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

…..

Judy slowed Nick's convertible down and took the right turn wide to avoid a hidden pothole she remembered from her last trip this way.

"Taking 8th street to Magnolia would have been quicker," grumbled Nick. "And easier on the suspension."

"Nope, Magnolia goes right through the Warriors' territory, and I don't want them knowing we're headed to Thorn's place."

"Okay, why not Rampart Avenue then?"

"The Rogues. One of Axl's guys told me they took over what was left of the Hurricanes' territory and might be scouting for a chop shop somewhere. If Bogo had let us check out an undercover jalopy, I wouldn't care, but I don't want them seeing Sally, they'd go after her in a heartbeat."

"How about…"

"Not happening Slick, the Lizzies' territory is strictly off-limits to all males, especially fox tods."

Nick snickered, "Jealous much?"

Judy smirked, "No, I just know how some of you scoundrels can get around a bunch of pawsy bad girls."

Leaning closer to Judy, Nick kissed her on the cheek and said, "Not this scoundrel. There's only one princess in his sights."

Judy groaned.

Nick waggled his brows.

Judy rolled her eyes.

Nick smirked.

Judy–

"Pothole!"

–swerved to the left, back to the right, and then straightened out. "Sorry."

"Are all rabbits bad–"

"And not a word about my driving."

"ymmm mm'mm," Nick replied through the soft paw holding his muzzle shut.

A few minutes of relatively smooth driving, and rough snickering, later, Judy turned into the gated parking lot of Thorn's place.

Judy rolled down her window and greeted the young Xoloitzcuintli manning the gate, "Judy Hopps…, oh, hi Xo, how are you?"

"Hi Miss Judy, Thorn's inside," and leaning closer to the window while eyeing Nick, the hairless canine whispered, "Is he okay? The way he's dressed, he kind of looks like a cop, and you know I'm supposed to keep the riff-raff out."

Judy smirked, "Yeah, don't worry, he's a friend of mine, besides how many cops would purposely wear a shirt that ugly?"

"Okay, if you're sure. Park over there, but back in just in case, you know," Xo nodded toward Nick, "it turns out he's trouble."

Judy backed into a spot, just in case, and getting out of the car, she waited near the hood for her partner.

And waited.

Pulling open the passenger side door, Judy huffed, "Out."

"I don't look like a cop," groused Nick.

"You sort of do."

"Do not," replied Nick getting out of the car. "This is primo hustler gear. Top of the line for remaining anonymous. So loud, everyone remembers the shirt, and no one remembers the guy wearing it."

"I remembered you. I booted your stroller."

"Yeah, well…"

Judy knocked twice on the large entry door as she leaned toward Nick and whispered, "Follow my lead, and you'll be fine."

"Hi, Miss Judy," said a young hyena waving Judy in with a smile.

"Good afternoon, Harold. You look like you've lost some weight since I was here last."

"Yes, ma'am, I've been working out more and trying to eat better, just like you suggested."

"Well, you're doing great. I'm sure you'll make the track team this year, no problem."

"Thanks, I just wish my mom would stop trying to help, though."

"Why, what's she doing?"

Harold leaned down and whispered, "She keeps sending me boxes of homemade cookies, and they're really good."

Judy whispered back, "Yeah, my mom's the same way. I think I gained a whole ounce while I was at home last week."

Nodding sagely, Harold replied, "Yeah, Moms, what can you do?"

"Ahem."

"Who's the fox?"

"That's Nick, he's a friend of mine."

"Are you sure he's okay? He's dressed like a cop."

"I'm not dressed like a cop. This is a very special kind of silk."

"Yeah, he's good. I'll vouch for him."

"Alright, but if he causes you any trouble, just wave an ear, and I'll be right over."

"Seriously, you can't find this pattern anymore."

"Thanks, Harold."

"Sure, and I brought in a box of my mom's cinnamon carrot cake cookies. They're over on the bar. Help yourself if you'd like some."

"Yum."

Straightening up, the hyena looked at Nick, sneered a bit, and said, "Arms out, spread your feet."

Nick looked at Judy, who giggled.

Finishing patting Nick down, Harold whispered, "I still think you're a cop." And pointing two fingers at his eyes and then to Nick's, Harold grunted, turned to Judy, and gently said, "Thorn's on an important phone call. He'll be right out."

"Thanks," said Judy grabbing Nick's tie, "Come on, Nick, let's get a cookie."

"Seriously Fluff, a carrot cake cookie. "Isn't that a little stereotypical?"

Jumping up on a barstool, Judy pointed toward the stool next to her, grabbed a cookie, and grinned, "Nope."

A coyote stood up from behind the bar and, smiling at Judy, slid a glass of cold carrot juice in front of her, "Nice to see you again, Miss Judy."

"You too, Arthur. Thanks."

Arthur hummed as he turned to Nick and gave him a quick once-over. A moment later, a styrofoam cup of black coffee and a blueberry cake doughnut appeared in front of the fox.

