A/N: So I muste have gotten bit by a radioactive writing bug as I got this chapter done in the course of a single night. This is going to be a short AN to let you get right into the story, can't wait to see what you all think of this story so please like, comment, or PM me.


"So, carrots, are you going to take the detective slot Bogo offered you today?" Nick was typing away at his report of the car thieves they caught the previous day.

"I'm not sure, Nick. There's only one spot that opened this rotation and that would mean breaking up our partnership for the next few years." Judy stopped typing and looked at the ceiling. After giving everyone's assignments at the morning roll call Bogo had called her into his office, alone. Initially, she thought she was in trouble, especially when she saw her personnel file sitting on his desk looking a lot thicker than one of a three-year beat cop.

"So, Hopps…sorry. Wilde. You think I would get that right after a year." Bogo pinched his nose in his usual frustrated manner.

"It's ok, Chief. Um, am I in trouble or something? Usually you call both Nick and me in for these meetings." Judy's ears were flat against her back as her nose twitched in concern.

"Not you, but Nick is. I'm breaking up your team."

Judy was stunned. Why now? Things had been going so good and they kept their marriage civil when on the clock, so why was he splitting them up?

Judy was about to speak when Bogo's stern look cracked and he began to laugh. "I wish I had a camera for the face you just made! I'm breaking you up for a good reason. A detective slot will be opening up next month and I want you to take it. You've done great on the beat and have already solved several cases. It's time to put those skills to work full time."

Judy was shocked and her ears shot straight up as her eyes went wide open, "Detective? Me?! I'm honored, sir, but why didn't Nick come in as well? We are partners after all."

Bogo's stern look returned. "I said I was breaking up the team, that wasn't a joke. Only one slot is opening up and of your team you have seniority. I know you two work well together, but you also have the better investigative skills, he will be paired up with a new partner for the duration of your rotation which will be two to three years."

Judy's mind was racing. Two to three years without Nick every day? Would they be ok…would he be ok? "Judy," Bogo's deep voice brought her attention back to him. "I don't need your answer right away. It's Monday, talk it over with Nick and let me know by Wednesday. It's a big decision so take your time on deciding."

"Okay, Chief. I'll go let him know and we'll discuss it on patrol today." Judy hopped down from her seat and walked to the door.

"And, Wilde," his face getting the stern scowl he was known for, "I expect your reports on the car thieves before your patrol today."

"Yes sir," Judy said sharply and left for their office.

Nick wheeled over and gave a light kiss on Judy's head bringing a smile to her muzzle. "Don't worry. I'm sure I won't fall for my next partner." Judy turned around and punched him in the arm gaining a smirk from the fox. "Seriously though, Judy, this is huge. Not only will the pay be better, but you truly will make the difference you came to this city to do."

"I know, Nick, but not being with you and having you watch my back will be hard to get over." Judy looked over at the clock. "Well, we can discuss it more in the car. We only have an hour to finish our reports and then get on patrol. I don't want to be late and miss our one year anniversary dinner."

Nick smiled and saluted, "Yes ma'am, Officer Fluff!"

Judy smiled and shook her head, "My fox, what would I do without you?". She turned back to her desk and grabbed her stomach as a bit of pain shot through it. "That was weird. Well, I didn't eat much his morning, maybe that's it. Need to grab something before the patrol starts."


They both finished their reports just before their patrol was supposed to start. Heading downstairs they dropped the files off with Clawhauser and went to the cruiser. "Hey, Nick, I want to stop at the diner and get some food for the patrol."

"Sure thing, but how is your stomach? You didn't eat much this morning at breakfast." Nick started up the cruiser and pulled onto the street heading for the Green Bean to get some smoothies and food.

"I'm okay, my stomach was just a bit queasy this morning. I hope I'm not getting sick again." Judy patted her stomach, she had felt off for a few days now but nothing she couldn't handle.

"I hope not. When you got that stomach flu last month it was horrible. Although, I did like taking care of my cute little bunny." Nick quickly dodged the punch thrown his way, "Hey! I'm driving here. I don't want to get in a wreck again."

