Prejudice Dies Hard

By

Reverend Archangel

Chapter I

Prologue

"A great marriage is not when the 'perfect couple' comes together. It is when an imperfect couple learns to enjoy their differences." Dave Meurer

"The titles husband and wife hold more significance than their definitions, it is a testament to face the hardships and joys of life together. The years that lay ahead are for them to accept and appreciate their spouses' differences." Reverend Archangel

If there was one thing that could be said about being an enforcer of the law that was an utter nightmare, it would have to be the constant and never-ending paper work. Which had to be filled out and sorted through by those who were unfortunate enough to have the detail given to them. Officer Wilde had discovered quite quickly after he joined the force that he wasn't an exception. He often complained at his partner when she was present or at least within earshot, usually pinning it to being all her fault. His such mentioned partner was currently out with one of the rookies, teaching the new addition to the family the ropes, getting them acquainted with real field work in the city, the usual stuff they had to do to integrate the shinies. As she did this, he was left to grieve over all the paperwork on his desk, all courtesy of Chief Bogo.

It wasn't as if the buffalo was directly targeting him with this form of work, it just needed to be done. The way that the office was run in the 1st precinct was that the day's work was given out by the chief. Placing together the officers he believed would insure the job would be professionally handled. The fox along with other members of their department today had drawn the metaphorically speaking, unlucky straw, or paper cut detail as they refereed it to. He at least hoped that his superior wasn't giving him these duties just to make his life miserable, yet he wouldn't put him past it with his bosses sense of humor, seeing as he occasionally caught him whinging about it.

When he was fresh out of the academy, he had noticed that some of the other officers at the station, traded and bargained with others so they could get out of a job they didn't want to do, or couldn't exactly do due to their species, or just because of prior experiences. The chief had found out about this eventually and had brought a hoof down on it. Meaning one of his famous tongue lashings, which had ceased all those kinds of office antics. Nowadays, whoever was assigned to do the job they were given had to fulfill it, not someone else. There was no sarcastic or wise-crack from the vulpine about that, simply nodding and then gulping down the lump in his throat. The buffalo could be frightening when he was in a seriously ill mood.

Wilde along with his partner had a lot less to fear from the bigger mammal, as they were normally on his good side. He could even call him…. a friend of sorts, it was more like a very close work associate who was in charge of him. A one ton mammal who could make him shrink away in fear when in the wrong mood. Either way he tried to keep his complaints to a minimal around the office, in preference to keeping the large prey off him. He honestly preferred to do it while doing rounds, or at home since it was safer. That along with avoiding getting in his boss's way by doing what he was assigned to do and having it done when it was post to be done.

Him groveling about what he was assigned to do wouldn't get it done unfortunately. He had found that out one day by being obstinately against touching the stacks of crisp and lethally edged paper. This ended up with him having to stay at the station later then he wanted, along with a certain annoyed officer. The bunny had refused to let him leave, staying herself to make sure that he didn't try and sneak out of it. He had only done this once, but he would never hear the end of it from her, still it was all in good fun, ragging on each other was all part of the day to day at the ZPD.

Today however he was finding that he was more drained of all his usual enthusiasm, having grown stiff from sitting so long in the office chair. Not able to fight it any longer he let out a tired high pitch whine as he yawned. Followed by satisfying pops from his arms as he leaned back and stretched them over his head. As he sat upright again he smoothed the fur of his muzzle with a paw before trying to stifle another yawn, feeling very bored. Why shouldn't he? Other law enforcers were running about the city, apprehending criminals and actually making a difference in society. All the while he was glued to a monitor and filling out stacks of paperwork that needed to be filled out by the end of the day, at latest before 10 am tomorrow. Even just being outside and roasting in the sun doing nothing but handling minor misdemeanors would be better than this, even being given the meter maid duty would be better, and that was saying something.

After his short one minute break he started looking through the scribbled notes and observations from a force an entry two nights ago. He typed this up on the template on the computer, filling out the information required like the date, time, location, officers present, police vehicle registrations, PSCs called in and so on. He would save this onto the stations data base which would sort it out and put it in the right day and time slot, so they didn't have to, that and share it with other departments and smaller stations in Zootopia. He would have to print these out later as well and put them in their own files based on date, time and what the call in was about. This kind of work had been tricky for the first few weeks but he had gotten into the loop of things at the station by this point.

As it was, he was filling out the next report that he had started only to suddenly feel his phone vibrate. His paw slipped into his pocket out of habit and before he even could see the screen he had unlocked it. Looking up to the notification bar, he found that he had received a message from a certain doe. One of his eyebrows raised curiously but with a sly sleepy smirk, she wasn't the one to normally play on her phone on duty. Usually she was the one to remind him not to do it. He couldn't resist, he opened it.

Sahara Square, wish you could be here. That was all it said, but beneath the caption was an image of his partner and the rookie, a wolf whose name he couldn't quite place, sitting in their police vehicle. Both of them were sweaty, fur mattered and looking exhausted but pleased with themselves. He could see that the windows to the cruiser were open. Still as he looked over the image, he couldn't remember the name of the kid.

The tod took a selfie with a bored expression which wasn't awfully hard to pull off. Shouldn't you be working, :) #UTB. Once he sent the message he put his phone away and went back to work, not expecting a reply from her. The most she had sent him in a day was two, and that was on a slow day and there weren't many of those in the high paced life of Zootopia, especially for the officers who were sent out to do field work.

That was all except for the cops who hated paperwork with a vengeance like him, then these days were particularly sluggish. One of their own who made the best of it and liked a desk job was Clawhauser, but he was an odd case. The jovial cheetah was one of the first animals besides the bunny officer herself, who had warmed up to him being at the station, even with his previous background. Thinking of the energetic bunny made his ears lower as he sighed, eyes falling down to the paperwork in front of him. He could be with her right now and be chasing down thugs, to animals breaking the speed limit, or even giving jaywalkers a strict warning. All that was more exciting and enjoyable then being stuck behind his desk in their shared office space.

"Make the best out of everything Nick," her optimism always rubbed off on him, which had shown in the past to have gotten him in the craziest of Zootopia's plots and conspiracies. Fortunately it had been four years since that fiasco ended and nothing even remotely as interesting had happened along that magnitude ever since; well except that one time when they got their vehicle stuck in the mud in the Rainforest District. This had earned them a calm lecture from the chief as it had taken three other cruisers to get theirs out. Now that brought back memories of his initial impressions of the buffalo.

