It was 5pm, June 28th, the day after the final exam and all 12 of the fresh ZPD officers were feeling both the physical and mental drain of the previous day. Today however was a balmy 25o, sun beating down upon the academy lawn and a gentle breeze flowing through the fur of the mammals laying upon it.

"Whew, hot out today huh" said the polar bear instructor "shouldn't you guys be planning something, some kind of leaving do... after all these past 6 months have been rough for all of you and who knows what the future holds"

"she's right you know" commented a black fox by the name of Niles. "We all have our preferences handed in, we all have where we want to be placed and our specialty but I dare say no matter what happens after this... there's no reason we cant all stay in touch right"

"I agree!" Shouted a young river otter girl called Amelia "But yeah we gotta do something, how about tonight?"

Alex was sitting just a few feet away beside a rather shy Gray Hare that goes by the name of Bixby. At just 3 feet tall he is of average height for his species but a little on the frail side, having managed to pass his exams using his intellect and agility much like Benson did.

Alex nudged him and asked "Pub night?". Bix answered with a simple nod, a smile and a thumbs up towards Amelia.

"Okay then settled, drinking sesh tonight then huh?" Amelia motioned towards the 12 rookies to which the answer is a simultaneous nod in agreement from everyone.

Benson however couldn't help but stare in Hunter's direction, careful not to meet his gaze for the previous night, as everyone else was asleep she caught him doing something rather curious. Something she had never seen before.

-3:15am the night before-

The night was calm and clear, no traffic at this time and nothing but crickets were stirring in the undergrowth. Light, wispy clouds partially obstructed the only major source of light, the moon.
Benson, the star of this years cadets, was struggling to get any kind of sleep tonight. Tossing and turning in her single bed, kicking the sheets off and even switching sides in the bed did nothing to overcome this feeling she had deep down inside. There was something that really bugged her about the finals exam the previous day, a feeling that she couldn't shake off. Why didn't she just finish the exam. Why did she help Hunter up the wall. Why did... "The hell is that?" She thought out loud.

She rose out of bed and peeked out the window of her second floor dorm room to see someone out on the baseball field moving some equipment around. The faint sound of metal scraping along the ground got her intrigued, she wondered what someone would be doing up at this hour and what the hell they were up to.

Benson jumped out of bed and slipped on a pair of jogging bottoms and a vest thinking that it wasn't too chilly out tonight and with her dark marking it would make her harder to see in the shadows. Slipping on her trainers she thought it might be good practice for her to go out the window instead of disturbing the other patrons of the building.

Carefully opening the wood frame window and propping it open with a few books she skillfully slid out feet first and gripped onto the wooden sill with her claws. "Dammit they moved the boxes..." She whispered to herself, her escape plan foiled by the janitor. "This is gonna hurt" she said as she let go of the ledge and gracefully landed on the pebble stone walkway 10 feet below. The sharp pebbles pressed into the soft pads on the underside of her paws. It hurt, but curiosity got the better of this cat as she got up, brushed herself off and made her way stealthily to the playing fields.

She crouched down as she got close to the bleachers, sticking to the shadows as much as possible. As she got underneath the steps she got as low as possible, resting on her stomach and peeking through the seats to see Hunter standing in the middle of 4 automatic baseball throwing machines.
Alex was dressed in all black, hoodie, jogging bottoms and black trainers, clutching onto a single length of pipe approximately 2 feet long. Almost half as tall as he was but that didn't deter him from swinging it around, warming up it would seem. He paced back and forth between them, checking the settings on the machines and that each of them were full.

Giving everything a final once over he took a length of thick, black cloth from his hoodie pocket and tied it around his eyes, making sure there was no folds or creases and pulled it tight. Finally he pulled his hood up and raised his pipe in both hands as if it were a katana.

"Snowflake?...wha" she thought but before she could finish Alex tugged on a small piece of string that simultaneously triggered all 4 of the machines, all running on a randomized timer.

The first ball shot out of the machine facing towards his back. Alex's ears perked up and he blocked it with the make shift bat by reaching it over his head and deflecting the path of the ball.

"Snowflake your gonna get yourself hurt" she though, and with each ball that flew towards him, with every perfect deflection Benson's back arched a little more, each time she almost readies herself to jump out and switch them off. If she had the time.

After a few minutes more of precision combat against the vicious baseballs the machines ran empty. With a small sniff of the air Hunter knew he wasn't alone. Without a moments hesitation he slid his blindfold off and turned towards the bleachers where the feline was still lurking, laying prone and watching him with curiosity. He knew that she was there but pretended to be blissfully unaware and decided to tease her a little. He walked over to the opposing set of seats on the other corner of the square and picked up a water bottle. Before he took a drink from the bottle he took off his hoodie.

