Disclaimer: Zootopia and all related characters are owned by Disney. All other characters, product names, trademarks and copyrights belong to their respective owners.

…...

It was 5 am outside a nicely kept, five-story condominium building. Fronted with brick, it had a few trees planted along the front sidewalk and some shrubs and small planter boxes near the main entryway. The building was dark with most of its occupants still asleep except for one small mammal in a unit on the top floor. Through one of the large windows, light peeked around heavy curtains to show a red fox in boxer shorts sitting in an old folding chair and staring at the dimly lit screen of his phone. The red fox took a sip of his coffee and then set his mug down on a rickety end table. A moment later, he tapped the phone screen and closed the file he'd been looking at.

Nick had gone through Cassy's article on Bunnyburrow. Rubbing the back of his neck with his free paw, he sighed. The article pretty much covered what Cassy had told him yesterday, it lightly referenced some of the intolerance she talked about, but really focused on the predator issues by highlighting the speciesism built into some of the local regulations and policies and then describing the more subtle bureaucratic biases against predators that occurred when they applied for permits or services, like losing paperwork or sometimes needing extra approvals over what might be required for a prey mammal.

Cassy then went on to describe the Mayor's efforts to change the local laws and put forth a more welcoming and inclusive agenda that included all mammals regardless of their being predator or prey. The mayor was a rabbit doe named Karen Ackerbunn. Nick saw that she was only 30 years old, which made her young to be a mayor. She was a local that had gone away to school and come back and quickly gotten involved in politics. Nick figured she had to be pretty well connected to rise so far so fast.

In the article, Ackerbunn said she was trying to attract diverse businesses to Bunnyburrow and was counting on both private capital and Commonwealth block grants to help with infrastructure upgrades and technology improvements. From the notes Cassy included with the article, she described Ackerbunn as a passionate leader that was committed to bringing Bunnyburrow into the social mainstream and willing to fight as hard as it took to get what she wanted. Nick highlighted Ackerbunn as somebody he'd need to watch carefully.

Setting aside Cassy's notes, Nick thought about the plan and any tweaks he might need to make. Ackerbunn had a vision and she needed outside funding to achieve it. That funding depended on a positive town image that had just been shown to be more illusion than reality. Another sip of coffee and Nick nodded to himself. He made a few notes on his phone and set a reminder. He'd talk with Finn before lunch and give him the final prep. Setting his phone aside, Nick headed into the bathroom to get his shower. The next few days were key.

…...

Judy yawned as she pushed open the door to the precinct lobby. The lobby was empty except for Clawhauser munching away on a bowl of Lucky Chomps at the reception desk. She tried again to rub the sleep out of her eyes while slowly plodding over to Clawhauser.

"Good morning, Ben," she said, her paw covering another yawn. "Did anything interesting happen overnight?"

Clawhauser's cheeks jiggled as he put his cereal bowl on the desk and looked down at Judy giving her a high-pitched greeting. "Good morning yourself, sleepy head. You've been dragging all week. Have you been staying up late watching Gazelle's latest video? It's really great, I have it here on my phone if you like." Clawhauser grabbed his phone and started to turn it toward Judy.

"No Ben, I just haven't been sleeping well." Another yawn escaped as she tried to talk through it. "With Nick on parking duty and me on patrol with different partners, it just hasn't been the same."

"I know, it's so weird, you guys always come in together and patrol together and hang out after work together and hang out on your days off together, it's like you're always together." Clawhauser gasped and with his paws squeezing his cheeks together, he whisper-shouted, "OMG, did you guys have a fight? Did you break up? What happened to my favorite couple?"

"Ben, nothing happened. Nick's on parking duty, that's all. Besides, we're just friends, okay?"

"Awwwwh, but you guys are so cute together."

Judy weakly raised an eyebrow and gave Ben a 'look.' Unfortunately, her look was too sleepy and bloodshot to be particularly fear-inducing. Clawhauser continued to smile and coo as Judy tried as hard as she could to put some force behind her glare, but after a few seconds, she gave up and just waggled a warning finger at the rotund cheetah. "Ben, what did I say about the C-word?"

