Nick and Judy raced through the dense undergrowth of the Rainforest District as they tried to keep the weasel in sight. The light drizzly rain made the ground slippery, though it seemed to hinder the weasel less than the other two mammals.

Nick noticed the hole in the huge dead tree leaning against the hill the weasel had started climbing. I bet he's headed up there. Sure enough, the weasel angled towards the tree, so Nick veered off and made his way downhill towards the base of the trunk. Just before he lost sight of them, he looked up to see the weasel dive into the hole, followed closely by Judy. You dumb bunny.

Nick poured on the speed and was able to tackle the weasel when he emerged from a crevice between the roots. "I ain't done nuthin' wrong! Why don't ya pick on someone else for a change?" The weasel continued to protest his innocence angrily as Nick cuffed him and Delgato jogged into view.

The weasel fell silent and cowered away from the approaching lion, who Nick started to greet when Judy's muffled voice interrupted him from inside the tree. "Uhh… Nick?" She spoke louder. "Nick! I need your help!"

Nick nodded to Delgato, who grabbed the weasel and waited while Nick checked out the tree. He hesitantly poked his head into the crevice to find that the trunk was mostly hollow. He looked up and saw that Judy was about twenty feet above him. "You ok?"

Judy nodded. "Uhh, sort of… can you come help me?"

"Be right up."

Delgato looked at Nick with a raised eyebrow. Nick shrugged, before he nodded at the weasel. "Can you read him his rights and take him in? I need to go check on my partner."

Nick climbed the hill and crawled into the hole, which was barely big enough for him to squeeze through. There was a small hollow in the tree, and against the far side was Judy's rear end sticking out from a hole in the wood. Nick walked closer to his partner's backside, smirking as he scratched his muzzle. "Huh."

Her tail twitched and Judy's voice was only slightly muffled when she replied, "What?"

"I see your problem, Carrots… you seem to be stuck in a hole."

Judy made a series of angry noises, sounds she usually reserved for those rare times that Nick pissed her off so much she couldn't form coherent words.

Finally she calmed down a bit and spoke. "Stop fooling around, Nick. I don't want anyone else to know I'm stuck in here."

"Relax Fluff, Delgato is taking the weasel in. There's no one here but you and me."

Judy struggled again, making grunting noises as she tried to move. Nick couldn't help but laugh. He also couldn't take his eyes off of her wiggling tail.

"Nick! Stop laughing at me and help!"

"You seem to have gotten yourself into a real jam here, Carrots."

"Nick, I swear- "

Nick snapped his fingers. "Wait, I have an idea, I think I saw this in a cartoon once."

"What? Nick!"

"Yeah, we just have to wait until you burn off a few of those donuts you ate this week and then you'll slip right out."

This drew another flurry of incoherent angry noises from the rabbit, and she furiously lashed out with her legs. Nick backed away from her flailing kicks, before he grinned and gingerly reached out to tickle one of Judy's feet.

"Oh sweet cheese and crackers… Nick, stop tickling my foot!"

"Well, stop kicking or you're going to knock my head off."

Judy stopped kicking and Nick studiously avoided looking at her butt as he spoke.

"How did you even get caught in there? I thought your whiskers were supposed to keep this from happening."

Nick suddenly realized there was a faint odd smell in the air. He sniffed and tried to identify it while Judy spoke. "Yeah well… I think my belt is caught. It isn't like my whiskers can adjust for that, right? Can you help me get it off?"

Except Nick was barely listening, again mesmerized by Judy's fluffy white tail as it shifted back and forth. Get it off. Wait, what? Oh, her belt. Right.

"Sure." Nick hesitantly craned his neck around, looking at Judy's belt from all angles. Most of the belt was visible, but the buckle wasn't. Nick murmured, "Sorry, Fluff," and reached delicately into the tiny crevice next to her left thigh and worked at digging the front of her belt out with his claw. The odd smell intensified when Nick slowly pulled on the belt.

