I've been chuckling to myself about the cover art I added to this story for a while now. Whiskey and gummi-worms, all the fuel this story needs to get back on track! I had some other piece of art with Nick and Judy kissing that I was going to put on here… But I was like "Fuck it! Let's just show what inspired it!"

Truth be told, I don't have all that much writing to do before this story actually comes to its end, at least on my part. I already have some later chapters good and done, so it's just a matter of getting through this part, and all will be well… (read that last part in a creepy cultist voice) That is unless my brain comes up with more funny things I have to write… Oh gosh, this story could potentially never end…

"Wilde!" Nick held his conman smile as the buffalo shouted in his face. "What are you doing here? You're on suspension!"

"Believe me Chief, I haven't forgotten what happened yesterday. And I promise you, it will never happen again. But I'm not here because of that, I'm just reporting a theft." Nick was wearing usual street clothes, and as such it had taken Bogo a moment to recognize him in the lobby of the ZPD.

"I don't believe you." The chief glared down anger distorting his already gruff face.

" Really?! I thought that was a pretty safe promise. I don't think I could get Carrots to puke in your office again if I tried." His smirk grew ever larger.

"I don't believe you came here to report anything." He motioned to a couple of nearby officers. "Escort Wilde of the premises."

"Hold on there, I was telling the truth. Check with Mary, I'm reporting my stolen bicycle." The fox gripped a large pink box in one hand and pointed to the zebra.

The cape buffalo turned to the woman behind the desk. "Is this true?"

"He is in the process of filing a report sir." She tapped against her clipboard.

Bogo's dismay way evident, and the fox's smile only worked to anger him even more. Nick tried to easy the chief's worry. "I'm just going to wait here in the lobby sir, I have to stay here until I speak with an officer. No reason to fret over me."

"Get someone to talk to Wilde now." Bogo huffed, and started to walk off.

"Oh jeeze, I wouldn't do that if I were you." Nick's words made the chief turn his raging eyes back to him slowly. "I mean you wouldn't want to show favoritism to an officer over the general public now would you? That could look really bad…" A few disgruntled faces popped up when the fox's words had reached them. "I think it's better if I just wait my turn like everyone else."

Bogo knew he had been bested. It wasn't every day that he had to deal with a conman trying to work his way into the ZPD, especially not one who worked for him. "Fine! But you don't leave this lobby. Do you understand Wilde? One foot further into the station, and you're under arrest."

"I hear you loud and clear buddy, not a single misstep." He winked at him, knowing it would get a rise out the buffalo, who took a few quick deep breaths,then stomped off to the back of the building.

"So why are you really here Wilde?" Delgato asked him.

"Am I that transparent?" Nick smiled back at his coworker.

"Yes, everyone can see you're just pulling his tail. He's already mad at you, so what are you getting at?"

"Have a donut." Nick opened the box he was holding and offered it to Delgato.

"Well… Ah you got one of the chocolate ones!" He quickly snatched the brown ring from the box.

"Just for you big guy. You're right of course, I'm not just here to hand out donuts, and get my bike back. I was actually hoping I could talk to you."

The lion was halfway through the donut when he replied. "Really? Me? What about?"

"See here's the thing. Everybody knows Bogo is mad at me and Carrots right now." Nick closed the box.

"Carrots?" Delgato raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"Hopps." Nick said, watching the lion nod when he put it together.

"Congratulations by the way. So when did you two start dating anyway?"

"That's kind of a long story." Nick diverted his question to stay on topic. "So, Judy and I want to make it up to the chief. Coincidently, his birthday is coming up soon, so we want this to be kind of a surprise, so don't tell him."

Delgato nodded in agreement. "Oh, I see."

"Yeah, now you're getting it." Nick kept up the smile while he talked. "So I was hoping, maybe you know something about Bogo that I don't. Like, what are his ambitions? Maybe something he always wanted to do? Or, is there something he just loves? A gift he always wanted? Anything about him really."

"Hmm, nothing is coming to mind… Last year's secret Santa didn't go so well… so not a sweater." The lion's comment stirred a laugh out of Nick.