"Hey, it's not my fault these things are made so big, besides that mailbox had been pissing me off anyway. I almost got stuck in it twice and actually did the third time."

Nick chuckled at the last time he had to rescue his bunny from the mailbox, she had gone down thirty minutes prior to send a birthday card to her mom. He went down looking for here and laughed to see two feet kicking in the air and her shouting to get her out of the box.

"Yep, the evil mailbox that tried to eat my honey bunny. May it rest in peace, in whatever form it got turned into at the recycling center." They shared a laugh at the memory until Judy grabbed at her stomach again.

"Ugh. I do think I'm coming down with something again. My stomach hurts just like the last time, or maybe I got food poisoning from the sushi you made me try last night."

"Well, hopefully a carrot and kale smoothie will settle it," Nick said pulling up to the dinner and hopping out.

"Yeah, hopefully. I'll stay in the car this time." Judy leaned her seat back and rubbed her stomach to try and relieve the pain.

"Sure thing, carrots." Nice slid his aviators down his muzzle to make sure she was ok through her window before going into the dinner. Judy leaned back and closed her eyes taking a deep breath and just trying to relax.

Nick was back fairly quickly, Judy taking her smoothie from him and taking a deep drink from it. It went down nice and smooth helping to settle her stomach. "Thanks, Nick. That hit the spot. Hopefully it stays down, though."

They drove through the streets giving the odd speed ticket and giving assistance as mammals needed. "So, Nick, how is Michael doing?"

Nick's happy demeanor lowered into a more stern face, "He's getting the help he needs now. Finally realized he had some demons that needed to be dealt with."

"That's good, he did seem nice. Just, troubled." Judy thought back to the night Michael had tried to hurt himself, and her. He was a friend of Nicks who had just gotten out of the military and was staying with them until he got on his paws.

"Yeah, he is nice. Hopefully, the doctors and shrinks can help him now. So not to change subjects, but about the detective role? I really do think you should take it. It would be great for your career and it will help when you come back as a regular beat cop. You'll have a better insight and open mind of the streets."

"I know, Nick, but I keep going to back to… Duke Weaselton."

Nick choked on the last of his smoothie, "Duck Weaselton? What? Carrots, after a year am I not enough for you anymore?" Nick gave her a sly smile, but Judy was staring out the windshield. Down an alley, Duke was talking with a stoat and after looking around and passed a bag of whitish blue powder after getting handed a sizable roll of money.

"Nick, I think it's time to finally get Duke off the streets. He's gone from petty theft and bootleg DVD's to drug dealing."

Nick looked to where Judy was staring and saw the stoat looking at the baggie making sure it was what Duke said it was while holding it up he glanced over to the cruiser and stopped. "I think we've been spotted, Judy." She was already out of the car and chasing Duke down the alley as the words left Nick's mouth. Thankfully the stoat was slow on the uptake and Nick was on him, quickly handcuffing him to a light pole and calling for a pickup. He ran down the alley hoping Judy hadn't gotten too far ahead that he couldn't track her.

Judy was running for all she was worth, last time she chased Duke they were fairly matched in speed. Duke having the slight edge of knowing the city better, but now after three years she knew it almost as good. She was keeping pace with him fairly well except it seemed like she was getting short of breath. She gave an extra burst of speed to try and catch up and end it sooner but as she did her vision started to blur and darken. She watched Duke make a turn down another alley as Nick yelled for her. "Turning left! Cut him off on Sahara Nick!"

She turned down the alley before Nick and a chance to respond, but she knew he would be there. He was always there to watch her back. She was going so fast as she turned the corner she needed to run along the wall to prevent smashing into it. "Stop in the name of the law!" she screamed out.

"Not a chance cottontail," Duke yelled putting on an extra burst of speed. Try as hard as she could though Judy couldn't seem to catch up so she did the only thing she could think of to get an extra edge. She dropped down to all fours and was pounding her paws into the concrete finally gaining ground. Only a few feet from her all noise was drowned out as the extremely fast and loud beating of her heart in her ears, sucking in as deep of breaths as she could but hardly getting any air, her vision was like looking down a tunnel but still she pressed on with all her might.

