats had been messed up, Bogo had been waiting for him. Wilde had been right, Bogo was beyond pissed.
And worse, besides him, Hopps, Wilde, and Clawhauser, Bogo didn't know who to trust.
Standing in a secluded part of the ZPD garage, Connor listened as his boss filled him in.
After a day's worth of Clawhauser working his keyboard, Bogo was now convinced that a pawful of ZPD systems had been compromised. The phones, the secure radios, the computer network, and the JamCam system, they'd all been hacked.
Figuring that writing a trouble ticket to have the new sloth IT group's admins track down the hacker was a bad idea, Bogo had tasked Clawhauser to keep searching through the ZPD's computer systems for any sign of the hacker. Bogo hoped that if the hacker's electronic pawprints, or hoofprints, were anything like internet tidbits on Gazelle, Clawhauser would be able to find their perp fast.
He hoped.
Bogo had assigned himself to search through all of the ZPD personnel records, discipline reports, complaints, and any other records he could find that would let him know what his people were into and who he could add to his 'trusted' list.
Connor didn't want to know what would happen to anyone who didn't make the cut, he was afraid, very afraid that those individuals would find out what it was like to get, up close and personal, with an enraged bull.
Handing Connor a portable CSI kit and a bag of shredded dress that, for some unknown reason, hadn't been logged into the system yet, Bogo made it clear that everything was to be kept as quiet as possible, his eyes only. He emphasized the need for secrecy by adjusting Connor's official shift schedule and putting him on Special Duty. Everyone in the ZPD knew that Special Duty meant some unfortunate mammal had pissed the Chief off and was officially on parking duty, and unofficially to be shunned, a perfect cover for Connor's private investigation.
Starting his car, Connor glanced over to the bag on the seat next to him. 'So much for maintaining the chain of evidence.' And then shaking his head, he sighed, 'Given the trail of bodies left behind by the Mule over the years, the likelihood he'd ever willingly step inside of a courtroom is between slim and none, and Slim just got his head blown off.'
Putting his car in gear, Connor headed over to the construction site where Hopps was attacked.
-/-/-
Nick, dressed in running shorts and an old ZPD t-shirt, used all his predator skills to silently creep to where his prey lay oblivious to the fearsome animal that–
*clink*
"Mmmm."
Nick froze, foot still on the empty plate he'd just stepped on.
"Ummm."
Quietly lifting his foot so as not to alert his target…
*plink*
Nick shook his head hearing the shifting silverware and then chided his inner hunter, 'Seriously Wilde, what would your feral ancestors think? Probably put you in a remedial stalking class, that's what.'
Taking a seat on the edge of the bed, Nick let his tail swing around and brush against his sleeping quarry's cheek.
Instinctively pulling the soft appendage in for a hug, the helpless prey mammal, unconsciously realizing their situation's precariousness, started making unusual noises.
"Mmm… fluffy… warm… mmm."
"Wakey, wakey, Carrots. Time to get up and give the fox his tail back," whispered Nick.
"Nu-uh… mine," a voice mumbled from inside a blanket pile, followed by a yawn and a gentle tug on said tail as Judy tried squirming deeper into her bed covers with her soft prize, " 'night."
Reaching over, Nick pulled back the edge of a blanket and seeing a bit of gray fur, said, "Come on sleepybun, breakfast is almost over. Hungry bunnies need to eat."
Another yawn, and then, "Not hungry," followed by a tummy grumble that would have made a dieting Clawhauser, if that was possible, proud.
Pulling more of the covers back, Nick reached around the gray ball of fur and gently rubbed Judy's back.
"Mmmm."
Judy let go of Nick's tail, uncurled, and then once Nick extended his claws slightly and started in on a full back scratch, she began to purr.
"Ahhhmmm."
After a couple of minutes of his gentle scritches all up and down her back, Nick leaned closed to a floppy ear and whispered, "Good morning, Carrots."
