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CLASSIFIED: DO NOT READ
THE CONSPIRACY
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Operation Clock: +2 Hours
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Disclaimer:
If that wasn't enough, then maybe they just need some more pressure.
I take no responsibility for what happens. I'd suggest taking cover.
The Fox and the Bunny MUST Kiss.
Chapter - 7 - Fate and Fools
Bogo handed the tickets to the attendant at the gate to the Zootopia Pier, the city's longest running amusement park located on a pier at the southern tip of Savanah Central right by the City's Sports Stadium where the concert would be held later.
The attendant, a young pig with acne that looking bored out of his mind, didn't even glance at the Valentine's day festival passes, before scanning them. A printer behind the attendant's window chattered and he handed them the ticket stubs and the two sheets the printer had spit out.
"Have a great time at The Pier, The Place where Zootopia goes to Play," he said mechanically, making the Pier's slogan sound more boring than watching paint dry, "Don't forget to check after the concert to see if your ticket numbers get called in the raffle for the Farris wheel ride at sunset, your numbers are on the stubs." He finished monotonously, before calling out in a dejected voice, "Next."
Bogo's excited wife, Bessy, pulled him along toward the gate for large mammals nearly squealing in excitement.
"Oh, this is going to be so much fun! It's been so long since the last time we were here! I love coming to this place, it has so many wonderful memories!" His wife chattered enthusiastically pulling him through the gate and nearly dragging him bodily down the main thoroughfare lined with booths and rides of every kind, "Remember how nervous you were on our first date? You looked like you were about to pass out when I kissed you at the end of the night." She continued and laughed, "It was so sweet."
"I did not!" Bogo said sternly, trying to scowl, though that just made his wife laugh more.
"Sweetie, you were shaking like a leaf!" she chuckled and gave him a peck on the cheek, making the spot feel warm.
"It was cold that night," Bogo said in his defense.
"It was July." She snickered, covering her mouth with her hoof.
"It was unseasonably cold that July," Bogo continued belligerently.
"Well, it was a good thing that my kiss seemed to warm you right up then," she said amusedly and reached up with a hoof and turned his head so she could give his other cheek a peck leaving a warm spot there as well, "In fact they still seem too, why just look at how rosy your cheeks are already!"
Rather than digging himself in deeper into his losing position, he shifted subjects looking at the two sheets with the peelable stickers the attendant had handed them from the printer.
"Um, dear. Shouldn't we put these on?" he asked before realized what was printed on them, and groaned.
His wife let out another laugh and took the two stickers from his hoof, "Oh your absolutely right! I had so much fun picking out what should be on them!"
She peeled off the first large heart shaped sticker with the printed words, "I HEART MY COW" from the paper backing and stuck it dead center in the middle of his shirt, before placing the second heart shaped sticker with, "I Love my Bull's Marshmallow Heart", on her own shirt and then leaned into him.
Bogo grumbled a bit, and crossed his arms covering up the sticker.
"Now, Now, sweetie, we can't have that!" Bess said and took his hoof, wrapping it around her waist. Then hooking her horn with his, she gave it a tug and caused him to lean back into her.
"Now isn't this better?" she said happily laying her head on his shoulder as they walked.
Bogo wasn't going to give that a response, though when his hoof around her tightened a bit, she gave his cheek another small kiss and he could feel her smiling.
Bogo contemplated his life for a little while as they walked like that, with that damned pink heart stuck on his shirt like a searing brand. Was this embarrassing? Yes. Would this destroy his gruff reputation if anyone recognized him? Yes. Would he wear that stupid heart for his wife? Absolutely.
Anyway, if anyone did see him with that heart and said anything about it, he could always rebuild his reputation. A few lectures, some glares, parking duty. That would probably do the trick.
His thoughts were interrupted by a bleating call, "G-g-get your Fortune! Glimpse your Future! Madam Pearl see's all in her crystal ball!"
Bogo looked over to see an old nanny goat dressed like a gypsy in one of the booths and waving her hoofs over, yes, an actual crystal ball set on a pillow. He turned his head back with an amused snort that mammals would actually find that kind of cheap trick amusing.
"Ohh! That sounds like fun! Let's go find out what's in our future!" Bess said enthusiastically and dragged him over.
"Bess, you know that is all fake right?" Bogo asked, hoping to get out of this.
"Oh hush you doubter! You don't know that." She said with a smile, before stopping in front of the booth.
"Um, hi, we'd like to get our fortune." She said to the nanny goat pulling Bogo back to her side as he tried to escape.
"Hummm. Humm…. Who do we have here?" the goat waved her hoofs over the crystal ball before continuing, "Two parents sneaking away for a day of fun while the children are away?"
"Oh! Yes, our daughter is off at college!" Bessy turned to Bogo with a delighted smile, "See, that's not fake!"
"Lucky guess," Bogo said trying to frown, though that was hard with his wife's arm around him.
"An unbeliever, eh?" the nannygoat chuckled with an amused bleat, "Don't go assuming you know everything young man! Fate will come back to get you if you do,"
Bogo couldn't restrain his snort at that and replied, "We make our own fate."
The old nanny let out a long laugh which set the jewelry of her gypsy costume jingling and jangling.
"You might swim the river, but a strong current is still going to pull you where it wills!" the fortune teller said before looking away from the crystal ball for the first time and right at him, startling him for a second with her two sharp, crystal blue eyes in her old wrinkled face. Eyes that seemed far too perceptive.
She could probably teach Wilde a few tricks about hustling and reading people, Bogo couldn't help think.
"You should know better," she continued, smiling at him in a way that was decidedly unnerving, "When you dismiss something out of hand because you think it's ridiculous, those small things will come back to prove you wrong! Dismiss Fate at your own doom, young man."
Bogo could feel himself stiffening defensively. He tried to relax, this was just a street performer after all, but he couldn't hold back a slightly derisive, "Oh really?"
