.

Mad Grinch Productions unleashes:

...

The Conspiracy

...

Disclaimer: There's no stopping it now

*Cackles of Laughter*

Chapter – 5 – The Beginning

Bogo looked at his phone and typed, 'Last call: Go, No Go' before hitting the send button.

The message went out through the secure app and as soon as all the recipients had read it, the message deleted itself off their phones.

His message flashed from yellow to green then disappeared,

Good, everyone's receiving the messages

His phone started pinging as responses came in.

Claws: 'Go'

Big: 'Go'

V: 'Go'

Bon: 'Go'

Option-J: 'Go'

Eyes1: 'Go'

The messages continued to come in and disappeared as he clicked on each, acknowledging he'd received them.

A few second later and he'd received everyone's reply.

He typed in another message, but hesitated with his finger over the send button.

This was it. If he hit this, he was committing himself and once Bogo committed himself, he knew he wouldn't stop till it was finished or he was dead. It didn't matter if that was protecting the city, tracking down the most dangerous criminals, or getting a stupid bunny and fox to admit that they loved each other.

Thought that last one probably falls under protecting the city.

Bogo pressed the button.

The message, 'Begin Operation' turned yellow before a few moments latter flashing green and disappearing.

Nadine groggily awoke from the blissful depths of sleep to someone pounding on her head. She looked over from where she was languidly sprawled across her couch in a manner only felines were capable of and saw the coffee table in front of her.

She blinked as the throbbing in her head continued, and stared at the table, or at the empty tubs of ice-cream and a nearly empty bottle of tequila that covered it.

Ugh, tequila is nobody's best friend come morning. The pounding came back a bit stronger, okay why did I pull out the full emergency comfort kit last night?

Nadine stretched a bit, starting to put the pieces back together, it had started with Hopps and Wilde and overhearing Clawhauser's call-

The next series of pounding throbs against her mind made her realize that it wasn't just the minor hangover but that someone was knocking on her door.

"Hang on a second." She called, getting up with one paw rubbing her head.

Gods, I hope I didn't make too much of a racket last night, I don't want to have to deal with that little old landlady berating me… again.

She threw on some bare essentials from the clothes pile she'd discarded last night; she, like a lot of felines simply didn't like sleeping while wearing anything, and she couldn't really care at the moment if her state of dress caused the landlady to have a conniption over 'propriety'. Ducking without even thinking about it, she exited through the living room doorway. It had become an ingrained habit after she'd whacked her head on it the first couple dozen times.

It's probably just Megan, she always likes to poke fun at me the morning after I do something stupid. She'd better have brought her usual peace offering though, I really need to eat something. She shuddered, well something besides ice cream.

She got along with most of her neighbors pretty well despite being the largest mammal and a predator in this apartment complex. It really was too small for a tiger, but she'd gotten comfortable here and she liked the location, plus she'd become good friends with her neighbor, a spunky little bobcat that had managed to claw her way into the Zootopia Fire Department despite her small size by sheer guts and determination. Megan reminded her a lot of Judy, just with much more catty snark.

Oh, gods. I think I made a fool of myself in front of Ralph yesterday and that was before I got home. Wait, didn't Megan come over? I think she was the one that suggested pulling out the tequila last night...

Nadine winced at the throbbing in her head and ducked into her kitchen long enough to down some aspirin before heading to the front door

Stupid little cat, how the hell can she drink like that? I can handle beer, I like a good beer, but why the hell do I always let her convince me to pull out tequila?

She opened the front door and as expected, was met with an overly cheery face of her neighbor and friend (though she thought that second part was on probation until her hangover dissipated).

"Gooood Morning Nadine! Sleep well?" the bobcat asked in a too pleased voice that should have set off every alarm she had. Her mind though was distracted by the throbbing and the smell of Megan's secret hangover breakfast dish, a sort of oatmeal with brown sugar and honey along with a few other spices that came together to make the normally bland dish not only enjoyable but perfect for curing a tequila night. She'd apparently perfected it through rigorous trial and error.

"Get your furry ass and that food in here Megan," Nadine nearly growled and wincing, "I need to figure out what exactly happened last night and how much trouble I'm in with the landlady before my partner arrives."

