Chapter Nine

Work Related Woe

The hungover rabbit and sober fox walked their routine path to the ZPD. It was a bright and rather hot day in Precinct One, and the streets were busy with mammals from all walks of life, each busy with their own world, alone, lost in the masses. Had the towering skyscrapers of Zootopia not blocked their line of sight, Nick and Judy might have spotted the large grey clouds gathering in the distance, slowly but inexorably being carried across to them by soft wind.

Reaching a 'large black and white stripes' crossing, a method pedestrians use to cross roads safely — once known as zebra crossings but renamed for for speciest reasons, Nick pushed the button for the traffic to stop.

After a moment, the continual line of traffic, which ran from dawn till dusk, slowly came to a stop. The commute of hundreds of workers, the lives of thousands of mammals was shearly frozen — for the sake of just two. No one ever wondered why or how, no one ever thought that it was wrong that a line of a dozen cars should wait for the sake of just two mammals, nor did they question how incredible it was that they did. The masses, nameless and faceless, simply followed the rules of convention without ever questioning them, or even realizing there was something to question at the least...

This, truly, is the clockwork markings of a well-run city — where 'the people' follow not only the rules of the law, but of convention, willingly and silently, each and every day of their lives — all of them are but sheep, even the lions; ruled by convention, led by the subtle paw of the governance.

Not everyone was so bound by convention, of course. Some mammals saw themselves above the law and would occasionally try to go against it, breaking convention to suit their own ends... such mammals will, sooner or later, find themselves face to face with an officer of the law.

Nick and Judy walked in silence, their badges glinting in the early morning sun. They walked in silence because, aside from Judy's sensitivity to the light, which Nick's sunglasses had cured, the only thing Nick's pills hadn't cured was Judy's sensitivity to volume, so he kept quiet, knowing every sound was troublesome for her. However, after checking the time on his phone, he did speak, leaning down to her ear so he could keep his voice as low as possible, "I don't want to hurry you, Hopps," he said, "but we only have like two minutes before roll-call."

"Alright," she peeled in return, "we're nearly there now anyway."

They picked up the pace for the last leg of the journey and stepped into the established building of the ZPD. "Hey, guys!" Clawhauser shouted as they appeared through the door, "I just heard this new Gaze—" but he was interrupted by Nick's frantic expression as he waved his arms horizontally before his own neck in a 'cut-it-out' gesture. Clocking the rabbit's sunglasses and realizing she must be suffering from last night, the cheetah 'ooh'ed silently as he sat back in his chair, trying his best not to find the oversized shades, meant for a fox-sized head, cute on the rabbit... and apparently failing.

The fox winked at him as he led Judy towards the bullpen, walking just behind Judy with his paws lightly resting on her shoulders.

Sat together — sharing a seat in the front of the bullpen in a room full of rowdy officers, shouting, hooting, and bellowing — Judy struggled to keep her moans of agony silent as the insistent noise grated on her poor ears. Spotting the signs, Nick slipped a red-furred arm around her waist. Judy found the touch soothing, as contact with Nick always was, but it was short lived, as the coming of Bogo was declared and Nick hastily pulled his arm away. With the volume of the room increasing, Judy physically clutched at the side of her skull, and when Bogo stormed into the room and bellowed, "Shut it!" at the top of his voice, her head fell to the table, accompanied by a thin moan.

The noise caught Chief Bogo's attention and, glowering, he leaned in on their table, shifting close to Judy's head as it lay upon the heavenly surface. "Got something to say, Hopps?" he asked, not lowering the volume of his voice.

Judy did not look up and her only reply was a soft gurgle. Bogo glanced from Judy to the fox. "First time," Nick mouthed, then mimed chugging back a large glass of alcohol. "Actually, I was wondering, Sir," he continued softly, "if you would consider sending her home for the day."