The nannygoat's smile widened, "Do you think that meeting your wife was just a coincidence?"
Bess let out a short excited squeal, before saying happily, "He gave me a parking ticket at my morning coffee stop when I was one minute late! That was fate?"
Sure didn't seem like fate when she was yelling at me, angry about that ticket, Bogo thought remembering his start at the ZPD.
The nanny goat grinned, "Of course dear, just like the other tickets."
Another squeal, "How did you know there was more than one ticket?" she asked the nanny.
The old goat waved her hoofs dramatically at the crystal ball, "My crystal ball showed me, of course!"
"That was a lucky guess," Bogo said, not buying the act, "It's not hard to guess that if you got one parking ticket outside your favorite morning coffee stop you might get another."
"Then let's see what she sees in our future," Bess said, seeming amused at his skepticism.
The nannygoat smiled wider and turned back to the crystal ball, moving her hoofs around it mysteriously making her jewelry jangle as her arms moved.
"Humm… Lets peek and see what fate has in store for your future. Humm. What do we have here? Shadowy figures… some large and some small… hum… I see hidden eyes watching… you seem to have found yourself involved in something, something big, something with dangerous paths, drastic options… Careful, Careful!" The nanny had adopted a wavering theatrically haunting voice. And despite the vague rubbish she was spewing Bogo had to admit that she put on a decent show, and anyway his wife seemed to be enjoying it, "Careful! Don't assume to take fate into your own hoofs. Careful, or fate might give you than you bargained for! Careful or you'll doom yourself!" She let out a cackling, "Doomed! Doooomed!" before continuing, "Head fate's warning bull! If you are going to survive the coming storm, stay close to the one who has your heart!" The nanny finished with a dramatic flourish.
There we're some applause from mammals, many of them couples, that had stopped to watch the performance. Bess leaned into him to say, "Ohhh! Mysterious! We'd better stick close to each other today don't you think?"
Well, she at least put on a decent performance, Bogo mused, though he still thought the whole thing was a bit ridiculous, can't argue with this result though. Bogo thought with his hoof around his wife's waist, as she leaned in close to him. He had to work hard to repress a snort, thinking back to the overly dramatic performance.
Doomed? Really that part had been a little much.
He took out a few bill's and put them in the tip jar with a grudging nod, before getting out of the way of the small line that was forming in front of the booth.
Fate? Doom? Really. He didn't believe in that rubbish. He'd chosen his wife because he loved her, he was going to stick close to her because he wanted too, he was going to get that damned fox and bunny to finally kiss each other so that the furor in the precinct and city about them would finally die down and stop causing him trouble. If there really was fate, then that problem would have solved itself. He'd rather not deal with it all, but it was affecting one of his best teams and the distraction of their little soap opera courtship was pulling the attention of other teams away from their work too. How one single couple, regardless of the species involved, could cause so much trouble he would never know, but not even fate would stop him from fixing that particular problem. It and Cupid had dropped the ball, and he was there now to clean up their mess, so they could just get the hell out of his way because he was going to deal with it… right after he finished making his wife happy.
Nadine and Ralph didn't talk much as they drove, though that wasn't very unusual. What had been a bit unusual was how unreservedly happy Ralph was. He normally had a good natured attitude, quick to a smile or a joke but serious when the situation needed it. During the winter, particularly this last winter he was normally a bit withdrawn. Now, well now it was like someone had taken his happy knob and turned it up to 11. And frankly, it was annoying her because she wanted to grab that overly happy smiling ball of fur and rub against him and purr like she was some little cub again. That need was itching at her irritatingly, and the fact that she couldn't get rid of it, let alone just scratch it, was even more frustrating.
And if that wasn't bad enough, there was his tail. That had to be the worst. His stupid tail was poking out around his side and laying on the center console where the furry tip kept wagging back and forth in an obscenely cute manner. She couldn't help but watch it as it flicked back and forth, it drew her eyes no matter how much she tried to drag them away.
It was slowly driving her nutz; she wanted to grab it, swat at it, pounce on it. That was her tail, damnit. She'd won it! It was hers by right of combat. It had no right to wag so adorably without her permission!
Nadine was so focused on watching the tip of his tail moving back and forth, she hadn't even noticed her own tail start to curl, the tip snapping side to side occasionally in a predatory fashion.
She continued to watch Ralph's tail wag, feeling like she was ready to pounce on it and teach it a lesson.
Ralph hit the brakes as he came around the corner onto Elm Street, and Nadine's attention was roughly pulled away from her fluffy target as her seat belt dug into her shoulder stopping her body as she was thrown forward.
"What the hell?!" Ralph said a bit shocked, and Nadine looked up to see another police cruiser and an ambulance outside of the Snarlbucks further down the street where Wilde and Hopps were supposed to meet up. Ralph pulled the cruiser into a parking spot across the street where they could get a decent view of the front of the coffee shop.
"You think something already happened to them or is this just a coincidence?" Nadine asked worriedly.
"What, a police cruiser and ambulance just happen to show up somewhere those two where at?" Ralph asked with a snort, "I mean this is Wilde and Hopps right?"
She rolled her eyes, "Fine, that was a stupid question. Give me a second." She reached over to the radio and flipped it on."
"Station 1, this is cruiser 14. We're off duty but just saw the commotion at Elm Street. What's the story? Do they need assistance?"
They waited a second before Delgato's voice came over the radio speaker, "Negative 14. Everything's under control though I heard McHorn was cursing up a storm."
Nadine and Ralph looked at each other more confused now, McHorn never lost his cool, hell, he barely said anything more than he had to, and that was mostly just to grunt an affirmative.
"Um… care to explain that?" Nadine radioed back.
