All I want for Christmas

by VeryEagerPerson

It's Christmas Eve in Zootopia, and something more than snow is in the air! Nick has finally gathered enough strength to tell Judy what he's been feeling for her, but only at the end of a very long and romantic night he's set up for the two of them. Yet as fate would have it things quickly take a turn for the worst, and it's up to him to save the night from complete disaster!

1. All I want for Christmas

Merry Christmas. :)

---

Nick looked up from his phone and out the train window to glance at the quickly passing brick buildings. It was almost six o'clock, which meant that the winter sun was almost set and that his and his partner's final destination was fast approaching. He turned down to look at the rabbit sitting in the same chair as him and moved his paw onto her arm to wake her from her long nap, but decided against it the longer he stared at her. She'd need the rest if everything he had planned tonight went as intended...

He couldn't pinpoint a precise date, but sometime over his half-year long partnership with Officer Judy Hopps he had developed very romantic feelings for the energetic rabbit. There was something different and attractive about her that he just couldn't stop thinking about. For the past few months he had tried, in vain, to communicate his feelings with her. But whenever he had attempted to bring up the subject of romance his words always ended up getting caught in his throat or jumbled into an unidentifiable slur, and all he could do to correct the situation was cough and brush off his awkwardness as being the result of an approaching illness.

A few days ago, however, the status quo was shattered when Judy began to tell him about how much she was looking forward to Christmas. It was the first time she'd be celebrating it in the city, and seeing that she had only ever experienced the 'country' version of the holiday and that Christmas was, at the time, only a few days away he had decided to take it into his own paws to make her first Christmas in the city the best Christmas she'd ever have.

Their night would start off with a long ride around the Tundratown Central Park in a carriage pulled by a specialized team of Reindeer straight from Finnmark itself. They would then spend the next hour under the stars at the park's ice rink that he had specially reserved for the two of them. It would be a fun and private time for the both of them, and that's where he'd start to work his charm. He'd seal the deal over dinner at Le Légume, a fancy vegetarian restaurant in the downtown district of Tundratown. Though it'd be what came last that would wear the night's crown.

After dinner they'd make their way to 4653 North Bernstein Avenue by foot. The address was a high rise luxury apartment building, and at the top was suite 112, the penthouse that Nick had rented especially for this occasion. That would be where he presented Judy with his Christmas gift to her - a pendant with an amethyst perfectly matching her eye color carved in the shape of a carrot and lined with gold.

But this whole surprise had a heavy price tag. To be more precise, a thirty thousand dollar price tag. That was half of his yearly salary! He hoped that his holiday bonus would be a hefty one, or else he might just have to move in with Judy!

"Attention travelers!" A female voice over the intercom said, shaking Nick from his thoughts. "Arrival at the West Gorse Street Terminal in two minutes!"

Nick looked down at his phone one last time, a small smile coming onto his face when he received a text from the manager at Le Légume confirming that he had a reservation at the restaurant at 9:00pm. He shoved his phone into his pants pocket, making sure to silence it before he turned to his partner who's head had begun to limply hang from her shoulders.

"Carrots," He began, his voice full of quiet laughter as he leaned in towards her. "Time to wake up. Unless you want a one-way trip to the northern tip of the city.."

Judy shifted in her chair and raised her head, her mouth wide open in a yawn as one of her paws rubbed her neck.

"How long was I out for?" She tiredly asked as her stunningly purple eyes blinked open.

"Most of the trip," Nick answered as the train began to rattle, signalling that the terminal platform was almost upon them. The bright orange sunlight illuminating the interior of the metro car disappeared and was replaced by an artificial glow coming from the lights above as the train descended into a tunnel.

"You sure that you're up for this, Carrots?" Nick asked, quickly stealing a final glance over at his partner. "You still look a little sleepy."

"That's just what I look like, Nick,"She playfully exclaimed as she stretched her arms over head, her cheeks bunching up between her arms. "I'm ready for an all-nighter!"

"Music to my ears, Fluff," Nick joked as the train slowly came to a stop and the doors opened. Almost all of the mammals on the tightly-packed car exited, many of them carrying suitcases or neatly wrapped boxes. He and Judy exited last, the train's Intercom farewelling them with a final Merry Christmas!

As soon as they stepped off the train and onto the platform chaos ensued. There were mammals everywhere in the underground cavern, and he and Judy barely made it to the escalators without losing each other in the swarm.

They boarded the same huge, metal step with a manageable distance between them, but a rhino with a disgruntled expression on his face and three huge, wrapped boxes in his arms quickly ruined that. The middle-aged mammal rudely pushed Judy to the far side of the step as he stepped onto the escalator so that she was uncomfortably wedged between his leg and Nick's body.

Nick couldn't help but feel a twinge of nervousness as the rhino shifted yet again, this time pushing Judy up against his chest. Her ears fell to her sides as she turned to look up at him with an apologetic gaze and an awkward smile, and Nick smiled down at her with an understanding grin accompanied with his signature half-lidded gaze. But while he was calm and collected on the outside, on the inside he was far from being that.

Even through her thick red sweater and his own green one Nick could feel his partner's heart beating away like a Ferrari's engine. Her body heat was radiating through their clothing and onto him, warming his bare chest fur. The longer they stood there for the more blood drained from Nick's face, and eventually his ears fell behind his head. He had never been this intimate with his partner before while off-duty, which was kind of disappointing considering his feelings for her.

Come on, Nick. Nick told himself as his breathing slowed to almost a standstill. This isn't that bad. It's great, actually! Just keep your composure together and don't let this get to your head!

Nick turned his head to look down the escalator, hoping for something to distract him from his partner. As he scanned the faces of the mammals in the crowd further down a pair of blue eyes caught his attention. They were coming from an elderly elk in a pink Christmas sweater and a pair of reading glasses. The cow's eyes were full of warmth and affection as they flicked between him and Judy.

Nick quickly turned away from her as his ears fell behind him and his head awkwardly stared at the step he was standing on. He could still feel the elk's loving eyes boring into him, and his cheeks began to heat up as he darted his eyes back towards the elk to see her continuing to look at him.

Why do you always have to be so awkward when it comes to this kind of stuff? He rhetorically asked himself as the escalator peaked and the rhino on their step stomped off the escalator and onto the terminal's concrete floor. He and Judy quickly followed the massive mammal, walking side by side so they wouldn't lose each other while piloting through the throngs of mammals in the above ground part of the West Gorse Street Terminal.

"Well, Nick," Judy amicably began as the crowds of mammals began to thin out the closer they came to the terminal's exit. "Where does our Christmas Eve begin?"

"We'll have to mak- Oh my GOD that is cold!" Nick exclaimed as he and Judy walked through the terminal's sliding doors and out into the frigid air. He hadn't expected the weather to be so freezing! And to think the only things he could do to ease his discomfort the was to shove his paws into his pockets and chatter his teeth...

"I told you to put on more than one layer!" Judy playfully said as she lightly punched his shoulder. Nick acted like he had just been shot and stumbled away from her, a hurt look on his face as he bent over and clutched where she had hit him.

"That hurt, Carrots," He innocently said as he turned his big, pleading eyes toward her. "I think you should apologize."

"Not in a million years," She replied as she shook her head back and forth. Nick straightened himself and smiled down at her with a half-lidded gaze filled with hidden affection. Every time this rabbit talked to him his feelings for her just grew and grew.

"We start in central park," Nick finally answered, beginning to walk down the sidewalk as he pointed to the thick, barren forest just across the street. "That's all I'm going to tell you. The rest is confidential."

"Confidential?" Judy repeated, her voice matching her dumbfounded and annoyed expression. One of her eyebrows raised in mock suspicion as her wide eyes and straightened ears took in every sight and sound of the holiday season.

"Dumb fox..." She warmly mumbled.

"Cute bunny," Nick countered, his eyes moving off Judy and onto the sidewalk ahead. She'd soon find out that his wry statements had a little more truth to them...

After a minute or two more of walking through the cold air and dark orange sunlight he and Judy arrived at a four-way intersection and walked across the street amidst a crowd of touristy llamas. Nick lost sight of his partner for a brief second during the fray, and in the moment of privacy he drew his phone out from his pocket and shut it down. He couldn't risk any distractions. The night had to go absolutely perfectly.

Nick emerged from the crowd without any second thoughts and began his walk away from the road and towards the massive, metal gate marking the entrance to the Tundratown central park lacking a certain rabbit by his side. He turned his head to see what was holding her up but didn't bother to stop and wait. He had a 6:30 deadline to meet!

Judy was still darting through the crowd, her agility and speed even taking Nick, who had witnessed her skills every day, by surprise. But that still didn't stop her from taking a long time to cross since she had to apologize to every mammal who she got in the way of. By the time she did finally reached the sidewalk Nick found himself about to pass underneath the massive metal arch and enter the park. To catch up he saw his partner begin to sprint towards him, an exhilarated expression on her face and her ears out behind her in the most aerodynamic form she could make.

"Took you long enough," Nick shouted out over his shoulder as he passed under the elephant-sized arch and entered the snowless forest of central park. "I was starting to think that you were enjoying apologizing more than Christmas eve!"

"I enjoy nothing more than Christmas eve except for Christmas day!" Judy excitedly exclaimed between dry huffs as she slowed down to walk side-by-side with him. "And politeness is a virtue. One that you could learn."

"Oh, come on, Carrots. You know you love me," Nick responded, tilting his head towards her and staring at her with half-closed eyes. Judy deliberately turned her gaze away from him and raised a paw up to her chin.

"Do I know that?" She rhetorically pondered, her eyes darting back to him to study him for a moment. "Yes. Yes I do."

At her answer Nick sent her a toothy smile and turned to look back ahead the slightly inclined path, his mind processing a thousand different thoughts at once.

I hope you're serious, Sweetheart. He silently added, closing his grimace to form a slightly less toothy grin. For the next few minutes he and Judy walked and talked along the asphalt pathway until they arrived at a junction that connected their relatively small path with a much larger one. Judy's eyes began to sparkle with awe and delight as she noticed the thousands of yellow Christmas lights strung out across the branches of the trees that extended out above the path.

"Wow!" She exclaimed in wonder as she gaped at the wondrous sight. "I never thought that there could be this many Christmas lights in all of Zootopia!"

"Well you haven't seen most of Zootopia," Nick pointed out, raising an eyebrow at his partner as they passed under the lights, now the sole source of illumination now that the sun had set. He couldn't help but chuckle as she began to spin around on the asphalt, her eyes still glued to the thousands of lights above.

"Put me up on your shoulders!" Judy eagerly commanded as she stopped spinning just in front of Nick, standing on her toes as her arms extended up towards him. Nick's raised eyebrow grew further as surprise took control of his thoughts.

"On my shoulders?" Nick warily repeated, and Judy eagerly nodded in response, her eyes still alight. "Wouldn't that be a little bit... weird? In front of other mammals?"

"Oh, who cares?" She replied, almost knocking Nick over as she sprang up onto him, her arms on his shoulders as she lifted herself up on top of him. Nick awkwardly put out his arms and bent his legs, trying not to fall over as her paws traveled all over his face and shoulders.

"We're two grown mammals and we're two best friends," Judy explained as she continued to crawl on top of him. "And this is Zootopia! Why should we care what others think of us? Besides, no one else is here right now."

With one final heave Judy was on top of him, and Nick grumbled as she threw her leg around his neck and put her paws on his forehead to balance herself.

"Now, forward!" She commanded, raising her arm out above his head and pointing a finger down the path. Nick obliged, warmly frowning as an annoyed smile made its way onto his face and his partner's paw fell back to his forehead.

"I swear you act like a kit sometimes," He humorously mumbled, moving up his paws to grab her hanging feet to make sure she wouldn't plummet to the ground.

"Who cares!" She replied, raising her arms up into the air in happiness. "It's Christmas eve!"

Nick laughed at his partner's outburst, suddenly harnessing the joyful feelings that were radiating out of her. Her positivity was becoming a disease! But it was a disease he certainly didn't mind catching.

The next few minutes passed quicker than Nick wanted them to. He kept his eyes fixated on the path in the distance and the thousands of sparkling lights above. They really were beautiful. But to him they weren't even a fraction as beautiful as the rabbit on his shoulders...

Cautiously, Nick started to concentrate on the mammal riding on top him, his face beginning to heat up in awkwardness. Her jeans were cold, but through the denim he could feel the intense warmth of her fur. He bet it felt like heaven.

He wasn't one for smelling other mammals but he couldn't help but take a sample of his partner's scent as it slowly drifted down onto him. God, she smelled great. Like... he hated what he was about to say, but she smelled like a midsummer night's dream! With the early morning dew and everything! He had to have more of it.

As covert as he could be, Nick slowly began to drink more and more of Judy's scent, almost ending up in an euphoric splendor off it. He didn't even realize as his eyes became half-closed and a heavenly smile formed on his face. The smell of daisies, blueberries, and ironically even carrots wafted all around him. He never wanted to smell anything but her again...

Nick felt Judy shift on his shoulders as they rounded a familiar corner, the forest surrounding them beginning to thin out as the already wide path widened even further and vintage-looking streetlamps began to take the place of the Christmas lights above. But before he could look ahead for any approaching mammals he felt Judy move her paws down from his forehead, and within a moment they were over his eyes, rendering him blind.

"Carrots..." Nick warily began as the ecstasy of her scent began to fade from his thoughts, but Judy silenced him with a kick against his chest.

"I'll tell you where to go," She playfully told him. "It'll be fun!"

"Like back in the second grade?" Nick asked, a smile forming on his face as Judy scoffed at him.

"Just trust me on this one," She pleaded, and Nick could imagine her eyes widening in an effort to convince him. "I promise you - on the integrity of the ZPD -that I will not let you run into anyth- LEFT!"

Nick turned hard left at his partner's sudden shout, making sure to hold down her legs so that she wouldn't topple off of him. A moment later he felt the edge of a branch lightly scrape against his cheek.

"What was that about the ZPD's integrity?" He rhetorically inquired, his voice filled with sarcasm.

"Okay, I'll take responsibility for that mishap," Judy honestly acknowledged. "But you need to stay away from the edge of the path! We're not in a forest anymore and I have no desire to go tumbling down a hundred-foot hill."

"A hundred-foot hill, Eh?" Nick deviously pondered, searching his memories for such a spectacle. There was only one hill with such size he could think of that was in the Tundratown central park.

It was the main divider between the upper and lower parks. He and Judy had entered at the far northern tip of the park and were only now approaching the lower portion where their carriage awaited. It was risky, but to save time he could throw himself and Judy down the hill. If they both made it to the bottom alive they'd be only a minute's walk away from the carriage! Yet Nick had a feeling that if they both made it to the bottom alive then he'd be murdered within seconds.

That's a risk I'm willing to take! He deviously decided as he began to speed up and pivot right, making sure he would run right off the edge of the path.

"Nick, don't you dar-" Judy began, this time her voice the one filled with wariness, but Nick cut her off as he threw them both off the side of the hill.

"Nick!" Judy screeched in terror as they both became airborne. Nick opened his eyes, laughing in rebelliousness as the winter air swirled around them. It felt like they would fly forever, but judging by the panic on his partner's face the ground was quickly approaching.