Bogo stood upright, his volume at its usual high level, "It is not my problem if my officers can't hold their liquor, Wilde. Now, where was I?" With that he returned to his usual position, handing out the relevant files to the officers in question. "Oh, yes. Fangmeyer and Delgato, the Mayor has asked I send some officers from school to school to deliver a talk about drug safety — this will be your responsibility. Grizzoli, you and Snarlov are to patrol the East Border of the Rainforest District — there's been a lot of reported dealings in that area."

"Wolfard, you're to tail a suspected drug dealer. If you see him making a deal, call in and intercept. Trunkaby, Higgins, McHorn and Rhinowitz; I want you four in tactical armor in half an hour, for a drug bust, here in Precinct One. If our sources are correct, we've got an entire flat full of crack cocaïne, right under our noses. Brake in, and clear it out." Taking the files, the last of the officers made their way out. "

"And now, Officers Hopps, and Wilde..." he waited several seconds longer, until the last of the officers had filed out of the room, leaving them alone. "Good work on the arson case at 'Ladders'," he began, his voice in tones more bearable to the rabbit. "I have officially assigned you two to investigate it. If you can find the arsonist and bring him in, it won't only look good on your report, but it'll give me some good backing to push for detective with."

"Thank you, Sir," Judy chirped, lifting her head from the desk, the news being promising enough for her to make the effort. "We'll do our very best, I promise."

The Chief cracked a thin smile at them, then spoke, his voice rich with a rare show of affection, "From you two? I would expect nothing less." Then he grunted — either realizing how unfamiliar he was behaving or deciding they'd had enough — and returned to his status of 'The Chief', his voice shifting to its usual professional tones.

"Dismissed."

Both Officers saluted, then departed from the room. Nick pushed the door open for Judy and stepped aside, allowing her to go through first, before stepping out himself. "And, Wilde?" Bogo called, now resting behind his desk, and making the fox freeze at the doorway. "You still owe me that overtime." Nick winced and turned to the Chief, seeing him absently flicking through some files.

"Erm... yes— yes, Sir." Biting his lip, Nick turned, and followed Judy. Was agreeing to unpaid overtime worth it for an evening off with the best bunny in the world? Absolutely. Did he still hate filling out paperwork, especially when he wasn't even getting paid? Yes.

Watching his reaction through the corner of his eyes, Bogo waited until the door was shut, and then grinned at the fox's reaction. Chuckling as he sat back in his desk, his eyes fell upon the two-foot stack of paperwork he had to fill-in and his mood instantly soured. Working with schools always required a lot of paperwork, and the number of schools Fangmeyer and Delgato would be going to at such short notice was of no help. But that was nothing compared with the amount of paperwork required for a drugs bust — permission to use the tactical armor alone took a great deal of filling-in...

Sighing bitterly, Bogo picked up the first sheet of paper from the stack and looked at what it was for… and, to top it all off, he had to get it verified that he was giving two officers below the rank of detective, detective level work. Pulling out his pen, he made ready to write.

After a minute of not writing a thing and staring at the pile of paper, Bogo set his pen back down — music for motivation, that's what he needed — and so, pulling out his phone, he opened his music selection, went to 'G'... and started listening to his favorite albums while muttering the words under his breath as he wrote.

'I messed up tonight, I lost another fight...'

...

For the second time, the husk of Ladders and Ladders and Co. came into view as Nick drove their ZPD cruiser towards the scene. Judy was in the front passenger seat, with the backside of the seat down so she could lie herself down, all the while with Nick's bigger glasses still over her head. The car pulled to a stop and Nick looked upon the building before him. The clean-up crew were in full operation, a couple of small news teams were present and filming them. And then, Nick looked upon the rabbit beside him.

A smile crept across his face as he heard the rhythmic breathing of sleep, with her mouth hanging slightly open. Lowering the back of his own seat, he shifted himself so his head was more or less level with the rabbit's. With a tender paw, he reached out and slid the glasses away from Judy's eyes to better see her adorable face. Putting his glasses on the dashboard, he reached out with his paw again and, in a gesture even more tender than the last, he stroked the very tip of Judy's nose with the back of his finger, loving the soft smile which crept across her face.

