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

…..

The Taste of Zootopia festival was gearing back up for the day. Some booths were already open and catering to those looking for breakfast or an early deal on some jewelry or a crocheted scarf. Even though the entertainment wasn't due to start for another few hours, Judy saw families with blankets setting up in the grassy areas near one of the stages. Kits were running around as their parents tried to keep them within earshot. Judy even saw some rabbit kits trying to argue with their mother as she marked each of them before letting them go play.

Judy felt good, she knew she shouldn't, but she did. Last night she'd gotten the best night's sleep she'd had in a week. Judy had woken up before her alarm went off and headed out for a ten-mile run. She'd been skipping her morning runs this last week because she'd been feeling so tired, but today it had felt good to get out, stretch her legs, and clear her mind.

It had taken most of the run, but Judy had finally come to terms with what had happened with her dad. The blowup had been inevitable. Maybe if they had talked things out years ago, it wouldn't have happened. Unfortunately, she'd been too young and too hurt to confront him before now.

Sometimes things happen for a reason and it may not be a very nice thing to say, but distancing herself from her dad felt like a huge weight had been lifted off her shoulders. Judy knew now that some of her worries about Bunnyburrow and her family had been magnified by her dad. It wasn't to say that Bunnyburrow didn't still have a lot of very real problems, some of which may still stand in the way of her and Nick being together, but the fight with her dad had given her a lot to think about.

Shaking her head, Judy decided that she'd put off worrying about her dad, her week of terrible partners and even Bogo reprimanding her yesterday. If she had to work the festival this morning she was going to try and enjoy it, she'd get back to worrying about everything else later.

Judy walked down the rows of vendor booths. She stopped at one run by a possum and almost laughed, 'We're All Ears!' The booth was dedicated to earrings, ear cuffs, clips, wraps, and any accessory a mammal with ears could want. Judy smiled as she picked up what was either an earring made for an elephant or a hula-hoop for an otter. Looking at the displays, she tried to imagine the mechanics of how some of the jewelry was worn by their respective mammals. Brushing a few dangly ear wraps with her paw she slowly padded through the displays.

A display toward the back caught Judy's eye. She rushed over and then let out a little chirp of excitement, quickly covering her mouth she looked around to make sure no one had heard her. There was a display of rabbit ear bangles and one of them looked just right. It was made of two soft cords braided together. One cord was made from a purple fabric intertwined with green metal threads and the other was a green fabric with purple metal threads.

Judy looked around again, this time to make sure there weren't any rabbits around, and then she slipped the bangle over her left ear. Looking at herself in the mirror, Judy turned her head back and forth and waggled her ear to get a better view. She smiled, it was perfect.

Judy took the bangle off and pulled a twenty from her pocket, but before going over to pay the owner, she hesitated. Her ears started to droop as she whispered to herself, "Stop being such a bunny."

She started to put it back when the possum came over, "Good morning Officer. You know that bangle looks beautiful on you, it complements your eyes wonderfully. I'm sure your boyfriend will think so too."

Judy smiled as her ears turned pink, she let them drop all the way down her back to hide the blush. "I ah, don't have a boyfriend."

With a nod and a knowing smile, the older female replied, "The way you were trying that on, you could have fooled me. I'm sure whoever you were just thinking about will tell you it looks almost as attractive as the doe wearing it."

Judy held the bangle in her palm for a moment, 'No one needs to know, and maybe…'

Judy smiled as she gave the bill to the possum, "Thanks!" Slipping the bangle in her pocket, she bounced away from the booth and resumed her patrol.

…..

A few blocks away, Nick was walking toward his cart parked up the street. He couldn't believe that Bogo had assigned him parking duty today of all days. Yes, he'd volunteered, but only a fool would try and drive down to city central today. The crowds were going to be crazy and most of the parking was blocked off for the vendors. So, knowing that the ticket count was going to be non-existent, Nick decided to do the next best thing, he found a breakfast burrito booth and was happily munching away on a toasted cricket and veggie special.

Nick was in his element, crowds of people looking for food, entertainment, and souvenirs. He remembered how much he and Finn used to like working this event. A few card games or maybe selling some knock-off watches. They'd make more in a weekend here than they would in two weeks of selling Pawpsicles. Being a cop was great but every now and then he missed the fun of the hustle.

Nick heard the ping of an incoming text from his phone. Pulling his phone out of his pocket, he saw the short message from Finn, Making the call now. Nick slipped the phone back into his pocket and took another bite of his burrito.

Walking away from the few people that he could see, Nick crossed an alley the ran along the backside of some businesses that catered to a more late-night crowd. It was quiet now, but Nick knew that it would be hopping later on this evening especially once the bands finished playing on the outdoor stage.

