-Earlier this morning-

"Beep beep beep beep!" rang the alarm on her Carrot Iphone.

Judy slowly opened her eyes, grabbed her phone on the drawer next to her, and swiped her phone to turn off the alarm. 6:15 AM. She groaned from the unbearable notion that she had to get up for work. She barely got any sleep, she kept thinking about last night. Last night when… it happened. She dragged herself to the communal bathroom that may have not been cleaned for ages and headed into one of the showers. She turned on the hot water and laid her head against the wall.

"Ugh…," she groaned. "Why do I do this to myself?" She closed her eyes and thought about last night.

-Flashback-

Judy was waiting for Nick at the atrium of the Zootopia police station impatiently thumping her left foot.

"Ugh, he's always late! Why do I bother coming on time," Judy thought to herself. Today was supposed be just like any other day. They were going to grab dinner at one of their favorite restaurants, Primavipera, and then just see where the night takes them. It was kind of their Friday tradition to grab dinner and then do whatever they felt like doing. Their nights would range from going to one of their places and having a movie marathon to nightlife at Sahara Square. Their fellow police officers often teased them for going on these "dates", but she didn't care. She knew that they were just best friends. However, she did hear a rumor that there was a Wildhoppes fan club that was led by Clawhauser; she thought that's a little weird. Okay, she thought that was really weird. After waiting 10 minutes, she finally saw Nick taking his time strolling across the atrium.

"Nick! Hurry up! I've been waiting forever!" Judy yelled.

"Whoa whoa, take it easy Carrots. Haven't you heard that patience is a virtue? I'm trying to have a bit more zen in my life," Nick teased.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. I bet you were just taking selfies in the locker room!" she playfully accused.

He shrugged, "You caught me, but who are we kidding? When you have a body this good, you gotta take some selfies everywhere you go."

Judy rolled her eyes and said, "Anyways, let's go."

As they neared the restaurant, they couldn't contain their eagerness to eat their favorite dishes. "Oh my gosh, I cannot wait to eat their carrot lasagna. When I got it last time it was basically heaven in my mouth," Judy gushed.

"Ah yes, and my seafood medley pasta, its excellent balance of flavors, perfect cooking of the seafood, and all the different textures allowed it to achieve the perfect mouthfeel for each bite," Nick said with a snobbish tone.

"Jeez Nick, when did you become such a food critic."

He placed his paw on his chest pretending to be insulted, "What possibly could you mean? I was always this sophisticated."

"Yeah, I'm su-." Judy's voice trailed off when they reached Primavipera. They saw a sign on the door that says, "Date Night tonight! Enjoy the night with some authentic Italian food guaranteed to please your loved ones and make the night extra special. Couples only."

"What? Couples only? Did you know about this Nick?" Judy cried.

Nick shook his head. "No I didn't. I swear, I don't get why restaurants do this. There's a whole market of people in platonic relationships they're missing out on!"

"How am I going to get my carrot lasagna?" Judy said in total despair. She then saw Nick with a sly smile on his face.

"You got a plan Nick? Please tell me you do!"

"Don't worry Carrots, just follow my lead," Nick said. He grabbed her hand before Judy could say anything and walked in.

"Nick, what are you doing? We are not a couple!" Judy whispered angrily.

"Shut it Carrots, just go with it!" Nick whispered back.

They reached the hostess, Mary, a very smiley sea otter wearing a simple white top with a black vest and black pants.

Mary greeted, "Oh well if it isn't my two favorite patrons! And oh my god you two are an item now! Very cute, always shipped it."

Judy's eyebrows furrowed. "Ugh another mammal that ships us," she thought to herself.

Nick said, "Well you know, she wasn't sure about me at first since you know, but I kept chasing her. Eventually I finally wore her down once I got her a carrot from the farmer's market."

"Really? A carrot?" Judy thought to herself.

"Awwwwww, is that true Judy? You finally gave in to his charms from a carrot? I know I would," she winked to Nick.

"Okay, going to ignore that not really low-key flirting with my supposed man. And I didn't even know sea otters like carrots, like what..." Judy thought to herself. "Okay time to remember my 1st grade acting skills and embody the actress in me."

She grabbed both of Nick's hands, turned towards him, and gazed into his eyes, "Yeah, when he finally gave me that carrot, I thought it was so sweet that he remembers that I just love carrots so much!"

Nick smiled back as if to acknowledge her incredible cheesy acting skills.

"Well isn't that sweet! Let me bring you guys to a table! Oooh! I'm so excited for you two!"

The two were seated at their table near the center of the restaurant. At the center of each table there was a glass with a tiny candle inside and a skinny glass vase with a rose. The lighting was dimmed to set the mood as well.

