(Friday, April 8th)

The nice thing about parking duty was that Judy could treat it like a game, constantly trying to get as many tickets as possible. Today, she had managed 275 tickets. 'One for each of my siblings', she thought with a smirk.

But thinking of her family only made her wish she was back home. Things were so much simpler back then. She wished she could go back in time and tell her younger self that being a cop in the big city wasn't everything it was cracked up to be.

Judy knew that a good cop was actually supposed to help the citizens of Zootopia. And she hoped that it wouldn't be too much longer before she would get her chance.

Heading back to the police station, she noticed Chief Bogo out of the corner of her eye. He was on the phone with someone. At first, Judy thought it best to stay out of his way, but her ears perked up when she heard her name being mentioned.

"Look, regarding Officer Hopps… yes, she still works here."

He walked into another room with his phone. Judy knew she shouldn't be prying, but her curiosity got the better of her. She peered into the room, watching her boss.

"Look, I've only given her the most basic of jobs," the chief said. "And to be fair, she hasn't screwed up yet, but she's been awfully pushy. She's just itching to get out on the field. But it's fairly obvious the only reason the mayor let her in is because it'll make him look better. That ridiculous 'Mammal Inclusive Initiative' thing."

Judy felt rage being built up inside of her. How dare he say such things about her! She graduated at the top of her class, Lionhart's politics didn't have anything to do with that!

…Right?

"Well, I just have a few more things to take care of before I leave for the day. I'll see you tonight."

The chief hung up, and was about to start working when he saw Judy standing at the door. She froze, expecting him to start yelling. She was surprised when he spoke to her in a much softer tone than she was used to.

"I take it you heard all that?"

After a moment, Judy gestured towards her ears. "I hear a lot of things."

The chief sighed. "Hopps, It's nothing personal, It's just…"

Judy interrupted. "Yeah, it's nothing personal. You just think I'm a terrible cop."

Her boss looked like he was going to respond, but he looked like he was at a loss for what to say.

Judy spoke again. "Chief, I have worked hard every single day of my life trying to get others to take me seriously. What more do I have to do? What do you want from me? And if the answer is, 'not a bunny', well, I'm sorry, I can't do anything about that!"

The chief looked down at her, looking genuinely sorry. "Hopps, listen to me. You're a good mammal. I mean that. I just think you could probably make a better life for yourself if you chose a different career path."

After a long pause, Judy looked up, trying to stop the tears from welling up in her eyes. "Are you firing me?"

The chief shook his head. "I won't fire you unless I have a good reason."

This made Judy feel slightly better. "Well, I'll try not to give you a reason, then."

"Good. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have work to do." And with that, he took his eyes off of Judy and left the room to get up to his office.

—

It was beginning to get dark when Judy got onto the subway, and it was all she could do to keep herself together.

Judy was not a pessimistic mammal by nature, but a month of doing the same thing had taken its toll on her.

Wasn't this what she wanted? To work as a cop in the city of Zootopia where anybody could be anything? But it turned out real life was a little more complicated than a slogan on a bumper sticker.

She hated her dead end job, and it didn't look like things were gonna get any better. But she couldn't quit because then all those years of hard work would have been for nothing. She hated her apartment. It was tiny and dirty and the neighbors were extremely annoying.

Her life was awful.

But just as Judy was about to start crying, someone else beat her to it. The subway car had come to a stop, and there was the unmistakable sound of sobbing from someone in the station. Judy turned her head and saw the source of the crying; a female beaver. From the looks of it, she had been mugged, A male beaver, presumably her husband, ran up to her.

"What happened, Charlotte?"

"…He attacked me, Walter… he stole my wallet!"

"Are you hurt?"

"No, not really…"

"Take a deep breath, Charlotte. We'll call the ZPD."

And just as the train doors were closing, Judy heard Walter say, "Everything's going to be all right. I'm here."

And just like that, the doors had closed and in a few seconds, the beaver couple weren't even in sight anymore.

