A/N: Hello again! Here's the second chapter of A Real Hero, but before we continue, I want to say that this chapter was very entertaining to edit, thanks to all the support I got from a group of wonderful people that were willing to beta read for me. Without them, this chapter would not be half as good as it is now.

Here's a special thanks to:

- tumblr's vetinarini, for not only encouraging me to be more detailed, but for also providing some good feedback for little mistakes I was making.

- Reddit user PeterReynoldsV, for correcting the fluency of my story telling, as well as providing me a corrected excerpt which I partially included in the story.

- Reddit user eisbaerBorealis, for raking through my story to point out little typos I have made, as well as for providing helpful insight on how I could make the story a bit more appealing.

- John Olsen for providing me his opinion of the chapter.

Thanks guys, you rock!

Enjoy!

Chapter 2: Unwanted Eyes

The police and paramedics both arrived to the scene in near-perfect coordination; the police from the east in five cruisers, the paramedics from the west in two ambulances. As the blaring sirens filled the air, and the flashing red and blue emergency lights made it to the scene, Judy lifted the weight of her knee off the suspect, and hopped over to Nick, who was laying with his feet dangling over the ledge of the sidewalk as he bore the tremendous heat of sun the with a hand shielding his eyes.

"Stay there!" the rabbit officer spoke in a commanding voice to the Otter before turning to look at her partner. Upon getting to his side, the officer kneeled, getting Nick to look in her direction with his emerald-hued eyes.

"Nick," Judy spoke softly as she grabbed her partner's hand. "The paramedics are here." Craning his head up, Nick looked about at the emergency vehicles that parked everywhere on the street frantically.

"I can tell," Nick said, laying his head back down cautiously as he looked up to Judy. Thinking of something clever to say, he smirked "The deafening sirens are kind of their big giveaway. It's no surprise so many crooks get away from us." Judy shot a warm smile back. Despite what had just happened, her partner still made desperate attempts to lighten the mood. This eased Judy greatly, as she figured that as long as he tried to be clever, he was okay.

"I'm glad to see you still have your sense of humor," Judy teased as she unconsciously squeezed her partner's paw, and caressed the firmness of his palm. "Though I'd give that remark a C minus." This prompted Nick to chuckle, and he kept doing so until his chest started to ache. As he stopped, he closed his eyes and clenched his jaw. Judy kept a steady gaze on him, her chest filling with worry.

"I do what I can," Officer Wilde joked through a pained grunt, trying to make it unapparent that he ached. "You can't expect me to be on my best game after being shot, though." He opened his eyes and locked them on Judy's. Gazing deep into the beauty of his eyes, the female officer felt a surge of unexpected emotions rush through her once again. She felt terribly sorry and worried for Nick, but not in the way a colleague would feel for another colleague. Hell, not even in the way she'd feel if one of her old-time friends would get hurt. The emotion was fuller, and she suddenly felt unable to put her feelings in words. For a moment, she fell in a trance, a trance that made the world fade into a haze of thoughts.

Do I…? she thought, as she stood frozen. Do I…?

"Uhh, Smalls," Nick broke through Officer Hopps' dream world, and made her fall back into reality. Staring down, the rabbit officer noticed her partner kept keen eyes on the paw she held fervently. "If you keep on holding my paw that tightly, it's going to chafe." Immediately, Judy let go, and shot her pawss up to her cheeks. Feeling warmth radiate from her head, she realized she was blushing, and covered herself up even more. This caught Nick's attention.

"You're not going to cry again, are ya?" Nick asked in a teasing voice. Judy dropped her jaw, feeling slight choler as an outcome of his jab to her sensitivity. Opening her mouth, she went to retort, when she heard several car doors get shut around her, and had her attention drawn to them.

"Police! Stand back!" deep, authoritative voices around the two officers shouted as Judy got up off the sidewalk, and took a few steps away from her companion. Quickly, she realized the area was encircled by dozens of bystanders who looked towards the scene behind newly placed police tape. These civilians pushed and tugged at each other as they tried to get the best view not only for themselves, but for their smart phone cameras, which most had up. As Judy wondered how these mammals appeared from the blue, she fixed her eyes on the vehicles surrounding them, and spotted Chief Bogo, alongside many other officers she had become acquainted with. The sight of him aroused great curiosity in Judy, as he would rarely ever leave his office, unless there was a great emergency that needed special attention.

Chief Bogo? She thought to herself. What is he doing here?

While Judy faced the approaching Chief and his team, two sheep paramedics, well groomed and dressed in green medical scrubs, jumped out from the back of ambulance closest with a medical kit each, and raced towards Nick without the bunny officer noticing them. In their quick dash, they reached Officer Wilde without Judy realizing, and dropped their heavy bags on the pavement. These bags made a thump loud enough that Judy jolted and turned in the direction of her partner. The memory of Nick getting shot played in her mind, making her heart start racing. With an overprotective demeanor, she rushed back to her companion with quick feet.

