With a slightly apprehensive look at his partner, Nick rang the Ottertons' doorbell.

After a few seconds Mrs Otterton opened the door wearing a flowery apron, and ushered them inside saying "Oh do come in! I'm so glad you could both make it."

Judy presented the bottle of wine they had brought, and Mrs Otterton thanked them, and guided them into the living room. Mr Otterton was standing in the centre of the cosy room, along with some other guests who had already arrived. "Ah, my heroes!" he said when he saw them, coming over to shake them both warmly by the hand. "Of course, technically we've already met, although under quite different circumstances." He looked serious for a moment "I can't thank you enough for getting me home again."

"We're glad to see you recovered so well, sir." Judy answered.

"Oh, call me Emmitt!" he said, putting a hand on Nick's shoulder.

"And do please call me Evangeline." Mrs Otterton said. "Now, let me get you a drink and Emmitt can introduce you to everyone. Wine for you both? Red or white?"

Nick and Judy both asked for glasses of red, and Evangeline bustled out to the kitchen to get them. Emmitt steered them both round the room introducing people "This is Percy, who works in the greengrocer's shop next to mine," they nodded to a fat beaver who was monopolising the nuts; "Manny and Leslie who we've known since university," an elegant badger couple smiled at them from beside the window; "and last but certainly not least, Ben from my yoga class."

"Hey dudes. Sup?" A rabbit said from where he was slumped on the sofa. His eyes looked slightly red around the edges.

"Hi Ben." Judy said brightly.

At that moment Evangeline Otterton reappeared with glasses of wine for her and Nick. "Here you are dear," she said, passing a glass to Judy "I see you're getting to know our friend Ben! Why don't you take a seat," she gestured to the sofa next to the other rabbit, who looked at Judy blearily. "And Nick, you should come and talk to Percy – I'm sure you two will have lots to talk about, we hear you used to be in the popsicle business, and Percy sells ice-cream from his shop in summer!" Judy watched as Evangeline steered her friend over to the nut-munching beaver.

Summoning up her reserves of enthusiasm Judy turned back to Ben "So, Ben, you do yoga?"

"Uh-huh." He drawled, blinking slowly "It's, like, meditative."

"Great!" Close up she could see that the other rabbit's fur looked matted and unkempt, and he smelt distinctly of dandelions, which were a popular legal drug amongst Zootopia's rabbit population. Judy desperately tried to revive the conversation "So that's at the Mystic Springs club, right?"

"Yeah."

"We visited there to get evidence for the night howler case. We met Yax, and your yoga teacher Nangi."

"Yax is a cool guy." Judy waited to see if he would say anything else, but so much conversation seemed to have exhausted him. She suppressed a sigh, and looked over to where Nick was looking awkward talking to Percy the beaver and Emmitt. He caught her eye and raised one eyebrow. She flicked her eyes at Ben, who seemed to be taking a nap, and then mouthed 'save me!' at her fox friend. Nick glanced round at the other mammals surrounding him, and shrugged apologetically. Judy rolled her eyes at him.

After a few more moments, during which Judy and Ben sat in silence, Evangeline called them in to dinner. Judy's heart sank as she saw that there were neat little place-cards in front of every seat – and sure enough, hers was next to Ben's. Nick was sat further down the table, between the badger couple.

Evangeline brought out dishes of soup for a starter, and topped up everyone's wine glasses. The food was delicious, but Judy was distracted by Ben's slurping. After a while he looked around and said "I'm, like, really uncomfortable in this shirt." He scratched around his collar "I thought this was going to be a naturist party, but maybe we save that for later, yeah?" he nodded at her, as if completing a transaction.

She shuddered "No! Erm, I'm not a…a naturist. I don't think it's that kind of party at all!"

"Oh." He shrugged, and went back to his soup.

At the end of the first course Judy offered to help Mrs Otterton with the dishes, and Nick promptly volunteered as well. As they carried the bowls through Nick whispered to her "So how are you enjoying your bunny date?"

"I swear they're trying to set me up with him!" she hissed "What am I going to do?"

"Aw," Nick smirked at her "I think you two make quite the cute couple."

"Nick! That is not funny!"

"Isn't he your type?"

"He's a nudist druggie! That is so not my type."

"What is your type?" Nick asked, genuinely curious.

"I'd settle for someone who at least brushes their fur once in a while."

At that point Evangeline entered the kitchen and they had to curtail their conversation. The rest of the meal passed relatively uneventfully, and Judy managed to have quite an enjoyable conversation with Leslie the badger about her job as a fashion designer. Emmitt regaled them all with stories from his time under observation in the hospital, and everyone gave Nick and Judy a round of applause for their role in his recovery.

At the end of the evening they all thanked the Ottertons for a lovely time, and headed out to their cars. As Nick and Judy were walking to their 4x4 they were waylaid by Ben, who said "Hey, so can I speak to Judy, dude?"

"Yeah?" Nick answered

"Like, alone?" Ben rolled his red-rimmed eyes. Nick and Judy exchanged a glance, Judy shrugged, and Nick strolled ahead to the car, glancing back to make sure she was okay.

"So, can I get your number then?" Ben drawled.

"Um…" she paused, took a deep breath, and then said "Sir, if you ever need police assistance you can contact us on 911 in an emergency, or on your regional police telephone number for less immediate assistance." She ran towards Nick, and jumped into the car, shutting the door firmly before collapsing into giggles.

She rested her head on the steering wheel, laughing, whilst Nick watched concernedly. "Carrots?" he asked tentatively "you okay?"

"He asked for my number!" she said, slightly hysterically.

"And you handled it very well." He said, patting her gingerly on the shoulder.

"Oh Nick!" she laughed, and flung herself into his arms "Never leave me with a weirdo like that again!"

He smiled down at her "I'll do my best. Now, let's get home."

"Oh…" she paused "I think I've had too much to drink."

"Well you are only a little bunny, it's not surprising you can't hold your drink." He smirked "And you have a wine moustache."

"What!" she patted her upper lip with her paws.

"Ha! I'm kidding Carrots, you look great."

"Thanks, partner. But I don't think I'm safe to drive."

"Oh right. That's okay, I'll drive and drop you off – I can bring the car to the station in the morning."

Judy nodded in agreement, and they switched seats. As they pulled up outside Judy's block of flats she leant across to kiss him on the cheek. "Goodnight Nick."