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Living in a family where siblings shared rooms by the half dozen, chatter was a constant in the life of a bunny. Learning to tune out conversations that she wasn't a part of was easy despite her sensitive ears, which had actually made her adept at that part of city living already. The patio seating of the restaurant was abuzz with such background noise, from the various couples, families and friends that sat in tables around them. Everyone tuned into their own little slice of Zootopia, hardly aware of those around them beyond an occasional curious glance or a particularly boisterous laugh or the sound of a crashing plate from the kitchen. Mingled with the scents of so many different species, the sounds of traffic a few paces away, and the feeling of constant movement that the downtown area always had about it, it had just become a part of her everyday life in the city. It was all very normal.

Except that on the other side of the small class mammal table where she sat, there were four bunnies just like her sitting a little closer together than they needed to be. The comfort of family in unfamiliar surroundings, in the big bad city of Zootopia. As someone who still slept in a bed filled with stuffed bunnies to give her that little taste of home that she still missed sometimes, she didn't blame them really. Except maybe for Jason, who glared at every predator that came within ten feet as if trying to ward them off with his displeasure at their very existence. Him she wanted to wallop between his ears until he learned to at least be polite. At least the conversation hadn't strayed to Nick yet.

"So, Judy. You and this fox," her mother began, her paws resting on the iced celery-juice in front of her as she leaned back in her seat.

"Yes, let's talk about the fox!" Beth's enthusiastic reply came as the slender bunny fairly bounced up closer to the table to lean against the edge to take a sip of her soda. "I've been dying to ask questions all day, but mom said we should focus on spending time together."

This last was finished with a roll of her eyes at her parents edict, accompanied by a roll of Bonnie's eyes at her ever lacking youthful tact.

"Can you please call him Nick? Or at least Mr. Wilde?" she said, holding her paws out to both of them pleadingly with her ears folded back in annoyance. "Can you do that for me? He's not just a fox, you know."

"You're right, of course, dear," her mother amended gently, reaching across the table to take one of Judy's still outstretched paws in hers and lower it to the table. Judy relaxed, almost reflexively slumped forward and felt drained as she felt the soothing touch of fur to fur. "We just want to understand."

"Understand what?" she asked at length, her gaze moving to each member of her family in turn before resting on her mother's own violet eyes. "That I love him?"

"Oh, sweety," her mother sighed, squeezing her paw gently. Judy saw what was coming a mile away, but let it happen regardless. "You're in this big city where everything is so different, I know it must be very exciting; I'm sure he must be very exciting, too. But you still don't see gazelle married to lions. Or wolves running away with sheep. It just doesn't happen. They are... Too many differences, too many dangers. He's so much bigger than you, and his... Well, his teeth, Judy. And those claws. He could hurt you without meaning to."

She released a short laugh at that, and drew her paw away to lean back in her chair. She didn't bother to deny any of it, at least not yet. She was just going to let them have their say, get it all out while she sat there like a good bunny and took it all in. And then she was going to let them have it.

"You're young, honey-bun," her father put in, brown eyes looking at her with concern that he had hardly managed to contain from the moment he had seen Nick at her door that morning. "Young people do crazy things, believe me. I did in my day, let me tell you. I was a regular... Well, never mind. But we've raised your brothers and sisters and seen the wacky things that they do to rebel. Drinking, and smoking, and even running away from home..."

"Sleeping with foxes," she inserted in a testy tone, which she regretted when his nose went pale and his ears dropped as she confirmed the truth of it. She lowered her eyes to the table, avoiding her mother's scolding gaze and her father's miserable one as she looked at her paws. "Sorry, daddy. I didn't mean to say that."

"Yeah, but it's true isn't it?" Jason's voice cut in sharply, making her withdraw inwardly with the disgust in his tone. "Letting that... Predator put his paws all over you. How do we know he didn't actually hurt you? His claw marks could be all over your body!"