"Well, I'll talk to the rest of boys around the station, and see if they can't help me out a little more."

"Uh, you're not allowed to leave the lobby. Not unless you want to do it in cuffs anyway."

Nick's grin turned devious. "Why do you think I bought one of each officer's favorite kind of donut?"

"Oh ho! You're clever." The lion brushed the fox's shoulder with his fist.

"Go spread the word around the bullpen before they head out. I'd like to talk with them too." Nick nudged him with his elbow.

"Sure thing! Hey they've gotta know something more than me." The lion waved back at him while making his way to the briefing room.

Bogo stopped Delgato as soon as he was out of Nick's sight. "Delgato, what did Wilde say to you?"

The lion's smile mirrored Nick's. "Oh he was just asking me about the ball game. I told him I didn't catch the score."

Bogo saw the corruption take root right in front of him, and there was nothing he could do. "As you were Delgato." He peeked around the corner to see the fox sitting in a chair waiting patiently. "What are you up to Wilde?"

Nick pulled his phone out of his pocket and called Judy, who answered immediately. "Hey Nick."

"Hey there cutie, you make any headway on the loophole situation yet?"

Judy was sitting in her room digging through book after book trying to find the legal answer to their problems. She hit her head on the book in front of her repeatedly. "No! It's airtight so far. I need more time. How's it going scraping info up on Bogo?"

"Same here Carrots, I've only gotten to talk with Delgato so far, and he doesn't know anything useful, other than 'not a sweater.' Plus Bogo's keeping a close eye on me here at HQ."

"You went to work?! Are you insane? The chief's going to strangle you."

"Don't worry about it Carrots, we've already had a nice little chat. He's not doing anything but watching right now." Nick was laughing as he continued. "He thinks I can't see him behind that plant in the lobby, it's hilarious." He watched the officers in the bullpen start to pour out and head his way. "Gotta go Carrots, I've got a bite. Let's see if I can't reel in a fish. Love ya!"

"Love you too…" Her voice was frustrated and drawn out when she hung up.

"Hey there guys, who wants a donut?" He donned his conman face once again, and gave a wink to the potted plant in the corner of the room before he was surrounded.

Judy blinked her eyes several time to relieve the strain. "There's nothing in here…" She cracked her neck and stared at the book again. "You can do this Judy." She told herself before giving it another ten minutes of reading. "Oh come on there's got to be something… Let's start back at the beginning." She flipped the pages of the book back to the officer requirements. "Ok, an officer must twenty one years of age or older, have at least a high-school diploma, yada yada yada, said mammal weigh at least sixty pounds… Hold on a second." She looked at the page closely. "There's no notation on that?" The page yielded no answers to her question. "Then how are Nick and I officers? We don't weigh fifty pounds put together." She threw the book down and shuffled around the ones on her desk till she found the one that had information on the mammal inclusion initiative.

She opened the tome and rifled through the pages. "There's got to something in here." She found it more than annoying when she realized it was mostly a press piece. It didn't cover any of the detail in the document about that law of utmost importance, as it had made her an officer. A quick search online didn't yield more than was in the book. "That doesn't make any sense. The law states that a mammal must at least weigh sixty pounds." She put her paws to her temples and rubbed them in circles. "Think Judy, think… This is hopeless!" The bunny pushed herself away from her desk and spun her chair around and around. She was slouched back with her ears hanging limp over the head rest. "I need to talk to someone who knows more about this…" She stopped the chair. "That's it!" She sprung her head up her ears shooting to attention. "I have to talk with someone who knows more about this! Leodore Lionheart!" She grabbed her phone off her desk, and called Nick.

"Hello?" She heard him on the other end of the phone.

"Nick! I think I found something. You're already at the station right? Can you see if someone will look up Leodore Lionheart for me? I need to talk to him." There was ample excitement in her voice.

"Wait, Mayor Lionheart?! The one you arrested!? Why on earth would you want to talk with him?"

"The mammal inclusion initiative breaks the requirements for ZPD officers. We're supposed to weigh at least sixty pounds, but somehow it gets around that. I can't seem to find the details of it though, I'm hoping he'll know more."

