Nick went into work with a smile on his face, which was a pretty new experience.

Work. Smile. Not two things he would have thought would ever go together a while ago, much less for him personally. But they did now.

"Hey, Nick," Clawhauser greeted him. "Great concert last night, wasn't it?"

"Yeah," Nick said, lifting up his shades to smile at the cheetah. It had been fun. He'd liked dancing with Judy. He'd liked Judy making him want to dance.

"Isn't Gazelle the best?" Clawhauser squealed. "Oh, and don't forget it's the Chief's birthday next week, we're having a party."

Nick didn't answer that, instead giving Clawhauser a nod and heading off to the bullpen. Judy wasn't there yet, but a couple of other officers were playfully wrestling.

Nick greeted them casually – because as much as he was a stand-up, justice-seeking fox now, he still wasn't big on cuddly displays of emotion. He hopped onto the chair he shared with Judy. They always did that, even when there were empty seats. Which was fine. Nick liked it better that way, and he suspected that Judy did, too.

Judy hurried in a few minutes later, climbing onto their chair. She looked like she hadn't had quite enough sleep. "Hey Nick," she yawned.

He grinned. "Hey Carrots. Seems like you partied a little too hard at the concert last night."

Judy smiled and shook her head, yawning again. "It's my neighbors," she said. "They went to the concert as well, and they stayed up all night fighting over whether Gazelle is the voice of a generation or has delusions of grandeur." Another yawn.

"You really should look for a different place to live."

"Oh, well. They're growing on me, kinda, you know?"

Chief Bogo's arrival interrupted their conversation. And everyone else's as well, because the Chief looked like he hadn't slept at all. And had had a few drinks too much last night. And no shower this morning. Chief Bogo put his glasses on, which took him a couple of tries, and glared around the room. Nick tried very hard to appear respectful, which was difficult at the best of times and nearly impossible right then.

"So, people," Chief Bogo said. "We're all tired, because apparently the whole city went to Gazelle's concert last night."

"Saw you there, Chief," Nick said. "Nice dance moves."

Judy coughed and turned her face away.

Chief Bogo scowled at Nick. "Likewise, Officer Wilde."

Judy was outright snickering now. Nick poked her side to make her stop, but she only gasped. She was ticklish, Nick noted. Might come in useful at some point.

The Chief delegated cases to all officers. Nick and Judy were last, as usual. "Officers Hopps and Wilde, paperwork. I'm missing records on those speeders you caught two days ago."

Judy nodded, Nick groaned. It was his fault, to be honest. He liked to keep Judy away from reports and records and paperwork. He preferred pretty much anything, really. Especially car chases.

Chief Bogo left the room and Judy hopped down from their chair. "C'mon, Nick," she said. "We should've written that report yesterday."

"You didn't want to, either," Nick said, getting off the chair as well. "You hate it just as much as I do."

Judy smiled. "I don't let the Chief know it, though," she said.

"Ah," Nick said, carelessly waving a paw. "I'm clearly his favorite Officer."

Judy snorted. "You wish," she said. "It's obviously Clawhauser."

"Alright," Nick conceded. "But I'm second."

Judy patted his shoulder and said, "Of course you are," as they sat down in her cubicle. Nick leaned back in his chair.

"Uh-huh, no," Judy said. "I'm not writing it while you're relaxing here."

"I'm not relaxing, I'm resting my eyes. You know, foxes are very sensitive to light. Those glaring screens are fatal to our sight. You don't want your partner to go blind, do you?"

Judy gave him a look. Nick straightened up and searched her desk for notes on the case.

They were having lunch in a café, even though his mom had always insisted that cake wasn't lunch. This was proving her wrong, definitely, he thought, smiling as Judy licked cream off her nose.

"My parents would ground me for years if they knew I was having cake for lunch," Judy said.

Nick laughed. "I was just thinking the same thing. Not your parents, though, obviously. My mom. She always used to say that."

Judy smiled up at him. "Yeah, parents are like that."

"Sucking all the fun out of life," Nick said.

Judy grinned and took another bite of her piece of cake.

"So," Nick said. "What is this big party everybody's planning for Chief Bogo's birthday?"

"It's not really going to be that big, I don't think," Judy said. "Just, I don't know. Cake at work and stuff. Everybody's more preoccupied with the ZPD ball that's coming up."

"ZPD ball?"

"Oh, yeah, apparently there is one every year, and I think it's going to be –" She was interrupted by her phone ringing.

