Chapter 2:

Pix was going over his scores from his earlier sniper rifle training session when the alarm went off on his phone. He looked at his watch and saw that it was almost nine. A quick survey of the coffee shop showed that almost everyone had left. Only himself, Shelly, the white ferret whose name he didn't know, the grey wolf, the lioness, and two rabbits remained. "Shit, where did the time go?" He thought as he started to pack his stuff up. The coffee shop was open every day from six in the morning to nine at night and since it was close to closing he wanted to get going so he wasn't a bother to Shelly. As he started to head toward the door it opened and in walked a dark brown soat. He pushed right past the larger cheetah without a word of apology and an angry look on his visage. Every instinct in Pix told him he should stay and his police and SWAT training were screaming at him that this was a mammal that was up to no good. He turned, set down his duffle by the door and followed behind the angry looking mammal.

"I'm sorry sir but we're closed," Shelly said in firm but friendly voice.

"Don't care. Come on Tikka," the soat said in a harsh tone. "You said you'd be done by nine and it's nine. I have shit to do tonight."

"Frank," the white ferret, apparently named Tikka, responded. "I said we close at nine. I still have to help clean up and close the shop down."

"Well, I'm your ride and if you don't come with me now then you can find your own way home."

"Excuse me sir?" Shelly said with a nervous smile as she tried to diffuse the situation. "Um… Tikka needs to stay with me until we lock up. Its company policy so there isn't one person alone at night. If you'd like I can get you something and you can hang out outside until we're done. On the house of course."

Frank's eyes darted to the lynx. "Does it look like I want to wait around here or have any of your crappy coffee?" he snarled, glaring at Tikka, "Let's go!"

"Frank… have you been drinking?" Tikka asked quietly.

"What kind of question is that?" Frank said, glaring daggers at her. "Get in the damn car… NOW!"

"Ok, sir. I tried to be nice. You need to leave or I'm calling the police," Shelly said picking up her phone and shooting a look at Pix, who was standing right behind the soat.

"Yeah? Well go ahead. I'll be long gone by the time they get here and she won't be coming back either," he said pointing at Tikka.

"But I like it here," the white ferret stated softly.

"I don't give a flying crap," said Frank as he reached across the counter only to have Pix drop a large, heavy, paw on his shoulder.

"I think it's time for you to leave, friend. The lady likes it here. We," the cheetah waved his other paw to encompass the whole shop. "Like her here and I can confirm, without a doubt, that you smell like alcohol. Last time I checked it's illegal to drive while drunk or drinking."

"Who the hell are you? The fun police?" he asked as he tried to shrug off Pix's paw but when Pix tightened his grip the soat spun around and pointed at him. "Get yer paws off me cat, or I'll have you arrested for assault."

Pix raised an eyebrow at that and carefully crouched down so he was on the same level as Frank. "I'm going to give you one more chance to apologize to Miss Tikka and then to Miss Shelly before the police come here. I'll even put in a good word for you. The worse you'll get is a night in the drunk tank and you'll be let out as soon as you're sober." When Frank screwed his face up and his muzzle started to curl Pix shook his head and continued. "Or we can do this the hard way and where you don't do what I said just a moment ago, I plant you right here and cuff you then explain to the responding officers that you were belligerent and becoming violent. Then all these nice mammals here will give their statements and corroborate my story."

Frank looked at the cheetah for a moment, trying to decide if he was being serious or not. Then he looked to the wolf and lioness who were watching him with an intensity that he found a bit disturbing before squaring his shoulders and looking back at Pix. "Piss off cat and mind your own business," he spat before trying to reach over the counter again.

Faster than Frank could register the motion he had his legs kicked out from underneath him and was face down on the floor, paws behind his back and small sized zip-cuffs on his wrists. "What the shit?" he gasped.

"I told you I what I was going to do," Pix replied before looking at Tikka. "Are you alright?"

"Just scared," the ferret answered mouth agape as she stared at Pix over the counter.

"Well, the cops are on their way," Shelly said. "Thanks Pix. I don't know what we would have done if you weren't here."