"Really Nick? I agreed to go out with you because of a carrot?" Judy asked.

Nick chuckled to himself, "Well I've always known Mary shipped us so I could say whatever nonsense to her and she'll believe us. And I knew it would drive you crazy, sooooo…. I couldn't resist."

"Wow, you really are the dream guy, aren't you." Judy sarcastically said.

Nick stuck his tongue out and said, "What can I say? I'm just that good."

Nick started reading the menu to look at their daily specials while Judy mammal-watched all the couples around them. There were couples of every combination - same species couples, different preys or predators couples, and prey-predator couples.

"Hey Nick?"

Nick didn't look up from his menu, "Yeah?"

"Look at all the couples around us, I mean there's still a lot of same species couples, but look at how many interspecies couples there are!"

Nick looked around and smiled, "Things are a-changing in Zootopia huh."

"Yeah! I'm so glad that interspecies relationships are becoming more and more accepted."

"Yeah, which makes it totally okay for us to date now huh," Nick winked.

Judy blushed, "Yeah… totally…."

"That's weird," Judy thought to herself. "Why am I blushing? I never blush in front of him. Well I hope he didn't notice."

Luckily, the waiter came to take their orders and all eyes were on him. They ordered their usual Carrot Lasagna and Seafood Medley Pasta.

"So speaking of dating, what are some of your moves?" Judy asked.

"Why Carrots, what makes you think I go on dates?" he asked with a coy smile.

"Well… come on, I mean you do know everyone, wouldn't be surprised if you've gone on a date or two, or a hundred,"

He chuckled, "Wow, 100. You sure have high expectations of me."

She clasped her paws together and brought it up next to her head, "Well, like you said. You're just that good!"

"Can't argue with that logic. Well, I'll tell you one move that I do, have you ever noticed my gorgeous green eyes?"

Judy snickered, "Haha, what?"

"No it's true, when a date is talking to me about, well pretty much anything, I just make sure she notices my eyes, like this," Nick said. He then crosses his arm on the table, leans forward, tilts his head to the side, and looked at her intently.

"Wow, I never noticed it before but he really does have beautiful green eyes," Judy thought to herself. "I actually really love his snarky smile. It makes him look hot….oh gosh, do I think he's hot?"

Before she knew it, her body felt tickly and her cheeks turned pink. She quickly looked away in an attempt to hide her face.

"Haha! See? I told you it works!" Nick exclaimed happily.

"Pshhh whatever, it just got really hot in here, okay?"

It was a followed by an uncomfortable moment of silence. Nick coughed to his side while Judy pretended to admire the artwork around the restaurant. She felt dumb for blushing. Did she perhaps cross the border from best friends to something more from that one tiny action?

Nick broke the silence and asked, "So um, I just showed you one of my moves, what's one of yours?"

Her ears drooped and she looked down when she heard that question.

She answered quietly, "Well…to be honest, I've never really gone on a real date." Judy suddenly felt ashamed that she never really dated. Throughout her life, she was busy pursuing her goal to be in the Zootopia police force. As a result, she never really made time to date. But now that she's in her mid-20s and thriving in her job too, she felt that perhaps she should start dating. However, dating was such uncharted territory for her. She was too insecure to try, especially when she compared herself to Nick, who she thought probably had tons more experience than her. Her only experience with romance was having a one night stand with a male jock bunny in high school.

She prepared herself from some ruthless mocking, but Nick just smiled assuringly and said, "Well, I'm honored to be your very first date then. Let's make this the perfect night for you then." He raised a glass of wine in the air.

Pleasantly surprised, Judy smiled and said, "Let's do it." She clinked her glass of wine against his and they both drank.

They spent the rest of their dinner eating their delicious food and chatting it up. Throughout the dinner, she continued to experience these emotions and thoughts she never had with him. She felt butterflies in her stomach talking to him and became more giggly than usual. She couldn't stop thinking about how cute he was and hearing his voice would make her feel warm and fuzzy inside.

"Why… why am I being so weird today?" Judy thought.

After they paid their bill, Nick excused himself to go to the bathroom. As she watched him head to the bathroom, she told herself, "Wow that tail is a lot cuter and furrier than I remember. I wonder how soft it is if he hugs me with it."

Then a horrible thought crossed her. "Uh oh, I think I'm attracted to Nick!"

She internally screamed in her head. "How did this happen? Nick and I are just friends! Just partners! Oh no, I wonder if it'll be a problem if we're in a relationship and partners. Oh my gosh this is crazy I don't even know if Nick likes me! Oh no why do I care if Nick is in love with me? Oh gosh what do I do?"

