Clawhauser hummed to himself as he arranged piles of paper on his table. Not so far away was his mobile phone playing Gazelle's newest song. He wished he could at her concert someday. He had never bought the ticket in time before the website crashed. So, he probably would have to watch her upcoming concert in front of his TV again. He's definitely not going to buy an overpriced ticket from a scalper.

"Hey, catch!"

He had three seconds to process what he just heard, before something soft and fluffy landed itself on his head. Clawhauser turned and saw Cooper at the doorway, grinning.

"What is this?" He asked the wolf, picking a soft fabric from his head.

"I picked it up on my way here; someone told me that you will like it." Cooper replied, grinning before he disappeared just liked the way he arrived. Clawhauser shook his head with a tired smile, he was used to Cooper's way of appearing out of nowhere now. So he turned to look at what in his hand instead.

"Oh… my…god…"

Clawhauser knew his jaw would have hit the ground if it was possible for his mouth to open that wide. In his hand was Gazelle's latest shirt which had arrived at local stores three days ago; which were all sold out in less than 24 hours – much to Clawhauser disappointment that he didn't have a chance to buy it.

Right now he could feel his heart pounding so hard it might pushed itself though layer of his visceral fat. This was an official shirt from the store, with a price tag still attached to it. Moreover, it's an XXXL sized, his size.

Clawhauser had no idea what to say. He was so happy that he didn't know how to describe it.

However, after his joyful moment tuned down a bit, Clawhauser started to wonder of who buy his shirt for him. If could be Cooper, but why would Cooper do that? Or he might actually 'pick it up' on his way here. Then who bought it?

He didn't know what got to him, but for a moment he had a feeling that it's Chief Bogo who bought it.

"Ngh… that's not going to happen." Clawhauser shook his head. "Chief won't do something like that, even that he's also Gazelle's fan. Gotta ask Cooper." He decided, even that he somehow knew that Cooper wasn't going to tell him.

The shirt indeed had made Clawhauser in a super high spirit for the rest of the day. He smiled wider and even talked his co-workers into having a short break with him as they came to deliver their reports.

His friends kept him up with the situation in the station. Everything seemed to be normal, until one of his friend talked about the visiting from their new Mayor hours ago.

"Mayor Bellwether was here?" Clawhauser was surprised. He didn't think that a mayor would have to visit the police station by herself, unless there was something terrible happen.

"I've heard that she came to talk with Chief Bogo personally." Katy, a female leopard said with a toothy grin. She always had the hottest and most interesting topics to gossip. "I saw her went into Chief's room. And her bodyguards stood in front of the room all the time. I think there must be a secret, since she didn't even trust us not to eavesdrop."

"Maybe it's about her…latest clips that went viral." George, a rhino said as he hold up his mobile phone. It was a clip of an outdoor party that also captured teenage Bellwether purposely knocked a drunk tiger face first toward a small bonfire, and the satisfied look on her face showed that this wasn't a friendly prank as she had told the news. Luckily, the tiger didn't fall on top of the bonfire or got hurt; and Bellwether came up with an excuse that had 'I was drunk and they were all drunk, and it's just a prank, so there is nothing to talk about' as a summary.

"This clip is so old." Katy said. "I've to say that whoever dog this up must be very good at IT, even our Cybercrime department still cannot trace this guy back. They said 'There is nearly zero Cyber-fingerprint', or whatever that means."

"It means that if 'that' person, or persons, decides to release another embarrassed clips of our new Mayor, we will still be unable to catch him." George concluded with a shrug. "And that will probably make her come back here again, maybe even angrier this time."

"And I will be even angrier if I catch you two taking a rather too long break in the middle of your shift."

A familiar stern voice made the three of them jumped in surprise. Their boss, Chief Bogo, was at the doorway with an annoyed look on his face and some papers in his hooves.

"Chief!"

"Boss!"

Both George and Katy tensed up, while Clawhauser felt blood being drained from his face. Well, he was the one to talk this two into taking a break with him, so it's his fault too.

"Get back to work." However, their Chief cut them off before the three of them managed to say anything more. "I will pretend that this has never happened, but if there is a second time…" The large mammal trailed off with a serious look in his eyes. That's enough to make Katy and George quickly get back to work, leaving Clawhauser alone with their boss which seemed to be still fuming in irritation.

Oh dear, Clawhauser gulped. I'm a dead meat. Should I apologize before he starts lecturing me? Will it make him become even angrier? Oh… how did I manage to mess up this time? Benny, you're such a stupid cat.

