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

…..

Holding open the lobby door for Judy, Nick checked the time and said, "We're going to be early for our meeting with Bogo. Are you sure you don't want to hit the Snarlbucks across the street first? I heard they're trying out a new carrot flavored half-caf."

Boxing her fox lightly in the side as she stepped into the ZPD, Judy replied, "I know. I also know they started selling a new recipe blueberry muffin right after you left. So, 'No', we're not going to be late for our meeting just because you want to see how many muffins one fox can eat before gagging."

Judy made it only a few feet inside the lobby before her rabbit senses told her she was walking alone. Stopping, Judy put her paws on her hips and tapped her foot.

"Six."

Judy turned and raised a brow.

"My record, before gagging."

Shaking her head, Judy walked back to where Nick was still holding the door open, grabbed him by the ugliest tie she'd ever seen, and pulled her Pawaiian shirt clad partner into the lobby.

Of course, this was all her fault. Ben's texts had said that officially they were both on leave, Judy from the ZPD and Nick from the Sheriff's office, and not to wear their uniforms. So, being the sensible doe she was, Judy opted for jeans and a purple blouse she'd borrowed from Janae, while her obviously color-blind partner…

If only she hadn't been so distracted this morning, or before she'd been secretly whisked out of the City, she could have grabbed all of Nick's hideous shirts and thrown them in the dumpster. But noooo…

"Careful with the tie there, Fluff. It's a classic."

Judy stopped after a few steps, 'The ties too. And one of these days, I'm going to tie him down with said strips of obnoxious cloth and find out precisely what kind of hustle involves wearing the first-degree fashion felony he'd pulled out of his closet this morning.

'Or maybe skip the questioning and go straight to the part where we play good cop, bad–'

"I need to see Chief Bogo right now!"

Judy had barely dragged her fox more than a few feet further into the lobby when she pulled up again at seeing who was at the reception desk waving a clawed finger at the teen zebra mare standing in for Ben.

Leah Corin. Not a mammal Judy wanted to be around this morning.

"I'm sorry, Officer, uh, Corin," said the young ZPD Auxiliary, "he's busy most of the morning. If you can wait for Ben, I mean Officer Clawhauser, to get back, I'm sure he'll be able to slot you in for a few minutes before lunch if that works."

"It doesn't," added a new voice, "Leah, you're in no condition to talk to Bogo by yourself. Let me go with you, I can help."

"What's going on with Corin? And why's Garrison on parking duty?" whispered Nick.

Judy shook her head and whispered back, "I don't know, but whatever it is, Corin is a mess."

"Yeah, she looks like she's been on the run from a hustle gone bad."

Judy nodded, "Yeah, real bad."

Corin looked terrible. She was in uniform, but barely. Her uniform looked like she'd slept in it for at least a couple of days. Her shirt was all wrinkled and stained with coffee, her tie was hanging loose, and from what Judy could tell, she'd dripped something down the front of her pants, probably while eating on the go.

Garrison, on the other paw, made Judy want to laugh. She thought Nick had the dorky meter maid look down pat. Nope. Garrison made dorks look cool with the overlarge vest hanging almost to her knees, and the too-small bowler hat sat bobby-pinned to the fur in the center of her head.

And the small parking ticket machine hanging on Garrison's hip… 'Tzatziki sauce for the asparagus,' Judy thought as she chuckled.

*Click*

"What are you doing?" hissed Judy.

"Nothing."

"You took a picture of her, didn't you?"

"Maybe. Want a copy?

"Ow."

"Shhh, I can't hear."

"Stay away from me," roared Corin in front of the now wide-eyed teen mare, "I don't want your help. Being your partner and listening to your speciest rants day in and day out was the worst mistake of my life. If I hadn't listened to you, I'd be a real cop able to do my job. Now thanks to you, I have to call my Aunt and tell her I was pulled off the case and that idiot Schweinly's been put in charge."

