This was not how he had pictured this day ending, but he simply couldn't muster the will power to fight it. Not that she had actually given him much of a choice at first. The first few moments after the drug dealer had slipped away, his only thought had been making sure that she didn't vanish into the night as she fled from him in terror. And the moment she had stopped? The moment his small, beautiful, much beloved bunny had turned back to him things had gone from bad to… He couldn't even decide it this was worse, or so much better.

His body knew the answer it wanted, and his mind was so clouded with need as her paws moved to his shoulders so she could pull herself closer to him that he couldn't seem to find the intelligence to think of an argument. Not when she wrapped her arms around his neck and huffed hot, quick little breaths into the fur of his neck. Breaths that seemed to match the pace of his paw against her and the finger inside of her, sending tingled sliding erotically through every follicle of fur on his body. It wasn't simply that, he knew. He could feel the way she sucked in his scent with every quick rise and fall of her chest, feel the tremble race through her when she released each breath and arched herself into the needy pace. The part of him that loved her more than life itself also felt the way she rubbed her muzzle into his fur, spreading her scent over him in a gesture that would have been possessive if she had been a vixen. A small rumble rose in his chest as she did this, and he found himself returning the gesture against the top of her head and anywhere else he could reach. Would she even understand what it meant? Would she want to keep his mark on her once this temporary insanity had passed?

He wasn't even sure who was setting the pace anymore, but he knew that there was a wild and sensual beauty to how easily she moved against him, fit against him. But he was also fully aware of the fact that he was literally twice her size, canine, and even his finger felt like it was being held in a painfully hot vice of needy bunny flesh. So this perfect pairing of pace and lust was an illusion. His body didn't want to listen to reason, however, and the ache of his cock against his boxers and slacks demanded that he release her long enough to release himself from those cloth prisons. She had enough of a grip on him now that he knew he could move at least one paw away from those eagerly pumping bunny hips, reach down between them, and…

No! No no no, Wilde. You will not do that. You will not hurt her like that.

It was too dangerous. She was too wild with need, and he wasn't even sure of they were compatible beyond the snug grip of her sex around his soaked finger. He would give her this, because she wasn't exactly giving him a choice at the moment. And if he knew anything about females of any species, he knew she was close. Her breaths were becoming uneven gasps, strangled little sounds were escaping her as she tried to churr or moan or both at the same time but the lack of steady breathing made it impossible to manage either. His paw tightened on her hip as he pulled her down against him; a motion he might have made if he intended to take her right then and there. But instead, he angled his palm to press against the mons and then curled that single digit with every thrust.

And that was all, and he knew it the moment her paws slipped off of his thighs and strong legs wrapped around his waist. His paw was trapped between them, immobile, but she no longer needed his help to come to climax. She was already there, and the steady motion of her hips came to a stop as she ground herself into his paw for one… Two… Three second before her entire body started to tremble and tighten against him. The heat between her thighs and inside of the tight entrance of her folds spiked as he felt slick heat ripple and squeeze rapturously around him. Her breathing quickened to an almost insane pace before she parted that tiny muzzle of hers and bit him on the shoulder hard enough to tear a growl from him. The paw that no longer needed to hold her hip moved up, sliding up her back until he found her ears and wrapped his paw around them.

Nick stopped short of trying to remove her as she came, realizing that the pain of the bite, while surprising, had been minor. Not deep. He knew it would bruise, but she had not been trying to hurt him. He felt her trembling and heard gasping against him as she held the bite, which was mostly holding his shirt now, just as he felt the ripple of her pussy around his finger become a steady squeeze and pull. And damn, but he knew that she would have felt amazing around him if he gave into his own urges.

Instead, he ran his own trembling paw over the length of her ears soothingly. Slow, long strokes that caused the bunny wrapped around him to visibly weaken as an actual moan escaped her against his shoulder. He took that as a good sign; a very good sign. That combined with the way her fingers moved to slide through the fur at the back of his neck in a caress that was anything but wild and hungry gave him hope that she was coming down.

"That's it, Carrots," he murmured softly against her cheek, taking this moment to breathe in her scent. A scent that was all around him, surrounding him, soaked into his fur as much as his scent was soaked into hers. He was unaware of the flickering blue lights off in the distance, or the call on the radio attached to her discarded belt.