"Oh, don't worry about that, I talked to Mrs. Woolstien this morning. She's not going to make a fuss; gave me a whole lecture about how every girl needs a strong ram in their lives and that it was about time you found a mate, said that I needed to stop living 'like a wild uncivilized amazon barbarian' and settle down too."

Nadine winced again rubbing her head, "Sure, sure… she's always talking about how a girl needs…" Nadine suddenly froze, "How the hell do you know about Ralph?! I only just started dating him! I mean, going to date him! And he's not my mate…" she finished adamantly though she might have looked away and muttered, 'yet'

"Well given the fact that everybody in the apartment building knows him because he's been your partner on the force for nearly three years and that you, Miss 'nothing flusters me' came in blushing like a school girl when he dropped you off yesterday, some mammals have been speculating and telling very believable rumors." The bobcat said smiling like she was stealing the cream.

Nadine banged her head against the door and groaned, but Megan wasn't done.

"Oh and then there was also that little bit after I left for the night, where you seemed to have a party for one and were yelling out his name."

Nadine thought her eyes might have popped out of her head as she stared at Megan.

"Your lying." She said flatly. Despite a sudden dreadful sinking feeling in her stomach.

She had slept exceptional well despite the tequila and then there were those dreams, some of which now seemed like they might not be dreams (though the ones with Ralph sure as hell had to be) and if she focused past the pain in her head she thought that she felt-

Megan's smirk shifted to 'I just stole the cream and got away with it too', "Nope, not a single bit. That old goat below us was banging on the ceiling with his broom yelling at the 'bad kitty' to quiet down before his wife told him he could either join her in the bedroom or put in earplugs and sleep on the couch, because that 'bad kitty' wasn't going to be the only girl having that much fun. Sure got him to stop banging, well… banging on the ceiling anyway."

Nadine slid down the door to sit in a mortified groaning heap on the ground.

Megan couldn't hold back a delighted snicker, "Oh you were quite the 'bad kitty' last night with some of what you said! I still can't believe you've abandoned team feline and fallen for some wolf, but you must really like him considering that roar at the end. I'm pretty sure everyone in the entire building heard that!"

"No, no, no. Oh gods no, that's all just some dream, I've had dreams like that before, this is just another one."

Megan patted her head, still smirking, "Sorry sweetie, but the entire apartment can testify that this time it wasn't a dream. You need to just give up and admit that Nadine Fangmeyer, The Great Tigress, ZPD Badass Supreme, Miss 'I Don't Need a Male Telling Me What to Do', has fallen in love with… with… a wolf!" and she burst out laughing.

Fangmeyer stopped banging her head against the door, long enough to glare at Megan and growl, "Oh shut it!"

Megan wiped a tear away, still chuckling, "So you admit you're in love with him?"

"I admit nothing!" Fangmeyer growled, "He's going to have to work hard if he wants to get me to admit that! Now get in here and help me clean up before Ralph gets over here and see's what a complete mess he's turned me into. I have a reputation to upkeep." She finished getting up and waving angrily at the bobcat to come in.

"Why bother? He already knows." She said pointing with her thumb casually over to the side.

Nadine stuck her head out of the door and looked where Megan was pointing only to see Ralph standing in the hallway wearing a nice set of casual clothes that did a great job of showing off his toned physique. She could even see some flowers poking out from behind his back.

Her eyes moved up to meet his just as his moved up from the part of her chest he'd been staring at, that part that was visible with her leaning out the door… and that her very minimal amount of clothing was doing almost nothing to hide.

He was smiling that dopey stupid lovable smile of his with his tail wagging while he blushed ever so slightly.

Someone must have replaced the apartment's dinky heating system with something new and apparently overpowered because the temperature seemed to skyrocket.

Nadine barely got her head back into her apartment before she slammed the door shut, breathing in gasps.

That little traitorous pussycat! She set me up!

The door slammed back open and her paw shot out, grabbed Megan and yanked her into the apartment before the door slammed shut again.

"What happened to us girls sticking together?! You should have warned me that he was right there!" She hissed, though the smaller feline didn't look intimidated in the least.