The fox left his reminiscing at that and continued on with his task for the day, so that tomorrow he would hopefully be back in the field. As he did his thoughts wondered as they usually did but at the same time he kept his focus on his work, tiresomely insuring that he didn't make mistakes, or he would find himself here tomorrow for having done a bad job.

If his luck struck out tomorrow and he was back in the office he could always try and convince one of the recruits to trade with him, not caring if it would invoke the chiefs wrath. He knew that a few of them would prefer an office job instead of having to work with the animals of the city. It was understandable, seeing as some of the prey and predator animals were quite enormous compared to officers like him and a few others around the station. Especially after Judy and him had graduated, all types of species started signing up to try to be officers. No other foxes or rabbits as of yet, but that was to be expected from the societal pressures against their kind.

As such the size differences for some of their smaller officers, such as the few hedgehogs, weasels, badgers and the lynx were outmatched by the stronger and bigger mammals, often they had to use dirty tactics or being ingenuitive. A couple of them had taken more comfortable duties at the station, but a few of them were up for the more challenging ones. He for one wouldn't be in any hurry to try and apprehend for instance a rhino, having done so once before which had ended up with him being thrown over a car. Officer Hopps would, but she was a different kind of breed of police officer, one that would die to do the right thing, which was somewhat unsettling, especially for him.

Call him selfish but he was all about keeping his tail safe when it came down to it in the end, with the rare exceptions of those close to him. But to act as a shield for someone he didn't know and who would never likely return the favor was still a difficult concept for him to grasp. It was one of the duties of an officer of the law, to insure that the laws of society were followed, but also more importantly, to protect the inhabitants of Zootopia, no matter what the risk to them was. He had broken up violent confrontations between animals incredibly stronger than him and in height, in most instances it was both. When he did it though he felt this ever-present feeling of a knot in his stomach, his body growing taught as he was prepared to take action, fingers drumming on the butt of his tranquilizer.

These feelings of unease had lessened over the last few years, only remnants of them lingering here and there in certain situations. His nervous pawing of his sidearm had all but disappeared, due to it being against their regulations since it had been shown to unsettle suspects, victims and anyone around the officer. The studies put into it had shown that someone with these signs shared similarities to soldiers with itchy trigger fingers. It also led to unease in the public, and what they wanted was to alleviate their fears when they were around, not induce fear into the citizens.

This fox didn't need to have statistics with proven studies shoved into his face. He had seen it first paw with other animals in his old neighborhood when he was a con-artist, but these habits were with live firearms, which were banned in Zootopia and other metropolises like it. In the ghettos and slums though it was the norm to see the inhabitants with ballistic firearms out across their laps, in their homes, or just to see them close to their owners at all times. But seeing the almost hypnotic pawing of the weapon, would always bring him bouts of unease. This was even with him being around them nearly all day when he used to live in these shadier parts of the city. Though his tranquilizer was of a much weaker scale compared to a caliber, he had to break this nervous pattern before it became more of a problem, which he had, eventually.

This was all thanks to the same woman who put her neck on the line every day when out in the field. A living inspiration of what a good law abiding cop and citizen should be like. The fox would have rolled his eyes years back if someone had told him he would find these qualities attractive, but he had and still did. He had never met and probably would never meet another like Judy, luckily for him too. Considering where he was now, his new life style and how he had found a sense of purpose and belonging within society. None of it would have been possible if she had never tailed him and Finnick to Jumbeaux's Café.

The reason to why she had trailed them still brought a small grimace even today, only having found about it after the crazy mess they had gotten themselves into. He wasn't one to accuse, he had stereotypes for rabbits and prejudice against prey before she had opened his eyes, and he hers. Being who he was, he had forgiven her easily, as things had all worked out well in the end. The uniform he was wearing and the room around enough evidence to prove it.

Not that it was all perfect. As partners and still being enemies as nature had intended them to be they got into bouts here and there on small things. In the case of where work was concerned, these were the ones that evoked the more heated ones which could get them yelling at one another, their office often being overturned as they vented while they disputed. These usually arose from where a warning or fine was given to someone, sometimes based on species, specific places in the city and appearance, as in what the animal was wearing. Nick was more lenient with warnings then his associate, but gave fines to the ones who she would least expect him to, knowing from growing up in the city who would break the law again, usually the business animal who though they were so important. Judy would be harsher and would give less warnings, giving out fines more often even to those who looked as though they could barely afford the clothes they wore. These kind of confrontations would lead to the chief or a higher ranking officer to intervene, usually it was the chief since the officers int he first precinct answered to him.

They had also rubbed off on each other in the four years of being partners and close friends, making them a good team at the end of the day, though the oddest pair as well. It wasn't rare to see a fox and a rabbit work together as well as they did. It was simply because they looked beyond what they were, instead concentrating on what really mattered and that was who was underneath it all. It was emotionally intimate to work together like this, but their partnership had never been in the realms of normal, it hadn't been when they worked with their first case and it never would be.

This was something he was also thankful for; he would have never been able to work along Judy if they operated in the areas of the norm. The way they went about it was in his opinion the best way to do it, true it still had it's own problems as he had seen it have its downfalls, but nothing was perfect. If everything was perfect then a lot of animals would be out of a job, and again he would have never met the animal who had changed his life. She would still probably be on her parent's farm at Bunnyburrows. Selfishness again, but he couldn't imagine a day without her being in his life, it just wouldn't be the same and he would find it truly dull if she suddenly wasn't there. He doubted if he could even continue being an officer, he could but he probably wouldn't be his usual upbeat and charismatic self. That and what he heard his fellow officers mumble about him because of his species would ultimately revert him to being what he had been when a teenager, quiet and angry with the world.

Once again the predator leaned back in his chair, having finished thirteen reports in the last two and a half hours. That was definitely a cause for a break of sorts, he looked at the clock above their office door seeing it was somewhere around fifteen hundred. Another little thing about the bunny he had picked up on in the years, she had grown up using the twenty-four-hour clock, and hadn't broken out of it even as an adult. It definitely made things easier for him to keep track of, but for the first month it had been difficult filling out paperwork where most other animals used the twelve-hour clock and having to convert it around for the reports.

Considering that he had been at it for most of the day he would give himself a ten…a fifteen-minute break. He had earned a quarter of an hour break for his work ethic and not having taken a real break all day. He had even missed his lunch break, time having slipped away from him again as his thoughts and work had effectively sucked most of the day away. That and his partner usually reminded him to eat, habitually forgetting to take breaks and eat.