"Sorry Judy, you know I didn't mean it, sometimes I just get excited. Although, you and Nick really are perfect for each other."

Judy sighed, if Ben knew how much she agreed with him he'd probably explode in shrieks of joy and never leave her and Nick alone. Of course, she couldn't tell him that Nick was the reason she wasn't sleeping well. She missed him. Hardly a day had gone by since they'd met that they hadn't hung out together or at least talked. And it hadn't helped that Garrison had insisted that she clean and Musk Mask her apartment. It had only taken a couple of days of trying to sleep in her now sterile bed for her to realize that being surrounded by Nick's scent was the next best thing to sleeping in a bunny pile of her siblings.

Judy shook her head, "Ben…", looking up at his expectant face she powered forward, "I really need some coffee, I'll talk to you later."

Judy pulled herself up into her chair in the bullpen and set her coffee on the table in front of her. Thankfully, as she sat waiting for Bogo, her first sips of the breakroom brew started taking effect. One of her ears perked up as she heard McHorn introduce himself to Bechtail. Mentally, she wished him luck and hoped that Bechtail would be more impressed doing a ride along with a former Navy Chief Petty Officer than with a simple farm bunny.

As the clock ticked to 8:30, Higgins called for everyone's attention and the pounding on the desks started. Judy stood up in her chair to see over the desktop but decided to skip the pounding this morning.

Bogo positioned himself behind the podium and called for quiet. "Alright everyone, we have a busy day. This afternoon city square will be blocked off for the setup of the Taste of Zootopia festival that starts this afternoon. I want those of you on patrol to keep an eye on the vendors. They start setting up around 11 am and won't break down their booths until Sunday evening."

Shuffling his papers, he added. "This morning starting at 10 am, a TV production crew will be filming for an episode of some show. They have their own security, but I want some extra support. They need to get done quickly so they can move out before the first festival event starts."

"What show is it, Chief?" Someone from the back of the bullpen yelled out.

Head tilted down while looking over his reading glasses, Bogo replied, "Don't know, don't care."

Someone else yelled out, "I heard it's for Parkside Blues." The volume of the chatter started to rise as the mammals in the room talked about the show.

Judy smiled wide, Parkside Blues was one of her and Nick's favorite police dramas. Every Tuesday night they cuddled up on her bed and watched it on her laptop and ate popcorn as Nick pointed out the flaws with how the perps were portrayed. It would be so cool if she and Nick could work with the production crew.

Judy turned to elbow her partner and instead stared at the empty spot next to her and sighed, no Nick again today. Judy refocused as Bogo's voice shook her out of her thoughts. "Hopps, you and Schweinly meet the crew and make sure no one interferes with the production and get them gone quickly."

As everyone filed out of the bullpen, Judy met up with Schweinly in the back by the door. She didn't know much about Schweinly. He was a large boar with brown fur and typical of his species he had a very harsh bristly outer coat of hair, a couple of small tusks and a bit of a belly. Judy couldn't tell how much of his belly was normal versus too many doughnuts. Schweinly had transferred in from District 9 a couple of months ago and was usually partnered up with a third-year bull moose, but the moose was on leave until next week.

Putting on a friendly face with a medium-good fake smile, Judy put her paw out and introduced herself to her new partner, hoping against hope that he was better than Bechtail had been.

…...

A small coffee mug hit the wall and shattered. Fortunately, it had been empty so it didn't make too much of a mess in the corner of the otherwise well-appointed office.

A pair of soft rabbit paws proceeded to pound the top of an old wooden desk. "Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!"

The paw of a porcupine subtlety set a new mug on the rabbit's desk and then picked up his own to take a sip. Nodding his head toward the computer screen on the desk, he calmly added, "I warned you that something like this was going to happen. Applying for those block grants got us noticed."

