Hi guys!

I am SO SO sorry for not updating in so long. Yesterday I thought "Hmm, when was the last time I updated? January?" and so i checked and realized that i haven't updated at all this year! But hey, now I'm back, and I'll try to update as often as possible!

Also did anyone here see the Oscars? Zootopia won best animated feature! Yay! (Best picture lmao)

Why, just why, does it have to be so hard to upload this document? Jeez... *triggered*

After such a long wait I think you want to get right to the story so, without further ado,

Enjoy!

"You can't be serious." Nick sighed, an incredulous look on his face.

"I am." Judy said. "I mean, why not? You have every right to know. The law's on your side. I think."

The red fox shook his head and sighed once again.

"They're not going to tell me anything." Nick said matter-of-factly. "I'm a fox."

Judy stilled. She knew that there was prejudice against some species, something she had gotten painfully aware of herself, and that foxes had it much harder, but withholding him information from a case like that? The bunny had a hard time believing that the ZPD, of all mammals, were speciesist.

"Just because you're a fox? They can't be serious!"

"Oh well they are." Nick stated with a sigh.

Looking around, Judy noticed that her outburst had caused quite a few mammals to glance their way. In a quieter tone, she answered Nick.

"Then we have to go there and change their minds."

Half an hour later, Judy and Nick stood outside of the ZPD. It was the same building that she had stood before just the other day. She looked at the crimson fox, and he looked at her. They nodded, and then entered the building.

It was amazing. Judy couldn't help but gasp. Everywhere she looked, police officers walked past. They were chatting, working, and one even held a criminal in a tight grip. The building itself was magnificent; the marble floor was smooth and shiny, and on it was a big grey star. In the middle of the star was a reception area, where a grey timber wolf sat. Looking up, Judy could see the second floor.

"Do you have a plan, Carrots?" Nick asked her as he himself looked around. His expression was wary and on guard. Judy figured that he might have been there before, for questioning and such.

"Well, I was just going to go up there and ask that wolf at the reception."

Nick snorted and said that he probably didn't even know anything about the case in question.

"Well, we'll just ask him to take us to whoever is in charge." Judy debated.

Commenting that, well, they could at least try, Nick followed Judy to the reception area, where the wolf greeted them politely. Craning his neck, he looked down at the fox and rabbit in front of him.

"Hello and welcome to the ZPD. What can I do to help you?" he asked in a pleasant voice.

"Hello!" Judy exclaimed, making a small wave. "I'm Judy Hopps and this is my" she glanced at Nick "friend, Nick Wilde."

Nick raised his eyebrows but didn't comment. As Judy turned her gaze to the wolf, she continued.

"He is accused of a crime that he did not commit. To be able to prove his innocence, we would like to be informed about the details of the case, the evidence in particular."

The wolf nodded and glanced towards Nick. After a second or so, he looked back at Judy.

"Say, what crime is he accused of?" the timber wolf inquired.

Judy hesitated. Saying he was accused of murder would draw them a lot of attention, more so than they needed. But before she had the chance to say anything, Nick answered for her.

"Look up Duke Weaselton, sir."

The wolf looked down at his computer, typing something on the keyboard. Then, eyebrows rising, he answered them.

"I see… I'll call up to Chief Earsley's office and see if he's available. Please take a seat over there." he gesticulated towards a few benches placed along the walls of the building.

"I thought I told you, we're not friends." Nick remarked as they took their seats.

"Well what was I supposed to say?" Judy demanded. "That we may or may not dislike each other yet are working together to prove that you aren't the murderous fox the police think you are?"

"Well," Nick thought. "that certainly would have been an icebreaker."

He smirked as he relaxed into his seat. Judy sighed and shook her head, although the corners of her lips hinted at a smile.

Turns out, Nick was right. Judy and Nick, after having to wait an annoyingly long thirty-seven minutes and twenty-three seconds –yes, Judy counted-, got the directions to the right office. Chief Earsley was an older elephant, probably near retirement. He had a grumpy look across his features as he saw the predator and the prey walk into his office together.

The chief didn't even bother with introductions.

"Nick Wilde." he had said, completely ignoring Judy. "What do you want now?"

"I want to know what the evidence against me is." Nick answered back in a stern tone.

"Oh? Well, unfortunately I am very busy at the moment and can't provide you with any case details. But, seeing as you're not an officer, you have no authority to know this anyway."

"Excuse me, Chief." Judy took a step forward. "Actually he has every right to know. He is accused of murder. A crime of which he is innocent, by the way. We want to know what the evidence is so we can prove that he has, in fact, committed no crime. So if you could just take a moment of your ti-"

The elephant laughed.

"A fox and a bunny working together? Now that's not a sight you see every day."

Judy started to thump her foot to the ground. Crossing her arms, she squinted at the chief.

"Sir. What is the evidence?"

Earsley's patience was running thin. He eyed the teenagers and then answered her.

"You are two teenagers. One, a fox. The other, a bunny. And I won't let you run around endangering an investigation. Now get out before I call security on you!"

Judy stared at him. This wasn't how the police was supposed to act. And a Chief no less! Was he really so small minded that he couldn't see past one's species?

Suddenly at a loss for words, Judy glanced up at Nick. He swiftly shook his head, as if saying that the fight was lost. The bunny's chest rose and fell several times before she looked back at the Chief.

"Fine. We'll go. But mark my words. You will regret this."

Without another word, Judy swept out of the office, Nick following suit.

"I'm assuming that this is all part of the plan?" Nick said jokingly once they were out.

"Unfortunately not." Judy admitted. "Shit, I really thought that that would work! We need to find another way."