Nevertheless, the lecture didn't came. And Clawhauser jumped as his boss sat down on the chair in front of his table.

"How are you doing?" Chief Bogo asked as if nothing happened. The larger mammal put the papers he carried with him on the table, while his other hooves took a glasses out of his pocket.

"Pardon…?" Clawhauser was so surprised that he could not manage to answer properly. And that made him received a slight concerned look from his boss.

"How are you doing?" Chief Bodo asked again, looking at him in the eyes; Clawhauser would be lying if he said that this didn't make his heart beat so fast and make him felt like melting right under that intense gaze. Chief Bogo could be intimidating, yet even better with intimidating in a slightly sexual way.

"I…I'm fine." Clawhauser finally was able to find his voice again. "And…um… please don't blame Katy and George, I talked them into taking a break." He prepared to be lectured, yet it didn't come. What surprised him more was that his boss replied him back with a softer voice.

"It's okay, just don't do too often." Chief Bogo said, pushing some papers toward Clawhauser. "I have to finish this reports… and I hope you might be able to help me with some of this. Cooper said that you're quite free today."

"Oh, yes, yes sir." Clawhauser nodded quickly and started working immediately, totally forgetting about the abrupt change of the topic since he had got to spend time with his secret crush – and also didn't notice the slight higher pitch of Bogo's voice nor the slight quickened pace when the larger mammal asked for Clawhauser's assistant.

"I saw the Mayor visited you this afternoon."

Cooper said as he sat down in front of Bogo's desk. Outside it was raining, the sky looked like midnight even that it's just 5 o'clock. Bogo looked up from the reports on his desk to see the wolf grinned at him. He sighed, leaning back and put the pen down.

"She seemed to be… very frustrated." The wolf continued, smiling as Bogo watched one of his best officers span the chair around. "I guess you can handle that, right?"

Bogo gave the wolf a look. Outside, Cooper looked like a stern wolf with nothing on his mind but how to get the job done. However, on the inside he was a cocky bastard. But as long as Cooper was still in line, Bogo had no problem with the large black wolf wondering out of the way sometimes. Also, with Cooper's ability to make seven clips that damaged Mayor Bellwether's reputation become viral within a week, Bogo decided that the wolf deserved to act like he didn't have to care about manner; at least when he was in this room.

"I can handle her frustration, son." Bogo said, looking at the young wolf who was secretly his adopted child – not officially though. The wolf's father left him with Bogo while he was in the hospital. Cooper's parents tried their best to raise Cooper even after they had so many debts to pay due to the bills from the hospital, so the wolf had spent a lot of his early childhood years under Bogo's care.

"Okay," Cooper nodded, before changing the topic. "So… I've also seen you visited Mr. Clawhauser. Did you give him the ticket yet?"

"Um…not yet…" Bogo sighed, feeling his cheeks heated up a bit. He had secretly, with Cooper's help, brought two tickets to Gazelle's latest concert, and also her newest shirt. "I…is he happy with the shirt?"

"You should know that by now." Cooper sighed, looking as if he was feeling sympathy for Bogo. "Come on Chief, you're able to bring an elephant down in boxing, and putting yourself between everyone and danger. You've taken bullets for us. You can do this." The wolf said, a serious look in his eyes. Bogo sighed, knowing that his unofficially adoptive son was right.

"Right…right…" The buffalo nodded, sighing nervously. Well, what Cooper said was true, but those could not be compared to asking a comrade out on a date with him to Gazelle concert. He wasn't sure when did he start caring for Clawhauser more than he should care for a comrade and a friend, but the feeling increased every passing day. His feeling, his fondness of that chubby and kind cheetah, grew every day until he realized that it's not just something simple that would be gone within a week, nor something he could just literally ignore.

He loved Clawhauser. He knew it. But admitting it out loud took him almost a month. And it took him a couple of weeks for him to gather his courage and told Cooper, asking for the wolf's help. Luckily, his adoptive son was so supportive of him, and Bogo was glad to have Cooper giving him every answer to his nervous questions about dating; he hadn't dated anyone else since his former wife for years now.

Clawhauser was packing up and ready to leave the police station when Cooper showed up again.

"Hi," the wolf called, walking toward him with a smile. "It's raining outside, do you want a ride home?"

"Oh, thank you. You're so kind." Clawhauser smiled, relieved to be mostly dry when he got home. He had nothing against rain, but rainy evening usually caused a slight traffic jam and made everywhere so slippery that anyone with poor balance, liked him, falling down too often than when babies had their first lesson of how to walk.

