Archive of Our Own ^beta

Grasping a coffee cup in each paw, Nick Wilde traipsed out of the Snarlbucks alongside his partner, who was bouncing excitedly and ignoring the white mocha he was holding for her.

“Just think of it, Nick!” she exclaimed, her paws clasped, her eyes shining. She hopped alongside him, easily keeping up with his long strides. “If you and I crack the drug case, we’ll be the first rabbit-and-fox team in the precinct to get…” Her voice went down to an exhilarated whisper. “Promoted.”

“Carrots, we’re the only rabbit-and-fox team in the precinct,” Nick said good-naturedly, taking an opportunity to attempt to hand Judy her drink, which she swatted away.

“Promoted, Nick!” Her voice lilted and she looked up at him with dreamy eyes, fully absorbed in her own words. “Promoted…”

Distracted by the violet hues that were gazing up at him, he nearly didn’t have enough time to wrap an arm around her shoulder and guide her close to his side just as she was about to hop face-first into a street pole. Nearly.

He let go of her once they’d passed the pole, heaved a sigh, and took another sip of his coffee.

“At any rate, the drug case wasn’t assigned to us,” Nick reminded her, and she rolled her eyes dramatically, finally reaching for the white mocha that was in his other paw. “And I don’t think Fangmeyer and Grizzoli would be too keen on the prospect of two little guys stealing the work – and the promotion – that was meant for them.”

“Two little guys.” She repeated in horror. “Listen to yourself.”

Nick quirked up the corners of his lips at her expression. “And listen to yourself. Stealing work is still theft, Cottontail. Petty theft, at that.”

“It’s not my fault all Fangmeyer and Grizzoli do is argue day and night when they should be doing research for the case.”

Nick reached the passenger door of their police vehicle and let himself inside. “But it is your fault that you’re more involved in their grunt work than your own.”

Their own grunt work being another mundane patrol shift; not that she pointed that out.

Judy gripped her paws around the steering wheel before turning to him and cocking an eyebrow, allowing a small smile to show what she was about to say was all in good jest. “When did you become such a spoilsport?”

He smirked back at her, all half-lidded eyes and lopsided lips. He gestured to her apparel; they were both decked out in their uniform blues. “And when did you become such a willing criminal?”

She scrunched up her face to give him a mock-irritated expression, to which he simply laughed, reached over, grabbed one of her ears, and playfully tugged.

“You know I hate it when you do that,” she whipped her head away from his grasp and started the car.

“Do what?” he asked innocently enough, before a devious glint shone in his eyes and he reached up to grab her ear again.

“Nicholas Wilde!”

---

It had only been moments after they’d entered the front doors to headquarters that they heard Chief Bogo’s voice boom from up above.

“Hopps. Wilde. My office. Now.”

They locked eyes with Clawhauser questioningly, as if he knew the answers, which of course he didn’t, so he just raised his paws up in the air before reaching for another donut.

The pair made their way upstairs, glancing at each other curiously, before hesitating at the chief’s door.

“It’s probably nothing,” Nick said quietly.

“It’s midday.” Judy noted. “We’ve finished up our shifts, we haven’t done anything out of line for as far as I can remember…”

“Right, right.” Nick nodded, his worried eyes and flat ears betraying his calm voice. “So it can’t be about something we’ve done wrong.”

Judy grimaced before placing two paws against the door. Whatever it was awaiting them on the other end, it wouldn’t do them any good to keep the chief waiting.

The door opened and the two filed inside.

“Take a seat,” Chief said, his expression, as always, unreadable.

As was customary, Nick and Judy shared a chair. The two looked up at him expectantly.

Bogo leaned forward, holding a manila envelope in his hoofs. “First of all, what I’m about to disclose to you both is top-secret”- the pair straightened their postures at once – “so I better not hear any of the following information come out of the mouths of anyone else in the precinct; am I understood?”

“Yes, sir,” Judy said emphatically at the same time that Nick responded, “You got it, Chief.”

The cape buffalo leaned back in his seat, opened the envelope, and out slid a case file onto the desk. Nick’s and Judy’s names were stamped on the front folder, as well as the bold, red-lettered word “CLASSIFIED”.

“Go ahead.” The chief said solemnly. “Open it.”

The fox and the bunny eyed each other, then the file, then each other again. Judy reached over and lifted up the folder.

Nick peered over her shoulder as she held the case file wide open, and they read quickly and silently. No extraneous details were given, only the barest minimum of facts. A family of sheep threatened by mailed notes. No return address. Potential kidnapping. Christmas Eve.

Judy, still holding the folder, looked up at Chief Bogo with wide, curious eyes. “If there’s potential for a kidnapping to occur, then why”-

“Why did I choose only the two of you for the case?” The buffalo furrowed his eyebrows together.

“No disrespect intended, sir, but it seems like this situation could use a bit of backup,” she admitted. Nick raised his eyebrows at that.

“Hopps.” The chief leaned forward again. “Wilde. You two are… quite frankly, the best team I have. With everyone else on other serious cases that haven’t been solved yet”- Nick exchanged a quick look with his partner, remembering her comments on Fangmeyer and Grizzoli –“I need my very best to be all in on this one. This is a serious case regardless of attachments, but I must admit to the two of you that it’s actually… a bit of a personal matter to me.”

Now it was Judy’s turn to raise eyebrows. She never knew the chief to be personally linked to a case before. Her mouth set in a resolute line, and Nick knew what she was going to say before she said it.

“Chief Bogo, we will do everything in our power to solve this case and prevent the kidnapping from happening.”

“Very good.” The chief nodded. “Now- here’s the information that’s not in the file, that may change the way you view this case.” He let out a sigh, before looking Nick directly in the eyes. “The lamb that’s being targeted is my relative. Her family is part of my family.”

They both must have looked very confused, because Bogo let out a deeper sigh and put a hoof to his forehead. He closed his eyes and spoke. “My brother is married to the sheep that’s being targeted.”

“Oh!” Judy couldn’t help but slip out. Nick took in a deep breath, as Judy whipped her head from him to Chief Bogo. “Oh,” she said again, more softly.

The buffalo took his hoof off his face and turned to Judy. His expression had hardened slightly. “Do remember that here at the ZPD, we save lives despite any and all reservations we may have on a personal level”-

“I have no reservations!” Judy lifted up a paw, looking panicked. “None! I just- well, that came as a bit of a surprise to me. Although, I don’t know why it would.” Her ears drooped, and she looked down at her feet. “Sorry.”

Bogo groaned. “All right, Hopps, no need to get teary-eyed on me, for goodness’ sake. I’m aware as much as the two of you are that an interspecies relationship isn’t exactly the easiest affair in our world, but it’s something that’s always happened, and it’s something that always will happen. And I’m not ashamed of my brother. Or my sister-in-law.”

Judy and Nick stared at him with wide eyes and nodded silently.

“If you ask me,” he continued gruffly, “love is blind.” Nick blinked, and Chief quickly reverted back to talking about the case. “But not everyone believes that, of course. My sister-in-law, Grace, has been receiving anonymous threats that she will be taken away on Christmas Eve in order to be ‘taught a lesson’ about ‘who she is’, and ‘who she is supposed to be’, and”-

“That’s terrible.” Judy said, suddenly angered, and Chief nodded.

“Agreed. I’ve offered to have them stay at my home, but they’re a bit traumatized from their… let’s say… ‘intolerant’ experiences here in the city and have chosen to stay where they feel safest”-

“-Which is in…?” Nick’s eyebrows were furrowed, and Judy wondered what was going on in his head.

“Sheep Island.” Chief Bogo placed one hoof atop another.

Nick and Judy exchanged a look. Sheep Island was fifty miles away from Bunnyburrow, which was another fifty miles away from Zootopia.

“The two of you may have made a name for yourself here, but out there? You’re virtually unknown. That’s why I want you to go undercover, make yourself familiar with Grace’s – and my – family, and protect her at all costs.”

“What’s our cover story?” Nick asked, taking the case file into his paws and running his eyes down the contents once more.

Chief Bogo looked at them flatly. “A married couple on their honeymoon.”

Judy made a choking noise and Nick dropped the case file. He scrambled to pick it back up again.

Chief was rolling his eyes. “Can I expect my two finest to play the part that is expected of them in order to save my sister?” Before either one could answer, he looked at them with piercing eyes. “I…better.”

Nick gulped. Judy nodded nervously. “Of course, sir.”

“Excellent.” Chief Bogo grunted. “Sheep Island as a town, as you probably already know, is known for its leniency on interspecies relationships. That’s why I’m forced to believe that someone from out-of-town is troubling them.”

“You mean… someone from Zootopia?” Judy asked in disappointment.

“Or perhaps Bunnyburrow.” Chief nodded. Judy’s somber expression deepened in shame. “Your mission? First and foremost, protect my family. Second, find out who it is that’s terrorizing them. And put a stop to it.”

Nick tucked the case file under his arm. “When do we get to start, sir?”

“Now.” The chief stood up, and the pair hopped off the seat. He walked them to the door. “You have exactly two weeks before Christmas Eve.”

“You can count on us, Chief.” Judy folded her paws together and looked up at him comfortingly. Her voice had gone soft. “We won’t let you or your family down.”

The look he allowed himself to give her was one of exhaustion and desolation. “I hope so, Hopps. Now get out of here and get to work.”

---

Nick and Judy meandered quietly together down the sidewalk, no longer in uniform. The sun was setting, and animals of all ages were heading home from work or school.

It was Nick who broke the silence first.

“So.” He looked over at her casually. “As long as we’re leaving first thing in the morning for Sheep Island… why not spend the night at my place?”

Judy shrugged. “Fine by me. I just have to get my suitcase from my apartment.”

“You mean your ‘shoebox’.” Nick shook his head, his lips curling up in a teasing smile. “Can’t believe you still live there.”

“What are you even talking about? My place is perfect!” She exclaimed indignantly, but a smile was creeping up on her face too.

Before Nick could fire back a sarcastic reply, Judy grabbed his arm, stopping. He stopped too, and looked over at whatever it was she was facing.

It was an outdoor wedding, right in the middle of the city’s public garden. Two badgers were happily holding hands while a beaver priest spoke into a microphone. Nick wondered what it was about this unassuming wedding that had caught Judy’s attention, until he noticed her shaking her head.

“Can you believe there are some animals who have their weddings in secrecy and shame… that they go out of town and live far away from their families… simply because of a stupid stigma?” Her voice was distant, her eyebrows furrowed at the happy badgers. “The nature of one’s relationship has nothing to do with anyone else, and yet here we are, about to protect a perfectly normal couple just because of bigotry and hate.” Her ears were all the way down, and Nick swallowed.

He placed a paw on her back, pushing her to keep walking down the sidewalk. “C’mon, Carrots. Those badgers didn’t do anything to Bogo’s family. They’re simply getting married.”

“Yeah, in public. Not everyone can do that.”

Nick sighed. “You’re right. Not everyone can do that.”

“It’s just wrong.”

“Come on, Carrots.” He repeated himself, nudging her further down the path. “Stop staring at them. Let’s head home, all right?”

She glanced up at him with sad, violet eyes. “All right,” she said reluctantly.

---

They had Chinese take-out that night in Nick’s apartment. Judy, seated cross-legged on the couch in her pajamas, was eating her noodles thoughtfully and silently.

Nick had his attention on the reality TV show playing before them.

“Y’know, I never gave much thought to it before today,” the rabbit spoke suddenly, and Nick picked up the remote to press the mute button before turning to look at her.

“What do you mean?”

Judy shrugged. “I mean, I always viewed Zootopia as a place where anyone can be anything. I guess I’m bothered that I forgot to include the notion that anyone can be with anyone they want, as well.”

“Considering that Zootopia has a long ways to go before predator and prey relations would even consider marrying one another, I wouldn’t fault you too much for that.”

Judy put her fork down. “What do you mean? Buffalo and sheep are both prey.”

Nick pointed a finger at her. “Exactly. Even in an interspecies relationship, those two are in the same category. But take Gazelle and one of her backup dancers, for instance. Let’s say they fell in love, wanted to marry, yada yada. The hoops they’d have to jump through – from the media to the general population’s opinions – would be astronomical.”

Judy jumped up, enraged. “That is so unfair!” she cried out. “Animals should be able to date, marry, or love whoever they want without receiving kidnapping threats for it! I hate that someone out there is so prejudiced that they’re ready to ruin a couple’s health, happiness, and lives! This makes me so angry, I just… I don’t know what to do!” Upon finishing her little rant, she deflated.

Nick pushed his paper plate away, placing it down on the coffee table before them. He slowly stood up and crossed the distance between them, placing a paw on his best friend’s shoulder.

“Carrots… we have a long two weeks ahead of us. I think what you need is sleep.”

She grumbled. “I don’t want to sleep. I want to read over the case file”-

-“Which is minimalistic at best, and then what? Plot how you’re gonna take down the bad guy, when you have no idea yet who the bad guy is?”

She looked up at him forlornly, and suddenly Nick saw how tired she was. Without a second thought, he scooped her up, placed her little body over his shoulder, and walked into his bedroom.

“Niiiiick.” She groaned. “Carrying me to bed? Really? I am not a child.”

“Then stop pouting like one,” he smiled, laying her gently down against the pillows. After he’d let go, she crossed her arms, her eyes firmly set on the door, her ears drooping.

He didn’t want to leave her in this stance. “C’mon Hopps. Where’s the annoyingly cheerful bunny I know and love? She seems to have…” He ran his hands through the air in an outward circular motion. “…disappeared.”

She cocked her face to the side, rolled her eyes, and offered him a small smile. “She’s ticked off that she was just forced to get in bed against her will, so you tell me.”

Nick patiently sat down on the edge of the bed and looked at her over his shoulder. “We both know why you’re really upset.”

Tears began to form in the corners of her eyes. As one drop began to fall down her furry cheek, he lifted a finger and swiped it away. He waited silently for her to talk.

“I just… this hits home for me, Nick. What if one of my 275 siblings fell in love with a lamb, or a ferret, or… even a fox?”

“Even?” he chuckled.

She punched him lightly in the shoulder, ignoring her own social blunder. “And what about me? What if I were to fall in love with someone outside of my species?”

Nick’s heart began to pick up speed at the mention of this. They had never discussed romance before, and up until now, he hadn’t imagined Judy to even be interested in such things.

“...Then I’d kick the butt of any and every bigoted animal to even so much as give you and your boyfriend a dirty look,” he promised.

A final tear went down her face, and she smiled, genuinely this time. “I know you would. I’d do the same for you.”

He chuckled. “Glad we got that out on the table. Well, it’s officially past your bedtime, Fluff, so I’m gonna make my way to the couch. You sleep tight. All right?”

She nodded, finally yawning. “All right. See you bright and early in the morning.”

“The train leaves the station at eight, so you better set an alarm. You know I’ll sleep through mine,” Nick grinned.

She shook her head. “Already taken care of, you doofus.”

“Good. Good night, Carrots.”

“Night, Nick.”

The fox backed out of his bedroom, closed the door, and settled himself down on the living room couch. For a while, he watched the TV on mute, trying not to think too much about his partner’s words. And failed.

He’d never had to consider that she might get a boyfriend someday. But the words had come out of her own mouth, so it certainly was possible. Probable, even. It’s not like she was unattractive. Or unpopular. Or uninteresting.

He sighed, turned off the TV, shoved the pillow further down the back of his head and leaned back, staring up at the ceiling.

“What does it matter, anyway?” he mumbled to the empty room. “It doesn’t.”

So what if she ever decided to date? It’s not like that would change the dynamic of their wonderful friendship in any way. They’d definitely still hang out, have movie nights, work long hours at the precinct together, and go for evening runs down at Sahara Square. Right?

…Right?

---

Early the next morning, Judy and Nick waited at the station for their train. Well, Judy waited. Nick sulked.

“You couldn’t let me get some coffee on the way over here because…?”

Judy sighed. “Because they don’t allow food and drinks on the train, Nick.”

“I could’ve finished it while we were waiting here!” He gestured with both arms toward a trash can, and a young female jaguar side-eyed him. He dropped his arms down to his sides and hissed at Judy, “I’m never gonna make it through today because of you.”

“Oh, would you chill out? There will be plenty of coffee shops in Sheep Island.”

“Hours and hours of waiting for just one cup,” he moaned.

She elbowed him in the ribs, rolling her eyes, before a certain sight got her attention. As Nick griped on about the necessity of coffee, she lifted herself up on her tiptoes and peered around a couple of cheetahs to recognize the badgers who got married in the public garden yesterday. They were waiting for a train, too.

“Nick, look.” She tugged on his arm and beckoned with her chin. “The newlyweds.”

He saw them too. “So what? They’re probably going on their honeymoon.”

“They’re waiting for the same train as us. Do you think they’re honeymooning in Sheep Island?”

“That, or Deerbrooke County. What’s the big deal?”

She looked up at him nervously. “Well, we’re kinda famous here. Do you think maybe they’ll recognize us?”

Nick blinked. “Hopefully not. I mean, maybe they’re newcomers to Zootopia. The Nighthowler incident happened over a year ago. If they’re new, they won’t know us from their great uncle Max.”

Judy chewed on her bottom lip just as their train started to pull in. She put her suitcase down. “I’m gonna talk to them.”

“Wait. Why?”

“If they screw up our investigation on the first day by simply knowing who we are, I’ll do my darnedest to persuade them to have their honeymoon in Deerbrooke.” She took a one hundred dollar bill out of her sundress pocket, waved it in the air, and gave Nick a smirk.

He shook his head in amazement. “Bribing a newlywed couple, Judy? Really? How… well, cunning of you. No, actually, I’m impressed.”

She laughed out loud. “If you’re impressed by my plotting, you’ll be blown away by my delivery. Watch me.”

She walked confidently past him and approached the badgers with ease.

“Excuse me,” she said, smiling. She tapped the female badger on the shoulder, and she turned around to smile back at Judy.

“Oh! Hello.”

Judy faltered for a moment, as the animal didn’t appear to have any idea of who she was. But just to be sure…

She pointed at Nick, who was still standing in the same place, with her thumb. “My husband and I couldn’t help but notice that you two got married yesterday in the gardens. I wanted to congratulate you.”

A small look of surprise crossed the badgers’ features at the mention of the word “husband”, but it was quickly replaced by a warm smile on the lady’s part. “Why, thank you! Thank you so much.”

Judy continued to smile. “We’re actually about to go on our honeymoon.”

“Oh! So are we!” the female badger linked paws with her husband proudly. “We’re going to Sheep Island.”

“What a coincidence!” Judy threw her paws in the air, laughing. “So are we!”

“Well, have a fun time!” the badger waved as the train sent out its warning toot. Her husband gave Judy a funny look, which she didn’t catch.

“Same to you!” Judy called over her shoulder as she walked back to Nick.

“Well?” The fox gathered up both their suitcases.

“Yes, they’re going to Sheep Island, but no, they don’t know who we are. I called you my husband and they looked surprised at best. Not confused that two famous police officers are together... that way.”

Nick chuckled. “And here I was hoping I’d get a story of how you miserably failed to bribe them.”

“Hey!” Judy ribbed him again. “Have a little faith in me!”

He grinned, all toothy. “Aaaanyway, that was the warning toot. Let’s get a move on.”

They boarded the compartment of the train meant for their size and found two seats in the corner. Nick immediately leaned against the wall and fell asleep. Judy shook her head, smiling at her friend, and took out her earbuds, readying herself for hours of listening to the Fur Fighters.

---

By the time the train arrived at its final stop at Sheep Island, Nick and Judy had gone through sharing earbuds, staring out the window, and playing “I Spy” for over an hour and a half.

Nick was relieved to have finally reached their destination.

“Finally!” He jumped up, grabbing his suitcase. His tail was swishing from side to side, all antsy. “I am ready to get off this train!”

Judy gathered her own things and followed him out. A swarm of animals were coming in and out of the train and Judy couldn’t see over anyone’s heads, so she hooked her arm in Nick’s and let him do the walking.

He stopped suddenly, though, and she looked up at him curiously. “What?”

“Judy…” he said slowly, his eyes still focused on something straight ahead that she couldn’t see. “Would your middle name by any chance be… Laverne?”

She gasped sharply, letting go of his arm. “How did you”-

“C’mon.” He grabbed her paw. “I found our Grace. Chief Buffalo Butt has clearly already decided our identities for us.”

Taken slightly aback, she let him guide her all the way to a clearing where a black female sheep was holding a sign half her size that read in big bold letters: “PIBERIUS AND LAVERNE”.

Nick nodded at the lady and her sign, and once she’d locked eyes with him, her face burst into a wide, happy smile.

“Oh, hello, hello!” she squealed, dropping the sign, and pulled Nick and Judy into a tight hug. The fox and the rabbit startled by the sudden affection, but they patted her back as well. She pulled away and beheld them both, and… were there tears in her eyes?

“Piberius, Laverne… you have no idea how nice it is to meet another interspecies couple,” she said, sniffling a bit. “And one as lovely as the two of you! Congratulations on your very recent marriage, I… I’m so happy for you. You definitely came to the right place to honeymoon; Sheep Island is a very tolerant place.” She beamed at them.

Judy stepped forward and gave Grace another hug. This sweet animal was being targeted? Her heart clenched and she inwardly promised herself that absolutely nothing was going to happen to her.

“And you must be the lovely Grace. Your brother-in-law has told us so much about you,” the bunny said sweetly.

“Oh, Phillip,” Grace said flippantly with a wave of her hoof, “that guy is a big lug. But I’ll tell ya, I’m surprised he even has friends over there in that big city. He’s all work, work, work; no fun. But it’s nice to see that he made some real friends outside of the police force, ones he was comfortable enough sending over to me during their honeymoon.”

Nick and Judy exchanged a wry smile. So this was their cover. They were no longer police officers, but friends of Bogo’s.

“Yeah, well, Phillip is a pretty decent pal.” Nick chuckled slightly. “So of course we would follow his advice. Although he didn’t exactly hook us up with a place here in the island, so we figured we’d find the first hotel in the vicinity. Thanks for meeting up with us at the train station and all”-

“What? Nonsense!” the sheep shook her head rapidly. “No, no, no. Phillip forgot to tell you? Oh, that is so like him. He asked me to house you two during your honeymoon! Which is a total honor for Christopher and I to do.” She smiled at them kindly.

Nick caught Judy’s eye and nodded slightly. Excellent. Living with the victims of the crime would make their job so much easier, considering they were as undercover as it was. Now it was only a wonder that Chief hadn’t filled them in.

“Thank you so much, ma’am,” Nick said smoothly. “We really appreciate you opening your home to us.”

“Oh please, Grace will do,” she giggled sheepishly. “Now, come on, come on.” She turned around and started walking. “The car is over there. It’s only a ten-minute ride to home. I hope you two came hungry! Christopher and I prepared lunch.”

Nick grinned at Judy widely. “Oh, hungry? Yes, we sure are.”

Judy sighed, knowing fully well what else he was about to tack on.

“…Speaking of nourishment, would you by any chance know of any coffee shops in the area?”

---

After a quick stop at the local Snarlbucks, the three of them made it to Grace’s abode. It was a lovely brown cottage by the side of a lake. Grace pulled up beside the house and turned around to smile at them.

“Well, here we are.” She gestured to the place. “Home sweet home to me, a two-week paradise to you.”

Nick’s cheeks warmed at the statement.

Judy, seemingly unfazed, said, “It’s beautiful!”

Grace beamed. “I think so too, but perhaps I’m biased. Now, can I help you with your suitcases?”

“I got it.” Nick grabbed his own and Judy’s, side-stepping out of the vehicle. Judy hopped out from the other side, and the three made their way up the front steps. Grace rang the doorbell, and a shorter buffalo than Chief opened the door with arms outstretched and a wide smile.

“Welcome, you guys!” He exclaimed, as if greeting them as old friends. Nick noted that his voice was as deep as the chief’s and carried the same accent, but it was certainly… friendlier.

Judy wasted no time in giving him a hug. “Hello’s” and “thank you’s” were exchanged all around all over again, and by the time there was a lull in the conversation, Nick’s stomach was growling.

This was not lost on either Christopher or Grace, as they began chuckling and gesturing toward the dining room.

“Do you mind if Piberius and I take a minute to put our things down in our room?” Judy asked quickly.

Nick’s lips quirked up. Clever bunny.

“Of course! Right this way.” Grace led them down a hall to the back of the house and opened the door of their bedroom for the next two weeks. “Here’s the guestroom! I hope it’ll do.”

Judy smiled and squeezed Grace’s arm. “It’s lovely, Grace. Thank you.”

“Well, I’ll just be in the kitchen with Chris! We’ll get the table ready while you two unwind.”

With that said, she backed out of the room and closed the door.

Finally alone, Judy slowly turned around to give Nick a shit-eating grin. “Your middle name is… Piberius?”

“Slow down, Laverne. We are not making this about me.” Nick grinned back, crossing his arms. “Who in the dickens names their daughter Judy Laverne?”

“It’s Judith Laverne, if you want to get technical.”

“This is only getting better and better.”

“Okay, Nicholas Piberius Wilde. Yeesh, what a mouthful! Were your parents high? Or drunk?”

Nick glared at her, and she burst into laughter, clutching at her stomach. He stood there for a moment, before allowing himself to chuckle at the situation too. “Okay, so we both have God-awful names. The real question here is, why didn’t Bogo tell us that we’d be living with his family?”

She shrugged. “I’m not complaining that we are. It makes our job a heck of a lot easier.”

“I agree, but I could’ve used the warning. We’re going to have to pretend to be married literally all the time.”

“Eh, you can handle it,” Judy grinned at him, all devil-may-care about the situation. “Right, sweetheart?”

He mocked her expression with his own. “Sure thing, darlin’.”

They both laughed again, before Judy turned solemn. “I can’t believe some jerk is threatening this wonderful couple. We’re gonna have to be really good at our conversational skills with Grace and Chris to get any leads.”

“Lucky for both of us, I can certainly amp up the charm,” Nick grabbed at his own shirt collar and winked at her. She in turn rolled her eyes.

“‘Lucky for both of us’, he says. ‘Amp up the charm’, he says.”

“But no, seriously, during dinner, don’t outright ask them if they’re being targeted,” Nick warned her.

She tsked. “Duh, I know that. We gotta be sly.”

He nodded at her approvingly. “Sly bunny, sly fox. Let’s do this.”

—

Dinner was delicious, and Nick and Judy made sure to let Grace know, who blushed all over the place and thanked them graciously for enjoying it.

They made small talk for quite a bit, with Chris asking Nick and Judy what they did for a living and Nick improvising that he and “Laverne” were both schoolteachers. This led Chris to talk fondly about his teachers from childhood for a while, until Grace whispered, “Honey, the dessert.”

“Oh!” The buffalo stood up. “Excuse me.” He disappeared into the kitchen before reappearing with a carrot cake.

Judy sat up straighter. “Oh my goodness!”

Pleased, Christopher placed the cake down at the center of the table. “A made-from-home specialty. Please enjoy.”

Grace leaned in and took a slice for herself before explaining to the pair, “Chris and I are bakers.”

“How nice!” Judy smiled and put a forkful in her mouth. “Oh my gosh, I can see why; this cake is fantastic.”

“Nothing but the best for our newlywed couple,” Chris’s chest puffed with pride.

Nick was shoving in forkful after forkful. “This is amazing,” he mumbled, his mouth full. “I bet every animal a hundred miles around comes to you to cater for their weddings.”

Christopher and Grace exchanged a knowing look before Christopher sighed.

Judy patted Nick’s arm and he stopped eating. “What?”

“Oh, it’s nothing, really,” Chris smiled sadly. “That’s a very kind statement; I appreciate the compliment. It’s just…”

“Not every animal in the past has taken nicely to our catering business, that’s all,” Grace said meekly.

Nick and Judy saw their chance, and they pushed their plates away. “What do you mean by that?” Judy asked, her voice soft.

Christopher looked at his wife again before speaking. “At the start of our marriage – just like you two – we lived in Zootopia. We were neighbors with Phillip, I had just opened my bakery, Grace was helping out, and life was good. At least, we thought it would be.”

He placed an arm around Grace and sighed again. “Then the customers started asking personal questions. ‘Who’s the sheep you work with?’ When I explained that she was my wife, you could almost see the light in their eyes die. As if suddenly I, my wife, and my cakes were untouchable. Business failed. Nobody wanted wedding or birthday cakes catered by an interspecies couple.”

“Tell them about the parade,” Grace said softly.

“Right.” Christopher cleared his throat. “A celebrity mammal was throwing a parade to celebrate the differences in the Zootopian community, and we figured, let’s make a good name for ourselves by giving out free cakes for the occasion.” His eyebrows furrowed, and Grace stroked one of his hoofs with her own. “There”- his voice broke for a moment, but he continued talking. “There was a beaver there, a priest. He had turned down our request to speak at our wedding, but oh, he recognized us at our cake booth at the parade. And he went ballistic.”

Grace continued for him. “He went to a security guard and said we were an interspecies couple loitering on the property. They threw our cakes away into the trash right before our very eyes. They shut down our booth, and we were forced to go home.”

“You’re joking,” Judy said, heartbroken.

Grace smiled sadly. “I wish I was. Naturally, Chris told Phillip, who fired that one security guard, but the damage was already done for us. We knew our business would never get off the ground in a city like that. So… we moved. We’ve been living here for the last five years, and it’s been a world of difference.”

“Animals buy our cakes here. We have friends. We miss Phillip for sure, but when you weigh the pros and cons, Sheep Island wins hooves-down for home sweet home.” Chris took another bite of his own cake. “Which is why… I feel the urgency to tell you some important advice.” He leaned forward in his chair. “The two of you? You’re young. You’re sweet. You’re a new couple, and the effects of your situation certainly haven’t crept up on you yet. But the truth of the matter is… you will face extreme prejudice in a city like Zootopia. I implore you: enjoy your two-week stay here, and really consider this place. It’s a great town. It hasn’t got a lot of other interspecies couples, but mostly everyone is really tolerant. Much more so than the Zootopians ever were.”

“Take your time to think about it, you don’t have to come up with a decision right now,” Grace let out a dry laugh. “But really…” She sobered. “Really, really think about it. Please. We don’t want you two to go through the same struggles we had to go through.”

Nick swallowed back a lump in his throat, hard. He didn’t know what to say. Couldn’t find the words to speak. Couldn’t really think, besides imagining a bunch of cakes in the trash.

Fortunately, Judy found her voice. And it was shaking in anger. “I cannot believe those horrible, horrible things happened to you. You never deserved… any of that. You are an amazing couple and equally amazing bakers. I hope to God your business is thriving here.”

“Oh, it is,” Grace said soothingly, reaching across the table to hold Judy’s paw. “Laverne, you are so sweet. And that’s why it kills me that you’ll probably suffer through the same things we did, if you continue to live in that city.”

“But we’re not here to pressure you.” Chris stood up, picking up the emptied plates and piling them up in his arms. “Right now, you’re here to enjoy your honeymoon, and enjoy it you will. Please, feel free to go anywhere in this house and on our property outside; we have a canoe for the lake and bikes in the shed. This weekend we’re throwing a Christmas party at this house with some of our good friends and neighbors, and you’re more than welcome to be a part of the celebration. Next week there’s going to be a holiday bash at the center of town, which you simply must attend. It’s so much fun every year.”

“Thank you,” Nick said, nodding at the buffalo gratefully.

“I think Piberius and I will take a walk by the lake,” Judy said, standing up and pushing her chair in. “Thank you again for the amazing lunch and cake.”

“Our absolute pleasure, dear,” Grace smiled fondly. “Have a good walk! Enjoy Sheep Island’s perfect year-round weather.”

Judy and Nick trailed out of the house, and once the front door had closed behind them, the rabbit shut her eyes and exhaled.

Nick looked at her.

“They… are so… kind.” Judy’s voice trembled, and it sounded dangerously close to falling apart. “And yet here they are, hiding from Zootopia. Because of prejudice.”

“Our police equipment is in your suitcase, right?”

“Right.”

“You got your tazer hidden under that pretty little sundress?”

“Sure do.” She made a face at his patronizing compliment.

“Good.” Nick extended an arm, Judy took it with her paw, and the two walked down the front steps and toward the lake. Nick took the opportunity of holding her arm to pat her paw with his other one comfortingly. Everything said inside the cottage had bothered him intensely, but he knew it was also hurting Judy to think about it.

“Carrots, did you catch that detail about the beaver priest?”

She looked up at him abruptly, eyes glassy but firm. “I most certainly did. Glad to know you did too.”

“I’m pretty sure we saw the same beaver priest at the badgers’ wedding yesterday.”

“You know what this means, don’t you?”

“Of course I do. We have… a lead.” He smiled at her.