"You're Officer Wilde, correct?" one of the sheep asked as she opened her kit and rummaged through it, retrieving a stethoscope, and sphygmomanometer.

"That's right," Judy rushed to answer for Nick as she approached the trio. Officer Wilde and the paramedics immediately looked up to her in response as she suddenly contemplated not only the apparent intrusion of answering a question meant for Nick, but the anxiety in her voice. "I mean… yes… he is Officer Wilde," she corrected herself, as the unease knotted her guts. Nervously, she fixed her tie. "I'm officer Hopps." The two paramedics smiled at her, but quickly put their focused back on the task at hand. Sighing, Judy dropped her shoulders.

Smooth, Judes, Judy thought to herself, as the embarrassment started to make her nose tingle. Acting like a scared bunny…

Retrieving a large pair of scissors from her kit, the first paramedic scooted herself closer to Officer Wilde and began to untuck his uniform. Once the she had successfully done so, she swiftly slipped the bottom blade of the shears beneath the fabric of his shirt, and began to cut. Judy watched attentively with her gaze on the sheep paramedic's work. As Nick's chest was exposed, the rabbit officer had two feeling rush through her: One was content, that the region where the bullet had struck did not bleed. Two, she felt a tinge of excitement. Nick had, by pure chance or conscious decision, never exposed his chest to his partner. To see it was like peeking at a guarded secret. Suddenly she felt confused, as she wondered why this thought pleased her so.

Nick also looked down at his shirt, despite the fact that craning his head up made his chest ache. As the fabric tore open, he couldn't help but to think he could have just unbuttoned his shirt, sparing the uniform.

"I know they do it on every E.R. and cop show on TV, but was cutting my shirt really necessary?" Nick asked in a joking voice, hiding his momentary remorse for the fabric. The first paramedic -who was observing his chest and muttering words to the other paramedic who wrote on small pad- turned to look towards the officer's face.

"It is, sir," she spoke back to Nick. "I'm sorry." Hearing the apology, Nick realized the point was meaningless, and that he may have accidentally offended the paramedic with his coyness.

"Oh, no, no! I'm not mad," Officer Wilde affirmed as he looked over Judy's shoulder, where Chief Bogo stood. "In fact," he added with a small grin. "You just gave me the perfect excuse to ask for another summer uniform." The Chief, realizing the words were directed at him, shook his head.

"You'll regret getting it when Winter comes around," Bogo said in his booming, deep voice in return to Nick's indirect motion. Judy, not having noticed the huge buffalo stepping up next to her, startled and looked up to the chief. Staring directly at her Boss' strong visage, the thought of both Officer Wilde and Chief Bogo knowing that she was mesmerized by her partner's chest struck her like a sledge to her head. She gulped.

"Chief Bogo!" Judy said in a tone too loud, making her chief raise an eyeridge as he glanced down at her.

"Officer Hopps," he returned the courtesy, as he put his hooves on his belt. Judy, saluting her boss in return, made him focus his eyes on her with more scrutiny, making him realize how comically disheveled she looked, with her shirt half-untucked, the Velcro of her vest not fastened properly, and her sunglasses dangling out her vest pocket. Grunting, Chief Bogo leaned closer to the officer. "You look like a mess."

"Uhh… gee!" Judy gasped nervously, as she noticed the mess that was her uniform. Taking her sunglasses, she put them back in their designated pocket, and then moved to refasten her vest. After doing so, she noticed her shirt, and, following a moment of thought, realized it was better for her to fully untuck than to stick her paws in her pants. And so she untucked, when she suddenly remembered the suspect… the sole reason they were here in the first place… the reason Nick was injured. "Chief Bogo! The suspect!" Judy's boss kept his eyes on her, unstrirred.

"We got him," Bogo clarified, silently amused by Judy's unprecedented erraticism. "Let's worry about your partner right now." Judy, hearing him, sighed and nodded, happy to know that she could worry about Nick without being chastised. Having turned to look back at the fox, she noticed the second paramedic had gone off to retrieve the stretcher from the ambulance, as the first paramedic began to run her paws across Officer Wilde's chest. Judy watched attentively again, her chest lifting as she noticed him cringe.

"So where does it hurt?" the first paramedic asked. As she moved her paws over his left pectoral muscle, Nick's pain worsened, causing him to cringe again.

"Right there!" Nick complained, biting his cheek from the pain. "And a lot!" Putting additional pressure, the paramedic checked the region, which Nick did not like at all. His whole body quivered and his fur hairs stuck up.

