Judy raised her head from her paws and tried to compose herself. She took a deep breath, counted to five, and exhaled slowly. "Ok," she said and started off to towards the elevators, "Let's get this over with."

Nick followed her silently. He was too busy examining the front of the insert. "Gotta admit, Carrots," Nick said eventually, "It is a good picture."

Judy grunted with irritation. Her gaze was drawn to the group of officers milling around the front desk. She slowed her pace and narrowed her eyes. Her nose wiggled, and she cocked one ear, "Pay up, McHorn. Daddy needs a new box of donuts!" she caught an extremely gleeful Clawhauser whispering.

"What are they doing?" she asked, looking from one figure to the next. She pointedly ignored the circumspect looks directed her and Nick's way, pretending not to her the few remaining sniggers and chuckles. She saw a few bills exchanged between paws.

Nick looked over briefly then back to the insert. "Betting on us," he said casually.

Judy's head whipped to Nick. "What!" she cried then turned her head back to the group, "Betting on us?"

"Yup," Nick said. He licked a fingerpad and turned a page.

Judy threw her arms up. "How can you be so... so blasé! Doesn't it bother you?" she hissed in a whisper.

Nick hummed and turned another page. "Nope, it's what I would have done," he said, "Although, I admit the entire city seeing us playing kissy face is not something I would put on my bucket list. Oh, look, there's more!" Nick leaned over, turning the open insert to Judy to show her the page with the story about them. There were two more pictures. The first picture showed Judy pulling Nick by his tie, while the other was of them walking off together.

Judy groaned and looked down at the beginning of the article, then snapped her eyes away. She knew she had to focus on their meeting with the chief, so her wanton curiosity would have to wait. She grabbed her drooping ears and pulled on them.

"Could this day possibly get any worse?" she whined. As though some unknown deity heard her question and took it as a challenge, the phone in her pocket began to ring with the jingle she had assigned to her parents. "You have got to be kidding," she sighed, and let her ears go so she could stuff a paw in her pocket to fish the device out.

"And think," Nick said, closing the insert and starting to roll it up just as they were arriving at the elevators, "It's only 7 a.m.!"

Judy shot him a glare as she got her phone out and looked down at it. Sure enough, it was her parents. She raised a finger to tap the answer icon when the phone abruptly made the little tinkling tune of it shutting down from lack of charge. The screen went black. Judy's shoulders slumped, and her expression became blank and resigned. She stuffed the phone back into her pocket.

Nick gave her a sidelong glance, smirking. "Let me get that," he said reaching up to press the call button on the elevator when Judy just stood there and made no move to push the button herself. There was an immediate ding, the up arrow mounted on the wall next to the elevator they stood in front of turned green, and the brushed steel doors slid smoothly open.

Judy walked in, stopped in the center of the elevator, and turned around numbly as if she were in a trance.

Nick entered behind her and reached up to press the 'M2' button before taking position beside her.

The doors closed, and there was a quiet hiss as the hydraulic piston that lifted the elevator engaged.

Judy looked at their heavily distorted reflection in the brushed metal and idly wondered if her parents knew, too. They religiously read the Zootopia Times, although it didn't usually arrive in Bunnyburrow until sometime around nine or ten in the morning. She had no other explanation as to why else they would be calling this early. She also found it hard to drum up much energy to care right now.

Nick looked down at her, gauging her mood. "Relax," he said, "Everything will be fine."

Judy looked up at him with a sour expression. "Fine? How can it be fine?" she demanded. She'd subconsciously balled her paws into fists. "All our coworkers laughing... this is humiliating! And who knows what book the chief is going to throw at us!"

Nick arched an eyebrow.

The elevator beeped as it passed the level one mezzanine.

"Is that what you think? Listen, they're not laughing at us, Carrots," Nick said with an easy smile, "they're laughing with us."

Judy rolled her eyes at the cliché saying.

"That doesn't even make sense, Nick," Judy said in a tired voice and stared back at the elevator doors, "and do you see me laughing?"

Nick shrugged. "Okay, so that was a bad metaphor, but I'm serious," he said.

"That wasn't a metaphor," Judy said, still looking forward.

"What?" Nick said, puzzled.

"That wasn't a metaphor," Judy said again.

Nick sighed, "Okay fine, " he said, "analogy then."

"It wasn't an analogy, either," Judy said, voice still flat and her gaze forward.

