A/N: Hey guys! It's me again. I present to you, Chapter 2 of Pieces. For those of you that didn't like Tanya, she doesn't even speak in this chapter and is only mentioned a little bit. And also regarding her character, she is going to become a much bigger part of the story and will play an important role for Nick and Judy. So there... please enjoy!

The bunny knew that she was awake. While previously her reality was nothing but the peacefulness of a wondrous slumber, she now felt the bright rays of the late morning sun shining upon her face from the window in her bedroom.

Though she was awake, she did not want to open her eyes. She still felt rather tired from the previous night, but she couldn't remember exactly what she did that would warrant her apparent exhaustion. Sure, the entire last week had been full of plenty of work, leaving very little time for her to rest properly, but as far as she could tell, she should have gotten some very restful sleep.

The bunny stirred in the bed, trying to get into a more comfortable position to fall back asleep. Her motions were enough to make her aware of a pounding headache that caused her to moan quietly in pain. It was an intense, thumping pain that wouldn't let up, preventing her from relaxing enough to fall back asleep. For several minutes, she lay in her bed with her paws over her ears, pulling them downward in an attempt to ward off the already very prominent headache.

Judy felt a slight tickle in her throat, which caused her to feel the urge to cough. She fought and fought with herself, but in the end, her efforts proved null as she erupted in a coughing fit that worsened her headache and forced her eyes open. As soon as her eyes were opened they were met with an intense light that caused her to replace her paws over her head as her headache continued to pound in her temples.

Eyes closed, the bunny sat up in her bed with the covers over her body and breathed quickly through her nose. As she took in the air around her, she realized that her apartment smelled radically different from the last time she was there, which had only been the previous morning. As far as she was concerned, nothing should have happened to render her own living quarters foreign to her nose. She continued analyzing the scent, finding it horrifyingly familiar. After some mental preparation, she finally gathered the courage to open her eyes and find out what made her apartment seem so different. Her eyes opened slowly, revealing a room that was not what she expected.

She wasn't in her apartment at all.

That fact alone was enough for her to keep her eyes open despite the pounding that intensified in her head. She looked around the new environment and saw that she was in a rather large bed, plenty big enough for at least four of her. Judy slowly turned her head to the right, where she noticed another figure still asleep next to her, and a sudden flood of memories from the last night came back to her. Her drunken antics caused her to say things that she should have never said out loud, do things that should have never been done in public, and go home with mammals that she shouldn't have gone home with.

"Nick!"

The sudden shout caused the titular red fox to awake with a tremendous start, while at the same time groaning in pain. Apparently having a terrible headache like Judy, the fox covered his ears to prevent any loud noises from causing any more pain, though much to his dismay, the bunny next to him was too loud for his paws to block the sound. He reluctantly opened his eyes and found a panicking Judy sitting in his bed with the covers over her body and yelling his name at the top of her lungs. He only had one other option to make her quieten down.

"Judy! Be quiet, my head hurts like crazy," he said, hushed enough to warrant as little aggravation of his headache as possible, but loud enough for Judy to easily hear him. The rabbit covered her mouth and gasped after realizing that the one she screamed for was right next to her. She also noted that he appeared to be completely naked, save for the bedsheets covering the lower half of his body. His eyes remained squinted and he looked at her with a pained expression from his headache.

"Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry, Nick! I had no idea that you were awake," she apologized. Nick cracked a tired and pained smile as he got into a more comfortable seating position, using one of the many pillows as a backrest.

"I wasn't, just try to keep your voice down. I'm sure your head hurts, too, so just avoid loud noises and bright lights until you start to feel better, ok?" Judy looked in front of her, breathing heavily and very confused as to how she got into this position.

"Wait, how did you know that my head hurt?"

"You and I both know that you had way too much to drink last night. It's guaranteed that you're gonna have a really bad hangover. This one is even bad for me and I'm usually pretty good with them," Nick said. The fox leaned back and put both of his paws behind his head right as Judy remembered some things from last night.

"Nick… at the bar last night... did we-"

"Yep."

"And then we-"

"Yep."

"And we left-"

"Yep."

"I'm such an idiot…"

"Yep."

Nick's last response got him a well-aimed bunny fist to the shoulder, the force of which aggravated his headache and caused him to rub the spot where Judy punched him.

"I'm just kidding, Carrots. Maybe it makes you someone with poor judgement when it comes to how much alcohol you can handle, but not an idiot," Nick said. His reassurance did not make her feel any better, though. She had let herself get carried away last night, and she ended up sleeping with Nick, something that she would have thought completely insane had she been sober.

"Nick, do you have any idea what this means for us? We can't let anyone know that this happened. We have to keep it a secret, no matter what," Judy said. Her tone was completely serious, but it seemed to all get lost on the fox.

