Later that same morning, ZPD's 1st Precinct

Once Nick did a role call and handed out that day's assignments, Judy shifted her focus from her Chief once more to the new lead she was going to visit. She didn't know much about who she was going to meet, just that his name was Abdul and she was to meet him at the Palm Hotel in Sahara Square. So she had better hop on it or she'd hit mid-afternoon traffic on her way back to the precinct.

She headed towards her locker to retrieve her phone. As she was filling up her canteen with water to take on her short day trip, she turned her attention to her phone. She had four missed calls from her parents. Oh no, Judy thought. Better call em back.

Just as she was dialing their number and heading over to her cruiser, she received an incoming communication on her walkie-talkie.

"Hey Judy, you forgot to take your canteen with you. You're going to need it; Sahara Square is at its hottest mid-day."

Huh? Officer Hopps turned around to see Nick heading towards her with the canteen she had left on top of the water fountain. She smiled at him, "Oh, Nick!" She met him halfway across the parking lot and took the canteen from his paws. "Thanks."

"I thought I might join you today. Is that alright?" Nick had a bunch of paperwork he had to go through, but he wanted to tag along with Judy while she followed up on her lead. She was headed towards a sketchy part of Sahara Square, and he wanted to make sure she'd be alright.

"Uh, sure! That's great." Judy had an extra pep in her hop as she jumped into the driver's side of the cruiser, Nick following suit on the passenger's side. "You sure they don't need you at the office?" Judy teased.

"Of course they do. Clawhauser was practically begging me not to leave. On his knees, really." Judy slapped his arm playfully and returned her attention back to the road. They were merging onto the highway that would take them straight to Sahara Square. With light traffic, they could make it there in an hour.

"Har har. Well, I'm glad you're here. It'll be nice to have some company today. I have to say, and I'm sure you'll tease me for what I'm about to say, but it's been a lonely year without you by my side."

Nick, who was fidgeting with the radio, stopped and slouched back into his seat at the thought of having to assign Judy a new partner. It was uncommon for police officers, especially detectives, to go without one. He knew Judy could take care of herself out there, but even some of the bigger guys on the force, have found themselves in situations when having a partner, meant the difference between life and death. I'll assign her a new partner as soon as I get back to the precinct. I've been so jealous of the attention she gets from other males I haven't been thinking of her safety first.

Judy didn't seem to notice his sudden lapse in demeanor, but even if she had, Nick quickly switched back to his wisecracking self.

"Honestly, Carrots, I'll probably go down as one of the best partners of all time. Most attractive, too." Judy let out a laugh, but she didn't say anything else. Nick expected a bit of a back and forth between the two, but Judy stayed silent, smiling to herself as she kept her gaze focused on the road ahead of her.

Hmm, Nick thought. Testing the waters, he pushed his aviators higher up on his nose and turned his head towards the window. He watched the cars pass by them, and worked up the last few bits of courage he had, to ask her out on a date. If she rejected him he wanted to at least have his eyes covered, and his face turned away from the love of his life when she did so.

"Judy, remember earlier today when I asked you to bring me a donut?"

"Uh, yes. You were so upset when I came back with a chocolate donut instead of a blueberry filled cream, your favorite. They were out, Nick! You know how Ben loves Gideon's donuts, well, any donuts really." Judy merged lanes to take Exit 34 – Sahara Square, the view of what had once been an abandoned land was now the gambling center and party scene of Zootopia. Billboards advertising casinos, bars, and clubs filled the sky as they slowed down and filed behind the line of cars wanting to enter downtown Sahara Square. Judy put the car in park as she could tell it was going to be a few minutes before traffic started to move again.

"True, Ben does like his donuts. We should try to get him to go jogging with us one of these days. It might really help him lose weight, he was complaining about his knees bothering him the other day. Anyway, I'm getting a bit off topic." Nick paused to clear his throat. "Listen, Jude, you've been working around the clock this past week. Seeing how it is almost the weekend, how about I take you out for drinks and a movie? My treat."

Jude's heart skipped a beat. Is that what he was going to ask me this morning? He must mean like a real date if it took him this long to work up the nerve. We've gone out for drinks before, but he's never…officially…asked me. We've always gone out because it was a spur of the moment kind of thing. Judy sensed that something was different about Nick. He was shy and reserved when asking like he was bracing himself for her to say no.

Judy took a moment to answer as she tried to make her heartbeat return to a normal pace. She was sure that Nick could pick up on her excitement, a fox could pick up on minute changes, such as fear or nerves in traditionally prey animals, with his heightened senses.

Nick and Judy both spoke at the same time.

"We don't have to go as a coup -"

"I'd love to go with you on a -"

They both blushed. Judy spoke first.

"Sorry. You go first."

"Well, I was going to say that we don't have to go as a couple…we could go as friends." Upon seeing Judy's smile fade away at those words, Nick quickly backtracked. Darn it, Nick! You should have just let her take the time to answer. She was going to say yes!

"Or we could go as a couple, I was just—well, it was just-that you didn't answer right away. So I assumed that you didn't want to, but I mean, what I'm really trying to say, is I'd really like to go for drinks and a movie as a couple…what do you say?" Judy's ears perked up at that, and her smile returned. She was blushing feverishly through her fur, especially after hearing Nick awkwardly explain what he was trying to do when he asked her out.

Noticing that he got a positive reaction from Judy, Nick's ears perked up too. Knowing Judy would say yes, this time he was comforted by the silence that followed his words, and he placed one of his paws on Judy's knee.

"Wow, Nick if I didn't know any better, and do correct me if I'm wrong on this one, I would have thought you had a crush on me. What with stumbling over your words and all, what happened to my slick Nick today?" Judy teased.

Nick let out a belly laugh, but she noticed that he didn't correct her.