Nick made a frustrated grunt. "The point is, I'm betting they're happy for us. If we were really going to get in big trouble, then the tone down there would have been a lot different."

There was another cheerful ding as they reached the second level. The doors slid open, but Judy paused to think about what Nick just said. She blinked and walked out just as the doors started to close, triggering the automatic sensors and jerking them open again.

They turned, beginning the long walk around the circular balcony towards Chief Bogo's office. Behind her, Judy heard the elevator door closing like it was her last option for escape before meeting her fate.

Nick kept pace beside her and continued. "Everybody likes you, Carrots," he said, "Not only that, but they respect you, too. Don't you see the way everybody treats you around here? I've only been here what, a day? Even I can see that a lot of the others look up to you as a model cop." Nick paused, "Er, not up, exactly... but, well, you know what I mean." He chuckled. "Did you know you're a legend at the academy?"

Judy perked her ears up and gave Nick and incredulous look.

"What?"

"It's true!" Nick said, "The Major held up a picture of you and gave a little speech my first day."

Judy rolled her eyes, "Get out of here," she said. Her attempts at staying insistently worried were betrayed by the pride in her voice.

Nick held up two fingers. "Scouts honor, Fluff," he said, "I would never lie to you."

Judy struggled and failed to conceal a smile building on her muzzle. She chewed on her bottom lip for a moment.

"What did she say?" she finally asked, now curious.

Nick looked thoughtful for a moment.

"It went something like," he started, pausing to recall it properly. He cleared his throat and spoke in a falsetto. "Do you see this? This little carrot-farming ball of fluff came in here and kicked every kind of tail there is to kick in this academy! She set the bar so high you sorry sacks of fur will need a ladder to reach it!"

The stress Judy had balled up inside her since waking up was released in a cacophony of giggles. Nick couldn't do the voice well, but he had the big polar bear instructor's cadence down pat. If he worked on it, she thought he could be a dead ringer for her.

"Huh," Judy said, her voice still sputtering a bit from leftover laughter, "That... that is pretty cool." The new revelation soothed the sting of embarrassment she'd felt walking through the precinct.

A sound caught Judy's attention, and her ear cocked automatically. They were about halfway around the balcony, and through the chief's open door, she could just hear him talking to someone. At first, she thought it was some other officer in the office with him. She stopped, and a growing dread began welling up at the placating tone of the chief's voice.

Nick took a couple of more steps before stopping and turning back to her. "What?" he asked.

"Shhh!" Judy hissed, holding up a paw. She strained to hear, and it became clear that the conversation was one sided.

"No... no, Mister and Missus Hopps. I assure you Judy is just fine. She just arrived at the station. Yes. Yes. In fact, she's on her way to my office right now for a meeting."

Judy's eyes went wide in disbelief. "Oh, no... no, no, no!" Judy said. Sore muscles forgotten, she dashed forward and raced around the rest of the balcony towards the open door of Chief Bogo's office.

"What is it? Fluff, answer me! " Nick exclaimed, scurrying after her.

Judy arrived at the doorway in a slide and grabbed the door frame, but the inertia swung her half into the room. Nick sped up behind her but started to stop too late and piled into her causing the both of them to stumble all the way into the office.

Chief Bogo sat in his chair, phone raised to his head. His piercing gaze snapped to the both of them.

"No... no, Mister Hopps," he said in a calm tone that did not match the heat in his glare, "I assure you, Officer Wilde did not eat your daughter."

Nick raised a paw behind Judy.

"Eh, depends on your definition of eating," he quipped.

Judy put her small paws over her eyes.

"Oh good gods, Nick. Shut up," she said, exasperated.

Chief Bogo's gaze slowly focused on Nick as he spoke into the phone again, his unnerving stare not leaving Nick's' eyes.

Nick gave a big smarmy, toothy grin back.

"Yes sir, that was Officer Wilde... I believe he was trying to be funny," the Chief said, glare never leaving Nick.

Nick gulped, and the grin didn't so much as vanish as it fell away in pieces.

"I, uh, shouldn't have said that," he whispered out of the side of his muzzle, "I definitely should not have said that.".

"You think?" Judy hissed back at him.

"I agree sir, it was not funny, but Judy is here now. Would you like to speak to her?" Bogo said into the phone, his tone all honey, "Certainly... here she is." Chief Bogo pulled the corded receiver and held it down next to his desk.

Judy darted forward and reached for the phone, but the Chief didn't seem inclined to let it go and just glared down at her as he held it at her level.