As Nick paused, he heard something from the alley. Listening more carefully, he heard a growl. Definitely feline. He called into the alley, "Hello, Officer Wilde, ZPD, are you okay?" The growling started to get louder and he heard a trashcan get knocked over.

Not good, Wilde.

Maybe it was an animal waking up from a bender, or maybe it was one drugged up on something. It was against policy for those on parking patrol to carry weapons of any kind and Nick's radio was a couple of blocks away in the joke-mobile. To be safe, he needed backup.

Setting his burrito down on the brickwork ledge of the building, he pulled out his phone and called Judy. A moment later he heard his partner on the line.

"Nick, what are you doing, you're not supposed to be calling my cell during work hours."

"Carrots, I need you! How close are you to Jimmie's Deli, you know, the lunch place you like where they make the lettuce wraps you always order?"

"I'm about two blocks away, why?"

"I'm in the alley behind their building and I hear an animal growling, they may be drugged or something and since I'm on parking duty, I'm not allowed to carry my tranq gun."

"On my way!"

Judy met up with Nick at the alley entrance in less than two minutes and they took up positions to go in and investigate.

The growling was louder now as if the animal was fully awake and getting ready to hunt. Judy went in first with Nick behind her and to her right. Nick had found a short pipe and was wielding it like a club.

A trashcan crashed as it was knocked over followed by a loud feline yowl. Looking in the dim alley, Nick could see a female caracal on all fours tearing into an old chair cushion. "Carrots, a feline, your side of the alley behind that busted chair. I'll draw her out in the open and you knock her out."

Judy nodded in acknowledgment and moved into position. Nick moved opposite Judy and started tapping the pipe on the alley wall. "Here kitty, kitty, come out and play. I have a nice ball of yarn for you."

Judy whispered, "Nick, be serious."

The feline's ears had folded back when Nick started making noise with the pipe. As Nick moved toward the center of the alley, the caracal began tracking the fox. Crouching low, the feline hissed as it slowly crept forward.

Nick stepped back with a paw raised in front of him, "Carrots, her eyes, she's not high. They don't have quite the same look as Manchas' did, but I think she's gone savage."

"Okay, start backing up toward the wall so I can get a clear shot as you draw her out."

The hisses and growls suddenly became a loud screech as the caracal leaped at least two meters into the air toward Nick. Her paws, with claws fully extended, were spread wide as she made to trap her red furred prey. Nick rolled away from the caracal's claws as she landed on the ground. As Nick sprang back up onto his feet, he saw a tranq dart sticking out of the girl's leg.

The savage feline growled at Nick and then reached back and with her teeth pulled the dart out. Spitting it out on the ground she crouched down in preparation for another attack.

"Caaaarrots, I think that just pissed her off."

'Shwaaap,' another dart hit the caracal in the shoulder. The hisses were a lot louder now. She reached around and pulled that dart out too, this time biting it in half as she spat it out. Her head pivoted toward Judy ten yards away and still in her firing stance.

As the caracal started to move toward her new target, Nick waved his arms and yelled to get the feline's attention. It worked, the caracal, a little unsteady now, turned back to stalk the annoyingly loud fox.

"Nick, stay back! I don't want to dart her again unless I have to, she's pretty small and another dose of tranqs might really hurt her."

Nick slowly backed away making sure the caracal kept her eyes on him and not his partner. "I think the tranqs are working, her eyes are dilating and she's starting to weave. Get ready to toss me your cuffs and when she goes down, I'll restrain her. Keep her covered and hope you don't have to dart her again. No matter what though, we can't let her get out of the alley with the festival going on."

Nick kept up the noise as the savage feline became more and more unsteady. After another 30 seconds or so, the caracal made a meowling sound as her eyes rolled back in her head and she went down in an unconscious heap.

Judy tossed Nick her handcuffs as he approached the sleeping animal cautiously. "She's out cold. Nice shooting, Carrots."

Nick reached down and rolled the caracal over to bind her paws when he heard the sound of glass breaking next to the unconscious female. Nick looked near her waist and saw a broken vial with clear fluid running out onto the ground.

"Carrots! I've got a liquid here, I need something to keep it from draining all over. Do you have a bag or anything?"

"No, I didn't grab any evidence bags today."

"Wait, over on the ledge, grab my burrito and hand me the plastic wrap."

Judy hopped over and pulled the plastic off of Nick's breakfast. She handed it to him and he covered the spill and scooted the edges of the plastic under some of the glass pieces without touching any of it. The liquid was evaporating pretty fast. Nick had gotten a little whiff of the chemical and was now leaning his head back to make sure he didn't breathe anymore in.