She smiled back, despite her emotions. “And those badgers surely must have his contact information. Now all we have to do is find them.”

“And with them honeymooning in a small town like this? It’ll be a breeze,” Nick promised.

Judy squeezed the arm she was holding onto. “At times like these, I… I’m glad you’re my partner… Piberius.” Her face broke out in a teasing smile.

Nick rolled his eyes, half-lidded. He squeezed her paw back. “And I’m glad you’re mine. Laverne.”

---

After an evening of walking around the lake and making it back to the Bogos’ cottage, and after dinner and dessert, Nick and Judy stood side by side, clad in pajamas, in the guestroom, facing a most daunting piece of furniture: the bed.

The one bed.

Nick had never shared a bed with Judy before, not in the entirety of their friendship. Every time she’d spent the night, he’d taken the couch. And while an extremely strange corner of his heart fluttered at the idea of them sharing the bed, the sensible side of his brain immediately shut that thought down.

Judy spoke first. “I’ll take the floor.”

“Carrots, no.” Nick shook his head. “If anyone’s taking the floor, it’s gonna be me. All I need is one blanket and a pillow.”

“I’m not letting you sleep on the floor!”

“And I’m not gonna be a jerk and let you sleep anywhere except the bed,” Nick said as casually as he could.

“We are not arguing about this.”

“Agreed. I take the floor, you take the bed.”

“Nick”-

“You know I can just pick you up and force you like last night.”

Judy growled, which Nick found hilarious. “You don’t ‘force’ me to do anything. I let you carry me to bed. Have you forgotten I’m a police officer?”

Ignoring her rather silly question, he responded, “Then let me carry you to bed again, Fluff.”

She opened her mouth indignantly. “I”-

But Nick had already swung her over his shoulder and, a second later, placed her down on the covers.

“Happy honeymoon, sweetheart,” he crooned, a mischievous glint in his eye. “Let’s not let our first night as a married couple result in a fight. My poor romantic heart can’t take it.”

“You’re infuriating.”

He laughed. “And you're cute when you're mad. Sleep tight, Carrots.” He pulled off a pillow and one of the blankets and placed them on the floor beside the foot of the bed. He reached over to the light switch and flicked it off, then turned around, only to be surprised to see the outline of a bunny in the dark laying on the floor.

That little ninja.

“Good night, Wilde,” she said sweetly, curling up against the pillow on the floor.

He rolled his eyes and bent down, resting his paws on his knees. “You know I’ll just pick you up again, right?”

“This time, I’ll fight you.”

He heaved a sigh. “Fine, you obnoxiously stubborn rabbit.” He walked over to the bed, grabbed another pillow, pulled off the other blanket, and walked back to Judy, stepping over her body. He covered the floor beside her with his blanket, placed his pillow down next to hers, and laid down.

She crossed her arms silently in the dark.

Amused, he crossed his arms too.

Perhaps six or seven minutes of silence passed, and by the time he started wondering if she’d truly fallen asleep, she spoke again.

“This is ridiculous.”

He let out a laugh, and she followed suit, and soon, the two best friends’ shoulders were shaking as they chortled over the stupidity of it all.

“The ground is really uncomfortable,” Nick admitted, still chuckling.

“Agreed,” Judy giggled.

“Grace might open the door in the morning.”

“You’re right. And for her to see us sleeping on the ground… would be…”

“Moronic.” Nick finished for her, and another round of intense laughter came over them.

“All right, all right,” Judy gasped for breath and sat up. “We’ll both take the bed.”

Nick sobered immediately, all business now. “Okay. Uh. What side do you want?”

She gave him a funny look in the dark, which, thanks to his excellent night vision, was not lost on him. “The left.”

“Spoken like a true Missus.” Nick helped her stand up, and then he gathered their pillows and blankets. He covered the bed with the quilts and fluffed the pillows, suddenly feeling inexplicably nervous.

Judy crawled into the left side of the bed and squirmed under the blankets for a moment before stilling.

He simply stood by the right side and stared at her.

She looked up at him, searching for his eyes in the dark. “I… don’t bite, Nick.”

“I know that,” he jabbed her arm with his paw before getting into bed himself. He tried his best to get comfortable with minimal movements – heaven forbid if he were to accidentally brush her side with his. Nope, no touching allowed. None. That was not going to happen.

Judy seemed to have the same idea, and there was an expanse of space between them.

All of a sudden, they were both shy, and no more words were exchanged between them for the rest of the night.

Nick listened intently to Judy’s breaths, waiting until he was sure she was asleep to release a held-in sigh. He flopped to his side so that his back faced her, and he could hear Judy shifting around in her sleep as well.

He gripped the side of the pillow in his paws and tried to control the beating of his heart, because it had accelerated ever since they’d gotten into the bed together and he didn’t know why and it was keeping him from falling asleep, dammit.

It wasn’t until two agonizing hours later that sleep finally overtook him, and by that point, he’d allowed his thoughts to wander to Judy and her faceless, nameless, future boyfriend.

He slept with a frown on his face.

—

The next morning, Nick slowly emerged from slumber feeling more cozy than he had in years.

He couldn’t pinpoint, in his sleepy, closed-eyed haze, what was causing the rush of warm, fuzzy feelings, but he knew he wanted to hold on tighter.

Hold… on… tighter?

Wait a second.

Reality hit him like a ton of bricks, his eyelids fluttered all the way open, he looked down, and…

Judy Hopps was asleep on his chest, her face buried somewhere in the crook of his neck, her ears all the way down. Her paws were resting on each side of him, while his arms had completely enclosed over her little body. The blankets covered them both, so all that could be seen of her was her head.

Bullets of heat shot down his cheeks, down his neck, and through his chest. His heart raced. A dozen thoughts formed all at once.

How did this happen?

What do I do?

How do I wake her?

DO I wake her?

This is nice…

Oh God is this wrong?

This is wrong.

Nick panicked. He was a predator, and she was prey, and they were cuddling. In bed. If she were to wake up any second now, she’d kill him.

And as if the heavenly powers that be were aware of his precarious situation, Grace chose that moment to knock.

Nick froze in place, his arms still around the bunny.

Please don’t wake up please don’t wake up please don’t wake up please don’t-

The door opened, and the black sheep smiled at their position, completely unaware of the fact that Nick’s heart was beating violently inside of his chest. “Oh! I’m so sorry,” she whispered. “Breakfast will be ready in five minutes.” With that said, she promptly closed the door.

Nick let out a relieved sigh, which was then cut off short by a cowering gasp as Judy did in fact raise her head up, prop her body up with her elbows, and look him directly in the eyes.

They stayed in place like that, staring at each other with wide eyes, for what seemed like a small eternity.

Nick swallowed. If he was about to slaughtered, might as well have some last words. “Judy…” he chuckled nervously. “Hey.”

To his utter surprise, in lieu of yelling, screaming, and throwing a fit, she remained calm. “Hey Nick.”

He realized that his arms were still around her and promptly extricated them from her body.

“S-sorry,” he muttered.

She rolled off of him then, and instead of feeling released from the pressure of another body on his own, a strange heaviness started to settle in the space where she was now gone.

“Don’t apologize. It’s no big deal.”

He couldn’t look at her. “I mean, it kind of is. I sort of… expected… to get an earful from you.”

She quirked her eyebrow, which he did see out of the corner of his eye. “For accidental snuggling?”

“Well, yeah.”

“Nick, I lived in a burrow growing up. I’d wake up to siblings on top of me all the time.”

“That’s different though,” Nick said, and more heat started rising in his cheeks. “You’re all prey.”

With this statement came a harsh silence, and when Nick finally allowed himself to turn his head and look her in the eyes, she looked dumbfounded.

“Are you telling me that you expected to get an earful out of me because you’re a predator and I’m prey?”

Suddenly, with it said like that, Nick realized how foolish he was. He remained silent.

“Nick, that’s so…” Judy fumbled for words, her voice desperate. “That’s so backwards of you.”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” Nick shook his head. “I didn’t mean to upset you, I just”-

“If I want to cuddle with my best friend,” her voice was shaking, “I don’t care if you’re a predator, prey, what have you; I will cuddle with you, dammit.”

“Judy, I’m sor- wait. You… uh, wanted to cuddle with me?” He was ashamed of how high his voice went.

It was her turn to feel heat rise. “No! I mean, it was an accident.” They continued to look at each other, and Nick felt uncomfortable, but he didn’t want to not look into those violet eyes that were staring him down either. “But that’s not the point. I don’t care about what you are, Nick. It only matters who you are. And who you are is a pretty decent animal to accidentally wake up on top of”- she cringed at her own choice of words, but continued. –“So don’t ever think like that again. We’re here in Sheep Island to protect a family from dangerous thoughts like that.”

“You’re right.” Nick took in a deep breath. “I’m an idiot.”

Her voice went soft. “Please don’t look at yourself as untouchable.” Nick was about to tell her that he’d truly moved on and that there was no need for her emotions this early in the morning, but suddenly she’d taken his paw in her own. And she closed her fingers down over his.

They were holding paws.

They were holding paws.

Why, oh why was this getting to him?

“Thank you,” he finally croaked. She released his paw, and he exhaled.

“Thanks for selflessly putting up with me sleeping on you, even though it was probably awkward for you.”

“Nah,” he tried to say as casually as he could. “Like you said, not a big deal.”

“Okay then.” She smiled. “It wasn’t awkward for me either.” She got out of bed. “I heard Grace’s call for breakfast. I’ll change clothes in the bathroom.”

“Okay,” he said, faking calmness. He waited in his spot on the bed as she opened up her suitcase, took out jeans and a tank top, walked around the bed and out the door.

Once she was gone, he swung his legs over the side of the bed, placed his paws on his knees, bent over, and took deep breaths.

“Calm down, Wilde,” he said, inhaling and exhaling. “This isn’t a problem, this is no time to panic.” More breaths. In and out. “You aren’t the first animal in the universe to have a crush…” he choked on his breath. “…on your best friend, who just so happens to be a rabbit- oh my God she’s a rabbit I have a crush on a rabbit what is happening to me what is this.” If he didn’t do something fast the situation was going to become dire. He was already on the verge of hyperventilating.

The door swung open again and Nick scrambled to get himself together. Judy was wearing her clothes for the day and she smiled at him unassumingly.

“Still in your pajamas? I assumed you’d change while I changed. Don’t worry, I’ll just head to the dining room alone. Join us when you’re done, and don’t take long. I need my partner’s ‘charm’ during conversation if we’re gonna get anywhere with this case.” She winked at him, all friendly, before heading back out the door.

Nick sat in place, his arms limp.

---

Breakfast was uneventful. Christopher had to interrupt their time together in the middle of it to head to his bakery downtown and start up shop for the day. Judy and Nick helped Grace clear the table and put away the dishes. After that was done, Grace took the second car to go grocery shopping for the upcoming Christmas party that weekend, which left Nick and Judy to their own devices for the rest of the day.

Naturally, Judy’s idea of a way to spend the late morning was to sift through the Bogos’ trash in the kitchen. “Gotta start somewhere, right?” she prodded Nick with a determined look on her pretty little face.

Nick, who was sweating bullets due to his early morning realization about feelings, grunted an unintelligible noise in response and helped her sort through the junk.

“What exactly is it that we’re looking for?” he asked finally, as he lifted yet another banana peel.

“Letters.” Judy held no reservations about digging through the trash, elbows deep in the smelly pile. “Torn envelopes. Papers of any kind.”

“Maybe we should check the garbage can outside,” Nick said slowly, and Judy punched him in the shoulder.

“Good thinking!” she said cheerfully, repositioning the trash can. “There are probably a bunch of tied up bags filled with evidence.”

They filed out the door and around the house to the back, where the garbage and recycle bins stood. Judy opened the lid-

-to find that it was empty inside.

“Oh, cheese and crackers!” She slapped her paw to her forehead. “They definitely got rid of all the proof that they’re being targeted.”

“Well, if you had substantiation that other animals hated you, would you want to hold onto it for sentimentality?”

She moaned. “This makes our job so much harder. Now what?”

“Now, we go on the search for the badgers.” Nick gestured toward the shed. “We have bikes.”

“Considering the size of Christopher, only one of those bikes will fit us. And we can’t share a bike.”

Nick’s expression turned into a sly smile as he eyed the bunny. “Oh, yes we can…”

Judy’s eyes darkened. “Nick, no. I am not riding in the bike basket.”

---

“I can’t believe I’m riding in the bike basket,” Judy complained loudly, her arms crossed as she sat in front. Nick laughed from behind, picking up speed as they made their way down the long dirt road.

Fuming, the bunny ordered, “Wipe that grin off your face.”

“You can’t even see my face; how do you know I’m grinning?” Nick’s half-lidded eyes observed her fallen ears with amusement.

“I… know… you’re grinning,” she muttered back, her teeth clenched.

“I gotta say, Carrots, you look mighty cute in that little basket,” Nick called out to the wind as the bike took a turn toward a suburban sidewalk.

“Don’t call me cute.” Judy whipped her head around to glare at her so-called best friend.

This only caused him to chuckle more.

She changed the subject. “Clearly we’re in a neighborhood, but do you really think the badgers would be staying over at someone’s house during their honeymoon?”

“Good thinking,” Nick nodded. “They’re probably in a five-star hotel or something. Let’s head downtown.”

“Not like I have any say in the matter, seeing as you’re the one steering,” Judy muttered.

“Look, Carrots, do you want me in the basket? Because I don’t think I would fit,” Nick smiled casually as she made an uncharacteristic growling noise.

He turned the bike around and started pedaling toward the main road to town.

---

A day of badger-searching turned out fruitless, and by evening time Nick and Judy were both exhausted and hungry. They found their way back home to the Bogos’ cottage and placed the bike in the shed.

“Finally, I can walk!” Judy practically hopped away from the shed.

“Ugh, I’m walking,” Nick responded, leaning down to rub his tired ankles.

The door opened before either one of them had made it to the front steps, and Grace beamed at them. “Thought I saw you two out the window! Had a fun day?”

Judy gave Nick a look that clearly said, Don’t you dare say a word. “Yeah,” she responded with gusto. “Just… the darnedest fun time.” Nick snorted, and Judy glowered at him.

Grace laughed, unaware. “Good! Dinner’s almost ready, so you came at just the right time. Piberius, do you know anything about fixing a TV?”

Nick shoved his paws in his pockets. “Yeah, I know a thing or two.”

“Okay, awesome. Chris is struggling with getting it to work for some reason. Do you think you could help him out?”

“Yeah, no problem.” He trailed inside and made his way to the living room, while Judy followed Grace into the kitchen.

“So…” the sheep smiled at the rabbit, a twinkle in her eye. “How was your first night?”

“My first night?” Judy repeated.

“Yeah.” Grace leaned in giddily. “Between us girls, of course.”

It dawned on Judy what she meant, and she blushed. “Oh! Um. Wooow... what a question.” She tried to laugh. “Ugh. I mean, um! Um…”

Grace tittered. “I see,” she said, and winked at Judy.

“No, no, no.” Judy waved her paws in the air desperately. “It… um, was not what I expected. It was definitely… new. For both of us.”

“You mean… you waited?” Grace’s expression was the picture of adoration. “Until marriage? Laverne, that is just so darling, I can’t even.”

“Yeah, well,” Judy chuckled nervously, ducking her head around to make sure Nick wasn’t randomly around. She rubbed her arm. “H-how was it for you and Chris? The first time, I mean.” She quickly wondered if she was overstepping boundaries by asking such a question, but Grace only giggled.

“Well, I’m… bigger than the average sheep, and he’s not your… average sized buffalo either, if you know what I mean.”

Judy reddened considerably. “Yeah, I know what you mean,” she said, inwardly praying to any gods who might be listening that Chris wasn’t having a similar conversation like this with Nick.

Speaking of the devil…

“We fixed the TV!” Nick said proudly, slapping his paws together.

“Oh, good!” Grace beamed. “That’s a relief. The Christmas party is tomorrow night, and the last thing I want is for the guests to be bored.”

“Oh, honey, you know that won’t happen.” Christopher came around to Grace’s side, leaned down quite a bit, and gave her a kiss on the top of her wool. “You’re a phenomenal hostess.”

She poked him in the side, smiling. “Enough already, you’ll make me blush.” She clapped her hoofs together. “Now. Dinnertime!”

As the married couple walked past them, Nick grabbed a hold of Judy’s arm and leaned in close to whisper, “Paper shredder machine in the living room.”

Judy’s ears drooped. This case was, so far, full of nothing but dead ends. “Great,” she whispered back.

“I hope you two like salad!” Grace called cheerfully from the dining room.

The pair exchanged a disappointed look over their futile day before joining Grace and Chris at the dinner table in the other room.

---

It was time to sleep. Both of them had changed into their sleeping attire for the night. Nick stood at the foot of the bed and rubbed the back of his neck while Judy talked to Chief Bogo over the phone in a lowered voice. After giving him a quick status report and hanging up, she turned to her partner and offered a small smile.

“Tomorrow is a new day.”

Nick shrugged. “Yeah, but it could be worse.”

Judy rolled her eyes dramatically. “Goodness, thanks for that, Mister Sunshine And Rainbows.”

“Seeing as we’re married now, does that make you Mrs. Sunshine And Rainbows? Kind of a long title, sweetheart, wouldn’t you say? Maybe we should change our name.”

“Actually,” she chuckled, “last time I checked, my last name has nothing to do with who I marry.”

“Oh? Going the untraditional route, I see?” Nick’s lips curled up in a teasing smile. “What, is ‘Wilde’ not sexy enough for you?”

Judy smirked. “That, or maybe I just prefer Hopps.”

The words flew out of his mouth before he could stop himself. “Judy Wilde.” He looked up at a patch of the wall above Judy’s ears, pretending to think really hard. He tapped his chin. “Ya know, Carrots, I think you’re right on this one. Hopps suits you.”

It was a lie. He liked the sound of “Judy Wilde”… far more than he cared to ever admit.

She just laughed. “If we’re talking nontraditionalism here, how’s the sound of Nicholas Hopps for ya?”

Nick made a “pft” noise. “Uh, yeahhh, no. Besides, it would actually be Piberius Hopps… or Laverne Wilde. They don’t know our real names here.”

“True,” Judy hummed thoughtfully. “I guess, just for convenience’s sake, I’ll be Laverne Wilde. Whatever.”

Nick chuckled. “Hope your political views on marriage and titles aren’t being too compromised by your current position as my fake wife.”

“Hmph.” Judy rolled her eyes, smiling at his sarcasm, and fired back, “Hope your natural, instinctual independent tendencies aren’t compromised by the way I’m probably going to violate you in my sleep again tonight.”

That cleared the slight tension that had been between them since the morning, and Nick threw his head back and laughed heartily.

“Carrots… The way you worded that was just…” Nick took in a deep breath. “A-plus.”

She giggled back. “Too bad I had to be your worst nightmare, right? A rabbit.” Her voice got deeper, as if she were telling the final line to a ghost story. “A natural cuddler.”

Nick’s smile froze on his face, contemplating how he should respond. After three seconds, he settled for a casual “Eh, I don’t mind.”

Judy, seemingly unsure herself, lightly punched his shoulder. “Um… you sure about that?” She giggled again, just a short, nervous, breathless little laugh.

He inhaled deeply, and decided to be sincere, rather than sarcastic.

“I actually… liked it.”

Judy’s eyebrows shot up.

Oh God. God dammit.

Must backtrack must backtrack must backtra-

“Good, because so did I,” she responded, rather shyly.

Heart pounding in his ears, all he managed out was: “Oh!”

“Yeah.” Judy made a funny face and shook her head. “Friends can be touchy-feely, right? Nothing weird about that.”

He deflated. Oh. Friends.

Never let her see that she gets to you, idiot.

“Yeah, definitely.” He furrowed his brows together and nodded emphatically. “Not weird at all. It’s, uh, probably healthy.”

“You know what? You’re absolutely right,” Judy said, placing her paws on her hips. “Who says friends can’t cuddle? Society, that’s who. And who gives a crap about what society thinks?” She tossed Nick a wide smile as she hopped into bed. “It strengthens your brain, boosts your immune system, and who knows what else. So… c’mon. Let’s cuddle.” She spoke in the same tone that she used when she was giving a pep talk.

Nick, feeling rather foolish for attempting to reveal his feelings, gave her a crooked smile and flicked off the light switch. He got into the right side of the bed, and this time around, Judy left no space in between them. As soon as he laid down, she curled up beside him, and gingerly rested a paw on his chest.

He swallowed hard. Very, very slowly, he raised the arm that was next to Judy and waited for her to bury herself deeper into his side so that he could wrap that arm around her.

To his surprise, five minutes into this position, she wrapped her leg around his torso. Now her entire body was hugging his side, and he was feeling feelings he was positive no one on the face of the planet had ever felt before. They were being so intimate, and so… up close and personal. His head was swimming, and her scent was intoxicating, and her breaths were comforting, and all he knew was that he wanted more.

So, with great trepidation - and just a slight bit of anxiety - he lifted his other, free arm and encompassed her tiny body entirely, folding his paws together at her hip.

She snuggled tighter against him, and nuzzled (nuzzled) his chest with her nose, and he swore his heart grew three sizes.

“Nick?” the bunny suddenly whispered.

Startled, he lifted a paw off her hip, before gently resting it back down again. “Yeah?” he whispered back, facing the ceiling.

“I love you, dude.”

And just like that, his heart burst inside of his chest.

“I… love ya too, Fluff.”

She smiled into his chest, which he felt, and then she stilled, and after ten minutes, she was asleep.

It took him another thirty minutes, but he, too, finally fell asleep.

---

Nick expected to wake up to a rabbit pressed to his side, or resting on top of him, but neither was the case when he opened his eyes. Her side of the bed was empty.

Noise, of what sounded like some sort of machine, came from outside the room, and he tilted his head and listened in confusion. Why was there such loud, obtrusive noise this early in the day?

Suddenly, it dawned on him again why he was here. To prevent a kidnapping. And if Judy wasn’t in the room… then that meant… she was struggling against the attacker all by herself!

“Oh no.” Nick swung his legs swiftly over the side of the bed. “No, no, no, no…” He jumped off, grabbed a tazer from his suitcase, ran to the door, threw it open, ran down the hall, turned the corner, and-

Judy was pushing a vacuum cleaner in the living room.

“Morning, Nick!” she shouted above the din. “Or should I say, afternoon.”

Nick, discombobulated, breathed deeply and pointed down the hallway with his thumb. “Be right back.” He trudged back into the guestroom, embarrassed, and hid the tazer. He quickly changed into his casualwear – just his old green shirt with the purple tie and khakis – before checking the time.

It was one in the afternoon.

He came back out to where Judy was, shoved his paws in his pockets, and shouted, “Uh… need any help?”

“Nah,” Judy responded cheerfully. “Though you can probably help yourself to a late lunch. We had two meals already without you.”

“You just… let me sleep in that late?” Nick asked loudly, trying to be heard over the vacuum.

“Nick, you looked so content.” Judy smiled fondly. “Like you hadn’t slept that good in years.”

He felt himself heat up. “Yeah, well.” He gestured toward the vacuum. “So Grace put you to work?”

“No sirree,” Grace said loudly from behind him, and he jumped. She’d just turned the corner from the hallway. In her hoofs, she held a basket of laundry. “But that wife of yours insisted. I tell you, Piberius, you picked a sweet one.” She maneuvered her way around Judy and the vacuum. “Feel free to take any leftovers from the fridge!” She then disappeared into another room.

Nick looked around. The house hadn’t been messy before, but now it was on its way to spotless. “Why all the work?” he asked.

Judy turned off the vacuum cleaner for a moment. “Did you forget? Grace’s Christmas party is tonight.”

“Oh, that’s right.” Nick nodded. “Well. How can I help?”

“You can take all the couch pillows and put them in Chris’s and Grace’s bedroom. Grace has fancier pillows she puts out for company; she said they’re piled on her bed. Grace was gonna take care of it, but you go on ahead.” Judy leaned up and extended a paw to rest on his shoulder, pulling him closer to her. “And if you, by any chance, find any… substantiation… take a picture, it’ll last longer.” She motioned with her eyes toward Nick’s phone, which was in his pocket.

Nick winked at her. “Got it.”

“Do it fast. I’m too busy with vacuuming to explore, but Grace is in the other room taking care of laundry, so you’ve got a good two minutes before she goes back to her room with the dried clothes.”

With that, she turned the vacuum cleaner back on, and Nick quickly grabbed an armful of pillows before making his way down the hall. He passed the guestroom, the bathroom, and a spare room, before pushing open the slightly ajar door of the master bedroom and entering.

He chuckled at the size differences. For the sheep, there was a small vanity, and right next to it, a gigantic dresser for Chris. The bed was tall and king sized – for a buffalo, which meant that Nick was going to have to actually jump up onto the bed in order to take the fancy pillows.

But before he’d do that…

He dropped the couch pillows on the ground in a corner and reached for his smartphone. He whipped it out, turned on the camera, and walked toward the vanity. It had shelves, and he began opening them, one by one.

Jewelry, makeup, nail polish… bingo.

A crumpled up letter.

Nick smoothed the paper out and began reading.

He gasped.

This was evidence, all right.

Sudden footsteps were heard down the hall, and he quickly took a picture, crumpled the letter back up, put it back in its place, slammed the shelf shut, shoved the phone in his pocket, ran and leaped up on the bed, and was just gathering pillows at the moment that Grace walked in.

“Oh, dear, you’re helping out? I swear, the two of you are the sweetest.” She walked past the bed and put down the basket of dried clothes. “But once Laverne is done with the living room, I’m ordering you both to be done for the day. This is my house, not yours, and you ought to be enjoying yourselves. You’re on a romantic vacation.” She clucked her tongue and began lifting shirts up and folding them.

Nick responded, “Thanks, Grace,” and lowered himself off the bed, pillows in arms. He left the room, pattered down the hall and back into the living room, and threw the pillows every which way on the couch, excited.

Judy rolled her eyes at the way he handled the pillows, beginning to say, “Niiiick…”

Nick grabbed her by the shoulders. “Turn that thing off.”

She complied, pressing the button on the top of the vacuum, and looked back up at Nick, whose paws were still on her. “Did you find something?” she asked in a hushed voice.

“You bet,” Nick breathed, his eyes dancing.

“Tell me you took a picture.”

“Don’t insult me.”

She grinned and hugged him, before pulling away. “Nick! Yes! We finally have something to go off of!”

“The contents of the letter are nasty.” Nick kept his voice low. “You’re not gonna like it.”

“Handwritten, or typed?”

“Handwritten.”

“Thank goodness. At the very least, we can keep our eyes peeled for similar script.”

“We need to get in touch with that beaver priest and figure out if he has the same handwriting.”

“But I have to work at the house all day.”

“Actually, no you don’t.” Nick grabbed a hold of the vacuum cleaner. “Are you done with this room?”

“Just about.”

“Then come on. Grace told me that we’re off for the rest of the day. Her orders.”

“Aw, but I wanna help her, she seems really tied up and the party’s tonight and”-

“Carrots. Priorities.” Nick gave her a look.

She straightened. “You’re right. We’re on a mission.”

“Find those badgers-

-and invite them to the party.”

“What?” Nick shook his head. “Hopps, this isn’t your party. You can’t just invite random animals.”

“But how else are we gonna find a way to get any information out of them? We can’t just approach them and say ‘Hi, how are you; by the way, can you give us the contact information of your justice of the peace? We clearly need one, seeing as we’re already married.”

Nick dragged a paw down his face and groaned. “You’re right, you’re right. That would just be weird.”

He then brightened. “We don’t have to invite them to the party. We could say that my sister is getting married soon and needs a priest.”

“Your family’s religious?”

“No.”

“You have a sister?”

“No. Carrots, focus. Fake sister, fake wedding. We just need an excuse to be able to talk to them.”

“Oh, right.” Judy smiled sheepishly. “I was kinda hoping I could learn some new information about you, that’s all.”

Nick smirked at her. “You already know everything there is to know about me, Cottontail. I’m an open book.”

“Yeah, right.” Judy poked his shoulder with a teasing smile. “More like an Egyptian scroll filled with ancient hieroglyphics.”

“You callin’ me old?” Nick smiled.

“I’m calling you mysterious.”

“Nah, you’re calling me old.” Nick placed a paw on her back and began pushing her toward the front door. “I know, I know, I’m past my prime.”

“Nick,” Judy laughed. “You are not old. You’re hardly middle-aged.”

“HOLD ON A SECOND.” Nick stopped. “‘Hardly’ middle-aged? Are you serious?” He bent over laughing.

“Those were not the right words!” Judy scrambled to talk over him while he took deep breaths between laughter.

“I”-

“Nick”-

“Am”-

“I didn’t mean”-

“hardly middle”-

“You’re young! YOUNG!”

“-aged, according to my own best friend.”

“Nicholas.” Judy groaned.

“I’m thirty-two, Hopps.” Nick was brushing a laugh-induced tear off his face. “If that’s what ‘hardly middle-aged’ is in your book, I feel sorry for you.”

“It was a poor choice of words, a total mistake; I’m insensitive and thoughtless, can we move on now?” Judy moaned, and the two opened the door and walked outside.

He kept chuckling. “I’m only teasing you, Carrots.”

“I know, but I don’t want you to think that I think you’re old when you’re not.”

“It’s okay.” Nick shrugged casually, eyes half-lidded. “I understand that from the perspective of a baby bunny like you, all fresh and new to this world, that I’d be considered middle-aged.”

Judy forcefully pushed him to the side with her shoulder, which didn’t do much, and then he responded in kind, which caused her to stumble a bit.

He grinned. “So, the bike again?”

“Absolutely not.” Judy held up a paw, her expression dead serious. “Today, we walk.”

---

It took Nick and Judy ten minutes to get off the long dirt road that led to the Bogos’ cottage. Once they’d made it to a sidewalk, Judy suddenly remembered the letter.

“Show me the picture you took in Grace’s room.”

He took his phone out and went on his camera roll, which was mostly full of selfies of himself with Judy, and clicked on the most recent picture.

Judy glanced at Nick nervously, braced herself, took the phone in her paws, and read the letter out loud. “Grace Woolson, this is your final warning. You are living in sin. Your marriage is an abomination to mammalkind and it must be stopped. If you do not change your ways and divorce the buffalo, you will be forcefully taken out of your home on Christmas Eve. Make the right choice. Or else.”

She mechanically handed the phone back to Nick, her expression one of pure shock and bewilderment.

Nick grimaced and reached a paw out. “Carrots…”

“Let’s go.” Her voice was low, angry. “Let’s just go and find the badgers so we can arrest that psychopath.”

Nick hesitated. “Judy, you’re acting on your emotions again.”

She whirled around. “And you don’t feel any emotions over this?”

“Of course I do!” Nick protested. “But we don’t know if that beaver’s our guy! We can’t just arrest someone without proof!”

“Nick, the letter was written with a religious angle.” Judy’s paws were in fists at her side.

“Yeah, and not every religious animal out there is bigoted and prejudiced!” Nick exclaimed. He calmed himself down for a moment before continuing. “Don’t stereotype, Judy. For all we know, that priest could be totally innocent. We only have one lead so far, remember that.”

Judy deflated. “You’re… you’re right.” Her paws became slack at her sides.

They looked at each other wordlessly for a moment as Nick put his phone back into his pocket.

“I just”- Judy’s voice was small. “I’m so frustrated. They are dealing with so much hate, and yet they’re hiding it. Chief told me last night that they refuse to go to the police because they believe that even here, in Sheep Island, the police won’t do anything to help. Isn’t that terrible?”

“Awful,” Nick agreed.

“And did you catch how the perpetrator called Grace by her maiden name? He doesn’t even want to acknowledge that she’s a married woman. He called their love an abomination.”

Nick sighed, feeling a bit defeated. “We’re up against something more than just your average hate crime. This has just as much to do with religion as it does politics.”

“I just feel like there’s something I should be doing to stop this,” Judy said desperately. “Animals can’t keep living in hiding and being abused because of who they love. It’s just plain wrong. I have a position in law enforcement. There’s no law that says interspecies relationships can’t marry. But there’s also no freedom for those who do.” She crossed her arms and thumped her foot rapidly. “You know what? When this case is over and taken care of, and we get promoted, I’m going to use my position to make some changes in Zootopia.”

“Hold on a minute.” Nick raised his paws. “Who said anything about being promoted? I know it’s your dream, Carrots, but Chief never said”-

“I have a gut feeling.”

Nick lowered his arms. “Okay then. I believe you.”

She gave him a weak smile, which then turned into a resolute expression. “Are you ready to find those newlyweds?”

“You betcha. Instead of wandering around downtown, let’s just walk into every hotel, uncover our badges, and demand to know if any badgers are there.”