Not particularly hungry he opened his desk draw and pulled out one of his blueberry oatmeal bars. Being a fox he disliked the gritty oatmeal, his fangs not being made to chew it, and also getting wedged between them. As with many things in life he had grown to tolerate it, ever since Judy had started making porridge for breakfast for them. He had grown fond of the bars, not the oatmeal per say, yet was finding it easier to stomach the grain as he had more and more food that was similar to it while living with her.

He had moved in with her originally because his landlord had kicked him out when he found out he was going to the police academy, this along with complaints that some-animal was using all the hot water in the mornings. As he was the only fox in the complex the blame had been shifted to him instantly after the suspect hadn't been found. The excuse the bitter old male had given was that it would only bring trouble if he was housing an officer, plus the tod had suspcions that the ram was speciest. Nevertheless he had just shrugged his shoulders, packed his things and left. The training at the academy would take an entire year, so he had planned to move out on his own accord, but being kicked had infuriated him. He hadn't done anything wrong while living at that jerk's excuse of an apartment complex.

Ignoring that particularly irritating memory he took a bite and savored the tart and sweet taste of the blueberry oatmeal bar. His tail begun to sway side to side on its own accord, knowing he looked childish but didn't care, he wasn't self-conscious about what most people thought or perceived him to be, or what he did. An affect of some traumatic circumstances as a child and how he had embraced the stereotype people believed he was because of his species. Now and even before he didn't care what people saw him as, it was their fault if they couldn't look past his exterior and get to know him.

Willing these other thoughts to the back of his mind he concentrated on the positives, thinking about what he had planned that night. He pulled out his phone with his free paw and looked at his calendar and found that he had nothing planned, being a Thursday and all. It was near the weekend, which him and Judy planned to stay at her place, maybe relax, go out for a run or two, catch a movie or two if anything caught their interest.

Tonight nonetheless he hadn't a clue, he had chosen what to do the night prior and that was just them taking a stroll through one of the parks after their shift ended, enjoying the city at night, the cool gentle breeze of Savanna Central seeing as they were in the cooler months of the year. They had settled down on a park bench after a while of walking about, looking at the towering sky scrapers that surrounded them, the trees of the park along with it's fountain. That and the stars that and the stars above them, gleaming faintly behind the light pollution of the buildings. They had talked there for hours, just enjoying the closeness and the others voice.

Thinking of last night brought a smile to the fox's muzzle, having enjoyed spending the time he had with her. The fox threw the foil rapper in the recycle tin in the corner of their office. Having got that out of the way he tried to recollect what they had talked about, but could only remember snippets of it. This was odd, normally he could recall such talks with her with such crystal clarity, something he had prided himself over was possessing a good memory. Maybe it was because he wasn't exactly listening but that wasn't it, he was sure he had been hanging over every word she said, knowing that she found listening a good quality in an animal.

It could have been because his emerald eyes had gotten lost while watching her, all the while as she talked about her day, her plans for the future, her dreams and the goals she wanted to meet. His eyes never left her, completely enraptured in the ethereal beauty of her fur as the light from both the night sky and city, making her fur appear to be a more vibrant gray, almost silver. Her eyes were like deep pools of amethysts as they reflected what was around her and the little amount of light that found them.

He could still recall the way her pink nose twitched as she breathed and caught different fragrances from the air around them, her long ears lowering and raising from the constant altering sounds from the city, as well as his breathing he suspected. The way her chest rose and fell with every breath she took and gave. She appeared to be just so beautiful and at peace at that moment, his mind had taken a perfect picture, one his phone would never be able to capture her like he had, it would have ruined the mood anyways.

She had eventually looked at him, feeling his eyes lingering over her and she had pushed his face to look somewhere else, her cheeks crimson and her ears lowering in embarrassment, with the insides having turned rosy. Her paws pulling on them, a habit of hers when feeling flustered or when she was stressed. He had chuckled making it worse, which earned him having her sock him in the arm.

There was a small bruise, but she had been holding back, by a lot as he had felt her really punch him. Usually when she wanted someone to practice with in paw to paw combat, so she didn't get rusty or forget any useful skills. He always joined her when she freshened up on the skills she was taught, not by choice the first few times but it had fallen into a routine with them on their days off, or on breaks. She wasn't the one to let them truly relax and he was okay with that, most days. Waking him up two hours before the sun rose to go out for a run was not in his category of favorite morning activities. Again he had grown used to this. Besides running and keeping themselves fit they would tune their fighting skills, though it was rare they would ever need it, it was better to have it then regret it when they did, something he had found out the hard way four years ago, being almost completely useless in that fight with Bellwethers associates.

With these sparring matches her height was always a deceiving factor, hiding how strong she was, most of her strength was in her legs He knew this from how she could take him down nine out of ten times even as he struggled, to make it more realistic and because he didn't want her to keep getting the best of him. Every take down she had performed on him were done with the correct amounts of force, following the continuum they were taught in the academy by the letter. This was one of the reasons she was the one to graduate from the academy with the valedictorian.

He had gotten through quite alright as well, having taken his training seriously, which had surprised the animals who hadn't bothered to get to know him. All except Judy who was just proud of him, knowing he could do it from the start. There were hiccups here and there, and a few tense accusations from one of the instructors when supplies and other such manner of things started disappearing from his fellow recruits lockers. They had found out it was one of the janitors who was stealing and selling the stuff on the side. He never got an apology, not that he had expected one, there never were any.

It had been three years since he had graduated, being the first fox officer, not to mention with a valedictorian himself, but not many people knew or remembered that fact. Even so his take-downs were his weak point, not having mastered them all that well. He was often too rough or aggressive when bringing down suspects who had either refused to comply or had bolted. This was another thing the rabbit was also helping him with. It was hard though, different animals required different amounts of force to subdue them when it was required. He had accidently hurt her when she was showing him a technique. Her showing up with a slight bruise around her eye and a little limp had gotten him dirty glares from some of their co-workers for a good week. These were the ones who didn't trust him all that much, but she had reassured everyone it was an accident, which it was. He would never lay an aggressive finger on her, something she now knew since they had become close partners.

