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

…..

Judy waved to Connor as he pulled away in the cruiser to finish their afternoon patrol solo while Judy dealt with whatever it was important enough for her to be pulled off duty. Judy pushed open the lobby door and checked the wall clock as she walked in, seeing that she was a little early for her appointment, she headed over to Clawhauser's desk.

"Hey, Ben. What's up, why does Bogo want to see me?"

"I don't know, he said to wait down here, and he'd call me when it was time for you to go up."

Judy wandered over to where she could be out of the way and watch ZNN on the lobby monitor while she waited. As she watched a mammal interest story highlighting Gazelle's next charity concert, her ears twitched at the sound of hoof steps behind her, followed by a female's voice coming from the vicinity of the reception desk.

"Hello, I'm Councilor Woolerby, and I'm here to see Chief Bogo."

"Of course, ma'am, you're a little early, and Chief Bogo is on a call with the mayor, if you don't mind waiting, I'll let you know as soon as he's done."

Judy turned to see who Clawhauser was talking to and then froze when she saw who it was. Judy stared as the visitor turned away from the reception desk and casually looked over at her with what, momentarily, looked like a sneer on her muzzle.

Standing stock-still, Judy waited as the well-dressed mammal made her way over to where she was, extended a hoof, and said, "Officer Hopps, nice to see you again."

Judy looked at the hoof and then at the face of the browned furred ewe she had last seen outside the museum. Judy tentatively reached out with her paw and shook the now smiling mammal's hoof. Glancing over to where Clawhauser was busy on his computer, Judy gulped, "Councilor? ...uh, Woolerby."

"Council Chair Woolerby, actually, but Councilor will do… for now."

"Yes, ma'am," replied Judy, gathering herself and standing a little straighter.

Looking Judy up and down as if the bunny were undergoing a ZPA inspection, Woolerby said, "Hmm, I can see why Bogo made the request he did."

"Request, ma'am?"

Woolerby snorted, "Yes, Chief Bogo has submitted a funding request to the city council for new protective gear for all the ZPD's officers, he also wants new computers, more effective tranquilizer guns, some new squad cars, and an assortment of facility upgrades."

Judy nodded enthusiastically, not only had the quartermaster struggled to outfit her and Nick, but she'd been hearing grumbling from her coworkers about their gear not being the most up to date and their worries that with some of the newer weapons available to the criminals that they were more at risk now than ever.

"Yes, ma'am. My understanding is that there hasn't been any kind of equipment upgrade in a while. Chief Bogo is right, the ZPD really needs the Council's support."

"Yes, well, I'm sure that's all fine and good, but I have pressing needs in the upscale communities outside Sahara Square that need to be taken care of too. It's a tough decision, there are a couple of parks that need to be resodded, and the picnic and play areas haven't been updated in over a year. And you know, the attached recreational centers need new equipment and general refurbishments like Wi-Fi upgrades and maybe another expansion of their swimming pools and tennis courts."

Judy looked aghast at the Councilor, "But ma'am, please, the Officers here really need your help, it's tough to research cases using the current computer system, and ma'am, everyday ZPD officers put their lives on the line, how can they be expected to do that without the proper equipment?"

Woolerby shook her head, "I understand your concerns, as self-serving as they are, but I have to look at the big picture and weigh the needs of the city and my constituents, against the minor concerns of a few ZPD mammals."

Judy couldn't believe what she'd just heard and was about to argue the point again when she was halted by the ewe checking her watch and saying, "I've waited long enough, come with me."

Judy hesitated, "Ma'am? I was told to wait until Chief Bogo called me up."

"And I'm telling you otherwise, follow me now."

…..

Bonnie heard a knock at the front door and looking up said, "Janae, would you go see who's at the door, please."

As Janae made to stand up, a tan-brown blur shot past her yelling, "I've got it, I've got it."

A moment later, a booming voice yelled out, "MOM, IT'S THE SHERIFF. HE NEEDS TO TALK WITH MR. NICK. MOM…"

Bonnie rolled her eyes, she was glad that Sunni had come out of her shell since Nicholas had shown up, but sometimes she missed her formerly much quieter daughter. "Sunni, please invite Sheriff Hoofson in."

"Okay, Mom," came the reply in a less ear-splitting voice.

A moment later, Sunni came skipping into the kitchen carrying a package followed by the Sheriff who pulled off his hat and greeted the does, "Afternoon ladies."

Bonnie wiped her paws off on her apron and smiled, "Hello, Nathaniel, what brings you all the way out here?"

Sunni put the package she was carrying on the counter and bounced happily, "A present for Mr. Nick."

"Sunni, why don't you go find Nicholas and let him know the Sheriff is here."

Amy rushed in from the dining room and said, "Mom, I know where he is, he's taking a shower, I'll go in the boy's bathroom and get him."

Janae looked over at her sister and was about to roll her eyes when the damp, red-furred topic of conversation walked into the kitchen saying, "It's alright, Amy," and then looking at Sunni, "I heard a loud someone say that the Sheriff wanted to talk with me."

Sunni grabbed the package and shook it for Nick, "He brought you a present, it sounds like little balls."

"Sunni, please put Nicholas' package down, you might break something if you keep shaking it like that."

Hoofson cleared his throat and said, "Wilde, that package came for you from Zootopia, I had an errand to run out this way, so I thought I'd drop it off before you headed in for your late shift."

Bonnie padded over and handing Hoofson a piece of apple cobbler, said, "Here you go, this should take care of your errand."

"Yes, ma'am, that'll hit the spot just right, thanks."

