A/N: Hello there fellow readers! I'm brand new to this scene and have never written a fanfic in my entire life. I've never been a writer, only a reader. I stumbled on an author that inspired me, I told him about a story I was working on and he pushed me to put some of my work up here so here I go.

I'd like to say a HUGE thank you to ScaraMedn. He's my soundboard and also one of my beta readers. Practically everything in all my stories has some piece of him in it because he's just that great of a guy to always lend an ear and inspiration. Also, he makes me laugh so hard that sometimes I snort (don't judge, we've all been there).

Next is kt_valmiri for the edits and virtual hugs. Seriously, super huge thanks.

Blueberryandhoney as my other Beta reader, also super huge thanks.

These guys all have their own stuff as well. If you haven't read anything by them I highly suggest you do. You will not be disappointed. Now... without further blabbing by me... ENJOY!

Pix had just gotten done with his training shift and the cheetah was tired. Staring down a sniper scope for hours at a time at the range was a strain on his eyes. He was part of Precinct One S.W.A.T. and took his job seriously; according to some he was a bit too serious. Seemed to others all he did was eat, drink, sleep and shoot. That wasn't completely true of course. He did like to work out and practice his paw to paw combat. He stepped into the shower stall at the ZPD and turned on the water not caring that it was cold at first, it felt good on his neck. He let the water flow ever him and relaxed as it steadily warmed and soaked through is fur. Even though he was a cheetah and his species preferred the dryer climate, Pix had always had a mild obsession with water and always enjoyed swimming. He washed himself with fur shampoo and then grabbed his towel off the stall and made his way to the fur dryer to finish up. He dressed and glanced at his watch.

"Six thirty?" he mumbled to himself, "Great, I'm late."

He took out his phone and saw he had four missed calls and two texts. He groaned and opened the messages first already knowing he didn't want to read them as they were from his girlfriend Jessie.

Pix… Its5:45, I've been at the restaurant for a half hour. I thought you said that you'd be done early today because it was just training. Call me when you get this.

Pix looked at his phone and saw that the message was indeed sent at five forty five. He saw the next message was from five minutes ago.

Ok, you know what? I'm done, you don't answer your phone and you are always late or busy. See you around, Pix. Maybe you'll find a nice girl that doesn't mind someone that's always one step behind.

"Wonderful." He thought as he closed his eyes and then thumbed her number and called her. He wasn't actually expecting her to answer since he knew she wasn't exactly happy with him. So imagine his surprise when she picked up and even though she didn't say hello she was clearly on the other end of the line.

"…"

"WELL?!" she yelled, "What's your excuse this time? Huh? Bank robbery? Hostage situation? Shoot out at the fish market?"

"Um… Jess, look… I'm sorry I lost track of time at the range…"

"You lost track of time at the range," it was more of a statement than question, "How do you lose track of time when we've been planning this dinner for a week? Pix Fleetpaw you have absolutely no idea how important this was to me, do you?"

"Important to her." He thought about that for a moment. It was important to her, and if he was honest with himself he should not have forgotten. His life is pretty regimented. He got up at five thirty every day except Sunday or unless he got a call for work. He ate at the same time almost every day and even had dates on the calendar that he would stop by the pub and have a beer or two, unless there was a S.W.A.T. or ZPD outing. He stopped by the same coffee shop by six fifteen in the morning and always stopped back at the same coffee shop in the evening at seven if he was able. So how the hell couldn't he keep a dinner date? Especially since she was right, he did tell her it was just a training day today and he should have been out of the precinct by four thirty at the latest.

"Honey, I'm sorr…"

She purposely had waited until he started to speak before she cut him off with a growl, "Don't you 'honey' me, Pix. We're done. Don't call me, don't text me. My friends were right. You're never going to change."

She hung up and he sighed as he hung his head.

"You ok Morse?"

Pix inwardly groaned at the nickname. A turn of his head and a glance down showed him the ZPD's first red fox, Nick Wilde, leaning against the wall by the doorway to the locker room. His signature stance of paws casually tucked into his front pockets, sleeves rolled up to his elbows and his tie a bit too loose around his collar for ZPD regulations always made Pix shake his head. Not because he was angry at him or thought he disrespected the uniform or his job, in fact he knew it was the exact opposite. The fox had breezed through the academy with flying colors, even being named valedictorian. Pix knew about his shady past as a hustler, but as far as he could tell Nick had never hurt anyone and, technically, never committed a crime. Plus, the todd was one of the few mammals that could make him genuinely laugh; he respected the fox and enjoyed his company.

Nick had given him the nickname, Morse, when Pix's S.W.A.T. unit was called into a shootout at a bank heist. The robbers were a pronghorn and an oryx. They pulled an audible and shot their way out of the back entrance, causing the ZPD officers to take cover. Pix saw them and dropped to all fours at a full sprint and tackled the oryx as Nick and Judy took down the pronghorn. Later, Nick had said, "You were so damn fast, Pix. It was like seeing an after image, you know? Like dots flashing by… like Morse Code!" Ever since then he had repeatedly called him Morse.