What could he say, his tact at physical altercations just wasn't that great. He mainly relied on his silver tongue to talk to animals, often getting them to tell him things they didn't mean to let out, this worked with both suspects and witnesses. Also when he was a con-artist he was able to diffuse situations from backfired deals and to bargain very well with his clients. The chief often times used him to interrogate animals because of this skill, putting him to work with getting confessions and getting them to talk when they had information that they were withholding. It didn't work all the time, some could simply ignore him like he wasn't even there, he had once seen this as frustrating, but now he laughed it off and told them they were a waste of time to come to them. It was rude but, they were wasting the police's time and putting something or someone at risk with keeping such information to themselves.

The fox sat back up in his chair seeing that his break had come to an end. There wasn't a great amount left to do, but once these reports were all filled out, printed and categorized into the right folders it would be time to clock out. He opened up a new template on the screen and started typing down the information that an officer had filled out last night as a first responder to a murder. It was grimacing work to read the details, hard to imagine such things as well, yet he couldn't let them sidetrack him. This report would assist in the murderers capture so he might as well do a good job so no one else had to get killed. Interesting that if one of these reports went missing, or was never filled out, an entire case could slip through because there was too little evidence to go on. With this grim encouragement that he was doing his part behind the desk he got back into the rhythmic tapping of the keyboard, completely focused on the work at paw.

Three and a half hours later…..

"Finally, you're someone else's problem!" the officer growled as he rubbed his eyes tiredly, closing his laptop with a loud click.

It had been a long day but he had finally filled out the last stack of paperwork and had sorted it all. There was a neat pile in the out box on his desk, so whoever came in to get the paperwork would have an easier job to sort through them. He didn't know who did it, but this was once again what Chief Bogo had them do. They filled them out and left them in stacks on their desks and then the officers who knew what to do with this paperwork would handle it. It was a simple system and it gave everyone a role at the station. More importantly everything at the station worked perfectly in sync, everything getting done in perfect sync, which it hadn't been before the buffalo took command, it was all in order and everything

Before he could head out he had to check out on the system, and check over his hours to see if he was meeting the weeks requirements. Walking out of the office he logged into the system on his phone, which he'd have to log out of, delete the days history and do other assorted stuff so that no one could use his phone to get into the system, if he lost it. Glancing through his profile on the system he nodded his head as he looked at the statistics and how he was doing compared to everyone else. He found that his hours were around where he wanted them for that week. Something his partner and him always made sure of was to put in an extra hour or two. Principally because there was no rush to get back home most nights. Plus every so often the job demanded them to take a couple hours more in their shifts.

When he was finally checked out he reached underneath his desk and grabbed his satchel bag which was pressed into one of the corners of the room. He used it to take stuff to and from the station. Often times it was just to take documents that he hadn't finished on time back home so he could work on them. The prospect of being forced to stay at the office to make sure he got them done didn't appeal to him. Tonight though there wasn't any extra reports, as of yet. If Judy got something then it became both their work. This was because he always helped her with reports seeing as she was one of the stations main field officers, her days were long as she was often chasing criminals on foot and at the end of the day she was worn ot to the bone.

She'd often grumble at him that she still needed to fill out the paperwork, but he often just told her to go have a lie down and give her hind-paws a rest. But she would usually do as he suggested but muttered about him being frustrating to live with. Later on in the nights he would find her curled up on the bed fast asleep when he was done with the reports. It was clear that her pads were sore most nights, leaving her in an irritable mood as the pain would shoot up her legs. How she expected to fill out these important files or to do any other sort of work was a mystery.

Tonight he hoped she was just as tired as him so they didn't go out and do something. He honestly wasn't feeling up to go out for a walk, drive somewhere, go see a move, even going out to eat sounded horrible. The relative calm of their shared apartment grew more favorable to the liking the more he thought about it. His ears lowered a fraction as he came to the grips that if his partner wanted to go somewhere tonight he would go with her, and try his hardest to keep his complaints to himself. He had taken them out last night, so wherever she wanted to go he'd have to at least pretend to enjoy himself. It was time they got to spend together off duty, so he wouldn't be too miserable.

Speaking of which, he pulled out his phone seeing that it was coming up past 19:30. She should have been here half an hour ago, he thought nothing of it seeing as if there was a problem someone would have notified him about it. He slung his satchel bag over his shoulder and headed out the door, heading for the entrance of the station. Maybe Clawhauser was still here, then he would have someone to talk to.

When he got there, the cheetah was gone, the night shift receptionist was there instead. Edith, their only lynx, who was behind the desk, looking down at the screen, and seemingly caught up in her own thoughts, but she looked up and gave him a small smile as well as a little curt nod before returning to her work. He reciprocated the nod and a small smile as well before walking outside, heading for the second step from the top to take a seat.

This was his usual spot when waiting for her, since she was the one with their ride. He pulled out his phone and checked through his text messages, sending replies back to friends and some officer associates as they were off duty today. He checked his furbook account before going and checking his emails, seeing if there was anything new. There wasn't so he just deleted the junk mail and closed the numerous adds that had popped up. After he had sorted through that he returned back to his texts and waited for someone to reply, scrolling through the pictures of his gallery which consisted of more pictures then he knew what to do with them. The selfies of himself he had started to delete lately, taking too much room on his phone. Nick kept the ones he had with his friends at the station and of Judy, once their were too many he'd send them to his email account, saving them on a flash drive. He did a quick scroll of the last two months and saw that there were more pictures consisting of the bunny and him, or just of her, mainly in her uniform as they had been on duty.

The fox looked over the ones of him and his partner, lingering over the ones he would describe her as cute in, though he would never utter that with her around. She hated being described as cute or adorable or the stereotypical analogies that rabbits got. It wasn't like she wasn't when asleep or when embarrassed but it was just that she hated it, since it was used so often to describe her species. It often referred to how they were considered small, weak and how they lived very sheltered life. He saw her differently for a number of reasons. Beautiful, were the first words that came to his mind first when describing her, or intelligent and also fiercely independent.

He didn't get too much time to dwell as he heard someone yell his name, followed by a few loud blares from a car's horn. His ears shot up all the way and faced forward and his head snapped up as his eyes widened a bit with surprise. The rookie he had seen in the group picture from earlier came walking up the stairs, giving him a little wave. He returned it as he got up and quickly walked down the steps and got into the police cruiser. Again he couldn't for the life of him figure out what that wolf's name was.

"Thought you couldn't hear me Wilde," the slender bunny teased, as she pulled back out into traffic, starting their hopefully short trip home if that was where they were going, if this was the case he hoped the traffic wasn't too sluggish.

