Always the same.
The heavy thud of work boots, hushed conversation, then creaky hinges and sudden sliver of light.
Scent of dust and mud and sweat. Normally strong voice soft with concern.
"Hey Ace, sorry I've been gone all week…
"…heard about what happened, do you want to talk…
"No, you don't have to…
"Why don't you come out of there?
"I know… I know…
"Don't worry, I intend to have a serious conversation with…
"You can't let these things… Oh, you're sure?
"No, it's okay, you don't have to… Don't worry about the money…
"It's okay… It's okay… Some mammals think things that aren't true…
"I won't tell anyone, I promise…
"Here, let me teach you something…
"Now remember, you aren't really supposed to do this…
"Only when you absolutely have to…
"Promise me. Only to keep someone from hurting you or someone else, okay?"

Nick's eyes fluttered open and he stared at the ceiling as he tried to remember when he'd last had that dream. Years, he thought. Still as vivid as the first time. Always the same sequence of events. And, as usual, the flashing lights had appeared just before he woke up.

A soft groan slipped from him as he pushed away the pillow he'd curled around, then sat up in bed. Just enough light filtered in from the window for him to read the clock on his wall. Another groan slipped free. Two Sixteen. He wasn't supposed to be awake for another two and a half hours at least.

For several minutes he sat there, waiting until his body decided what it wanted to do. He could almost feel the seconds zipping past, his eyes burning and head lightly throbbing due to the early hour, until he finally accepted the inevitable and stood.

He didn't bother to turn on the light as he headed right to the kitchen and poured himself a glass of water, then opened the freezer and grabbed a handful of ice cubes to drop in. With barely even a pause he drained the whole thing, crunching one of the cubes between his teeth as he refilled his cup. This time he drank more slowly, aimlessly wandering the room in the dark.

Sleep already felt like a lost cause, he could still feel the old memories as they wormed their way painfully through his thoughts. Before the move he would've found some dull infomercial to watch in the hope that boredom would exhaust him, but that wasn't an option any more. Watching anything was difficult without a TV.

Going back to bed was always an option. He could curl up around another pillow and pretend to sleep. Just closing his eyes might help his mind rest despite the images that were already playing through his brain. It wouldn't be sleep, not really anyway, but at least he could fake normalcy. He might even manage to drift off, though from experience he knew how rarely that happened. Most likely he would simply end up dwelling on things better left alone.

Or he could give up on sleep entirely. Accept that the day would be a miserable, caffeine-fueled drag. A small price to pay really. Until then he could go for a jog or hit the local gym—keeping up with Judy was difficult enough so putting in a bit of extra effort was never a waste—or he could curl up on the couch to read, or just kill time on his phone playing stupid games until the sun decided to rise.

He emptied the cup again and took a deep breath, then left it on the unused TV stand before he almost threw himself onto the couch. One of the supports dug almost painfully into his rear until he scooted off of it with a grumble. That really was something he needed to fix soon. Later. Until then, he could just make do.

His thoughts drifted lazily back to Judy and he found himself wondering if she was feeling any better about everything with Norman. She hadn't mentioned the other bunny since showing up so unexpectedly that Saturday, but then she had practically thrown herself at her work. That was typical of her, he supposed. It was how she handled most anything. And yet.

What in the world had made him think Judy would rebound on him? He was tempted to blame that otter that had been their waitress at the Rio Cafe. The whole experience had been confusing and upsetting, and he had tried to push it aside but now that he really thought about it he was sure she assumed he had been dating Judy. Which was absurd. Clearly. Not that odd pairings didn't sometimes happen, he was almost certain that Judy's noisy neighbors were a couple for example, but there were certain…lines that weren't crossed. If she took a fancy to a hedgehog, or hare, or beaver, or just any number of mammals, it would simply raise a few eyebrows. Heck, she could probably take fancy to an elephant without suffering through anything worse than whimsical comments. But a fox? Absurd.

Except he was sitting awake thinking about just that. Not just thinking, outright worrying.

"Get it together, Nick. You're being silly. And now you're talking to yourself apparently. Goodie."