He walked back into the center of the square, taking a swig from his bottle very few steps to stay hydrated. A small grin appeared on his face as he looked over the field at all the baseballs on the ground and then a small, quick glance towards the bleachers where the kitten was hiding.

"Hope your enjoying the show, officer" he laughed to himself before walking back to his own dorm room.

Benson was still laying prone spying on the Coyote as she noticed she was blushing. "What the hell Lu... catch a grip" she repeated, confirming to herself that he meant nothing to her but as a workmate yet there it is again... what is this feeling deep down, in the pit of her stomach.

-The Next Day-

"Hey Lucy, were going for some drinks soon, you up for it?" Niles shouted over to her "think of it as the going away party, before were all split up for different precincts"

Benson snapped out of her daydream with a pop. "Huh, sorry... uh yeah that sounds great, long as I'm not the one carrying you guys home haha" she replied somewhat nervously, knowing that this feeling she has regarding Hunter may surface again if she isn't careful.

Alex crept over to Lucy without her noticing and whispered gently in her ear "Perhaps we'll be carrying you". These words and his proximity to her caused the fur on the back of her neck along with her tail to fluff up.

Alex noticed this and decided to have a little fun with it. "What's up buttercup? Didn't frighten you did I?" He said with the biggest and most obvious grin on his face that he could pull.

"I..I..uh...yeah right... as if you could scare me" she said stumbling over each word, trying desperately in vain to his her embarrassment. "A...Alright then... we go get ready for tonight?" Muttered the hard blushing feline before she stormed off in the direction of her dorm.

"Funny as it was dude... maybe you took it a bit too far, perhaps you should apologize huh?" Bixby chimed in as he walked over to Hunter who was at this point looking a bit remorseful himself.

"Yeah, I think your right, il talk to her tonight".

-8pm That Night-

"D'ya think im a little overdressed Al?" Bixby asked feeling a little anxious looking around the imitation British pub apply named 'The Tower Tavern', then down to his professionally tailored charcoal gray suit that made his baby blue eyes stand out from across a crowded room.

"No more so than me dude, don't worry everything will be fine. Besides you guys certainly know how to be stylish huh" Alex said, reassuring his childhood best friend and bestowing a sense of confidence in himself aswell. Hunter was wearing what he himself would describe as his 'usual attire' consisting of a plain white shirt, dark gray waistcoat with a blood red tie and a golden tie clip. Unusually tho he was wearing a pair of dark colour combat pants and a pair of hiking boots that oddly fit in perfectly with his top end.

"You guys? Whadda ya mean you guys? And buttering me up with compliments isn't gonna get you anywhere, already have a boyfriend and you know it" Bixby chuckled to himself knowing full well that Hunter fully supported him. "Speaking of which I believe he is coming to the graduation, id very much like for you to meet him, I think you would get on like a house on fire!"

Both mammals made their way into the back corner of the pub where the rest of their classmate with the exception of one were sitting, already 3 pints into what can only be described as a long night.

The walls of the bar were lined with newspaper clippings on influential headlines from the past several decades, all framed with golden furniture, almost tacky in appearance. The bar itself was solid mahogany imported straight from England, where the sister building stood right in the heart of London. The owner of this establishment was infact the owner of both bars, leaving her brother to run the busier of the two back home.

Above the bar was all manner of alcoholic beverages ranging from vodka to absinthe, 3 beer taps at each end of the bar with a single center piece reserved specifically for ale. Behind the bottles on the wall was a long and very old mirror which looked to be older than the bar, maybe even Zootopia itself.

"Another please" said a voice coming from the corner of the bar closest to the table of graduates, a voice that sounded happy to be included but at the same time bored of the proceedings and as if they were about to leave after one final drink, a voice that was close enough to the group to not look like an outsides yet far enough to keep to themselves.

Alex let out a sigh "well... guess I gotta bite the bullet and apologize before we find her name off the register in the morning..."

"For the best dude, il keep the crowd riled up for ya!" Bixby said excitedly as he rushed off to order a fresh round for the table.

The Coyote slowly made his way over to the feline in a beautiful red dress, drinking by herself. "Hey Lu.. Listen im sor..."

"Don't" Benson said immediately as she heard his voice and put her finger on his lips. "Don't wanna hear it, just let me finish this and im gonna go get some sleep..." She said in a defeatist tone of voice.

Alex felt even worse now for what he said, firmly believing that there wasn't anything he could do... unless...

"Fine, I wont apologize... but how about a game instead" he said, starting to cheer up a little and feeling confident that if this work it will be better than a simple sorry.

"What are you cooking up Snowflake?" She said, more curious now than depressed.