The reynard put the bag beneath his feet, leaning back as he put on his seat belt not having gotten the time before she had pulled out, she must have been as eager to get to wherever she was taking them. He didn't ask her as they were both in their own worlds. Something that they enjoyed was how these silences that fell between them didn't feel as though they needed to be broken, both being content with the other so near by.

Nick looked through the window with disinterest as they approached their first intersection, all the while passing stores and buildings alike. The sidewalks busy with the hustle and bustles of animals returning from or heading to work. His focus settled on an otter selling flowers at their stand, greeting his customers with a welcoming smile. Letting his gaze shift he saw another police car parked on the side of the road, a wolf and a dole both keeping vigilant eyes over their charges. Judy like him hadn't said anything since she picked up her partner. Unlike the fox she didn't pay anyone much attention, keeping her attention to the road, being careful of smaller vehicles and pedestrians alike. Neither of them said anything, neither of them knowing exactly what to say to the other. This aside the only noise besides the rumbling of cars motors and the sound of the world outside, it was silent.

As they crossed through the intersection the tod voiced up casually in an attempt to make light conversation. "How was your day, Carrots?"

"It was good," Judy nodded as she said this, thinking back on her day. "It was Lances first day in the field, the rookie you saw coming up. He 's a good guy, he's trying to make money for his family since they just moved into the city, they used to live on the outside of Zootopia near the Burrows or somewhere around there, he didn't say where," she paused giving him a quick glance over seeing if he was paying attention, he nodded showing he was. She continued more assured that she wasn't boring the fox, "He grew up working fields like I did when I was younger…."

Nick closed his eyes, his ears focused on what she was saying, but not entirely. He let the stress of the day melt away as he took in her voice, listening to what she said but not paying attention to details. It wasn't like he was exactly ignoring her, more of just enjoying the sound of her voice as she yammered on about what she and Lance had done. Apparently she was explaining a specific event because he could hear the excitement in her tone grow.

Refocusing in on the conversation he caught onto the last part of her story. "…..got him in the cuffs and took him down to the station. His first day out in the field and he's already showing that he'll be an exceptional officer," he gave her a wounded look and she giggled, "I won't replace you."

"Glad you see things my way," his tone very smug. "How was the rest of your day?"

"It went by slow, nothing else exciting happened after our arrest. I sent that picture to you after we had gotten back to Sahara Square," she let out a content sigh, even today she enjoyed her work as a cop, maybe not all aspects of it, but definitely helping animals.

"How was your day, sweetheart?" she had taken to using this as one of his pet names, which he had tried to get her to change, but to no avail. At least it was better than the other one.

"Oh you know, using these magic fingers to push the right buttons," her cheeks once again turned a shade of pink understanding what he was insinuating. He grinned impishly from causing her this discomfort, "That and being in a certain attractive police bunny's custody," his tone full of amusement as he gave her his signature charming smile. She looked at him from the corner of her eye before returning her attention back to the road, an unnoticeable smirk tugging at the corner of her muzzle as well.

"No one can hear us right?" he inquired, shifting in his seat a little so he could face her more easily.

"Everything's off," she said softly, her smile growing.

"That's good," he breathed. His eyes focused on her as he asked with mirth. "So what's the plan Mrs. Wilde?"

"It's Officer Wilde to you," she laughed, causing him to chuckle along with her, "Anyways I just want to stay home and relax for the night, unless you have something planned?"

"No, staying in sounds great," he reassured. "We could watch a movie if you're feeling up to it?" he recommended.

"I was thinking of just cuddling in bed and talking," she suggested.

"Hmmmmm, it sounds more than tempting," he pretended to think about it. "Only cuddling though?" she rolled her eyes, knowing that her husband was an affectionate animal, like most foxes if the research on them was accurate, that along with being very protective of their mate and children.

"Hmmm, only on one other condition."

"Name it, Fluff?" he was curious to what she wanted so he could possibly get some real alone time with her.

"I get to take the first shower and you make dinner," her voice leaving no room for compromising, and her smile disappearing from hearing the pet name he had given her. She wanted him to change it to something else since it sounded so boring.

"Sounds like an idea, but how about we share a shower and I still cook," he tried to persuade anyways.

She didn't answer right away, having come up to a busy intersection and having to stop at a red light. Only after they had passed it, "As long as you don't get so...frisky, like this morning, we were nearly late, again," she accused.

"How about more pawsy tonight and less in the morning," he smirked carnivorously, something that would have made her back away nervously years back, but now she loved seeing his smile.

"You're impossible Nick, and the answer's no, you should have taken the deal when you had the chance."

"Me impossible, perish the thought, Carrots. I'm the most reasonable fox you'll find in Zootopia. And come on I couldn't of struck out that easily," the bunny just shook her head to that, ignoring him for the rest of the drive home, knowing that he was just in a mischievous mood, but that was nothing new, he was always in one.

The rabbit steered the conversation to another subject, seeing as her mate was being impossible. Her eyes darted around the car till they landed on the silver band on Nick's middle finger. The little precious metal stood out on his red fur, but seemingly it was invisible to everyone else, never evoking a question or even a second glance at. Surely someone at the station or even someone in his family had seen it by now. The same could be said about her family and friends, yet they hadn't noticed either. That being said, they could just be waiting for her to tell them. Either way this is where she took them in areas of a new topic.

"N-n…no one's asked about your wedding band yet?" she asked somewhat uncomfortably, not that she was embarrassed about being married to the fox, but just how quickly it had seemed to happen. They had known each other for two and a half years, then he started being even more flirty till it had become something more till they got married at a court house a year and a half ago.

He lifted his paw a little to look at the silver wrapped around his finger. "No…...well Clawhauser asked about it...I want to say last month," he thought about it, almost having forgotten the big cat had asked. "All I told him was that I got married a year or so ago," he snickered as he thought about it. "Him being the gossipy desk cat, he tried to trick me into telling him. I never told him, telling him he didn't need to know," he looked at the band on her left paw, catching only a slight glimpse of gold.

Their rings were picked out by him, naturally being a romantic of sorts he couldn't resist to do something special for the both of them. This had led to him picking out the different metal bands, his being silver to represent her gray fur while the gold was for his red. Judy thought it had been very sweet of him to do it that way, and it had always gotten a smile out of her when she looked at the rings when their paws were interwoven.