"You would have called the police and held the line open so they could trace the signal, and also so they could get a recording of everything being said while you stalled this idiot. The precinct is only a few blocks away so they'd have been here quickly enough."H turned around at the sight of red and blue lights reflecting off the wall. "See? And I know for a fact that you wouldn't let this asshat do anything to Tikka. Plus you have a wolf and a lioness here that both look like they can handle themselves," he said gesturing to the two on the red armchairs. The wolf's expressive ears perking up with a raised eyebrow and the lioness humming as she continued to sketch in her book.

"You're so dense sometimes you know that?" Shelly smiled at him fondly and sighed.

"Huh?" the cheetah responded.

"You can't do this!" yelled Frank as he thrashed under Pix's paws brining the focus of the room back to the smaller mammal on the floor.

"I can and I will because I'll answer your question from a moment ago. I am not the fun police, but I am with the ZPD," he said as he took out his badge and placed it in front of the soat's nose. "So, I have the legal right to detain you until officers get here, which will be any second." He glared at Frank, who seemed to deflate, his anger dropping away at seeing the ZPD shield in front of him. "Yeah, sucks to be you."

He held the soat down until a cruiser pulled up and two officers came into the shop. One was a white wolf named Jones and the other was an ocelot named Kandice. Pix knew that they worked the night shift and were good cops but other than that he didn't know much else.

"Dispatch this is 2-2 Alpha," Jones said into his radio.

"2-2 Alpha, dispatch. Send your traffic."

"Dispatch we're 10-23 and Officer Pix has a soat 10-95," the wolf officer responded.

"Copy that 2-2 Alpha."

Jones looked at Pix and smiled. "Well, well what have we here?"

"This here is Frank. He's a bit drunk and was refusing to leave. He started to get a bit pawsy and I had to cuff him."

"You didn't hurt him did you, Pix?" Kandice asked with a smile.

"Not at all," the cheetah responded.

"Ok, we'll take it from here," said Jones. "Kandice, why don't take… Frank, out to the cruiser and get his statement. I'll get every one's in here."

"10-4," Kandice said as she hauled Frank to his feet. The entire time the soat was glaring at Tikka.

As they left Jones looked at everyone then took out his note pad. "Ok," he said as his gaze settled on the white ferret who looked scared and was shaking a bit. "You must be the one he was trying to grab?" Tikka nodded. "Why don't we go and sit down and you can give me your statement."

After everyone had given their account of what had happened, Jones and Kandice left to process Frank. Pix was about to walk out of the shop when he once again thought better of it and walked over to where Shelly and Tikka were talking.

"You don't have to be afraid of him you know. I doubt he'll come back," Shelly was saying.

"I know, but he's not a nice mammal," Tikka replied with obvious concern while wringing her paws.

"Well, if you need anything, I know you're new and you don't know many mammals yet but I'll do what I can to help out," promised the lynx, placing a reassuring paw on the ferret's shoulder.

"Thanks, Shelly. It means a lot."

Pix walked up to them and looked Tikka over, "Are you sure you're ok?"

"Yes, thank you." Shelly did not fail to see the hero worship in Tikka's eyes as the ferret responded, though she was sure that Pix had.

"Not a problem," he stated. "You're in good hands here. Shelly always takes care of her employees and friends."

The lynx stood a bit straighter. "Damn right I do," she huffed.

"Do you need a ride home? I can get you a cab if you'd like," Pix offered.

Tikka shook her head, "I'm living with Frank. I don't think it'd be too smart to go back there. I'll find a place for tonight."

Pix looked at Shelly who looked a bit heart broken. Then he glanced and noticed that the wolf and lion were watching him with a bit of interest. It clicked in his head then and he realized that they were in here quite a bit and always at odd times. Not every time he'd been in, he would have noticed that for sure, but enough that he now remembered them. He looked back at the white ferret and said, "Do you have a moment? I know of a friend that is actually looking for a roommate. She's a raccoon so everything should be fine for you size wise."

Despite the hopeful look in her eyes, Tikka appeared a bit hesitant. "It's kind of late isn't it?"

"She's nocturnal and I know that she'll be up," Pix said as he dialed his phone and put it to his ear.

"Um, ok, I don't want to be a bother to anyone," Tikka said shyly but Pix wasn't listening as the line was picked up.