"You know I'm right about how you should've run your investigation," snarled Garrison. "The weasels and foxes know what happened. Let's go talk to Bogo together. I'm sure he'll let me off of parking duty, and then we can go shake down a pelt or two and figure out what happened."

Judy growled.

The arguing felines both turned at hearing a new predator suddenly nearby.

"Great, Officer pelt and his rodent cheerleader."

Nick stepped up next to Judy, tail bushed out and glaring at Garrison, "That's Officer Hopps to you, Garrison, and on her worst day, she's a better cop than you could ever hope to be."

"Bullsh–"

Corin pushed Garrison into the reception desk and yelled, "Shut the hell up, you worthless, flea-bitten scavenger." And then grabbing the file folder sitting on the desk, she stomped over to where Judy and Nick were standing.

"Please, Officer–"

The manilla folder shot out of Corin's paw, and its contents landed in a cloud on the floor.

"You'd rather go to these two than listen to me?" hissed Garrison as she kicked the manilla folder away from her former partner, "You're more pathetic than I ever imagined. If you think they're going to be able to help, you might as well write off your cousin now." Heading toward the garage where her parking cart was waiting, Garrison spat out, "If you do this, we're done, and I'll make damn sure everyone else knows that you're a pelt lover like her."

Everyone watched as Garrison made her way to the parking garage door, pushed it open, and without turning around, flipped them all off.

"Bitch," whispered Corin, now on her knees, picking up the spilled papers.

"I'm so sorry about that. It's all my fault. I never should've let myself be partnered up with Garrison, I should've reported her to IA a long time ago, I should have gone to Bogo, I, I…"

Corin dropped the papers in her paws and sank in on herself, "…it was me, all the horrible things I did, it was me, and now when Sophia needs me most, no one will talk to me, no one will help." Tears poured down Leah's muzzle as she covered her eyes and sank even lower to the floor. "Sophia's missing, and I'm worthless as a cop. Worse than worthless, nobody cares about her because she's my cousin and everyone hates me."

"I've barely slept in three days. I've been all over town, everywhere she talked about wanting to visit when she first got here. My Aunt and Uncle are frantic, she's their only cub. And now I don't know what to do."

Suddenly pulling her paws away from her eyes, she grabbed Judy's paw and pleaded with her. "I'll resign, I don't deserve to be a cop. Maybe that will help." And then looking at Nick, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry for everything I did. I know I don't deserve to be forgiven, but please help Sophia. She doesn't deserve to suffer just because I'm a bad cop.

"Please, I'll do anything."

Judy put a paw on Corin's trembling shoulder, "Offi– Leah, of course Nick and I will help you, but you need to slow down and tell us what's going on."

Stepping up, Nick nodded, "Carrots is right, just start at the beginning."

"You'll help?"

Looking over at Judy, Nick chuckled, "Yeah, I try not to disagree with my partner, too many bruises."

Smiling a little at seeing Judy roll her eyes, Leah said, "Thanks," as she slid everything into a pile and motioned toward a small waiting area with a coffee table and some chairs where they could talk.

Sorting through the papers, Leah handed a pair of pictures to Nick and Judy. "These are pictures of my cousin Sophia DePawly, she went missing Friday night."

Judy showed the pictures to Nick. One looked like a professionally done high school yearbook photo, and the other was a selfie screen snipped off of Sophia's Muzzlebook profile page. Both pictures showed a beautiful teenage lioness with a light-colored, nicely styled mane, wearing a long skirt and sweater in the yearbook picture and a conservative white blouse and jeans in the other.

"Pretty young, she still has a few juvenile spots left, too," said Nick, pointing to the girl's cheeks.

"Yeah, she's starting at UNZ this fall, and Friday was her eighteenth birthday. She promised her mom that she'd call home so they could sing Happy Birthday to her, but she never did. My Aunt called me early-early Saturday morning all frantic and begging me to check on Sophia. She'd been up all night trying to get hold of her but couldn't."