"If you think that's a good idea I'll back you up… But it might be a bit tricky to get it my hands on that info quickly. I'll see what I can do."

"Thanks Nick! Let me know as you find out. Love you!"

"Love you too Carrots, bye." He hung up the phone. Nick was still waiting in the lobby, he looked around to see if any officers were passing by when he saw the stout rhino making a pass. "McHorn! Buddy, want a donut?" he opened the box to show the contents.

"No thanks Wilde I'm trying to watch my weigh-ooh you've got one of the lemon ones!" The rhino snatched the donut from the box, and stuffed it in his mouth. "Ah that's good."

"Hey maybe you could do me a favor."

"What is it?" Mchorn asked between bites.

"Well, you know how Hopps got Mayor Lionheart arrested right?" Nick was still giving his signature smile.

"Yeah, what about it?"

"She's always kind of felt bad about it. I know it seems weird, right? But he was just trying to protect the city after all. Anyway, she's been wanting to apologize to him, and I was wondering if you could help me arrange it. As you probably know… ha… We're both kind of suspended."

McHorn laughed harder than Nick felt was appropriate. "I heard what happened alright! You know there's better ways to announce you engagement than mass text after horking in your boss' office…! Congratulations by the way."

Nick laughed nervously. "Heh heh, Thanks… You probably shouldn't tell that to Judy…"

"So when did you two start seeing each other anyway?"

"A while ago, listen. If you would be so kind, we already have the week off. If you could just look up where Leodore Lionheart is, we could pay him a visit."

"You know we're not supposed to use the police database for personal reasons Nick." McHorn replied stern and uncaring.

"Of course, I certainly do. And if you're not comfortable with helping me I completely understand, no pressure! I can always go to the courthouse and look it up myself. So really you'd just be saving me a couple of hours." Nick smiled at him a bit more genuinely than normal.

McHorn sighed heavily. "That's all you want to know? Just what prison he's in?"

"Yes that's all."

"I'll do it. But don't tell anyone about this." McHorn started to walk off but Nick stopped him.

"Hey McHorn. You've got some…" He pointed to his mouth. "Powdered sugar… on your face."

The Rhino wiped it off and said "Thanks." He rounded the corner and returned five minutes later. "Sorry that took a bit, but this threw me for a loop. He's not in prison anymore."

"Well that was a short stint." Nick responded in shock.

"That's what I thought too. Apparently none of the mammals who he captured pressed any charges. Seeing as he was trying to treat them for the Nighthowler serum, and he was doing it out of his own pocket, I guess nobody was too mad at him. He didn't technically commit any other crime, so they released him. You can find him at his home address." McHorn passed the fox a small piece of paper with said address written on it.

"Thanks a million Bud! I owe you one."

"Just don't mention it. I gotta go, see you sometime next week I guess."

"Sure thing, have a good week buddy!" He waived at the rhino then pulled his phone back out. He sent the address as a text message to Judy before calling her.

"Nick, did you get the-" The phone chimed in her ear. "Hold on." She looked at the message she had received. "You clever fox! I'd kiss you right now if I could."

"They really do need to make phones that let you do that. Is that all you needed Hun?"

"Yes, that's it for now. I'll talk to you later. Love you."

"Later Carrots… I love you too."

Judy hung up the phone, and grabbed a coat. She closed the door to her apartment and grabbed a cab. About twenty minutes later she arrived. It was more than a house to her surprise, Leodore Lionheart lived in a mansion. "Politicians usually are rich to begin with." She muttered to herself realizing how dumb she felt for thinking anything less. She rang the buzzer on the gate.

"Who is it?" She heard the lion ask from the other side of the speaker. A camera above her head whirred down to view her. "Oh it's you… I swear I didn't try to help anyone, there's no reason to arrest me!"

"Har har Mr. Lionheart. I'm not looking to arrest anyone…" She steeled herself for what she was about to ask. "I was actually wondering if you could do me a favor? Pleeeease?" She squeaked out the last word in a high pitch.

