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

…..

The sun was barely peeking over the horizon, way too early for a nocturnal mammal to be awake, let alone dressed and headed to work. Nick had slept like a kit and woke up before his alarm sounded. Last night with his bunny was more than he could have hoped for and now he was ready to make the world a better place, right after he picked up a large cup of joe.

"Get the hell out of my way, pelt!" said a Kunekune in a dark suit nearly running Nick over.

Nick put a thumb behind his badge and casually asked the pig standing in front of him, "Don't you mean Officer Pelt?"

The pig looked more closely at the badge and started to rethink his situation. "Uh, sorry."

Nick could see he wasn't sorry in the least, but nothing was going to spoil his morning. Giving the pig his toothiest smile, he replied, "You have yourself a wonderful day."

The Kunekune rambled off, mumbling something about foxes that Nick made sure to ignore.

Nick continued to walk to his and Judy's go-to Snarlbucks. He hadn't stopped there since Judy had broken up with him, and he figured after last night, getting back into their routine would be nice which meant a coffee for him and a half-caf with a carrot danish for Judy.

Arriving at the coffee house, he reached for the door and quickly stepped back as it was almost opened into him by a gray bunny backing through it carrying a tray with two cups.

Pulling the door the rest of the way open, he greeted the ears in front of his face. "Good morning, Carrots, nice to see you up and at 'em."

Judy turned and her face lit up, "Hey Nick, I got you some coffee." Handing him the taller cup, she watched as he took a deep swallow.

"Thanks, I've missed this. The tar they call coffee in the break room doesn't hold a candle to this."

Talking about nothing and anything, the two partners walked together as if the last week hadn't happened. A couple of blocks from the precinct, Nick slowed down and motioned Judy to stop. Guiding her over to a private spot in an alley, he took their coffees and set them on a box nearby. Nick looked to make sure no one could see them and then he took Judy's paws in his own and leaned in closer to her. "Judy, I know what you almost did last night."

Judy looked down at their joined paws and gave Nick's a little squeeze, "Nick, a voice in my head keeps telling me that there is no way for us to be together without causing problems back home." Looking him in the eye now, she continued, "I do want us to be together, but I don't know how. I didn't mean to hurt you by almost…, I know I shouldn't have, I was being an emotional bunny. I'm sorry."

Nick let go of Judy's paws and pulled her into a hug. "Dumb bunny, I'm not upset and like I said before, no matter what, I'll always be your fox."

Returning the hug, she wrapped her arms around him and nuzzled into his neck fur. It felt so good to hold him and know he'd forgiven her and was willing to put up with her bunny emotions.

Nick whispered into Judy's ear, "You stopped yourself last night, how about we do it anyway and mark each other right now."

Judy pulled back from her fox and shook her head. "Nick, you know we can't, not now for sure."

"Yeah, yeah, I know what you just said, your family, the town, pitchforks and torches, if anyone thinks we're together."

"No, well yes that too, but look around."

Nick looked around and then back at Judy who had a smirk on her face. "What?"

She pecked him on the lips and then said, "There's a dumpster over there, and I can hear a drunk mammal snoring about twenty yards that way, and if you look behind you someone puked all over the wall by that door."

"So?"

Judy rolled her eyes, "Dumb fox, I'm not going to let you mark me in the back of a disgusting alley. What kind of girl do you think I am?" Before Nick could reply, she added in a coy voice, "Besides, for it to be official we have to mark each other while we're, um, you know."

Nick smirked and whispered in her ear, "Mm-hmm, if you're game, there's an old mattress leaning against the wall over there."

Judy raised herself up on her toes and twisted a little to look where Nick had motioned. Not seeing anything, she turned back to see Nick wearing a wide smile. Realizing what he'd done, she punched him in the shoulder, "Jerk! I'm not doing that in an alley either."

Nick started laughing, "You looked, though. Naughty bunny."

Trying to look offended, she couldn't help but smile instead, "Maybe," kissing him quickly on the lips, she added, "Tasty fox." Judy squirmed out of the hug and poked Nick in the chest, "Time to get going Slick, I don't want to be late for roll call."

