Have you ever been writing and suddenly found that the chaper has gone on longer than you expected?

Yeah that happened.

Also, actual fluff for once, never tried writing that sort of thing before so let me know how I did

Chapter 5

Money.

If there was one word to describe Officer Lunette Furle's current situation, it was money. She was sat rather stiffly on a chaise longue alongside Judy and Fru Fru. Who each had their own chaise longue.

Who has a chaise longue in their bedroom?! She thought to herself Let alone three! And they are all different sizes!

As she glanced around furtively, the sheer amount of wealth involved in the room was a little frightening actually. The walls were decorated with authentic paintings, there were sculptures dotted around the room, Lunette could see a walk-in wardrobe and did not even want to consider the cost of the outfits hanging there.

Lunette was a beat cop just like Judy, had been back in Los Antleres and still was now. She had never been as close to the rich and wealthy as she was now and it made her very nervous. Lunette tried to stay as far away from anything in the room as possible, which was tricky since she couldn't fly. Judy and Fru Fru had been happily catching up since their last meeting, a coffee morning a weekend or so ago.

"Lunette?" asked Judy noticing her partner's discomfort "are you okay?"

"I, I'm ok" said the wolf wincing slightly that she'd been noticed "I'm just not that used to all… this" she gestured about the room "your room is a bit more extravagant than I've ever seen before"

"Oh this isn't my room darling" chuckled Fru Fru into her paw "I'm married and a mother now, I don't still live with Daddy. This is my old room, I just use it for when friends visit now"

Lunette's ears fell flat against her head, she would never be able to get her mind wrapped around the ways of the rich and powerful.

"We could go somewhere else if it would make you more comfortable" said Fru Fru gently.

"No, it's not anything to do with you" said Lunette shaking her head "I just haven't ever been in a situation like this before. There's no way how you and Judy became friends could happen back where I come from"

"And where is that?" asked Fru Fru interestedly not noticing Judy's ears droop.

"Los Antleres" said Lunette softly as Fru Fru's paws flew to her mouth in surprise "I was quite lucky really; my family was fairly secure and middle class. We never had to deal with being homeless, or not having any food, or drug problems. But we never really had enough money, even so we were doing pretty well in that city. Los Antleres is one of the biggest piles of crap you can find" Lunette frowned slightly "and unless you were extremely rich you couldn't escape that fact. I had to see muggings, drug addicts, prostitutes, gang members, the works, every time I walked to and from school. And this was in one of the better neighbourhoods."

Now that she was talking Lunette relaxed a little bit and tucked her feet up onto her seat as she got more comfortable. Judy was happy to see that and smiled as she carried on listening to the wolf.

"In Los Antleres ignorance is bliss, even if that is a false ignorance, ignoring anything that happens can be the only way for a mammal to survive. And that is exactly how I was taught growing up, I can't even fault my parents for it, they did a damn good job raising me. There was only one problem" Lunette smiled sadly "I never listened. I watched the people in my city and it hurt. I wanted to make life better for people in that hellhole. Luckily, I'm a wolf, so being a cop was fine in society, even if my parents were against it"

Lunette looked at Judy for a few long moments causing the grey doe to get rather embarrassed.

"I don't think I could have done what you did Judy, proving people's prejudices wrong. But I didn't have to, I had the drive to get through my training easily and I could finally start helping my city. It was wonderful at first, I felt like I was making a difference but as time passed I started to notice the truth. The people we arrested, hardly any of them actually got punished, charges never seemed to stick, there was always an alibi"

Judy could feel her ears drooping, she like most people had heard rumours about Los Antleres but hearing about it in person made it cut closer to home than she liked. The thought of Dawn Bellwether, and what could have happened to Zootopia if they hadn't stopped her, crossed her mind.

