WhipKitten: Big, loving vibes to everyone capitalising on this lack of ZPD to try out some fun new hobbies, like grand larceny. (Cool crimes only, as always - no-one loves a murderer!)

Nick woke slowly.

This bunk bed wasn't all that uncomfortable. Pretty good for an abandoned airbase. But something was wrong. Something had woken him.

He felt a needle of fear, which became an instant spear when he realised that this aberration, this intruder, was physically touching him-

He blinked, night vision kicking in quickly, and let out a quiet sigh. Judy had abandoned her own bunk and was cuddled into his tail. Again.

He shook his head, smiling. Dumb bunny.

Part of him was content to just roll over and fall back asleep, but he was awake now. He decided to stretch his legs.

It took every ounce of his hustler dexterity, his cunning sleight of hand, but he gradually managed to slip Judy's small but powerful arms off of his tail and onto his pillow instead. She didn't wake, but judging from her face, she sleepily noticed the change in quality.

Don't pout, you little monster! It's my tail, and I have the right to withdraw it! He smirked, silently drawing back. After one last glance to Judy, eyes warm, he left.

Fox was asleep too, literally curled up on what had been Wolf's bunk. Even cuter than usual. Nick made sure not to wake him either. In a few hours he'd be flying them all into space. If he wasn't in good shape, well…

It didn't surprise Nick that Fox kept daylight hours. He had made the change himself, first as a hustler looking for marks, then as the partner of a bright-eyed, bushy-tailed bunny. Nocturnal schedules had their place, but society and work forced many mammals out of their natural rhythms. Nick, and Fox, and Carmelita.

So he wondered if it was some instinctual release when he stepped out into the cold night air and, somehow, felt good.

All things considered, he should have been losing his mind. His hometown was under attack, and Nick - a beat cop undergoing therapy - had somehow stumbled his way onto the tiny team of criminals and specialists in the middle of it all.

Still not the most stressful thing that had happened to him this year.

All a matter of perspective. Classic Nick would have said that he had clearly been broken and was no longer capable of feeling normal levels of fear. Current Nick tried to see it more positively. What hadn't driven him irrevocably insane had made him stronger. Or something.

In his musings, he had wandered toward the southern hangar. Maybe he had been drawn by the light - it was the only building still illuminated.

Whatever the sleep cycles of professional foxes, their little group had a big advantage; three thieves who still lived like teenagers. The Cooper Gang was well-used to working through the night, and it showed. While Fox got the nine hours he needed to function, Murray and Bentley kept working on the jet, with barely any signs of fatigue.

Sly was there too. Similarly energetic.

"So here's what I'm thinking." He sat on a tall crate, his legs swinging. "We should use an emp."

"Ee-em-pee," corrected Bentley, from somewhere inside the cockpit.

"Pretty sure it's 'emp'," said Sly, in a breezy tone that made it clear he absolutely knew it was not. "But think about it. All of Andross' plans rely on tech. His drones, his inventions… heck, he even stuck a bunch of circuits into Wolf. If we hit them with an emp…"

"Yeah!" Murray emerged from under the jet, sleeves rolled up and eyes shining. "I think that's a good idea."

"Sure," came Bentley's voice. "Except for the fact we don't have one."

"Can you make one?" said Sly.

"With the right materials? I could build a small one. Effective within a few feet. You're suggesting we bathe the entire space station in an electro-magnetic pulse."

"No, I never said that. I wanted to use an emp."

Nick laughed, catching their attention. "Jeez, Ringtail. You may as well ask the poor guy to build us a nuke."

Sly's ears perked. "Slick! Didn't hear you come in. Pretty impressive to sneak up on a group of master thieves. Y'know…"

"What?" Nick smirked, shifting his hips. "You gonna give me the same offer you're always trying to give Carrots?"

"You can always run with us. That's just an open invitation at this point."

