Judy broke the kiss, opening her eyes. The dazed look on Nick's face was too much, and she couldn't help letting out a giddy little giggle. She was so wrapped up in the moment that she didn't notice the large presence looming over them both. The unmistakable sound of Chief Bogo clearing his throat interrupted the pair's reverie.

Judy and Nick turned their heads and looked up, although Nick was still barely coherent from the kiss.

Chief Bogo glowered down at them with a scowl on his face. Both he and Clawhauser stood there. They, along with a few others, had also gotten the backstage passes from the singer. Unlike Nick and Judy, they were still in uniform.

"You two, my office, 7 a.m. tomorrow," he said then added in that forceful staccato way where each word felt like a slap, "Do not be late." His eyes pinned them each with a brief glare before he gave a bullish snort and walked away.

Clawhauser stood there a moment longer with his paws balled up against his cheeks like he always did when excited. He opened his mouth as if he was about to say something, but all that came out was a delighted squeal before he darted after the Chief.

Nick's expression slowly changed to one of horror. "The entire ZPD is going to know about this within the hour..." he said, his voice monotone.

At that moment, the ZPD was the last thing on Judy's mind. She scanned over Nick; small things about him she'd never noticed before were now apparent. The noticed how his eyes seemed to glow dimly in the moonlight, and how the whiskers on the right side of his nose were just a bit longer than those on the left. She thought it matched the subtle lopsidedness of his smile, which hadn't really left his face since their lips had separated.

The more she looked, the more the fire in her chest burned. She tightened her grip on his tie and brought his face close to hers again.

"Don't care!" Judy said, tugging Nick by the tie to get him going, "C'mon..."

Nick stumbled after her, nearly tripping over his own feet. She let his tie go as he got his legs working. "W-where are we going?" he asked with trepidation. It can't be this easy, his half-stunned mind thought.

Judy looked back at him. Nick's expression, his entire posture really, was one of someone concussed or sleepwalking. She grinned. It was rather cute.

"Your place." she said, "It's closer." Am I really doing this? she asked herself. Yes. Yes, I am. She realized she was not exactly thinking straight, but indecisiveness had never really been her style. She knew this was going to be... something. Trouble, exciting, and new... definitely something new.

"Wait, what?!" Nick blurted out and hurried his pace to catch up with her. He looked down, his ears still splayed out and his eyes wide."Judy I... we... I mean..." he stammered, wringing his paws.

Judy stopped and turned to him and Nick stumbled to a stop. She gathered her scattered thoughts for a moment and took a deep breath to steel herself.

"Look Nick. I don't know..." she said waving a paw, "what this is. What we are, or what is going to happen." She swallowed and took another breath, reaching up to touch the side of his muzzle. "But... I know what I want and... I want you. You and your pretty fur, your smug face, your sharp teeth — everything. You don't have to be terrified that I don't... or can't love you. I do." The emotion was getting too high again, and it threatened to overwhelm her. She rapidly blinked her eyes, abruptly turned, and continued walking.

Nick followed behind her dumbly. "You think my fur is pretty?" he asked.

Judy couldn't restrain a giggle. "Out of all of that, that's what you choose to focus on?" she asked.

The corners of Nick's mouth turned upwards. "Well, no one has ever told me my fur is pretty before! Handsome, maybe, but not pretty."

"Is that an issue?" Judy asked. She wheeled to face him and brought her paw to his face, lightly caressing his fur.

Although it was impossible for a red fox to blush, Nick was sure he was based on the warmth blooming in his cheeks. "N-no," he choked out, taken aback by their sudden closeness again. "I kind of like it."

"And what about the rest of what I said?"

Nick's breath caught in his throat as he replayed what she'd just said in his head. His muzzle worked, but he was having a hard time finding any words. He eventually let out a long breath and ran his hands over his head and ears to his neck, bewildered. "I... I just thought this would be harder," he said. That was an ironic thought considering what had just happened and how much he had had to wind himself up to confess his feelings to Judy. "I didn't think you'd feel the same way."

Judy looked up at him. She could feel her heart hammering in her chest as the words pouring from her mouth were settling in the air around them. "This isn't easy Nick," she said, her voice on the brink of breaking. She held up a shaking paw. "Does this look like I think this is easy? I'm not even 100 percent sure what I'm feeling, but I know it's making me happy. You're making me happy," she said and resumed walking as abruptly as she had stopped, "Now come on before I lose my nerve."