All the air in his lungs was knocked out of him as Nick hit the frozen ground and began to roll down the gigantic hill. As the bruises on his sides and back began to grow he started to regret his decision to throw himself off of the perfectly stable path and ruin the fun he and his partner were having. But he quickly drowned the feeling. They only lived once!

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the hill petered out to a slight slope and Nick came to a stop. He lifted his head off the ground and looked around dazedly, his body sore in a million different places. He had landed on his stomach with all his limbs intact and, mercifully, no immense pains anywhere on his body. He slowly sat up, groaning, and looked up the hill to see Judy still rolling down. Nick smiled at her as she continued her descent and moved a paw to rub a sore spot on his head, but all the blood drained from his face and his rubbing stopped when he realized where his partner was heading.

Despite his police training he still wasn't fast enough to dodge Judy as she barreled at high speeds directly at him, and as she crashed into him Nick oofed! and began to roll again, this time becoming tangled up with her as they formed a single, rolling object. By the time they reached the asphalt path at the absolute bottom of the hill he swore he was bleeding and that he had broken every bone between his skull and his shins.

Nick didn't even try to lift himself off the stone-cold asphalt, instead groaning and slowly shaking his head back and forth in an attempt to get the spinning feeling out of his head. He slowly opened his eyes and moved to rest on his sore elbows, looking around for his partner.

She was resting on his chest, her face burrowed into his sweater and her arms curled around his neck. Nick couldn't help but feel a little nervous at the intimate position they had landed in but smiled at Judy none-the-less as she lifted her head off his chest and looked up at him, laughing hysterically.

"And I thought I was the crazy one!" She affectionately exclaimed, punching his arm. Her warm and affectionate eyes pried into his for a moment as her laughs ended, and Nick felt his face heat up and his ears fall limp behind his head as she burrowed the side of her face into his chest.

"Maybe we're both just insane..." She continued, her voice filled with intimacy. Before he could even think about what he was doing Nick was up on his feet, walking along the path and away from his partner with his hands in his pants' pockets and his mind in an absolute panic.

He didn't know why he was idiotically abandoning the intimate moment between them, and he was already hating himself for doing so. It was perfect! The lighting, the air, the electricity between them! Why couldn't he have just let the moment play out? Why'd he have to be so awkward when it came toromantic stuff?

"Come on, Carrots!" Nick yelled over his shoulder, trying his best to stay calm on the outside as he locked eyes with the dumbfounded rabbit kneeling on the grass for a split-second. "We don't want to be late!"

Nick turned back to look straight ahead at the path and approaching forest, his mind still cursing itself to oblivion, and from behind him he heard the sound of fast approaching feet.

"I think I'm sore everywhere," Judy groaned as she stopped running to walk beside him, her right paw rubbing her opposite shoulder.

"Sue me," Nick sternly joked, his eyes still locked straight ahead.

Stupid, stupid, stupid! He thought to himself. Now you're the one who has to make the first move!

But that's exactly what he had planned to do in the first place! Why was that a bad thing? That little moment back there was just two friends having a good time, and tonight was suppose to make him and Judy something more than just friends!

Stop beating yourself up about this, Nick. Nick told himself as he forced the self-loathing thoughts from his mind. If you had told her right then and there she would've rejected you; there needs to be a build-up before you tell her. That's why you've spent all this money - now shut up and start winning her over!

"Tell me, Carrots," Nick said, tilting his head to look down at Judy, who was staring up at the Christmas lights beginning to appear overhead with both her paws in her pockets and an enchanted expression on her face. "Have you ever ridden in a carriage before?"

"No, I haven't," Judy excitedly answered, looking up at him. "But I've always wanted to."

Nick turned his gaze back to the path ahead, a warm smile coming onto his face when he saw a slightly smaller path branching off from the path they were on. At the corner of it was an old, black-painted street light with a sign on the top of it that read:

Tundratown public ice-skating rink

and had an arrow pointing down the path.

"Well then why don't you run up on ahead," Nick suggested, turning back to Judy as he nodded towards the pathway.

"You did not," She exclaimed in disbelief, the excitement in her boiling over as she sprinted towards the path at full force with a massive, thrilled grin on her face. Nick smiled as he watched her go, his ears perking up as he waited for her to turn the corner and squeal with delight. On the other side of the dense forest he knew that a vintage carriage and four reindeer he had hired to pull it were waiting for his and Judy's arrival. The reindeer were a professional bobsledding team that he had contacted through Mr. Big and who, for several thousand dollars, were more than willing to use their skills to kick off his and Judy's night with a long and romantic carriage ride around the lake at the far end of the lower park. Even better, when their ride came to an end they'd only be a corner away from their next activity - ice skating!

As Judy rounded the corner Nick's smile grew and his ears perked a little higher, ready to hear the happy shriek that would officially begin the most magical night of their lives. But the sound never came.

"Is there supposed to be something here, Nick?" Judy shouted from the other side of the dense forest. Nick's eyes widened and his ears fell behind his head at the question, and he felt his slow walk come to a complete stop. Of course there was supposed to be something there!

Nick began to run towards the corner, panic consuming his thoughts for the second time in minutes. Surely the carriage was there! There wasn't any way it couldn't be!

But his worst fears were realized when he rounded the corner and stared down a path completely devoid of any carriages or reindeer. Judy was the only mammal on the path, staring back at him with a confused expression. All Nick could do to correct the situation was awkwardly smile and raise his shoulders up in a half-shrug, trying to reflect a confused look back at his partner. In reality he felt like curling up into a ball and dying.

"Can you excuse me for one moment?" He quickly asked, not waiting for an answer as he quickly stepped behind a tree and out of Judy's vision. He speedily pulled his phone out from his pocket and held down the power button, anxiety and anger building up inside of him.

I'm going to prison once I get my paws on those reindeer! He thought with angst as his phone sprang to life. His entire screen was filled with missed call notifications, all of them no more than a few minutes old. Nick growled as he unlocked the device and piloted to his inbox, finding that it was filled to the brim with voicemails. He held his phone up to his ear and moved to lean against a nearby tree as he selected the message at the top of the list, and after a few silent seconds the recording started.

"Nicholas. It's Reidar," A male voice with a heavy Nordic accent began. "Me and the team have already tried to call you many times now, and we hope you're receiving our messages. We're stuck at the airport in Vasdøe. A snowstorm blew up out of nowhere a few hours ago and we can't get out of the city. The reception's turned to garbage and the weather isn't supposed to improve for another few days. I'm sorry, but we have to cancel our employment with you. Have a great Christmas - And good luck with your rabbit friend!"

Nick leaned his head back against the stiff bark of the tree, his paw holding his phone falling to his side as he closed his eyes. This was just his luck, wasn't it? If something was going to go wrong tonight then it would. He didn't deserve that! Not on Christmas eve!

Play it cool, Nick. Play it cool. He thought to himself as he took a series of deep breaths. So the night isn't starting off the way you wanted it to? That doesn't mean that it'll end any differently. Just pretend like this whole problem never happened and take Judy to the ice skating rink.

With a final, calming breath Nick stepped out from behind the tree and began to walk towards the rabbit standing idly in the middle of the path, a joking expression on his face and both of his arms held out to his sides.

"What can I say?" He began as Judy studied him, hard curiosity pulsing out of her eyes. "You fall for my jokes too easily."

"So we're not going on a carriage ride?" Judy asked, disappointment and confusion in her voice as a small frown emerged on her forehead, and Nick shook his head in response. "Well that's disappointing. I was really looking forward to that."

Nick's heart almost broke at the sadness in her voice and his mind immediately set out to find a way to raise her spirits.

"Don't worry, sweetheart," He warmly said, ruffling the fur on the top of her head and flicking his tail at her twitching nose as he walked past her. "You're going to like what we're actually doing a lot more than a little carriage ride."

"Really? What are we doing?" Judy eagerly asked, her demeanor completely opposite from before as she began to bounce circles around Nick. "Stargazing?"

"Nope," Nick answered, keeping his eyes locked on the turn in the path dead ahead with a smile on his face.

"Kayaking?" Judy asked.

"In this weather?" Nick quizzically asked with a frown.

"Dinner?" Judy asked again, the eagerness in her voice giving way to confusion and apprehension. Nick turned around and stared down at her as he walked backwards, his smile growing as he studied her anxious face.

"Why don't you see for yourself?" He asked as he rounded the corner and raised out an arm towards the ice skating rink he knew was dazzling with white Christmas lights. He didn't bother looking across the open field and studying the sight for himself; he knew it was set up just the way he had reserved it. Plus, he didn't want to miss the moment when Judy's face lit up with excitement at the thought of ice-skating with him. But just like the excited squeal when she saw the carriage, it never came.

"Policing?" She asked in disbelief, and Nick turned his head in the direction she was staring in to see where she had come up with that response.

The ice rink was illuminated by hundreds of white Christmas lights hanging along its barriers, but instead of being empty like he had reserved it there was a crowd of mammals standing by its entrance and a half-dozen uniformed polar bears and reindeer in the middle of the rink, looking down at something too short for Nick to see.

"I hope nobody's hurt," Judy worried out loud, walking along the path for a short distance to stare at the scene from the edge of the forest with wide, caring eyes. Nick, on the other hand, didn't quite share her worries.

For the second time in minutes his mind was completely filled with panic. His fingers became curled around his forehead and his palms pressed into his temples with such intensity that he was afraid he was going to crush his skull.

WHAT? He hysterically thought, his jaw clenching shut as lips pulled back in a terrified expression. This isn't real. It has to be some kind of joke! This CANNOT be happening!

But it was happening. One of the uniformed reindeer walked away from the circle of officers and pulled a yellow object from his pocket. Nick's arms began to go limp, pulling the skin on his face downward, as the reindeer closed off the entrance to the ice rink with police tape.

"Nick..." Judy earnestly said as she turned to him, her eyes filled with bittersweet happiness. "Is that where we were supposed to go?"

Nick straightened himself the moment Judy began to turn towards him, his arms falling behind his back while he forced his terrified grimace to turn into a toothy smile.

"Of course not," Nick lied with forced humor, waving his paw downward and trying to make himself looked like his whole night hadn't just been turned on its head. "Ice skating isn't really my thing."

"Too bad," Judy exclaimed, sounding surprised by his answer. "I love ice skating!"

I know. Nick longingly thought, regret and guilt consuming his mind. You told me last week.

"Then where are we going?" Judy eagerly asked, her eyes begging for an answer. Nick's ears and tail became limp at the question he hadn't prepared an answer for.

"Where are we going?" He awkwardly repeated, a smile forming on his face as he rubbed the back of his head. He still didn't want to ruin any of the remaining surprises he had left. "Er... That's classified, Carrots."

"Come on, Nick," Judy pressed, her expression both excited and annoyed. "I haven't been waiting hours just so you could keep on saying 'We'll get there eventually'."

Nick's face heated up the longer Judy's stunningly purple eyes stared at him. He tried his hardest to act calm, even as he realized that he couldn't back out of the situation she had cornered him in. She was expecting an answer, and if he didn't give her one soon then their night could end right here and now.

For a split second Nick's eyes darted above Judy and studied the bright lights coming from the street beyond the ice skating rink, searching for somewhere they could go. But the signs and advertisements were too far away for even his predator eyes to see clearly. Even further in the distance, beyond the already distant street, a familiar, modernesque building towered over the seemingly endless number of four-story brick apartment-shops.

"I didn't want to spoil the surprise, but we're going shopping!" Nick falsely conceded as he strode up to Judy's side, his tail hanging low in defeat. "I thought it'd be fun if we took a long walk before we hit the shops."

"Nick, I didn't know you put this much thought into tonight," Judy admiringly praised, her eyes full of affection as she moved a little closer to him. "Thank you."

Nick smiled down at her, pleased to see her not disappointed or confused for once this night and instead looking forward to something.

"Come on, dumb bunny," Nick warmly urged with a flick of his head towards the gate at the far end of the field. "Let's not keep you waiting any longer."

Judy's smile grew as they began to walk side by side, their paws a little closer to one another than they were before. No matter how much he wanted to, though, Nick couldn't seem to keep his partner in his mind for long. His eyes and thoughts shifted away from her and towards the ice rink as the pathway winded closer and closer to it.

He hadn't planned to go shopping tonight. Le Légume, the upper-class restaurant that was located at the top of the Marché tower at the far end of the Tundratown Central Mall, was supposed to have been their next stop. His original plan had been to circumnavigate the Tundratown Central Mall to avoid last-minute shoppers and take a much more romantic and scenic path through the Tundratown historic district. But that was dependent on the carriage ride and ice skating going perfectly.

Which they didn't. Nick begrudgingly thought, his stare turning into a frown as they came closer to the ice skating rink. Improvising was the very last thing he wanted to do tonight. At least he was good at it...

"What's going on?" Judy asked to no one inparticular as she and Nick approached the mammals standing just outside of the ice skating rink, all of them clutching ice skates in their paws and hooves. A tall bison at the edge of the crowd turned to look down at her and Nick, a hard expression on his face.

"Some idiot thought it'd be funny to knock a hole in the ice," The mammal answered, and Nick peered through through the crowd's legs to try and catch a glimpse of the situation. Deep down he had hoped that the close would only be temporary, but from the looks on the faces of the officers that hope was quickly dashed.

"That's very un-Christmaslike," Judy sharply commented, her eyes becoming hard as she studied the scene.

"Tell me about it," The bison snorted. "Ruining my Christmas and the poor sucker's who reserved the rink after us."

Nick's eyes widened when he realized that he was "the poor sucker" the bison was talking about and that his name was tiled letter-by-letter next to the doors leading onto the rink.

"Good luck, my friend, " Nick said in farewell, looking up and forcing himself to smile at the bison as an urgent need to get as far away from the scene as possible consumed his thoughts. "And have a merry Christmas."

"You too, fox," The bison gruffly said, turning back to stare angrily at the scene. "And you, bunny."

Judy and him began walking away from the rink at the same time, neither of them looking back at the scene. The further they traveled from the ice rink the more Nick became at ease. His entire night could've been ruined right then had his partner seen his name on the rink's barrier. At least he was safe from that complication. Now he could focus on making the most out of what was left of Christmas eve.

"So, Carrots," Nick inquired as they walked under a large, metal arch like the one they had passed under earlier in the night and officially exited out of Tundratown Central Park and onto a deserted sidewalk. "What do you want for Christmas?"

"Are you thinking of buying me something, Nick?" Judy asked him, her eyes flashing up to lock with his. "Because my Christmas list this year is very short."

"Let me guess what's on it," Nick sarcastically said, bringing a paw up to rub his chin. "6 months free rent?"

Judy chuckled at his guess, a humored smile forming on her face.

"Well it's not at the top of the list, but I'll take it," She responded, leaping up into the air to press a button on a street light as they both stopped at the crosswalk just across the street from the entrance to the Tundratown Central Mall. "What I'm really hoping for is something a little more unique."

"Unique?" Nick repeated as the crosswalk sign across the street turned green and he and Judy strolled across the almost-empty road, unhindered by any large mammals. The smirk on his face grew as he fumbled with the velvet jewelry box safely resting inside his pocket, his eyes flicking over the Christmas decorations on the mall's exterior.

