I once had this story under a different name and a different account. If you are familiar with the old story, do not worry. I am the same author. Please leave constructive criticism and point out any grammar or spelling mistakes I made. I ran this through Grammarly and read it aloud but I probably still missed stuff. I am only human. Anyway, enjoy the chapter and I hope you have a great day even if you don't like it.

Postscript: Also in this story, Nick is younger than he is in the movie. In the movie, he is stated to be 32 years old. In this story, he is 26. For reference, this makes him only two years older than Judy.

Paperwork. The greatest enemy an officer of the law could face. Nick wanted to scream. He glared at his computer in endless annoyance. How did Judy do it? Every time she filled out a report, her paws flew like an eagle across the keyboard. Every time Nick did it, he went slower than a sleeping sloth. The fox rubbed his emerald eyes. He glanced around the cubical he shared with Zootopia's first rabbit officer. The desire to purge boredom from his body drove him to study his workspace.

On Nick's desk, on his left, sat a picture framed in wood. His parent's faces beamed at their son. Nick held such a resemblance to his father, that if John Wilde looked a few years younger, had the grey strands in his scarlet coat removed, and if Nick looked a few years older with an air of time breed wisdom about him, the two could've passed themselves off as brothers. Though Nick inherited many things from his father, he gained many things from his mother as well. Against her black fur, Holly Wilde's green eyes shined like emerald pools bathed in moonbeams. She had an arm wrapped around John's waist, while she wore the same smug, gleeful grin, she'd given to her boy. Nick smiled. He loved his parents more than you can comprehend. True, he adored them, but Nick also envied them.

John and Holly had lived the married life since high school. For over twenty years, the two stayed as one, and their love endured. Every time they traded glances, it was like that spark went off in their hearts the first time all over again. Nick couldn't understand it. He could only admire it and yearn for something like it.

The crimson furred officer shifted his attention from the picture on the left to the one on his right. Steel formed the frame for this captured moment. In the photograph, Judy's smile almost matched the richness of her amethyst eyes. Streetlights bathed her long grey ears. She sat on a bench with an arm slung around Nick's neck. He chuckled at the memory. After the Gazelle concert, Judy ambushed the fox with her phone and a hug. It had caught Nick off guard. Which did well to explain his baffled face Judy had snapped with her camera. Nick didn't request the photo placed on his desk, but when some bunny put it there, he found no reason to discard it.

Judy had come into Nick's life like a bolt out of the blue. One second, he helped her restore the city's peace, and now he helped her keep the peace. If someone told Nick, he'd be partners with a rabbit cop three weeks ago; he would've conned them out of their wallet and laughed all the way to the bank. That same mammal no longer existed. Judy had changed Nick for the better, and like most good things in life, she had done it in a way no one expected.

As Nick's mind went to Judy, his body urged him to follow. He peered behind him at his partner's space. A little clock shaped like a barn house sat on her desk, along with more family photos than most cared to count. A Gazelle poster hung before her empty chair where the rabbit's bowler hat lay.

Earlier in the day, the dynamic duo had arrested a zebra who stole a few dozen dollars from a thrift store. When the Zebra saw Judy and Nick coming, he bolted. He had taken fives steps into his sprint before Judy brought him down with a kick to the back. Few in the city could outrun the ZPD's lightning hare. Since she had done all the work this time, Nick volunteered to file the report while Judy dealt with the Zebra in the interrogation room. This is how he ended up in the current situation.

"I'd almost rather go savage or be iced," Nick mumbled as he forced himself to return to the report. Once in a while, a red paw wandered from the keyboard to a bowl of blueberries. Nick plucked a blueberry with his claw. He tossed it into the air and, without looking, let it fall onto his tongue. He relished the fruit's, sharp sweetness. His digits hovered above a second one when a voice called to him.

"Hey, Wilde." It said in a deep and powerful tone.

