The day had been long and lax. Thick fog rolled into the city early in the morning and gave the past hours a moody feeling. Judy Hopps, police officer of the ZPD had decided to stay in office and work extra hours. Another street race gang had been put behind bars, which was good of course, but with every case closed, came loads of paperwork. She didn't mind staying in late all alone though. After all, what else would she do? Sit in her small apartment and watch TV like she did almost every night? Nope, if she got the chance to be productive, she took it. Even if it meant a miserable night.

Judy laid back in her office chair, stretching her back out from all the slouching over her hard work. There was still a load of legal documents to read and fill out, at least an hours worth. She sighed, instant regret took over. Watching TV was definitely better than this.

Just then, Judy heard a nearly inaudible noise. Her ears perked up instantly, trying to locate where the noise had come from. She knew that sounds were normal in the city but something was off. It was subtle and suspicious, like it was out of place. She shrugged off the thought and went back to work. After a few seconds had passed, she heard it again. This time, a soft paw step. A noise so light that only a trained officer with ears like hers could have heard was supposed to be the only animal in the building, had Bogo locked the building when he left? Was it just the janitor taking his time? Paranoia pulsed through her.

"Hello?" she called out as she slowly reached across her desk for her tranquilizer.

She knew it was drastic, but being part of the law gave you a lot of enemies,you could never be too careful.

Another step, it was getting closer by the second. Judy raised her blaster, ready to fire.

"Nick?" she called out for her friend, "is that you?" She heard everything she hadn't noticed before as her ears grew thirsty for sound. The tick tock of the clock, the buzz of the hall lights, even the wind outside howled dramatically. These few seconds seemed to stretch for hours. But she saw nothing new.

"Nick, I know it's you" She attempted to say confidently. She clenched her pistol tighter, but only silence came.

"Bingo!" Nick shouted as he suddenly appeared in front of Judy, inches away from the tip of her tranquilizer. Judy screamed at the top of her lungs, firing the tranquilizer without aim. Nick, being as quick as he was, noticed the pistol just in time and dodged the dart with ease. Unfortunately, Judy, still screaming, tumbled backwards off her chair. Her legs, arms and ears flailing in the air like fireworks as she fell with a hard thump.

Nick fell to his knees and doubled over, almost dying of laughter. "You should've seen your face!" He screamed once he caught his breath "It was so perfect!"

Judy sat up and leaned against the window. Her heart still thumping with adrenaline, her mind racing at a thousand miles an hour

"God Nick, you almost gave me a heart attack!" Judy exclaimed, still stunned "I could have shot you!"

Nick slowly stood himself up, his eyes still wild, and looked at Judy. A huge grin spreading across his face. "But you didn't, and even if you did, I would have lived."

"That's not the point!" Judy countered, sounding like an annoyed five year old.

Nick chuckled as he walked over to Judy and offered her his hand, wanting to help her back up. Judy rolled her amethyst coloured eyes, laughed softly and took Nick's hand.

"You still working on those street gang papers?" Nick asked once Judy got to her feet.

Judy sighed and fell into her chair dramatically, her arms and legs sprawled about. "Yeah," She finally answered. " I'm never going to get it done. What was I thinking? Taking all that work on alone."

Nick laughed under his breath as he leaned against the edge of Judy's desk. He took a bit of time to get comfy. Once he was, he began.

"You do know you work to hard, right?" Nick asked kinda jokingly, trying not to sound too concerned. He liked that Judy loved her job so much, that she always wanted to do better and better. Saving animals was her reason in life, it was her only passion. But he was worried for her. Of course she cared about herself, but she always cared about others more. That scared him. He pushed the thought aside and waited for her to answer.

After putting her words together, Judy answered. "Yeah I know, it's just that... I always feel like everyone else would have a better time than me." She said slowly and hesitantly. "Unless we hang out, all I do is watch terrible dramas on TV and sleep. Other animals have families, things to do or more than one friend to be with." She gently smiled at the last part, her only friend was a fox. How ironic.

"Aaawww, am I youw onwy fwiend?" Nick asked with a sarcastic baby voice, widening his eyes in a poor attempt at a cute and innocent face.

"Stop it" She said giggling as she turned back towards her desk, "I need to finish this."

Judy slumped over and zoned in the second her eyes fell on her work. All of her focus was on the papers now. It was going to get done, whether she liked it or not.

"Ok, I'll just be over here." Nick said as he got off of Judy's desk and flopped in the chair across from her. "In case you need me."

Nick closed his eyes and instantly lost consciousness. At first it was difficult to concentrate on her task because of her Nick's snoozing and his drooling mouth. But after a few minutes, his breathing became oddly comforting. It made her feel more relaxed and more at home. Just being around Nick made her better at her job.

Once 40 minutes had passed, Judy had finished her work. She was much faster than she had expected. Being so proud of her speed, she pilled up her papers in a single tall stack and joyfully hopped over to place them on Bogo's desk.

When she returned, she began to pack her stuff up to head home. As she was just closing up her bag, Nick woke up, kind of. Judy was ready to go, bag packed and slung over her shoulder. Nick on the other hand was barely conscious. He followed Judy to the building exit, stumbling and bumping things over as he went. He managed to drag his rag doll body through the building and end up at his destination. The station parking lot.

Judy locked the office doors behind them and rushed through the pouring rain and across the dimly lit parking lot to reach her adorable mini beetle style car. As she approached her car, Judy turned her head to say goodnight to Nick but stood staring in confusion. In front of her, about 20 feet or so, stood a dazed Nick, struggling to unlock his car. Just from looking at the way he fumbled with his keys, most animals would be convinced he was drunk. Poor old Nick was getting drenched and he wasn't even awake enough to really know it.

Disappointed in her friend, she walked over to Nick. He was special. If Nick's sleeping schedule got messed up, he was a disaster for the rest of the day. Sleeping too much or too little, taking a nap at the wrong time, if any of these happened, he was a wreck. It once took a day for him to get used to life after just having a short nap at the wrong time. All foxes are strange like that, out of whack sleeping seem to be their specialty.

Judy took Nick's key and unlocked his car for him. As Nick opened the passenger side and sat down, Judy walked around the front of his red convertible and sat in the drivers seat. They closed their doors in unison and leaned far back in their chairs. Judy looked over at Nick, who had grabbed a rag from the back seat and began to dry off his face.

"You look like a stoner." Judy began.

Nick let out a soft chuckle and replied. "Thanks for saving me, Cottontail. I really think I need a little..."

"A little what?"

Judy waited for Nick to finish but he never did. Judy just stared at him dumbfounded while he lost his words and fell asleep. Nick's mouth drooped open as his head fell onto Judy's shoulder. She smiled at him, he was so adorable when he slept. She started the engine and began her route to Nick's apartment.

Once they reached their destination, Judy turned to Nick, still sleeping on her shoulder. She couldn't move, she was just too tired. Instead of waking Nick up, dragging him to his apartment and taking a cab back home,
Judy just stayed there. She made sure that the doors were locked and that their lights were off. She turned the car keys towards her and pulled them from the ignition. The hum of the V8 motor died instantly, leaving only the flics and flacs of the rain on the hood of the car. She tossed the keys on the dash of the car and leaned both chairs back to make some sort of a makeshift bed. Sure, it was raining, but it was fairly warm out. Not cold enough to need heat or a blanket, but not hot enough to need to open a window or turn on the AC.

Judy snuggle up to Nick and before she knew it, the relaxing sounds of the tiny storm had washed her to sleep.