Chapter Text

“Dispatch to Lieutenant Wilde-Hopps, we have a 10-51C, in your area.”

Judy was jolted from her daydreaming when the call came over the squad car’s radio. She had been lost in thought while she drove around Savannah Central almost entirely on autopilot, mechanically scanning her surroundings for trouble.

Patrol duty was always a wild card where anything or nothing could happen, but she knew what she was getting into with her career.

Still, she’d have liked nothing better than a good case to work on with Nick. Nowadays that mostly meant talking over a private comms channel.

I guess I just miss being with him all day.

Those thoughts came to a sudden halt as her playlist cut out and the radio sputtered to life.

Judy immediately straightened and snatched up the radio. “Ten-four dispatch, what’s the twenty?”

10-51, ugh. Drunken disturbance. I might have to clean the car out again if this turns into an arrest. And C means it’s a medium-sized mammal…that was easier when Nick was full-time.

After a brief delay Clawhauser responded with the address.

“Dispatch, Wilde-Hopps, proceed to Sandy’s Superstore on Howler Street.”

She considered the address and plotted the best route to take, “Copy that, Dispatch.” She said after a moment, “My ETA is five minutes.”

Flicking on the siren, Judy sped through the parting traffic and quickly found the problem.

The suspect was a wolf; young but mostly grown by her estimation, shouting at anyone nearby with an expression that shifted between baring her teeth and wide-eyed confusion. A trio of other wolves watched her cautiously from a distance.

“Dispatch, Wilde-Hopps, subject spotted. Female, wolf. Drunk, sloppy, and angry.”

“Copy that, Wilde-Hopps, do you require backup?”

“Negative, but she might need some detox. She’s definitely had too much. I’ll see if I can calm her down.”

“Understood, just be careful.”

With that Judy left the vehicle and cautiously approached the drunk, with her tranquilizer hidden behind her back but still in easy reach.

“Ma’am, I’m Officer Judy with the ZPD, and I must ask you to leave the premises.”

In response the wolf waved a bottle and shouted something unintelligible in her general direction. Oh boy.

“Is there anyone I can contact to hel-”

Judy was cut off as the wolf unsteadily hurled the bottle in her general direction. Even though the throw was far off target, Judy still took the opportunity to make some additional distance between her and the about to be shattered bottle.

“Ma’am, you need to calm down, unless you want to be arrested. Now, why don’t you just have a seat for a minute and...Hey!””

Judy was cut off again as the wolf growled and made a wild lunge at her with her claws.

The attack was sluggish and Judy jumped out of the way with time to spare – before delivering a quick jump kick to the wolf’s jaw to deter any further swipes. The wolf stumbled backwards before landing hard on the concrete, knocked out cold.

Must have kicked her harder than I thought .

After quickly and carefully handcuffing her and confirming that she was unconscious, Judy quickly took stock of the wolf’s condition. When she was satisfied that there was no risk to the suspect, she rolled the wolf onto her side into a recovery position, and she sent Clawhauser the all clear on her car’s radio.

So I’ve had a little excitement today. Maybe if I’d just said something else she’d have calmed down…Oh, who am I kidding? Probably not. I just hope she doesn’t drool too much .

Judy half-dragged the drunk towards the back of her cruiser, thankful that it had only been a wolf. Anything larger and she may have needed to request assistance for the arrest: loathe as she was to admit it there are limits to what a bunny can carry.

Nick will want to hear about this. I wonder how he and the kits are doing?

With those last thoughts Judy opened the back door to slide the wolf in, and gasped as she looked inside.

“Um, hi mom!”

Three teenaged kits cowered as their mother's expression slid from shock to anger, and the three tried to shrink even further into the cruiser’s bench seat.

"Get in the front seat. Now!"

Shocked into silence, they awkwardly squeezed into the seat as Judy closed the door on the assailant and returned to the wheel, picking up the radio.