"Call for a CSI team. Tell them to get here fast, I don't know how long before all of this liquid evaporates."

Judy made the emergency call and then tended to the unconscious Caracal. She looked to be in her early twenties, wearing cargo pants and a light gray hoodie over a khaki t-shirt. Judy found her ID in one pocket and a couple of wallets in her other pockets.

"Nick, her name is Katie Leyton, she's 23, her address is in the Rainforest District." Judy opened up the other wallets and turned them around in her paws. "I think she's a pickpocket or a small-time thief, she has a couple of wallets in her pockets that aren't hers."

A moment later, a ZPD van with a single CSI tech pulled into the alley. The tech grabbed a small case and rushed over to where Nick was kneeling.

Nick held the plastic in place while the technician slid the broken piece of the vial holding the remaining fluid into a small bag and then sealed it up. By the time they finished bagging everything, there were only a few drops of the liquid left. Hopefully enough for the lab to figure out what it was.

Leaving the rest of the crime scene for another tech, the CSI took off to get the sample secured somewhere it wouldn't evaporate. Just after he left, an ambulance showed up, as did another team of officers. The paramedics gently restrained the girl, checked her vitals, and then loaded her into the ambulance. A few minutes later the ambulance was gone.

Nick and Judy inspected the alley while the other officers taped off the scene. They took pictures of the entire area and poked around looking for any drug paraphernalia or something that would tell them if Nighthowlers were involved. If at all possible, they wanted to rule out that evil drug.

It had been a year since the last time a predator had gone savage from a Nighthowler attack. Since that time, pred-prey relations still hadn't fully healed. A lot of progress had been made, but if word got out that predators were being targeted again with that drug, it could cause a city-wide panic.

Nick walked over to where Judy was taking another picture. "Hey Carrots, let's head over to the hospital and check on our victim. She should be coming around in the next hour or so."

"Good idea, let the other team know to keep the area secure until CSI is done. I'll radio Bogo and let him know what happened and that we are heading to the hospital to wait for the girl to wake up. If she wakes up normal, we need to find out what happened, if she wakes up savage we have a big problem."

Nick let the other patrol team know about his parking cart and they promised to take care of it, namely put it in the trunk of their squad car and drop it off at the precinct garage.

The two small officers walked over to the Metro station and boarded a crowded train. The hospital was only a few stops down the line. Nick grabbed hold of one of the stanchions to steady himself as Judy held onto Nick. As the car started to move, the crowd swayed and Nick took his free arm and steadied Judy by pulling her in close. She looked up at him as he smirked. With as crowded as the car was no one would notice their closeness. Judy relaxed into the impromptu hug as she felt Nick's tail wrap itself around her ankles.

About 15 minutes later the partners were standing outside a secure section of Zootopia General. This was a high-security area, cordoned off and reserved for high-risk patients, violent criminals and more recently, Nighthowler victims. The wing had a mammal-trap entrance and each room was separated by a heavy-duty door that could withstand a rampaging elephant. Each secure room also had an adjoining observation room that allowed staff members to observe the patients from behind a two-way mirror made from a 4-inch thick slab of transparent aluminum.

An older Badger wearing green scrubs and a white lab coat joined Nick and Judy at the security desk. "Good afternoon officers, I'm Dr. Badger, I was told you are here for Miss Leyton."

Presenting her ID to the security guard, Judy replied, "Yes doctor we are." Judy took a closer look at the badger and lifted her finger in thought.

"We've met before, haven't we?"

"Yes, Officer Hopps, we have. I'm embarrassed to say, but you arrested me a little over a year ago at the Cliffside Asylum. I led the team trying to treat the savage mammals. If it hadn't been for you discovering what Bellwether was up to, we might not have ever found the cure."

"Thank you, it was a team effort. Officer Wilde here did more to solve the case than I did."

Nick rolled his eyes, "Officer Hopps is too kind, I was just along for the ride. Nice to see you again Doctor. I remember hearing that you were cleared of all charges and put in charge of all Nighthowler research, congratulations."

Dr. Badger motioned them toward the large door being opened by hydraulics. "This way to Miss Leyton's room."

The small group of mammals walked down a sterile, wide hallway. Dr. Badger stopped at the door marked 'Observation Room 2'. "Here we go, you should be comfortable in here, Miss Leyton is resting comfortably in the next room."

Nick asked, "Doctor, how soon until the results from the test for Nighthowler comes back?"

Dr. Badger replied, "Don't worry Officer Wilde, Nighthowler is included in the standard battery of tests we run and we should have most of the results available soon. In the meantime, we have Miss Leyton restrained and you can observe her through the window there. Until we know what, if any drugs were involved, all we can do is wait."