I've got something unique for you, Sweetheart. Nick merrily thought, the paw resting on his chin falling into his other pocket.

"Well whatever is at the top of your list, Carrots, you'll be able to find it here," He said, throwing his paw out in front of him and staring up at the massive reef at the pinnacle of the mall's entrance as he and Judy stepped up onto the moderately busy sidewalk.

The sliding glass doors swiftly opened as he and Judy approached them, and they were both hit by a wave of warmth as they stepped into the crowded, well-lit corridor that made of one of the mall's four wings. Christmas decorations were in every shop window and an infinite number of Christmas lights and Garland wreaths were hanging from the second story's railing. Around them mammals were going about their day, some of them doing last-minute shopping while others were spending time with their families as they walked towards the massive Christmas tree at the center of the mall.

Nick squinted his eyes to look past the tree's yellow Christmas lights reflecting off the glass ceiling, and in the distance he saw the black glass of the Marché tower rising up above the mall. That's where he needed to take his partner after their shopping.

"For the love of cheese and crackers!" Judy exclaimed in amazement as she wandered away from the sliding door, her mouth agape and her eyes illuminated by the hundreds of colored lights surrounding them.

"Amazed?" Nick asked, raising an eyebrow. His heart warmed when Judy turned back to him, an excited smile on her face. For one time tonight everything was going just as planned...

"Come on!" She shouted, darting to grab his paw and pulling him away from the doorway and into the busy walkways of the mall. Nick couldn't help but smile along and try to keep up with her as she guided him around the feet of larger mammals. She wasn't sparing any attention to the shops like he had expected she would; instead, she seemed intent on reaching the gigantic Christmas tree set up at the junction where all four wings of the mall met.

Nick was panting by the time they reached a small clearing in the crowd of mammals surrounding the tree, and as they came to a stop he bent forward, taking several heavy breaths as his arms fell to rest on his knees. He never understood how Judy had so much energy when she was only half his size!

When he was finally able to breath again Nick looked up at his partner, but her eyes were focused on the star placed on the Christmas tree's peak. Her gorgeously purple eyes reflected the sparkling Christmas lights draped all over the tree and happiness seemed to be radiating out of every inch of her body.

Nick straightened himself and shoved his paws into his pockets before he too raised his head to stare up at the tree's star. He had to admit it did look magical as it's mirrored body absorbed the light below it, turning it into a stunningly bright yellow. He became entranced in it the longer he stared, and he didn't even feel as a small, fluffy paw wrapped itself around his wrist. It was only when the paw tugged on him that he turned away from the truly stunning spectacle, his eyes meeting an even more stunning sight as they turned downwards towards Judy.

Her now glossed eyes were still focused on the tree and a jubilant smile was firmly rooted onto her face. Her paw was gently pulling against his wrist, as if she was urging him to take his paw out of his pocket. Nick obliged, and his heart leaped beyond the atmosphere as Judy slid her paw down his wrist and curled her paw around his.

Nick glowed at the show of affection, suddenly caught up in the moment. A smile just as ecstatic as his partner's formed on his face, and he turned back to stare at the tree with a little bit more love in his heart.

"Sly bunny," He affectionately mumbled, and at his words Judy shuffled a little closer to him, her eyes still not moving off of the tree.

"Can it, dumb fox," She emotionally replied, her mouth barely moving as she spoke.

Nick didn't pay attention to the mammals celebrating around them; his thoughts were solely focused on the warmth of Judy's paw and the immense strength of their subtle embrace. When he focused on the world around them again they were walking away from the tree and down one of the mall's wings, neither of them taking the lead as if they were both afraid of that once their paws unlatched from each other they'd never come together again.

If that happens then you'll just have to take her paw yourself! Nick merrily thought as he darted a quick glance upward to make sure they were heading down the right wing. When he caught sight of the black glass of the Marché tower slowly getting closer and closer to them his gaze fell back to stare straight ahead. For the first time that night he truly felt at peace.

"Have somewhere you need to be, Slick?" Judy asked, her voice filled with mock suspicion, and Nick glanced over at her to see her staring up at him with an intrigued smile and a raised eyebrow.

"Nowhere but right here," He warmly answered, his eyes moving to scan the shops lining the mall's walkway. "See anywhere you want to kill some time?"

"Well..." Judy began, her ears falling behind her head as she glanced at a store across the walkway. "This'll probably make me sound like a stereotypical female, but I've always wanted to go to a jewelry store. We don't have many out in Bunnyburrow and I've never had the time to visit one here in Zootopia."

"First off, I'd like to say that you're right - saying that does make you sound like a spot-on impersonation of a stereotypical doe," Nick warmly joked as he followed her gaze across the walkway to stare at the bright exterior of a Mared's jewelry store. "Second, I have no problem if you want to go there. Just don't run my credit card over..."

Judy giggled at his joke, her chuckles edged with a twinge of deviousness, and changed direction so that they were both heading right for the store's entrance. Nick felt his free paw instinctively fall into his pocket and clutch the velvet box inside as they came closer the hippo-sized double glass doors.

In a way he was afraid that she'd see something that'd completely overshadow his own gift to her. The pin he had specially ordered for this night had been handcrafted by a jeweler at a Mared's location in downtown Savannah Central. The piece wasn't too expensive, but piled with the other costs of their night it had been a huge hit to his credit.

And what if it was all just a bust? What happens if she sees something she needs in here? Nick asked himself, but a resolute voice inside him quickly answered. It doesn't matter. If she sees something she likes, you buy it for her, Nick. You have to make up for tonight's terrible start in one way or another. And if what she wants makes her happier than what you bought her then that's absolutely perfect; you want to see her happy, don't you?

Yes. Nick thought, pulling his paw away from Judy's as they arrived at the store's entrance and he moved to hold open the door for her. That's exactly what I want - along with telling her something...

"My Lady," Nick politely said as he motioned for Judy to enter the store, bowing his head but keeping his eyes locked with hers.

"What a gentlemammal!" She casually exclaimed, strolling through the door with a warm smile on her face. Nick copied her expression before he followed her in, letting go of the door as it slowly closed behind them.

The store, like most in Zootopia, had been built with larger mammals in mind. The jewelry cases lining the walls were too high for Nick or Judy to see anything in them save for the massive pieces of jewelry meant for elephants. Unlike most stores in Zootopia, though, there were no signs that Christmas was now only five hours away. The only holiday cheer in the shop that Nick could find was a seasonal radio station playing Christmas music over the store's loudspeaker.

Nick sped up so that he was walking towards the store's front desk side by side with his partner, but decided not to take her paw as he caught sight of a massive shape that was bending over behind the counter.

"Excuse me, sir," Judy politely called out as they came to a stop just in front of the store's glass counter. The well-dressed shape shifted and grunted, as if it was scrambling for something, but didn't stand up.

"Sorry about this!" A male voice shouted back. "I'll be with you in just a moment!"

"Do you need help, sir?" Judy asked, her gaze hardening as she raised up on her toes in a useless attempt to see what was going on behind the counter. Nick couldn't help but grin at her as he too raised up on his toes his eyes locked with the still struggling shape.

That's Judy, all right. Nick thought to himself as he shoved his paws into his pockets. Always trying to help mammals - even on Christmas eve!

"No, I'm fine. Now how can I help you, Miss?" The shape asked in a friendly tone as it straightened, revealing a large, mid-aged hippo in a white dress shirt and black pants. As the employee's face turned downwards to look at him and Judy Nick stared curiously at the eerily familiar face, but as the hippo's gaze moved off of Judy and onto him Nick was hit with a sudden wave of realization, and his eyes widened in controlled panic.

"Nick?" The hippo exclaimed in nervous surprise, moving his paws to grip the edge of the glass counter top. Nick pushed the alarm out of his mind and pulled his paws out of his pockets, held his arms out in front of him as if he was going jump up onto the counter and hug the hippo, and forced a smile onto his face. He could feel his partner's curious gaze burning into the side of his face, but he didn't dare glance towards her. He had to play it cool.

"Wyatt!" Nick greeted in mock happiness while his eyes silently demanded why the hippo was here. "I wasn't expecting to see you tonight!"

"I wasn't expecting to see you tonight either!" Wyatt replied, his initial awkwardness replaced by polite respect. His eyes were still flicking between him and Judy curiously, but as Nick hardened his stare the hippo's eyes rested on him.

"What brings you by tonight?" Wyatt asked, trying to keep his cool as he leaned onto the glass counter top even as small beads of sweat began to form on his forehead.

"Just doing some holiday shopping," Nick amicably responded, holding one of his paws out at Wyatt while his other arm curled around the back of Judy's neck to hold her in a friendly half-hug. "Carrots, I'd like to introduce you to Wyatt Potam - the finest jeweler on this side of the city!"

"Pleasure to meet you, Mr. Potam," Judy casually greeted, smiling up at the hippo but clearly focusing on the arm resting on her shoulders. "I'm Judy Hopps; Nick's partner. Do you mind if I ask how long have you've known each other for?"

"Oh, a long time," Nick answered before Wyatt could respond, and as he turned to look up at the counter again Wyatt vigorously nodded in agreement.

"Years, I think," He added, and Nick's fake smile grew as if he were remembering their time together as friends. In reality he had only known Wyatt for a week at most. The hippopotamus was the mammal who had crafted the amethyst and gold pin for Judy. The last time he had seen him was when he picked up the piece from a Mared's location all the way over in Savannah Central; but as fate would have it, it appeared that the hippo had been reassigned to this location.

"Anyways," Wyatt said, his eyes turning down to Judy as he picked up on the hostility in Nick's glare. "What can I do for you today?"

"Oh, I'm just here to browse," Judy answered as she waved a paw downward, still visibly flustered by the paw resting on her shoulder. Nick snickered at Judy as Wyatt disappeared underneath the counter to search for something and she turned towards him with an expression that commanded him to take his arm off her. Nick obliged, sliding his arm off her shoulders but quickly squeezing her perked tail a moment before Wyatt reappeared above the counter with a small, plastic box in one of his paws.

"Is everything okay?" The hippo asked, noticing that Judy's face was now filled with blood while Nick's expression was much more smug than before.

"Yes! Everything's fine!" Judy hurriedly replied, straightening herself and sending Wyatt a massive smile. "Let's try on some jewelry!"

"If you'd follow me for a moment, then," Wyatt said as he wandered around the counter and walked towards a jeweler's desk by the store's front doors. Judy and Nick followed behind him, walking side by side with one another. While Wyatt was emptying the contents of his box onto the desk's counter Judy deliberately brought her foot down on Nick's tail, causing him to squint in pain hold his tail in both his paws. His head darted towards her, and he was greeted with a smug expression and a vengeful smile. Nick smiled back at Judy as he let go of his tail. He deserved that...

Judy scrambled up onto the wide, high chair closest to the store's display window as Wyatt seated himself in the hippo-sized chair across the desk. Nick quickly followed them up, pulling himself up onto the chair next to his partner's and standing on it with his arms resting on the table as his eyes studied the small number of rings and necklaces laid out on a black cloth on the table.

"I'm sorry our selection isn't too large, Ms. Hopps," Wyatt apologized, his arms resting against the desk as his paws gripped one another. "We don't normally have any demand for rabbit-sized jewelry here at Mared's."

"Oh, it's fine," Judy said, shrugging, as both her paws handled every ring on the cloth. Her eyes lit up as her attention shifted away from the rings at the laying at the front of the cloth and to the necklaces laying at the back of it.

"Can you pass me that one?" She asked, pointing at a petite silver necklace with a small heart-shaped diamond pendant on it. Wyatt obliged, carefully picking up the piece in one of his paws and handing it over to her.

Judy held the piece in her paws for several moments, her eyes sparkling with delight as she turned it over and studied every inch of it. Eventually she moved her paws upward and attached the necklace to her neck, a huge smile forming on her face as she looked at herself in a mirror Wyatt had placed just in front of her.

"Wow..." She said, gripping the table with both paws as she carefully studied the piece hanging on her neck. Once her own studying was finished she turned towards Nick with an eager expression.

"What do you think of it?" She enthusiastically asked, and Nick sent her a smile as an answer. The necklace's silver chain perfectly matched the color of her fur, making it appear that the heart pendant was simply hanging directly from her lower neck. The diamond itself look like it held a universe's worth of stars inside, and Nick could swear he could see his own emerald eyes reflecting off it. In one word, it was beautiful on her. But as if he was going to let her know that...

"Maybe not with that red sweater, Fluff," He sarcastically answered, and Judy shook her head in mock annoyance as she turned away from him. Her paw moved to raise the diamond towards her face, and she stared at it for several more seconds before she let it fall to the tuft of fur at the very top of her chest and looked back up at Wyatt.

"It's stunning!" She excitedly exclaimed, and Wyatt smiled at her as she stood up on her toes in eagerness. "Tell me more about it!"

"That's from our Gau Bat - One Night - collection," The hippo explained, shifting in his chair to lean marginally closer to Judy. "It was handcrafted by a jeweler in the Basque countryside. The necklace itself is made up of Fine Silver with flecks of titanium mixed in for support, while the pendant is a Taaffeite diamond carved into the shape of a heart."

"I love it!" Judy exclaimed, clutching it in her paw. "How much is it?"

At her question Wyatt's eyes flicked over to Nick's and an embarrassed expression made it's way onto his face. Nick stared at the hippo, his eyes demanding an answer.

"It's valued at seventeen thousand dollars," He answered as his apologetic gaze traveled back to Judy. Nick's ears fell behind his head and his eyes widened at the number, and he took one of his paws off the table to rest on his hip as he leaned in towards Wyatt with an almost outraged expression.

"Seventeen thousand?" He and Judy repeated at the same time. They turned to look at each other, surprised, and Nick began to feel the angered shock in him ebb as he stared into his partner's surprised and overwhelmed eyes.

"I don't suppose you can go any lower than that?" Nick asked as he turned back to Wyatt, but the hippo shook his head.

"A Taaffeite gemstone is almost impossible to find," He politely explained, a twinge of regret still in his eyes. "And carving one is an arduous process. The absolute lowest I can go is fifteen and a half."

Nick stared dumbfounded at Wyatt, his mind processing what he had just said. Fifteen and a half thousand dollars! That was easily half the cost of his entire night! He wasn't even sure he had that much money left on his credit card. Was Judy really worth that much?

Nick turned towards the rabbit in question, and he felt his heart break as he watched her sullenly unhook the necklace from behind her neck and return it to the black cloth laying on the table.

"A bit outside of my price range, isn't it?" She sarcastically asked as her round, sad eyes turned towards Nick and her ears fell behind her head. "Are you ready to go, Nick?"

Nick stared at Judy for what felt like hours, reflecting his own disappointment back at her, but in reality it couldn't have been more than a few moments.

"Yeah," Nick answered in defeat, and Judy smiled at him as she slid off her chair and onto the floor.

"Cheer up, Slick. It's only a necklace" She warmly commented as she began to walk away from him, turning her gaze up to and waving a paw at Wyatt. "Merry Christmas, Mr. Potam."

"And you, Ms. Hopps," He casually farewelled, waving back at her. Nick watched Judy walk up to one of the store's doors, her movements stiff and her ears still limp, and place her paws against its glass, but even as her curious gaze shifted back to him to see what was holding him up he still didn't move off the chair.

