Nick tugged at the taming collar around his neck. God he couldn't wait until he could take it off. It was the biggest pain. Still...he couldn't complain too much. At least he got to take it off. Not every predator in Zootopia was so lucky. Not a lot of them wanted to, but there were always the rebels. They just didn't know what they were missing.

"Hey Wilde Thing."

Nick looked up to see a gray fox walking down the alley towards him. She was a bit shorter than he was with some splotches of red fur along her neck, that continued along her body underneath the black shirt she wore tucked into a destroyed pair of denim shorts. He smirked at the vixen as she leaned against the wall next to him. "Hey Cassiopeia. Ready for tonight?"

The vixen rolled her eyes, "It's Cass, for the millionth time. And yes, the equipment is all set up. Finnick showed up with...you know...about an hour ago. How about on your end? You don't look like you're selling tickets."

Nick smiled down at her smugly, "That's because I already sold out."

"What?" The younger fox exclaimed. "But that's more than five-hundred-"

"Are you getting nervous, Cassiopeia?" Nick asked playfully. Cass glared up at him and he laughed, "Relax Cass, no one is going for you."

His smile faltered a bit as he watched her fidget with her own taming collar. He remembered when he was younger. He had looked forward to the day he got his taming collar. Everyone had. Now he wanted nothing more than to have it off at all times. He wasn't the only one, though. They couldn't take it off forever, though. Still, they could take it off tonight. He wrapped an arm around her shoulder and pulled her into him for an awkward sideways hug. "Everything is going to be fine, Cass."

She smiled up at him and shook her head before pulling away from him, "Come on, sap. We still have things to do."

Smirking, Nick shook his head and followed her.

Judy Hopps was frustrated. She had forty-eight hours to solve Emmett Otterton's case. She'd looked over the little evidence that she had and combed over the area asking if anyone had seen the otter and nothing.

At least...at first. Finally, she got a lead. A brown bear named Phil Jones, who turned out to be Emmett Otterton's tailor, informed her that the last time he'd seen Otterton was at a little get together a few weeks before and they'd spoken about seeing each other at the next gathering. She asked where it was, but he wasn't any help there. He said that he didn't remember, brushing off the lack of evidence on his supposedly bad memory and worse sense of direction. Judy didn't believe him, but she didn't press the matter. She didn't have enough evidence or cause to press it. The bear did give her something else to go off of. He suggested that she find someone named Nicholas Wilde. He'd know where Otterton had gone after the party.

Unfortunately, finding a Nicholas Wilde in Zootopia was easier said than done. She'd found two-dozen Nicholas Wildes in Zootopia because Clawhauser was kind enough to let her use his log in at the ZPD. After that she had to go door to door and talk to all the Nicholas Wildes in the database. The first was a rhino. He'd never met Otterton. Then there was a beaver. A lion. A woodchuck. After the woodchuck she actually met another otter, but she was disappointed to find that he didn't know Emmett Otterton at all.

She'd been at it for more than an hour before she made her way to the last apartment. It wasn't exactly homey. Sure, her apartment was small and her neighbors were obnoxiously noisy, but at least her building didn't look like it was held together by old plumbing and duct tape. She went through the building and eventually had to ask for directions. The place ended up being by the service elevator. She could hear voices inside and she swallowed a lump in her throat, hoping that one of the occupants was Nick Wilde. She reached out her paw and knocked on the door.

Inside, everything went silent. Judy hoped that she wouldn't have to knock again and announce herself.

Just as that thought entered her mind the door opened and a found herself face to face with a gray vixen in a pair of jeans and a black tee shirt. . She couldn't help but tense a bit, recalling all the times her parents had warned her about shifty and sly foxes. She swallowed a lump in her throat and cautiously asked, "Nick Wilde?" She immediately felt like a fool. Nick Wilde was a fella...right?

The vixen sighed and rolled her eyes, "What did he do?"

Well at least she had the right door. "Oh, no he hasn't done anything...that I know of. I just wanted to ask him a few questions about a case."

The vixen pursed her lips together and glanced over her shoulder. She looked wary, but said, "Alright, I'll get him. Just a moment."