Karen Ackerbunn, youngest ever Mayor of Bunnyburrow, stared daggers at her computer screen while her Executive Assistant, Ken Quillbert, stood quietly next to her desk. They both had a plan for Bunnyburrow, a plan they'd been working on since they met in college, and sure as hell, that plan didn't involve the town getting called out for speciest treatment of predators in an article by a major online journalist.

"I know. But we need those grants." Fists balled up, Karen tried to relax.

"So now that you know I'm worth my salary as a psychic, we need to come up with a plan. It's almost the weekend, and everyone in Zootopia thinks we're out in the sticks, so that gives us a little time to come up with something before this blows up on social media."

Karen reached over and picked up the new mug and started tossing it from paw to paw as she thought. After a few moments, she stopped and said. "Call an emergency meeting of the Co-op board for tomorrow after lunch. Let them know about the article and that I want to talk about the issues that were brought up and any ideas on how we can address them."

"You seriously want the Co-op in on this? Most of them are part of the problem, I don't see the worth in getting them involved in trying to come up with any solutions."

Karen nodded, "Yeah, I want them there. The city council has been having a party blocking all my proposals, so I think it's time I tried working with someone else. Go set the meeting up and then get your tail back here with a couple of extra-large coffees, you and I are going to think of something to fix this problem and then we're going to prepare our best sales-pitch to make it happen."

…...

Schweinly checked out a patrol car and then he and Judy drove to where the production company was preparing to film. He parked the cruiser behind a group of trailers and then both of them made their way to where the production crew was set up. The area was barricaded off with cones and tape to warn away passersby and a couple of private security mammals were already working crowd control. Judy was thrilled to see all the actors and extras in replica ZPD uniforms looking over their scripts or drinking a last cup of coffee, it reminded her of when she played a cop in her Carrot Days' play so many years ago.

Schweinly suggested they split up and he headed over to manage the crowds by the trailers while Judy walked the production area perimeter barriers to make sure no overly aggressive fans disturbed the production crew.

Judy stopped to see a couple of the show's stars coming out from their trailers and meet with the director. As the shot was being laid out, Judy noticed Schweinly leaning over one of the barriers to talk with a large cream-colored rabbit buck wearing jeans and a Parkside Blues t-shirt. Judy watched for a moment to make sure her partner didn't need backup and then went back to walking her part of the barrier.

This was so sweet, she was only a few yards away from some of her favorite TV stars. Judy wanted so bad to take a couple of pictures of the actors with her phone, but ever the ZPD professional, she resisted. Of course, Nick would already have a dozen selfies and be working on some autographs by now. Shaking her head at the thought of Nick and his antics, Judy scanned the crowd and kept Schweinly in view in case something came up.

"Good morning Officer, how are you today?"

Judy turned toward the voice and saw the buck that Schweinly had been talking to. "Hello, can I help you?"

The buck gave Judy a broad smile, "Actually, I think it's me that can help you. I saw your cute tail from over there and I figured I should introduce myself. Now that I'm close enough to feel your need, how about we go somewhere and I help you out, hmmm?"

Judy's mouth hung open in shock. First, she was surprised that he had called her cute, no boy had ever called her cute before, well except Nick but he didn't know what cute meant to a bunny, so that didn't count. Second, what did he mean by 'helping her out'?

"I'm sorry, you've made some sort of mistake, I'm working, please move along."

Ignoring the request to leave, the buck pressed on, "My name's Neil and I know a private spot nearby where we can take care of your condition and have you back in a jiffy." Neil smiled even broader and stepped closer to Judy. "You look really nice in that outfit, how about you take a break from your character for a few minutes, we both know a doe has needs and I'll be gentle."

"Places everyone! Cameras ready!"

Judy went from shock to anger in a heartbeat, which for a rabbit is pretty fast, "I am Officer Judy Hopps with the ZPD! What in the carrot-picking world do you mean 'take a break from my character'?"

"Quiet on the set!"

Neil leaned in, put his arm around Judy and pulled her to his side. Then, speaking in a fake husky voice, "I can tell you haven't been with anyone for a long time and it's making you tense and fidgety, a little 'break' will do you good."

"Action!"