Judy giggled again.

Nick rolled his eyes and was about to object, again, but taking a sip of the black elixir, gave the coyote a thumbs up instead, "Thanks, buddy."

Saluting, the coyote disappeared into the nearby kitchen.

Nick, half-eaten doughnut in one paw and his coffee in the other, turned around on the stool and looked over Thorn's hide-out. Judy hadn't said much about her and Connor's visit except that Thorn had been reluctantly helpful.

Thusly, why he was in Zootopia and not Bunnyburrow.

The large room had about fifteen mammals spread out on couches, chairs, and a few on the floor. They were all young predators, and almost everyone had a plate of something to eat.

The coyote from behind the bar and a small beige and gray Arabian wolf exited the kitchen with trays of wrapped burritos and some desserts.

A few mammals, already done with lunch, were watching a movie that Nick recognized as not having been released in Zootopia yet.

'Not a cop, not a cop.'

While others were playing a couple of old-style video games and–

"Whoa, an original Pac-Mam machine."

"Niiiiick."

"What? We've got time…"

Judy sighed as she watched her fox start up a game on the original arcade machine, and then dropped her ears to dull the blooping, bleeping, siren-like noises of the various creatures and objects being consumed on Nick's screen.

…..

Finishing her carrot juice, along with another cookie, Judy checked the time on her phone before checking back in on Nick.

He must have been doing pretty well because she hadn't heard the telltale sound of a player's death in a while, and there was now a small group of teens watching, and sometimes cheering, her fox on.

Judy smiled at hearing another round of the tones played between levels and giggled when she saw Nick high-four another kit before glancing over at her with the biggest grin on his face.

Judy waved back, and then whispered to herself, "Such a big kit, what am I going to do with you?"

"From what I can smell, I think you've already decided that," came a voice from next to Judy.

Judy turned to the sand fox that had snuck up on her, and touching her cheek, said, "You can still smell Nick's– "

Thorn chuckled, "Barely, but from the scent of farm-fresh Musk Mask, it was more of an educated guess than anything else. A pretty good guess, I assume."

Seeing Judy blush, Thorn smirked as he said, "Thanks for coming so quickly. Sorry I kept you and your… partner waiting."

"That's okay, Harold said you were on an important call."

Axl glanced around, "Yeah, it was my mom, today's Dominic's birthday, and she's pretty upset."

Judy reached out and put a paw on Axl's arm, "I'm so sorry."

"I heard you found Crazy Ray, anything on anyone else?"

Judy shook her head, "A couple of guys, but nothing on Dominic. I promise I'll keep my ears up and let you know right away if I hear anything."

"Thanks, I'd appreciate that.

"Now, regarding Billy, how about you go spoil Wilde's quest for a high score while I channel my inner heartless thug, and we get down to business."

-/-/-

"Charlie, do you have a moment that you could taste test something for me?"

"Sure, Mrs. Hopps," replied the young ferret climbing up on a stool next to the counter.

"Can I try some too?" asked Kristy, sitting on the stool next to Charlie.

"Not this time, dear, I'm not sure you'd like what I've cooked very much. I'm trying out a predator recipe that Charlie's mom gave me this morning when she dropped him off."

"Oh," said Kristy, nose twitching.

"My mom gave you a recipe?"

"Yes, and the ingredients too," said Bonnie opening the oven and pulling out a small tray of brown lumps.

Charlie gulped.

Bonnie scraped the food onto a plate and, checking her new, pawwritten recipe card, squeezed some lemon juice onto the pile and slid the plate in front of her young taste tester.

"Chicken hearts," grimaced Charlie, "my mom's favorite."

"Yes, she said it was her grandmother's recipe and that everyone in your family loved it."

"Chicken hearts?" asked Charlie.

Kristy's nose twitched, and her eyes started to water as she coughed out, "You like eating… that?"

Bonnie coughed once, "They do have an aroma about them, but Dana said they taste good."

"Chicken hearts," groaned Charlie as his eyes darted around looking for an escape route out of the nightmare he'd suddenly found himself trapped in.

"Do you have anything left over from Sunday night? Anything? It doesn't have to be predator food, I mean, I really liked everything you cooked, that night, a lot.

"Mrs. Hopps.

"Uh, ma'am."

Kristy held her nose to keep from gagging.

Bonnie sighed. She'd been around enough kits trying to avoid eating their dinner to know that her taste-tester would rather gnaw off his own arm than eat what was on the plate in front of him.

"I take it this isn't quite the family favorite your mom said it was," stated Bonnie.

*cough*

"No, ma'am. My mom is the only one who likes… that stuff. It makes everyone else gag when she cooks them. My dad usually works late if he hears Mom's going to cook them. My sister puked at the table the last time my mom made us eat them. They're really gross.

"You won't tell my mom I said that, will you?"

Bonnie shook her head, "No dear, your secret is safe with me. I'm sure there are a few things I like that my kits don't."