He gave his head a shake and grabbed his phone off the coffee table in an effort to distract himself. Then found himself at Zoogle and before he had a chance to second guess himself typed in a quick search. That…was a mistake.

"Oh…" he whispered, eyes wide as he skimmed the results. Without thinking he opened the first one. "Ooooh no."


Zootopia's extensive traffic camera system was both a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, it was quite difficult for criminals to move around without having their movements spotted. In theory that was one of the primary benefits of having so many scattered throughout the city, and both the city council and the ZPD itself frequently pushed that angle whenever the system's effectiveness was called into question. At times it could be a little weird knowing that anything you were doing could end up recorded in some government databank, but Judy had to admit that on more than one occasion the cameras had helped break a case. When everything was recorded sometimes solving a mystery just meant reviewing the footage.

Of course that assumed one knew when and where to look. Without knowing both the system was as useless as if it didn't exist, there was just too much to review to ever find relevant details by simply checking at random. Occasionally the ZPD still tried to do just that, often with the assistance of some fancy new facial recognition software, but while that might be the way of the future every officer to ever use the tools knew they were always just another five years away from being actually useful. No doubt the archived videos contained footage of numerous crimes that would never be solved just because no officer knew where to look.

The situation was almost worse knowing where to look, but not exactly when. In this case there was a much better chance of finding something useful, but doing so was labor intensive. They had pulled footage from every camera near the alley Doug had escaped into, and every second needed to be reviewed. That had become Judy's private hell over the past couple of days, one Nick had been dragged into by virtue of being her partner. Even when the video was sped up the process took forever, and a moment of inattention could mean rewinding several minutes to start all over.

Nick was annoyed that he was involved, she could just feel it. This was his first time dealing with the clunky system, and for the past two days he'd been bored near to tears. And today he was uncharacteristically quiet as he stared at the screen and sipped from what must've been his tenth coffee. He claimed to be tired, that he hadn't slept well during the night, and she might have accepted that if he was anyone else.

She knew Nick well enough to understand that he didn't get grouchy when he was tired, but today he practically exuded a standoffish aura. He didn't use a clipped tone, or speak passive aggressively, or anything like that. It was more like he went out of his way to avoid talking altogether, always polite and considerate, but saying exactly what was necessary and nothing more in such a way that he completely shut down any further conversation.

It wasn't the first time she'd seen him pull back like this. She'd seen how uncomfortable he'd been last Sunday, and even if he had been looking forward to a nap Nick wasn't the type to turn down a free meal. Whenever they made a bet for dinner or lunch he was always the one to initiate it, and half the time he already had some plan to help ensure his victory. At the time she'd just put it down to him having an off day, but to see him this way again so soon had her concerned.

Actually today was worse than the last time. Normally Nick was quite talkative, although he didn't try to dominate a conversation like some of the chatterboxes in her family. Nick was perfectly happy to let others speak or decide on the topic of conversation. He just seemed to enjoy hearing his own voice, and seeing him so quiet all day made her uneasy.

What if she'd done something to upset him?

With a start Judy realized that she had gotten so wrapped up in her worries that she couldn't remember any of the footage she'd just watched. She hissed through her teeth in frustration and paused the video, ears falling limp behind her, then slipped out of her chair.

"I need to get something to drink," she said and headed for the media room's door.

Nick yawned lazily and gave her a listless wave without even looking over. "See ya."

She bit her tongue and hurried out, headed straight for the water cooler in the main foyer. There were closer ones, but right then she needed the excuse to move around. As long as she kept her body in motion it was easier not to think about…things. She snatched one of the paper cups and filled it almost to the brim, then started pacing as she slowly sipped it and told herself that she needed the break anyway to keep her mind sharp. After several circuits around the front desk she noticed Clawhauser watching her.

"Trouble in paradise?" he asked.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"Oh, just curious about why you and Nick are fighting," the large cheetah said, leaning forward until his head was resting on his hands. "Everyone's been wondering when you'd have your first real bad one."

So the other officers had noticed something was off too. Judy shook her head and forced a smile.

"Why would anyone think he and I are fighting?" she asked.