Everyone turned, and Hoofson stopped eating, as the front door slammed shut and Stu joined the group, "The Sheriff's car is outside, what's…"

"Howdy, Stu," Hoofson said, lifting his plate, "just a quick errand." and then turning to Bonnie, he added, "unless you have some extra strawberry rhubarb pie that needs attention."

"Of course, I'll wrap up a pie for you to take home to Janet and the fawns."

Fearing that Hooson would eat his way to Nick's cherished blueberry pie unless he got him out of the warren, Nick interrupted the potential crisis by sliding the box over and saying, "Thanks for dropping this off, I wasn't expecting anything. Sorry, you had to come all the way out here."

"Not a problem," said Hoofson as he wiped his muzzle, "You know, ma'am, Nate Jr. really likes blue–"

"How about I open this up real quick, and then you can be on your way home, Sheriff."

The now distracted Sheriff, along with everyone else, watched as Nick extended a claw and deftly cut the packing tape on the top of the wrapped box and…"

Catching a whiff of something he never expected to come across outside of Zootopia, Nick stepped back from the open package and said, "Whoa, everyone stand back, I think there's Nip in that box." Pointing at Bonnie and using his cop voice, he said, "Mrs. H., I need a plastic bag to seal this back up."

Before Bonnie could move, a jet-black doe, completely ignoring the whole 'stand back' thing, came bounding into the kitchen and said, "Seriously, drugs? Sweet. Are there any faux leather headbands or chokers in there too?"

Nick rolled his eyes, "No, Raven, I don't think there's any faux leather anything in the box, I only smell what I think is Nip, so please stand back."

Hoofson set his empty plate down and took a look in the box, inside was a partially open plastic bag and a note. Pulling out the typed message, he cleared his throat and read it out loud, "Wild, cook some up like you do here and have a toke on us. -Your packmates."

Hoofson raised an eyebrow and looked at Nick.

Nick started to reply when he was interrupted by Amy, "Packmates? Foxes don't have packs, they're solitary, lonely mammals. It's very sad," and then in a quieter voice, directed only at her fox quarry, she said, "you know Nick, if you're lonely, I might be able to help."

Nick turned to Amy and stood frozen as she batted her eyes at him, and cutely pushed back an ear.

"Uh…" Nick managed.

Janae hissed, "Amy, leave him alone, or I'll twist your ears."

Sticking her tongue out at Janae, Amy dialed up her doe-eyes and then not seeing any takers, she huffed and stormed out of the room.

Nick coughed, "Yeah, Sheriff, um, Amy was right, at least about the part where foxes don't form packs. Our family unit is called a Skulk, and since I don't have any family left, I don't belong to one of those either."

Hoofson looked away from where the doe had just been, and handed the note to Nick, "Yeah, and whoever wrote this, spelled your name wrong too."

As everyone was distracted by Hoofson talking about the note, no one saw Raven worm her way closer to the counter, lean over the open box, pull out a thumb-sized bud, and say, "This isn't Nip…"

…..

Judy silently followed Woolerby up the stairs to Bogo's office. Judy was about to knock on the Chief's door, when Woolerby reached up, grabbed the door handle, and pushed the door open instead.

As Woolerby entered the room, Bogo looked over in surprise at the sudden interruption and quickly said into his phone, "Mr. Mayor, Council Chair Woolerby has just arrived. Thank you for your time, and have a nice vacation."

Setting the handset down, Bogo stood up from behind his desk and came around to greet the Councilor, "Good afternoon, Ma'am, you're a bit early for our meeting," and then looking at Judy, he said, "and Hopps, you were supposed to wait downstairs until I called for you."

Judy started to reply when she was cut off by Woolerby, "No, she stays. My time is valuable, and I have another appointment in a little bit, so let's get this over with quickly."

Handing the ewe a budget detail sheet, Bogo replied, "Yes, ma'am, here is my detailed budget request for your committee. If you'd like to take a seat, we can go over the equipment and facility improvement requests in priority order from the critical needs, to just high priority."

Waving the sheet at Bogo, Woolerby replied, "Fine, if we have time, we can talk about this. But first, I need to make you aware of the outrageous behavior of one of the Officers you seem so interested in taking care of with so many of the city's hard-earned tax dollars."

Bogo furrowed his brow, looked over at Judy, and then back to the Councilor, "You never mentioned a problem when you said you wanted to meet with Officer Hopps."

"Well, I'm mentioning it now. This so-called Officer of the law was directed by me to arrest a vicious street criminal for stealing a valuable wallet and, along with it, a significant amount of cash and multiple very exclusive charge cards. I want this rabbit disciplined immediately."

Judy sputtered, "Sir, that's not true. She dropped her wallet, and one of the boys from the museum field trip saw it fall in the gutter and retrieved it for her. There wasn't any crime committed, just a boy trying to be helpful."

Woolerby huffed as she looked at Judy, "Yes, let's talk about that supposedly helpful boy. I've been informed that this little criminal has a history of causing trouble and that he is currently under your supervision. My understanding is that you've been assigned to monitor his and his brother's behavior weekly, and the reports are only going to Chief Bogo." Turning to Bogo, she continued, "Normally these cases are handled by the ZPS, I'd be interested to know how it is that this one is being handled by a junior officer with no social work experience."

Bogo went from concerned to pissed in a heartbeat, "You have no business inserting yourself into how I handle my Officer's caseload. The decision on how to handle this case is at my discretion, and any records related to the supervision of this boy are confidential and locked down by policy."

Scoffing, the ewe replied, "I am policy, and I have my own ways of figuring out what's going on and enforcing it." Pointing at Judy who stood frozen watching the argument, Woolerby slowly said, "I want her punished, I want her pay docked, and I want her to apologize to me, right now, for what she did."