Judy found herself wishing that she had done something. But she probably didn't even have the authority to help the beavers, and the more 'qualified' officers, were probably going to help them out in no time at all.

But as Judy got closer to her apartment, she found herself thinking about the husband, how he had consoled his wife in a time of need. That was what she needed right now. Someone to tell her that it would all be okay. Someone she could lean on. She wondered if maybe she could try therapy, but she quickly shut that idea down. Given the amount of authority figures that tried to deter her from being a cop, a therapist probably wouldn't tell her what she really wanted to hear.

It was then that Judy noticed something out the corner of her eye. It was a large billboard advertising Z-Harmony, the website that Clawhauser had told her about the previous day. The billboard had several pictures of interspecies couples, and the slogan read, "Sometimes the love of your life is in the last place you look."

Judy sighed. She didn't come into the city looking for a romance. But in all honesty, she just needed someone to talk to. And if she started talking to someone who didn't know she was a bunny, maybe they would treat her with a little bit more respect.

Besides, it wasn't like she had anything to lose.

—

About an hour earlier, Nick and Finnick had been parting ways.

That day's hustle hadn't gone as well as they had hoped. Sometimes they just didn't get lucky, and mammals were stingy with their money. One hippo in particular had actually recognized that Finnick couldn't be Nick's son because they were two different types of foxes. Finnick remarked after the fact that it was a relief to see someone who can tell a fennec apart from a red fox, although he wasn't too happy when he saw the money they had brought in.

Nick grudgingly handed Finnick his share of the cash. "Better luck tomorrow?"

Finnick scoffed. "Hope so," he said, climbing into his van.

"Oh, and tell your online girlfriend I said hi!"

"Will do," Finnick said before driving away.

Nick sighed. The sun was just starting to go down. He was about to turn around and start heading home, when suddenly-

A scream.

Nick whipped his head around and saw a wolf running away. Meanwhile, the scream was coming from the back alleyway. Instinctively, Nick ran into the alley to see what was going on. He was startled to see a female beaver lying on the ground, clearly having just been mugged.

Nick looked around anxiously. He supposed he could just walk away, but that didn't feel right. He approached the beaver and attempted to help her up.

"Are you okay?" Nick asked. "Do you want me to…"

"Don't touch me!" she suddenly shouted, standing up on her own.

"Mam, I'm not gonna hurt you, I just wanted-"

But she refused to listen. "I have had a very bad day, fox! I don't need you making it worse!"

And with that, she had quickly ran away, and Nick could have sworn she was crying.

It didn't surprise him that she had refused his help. After all, she had just ben attacked by a predator, and most prey animals tended to lump predators into one category anyway. He wondered why he had even tried to help in the first place. That wasn't like him.

But Nick just shrugged his shoulders and started heading back to his apartment. He wasn't gonna let this get to him. Being a fox, he was used to the prejudice. For over 20 years, his philosophy was that if the world is going to look at you and only see a shifty, untrustworthy fox, there was no point in trying to be anything else.

For most of his life, Nick had been exactly what society expected. A shifty con-fox. But every once and a while, he would try to be a good, kind mammal. And more often than not, it would backfire. Why was the world like that? Nick had been asking that question ever since he was eight years old…

Nick paused, then furiously shook his head. The last thing he needed was to start thinking about that memory.

But as he walked, he started thinking about what Finnick had said. He had a very good memory, so he was able to recall that there was a website called Z-Harmony where mammals could get together without knowing each other's species. This intrigued him for two reasons. One, Nick was 32, and he had a feeling that his time to settle down was running out. But also, talking to somebody who's unaware of your species meant no preconceived notions. Just real interaction.

Besides, it wasn't like he had anything to lose.

—

Author's Note: I'm so excited to see that people like this story. Judy and Nick meet in the next chapter, so stay tuned for that!

Also, if you see any typos, make sure to point them out but just don't be rude about it. It's the only way I'll learn.