A/N: So I've got a surprise for everyone, early chapter release! Yep, got this one knocked out early and felt since I've been so lacking in updates I would get it out to you sooner. Please like, share, comment as it always does help push me to write more.
Nick and Judy walked up to the doors of precinct one and paused, they were about to start on a path that hopefully would help change the lives of other mammals who had been on the receiving end of the prejudice they had faced. However, if they failed it could mean even more pain and trouble. They looked at each other and without speaking knew that this was the right path no matter how hard it would be, moving back towards the doors nick opened them up letting Judy in and following close behind.
"Nick, Judy. What are you two doing here." They looked in the direction of who was speaking and spotted Clawhauser coming around from behind the front desk and running toward them and dropping to his knees when he reached them. He pulled them into a tight hug sobbing, "I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry."
Judy patted him on the arm, "what are you sorry about Ben?"
He released them and looked at the ground, tiny pools forming where the tears fell from his eyes, "It's... it's all my fault. If I hadn't..." he couldn't finish the sentence and brought his paws to his face. The commotion brought the attention of everyone around, the only sound was Clawhauser's crying.
Judy looked over at Nick who sighed, "Ben shared the video I posted which got passed around and lit the fire on this mess."
She looked over at Ben who still has his face buried in his paws, "Ben, it was a mistake. You had no idea it was going to be used in such a way." She walked over and pulled his paws away to take his face in her paws, "I forgive you, Ben."
The cheetah sniffed and gave a weak smile as he stood up, "Thank you, Judy. I'll make this up to you in some way, I promise."
"I'm going to hold you to that spots, now go get yourself cleaned up. Judy and I have a meeting with buffalo butt on how we're going to attack this." Nick took Judy's paw and headed to the stairs to the chief's office as Clawhouser dried his eyes before going to make himself presentable.
"He's really shaken up about this." Judy commented as they reached the fourth floor where the chief's office was, "I don't think I've ever seen him cry so much."
"He feels this entire mess is his fault, but it's not." Nick said dryly with a faraway look in his eyes, "this issue has been simmering for a long time now. Yes, what he did was gave it the fuel it needed to come to a boil but it would have happened soon enough. Look at all the problems in Tundra Town, ten cases of mammals being forcibly removed from establishments, four wrongful evictions, and two beatings. What do they all have in common."
"They were inters." Judy realizing the only reason they weren't physically targeted was their status as cops. But that cheetah at the Green Bean seemed to have no problems so maybe it was only a matter one time.
"Bingo." Nick said as they reached the chief's office, "I've been dealing with it for years as a fox. Never really looked hard at it and just kept moving on. But now how I'm seeing it from the big picture and how it really is affecting other mammals, I just can't sit on the sidelines anymore." He had a determined look on his face as he reached up to knock on the door.
"Nick..." Judy reached up and placed her paw on his arm.
"I don't want anything to happen to you, Nathan, and Sophia." He looked down at Judy his mask starting to crack as tears formed in his eyes, "I would be lost if anything happened to you three. I finally have my family and I'll be damned if anyone tried to take that away from me." He quickly wiped his eyes as his mask fell back into place. He knocked on the door, "I'm going to steal your line, ready to make the world a better place."
Judy smiled but before she could respond the chief bellowed from the inside, "Come in."
They both walked into the office and were surprised to see who was all gathered, "Leo, we expected you to be here but why is the mayor here." Judy said puzzled.
The moose looked down at Nick and Judy, "Good afternoon you two, it's a pleasure to finally meet you. We have a lot to discuss."
"How long is this fat bastard going to be driving for." Stan was starting to get irritated. He had been following Gideon around for thirty minutes at this point and all he'd seen was nothing but endless fields. They finally pulled down a long dusty road toward a large house and run down looking barn. He had been trying to keep his distance but the length of the road Stan knew he would be seen but kept following. He watched as Gideon pulled his van behind the barn while Stan kept to the front. He got out and slowly walked around the side as he was roughly grabbed by his shirt and held up to the wall of the barn.
"Why are you following me!" Gideon had a fire in his eyes looking at Stan.
Stan tried to squirm away causing Gideon to hold him tighter, "I was told... you would know where... Judy Hopps is." He was getting short of breath making it difficult to get air.
"What do you want with Judy."
"I'm an old... friend, we went... to school together." Stan was now trying to pry open the foxes grip. Until he was roughly thrown to the ground.