"Absolutely not! Officer Hopps has been doing an exemplary job in all her duties, including the extra duties I have assigned her. Her reports on the kit in question have been textbook and clearly show that this boy should not be under the supervision of the ZPS."

Casually checking her hoof polish for any nicks or flakes, Woolerby replied, "Well, it's certainly your prerogative to refuse my minor requests." Turning toward Judy, she sighed as she folded the budget request sheet in half, saying, "Hmmm, looks like I have run out of time, we'll have to talk about these pesky budget issues another time. As a matter of fact, I need to meet with a neighborhood committee about some park renovations."

Turning to go, the ewe faced Judy and raised an eyebrow making sure she knew that Bogo's budget requests were sure to be declined as soon as she walked out the door.

Judy balled her fists and practically screamed at herself, 'This wasn't fair, Aidan did nothing wrong.'

As Woolerby eased over to the door and reached up to open it and leave, Judy said in a quiet, trembling voice, "I'll do it."

Smiling in victory, Woolerby turned, "Excuse me, Miss Hopps, did you say something?"

"I said I'll accept the punishment, and… and I'll apologize."

Bogo sliced the air in front of Judy and practically yelled, "No! This is outrageous. No Officer of mine is going to be punished for doing their job."

Woolerby's eyes narrowed as she was about to speak when Judy interrupted her.

"Sir, thank you, but…" Turning to Woolerby, Judy unclenched her fists and stood at attention, "I apologize for my behavior and any disrespect I showed you and your mate in front of the museum the other day."

Nearly trembling now, Judy continued to stand at attention while Woolerby looked her over with a smug look.

"And…"

Judy chewed on her lip, losing a paycheck was a big deal, she needed that money, her student loan payments had emptied her bank account, and her rent was already due, no way could she afford to lose a whole paycheck.

"Officer Hopps, I'm waiting…"

With almost a whimper, Judy replied, "And you can, um, dock my pay."

Bogo was incensed, "No! Hopps is one of my best Officers, even if she agrees to it, I won't allow this!"

Woolerby looked up at the cape buffalo and calmly said, "You can and you will, and if I hear of any special aid or support being given to this animal, I'll be back to make sure her punishment is much worse."

Bogo grabbed his phone and called Mammal Resources to see if he could stop this. While Bogo was busy, Woolerby walked over to Judy, and with a smirk on her face, she whispered to the mammal still at attention, "I win rabbit, and if you do anything but take your punishment, the ZPD won't see any new funding for a decade, and I'll personally make sure that pelt you were protecting spends the rest of his kithood in juvenile detention. Understand?"

Judy swallowed and then nodded once.

Bogo yelled something incoherent into his phone, and then slamming the receiver down hard enough to crack the shatterproof plastic, he glared at the gloating ewe in front of him, knowing he'd lost.

"Hopps, I'm sorry, it appears that Councilor Woolerby has come prepared, there's nothing I can do to reinstate your pay."

Woolerby faced Judy and in a smug voice, said, "I believe Miss Hopps has learned her lesson. You're dismissed for the rest of the day, rabbit. Now get out of my sight."

Judy looked at Bogo for confirmation, and after he nodded, she turned and quickly left. Judy skipped going back to her desk and went immediately to her locker to change. She tried not to think about what had just happened, and if anyone tried to talk to her, she brushed past them as best she could. No one at the precinct could know what just happened to her, and none of them could help her even if they found out.

…..

Turning the bud over in her paw, Raven got everyone's attention by saying, "This isn't Nip, same family, but you can't make the drug out of it."

"What? It has to be, I've smelled Nip before."

Raven shook her head as she handed the bud to Nick, "Take another deeper sniff, and this time, concentrate on it. Take the scent apart, you should be able to smell a very, very faint smoky component."

Nick lifted the bud to his nose, closed his eyes, and focused on its smell. Taking his time, he mentally compared it to both the ZPA scent sticks he'd studied and what he'd smelled while living on the street. After a few moments of rolling it around in his head, he nodded, "You're right, I can smell it now."

Looking up, Nick faced Raven, "It's not Nip. How could you smell that when I couldn't?"

"I couldn't, and my nose isn't good enough to, even if I tried. I could tell by the leaves, Nip buds have serrated leaf margins, not serrulated ones like these do, real hard to tell on leaves this small. This is Nistle. It's in the same genus as Nip, but it has almost none of the active ingredient that makes Nip a class A botanical." Raven then tapped one of the box flaps, "And the reason you couldn't smell the difference without a good sniff is that the cardboard here emits a couple of fun chemicals that give off a fecal smell strong enough to mask the smoky component I told you about."

The room went silent, even the crickets outside went quiet in disbelief at what Raven had just said. No one had ever heard Raven talk about anything with such authority that didn't involve motorcycles or bad-boy mammals in faux leather.

Raven looked around the kitchen at the stunned group, and realizing she'd just dug herself a hole, she did what most nineteen-year-olds in her position do, she kept digging.

"Sheriff, you don't 'cook' Nip either, you grind it, separate out the potent parts, and then use a couple of chemicals to refine it. You have to dry it using only warm air, if you cook it, you'll destroy it."

Seeing her parents' face contort in concern that was quickly becoming fear of what she was involved in, Raven promptly pulled a few more buds out of the package and holding them in her paw, said, "Take a look at these, whoever picked them had no idea what they were doing."

Nick, a little more lucid because he didn't know Raven that well, leaned over, "What do you mean?"

Raven replied, "Look here, the buds were twisted off the stem, to do it right, you need to pick them like you would a strawberry, you know, leave a little stem that way they continue to mature for another few days.

"Another problem is that these were harvested before they'd been pollinated, even if they were from the right plant, without pollination they'd never be any good for making Nip.