Judy grabbed the buck by his wrist, spun him around and pushed him to his knees. Pulling a pair of handcuffs from her belt, she cuffed his paws behind his back and yelled, "You are under arrest for interfering with an officer, you have the right to remain silent and I suggest you do exactly that!"

"Cut! Who the hell is that? I said I want it quiet on the set!"

Judy turned toward the director as her ears started to turn red from embarrassment, "Sorry, I'll lock this guy up in the cruiser."

"You do that, now, quiet on the set!"

Judy pulled Neil up on to his feet and pushed him toward where Schweinly was standing. As they got closer, Judy noticed that her temporary partner was smiling and chuckling to himself. The buck, on the other hand, seeing the laughing boar, suddenly realized that something was wrong and started to get upset.

"Whoa, wait one second, he told me you were an extra playing a bunny cop in the TV show. Holy crap, are you the real Judy Hopps?" Eyes bugged out, he looked at Judy desperately hoping that he hadn't just tried to proposition a real ZPD cop."

Judy just nodded.

"NO! I was set up! He gave me a fifty to proposition you and promised me another hundred if you went through with it. Please! I would never have done that if I'd known who you really were!"

Judy looked back and forth between the upset buck and Schweinly, who was now full up laughing, and started to get angry.

"Please, I didn't know, I swear" the buck pleaded.

Judy glared at her so-called partner who was still laughing and then set the buck free, "Get out of here and if I ever see you again, I'll lock you up for being a sleaze."

The buck took off in a flash as Judy stomped the rest of the way over to Schweinly, "You want to tell me what that was all about?"

"Hopps, you should have seen your face! I couldn't tell if you were shocked or you wanted to ask him out." Waving toward the retreating buck he added, "I can't believe you let him go, hell, you had him cuffed, you should have dragged him into one of the trailers and had some fun. Briggs always said you were wound pretty tight; a quickie probably would have done you some good."

"You wanted me to do WHAT?!" Glaring at the boar, Judy was incensed. "How dare you talk to me like that. I'm an Officer with the ZPD and you'll treat me with the respect I've earned! And what the heck does that ram, Briggs, have to do with any of this?"

Schweinly tried to mirror Judy's indignant look and yelled back, "Respect, what respect? You got into the ZPD on a technicality and the first time you were under fire you folded. Briggs told me how you screwed up, got wounded, and then blamed him."

Judy sputtered, "You have no idea what you're talking about—"

"CUT! What the hell is going on around here! Paula, fire whoever is making all that noise! I want it quiet now!"

Paula, one of the shows Assistant Directors, scurried over the two police officers and hushed them. "Look you two, you need to quiet down. If you have something you need to talk about, use one of the makeup trailers." Paula opened the door of the nearest trailer and gestured for the two officers to move their discussion inside.

Judy glared at Schweinly as he led the way into the trailer.

As Judy closed the door, Schweinly turned on her. "Briggs had to ask for a transfer to District 13 and he said it was because of you. You couldn't hack it under fire and threw him under the bus. That's what's going on."

Judy was pissed now, "Schweinly, whatever Briggs told you is a pile of pellets! He was the one that hung me out to dry and almost got me killed."

Schweinly started to tell Judy she was full of crap when Judy held up a paw to hold him from speaking. Judy took a calming breath and said, "Look, I don't know exactly what Briggs told you but I'll fill you in if you let me."

Schweinly closed his mouth with a click and made a waving motion with his hoof for her to continue.

"A wolf from one of the most violent gangs in the city was running from a robbery. Someone called the ZPD when they saw him cross a park and head toward a house that backed up to the green space. Briggs and I were the closest, so we were the first on scene. By the time we arrived, the wolf had already broken into the house and we could hear him trashing the place. We didn't know if the wolf was alone in the house or if any of the homeowners were in there with him, so we moved into the house to make sure there were no civilians at risk.

"What we didn't know at the time was that the wolf had a gun and had downed a heavy dose of PCP because he was looking to kill a cop.