Nick looked after her blankly. Is this really happening?

"Sometime tonight, Wilde!" Judy called without turning her head.

A sudden silly grin spread across this muzzle. This really is happening! Hot damn! he thought and almost barked with elation. "Yes ma'am!" he said and darted after Judy and fell in silently beside her.

They walked in silence to the station and luckily didn't have to wait more than a minute before the Animalia Line train slid in. They were far from alone; the station was full of others leaving the concert, too. They bumped and jostled their way into the train and somehow managed to score a set of seats directly across from the doors.

The doors stood open for a bit longer before a pleasant female voice said, "Please stand clear, doors are closing. Please stand clear, doors are closing." A moment later the doors smoothly closed, and the train began to move. The motion rocked them lightly as the train slid out into the darkening night.

Judy had been right — Nick did live fairly close as far as the subway went. However, with the frequent stops, it would take a good twenty minutes to reach the station near his apartment. She scooted closer to him,snuggled right up against his side, and leaned her head against his arm. Her small paw sought out his larger one and clasped it, fingers intertwining.

Nick briefly squeezed her paw in his and looked down at her. The shock had worn off, replaced by one of wonder and a goofy grin. He was nervous, but with the revelation of Judy's mutual interest, his male mind was leading him down some new and interesting paths.

Judy smiled up at him. "What?" she asked innocently, "Is this really so hard to believe?" Judy honestly wasn't exactly sure what was going on herself. She had never been in love before, but this certainly felt like what she thought it should feel like.. She couldn't put a finger on exactly when she thought these feelings had started stirring in her, but she knew the missing mammal investigation had changed her. The moments after that horrible press conference kept coming to mind when Nick had called her out on her own unintentional prejudice. She was still overcome with shame every time she thought about her reaction and how she'd reached for that Fox spray. That look of betrayal from Nick had made her ache. Even a year later, it still hurt.

It wasn't love then, but it had been something, she thought. Something that built more with every moment she had spent with him since. She'd thought it was so strange how they had just clicked the way they had and become such fast friends, given how different they were. Now, though, it didn't seem strange at all. Now that she'd felt Nick's lips against her own, it almost seemed obvious. Natural, even.

Nick turned his head up and took in a breath. He held it for a bit and then let it out in a long sigh. His paw squeezed Judy's' again. He had regained more of his usual self since the parking lot, but it was easy to see how nervous he still was.

"Honestly..." he said, "Yeah, Fluff. It really is." His initial excitement just minutes ago had begun to give way to uncertainty.

Nick looked down at Judy again in a way that made her inwardly squirm. It was the same look of wonder that he initially had in the parking lot, with his ears splayed out and his eyes wide. As she watched, she could see doubt creeping into his expression.

"I..." he started, before swallowing and looking away. "I've never really been very good at... relationships," he said. He brought his free paw up and rubbed his neck. "I mean, don't get me wrong here, Carrots, it's not that I haven't had girlfriends or relationships before." He gave her a sidelong more customary smirk. "I am a handsome specimen of a fox, irresistible to ladies of all species, but-"

Judy interrupted with a snort and rolled her eyes.

Nick grinned and lifted his head back up. "But seriously, I, well, they never tended to, um, end well." His ears folded down against his head as his voice took on a slightly dejected tone.

Judy lifted her head up to him. It was Judy's turn to squeeze his paw back. "Why?" she asked quietly.

Nick didn't respond for several long seconds. He stared out the windows of the doors opposite him and watched another car pass in a blur . He took in a breath and opened his muzzle to speak, but paused. He slowly gave an exaggerated shrug. "Con artist doesn't exactly scream stability or stellar father figure, does it?" he said simply.

Judy started to say something, but Nick continued in a falsetto voice, waving his other paw in the air. "Oh, so what do you do Mister Wilde?" Nick said and dropped his voice to normal, putting a paw to his chest in a dramatic pose, "Who me? Why madam, I scam folks out of money! Would you like to buy a pawpscicle?" He leaned back against the seat and grunted. "Obviously, it wasn't as simple as that," he said, "I did actually try a couple of times, but my heart wasn't really into it. Never was, I guess. That is, well, was, the problem."

