Chapter 3 Teachable Moments

Edited by Starfang's Secrets

Artwork by Knoton

The rest of the day did not go smoothly for Judy. Her, charming, partner seemed to delight in mocking her just as much as her colleagues in Precinct One did on a daily basis and disagreed with her decisions just as often. It hadn't helped that when asked who was the senior partner, that Bogo told them to, 'figure it out', before slamming the door to the bullpen closed behind him.

"Charming fella, ain't he, Officer Hippity Hopps," Nick had stated cheekily before shoving his paws in his pockets. "Now, which way to the Bunny Burrow so we can get cracking on the case?"

And thus their partnership began. Judy bringing Officer Wilde up to date on the case with what information she had, and the fox providing snarky dialogue and such a casually relaxed manner to him that it was growing quite annoying to the enthusiastic bunny who refused to allow his obnoxiousness to deter her first case.

Even if her first case was about herself.

She had been slightly worried about what the other officers might have gleaned about her nighttime activities. Thankfully, it had been little, as when she had pulled up the case file for, "The Vigilante Rabbit", all she found were a few blurry photos taken at a distance, or news reports about the bunny daring to fight crime across Zootopia.

"And to think that a bunny is giving all you Precinct One mammals such a hard time," Nick tisked as he leaned back in his seat, taking a long slurp from his coffee. His muzzle drew into a grimace, coughing as he drained the cup.

Judy glared at the fox sitting next to her. "I wouldn't underestimate what bunnies can do," she replied with a huff. The fox met her glare with a smirk.

"Right," he said smoothly, leaning forward until their noses almost touched. "Being cute and cuddly isn't something that can take a perp down, Officer Fluff."

Judy swatted away his muzzle, turning to refocus on her computer while letting out a huff. She heard a squeak as the fox leaned back in his own chair, paws placed behind his head with one foot resting crosswise over his other leg. Several minutes passed by in silence before the squeak of his chair reminded Judy that he was still in the room with her.

"You're not going to find anything on this scary wittle wabbit," he scoffed, idly looking at a claw on his paw. "If the so called best and brightest in Precinct One can't find this bunny, I doubt their meter maid mascot could either."

Judy halted mid key-stroke, shoulders hunching as she tried to control her building annoyance at the fox. "What is your problem?" she finally asked, not deeming to look at the fox. "Do you care in the least bit about being a police officer?"

"Absolutely," came his quick reply. He waved his paw around the empty room. "But being here, won't get us anywhere. If this little leaping lagamorph hasn't been caught in nearly a month, were all just wasting our time with catching them."

A strange feeling came with the fox officers' words. For one, Judy was slightly thrilled at the complement, given to her in ignorance, at how well she'd covered her tracks. She clamped down on a grin that threatened to spill across her muzzle, hoping he wouldn't catch the welling feeling of joy inside her chest. On the other paw, his words reminded her of where she currently stood on the totem pole at Precinct One.

At the bottom.

Well, probably more likely down the hall and in the broom closest away from the bottom of the totem pole.

"What would you suggest then?" Judy asked, the brevity and her clipped tone showcasing her annoyance at her realization.

Scooting his chair forward, he waved her away from the keyboard. Judy frowned, but pushed away gently from the desk, allowing him access to the computer. Within a few strokes of the mouse and a few keys clicked, he brought up a map of the city on the screen.

"Alright Fluff," he began, stretching his paws out in front of him. Judy was surprised to hear his knuckles pop at the gesture before he began typing away. "Be prepared to see actual police work for once."

"You know how to do that?" Judy quipped, leaning back in her seat while folding her arms across her chest.