"Oh Nadine you're already a lost cause, no point it trying to save you now. Plus," she giggled, "Did you see how he looked when he saw you?" Nadine blushed harder and tried to stop her but Megan continued, "That was utterly adorable. That was even cuter than when I saved him downstairs from Mrs. Woolstien's lecture about taking proper care of his new mate. She apparently thought that he was skimping on his male duty; how did she put it, oh yes," She used a rather good impression of Mrs. Woolstien's crotchety old voice,

"A girl has needs! Any properly raised male knows a mate's duty isn't done when he's had his fun. It's only done once he's satisfied all of his mate's needs! You'd better not leave that nice girl hanging again or I'll thump you with my broom, you understand me youngster?"

Nadine just looked at her friend in horrified disbelief, well more like horror. That was exactly the kind of thing that little old biddy might do, gods save her, or anyone she decided to lecture.

It took her a few moments to try and contain her feelings regarding the absolute nightmare this was turning into. She managed to just quarantine that part of her mind and resolved to not deal with it right now, maybe not ever.

"Stop your damned smirking, Megan," she groaned, the throbbing in her head now worse, "And where the hell is that food?"

"Oh, I gave that to your mate," Megan emphasized the word despite her groan, actually Nadine thought she probably did it just to get her to groan, "If you want my hangover cure, you'll have to let him in." she smirked nonchalantly in that smugly proprietarily feline way.

That's against the rules to use that against another cat! Nadine thought and scowled at her, which just made her look more smugly satisfied.

Nadine growled, slammed open the door again and reached out to haul her somewhat confused, embarrassed and delighted partner into her apartment, before slamming the door close.

"Food." She demanded tersely. She'd decided to try ignoring everything but the next immediate thing she needed to do in an attempt to ignore thinking about how utterly screwed she was, well not literally, that would actually be enjoyable-

She immediately put a brutal end to that thought, and then shot it a few more times to make sure it would stay down. She was not going to screw Ralph's brains out, they had work to do today. She emptied the clip of her metaphorical gun into that idea just for good measure.

The wolf in question held out Megan's bowl with the flowers laid across it.

She reached out to take the bowl but as she grabbed it and her paws touched against his, she recognized the orange flowers with black accents.

They were tiger lilies.

She looked up from the bowl and flowers as Ralph withdrew his paws, clasping them behind his back and looking at her almost shyly.

"Ralph," she said in a small choked voice.

"They, ah… they reminded me of you." He said quietly, "They're beautiful and they smell nice. And the florist said that it's a hardy flower too, so… I thought they were perfect."

"Ralph…" don't choke up and cry, don't choke up and cry,… she repeated to herself, blinking hard.

"Thank you." She finally managed to get out, drawing the bowl and flowers close.

His wagging tail sped up, and his smile nearly made her wavering resolve to not cry, break. He looked up at her then down to where she was holding the bowl and flowers against her chest and blushed, quickly raising his eyes back up.

"I'll… ah," he couldn't seem to help taking a quick look at her, which made his already up ears, perk like they were ready to jump off his head, "I'll just go wait in the living room while you get ready, and…" he gave the bowl another look, this time blushing furiously, "um… eat." He finished with a flustered gesture and at her nod, turned and hurried through the door, whacking his head on the low clearance, with a thump and a 'Oww!'.

"Ralph!?" Nadine asked a bit worriedly.

"I'm alright! Perfectly alright, just forgot about the low doors here." He said in an embarrassed flustered tone.

"Oh, you two are too cute," Megan said smirking like this was the best show she'd ever seen, "Make sure to tell me all about it tonight," she headed to the front door but before she closed it beind her, she popped her head back in and with a wicked smile said, "Or tomorrow if you're busy tonight."

The door closed before Nadine could formulate any response. She looked back from the door to the bowl and flowers and then to the living room before giving her head a shake and heading into the kitchen.

She set the bowl down and then not having a vase, got out a glass from the top cabinet that was in easy reach for her as her head almost hit the ceiling. She filled it with water before placing the flowers in it and set it in the middle of her small table.

She ate the entire bowl robotically while staring at those flowers and thinking about what Ralph had said.

It was only when her spoon came up empty, that her attention shifted off of the flowers and back down to the now empty bowl.

Then something that should have occurred to her earlier clicked in her mind.