"Dispatch, suspect is 390D after an attempted assault. I am en route to drop her off for booking. ETA three minutes. I'll be 10-7B afterwards for another trip. I need to drop off some stowaways..." As Judy finished, she shot a look at the kits and saw their tails hanging limply along with their long, pointed ears plastered to the backs of their heads in a very bunny display of shock...and shame.

The whole litter! When did they get back there?

"Copy that, Wilde-Hopps. Report to the chief's office when you return."

Judy winced as the call ended, took in a deep breath, and let out a long groan before switching on the private channel.

"Heya Carrots! What's up?"

"I found our first litter, in the back of the police cruiser. I'm on my way home, but I'm dropping off an assailant first."

"Oh..."

"We'll talk when I get there."

After a moment to compose herself she turned her attention to her kits.

"Do you have any idea how dangerous that was?” Judy asked with disappointment and worry plainly evident from her tone. “I almost threw a crazy wolf back there with you! How were you even going to get out?"'

The bright tan kit who spoke earlier looked up with purple eyes to respond as the cruiser pulled into the detox center, “I, - we -” only to be interrupted.

"Actually not now Jolt. All that matters is that you three are safe. Just stay in the car and hide until I get back."

Judy rushed out of her cruiser to find Fangmeyer waiting, and tried to hide her nervousness with a smile before opening the back door.

“So, a volf zis time?” Fangmeyer spoke with her thick accent, and her tone had hint of amusement as she reached into the car. “Couldn’t fint any rhinos?”

“Uh, nope!” Judy quickly shut the door for her. “It’s been awhile since my last big convict call.”

“You seem a bit distractet.” Fangmeyer looked down with concern as she experimented with ways to hold the wolf while to avoid as much of the drunk's drool as possible. “Somesink ze matter?”

“No, uh...well, kind of.” Judy deflated as she stood near the back of the car to draw her eye. “You’ll probably hear about it later.”

“Guess I’ll have a little chat with Clawhauser zen.” Fangmeyer chuckled. “But one of zese days I want to see hov you manage zis stuff. Could come in handy next time I have to shtop an elefant.”

“Sure!” Judy nodded before quickly running around to her car. “But I’m in a bit of a hurry now. Can we catch up later?”

“Sure, sure.” Fangmeyer shrugged and glanced at the wolf in her arms before waving a paw dismissively towards the smaller officer. “Zis girl needs her check-up anyvay. Catch you later!”

Judy thought about commenting on that phrase coming from a predator, but decided against it. “Bye!”

After taking some time to calm down on the drive back home, she spoke again.

"Now I'm going to drop you off at the house and have a talk with your father. You are going to go straight to your room and not leave until he gives you permission. Understood?"

She was answered by a timid nod and a "Yes, mom" from each of the kits.

What should I say? Was I too harsh? Why does motherhood have to be so complicated!

As she pulled the cruiser into the driveway, she softened her tone and spoke again.

"I'm not angry with you, but I know that you’re smarter than this and I expect better from you. We'll talk about this more when I get home."

As they got out of the car the kits’ tails, which were bushier than a fox’s but slightly shorter, were drooping as she heard a soft sniffling. She turned to see her largest kit crying, quickly wiping his green eyes on his red fur and stammering as he spoke with his ears still down.

"I'm s-sorry mom. I-I promise I'll never do that again."

Even with his uncertain pose he stood almost a head taller than her. His sisters echoed the apology, but weren't quite moved to tears.

Judy silently hugged Flare as he knelt down for her before moving to repeat the gesture with his sisters.

I don't think I'll ever get used to them being taller than me, but at least Flow is still eye level.

As they finished, Judy spoke in a gentler voice. There was still some degree of irritation, but it was quickly pushed aside as she looked towards her children.

"I love you all so much, and that will never change. Just please, don't scare me like that ever again."

The kit's ears and expressions cheered up with the hug and her words, before drooping again slightly when she finished.

"But you're still grounded for today."

With her sharp hearing, Judy heard the smallest kit let out a slight groan.

Judy quickly turned to look at Flow, only for the grey kit's blue eyes to open wide in panic as she quickly looked down and away.