The two officers checked their uniforms and brushed out any wrinkles. Watching Judy primp, Nick couldn't help himself. He leaned closed to her and in a low, throaty voice he said, "Mark you I shall, my bunny someday you will be." He winked and grabbed his coffee and stepped toward the sidewalk out of the alley.

Judy caught up to Nick and grabbed his arm. "Did you just turn one of our deepest moments into a Yoda meme?"

"Did I do that? Yes, yes I did."

…..

Nick held the lobby door open for Judy and for the first time in a week, the two partners walked into the grand atrium of the ZPD's Precinct One together. The two small officers walked up to the reception desk to check in with Clawhauser. As they approached the large desk, they could both see the rotund cheetah munching away on his first bowl of Lucky Chomps.

As soon as he spotted the pair approaching, Clawhauser set his bowl down and looked like his face was going to split from the smile that formed. "Hey guys, it's so amazing to see you two back together."

Judy narrowed her eyes at the jovial officer as she replied, "Ben, what did we talk about?" Judy pressed him with her stern glare until she felt a soft touch against her ankle as Nick's tail brushed against it.

Seeing Ben's suddenly crestfallen face, Judy sighed, "Never mind, Ben. I need to get ready for the bullpen meeting."

"And I'm sensing that there are a bunch of cars that need tickets. I'd better go grab the meter-maid vest from my locker and warm up the Joke-mobile if I want to be ready for the onslaught of scofflaws."

Ben broke away from his cooing over the couple to stop Nick from leaving. "Hey Nick, Bogo wants you in the bullpen this morning, something about that girl you guys tranqed."

Nick smirked, "Probably best to hold off on putting on the meter-maid uniform, you know how it affects all the females that see me in it."

"Nausea? Uncontrolled laughter?" Judy added with a smirk.

"Har har, Carrots, how about we go hear what the boss mammal has to say."

…..

Sitting in their usual shared seat up front, Nick and Judy waited with the rest of the officers in the bullpen for Bogo to arrive.

Judy's ears swiveled as she heard quiet voices behind her.

"Where's McHorn?"

"I think he's with the TUSK guys today. He's leading a training session on breaching techniques."

A third voice replied, "No, that's where he was supposed to be, but Clawhauser told me he's on leave instead. He had some sort of breakdown and couldn't finish his shift with that mastiff cop from the DMPD. I guess his mate called Clawhauser this morning and said it would be another day before he'd be able to come back to work."

Judy let her ears drop as the voices behind her quieted and then made a mental note to call McHorn's mate and see if there was anything she could do to help him out.

A few moments later, Bogo opened the door to the bullpen and made his way to the podium.

"Alright, everyone shut-it. A few items before I get to the assignments." Nodding toward his smallest officers, "Saturday morning Wilde called in what appeared to be a mammal gone savage. Hopps responded and tranqed a female caracal in her early twenties. According to the girl, she was drugged by a capybara in his thirties. So, we have a possible new drug on the streets and the identified effects are similar to drunkenness and possibly a short-term savage episode.

"Clawhauser will post the incident details on the precinct's secure site and send everyone a link. I want all of you to be on the watch for any new drug activity in your patrol areas and spread the word to your CIs to keep an eye out." And anything you find out pass on to Clawhauser.

"Next, after reviewing the details of the savage caracal takedown, I have decided that the precinct policy on those performing parking enforcement or traffic control being unarmed is now rescinded. Going forward, tranq pistols or tasers may be carried by officers on parking duty. Patrol and off-duty rules are not changing, you are allowed to continue carrying your weapon as needed."

Bogo cleared his throat and briefly made eye contact with Judy, "Last item, our Quartermaster, Sergeant Deerland, tendered his retirement papers early this morning and will be on leave starting Friday. Until a replacement is identified, if you need anything procured give your material request to Clawhauser and he will forward it to the quartermaster at Precinct Five."