"Morning. That feels so good, please don't ever stop."
Nick chuckled, and then hearing another tummy rumble, said, "I'm good to keep going, but I think somebunny's hungry."
Rolling over, Judy pulled Nick down for a kiss and–
Nick's fur puffed out, and his ears were suddenly at attention.
"What's wrong?" asked Judy, straightening up herself.
"Kit patrol," replied Nick as he scooched to a more respectable distance away from his bunny. "Raincheck?"
Judy sighed and said, "Sure."
"How are your ribs feeling?"
Taking a deep breath and then tentatively letting it out, Judy grimaced a little and said, "I'm fine. I think."
Pointing to the nightstand, Nick said, "Your pills are right there."
"Mom wants to know if you're gonna eat breakfast," interrupted an out-of-breath Sunni, stopping in the middle of the room.
"She looks sad," added Susan.
Nick smirked, "You promised."
Pulling a pillow on top of her head, Judy groaned, "I don't wanna, not right now. I'll talk to her later."
"What happened to my partner, the toughest cop in Zootopia? You know, the one that saved me from a crazed panther, knocked out a rhino, and plucked a doughnut out of Clawhauser's paw mid-bite?
"Mm cared," came a whimper from under the newly formed pile of bedding.
Lifting up the edge of the pillow until he saw a pair of beautiful eyes looking back at him, Nick whispered, "You're scared?"
"Uh-huh."
"Come on Judy, Mom's ready to start cleaning up."
Judy looked up at Nick with big, pleading eyes and mouthed, "Please."
Not even trying to resist her look, Nick shook his head and said, "Fine, I'll tell your mom you're resting and grab you some breakfast, okay?"
"Pancakes?"
"Sure."
"With extra syrup, and some cantaloupe and strawberries too, please."
Brushing Judy's cheek with his thumb, Nick shook his head at the beautiful sight that was his bunny, and then with a sigh, said, "One bunny doe, there's got to be one somewhere that I can say no to."
Standing, Nick joined the foot-tapping kits, and with a paw on each of their backs, guided them out of the room saying, "Come on you guys, your sister needs some alone time."
Judy giggled as she saw the door close and heard, "Mr. Nick, what's alone time?"
"You know kit, after living here with you guys, I have no idea."
-/-/-
Sometime during the trek to the dining room, Nick went from pushing the kits out of Judy's room, to being escorted to breakfast, to being deposited in front of the warren's chief taskmaster.
Except for today, said indomitable force was looking like she hadn't slept a wink all night and had shed more than a few tears before fixing the breakfast she was now cleaning up.
"Good morning, Mrs. H."
Looking up and then past and around Nick, Bonnie's face fell, "Good Morning, Nicholas," Bonnie replied and then, looking back down to the breakfast buffet she was taking apart, whispered, "Is Judy coming?"
"No, she, uh, she's had a pretty rough couple of days and wants to sleep some more."
Sunni innocently added, "She looked awake to me, she said she was–"
"You guys want to go to the lake later for a picnic?" interrupted Nick.
"Yes!"
"Yay!"
"Okay, before we can go, find the rest of the litter and tell everyone they need to tidy up their bedrooms and then pick up all the toys in the playroom from last night. If you guys do an extra good job, Judy and I will take you to the lake when I get back. Deal?"
Watching Sunni and Susan disappear to do the fox's bidding, Bonnie was impressed at how well Nick handled the little kits. His girl in the city better hurry and mark him before someone else beats her to the punch.
"I was going to fix Judy a plate before I went out for my run. I'll, uh–"
Bonnie nodded, and with a trembling paw, grabbed a plate and started loading it up with Judy's favorites.
"She never did come to dinner last night, did she? That one plate of food you fixed her last night couldn't have been enough. She's probably starving, the poor girl. I can grab a tray, that way you can fix her an extra plate. Extra strawberries, those are her favorite, you know. You said she enjoys a half-caf in the morning, I think our machine can do that, I'll order a new one just in case, I can ask Gideon to bring her out a carrot Danish if you think she would like that?"