“Are you sure? What if one of the many hotel owners knows Grace and Chris personally, and word gets out that we’re officers?”

“We’re just gonna have to gamble on this one, Carrots. Take a leap of faith.”

Judy smiled. “Are you sure your family’s not religious?”

He laughed. “C’mon. Downtown’s that way.”

---

After an hour of going into different hotels and stating their names and business, they came across a small building called Rest Easy Inn. They shrugged to each other, deciding it was worth a shot considering they hadn’t had much luck elsewhere.

Nick took out his badge and showed it to the white sheep behind the counter. “Nicholas Wilde, police officer, and this is my partner, Judy Hopps. We were wondering if you could answer a few questions?”

“Certainly, officer,” the sheep said. “What can I do for you today?”

As Nick began to ask questions, Judy noticed the windows to the pool room out of the corner of her eye. She turned her head slightly to look into the room better, and there, sure enough, were a couple of badgers relaxing in the hot tub.

She tugged on Nick’s arm, he stopped talking, she pointed to the pool room, and he looked. Then he turned back to the white sheep and smiled. “Actually, I was wondering if you could allow us access into the pool room? We think we’ve found who we’re looking for.”

“Absolutely, officer, here’s a key card to open the door.”

“Thank you, ma’am,” Nick flashed her a polite smile before heading toward the door with Judy.

They opened the door, and the badgers looked up from the hot tub.

The female recognized Judy instantly. “Oh! Hello again!”

Judy smiled and waved. “Hey.” It occurred to her that they were in casualwear in a pool room, and they had obviously sought the badgers out, so they didn’t exactly have any good excuses. Oh well. She’d come up with the first lie she could think of.

Judy walked forward, and the female badger stood up and got out of the hot tub. Wrapping a towel around her swimsuit, she was dripping water to the floor.

“Are you in the same hotel as us?” she smiled.

“Actually, no.” Judy looked behind her at Nick, and then back at the badger. “We’re staying with some friends, but we were just sight-seeing the town, and came into the inn to… to see how they decorated the place, since I’m an interior designer and I’m into that kind of stuff, and I saw you from the window, and realized you were the same sweet badger from the train station, which reminded me. Who was the priest at your wedding? See, my husband’s sister is engaged, and she’s religious. She lives in Zootopia too, so I was wondering if you might possibly have your priest’s contact information on you?”

“Actually, I do!” the badger said excitedly. “Oh, I’m glad I can help! Here, the info’s on my phone…” She went over to a chair and picked up her device, scrolling through for a moment. “It’s a picture of a paper. I wrote down his phone number on it. Can I text the image to you?”

“Sure thing!” Judy said happily. “Here’s my phone number.” She rattled off the numbers to the badger.

“Okay, aaaand, done.” The lady looked up and smiled at Judy. “Congratulations to your sister-in-law! Your family’s just full of weddings, isn’t it?”

“Oh yeah,” Judy laughed. “You can imagine we’re pretty busy.”

“I’ll bet.” The badger turned around to her husband. “Don, remember her? The sweet rabbit from the train station.”

Don, who had been eyeing Judy curiously, suddenly smiled. “Nice to meet you.”

“And nice to meet you,” Judy replied pleasantly. “And, you are…?”

“Robin,” the female badger said.

“What a pretty name! Oh, and I’m Judy. That’s Nick, my husband.”

“Pleasure to meet you both. Well, enjoy the rest of your honeymoon… and your sightseeing.”

“Thank you!” Judy hooked arms with Nick and turned around. “Hopefully we’ll see you around!”

“Hopefully!” both Don and Robin chimed.

Judy closed the pool room door behind them, and they were back in the lobby. “What a nice couple.”

“Jude, you said the wrong names to them,” Nick pointed out.

“What do you mean? I said our names are Judy and N- ohhh, I did say the wrong names, didn’t I?”

“Good thing you didn’t invite them to the party tonight. I got worried.”

“Yeah, good thing… oh well. At the very least, if they bump into us in Zootopia after this, we don’t have to pretend we’re Piberius and Laverne.” She made a face. “Honestly, what were our parents thinking.”

“They weren’t.” Nick chuckled. “However, in that case, now we have to pretend we’re married in Zootopia too.”

“Only to one couple, and that’s on the off chance they ever bump into us again,” Judy shrugged. “Do you think they’ll bump into us? And I’ll have to keep up the charade that I’m an interior designer?”

“That’s neither here nor there at the moment. Do you think we can stop by a fast-food joint? I haven’t eaten breakfast or lunch, it’s almost three, and I’m starving.”

“Can’t you wait until five? That’s when the party starts. There’ll be lots of food tonight if you can wait.”

“Carrots, I really can’t.”

“Fine,” Judy said, nodding at the sheep behind the counter as they walked out the front doors. “But I’ll have a little bit of whatever it is you’re having.”

“I wouldn’t expect any less from you.”

—

After Nick’s late lunch, they began heading back to the Bogos’ residence. It was a long walk, and Judy decided to make use of it by calling the priest.

She pulled up the picture that had been texted to her. “His name is Francis.”

“Well, let’s have a little chat with him.”

She dialed the number and waited as it rang.

No one picked up. She tried again. Nothing happened.

She sighed. “I guess I’ll try him again after the party.”

“Late at night? Nah, just wait till tomorrow morning during work hours.”

“Tomorrow’s Saturday. What if he’s at a wedding?”

“Well, he has to pick up eventually. He’d pick up for potential clients.”

“True.”

“Remember, what we want is his handwriting. So find a way to get him to text you a picture of what his handwriting looks like.”

“I’ll come up with something.”

“I know you will.”

Judy smiled at that.

---

By the time they’d arrived back at the house, so had Chris, and both he and Grace were bustling around the kitchen and living room in a flurry of activity.

“Welcome back!” Grace called out to them as she repositioned a framed painting. “One hour left until the party!”

“Can we help in any way?” Judy asked, her paws clasped.

Chris was setting up the Christmas tree in the far left corner of the room. He turned around and smiled at them. “Oh, you two go off and have fun; don’t worry about us! We’re handling everything just fi”-

The tree started to tip over, and Nick scampered over to help Chris make it steady. Once it was upright, he cocked an eyebrow at the buffalo. “You sure about that?”

“Well…” Chris alternated from looking at him to Judy before throwing his hooves up into the air. “Oh, what the heck. I could use some help decorating the tree.”

“Honey!” Grace chose that moment to call from the kitchen. “I need you!”

“But you wanted me to fix the tree!” Chris called back.

“Forget the tree! My dinner is ruined! I need your help to remake it!”

“Remake the entire dinner?”

“JUST COME OVER HERE!”

Chris looked at Nick and Judy. “Wait here, I’m going to the spare room.”

He returned with a ladder. “There. Now you both can reach the top.” He smiled gratefully at them. “Thanks, you guys.” He then hurried off to the kitchen.

Judy squealed. “I love putting ornaments on Christmas trees!” She dug into the cardboard box next to the tree and lifted up one that was the size of her face.

“This is a buffalo-sized tree, not a fox-sized tree,” Nick observed.

“Which makes it even more fun!” Judy grinned. “Now help me.”

---

Less than an hour later, everything was perfect. Chris and Grace improvised on their cooking and most of the dinner was salvaged. It took Nick and Judy up to the last minute to decorate the tree, but it turned out beautiful. Chris turned on the radio and put it on the Christmas music station. And one by one, Grace’s guests started to arrive, and Nick and Judy were introduced to everyone.

There was a raccoon couple, a pig couple with two young children, and four other sheep.

They all sat down at the dinner table and began to feast. Small talk and chatter filled the air, plates were passed, and children ran around the table, chasing each other.

Nick couldn’t help but think that this was the picture-perfect Christmas experience, and he was lucky enough to share it with his own best friend, despite the fact that they were undercover and all. They shared a seat and shared a plate (at their own insistence, as Grace’s table didn’t have quite enough room), and Judy made a game out of stealing the food on his side of the plate.

After dinner came dessert, and Chris truly pulled out all the stops. Cake after cake was placed on the table, every kind of flavor imaginable. Chocolate, lemon, fruit, pound. Nick took a slice of each, and they were all heavenly.

“Jordan!” the mother of the young piglets shouted over the table. “Stop pulling on your sister’s sweater!”

“I’m bored, Mommy,” little Jordan whined.

“Yeah, me too, Mommy!” his sister exclaimed.

Judy and Nick exchanged an understanding smile. Kids.

“Well, you’re going to have to find a way to entertain yourselves, because Mommy and Daddy are busy having grown-up conversation right now.”

“But Moooom”-

“Ooh! I know just the thing to make the evening fun for everyone!” Grace suddenly said, clapping her hooves. “I’ll be right back, children!”

She disappeared into the kitchen and reappeared two minutes later with a piece of mistletoe attached to a long stick.

Nick’s eyes widened and his smile disappeared.

Grace turned to Jordan with a big grin. “Do you know what the holiday tradition of mistletoe is, sweetie?”

“No,” Jordan replied innocently.

Every adult in the room – besides Judy and Nick – smiled affectionately at the little piglet.

“Well.” Grace smiled widely. “When you place mistletoe over a couple’s heads, that couple has to stop what they’re doing and give each other a big kiss on the lips. It’s a way to show your significant other your true love for them during the happiest time of the year. And you know what? I’m going to give you the very important responsibility of making sure that every couple tonight shows one another that true love. Think you can do that for me, Jordan?”

“Yes!” Jordan beamed, excited at having been given a task.

“What about me what about me what about me?” Jordan’s little sister cried.

Grace patted the top of her head. “After Jordan, you can take a turn around the table too.”

“Yay!” the little girl exclaimed.

“Yay!” everyone else clamored, laughing at the endearing situation.

Nick, on the other hand, was frozen in panic. Oh no.

He looked worriedly over at Judy, who was suddenly very fascinated with the cake on their plate. She was picking at it with her fork, but not bringing it up to her mouth to eat.

Little Jordan first extended the stick over his own parents’ heads, and they laughed while leaning in for a five-second kiss.

Everyone at the table clapped for the show of affection, and Jordan, beaming, ran around to the other side of the table and hung the mistletoe over Grace, who giggled before grabbing her husband by the collar and pulling him down to meet her lips.

Everyone clapped and hooted again, and Jordan, seemingly hungry with power (the blasted little rascal, Nick thought), ran back around the table to dangle the mistletoe over the raccoons, and then the two sheep couples.

By this time, he’d made his way all around the table, and Nick and Judy – who were both covering their foreheads with their paws and looking down at their laps – were last. The little piglet, with a wide, open, toothy smile, swung the stick atop Judy’s head, and her ears instantly drooped.

Nick’s heart sank. She didn’t want this.

Of course, he wasn’t too keen on the idea of kissing her for the first time in front of all these animals himself.

And so he tried to smile as casually as he could at the little tyke, and said, “Sorry, sport. We’re not, uh, big on public displays of affection.”

Jordan instantly looked crushed. His smile disappeared off his face, but he continued to hold the stick above Judy’s head, as if he was sure they’d reconsider.

“Oh, come on, now, Piberius, Laverne, don’t be like that!” Chris said, smiling at them assuredly. “We can’t disappoint little Jordan, now can we?”

“Yeah, guys!” Grace winked. “Do it for the kids!”

“For the kids! For the kids!” the pigs’ mother clapped, and everyone else started chiming in. “For the kids! For the kids! For the kids!”

Judy let out a sigh, whipped her head up at Nick, gave him a timid little smile, leaned up, and kissed him on the cheek. “There!” she said, seeming proud of herself.

Everyone “aww’d” in disappointment. “What a let-down!” one of the raccoons said.

“Yeah! Show ‘em what a real kiss looks like!”

“C’mon, Piberius, you’re up!”

“You can do it, you guys! You're married, aren't you?”

“In the name of Christmas spirit!”

“Darn it, son, kiss the girl!”

Nick banged his fists once on the table, whether out of nerves or just to silence everyone, he didn’t know. He turned his head to look down at the piglet who was still faithfully holding the stick of mistletoe up, and then back to Judy, whose eyes were huge and round and looking straight up at him, fear etched on her face, and he hesitated before leaning down, whispering “I’m sorry” into her ear, taking her chin into his paw, closing his eyes, and bringing his nose to her nose.

He pursed his lips and pressed them to her own.

And suddenly, time stood still.

But that was only for a moment, hardly only two seconds, before everyone at the table cheered loudly, and Nick drew back, startled by his own action. He looked at Judy anxiously, but she seemed to be frozen in space. Her eyes were still closed, her lips were still in a little “o” shape, and her paw was up in the air in a position that looked like she had been trying to touch him.

Probably to push away.

Nick’s ears flattened, dejected, and then Judy’s eyes fluttered open, and the first thing she saw was his frowning expression, and then she, too, frowned, and right after Grace announced, “Okay, Sally, now it’s your turn!”, Judy hurriedly said to no one in particular, “I have to go to the bathroom”, hopped off the chair, and walked fast-paced out of the dining room.

Nick tried with all his might to ignore the painful heart-pounding in his ears, and did the only thing he could think to do: eat cake.

He had three more slices before Judy reappeared by his side, and when he tried to look her in the eyes, she wouldn’t catch his gaze. She made small talk with the raccoons, and then when Grace stood up to start clearing the table, she jumped up to help.

As the party wore on, Nick’s heart sank lower and lower until he was pretty sure his heart was in his stomach. And by the time the last guest had filed out the door, he was positive that Judy was mad at him.

She retired to bed shortly after, and he remained in the living room, seated on the couch, staring at the Christmas tree that they had worked so hard on.

Chris came by and sat down next to him. “Hey, thanks again so much for helping out with the party. You didn’t have to, but you did anyway. Grace and I really appreciate your kindness.”

“Sure thing,” Nick said absently.

Chris looked down at the floor with a knowing little smile, before looking back down at Nick. “Look. Whatever you did that she’s mad at you for, there’s nothing that a little tender love and understanding can’t fix. Especially… in bed.”

Nick wanted to die.

“Um, thanks Chris.”

“Seriously.” The buffalo leaned in and whispered. “When Grace is upset with me, I listen to her, hear her out, talk about it, and then make it up to her… physically.”

Nick stood up abruptly. “Oookay, it’s been a long day; I think I’m ready to sleep.” His last few words came out with a nervous laugh. “Good night, Chris.”

“Good night, Piberius. Sleep well.”

Nick’s heart thudded rhythmically as he made his way to the guestroom. Thud, thud, thud, thud.

He wrapped his paw around the doorknob – thud, thud, thud – turned it, and slowly opened the door-

-to find that Judy was curled up on the very edge of the left side of the bed, facing the wall, and was fast asleep.

He let out a sigh, whether out of relief or disappointment, he wasn’t sure, and changed into his pajamas. He then crawled into the right side of the bed, folded his paws on top of his stomach, stared at the ceiling, and willed himself to fall asleep.

But he couldn’t.

All he could think of was the look on Judy’s face as soon as she'd opened her eyes. That look could only spell out one thing: regret.

So… he truly had no chance with her.

But what had he been expecting?

That a sweet, smart, strong, brave, caring, funny, intelligent, interesting rabbit like her would want anything romantic to do with him?

His age-old mantra kept ringing in his ears. Never let ‘em see that they get to you. NEVER let ‘em see that they get to you.

He winced as he remembered the painful experience with the Junior Scout Rangers. Then the memory of his dad walking out on him and his mom. And now, the look that Judy gave him after their little kiss could be added to the list.

Despite all that, with a heavy heart, he concluded that he still very much cared for the girl. She was his best friend, after all, and his partner on the force, and someone he hoped he could keep close with in life for a long, long time. That is, until someone else would come along and finally steal her heart – which was now no longer an idea, but a very real reality to him.

And so, whatever it was that possessed him to do it – be it a sense of finality, or a feeling of desperation, or pent-up desire, or a mix of all three – Nick chose to turn his head, prop himself up by the elbow, lean over Judy’s small form, touch his nose to the space between her ears, and press his lips faintly down, whispering into her fur, “Dammit, Carrots.”

What he didn’t know – as he shifted back over to the right side of the bed and faced the opposite wall, settling in for sleep – was that Judy opened her eyes, brows furrowed, nose twitching in confusion, and buried her face deeper into the side of her pillow, at a total loss for thoughts.

---

Luck was not on Judy’s side in the morning, and she woke up to find that she was nestled on top of Nick again. His arms were wrapped firmly around her, and her paws had found their way around his neck. His eyes were peacefully closed, his chest rising and falling as he breathed softly.

Cheese and crackers.

Blood rushed to her cheeks as she studied his features. His face was so relaxed, as if all the snark and sarcasm had evaporated into thin air and no longer held any power over his expressions.

She carefully pried his arms off her back and slid to the side, rolling away. She got out of bed, grabbed a towel and a sundress, tiptoed out of the room, and trudged into the bathroom. She took off her pajamas, turned the shower faucet on, waited for a moment, and then stepped in and let the hot water run down her body.

She sighed.

Just two nights ago, she’d adamantly told Nick, “Who said friends can’t cuddle?” She had been confident in the platonic power of their relationship. She had been sure that nothing and no one could get to their friendship if they could snuggle together without any qualms about it. She had, in the strongest sense, never felt closer to someone in her lifetime. And she’d been content. She’d drifted off to sleep in his arms, thinking, I could get used to this.

But then the Christmas party had to happen.

Judy winced, recalling the look on Nick’s face after he’d kissed her – kissed her! – which was a look of total regret. She’d made herself scarce by hiding in the bathroom for ten minutes, during which time she burst into silent tears of hurt and humiliation and confliction.

It was while she was crying there, looking at herself in the mirror, that she realized the terrifying truth: she had a crush on Nick Wilde.

She had a crush on Nick Wilde.

And Nick had kissed her. And he’d disliked it.

She’d cried harder then, allowing all the tears to fall until there were no tears left, and then she splashed water on her face and made sure not to go back into the dining room until her eyes looked normal.

After that she’d counted down the minutes until the party was over so she could go to bed. And then Nick came, and he got in bed, and for a few minutes she was certain that he was out for the count, but then he rested his nose on the top of her head and whispered, “Dammit, Carrots”, of all things, and she hadn’t been able to fall asleep for hours thanks to that.

“Dammit, Carrots?”

The heck did that mean?

She poured some body wash into her paws and then lathered it all over her body.

Had he said that because he was frustrated by their kiss, and now it was going to be awkward between them? Was this going to ruin their friendship?

She could feel the panic rising within her at this newfound thought. Nick was her best friend. She couldn’t bear the thought of losing him. Crush or no crush, she cherished him, and she didn’t want him to walk out of her life. She didn’t want him to march back to headquarters after this case was over and ask for a reassignment and a new partner. She didn’t want to stop having movie nights at his place and evening runs in Sahara Square and oh dear God she was losing him she was losing the most important animal in her life he was going to walk out on her and she was going to be alone.

She turned the water off and thrust a paw against the wall. She ducked her head down and focused on breathing. In, and out. In, and out.

A look of pained determination crossed her features, and she lifted her head. If he no longer wanted to be close to her, she couldn’t do anything to change that fox’s mind, but doggonnit if she wasn’t going to try.

Without thinking – she was rather emotionally preoccupied at the moment – she flung the towel around her body, forgetting the sundress she’d brought with her altogether, opened the bathroom door, ran to the guestroom, swung that door open, and burst out in a shrill voice, “Nick!”

Nick bolted up from bed and breathlessly went, “Wha-?”

His eyes widened, and then traveled, down the length of Judy’s body. Her fur was wet, and all she had on was a little white towel that covered her chest and stopped at her thighs.

She realized this too, and inwardly cursed herself.

“Carrots?” was all Nick ventured, frozen in place.

“I…” she hesitated. She didn’t really have a plan here. All she knew was that she didn’t want to lose him. “I… I… I was taking a shower and I was thinking about last night and I know that kiss was terrible and I’m just really sorry!”

Nick stared at her as if she’d grown a second head. “…What?”

“I…” She swallowed. “I’m sorry, Nick. I’m sorry.”

He shook his head and waved his paws. “Wait, wait, wait. Backtrack. About the kiss. What did you say?”

To her horror, she could feel the tears forming in her eyes again. “You’re my bestest, closest, dearest friend in the universe, and I don’t want a kiss to ruin that. I know it was awkward, and… awful, but I’m willing to look past it if you are. Please just… don’t leave me.”

Several different looks crossed Nick’s face, ones she couldn’t read save for one that looked strangely like pain, but to her utter relief, it all ended with the same smile he’d given her when she’d apologized over a year ago under a bridge. He quirked an eyebrow as he spoke. “You sure know how to make a guy feel good about himself, Carrots. Are my kissing abilities really that horrendous?”

A huge smile broke across her face. He was teasing her. He wasn’t mad.

“Actually, from the way you looked at me, I thought it was my ability that ruined the evening.” She chuckled nervously.

At this, Nick looked surprised. Very surprised. “Uh… could you elaborate on that?”

She looked down. “Well, you… you looked at me funny. Kinda like… you’d just smelled a bad odor or something.”

When Nick finally spoke again, his voice was soft, unsure. “…And how did you want me to look at you?”

Judy was taken aback. She didn’t expect that sort of question. She was afraid to answer it, so she changed the subject. “You know, you never really confirmed to me that you won’t leave me.”

Nick got out of bed and walked forward. He stopped short a foot away from her and bore into her eyes thoughtfully. “Carrots, why on earth would I leave you? All because of one stupid kiss?”

She flinched at the word “stupid”, but covered it up with a smile. “Okay, so, you won’t leave me.”

“Affirmative. I’m yours, Carrots. Here to pester you with my bad jokes for all eternity.”

She laughed out loud. “Soo… you are aware that they’re all bad.”

He made a face. “Don’t you have a shower to get back to, Cottontail?”

“Oh! Right.” Judy backed up and hit the door before walking out of it. She stopped short, her paw on the doorknob. “Thanks,” she said sincerely. “Thanks for being a friend I can count on.” She then closed the door.

Nick leaned against the wall with a thump, sighed, and dragged his back all the down until he was sitting on the floor.

So she burst into the room in nothing but a towel, apologizing all over the place, for no apparent reason. She confirmed to him that yes, she thought the kiss was awkward and awful. Ouch. But she also was worried, inexplicably, about how he felt about the situation. And she’d disliked the way he’d looked at her, apparently? Even though he couldn’t recall making any sort of face last night. He’d liked the kiss. Loved it, even. So he had no clue what that was all about. And then she refused to answer his question about how she would have preferred for him to look at her. Because she thought, for some godforsaken reason, that he was going to leave her. And she provided no explanation for that either. And then she thanked him for being her friend.

What?

Nick sighed again.

If a forced, staged kiss could get her that worked up, he couldn’t help but wonder what on earth would happen if he just randomly decided to grab her and kiss her in earnest. Would she call it terrible again? Would she apologize for no reason again too? Or would she just literally collapse on the spot?

Nick exhaled. Okay, so he was majorly hardcore friendzoned. He could handle this, right? Thousands, if not millions, of other animals had gone through this exact same pain. He could do it too. He could be the best friend Judy needed him to be, and he could admire her at arms’ length, without letting her know.

But… what if she wanted to cuddle with him again? Nick winced. He wasn’t sure if he could handle that. On the one paw, holding her in his arms made him feel the happiest he could be. And sleepovers at his place would be so much better if they could share his bed. But on the other paw, he wasn’t sure if he could control himself. If she wanted to snuggle up against him, and nuzzle him, and tell him she loved him, what would stop him from kissing her? Nothing, that’s what. And that scared him.

Because if he ever kissed her again – not like he’d have a good excuse – if Judy’s strange behavior was any indication, he would lose her for good.

And that could not happen.

Nick stood up and placed his paws on his hips. He looked around at the wallpaper in the room and made his decision.

He was never going to let on that he had feelings for her. Never, ever, ever.

---

When Judy and Nick entered the kitchen half an hour later, both of them showered and dressed for the day, all they found was a note tacked on the refrigerator.

Sleeping in this morning… help yourselves to any leftovers for breakfast! Love you! – Grace and Chris

Nick opened the fridge door, examining his options. He then opened up the freezer, smiled, and took out a slice of red velvet cheesecake.

“Nick. You can’t have cake for breakfast.”

“Says who?” Nick shoved a piece of the cake into his mouth. “Ugh, I’ve died and gone to heaven.”

“You can’t just… oh, whatever, give me some of that.” She reached up and he jokingly slapped her paw away.

“Find your own,” he said, muffled, as he took in another huge bite.

She huffed and looked into the freezer for a moment before grinning and taking out a slice of blueberry pie.

Nick gasped. “Wanna trade?”

She stuck her tongue out at him. “‘Find your own’,” she mocked.

Nick reached down with his free paw, grasped one of her ears, and tugged. She groaned. “You know I hate it when you do that.”

He responded by baring all his teeth in a wide grin, showing off his canines.

Judy shook her head. “…You wild predator.”

He winked. “You meek prey.”

The two friends smiled at each other for a moment. Then one of Judy’s ears stuck straight up, and her expression changed. “Wait. Do you hear that?”

“Hear what?”

“A big vehicle is on the dirt road outside. Coming toward the house.”

Nick put the plate of cake on the counter, all business now. “You sure it’s a big vehicle?”

“Positive.”

“Do you think… maybe…?”

“Let’s get our tazers. Now.”

“Mine’s already on me. Don’t go to your room; we shouldn’t be separated. Grace and Chris are safely inside their room in the middle of the house.”

“There’s no back door…”

“…So there’s no way the perpetrators can enter in and kidnap Grace, unless they go through us first.”

“Okay. The truck stopped.”

“You can tell that it’s a truck? Just by hearing alone?”

“Nick, turn around and look out the window.”

Nick whirled around and saw that, sure enough, a white truck was parked outside, next to the Bogos’ vehicles. A portly male sheep got out of the driver’s side with a large blue bag slung around his body.

Nick and Judy exchanged a curt nod before walking out of the kitchen, into the foyer, opening the front door, slamming it behind them, and pointing the tazer at the sheep.

“Stop in the name of the law!” Judy ordered.

The sheep froze. “Whoa, hey now, guys, I don’t want any trouble-!”

“You don’t, huh?” Judy and Nick circled around the sheep, whose hooves were up in the air. He was trembling. “Then what’s that blue bag for, hmm?”

“The mail!” he croaked. He took out an envelope that was addressed to Grace. “I’m the postal delivery guy. My usual delivery truck broke down today so I used my own vehicle instead… Please, please don’t taze me.”

Judy sighed heavily. Nick put away the tazer. “I’m so sorry, sir. We thought you were… someone else.”

The sheep exhaled wearily. “So… I’m not in trouble?”

“No, sir, you’re not,” Nick said, embarrassed. “We’ll go ahead and take the mail for you. Sorry about holding you up.”

“Hey, no hard feelings,” the mailman assured them, handing him the envelope. “I’m just relieved that I’m not in trouble. Well, have a nice day.” He turned around.

“Bye…” Judy called after him, her face flushed with guilt.

The sheep got in his truck, waved, and drove away.

“Well. That was super unprofessional of us.” Judy covered her eyes with her paw.

“…We’ll leave this little experience out of our next status report with Chief Bogo,” Nick said. He looked down at the envelope in his paw, and his eyebrows furrowed. “Judy.”

“What?”

“The envelope is addressed to ‘Grace Woolson’.”

Judy’s eyes widened. “Open it.”

Nick did, and he unfolded the letter, lowered the paper so that Judy could see, and began to read. “Grace Marie Woolson, there has been a change of plans. I have been made aware that your town’s holiday bash is on Monday. If you do not divorce the buffalo this weekend, I will show up that very day. Consider this your last chance to change your ways. Remember that you are committing evil, unnatural acts. You have two days.”

Both Nick’s and Judy’s eyes were as wide as could be. Judy grabbed the paper and re-read it silently to herself, her expression distraught. Nick shoved his paws in his pockets and began pacing.

“So we know that this guy knows Grace’s full name, middle and everything. What kind of animal must he be? A stalker?”

“Nick…” Judy looked up slowly, her voice faraway. “…This guy doesn’t dot his i’s. He makes little circles.”

“…So?” Nick looked at her funny.

“So…” Judy looked out into the distance, the expression on her face changing from one of confusion to realization. “I’ve… seen that script before.”

“Are you serious?” Nick stared at her head-on. “Where?”

“I don’t know,” she admitted. “It’s just that… I have, I know I have, and it was recent too.”

“C’mon, Judy, think.” Nick looked desperate. “Use that bunny memory of yours.”

Judy glared at him. “Bunnies aren’t known for having particularly sharp memories, Nick.”

“I know. I was just… complimenting your memory.”

“Oh.”

Nick took the letter from Judy’s paws and re-read it to himself. “Evil, unnatural acts,” he muttered. “This guy sure has a way with words, huh?”

“We need to show this letter to her.” Judy crossed her arms. “It’s time to come clean to Grace and Chris and tell them why we’re really here. Before one of them gets hurt.”

“Judy, we can’t do that.” Nick shook his head. “Chief’s orders were for us to be undercover while we protect them.”

“And we can’t protect them if they don’t read this letter. They’re going to know we snooped and read it before them. Look, they thought they had until Christmas Eve. But now they only have until day after tomorrow. If we let them stay unaware of what’s going on, Chris is going to go to work like usual, and Grace will be left all alone all day Monday.”

“Not if we can help it.” Nick lowered the paper. “We can just tell Grace we want to spend the day together, and never leave her sight.”

“Something’s bothering me about these letters.” Judy scratched her chin, deep in thought.

“Don’t you mean… every single thing about them?”

“No, something specific.” Judy’s eyebrows furrowed. “What kind of kidnapper warns their victim that they’re going to kidnap them?”

“Did you forget about the whole ‘if you don’t divorce the buffalo’ thing? He’s using coercion.”

“Yeah, but still. How would he even catch wind of them divorcing, if they were to?”

“I’m telling you Hopps, this guy’s a stalker. I wouldn’t be surprised if he actually does reside in Sheep Island.”

“We need to call that priest.” Judy whipped out her phone and went on her recent calls, clicking on the top number. She whispered, “Please, please, please…” as they waited.

Suddenly, the beeping stopped and someone actually answered. “Francis Castor speaking.”

Judy pumped her fist out and Nick bumped it triumphantly with his own. “Hello!” she said, trying to keep her voice pleasant. Not guilty until proven otherwise. “My name is Laverne. My sister-in-law is planning on having a wedding next month. We were referred to you by some friends of ours, the badgers you recently married.”

“Ah, yes,” the beaver replied. His voice was friendly enough. “Are you badgers too?”

“Actually, no.” Judy turned to look at Nick, who nodded. “I’m a rabbit, and my sister-in-law’s a fox.”

The line went dead for a moment, and Judy checked to see if he’d accidentally hung up. He hadn’t.

“…You’re in an interspecies relationship?”

Nick mouthed with a pointed look, There it is.

Judy swallowed and furrowed her brows. “Yes. I’m married to a fox. Is that a problem, sir?”

Nick’s paws twitched at his sides. Suddenly, he wanted nothing more than to hug her.

“Well… is your sister-in-law marrying a fox? Or a… different animal?”

Judy eyed Nick questioningly, and he mouthed, Say fox.

She slumped her shoulders. She wanted to give this priest a piece of her mind, but she also knew they needed his handwriting.

“They’re both foxes. But regardless, they’re looking for a priest, because they’re religious. Do you think you could… text me a picture of your handwriting? My sister-in-law is very nitpicky about things like script. You’ll be signing something for them at the wedding, so could you please-?”

“Certainly.” A rustling was heard from the other end, and then scratching. “What do you want me to write?”

“Just your name, please.”

“Done. I’ll send it to this number that you called with. I hope I can be of service to your in-laws.”

“I hope so too. Thank you, sir.”

“Good bye.”

He hung up, and Judy let out a growl. “Ugh. The speciesism was strong with that guy. I wanted to yell at him, Nick.”

“I know you did."

Her phone then beeped. She quickly pulled up the texted image from Francis, only to crumple her face in disappointment. “He’s… not our guy.”

“Dotted ‘i’?”

“Yep. No circle.”

Nick patted Judy’s shoulder. “We’ll find out who it is. Don’t worry.”

“We can’t afford not to.” Judy looked up at him worriedly. “We only have two days.”

“You know what we need right now? To clear our heads.” Nick gestured toward the lake. “Wanna go canoeing?”

Judy sighed. “I don’t really want to, but I know you’re going to make me.”

“C’mon.” Nick smiled encouragingly. “Let’s have a date with nature.” His eyes then widened. “I meant the date is with the nature; not a date between you and m”-

Judy laughed. “I know what you meant.” She started walking toward the lake, and he followed closely behind.

