Hello everyone, I'm sorry it has taken me so long to update this. As you can tell the last two chapters are the first thing I've posted in over a year. I want to thank all of my followers and those of you who have left comments for your encouragement. I am dedicating myself to posting a new chapter at least once a week. I hope you are enjoy the story!

Chapter 14 – Make over

Nick yawned as he sauntered to the door to the "Curl up and dye" salon. He handed Judy a small cup of carrot spiced latte and lowered his aviators to take in the store front. It looked like someone vomited a bucket of different colored paint against the wall. There were also pictures of various mammals with drastic alterations to their fur and hair.

The door swung open to reveal a tall Zebra wearing a skimpy skirt and tank top, revealing a much of her striped hide as much as possible within the limits of modesty. Her stripes were more zigzag than normal, each stipe was a different bright color and were sculpted to be more like a series of lightning bolts than normal stripes.

"Come, come, darlings! In we go," she said as she ushered the slightly stunned officers into the salon. "We'll be in the back. Come on now, sugars, I know my stripes are FAN-tastic, but we are in a bit of hurry. We need you out before my shop opens!"

The Zebra, who introduced herself as Zara, led them to a back room with several bathtub sized metal tanks. "Good, good, good. Now! Let me take a look at you, Benny told me all about your assignment!"

"What!" the two cops said at the same time.

"Oh, don't worry, honey. I've been sworn up and down to secrecy! You don't stay a consultant for the ZPD for long if you don't know how to keep your mouth shut!" Zara laughed. "Alright, you sweet thing," Zara said, turning to Nick, "You I know what to do! Shame to bleach your beautiful red away, so many animals would kill to be a natural redhead, but duty calls I suppose!"

"Now you I get to have more fun with my little bunny sister!" Zara said, rounding on Judy. "Hmmmmm, I was thinking of having you two in matching fur, but I see those purple eyes of yours would just stand out even more! We'll have to go dark with you, black fur to make those eyes look more blue… yes, yes, that's the ticket!"

"Alright, let me get the dyes ready while you two strip!"

"Strip!" Judy squeaked.

"Oh, yes, dear." Zara said, "Your going to have to be black all over if you want to protect that sweet bunny hide of yours!"

Nick sniggered at Judy's look of horror when Zara turned to him, "I don't know what your laughing about, you're getting a full fur bleaching too!"

"What!" Nick exclaimed, "I don't have to take my clothes off for this!"

Judy glared at him and Zara just laughed, "Oh darling, you're going deep undercover. You think that it's only the merchandise who get their clothes pawed at." The Zebra sashayed close to Nick, "What if some sweet little thing is made to try to sell herself to you." The Zebra placed her hoof at the base of Nick's shirt and unbuttoned his bottom button. She leaned in and whispered, "You don't want to get killed because one little female finds out the carpet doesn't match the drapes!"

Nick scurried back from the fresh zebra as Judy was bent over laughing at the horrified look on his face.

"Well, the simple fact is, no Artic fox has a fire crotch!" Zara shouted over her shoulder as she left to get set up. "There are dressing rooms and robes in the back!"

Nick and Judy left by the back entrance each carrying extra dye coloring, Zara had assured both of them that their new color would slowly return to normal in about a month or so. She warned Nick that, due to the brightness of his natural coat, he would need to cover his roots in about a week or so. The pair walked to a side entrance to the Chaetae Marmot, the case file Judy had picked up the day before contained a Demetri's room key and instructions to report there after their makeover.

Once they reached the safety of the hotel room, Nick muzzle timed Chief Bogo to report in. The burly buffalo snorted when he caught his two subordinates' new looks. Nick was barely recognizable with his perfectly white coat, enhanced with black lining around his muzzle and the ends of his tail and ears. Judy's transformation was even more stark, her entire coat was pitch black which made it difficult to see her tell-tale facial features. Her eyes were still purple, but appeared more deep violet than her normal amethyst.

"Well aren't you to just a study in contrast. You look better than I thought you would!" the chief exclaimed.

"Aw, Chief. You know I'll be pretty in any color," Nick drawled with a smirk.

Judy rolled her eyes and said, "Any new directions, Chief?"

"No, we are on schedule for a tomorrow night. We confirmed that Ivan has not been seen by any of his contacts. You will be picked up by your contact, a camel called the Dude. You should expect him at 10 p.m. I expect you two to spend your day preparing your new identities. We have delivered the luggage that Ivan brought with him to the room earlier. You should both be able to fit into the clothes they brought. We will keep the ZPDs presence away from the hotel in case your contact is monitoring you. We've tapped into the hotel's surveillance system so we will have eyes on you at all time. You'll find a watch and a necklace on the dining room table, each of them contain a gps tracker and a panic button. If you get into any trouble, we have a swat team standing by to respond. Any questions?"

When both officers shook their head no, the bull gave Nick and Judy a stern look and continued, "Take care of each other and come back safe." With that the screen went blank. Nick and Judy turned to each other and smiled at their boss's concern.

The pair spent the rest of the day, preparing for the next evening. Nick practiced speaking in his Russian accent as Judy sorted through the skimpy, shiny, sparkly, pile of clothes. Nick tried not to snicker at Judy's constant stream of disgruntled objections to each outfit ("Is this a skirt or a tube top? It's too small to be either!")

"Jewel, da cloz iz not supozzed to cover, iz point, da?" Nick explained using Judy's undercover name.

"Oh, shut up. You'd be pissed too if you had to show your "fire crotch" to god knows who too!" Judy retorted.

"Iz no haff fire crotch no more," said Nick in a dignified voice. Then in his normal voice, "Please don't start saying fire crotch, Carrots. It just not right!"

"Nope, I like it. I finally have something to use when you annoy me with all your nicknames, fluff, cotton tail, babitty rabbity, carrots, etc."

"Come on, you like it when I call you, Carrots!" Nick protested.

"Just because I tolerate it doesn't mean I like it," Judy threw back over her shoulder as she went into the bathroom.

"Fine, I'll just stick with 'Jude the Dude' from now on!" Nick shouted thru the door.

"Oh please, Nick, I was just kidding. I've resigned myself to the fact you're a weirdo who won't call me by my name," she called back.

Judy opened the bathroom door and came out wearing a short kilt skirt and a white tank top with one strap. "Well, this is the least terrible option while still keeping true to the mission." She was still patting her fur in a self-consciously and missed it when Nick's jaw dropped. He quickly shook his head and came over to her, "Dah-ling, you look vundervall! Vell, haff naked, but dat iz goot for bizness."

"I feel so exposed," she said shaking her head. "Well, I guess that will help with staying in character," she continued when she saw Nick's look of concern.

It was weird to see her best friend all in white, but she could still read the look in his bright green eyes. "I'll be ok, Nick," she said softly.

He put his arm around her and said, "I know Judy, you're the toughest mammal I know. Come on, let's get some shut eye while we still can."