"I talked to her roommate, a white-tailed mongoose named Reese, but she…" Leah pulled at her mane and whined, "Garrison. Before she was put on parking duty, she had us taking a lot of calls from around the UNZ campus. She took calls to break up off-campus gatherings, deal with minor zoning violations, hell Garrison even took a call on someone painting UNZ's 'Rock.'"

Judy scrunched her brow, "Really? Tri-Burrows' got painted like every night."

"I know, which means this girl Reese knows I'm partners with Garrison and that we've been busting her friends on a bunch of BS complaints."

Glancing at Nick, Leah whispered, "Garrison made sure we were extra hard on all the small predators, no warnings, full fines, she even got a few of them thrown out of their housing.

"I'm so sorry, I know I screwed up. Everything I did, everything I let Garrison do…"

Judy put her paw on Leah's arm, "What did Reese tell you?"

"Nothing. She said she's been working a bunch and the last time she saw Sophia was Friday afternoon."

"My Aunt thinks Sophia's dating some guy, some kind of bad-boy type. She said that Sophia watched way too many Howlmark movies growing up and probably thinks whoever this creep is, he's some kind of fixer-upper with a heart of gold. Might be why she hasn't been calling home much lately, either."

"Yeah, girls seem to have a thing for scoundrels, you should ask Carrots here– Ow!"

Glaring at Nick as she withdrew her fist, Judy said, "What Nick meant to say, was, does Reese know anything about Sophia dating anyone, scoundrel or not?"

Sighing, Leah said, "She didn't know, or she wouldn't say. Either way, I didn't get anything from her, and no one else I talked to knew anything about her dating anyone or where she went Friday night, either.

"I even tried pulling the JamCam video for the cameras around the campus Metro station to see if Sophia met someone there on Friday, but the system still isn't working right. And this morning, I was going to have legal request Sophia's phone records and any ZooRyd pickups at her place, but when I got in, Higgins told me that I was off the case and to turn over all my notes to Schweinly."

"He did? Is that why you wanted to talk with Bogo? To see if he'd put you back on?"

Leah shook her head, "No, it was Bogo's decision to take me off the case. He told Higgins I was too close to the victim, too emotionally involved. He was afraid I'd lose it and go all medieval on whoever took my cousin."

Judy looked at Nick and then back to the lioness who now had her head in her paws again. "Leah?"

"I know I'm a shitty cop. Bogo's right, I would've torn the throat out of any guy I caught hurting Sophia." And then looking back and forth between Nick and Judy, Leah's eyes went wide with a hopeful look, "Would you two talk to Bogo about taking the case, please. You guys are the best cops in Precinct One. You found all those missing mammals and figured out everything Bellwether was up to. Please, you have to."

Judy cringed while Nick gestured to Judy in her jeans and purple top and him in his eye-damaging shirt and said, "We're technically still on leave. I'm not sure if Bogo will let us, we can ask, but–"

Leah's paws shot out and covered her friend's smaller paws as she pleaded, "Schweinly's the only one Bogo's put on my cousin's case. Judy, please, you've worked a shift with him. You know what he's like."

Judy groaned.

"Yeah, he's a lazy-ass, do-nothing complainer that'll worry more about his next meal than finding my cousin. You have to talk Bogo into letting you guys find Sophia, please."

"Okay, we'll talk to him," Judy replied, patting Leah's much larger paw.

"Thanks," and stuffing all the papers back into the manilla folder, Leah handed it to Judy and said, "Here, this is everything I have on Sophia's case. Her Fall class schedule, a list of places I've looked, her roommate's information, and a few more pictures."

"HOPPS! WILDE!"

All three mammals looked across the lobby to see Bogo leaning over the second-level railing, fuming, "You're late. My office now."

Standing, Judy said, "We'll talk to him about your cousin."

"Thanks. Tell him I need to talk to him too." Judy started to say something until Leah put up a paw.

"Not about my cousin, about everything else. He needs to know about Garrison… and me. If it costs me my badge, then so be it. I've let everybody down, and it's time I came clean with Bogo."

Gesturing toward Bogo's office, she added, "No matter what happens to me, find my cousin. And if there's anything you need, call me, and it's yours."

