(THANKS FOR 250+ WATCHES)

A gazelle nurse from the City Hall infirmary was treating Nick’s mildly burned hand. Wrapping it up in bandages he chuckled embarrassingly as Judy grinned and sighed at him. “I know it was shocking, but I think you overreacted there Nick.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Nick said as he rubbed the back of his head with his uninjured hand.

Bogo was rubbing the bridge between his eyes as Leona and Lionheart wear still a little confused at Nick’s bizarre response to her proposal. Leona cleared her throat to get Nick and Judy’s attention as the nurse stood up and made her way out of the office. “I’m sorry if I surprised you Mr. Wilde. I didn’t think you’d take my idea so...extremely.”

“Oh no no no,” said Nick waving his hand back and forth, “It’s alright. It WAS a shock but only because of something my mom said to me earlier at the precinct.”

“What was it?” Judy asked.

“......nothing,” said Nick as he cleared his throat, “So uh...what was it we were talking about before that little coffee cup mishap?”

“Well,” said Leona, “I suggested that in order to help draw out Anonymous, I asked you two to pose as an inter species couple around the city.”

“Riiiiiiiiight.” Nick adjusted his posture in his chair to make himself look more serious towards their conversation and even sported a stern expression. “Please, continue.”

“Thank you.” Leona gathered up the files she had laid out and stacked them up into a neat pile. She was going to do this after suggesting the idea but Nick’s little accident forced her to put it off. “I’ll be keeping the files with me as we can’t let these get out in to the open. Of course I’ll still provide you with them for information should you wish to help aid the investigation in any way. Also, if either of you produce your own information regarding this, I humbly ask you to present it either myself, Lionheart here or your Chief there. As I said we can’t allow any info on this made public just yet and we wish to keep it that way.”

“Understood ma’am,” said Judy, “If I know myself I’ll be thinking stuff up and writing them down instinctively. But I’ll make sure not to keep them to myself.”

“Thank you Miss Hopps.”

“I’ll do the same thing,” said Nick, “Granted, Judy here is way better at intelligence gathering than me but I’ll also share anything I myself come up with as well.”

“What do you mean,” asked Judy, “You’re pretty smart. After all you came up with that strategy to catch that forger should he try to make a run for it.”

Nick scoffed. “Yeah I guess that was pretty cool.” Chief Bogo cleared his throat. “Something on your mind there Chief?”

“Well,” he said sternly looking away from Nick and Judy, “I wouldn’t say something like THAT is smart. More like reckless and unnecessary.”

“Oh come on,” said Nick jokingly, “It wasn’t that bad.”

Bogo looked back at Nick with a more agitated expression than stern. “You incited a scurry across a crowded street when you could’ve simply arrested him on the spot Wilde.”

“That was just in case he actually decided to run. He could’ve just given up there and made it easier for himself. Come on, you have to admit planning something like that and for it to go one hundred percent perfectly was pretty clever.”

Bogo, now agitated, pointed at Nick. “The day I admit that your unorthodox cartoon-y little plans are actually clever is the day I promote you to detective Wilde!”

Leona cleared her own throat and looked Bogo with an annoyed look. “Chief Bogo, can we please save this for after we’ve concluded our business here?”

Bogo stopped pointing at Nick and placed his hands behind his back. Taking in a gentle breath through the nose and letting it out he spoke calmly. “Sorry ma’am. Please continue.”

“Thank you.” She turned her gaze to Nick. “And you Mr. Wilde. I don’t know what it is you did to apprehend a criminal and I don’t care right now. Please be quiet until after I finish discussing our plan for completing this objective please.”

Nick answered her calmly. “Can do.”

“Right. So, as I said earlier; our plan is to have the two of you act as an inter species couple around the city doing obvious things a couple would normally do. Due to your notoriety in thwarting Miss Bellwether and saving the city from turning against itself, you two would be the ideal targets for Anonymous to go after. I doubt they’ll target you two during the broad the daylight and surrounded by large crowds of animals. Since they have picked their targets in more secluded areas it’s clear they’re not trying to induce a panic just yet. Once the seed has been planted we’ll devise a plan to lore them out and catch them. Once we do, and if either of you have fallen victim to his unknown serum, we’ll learn how he created it and create an antidote to reverse the effects. I know that you two might be thinking we’re asking you to put yourselves in danger, but I hope that this is a risk you’re both willing to take. It may still seem sudden to ask this of you two but the sooner we stop this individual the sooner we can all get back to our lives.” She shrugged her shoulders a little. “So...can I rely on Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde to help the MCIA with this?”

