A/N: Here we are then. The start of this untold (by me at least) journey. Hope you enjoy what you're about to read, and that my writing doesn't scare you away from FanFiction in general forever.

This was bad, she knew as much, but she could still come out as victor. She just needed to keep her cool and everything would be alright. They had nothing on her, no one had, that's why she was able to become mayor in the first place, there was no evidence of her involvement with the Night Howlers.

"Ooh, actually..." 'No. No, no, no, no.' The bunny that had recently become the bane of her existence whipped out a carrot pen.

"And I'll dart every predator in Zootopia to keep it that way," her voice echoed in the museum, but she didn't utter a word. Her face quickly morphed into confusion. 'When… How…'

"It's your word against yours. It's called a hustle sweetheart! Boom," the bane continued, now with a smile so smug on her face, it could rival the one on the fox standing beside her, helping her stand on her feet.

Everything came crushing on her at once. She had been fooled. Those two managed not only to swap the serum from the gun, but record a confession too. She had to run, if she was quick enough she could get t- Her train of thought died instantly when she turned around and saw the looming figure of Chief Bogo barring her retreat. In that moment Mayor Dawn Bellwether realised she got busted, and in a barely audible whisper she uttered her last words as a free mammal, "Oh, mutton chops…"

The museum was bustling with activity now, officers running to and fro collecting evidence, cordoning scenes and keeping the media, that seemed to appear out of thin air at the slightest mention of a crime, out of the way so that they could do their work. Now that everything was under control, Chief Bogo allowed himself to relax, even if only a little. He trusted his officers, and knew that he could trust his life in their paws. Speaking of officers, the only one to ever quit the force under his command was now sitting in the exhibitional pit right below him. Not only had she uncovered one of the biggest conspiracies of the history of Zootopia, again, but she did so without the help of the ZPD, again. The fox that helped her on her first case was there too.

After he openly challenged him in the Rainforest District, Bogo decided to look him up in the system, and was unsurprised when nothing came of it. He didn't get to be the Chief after stopping at the first set back however, and did some more digging through more, unconventional ways, finally being able to put a name to the seemingly constantly smug face of the fox. Turns out he's Nicholas Wilde, small time hustler that skirted just above the edge of crime, never quite taking the plunge, but never backing up either. According to Judy's report on the 'Missing Mammals' case, he was a cardinal point in the resolution of the mystery and by the look of things, he played an important role this time around as well. He had to talk to both of them sooner than later, but for now he had to make sure they were alright, and judging by the look of extreme discomfort on the bunny's face everytime she moved her leg, she might be injured. A shiver of concern traveled the length of the stoic buffalo spine.

"Hopps, everything alright down there?" he asked in his usual gruff and booming voice. He didn't mean that to come out as aggressive as it did, but after years of being the Chief of Police in a city as big and full of mammals as Zootopia, having to deal with every kind of crime everyday, being curt and to the point had become second nature to him. He had lost count on how many time his wife berated him for addressing her with his 'cop voice' as she dubbed it. To her credit however, Hopps didn't even flinch, simply smiling and responding in a cheery voice,

"Everything is fine, Sir! Just waiting to get out of here!" that slightly improved the gruff buffalo's mood, up until the fox to her side opened his damned mouth, "Speaking of," Nick added, voice dripping with sarcasm, "if it happened some time this year, that would be lovely," and just like that, any shred of sympathy he might have had for the vulpine evaporated like a snowball in Sahara Square.

"Shut your mouth, fox!" bellowed the Chief, already fed up with his attitude after only a few words. The response he got was a lazy two fingers salute, which only helped in souring his already plummeting mood. He snorted at that and turned on his heels. He hated to admit it, even if only to himself, but Wilde had a point. They needed to get out there, and it was up to him to make that happen. "Higgins call dispatch! I want a bus down here and I want it yesterday! Grizzoli, get Wolford and go down to the subway station and set up a perimeter! And for the love of everything that is holy, someone find a damn ladder and get those two out of there!". All the addressed officers sharply saluted and echoed "Yessir!" before turning and started to work on the newly received orders. Bogo suppressed a small smile at the efficiency of his underlings, 'Good'.