"McHorn had fifty bucks bet on the WildeHopps pool for this afternoon. With all the commotion at the Snarlbucks it looked like those two were about to finally give in while riding the emotional aftershock… then McHorn came charging in and broke things up."
Nadine stared at the radio for a second. Ralph snicker. She tried not to but she couldn't stop herself, she snickered too and then they both were laughing.
It took them a few moments to rein in their laughter before they were able to do anything else.
Ralph was wiping his eyes, still snickering, when he spoke up, "I feel sooo sorry for Nick!" he laughed again, "He just needs to tell her. It's such a relief to not have to try and hide how you feel and know that they lov-mmhphh..." Nadine's paw covered his mouth, muffling what he was saying as she tried to get control of herself.
"Ralph!" she tried saying sternly and failed, letting out another short laugh at the McHorn's Snarlbucks snarlup, "What did I say about that word?"
He shot her a guilty smile as she removed her paw, but took it in his before she managed to pull it back.
"Sorry, Nadine." He looked at her in an apologetically happy way that melted her heart, "Would you accept a kiss as apology?"
That didn't take her long to decide.
"Yes. But you'd better remember or next time I won't let you off so easily… and you'd better make this a good kiss or I won't accept your apology."
Still holding her paw, he leaned over and up, tilting his muzzle to the side and kissed her. He started off slow, almost chastely before deepened it. She felt his other paw touch her cheek and surrendered to him letting him guide her head and the kiss as her mouth open in response to his.
…
"Do you accept my apology?" Ralph asked and she realized disheartenedly that the kiss had ended.
"Umm… what was that?" Nadine said trying to think, "Oh apology, yes, yes, that was… adequate. Um, apology accepted?"
"Humm, I'll have to work on my kissing," Ralph said with a smile, "there's this girl I've fallen for that I'm going out with tomorrow and I need to dazzle her so that she'll tell me how she feels. You wouldn't mind helping me practice, would you?" Ralph said slyly with a heated glance.
"You're not cheating on your girlfriend now are you?" She said jokingly, still trying to get her mind to start working properly.
Ralph stopped and looked at her, his face absolutely serious.
"Never, Nadine. There's only one girl for me, and nobody else is ever going to pull me away from her."
She looked over at his golden eyes staring at her and could see just how much he meant that. Part of Nadine was still getting used to the idea that Ralph liked her, wanted to go out with her, might Lo- well... getting used to the idea of dating Ralph. That look though held no doubt about how he felt and how serious he was about her... it terrified the part of her that was just getting used to the idea of going out with Ralph... it also made her heart go out of control and before she realized it, she'd pounced.
Only to be brought up short with a 'Ougff' a fraction of a second later as the seat belt locked, stopping her in her tracks before she moved more than a foot toward Ralph and attempt to kiss him unconscious again.
"Nadine?" Ralph said a bit concerned as she slumped back into the seat and the belt ratchet down pulling in the slack.
"Thank Rajah for car safety systems," Nadine muttered, resetting the seat belt, glad that the jolt had done a decent job of knock the overly emotional completely unrational silliness out of her.
She looked over at Ralph, blushed, and looked away needing a distraction from her swirling thoughts about her wolf. Nadine's eyes searching for something, anything, besides him to focus on and finally landed on the radio, and fixed.
She picked up the receiver again and after clearing her throat, toggled it.
"Delgato," she said trying to focus, and not think back on Ralph's serious look or his amazing kissing ability, "McHorn's heavy-footed blundering aside, what happened?"
"Apparently, a bigoted lecherous jealous ex. If you want to see what happened Zoogle #WildeHoppsShipWrecker. There's already a few videos of the incident starting to circulate on MuzzleBook."
Before Nadine could thank him and end the radio call, Delgato continued, his voice shifting from amused to flirtatious, "Hey Fangmeyer, if you still don't have plans for tonight, how about going out with the handsome king of the duty desk for a night on the town?"
Nadine, couldn't hold back the snort as she toggled the radio again.
"Delgato, did you just do that movie mane flick of yours?"
"Oh, sorry, forgot you can't see this Lion's handsome mane right now, well its good practice anyway. So what do you say, up for some fun?"
"Hummm... I don't know," Nadine said as if trying to decide, "King of the duty desk did you say? Well, Clawhauser is cute but he's not my type, plus he's busy tonight so I can't even go drinking with him."
There was a groan from the radio and Ralph who'd gone stiff while listening, let out a laugh.
Oh my gods, was Ralph just getting protective? Ralph?! He knows how Delgato always acts. Nadine thought, only now noticing how his rasied hackles were settling.
Then again... Another part of her responded, He did mark your bed… and you.
Zip it. That's classified. Nobody can know about that yet.
Delgato's voice came back over the radio, "Seriously? Not Clawhauser, I mean me, the precincts handsome devil, Lion extraordinaire, and King of whatever job or slave-driving Chief makes me do! That king of the duty desk!" he said in a comically exasperated voice.
"Oh, why didn't you just say so?" Nadine said, smirking, "In that case, not a chance."
"Why not?" pleaded Delgato like he was ready to get on his knees.
"First, because I've rejected your previous hundred and fifty-two attempts to ask me out-" she said.
"Hundred and fifty-one," Delgato said cross talking over the radio line, "I've counted."
Ralph cut in, seeming to have recovered from his brief surge of newfound protectiveness, "Delgato, you keep forgetting the time we all went out drinking and you asked Clawhauser, thinking he was Nadine… You swept him around and asked him out and then gave him a whopper of a kiss," Ralph was smirking fully, "Rremember? Claws said that he usually doesn't swing that way, but he might make an exception for you after that kiss."
There was a groan over the radio, "That, was just Clawhauser helping me practice my lines! It certainly doesn't count!"
Another cruiser cut in on the radio line and Grizzole spoke up, "Then why did you bring Clawhauser a box apology donuts the next morning when you let him down?"