Bogo spent the next few minutes covering a couple of incidents from the weekend's Festival that still needed to be worked and then gave each of the teams their patrol assignments. As Bogo looked to have gone through all the teams, Judy was suddenly curious, Bogo had skipped over giving her a task or a partner for the day.

Shuffling his notes, Bogo looked between Judy, Nick and a large gray wolf in the back of the room, "Wilde, Hopps, Pawson stay back, the rest of you are dismissed."

Bogo motioned Officer Pawson to take a seat next to Nick and Judy and then waited for the room to finish clearing out. "Wilde, Hopps. I'm assigning Pawson to work the drug case with you today."

"Hoo-yah! No parking duty." Nick said with a big smile.

Bogo shook his head, "Hopps…"

"Yes, sir." Judy said as she elbowed Nick lightly in the side.

Nodding his appreciation, Bogo continued, "You'll be lead on the case and I'm assigning Pawson to work with you and Wilde so that he can help with the drug you two found."

Looking at the wolf, Bogo said, "Pawson, what you're about to hear is not to leave this room. There are only a few other mammals that are aware of what I'm about to tell you."

Pawson nodded, "Yes, sir."

"As we speak, tests are being performed on the female caracal's blood to try and identify what she was drugged with. What almost no one knows is that Wilde was able to gather a tiny sample of what may have been the drug used on the girl. Wilde reported he got a whiff of the drug and now I need another canid officer to be scent trained on it. Wolfard has the best nose in the department, but he's on special assignment so that leaves you. The problem is that not enough of the drug was recovered to create a scent stick, so we don't have anything we can give you to train your nose with."

Addressing Nick, Bogo asked, "Can you train Officer Pawson up on the scent without using any of the sample?"

Nick turned to Pawson, "Where did you grow up?"

Pawson replied, "Northwest Savanna Central, why?"

Wilde replied back to Bogo, "Yes, sir, I think I can do it. We'll need a few hours to visit the places I need to put the scent together."

"Good. Check in with Clawhauser as needed and he'll keep me informed. Pawson, let me know when your patrol is done if you've got the scent down and how confident you are on it. Dismissed."

…..

The three Officers went up to Nick and Judy's shared desk and checked on the CSI dump from the scene of the savage attack. It only took the team a few minutes to find out that there was only one working camera in the alley and it was pointed toward the alley entrance. The camera picked up Nick and Judy entering the alley and then a little while later some vehicles, but the camera didn't pick up the girl going into the alley or any of the fight. Aside from the remaining shards of glass from the broken vial, the CSI team didn't find anything else out of the ordinary.

Judy scrolled through the rest of the CSI files and didn't see anything else useful. Going back to the notes she was sent, she read out the highlights to Nick and Officer Pawson.

"Jackson interviewed the manager of the bar while we were at the hospital and found out that there aren't any working cameras inside the bar. Worse, when he talked with the staff, none of them recognized the perp or any of the patrons from the night before. Seems that with the festival going on all the regulars stayed home.

"Jackson also said none of the staff got a good look at our perp, seems that the fight lasted two or three swings and then our guy bolted out of the place before anyone figured out what was going on."

Judy clicked open another file and gestured for Nick to take a closer look. "One of our sketch artists met with Katie at the hospital and this is what he came up with."

Nick looked at the drawing on Judy's screen and huffed, "Damn, that's barely the side of his head." Nick pointed at the drawing, "And that earring looks the same as what a thousand other mammals are wearing. We're not going to be able to do anything with this sketch."

Nick put his paw on Judy's back and looked over her shoulder at the notes file still open on her screen. "A bunch of nothing." Nick thought for a couple of moments and then added, "Carrots, shoot a message to Clawhauser and have him watch the social media sites for any uploads of our little bar fight. Maybe we'll get lucky and someone recorded something that ends up getting posted to Muzzlebook or EweTube."

While Judy tapped out the message and sent it off to Clawhauser, Nick picked up a manila envelope sitting on Judy's desk and shook out two wallets. Grabbing his phone, Nick walked away and made a couple of quick phone calls. It only took a few minutes to find out that the owners hadn't known how they had lost their wallets and didn't recall seeing a caracal or a capybara near them at the festival. Nick gave each of them instructions on how to claim their wallets and then had Judy make a few notes in her file in case they needed to talk to them again.