"Jason," her mother warned, but he plowed on with hardly a pause for breath.

"He should be arrested, the sick prey-chaser. Does he threaten you? Tell you that if you don't bend over like a good little bunny he's going to eat you? Or maybe you get off on that sort of... Ow! What the hell? Ow!" he yowled when Beth stomped on his rear paw for the second time, this time harder. "What the hell, Beth!"

"I'm trying to shut you up," Beth said, and just for good measure stomped on it for the third time, making him curse and try to pull it out of her reach. "And if you keep talking, I'm going to break it, you thick headed jerk."

"Both of you stop it right now!" Bonnie said, and Judy even felt her insides shrink a little at the authoritative tone that her mother only used when she was trying to quiet a whole room of the family. Or just two siblings who were about to come to blows. "Jason, you will not speak that way about family ever again, do you hear me? She's your sister!"

Even in full temper, Judy saw that the tone had the large buck folding his ears and lowering his eyes to his lap. "Yes'um."

"And Beth," she said, after Beth had stuck her tongue out at the downcast rabbit. "That's not how I raised you to behave."

Not as quick to cave as her brother, Beth huffed and folded her arms across her chest as she glared at him.

"It's not my fault he hangs out with those bucks down by the bar. They don't even like Gideon. He bakes pies, and they talk about him like he's cooking our neighbors. Doesn't stop them from stuffing their fat, speciest mouths with them when they come to the stand, though. Oh, look at us," she said in her best moron voice, puffing out her chest and holding her arms out to the side to mimic her bigger brother. "We're big bad purists who talk a big game but all we really do is drink and darn if this isn't good pie. Hypocrites."

"Okay, Bethany, that's enough," her mother warned after the last word was spat angrily, and Judy gave a small grateful smile to the young bunny as she huffed again and sunk into her seat without another word.

Turning her eyes to her parents, trying to control the sick feeling in her stomach, she decided that she had given them enough time to talk.

"Is that what you two think, too?" she asked, ignoring the fact that other mammals on the patio had gone silent and now watched them from the corners of their eyes. She focused on her parents, who watched her with the same loving worry that they had the day she had left for Zootopia. Only this time it wasn't because of a while city of unknowns, it was because of one fox.

"We worry," her father said after a moment, and when he placed his paw on the table Bonnie laid her own paw over his arm supportively. "When we learned he was your partner, we worried a little. But he seemed like an O.K. fella when we talked over the phone. But this is... This is different, Judy."

"It's only different because you don't know him like I do," she said, rubbing her fingers over her closed eyes for a moment. Fighting the headache and the pain of trying to make them understand. Her voice softened when she continued. "I know that doesn't sound fair, but you haven't even asked. All you've said so far is that you're worried something might happen, that he might hurt me. Or how it must be because I'm in heat, or the excitement of the city. Or how disgusting it is, even. Why haven't you even asked how it started? Or why I trust him? Why haven't you asked about him, even when he was just my partner? Or when did I realize, or when did he realize? You could at least ask why he was in his boxers when he opened the door this morning before you start telling me that I'm making a mistake!"

She realized that they were looking behind her only a breath before the familiar pads of a large, warm paw ran a slow caress down the length of her folded ears and the tickle of claws caressed the back of her neck. Tension drained out of her as the pleasant tingle his touch caused made her body melt into the chair, her head rolling back to look up at the fox behind her. He was the most gorgeous male she had ever seen in that one moment, wearing the dark blue of his ZPD uniform with sleeves rolled up to just below his elbows, bright bronze badge gleaming on his chest next to a tie that was just a little below regulation. Dark aviator glasses were pulled up behind his ears so she could look into those warm green eyes of his as they looked down at her. The warm, closed mouthed grin on his muzzle made her own lips curve upward when his fingers found their way into the fur at the base of her ears for a light scratch that had her wishing her family wasn't across the table. Otherwise she might have wallowed in the sensation. Okay, so she did wallow in it as she closed her eyes and let out a slow sigh of contentment.

