Chapter Text
https://www.deviantart.com/sapperjoe85/art/Forget-Me-Not-1249207809
Seeing her again was harder than he'd ever imagined. Anger that he thought he'd forgotten quickly bubbled to the surface. He'd barely managed to keep it under control. Still, thanks to the traffic jam caused by the wreck, he was the lone officer on site for over 30 minutes. And it was the hardest 30 minutes of his life. He desperately wanted to tell her everything. Tell her how much she meant to him. How much he thought he meant to her. How it broke his heart that she'd cheated on him. His mind was in turmoil all over again. So much that he found himself back at one of his old haunts.
The Nocturnal
He stepped into the smoky atmosphere of the old hole in a wall bar and let nostalgia carry him back for a moment. This is where he and Finn would come after a bad day to blow off steam. The overall and unique feature of this bar was how it got its name. There were no traditional lights. Small, dim lights were widely scattered in the ceiling that provided the same amount of light as a half moon. The walls were painted a dark blue with sporadically placed metal flakes that shimmered like stars. The carpet was an even darker blue that he once heard another patron remark that it reminded them of the sea on a moonless night. Dark and endless, waiting to swallow everything. The tables were staggered to maximize seating. Along the back wall were booths where more private conversations could be had outside of the overhead lights. Here you could find both predator and prey. Anyone with nocturnal eyesight was welcome here.
Nick's destination for the night, the bar, occupied the entire length of one wall. It was the most brightly lit area. Allowing the security cameras to see actual colors for identification. With it being a weekday and fairly late, the place was nearly empty. A couple of regulars with nothing better to do. Not paying particular attention to anything, Nick sat on one of the stools and looked at the selection along the back wall.
"What's your poison stranger?"
Nick looked to the voice that had asked the question. Behind the bar was a young gray vixen. She looked almost too young to be working as a bartender. She had grown her head fur out to below her shoulders, longer than any other Nick had ever seen. It was either natural or dyed black, with purple highlights. She had honey brown eyes and a small black patch atop her muzzle, common to her species. She wore a soft choker around her neck with a characterized red fox head hanging from it. Her clothes included a small black tube-top that showed off the maximum amount of fur, and black low-rise cargo pants. Along with a variety of bracelets and a couple of ear piercings with different studs and intertwining hoops.
"Jack Savage." He said. His go-to whiskey for sour times.
"Coming right up." He watched her turn towards the back wall when something about her caught his attention. Many who weren't familiar with her species of fox might be surprised to find a race stripe that is either atop the tail or goes from the base of their neck, down their spine and along their tail. But Nick had seen his fair share of his distant cousins before and that wasn't what drew his attention. Along with the race stripe that went down the length of her back and tail were a series of spots that seemed to come from the stripe. The ones closest to the stripe were larger and more prominent. The further from the stripe they went the smaller they got and the fewer there were. To the point that by the time they got to the red stripe that outlined her cream belly they were completely gone.
"See something you like?"
https://www.deviantart.com/sapperjoe85/art/See-Something-You-Like-1038958987
She was so short that she had to stretch up on her toes and use her other paw to steady herself as she grabbed the bottle. When she lowered herself down she glanced back and caught him staring. She left one paw up high and slightly turned to give a more alluring view. Her tail was swaying as she smirked back at him. Caught completely off guard, Nick stuttered for a response.
"Uhh, s-sorry! I didn't mean to stare!" The fact that he was probably old enough to be her dad didn't escape him as he felt himself heat up from being called out. Her entertained laugh helped to relieve his embarrassment.
"No worries." She stepped back to the bar with a smile. "I get that a lot." She pulled out a glass and poured his drink. "Helps with the tips."
Nick huffed a laugh. "I bet. I've never seen spots like that on a Gray before."
"And you'll never see another. I'm one of a kind." She leaned over the bar, giving him another view of her back before standing upright again.
"Not worried someone might find your fur artist and copy it?" Nick asked, taking a sip of his drink.
"Good luck with that, these are all natural. Just like the rest of me." As she said it she twisted her entire body to prove her point.