Setting the full plate down, Bonnie sniffed and quickly wiped a tear out of her eye. "Maybe some herbal tea, if she's not feeling well, that might help. Uncle Lewis swore that a good cup of tea would cure anything." Reaching out to grab a second plate, Bonnie's paw was gently covered by Nick's and stilled."
"She loves you very much."
Turning to Nick, Bonnie hugged him tight and cried, "What can I do to make things right? I'm such a terrible mother. I wasn't there for her when she needed me most, and now she must hate me."
Patting Bonnie gently on the back, Nick said, "That's not true, she–"
"Mom."
Nick looked up to see Judy standing a few feet away, ears droopy, arms folded, and staring at her feet.
Bonnie froze, she didn't dare turn around. Did she just hear what she thought she'd heard?
"Judy?"
Nick gently pulled away from Bonnie, and then seeing the two does both looking down, noses twitching nervously, shook his head. Reaching over to Judy, he took her paw, while at the same time, he turned Bonnie around.
Nodding, he stepped back and… nothing, neither of them moved.
Stepping back in, he pushed them nearly together and said, "Bonnie, this is your daughter, Judy, she loves you. Judy, this is your mom, she loves you too.
"I'm going for a run."
Silence.
A moment later, the front door opened...
"I'm sorry, I wasn't there for you."
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have shut you out."
…and closed.
-/-/-
Connor slowed as he passed 'The Root Cellar' and its dancing vegetable sign and then turned onto the gravel service road he'd run in record time just two days before. Making his way over rivets and past the piles of construction material he'd recently used as protective cover for his retreat, Connor maneuvered his car to the alley behind the site and parked about twenty yards away from the dumpster where he'd found Hopps.
Getting out of his car, the wolf took a quick look around and nodded, "Good, everything's still here."
The dumpster wasn't due to be emptied until Friday, and aside from a lot more construction noise and a little more debris added to the already messy pile he'd dragged Hopps out from under, not much had changed in the last couple of days.
Deciding to focus on the alley first, Connor took some pictures of the tire marks his perps had left racing away from the scene. And then, getting down on his paws and knees, Connor carefully examined the area around where the skid marks started. A good amount of black rubber was burnt into the concrete alley, and he could tell whoever was driving must have known what they were doing because the skid marks didn't show much in the way of any fishtailing.
Taking a deep cleansing breath, Connor lowered his nose and started to sniff around. There were a lot of scents in play, some dominated by sweat, a couple clouded by cigarette smoke, one even of someone wearing cheap cologne. Sniffing between where the tire marks were and where he'd found Hopps, Connor slowly made his way back to the dumpster when he picked up a new scent.
"Come to papa."
Taking a deep sniff, Connor mumbled to himself, "Not Hopps' for sure." Pulling out an evidence bag, he carefully slipped a scrap piece of tile backer board, with a single drop of blood on it, into the bag and the bag into his pocket.
Back on his paws and knees, Connor sniffed around near the dumpster. The new debris, which included thinner, a nearly empty gallon jug of floor finish, and paint cans, one leaking onto the ground, all pretty much masked any new scents he might have picked up close to the dumpster.
"Excuse me, this is a construction site, and you're trespassing."
Looking up, Connor saw an unhappy camel wearing dirty jeans, a blue work shirt, and a foreman's helmet.
"Scavenging for scrap will get you arrested, and dumping ain't allowed neither."
Jumping up, Connor pulled out his badge, thumb covering the badge number, and showed it to the foreman.
"I'm not scavenging, I'm," thinking quickly, he nodded in the direction of the small market, "investigating a noise complaint from a couple of days ago. The report said someone thought they heard fireworks, or maybe gunfire."
