That night, Judy slid into her new covers with a sigh. The first thing that caught her attention was that they smelled like—nothing. She missed Nick's soothing fox scent. Lonely, she hugged herself, breathing in the scent of the fox's shirt, which she was still wearing. Nick, she thought affectionately. He'd been so kind to her today, even having a decent attitude when she needed to go clothes shopping. His behavior had almost felt…more than friendly. Suddenly, in the back of her mind was born a suspicion. Did she…like Nick? He was arrogant and sly and flirtatious—but he was also kind and caring and funny and—though she hated to admit it—handsome. Oh no, she thought, blushing. Now I'm in his apartment!

The next day, officers Hopps and Wilde were back on the job. At the ZPD office, the two slid into their chair just as Chief Bogo slammed a stack of papers on his podium. Midway through his morningly 'I don't care' proclamation, he seemed to suddenly notice Nick and Judy's presence and noted, uninterested, "You're back."

"Sure am!" Judy replied cheerily. Nick rolled his eyes, though no one could tell because he wore his sunglasses even inside.

"There's been a store robbery," Bogo announced, addressing the two. "It was at the Preyda store in the downtown mall."

"We're on it!" Judy said as they darted out of the room.

The duo arrived at the store shortly. The place was almost deserted, save a petite zebra at the counter. Gazelle music—seriously, was she the only pop musician in all Zootopia?—played softly through the speakers.

"What happened?" Nick asked the zebra.

"There was an okapi, and he asked me to get out the necklace display to look at. When I did, he just ran off with it! I followed him as far as I could, but I lost him in the crowd."

"Can you tell us anything more about the okapi himself?" Judy asked.

The zebra nodded shakily. "He was tall, for an okapi. One of his legs had no stripes, and there was a scar near his tail."

"Thank you, ma'am," Judy replied. "And what's your name?"

"Stripeson. Gwen Stripeson."

Nick, ever impatient, asked, "Also, which way did he go?"

The zebra pointed left.

With the help of oh-so-convenient security cameras, Hopps and Wilde were on the okapi's tail within the hour. As they chased him down one of the roads leading out of town, Judy called the ZPD. "We're in pursuit of the Preyda thief!" she announced to a bored Chief Bogo.

"Have you got him in hoofcuffs?"

'Well, no, but—"

"Well hop to it, bunny!" Bogo replied, hanging up.

"What's the plan, Carrots?" Nick asked, not taking his eyes off the car ahead.

"When the road widens, cut in front of him. We'll surround him and you hoofcuff him."

"Got it."

A moment later, the car swerved forward, cutting off the okapi. Nick and Judy hopped out as the okapi lept out of his car.

"You're under arrest!" the officers announced in unison.

Appearing bored, the okapi held up his front hoofs to be cuffed.

As nick clamped the metal on the thief, a shot suddenly rang out. Glancing around, he saw Judy stumble with a muffled cry. Frantically, he contacted the ZPD. "We've got an officer down!" the fox cried.

Moments later, a police car came into view. Shoving away the captive okapi, Nick ran to his wounded friend.

"Judy!" he said, forgetting to call her by her nickname in his distress. The bunny was crumpled up in pain, holding her leg. Nick yanked a bandage from his pocket, trying to keep his paws steady as he wrapped it around Judy's leg. Her nose twitched, but she didn't cry out.

An officer ran up to the pair. "Officer Hopps, are you alright?"

"She needs to be taken to the hospital immediately!" the fox replied on her behalf. "She got shot in the leg, and it looks like she broke it when she fell."

Nick watched anxiously as Judy was rolled away on a stretcher at least three times her size. The officer, a rhino, asked Nick, "So the thief shot her?"

"No," he replied. 'the shot came from over there," he pointed to a ledge overhead, "but I didn't see anyone there…"

The rhino's brow furrowed. "That's odd."