"I don't know what the big deal is, Carrots. We had sex, so what? It's not like anyone would really care," Nick said. Judy was so blown away that she almost started laughing.

"Nick, you do realize that the precinct doesn't allow for romantic relationships between officers. We could get forced to transfer to separate precincts if Bogo found out about this. Plus, don't you think it's a little bit weird… you know… a fox and a bunny…"

"Just spit it out, Judy. We're not children anymore. You can say that we've had sex," Nick got closer to Judy's face and started talking in a high-pitched voice.

"C'mon, I wanna hear you say it. Say it. Say it. Say it..."

Judy's face burned with embarrassment and anger as Nick continued to chant aloud. After about the tenth time, Judy had heard enough and she snapped.

"Alright! I'll say it! We had sex, and I'm pretty sure you enjoyed it!" Judy lowered her voice and moved her muzzle closer to Nick. "You did enjoy it, right?" she whispered. Judy looked at Nick's smug face and waited for his response.

"I did, one hundred percent," he stated simply with a brash grin on his muzzle. Judy put on a frown and looked down into her lap, where Nick's bedsheets still covered her naked body. Judy tried thinking back on the night that they had. She clearly remembered everything up until she came back with the drinks, but that was when things started to get fuzzy. She figured maybe Nick could fill her in on some of the finer details that she missed.

"So, do you remember what happened last night?" she asked the fox. A wave of disappointment washed over her when he shrugged and shook his head.

"I've got bits and pieces, but that's it. I can't remember the walk to the apartment," Nick put on an evil grin and got his muzzle closer to Judy. "But I remember what happened after we got here," he said with a wiggle of his eyebrows. Judy pushed Nick's muzzle away from her face as she tried to act angry, but she still couldn't help but giggle a little as he again tried to get close to her. The bunny once again had to shove the fox away, this time using more force than was necessary. The resulting shove was enough to aggravate both of their headaches to the point of both of them holding their heads tenderly to ease the pounding.

"I think we need to keep things quiet for a while and avoid moving too much until we feel better. I'll have to look, but I should have some coffee that I can make and hopefully that will help," the fox said. Judy nodded in agreement and the fox proceeded to get out of bed, revealing his completely naked figure to the rabbit, who shielded her eyes from the sight and scolded Nick, albeit quietly and with little else movement.

"Nick! You are naked! At least warn me before marching around here without clothes on!" she said in a hushed voice, though the anger still translated perfectly.

"And like you haven't seen this before?" he said, gesturing to his body, completely unfazed by Judy's vexation.

"I can barely remember what happened last night! It's basically like the first time!" Judy scolded, still covering her eyes. Nick shook his head and began walking towards the door. He reached down and picked up his clothes from last night and turned towards the door.

"Go ahead and hop in the shower if you feel like it. I'll wait a little while and get the coffee going. I'm sure you will be fine wearing your clothes from last night, right?"

Nick didn't give Judy enough time to respond as he was already out of his room and out of her sight. The bunny leaned back against the pillow and sighed. What was originally just supposed to be an ordinary night at the bar, something that they had done plenty of times, ended up being a disaster. She had possibly ruined her relationship with Nick. They were the best of friends in and out of work and she wanted to keep it that way. She couldn't have dreamt of ruining their friendship due to her lack of control over her feelings.

One of the few things she could remember was how she confessed her love for Nick, and he had proceeded to do the same, both in a very slurred fashion. She knew one thing about her words.

She meant exactly what she said.

Since Nick was assigned to Precinct One and to be her partner, she had resisted the urge to tell him what she was feeling, all because they were irrational and unnatural. She was a rabbit. He was a fox; traditionally mortal enemies and biologically incompatible to be together in that sense. She knew that love was blind, but apparently the love in her own soul was deaf and mute, too. She couldn't possibly love Nick that way because it was just too weird, but her body didn't want to listen to the facts.

Not only was it the strangest thing she could have possibly conceived, except for some sort of fox-rabbit hybrid (Which she hoped was not the case), it was not entirely acceptable in society. It was usually a general rule of thumb that you date and explore relationships within your respective species. Some animals pushed the boundaries a bit and dated, and even mated with very closely related species, but that wasn't too common. It usually didn't last long, either, as the relationships formed along interspecies barriers were incredibly unstable due to several issues that wouldn't be faced in a more conventional relationship. The most common of which was the issue of bearing children, something that was a major part of a successful relationship that was determined to go the long haul.

Society had turned the other cheek when it came to those types of relationships. Most mammals didn't really care if closely related species dated. But for two polar opposites to be together? There was no way anyone would think of it as something natural, let alone legit. Most mammals would think that they were just out to receive attention and be in the spotlight for a few days while the whole world raved about the new brave interspecies couple that couldn't have possibly been more different. Judy giggled as she thought of all the crap that the tabloids would produce on something like that, and how it was something she would not want to be a part of.

