Judy carefully cleaned the gash on Nick's forehead while he spoke. "I can't believe that old armadillo tried to bash me on the head." Nick had almost dodged the mammal's first swing, which ended up just grazing his forehead, before he managed to wrestle the sign away from the armadillo shortly after that. The rest of the protesting mammals had dropped their signs and backed up into a confused huddle while Judy confronted Marmota. The other rabbits all scattered, except Zeke, who surprised Nick by trying to restrain the armadillo before Judy literally leapt into the fray and slammed Nick's assailant to the ground. Meanwhile, Marmota continued taking pictures until Zeke confronted him and the woodchuck scurried over to join the crowd of protesters.

Fifteen minutes later, a half-dozen officers from the third precinct had shown up to arrest the armadillo and act as crowd control. They were in the process of chasing away Marmota and the remaining protesters when Judy dragged Nick to one of the cruisers to treat his wound.

She stopped rummaging through the elephant sized first aid kit. Her ears drooped, and Nick could smell her worry as she said, "I hope photos of me slamming the armadillo to the ground don't get published."

Nick smirked. "Well, at least we can look forward to the article in the ZG about a poor defenseless fox getting attacked by a mean old armadillo."

Judy snorted. "Right. I can't wait to see how this gets twisted around." She looked thoughtful for a moment. "I wish we could charge Marmota with something. Inciting to riot would be nice, except only one mammal got rowdy." She sighed. "And we can't even prove he was responsible for them being here." Judy bit her lip, deep in thought. "You know, we've been taking this abuse long enough. Let me see if I can talk to the Farm's lawyer. He's a family member of one of the bunnies that work here, and he might have some ideas."

Nick rolled his eyes. "I guess you don't need to know everyone if you've got a few hundred relatives." He grinned. "You bunnies really put the commune in community, huh?"

Judy gave him an annoyed look which quickly turned smug. She pulled an oversized container of spray on liquid bandage out of the first aid kit and said, "Hold still, so I don't glue your eyes and mouth shut." Nick wasn't sure if it was a threat or a warning, so he did as he was told and Judy carefully coated the wound. "Okay, you can open your eyes now. We should give our statements to the officers from the third precinct and enjoy the rest of the celebration."

It was odd, being the only fox in a sea of bunnies. While several older rabbits took turns speaking, Nick puzzled over what he'd overheard when he went to find Judy earlier. As Nick was about to enter the central kitchen, Hazel and Bonnie were talking about Zeke being angry and hoping counseling would work so they could give something to Judy. He'd stepped through the door, surprising Hazel so that she dropped a pan, and the conversation came to a screeching halt. If their behavior wasn't odd enough, the scent from Hazel, Bonnie, and several other Hopps adults Nick ran into the rest of that day was unsettling. They were all brimming with a nervous scent that was practically overwhelming.

Now that he thought about it, the nervous rabbits were all females. And they all seemed to be avoiding talking to Judy, which was odd. At least Stu was his usual amiable self, probably because the buck was the last one to know whatever it was the rest of his family seemed to be worried about.

As the ceremony drew to a close, Nick texted Finnick:

Meet me for beers at my place?

A minute went by until Nick's phone dinged:

Hafta be before 7pm I got places to be after that

Nick wasn't sure if he could make it home on public transport and have any time to talk, so he thought for a moment and replied:

Can you pick me up?

Nick rolled his eyes when he saw the response:

Depends on where your lazy ass is

Nick texted Finnick the address and started to search for Judy in the large crowd of rabbits. He finally spotted her talking to a group of younger bunnies and began to make his way through the milling crowd, but paused. She was talking animatedly, and the rabbits around her nodded as they listened. Rather than interrupt, Nick decided to text her instead. He changed course and made his way to the front entrance, where he found a few rabbits talking in small groups along with a polar bear officer standing watch.