Before Nick could reply, Bentley cut across them. "Officer Wilde, as pleasant as it is to see you…"

"You're busy. I get it." He caught Sly's eye. "Wanna take a walk? No offense, but your skill-set seems, uh…"

"You're trying to say I'm sitting here distracting the two people who actually know what they're doing, aren't you?"

Sly easily slipped down to ground level.

"Well, you're right," he said lightly. "You guys want anything? I'll circle back with snacks."

After memorising Murray's longish request with a practiced ease, Sly joined Nick in ambling back out of the hangar. Alone under the stars.

"Beautiful night, isn't it?" murmured Sly.

"Yeah. I've barely ever left Zootopia, and the light pollution there is terrible." Nick looked upward, his voice quiet. "It's kinda nice just to see the stars…"

"Barely left your hometown, huh? Let me restate my offer to whisk you around the world. I can promise it'd be worth your while."

Nick smirked. "I admit that there's a part of me tempted by the idea, but…"

His eyes hadn't left the stars.

"Tomorrow morning I might get a lifetime of travelling out of my system. In one weird, terrible trip."

Sly nodded. "It'll be a first for me, too. And that's saying something…"

They walked in silence for a while, heading for the centre of the base. Finally, Nick spoke again. "There's something I need to tell you."

"Oh?"

"I wasn't just getting you out of Bentley and Murray's way. I needed to get you alone."

"Ohhhhh~?"

"Keep it in your pants."

Sly blinked. Nick had been matching his flirtations in good humour lately, but his voice was suddenly sharp. He stopped walking, turning to Sly. They were in the middle of the bunkers now. A few signs of the battle with Wolf, and his worrying strength, were still visible in the darkness.

"I'm a traffic cop," said Nick. "You're a thief. Neither of us have any business going to space to fight a mad scientist. So we have to do this right."

Sly folded his arms. He was taller than Nick, but that was only ever evident when he stood up straight. Like now. "I have every reason to be here. If you're scared, that's fair. No-one expects you to risk your life over this. But I'm stopping Andross. I need to."

"You sound like Fox. You've both got personal stakes in this mission, and you both refuse to walk away. But there's one major difference." Nick's eyes were hard. "Fox is the biggest boy-scout I've ever met in my life. I trust him to make the right decisions. You? I'm not so sure about you."

"Nick, what are you getting at?"

"A very wise person once told me," he said, "'vengeance blackens the soul'. You stupid, stupid moron."

Sly met his gaze coolly. "Oh. The old 'here's a thing you said to me once' manoeuvre. Judy does it better."

"Then maybe I should get Judy to yell at you instead. She'd be happy to, if you refuse to listen to me." His gaze didn't waver. "Or Carmelita."

He expected a reaction at that, and he got it. Sly's face showed little change, but Nick caught the sudden bristling of his tail. "She put you up to this?"

"Yeah, because this is middle school, and she bribed me with her lunch money. No, you dolt. I'll tell you what I told her. If I get killed by a giant robot, hey, it happens. Apparently. But I refuse to get killed because I've got exactly six people to rely on, and two of them are stuck in some petty drama."

"You think I'm petty?"

Now he felt it.

Now Nick was getting a taste of the sour anger that even Inspector Carmelita Montoya Fox felt unnerved by. Sly watched him with cold eyes, his usual humour instantly gone.

He spoke a little too quietly.

"Listen, Nick."

He met his gaze, expression calm. Almost bored. "Oh, I'm listening."

"I hear you had things rough, growing up. I'm not about to make this a contest." His voice was steady. So was his glare. "But if it was a contest, I would win. Y'know why? Because you, Nick, still have a mom."

Nick noticed the way his jaw tightened. There was a lot of muscle packed into Sly's thin frame.

"'Marian', right?" he was saying. "Yeah. We had that fun little conversation when you needed a pep talk. The cool thing about Marian, and I say this as someone who hasn't met her, so I'm sure there's plenty of other cool things about her, but what springs to mind for me is how you never had to watch her get murdered."