"Ah, heh.." she uttered and gulped. She gave a strained little smile up at the towering bulk of the buffalo. The receiver was large for her size; Judy had to hold it with both paws, and she balanced it uncomfortably next to her. Like so many things in the building, it was not designed with mammals her size in mind. She sighed and just pressed an ear to the earpiece.

"Mom, Dad! Hi!" Judy said with forced cheerfulness.

"Oh Judy!" her mother's relieved voice said from the small speaker, "You had us so worried! When you didn't answer the phone..." Her father then interrupted.

"Your Uncle Benny called and said a fox had gone savage and attacked you!"

Judy rolled her eyes. Uncle Benny... that explains a lot, she thought. She'd completely forgotten her semi-deranged uncle lived in the Zootopia suburbs.

"He said it was in the newspaper and everything!" her mother said.

"C'mon, you guys! Uncle Benny is a few carrots short of a bunch," she said in a placating tone, "You know how he tends to... exaggerate! Look, the battery in my phone is dead; that's why I didn't answer. I'll call you later today once I get it charged, ok?" She started to hear her mother respond but the Chief jerked the phone away and back up to himself.

"I am terribly sorry to interrupt Mister and Missus Hopps, but I need to discuss a very important issue with your daughter. As she said, she will call you later, good day." The Chief set the phone down carefully in one smooth motion. That quiet 'click' was somehow louder than if he had slammed it down. He held his hoof-fingered hand on the receiver for a long moment stared at stared at something in the corner of his office.

"Officer Hopps," Bogo said slowly, "Would you care to tell me how your parents have my direct extension?"

Judy had already been wondering that herself. "I have no idea, sir! Honest!" she said. Her ears burned in embarrassment. She recalled the time her parents had berated her high school principal after she got hurt at softball practice, but this was 100 times worse.

Bogo let the phone go and turned his gaze to look down at them. He grunted and pointed at the large chair positioned in front of his desk.

"Wilde, shut the door, and both of you Sit. Down." Chief Bogo said, his voice crisp with barely restrained anger.

Judy made her way over to the seat while Nick shut the door before hurrying over.

The chair was designed for mammals much larger than either of them. Nick managed to hop up easily enough, but Judy had a harder time of it. Usually, she would just hop up herself without a problem. She crouched to leap up, but her abused muscles reasserted their presence with extreme prejudice. Instead, she slowly stood back up and pulled herself up with her arms which were more functional than her lower body. She slowly settled herself down to sit next to Nick with room to spare on either side of them.

Bogo watched her and slowly raised an eyebrow. "Hopps, are you feeling okay? You're moving like you're injured," he asked.

Judy's mind went blank for a moment, and the insides of her ears turned pink yet again. "Just, er, sore sir. I... took a fall after the concert last night. Just wasn't looking where I was going," she said, wincing. It sounded lame even before the words left her muzzle.

Nick's muzzle, not taking his own advice from just moments before, decided that was a good time to dig the hole deeper.

"It's true, sir," he said. His voice was saccharine, like he wanted it to be as insincerely sincere as possible. He'd practiced the tone often back in high school when he felt like getting a few more days of detention. "Was just terrible," Nick continued, placing a paw over his chest, "Luckily, I was there to help Officer Hopps up. Several times, I might add. She was just a klutz all night long. "

Judy let out a disgusted groan, hung her head, and let her shoulders fall slump.

Chief Bogo's tree trunk neck swiveled. He locked his gaze on Nick and his expression turned suddenly mild. Almost friendly.

Judy looked up and wasn't fooled.

Nick didn't catch on what was about to come, but he easily sensed the sudden switch of attitude was not genuine. His ears slowly fell, and he swallowed.

"Officer Wilde," Bogo said, suddenly smiling warmly, "How long have you been a police officer?"

"Um, two days, sir?" Nick said, his voice wary, "Uh, not counting today."

"Do you want to make it to three?" Bogo asked, the calm tone belying the anger boiling just under the surface.

"Yes sir...?" Nick said, his voice quiet, ears splayed out.

Judy clenched her jaw and squeezed her eyes tight as her shoulders unconsciously hunched. Here it comes, she thought.