"I don't think I've ever seen a fox with a fur pattern like that. Some kind of family trait?"
"You could say that, but I didn't get it from the fox side of the family."
Nick raised an eyebrow in curiosity. As far as he knew, grays couldn't breed with any other species of fox. They and their smaller island cousins were their own branch in the vulpes-canid tree. But before he could ask another question he was cut off.
"Hey, Vicky! Quit flirting with the new guy and show some love to a regular patron, why don't'cha!" A white tail buck on the other end of the bar called.
"You just hold on to your antlers, Franky, I'll be with you in a second!" She called back in a playful tone before turning back to Nick and giving him a thoughtful look. "I'll tell you what. If you really want to know where these spots come from, meet me in booth 13. And I'll answer your questions, for a price to be negotiated."
Nick was hesitant to answer. He wasn't sure what this vixen wanted but booth 13 was known as the lovers booth. It was the furthest from any light source and frequented by couples for that very reason.
"Any day, Vicky!" Franky called again.
"OKAY!" She called back, this time showing her annoyance. "Well?" She added in Nick’s direction.
"Alright, I'll meet you there." He answered, immediately worrying about what he'd gotten into.
"Great!" She said chipperly. "My shift ends in an hour. See you then."
She then slid the bottle next to his glass in and went to help the other customers.
Nick stared at the bottle for a moment. How long had it been since he’d actually drowned his sorrows? He and Finn were definitely hanging out on the regular back then. The thought made him wonder where his old friend was right now and would he want to join him?
Likely so, but the two had lost touch over the years as their work took them on different paths. Grabbing the bottle and his glass he made his way to booth 13. Sliding onto the cushioned bench seats he went as far in as he could. Turning, so his back was to the wall looking out toward the main floor. He spent the next hour listening to the music that played overhead. A mixture of alternative and soft rock that help set the mood for drinking.
He found himself falling into his old habit of mammal watching. Something he hadn’t really done much, as of late. Getting promoted to Sergeant meant a lot more paperwork and not nearly as much patrolling. The small crowd consisted of the usual types you’d expect to find in this kind of place at this late hour. The group of friends who came after work to unwind, before going home to family. The harmless drunk who comes every night to drown his sorrows. And one or two like him who just had a hard day and needed to unwind or forget. On top of it all you have the bartender who keeps the place running and the patrons happy.
Vicky, as he heard her called, seemed to be doing a fair enough job by his assessment. Topping off drinks when requested and knowing when to tell someone they’d had enough. She was flirty when appropriate and stern when needed. More than once she glanced his way and caught him watching. Always responding with a look that told Nick she was after something. He was almost certain of what it was but hoped he was wrong. As the hour passed he found himself drinking more of the bottle than he had intended. Nursing his glass till nearly a third of the bottle was gone.
He wasn’t sure when, but with the help of the alcohol his mind began to wander from the mammals in the room with him to the bunny he missed. Yes, he missed her. Despite the fact that she had been seeing at least one bunny behind his back, he still missed her. He had been so angry then. And now, after seeing her for the first time in years, he wanted nothing more than to talk to her again.
“Hey, I hope you’re not thinking about me with those sad eyes.”
Nick had been so lost in his own mind that he completely missed seeing Vicky slide into the booth across from him.
“Sorry, I got lost in thought there for a minute.” He replied, offering an apologetic smile.
“Don’t sweat it. That’s what mammals come in here for. To get away from the outside world and just be lost for a while… So who is she, the one that gave you those sad eyes?”
Vicky made herself comfortable. Leaning on the table with one arm and resting her muzzle in her paw.
As Nick looked down at the small splash of whiskey still in his glass. He wondered what Judy thought they were, back then.
“...We were friends, work partners, more than friends, and back then, I thought, we were meant for each other.”
“But she didn’t think so?”
He shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know. I never got the chance to ask.”
“She left?” Vicky inquired.
“No,” Nick let out a sigh, “not exactly.”
Ten Years Earlier
"Another fan letter?"
"Yeah, same buck as the last couple. This guy is starting to give me the creeps though." She folded the letter and tucked it away.