"Likely story. I was in Judy's class. I would know if we had a snowshoe hare in our class, so try again." Gideon had his arms crossed and relaxed but Stan could see the Fox was ready to spring on him.
Stan was trying to formulate a plan when Gideon took a step towards him causing Stan to stumble back, "OKAY, okay. I'm a reporter from Zootopia and I'm..."
Stan didn't get a chance to finish as Gideon delivered a strong kick sending the hare rolling on the ground. "You're the bastard who wrote that horrible story about them." He went back to his van as Stan tried to stand up but froze when he heard the unmistakable sound of a shotgun cocking. He looked up slowly and saw the barrel pointed at him. "Now get your tail off my property!"
Stan jumped up and moved as fast as he could with the pain in his gut, he backed the truck up turning it around. Once he was pointed down the dirt road he got brave and stuck his head out yelling, "You'll get yours as well you damn inter!" He pulled his head back into the truck just in time for his side mirror to explode into pieces. He punched the gas and looking in the review mirror to see Gideon aiming and firing again. He hit the main road and turned down the way they had come down. "Fucking fox is crazy." He looked at where the mirror used to be, "Damn now how the hell am I going to explain that to the rental agency, fuck." He drove around hopelessly lost for another hour until he saw a glimmer of hope, a sign saying Hopps Fresh Produce pointing down an upcoming road. A wicked smile grew on his face as he turned down the road. The produce stand soon came into view, he parked the truck on the opposite side of the road trying to come up with a plan as he watched other rabbits buying produce from the stand. Soon a blue pickup truck came into view from further down the road and stopped at the stand. Two bunnies got out but it was what they were carrying in their arms that got Stan's blood boiling. Both bunnies were holding onto the very things that got him fired, "Those damned creatures. They are the reason I lost my job, they are the reason that damned fox shot at me, they are the cause of all of this! I'll fix it all in one go." He shifted the truck into drive and pulled back into the road before hitting the gas with all his might.
"You want us to be the face of the movement, but why us?" Judy just wanted to get things progressing, not be front and center of it all.
"I know it seems like you two are always front and center of major things going on in the city but you two are the most well known interspecies couples. Everyone knows who you are, and what you've done for the city over and over again now. You two are the perfect candidates to move this forward." The mayor was sitting across from them laying out how he envisioned the campaign going.
"I just don't know, I feel our kits and us have been in the spotlight too much already. I know I'm to blame for that but I really don't want to expose them anymore." Nick was just as apprehensive as Judy.
"We need someone, or something, to be the catalyst for this. With as much popularity you two have with the general public you would be perfect for it." The mayor was trying his best to get them to his side especially with it being an election year this would help to put him over the top for re-election.
"Mayor Bullwinkle, this is a lot to put on them after everything that's happened to them. Maybe we should give them some time to go over all this. Knowing Judy she also wouldn't want to be pulled off the force for the length of time it's going to take to get things rolling." Bogo also wanted to see the plan succeed but he also needed to look out for the well-being of his subordinates.
"I have to agree with Bogo," Leo finally spoke up, "legally we still need to find out how best to go about this. If we keep them on normal duty status while they are attending rallies and meetings then it would come across that the ZPD full endorses interspecies relationship. Don't get me wrong, I know everyone in this room does support it but we have to be 'political' about it."
Bullwinkle rose from his seat, "I understand." He turned to Nick and Judy, "talk it over and get back to me in a few days, please. I'll start getting things lined up but I need an answer soon." He excused himself and left the other mammals in silence.
Judy reached up and pulled on her ears in front of her face in frustration, "Arrrg. What are we going to do, I don't want to subject the kits to any more scrutiny, but at the same time someone needs to stand up."
Nick put a comforting paw on her shoulder, "I know Judy I feel the same way. Maybe there could be some middle ground where we can be involved but leave out kits out of it."
Leo rubbed his muzzle thinking, "Maybe finding two or three more couples and have a core group instead of a figurehead to the movement. But we still need to figure out legally how we can keep you two on the payroll while you do this."
"What about an administrative leave of absence, with pay?" Bogo raised the question to Leo.
"Possibly, but we still need to..." Leo was interrupted by Judy's cell phone ringing.
"Hey mom, it's kind of a bad time... what happened!? Oh, my, God." The phone slipped from Judy's paw hitting the floor with Bonnie on the to her end, "Judy, Judy?"