Nick looked to the cubicle's entrance. The sight of a lion dressed in uniform greeted him. Bob Johnson's tawny mane waved whenever he shifted his weight. And although he possessed a brawn worthy of awe from all who met him, a tenderness flickered in his golden eyes. Nick's face twisted into puzzlement. What business did Johnson have with him? Before this encounter, the two had not spoken to each other. Nick could not guess why Johnson needed him, but he knew one thing, whatever it was, it was not paperwork.

The vulpine spun his chair around to face his comrade, "What's up?"

Johnson sighed and ran a paw through his mane. "Earlier today, Mchorn and I were out on patrol when we came across this kid. The little guy looks at best four and is walking around the streets all alone. It was clear the kid was lost. So Mchorn and I approached him. We tried for half an hour to get him to talk to us, but nothing. He won't budge. I think he's scared of us since we're so big compared to him. Anyway, we just want to get him home but can't do that without knowing who he is. We brought him back here to talk to you. Mchorn had the idea that maybe he'd be fine around you since you're both foxes."

Nick's ears faltered. The paperwork didn't seem so bad now. He wanted to brush Johnson's request off at first and almost did. Yet, the agony Nick suffered the night those prey kids put that muzzle on him returned. The memory still cursed him with heartache. And what if the child Johnson had brought in was suffering that kind of pain? The question lingered.

The tod yielded to his conscience, "Alright. Bring him here."

The lion spun on his feet and departed. He returned minutes later with the boy, and wonder stole Nick's voice.

A myriad of foxes lived in Zootopia with a host of colors among them. So, a fox child born to parents with two different hues between them was commonplace. Nick himself was proof of this. And in the case of children like Nick, they inherited a single color of the possible two. Yet, for one child to have both colors passed unto them? If anyone thought this impossible, the boy before Nick would prove them wrong.

Ten thousand white speckles, like snowflakes upon winter stars, adorned the child's crimson coat. He stared at his feet. A few wrinkles spoiled his bright clothes. His tail rested between his knobby knees, and the waves of anxiety rolling from him earned Nicks' pity.

Nick's wit restored itself. "Don't worry about the kid." he said to Johnson," I got him." The lion nodded and took his leave.

Silence ruled the air. No sound echoed between the two until Nick's chair squeaked when he arose. On gentle feet, he went to the boy. The child's ears flinched at every step he took. He towered over the boy, and Nick did what his father had done when Nick himself needed comfort.

Nick got down to the boy's level. On his knees, he placed a paw upon the child's shoulder. He wore his mother's warm smile and spoke in his father's gentle voice. "Hey, don't worry, bud. Everything's gonna be ok."

For the first time, the boy looked at Nick, and for the first time, Nick studied those sapphire eyes. They stirred something in him. Nick knew he had seen them somewhere, somewhere important long ago, but he also realized this wasn't the time to ponder. This boy needed him now. He could dwell on his curiosity later.

"I promise." Nick said, still smiling, "We'll get you home. My name's Nick, and I am gonna go out on a limb and guess that your name is Ryder?"

Already Nick's charm began to melt Ryder's meekness, "Yes, Mr. Nick." He said with the corner of his lips lifted into a small grin.

Nick rose back to his feet with a chuckle, "Well, I suppose it was a given. I mean, with your fur being that way, it's not like your parents had much choice, right?"

Nick didn't wait for an answer. He strolled to Judy's chair and rolled it next to his desk. At Nick's request, Ryder took a seat.

The officer fox leaned into the arm of his chair with a paw to prop up his head, "So kid, tell me how you got here. I mean most tods I know at your age aren't wandering around the city."

"I got here after that lion and rhino drove me here," Ryder answered in honesty.

Nick fought back the urge to facepalm, "No, I mean, how did you get lost on the streets to start with? I can see your clothes are mostly pressed, clean, and neat, so you must have a home? All I want to know is how did you get from your home to the street."

Ryder gave a drawn-out "Oh" in realization before he said, "I snuck out."