She left Judy at the door and the officer couldn't help but glance into the flat. It was unfinished, to put it lightly. There were no windows and the pipes were leaking...outside of the walls. A few of the pipes were being used to hang clothes, making a makeshift closet. There were some buckets on the floor collecting water from the more leaky pipes. Suddenly Judy felt a bit better about her tiny studio apartment. Sure, this one was quite a bit larger than hers, but it didn't look like the best place to live. She didn't want to judge though. Everyone just did their best. Besides, Judge Judy? How stupid did that sound?

Finally, a larger fox came to the door in slacks, a white button up shirt, and a black tie. He was a red fox who was taller than the gray fox that answered the door. Judy swallowed a lump in her throat, but pushed her fear aside before asking, "Nicholas Wilde?"

"That's right." The fox answered politely.

She pulled out her badge and showed it to him, "I'm officer Judy Hopps with the ZPD. I just have a few questions about my investigation."

The fox nodded and stepped aside to invite her inside, "Of course, officer. I'm sorry about the state of the apartment. We weren't expecting company."

Judy was pleasantly surprised by how polite he was. Her only real experience with foxes was with Gideon Gray when she was a kid and that...hadn't ended too well. "It's alright. This should only take a few minutes. Are you familiar with Emmett Otterton?"
"Nick knows everyone!" The vixen called from the back room.

Nick chuckled and shook his head, "I'm sorry about Cassie. She's not the best at keeping her nose in her own business. She's right, though. I do know everyone. I haven't seen Emmett for a while though. Maybe two weeks, give or take."

Judy nodded. It sounded about right, "A Mr. Jones said that the last time he saw Mr. Otterton was at a party you threw, is that correct."

Nick nodded, "Yep. It was Cass's birthday so we wanted to celebrate with some of our friends."

"Oh that's fun!" Judy exclaimed without thinking. She regained her composure once she cleared her throat and shook her head, "Did you happen to see where he was going after he left?"

Nick shook his head, "No. I saw him get into a car and leave, but that's it. I know where he was coming from though."

Judy was about to ask where Otterton had come from, since no one else knew. She felt a tug on her sleeve and stopped suddenly. She looked down and found herself looking into a pair of big brown eyes. It was a tiny little fox in a gray and purple onesie sucking on a binkie. "Hey big guy." Nick said bending down and picking up the newcomer. "Sorry about that. This is my son, Finnick. He's a little rascal sometimes. Finn, this is officer Hopps."

Finnick waved his tiny little paw and Judy couldn't help but feel her heart melting. Perhaps it was because she had so many siblings, but she had a soft spot for kids. She smiled and waved back.

The vixen burst into the room, now wearing a green sun dress and looking frantic until she saw the little fox in Nick's arms. "Holy rabies," she panted, "I just turned around to get dressed and he was gone."

Nick chuckled, "It's alright, Cass. He just wanted to meet Officer Hopps."

The tiny fox reached out and leaned towards his mama and she took him. Judy just smiled. The little guy's ears seemed to be too big for his body, but that was alright. She was sure he'd grow into them. One of her brothers' ears were so long that he would trip on them and now they were just fine. She wasn't sure if that was how it worked with foxes. He was adorable. "He's quite a looker. I'm sure that he'll be a heartbreaker."

Nick chuckled, "Yeah. He wasn't exactly...part of the plan."

Cass shook her head and cuddled the little fox closer to her, "Yeah, but once he looked at me with those big, brown eyes I knew we were never letting him go."

"Adoption rates for foxes aren't...exactly the best anyway," Nick added. "But we make it work."

Judy heaved a sigh and shook her head, "It just breaks my heart that people have such backward ideas about foxes." She ignored the fact that she'd been a bit biased against them before getting to know them better. She'd had her eyes opened. "You two are great parents."

Cass smiled up and Nick and he wrapped an arm around her, "Well we do our best. It's always nice to be appreciated."

The cuckoo clock on the wall went off and Cass jolted, "Holy smokes, we're going to be late."