---

By noon, they were done canoeing, and they came back inside for lunch. Grace was finally up, and Chris had gone to the bakery, so the fox and the rabbit ate with the sheep.

After lunch, Nick and Judy went back to their room, and Judy flung herself onto the bed and exhaled loudly. Nick leaned against the wall and took the letter out of his pant pocket.

“Still thinking about that handwriting?”

“What else?” Judy turned her head to look at him in anguish. “This has become more than just a job to me. Grace has become our friend.”

“I know what you mean.” Nick hesitated, before walking over and patting her twice on the back. “C’mon. Get up. You can think harder if you stand.”

“Okay,” she said weakly. She stood in front of him, placed two fingers on each side of her temples, and shut her eyes tightly.

“Just jog backwards in your memory,” Nick said softly, trying to help. “Backtrack. Where have you been the last few days, and when has paper been in front of you? Besides the threat-letters.”

“That’s just the thing,” Judy said hopelessly, opening her eyes. “I haven’t seen any paper besides the letters.”

Silence came between them, and Nick looked down at the floor, thinking.

Judy stamped her foot. “I… I feel like I saw that handwriting just yesterday! The circled “i” dots… they’re so familiar!”

Nick suddenly gasped. Judy whipped her head up.

“What? What?”

“Carrots… Didn’t you receive a picture with handwriting in it from the newlyweds…?”

Judy stared at him slack-jawed, and then her paws were fumbling around for her phone. With trembling fingers, she touched a button, put in her passcode, went to her camera roll, and brought the picture up.

Her gasp came out sharp and high-pitched.

Nick craned his neck to look at the screen in her paws.

Francis, the beaver priest’s name, had a little circle over the “i” instead of a dot.

They looked up at each other with wide-eyed expressions.

“Judy…” Nick swallowed. “Looks like our guy is a girl, and she has an accomplice.”

“The badgers.” Judy’s eyes hardened. “The… the badgers.”

Nick hurriedly folded up the letter and stuck it back into his pocket. “Get your stuff. We’re paying another visit to Rest Easy Inn.”

Judy opened up her suitcase and began hiding all her police equipment attached to a belt underneath her dress. Once she was done, she nodded at Nick, and the two made their way out of the house.

Nick swung his arms to keep up with Judy’s fast pace as they bounded down the front steps. “If we speed walk like this it’ll only take us forty-five minu”-

“We’re taking the bike.”

Nick stopped and looked at her. “Are you sure you want to-?”

“Nicholas, we are taking the bike.”

He nodded. “Good, then.” Despite the situation, a little smile crossed his features. “I promise I’ll keep teasing to a minimum.”

Judy groaned.

He pulled Grace’s bike out of the shed, Judy hopped into the basket, Nick sat down, and then they were off.

---

Nick pedaled as fast as he could, and the two of them sped their way downtown.

They pulled up at Rest Easy Inn, and Judy hopped out of the basket as Nick leaned the bike up against a pole.

“Okay. What’s our plan?” Nick asked, thrusting his paws out.

Judy thumped her foot while she thought. “It’s all but confirmed to us that the badgers are guilty of the crime. We have the proof we need in order to question them. Let’s just go in there, knock on their door, reveal our badges, and say we have some questions to ask. But let’s not go into any room with a closed door behind us. We should talk in the hallway. We don’t know what they’re capable of.”

“Good thinking.” Nick nodded. “Let’s go.”

The two marched into the lobby and the same white sheep from yesterday recognized them and waved from behind the counter. “Hello again, officers!”

“Ma’am.” Nick walked up to her and leaned forward, resting his elbows on the countertop. “We’re in the middle of an investigation, and we need to speak to two individuals who currently have a room in your inn. We’re going to need to know their room number.”

“Oh! All right.” The sheep checked her computer. “Could you tell me what kind of animals they are?”

“A newlywed couple of badgers on their honeymoon.”

The sheep looked up. “Oh. Well, I’m afraid to tell you that they left town this morning.”

“What?” Nick and Judy asked in unison.

“The wife was crying. Said her grandmother got into an accident and is currently in a hospital in Zootopia. They rushed to go see her.”

Nick withdrew from the counter. “Thank you, ma’am, for your help.”

“Not a problem. I hope you solve your investigation.”

Nick and Judy walked slowly back out the door and into the sunshine.

“…Do you think their story checks out?” Nick looked at Judy.

“There’s only one way to find out.” Judy took out her smartphone and looked up the number that had texted her the image of Francis’s information. She hit “call”.

They waited.

After three rings, the call was picked up. “Robin speaking.” The badger’s voice sounded hoarse.

“Robin… this is Judy.” The rabbit looked up at Nick nervously. “Are… are you all right?”

“Oh, Judy, no, I’m not all right.” Robin sighed, and then sniffled. “My grandmother just passed away, and we didn’t make it in time to see her.”

Judy felt conflicted. This badger was a suspect, but it would be heartless to overlook this new situation. “I’m so sorry, Robin. I don’t know what to say.”

“You don’t have to say anything,” the badger laughed sadly. “This will be my first Christmas without her.”

Judy found her chance. “I know you cut your honeymoon short, but what were your plans for Christmas? During this week, I mean.”

“Oh, you know, nothing in particular. We were just going to enjoy the holiday bash – Don had booked our honeymoon to Sheep Island half a month ago for that very reason – and then after that, go home so that we could spend time with family.” Her voice suddenly collapsed, and she started sobbing. “But then my grandmother got into the car accident, and I just feel so guilty that we couldn’t make it in time to see her”-

As she continued to cry, Judy looked to Nick with concerned eyes. This was not how she’d planned to have this conversation, but she knew she had to bite the bullet and ask.

“Robin… there’s a reason I called.”

“Okay,” the badger exhaled, trying to compose herself. “What’s up?”

Judy hesitated. Nick nodded at her and mouthed, Go on. Judy closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose.

“I’m a police officer at the ZPD, and I came to Sheep Island for an investigation. A friend of ours has been receiving threats in the mail. I was wondering if you knew anything about that.”

“No, I don’t.” The badger sounded genuinely surprised. She sniffled again. “Wait… so… you’re an interior designer and an officer? And you’re on an investigation during your honeymoon?”

Judy covered her face with her paw. “Um… yes. But anyway. The reason I called”- she took a deep breath –“is because your handwriting in the picture you texted me looks a lot like the handwriting in the letters.”

There was silence for a moment, and then when the badger spoke again, she sounded hurt. “I understand that you’re just doing your job, but this couldn’t have come up during a more inconvenient time.” She sneezed. “Oh… Don, where are the tissues…?”

Rustling was heard on the other end, and then she spoke again. “Well, I can assure you I did not write any of those letters you’re talking about. But if you want to be certain, text me a picture of one of them, and I’ll write down the first line I read, and message it back to you.”

Nick nodded silently at Judy, who told the badger, “Give me just a moment.”

Nick texted her the image of the first letter they’d found, which Judy then forwarded to Robin.

A ding was heard on the other end. “I got it,” Robin sniffled. “…Geez, whoever wrote this was very… hateful.”

Scratching was heard, and then Robin spoke again. “I see what you mean by similarities. I circle my i’s the same way this jerk does. But as you’ll notice by the entire line, that’s the only thing we have in common in our handwriting.” She sent the picture, and Judy received it.

Her heart sank. Robin’s story, alibi, and script really did all check out. She took a closer look at the original photo that the badger had texted her yesterday, and noticed upon closer inspection that the “f”, “r”, “a”, “n”, “c”, and “s” all looked different from the perpetrator’s. She sighed.

“Thank you so much for your cooperation. I’m so sorry to have troubled you during this painful time. My thoughts and best wishes are with you.”

“Thank you, Judy. Say hi to Nick for me.”

“I will. Good bye.”

Judy hung up and groaned deeply. She grabbed at her own ears and pulled them down over her eyes in stress.

“Uh, Carrots?” Nick said, his voice worried.

“Not now, Nick.” She muttered, tugging her ears more down.

“No, seriously. Carrots. Our bike’s gone.”

Judy peered out from underneath her ears to see that Nick was pointing at the pole that he’d leaned the bike against. It was truly gone.

“This day just keeps getting better and better,” she said miserably.

“I can’t believe someone just… stole the bike. We were only in the lobby for ten seconds!”

“And this is coming from a jaded ex-criminal.” Judy looked at him flatly.

Nick shrugged. “Guess you’re rubbing off on me, Fluff.” He dug his paw into his pocket and took out a wallet. “Well. Looks like we’re buying Grace a new bike this afternoon.”

Judy slowly descended down to the ground and curled up in a ball on her side. She laid her cheek against the pavement.

Nick crossed his arms. “Judy. What are you doing.”

“I’m taking a time-out,” Judy mumbled, her eyes dull and focused on his feet. “We have no suspects. No leads. And no resolution.”

“Yet,” Nick corrected. “But we will.”

“I don’t know, Nick.” Judy closed her eyes despairingly. “I just… don’t know.”

Nick shook his head good-naturedly and crouched down, resting his arms on his knees. “Carrots, listen to yourself. Is this the same police officer who convinced me to enter the academy, join the force, and become her partner? Is this the same police officer who single-handedly saved Zootopia from Nighthowlers? Is this the same police officer who, just days ago, was trying to steal a case from her co-workers because she felt they weren’t getting the job done?”

“I didn’t ‘single-handedly’ save Zootopia, Nick.” Judy opened her eyes to gaze up at him. “I couldn’t have done it without you.”

“And I can’t save Grace without you.” Nick’s voice softened. “Or figure out who the bad guy is, or get promoted, or make changes to Zootopia for the good of interspecies couples. None of that can be done without you.”

Judy frowned and studied the pavement silently.

“I need you, Judy.” Nick reached down and took her ear. Instead of tugging on it, however, he stroked it. “I need your can-do attitude. I need your optimism. I need your good old bunny spirit. I’m not exactly the best at compensating for when you’re down.” He chuckled. “Between the two of us, you are definitely the more atrociously cheerful one. And that’s what I lo-“ He hesitated, and then went ahead and said it. “…That’s what I love about you.”

Judy turned her head to look up at him better, her chin brushing the ground. “…Is the famously aloof Nick Wilde getting mushy on me?” She smiled slightly.

He smiled back. “Yeahhh, don’t get too used to it, Flopsy the Copsy. And who ever said I was aloof? Geez.”

“‘Don’t ever let them see that they get to you’?”

“Carrots, you are the epitome of the opposite of that statement. And like I said, you’ve been rubbing off on me. But I can’t counterbalance for all your moods, so I need you to get up, dust yourself off, and be the bunny I know you are on the inside. The kind who doesn’t give up, doesn’t take no for an answer, and doesn’t let a closed door keep her stuck where she is.”

“Say no more.” Judy pushed herself up off the ground. Her desolate expression had transformed into a look of determination and hope. “We are going to figure out who the heck is terrorizing Grace, and we are gonna kick their butts.”

“Atta girl.” Nick slapped a paw on her back, smiling widely. “But first, we are gonna buy Grace the best bicycle on the market.”

“One with a basket, no doubt.” Judy rolled her eyes.

“One with a basket,” Nick confirmed, grinning.

---

After Nick and Judy had lunch – Nick had a bug burger, Judy had a salad – they went to the bicycle shop and carefully picked out a brand new blue bike that was perfect for Grace’s size.

They rode back home and apologized to Grace for losing the original bike, but she was beside herself with joy for having a new bike and didn’t fault them at all. She even offered to pay them back, but they refused.

Evening came around, and Chris came home, and they all had dinner together.

“So how was work today, Chris?” Nick asked him over the table.

“Just your ordinary day.” Chris smiled. “Although something did catch my attention. A little jaguar cub was having a birthday party, and all his little friends were dressing up as each other. He wanted a cake with drawn-on lions and tigers and bears, the whole shebang. He called it ‘A celebration of the species’.” He laughed. “What a charming young fellow.”

Grace smiled up at her husband. “Aww, that’s perfectly darling. Gosh, I just love kids.”

Judy took a bite out of her dinner. “Do you think you guys will have kids anytime soon?”

Grace openly cringed, and the bunny quickly tried to backtrack. “I mean- if kids are something you want! Not everyone wants kids, I know that.”

“Oh, it’s not that, Laverne.” Grace looked upset. “The thing is”- she placed a hoof over Chris’s. –“we do want kids, very much, but the thing is… we’re not allowed.”

Judy’s mouth dropped in shock. Nick put his fork down. “Wait… are you serious?”

“I’m afraid so.” Grace looked uncomfortable. “It’s just… a side effect of being in an interspecies relationship, I suppose. I thought you two were already aware of that, seeing as you made the decision to marry.”

“No. We weren’t aware.” Judy’s voice was small.

Grace sighed. “I’m so sorry you had to learn this on your honeymoon. Yes, it’s illegal for interspecies relationships to adopt.”

Nick and Judy exchanged a glance.

Grace stood up abruptly and pushed in her chair. “Excuse me.” She smiled crookedly, and tears prickled in her eyes. “I’m sorry.” She hurried out of the room and went to her bedroom.

Chris stood up too. “I… better talk to her. You two enjoy the rest of your dinner.”

He left the room, and a heavy silence fell down upon Nick and Judy.

---

“I don’t understand. Why do you want to sleep on the floor tonight?” Judy stared at him in confusion.

Nick pretended to yawn and stretch. “My back’s been killing me from those bike rides; I think I might’ve pulled something.” He rubbed his shoulder. “So the floor will probably help me.”

She shook her head in disbelief. “You have got to get into shape.”

Relieved that she believed his story, Nick patted her. “You sleep tight tonight.”

“You too…” Judy said, reluctantly getting into the bed without him.

Nick flicked the light switch off, laid down on his blanket on the floor, rested his head against his pillow, and tried to relax.

He hadn’t hurt his back, and he didn’t want to sleep on the hard wood floor.

But he also didn’t trust himself to climb into that bed with Judy and allow her to cuddle with him.

Not without royally screwing everything up and revealing his feelings to her.

And so eventually, Nick dozed off on the floor, with some discomfort. But it seemed worth it to protect his feelings and keep their friendship intact.

---

“Nick.”

Nick smacked his lips and buried his face deeper into his pillow.

“Nick.”

He mumbled something incoherent and continued to sleep.

“NICK!” Paws fell upon his shoulders, and he was forcefully shaken.

“What, what?” He opened his eyes to look up at his aggressor.

Judy was hovering over him, her violet eyes boring down on his own verdant ones. “That’s enough sleep. I let you stay here until twelve, because I felt sorry for you and your back, but now you’ve got to get up. Chris and Grace have been out of the house all morning – she went shopping, he went to work – and we only have one day left to solve this case before the kidnapper arrives, and I’m freaking the heck out.”

Nick pushed himself up by the elbows and bumped noses with Judy. His face warmed at the familiar contact and he turned his head to the side, away from Judy’s face, before fully getting up.

“Don’t panic,” he said. “I have a plan.”

“What is it?”

“When Grace comes back home, we show her the most recent letter. We confront her about these threats she’s been getting. And then we ask her why she hasn’t gone to the police. And then we reveal to her that we’re the police, and we won’t leave her side for a single second on Monday. If we have to skip the holiday bash altogether, so be it.”

Judy was silent for a moment. “…Up until yesterday, I would’ve said no to that plan. But it looks like we have no other choice now. We’re going to have to disobey Chief’s orders.”

“No, we won’t. We’re gonna call Chief and tell him.”

“Ugh. He is not going to be happy.”

“Carrots, when is he ever happy?”

“Good point. All right, I’ll call right now.”

She pulled out her phone and dialed Bogo’s number. He picked up immediately.

“Tell me what’s going on over there, Hopps.”

And so Judy filled him in on the beaver, the badgers, and the contents of the letters.

“So basically, we’re stuck now. And if we don’t tell Grace that we’re cops, I’m terribly afraid that something bad is going to happen to her, sir.”

Bogo sighed. “I didn’t tell you both before, mainly because I felt it wasn’t necessary for you to know, but Grace… has an aversion to police officers.”

“What? Why?”

“I don’t know.” Bogo sounded tired. “She refused help from me. She’s refused to ask for help from the local police over there too. That’s the real reason that she hasn’t asked them for help; not because they refuse to help her, like I told you before. That’s also why you both went undercover. I was hoping you could figure out who it was that’s threatening her without ever revealing yourselves to her, but it looks like you’ve already made your decision. You are now allowed to make your true business there known.”

Judy frowned. “But… if she refused your help, then why did she tell you the letters were being mailed to her in the first place?”

“Because Grace wasn’t the one who told me. It was Chris. Grace has been shredding the letters, but Chris found one that she hid away somewhere, and called me. I don’t believe the two of them have even talked about it with each other.”

“Does Chris know who we really are?”

“He might have an inkling, but I couldn’t tell you for sure.”

Judy and Nick exchanged a look.

“I’m warning you… my sister-in-law will not take kindly to the fact that you’ve been pretending to be married. But it’s for the best.”

“Great.” Judy gritted her teeth. “We’re going to piss her off, aren’t we?”

Bogo sighed. “If that’s what it takes to protect her, then you have my support.”

“Thanks, Chief. Bye.”

Judy hung up and looked at Nick with a grimace.

“Now, we wait.”

---

Nick and Judy spent the afternoon watching TV. Grace arrived home three hours later, arms heavy with shopping bags. The pair jumped up to help lighten her load.

“Thanks, loves,” Grace smiled gratefully at them. “Just put them on my bed in my room.”

Nick and Judy carried the bags into her bedroom and placed them down. Then they walked back out and found their way to the kitchen, where Grace had already started preparing dinner.

“Grace…” Judy began hesitantly.

The sheep turned around and smiled at her. “Yes?”

Nick spoke. “We need to talk to you about something important.”

The smile remained on Grace’s face, though it faltered for a moment. “All right. What is it you need to talk about?”

“If you could please sit down at the table…” Judy gestured toward the dining room. Grace looked confused, but she complied.

Once the three of them were seated, with Nick and Judy sitting across from Grace, Judy opened her mouth and out came a rush of words.

“We know you’ve been targeted by someone who’s threatening to kidnap you and since Chief Bogo knew you’d refuse his help he went ahead and assigned us to go undercover to protect you and we went through a couple leads in the past few days but they all turned up null and if we don’t spend every waking minute with you tomorrow then you’re truly going to be kidnapped Grace and I know you’re upset at us for lying to you and I know you don’t want any police help but the thing is that you can’t do this on your own and I really believe you should tell your husband because he loves you so much and he already knows because he found one of your letters and that’s why we’re here so then we found one of your letters in your room and then another letter came in the mail yesterday and the kidnapper is planning on coming tomorrow, see?” She thrust the paper out in front of herself and held it up so that Grace could read it, breathing heavily.

The entire time that Judy had been making her rapid-fire speech, Nick had been covering his face with his paws.

Now, he slowly uncovered his eyes to take a peek at Grace’s reaction.

She had taken the most recent letter out of Judy’s paw and was reading over it silently.

“We love you!” Judy burst out. “I know you don’t like police officers, but see, the thing is, Nick and I have totally fallen in love with you guys. And Chie- Phillip loves you too. That’s why he assigned us to this case. But you’re more than a case to us. You’ve become our friends. And we don’t want anything bad to happen to you.”

To everyone’s surprise, Judy broke down out of nowhere. She continued talking through her tears.

“And… thanks to you, I’ve decided I’m going to take it upon myself to make sure…” she sniffled. “…To make sure that interspecies relationships get the same legal and social privileges that any other relationship has. Having public weddings, working on their businesses in Zootopia, adopting children.” She gasped for breath as another tear fell down her cheek. Her tone was somber. “All because of you, Grace. Because you helped me shape my views on the matter. You helped both of us. And we love you. And we just… want… you… safe. So if you’re going to be mad, be mad at me. Don’t be mad at your brother-in-law. Please. He loves you so much.”

Grace’s eyes shone with tears as well. Nick wanted to throw his paws up in the air. What was it with women and crying? When one started, everyone started.

“I’m not mad, Laverne, I”-

“That’s another thing.” Judy sniffed and looked up guiltily. “My name’s not Laverne. Well, it is. But it’s my middle name.” She nodded toward Nick. “And Piberius is his middle name too. Our first names… are Judy and Nick.”

“Judy and Nick,” Grace said slowly. Then understanding dawned on her features. “Oh my goodness, are you the two who found the missing mammals last year and connected their savagery with the Nighthowler plant?”

“You know about that?” Nick’s eyebrows shot up.

“Phillip told me about it when he visited last Christmas.”

“Oh.”

Judy shifted uncomfortably in her seat. “Last but not least… um… Nick and I… well. We’re not together.”

At this news, Grace winced. “Oh.”

Nick and Judy both gave her penitent looks. “See, Chief thought it would be more believable if we masqueraded as a married couple, and”-

“Say no more.” Grace raised a hoof. “I’m not mad that you’re not together, I’m simply disappointed. You two… are really, really good together. You have something special. I mean that.”

The pair reddened.

Judy shook her head. “Anyway. Back at the topic at hand. We have a plan to keep you safe, Grace. We won’t let you out of our sights on Monday. We’ll stay in the house all day, the three of us. And we’ll have our tazers on paw, ready to take this crazy animal down. You don’t have to worry. You don’t have to do anything! We’ll keep you safe.”

But Grace was shaking her head emphatically. “There’s a reason I didn’t tell my husband.” Her voice sounded weary. “You just don’t get it. This situation is a lot more personal than you police officers can understand.”

Nick and Judy looked at each other, then back at her. “Well, try and explain it to us,” Nick said. “I’m sure we can figure it out.”

Grace sighed deeply and covered her face with her hooves.

“…I know who the so-called crazy animal is.”

“What?” Judy exclaimed.

“Who?” asked Nick.

Grace continued to sit there, her hooves against her eyes, for what felt like a lifetime.

Finally, she spoke again.

“It’s my mother.”

---

The front door opened, everyone turned their heads, and Chris stepped into the house. “I’m home from work!” he announced. It figured that since it was a Sunday, he’d left the bakery earlier than usual.

He stepped into the dining room with a smile, which shortly disappeared off his face as soon as he noticed Nick’s crossed-armed stance, Judy sniffling, and Grace with her hooves against her eyes.

“What’s wrong?” he asked the group.

Grace looked up at him, distressed. “…You called Phillip.”

It was a strange sight, seeing a cape buffalo gulp. It shifted the entire atmosphere of the room.

“Yes, I did.”

“You called Phillip about the letters, which I was hiding from you.”

“Yes. I found one. And I heard you shredding the other ones late at night.”

Judy buried her face into her arms at the table, and Nick looked down awkwardly.

“It’s my business. You shouldn’t have gotten involved.”

“Your business is my business. We’re married, Grace.”

“I was hiding them for a reason!”

“You thought I was just going to sit back and allow someone to threaten you? Are you being serious right now?”

“Christopher, Piberius and Laverne aren’t on their honeymoon. Those aren’t even their real names. They’re Nick and Judy, and they’re police officers.”

“I had a small hope that they were.”

“Chris.”

The buffalo looked at Nick. “So… you’re not schoolteachers?”

Nick shook his head.

“But… you’re married, right?”

Nick frowned, and Judy popped her head back up. “No, we’re not.”

Chris sighed. “That’s a shame.”

Judy furrowed her brows at the same time that Nick grimaced. Neither saw the other’s reaction.

Grace stood up tensely, the letter in her hoof. Chris watched her silently as she walked forward to him.

Suddenly they were facing each other, and Nick didn’t want to be in this room anymore.

Both of their voices were low and angry.

“You didn’t need to hire private investigators to figure out who was threatening me. I knew who it was all along.”

“Well, if you’d just told me, then we wouldn’t be having this conversation, would we? And I didn’t hire them. This was all Phillip’s doing.”

Nick looked over at Judy, who was looking down at her lap. Her ears were drooping.

“If you love me, you’ll let me take care of this on my own.”

“And if you love me, you’ll understand why that is simply not an option.”

“I can’t believe you went and told Phillip. He’s the chief of the Zootopian Police Department.”

“And he’s my brother. I can’t believe you tried to keep all this a secret from me.”

“You know I don’t trust the police.”

“Do you not trust Phillip?”

“…He’s the exception. That’s different.”

“No, Grace, it really isn’t.”

“What have the police been doing to help change the laws for interspecies relationships, huh?” Grace’s voice rose. “Where have they been during the past five years when we’ve had to live in hiding, huh?”

Judy started to silently cry again. Nick looked back and forth between her and the arguing couple, and then scooted his chair closer to hers so they were side by side.

“I’m tired, Phillip. Tired of being treated like a second-class citizen. Tired of my dreams of being a mother crushed.”

Nick slowly, slowly, slowly lifted his left arm and wrapped it around Judy’s shoulders. He pulled her close to his side. She leaned in and cried quietly into his chest. His heart swelled at the feeling of being needed.

“Grace, sweetheart, I know. I’m tired too. So tired. But we have to believe that change is going to come. If you just keep believing”-

“It’s my mother.” Grace cut him off. “My mother is the one who’s been writing the damn letters.”

Chris stood there, dumbstruck. “Helen?”

“You know she never liked you.”

“Yes, but… but Helen?”

“Why do you sound so surprised? That woman is a bitch.”

“Grace, language. That term is okay for dogs to use, but when other animals use it...”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. But it’s the truth.”

“I know it’s the truth; I’m just in shock that she’s the one who’s doing all this. She’s your mother.”

Grace let out a sudden, harsh sob. “I don’t know a thing about what a good mother’s supposed to be like.”

Now both women were crying. Again.

Chris picked his wife up and held her close to his chest. He looked over her wool to glance at Nick, who was comforting Judy.

The two men made eye contact, and an immediate understanding came between them. Chris walked out of the room, wife in arms.

Nick squeezed Judy’s shoulder. “Hey,” he whispered. “They’re gone now.”

Judy lifted her head up. Her cheeks were tear-stained. “This is all my fault,” she whispered.

“No it’s not!” Nick held her tightly. “Why would you even say that?”

“I’m in a position of authority, and I’ve lived my life blissfully unaware of the pain these couples go through.” Her voice was high-pitched and wavering. “It’s my fault that they’re hurting.”

“Judy.” Nick placed a paw on the top of her head, pushed her face into his neck, and held it there. “Don’t give yourself so much credit. Interspecies relationships have been going through this crap since before you were born. You’ve only been a cop for a year now.”

“…I know,” came the muffled response.

Nick let go of her head and allowed her to pull away a bit. “C’mon.” His voice was soft. “Deep breaths. In and out.”

She inhaled and exhaled, and Nick shifted in the seat so that his tail came up and wrapped around her form. He rested his chin on the top of her head, completely covering her.

For a moment, just a moment, everything was all right.

The moment was shattered, however, when Judy’s phone rang.

Judy pulled away from Nick, giving him some distance. She looked down at the caller ID.

“Clawhauser.”

She took a deep breath, steadying herself, and answered the phone. “Hey, what’s up?”

“Judy! Chief said you and Nick took a vacation! Oh my God, did you guys pick the worst time to leave the city!”

“Why, Clawhauser? What’s wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong! At least, not in my opinion. Hahaha. But have you turned on the news recently? Read the paper? Checked the internet? Anything?”

Judy and Nick shared a confused look. “No… we haven’t.”

“OH MY GOD. Sorry. Am I being too loud? But seriously though, WHAT. How are you so out of the loop right now? The media’s been buzzing for two days! It’s all anyone’s talking about! I am literally about to pee my pants.”

“Clawhauser.” Judy pinched the bridge of her nose. “Just tell me what’s going on.”

“It’s Gazelle! And one of her backup dancers, Judy- they… they just came out to the world that they’re in an interspecies relationship!”

Nick’s jaw dropped.

“What?” Judy asked in disbelief.

“I KNOW RIGHT? It’s so juicy! I cannot even handle it.” The cheetah shoved some sort of food in his mouth, which was only made apparent by his muffled talking afterward. “Gazelle, light of my life, greatest singer of our lifetime, angel with horns, has secretly been dating a tiger for months! To be honest, I think it’s totally brave. She’s being so unconventional. God, I just love her!” He squealed, and Judy and Nick stared at each other with eyes round as saucers.

“Thanks for the update, Claw,” Judy said slowly. “But listen, I gotta go.”

“Okay, you and Nick continue having a fun vacation bring me back a souvenir I like those cute little snow globes they sell around Christmastime but the ones I’ve gotten are all from Tundratown so it’d be nice to get one from out of the city for a change anyway LOVE YOU BYE!”

The line went dead, and Judy grabbed Nick by the sides of his muzzle. She bore her eyes into his. “Are you a fortune teller? Soothsayer? Time traveler?”

“No, no, and I wish.” Nick pried her paws off his face. “But this is seriously freaking me out.”

“You brought up the idea of Gazelle and one of her backup dancers only five nights ago.”

“I know, and I was being strictly hypothetical!”

“That’s just freaky.” Judy stared at nothing for a moment, before turning her gaze back to him. “Do you realize what this means?”

“That I should go into the crystal ball business?”

She gave him a flat look, which she was unable to hold for long due to excitement. “This means that times are changing in Zootopia! A celebrity just came out about her relationship! This could… this could change everything!”

“Clawhauser said the news was buzzing. That’s probably not a good thing,” Nick cautioned.

“We’re not going to let the bad press win,” Judy said tenaciously. “We’re going to deal with this… family issue with the Bogos, and then we’re going to go back home and show Gazelle our steadfast support.”

“I’m with you and I’ll back you up, one hundred percent, but do you think anyone will care about what we have to say?”

“Nicholas, we’re the reason fourteen missing mammals returned to their families a year ago. If we can get their support, have animals sign petitions, bring the subject up to Mayor Elephantino, and utilize Gazelle’s courage as our foundation, I think it just might work.”

A slow, affectionate grin spread across Nick’s face.

He remained silent, so Judy prompted him, “What? What are you thinking?”

“I’m thinking,” Nick replied, “That you are one clever, wonderful bunny.”

She smiled back at him then, a real, happy smile- and then one of her ears shot straight up.

“Piberius? Erm, I mean Nick? And Judy?” Chris was calling from the other room. “Could you guys join us?”

Nick and Judy got up from their chairs and ambled to the dining room, where Chris and Grace were seated on the couch. Chris had his arm around Grace, who was still holding the letter.

Chris spoke. “Thank you for looking out for us and protecting us this past week. We are indebted to you. I know it was merely your job, but”-

“It was more than a job,” Judy assured him. “You guys are… family.”

Chris swallowed back what seemed to be a lump in his throat. “I’m glad you feel the same way.”

Nick stepped forward. “You guys do realize that we’re still going to do what Chief asked us to, right? We’re not going to leave your side.”

“You really don’t have to.” Chris looked down at Grace, who looked back up at him. “I’m going to take off work tomorrow and stay home with Grace all day.”

“And we’re going to make sure to stick around too, especially in case she decides to show up another day when you’re off at the bakery instead.” Judy placed her paws on her hips. “Besides, this situation is probably going to require legal action. Grace, no offense, but your mother sounds insane.”

“None taken. She is.”

“How did you two even get married with a woman like that in your lives?” Nick asked curiously.

Chris and Grace exchanged a little smile. “We eloped,” Chris said simply.

Judy covered up her wince for their benefit. “That’s… that’s pretty romantic, you guys.”

“That’s what we tell ourselves, anyway.” Grace let out a dry laugh. “Unfortunately, the real reason behind it wasn’t romance. We were simply trying to hi”-

-“Hide your marriage,” Judy finished sadly. “I know.”

“Just another thing we had to sacrifice in order to be with each other,” Grace sighed. “But love is worth it.”

Judy’s eyes widened. “Love is worth it,” she repeated softly. “Love… is… worth it.”

“Carrots?”

Judy whipped her head up at Nick and grinned. “Love is worth it!” She jumped up and down. “That’ll be the title of our campaign!”

“Your campaign?” Chris and Grace repeated.

“Yes!” Judy beamed at them. “Nick and I decided that we’re going to start a… a crusade of sorts, when we return to Zootopia! I’d already planned on doing something like that, but I got the extra push I needed when my co-worker called and announced that- wait, do you guys know who Gazelle is?”

Chris and Grace both chuckled. “We only have every single one of her albums on record,” Chris gestured toward a record player next to the decorative table behind the sofa.

“Get this, you guys.” Judy’s paws were up in fists, and she flailed her arms. “She just announced to the world that she’s in a relationship with one of her backup dancers. All her backup dancers are tigers.”

Grace gasped. Chris grinned.

“That’s amazing!” Grace exclaimed. “Oh my goodness… oh my goodness!”

“I know, right?” Judy could hardly contain herself. “Interspecies relationships can finally have some real public representation!”

“I can’t even begin to imagine how brave she must be, to come out like that.” Grace clasped her hooves. “And how brave must her partner be! He’s a predator, and she’s prey!”