A ridiculous amount of laughter could be heard through the speaker. "Y-You got to be joking right?" He continued laughing. Judy's ears dropped flat, and she frowned slightly. "Hold on, hold on. I'm gonna come outside so I can laugh in your face!" Sure enough, the lion was true to his word. He opened the front door, walked down his driveway and stood at the gate pointing in her face and laughing. "You can't be serious right? You're going to ask a favor, from me?!"

"It's not a big one." Judy slumped her head.

"That's even better! The smaller it is, the funnier this gets!" After a few more seconds of laughter the lion couldn't hold on to his jubilant nature any longer. "What could possibly make you think that I would ever help you again? Hmm?"

"Because despite the path you chose, you were trying to do the right thing." Judy could see that her words cut deep.

"That's what you think of me?" She had given the lion reason to pause, but not enough to change his mind. "I don't buy it, if you believe that then why did you arrest me?!"

"Because Leodore, that's my job. I had to make a call. I made the one I thought was right at the time. If you were in my shoes, would you have acted any differently than I did?"

Lionheart thought for a moment, but shrugged his head to the side. "I don't have to listen to this."

Judy called out to him one more time. "I'm sorry! Ok?! But not for what I did."

The lion shook his head in disbelief. "Well then what are you sorry for?"

"I'm sorry for what happened to you. Your career was ruined. Your name was thrown in the mud. Look, Bellweather hurt a lot of mammals, not just the ones she darted. The incidents of violence on predators went up drastically after we found the missing mammals. You knew that was going to happen, and you tried to stop it. You were given an impossible choice because of cruel circumstances, and you made the one that you thought would help people the most. You deserved better than what happened to you, because you deserved better than the cards you were dealt."

Lionheart stood there trying to process what she said. She had touched the very core of his issues. "So you're saying I'm not very lucky." He chuckled mildly, and shook his head. "Sheesh… It's never a good idea to get in your way Hopps, that's for sure."

"Are you saying you'll help?" Excitement peaked in her voice.

"I'm saying I'll listen! But that's all I'm promising!" He pointed a finger at her, still holding the slightest of a grudge.

"Ok, where to start…" She gathered her thoughts. "I'm a police officer." He rolled his eyes. "Of course you know that. I'm a police officer because you enacted your mammal inclusion initiative. Now, some things happened, and well I'm engaged." She flashed the ring on her finger. "The problem is the mammal I'm engaged too… is also my partner."

"Oh ho ho ho! This is too good!" The lion was cackling wildly. "You came to me, so that you could break the rules, because it feels like the right thing to do!"

"You don't have to rub it in my face." She was pouting.

"Yes Hopps, yes I do! You have no idea how satisfying this is." He rubbed light tears from his eyes. "That's just great." His laughter slowly died. "So what exactly do you want?"

"I just want to know how the mammal inclusion initiative works."

"What that's it? Really? You could have tricked me into telling you so much easier than this whole mess. I love talking about the things I've done, everyone knows that. Especially the things that make me look good! You could have hired a fake reporter to ask me how it worked, and got all the information you wanted." He slapped his paw to his forehead. "I can't believe this… What exactly is it that you want to know?"

"Well it's impossible for a mammal to become an officer if they weigh less than sixty pounds correct?"

"Yeah, that was the big problem we had with the whole thing. It was a mess trying to change the regulation on who could become a cop, so we just created a new job position that had all the power, authority, and responsibilities of one. It's indistinguishable from a normal officer, other than we didn't add the weight restriction."

"So all we have to do, is create a new position which doesn't have the same requirements?" Judy was tapping her feet in joy.

"Sure but it's not going to be easy! One, the only reason I was able to do that was because I was mayor. Two, you're going to have to convince the current mayor to want to do it. Believe me Mayor Woode is a pain. I served with him on the city council. He doesn't like to help others unless they've done him a favor first. And three, Chief Bogo has to be on board, even if the mayor forces him to fill a new position, he can still choose who he wants, or at the very least fire you for going over his head." The lion was scratching his mane.

"Thank you! So! Much! You've been a huge help. I've got to go now." Judy happiness was about unleash itself in full force.

"Umm…" Lionheart was confused why he had done what he did. "I guess you're welcome."