Sitting on one of the fake rocks of the exhibit she was currently trapped in, Judy Hopps was feeling a lot of things all at once.

She felt tired after dealing with all the ordeals she had to go through to get here, pain from the injury on her right leg, that wouldn't stop throbbing with her every heartbeat and happy that everything had come to a close, the bad guy was behind bars and the city was safe once again. Most of all however, she felt proud. Proud of finally solving the case and saving the city in the process. She had now became the hero everyone seeme to think she was all those months ago. She knew it was undeserved at the time, she didn't help the city, she only worsened the already airy state it was in, hurting every predator of the community while doing so. Now however, it felt right to think of herself as the heroine of the story, ultimately being able to achieve her kithood dream; Making the world a better place, and she knew she wouldn't be able to do so without the help of the fox sitting beside her, who was currently examining her wound, making sure it wasn't bleeding too much. It was him that knew where to find Weaselton, and it was his quick thinking that allowed them to come up with the switch of the serum. He saved both of their life that day, and she was sure she would never forget that.

"Earth to Carrots, are you there?" called Nick, breaking her out of her reverie, a slightly concerned look on his muzzle.

She quickly nodded, and with a smile that could melt an iceberg in two seconds flat she responded, "Sorry, was just thinking on how lucky I am to be with you, Slick"

"Whoa Fluff, I'm flattered, but this is a little too fast for me. We could at least go on a couple dates before diving straight into marriage." Replied Nick, a shiteating grin accompanied with a set of half lidded eyes to complete the cheeky expression he so often wore on his face. Blood rushed to the bunny's ear and cheeks at the implication, then her nose going into overdrive realising her own wording.

With a firm punch directed to his shoulder and a barely contained shout, she shot back, "Nick! You know damn well that was not what I meant!".

In response, Nick only chuckled while massaging the now sore spot right above his arm, before assuming a more serious face, "Joking aside, how're you feeling? Everything okay?" he asked, the same look of concern as before quickly replacing the seriousness. Despite the fight they had, and the months they spent apart he still cared for her, even after she unintentionally hurt him along with all the predators in Zootopia, he was still looking out for her, and that made the fondness she was feeling for him plant even deeper roots into her core.

She didn't have time to dwell on it however, because she soon realised that Nick was still waiting for an answer, now standing in front of her. "I'm fine, really!" she quickly assured, "Just coming to terms with everything that happened. My leg is starting to throb though." she confessed, the pain now even more prominent than before.

"Yeah about that, stay still for a moment will ya? Need to check if the bleeding stopped, or at least didn't get worse," as he was speaking, Nick repositioned himself, now crouching in front of her injured leg, and started to slowly unwrap the makeshift tourniquet he applied earlier, examining the gash that run through the length of her shin. This elicited a small whimper from Judy and the fox's ears pivoted in her direction, although his eyes never left the wound.

After little more than a minute of careful observation, coupled with the occasional sniff, Nick seemed somewhat satisfied of the condition of her leg, and gently rewrapped it a second time, making sure to be as careful as possible so not to hurt the already fatigued bunny more than what was necessary. "Well good news is you're not going to bleed to death, at least for now," he exclaimed shooting a grin in her way.

"Har, Har," was the immediate response from Judy, already more than accustomed with is wit.

"But I'm not sure if it's infected or not," continued Nick, "I didn't smell anything wrong with it, but I could be wrong since my medical knowledge only goes so far," he admitted, finally looking her way. He saw confusion on her face and mimicked it, "What?"

She continued her confused staring before asking, "What do you mean you don't smell anything wrong?"

Nick smirked at that, and while pointing at his nose, explained, "Well, it may not be as good as a wolf's one, but my sense of smell is still very accurate. So most times than not, I can smell an infection coming before the symptoms start to show."

Judy was only more confused by his explanation, "Wait, what does an infection even smell like?" Nick frowned while thinking how to describe the odor of an early infection.

After a couple of seconds of pondering, he settled with, "It's similar to almost rotting flesh and puss? Kind of? It's not that easy to describe really."