Nick thought back to one of his earlier conversations with Judy after they’d first woken up cuddling.

I don’t care if you’re a predator, prey, what have you; I will cuddle with you, dammit.

“Exactly!” Judy was hopping around the room, ecstatic. “Nick and I are going to go home after this whole debacle with your mother is taken care of, and we are going to try to contact Gazelle! Together, with the assistance of families and friends we’ve helped in the past, we’ll become a force for good in society!”

Grace stood up, rushed over to Judy, and threw her arms around her tightly.

Judy returned the hug warmly, and then Grace pulled back. “I’m so sorry. I doubted you when you revealed yourself as a police officer. I thought you were just like anybody else with a job; in it for the money. But I see now that you truly do care for animals like us.”

“Of course I do,” Judy said kindly. “And I will go to the ends of the earth to prove it to you, Grace.”

Nick stepped forward and placed a paw down on Judy’s shoulder. “We both will.”

Grace smiled wryly, looking from him to her. “Are you two sure you’re not a couple?”

Nick’s paw went off Judy’s shoulder. Judy stuttered. “Uh, no, we’re… we’re not. We’re totally not.”

“Just friends,” Nick said, trying to be helpful. “Just really, really good… friends.”

Grace did not look convinced. “Aaaaalright… if you two say so.”

Nick’s jaw hung open, and Judy, blushing furiously, protested, “But we’re serious! We’re best friends, that’s all!”

“Oh Grace, leave them alone.” Chris shook his head. “Don’t embarrass them in front of each other.”

“We’re not embarrassed!” Nick said quickly.

“Yeah!” Judy agreed, and they looked at each other, nodding adamantly in stubborn agreement.

Grace winked at Chris, and then looked back at the pair. “I’m sorry, you guys, I see what you mean now. You’re totally just friends, nothing more.”

“Absolutely,” Judy affirmed solemnly, and Nick awkwardly shoved his paws into his pockets.

An uncomfortable silence threatened to loom over them, and Judy was not about to let that happen.

“So.” She straightened, all businesslike now. “About your mother.”

“Ah, yes.” Grace sighed. “Helen.”

“In her letters, she talked about taking you from your home. So she knows where you live. And she mentioned the holiday bash, so she knows the events of your town. But how?”

Grace rubbed her arm. “We’re… uh… MuzzleBook friends.”

“Are you serious?” Nick shook his head. “Why on earth-?”

“She friend requested me last month, so I figured, hey, maybe she’s changed, maybe she wants to fix our torn relationship. I was wrong. She just wanted information about me, and I was so pissed off by her threatening letters that I chose to stay her ‘friend’, so she could see all the photos of Chris and I being lovey-dovey.”

“Darling, come on now,” Chris shook his head. “You’re better than that. She may be petty and stubborn, but you don’t have to be.”

“You do realize you can take her to court, right? You haven’t gotten rid of all the proof that she’s been threatening you.” Judy rubbed her chin. “And you have Nick and I as witnesses. And we’re the police, which definitely helps. So you can file for a restraining order.”

“I don’t want to take my own mother to court,” Grace said desperately. “I don’t care if she’s crazy. I just want to scare her somehow into not writing me letters or paying me visits. She’s not going to kidnap me or maim me or hurt me. She doesn’t have the strength; she’s a frail woman… buuuut she’s also a kook who doesn’t really pay attention to any laws. But I’m telling you, she just wants to frighten me because she’s mad that I’m committing ‘sins’.”

Nick bit down on his lip and shook his finger in the air, deep in thought. “Is this the first time she’ll be seeing you in years?”

“Nick, this’ll be the first time she’s seen me since before our elopement.”

“Excellent,” Nick breathed.

“Excellent?” Judy repeated.

He grinned then, at everyone in the room. “So she poses no real threat, right? She’s not going to hit you upside the head with a baseball bat and knock you out, right?”

“Right,” Grace said curiously. “She doesn’t have the strength. She’s a tiny little sheep, shorter than me.”

“And you said she’s a total nutjob right? Not the smartest cinderblock? Not right in the head? Not properly aware of the laws?”

“Right,” Grace said again. “Why…?”

“What if you were to show her”- Nick rubbed his paws together excitedly, “-that you’ve adopted a child? That you have a young kid of your own, who you have responsibility over and need to take care of? What then?”

Grace shrugged. “She would high-tail it out of here faster than lightning. But Nick, the law says we’re not allowed to ado”-

Nick grabbed the sheep by the shoulders and smiled widely. “She’s not aware of the laws.”

Grace’s mouth opened and closed, and then she finally said, “But where am I going to get a well-behaved child from by tomorrow? Andrea will not let me borrow Jordan or Sally for this cause.”

Nick was grinning so hard. “Don’t you worry. I know a guy.”

---

“You gotta be crazy!” Finnick barked over the phone. “You really think I’m gonna help you Nick? You think I’m just gonna quit what I’m doin’ over here, catch the next train, and meet up with you in the middle of God-knows-where to dress up like a kid that’s dressed up like a freakin’ elephant? Have you LOST yo MIND?”

“Come on pal…” Nick couldn’t help his shit-eating grin. “Do it for old time’s sake? For the good old memories between Baby Boy and Daddy?”

“I’m gonna hang up on you, Nick!”

“All right, all right, let’s talk payment.” Nick cut to the chase. “I’ll give you five hundred bucks out of pocket if you do this.”

The other fox was silent. Only for a moment, though. “How do I know I’m not bein’ hustled?”

Judy grabbed the phone from Nick, who went, “Hey!”

She brought the receiver up to her mouth. “Finnick, it’s me. Judy.”

Finnick hesitated. It was well-known to both Nick and Judy that the fennec fox had a slight soft spot in his heart for the rabbit. “Uh, hey, Judy.”

“I promise you that you’ll get paid five hundred dollars if you do this.” She made her voice pleading and sweet. “And you’ll make me so relieved and so happy.” She lowered her voice to a whisper. “I won’t let Nick hustle you, I swear.”

“I wasn’t hustling him-!”

Judy shushed Nick by throwing a paw over his mouth. “So, Finnick. What do you say?”

Finnick exhaled heavily. “I’ll be there in the A.M. Nick better pay me right up front.”

“Oh, he will,” Judy said excitedly. “Thank you so much, Fin.”

“Yeah, yeah,” the fennec fox said gruffly. “Do I gotta bring a suitcase or somethin’?”

---

That night, as Nick and Judy stood by the bed, they discussed how all the loose ends had been tied up.

“I knew our perp was a stalker.” Nick shook his head. “And who’s a better stalker than your very own mother, am I right? Especially when you’re friends on MuzzleBook.”

“It seems like they have a… very complicated relationship,” Judy said uneasily. “Those letters were truly nasty, and yet… Grace doesn’t want to take any legal action.”

Nick shrugged. “She loves her, Jude. Love is a powerful thing.”

Judy looked up at him through her lashes, and he felt warmth surge through his chest.

“I guess it is. Even in an emotionally abusive relationship.”

“Yeah. And it being her own mother explains how she knew Grace’s middle name in that one letter.”

“Yeah, I forgot about that.”

It was silent for a moment between them.

Then Judy smiled shyly up at Nick. “Crazy about Gazelle, right? Being in a predator-prey relationship.”

“Oh, yeah.” Nick spoke calmly, pretending to be thoroughly engrossed in his own claws. “Pretty cool.”

“It gives me hope,” she said softly.

Nick inhaled, his shoulders rising up. He felt tense all over. “Hope? For other pred-prey relationships in the closet, you mean?”

“Yeah.”

She looked up at him at the same time that he caught her gaze out of the corner of his own eye, and he shifted uncomfortably. “Well”- he slapped his paws together casually -“I’m pretty tuckered out by the emotional events of today; I think I’m gonna ‘hit the hay’ as you Bunny Burrow country bumpkins like to call it. Good night, Judy.”

“Wait.” She reached her paw out just as he turned away from her, and touched his arm.

He turned his face back around to look at her, and for perhaps the millionth time, it struck him all over again just how small she was.

“Your back doesn’t still hurt anymore, does it?”

Nick delayed. “I don’t know. Probably one more night on the floor would do it good.”

“Nick…” Judy hesitated.

“Yeah?” His heartbeat was going haywire.

“If everything goes according to plan tomorrow, tonight’s our last night here in Sheep Island.”

Nick knew exactly what she was getting at, but he also knew that she didn’t feel the same feelings for him that he did for her. She saw him as a friend. Not a potential lover. So he absolutely should not get in bed with her. Cuddling would only feed his feelings and ignite the flame he was trying to keep at bay.

And so he feigned misunderstanding. “I know, right? Good for us. Chief Buffalo Butt will be pretty pleased. We’ll probably get that promotion you’ve been so hung up about”-

“Nick.”

That was all she said. His name.

And yet he understood exactly what she wanted.

He smiled at her then, a casual smile, and grasped her ear and tugged it. Then, to drive his point home, he grabbed around her face with one paw and rubbed his knuckles on the top of her head with the other paw, as if they were siblings.

“Nick,” she laughed, pulling away. “Just get in bed with me.”

Well. So much for subtleties.

Nick stepped backwards, tried his best to give her a convincing smile, and the words came out of his mouth before he could stop himself. “Sorry Carrots. You rabbits may be natural, instinctual cuddlers, but we foxes? Like you said before, we’re pretty independent. Soo I’m gonna take the floor.”

Judy’s ears drooped and her smile dropped off her face, and suddenly Nick wanted to punch himself. But he’d already said the words. There was no turning back now.

“We don’t have to cuddle.” Her voice was small, her slumped shoulders were small, her everything was small. “Just please… get in the bed. Who… who said friends can’t share the bed?” At this, she gave him a small smile, certain that she’d won him over.

But Nick was already lowering himself down to the ground. “Like I said, my back could use one more night down here. Sweet dreams, Fluff.”

Judy stood there, staring at him, as he laid flat against the hard wood floor, for a long time.

“Fine.” She grabbed a pillow, and a blanket, flicked off the light switch, and placed them on the floor beside him.

He propped himself up by the elbows. “Carrots, what are you doing?”

“We’re best friends, Nick.” She said simply. “If your back is gonna be on the hard wood floor, then so’s mine.”

She then shifted over to the side, making sure there was plenty of space in between them. She grinned at him in the dark, knowing fully well that he could see her. “This way, we don’t have to cuddle, but we also don’t have to sleep alone either.”

Her voice went soft. “You get your independence, and I get to sleep by my favorite fox. Everybody wins.”

She then turned her head away from him and closed her eyes, readying herself for sleep, and Nick was left alone to drown in his own thoughts of adoration for this girl who had no idea she’d stolen his heart.

Dumb bunny.

---

The morning of the holiday bash, everyone was up bright and early – and a bundle of nerves. Nick collected Finnick from the train station and handed him the wad of cash he’d promised.

When they returned to the Bogos’ cottage, they were met with Grace pacing from one side of the house to the other.

“Sweetheart, you really should sit down,” said Chris, trying to placate her.

“I haven’t seen my mother in years and you want me to sit?” She gave him a look.

“Everyone, this is Finnick,” Nick said, raising a paw toward the fennec fox.

“Pleasure to meet you,” Grace said in a hurried, worried voice, thrusting a hoof forward. Finnick shook it.

“Nick, we really should change,” Judy reminded him.

“Change?” Grace looked from her to him.

“Into our uniforms,” Nick explained. “If Finnick’s little ‘toot-toot’ act doesn’t freak your mother out, then hopefully the presence of police officers will. Speaking of toot-toot…” he turned to Finnick. “You’re gonna need to change into your elephant getup now.”

Finnick groaned. “Five hundred bucks, five hundred bucks,” he muttered. He opened his suitcase, pulled out the periwinkle-gray costume, and proceeded to put it on.

Sharp knocking was heard on the door.

“Open up!” a female voice demanded from the other side.

Everyone gasped.

“Nick, come on!” Judy grabbed Nick forcefully by the arm and pulled him toward the hallway. While Nick was being dragged, he hissed at Finnick, “Finnick! Put the hood over your head!”

Finnick did, and the last sight Nick saw as he rounded the corner was the fennec fox in a head-to-toe elephant costume, looking perfectly like a little child.

Judy dragged him into their room, slammed the door shut, and began breathing deeply. “Okay, okay. She’s here. She’s here. No time to panic. Must change into uniforms.”

She rushed over to her suitcase, flung it open, threw piles of clothing out, and found hers.

Nick made himself busy by sifting through his own suitcase. “There you are.”

He held up his own uniform, turned around, and-

“OH MY GOSH.” He slapped a paw over his eyes. “Judy, why are you changing in here?”

“There’s no time, Nick!” Judy said desperately. “Take your paw off your face and just change! I don’t care!”

Nick slowly pried his fingers away and stared at her, dumbfounded.

She was wearing a simple black bra and checkered pink boxers. She was also trying to get her foot into her blue pants.

She looked up at him with an expression that said, Are you kidding?

“Grace’s mom is here and you’re just standing there.”

“Okay, okay!” Nick hesitated. Was Judy going to watch him change? Should he turn around? That would just give her a view of his backside, so… it didn’t really matter, did it?

He sighed in defeat, undid his tie, and took off his shirt. He avoided Judy’s gaze by looking sharply down at the floor. He put on his blue collared top first, and then struggled out of his khakis– heating up all over the place while he stood there with his boxers exposed – and wasted no time in getting into his uniform pants.

“Done,” he breathed in relief, looking back up at her.

Now she was just standing there.

She shook her head with a start. “Oh! You’re done! Right! Let’s go!”

“Got your tazer?”

“Yep. Got your repellant?”

“Yep.”

Judy walked over to the door, quietly opened it, and instantly voices could be heard from the living room.

Grace was speaking. “Yes, well, we adopted him very recently. The law says anyone in a relationship can adopt, so we went ahead and did it.”

A voice they didn’t recognize spoke. It was high-pitched and shrill. “I didn’t see anything about this on MuzzleBook.”

“Well, since you reminded me in all those lovely letters,” Grace responded, her voice dripping in sarcasm, “that you were going to pay me a visit, I thought I’d just surprise you.”

There was silence for a moment, and then Chris was heard. “He’s obsessed with elephants. We named him Toot.”

“I don’t care what you named him,” the voice snapped.

Nick and Judy nodded to each other and bounded down the hall. They rounded the corner and walked into the living room.

A black sheep, who was two inches shorter than Grace and wore glasses, staggered backwards and put her hoof on the doorknob.

“You called the police? Why?”

“Gee, Helen, I don’t know,” Grace said angrily. “Maybe because you harassed me with hostile letters and threatened to kidnap me.”

The woman sputtered. “It’s not kidnapping if it’s my own daughter!”

Finnick chose that moment to blow his “toot-toot” horn.

“It’s great to know you haven’t changed,” Grace said, her voice shaking. “It’s great to know that all you care about is ‘teaching me a lesson’, when I’m a grown adult, and I have my own family and my own damn house.”

“You don’t know what you want!” Helen suddenly screeched. “This five-year rebellion of yours has gone long enough!”

“What do you want me to do?” Grace screamed back. “Abandon my son?”

Helen wavered. “I… I… you can keep your son! You have to, anyway.” She rolled her eyes, as if the little fox in the room was a minor inconvenience in the grand scheme of things. “But divorce the goddamn buffalo!”

“The goddamn buffalo is standing right here, you know.” Chris scowled.

“Oh, shut up!”

Everyone – Grace, Chris, and Helen - started yelling. Finnick, for his part, continued to blow his “toot-toot” horn in quick little gasps, making it sound like he was crying.

Suddenly, in the middle of her screaming match, Helen lunged forward and grabbed Grace roughly by the arms, shaking her.

Chris stepped forward angrily, but Judy beat him to it. She took out her tazer and turned it on.

This caught Helen’s attention, and she let go of Grace as if she’d been burned.

Judy kept her voice as calm and steady as she possibly could. “You will not touch Grace Bogo.” She continued to hold the tazer up, to prove a point. “Grace Bogo is no longer a minor.” For a second, she glanced nervously up at Nick. He was glaring at Helen, his paw hovering over the repellant attached to his belt. “She is a legal adult,” she continued, attention back on Helen. “She is allowed to live in this house, she is allowed to be married to Mr. Bogo, and she is allowed”- her voice sharpened, and she narrowed her eyes –“to file for a restraining order. Which she will do, if you do not get out of this house, go back to Zootopia, and unfriend her on MuzzleBook.”

Helen’s open jaw struggled to open and close, and then she turned back to Grace. “Is this true? You’d take me to court?”

A heavy silence passed between the mother and daughter, and Judy held her breath. Everything depended on what the response to this question would be.

Grace took a deep breath. “Yes.”

Helen looked truly hurt, which made no sense to anyone.

“Well.” The older black sheep stepped backwards, sweeping her eyes across the room and looking at everyone except for Chris. “Well. I tried to save you, Grace. You’re going to hell for this lifestyle you’re living, and I did my best to try to save you. But you’ve made your choice. You’re going to hell.” She shook her head sorrowfully. “Good bye, Grace. You deserve what’s coming to you.”

And just like that, she walked out the door.

And out of Grace’s life forever.

Chris slammed it shut from the inside, and then immediately turned to his wife. “Honey…”

Grace’s shoulders were shaking, and when she turned to the left to walk briskly into the kitchen, Nick and Judy saw the tears on her face.

Chris followed after her.

Finnick took the opportunity to wiggle himself out of the elephant costume. He frowned, looking at the entryway to the kitchen where Chris and Grace were. He didn’t say a word; however, he dug into his pocket and took out the cash. He walked up to Nick, holding it up in the air.

“Take it,” he said gruffly. “I don’t want it no more.”

Nick, genuinely touched, held back any and all sarcastic replies, to Judy’s relief. But he did count the money in his paw, and then grinned at Finnick.

“You kept a hundred bucks.”

“Yeah, well, what’s yo point?”

“As a cop I’m not supposed to say this, but… never change, Finnick.”

“I’m goin’ home.” Finnick turned to Judy, ignoring Nick’s sentiment. “You gonna give me a ride?”

“I’m not going to borrow their cars, no.” Judy shook her head. “Didn’t Nick pick you up on the bike?”

“Yeah.”

“Well then, Nick is going to give you a ride.”

“Hold on, Carrots. This is a perfectly good opportunity to go back home, all three of us.” Nick placed his paws on his hips. “It sounds to me like Chris and Grace need some healing. Some alone time. I don’t feel right about being in their house anymore, especially after that brutal showdown. They need some space.”

“You’re… you’re right,” Judy’s ears fell down. “I guess I’ll go pack our stuff.”

“And I’ll tell them that we feel it’s time to go.”

“I’ll… just sit here,” said Finnick.

The three disbanded and Nick walked into the kitchen. Grace had her arms crossed and was looking out the window. Chris stood behind her comfortingly. They both looked to him as he entered the room.

“Hey,” Nick gave them a single, little wave. “Judy and I… well, we’re thinking it’s time for us to go home.”

Grace nodded. “I figured as much.” She sniffed. “Thank you. For being here for us. Sorry for all the trouble.”

“It was no trouble, Grace. It’s our jobs.” Nick squared his shoulders. “And you’re our friends. No trouble at all.”

Grace looked over his shoulder. “Where’s Judy?”

“Packing our stuff.”

“Okay. Since she’s not here, and we are friends, I feel the need to tell you… Nick, you… you should pursue her. Seriously.”

Nick swallowed. “I wish, Grace. I really do.”

“Have you asked her how she feels?” Grace smiled slightly.

“No, but I know how she feels.”

“But how can you be so sure?” she asked gently. “You’ll never truly know until you ask.”

Nick didn’t know what to say to this, so he just shrugged.

Chris and Grace both chuckled, despite the depressing atmosphere that was still looming over them. “You two will figure it out. I’m sure of it.”

“Figure what out?” Judy showed up at Nick’s side with a suitcase handle in each paw, and he jumped.

“Nothing, dear,” Grace said quickly. “It’s a shame that you’re going to miss the holiday bash today.”

“Sorry about that,” Judy said guiltily. “But I hope you two can go and have fun.”

“Truth be told, I think we’re going to skip out on it this year.” Grace looked up at Chris, who nodded. Then she turned back to Judy, and her expression turned into one of wistfulness. “Ohh, I’m going to miss you!” She hugged the rabbit with one arm, and then beckoned with her other hoof for Nick to join. He did, and then Chris went ahead and picked the three of them up so that all of them were hugging.

Finnick cleared his throat at the entryway, and Chris put his wife and friends down. “Ready to go?”

Grace walked over to Finnick, smiling, stooped down, and kissed him on the top of his head. “Thank you,” she said sincerely.

Finnick blushed. “Yeah, well, no problem, lady. I, uh, hope everything works out. And that you’re, uh, happy.”

Grace smiled widely. “With friends and a husband like mine, how couldn’t I be?”

“Come on.” Chris walked forward, taking the car keys out of his pockets. He smiled kindly. “Time for you three to go home.

---

Nick and Judy returned to the precinct the next morning, with a snow globe from Tundratown in hand for Clawhauser – not that they revealed to him where it came from. They received a warm welcome from the bullpen, and it was there that Chief Bogo announced to everyone that they had not, in fact, been on a vacation but rather an investigation.

After giving everyone their assignments for the day, Bogo told the pair to stay behind.

“I want to congratulate you two on handling the case so well,” he said after everyone had left.

“Sir, we hardly did anything,” Judy admitted. “Grace knew all along that it was her mother, and”-

Chief lifted a hoof. “I know, I know. Chris called me and told me everything yesterday, before you called. But you stuck by my family until the very end, and you made sure nothing happened to them. And for that… I’m grateful.”

Nick spoke up. “You have a great family, sir.”

At this, Chief actually smiled. “I know, Wilde. I know.”

---

The rest of the week came and went, and Judy was disappointed to find that they did not get promoted. Nick, on the other hand, was more concerned about what to get Judy for a Christmas present. This time last year, he’d been at the academy, so this would be the first Christmas they actually spent together.

On the evening of December 24th, a knock was heard on Judy’s door, and she opened it to find Nick standing there, holding a large gift-wrapped package. “Merry Christmas Eve, Carrots.”

A huge smile broke out across her face. “Aw, Nick.”

He stepped inside her ramshackle little apartment and handed her the gift.

“Wait just a second,” she said, handing the gift back to him, and ran over to her bed. She got down on her knees and pulled something out from underneath it.

Another, smaller gift-wrapped package.

He smiled. “You shouldn’t have.”

“And neither should you have.”

They stood there, smiling at each other, before Nick said, “So… should we open them today or tomorrow?”

She lifted a shoulder casually, an action that drove Nick wild on the inside. “I’m all for tradition, buuut sometimes rules are made to be broken, wouldn’t you say?”

Nick grinned, and they exchanged packages. He tore open his first, and then threw back his head and laughed.

It was a purple tie with little orange carrots printed on it.

He immediately loosened his other, striped purple tie, took it off, threw it onto Judy’s bed, and put the new tie on.

“How do I look?” He teased, lifting his arms. “Pretty hot, right?”

Judy didn’t answer, however. She had opened her present, and was holding it in her arms in awe.

It was a large scrapbook.

When she opened it to the first page, a red handkerchief was taped on the inside. The same red handkerchief Nick had tied around her cut leg in the Museum of Natural History over a year ago. She turned the page, and there was Nick’s crumpled up application to become a police officer… she had no idea how he’d gotten his paws back on that to put it in there. The next page had their first selfie that Nick had taken on his smartphone, taped on each corner with little Junior Detective stickers, and after that, she flipped through to find all their random selfies in chronological order. Finally, at the last page, was a picture of Nick as a kit, beaming at the camera.

She read the words scrawled underneath the old picture silently.

Wish I’d met you in life when I was this young, Carrots. But seeing as you were a one year old when I was nine, it’s just as well that you’re my best friend now instead of then. I believe in fate. ‘Nuff said. Love ya.

She looked up at him, an expression of total adoration and awe on her face, and Nick’s paws twitched at his sides.

She was so pretty.

“Nick…” she said breathlessly.

She slowly, tenderly put the book down on the bed beside her, and then, after a brief moment’s hesitation, jumped - with no warning - straight into his arms, wrapping her legs around his middle. Her arms were fastened tightly around his neck. She clung to him, her chin on her arm that was around his neck.

“I love you too,” she whispered. “I love you so much.”

Nick hugged her in return, lowering his head so that his chin rested against her back. His heart thudded a mile a minute.

She pulled away, and Nick took the opportunity to lower her gently back down to the ground.

“To answer your previous question, yes.” Judy winked. “You look very dapper with that carrot tie.”

Nick gave her his usual smug little smirk. “Good, because I’m going to wear it every single day from now on. So often that you’re gonna get absolutely sick of it and regret that you bought it.”

She gave him a smile that was positively endearing, and he found that he had to look away. “Well, I better head back home. Morning run in Sahara Square? There won’t be any traffic or pedestrians on Christmas morning.”

“Sahara Square, meet you there.” Judy beamed. “Eight o’ clock?”

Nick made a face. “Eleven o’ clock.”

“Nine o’ clock.”

“Eleven o’ clock.”

“…Ten-thirty.”

“Deal.”

Nick walked to the door, turned around, gave her a two-finger salute, shoved his paws in his pockets, and walked out. Judy closed the door behind him, walked toward the bed, picked up the scrapbook, and hugged it tightly.

From that night onward, she slept holding the old tie, that Nick had tossed and forgotten, in her paws.

---

On New Year’s Eve, Judy found herself sitting on the roof of an upper-class Zootopian skyscraper, dangling her legs over the edge, right next to Nick.

He had promised to give her the best view of the city for the New Year, and boy oh boy, he did not disappoint.

When the armadillo who ran the lobby saw them walking toward the elevator, he merely nodded and then looked the other way.

“You know him?” Judy had asked.

“I know everyone,” he’d responded simply.

Now, they waited for the twelve o’ clock mark to hit. It was probably – no, definitely – illegal that they were sitting right at the edge of the roof, their legs hanging precariously, but Nick didn’t seem worried, so neither was Judy.

“Look! We can see Gazelle’s palm tree penthouse from here!” she pointed.

Nick chuckled. “Sweetheart, we can see everything from up here.”

She glared at him. “Let me be excited.”

He shrugged, smiling casually, his eyes half-lidded.

Judy’s cheeks warmed at the look.

He was so… handsome.

And suddenly, something possessed her to want to tell him.

“You’re good-looking, you know that?”

…

Oh sweet cheese and crackers.

Heart thumping wildly, she looked out at the city below, but then nervously caught his look out of the corner of her eye.

His expression was completely neutral.

“I’m good-looking for a fox, you mean?” he quipped, the corners of his lips finally quirking up.

“No,” she laughed, and the tension dissolved. “You’re good-looking for an animal. You’re just, um, good-looking in general.”

Nick’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion, for only a second, but she didn’t catch it.

She looked up then, smiling sincerely. “I just thought you should know.”

There, she’d gone and done it. She’d flirted. She didn’t have much of any experience with flirtation, so this would hopefully suffice. Now to wait for his response.

But his response never came. She looked back up at him again, and he was looking down below at the city.

“Do you think a rat would be offended right now if I were to say that everyone down below looks like little rodents?”

Her shoulders slumped, and she winced internally.

Ignored.

Denied.

Rejected.

What she didn’t know, however, was that Nick’s heart was pounding in his ears.

What do I say? Darn it, why did I change the subject? Why did she say that? What kind of friend comments on another friend’s appearance? Is this normal? How do I volley back? Should I volley back?

Suddenly, she responded. “Eh. Nah. They’d probably feel good about themselves.”

It took him a moment to realize that they had just been discussing rodents.

Casual. They were nothing if not casual with each other.

And suddenly, in a fit of annoyance by his own behavior, he said in a rush, “I didn’t want to say you were cute because rabbits don’t like being called cute but… well, you already know.” He lifted a paw, then dropped it on his knee. “You’re pretty darn cute, Carrots. I’ve told you a hundred times.”

The joy on her face stunned him.

“Thanks, Nicholas.” She said finally, her voice soft.

“Yeah, well.” He leaned back. “Friends can compliment friends, am I right?”

And with that, the smile on her face was gone. Not that he noticed.

Oh. She sighed internally. Friends.

A couple minutes of silence passed, and Judy grew more and more uncomfortable. She wanted to talk to him. She wanted to tell him that sitting here, right next to him, on the edge of a skyscraper, on New Year’s Eve, made her the happiest bunny in the world. And she was just about to – she had her finger up and her mouth open – when Nick suddenly leaned forward.

“It’s 11:59!” He said excitedly. He turned to her. “What do you wish for in this upcoming year?”

The answer that came to her mind was That a miracle would happen and I’d have a chance with you.

But she responded, with equal desire and passion, “That interspecies couples will get all the rights they deserve.”

He nodded thoughtfully.

“…And… what about you?” she asked.

That a miracle would happen and I’d have a chance with you, Fluff.

“That you get that promotion you’re dying to have.” It was silent between them, and he smiled, looking at her from the corner of his eye. “And that interspecies couples get all the rights they deserve.”

She leaned over and hugged him then, and he responded in kind with one arm draped around her shoulder, and then the fireworks exploded in the sky.

Judy gasped. They were so high up, and the noise was nearly deafening, but it was so beautiful.

Nick, on the other hand, took the opportunity to admire Judy, his arm still around her.

She was so beautiful.

“Happy New Year, Carrots.”

“Happy New Year, Nick.”

---

Two weeks passed. Nick and Judy had just finished up a patrol shift and sauntered back into headquarters, when they were met with Clawhauser squealing and jumping and generally freaking out.

He waved them over in hysterics. “Get over here get over here get over here!”

Nick and Judy quickened their pace and came up to the front desk. Clawhauser looked like he was about to have a conniption.

“Uh… what’s up?” Nick cocked an eyebrow at their friend.

Said friend flailed his arms every which way spastically. “GazelleisinthebuildingGazelleisinthebuildingGAZELLEISINTHEBUILDING.”

Nick asked “What?” at the same time that Judy went, “Are you serious?”

“I KNOW RIGHT?” Clawhauser’s grin turned into a frown of despair. “And to think I was in the BATHROOM when she walked in! I missed her completely! I swear, the universe hates me”-

Judy leaped up onto the counter and grabbed the cheetah by his face. “Where is she.”

He pulled away from her grasp. “I don’t know!” he wailed. “Do you think I would be sitting here at this desk if I knew? Francine walked by and told me as I got out of the bathroom, and Francine would not lie to me, I just know she wouldn’t!”

Judy hopped off the counter and grabbed Nick’s arm. “C’mon.”

“Where are you guys going?” Clawhauser asked excitedly. “Are you going to find Gazelle? Can I come too?”

“Uhh, no… we’re not going to find Gazelle,” Judy said slowly. “We’re going to our cubicle.”

“Oh! Okay,” the cheetah said innocently. “I’ll let you guys know if I see her!”

Judy and Nick walked up the stairs, made their way down the long hall, and stopped at Chief Bogo’s office door.

They nodded at each other in silent agreement that this was definitely where Gazelle would have to be, if she was anywhere in the building.

They opened the door, and sure enough…

“Hopps! Wilde!” Bogo slammed his hooves down on the table. “Not now!”

“It’s all right, Chief Bogo, they can come in,” said the gazelle in her graceful Spanish accent. She smiled at the pair. “Judy, right? And Nick.”

Judy clasped her paws and brought them up to her chin. “You know our names?”

Nick looked at her, amused. The bunny was starstruck.

“Of course I do,” Gazelle responded. “You saved Zootopia last year from the Nighthowlers. You brought peace between predators and prey, and for that, I’m thankful.” She smiled.

Chief Bogo rested his arm on his desk and leaned forward. “Was there anything you two needed?”

“Actually, sir,” Judy looked to him, before directing her attention back to Gazelle. “We were wondering if we could talk with you.”

“Anything for two heroes,” said Gazelle sincerely, turning her chair to face them. She crossed her long legs. “What would you like to talk about?”

Chief Bogo sighed.

Ignoring him, Judy stepped forward. “Well,” she said shyly. “Almost a month ago, you came out to the world about your inters- your relationship with your backup dancer.”

“Ah, yes,” Gazelle smiled sadly. “That I did.” Her expression turned to one of doubt and worry. “Are you asking how it is possible that I fell in love with a tiger?”

“Oh! No!” Judy shook her head. “Absolutely not! I understand.”

Gazelle’s smile returned. “Oh, that’s wonderful. I’m glad to hear that.”

“Yes, so”-

“So the two of you are dating?”

The chief facepalmed.

“What?” Judy’s voice came out shrill. She looked up at Nick, who was shaking his head and cringing. She looked back at Gazelle. “No, no, no… we’re not. We’re just friends.”