"If you want yucky," whispered Kristy, "you should have seen the mushroom torte she made one night, talk about–"

"Kristy, why don't you heat up some of the leftover breakfast casserole for you and Charlie as a study snack," interrupted Bonnie as she buried her failed cooking experiment in the trash. "And if you promise not to talk about the mushroom torte incident, ever, you can split one of the gooey cinnamon rolls, too."

"Yay!" said Kristy, hopping to.

"Thank you Mrs. Hopps, you're the best," replied Charlie as he watched, intently, as Mrs. Hopps tied the trash bag shut and carried it out of the warren as if it were radioactive.

-/-/-

"Thorn."

"Wilde."

"Took you long enough to notice we were here."

"Took you long enough to get your initials up on the high score screen."

"I didn't see your initials up there."

"Once you've finished level 256, you stop caring."

"Level 256, isn't that the one where–"

"Nick," said Judy.

"But…"

"No."

"Alright," sighed Nick as he turned to Thorn and said, "So, tell me about this kit Billy, and why you think he needs to be found bad enough to use the one, and only, favor you'll ever get from me?"

"Look, buddy, it's Hopps I'm trusting with this, not you. So, don't start thinking I won't have your tail tossed out of my place if you piss me off. And when I say tail, that's the only part I'm talking about."

"I should have let Finn beat you with his bat that night. It might have knocked some sense into that thick skull of yours."

"In your dreams, Wilde, I won that pot fair and square. It's not my fault I was able to submarine your hustle and out shark you with that cheat of a ram."

All the mammals in the large room looked over at the arguing foxes. Arthur started cleaning his claws with a large knife. Harold nodded to Judy as he reached behind his back for something. And an ocelot broke a glass bottle and readied it.

Stepping in between Nick and Axl, Judy simultaneously motioned for Harold to stand down with an ear, for Arthur to put away his knife with a stern look, and,

"Gizmo, lose the bottle. The rest of you, relax." And then grabbing the foxes by their collars, growled out, "Both of you stop it. You're making a scene. Nick, holster your claws, we're not supposed to be drawing attention to ourselves. And Axl, bare your fangs again, and we're leaving. Got it."

"Yes, ma'am."

"Nick."

"Yes, ma'am."

Looking back and forth between the hushed predators with her best mom-glare, Judy finally huffed and said, "Good, now Axl, tell us what happened with Billy."

Axl tapped the bar counter to get Arthur's attention as he nodded toward the kitchen.

"Billy had a date with his girlfriend Friday night. He was supposed to call if he was going to be out later than midnight or if he was going to spend the night somewhere, but he never called, and he never came back."

Nick started to interrupt.

"And no, he's not out holed up somewhere with this girl. Despite what you may think, he's a good kit. He would have called someone here if his plan had changed. That's one of my rules, you always let someone know what your plans are, just in case. It doesn't have to be me, but at least the den mammal on duty.

"But he never called anyone."

A small wolf, fur wet from washing dishes after a whole morning of cleaning and scraping various appliances clean, made his way slowly to Axl, bared his neck, and whimpered, "Yes, sir."

"Judy and her friend Nick are here to help find Billy. You were on duty Friday night. Tell them what you know."

"I'm sorry, I thought for sure he'd be back in the morning. I didn't think anything bad would happen."

Axl growled, "The rules are the rules for a reason. They're how we watch out for each other. You guys all think you're indestructible and nothing bad will ever happen. Well, this time, something did."

The small wolf cringed and tried to shrink in on himself under Thorn's unforgiving look.

Judy stepped closer to the wolf and motioned for him to lean down, "You're Winston, aren't you?"

The teen wolf sniffed and nodded, "Yes, ma'am."

"Well Winston, we need your help. What do you remember from Friday? Do you know where Billy went on his date or anything about his girlfriend?"

Winston gulped, "Not really, ma'am. His girlfriend's name is DeeDee, but that's all anyone knows about her. He was too embarrassed about his situation here to ever bring her by and introduce her to anyone."

"Just DeeDee, no last name? No cell number, a picture, anything?"

"No, ma'am. I have a picture of Billy I took of him before he left Friday, but that's it."

Judy nodded to Nick, who pulled out his phone so Winston could send it to him.

"Any idea where Billy was taking DeeDee for their date?"

"He said it was all her idea, and she wanted to surprise him. So, no, he didn't know."

"You tried calling him, right?"

"Yes, ma'am. Once late Friday and a bunch of times every day since then. The calls all rolled over to voicemail."

"Did he drive himself or take a ZooRyd?"

"Neither, he took the Metro."

Judy groaned, "And the cameras are all still offline."

"What's this that Billy is wearing?" asked Nick, letting Judy see the picture on his phone.

"A color-block black and white kimono. He had on matching shorts too. I told him he looked a little dweebish, but he said DeeDee ordered it for him as a present and asked him pretty-please to wear it on their date.