"Oh, sorry," she said. "I'll just –"

"Sure, go ahead," Nick said.

Judy answered her phone. After listening intently for a few seconds, she beamed and squealed. "That's great! – Yes, today's gonna be a bit difficult. – But we can come by tomorrow. – Aww, that's so sweet. – Okay, I'll see you tomorrow. Bye!"

She put the phone down with a wide smile. "Fru Fru's just gone into labor! Isn't that exciting?"

"Yes," Nick said. "Wait just a minute, though. When you said 'we' can come by tomorrow –"

"Oh, yes, Mr. Big said you should definitely come as well! Fru Fru asked for us both, isn't that nice of her?"

Nick grimaced. "Maybe I'll be too busy with work."

"Nick," Judy said strictly. "You have to stop being afraid of Mr. Big, okay? He's been nothing but friendly to us."

"Except for the icing thing," Nick muttered.

"Well," Judy said with a crooked smile. "He hasn't been threatening to do it to us lately."

"He looks at me like he wants to, though," Nick grumbled.

Judy shrugged. "He does."

Nick threw up his hands, but he had to grin.

"Do you wanna do something tonight?" Judy asked. "Like, get dinner, or watch a movie? Oh, we could go dancing! I like dancing."

"I don't," Nick said, even though dancing with Judy at the concert last night had been fun.

He remembered it clearly, how she'd smiled at him and laughed, and suddenly he couldn't not think about that one conversation they had had in the car a little while ago.

"You know you love me…"

"Do I know that? Yes. Yes, I do."

"Nick?"

"Yeah, sure," he said automatically. It didn't mean anything. It had been friendly. A joke. A friendly joke, that was all. Judy wasn't anything but his friend. He just kept thinking about that moment because he'd never had such a close friend before, and he didn't usually have people telling him they loved him, platonically or otherwise.

"We could order take-away and watch Floatzen, everybody says it's really good," Judy said.

"You haven't seen it?" Nick asked.

Judy crossed her arms. "You a fan?"

"No, no. No… A little. Not as much as Finnick."

They shared a grin across the table. Nick couldn't help but think that he'd grinned more in the time he'd known Judy than in the rest of his life put together.

"Yes. Yes, I do."

Nick sighed. Eventually, he wouldn't keep replaying that conversation in his head. Eventually.

"Judy, Nick!" Clawhauser called to them when they got back from their lunch break. "You won't believe it!"

"Oh, is it the new Gazelle album?" Judy asked excitedly. "Is it finally out?"

Clawhausers face fell. "No, they keep pushing back the date…"

Nick cleared his throat and Clawhauser smiled again. "Right," he said. "They're hiring someone new."

"No!" Nick gasped. "I don't believe it. Will they make the date a city-wide holiday?"

Judy threw him a strict look. Nick shrugged. Clawhauser laughed good-naturedly, because he was that nice a guy.

"Not just anybody," he said. "Another bunny!"

"Oh, great," Nick said. "We'll have to deal with two of them."

Judy nudged him in the ribs. "That's great, thanks for telling us, Clawhauser!"

"Oh, no problem, it'll be amazing! Though obviously whoever it is will have a lot to live up to, what with you doing so well right away."

Judy beamed. Nick lightly poked the top of her ear. "Paperwork," he said. He didn't know why he minded Judy smiling at Clawhauser like that. Maybe because Judy was his partner, not anyone else's. After all, Nick really liked Clawhauser even if was sometimes a bit too happy to deal with.

"You're right," Judy said. "I don't believe it, pretty soon you'll be the conscientious one between the two of us."

Nick snorted. He highly doubted it, and going by Judy's cheeky smile, she did as well.

"Really? Microwavable carrots, Carrots? Who came up with this?"

Judy shrugged. "You pick something, then."

"Blueberries."

"In the fridge. My parents just sent them."

"Your parents are the best." Nick got up and fetched the blueberries from the fridge, tossing one into his mouth on the way back to the couch where Judy was curled up with the remote, ready to play Floatzen.

"I can't believe you haven't seen it," Nick said.

"I can't believe you have!"

"Finnick made me."

"Yeah, right." Judy snorted.

"Alright," Nick said, kicking her lightly. "Stop it."

"Earlier you said you don't like dancing," Judy said.

"Huh?" What did that have to do with anything? "So?"

"That's a problem, as we're going to the ZPD ball together," Judy said, grinning at him cheekily.