"If it isn't my favorite spotted cat," a snarky voice buzzed out of his phones speaker. "To what do I owe the great pleasure of your sultry voice in my ear tonight?"

"Hi, Rocky," Pix greeted. "I was wondering if you were still looking for a roommate."

"Wow, right to the point huh?" was the response. "No 'How's my favorite CSI?' or 'Hey! What's cookin' good lookin'?' and a 'Wow Rocky, you're new tail ring looked great the other day. I noticed because I'm always checking out your awesome tail' would be nice too. But no, it's just 'Hey, Rocky'."

Pix had taken the phone away from his ear and was now staring at it in confusion. He couldn't tell if his friend on the other side of the phone was angry or messing with him. The cheetah was brought out of his confusion as he heard snickering coming from the wolf and the lioness in the chairs. This added to his confusion as Rock continued to rant.

"And another thing! The next time you need a rush on a crime scene for one of your detective friends you can just forget about it! All I want is a little appreciation. Is that too much to ask?"

"Hang on a second, Rocky. I'm sorry I didn't say anything about your tail ring, it looked great by the way…"

"Thank you."

"… but I was serious when I asked if you still needed a roommate."

"Why?" came the reply. "Wait! Oh my gods! Are you losing your apartment? Because if you are you know you can always shack up with me. In fact I think we'd make a great pairing. OH! I know! I'll have to get some bigger towels and..."

"Rocky!" Pix exclaimed into the phone.

"What!" was the response.

"I'm not the one that needs a place to stay," there was a small whine from the other end of the line followed by a few more snickers and chuckles from everyone present. "It's for someone that needs a new place ASAP and she's kind of in a bind."

"I don't know…"

"She's a ferret and her name is Tikka. Her," he looked at the white mustelid with a questioning gaze.

"Ex," she stated crossing her arms.

"Ex, was being a bit pawsy and got hauled away. She doesn't feel comfortable going back to their place. She has a good job working for Shelly and she makes enough."

"Am I on speaker?" Rocky asked accusingly.

"You are now," Pix stated as he tapped the 'speaker' icon on his phone.

"Of course I am," she grumbled. "Tikka was it?"

"Yes, that's me," Tikka replied moving closer to the phone.

"Age?"

"Um… Twenty two."

"You work for Shelly? What do you do?"

"I'm a barista," she said shyly.

"Perfect. I love coffee. Can you afford four hundred a month?"

"I…" Tikka looked at Shelly with a worried expression only to be met with a nodding smile. "Yes."

"Good. Swing by tonight and we'll get you on the lease and bring that hunk of a cheetah with you," the line went dead and Pix put away his phone as Shelly started to laugh.

"What?" the SWAT officer asked.

"You know that Rocky has had a crush on you since you joined the force right?" Shelly said through a toothy smile.

"Yeah right," Pix sniffed dismissing the comment.

Shelly just shook her head while eyes rolled among the other mammals present.

The cheetah looked at Tikka and smiled. "I'll take you over there if you'd like. I have to head that way to get home anyhow.

"Oh… Ok… Are you sure this alright? I don't want to be a problem," the ferret fretted.

"It works out," Pix shrugged. He looked at Shelly and asked, "Mind if I leave my duffle here? I'll get it tomorrow morning when I come by before my morning work out?"

"Of course," she said and put a paw on his forearm, "Pix, thanks again."

"Don't mention it," he said smiling. "Ready to go Tikka?"

"I guess I am," was the somewhat wary response.

As he and Tikka were walking by the wolf and the lioness he nodded to them. "Thanks for the coffee."

"Anytime Sergeant Fleetpaw," the wolf said with a genuine smile. "Nicely done by the way."

"Uh… Thanks."

The lioness looked at him and smiled as well then turned her sketch book around to show a highly detailed pencil sketch of him sitting at the back table looking at his tablet with a coffee cup at his elbow. Below that was a quick sketch of him holding the soat down. "I think I'm going to put these up for my students," she said to no one in particular as she turned the book back around and looked at the drawings.

"Ok," was all Pix could say. "Have a good evening."

"You as well Sergeant," the wolf replied. The lioness fluttered a paw in his direction without looking up from fixing some detail in her artwork.

