2016, September 3

Downtown Zootopia, Packwood flats

7:02 PM

Nick was a little surprised when that the younger fox, Tim, had forgiven Judy so easily. Then again, Tim couldn't have given a better response than hugging her. Nick had never seen her partner cry so much. Probably since she had confronted him under his bridge and poured her heart out to him, in the form of an apology.

About 30 minutes of Judy crying later, she and Tim were still hugging, except now they were doing so in near silence (Judy kept sniffling) while Tim was gently rubbing her back. Seeing this in front of Nick, it warmed his heart that the bunny was being comforted by the kid. Indeed, Nick cared about her partner a lot. In fact, just lately, he's been starting to feel something... more towards her. In fact, he wanted to join in on the hug, but he didn't because he felt that if he intervened, the moment would be ruined.

Instead, he spoke up. "Ahem," Nick cleared his throat.

Judy turned her head to look at Nick. The fox then tapped at an imaginary watch on his wrist a couple times, indicating that they needed to go before the nurse comes back to check on Tim. The bunny's ears drooped a little before she hesitantly nodded, clearly not wanting to leave yet. She broke away from the hug, got off Tim's bed, then turned back to face him.

"We got to go cottontail," she said Sadly. "I wish we could stay bit longer."

"Oh," Tim responded, "ok then."

Judy stood there for a moment, before heading to Nick as they went out the door.

"Wait!"

Judy turned around, ears erect.

"Thank you for visiting me. It was nice of you to do that."

Judy gave a smiled sadly before exiting the door.

There isn't much that happened after Nick and Judy's visit with the young Tod. They exited the hospital then took the subway back to their apartment. A few months prior, the pair came up with the idea that if they pooled their money together, they could get an apartment that was decent. And wouldn't you know it, because a few weeks later, they had found a place in downtown Zootopia. An apartment in a complex named Packwood flats. It was certainly an upgrade from Judy's old apartment. She had at first come to love that apartment for its oddity's when she came to Zootopia, but after a while, she could see why the apartment was so cheap. It wasn't until the night Judy had finally moved out of her old apartment, now living as Nick's roommate, she could actually sleep without having to hear someone through the walls.

The apartment The cop duo-lived in had 5 rooms. When you'd enter the apartment, you would enter into the Living room. The living room had an HD tv, a wooden coffee table, a carpeted floor, and a brown couch that faced the tv, behind the coffee table. On the other side of the living room, opposite the apartment entrance, there was a doorway that connected the living room to the kitchen. The kitchen itself was decent. It had tiled flooring, an oven, which Judy never had in her apartment, and a pantry for dry/canned goods. Right side of the living room, where you would enter the apartment, would be a hallway that lead to a closet, a bathroom, and 2 bedrooms.

Nick was currently in the kitchen, prepping popcorn so that he and Judy can snack on something while they watched Avengammals: Endgame. He had noticed Judy was down at the dumps after their surprise visit for an unfortunate Tim Zolomond, and afterwords, she went straight to her room hasn't come out since lunch or dinner. Both times, her eyes were glistening . Seeing this, Nick thought that maybe having a movie night, like they usually have, would cheer her up. He was also planning that this could be his chance to become closer to the the bunny, since they weren't allowed to fraternise with each other. Yes, Nick knew this was selfish, but wasn't really sure what else to do for the bunny.

Nick has now finished prepping movie night. He had two bowls of popcorn: one is buttered and salted for Nick; the other was plain and just for Judy. All he had to do now was to convince the troubled doe to come out of her room. Nick soon found himself standing in front of the door that led to her room.

Nick knocked 3 times before saying, "Hey fluff, I got some popcorn ready and a movie we can watch together. Care to come to movie night tonight?"

The only response given was a scream.

Nick rushed through the door to see if she was ok. He then saw Judy sitting up straight, crying her eyes out. "Hey, hey, hey, hey," Nick said rapidly as he went over to her bed, "are you ok?"

The bunny's only response was more crying.

Crawling into bed with the bawling doe, Nick softly put his arms around her, while Judy immediately pulled the fox into a tight hug. They stayed hugging each other. Judy lured her tears into Nicks chest, while he lightly scratched her neck. 27 minutes later, Judy's sobs were reduced to sniffles. Awhile after, Nick was the first one to talk.

"Do you want to talk about it?", Nick played dumb, knowing what this could be about.