Nick texted Judy while he waited for Finnick:

Hey carrots I'm gonna sneak off and have a few beers with finnick

He waited several minutes for a response:

Ok. I know you need a break from the bunny tsunami =:-)

A few minutes later, Nick hopped into Finnick's van and the vehicle lurched into the street before the smaller fox said, "What the hell happened to your fur? Damn Nick, you look like shit."

Nick barked out a sharp laugh. "It's good to see you too. And beers first before I talk about it." Nick saw Finnick glance at the cut on his forehead, so he pointed at it and added, "Nice huh? Nothing like a gift from an adoring fan to make you feel special."

Finnick cackled. "That's right, you famous now, Nick. Did the bunny knock you flat on yo' ass again? The guys couldn't stop laughin' at the pic of you and her foolin' around in the car." Nick glared at the smaller fox, who added, "Don't be like that. Everybody knows only chumps believe even half o' what's in the Gossip."

They went to Judy's apartment to pick up Nick's uniform and grab some beer. After they were settled at Nick's apartment, Finnick crashed on the couch with a beer in his paw and asked, "I thought you two was shackin' up already?"

Nick stared at the bottle he'd just taken a long drink from. "Yeah, it's… complicated."

Finnick shook his head. "Relationships is always complicated with you."

After another beer each, Nick mentioned the conversation he'd overheard at the Farm, but neither fox could figure out what the rabbits had been talking about. Nick also brought up the issues he'd been having with Zeke, but Finnick was no help there either. All the smaller fox could offer was, "Probably just a load of weird bunny shit we preds can't understand."

Then Nick recounted everything that had transpired the past week. Finnick listened quietly, except for a hearty laugh when he heard about the encounter with the sticker bush. As they continued to talk, the smaller fox could see that his friend was worried. Both foxes were used to poor treatment from other mammals, but Nick was worried about how well Judy would handle discrimination caused by the increasing public scrutiny of their relationship.

Nick ended up having a few more beers than he'd planned while he and Finnick talked, so Nick decided he wasn't up to going back to Judy's apartment that night. After Nick said goodbye to the smaller fox, he sent Judy a text:

I'm wiped so I think I'll crash at my place

Moments later his phone dinged when Judy responded:

I'll miss you tonight, but I know you need a break after the past few days

He quickly replied:

I'll miss you too

The next morning, Nick had hoped to meet Judy for breakfast at the Kopi Luwak Coffeehouse, but when he sent a text to invite her she texted him back and said she'd spent the night at the Farm and couldn't make it in time.

Nick waited outside ZPD headquarters with two coffees and Judy's favorite muffin. He sipped his coffee as he watched the KWK protestors across the square in front of City Hall.

Nick's heart skipped a beat when he caught sight of Judy walking across the parking lot. She looked tired and worried, though her face lit up after she saw him. He wordlessly handed her the muffin and a coffee and returned her smile. "You doing ok, Carrots?"

She nodded and held up the coffee. "Thanks for this."

They both sipped their drinks for a few moments and watched the KWK protesters. Nick said, "Should I go over and say hi to them?"

Judy laughed and rolled her eyes. "Haven't you already suffered enough head trauma this past week?"

Nick laughed and almost knocked her over when he hip-checked her before they walked into the ZPD lobby, where Judy stopped to chat with Francine while Nick went to greet Clawhauser.

Nick grew close to the front desk and the cheetah leaned over to nervously ask, "How are you two? I heard about the trouble yesterday."

Nick shrugged. "It wasn't that bad. And we're good." Judy walked up and stood next to Nick. He nudged her gently with his elbow and added, "Even Fluff's family is coming around."

Clawhauser smiled and nodded excitedly. "I'm glad. It's hard when family isn't accepting. My parents…" the cheetah trailed off before he continued in a forlorn voice. "They don't appreciate my life choices." Judy and Nick exchanged awkward looks and Clawhauser continued. "They're all into running, and my weight really bothers them."