Nick huffed while he helped her wiggle out of the belt, which he finally managed to pull through to his side after she had removed some of the pouches and holders, but she was still jammed in the hole. Her pants had ridden low, and Nick could see her gray fur peeking out as well as a hint of her black underpants. "My vest is in the way too, let me see if I can take that off."

Good grief, she's practically doing a striptease right in front of me.

As Nick continued to watch Judy struggle, he noticed the wood surrounding the hole was starting to get damp from the rain. Uh oh. If the water makes the wood expand-

As if on cue, Judy said, "Cripes, Nick, I swear this hole is getting tighter," Nick started to reply when he heard a vehicle drive up outside.

A door slammed and Nick heard Francine shout, "Nick? Judy?"

"Relax Fluffbuuu…. you should stay here while I go talk to Francine."

Judy didn't bother trying to mask her annoyance. "Yeah, I was gonna leave, but since you told me to stay-"

"That's a good bunny."

He started to pat her butt and froze, before he turned to climb back outside. What the hell is wrong with me?

Nick quickly explained the situation to Francine, and how he was worried the wood was expanding because of the rain. He was surprised when the elephant blushed and said, "Be right back." She returned to the cruiser and met him at the hole entrance carrying a large colorful bag with the words, 'Happy Birthday' splashed across the side.

Francine looked sternly at Nick. "Let me make this clear, fox. If you start teasing, or tell anyone about this, ANYONE," she paused and then continued, punctuating each word with a jab of her trunk, "I… will… SMASH… you."

Nick swallowed and nodded. "Ok."

Francine pulled a container from the festive bag and placed it on the ground. Nick eyed the container, which was almost large enough for him to crawl into, before he read the label and his jaw dropped open:

Elephantasy Glide (Strawberry Flavor)

"Is that-" he froze when Francine glared at him, balling up the end of her trunk and menacingly swinging it through the air over his head once, like a hammer. Nick swallowed again. "Right. Smash. Got it."

Nick struggled with the container before Francine rolled her eyes and picked it up again. Nick hurried back inside the hole and looked out at the elephant as the rainfall intensified. "I don't think it'll fit, and it's too crowded inside here anyway."

Francine nodded. She crouched down and opened the lid. "I'll hold it for you."

Just me, Judy, and an elephant sized jar of lube… certainly not how I imagined today would go when I woke up this morning. Nick took a deep breath and scooped his paws into the container.

As he approached Judy, she said, "Nick? What are you doing? And… why does it smell like strawberries-"

Nick interrupted her. "Trust me Carrots, you don't want to know. Just hold still."

Judy flinched and let out a little shriek when his paws slapped down onto her hips and he started to rub the gel all around her waist as close to the wood as possible. "Nick, what's going on? And stop, you're tickling me!"

"Ok, let's try-"

He was interrupted by Delgato's voice coming through both his and Francine's radios at the same time. "Does Hopps still need assistance? Over."

"NO!" Francine nearly shouted into her radio. She paused before speaking in a calmer tone. "Uhh, I mean everything is under control, over."

Delgato continued. "Are you sure? I mean she sounded-"

Nick wiped his paws on his pants and turned off his radio, but he could still hear Francine trying to convince Delgato they didn't need any help.

Judy yelled, "Nick, get me out of here before the whole precinct finds out I'm stuck!"

Nick grabbed her ankles and pulled gently. Don't look at her ass. Don't look at her-

"Nick, for Pete's sake, my pants!"

He looked up to see her pants had started to slide off. Eyes glued to her black bikini briefs, his voice cracked when he spoke. "Oh, so you didn't want me to help you pull those off too?"

The stream of angry noises spewing from the rabbit snapped Nick out of his trance. He stopped and pulled her pants back up. "Keep your, err, tail on…" He closed his eyes before he continued. "I'm having a hard time finding a place to hold onto that isn't… embarrassing."

