Summary:

Judy gets home after a long day in the field, and contemplates one last snack before bed time. Meanwhile, on the other side of the Zootopia Bay, Nick has one last chore to do before he can accept slumber's sweet embrace.

Notes:

Yes, I'm still around and writing. It turned out that I was deemed "essential" and work has been kicking my butt in the midst of this pandemic - I'm the only IT guy in the whole corporate office and two warehouses right now. So I haven't had the time for writing that I would like.

But enough whining. Here's the next chapter - It's a juicy one!

"Good Night, Sir!"

Judy slowly waved as Bogo's cruiser pulled away from the curb in front of her apartment building. She sighed quietly, exhausted from a long day spent in the trenches. She had mostly spent the time assisting the CSU team in documenting the twenty bodies that they had pulled from the swampy soil, all in differing stages of decomposition. At first the techs had thought the victims had all been predators, as they all shared the curious damaged claws, until they unearthed the skeleton of a sheep late in the afternoon. A ram, as evidenced by the horns, and judging by the state of decomposition, perhaps one of the first victims buried in the ravine.

Why was he buried there, in among all those other predators. It was a mystery.

Judy shook her head, shaking herself out of her reverie. She would gain no more answers this evening, standing on the concrete as the setting sun bathed the city in rose-gold twilight. Answers would have to wait for the morning's dawn, and with them would come a raft of new questions, no doubt.

She climbed the over-sized stairway to the front door of the Pangolin Arms, stairs plainly meant for larger mammals than her. Arriving at the top slightly out of breath, she collected herself for a moment before standing and swinging through the cavernase front doors. Taking a right, she trotted down the hallway to the undersized apartment that she had occupied for her entire career. Open the tall door, she slipped into her apartment. A creature of habit, she dropped her keys on the corner dresser top and crossed over to the mini fridge for a last minute snack before bed, but to no avail. Crap! I forgot to get food. Do I want to run to the store, or just say fucking it? Maybe smoke that last cigarette and call it a night?

She took out her cigarette pack from her breast pocket, shaking out her lighter and the last remaining stick into her palm. She scowled at the empty pack in aggravation, as if the paper and plastic box had intentionally sought to deny her cravings. With a grimace, she crumpled the empty pack and tossed it into her garbage can. Gonna need a new pack for tomorrow, she groused. She crossed the room to stand before the open window.

Slipping the butt in between her her lips, she cupped her paws around the tip, and flicked the Bic, the flaring light of the butane flame illuminated the dirt still crusted around her claw tips. With a couple of well practiced puffs, she lit the tip and took a long drag of the sweet smoke. She slipped the lighter back into the side pocket, and as she did so she could feel the long stalk of the last cattail shoot that the crafty fox had given her. Grasping the thick shaft, she pulled it out into the dying evening light to examine.

Holding it up before her nose, she gazed at the foxy rouge flesh, only slight wilted for the time that it had spent cocooned in her warm hip pocket, waiting patiently for the moment when it would finally pass between her hungry lips. She snorted in disbelief, shaking her head as she pondered the gift he had given her.

Looking along tapered length of cool flesh, she giggled for a moment before setting her smoldering smoke stick in the ashtray on the window sill. Her paw now free, she reached out and stroked down the length with a blunted claw.

"Why, Mr. Wilde, it's so big!" She whispered breathlessly, "I want a taste!" Her tongue darted out from between her parted lips and wet the tip. Closing her eyes, she slide the shaft slowly into her mouth as the ever expanding girth stretching her lips wider, muffling her moans. Lost in her fantasy, she drove it deeper into her hot and wet mouth, it's thick mass filling her throat and mind with bliss.

Until she choked.

"HAAAARRRGGGGGGHHHHUUUUUTTTTTT!"

She spit the cattail stalk back out of her mouth with a spasm, the firm length slipping from her fingers and falling to the floor with a wet splat. She coughed and wheezed, pounding her chest with a fist, trying to get her breathing under control.

"SEE! I told you, rabbit! You keep wrapping your lips around that cancer stick, and it will be the death of you! You should quit while you're still alive!" Her neighbor Buck yelled through the thin apartment wall.

"Oh, leave the poor bunny alone! Can't you see how pent up and stressed she is? If she needs to suck on something to make it though the day, who are we to argue?" Pronk yelled back, jumping to her defense.

"Shut Up! Rabbits don't live that long! She needs to take care of herself, not smoking her way into an early grave!" Buck retorted angrily.

"No, you SHUT UP! Who cares what she puts in her mouth?! It's her body, her business!" Pronk blasted back.

"YOU SHUT UP!"

"NO, YOU SHUT UP!"

While they argued on her behalf just beyond the wall, Judy lay on the floor, her gasps turning into giggles as her mind took their well meant comments and wrapped them up in innuendo, firing off her foxy fantasy once again. Reaching down with one paw she quickly unsnapped her pants, while with the other paw she reached out for his gift with a fay light in her eyes and a smile smoldering on her muzzle.

Mr Wilde, I might not be able to verbally interrogate you in full tonight and gain that signed confession that I so desire, but I'm sure that with vigorous investigation mutually professional intercourse can be achieved!

At the same time as Judy was waving good by to Bogo, Ranger Nick Wilde was nearing his destination. He drove his pickup up the dusty mountain road that laid upon the ridge line that ran around the Zootopia Bay, looking for one particular turn off that lead down to the hill. As soon as he reached it, he turned his truck down the path and drove into the forest gloom. He drove for a spell, bouncing along the ruts and weeds that grew along the path until he reached a small meadow overlooking the bay. In the middle of that meadow sat a small silver vintage camping trailer with a picnic bench and a fire barrel in front of it's awning.

He parked his truck behind the trailer and slid tiredly out of the driver's seat. He desired the comforts of his bed, but before he could seek that warm embrace, he still had one last task to perform this night. He walked around to the tail of his pickup and yanked open the tailgate. Sliding out the cooler, he carried it over to the picnic table. Opening it up, he reached in and pulled the snake carcass from the plastic bag. Attaching the bloody stump to a hook at the end of the table, he stretched the rest of the snake out along the length of the table. Pulling out his knife, he quickly and expertly slit the snake's belly all the way down to the cloaca, but before he could reach in and pull out the viscera, his phone rang. He looked down at the phone in a mixture of exasperation and annoyance. He slid the knife back into the snake's open body and picked up his phone to answer the call.

"Yeah, what? …No, I'm busy, that's what. ...Yes, I realize we have a schedule to meet. ...Well, I disagree. Strongly. ...No, I gave you my word. You of all mammal's knows what that's worth, and that should be enough for everyone else involved. ...Uh Huh… You'll see. She is going to work out perfectly for our needs." He shut down the phone and laid it down on the picnic bench, daring it to ring again.

Smiling as it lay silent for spell, he reached over and pulled out his knife from the guts of the serpent. He held it up before his nose, staring at it in the fading evening light almost reverently, and with a quiver he snapped opened his jaws and swiftly licked his tongue along length of the bloody blade.