Chapter Text

Chapter 1

"TIME TO WAKE UP! TIME TO WAKE UP! TIME TO WAKE UP FRANCINE!"

I groaned, turning my head ever so slightly to the five rat children chanting in my ear. There was a primal part of me that wanted to smash them to bits, but it was quickly hushed by their adorable little beady eyes and smiling faces.

I chuckled, giving them a very careful jostle with my trunk, "Morning you little zoning violations."

My alarm clock went off and the kids scampered away from the noise. I shut down the infernal contraption and lifted myself up, slipping over to the kitchen to brush my teeth.

Fun fact, elephant sized showers are ridiculously expensive, and my low-rent apartment complex could hardly afford them. They could barely afford an elephant sized toilet in the communal bathroom downstairs.

So I showered at work and my itsy bitsy rhino sized closet of a bathroom was left to my flat mates, speaking of which...

Carly smirked at me from the kitchen counter. "Morning sleepy head. Coffee's ready."

I thanked the Lost Celestial for the short haired rat's coffee bean hoisting biceps and poured myself a cup. A few sips in and I was feeling a lot better about today. I smirked at Carly. "So... How did date night go?" Vicarious romance kept me sane, even if it was with a married couple.

Carly smirked. "You know it wouldn't be polite to kiss Danielle and tell..."

I grinned. "But I'm guessing you kissed more than one set of lips last night?"

The rat's fur slicked. "Francine! The kids are still here."

I grimaced. "Sorry, need more caffeine in me." I chugged the mug down and picked up my toothbrush. It was long past time I got into gear.

"Oh, and your sister called." Carly mentioned, off hand.

I stopped brushing. "And... you hung up on her?"

The rat grinned. "Not before I told her to go fuck herself."

I smiled. "Careful Carly, the kids are still here."

That said, I finished up in the kitchen and threw on my uniform with practiced efficiency. I'd have to hurry if I wanted to get to the elevated train for my morning shift.

But... Not before I got a rumble from Nandi.

Francine! She rumbled.

I sighed. Yes Nandi?

... Okay, so I just realized that some people who aren't elephants might be reading this, so let me explain rumbling real quick.

So, we elephants are capable of producing a heck of a lot of low frequency sounds, and low frequency sounds travel a really, really long distance. Not as much in a big city as in the open plains, but it still works to some extent. Why can we get away with calling out to each other across the city while wolf howls are super banned?

Well, the vast majority of animals can't really hear our rumbles, so they don't tend to bother people so much.

Carly once asked if it was some kind of telepathy or something, but it's a lot more like people yelling at you to turn down the damn music so they can sleep.

Speaking of which...

Do you remember where I put my keys? Nandi asked.

I rolled my eyes. You have a spare pair under the statuette by your door.

Oh! Right! By the way, will you be at temple this month? She asked.

She asked me this practically every morning. Yes Nandi.

Okay! Have a good day then!

You too. I rumbled. That said, I slipped out the door and tried my best to make up for lost time.

Moving through the streets of Zootopia was all about situational awareness. The vast majority of mammals were smaller than me, so my journey to the train station could only be described as 'hasty tip-toeing'

When I got to the train I sat myself down in the elephant car and ignored the hell out of the other commuters. The ones who knew me were doing their level best to ignore me, and most of the rest had their own crap to deal with.

I still got an odd glance or a slur thrown at me every once in a while. Frankly I didn't give a crap anymore.

I escaped that chilling social environment shortly and bounded my way up to the station. I always tried to get into the bull-pen early, not out of any particular fear of losing my seat (there were all of two elephant sized ones), but because A) punctuality was important and B)...

Well, that was when she came in.

Have you ever found someone who makes your heart beat faster? Someone who you find your gaze drifting towards even when there's another person talking to you? Someone who's smile makes you just light up inside?

For Carly, that was Danielle.

For me, maddeningly, it was Judy Hopps.

The rabbit waved to me from over her case file with a smile. "Good Morning Francine!"

I smiled back. "H-Hi!"

That was the extent of our conversations. She went back to file and I went to my seat. Far, far across the room from her.

I tried to focus on literally anything else.

It was very hard.

Fortunately the arrival of the other officers gave me plenty to distract myself... although strangely my partner was not among them.

The chief came in and started the morning announcements. "Alright! Alright! Sit!" He tapped the bundle of papers in his hooves with practiced ease. "Now, officers Fangmeyer and Higgins, you will be..."

I'll admit, the remaining announcements blurred a bit. You can only hear the same assignments over and over for so long until they all start to blur together and you just-

"Pennington!"

I snapped to attention. "Yes sir!"

The Buffalo glared at me... Probably not out of any malice, that was just his resting face. "The Flu is going around. Officers Wilde and Trunkaby are out ill. You'll be teaming up with Hopps for Patrol in Savanah Central. Try not to step on her." That said he threw a file at me.

I blinked at him. What?

Just get out of my bullpen. The chief's returning glare said.