He was completely frozen by guilt. What exactly had gone right this night? The answer was absolutely nothing; even their unplanned trip around the mall had, in the end, been a disappointment. And he couldn't help but feel that it was all because of him. He had to make up for the night that should've happened in some way. And it seemed that that way was the necklace. But, like he had asked himself before, was his partner really worth the cost?

Of course she is! He immediately answered. She's Judy freaking Hopps!

With those simple words a smile formed on his face and his gaze and stiffened limbs relaxed. His decision had been made.

"You run on," Nick said with a smile as he flicked his head towards the doors. "I'll catch up with you in a moment."

Judy grinned back at him, an inquiring expression on her face, but didn't ask any questions and instead pushed open the door and wandered out into the mall's hallway. As soon as she was out of sight the warm expression on Nick's face fell and he leaned in towards Wyatt, who's own expression was now nervous and dumbfounded, with both his paws clasping the edge of the table.

"Is fifteen and a half the absolute lowest you can go?" Nick swiftly asked, his voice low, but Wyatt didn't answer and instead ducked down towards him, glancing to the store's storefront window at his side.

"Nick, what are you doing here?" He hurriedly questioned, turning his eyes back to Nick when he realized no one watching them from outside. "I thought you weren't coming by this location!"

"There was a change in plans," Nick stubbornly answered, a frown forming on his face. "I don't have much time, Wyatt. Flatfoot isn't too patient. Now is fifteen and a half the lowest you can go?"

Wyatt thought for a moment, his eyes cast upwards to stare idly at the ceiling and his gigantic nose twitching, before he grimaced and shrugged.

"I suppose I could do thirteen flat. It's not like I have any other offers on it," He said, and Nick brusquely nodded as he brought his paws down from the table's edge and pulled his wallet from his back pocket.

"I''l take it," He said, opening his wallet with both paws and handing Wyatt his credit card.

"But what about the pin?" Wyatt asked as he took the card from his paw and stood up from his chair.

"It doesn't matter," Nick hurriedly explained, waving his paw downward and not wanting to keep his partner waiting any longer. He scooped up the necklace without waiting for Wyatt to walk over to the counter and swipe his card and jumped off the chair before he began to quickly walk towards the store's front doors.

"I'll give it to her too!" He loudly whispered as he approached the glass doors, not wanting Judy to hear him. "The card's pin is 814. You have my number - text me sometime and I'll swing by and pick it up!"

Wyatt brusquely nodded, aware why his voice was low and that he was about to leave the store.

"Merry Christmas, Nick!" He merrily shouted in farewell as Nick's free paw pushed open the heavy door.

"Merry Christmas, Wyatt!" He shouted back over his shoulder as he stepped out of the store and let the glass door close shut behind him. Once he was out in the mall's walkway he immediately began to look around for his partner, and began to walk towards her when he caught her staring at him from a metal bench a few feet away from the store's display window opposite the one they had been sitting next to before.

"Everything alright?" She asked as she slid off the bench and wandered up to meet him. Her ears were straightened in curiosity but her eyes and voice were filled with tender caution.

"Yeah," Nick sighed, affectionately smiling down at her as he held out his paw and opened it to reveal the necklace. "Just finishing some aggressive negotiations."

When Judy caught sight of the piece of jewelry in his palm she quickly lifted it out of his paw and held it in both her paws, her mouth agape and her eyes filled with surprise and delight while her ears completely straightened. She spent several moments studying the necklace and caressing the diamond on it with one of her paws. Nick continued to smile down at her, his feelings for her blossoming at the sight of her ecstatic face.

Without any warning she catapulted herself up at him, wrapping her arms around his neck and hanging from him. Nick was pulled downward by Judy's weight, but as the initial surprise in him dwindled he felt himself joining her affection hug by gently placing his paws against her back.

Nick could feel the eyes of the few mammals around him and his partner burning into the both of them, but as far as he was concerned they were nothing but apparitions. An entranced smile formed on his face and his eyes widened in wonder as their hug continued, but once Judy let go of him he straightened himself and hid his true feelings behind his signature half-lidded expression.

"Nick, why'd you get me this?" She asked, her eyes moving down to stare at the necklace in her paw again.

"Well it's Christmas eve, and Wyatt was able to the lower the price by a few thousand dollars," Nick explained as he rubbed the back of his head, trying to avoid the fact that he was blatantly lying to his partner. "So I thought, 'Hey; why not buy one of my favorite rabbits in the ZPD exactly what she wants for Christmas?'"

Judy raised an eyebrow and looked up at him, her smile falling as a mock expression of outrage took control of her face.

"I'm the only rabbit in the ZPD aside from custodian Corne," She noted, moving her necklace up to her neck as her paws fiddled with its lock behind her head. "Are you saying that the competition for your favorite rabbit is between your partner and a fifty-something year old buck whom you've only met once?"

"Is it?" Nick pondered, bring a paw up to rest on his chin while his other arm crossed over his sweater and he looked up at the mall's glass ceiling. "Yes. Yes it is."

Judy warmly scoffed at him as her arms fell from her neck, revealing the necklace's diamond gently hanging on the bottom of her neck. She took his paw in her own and began to walk away, setting the pace as they continued to stroll down the mall's walkway.

"Dumb fox," She mumbled, curling her arm around his while her free paw lifted the diamond off of her chest so she could stare down at it. Nick followed her gaze but found that he couldn't stare at anything except her face and her brilliantly purple eyes, which seemed to reflect off the diamond in a thousand different directions.

"Beautiful..." He whispered before he could think what he was saying, and Judy's entranced eyes turned towards him, surprised at what he had just said and catching him staring directly at her.

"What did you say?" She asked, her voice no more than an exhalation. Nick's mind stopped dead in its tracks at the question, processing a thousand different scenarios of what was about to happen over and over again. But before he could settle on one he pulled away from Judy, ending their handhold, and sent her a forced smile as his ear fell behind his head and his face began to burn.

"Beautiful," He repeated, pointing at the diamond still resting in her paw. "The necklace. I think it was worth the price."

But I'll probably have to remortgage that shoddy old apartment. A background voice in his head thought, but Nick ignored it, trying to look as convincing as possible as he continued his awkward stare.

"Oh," Judy politely said, her voice upbeat but a twinge of disappointment evident in it, as her gaze fell back to the necklace. Nick looked ahead, keeping a smile on his face to try and maintain the illusion, but on the inside he was only inches away from murdering himself.

That was perfect! He angrily thought. Why can't you just be normal, you idiotic fox! Hurry up and tell her; stop pushing the inevitable back further and further. You know she feels something for you. For the love of COD she held your paw! If that doesn't show some kind of feeling then you're not a fox, Nick Wilde.

Nick looked upwards, the rage directed at him turning into determination, to stare through the mall's glass ceiling and up at the black glass of the Marché tower that was almost on top of them. The observation deck of the building was their next destination.

Dinner. He thought, turning his eyes to the end of the walkway as the shops thinned out and the mall merged with the tower's lobby. That's where the deal has to be sealed.

"Hungry, Carrots?" Nick asked, turning towards his partner who's eyes were still studying the heart-shaped diamond and shoving his paws into his pants pockets. She turned to look up at him, her ears perking in interest, as she let the necklace diamond fall back onto her chest.

"I could go for something to eat," She answered, letting her paws fall into her pockets to imitate Nick's laid-back demeanor. "I haven't eaten anything since a potato filet for lunch."

"Well I haven't eaten since breakfast," Nick countered, moving his eyes away from his partner and to an elevator at the end of the walkway. The mall ended abruptly when it collided with the Marché tower. The tower's black glass side was partially covered by the mall's glass roof, and two open entrances distinguished the two buildings from one another. Between the two entrances was a single elevator that led to the upper floors of the tower.

"You always have to get a leg up on me, don't you?" Judy sarcastically asked, leaning over to stare accusingly at him.

"You bet," Nick answered, smiling, as they arrived at the elevator. He hopped up to press the up button with his paw, but Judy didn't join him at the elevator doors. Instead she stared at him, confused and alerted, as she stood a few feet away in the entrance to the tower's lobby.

"Nick, what are you doing?" She anxiously whispered, glancing around to see if any mammals were staring at him as she joined him by the doors.

"Going to dinner," He casually answered, grinning down at Judy. She backed away from him and stared up at the tower in awe, her eyes widening the longer she looked at it. Eventually her surprised gaze fell back to Nick, and she pointed up at the building, a dumbfounded expression on her face.

"Up there?" She asked, and Nick nodded. A ding! drew his gaze back to the elevator, and above its doors the art-deco floor indicator lit up as the glass doors slowly opened.

"Hurry up, Sweetheart," Nick called out over his shoulder as he confidently strode into the front corner of the elevator, the wide, marble floor cooling his callused feet. "I'm a very punctual mammal."

"Punctual like my tail," Judy humorously grumbled as she joined him. When she was in the elevator Nick stood up on his toes and stretched his arm up to press the circular Floor 22 button at the top of the elevator's panel. The button had a small sign next to it that read Le Légume in cursive font, and as he stepped away from the elevator's corner he caught Judy staring at the sign with an eyebrow raised in suspicious confusion. But her attention was shifted to the elevator's sealed glass doors as the elevator slowly ascended up the tower.

Once the elevator passed over the mall's glass roof the view became spectacular. For off in the distance clouds rolled over the snow-capped mountains. Closer to home the streets looked like spotlights from above with all the Christmas lights on the buildings along them. The massive dome at the middle of the mall seemed to be the largest of them, and even as he and Judy continued to ascend higher and higher up the tower he could still see the massive Christmas Tree at the center of the mall. Nick was stunned by the spirit and scale of it all, and he couldn't help but let an awed expression take control of his face.

"There're so many mammals down there," Judy noted, staring at the scene. Her voice was filled with some background feeling that Nick couldn't quite put his finger on, but as he turned towards her a small, humored smile came onto her face.

"You ever thought about it?" She asked, turning up to at him with a curious expression. "Trying to find that one mammal meant for you?"

"Sometimes," Nick answered, shrugging.

More like ALL the time! He thought to himself, but he didn't dare say that.

"It'd be wrong to say that I don't have interests," Nick explained, his eyes absentmindedly following a monorail that was no more than a white blur travelling above the city's brick buildings at the other end of the district.

"Interests like what?" Judy pried, and Nick turned to her with a concealing smile.

"You'll find out soon enough," He answered, and at almost the same time he finished his statement the elevator dinged! and halted its ascent. He turned away from the windowed doors to look behind him, where a set of metal doors opposite was slowly opening, revealing a fancy looking lobby and a large, beautifully carved wooden desk. He and Judy stepped out of the elevator, and as they made their way towards the front desk Nick caught his partner marveling at every inch of the room.

Behind the front desk was a gazelle reception along with a glass panel that ran along the length of the wall; behind that was the actual restaurant, which seemed packed full of mammals at every table. Above the desk was a massive sign that read Le Légume in a cursive font. The floor and remaining walls of the lobby were made of a light brown marble and a large, ornate painting of a bowl of vegetables was on the same wall the elevator was on. There weren't any pleasantries around the lobby aside from a low, long wooden table surrounded by several empty chairs in one of the room's corners.

"Wow!" Judy excitedly whispered out of the corner of her mouth, her paws moving to clutch one another as they politely hung in front of her. "You're taking me here? For dinner?"

"No," Nick humorously chided, moving his paws into his pockets. "I'm eating here; you're eating at the food court downstairs."

Judy turned to him with an annoyed expression but didn't say anything, and Nick smiled at her silent hostility.

Maybe I should tone down my banter a bit... Nick thought, but he quickly shoved the thought out of his head. Nah! It's gotten me this far already!

"Good evening, Sir and Miss," The receptionist politely greeted, looking up from her computer and smiling at the both of them as they approached the desk.

"Evening," Nick greeted back as he stopped walking and he came to stand a few feet away from the high desk, his eyes locked with the receptionists'. "Reservation for Wilde."

"Perfect," The gazelle cordially said as her intent gaze shifted back to the computer and she began to click and type on the keyboard and mouse with both hooves. "Can I see some kind of identification, Mr. Wilde?"

"Of course," He responded, trying to imitate her formal voice, as he pulled his wallet out of his back pocket and began to search for his driving licence. As he dug around in the depths of his messy, black wallet his attention shifted to his partner who he could see wandering away from his side and up to the counter.

"Excuse me," She began, trying to sound as polite as possible as she stared up at the receptionist with round eyes and limp ears and as Nick absentmindedly pulled his driver's license from his wallet and held it up to her. "I know this is a fancy place and that you need a reservation to get in, but I'm in dire need of a restroom. Do you think it'd be okay if I quickly sneaked in and used it?"

"That's perfectly alright," The receptionist politely said as she reached down to take the driver's license out of Nick's outstretched paw. "Just go through these doors here-"

The gazelle swiveled in her chair and extended a hoof out towards the two glass doors that led into the restaurant.

"-take a left, and it's your first door on your left."

"Thank you so much," Judy thanked, walking past Nick with a grateful expression and pushing open the door. Nick stared after her, a loving grin forming on his face as he watched her pilot around the feet of larger mammals and finally disappear around a corner.

She's always so polite. He glumly thought. Maybe she's right. I could always add more talents to my already huge skill set.

The glass door Judy had pushed opened didn't completely close shut. Instead it opened again, and a moment after it began to close again a rabbit walked out from around the front desk's corner. He had stripes running across the sides of his face and his straightened ears and a tuxedo was tightly fit around his body. His eyes were cast off to where Judy had been a second earlier, and wariness entered Nick as the rabbit turned towards him.

"She's with you?" He politely asked, a neutral expression on his face and his paws moving to straighten his tux's jacket.

"With a little convincing," Nick answered, his ears perking as the rabbit turned back to look at the wall Judy had turned around. He stared at the marble corner for several seconds, and Nick was about to tell him to scram when the rabbit turned back to him.

"Merry Christmas," He neutrally said in farewell, placing his paw on Nick's shoulder as he walked passed him and towards the elevator's closed doors. Nick stared after him, raising an eyebrow as a confused and almost angered expression made its way onto his face. Who was this mammal to apparently take an interest in his partner? His partner - not his! He didn't have any right to stare after her and ask if she was here on her own free will. What'd he think he did; kidnap her?

"Mr. Wilde?" The receptionist politely said, and Nick turned away from the rabbit just as the elevator dinged! in arrival to see the gazelle leaning over the desk and holding his driver's license down towards him.

"Thank you," He quickly said, taking the card out of the receptionist's hoof and hastily pulling out his wallet and returning it to it's slot. When that was done he turned back to the elevator with a hard expression, but the doors were almost closed. Through the crack he saw the rabbit standing in the middle of the marble floor, his arms behind his back and his eyes scanning the colorful lights of the city.

Don't let him get to your head, Nick. Nick thought to himself as he took a calming breath and turned back to the front desk. It was just one glance. Don't let him ruin your night - It's already gone as off-plan as it could've.

"Mr Wilde," The receptionist said, pausing her typing and clicking for a moment to stare down at him with a polite but wary expression. "You have a reservation here at 9, right?"