Nick actually chuckled at the joke. "Looks like the bunny finally bites back. Now, I'm amazed that nobody so far has actually created a map of where the locations where the Vigilante has appeared as it isn't in the database so it would appear you all are completely clueless-"

Nick went to click the mouse, but found it gone from its place. Glancing over his shoulder, he saw it in Judy's paw, the bunny guiding it across the screen to a single document in the upper right corner of the screen. With a click, it opened, showing off a plethora of red dots scattered across Zootopia. Judy allowed a smirk to grace her lips

"What were you saying?" Judy asked, her grin broadening. "I've updated this list since the first sign of this vigilante appeared on our radar, but nobody seems to ask the mascot for help, even when I've emailed it to everyone."

Nick raised an eyebrow, changing his gaze from the bunny to the map. "Well, I guess you aren't entirely useless after all, Carrots."

"It's Officer Hopps," Judy said with a scowl.

"Yeah, thanks for the heads up, Officer Fluff. Now, I believe that there is a stuffed mammal exchange happening down the block, so why don't you hop along and trade yourself in for a less annoying stuffed animal, hmm?"

Judy wanted to yell at him. She really did. A whole cascade of sarcastic quips and jibs against him lay on the tip of her tongue, waiting to excoriate the increasingly smug mammal sitting next to her. The only thing that halted the deluge of spite was her desk phone ringing. Giving herself mental reminders about great zingers to send the fox's way in the future, she picked up her phone.

"Officer Hopps speaking."

Nick watched from the corner of his eye as she nodded along to whatever was being said over the line. Slowly, her ears drooped, eyes lost their sparkle and grin turned to a frown. The fox raised an eyebrow, wondering what could have gotten the little fluffball next to him down so quickly.

"I see, sir. Thank you, sir."

Judy hung up the phone, sighing heavily. "Chief has a special assignment for both of us."

Nick's ears perked up. "Oh?"

Nodding, Judy continued. "He...wants you to go out and search for the vigilante while...doing parking duty."

Nick's ears lowered just as quickly as they rose. "Are you serious?"

Judy nodded. "And he wants me down in records...to see how many white rabbits live in Zootopia."

"Good luck with that," Nick huffed in irritation. "At least you can treat your work like a dating app. Maybe you can find one to settle down with. Make a few dozen babies with."

Judy's anger flared as the fox pushed away from the desk, slipping to the ground. He clicked a few buttons on the computer and Judy's printer came to life. A few seconds later Nick had a copy of Judy's map in paw and was walking towards the door.

"What are you doing?" Judy asked, jumping off her chair and starting after him.

"What does it look like?" he quipped back, waving the map in his paw. "I'm going to find this rascally rabbit and get out of this place if it's the last thing I ever do."

Judy's steps slowed as she neared the door, coming to a halt just outside the cubicle and in the hallway. "See you later Officer Fluff," Nick shot over his shoulder. Within a few steps, he was gone, heading towards the parking lot. With a forlorn sigh, Judy let her ears slip down across her back and trudged her way towards the archives in the basement.

Several grueling hours later, Judy emerged from the archives, a stack of papers in paw to carry upstairs to Bogo's office. In it, were contained each and every male rabbit that was white within the city limits. She even tossed in every arctic hare as well, just to further increase the volume of paperwork her boss and the detectives would have to go through.

It wasn't like she wanted to get caught after all. Mere steps outside Bogo's office, the shouts from inside it were enough to give her pause.

"...look Chief, I think I have a pattern. I can find-"

Is that...Officer Wilde? Judy thought? She slunk closer to the door as Bogo's voice cut off the smaller mammal's comments.

"I don't care what you think you can do!" the Chief shouted. "I want a shifty, low life fox here even less than I want that diminutive bunny here."

"Now hold on here-"

"SHUT IT! Now, I don't care if the mayor thinks that you can help us here. He only cares about his mammal inclusion initiative and not the troubles it causes within the ranks. If it were up to me, I'd have you kicked out the door or in a cell within a minute. Now don't you dare go near this case again. Understood?"

"You told Officer Hopps that I was to watch for the vigilan-"

Bogo's next shout actually rattled his glass door, causing Judy to step back and away from it.