This time Nick did facepalm, and Ryder giggled. This manner of questioning went on for some time. It took Nick sixteen minutes to get this story out of the boy: Ryder lived in a penthouse with his single mother, six butlers, five maids, and three cooks. Ryder wanted to get a special gift for his mother's birthday this year. So, he thought about all the things his mother loved. Then it hit him. He remembered how she adored dresses. So, Ryder set out to get one by himself. He snuck out of the penthouse, rode the elevator down to the first floor, and crept out a side door. Ryder believed he could do it all on his own. Life proved him wrong in an instant. He didn't know when or how it happened. Ryder only knew he had gotten lost and was afraid before and after Mchorn and Johnson brought him to the station.

As Nick listened, he went through a list in his head. He had once bragged to Judy he knew everyone in Zootopia. Nick knew many single parent vixens, and he knew many vixens who lived in penthouses. But a vixen like Ryder's mother?

"I think I would have heard of a vixen like that." He said to himself as he grabbed a blueberry and tossed it into his mouth.

Ryder watched him in wonder. He snatched a pawful of blueberries from the bowl and threw them into the air. They never came down. Both foxes looked at the blue smears on the ceiling while fruit flakes fell around them.

The white on Ryder's cheeks turned a faint pink, "Oops."

Nick chuckled, patting Ryder's head, "It's fine, kid. Just try it one at a time and with less power from now on." Nick demonstrated perfection when he did the trick anew like clockwork. "So does this mama of yours have a name? And I mean what other people call her, not what you call her. So, don't say her name is mama, ok?"

Ryder picked a blueberry and tossed it into the air. "The butlers, maids, and cooks call mama Madam," He said after the blueberry missed his mouth and hit his nose. "Auntie Zel calls her Snowball."

"Who is auntie Zel?"

Nick's words flustered Ryder. The boy gawked at him as if Nick's tail had combusted. "You don't know who auntie Zel is, Mr. Nick?"

Nick shaking head prompted Ryder's gushing rant. "She's only the best singer in all the world, not counting mama. "

"Obviously," Nick added.

"Auntie Zel goes all over the world singing and dancing to the songs mama makes for her, and- look! She's right there!" Ryder had pointed to Judy's Gazelle poster. And so, it was, Ryder did what Judy never dreamed of. He made Nicholas P Wilde speechless twice in one day.

"Your mom writes songs for Gazelle," He repeated to make sure he had heard Ryder right.

Ryder focused on the second blueberry he threw above his head, "Yeah, Mr. Nick, I just said that." The second blueberry bounced off his ear. Ryder pouted watching, the fruit roll across the floor. When it stopped, he turned to Nick. "You're not the best listener."

Nick ignored this. Information raced through his brain. "If his mom works with Gazelle, she must be rich, and if her penthouse can hold all that help and still have enough comfortable room for her and her kid, then it must be massive." He thought. And here an idea hit Nick like a savage elephant.

He slid out of his chair and gently took Ryder by the paw. "Where are we going, Mr. Nick?" Ryder asked as the two walked through the station. All sorts of huge officers crossed their path. Lions, tigers, elephants, buffalo, and more than these went around them.

All dwarfed the fox duo. The sight of them drove Ryder to cling to Nick like a security blanket.

Nick placed a secure arm around him, saying, "If I am right, and I often am, we should be able to see your home from the front of the station. Only a few places in the city have a penthouse as big as yours, and all of them are skyscrapers."

They passed through the glass front doors into the sunlight. Warmth bathed them as summer's aroma filled the air. Clouds sailed across the sky, and the wind whistled to what flowers grew between the cracks in the ZPD parking lot. To better see the field of buildings in the distance, Nick put Ryder on his shoulders. The child combed Zootopia's horizon.

Nick waited a whole twenty seconds before Ryder cried, "There it is, Mr. Nick! I can see my house from here."

