A/N: This is a repost of a story I have on AO3. I'm putting it here mainly to get a feel of how posting a story on here works. Hope you like it!

Disclamer: Zootopia belongs to Disney, not me. Disclamer done. GO!

The ZPD was full of activity that day. That's not to say the station wasn't always busy. There were always officers being deployed or criminals being taken in. It was just that there was a press conference going on that day, and everyone wanted in that story. Of course, only reporters were allowed to attend, but that didn't stop every average joe with a social media account from trying to force their way in. Many of the larger officers were place on guard duty for this very reason, and even then a few of the smaller members of the mob snuck in amidst the chaos. There was no doubt in anyone's mind that this was a big scoop.

After all, it's not every day that a bunny finds 14 missing mammals.

Our hero for the day, Judy Hopps, was currently not on stage, but rather just off to the side of it. Chief Bogo had taken the stage first for a bit of a prologue to her part, mostly just some official stuff. Judy didn't really care to listen to his speech right now. She was currently having to deal with the fact that all her police training and the adventure she just finished did nothing to prepare her for what would be her greatest obstacle: a swarm of reporters whose job it is to scrutinize her every word. Fortunately, she had some moral support.

Nick only needed one look to see the problem. "Nervous?"

Judy nodded. "Is it that obvious?"

"You could water Sahara Square with your sweat."

"Sorry, it just I don't want to look like a dumb bunny in front of all of Zootopia."

"Okay, press conference 101: You wanna look smart? Answer their question with your own question and then answer that question. Like this, 'Excuse me. Officer Hopps, what can you tell us about the case?' 'Well, was this a tough case? Yes. Yes it was.' You see?"

This helped, but Judy still had some hang-ups. "You should be there with me. We did this together."

"Well, am I a cop? No. No, I am not."

Judy smiled. "Funny you should say that, because I've been thinking... it would be nice to have a partner." With that, she gave Nick a paper. Anyone who could hear them didn't need to look at it to know that it was an application paper for the ZDP. She also gave him the carrot pen that brought them together in the first place. "In case you need something to write with," she claimed.

With that, Bogo was almost done with his speech, so it was time for Judy to go, leaving Nick by himself. If Nick was his old self, he would of scoff at the offer and threw the paper away. But he was a changed fox now. He was beginning to see that you can live outside of what others expect of you. And it was all thanks to Judy. She was able to see past his species and see him for what he was. So to be given this opportunity to complete his heel-face turn, it meant a lot to him. But now wasn't the time for sentimentality. Judy had a press conference to do, and Nick was going to cheer her on.

A deer was up first. "What can you tell us about the animals that went savage?"

Judy took a barely noticeable pause before pause before responding with, "Are they all different species? Yes. Yes they are."

Not the most natural wording, but it's a start.

Up next was a koala. "Okay, so what is the connection?"

"Well, all we know is that they are all members of the predator family."

Now it was an aardvark's turn. "So, predators are the only ones going savage?"

Judy took another pause, but this time not for forced wording. "…As of right now, yes, but that doesn't mean it won't happen to prey as well."

Those of you who are familiar with the events leading up to this moment might be saying to yourself, "Isn't this scene supposed to take a different direction?" Technically, yes, the story as you know it goes differently. However, this is not that story. This is a story of how a small change can have a big impact.

In this case, how a bunny putting a little more thought into what she's saying can affect the feelings of a fox and the plans of a sheep.

Back to the press conference, the koala from before was asking another question. "What makes you say that?"

"Because whatever's happening to them is not part of their biology."

Back to the deer. "How can you be so sure about that?"

"Well… the main reason is because they all showed the same behavior when savage. Logically speaking, wouldn't you think there would be a bit more variance with that big of a variety?"

"But they're predators! Shouldn't they all be the same vicious hunter deep down?!"

Judy was very close to yelling at him "No, they're not!", but she managed to keep herself from exploding. Instead, she took a deep breath and calmly stated, "One of the affected is an otter. Now, I'm not a history expert, but from what I remember, otters in pre-civilized life preferred to consume aquatic life and were fairly lax overall. So, in answer to your question, no, they're not. Now, would you kindly leave your bigoted remakes to yourself, or if that's not an option, leave."

That seem to shut the deer up and from there the conference proceeded without much problem. Judy managed to talk more about the case itself and in particular how Nick helped before she ran out of time. Bellwether went to wrap things up and Judy went back over to Nick. She was very much relieved. "Whew, that was exhausting. Who knew they ask that many questions?"

Nick chuckled. "Better get used to it, Carrots. I see a lot more of those in your future."

"I not sure if I should take that as a complement or an omen."

"Well, that depends. Will you have help in the future?" With that, he pulled out a filled out sheet. "Yes, you will."

Judy smiled. "It'll be great to see you on the force. Now we just have to hope you survive Police Academy."

Nick's cheerfulness instantly went down a few pegs.