Nick folded his arms too, and squared his stance, and stood there. What Judy had said in jest - and Carmelita in wounded spite - was true. The fact he now went to a therapist didn't make him qualified to act as one. But he hadn't been a qualified cop, during that first, terrifying adventure with Judy. He had a knack for finding workable solutions.

After a moment of tense silence, Sly realized he wasn't going to reply. One ear flicked in irritation. "Point being," he said, "I don't want to hear you lecture me. Clockwerk is my problem. And I'll deal with him my way. Are we clear?"

"The only thing that's clear," said Nick, "is how badly you need to get over yourself."

Sly went to fire back, but Nick easily locked him down. Like Carmelita, Sly was unprepared for Nick Wilde at his full power.

"You've got this really interesting contradiction about you, y'know. And I'm not talking about the whole 'honorable criminal' thing. I've met a lot of so-called criminals and a lot of cops and there's no doubt in my mind which group is, on average, more honourable and trustworthy. I mean something else." He looked the taller mammal in the eye. "You," he said, "are a very self-centred team player."

"What?"

"It's obvious how much you love your brothers, and Carmelita. And after sharing that nightmare weekend with you, I can't say I don't see it. You're encouraging. Thoughtful. You praise the people around you, and you mean it. And that means they turn in a great performance," said Nick, "as they help out on your adventures."

He planted his hands on his hips, small but solid. A certain tinge of self-righteous rabbit to his stance.

"I thought I had you pegged. A showboating narcissist, using other people as props for your starring role as the big hero. That's why your big sacrifice threw me for a loop. I didn't realize how much you'd give up for someone like me." He watched him coolly. "Was it a fluke?"

"No."

"Then get it together." Nick indicated the barracks with a nod. "This is a team effort. You think if Carrots had to fight Bellwether again, she'd have this macho attitude, insisting she gets to call every shot? Or if Carmelita had to fight… I started this very dramatic sentence without a good idea of a nemesis for Carmelita…"

"As far as I'm aware," said Sly, "she mostly deals with my enemies, after I'm done with them." His voice was quiet. A different kind. "Her longest-running nemesis would be… me."

Nick paused, then softened his voice to match. "Then it sounds like you owe her a lot."

"I do. I know I do."

The fire had gone out of Sly. Nick just felt bad for him, now. It was obvious Carmelita was his weak point.

"Nick… I get it. Everything you're saying makes sense. But it's not a question of being rational. Clockwerk killed my parents." His voice, always so smooth, so confident, wobbled. "I need to do everything I can to stop him coming back. Everything."

"And you don't think Carmelita can handle it?"

Nick kept his voice steady. Not accusatory or judgemental. Just calm.

"Because you know she can. And the way you're acting like she can't? It's really hurting her."

Sly looked like he'd been shot. He stared at Nick, wordless panic in his eyes.

"It's true," said Nick, unvictorious. "Her self-confidence has taken a hit. Which, again, would be bad enough if she wasn't leading us all to our potential deaths in the morning. I'm only playing marriage counsellor because I'd like to survive the next twenty-four hours. I am, after all, a coward."

"No," said Sly. "You aren't."

He lapsed into silence for a moment. Nick watched the motions of his jaw as he considered and rejected a few different things to say, before finally…

"Thank you, Nick."

His ears were low.

"I'm really sorry for what I said. I mean, the stuff about your mom was-"

Nick held up a hand. "It's… fine. Forget it." He gave Sly a look. "Besides, I'm not the one you need to apologise to."

"Right. Yes." Sly rubbed his neck. "Have you seen Carmelita? She's not in bed, is she?"

A new voice. "She's not."

Sly tensed, ears shooting back up, and although he reflexively downplayed his reaction Nick was a little surprised as well. Slightly ahead of schedule. But in practice, perfect timing.

Carmelita walked towards them. Eyes tired but sharp.

"Madame Inspector," smiled Nick. "How goes the patrol?"

"H…" Sly sounded uncharacteristically rattled. "How much of that did you hear…?"

"It's quiet," she said. "No-one knows we're here, so patrolling is a waste of time. And as for your question, Sly… you've been insulting Mrs Wilde?"

