"Mom, what are you… Why is everyone…" Nick shook his head. This was not the planned agenda for the day. He had wanted to get some sleep and then run his new suspicion by the Chief. Instead, he found himself pushing Carrots and staring at his mother, his partner's parents and a few of her siblings. Plus a snarky cat. Couldn't forget Talens.

He looked down, expected the rabbit to have a plan. She just stared at him blindly. Great. He had to think this through again? Especially on THAT line of conversation? Nope. Not today.

"Know what? Nevermind." He pushed Carrots a bit further into the room and hobbled to her bed. "Have a nice chat. I'm exhausted."

"Nick, you're gonna leave me to fend on my own?" He turned and saw amethyst eyes pleading at him. On the one hand, he wanted to help her with this. On the other?

"I was taught that the better part of valor is knowing when to retreat, Fluff. I haven't slept but about three hours over the past three days, so I'm taking a nap. Have fun!" He hopped in the bed and pulled the covers over his head, breathing heavy. He wanted them to go away. He closed his eyes, hoping it'd all disappear.

"I also taught you to show more manners, Nicholas Oli-"

He jumped up, the blankets forgotten. "STOP RIGHT THERE." His voice came out deeper than he'd expected and everyone jumped, saved for the bundle of sheets that was Talens and his mother. He was not going to give Carrots the benefit of that name.

His mother just pointed to his partner. "Well then, you still going to leave her alone for this?"

He looked around the room. His mother may have a nice look on her face, but he knew this conversation wasn't something he wanted to deal with. The Hopps family looked scared and slightly worried. Talens was a bundle. But Carrots? She looked ready to cry. He'd been trying to work to avoid thinking about everything going on between them. Trying unsuccessfully, actually. He swung his bandaged leg off the bed, moving over to the wall next to his partner. He smirked at her when she looked at him.

"Guess I can't let you fend for yourself, Carrots." She looked relieved. Inside he was trembling. This was about to be an uncomfortable conversation. Department policy said no to officer relations. Society was accepting of interspecies friendships and predator-prey was becoming less awkward. But dating outside of one's species or being romantically involved, especially predator-prey? It was the thought of fiction. It was the stuff for trashy romance novels.

It wasn't a place he felt comfortable dealing with. Yes, Carrots had helped Zootopia move forward. But even in a city where "anyone can be anything," prejudice existed. Mammals judged others quickly. And Fluff's career was just taking off. This wasn't something she needed. It was something that could ruin her whole life. He'd move past it if it came to that; he could find something to occupy himself with. But he'd be damned if he did that to Carrots.

"So, questions?" He looked up at the room. He hoped that if he treated this like a carnival show that was a press conference he might be able to mitigate the damage inflicted. It wasn't something he wanted to do today, but there wasn't any other option at this point. He closed his eyes and waited for the pitchforks.

Stu and Bonnie Hopps ignored him and instead focused on their daughter. "Judy, this is all a joke, right? There's nothing between you two, right?"

"Yes and no." Nick cracked an eye at his partner. "There's nothing, except… There is. I don't know how to say it, Mom. It's all confusing and I'm not sure how to feel."

"Judy, it's not right!" Her father was staring at Carrots with a dumbfounded look on his face. Nick suddenly wanted Mr. Hopps to look at him so he could just smile and let them misunderstand more. For some odd reason, the thought made him feel better.

"Dad, right and wrong are subjective. If it's wrong to everyone, does that mean it really is?" She was looking at her paws, but Nick could hear her voice getting stronger. Her parents were pushing on the one thing that always set her off. "Just because everyone said predators were dangerous, there was nearly a major change in this city. But everyone was wrong. I was wrong. It could have been anyone." She was staring at her father, and Nick couldn't help but admire her courage.

He noticed Talens was starting to appear from her bundle. After two hours of crying and sleep, maybe she could function for another twenty minutes. Nick wanted to groan at the thought; why did that functioning period have to be about society and relationships instead of the case?

"Judy, that's not…" her mother was looking at her paws. "This is different! This isn't about how it appears to everyone else."

"How is it not, Mom? You're judging me based off of one thing you saw. You're judging Nick off of one thing!" Nick turned his head and covered his mouth with a paw. He could feel a giggle coming on.

Unfortunately, his mother saw. She cut her eyes at him. "Nick, this isn't funny. They think you're taking advantage here."

He held up his paws. "Hey! I did no such thing! She kissed me."

"Nick!"

"Sorry, Carrots, but I'm trying to avoid throwing myself under the bus here. There's enough glass that got yanked from me as it is." He wanted to laugh so hard that it hurt.