Nick grunted, "Two young mammals going to a party somewhere in Zootopia on a Friday night, that sure narrows it down a lot."

Judy started tapping her foot as she said, "Billy had to have told somebody something."

Thorn growled and pointed at Winston, "Mandatory den meeting after dinner. We're going to go over the rules again."

The wolf cringed.

The tapping stopped, "Is DeeDee a lioness?"

Winston shrugged, "I guess, a predator for sure. He talked about how sexy her claws and fangs were once."

Judy pulled a picture out of her back pocket and, handing it to Winston, asked, "Could this be her?"

Looking over the picture, Winston hummed while making a face, "I don't know. This girl still has her juvenile spots, and besides that, she looks way too uptown to go for Billy."

Nick chuckled, "You'd be surprised–"

"Nick."

Said fox waggled his eyebrows.

Huffing, Judy asked, "Can I see his room?"

Axl nodded to Winston, "Take the lady up to you guy's room. I'll keep an eye on her friend."

Judy hesitated and, looking back and forth between the two foxes, said, "Nick should probably come too, I might need his help."

"Don't' worry, you'll be fine alone," replied Axl.

"I'm not the one I'm worried about."

"Go ahead, we'll just be having a friendly little fox heart to heart while you're looking around."

"Yeah, that's kind of what I'm thinking is a bad idea."

"Winston."

"Yes, sir. Come on, Miss Judy, our room is at the top of the stairs."

Following Winston's slow march up the stairs, Judy looked behind her to see Nick and Axl still staring each other down until she reached a landing, and they were both out of sight.

"How long have you lived here?"

"About a year. My dad drank too much, and I kept getting in trouble. Mr. Thorn found me on the street and took me in. I had to promise to stay out of trouble, though."

"Wasn't your family part of a pack?"

"No, ma'am, my dad's pack dispersed when the old Alpha passed, and he never joined a new one. At least not before I left."

"I'm sorry," said Judy reaching the top of the stairs.

"It's okay, I've learned a lot being here," replied Winston opening a bedroom door. "And, uh, it's nice being part of a pack again too."

Stopping in the doorway, Judy pat Winston on the arm as she slipped into the room.

"Wow, Billy's kind of a slob."

"That's my side."

"Sorry."

"It's okay. I am kind of a slob. Billy was always the one that helped keep me straight. He was also the one that'd stay on me to keep my side of the room clean."

Judy carefully walked over to the tidy side of the room, saying, "He's only been gone for a few days, how did you–

"Who's this?" asked Judy, pointing to a small framed picture of a lioness on Billy's nightstand."

"Billy's mom. He doesn't talk about her much. I heard that's all he had on him when he showed up here."

"Do you know her full name, phone number, address, anything?"

Winston shook his head, "No, no one does, and Thorn doesn't ask. He just lets us stay here."

"As long as you follow the rules?"

"Yeah," said the wolf, wincing.

Judy opened the nightstand drawer and pulled out a phone charger, but no phone.

"I made sure he took his phone. That's how come I figured he'd be okay."

Moving over to the dresser, Judy pulled out the bottom drawer and saw it was filled with jeans, a few pairs of warmups, and shorts. All clean but pretty plain looking.

"That's what he usually wears. He only wore those party clothes I showed you because DeeDee asked him to."

Closing the drawer, Judy looked up at the taller than her dresser and, being without her normal fuzzy stepstool, bent her knees and made ready to jump.

"Would you like a paw?" asked Winston, cupping his paws together.

"Thanks," replied Judy as she stepped into Winston's makeshift step, and he lifted her up.

Hopping the rest of the way onto the dresser top, Judy motioned to a large knife. "You know, Billy shouldn't have waved that at Connor."

"Yes, ma'am. I know he felt bad about that. He said he apologized to Mr. Connor and promised he'd never do it again."

Spotting something under the knife handle, Judy pulled out half of a torn paper receipt, and holding it up for Winston to see, asked, "What was this for?"

"That's an old movie ticket. It's a souvenir Billy was keeping from him and DeeDee's first date about three weeks ago. Uh, 'The Lion King.' The remake, not the original animated one," and with a chuckle, Winston added, "Probably a good thing they spent most of the movie making out, I heard the reviews weren't so good."

Judy nodded, "Yeah, my partner– I mean my friend Nick, won't let me see the new one. He says the classic animated version is the only way to go."

"The guy who's dressed like a cop?"

Pocketing the ticket, Judy Hopped off the dresser and doing a flip before landing, replied, "Yeah, that's him. He's a good guy, just a little dorky, is all."

"Next time you're here, he should probably wear something else. Some of the guys don't exactly like cops much."

"Thanks, I'll be sure to let him know."

"Hey, watch it, or I'm going to bash your head in," came Nick's voice from downstairs.

Judy groaned out, "What now?" and made a beeline down the stairs and into the main room.

"Nick? Axl? What's going on."

"Almost done, Carrots. I'm about to beat this noob like a rug."

