Chapter 1

"No. Nuh-uh, no way, it is not possible for Officer Judy Hopps-" Nick folded his arms with a dramatic flourish. "-to have even considered doing something so blatantly delinquent as to teepee her schoolteacher's house."

"She gave me three weeks of detention for something that wasn't even my fault!" Judy cried out in protest, heading towards the sofa with two bowls of ice cream.

Since being released from the hospital, the bunny had insisted on staying at her partner's apartment until he was fully recovered, so that she could keep an eye on him. Strangely enough, Nick found he didn't mind having the energetic rabbit around - she certainly kept things cleaner than he did, and being waited on hand and paw was pretty nice. More than that, though, was just having another living soul in the same space. And such a vibrant one at that.

Once upon a time, Nick would've been driven insane by such a roommate, but now he was enjoying the company.

"Well," he grinned, accepting his serving of dessert. "I'm just glad to know I'm not the only reformed rule-breaker in this partnership."

"Nick!"

They continued to laugh and joke through the evening, up until the fox finally got around to what had been bugging him for a while.

"Sooo... Has there been any progress on finding the guy who slashed me?" He asked casually. Instantly, Judy stiffened up, her eyes hardening.

"Not yet." She muttered. "Chief's got half the force looking for him, but nothing's come of it yet."

"Hey, don't worry - he'll turn up, and then you'll get to slam the perp around with those deadly jumpers of yours." Nick stretched one of his feet down the length of the sofa, tapping it against his partner's hind paws. The bunny gave him a wry smile, before hopping up and collecting their empty dishes. Yawning, Nick sank down into his pile of blankets, and allowed himself to doze. He'd normally turn on the television for a bit of background noise, but the sounds of Judy cleaning up in the kitchen worked just as well.

Water running... Pots banging... Dart gun firing... Judy screaming...

Jerking back awake, Nick bit back the hiss of pain as he jostled his injuries. Warily, he glanced towards the doorway to the kitchen, realizing that his partner had left off her dish washing. It sounded instead like Judy was talking on the phone.

A few moments later, she walked back into the main room, looking grim as she ended a call.

"That was Clawhauser." She said in reply to his unspoken question. "There's a hostage situation inside the Weather Generating Station that divides Sahara Square and Tundratown. Chief's calling in all available officers."

"Want me to-?" Nick was forestalled in his effort to get up by a soft paw being placed on his shoulder.

"You stay here and rest." Judy told him with a small smile. "Turn the news on if you want, but under no circumstances are you to get up from that sofa, got it?"

"What if the apartment catches fire?"

"That is an acceptable emergency, but nothing else."

"What if the apartment floods? Or is invaded by radioactive spiders? Or-" The paw moved from his shoulder to his snout, effectively shutting the fox up. Judy's disapproving frown caused him to chuckle, which just irritated the bunny even more.

"I mean it, Nick. Nothing short of a life or death situation, alright?" He relented and gave her a muffled affirmative. Nodding, Judy hurried to pull on her uniform's vest and belt, then dashed out the door with a shouted "Wish me luck!"

A few moments after she left, Nick looked towards the TV - and the remote sitting atop it.

"...This is life and death." He stated out loud. "I'll die of boredom without some noise." With that, the fox pushed himself to a standing position, ready to shuffle across the room to retrieve the remote.

He wound up falling back onto the sofa in shock when Judy burst back in through the front door, bolted across the room, grabbed the very same device, and dropped it in his lap as she leapt over the couch and took off out the door again.

"I thought I said don't move!"

Nick wheezed out a chuckle when his partner left for the second time, but resigned himself to laying down and taking another nap. First, though, the fox needed some to fall asleep to.

It was sheer luck that the television turned on to the city's main news channel, ZNN, and that one of their reporters was speaking from the base of the Weather Station about the hostage crisis.

"...atest word is that the teacher in charge of the field trip has been injured but not killed - as for the sixteen fifth graders, they remain unharmed, though the hostage takers promise that will change if they do not receive twenty million in cash by midnight." As Nick listened with growing horror, he picked up that a trio of armed animals, posing as janitorial staff, broke into the Station intending to ransom Zootopia's weather itself for their money, only to find a greater target: a group of schoolchildren on a field trip. Barricaded within the inner offices, where they were able to control everything from the Generators themselves to the security systems, the terrorists looked to have everything going their way.

