"Hi, Officer Hopps, ZPD. How are you?"

The rhinoceros security guard fixed Judy with a spiritless gaze before looking down at the ID badges she had handed to him.

"Who's he?" the guard grunted.

Nick sauntered forward with a sanguine expression, prepared to put on a show; Judy beat him to it.

"Officer Wilde, my partner. That's his badge there. Is everything in order then?"

The rhino grunted in reply and swiped his security key into the consoles in front of him, unlocking the steel security gates. "Main office is just ahead."

After praising the rhino for his help and not receiving a reply, Judy and Nick made their way up the winding road that led to the Zootopia Maximum Security Prison. The massive prison looked dark and depressing, just as most prisons are expected to look, as it loomed over the horizon.

Seeing how much walking they were going to be doing in the next few minutes as they made their journey towards the prison, Nick decided to strike up a conversation. "You wanna talk?"

"Not until you give me that pen."

"I'll give you the pen if you talk."

"What would you like to talk about, Nick?" Judy sighed.

The loathing in her voice brought a smile to Nick's face. "Up to you."

"Who asks a person if they want to talk, but then tells the person to pick the conversation topic?" Judy scoffed.

"Someone who loves you," Nick replied affectionately.

Judy couldn't help but giggle slightly. "I hate you so much sometimes."

"If you hated me that much, you wouldn't have asked me to come with you to do this."

"This is your case."

Nick let out an audible gasp as he laid the drama on thick. "My own case? What an honor!"

"Very funny" Judy remarked dryly. "Do me a favor and try to keep the sarcasm to a minimum in here."

"No can do, Carrots."

"And why is that?"

"Well, if you can recall, this sheep would have darted me with a serum that would have made me maul you if not for the fact that I happen to love blueberries, so I have quite a bit of sarcastic things to say to her."

"Bellwether is doing her time, Nick. She's paying for what she did."

"Yes, but that apparently didn't stop her from finding a way to dose more animals, including a fox, and not just any fox, a fox that you just happened to be chasing, and not only was this fox dosed, but he was dosed right before he-"

"We don't know if Bellwether is behind this," Judy reminded him. "I just thought it would be a good idea to start with the most obvious suspect."

Nick didn't reply for a few minutes, and in fact, he didn't reply at all; he changed the subject. "So when do I get to meet your parents?"

"What?"

"When do I get to meet Mr. and Mrs. Carrots?"

"Nick, you've already met my parents."

"Well yeah, but I met them as your partner and your friend."

Judy stopped walking and looked at Nick with perplexity. "What else would you meet them as?"

"Your boyfriend."

Judy couldn't help but laugh. "My what? Nick, we aren't dating."

Nick pretended to smack his forehead. "Ah, right, I forgot!"

Nick stopped, which made Judy stop and investigate why he wasn't moving. They weren't even half way to the prison and they had already been walking for twenty minutes. Nick falsely straightened his tie and his shirt before smoothing back his ears. Confounded, Judy watched the spectacle. After thirty seconds of pretend grooming, Nick looked into Judy's eyes, a serious pout falling over his face. He then stopped. "Oh, wait, Judy, what's your middle name?"

"What? I'm not telling you that!"

"Ugh, fine, you always have to make things harder," Nick complained before putting the intense pouty face back on. "Judy WhateverYourMiddleNameIs Hopps, will you be my girlfriend?"

"I don't find this funny."

"I asked politely!"

"Are you being serious?"

"What if I told you that you get the pen if you say 'yes'?"

Judy's interest piqued. "I get the pen, huh?" she thought out loud.

Nick took the pen out and waved it around teasingly.

"Give the pen to me first," Judy demanded.

"Say 'yes' first."

"Nick!"

Nick hit the rewind button on the carrot pen.

"I love you, Nick."

"Stop playing it!" Judy snapped.

"Say it then."

"I have a case to solve," Judy said as she turned and started walking again, leaving Nick behind.