Judy gave Leah a quick hug, "We'll find her." And then to her partner, "Come on Nick, Bogo's waiting."

-/-/-

"Last order of business," said Stu tapping his gavel to get the rest of the Co-op board's attention. "A company headquartered in Zootopia would like to contract with us for a thousand bushels each of fresh strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, and blueberries."

Emmett Hayes shrugged, "Barely five acres worth of berries. Why bother bringing that up here?"

"Four thousand bushels per month, to start. They plan to build a juicing facility here in Bunnyburrow and expand to fifty thousand bushels by next summer and double that the following year."

Hayes nodded as he did the mental math that included not only the eventual berry sales but the increased volume of fuel for the trucks and lodging for the truck drivers. About to throw in his support, Hayes felt his phone vibrate and cursed to himself as he saw the picture Courtney had texted him.

"Is this the outfit you and the Gardiners are teamed up with?" asked a rust and black-furred buck.

"Yes, Zeke," replied Stu, bouncing a bit, "my son is in charge of the Burrow operations. The manufacturing is done in Zootopia, along with the corporate paperwork."

"Why the hell did your boy agree to having the manufacturing done in the City? Don't make no sense, we could use the jobs here, and the transportation costs would be a darn sight less too."

"Preds," chimed in an even older tri-colored tan, white, and brown buck with a chunk taken out of his ear from an accident. "Your boy's working with preds, ain't he? I heard that fox staying with you likes berries and talked your kit into canceling your contract with Podunk Wholesale. Why in tarnation is your kit listening to a fox?"

"He's getting around the local ordinances on using pred labor, isn't he?" added in Zeke's irate voice.

Stu's ears dropped, and his nose vibrated as more of the Co-op board members added their voices to the increasing din of angry and confused rabbits.

"QUIET!" yelled Hayes as he slammed the flat of his paw on the table. "Quiet down now."

Stu quickly followed suit by hammering his gavel until the room quieted.

"The meetings running late and I haven't had breakfast yet. I move that we table this request until next month's meeting."

"I want to hear more about this City outfit before I sign on," added Zeke tapping a claw on the table.

"Of course," replied Hayes, "Stu and I will look into it and report back to the board. Alright?"

"Fine," grunted Zeke. "I second the motion."

Stu gaveled the meeting closed and waited until all the rabbits, except for Hayes, had left.

"I saw your truck's getting loaded up over at the General Store. Would you like a ride back? And maybe a few words in private?"

Stu nodded as he gathered up his papers, "Sure, thanks," and followed his friend out.

Hayes slid into his Catillac, started the engine, and turned to Stu, "Why's that pelt still in your warren? You should have kicked him to the curb weeks ago."

Shaking his head as he stopped his car at the parking lot exit, Hayes added, "Zeke's right, isn't he? There are preds involved on the other side of this contract of your boy's, aren't there?"

Stu nodded, "They're decent enough mammals, helped me with some hard to find parts for my dad's truck. My boys have been learning a good bit about running a business from them."

"You mean thieving and hustling. What kind of animals are these preds?"

Stu silently looked out the passenger side window until a kit on a bicycle finished crossing in front of the car, when he quietly replied, "Foxes."

Hayes slapped the steering wheel and yelled, "Damnit all to hell, Stu. Foxes! Are you out of your ever-lovin' mind? Isn't it bad enough that we already have one fox that's hustled his way into our town by corrupting the Sheriff's department and then poisoning one of our most esteemed institutions by stealing the Burrow Meister medallion? And now you want to make it worse by having this town go into business with a whole group of the filthy beasts?

"What were you thinking?"

"Nicholas–"

"You mean the pelt."

Stu grimaced as he nodded, "My kits… They all like him. And, ahh, he's good with my youngest, helped her to… grow."

"I heard she attacked an innocent buck in town a couple of weeks ago. Nearly put a righteous mammal in the hospital just for defending the decency of the town. Is that what you meant by 'grow'?