"Carrots!" Hearing Nick scream gave her an extra burst knowing he was nearby to support her. She saw the red of his fur as he came crashing from a side alley barely missing Duke and tumbled to the ground. She pushed off with all of her strength reaching for Duke when suddenly the pounding in her ears went silent and the tunnel of her eyes collapsed.

Nick picked himself up to see Judy going limp and smashing into some trash cans on the side of the alley and stop moving. "Judy! Judy, answer me!" He ran to her side and took her in his arms rocking her. He looked up and saw Duke had stopped a few feet away, "I'm going to kill you, Duke! You better run because if you did anything to her your dead!" Nicks words echoed through the alley cold as ice.

"Nick, I swear I didn't do anything to her!" The growl that came from Nick's throat sent Duke scurrying away.

Nick reached for his radio still cradling Judy, "10-00! Officer Wilde down, Judy is hurt! Bringing her to Sahara and Vine, send a bus immediately! I think Duke Weaselton did something to her while we were chasing him." He stood up and ran through the alley hugging her close to his chest, he could feel her heart beating faster than he had ever felt or even could believe it could beat, but her breathing was very short and shallow. Nick could hear the sirens coming from all corners of Savannah Central, hot tears coursing down his face as he exited the alley onto the main road. "Judy, please don't do this, don't leave me!"

Nick held her tightly as backup came to him. It seemed like hours had passed. The ambulance pulled up right next to him and he ran with Judy as the back doors flew open. Judy was ripped from his paws as a deer jumped down and put her onto the stretcher, he went to get in when he was stopped. "We need to work, officer. Just get to the hospital." They slammed the door and took off flying towards Zootopia General.

Nick just stared as the ambulance left his sight, Wolford's large paw rested on his shoulder. "Nick, let's get you to the hospital. They made the right call. You two are so protective of each other you would've gotten in their way."

Nick just hung his head as Wolford escorted him to the nearby cruiser. As he was about to get in he caught a glimpse of Delgato escorting Duke out of the alley. Before he could even think he was rushing at him, "YOU'RE DEAD!" No-one could react fast enough, Nick had punched Duke in the jaw putting him out cold and sending him flying out of the lion's grasp, his limp body bouncing off the pavement. He got another two punches in before the other two officers pulled him off, "He's not worth your badge, Nick! You got your hit in, now get to the hospital!"

Nick tried to fight them off but the pressure Wolford put bending his arm upwards along his back finally got Nick to stop, "OKAY, okay! I'll go, just keep him away from me or I will end him!" The ice the other officers saw in Nicks' eyes told them he was telling the truth. He would fight Bogo if he had too to get the Duke.

Finally, in the cruiser headed to the hospital, Nick broke down crying. Wolford looked over to see Nick curled into a tiny ball on the seat just letting the tears flow. He was a broken fox, the only thing that could rescue him was knowing if Judy was ok. He put extra pressure on the gas pedal trying to get his friend to the hospital as quickly as possible. "It will be ok, Nick .She's one tough bunny. Nothing could keep her down long, you'll see." The face Nick gave him crushed the wolf's spirit, it looked as if Nick was just a hollow shell of himself, those emerald eyes had lost their shine and focus.

"She.. she was just so limp, she didn't respond to me at all. Just that tiny heart beating for all its worth as she gasped for breath. I don't know what I would do if I lost her. I already almost lost her once, but this time…there was nothing I could do." Nick let out fresh tears, not caring that he was breaking his rule of not letting anyone see something getting to him. Wolford started to open his muzzle again but just focused on the road. He needed to get Nick to the hospital as fast as possible.

Even with lights and sirens blasting it took twenty minutes to reach Zootopia General, Nick hardly waited for the cruiser stop before throwing open the door and sprinting into the ER and up to the receptionist desk. "Judy Wilde! Where is she? My wife, where did they go with her?" The elk at the desk was stunned by the ferocity of the fox before him.