"Forget embarrassing, just get me the hell out of here!"

Nick stepped between her legs and wrapped his paws firmly around her hips, trying to ignore her muscles rippling and quivering under his paws. Damn, she's in good shape. He took another deep breath, the mysterious scent filling his nostrils, before he readied himself. With a quick jerk, he yanked her free with an audible squelch, followed by a tearing sound.

Judy slipped out of Nick's paws as he stumbled backwards. He tripped and fell with a jarring thud, followed by Judy crashing down on top of him, her elbow ramming into his crotch.

Nick saw a blinding white light and could swear he heard the faraway sound of angels. A low whine escaped his muzzle and he tried not to vomit.

Judy scrambled up. "Nick, are… are you ok?"

He clenched his eyes shut and curled into a ball before he gasped out a few words. "Just… give me… a moment… Carrots."

She knelt and put a paw on his shoulder. "Where are you hurt?"

He opened his eyes and noticed that the bottom of her shirt was in tatters, her taut stomach peeking out. He waved her off, rolled onto all fours, and crawled towards the exit.

Judy gathered up her belt and vest, eyeing Nick as he climbed out of the hole and pushed past Francine to flop down in the mud outside. The rain was falling heavily now, so he only lingered a moment before slowly standing up, his shoulders hunched while he limped towards the cruiser.

Francine had been watching Nick, until she turned to look at Judy when she popped out of the hole. "What's wrong with him? And are you ok?"

Judy buckled her belt. "I dunno, he won't tell me. And yeah, I'm fine."

The rabbit glanced at the container that Francine was holding, before the elephant noticed and quickly stuffed it back into the bag. They both followed Nick, Judy trailing behind Francine, a puzzled look on her face as they trudged through the rain.

Nick struggled to get the door of the elephant sized cruiser open and then squirm into the back seat. Judy put her vest back on and waited for him to scoot over, but he just lay there panting, so she closed the door and hopped into the front passenger seat. The car creaked when Francine slid behind the wheel before she put the bag behind her seat.

Judy spoke while the mammals buckled their seatbelts. "So… exactly what was the stuff you guys used-"

Nick tried to laugh, but it came out as a groan instead.

Judy gave him a worried look. "We need to take Nick to the hospital."

Nick's voice was strained. "That isn't necessary, Fluff."

"Then tell me what-"

"You know what, you're right. Let's go."

Judy started to say something else, but the tone of Nick's voice made her pause. It was the tone he used when he was angry and didn't want to talk about something anymore. Stupid emotionally stunted fox. She turned around and quietly looked out the window instead. Her brain was a jumbled mess, the events of the morning tumbling around in her head like clothes in a dryer. She took a deep breath and realized she still smelled strongly of strawberries. The scent reminded her of Nick's trembling paws on her hips, and she shivered. The memory made her ache. Her stomach swirled and fluttered, and there was a tingly sensation even lower...

Oh geez. Why am I getting so worked up over this?

She wanted to laugh at her own stupidity, getting stuck in the tree like she did. Except it had made her feel ashamed and weak, two feelings she absolutely dreaded. And she was definitely not looking forward to the inevitable teasing from Nick. That had to be why she felt the way she did… right?

Except she thought back and remembered how safe she'd felt, once Nick was there to help her. If it had been any other mammal, she realized she would have been completely freaked out to have them touching her in the places Nick had been touching her. Not that he was doing it inappropriately, she knew and trusted him, especially with the way his voice quavered while he talked to her about being worried he would grab her in an embarrassing place…

The memory made her blush, so she plastered her ears down against her head and hoped neither of the other mammals noticed.

When they arrived at the hospital, Nick said, "Thanks for the ride, Francine." The elephant flipped a switch to unlock the back door and Nick quickly climbed out.

"Wait Nick, I'm coming with you." Judy turned to Francine and smiled. "Thanks for bringing us here. Can you call it in that I'm going inside with Nick?"