"Then," Chief Bogo began. His nostrils flared, and Nick could swear he saw a vein pop on the buffalo's forehead. Bogo slammed a fist down on his desk, causing the contents on top of it, along with Nick, to jump and inch into the air, "Shut your mouth! "

Nick sat up straight to attention, back ramrod straight, eyes forward, and arms stiffly at his sides. "Sir, yes sir!" Nick barked out, his paw noisily crunching the rolled up insert he still held.

Bogo sat back, his chair creaking, and took in a deep breath. He brought a hand up to rub his rough hoof-tipped fingers on the bridge of his muzzle between his eyes. He let the breath out in a long sigh.

"Well, once again you two have put yourselves," he said and leaned his chair forward and flipped a copy of the insert up to show the picture of Nick and Judy kissing the night before continuing, "and the ZPD, in the spotlight." He smacked the insert back down onto his desk and glared at the both of them, "Oh, and by the way, it's spreading like wildfire online, if Officer Clawhauser is to be believed."

Judy groaned inwardly. She had not even thought about that. As if the paper isn't bad enough. Not everybody read the paper in this day and age, let alone the inserts, but the internet was a different story.

"I'm sorry sir... we didn't mean to cause the department, or you," she gave a cringing little nod and looked to the Chief's desk phone, "Any trouble."

"Oh, you haven't caused any trouble Officer Hopps. Well, not the department anyway," Bogo said with a smile and voice all honey while at the same time still giving Judy a sharp glare. "However, in the three hours since the early edition of the Times hit the street, this has become a political shitstorm."

Judy and Nick both blinked and looked at each other then back to Bogo.

"W-what?" Judy asked, confused.

Bogo sat up in his chair and rested his tree-trunk arms on this desk and clasped his hands together.

"Oh yes," Bogo said as he looked back and forth between them, "The mayor's office and city council are thrilled. At 7 a.m. on a Saturday morning. Do you two understand the significance of that?"

"Um," Judy said and looked at Nick, puzzled.

Nick understood though. "Think about it, Carrots," he said, "A city government official getting up early on a weekend? Outside of, you know, us? The mayor probably doesn't do anything before his 10 a.m. coffee.? "

"Ah," Judy said. In retrospect the Mayor and the council spun up this early on a weekend was rather impressive.

"Carrots?" Bogo asked with a quirked eyebrow.

"Oh, um," Judy said and cleared her throat, "That's just Nick's nickname for me."

Bogo turned his gaze on Nick with both eyebrows going up.

Nick gave a big toothy, fake grin, but didn't say anything.

Bogo closed his eyes and inhaled deeply. "As I was saying," he said and opened his eyes, "You two are now the darlings of Zootopia! Solvers of the missing mammals! A little rabbit and fox, top students at the academy, first of their species to be police officers, and now apparently in an interspecies predator-prey relationship." He pantomimed headlines across the room. The grimace on his muzzle showed through the veneer of civility he was trying to put on. "They can't fall over each other fast enough to try taking credit. Regardless of where it came from, the Mammal Inclusion Initiative is still active and has proved wildly popular with the citizenry... and guess who the new poster children are?"

Judy's face went blank, "We... are?" she said, her voice rising in question.

"Correct," Bogo said, "I should suspend the both of you and-"

Judy's eyes went wide, "But sir! We-" she interrupted, but Bogo cut her off.

"Shut it, Hopps!" Bogo snapped, glaring at her, "As I was about to say... suspend you both and assign you to new partners."

Judy's heart skipped. She didn't want another partner, but she also knew that her feelings about that were now part of the problem, too.

Bogo ground his teeth together. "But unfortunately, and I do mean unfortunately, things have changed. I had a... shall we say, lively discussion with the Mayor before you arrived. Both he and you have put me in a difficult position." He looked back and forth at them again. "I do assume you two attended, and were awake, for the lecture on fraternization at the Academy?"

Judy dropped her gaze.

"Yes, sir," she said. Nick remained quiet.

Bogo snorted. "Then perhaps one of you would care to tell me why fraternization is a problem in the workplace, especially on a police force, and even more specifically between partners?" Bogo asked.

Judy didn't look up. She took a breath and clasped her paws together, beginning to speak in a monotone voice.

"Potential problems would include, but aren't limited to, sexual harassment allegations, EMEOC complaints, and the enormous difficulty and strain of continuing a professional relationship with a current, former or now defunct, love interest," she paused to draw in another breath, "In addition officer judgement, especially in respect to direct partners, can be clouded leading to dangerous, and sometimes life-threatening situations, causing delays in reaction, incorrect threat assessment and or inattention to imminent or potential threats."