"Those were Thank you donuts for him helping me practice my pick-up lines!" Delgado defended indignantly.
"Sure they were," Grizzole continued, "That's why the donuts were frosted with cheetah spot colored icing."
"You all have no sense of style." Delgato muttered.
"Second," Nadine said back, enjoying the bit of normal banter and the break from confusing thoughts about Ralph, "you were talking all week about the twin lionesses your hitting the town with tonight."
"Hey, that doesn't mean we all can't have a good time! I know that they wouldn't mind a fourth." Delgado replied.
"Then send Clawhauser another box of those cheetah frosted donuts, I'm sure with that and a promise of a kiss, he'd be happy to join you for a night on the town." Nadine said smugly, "besides, I'm already taken, I've already got a date,"
Um… girl, part of her mind informed her, you just said that last bit out loud.
"Shit!" she looked at the radio hoping that she wasn't still holding down the transmit button.
She was.
Nadine quickly released it... then hit it again and quickly tried backpedaling, "I mean… that I'm busy tonight! I have an errand to do! Won't be able to meet up with you-"
'Nadine!" Came a Delgato's delighted voice.
No, no, no, please just stop right there.
"Who are you going out with? Hold on Clawhauser, isn't here, let me text him, he's going to be so jealous I heard this first." She could hear the tapping over the radio and groaned as Delgato continued to gush, "Fangmeyer, Precinct one's badass, has finally fallen for someone, and judging by that little slip up and how your trying to cover for it, you've got it bad! Oh, wait, Clawhauser wants me to tell you something for him," He cleared his throat then in his best imitation Clawhauser voice said, "OH M GOOOOOOODDDNNEEESSSS!" Nadine heard a rhythmic thumping and looked over to see the broad smile on Ralph's face and his tail pounding on the center console.
"This Isn't Funny!" she hissed at him.
"Clawhauser also wants to know who finally stole Mrs. Badass's heart," Delgato continued excitedly, before shifting his voice to sound theatrically dejected, "Too bad, and here I was hoping to break my record and get an even 200 rejections, but I guess it's just not to be!"
Rhinowitz's voice broke into the chatter, "Nadine! Congratulations! Who is it, is it someone we know?"
"Sasha!" Nadine tried to say, but the radio line was starting to become jumbled with everyone cross talking.
"Oh, don't be so shy Nadine, you've had a few fun nights out with us girls, but you've never considered actually dating any of those cats we met at the bar. Ohhh, just wait till Francine hears about this! Come on girl, give!"
This was quickly turning into a nightmare so Nadine did the only responsible thing she could think of.
"SSHHH – Can't – SHHHHH… Hear.. SHHHHTTT Breaking SHH up." Nadine slammed the receiver down and shut the unit off.
Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump.
"Sooo, who's this you're going out with tonight? It sounds like you might really like him." Ralph said, tail still thumping away madly.
"Oh, shut up!" she growled.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
She snatched his tail to stop it's wagging and snarled at him, which seemed to only make him happier.
"Get out your phone and find that video Delgato was talking about." she growled, trying hard to stay angry and not let that happy infectious smile mollify her. Ralph glanced at his tail now captive in her paw with its tip lying in her lap. He tried unsuccessfully to hide a grin and complied.
Ralph glanced at his tail now captive in her paw with its tip lying in her lap and tried, unsuccessfully, to hide a grin and complied.
Nadine huffed, she was just holding the stupid fluffy thing to stop it from making so much noise. She was Not playing with it… or stroking it. She would not, no matter how fluffy it was. In fact, she decided, she'd better keep both paws on it, lest it get away and start thumping again. That was the safe thing to do after all, the smart thing to do, that fluffy tail was a danger wagging around unrestrained like that.
After some tapping on his phone, Ralph found the video and started to hold the phone out over the center console but then looked at the awkward viewing position and at his tail, the tip still in her lap covered now by both her paws.
"Here, this might be more comfortable," Ralph grinned. He shut the cruiser's engine off, reaching over to unbuckle his and then her seatbelt and then slid over the center console to sit next to her. His whole tail thumped once on her lap and her paws automatically snatched back onto it.
Can't have it thumping away now, she justified adamantly to herself.
It was a tight squeeze in the seat with both of them, but after some minor shifting around she found a pleasant enough position as Ralph held out his phone in front of them. And if her tail was wrapped around him, that was just because of the tight space.
The video he'd found was labeled, 'Epic Klutz!'
It was taken from a phone propped up on a coffee table, judging by its viewing angle and the edge of the table in view.
A brown bunny buck approaching Hopps who was sitting at another table while she fiddled with her coffee cup and shot nervously excited glances toward the door. A rose the buck was holding behind his back was clearly visible from the view of the camera.
At first it looked like the buck was the klutz from how he botched the pickup, particularly with plopping the rose in her coffee, but it quickly became apparent that he was far more of an ass than a klutz, and calling him Judy's ex was being extremely generous.
They watched as the situation became downright hostile after Nick entered and Nadine winced when the buck reached into his pocket with his free hand and brought the taser up to the fox's back. That particular brand of self-defense tasers was made by a company called FoxAway that was currently in the middle of a number of lawsuits ranging from speciestism, to claims of them dangerously overpowering their hand tasers. Nadine nodded her head approvingly when Judy fluidly disarmed the buck. She moved in a flash with quick controlled motions. The bunny had trained hard and it showed; She and Nadine had gone a few rounds together in the precincts ring and had found themselves nearly evenly matched. For the bunny, it was all about if the other mammal could catch her. When Nadine could get ahold of Judy that was usually the end of the match, but that bunny was fast and she had one hell of a kick too.
As they watched, Nadine didn't even realize that she'd started stroking Ralph's tail, or how he lightly rumbled in response. She was too engrossed in watching the worried bunny cradling her partner as he slowly came to.