Judy was starting to cry again, but then Nick soothed her. "Shshshshshshsh. It's ok, it's ok. You're ok," Nick soothed.

Nick had managed to save the bunny from further tears, but he could tell her sadness hadn't disapated yet.

After a few moments, the bunny started talking to the tod, in a partially-cracked voice, without looking at him. "I saw them Nick. Tim's parents," Judy said as her voice cracked, " They said that it's my fault. **sniffle** That I turned Tim into an orphan. And I can't do anything about-"

"Hey now," Nick said softly, "none of it is your fault.

"**sniff** Do you really think so?", Judy asked pitifully.

"Of course I do. You did the best you could in a bad situation, and frankly... it's good enough for me," Nick reassured Judy as he hugged her frame tighter to his body.

A few minutes pass and finally, Judy manages to pull herself together. Nicks words seemed to have calmed the emotional bunny.

"I just don't understand though," she absently said.

"Understand what?", Nick replied.

"I mean, how could something so horrible happen to someone so... so-"

"Innocent? Young?", the fox cutter in.

"Yeah, exactly. No one should lose their parents."

"Yeah well," Nick started, his voice growing tender, "while life can give you great things to you... it can also hurt you."

Judy went to look up at Nick, as in she rarely heard him talk in such a soft tone. She saw that his expression, along with his voice, was tender. His emerald looked like they were fixed on something that was nonexistent.

"He's thinking about the trauma from his ranger scout incident," Judy realised. Nick had told her about his bad experience with ranger scouts when she had met him, hours a few days prior. How life had told him that he couldn't be anything BUT an untrustworthy liar. How his 'comrades' had told him that predators like him couldn't be trusted without a muzzle. At the time, she had felt bad for him, and she was able to relate to him about being nothing else except what people tell you to be.

Judy reverted her mind back to the main subject. "I just wish there's something we can do," she said.

"Well," Nick started, snapping back to reality, "there's always adoption for him."

"Huh?"

"Now that the kid has no relatives and is no longer needed to stay at the hospital," Nick explained, "he now has to be sent to the orphanage until, either he's going to college, or someone adopts him."

Judy let this settle in before coming to terms on her options. That she could either stand by and hope that the young fox gets adopted by someone nice, or she could adopt Tim herself. This could be her overthinking it, but she didn't like the idea of Tim getting abused by either other children, or by what should be his adoptive parents. And it certainty didn't help knowing that he could spend a good chunk of his life without something to call family.

Judy decided to go with the latter.

"Then that's what we'll do," Judy decided.

"What now?" Nick questioned.

"I'll be the one to adopt him."

The tods ears flew up in surprise. "Uhh... not to be a downer carrots, but are you sure about this? I mean, what you're wanting is a tall order."

They were still in Judy's room on her bed. Except now they broke their embrace and faced each other.

"I know it's a long-shot, but... I need to do this-"

"-to help you forgive yourself?" Nick assumed, interrupting the doe. Even though the sly fox hadn't known Judy for a full year, he still managed to tell what she felt after getting spend time with her. Even though she was definitely NOT your average, every-day bunny rabbit, she was still somewhat readable.

Judy looked down and sighed before confirming Nick's guess with a nod.

Nick was quiet for a moment as he thought about what to say next. He hated to see Judy beat herself up over this. He's only ever seen her sad once, and that time was when she went to the bridge Nick was hanging out under, and apologized to him for breaking his trust. He knew Judy wasn't one to back down on decisions, but he wasn't really sure if she was going to be comfortable with two predators in her home. Both of which would be foxes. But above all, there was one question, in Nick's mind, that he wanted an answer to.

"Well," Nick started, "if this is what you want to do, I'll support you the entire way. But first, I want to ask you something."

"Hm," Judy nodded.

"Have you figured out where he'll sleep while living here?"

The bunny's ears folded backwards on her skull.

"I...-I didn't think I'd get this far," Judy admitted.

Nick chuckled a little. "Dumb bunny."

"Sly fox."

If Tim was going to live here, then he needs somewhere to sleep. Nick could sleep on the couch and Tim can take his bed, but Judy wouldn't stand for it. Judy could sleep on the couch and Tim can take her bed, but then Nick wouldn't let the bunny do that. Neither one of them could sleep on the couch without one standing in the way of the other, so only one option stood left.

Moments of silence passed before Nick spoke again.

