Welcome back!

Sorry about the wait. I've been busy lately. But I am happy to finally have the fifth chapter out to you guys! I hope you all will enjoy, and, please, think about leaving a review. I'd like to know if I need to work on anything. Sometimes, I really question just how well my sentences are flowing and if I'm making anything confusing. Feedback, positive or negative, will always be appreciated. Thank you!

...

The work you had to do as an officer of the ZPD, especially if you are one of the best officers in the entire department, usually meant long hours, grueling paperwork, depressing cases, dangerous assignments, and so much more. Judy loved every second of it.

Why, you ask? Yes, it seems like a horrible job. More dangerous than most careers out there. Terrible pay. Occasional disrespect from civilians. The list goes on. But, Judy didn't care. Throughout most of her life, she wanted to make a difference. She knows how bad it can be for people, how cruel and dark the world can be. But she also knows that she can make it brighter if she puts enough effort into it, and that is exactly what she is doing.

But now, she was taking a much needed vacation with her partner. They had earned it after all, and Nick still wasn't fit for field duty for another week, anyway. Plus, she had something planned. Something she had promised him weeks ago.

Of course, Nick was hesitant to take a small vacation. It didn't seem like Judy to just suddenly take a vacation and ask him to do the same. He was perfectly content to do paperwork for another week. He could wait. But apparently, Judy couldn't.

That's how the pair found themselves walking in a small park, watching the leaves drop from the trees as the breeze gently plucked them off the branches and set them on the ground.

"Beautiful day, isn't it?" Judy's soft voice was trembling.

"Yeah, it is. Blissfully cool for a Summer day." Earlier in the week, the temperatures rose to ninety-nine degrees fahrenheit and the air conditioning for their precinct decided to break down. He was panting the moment he stepped inside the building. "A lot better than what it was."

"Which is why I want to enjoy the day."

"By waking me up early and dragging me out of bed?"

"Yeah. The way your fur looks in the morning always brings me a laugh." This earned her a groan from the fox beside her. "Oh!" Judy chirped as an alarm on her phone rang off. It was seven forty-five. Nick gave her an angry look as he covered his ears. "Sorry, sorry. Just wanted to make sure we make it in time."

"Make it in time? Where are we going, Fluff?" he questioned, slightly intrigued.

"Remember when I told you about the surprise I had planned all those weeks back?"

"How could I forget? It was the day I almost died."

"Oh hush, you're fine now."

"And my chest still hurts with every step I take." He was faking a pained expression as he continued to walked slightly slower than her, grabbing at his chest dramatically.

"You're a drama queen." She let a small smile creep onto her muzzle.

"Drama King."

"No, I was right the first time. You're a drama queeeeen," she added with emphasis on the word 'queen.'

He walked up next to her and applied his usual smirk. "Do all rabbits act like children?" He should've seen the paw coming for his arm. "Ow! Still sore, still sore!"

Judy hummed happily and leaned against a tree. Nick noticed how her ears were slightly swaying in the breeze and how her eyes still managed to catch light under the shade of the tree. "Alright, tell me. What's the surprise?"

"Didn't you say you would be surprised by my surprise? Or do you really have that bad of a memory?" She was enjoying teasing her fox who was now giving her a 'puppy dog look.' "Nope, do that all you want, it won't work."

"It has worked before," Nick said, crouching and staring deep into Judy's eyes.

"Not this time." She wasn't fazed.

"Fine," he sighed in defeat. "How are we getting there?"

"I'll drive." With that, she skipped back down towards her red car and let Nick into the passenger seat. Together, they drove off.

….