It looked like the incident might have finally been the tipping point for the precinct's couple that didn't realize they were a couple. The videos minor jitters and the background noise of the café had vanished. It was so quiet that the phone had easily picked up Nick's statement, a running joke between the partners that they said so often, it made every other officer want to shake them and lock them in a holding cell till they just got on with it.
'-you know you love your dumb fox.'
Nick was on his back his head and shoulders in Judy's lap, looking up at her. She'd stopped crying into the crook of his neck and looking right at him, her nose just barely touching his. If it hadn't been for the lack of romantic background music, it would have been something straight out of a movie. A cheesy overly romantic chick flick movie, the exact type of movie part of Nadine's minds was deviously planning to drag Ralph too. That was one of the vital tests of a real boyfriend after all; would he be willing to let go of their masculine pride and go see such a 'girly' movie with her?
"Yes…" Judy said in the video, "Yes, I d-"
And then McHorn barged through the front doors, and with a shake of the camera, a collective groan could be heard from what seemed like every patron in the shop. There were mutters and curses, and quite cries and lamentations of, "WHY?!", "Godsdamnit!", "Son of a B-", and "Sooo Close".
Watching it both Nadine and Ralph groaned as well, the fox and bunny's heads popped up and around to stare at the rhino like they'd just been awoken from a dream.
McHorn's usually emotionless face on the other hand, had a growing look of horror, and he brought both hands up in a 'I didn't just walk in on you two' gesture, before waving at them, and saying in an almost desperate voice "Sorry, Didn't mean to interrupt. Continue, continue…"
The two small officers looked at each other in confusion before looking back at McHorn, who now looked ready to go over and beat his head against the wall, though that probably wouldn't have done anything besides demolish the wall.
Nick turned his head away from away from Judy right as she glanced down at him, his ears angling back and away from her. From the perspective of the camera taking the video the inside of his ears had gone bright red, though Judy wouldn't have been able to see it looking down at him. Her own longer blushing ears dropped, and she turned to look away just as the fox stole a glance at her, only to see a gloomy expression right before she hid it.
There was another universal groan from the audience in the shop as the two awkwardly got up and avoiding looking at each other.
"Wow," Ralph said, staring at the video, "I don't think the timing of any of that could possibly have been worse."
Nadine nodded her head. Those two made her and Ralph seem like a perfectly ordinary couple. Though something was nagging her about the video. Something she'd seen seemed out of place…
So… you're a couple now? A voice in Nadine's mind noted as she tried to figure out what about the video was bugging her
Wait, what?!
You just called yourself and Ralph a couple. The part of her mind reminded her, sounding gleeful.
Possible couple, we're a 'possible' couple, we'll find out tomorrow whether we can actualy be a couple.
Sure. Keep telling yourself that. It replied in a tone that now sounded almost like Megan.
SHUT UP! I'm trying to think!
How or why part of her mind seemed to have decided to emulate that little bobcat, she didn't know. What she did know was that she was going to blame Megan now for all those distracting thoughts. That might be unreasonable, but not a lot of what she'd been feeling for the last day was strictly reasonable and it was confusing the hell out of her. Ralph was the one going through mating season not her; She hadn't even been very interested in dating since the Academy, so she had no idea where the sudden flood of uncontrollable feelings for her partner had come from.
He was funny but still serious about his work, he was caring and had a huge heart, he was someone she could always count on, but Ralph had always been so closed off when it came to relationships, not just with her but with everyone. She'd never imagined they'd actually go out because he'd been like a closed door. He'd never let anything show until he thought that she'd been about to jump him yesterday and slipped up. That though, had been like the flood gates opening up and she'd hadn't just glimpsed that hidden portion of guarded feelings, she had a full, very clear view.
But why was she feeling this way? Sure, she trusted him with her life, she worked better with him than anyone else, he was her friend and she liked him since they'd met at the Academy…
Nadine froze as she had a moment of perfect introspection amid the tumbling roiling confused mess of her feelings and thoughts, a single frozen moment amidst that tempest, like a bolt of lightning that lit up a storming night and she could see, just for a fraction of a second, the sharp outlines of everything, before the whirling confusion covered it back up.
Fuck. Nadine thought eloquently as she tried to review every memory of her and Ralph all at once, trying to disprove the niggling answer she'd glimpsed now hiding in the recesses of her mind, an answer in that moment of almost understanding had scared her. She wanted to grab Ralph and never let him go, she wanted to flee from him as fast as possible, she wanted… she didn't know what she wanted…
Yes you do.
SHUT UP!
That little voice in the back of her head had just gone from annoying to terrifying.
"Nadine? Nadine. Ow, Nadine!"
Nadine nearly jumped through the roof of the cruiser as Ralph's voice right next to her finally registered.
"Ow. Oww. Ow. Nadine, TAIL, Ow."
Nadine realized that she was clutching at his tail like a lifeline and quickly released it.
"Sorry… sorry, I… ah…" Nadine started to say before finding she didn't know what to say.
"You alright Nadine?" Ralph asked leaning into her with a confused expression. He was so close that Nadine could hear his nose working. "Your scent sort of went haywire there for a few moments when you stopped petting my tail and started clutching at it."
"Um... sorry," Nadine said in a small voice, shuffling her paws.
Ralph smiled, his tail thumping back into her lap, "Nadine, you can pet my tail anytime you want," his eyes seemed to almost go unfocused for a second as he grinned dopily, "That felt amazing…" his tail started thumped again, and she had to put a paw on it before it became a safety hazard. Ralph shivered at the contact and then sighed, leaning into her side with a happy heart-melting rumble.
"Yep… you can do that anytime you want…" he sighed again, and Nadine could feel her fur shift as he breathed in through his nose, right before he gave a sneeze.
"Ugh, way too much deodorant," Ralph said his nose wrinkling and sneezed again, "What's up with that anyway? I like the way you normally smell, its nice."