"Alright, and do you want to stay for dinner too, I'm trying to cook something new and I want you to try out. My adoptive dad is going to visit soon and I want to perfect this recipe before he visits… you know…" Cooper trailed off, scratching the back of his head. And even that he didn't know much about Cooper, but being a warm hearted he was, so Clawhauser accepted the invitation with a smile. Plus, he would have a chance to ask Cooper how exactly he got this shirt.

"Well… you've to promise me something first." Cooper said after Clawhauser pushed the black timber wolf about how he had the shirt in the first place. "Promise me that you're not going to freak out after I tell you." He said as he span the wheel, turning the car to go left.

"I'm not going to freak out." Clawhauser said, smiling as his mind already wondered of whom that person could be. In his mind, he wished that it's Chief Bogo. And when he was about to push that thought away, Cooper answer came.

"It's Chief Bogo."

Chief Bogo bought this shirt for me?

What…what in the world….

Oh My God…please tell me this is not a dream.

Chief Bogo bought me Gazelle newest shirt!

What should I do? What should I do?! Should I buy something back? Should I send a thank you card?

After reaching Cooper's house, Clawhauser spent ten minutes thinking about what Cooper had told him while the wolf was in the kitchen – cooking.

Why didn't Chief giving the shirt to me when he visited me this afternoon?

Was he… too shy to do that?

No… that couldn't be it. Clawhauser laughed cheekily, imaging his boss being shy and he ended up getting a creepy image than something cute and huggable. Maybe it's because he couldn't just walk to me with Gazelle's shirt, other officers might freak out. Clawhauser thought. Yes, that must be it.

Then it left him one big question that he still could not figure out yet.

Why did he buy me Gazelle's shirt?

Is he…? No…no… that's not possible. It cannot be possible. He… how can he have a crush on someone like me? A fat cat like me? While he is…all about being healthy and being serious.

Yup, but I do still have a crush on him.

Clawhauser rubbed his face, sighing. He's so confused about the situation at hands, what should he do?

"Claw? Dude! Are you there?"

Cooper called him from the kitchen, and Clawgauser hurried to the wolf. This all trying to crack the puzzle of 'why Chief bought be Gazelle's shirt' was giving him a headache. Maybe he needed to think about something else for a while.

Cooper was in front of a stove when Clawhauser walked in. The wolf was cooking something which smelt wonderful, and already had Clawhauser's mouth watered.

"What is that?" Clawhauser asked, moving closer to the stove. He felt so hungry right now.

"Spicy vegetable soup, salad, and chicken steak." Cooper smiled, pouring some of the soup in to a small bowl and handed it to Clawhauser. "Here, try it. Is it okay? I hope it isn't too salty this time."

"Okay." Clawhauser nodded and slowly tasted the soup. His expression changed from curious to delightful in a blink of an eye.

"This is delicious, oh man, you're good at cooking." Clawhauser squealed, consuming the rest of it quickly and licked his lips. "Can I have more?" he asked, eyes sparkling.

"Wow, thank you. That's the first time someone told me that." Cooper smiled. Clawhauser was about to ensure the wolf that he indeed good at cooking when a voice cut them off.

"It's because for Clawhauser, everything is delicious."

A familiar voice had Clawhauser jumped. He turned and froze as he saw his boss, Chief Bogo, standing at the doorway. The large mammal was still in police uniform, with a slight annoyed expression on his face.

"Oh. Hello sir, you're right on time." Cooper smiled, walking toward their boss with another bowl of soup in his hand. "Wanna try? I think I've improved."

Chief Bogo grunted, but taking the bowl from Cooper nonetheless. Clawhauser was gaping as he watched his crush in the same room with him.

Okay, okay…now my crush is HERE. HERE IN THIS KITCHEN!

What is he doing here? Not that I'm not happy to see him, but what is he doing here? Oh, man, did Cooper invite him to? Without telling me? What?

"Not bad, but still not good enough to ask someone out for dinner." Chief Bogo said with an emotionless voice, but there was a grin on his face. And Cooper's next sentenced almost had Clawhauser's jaw hit the floor.

"Come on Dad! I know it's good and you like it." The wolf pouted, getting the bowl back. "By the way, I've also invited Clawhauser, so you will have someone to accompany you while I cook." Cooper said and got back to the stove, clearly ignoring a stern look he was receiving from Chief Bogo.

And for Clawhauser? His world just turned upside-down.