"They are right, you know," he said in a gentle tone, and she opened her eyes to look up at him with a quirked eyebrow. "This is very different from us being just partners on the force."

"Oh god, I hope so," she groaned without the least bit of guilt when he ran a claw in a feather-light caress along the inside of one ear. She glanced at the bouquet of flowers he held in his free paw and her ears perked instantly as she felt a little flood of warmth in her chest. No one had ever given her flowers before. "Are those for me?"

"Oh, right!" She couldn't hide the disappointment when he slipped his paw away from her ears and his attention turned to her family. Raising her head as he stepped around the table, she felt another little moment of disappointment when he moved towards the table, and her mother with the flowers in paw. That disappointment didn't last long when she saw the softening expression on her mother's face when he offered them to her. "I hear you like magenta carnations, Mrs. Hopps. And I happen to know where to get the best in Zootopia."

Watching her mother take the flowers from her partner was a hopeful image for her. The softness of in the older bunny's eyes when she looked down at the simple but fresh and beautiful arrangement, following the bewildered surprise and pleasure when she looked up at him, pressing her muzzle into the flowers to breath in the scent of them. And she felt that flood of warmth all over again when he produced a single yellow rose, which he had hidden in one belt loop at his back, and offered it to his all but swooning sister. No one had ever given her flowers, but watching her mother invite him to join them with a warm smile was so much better.

Sly fox. I love you. I love you. Oh, I love you.

As Nick motioned to their waitress to let her know that he would be borrowing a slightly larger chair, and settled down to join her parents for dinner, she really didn't think it was possible to be more in love than she was watching him charm at least one half of her family.

Then, Jason opened his bigoted, hateful mouth.

This were going a little better than expected, by his gage. Not only had her mother openly invited him to join them without prompting from Judy, but the conversation started off almost immediately with her parents and Beth. Of course the speciest jack-off, as Nick now thought of her brother, was more than welcome to keep his peace, even if his glares made the fur on the back of his neck want to stand on end.

Easily brushing that little annoyance aside, while at the same time flipping his tail into Judy's lap under the table just to see the smile that curved her muzzle, he focused most of his attention on her mother.

"I didn't realize Judy even knew what my favorite flower was," she was saying, which caused his ears to twitch a bit when he glanced in his partners direction. Her expression was just as curious as her mothers, with ears perked high and eyes focused on him.

"Well, I didn't find out from her," he said, deciding that a full confession might make the flowers a little more meaningful. His ears flicked, and he gave a slightly embarrassed shrug. "My mom always told me it was polite to bring flowers, but I wasn't sure what you would like. So I checked a directly only for Bunny Burrow, thinking of course that it would be easy to just ask someone. After finding a lot of numbers for Hopps and having no idea who to call, I remembered that Carrots mentioned that you worked with Gideon Grey now. So I called him up, but he didn't know, but he told me to call your oldest daughter, Sarah. And Sarah told me that you liked some kind of pink flower that grows on the hills near home but she didn't know the name. So she told me to call Barry, one of the middle children I think? Anyway, he said that he remembered seeing the flowers around the burrow and that they smelled real nice, but he didn't know the name either. So he handed me over to Cathy I think, who said that they were carnations but a certain kind. Then she told me to call..."

"I think they get it, Nick," Judy cut him off, and he glanced down at the smiling bunny. Then he stuck the tip of his tongue out at her, which made her giggle as she turned her attention to sliding her fingers of one paw through the thick fur of his tail.

"She always does that, you know," he said easily, even though he was very aware of the little thrill that little intimacy sent through him. "Cuts me off mid-sentence all the time. Just last night, she..."

"Well, it was very sweet of you to go to all this trouble," Bonnie said, with a knowing little smile on her prettily plump face as she cut him off.