"And what about your other daughter? The crazy one? The one that should be mated and ten litters into doing her duty for a decent buck, but instead, she's working as a cop in the City? Judith? Judy? I'm bettin' she's terrified out of her mind being forced to work with that vicious beast you've let into your warren. You know it's only a matter of time before he goes savage and kills her. No telling what triggers a pred. One minute they're in their place doing their work, the next they're crazed monsters looking to turn a rabbit into a meal."

Stu shook his head, "You know that's not true about predators going savage. All that Night Howler madness came from Bellwether and a pawful of psychos. I know for a fact that those drugs they were darting predators with would drive a prey mammal insane too. Bon's brother Terry went savage and left a sizable divot in her arm after eating one of those flowers as a kit. Spent a whole day in the hospital recovering from what I was told."

"No offense, but your mate's side of the family is a little off. It started with her Uncle Lewis–"

"Someone my family loved dearly," ground out Stu. "What's your point, Emmett?"

Pulling into a parking space not too far from the Hopping Good Eats diner, Hayes turned off his car and said, "The point is too much is changing too fast around here. We need to return the town to the way things used to be. Preds need to know their place, and rabbits need to keep to their own species. No good can come from consorting with the lesser breeds."

"What are you talking about? And why'd you park here and not at the General Store?"

"Are you still one of us, Stu? Can we trust you to put the needs of the Burrow ahead of the deviant behaviors of some of your kits? You did what you had to do years ago, are you strong enough to do what you have to do again?"

"What in tarnation are you talking about?"

"The Longear family. It's happening again. You, me, and Leapwell, we were able to take care of them last time. I'm going to need your help again."

"Longear? Cynthia? David's girl–" Stu pulled his cap off and rubbed his forehead, "David's friend? What do you mean by 'we were able to take care of them?'"

"We ran them out of town, Leapwell and me. Once you broke that harlot of a hare doe and your boy up, it didn't take more than a few threats to get them to pack up and move to the City where their kind can wallow in the filth."

Stu went slack-jawed and stared at Emmitt for a pawful of breaths, "You and Leapwell chased them out of town? You never told me that. All I ever heard is that they suddenly up and left. I never knew why."

Hayes smiled, "Now you know. And now that you do know, we have a new problem. A problem that is becoming a festering canker on this town. My daughter texted me proof positive that the same kind of vile corruption that happened to your oldest boy is happening again.

"Go take a look for yourself, " Hayes added, nodding toward the diner. "Right through the window over there."

Stu heard a knock on his window just before the car door was opened for him.

"Hi, Mr. Hopps. Nice to see you again," said Courtney smirking as she held open the door.

Starting his car back up, Hayes turned to the now silent Stu and said, "You know what you have to do. Call me when you're ready."

Stu silently stepped out of the small Catillac and watched as Hayes and his daughter left.

-/-/-

Poking her head around the doorjamb, Judy cleared her throat, "Sir?"

"Come in Hopps. Wilde, you too. Close the door behind you."

Judy made her way to the two large chairs in front of her boss' desk, and as soon as Nick closed the door, she hopped up into one of them and patted the seat next to her.

Bogo resisted rolling his eyes as Wilde nonchalantly ignored the second chair and jumped up next to his smiling partner.

"Alright, Clawhauser said you wanted to meet. What's so important that you two aren't in Bunnyburrow where I sent you?"

Judy took a breath, "Sir, I–"

"Chief," Nick broke in waving a paw around the office, "are we safe talking about this here?"

"Nick?" whispered Judy.

Bogo grunted, "It's alright, Hopps. He's just being careful."

Nick turned to Judy, "First rule of a high-end sting, inside information is gold. If you can figure out how your mark thinks, or better yet, what they're planning on doing, you can take them for everything they're worth."

Judy raised a brow.

"I mean, uh, that's what I've heard. Going after mid-level mob bosses and rich players wasn't really my thing."

"Uh-huh," said Judy while smiling at her boss and simultaneously whispering out the side of her mouth, "You can tell me more about it when we get home."