With nothing else to review, Judy shut off her computer and turned to her partner, "Okay, Nick, what now?"

Nick turned to Pawson and rubbed his paws together, "Pawson, how familiar are you with the diners and dives around town?"

"I've been to a few of the fish places down by the wharf and I've tried a couple of the restaurants on the west side of the Rainforest district near the industrial park gondola stop and there are a few other places my girlfriend and I have tried. Is that what you mean?"

Judy looked between the two mammals with her paws on her hips. "Nick, we're supposed to be helping Officer Pawson here understand what that drug you found smells like, not plan our lunch break, besides it's not even 9:30."

"Carrots, the best way I know how to do this is to find an item that has the same smell as the drug or in this case, items. I think I can break the smell of the drug into a few parts and my best bet is to find some foods that Pawson can smell and put together to be able to ID the drug if he comes across it." Smiling at Pawson, he added, "And if we have to sample some of Zootopia's finer establishments to achieve our goal, well, that's just a side benefit."

Pawson chuckled at the look of exacerbation on the rabbit's face as Judy replied, "You seriously expect me to believe that will work?"

"Actually, Officer Hopps, it does work. Some families give scent sticks to their pups so they can learn different smells, what's safe, what's not. If a pup can train their nose, they can get into some interesting jobs, maybe work for a company that specializes in recovery or even harvesting root plants like Truffles." Nodding toward Nick, "I'm sure this is the same kind of thing."

"By the way, you can call me Connor" reaching out with a paw to Judy. "We haven't really talked before, nice to be working with you guys."

"I'm Judy, and the always hungry fox is Nick."

Pawson laughed at the look Judy was giving her partner.

Nick ignored the glare he was receiving and rubbed the back of his neck. As Judy started to feel ignored, her foot began to tap the floor. Raising an eyebrow, Nick focused back on the impatient rabbit, "Fox trying to think here."

"Grrrrr" was all he heard as the tapping stopped.

"Alright, so we don't have to drive all over town, Connor, have you ever eaten at Charlie's Fish Shack on the Canal District's South Wharf?"

"Is that the place with the fake swordfish mounted above the door?"

"Yeah, the owner is an old beaver, heard he used to be a cook in the navy."

"Love that place, old Joe makes a great lobster bisque," licking his lips he added, "and the seafood chowder is delicious."

"The scallops, with the lemon and butter cream sauce," now Nick was salivating, "that's what does it for me, mm-hmm."

"Grrrrrr"

With the reverie suddenly broken, Nick asked, "Have you had the tuna steak with the seasoned cream sauce?"

"Yeah, once, it was only okay." Pawson's lip turned up to emphasize the fact that the tuna wasn't his favorite.

"Did Joe cook it, or was it the deer buck with the missing tooth?"

"The buck."

"Okay, good, Joe does it differently. The sauce has a tang to it, I'm thinking of the citrusy taste with a tiny hint of cinnamon. Do you remember it?" Nick waited.

Pawson closed his eyes, "Um…" thinking for a minute, "Yeah, a lot of pepper, but I remember the scent." Opening his eyes, he looked at Nick and nodded.

"Good, let's get going, the other two scents aren't as simple, so we'll need to smell each sample and pick it apart to get it right."

Judy's eyes narrowed as she stood in silence glaring at her fox, a single finger raised in protest at what she had just witnessed. Nick countered with a smirk and tapped the side of his nose. "Foxy superpower, don't doubt the nose!"

"Grrrrrr"

…..

Judy, Nick, and Connor were sitting in a booth in a small diner north of Hyenahurst. Nick and Judy sat close together on one bench while the large wolf took up most of the other bench. This diner was the second of the two places on Nick's list.