Nadine's face suddenly felt like it had just turned into the surface of the sun. She looked at her wolf who was trying hard not to sneeze again, and the temperature in the cruiser seemed to skyrocket even more.
Luckily she was saved from having to answer because Ralph continued after forestalling his another sneeze.
"But what happened? You sort of froze and your scent spike and was all jumbled. Thought it was just the deodorant at first messing with it but then you started holding onto my tail with a death grip."
He was looking at her with such caring concern that it was making her heart beat erratically.
Nadine groaned and clutched his tail to her tightly (but not too tight), "I… I got lost in my thoughts Ralph… I…" she looked at him and her heart skipped a few more beats. She leaned over and gave him a quick apologetic kiss, before hiding her face and muttering, "Sorry about that."
Ralph looked like he wanted to ask for more of an explanation but instead just smiled and asked, "Better now?"
She ran her fingers through his tail before reaching over to grab his paw.
With a deep breath and a moment of just holding onto his paw, Nadine managed to calm her racing heartbeat.
"Ya… thanks." She said still not looking at him, "Can, can we take a second look at that video, something about it seemed… I don't know… familiar? Off? Something."
Ralph squeezed her paw back and with a quick, comforting, "Sure."
He raised the phone back up and started replying the video.
This time, Nadine didn't focus on Hopps and Wilde but just watched and let her mind wander a bit as she considered the warm paw in hers. It was only then as she was thinking about that and not concentrating on Wilde and Hopps that she saw it.
She reached out and tapped the video stopping it and pointed at the corner of the screen where two polar bears were sitting at a corner table and not particularly enjoying their coffee.
"Them." Nadine said, "look how they're watching Hopps and that buck."
"I'm not one to jump to conclusions," Ralph said squinting a bit as he took a closer look, "But those look an awful lot like the kind of polar bears that Mr. Big usually employs."
"yep," Nadine said frowning, before tapping the screen to continue the video.
Her suspicious ratcheted up a few notches when during the fiasco with the buck; one of the polar bears reached into his jacket with a paw, as if reaching for a weapon, only to freeze when Nick growled. Nadine and Ralph watched the entire clip again after that, only growing more concerned. The two bears didn't do anything, but their behavior was suspicious, particularly how they hurriedly left right after the arrival of McHorn.
Ralph looked at Nadine looking serious, his smile gone, "Think we should report that up to higher?" he asked.
"I don't think so," Nadine said shaking her head, "That was suspicious but we can't prove anything with it. And, if higher is keeping this whole thing quiet because they're afraid of a leak, we could put them in more danger."
"Your right," Ralph said and Nadine felt him give her paw another squeeze, "We'll just tag along and make sure nothing happens to them then," he smiled up at her and Nadine couldn't resist the impulse to lean over and touch her nose to his.
"Damn straight, we'll make sure nothing happens to our friends."
Ralph's grin seemed to split his face. He stole a quick kiss making her blush and replied, "Absolutely. What if today is finally the day they figure out what they have together? We can't let anyone get in the way of that either, that would be a tragedy."
Their proximity, position, the taste of Ralph's lips and especially the way he was looking at her, all happy puppy like, was doing all sorts of strange unexpected things to her insides and Nadine had to look away before she blurted out something criminally stupid, like a confession. She could feel her tail snuggling around him more, but couldn't stop it. She was trying to battle the forest fire on her face and losing, when it finally registers what she was seeing out of the tinted window.
"Shit! Ralph! Hopps and Wilde just left the coffee shop. Their getting in that cab!"
Ralph's head snapped over to the window, his face snapping back to its serious expression before he scrambled over to the driver's seat.
There was a slight pang in Nadine's chest as his warmth left her side and his paw and tail slipped out of her grasp. But those feelings were sidelined as she buckled back up and Ralph started the cruiser. She reached over and snapped his seat buckle in as he slammed the vehicle into drive and pulled out to catch up to the cab that had almost disappeared down the road. Ralph wasn't going anywhere in her life and she would have time to figure out what this was between them, but for right now they had a job to do; they'd been partners for nearly three years and it showed. No matter the situation, together they could deal with it, they could count on each other and anticipate each other's moves, and right now they needed to focus on keeping the ZPD's two rising stars and their friends safe.
Nick, for a few moments, hadn't been sure if he'd died and gone to some sort of heaven because when he'd awoken, there'd been a gray furred angel holding him, an angle that could also apparently hug like a bear. His body still ached and his head was a bit fuzzy, but if this was some sort of dream he didn't want it to end. The only problem with it was that his guardian angel had been crying. It made his heart sheer in two, part of him feeling like he was dying and part wanting to rage and tear apart whoever had made her cry.
He wanted to see her smile, he wanted to tell her how he felt, but he was scared, scared of losing her, scared of losing the most importing thing to him in all the world, so he did what he always did. He hid all that aching love and desire behind a smile and a joke, something he'd said what seemed like a thousand times, something that always made her smile.
And for a brief fluttering moment he was sure that this was just another dream because as she responded, saying those few words that always made his heart want to melt, he'd imagined that he could almost feel her lips against his, like the touch of a feather, about to kiss him.
His mind, his body, his heart was breaking, crying out for her, and in that instant, that dream like instant, he couldn't hold himself back. He needed to kiss her, had to kiss her or he might just die right there on the spot, looking at her.
And then the dream shattered with a crash, shout and the wailing of sirens.
…
Now Nick sat next to Judy on the table as she gave Francine a full report of what had happened. The ambulance medics had checked him over, and after far too long and his vehement protest that he was fine, they finally released him and he went over to guard Judy.
She didn't need it, hell, she had saved him… again, but the drive to protect her was too strong and would not be denied. She might not be his mate, would never be his mate, but he knew that his heart was already lost to her. There would never be anyone else for him, and he didn't think he could survive going on in life if something happened to her, so regardless of how stupid it was he would stay by her side and try to keep her safe.