"I was new and fresh though" continued Lunette waving a paw "I figured that since some charges actually led to convictions then I just needed to work harder and make more arrests. So I did. And it didn't work. I knew I wasn't alone, I had countless colleagues and we were all trying to help, yet we weren't making a difference. It took me a while before I'd matured enough, gained enough experience, to recognise what was actually happening" Lunette looked down at one of her paws for a moment as she subconsciously clenched them into fists "I wasn't going to be able to make a difference because the police, my goal and dream, were in fact the very thing allowing the city to be such a shithole. Those who were actually convicted of a crime were just street thugs. Any criminal with a bit of authority or money could walk away scot free"

Judy and Fru Fru glanced at each other as they let Lunette get everything out, they could tell that she'd been bottling this up for a long time.

"When I found out, by personally seeing a big time crook shaking paws with one of my superiors before they just walked out of the station, I was crushed. I didn't know what to do anymore. And that's probably how my life would have continued, a broken cop just going through the actions without any life or faith" Lunette paused and frowned "until I met the Shade"

Judy's ears picked up at this, she'd pieced together bits in her mind from Lunette's reaction earlier with Mr. Big, now it seemed Lunette was willing to talk about it.

"They are an information broker, pretty big apparently, and I encountered them completely by accident. I was on a drug bust, our team made a textbook raid and as I explored the upstairs I found him. Thinking of course that he was just another perp to cuff I took him in. I first noticed something was wrong when he never appeared with the others we'd arrested when we reached the station"

Lunette's ears twitched "I figured he was rich enough to pay off the cops and felt a little bit worse inside. Life carried on till a week or so later, while dealing with a hostage situation the Shade got caught and arrested again by myself. And once again he never made it to the station. By this point I started to do some research into who exactly they were. Once I found out they were the Shade things started to make sense. He never did anything bad himself, and apparently he did quite a bit of good too, but his information still caused a lot of terrible things to happen in Los Antleres" Lunette chuckled ruefully "the third time we met was during a gang war, massive shoot out going on, luckily innocent mammals had long since evacuated the area. The bastard saved my life and I cuffed him for it. There was almost a bit of rivalry going on between us as well as a grudging respect. Nobody had ever caught him before and now I'd done it three times in a row. Not that anything came of it, he escaped again, and if anything, I got the short end of the stick. There were higher ups in the police department who either used the Shade or had rich friends who did. So suddenly I found myself under the hammer for causing a problem in their source of information, after all if I keep arresting the Shade enough something might stick"

Lunette sighed and stretched out on the chaise longue more before continuing, she seemed to be rounding the story to an end.

"I think that was the second to last thing before I'd had enough of Los Antleres. I was pushed into dead end assignments and useless partners. I couldn't get anything accomplished anymore. I just didn't know what to do. And that was when I overheard the police chief on the phone to someone. He said the Shade had left the city for Zootopia among various other things that I really shouldn't have heard. It got me thinking, Zootopia was a shining paradise compared to Los Antleres, and I couldn't just let the Shade go, regardless of what he does bad events just seem to follow him. It didn't take me long to take this as a sign for me to get out of the city"

Lunette grinned slightly as she remembered something "I gave my application for transfer to my supervisor but that was shot down, my career was under heavy pressure and a transfer was probably considered too good for me. So I went straight to the police chief and used all the dirt I'd overheard on that phone call. My transfer then went through without a hitch. And I guess that brings us up to the present"

Fru Fru had jumped down from her own chaise longue and scurried across the floor towards Lunette. She climbed up the side of the seat and then up the side of the wolf before Fru Fru plastered herself onto Lunette's cheek in a hug.

"I'm so glad you got out of there" said Fru Fru rather muffled before she hopped onto Lunette's offered paw "I've heard nothing but bad things about that city from Daddy. If you need anything, and I mean anything, now that you are here in Zootopia, you give me a call you hear me"

"T, Thank you mis-Fru Fru" Lunette hurriedly used the shrew's actual name at the glare she got from the tiny mammal.