He narrowed his eyes at her, then leaned back in his seat a little dramatically as he released a 'Huh' while looking at her with teasing accusation. "So it's inherited. Just like the lovely eyes."

Laying it on a little thick seemed to work, as the older bunny's ears went pink on the inside. And even as she tried to wave it off, Stu's chest puffed out a little. Clearly not wanting to be outdone by a quick tongued fox, he laid his paw on his wife's arm lightly.

"I always said you have the prettiest eyes in Bunnyburrow," he said, and Nick's grin grew a bit when her face softened as she turned an affectionate look towards her mate.

"Hush now, Stu," she said softly, though the way she leaned into just the touch told him that this sort of flattery wasn't new to her.

"What do you really want with my sister, fox?"

The abrupt and far less friendly tone of the question brought every bunny at the table to a stand-still, but Nick let it slide off his shoulders as he settled back with one paw resting across the back of Judy's chair. Green eyes were cool when they settled on the angry gaze of the smaller male, and he kept his face carefully blank save for the one raised eyebrow. He had expected this, of course. Jason's dislike for him was a little beyond typical, but Nick couldn't find it in himself to care or wonder why.

"You're going to need to be more specific, kid," he said, lightening his tone and his face as he slid one claw lightly down the back of Judy's neck to calm the mad he could see brewing. He was gratified to feel the little tremble that raced through her, and the slow lean into the touch, though her eyes were still hot when they rested on her brother. "What do I want from her now? An hour from now? Years from now? Those all have very different answers."

"Mr. Wilde, you don't have to answer any of his questions. He's forgotten his manors since we came to the city," Bonnie said, casting a warning glance at her son. One which this time, he ignored.

"No, mom, he does need to answer!" he all but shouted, sitting tense in his chair. He looked ready to jump across the table, ears flat, muzzle trembling as his nose twitched. Nick expected that he was being this brave because they were in public, and the sense of fear rolled off him in waves as clearly as the anger. He wondered how long he had been containing that, and wondered where the fear came from. "We need to know! Dad, you're the one who told us never to trust a fox! She keeps telling us that he loves her, but how does she even know? How do we know that 'love' even means the same thing to him? Ow! Damn it, Beth!"

The ruckus at the table increased as Beth stepped on her brother's paw again, was scolded by her mother, which started a back and forth argument between the two siblings. Nick kept his gaze on Judy throughout, tuning them out even as Mrs. Hopps interceded to keep them from coming to blows. Her anger seemed to have drained away, replaced with a sadness that he could see in the set of her ears and the slump of her shoulders; the way she refused to look at her family, and even refused to look at him when he moved his paw to rest on her shoulder. He thought he understood. He hoped he understood. This wasn't going to be an uncommon point of view, and it would mainly spring from the fact that he was a fox, and she was a bunny.

But right now, she was miserable. And he wanted that to stop.

He raised his eyes when the argument devolved into a shouting match between Beth and her brother. Even Stu, who seemed the calmer member of the clan, got involved when Jason jumped to his feet and started to storm away from the table.

"Hey, Jason." Maybe it was the oddly calm, easy going tone of his voice in the midst of the melee of emotions that made the young bunny stop and turn on him that look that was a mixture of fear and anger in his eyes. But once he had stopped, Nick waved him towards the seat he had just left. "If you sit down and listen, I'll tell you."

Surprise seemed to crack through that wall of anger, and the moment of hesitation seemed to have the whole restaurant holdings its breath (mainly because it was, as the argument had drawn more than a few stares from the other patrons) before the buck reluctantly moved back to his seat and sat. His face was no less hostile, and he gave Nick a 'This I've got to hear' look before he waved his paw. "Well? Then tell me, fox."

"Jason," Judy began, the irritation almost as obvious as the sadness in her voice. He gave her shoulder a little squeeze, and shook his head with a slight twitch of his ears when she looked up at him. She sighed a little, and leaned back in her chair with her arms crossed over her chest and her ears falling over the back of her chair irritably.