"In recovery one. I'll page the doctor to... Hey, you can't go in there!" But the shout fell upon deaf ears as Nick forced his way into the back section of the ER looking for the room that Judy was in. Passing confused nurses and doctors, he couldn't find the room. He was on the verge of breaking down again when something hit him. Her scent! Instantly his eyes went wide and his head snapped around. Closing his eyes and taking a deep breath through his nose he shot down a hallway and finally found her room, barging in without even knocking.

Judy sat up in the bed with a jump as the door slammed into the wall. Nick stared at her, expecting to see her hooked up to all sorts of machines, but there she was with only her warm smile looking at him. He walked over to her side and took her paw, "Is everything alright Judy? What happened? Did Duke do anything to you?"

"Yes, Nick, I'm fine. The doctors say I passed out due to low blood pressure from running so hard, they just don't know why yet. They took some blood tests and said they will know something in a while." Judy was smoothing the fur on Nicks' arm trying to calm him down. Looking at his right paw she saw the swelling building. "Nick what did you do? We need to get you some ice."

"I think I broke Weaselton's jaw," Nick looked down at his paw and for the first time started to feel the pain building in it. "After they took you away I saw Delgato with him in cuffs and just lost it. He was out cold with me over top him before I realized what was going on."

"Nick," Judy looked concerned at her husband. "You know you shouldn't have done that! It's just going to cause more problems than solve them, especially since he didn't do anything to me."

"We don't know that yet, Judy. He was dealing drugs! Who knows if he threw some in the air while you were chasing him? We'll just have to wait and see what the doctor says." Nick leaned in close to her face looking all over to see if there was any trace of drugs on it the doctors may have missed.

Judy playfully pushed him back, "Nick, the doctors already swabbed my face and nose for any trace drugs." She reached up and ran her paw down his muzzle. "Trust me, they are doing everything they can."

Nick leaned in for a kiss as a doctor came in knocking on the door and wheeling a cart that looked like a TV monitor on it with several instruments attached. "Sorry for intruding, I'm Doctor Honey and I'm in charge of your care."

She moved the cart next to Judy and smiled but had a stern expression on her face. "Now, I'm glad to see you are doing better Mrs. Wilde, but honestly I'm surprised you even put yourself in the position for this to happen."

"Well, it is my job to catch criminals, doctor."

"Well, given your condition, I don't know why you're not behind a desk. Honestly, it would be much safer, not running around trying to catch criminals and putting yourself in jeopardy." The doctor's statement made Nick and Judy look quizzically at each other than to the doctor.

"What condition doctor? Is something wrong with my heart that made me pass out, or is it worse?" Judy was gripping Nick's paw tightly, scared as to what the doctor was about to say, she had worked so hard for so many years to become an officer. Now all those dreams seemed to come crashing down around her.

"What condition, my dear? Are you honestly telling me you don't know?" She had the machine booted up with something in her paw.

"Don't know what, doctor? Please just tell us?" They both stared at Honey holding each other's paw expecting the worst news.

The badger just gave them a warm comforting smile as she squirted some gel on the instrument in her paw. "My dear, I honestly thought you knew, that's why I was so critical of your actions. Well, I guess I get to give you two the good news." She pulled Judy's hospital gown up exposing her belly, "Mrs. Wilde, your pregnant."

Judy's ears rocketed up as her eyes went wide. Honey placed the tool on her belly as the screen came to life. Judy's eyes were glued to the screen as Honey started explaining, "Okay, so right there is your uterus. Now let's see if we can see them… there we go." Judy's other paw came to her muzzle as two small forms showed up on the screen. Honey slid the instrument around Judy's belly trying to see everything. They were so small Judy couldn't make anything out.

"Well, it looks like there are just two in there, a good thing with what I am assuming will be hybrid kits, otherwise things would get quite cramped in there." Honey paused the image and took some measurements. "Looks like you are only about a week along judging from their size, although again with them being hybrid you may be less further along and just the fox traits are making them bigger." Honey looked at them, "Not to sound rude, by I am right in assuming he is the father, right?"