Nick looked at Judy with a cocked eyebrow as she recited the passage verbatim from the class workbook.

Chief Bogo seemed surprised as well and arched his eyebrows at the rote recitation.

"Very good, Hopps," Bogo said, "It's a shame it didn't seem to sink in."

"But, sir!" Judy started again, and Bogo held up a hand.

"I gave you a rope and you, both of you, collectively hung yourselves with it!" He said, his voice rising towards the end. "Based on your performance and past professionalism, if you had shown up here, on time, bright eyed and ready to hit the streets, I was going to let you off with a much briefer lecture and a warning. Instead, you show up effectively late-"

Judy raised a finger to contest that point, but Bogo didn't give her a chance to speak.

"And out of uniform, in your case, Hopps. Speaking of which, where is your uniform?"

Judy's mind raced... tell the truth or not... or perhaps bend it a bit?

"In my locker sir," she said after a brief hesitation.

Bogo narrowed his eyes at her. "Don't lie to me Hopps!" he yelled, "This is another example of what I'm talking about! I saw you leave yesterday in uniform. Are you telling me you have a second complete set of equipment and clothes stored here?"

"She's not lying, sir," Nick said helpfully, "She was going to put on her dress blues."

Judy's muzzle dropped open and she stared at Nick with a look of betrayal.

"Thanks a lot, partner!" she snapped. Nick smiled ever so slightly. A bit of smug slyness crept back onto his muzzle as he gave her a wink.

"I'm just saving you from yourself, Carrots, and I've always said honesty is the best policy," he explained.

Judy's muzzle dropped open again. The sheer ridiculousness and audacity of that last statement coming out of his muzzle left her at a loss for words.

"Are you two quite finished?" Bogo asked in a voice burdened by the demand for stoicism. Judy dropped her head and slumped in the seat. She seemed to be doing a lot of that, she noted.

"Yes, sir," she murmured.

"I'm disappointed in you, Hopps," Bogo said, "I expected you, of all officers, to be professional about this, but it seems I was wrong."

"I'm sorry, sir," Judy said, defeat in her voice.

Bogo turned his attention to Nick.

"And you, Officer Wilde," he said, "I do not yet know you well enough, but this is as much your fault as hers."

"Yes, sir," Nick said, finally looking and sounding a bit more conciliatory as well.

"What you two do with each other when off duty is none of my or the ZPD's business," Bogo continued, "But when it impacts your ability to do your job, you become a danger to yourself and others? That is when it becomes my business! What I have seen this morning does not fill me with confidence."

He said this last with the sharp tap of a hoofed finger on this desk. He leaned back in his chair again and stared at them for a long moment. "As Chief, I have leeway on how and when to enforce department policy regarding fraternization. This is also not the first time this kind of situation has come up. Normally I would suspend you for two weeks, but unofficially and with pay, and reassign you to different partners."

This perked Nick's ears some... with pay?

"Not as a punishment," Bogo said, "Affairs of the heart are not something you can bargain with or turn on and off like a light switch, and I'm not as cold or heartless as some of your fellow officers may claim. I am not going to lose good officers or generate enmity by being inflexible about things that are a part of life, but I am also not going to put those in a relationship together on the street. It compromises you both."

Bogo focused on Judy, "You're a good officer, Hopps, a bloody good one," he said then switched his gaze to Nick, "And Wilde, you have potential." Bogo was silent for a moment and gazed at the two, Judy and Nick's gazes downcast, neither willing to meet his disappointed gaze.

"As for the suspension, it would have given you two time to burn off some off this initial... energy you two may have going on right now, but," Bogo waved a hand at the insert still resting on his desk, "Because of what that has stirred up, the plan has changed."

"Sir?" Judy said.

Chief Bogo rubbed his face with a hoof.

"You two are now assigned to a special Mammal Inclusion Initiative task force for the next two weeks," Bogo said, "As I said, I had a discussion with the mayor this morning, and we came to a compromise. Your job for the next two weeks is to be seen together as much as possible. Two weeks should be plenty of time for the news cycle to move on and give the Mayor and Council what they want."

"What?" Judy asked, baffled, "Seen? How sir?"

Bogo sat up and picked up his reading glasses, perching them on his muzzle. He picked up a small notepad on his desk and looked down at it.

"For the next week you are off any official duty, which means no uniforms," he said and flipped the pad to the next page then back to the first, "You are to be seen in areas of high pedestrian traffic together. Where you're seen is your choice."