"If you ever need anything let me know…" Judy began running to her cab, but turned back to speak again. "Un-unless it's kidnapping mammals again. I won't do that."

"There is something you can do for me Hopps!" The bunny stopped to pay attention to him. "Next time, don't get me involved in this. If you had just checked with payroll you would have found you had a different job ID number than other officers. The dirty little secrets are always hidden in payroll. Check with them first!"

"Thank you!" Judy yelled and waved at the lion who had lost interest and was going back to his house. She got in the cab and asked the driver to take her back to her apartment. During the ride she called Nick, again.

"Hey Carrots, what's the word?"

"I found it Nick! I found it! I found our loophole!" She was bouncing in her seat.

"That's great Carrots!" He clenched a fist in victory. "How does it work?"

"Lionheart told me the mayor can create a new position in the ZPD, one that doesn't have the restrictions on romantic involvement."

Nick let out a grimace. "So we just have to convince the mayor to do a ton of paperwork to help us out…"

"Don't give me that tone Slick. We took down two mayors before, this time we only have to convince one to help us." Her words were snarky.

"Eh, well you did just get Leodore to help. I'm not sure how you did that by the way, but good work Carrots."

"Oh Nick, there is one more thing. I don't know if it will help, but Lionheart also said that dirty little secrets are usually hidden in payroll. It might be a good idea to go check with them, maybe they know more about Bogo."

"Couldn't hurt, I'm not getting a lot of info from anyone. I'll talk to you later."

"I love you Nick!" She shouted in his ear.

He winced from the phone. "Love you too Carrots." When he hung up the phone he spoke to himself quietly. "I do love her, but it's getting annoying saying it every fifteen minutes." He shook his head. "Now how to I get to payroll without Bogo slapping me in irons?" He looked at his phone, and smiled. "Don't have to, it's break time." The fox walked outside stopping to ask a mammal who was standing there smoking. "Hey can I bum a cigarette off you? I'll pay you for it."

"Sure." The hippo replied giving him a cigarette that was big enough to be a cigar for the fox.

Nick passed him a five dollar bill. "Thanks." He walk around the side of the building, staring at the giant cigarette in amazement. He made his way to the side entrance, and there they were, the smokers from the payroll department, standing around their little ashtray. "Hey, can I get a light?"

"Here you go sugar." The old armadillo's voice was grainy and coarse. She was plastered with too much makeup and had obviously been chain smoking for the past two decades, not that Nick cared, but it showed. She held out a lighter and spoke slow as she usually did. "I didn't know you smoked Wilde."

He lit his oversized cigarette. "I don't all that often, but I've been stuck waiting in the lobby all day. I just want to get outside for a little bit." He passed back her lighter.

"I heard you were suspended."

"That's true Margaret." He smiled at her. "Both me and Hopps."

"That's a shame. You two make great partners." She took a deep drag of her cigarette. "And a cute couple at that."

"It really is…" Nick already knew she would be willing to help. "You know, we're trying to get back on Bogo's good side. You wouldn't happen to know anything that might help us?"

"Nah, Bogo's one tough cookie. He doesn't give away a lot about his personal interests."

"Really? You don't know anything?" Nick let his shoulders slouch in disappointment.

"Well…" She took another drag between words. "I'm not sure if it's what you're looking for, but there is something."

"Anything would be helpful." He pleaded with her.

She ashed her cigarette into the tray. "So about two years ago, I notice something odd. Every month or two Clawhauser starts getting around six hours of overtime, all in one day mind you. So I go talk to Bogo about it, and he says 'It's fine, he's just doing some extra work.' I wouldn't have thought anything of it, but it's only Benny boy getting the hours, and he gets them after he leaves work for the day."

"You're sure about that?"

"Absolutely. I had to stay extra on day where he got overtime, and I know he wasn't at the front desk."

"That's… interesting." Nick puffed his cigarette, though a trail of smoke burned his eyes.

"I thought so too." The armadillo took one last puff. "I've got to use the bathroom Wilde."