Then finally, silently, Nick leaned across, and took in a breath of Judy's scent...

...it wasn't the kiss Judy was hoping for, while pretending to be asleep, but it'd do.

Then Nick got out of the car, opening and shutting the door quietly enough so as not to wake the rabbit, but she was already awake and when she opened her eyes with a start, she realized he had left. "Nick?" she called faintly in the loneliness of the now uncomfortable space. It got her heart to squeeze in trepidation that got her body moving, and she got out of the car seconds later.

The fox turned to her, smiling, before he spoke, "Stay here, Judy," Nick tried to affirm soothingly, "Bogo doesn't have to know his favorite officer spent the day sleeping off a hangover in a police car."

"No, Nick. I want to come with you." She walked to stand by his side to his lackless surprise.

"Sleep it off, Carrots," Nick repeated, his voice becoming more stubborn, "you'll feel better if you just rest; I don't like to see you struggling."

Judy noticed the change in Nick voice, and her tone became slightly more resentful, "Nick, I'm fine."

Then he groaned, rubbing his forehead with his paw. "Why can't you just take my advice, Hopps?" Judy was startled as his voice became suddenly strained and bitter, until her scrutiny was broken as he huffed and turned away…

"What?"

"Just take my advice!" he called over his shoulder.

"But... I want to be with you!" she called, but Nick was too far gone, marching away with his paws shoved in his pockets as he made his way to the burnt-out factory. The truth of it was she didn't want to sleep because moments like this were special to her. At the end of the day, when her time for work was over and she found herself with nothing to do until work started again, she could sleep... but not now.

While it was true that 'at moments when she was lying on her bed, waiting for the day to end, bored out of her skull' she did realize she had no life outside her work... it was at moments like 'this' that she realized just how lucky she was. If she had Nick, the most mundane tasks became enjoyable. If she had Nick, she could face each and every day with a smile on her face. If she had Nick, she could make do without hobbies or interests, make due without places to go and without the opportunity to visit family members... just so long as she had Nick, she could be happy.

Every moment she and Nick shared together were special to her... and she was not going to lose a second of it just because she had a hangover. A fresh resolve coming — which diminished the fear that she had upset her friend, and that she should do as he head said as to appease him — a smile spread on her face and she ran on her padded feet to catch up to the fox, locking the car up as she ran stealthily.

Nick grumbled to himself as he reached the half-way mark between the car and Ladders and Ladders. But the subject of his grumbles were not upon the rabbit, they were upon himself. He didn't like raising his voice against Judy like that — in fact, he hated it — but Judy didn't know when to stop and take a breath and he had to raise his voice to get her to listen.

He was so deep in thought that he no idea of the rabbit racing up behind him. Several paces behind, a grin on her face, running fast; Judy leapt up through the air, launching herself at Nick. Her body collided with his, and she wrapped her legs around his neck, putting her paws over his eyes as he stumbled forward, yelling in surprise, as he tripped to the ground.

Landing on the pads of his paws without injury, Nick quickly realized what had happened and twisted his body, taking hold of one of Judy's paws and pivoting her off his shoulder. She 'eep'ed as she was flipped beneath him but — as he came closer, while baring his teeth playfully, pretending he was about to bite her throat — Judy propelled a powerful shove in his stomach and he was sent flying up and, surprisingly, ended up on his feet.

"Come on, Nick!" she called playfully, standing and racing towards the door, giggling, "last one in is a shifty fox!"

He laughed outwardly as he set running after her, he could never ever be really mad at her.

…

Author's notes:

Hesitance jumps around your mind,

Grooms decision thus chosen blind.

Your thoughts most succulent of snack,

All delivered by luscious feedback.

So don't hide like a tiny shrew,

Thus share that belovable review!

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