A/N Wow so quick, anywho hope you guys are enjoying my story so far. If you're not you're always free to contact me why and how I can improve so I can make everyone happy.

Hobbling along the dirt road, Ryder limped towards a wooden cabin the pine trees surrounding him hosted birds who chipped happily in the opening hours of the morning. Ryder's teeth gritting in pain as his blood soaked paw covered his left side, blood slowly dripping out. One of Tom O'Larry's goons had shot at him after he'd dropped off the wounded tigress at the nearest hospital. He'd just managed to escape but was shot in his lower side. Once in the cabin, Ryder launched himself onto his chair, which creaked under the unexpected weight. Taking off his black jacket and shirt, he saw the extent of the damage. The bullet had lodged itself into his side and was kept there, acting like a cork for the blood. Unwise as it was Ryder needed that bullet out. Scrambling for a pair of pliers and a roll of bandages, he let more blood seep out of the wound, before getting back in the chair and applying pressure once more. Ryder took a deep breath, then plunged the pliers into his wound. Almost instantly hot searing pain came from the wound, as Ryder couldn't help himself but yelp out in pain. Taking a shallow breath, Ryder started up again, searching for the damned bullet. The air was filled with quite whimpers and sounds of blood gushing. Suddenly he yanked out the pliers, a bloodied bullet caught on the end. A relieved and exhausted sigh escaped his muzzle as he lay back in the chair, the bullet finally out. But he wasn't out of the water yet. Ryder glanced down at his wound and saw blood now spilling out. Cursing he quickly wrapped the bandages around his lower torso to get the wound covered. After 2 to 3 cycles around his stomach, he ripped it off with his teeth and used a safety clip to clip it all together. Looking down at his amazing work he saw how the other gunshot wounds were hidden underneath the white material, but his most painful one still stuck out. The gash of scarred tissue plagued the left side of his chest, fur no longer growing there. The scar was long in length and quite think in diameter. It had hurt when he got it, but that physical pain was gone now, only to be replaced by the mental pain every time he thought about it. Shaking the thought out of his head Ryder limped slowly to his room, and collapsed on his bed, his eyes suddenly feeling heavy as he now felt the extent of last night and the energy he drained. Before long the Wolf was fast asleep, gaining energy in small amounts, and his dreams and an endless haze of black.

Nick and Judy were dressed casually, Nick in his normal green Hawaiian shirt, dark purple tie and khaki pants. Judy wore her short-sleeved teal shirt, black singlet underneath and her black leggings. They were in Nicks old red convertible car, they rode with the roof on through Happytown, a sombre silence filling the car as they drove through the slums of Zootopia.

Nick seemed to be reminiscing at the sights, sometimes mumbling to himself or making a surprised noise or side comments.

"Nick do you know where we're going?" Judy asked, breaking the silence. Nick broke out of his mumbling instantly, looking at the bunny next to him then back on the road.

"Yeah, it's on the street where I used to live, gotta say that the restaurant was closed down and only kids doing drugs would go in there. Someone must have brought it." Nick explained, going back to silence. Judy's ears flopped down, as she looked around this didn't look like a place were a kid should grow up.

Nick seemed to notice her sudden change in mood and laughed it off

"Don't worry Carrots, it was quite fun here, got a real sense of community with other kids around your street. Plus Mrs Goldstein always gave me some of her freshly baked cookies." He joked. It seemed to of worked as Judy somewhat smiled, still saddened but a bit happy none-the-less. Suddenly the car jolted to a stop as Nick announced.

"We're here!"

The inside of the restaurant wasn't as bad as they thought. The owners must of had some sort of advantage as it looked quite clean and respectable. Most of the tables were empty except for a few mammals on the stools, drinking and watching a TV hoisted on the ceiling. When they entered the mammals in the stools glanced at them once with no interest then went back to watching the TV. Nick chose a corner seat facing the door and somewhat in the shadows. As they sat there a waiter came up and gave both of the menus

"Would you like anything to drink?" The waiter asked, in a surprisingly welcome voice.

"Could I have a Blueberry smoothie?" Nick asked with a charming smile. The waiter jotted it down then asked

"And what does your girlfriend want?" That comment made both of them stop. Nick looked shocked at the waiter while Judy slowly put down her menu. The waiter didn't seem to realize it.

"Uhhh.. she's not my.. Girlfriend," Nick said quietly. The waiter finally saw are shocked and embarrassed looks, before herself looking embarrassed.

"Oh sorry, it's just I thought…." She left the comment hanging in the air. As tension fulled out little table.

After the embarrassing moment, Judy had ordered a Carrot smoothie.

Clearing his throat Nick spoke, with awkwardness still in his voice.

"So Carrots, hows the….reports going?" Nick tried to change the subject, something Judy was very grateful for.

After talking for a while and receiving our drinks we had ordered a bowl of chips (Fries) to share. Once that arrived we were about to dig in before the door opened.