"Wait…" Clawhauser gasped, as pieces started to click in his head. "You…you're Cooper adoptive dad?!"

Bogo didn't know what should he repay Cooper for suddenly getting him to dinner with Clawhauser. When the wolf invited him to dinner today, he accepted with a strange feeling that Cooper was up to something. And now, he was sitting on the wolf's sofa with his crush sitting not far away. And that cocky wolf? Still in the kitchen, pretending to be innocent. However, Bogo couldn't say that he didn't appreciate Cooper's afford to get him to finally ask Clawhauser out.

Yet, now he still tried to prolong it. That's why now he was telling Clawhauser about Cooper.

"I've known his parent since I was a kid." Bogo said. "When his father got ill and his mother had to work almost 24 hours to get enough money to cover the bills, I decided to take care of Russ." He said, using Cooper's given name instead. "He spent most of his time with me until his parents were able to clear all their fiancé's issues."

"Oh, I see." Clawhauser smiled. And now he was left with one question he was still afraid to ask. "So…um…" He glanced his bag where the shirt was kept. However, before he could ask about it, his boss spoke first.

"I um… I guess Cooper had already given you the shirt, right?" The larger mammal asked him, and it might be his ears playing with him but Clawhauser wonder if his boss' voice shaken a bit? A kind if shaken when someone was excited.

"Oh… yeah. Thank you Chief." Clawhauser nodded. He felt his voice a bit shaking too. But it's now or never. "So…um… why did you buy me that shirt Chief? I um, it's not that I don't appreciate it, but…you know… you just don't simply buy someone a shirt, right?"

"You're not 'someone', Benjamin." Chief Bogo replied abruptly, and he was calling Clawhauser by his name. It surprised the cheetah, and, made him felt like there were thousands of butterflies in his stomach. His heard skipped a beat and Ckawhauser felt as if he was dreaming.

"You are…" Then his boss seemed to be losing his voice for a few seconds, and Clawhauser waited with hope. He felt his heart throwing itself against his costal bones as he waited for Chief Bogo to finish. "…you are a good friend, a good cop. And um… I'm sorry that I couldn't do anything to change the mayor's mind about changing your desk at the police station."

"It's okay Chief." Clawhauser shook his head and gave his crush and boss his best smile. However, he couldn't help feeling a bit disappointed that Chief Bogo wasn't going to ask him out. "I understand. And you're a Chief, you cannot just ignore the mayor's request."

"I wish I could." Chief Bogo grunted, and Clawhauser saw a slight anger in his eyes.

"It's okay Chief. I'm okay." Clawhauser tried to reassure his boss that everything was alright for him. Well, not totally alright but he didn't want Bogo to worry about him. Of course he felt good having the buffalo's attention, but if it caused Bogo to endure more stresses than usual? Then he didn't want to.

Chief Bogo looked at him and sighed. He seemed to have something up his mind. And before Clawhauser knew it, a ticket to Gazelle's upcoming concerts was handed toward him.

"If you have time," His boss looked away, "I…um… I want you to go to Gazelle's concert with me."

"Chief?" Clawhauser felt his jaw hit the ground, not literally though, as he looked at the ticket that his boss handed to him. "Chief…this is…. This is a ticket… Chief….did you just…" He looked up at his boss, his heart was pounding so hard Clawhauser was afraid it might break out of his chest cavity.

"I'm asking you out on a date, Benjamin." His boss finally spoke out loud, turning to back to him. "I… I'm okay if you don't…"

Before he knew it, Clawhauser was jumping on his boss, with arms around Bogo's shoulders.

"Yes, I will go with you Chief! I will." Clawhauser shouted, hugging his boss and half hoping that this wasn't a dream. That this was real and his crush just asked him out on a date. He could feel his heart hammered his chest but he didn't care. All he care now was that his boss called him by his real name and just ask him out on a date.

I cannot believe it! Chief Bogo just asked me out on a date!

Clawhauser screamed in his mind as he rest his head on Chief Bogo's strong shoulder.

"It's Dallas."

"What…" Clawhauser paused and froze as he felt an arm wrapped around him, with his boss' hooves caressing the back of his head gently.

Did Chief just tell me to call him by his real name?

"Dallas Bogo." The larger mammals said, slowly titling his face so they both were looking at each other. "When we're…um… when we're on a date, I want you to call me by my real name, Benjamin." His boss seemed to be a bit shy about this, but smiled nonetheless. Clawhauser just couldn't do anything but to smile back.

"Okay,…Dallas."