Judy wrapped up her thoughts when she remembered what Nick had told her. She got down from his bed and picked up her wrinkled clothes from the floor. She silently padded down to the bathroom and closed the door as she prepared to take a shower.

She turned on the water and let it get to a nice and steamy temperature before she placed herself in the shower. The water felt amazing, the hot liquid soaking her fur and removing all of the impurities that found their way inside. Luckily for Judy, the shampoo that Nick used was not one that would make her smell masculine. He had taken to use a soap that neutralized strong musks and didn't have any particular scent. It wasn't what she used herself, but for now it would do just fine.

She poured some of the soap into her paws and lathered it together. She rubbed it all over her body to get her fur extra clean and then rinsed off to remove all of the bubbles. When she was thoroughly rinsed off, she stood in the cascade of the shower for a couple of minutes enjoying the water before she turned off the shower and walked out.

The towel that she used was much too large for her and was probably even a little oversized for Nick. But she was able to dry herself off much faster than with her rabbit-sized towels that she used in her own apartment. She would have to consider getting some like that in the future. Judy looked down at her clothing, which were wrinkled and she could smell that they weren't fresh. It wasn't too bad, but she would have much preferred if she had a fresh set. She put on her clothes and opened the door to the bathroom.

After Judy had exited the shower, Nick decided to get in as soon as possible. She gave the bathroom to him and she strode into the kitchen where the smell of coffee filled her nostrils, effectively waking her up and bringing her over to the full pot of the delicious black liquid. A cup already sat next to the pot, ready for Judy to fill with the goodness that was morning coffee. She poured the coffee into the cup slowly, taking in the sights and sounds that she usually would have taken for granted.

The delicate sloshing sound that the coffee made as it slowly filled the cup. The gentle rising steam that tickled her nose as it passed by her face. The way that a few bubbles danced around the surface until they popped and disappeared like the previous night. It all seemed so wonderful and so foreign, yet it was completely ordinary and nothing special.

She idly waited in Nick's livingroom for him to get out of the shower. She set her mug on the coffee table and let it sit for a while to cool down to a much more preferred temperature. She ventured over to the window that looked over several smaller buildings. Nick's apartment was in one of the taller buildings in the area, still nowhere near the height of Zootopia's tallest structures, but it still provided a wonderful view of some of the downtown life on a lazy Saturday morning.

On the street below, Judy could see several mammals walking on the sidewalks, as well as a few couples enjoying the nice weather. Cars moved slowly through the city streets, which was one reason that Judy had never even thought about buying a car. Her commute to work was much faster when she took the subway or walked if she was feeling up to it. Nick, on the other paw, lived too far away from the station to have walking be a viable option for transportation, so he was restrained to a short walk to the nearest subway station and a twenty-five-minute ride to the police station.

When Judy heard the sound of running water stop her ears moved towards the bathroom. She turned her body over to where Nick would be coming out from in a few minutes. She walked over to Nick's couch and sat down by her coffee and picked up the mug. She took a delicate sip and then went in for a larger gulp after deciding that it was cool enough for her to drink. Judy saw Nick go straight from the bathroom to his room, only to come out a short time later in a fresh set of clothes and a satisfied smile on his muzzle.

"Feels good to finally get clean, doesn't it?" the fox asked as he moved over to the couch and sat down next to the bunny. Her sad expression in response to his query concerned Nick, and his sunny exterior was soon shaded in worry.

"Judy, what's up? You seem sad for some reason," he said. Judy stared into her lap for a few seconds before responding.

"Nick, we need to figure things out. What happened last night… probably shouldn't have. There's a lot that we need to talk about regarding… us and what this means," Judy said. Her voice was quiet and low, hopefully telling the fox that she was completely serious and would not take any sort of joking around. Nick's expression didn't change as he responded.

"I'll be honest, I'm a bit curious as to what you're getting at. From what happened last night, it's pretty clear to me what the future holds."

"Well… I don't know. It's a stupid thought that I've been feeling for a while now. I just can't seem to get you out of my head. And I know that it sounds really weird-"

"What's weird about us being together?"

Nick's response took Judy a bit by surprise. She half expected Nick to think this would end in a typical one-night stand fashion with them never engaging in a real relationship, or probably ever be like they used to.

"Wait, do you even remember what happened at the bar last night? Because I feel like you don't remember what was said between the two of us," Judy said. Nick's features softened as he scooted closer to Judy and put his arm around her.

"Ya know, I may not be able to remember much, but I do remember what happened before we left the bar. You told me you loved me, and I said I loved you back. We may have been drunk, and I don't know if it's the same for you, but I meant every word of it, save for the part about me eating your face," Judy smiled and placed her paw over Nick's which rested on her right arm.