Judy cocked an eyebrow. "I sense a story here," she said.

Nick groaned and leaned his head back and stared up. He took a big breath and puffed it out. "Well," he said, lowering his head back down, "If I'm going all full disclosure tonight... there was this one girl." His eyes taking on that distant stare again and a small grin spreading across his muzzle. "Svetlana..." he sucked in a breath and blew it out noisily. "I was what, sixteen? Seventeen?" he said, "I had dropped out of school way before this, but I still ran with some of my old friends."

He rubbed the underside of his muzzle with his free paw and narrowed his eyes in recollection. "She was an exchange student. She was a fox, too, but an arctic fox, and her fur was this crazy silver-white color I had never seen before. I fell for her the moment I saw her." The grin on his muzzle broadened and his eyes went distant. "I tell you what, Carrots," he said, "I'd never seen a more beautiful mammal in my life!"

Judy raised her eyebrows and cleared her throat. "Nick," she said in a flat tone, "I may be wrong here, but when a doe is dragging you back to your apartment, I doubt it's customary to drool over your ex-girlfriends."

Nick blinked and looked down at her. "Er, right, I suppose you have a point. But you asked, Fluff! Besides, I haven't gotten to the part where she dumped me and left me an emotional wreck, yet."

Judy's ears drooped. "Oh, uh, sorry," she said, "I was just teasing..."

Nick winked. "I know, Fluff, it's fine," he said then turned away, "now where was I..."

Judy was starting to get a pretty good feeling of where this was going. "Nick, you don't have to tell me-" she started but he cut her off.

"No, I do. If we're doing this," he said and paused, looking back down at her, "we are doing this, right? We didn't get mugged in the parking lot, and I'm not actually laying concussed back there?"

Judy snorted out a little giggle. "Do I need to pinch you?" she asked.

Nick held out his arm. "Would you?" he asked.

Judy laughed quietly but reached over with her other arm and give Nick a firm pinch.

"Ow!" Nick complained, "even your fingers are freakishly strong!"

Judy stuck her tongue out at him. "Wait until I pinch you with my toes."

"Okay, that's just weird, rabbit," Nick muttered.

Judy giggled and bumped her head against Nick's arm. "So, this gorgeous fox girl from your past...?

"Mmm," Nick hummed, "right, right." He inhaled deeply again. "Anyways, I fell for her hard. Dumb, stupid young love, you know?," he said, "Ugh, I was such a romantic back then. I thought she was the one. That, or it was all some kind of mystical destiny. She was beautiful, exotic, and she liked me. Or, well, I thought she did."

He paused and seemed to wrestle with something for a few moments. "Well, I guess she did. Just not in the way I wanted. It just... in the end, she played me like I played everybody else. I told her I loved her and would do anything for her and — and she just..." He paused and drew his lips back in a grimace, sucking in a breath between his teeth. "Ugh, gods, almost twenty years later, it still stings," he said, "But she just laughed at me."

Judy winced. "Ouch," she said. She was no expert at relationships by any stretch of the word, but you didn't need to be to understand that kind of hurt.

"Yeah," Nick said, grim and serious. He continued, "She obviously didn't know what she was doing. Most likely jumped in front of a train or something when she realized she'd let all of this," he said, dramatically gesturing down his body, "Slip through her fingers."

Judy rolled her eyes. "I'm sure," she said.

Nick chuckled softly. "But seriously, the day she was going to leave, I tried to stop her at the station and professed my love like some idiot," he said. He shook his head at the memory. He hadn't thought about all this in any detail in many years, and now that he was, he found it hard to believe the memories in his head were actually his. He wanted to reach back through time and smack his younger self.

"So, I asked her to stay here and not go back... to stay in with me in the wonder of Zootopia!" he continued said making a grand sweeping gesture with his free paw. "And," he continued, drawing the word out, "She laughed at me and said... oh, what did she say?" he asked himself and he tried to remember the exact words, as time had let them fade some in his memory. "Something like - oh Nick, you so cute and fun, but I could never stay with grubby little red fox like you."

"Ow," Judy said with another grimace, "That... okay, that is cold."