"I don't care! I said that in order to cover my tail if the mayor asked if you two annoyances are on the case. Now, that doesn't mean you can touch anything regarding this and you are to be a meter maid until further notice, understood?"

Several quiet seconds passed by and Judy could feel the tension within the room.

"Do I have to repeat myself, fox? Or do you not understand what I'm saying?"

"I understand, sir," Officer Wilde replied, a cold air of indifference in his voice.

"Good...now get out!"

Judy took several steps backwards as the door swung into the office and a rather irritated looking fox walked through it. Nick's tail dragged across the ground behind him and his ears drooped low behind his head. She saw him let out a heavy sigh as the door behind him closed.

Then his eyes caught hers and for the briefest of seconds, she saw the sorrow and pain that lurked deep within those emerald pools. The glimpse was brief as a cold indifference settled upon the fox's features.

"What do you want, Fluff?" he snarled, glaring down at the rabbit while folding his arms across his chest. "Come to say how I'm useless in catching the Vigilante as well?"

If she had arrived a few minutes later than she had, she would have returned his insult tit-for-tat. However, after the conversation she just heard, even the very thought of doing something like that broke her heart. She recognized that look that was in his eyes when he left Bogo's office, as it was the same she held in her own each and every time he chewed her out for doing her duty as an officer. For proving to him that a bunny could be an officer.

The papers in her paws prevented her from reaching out to grab his paw and say everything will be alright. That he shouldn't let what Bogo said get to him. So she did the only thing she could.

"Offic..Nick, I..."

"Save it, Fluff," Wilde shot back, voice trembling while holding up his paw to stop her. "I don't need any of your pity or anyone else's."

The fox stormed off, ears hanging low as he marched around her and back towards their now shared office. Judy watched him leave, ears wilting behind her as he walked down the stairs until he disappeared.

"Hopps! What are you doing here?"

The shout from behind her caused her to freeze, nearly losing the topmost papers on the pile she held in her paws. Quickly gaining her attention back onto the massive cape buffalo glaring at her from behind, she gathered up the few papers that fell and scurried into Bogo's office.

Nick paused going down the stairs, heaving out a sigh. He had been so incredibly happy to have been called up to work in Precinct One, and especially on this specific case. He had done nothing but work in the archives, work the meters or metal detectors in the precinct's detention area. That was until an attempted jail break by some of Mr Big's cronies was blamed on him. Thankfully the video camera's had proven his innocence, and instead showing Officer Polarsky was the one who had tranqued him from behind to led the break.

Yet the other officers still blamed the fox for not being more aware.

Nick strode a few steps back up the stairs, peaking his head above the final landing so he could see the bunny scurrying into Bogo's office, the cape buffalo hollering at her the entire time. A twinge of guilt coursed through him, a frown replacing the scowl that was a near permanent feature on his muzzle since being forced to partner with a bunny cop of all mammals. Of course he'd heard of Officer Judy Hopps' records at the ZPA. Who hadn't?

As he turned and strolled down the steps, paws in his pocket and head down, he thought back to the wall of records that was placed in a side corridor of the academy. He'd found it his second week in while trying to hide from McGrowler, Fangton and Wolvern's latest prank on him. He'd been first amazed at just how many records there were at the academy, then even more amazed when a picture of a bright, cheerful, smiling bunny filled most of the plaques. Some of them had surprised him more than others.

Ice Wall...nine seconds. Jungle climb...12 seconds.

He'd memorized each and every one of the plaques that she held, a total of seventeen out of twenty seven.

Highest scores on verbal exam...99%. Code exam...105%...

He'd still been amazed at that one, until he found that she not only had memorized the police codes, but also those for the ZFD and ZEMS.

Fastest knockout...six seconds?

That last one he couldn't have believed, wouldn't believe. Then he saw the video and the raw power and focus that bunny held. It was amazing to watch her videos to see just how well she did and how hard she had worked to get where she ended up...as valedictorian.