Nick nodded at her question, and the gazelle turned back to her computer screen with a frown as one of her paws moved up from the keyboard to rub her muzzle.

"You're an hour and a half early," She commented, and Nick pulled his phone out of his pocket and turned on the screen to check the time. His ears perked in surprise when he saw that the receptionist was right and that it was only 7:34 in the evening. He could've sworn the past hour had felt like a lifetime...

"I guess you're right," He acknowledged, shrugging, as he smiled up at the receptionist and put his phone back into his pocket. "But the early fox hustles the rabbit!"

When the receptionist didn't react to his words Nick could feel an awkward pause taking control of their conversation. He grimaced as she moved her other paw up to her mouth, resting her elbows on the table and tapping her index fingers just in front of her nose as her intently focused frown grew.

"Is that a problem?" Nick warily asked, cocking his head, and the receptionist profusely nodded in answer, keeping her eyes locked with her monitor.

"It is," She said, turning to look at him with a stern expression as her hooves fell back to the desk. "I'd like to take you and the rabbit you came with to your table early, but we're completely booked this evening. I don't think I can let you in until the time you reserved."

"But that's over an hour away!" Nick suddenly exclaimed, his ears falling behind his head in panic as he stood up on his toes and stared up at the receptionist with huge eyes. "Please! There has to be some way! Our night's already gone way off plan - this is where everything was supposed to go right!"

The receptionist slowly shook her head, her expression becoming apologetic as she turned back to the computer.

"I'm sorry," She apologized as she began to click and type with her hooves again. "There's nothing I can do."

Nick growled at her answer and walked away from the front desk in anger. He didn't get very far away; he stopped dead in his tracks as his paws came up to press into his eyes and his claws dug into his forehead.

Could nothing go right tonight? He was supposed to seal the deal at dinner! Woo Judy completely over so that when they arrived at the penthouse he had rented for them he could give her her gift and confess to her his feelings. What was he supposed to do now? Cancel?

Of course not! Nick angrily thought to himself, swishing his tail back and forth along the ground. I can't do that; not after what we've already missed tonight. There has to be another way!

But he couldn't think of one, and his paws fell to his sides as his head hung limp from his torso in defeat. He had messed up yet another part of their night. As far as he was concerned, this was probably going to be the worst Christmas that Judy ever had.

Don't give up that easily, Nick! A voice within him thought. Remember who you are - you've come back from worse than this! It'll be just like the mall. Improvise! Take Carrots somewhere else nice; buy her something. Do something to make up for everything you've messed up! Don't just pout around!

"Cancel the reservation," Nick said as he turned around and walked back towards the front desk, a hard expression on his face while his eyes ignored everything else in the room except for the receptionist and his mind tried to find out where to take his partner next.

The receptionist bluntly but politely nodded at his answer, her attention still drawn to the computer. Nick bet she hadn't even noticed his mini freak-out a moment earlier.

"Any reason for your cancellation?" She asked, moving the mouse on the desk around while her other hoof typed a hundred words a second.

"Yeah," Nick madly said, his ear twitching in annoyance. "I'm not waiting around any longer. I've got places to be, things to do."

"Like what?" A small, worried voice asked. Nick turned his head away from the receptionist and towards the end of the front desk, and he felt all the blood drain from his face when he saw Judy standing at the foot of it. Her ears were hanging limp behind her head and her shoulders sagged, as if a weight greater than a building was resting on top of her. Her entire demeanor seemed defeated, but it was her expression that really killed him.

It was completely and utterly miserable. Her eyes were filled to the brim with despair while her mouth was hanging half-open. None of the life or light that was normally sparkling in her amethysts was there now. Nick could feel his heart breaking at the sight of her hopelessness - but it hurt just that little bit more since he didn't understand why she looked that way. He had only cancelled dinner! It wasn't like he was abandoning her on Christmas eve!

"Carrots!" He awkwardly exclaimed, the shock from her sudden entrance that was lodged in his mind refusing to ebb. "You weren't there a second ago!"

"You're cancelling?" She asked, her voice filled to the brim with emotion, as she began to walk towards him with minuscule, drawn-out steps that echoed with sadness.

"Only dinner!" Nick hastily explained, raising out his paws in front of him as he backed away from his partner, suddenly afraid of what she would do to him. But she didn't do anything except halt her advance, her eyes suddenly filled with hurt.

Time slowed down as Nick turned his attention inward, his panicked mind trying to figure out a way to correct the situation.

You've really done it now, Nick! A voice within him growled, but he silenced it with a quick and startled SHH! He couldn't afford any distractions right this second!

He also couldn't tell his partner about the true reason why he was cancelling. How much of his conversation with the receptionist she had heard was unknown to him, and he didn't have the balls to ask. He knew that if he did then that would mean he'd have to reveal why their night hadn't been as long as he had planned. And he was never going to do that! He needed another way out - one that would both eliminate all suspicion from his cancellation but would also heal his and his partner's now strained relationship...

"I don't think we'd enjoy this place for dinner," He coolly explained, forcing himself to straighten and return his outstretched paws to his sides. "There are restaurants better suited for rabbits and foxes nearby; we'll just head to one of those instead."

At his explanation Judy's eyes fell to the floor and stared at it blankly while her paws moved to clutch in front of her. A wave of realization washed over her face, the hurt from it disappearing and replaced with neutral understanding.

"I get what you're saying, Nick," She said, her voice polite but lacking any emotion at all. Nick nodded at her, breathing an internal sigh of relief at the fact that he had just covered his tail for what felt like the hundredth time tonight.

"Let's go, Fluff," He said, smiling, as he motioned and began to walk towards the elevator that's doors had just opened, revealing two well-dressed tigers stepping off onto the marble floor. Judy emotionlessly nodded, her eyes blankly staring at the floor as she followed behind him. He had to slow down to let her catch up to him, and he curiously stared at her as they entered the elevator.

"Merry Christmas!" The receptionist shouted in farewell as she turned towards the two new patrons, and Nick briefly looked over his shoulder and nodded at her, his mind still focused on his partner. Something was still up with her, but he couldn't put his paw on what. Regardless, it was probably something he could fix with a quick moment of on-the-spot humor!

"Stop worrying, Carrots," He warmly commanded as he turned in the elevator and raised up his arm to press the G-Floor button on the elevator's control panel. "Le Légume is overrated - just wait until you see what I have in store!"

"Okay," She flatly said, her eyes still locked with the floor as the elevator's doors closed. "But I've kind of lost my appetite."

"Oh," Nick said, surprised, as he walked to stand next to her as the elevator began its descent. His ears perked up as he listened to her steady and controlled breaths, and was almost hurt when she didn't move to stand closer him. What had happened between them? She had been so close to him only a few moments before. What in was he missing?

"There something on you-" He began to ask, ignoring the voice in his head that shouted at him to .

"Thanks for taking me out tonight, Nick," Judy interrupted, her paws visibly tightening around one another as a twinge of disappointment came onto her face. "I'm pretty worn out, though. I think I'll catch the train back to my place."

Nick stared down at Judy, dumbfounded by her words. But in her eyes he saw sincerity, and his ears fell behind his head and sadness took over his thoughts as his eyes fell towards the floor.

"If that's what you want," He said, disappointment evident in his voice as guilt took over his mind. Out of the corner of his vision he saw Judy minutely nod, and with that final, silent movement he was plunged into a state of self-loathing.

You can't do anything right, can you, you fox? He thought to himself, his voice hating but his mindset completely disgraced. You tried to take your friendship to the next level and look where it ended up! Look at what you've done!

I see it. He responded, defeated. A ruined night.

Exactly! A voice shouted at him. You had everything planned out perfectly, but when it didn't go as planned you freaked! All those on-the-spot decisions got you into this mess! But are you going to let the night end like this?

No. Nick answered after a moment of thoughtful silence, determination and energy slowly pouring into him.

We know she doesn't share the same feelings you have for her, but does that matter? The voice asked a little louder.

No! Nick responded, his gaze becoming filled with life as it moved up from the floor to look at the massive Christmas tree in the distance as the elevator passed under the mall's glass roof.

Excellent! The voice shouted at him. Now get out there and make Judy the happiest a rabbit's ever been on Christmas Eve!

As soon as the elevator came to a stop and its glass doors opened Nick took the lead, not allowing his partner to have a say in where they went as she on his heels. He immediately turned around the elevator's edge and walked through the marble entrance that led from the end of the mall to the Marché tower's lobby. He drew his phone from his pocket as he strode through the open, black-and-brown room with furniture apparently everywhere but virtually no mammals to be found.

He swiped open his phone and piloted his way to the Zoogle Maps app. He intently studied the streets and roads around the tower and mall, determined to find a place that he and his partner could go and have a good time. Several places popped out of their surroundings and caught his attention; a few bars, a department store, and most notably a museum on the history of fishing.

But as he walked through the sliding glass doors as the end of the lobby and out onto the cold pavement and frozen air he didn't think those places were viable possibilities for any kind of activity. Many of the small street shops and business that operated along Tundratown's streets were closing for the night. Their owners were locking the front doors or flicking off the buildings lights, and there seemed to be an absence of mammals both on the street and on the sidewalk and an almost tranquil stillness in the air.

Disgruntled by the decaying situation and his very limited options for activities Nick looked down back at his phone and slowed his pace, trying not to accidentally wander into someone or something. He prowled the streets of Zoogle Maps looking any place that was open on this late Christmas Eve, but only felt annoyed when nothing matched his criteria.

Nick shoved his phone back into his pocket and looked back up at the darkened street signs above the sidewalk, suddenly noticing that in the time he had been looking down at his phone Judy had wandered up to walk a few feet beside him, a neutral expression on her face, her ears limp behind her head, and her eyes cast off downwards towards the ground.

Come on, Sly. Nick thought to himself as he dove into his memories. There's got to be someplace you can take Carrots.

Suddenly an idea popped into his mind, and within a moment his eyes were alight with life and his tail began to swish back and forth just above the ground.

That's it! Nick excitedly thought to himself, trying to keep his outward appearance cool as to not reveal his excitement. His eyes scanned every inch of the turn in the otherwise straight road, trying to catch sight of an upcoming street sign he undoubtedly knew was somewhere up ahead. Inevitably it appeared right where it was supposed to be, and he plotted out a path in his head of where to go once they had turned down the road.

A small part of him yelled at him to stop as he turned down the street and to instead take Judy to the escalators leading down to the N. Lester Parkway Terminal that were visible just across the empty road, but he silenced the voice as he turned down to look at Judy. She didn't seem to mind his detour, but maybe that was because she didn't appear to be too aware of her surroundings. Her face seemed deep in solemn thought as it continued to blindly stare at the endlessly grey sidewalk. It hurt to see her so dead when she was normally so alive, and the strained silence between them was beginning to kill him.

"There's one last place I want to swing by, Judy," Nick said as he moved his eyes back up to study the mostly darkened shop signs overhead. "Before we separate for the night."

"Okay," Judy neutrally replied , her ears perking up ever-so-slightly at his use of her real name. The next few minutes passed as slow as a sloth on coffee. Nick didn't know where to take the conversation - if you could even call it that - next. He tried to move closer to his partner in a feeble attempt to grab her paw that he wasn't even sure he was allowed to do, and much to his disappointment and almost heartbreak she denied him her paw by stepping away from him, her eyes still solely focused on the ground.

No! A voice in him shouted. That's not something friends would do! Think before you act, Nick!

Nick obeyed the voice and turned back to look down the street, forcing his paws onto his pockets and his eyes dead ahead. He'd figure out how he'd deal with forever being stuck as a nothing but a mammal to his partner later. Right now, it was time for him to make sure that they'd remain friends.

The further Nick took them both down the sidewalk brightly light by all the building's Christmas lights surrounding them the brighter and more lively their surroundings became. The two or three story buildings around them gradually rose to ten or higher story buildings, and a small but steady stream of mammals filed past them at almost all times. Eventually cars began to pass beside them and the shops previously deserted were now as active as ever as they crossed into the Tundratown Downtown. Nick's eyes combed the signs passing overhead for the single one that signaled the next part of the night was to begin. His ears perked and eyes widened when he saw what he was looking for; a large, black sign with cursive red neon font that read Dimitur's Autos.

"Wait here for a second, Carrots," Nick commanded, stepping up onto the step just in front of the store's front door and placing his paws against the door before he turned his head over his shoulder to glance at his partner. She nodded at him in response, her jaw visibly clenching and her eyes still focused on the ground with a blank and unfeeling expression. Nick felt a jab of pain in his chest at her continued silence, and he frowned in determination as he pushed open the glass door and walked into the store.

The room was large, with chairs lining one wall while a low counter ran against the other. Several TVs hung on the walls and in the corners of the room, all of them playing a different kind of motor racing event. Behind the counter were shelves filled with car parts, automobile accessories, and oils - everything a motor head would kill for. The entire room was red, black, and white, and almost everything in it was car-themed. Even the cash register was an old, converted motor.

Nick marched up to the low, glass counter and leaned onto it with both his arms, swinging his head both ways behind it to try and catch the attention of a mammal he knew was somewhere in the building. To his surprise the mammal wasn't reading a magazine on a stool like he normally was. Nick moved his paw to ring the bell sitting next to the register and not even a moment later his acute ears picked up the sounds of a voice grunting and a chair sliding from the store's back room that was accessible through a doorless doorway a little ways down the length of the counter.

"Who's it?" A goat shouted in a heavy Aegean accent as he walked through the doorway, a stubborn frown carved into his forehead as his eyes scanned his store. "I have much, much trouble now, and-"

As soon as the goat caught sight of Nick his frowned disappeared completely and a surprised expression made its way onto his face.

"Nickolaos!" The mammal shouted in delight, jogging down the length of the counter and picking up Nick's paw off the counter to violently shake it. "My friend, what goes on? It's been long time since our last meeting!"

"Not much, Dimitur," Nick replied, sending the goat a toothy smile. "My hustling days are over. I've joined the force."

Dimitur raised an eyebrow in suspicion at his news and stopped shaking his paw, his long beard continuing to sway even after he returned his hoof to his side. Nick understood his suspicion and turned his smile into a polite and relaxed one, trying to ease the nearly visible tension floating in the air. They had known each other for years and had, on very rare occasions, worked together on major hustles. The goat was more than just an automobile expert; he also dealt in stolen antiquities.

"The force?" Dimitur repeated, puzzled, as he took a step away from the counter and crossed his arms. "I've never thought you to be a police, Nickolaos."

"Times change," Nick replied, shrugging, but he rolled his eyes when Dimitur still didn't ease up. "Listen, Beardo, I'm not here for a bust. I need a favor."

"Anything for an old friend," The goat said, finally beginning to look relaxed, and he rested his arms on the edge of the counter to mimic Nick's position. "What do you needs?"

"Me and a..." Nick began, halting when he tried to say a specific word that just wouldn't seem to come out. He had to force his mind with all his might to even utter it.

"Friend," He continued, managing his discontent with a silent gulp. "Had a little bit of an upset tonight."

"That mammal there you talking about?" Dimitur said, nodding towards something in the corner of the store. Nick turned his head around in a flash, afraid that his partner had soundlessly walked into the store and ruined his last surprise of the night. But Judy was still outside the store, sitting on the single step that led to the front door with her emotionless eyes focused straight ahead on an unseen force across the street.