"Don't call me Snowflake. I figure that since you and I have chosen Precinct 1 as our preference, odds are we will be partnered up, soooo dontcha think we should get to know each other a bit better...or... at all... lets face it i know nothing about you and I genuinely would like to"

Benson took a few seconds to think the proposition through, adding a few ideas of her own to make it a little more interesting. "Okay Snowball, on one condition... every interesting thing that we learn about the other, the asker must take a shot... deal?" She said, now with a warm hearted smile upon her well groomed muzzle.

Before Alex could process what exactly the new rules entailed he agreed with a strong handshake. "You're on!, you first, what would you like to know?"

The bare skin on Benson's long Lynx ears went a bright pink as she looked around to see if no one was looking their direction before looking Alex deep into his ice blue eyes and asking exactly what he was expecting. "How in hell did you hit all the balls last night blindfolded?"

"Mad skills?" He said jokingly "Or if you don't believe that... it partially cheated on that front to be honest... I dipped the tips of the barrels in citrus juice so the balls would come out with a hint of orange"

Benson looked genuinely confused by this revelation, as if it explained it but failed to explain it at all. "What the hell are you talking about?... oranges?... That's how you seen the balls?"

"I didn't see the balls at all, i smelled them." He said, a little proud of his unique ability. " When I was 4 I was in a car crash, broke my nose in several places and ironically after that my sense of smell was dialed up to 11. Its my greatest asset, its how I passed sensory training top of the class, the instructor just thought it was my canine senses but its more."

"Huh, that is interesting..." She said realizing that meant she needed to do a shot.

Hunter motioned the bartender, a large Canadian Moose dressed in a smart but casual suit not unlike Alex's own. He brought over a new, unopened bottle of tequila, cracked the seal and poured a measure of the liquid into a shot glass that seemed to be much larger than a usual glass Benson seen the size of the shot glass and looked to the bartender who merely looked at her a shrugged "Irish".

Lucy looked at the full glass with a face of regret, realizing the size of the glasses and that she had made a huge mistake. She held her nose and necked the shot. The fur on her back stood straight up and a shiver engulfed her from her toes right to the tips of her ears before starting to cough violently. "I hate you Hunter!"

"Heh good girl, okay I guess its my turn huh?" Alex said while pondering exactly what he needed to ask, realizing that there wasn't many of these shots he could take before getting drunk himself. "Okay, I need to ask... I was done for yesterday, why did you save me?"

Benson tensed up, knowing the feeling she had earlier that day was coming and with a alcohol fueled vengeance. Her ears went red once more knowing full well that it was some kind of attraction but she couldn't full well tell him that. "I...I honestly don't know. I mean I would have done it f-for any of the mammals on the c-course had they of needed help, yeah, I care about all of you g-guys and don't want to see any of you getting hurt" she said, stammering and tripping over her words while trying to find a way out of the situation without wimping out.

Alex raised his paw, "Lu, if you don't want to talk about it we can move on, that cool with you?" He asked with honest concern in his voice to which she nodded in agreement, thankful of the stay of execution.

"T-thank you... Im sorry" she said, blushing hard, enough for Alex to take notice.

"Its okay Kitten, but I still drink" he said as he eyed up his ominously overflowing glass of tequila. He took a deep breath and chugged it all down in 2 gulps, wiped away any excess from his muzz and smiled "Piece of cake" he said, his eye twitching a little.

"Bull... your feeling that big time and I know it!" She said playfully, really starting to come out of her shell. "You'll be spitting fire in a moment"

"Phew... your turn" he said, beginning to sweat under his thick fur.

Without even thinking Lucy jumped in "What about family?"

Alex's expression sobered up slightly. "Remember I said I was in an accident when I was 4? I was in the car with my mom and older brother, I broke my nose and wrist, he broke his arm... mom lost her life..." He said, a hint of a tear started to form in his eye.

Benson noticed this and wiped it away. "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to.." She began to say before being interrupted.

"Its cool!, these things happen, its not like were the first to be orphaned so young. After the funeral Uncle Rockford came to take us in... we called him uncle, he's our Godfather."

"Rockford...Rockford... it can't be Chief Rockford of Precinct 5?" Lucy asked in astonishment before being greeted with a smile and a finger to her lips.

"Shhhhh, I don't want people to know, I'm doing this for him, to thank him for all he's taught me and my brother, I promised to become a detective in Precinct 1" he smiled, feeling a weight lifted from him.

Benson grabbed the bottle and pressed it to her lips before taking a huge swig from the Mexican forget-me-juice. Her face contorted into a few unusual positions before slamming the bottle down, damn near cracking it. Alex could tell from this that she had perhaps a lower tolerance than he did, which he was happy about as it meant he didn't look weak in front of her.