So he had promised himself that if a bunny could do it...he could. Every day he trained himself harder than everyone else, pushed himself longer, and studied longer. He just kept repeating his mantra.

If she can do it...I can do it.

So he did.

By the end of the fifth month in the academy, he managed to beat one of her records. Sniper accuracy...97% at 25 yards. It would also be the only record of hers that he'd beat. The last four months of the academy he pushed himself even harder, trying to take down just one more of her records.

But no matter how hard he worked, he simply couldn't live up to the bunny. He may have graduated valedictorian, but staring up at that wall of a grey rabbit looking down at him, he really didn't feel like he had proven anything. What had stung even more was that even as valedictorian, he wasn't assigned to Precinct One like each previous one had been. No, he had been sent to Precinct Three in Tundratown.

The past two months had been a frozen hell for him. He hadn't even been given a trainer, just thrown into things in the icy streets of Zootopia's second worst district crime wise. So when Chief Arcturn, a massive grizzly bear, told him he was being transferred to Precinct One to help out with a case. He had been elated! Finally, some actual police work that he could do! Finally be part of a pack! He'd been told to head to the bullpen where he'd receive a partner, which filled him with so much joy! He'd finally be able to learn from the best of the best. Those with years of experience who would help him to be the best officer he could become. Walking into the bullpen, he'd been excited to know that in just a few seconds he'd have a partner to work with.

He'd walked up the eisle between the desks, wondering who'd he be with when he saw...her. The amethyst eyed, grey furred rabbit that had beaten him in nearly everything at the academy. He couldn't contain the anger that flowed through him, hiding the awe of seeing the bright eyed bunny that he'd been in a contest against, one that she didn't even know existed.

Nick reached his and Judy's workstation before he knew it, sitting down on the wolf sized chair and resting his elbows on the desk, then his face in his paws.

"I need to apologize to her..." he mumbled, rubbing his eyes. "I've been such a jerk."

With his mind made up, Nick swiveled in the chair, ready to leave the room and apologize when he saw a pair of grey ears round the corner, the rest of the grey bunny appearing from behind the cubicle wall. Her eyes met his...her steps slowing, nose slightly twitching and eyes losing a bit of their sparkle.

"Hey, Nick..."

"...Hey..Hopps."

Great job Nick...

The fox winced inwardly at how cold his greeting had come out, a byproduct of working with the frozen hearts in Precinct Three. Letting out a sigh, he'd done more of that today than the past three months combined it felt like, he opened his mouth to apologize.

"Look, Judy..I just want to-"

Bzzzt Bzzzt

Both mammals eyebrows raised, one in curiosity and one in alarm. Judy fumbled with the pouches on her belt until she unlatched one and brought out her phone. Nick's eyebrow raised all the more when a look of embarrassment stained her cheeks with crimson, ears drooping behind her.

That's actually kind of cute...

"Sorry..." she exclaimed before checking her phone. Her eyes flickered across the screen several times. Nick leaned over just to peek at what would cause her to break protocol, only for her to pull the phone closer to her chest.

"I get alerts from my family," the bunny proclaimed, sticking the phone back into her pocket before nervously laughing. "I have over 300 siblings and some of them just can't remember not to buzz me at work."

From the way she laughed to the twitching of her nose, Nick couldn't help but roll his eyes.

"Hopps, you are one bad liar, you know that?" Nick said with a chuckle, trying to clear the air between them.

Judy placed her paws over her chest, her nervousness increasing. "What? Me? Lie?" She laughed anxiously. "No idea what you're talking about, Slick."

He leaned forward. "Really?" he asked, the smugness practically radiating off the single word.

Judy appeared to switch tactics and glowered at him. "Are you really going to just continue to verbally insult me all day?"

Nick paused, realizing that his whole idea to apologize to the bunny was going nowhere fast. Well, it was probably speeding backwards faster than a Furrari at full speed by this point.