At the first diner, Judy had watched as Nick and Connor ordered a dish and then spent ten minutes sniffing it and talking about various spices. Judy had waited patiently until their conversation turned into laughing as Nick started in on a story about a hustle he and Finn had dreamed up. Judy finally got them moving again after poking Nick in the side and reminding him that they were supposed to be working not pretending to be foodies.

Now, sitting on a bench almost leaning against her fox, Judy was trying to be mad at Nick for taking them all over the city, but the veggie wrap she was eating was really, really good and who would have thought that chips made from squash, carrots, and green beans could be so delicious.

"Mmmm" covering her mouth quickly, she saw Nick chuckling at her. 'Carrot rust, he heard that.'

"I think somebunny is enjoying her lunch." With a paw reaching over to her plate, Nick tried to snag one of her chips.

A gray blur slapped his paw away and then there was a small arm cradling the plate protectively, "Mine!"

Nick and Pawson both laughed and then Judy joined in after sliding her plate a little further away from Nick.

According to Nick, he'd been able to identify the scents Pawson needed to ID the drug, it wasn't exact but close enough. Now they were taking a quick break before heading back out on patrol.

Pawson was munching on a French fry when he asked Nick, "So, how is it you know all these places? I mean, that last diner we were at looked great and I can't wait to take my girlfriend there."

Judy chimed in, "Nick knows all the best diners and dives in town. He even knows some of the cooks too."

"Yeah, I worked in the industry for a little while. I spent some time working at a Bug-A-Burger and then a stint as a part-time line cook in a pretty nice restaurant."

Judy smiled, "I didn't know that! I was wondering where you learned to cook so well."

Nick put his paw on Judy's back, "Yup, I wasn't always the disreputable street mammal you've come to know and love."

Judy rolled her eyes, "Uh-huh." Rubbing his leg with her paw under the table, "Should I be wondering what you were doing when you weren't cooking?"

Nick chuckled and leaned in closer to Judy, "Probably not, I don't want to spoil that innocent farm-girl image you have of me."

Judy smirked and with her muzzle narrowing the distance to Nick's, she added, "I think that tractor has already left the barn, Slick."

Pawson, looking back and forth between his two partners for the day, was starting to wonder if what Clawhauser kept saying about these two was true when Judy's radio came alive.

"Dispatch to Hopps, dispatch to Hopps, do you read?"

Judy leaned back away from Nick and took a quick breath, "Hopps here, what do you need Ben?"

"I know you guys are still 10-7, but Bogo wants Wilde in his office ASAP."

"10-4, we're headed in, ETA…" holding the mic against her chest she looked at Nick.

"No lights, forty minutes."

"Forty minutes, unless it's an emergency," Judy repeated into the microphone.

"No emergency, Clawhauser out."

…..

"Clawhauser, where is Wilde? They should have been back by now."

Ben winced at the loud voice coming from the intercom on his desk. "Sir, they should be back in a few minutes, there was an accident on the parkway that was slowing traffic down all over. Do you want me to call Hopps and tell them to use lights to get back here quicker?"

"No, just send Wilde up as soon as he gets back." Followed by static and then Bogo's voice came through again. "And Clawhauser, I'm expecting a call soon, put it straight through no questions, understand?"

"Yes, sir."

Ben started to nervously rearrange items on his desk. Bogo was antsy and that made the ordinarily jolly cheetah nervous. He looked over at his jam-cam display trying to decide if he should call Judy and find out how far out they were when he heard the door from the garage open.

A huge smile of relief covered his face as he saw Nick, Judy and Connor approach his desk. Judy promptly hopped up onto the reception desk and returned his smile. "What's up Ben? Why did Bogo want us back from our patrol?"

"He misses me, the old softie." joked Nick, nudging Pawson. "Seriously, we're besties."

The wolf looked at the small fox and rolled his eyes. "Wilde, you are in need of some serious therapy."

"You need to head up to Bogo's office right away, he's called me twice wanting to know where you were." Wringing his paws together, he added, "Please, he's been yelling a lot."

Nick looked up at Judy and motioned toward Bogo's office, "Shall we, Carrots."

