Author's notes:

Due to some users requesting it, i managed to give an ending to the oneshot. This is basically when Nick returns.


When Nick arrived at the station it was late night, the whole place was empty and little lights shined from the roof, giving a sort of fabled look to the station.

On a bench, a little bunny was sleeping

"She waited for me all the night…" Nick muttered as he approached Judy. She didn't even hear the loud whistle of the train, probably for the lack of sleep in those days.

"Hey fluff…I'm back" Nick whispered in Judy's ear, shaking her shoulder a bit. Judy woke up immediately, gasping a lot and whispering through sobs "I'm here Nick!", turning her head left and right.

Nick giggled a bit, putting a paw on her head "it's okay carrots, I'm here, sorry if I woke up so abruptly"

He knew Judy, so Nick was expecting tears of joy, huge happiness or never ending hugs. But none of them came. Instead, she quickly hugged him and grabbed his paw, towards her cruiser

"Ah it's good to have you back Nick, I need to tell you a lot of things! Firstly, jump in the cruiser" She said joyfully, walking so quickly Nick had to keep up to prevent from tripping.

As they entered in the car, Judy told Nick a lot of her latest achievements and missions, but he didn't really care about it in that moment.

Everything was…too normal, almost like she was reading a script, even her reaction had been very strange, like she was restraining herself from something, maybe for the fear of something? He didn't really understand.

He saw a paw wiggling in front of his face "Hey Nick, are you listening to what I'm saying? Why are you looking me that way?" Judy asked with a puzzled tone. He spaced out for a couple of minutes and kept staring at her.

Nick quickly shook his head and tried to keep his usual coolness "Yeah I was listening, I didn't sleep much on the train so I'm super tired"

Nodded heavily "Oh I didn't sleep much too in those weeks, but tomorrow I want you fresh because we've got an interview to do!" she singsonged, tilting her head left and right.

Nick was startled by that news and almost hit the cruiser's roof "What?! Judy, I'm not even back from one day and you booked an interview?"

"Oh yes, you know I want to shut those media down quickly, and I'm sure you're eager to get back in action ASAP. I've also enlisted us for a new mission, so it's gonna be you and me together" Judy answered instantly, like she was expected that exact question, her way of talking was almost mechanical, the tone was joyful but Nick felt there was something wrong.

"But…I thought that after 5 months you wanted to…you know, spend some time with your good old partner" Nick offered with a sad tone

Judy casted a nervous laugh "Oh…we'll have plenty of time to talk in the breaks and those boring patrol days…oh here's your home!" she quickly stopped the car exactly infront of Nick's house

"Carrots…" Nick started, but she quickly pushed him out of the car "Don't say a word now, go home and prepare yourself for tomorrow, see ya Nick!"

Nick stood there, on the sidewalk, contemplating as the cruiser became nothing but a dot in the horizon, nick at on the sidewalk's edge, grabbing his head.

He couldn't understand what was going on. Judy's behavior felt so unnatural he thought she was hiding something from him, but what? And most importantly, why?

"Maybe you were expecting a…different welcome?" a voice in his head replied "Maybe she found someone better than you and she doesn't want to hurt you".

A coherent explanation, but he refused to believe so and tried to delete that awful thought from his mind as he slowly approached his door's house.

Judy arrived at her tiny home and with a yawn crumbled on the bed.

"Ah, now that Nick is back I can work with him again!" she thought while grabbing her block notes and quickly browsed through the pages. They were filled with lines of text and sentences.

"For how much will you be able to keep this farce?" A voice in her mind said

She shook her head "It's not a farce, that's what I want! Nick with me as a partner again"

"You're trying to fool your own conscience, are you that deluded?"

"I'm not deluded…I just have to keep the pledge I did to Nick before he went away, I can't show him I was hurt from him going away, and I would make him feel guilty…"

"If that had been the problem you wouldn't have been able to say it so easily, don't you think?"

"What I'm asking you is, do you want to fool yourself and think you only want to be your partner?"

Judy grabbed her head, sinking it in the pillow, muttering "Shut Up" as tears soaked the pillow.

"I have to do this…I have to endure this, for Nick" She sobbed.