He wasn't the only one with this thought. He noticed that the two younger rabbits were both starting to squirm in their seats. Joshua had a look in his eye that Nick didn't want to see; this was about to turn into a loud room.

"Judy, you're not thinking straight. Since you came to the city, you've been acting different. And now you're involved with a fox?" Bonnie Hopps was moving closer to her daughter and Nick could tell from experience that this was a 'I love you, but you're wrong,' scene about to happen.

"Mom, we're not involved!" Judy was fidgeting in her chair. Nick was suddenly glad she was still confined to a bed or a wheelchair or anything. If she was allowed to walk, this would have been a gray mass of comedy. "I kissed him once, that's all! I got caught up in the moment!"

Despite wanting to laugh, Nick found himself hurt a bit. Was that really all it was? 'No, it wasn't. She's got to get her parents to stop,' he told himself. Still, he couldn't say anything. He agreed with what he hoped she was aiming for. His mother noticed his slight ear twitch.

"Sure that didn't cut a bit, Nicky?"

He looked at his mother. "I don't know what you're talking about, Mother." Even if it'd been fifteen years, she'd raised him. He could hide a lot, but she still found out. He noticed Judy and her parents were looking at him.

"What?" There were six pairs of eyes all looking at him. Actually, seven. Talens was sitting up finally, but all she did was stare at him. "What'd I do?"

"Nicky, game's up. You gonna come clean or do I need to reveal your little 'tryst'?"

"MOM!" he nearly shouted. "Nothing happened there. You were there. She shocked the hell out of me and then nearly had a breakdown when I got mad about it. She calmed down and nearly took me to the ground. It was an emotional evening, that's it." All the eyes were on him. This wasn't the way he liked to be stared at. It was one thing to be stared at for being injured, or for being a cop. He could twist those stares to his advantage. But this? It was like they were all sizing him up. Judging his words. He hated those kinds of stares.

"And the hallway?"

'Curses.' He'd forgotten that she saw that. "That was calming her down. She was hyperventilating."

"What do you mean, hyperventilating? What did you do to my daughter?" Bonnie had a death look in her eyes.

"Nothing, Mrs. Hopps. Nothing!" Nick had his paws up defensively. He was considering if he should back out of the room slowly and escape to Clawhauser for a bit. "She shocked me. It's a bad history, and she'd just yanked it out in the open. I was shocked and she wasn't aware. So it… escalated." Wrong choice of words, he quickly realized.

"What does that mean?" Mr. Hopps was closer to his daughter now, slowly standing between them. For some odd reason, Nick wanted to grab his partner's chair and escape. This wasn't good.

"I yelled. I vented. She cried. She hit me. We were both in a really awkward situation and things just turned out like that." He looked to Carrots for help. He hoped she'd read the question in his eyes, but instead those violet orbs just stared at him like she was expecting something. Why had it turned out like this?

"Aren't you leaving out something, Nicky?" He looked up at his mother. She had that smug look on her face, like she'd found him trying to do something sneaky and was exposing him. He wanted to tape her mouth shut. "You know, that little nose scene?"

"Wait, what? What happened?" Bonnie was looking at his partner and Carrots was looking at the floor. Nick could see her ears were turning red. Apparently the memory was embarrassing for her, too. Every time he thought about it, he got confused but slightly wished he could relive it. He had started to understand what was going through his mind a long time ago, but he didn't feel this was the time or place.

"Nothing, Mom. Just, uh… I was hyperventilating and Nick found a way to calm me down." She was playing with her paws. It would have been cute had Nick not felt like he was on a tight rope made of razor wire.

"Judes, what was it?" Now Stu was in her face as well. Nick felt horrible for being relieved that he wasn't being hammered on so hard. He could see that her two siblings weren't laughing anymore, but looked interested. Both of them had their ears up and their noses twitching.

"N, nothing. It was nothing, Dad." She looked up at them and back down. Nick could almost see her confidence, so strong just a few moments before, disappearing as quickly as it'd come. "I don't feel comfortable talking about this," she said.

"I'd hardly call that nothing, dear." Vivian was still smirking, although bigger now. "The look you two were giving each other was quite intimate. I felt like I was interrupting something."

"MOM!" Nick barked at her. She looked at him. He raised his paw and swiped it left and right in front of his neck. "Not helping here."

"Would you rather I said anything about her not letting go of your shirt?"

'Oh god,' he thought. He turned and knocked his head into the wall. Then again. And again. He let his legs slide away and just crumbled to the floor. "Again, not helping."