Thousands of thoughts about the future of Nick and her ran through her head when he seemed to come out of nowhere and said, "Hey, if you wanted to continue this 'date night,' there's a place I want to take ya."

Judy wanted to say no, but looking at his smile, she had no choice but to agree.

-Back at the shower-

Judy opened up her eyes in the shower and thought to herself, "Shit how long have I been in the shower!" She turned off the water, quickly got her clothes on and checked her phone.

"20 minutes to 7, okay I have 20 minutes to get to work. No time to brush my fur and all of that stuff. I can get there if I rush." She ran and hopped all the way to work with 5 minutes to spare. She headed to the briefing room when she realized that she had to sit next to Nick on that chair they shared.

"No… there's no way I can do that now. Aaagh why? You know what, this is fine. I've dealt with much worse before. I just gotta go in and do it!"

She opened the door and saw that Nick was already there. She immediately felt like she has not dealt with anything worse than this. She internally screamed inside as she walked to the chair and hopped on next to him. She could feel his body stiffen up as she sat. Her body proceeded to do the same.

"H-h-hey Carrots," Nick said.

"H-h-hey," Judy said.

Thankfully, they did not have to carry out any more of what would be a very awkward conversation as Chief Bogo came into the room. She was grateful that they were not assigned to any cases or put on patrol duty. Their main job today was to do paperwork, which they could do in separate cubicles. After the briefing, she quickly rushed out to her own cubicle without saying anything to Nick. She felt that if she could just focus on her paperwork, she can get through the day. However, she could only focus on what happened after dinner.

-Flashback-

Nick and Judy were hiking through a trail at a park in Central Zootopia. Trees surrounded them and Judy started to feel worried about where they're going.

"Where are we going Nick? We've been hiking forever! And I can barely see anything," Judy said nervously.

"Hold on Carrots, we should be here right about…..Now!" Nick pushed a bush out of the way, and there she saw a beautiful lake, gleaming from the light of a full moon. The soft ripples of the lake gently added to the sounds of the night symphony. Fireflies fluttered around and glowed brilliantly as if they were welcoming them to this sacred spot.

"This is one of my favorite places when I was growing up, it was a place where I could relax when… life got too hard," Nick admitted somberly.

"Wow…. Nick! This place is gorgeous!" Judy looked with wonder.

"Yeah, I only take my favorite dates here. Looks like you made the cut Carrots," Nick winked at Judy.

Judy started feeling warm and fuzzy inside again despite the cool night air. She felt like she was seeing a whole new side of him. A side of him that was a romantic, funny, and caring. She also realized she liked the parts of Nick that she already knew about as well.

They both faced the lake and soaked in its beauty for a few minutes.

Judy broke the silence and said, "Wow, so you must've really impressed the women you've taken here. Can't believe you showed this to a dumb ol bunny like me."

Nick stayed silent and started walking away from her.

"Shoot! Did I say something wrong? Oh gosh, oh gosh why did I say that?" she thought to herself. She was just about to apologize when Nick started to speak.

"Judy, you're not a dumb ol bunny to me. You're perfect to me. You're so clever. You managed to trick me into helping you with the Missing Mammals case. Me! And I had been conning mammals for at least 20 years! You're so hardworking. Mammals don't give you enough credit for how hard you work. I know you study the rule book everyday and train early in the morning right before you go to work. You're so determined. You don't let any obstacle or mammal get you down no matter how hard it got. You have a big heart, you reach out to anyone that cries for help or that society has left behind…"

While this was happening, Judy was just in shock. "What is Nick doing? Is he declaring his love for me? Judy wondered.

Nick continued, "But most of all, you believed in me and you wouldn't give up on me, even after I have given up on myself for 25 years. Your encouragement allowed me to become more than just a confox." He finally turned around and pointed at her, "Because of you, you allowed me to break the stereotypes that have haunted me for years. I've never dreamt that I would be a police officer that can make Zootopia a better place. But now I know that I can because you taught me. You taught me that I'm more than just a fox."

Judy was touched. Touched by how he really feels about her. That underneath that sarcastic exterior he puts on for show, is a fox who truly cares for her. She walked towards him to give him a hug, but her foot got caught under a branch and she tripped. She found herself on top of Nick's arms and when she looked up, she saw Nick and the smile that she has come to love. She felt that her cheeks were red, but she noticed his were too. Their eyes were filled with nervous anticipation but intense longing. Before she knew what she was doing, she pulled his tie down to close the gap between their heads and kissed him. She felt his arms clasp around her into a passionate embrace. She allowed herself to sink into the warmness and softness of his fur and felt like she belonged in his arms. She felt like she was floating as he held her up and spun her around as they kissed. It was the perfect kiss.