With a slight chuckle Judy opened the door to find Nick waiting for her, the younger litter apparently sent away for the moment. He looked at them with some combination of worry and frustration.

Jolt opened her mouth to say something: but simply closed it, pointed towards their shared room, and lead her siblings to it.

Judy followed Nick into their room and waited until the door was closed to speak.

"You were supposed to be watching them! How did they end up in the cruiser?"

Nick winced a bit before responding "I can't keep an eye on them all the time. I thought they were playing out back, and you know how slippery they can be. And it took you awhile to notice them."

"I...you're right, I should have noticed them. It's just that if something happened to them...It scared me, Nick."

"It was scary news for me too, Carrots, and you're also right: I should have kept better track of them. But they're safe now, and there’s no point worrying about what could have happened."

Judy smiled slightly before a new worry crossed her face.

"I still get to explain it to Bogo, not looking forward to that."

“Ouch, sorry about that.” Nick winced, and scratched the back of his neck before staring at the ceiling. “Speaking of being in trouble, what about the kits?”

“I said we'd talk more when I got home, but they're so grounded until we have a chance to discuss this.”

Judy reached for his tie before continuing, drawing his eyes back to hers.

“Well I don't want to let the Chief wait too long, but before that...” Judy closed her eyes and pursed her lips leaning closer to Nick. Thus she missed Nick’s smirk before he licked her face instead.

Judy broke out in a giggle and pushed him away. “Stop it, Nick!”

“You know I can never resist a taste of my favorite Carrot.” Nick smiled.

Rolling her eyes, she gave an exasperated sigh, “Well, I’ll see you later.” Judy said before giving him a fond look as she turned to leave.

Nick followed her to the door and gave a brief wave as she approached the car.

"Love you too, Carrots. Just don’t act like me with Bogo!"

After a mutual chuckle he closed the door, leaning against it to collect his thoughts before letting the other litter out of their room.

"Out of all the bad ideas you've had, this is the worst! Maybe I should just call them Jolt ideas now. That was the Joltiest!"

Flow was not in a pleasant mood, and she made no attempt to hide it.

Ugh! I'm going to miss the new Zoonamon episode over this! Why did I let them talk me into it?

"Yeah, well you came too, miss smarty-pants."

She growled inwardly at Jolt’s retort.



Why you crazy...grr! Flow’s ears perked up as she thought of a counter. Wait, I know...

"I only came because you needed me to open the car! Heaven knows you'd be stuck in there until Dusk remembered to let you out otherwise. Well, hmm, if he let you out..."

Her teasing hit home as she saw Jolt's temper rise.

"Why you snarky little - !"

With that escalation, Flare finally stopped moping on his bed.

"Girls! Cut it out. Yes, Flow, it was a terrible idea. And no, that's not why you came. You were just as excited as we were."

Goodness gracious, I hate it when he's right. The accused kit sulked as she tried to calm down.

An awkward silence reigned, and Flow returned to her sketching until Flare broke the ice.

"You've got to admit though; it was sweet seeing mom in action.”



“Yeah, she took that wolf down without even trying!"

Jolt tried to mimic Judy's kick from earlier, failed, and flopped onto her bed.

Flow chuckled and allowed herself a bit of a smile as she nodded.

Eh, she has a point. May as well makes the best of it.

"Yeah, I guess that was pretty cool. I love how she dodged everything, like it didn't even faze her."

Flare grinned at the two of them before joining in.

"And did you see how fast she was with the cuffs?"

He quickly moved his paws to demonstrate, wagging his tail in transparent enthusiasm.

"She's the best cop ever!” Flare exclaimed he pantomimed the act of hauling the larger wolf, “And that wolf had to weigh at least two hundred pounds when she picked her up."

Flow furrowed her brow in thought before correcting, "Probably more like one hundred and fifty, if that. Still, she's a really strong bunny."

Flare smirked and tilted his ears.

"I yield to your expertise, miss smarty-pants."