"You want to do something about it?"
She looked over to her partner sitting in the passenger seat.
Partner.
The word had started innocently enough. As had their friendship.
"Maybe. There's no return address or name on them. Just signed 'Your biggest fan'. Not sure how we'd track him down."
"Surely Bogo would let us check for prints or something."
"Bunnies don't have prints, remember.
"Does he still put that stuff about being destined for you in them?"
"Yeah, he's not the first to say that, but he seems persistent."
"Must be a bunny trait." He teased, turning his pointed snout towards her.
"Says the fox who asked me out every day for two weeks? Seems to be more of a desperate male trait if you ask me." She shot back.
"Well maybe if you'd said yes the first time, I wouldn't have had to ask so many times. You know you wanted to."
She rolled her eyes. "Yes, I wanted to say yes. And you know why I said no."
"Had to dump all your other boyfriends-Ow!" She'd punched his arm.
"One of us has to be responsible. I spent all my free time those two weeks going over every rule and regulation in regards to relationships between partners."
"And what did you learn o'partner of mine?" He propped his elbow on the center console of their cruiser, resting his muzzle atop his paw.
"That romantic relations between members of the ZPD and staff is permitted so long as the senior member is not in a command position over the other or partnered together." She quoted the regulation.
"And yet, here we are." Still leaning on the center console, he brought his other paw around and gestured between them.
"Is that what this is? A romantic relationship?" She smiled mischievously. "Seems more like a fox with bunny benefits if you ask me." She raised her nose in the air indignantly. After a second she cracked her eyes open to see his reaction.
She should have known better than to try and tease him. The way he simply stared back with those hooded emerald eyes. There was no telling what snarky comment he was about to respond with. Unfortunately, she never had the chance to respond as Nick suddenly went into a coughing fit. It had been coming and going over the last couple of weeks. She'd urged him to see a doctor but he chose instead to play it off as if it were nothing. She was about to threaten to tell his mother again when the radio squawked at them.
"Zulu 2 4 0 dispatch, over."
Grabbing the mic, Nick keyed a response as Judy started the cruiser.
"Go ahead dispatch." His voice, still scratchy from his coughing fit.
"We’ve received reports of a black mustang in your vicinity that matches the description of a car used as a getaway vehicle in a robbery last month. Last seen taking the freeway to the Tundratown tunnel.”
Before Clawhauser had even finished speaking Judy had already pulled into traffic as Nick flipped the lights on.
“Copy that, Spots, we’re on it.” Nick pulled his shades over his eyes as his expression turned hard. Everyone had heard about the violent robbery of a small jewelry store just outside of the Rainforest District. The suspect vehicle had quickly turned off the main roads and entered an area the jam cams didn’t cover. A quick glance towards his partner showed she remembered as well. Ears down her back as her paws gripped the steering wheel tightly.
“Be careful guys. We’ve asked precinct six to send backup to try and cut them off. But they’re all tied up in a raid and don’t know when they’ll be able to get anyone there. Back up from precinct one is 20 minutes away.” They heard Clawhauser say.
“Thanks, Ben.” Nick said into the radio as he heard the engine rev up. Judy was pulling them onto the freeway. They turned the lights off to be as inconspicuous as possible. The vehicle they were looking for was a sports car, sized for a goat or sheep. It was slightly larger than their own oversized patrol vehicle that had been modified to accommodate them. “I got eyes on. About 100 meters ahead of us Carrots.”
Nick’s sharp eyes always amazed her. How he could pick out the most minute details at long range was always an asset in these situations.
“How do we play this? Stay back and follow or give chase?”
She thought for a second. The suspect was believed to be either a sheep or goat. The disguise they wore prevented more than a presumptive identification. Either way, they were outsized. It was also believed the robber had an accomplice who drove the getaway vehicle. If their tranqs and tasers failed them, they could be in trouble with the violent tendencies that had already been displayed.
“Call Ben back, ask if backup is any closer, or at least possible.” She said, though she wasn’t hopeful.
Keying the mic, Nick’s tone conveyed how serious he was taking this. “Dispatch, do you have an eta on that backup?”