Judy and Nick looked at each other in disbelief as Bogo set the pad down, took his glasses off, and looked back to them.

"You will be provided with a one hundred dollar a day per diem, each, to spend on meals and entertainment," he said, "You will also be provided with pre-paid debit cards, which the mayor has assured me will arrive by the end of the day. You will be expected to keep receipts and put in an expense report at the end of the week. You will report back to regular duty a week from this Monday, and for the rest of that week, you will be on foot patrol in and around various city focal points yet to be determined. Are there any questions?"

"I have one sir," Nick said holding a paw up, "You're telling me that we are going on a forced, paid vacation so we can... date? And the department is going to pay for... for what? Dinner and movies?"

"Dinner, lunch, breakfast, opera, cotton candy at the carnival, I don't care," Bogo said, "The only stipulation is that they are public places, so no sitting at home ordering pizza. And the department isn't paying, the city is. It's coming out of the new Mammal Inclusion Initiative budget."

Judy thought a moment. Several days of being paid to be functionally off-duty didn't sit well with her. After the missing mammals case, she was eager to get out on patrol with Nick to see what they could do together. "Sir, I can't help but feel this is all highly unusual, and a... very inappropriate use of public funds and resources," she said.

Bogo turned his unnerving stare to her. "Inappropriate is not the word I would use, Hopps," he said. The strain in his voice was unmistakeable "I prefer the word ludicrous, but this is now a political issue. All in all, everybody wins. I get you off the street so you can go stare googly eyes at each other somewhere else for a while, you get to go stare googly eyes at each other somewhere else for a while, and the Mayor and City Council get more good PR. Believe me, Hopps, they are still scratching for every bit of that they can to help repair the damage Lionheart and Bellwether caused."

"Sir, we are not... staring googly eyes at each other!" Judy protested.

Bogo picked up the insert to show them the picture again. "Oh, really?" he said, "Tell me, Officer Hopps, what did you do last night? What time did you actually get to sleep? You do not look well rested. What do you plan to do tonight?"

Judy's ears burned as she looked at the insert Bogo held up but saw other images flashing in her mind. This morning had been such a rushed blur she hadn't thought of anything beyond making it to this meeting, but now that the questions were asked, she found herself unable to answer with any certainty.

"I, uh, we... I mean, we won't be-" Judy stammered, squirming under the scrutiny.

"I rest my case," Bogo said and tossed the insert down.

"But sir," Judy said, searching for a flaw, "What if it gets out that it's all a PR stunt paid for by the city?"

Bogo shrugged and rubbed his eyes. "I don't care," he said. The effort required dealing with politicians was starting to wear on the buffalo, and he couldn't keep the resignation from inflecting in his voice.d "But it seems they thought of that already. If information gets out, they will just spin it as a reward. A token of gratitude for your exemplary service. Show to the good citizens of Zootopia that the Mammal Inclusion Initiative brings mammals together!" he said with a half-hearted flourish of one big hoof, "Or some such nonsense."

He stopped rubbing his eyes and focused on them. "Which would be the truth in a sense, would it not?" he asked, "Certainly brought you two together. You are an item now, yes? That, it seems, would not be a fabrication."

Judy looked at Nick, and Nick looked back as their gaze locked for a long moment.

"Googly eyes," Bogo said.

Judy shook herself and ground her teeth. She did not like this. It was too... too... slimy. She felt like she was being used and manipulated, like when the buffalo sitting in front of her tasked her with solving 14 separate abduction cases on her second official day on the force. She hadn't forgotten what that felt like, and the same feeling was welling inside her.

"What if we don't agree?" she asked. Her voice was more clipped than she'd intended.

"Carrots..." Nick said. He saw absolutely no problem with this, but he could easily see Judy sinking the entire thing on principles.

"I would not advise it, Hopps. It would not make you friends in city hall," Bogo warned, "But if you insist, then I will simply do what I said and suspend you both for two weeks and assign you to new partners."

Judy looked over at Nick who was slightly shaking his head and giving her a stare that screamed 'No!' She toughened her expression and glared back at the Chief.

"This is blackmail!" she said accusingly. Bogo tensed for a brief moment then he sighed. He brought a hand up to rub the bridge of his muzzle again.