"Briggs went to the left and I went to the right toward the kitchen. The wolf howled and screamed that he'd kill anyone he saw and then fired a couple of shots. I signaled Briggs to circle around to the dining room and he acknowledged. I leaned around a half wall separating the kitchen from the family room and saw the wolf standing in the trashed kitchen.

"Briggs was supposed to be coming around the other side of the kitchen to cover me, but he didn't. Instead, the wolf spotted me and decided to take a shot. I was able to get a shot off first, but I only had a tranq gun. The dart wasn't having much of an effect on him, probably due to the PCP that I didn't know about, so I readied another shot.

"I yelled for Briggs, but he didn't answer. The wolf came around to where I was and took a shot at me at the same time I hit him with another dart. His shot grazed me in the arm and I fell back under a large chair. The wolf came over, tossed the chair away and aimed his gun right at me. I rolled away just as he fired and the shot hit the floor where I'd been lying. I hit him with another dart and tried to dive behind another chair, but I was too slow. He was aiming his gun at me to take another shot when the tranqs finally took effect and he collapsed. If the tranqs had taken another split second, I'd be dead."

Schweinly asked, "What happened to Briggs?"

With an angry look on her face, Judy replied, "He was in one of the bedrooms hiding next to a bed, cowering in fear. I found out later that he'd never drawn his weapon before and never been involved in a shooting. He didn't follow procedure, he signaled that he had me covered and then he ran and hid. It was like he wanted me to take on an armed wolf all by myself with only a tranq gun to defend myself, hardly fair odds."

"He blamed you for ending up in District 13."

"Briggs should have been suspended or even fired. Him ending up riding a desk in the Meadowlands was better than he deserved."

"Hopps, I'll take your version of what happened under advisement, but I've known Briggs for a while and I find it hard to believe he would abandon his partner like that."

Schweinly moved toward the door adding, "I don't like you and I think you are a publicity stunt. The fact that you were on patrol with only a tranq gun is proof positive that the ZPD higher-ups don't trust you either. You should have stayed outside that house and let Briggs go in with some real cops to back him up."

Looking at the rabbit with disgust on his face, he added, "You're going to get someone killed one day and I don't want that someone to be me, so how about we patrol opposite sides of the festival until our shift is over."

Judy waited until the boar had left before making her own way out of the trailer. She quietly patrolled the TV production area until they were done filming and then stayed as far away from Schweinly as she could for the rest of the afternoon.

…...

Hooyah! Ticket number 75 and the clock says it's time to drive back to the precinct. Nick had the joke-mobile floored and his head hanging out the side, mouth open and his tongue out ready to taste the speed. Still nothing, even downhill. What fun is it being a canid if you can't feel the wind in your face while driving? Maybe Carrots would let me soup this cart up with a bigger engine or a pair of booster rockets.

Nick heard the beeping of an incoming call, grabbing his phone he answered it. "Wilde here."

"Nick, you wanted to hear when I'd started revving up the social media campaign, it's been up for a couple of hours now."

"Hey, Finn. Are you getting enough of a response for tomorrow?"

"Looks good so far. I'll make the call in the morning according to the plan. Anything else?"

"Nah, thanks, big guy, I'm gonna owe you a solid for this one."

"Oh yeah, can't wait to collect, talk to you later."

Nick pulled into the precinct garage and parked the small cart next to its charging station and plugged it in. Walking toward the male's locker room he wondered what Judy was up to. He missed her. The major downside to his plan was that it kept him away from his bunny. For the first time since he'd graduated, they had missed their movie night together last night. Snuggling up with Judy on her bed for movie night with a bowl of popcorn and a couple of sodas was always the highlight of his week. Sighing, Nick opened the door to the locker room and wished that he was getting ready to meet Judy and walk her home instead of heading to his place by himself.

…...

Judy walked into the precinct atrium and over to the reception desk. "Hey, Ben."

She intended to keep walking past the cheetah toward the female's locker room but was stopped by a wave from Clawhauser. "Judy, the Chief wants to see you before you go off shift. He's waiting in his office."

"Okay, Ben. Thanks."

Judy knocked on the Chief's door with her signature triple tap. "Come in, Hopps."