"Judy, what does she mean?" Nick wanted to claw out his ears. Between his mother and Judy's two parents, he felt like everything he'd been asking himself was being brought to light.

"I, um… Well, you know how when we yell it makes us tired? I got sleepy. And apparently, I, uh…"

"You what? Honey, tell me what happened!" Nick didn't have to look to know the face that Bonnie was making. He took a breath and turned his head towards them all.

"Oh, for crying out loud. She went into shock. I had to find a way to get her to calm down, so I pressed my nose to hers. She calmed down, I went and took a shower, my mother kept the situation calm. After we ate and talked, she fell asleep. I tried to move her to the window sill where she could sleep more comfortably and she wouldn't let go of my shirt. So I took it off and went to bed. That's all. Nothing happened. Satisfied?" He could feel the tips of his ears burning. It was like he was dealing with all that stupid teenage drama he'd overheard while pulling cons for years. He never thought he'd be on this side of it.

His mother looked positively radiant about the whole situation. She didn't have to say a word for Nick to feel her smug attitude coming off in waves.

He focused more on Carrots. She was looking at her paws and her ears were down on her back. She was quiet and her parents just stared at her in shock. Her siblings weren't as aghast. In fact, Joshua came over and pushed Nick on the arm. "Sly fox," he laughed at him. "You've got it rough."

"Tell me about it," Nick moaned. He pushed himself up, getting back to his feet. In reality he wanted to just lay on the floor and find a dark corner. This was giving him a headache.

"Judy, that's…" Her mother looked at him. He couldn't tell what was in her eyes. Fear? Confusion? Whatever it was, he didn't want to deal with it.

"Jude, I'm not saying it's bad to have friends, but this is going a bit past that." Stu was ignoring Nick, and he was grateful. "We may be partners with Gideon, but there's a huge difference between partners and… whatever it is that's going on between you two."

"You think I don't know that?" Carrots small voice came out. She sounded exhausted. "You think I haven't been confused about all this? Between the accidents and hearing he scared you witless about me, I wanted to kill him. But the way we've been pushing each other forward, how much he's been there for me…" Her voice was getting stronger. Nick found himself enthralled by the sound. "I know everyone thinks it's wrong. You think I don't know that? You think I haven't asked myself that, day after day?

"I know he's a predator. I know those relationships are frowned upon. I know that the code of regulations says it's not allowed because of problems it causes on the job. I knew how you'd react, how everyone would see us. You think I haven't thought of all that?" Her head finally came up, and Nick saw tears running down her face. "I have no experience when it comes to dating, so how do you think I've felt trying to sort this all out? I'm confused and lost and Nick-" she waved her arm in his direction- "keeps finding ways to avoid talking about it. I don't know why, but something tells me we're not just partners anymore but I'm scared about finding out exactly what we are."

Her parents looked at him. So did the two kids. His mother's eyes were prying into him. Talens had that smirk on her face like she'd guessed something was going to happen. He felt his mouth turn extremely dry.

"What do you want me to say?" He was looking at everyone and no one, letting his eyes drift so he didn't feel any specific pressure for too long. "I've been confused, but I know how society is. I spent more years as a con artist than as an upbeat citizen. I know the underside. How wrong everyone thinks it is. You think I'd push that on her?" He pointed at Judy. She finally looked at him. Although everyone else was there, he knew he had to talk to her about it.

"I've had bad relationships. Everyone leaves me. You've been the one good thing that showed up in my life since… I can't even remember. So I don't want to put you through that. The stares. The hatred. You could lose your job, your career. Everything you've worked for. I can't do that to you." He looked into those eyes, pleading for her to understand. "It's not that I don't care. It's that I do. And because I care more than I should as a partner, I can't make this decision. I can't let you do that to yourself just for me."

The room was silent. Other than the beeping of machines, no one said a word. In fact, it was almost deathly still. The rabbit's noses weren't twitching. No one was blinking. Even his mother wasn't smirking anymore.

"You're a stupid fox, aren't you Wilde?" Everyone in the room turned to Talens. She'd been quiet almost the entire time. "You think that Hopps over there cares about that? She took what society threw at her and gave it right back. You know how emotional she can get; I thought I'd seen her act weird a time or two, but apparently I don't know the half of it." She shook her head. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were more scared than anything."