She'd been working with Wolford for three years and they'd shared a lot in that time. One of the things she'd asked about right at the beginning was some odd behavior of his regarding food, such as always insisting on paying for his own food. He'd explained that it was a sort of cultural trait for wolves that had stuck around just like the urge to howl. Food was important, being able to acquire your own food was seen as a sign of independence, the act of give and receiving food was seen as something almost intimate; it was a sign of a relationship, that one was accepting responsibility for providing for another, like for one's kits… or for one's mate.

She stared at the empty bowl.

The bowl that she'd asked for from him.

The bowl that he'd given to her.

Ralph had told her that for wolves, they would always split the cost of dinners on dates until it became serious, like being engaged serious.

The spoon dropped from her fingers and clattered on the table.

Had he done that on purpose? He hadn't made the food, but she hadn't paid for it either. And after he'd given it to her he'd blushed hard,

Oh gods…

He'd been blushing very hard as he'd made his flustered way to her living room-

Her mind crashed again at that.

The living room…

More accurately her mind had already had a complete train wreck thinking about the food he'd given her and that she'd accepted. Because for wolves that meant a Hell, with a capital godsdamned H, lot more than it did for other mammals. (She'd need to ask him, because from what she understood that was more along the lines of accepting a proposal in wolf culture, or maybe not asking for clarification on that point was a better idea) Now her mind felt like a second train had crashed into the wreck of the first. A train that was carrying something highly dangerous and volatile, like gasoline or explosives.

Ralph is in my living room, sitting on my couch.

Ralph, the wolf. The wolf with a too godsdmanded good nose is sitting on my couch…

The couch where I was this morning… and last night… when I was...

"Oh. Fuck."

She upended her table scrambling for the door. Megan's bowl went flying and broke, not that she had the mental capacity to care about that at the moment, in fact, she'd barely managed to save Ralph's flowers before she went careening out the door.

"Ralph!" she yelled then realized she had no idea what she was going to say next.

She barely managed to not brain herself on the doorway to the living room as she came rushing in and around to the couch.

Then she came to a skidding halt, realizing two things.

One, she still had absolutely no idea where to go from there or what to do next. None. Zero. Nadda. Nothing.

Two, while Ralph's control was good, very good in fact, it was still winter.

Ralph was sitting on the couch holding a piece of clothing, but despite his almost casual position he was so tense he looked about to break. He looked up at her and his gold eyes that usually had a glimpse of goofy humor behind them now also had something else, something primal. It sent a shiver down her spine that caused a wave of terror that froze her in her tracks. Terror because that shiver had absolutely completely delighted and thrilled her. There wasn't a single word that described that look, but longing, desire, and lust were good starting points.

She could see his dark nose flare as he breathed in the smell that still permeated the room from last night, a smell even she could easily pick up now that her mind wasn't sleep muddled. Ralph breathed in deeply again before standing up and taking one step so that he was right in front of her, almost touching her, while she stood frozen like a statue.

His nose flared again ruffling the fur right above her bra as he breathed in, and then in a low voice that nearly vibrated with a growl, a voice that sent another shiver through her, he said while holding up the piece of clothing, "Is this my shirt?"

Her eyes managed to tear themselves away from his and look at what he was holding.

Oh damn, that is his shirt.

It took her mind a second to remember that in the chaos last week, some of their clothes had gotten mixed up in the trunk of the cruiser when their bags had tumbled around while partially unzipped. Ralph had returned the ZPD workout clothes of hers that had ended up in his bag after they'd quickly cleaned up the mess at the end of that day. His shirt had ended up with her stuff and she'd meant to give it back... she just hadn't gotten around to it. She'd even left it folded next to the tv so that he could pick it up the next time he stopped by.

"Your scent is all over it." he growled, sounding very pleased and she blushed.

How the hell did he growl like that? He needed to stop, because it was sending more shivers through her. And why would her scent be all over it? and why was it on the couch?

Oh. Fuck... last night… I… oh, Fuck.

"Um… sorry?" she squeaked, staring at the ZPD workout shirt, not knowing how else to respond.

Her eyes followed the shirt as he dropped it and it hit the ground. She was watching it so intently that she missed the fact that he'd reached around her neck until his paws pulled her head down and his cheek ran against hers. He growled into her ear, "You don't need my clothes, if you want my scent."