“I see,” Gazelle said quickly. “I apologize for the assumption.”

“That’s fine,” Judy laughed nervously, and tugged on her collar. It sure was hot in here all of a sudden.

“So what did you want to know?” Gazelle asked, and for a brief moment it made Judy’s heart sink that the celebrity assumed they only wanted to know something.

“We’re not here to ask you any questions about yourself.”

Gazelle smiled, again, at this. “Oh?”

“Yeah. We were just wondering if… if you’d like to be the face of our campaign.”

Chief’s eyes widened. “Hopps, now really isn’t the ti”-

“Your campaign?” Gazelle leaned forward. “Tell me more. What is this campaign about?”

Judy took a deep breath. “Well, it’s been my – our – dream, for about a month now, actually, to start a campaign called ‘Love Is Worth It’. To begin representation and celebration for interspecies relationships. To make enough noise that it’ll attract the media. And then to bring it all to Mayor Elephantino, and demand legal changes for marriages.” She smiled hopefully. “What do you think?”

Gazelle looked back and forth from Bogo to Judy. “Oh Judy. I think that’s a wonderful idea. But, the thing is, I’m here today at the police station because my boyfriend and I have been getting harassed. I’ve had to hire more bodyguards than ever before because whenever we go out, the news reporters shove microphones and cameras in our faces. There is no escape.” She sighed wearily. “I know there are blessings to being famous, but there are also curses. This is now one of them. We can’t go on a date in peace. We stay in my home all the time, to avoid the media. So I don’t really know if I can join your campaign. I’d like to help, I really would, but right now it’s too hard to organize any rallies or parades.”

“But you wouldn’t have to!” Judy took another step forward, her voice pleading. “All you’d have to do is make some sort of statement, and we could pay to have it on display on one of City Central’s digital billboards on the day Nick and I hold rallies! Or… you could do some sort of photoshoot with your boyfriend to paint a picture of how much you love each other… or…” She was at a loss for ideas, and her ears began to droop.

But Gazelle tapped her chin thoughtfully. “Perhaps I could write a song. I could call the song ‘Love Is Worth It’. And so that way, when you hold gatherings, animals would already be familiar with your cause’s title.”

Judy leaped up into the air, pumping a fist. “YESSSS. Oh, Gazelle, could you? Could you really?”

“It’s a good idea, if I say so myself,” Gazelle smiled. “And I could express my emotions about the entire ordeal of feeling harassed. It would be a good outlet for me.”

Nick spoke for the first time. “Gazelle, if anyone could garner a sympathy vote, it’s you.”

“Thank you, Nick.” Gazelle looked back at Chief. “And thank you, Chief Bogo, for having such wonderful police officers at your department. I have more hope now, seeing that you all are truly trying to make a difference.”

“Yes, well, I’m proud of them,” the buffalo said in the most pragmatic way possible. As if he mentioned he was proud of Nick and Judy all the time. “Now, to deal with you being harassed”-

“Please, just one more moment, Chief,” Judy begged. She turned to Gazelle. “How can we remain in contact with you?”

Gazelle hesitated for a moment, before reaching down into her purse and taking out her phone. “I don’t normally do this, but I trust you both. And it’s for an important cause.” She looked up. “Give me your contact information, and I will text you after I’ve written the song.”

“Oh! Wow.” Judy looked stunned. “H-here’s my number.” She rattled it off for the celebrity. “Thank you so much.”

“No, thank you.” Gazelle smiled gratefully.

Bogo, who looked ready to throw Nick and Judy out, said, “Thank you, you two, for stopping by. Now, if you’ll be off…” He gave them a warning look.

They got the message, and waved goodbye to Gazelle. “Bye!” said Judy, as Nick held the door open for her. She walked out, and he followed. The door closed behind them.

Judy slowly turned to Nick with wide eyes. “We just made a deal with Gazelle.”

Nick chuckled. “I thought you were gonna faint when she decided she’d write a song.”

Judy grabbed him by the carrot tie so that his face came down to her level. “Yes, weren’t you?”

Nick made a “pft” sound and pried her paws off his tie, standing straight again. “Nah. She’s just an animal, Carrots. Like anyone else.”

“An animal who has the singing voice and the manners of an angel!” Judy protested.

Nick rolled his eyes, smiling, and the two headed back downstairs.

“So. Evening run tonight?” Nick suggested.

Judy smiled in return. “Sahara Square, meet you there.”

“I bet I’ll change into my running clothes faster than you.”

“Oh, yeah?” Judy’s ears pointed all the way up. “Then disregard my last statement. Sahara Square, beat you there.”

The two grinned and bolted for the opposite ends of the building, where the mens’ locker room and womens’ locker room were, respectively. 

---

A week had passed since their impromptu conversation with Gazelle.

Judy started going door-to-door to have animals sign her petition for married interspecies couples to be allowed to adopt. Needless to say, many a door was slammed in her face.

But some kind souls did sign, the first two being Mr. and Mrs. Otterton. That gave Judy hope. Then Mr. Big and Fru Fru, and then, because of that, Koslov’s entire gang and the rest of Mr. Big’s family and friends.

By the end of the week, she had fifty signatures. Which, truthfully, didn’t seem like much to Nick; he believed they’d need the media’s support before they could tackle such a serious topic right away, but despite his personal opinions, he kept encouraging Judy. After all, going against the grain and being successful in it took time. And if Judy wanted to start off strong, who was he to stop her? She was that way toward everything in life.

Perhaps it was this endearing thought that was keeping him up. Perhaps it was the fact that he’d spent the past week on overtime shifts doing paperwork to no end, when he wasn’t going door-to-door, and his brain was too fried to recognize actual rest. Perhaps it was due to the coffee he’d stupidly decided to brew an hour before bed. Whatever the reason, on this late night in the middle of January, at exactly 2:45, Nick found himself miserably wide-awake and staring at the clock.

He was in fact tired, so that wasn’t the issue.

The issue was the way his mind instinctively wandered to Judy.

Judy, and the unforgettable feeling of her lips against his own at a dinner party surrounded by strangers.

Judy, and the overwhelming sensation of having her body pressed to his side as he held her in his arms while she slept. God, how he missed that.

…Judy, wearing that black bra and those checkered pink boxers.

“Argh.” He closed his eyes and shook his head violently, dispelling the forbidden image. When he opened his eyes again, he focused on the outlines of his bedroom in the dark. He had excellent night vision, which was more of a curse than anything else at this point, given that it wasn’t helping him to fall asleep any sooner.

Five minutes dragged, and then ten more, and then it was 3:00, and Nick gave up on the idea of sleep.

“Screw it.”

He reached over for his phone, which was on silent mode, and turned it on, ready to play with apps.

He was startled to see that Judy had texted him ten minutes ago.

“Can’t sleep. I know you’re probably sleeping so texting you at this hour is pretty counterproductive but I guess I’m being a hopeful, selfish bunny and seeing if maybe my text will wake you up so that you can suffer with me. Haha. Anyways if I did wake you up don’t feel like you have to respond unless you want to, but if you do want to, then you’re a saint and I’ll worship you and kiss your feet and buy you your coffee tomorrow.”

Nick didn’t realize he was smiling until he reached up to scratch his face and felt the smile that was officially stuck there.

His fingers flew on the screen’s keyboard.

“Wide awake, Carrots. Have been for hours. But by all means, feel free to pay for my latte in the morning.”

He hit send, and then waited.

Two minutes later: “Ha! That was only if I woke you. Sorry, Slick. Get your own cup of joe.”

His smile grew wider, and he quickly texted his response.

“You get me all worked up over the promise of coffee, and then let me down. What a tease. I shouldn’t have texted you back.”

She responded within a minute.

“Oh, but you wanted to. You know you love me.”

He stared at the screen, wondering how he ought to reply. Then he grinned.

“Madam, I know not what to say. I mean, we hardly know each other. Take me out to dinner first, at least. I’m a gentlefox; I don’t rush into things like saying the L word before the first date.”

Upon hitting send, he wondered if that joke was too forward. She didn’t respond right away, and he grew worried that he’d overstepped a boundary. Just as he was beginning to panic, another text popped up.

“This can be rectified. How about dinner at Panda Express tomorrow night at 7?”

Nick’s eyes widened.

Wait a minute, was she serious? Or was she joking? Or was she serious about dinner while joking about it being a date? Should he continue the joke?

He typed an answer, then hit backspace, then typed a different answer, and hit backspace again.

Finally, he settled for: “Might have to move around a few things in my very busy schedule, but I think we can make it work. I’ll have to cancel on my best friend, though. We were gonna go for a run around that hour at Sahara Square.”

He waited.

“You’d really cancel on your best friend for me? I’m swooning. You really ARE a gentlefox.”

His grin returned.

“Yeah, well, she can handle one evening without me.”

She responded right away.

“Oh? It’s a ‘she’? Should I be jealous?”

Nick giggled. Not laughed, not chuckled. He giggled. Like a child.

“Nah. We’re just friends.”

She responded right away.

“That’s a relief. ;)”

He stared at the little wink emoticon, his insides burning up. Suddenly he didn’t know how to respond. She was merely kidding around with him, but that wasn’t how it felt.

She suddenly texted again. “OH MY GOSH.”

His fingers tapped on the screen quickly. “What?”

“It’s Gazelle! She just texted me! She’s finished with the song!”

“At 3:15 in the morning???”

“An artist never rests, Nick! AND GET THIS. I texted her back, and she was all surprised that I was awake, but then just now INVITED US to VISIT HER PENTHOUSE! LIKE RIGHT NOW!!!”

Nick jumped out of bed.

“I’m changing into something decent. Where should we meet up?”

“City Central garden?”

“Works for me. Careful, Carrots. Some parts of town are pretty sketchy to walk through this late at night.”

“I’m an officer, Slick. Going through sketchy places is kinda part of the job description.”

“I’d feel a lot better if you’d change into your uniform than just a regular outfit.”

“Fine, fine. But you too then.”

“Ok. See you soon.”

---

Nick approached Judy, who was leaning against a pole with her arms crossed, and said, “Hey.”

She straightened. “Took you long enough!”

He rolled his eyes. “It only took me five minutes. You’re just antsy because we’re about to go see where Gazelle lives.”

“Uh, duh.” The bunny hopped up and down ecstatically. “I can’t believe this is real life!”

“Don’t tell Clawhauser. He might cry.”

She grabbed his paw. “Let’s go already!”

Judy dragged Nick a bit of the way toward the palm tree-shaped building, before letting go of his paw – to his disappointment – and squealing with her paws over her mouth the rest of the way.

They made it to the tall, fenced-in perimeter, and Judy stepped forward to press the button on the fence’s door.

An intercom buzzed, and a deep male voice demanded, “State your name and business.”

“Judy Hopps and Nicholas Wilde, officers at the ZPD. We’re here because Gazelle invited us.”

There was silence for a moment, before a loud buzzing sound was heard, and then a “click!” from the fence. Nick pushed the door with his paw, and sure enough, it was unlocked.

Judy squealed softly, and Nick shook his head. “Get a grip, rabbit.”

She punched him on the shoulder. “Let me be excited.”

The fence door mechanically closed behind them, and they both turned around to look at it for a moment before looking back up toward the palm tree building.

They walked up to the front door, and before they even did anything, it opened.

Gazelle stood there, in unassuming jeans and a tank top, towering over them. She had bags under her eyes, but she was smiling.

“Welcome to my home,” she said softly. “Please, come in.”

She stepped aside, and Nick and Judy thanked her and walked into the foyer.

Luxurious didn’t even begin to describe this one room alone. There was an elevator, and right next to it, a grand spiral staircase. The floor was marble. There were statues lined up around the room, larger than life paintings on the walls, and lavish furniture. All in all, it resembled an art museum.

“Come on,” Gazelle said, and Nick stopped gawking at his surroundings. He grabbed Judy’s shoulder and pulled her along. Gazelle pressed a button and stepped into the elevator, and Nick and Judy followed suit.

The elevator took them all the way up to the penthouse, and when Gazelle stepped out, the police officers had to simply stand there with their jaws hanging open for a moment.

It was a spacious, opulent apartment. Everything in sight was either black, white, or gold. The view from the windows was incredible. Everything was incredible.

“Your home… is so… beautiful,” Judy breathed, finally stepping forward into the space. Nick stepped up right behind her.

“Oh, thank you,” Gazelle smiled. “Derek is asleep right now, otherwise I’d introduce you.”

Derek, Nick assumed, was Gazelle’s boyfriend.

“Well. Do you want to hear the song?” Gazelle’s eyes danced back and forth between the two animals. She looked excited.

Judy couldn’t contain herself, and she jumped up and down. “Yes, yes I do!”

“Come on then. Into the studio.”

She turned the corner from the elevator, Nick and Judy followed, and she pushed open two large black double doors.

Nick and Judy entered and both audibly gasped.

“You have a recording studio in your apartment?” Judy’s paws were over her mouth again. Her eyes were shining.

“Yes,” Gazelle said simply, as if this was the most common arrangement in the world. “It’s sound-proofed, so Derek won’t have to wake up. Please, sit.”

Nick turned around and saw the sparkling – sparkling! – black chairs, which were gazelle-sized, and he jumped up onto one and patted the space next to him for Judy to sit and share.

Once they were both seated and waiting, Gazelle sat at the grand white piano in the center of the studio.

She took a deep breath, hovered her hooves over the keys, and closed her eyes.

She pressed down on the keys and began singing her ballad.

“I’m so confused.

Your opinions have left me bruised.

Why did I think

I could change the world?

All I ever wanted

Was for every boy and girl

To believe…

Love is worth it.

It doesn’t have to be perfect

For it to be real and pure and Heaven on earth;

It means so much to me.

I truly do believe that love is blind.

It’s conquered things like poverty throughout time.

If love truly is free,

Then where’s my pride?

If love’s meant for me,

Then why do I have to hide?

Oh…

Love is worth it.

It doesn’t have to be perfect

For it to be real and pure and Heaven on earth;

It means so much to me.

And last but not least,

My wish for you:

Is that you get to love

Whoever you want to.

And last but not least,

My wish for you:

Is that you get to love

Whoever you want to.

Oh…

Love is worth it.

It doesn’t have to be perfect

For it be real and pure and Heaven on earth;

It means so much to me.”

She repeated the final line twice, and then slowly lifted her hooves off the piano keys. She opened her eyes and looked over at Nick and Judy.

“What do you think?” she asked honestly.

Nick looked down at Judy.

Tears were brimming in the bunny’s eyes. “It’s… it’s… it’s phenomenal.”

Gazelle blushed. “Oh, hardly.”

“No, Gazelle, it’s really, really good,” Judy insisted. “Seriously. It’s beautiful. Thank you so much for creating this song.”

“Thank you for inspiring me.” Gazelle stood up, and so did the pair. “I’ll upload it online tomorrow, since I’ve received the ‘okay’ from you. My manager said it was a ridiculous idea to post a new single out of the blue with no marketing and self-promotion, but screw what he thinks.” She laughed. “Anyway, since you’re here, can I get you anything? An early morning snack, before you go on your way?”

Nick opened his mouth, but Judy quickly said, “Oh no, it’s fine, you don’t have to worry about serving us anything. We’re just honored that we could come and listen to your song.”

“…Are you sure neither of you are hungry?” Gazelle smiled knowingly at Nick.

Nick shrugged and smiled back. “Yeah, I could get something to eat.”

Judy sighed dramatically. “Nick. Let’s not bother her.”

“It’s not bothering me at all!” Gazelle winked, opening the double doors, and walked out. “Come on, the kitchen’s this way.”

---

Judy and Nick ended up staying over at Gazelle’s for another two hours, and by the time they left, it was time to head to work.

They stopped at Snarlbucks, and Judy tried to pay for Nick’s drink. He threw his paw down over her own at the counter, stopping her. “Y’know, I was only kidding earlier when I told you to pay for my latte. I got it." 

She tried to fight him, which was pretty cute, because she was half his size and had half his strength. “Let me pay for my best friend, you jerk!”

The bear barista sighed.

“Tell you what.” Nick struggled against Judy, whose paws were reaching up for his face. “You can pay for my dinner tonight at Panda Express, since you were the one who did the asking.”

Judy halted and smiled. “Deal.”

The two stepped out of the coffee shop after Nick had paid for his drink. Judy grabbed his arm.

“Look at the sky,” she said, her voice soft with wonder.

Nick looked out at the horizon where the sun was rising. Different shades of pink and purple colored the sky. Some parts of it reminded him of Judy’s eyes.

“Isn’t it pretty?”

Nick nodded, taking a sip of his coffee. “Gorgeous.”

“And to think Gazelle gets that view better than anyone else, in that apartment of hers.”

Nick smiled, looking down into Judy’s violet hues. “…To be honest with you, I think my own view is my favorite.”

She smiled innocently back up at him, and he placed his paw on her back, pushing her forward. “C’mon. Chief isn’t gonna be happy if we’re late to the bullpen.”

“When is he ever happy?” She began walking alongside him.

Nick laughed. “True.”

---

The work day absolutely dragged on account of how tired Nick was. He’d spent the entire day in his stifling cubicle while Judy worked elsewhere with a new recruit, which didn’t help matters. Pulling an unwanted all-nighter was not a good look for him, as he came to find out when he stood in the mens’ room and stared at his reflection in the mirror.

“Yikes.” He fixed the fur that was out of place, but no amount of fixing could be done for those bags underneath his eyes.

Delgato entered the bathroom, and Nick nodded at him. “Hey Delgato.”

The lion gave him a funny look, without responding, before entering a stall.

Nick furrowed his eyebrows. Was there something on his face? He re-checked his appearance in the mirror.

Guys typically had a more understanding body language code than girls, which consisted of polite head nods and neutral expressions. However, Delgato had just broken that code.

Where was the polite head nod? Where was the neutral expression? Where was the simple “hey” in return?

Nick contemplated waiting until Delgato got out of the stall to ask him “What’s up?” but then decided against it, feeling like that might be a tad creepy. It was the end of the day anyway, and he was ready to go home, take a nap, and then meet up with Judy at Panda Express.

He trudged tiredly out of the bathroom and into the main entrance of the department, walking past the receptionist desk.

Clawhauser shrieked. “Nick! Nick!”

He cringed. He just wanted to go home.

He slowly turned around to face the excited cheetah. “Yes, Benjamin?”

Clawhauser was lifting himself up and down by his toes. He had his paws on his cheeks. “I just wanted to congratulate you oh my God.” He was beaming, his voice high-pitched and ecstatic. “I just saw the whole thing on the internet! Can’t believe it’s trending, am I right?” He giggled in hysterics, then turned serious. “Listen, Nick. I know other animals might give you a hard time, especially the backward ones, but I just wanted to tell you that you’ve always got a supporter in me. You’re just as cool as Gazelle in my book.” With that said, his expression turned to one of complete adoration and devotion.

Nick blinked tiredly. What?

Some things were better left not understood. Especially when he was exhausted. Double especially when it was Clawhauser.

“Thanks, Claw,” he said slowly, swinging his paw up and dropping it to his side. “You’re as… cool as a cucumber for saying that.”

He turned back around and walked toward the door.

Fangmeyer and Grizzoli entered just as he was about to exit, and with them was a wolf in pawcuffs. Nick realized they’d probably finally busted the drug case wide open.

Only took them about a whole month.

Nick nodded at Fangmeyer, who gave him the same funny look that Delgato did in the bathroom, then averted his gaze back to the wolf.

Nick frowned. Okay, now he knew he wasn’t imagining things. Animals were definitely looking at him strangely.

Suddenly paranoid, he reached around to touch his back, checking for a taped sign of some sort. Had someone in the department pranked him?

He couldn’t find anything on his body, so with a weird feeling in his stomach, he continued on his walk out the door.

As animals continued to give him looks, he did his best to ignore them. With flattened ears, he mulled over what Clawhauser said.

Something was trending on the internet? And it had to do with him?

It then dawned on him. Oh. Gazelle’s new single. She must’ve finally uploaded it.

But that was why animals were looking at him funny?

That made no sense, unless she had given him credit of some sort. Which also made no sense, since it was her song.

He shoved his paws into his pockets and walked all the way home. The closer he got to his apartment, the more animals stared.

He felt the urge to exclaim, “Take a picture, it’ll last longer!”, but he didn’t. He was in his uniform, and he had an image to uphold. Unfortunately.

He made it home – at long last – and hurried to take off his clothes. Once he was finally in nothing but boxers, he flung himself down face-first onto his bed.

When he lifted his head back up again due to the buzzing of his phone alarm, two hours had flown by.

He lifted up the device and checked the screen. Then his eyes widened.

Oh no.

It was 7:02. Judy had told him to be at Panda Express at seven.

He shot up and speed-dialed Judy.

She picked up. “Nick? Where”-

“I overslept.” He was in his bathroom, wincing at his fur. It didn’t give off its usual shine. He could use a shower, but there wasn’t enough time. “I’m so sorry.”

She smiled, which he could hear in her voice. “Hey, no big deal! It’s not like it’s an actual date or anything.”

Nick stubbed his toe and muttered curses under his breath.

“Nick? You okay over there?”

“Huh? Yeah, yeah, I’m swell. Are you inside the restaurant?”

“Nope, waiting outside. Animals are kind of looking at me funny. As if they’ve never seen a rabbit in a dress before.”

Nick looked down at the phone in his paw in disbelief. “You’re wearing a dress?”

Her voice came out shy. “Yeah, I mean, we were joking around about how it was a ‘date’, and I thought, hey, wouldn’t it be fun if I actually went shopping and bought something new for the occasion? Just to keep up the charade. You know, to trip you out.”

Nick was definitely, according to her own words, tripped out. “Good one, Carrots.” His voice came out hoarse, and he cleared his throat. “You’re… you, uh… you definitely must…”

He banged his foot again against the bathroom door as he was trying to get out and exclaimed, “Oh, hell!”

“Nick? Everything all right?”

“Everything’s just dandy,” he muttered. “Listen, I’ll be over there in a flash.”

“Flash, flash, a hundred yard dash,” she chimed cheerfully. “You’ll see me by the door.”

“Nah, go in.” He threw his casual clothes on, tying the carrot tie around his neck. “Reserve our seats.”

“Okay. Booth?”

“Yeah. The small-scaled booths, if you could. I’m not in the mood to yell up at a giraffe waiter.”

“Me neither. Okay, small-scaled booth. See you soon.”

“Okay, love you.” Nick’s eyes grew wide. “I mean, see you! See you soon! Ugh, I just woke up, I’m not all there yet.”

She was laughing. “I love you too, Nick. It’s no big deal. Nothing is a big deal. We’re best friends, hanging out.”

“Yeah, duh,” Nick said flippantly, trying to get himself together. “Okay, I’m hanging up now.”

“Okay!”

He pressed the end call button, then sighed wearily, allowing himself a moment to string out every curse word he knew.

He grabbed his wallet – even though he knew he didn’t need it – and checked himself one last time in front of the mirror, and then raced to Panda Express, ignoring the stares and whispers of passersby.

He entered the restaurant, and a panda bear greeted him at the door. “How many?”

“Uh, two. Judy Hopps already booked a seat for me.”

“Ah, yes. Come this way.”

Nick followed the panda past tiny rodent-sized booths and then elephant-sized booths, to find Judy seated at a perfectly good fox-sized booth at the very back. She looked up at him as he approached and smiled widely.

He slowed down as he walked toward her. She was wearing a purple dress with white polka dots. The purple was a few shades off from the color in her eyes, but it really made those irises pop.

“What would you like to drink?” The panda interrupted his reverie, and he turned and responded with, “Water, please.”

The bear walked off, and Nick was left alone with Judy.

Heart hammering in his chest, he smiled as he slid into the seat opposite of her. “My, my. I sure am glad I canceled on my best friend tonight for you. You look stunning, madam.”

Judy giggled, and… was she blushing? He couldn’t be too sure under this restaurant lighting.

No, there was no way.

“Thank you, sir,” she said smoothly. “Funny enough, I had to cancel on my own best friend tonight to see you. Coincidentally, he and I were also going for a run.”

Nick rested his cheek in his paw. “Oh? ‘He’? Should I be jealous?”

Judy laughed easily, smoothing out her dress. “Oh, jealous of him? I don’t think so. We’re just friends.” She turned her head to the side and eyed him. “Although… I do hope it doesn’t bother you that he and I have cuddled a few times.” Her smile was wry.

He closed his eyes and shook his head. “Nope, doesn’t bother me at all. In fact, my own friend and I, the one I was telling you about? She and I have snuggled in the past ourselves. In bed.”

“Oooh, how cozy.” Judy wiggled her eyebrows.

“In fact”- Nick continued –“We’ve pretended to be married. Went on an investigation to Sheep Island and called it a honeymoon to whoever asked.”

“Really now?” Judy leaned forward, eager to one-up him. “Well, my best friend and I have kissed.”

Nick froze, and then Judy’s eyes widened, both of them realizing that that had really just come out of her mouth.

Nick found himself at a metaphorical fork in the road. He could say something along the lines of, “Oh? Kissed? Are you sure the two of you are ‘just friends’?”… but that might be too daring, even for the current conversation. Or he could seamlessly change the subject in his usual casual way.

He opened his mouth, ready to do just that, when the panda returned with a glass of water. “Here you go, sir. Are you two ready to order?”

Judy looked to Nick questioningly, and he nodded. She smiled at the waiter. “Yes, please. I’ll have the lo mein noodles.”

“And I’ll have what she’s having.”

The panda wrote the orders down in his little yellow notepad, then leaned down and said, “I must say, you two are very brave for going out in public tonight.” And then he went back on his way.

Nick watched him walk away, then turned back to frown at Judy. He pointed with his thumb toward the panda’s retreating back. “Was that weird to you, or was it just me?”

Judy shrugged. “Maybe he’s new at the job and nervous to be here, and words just kinda slipped out.”

Nick turned his head around again to look for the panda and furrowed his eyebrows. “More like vomited out.”

Judy took a deep breath as he turned back around to face her. “So.” She smiled. “How was your day?”

Relieved that she had seemed to have forgotten about the whole kissing thing and they didn’t have to continue carrying on the mock-conversation after that exchange, Nick slumped his shoulders and said, “Terrible. Sitting at a cubicle for hours on end after a night of no sleep is not my forte.” He took a sip from his straw. “How about you?”

“Pretty uneventful. Showed the new porcupine the ropes. He’s nice enough, I guess, but he’s got kind of a stand-offish personality.”

He smirked. “Must be the quills.”

“Nick.” She balled up a napkin and threw it at him, which he caught and tossed back.

“Anyways, Carrots, animals have been acting weird today.” He raised his paws. “Hear me out. I feel like I’m being… watched. Like, everywhere I go.”

Judy curiously turned her head to look around the restaurant. Sure enough, a bunch of couples quickly averted their attention back down to their own meals. She furrowed her eyebrows.

“Huh. That’s… strange. I felt that way too when I was standing outside the building, but I just figured it was because animals recognized me as a cop and found it funny that I was in a dress instead of a uniform.”

He took another sip from his straw. “I deduced that it had to be because Gazelle made us the cover photo for her new single on PawTube. She must’ve given us some sort of credit, or something.”

Judy shook her head. “She told me she’d text me when she posted the song. She hasn’t yet. And anyway, when she said she’d post it ‘tomorrow’, that was early this morning. I don’t think she meant that she’d post it today. Sooo they’re giving us looks for some other reason.”

He thrust his paws out. “Okay, you know what? Walk back to my apartment with me after dinner, and we’ll see if the stares get worse.”

Judy nodded at first, but then a slow, thoughtful smile crept up on her face.

“What?”

“Taking me home after the first date?” she teased. “I know you think I’m pretty in this dress, Nick, but my gosh. Don’t you think we’re rushing into things?”

Nick couldn’t help the smile that returned to his face, and he leaned forward, his chin in his paws. “So is that a yes or a no?”

She leaned forward as well. Her voice was low and flirty, in a manner he’d never heard before. “It’s a ‘maybe’, according to how this date goes.”

“Oh yeah?” His heart raced. He leaned forward some more.

She did too, and they were suddenly nose-to-nose. She bat her lashes at him. “Yeah.”

“Hey, Judy! Nick!”

The pair instantly broke apart, and Nick rested a paw on his chest, feeling like he’d just survived a heart attack.

It was Robin.

She stood there, sans Don, in a Panda Express uniform.

“Hey, Robin,” said Judy breathlessly. “You work here?”

“I do,” Robin nodded. “And I walked by to see the married couple of the hour!” She lowered her voice. “I think what you two are doing is very brave. Just going out, having an ordinary evening”-

“Why does everyone keep saying that?” Nick asked incredulously.

“About that, Robin…” Judy glanced at her partner uneasily, then looked back up at the badger. “It’s time you learned the truth. Nick and I… well, we were never married. We only said we were because otherwise it would impede our investigation back at Sheep Island.”

“Oh,” Robin said slowly. “…Okay. That makes sense, since your names online showed different last names. But you’re still very brave. Romantic interspecies relationships in Zootopia”-

“Wait, wait, wait.” Nick held a paw up. “‘Our names online’? Why were our names online?”

Robin’s jaw dropped. “You guys don’t know?”

“Know what?” Nick and Judy asked in unison, eyes wide.

Robin looked around for a moment. “I’m not supposed to have my phone on me during a shift, but…”

She took her phone out of her back pocket and tapped the screen, scrolling a bit until she found what she was looking for. She then held it out so that Nick and Judy could both see.

They both gasped loudly.

On Robin’s phone screen was a picture of Nick and Judy kissing. The photo was zoomed-in on their faces and cropped so that only a slight piece of mistletoe could be seen in the top periphery.

Above the photo was a pink gossip news title, blaring in all caps: “ZOOTOPIAN POLICE OFFICERS NICK WILDE AND JUDY HOPPS: RISKY NEW RELATIONSHIP?”

“The media has been going crazy all day.” Robin shook her head. “Personally, I think that half the stuff they’ve been saying about you is complete bogus. You’re a lovely couple.”

“Robin! Get back to work!” a jaguar called from across the restaurant. She winced.

“I’ll hopefully see you guys around, all right?” She started to walk away, then stopped. “Good luck, you guys. With the public and all.” She then hurried away to get back into the kitchen.

Nick and Judy shared identical expressions – eyes bugging out, jaws hanging open, postures stiff – and when the panda returned with the lo mein noodles, neither of them could say “thank you”; they were still paralyzed in shock.

It was only after the bear walked away that Judy shook her head, regained her bearings, and looked around the restaurant.

Once again, animals abruptly looked away from them and back down to their own meals.

“C’mon.” She reached across the table and patted Nick’s paw. He stared at her silently. “We’re getting a to-go box for this stuff, and we’re going to your place.”

He nodded, eyes wide, and she waved over a waiter.

They got their food into boxes and then walked out of Panda Express, Judy leading, Nick following.

Sure enough, the stares and whispers happened as they walked down the sidewalk toward Nick’s apartment. Even more so now than before, since they were with each other.

Judy’s ears drooped as the looks continued. Nick took to looking the passersby directly in the eyes and glaring, and most had the decency to look away.

They finally made it home, and Nick held the door open for Judy. Once he’d closed it behind them and placed their boxes on the counter of his kitchenette, Judy suddenly lifted up her dress, took it off, and threw it on the floor.

For the second time in a row that this had happened, Nick instinctively slapped a paw over his eyes. “Judy, what the heck?”

“I’m so disgusted.” Her voice was angry. “The animals in this city are all so speciesist. How is it that Gazelle hasn’t spiraled into a depression?” She breathed deeply, steadying herself, paused, and then said in a much flatter tone, “I’m in my underwear, Nick. Big deal. The dress was cute, but it was suffocating me. Uncover your eyes.”

He slowly lifted his paw off his face to look at her in disbelief. This time, her boxers were plaid, red and black. Same black bra, though. “So we’re… just at this point in our friendship now? Clothes don’t matter?”

She shrugged. “They matter, but they’re not necessary 24/7.” She looked around. “Can I get a t-shirt from you? It’ll be more like a long nightgown on me, but I’m spending the night, so it works.”

“You’re spending the night?” he repeated dumbly.

She quirked her brow. “Uh… yeah? I walked all the way over here, so might as well.”

“Okay,” he said, and swallowed. She was spending the night.

It had been a month since she’d last spent the night, and that had been right before their investigation.

He went into his bedroom, dug into his drawers, and found a baggy gray tee that he hadn’t washed in a while. He winced, then decided it would have to do.

“It kinda smells like me,” he warned her, mumbling. “Sorry about that.”

She took it and promptly put it on. He sighed in relief.

“I’m going on your laptop. Gonna check how bad the news really is.” She plopped down on the couch and leaned forward, turning on the little computer on his coffee table. He sat down beside her.