"That's her," Nick confirmed, nodding, as he turned back to Dimitur. The goat's eyes flicked between him and Judy for several seconds before they widened in realization and wariness.

"She's that cop!" He loudly exclaimed, raising an eyebrow in suspicion, and Nick quickly raised out a paw and shhed! him, turning his head over his shoulder to make sure his partner hadn't heard his outburst. When he was confident that their conversation was still private he turned back to Dimitur with a worried and panicked expression.

"You're right," Nick quietly began, bending over to try and hide his mouth from the sight of passerbyers outside so that they couldn't look in through the store's windows and read his lips. "She is a cop, but how many times do I have to tell you that we're not here for a bust! I just you to need you to do something for me."

Dimitur slowly nodded, his eyes moving back to stare at Judy for several seconds. His gaze was stern as he studied her, and Nick was almost afraid that he'd ignore their long history and send them both on their way, but as he turned back to him a mocking smile came onto his face and the fear in Nick was replaced with nervous dread.

"She doesn't look happy, Nickolaos," Dimitur commented, straightening himself and crossing his arms as his eyelids closed halfway. "What'd you do to her? Ask her to sleep with you?"

Nick was appalled by the goat's assumption, but as he opened his mouth to respond in protest he couldn't seem to formulate any words. Dimitur's eyes widened to the size of tires at his silence and he cocked his head back in laughter. Nick felt his face heating up in embarrassment as he realized what he had just implied to the goat.

"You skýlos!" He shouted in between his laughs. "You absolute skýlos!"

"That's not what happened!" Nick swiftly whispered as his ear fell behind his head and he leaned towards the counter in a useless attempt to try and hide himself from his embarrassment.

"Of course not, skýlos!" Dimitur shouted a little louder than before, his smile only growing at Nick's denial. Nick growled in awkward frustration, but before he had a chance to seriously explain himself Dimitur's laughing died off and his head moved back to where it was before.

"I'm not going commenting on you, Nickolaos," He humorously said. "But what do you want me to do? I'm no master of romance!"

"I'm not interested in romance," Nick explained, but carefully elaborated when Dimitur's eyes began to become alight with life again. "Or that! She's a friend, for Savannah's sake, and I need to make sure that after tonight we'll still be friends."

Nick took a deep, calming breathe as he straightened himself and rubbed his paws down his green Christmas sweater that had become wrinkled in the last few minutes.

"Listen," He coolly began. "I know you're not one to hand your cars over to mammals, but I also know that you've got an entire garage full of classical ones behind the shop. I've got a license and I know you trust me, so would it be okay if you lent me one just for tonight?"

A frown formed on Dimitur's face at Nick's question, and he moved a hoof up to stroke his beard as his eyes fell to stare at the glass counter. Nick watched him ponder for several seconds until he snapped two of his fingers and pointed his hoof that had been stroking his beard right at him.

"I tell you what, Nickolaos," He began, his frown disappearing. "I compromise. You and me know each other for long time, yes, but I still no trust you with my lovers. Only I drive them. So for small fee I drive you and your rabbit anywhere you want to go in the city."

Nick slowly nodded in acceptance, not loving the idea of a third mammal joining him and his partner but knowing that the stubborn goat wouldn't compromise again he pulled his wallet from his pocket and began to sift through the mess inside for whatever cash he could find.

"Right," He said, pulling out a pawful of bills and beginning to tally up their value. "How much will this cost, Dimitur?"

"Four thousand," The goat answered, and Nick's eyes widened to become massive as he stared at Dimitur with a dumbfounded expression.

"Four thousand?" Nick said, stunned by the huge number, and Dimitur nodded in confirmation.

"Four thousand," He repeated, shrugging and becoming defensive when the shock on Nick's face didn't ebb. "What? I'll must leave the shop to escort you; what happens if customer comes?"

"And buys your entire store?" Nick rebuked, the shock in him giving way to annoyance and outrage.

"That's what I must account for, Nickolaos," Dimitur said, nodding, and Nick sent the mammal a small, fearsome snarl as he shoved the cash tightly held in his paw back into his wallet and took out his debit card.

"Fine," He angrily growled. "Take it."

Dimitur nodded as he took the card out of his paw and began to punch in buttons on the cash register, seemingly unphased by his anger. Nick lightly tossed his wallet onto the counter and rested his head on his paws as he bent over the counter, his fingers massaging his forehead. Everything just had to be expensive in the city, didn't it?

"Hey, uh, Nickoloas," Dimitur said, and Nick looked up at the goat with a stern expression to find him staring warily back at him, his hoof in position to swipe the card against the side of the cash register. "You don't have much money on this."

"Is it enough?" Nick asked, his voice steely, as he straightened and picked up his wallet. But before he could hand the goat a pawful of bills Dimitur intently shook his head and glanced down at the cash register.

"No. It enough," He explained, shrugging and raising his hoofs up to his sides. "It's a lot, though. I mean, are you really going to spend this much on a rabbit."

Nick looked over his shoulder and locked his eyes onto her partners face. At the mere sight of her he felt his heartbeat speed up, and once he saw what she was looking at it leaped out of his chest. Her expression and eyes weren't flat and emotionless like before; instead a small, sad smile was etched onto her face and her gorgeously lavender eyes were focused on her necklace that she had raised up from her neck to h old out in front of her.

She seemed so perfect sitting there, and Nick was absolutely speechless at the quiet and solemn disappointment radiating out of her. He didn't even have to think for a second to answer Dimitur.

"Yes," He answered without turning towards the goat, his eyes glossing over as they moved down to look at the necklace's heart shaped diamond that both reflected and absorbed the half-dozen different colors of Christmas lights lining the store front. Nick heard Dimitur say some kind of acknowledgement, but he was too overwhelmed to say something in return. He had completely ruined Judy's night In every possible way. He didn't really understand how he did it, but he really didn't care. This car ride had to be the best car ride either of them would ever take. There wasn't room for anything else.

"Nickolaos?" Dimitur inquired, and Nick finally turned towards him, a polite expression on his face. He couldn't help but feel a little humbled by the sight of his partner. Not that he'd ever let her know that...

"Where I take you?" Dimitur continued, holding out Nick's debit card in his outstretched hoof. Nick took the plastic object in his own paw and returned it to its slot in his wallet with a small, sad smile that resembled his partner's carved onto his face.

"4653 North Bernstein Avenue," He melancholically answered, glancing up at Dimitur. "It's the Bernstein Heights Luxury Apartments."

"I know where you speaking of, Nickolaos," Dimitur replied, nodding, as he walked down the length of the counter to stand in the doorway he had entered through a few minutes prior. "I pull car around front through alley at shops side. I meet you out in two minutes."

"Right," Nick called out as he turned away from the counter and walked towards the store's front door. He pulled open the large, glass door and was immediately blasted with a huge burst of ice-cold air. He shivered as he stepped off of the store's front step and onto the pavement, shoving his paws into his pockets and bringing his shoulders up to try and keep his neck warm. At first he stepped around his partner, keeping his eyes focused on the shops across the road while secretly seeing what she'd do now that he had returned.

Yet she remained motionless, waiting for him to make the first move as she stared at the sidewalk with a blank expression, all the solemn happiness that was in it when he had looked at her a few minutes prior suddenly gone.

"Get up, Carrots," Nick warmly commanded, trying to sound as friendly as he could as he brought his paw out into the cold again and extended it out towards Judy. To his surprise she took it, pulling herself up from the step to join him on the sidewalk. Her eyes still didn't dare look at him and as soon as she was straight she pulled her paw away from his, apparently determined to avoid as much contact as she could with him.

Nick turned away to stare at the alleyway just next to the shop, his heart feeling burdened, and before he knew what he was doing words began to pour from his mouth. They weren't words of confession or anything like that, but they were still words that had deep-seeded meanings and feelings within them.

"Listen, Judy," He began, perking his ears at the sound of an old motor roaring to life. "I know tonight hasn't gone exactly as it should've."

Out of the corner of his vision Nick saw his partner's ears perk and her face turn towards him at his admittance, but this time it was his eyes that wouldn't meet hers.

"I made mistakes," He admitted, his ears perking further as the sound of a vehicle travelling over concrete began to echo out of the alleyway. A humored grin came onto his face as he realized how terrible his speech sounded.

"This is going to so sound cheesy," He quietly added before he continued at a much louder and confident volume. "I know I'm not one for apologizing, Fluff, but I'm sorry."

As soon as his words left his mouth the noise of the approaching car's engine became almost deafening and a moment later an ancient, goat-sized Model-Z car rounded the corner and pulled up to the sidewalk just in front of the store. Dimitur was in the driver's seat, one of his hooves on the steering wheel while the other was hanging over the side of the car's door. He was looking expectantly at Nick, but Nick didn't hold his gaze for very long, instead moving to hold open the car's backseat door and turning towards his partner with a huge, genuine smile.

"Carrots," He amicably said, tilting his head ever so slightly in a bout of innocence. "Let me make the evening up to you."

Judy looked absolutely stunned and dumbfounded by the surprise journey he was offering her. Her clenched jaw and paws gradually relaxed as her wide eyes studied Nick and the car, but eventually a small smile made its way onto her face. Nick smiled back at her more than before, his heart taking leaps and bounds as she strode up to the car and took his outstretched paw, using it to push herself into the roofless back seats.

Good job, Nick. Was all he could think as he followed her in, slamming the door behind him as he stepped up into the car and took his seat next to her. The century-old vehicle lacked seat belts and other safety equipment that was standard on modern automobiles, so instead he and his partner resorted to holding the car's doors on their respective sides. He would've much rather have held her paw like at the mall, but he forced himself to remain sitting across from her, just far away from one another so that they wouldn't be mistaken for a couple but close enough so that they looked like friends.

Dimitur was much quieter than he had been in his shop. He didn't speak a word to him or Judy, instead turning his head around to polite nod at the rabbit sitting directly behind him with a polite but focused expression. Judy sent him a polite smile in return, and Dimitur turned towards him next, politely nodding but his eyes wordlessly asking a question.

Is car good? Nick imagined the goat asking out loud, and he smiled and nodded in answer. Dimitur's tense expression relaxed marginally at his silent answer, and he turned back to face straight ahead as he pulled the car away from the sidewalk and out into the middle of the street.

The air whirled around the vehicle as it sped down the wide, partially busy street, and the icy turbulence blew back Nick's facial fur. He ignored it, though, turning his eyes so that they were focused straight upward. He wasn't awe-inspired by the green and red Christmas decorations on virtually every building the car passed like he could see his partner was out of the corner of his vision; instead he was studying the strings of Christmas lights hung between the buildings. They were stunning when set against the backdrop of the night sky...

"You know," Judy lightly began, her voice holding a twinge of elated caution. "This night isn't going how I thought it would."

"You're telling me," Nick warmly joked in response, turning to look at the rabbit sitting across from him who's face was still focused on the passing buildings. "Although I'll spare you the details of what went wrong."

"That'd probably be for the best," Judy merrily replied, turning towards him with a large, heat-filled smile as the car slowed down to stop at a red light. Nick smiled back at her, taking his arm resting on top of the car's door and placing it on the leather seat. He could feel his heart speeding up as he scooted closer to her inch by inch, trying to be as romantic as possible while not ruining their fragile relationship by overextending his boundaries. Yet to his delight she didn't seem to mind, instead beginning to scoot towards him. They met in the middle of the seat, their paws only a few inches away from one another, but before he could say something witty and take her paw into his own a loud honk ruined their otherwise silent and private moment.

Nick whirled his head around to look at the lane on the passenger's side of the car, and a moment later a low, black Lambborghini pulled up next to them. The car's tinted black window slowly rolled down, revealing the face of an eerily familiar big-eared fox with a smug expression and a pair of black sunglasses.

"Finnick!" Nick exclaimed, flinging himself away from Judy to stare at the small fox, both his paws gripping it while his head hung over it and over the road. "What are you doing here?"

"I could ask ya the same thing, Nicky!" Finnick grumpily responded, flicking his free paw out the window towards him while his other tapped against the top of the lambborghini's steering wheel. "Where you been these past few months? I thought we was hustlin buddies!"

"I told you I don't do that anymore!" Nick explained, his voice hushed and his ears folding behind his head as he leaned further over the edge of the car.

"I thought you was lying!" Finnick loudly responded, visibly annoyed by their conversation, as he raised his deep voice to a dangerous level. "Now what you doin' out? Don't you got to patrol or something?"

"Is something wrong, Nick?" A voice behind Nick asked, and he spun his head around to see Judy kneeling right behind him, her straightened ears visibly tense and an alerted expression on her face as she peered over his shoulder and stared down at Finnick, who in turn pointed a finger at her and began to laugh obnoxiously.

"Oh, I see what's up, Nicky!" He exclaimed in understanding as his sunglassed gaze turned towards Judy. "Just be careful, rabbit! Your partner here's got the tendency to go at it 'raw'!"

Nick didn't see Judy's reaction to Finnick's crude comment, instead leaning as far as he could towards the short fox with outrage building up in his eyes and embarrassment welling up underneath his facial fur.

"That's not what happening!" He swiftly rebuked, his ears falling even further behind his head. Finnick raised an eyebrow underneath his sunglasses and quizzically stared at him for several seconds until he closed his mouth and slowly nodded.

"Oh, I see," He politely said in understanding, leaning forward to whisper into Nick's ear. "She a bit clingy, is she? I'm your ride out if you need to ditch."

Nick backed away from Finnick in shock and disgust, a frown forming on his face and his ears straightening in anger. Couldn't he understand that he wanted to stay with Judy? Why'd he have to show up in the first place, anyway, when he had an entire city full of other places he could be?

"Just get out of here," Nick growled, awkwardly rubbing his eyelids with his paw as humiliation began to build up inside of him while his other paw pointed down the street.

"Alright," Finnick responded, resting his arm on the top of his car door as he looked ahead at the road and slowly pulled around the corner. "Merry Christmas Nick. You too, Dimitur!"

"And you, Finnick!" Dimitur shouted, leaning over to admire Finnick's Lambborghini from the passenger's seat. "And stop stealing cars!"

Nick let his paw covering his eyes fall to hang limply against the exterior of the car's door once enough humiliation abandoned him, and he watched Finnick's Lambborghini speed off down a long, narrow street away from their car. He moved himself so that he wasn't half hanging out of the car, and as soon as he was in his position on the car's passenger side the intersection's stoplight turned green, and the antique car suddenly jutted forward as it began to accelerate down the street.

Nick looked over at Judy with an apologetic expression, the humiliation from his failure to handle the situation with Finnick still present in him, but she was turned away from him, her legs crossed and her body as far away from him as she could make it without jumping out of the car. One of her arms was crossed over her chest while her other was vertical to her head, resting on the door's door handle while her paw supported her chin. But the worst part about her demeanor was her facial expression.

She was facing straight ahead, frowning, with her stiff ears limp behind her head and her jaw clenched in apparent anger. Her eyes were full of hurt and anger, and when Nick opened his mouth to apologize to her they flashed towards him.