"Welcome! Welcome!" A remarkably short giraffe greeted them in the lobby of Cawthon's Fine Dining. It was a five star restaurant. All Nick could do was stand there with his mouth hanging open. The place was stunning. The lobby led to the main dining room that was littered with granite tables that were cut into a thick circle with soft, large, and crescent-shaped chairs, colored black and blue, surrounding the tables. The walls were lined with different tables made out of glass and cut into rectangles with chairs similar to the others beside them, only they were not round and were meant to sit a single animal in each one. It was very difficult, even for Nick, to see the ceiling. It was purposefully made to look like the night sky at all times; black and endless. The only lighting came from the ceiling by thin cables connected to only slightly thicker black boxes with little holes cut out of them with blue light exiting from them.

'It seems black and blue was the color scheme,' Nick thought.

"Reservation for two under the name of Hopps!" chimed Judy. She was practically bubbling with excitement. It's been ages since she had last been here, and this time, she got to bring her (hopefully-soon-to-be-more-than-best-friend) best friend.

"Who's the other?" the giraffe asked.

"Oh? He's already here. Nick Wilde, my…" she so wanted to say 'boyfriend,' "…best friend."

"You are going on a date with a fox? Sorry, can't let you in."

"What?!" Both fox and rabbit exclaimed.

"Sir," Judy began, her foot thumping vigorously, "I paid over a hundred dollars for the reservation alone! If you do not allow us through, I will speak with your manager! And…" she pulled out her badge. All Nick did was watch. That bunny could be scary if she wanted to be. "…I happen to be a police officer. Let. Us. Through." She was leaning towards the giraffe with fire in her eyes as she shoved her badge into the giraffe's face.

Nick noticed that Judy did not say that they were only there as friends and felt his heart jump. For so long, he suppressed these feelings…

The giraffe sighed, bored and irritated, and led the pair to their seat by a large fish tank that both had only just now noticed. Catfish lazily swam about the tank.

"Thanks, Judy. You didn't have to stand up for me, or almost tear that guy in half with your voice alone. Remind me not to get you angry." The pair chucked at that.

"Yeah, sorry about that. I'm just tired of it all. We've been dealing with mammals like him for years now."

"I've been dealing with them for all of my life." Nick wore a glum look now and stared at the dark floor. It was a wooden floor and was pained a black too.

"I know, I know." This sudden change in mood reminded her of something. "Hey, remember when you first woke up after the crash?"

"Testing my memory again, Carrots?" His eyes shot back up to her and he smirked. "Yeah, I do. I remember getting ran over by something fluffy."

"Oh ha ha, funny." She playfully rolled her eyes. "But seriously, what happened while you were sleeping? I asked the day after, but you brushed it off. Ready to tell me about it now? I did just pay for a five star restaurant…"

"Guilt tripping me? I'll have you know that I have no conscience whatsoever." His joke earned him a little laugh from Judy, but she then gave him her own 'puppy dog look.' It was working. "Fine, fine, okay, maybe I do have a conscience. Why does that always work on me but not you?"

"Because I'm cuter?" She winked.

"I thought you rabbits hated being called cute."

"Not by ourselves. Now, spit it out. Pleeeaaassseee?"

"Okay, okay…" he sighed. "So… I was having a nightmare. I found myself on a dark room with nothing in it but myself…" Nick began. He continued to recall everything that happened during his nightmare. He didn't pause at all and told her every detail. She did deserve to know. They vowed not to keep anything from each other when they became partners. "Then I saw my mother drinking her sorrows away. That's when I woke up to you."

"Nick, I'm so sorry." She was trying to hold back tears as she walked over to his side and gave him a small hug. Fortunately, no one noticed their hugging and stopped to listen. This was personal for Nick.

"Bad part is… they were all memories. Everything I just told you actually happened." He hugged her back.

"I… I'm sorry. That's.. awful.." Judy whispered in between little sniffs.

"Don't worry, I'm fine. The past is the past. I should've let you know much earlier than I did anyway."

Judy walked back to her chair and regained her composure. Barely. "It's awful how every bad thing that has happened to you is because of someone's negative beliefs about the whole of your species. It's awful!" She balled her paw up into a little fist, suddenly in anger towards the world. "But… hey, you have me, now. I'll always stick by your side."