Bogo looked between the sweet smiling bunny and the suddenly nervous fox, and, seeing that Hopps would be taking care of any residual behavioral issues, focused on Wilde as he said, "Don't worry, my office is clean. And I borrowed a couple of off-market gadgets from a friend of mine that will keep it that way."

Nodding toward the phone on his desk, Bogo huffed, "Unfortunately, we still have a problem with the ZPD's comms. I don't trust the office phones, and Clawhauser says that all the radio channels, even the encrypted ones, are being monitored from the inside. Even the computer systems have been compromised. So, for the time being, anything to do with this case, we all need to communicate through Clawhauser."

"Sir," said Nick with a finger up, "as much as my partner here enjoys her thrice daily calls to the Gazelle hotline for updates, our cell phones are clean."

"You're sure?"

"Yes, sir. I had A. Friend secure them."

"A. Friend?" repeated Bogo.

Judy rolled her eyes.

"Yes, sir. One of the best in the business. He cost my buddy a whole box of pre-bankruptcy Twinkies."

Bogo huffed as he grabbed his secure cell and, opening it up to his contact list, said, "Alright, I'll trust you on that then. Open your phones, you'll need the secure numbers for Clawhauser, Pawson, and myself."

Judy pulled out her phone and started to open her contacts list when Nick stopped her.

"We already have them."

"What?" said Judy as she brushed Nick's paw away from her phone and checked her contacts.

And mumbled as she scrolled, "Big Cat, Big Wolf, Big Bu–" and then hissed, "Niiick."

"I also had my guy make sure your secure phones were still secure along with making them invisible on the net, so no one else will be able to find them.

"Oh, and free unlimited data and texting, too."

Judy facepalmed, "Nick."

"What? Their cell plan sucked."

Tapping his desk with a hoof, Bogo interrupted, "Clawhauser thinks whoever is hacking us is current or former ZPD. So, while he's working on the comms, the computers, and the JamCams, I'm doing a personnel review. So far, I've made it through about half of the ZPD personnel records and haven't found anyone that fits the Bellwether, closet-terrorist, anti-pred profile.

"Which means for now, beyond the five of us, trust no one."

"Yes, sir," replied Judy, "About that, sir… Since PC Bechtail single-handedly took down the Mule in, uh, The Duchy of Mordinia–"

Bogo coughed, "Uh, Senior Police Constable Bechtail, yes. Quite the takedown. Couldn't have been credited to a more deserving Officer."

"Of course, sir. So, what's the status of finding out who hired him? Was Pawson able to find any clues?"

Bogo drummed his hoof on his desk and grimaced, "No new leads since Pawson dropped you off, and with the Mule gone and our systems unreliable, I gave him some time off to sort through a few personal issues."

"Is he alright, sir?"

"Yes, Hopps. As far as I know, he's fine. So, how about you tell me what the two of you are doing in my office and not in Bunnyburrow?"

"I got a call from one of my CIs yesterday, the one that gave me the lead on some of the homeless going missing. He said one of his guys went missing a few days ago, and he wants Nick and me to look into it. Today.

"We're headed over to meet with him as soon as we're done here."

"No, I don't like it. Wilde is supposed to be finishing his duty in Bunnyburrow and Hopps, you're supposed to be resting. The possibility of you getting hurt looking for some gang-banger who's gone on a Nip-induced bender and is holed up somewhere until he comes down isn't worth it to me. Give me the information, and I'll find someone else to meet with him."

"Sir, it has to be us, I promised him."

"Well, unpromised him, you're on leave."

"Sir–"

Nick broke in, "I owe the CI a favor. He called it in yesterday. That's why we're here."

Bogo glared at Nick, "What kind of favor? You're a cop, I better not–"

"It was me, sir. I made the trade with the CI. A favor for the information on Crazy Ray and the missing homeless."

Bogo pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to stave off a headache as he asked, "I suppose this guy's a fox."

Judy bit her lips closed.