"Yes and no, Wilde," Pix said with another sigh.

"What's wrong big guy?" the fox asked as he sauntered over and stopped in front of the larger cheetah.

"Jessie just broke up with me. I'm sure you heard the conversation," Pix said glancing at his phone. "I forgot about our date tonight. It was really important to her and I kinda lost track of time. So yes, that sucks but at the same time I think it was coming to an end."

"You know if you ever want me to give you relationship advice all you have to do is ask right?" Nick offered sympathetically.

"Ha!"

"I'm serious, Morse. I'm great at relationships. Judy and I have been together for two years now haven't we?"

"And she still kicks your ass all over the place," the cheetah pointed out.

Nick scoffed. "I let her."

"Uh-huh."

Nick looked at the cheetah with his signature smirk on his muzzle. "Wanna bet?"

"No," Pix said with a laugh as he smiled at his vulpine friend. "But I think I'll just go and tell her what you said. Come on, let's go find her, I think she was talking to Ben when I came in."

Nick's eyes went wide and his ears fell straight back, "You wouldn't dare."

"Wanna bet?"

Sly smile in place Nick lazily mock saluted him with two digits on his right hand. "Touché salesman."

Head tilting to look at his friend, Pix asked, "By the way what are you two doing here still? Didn't your shift end at five?"

"We found Weaselton trying to pick a rhinos pocket on our way back in from patrol," Nick explained with a shrug. "So we brought him with us."

"Again?"

"Yup," Nick said popping the 'p'.

Pix shook his head ruefully. "He's like your adoptive older child that always gets in trouble."

"Ugh." The fox recoiled hard, a shudder of revulsion running through him from ears to tail. "How dare you."

Smiling Pix picked up his duffle and checked his side arm in his shoulder holster. "I suppose I'll head home and pick up some fish or something to have for dinner since I am now officially single."

"Wanna come with us? Judy and I are heading to the pub."

"Nah thanks. I'm just gonna grab a coffee and head home."

"Suit yourself. I'll walk with ya out to the front. I just came in here to grab my duffle," Nick said as he grabbed said item out his locker. "C'mon," he gestured and opened the door.

Pix followed, he and Nick chatting about how their day went and how boring their patrol was on the way to the front desk. Pix knew that the fox was trying to help him take his mind off of the conversation that he had just had but he couldn't help thinking he should feel guiltier. Surprisingly, he didn't feel all that bad. Walking by the door that led to the bullpen they could hear Judy laughing with Clawhouser. As they entered the front atrium and headed for the front desk, the grey bunny stopped talking to the portly cheetah and jumped to the floor before sprinting to Nick's open arms. She hit him like a grey and blue furry missile.

"O… M… GOODNESS!" Clawhouser squealed and took a picture of the couple with his phone.

"Ben!" Judy yelled. "What did I tell you about taking our picture and putting them on Furbook?"

"Sorry, sorry, sorry," the pudgy cheetah said as he quickly hid his phone. "You're both just so cu…" Judy glared at him. "Um… Adorable," he finished with a smile.

"We're heading out Spots," Nick said to the desk sergeant, "See you in the morning."

"Ok! Take care you two little lovebirds."

"Have a good night, Officer Clawhouser," Pix said with a chuckle and went to follow the bunny and fox.

"You too, Officer Fleetpaw," returned the felid with a wave.

Pix followed Judy and Nick out of the precinct front doors and smiled at the sight of them holding paws as they argued back and forth.

"Carrots, you know that I'm the best at making mammals laugh."

"Ha! As if, Slick Nick. You have, like, four jokes that you just reuse."

The fox leaned away from his mate and placed his right paw over his heart. "Madame, you wound me," he declared while gazing at her in an over dramatic fashion. "I have five jokes, thank you very much! Besides, Fluff, you have zero jokes."

Judy lightly socked him in the left arm and then leaned her head on his shoulder. "I have jokes, I just don't say them."

"Riiiight." Nick looked back at the cheetah that was a few paces behind. "You sure you don't want to come with us, Morse? Wolford and Fangmeyer are going to be there. Oh, and I think that Jackie will be there too. She's a cute cheetah, has her spots in all the right places," he said waggling his eyebrows and getting another fist to his arm. "What? He just got dumped."

Drawing his paw down his muzzle, Pix glared at the fox. "Godsdamnit, Nick."

"Oh Pix, I'm sorry," Judy said turning and looking up at him. "You two were together for a while right?"

"Six months."

"Ouch," Nick said and got a glare from Judy.

"What happened if you don't mind me asking?" she asked.

Pix sighed. "I lost track of time at the range and missed our dinner date."

"That's a pretty stupid reason to dump you."