"Thank you, Judy. It means a lot to me, really. You've been better to me than anyone else in my life." Might as well let her know that.

'Finally, in intimate moment,' Judy heard herself mumble inside her head. This was her chance. "Hey, Nick, there has been something I've been meaning to ask you… for a long time, really." She was silently cursing herself now. Why was this so difficult?

"Ask away, my emotional little friend." He was back into his normal spirits. Happy and joyful.

"Would you… um… well, this is hard to say… um…"

"Easy there, Carrots. Take your time."

That she did. She took a moment to regain herself. Again. She was doing an awful job at this.

"Well… you see… this is totally up to you… but… I was hoping this could be more than a friendly night out… What I'm asking is… Oh cheese and crackers!"

"I'm sure they have that here, but, wouldn't you want something better than that? Surely not cheese and crackers..." He was enjoying this.

"Ugh… Just… I like you, a lot. Okay? There, I said it." The floor suddenly became very interesting. Her eyes became glued to it.

"Well… perhaps I like you too. A lot. Maybe." He couldn't wipe the grin off of his face if he tried. This day had just turned into something amazing, he could tell. Nick just never imagined for Judy to feel even remotely the same. But, now that he knew, he was so going to enjoy this moment.

Judy's eyes lit up and met Nicks. "You-you do? I mean, it's okay if not, I would understand, I've just been holding in these feelings, I… Oh I'm awful." She huffed in disappointment of herself. Here is a highly respected police officer of the ZPD struggling to tell her partner how she felt.

"Judy," Nick's voice shot her out of her angry daze. "I feel the same way, really. I would love to go out with you, and it seems like I already am." He gestured around him. They were in a restaurant to have breakfast with each other. A perfect first date. "Relax, I was contemplating asking you out myself."

"Really?"

"Yes, I was. Oh, and considering you paid over a hundred bucks to get us in here and embarrass yourself… it may be time for us to actually look at the menu and see what they have. I'm certainly hungry after all of this confessing."

"Ah, yes, the food that I paid for. Almost forgot."

"Dumb bunny," Nick laughed.

"Sly fox," laughed his girlfriend.

…

"I can't believe how good their praying mantis dish was!" Nick had a hop in his step that made Judy giggle. She hadn't seen him this happy in a while.

"You devoured that plate in seconds. How did you have time to enjoy it?" She was hopping beside him, holding his paw. It didn't take them any time at all for them to become comfortable with holding paws After knowing each other for so long, it felt natural.

Soon, they arrived at their home. It was a two-story house with three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a large living room, kitchen, basement, utility room, and even a small garage. It was a nice house with carpeted floors for the bedrooms and hardwood floors for the living room and kitchen. The bathrooms had stone tiles as a flooring and their garage and basement had concrete as their floors. The walls were all a beige color and their ceiling was a clean white.

"Home sweet home!" the couple exclaimed together, giggling after saying it together by accident. The two slumped into their brown couch and flipped on the television. It was only one in the afternoon, but both were exceptionally tired. Judy slid closer to Nick than usual, prompting Nick to wrap his arm around her.

Normally, this would be a bit fast for a new couple to already be holding hands and cuddling like this. But, for Nick and Judy, after knowing each other for so long and living together, it felt like they should've been doing this a long time ago. They were so close to dating just months ago that people were starting to think they were dating when they were not. Now that they are officially dating, it felt like they have been for a while. None of this was too fast for them.

Judy changed the channel over to the news and suddenly their optimistic spirits dropped. The hot new story was all about the robbery that took place weeks ago. The same one that nearly took Nick's life. Why was this being brought back up? This is old news, right?

Their spirits sank lower and lower as the female coyote on-screen began talking about a group of prey who were claiming responsibility for the organization of the attempted robbery. They revealed that they were anti-predator over Muzzle-Book and that the robbery was only the beginning of their plans, despite having failed, and then proceeded to claim that they were a thousand members strong and growing.

Their goal was to banish or kill all predators within Zootopia.