Looking at the sleeping caracal, Judy nodded, "We'll wait here, the double dose of tranquilizers should be wearing off soon."

"That button there will open the door to her room, if her condition changes or you need anything, please use the intercom over there." The doctor closed the door leaving the two officers alone.

Judy sat down and watched Nick. He examined the heavily reinforced doors and then scanned the rest of the room. There were seats of varying sizes so that almost any size mammal would be comfortable. A table and podium were up front but pushed to the side so that all the seats had a clear view of the two-way mirror embedded in the front wall. Nick went up to the 'glass' and tapped it with his claw.

"Thought this stuff only existed in the movies."

"You're such a geek, come over here and sit down." She patted the empty part of the medium mammal sized seat she was sitting in.

Nick snickered and went over to sit next to his partner.

Judy turned in the seat and sat crisscross facing Nick. She took his paws in hers and gave him a thoughtful doe-eyed look, which her being a doe came pretty naturally. "Thank you, Nick."

Scooching closer, Nick leaned in toward Judy a little confused, "Okay, but what did I do to deserve being thanked?"

"This morning, when you called me for backup, you could have called anyone, but you didn't." She sighed, "It's been a real bad week. I haven't felt like much of a cop and I know I've been a horrible friend. I hurt you and then I kept leaning on you like nothing had changed between us. It's not fair and I'm sorry. I just wanted you to know how much it means to me that you haven't given up on me or on us, um, being partners."

Nick reached over and cupped her cheek in his paw, "Judy, I called you this morning because you're the best cop on the force and the only one I trust ." Smiling now, he added. "And, you're my partner and my best friend. Please believe me when I say, no matter what can or can't happen between us, I will always be your fox."

Judy leaned her cheek into his paw and reached up to hold it there with her own paw. She closed her eyes and relaxed into his touch. After a few moments, Nick heard a purring sound coming from his bunny.

With her eyes still closed, Judy hummed, "You know you drive me crazy, right?"

Nick laughed, "Do I know that? Yes, yes I do."

Judy gave Nick a light punch to his shoulder. "Dumb fox."

"Beautiful bunny."

Judy harrumphed as she glanced over at the still unconscious caracal. Nick leaned back against the armrest, folded his arms, and grinned at his partner.

The insides of Judy's ears started to turn pink as a growing blush colored them. She let her ears drop down against her back so Nick wouldn't see the effect he was having on her. "Whaaaat?"

"Nothing, just taking in the sights while we're waiting for our victim to wake up."

With a coy smile Judy motioned her head toward the sleeping girl, "She's over there, Slick."

"Yup."

"Okay you, enough of your teasing, cops on duty, remember?"

"Mean bunny, always making the fox work."

"Nick, speaking of work, I was wondering if you could help me out with something. A few days ago, when I was on patrol with Garrison, I sort of volunteered to take on a social services case. I was trying to keep her from turning a couple of fox kits over to the ZPS and now I'm supposed to check in on the family once a week."

"Ugh, Garrison has it in for a lot of small predators."

"Yeah, she lost it with the kits and their mom. I'd like to make it up to the family, you know, show them that all cops aren't like Garrison. I was thinking of visiting them tomorrow afternoon and was wondering if, maybe, you'd go with me." Judy's words started tumbling out quickly now. "You know, you being a fox and all, I was hoping you could give me some advice, maybe I should take something, I don't know, they were so scared and the kits were so cute and I was so worried and I couldn't stop her fast enough, wouldyouhelpmeplease?"

Nick looked a little stunned but recovered quickly. "I think I caught some of that. Wait, how come you can call foxes cute, that doesn't seem fair?"

"Since it's a bunny rule, we're exempt."

"I don't know…"

Judy decided to pull out the heavy artillery. Her purple eyes went wide as she slightly tilted her head to look up into his green orbs. She dropped her ears, clasped her paws together and let her buck teeth nibble her bottom lip just a little. "Pleeeeease, Nick."

Nick put up his paws to block her look and made a symbol with his fingers as if to ward off some sort of demon. "Make it stop, please, I'll do it, anything, but stop it with the face!"

Judy dropped the look and smiled, "Thanks Nick, you're the best."

"Geez Carrots, warn a guy next time you're gonna do that."

"I'll give them a call, what time do you think?"

Nick scratched the back of his neck as he thought, "You're trying to make a good impression, right?"

Judy nodded.

"Okay, tell them that you would like to visit them at 4:30 tomorrow and that you would be honored if they would allow you to contribute a dish to their evening meal."

Judy raised an eyebrow in response. "I'm inviting myself to dinner?"

"It's a fox thing, trust me. Oh, and Carrots, since this is supposed to be your meetup, don't tell them my name or that I'm a fox."