"Maybe we could figure that out over lunch?" Nick proposed. "I'm starving."

After walking around, looking for a place to eat, they chose Bugga Burger. It hadn't taken long for the burgers to arrive –one prey meal for Judy and a predator one for Nick- and they had taken their seats. But a certain grey bunny couldn't focus on the food. She was fuming. That had not gone as planned at all.

"If you got any redder, Carrots, you really would look like a carrot." Nick said in an attempt to lighten the mood.

The joke didn't have any effect on Judy. Instead, she put down her food and looked at Nick with an apologetic smile.

"I'm sorry. I really thought it would work…"

"It's okay Fluff. To be honest, I didn't expect you to succeed in the first place." Nick admitted.

"Hey!" Nick got a piece of salad thrown his way.

"Okay, sorry, sorry, I didn't mean to upset you. No, seriously! Don't throw another piece of salad. Please." Nick had noticed that Judy's hand had slowly moved back to her burger. "You'll have nothing left to eat."

Stopping mid-action, Judy decided to instead take a bite of her vegetarian hamburger.

"But, well, I think it's good that we both knew when to quit." Nick went on as he ate, gesticulating with his right paw absentmindedly. "I mean, god knows what would have happened if we had caused a fight."

Judy Hopps doesn't know when to quit.

"I don't know when to quit!" Judy almost sang, as if she had come up with the invention of a century. "Nick. We can't give up yet! When we've eaten we must go back. I think I've got a plan."

"That's a first."

Judy glared at Nick, another piece of salad shooting through the air and hitting his muzzle. As he slowly removed it, he tiredly pointed out that she was the most immature bunny he knew. The bunny in question ignored the comment, and after asking if he was done, and him saying that indeed, he was, jumped down from her seat.

"Come on." she almost sang to him.

"I thought we were going back?" Nick questioned her as she led him to a bus stop.

"We are," Judy insisted. "Just not now. I may have the outlines of a plan, but this whole 'mission' of ours needs to be carefully thought out."

Nick didn't reply but merely nodded. In the distance, he saw a bus approaching.

Judy chose the window seat, plumbing down on the fabric and closing her eyes. Nick could see by the furrow of her brows that she was thinking intently.

"So, um, we're we headed, Carrots?" he asked her.

"My place." she stated, eyes still closed.

It didn't take too long for them to arrive. Walking up to the house, Judy fished up her keys from the pocket of her jeans and turned the lock. Fortunately, the house wasn't very crowded. She could see one or two of her siblings in the kitchen, playing a board game, and a few others scattered around the living room. No one looked up when she entered, so she simply guided the russet fox up the stairs and into her room.

Nick looked around, a thoughtful look on his face. The bunny followed his gaze, landing on the pile of stuffed bunnies on her bed. Her ears reddened.

"That's… quite a lot a lot of stuffed animals." Nick commented, a smirk on his muzzle.

"Oh! Yeah, I should probably move those. I'm not sure why I even have them anymore. I mean, I do share very fond memories with Sir Richard and a couple others, but really-"

"You named them?" a laugh escaped Nick as his smirk grew into a full-fledged smile. "All of them?"

"Yes." Judy announced, standing her ground.

Judy could see a mischievous, calculating glint in the fox's eyes.

"I bet everyone at school would love to hear about your big teddy collection." he taunted. "You'd get into the popular crowd just great."

"Nick Wilde, don't you dare! This stays between us." she put her hands on her hips and stared him down.

"Fine, fine, if you say so… Fluffbutt."

Judy fumed.

"What did you call me?"

Nick confidently crossed his arms.

"Fluffbutt. Got a problem with that?"

"Yes." Judy stressed, taking a threatening step towards Nick. A flash of fear of the small bunny danced in his eyes, but he didn't budge. Instead, he took a step towards her, closing the space between them further.

"Well, I suggest you get over it, unless you want me to publicly embarrass you." Nick mused to her as he bent down to be at her eyelevel.

Grinding her teeth, Judy used the one come-back she had left.

"I believe I have the upper hand in this. Or do you not remember the reason that you actually are here?"

His ears flattened against his skull. The reaction caused Judy to cockily raise an eyebrow at him.

"No. You wouldn't."

"Oh, but maybe I would." Judy commented with a smirk almost as cocky as his own.

She didn't notice that she had taken another step until they were practically nose to nose. Her smirk faltered, and the sudden intimacy made her breath catch in her throat. For a short while, she was unable to say anything. Then, just as she was to pull away, the door opened.

Both heads snapped towards it. In the doorway stood a teenage bunny the same age as Judy.

"Ja-janine." Judy croaked. She quickly took a step back, nearly falling backwards. "I was just, I mean, we-"

"She's helping me with school work." Nick said.

"Yeah." Judy agreed, shooting a thankful glance towards Nick.

For a few seconds, Janine just stood there, shock clearly written across her face. Then, with raised eyebrows and a smug grin, Janine answered.

"Well, we can't leave the homework waiting, now can we? I'll leave you to your… studying."

The door closed and footsteps were heard, growing fainter and fainter.

"Sweet cheese and crackers." Judy sighed. "There's no way I'll be able to talk my way out of that one."

And that's chapter seven! Did you like it? Leave a review! Didn't you like it? Leave me a review and tell me what to improve!

I had planned to write out the guest reviews and answer them as usual, but there are so many! (Thanks so much btw! Love you guys, you mean so much to me and the fact that you like my story makes me really happy) If you have a specific question I'll try and write it out here, but if there are too many, I advice you to get an account so that I can PM you instead.

Until next time!