He couldn't help but voice, "He was also asking about who you were with," her eyes opened with a mixture of both horror and trepidation. "Chill," he said a bit forcefully, trying to ease her obviously racing thoughts. "I just told him you had found someone a few months before I had," this calmed her down but a frown settled on her otherwise chirpy expression.

"It's been over a year Nicholas. When are we going to tell our friends, or even our families about us?" this wasn't a rhetorical question, furthermore it wasn't the first time either of them had brought it up.

"I know you want your parents to know," he hated hiding this just as much as she did. "Honestly though what can we do. Once we tell them, someone will find out and then all of Zootopia would know, we're not exactly unnoticed police officers since we solved the Night Howlers case."

She gave an affirmative hum before pulling up into the apartment complexe's shared garage. Parking into their usual space, turning off the engine before pressing the emergency break down. She then removed her seat belt so she could rest on her side so to get a better look at him. Her head rested on a propped paw, ears laid back. He mirrored her taking off his own belt, his ears perked up curiously.

"Nick, either way it's going to come out, so why are we still hiding this?" she placed her free paw on top of his, her claws running over his knuckles sensually.

"You know why. I don't want you getting back lash for being with a guy like me," his character wasn't what he was referring to. "We know it's not illegal like it used to be, but honestly everyone would lose their minds if they knew that we were together," he mumbled, hating how animals were still stuck in these old mindsets.

Even his mother wasn't absolutely for it, and when he had last seen her she was raving about how it was wrong as it had come up in the news when a vixen and a raccoon got married. Her typical reason was that it was against animals instincts and the natural order. It was the same for Judy's father, but there were also other reasons to it too. Mr. Hopps didn't exactly like predators, more precisely foxes, his exact words being that they were the vilest of predators. He may have been a cop, but that wouldn't convince someone to see past what he was on the outside, especially with his colorful history.

"There's nothing wrong with inter-species relationships, her paw was now stroking the side of his muzzle, her eyes looking into his which were looking into hers sternly, having made up his mind. "I also don't care what people will think of us, it's not important," she tried to coax him to change his mind on this secrecy, hoping this time he would at least consider it.

"Judith," he placed a paw over the one on his face. "You keep bringing this up, my answer isn't going to change…..not yet at least."

It wasn't his reputation he was worried about, he had always been seen as another despicable fox. Just because how the animals of society saw his species and spoke of them, didn't mean that his mate had to get pulled into all of it from just being with him. She couldn't lose her job for being in a relationship outside of her own species but it would certainly make things difficult at the station, more importantly at home with her parents and some of her siblings.

"Then when?" she growled becoming annoyed with his constant avoidance of this talk. "What's the real reason?"

"I don't want to see you getting hur….."

"Nick, we're both adults, I can take care of myself, and so can you. Don't start giving me that," she protested.

"Let me finish." She didn't want to, but she nodded though, albeit reluctantly.

He felt that this conversation was just mimicking the one they had nearly four weeks ago and the one three weeks prior to that. The only differences was that they were in the car instead of at the dining room table, or in bed as it had been before that one.

"Judy, you've got a close relationship with your folks, I don't want you to lose that just because of me," she opened her mouth to object but he cut her off, by continuing to talk, leaving no room for her to voice her argument. "You even told me that your old man doesn't like my kind," her mouth closed slowly till her lips sealed with a scowl. She knew that he was right. "I know he's not going to be hopping with joy when he find out that his precious daughter is married to a fox." Especially one such as myself. He left out

"Fox tasers and repellents," he took his paw away from hers and instead placed it against the side of her cheek, running his thumb through the soft downy fur fondly, his emerald hues never breaking contact with her amethyst ones.

The rabbit shook a little form deep embedded instincts. She remembered how he had reacted to the fox repellent she used to carry. After she had declared that predators were reverting back to their savagery. The way he looked at her then had brought up flashes of Gideon before he gashed her, even today she could see the faint scars in the mirror. Just bringing up the repellent often put her mate in a dark mood, that look mirroring the one he had at the station all those years ago. The vulpine had pulled his paw away as though burnt when he felt her shake. Had he hurt her? She grabbed his paw and put it back against her muzzle, giving him a reassuring smile.

"Sorry, what..."

"Nothing, it's just getting cold," she mumbled as she cut him off.

"You're not still scared of me," he said softly but added uncertainly, "Are you?"

"No, Nick," she shot out instantly not having meant to bring this old conversation back up. "You're my mate, my best friend. I'm not afraid of you, I trust you," she wrapped her arms around his middle in a hug to try and show him that she meant it, her ears were more droopy as they when she was emotional or depressed.

"I wasn't...crap," he groaned, but started to stroke her ears tenderly, his other paw pressing snugly against her back to keep her close to him. "Let's just drop this. I shouldn't of asked that, it was low," he breathed, then kissed her on the brow.

"This is never easy for us is it?" she sighed as her scowl begun to lessen, all the same looking away as she thought about what to say or do. However the answers alluded her. "If only they saw you like I did and put their prejudices aside," she mumbled on, returning to where they left off on their previous conversation. She felt tired and very worn out as the day started to catch up to them that along with the stress this talk was bringing.

"No, it isn't," he pressed his nose against hers, also avoiding the other topic, "but we'll always have each other," he gave her soft, warm lips a soft peck, but avoided from drawing it out, "But, one day we'll tell them, and we'll get to ride along to get a laugh out of it," this time she kissed him, just as he did she didn't let it linger for all that long.

They lay with their noses pressed against their partners, neither of them wanting to leave the intimacy that they shared, not yet at least. It was uncomfortable though, the seats of the police vehicle not meant for this kind of use, but they simply chose to ignore it. The fox had returned to stroking the side of his wife's face, thinking about everything that they had said, knowing that she was right, even if he didn't think so. They couldn't keep this up forever. It was either going to be on their own terms or someone putting two and two together and spreading inaccurate rumors about the two of them.

"I can't believe I'm saying this," he mumbled, leaving the rabbit confused as she had no inclination to what he was talking about.

"You're not saying anything," she poked him in the chest, he tensed feeling the tip of her claw dig through his shirt a little. It tickled but he wouldn't tell her that, seeing that she would exploit it for her own personal gains.

"I am now," he rolled his eyes with a little scolding shake of his head. "How about we use two weeks of our vacation time...to go spend it with your family, at the farm," he added in a soft undertone, "and tell your parent's about us."