Francine nodded, and Judy was surprised that the elephant was fidgeting, like something was bothering her. But Judy would have to follow up with her later, since Nick was quickly hobbling down the sidewalk.

Nice try, Slick Nick. Judy rushed out of the vehicle and caught up with him as he limped along. "Where do you think you're going?"

"I figured I'd-"

"Forget it, I already know you're planning on sneaking off instead of seeing a doctor. Don't make me drag you into the ER, because I will."

He stopped and started to bend down, like he always did when he wanted to deliver a particularly snarky comment to her in as condescending a way as possible, but he froze, a pained look wiping away his smirk.

"Nick? Do I need to get a wheelchair?"

He exhaled and stood up. "No. Thanks though." Judy grabbed his arm and steered him towards the emergency room.

Judy had a pretty good idea where her elbow had accidentally hurt Nick, and she couldn't help but shake her head as the fox carefully concealed what he was writing on the intake forms. She wanted to tease him, to lighten the mood, but now probably wasn't the best time. Besides, she should save up some ammunition for later, since he would almost certainly tease her mercilessly about getting stuck in the tree.

Judy did feel bad that she'd accidentally hurt him, so she thought about what she could do to make it up to Nick later. Judy remembered when her mom had made one of her brothers his favorite dinner after he came home from the hospital, and that gave her an idea.

Nick had hoped he could simply escape once they reached the hospital, but Judy knew him too well. She followed him inside and waited in the ER while he filled out the paperwork, and she didn't leave until he was taken into the examination room.

After an awkward exam by a badger with cold paws, followed by an ultrasound and a painful cab ride home, Nick collapsed onto the couch in his living room. Clad only in an old button-down shirt and boxers, he relaxed as the painkillers seeped into him while he held a bag of frozen peas to his crotch.

He was just drifting off to sleep when a gentle knocking at the front door startled him awake. Still groggy and awkwardly clutching the bag of peas between his legs, Nick stumbled to the door. Probably Finnick. He opened the door to reveal Judy, her grin faltering slightly when she glanced at the bag in his paw before he hid it behind his back.

Nick gaped at her, finding it hard to ignore the form hugging ZPD t-shirt and surprisingly short shorts she was wearing. He realized he was staring and his jaw snapped shut as they both started to speak at the same time.

"Nick, I'm so sorry-"

"Carrots-"

"I'm so embarrassed, I overheard you were injured-"

"Fluff-"

"In the… groin… area. I came by to-"

"Judy… JUDY!"

They both stopped talking and stared at each other.

Nick rubbed his temples and sighed. "Look, I appreciate your concern," he started to push the door closed as he continued, "it's been a blast, and we should never do this again sometime-"

Judy reached out and put her paw on the door to keep it from closing. "Oh come on Nick. At least let me help with dinner?"

Nick grimaced. "I don't have anything to eat except…" he grinned and showed her the bag he'd been holding. "Crotchpeas?"

Judy blushed and laughed.

She's so insanely cute when she does that.

Judy cleared her throat. "As appealing as that sounds, how about I go get some takeout and maybe, umm, a few cold packs?"

He smiled wanly. "Ok. Yeah. Thanks, Carrots. I'll leave the door unlocked, just come on in."

Nick closed the door and turned to look at the room. My apartment is a disaster.

He hurried to gather up trash and stuff dirty clothes and random items into closets, under the couch, and in the bedroom. After frantically cleaning for a while, he crashed on the couch and fell asleep with the peas clutched against his injury.

Nick woke up an hour later and opened his eyes to find Judy sitting at the dining room table. She looked out the window, a frozen drink in front of her. Nick sniffed. Strawberries? I didn't think she liked strawberry drinks.

He sat transfixed while Judy slowly, almost sensually, licked the frozen treat off the straw before dipping it back into the cup. She absentmindedly repeated the process a few more times.

Oh dear lord.