"You've done enough tonight, Nick," Judy said, her voice filled to the brim with fury as her gaze became cold but plagued with a twinge of pain and she returned to stare at some unseen object straight ahead. Nick continued to stare at Judy for several silent seconds, shock and pain visible on his face. But she didn't seem to care, instead acting as if he wasn't in the car, and he shoved his paws into his already cramped pants pockets as he stared down at the car's wooden floor with an absolutely defeated expression.

He could feel in his aching heart that this had been the final piece in a puzzle called mistake. His bad luck had prevented them from doing anything they were supposed to do tonight and the universe had spat on every attempt he made to try and correct the situation.

No; that wasn't true at all! It had been him that had ruined tonight! At the bottom of the hill, in the restaurant's lobby, right here in the car! It was his fault! If only he had kept tonight simple, like a trip movie or something. Yet that wouldn't have worked either! He could easily see himself botching up that scenario in a thousand different ways.

Nick, Nick, Nick. He hatefully thought to himself with a silent vow to never try anything romantic again. You had it all. A job, a house, and a friend who cared about you. Now what do you have? You'll still have a job - but you won't have a partner after tonight, and with her goes the only friend who really cares about you.

"Ehhhh, if it makes you feel any better, rabbit," Dimitur awkwardly began, his voice sounding unsure as if he didn't know if he was allowed to speak or not, and he looked over his shoulder to glance at Judy as the street took a long straightaway. "I known Nickolaos for long time. He good mammal. Never go at it raw."

Nick visibly cringed at the goat's inappropriate statement, bending over in his seat so that his elbows were resting on his knees and his arms and hunched back shield his even more panicked face from view. He moved up his paws from his pockets to firmly clasp the sides of his head and ears, but that still didn't stop him from catching an annoyed "Thanks." leaving Judy's mouth. The last of his dignity had just been shot in the head, but compared to the rest of the night that hardly seemed like any problem.

The remainder of the car ride was longer and more stressful than all of the chases he had done on the force condensed into a single moment. Sometime in the ride he moved his paws to rest limply on his lap and he straightened himself. His eyes and ears were focused on the quickly passing cars and buildings to the car's passenger side, ignoring both Judy and Dimitur, who seemed incredibly comfortable with the situation as he nonchalantly talked about something Nick didn't bother paying attention to.

His mind was focused on the mammal sitting at the other end of the car's back seat, and as he moved up a paw to support his chin from the car's door handle the self-hateful thoughts began to die from him at the mere thought of her. He always had been, was, and always would be a selfish mammal. This evening was supposed to have been the best Christmas Eve she'd ever have; and tomorrow was supposed to have been the best Christmas she'd ever have!

A small but tempting idea popped into Nick's head, and his ears perked ever-so-slightly at the thought. He had ruined their friendship and their partnership, and those were unrepairable, but if he played what few cards he had left right then he might just be able to save Judy's Christmas day. He'd show her up to the penthouse once they arrived at the apartment building and leave her in the luxury suite. It hurt to know that he'd have to deliberately remove himself from the scene without a farwelling word, but he deserved nothing less after the evening's debacle.

When the Model Z pulled up at the glass entrance of the Bernstein apartment building Dimitur ended his seemingly endless rant and looked over his shoulder with a contented smile. Nick's gaze flicked between him and Judy, who was pushing the car's door with her feet and jumping onto the sidewalk's pavement a few inches below.

"Well, I hope you both enjoy the ride!" Dimitur merrily exclaimed as Nick scooted across the back seat and jumped out of the vehicle. Judy had already walked away from the car to lean against the apartment building's white stone front, her arms crossed over her chest to shelter herself from the cold while her ears were stiffly forced behind her head. The necklace he had bought her earlier in the night had disappeared underneath the collar of her red sweater and her cold but much less hateful eyes were focused on the sidewalk, slowly flicking between stained and discolored sections of it as if she was deep in thought.

She appeared as if the sudden amount of hate that had sprung up when Finnick had interrupted the two of them was beginning to subside, but it still didn't look like she was in any mood to forgive him - not like he was expecting her to or anything.

As soon as his feet were securely on the sidewalk Nick turned his face towards Dimitur with a subtly angry expression. He felt like his rude presence and laid-back demeanor had played a subtle but significant part in ruining what was supposed to be a romantic and tranquil drive, but as soon as the goat saw his face he burst out in laughter and pulled back the car's parking break with a loud crank.

"Oh, you thank me later, Nicholaos!" He called out over his shoulder as he pulled out into the middle of the now deserted street. "Merry Christmas!"

Nick didn't bother watching Dimitur leave, instead walking away from the street and into the middle of the sidewalk to look at Judy, who was watching the Model Z race down the street and away from them with an unfocused expression. As soon as the vintage car turned down a side road with a loud squeal her gaze fell back to the sidewalk and her paws tightened around her sides.

"It's cold and late," She flatly and sternly commented, her voice and expression lacking any kind of friendly thoughts. "We should head inside, if this is where we're staying."

"It is," Nick respectfully answered with a nod, his expression stern and focused but his heart as vulnerable to her cold voice as flesh was to a bullet. He temporarily shoved his paws into his front pockets as a piercing wind blew down the sidewalk, ruffling his facial fur as he chattered his predatory teeth. He motioned towards the apartment's front doors with a flick of his head and began to walk towards them without a moment's pause. In the corner of his vision he saw Judy slowly following behind him, her ears still behind her head and her paws falling from her sides to clasp one another as her arms rigidly hung from her sagging shoulders.

The Bernstein Avenue Luxury Apartments, as the building was called according to a large metallic sign above the front desk, was just as nice as Nick had expected. Just from the lobby's extravagantly white furniture and smooth, brown marble floors he could already tell that the place would be light-years ahead of his own apartment.

He hurriedly walked towards the building's front desk, directly across the completely abandoned lobby and opposite the building's automatic sliding glass doors. Besides him and Judy there was only one other mammal present in the room; a tall ibex in a grey overcoat and a loose black blouse behind the front desk and who seemed to want to be home this late on Christmas Eve instead of out working.

She looked up at Nick and Judy as soon as the building's sliding glass doors closed behind them, sealing them in a physical feeling of warmth and ending the numbness brought on by the wind. Nick sent the mammal a polite smile and nod, and she returned the same, her face lacking any kind of emotion other than one which desired to return to whatever she had been doing before.

"Merry Christmas, Mr. Wilde," She greeted, raising out a hoof to point down a hallway to the desk's side as her eyes only briefly glanced past Nick and to Judy. "You're suite's been left unlocked. The keys are just inside and the elevators are just down this hall and to the right."

"Thank you," Nick cordially responded, turning his path away from the desk and proceeding down the hallway the ibex had pointed down. The ibex sent him a final smile before she turned her eyes downward to focus on something behind the desk; most likely her phone or a magazine.

Nick didn't slow down for Judy, who had only just began to walk the short distance down the hall to reach the elevators when he had already reached them. He spared a quick glance towards her before he raised up on his toes and pressed the up arrow button on the elevator's control panel. The large, unadorned metal doors in front of him immediately opened, revealing a clean yet somewhat old interior that wouldn't be that memorable. Nick quickly stepped in, keeping his arm extended upwards so that his paw could hold down the Open Doors button at the bottom of the control panel in the elevator's interior.

Judy walked in several seconds later, her stature just as closed and secluded as before, and as soon as she was in the elevator Nick lifted his paw off of the button he was holding down and moved it upwards to press the Penthouse button. The elevator began to move upwards as soon as the doors shut, and as their ascent began cheesy Christmas music began to play on the overhead speakers.

Nick ignored the jingling and singing, instead plotting out a solemn plan that he knew couldn't go astray in his head. He'd make sure that Judy got into the penthouse without any trouble and then slip out; and that'd be it. He'd leave the way he came to the building, following the long path that Dimitur took to take them here back to the Tundratown city center where he'd catch a train back into the heart of Zootopia.

If I can even afford the fare... He begrudgingly but unregretfully thought, one of his paws moving out of his back pocket to fumble and touch with the small, velvet case inside of his front one as a sudden spurt of sadness pulsed in his undefended mind. I might be able to return the pin. That'd help cover some of the cost for tonight.

The unique sound of fur and clothing ruffling derailed Nick's train of thought, and he looked over at Judy to see what was causing the sound. His already broken heart shattered completely when he saw her paws unhooking the back of her necklace. She did it without any emotion whatsoever, her face as empty as a clean bowl while her eyes still didn't meet his, instead only rising up partially from the floor.

Once the piece of jewelry was off her neck she held hit out towards him in one paw, her flat gaze not even sparing a last look at it as it rose to stare up at his face.

"I think you should have this, Nick," She commented, and Nick moved his dumbfounded and crestfallen eyes downwards to stare at the necklace's heart-shaped diamond pendant. She was giving it back to him? Even after he had bought it as a gift for her? Had he really been that big of a jerk tonight?

Yes. A part of him instantly responded, and he held his paw out as his ears and tail became limp. Judy dropped the necklace into his palm, letting the piece slowly slip out of her paw until the weight of the diamond pulled the necklace's silver chain into his own paw.

Nick stared at the beautiful piece for what felt like an eternity. With this piece of jewelry went their Christmas Eve. He wanted to curl up and die at that thought, but all he did was gulp and shove the necklace into his back pocket just as the elevator beeped! and the metal doors slowly opened. He didn't move an inch when they were completely open, revealing a short, carpeted stretch of floor that led to a set of two polished oak doors beyond them. Instead he let Judy take the lead, sullenly following behind her as she strolled out into the hallway with his neck bent and shoulders sagging.

He didn't pay much attention to his surroundings, barely noticing one of the potted plants on both of the elevator's sides as he walked passed it. His mind uninterested and his heart still throbbing with pain, he turned his eyes away from the back of Judy's head to stare down the length of what had turned out to be a very short hallway that served no purpose other than to connect the elevator to the entrance of the penthouse. At both its ends the white plaster wall was replaced by thick glass panels that looked out over the surrounding, shorter apartment buildings and kept the warm temperature from escaping through the panes and into the freezing air beyond.

"I'm heading to bed, Nick," Judy stated, her voice unnaturally hard, and Nick casually and uninterestedly turned towards her, his expression bored and his paws clenched in his pockets. He sent her cold face that's eyes were prying into his own half-lidded ones a short nod and took a deep, tired breath as he turned back to absentmindedly and longingly stare at the elevator's interior.

"You can stay here for tonight, Judy," He said, turning his eyes down to stare at her stiff frame and expression when the elevator's doors slowly closed. He knew he needed to get out before he missed the last overnight train, but his throbbing heart wasn't in any rush to leave just yet.

"I think I'm gonna head out," He said, trying to remain calm even as the night's disappointing ending bored a hole through his thoughts, and he flicked his head in the direction of the elevator. At his unorthodox farewell Judy's jaw visibly tightened and he saw her paws that had moved to hang by her pants pockets clench in fists of continued anger. Her ears became even stiffer than before, and she brusquely nodded.

"Right," She manged to choke out through her clenched teeth, her voice sounding like her mind had tried to contain the rage within it. Nick nodded at her, a small, troubled frown forming on his face as he turned away and began to stroll back to the elevator. He still wasn't quite sure what he had done to make her so angry, but he didn't really care. He knew for an absolute fact that once they went back to work on December 26th they wouldn't be partners - or friends - anymore.

"Nick..." Judy coldly called out, and Nick turned over his shoulder to see what she wanted. Her paw was extended upwards and jiggling on the door's polished metal doorknob while her face was turned towards him, an unamused and unfeeling expression painted onto it.

"It's locked," She flatly stated, and at her words Nick's attempt at keeping his demeanor as strict as possible like he had been doing well for these past few moments ended and he almost leaped towards the door as a startled expression came onto his face. The door could not be locked! It couldn't!

But his worst fears were realized when he stormed past Judy, accidentally pushing her away from the door and into the middle of the hallway, and jiggled the doorknob for himself.

"No," He quietly mumbled, outrage beginning to pulse up inside him as his voice escalated dramatically in volume. "No!"

He jiggled the doorknob harder, his paw moving with such force that he almost thought the doorknob itself would rip right out of its screws. But it didn't, and he ended his futile attempt at opening the door with a defeated expression. He had felt this before over the long evening, but standing here so close to paradise yet not in it was just the universe's final spit in the eye, and he gave up.

Ironically, he began to laugh. It wasn't forced or obnoxious like he had expected it to sound, but instead sad. He almost mistook it for tearless weeping at first, but as his paw fell from the doorknob to limply hang by his side and his head fell leaned forward so that his forehead was resting against the door he realized that the entire night had gone completely astray; and that was pretty funny.

He fell to his knees, his forehead slowly sliding down the height of the door, before he turned over to lazily rest the back of his head against the door. He extended his legs out in front of him and rested his paws in his lap, trying to make himself as comfortable as he could on the hallway's hard, beige-carpeted floor. He turned his worn-out gaze upwards to stare at Judy, who had backed away to lean against the wall opposite him with her arms crossed against her red sweater. Even when she looked angry she was uniquely stunning, and Nick turned his toothy grin into a huge, warm smile the longer he stared at her for.

"This isn't exactly how I expected the night to go," He casually commented with a loud exhale, turning his eyes away from Judy to stare out the window at the end of the short hallway and observe thick, white clouds slowly blocking out the night sky. Out of the corner of his vision he saw Judy slowly slide down the wall she was leaning against to sit directly across from him, one of the plotted plants next to the elevator almost brushing against her fur.

"What were you expecting?" She warily asked, her head tilted out to her side and her chin raised in suspicion, but Nick still didn't look towards her, instead smiling as his eyes moved downward from the sky to study some nearby building's rooftops and as a memory that seemed like ancient history began to play in his mind.

"I had a carriage ride planned," He longingly began, imagining the night that could've happened if it hadn't been all his fault. "Right there at the start, when we just got off the train. It was supposed to be the perfect introduction to your Christmas Eve, but the reindeer that were supposed to pull it got held up in Finnmark."

Nick glanced towards Judy without turning his head, his eyes studying her continued cautious expression. Despite his honesty it looked like she still didn't trust him, and he smiled at that thought as his eyes returned to look out the window. It didn't really matter if she trusted him, did it? He was just some shifty fox to her now.

"Afterwards we were supposed to go ice skating," He remarked. "But you saw what happened there with the police. It's easy to say that that also didn't go quite to plan, but what's worse is that it pushed back our dinner reservation so much that I had to cancel."

Nick saw Judy's ears perk from behind her head at the mention of their ruined dinner and he vaguely noticed her cautious expression fall, but his mind didn't move away from thinking about their evening.

"I had thought that I could jumpstart the evening with a car ride from a 'friend', but he charged me a fortune for what turned out to be yet another disaster," Nick continued, his paw falling into his pocket and fiddling with the small, velvet case inside for several moments before he drew it out to rest on his lap. "At that point I just gave up. I figured, 'Hey, you hate me, right? So what's the point in trying to correct anything now?'."

"Nick..." Judy lightly said, her voice trailing off, and Nick glanced towards her. The frown that had been furrowed into the top of her head had departed, leaving behind two wide, almost warm eyes. All the wariness and caution that had previously been firmly rooted in her face had also disappeared. Her expression was now touched yet hindered by a touch of regret, but before he could study her face Nick deliberately turned away, not feeling any more need to stare at her.