The next day the ZPD was crowded by all kinds of reporters armed with microphones and block notes, while some agents tried to keep the crowd from the off-limits are of the police station, Bogo slowly walked towards the wooden pedestal

"Silence!" He shouted in the microphones and every sound ceased in the room "Today I'm proud to announce that a valuable resource has returned in service in the police, Mr. Nicholas Piberius Wilde." The sound applauses filled the room

Bogo put up a subtle smile and kept with his monologue "Now I will gladly invite Mrs. Judy Hopps to talk about the ongoing situation and how she handled everything when his partner was away"

Judy climbed on the pedestal, she was prepared for every question. 2 weeks of preparation with more than 50 premade sentences and answers. Nothing could scratch her perfect strategy.

Infact, Judy answered to the questions properly, such as "Was your work harder?" or "Will you continue to do the same with Nick again?"

"Why did you choose to work alone instead of taking another partner?" Someone said from the crowd. She had an answer for that too.

Judy tried to speak, nothing but stumbled words came out

Judy tried again, this time her voice was missing completely.

"That's what you get for fooling yourself" the voice in her mind said "You can't say something you don't believe, you're not a liar."

Judy stood there, she didn't know for how much, either years or seconds, but she didn't care. This was right, wasn't it? She was ensuring Nick could be her partner again, right? That voice was just trying to play with her, right?

Judy tried to summon all her willpower and spoke again, this time the words came, but in a different way she expected

"…because Nick is irreplaceable" Her voice was soft, almost whispered. That wasn't what she wanted to say.

A lot of voices, whispers went through the crowd of reporters.

"In which sense?"

"Is Nick Wilde something more?"

"What do you mean by irreplaceable?"

In a moment, the room was filled by those kind of questions.

Judy tried to keep up with them but she couldn't

"Do you really want to answer those questions?" the voice in her head said bitterly "You can try, but in the end you'll not be able to hide everything forever"

Judy tried to not care about it, but she knew she couldn't "You're just a coward, saying that everything is okay even when you know it isn't. You do not deserve Nick's friendship"

In that moment, she felt something warm in the chest, like a fire that burnt everything in her body. Remorse, guilt and sadness made their way towards Judy, crashing her façade of joy and happiness.

She shouted something in the microphone, she heard only her voice as every other sound stopped. And then she ran, again she didn't know where, but she just wanted to escape from that place.

Nick stared at the scene, his mouth opens in disbelief. Judy just ran away after shouting something, Bogo quickly tried to keep the crowd calm

"Okay guys, officer Hopps seems to…have worked too much! We're done for today, the other officers will show you the way out. Thanks for coming." Bogo said quickly, and approached Nick that was still shocked of everything he saw.

"Nick, we need to talk, come into my office" the big buffalo said plainly.

After both of them sat in Bogo's office the police chief started "Nick, I'm sorry for that, I shouldn't have allowed her to talk, I know how she can be…over emotional"

"It's not your fault, she was strange yesterday and I should have tried to change her mind" Nick muttered, looking at the ground with guilt

"Strange? She was super happy about you returning here" Bogo replied with a puzzled tone

"Yeah…she just wanted me to work with her again, she didn't even ask me about the trip, or how my mother was…I'm just puzzled. In 5 months she didn't send a text or tried to call me" Nick explained, his eyebrows knit as he tried to understand what was going on.

Bogo sighed, putting his paws over the table "In this 5 months, she worked twice as hard, even if she was alone she managed to do everything by herself. Every day she was there even before I arrived."

"But…why? I can't understand…" Nick started, but Bogo shushed him

But, suddenly, something clicked in Nick's mind.

"So you need to go…right"

"Yeah Carrots, I'll be away for a lot I suppose, what about our team? Will you be able to keep everything under control?"

"Sure Nick! Don't think about me"

"But…a new partner or worse, working alone will be very hard.

"Nick, It's gonna be just fine! Do not think about me, I'm okay, don't let me stop you. Even if I'll be alone I'm going to carry on…"

Everything became clear as if a gust of wind cleared his mind from the clouds of doubt.

"That dumb, emotional bunny…" He muttered.

"Bogo, thanks for the help, I know what to do now." He looked at the buffalo with a determined look.

"You're still in service officer Wilde" Bogo shouted

"I'm known for breaking the rules" Nick said, putting up his usual smirky attitude

Bogo replied with a smile and offered a handshake, adding just "Go."