Nick shook his head and took Finnick out of her arms, "You head over, Finn and I will be along as soon as we've finished with officer Hopps here." She nodded and gave Nick a kiss on the cheek before apologizing to Judy for having to leave so soon. Once she was gone Nick explained, "Cass has been trying to make it as a singer since she got out of school. Tonight's her first real gig."

"Well good for her!" Judy exclaimed, "I'm sure she'll be great. If you could just tell me where Mr. Otterton had come from I can be right out of your hair."

"Of course," Nick said, setting down Finnick and reaching for a post it note. He scribbled down an address and the name Yax, "There. I know Emmett frequents this club quite a bit. If you talk to Yax then he'll know where your man went...he just won't know it at first. Also...you should probably know it's not exactly the most...savory place."

Judy took the post it note and assured Nick, "I'm sure I can handle it. I was the top of my class at the academy."

Nick smiled, "That's impressive, officer. Just...be ready for anything."

She nodded, but thought to herself that she wasn't just a token bunny. Still, she had no idea that he was trying to warn her that she would be heading to a naturalist's club. "Well, I can't thank you enough for your time, Mr. Wilde. It was very nice to meet you and your family."

"I assure you, the pleasure was all mine, officer," Nick replied, smiling charmingly. "If you need any other help then, please, don't hesitate to ask. Would you like me to walk you out?"

"That would be lovely, thank you." Judy smiled. Nick got a stroller for Finnick and held the door open for Judy before locking up and escorting Judy out of the building. They made more small talk. Finnick made some funny faces at Judy, which she laughed at before returning the favor. Once they reached the street Nick kindly pointed her in the right direction before bidding her farewell. Judy found that she had more bounce in her step after meeting the Wilde family. It was nice to finally meet someone nice in this city.

Judy couldn't help but feel a bit violated after her visit to the naturist community. It hadn't been a total loss though. Nick had been right. Yax knew everything...after he tried to get the information out of a very naked elephant yoga instructor. To boot he had even given her the plate number for the car he'd gotten into. A car that matched the description of the car Nick Wilde had told her had picked Otterton up from the party. Now all she had to do was go back to the station and get someone to run the plate for her since she wasn't in the system.

She was heading back to her little car when she saw a familiar face, one of the only familiar faces she knew. She was about to wave and say hello to the family when she realized...there must have been trouble in paradise. She ducked away behind the alley, not wanting to impose on them. They deserved their privacy. She wasn't expecting them to duck into the same alley she had wedged herself into and she burrowed behind a garbage bag so they wouldn't notice her.

"Don't you tell me to calm down," Cass snarled. "If you tell me to calm down one more time I swear I'm going to-" there was a loud zap and Cass yipped in pain from the shock from the taming collar. "I hate this stupid collar!" She exclaimed, yanking on it to make her point more clear.

Nick sighed and rolled his eyes, "That's why I told you to calm down. Besides, we didn't do anything wrong. The testimony I gave to the rabbit was all truth. She'll find the car and we won't be involved anymore."

"You aren't stupid enough to believe that, Nick," She snapped, "Otterton isn't the only one in our circle who's gone missing and it's only a matter of time before it's linked back to us. All you've done is bought us a bit of time."

"I know that," Nick said, leaning closer to Cass and dangerously lowering his voice, "But them going missing has nothing to do with us."

"I know, but once it circles back to us no one will bother looking any farther because we're foxes."

Nick heaved a sigh, lowering his head, "I always hated how blunt you are about the world. It makes it harder to be happy with it."

Cass shook her head, her ears and eyes turning down, "Of course it does. It's impossible to be in an unfair world."

An ominous silence hung through the air and Judy was certain her heart was beating a million miles a minute. "Come on," Nick said at last, "Mammals will be showing up soon. We have to be there before they are."

Cass agreed and finally they left.

Judy waited a bit before emerging from her hiding place, her nose twitching as she tried to process her thoughts. She could run the plate later. Now...she needed to find out more about the missing predators. Shen made sure the Wilde's hadn't seen her before she began to follow them.

Hey guys, thanks for reading! Don't forget to review, I shall love you forever.