A lion entered the restaurant, he was quite tall and had a very impressive mane. Nothing else stood out about the lion except for the tired look in his eyes, a slight limp to his step and a small red stain on his left side of his torso. The lion gave a kind smile to the she-wolf at the counter, who in return turned blushing. Indeed this lion was quite good looking, if not for the look of pain when he sat down. Judy glanced at Nick who quickly nodded at the chips. Knowing Nick for so long and trusting his instincts she quickly blended in. Eating the chips and laughing at anything Nick said.

"That lion is limping a bit, and I think that's blood on his shirt. Could be our guy." Nick said. Judy followed up with a laugh, but winked at Nick, showing him she understood. Soon when the lion was served Judy spotted something when the lion reached up to get a menu.

"The lion has a woven bandage around his torso, sloppy job as well." Judy explained, with Nick following up with a nod of acknowledgement then with an exaggerated 'Really?!'. Judy's and Nick's blending in seemed to work as no one batted an eye in their direction. Soon the waitress came back to the lion's table and plopped down a massive fish meal with a big bowl of potato wedges.

"Let's have a chat with our man here, shall we?" Nick asked. Judy nodded and as one they stood up and walked to the lion's table, where he was eating a huge chunk of fish.

"Oh hello sir, sorry to bother you but we're just wondering if we could sit with you. You seem quite by yourself and me and my partner here want to give you some company." Nicks charming voice already weaving through the air.
The lion looked at us sceptically, looked us up and down and looking satisfied enough, shrugged his massive shoulders.

"Sure why not."

They both took a seat opposite the lion, who eyed them for a while before chomping down the the fish, oil dripping from his fingers.

"How you doing.. Ryder?" Nick asked, almost instantly the fish stopped in his hand, and slowly went down to his plate. Ryder looked at the two mammals with eyes never blinking.

"You with O'Larry? Should've guessed." Ryder sighed and leaned back in his chair with a pained sigh.

"Nope, you can have the pleasure to know we're with the ZPD, working with Director Jupiter."

The lion looked at both of them, then in a bland voice responded with:

"That's even worse." Sighing he got up, took one more bite of the fish and went for the door. Thanking the wolf at the counter, who again blushed. Judy and Nick chased him outside the restaurant

"Ryder wait! We need your help." Nick said standing behind the taller mammal.

The lion looked back.
"Help with what?" He asked, seeming genuinely confused

"The Octopus Empire," Nick replied.

Ryder scoffed at them, and turned back around, walking off.

"I'm already dealing with them." He said behind his back.

"But not so well are you?" It was Judy this time. The lion turned and looked at the Rabbit, seemingly offended.

"What?" He asked, almost angerly.

"Well seeing as you've been 'dealing' with them for 2 years now and you've only managed to take out one crime boss from the council. It would seem you aren't doing so well by yourself. And your wound adds to that fact."

Nick silently cheered Judy on, she was good at this sort of thing.

The lion was quiet for a but, stuttering is disbelief. Before a heavy sigh escaped his muzzle. Nick and Judy jumped back in shock as the lion suddenly turned into the Wolf they had seen in the photo. Ryder walked up to them, and in an annoyed tone replied to Judy's quip towards him.

"Fine, I'll help you. If Director Jupiter picked you guys, and from the ZPD, that must mean you guys are good. Alright, I'll join your little operation. But you tell Jupiter-" Ryder now pointed a finger at Nick. "- this does not mean I'm coming back. I'm just helping you guys in something I'm doing as well. Is that clear?" Nick nodded and did a sloppy salute and his normal sly smirk.

"I'll be at the central office tomorrow morning." And with that Ryder walked off grumbling to himself along the way.

Nick let out a pent out breath.

"That was close, for a second I thought he was gonna stab us."

Shocked Judy looked up at Nick. "What do you mean?"

Nick looked down at Judy. "He had his paw on a knife the entire time."

And with that terrifying information, they jumped back into Nicks car and drove off.

"Wanna watch a movie?" Nick asked as they rolled up to his street. They had just come back from the Central Officer telling Jupiter Ryder would be helping them. Jupiter was glad we weren't stabbed and thanked us before letting us leave.

Looking at Nick, Judy thought for a moment. She was quite tired after today and a movie did sound nice.

"Yeah sure, let's do it." Judy said, giving Nick her smile.

Smiling back he drove into his down the street to his house.

Since the Nighthowler Incident, Nick had finally gotten a better house. With his money from conning and his police salary, he was able to get a decent apartment in Savana central. It was quite large, the door led to the living room with a couch and TV, behind that was the kitchen. To the right of the kitchen was things like the toilet, study and a spare room used for storage. To the left of the kitchen were the rooms and a bathroom. To the left and behind was an open area the was well lit with sunlight and in it was a bookshelf, a pool table and a darts board.

Jumping on the couch, Judy rested her head against the top while Nick prepared snacks, happily humming to himself.

Once the movies started, a drama based on cops trying to find a murderer, snacks were eaten and alcohol was drunken. It was a good movie and once done it was quite late outside.

"One more movie?" Judy asked, quite liking spending time with Nick.

Nick nodded and placed another CD in, but it didn't really matter as 10 minutes into the movie they were both out like a light. The crickets chirping quietly in the background

A/N Next chapter might take a few days, depends on personal life. But again any criticism is always welcome