Nick drew a slow breath, and released it in a windy sigh as he closed his eyes for a moment. A dozen ways to explain ran through his mind, a dozen more that would be the same basic platitudes and pretty words that anyone in love could come up with.

"She beautiful, she's stronger than anyone I've ever known. She's funny and driven, she can knock out rhinos in the ring. Hm... But then again, so can I so that doesn't count. She saved my life, but I've saved hers, too. The way her nose twitches when she's mad is adorable. Adorable isn't an insult to bunnies, is it?" he questioned, opening his eyes and finding that they were all staring at him. He had been muttering it all, as if talking to himself. Which he hadn't been, but the desired result had been achieved: all ears were perked in his direction, all eyes on him. He leaned forward then, and folded his paws on top of the table carefully. "You know what? Forget all of that obvious chatter. I'll just tell you about my day."

"I didn't ask about your day," Jason said, his ears quivering with irritation.

"I know, I know. Just bear with me," Nick replied lightly, waving the interruption off with an actual wave of his paw. "You know how most mammals wake up every morning, and drags themselves out of bed wondering why the day has to start so early? I don't. I wake up every morning wondering how many minutes it'll be before I see Carrots. Every time I lay eyes on her for the first time in the morning - this bright and energetic bunny in her blue vest and her shiny badge and a smile that I like to think is just for me - it's like remembering what changed my life; remembering who helped me become the fox I had given up on being when I was only nine. And through the day, no matter what kind of day it is, I would catch myself trying to think of reasons to prolong the day, not end it. Anything, really. Had we missed lunch? Was there a movie she wanted to see? Had we gone out for a drink the day before or not? Heh. I would even find myself wondering if we should catch up on paperwork, just so I could sit in a across from her while we suffered the boredom together. But of course it does end, and I would end up back in my apartment, alone, thinking of Judy. And when I was in bed, letting the exhaustion of the day drag me into sleep, she's the last face I see in the dark behind my eyes. Her voice the last voice I hear, telling me that we did a good job that day, not realizing that I do it all for her."

They were all watching him now, intent and silent, but he wasn't look at them anymore. He was looking down into the stunned eyes of the one beside him, realizing that he was confessing more to her than anyone else.

"That was all a very long winded way of telling you what she is to me: she's a necessity for me to be who I am now. Over time, this crazy little bunny has filled every dark little corner of my day, times when I used to doubt myself and would remind myself that I could never be more than what everyone expected me to be. She's filled it so that if I lost her, there would be so many holes left in me that I wouldn't even know where to begin piecing myself back together. And once I do, if I do, I know I won't recognize the shadow I'll be without her."

That they saw how gentle he was when he brushed away the first tear that spilled down her cheek with the pad of his thumb didn't matter to him. His muzzle just curved into a light grin when she released a shaky laugh, and tilted her silky cheek into his paw when he cupped it adoringly. It wasn't until she gave a little sniffle, and glanced in her parent's direction that he returned his direction to her brother. Her brother who sat silently, brooding, but looking... Uncertain.

"You asked me to tell you if the love I feel is what you expect it to be, and I hope it's not. I hope it's unique, because I don't believe people like you could possibly understand it," he said, waving his paw towards Jason accusingly as his ears flicked and then folded to the side. "Because I don't feel one simple emotion when I'm with her. I feel pride that she believes in me even when sometimes I don't; I feel the longing of just wanting to be closer to her, a longing that I thought for a few insane minutes last night might ease knowing she wanted it, too; I feel hope for a future, one that she showed me, where mammals don't look at either of us and see just a fox and a bunny. And... Fear. Fear that somehow I will still manage to screw it all up and lose her. Today was the first time I woke up with her beside me, and now knowing that she loves me, I feel this crazy happiness that I can't describe and I can't help but think that it shouldn't even be mine. But I'll hold onto it with everything I have. I'll fight tooth and claw to keep it."