"I'm here. I'm not leaving you. I love you, and I'm never leaving you…"

Point A

"Hey, Carrots. Where are an elephants sexual organs?" he asked with a dopey grin, looking over at her through the dark aviator sunglasses with perked ears even as she groaned and rolled her eyes.

"Nick, I'm trying to drive," she said, keeping her eyes on the highway en route to the Rainforest District. After a moment of silence, she tapped her paw on the steering wheel as she glanced in his direction. Waiting patiently for curiosity to get the better of her, Nick took a long sip of his coffee as he watched her. They had been partners for three months now, and he knew that sooner or later... Finally, with a windy sigh, she waved one paw for him to continue. "Okay, fine. Where are an elephants sexual organs?"

"On their feet," he said, the grin all but splitting his muzzle. "Because if they trample you, you're fucked!"

"Nick!" He burst into laughter at the slack jawed look of shock that came to that adorable bunny face. It wasn't the first time he had told her a crass or sexual joke. The pregnant camel had just been a warm up. He took a bigger gulp from his overly sweet coffee again as she gave him a dirty look. A look that lasted for all of five seconds before her muzzle scrunched and her paw snapped up to cover it as she gave a little snort of laughter that soon dissolved into a fit of giggles that had him wondering if he was going to need to take the wheel. "That's horrible!"

"Ah, come on," he chuckled himself as he set the coffee into the cup holder and leaned back while. "You know your day wouldn't be half as much fun without my jokes."

He stretched his arms over his head slowly to work the kinks out of his muscles as he ignored her quick eye roll. These post-training shifts were going to be the death of him, and he was certain that he would have to mention to Bogo that he was not a Tod in his twenties like most of the still mostly rookie classes. That argument might fall on deaf ears, he suddenly realized, because he HAD managed to catch the uncatchable Judy Hopps in the last class. This fact lifted his spirits and made every little ache worth it.

An instinctive little tickle at the back of his neck made him lower his arms, and when he glanced at the rear-view mirror he found himself looking right into her eyes. Not an unusual occurrence, except she wasn't looking into his eyes. She was staring at his chest, and his arms with her eyes ticking back and forth between him and the road. And ears that were almost always high and alert were turned towards him with an intent that was somehow more intense, almost enough to make them tremble. It was also hard to miss the fact that the insides of those ears were a darker shade of pink than normal.

The moment she realized that he was watching her (or maybe she realized that she had been watching him) she quickly averted her gaze back to the road and gripped the wheel a little tighter. And there it was again. That change. Something subtle, something that he was not wired biologically to identify. But even over the scent of semi-fresh coffee, he realized that the scent in the car had changed. The scent of his partner had changed. There was a new sweetness to it; and that was the best he could describe it because it was so subtle. And it made his belly tighten when he realized the reason he had very nearly made a fool of himself in front of a dozen other ZPD officers.

"So," he began, reaching up to tug at the collar of his uniform as he quickly turned his gaze out to watch the city on his side of the car roll past. "That's a nice perfume you're wearing today, Carrots."

Smooth, Wilde. Now just reach down, open the door, and jump into oncoming traffic…

"Wait, what?" he heard her reply as he contemplated the idea that being road kill might be preferable to having this conversation. Her voice was a little shaken, a whole lot embarrassed, and confused all at the same time. "You can smell that?"

"Fox nose," he reminded her, as he reached up to tap the corner of his muzzle with one finger as he turned his gaze to her. He was glad that the dark lenses of the glasses were keeping his eyes mostly hidden, otherwise she might have noticed the way his gaze dropped when she shifted her hips in the seat. Dropped and lingered before he cleared his throat and continued. "It's not something just anyone would notice, and even I've only noticed it twice."

There was a long moment of silence between them. Not the general, comfortable silence that sometimes fell when the daily morning banter was finished, or they were both contemplating the case they were assigned at the time. This silence was loaded. With what he couldn't exactly say, or didn't want to think about. But it certainly wasn't the everyday friendly buddy cop silence that he was used to.

Of course, most days didn't include him realizing that his partner was in heat.

It wasn't until they turned onto the exit for the Rainforest District and started to cruise the streets of their patrol route for the latter half of the day that she spoke again.