"No problem Margaret, and thanks for the help." Nick snuffed out his oversized cigarette, then made his way back into the lobby. "Where's Clawhauser?" He asked himself looking around the department. When his eyes met Mary still sitting at the front desk he put two and two together. "He's still doing parking duty." He smacked his forehead with his paw.

"Wilde!" Chief Bogo yelled loud enough for everyone to hear.

"Yes sir, what is it?" Nick saluted his superior.

"We found your bicycle…" the Chief said, then motioned for Grizzoli to wheel it out. "Now there's no reas-"

But the chief was cut off by Nick screaming. "What!?" The fox was breathing heavily. "You found it?!" He ran over quickly to inspect it. He looked over the scratches, and found his name carved into the side of it. "I can't believe it! You really found my bike! That is so awesome!" Bogo was stunned to see Nick's overzealous reaction. "You are the best chief ever!" The fox ran up and hugged Bogo's legs.

The chief stood there awkwardly. He had no clue what to do. "Um… you're welcome… You can let go now Wilde…"

"Thank you so much chief! I owe you a big one!" He grabbed the bicycle and ran out of the ZPD with it as happy as could be.

The officers just stood there watching him hop on it, and ride it away. Nick briefly tried to ride with no hands, but almost crashed, which got a few chuckles out of the mammals watching him. "Do you think he really only wanted his bike back?" Bogo asked.

Grizzoli scratched his head before answering. "Judging from his reaction…? Yes…"

Nick was thrilled. He rode the bike downtown with an enormous grin on his face the whole way. "I can't believe this!" It didn't take him very long until he managed to track down Clawhauser. "Ben! Check it out, I got my bike back!"

"Hmm, hey Nick." The cheetah waved back at him.

Nick pulled up and stopped next to his coworker. "It's awesome… Can I ask you a question Ben?"

Clawhauser had no clue as to why Nick was so happy. "Sure go ahead."

"Well, it's about overtime…"

Ben's eyes immediately gave a worried expression. "Ha, ha, what about it?"

Nick pointed at him with one finger. "You are an open book Benny! Let's do ourselves a favor and skip the part where I have to convince you to tell me why Bogo's paying you extra. Besides I know you want to tell me anyway."

The cheetah grabbed Nick's face. "Not so loud… Alright fine, here's what's going on. The chief and I do a little extra security for public events. It's nothing illegal, but it's kind of… iffy…"

"Security for what?" Nick grinned as he asked.

"Don't tell Bogo I told you this... He's a closet fan of Gazzele."

"Is that it?" Nick folded his ears back.

"Not just a closet fan. Like the biggest closet fan! I caught him playing with that app, you know they one where it puts your face on dancing tiger." Clawhauser reached for his phone and pulled up the app as fast as he could.

Nick reached out and shoved the phone back down. "Yeah, you've showed me like a million times."

Ben scanned the area to make sure no one was listening. "So, after that he kind of half bribes me to keep it a secret."

"I'm listening."

"Her concerts are big events, and they usually want some police presence. Even if it's just a few officers." Ben nodded his head. "We arrange ourselves to be extra security, and go to ever single show… I'm technically on the clock for public safety, so I get overtime."

Nick rubbed his chin. "That's kind of sketchy Buddy."

"It's not that bad. We have to arrest some people who were getting out of hand, so we really are doing the job. Plus, not every officer would want to attend the concert."

Nick more or less agreed with the cheetah before speaking. "I've got to know, just how big of a fan is Bogo anyway?"

"Oh the biggest! If you ever go to his house he's practically got a room dedicated to her. Not that he lets anyone in there, but I caught a peek once."

Nick grinned. "Creepy, but what you're telling me is, that if you want to get on the chief's good side… then all you have to do is arrange something with Gazelle?"

"Yes, he completely loses his mind over her. I'm sure meeting her would send him right over the top." The cheetah was fiddling with his vest nervously.

"Hmm… I think I can do better than that. Maybe… Thanks Ben! And don't worry, I won't tell anyone about this." He stood back on the pedals of his bike. "Except Judy, but I'll tell her mum's the word. And good hustle big guy, you keep this up and you're gonna be a svelte little cheetah in no time!" Nick rode off.