"And, Sheriff, these weren't grown in the city, they're from around the Tri-Burrows somewhere."

Hoofson stuttered, "How do you know that?"

Raven held out a pawful of loose soil, "It doesn't take a nose as good as Nick's to recognize soil from the Burrows.

"Whoever picked these buds, knows enough about regular crops and how to harvest them, but as far as Nip, they haven't got a clue."

The first to recover was Bonnie, mostly because she was shocked to hear one of her kits speak so knowledgeably about an illegal drug, and then because multiple frightening scenarios laid themselves out in front of her, all of which demanded that a particular doe be grounded for life.

"Grace Marie Hopps! That's enough! How do you know so much about an illegal drug? You had better not be involved in drugs, or there will be hell to pay."

Nick seeing Raven start to fold in on herself, spoke up, "Mrs. H., just because she knows about Nip, doesn't mean she's involved with it. I've seen enough users to know that Raven's not one of them."

Stu jumped in, waving his finger, "You keep quiet fox, this happened all because of animals like you. Grace Marie, who have you been hanging out with? I forbid you from ever talking with any of them again! Sheriff, I want them all arrested!"

…..

Without even waving to Clawhauser, Judy pushed open the ZPD lobby doors and headed to her apartment. Once she got there, she'd figure out what to do. A couple of blocks away from her apartment, she heard her phone ring and saw from the caller ID that it was her sister Amy calling.

Stepping over to a small park bench, Judy sat and took the call from her younger sister, "Hey, Amy."

"Hey, Jude, how are you doing?"

Judy groaned, she and Amy didn't exactly get along particularly well, and her calling out of the blue meant something was up. "I'm okay, what's going on?"

Laughing a little, "That's my favorite big sister, always to the point. Um, it's about your friend Nick…"

Judy ground out, "You better not have taken any more videos of him."

"No, no, don't worry, that's not why I'm calling. Look, a few of us does, well maybe more than a few, um, want to know if he's really dating anyone. Raven said that she thought he had a girlfriend, but that this girl was giving him the runaround because of her family. I was… I mean, we were wondering if this girl is serious about him or just leading him on, and if he'd be open to a little, you know, side action?"

Judy shot up from the bench, "What?!"

"Yeah, I was hoping you might know something about this girl or what he likes in females, you know, it'd make it easier to get close to him. A certain perfume, or if he likes tails more than chests, or maybe he's into a kink you know about, stuff like that."

"Amy, you can't do that. Dad would lose his mind if he thought one of his daughters was dating a predator, especially a fox."

"Oh Jude, I don't want to date him, that's crazy, I just want to have a little fun. I've checked out a couple of videos on the internet and seen how it works for foxes, and it looks interesting. And as far as Dad is concerned, what he doesn't know won't hurt him. I promise no one will ever know, so what do you say, will you help me?"

Judy couldn't believe this, Amy wanted advice on how to seduce her fox, this wasn't happening. Stumbling over her words, Judy finally replied, "No, no. He's got a girlfriend, sort of. You can't, no, you should leave him alone. He's a good guy, no way would he jump into bed with just anyone."

"Judy, look, I know that you've never really been interested in boys or being with anyone, at least you've never said anything about it, so you may not be able to understand that a strong, handsome mammal like Nick has needs. If he's getting a hard time from his supposed girlfriend, I think maybe I can help him out, ease the tension, you know, maybe take care of him while he's here, and if he wants to go back to his loser girlfriend later, that's okay, at least he'll have known what it was like to be with a real girl."

Judy sat back down on the bench and choked out, "Needs?"

"Yes, needs." Amy sighed, and then after a couple of moments of silence, she continued, "I can tell you're not going to be any help. This kind of stuff really isn't anything you're good at. If you think of something that might help me with Nick, text me, otherwise, I'll keep working on him, and see what I can figure out on my own.

"A little advice, Jude the Dude, next time you spend all day, every day with a good looking male, maybe pay a little more attention to him, that sort of thing might help you if you ever decide you want to find a buck and settle down. See ya!"

Judy stared at the now blank screen on her phone, "Needs?" Letting her head hang down, she whispered to herself, "I am the worst girlfriend in the world." Putting her head in her paws, she groaned, "I'm not even officially his girlfriend, I've pushed him away so many times that now he's in Bunnyburrow all alone with the prettiest doe in town trying to bed him. He won't stand a chance, no buck would, Amy's always gotten any boy she wanted, and I'm stuck here over two hundred miles away with no way to stop her from taking my fox away."

Closing her eyes, Judy squeezed the phone in her paw and tried to think of something to do that didn't involve taking the next train to Bunnyburrow and twisting Amy's ears when she got there. Unable to think of anything, Judy figured her only option was to call Janae and see if there was something she could do. Judy swiped the screen to unlock her phone and then groaned again as she saw her battery had died.

Shaking her head, she grumbled, "What else could go wrong today?"

…..

Larry fumed as he and Marv headed back to their van parked in the same spot next to the dumpster they'd used yesterday. Pulling off his clip-on tie, the ram opened the driver's side door, tossed the tie on the dashboard, slid in, and slammed the door shut.

"Damn it, how the hell did that just happen? Pink told us the pelt's mom was dead, and he had no other family or any friends to get in the way of a clean snatch, and now, suddenly, he's found a job and a place to live."

Marvin gently stroked his small beard a few times, and then said, "We both know what happened, it had to have been that traitor rabbit, somehow she did what no one else could do, helped the pelt, and left us holding the bag."

Looking at the goat, Larry asked, "So what do we do now?"