She gave him another look.

"Don't worry…"

"It's a fox thing, I got it." Judy walked over to the side of the room and called Mrs. Greytail to make the arrangements. Judy could tell that the vixen was initially concerned about the inspection request, but that concern became curiosity as Judy repeated the meal request exactly as Nick had said it to her."

"Hey Carrots looks like the tranqs have worn off, the girl is starting to wake up."

Judy quickly finished her call with the vixen and walked over to the window. She watched as the young girl stirred, she tried to stretch her arms and legs but was held tight by the restraints. The caracal began to panic. Her head tossed back and forth as she started to cry. The muzzle prevented her from yelling for help, the poor girl was alone in a bright white room and began to thrash about.

"Nick, she's not savage, whatever it was it wasn't Nighthowlers. We need to help her." Judy pushed the large button next to the secured door leading to where the girl was restrained. The door bolts all opened with a clang and the hydraulics swung the heavy door open. Judy rushed in with Nick following her.

"Miss Leyton. Please calm down. Can you understand me?"

Judy watched as the young girl tried to say something but the muzzle interfered with her attempts.

Judy could see the girl was starting to panic, "Miss Leyton, Katie, look at me, you're okay. Please, if you can understand what I'm saying just nod."

Katie nodded slowly and then whimpered.

"My name is Judy Hopps and this is my partner Nick Wilde, we're with the ZPD. You're in a hospital room. You've been restrained because you tried to attack Officer Wilde in an alley this morning. Do you remember anything from this morning?"

Katie shook her head. Tears were flowing from her eyes now. Judy could tell the young girl was scared and the muzzle was only making things worse.

Judy looked at Nick. He shrugged his shoulders and nodded.

"I'm going to remove your muzzle, do you understand?"

Katie nodded again and held her head still as Judy undid the restraints and removed the device. Judy stepped back out of the range of the caracal's sharp teeth. "How are you feeling?"

She coughed and then whispered. "Water"

Nick grabbed a small water bottle and went over to the bed. He used the bed controls to lift Katie into more of a sitting position. With all her paws still restrained Nick had to open up the bottle and put it to her lips. She took a couple of small sips and took a deep breath.

"Thank you."

Judy came closer, "Katie, do you remember trying to attack my partner this morning?"

"I'm sorry, I don't remember anything from this morning or anything about attacking anyone."

"That's okay, why don't you just tell us the last thing you do remember."

Katie thought for a moment, "Well, I remember finding a mark at a bar last, I mean uh, having a drink at a bar last night when—"

Nick coughed into his paw, interrupting her story. As he looked at Judy, she rolled her eyes and waved her paw in a 'move it along' gesture.

"Miss Leyton, we're really only interested in what happened to you and why you seemed to go savage on me. If we happened to have found a couple of extra wallets in the alley, well, I'm sure no one knows or cares how they got there."

Katie looked back and forth between the two officers and almost smiled at the looks they were giving each other. The fox had a knowing smirk on his face while his rabbit partner looked like she was going to punch him later.

"Okay, I'd been working the festival and I decided to stop into a bar on my way home for a drink and maybe one last mark. That's when I saw a capybara by the bar. He bought me a drink and when the bartender gave us our drinks, I leaned in closer to 'liberate' any items he might have in his coat pocket while he was distracted. I remember I felt a few glass vials and grabbed one of them. I palmed the vial and did a quick look around the bar for a target that might have something of real value. Not seeing anyone else worth the effort, I slammed the drink and told the guy I had to go."

She asked Nick for some more water and while she took a drink Judy asked, "Did you get a good look at the capybara?"

"No, sorry, the bar was dark and I never really saw his face that well. I do remember he was wearing an earring, but that's it."

Judy tapped her muzzle with her finger and then asked, "How about the people you took the wallets from, would they have seen the capybara?"

"No, I picked those up near the main entertainment stage maybe five hours earlier, I was hanging out there most of the night to watch the bands play, they had a sweet lineup this year."

Judy sighed, "Alright, what happened next at the bar?"

Katie shuddered, "It got weird. He must have spiked my drink with something because I remember getting up and feeling a little woozy and then losing my balance. The guy tried to grab me but ended up pushing me into some zebra guy. The zebra got pissed and took a swing at the capybara."

"While the two of them were going at it, I staggered out of the way. I must have looked drunk because some waiter yelled at me to get the hell out and go sleep it off or he'd have someone throw me out. I headed out the back way to avoid the fight and vaguely remember making it into the alley and just past a dumpster before collapsing. After that, nothing, until I woke up here."

Judy looked concerned, "Were you hurt?"