"We don't have to if you don…."

"It's not that I want to, but you're right, they need to know, it's not a good idea to keep our parents int he dark about this," he dreaded even thinking about how those two….these two weeks would go. How he'd tell his mother about them would be just as awful.

"If you're absolutely certain you're okay with this," her tone soft and trying to console her fox, who she could see had a turmoil of emotions and thoughts running around in his head, all from just seeing the grimace he wore.

"I am," a smirk shone through his grimace. "Say….is there such thing as rabbit repellent," she punched him in the stomach and hard.

"Not funny."

"Oh...oh no! It totally is...the look on your face," he sucked in a breath ruggedly and let it out hoarsely, finding it difficult to breathe from the sharp ache in his sternum and his snickering

"Anyways it's for my protection from your fam...…ohh…...Ju…..owe, Judy!….Jud….stop-stop it," she threw more light punches at him till he caught her by the wrists, and pulled her against him in the relatively large confines of the car. Her paws were trapped between them. "I'm filing domestic abuse one of these days," he laughed and she did as well, not because what he said was particularly funny but because she enjoyed the sound their voices made together.

"Who are they going to believe, a little bunny, or a vicious, slick predator," she smiled at him evilly, her eyes gleaming playfully.

"I'm pretty sure I can persuade anyone to see things my way."

"Keep telling yourself that if it makes you feel better," she nuzzled his cheek with her own, an intimate gesture for both of their species. He smiled, dropping their playful argument to enjoy what she was doing to him since they didn't nuzzle as they were that much.

"When we get in go take a shower, Carrots," he purred as she pulled away from him appearing reasonably content. "I'll have dinner ready when you get out," he licked her nose before he sat up, nudging for her to do the same.

"What are you planning?" she asked as they both dropped out of the car and started to lock it down.

"Well, salad, carrots all the bunny food you love," he still hated prey food, but at least he had gotten healthier since he started eating her diet. "Also some crickets and fruits, if that sounds good with you?"

"Yep," she bounced over to him, before matching his laid-back strides. This was another example of how they were opposites in almost every way. The way he walked, collective, calm, almost like he was strutting, not in any hurry to get anywhere anytime soon, then there were her energetic, impatient and edgy ones, as though she was about to burst into a sprint.

Something or the other must have been amusing to the fox as he chuckled as they headed out of the apartment's garage, heading to the complex they shared with other animals. The rabbit ignored her husband's snickering, as she looked around their neighborhood which was a relatively quiet area, most of the animals living together in harmony. Sure there was the occasional scruff but nowhere was perfect. It was nowhere close to how bad it was living in the apartment that she stayed at when she first got to Zootopia. It hadn't been an awful place to live, but her two loud arguing neighbors had made it difficult to sleep some nights. Along with their creepy and suggestive behavior when they tried to talk to her.

That and when Nick moved in, there was barely any room to move about in the small confines, let alone share a rickety old bed that creaked loudly with the stress of two animals sleeping on it. The groaning of the barely double sized bed had gotten their neighbors arguing on more than one occasion, one defending them while the other was yelling at them and his roommate to shut up. They had moved out of there almost thirteen months ago, thank the gods.

Recently they were searching for an actual house to purchase, the apartment was only temporary, seeing as they both wanted more room for different reasons. Nick wanted more room so he could get his old belongings out of storage, paranoid that some animal was going to steal it all. Judy wanted more space, having grown up on a large farm she felt somewhat claustrophobic in their current apartment, the last one had been a nightmare, often times she pushed nick out of bed in the middle of the night, that and stealing the blanket. Which had earned her being referred to being the notorious blanket thug.

Nick chuckled again and she once again ignored it, her thoughts on their future home, when they got around to purchasing one. They either wanted something urban or a little bit more out of the city, but close enough so they could stay in the First Precinct. Something that was a mix between the two would be perfect. This wasn't to say Savannah Central wasn't perfect, it just wasn't right for them. If everything went well this year and the next, they should be able to finally afford a new place, for now they just had to make the best of what they had.

"JUDITH! she jumped as she heard her husband practically scream her full name, her sensitive ears lowering in annoyance and pain. She looked up at him with a scowl that she knew he thought was adorable, but wouldn't dare voice it, if he valued his tail being non-knotted that was.

"Been talking to you for a while now, guess you weren't exactly here," he mused with a grin, seeing as he had caught her being distracted, which wasn't often, normally it was him.

"Sorry, but you didn't have to yell," she grouched.

"Did, or you would of walked straight into the door," he covered his face with a paw and shook his head with a rueful smile.

The rabbit looked around realizing that they were outside their apartment door. She smiled impishly, pulling at her ears, feeling a little humiliated. Why? She didn't know. There was no one around, just them and the usual busy sounds of their neighbors, that and the city outside.

"You feeling okay?" he pressed a paw against her forehead. "Nope, you definitely got crazy cute bunny fever," her eyes narrowed as she glared at him, thumping an aggravated hind-paw against the thinly gray carpeted corridor. The desire to slap that grin off his devious, charming face becoming overwhelming.

But he caught her off guard as he leaned down, resting his paws on his knees so he was eye level with her. He smirked at her evilly before he kissed her nose. They had agreed some time ago that they would save displays of affection for when they were sure they were alone, or in the safety of their apartment. In the case that there were unwelcome eyes watching them, she shoved his face away, making it appear as though she was laughing it off.

"Save it for later, Nicky," he groaned out in complete disgust, shaking his head irritably.

He threw open the door, shoving her into their apartment in aggressiveness; the last thing he wanted was someone hearing her use one of his other horrible pet-names. For one reason or another, she had adopted to using the one that Mr. Big had given him, either to torture him, or because his assumptions that bunnies imaginations were just as small as them.

"You're mean, you're a heartless cruel little bunny," he accused as he slammed the door, then proceeded to strip himself of his police gear, his wife joining him, working on getting the semi-boot-straps off her aching hind-paws.

"And this is new to you?" her voice full of mock surprise, her muzzle twinging in pain, as the days activities caught up with her.

"Seems that my magic paws have some work to do tonight ," he purred huskily, eyes glimmering with mischief.

"No, really," she gasped, holding a paw to her mouth in mock-surprise, shooting her ears up as well, "I've been running all about the place all day long, chasing bad guys on hot sand and scolding asphalt," she flung the stretchy material of her hind-paw coverings which he caught.