Nick chuckled. "Well, she was an arctic fox," he said then sighed as his right paw went back to up to rub the back of his neck again, "What really did me in was the contempt." He chuckled. "My ego did not take it well, at all."

He huffed and shook his head. He didn't want to get into details. "The point is, it colored my relationships for a while," he said and grinned, "I was sixteen, remember? Just had my heart broken. Everything sucks?"

Judy quirked an eyebrow at the expectant look was giving her, and thought about the question. The answer was almost obvious. She cocked her head at him. "You didn't..."

Nick started sniggering and nodded his head. "Turned into a total emo kid," he said.

Judy rolled her eyes. "Oh dear," she said, "wear all black? Dye your fur?"

Nick grinned and nodded. "All around my eyes," he replied and traced around his eyes with his fingers then dragged them down through his fur, "And all down here like black tears."

Judy put a paw over her muzzle and giggled. "Please tell me you have pictures."

"No," Nick said with emphasis, "not that I know of." He puffed his cheeks out, his eyes darting around unfocused as he got back on track. "Ugh, I'm rambling," he said, "Basically, I haven't, well, dated in a long time. When I did, it rarely ended well."

Judy raised an eyebrow. "So you're saying you suck at dating?"

"I suck at dating," Nick confirmed. He then ducked his head down to her. "This is a cue for you run away screaming, Carrots," he said in a conspiratorial whisper.

Judy let out a little laugh. "Well, I'm kind of the opposite," she said and cocked her head as she looked at him, "Would you believe I've never had a boyfriend?"

Nick's head jerked back. "Seriously?" he asked in surprise.

Judy nodded and raised her free paw, "Carrot Scouts honor." She shrugged her shoulders, "I just, well, you know how driven I am. I just never had time or desire, I guess." She puffed her cheeks out in a sigh, "Not that I didn't have plenty of opportunities. Gods know Billy Hopperson tried his best. Anyways, now I've made it. Here I am, living the dream I've had for as long as I can remember a-and I don't know if it's enough anymore." She looked up at him and smiled, "But with you, it just might be."

Nick looked at her for a long moment, his eyes fixed on hers.

"Excuse me?" A voice said. Both of them were too lost in each other to notice. There was an ahem, then the voice spoke again, a bit louder, "Excuse me, hey lovebirds!"

That caught Nick and Judy's attention, and both turned to the source of the voice.

They realized they had gotten an audience. The car was not packed, but it was certainly wasn't empty. Most of the passengers were wearing Gazelle merchandise or shirts. Nick and Judy hadn't been shouting, but anyone sitting nearby could have eavesdropped if they tried.

The insides of Judy's ears had started to heat up.

Judy and Nick were sitting on seats directly across from the doors, but in the first row of seats towards the back sat an elderly couple with their arms interlocked, and had been on the train when they had sat down.

The word 'octogenarian' came to Nick's mind.

One of the things that grabbed Judy's attention, though, was the fact that the male was a grizzled, old, gray wolf and the female was an equally gray and much smaller sheep. Judy blinked. The resemblance was superficial at best, but she still reminded Judy of Bellwether. The mirror they were was not lost on her either. A wolf and a sheep, and a fox and a bunny, she thought.

It was the wolf who had spoken, and he was grinning from ear to ear. "You two are the first rabbit and fox cops, ain'tchya?" He asked in his distinctly city accent. "I remember seein' you two in the news. 'least that's what the wife here tells me."

"Uhh, yes sir, we are," Nick answered.

The little ewe leaned over and said to the wolf, "I told you so."

The wolf clucked his tongue and waved his free paw in a shushing gesture at the ewe before turning back to Nick and Judy. He eyed them intently for a long moment,

Judy began to feel her ears burn again.

The wolf turned his attention to Nick, "Ya love her?" he asked.

The bluntness question surprised them both.

Judy was sure the insides of her ears were turning a bright pink now, and Nick stammered for a moment as he looked down at Judy. Slowly, he regained his composure, and a slow smile spread on his muzzle.

Judy looked up at Nick and saw the look on his face. She'd seen it before in the debriefing room when Nick was certain he'd get under Bogo's skin, or when he'd slide over the hood of their cruiser while on patrol to impress her. The utter confidence Nick could exude made her heart swell, but also made her want to squirm in her seat.

Nick turned back to the old wolf. "Absolutely," Nick said slowly and with certainty.

