They were walking back to the recording studio as Judy held the ring up to show Nick, "A Zootopia High School ring. See the little designs of musical notes around the ring? That meant they were either in band or choir."
"I get the ring is a good find but why should it matter of what extracurricular activity they did?"
"Because, Gazelle was in choir in high school as a soloist! So someone from her past could be sabotaging her!"
"That sounds a bit farfetch, Carrots…"
"We'll just have to wait and ask Gazelle if this ring means anything to her."
They saw Gazelle was recording in the sound booth and they couldn't find Carlos anywhere. The sound mixer working the controls was a buck, as he had his antlers help him reach buttons he couldn't with his hooves.
Judy couldn't help admire the way Gazelle was singing into the microphone, she had such an amazing voice.
"She is so awesome." she couldn't help blurting out.
The buck heard her, "You're just about the few loyal fans she still has."
Judy frowned, "What do you mean?"
"Gazelle is slowly losing popularity."
"What? No!"
"Ooh, tough break, Carrots. I feel sorry for Gazelle, she's not bad."
"Yeah, the manager of the studio is worried, Gazelle was their biggest hit, profits were coming in like you wouldn't believe. Carlos is especially worried for his star. That's why he's trying hard to raise her publicity."
"Is that why he's not here now?" Nick asked.
"As an agent he's very busy."
"Well I would think he would want to be here right now, keeping tabs on his meal ticket."
"Nick!"
He smacked his forehead, "Not like that, Judy…"
"Well, you can't joke something like that not after the scare we had from the Night Howlers."
"Right, my bad."
When the buck signaled the end of the recording, Gazelle came to them.
"Did you find anything?"
"We sure did." she held out the ring.
Gazelle gasped, "I know this ring! It's the one my class wore in high school! I have a similar one at home!"
Nick questioned, "Think we can see it?"
"Yes, I won't be needed anytime soon, we can-"
"You are not going anywhere!" Carlos came into the room, "You have to prepare for a photo shoot this afternoon!"
"Carlos…" Gazelle gave a stern look, "Did you not insist on bringing the police in to protect me?"
"Well, yes, and that's their job right now, to look after you while you retain your schedule."
"But it is also their job to figure out who is trying to hurt me, and they found something that could help! Now we are leaving and I don't know when I'll be back, but this cannot wait." she went pass him.
Nick whispered to Judy, "I like her."
They were back at the penthouse, and Nick and Judy were sitting on a loveseat as a tiger butler was serving them while Gazelle was searching her room and came back with a ring and a book. She showed them the ring then the yearbook.
"When we were set to order class rings, the choir and I decided to have matching rings, to show we would always have a love of music." she open the book to a class photo of the choir. "Perhaps this will help narrow your search?"
They looked over the picture until Nick gasped and Judy looked up to see her partner had turned pale like he seen a ghost.
"Nick? What is it?"
He pointed to a pretty fox in the second row on the far left.
"I knew her…" he uttered.
"Who?"
Gazelle looked and said, "You knew Vivian?"
He slowly nodded.
"I don't understand, how do you know her?" Judy asked.
"She's…" he gulped, "my ex-girlfriend."
They were back at the precinct and Judy hadn't spoken since Nick's revelation. He was getting worried that his partner was mad at him for not saying something sooner, but how was he supposed to know that Vivian and Gazelle went to the same high school let alone be in the same choir?! He decided to ease into it.
"Carrots… uh, Judy… sure you're okay?"
"I'm fine." she stated.
"I know it was a shock…"
"Shock? Shock?! Shock doesn't begin to describe it!" she yelled causing half the station to look their way.
"I know you had past dating experiences but to see the fox that use to…" a number of things came to her head, Kiss you… hold you… love you… She's so pretty… and I'm… tears started falling and Nick grabbed a tissue box from Clawhauser and offered it to her.
She took one to wipe her eyes and blew her nose. Nick saw his nosy co-workers still looking and glared at them, they knew that was their cue to go back to work. His gaze softened at the rabbit and hugged her, "Tell me what's troubling you."
"It's just… hard seeing you and her… and how you had something together… How… close were you?"
He winced, he knew she wasn't going to like the answer, "Are… you sure you want to know?"
That did it for Judy as she bawled.
"Carrots… Judy…" he sighed, "That came out wrong, I should have told you how we broke up and then pointed out why you're so much better than her."
That made her tears stop and stared at him.
"She cheated on me."
She covered her mouth, and whispered, "Oh… Nick… I'm so sorry."
"Forget it, after all what's my motto?" he was trying to lighten up the situation.
She gave a small smile, "Never let them see they get to you."
"Exactly. She was the past, Carrots. You… are my future."
In one swift move she grabbed his face and kissed him on the lips, not caring a wit if anyone saw, that was the sweetest thing she heard Nick say to her. I can hear the bells…
Nick was shock by the sudden impact but he ended up closing his eyes to the bliss. Am I hearing bells?
Turns out those bells were coming from the front desk as Clawhauser was busy answering calls but the lovers didn't notice. They however came out of it when a voice shouted at them.
"Wilde! Hopps!"
It was the chief as they turned to him and returned to their professional roles as officers.
"Why aren't you with Gazelle?!" he demanded.
"Relax, Chief," said Judy, "She's safe back at her penthouse where her security guards are watching out for her and we called in patrol cars that were nearby to survey the streets. We just got a big break of whosever causing the accidents."
