AN: Funny, as soon as I finish one idea, another pops into my head. This one is going to be longer, with chapters, and it will be updated every so often.

Disclaimer: I don't own Zootopia.

For what had to be the seventh hundred time, Nick wished he could take his dart gun, shoot the sun, and cause it to go back to night for a few more hours. Despite having been a police officer for better then three years now, Nick still hated to get up early in the morning for work. When he was a scammer, he had his own schedule and woke up whenever he felt like it. While he wouldn't trade his new life for anything in the world, it didn't mean he had to like all of it. But maybe just this one day he could-

"Rise and shine, partner!" shouted a hyper excited voice upon the door to his room being slammed open. "Time for another day of protecting and serving!"

Nick groaned, covering his head with a pillow. Of course she would be up and dressed on a morning like today. "Go away, Carrots. I wanna sleep."

He winced as his covers were torn away by Officer Judy Hopps, who was already dressed in blue and ready for the day. "No can do, Nick. We got an hour to get to work and I wanna be on time for a good case."

"It's a twenty-minute drive… we can spare a few minutes…" growled Nick, slowly getting up and smacking his lips.

"Unless, you're sick, injured or dead, Nick, I need you to get your fuzzy butt in the shower and dressed. I'll make breakfast if you do," said Judy with a knowing smirk on her face.

Sure enough, this was enough to get Nick up and awake. If there was one thing he loved most about living with Judy in their condo it was the fact that she was an excellent cook. Stretching his legs while in his boxes, Judy turned around just in time to avoid him, he said, "Well, first off, Carrots, you have as much fur on your butt as I do. Second, I'll be expecting some cricket bacon with that. Also, technically I am dead just in somebody else's name."

"When did you do that?" asked Judy with an amused smirk. She was used to him revealing all the criminal things he used to do before joining the force.

"Owed a guy a few grand so I faked my death. It was a nice funeral," said Nick as he made his way to the bathroom. "Really hard to keep still in that casket though. Had to pee like crazy when I got out."

"TMI, Nick!" shouted Judy from the other end of the all as he chuckled while going through the door.

Turning on the hot water, Nick stripped himself of his only clothing and got inside, sighing in comfort as the hot water began to do its magic. Being in the shower was one of the few time Nick allowed himself to seriously think on his life and to be perfectly honest it was the best it ever had been. His time as a kit held very little happy memories with growing up without a father, being poor, being teased for being a fox, that… muzzle incident. Nick shivered on that one, even now it was still a terrible memory, but not as bad as coming home to find your mother dead on the floor.

"Mom…" whispered Nick as he leaned against the wall and closed his eyes as the water pelted his face. He almost never used to think or talk about her. She was the only bright thing in his life and when he was sixteen he lost her to syphilis. It was also that day he learned how his mother kept food on their table. Most made fun of his mother for being a "whore" but he never saw it like that. His mother sacrificed everything for her son and it made him proud to love her.

He just didn't really want to think about her all those years ago because it was too painful. The first time in years he thought about her was in the skycar with Judy, mentioning how she saved up what little money they had to buy him a scout suit. He thought about her more and more, especially when training in the Academy. Fox faith believed that all fox souls returned to nature to watch over their young, and during the tough training he had not just Judy cheering him on but he felt like his mother was too and he wanted to make her proud wherever she was. He wasn't proud of his life as a criminal if he was to be really honest, but he didn't see any choice for him at the time. Now he had done a complete one eighty on his life and he couldn't be happier. He was sure his mother couldn't be happier either.

The only one who knew the whole story of his life was Judy, and that was on the day he got his first honest paycheck. Judy wanted to help him buy whatever it was that he wanted to get. The first thing he wanted was an actual gravestone for his mother where she was buried.

He watched as it was set up with her name and everything. He hadn't been to where she was buried since he was a sixteen. Upon seeing it all, he just collapsed and let lose so many years of pain and sorrow. He just talked to the cold rock about everything since that day he found her. Judy was there, she said nothing, made no movements until he was done. And when he was she just hugged him. It was then that Nick knew he finally found a true friend after all these years.