Nick complied and exited from the office before he could see Bogo tucking out of his pocket a photo.

"I wish you could be there to see those two dumbs, the situation is surely funny."

Tap. Tap. Tap.

The bridge was exactly like that day, except for the rain falling heavily, creating puddles of mud all around it.

Judy sat under it, face into her knees. Despite how much she tried, she couldn't just lie to herself. She failed, both to herself and Nick.

Judy had been there for a good hour, and she probably would've been there for more if a voice didn't make her raise the head

"Aw, so much memories in this place. Our first big argument. The one about nighthowlers, remember?" The voice was honeyed with a bit of melancholy in it.

"N-Nick…" She could only say

"It's okay, I'm here." Nick crouched to face Judy, his gaze was powerful, Judy felt she could almost read whatever she was thinking. "I want you to answer to one question." He said, slowly

Nick turned his head, like he couldn't bear Judy's look "Why?"

Judy didn't understand at first, but then she got it. He figured out everything.

"Why would you do such a farce? I have no problem if you only want to be professional partners with each other.

Judy was still silent, her cheeks and eyes were red from the tears.

Nick assumed a serious look "I'm not going to leave until you give me an answer Carrots."

For the second time in that day, she felt that fire in her chest, but now it was different, she understood it.

Those weren't guilt, or remorse and sadness.

Those were the true feeling for Nick. Guild, Remorse and sadness came from restraining them. She knew it, but she didn't want to believe it.

"Sorry Nick…I'm just a coward, I do not deserve you" Judy started as tears flew from her eyes.

"I told you that everything would have been okay…but it was a lie. I worked so hard because in the vain attempt of forgetting that you were away, but I didn't manage to." Her voice was broken and sad

"I didn't want to call or text you because I was sure I would've done exactly this, making you return immediately because I know how much you care about me…I ended up ignoring your calls and texts because I'm just a bad friend. I wanted not to get hurt but at the end I hurt you."

Nick contemplated that moment and smiled, it wasn't a happy smile, but not even a sad one. He didn't know why, but he felt like smiling was right.

"You know…1 week ago I visited my mother, she was getting better so I wanted to see her. We talked a lot about me and my work. And about you too." He made a nervous giggle

"I told her that I thought you were angry with me because you didn't text nor call me, but she laughed. In that moment I thought she was playing with me, but then…"

"she said: That girl is probably suffering a lot, she is restraining herself from contacting you just to prevent you from returning to Zootopia…what a kind girl" Nick voice was sad and melancholy "She told me to return to Zootopia despite the fact she still needed some help. She told me that everything would have been okay"

He put a paw on Judy's cheek softly and raised her head "I thought it was just false, but I listened to her. And I'm glad I did it"

"Because, the truth is…everyday of that trip I felt like a heavy weight in my chest, like something was pulling me down. Something that made me feel melancholic everytime I thought about it."

"And I realized I can't live without you Judy"

Both mouths collided. In that moment everything became clear. Sadness, melancholy, guilt and remorse were wiped away from that powerful act of love.

They kissed for an undetermined amount of time. After they finished it, Judy said, her voice was now filled with hope "I thought I could see you in a photo every day to relieve my feelings, but it wasn't true. There are so much photos…but no one is good enough. I want to see the real Nick for every day of my life, until I die, I want to stay with you Nick"

Nick smiled "And so do I"

"I…Love you" Both of them said, closing themselves in a hug.

At the end of the story, both of them lived happily ever after. Every struggle wasn't a fortuity, it was needed.

Because that's how the DESTINY has chosen

I had a blast writing this 2nd chapter. Now the story is truly finished.


Final author's notes:

So i didn't want to do a "super good ending". What i mean is, like, i didn't want them to be super happy and so on. I wanted to add some sadness too, because i feel like Judy would have done that, and because i like stories like that.

Are you satisfied of this "ending"? Tell me if you think if Judy would have done that.

Some misteries remains:

What did Judy say at the interview?

What did Nick say to her mom about Judy and him?

Which are the feelings Nick felt in those 5 months of absence?

I could do some more "Nick POV" chapters, but i'm not sure about it.

Again, lots of reference to an anime, if anyone managed to get which one i'm referring too, have a cookie.

Thanks for everyone for bearing with my bad writing and cringy topics, i recieved a lot of support, Thank you everyone for that.