Judy laughed nervously while Nick smiled and said, "That just means there's more of you to love, big guy."

Still looking distressed, Clawhauser looked at Judy and said, "The Chief wants to see you first thing."

Judy nodded and said, "Thanks, Clawhauser." She brushed against Nick and started across the lobby. "Stay out of trouble, Slick."

"See ya, Carrots." Nick watched Judy's retreating backside and smiled when her tail twitched ever so slightly.

Even though she was almost out of sight, Nick saw Judy's ears swivel in his direction when Clawhauser spoke again. "Oh, I almost forgot. Something came for you this morning, Nick."

The fox saw the thick envelope from the Northlund station and whined, "Why couldn't they have sent this via email?" He grumbled as he picked up the case file. "Stupid podunk rural precinct, they probably still use typewriters."

While Judy was off getting yelled at by Chief Bogo, Nick met with a surly warthog from Internal Affairs to give a preliminary statement. After that, he pretended to do paperwork while he read the case file from Northlund. An hour later, Nick was so engrossed he almost jumped out of his skin when Judy put a paw on his shoulder to drag him away for their morning break.

They decided to go to a nearby coffeehouse, a popular hangout for ZPD officers. They each ordered a coffee and sat quietly in their favorite booth. Judy glanced at the case file that Nick had brought with him and asked, "Find out anything new? I know you were reading that instead of doing your paperwork."

Nick shrugged. "Not much so far. The murdered vixen was a Miss Olivia Lisza. It looks like my dad called her pretty regularly on his second phone, until a few days before he went missing at the hospital."

Judy nodded and took a sip of her coffee. "Any murder suspects?"

"Not really. She has a daughter who's wanted for questioning. Let's see…" Nick flipped through the case file and skimmed the pages. "Her name is Karla. They're both suspected of smuggling drugs for a cartel up north, but Karla hasn't been seen since before her mother's body was found." Nick examined the page and frowned. "Huh."

"What?"

"The drug cartel… they have their paws in some scary stuff. Mammal trafficking, arms smuggling, and a nasty side of nightshade."

Judy raised an eyebrow. "Nightshade?"

"That's the street name for noche revu serum." Judy nodded when she heard the official name. Nick mulled over what he knew about the drug. NRS wasn't common in Zootopia, but it was fairly popular in the far north. Derived from the night howler formula, in small doses it acted as a hallucinogenic, but at higher doses it caused users to attack others or even seriously harm themselves. Nightshade also had some terrible side effects, like tremors and fur loss. It got its street name from the sickly gray colored skin of frequent users.

On the way back to the precinct, Nick looked at his phone when he got a text from Finnick:

Who the hell did you piss off?

Included with the text was an image of that day's Zootopia Gossip, which featured a picture of Nick at the Farm, standing under a large Sponsored by HERD Corp banner. It was taken right after Nick had pulled the sign away from the armadillo, and nothing appeared amiss until Nick noticed what the sign he was holding said: Preds First. The part of the caption that was visible read, Specist ZPD Officer Nicholas Wilde protesting outside the Zootopia Urban Farm...

Nick groaned and showed the picture of the ZG article to Judy, who got so angry she started to shake. Her voice trembled and she spluttered out, "Marmota... he's gone too far. We'll haul his ass in for libel-"

Nick laughed. "Do you think that'll matter, Carrots? Mammals will believe what they want, and sleazy tabloids will publish whatever they can for a quick buck." She didn't respond, so he added, "At least there wasn't a picture of you tackling the armadillo, right?" Judy's ears drooped flat against her head, and she still didn't speak.

They walked in silence for awhile, before Judy looked at her phone and quietly said, "I've got a doctor's appointment at lunch."

Nick tried to keep the worry out of his voice. "Everything ok? Want me to go with you?"

"No, it's just a routine checkup."

Nick nodded calmly, but her response shook him to his core. He didn't even have to catch her scent to know that Judy was lying to him.