Nick didn't argue. Where was he to argue? He knew what she said was correct. He'd been fighting a losing battle for days. He didn't know what to say to calm the situation. He knew things had been changing, but he'd been scared of that. He knew she was his best friend, and the best partner someone could ask for. Would something more be nice? He'd never wondered until recently, and now he was curious and hopeful. But his conscious, his street smarts told him not to rush. That there was something bad ready to fall at any time.

He heard a snort behind him. He froze. Officer Talens, in his straight field of vision, stiffened too. He closed his eyes, waiting for what he knew was about to be the cherry on top of the cake.

"Officer Hopps, I thought you said there was nothing going on between the two of you."

Bogo's voice was enough to make him ready to fall down. He could hear everything he wanted to avoid- the condescending tone, the anger, the expectations of society. Everything he had tried to keep from falling down was crashing around himself.

His partner spoke up. "Chief, there really isn't-"

"I've been there a while, Hopps. I heard more than enough. Rubbing noses? Clutching?" Nick squeezed his eyes shut. He wasn't sure how much he'd heard, but it was more than he wanted him to. Nick feared his next words.

"If you weren't in the hospital, and if you didn't work well together, I'd split up this partnership right now." Nick flattened his ears to his head. "However, now isn't the time for that. There's a criminal group attacking the police. We have dead and wounded. You two saw their setup, you survived their messages. Give me one good reason why I don't suspend you both from the case?"

Nick turned to look at the Chief. Something in his eyes shocked him. Despite how he'd sounded, he felt like the Chief was being reasonable. He was giving them a chance to prove that things could work. That despite the confusion and the chaos, that he and Judy could prove themselves again.

"No one was driving the car in Precinct 8, sir."

"So?"

"So it drove from at least a street away into the building with a straight shot. It gained speed to go up the steps instead of losing momentum. No one left the vehicle. Either we have a ghost haunting, or someone has extremely new technology that could allow them to remotely control a situation like that."

The Chief crossed his arms, staring at the fox. "Why should that matter, Wilde?"

"If technology like that does exist, only a few should have access to it. Which makes finding a new link to the organization easier than combing through three stolen, destroyed vehicles." He stared at the Chief expectedly, hoping the answer would satisfy him.

The Chief squinted at Nick, as if trying to decide if it was a good enough lead. After a moment, he turned his back and opened the door. "Wilde, spend more time in your room. I've had enough of arguing with orderlies about your decision to wander. Hopps, Talens? Get healed up. We need you in the field. We need all three of you in the field."

"Yes, sir," came the reply in near unison. The Chief walked out the door and Nick sighed. Somehow he hadn't lost the case. He hadn't lost his partner. The Chief was giving them all a chance.

Officer Talens spoke up again. "How in the hell do you two get away with everything?"

"Beats me, Talens." He looked over at Judy. He could see that she was relieved too. After all that, she was prepared for the worst as well. He found himself smiling at her, realizing that things were about to move forward yet again. Carrots caught his eye and she smiled back at him. "Maybe it's because we're the best on the force?"

"That's one high opinion you got there. No wonder you two think you're invincible." Considering the situation and what they'd just avoided, Nick started to laugh. He heard Talens join in and then Judy began to laugh as well. He turned around, watching as his mother tried to hide a giggle before she was part of the sound. Even Joshua was taking part while Margaret was trying to stifle herself. Only the Hopps parents looked out of place, what with the surprise and worry on their faces.

This wasn't over by a long shot. He knew he'd still have to answer questions. The Chief may be giving them a chance, but that could always fall apart. But for right now, at least the cards were on the table. Not everyone was against the idea. Maybe they could push past this stage into something better. He found himself thinking about those amethyst eyes and how much he wanted to talk to her in private- there was more to discuss now.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: There you go. This one took a while, because slower scenes (and dialogue heavy scenes) can be hard. Especially with so many characters jumping in. However, considering I've been putting it off and making everything seem short and confusing with the romance, I had to address it. I think this should clear up any questions about why the characters have been acting weird and why the romance felt awkward despite the long time I built it up. But enough about that; next chapter puts us back into the light and back on the case!

As a side note, I'm not sure why so many chapters have ended up at 2.8k-3.3k words. Oh, wait, I know- IT FLOWS. When it starts coming out, let it happen. If it's not a good stopping point, add more until it is. For those two who sent me PM's about "Great story, but shorten the chapters," I am sorry but it's not happening. My comfort zone on a chapter appears to be 2.7-3.1 with a few thousand either way as wiggle room. This one ended up past that, but I think it gives us all a feel of what's going on with the romance thought, how different animals are going to react, and thus allows me room to build past it in the future.

Thanks for reading!

Jay AKA Pyre