Got my fountain pen to sort of work
Perfect timing kits, grumbled Judy to herself as she arrived at the school. Right on the cusp of some possible leads and this had to happen. But - on the other hand - letting the two junior detectives gnaw on the case would be good for them. As much as she wanted to solve it, she also looked at herself as something of a mentor, helping them find the way as well.

But back to the more immediate matter.

She was ushered to a chair to wait outside the principle's office. Odd how that never ceased to make her just a tad uncomfortable, not that she had to do that -very- often back in the day. That she sat across from a very upset Moose Mother and her nearly as large calf was a bit much though. The huge cervid made a point of not looking at her directly, fine by her for now. The girl calf had her right fore hoof wrapped up and was looking very intently at the floor. This was not going to be good.

"Mrs. Hopps, the Principle will see you now." Judy went inside to meet Dr. Amber, a Meerkat, whom she had met before.

And there were the Twins, looking very contrite. Martin was rather disheveled, and Judy felt a bit disappointed that he'd gotten into a fight with anyone, especially a female, regardless of size. Seeing her face, Mabel piped up, "It wasn't him, Mom, Clair was picking on him and I busted her hoof."

Judy looked to Dr. Amber. "I'm afraid so. Clair began harassing Martin, verbally at first, then, apparently, when she couldn't get a rise out of him, began to prod him, rather violently."

Judy looked to her kit, he was trying so hard to be brave, and likely more upset that his Mother had to be called than any provocation or injury.

"Then his Sister intervened, simply leaping up and dislocating one of her hooves."

That was a surprise, though before Judy could ask, Mabel explained. "Detective Sylvan taught us some cervin-specific self-defense moves. I guess I did it a little too hard." In that, Judy had the small comfort in seeing she took no pleasure in her dubious accomplishment, and clearly regarded it for the violent mistake that it was. And it reminded her that skunks tended to be a lot stronger than others might think.

"So, what happens now?"

Dr. Amber pulled at her muzzle, then told the Twins to wait in the outer office. Then to Judy, "I'd like to think Clair learned her lesson and we can now just get on with things. But she has had some other problems. Did you see her Mother?"

Judy nodded.

"She, more than her Daughter, has some issues and as long as..."

Judy could sympathize, both with the Principle's dilemma and the dysfunctional family, as she had to deal with a tragic number of them back in her ZPD days.

"The best I can do is make a strong suggestion that they seek some counseling, but have my doubts. Otherwise, this will have to go to the authorities. But for now, she wants to lawyer up and make a case of it."

Judy made a face. "Do you have any surveillance on it?"

Dr. Amber made her own face, "Yes." She resented that a modern middle school would ever need such security measures, but there it was.

"Well, let's share a look with her."

Dr. Amber ushered in the Moose, Mrs. Horton. Clair was left to sit in the outer office, across from the Twins, everyone studying the floor tiles intently.

Mrs. Horton was clearly dismissive of both the Meerkat and the Bunny, such small creatures, but as it seemed that was going to be the case, she'd play along if it meant getting satisfaction.

"So, what are you going to do about my Clair? Those two dirty little hooligans need to be locked up."

Judy was too shocked to be angered by that, and simply gawked at the cow.

Dr. Amber simply grimaced. "Mrs. Horton, I do not believe you understand the full circumstances of the matter."

"What's to understand, My Clair is violently attacked and injured."

"Mrs. Horton, I have a recording of the incident, and would like you to review it with us."

The image was pretty good, the view in a hall way, and there was Clair, following Martin, poking at his back and haranguing him, "Talk to me stinkbutt! Just try to say something, huh! You and your freak Bunny 'Mom'. At least your 'Dad' had the good sense to get himself shot. One less pervert pred." At that Martin turned to face the towering Moose. "That's right." She jeered, "And you stinking mini-freaks would be better off gone too." She gave him a hard blow to the chest that had him stagger. He steadied himself and continued to silently glare back at her. At this point Mabel appeared. "Step off Clair!" The moose sneered, "Or what, freak two?" And as she cocked her arm to give Martin another blow, Mabel leaped up and grabbed her hoof. It wasn't clear what she did, but there was an audible 'pop' and Clair shrieked in pain, clutched at her hoof with her other. She stood there in stunned surprise for a beat, then ran out of view.

"See, the little beast clearly attacked and injured my Clair."

"And that she did so in the defense of her Brother? After your Clair had already verbally abused and stuck him?" Dr. Amber struggled to remain cool and calm.

"That's not the point! My Clair is hurt and I want justice!"

At this point Judy interrupted. "Mrs. Horton, Judy Hopps, former ZPD. In the matter of 'justice' your Daughter has just committed a hate crime under the new ISC statutes. And though she is a minor, given that she is also a class F mammal, she would be regarded as a special threat and would require to be in sequestered supervision for the remainder of the school year, at least." Judy was amazed as to how calmly she just delivered that, as she was otherwise seething in rage.

"You wouldn't dare! No former cop is going to intimidate me!"

"Oh no, you don't understand. It won't be up to me or Dr. Amber. Any formal action on your part will initiate the process. She will be charged as a first step. Further, Family Services would have to do an evaluation of her home and family environment, which would mean an examination of you."

