Animal Instincts

Chapter 5

Nick's POV

Judy and I were just arriving at work after we stopped to get a quick breakfast sandwich from Mousedonald's. We were right on time for roll call.

"Come on, Nick," Judy ordered as she grabbed our bag of food. "We can eat it in the room."

"Alright," I groaned. "I want to scarf it down before we start training." I got out the cruiser and followed her to the front door.

She was hopping around, as usual, all cheeky and filled with joy. Energetic to be more exact. That's why I loved her. She always saw the bright side of things. As soon as I was able to catch up to her, she was having a conversation with Clawhauser. I offered to clock Judy and me in.

"I saw the new recruit come in today," Clawhauser said with a huge smile. "She seems kind of cool."

"What do you mean kind of?" I heard Judy say as I made my way back over to them to join in on the conversation.

"She took one of my doughnuts!" He whined.

I chuckled to myself. I had a feeling she was a sly fox. It's in our DNA.

"Sorry to hear that, buddy. She probably didn't mean to do it on purpose." Judy reasoned.

Oh, she did it on purpose. I would've done the same thing. "Well, it wasn't like she took all of them. One doughnut gone couldn't hurt you right?" I asked.

"True," Clawhauser confessed. "I shouldn't be mad at her over a measly donut. I'll always have more!"

"Well, we should be heading to roll call," Judy exclaimed, looking down at her watch. "We'll catch up with you later, bud!"

Judy grabbed my paw and dragged me along down the main hallway to the employee lounge. That's where we all took roll call and were assigned our cases.

Once we made it in, we took our usual seats in the front row. Right in front of the podium of where Chief Bogo would stand. I was so excited to start training today. Training with Tessa should be interesting.

Momentarily, Chief Bogo marched in with surprisingly, Tessa following closely behind him. She had her paws balled up behind her back, ears erect with confidence, and had a serious look on her face. She was wearing the uniform pants for the females, but instead of the matching collared shirt, she was wearing a ZPD T-shirt.

All the officers stood, including me and Judy and saluted the Chief then took our seats again.

"Good Morning, officers. I hope everything is well with everybody, " He began as he flipped through papers on his podium. "First off, we have a guest with us today. Miss Tessa Woods!" Chief Bogo gestured her forward to introduce herself.

She took a breath, taking a cautious step in front of the podium. "Hi everybody, I'm Tessa Woods and I'm the first fox ever to become a cop in Zootopia," she glanced at me before she began to pace around the room. "The past five years I was in the military, fighting in Zoobabwe then I left to take a less extreme job. Being a police officer. So, I'm here to paw select three officers to join me on a secret case to take down one of Zootopia's most vital criminals."

I tried not to stare at her curvy hips by attempting to distract myself with my breakfast sandwich. I took a bite of it, chewing slowly, but somehow I always found my eyes on her. Yeah, she was cute with the pointed erect ears, fluffy tail, and curvy hips, but what really made my tail wag was her eyes. They were a mysterious smokey gray that I would pay money to stare into.

"That's right, Woods," Chief broke in. "As long as Tessa is here, there will be no cases to handle until further notice. Just strictly training!"

The whole room roared and cheered for the great news. Judy hasn't said a word ever since Tessa walked in. I wonder what was wrong with her. She seemed to like her yesterday when we first met her. I don't see what makes today any different. Her ears were low, arms crossed, and had a stern look on her face. Occasionally, she would shake her head disapprovingly and mumble something under her breath.

"She's too much," I heard her grumble.