Ben's head flipped between the two small officers and he yelled, "No! Just you Nick, Bogo said for Judy to wait here until he called."

Judy and Nick exchanged glances and Nick turned, "Okay, then."

"What's going on?" Judy asked in a concerned voice.

Shrugging his shoulders, Nick replied, "I don't know."

Ben watched as Nick walked up the stairs to Bogo's second-floor office. Nick reached the top and a moment later he heard a knock on a door followed by a gruff "Come in Wilde." The door opened and then closed.

Ben watched as Judy stood on his desk leaning toward Bogo's office. Her ears were standing straight up and he saw as they rotated slightly as she tried to pick up anything.

"Hear anything?"

"Not really, mostly Bogo shouting." Judy went silent and focused. "Something about the Mayor."

"Hey Clawhauser, what are you guys up to?" asked Delgato stopping at the desk.

"Shhhhhh," both Judy and Ben hissed at the lion.

Looking like he was just slapped, Delgato stood perfectly still and remained quiet.

Judy spoke quietly, "Now he's yelling something about a drug case and bad timing." Turning to Delgato, she said in a huff, "Francisco, stop breathing, I can't hear over your rumbling!"

Like radar dishes, Judy's ears tried to pick up any signal they could, but Bogo's office had gone quiet.

"Clawhauser…" Judy jumped straight up two feet in the air at the yell from the intercom, "send Hopps up immediately."

Judy landed and bounced off the desk. Ben watched as she hopped the large steps two at a time and sped around to Bogo's office. Listening carefully, he heard Judy's triple knock and a gruff response from inside the office. Once the door closed, he couldn't hear anything.

Ben grimaced as he looked back and forth between Delgato and Pawson. Trying to think of something to do, Ben grabbed his phone, "You guys want to listen to the latest Gazelle song?" A couple of distracted grunts were all he got from his fellow officers as they stared up to the second-floor office waiting for a hint of what was to come. They were avidly searching for even a small sign, like the sky growing dark before a category F5 tornado hits or maybe the distant sound of a locomotive whistle just before the train derails detonating the nuclear weapon it was carrying wiping out all life within fifty miles of the blast. You know, little things like that.

Ben's ears perked, Bogo's door was opening, "Yes, sir," he heard Judy say, then the door gently closed. Maybe whatever it was wasn't a big deal. He prepared a couple of industrial strength 'coos' and waited for his favorite couple to come down the stairs.

"WHAT DID YOU DO?!"

Ben cringed, definitely the train derailment scenario.

"Carrots…"

"Don't you dare 'Carrots' me Nicholas Piberius Wilde, I know this is all your fault!"

"But…"

Ben saw Nick stop at the top of the stairs. Ben's head moved back and forth as an agitated gray blur circled the fox. Said blur paused long enough to poke Nick in the ribs. "Arrgh, I can't believe you'd do this to me!" Followed with another, harder poke."

"Ow! Would you stop with the poking." Nick whined while grabbing his side.

Nick took a step down the staircase to move away from Miss Pokes-a-lot. Unfortunately, dodging her just made Judy more irate. "Carrots, please, I can explain."

Judy had been hopping down the stairs next to Nick when she stopped and went back up a stair so she could look down on him. "This is some sort of hustle, isn't it? Something to do with my family. Sweet cheese and crackers, what have you done? That's my family you're messing with!"

Judy had moved around to the other side of Nick and now was quickly walking down the stairs to the lobby.

"Judy, wait, it's not like that!" Nick called out feeling like this argument was getting out of control.

Judy turned around and stepped back up to face Nick again. "What do you mean, what else could it be? Everything is just one big hustle to you, isn't it?"

Nick stepped down off the stairs and turned to face Judy and tried to defuse the argument with his usual humor, "Come on, you know you love me."

"No, right now I do not!" folding her arms, she glared at Nick.

Ben had been wringing his paws in concern. He silently watched his two friends hoping that whatever was going on wasn't too serious. Ben held his breath when he saw the anger on Judy's face as she glared at Nick and then as he continued to watch his favorite couple, Judy's face suddenly changed from anger to one of disappointment and hurt.