"I'm sorry. It's not normally this strong," she explained, and when he turned to her he could almost see the blush burning under her fur. Her eyes flicked quickly towards him, and then just as quickly away when she realized that he was still watching her. He watched her paw tap-tap-tap on the steering wheel for a long moment as she did her best to do exactly what they were here for, before she puffed herself up and released a long sigh. "I'll take care of it when I get home tonight. And use a stronger scent neutralizer before work tomorrow.

"Look," she continued, even though he had already decided not to comment. The idea of her 'taking care of it' tonight made him wonder if cold coffee in the lap would be an effective way to keep his sheath from thickening further. "It's not like I can't do my job. It's perfectly natural, and something that every female in BunnyBurrow has to deal with at…"

"So, what lucky rabbit has you so stirred up twice in one day?" he cut her off as he turned his gaze to watch the greenery of the district, not really all that interested in a lecture on the reproductive cycle of rabbits. Of course as soon as the words left his mouth he realized that he had no interest in knowing what young buck had caught her eye, either.

When she didn't respond right away, his quirked eyebrow popped up over his sunglasses when he turned his gaze back to her. She was gripping the wheel again, and he swore if she blushed any harder she was going to burst into flames. Another quick glance came his way, though this time her gaze rested on his face for a moment, before darting down to… Him. His chest, his arms, his uniform, in the exact same quick motion that he had seen in the rear-view mirror. Then those large, beautiful violet pools snapped back up to his face before she slunk down lower in her seat and refused to look at him again.

He was a sly fox, but he was apparently a very stupid fox, too. And he certainly looked the part when his muzzle dropped open while he stared at the flustered bunny. Two times that day, and both times the only male anywhere near her had been him. The twitch of her nose when he had pinned her hadn't been about predator and prey, it had been about his scent affecting her as strongly as hers did him. And the looks she had given him in the mirror had come only moments before the change in her scent.

He snapped his mouth closed as he felt heat rising up his own neck, a heat that thankfully she wouldn't be able to see reach his ears due to his fur coloring. Clearing his throat, he reached up with one paw to slide the sunglasses down a bit. Deep emerald green eyes watching her over them as he started to slide on his best mask to fit the moment: charming, sly fox.

"Don't do that, Nick," she demanded in a small voice as the color in her ears deepened again. "That look is not helping. Just… Tell me another joke, something to distract me so I can focus on the job."

"All right," he agreed, leaning back in his seat after a moment and setting his glasses right on his face. It was obvious that she didn't want to feel this way about him, and while that fact and the rejection that came with it stung, he accepted as just another level of keeping their relationship steady over allowing himself to want more.

He opened his muzzle to start the requested joke, then paused when he saw a weasel and a ram in the shadow of a tree. "What would a ram and a weasel be doing hiding under a tree?" he wondered aloud. He reached up to slip the shades off completely as he watched a wad of money and a tiny plastic bag filled with blue powder change paws, and was instantly alert.

"I don't know, what?" Judy quipped, her tone obviously relieved that he had decided to take her advice and start with a bad (but somehow funny) joke.

"No, Carrots, 996 in progress," he clarified quickly, checking his taser and side arm. He had to give her credit as she did the same, and after a nod to confirm each other's readiness, jumped out of the other side of the cruiser as if nothing had happened moments before.

Perfect partners. Best friends.

Stay focused, Wilde.

Sunglasses back in place, he joined her and started his normal casual stroll towards the tree where the deal was taking place. Face perfectly blank and muzzle held high to make him look larger than he was, he stayed a step behind Judy as they crossed the abandoned street. The ram spotted them first and froze in the process of stuffing the tiny bag into his pocket.

"They're going to run," he muttered in a tone so low that he knew only she would be able to hear him. "In three…"

The weasel took notice of them, and his already large eyes seemed to widen by a size or two.

"I've got the ram. Two…"

"ZPD!" Judy called as she increased her pace towards them. It was a wonder she didn't run everywhere. He could very nearly see the energy in every step she took as she left the road and her large paws vanished into the underbrush. "You're under arrest!"

"And that's three." He was already side stepping into the obvious direction the ram was going to take, when the ram bolted. "ZPD! Don't move!"