"You wish, loser-fox, I own you."

"Joust," whispered Winston into Judy's ear, "My favorite."

Judy sighed, "Males."

-/-/-

Sharla perked up as she parked her delivery van next to a small pickup truck with a 'Hopps Family Farm' logo on the door.

'Janae?' thought Sharla getting out of the van, and then tail vibrating hopefully, 'Maybe Judy too!'

Pulling open the bakery's front door, the ewe excitedly ran in, hoping to see her friend…'s mom.

"Hi, Mrs. Hopps."

"Oh, hello Sharla. You know you should call me Bonnie. And I love the latest changes you've made to the bakery. Every time I stop by, this old place looks better and better. I know my Uncle Lewis would be so proud of the two of you and the wonderful job you and Gideon are doing.

Sharla stepped close to Gideon and, looking up at him with a glowing smile, said, "It's all Gideon's doing. People in town are starting to take notice of his baking. Our orders have more than doubled in the last month."

Unconsciously wrapping his tail around Sharla's ankle, Gideon gently corrected his partner, "Now, now, Sharla, you know I'm still learnin' my way around the oven, if it weren't for all of Mr. Grazer's recipes, we wouldn't be doin' nearly as good as we are.

"Thank you again, Mrs. Hopps for letting me use all of his notes."

Bonnie started to put a paw on the large baker's arm when she noticed where Gideon's tail was resting.

'Oh, Bonnie, you are such a dumb bunny. Right in front of your eyes, and all this time you didn't see it. Here or with your own daughter.'

"Of course, Gideon, you're welcome to anything of Uncle Lewis' that helps," and then stepping closer to Gideon, Bonnie looked around as if someone would overhear, and whispered, "Don't tell anyone this, but your baking is head and shoulders better than Uncle Lewis'. I loved that bun to death, but what you're able to do with his old recipes is beyond delicious."

"And you, Sharla," said Bonnie opening her arms for a hug, "Thank you for everything you've done for Gideon." And then whispering in the ewe's ear, "I'm so happy for you two. I still laugh every time I think about how you pulled the wool over the town council's eyes."

Picking up a large sack filled with pies, Bonnie waved goodbye, pushed open the door, and said, "Thanks for the help, Gideon. I'll drop these off at the Leapwell's for you right away, and if there's ever anything else you need from the farm, please let me know."

A bell dinged as the door closed.

"Okay, what just happened?" asked Sharla.

"Well," Gideon said, pulling Sharla close, "Mrs. Bonnie stopped by asking about wanting to learn how to cook some meat dishes."

"Meat?"

"Yup, she said that Nick had to go back to the city for a few days, and she wanted to treat him to some home-cooked predator dishes when he got back. And that's when I told her that the Hopping Good Eats is serving some of his favorites."

"Predator dishes? Does Judy know that her mom was here asking about cooking meat?"

"Nope, Miss Judy went back to the City with Nick."

"Soooo, do you think she knows that Judy and Nick are courting?"

Gideon looked up at the ceiling and sighed, "She might have asked me if there was anythin' meaningful about a vixen preparing a tod a special meal."

"Oh, no. Gid what did you tell her?"

"Nothin' real important. I told her 'bout how excited my mom was when my dad cooked for her, but nothin' about when my gramma cooked for my grandpa, I'm pretty sure."

"What about you giving Judy your Dad's chicken recipe and her driving all the way to your Uncle's shop in Burrow's Edge? You didn't tell her about any of that, did you?"

"Uhh," and then scratching his head, said, "I don't think so. But afterward, she got all excited like and told me 'bout an apple cake recipe in her uncle's notes that I missed."

"Oh, Gid… If Bonnie knows, others might find out, and… Have you talked with Nick yet?"

Gideon's ears went flat against his head, and his tail drooped.

"Oh, Hun..."

-/-/-

Sliding into the driver's seat, Judy groused at her fox, "You challenged him to a video game?"

Nick smirked, "Nope, he challenged me. Either way, I won."

"Won what?"

"Immortality, my initials are number one on the high score screen."

"Immortality until there's a power glitch, you mean."

"You say potato, I say potahto, Fluff."

Judy huffed as she handed Nick the movie ticket she found in Billy's room, "Well, while you were staking your claim to fame for all time, I found this. Billy and DeeDee went to a movie for their first date."

"Hmmm," replied Nick holding the ticket up. "Not a standard ticket, but I recognize the theater name. What movie did they see?"

"Lion King."

"A little stereotypical for our boy, but a good choice as long as–"

"No, it wasn't a revival showing of the original animated one. Do you know where that theater is?"

Nick handed the torn ticket back to Judy, "Yup, it's a big-screen theater off the Lion's Gate stop in Savanna Central. Nice screen, it used to show the old Cinerama films, you know, three projectors going simultaneously. Pretty crazy what they used to do before ZMAX.