Now completely lost, Judy decided to drop the subject entirely, knowing that she wouldn't make heads or tails of what Nick was trying to explain without being able to smell it herself. So she tried to get some small talk going, both to distract herself from the pain, and to keep talking to the fox she didn't see for so long. "So Nick, what have you been up to in my absence? A busy conmammal like you must've had a lot going on everyday, right?" she immediately cringed at what she just said, 'Mouth meet foot, I'm sure you two will get along nicely', she quickly tried to recover, but a chuckle from Nick stopped in her tracks. Looking at him she saw the small smile on his face, and visibly deflated now that she knew he didn't take it the wrong way.

"Smooth, Carrots. But no, I wasn't really doing anything lately, just lazing around and generally doing as little as possible."

Quirking an eyebrow at the response, the bunny asked, "Why's that?"

An almost imperceptible flash of discomfort passed on the con's face, before being hidden by his usual smug appearance. "That, Fluff, is a topic for another time. Right now we should be thinking on how to get out of here," said Nick before looking around in the pit for any means of escape.

"The Chief already sent someone to fetch a ladder Nick, I'm sure you heard him shout, just like anyone else in the museum for that matter," pointed out Judy, slightly put off from the swift change of subject.

"I sure did, but personally, I'm getting tired of waiting and you still need someone to check that leg," rebutted the fox.

She had to admit he had a point there. They had been waiting for almost an hour now, and it didn't seem like they would get out of there anytime soon. Still, there were no stairs coming down into the pit that she could see, nor any ladder so she had to wonder, "Alright, and how do you propose to get out of here?"

Still looking around in the pit, Nick noticed a thick bundle of cords snaking down the wall of the pit on their far left. It was painted to seemingly mimetize with the background, and connected all the spotlights placed around. A smirk appeared on his face, 'I knew all the climbing I did with those stupidly heavy popsicles on my back would pay off someday.'

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Judy was hanging from Nick's back while the fox was climbing the bundle of cables he found. Initially she agreed to let herself be hauled by him after the vulpine assured that it would be feat well within range of his capabilities, but now that they were halfway to the top, Nick was starting to struggle, and Judy was starting to fear another plummet to the ground was in her near future.

"I told you, hnng, I got it. We'll be out, hnng, in no time flat, hhng," grunting with every pull upwards, Nick was trying his head around the considerable struggle that he was enduring, 'How can someone so small weigh so much?' He wasn't one to give up easily however, especially if he thought his pride would take a hit for it. They were three quarters of the way up now, a mere four feet between them and freedom, so he mustered all of his remaining strength for a last bout of climbing.

Judy felt Nick jolt upwards, and had to cling herself tighter around him not to fall to the floor underneath. Her body now flush to his, she felt every muscle in Nick's back ripple and tense, before relaxing and tensing again shortly after. Her leg wrapped around his stomach felt his abs do the same thing with every lurch skyward, and she had to wonder how she never noticed how fit the fox actually was. Her reverie was cut short however, when with a last grunt -almost a growl- Nick finally brought them to the top and slowly lowered himself so that she could dismount from his back. She gingerly put her uninjured leg on the ground first, still keeping one paw on Nick for stability before sliding down all the way. After a couple of pants the fox straightened up once more and helped her standing like he did when confronting Bellwether, a paw behind her back tucking under her armpit to keep her steady. She smiled, "Thank you."

"No problem Fluff, now let's find that doctor, what do you say?" asked Nick, a smile that seemed so much less sarcastic than usual on his muzzle. She nodded and they turned towards the entrance of the museum before spotting the Chief animatedly talking to a bear officer, wildly gesturing to the pit at the same time. Said bear turned his head at their direction and his eyes became the size of saucers, and meekly indicated with his paw towards them.

The Chief briefly glanced their way, only to do a double take, his eyes wide open as well. The pair saw him mouth something along the line of 'what the…' before his expression steeled again and he turned to them fully.

"Hopps, how the hell did you get out of the pit?" Bogo almost shouted while quickly heading to them.