Nick wasn't hurt, he wasn't even angry; he was happy. She was playing hard-to-get and he loved every minute of it. She would say 'yes' eventually – there was no doubt in his mind – it was just a matter of how long they would play the flirting game; Nick could play it all day.

After going through three different security checks, filling out a moderate amount of paperwork, and waiting for a little under thirty minutes, Judy and Nick were allowed into a private interrogation room. Bellwether was in a heavy set of cuffs, her orange prison uniform looking slightly dingy.

"Geez, they act like she's going to kill someone. She's just a sheep," Judy heard Nick mutter under his breath.

"Oh, Judy, how good it is to see you again!" Bellwether cried cheerfully. Her eyes glanced at Nick, her gaze filled with disgust, before she turned back to Judy with a false upbeat attitude.

"Tell us about the Night Howlers," Judy cut right to the point.

"I'm sorry, the what now? Oh, do you mean the Midnicampum Holicithias? Such an awful drug, especially to predators." Another hateful glance at Nick, who was beginning to notice, his eyes narrowing in suspicion.

"We know that you know about the ones on the street, Bellwether," Judy continued.

"Now, Judy, how would I know that? I'm in prison!" Bellwether exclaimed.

"By the way," Nick cut in. "How is prison?"

Judy shot him a look; what was he doing? Bellwether's expression went cold as she focused on the fox.

"I'm sorry?"

"I asked how being in jail is."

"I hardly see how that matters."

"Just a question. I take it isn't going well," Nick said as he shook his head in phony sympathy.

Bellwether remained silent, a scowl on her face.

"I'm sure a little sheep like you isn't doing so well in here with all these big predators," Nick mused. "Hey, weren't you arrested for trying to take down all predators? Wow, how… unfortunate."

"Don't you have a bunny to eat?" Bellwether snapped.

"No, but I do enjoy pork chops."

Judy's eyes widened at how quickly the situation escalated. "Nick!" she said in a surprised tone.

Nick held up his paw to quiet her. "Speaking about eating bunnies, did you hear what happened?"

Bellwether huffed impatiently, but remained silent. Judy watched Nick as what he was doing dawned on her.

"Judy was recently attacked by a fox that went savage after having some Night Howlers. Almost killed her. Isn't that a coincidence, Carrots?"

Bellwether glanced at Judy before looking back at Nick.

"Thing is, I don't need to ask you if you had anything to do with it, because the fox already gave me all of the facts. Mr. Silver was quite insightful."

"He didn't know my name!" Bellwether shouted before clamping a hoof to her mouth.

Nick smirked. "No, he didn't know it, but I do now."

Judy called for guards to escort a fuming Bellwether back to her cell, letting them know that the sheep had contact to the outside and that security needed to be doubled.

"Check the interrogation tapes if you need to," Judy told them.

"Nick, that was amazing!" Judy laughed as they began making their way down the road to their car. "You just got her to confess! Now they can review the security cams and see who her informant is! We've got them now!"

Nick let out a chuckle, but remained silent.

"You know," Judy toyed. "I might just think about saying 'yes.'"

Nick took the bait, his ears perking up. "Really?"

"Really," she replied as she began walking a little closer to him. Nick stopped suddenly, making Judy stop with him, their bodies only centimeters apart.

"Why did we stop?" Judy asked,

"I just wanted to…" Nick leaned in close.

Judy's heart fluttered as she felt his paws on her waist. He wouldn't, would he? He was so close; she could feel the heat of his breath. Judy's eyes fluttered shut.

"Take this," Nick whispered.

Judy opened her eyes to see Nick a few inches away now, the carrot pen in his paw and a triumphant look on his face.

"Don't think I didn't see you pick this up in security, Rabbit."

Judy scrunched her nose angrily. "That wasn't fair!"

Nick shrugged and began walking again, while Judy stared in disgust at his figure sauntering away. She heard the pen start playing.

"I love you, Nick." … "I love you, Nick." … "I love you, Nick."

"Ugh, Nick!" Judy yelled after him.

She heard him call over his shoulder, his voice clearly expressing the smirk that he must have been wearing: "It's called a hustle, Sweetheart."