"Don't you worry, Lunette" said Judy happily "you won't believe how different things are here in Zootopia. Chief Bogo would have the heads of any officers that tried something like how Los Antleres runs things"

The conversation reverted to what Judy and Fru Fru had been discussing before, except that this time Lunette had come out of her shell and joined in. Personal stories often bring people together and Fru Fru quickly took to the white wolf.

I don't think I've ever had friends to just sit and talk with Lunette thought to herself basking in the atmosphere sure there were colleagues and some acquaintances, but nothing like this. I already feel closer to Judy and Fru than I did with anyone back in Los Antleres.

Judy and Lunette spent a good few hours talking with Fru Fru. In fact, the little shrew insisted they stay for lunch. Unfortunately, they still needed to get a report back to Chief Bogo so the rabbit and wolf had to leave eventually. But not before Fru Fru had made them both promise to have a girl's night sometime soon. Lunette's tail was wagging happily as they made their way back to the entrance, a far cry from how she'd been when they'd first arrived. Wesley the badger butler was waiting by the door with their winter jackets. Putting them on the girls felt like they were sliding into a warm pool, their jackets had been washed, dried and suitably heated before being returned.

After vigorously thanking Wesley the two of them stepped outside ready to brave the temperatures of Tundratown. It was still snowing, it never really stopped, but it was certainly lighter than the morning. It was quiet in the car during the ride back to precinct 1, Judy was mainly letting Lunette take in the sights of Zootopia as they drove.

I wonder what she'll be like if we have to go to the Rainforest District thought Judy with a small giggle I hope Nick's around when we do, he'd have a field day with her.

This thought just served to remind Judy about her missing partner as her ears drooped.

As soon as I clock off I'm going around to Nick's and finding out just what happened this morning thought Judy setting her determination. She was worried, ignoring any confusing thoughts brought on by Clawhauser, and Judy wanted to make sure Nick was okay.

Thankfully, as they pulled back into the precinct car park to put away the cruiser, there wasn't much paperwork to fill out in this situation. Judy left the car keys with Clawhauser before showing Lunette to the office space. They would definitely need another chair if Lunette was going to be sharing with them but for now she just about managed to share the pachyderm suitable chair with Judy. Not that Lunette had much to do, Judy was very efficient when it came to paperwork and she'd whipped up a report on their days findings before the wolf had finished looking around the office.

"Come on" said Judy jumping down from the chair "Bogo is going to want to talk to us about the investigation"

"He scares me" whispered Lunette as they walked down the corridors towards the Chief's office "I've never had a boss who, you know, cared about his job"

"Don't worry about it" said Judy playfully hitting Lunette's arm "the Chief may seem tough but he can be a real softy sometimes" Judy carried on seriously "You belong here Lunette, Zootopia needs cops like you, Los Antleres never deserved you. Just remember, the fact the Chief let you transfer here says it all"

A bit more perk appeared in the wolf's ears as she walked along after the little grey doe. She felt rather better but that didn't stop her tail from freezing when they were finally outside the Chief's office. A grunt of acknowledgement could be heard from within when Judy knocked on the door. Inside Chief Bogo looked up from the pile of reports in front of him and removed the reading glasses from his face. As much as he disliked the things, Chief Bogo was a mammal who would use every means possible to complete his job, even tiny little glasses. He frowned slightly as the bunny and wolf entered and sat down, his already stony face somehow appearing even more serious.

"Part of me doesn't want to hear what you found out" said the cape buffalo leaning back in his chair "alright Hopps, what's going on in the city?"

"Mr. Big agreed to see us" began Judy flicking through her report again to make sure she hadn't missed anything "The rumours about an underworld character coming to Zootopia are true. However, things aren't as bad as we thought, they are an information broker known as the Shade. Mr Big told me to tell you that they were a grey character"

The buffalo's face relaxed slightly at this "And you're sure this is true?" he asked, though he didn't think Mr. Big would actually lie to Judy.