Judy blinked at Honey suddenly remembering she was holding Nick's paw, she looked up at him to see tears starting to form in his eyes. "Yes he is," she said giving Nick's paw an extra squeeze. He just stared at the frozen image on the screen.

Honey cleaned the gel from Judy's fur, "Well congratulations, you two. I'll write you a prescription for prenatal vitamins and a referral to one of the obstetricians upstairs. I highly recommend you make an appointment soon. They will want to watch you closely. Hybrid kits can have medical issues non-hybrid kits may not, so get an appointment soon. Again congratulations, you can get dressed and leave whenever you are ready, just don't forget to swing by the pharmacy."

Honey left the pair alone staring at each other. "Nick, I think we have some big decisions to make soon." Nick just stared at her not showing any emotion. "Nick, are you okay?"

"I'm... I'm going to be a father." Judy smiled and reached up to his muzzle as the first tears fell. "I'm going to be a father." He said louder and more confident this time and pulled Judy into a hug. "You're going to be a mother, Judy!" Tears started to fall from her eyes wetting Nick's fur.

"I know, Nick. I'm so happy right now." She looked back up at Nick's face, the tears making wet streaks down his fur. "So, who do we tell first?"

"Well, I think Bogo needs to be first to explain what happened today. Then we should go and tell your parents. I think something like this should be done in person, though, not a phone call."

"Okay, Nick. Let me get dressed and we'll go to the precinct to tell Bogo, then go visit my parents." She got dressed but the trembling of her paws took her a while, plus with the multiple times she stopped to rub her belly didn't help. Soon after they were walking in the door of Precinct One headed to Bogo's office. Several mammals stopping them on the way asking if she was ok, she smiled and said yes before continuing on.

The meeting with Bogo was brief and ended with Judy being put on desk duty. She tried to put up a fight, but with the day's earlier incident Bogo would hear none of it. He did say once she could see an obstetrician to make sure she could go back into the field he would consider putting her back out there.

Three hours later they were walking up to the Hopps' family farm as the sun was setting, "So, Judy, what do you think they are going to say?"

Judy was running the different scenarios through her head as they took the steps up the porch. "I don't know, Nick. Dad will probably pass out so we need to make sure they are sitting before we tell them."

"Good call." Nick knocked on the door, they could hear lots of movement and commotion coming from inside before finally hearing Bonnie call out she was coming. "Judy, Nick! Come in! We're about to have supper. What are you doing here? Judy did you get a new shampoo? You're positively glowing."

"No, I didn't. Where's dad? We need to talk to you two."

Stu came out of the kitchen at hearing Judy's voice. "Hey, Jude the dude, this is a pleasant surprise."

"Stu, they need to talk to us about something." Bonnie and Stu sat down on one of the many couches in the living room as Nick and Judy sat on one across from them. They had concerned expressions on both of their faces looking over at the younger couple.

Judy held onto Nick's paw as she looked up at her parents, "Well, the something we need to talk to you about is actually a few somethings." Her parents turned and looked at each other, puzzled expression across their faces. Judy smiled up at Nick as he stood up and took a piece of paper from his pocket and presented it to them.

He sat back down as the older rabbits looked at the paper, even more confused now. Stu was completely lost, but after a minute the realization of what she was looking at dawned on Bonnie. She looked up at Judy who was bouncing in her seat, "Judy are you…" She was almost jumping in her seat now nodding her head yes. Bonnie leapt up and ran over hugging her daughter, "Oh, Judy, I'm so happy!"

Stu was still confused gripping the paper in his paw, "I don't get it, what is she?"

Nick walked over and placed a paw on his shoulder. "Well, grandpa, let me explain it…"

"Grandpa?" Stu looked at the paper, then to Judy, then back at the two small figures in the picture. Finally, it all clicked. "Sweet cheese and crackers."

Thump! The two females broke their hug to look over at the sound of the noise to see Stu slumped on the couch. "Well, carrots, you were right. Good thing he was sitting down." The three mammals shared a laugh as they walked to the kitchen leaving Stu mumbling on the couch. "Grandpa. Grandpa?"