Nick and Judy both looked at each other. She smiled at him confidently first and then Nick sighed. He knew that there was not going to be any way of talking her out of this so he grinned and nodded to her. They both looked towards Leona and Judy gave her the answer. “You can count on us Miss Leona. Anything to keep our city and its citizens safe from another maniac.”

Leona grinned proudly. “Thank you both. You can start the plan tomorrow. Me and my agents will begin planning on how, where and when we plan to apprehend Anonymous. I highly doubt they’ll try something until then but it’s still possible they might. Be careful you two.” She picked up the stack of files and put them back into the briefcase and handed it to Chief Bogo. “If you need to get in touch with me just ask Bogo. He’ll also be keeping a watch on the files, so if you need to look at them for any help as well just ask him for that too.”

Judy and Nick both nodded and then left their chairs. Nick fidgeted with his still sore and bandaged hand as they made their way out of the office. Once the door was closed, Bogo made his way back over the secret door from earlier. As the door began to open and stopped to turn around and see that Leona was still sitting at Lionheart’s desk with him. “Ma’am? Aren’t you coming?”

“I’ll catch up with you. Me and Lionheart here need to have a talk of our own in private. Nothing you need concern yourself with. I’ll meet you back at the ZPD and we’ll brief Miss Hopps and Mr. Wilde tomorrow.” Bogo was at first curious what she wanted to talk about with the mayor, but he knew that it was not what was important right now. He made his way through the secret passage and closed the door behind him. Once it had fully shut, Lionheart broke his silence that he had been doing for a while now.

“So,” he said with a calm yet hesitant voice, “I think I already know what it is you want to talk to me about.”

“I think you do too.” Leona let out a calm sigh as she leaned back in her chair and the two turned them to face each other. “How long has it been?”

Lionheart leaned forward and locked his hands together. “Couple of years give or take?”

“You mean since we’ve seen each other or how long it’s been since you last talked to him?”

Lionheart pondered and then shrugged. “The first one. He tends to call me every month to tell me how he’s doing and what new thing he’s seen or done.” He smiled after he finished talking.

Leona chuckled and grinned. “Yeah. That’s just like our son. He always did love telling us what new thing came up in his life.”

—————————————————————————————————————

In the front hall of the building, Nick and Judy were making their way to the front door as he continued to mess with his bandages hand. “Nick, cut it out.”

“Sorry Carrots.” He said as he gnawed the edge on the bandage by his wrist. “My hand still stings a little but these bandages are so tight and uncomfortable. Just want to loosen them up some so my hand can be comfortable while it heals up.”

Judy chuckled. “Well that’s what you get for crushing a cup full of hot coffee in your hand.”

“Well what that Leona lady said surprised the heck out of me! I mean come on! We’re best friends and partners and she was acting like we actually boyfriend and girlfriend! It embarrassing!”

Judy stood silently for a brief moment and whispered to Nick. “Uh Nick, the only thing that’s embarrassing here is the number of eyes that are looking at us right now.”

Nick fell silent as his expression turned the same as it did the day Judy caught him in tax evasion. He was almost like a statue as he darted his eyes back and forth and saw at least a quarter of the animals in the main hall looking at them with curious looks on their faces. They didn’t know what Nick was talking about, their attention was merely caught by his loud voice. Nick gathered his thoughts and then cleared his throat. “I think we should take this outside Carrots.” He said with a serious tone.

“Yeah,” Judy said sarcastically, “Pretend you don’t know it’s your fault.” She grabbed him by his bandaged hand and started pulling him towards the front door out of City Hall. Nick cringed from the jolt of pain but kept his shriek bottled up. Everyone who was looking at them simply went back to their business at hand.