“They’re speeding up.” Judy noted aloud, moving the cruiser to a different lane so they could keep up.
“Backup still over fifteen minutes out.” The speaker hissed into the background.
The pair shared a glance. Conveying what they both knew needed to be done.
“Copy, dispatch, we have eyes on. Looks like they’ve spotted us and are beginning to run.” Nick replied, flicking the lights and siren on. “We’re in pursuit.”
As Nick spoke into their radio Judy pressed the pedal down hard into the floor. Pulling every ounce of power she could from the overweight vehicle. While the robbers had a more powerful car it was also much heavier due to its size. Its greatest advantage against the police cruiser was it was actually designed for speed while the ZPD cruiser was designed for utility and given an upgraded motor as an afterthought.
To make matters worse, it was rush hour, and-while the cars would move out of the way of the loud sirens and bright lights, the recklessness of the mustang’s driver meant he started taking greater risks to get away.
“Geez, this guy’s gonna kill someone if we go much longer.” Nick stated. He reached down for the mic and pressed the PTT button. “Clawhauser, we’re coming up on tunnel four. See if you can get the DOT to turn on the stack lights before these guys get someone killed.”
The stack lights, as they were called by the citizens of Zootopia, were a set of traffic lights suspended from the top of the tunnels that directed traffic to only use the two outer lanes within the tunnel. Usually, they warned drivers that a wide load was coming through and needed space. They were often used when construction work was being done to the tunnels.
Just before getting to the tunnel the lights activated. Traffic began parting like the Red Sea for Moo-ses. The innocent bystanders were now safe but that also meant the way was clear for the black sports car to really open up.
The duo quickly realized that the car they were chasing was no stock mustang as it began to pull away from them, both cars exiting the tunnel at extremely high rates of speed. The suspects took the first exit off the freeway onto one of the more isolated back roads that traverse Tundratown’s snow-covered hills.
Nick called in an update over the radio as Judy turned to maintain pursuit. Taking these roads meant the suspect was now off the jam cams but also on less maintained roads. Which shifted the advantage back to the police cruiser and its greater suspension travel, combined with all-wheel drive. Where the sports car would slide and bounce along the bumpy road, the utility vehicle stayed planted firmly to the ground. They were quickly making up lost ground.
“Why would they come this way?” Judy asked. “They had to know we’d catch up to them.”
“It’s gonna be harder for backup to find us out here. They probably thought they could get away. If not, they might be willing to take their chances against us.” Their voices wobbled as the vibrations caused by the bumpy road ran through their bodies.
A moment later the luck of the sports car ran out. While attempting to take a sharp turn at high speeds, the rear tires lost traction and the car spun off the road. Coming to a halt as the driver-side door slammed into a tree. The impact was so great that the car tilted as it stopped, bringing the passenger-side tires off the ground for a moment before it was buried by all the snow it knocked from the tree.
Judy managed to bring them to a controlled stop just at the edge of the road. She jumped out and ran to the car to begin digging off the snow and recover the suspect. Nick shot a quick message back to dispatch to give them an update before following after her. By the time he got to the car, Judy was already burrowed deep into the snow.
“I found the door!” She yelled back. “Let me see if I can-”
Nick suddenly found snow slung over him with enough force to knock him back and take his breath away. When he tried to take a breath he found himself inhaling snow. He quickly realized he was buried deeper than his limbs could reach upward as he lay on his back. He couldn’t tell in the darkness what had happened to his partner. He struggled in the soft powder to form enough of a base to stand up and dig himself out of the white blanket.
“Hopps!” He called, hoping that whatever had caused the snow to burst out hadn’t hurt her. “Hopps! Can you hear-AGH!”
A cold hoof shot through the snow and grabbed his throat, trying to strangle him. A gray billy goat lifted him as the owner tried to squeeze the life from him. Nick struggled against the grip while also trying to find his tranq gun. Finding his holster empty, he switched to reaching for his taser. He managed to get a discerning look at his assailant in the struggle. His pupils were extremely dilated, suggesting he was using some form of narcotic. The only saving grace was the goat’s other arm was broken and couldn't be used.