She jumped when he moved on the couch, then shot him an angry glare.

"Why did you tidy up before I came back? You should've been resting."

He saw the food on the table and started to get up, but she scowled at him.

"No, just stay there, you idiot, I'll bring it over."

Nick chucked the bag of peas onto the coffee table, where they landed with a squish, causing Judy to look at them and wrinkle her nose. She handed him a fork and placed the food and a frozen blueberry drink in front of him.

He smiled meekly at the still annoyed looking bunny. "Thanks, Carrots."

Her face relaxed. "Can I get you anything? What can I do to help?" She sat down next to him on the couch before she asked in a teasing voice, "What did your mom do when you got a booboo as a kid?"

He started to speak , "Well, she used to-" and then he let out a strangled noise when he imagined Judy 'kissing it all better'. Oh sweet Marion, my heart. Nick coughed and continued. "Uhhh, yeah. Maybe one of those cold packs you mentioned? And I need to find my meds."

Judy sprang up to get a cold pack from the freezer and brought it back, along with the bottle of painkillers he'd left on the counter. She put them both on the coffee table and sat next to him again on the couch.

"Look, Nick… I'm sorry I elbowed your, uhh-"

"Don't sweat it, Carrots. I get a day or two off work, so it's not all bad, right?"

Whew, ok, keep it light.

"It's not like I was using anything down there anyway."

Dammit.

And then there was the smell again. Nick couldn't help himself; he leaned forward slightly and sniffed once, which startled Judy. She nervously patted her blushing ears down against her head before she jumped up and backed towards the door. "Well, I should get going."

He quickly got up and pulled her in for a hug. She stiffened for a second, then relaxed and hugged him back. Judy laughed and let him go when his stomach growled.

Nick opened the door for her and she walked outside. "Thanks for bringing dinner by, Judy."

She blushed and turned to walk away while Nick stared after her. That little bunny tail is going to be the death of me.

Judy glanced over her shoulder. "I'll see you tomorrow, Nick. Please promise me you'll rest, and if you need anything, just call."

His tail started to wag involuntarily, and Nick cringed when she saw it and giggled.

He ran inside and pulled his tail out of the way just in time to avoid slamming it in the door.

Shit. Shitshitshit.

Nick gulped his dinner down and took two painkillers before he got ready for bed. He brushed his teeth and laughed after he noticed the little carrots on the side of the cold pack that Judy had given him. He stripped down to his boxers and climbed into bed, but he couldn't sleep.

Ok, I can figure this out. Think… when did she start acting weird? At first Nick thought it started that morning, but then he realized, no… it was before today. And what is that scent about? With a sensitive nose like his, Nick was good at ignoring most smells, otherwise everyday life would be overwhelming. He was familiar with Judy's usual extremely pleasant scents (ok, I'm getting distracted here). It wasn't fear (a tangy, rabbity smell), or embarrassment either, which was kind of like the fear smell. Nick ran through all her emotions and the associated smells. This was a new one. Or was it? Now that he thought about it, it did remind him of something…

Nick jolted out of his sleepy stupor. Oh sonofavixen.

The smell reminded him of their trip to Bunnyburrow last month. His mind raced through the trip. The drive out went smoothly, nothing unusual during the visit until… right before they left. Nick was roughhousing with a horde of Judy's younger siblings when she came back home from visiting… one of her friends, who was having a… party? No wait, a bunnyshower. And she'd been drenched in that scent.

She was standing in the doorway, like she'd been watching Nick play with all the little bunnies for awhile. One of her older sisters started talking to her and Judy looked embarrassed all of a sudden. They were supposed to leave right after she came back from the bunnyshower, but she insisted she needed to take a shower first. Even so, she hadn't completely gotten rid of the scent.

And then to make things even weirder, she asked Nick to drive, before she pretended to sleep the entire way back to Zootopia. Nick figured that maybe the bunnyshower had bothered her, like they always did since Judy found out she couldn't have kits of her own several years ago, but maybe it had been something else?

