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Chapter Seven: Ordering Stake-Out

Nick was bored, painfully bored. It had been two weeks since he and Judy had discovered Bellwether was out of prison and that she was working at a local Bug-Burga. Nick had agreed to one or two brief little observation sessions on one of their stray night patrols. However, somehow that had morphed into a two hour at a time stake out every night of the week. Carrots seemed to be determined to catch Bellwether doing, well, Nick had no idea what. Serving over-cooked cicada chips? not making correct change? Or perhaps, heaven forbid, mixing the shakes wrong.

The news that Bellwether was out had went public shortly after they had learned about it from Finnick. It only was in the news for about a day before their raid of the Stoat operation overshadowed it. There was very little visible public outcry about Bellwether after that. The usual online complaints, a petition or two, and a few errant calls to the ZPD to complain. But there were no riots, no civil unrest, no dragging Bellwether through the streets and stringing her up. Zootopia's attention was a fickle thing, and it quickly shifted to the Stoat case, and then Gazelle's performance at the Zootopia Stalk of Fame after that. One thing Wilde could say about the Prisoner Privacy Act was that it had impeccable timing.

Still, with the Stoat case complete, and all the mammals in the city aware of Bellwether's release Nick figured he'd have it easy for the next few weeks. Nick thought Bogo would even reduce their hours, allowing him to practically auto-pilot his way through the duos meager shifts. However his plans were dashed by the suspicious increase of night patrol assignments they were suddenly saddled with. Someone with a very familiar rabbit-like signature had signed the requests, and unfortunately for Nick Bogo had approved all of them. And so there he was, sitting in a squad car at a quarter to two in the morning, staring at essentially nothing but a lonely building and an empty parking lot. He still had another hour and a half before Judy would be forced to do actual patrolling, or risk Bogo finding out what they've actually been doing on these shifts.

The night shift did have its perks for the fox though. Being a largely nocturnal mammal made him more alert and awake even if it was wasted for lack of activity. On his usual morning shifts, he really didn't get going till the afternoon. The same couldn't be said for Judy though. The rabbit was currently hanging over the steering wheel, ears laying draped behind her head, and eyes struggling to stay open.

Night shifts were rare for the duo, and the few they had been on never went well for his rabbit companion. Aside from diminished reaction time and sluggishness, Judy's persistence on always being the one to drive actually caused more traffic violations then they usually would stop. So despite his overall better performance at night, Nick usually differed shift hours decisions for the two to Judy. Normally it didn't bother him too much, as it was easier than getting into an argument with the usually adamant bunny. But even Nick had his limits, and on this night he'd reached it.

"Carrots, I see something." Nick said, his voice quavered.

The rabbit suddenly jerked to attention, sitting straight up. One ear standing on end as her eyes went wide. "WHAT, What I'm awake!" She blearily wiped her eyes.

"I said I think I see something." He repeated slightly louder.

Judy scrambled to grasp the binoculars on the dash board of the cruiser. After visibly clasping them tightly, she brought them to her eyes. Nick watched in slight amusement as she began to focus the goggles, darting them desperately from point to point in an effort to find what he "spotted'.

"Where!? What's she doing!? What do you see!?" She stammered, continuing her vigorous scan of the restaurant exterior.

"I see...I see..." Nick said, emphasizing each repeat with more feigned excitement.

"WHAT!?" Judy shouted. Nick was certain if she tried to stare any harder her eyes would pop out of the binoculars end.

"A rabbit who's stolen about several hours of my life I'll never get back." Nick deadpanned.

He watched as the rabbit's ears drooped, and as she slowly lowered the binoculars he could see the irritated scowl forming on her face as the realization hit her. He couldn't help but smirk.

"NICK!" She turned and yelled, lightly punching the fox in the arm. Nick was too busy cackling to react.

"Why did you do that!? This is serious!" Judy huffed.

Nick wiped a tear from his eye as his laughter died down. " Serious? I think going through the shipping manifest from the Stoat raid is probably more serious then waiting to see if maybe Bellwether eventually might do something sometime possibly. Hell there were pounds of them."

"NICK!" Judy growled in response.

Nick ignored her and continued. "Really, guy was a farmer in Howlingrad three months ago, suddenly gets an inheritance and starts shipping tons of freight we haven't even tracked or found yet. Who knows what kind of stuff he's peddled all over the city, or to whom."