"You didn't have to do all that for me," She said, her voice plagued with melancholy, but Nick only chuckled at her words, his laughs plagued just as much as her voice was by the almost bittersweet feeling.

"Of course I did," He elaborated, flicking the back of his head towards the wooden door behind him while his eyes blankly studied a radiator on the neighboring building's roof. "It's your first Christmas away from home; what was I supposed to do? Let you wander around the city on what's supposed to be the merriest night of the year? I took it into my own paws to make your Christmas Eve one that you'd never forget, and I did just that! By botching the entire thing! Even right down to getting into this stupid apartment I rented."

Nick let loose a stressed breath from his lungs, and he felt his paw slide down from his lap and fall into his pocket to fumble with the small, velvet case inside. Before he could even understand what he was doing he drew the box out and held it out in front of him, slowly turning it in his paw as his eyes studied every millimeter of it.

What was he going to do with the pin? Wasn't his plan to return it? That's what he wanted to do. But as his hard expression turned upward to stare at Judy's amethysts worriedly staring back at him he held up his arm with the box firmly rooted inside his paw and threw it to her. Alea iacta est.

"Here-" He unsympathetically said the moment the velvet box was in the air, and a moment later Judy caught it in both her paws, her eyes staring down at it curiously. "I bought you this. Figure you should have it since it's not doing me any good sitting in my pocket."

Nick watched every twitch of Judy's nose and the perking of her ears as she studied the case without any true interest, his mind still overwhelmingly cynical. One of her paws slowly opened up the case as she held it out in front of her in her opposite paw, and when she saw the gold and amethyst gift inside her jaw dropped and her eyes became saddened, as if they were weighed down by a million different thoughts.

"Why?" She asked, emotion suddenly filling every decibel of her quiet voice, as she looked up at him, her ears falling limp behind her head and her eyes beginning to gloss over. Nick huffed in mock amusement at her question, an impudent grin forming on his face.

"Why do you think?" He rhetorically asked, his mouth getting ahead of his mind as he leaned his head in towards her. "Because I love you."

At those three, seemingly simple words Judy's eyes flicked back down to the pin. Nick could see her entire body beginning to shake in a fit of some emotion he didn't even bother trying to figure out, and her paw moved up to cover her now gaping mouth as the smallest of tears began to roll down from her now dripping eyes that looked more like wet crystals in the yellow lamplight.

"Nick..." She started, her body now violently trembling, but her voice became caught up in her mouth before it could escape past her paw. Nick huffed in dry humor, the same self loathing thoughts that had appeared in his mind before beginning to reform.

Great. Was all he could think as he turned away from her to look back out the window, her crying face now completely out of view as his face heated up in hate and his ears fell behind his head. She's crying now. You made her cry, Nick. What the hell.

"I think I'll head out now," He stiffly commented, moving his paw up to awkwardly rub his neck as he lifted the back of his head from against the wooden door. "I'm sorry, Judy. For everything. Maybe I'll see you Monday. I might take a few days off. Or a few-"

"WeEks!"He exclaimed in surprise, his voice becoming modified as something big barreled into him, knocking him away from the wall, into the middle of the hallway, and onto his back. His now wide open and focused eyes searched for the thing that had hit him straight on, but in the second before his head hit the carpeted floor and his eyes snapped shut in pain all they saw was a flash of grey and red.

He grunted when his head did slam into the hard, probably concrete floor, and he grunted as whatever had hit him landed directly on top of him. After a half-second of recovery from the painful collision his eyelids slowly opened, but before they could truly make sense of his situation something soft collided with the end of his muzzle and two equally soft things slithered around his neck.

That caught him completely off guard. His half-opened eyes became fully widened in a single moment, and as he stared down at the thing laying on top of him just as it pressed every inch of itself into his face and green winter sweater he felt his eyes widen in shock to the point where he though they might exploded out of their sockets.

Judy was on top of him, her lips firmly pressed against his while her arms were curled around his neck and her paws were gripping the back of his skull, just below the base of each of his ears. Her ears were limply sprawled out against her back and her eyes were clenched shut, but her cheeks were still damp with teardrops. She seemed passionate about kissing him, as if she had been planing out how to do it for months.

Yet Nick didn't kiss her back. He was too stunned to move or think about anything else other than why? She hated him for what happened over the course of the evening, didn't she? But before he could answer or ask those question she pulled away from him, a sad, toothy grin on her face and her watering eyes only marginally opened.

"Nick," She emotionally and affectionately choked out, her words hindered by the tears continuing to pour down her cheeks as well as the sad sounds escaping long with them. "I love you too."

"What?" He loudly exclaimed in confusion as he leaned in towards her with a quizzical and almost stern expression, not understanding why she had told him that and if she meant it or not. But as soon as that one word slipped past his Judy's eyes closed and she forced her muzzle into his again, knocking the back of his head back against the floor.

Nick was still startled as she continued to kiss and burrow into him, but the longer he stared at her ecstatic but overwhelmed face the more and more the emptiness in his chest disappeared, and as his arms fell from their awkward half-raised position they had risen to to fall onto the back of Judy's head and her shoulder blades he closed his eyes and finally began to return the kiss.

He still didn't know why she had suddenly shown him a huge show of affection, but as his paws pressed her chest closer to his and her head closer to his muzzle something inside him told him to just hold his tongue for a few seconds and enjoy the moment. So that's exactly what he did.

His heart had been speeding up ever since the barely minute long ordeal had begun, but as Judy's short, blunt claws burrow into the skin on the back of his head it felt like his entire chassis would erupt as if it were a volcano. Joy began to pour through him like a tidal wave, sweeping away all of the hateful feelings and negative emotions that had almost consistently ruined him. He had finally done something right, even if he didn't know what it was! But that really didn't matter, did it now? Because she loved him! Oh, how that made his heart soar!

He could feel his paws beginning to sweat as their kissing continued, and he felt an instinctive, almost primal urge to roll around and turn their already personal session into something a little deeper. He obeyed the feeling, pushing himself off the ground with his legs to roll on top of Judy, who quickly followed suit so that he was back on top. He could sense through her hot sweater and burning fur that she was feeling the exact same urge he was.

He began to cautiously pull her body even closer to him, his paw resting on her lower back travelling further south until it was completely resting on top her jeans, his fingers beginning to gently stroke her tail. The heat being created by the friction between them was beginning to become overwhelming, and as their tongues continued to forcefully wrestle with one another Nick took it into his own paws to ease the tension building up inside him.

He delicately scooted his rear end up to the base of the glass panel behind him so that his arms were holding Judy from falling backwards as she sat on his lap, her chest still buried into his and her paws plunging deeper into the fur on the back of his head.

"I'm so sorry," She suddenly and emotionally cried between kisses, and Nick barely cracked open his gaze as fresh tears dripped from her tightly shut eyes and onto the end of his muzzle.

"I thought you didn't like me in that way..." She continued, pulling away from his lips to almost silently weep with a toothy, sad grin as her paws moved to grip his cheek bones and as she pressed her forehead against his. "When you left me at the bottom of the hill in Central Park I didn't want to think that you wanted to leave me, but deep down some part of me kept shouting that what I've been feeling for you since our partnership began was never going to be returned. So when we didn't do anything in the Park except walk and talk I began to think that the whole night was just going to be some awkward affair."

Judy sniffled and stifled a few tears as he paws pressed further into the fur above his cheek bones. A small, firm frown became etched into Nick's forehead as his eyes completely opened. He wanted to take in every second of this moment, even if that meant that he'd get angry at himself over and over and over again.

"I thought something between us clicked at the mall," She wistfully recounted, tears still pouring down her cheeks as her grief-stricken grin grew in both size and sadness. "I thought that you liked me that way once you bought me the necklace. I was so happy. But when you cancelled dinner I truly thought that you were just trying to get me out of your fur. And in the car ride with that goat I honestly thought that you were just keeping me around so you could humor yourself, so I started to hate you."

Judy's head began to sag forward, all the rigidity that was in it before routed, and her grin shrank and became even sadder than before. Nick straightened himself further, staring directly into her closed eyelids, solemn yet determined resolve building up inside him. He didn't want to see her like this

"I was so angry with you," She mumbled, her body gently shuddering with each breath. "I never wanted to see you again. But I didn't know anything. I was just some dumb, closed-minded rabbit that couldn't see all the good you were trying to do. I'm so sorry, Nick. I'm so sorry..."

Her voice trailed off as her forehead fell to limply rest against his chin, tears still dripping onto his green sweater and her ears almost deathly motionless as they were pressed between her ruffled sweater and his paw. Nick stared down at her without moving, not wanting to disturb her just yet. A sorrowful expression became entrenched in his face as he moved the paw resting on the back of her head to guide her chin upwards. Her wet, sparkling eyes opened to stare at him from only a few inches away, but his own silence was beginning to kill him. She was crying because she thought it was her fault that their night had almost ended up destroying any relationship they'd ever hope to share when in reality it had all been his fault. He had to let her know she was still just as innocent as she had been lazily resting her head against him as they rode the train into the city center.

"You have nothing to apologize for, fluff," He replied, placing his paw against her puffy, wet cheek while his thumb wiped a tear from the corner of her eye, his voice filled with bittersweet thoughts while his expression reflected the melancholy in her face back at her. "All that trouble was because I didn't have a backup plan. If the slightest thing went wrong, my solution was to do nothing at all."

Nick could feel tears of his own beginning to fill his vacant eyes, and before he knew it he was the one who was smiling in sadness while Judy was the one staring solemnly and silently back at him, the only movement on her face her twitching nose and darting eyes.

"I'm the one I should be apologizing, Judy," He said, his paw clutching her cheek tighter as he a small number of water droplets fell from his round eyes. "This entire night was my fault. If I had only just planned something simple. If I didn't go way over my head, then your Christmas Eve would've-"

"Shut up, you dumb fox," Judy suddenly interrupted with a small tilt of her head, her hard gaze snapping shut as she forced her muzzle into his again. Nick's arms quickly lifted from her in surprise as his eyes widened in shock, but for the second time in minutes he found himself joining in the embrace without a second thought or regret. Their kiss wasn't like the romantic make-out session which they had had only a few moments before. Instead it was something even deeper than that; something filled to the brim with electricity, warmth, and above all, love.

Sometime during their long connection Nick had slid along the glass and onto his side, because when he opened his glossed eyes he was laying on the floor with Judy on his chest. She was staring at him with such intense affection that he was surprised that it wasn't burning him alive.

He pulled her body closer to his, one of his paws curled around the back of her head again while the other lazily rested on her lower back. In return she snuggled closer to him, her ears falling behind her head to rest on top of his paws as she tilted and rested her head just below his muzzle and curled her paws around his neck.

For the first time in a long while Nick genuinely smiled just as his gaze turned to stare at the hallway's beige ceiling and just as he was hit by a freight train that had been delayed by several minutes. She loved him! Not just as a friend or a work partner anymore, but as a romantic interest! And he loved her in return! He loved her more than anything! He could only imagine all the things they'd do together from now on! Vacation, dinners, 'personal time'. Maybe even marriage!

I think you're getting a little ahead of yourself, Nick. Nick jovially thought to himself as his weary eyes slowly flicked shut. Just enjoy the moment; you've waited too long for this night.

Yet the evening's turbulent and chaotic events had left him worn to the core, and the only thing he could think to do for the moment was widely yawn, pushing Judy's turned head into his upper chest.

"Tired?" She rhetorically asked, and Nick lazily blinked open his eyes and raised his head to find her looking down at him with a raised eyebrow.

"More than you can imagine," He answered, his half opened eyes darting down to glance at a purple object on her sweater's collar. "How do you like it?"

At his question Judy glanced down at herself, her cheeks bunching up as she moved a paw out from under his neck to pull out the collar of her shirt outwards and carefully studied the carrot-shaped pin attached to it. Her eyes dazzled in the light reflected from it, and Nick's warm smile grew as his gaze flicked between the gemstone and her eyes. It was always better to see the gorgeously original inspiration for the piece rather than the piece itself.

"I love it," She answered, a touched smile forming on her face, but before Nick could respond something snarky her eyes moved past the pin to look out the window, and the emotion in them was replaced with delight as she raised her head further from his chest and shook his shoulders with both her paws.

"Nick!" She exclaimed, her eyes alight with excitement as one of her paws pointed to the thick, glass window directly to their left side. Nick raised his head further and widened his eyes in interest as he took in the sight pouring from the sky only a few inches away from him.

"Snow!" He said, surprised and pleased by the specks of white falling from the darkened clouds that had moved over the city in the last few minutes and that were beginning to pile up on the roads and surrounding building's rooftops. "Too bad. Maybe we could've gone back out to Le Légume."

Judy huffed in dry laughter without looking towards him, her eyes still dazzled by the spectacular sight beyond the glass.

"I don't think that's a wise idea, slick," She commented, slowly lowering herself back down to rest the side of her head beneath his muzzle as her arms returned to the back of his neck. "Did you even see the prices for those dishes? I'm not letting you pay upwards of eighty dollars for some grilled turnip. Besides, I don't want a lot for Christmas."

"There is just one thing I need," Nick merrily sung, a sudden, devious urge building up inside him, and he felt Judy shift on his chest as her surprised but jolly face turned towards him.

"I don't care about the presents," She sung back, her voice curious, and Nick turned away from watching the snow continue to pile up outside and stared into the depths of her beautiful, lavender eyes.

"Underneath the Christmas tree," He continued as he raised an eyebrow, his voice matching the song's tone perfectly.

"I just want you for my own," Judy sang, her voice's tempo increasing as she edged closer to his muzzle and pulled his head further towards hers with both her paws.

"More than you could ever know," Nick replied, letting the paw resting on the back of her head slip down to rest on her shoulder blades as her ears perked up.

"Make my wish come true," She continued, leaning in so that their muzzles were no more than half an inch away from one another as her voice strained to maintain the high-pitched final note.

"All I want for Christmas is..." He sang, closing his eyes as he leaned in towards Judy. Just before darkness consumed his vision he caught her doing the same, and within a second their lips connected in a single, drawn-out show of love. Nick could feel sparks flying from his chest, his heart nearly breaking the ribs of his rib cage. Through Judy's red sweater he could feel her heart beating right on top of his, just as hard and just as fast.

"You..." They sang in duet as they pulled away from one another, and as they stared at each other with huge, loving smiles Nick could feel sleep beginning to consume them both. Judy rested her head on his chest again, closing her eyes and letting her ears flop onto her back. Nick followed her example, letting his head fall to the hallway's carpet as his eyes snapped shut.

They had both been sealed in a cocoon of warmth, but before they passed into the realm of rest there was something Nick had been secretly dying to say to Judy for the entire duration of the night, and he was not going to let her not hear it.

"Merry Christmas, Carrots," He reverently said, pressing the side of his face against her cheek as he gently squeezed her.

"Merry Christmas, Nick Wilde," She replied, burying herself further into him, and Nick couldn't help but smile at the heat radiating out of her small body and at the affection in her voice.

---

An author's final words: THIS IS A ONE-SHOT. I'M NOT CONTINUING THIS BECAUSE MY OTHER PROJECTS TAKE UP MOST OF MY TIME. But if you'd like it to continue then...

Well...

Maybe.