"I love her_,"_ he said, his voice unwavering as he turned his eyes to each one of them. Stu just watched, looking a little thunderstruck. Bonnie looked at him with eyes that were a few dozen degrees warmer than they had been before. Beth, being Beth, looked like she was ready to melt, or cry. Or cry then melt. And Jason. For the first time, Jason looked unsure, and maybe just a little ashamed when Nick held his eyes the longest. "And I don't need it to mean anything to anyone, as long as she knows it."

He wasn't expected his lap to be filled with the warmth or weight of bunny, and his paws spread and hesitated for a moment to let her settled where she wanted. But the contended smile spread over his muzzle soon as she curled into him, her paws gripping the front of his uniform as she nestled her face into his chest. She wasn't crying now, thankfully, but the fact that her grip on him tightened when he moved to adjust her into a more comfortable position told him that she wasn't going to let herself be moved anytime soon. So he contented himself with sliding his paws down the length of her ears in an easy caress as he lowered his muzzle to nestle into the fur between them. She smelled sun warmed, faintly of the shampoo she had used that morning, faintly of the city around them, and little more intensely of the sweetness that he had become very familiar with recently. Had the thought crossed his mind that he wasn't biologically wired to respond to it?

Dumb fox.

"Judy?" The voice belonged to Beth, and joined in with the soft murmur of quiet words that were passing between Judy's parents. The bundle of curled up grey and white in a blue uniform didn't even bother to lift her head, simply hummed a questioning sound that made him chuckle softly. "Does heave a brother? Because I want one."

Nick glanced down as Judy started to blindly reach for something on the table, and seeing what she was reaching for, slid the napkin into range of her grasping paw. She crumbled it up, and with a blind throw that was dead on, beaned her sister in the muzzle, causing Beth to giggle softly.

"Yeah, sorry to disappoint ya there, Snow-flurry," Nick said, deciding that the first layer of fallen snow suited the obviously hopelessly romantic and pretty white bunny. "But I am an only child. One of a kind. Unique to all Zootopia. There is a gaggle of vixens out there wondering what they're going to do now that Nick Wilde has been taken by a bunnoomph!"

The punch to his stomach was surprising and quick, but not hard enough to actually hurt. He maintained his grin when he looked down as she raised her eyes to his. He dipped down and kissed the tip of her nose with his tongue, making her wiggle it before he socked him again.

"Police brutality, police brutality," he chirped mockingly, and when she pulled her fist back again, he slipped his paw behind her head and right up under her ears until his claws tickled around the base of both. This made her freeze, shiver, and surrender willingly when he lowered his mouth to hers for a soft, regretfully chaste kiss. A kiss that ended when the adoring 'Awwww!' come from the other end of the table, followed by a quick shushing from her mother.

Clearing his throat, he drew back from his blushing partner, who turned her face into his chest again before peeking a look around to her family. "Sorry, guys. Officer Judy Hopps, participating in PDA right in front of her parents. What is the world coming too, right?"

"Oh that was hardly a display of anything," Bonnie said, reaching up to smooth the fur of her cheeks with one paw before she turned her gaze to her husband with an innocent smile. "Your father had his moments of uncontrollable passion when we were young. Could hardly keep his paws to himself."

While Stu sputtered protest, Judy buried her face in his chest again with a groan, and Beth giggled uncontrollably, Nick glanced across the table at Jason and found the rabbit's gaze resting on him. Or more precisely, the way his he held his sister. He looked confused and uncertain, lost in thought and worry. But the hate and disgust were gone, at least for now.

Small miracles, I guess. It's a start.

This in mind, he squeezed Judy a little closer and joined the family in their laughter.

"I don't understand. There have only been minor changes in the target's behavior. Are you certain he was exposed at all?"

"Very sure. All samples, including the ones gathered from his apartment last night, confirm."

"How long have you been observing him?"

"Forty eight hours."

