Crisis in Zootopia

Chapter II

Judy settles in

Judy sat on the long sofa in her living room and gave a little sigh of contentment. This was what living alone should be like! It was spacious, and above all, quiet. Unlike most Rabbits, she loved being uncrowded and quiet. She still felt a little guilty about accepting the gift of the apartment (with her rent set where it was, it really was a gift), but she would live with it since it was from Nick. She talked with him every evening, but found she was really missing him. To her surprise, she was having more and more thoughts of the Fox, other than when she was studying her new beat and thinking of that instead.

The previous two weeks had been busy for her. To her surprise, Bellwether's hearing had been quick and, for Judy, easy – and to her even greater surprise, there was no follow-up trial. Bellwether had indeed quickly plea-bargained. In return for her revealing the entirety of her plot and her accomplices, she hadn't gotten much time off, but she and her Sheep followers had been sentenced to moderately long terms in minimum security prisons rather than even harder time in much harder ones. Judy had had to be present, but because of the plea deal had not had to testify. To the surprise of her trainers, Judy had then breezed through the written part of the patrol car exams, and had passed the driving portion on what would normally have been a trial run used to point out where candidates needed work. Obviously years of driving her family's trucks and tractors during her summer breaks at college had prepared her better than had been anticipated.

She had also familiarized herself with what would be her foot patrol area. She had been under orders to get to know it in plain clothes. Bogo had been explicit – "Note everything but do not break cover for anything less than assault or armed robbery." There hadn't been any such crimes, but there had been so much more she had seen.

"Well?" Bogo had asked Tuesday afternoon. "What did you see?" She had told him: seventy-five health and safety violations (and she really hadn't been looking for those); eighteen drug dealers; thirty businesses operating at least partially as fronts for gambling or other illicit operations including grey if not black marketing; twenty-one street cons (a three card monte operator as well as five similar scams); and over a dozen street hustles, like Weaselton's illegal videos. She also wondered about some of the other street venders, especially the food carts, but she hadn't checked too closely if they were licensed, as opposed to having blatant health code violations. Unlike the Weasel, who apparently hadn't recognized her, Finnick had greeted her. When he had learned this would be her beat, he had informed her he was moving his personal operations to a different part of the city. Judy had bought him a latte and a bug burger in exchange with his talking about the neighborhood, and the surprised Fennec Fox left the area feeling he had gotten a good deal.

Bogo had given her a contact, a Raccoon with the city's Health Department, to report the health and safety violations she had seen and for future referrals. She had been told to get the street hustlers at least off the main streets over the coming few weeks, and strongly-worded suggestions on how to deal with most of the rest, other than the drug dealers and some of the worst con artists. He had brought in constables from areas around the city to help his detectives, as they could fit into the size of the alleys better, and they had busted the drug dealers and worst of the con artists the next afternoon. Then, acting on that suggestion, she had met that earlier that evening with Mister Big.

"Welcome," the Shrew had said. "What can I do for the godmother of my future granddaughter?" Fru-Fru was due that weekend. "Or are you here in an official capacity?"

"Officially, I'm here as the former, sir." Judy pushed a small box onto the Shrew's desk. "A present for your granddaughter."

The Shrew had nodded wisely. "And unofficially?"

Judy had then told him about the changes that were being made for patrolling her new area, and the plans being made for Little Rodentia to have a real police presence in under a year.

"I see. And why are you telling me this?"

Judy had been careful. "I am uncertain what . . . business interests you might have in that area, or in Little Rodentia. I'm sure you know I will be a conscientious and honest patrol officer, but mammals . . . sometimes might not always act in their best interests. Those . . . interests might not always be strictly legal, but mammals are mammals. Some interests might be . . . ignored, unless they are obvious or if any complaint is made. Also, these businesses might need to be a little more . . . circumspect if they plan to stay at their current locations." She slid a small printed paper onto the desk in front of the Shrew.

He merely gestured, and Kevin picked up the note and showed it to his boss. He made no obvious reaction, but his eyes showed that he recognized the gambling fronts, and the three shops that were really more fronts for loan-sharks than the barely legal 'cash advance' companies they posed as. He correctly decided that Judy was not overly familiar with these types of fronts – if they were still obvious to her, they would be obvious to any officer who wasn't too tall to view them and the activity around them well. "I see. I of course have no personal knowledge of anything . . . not strictly allowed that these businesses might be engaged in, but I might know people who may know people who will tell them they are acting in a suspicious manner and to clean things up."