As the edges of his vision began to blur and darken, Nick heard the telltale air thump of their issued tranq guns. The goat’s grip slackened and Nick fell on the ground in an unflattering lump at the goat’s feet and watched as the suspect fell sideways into the snow and lost consciousness.
Nick quickly looked around and found his partner standing atop the snow several feet away.
“Are you okay?” While she appeared winded, but in control, her heart was racing not only from adrenaline but from the fright of seeing her partner nearly killed.
Massaging his now aching throat, he gave her the thumbs up that he would be alright. Then he moved to cuff their perp lying in the snow. Judy reloaded her tranq gun and kept an eye on the open car door still partially obscured by the snow. Once their prisoner was secure Nick signaled his partner and turned to face the car.
“This is the ZPD, come out with your hooves up!” Judy called.
No answer.
“We have you surrounded! Your partner has been captured! There’s nowhere to go! Come out peacefully!” Nick tried.
Still no answer. Nick took advantage of the moment of silence to look around and try to locate his wayward tranq gun. He heard Judy use her radio to try and reach Clawhauser and anyone on the force who might be able to hear them. There was no response. Wherever they were it seemed to be a dead zone for the repeaters the ZPD had placed all around the city.
With neither one having any luck, Nick motioned that he would try removing some of the snow around the wrecked car's door so they could look and see if anyone else was present. With Judy’s nod, she repositioned herself so she could provide better cover should he need it.
As quietly as he could in the crunching snow, Nick started pulling arms full of snow down. Having broad paws allowed him to stand somewhat on top without sinking in. Just as he started breaking through, he heard a commotion inside the car. He turned to warn Judy and attempted to jump out of the area. The move likely saved his life as his ribs collided with the damaged horn of the billy goat that had been driving. Upon impact with the tree, the goat’s head slammed into the driver side window and the tree on the other side, severely cracking the horn on the left side of his head.
As Nick was sent hurtling into the snow once more, Judy pulled the trigger on her tranq gun. Unfortunately, the collision with Nick completely broke the horn from its base at the goat’s skull. The resulting pain caused him to curl in on himself, placing the remaining horn in the path of the dart, which harmlessly bounced away.
Nick skidded to a stop in the snow and tried to cradle his newly bruised ribs. Hearing the goat's pained scream got him to open his eyes and see what was happening. He watched in horror as the drugged-up goat charged at his partner.
Any other time, getting away from the head-on charge of any horned mammal would have been kit’s play for Judy Hopps. But as her powerful legs pressed down to lift her up and out of harm's way, the soft snow beneath her gave way, leaving her body stretched out and exposed to the assault.
Nick could only watch as her body was slung into the air. The single-horned blow caused her body to spin as she flew several feet before the back of her head collided with a tree and her body fell, like a ragdoll, into the snow.
As Nick tried desperately to get up to help her, something struck him in the back. Against the protest of his ribs, he managed to twist over and see what he’d landed on.
Despite her small size, the blow had caused even more pain to shoot through the skull of the goat. It only took a moment for the drugs in his system to push it aside enough for him to try and regain his bearings. But it was a moment too late as he saw the ZPD’s first fox (and very irate) officer dive into his chest, slamming a tranq dart right where his heart was located.The goat had a moment to reflect on his mistakes, at best.
He was out before he even hit the ground.
Nick dug his claws into the goat to gain traction as he sprinted towards his unconscious partner. Her body had landed in a twisted heap. It took every fiber of his self-control and training to keep from moving her. To keep himself from holding her in his arms close to him.
“Judy! Come on Judy, wake up!” He checked her pulse. It felt weak to him but it was there. Small clouds of steam slowly exited her bloody nostrils. He tried to listen to her breathing but the sound of his own heart beating in his ears prevented him from being able to hear anything else. “Officer down! Officer down! I need a medic now!” He called into his radio.
A voice called back to him confirming they’d received his message. Seconds later he could hear the other patrol cars approaching. Their backup had finally made it. He just prayed it wasn’t too late.