Katie shook her head, "No, aside from sore spots on my leg and shoulder, I feel fine."

Judy nodded, "The sore spots are from where I darted you and I'm glad you're not hurt, but we'll need to let Dr. Badger look you over anyway."

Katie nodded, "Okay."

Nick raised a finger, "So, Miss Leyton, "Do you remember what time it was when you met the capybara?"

Katie thought for a second and then replied, "It had to be around 1:15 or 1:30 since I was trying to get in and out before last call at 2."

Nick nodded, "And when was the last time you ate or drank something before stopping at the bar?"

"A tofu and shrimp kabob around 7:00 for dinner."

Nick looked at Judy and said, "Carrots, I think she's right, it must have been the drink she had in the bar. With her getting woozy, I'd say it was spiked with something like Nyxum or Cynsanol, but neither of those knock someone out the way she described and they certainly don't cause someone to go savage."

Katie looked at the two officers and started to panic, "Do you think my drink was spiked with that Nighthowler drug? Am I going to go permanently savage?"

Judy moved closer to the bed and put a paw on the girl's shoulder. "Katie, please stay calm. Once the blood tests come back we'll know more, but I will tell you that Nick and I have been around mammals dosed with the Nighthowler serum and if that's what you had been given, we wouldn't be having this conversation right now."

Doctor Badger's timing was impeccable as she knocked on the door as the hydraulics were opening it and came into the room. Good afternoon Miss Leyton, it's nice to see you awake. I have the results of your blood tests and you will be happy to hear that the standard test for Nighthowler came back negative."

Katie exhaled in relief, "Thank goodness."

"Miss Leyton, I would like to keep you in the hospital overnight. Our tests didn't find anything unusual in your system, but you did have an episode of some sort this morning and it would be wise to observe you for a day before you go home."

"Um, doctor, I don't have any insurance. I can't really afford to be here."

"Don't worry Miss Leyton, cases like yours are paid for by the city as part of the savage response program."

"Okay, thank you, Doctor. Do I still have to wear these restraints?"

"No, I don't think we will need those anymore. Officers, if you wouldn't mind, would you please help Miss Leyton."

Doctor Badger called for an attendant to take Katie to a standard room. Judy gave her a contact card in case she remembered any other details. Judy also let her know that someone from the ZPD would be by before she was released from the hospital to ask some more questions and possibly get her help in working up a detailed description of the capybara that may have poisoned her. The two officers then wished her well and said their goodbyes.

Once Katie was taken out, Nick spoke with Dr. Badger, "She absolutely went savage. The eyes were different, but Carrots and I know, same as you do, what savage animals look like up close. Is there anything else you can check for in her blood? What about the liquid from the broken vial?"

Dr. Badger started to say something and then stopped and changed her mind. "You really think she went savage? The tests we ran didn't detect Nighthowler in her system and she appears fine and in complete control of her faculties."

"100% doctor. You know, one tranq will bring down a wolf, but one dart didn't even phase her. It took two darts from Quick-Draw McBun over here before she started to even stagger and a lot longer than normal for her to lose consciousness. You have to keep looking."

Judy held up her small notebook and added, "Miss Leyton also told us that whatever she was drugged with it happened the night before. Whatever it was made her feel woozy or drunk and then she collapsed in an alley. It wasn't until this morning that she had the savage episode."

"Alright Officers, I'll set up for a more detailed, broader set of tests, including more common drugs. I'll speak with Miss Leyton and gather more samples. I have to warn you though, some of these tests take a long time to set up and run, so you will need to be patient."

Flipping through the folder she was carrying, Dr. Badger added, "And with regards to the fluid Miss Leyton was carrying, almost none of it survived the spill. We are working hard to recover enough to test, but I can't make you any promises."

"I understand, I'm sorry I couldn't save more of the fluid."

Seeing the fox's disappointment, "Don't worry Officer Wilde, it is an incredibly volatile substance, I'm actually amazed you were able to save what you did. I'll work the tests and keep you and Officer Hopps up to date with what we find. If there's anything to be found, rest assured we'll find it."

Nick and Judy followed Dr. Badger out to the security desk where they checked out. After thanking the doctor, Judy called Clawhauser and told him that they were headed back to the precinct to give Chief Bogo a preliminary report.

They walked back to the rail station and only had to wait a few minutes for the next car. Fortunately, the crowds had thinned so they were able to find seats together where they could talk. Nick spent the ride back prepping Judy for her dinner meetup the next night. By the time the train arrived at their stop, Judy was feeling a little better about what she was supposed to do, but she'd also asked Nick to come by her place early so he could help her with the food bags and prep her some more on what to do so she wouldn't embarrass herself.