"I'm sure everyone would be happier if that happens, sir." It was clear she really wasn't happy with the situation, but Bogo had educated her on how to keep a lid on things. In her ideal world, there would be no illicit activities of any kind and those that occurred would be quickly shut down. Zootopia wasn't as ideal as she would wish, but she had to deal with more serious crimes and open infractions.

The crime boss regarded the officer in front of him. All the intelligence gathered on her, as well as his own instincts, suggested she would be an honest cop. "What can I do for you in return?" Did she, despite the evidence, want a bribe to look the other way?

"Nothing, sir. The size of most of the regular officers prevented them from seeing most of the problems in the area. My job is to make certain that the mammals living and working there have no problems."

In other words, keep things reasonable, non-violent, and out-of-sight. She really didn't want anything else in return. It was in his interest to keep things on those levels, and she wouldn't have to deal with them. Still, she had done him a favor by coming to him before any crackdown. . . . most were not his operations, he simply kept close track of his 'competitors', and knowledge was power. Knowledge he could exchange for information or favors.

"I see. I must say that was good that you got those drug dealers off the street, I cannot abide such drugs. Sure, a little bootlegging goes on everywhere in the city, and that along with some black market tobacco and other products, like dealers in cannabis or dried catnip, are one thing, but these kind of hard drugs?" He shook his little head. He had seen too many lives ruined, including members of his own family. Nick had told Judy that while the Shrew controlled nearly all the illicit and most semi-licit goings on in Tundratown and had 'interests' all over Zootopia and beyond – including most of the black market in untaxed alcohol, tobacco and similar products – the various hard drugs were something he was not involved in. "I take it none of the dealers have given up their supplier?"

Judy was surprised. "Supplier? As in one?"

The Shrew shrugged. "So I have heard, but that may be mere hearsay." He wasn't going to give Judy hard evidence, and she was smart enough to understand that. "I have heard it said that a badger named . . . now what was that name?" He looked at Kevin, and the Polar Bear caught the boss' nod.

"Jimmy Sett, sir?" the enforcer suggested.

"That may have been it. Do not take offense if I suggest this is not something you would wish to look at personally?"

"No, sir," Judy agreed. She had a great deal of confidence in her abilities, but she knew this was currently way above her skills, as well as her pay level. "I think I may have heard the name elsewhere." Meaning she'd pass on the name but not where she had heard it. This was more something for the undercover police or perhaps even the MBI to handle.

"It is always good to see you." Judy had kissed him on the cheeks and left. Bogo had told her she had handled the situation perfectly when they had met for coffee afterwards. He also knew that the fronts would be cleaning up their acts, and that the possible loan sharks would still be looked at by at least one of the plain-clothes detectives out of Police Headquarters.

Judy looked at the small clock she had picked up so she could have one in her living room and frowned. Nick should have returned for the weekend by now.

A brief knock on the door set her bounding to answer it. "Nick!"

The Fox smiled at the Rabbit hugging him. "Hi, Carrots!" he said tiredly.

"Come in! Have you eaten?"

"I could eat a little," he allowed. He allowed himself to be guided to the sofa and had a tray table placed in front of him. His eyes went up when Judy plopped a glass and a bottle in front of him. "Blueberry wine? Where did you find this? This isn't for sale!" There was no sign on a label where it came from, only the words 'blueberry wine' and the vintage year were printed on it, never mind any of the various tax stamps it should have had.

"We can't sell it, but we can make it for home consumption," Judy told him from the kitchen. "The fruit wines, beers, cider, perry, mead, and hard alcohol only count as moonshine if we sell it – which we don't. Trading for other alcohol is as legal as drinking it ourselves or giving it away so long as it's an even trade by alcohol volume."

Nick said nothing, although he had automatically calculated numerous ways to slip those products onto the black market, he quickly discounted them. He was more interested in drinking what was in front of him. Seeing the bottle had a screw top, Nick opened it while Judy heated something in the microwave. He sipped at the excellent wine, and in less than six minutes, a plate of pasta with veggies was in front of him. To his surprise, there was what looked like a small can of tuna which had been flaked into his pasta. He had smelled fish, but thought it was all from scent of the fish being fried by the Minks in the next apartment. Judy had served herself a smaller plate of pasta with veggies (including some grasses which his, fortunately, did not have), and of course no fish.