Shaking his head as he stared out the window wondering how the hell things could go this bad, this fast, he sighed and then replied, "Let's go after the coyote we missed Monday. We're already decked out as genealogy investigators, and she's loopy enough to buy our spiel long enough for us to tranq her."

Starting the van, Larry asked, "What about the fox, when do we tell Pink about him?"

Waving his hoof for his partner to get moving, "After we secure the coyote. Hurry it up, I want to get this over with before Midford park gets too crowded and our cover gets blown."

…..

Judy slowly dragged herself up the stairs to the Grand Pangolin Arms lobby and, with a sigh, opened the lobby door. All she wanted to do was go up to her tiny apartment, crawl into her tiny bed, close her eyes and–

Judy stopped just inside the door and saw Bucky and Pronk standing at the base of the lobby stairs staring at a small pile of stuff.

"Hey, guys, what's up?"

Instead of replying, Bucky and Pronk both moved out of Judy's way so she could what they were looking at. Judy looked at the pile more closely, a carrot print suitcase and a laundry bag stuffed full of clothes, sitting on top of a carrot themed cooler all next to a couple of small crates of vegetables. Judy gasped, "That's all my stuff. What's my stuff doing down here?"

Judy went over to her landlord's apartment and pounded on the door, "Mr. Critterly, it's Judy Hopps, I need to speak to you."

A moment later, a smug-looking red panda opened the door, "Yes, Miss Hopps?"

Waving at the small pile, "Why is all my stuff down here?"

"Your lease was up last night at midnight, so I packed up all your things and brought them down here for you."

"What! You can't do that."

Folding his arms, Critterly smirked as he replied, "It was explained in the notices I gave you. You've been on a short-term lease since Dharma Armadillo turned the place over to me, and just like the lease says I have to, I mailed you proper notice that I'm not renewing you for another month."

Looking over at the mailboxes in the lobby, Judy shook her head, "I don't check my mail unless I know I'm getting something, no one does."

"That's why I posted another copy of the notice on your door."

"I never saw–"

"Uh-oh," replied Pronk from behind Judy.

Judy turned around and saw Pronk fishing through his pockets until he pulled out a crumpled sheet of paper, "Sorry, Judy, I found this outside your door, and I kept meaning to give it to you." Handing her the paper, Pronk added, "You're not mad at me, are you?"

Judy sagged as she read the notice. Dharma hadn't cared that her lease went month to month, and she hadn't either since the rent never changed, but there it was, she was supposed to have been out by midnight last night.

"Why are you doing this to me?"

Critterly folded his arms across his chest and replied, "I don't have to have a reason, although," Critterly nodded toward Judy's wheeled cooler and the ear bangle hanging from the handle, "It's been a little crowded around here lately."

Judy spied the bangle and growled at her jerk of a landlord, "Mindy was right, you are a sleaze. Those were my siblings, and I have every right to have them visit. I'm going to report you to the housing board."

Smirking, the red panda replied, "Go ahead, it's not like you can pay the rent anyway, is it?"

Judy stared at the creep in front of her and said, "What?"

Raising an eyebrow, Critterly replied, "Let's just say, I heard from a little birdie that someone had a real bad day at work and might not be getting a paycheck anytime soon."

"How did you–" Judy sputtered until Pronk interrupted.

"Judy, you can stay with us, right Bucky?"

"As long as she isn't too loud."

"No way she's as loud as you."

"You're the one that's–"

"Guys, stop." Judy went over and grabbed her stuff, "Thanks for the offer, but I'm not staying here one minute longer than I have to." Judy gave both Pronk and Bucky a quick hug, told them they could have the small crates of vegetables, and then handed a contact card to Critterly, "Send my deposit to me here, and I'd better get all of it back, or I will be calling the housing board."

Pulling her stuff behind her, Judy gave Critterly one last dirty look and headed out of the building.

…..

A clipboard in his hoof, the goat, led his nervous partner past a few napping predators lying around small metal washbasins that doubled as a fire pits, toward the park's tree line. Walking away from the main group, Marv came to the coyote's den made up of cardboard and small blue tarps.

Lifting up a flap, he motioned for Larry to join him and get out of view of any of the animals in the main camp area that might be looking their way.

Larry patted his tranq gun and waited for his partner to give his standard speech and make sure they had the right animal.

"Hello, I'm here from the Zootopia Genealogy Service. We've been contacted by your–"

A loud hissing sound ended the goat's spiel, "What are you doing in here, Stretch gave me her place fair and square, so get out!"

A blanket was thrown back, and instead of a twentysomething coyote female, they were face to face with an old, irate bobcat queen.

Backing away, the goat waved his hooves in the air in front of him, "Sorry, we were looking for the coyote that used to live here. We were sent to find her by one of her long-lost cousins."

Growling now, the feline stood up, "She told me that some cop found her a job in the city, she didn't say where and I didn't ask. Now get out of my shack!"

Larry and Marv quickly backed their way through the tarp-covered entryway and, once out, made a beeline for their van. Safely inside the van, Marv threw his clipboard down, slammed his hoof on the dash, and then leaned back in his seat and fumed.

The ram, seeing his partner stare out the windshield, quietly said, "She did it to us again, that dirt-loving, burrow-trash, of a cop just cost us weeks of work."

A few moments went by and not seeing any kind of reaction, Larry spoke up again, "You know you're going to have to call and tell her."

"I know, just give me a minute."

Rubbing his temples, the goat tried to fend off the migraine he felt coming on. Everything had been going so smoothly until that bunny cop started sticking her damn nose into everything, now–

"Marv."

Glaring at his partner, Marvin pulled out his phone, tapped a stored contact, and waved it at the ram until he heard a voice answer.

"Pink, I have some bad news."

…..