"Right, sorry," Nick said. "Look Fluff-"

"Officer Hopps," she said with a glare.

Nick nodded. "Sorry, Officer Hopps. I guess I've been a bit of a jerk today and I'd like to apologize for that." He put out his paw. "So what do you say, start fresh, hmm?"

Judy glanced at his paw, then his eyes, then back to his paw. Nick could visibly see the gears shifting in her head as she thought over his offer. Finally, after several tense moments, her shoulders sagged and she shook his paw.

"Fine. I accept your apology."

Judy was surprised by the recent turn in her new partner's attitude. This entire day seemed to be one gigantic mess of strangeness and oddities that just piled on top of each other. The entire day he had been belittling her, complaining and just being obnoxious. She tried to respect him, see things from his point of view, but overall she about had it with him.

Then, all of a sudden, he's apologizing?

What is going on with this fox? she wondered. She looked back down at her pocket, feeling slightly bad for lying to him about who had texted her, but nobody could know that information. The zebra she had saved her first night had turned out to be Colton Mane, owner of Mane Enterprises. His son, Bryce, had been so obsessed with the bunny vigilante that he had ordered his father to find him so he could thank him again.

Judy had been surprised two weeks ago by a knock at her apartment door. When she opened it, she was even more astonished to see the zebra father and son duo she had rescued standing before her. She'd of course feigned innocence until Colton had dropped pictures from several store cameras of her entering her apartment dressed as the vigilante. Her shock had grown to horror at the revelation, and thankful that her neighbors weren't home, begged him not to go to the police and turn her in.

She'd almost gone into shock with what he'd told her next.

"We'd like to offer you our services as a gift for saving my family. Nothing I can do can truly thank you for saving my beloved and son, so please, let me help you help others in this city."

The offer had reduced her to tears, ones which young Bryce Mane was happy to offer his pawkerchief to dry. Since then, she'd set up with the Mane family, and their resources and technology helped her immensely in her work as the Vigilante Rabbit.

Her mind drew back to the present as she watched the fox clap his paws together, a grin covering his muzzle as he looked down at her. "So, Hopps," he began, and Judy watched him carefully as his tail wagged behind him. "I've had a question I've been itching to ask you since I saw your wall of records at the ZPA."

Judy's ears perked up. "You know about those?" she asked. She hadn't been aiming to take all those records at the academy, only had pushed herself as hard as possible to show what a bunny could do.

Nick nodded. "I did. It's kind of hard to miss with how much Major Friedkin kept telling us how badly a bunny was beating us at each of the courses and tests.

The doe couldn't help but smile brightly at the fox's words as he continued. Leaning forward, his voice lowered to barely a whisper, though with her excellent hearing she easily heard his lowered voice.

"So..." he began in a conspiratorial voice. "How did you knock out a rhino in six seconds?"

Judy saw the wonder in Nick's eyes when an idea flashed through her mind. Her smile quickly grew into a smirk as she placed a paw against her hip, tilting one leg just a bit as she leaned forward. Judy wasn't one for revenge, seeing it as petty, but this was just too perfect an opportunity for her to get back at the fox for all the rudeness he had sent her way. Even if she had forgiven him.

Glancing down at the phone in her pocket, going over the text she'd received in her mind, she figured she had a few minutes to spare before she had to head to the Mane manor to prepare for her nightly ritual of fighting crime.

"So, you want to know how I knocked out a rhino in six seconds?" she said in a hushed tone. The quick nod from the tod was all she needed. Judy twirled on her paws, heading towards the exit of their office space while waving an arm over her shoulder.

"Come on and I'll show you how a bunny from the burrows can do just that."

Judy smiled hearing his pawfalls behind him as she popped her neck. He'll never know what hit him.

AN: *snickers* So it looks like these two share common ground after all, though Nick just needed to overcome his original hurt for the beginnings of a friendship to bloom. I wonder what is going to happen next...