"You're serving me fish?"

Judy's ears drooped a bit. "You don't like fish?"

"I do, I just didn't expect. . . ." He wasn't certain how to finish that sentence.

Judy shrugged. "Your dietary needs are different from mine, and I have never been crazy for any of the forms of tofu I've been served. I doubt the fake flesh versions are any better."

"Good point," Nick agreed. There were various attempts at imitating different species: avian, reptilian, amphibian, and fish, but Nick had yet to find one he liked. "It's . . . it's not always seen as polite for preds to eat non-sentient meat, even fish, in front of prey. Bug burgers maybe, but not the real thing."

"You know," Judy mused, "I don't think I like those terms. Some mammals are starting to use 'carnivore,' 'omnivore,' 'herbivore,' and the like. I can't digest meat well; you need more protein. Eat, and enjoy, your fish."

Nick just nodded, saying, "Tell me about your week?"

Judy poured out what had been happening, and Nick was impressed. He was especially impressed that Judy was going along with the unwritten code of the streets to a degree, which left certain shady activities alone when not too egregious or obvious unless there was a complaint. However, "You do know why Mister Big gave you the name?"

"While I would hope it's only because he hates hard drugs so much, Sett is probably competing with him in other areas," Judy acknowledged.

"So long as you know. Big is the most powerful of the bosses, but he's far from the only one. Right now, there are about a dozen. If this gets rid of Sett, who was trying to move up the ladder by going into the hard stuff on a larger scale, it helps him in a lot of ways."

"I don't like looking the other way, but I can't change everything all at once," Judy almost pouted.

"And?"

"Does being friendly with people like Mister Big make me a bad cop?"

"You're asking a former hustler? There is only so much that can be done, and being friendly with Mister Big does not make you a bad cop; it means you see him as an individual. All mammals have to work to make a living; some choose or are forced to do it on the margins. When they step over the margins, sometimes it's a judgement call if stopping them would actually make things worse."

"Nick, I do like him, but I can't get over that he almost killed us."

"I don't know if he would have drowned us or not." Seeing the look Judy gave him, Nick acknowledged, "He might have, of course . . . or he might have just half-drowned us as a warning. Until there's proof, let's give him the benefit of the doubt."

Judy didn't look any more convinced than Nick really was by that argument, but let it go. "So, how were your first two weeks?" While they had talked every night, she still needed to ask.

"Like I've told you, it's slightly more tiring than I had anticipated, but nowhere near as bad as I feared. A couple of Wallaroos are in the class, and they wanted to give me a hard time since I'm the only pred around their size, but a couple of growls by the big cats shut them up. I admit, my arms and shoulders ache. I might need to actually soak." Most furred mammals preferred old-style grooming or brushing to cleaning by getting wet, but showers were sometimes needed when they were actually dirty, and other times a good soak was just plain relaxing.

Judy had cleared the dishes and put them in the dishwasher (one of her favorite appliances, as she had never had the use of one before) while Nick talked. She came over and sniffed him. "You aren't too rank, so come on." She pulled Nick off the sofa.

"Err, Carrots, where are we going?"

"Bedroom."

"Judy!"

"Not for that, silly Fox. Take off your shirt and lie on the bed and I'll give you a back rub."

Nick looked conflicted for a second, and then did what he was told.

Nick woke up, a bit confused at first. He knew he needed to use the toilet, but for a moment, he didn't know where he was. It wasn't his bunk at the Academy and it wasn't his apartment. Then he recognized that he was wrapped around Judy, in her bed, his tail covering the slumbering bunny, who was only wearing shorts. He realized he had fallen asleep during the backrub.

He slowly started to disentangle himself, which woke Judy up. "Are you coming back to bed after using the toilet, or should I start breakfast?" she asked without opening her eyes.

"Err. . . ."

"I woke up about two hours ago and went then," she told him.

"And you came back to bed?"

"I don't get to sleep in often," she replied simply.

"Ah . . . you didn't mind?"

Judy opened her eyes and sat up. "Why would I mind? I used to sleep with my five litter sisters when we were under ten and with my sister Carol until we graduated high school, and although I wasn't very active, you aren't the first guy I've slept with."