Flow groaned before retorting in a deadpan voice, "Well one of us has to be, and you two definitely aren't up for it."

Flare and Jolt let out a mutual "Hey!" before Flow's ears shot up in the direction of door.

"Quiet! Dad's coming."

Flow scurried onto her bed as three sets of ears that were almost as long as a bunny’s, but triangularly pointed halfway down their length focused on his footsteps, not sure what to expect from him.

The sounds stopped for a moment, and the kits listened as closely as they could for any hint of what was to come.

...

...

...

"BOO!" the door flew open as three high-pitched yelps rang out. "I love those huge ears! That'll never get old." Nick snickered.

"Daaad!" echoed three distinct voices after the kits stopped scampering back, but it only served to push Nick's snickering into full-on laughter.

Well that's one way to break the ice. If I get any better at this they might hit the ceiling!

Nick held up a paw to compose himself as he spoke, with mirth still lingering in his voice.

"Anyway, to the point; your mother called and said she’ll be home soon, so I thought I'd give you a heads-up."

Mostly calm after the news, the kits smiled gratefully at him with variations of "Thanks, dad."

Nick returned the smile, happy to see them no longer moping, before his eyes glimpsed an open sketchbook by Flow's bed.

Well what do we have here...race ya!

Flow caught his look and dove off the bed to recover it, but she was a moment too late for his quick hands.

She then tried to jump and snatch it from him.

"Dad! Give it back, it's not finished yet!"

"Sorry Flow, but I can't help myself around spoilers from my favorite little artist."

Nick effortlessly held it out of reach with one hand while keeping her from jumping with the other, wearing a smirk as her siblings giggled. His grin faltered a bit as he examined the drawing.

Guess this one is from today: she's getting pretty good at this. Wait, were they almost locked in with a angry wolf?! No wonder Judy was upset!

"Here you are, always a fan of -"

"Give me that!"

Halfway to handing it back she jumped again and snatched it from him, causing his smirk to return in full form and sparking a new fit of laughter from the other kits.

"But really, you're getting better at this all the time. Keep it up and you'll be a great animator one day."

Flow gave him an annoyed look as he ruffled the fur between her ears, but a small smile told him that she was also enjoying it.

"Of course I will, especially if a certain sly fox stops swiping my things."

Ouch. Not pulling punches today, are we?

"Funny you should say that, because - "

"Dad if this is a pun, I swear - "

"- because I noticed some food, including my beloved stash of blueberries, went missing this morning; you know, the ones from your grandparents in Bunyburrow? Any ideas where that got to?"



Jolt kept her expression up; but Flow scratched the back of her neck putting on a smile as her eyes quickly darted from her father to her siblings. Flare couldn’t look at his father and stared at the ground as he scraped his foot around on it.



"Oh. Er, here.” Flare turned and and pulled out a bag. “Sorry about that."

"Sorry." Flow echoed.

When Jolt failed to respond, Flare and Flow glanced over to her.

"What?" Their stares flattened and intensified. "Okay, fine...sorry."

All three kits produced small bags of snacks plundered from the kitchen.

Nick swiftly grabbed Flow's and flicked a blueberry into his mouth before holding the bag down for her to take a few.

"Keep a bite or two, but I'm putting the rest of this away while we wait for - "



Three sets of ears sprang up simultaneously, as well as the kit’s exposed fur standing up on its own accord as Flare cut him off.

"She's back!"

Nick listened closely, and after a few seconds heard the garage opening.

How did they hear that?! Oh, right, huge ears. I guess that one really won't get old.

Jolt settled in for another boring lecture from her parents, her mind wandering as her body went on autopilot. Unexpectedly, Nick kicked it off.

"Now we're not here to lecture you, but you need to understand the consequences of your actions."

Uh huh, here it comes. I see they're trying to mix up the tough parent soft parent act again. Bet mom scripted that entire line for him.

"First, you put yourselves in danger.” Nick’s tone grew more solemn. “You're thirteen years old, and we both know that you’ve memorized the ZPD ten codes, and you’ve been around enough patrolmammals to know how things are normally dealt with. You have no excuse for not knowing what the back seat is used for."