This time the shiver that ran through her was more like a bolt of lightning.

She jerked her head back and looked straight into those fiery gold eyes of his. Those eyes just inches away, right in front of her.

Unlike yesterday, this time he closed the distance between them and kissed her.

In that moment Nadine was pretty sure that the world exploded, her vision seemed to go white and her ears felt like they were ringing. The next thing she knew he was pulling her down into a deeper kiss and she was holding him against her. Part of her mind was confused, part was trying to regain control, and part was wildly cheering her on and trying to club down the other two.

She could feel him growling low and pleased through the kiss and then found herself responding, deepening it, nearly purring back.

In what felt like only a few seconds, she found herself on top of her partner, sprawled on the couch, while they kissed each other furiously. Her bra had vanished and his shirt was open as their paws frantically clutched at each other.

She moved against him, kissing him hard and felt him buck up in response, a hard length pressing against her through the layers of fabric between them.

The part of her mind ecstatically cheering and pushing her on, had clubbed down all opposition, and the feeling of his hardness press against her sex was like he'd flipped a switch.

She pushed down, grinding against him, kissing him wildly.

Her nose was filled with the musky woody scent of his fur, she could taste his mouth, feel the pads of his paws running through her fur, felt his muscled chest pressed against her breast, feel him bucking, rubbing hard and hot against her as she ground down on him and he seeming to grow with every movement.

His muzzle escaped her mouth for a split second and nipped her under the chin right at the corner of her jaw and neck and that sent her over the edge with a roar the likes of which she never sounded before as she pushed hard against him, clenching, holding, shaking, roaring.

He bucked up hard against her heavier weight on top of him, and she felt his claws dig almost painful into her back before his howl broke out to join her roar.

Nadine collapsed on top of Ralph, still shaking as waves of raw sensation seemed to ripple through her, ebbing down from that white hot peak.

As she regained control of herself, a couple things became apparent to her rebooting mind. First, she was purring involuntarily and didn't seem able to stop. Second Ralph was trailing light kisses and nips along her neck, though that might be the reason she was involuntarily purring. Third, there was a pounding noise that sounded familiar. She focused, or tried to, since Ralph was being supremely distracting and part of her recovering mind simply wanted to snuggle and purr and not care about the rest of the world.

There were a few more thumping noises, and then a barely decipherable yell.

"You mangy kitty! Keep it down up there!" came the mad, wheezing voice, "Either go rut your puppy somewhere else or buy a pair of muzzles!"

Another voice, this one from the wall next to them and clearly recognizable as Megan's, responded, "Oh stuff a hoof in that hole of yours and leave Nadine and her mate alone, otherwise I'll tell your wife that your screwing with their screwing! How do you think she'll respond to that?!"

"…"

The voice of the beaver that lived on the other side of her apartment joined in, "Leave them be Herald, you old goat! If we have to listen to your bleating, then you can listen through some roaring and howling. They at least only make a lot of noise at the end of their rutting; You bleat like you've broken your leg the entire damn time!"

"I don't bleat the entire time!" came an angrily yelled response.

"Sure you do," Megan shouted in return, and even while shouting she sounded smug, "You bleated for a full twenty second last night, then your wife made you go get that little blue pill, before the bleating started up again."

The kisses had trailed off as Ralph started listening to the now growing argument as a few other neighbors chimed in with their views. Without those kisses to distract her, her mind was coming back online and realizing just how bad of a situation she was in.

"Oh gods, I'm going to have to move out and go hide in a hole for the rest of my life." Nadine said, horrified, as the argument grew with most of the apartments agreeing that a few roars and howls were better than constant bleating. There was even a suggestion that they pool some money and buy a muzzle for Harold as a gift to his wife so that she wouldn't have to listen to his bleating either. That received an angry bleating shout in return with a few colorful curses and while most of the other apartments applauded the idea and promised to pitch in.

There was a throaty chuckling growl, a kiss, and then Ralph suggested, "You can always come live with me."

She turned back to face him and opened her mouth to shout at him that this was all his fault, but his mouth closed on hers and took advantage of its open state to give her a kiss that sent her reeling.