"Are we? Maybe I want to go with someone else?"

"Who, Francine?"

"Ha ha. Of course we're going together."

Nick hadn't planned on going, but if Judy wanted to, of course he was going to come with her. They were partners and best friends, after all.

A thought suddenly entered his head. "Do your parents mind?"

"Mind what?" Judy asked.

"That you're friends with a fox. They gave you the fox repellant –"

Judy sat up straighter. "Oh, Nick," she said. "No. No, of course not. They actually have a business partner who's a fox!"

"Right," Nick said, feeling weirdly relieved. Of course, it didn't really matter what Judy's parents thought of him. He'd seen them very briefly at the concert, and was likely not going to meet them again anytime soon. It wasn't like he got out to Bunnyburrow much, and they didn't seem the types to spend a lot of time in the city. Not that he cared. Sure, he'd prefer them liking him, for Judy's sake. But it wasn't like he'd ever have to get along with them, unless he married Judy or something. Which was absurd. Completely absurd, obviously.

Judy, who seemed oblivious to his thoughts, ate one of the blueberries. "What do you think of the ZPD hiring another bunny?"

Nick shrugged, glad she had changed the topic. "I don't really care. I've got one already." He didn't realize how much he felt that way until he said it. Judy was his bunny, his first real friend, and even if the ZPD hired a million others, she'd stay his, and he wouldn't care much about the rest. She wasn't replaceable.

"Oh, right," Judy said. "That's – uh, good to know."

"So you don't need to get jealous," Nick told her with a wink.

She grinned. "I know I don't need to."

"Do I know that? Yes. Yes, I do."

"Floatzen," Nick said.

"What?"

"The movie. We should start watching it. It'll get late otherwise and we were going to visit Fru Fru and the baby tomorrow."

"Right," Judy said, still looking at him. After a very awkward pause, she took the remote and played the movie.

Nick didn't really manage to concentrate on it.

"Hellooo!" Fru Fru squealed at them. "There's little Judy's godmom!"

"Oh, is that her?" Judy asked, leaning over the tiny, tiny crib next to Fru Fru's bed. Nick suddenly felt vey big.

"Isn't she beautiful?" Fru Fru cooed. "Do you want to hold her?"

Judy nodded excitedly and carefully cradled the baby in her paw. "She really is beautiful!" she said.

The door opened and Mr. Big entered the room. He kissed Fru Fru's forehead, then looked up. "Judy, I need to speak with you, if that is alright."

"Oh, of course," Judy said, putting little Judy back into the crib and following Mr. Big into the hallway. Nick strolled after them, ignoring Mr. Big's glare. He wasn't scared of Mr. Big.

At least not with Judy there.

Mr. Big paced back and forth in the corridor. Nick and Judy had to duck just to be able to walk through it. At least the small rodents wing of the hospital wasn't as small as Little Rodentia, or they would've had a problem.

"My dear Judy, how good it is to see you," Mr. Big began. "Nick."

Judy coughed.

"I am worried, deeply worried."

"What happened?" Judy asked concernedly. "Is there anything we can do to help?"

Nick groaned inwardly. He looked at Judy like, What are you getting us into?

She threw him a strict glare.

"I need your help as an excellent officer of the ZPD," Mr. Big continued. "And – an officer."

"Alright, I get it," Nick grumbled, but both Judy and Mr. Big ignored him.

"Several of my – associates have gone missing. Disappeared, just like that," he said. "It is very sad at a time like this, when my first grandchild has just been born."

Judy nodded understandingly. Nick shifted his weight from one foot onto the other.

"I need your help to find out what has happened to them. I ask you as a friend and hope you will agree, as we are on good terms. Mostly." He narrowed his eyes at Nick.

Nick sighed.

Judy delicately cleared her throat. "Uhm, Mr. Big. Are those associates – how should I say it – are they –"

"Gang members wanted for a number of illegal activities," Nick helped her out.

"No," Mr. Big said unconvincingly.

"Uh, great," Judy said. "Of course we'll help. We'll do whatever we can."

"Whatever we want to," Nick mumbled.

"Thank you, my friend. Nick," Mr. Big said.

"I said, I get it," Nick said, only to be ignored again.

"Follow me to my office, please, and I will tell you everything I know about this situation," Mr. Big said. "It is most worrying."

This fic will be seven chapters in total. I'll post an update every week. Thanks for reading!