Standing in front of her former apartment building, Judy stared out at the street, 'Where to now?' Judy needed a place to stay, and without thinking about it, she headed toward the metro stop. As she walked, she ticked through a list of ideas. About the only ones at the precinct she felt comfortable asking for help were Ben and Connor. She knew if she asked, they'd put her up, but she was afraid that if Woolerby found out they helped her, they might get in trouble too.

Spying the station, Judy plodded on, 'Maybe she could stay with her siblings in Foxburg?' She really hated that idea, the way Torrie was, the whole family would find out what happened the minute she showed up, and then she'd never hear the end of it from her parents. They'd try to get her to quit her job and come back to Bunnyburrow, especially if they found out she was on a no-pay status.

Judy started to walk up to the metro platform when she caught sight of a small motel across the street. Definitely not wanting to move in with her siblings, Judy decided to try the motel.

Judy pushed open the lobby door and heard the ding of a sensor and saw the clerk come up from the back.

"May I help you?" said the middle-aged wolverine as he leaned against the counter and looked down on Judy.

"Yes, please. I would like a room for the night." Handing the clerk her credit card, Judy waited for him to run it.

A few moments later, the clerk asked, "Is this your card?"

Judy hesitated and then replied, "Yes, is there a problem?"

Nodding, the wolverine replied, "Yeah, this card isn't in the system, the account doesn't exist."

"What, I've used that card before, try again, please."

"I don't need to, it's not valid. Do you have another one?"

Judy shook her head, "No."

Handing the useless card back to Judy, the clerk shrugged his shoulders and said, "If you want, you can pay cash, but I'll need a deposit in addition to the room fee."

Knowing her bank account was basically empty, Judy checked her wallet and saw that she only had five dollars, "How much for one night?"

"With the deposit, one hundred dollars."

Biting her lip, Judy looked up, "I don't have that much right now, can we do a payment plan where I pay you a little now and give you the rest when I get to the bank tomorrow and find out what's wrong with my credit card?" Smiling big, Judy added, "I'm a ZPD Officer it that helps."

Narrowing his eyes, the clerk sneered a bit as he looked Judy over and said, "Hmm, what is the first payment of a room payment plan for a rabbit cop with no credit, who likes to make speciest speeches about predators, and says she'll pay me the rest tomorrow? Let me look that up on my chart here. Oh yeah, here it is," pointing at the rate sheet in front of him, the clerk smirked and said, "One hundred dollars."

Moments later, Judy stood outside facing the metro station. She had no money, no credit, and nowhere she could go. Judy's stomach rumbled. Closing her eyes, she sighed, great, now her bunny metabolism wanted attention and, of course, she'd given all her leftover vegetables to Bucky and Pronk.

Just before she started berating her stomach for lousy timing, her ears shot up as she heard the metro train approaching. One place she could go suddenly popped into her head, deciding she really didn't have any other choice, she pulled her luggage up to the platform, slipped into the train just before the doors shut, and hoped that her metro pass hadn't been canceled too.

…..

Raven stomped her foot and yelled, "Dad, stop it, I'm not a drug addict or a dealer, and I haven't been doing anything illegal." Almost in tears now, Raven balled up her fists, "I've been studying to become a CSI lab tech. I've been taking online classes since my sophomore year, and I've finished everything except for my lab work. I want to go to Zootopia like Judy did, and work for the ZPD in one of their labs," and then quietly added, "I don't want to be a farmer, I want to be like that girl on TV who figures everything out."

Bonnie, sorry now that she'd full-named her daughter, rushed over and pulled Raven into a hug, "Oh, Honey, I'm so sorry, why didn't you tell me? I would have tried to help."

Raven sniffed and stepped back from her mother, "Mom, you don't understand, you think just because I dress up like this that I'm tough, but I'm not, I'm not strong like Judy."

"What does Judy have to do with this?"

Raven chewed her lip trying to decide what to say, and after a moment she took a breath and said, "I know what happened to Judy, as soon as everyone found out she wanted to be a cop, they treated her like she was crazy, hardly anyone wanted to be her friend and Dad kept trying to talk her into staying here and settling for being a carrot farmer.

"If anyone found out what I wanted to do, the same thing that happened to Judy would happen to me, and I wouldn't be able to take it like she did. So, I didn't tell anyone what I was doing, and I dyed my fur so everyone would think I was different enough that they'd leave me alone."

Now looking directly at her dad, shoulders back, daring him to stop her, Raven said, "I've saved enough money for my lab classes, and no matter what you say, I'm enrolling at UNZ this fall."

Nick watched as Stu scowled at his daughter and then turned to Raven to see her start trembling. Putting a paw out on her shoulder to calm her, he said, "Thank you, Raven, if it hadn't been for you, I'd be in a lot of trouble right now. You did well."

Hoofson, deciding he'd heard enough too, added, "Bonnie, Stu, Officer Wilde's right, you should be proud of your daughter, that was some pretty impressive work." Turning to Raven, Hoofson smiled, "I'd be happy to write you a recommendation for when you decide to apply to the ZPD for a job."

Nick smiled as he felt Raven relax a little and then turning to Hoofson, he said, "Sheriff, I noticed that your department doesn't have much of a lab or anyone that can work evidence as well as Raven can," nodding to the box of faux-Nip, "it might be helpful if someone with her smarts were to catalog all this evidence and write up what she figured out. I seem to recall that you've worked with the ZPD crime lab in the past when you've needed help."

Hoofson, trying not to grin as he saw Raven's face light up at the prospect of working on a report that a ZPD lab might see, drawled out, "That sounds like a right fine idea, Officer Wilde."