"Maybe we could... never mind."

"What? What are you thinking slick?" Judy probed.

Nick paused before speaking.

"We could share a bed together while Tim takes the other."

Judy's ears stood on end and her face blushed red.

"I mean- we aren't-," Nick stuttered, trying to stop Judy think that he was being suggestive.

"I'm not saying we... you know. Just that sleep in the same bed. But with no touching!" Nick finally spat out after flustering.

Judy's mind raced a million miles/kilometers an hour with thoughts. "Sleep with a predictor? A fox for that matter!? What would mom think? But it's Nick! He'd never hurt me! But I don't want to ruin our friendship by making him uncomfortable. He suggested it so maybe it's fine? Plus, I don't know if I want to be alone tonight after having that nightmare. What if I have another one that's way worse! That way, if I'm having a nightmare, Nick can comfort me when it happens. Yeah. He'd hold me close to him, rap his soft, warm tail around my body- SWEET CHEESE AND CRACKERS STOP! YOU'LL MAKE IT EVEN MORE AWKWARD THAN IT ALREADY IS BY THINKING THAT YOU DUMB BUNNY!"

Judy pushed these thoughts to the back of her head and suppressed her blush as she started speaking.

"Ah... we could be ...clothed while we sleep."

Nick felt the weight on his shoulders lighten tremendously. "Great! I mean, that you feel alright about doing this. Right?"

"Yeah, definitely," said a little to eagerly.

"Great, we'll sleep together as soon as Tim moves in then!"

"Actually," Judy interjected, "could we... do that tonight? I don't want to be alone tonight."

Nick thanked god for giving foxes red fur, because he was sure it helped hide his blush.

"Yeah," Nick snapped out of it, regaining his 'mask'.

"You know," Nick said with a sly grin, "your basically asking a ravenous, 'wild' fox to stay at a poor, innocent rabbits home right?"

Judy giggled at his fox friend when he made a pun about his last name.

"I'm not worried," she said as she pulled Nick into a hug, "I know that you would never hurt me."

Nick hesitated.

"Besides," the bunny continued, "you're my best friend."

Nick's emotions were a mix of fluffiness and gratefulness. Never in his life, has he met a prey mammal, a bunny for that matter, not judge him by stereotypical foxes or by the fact he was a fox and a predator, but by who he was as a mammal. He never made a friend that could mean so much to him, but there he was, in a sweet embrace with a bunny. Yes, there was Finnic, but he was also a fox like Nick, so it was easy to relate to each other's treatments just for being foxes. Another thing was that he was feeling something for her. Like she meant the whole world to Nick.

Then, like a bolt of lightning, it struck him.

"Is this what love feels like?" Nick questioned himself.

When Nick snapped out of his thoughts realized Judy was still hugging him and rubbing his back. He was very thankful to have sly bunny like her so close to him. He suddenly felt his body's fatigue creep up on him. The fox thought the doe felt the same when he saw her yawning.

The duo were soon lying Judy's bed, still embracing each other, under the covers but fully clothed. Judy was lying on Nicks chest as if he was her mattress. Meanwhile, Nick himself held the doe... -his doe, close to his chest, while he tries to figure out what exactly are his fealings are for his partner in blue.

"I never thought I'd feel love for someone. A bunny to be specific. To think all this came out of our little run-in with each other at that ice cream parlor that I had hustled. Everything just got complicated after that. First, she blackmailed me into helping her; second, we uncovered a secret operation that Mayor Lionheart was running, and simultaneously finding all 15 missing mammal in the missing mammals case; third, we ALSO expose a prey-supremacist conspiracy group within the government; fourth, Judy convinced me into joining the ZPD; now we have this... 'thing' between us, or in me at least. Does she even feel the same way for me as I do with her?" the fox thought.

Suddenly, he felt something rub his shirt. Nick looked down at his chest to find Judy sound asleep, rubbing her cheek against the foxes shirt. With a somber smile, an actual, meaningful smile, he thought to himself, "You know what? Forget it. I'll just think about it tomorrow. Its not very day you get a bunny all to yourself."

He simply laid his head back, held Judy close, and soon drifted into a blissful sleep.

A/N: While Nick was preparing for movie night, Judy was asleep having her nightmare. It wasn't until Nick knocked on her door that she woke from her purgatory. Just wanted to make sure everyone knew that. See ya!