"Ben said you wanted to see me, sir."

"Yes, Hopps, take a seat."

Judy jumped up into the large chair and made herself as comfortable as she could. Judy watched as Bogo sorted through a stack of papers on his desk. She could see that he wasn't happy. Whenever Nick irritated the Chief too much a certain vein on his forehead throbbed. Judy could see the same vein pulsing now. She sat and tried to keep her paws from fidgeting, but quiet patience was more Nick's forte than hers.

After a few minutes had passed and the bunny's tension level had escalated appropriately, Bogo spoke.

"Hopps, I have this week's daily shift reports on your performance and I'm not happy. Care to explain?"

Judy swallowed nervously, "Um, well, was it a difficult week? Yes, yes it was." She gave Bogo her best fake smile, even showing her buck teeth for better effect.

Glaring at the rabbit, Bogo slammed his hoof on the desk, "Hopps, don't play word games with me. I've got a report here from Officer Garrison that details insubordination. You disregarded her decision to turn over a case to the ZPS and took it upon yourself to volunteer to perform the reviews instead. Is this report true?"

"Sir, there were extenuating circumstances, the situation was unnecessarily escalated and I felt—"

Cutting Judy off, Bogo asked more sternly, "Is this report correct?"

Judy replied in a quiet voice, "Yes, sir."

"Garrison also documented that you ignored her instructions while in pursuit of a purse snatcher and were out of position."

"Sir, Officer Garrison was being unreasonable, her efforts to keep me safe were not necessary and she had no respect for my—"

"Hopps!"

Judy gritted her teeth, "Yes, sir, I disregarded Garrison's order to hide behind the squad car."

Bogo flipped through the papers and looked back up at Judy, "Garrison didn't send me anything the day of your last shift together, I'll assume that's a good thing."

Judy nodded in silence.

Bogo reshuffled the stack of reports. He let Judy stew for another minute before glaring at her again. "Senior Constable Bechtail's opinion of you was significantly less than stellar. She attacked the MII as a waste of resources based on the program's acceptance of a 'classless rodent'."

"Sir, I…"

"I don't want to hear it, Hopps."

Bogo held up a page of handwritten notes. "And today? I gave you specific instructions to keep that TV production quiet and on schedule. Instead, I get a phone call from the producer telling me that you disrupted the shoot not once but twice and the second time had something to do with an argument between you and Schweinly. Which part of 'get them gone quickly' did you not understand?"

Judy sat quietly with her head down and wrung her paws together as Bogo glared at her.

"I'd like to hear what this argument between you and Schweinly was about."

Judy, still looking down, nervously bit her lip. "Officer Schweinly is a friend of Officer Briggs. Briggs told him that it was my poor performance during that shooting with the gang-banger wolf that led to me getting hurt. He believes that Briggs had to request a transfer to Precinct 13 because he was being held up as the scapegoat for the whole incident. I explained to him how it was Briggs not following protocol and failing to support his partner in a dangerous situation that led to me being injured. I walked Schweinly through what really happened and told him that, in my opinion, Briggs should have been more severely disciplined for his actions."

Bogo studied Judy's downturned face. He hadn't known that Schweinly and Briggs were friends. If he had, he never would have partnered him with Hopps.

Bogo grunted and shook his head. "Not one of your best weeks was it Hopps?"

"No sir, I suppose not."

"Half a shift of foot patrol tomorrow morning to support the festival and then starting this weekend you meet with that family at least weekly for the next eight weeks and turn in your reviews to me. And Hopps no overtime, the reviews are on your own time, understand?"

"Yes, sir."

"You're dismissed."

Judy climbed down from the chair. As she turned to leave, she remembered something Schweinly had said to her this morning during their argument. "Sir?"

"Yes Hopps, what now?"

"Why haven't I ever been issued a ZPD weapon or a full-size vest? All the other rookies were assigned gear their first month here. I've been working for a year and I filled out all the proper forms, but the ZPD hasn't issued me anything but a tranq gun."