"Do you really want to know? Well for one something is clearly upsetting him. I don't think I've ever seen that fox so quiet. Even the Chief commented on it," Clawhauser said, counting off on his fingers. "Two, I've never seen you take this many breaks before either. Usually it's like you two are attached at the hip—"

"No we're not," she protested.

Clawhauser gave her a look. "You go on breaks together, take lunch together, and grab dinner after work together half the time."

"We aren't that bad."

"Then I guess you haven't been trying to set his tail on fire with your eyes when he isn't paying attention either?" Clawhauser said, ticking off another finger. "It's fine that you guys are having a tiff, I just wanna know what it's over. The whole precinct is wondering."

Great. The whole precinct has noticed, Judy thought.

"We aren't fighting," she insisted with a huff. "Nick just didn't sleep very good last night. He's been guzzling coffee like you wouldn't believe."

The cheetah settled back in his chair and crossed his arms. "Uh huh."

"Look, I need to get back to work. Just trust me, everything is fine."

Clawhauser still looked skeptical, but she wasn't willing to spend time trying to convince him. Not when she wasn't really sure if he was wrong. She hurried back to the media room and tried to avoid making eye contact with any of the officers that were hanging around, wondering just how many of them were thinking the same things as Clawhauser. Anytime there was drama in the air the stories always spread like wildfire. No doubt there was already at least one betting pool going.

Half-way back she slowed down and wondered if it was possible to have a fight without both mammals knowing. She was already concerned that she'd done something wrong. What if she had and this was just Nick's way of letting her know? If that was the case, was it best to wait until he cooled off? Or would a delay just make him assume she was ignoring him? But if she brought it up without knowing what was wrong wouldn't that be worse somehow? He was her partner; surely she should know what was bothering him without needing to be told.

She rested one hand on the door back inside, wavering between asking him or seeing how things went. It wasn't much of a contest. Ever since she'd been young she had been almost incapable of sitting idle when something felt wrong. Even after a few bad experiences taught her that it wasn't always right to jump immediately into action she still had difficulty taking the wait and see approach. Maybe doing something wasn't always the right choice, but in the end it was always the one she could live with.

Her eyes closed for a moment as she mentally braced herself, then took a deep breath and walked inside to find Nick leaning back in his chair. One of his ears tilted toward her and he turned, an exhausted smile on his lips. It was such a shift from how she'd left him that she very nearly tripped.

"I found him," Nick said before she could even speak, gesturing to the monitor he'd been watching. "Got a clear shot of him in the passenger side of this beat up sedan."

"Nick, I was wondering if—" she started, then blinked and looked at the screen.

Sure enough Doug was sitting in an old, brown sedan that had definitely seen better days. Without the wool covering his body he looked quite strange, bordering on silly really, but she recognized his face and the cold gleam in his eye. The driver was clearly a wolf, but a glare on the windshield made it impossible to get a good look at his face.

"Were you able to get the plates?" she asked, leaning closer to the screen.

"Yep. Already ran them too," Nick said, though his tone became considerably less bright. "They're stolen though. Belongs to a pickup, not a sedan."

That figured, she supposed. Whoever Doug had called to pick him up wasn't likely to make things easy on them. Still, they had the car and could try to track it. Maybe now they could get some idea of where Doug had gone.

Then she shook her head, realizing that she'd gotten side-tracked. "That's great, but I…" she took a deep breath and looked off to one side. "Nick, are you angry at me or something?"

He started to answer, then stopped with his mouth half open, blinked, and closed it again before looking at her. "Angry? What…why?"

His clear confusion practically washed over her, her tail giving a little flick as she calmed down. Not upset. She had that at least.

"You've been weirdly quiet all day. The whole precinct has been talking about it," she said, looking off to one side as she rubbed her arm. "I thought maybe I upset you or something since it seems like you didn't want to speak with me."

"I'm just tired," Nick said, his ears folded half back. "Aaaand…there might be a few things on my mind that have me distracted."

"You make it sound so ominous."

Nick cracked a tight smile. "Well, it definitely feels ominous."

"Would you like to talk about it?" Judy asked. "We can go grab a pizza or something after work and…"

"Pretty sure that is a bad idea, Fluff." Nick avoided looking at her as he spoke. "There really isn't even a problem. I just had some stupid ideas popped into my head, and like an idiot I let myself think about them."