"Nick, it was probably just personal effects, or materials for the counterfeiting operation. I need your focus on this case!" Judy said sternly, nose twitching with irritation.

Nick looked at her in disbelief. "Carrots. Bogo was right, there is no case here!" Nick replied. "There is absolutely no reason to be here, so can't we just go get a drink or something? I could use a coffee from Snarlbuck's right about now." He grumbled.

Judy glared hard at Nick. If the fox didn't know better he'd swear she were trying to bore a hole through him. But he didn't acknowledge it.

"One of those frilly fru-fru frozen drinks would really hit the spot. C'mon, don't you want to get out of here and get one too? Amaretto carrot crème?" He cooed at Judy, but she continued to glare at him.

Then suddenly, an eerie smile wormed it's way across her muzzle, filling Nick with unease.

"Well..." She dragged out the word playfully. "I am kind of thirsty I guess." She cooed innocently back to the fox. Nick knew better, he knew she wasn't just about to let them walk away that easily from whatever this was. His discomfort grew as she turned to look at the quiet restaurant. "And I've got a pretty good idea of where we can get the drinks." She grinned smugly at the fox. Nick's expression was one of shock and horror.

"No Carrots! No! You said-"

"C'mon Nick. Maybe if we go order some take out I'll stop dragging us here." She said sweetly.

"Carrot's." He replied sternly. "You swore to me! We are not doing that. We are turning around right now, and never coming back here." The fox was gesticulating wildly. "I'm done Carrots. This obsession is getting ridiculous!"

Judy flashed the fox the sad eyes and pouty quavering lip, but Nick was unmoved. He had well passed the breaking point and he wasn't backing down. He instead glared sharply down at the rabbit and crossed his arms. After a few moments Judy's expression faltered, turning to one of anger and betrayal.

"NICK!? How can you be like this about Bellwether!? You remember what she did to us don't you!? What she tried to do!?" Judy waived her arm as she argued.

"I remember." Nick replied, a hint of bitterness in his voice.

"Then how can you be so calm!? Don't you even care!?" The rabbit was now standing on her feet, meeting Nick's eyes at an even level.

"OF COURSE I CARE!" The fox exploded. "WHAT DO YOU THINK I JUST FORGOT IT HAPPENED!? ME AND BELLWETHER ARE BEST FRIENDS OR SOMETHING!? ARE YOU NUTS!?"

Nick immediately became awash with guilt as he saw the rabbit recoil from his outburst. Sighing, he turned away from her, head hanging in shame.

"She almost reduced me to nothing more than a feral monster, and she would have made me kill you Carrots." He said sadly.

He sharply turned to face Judy again. "If we hadn't switched the pellets, If I..." He paused, turning to look out the window again. "I would never have been able to forgive myself."

He felt a paw on his shoulder, and turned to see Judy's own sad eyes looking into his.

"I know you feel like the sentence was unfairly short Carrots. I do too, believe me. " He smiled weakly. "But that's the way the case went, and if I spend to much time dwelling on it I start to feel like..." Nick looked down, unsure of how to phrase his next few words.

"Like old Nick is coming back." He scratched the back of his head uneasily. "The Nick who didn't believe in anything, the Nick who believed everything in Zootopia was built to be unfair." He placed his paw on Judy's shoulder in kind. "The Nick who didn't have any mammal to trust."

Judy smiled and turned away, causing Nick to retract his paw. Nick turned to look out the window, staring off at the barely visible stars in the night sky.

"We can only do out jobs right? That way we know at least the part we play in the system is fair." He sighed. "But If I was judge, jury, and executioner, I'd put her away for life." Nick chuckled darkly.

There was silence as he continued to stare at the sky, and it hung in the cruiser for a while before Judy spoke.

"It's not that Nick." He turned around, giving the rabbit a surprised look.

"Then what's this about?" He muttered.

Judy looked down, seeming to shrink under his gaze. Whatever she had to say, it was clearly bothering her.

"Judy." He pressed.

"I trusted her Nick." She looked back up at Nick, eyes full of sadness.

"She was so nice and friendly, and she was the only one rooting for me for a while. She seemed to really want me to succeed in spite of every other mammal." She sighed, before offering Nick a meek smile. "That is till you came around."

Nick smiled back, placing a paw on Judy's leg.

"Then it turns out it was all just this..." Judy held her arms out dramatically. "big stinking lie!" Her arms flopped back down to her sides limply.