The camel huffed, "I know who called, the old-timer that runs that crazy vegetable shop. Every time we break out the nail guns, he gives us a ration. I was over there just last week, trying to make nice with him, didn't do no good, neither."
"So, Monday, after lunch, were you guys using nail guns?"
"Yeah, early afternoon, I don't remember exactly when because it was last minute," stepping to the edge of the debris pile, the camel picked out a palm-sized red box and, rattling it a bit, handed it to Connor. "That's what we use, the red loads, drives a fastener into concrete or steel real nice-like."
Connor opened the box and poured out about a half dozen shells, mostly spent brass, but there were a couple of duds that hadn't fired.
"Damn. Buddy, if you don't mind, I'll take those. You wouldn't believe how many times I've told my crews to dispose of the misfires properly. The last thing I don't need is for an inspector to show up and fine us for breaking regs."
Connor shrugged, the casings were bigger than the Mousermann high-powered Ultra Mags that Judy used, but not by a lot. About to close the box and hand it over…
"Would you mind grabbing those over there, behind the wheel of the dumpster? If they're misfires too, I'm going to be using somebody's gun to nail their tail to a wall."
Connor kneeled and, blocking the foreman's view with his body, was able to see what the camel had pointed out. Two spent shells by the locked wheel, and, 'Yes!' a third casing stuck on a piece of used duct tape.
Poking at the shells with a claw, Connor smiled when he saw the Mousermann mark on the bottom of all the casings. 'Three casings, and I heard three shots.'
Quickly hooking the spent shells with his claws, Connor shook the small box of casings as if he'd just added what he'd found and then stood with one paw behind his back. Pressing the box into the camel's hoof, Connor winked as he said, "Here you go and don't worry too much about nailing any of your crew's tails to the wall, they were all spent. Besides, construction site inspection isn't really a ZPD thing."
"Thanks," replied the relieved camel, "The boys will appreciate that."
"Speaking of," replied Connor waving his free paw toward the nearest building under construction, "Do you have equids working on any of your crews?"
The camel nodded, "Yeah, on the crew that works the foundations, two brothers that are Shires and a Clydesdale who's visiting his mom in the Meadowlands. None of them have been around since we finished up the foundation on the last building, over there at the end of the block, maybe a month ago."
Connor put out his paw to shake the foreman's hoof, "Thanks for the help. I'll close out the noise complaint as resolved, no action needed."
-/-/-
"Would you like some more? You look so thin."
"Mom, I'm fine. Three stacks of pancakes are plenty, I can't eat another bite."
Bonnie pulled a dish out of the warming oven and set it on the counter next to Judy. "How about some Strawberry Crumble?"
"Moooom."
"It has the brown sugar topping you like."
Trying with all her might to resist, Judy groaned… with delight as she chewed the first bite of her most favorite breakfast treat. "It's a good thing I'm living in the city, no telling how many extra ounces I'd put on if I still lived here."
"You know, with whatever's happening at work that you can't talk about, it'd be nice if you were able to visit for a while. I know the kits would love to spend time with their famous big sister."
"Mmm, nim oly ohm mor mmm…"
"Don't talk with your mouth full, dear."
"I said, I'm only home for about a week, and then I have to get back to work."
"Will you still be able to come back for Carrot Days? We missed you last year."
"I think so, Nick worked some shifts for me so I could take time off, and Bogo's approved my leave. But that was all before this new case I'm working on happened, so we'll see."
Bonnie smiled and put another piece of crumble on Judy's empty plate. "That was nice of Nicholas, it would be a terrible shame if he went to all that effort, and you ended up not being able to come."
"Mmmm hmm," came the reply working its way around another fork full of crumble.
"It was quite the surprise when he showed up on our doorstep," and then with a twinkle, Bonnie added, "a text or a call might have saved me from having to calm Ronni down after she slammed the door in Nicholas' face."
Judy laughed, "She didn't?"