She could feel the hard length pressed against her throb, and while that one part of her recovering mind noted with delight that it was far larger than she thought it might be, and screamed 'Jackpot!' the other two portions it had clubbed down earlier tackled it, and gave her a chance to make a sane response.

So first she finished kissing him, because that was one hell of a good kiss, and it would be a crime to waste it, but then she quickly got off him.

He was still looking at her with those gold eyes, full of that desire and only partially sated.

If he stays in this room with our scent and smells of sex and arousal were going to end up rutting all day long.

Part of her screamed in triumph at that while the other parts trying to hold that bit at bay shouted at her to do something, and do it know damnit!

Not knowing what else to do she reached down and picked him up bridal-style and spirited for the door of the room.

The damndably cunning wolf took the opportunity to kiss her which distracted her so much that it was only the long-ingrained practice of navigating her home that prevented her from first running into the wall and then, when she swerved to avoid that, to duck and not clock her head on the door frame.

His kiss ended with a very pleased growl and he was just about to start again, which would probably have led to her demise, because the part that wanted so badly to just rut him right there and then was breaking free. Before it could take back control she dropped him.

Before it could take back control she dropped him.

He landed with a started yelp on her bed, (She was thanking every god she knew that she'd recently washed it), and she sprinted back out of the bedroom and slammed the door closed, putting her weight against it and breathing hard.

There were a few moments of quiet, before she heard Ralph call out in a pleading questioning whine, "Nadine?"

Her heart stopped at that before suddenly jumping into overdrive. She looked frantically around, grabbed the book case next to the door and dragged it over a few feet till it blocked the door so that she couldn't easily get through it and start rutting him silly.

There was a full on whine this time, making her very glad shed done more than just shut the door.

"Ralph," She started trying to control her breathing and not tear through her barricade to get to him, "We need to take a breather, we can't keep doing this, we've got a job to do remember? Hopps and Wilde." huh, she'd nearly forgotten about that herself. Made for a damned handy excuse though.

There was a pause and then a very throaty growly, "Later then?"

She had to sit down against the book shelf because the way he said that made her legs wobble.

"I'm Not Answering That!" she said as sternly as she could. They'd known each other too long to be able to convincingly tell a direct lie to each other. So lying was out and she couldn't just say, 'yes' either because then even that bookshelf wouldn't stop her.

We haven't even started dating yet!

Another whine tore at her heart.

She needed to get away from him for a few moments, let both of them cool down. He was running high on winter instincts and she was running high, well high on him, and that was only making it harder for her wolf.

When the hell did he become my wolf?

"Ralph," she said a bit shakily, "I'm going to get a shower and get dressed while you cool down a bit. Like you said yesterday, this is a bit fast. I'll let you get some control over your mating season frenzy back, then we go and cover Wilde and Hopps for the day. Then you take me out on a date tomorrow. Sound good?"

She heard the most heartbreakingly desperate whine she'd ever imagined. It had her trying to shift the book case out of the way before she heard him take a few deep breaths and respond with a bit more control but still with such longing that it hurt to hear him speak, "Okay… your right Nadine, we… we got a little crazy there. Give me some… some time to get back under control."

She sighed and got up, heading for the bathroom but before she'd gone more than a few steps his voice stopped her.

"Nadine?" he asked.

She looked back toward the blocked door of her room, "Yes?"

"I love you."

She stood there petrified for a moment, until a tear traced down her cheek. Her paws clenched and shook and in a sobbing shout she yelled back at him, "You. Stupid. Dope! YOU CAN'T SAY THAT YET!" she choked up on a sob before finishing in a near full shout, "I'M NOT READY TO ADMIT THAT I LOVE YOU YET!" before turning and sprinting into the bathroom and closing the door behind her hoping that it would block out the rest of the world as she cried.

A/N

Thought this was the final chapter? Well so did we.

.

Turns out that this is like a biological warfare Fluff weapon that's mutated and we've... um, sort of lost control of it.

This story does have a end, and its not that far away but things are about to get crazy,

so run if you can but I don't think it's going to help. Only Grinches are immune to Fluff based weapons, the rest of you are screwed!

...

Happy Valentine's Day

…

Conspiracy Count Down: 0 hours

…