"It might be fun to watch a movie there sometime, they occasionally show buddy-cop movies or those Fast and Furriest movies you like. They don't have a balcony, but…"

Judy smiled as she started up the car, "How about we talk to Sophia's roommate first, and then we can go check out the movie theater."

Waving to Xo on the way out, Judy saw Nick flexing his paws to stretch out his fingers.

"Been a while since you played one of those old-style games?"

"Yeah. Nice to know I've still got enough of the touch left to beat that loser."

"What is it between you and Axl? You guys act like you hate each other, but then you play video games together."

"Not exactly together, and we do sort of hate each other."

"Why? Did it have something to do with that hustle he mentioned?"

"Yeah, a couple of years ago, I set up a card game, totally legit, by the way…"

"Grrrr."

"Mostly legit. A game with a ram who had a cheat system no one could figure out and kept ripping off other mammals."

"You figured his system out and played him, didn't you?"

"Yup, and when he went all in, I was ready. And then Thorn called, threw a wrench into what I was doing, and won the pot."

"So, you guys took down a cheat. Why do you care who won the pot? I assume you both agreed to split the winnings."

"Yeah, that's the problem. Thorn kept the most important part of the pot, the one thing I wanted more than anything else."

Judy sighed, "What was it?"

"A New Mutants #98 comic book."

"A comic book? You two are feuding over a comic book?"

"Not just any comic book, it was a 10.0 GCG rated mint condition Outback Island version with a Signature Series label signed by both the creators."

Judy gave him a blank look.

"It was also the first appearance of Deadpool.

"Ow."

-/-/-

Bonnie pulled her truck into a spot near the front door of the house, she hadn't planned on spending so much of the day in town, but her quick trip to talk with Gideon about cooking fox-favorite predator dishes had turned into a longer visit with the Leapwell kits at their diner.

She'd arrived at the tail end of the lunch rush and been surprised by how full of both predators and prey the dining room was. She was also surprised to see that along with the regular lunch crowd, there was a double pawful of predators getting ready to work some odd shift who were eating meat-laden breakfast dishes. She'd heard from certain of her friends that a few businesses in town had become a lot more predator friendly over the last few weeks, but nothing had prepared her for how much more predator friendly businesses, like the Leapwell's, truly were.

Dropping off Gideon's pies to Brian and Brenna, just in time to make some dessert-hungry customers happy, Bonnie introduced herself to the diner's new owners and a few of their littermates back in the kitchen. Bonnie had only been in the restaurant once before, and that visit was cut short because she'd walked out in a huff after watching as the speciest old buck who used to run the place refused to serve a young family of raccoons that had come in for lunch.

Grabbing her purse, Bonnie made sure the recipe cards she'd gotten from Brian were still there. They'd cost her two of her best vegetable medley recipes and a tofu dish that her dad had given her, and no one in her family knew she had, in trade. Of course, Brian had waited until the dealing was done before telling her that some of the recipes he'd shared had been from Nicholas' mother. And that was when Brian proceeded to fill her in on all the help Nicholas had been giving them.

Walking around to the passenger side door, Bonnie had to chuckle as she unloaded the small cooler from on the seat. Brian had felt a little bad for hustling her out of some recipes in trade for ones she could have just asked Nick for, so he'd loaded up a small cooler with a sampling of their meat supplies. He'd given her a couple of flavors of bug patties, some chicken thighs and breasts, and enough ground turkey to test out a meatloaf recipe Brianna had given her while helping her out to the truck.

Brianna was quite talkative but seemed nervous. At first, she'd kept the recipe conversation going by telling her about the high-end meat supplier they used for their special dishes. A supplier that sounded suspiciously similar to the vague description of where Gideon had started to say Judy had gone shopping for what she assumed were Courting Meal ingredients before stuttering and changing the subject.

"Mrs. Hopps, is everything okay with Janae?"

"As far as I know," replied Bonnie, "Why do you ask?"

Brianna shrugged, "I don't know. She and Dalton were here this morning for a late breakfast. And while they were waiting for their food, Dalton helped us with the fire extinguishers in our kitchen, so I treated them both to some dessert."

"Dalton's taken to fire safety. I'm hoping he tries to get on with the Fire Department."

"Yeah, that's what I told him too, Janae's so lucky to be going out with him. So, after I dropped their bill off, I saw Mr. Hopps outside the window watching them."

"Stu? My Stuart?"

"Yes, ma'am," said Brianna pointing to a spot on the sidewalk, "he was standing right over there."

Bonnie shook her head, "What was he doing over here? He was in town early for a Co-op meeting, but the meeting hall isn't anywhere near here."

"I don't know, I just know from the look on his face that something was bothering him. And I think it was something to do with Janae." And then leaning in closer to Bonnie, Brianna whispered, "He had the same look on his face as he did when he was at my grandpa's funeral. He didn't say anything to anyone there either."

"Thank you for telling me, dear," said Bonnie giving Brianna a hug. "I'm sure everything is fine with Stu and Janae, but I'll keep my ears up just in case."