"It's definitely true" Bogo was surprised when it was Lunette that spoke up "The Shade originated from Los Antleres, I've arrested them a few times for being in the wrong place at the wrong time, following them was one of the reasons for my transfer here"

"Interesting" said Bogo steeping his hooves "so you have some prior experience with them? Should we be worried?"

"As Officer Hopps said, they are not really a criminal, they just trade in secrets, which can be dangerous" Lunette took a deep breath "but… as much as I don't want to say it… if they act like they did in Los Antleres then there shouldn't be any problems with them sir"

Judy hated to be the bearer of bad news after seeing the weight they had just lifted from Chief Bogo's mind but she had to continue.

"There is something else sir" said Judy wincing as she saw the buffalo's face fall "Mr. Big has heard rumours, even he can't confirm it yet, that a Perseus Albicauda has a presence in Zootopia. Mr. Big warned us that this would be very bad if it turned out to be true"

"Nothing can be simple can it" said Bogo to himself "excellent work you two" the Chief accepted the report from Judy "Officer Furle, how did you cope with this assignment?"

"To be honest sir, I was terrified" said Lunette shifting on her seat "Mr. Big isn't the biggest crime boss in Zootopia without reason, reason I've now seen first-hand. I'm very thankful Judy-Officer Hopps was present" she scratched her head sheepishly "though I understand I'd never have been in the situation if not for her either"

"Good" snorted Bogo "let that be a lesson, Zootopia isn't Los Antleres but it certainly isn't perfect. Your dismissed, I apologise that your first day was rather… unorthodox. Go and get some rest, Hopps I'd like a word before you leave"

The two girls murmured goodbyes before Lunette left the office and went to clock off for the day. Judy returned her focus onto her superior, wondering what he wanted now.

"Officer Furle" said Chief Bogo while reading through Judy's report "How was she to work with?"

Judy felt slightly indignant at the question, it seemed her boss just wanted to grill her about her new colleague. After having gotten to know the wolf Judy felt rather prickly about Chief Bogo's action.

"Officer Furle was a pleasure to work with in the field sir. She embodies all the qualities that the ZPD stands for"

Chief Bogo could feel the displeasure in his subordinate's tone and actually smiled slightly which shocked Judy.

"I am well aware of that Hopps, I would not have authorised her transfer otherwise, I simply wanted to see if any of Los Antleres' prejudices or opinions had rubbed off on her. From your reaction, I would seem to be worrying over nothing, I'm glad you are working well together as you will be for the foreseeable future" Chief Bogo put down Judy's report and picked up the paperwork he was reading before "one last thing, has there been any news about Officer Wilde" just the sight of Judy's ears flopping sadly was enough "I see, please make him aware that I'll be seeing him in my office first thing tomorrow"

Judy nodded slightly and left the office. There wasn't anything else left for her to do in the department so she was going to head straight for Nick's and hope he was there. As she walked into the main entrance though she paused with a thought. She turned and with a sigh headed for the dispatcher's desk. For once Ben was not glued to some sort of app and waved happily as he spotted Judy approaching.

"How was your day Judy?" asked the inquisitive cheetah.

"It was good Benjy" said Judy smiling "listen, before I go I just wanted to say something. Next time you see Lunette can you please not dig into her romantic life. It seems to be rather complicated and I don't think she's ready to talk about it"

"Aww" cried Clawhauser as he started to tear up slightly "the poor girl, don't you worry Judy my lips are sealed till she talks. So, are you going to go find your fox now?"

"I-he-wha… H-he's not my fox Benjy" said Judy blushing slightly, already regretting coming to talk to the chubby cat "but yes, I haven't heard anything from him all day so I'm rather worried"

"Go get him Tiger" shouted Ben as Judy hurriedly left the precinct, there was a small cough next to him "Oops, sorry Fangmeyer" he whispered to the tigress he hadn't noticed who just rolled her eyes.

