Chapter Two

Six weeks had passed since Nick had officially joined the police force. Clawhauser greeted him every morning, happily munching away on a box of doughnuts and today he was watching Gazelle's newest music video. The upbeat dance music of her newest track blared around the open entrance hall. Nick shoved his hands in his pocket and lazily made his way down the right hall. He usually met Judy in the briefing room every morning, she was almost always there at least half an hour before him and usually woke up almost three hours before him. He knew her routine down pat: wake up at 4:15 a.m., go for a run, come back and shower, text Nick good morning at 5:50 (when he usually woke up) and have a quick but nutritious breakfast before being at the precinct for seven a.m. Nick usually just got up, showered and shoved whatever he had sitting in his fridge in his mouth before taking his sweet time to walk to work. He wasn't too far away, about twenty minutes but damn if he didn't complain every morning.

The briefing room was full when he got there, save for Chief Bogo being present at his podium. McHorn, Rhinowitz and Fangmeyer stood in the corner, the former two highfiving Fangmeyer for his recent hookup over the weekend. Higgings, Pennington and the rest were already sitting in their respective seats, chatting and laughing about who-knows-what. Judy sat in the front row, very first chair closest to the podium. Her small frame barely let her see over the table in front of her but that didn't stop her from getting the "best seat in the house" as she would call it. Nick chuckled to himself as he walked towards the front, thinking that if Judy was still in high school, she definitely would have been the teachers pet. She was bent over a bit, reading the morning paper as she waited for the debriefing to begin.

"Anything new in the paper today Carrots?" Nick asked, suppressing a yawn as he called her by her nickname.

"You know, if you went to bed a decent hour, you probably wouldn't be so tired in the morning," Judy said, while turning a page not yet looking at him. "But no, nothing exactly exciting. Just a lot of news coverage for the re-election this year but you've probably seen a lot about that on TV. Good thing this was Lionheart's last year, what a way to go out." Judy looked up at Nick, her ears perking up as she gave him a big smile in proper greeting. "Seriously what time did you go to bed?"

"I go to bed when I feel like it Carrots, because I-" he walked around the table to plop on the chair with her. They both shared one because the with the large size of the chairs, it would have been silly to use two. "I am an adult and I make my own bedtime," he finished.

"Well maybe you should pick a more appropriate bedtime," she said, fluttering her lashes at him, "because you look like crap." She stuck her tongue out at him in mock teasing, her eyes closed. When she opened them she noticed Nick was staring at her mouth a moment too long before he looked away, possibly blushing? She couldn't tell because his fur was red and any blush would have just blended in.

Nick didn't mean to stare at her, or more specifically her small, pink tongue, as it shot out of her mouth. She was just so...cute, even though he would never say that to her face out of respect. Her small body was perfect size: slim, with slight muscle tone and a great curve to her hips and thicker thighs. He knew those thighs were powerful, he'd seen how far and high she could jump and kick before. What he wouldn't give for them to be wrapped around him as he nailed that little body in his bed, her relaxed ears flopping forward and backwards with every thrust.

Nick gave a start and shook his head to clear it. 'Stop it, stop it, STOP,' he growled to himself in his head. He didn't dare turn around but he was sure if he did, the wolves in the briefing room would probably be giving him some weird fucking looks for the scent that just spiked in there.

Judy watched Nick as he stared at nothing and then slightly pushed back and start shaking his head like crazy.

"What the- Nick are you okay?" she asked, touching his arm lightly.

Nick gave another start at her touch, and she recoiled her hand, fearing that was the wrong move.

"Ah, sorry Carrots," he said, giving her a lazy grin, "Thought I was about to drift off to sleep again. Tried to wake myself up."

Judy didn't believe him but she didn't push it. Although the room was loud with voices, her ears had picked up on his heart beat, which had steadily been rising when he was "drifting off the sleep." She turned back down to the news paper in her lap and started reading again.

Swinton VS. Buckbrow

As the election draws nearer and nearer, each candidate

has been giving their all in to prove the most dedicated

to turning Zootopia around. After the whole Assistant

Mayor Bellweather debacle and her plans to turn Zootopia

against each other, voters are understandably anxious and

skeptical about their future electives. We here at ZooNews

would like to give you a further run down of each candidate in these

exclusive interviews we've been granted with each opponent.

Judy scanned the first interview with Jerry Buckbrow, a proud and regal looking deer with large antlers set atop his head. His smile seemed kind in the photograph, his short brown fur clean and impeccably taken care of and he was dressed to the nines in a sharp suit. His sponsor was some corporation, Defy Normal Inc.,but the article didn't state what the company did. His plan was to reinvent the lower class neighbourhoods and make transport more accessible and affordable to every citizen to bring more animals together. Judy couldn't deny, he seemed like a nice mammal, but then again, so had Bellweather when she met her. He was always in the paper for things like helping build houses, volunteering at homeless shelters and going to peace rallies to re-establish Pred and Pray relationships.