As Tikka and Pix made their way outside he glanced back at the shop that was finally closing up. He looked at his watch and saw that it was close to ten thirty. Releasing a sigh he happily recalled that tomorrow was the weekend and he was off; unless he got called in that is.

Tikka heard him sigh and looked up at the cheetah. "I'm sorry about this again, Mr. Pix."

"Huh?" he said and looked down at the white ferret. "Oh, no… it's not you; I've just had a long day. I'm happy to help. No one deserves to be treated like that."

"I know I'm new but Shelly told me that you've been coming to her shop for almost a decade. She said that you're quiet but nice."

"Well I guess she'd know," he agreed, reaching up to scratch behind one ear. "I've known her longer than most mammals I suppose."

"Well, I just want to say that she's right. No one has really stood up for me like that."

"Um… You're welcome."

The pair got on the tram and rode in a comfortable silence to their stop. When they came out onto the street Tikka looked around and saw that the neighborhood was rather nice and had a few restaurants and bars with outdoor seating. It made sense seeing as it was still early fall. They suddenly heard a loud voice.

"HOLY SWEET CHEESE AND CRACKERS!"

"Oh gods," Pix said as he stopped and put a paw to his forehead as Tikka jumped and ducked behind the larger cheetah.

"Hey, Carrots! It's Morse Code!"

Pix and Tikka turned to see a red fox running over to them, beer in hand and a toothy smile on his muzzle. "Hey there buddy," Nick said happily. "Decided to come out after all? And who is this pretty thing?" he asked, noticing the white ferret peeking out from behind Pix. Judy suddenly bounded up to them as well and gave her fox an annoyed look.

"Sorry about that, Pix. I tried to… Oh, hello," she said happily. "I'm Judy, this is my mate Nick, don't pay attention to him."

Nick looked at his mate with a seemingly hurt expression, "Carrots, now that hurts me deep. Don't you know that everyone pays attention to me?"

"Awe," Judy teased. "Did I hurt your feewings," she said as if she was talking to a kit before slugging his arm. "We both know no one pays attention to you."

"Anyway…" Pix cut in. "This is Tikka," he said, waving to the white ferret that was still hiding behind him. "I had to arrest her drunken ex at Shelly's when he got a bit pawsy. She needs a place to stay so I called Rocky and she agreed to let her be her roommate."

Judy looked at Tikka with a bit of worry. "I'm sorry Tikka is there anything we can do?"

"No, thank you. Pix has done quite a bit already. I just need a place to stay since I don't think it'd be smart to go back to where I live now."

"Well you'll love Rocky," Judy said with a smile. "She's a quirky mammal but she's great."

"We're going to go over there before it gets too late guys, ok?" Pix prompted.

"Ok. Good luck Tikka," Judy said with a wave as Nick practically picked her up and started to back towards the pub.

"Fluff, there is fun to be had and since we still have that bet going on Wolford we need to get back."

"I'm still winning and remember," Judy pointed out to her fox. "If you lose I get whatever I want for twenty-four hours."

"First off, bunny o'mine, I'm not gonna lose. And second, just because you're up by two doesn't mean anything." Nick continued as the couple got further away.

Pix watched as they walked back to the pub while continuing to bicker good naturedly. He shook his head and wondered how two mammals that were so perfect for each other crossed paths.

"Huh, must be fate," he mumbled.

"What was that, Mr. Pix?"

"Huh? Oh sorry, Tikka. I'm just talking to myself," he smiled down at her.

They walked a few blocks before coming to a large apartment complex. Pix walked up and rang the buzzer for 320. A moment later a curt voice came over the speaker.

"Yes?"

"Hey Rocky, it's Pix."

"That was fast. C'mon up."

*BZZZZZZZZZZZZT*

The door opened and he led Tikka through the lobby to the elevators. They rode up to the third floor then, once they stepped out, turned left and followed the hallway as the numbers counted down until they hit the right one. Pix went to knock but, before his paw could connect, the door flew open. In front of them stood a skinny raccoon with a cup of coffee in her hand wearing flannel pants and a sleeping shirt.

"Mmmm," the raccoon hummed as she gave the cheetah a once over.

"What?" asked Pix.

Ignoring him Rocky shifted her gaze to the white ferret standing close to her spotted friend. "You must be Tikka."