Since then, Judy had been the most important person in his life. He had her back just as she had his. They solved case after case with some near misses. And they were always there for each other. Any problem they had they turned to the other for comfort like when Nick went to therapy to deal with his fear of muzzles. Or when Judy was insulted and harassed by other bunnies for being a traitor to their kind for befriending a fox. Often they were the butt of many "marriage" jokes from others, but they shrugged it off. They had something special and that was all that was needed.

A knock on the door snapped him out of his thoughts. "Nick? I have your clothes. I'm going to place them on the sink for you."

"Thanks, Carrots. Do you want to also wash my back? I got this one area I cannot get?" he teased.

"And risk getting blind upon seeing your naked body? No thanks," teased back Judy before the door closed.

After getting properly cleaned, Nick dried himself off and dressed up in his police uniform before heading out. Instantly, his nose was hit with the smell of eggs and cricket bacon which made him nearly water in his mouth. He zipped over to the dining room where a table for two was already set up with not just eggs and bacon, but toast, warm carrots, and fresh blueberries too.

"Carrots, have I ever told you how much you are an angel?" asked Nick as he sat down to help himself.

"Just as often as I tell you that you're a saint," said Judy as she sat down with Nick and began to help herself to some eggs.

The two talked as they ate ranging from topics such as police gossip, open cases, and what they had plan to do together for the upcoming weekend. When the mail slot opened, Judy and Nick both looked at each other and started shaking their fists. "Rock. Paper. Scissors. Shoot!"

Nick got rock. Judy got scissors.

"Ugh, darn it. Why can't I ever win," growled Judy as she got up and went to get the mail.

"Because I'm a lucky fox!" said Nick with a chuckle.

"I thought rabbits were supposed to be the lucky ones! With the lucky foot thing and all!" said Judy as she grabbed the mail.

"The only thing your feet are good for, Carrots, is kicking the crap out of bad guys," said Nick, recalling all the times Judy had taken down criminals with her big feet. Nick preferred to just shoot them with the tranquilizer gun but for some reason Judy liked taking them down with her bare paws. She watches too many Chuck Nuttis movies.

"Bill. Bill. Trash. Bill. Letter from my brother on vacation. And a letter from Mom and Dad!" shouted Judy.

"Is it more blueberries?" asked Nick as he piled more on his plate.

"No, just a letter."

"Not interested," said Nick as he turned away.

Judy rolled her eyes before she opened the envelope only a letter didn't come out as expected. It was a carrot wrapped with lilies. Nick raised an eyebrow at the sight and was about to make a joke when he saw Judy fall to her seat, her face in shock and pale as snow. Nick didn't show it much, but he was a very observant animal. He could see the worry, shock, and terror in Judy's eyes as she stared at that flower like it was a grenade ready to go off.

"Carrots? Everything alright?" asked Nick.

Judy snapped out of it and turned towards Nick before facing the strange flowery carrot. "I… I have to go." She got up and made for the door. "Tell the Chief I'm taking the day off. I'm using my vacation days."

Nick snapped his head back in shock. "Wait, what?! Judy you never take a day off!" It was true. She didn't even use her vacation days that often. Most of the time, Chief Bogo had to order her to take one or threaten to give her parking meter duty for a full year if she didn't. Judy was in love with her job and to hear that she was going to be taking the day off from her own mouth? Nick quickly looked outside to see if any falling rocks from the sky were coming down to rain apocalyptic death to them all.

"I know, but this is important! I promise I'll tell you later, I just need to go, Nick! Bye!" And like that the door was shut and Nick was all alone.

"Well, that was interesting…"

Nick couldn't remember a time when he arrived for work without Judy. His rabbit partner had done so without him whenever he took the day off, but for all their work days together he never worked without her. It felt so weird to him since they practically saw and did everything together. He hadn't felt like this since before he first met her on that Night Howler incident years back. Punching himself in, he carried a box of donuts for Clawhauser who was already on his third box.