Judy's eyes trailed over to the next interview and she stared at the photo of the other candidate. She was a short, curvy pig in a royal blue three piece skirt and blazer set, which paired nicely with her soft pink skin. She had a small fringe of blond hair, tastefully falling between her floppy ears. She was motherly in all senses except her smile. Her smile, even though it always appeared kind, had something to it that Judy didn't like. She was definitely hiding something, Judy thought, while scanning Maddy Swintons interview. Swinton was making promises for more funds to go into the school system, to get more underprivileged kids a chance to become interested and invested in school and tuition fees for after high school to lower. Judy agreed with this part, while her family wasn't poor, they were farmers and with 275 brothers and sisters, it wasn't an easy feat for Judy to save for the police academy alone. Swinton was sponsored by a corporation named, Capital Dynamic, and they hand their hands in everything. Capital Dynamic had ties to food production, machinery, education, sports teams, pretty much whatever they could sponsor or buy stock in, they did. They must have had a lot of faith in Swinton because her campaign had been extravagant. She was everywhere Buckbrow was and more, making sure to shake hands with everyone and kiss every baby that passed by.

Judy wasn't sure who would win at this point, or who she would even vote for. While Buckbrow seemed down to earth, Swinton seemed to be gunning for the win. Judy wondered if it was to show up that the next woman prey wouldn't go crazy and try and destroy the city.

Her musings were cut short when the side door slammed open and Chief Bogo emerged, looking like he usually did, and made his way to the podium. His heavy brow and pursed lips made every day seem like something catastrophic was going to happen. Everyone scrambled to their seats, waiting to be debriefed and assigned their cases for the day.

"An undercover of ours has gotten word that the mob boss who presides in Meadowlands is looking to meet with Mr. Big, the mob boss who runs Tundratown. We normally leave Mr. Big alone," Bogo looked annoyed here, "as he is a valued member of the community with many shops and businesses in Zootopia, but we know next to nothing on who is running Meadowlands. We do not know what he wants or what is going to transpire, only that they are meeting Downtown in the next week."

Bogo pulled out a brown file folder from the pile, "Hopps, Wilde, as per your case report with the missing mammal case, you both have a 'good' relationship to Big. Go to him and get him to agree to police help or at least police observation when they have their meeting. We want to know everything that is going down to pass along to the other precinct in Meadowlands just in case. Go. Now."

Judy and Nick didn't waste any time and took the case file from Bogo before leaving the briefing room as quickly as they could.

"I didn't know the police knew anything about Mr. Big to be honest," Judy said as they made their way back to the entrance hall.

"Neither did I," responded Nick. "Well I figured they knew of him, because like Bogo said, he is a huge part of the Tundratown community and brings in a lot of money there. Maybe it's easier to keep some crooks like allies in case anything goes down instead of arresting everyone and not knowing anything."

"Makes sense," Judy said, "Francine has a 'buddy' who is definitely a drug dealer. But he keeps her up to date on big shipments or big busts as long as no one arrests him for the smaller stuff."

"JUDY! NICK!"

Clawhauser was waving them down with a giant grin (and some doughnut residue) on his face. The officer in front of him at the desk looked a little startled, probably not expecting Clawhauser to yell right in front of his face.

"Hey Clawhauser," Judy said cheerily, giving him a big smile. "Hows your day going so far?"

"Well, you'll never guess who got tickets to the next Gazelle concert!" he said, throwing his arms in the air in excitement. Before they could reply, he shouted out, "ME! And I got one for Chief Bogo, but it's a surprise so don't tell anyone!"

"You bought one...for...Bogo? Like Chief Bogo? Like 'I'm-always-grumpy-and-hate-fun Bogo?" Nick asked, confusion in his voice.

"You must have missed him when we went to the one a few months ago, Nick. Bogo was killing it with Clawhauser," Judy said, giggling to herself.

"Whatever makes you guys happy," Nick said, shrugging his shoulders. "Alright Carrots, let's head out so we can go talk to Big and go for lunch after."

"Bye Ben!" Judy yelled out, waving to him as he waved back to her, already engrossed in his Gazelle music video.

Nick and Judy headed towards to Subway and waited for the next train headed to Tundratown. Nick leaned against a sign post, which had a warning to not step to close to the track and Judy sat on the bench next to it.

"So do you know who runs Meadowland?" Judy asked, making conversation as they waited.

Nick shook his head, shrugging, "I have no idea to be honest. Meadowland is small too, I can't imagine even needing a mob there. I guess we'll find out when we find out."

Judy nodded, and they both fell into a comfortable silence. The train came about three minutes later and they boarded and took a seat beside each other. The car was empty except for the two of them, and even though there was (small) space between them, Judy swore she could hear Nick's heart start to beat faster again.

A/N: Alright, chapter two is out. I hope you enjoy. Thank you to all that favoured and followed and to those who reviewed! I really appreciate kind words and constructive criticism. Although it's pretty vanilla for now, I do want to reiterate that this will get darker later, but I will have appropriate tags and warnings so you can skip if need be. Have a great day! :)