Covering her mouth with her paw, tears started forming in Judy's large purple eyes. "What have I done, oh my gosh" Looking directly into Nick's green eyes, "What I almost did last night, what I said this morning. Was that part of your hustle too?"

"Judy, of course not, you know how I feel about you, please listen…"

"I'm done listening." Judy turned and walked toward the garage. She made it part way to Ben's desk when she heard Nick call after her.

With his paws in front of him, Nick tried appealing to Judy one last time, "I swear nothing bad will happen."

Judy stopped, and then in a move that would have made the Flash jealous, she was suddenly pushing Nick into the empty bullpen briefing room out of view of Clawhauser and anyone else watching. Grabbing Nick's tie, she pulled his muzzle to within an inch of hers and growled out, "Nothing better or I'll find you and..."

Figuring there was only one sure-fire way left to defuse the angry bunny in front of him, Nick closed the gap between their muzzles and kissed her.

Stunned to silence, Judy let go of Nick's tie and stood unmoving as Nick's lips were pressed against hers. Nick cupped Judy's cheek with his paw and as he deepened the kiss, Judy replied in kind. Judy reached up with her paw and was just starting to stroke the side of Nick's muzzle when the gears in her brain suddenly re-engaged and she pulled away from her fox. A couple of panting breaths later, she narrowed her eyes and then poked Nick in the chest. "No! That won't work on me! I'm mad at you and I'm staying mad at you!"

Nick watched as Judy turned and stomped her way to the door and just as she was stepping into the lobby, Nick smirked and said in a quiet voice, "It worked a little."

Nick almost jumped when he heard his bunny shout back, "No, it didn't!"

…..

Ben was watching the door to the bullpen with rapt attention waiting for something to happen. He couldn't hear anything, so he just continued to wring his paws in worry over what was happening behind the closed door.

A few minutes later, the bullpen door opened and an angry bunny came out. Ben saw Judy yell back into the room and then heard her mumble something about 'soft lips' and 'irritating foxes' before stomping her way toward his desk.

Ben held his paws up to his cheeks still worried that something bad had happened when Judy stopped in front of his desk and looked at both him and Officer Pawson. Ben was about to ask how it went with Nick when he was interrupted by Judy.

"Ben, I'm taking my cruiser and patrolling ALONE."

Ben was going to ask Judy why she wasn't patrolling with Nick or Connor but decided not to when he saw Judy wasn't in the mood for any of his questions. So, grabbing his clipboard, he made the appropriate notation and replied, "Yes ma'am, you're marked out as patrolling solo."

Connor watched Judy push open the door to the garage and disappear. "Ben, I'll be at my desk, I owe Bogo a report."

A few moments later, Ben saw Nick come out of the bullpen a little more disheveled than when he went in and looking a lot like a kit who was in trouble. "Hey Nick, you alright?"

He sighed, "Yeah, I better get going."

Ben was about to ask if Nick was going to do a foot patrol or partner up with someone when the phone rang. Checking the lines, he saw it was on the Chief's number. "Good afternoon, Chief Bogo's office, may I help you?"

"Yes, please, may I speak with the Chief." asked a female voice. Remembering Bogo's order to put the call through, he replied, "Yes, ma'am, please hold."

Hitting the intercom, Ben spoke into it, "Chief, that call you wanted is on line one?"

A gruff response came back, "Fine."

Ben saw the line indicator flashing as the caller was on hold. He watched as it went solid and pressed the button again. Covering the mouthpiece, he knew he could get in trouble, but he had to know.

"Chief, did he agree?

"Yes, ma'am."

"When?"

"Tomorrow"

"Thank you."

"Of course, good afternoon, ma'am."

Ben disconnected as the Chief hung up. What was the Chief up to and who had just called him? What is going to happen to Nick and why is Judy so upset?

So many questions. Well, when confronted with a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma there's only one thing to do. Ben pulled out his phone and put on Gazelle's latest video, no matter the question, the horned angel's music was always the answer.