"This was the fifth time," he said and Judy looked at him with wide eyes. "In a row."

"Well…" she said. "Um… Still, you two could have worked it out… I think." Then she smiled and asked, "You sure you don't want to come with us? Like Nick said, Jackie will probably be there and she's pretty."

"Yes, she is. She's gorgeous." Pix looked right at the fox and poined a clawed digit at him. "And if you tell her I said that I'll hold you down and shave your tail," he declared, causing the fox to gulp. "But I think I just need to figure some stuff out. I'll see you two later. Be safe and say 'hi' to Wolford for me, he's supposed to be with us tomorrow for CQB training." With that he nodded at the two smaller mammals and headed towards his favorite coffee shop only a few blocks away.

"I hope he'll be ok," Judy said as she watched the larger predator walk away with his duffle over his left shoulder.

"C'mon Fluff, he's a big boy and I'm sure he'll be fine. Now, tell me if you've heard this one before…"

Judy groaned as they headed toward the pub.

Pix looked at his watch again and saw that it was almost seven on the nose. "Right on time," he thought as he opened the door and walked into the shop. As always he glanced around and looked for a seat in the back. The coffee shop wasn't that big, it could only fit about thirty or forty small to medium sized mammals, and that was fine by him. He'd never really liked crowds. He found a single seat table in the back right corner and headed over to drop off his duffle.

He'd been coming here for eight years. When he first joined the force, he was a regular beat cop and, as such, did as many patrols on foot as in a cruiser. He found this place on one of his patrols when he and his partner, a coyote named Sebastian, had to stop in to look into an employee that was caught stealing cash out of the till. Over time he'd struck up a friendship with the owner, a wonderful lynx named Shelly whom Pix had always had a mild crush on. He'd just never had the stones to ask her out and now she was engaged to a nice dingo attorney. She was always behind the counter from open to close every day except for weekends.

Making his way over to the counter, he smiled at the pretty white ferret that was working the barista station. She smiled back as her paws worked the knobs and switches. When he made it up to the counter Shelly glanced at him, smiling at first, then she looked at him seriously.

"What?" he asked rubbing a paw over his muzzle and whiskers. "Food?"

"Pix," she said softly. "What happened?"

The cheetah blinked owlishly at his friend. "How could you possibly know anything is wrong? I've been here for," he looked at his watch again. "Literally two minutes."

"Tonight was your big date with Jessie, and yet you're here in street clothes and tactical pants," she said as she looked him up and down. "So what happened?"

"It bothers me that you call these 'tactical' pants," he grumbled.

"I also know that you have one of your firearms in a shoulder holster under your hoodie," she smirked knowingly. "I've known you for eight years. I know when something is wrong."

"Fine," he conceded, shoulders slumping. "I lost track of time and she dumped me."

"Oh…" Shelly brought her paw up to her muzzle. "I'm sorry, Pix. Maybe give a few days and call her? Try to work it out?"

"Nah," Pix sighed. "I think it's best to just let it lie, you know?"

"That really sucks."

"It is what it is," he mumbled.

"I hate that saying," said the lynx. "Anyway here's your coffee. Venti, black; just the way you like it."

Pix reached into his back right pocket for his wallet only to be halted by an outstretched paw.

"Oh it's bought and paid for."

"Huh?" the cheetah looked at her confused. "By who?"

"It's 'whom' and by us," came a voice from his left.

Sitting on matching red plush armchairs were a grey wolf and a lioness. He had subtle mottling in what Pix could only think of as a 'professor's' outfit consisting of a white button up shirt, a green and brown sweater vest and a deeper green tie. He had golden eyes and somewhat larger ears for his species. Pix instantly sized him up; something he did with every new mammal he met and noticed that even though he was sitting with his legs crossed he was a bit short for a wolf, not as lanky, stockier yet built. The whiskers on his eyebrows were rather long and Pix could only imagine that they were incredibly expressive. The lioness on the other paw was a darker shade of gold than normal, a bit on the petite side with blue eyes and a tail tuft that was dyed bright magenta and blue, she had a blue tank top on that matched her eyes. He noticed splotches of paint in random places on her light-colored jeans. There was an open notebook in her paws that showed she was drawing or sketching. They were both smiling at him and seemed friendly enough.

"Um… Thanks," Pix mumbled, he didn't really know what to say so he just nodded and headed back to his table. The grey wolf followed him with his large expressive ears and the lioness just smiled at his back.

The wolf looked at the lioness, "Odd one isn't he?"

"I think that's an understatement," she said and went back to her sketch book.

A/N: So. That's the start of this tale. Please... Please... Please review! Or don't. But any feedback is good feedback in my eyes. I am also a huge fan of PM's and will try to answer them all.

ALSO! A huge thank you to ScaraMedn and kt_valmiri again for letting me use their OC's Liam the wolf and Luna the lioness. They will be in the story quite a bit.