She typed their names into the Zoogle search bar and hit enter.

Dozens of news articles from different websites lined up to be read, each with its own roaring, offensive title.

The top one blared “GOING THE UNCONVENTIONAL ROUTE? OR TRYING TO SWIM WITH THE CURRENT? NICK WILDE AND JUDY HOPPS STEAL THE SPOTLIGHT FROM GAZELLE! READ MORE TO FIND OUT!”

Judy grabbed at her ears and tugged them down over her eyes in frustration. “Arrrrgh…” she growled. “Why would anyone be romantic with someone of a different species for show? Especially in our society.” She lifted her ears off her face and glowered at the computer screen. “Screw them all.”

Nick placed a paw on her shoulder. “So…” his voice was quiet. “What do we do now?”

Judy was scrolling again. “We tell the truth. We say we’re just friends who were forced into kissing at a Christmas party because of a kid with mistletoe. Well, first we need to figure out who took that picture and how it got out to so many animals.”

“We know it had to be someone at that table.” Nick shrugged. “I gotta say, I’m kind of weirded out that someone took a picture of the moment. And the kiss was only two seconds long. How did they even”-

“It had to have been the pig.” Judy rubbed her forehead tiredly. “She was over-enthusiastic about the whole ordeal.”

Nick’s eyes widened. “Let’s check MuzzleBook. All its trending topics come from its own website.”

“Good thinking.” Judy snapped her fingers. She quickly typed in MuzzleBook’s website address and logged into her own account.

She was met with literally over a hundred notifications and thousands of messages. She clicked on the message button, and the top one was from her parents, who shared an account. She groaned.

“Here we go…” she said, clicking on the message.

It, like everything else, started off in all caps.

“JUDY HONEY.

WE ARE PANICKING.”

Then, underneath it, was a much calmer message. “Sorry, sweetheart, that was your Dad. HE is panicking. Are you okay? You haven’t picked up any of our calls honey. Please call me as soon as you see this.”

Then, underneath that, was: “Hey, Jude the Dude. Sorry for freaking out, kiddo, I just wasn’t expecting the news. But your mother and I had a talk about it, and we both agreed that Nick is a really swell guy. It figures you’d wind up dating. We’re happy for you kiddo. Please call your mother when you can, she just wants to talk to you. We’re not mad.”

Judy let out a soft “aw”, despite the awkwardness of the situation. “I better call them.”

“Wait, let’s first figure out where the picture came from.” Nick grabbed the laptop and pulled it up to his lap. He clicked on “trending topics”, and sure enough, the top news story was of their kissing photo.

Nick and Judy both silently stared at the photo for a moment. Nick didn’t know about Judy, but he could feel his cheeks heating up from embarrassment.

“Click on it.” Judy looked up at him. “It’ll re-direct us to the first account that posted it.”

He clicked on it, and they were both startled to see that it had not been the pig who’d taken the photo, but one of the raccoons. They checked the date. It had been uploaded the night of the party.

What had started out as just a photo shared among friends, with the non-threatening caption “A kiss for Christmas!”, had been shared among animals upon animals, until finally, it had become a trending topic. One whole month later.

“Carrots, read the comments underneath the original picture,” Nick pointed.

She scrolled down and did so. The thoughts from the raccoon’s friends were all very polite and sweet.

“What a cute couple!”

“That’s adorable!”

“Gotta love mistletoe!”

“How brave of them!”

It was the last comment, however, that really struck Judy.

“Always good to see some representation for interspecies relationships. It is so important. Thanks for sharing this, Barbara.”

Judy furrowed her eyebrows, deep in thought. She reached over Nick’s lap, clicked on another tab and typed in their names on Zoogle again, but this time, she also typed “representation”.

Only nine articles popped up, but as Judy clicked on them one by one, sure enough, there were all giving positive feedback to the picture.

The wheels in her head started turning, and she slowly looked up at Nick with her mouth in a thoughtful little “o” shape.

“What are you thinking.” Nick didn’t phrase it like a question.

Judy stared owlishly up at him. She looked like she’d just figured out an impossible math equation. “Nicholas…”

Nick closed the laptop and put it back on the coffee table, then turned so he was facing Judy with his body, giving her his full attention. “Yes? What? What are you thinking?”

“I’m thinking…” she said slowly. “That we’re gonna have to start pretending to be in a relationship again.”

Nick blinked. “I’m sorry, what?” His heart started beating faster.

“Listen.” Judy suddenly stood up and faced him, and he couldn’t help but quickly observe that the hem of his shirt went all the down to the floor. She really did look like she was wearing a nightgown. “Gazelle and her boyfriend have gone into hiding because of the uproar of the media. Which I don’t fault them for at all, don’t get me wrong. But that’s not what the interspecies relationships of this world need. They need – and deserve – representation. I’m sure some of those doors slammed in our faces this past week were from some interspecies couples in hiding. Because you know what? They’re afraid. They’re afraid that nothing is going to be done, and they’re afraid nothing can be done, by some rabbit and some fox. But…” She shook a finger in the air excitedly. “…If the rabbit and the fox say they’re dating…”

Nick nodded, understanding. “Then they’ll feel like if we’re brave enough to stand our ground and ask for support, then so can they.”

“Exactly!” Judy started jumping up and down, then stopped and clasped her paws pleadingly. “Please, Nick? Will you do it? We only have to pretend long enough until our movement really lifts off the ground. After that, we can stage a big old break up, and go back to being just friends for the public eye. But until then”- she swallowed, suddenly looking nervous, but her voice remained firm. –“interspecies relationships need us. And I’m determined to do whatever it takes. Are you?”

He looked at her seriously. “Of course I am.”

Judy bore into his eyes with her own. “Then… will you be my pretend boyfriend, Nick?”

He allowed the question to really, truly sink in. She mistook his silence, however, for hesitance, and added, “It’s not going to be easy. We’re gonna have animals staring us down all the time. We’re probably gonna receive mean e-mails and letters, and the news is going haywire as it is. But… with our little lie, we might just change lives.”

“And maybe even save some lives.” Nick nodded. “…Yeah. Okay. I’ll be your fake boyfriend, Carrots.”

Without warning, she threw herself at him. Arms around his middle, knees positioned around his hips, she straddled his lap and hugged him tightly, her face pressed to his chest.

He slowly allowed himself to wrap his arms around her in return. His heart swelled.

She pulled her head away all too soon, and beamed up at him. “You’re my hero.”

He wondered if she could see his face reddening through his already red fur. She was still sitting on him. A crazy thought suddenly occurred to him as his eyes darted down for a second to her lips. And that was that he really, really, really wanted to kiss her again.

He cleared his throat, unable to tear his gaze away from hers. “Better call your parents now.”

“Oh! Right.” She hopped off his lap. “I’ll keep up the act that we’re dating to them too. It’ll just be easier if no one’s in on it.”

“Yeah,” was all he could say. He was still imagining what would have happened had he just closed the distance between them just now. Most likely nothing good, considering how she’d reacted toward their first kiss. He deflated as he remembered.

She whipped out her phone, none the wiser about his running thoughts, and went into his bedroom, closing the door behind her.

Nick changed into his pajamas – which he’d strewn across the living room floor in his hurry to leave his apartment for Panda Express – stepped over Judy's dress, and walked over to the kitchenette, opening the box of noodles and digging in.

After eating his share, he closed the box back up and walked over to the bedroom door, pressing his ear against it.

Her voice was muffled on the other end, but it sounded like Judy’s conversation with her parents had devolved into a casual talk of catching up.

He smiled to himself a little bit. It was nice how she kept in touch with her family like that.

He went over to the standing lamp next to the couch and turned it off. The room was now dark, and Judy was probably going to talk to her mother for a while.

He laid down on the couch and decided that when she was to return, he’d pretend he’d fallen asleep. That way she’d take the bed in the other room, and cuddling would be avoided.

But pretending did not end up happening, because only two hours of sleep in the past twenty four hours proved to be his undoing. Nick fell into a deep sleep.

Five minutes afterward, Judy opened the bedroom door, turned her phone’s flashlight on, and shined it on the couch. She stood there and watched him sleep for a moment, before reluctantly turning back to Nick’s bedroom.

She climbed into the bed and laid her head down against the fluffy pillow, reveling in Nick’s scent. Remembering what he’d said to her about the t-shirt, she lifted the collar and buried her nose into the inside of the shirt, breathing deeply.

As she drifted off to sleep, she tried to convince herself that asking Nick to pretend to be in a relationship with her was solely for the sake of interspecies couples, and not also for her own secret desires of make-believe.

She tried as hard as she possibly could.

---

The next morning, after a short stop at Judy’s place to leave behind her dress and pick up her uniform, the pair made it to the precinct.

Clawhauser was beside himself with joy to see the two walk in together – even though they did that every day – and stopped them to gush over how brave they were and how adorable the situation was and how perfect their compatibility was and how wonderful it had turned out that they’d figured out their feelings for one another.

Once they finally managed to walk away from his desk, they were stopped by Chief Bogo himself as they were on their way to the bullpen.

“Not so fast, you two. My office. Now.”

Nick and Judy exchanged a nervous glance as they followed the chief up the stairs, down the hall, and into the office. They took a seat, and he sat heavily down in his own chair, grunting.

Then he leaned forward, his hooves on the table. He spoke slowly. “So. You two are together now.”

Judy spoke. “Chief, we”-

He lifted a hoof. “I don’t care. Your personal lives, not mine. So I don’t need a sap story about how the two of you finally figured it all out. But with this new development comes the concern of”-

“Actually, that’s not what I was going to say,” Judy interrupted, smiling nervously. “We, um, definitely didn’t see any rules against office relationships at the ZPD. And Stevens and Trunkaby are also dating, and”-

“Those two are both elephants.” Chief silenced her with a look. “They would never need to come up here into my office to discuss how their relationship will affect the workplace, because they’re not an interspecies couple. Now, if you’ll let me talk…”

Judy shut up.

“…With this new development comes the concern of the public. And as you already know, they’re not happy.” He rolled his eyes. “Look. You both know that I don’t care if you’re in a relationship or not. As long as you do your job, and you do it well, that’s all that matters to me. But the media is a different story. All they see is that you’re a fox, and you’re a rabbit, and the fur stands on the back of their necks. Because of this…” He stood up. “I’m assigning you both to paperwork for the rest of the week. If you get finished with your own, get started on your co-workers’. I don’t care. I just want the media off my tail and out of my department.”

Nick’s jaw was hanging open in disappointment, his paws up in the air. Judy shielded the discontentment from her face, but it still hung in her voice. “But… but Chief, if you hide us away, you’re letting them win.”

“It’s not about winning or losing,” he narrowed his eyes. “It’s about not creating more attention to yourselves than is necessary. I understand you’re both trying to run a social movement here on top of everything else, but that’s still a part of your personal lives, so when you come to the precinct, all that waits out the door until you’ve clocked out. When you’re here, you do your duty. When you’re gone, you do whatever it is you want. Is that understood?”

Judy and Nick both sighed. “Yes, sir.”

“Very good. Now go on to your cubicle, and get to work.”

The pair hung their heads as they walked out the door. Paperwork was the most boring, tedious job they could’ve been assigned. After Bogo had stomped off to go to the bullpen, Nick turned to Judy.

“Okay, this sucks.”

“I know,” she groaned. “I’m sorry.”

He shook his head. “Not your fault. Blame the crazy animals who’ve probably been harassing him to get information about us.”

Judy’s phone buzzed, and she pulled it out. “Oh, Gazelle just texted me.”

“What’d she say?”

Judy showed Nick the screen so that they could both read it. “Oh Judy, I just learned the news about you and Nick. I knew something was going on between the two of you, but I hoped you’d figure it out for yourselves. And you did. Congratulations, and I’m so sorry about the media.”

And underneath that: “Also, I just uploaded the song. I know it was a controversial decision, but I chose your lovely kissing picture to be the cover photo for the music. I truly hope you don’t mind. But if you do, I can take down the song and re-upload it with a different picture.”

With the text came a picture of their kiss, which had been edited into black and white. Underneath them were the bold words “Love Is Worth It”.

Judy texted back a response. “Hey Gazelle! Don’t worry about the photo, it was a good idea! It will definitely send out the message we want to everyone. You did the right thing.”

She looked back up at Nick and made a funny face, putting her phone away. “So let’s talk about how come everyone keeps referring to the relationship as us ‘figuring things out’. What’s that all about?”

“Pft, tell me about it,” Nick rolled his eyes.

“They’re all so dumb.”

“Real dumb,” he agreed.

She sighed. “Let’s go and tackle that paperwork.”

“I’d rather be buried alive.”

“I know you would. Let’s go.”

The two trudged to their shared cubicle to get started on the long day ahead of them.

---

A week and a half went by.

After their first week of going through paperwork was done, Chief reassigned them to patrol and parking duty. Their mission, according to Bogo, was to lay low and avoid news reporters at all costs.

That mission failed on the fourth day of the second week after their shift. They were continuing their plans of going door-to-door to ask animals to sign their petition, when a rhino tipped the media off about their location close to her home.

Soon enough, an entire herd of reporters surrounded them from all sides in the middle of an empty street in the Downtown area of City Central. Flashing cameras and microphones were shoved into their faces, blinding and overwhelming them.

“Judy Hopps, what can you say about the nature of your relationship with Nick Wilde?”

“Judy, is it true that Gazelle’s relationship inspired your own?”

“Is it true that interspecies sex is a fetish, according to you?”

“How have your families reacted to the news of the two of you being an item, and have there been any feuds?”

“Will there be a wedding soon, and if so, will you have a public ceremony?”

“How has your relationship affected the workplace?”

“Does the fact that you’re a predator-prey relationship hinder you from certain physical aspects of the relationship?”

Nick growled then, a sharp, low, guttural noise that could be noticeably heard, and he picked up Judy with one arm, using his other arm to shove away the microphones and animals’ yelling faces as he struggled to get them out of there.

They finally broke free, but then the reporters started following them, cameras and microphones in their paws and hooves.

So Nick started running, Judy in tow.

They chased them for a good five minutes throughout downtown, yelling after them, and Nick was starting to panic over the idea of these insane animals following him to his house, when a police cruiser suddenly pulled up. Higgins was inside, and he opened the passenger door. “Get in, you two.”

Nick gratefully lifted Judy up onto the seat, then got in beside her and slammed the door. The hippo in uniform behind the wheel revved the engine. “Let’s get the hell out of here.”

To ensure that no one would dare to follow them, he turned on his siren. “Where do you guys live?”

“We live in separate homes,” Judy said quickly. “But we passed my place, so just drop us off at Nick’s, please. His address is 1955 Cypress Grove Lane. Higgins, thanks so much.”

“Don’t mention it,” said their co-worker.

Nick turned his head to look behind them. The reporters had stopped running and were now catching their breath. “Geez. What a bunch of nutjobs.”

“How did the two of you even manage to get stuck back there with the paparazzi?”

Judy sighed. “We were asking neighbors to sign our petition.”

“The one about interspecies couples being allowed to adopt, right? I haven’t signed it yet.”

She looked up at him in hopeful surprise. “You’d really sign it?”

The hippo smiled crookedly. “Not all your co-workers are against equality, Hopps.”

She would’ve hugged him had he not been driving. “Higgins, you rock.”

He laughed. “I don’t know about that, but I’m happy to help.”

They pulled up at Nick’s apartment complex. Higgins beckoned toward the paper in Judy’s paws. “Give it here. I need a pen.”

“Here you go,” Judy took one out from her pocket and handed it to him.

Higgins signed his name and phone number, then looked over the list. “How many signatures you got on here?”

“Ninety.”

He paused. “And… what’s your goal for this particular petition?”

“Five hundred.”

He gave them an incredulous look. “Have you… gone everywhere in Zootopia yet?”

“No.”

“That’s a relief.” He smiled. “Tell you what. I’ll keep this paper, print another copy and staple it together, and mail it to my family and friends. You can probably get another good hundred from just my loved ones alone. You make your own stack, and go everywhere. I mean, all the way down to the Nocturnal District if you have to. Just keep at it, all right?”

“Thanks, man,” Nick said.

“Not a problem,” the hippo folded up the paper and put it in his pocket. “I’ll give this back to you by the end of the week. You two have a safe evening.”

“Thanks!” Judy threw her arms around him, and he chuckled and patted her back with his huge hand. “You’re a sweet one, Hopps.” He winked at Nick.

“She sure is,” Nick shook his head. “C’mon, rabbit, let’s go.”

---

Judy spent the night again that night, and Nick found, much to his worry, that he was running out of excuses to avoid cuddling with her.

“Are you sure you’d rather sleep on the couch?” Judy stared up into his eyes. “We could just… share the bed.”

He took a deep breath. “Carrots, to be totally honest with you, I’m not in the mood.” He winced internally at his own words, but they’d come out of his mouth now, and he was just going to have to deal with it.

She looked hurt, but only for a brief second, and then she smiled instead. “Oh, okay. I gotcha. Independent instincts, and all that.” She laughed, but it sounded dry to both of their ears. “Thanks for… always giving me the bed. I could just take the couch and you could take the bed, but”-

“Don’t be ridiculous.” He pulled her in for a quick hug. “The bed’s yours whenever you stay over.”

He pulled back, bringing his arms back to his sides, and she blinked up at him, confused. She slowly turned around and headed toward his room, then stopped at the door.

“Good night, then.”

“Night, Fluff.”

She closed the door behind her, and he wondered if his little hug had been a bit too random.

On the other side of the door, Judy’s heart clenched. So he didn’t want to cuddle with her anymore. That was fine, she supposed. Yeah. That was fine.

That was… fine. It was fine.

It was fine.

She kept telling herself that, even as she blinked back tears.

---

By the time the first week of February had rolled around, Gazelle’s new song had over seven hundred million views on PawTube. It had sparked quite the controversial debate in the comments section, which Nick found himself checking up on every night to see how many animals backed them up. It was mostly younger animals who seemed to support them, stating arguments like “Love is love” and quoting Gazelle’s lyrics toward anyone who gave the song backlash; they were primarily teenagers and college students, so Nick got the bright idea to visit the universities in each district of Zootopia and ask the legal adults in each college to sign their petition.

By February 7th, Nick and Judy reached their goal of five hundred signatures. They celebrated with ice cream – at the only dessert shop Nick wasn’t banned from, in the middle of Tundratown – and then the next day, they dressed up in their uniforms and visited the mayor.

Mr. Elephantino was a nice man. Judy and Nick had both met him during his inauguration a year ago. But was he a man for equality? That remained to be seen.

The secretary ushered them into his office, then promptly left.

“Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde,” the elephant smiled from his seat. “What a pleasure it is to see you two again.”

Okay, so far, so good. He had to be aware that they were a couple now, what with the media’s constant coverage about them, and he was being extremely polite nonetheless.

“The pleasure’s all ours,” Judy said, stepping forward.

“Please, sit.”

The fox and rabbit jumped up onto the same chair and shared it.

The elephant lifted his arms. “So. Shoot.”

Judy took a deep breath. “Mayor Elephantino, I – we – have been hard at work for the past half month getting signatures for our petition. The petition to legalize adoption for interspecies marriages in Zootopia, sir. And”- she glanced at Nick –“my boyfriend and I can assure you that a lot of animals suffer over this. We do, ourselves. I want to be able to have the choice to decide for myself if I want kids someday, with Nick. And… right now, interspecies relationships don’t have that choice. All I’m asking is for freedom of choice, like the rest of the Zootopian citizens have the luxury of having.”

The elephant nodded thoughtfully. “…Go on.”

Judy, growing excited that he hadn’t crushed her dreams yet, continued. “We were wondering if you could permit us to have our first rally on Valentine’s Day in City Central’s public garden. Nick and I would give speeches, and Gazelle could throw a free mini-concert, and everyone would be invited, not just interspecies relationships. The main goal is to be as inclusive as possible. Then after that, if the movement gains momentum – which I’m sure it will – we’ll start scheduling more frequent rallies and parades, to celebrate and represent the interspecies couples of Zootopia. So would you… could you… allow us that, sir? It would mean the absolute world to me.”

The mayor looked at Judy, then at Nick, then back at Judy.

He was silent for a very long time.

Just as Judy was about to break the silence again, he turned to Nick. “What about you? What would this rally mean for you, Nick?”

Nick looked taken aback that he was asked a question directly. He cleared his throat, glanced at Judy, and then spoke to the mayor earnestly. “Well, sir, it would make Carrots – I mean Judy – really happy. Like, as happy as you’ve ever seen a bunny be. And that in turn would make me happy.”

The elephant nodded, and Nick decided to add on something. “I’ve witnessed the loneliness that interspecies relationship have had to endure firsthand, sir. First through the experiences of our married friends who live in Sheep Island, and then it became personal after our relationship was discovered online. We – well, honestly, she – just wants to change the world. If it were up to me, I would be hiding with my tail between my legs. I’ve never been one for the spotlight. But Judy… she changes all that. She makes me want to help make a difference. And… that’s what the rally would mean for me, sir. It would mean making a difference, and it would mean making my girlfriend happy.”

While he’d talked, Judy looked up at him with large, misty, adoring eyes.

Mayor Elephantino leaned back in his seat and smiled. “The affection between you two is authentic. I see it here. What you two have – this love you share – is stronger than many same-species couples’ relationships I’ve seen. Hold onto what you’ve got. It’s something really special.”

He took a pen with his trunk and gestured toward the petition in Judy’s paw. She slowly slid it over to him, and he signed his name on the very bottom. He then winked at her.

“I’ll give you the permit for the rally to take place on February 14th. But I want at least a thousand signatures in order to really take up the adoption laws with Animal Congress. Do you think you can do that for me? Five hundred more signatures?”

Judy’s eyes brimmed with tears. “Oh, yes, sir. Yes, absolutely. You can count on us.”

“Good,” he smiled warmly. “I believe in fairness. I believe in equal rights, and equal opportunities. I also believe in self-sacrifice, and doing whatever it takes to achieve your goals.” He stood up from his desk. “The two of you are doing just that. And I’m proud to be the mayor of such fine citizens.”

Judy sighed in heavy relief. “Mayor Elephantino, thank you so much. Really, thank you. I don’t know what to say.”

“Don’t dilly dally trying to say anything to me,” the mayor grinned. “You’ve already made up my mind for me. Go out there, and change the world. Go talk to your fellow neighbors and co-workers. Try to ask everyone you see, at least once. Animals will surprise you.”

“Yes, sir!” Judy exclaimed with emotion. Nick nodded at the mayor as they backed out of the room. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!”

“Thank you, Judy, for warming my old heart,” the mayor said. “I believe in you two!”

---

The day of the first ever interspecies rally in Zootopia arrived, and Judy and Nick and about a dozen police officers spent the morning setting up in the garden. Chief Bogo assigned them all to work together for this project, and while Judy knew he’d never admit it out loud, she could tell he was proud of the two of them.

They set up a stage with a podium, a microphone, large speakers, a pink banner, and red ribbons. They also bought balloons and tied them to trees and all around the fence that surrounded the garden.

By noon, everything was ready. Judy and Nick had spent the last few days putting up flyers regarding the event all over Zootopia, and sure enough, animals started pouring in and congregating in the middle of the garden.

Judy grabbed Nick by his tie. “They’re here! They’re here!” she said excitedly. “Oh my gosh…” She smoothed her ears down and puffed her chest up in pride. “We did it. We really did it.”

Nick smiled back at her. “You did it, Carrots. You’ve done a really great job, you know that?”

She beamed up at him, and then her ears and eyes perked up at the sight of a white limousine pulling up right next to the garden. “That’s Gazelle!” she squealed.

Animals started cheering as Gazelle stepped out of her vehicle. Then silence fell as a tiger got out after her. Gazelle took a deep breath, smiled bravely at her boyfriend, and then grabbed his paw. The two walked up to the stage to meet Nick and Judy.

A single animal in the front – a lioness – started clapping, and then a few animals around her joined in, and soon, a whole gaggle of them were applauding Gazelle and Derek’s arrival. The rest of the animals remained put, with their arms crossed.

Gazelle took the microphone in her hoof, sound-checked, and then spoke. “Hello Zootopia!” Judy had to give her major props – she knew the superstar was nervous, but she didn’t let on to the crowd any of that. “Thank you all for coming today to this very important movement.”

The rest of the backup dancers pulled up in a separate vehicle then, and when Gazelle saw them filing out of the car, she smiled widely at the crowd. “Who’s ready to dance?”

Most of the animals cheered loudly.

A police officer stepped in to remove the podium from the center of the stage to give Gazelle and the tigers some room. Nick and Judy stepped off the side of the stage and joined the line-up of officers who were surrounding the garden. Then the music started playing.

The crowd went wild as Gazelle sang the first line of “Try Everything”. Now everyone was cheering, dancing, and singing along. Judy’s heart thumped in her chest as she took in the view.

Gazelle went on to sing a few more of her smash hits: “She-Wolf”, “Whenever, Wherever”, and “Hips Don’t Lie”. Her audience grew as more and more animals arrived to enjoy the free show.

Judy’s eyes swept the crowd to look for any interspecies couples, but none popped out to her.

She didn’t let that disappoint her, however. Animals were here. That was all that mattered.

“Thank you, Zootopia, thank you.” Gazelle bowed gracefully. “Now, here’s a song that I dedicate to all of you who know what it means to truly fight for love.” She nodded at the disc jockey, who put in her final track.

The melody of the piano boomed through the speakers, and Gazelle began singing again, with emotion and deep conviction.

“I’m so confused…”

Judy took in a deep breath. After this song was over, she was going to go up there, take the microphone from Gazelle, and give a speech. She was nervous.

Nick took notice. “Hey.”

She gave him a small smile. “Hey.”

“What was that frown on your face for?”

She took his arm, hooking her paw on the inside of it. “Just nerves.”

He winked at her. “You’re gonna give a rousing speech, and everyone’s gonna be inspired. Some animals might even cry. Just you wait and see.”

She squeezed his arm, and he patted her paw with his other one.

As Gazelle sang the final line of “Love Is Worth It”, Judy took one last deep breath, let go of Nick, squared her shoulders, and took the steps one by one up to the stage. She crossed it and walked right up to Gazelle, who was bowing in response to the ovation she was receiving. The tall animal leaned all the way down to Judy’s height and whispered into her ear, “Break a leg”, handing her the microphone.

The clapping stopped as Gazelle exited the stage, and almost instantly, some animals started leaving. Judy’s heart sank.

But then she caught sight of Nick, who was giving her two thumbs up and smiling widely, and she brightened, before turning to the now-dwindling crowd and turning serious.

Now was her time. This was her moment. To change the world.

“When I was a little girl,” she began, “I believed that Zootopia is a place where anyone can be anything.”

She smiled down at her own uniform. “And… my beliefs brought me here. To become the first bunny cop. That dream was achieved, because I believed, and I worked hard, and I did whatever it took. And I believe everything happens for a reason. Because my becoming a police officer… was what eventually led my current work partner to also join the force.” She cleared her throat. “And a chain of events led to the two of us being assigned to work in Sheep Island this past Christmas. We met a married couple. They were the kindest, sweetest, loveliest, most humble animals we’ve ever had the pleasure to get to know. They were hospitable, and funny, and great, and they love Gazelle’s music. And you know what?” She paused, looking around at the eyes that were on her. “…They are an interspecies couple. They’ve been married for five years and counting. They are bakers. They have hopes and dreams to be parents someday. And in fact, they used to live in Zootopia.” Her voice lowered in pitch. “And… something else… happened during our stay with them.” At this point, she turned her head to look back at Nick. He was standing up straight, giving her his rapt attention. She exhaled.

Time to be authentic, like the mayor had said.

She smiled at the crowd, and suddenly her vision blurred. “I… I fell in love.”

She laughed, then, fully aware of the coldness of the silence that met her but determined to press on. “I fell in love… with a sweet, wonderful, sarcastic, down-to-earth, hilarious, selfless fox.”

The murmuring started.

“Yeah. You heard me right.” Judy brushed a tear away without even realizing she’d done it. Her brain was on autopilot now, and words were just spilling out. “A fox. And he just so happens to be that work partner who joined the force because of me. And my best friend. And…” she looked down at her feet then, because the next part was a lie. “He fell in love with me too.”

Oh, how she wished.

Unable to look over at him from this point forward, she continued. “And… we are here today, because we wish for everyone in Zootopia to know the truth about what love truly means. We want you to know that”-

Without warning, something round and huge and heavy flew from the crowd and hit her in the face.

The crowd gasped, she fell over backwards, and pressed her paws to her eyes in pain. The next instant, she heard Nick’s frantic voice hovering over her. He had a strong paw on her shoulder.

“Judy? Judy! Judy, are you okay?!”

When she removed her paws from her eyes and looked up and around, all she could say was, “Wha-?”

The scene below them was utter chaos. The crowd was dispersing every which way and a bunch of police officers were tackling a hyena who had a brown bag slung over his shoulder.

She tried to wiggle her nose, then cringed in pain. “Ow. What was that”-

“A tomato.” Nick’s voice was furious and broken all at once. “He… he threw a tomato at you.”

Judy winced, her head heavy. “Ow.” Suddenly she felt something sticky and wet drip over her lips.

“Come on.” Nick picked her up. Nestled in his arms, she covered her nose with her paws. Blood dribbled down her chin and neck and onto her uniform.

With her head pounding, she was barely aware that Nick passed by Higgins and said, “I’m taking her home.” She wasn’t aware of much, really, only the passing of colors and blurry buildings and staring animals.

Suddenly they were inside his apartment, and Nick set her down, and she wavered on her feet, and he was undoing her tie and raising her arms and untucking her shirt and lifting it off of her body, and suddenly she wasn’t wearing clothes anymore save for undergarments, and he picked her up again and took her to the bathroom and turned on the water and cleaned her face for her.

Blood was still running, so he frantically grabbed paper towels and pushed them up against her face. She blinked slowly and heavily up at him, sitting on the bathroom counter, and grabbed him by the cheeks.

“I’m in love with you,” she slurred her words.

He frowned at her, worried. “I think you have a concussion, Carrots.”

“No, listen.” She shook her head, and the motion suddenly made her feel sick. “I’m in lo”-

She threw up, all over him.

He peeled his uniform shirt off, tossed it onto the floor, then turned back to her, picking her up. She closed her eyes, feeling dizzy.

He placed her on the bed in his room for a moment, put on another shirt, picked her back up, and then rushed out of the apartment.

He ran to the nearest hospital.

---

Judy went through the next half hour in a daze. A sheep nurse helped the bleeding to stop by use of cold water and tight tissue paper, and then an armadillo doctor asked her what the date was, what had happened to her, and what relation she had to Nick.

She gave the correct date, saying “Valentine’s Day”, then explained, “I got hit by a tomato the size of my face”, then finally stated, “Nick is my boyfriend.”

The doctor ran a scan of her brain at Nick’s insistence, and then pulled the fox aside to confirm that yes, she had a concussion. When he turned to Judy to tell her, she had fallen asleep on the bed.

“Here’s some anti-nausea medication and migraine medication for when she wakes up,” the doctor handed the pill bottles to Nick. “Make sure she limits her time watching TV and avoids general physical exertion.”

Nick nodded. “Thank you, Doc.”

“Bring her back in a couple of days, so we can run another scan to check how she’s doing.”

“I will. Thanks again.”

“You two take care.”

---

Judy woke up the next morning with a pounding headache. She blinked up at the ceiling, confused. This wasn’t her room.

She was then made aware of the breathing beside her. She turned her head to look.

A joyful smile graced the poor little bunny’s features. Because right next to her, in the bed, with his arm slung over her stomach, was Nick.

She patted his shoulder, more and more forcefully, until he awoke with a start.

They stared at each other, her grinning, him instantly worried.

“How are you feeling?” he asked, propping himself up by the elbows.

Her eyes widened, which truthfully hurt her head a bit. “No, don’t get up!”

He lowered himself back down. “Okay, I won’t. How are you feeling?” he repeated.

She searched his eyes. “Good, because you’re here with me,” she said finally.

He sighed. “Gettin’ mushy on me, huh?” A smile crept up on his face.

She pulled him over to her in a crushing hug. “I love you, Nick. I love you so much it hurts.”

He breathed deeply, his chest rising and falling, which she felt.

“Me too, bunny.”

“Say it back.”

“What?”

“I said say it back.” She kept her head buried underneath his arms.

“…You know I love you, Judy.”

Tears pricked at her eyes. Sweet cheese and crackers, she was so emotional…

…But she knew he didn’t care, so she pulled back a bit so that he could see her glassy eyes. “Do I know that? Yes, yes I do.”

He rested his chin on the top of her head, his arms all around her, keeping her body close to his, and she sighed contentedly, closing her eyes.

They would have a lot to talk about later. About the rally, about that hyena who’d thrown the tomato, about how they’d continue the movement from here on out.