"Ohhhhhh, such a poor hippity hoppity rabbit," he pressed the back of his paw to his head, before his composure broke and he fell into a fit of snickering. He dodged the other covering as he fought to get a grip on his chuckles. When he had calmed down enough, he added with a smile.

"Hush up and go take a shower," he gave the side of her muzzle a nuzzle, not able to help himself. He was feeling strangely more affectionate than he normally was after sorting through paper cut detail. She shoved his face away once again. He knew he had teased her too much, as such she would be coming up with some way to get back at him.

The tod gave his partner a look-over, seeing that she was only in her habitual black sports bra and boy shorts, this being her usual relax ware at home. That was unless they had guests, where she would put on a pair of gym shorts instead. She wasn't comfortable with showing so much of her bare self in front of anyone besides him, while he had proved on quite a few occasions that he didn't really care if anyone saw him, that being a story for another time.

"I'll be out in a bit," Judy grinned before she spun around and headed to their bedroom.

Nick swiped at her fluffy tail, barely grazing the soft-downy fur, making her squeak as it sent a rush of instinctual fear through her. She threw back a death glare that was ineffective, seeing as the sides of her face had darkened to a shade of crimson. A moment passed as he thought about trailing after her, however he decided against it, or they'd never get to dinner or anything else that night.

Once his mate had disappeared behind their bedroom door, he gave himself a glance over, considering if he should change into something else. He was just in a pair of average gray gym shorts and a green Hawaiian T. Shrugging his shoulder, he decided that there was no real reason to spiffy himself up, seeing as this wasn't a date or a special occasion.

After he had thrown the collective pile of police gear onto their bed, only so it could be sorted through later, he stopped where he was. His black tipped ears having caught the sound of his wife singing as she took her shower, more than likely it was along with one of Gazelle's songs. Without saying a word or even staying to listen in on her, he headed back into the rest of their apartment, with a grin that soon spread into a wide smile.

They were home, after a long day at work, in his case it had been an extraordinarily drawn out one. Now they were finally back in the welcomed familiarity of their home. All the stress and seriousness of work having been left behind them, all that could wait till their alarm clock woke them up and they started out another day full of what was their habitual routine.

The fox rummaged through the fridge, taking out what they needed for dinner and got to work at preparing it. It didn't honestly take that long, the only part of the meal that really took some time, were the bugs. Both of them hated it when they were raw, which was strange for him since he had loved them that way when he was a cub, that was what his mother had told him at any rate.

Similar to this, things changed, much like ones fur, marriage, or even their job, nothing was ever definite and nothing was ever predictable in life. This was something he had come to accept in life, especially with how things had turned out in the last four years.

This one little prospect of life wasn't exactly all that bad, that was as long as he had Judy in his life, then everything would work out for the best. That was because the seemingly endless kicking and adversity of the day to day, were almost a nonentity while there was someone else sharing it with him. It was silly how that worked out, nevertheless it did and he couldn't complain, not with how everything was looking up for them. Enough so that he could curl up at night with his wife in his arms, having gone another day without being driven insane from the total chaos and madness that was their life as police officers. How he wished he could have known what kind of trouble was laying hidden beyond the crest of the horizon.

HI: If you see this it means I've updated, and corrections have been made, also some new snippets I just wanted to add. Don't worry nothing major, and I just wanted to add more to the JudyxNick scene. Catch you on future chapters. In addition, I've decided to add quotes at the beginning of each chapter that I feel work with it. Only chapters one through 3 so far have them, that's because I'm currently in the process of updating the chapters as we go. Hope you enjoyed this chapter, till next time.

HI: Probably lamest way to introduce that, XD. Well I'm no good at these things so I'll try to make this brief, I said try. Any who, many of you may not know who I am so I'll introduce myself, I'm Reverend Archangel or also more commonly referred to as JFR. I've been off writing for a little while now, not been able to get much inspiration or to do anything. Then I saw some of the trailers for Zootopia and I got inspired to write again. I think it was a great movie and I loved the relationship between Judy and Nick.

Ooh, forgot to mention this. This story will contain spoilers and some deviations from the actual movie in some areas. For starters, Nick and Judy are four years older than they were at the end of the events of Zootopia(This has been updated thanks to a review by Kaoru-Yuki, pointing out some stuff that I hadn't seen. I made a mistake with my math and overlooked some minor details. Thanks again Kaoru-Yuki). Judy will be 28 years old, since she was roughly around 23 go 24 years old in the movie. Nick was in my opinion 27 years old during the events of the movie, so he will now be 31.

I simply did some tweaks on Judy's math when she added up all the years Nick had been tax evading. As he states in the movie he made $200 everyday x 365 days = $73000 x 20 years = $1,460,000. Now if you do $267.67 everyday x 365 days = $97,333.34 x 15 years = $1,460,000.

Now I know, what's four years. But if I was to continue with the Zootopia's plot which had Nick resting a 32 years old with Judy being 24, plus the 4 years that my story takes place, he would be 36 and she would be 28. Sure only eight years apart but to me that just doesn't sound right to me. Sorry but here's my reasoning. If Nick has been working with Mr. Big he would be making more money then he would be on his own with Finnick. Yes I know that Mr. Wilde and Mr. Big didn't get along after he sold him a rug made from a skunks butt, but we never got the precise time when Nick fell out of line with the arctic shrew crime lord. So my guess is a year or even two years prior. But with extra money he made with working with the biggest crime boss in Zootopia, I think my theory is sound enough (Also in regard to most if not all Zootopia animals, that we saw, it seems that three fingers and a thumb are the norm, so the middle finger in this world acts as the wedding-ring finger because of a lack of a pinkie). Well now that I've bored you with my math, let's move on.

I want you guys to know this story is rated between T-M, roughly will be between 16 + in many areas as we continue down the way, it may change to M along the way. There will be profanity used, there will probably be drug and alcohol use, and lastly some pretty heavy descriptive scenes both romantically speaking (this means possible passionate scenes) and violently speaking. The rating will rest on T unless I get five PM and or reviews stating that it has to go up to M. I just want to make that clear for everyone. Also the cover image was not done by me, it is by Pinguinolog, so the credit is all theirs. That being said, that is it folks. I hope to get chapters out every week, maybe four or five days at the least. So please review, favorite, follow, view, if you could, your thoughts and comments let me know as a writer if I am doing well. This is R.A. till the next chapter comes out, peace. Just in case this was missed. !CONTAINS SPOILERS!