The old wolf nodded with a grunt before turning to Judy, "And you love him?" he asked, nodding his head toward Nick.

Judy smiled up at Nick and nodded, "I do," she said, squeezing his paw in hers.

The wolf nodded again. "Good, that's important," he said, "But what's a more important question is... do ya like each other?"

The question took both Nick and Judy by surprise They looked at each other, puzzled, before looking back to the wolf, who chuckled at them.

"Ahh, kids," he said. He looked down to the ewe for a moment and smiled patting her on the knee, and the old ewe looked back up at with obvious love and affection. The wolf looked back up and continued.

"Take some advice from an old predator-prey couple," he said, "Love is a great, wonderful thing, but it ain't everything. Ya gotta like each other, because when this love you two are feelin'," he waggled a pointing finger back and forth at them, "Simmers for a while, you're gonna have to genuinely like each other. When that comes, and it will come, trust me, and you two find you still want to be around each other, foibles, faults and all, you're golden." He said this last with authority and a sweep of his paw as if smoothing something out.

Judy's eyes went unfocused as the comment did make her think. Did she like Nick? Duh, what do you think genius, she thought, If you didn't like him you wouldn't even be here.

However, she admitted that she didn't really know Nick as well as she'd like. There was still a lot about her partner, hidden under the cracks in his smug, too-cool armor, that she hadn't seen. She did like being around him, though. He was funny, charming, and under it all, he had a big heart.

Judy tried to be rational about the rush of events in the last 20 minutes, though. She knew what she was feeling, especially right now, was rush of hormones and desire. She was also aware that it was very likely clouding her judgment. Do I care, though? she thought.

"Ahh," the old wolf said, waving a paw at them and smiling, "You'll figure it out."

Nick smiled and looked down to Judy. That look again. He pulled her paw up to his muzzle and kissed the back of it gently, the light touch standing the fur on her spine up.

"Yeah," he said, "Yeah, I think we will."

They sat for the rest of the trip in silence and holding paws, each of them lost in their own thoughts.

As the train pulled into their destination, Judy furrowed her brow and turned to Nick.

"Wait, you dropped out of school?" she exclaimed.

The old wolf laughed.

The tightness in Judy's chest increased as Nick unlocked the door to his apartment and stepped aside to let her pass. She walked in, looking around the dark interior with curiosity. This was one of the things about Nick she didn't have much knowledge of. While she knew where he lived, she had never been inside his apartment until now.

Nicked flipped a light switch and Judy's eyes widened.

She hadn't known what to expect, but she definitely didn't expect the place to look like it was out of some high-end furniture store display. She realized Nick hadn't been kidding when he said he'd been making $200 a day hustling. She had to wonder if that number was on the low end now.

The decor was warm, and the furniture dark and plush. Against one wall was a large, very expensive looking television that rivaled the monstrosity her father had mounted in the burrow's main hall a few years ago. Below the TV sat an entertainment center with an equally expensive looking receiver, complete with game console and sound system. The whole place made her feel embarrassed for the paper thin walled hovel she still lived in. In fact, she'd expected something similar, given the state of the neighborhood Nick lived in. The room was fairly large, however and the spacing gave the room a spartan feel regardless of the nice furniture.

"Huh..." she said as she slowly turned around, looking at everything, "I expected it to be smaller and messier."

"Gee, thanks," Nick said wryly, "You really know how to compliment a guy."

"How can you afford all this?" She asked in wonder.

Nick shrugged. "I can't," he said, "Not anymore anyways. Used to be able to when I was... um, pursuing perfectly legal freelance work, but on what we get paid now? Nah. The rent is still cheap, though." He closed and locked the door behind him. "Just because the neighborhood is old and run down doesn't mean the inside has to be."

Judy didn't say anything, nor did Nick.

Judy could feel the tension building in the air, like the feeling before a thunderstorm. They were here. This had been her idea, and now she was at a loss as what to do next. She swallowed hard; these were completely uncharted waters for her. Everything she knew about romance and dating came from novels or the TV. Her one experience ten years ago with Billy hardly counted, either.

She was facing away from Nick and found that she could not turn around. She eyed the stereo. It had a little dock on top of it, the kind that would fit her Ipawd. She fished in her pocket and pulled the little device out. She set it into the dock, which automatically turned the stereo system on. She hit the button on the receiver, then flipped the Ipawd screen and found the playlist she was looking for.