But right now, she had Nick, in a way she hadn’t had him for a very long time, and nothing else mattered.

---

Nick stroked the fur on Judy’s back and neck – she was still in her underwear from yesterday – and then reached his paw up to scratch behind her ears. She hummed, at ease with his touch, and he tightened his hold around her with his other arm.

God, he loved this bunny so much.

As he laid there on his side, holding her close and closing his eyes, he mentally berated himself for trying to avoid this for so long. This natural, wonderful embrace between best friends. How selfish was he to think that if he couldn’t have all of her, then he shouldn’t have any of her?

He had been selfish to think that, and that was the truth. Poor Judy had wanted this. She’d wanted him to snuggle with her. She’d asked him, several times, each time they spent the night together. And he’d denied her every time. But she’d wanted this.

And if – and since – that’s all she wanted from him in this friendship, then so be it.

He decided he was never going to withhold from her again.

His foolish pride could stand to be bruised. How dare he crave more than these precious hugs from her? This was good enough. He didn’t need his feelings for her to be requited. He didn’t need her kisses. He didn’t need her to look up at him with those big, round, violet eyes and claim that he was the love of her life.

He wanted those things, desperately, but he didn’t need them.

But Judy did need this. She needed cuddles. She needed affection. She was a rabbit, after all.

And he might as well have been a rabbit, because he loved the feeling of her body pressed to his so much, and-

“Nick.” Judy whispered.

He kept his chin rested overtop her head. “Yeah, Carrots?”

She grabbed a pawful of his fur from the nape of his neck. He shuddered involuntarily.

“The clock says it’s five. So it’s time to get ready for work.”

He laughed in surprise. “You’re absurd. We’re not going to work today. Chief gave us two days off. Paid leave.”

She made a small groaning sound. “But there’s so much to do, and”-

“Carrots.” Nick shook his head against the pillow. “The only thing for you to do is recuperate. You got smacked pretty hard by that tomato. You actually slept for fifteen hours.”

She pulled her head away so that he could look her in the eyes. “What happened yesterday?”

Nick eyed her, and kept his voice carefully trained. “Well… how much do you remember?”

“I remember giving the speech.” Judy furrowed her eyebrows, then winced at the pressure it caused. “Um. Then I remember being hit, and you picked me up, and brought me here. I don’t remember what happened here, but the next thing I knew, I was in the hospital and a nice doctor was asking me what day it was…”

Nick smiled. “You got sick, silly. All over me in the bathroom. After I put you to bed yesterday, I cleaned everything up.”

She instantly looked guilty. “Nick, I’m so sor”-

He crushed her body to his. “Don’t worry about it,” he murmured. He went back to stroking the spot behind her ears. “It was kinda funny, to be honest. You were spewing crazy talk.” He chuckled, his paw scratching up and down slowly. “Told me you were in love with me.”

Judy’s eyes widened against his chest. Her voice rose slightly higher. “Um… I did?”

“You did.”

“And… what did you say?”

Nick continued to chuckle. “What do you think I said? ‘Carrots, I think you have a concussion.’ Turned out, I was right.”

Judy laughed uneasily with him.

So she’d finally confessed her feelings to him, and his reaction was to assume she had a traumatic brain injury.

Which… he had been right about, but that was besides the point.

She pulled her head away again to look at him, really look at him. “Thank you for taking care of me.”

“No problem.”

“And… thank you for cuddling. I know you don’t actually want to, but you’re doing it for me, and that means a lot.”

Nick hesitated, then sighed. “…Judy, I gotta ‘fess up. I lied to you.”

She tilted her head in confusion, and he continued. “I enjoy doing this. It’s warm, and soft, and nice, and it’s with my best friend, which makes it meaningful to me. I guess I avoided it for a while because I was afraid of being so physically open with… someone else. I’m sorry.”

She nodded slowly. “…That makes sense.”

“You have every right to be mad.”

“Nope. I’m not mad.”

“Not even a smidge?”

“Not even a smidge. You overcame your fear and we’re cuddling now. I’m proud of you.”

He smiled at her. “Thanks.”

“Someday when you get into a relationship with some lucky vixen, she’ll be thankful that you’re already proficient in snuggles.” She giggled.

But his smile vanished. “Who’s to say it’s gonna be a vixen who catches my attention?” He looked into her eyes thoughtfully, and then her heart started thumping because she was hoping, but those hopes were quickly crushed by the sudden memory of the look on his face after their first kiss all over again.

“You’re right,” she agreed, trying not to wince. “You could fall for any species, and it would be an adorable relationship. Just promise me I get to be the best man at your wedding.”

Nick cocked an eyebrow, and his smile returned. “Why not best woman? That title makes a lot more sense.”

She shook her head. “I don’t think your future wife would appreciate that.” And with that said, she remembered all over again that Nick wasn’t hers. He didn’t belong to her. Someday he’d fall in love with somebody, and she’d step over to the sidelines, and that would be that. No more runs together. No more takeout. No more sleepovers.

…No more cuddling.

“Wait, why are you crying?” Nick asked, alarmed.

She closed her eyes tightly, and her teardrops fell onto the pillow. “Um… my head hurts really bad, Nick.”

He immediately cradled her head into his arms, pressing his paw down on the top of her forehead, kneading and massaging.

With each careful, gentle touch of his paw, she felt herself falling harder and harder, plummeting at lightning speeds. He was so… so special. From the sardonic, sly comments he used to keep walls up to the comforting, caring tenderness beneath the barriers, she loved every facet and every corner and every inch of Nick Wilde.

And she couldn’t tell him.

---

A few hours later, after they’d gotten some food into their systems, Nick and Judy were on the couch. The TV wasn’t on, due to the doctor’s orders, so Nick was reading the latest cover of ANIMAL Magazine. Judy’s head was on his lap, and he was scratching behind her ears with one paw absentmindedly.

“So… let’s talk about the rally.” Judy grabbed the paw that had been caressing her head and brought it to her chest, closing her own paw over his.

His expression sobered, and he put the magazine down beside them. “I can’t believe that hyena hit you. You were in uniform. He knew he was going to jail for attacking a police officer, and he did it anyway.”

She looked up at him seriously. “Animals fear what they hate and don’t understand. Fear is a strong feeling.”

“I’m afraid for you, Carrots.” Nick swallowed, and he brought his other paw down to squeeze her shoulder. “What if he’d thrown something heavier and more dangerous at you? What if you’d been knocked out?”

“Nick,” she said softly. “Fear is a strong feeling. But you know what’s stronger?” She paused, then spoke again. “Love.”

He furrowed his brows. “Love didn’t save you from the attack yesterday.”

“Oh, yes it did,” she said. “Because you were there, and you took care of me.” Her eyes were solemn. “You love me, and you protected me. You showed me that this rally is worth fighting for. Even if,” she smiled crookedly, “the love we share isn’t exactly the love we’ve led the public to believe it is. But it’s love, regardless, and love still wins. Love is worth it, Nick. You’re worth it. That guy threw the tomato because I was talking about you. And you’re worth it. You’re worth a hundred tomatoes, all to the face.”

Unable to form any sort of reply to this declaration, Nick swallowed and tugged on her ear. Her expression turned flat and she rolled her eyes at his action.

“So, what now?” he asked.

She slowly lifted herself up and repositioned herself to sit on his lap, facing him. She grabbed his tie and played with it, focusing on the little printed carrots. “We keep asking animals for signatures for the petition, of course. And sometime later this month, or maybe March, we get a permit to hold another rally. We’re not going to let fear strike us down. We keep fighting. For Grace and Chris. And for the sake of interspecies couples everywhere.” She turned her gaze up at him. “Do you have my back?”

“You know I do,” he said.

“You sound reluctant.”

“I just don’t want you to get hurt again.”

Her heart warmed. “We’ll ask for more police officers. Maybe even get Gazelle to enlist all her body guards. We’ll bag-check everyone before they enter the premises. We’ll do everything it takes to ensure that it can be a safe place. The way I see it, yesterday was a lesson learned. We learned that we need to heighten the security a bit. But listen. I was the only one who got hurt, and that’s a good thing.”

He encompassed her with his arms and pulled her close, and she dropped the tie. He lowered his chin and rested it on her shoulder. “Not a good thing for me, Carrots. I was the guy who nearly had a heart attack watching that thing fly at you.”

She hugged him back tightly, and he closed his eyes. He could feel the thump-thump, thump-thump, thump-thump of her heart pressed against his chest.

This was good enough, he kept telling himself. To be close enough to feel her heartbeat was great. He didn’t need kisses. He didn’t need romance. Just to hold her close… that was spectacular.

---

It was the afternoon, and Judy was bored. Nick was taking a shower, and she wasn’t allowed to watch TV or go on the computer, and admittedly she did still feel slightly dizzy, but she was dying of boredom.

All she really wanted to do was go back to work, but they had another whole day of paid leave ahead of them. Judy wanted to yank her own ears off her head.

She let out a long groan.

Nick had been in the shower for thirty minutes. Sure, he was bigger than her, which meant he had more fur to clean, but honestly, what was he doing in there? He sure was taking his sweet time.

She crossed her arms and stared miserably at the turned-off TV ahead of her. Then her mind wandered back to yesterday’s rally.

She wondered what the news headlines were saying about it all.

Her eyes widened. The news headlines. Her gaze fell down to Nick’s laptop on the coffee table. Surely there had been some reporters in disguise at the rally.

Unable to resist temptation any longer, Judy opened up the laptop and turned it on. She waited impatiently for it to start up. Then she typed in his password, which was “CarrotsIsASnoop”, and logged in. She clicked on the Zoogle browser and then typed “Interspecies Rally” into the search bar.

As expected, there were several headlines about the event. She skimmed down to read them.

“A MOVEMENT OF JUSTICE? OR VIOLENCE? INTERSPECIES RALLY IS INTERRUPTED BY HYENA WITH TOMATO…”

“OFFICER JUDY HOPPS ATTACKED BY A PREDATOR DURING INTERSPECIES RALLY…”

“SPEECH ON EQUALITY AT INTERSPECIES RALLY CUT SHORT WHEN A PREDATOR STRIKES A POLICE OFFICER…”

Judy sighed heavily. Because of one hyena, predators everywhere were being given a bad name. Why did everything have to be painted as a war between predators and prey, according to the media? If Nick had been the one up there giving the speech and then got hit by the tomato, the headlines would likely be vastly different.

At that moment, Nick himself decided to walk out the bathroom door, wearing nothing but a towel wrapped around his waist, his fur wet and shiny, and he stopped and stared at Judy, who looked back up at him with a start.

“Carrots…”

“I just needed to see what the news was saying about our rally,” she said quickly, shutting down the laptop. “That’s all.”

He shook his head. “What am I going to do with you.”

“Nick, I’m so bored!” Judy flopped backwards on the couch. “There is nothing to do! Of course I rebelled against the doctor’s orders! That doctor wants me to be miserable!”

“Let me get changed, and I’ll see if I can entertain you,” he winked.

Judy blushed as he went into his room and closed the door behind him.

She laid flat on the couch and stared up at the ceiling, waiting.

He returned with a new shirt – she was thankful he wasn’t wearing the old green one that he’d had on before he showered – and khakis, with no tie in sight. The disappearance of his usual tie made him look younger to Judy, for some bizarre reason.

He walked toward Judy and nudged her with his paw. “C’mon. Get up.”

“What are we going to do?” asked Judy, getting herself up and standing.

“I was thinking we could take a trip to the bookstore. The one with the Snarlbucks in it. Grab some coffee, read a few books, just relax.”

“But you hate bookstores.”

“But you don’t.”

She smiled up at him.

“Better put on some clothes first, though.”

“Right…” Judy looked down at her underwear sheepishly. “Forgot what I was wearing.”

---

Once Nick entered the bookstore, he made a beeline for the café. Judy went over to the crime novel series section and lingered there for five minutes, then went over to the romance section. It was there that Nick found her, a coffee cup in each paw, and she took hers gratefully.

He swept his eyes across the sea of book titles and pulled one out. On the cover was a female fox in scantily clad clothing, with a male fox beside her in a business suit.

“Pretty Vixen,” he read aloud. He turned the book over to read the summary on the back, then cocked an eyebrow at Judy. “This is the kind of stuff you’re into?”

“Nope, just browsing.”

“I was gonna say, Carrots, I’d rather be burned alive than to be caught dead with”-

But Judy never found out the rest of whatever the sarcastic comment entailed, because at that moment, they heard their names called.

“Hey, Judy Hopps!” The voice was loud. “And Nick Wilde!” another voice exclaimed.

They both winced as they heard the shutter of a camera. They slowly turned their heads to see four reporters – two wolves, a pig, and a bear – rapidly making their way towards them.

“Run,” Nick and Judy said at the same time, and placed their coffee cups on a shelf.

Nick rushed toward the direction of the café, and almost made it all the way there, but then turned around to see where Judy was.

“Carrots?”

She was nowhere in sight. He groaned, remembering her concussion. Running would most likely make her incredibly dizzy.

Hiding behind this bookshelf and that, he slowly made his way back to the romance section where they’d disbanded. And just beyond there, in the corner, was Judy. She was trapped by the reporters, who were yelling loudly at her and taking pictures. A group of other animals had stopped to stare.

Nick was furious. Had they no decency for personal space? Where was the respect? She was a police officer, for cripes’ sake.

He marched toward them, shoving past random animals. “Get out of her way!” he shouted over the hubbub. “ZPD orders!”

One wolf turned around and aimed her camera on him. “Nick Wilde!” she said with glee. “Is it true that you and Judy Hopps go out on dates, just like any other couple?”

The other wolf chimed in, “Is it true that you and Judy Hopps have sex?”

Nick growled, and the bear said, “Oh, he’s getting angry. Might need a kiss from his sweetheart to make him feel better.”

The reporters chuckled, and Nick caught eyes with Judy. She looked absolutely miserable.

This in turn made him even angrier. “That crap is none of anyone’s business!” he exclaimed. “Especially a bunch of sleazy reporters!”

Unfazed, the bear stood in his way from getting to Judy. “C’mon, bud, how about a nice kiss for the camera?” He grinned. “Show us how much you really love her.”

“Don’t be shy!” said the wolf, lifting up her camera and pointing it on Judy. “Kiss your girlfriend!”

“Kiss her! Kiss her!” the pig chanted.

“Kiss her! Kiss her! Kiss her! Kiss her!” the rest of the animals continued, and the bear stepped aside for Nick to get to Judy.

Scowling at him, Nick walked into the corner, picked her up with both arms, and then started shoving past everyone.

“Awww,” everyone sighed in disappointment as he quickly moved past them.

Nick ran out of the bookstore, stopped to catch his breath, and then realized in dismay that he was being chased.

The female wolf was hurrying out the door with her camera. “I just have a few questions!”-

“Save it,” Nick said angrily, and started sprinting.

He ran down two blocks before stopping to check if she was still following. She wasn’t. Nick then put Judy down, who wavered on her feet and tried to steady herself.

“Need a lift the rest of the way?” he asked her.

But she clenched her fists at her sides. “No,” she said simply, and then started walking. Nick walked beside her, and they made it back to his apartment after another block.

He held the door open for her, and then followed her inside the apartment. He locked the door and sighed heavily.

“Carrots, I’m so sorry about those jerks”-

“It’s no big deal.” Her back was to him.

He raised his eyebrows. “I mean, yeah, it kinda was. We were just trying to have a good time, and they had to go and screw that up for us. I’m sorry they had you cornered. I’m sorry they took your picture.”

Judy sighed, looking down at the floor. “That’s what you’re sorry about, huh?”

Confused, Nick furrowed his brows. “Uh… yes. That’s what I’m sorry about. I’m also sorry that when we agreed to run, I didn’t check to see if you were right there with me and”-

“Forget about it, Nick.” Judy’s voice sounded strangely defeated. “I don’t care.”

Nick’s eyebrows furrowed even more, and he walked around Judy to face her. “…Jude, is something wrong?”

She kept her eyes trained at his feet on the ground. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

Worried, he put his paws on her shoulders. She flinched.

“Carrots… look at me.”

She slowly lifted her head up. Her eyes were misty. Her eyebrows were furrowed. Her jaw was clenched.

Taken aback, he lifted his paws off her shoulders, and they hovered there in the air, unsure. “What’s wrong, Judy?”

She sniffled.

His paws were back at his sides helplessly. “Is it the reporters that bothered you?”

“No.”

“Is… is it something I did?”

“No,” she whispered again. She continued to stare up at him, the tears gathering in the corners of her eyes. “It’s what you didn’t do.”

He wondered briefly if he looked as confused as he felt. “Okay, then… what didn’t I do?”

She sighed. “Just forget it.” She turned to go to the bedroom. “I’m gonna sleep until the evening. Wake me up for dinnertime.”

Nick grabbed her by the arm. “Wait.”

She stopped.

“I don’t know what I did, or didn’t do. But if you tell me, then I can fix the problem. I can run all the way back to the bookstore, if I have to. Was… was it when I made fun of ‘Pretty Vixen’? I’ll buy you that book, if you want it”-

“No, Nick,” Judy sighed. She turned back around to face him. “It’s not about ‘Pretty Vixen’, for crying out loud.”

He blinked at her. “Then what is it? Just tell me, Carrots.”

She stared at him silently for seven long seconds.

“Please,” he added softly.

A single tear fell down the side of her nose, and she closed her eyes. “Why didn’t you kiss me back there.” She didn’t phrase it as a question.

That took Nick by surprise. “Why… why didn’t I… kiss you?”

She opened her eyes. “Nick, is the idea of kissing me really that revolting?” Her voice was small. Another tear fell down her other cheek.

His mouth opened and closed several times, his eyes wide in panic, before he finally managed to say slowly, “No, Judy, the idea is not at all revolting. How could you even come to that conclu”-

“You refused to kiss me in front of those reporters.” Her nose started twitching. “Even though you knew that the headlines afterward would be ‘Nick Wilde Refuses To Show His Girlfriend Public Display Of Affection’, or something stupid like that.”

“That’s exactly why I didn’t do it, Carrots,” Nick said, confused. “Not to mention that most animals think interspecies love is a fetish, and they were asking for that kiss for all the perverts who they knew would check their dumb blogs. I wasn’t going to give them the satisfaction!”

“The satisfaction of what, exactly?” Her voice rose. “That you love me, which of course you’re pretending to do? That you’d be willing to do anything to show that you’re proud of me, even though you’re not?”

“What are you talking about?” Nick raised his paws. “You’re not making any sense!”

“I just feel like”- her tone was desperate –“like even if your life depended on it, you wouldn’t want to kiss me. And, I don’t know, Nick; that doesn’t exactly feel good.”

He stood there, shocked. “What do you mean, ‘if my life depended on it’? I kissed you at the Christmas party!”

“Yeah, and you hated it!” Tears were falling freely now. “Don’t you remember the talk we had the next morning? Where you confirmed you thought it was awful?”

“I confirmed no such thing!” Nick wanted to pull at his own ears in frustration. “You were the one who confirmed that to me!”

“No, I didn’t!”

“Yes, you did!”

“Nicholas, don’t tell me what I know! I remember that day really well because the situation really mattered a lot to me, while your memory is hazy because you didn’t really care!”

He shook his head in disbelief. “You think I don’t care?”

“I know you don’t care! Not as much as I do!”

“In the name of all that is good and holy, Carrots, would you please just listen”-

“I don’t want to listen!” she shouted, her voice shrill. She had never looked more upset. “I don’t want to be given the talk about how great a friend I am, and how you wouldn’t want to ruin our friendship with a relationship when in actuality you’re just being nice because you don’t feel the same way and you don’t want to hurt my feelings or for things to be awkward between us! I don’t want any of that! So please”- her voice lowered “-do me a favor and spare me.”

She whirled back around and touched the doorknob to the bedroom, but Nick rushed toward the door, twisted her around by the shoulders to face him, and placed a paw on each side of the door, confining her.

His eyes were very wide, and his breathing was silent but heavy.

“Carrots.” His voice was frantic. “What was that you said about me not feeling the same way?”

Heart beating wildly inside of her chest, she looked despairingly up into his eyes. “You don’t… you don’t love me like I love you, Nick.”

“And how”- Nick inhaled and exhaled –“do you love me, exactly?”

Judy hesitated. “I...” her eyes drifted to his lips, then quickly darted back up to his eyes in pain. “I love you in a way that makes me want to kiss you, 24/7.” She lowered her head in shame, to focus on the pattern of his shirt. Anything to not look into those green eyes.

But Nick took a paw off the side of the door and placed a finger under her chin, lifting it up so that their eyes met.

“You want to kiss me?” He asked breathlessly.

Judy felt unbearably hot all over. It was the darn feeling of his paw under her chin, like back when they’d kissed at the party.

“…24/7,” she said weakly.

Nick crushed his lips to hers.

“Mmph!” she made a sound in surprise, before realizing, in disbelief, what was happening, and her eyelids fluttered shut on their own accord, and his other paw that had been flat against the door came around to her chin so that he was cradling her face, and her paws rose up to cling tightly to his arms, and he pushed her backwards to the door and pressed his lips down harder, and suddenly Judy felt dizzier than any concussion could ever cause her to feel, and oh God this wasn’t real this couldn’t be real this wasn’t reality she must be dreaming- 

-But then he tilted his face just slightly to the right, and her eyes opened, and she saw the way his eyes were tightly shut and the focus in his expression, and she paid attention to the way her heart was pounding in her ears, and the way his lips stroked hers, and it suddenly hit her: Nick, her best friend Nick, was kissing her.

Her eyes closed again.

Nick drew kisses from her lips slowly, growing more and more bold with each passing one, and his thumbs began to rub back and forth on her cheeks. She, in turn, allowed him to lead; her head was spinning anyway, and she couldn’t think straight to save her life.

His kisses – his many, many kisses, one after another, and another after that, and another after that – were driving her wild. They were slow, and serious, and with a smile just behind the surface that she could feel.

So she smiled, and then she felt him smile back, and she was sure she was going to die a happy bunny, because they were smiling while kissing and this was the sweetest feeling she’d ever felt in her entire lifetime-

-when suddenly he pulled away from her lips, and she would have been disappointed, except that he was actually still smiling, only now she could see it, she could see him, and his thumbs were still stroking her cheeks…

“Carrots.” He spoke in a whisper.

“Yeah?” she whispered back, looking up at him with pure adoration. Her head was swimming, but he was holding her up, so everything was all right.

“I love you that way too,” he said softly. He looked so happy. “I love you that way too,” he repeated, as if he couldn’t believe he was saying the words out loud to her.

She was smiling so hard her face hurt, and she took her paws off his arms and reached up to close them over his. She gently pried his paws off of her cheeks and held them up in the air and squeezed them, her eyes shining.

“I… am such… a dumb bunny.”

He shook his head, still smiling, half-lidded, and his eyebrows were raised in sincerity and warmth. “No, Carrots. I’m a dumb fox. I’m”- he let out a laugh –“the dumbest fox to ever roam the earth.”

She let go of his paws, reached up, stood on her tiptoes, and grabbed his shirt collar. “Nick.”

He wrapped his arms around her upper back. “Yeah?”

“...Kiss me again.”

He leaned down and, very happily, complied.

The two didn’t separate for a long, long time.

---

Epilogue: Nearly One Year Later…

---

Judy raced down the sidewalks of Savannah Central, a letter in her paw. She dodged passersby and leaped over obstacles as she made her way toward her boyfriend’s apartment.

“Please be home, please be home, please be home,” she muttered anxiously as she ran inside his apartment complex and bounded all the way up to his floor.

She pounded on the door and Nick opened it, beginning to say, “Whoa, hey, what’s goi”- but Judy leaped into his arms and screamed in delight before he could finish his question.

Flustered, Nick staggered backwards into the apartment, grabbing hold of the armful of bunny wrapped around him, and he barely registered that there was paper brushing up against his neck fur.

“Hey, you,” he breathed against her. “To what do I owe this pleasure?”

She pulled her head away to look at him, but kept her position around his body. Her eyes were wide and excited and more beautiful than all of creation itself.

“Nicholas,” she gasped. Careful to keep one arm around his neck, with her other paw, she waved the letter in front of his face. “It happened.”

His eyes widened at her. “…You mean?”-

“Yes!” she cried out joyfully. “Mayor Elephantino, and the board, and- and Animal Congress, oh Nick…” Her voice broke.

He grinned widely. “You’re telling me what I think you’re telling me, right? Any married couple can adopt now? We can adopt someday?”

Judy bit her lip and closed her eyes and nodded.

Nick threw his head back, shouted, “YES!” at the ceiling, and then spun Judy around and around and around.

When he put her down, she started chattering. “It’s going to be on the news at twelve today, but Mayor Elephantino wanted us to be the first to know of the new law, so he sent both of us letters, but I know how you are about reading the mail, so I just went ahead and ran to your home… in my pajamas… to tell you myself.” At this point she looked down at herself sheepishly, and Nick realized that she was, in fact, in her sleeping attire.

“Who even cares what you’re wearing?” he shrugged, grinning. “All your hard work, Carrots, after all these months… it’s finally paid off.”

“All our hard work,” she corrected, her eyes sparkling.

He grabbed her paws. “I’m so, so proud of you.”

She couldn’t contain herself; she tugged him down and kissed him. Nick smiled softly into the kiss and hummed at the back of his throat.

She suddenly pulled away. “Oh my gosh. This means… the next rally we have this month… will be the first…”

“…The first rally in which we can celebrate legal adoption and interspecies couples raising families? Yep,” Nick smiled.

Judy squealed, threw her arms around his neck, and kissed him some more.

---

Halfway through that same month, Chief Bogo called Judy on the phone while she was out on a date with Nick at the park.

“Detective Hopps. I hope I’m not interrupting anything important,” he said, speaking in a manner that suggested he couldn’t care less about whatever he’d interrupted.

“No, you’re good, Chief,” Judy said cheerfully. “Is this a work-related call? Because I was planning on stopping by the precinct in an hour and”-

“My brother and sister-in-law are in town.”

Judy’s jaw dropped. She stared at the phone in her paw and put it on speaker so that Nick could also hear. “Oh, my God. Chris and Grace?”

“Chris and Grace,” Bogo affirmed. “They’re in a hotel right now, but they’re going to have dinner at my home tonight at seven. They’re hoping to see you and Nick. Care to join us?”

Judy spoke with a shaking voice into the phone.

“Chief, we wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

---------

The reunion between Chris, Grace, Judy, and Nick that evening was warm and emotional. Hugs were given all around, and even Chief Bogo joined in on one group hug, at Grace’s insistence.

Dinner was an exciting affair, due to the buffalo’s and sheep’s news.

“We’re moving back to Zootopia!” they announced, holding hooves and beaming.

“What?” Nick and Judy put their forks down. Beside them, the Chief was smiling.

Grace explained, “We’ve been following along with the news back in Sheep Island, watching the growth of interspecies acceptance boom here, and with Animal Congress’s amazing decision to legalize adoption for everyone this past month, and the fact that we’ve missed our brother, and the two of you dearly…”

“…It was the logical choice for us,” Chris finished. “It’s going to take half a year for my lease on the bakery in Sheep Island to be taken care of before we can put the house for sale, but after that, we’re free. Free to return home. Free. We’re finally free.”

Judy’s eyes shone with tears. She rubbed at her eyes, speechless. Nick, on the other hand, grinned and announced, “Okay, everyone. This calls for wine. Am I right, or am I right?”

Chief Bogo stood up, disappeared into the kitchen, and then reappeared with wine bottles.

Nick winked at Judy, leaned over, and whispered, “Go crazy, you lightweight. You’re coming home with me tonight.”

Judy blushed deeply and smiled widely.

---

That night, a tipsy Nick and a drunk Judy laid in bed together, holding paws and giggling.

Clawhauser had texted Judy in all-caps with some more exciting news: Gazelle and Derek were engaged.

“Do you think we’ll be invited to the wedding?” Judy slurred her words.

Nick stroked her paw with his thumb. “Oh, definitely. She loves us.”

A beat, then he added: “Because of my charm, of course. I really know how to get the celebrity vote.”

Judy elbowed him, then laced her fingers with his again. Her head turned from the right to the left deliriously, and she spoke through giggles. “You’re a celebrity in your own right, you know. A fox dating a bunny. Running a movement. Fighting crime on the side. And then of course, pawpsicle hustling all your life.” She laughed hard, as if she’d just told a grand joke.

“Hmm,” he smiled. “Yeah, everybody does seem to know me, huh?”

“And you know everybody.”

“Yeah. Which makes it so much sweeter to know that despite all the mammals I’ve met in this city, you’re the only one for me.”

“Stop… doing that!” She smacked him in the chest. “Stop being so good with words.” She giggled.

He chuckled too. “Hey now, I gotta be smooth with the lady in my life. Quit being jealous of my girlfriend. Let me sweet-talk her. Leave us be.”

She laughed, hard. “Nope. I can’t help that I’m jealous, Nick. You’re just too handsome.” She grabbed him by the collar suddenly, her expression trying – and failing – to appear serious. “I want you to cheat on her with me.”

“Sorry.” Nick gently pried her paws off of him. “My heart belongs to her, and only her. My girlfriend is the love of my life, and I’m not going to cheat… Even if you are my best friend.”

“I won’t tell anyone,” she breathed. “Promise. You can do anything you want with me.”

He raised an eyebrow at her, which sent her into another fit of giggles. “Anything?” he repeated mischievously.

She nodded, trying to regain her composure, which wasn’t all there to begin with. “Mhmm.”

He was silent, pretending to contemplate his choices. Her wandering paws continued to play with the top button underneath his collar, and he continued to push them away, as if serious about his aforementioned decision.

Then, finally…

“All right, fine.” Nick pressed the lower half of his body to hers, and his paws went down to her hips. His voice lowered to a deep, husky whisper. “You’ve convinced me, you bad girl. I’ll be naughty with you. But you can’t tell Judy.”

The bunny squealed and threw her arms around his neck, kissing him as best as she could in her drunken state. Nick laughed out loud and guided her mouth to go slower.

“Dumb bunny,” he murmured as her lips trailed down to his neck.

“Dumb fox,” she said happily, kissing his fur.

“You home-wrecker.” His paws wandered down to her butt.

“You heart-stealer,” she gasped as he squeezed. She in turn reached down to the front of his pants and cupped him, causing him to moan.

“Mmm. Just like that, sweetheart.”

“Con-man.” She hovered her mouth over his, her lips parted.

He couldn’t take the touching and the teasing anymore, and the words “Meter-Maid” died on his lips as he lifted his head up to meet hers. He slid his tongue into her mouth, Judy undid the first button at the top of his shirt, and their banter was totally forgotten.

---

The first rally they’d ever held about a year ago was a far cry from the rally they held when the end of the month arrived. It took place in the same garden in City Square, but there were many, many more animals in the crowd, and the acceptance for interspecies love had skyrocketed at unbelievable rates during the past year.

Gazelle definitely had something to do with it. She had written six more songs on the topic of love and equality and her relationship with Derek, and they had all become smash hits. The concert she held that day was perfect. Everyone waved their paws in the air and sang along with ardor.

Chris and Grace baked ten cakes for the event, and animals kept coming up to them to thank them for their hard work and talent. The outpouring of friendly, kind responses to their service overwhelmed them, and Grace wept tears of joy.

Judy’s speech was simple, but beautiful. She held Nick’s paw while she spoke into the microphone on the stage.

“Today, we are more than just friends and lovers. Today, we are potential fathers, and potential mothers. Thanks to all of you, and thanks to all the letters you wrote and sent to Animal Congress, all the petitions you signed, all the rallies you attended, all the peaceful protests you held, and all the attention you brought to the unfairness of our system for the sake of family, you have changed minds. You have changed lives. You have changed history. I am so grateful to be a small part of such a big, thriving, joyful community who cares about one another. And to those of you who plan to become parents, I wish you the happiest of times on your brand new journey with your loved ones. Remember that change starts with you. It starts with me. It starts with all of us. I can’t wait to see how you all continue to change society with your big hearts, your love for pride, and your pride for love. Thank you, and I give you all my warmest congratulations.”

Nick leaned down and pecked Judy on the cheek proudly, and the crowd cheered loudly for several minutes.

Things had officially changed for Zootopia. Nick knew that come high-tide or low-tide, he’d always look back on the efforts his girlfriend had made to improve society and be inspired to keep going. Judy was a force of nature, driven by sheer will and optimism and emotion, and he knew he loved her for all that she was.

And the best part was?

She loved him for who he was too.

They were lovers, and they were best friends, but above all, they were partners, in every sense of the word. Come high-tide or low-tide, Nick wasn’t afraid of the future.

Because from here on out, it looked very, very bright. 

---

FIN