"Um… Yes," the ferret replied hesitantly.

"As I stated before the rent is four hundred a month and you don't mind my strange hours. I also am terrible at making coffee so I would appreciate it if you could cover that for both of our sakes. If you have things to move in we can get them tomorrow or at a later date. If you don't then that's fine too. I have everything we'll need including your own bed and a TV in your room. Assuming this is all well and good with you I'd like to formally welcome you to Casa del Rocky," the raccoon said as she extended her paw toward the ferret.

Looking up at Pix, who gave a smile and a small nod, Tikka smiled uncertainly, but shook the offered paw firmly.

"Good!" smiled Rocky. "Now let me give you the tour." She began to lead Tikka into the apartment before turning her head to the cheetah, "I'll see you on Monday, Pix. Have a good weekend!" Rocky called with a wink.

And with that the door closed and Pix found himself standing in the hallway alone. He sighed again as he glanced at his watch, it was now eleven and he was getting tired. "At least some good came out of today," he thought as his clawed digit pressed the call button. After a few moments he realized that the elevator wasn't coming so he headed for the stairs. It was only three floors and Pix usually tried to take the stairs as much as possible anyway. Exiting on the ground floor Pix headed back the way they had come and paused as he passed the bar where he knew his friends and fellow officers were enjoying the start of their weekend. After contemplating joining them the cheetah decided that he needed to head home and grab some shut eye, so he turned and made his way to the tram that would take him home.

What Pix hadn't seen was the set of golden eyes that watched him as he walked toward the tram station.

"You stare any harder Jackie and you're going to burn a hole in his head," Nick commented to the female cheetah who blushed under her fur.

"He doesn't like hanging out, does he?" she asked. "You seem to get along with him really well, Nick. What's he like?"

Nick glanced at his mate, who was busy trying to beat Wolford at darts in the back of the bar. "Judy has actually known him longer, but Pix and I get along great, at least in my opinion. And since it's my opinion," the fox said with a smirk. "That means it's the best opinion so yeah."

Jackie smiled at the fox. "Isn't he dating that pretty cheetah… What was her name?" she asked, as if she weren't phishing for information.

"Jessie," Nick replied. "And I don't think they are anymore."

Jackie had only been on the force for a year and was still considered by many to be a rookie, but Nick and Judy had taken the larger predator under their wing. She had become close friends with them quickly and then Wolford and Fangmeyer also, as they all seemed to hang out outside of work often.

Judy came over and hopped onto Nick's lap and took a sip of his drink. "Was that Pix I just saw walking by?"

"It sure was Carrots."

"Should we ask him if he wants to join?"

"I think he's headed home. You know how he likes to keep to himself, plus just being dumped and alooOOOF," he grunted as Judy elbowed him in the ribs.

"He didn't want us telling anyone," she hissed loudly.

"He didn't say that exactly," Nick clarified smiling as he rubbed his ribs. "He just kind of implied it."

"Oh, poor thing," Jackie said looking back to where Pix had entered the tram station. "I hope he's ok."

"I'm sure he'll be fine," Nick waved off her concern. "He's a tough one. He's been on the force for eight years and in S.W.A.T. for over five."

"Nick," Judy said looking up at him from under his muzzle. "There are different kinds of tough."

"HOPPS!" Wolford yelled from across the bar, "It's your turn and I'm not done beating you!"

Nick turned his head to look over his shoulder at the wolf and then back to his mate. "How's he holding up, Fluff?"

"So far he's rallied and I'm behind by a game but I'm on a hot streak," she shrugged.

"Cutting it a bit close there, Carrots," Nick smiled.

"You only barely beat him. If I win this then we go to sudden death."

"Fair enough."

"Are you two betting again?" Jackie laughed well aware of the games the two would play.

"Yep!" they both said as Judy hopped down and darted over to take her turn at darts.

"Don't worry about Pix. Best thing you can do is talk to him when he's by himself, I know for a fact that he'd like that," Nick said as she smiled over his drink before taking a sip."

"I think I might do that," Jackie said, a grin curving her muzzle.

Again thank you to ScarMedn, BlueberryandHoney and kt_valmiri for everything they do. They are epic and you should highfive and/or hug them if you get the chance. Until next time o/