"Bye Nick!"

"Later!" Nick yelled back at him. "Score!" He continued to himself. "I've got to tell Judy." He reached for his phone, but stopped. "Nah I'll tell her in person." He stood up on the bike to gain more speed. "Yes!" It didn't take that long to get to Judy's apartment, and to his surprise, he found her getting out of a cab right out front. "Carrots!" he yelled getting her attention.

"Hi Nick! What are you doing here? I thought you were at the station." She paid the driver and walked over to him.

"I think I found something- but hey, are you hungry?"

"I could eat."

"Good!" Nick picked Judy up.

"What are you doing?" She asked giggling.

"Get in the basket we're going for a ride." He kissed the top of her head and set her down in the wire cage over the handlebars.

"Shouldn't we be wearing helmets? Nick? Nick?" She gave up quickly when it became apparent that he wasn't going to yield. "What did you find anyway?"

Nick explained the events of his day as they rode, and Judy relayed her part back to him. A plan was coming together, slowly but surely. "It's a long shot Carrots, but I think we can pull it off."

"It's more like four long shots linked together," Judy's voice was snide. "but if there's a chance we have to try."

"That's what I want to hear!" Nick was working himself up over the plan. "So what do you want to eat?"

The rabbit averted eye contact and was rubbing the back of her neck. She spoke nervously. "I kinda want more chicken."

Nick was happier to hear it than she would have imagined, but that's only because in his mind he knew that veggies were no longer the only thing they'd be having for dinner. "Sure! We can go get-"

Nick was cut short as a sheep child jumped in front of the bike and yelled at them. "Hey that's my bike Mr. Fox! Give it back!" The fox clenched on the brakes, causing the tires to screech.

"Did you take this kids bike?" Judy asked more shocked by the thought of him stealing it, rather than actually blaming him.

"No no no. I'm sure the cops grabbed it. But it's not what you think." Nick smiled at the kid, and pulled Judy out of the basket. "I tell you what kid. I'll give you this bike, if you listen to a story. Does that sound fair?"

The child's eyes gave away his mind's inner workings. The sheep didn't know what was going on, but he wasn't about to trust the person whom he thought stole his bike. "You promise?"

"I absolutely do." Nick replied.

The kid cocked his head to the side and gave his response. "Ok."

"Good." Nick started. "See a long time ago, I was about eleven or twelve years old. I had a bike, just like this one. In fact, it was this one. See over here." He pointed to the scratched that spelled out his name under the seat. "That's me, Nick Wilde. Well I loved this bike. I used to ride it everywhere. I had so much fun on this thing… But then one day, some jerk stole it from me. I was devastated."

"Aw Nick." Judy said tugging on his hand.

"It's no big deal Carrots. Now after that, I grew up. I honestly never thought I would see this bike again! So this morning, I needed a reason to be in the police station."

The kid was hooked on the story. "Why did you need to be there?"

Nick's mind tried to find a quick way to sum up what had happened, but it was more complicated than he had the patience to explain. "Long story, don't ask. But I reported it stolen, thinking there was no way they cops could find it. Then you know what happened?" The kid shook his head. "They actually found it! After twenty one years, I got to ride my old bike again. I was thrilled!"The fox smiled in joy, but it faded into concern. "I'm pretty sure Bogo made the whole force to look for this thing just to get rid of me… Whatever." Nick handed the kid the handlebars. "I'm too old for this little bike now, I don't need it anymore. You take it, and make sure to lock it up."

"Thanks mister!" The kid hopped over the seat and pushed on the pedals to go, but the fox grabbed the back of the seat to stop it.

"One second there kid." Nick said and then reached into his wallet. He pulled out a twenty, and handed it to him. "Thanks for letting me ride it one more time. Go get some ice cream." He patted the child on the head.

"Awesome! You're a good fox, you know that Mr.?" The kid immediately rode away happy.

Nick smiled at the child. "Thanks! Take care now!"

Judy shouted after Nick. "And wear a helmet!" She leaned again her fox. "That was really sweet Nick. You know, I think you'd actually make a pretty good Dad."

"Ugh, how dare you."