While she tended to listen to more modern pop stylings, she kept a few of her dad's favorite songs on hand, and pulled up a slow, acoustic western song. Gently, a minor G came through the speakers, and she started to sway her body with the music.

The song worked to heighten her own building feelings of need and urgency. The singer entered the song, crooning about obsession and love. She'd chosen it intentionally.

She felt Nick come up behind her, his arms hesitantly sliding down over her shoulders to her chest. She wrapped her arms around his, hugging them to her as she swayed her hips. She rubbed back against him lightly just as the chorus broke.

Nick pressed up against her and started to follow her movements.

Judy rubbed her head against one of Nick's arms as the pair moved in sync with one another.

She turned slowly around in his arms, looked up at him, and started to quietly sing along with the lyrics. She reached her small paw up to caress the side of Nick's muzzle. Although it had been a long time since she'd listened to the song, the lyrics had never left her. She turned her head and pressed it to his front, rubbing her cheek against him.

Nick lightly cupped her head against his front with one paw while his other slid down and pressed against her back. They moved slowly, dancing around the room. Nick had taken the lead, and Judy found it effortless to follow him.

Nick pushed Judy back some and tilted her head up with one paw and started to sing along with the song now himself, and the two found a home in the harmony they made together.

Judy smiled up at him and let out a choked little laugh. She brought a paw up to rub the tears that were building in the corners of her eyes.

"You like Chris Ibex too?" she asked, her voice a mixture of high emotion and laughter. Nick thought it was the kind of tone a mammal talked in when they didn't know if they wanted to laugh or cry.

"Carrots," he said, stroking her cheek,"I got every album they've ever put out... I've still got the ticket stub from the last time he was in Zootopia."

Judy giggled. "You know, my dad introduced me to him. I still kind of think he's oldies stuff."

Nick huffed, but maintained his grin. "Well, your dad has good taste then."

Judy groaned and pressed her forehead against his chest, her paws clenching and pulling him tighter. It suddenly struck her how... absurd the entire situation was. Here she was, a doe from small town whose greatest ambition was to go to the big city and be a cop, who grew up scared and distrustful of foxes, who somehow talked one crazy fox into being a cop, who helped that fox become her partner, and she was falling in love with him.

No, not falling in love, Judy thought, I think I'm already there.

And now they were dancing in his apartment less than an hour after he'd confessed to her. She choked out a laugh; the sound was brittle and threatened to break down into sobs.

Nick's paw rubbed her back gently.

"What's wrong?" he asked quietly.

"This is!" she said, sniffling loudly. She shrugged her shoulders and rubbed her eyes and nose with one paw again,"This is all crazy! You... me... this whole crazy city full of crazy animals... and..." she trailed off, unable find any more words.

Nick tipped her head up with a finger under her chin."I can't say you're wrong," he said, "If you had told me a year ago I would be standing here a bonafide police officer, and in love with a crazy rabbit girl from the country..." he trailed off and just chuckled. He shook his head as his eyes went distant for a second at the thought. He then focused his gaze back on her.

"Well, I don't know what I would have said, but I'm happy I got here," he finished.

His expression was different now, one Judy had not seen yet. She wondered what it was before it hit her. It was an expression of love. It was a look no one had directed her way before. Something snapped in her then, and she growled in a very un-rabbit like manner. She hopped up and wrapped her short but powerful legs around Nick's waist.

Nick blinked, eyes going wide as she leaned up and whispered hotly in his ear, "Bedroom... now." The tone demanded no argument.

"Yes, Officer Hopps," Nick breathed, his own voice now strained and husky as he pressed his muzzle into her neck fur. He walked backward, wrapping his arms around and carrying her as she clung to him.

Judy buried her muzzle in his neck, inhaling his scent and nibbling at his fur. She groaned and leaned back, pulling and tugging on his tie as he made his unsteady way down the hall with her, bumping and then rolling them against the wall.

Nick nibbled back down her neck, eliciting a groan from her as he gently bit the flesh between neck and shoulder.

Judy dropped the tie and then quickly pulled her shirt up and off, dropping that on the floor as well as they finally made it to the bedroom.