"Uh? When? How?"

"Nick, did you think I went to the Academy right out of high school? You did, didn't you? How old do you think I am?"

"I guess I don't know?" Nick answered. He had sometimes thought Judy might be older, but most of the time he figured she was at most twenty – which made him feel guilty about some of the thoughts he'd had about her.

"First of all, you have to be twenty-one to go to the Academy, and I'm actually twenty-four, so don't think you're taking advantage of a callow bunny. I had to work my way through college, but I earned an Associate Degree in Paralegal Studies and then a Bachelor's Degree in Justice Studies and a Master's in Paralegal Counselling. If I didn't make it through the Academy, I was going to stay in Zootopia as a Parole Officer and join one of the Watch Patrols part time."

Nick blinked. "I'm impressed."

"Go pee and get dressed. I'll make breakfast."

The somewhat confused fox did as he was told. When he came out and got dressed, he saw that Judy had breakfast almost ready. She had made a blueberry pancake for both of them, with a steamed carrot for herself and a small vegetable omelet for Nick. There was also coffee dripping away in a coffee machine.

"I see you're a domestic bunny as well as a cop," he teased.

"My mother trained us well, even me and my litter-sister who had no plans of become house-does."

"So," Nick asked as he sat down, "what do you have planned for this afternoon and tomorrow?"

"Not this morning?"

"I have to work in the office. The business doesn't totally run itself. That and seeing you is why I came."

Judy merely nodded her understanding as she served herself breakfast and went to get their coffee. "We could go see a movie if you want. Maybe go out for dinner before or after?"

As he ate, he thought about the hopeful tone in his friend's voice, and some of the dreams he had had since Judy had come back into his life, and above all of the night before. He was sure he detected a hopeful, wistful tone in Judy, which went beyond wanting a close friendship. As he thought about it, he decided to take the gamble. He just hoped his instincts weren't being overcome by his desires. "As friends, future partners, or . . . something more?"

Judy set down their coffee, and then sat and looked down at her plate. "Would you really be interested in something more?"

"I wouldn't have mentioned it if I . . . hadn't thought about it," he admitted as he cut up his food. "I grant you, even if mixed-species relationships aren't all that uncommon these days, they are usually between fairly closely related species. Predator-prey aren't common at all; I don't know if it would work."

"No relationship is guaranteed," Judy replied, still looking down.

"True."

"There's only one thing that has concerned me," she admitted.

"Just one? Your family?"

"Some of them, maybe even a lot of them, might not accept it, especially if we just told them point blank," she admitted, "but that's not it."

"What? The fact that we couldn't have children if this works out?"

"No; despite being a Rabbit, I never thought having children was necessary. My family is unusually big, even for Rabbits after the last Plague." Thirty-three years before, nearly ninety percent of the Eastern Rabbit population, and perhaps a quarter of the other Rabbit and Hare populations had been wiped out by a plague. Many of the survivors, especially her parents, had been over-compensating for the loss. "With the size of my family, there are plenty to carry on the species."

"How large is your family? A hundred?" He decided to tease. "Two?"

Judy finally looked at him as she giggled. "We hit the two hundred point a few years after I was born. In the end, my parents had three hundred and thirty. The youngest are turning eleven this year."(1)

"Wow!"

"You were close through." Seeing Nick's confused look, Judy added, "Compatibility."

"Carrots, I think we get along better than most couples. Whatever concerns and, yes, fears, I've had, that hasn't been one of them."

He could see her inner ears flush but she reached over and took his right paw in her left one. She made a circle with the thumb and forefinger of her right paw and took his forefinger, barely able to slip it in and out of the circle repeatedly. "No, this kind of compatibility."

"Ah," Nick replied, now equally embarrassed.

Judy looked into Nick's eyes. "If we're together, I can give up children; I can risk parts of my family disowning me and all the social negativity. I wouldn't give up a full and fun physical relationship with my lover." She dropped her paws and went back to breakfast. "I admit, I did some research, and in theory it could work . . . if the sizes work out, which they should . . . and again, at least in theory, even if just and when done carefully."

"I see." He decided not to tease her about the research. If he had been living down stairs instead of at the Academy, he would likely have done the same. "We can talk about that, and if necessary, alternatives if we still want to try and…the logistics don't work well. So, it's a date for a movie after lunch and dinner at some point?"