The Moose's eyes widened in outrage. "How dare you, you gimpy little pervert. I have no intention of subjecting myself or my Daughter to any of this." She rose and loomed over the tiny Bunny.

Judy merely sat a bit more upright. "I would not do that if I were you," calmly pointing to the hoof that was being brought up to strike her.

Mrs. Horton paused then collected herself, "I don't have to stay and listen to this!" She stormed out, "Clair, we're out of here!"

The Twins saw fear in the poor Calf as she slunk after her Mother. However, The Cow stopped in her tracks with the two security officers that blocked her path. One was a huge Kodiak Bear who towered over even her, the other a Wolf. They were politely neutral in the face of the snorting cervin who now backpedaled a couple steps. Her rage immediately reduced to intimidation.

Dr. Amber carefully instructed the pair, "Mrs. Horton is a bit upset." Then to the Moose, "Ma'am, I'd recommend you have a seat for a few to better collect yourself." She did not include that the ZPD would then arrive to arrest her for assault.

A very wrenching couple hours later, Judy and the Twins were done with the process. The two had been very brave throughout, calmly answering questions about everything. But by the time they got to the car, they were both in tears.

"Oh, you guys. You're not in any real trouble, it was that poor Calf and her - ah - Mother, who were the real problem."

"If only I'd, I dunno, avoided her better." Martin whimpered in self-reproach.

"You shouldn't blame yourself for another's actions like that. And if it wasn't you, she might have gone after someone else, with a much worse outcome." Judy was proud of how restrained he'd been in the circumstance. She'd like to think the skunk's stubborn bravery was more than just 'biology'.

She had also some tragic first hand experience with terrible, even fatal, incidents with children of disproportionate scale acting out against each other. By middle school, it was hoped that the children had enough socialization to be able to mingle safely, that was why it was an all species campus.

Mabel too was in tears over everything, though, like her Brother, was likely more upset about how it had dragged her Mother into all of this in a time of Familial anxiety.

"Its okay guys, really. And I've got a couple detectives at the apartment working on the case. So we ought to get everyone something to eat." Maybe that would distract them out of their funks? On that point, she'd better call in and find out what they might like.

That wasn't too bad, veggie burritos for Avila and the Twins, and greens for herself and Sylvan. Nick's appetite had been off, but there was chicken soup -shudder- in the fridge for him as needed.

When they arrived, Judy was greeted with good news, the inquires were coming up with plenty of information. But also some bad news.

"Judy, I went to see how Nick was doing," Sylvan whispered, "Ya know if he wanted anything, and I found him..." She seemed aghast to continue.

"What?" Judy clenched in fear.

"Binge-watching Carter and Briggs episodes. He's totally out of it."

"Oh NO!" And Judy rushed to the bedroom. There he was, bundled up in blankets, disheveled and dim-eyed, watching the TV. He didn't appear to have noticed her at all.

"Nick. Nick? NICK!"

"oh. Hi, Jude. Jus' catchin' up on my stuff." His eyes never left the screen.

Judy grabbed the remote and turned the TV off. Nick whined and sulked, but in a dull, almost feeble fashion. Then she noticed the smell. "Oh Cheese!" and she felt him, he was hot. And another thought. His pain meds. He hadn't taken them all, but he clearly had been taking more than he should have.

He had been atypically depressed after the shooting, and at first, she had assumed it was just the disruption talking. But each day he seemed to be sinking deeper into dismay.

She called the medical help desk and described his condition. They confirmed her suspicion of an infection and over-use of the pain meds.

Judy groaned, her poor Nick. She went back out to tell everyone. "Nick needs to go back to the hospital. They think its 'nothing critical' but he's not doing all that well. I'm taking him in now." Addressing Sylvan, "Can you keep an eye on things while I'm gone?" referring to the Twins.

"Yes, Ma'am." And she gave Judy a goofy salute. Then, "Before you go, we've created a time line and are connecting who knew what with the various comm traffic. Nothing solid yet, but we've only started."

"Great. I have no idea how long this will take. But let me know if anything jumps up at you."

Back at the hospital, they confirmed the infection, put him on anti-biotics and took him off of pain meds altogether.

As they waited for check out, Judy regarded her mopey fox. "Dang it Nick, you'll be the death of me yet."

Nick flinched at that. Then in frustration, "This has been so - I don't know. Like everything got pulled out from under me. Suddenly I'm an old, crippled critter. Can't take care of myself." He clutched Judy's arm, "Can't take care of my own."

Judy could see the pain and frustration in his eyes, that for the first time in the last few days seemed properly clear. "Well, even if you're sick at the moment, getting you off the pain meds ought to clear your head. And when we get home, you can take a look at what your protégé has been doing on the investigation."

Nick cheered up with that, and in a mock old geezer voice, "Yeap, taught that young whippersnapper everything she knows, by golly!" It didn't have the flair he might have hoped for, but showed it was the old him coming back.

"That's my Nick!"

This isn't where I wanted to break things, but my brain isn't being helpful at the moment, so I'm tossing this out as is, otherwise it might be a fair while before anything more gets done.