Of course, the command was ignored and he took off in pursuit at a pace that the ram couldn't hope to match. He often wondered why that was even a part of procedure sometimes, because they never stopped. In the corner of his eye, he saw Judy dash after the weasel in a loping sprint that never failed to make him grin. It was no secret that the first and still only bunny cop in the ZPD was a force to be reckoned with on the mean streets of Zootopia. Her reputation was such that even large predators managed to be intimidated when she came onto the scene.

Focusing on his own chase, as short as it was likely to be given the plodding run of the ram in front of him, Nick leaned forward and picked up the pace. When the ram tried to take a sharp turn in an attempt to throw him off balance, his many, many chases after that ridiculously agile bunny more than paid off when he pulled the turn much quicker, allowing him to catch the back end of the ram's coat. A bleating cry of alarm escaping the mammal before he used his greater strength to rip himself out of Nick's grasp and turned to face him. Horns down.

"Whoa there, big guy. Do you really want to make this worse?" Nick asked, his arm held out even as he braced his legs for the charge that he already saw coming in the desperate herbivore's eyes. When it did come, Nick did what he knew would be the last thing the ram expected; he ran into it rather than away. Just as his muzzle would have been crushed by the rushing horns, the agile fox dropped into a slide that sent his back paws directly into the spindly legs of the ram, causing the larger mammal's inertia to propel forward a few feet through the air before he came crashing head first into the sidewalk with the crack of horns on cement.

Pulling his radio from his belt as he drew himself to his feet, he stepped over the unconscious ram as he brushed the dirt out of his tail with his free hand. Still breathing, eyes closed, unmoving. "This is Officer wild. 10-52. Suspect is unconscious. Medium sized ram, might be mild head trauma. Corner of Pine Martin Luther Drive and 72nd."

His head whipped around when he heard a haunting shriek echo through the rain forest, back toward where…

"Carrots!"

Most animals in Zootopia were capable of running on all fours, but didn't do it because it seemed less civilized than their metropolis was comfortable with. Nick was on all fours and tearing through the underbrush as he ran towards the source of the scream, his heart hammering in what felt like his throat when he dodged a tree and came to a skidding stop behind a building. The blue clad bunny-who had never looked as painfully tiny as she did in that moment-was lying, curled into a tight ball on all fours and trembling in the center of a walkway.

"Carrots!" he called desperately as he rushed to her, dropping down beside her and reaching out to touch her shoulder. "Judy, can you hear me? Come on, look at me, Carrots."

With exceptional care and fear in equal measure, he rolled the trembling bunny enough so that he could see the extend of her injuries. He had expected her to be wounded, expected to see some sign that she had been attacked or even worse, stabbed by the weasel. What he did not expect to see was the beautiful face of his partner covered in light blue powder as her unfocused eyes tried to turn towards him. His gaze darted around, and his suspicion was confirmed when he saw the broken bag of blue dust inches from where they were. He had never seen this particular drug before, and it hadn't been in any of the recognition classes in the academy. The weasel had obviously used his own product to escape capture.

His instant fear was overdose, and trembling paws lifted her light body from the ground as he whispered, "It's going to be fine. An ambulance is already on the way. Stay with me, partner."

He saw it happen, though seeing didn't give him to time to react. Her pupils dilated to the point that almost all violet was blacked out, and her nose twitched quickly as a terror so deep and primal came over her face that he felt it tremble down his own spine. The shriek that she released this time was panic, high pitched and sudden, and before he could react she had planted her rear paws into his belly and kicked off. He went flying in one direction, while she stumbled and dashed in the other. The breath more than knocked out of him, he could only struggle weakly to his feet as he watched her drop to all fours and stare at him with eyes that he didn't recognize, but fully understood.

Savage.

Before he even gasped enough air into his aching lungs to call her name again or even clear the spots from in front of his eyes, she turned and darted into the trees. Away from him. He understood instantly, even as he battled the swimming in his head as oxygen flow returned with a few shallow, quick pants. She was a prey species. Savage predators hunted prey, and savage prey ran from predators. Ran from him.

"Carrots," he managed to croak out, and even saying the word made his lungs ache for another breath. He knew that if she got lost in the district, it would be weeks before they found her, if they even found her. Groaning slightly, feeling as though he had been hit by a truck, he followed his nose as he stumbled forward and after her in the fastest run he could manage.