Shaking her head at all that Brianna had shared, Bonnie closed the truck door and tried to remember the day of Leapwell's funeral. She'd gone off on the old bun when Stu had offhandedly mentioned the funeral, but she never knew that Stu had actually gone to it.

"What's going through that thick skull of yours, Stu?" was Bonnie's last thought before stepping into the house and refocusing on dinner prep and where she was going to hide the gains from her trade with Brian.

-/-/-

Judy parked Sally in front of a two-story house about a half-mile off the east side of the UNZ campus. The house looked decently kept up, definitely more lived-in than Nick's place was before her siblings moved in.

More collegiate too.

As Judy walked up the narrow sidewalk to the front door, Nick pointed out the empty beer cans in the garden, the homemade beer pong table along the side of the house, and the keg tap poking out from behind a short fence.

"I'm thinking this will be a quick investigation. Our innocent young coed is probably sleeping off a party in a grocery cart somewhere."

Judy moved some streamers out of the way and knocked on the front door. "Maybe, but we promised Leah we'd take a look around."

Waiting for more than a few moments, Judy knocked again. Louder this time.

Hearing the squeak of someone walking down some stairs, followed by that same someone kicking a bottle, the door creaked open.

"What?" said a silver-gray white-tailed mongoose girl, standing bleary-eyed at the door.

"Hello," said Judy flashing her badge, "We're with the ZPD…"

"Sure you are. If you're Omega-Mu, it wasn't my fault those nerds from Tri-Lamb showed up and got all crazy. I swear I didn't sleep with any of them."

And then holding her forehead and groaning, the girl added, "At least I don't think I did. One of them was pretty hot."

Nick raised a brow.

"No ma'am, I'm GDI, not Omega-Mu, and we were hoping to talk with Sophia DePawly."

"If she's not indisposed with a hot nerd of her own, that is," added Nick winking at Judy.

That woke the coed up like downing a Snarlbucks' venti Blonde Roast, "You're really ZPD?"

But before Judy could answer, the girl took a better look at Nick and sighed, "Never mind, only a cop would wear a shirt that ugly."

Nick threw up his arms and…

…was silenced by an 'I told you so' look from Judy.

"I'm Reese. Sophia's not here."

Shoving debris off the couch, Reese motioned for Nick and Judy to take a seat while she cleaned off a chair and sat down with a thud and a grunt.

"Do you know where she is?" asked Judy, pulling her notebook out of the file folder she was carrying and then patting her pockets for a pen.

Nick handed his partner a basic pen and added, "Or the last time you saw her?"

Reese checked the buttons on her shirt and, seeing only one being used, closed another and said, "Nope, and I haven't seen her since last week. I've been kind of busy working and stuff. Same as I told that other cop that was here."

"You mean her cousin, Officer Corin?"

"Sure, cousin, whatever. The one who's always with that jaguar bitc– jaguar cop."

Reese coughed and grabbing an unopened water bottle, downed half it before adding, "I don't know anything about anything."

"Look," Nick spoke up, "small predator to small predator, that jaguar cop, Garrison, isn't exactly a shining example of ZPD recruiting, but her behavior isn't what we're talking about right now. We're trying to find your roommate. She was supposed to have called her parents Friday night, and her cousin has been running herself ragged for days looking for her.

"Please, if you know anything about where Sophia is, you need to tell us."

Reese shook her head, "Sorry. She probably just wants some time to be on her own, that's all."

Nick started to say something when Judy put a paw on his leg.

"Growing up on my family's farm, I was an oddball. I wanted to do something bunnies weren't supposed to be able to do, I wanted to be a cop. My parents, on the other paw, were scared to death about me becoming a cop.

"Every day, they'd try and talk me out of my dream. Even while I was at college, hours away from home, my parents called me almost every night. They kept trying to change my mind, hoping maybe I'd come home, find a buck, and start giving them grandkits."

Grimacing a bit, Judy said, "Sometimes it'd get so bad, I'd just turn my phone off and forget to turn it back on for a few days."

Judy got up and walked over to where the mongoose was sitting, "Look, Reese. I understand that Sophia's family, and her cousin Leah, may be a little overprotective, but I'm really worried about her. You know she hasn't been around or called for days, that can't be normal no matter what's going on with her family.

"And you're right about Leah's jaguar partner. I've patrolled with Garrison too, and this morning I referred her for investigation by our boss over how she treated the small predators she was supposed to be protecting.

"So, please don't think Nick and I are like her, and please don't think you're protecting Sophia from her family by not telling us what you know. She could be in danger, or hurt, or… we don't know."

Reese sighed. "She met up with her boyfriend on Friday. She was all excited because she figured out the perfect place for them to go on their date. She said she was planning on being out all night, and she'd text me if they were coming back here. I don't know where they went, and I haven't seen or heard from her since Friday afternoon.

"DeeDee told me not to say anything because her parents would lose their shit if they found out she was planning on spending the weekend with her boyfriend."