"Yes, she did, screamed too. Poor dear insisted on helping me bake some blueberry bars for Nicholas as an apology."
"If I know my fox, uh, partner, I bet he forgave her after the first bite," replied Judy hurriedly as she stuffed another forkful of crumble in her mouth.
"Yes, he does have a thing for blueberries. He's also quite good with the kits. It's a shame that he and his girlfriend are struggling, I'm sure he'd make a wonderful father."
"Girlfriend?"
"Yes, dear, his girl in the city."
Coughing into her paw, Judy motioned for a glass of water. Taking a quick sip, she said, "Oh, yeah, um, her. She's got some issues she's trying to work through. You know, uh, family stuff."
"I've heard." said Bonnie as she tried to fill Judy's plate again but was waved off, "Which, now that I'm thinking about it, I'd like to ask you a favor. It has to do with Nicholas."
"Okay."
"Nicholas seems quite taken with this girl, and he's worried that she may be angry with him," and then chuckling, "he can be a bit of a prankster if you haven't noticed."
Judy rolled her eyes, "Yeah, I've noticed, and so have a few of the guys at the station even though no one's caught him red pawed yet."
"Yes, well, he's pretty good at teasing but, maybe not so smart with regards to some of your sisters, one in particular."
"Amy," growled Judy.
"Yes, dear. She's been embarrassing poor Nicholas with her antics, and I'm afraid that his girlfriend will catch wind of what Amy's been doing and cause him even more problems.
"For a fox, Nicholas has been extremely gracious in playing with the little kits, even allowing them to cuddle up with him when they watch movies together. I just don't want any of the older girls to spoil things by getting overly pawsy with him."
"For a fox?"
"Yes, foxes aren't like bunnies, their families are smaller, and they are all very independent. They like their space if you know what I mean. For Nicholas to so willingly allow himself to be buried under a kerfluffle of kits and then laugh about it as he's giving foxback rides or playing games makes him very special for a fox.
"The foxes I knew of growing up, would never allow that kind of closeness with anyone other than their own family."
Judy cocked her head in a very canid way, "You grew up around foxes? I thought Gideon and his family were the first foxes you'd ever met."
"No, not at all. Remember, where I grew up in North Hillsburrow, there weren't that many rabbit families or farms for that matter. My dad and my Aunt Georgina ran the family Five and Dime, and uncle Lewis worked at a bakery until it was sold, and he decided to move to Bunnyburrow to start his own business."
Bonnie went quiet for a moment remembering her uncle, and then shaking away the bad parts of her memories, she continued, "At any rate, my middle school Health and Behavior classes covered much more than just rabbits, and that's why I need your help with Nicholas.
"Foxes, vixens, in particular, can be quite territorial. And if Nicholas' girlfriend finds out that Amy has been trying to get pawsy with his tail, or gods forbid bed him, I think his girlfriend might blame him, and I don't want to see Nicholas get in trouble with her."
Nodding and out of sight of her mother, balling her fists, Judy asked, "What do you want me to do?"
"You two are best friends and work partners, so I'd like you to stay close to Nicholas and run interference for him. I'd ask Janae, but she's involved with Dalton and isn't around as much as she used to be."
Judy raised a brow, "Soooo, you want me to spend as much time with Nick as I can to protect him from my sisters, so his girlfriend doesn't get mad at him?"
"You don't mind, do you? I had so hoped to introduce you to a couple of bucks who are in from the city, but if you're willing to help, I can wait on that until you're back for Carrot Days."
"Uhhhh."
"It's just that Nicholas needs a strong doe to keep an eye out for him around here and in town. I've heard rumors that besides your sisters, some of the girls in Predville are–"
"I'll do it."
"Good, thank you. Although, since the topic of eligible bucks came up, how's it going finding a–"
*Slam*
"I'm back. The fox is in the bunnyhouse."
Judy hopped off her stool, and giving her mom a quick salute, said, "Sorry Mom, can't talk, duty calls."