"If it makes you that uncomfortable we don't have to talk about it," she offered, but Nick still seemed reluctant so she took a step closer. "Please? You've ducked out of this since Sunday and tonight is my last chance. I need to pack tomorrow, and I'm leaving really early Saturday morning."

She watched Nick blink, his ears slowly coming back up. "Oh, that's right."

"So can we spend a little time together outside work before I have to take off?" she asked.

Nick looked at her, then at the almost empty coffee cup on the desk, and for a second she thought he was about to beg off again. But then he smiled, and she nearly jumped in celebration.


"When does your train leave," Nick asked as they waited for their food.

The energy drink he'd downed before was keeping him alert, but just barely and he could already tell the steady influx of caffeine he'd been relying on all day had taken its toll. Even though they were simply sitting at a table his heart was still racing.

He'd gone along with Judy's idea to get a few slices from the pizzeria just a half-block from the station, mostly because they had a reputation for being quick and he wasn't sure how long he had before the caffeine ran out and he became dead on his feet. They'd been there a couple of times in the past, simple proximity to the precinct made that an inevitability, which had been another reason he'd agreed. The staff already knew who he and Judy were, and the fact that they were both still in uniform would help prevent any misunderstandings.

Thoughts like that are exactly why I'm in so much trouble, he mused quietly, wrestling with the sudden rush of doubt.

"Five in the morning," Judy said, tracing one finger along the patterns in the tablecloth. "So I probably need to be up by four at the latest."

"Ouch. You weren't kidding about leaving early," he said. "Didn't think any trains ran at that hour."

"It's the first one," Judy confirmed. "I'm actually really excited to see everyone again, now that I'm not a failure like last time."

Nick leaned against the side of the table, keeping an eye on their server so he'd see when their food was coming. "When have you ever been a failure?"

"My last trip back didn't really happen under the best circumstances," Judy reminded him.

"Maybe not, but it isn't like you were fired," he countered, folding one ear back. "You resigned just as they were going to make you the face of the ZPD. Really a stretch to call that failure."

He felt her eyes on him. "You…know about that?"

"Mmm?"

"That campaign was never even announced," Judy said, eyes wide. "The only ones to know about it were Bellwether, the Chief, and me!"

"And the city's PR team, the city council, and probably most of the top brass in the ZPD," Nick added.

"Well yeah, but—"

"Also I found a box of posters with you on them in the storage room back at the academy," he continued, smiling lazily. "Turns out they don't really appreciate backtalk during training."

Judy giggled. "No they don't, but how did you know that is when I resigned?"

"I asked McHorn about it," Nick said, his ears perking up as he finally saw the waiter headed their way. "He heard it from Fangmeyer, who heard it from Clawhauser, who heard it from Wolford, who probably heard it from Chief Bogo. Or something like that."

"Great, so everyone knows about that too," she said, though the moment their food and drinks arrived she brightened up. "Well, I didn't feel like I deserved it since it was sort of my fault that everything just fell apart."

"That might be for the best." He paused to enjoy the scent of his pineapple pizza and licked his lips as he picked up one of the straws the waiter had left for their drinks. "Bellwether probably hoped that making you the public face of the police would alienate us preds even more. In fact, I'd put money on that."

"Yeah, well I couldn't do it," Judy murmured as she peeled the wrapper of the other straw and rolled it into a tiny wad. "I just—"

She was cut off when Nick blew through his straw, sending the wrapper flying across the table to bump into her nose. Her snout wrinkled and she gave her head a shake, then glared at the fox as he pointed her way and clicked his tongue.

"Bullseye."

To her credit, Judy tried valiantly to maintain her scowl and managed to hold it for a full two seconds before she cracked into a grin and began giggling. "If this table wasn't so large, I'd kick you."

"Really? I haven't gotten to play footsie in years!"

She tossed her wadded straw wrapper at him, but an air current blew it pathetically off course. Nick watched as crumpled paper hit the table well short of him, then gestured at it with both hands.

"Someone still throws like a bunny," he said before flicking it back at her. This time she managed to dodge out of the way.

"Stop that, you're making a mess."