"Never," he said, his usual humour crawling past his pale expression in a desperate last stand. "Of course not. She's an angel."

"Darn right," smirked Nick.

He gave a stretch, slow and leisurely, as Sly stayed rooted to the spot.

"Welp. Unlike you two rambunctious kids, I need my beauty sleep. As does Carrots, who could at any moment notice my absence. Or the absence of my tail, anyway… I'll see you both in a few hours."

He nodded to Carmelita, and she nodded back, and he knew there was more to her nod than a simple goodnight. He gave her a smile, then began to saunter away.

"Uh, Nick…!"

Sly's thief reflexes kicked in, giving him a final chance to intercept Nick before he left.

"Thanks. Again."

Nick matched his low murmur. "Eyes on the prize, Ringtail." With a final wink, he vanished.

Sly turned to Carmelita. Carmelita watched Sly. Just two mammals under the endless starry sky.

For a moment, they both just stood there. Alone, silent, in the night.

Now that Sly had been warned about it - now that someone had grabbed him by the back of the head and shoved his face into it, since that was apparently what he needed - there was no avoiding it. There was a certain… fragility to Carmelita. The hardness in her eyes, in her stance, now seemed brittle. Like it was mostly functional, but if hit hard enough, or twisted the wrong way, it might shatter.

Sly felt a pit of guilt in his gut.

For all his talk of appreciating their team-ups - of appreciating her - he had done a terrible job of showing it. She thought he didn't trust her. Which couldn't be further from the truth, but from her perspective… from the things he'd been saying…

Sly opened his mouth. Before he could speak, she was kissing him.

His hesitation was short-lived. Wordlessly, he returned the kiss, and the embrace she wrapped him in. Still silent. But suddenly a lot less alone.

After a moment, she broke the kiss, but didn't go far. She stayed close, resting her head against his.

He almost didn't want to speak. Rare feeling. "What was that for…?"

She kept her voice warm, low. Matching his. "I've… been saying the wrong thing a lot lately. New strategy."

"I like it."

"Thought you might…"

Her strong arms felt solid around him. The night was cold, but she felt very, very warm.

"…I wish we were normal," she finally murmured. "I wish we were normal people, with normal jobs, who argued about normal things."

He just nodded.

"But…" That unbreakable Carmelita Fox strength was still in her voice. "We aren't. This is who we are. And this is what we have to work with."

She pulled back, but didn't go far. Her hands settled on his shoulders.

"I can't order you around," she said. "And not just because you aren't my junior officer. I don't think anyone can order you around."

"I am a stubborn jerk," he said softly.

"But you're a good man, too. All I want is to know I can trust you."

Her hand drifted off his shoulder. To his cheek.

"Can I trust you, Sly?"

His answer was instant. Almost unceremonious. "Always."

She nodded. "Okay then."

They stood there for a moment, keeping each other warm. When he spoke, Sly's voice was quiet. "You going back on patrol?"

"I don't see much point. I was just keeping myself awake, really."

"Well, if we're not sleeping, or working on the jet, that leaves us both at a loose end…"

His hands found hers, and he gave her a knowing smile. One she found herself returning. For all they knew, they only had a few hours left on this earth. And that smile sealed an unspoken promise that they would spend that time together.

Or it did, until Sly suddenly frowned.

"Oh, wait. I have to go. Just for a second."

She returned his frown, but it was more confused than anything. "What? Where?"

"I… promised to bring Murray some food."

Carmelita laughed. Oh, how he had missed that laugh. "Always the dutiful brother… That's your best quality, you know."

"Here I thought my best quality was all my hilarious jokes."

"You're the only one who thinks that, mi amor."

Her hand returned to his cheek. It was as warm as her soft brown eyes.

"I won't keep you."

"Oh, I'd love it if you did. Like I said, it'll take just a second. They don't need my help in there."

He met her gaze, doing his best to match her warmth.

"After that, I'm all yours."