"G-gah!" Officer Wilde bellowed. "That hurts, you know!"

"Hmm… I don't feel any fractures," the sheep paramedic commented, seeming to be professionally unaware of the fox's complaint. Upon hearing her words, it felt to Judy as if a weight was lifted from her chest. Taking a step forward, she got on the tip of her toes.

"That's good!" Judy and Nick both said in perfect synchronization, inducing the fox officer to look directly at his partner as he wondered why she was acting differently.

"Jinx?" Nick spoke as a way to verbally nudge Judy for her strange new-found oafishness. Looking up to her visage, he noticed she was blushing.

"However," the paramedic said, regaining the officers' attentions. "We'll have to take you to the hospital to get x-rays. You're lucky you were wearing your vest today, Officer Wilde. A bullet through the area you were hit would have gotten to your heart." With his eyes still fixed on Judy's, Nick suddenly gave a look of thankfulness.

"I know," the fox said suddenly said, reminded of the pain he felt as he took a deep breath. "I guess I'm just doomed to get my butt saved by you constantly." Judy looked down at Nick's eyes, as they locked glances. Processing the words his partner had just spoken, butterflies suddenly filled her stomach.

"I guess," Judy said in a very feminine manner, as she smiled and winked in response to the very odd compliment Nick had spoken. Moments later, the stretcher was brought up by the second paramedic. As it was placed in a low position next to Nick, the fox officer smiled in return.

"You're just too cute," Nick teased, as the paramedics moved to each end of the officer, lifted him up quickly, and set him down on the long mobile bed. To Nick's bad luck, he was placed above in a manner that had a clumped bunch of the stretcher blanket push up against his back. Feeling pain from his chest being ill-aligned, the officer lifted his paw, and went to call for help, but the stretcher was quickly moved and pushed off the ledge of the sidewalk onto the street, causing such a ruckus of the bedding that the clumped blanket became the least of his concerns. As the stretcher strolled away with the second paramedic, the first turned back and faced Chief Bogo and Officer Hopps.

"Since we're dealing with a police officer here, we need one of his colleagues to accompany us to the hospital with him," the first paramedic said, making Judy, who was already terribly enchanted by her partner, look up and back at her boss. In her mind, she was convinced that she had to go.

"Chief Bogo," she said, turning to look at her boss directly. Before she could say any more, Chief Bogo lifted a hoof to interrupt her.

"I assume you wish to take the afternoon off to accompany your partner." he said. Judy looked down, embarrassed to think to she seemed too pleading, and cupped hands.

"If it's not that much of a hassle," Judy replied.

"You go, Officer Hopps," he started. "And I'll catch up with you soon enough." Looking up, Judy felt relieved she was given permission, but also wondered, why her boss was out here, when he had to deal with bigger, more important matters.

"If you don't mind me asking," Judy decided to ask, choosing her words carefully. "Why are out here... dealing with a petty theft like this one." Chief Bogo crossed his arms as he wondered why she was not aware of the obvious answer.

"It isn't every day an unarmed police officer is shot here in Zootopia, especially by a small mammal." Bogo remarked. "Firearms suitable for small animals are very uncommon, and a small mammal committing a petty robbery attempting to injure a law enforcer with a gun seems extreme." Officer Hopps felt foolish for being unable to see the obvious as it was explained to her. Nodding, she tried to push her shame aside, and to seem more intelligible; however, Chief Bogo watched Judy intently, specifically her gaze. He had been in the force for years longer than he wanted to count and he knew that look, he had seen it before.

"Officer Hopps.." the buffalo chief started.

"Yes sir?"

"I take it you DID attend the academy lecture on Fraternization?" he said, looking down at her with a raised eyeridge.

"Uhm, uh, yes...yes sir.." Judy replied, confused at first, then embarrassed,"But it's not like that, sir!" Bogo lifted a hoof up.

"Of course it isn't Hopps, of course it isn't," he said,"But while we do not have a policy that strictly forbids fraternization it can be very dangerous for everybody involved...do keep that in mind." Judy's ears drooped.

"Yes sir..." For a moment, the two stood in silence, until the second paramedic called for Judy. Looking in the direction of the ambulance, she felt her heart skip a beat: This was her way out of feeling awkward in front of her boss. Suddenly, she decided to run towards the ambulance. In the dash, she played Bogo's words in her head, wondering what stirred her more, that he had said them, or how she reacted.