"No, it isn't," he said, his voice taking on an almost fatherly tone, "Trust me, Hopps, I would like nothing more than for you to say no so I could separate you two, and not from some need to be dogmatic about policy." He dropped his hand from his muzzle and looked at them. "The policy is there for a reason, and you know it. If I let it slide and it did lead to one of you, both, or someone else, getting hurt or worse, then it would be my fault. You'll excuse me if I do not want that on my conscience. I may still separate you two after the two weeks regardless... but consider this a test, both of you. Prove to me you can keep your personal life off duty, and I will leave things as they stand."

Judy gritted her teeth. She knew Bogo had a point, but she wasn't about to let the opportunity to serve with Nick slip from her paws, fraternization rules be damned.. She sighed and leaned forward, meeting Bogo's eyes.

"Fine. But sir, you better believe we'll prove to be the best damn unit the city has even seen." she said slowly.

A small smile played at the corners of Bogo's mouth. "I look forward to that very much, Hopps. Hopefully you'll remember your uniform when you're so adamantly proving me wrong," he said. Bogo turned to Nick. "And Officer Wilde, what are your thoughts on all of this?"

"I'm on board one hundred percent sir!" Nick said. He was downright thrilled about the situation. Paid time off? A hundred bucks a day to blow on whatever? Yes, please! Judy on the other paw...

"Excellent," Bogo said mildly and picked up his glasses and perched them on his muzzle once more. He picked up a file folder from his desk and began to go through it, no longer looking at either Nick or Judy. "Clawhauser will call you when the cards arrive," he said as he flicked the folder open, "Now, get out of my office."

"Yes, sir. Thank you, sir," Nick said, being uncharacteristically tactful as he made shooing motions at Judy.

Judy said nothing as they both slid off the seats and started to make for the door.

"Oh," Bogo said, "One other thing."

Nick and Judy stopped, turning back.

Bogo's nostrils flared, but he didn't look up from the folder. "Go take a shower. You two stink. Like each other, I might add," he said.

Judy's ears burned, while Nick looked offended, but didn't say anything.

"Yes, sir..." Judy said dully and turned, ears down. At this point, she just wanted to get out there. The last twelve hours had been a roller-coaster in more ways than one. She was tired, sore, hungry, thirsty, determined, grumpy, and emotionally spent.

They opened the door and walked out of the office. Side by side they started the long walk back around the curving mezzanine balcony.

Trotting towards them was Patricia Hogg, who worked down in records. She carried an armful of file folders and was apparently heading to the Chief's office. She was giving them that knowing smile everyone, except Chief Bogo, seemed to be doing.

Nick brought his forearm up and snuffled along it, "I do not stink," he said sourly.

"Yes you do," Hogg said as she trotted past.

Nick spun. "I do not!" he barked, arms half raised.

Judy couldn't help but be mildly amused by his antics. It was rare that Nick showed real offense to something. He always using humor to cover or deflect, but apparently being told he smelled was not something he could abide.

"Yes, you do!" Hogg said again in the same conversational tone as she continued without stopping or glancing back, "You smell like sex. She smells like sex and shame."

"I'm pretty sure this could qualify as sexual harassment!" Nick called to the pig as she walked away.

Judy stopped and hung her head. She took a deep breath and held it for a long beat before slowly letting it out. "I would say this day could not possibly get any worse again, but I'm afraid the building might fall on us." She rubbed her face "I'm going to the gym," she said, "I need to hit something."

Nick looked down at her, and her own soreness seemed to infect him, too. They hadn't gotten much sleep, and it was starting to catch up with him now that the adrenaline of the past hour was ebbing.

"You want to use me as a punching bag?" Nick asked, "I kind of feel like I deserve it."

Judy gave that some serious thought. She could probably handle him in a sparring contest, but she decided she didn't really want to try. Not today anyway. In spite of all his quips and inappropriate comments, she found she wasn't mad at him. She didn't think she could be right now that the drama was over. Out of all the mammals in the entire city, Nick was the only one going through this with her. Plus, she figured if the way her cheeks turned pink when he bore his dorky grin was any indication, she probably couldn't stay mad at him if she tried.

Her thoughts were instead straying to last night, about them, and the uncertain future. Her ears started to burn again. She cleared her throat then snorted a little laugh as she slid over to give Nick a light bump with her hips.

"No, you goof," she said, "I don't think I really want to spar, but you up for a jog?"

Nick shrugged. "Not really," he said and yawned, "But I'll do it for you."

Judy smiled and felt little better as she started walking.

"Let's do this," she said.