"Then he could not have been exposed. Every mammal exposed started to have savage episodes almost immediately. Twelve hours is the longest delay we've observed. The samples must have been tainted somehow."

"All sixteen of them, from three different locations?"

"...Theories?"

"Many, but none of them concrete."

"Most likely, in your opinion?"

"Judith Hopps."

"His partner in the ZPD? How is that relevant?"

"More than a partner now, interestingly enough."

"So they are lovers? I still fail to see how this changes things. Romantic relationships, marriage, familial ties: none of those have prevented the episodes from occurring."

"You asked for my opinion, not your own. Are you going to hear it?"

"...Continue."

"I have observed two separate instances where interaction with her has brought him down from what could have become an episode."

"Wait, why didn't you report this before?"

"..."

"Continue."

"The first was in the Rainforest District, where he became enraged upon encountering the weasel that exposed them to Feral Blue. When he was restrained by a fellow officer his agitation only increased. Then Hopps calmed him, almost instantaneously. The second was in the bakery across from the Downtown ZPD station. A moment of irrational anger was observed, almost to the point of bearing his teeth at a fellow ZPD officer. Again, physical contact with her calmed him almost instantaneously."

"How?"

"Unknown. Their partnership is unique, you'll agree. That may be a factor. She is completely unafraid of him, which may be another."

"Unafraid?"

"You saw the surveillance from the night in the Rainforest."

"Yes. It was an act. She saw through it. That doesn't prove..."

"A very convincing act. And it was unexpected, unrehearsed. I've seen trained soldiers jump for less than that. Even I would have flinched. She didn't even blink, face to face with a snarling predator. A bunny, completely unafraid of a fox. Given their past experience with the Night Howler toxin, she has every reason to be wary of savage mammals."

"Very well. But we cannot bring him in. He is too public. The disappearance of the first fox on the ZPD would draw unacceptable attention."

"And no doubt the ZPD would not rest until he was found. It would limit our movement, and we need to retain full mobility. That is not what I have in mind."

"Explain."

"I need to get closer. Make contact."

"To what end?"

"Pressure or support. I am unsure. I will determine when the time is right to make them aware of the danger. Given their past achievements working as a unit, they may become an asset. And with their attention focused on me, you can continue with the primary mission."

"That is too dangerous. I..."

"That was not a suggested plan of action; it is the plan of action. I'll contact you when you need to know more. I will maintain surveillance until you can bring in a replacement."

"One more thing to consider."

"Yes?"

"If your theory is correct, Judith Hopps may not only be the calming factor, but also a trigger. Sooner or later, this will overcome him. If she is caught unaware, she will be lost. We may need to consider finding a way to separate them to avoid an incident that cannot be explained away."

The striped rabbit raised his eyes to watch the lovely gray furred bunny and the uniformed fox beside her leaving the hotel where her family would spend the night to walk towards the ZPD cruiser. When Wilde spoke, she shoved him away with a laugh that brightened her eyes. Amethyst eyes that were brilliant with happiness, humor, and love when she looked at the fox. And the fox. The rabbit recognized the look in the eyes of the predator; love, adoration, and at the moment a hint of undisguised desire. He found it strange, even impossible.

Which made it more than a little remarkable.

"Do you know anything about foxes?"

"Just the basics. Largest of the small class predators, higher than average intelligence, quick reflexes, able to adapt to even in the most dangerous areas of Zootopia, primarily nocturnal. Believed to be one of the least trustworthy predatory species. Threat level while savage: minimal to hazardous if contained outside of Little Rodentia."

"Hm," he replied, waiting until the pair had started their cruiser, and allowed them to take a good quarter mile lead before he started his own ugly, oversized but perfectly inconspicuous car to follow where he already knew they were going. "Broaden your mind. Look up the behavior of foxes from our more savage days. A trip to the Museum could prove enlightening. I think it should be interesting to see how this plays through. Savage, out."