"Damn it, Hopps, how in the hell were you able to promise a favor from Wilde when…"

Bogo trailed off as he caught sight of Wilde's tail nearly wrapped around Hopps, who was nervously fidgeting with its tip. Sighing, Bogo said, "Never mind."

"If it helps anything, sir," said Nick rubbing the back of his neck, "both Sheriff Hoofson and Mayor Ackerbunn are okay with me, uh, working something out of town for a while. It seems the Mayor's got meetings with the town council, the Co-op board, and a few other people about some stuff, and me not being there for a few days isn't a bad thing."

"Of course, you seem to have that effect on everyone you work for.

"Alright, you two can work the favor, but keep it off the books. I don't want anything in the ZPD systems showing that you aren't in Bunnyburrow and," pointing at Judy, "as far as everyone's concerned, you're officially on leave. No uniforms, no squad car, no contact with anyone but Clawhauser. So, you're on your own, and as soon as you find the guy, you're both back in Bunnyburrow. Got it."

"Yes, sir."

"Good, now get out of–"

"Sir," Judy raised a finger, "There's something else I need to talk to you about."

"Of course, what now?"

"Sir, Officer Corin's cousin, she's gone missing too. Leah tried to find her but…"

"Corin's been reassigned. Schweinly is working her cousin's case."

"Schweinly's not exactly A-Team material, sir," broke in Nick. "He doesn't know the city the way we do, and he doesn't know any of the places where an eighteen-year-old college girl might hang out."

Bogo glared.

"Yeah, the guy we're looking for is a lion the same age as Leah's cousin Sophia, I figured while we're looking for him, we could ask around about her too. Leah's really worried about Sophia. I promise we won't interfere with Schweinly's investigation. He won't even know we're asking around about her."

"Fine, anything you find out, tell Clawhauser, and I'll get it to Schweinly, discretely. Anything else?"

Judy shook her head.

Nick hopped down first, followed by Judy. Nick went over to the door and, jumping up, pulled the handle down and held it open for his bunny who was taking her time.

"Nick, I need a minute."

"Everything okay?"

"Yeah."

Judy made her way back to Bogo's desk as Nick went out into the hallway pulling the door shut behind him.

Hopping up on her boss' desk, Judy said, "Sir, about Leah."

"Yes, Hopps, what about her? She's on her way up here now."

"Please listen to what she has to say. I think she's genuinely sorry for her behavior and wants to make amends. I think she just needs to be partnered up with the right mammal, someone who could mentor her, a good, senior Officer who can help undo the damage her current partner has done."

"Garrison."

Judy pulled her carrot pen out of her pocket and handed it to Bogo, "Yes, sir. I should have come forward about my time with Garrison sooner. I thought I could take care of her myself. But I was wrong. And I was wrong to try."

*Knock, Knock*

Looking toward the door, Judy said, "I heard good things about Leah when I was in the academy. Maybe you could talk to Major Friedken about her, the ZPA might benefit by hearing from someone who knows how NOT to be a police officer."

Judy hopped down, and then pausing again, said, "Sir, about the recordings on that pen, there are a few personal things recorded that I'd appreciate you keeping to yourself, or at least not sharing them with Ben."

"Best behavior, Hopps?"

"Yes, sir. Since yesterday."

"Alright, consider me notified, you can follow up with the paperwork once you're officially back on duty." And with the hint of a smile, said, "Unless, of course, you come to your senses before then."

Judy smiled back, "Not a chance, sir."

Opening the door, Judy held it open for Leah.

As Leah passed through, she knelt and said, "Nick told me. Thanks."

Putting her paw on Leah's arm, Judy nodded toward Bogo, and whispered, "Tell him everything. You can trust him to be fair."

-/-/-

Stu stepped up on the sidewalk and made his way over to the diner. He slowed as he reached the large window and stopped once he was peering into the Hopping Good Eats dining room where Stu saw…

Brianna slipped an order onto the ticket wheel and slapped the bell next to it, "Order up."

"Hot, hot, coming through."