Judy pulled up next to Nick's apartment block, thankfully there was free parking outside and she managed to find a spot. She was worried. She'd sent him some text messages before leaving the precinct car park but she hadn't received any replies. So all Judy could do was hope that he was home.

Making her way inside she nodded to the security guard, a ram called Donald, Judy had visited enough times that he recognised her and waved a hoof back. Nick told her that he was a good guy but after everything with the Night-howler case Judy had been slightly apprehensive getting to know sheep and rams again. Still, the small amount of contact she had, and the fact that he was actually quite nice, meant Judy got on reasonably with him.

"Have you seen Nick today, Donald?" asked Judy, her worry about her partner overpowering her usual nervousness.

Donald was slightly surprised, he knew all about the Night-howler case and, personally, disagreed with Bellwether's ideas completely. So he could understand why Judy was always a little distant when dealing with him. He was rather happy that she was talking to him so normally.

"Yeah" said the ram putting down the paper he was reading "he left normal time this morning, but I expect you know that since he said you give him a lift to work" the ram held up a hoof as Judy started getting a bit aggravated "and yes, I saw him get back a bit earlier, was dropped off by someone I didn't catch"

Before he'd even finished speaking Judy had torn across the entrance hall towards the stairwell, Donald sniggered figuring that Nick must have done something bad to get Judy that worked up.

Judy was taking the steps three at a time as she practically bounded up the stairs. She'd probably broken some kind of record at the speed with which she was ascending. Pausing to catch her breath slightly on Nick's floor, she stepped forwards towards Nick's flat.

Judy stepped up to knock on the door only to feel her heart lurch when she saw that the door was ajar.

Nick never forgets to lock any doors behind him thought Judy as she slowly pushed said door open and stepped into his apartment.

It was empty as far as she could see, she closed the door properly behind herself and slowly walked into the flat.

"Nick?" she called out "it's me, Judy, are you there? Is everything okay?"

Judy shivered slightly, the apartment didn't feel like it normally did, usually it was a warm and happy place for her. But now it felt like the walls were pressing in on her. Her tail twitched, it felt like there were eyes on her, something following her. She shuddered as her thoughts drifted back to the times she'd had to deal with savage animals, due to Night-howlers.

Her heart was beating fast as she stepped past the kitchen when the feeling got worse, it was like she was sat in the gaze of a predator and she froze up. Something touched her shoulders and her mind went blank. Her rabbit instincts were just about to take over and make her flee the scene when a different set of instincts kicked them out of the way and took control. Instincts she'd had drilled into her in police training.

Judy grabbed whatever had touched her, leant her shoulder forwards feeling a weight drop onto her, and then jumped with her extremely powerful legs. Something russet coloured went flying through the air going "Weeeeeeeee" before it bounced off the back of the sofa with an 'Oof' and disappeared from Judy's sight.

Still frozen in place Judy's brain came to terms with what just happened and her paws flew to her mouth. Hurriedly she leapt straight over the back of the sofa and landed on the cushions. In front of her on the floor, in a rather bedraggled pile, was Nick.

"Nick!" she almost shrieked "are you okay? Oh god, I'm so sorry!"

Nick twitched at her voice and disentangled himself enough to flop his chin up onto the sofa next to Judy.

"Heey" slurred Nick "it's my most favourite-ist Bunny in the world. What are you doing here?"

Judy could feel her heart going like a train, there had been too much stress today "Are you drunk?!" she asked incredulously, after all that worrying she thought getting a bit angry.

"Am I drunk?" Nick seemed to ask himself as he struggled up onto the sofa and collapsed next to Judy "Yes, yes I am… Extreme-ably"

"Nick" said Judy holding her head and trying to work out what she was thinking and feeling at the moment "what has been going on today? Do you know how worried I've been?"

Suddenly Judy felt arms around her as Nick managed to lean across and pull her into his side with a small 'meep'. Judy froze up yet again feeling the warmth Nick was giving off as she tried to keep up with the situation.