Nick jerked forward, "Did you say 'DeeDee'?"

"Yeah, DeeDee. Her middle name is Diane, and she doesn't like it when people call her Sophia."

Judy grabbed her folder and pulled out Billy's picture, "Is this her boyfriend?"

Reese shrugged, "I don't know. Could be. He's a lion, but DeeDee doesn't have any pictures of him yet, and I've only seen him from behind when he was waiting out front for her. I think his name is Phil, or Gill, or something like that."

Nick grabbed the torn movie ticket out of Judy's folder and handed it to Reese, "Do you recognize this?"

"Yeah," Reese yawned, "those are the discount movie tickets they sell at the student center on campus. DeeDee and her boyfriend went to see 'The Lion King' a few weeks ago. It was their first big make-out session. I guess he's a good kisser."

"Bill Manewoood," said Judy. "Billy to his friends."

"So, if you know him, why are you here? Why aren't you looking for her at his place?"

Nick stood, "He's gone missing too."

"Oh, no," gasped Reese.

"Is there anything else you can remember about Friday night? Anything that might help us figure out where they went?"

Raising a trembling paw to her forehead, "I, uh, I… She wanted to do something cool, something spicy, she said she wanted to get Bill, uh, Billy in the mood. I don't know where she took him. She just came back from campus all excited, changed into some party clothes, grabbed a pawful of protection out of the bowl, and took off."

Nick glanced at the coffee table with a big bowl of what he had thought were wrapped mints and shook his head.

"Do you know who on campus she talked to or where they met?"

"No, like I said, she was back and gone quick. She uses the library computers a lot since our internet connection here sucks, and the cell service is spotty. You could try there, or maybe at the student counseling office. She was talking about changing some classes again."

Judy nodded, "Thanks, we'll head over there now and ask around."

"Uhhh," groaned Reese looking at the wall clock lying on the floor. "Today's Monday, isn't it?"

"No," replied Judy, "It's Tuesday, actually kind of almost Wednesday. When exactly did your party end last night?"

"Hey, babe. Have you seen my slide rule?" came a nerdy voice from upstairs.

Nick whispered, "I don't think last night's party is quite over yet."

Standing, Reese nodded, carefully, "Yeah, sorry. I was gonna tell you that the session break started this week and goes until freshman orientation starts, so campus hours are reduced. Everything's probably closed by now, so you'll need to wait until tomorrow morning to ask around. Most everything should be open by ten."

"Thank you, Reese," said Judy, "Here's my number. If you hear from DeeDee or think of anything else, please call me right away."

"Thank you, Officer Hopps. I'm sorry I didn't tell DeeDee's cousin what was going on when she was here."

"That's okay, I'll talk to her."

Waving goodbye to Reese, Judy and Nick slid into their convertible and went over Judy's notes.

"So, we've got a missing pair of lovebirds. What do you think, Fluff, maybe our bad guys have decided to expand their criteria beyond homeless mammals?"

"I don't know, they did try to grab Katie at the Festival, so I suppose it could be them."

"Or, it could be that our couple hasn't run out of condoms yet."

Judy chuckled, "Right. Or that too. So, tomorrow morning we check out UNZ and see if we can figure out what DeeDee was so excited about doing last Friday."

Judy started the car while Nick put a pawful of foil-wrapped packages in the glove compartment.

"Nick. You didn't."

"Junior Ranger Scouts 101, be prepared."

"You know that means you're sleeping on the couch tonight."

Nick slipped on his sunglasses. "Fluff, we don't have a couch."

Putting the car in gear, Judy leaned over and said sweetly, "Not my problem, Slick."

-/-/-

"Better leave now, or you'll miss dinner," mumbled Stu to himself.

Not that the buck standing alone in a hidden glade looked to be thinking about a pending meal.

Stuart Hopps, head of one of the largest warrens in Bunnyburrow, master of everything he could see from this spot overlooking the family lake, latest in the long line of Hopps' that stretched back to the founding of the Burrow, mates with a loving doe, a father, and a grandfather with new grandkits arriving almost every month. Stu Hopps should be on top of the world.

The grimace on his face belied that assumption.

Setting a paw on the small glade's stone feature, Stu took off his cap, closed his eyes, and bowed his head.

His lips moved, but there was no sound.

Bees buzzed amongst the bushes, and a bird landed overhead in a tree. A mammal whose ancestors could hear a predator stalking from two miles away noticed none of it.

"I swear I didn't know."

Looking down at the headstone, Stu whispered, "All I wanted…"

He went silent as he chewed his lower lip.

"All I–"

*Splat*

Stu sagged as he stared at the bird droppings dripping off the back of his paw. He didn't need to look up to know the branch was empty of its recent messenger.

Putting his cap back on, Stu made his way to the edge of the small glade and stopped. Back still to where his son rested, Stu wiped his paw off on his overalls, pushed his way through the overgrown trail, and headed home.