Brianna smiled seeing her littermate, Brenna, carrying sizzling plates of chicken fajitas out to a pair of raccoon shift workers. Brianna was particularly thrilled at the gushing she'd heard from the customers as they put together their off-cycle dinners and chowed down.

"Good job on the new dish, second order this morning," said Brenna walking past on her way back to the kitchen.

"Thanks," replied Brianna as she closed out a check, grabbed a piece of peach pie, and walked it over to her favorite pair of customers.

The town was changing for the better, and that meant for the diner too. They'd started with some recipes from Nick, and ever since, the floor's been filled with both predators and prey, workers and families, and lately, even some truckers on their way through town. And the best part, she'd come up with a couple of new dishes that everyone seemed to love.

"Here's the check guys, thanks," said Brianna as she dropped the bill off on the table. "And here's a piece of pie, on the house, for helping us out with the fire safety report this morning. I can't believe that our extinguishers were the wrong type for kitchen fires."

Dalton chuckled as he said, "Class A-B-C, Ash, Boil, and Current for electrical fires, is the standard type of extinguisher most people need. So, it's easy to think you're covered with one of those, but commercial fryers are a different beast, and a Class K is what you need for those."

"You're so smart," said Brianna, "you know the Burrow Fire Department is looking for help, you should go talk with them about a job."

Janae reached out and intertwined her fingers with her boyfriend's, and said, "Yeah, you're pretty good at heating things up, maybe learning how to douse some flames would be a good thing."

Dalton smirked and, pulling Janae's paw to his lips, gave it a kiss, "Not all flames need dousing."

Brianna chuckled as she said, "Get a room, you two," and then walking back toward the kitchen, she turned to see Stu Hopps looking in from the window.

Brianna glanced between the old buck and the two young lovers in the booth she had just left and sighed. Mr. Hopps' face was hard to read, stoic like he was trying to make a decision and sad like he was reliving a memory. She didn't know him except by reputation and the few times he'd come by the house to talk with her grandfather before he'd died.

Ringing up the bill for a coyote laborer finishing his break as she remembered her grandpa's funeral. Very few of the mammals from the town showed up. Mr. Hayes was there spouting off like her grandpa was still alive, and anyone cared about what he thought. And then there was Mr. Hopps. No one else was with him. He was dressed in overalls like the funeral was a last-second decision, and the whole time he was there, he didn't say anything to anyone, and then he just left.

He had the same look on his face back then as he does now. Sad, conflicted, worried, unsure, she didn't really know. Looking back up to the window, she saw the old buck rub something out of his eye and then leave.

"Dalton! Get your own pie," came a happy voice that broke Brianna's train of thought. Reaching into the display case, the doe picked out a nice piece of apple cobbler, Janae's favorite, and headed back to the booth.

-/-/-

"Ready Fluff?" asked Nick, "Everything okay with you and Bogo?"

"Yup, I just needed to talk with him about a couple of things."

Reaching the top of the stairs to the lobby, Nick was about to go down, while Judy kept walking toward the ZPD administrative offices.

"Carrots?"

Judy backtracked, "A quick stop in Mammal Resources to pick up a form, and then we can go."

Nick hesitated as he cocked his head, "You told Bogo about us, didn't you?"

"Maybe," Judy said, now rocking back and forth cutely.

Suddenly snapping to attention and saluting Bogo's door, Nick said, "Nicholas P Wilde, reporting for Tundra Town parking duty for the rest of my life."

"Har-har, Bogo told me that we're fine working together as long as we fill out the Relationship Disclosure form and turn it in once we're officially back on duty.

"And you behave yourself by staying off his pain in the tail list."

"Aargh, talk about taking on the Twelve Labors of Hercules, how is a fox supposed to do that?"

Judy looked up at Nick with big eyes and a slightly quivering lip and said, "For me?"

Nick sighed at the concentrated cuteness that was his bunny, and replied, "Fine, but if they have a form for regulation 8-6-0-0-7 slash B, we're picking up one of those too."