Nick had to resist the urge to wrap his arm around her. He usually didn't have any issue with hiding his feelings or stopping those urges, but this winter had been hell on him. He'd never had to go through a mating season before with more than a casual interest in some vixen, and it hadn't prepared him for what he had to fight against every day now. It was like going through a morning mist and thinking he was prepared for a storm, only to find he was in a ragging hurricane. When he was near her it was a constant fight not to touch her, to hold her paw to glare at anyone else that came near her, but being away was worse.
He'd come to terms with the fact that she would never see him as a potential mate, the idea was simply ludicrous, even to him; a bunny falling in love with a fox? Ha, He'd believe that it would rain cats and dogs first. There was more of a chance for a freak blizzard in hell or that Buffalo Butt would go around wearing a sign that proclaimed himself to be a big softie. Hell, he'd never have fallen for a bunny if it hadn't been for the fact that Judy was so special. He'd never had even a passing interest in does before and still didn't, not that he was interested in vixens anymore either; now there was only one mammal, and there was not another in all of Zootopia, in all of the world that could compare to her, that could be as kind, caring, and enjoyable to be around. She'd stolen his heart right out from under his nose without even meaning to. But unlike her, he was nothing special, just a reformed ex-hustler, just a fox. It was a miracle that Judy was even his friend, what with the way they'd started out.
And he knew that his odd behavior was worrying her, he'd caught some of her worried and gloomy glances, like the one right after McHorn had arrived. So he resolved once again to get control of himself before he did something stupid and lost her. Judy wasn't interested in him that way and she was his friend, his best friend. She'd been a better friend than he deserved and he would not lose that. He could notlose her.
Nick was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't notice when his tail had snuck about to wrap itself casually around Judy, hadn't noticed when she'd absent mindedly placed a possessive paw on it without any realization that her own limb had moved. And neither of them picked up on the shift in Francine's large face as she watched them while listening to Judy, though it was clear to everyone else the elephant seamed ready to knock their heads together out of exasperation.
It seemed to take forever for the situation with the buck to be resolved. But finally, the two other officers had collected all the statements they needed, taken possession of the buck after the med techs finished with his paw and returned Judy her specialized small handcuffs after McHorn had swapped them out for a regular pair and taken the buck away to their cruiser.
"Nick," Judy said, sounding far less chipper than her usual self as they got up, "I'm sorry you got dragged into my personal problems. You got hurt because of it. I'll understand if you don't feel up to coming with me today after all of that and just want to go home and rest. I know you're probably still upset over your gir-"
Nick could feel himself bristle a bit.
Go home only to sit around my empty apartment and think about Judy? Not a chance. I want to see her happy and smiling.
Nick stopped her by placing his paw on her head and tussling her fur, to predictable results.
"Ahh! Nick! Stop that, you're messing up my fur!" she squealed as she swatted his paw away and punched him in the side.
He grunted though it didn't really hurt, she always pulled her jabs when they were fooling around; he knew because she didn't pull them when they trained and those punches hurt. But even if it had hurt, it would have been worth it because he'd gotten the result he wanted. Even as Judy grumbled and smoothed over her ruffled fur he could see a tick of a smile at the corner of her mouth.
"You're not getting rid of me that easily Carrots. I apparently need to stay close to you for my own protection. What would happen if I get attacked by another buck or something scary like a mouse? I'd be in serious trouble without you around to save me."
The corner of her mouth ticked up again, smiling just a tiny bit more, as she muttered, "I'll bet."
"Anyway," he said, bumping her hip like she loved to do to him, "It's always more fun to go out with your friends, than to stay home by yourself. You promised me a whole day of fun if I went with you to this silly little concert and you're not getting out of that deal so easily." He walked past her heading for the counter. "Hop to slowpoke, why don't you figure out how we're getting there while I grab my coffee."
Nick had just started to pull out his wallet as he approached the counter to order, when the barista slid his drink, already made, over to him and waved his wallet away.
"On the house, officer. Nobody should have attacked you in our shop. Hope the rest of your day goes better."
"That wasn't your fault," Nick tried saying but the antelope smiled and ignored his offered card turning back to working on another drink.
Something bumped Nick's hip, "Hop to slowpoke. Our zuber is going to be here in a minute." Judy said passing him and hopping up to snatch the drink, "And I'll take this if you don't want it."
Nick let out a startled, "Hey!" and reached for his coffee, but Judy deftly dodged him and sipped from his coffee before skipping toward the door smirking.
"Carrots! That's my drink!" He called out and rushed off after her, though he could feel a small smile returning to his own muzzle.
The Oryx had swapped out positions with her co-worker and watched as he gave Wilde his 'on the house' special drink. Her smirk though, turned to a look of panic when she saw the bunny steal his drink and start sipping at it. Her coworker shot her a nervous glance, but she had no idea what to tell him.
"Carrots! Give that back! I need my coffee!" the fox called chasing after the bunny, who took another longer sip before moving the cup out of his reach again as he grabbed for it.
"Umm, I should have stolen your coffee before now," She said taking another long sip and smirking at him, "This is far better than I thought it would be, I think I'll just keep it for myself."
"Carrooots!" Wilde pleaded as she took another gulp, before he finally managed to reclaim the cup and downed the remainder in one long drink, as if worried that she'd steal more if he didn't. "Of course, it's good," he said tossing the cup in the trash and giving her a glare, though that didn't stop him from opening the door for her, "I'm a coffee aficionado, a coffee expert. You should have started listing to my coffee advice long ago, then you wouldn't have to steal half my drink to find out which ones are the best." He finished with an indigent aristocratically snooty sniff, as he followed her out the door.
The Oryx turned to her coworker.
"Please tell me you didn't dump the entire canister of herbal tea in that drink." She whispered in a near plea.