Outside Judy let go of Nick’s hand after they reached the sidewalk where their moped was parked. Nick grabbed his hand and examined it. “Did you really have to grab my injured hand? You could’ve grabbed this one. You know the one that’s not bandaged.”

“I panicked okay?” Judy said with a blank stare. “Besides I think you kinda deserved it for almost causing a scene back there.”

“Yeah you’re probably right.” He said while rubbing his injured hand gently. Judy felt bad for hurting him, but she could tell that he agreed that he deserved a little punishment for almost embarrassing the two of them back there. She decided that she would properly apologize to him later.

As that thought was processed in her head, the both of them went silent as they stood there awkwardly looking at each other. Once Judy was done with her thoughts, she puffed up her cheeks a little and gently let out the air in her mouth while she looked away from Nick.

Nick also looked away from her as he rubbed the back of his head and placed his injured hand into his pocket. They both knew they had to talk about what just happened and what to do next but both wanted the other to be the first to bring it up. To their surprise, they both spoke at the same time.

“Hey-“ They stooped immediately. The last last time this happened was when Judy tried to talk to Flash at the DMV. Nick was the only one who had that thought. “Heh, that kind of took me back. Please Carrots, you first.”

“Oh,” Judy said with a little surprise, “Thanks. Umm, I was going to say that I want to think about this. Gather my thoughts some more and maybe do a little research into this new case. Do you mind if we just meet back up at the apartment in a few hours? You can take the moped. I don’t mind going for a walk.”

“You sure?” Nick asked as he took the moped keys out of his other pocket. “I was going to say that I wanted a little time too, but I was going to run us back first.”

“No no,” said Judy holding up her hand, “I’m fine. We’ll take some time for ourselves and then meet back up at the apartment. I have a feeling that Miss Leona will get in contact with us tomorrow at some point. So we should take this time to get ourselves mentally ready. You’re not the only one who’s anxious about this whole thing you know. I may look like I’ve kept my cool but I’m as freaked out as you are Nick that they want us to fake date to draw out a dangerous individual.”

Nick could tell that she was serious. He may have known her for months now but there’s still so much that he has yet to learn. He smiled at her and then extended his hand to her. “Alright Carrots. We’ll meet back up after we’ve had our me times.”

Judy smiled back at him and grabbed his hand and they shook. “Do what you can to prepare yourself, because I’ll be doing the same thing.”

Judy started to walk down the street as Nick got on the moped and started it up. Judy was going to head to the park while Nick went off in the opposite direction. In said park, Judy sat down at an empty bench as different animals, singles and couples alike, strolled around enjoying the afternoon air and sun. Judy took in a deep breath and exhaled to calm her nerves. She then took out her phone and scrolled through her contacts. Once she found the person she was looking for she clicked on FaceTime. Her phone rang a few times until it was picked up by a female black sheep on the other end. “Hey Sharla.”

“Hey there Judy,” Sharla said with a happy smile on her face, “Long time no see. How you been?”

“About that,” Judy said with a nervous grin, “Sharla...I need your help with something.”

Nick was seen driving through Sahara Square until he came up to an empty building with boarded up windows. Outside it on the street was Finnick’s van. Parking his moped behind it, he walked up to the back doors and knocked on them. Backing up in case Finnick would throw the doors open, he gathered his thoughts and relaxed himself for the conversation he wanted to have with his friend. The doors did indeed fly open as Finnick stood there in his van holding a bat. “Who is it!?”

Nick stared at him with an annoyed look. “You gonna do that every time someone knocks on your back door?”

“Hey,” said Finnick sternly as he pointed the tip of the bat at Nick, “I may not hustle anymore but I still got some enemies out there who I owe.” He pulled the bat back and rested it on his right shoulder. “So, what’s up Nick? You’re still wearing your uniform. Need help tracking down another troublemaker?”

“Nah,” said Nick, “Something a bit more serious than that.” Nick took a gentle breath and exhaled. He didn’t exactly know what to expect Finnick to say but he decided to just rip the band-aid off and get straight to business. “Finnick...buddy...I need your help with something.”