"It's a date."

A look on-line after breakfast saw them decide to see a sci-fi movie later that afternoon. Nick went down to his office and quickly made his way through the paperwork, and returned to Judy's apartment for lunch. After lunch, Judy dragged Nick into her bedroom.

"In a hurry, Fluff?"

"To talk at least," Judy admitted.

"You know you can trust me not to push. . . ."

Judy protested, "I trust you, Nick."

Nick looked Judy directly in the eyes. "I'm going to ask you this, maybe for the last time. Do you really trust me? Not as Nick, your friend and hopefully much more, but as a medium-sized Fox who will often have a Rabbit who's still slightly on the short side of her much smaller species in a vulnerable position?"

"While we are civilized, while we aren't the same species that used to be true prey and predator, we do both have those instincts buried within us," Judy admitted. "But we are more than that; today, it's more bias and prejudice than fact, despite some instincts. I totally trust you; Rabbits can be jerks just as easily as any other species. Rabbits can abuse each other and others as well. If a Fox, or a Wolf or a Lion and so on, abuses a small prey animal it's because they are abusers or bullies, not because they're predators, and a bunny is a lot easier to bully than a Rhinoceros. The only bully in my class at the Academy was a Hippopotamus, technically a prey species. You were bullied by prey mammals because they were bullies and their prejudice got the better of them." She had kept looking in Nick's eyes this entire time. "I care about you; I love you as a mammal and think I could fall in love with you oh so easily. I trust you. Now, you trust me and lie back on the bed."

"Err. . . ."

"You're saying that a lot today, Nick. Please? Stretch out on the bed."

Nick shrugged and did as he was told.

"Push over a bit. Good. Now, open your muzzle and close your eyes."

"You know, that usually leads to a prank at best?"

"I trust you, Nick. Do you trust me?"

Nick sighed and did what he was told.

"A bit wider," Judy instructed as she jumped up on the bed.

Nick did so, and he was shocked when he felt Judy placing her neck between his teeth. He could taste her, and feel a pulse against his tongue as well. To his shame, he salivated at the tastes.

She was even more delicious than he had thought she might be.

"I trust you with my life," Judy whispered, and she gently stroked the back of his head and neck. "I trust that you will try to overcome any instincts or prejudices, and I will try to do the same." She lifted her neck out of the tight fit and gently closed his muzzle and kissed him. "I expect nothing but pleasure from this muzzle and your teeth." She reached down and undid his jeans. She took his fox-hood in her paw. "Larger than any Rabbit's, even a Jack Rabbit's, but not quite too big I think. Please?"

Nick was far too much of a gentlefox, and too smitten, to refuse.

Nearly two hours later, the two lay together, exhausted. Judy sighed contentedly from atop Nick and said, "I would say that was a very successful set of experiments, at least from my point of view."

"Mine, too," Nick agreed. "Satisfying, as well."

After a few minutes of contented rest, Judy asked, "Nick, may I do something rather primitive?"

"I don't think I could a fourth time," he retorted.

"No, not that."

"Or that a tenth time, even if you are scrumptious." Now that the passion had cooled, his jaw and tongue ached.

"Or even that."

"If I don't have to move, sure."

"Lazy Fox," she teased. Judy got astride Nick's upper torso and bent his head towards her. She ran the bottom of her chin across the top of his head between his ears, and then kissed him gently.

After a moment's shock as a scent became detectable, Nick asked, "Carrots, did you just . . . Mark me?"

"I did," Judy agreed. "You are mine."

Nick thought about that. "Judy. . . ."

"I know; single Foxes may sometimes have sex for fun, but you mate for life. When you decide to Mark me in return, that is a commitment you will never break." She moved and looked him in the eye. "I can wait."

'Too late,' Nick realized, to his surprise. "May I?"

Now it was Judy who was surprised. "Really?"

"Really. May I?"

Judy nodded, and Nick Marked Judy with his scent glands as well.

They then took a nap until it was time to get dressed to see the movie.

Judy had two hundred and seventy-five brothers and sisters when she was nine. Unless they were all nieces and nephews, the scene where she left for Zootopia had a number of rabbits who looked to be younger than Judy had been when she was in the school play. I decided on this compromise.