Arriving in the precinct lobby, Nick and Judy went to check in with Clawhauser. As the two small officers walked up to his desk, Clawhauser put his paws together and scrunched his face up to make a cooing sound. Judy, anticipating the impending comments on her and Nick being perfect for each other, bounded up onto the reception desk, rolled across the surface and popped up in front of Clawhauser's face with a finger across his lips silencing him before he could let out even a small squeal.

"Ben, what did I tell you yesterday about Nick and me?"

"You're just friends?"

"Uh-huh"

"You're still perfect for each other and…" Looking around, Clawhauser leaned in and whispered, "…you smell a lot more like fox than you have all week and you're the happiest I've seen you since Nick went on parking duty."

"Okay, okay, Ben, you're not hearing me. We're just friends. Like, really, really, ah, really good friends but that's all. Okay?"

Jiggling and nodding in happiness Clawhauser replied, "Anything you say, Judy."

Judy rolled her eyes, "Nick help me out here."

Nick snickered as Judy suffered Ben's dreamy looks. "Ben, we need to see the Chief to fill him in on the girl we had to tranq this morning. Have any of the other teams reported in with anything interesting?"

"The Chief's up in his office and he told me to send you up. Let's see, I got a note from Jackson that they pulled all the video of the alley they could find and they should have it loaded into the system by Monday morning. There's also a note from the CSI team that they finished up in the alley and didn't find anything interesting. They also said that they'd send you a preliminary report on whatever they have early Monday."

"Come on Carrots, Chief Buffalo Butt is waiting."

Judy did another hop and flipped off of Clawhauser's desk and then both she and Nick started up the stairs.

Judy whispered, "Does he still have that goofy look on his face?"

Nick looked back, "Yup. Want me to kiss you so we can see what happens?"

"Please, his head would explode. Besides, we're not together, remember?"

"Depressing bunny."

"Persistent fox."

Judy lifted her paw to knock on the Chief's door when they both heard Bogo's deep voice, "It's open Hopps, come in and bring Wilde with you."

She mouthed "How does he do that?" to Nick

Judy jumped up and grabbed the handle and opened the door. She and Nick went in and climbed up into the large chair in front of Bogo's desk and sat quietly while waiting for the Chief to finish shuffling a few papers.

"All right you two, good work this morning subduing the caracal, and Wilde, that was quick thinking on using that plastic to wrap the remains of the vial and its contents. Did you get anything from the girl?"

Judy answered for both of them. "A little sir, she remembers a capybara she thinks might have slipped something in her drink and he's also the one she got the vial from. She said that he had more in his pocket, but she only got one of them."

Bogo looked over the tops of his glasses at Judy and then over to Nick, "Did she explain how she knew what he was carrying in his pocket and what she was doing with one of his vials in her possession? I also believe there were a couple of wallets that weren't hers found at the scene?"

Nick took this one, "Sir, it's all really pretty easy to explain. The poor girl grew up as an orphan and…"

Judy groaned and facepalmed. Bogo shook his head, "Can it, Wilde. I'll assume you worked a deal with the girl, just make sure the wallets are returned when you're done with them and that she behaves herself going forward."

"Yes, sir."

Bogo motioned to Judy for her to continue. "Dr. Badger was certain that it wasn't Nighthowler nor any other drug they tested for, but Nick asked her to run some more thorough tests especially since there was a delay between the girl being drugged and her going savage. The doctor agreed to run more tests but said not to expect any results soon. She also said that she would keep us up to date on what they find.

"And Clawhauser told us on the way up that any surveillance video found and the preliminary CSI inventory will be ready for review Monday."

"Anything else?"

"No sir," they both replied.

"Alright. I'm worried there may be another round of savage attacks and until we can prove that this wasn't another savage plot or some crazy copycat, I'm locking down all information on the liquid you found to only those involved. That means me, you two, the tech that gathered the sample, Dr. Badger and her staff and Clawhauser. So, keep all this quiet and if anyone asks you about the case let me know right away."

"Yes, sir."

"Write up a quick summary and then get out of here. Enjoy your day off, see you Monday."

About 30 minutes later Judy hit the send button on the draft report and shut her computer down. Elbowing her napping partner in the ribs she told him it was time to go.

Nick yawned and followed Judy out of their shared cubicle. It was pretty quiet with everyone either off duty or working the festival. They waved their goodbyes to Clawhauser as they passed through the precinct lobby and out the doors.

"Hey Carrots, it's still pretty early, want to do something, you know, together?"

Judy chewed her lip, "Nick, I ah, I don't know…"

"No worries, I was thinking I'd change and then probably head over to the Mayan tonight, you know, by myself since I'm not seeing anyone. There's a 7 pm showing of a romcom, I think, and the balcony is roped off so anyone that sneaks up there can watch a movie without being seen."