Before Judy had the time to respond, Nick interjected with a very smug smile, "Well Chief, since the ZPD seemed unable to help us, we decided to take the matter in our paws. Again," she swiftly jabbed her elbow on his ribs, glaring at him, but all that accomplished was setting an even more smug smile on his face.

The Chief, on the other hand, was barely containing himself. This insufferable fox was mocking him and his officers a second time. And just like the first time, he had a point, they did leave them in the pit for an hour, and everyone on the scene failed to produce a ladder in that time. While he admitted (if only to himself) that the fox was right, Bogo wasn't about to concede the point to him publicly, deciding instead to get back to work. "Hopps get your boyfriend in check before I do it myself!" he immediately saw her snapping her head up to him and starting to blubber some rebuttal about their relationship, so he stopped her before this conversation could be dragged on even longer, "Whatever you're about to say, I don't care. What I do care about, is what happened here before we arrived to see the Mayor threatening you with a gun. Explain."

Once again, Judy tried to speak, before getting interrupted for the third time. Apparently this was becoming a thing now. "She will explain, but only after a medic has had a look at her injury. She waited an hour to get checked, I'm sure you can wait a couple of minutes for your field report," rebutted Nick, his tone gone from smug to annoyed. He couldn't believe that was the first thing he asked after she got out of the pit. Bogo was already low on his scale of his list of people he respected after the stunt he pulled with Judy's first case, and was descending even lower by the second.

And what do you know? The buffalo in front of him was annoyed as well. Very annoyed. "Do not tell me how to do my job ever again, fox," advised -or more like threatened- Bogo, clearly over the limit of his patience for Wilde, or anybody else for that matter.

"I will once you learn how to do it yourself," Nick sassed back instantly, his brain preparing the comeback while the chief was still talking. Running his mouth was a vital part of his job after all.

What wasn't part of his job was how to deal with a visibly irate and offended two tonnes cape buffalo with steam coming out his nostrils. While he didn't show it outwardly, Nick was quickly starting to regret his last remark, trying desperately to come up with a way to save his hide.

Luck seemed to be on his side that day, since Judy spoke before the Chief could unleash on him. She had reached the boiling point too, and decided that it was about time for her voice to be heard as well. "Enough! Both of you. I will give you a rundown of everything that's happened Chief, but not my official report. That will wait until after I get to see a doctor," both males wanted to say something about the conditions set by Judy, but the glare she sent to the pair when they respectively tried to open their mouths had them reconsider any response that wasn't a 'yes'.

Finally both party agreed, and she was able to get the Chief up to speed. Through her recounting of the events of the day Bogo had a variety of emotions displaying on his face, ranging from disbelief to astonishment down to awe. It was an incredible tale, and if he didn't already know what this little bunny was able to accomplish, he would've doubted most of it was more than fabrication. But this was Judy Hopps, and he learned not to underestimate her anymore. After her retelling was finished Bogo sighed, mentally going through everything once more, "I'm gonna need both the recorder and the pellet."

"Of course, Sir," said Judy, before producing her carrot pen, and giving it to the cape buffalo. A beat passed and Bogo still had his hoof open towards her, waiting for the pellet. The pellet that Nick had. Which he still had to hand over. Without breaking eye contact with the Chief, Judy nudged Nick, prompting him to give the serum to him.

During the whole affair Nick had been sagely quiet, not wanting to test his fate with both the buffalo and the bunny. Quiet but observant, and that's why he noticed Judy rapidly losing her pep during her speech. He ears were less upright, her eyes wavering and she was clutching onto him more and more by the minute, exhaustion clearly written on her face. It was understandable after all they've been through, and being honest, he was feeling quite tired too. Even if he didn't show it, his ribs were aching from the headbutt the ram that threw them in the pit gave him, and he was fairly sure he still had some stuffing in his mouth from the fake deer Judy tossed in his face during their act to fool Bellwether. But in that moment he was too focused on her well being to care about his own. She demonstrated her trust in him in that pit today, not only letting him chase after her while pretending to be savage, but also letting him put his teeth around her neck. He took extreme care not to break skin with them of course, but it was still very faithful of her, and he decided he would repay that trust in any and all way possible.