"Okay Snowfluff, you... me... now" she said to him with a deadly straight face.

Alex blushed slightly, taking the wrong meaning out of the sentence for a second before asking "Why do you call me Snowflake or Snowball or whatever you feel like in the moment?"

"Simple, the tips of white in your fur, reminds me of an Arctic Fox or Hare or somethin" she said before taking another drink from the bottle, not realizing the rules, or not caring.

Hunter giggled to himself a little, enjoying the sight of the usually calm and collected Lynx now starting to lose her sharp edge. He decided that if she was going to break the rules then he should a little as well as he too took a long gulp directly from the bottle. It was at this point he knew that tonight was going to be interesting.

- 2:15am the next morning -

"Okay Kitten, careful now" Alex said as he tried in vain to direct the heavily intoxicated feline in the direction of her dorm room. It was like the blind leading the blind as Alex himself could barely walk in a line even if he wanted to.

"Uh... Lu... please tell me you hav *Hic* have your keys?" He asked as the feline broke free from his grip and leaned against a nearby wall.

"Il never tell, Officer. You're gonna have to *Hic* search me" she said playfully as she spread her legs and pressed against the brickwork.

Alex sighed before saying "you lost them haven't you?"

"Y *Hic* yeah I lost em..." She said looking somewhat ashamed of herself. "Can I stay with you?" She followed up, becoming instantly happier, going from one end of the spectrum to the other in a matter of seconds.

"There's nothing else for it, il make you up the *Hic* sofa bed" he said before motioning her towards the male dorm rooms.

After a few minutes of careful navigation of the staircase that almost seemed like an adventure they arrived at Alex's Room that he shared with Bixby to cut costs. It took a few attempts for the inebriated canine to find the right key for the lock, and even more tries to get it in the hole to which Lucy noticed.

"Does it take you this long every time to find the hole?" She said without missing a beat, giggling like a school girl to herself.

Alex sighed, although he did see the funny side of the joke and with a click, the door opened and he stumbled into the living room.

Within a few minutes Alex had the sofa bed set up and a few blankets and pillows set upon it for the feline to do with whatever she wanted. He stumbled over to the door to make sure it was locked before he himself went to be but as he turned around he noticed Benson had stripped down to her underwear and was standing next to him.

Before he had any time to react she hugged him, forcing him against the door. The canine blushed hard, feeling as if he was going to melt from the heat his own body was producing over the intimate situation.

"Uhhhh, Benson, w-what are you doing?" He asked, knowing full well that he wasn't going to get a good answer. "Come on, we should get you into bed" he said innocently enough.

"Bet you'd *Hic* like that wouldn't ya" she replied while nibbling on his tie. "Alex... I'm sorry about your mom... honestly *Hic* I didn't mean to bring up any bad things... memories..."

"Before tonight you never called me by my name... It's okay Lucy, honestly... now..." He said before picking her up and carrying her onto the sofa bed, pulled the sheets over her and rested her head on a mountain of pillows. "I want you to get a good nights sleep, il leave you a glass of water for you in the morning"

"Mmm, night night Snow... Alex" she said just before she drifted off to an alcohol induces slumber.

Alex couldn't help but be happy that he finally managed to bond with his future partner, even if it descended into a drinking game with no clear winners. He couldn't help but wonder how the others were getting on as he walked over to his own room and began to undress and pull on a pair of jogging bottoms. He couldn't help but wonder if Lucy was warm enough with those blankets but those thoughts soon passed as he drifted off to sleep himself.

- 9:12 AM -

Sunlight just about managed to creep through the cracks in the wooden Venetian blinds. 150,000 kilometers away and yet was a perfect shot to hit Benson right in the eyes.

"Ugh... someone turn off the sun please..." She mumbled as she slowly started to come around, head pounding from can only be described as 'alcohol abuse' the previous night. The past 12 hours were a complete blur to her, she had no idea what happened past the conversation between her and Hunter.

She pulled the blanket from over her head, the moment the sun hit her head she winced in agony and blocked it out with her paws. In doing this she realized that the bed was not her own. The smell of the entire apartment she knew was eerily familiar to Alex's scent.

Further inspection caused her to freeze perfectly motionless, her eyes widened and a cold sweat broke on her brow. This wasn't the feeling of her own bed, nor was it the lumpy feeling of a sofa bed. A quick glance under the bed covers and she noticed that she was in nothing but her underwear.

Using her keen detective skills that the police academy had provided her with she deduced that she was naked, in bed, with Alex asleep beside her in nothing but a pair of jogging bottoms. The exposed flesh on her ears turned a bright pink, her paws began to shake a little with embarrassment as she realized what this may imply.

"Oh sweet cheese and crackers..."