Then on screen, the camera caught the dramatic arrival of ZPD's finest. Nick grinned as he saw Chief Bogo taking point, directing the SWAT teams to strategic locations and arranging the rest of the force in a living wall around the area. The reporter fell silent so that viewers could pick up on the bull's loud conversation with the terrorists through the loudspeakers.

Nick's jaw tightened as the trio refused to take any police officers in place of the kids - and then he gaped as Judy appeared, volunteering herself for it.

And being accepted by the terrorists.

-N-

Six hours, thirty-seven minutes and eleven seconds later, Nick's nerves were at the breaking point. Judy had entered the Station, leaving all her tools and weapons outside. Half an hour later, the school kids appeared, hurrying through the doors with their bloodied teacher in tow. A more specific threat came, with the terrorists promising to drop Officer Hopps down the generator shaft if their money didn't arrive.

At midnight, an armored truck arrived, carrying the crates of cash. It was allowed inside, the drivers sent back out immediately afterward. A few minutes later, one of the terrorists got back on the loudspeaker, about to deliver instructions for their safe escape from the Station when he was cut off by the sound of crashing, along with a shout of "She's lose!"

Then it went silent.

Just over an hour later, the outdoor speakers crackled to life once more, Judy's tired voice announcing that the threat had been neutralized, and that she was powering down all the security measures. Cops immediately swarmed the entrance, returning soon with the three knocked out thugs in cuffs. Judy was escorted out and promptly taken over to an ambulance, which took off.

Nick was up and on his way out the door as soon as it did. Rabbit's rule or not, he was getting to the hospital to make sure his partner was okay, and nothing was going to stop him.

Though, the aching, half-healed gashes across his chest were certainly slowing him up.

The fox had just made it outside and starting on his hike towards Zootopia General Medical when a police cruiser pulled up next to the sidewalk. As the window rolled down, he had to stifle an irritated groan at seeing the officers inside:

Amelia Lunis, a grey wolf nearly as strict as the Chief, and her partner Raquel Romblesten, a rhino with a penchant for cracking jokes at the expense of smaller animals.

"What do you two want?" Nick growled, not stopping. Lunis arched an eyebrow at him.

"To go home and get some rest. Unfortunately, Chief Bogo sent us to come give you a ride to Z General. Get in before I decide to go against orders." With that, the wolf turned to face forward again, the picture of indifference. Nick knew that look well, after using it himself so long.

Romblesten, on the other paw, snorted in amusement. "Oh come on, 'Li, everyone knows you wouldn't go against the Chief in a million years. But Wilde, you gonna get in or keep staring like we've switched heads?" Shaking off his shock, Nick approached the vehicle, and gingerly climbed up into the back seat.

He remained silent during the drive, as did his fellow officers, something Nick was grateful for. He'd never actually had a full conversation with either one, but overheard plenty between the pair, and wasn't inclined to deal with cold disapproval or bad jokes. When they finally pulled up to the entrance of the hospital, Nick just nodded his thanks before slipping out and heading for the doors. His eyes narrowed when Lunis got out of the car too, following him inside.

Chief Bogo was waiting by the front desk, uniform rumpled and expression tired after the long night. "Second floor, right wing, room twenty three." He said upon seeing Nick. The fox offered up a grateful look, moving towards the elevator as quickly as he was able. Bogo also told Lunis something, but Nick didn't think about it until she'd slipped into the elevator car beside him.

"What, have you been assigned to be my bodyguard for the night?" He asked icily.

"Something like that." Lunis replied, gaze fastened on the closed doors. "Since Hopps won't be in a position to keep your tail out of trouble for the immediate future, Chief wants to make sure someone is around to do it."

"Gee, I feel so appreciated."

Lunis did send a look of mild reproach down at him then. "I don't like you, Wilde. But you're still a member of the ZPD, and when one of our own is injured we look after them, no matter what."

Nick had to bite his tongue to hold back a scathing comment that probably wouldn't be taken well. Fortunately, he was saved by the doors opening onto the second floor. The fox then shuffled out, noting the map on the wall, and headed towards Judy's room. Lunis stayed close behind him, not crowding his personal space, but making sure he was aware of her presence.

There was one moment of awkwardness when Nick had to pause and lean against the wall, panting slightly. Casting a surreptitious eye around to make sure they were alone, Lunis reluctantly offered a paw to him. Equally uneasily, Nick accepted, and supported some of his weight against her appendage as they continued onward.

They they reached the window that looked in on room 23, and the awkwardness suddenly didn't matter anymore.

