Zootopia in Love (Illustrated)

2: Cottonhead

"HOOOOOOPPS!" Bogo roared.

Judy stood in the chief's office drowning in nervous anticipation. She knew what she had done, regretted every second of it, and wished she had never made such a rash decision. She stood at attention, palms sweating as Bogo kept her waiting while he looked through a file, scouring it with his reading glasses balanced on his nose. She wanted to burst out and apologize for the mistake but he had ordered her to stay in silence as he sorted out the matter.

"Hopps..." He spoke to her finally, and removed his glasses from his nose, folding them neatly and placing them carefully into his shirt pocket. "You disappoint me. Not only that, you really, really messed up." As much as she wanted to stand with dignity, she couldn't.

"Sir, I can explain-"

"No need to, I've pulled the security camera footage and watched it for myself, just to make sure that when I SUSPEND you, I can file the paperwork quicker!" Judy took that bit of news like an arrow to her heart. She remained a statue even though her emotional bunny instincts nearly overcame her, she wanted to emote the frustration she had for herself. "Let's review the video."

Bogo flipped his computer monitor around and clicked it to play. Judy saw herself on the video and felt embarrassed for what she knew was about to happen. She and Nick had stopped to grab lunch at Bridgette's Breads, and upon exiting, the shop owner next door yelled 'Hey!' to a deer that had run off in a hurry. Judy assumed a robbery had happened and pursued, catching up to the guy and zapping him with her stunner. The shop owner caught up to them only to give him his change for the birthday cake he purchased. He was in a hurry because he was late, and was made even later since she had mistakenly stunned him to the ground. Judy was thoroughly humiliated. Even Nick, at the time, had exclaimed at her for her poor judgment.

"It won't happen again." She said to the chief, nearly whispering as the shame sunk in. She hung her head to the floor when Bogo pounded on the desk.

"It won't EVER happen again!" He closed the folder and set it aside. "ZPD made an official apology to the victim and his family. I'm seeing to it personally that there is disciplinary action for this violation of professional discretion. Starting now, you are suspended from active duty."

"For how long, sir?" Judy asked with what little dignity remained.

"Two weeks. Give me your stunner." She took it from her holster and sat it on the desk, then turned to leave.

"Call me if you need anything." She told him.

"You're not going far, the floors around here need a good mopping and the bathrooms are atrocious. I hope you'll learn to responsibly assess a situation before you zap the taxpayers that paid for those stunners! You are dismissed."

Judy left the office, seeing that Nick had patiently waited for her to be released from Bogo's clutches.

"How bad is it?" He asked as Judy walked on by. He caught up to the foolish bunny wanting an answer.

"Active duty suspension. I gotta scrub toilets and mop floors for two weeks." Nick's eyes widened in realization. "What?" Judy pondered at his reaction.

"Oh no, you know what this means? I'm going to get stuck with Fangmeyer!" Judy wasn't making the connection.

"So?"

"So remember I mentioned a rumor that Fangmeyer has a crush on someone? What if I'm the crush!?" If she wasn't aggravated by the day so far, she would have laughed, but instead, she thought a little spite wouldn't hurt.

"I think he's married, Nick." She rolled her eyes and rubbed her neck at the silly fox. She walked away without another word and passed Fangmeyer. Nick said hi to him with a big grin and the large tiger ruffled the little fox's head fur with a big paw.