Nick's mind eventually calmed as the medication took hold, until he finally fell into a deep dreamless sleep.

The next day, Judy tried to ignore the awkward silence as she sat in the oversized police cruiser with Francine. Since both their partners had called in sick, they had been assigned to patrol together at roll call. Judy really liked working with Francine, but after she'd searched online to find out what the elephant and Nick had used to get her out of the tree, she could understand why Francine was uncomfortable.

Judy spoke hesitantly. "Look, about yesterday-"

Francine replied quickly. "It was a gift from my boyfriend, ok? It's not like-"

"NO, I mean, that isn't what I… I just wanted to say thanks, for not telling the other officers I got stuck in the tree."

Francine laughed nervously. "Oh, sure thing, Judy. It's… it's probably just better if we forget yesterday even happened."

Judy nodded. "Yeah." I wish I could. Judy blushed when she remembered the dreams she'd had last night, mostly centered around a particular fox. Where did all these feelings for Nick come from all of a sudden? But more urgently, how did Nick feel about her? Of course Nick being Nick, with his teasing there was almost nothing that was off limits, and they'd often joked back and forth about being a couple. But he'd only ever seemed romantically interested in vixens, right?

"You're thinking about him, aren't you?"

Judy blushed again. "What?"

Francine pointed at her trunk. "This thing isn't just for show. As good a sniffer as Officer Wilde has, I guarantee it's no match for an elephant's trunk."

"Huh. Sorry about, uhhh, my smell…" Judy trailed off.

Francine laughed. "Trust me, you smell way better than my partner. He's just a big furry ball of raging hormones." Judy laughed and the elephant continued. "The nose knows, my dear. I'm not even allowed to participate in the betting pools at work, because everyone feels like I have an unfair advantage."

Judy smiled to herself, as it dawned on her why a certain cheetah was always talking to Francine. Now I know where he gets his office intel from. "That's why I see Clawhauser giving you jelly donuts all the time."

Francine laughed. "Smart rabbit." She winked at Judy. "I like strawberry ones, by the way."

Judy chuckled. "I'll keep that in mind." I'm starting to get pretty fond of strawberries myself.

"I can give you some insight on Wilde, if you want. On the house, no donut bribe required."

"Really? It's hard hiding things from him, and yet most of the time I have no idea what's going on in his head."

Francine nodded. "He is difficult to read, including his scent. I have to wonder if male fox musk evolved as a defense mechanism, to throw off vixens." They both laughed and the elephant continued. "But even that can't totally mask his emotions. He does care about you, that much I can tell. Your feelings for him are way easier to smell, especially recently."

Judy's ears turned bright red, before she pressed them down against her head and looked out the window nervously.

Francine spoke quietly. "We don't have to talk about it, if you don't want to."

Judy sighed. "Honestly, I would like to talk about it, but I don't know what I want, or how I feel." Francine snorted and raised an eyebrow at Judy, until the rabbit spoke again. "Ok, I do know how I feel, but-"

"Have you talked to him about this?"

Judy made a rude noise and shook her head. "Pffft. We're talking about the same Nick Wilde, right? The more serious a subject is, the harder it is to keep him from cracking jokes and closing up."

Later that day, they pulled over a vehicle that was swerving through traffic. Judy got out of the cruiser along with Francine, to cover the elephant as the two lions in the car slowly climbed out with their paws over their heads. Ok Judy, get it together. You're not going to let all this stuff about Nick distract you from your job.

Except Judy was distracted. She didn't realize just how distracted until one of the lions took a swipe at her, something she could have easily dodged on a normal day. After what Francine later described to the rest of the precinct as 'a bunny beatdown', the lion was quickly subdued and Judy realized the swipe from his claws had snagged more than just her uniform. At the hospital an hour later, Judy called Nick while the doctor stitched up her wounds.