I decided not to look a gift horse in the mouth (sorry, that's racist) and made my way into the hallway.

The precinct's star officer wasn't far behind. She smiled at me (although I admit it seemed a bit forced) and held out a paw as a bump. "I guess we're together today... Ready to make the world a better place?"

I very, very carefully returned her paw bump and tried hard not to suppress a squeal.

#

Five minute later I was already fucking it up.

In my defense, I had never put a booster seat in the *front* before.

"Do you need some help?" Judy asked from behind me.

"Just a sec!" The seat snapped in with a satisfying clunk. I adjusted the height, made sure the cup holder was in place.

Bam! My cruiser was rabbit ready...

It had only taken me like twenty minutes of awkward fumbling.

#

Another ten minutes into our patrol route, the silence was killing me.

"So..." I said, experimentally. "You're from Bunnyburrow?"

Judy nodded. "Yes."

I kept my eyes on the road and tried not to sweat. "Uh... Yeah, sorry I guess that makes sense. A lot of bunnies are from there."

The girl of my dreams (and likely nothing else ever), blinked. "Um... Yeah, that's sort of why it's called Bunnyburrow."

Okay now I was definitely sweating. "Heh, right... I knew that. I just... Yeah."

The rabbit groaned, slumping in her booster seat. "Okay can we please cut through the awkwardness? It's officially killing me. I get it, you'd rather be out here with Trunkaby."

I snorted. "Oh fat chance!"

She blinked. "Huh?"

I risked a glance at her in the mirror. "Wait. You don't know?"

Okay, that perked her ears up. "Know what?"

I let out a breath. "Trunkaby's fine and all, but we aren't exactly soul mates." Not that he seemed to be able to take a hint on that, "We kind of just got shoved together because we're the only two elephants at the precinct. We use the same equipment."

Judy frowned in concentration. "I guess I hadn't thought about it that way. Kind of like how Nick and I are partners because we're the smallest on the force... And I didn't even get assigned one before he showed up." She twiddled her thumbs. "This is kind of meeting of extremes huh?"

I sighed. "A little bit. You're not my smallest friend though." I blanched. Oh shit. I just called her a friend! What if she thought I was being presumptuous?

But that adorable little bunny just smiled. "Really, where did you meet your smaller friend?"

"Well..."

#

Eight years ago:

"Okay class! Today we have a pop quiz. Please clear off your desks and take out your number two pencils!"

I groaned internally. My uniform chafed, the Miss Tusking was being overly chipper again and my head was pounding.

I was never sneaking booze with Andy and his chump friends again...

At least on a school night.

I dug through my pockets, a mess of wadded tissues from my escapades last night... I must have gotten congested or something.

Blech, this was too much work, propriety get bent.

I emptied my pocket onto my desk, wadded tissues and all.

To my surprise, a disoriented rodent plopped out, clutching an empty bottle of Gin.

She woke up.

We both screamed.

#

"And then I got suspended, and we've been friends ever since." I finished.

The rabbit's eyes bugged out "She woke up... in your pocket?"

I made a vague gesture with my trunk. "I mean, she's a rat and she was hammered... Like five sheets to the wind at least. And I guess I just... You know, didn't notice when she crawled in?"

My diminutive coworker stared out the windshield, her face rather contorted in horror. "There exist people in this city who can do that. Climb into someone's pocket, and fall asleep without anyone being the wiser."

I scratched the back of my head. Zootopia was weird like that. "Yeah... it's kind of a security nightmare."

"I was more worried about getting sat on." She said.

I narrowed my eyes. "Hey I am very careful about where I put my butt."

There was a pause... Then we burst out laughing, the tension slowly draining. The little rabbit wiped away a tear. "Oh gods, the snark... You're making me feel like I'm back with Nick."

I raised an eyebrow. "What's the deal with you and Nick anyway? Are you two...Together?" Please don't be together, please don't be together...

"We're not together." She said.

Score!

"But..." She bit her lip. "I won't deny there's an attraction there."

Fuck... "Oh..." I said, feeling my heart break, just a little.

She gripped her paws together, tightly. "Francine... Do you think I'm a freak?"

I balked. "What? No! God no! Judy you're talking to an openly gay elephant with cross species attractions. You are not a freak..." I paused. "Well... At least not for that. No clue what you get up to in your spare time."

She snorted. "Fair enough... Huh, didn't know you were gay." She said it like she was commenting on the weather. Smaller mammals were like that.

I nodded. "Yup. Resident lesbian elephant at your service. And yes, I know the job makes me a bit of a stereotype, but hey, it pays the bills."

There was a pause. It felt like the car had just gotten ten degrees colder.

She look at me like I'd just stabbed her. "Pays the bills? Pays the bills!? Francine, we do a hell of a lot more than that here! We save lives, we settle disputes, we make the world a better place!" She looked down. "Usually..."

I winced. "Jeeze Judy... Are you still beating yourself up about that?"