"Miss. Hopps, if you have the time, I'd appreciate your help for a few hours. It'd be a shame if I missed something and had to arrest one of my own deputies."

Raven hollered, "Yes!" and then gave Nick a big hug, "Thank you."

As the excited doe went to get her lab kit, Hoofson dawned a more serious tone, "Wilde, this stuff can be found growing in spots all around the Tri-Burrows area, so regardless of whether or not we find out who sent it, I want you to know that I don't believe for a second that you had anything to do with this."

Nick nodded, "Thank you, Sheriff, that means a lot to me."

…..

Judy steeled herself as she stared at the door. She's supposed to be a tough cop, and she was, but in the span of a few hours, her life had taken a nosedive, and she couldn't take it anymore. She'd been docked a paycheck she needed, booted out of her apartment, and about to lose the fox she loved.

Finn was behind the counter, cleaning up a few dishes as he watched Tiff finish ringing up a bill for a family of beavers. The couple thanked Tiff for a wonderful meal, and their kit smiled big as she licked the red Pawpsicle that she'd convinced her parents to buy for her. Finn scanned the diner as the beavers left and noted that all the remaining mammals in the place were foxes of one type or another. Picking up a glass to dry, Finn chuckled, beavers tonight, earlier a pair of muskrats, ever since that bunny-girl had hopped into his partner's life, things had been changing for him as well.

Finn heard the door open but didn't look up until he'd heard the sniffle of a mammal who sounded like they'd been having a bad day. Focusing on the newly arrived mammal dressed in old jeans and a wrinkled shirt that looked wet from either sweat or tears or both, Finn saw that it was officer toot-toot in the flesh… pulling a small, wobbly wheeled cooler with some luggage resting on top.

Finn watched as Judy set her bags near the coatrack, and then stood with her eyes closed, squeezing her paws into fists trying to get hold of herself. A few deep breaths later, Judy slowly made her way to an empty booth and pulled herself up onto the bench.

Toni came out from the kitchen with a plate and set it down in front of a tod sitting at the counter. Seeing Judy, she started to wave to her friend when Finn grunted, checking her motion. Both foxes watched as Tiff took a glass and a pitcher over to Judy's table and started to fill the glass.

Judy had had her head in her paws and wasn't paying attention as Tiffany poured some water in the glass. When Tiff asked if Judy needed anything, Judy shook her head in misery and let her paws drop to the table in frustration. As soon as her paw hit the table, she knocked over the half-filled glass of water, spilling it on the table and splashing it on herself. Flustered, she yelled out, "Just great, that's exactly what I need, now I'm soaked."

Tiffany looked stricken, "I'm sorry, I'll get a towel."

"No, I don't want a towel, just leave me be for a minute." Ignoring her wet clothes, Judy covered her eyes with the palms of her paws and tried with all her might not to cry at how horrible everything was.

Finn looked at Toni and then scanned the dining room. Seeing only his fox regulars left in the diner, Finn stood still for a few moments and then shook his head as he appeared to have made some sort of decision. Giving Toni a quick nod, Finn wiped his paws on his apron and headed over to Judy's table.

The dining room went quiet as Finn grabbed a chair from a nearby table, set it next to the booth and jumped on top of it, and glared at the gray bunny with his arms folded across his chest. The bunny pulled her paws away from her eyes but appeared not to notice Finn and instead just stared down at the empty glass and spilled water on the table.

After trying to ignore the small fox for as long as she could, Judy shook her head and, without looking up, said, "What do you want, Finn?"

"You come into my place, make a mess, and you act all teary-eyed, like the world's ending. What the hell's wrong with you, Hopps?"

"I lost my lease, my landlord thinks I'm going to start breeding or something. Finn, it wasn't my fault, that creep of a landlord has been giving everyone in the building a hard time, I've already lost two neighbors, and today he came after me because he didn't like who I was hanging out with." Swirling one of her claws in the spilled water, the now dejected-looking bunny let out a whimper. "It's not fair, I needed that apartment, I spent weeks looking for a place to stay when I first moved here, and that was the only place I could find that would rent to me. I followed the rules, paid on time, and just because of a few visitors, he kicked me to the curb like so much garbage."

Finn continued to stare down at the bunny until Judy looked up. In a loud, rough voice Finn barked out, "You know that's not what I'm talking about, tell me what the real problem is."

Judy scoffed, "Which problem are you talking about? My landlord's a jerk, everything I own is sitting by the door over there, I just got docked a paycheck because I refused to arrest an innocent kit, my credit is trashed, I don't have any money, or…" now moaning into the table, "or, my sister, the most attractive doe in Bunnyburrow called me up asking for advice on how to seduce my boyfriend. Take your pick, Finn."

Finn glared at Judy, "We need to hear you say it."

Judy and Finn stared at each other while everyone else watched the tension between them rise. After almost ten seconds had passed, an old corsac fox in the back of the diner yelled out, "Damn pup! Stop feeling sorry for yourself and own it like the rest of us do."

Judy shook her head back and forth in confusion, and with a whisper, she asked, "What?"

Finn smiled slightly, "You heard me, we need to hear you say it."

Judy rubbed the tears out of her eyes and looked around the diner at all the foxes waiting for her to say something. She wasn't sure what they were waiting to hear until she remembered…

Judy turned back to Finn, sniffed, and in a soft, questioning voice, said, "I'm a fox?" Looking around again, seeing everyone nod their heads, Judy firmed up, and in a stronger voice, she yelled out, "I'm a fox, that's why it all happened, because I'm a fox."

Finn nodded as he shook a finger at Judy and barked out, "Damn straight, you're a fuckin' pelt, and don't you ever forget it."

Smiling now, Judy said, "I'm a fox."