"I'm just so happy Hopps" Nick giggled "Happy Hopps" he started to stroke the top of Judy's head sending sparks down her back "I found my brother again and then we started drinking. And everything was fine until we started drinking moonlight and then we got very, ver, veery drunk"

Judy was trying to ignore the feelings Nick's digits were invoking in her while also piece together what had happened today from his drunken ramblings. It wasn't working too well.

"I haven't seen him in tens of tens of tens of…" Nick trailed off sadly "Ten years, that was it, and then all of a suddenly I saw him across the street this morning. I-I really missed him"

Judy felt something pattering on the top of her head and looked up to see tears running down her partner's muzzle. It felt like something was grabbing her heart as she looked at the sadness on his face. Before she could say anything though the hand stroking her head stopped and then she felt a claw running from the base of her ear all the way to the tip. If the stroking from before had made sparks then this sent lightning running down Judy as she melted into a small grey puddle next to Nick.

"You have very pretty ears, Carrots" said Nick, his sudden sadness forgotten as fast as it appeared "have I ever told you that before"

It was all Judy could do to shake her head as Nick kept on running his paws along her ears. There was quiet in the room for a while. Gradually though the situation overcame the warm, fluffy feeling Judy was currently floating in. Her ears, still in Nick's paws, flushed scarlet.

Her partner was stroking her EARS!

Handsome partner…

Shut UP, I'm going to literally murder Clawhauser tomorrow!

Far on the other side of the city a rather portly cheetah dropped the slice of pizza he was about to eat as a small blizzard ran up his spine.

Judy leapt off the sofa and straight out of Nick's arm, stumbling a little on the carpet. Nick didn't actually notice she was gone for a moment before she grabbed his arm.

"Izza nother Carrots" said Nick happily looking over "now there's two best bunnies in the whole world" he looked down at his side to see Judy gone "Oh, you're almost as good as my brother at doing that"

Judy tugged the fox off the sofa and to his feet "Come on Nick, you need to go to bed, we'll sort all this out in the morning"

The fox was mumbling slightly under his breath but he let the grey doe lead him towards his bedroom. Judy turned her back on him for one moment to sort the door out and Nick managed to collapse diagonally onto the bed face first. The rabbit sighed before walking over and, with a bit of a struggle, rolled the fox over onto his back.

"What am I gonna do with you" Judy whispered shaking her head "Come on, you can't sleep in your uniform"

Nick was remarkably cooperative, even if he didn't seem to have any bones at the moment with how he slipped all over the place. Judy managed to remove his tie and shirt and hung them up over the chair next to the bedside table.

When she turned back towards the bed a surge of red filled her vision and she found herself pulled off her feet. Nick rolled over into the middle of the bed, holding Judy close and bringing her with him. The grey doe gasped as she was pressed into Nicks chest, her sense of smell overpowered by fox. A little voice in her head whispered that she should really be used to this sort of surprise by now.

"Nick" protested Judy meekly "Come on, let me go, I've got to get hom-Mmmhh!?"

She froze.

Quite literally, every single brain and motor function seemed to have halted.

Nick had leant down and kissed her. It was soft as silk, gentle enough she could have missed it, but to the little rabbit it was like being hit by a speeding train. Amethyst eyes met emerald for a brief moment before Nick pulled her close to his chest again.

"I'm probabably not going to remember much of it" slurred Nick, his voice getting quieter and sleepier "but today was… a very good… day"

Judy felt Nick's incredibly soft tail curl up around her. The sense of warmth and comfort nearly driving her insane. She knew she needed to leave, to sort everything out, including her feelings, but there was something about the warmth, the softness, the scent of fox, that she just couldn't bring herself to leave. She had a sad look on her face as she thought about Nick's last words. She ran a paw through his fur and pulled herself closer into his shoulder.

I'll deal with… this… in the morning she thought as she drifted off into the warmth of sleep.