Judy hmm-ed, "Is that the place with the strawberry slushies?"

"Uh huh." Nick looked at Judy for another moment with a smirk on his face and then waved, "See you later, Carrots."

…..

Nick took a sip from the slushie sitting in his armrest cup holder and waited for the movie trailers to start. He loved the previews, sometimes they turned out to be better than the actual movie they were hyping. Nick's ears twitched as he heard someone coming down the aisle. Looking over, he saw a large tub of popcorn with long black-tipped gray ears approaching his seat.

Laughing, he helped Judy set the oversized tub down on the floor in front of the seat. "Well, when we're done eating the popcorn, we can use the container as a hot tub."

"Hardy har har, that was the smallest tub they had left. At least they only charged me for a rabbit-sized popcorn."

Judy jumped up into the chair and slid next to Nick. "Strawberry slushie?"

"Yup!"

"Good thing or you'd be in big trouble. You told me this movie was a romcom, what kind of a romance has a bunch of giant robots fighting alien beasties from another dimension?"

"A good one?"

"You do realize the real reason I broke up with you is because you can't pick a good movie to save your life, right?"

Nick groaned, "Now you tell me. I promise from here on out only romances and buddy-cop movies for my bunny."

"And no black licorice, I like red."

"Fine, anything else?"

"Nope." She replied popping the 'p'.

As the trailers finished up and dancing cartoon characters reminded everyone to turn off their cell phones, Judy put her paw on Nick's leg.

Nick felt the soft touch and looked at Judy.

Looking at him, she whispered, "Nick..."

Nick smiled and put his arm around Judy. Gently pulling her close, he wrapped his tail around her, resting the tip in her lap. Judy smiled at him and started to pet his tail just like she used to before this crazy week happened.

…..

A gray colored ram in a dark suit opened the door to a large, modern office. Seeing that his boss was on the phone, the ram went and stood quietly in front of his desk and waited. After the phone call was completed, the ram spoke up, "You wanted to see me, Mr. Brown?"

"Yes, Mr. White, I'd like to know what in the hell is going on in my lab? You're responsible for running it, how does this happen?"

"Sir—"

Slamming his hoof down on his desk he yelled, "First, that idiot of a rodent takes vials of my formula out of the lab. Then for some reason, this dumb-ass goes to a bar at two fucking o'clock in the morning and gets in a bar fight. Then, just to complete the trifecta of stupid, he loses one of my vials."

Glaring at the ram, he added, "Do you want to know about the phone call I just got? One of my informants intercepted a call for an ambulance to pick up a savage mammal and then found out that some filthy pred bitch went savage on a couple of ZPD cops this morning about eight hours after our moron was in the bar. Eight hours, do you think that was just a coincidence? What the hell was he doing?"

"Sir, we need a healthier test subject for our next set of experiments, I believe all he was doing was trying to find one."

Brown shook his head, "With an old version of my formula? How could anyone be that stupid?"

White shrugged his shoulders, "I don't know, sir."

In a calmer voice, Brown continued, "About the only luck we had in all this is that my informant was able to get to the scene in time to see the pred being loaded into an ambulance. He told me that once the ambulance pulled away, he was able to see the remains of the missing vial smashed on the ground. He said it looked like the girl must have had the missing vial on her when she went savage and it broke during the fight with the ZPD."

"Sir, if that's the case, then we may be okay. The vial that went missing only had unstabilized Part-B in it, and in that form, it's volatile enough that if the vial were broken like you said, it would almost certainly have broken down and evaporated by the time anyone collected the shards your informant saw."

The Ram looked at his boss thoughtfully and added, "If your informant was right on the timeline, by the time the pred was captured all the obvious chemical markers of the formula should have been flushed from her system. The ZPD would have to run some pretty specific, non-standard tests to pick up anything we'd need to worry about."

Tapping his hoof on his desk, Brown replied, "My informant said it was that pelt of a fox officer that was working the scene. No way is he smart enough to figure anything out. That traitor of a rabbit was there too, but she's just a publicity stunt, so I don't think we need to worry about her either."

"What do you think sir, shut down and move the lab?"

Brown thought for a few moments, "No, as long as we're careful going forward, I think we'll be okay. Hold off for a while on acquiring any of the new test subjects you were after, I want this to blow over first. If you absolutely need an animal, make do with one from our usual source."

"And our rodent friend?"

"Besides being compromised, he's an idiot and I want him gone. Put him in with our failed experiments and pass the word that this kind of stupidity won't be tolerated. We are too close to solving the predator problem once and for all to be dealing with this kind of crap."