"I love you, Judy." The fox's words came out smoothly. He was so confident in the way he delivered because he knew what he was feeling. There were no questions about whether his feelings for Judy were just a crush or completely real.

They were as real as they got.

"I love you, too, Nick." Judy's heart was racing as she finally said those words while both of them were sober. And just like Nick, she couldn't have been any more sure about that. She wanted to be with him, but knew that there would be challenges for them to face and obstacles to overcome. It would be a difficult journey, but to Judy it would all be worth it if she was to be with the one she loved.

"So what do you say, want to give it a go? See what it's like to finally stop hiding these feelings?"

He was hopeful in the way he spoke like he was fully ready to do whatever it took to make this happen. A light smile graced his features after he asked, and in turn, Judy smiled before wrapping her arms around Nick's neck in a tender hug. Nick too wrapped his arms around Judy, holding her like she would fall if he let go.

"If it means getting shamed publicly and having to hide it from Bogo, as long as it's with you then I wouldn't want anything else," Judy whispered into Nick's ear. The two separated from the hug and Nick looked into Judy's violet orbs with copious amounts of concern.

"You're sure you want to go through all of this? You do understand that everything gets a lot harder from here, right? We can't just go out to dinner, or take a lovely stroll through the park while holding paws. People will stare, react in ways that will make you angry. People will go up to us and ask what is wrong with us. Some may even do worse things than that," Nick said, pausing before continuing with his warning. "They might throw trash at us or even spit on us, just because we love each other."

"Who cares if we get covered in trash and saliva? I want to be with you, and I'll do whatever it takes," she replied, causing Nick to chuckle a little. He patted Judy on the shoulders and then pulled her in for another hug complete with a quick and tender kiss on top of her head, right in between her ears. Nick ended the hug and sat on the couch normally, facing his television.

He left one arm around Judy and he put his left foot on his right knee, bouncing his foot to the beat of a song in his head. As the two sat in silence, a vibration drew Nick's attention to his right pocket where his phone currently rested. He promptly took out the device, looked at the screen, then his ears splayed back in horror at what he saw. Judy took notice of how he reacted and looked up at him, confused and slightly concerned.

"What's wrong, Nick? Are you already having second thoughts?" she asked jokingly. Nick shook his head slowly with wide eyes, staring straight at the opposite wall.

"I just got a text…" he said quietly. "It's from Tanya. She's in the lobby right now and wants me to come down…"

"Did she say why?" Judy asked.

"Nope… but I'll bet it has to do with how we ditched her last night..." Nick replied simply.

"Are you gonna go down there?" Judy asked.

"Yeah," Nick said, nodding his head up and down a little. "But I don't think you should go with me. I have a feeling that might be a dead giveaway. You'll have to stay up here for the time being," Nick said. He really didn't want to leave Judy alone in his apartment, but it seemed like they didn't have much of a choice unless they wanted to get found out.

"I suppose as long as it's only for a few minutes that will be fine," Judy pointed at Nick with one of her fingers. "Just make it quick. I don't want to be waiting up here for hours without knowing when you'll be back." Nick smiled as he got up from the couch.

"Don't you worry your little head off, Carrots. I'll tell her that you were tired so we left, I brought you home, and then I went home and went to bed. I'll be back up in five minutes." Nick was strangely confident about that last part, but Judy remained a little skeptical.

Still seeing that there was no other option if they wanted to keep their fresh relationship a secret among their peers, Judy got comfortable on the couch and reached for the television remote as Nick moved towards the door. He opened his front door and paused to look back at the bunny sitting on his couch, currently watching a morning show all about celebrity gossip.

As he turned back to the door, Nick was trying to figure out how lucky he had gotten.

He had felt feelings for Judy quite a bit in the last few months. On several occasions, he wanted to talk to her about them, but he never mustered the courage to because he didn't know how she felt about him. Now that everything was said and done, he felt like a little bit of a coward for not saying something sooner. But he and everyone else knew how the phrase went.

Better late than never.

A/N: Ooooooo, Nick's in trouble!

And there you have it, folks! This is indeed a Wilde/Hopps story. I know some of you were a little bit skeptical about that aspect, but now it's official. I may have done some terrible things to those two in my previous stories, but I want to try my hands at some feel-good stuff for once ;)

I was super pleased to see this story be so well received, save for your gripes about Tanya. It honestly blew me away at how many of you told me how much you liked it. It made me feel good inside, which is something that I haven't had a whole lot of recently due to my dealing with loss. I just want to let you guys know that I greatly appreciate everything that you've done by reviewing, following, favoriting. It may not seem like much to you, but it means the world to me. It puts a smile on my face every time I see a new review or a follow or favorite :)

And with that being said, don't forget to leave a review, follow, or favorite! I love them all and I love you all!

Cheers!

-Ande