Distracted, Officer Hopps jumped into the back of the ambulance without acknowledging who was with them. Her eyes were immediately focused on her partner, and his bare chest, but as she focused on her surroundings, she noticed that to Nick's left sat a mammal that had not stepped out when they had picked him up. This mammal was a fox, Judy realized immediately; and she was not just any fox, she was exquisitely delicious vixen: Her fur was lush, silky, and a beautiful red, she was well defined, physically, wore white scrubs that fit her like a charm, and had the brightest smile an animal could ask for, which Judy noticed she shot at Nick. As the ambulance door was shut, and the engine put in motion, Judy eyed Nick as he sensually smiled back at this vixen in such a manner that it seemed for a moment that he was no longer in pain.

...this hurt...

"...well," Judy heard the she-fox say as she tuned in to her words. "It's an honor to serve you, Officer Wilde."

"Oh please," Nick interrupted his fellow fox with a smooth voice and a whisk of his paw. "Call me Nick."

"Well, alright!" she replied with a perfectly coquette bop of her shoulders and a laugh a little too annoying for Officer Hopps to bear. "It is an honor to serve you, Nick. You being the first fox police officer in Zootopia truly inspired me to finish my degree."

"Aww, you don't mean that," Nick replied in his perfectly acted bashfulness as his ego took a joy ride. The vixen giggled, as she put a paw on his shoulder. Judy, gazing at the two between the hanging ambulance equipment, was not amused. She knew her partner well enough to know he was toying with her, and this bothered her greatly. She could not explain why... but it did.

"I mean it!" She said in a playfully argumentative tone, prompting Judy to roll her eyes. For a moment, she looked away, trying to distract herself with whatever she could. She observed the defibrillator attached to the side, and the oxygen masks shaking as the ambulance raced forward. But as she heard Nick and the Vixen laugh again, she felt the urge to intevene.

"Umm, hi!" Judy called out in hopes of interrupting the two. The she fox looked up with her ever present grin, but the moment she beheld Officer Hopps, she shot her paw to her mouth in awe, seeming as if she stared a ghost down. Judy, already unamused, lifted an eye ridge, confused by her reaction.

"Judy..." the vixen muttered with her mouth covered. "Judy Hopps… The Judy Hopps!" Suddenly, the she-fox rose and carefully made her way over to Judy, wobbling with the car as she approached. Once she had landed on the seat next to hers, she stood silent, gazing at Judy as if she were some kind of relic.

"Yeah!" Nick said in a voice more upbeat than he had back in the street, making her partner shoot an irked glare at him, which he did not notice. "Judy, meet Linda. Linda, meet Judy." The vixen, Linda, hesitated for a moment, before unexpectedly lunging her open paw in Officer Hopps direction. Judy, bewildered by her excitement, took her paw with cautious fingers; but the moment she had Linda's paw fully gripped, the she-fox began shaking hard, jarring Judy's shoulder from the strength.

"Officer Hopps, you being on the news, and… well… doing what you did...!" Linda started in an overly excited voice as she continued to shake her paw. "Is one of the reasons why I decided to head back to school to finish! It… it is truly an honor to be sitting in your presence!" Linda suddenly stopped to take a deep breath, but realized she was still shaking Judy paw. Noticing that the officer winced from the excessive action, she let go, and placed her dainty paws in her lap. It was all too cute, and while Nick found it amusing, Judy did not. "I'm sorry, I really am." she muttered, looking down.

"No, no," Judy said in a tone of struggled kindness. Feeling obliged, she put her paws on the she-fox's knee, and smiled. "It's okay." Linda lifted her head as she heard these words, and the light of excitement was rekindled in her eyes.

"Officer Hopps," Linda spoke again.

"Call me Judy," the Judy offered the courtesy, as had his partner.

"Judy," Linda corrected herself, with another of those overly sweet smiles. "In the world of medicine here in Zootopia, predators are very seldom accepted as doctors, and through my years in grad school, I suffered from great prejudice, to the point where I decided to quit. But then, you showed up in Zootopia, as the first bunny police officer in the ranks, and I saw it on the news." Taking another big breath, she turned to look at Nick, winked, and then looked back to Judy. Officer Hopps, watching her do so, rolled her eyes again. "And well, I saw what you did here in the city and convinced myself I would jump back into school. Half a year later, I had my M.D." Judy smiled, but knew she was faking it. She couldn't feel as happy as she should have for the story she told her, despite the fact that ever since she joined the police ranks, she aspired to inspire. It was one of the reasons she had decided to become a police officer in the first place.

"Well," Judy said bluntly. "Congratulations!"

"And welcome to the club of freaks who dared," Nick added from the stretcher, prompting Linda to turn his way and meet eyes. Standing up, the she-fox made her way back to where she had been sitting, and upon doing so, sat down and placed a paw on Nick's bare shoulder once more. As a sleek smile grew on Nick's visage, Judy suddenly realized why she could not feel as happy for Linda as she did for her partner when he succeeded, and became a police officer himself…

...Love and jealousy...

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Thankies!