"Look my hoof really did slip," he said defensively, "and they seemed to enjoy it, there's nothing we can do about it now anyway."
"She's like maybe half his weight! And that was a large cup even for a fox. Expresso and Energizing Herbal Tea?" She said worriedly.
"As I said, nothing we can do about it now." He shrugged though he still looked a tad bit worried too, "Hey, maybe it'll do some good."
The badger hurried through the busy office that never stopped working, and knocked on a door with a glass window stenciled with his supervisor's name.
"What now?" came an irritated growl and the badger opened the door, shuffled through and shut it, all the while trying to catch his breath.
"Ted, what are you bugging me about this time. You'd have better found a story better than some rumored government conspiracy. That kind of junk would get us laughed at and kill our ratings." The panther said pointedly, "Either tell me you have something actually newsworthy or go back and find me something newsworthy!"
"Check… email…" the badger wheezed, pointing at her computer and couldn't help thinking he needed to start on some sort of exercise program, because sitting at a desk all day was not apparently keeping him in shape.
His supervisor looked over to her computer with a frown, and spent a moment clicking away before her frown deepened.
"What's this junk? Some MuzzleBook video?" she said, not sounding impressed.
"Just… watch… it." he said and flopped down in one of the chairs in front of her desk. The panther did, her frown going from 'I'm about to toss you out on your ass' level of irritation to an ambiguities 'I've seen better".
She scratched her muzzle still not seeming very impressed with it.
"Sure, it's Valentine's day but we already have some loveydovey filler muck to throw in, we don't need another couple story. It's got a little flare with that bit with the buck getting arrested and the doe holding the fox, but that might be too dark for a Valetine's day lovebird story. I'm not seeing why you think it's so special."
"Ma'am," the badger started, "That's not just anyone, that's Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde, the ZPD officers that worked the Missing Mammals and Nighthowler cases."
"The ZPD's poster-mammals? The ones that they've been promoting as an example of interspecies teamwork and cooperation?" she asked seeming mildly more interested.
"Yep," the badge said, now more confident, "That video has started going viral on the web, its views are skyrocketing, that's what got my attention. But I did some quick digging, called in to a few sources. Those two have apparently been sort of tiptoeing around a relationship, the rumor at the ZPD is that they haven't done anything yet but are on the verge of official going out together, though some believe that they already are and are just keeping it secret because they're an interspecies couple."
"Humm, 'ZPD's Secret Couple', 'Budding Love or Hidden Scandal'," the panther said moving her paws as if trying to imagine which headline might be the best, "That might get some interest. Fits with Valentine's day and has a bit of intrigue to it. But what about the interspecies side, there's still a lot of tension out there from last year. If this doesn't play out right between them, then it could back fire."
The badger shook his head, "All my sources say that they're completely ears over tail in love with each other. I don't think it'll backfire. This could be exactly the story we need to hammer away at that linger distrust; A bunny and a fox, two natural enemies, not only coming to work together for the city's good, but then falling in love? That's like something right out of a fairy tale. Mammals will eat it up!" he leaned forward in his chair, "I heard that they are going to the Valentine's day festival, together. The mayors been trying to push interspecies cooperation and stomp out any remaining feelings of distrust, and here we have the perfect interspecies couple, and one that's part of the ZPD. That video might at most rate just a mention by itself, but if we really jump on this-"
"Yes, we could make quite a story out of it. If it grabs enough attention we could probably push it to headline news on tomorrow morning's papers." His supervisor muttered.
"Exactly!" The badger said, bobbing his head enthusiastically.
The panther nodded, looked straight at him and spoke in a commanding tone.
"Right. I'll shuffle around some stories for the five o'clock broadcast and warn Peter and Fabienne to expect a change," she checked her watch, "We don't have anything better right now so we're going to run with this. That gives you 3 hours to dig up everything you can. And I mean everything. Every. Last. Juicy. Piece. Work your ZPD contacts, I want to emphasize the part about this being an interspecies couple that work to protect the city. Send people out to contact their coworkers and see what they can dig up. Get in touch with our camera crews working the festival and have them keep an eye out for them, I want video of them at the festival and concert. I want shots of them holding paws, kissing, something. I'll tell George that this is now the priority and he's to focus everything we can on it; he'll help you coordinate our resources." She looked at him and made a shoo-ing motion, "Well, what are you still doing here, go! Times ticking."
A/N
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Operations Clock: +3 hours
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Note in Classified folder:
Request for secret squirrel strike team to commandeer concepts from:
Target 1) MinscLovesBoo's: 'Love's Tails' - YOUR DOOMED + others *cough* Wolfeyer *cough*, (Just take everything)
Target 2) Twisted Rain: author of 'Tis the Season' series - Cheetah frosted Donuts
Approved
Signed by (name blacked out)
...
Additional Memo found in Classified Operations folder:
I've got a bone to pick with Fate or Destiny or what every cheesy term you use. After I found myself trapped writing, I swore that I would never NEVER write a one-shot story. PERIOD. Now that Christmas special I did with Fox in the Hen House was a co-authored piece, so that was only part mine, hence that one-shot doesn't count. Fox in the hen house gleefully egged me on to write this when I bounced the idea off of him, so I decided that this stupid short valentine's day story would be posted in a few segments, therefore making it not a one-shot and preserving my grinchy honor (I may have also wanted to dangle some bait for readers and see if I could make any of them break from the anticipation while waiting for Valentine's day, but that's not the point here). The point is that I was trying to cheat my oath without technically breaking it (like any proud grinch would) of not writing a one shot by writing the story in a few small chapters. Now look where I am? So screw you Fate! And stop laughing at me, because I just put you at the top of my naughty list (Santa is now #2, and the pirates are #3), you'd better run and hide from my grinchy wrath! Hell hath no fury like that of a punked grinch!