In hindsight, that was a terrible idea. Also, this was definitely scripted.

Judy took her turn speaking in a softer voice.

"Second, you convinced your little brother Dusk to help you by letting you out at the end of the day. We expect you to be better examples for your siblings."

Come on Dusk, really? Flow was right about not trusting him with this...but I’ll get him back for it later.

"Third, you broke the law, and you’re lucky that Bogo let this slide so long as it doesn’t happen again.” Nick continued. “And it won't be happening again, right?"

"Right." echoed in three voices. Flare seemed on the verge of crying again.

Oh carrot cakes, he’s got a point.

Nick continued in a lighter tone that caught everyone off-guard.

"But on the bright side you stayed out of the back of a police cruiser longer than your old man."

He winced as Judy immediately reprimanded him.

"Nick! We are not encouraging this."

Hah, that wasn't on the script! Omigosh don't laugh now Jolt, mom is - "ph, phht, heheHa - "

Judy's stare cut off Jolt's laughter like a gallon of cold water, while the rest of them gave her looks that screamed "Are you crazy?!"

Yes, apparently, and it looks like tough mom's back. Come on, be a big girl! You’re tougher than - No, apparently I’m not.

Judy looked away and continued the speech while Jolt tried to keep her nose from twitching.

"And finally, you made me miss patrol time, requiring another officer to be dispatched for the day after I dropped you off. Flare, Jolt, I know you want to be police officers one day, but that won't start with the two of you acting like the very criminals that we’re trying to keep off the streets."

That really was my worst idea...I’m such a dumb funny.

Judy smiled as she glanced at Nick, who returned a compliant grin, before finishing the talk alone.

"But we forgive you, and the important thing is that you are safe and no one is in trouble with the law. If you behave, we'll still take you to the Take Your Child to Work Day on Saturday like we planned, but you're grounded until the Bunny Burrows vacation.” Her tone and face softened with a brief pause. “Now, who wants a group hug?"

Five days...I guess that's fair.

Oh wow, look at Flare hugging mom, big softie. I mean who would want... No. I'm not doing it. I've got a reputation to maintainA -

Those thoughts were was cut off as Nick pulled her involuntarily into the hug, where she started sobbing.

"I'm s-sorry mom and dad, I didn't mean it. I'll be better, I - "

She was silenced by two quick kisses to the cheeks as Judy spoke.

"It's okay, we love you, all of you, and nothing could ever change that. You and your brother will make great officers one day, but we don't want you to make as many mistakes as we did on the way."

"Especially my mistakes.” Nick smiled down on her. “We just don't want you to get hurt. You're far too precious to us."

With a sniffle that her tougher self would have scoffed at, Jolt's emotional voice joined her siblings to say, "I love you too."

As they separated Judy put on a fresh smile.

"Now who wants to spend some family time watching TV with your sappy parents? I hear there's a new Zoonamon episode tonight."

They're still letting us watch it?! Mom and dad are the best!

Flare laid on the couch with his parents and seven siblings watching a new Duck-tective episode, with his head resting on his mother's lap.

Rough start and bad decisions aside, today wasn't all that bad. Groundings a bummer, but on the bright side we get to visit the ZPD in two days!..Now that I think about it, if we had waited I bet we could have just asked to ride in the cruiser.

Flare chuckled at one of the bird puns before whispering to Judy.

"He had a twin brother all along? That's the big twist we were waiting for?"

“What a rip-off!” Jolt yelled as she crumbled a Spider Crunch snack in her hands.

Judy rolled her eyes and ruffled Flare’s head fur a bit with her response.

"Well, obviously. I predicted that, like, a year ago.”

She started idly scratching his back, causing his tail to wag as he retorted.

"It's no fun being so genre-savvy and overanalyzing everything. Why not just go with it for once?"

"A good detective always analyzes things. It's how you find new leads and see what others missed, my junior ZPD officer."