"She had done it all, and she tried to kill us." She crossed her arms, nose scrunched in disgust. Nick continued to listen intently, nodding for her to continue.

"We didn't get to talk to her any more after that, I understood it was procedure but..."

"But?" Nick asked.

Judy sighed again, and turned to look Nick directly in the eye. Her face looked both angry and hurt.

"I wanted to know why. And more importantly, I wanted to give her a piece of my mind." She threw herself back into the seat, letting out a hard exhale.

Again, silence filled the squad car. Nick glanced at the quiet Bug-Burga, scratching his chin with his paw as he thought about what Judy said.

"So that's why we've been doing this? You've been working up the courage to confront Bellwether this whole time?" He asked calmly.

"Yes." He heard her reluctant reply.

Nick continued to stare out the Bug-Burga, seemingly empty under his gaze.

"Were done after this Carrots, okay?" Nick muttered.

"What?" The rabbit sounded confused.

"We'll go talk to her, but you take us off these night shifts after this. And then we put this Bellwether stuff behind us." Nick nodded.

He suddenly felt paws wrap around his waist as Judy pulled him into a hug. He was startled at first, but slowly returned the hug.

"Yes Nick, I promise." She buried her face into his side and the fox could feel the heat rise in his face.

"Yeah, yeah, well you clearly need your beauty sleep, these night shifts are making you look like hell." He chuckled, but was quickly silenced by a sudden elbow to the gut.

As he held his side in pain, the rabbit slumped back down into the driver's seat.

"Mean bunny" He laughed with a wince.

"Rude fox." She replied.

Jud started the cruiser and quickly made her way across the street and up to the drive-through speaker. As they approached Nick felt uneasy, he wasn't looking forward to this. Both seeing Bellwether again, and the ugly fight that was coming. But it was a small price to pay to close the door on those memories. Still, his nerves found him idly twiddling the fox repellant nozzle on his belt.

"I really wish you'd stop carrying that." Judy uttered, bringing the foxes attention back. However he continued to play with the safety.

"Why?" He chuckled.

"It reminds me of..." She looked down, clearly uncomfortable. "What I used to be like." She muttered.

Nick gave her his usual smug grin. "Hey, I was in the wrong. This stuff is great. Horrible smell and mild irritant in one bottle.."

"Nick" She replied.

"Put's predators and prey off, really great for breaking up fights. Apparently they made this stuff from big cat pheromones. If this were millions of years ago prey and predators wouldn't go near anything that smelled like this stuff. It works on an instinctual level."

"Okay, you can stop reading me the label." She groaned, but the fox continued.

"In fact, I really think you should start carrying it again." He laughed.

"OKAY, forget it." Judy huffed as she rolled down the window.

The drive in panel was quiet for a moment, and Nick and Judy shared a glance of uncertainty before Judy turned back to the speaker. Nick heard her breath in to speak, but she was suddenly cut off by the crackle of a loudspeaker.

"-oof's you're killing me, you know that?" The end of a conversation crackled through, startling the officers.

"Ahem, Welcome to Bug-Burga, home of the Bug-Burga, can I take your order." The male voice stated.

Again Judy looked to Nick, slight confusion on her face. Nick just shrugged.

"Order something." He whispered.

Judy turned back to the speaker. "Just give me a moment."

"Not a problem ma'am, take your time. I'm here all night." The voice was somewhat jovial.

Nick leaned over Judy's shoulder in order to get a look at the menu, as he scoured his eyes fell across something that made him salivate.

"What can you tell me about that Blueberrchino Frappe Blend?" Nick asked, he saw Judy smirk at the mention of blueberries. It was his only weakness, aside from Carrots, and she knew it.

"You want the corporate answer or the honest answer?" The voice asked.

Nick chuckled. "Now I'm curious, I kinda want to hear both."

He heard the voice laugh. "Welp, Corporate would say that these fantastic coffee flavored frozen beverages are delicious and nutritious. They are also in no way an attempt to compete with Snarlbucks despite the fact that it's a completely different kind of restaurant.

Nick and Judy both couldn't help but snicker at the honest remark.

"But my co-worker and I here have tried them, and I'd say they're pretty good." The voice concluded.

Judy looked at Nick uneasily at the mention of a 'co-worker'. Nick only nodded in response.