Her ears fell. It would have been adorable if it wasn't so sad. "I started a species war Francine, that's not the kind of thing you can just walk away from."

I groaned. I pulled over and turned to look at the miserable girl. I'd need my full attention for this. "Judy, you did not start a species war, Bellwether did. You just got conned."

"Hustled..."

"Whatever! Look..." I leaned down. I still towered over her, but it felt a little more intimate. "Judy, I'm not going to pretend you didn't make any dumb mistakes at that conference, or that you didn't carry around some nasty, prejudiced views, but when you realized what was happening you left. And when you found a way to fix it you came back and saved a lot of people."

I gripped the side of my seat. "And for what it's worth... It made me feel like our job actually mattered. Like we weren't just... Making sure things stayed the same. We could actually help people." I looked away. "I never really thanked you for that."

She put her paw on the tip of my trunk. It smelled like hay and warm sand from the beach. "You didn't need to."

I blushed. "Well, I felt like it." I pulled myself back up and turned to the road. "So... I guess we should go do our jobs huh?"

She smirked. "Our callings, yes."

I smiled. I liked the sound of that...

#

I did not, however, like the smell of it.

I gagged into my handkerchief. "Oh gods..."

The perp in the back glared at his wife. "Well, I hope you're happy Beatrice, now we're going to get tried for assault."

The female skunk groaned. "You sprayed them too Howard!"

"I thought we were working together!"

"Oh, so now you want to do things with me!"

"Would you two please can it!" Cried my sadly much less sweet smelling partner... Not that I was any better. "Seriously, you have the right to remain silent. I suggest you use it."

Despite the circumstances I smirked. "Wilde's rubbing off on you."

"Oooh, who's Wilde?" Asked Beatrice.

Howard rolled his eyes, "Oh are you going to flirt with him too?"

"Okay, that's enough of that." I raised the sound proof divider between our cab and theirs.

Honestly it was a bit of a creepy feature, but it came in handy.

"Think we can talk Clawhauser into booking these two for us?" I asked.

Judy cringed. "I think Wolford is going to pay us to let him book them if it gets us in the shower faster."

"Heh... Yeah..." I eyed the road warily. "I... Um, I'm sorry today went so south."

Judy raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean sorry? None of this was your fault."

I avoided her gaze, pretending I was eyeing up the next turn. "I know, it's just... I kind of hoped that the first time we really got to hang out would have been a bit more..." I honestly didn't even know what I was saying at this point.

Fortunately Judy saved me with a bop to the leg. "Don't worry about it. You made today a whole lot better." Her ears perked up. "In fact! Why don't we grab coffee some time next Thursday? I've got the afternoon off and I could use a tour of the larger parts of the city."

My eyes widened. Coffee? With Judy?

Play it cool Francine! Play it cool... I did my best to sound relaxed. "Uh! S-sure! Wow, I didn't even know you were interested."

I cringed. Great Francine, real smooth.

She laughed. "What are you talking about, you're great!"

I smirked, feeling a little more at ease. "Well, I know that, I meant towards elephant ladies."

She tilted her head. "What do you mean-" Her ears fell. She blushed. "Oh... Francine, I didn't mean it like that. I just... as friends."

I blinked. "Oh... Um, okay." I turned my full attention back to the road.

"Francine-"

"It's cool Judy." I gripped the steering wheel. "I get it."

The rest of the ride was silent.

#

I opened the door to my apartment, exhausted and still smelling far too much of skunk.

Honestly the ineffectiveness of the department issued tomato juice wasn't the really draining part.

I stripped off my uniform jacket and eyed my reflection in my badge. The symbol that defined me. The physical manifestation of my love for...

I groaned.

Who was I kidding? I'd barely worked for the thing, and I definitely hadn't devoted my life to it. Judy was someone who loved her job, worked day and night for what she believed in and generally dragged her way to the top by sheer force of will despite everything in her way.

I was just some dumb, ugly girl who lived in a crappy apartment.

I needed a beer. There was a note projected on the fridge (yes, my roommates used a projector, it was easier than writing down something in a size I could read).

Dear Francine,

We're out for a family dinner. We'll be back by ten at the latest. Please be sure to pick up your clothes.

Love,

Danielle

I sighed. If there was ever a night I could have used my friends...

I went to my bedroom and threw myself on the unmade sheets. I should make my bed, I should do the laundry, I should be something other than be a useless pile of-

The doorbell rang.

Oh for...

I forced myself up and hit the talk button on the apartment's intercom. "Who is it?"

"Francine, It's me." Said the last voice I ever wanted to hear.

I growled. "Go away Amanda."

"Francine, it's important."

"Go. Away." I pointedly hit the mute switch on the intercom and plunged back into bed. I didn't care if my sister was here to give me a solid gold bar and a back rub, there was no way in hell-

There was a knock on my door.

What the...!

Furious, I threw open the door, my sister was on the other side. "Amanda, how did you get past the apartment door, I-!"

"Mom's dead." she said.

I froze.