Bogo gave Judy a confused look. He started to point out that she was wearing a weapon when he remembered back over all the paperwork related to her and Wilde that he had signed over the last year.

"You're right, I haven't been given any requests from the Quartermaster to approve ZPD gear for you. I do remember that procurement said they were having trouble finding a weapon sized to fit a rabbit, but that was a while ago."

Pointing at the holster on her belt, Bogo asked, "If that weapon didn't come from the Quartermaster, where did you get it?"

"A few days after I was injured, I went to visit Nick at the Academy. When he found out what had happened and that I hadn't been issued a weapon yet, he got pretty upset. He made a couple of calls and then took me to a gunsmith he knew. They took measurements and laser scans of my paws and torso and a few weeks later I picked up a weapon and a vest. They had me come back for a final adjustment on the pistol after I had fired a few hundred rounds, but start to finish it didn't take them all that long."

Judy looked intently at Bogo, "Sir, if Nick was able to help me get a weapon so quickly, how come the ZPD hasn't been able to? Is there something else I should be aware of that is keeping me from being issued ZPD equipment?"

Bogo opened his mouth to reply but closed it instead. He gave Hopps a dumbfounded look. She should have been issued a service weapon months ago. Someone had dropped the ball or worse, was purposely trying to put one of his officers in harm's way. As he tried to come up with a plausible explanation, he could see a look of resignation fill Hopps' eyes.

"I don't suppose a meter maid needs a weapon or a vest, do they sir?"

Bogo sighed, "Hopps, it's not like that. You should have been outfitted with gear as soon as you were assigned to the precinct. I'll look into what happened right away."

Looking at her feet, Judy replied, "Of course, sir."

Judy's shoulders slumped and her ears were as droopy as they had ever been. Bogo watched as a look of failure and disappointment swept over the bunny. It wasn't quite the same look that he had seen just before Judy turned in her badge after the Missing Mammals case, but it was bad enough.

As Judy made to leave again, Bogo halted her, "Hopps hold on. May I see your weapon and vest, please."

Judy unzipped enough of her neoprene uniform that Bogo could see some of the thin mesh that covered her entire torso. Next, she pulled her weapon out of its holster, checked the safety, removed the magazine and verified the chamber was empty. Once they both could see the weapon was safe, she handed it to Bogo.

Bogo took the small weapon and examined it carefully. He put his reading glasses on when he noticed a small engraving on the frame above the grip. Recognizing it, his eyes went wide and he looked over his glasses at Hopps. If she noticed his reaction, she didn't say anything.

"This is the pistol that Wilde helped you get?"

Judy remembered Nick practically begging her to let him buy her a gun and vest. She had only agreed to let him pay the difference between her savings and the total cost of the gear after he had gotten down on his knees and used his puppy-dog eyes on her. Of course, being the hustler he was, he continued to use the look on her until she'd agreed to let him order upgraded models over the ones she had picked out.

"Yes, sir. Nick said it was one of the better ones available that would fit a rabbit."

Feeling Bogo's eyes on her, Judy continued in a soft voice, "It was more than I could afford by myself, so Nick helped me pay for it. And, um, even with his help, it ended up costing me all of my savings."

Bogo looked at the gun in his hoof again and then back at Judy but didn't say anything.

Judy started to get nervous that she'd done something wrong, "Sir, I filled out all the proper paperwork for having a personally owned weapon and submitted it to the Quartermaster like I was supposed to. I also made sure Nick's paperwork was in order since he's using his own weapon too."

Bogo handed the weapon back to Judy.

"Hopps, I'll check with the Quartermaster, but Wilde is right, any weapon the ZPD can find for you won't be as good as what you have there. My advice to you is to keep using the equipment you already have and I will make sure that your and Wilde's files reflect that I have given you permission to use your personal gear while on duty."

Judy nodded without saying anything.

"Hopps, I'm sure this was all just a procurement snafu."

"Yes, sir."

Judy slowly walked over to the door and then jumped up to grab the handle. With a swing to the side to turn the handle, she opened the door.

"Goodnight sir."