"That's right, no one trusts a fox, no one's going to help a fox and when something goes wrong…"

"Blame the gosh-darned fox," Judy finished for Finn.

Rolling his eyes at the now blushing bunny, Finn said in a softer voice, "Yeah, I'm sorry you've been having a rough time of it, but you can't let the mammals in this town get you down. We've all been there at one time or another. You just have to remember that you're a fox now and foxes are family, we watch out for each other and help as best as we can."

Finn stepped down from the chair and was turning to say something else to Judy when he suddenly felt the doe hugging him.

"Thank you, Finn. You don't know what this means to me."

Finn gently patted Judy lightly on the back a couple of times and then looked up at the ceiling in the hopes that someone would intervene and end this emotional display.

Judy smirked, "I'm not going to stop until you hug me back, we're family now."

Finn quietly groaned, returned the bunny's hug, and said, "A minute ago, I thought this was a good idea, right now, I'm not so sure."

Releasing the small fox, Judy smirked, "Pfft, you're as bad as Nick."

Finn shook his head, "Alright, have a seat, and I'll fix you up a couple of meals you can take with you, and after that, we need to find you a place for the night." Pointing at the table, Finn added, "Help Tiff out with the mess, I'll be right back out."

Judy hopped back onto the bench and grabbed the towel Tiffany had left earlier. As she wiped the mess up, a fox from a few booths away came over and handed her a card.

"I heard you say your pay was docked. My boss's mate needs a reliable sitter for her kits…" Taking a closer look at Judy, the fox rethought what he was going to say and took the card back. He wrote another phone number on the card and slid it back to Judy. "Actually, I know a guy that runs a roadhouse near Tundra Town, it's a little rough and serves mostly medium to large-sized mammals. My buddy, Patrick, is looking for a good bouncer to help him clean the place up. It's mostly night work, but the pays pretty good, if you're interested, give him a call and tell him Wade sent you."

Judy took the card, and right after she thanked Wade for the tip, Toni came up and gave her a big hug.

"Are you okay? I'm so sorry all those terrible things happened." Pulling back, Toni asked, "Was it because of what happened with that ewe outside the museum?"

Judy shook her head, "Toni, none of this is Aidan's or CJ's fault, some mammals are just rotten and can't be fixed, unfortunately, I happened to run into one that's a city councilor."

Finn walked up carrying a large bag. "I put together a couple of days' worth of veggies and a few other things for you, and I've got a line on a place you can stay at for as long as you need. It's close to city central and not too far from a metro stop, so I think it should work out for you pretty well."

"Finn, thanks, but I don't have any money right now. Do you think the landlord will let me stay there until I get my next paycheck in a few weeks?"

Finn nodded, "Don't worry, I know the owner, so I've got you covered." Waving Judy toward the door, Finn said, "Let's go, I need to get back to help clean up."

Toni gave Judy another hug and whispered, "Judy, you don't need to be worrying about Nick and your sister, how about you stop by Saturday night, and we go over a few fox things, vixen to vixen, okay?"

Judy nodded and whispered back, "Thanks, Toni, thanks for everything." After giving her friend one last squeeze, Judy grabbed her luggage and followed Finn out to his van.

…..

Pink slammed her phone down on the table as she groaned out, "Those idiots, if they'd just done their jobs right yesterday, none of this would be happening. And that damn, nosey, mud-sucking rabbit, how the hell did she get to the targets before White's people could pick them up?"

Closing her eyes tight, she did everything possible not to walk around her apartment kicking things and yelling at no one. This was it, that rabbit has ruined everything. She'd need at least a week to find a new target, and White was already in her fur about needing new test subjects right now.

Staring at her phone, she calmed herself down and dialed a number she'd hoped to avoid calling with any more bad news.

"White here."

"Sir, this is Pink."

"Good, have the two new animals been delivered to the lab yet?"

Gritting her teeth, Pink replied, "That's why I'm calling, sir. That rabbit, Hopps, interfered with both of our targets this week. Evidently, after questioning them, she found them jobs, and now they've moved out of their homeless camps. They don't fit the criteria anymore, and if we try to grab them now, we risk exposing the operation."

"Damn you, Pink, this is what I pay you to take care of, we need new animals, and we need them today."

"Sir, it'll take me weeks to identify targets as perfect as the ones Hopps just rescued. Over the last week, she's been a major pain in my tail, I've already warned you that she's getting close to figuring out what we're doing and now she's screwing with our pickups. You need to do something about her. If you want new animals, I need Hopps out of the picture now."

"Don't worry, I've already made the arrangements for the disposal of her body, I just need to work out how we grab her without anyone suspecting it was us."

Pink nodded, "I think I've got an idea that might help with that, she's going to serve dinner at the encampment again tomorrow night. The last time she helped, she was the last volunteer to leave, and she walked by herself to the metro station. I think you'd have an easy time grabbing her near there. It's an industrial park, not well lit, and not many mammals around to see her get snatched."

White hummed as he thought for a moment, "That's the encampment near 34th, right? The one that's mostly predators?"

"Yes."

"Good, that means when she goes missing, maybe the ZPD will figure it was one of the homeless preds that made a meal of her. Worst case, the ZPD will be distracted looking for her long enough for us to grab some new test subjects, and then without a body or any leads, the ZPD will have no choice but to give up looking for her pretty fast. No matter how it plays out, it's a win-win for us."

Scratching his forehead as he thought, White asked, "Will you be there tomorrow night?"

Pink shrugged, "I wasn't planning on going, but, yes, I can be there."

White nodded, "Good, text me when you're done serving the meal, that should give me enough time to get my team in position. We'll take care of Hopps before she gets to the metro stop."

"Thank you, sir."