That was why he failed to realise the two mammals were still waiting for him to hand over the Night Howler's serum he had in his pocket. The nudge Judy gave him however brought him back to reality, and with a sheepish green gave the small pellet to Bogo, who accepted it with a grunt.

"Very well. I believe that with the serum in hand, the doctors at Zootopia General will be able to concoct an antidote. Excellent work Officer Hopps," at those last words Judy's eyes grew the size of a saucer.

"S-Sir, I resigned three months ago, I'm not an officer anymore…"

"Nonsense, you spent the last three months undercover in BunnyBurrow collecting evidence and investigating the savage attacks. Next time however, I advise you don't leave your badge behind," as he said this, Bogo put a hoof in his trousers pocket, producing a small badge from it and handing it to the dumbstruck bunny that was staring at him like he had suddenly grown an extra head.

Carefully taking the shield with her free hand, Judy was trying to discern if this was really happening, or if the blood loss from her leg was playing tricks with her mind, "Sir, I… I…"

With a rare smile on his face, Chief Bogo threw her a lifeline, "Welcome back, Hopps."

Now on the verge of tears, Judy stood at attention on her good leg, sharply saluting her superior, "Thank you Sir!"

For a second more the buffalo regarded his smallest officer with fondness, before reverting to his normal stoic demeanor, "Now go get that leg checked Hopps, and don't show your face at the Precinct before Monday, am I clear?"

"Yessir!" beamed the bunny, overwhelmed with happiness. She couldn't believe what just happened and was currently on cloud nine. She barely registered Nick directing her to the front entrance of the Natural History Museum, heading for the medical bus that Bogo called in. She came back to reality once in front of it, and a caracal EMT quickly helped her in the vehicle and on a stretcher. "I've already been told about your leg wound," started the caracal whose nametag read 'Nathan Clawberg', "Is there any other injury I need to be aware of?"

"No just the one on my leg," answered Judy, the tiredness now back after the short burst of happiness faded. She needed get some rest soon, and she was anxiously waiting to do just so. Fate however had other plans.

After removing the improvised tourniquet and placing it on the side of the stretcher, Nathan carefully examined the wound on her shin, poking and prodding here and there, occasionally sending jolts of pain up the limb and making Judy wince hard. Nick was quickly on her side and offered his paw for comfort, which she eagerly took. With a hum and a nod, Nathan returned his attention to the bunny and gave his prognosis, "Okay. Good news is: The wound isn't that deep, so any long lasting muscular damage is out of the picture. Bad news is: You're gonna need stitches, and we don't have the equipment in the bus to apply them so we're gonna have to bring you to the closest hospital, which is Savannah Central Hospital. I'm gonna bandage your leg for now, until we're there."

To say that didn't please Judy would be an understatement, she had no other choice however, so she acquiesced. She'll have to wait a little more to get that rest it would seem, but at least she had Nick at her side to keep her company and help her through this too. Speaking of which, "Would it be alright if he came with me?" she asked the caracal nodding her head towards the fox, hoping that EMT would consent.

"I don't see why not, unless he doesn't want to," shrugged Nathan, not really bothered by Nick's presence.

With pleading eyes, she turned to Nick, asking without speaking for him to remain. Nick smiled, really smiled, with no hints of smugness or slyness, and spoke for the first time in what was probably the longest time he remained silent since she knew him, "I'm not going anywhere Fluff, don't worry," this filled her with happiness once more, and she squeezed his paw thanking him.

After five more minutes Nathan finished cleaning and bandaging her leg, and he excused himself from the pair, moving towards the front seats to let the driver know the destination and that they were ready to go. Seconds later the bus engine came to life, and they quickly headed to Savannah Central Hospital. Throughout the entire the surprisingly short journey, Nick never let go of Judy's paw.

A/N: And that's a wrap for Chapter 1! What did you guys think? Should I go into hiding and never show my face around here ever again? Should I continue? Let me now! Comments and reviews are greatly appreciated!