The large mammal took a breath and they felt the hot air as he lowered down to them, "And yet you don't seem to be in a hurry to catch them…"
Nick spoke up, "Well, sir, there was information that caught us off-guard, and we were…"
"I am very well aware of what you two were doing. I would be stupid to say that I didn't see this coming. I knew it would be a matter of time before you two would care less about protocol and I'm happy for you, really, but the fact remains that you still have a job to do, so whatever information you have you put it to good use! Is that understood?"
"Yes, sir." they both said.
He grunted and walked on.
"Did… the chief just give us his blessing?" Nick questioned.
"We'll worry about that later, right now, we have a fox to track down." she headed for their office.
It was nighttime when the duo made it to the low sectors of Savanna Central and stopped at a run-down house. They went up to the door and Judy was about to knock when she turned to her partner, smirking.
"Why don't you do it? You're a cop now and this is your girlfriend's house."
He glared at her, "Payback, uh?"
"It's called a hustle, sweetheart."
"That was my line first, you know." and he went to the door and knocked.
There was a pause before the door opened a crack and a feminine voice said, "Yes?"
Nick tilted his head in confusion, "Vivian? Is that you?"
"Who wants to know?"
"It's me. Nicky…"
"Nicky…?" Judy said under her breath.
He gave her a look, saying, 'just go with it'.
"Nicky? Nicky Wilde?!" she opened the door all the way and flung her arms around him, "I do declare! It's been so long!" she batted her eyes.
Nick was feeling uncomfortable while Judy was glaring daggers at the pretty fox. She cleared her throat reminding Nick why they were there.
"Um, Vivian," he removed her arms from him and stepped back to get closer to Judy, "as much as I agree it's been a long time, I can't forget that little note you gave me before you walked out of my life."
Vivian mocked a pout, "Oh… Nicky… I'm sorry… I just couldn't help myself… It was not you personally, it was me… I just wanted something more."
"Well you would have gotten it if you hadn't cheated on me and accepted my proposal."
"What?!" both the fox and Judy shouted out.
Crud… Sorry, Judy… I meant to tell you… but not like this.
Vivian was speechless, "You… were going to ask me to marry you?"
"Well… yes. I really thought we had something, because not two minutes ago I saw you were putting on the mask to hide your true self, that's something we always had, pretending to be something we're not. Except I didn't see the mask as real sometimes…" he had resentment in his tone, "You almost had me there… thinking you loved me but you didn't…"
Vivian was silent for a bit before she said in a soft voice, "Nicky… I did love you… but my heart… it wondered… I'm sorry I ever made you feel that way and I can see now that I made the wrong choice…"
Before Nick could reply to that there was a baby cry coming from inside and Vivian had a concerned look on her face.
"Please, come inside." she ushered them in.
They looked around the quaint house and Vivian came back holding a tiny kit in her arms. Judy was in awe.
"My son, Joel."
Nick rubbed his neck, "Cute kid. So… where's his dad?"
"He left. The minute Joel was born, he just went on…"
He hung his head, "I'm sorry…" Judy sadly nodded her head in agreement.
"I'm the one who should be sorry… I left a good guy and I didn't bother to tell him to his face that I cheated on him. I deserve this fate."
"No." Judy spoke for the first time, "No one deserves this fate, yes, what you did to Nick was terrible, but you have to look at the plus side of all this, you have a son, that I can see you love so much."
Vivian smiled, "I do…" she kissed the kit's forehead.
"And we need your help in something, that's the reason why we're here. Even though Nicky needed the closure too." she smirked.
"Just get to the point, Carrots."
She took out the ring, "Do you recognize this?"
Vivian got a good look and her eyes widen, "That's the class ring I had with the choir in my high school."
"That's right, the same school you went with Gazelle."
"Gazelle? I don't remember Gazelle was in…" she then realized, "Oh! Giselle! Of course!"
"Huh?" both Nick and Judy said.
"Gazelle is her stage name, Giselle was her real name in school before we had the big concert where her agent discovered her and made her the star she is now."
Nick said, "Uh, I wonder why Giselle didn't tell us that."
"It's like she told me, she doesn't like talking about her personal life, so I guess her name was personal too."
"We were close as a choir, and we were so happy for Giselle when she made it big."
"How come you never told me you knew Gazelle while we were dating?"
"You never seemed to have an interest in Gazelle so it was never brought up."
Judy gestured, "I know what you mean, I practically had to drag him to the concert a few nights ago."
"I noticed Nicky, that you're a police officer now. How did that happen?"
"Long story."
"We got time, I am curious as to what you had been up to since… our relationship ended."
They took a seat as Vivian had set Joel in his bassinet and Nick relented all that happened to him.
"…And now Judy is my partner and we're currently dating…" Nick finished.
Vivian sighed, "You've come a long way Nicky…"
"So have you."
Joel started fussing and Vivian was about to pick him up, when Judy volunteered, "I can calm him down, I know a trick or two when I'm babysitting my goddaughter." she gently picked up the kit and slowly he began to relax. "Mind if I feed him his bottle?"
"Not at all, it's in the kitchen."
Judy nodded and headed into the next room.
Vivian let out another heartfelt sigh, "You picked a good one, Nick…"
Nick was smiling at where Judy went, "I did…"
"Just make sure she treats you right, not like me…"
He chuckled, "That won't be a problem. And that's a nice boy you have there."
"He's all I have now that you moved on… I'm not going to lie, when I saw you at the door, I thought I had a chance to make things right, and have the fox that truly loved me back in my life…"
"Sorry, Viv… Maybe if I had never met Judy we could have the life I wanted with you, but as it is… I can't live without her…" his phone suddenly vibrated and he saw Clawhauser's picture, he answered, "Hello-"
"Nick! Gazelle has almost been kidnapped!"