Flare tilted an ear in thought before responding, "I guess that makes sense. But why not just enjoy the show? It's not like there's a real case."

Judy chuckled before lifting one of his ears to whisper conspiratorially.

"Because it's just more fun to tease you."

"Mom!"

Their exchange drew looks from across the couch and a quick "Shh!" as the show reached its climax, and when it ended Flare rolled onto his back to look up at Judy.

"I love you, mom."

"I love you too."

When the show finally ended, Flare noticed Flow brush Nick’s tail aside, which she’d been using as a blanket, and walk to her room.

"I'll be right back, we've got some time before Zoonamon is on."

What's she up to? Wait, analyze everything - why would she be going there? Maybe she's grabbing something, but what would - the sketch!

Flare surprised his mom as he quickly sat up and looked to the side, causing Judy to follow his glance.

Flow returned slightly nervous, obviously hiding something behind her back.

"Mom, I know we shouldn't have snuck into the cruiser, but after I saw you stop that wolf I - well, I tried a sketch of it."

As Flow started to hand it to Judy Jolt and several younger siblings crowded around her.

"Ooh! Let me see!"

"Cool!"

"Mom took down a wolf? Awesome!"

Flow cut them off by less ceremoniously thrusting the sketchbook towards her mother.

"Mom sees it first, then you can. Some fox stole a sneak peak, so he sees it last."

Flare glanced at Nick, who was pretending to look hurt with a poorly disguised grin, before giggling and shaking his head.

Those two are such dorks. Why do they complicate everything with teasing?

His thoughts quickly shifted as he saw the drawing from his position by Judy.

Oh wow, she really is getting better! I love the power in that kick. Why does mom look weird?

Judy seemed torn between happiness and concern as she spoke.

"It's great! You uh, really captured the motion with the linework. Keep this up, and you'll be a great animator for sure!"

Her brow furrowed briefly as she noticed a detail.

"But why is the wolf flying back with motion lines? I didn't kick her that hard."

Flow chucked a bit as Judy started showing it to the other kits.

"You KO'd her in one hit! And I get to use a bit of artistic licence, don't I?"

Flare nodded sagely, "She has a point, mom. You're the toughest bunny ever!"

Judy smirked and reached up to ruffle his head again, "You got that right!"

"And the cutest."

Judy quickly turned to the speaker while exclaiming "Nick!”

For his part, Nick simply smirked and said "I get to call my wife cute. Or are you saying I have poor taste in bunnies?"

I mean, it’s kind of true.

Flare noticed Flow smiling at the tease and Jolt rolling her eyes as Judy walked over to Nick and sat on his lap for a kiss.

"I love you, crazy fox."

"And I love you, cute bunny."

The moment was cut off prematurely by a single-minded alarm from one of the eight yearlings, who had inherited his mother’s fur and eye color.

"Look! Zoonamon is starting!" After a fresh round of laughter from his family, his ears and tail fell as he asked "...What?"

I'll tell you when you're older, Sage.

Judy stretched after the show ended and the kits were sent to bed, moving to prod Nick awake. “Come on slick, time to get up.”

“ Hmmm ...I’m fine here.” Nick murmured back as he shifted his position.

“I’ll give you five seconds.” Judy smirked and folded her arms.



“Five, four, three, -”

“Carrots, jush -” Nick interrupted as she kept counting.

“one!” Judy suddenly picked him up with a few steps backwards to balance herself.”

“Ju-Judy!” Nick startled before glancing around awkwardly. “Uh…let me down?”

“Sure, once we get there.” Judy tried to hide the strain in her breathing as she trudged towards their bedroom. “Just like our wedding, eh?”

“Don’t remind me. I can still hear everyone laughing at that.” Nick groaned as he awkwardly curled and uncurled his legs to try to look more dignified.

“Good times.” Judy grinned as she promptly dropped Nick on their bed and kissed him. “Good night, sleepyhead.”

“Good night, crazy bunny.” Nick smiled back as the strangeness of the situation wore off and he drifted off to sleep again.