Nick followed Ryder's pointing claw, and his eyes threatened to pop out of his skull. Old and fair, the skyscraper glimmered like crystal amber. It stood loftier than all else about it. It's ten thousand windows flickered white, and gold danced across its glass crown. Everyone knew of the Towering Tree. It had dwelt in Zootopia since before the city's first hour, for it was where the mammals of yore once gathered under the ideal anyone can be anything. In the Towering Tree, the founders of Zootopia united, and across the years, their children had raised the building to heaven. The Towering Tree remained a beacon of peace and beauty to this day. Only the wealthy among the wealthy roamed those magnificent halls. Whoever she was, Ryder's mother had more wealth than Nick could make in seven lifetimes.

This truth shook him, and once Nick collected himself, he said, "Well, I guess it won't be too hard to find your house. Now, all we need is Judy. Then we can get a move on."

"And where exactly are we going?" Said a voice alongside the thumping of a rabbit's foot.

Nick's secured Ryder's legs on his shoulders and whirled around. "Carrots." He chirped, greeting Judy's furrowed brow. "How did things go with our Zebra friend? Did you find out why he stole those hard-earned dollars from that thrift store?"

"He wanted money to feed his…" Judy glanced at Ryder," less than great habit. I charged him with third-degree robbery. He should get a few years in jail. Now, as long as we're asking questions, I have a few for you slick." She said, folding her arms over her chest, "Why isn't the report filled out? Your progress is so slow; I swear Flash could beat you in a race. And why are there blueberries on the floor and ceiling? And most importantly, why are you standing outside with this little guy?" On the last question, Judy's flashed a smile and waved at Ryder.

Nick told his partner everything. Though, to save Ryder from embarrassment, he lied about the blueberries and made up a story of how he tripped. Through the retelling, Judy stayed calm, but then the subject of Gazelle came into play. When the rabbit discovered Ryder's mother wrote for the idol, Judy oozed excitement. Nick and Ryder blinked. Judy vanished with a burst of speed and came to a grinding halt halfway to their patrol car.

"What am I doing?" Judy told herself. "Got to stay focused. Got to stay professional. We have to get Ryder home to his mom." She tried to walk to the vehicle in a poised fashion. The giddy twitch in her tail betrayed her.

Ryder giggled. "Miss Judy's funny."

Nick made his way to the car with a smirk, "Carrots has her moments."

Ryder's smile fell. He bent down to Nick's ear and whispered. "I am sorry you had to lie to make it so that I didn't get in trouble about the blueberries."

Nick waved it off, "Don't worry about it, kid. We foxes gotta stick together, right? Let's just get you home."

Judy revved the engine when the two got close. The car came to life. A deep rumble rolled from the hood. Judy buckled up, while Nick took Ryder from his shoulders and opened the door to the backseat. "Alright, kid, get in, and we'll have you home in time for lunch."

Ryder didn't budge. He only stood there, peering into the back seat with a mist of tears over his eyes. "Mr. Nick, did I do something bad?" He asked in a voice to break your heart.

Nick rested his knees on the pavement. The gravel dug into his clothes. The heat burned his fur, yet his worry for Ryder masked whatever pain gnawed at him. "No bud. You've done nothing wrong. What makes you think that?"

Ryder pointed at the back seat. His little paw trembled, "It's just… isn't that where all the bad guys sit? So, doesn't that mean if I did something bad, you gotta put me back there? That's why I got scared when the lion and rhino brought me. They put me in the back, and I thought I'd done something bad."

The problem and solution dawned on Nick at the same time. He shut the back door. "You don't have to sit back there if you don't want to. Tell you what you can sit up front with me. Would you like that?"

Ryder sniffled and nodded. After Nick got in the car, he sat Ryder in his lap. Since Nick's seatbelt held him, he wrapped Ryder in his arms and pressed the boy's back into his chest.

Judy punched the Towering Tree's address into the GPS. "Ok, everything is ready to go. Onward to Ryder's house!" She yelled in an overdramatic tone.

"Onward to my house!" Ryder mimicked. Nick laughed at the pair as the car left the parking lot behind.