"Sounds good, I'll take Blueberrchino in a canid size." Nick pulled away from the driver's side, settling back into his seat.

"And I'll take the carrot version please, also in a canid size." Judy added.

The electricity of the speaker hummed dully as the server went quiet, Nick could barely hear the low muttering of numbers being tallied.

"Okay, that's five eighty-six, please drive up to the window that fits your vehicle." The voice replied.

And with that the speaker audibly clicked off, leaving the two in silence. Nick watched as Judy shifted the clutch, and then placed both paws on the wheel. He waited for her to pull the cruiser forward, but she remained frozen. After a few moments of waiting for her to press on, he spoke up.

"Ahem." He saw the rabbit flinch as he coughed. "It's now or never Carrots."

"Right, right." Judy nodded, and slowly began to pull forward

As they pulled up to the window Nick could already make out the back of a wooly head, adorned with a very familiar poof at the top. The window slowly slid open, allowing the duo to catch the tail end of a conversation.

"-have this one Vernon. Don't worry about it." The lamb concluded.

The little mammal turned to the register, clearly having not noticed them yet.

"That will be five-"The sheep stopped as she turned to face them.

Nick watched as the color drained from the lamb's face. Her eyes were wide in terror. If he didn't know better, he'd say Bellwether was about three seconds away from fainting. Nick couldn't see Judy's reaction, but he imagined she wasn't sporting quite as smug a grin as he was. Enjoying seeing the sheep so terrified may have been petty, but he was just fie with that.

As the awkward silence lingered, the lamb looked down and away from the two.

"F-f-five eighty-six." He could barely hear her trembling voice.

He watched as Judy placed the money on the window sill. The lamb reluctantly took the money and processed it before turning back to the two. It was then she did something that sort of surprised him.

Bellwether took a deep breath. She balled her fists and stiffened up, seeming to steel herself. Continuing to avert her gaze, she spoke.

"Well, go ahead." She said softly.

Judy looked at Nick with confusion before turning back to the lamb.

"Say what you want to say to me. That's why you're here right?"

Judy remained silent, and Nick held his tongue despite wanting to crack a joke about how they had 'only come for the tasty drinks', but it was more important to him that Carrots got the first word.

"Go on, say it." The lamb's eyes were closed tightly. "I deserve whatever it is you have to say."

He saw Judy's body tense up, and heard her emit a deep and sorrowful sigh.

"Dawn..." She finally spoke. The lamb shrunk at the sound of her name.

"You lied to me." Judy's voice was sullen. "You betrayed me." He heard her swallow hard. "You tried to kill me and Nick."

The lamb winced with each statement, as if reacting to invisible blows.

"You nearly destroyed Zootopia and hurt so many mammals and for what?" Judy's voice began to rise. " For power? For revenge?"

The lamb continued to look down.

"I know what the evidence showed in the courtroom, about Doug and the others. But that doesn't change what you did, and the reprehensible things you were responsible for." Judy growled.

"And to make me a part of it. To make me help your cause without knowing it..." Nick could see Judy trembling.

"I can NEVER forgive you for that!" Judy yelled, causing the ewe to wince again.

There was a pause, and he could hear Judy exhale hard.

"I'm came to Zootopia with my own demons and prejudices. But I overcame them." Judy's voice quavered. "I didn't let them devour me, like you."

The silence was deafening, and seemed to last an eternity. The entire time, the lamb hadn't looked up, much like a child being scolded. He could faintly make out sniffling, but he wasn't sure whether the source was Judy or Bellwether.

It was then a large form hove into view behind the lamb. Placing the drinks on the window sill, the large wolf put a paw on Dawn's shoulder.

"S'everything alright Dawn?" The wolf asked.

It was the first time Nick could see her face since the start of their 'transaction', the ewes eyes were swollen and thick with tears. She aggressively wiped her eyes, clearly trying to hide the signs of sobbing before turning to the wolf.

"E-Everything's fine V-Vernon." She tried to hide a sniffle.

The wolf handed the drinks forward, taking a good hard stare at the officers.

"Wait a minute. Aren't you two..." The realization on the wolf's face quickly turned to a sharp coldness. He turned back to the lamb, this time crouching down to her level.

"You sure you're alright Floof? You want 'em gone I ca-"

"Puppy, no please." The ewe weakly waived her hooves at him.