Greeting Nick with his usual cheerful smile, Clawhauser shouted, "Hey, Nick! See that hockey game last night?"

"Yup, Muttain Brodeur really showed his skills last night. Eight to zero with none getting passed him," said Nick with a smirk as he pumped fists with Clawhauser.

"I know, right?! He's like a fricken wall!" He then looked around and tilted his head. "Where's Judy?"

"She took the day off," said Nick with a shrug.

"Did the Chief have to threaten her with parking duty again?"

"No, she did this on her own free will. All of because of some stupid thing she got in the mail from her parents," said Nick as he placed the donuts on the cheetah's desk.

"What was it?" asked Clawhauser as he begun to dig into the fresh hot goodies.

"A carrot with lilies tied to it. Know what that means and if ya don't can you find out?" asked Nick.

"Nope, sorry. But I can find out for ya!" said Clawhauser with a salute. "This mission I accept."

"Great, now I'm gonna head to the bullpen to see what the Chief has for me," said Nick as he lazily saluted to his friend.

Nobody noticed when Nick came in and took his seat before checking out the latest stuff on his social media pages via phone. Not that he minded. While he was mostly friendly with the other officers it was really just Judy and Clawhauser that he was close to. Sometime he would join the others at a guy's night at the bar or something, but Nick was fine with just a few friends. Only that one good friend is doing who knows what at the moment, though Nick.

Soon, Chief Bogo arrived and ordered everyone to settle down before taking the podium. "Alright, everyone. You know the drill. Fangster and Winters, you two got that drug deal going down in Tundratown. Ponds and Jordon, you are to bring Mr. E'mole for question regarding his partner's embezzlement scheme. Hopps and Wilde, you two are-"

"Actually, sir," interrupted Nick. "It's just Wilde today. Carrots is taking the day off."

To his amusement, every head in the room turned towards Nick with a look of disbelief. A pin could drop and you could have sworn it was an atomic bomb. Even Bogo's mouth was silently open. "I'm sorry, Wilde, but did you say Officer Hopps took a day off?"

"Eeyup."

"… Officer Fernin, is the sky raining rocks of death outside?" asked Chief Bogo.

"Nope, clear as day sir."

"Well, okay since the world is not ending at the moment. Wilde, you got desk duty. You are behind on your paperwork after all," pointed Chief Bogo.

"Consider it done faster than an elephant smelling peanuts," said Nick with a grin.

"Hey!" said an elephant officer right behind Nick.

"Figure of speech."

Doing paperwork wasn't that hard when you knew how to make it interesting. All the details you had to write just needed to be a bit more dramatic and exciting to make it seem more like telling a story then reporting something. He heard his reports made very interesting topics in the coffee lounge. It was much different from Judy who was always by the book and detailed to the truth.

Judy. Even when she wasn't around, Nick still couldn't get her out of his head. He had tried texting and calling her a few times to see how she was, but she never answered him. He couldn't actually help but be concerned that she was in some kind of trouble. After all, she looked really nervous for whatever reason. Was the carrot thing a threat of some kind? Did it mean somebody in her family died? It had been a few hours since he asked Clawhauser to look it up (the guy was faster at finding stuff online then even a few information brokers Nick knew).

"If it was important she would tell me, right?" asked Nick to himself as he put another old case file in the completed box.

"OH MY GOODNESS!"

Nick was sure he and everyone in the precinct jumped at the sound of Clawhauser's shout. This was soon followed by him using the intercom. "Um, Nick? You might wanna come over here."

Raised eyebrow, I walked over from my desk with a few curious eyes on me. When I got to Clawhauser he was red as a beet and looked torn between screaming with joy and dancing. "What's up?"

"Well, you know that carrots with lilies on it that Judy got?!" said the cheetah rapidly. "I looked it up on a few sites and I learned what it is!"

"Is her mother pregnant again?" Nick asked, remembering how excited his partner was about having sixteen more little siblings.

"Nope! It's to let her know that some bunny accepted her arranged marriage!"

All of a sudden the world stopped for Nick as he stared at Clawhauser with wide eyes.

"... What?"