Judy was sitting upright on the bed, wearing a hospital gown and looking more exhausted than Nick had ever seen her. The grey fur was singed in places, streaked with blood in others. A nurse was washing the stuff off with a damp cloth, carefully working around the bandages present on Judy's wrists. One of Nick's paws went up and tapped the glass, instantly gaining his partner's attention. She looked half relieved and half exasperated, yelling something at him that was muffled by the thick window.

"Here, Wilde." Lunis opened the door and held it for him, making Judy's rant suddenly audible.

"-ly warned you, Nick! I said a life or death situation, you mangy fleabag, which definitely didn't mean-"

"What? What did it mean? 'Life or death' only applied me in the apartment?" Nick asked, moving towards her bedside opposite the nurse. "I'm sorry, but without a phone call or anything else to let me know you were okay, how could I not come to check on you?"

Judy had the decency to look at him with a slightly shamefaced expression. "Sorry. Had to leave my phone outside the Station with everything else - I still haven't gotten any of it back yet."

"Well, I guess I can forgive you for that, then." He watched quietly as the nurse continued to wash off the traces of battle from his partner's fur.

"Hey." Judy nudged him. "It's nothing bad, and I'll be able to leave after a day of observation."

"Still..." Nick motioned towards the stark white of the bandages, beneath which he could detect the coppery tang of blood.

"Oh, yeah, well, those thugs didn't have any restraints small enough to use on a rabbit, so they used wire to secure me to a railing. Not a big deal, it just took me forever to get free from the stupid stuff." Nick had to force himself not to shout about how it was a big deal, something made easier when the nurse held another cloth out towards him.

"If you are going to remain, Officer Wilde, then make yourself useful."

"Yes, ma'am."

Judy fell silent as her partner helped wipe away the soot on her left arm, so Nick decided to inject a bit of cheer back into the atmosphere. He asked whether or not she gave the terrorists a good thrashing, and the bunny immediately launched into a detailed account of how she kicked their tails six ways to Sunday. Eventually, cleaned up and settled beneath the bedsheet, Judy worriedly asked how Nick planned on getting back to his apartment.

"I've been placed on escort duty, Officer Hopps." Lunis finally spoke up from where she stood by the door. "I'll make sure he's fine."

"Thank you," the bunny told her gratefully, just before she finally conked out. Nick shook his head in amusement, tugging the sheet up a little bit further. He really would've preferred to stay the night with his partner, but knew that with Lunis right there he'd never get away with it.

So, at three in the morning, the fox was driven back to his apartment building by the strictest wolf alive, who then insisted on walking him inside as well.

"You can barely stand up, Wilde, I'm not about to let you collapse in a stairwell." Lunis informed him. Nick heaved a great, put-upon sigh, but gave up his fight as the bigger animal followed him in through the building's front door.

"Fine, but I can make it down by myself, thank you oh so very much." He told her. And sure enough, despite the twinging pain from his chest, Nick managed to make it down both flights unaided. Once on the basement floor, he paused to shoot a triumphant smirk over his shoulder at Lunis. The wolf, though, wasn't looking at him - her eyes were wide, staring past Nick in the direction of his apartment door.

Which, the fox realized with a start upon looking forwards again, had been ripped off its hinges. He tried moving forward, but Lunis beat him to the punch. She pulled Nick back up the staircase by the back of his shirt, already grabbing her radio and calling for reinforcements. Once she'd gotten the injured officer back to the ground floor landing, the wolf descended on her own, taser in paw.

Nick grit his teeth, but stayed put, knowing full well that he'd be next to useless in a fight. Even so, his muscles remained taut and ready for action until the moment that Lunis reappeared, shaking her head.

"Whoever it was that broke in is long gone - I caught a faint scent, but nothing to indicate an animal was present within the last hour or two."

"Damn. They must have come just after I left." Nick muttered. He nearly jumped at the paw set carefully on his shoulder, and peered up at Lunis' uncharacteristic apologetic expression.

"Your apartment... I'm sorry, Wilde, but they trashed the place pretty thoroughly."

"How, thoroughly, do you mean?"

Lunis actually hesitated for a moment, and that worried Nick more than anything else. "I don't think I saw anything in there that hadn't been damaged or outright destroyed."

The fox briefly closed his eyes, and sighed. He didn't scream. He didn't sob. After a few moments, he asked Lunis to wait for their response from headquarters while he went down to see if there would be anything salvageable.

It wasn't until he'd gotten back to the wrecked doorway, out of sight and hearing range, that Nick allowed a few tears to leak out.

The dingy apartment wasn't much, but it had been home. And now it was ruined.