The wolf stood up, throwing a glare at Nick and Judy. He continued to glare as he spoke.

"Okay, well I'll be around if you need me. Don't hesitate to call Floofs." He pat her on the shoulder.

"Officers." The wolf nodded a goodnight to the pair, baring his teeth as he said it. He continued to stare at the officers as he drifted back behind the window until he was finally out of sight.

Again Nick thought of several joke he could make. Several about dumb wolves and hired henchdogs. The name 'Puppy' alone would give him endless material. But the fact that this altercation hadn't escalated so far made him reluctant to chance ruining it, as well as the fact that the wolf was frankly quite intimating. Nick considered that it was probably the largest wolf he'd seen, and he wasn't exactly looking to get into a dog fight tonight.

"You're right." Dawn sniffled.

"Well, I didn't see that coming." Nick couldn't help as the words came out.

Judy turned to give him a sharp glare.

"I could tell you all the reasons I did what I did." Dawn continued, wiping her eyes.

"But it's all just excuses. At a certain point, you have to take responsibility for your own life and stop using what others did to you or how wronged you were to justify your actions." Dawn sighed.

The two cops were now listening intently to the ewe.

"I did some truly awful things, and I regret every bit of it. I know you probably won't believe me." The lamb paused to take a deep breath. "But I'm sorry."

"You're right, I don't believe you." Now it was Nick's turn to be shocked at Judy's bluntness. The lamb winced.

"That's fine." The lamb sniffled. " I really became a monster toward the end there." The lamb looked directly at Judy, her eye brimming with tears.

"But if I had actually hurt you, I wouldn't have been able to forgive myself." She sobbed.

Nick saw Vernon poke his head out from behind the window again to look at the two. He made a snarling gesture before disappearing again. Nick couldn't help but to be confused as to why this wolf, this predator, was seemingly so defensive of the lamb. Maybe he didn't know who she was.

"But I'm trying to change my life for the better now, and put that terrible time behind me." The lamb sniffled hard, chocking back a sob.

"I know I'll never make up for what I've done, but at least I have the chance to try." Bellwether reached behind the window to grab a tissue, and dabbed her eyes.

Judy looked to the fox again, her face seemingly sad this time. Nick released a light scoff in response. 'What, starting to feel sympathy for the devil?' He thought to himself.

"Well..." Judy muttered. "I've said all I've needed to say."

The lamb sniffled again. "So have I."

With that Judy powered the cruiser on again, and prepared to pull away from the window.

"Wait Judy!" Bellwether said, causing the rabbit to turn her attention.

Nick could see the ewe grab a napkin and scribble something on it. After seemingly finished, she handed it to Judy.

"I know you hate me, and were certainly not friends anymore. But..." The lamb twiddled her hooves.

"But if you ever need to reach me." She paused. "I mean, if there's more you need to say. Or if you want to keep an eye on me." She looked down in shame. "That's my number."

Judy tucked the napkin in her breast pocket.

"Goodnight Ms. Bellwether." Judy said coldly.

"Goodnight Officers." And with that, the began to pull away from the window.

As Nick looked back he could just make out the wolf coming back near the window, and saw the ewe bury herself in his arms. Clearly shuddering as she sobbed. The sight disappeared as the cruiser turned back onto the road.

Judy drove them about two or three blocks away before stopping the car on the side of the road. She let out a heavy sigh, and leaned over the steering wheel.

"Feel better?" Nick asked quietly.

Judy turned to look at the fox, smiling weakly.

"I guess..." She mumbled.

"Don't tell me you feel bad Carrots." Nick laughed.

Judy let out a heavy exhale. "Is it bad that I do?"

Nick simply chuckled. "Judy, you are way too good for this world, I tell ya."

The rabbit smirked in response as she brought herself to sit back up. Nick grabbed his drink and stirred it with the straw.

"Well, now the Bellwether stuff is behind us, right Carrots?" He smiled hopefully.

"Yeah Nick, were done. I got what I wanted." She replied, grasping her own drink.

"A toast." Nick raised the foam container in the air. " To never having to deal with deranged sheep's with crazy night howler conspiracies again, huh?" He grinned smugly.

The rabbit chuckled, raising her own cup and tapping it against the foxes. "Agreed."

The two cops then proceeded to take a long sip of their respective drinks, stopping to smack their lips in unison.

"Hey, Puppy was right, this is pretty good." The two shared a snicker.