(Sunday, April 10)

Finnick was laughing hard enough to make a hyena jealous.

Nick rolled his eyes. "It's not that funny!"

"Not that funny?" asked Finnick in between spurts of laughter. "Nick Wilde, you are dating a cop!"

Nick gave his friend a stern glare. "First of all, I barely know her. Second of all, this is serious, okay? And you know what? Maybe I wouldn't be in such a sticky situation if you hadn't told me to advertise myself as the poster boy for crime!"

Finnick stopped laughing. "Don't go blaming this on me! How was I supposed to know?"

Nick threw his arms up. "Well, now we're both totally screwed."

"You mean you're screwed," said Finnick. "Unless you told her that you were in cahoots with me. Which you didn't, did you?"

"No," grumbled Nick. "But I should have."

"So, how much did you actually tell her?" asked Finnick.

"Thankfully, not much," said Nick. "Just that I bend the rules every now and then. She asked if I had broken any laws, and I said no. Which is the truth."

"So you're in the clear," Finnick said. "You know what, we're gonna be late for the hustle."

Nick looked at his phone and nodded his head. "Okay, but not one word from inside that elephant costume, okay?"

Finnick shrugged. "It's gonna be harder than usual, man."

—

Judy wasn't sure how to feel about Nick.

She'd been mulling it over for most of the day, while she was supposed to be writing tickets. (She had gotten 124 so far, well below her usual amount.) By all indication, Nick seemed like a good guy. He was charming, polite, and had a good sense of humor, but he could be serious if the occasion called for it. Even when he had called himself a 'bad boy', Judy hadn't really thought anything of it. It just sounded like he was trying to make himself sound cool to impress her.

But when Judy had told him that she was a cop, his demeanor changed. Sure, he acted like everything was all right, but she could tell in his voice that he was extremely nervous. He also seemed to want to get out of the conversation as quickly as possible.

'It was probably just the alcohol,' Judy thought to herself. 'Yeah, he just got nervous when he found out he was talking to a cop while completely drunk.' That made sense.

She would talk to him tonight while he was sober and get the whole thing straightened out.

—

Nick had never been more on edge during a con.

The hustle itself was a relatively simple one. They were supposed to buy a large wooden train meant for elephant children, then chop it up into small pieces and sell it as lumber in Little Rodentia. But as Nick went into the store and pleaded to the owner, he kept imagining what would happen if Judy were to suddenly walk in on them. He didn't know her species, but he could imagine her voice.

"So this is the real you, Nick." the voice would say. " A shifty, criminal fox. I can't believe you almost tricked me into falling for you."

Fortunately, the hustle went according to plan, with no cop of any species turning up to give the two of them a bad time. And at the end of the day, they counted out their money and were about to go their separate ways, when Nick spoke up.

"What am I gonna do now?" he asked.

Finnick laughed. "Don't go asking me! I'm done with giving advice."

Nick thought for a moment before asking "If Sophia told you she was a cop, what would you do?"

"First of all, Sophia is not a cop," said Finnick. "Second, what you gotta do is real simple. Just don't talk to her anymore."

"I can't just ditch her," argued Nick.

"Why not?"

"She'll get suspicious."

"Who cares?" asked Finnick. "She knows nothing about you, there's no way she could track you down. And even if she did, you'd just tell her the same thing you tell all the cops. You haven't been breaking any laws."

"It's not just that…" Nick hesitated. "I… I'm just worried about how she's gonna feel if I just stop talking to her."

Finnick stared at his friend, stunned. "Nick, don't tell me you've grown to care for her after a whopping two conversations."

"Finnick…"

"No, you listen to me. If you really want to talk to her tonight, just tell her you can't be with a cop. Make up some sob story about how a cop killed your brother or something, I really don't care. But if you keep on chatting with her, everything you've been working towards for the past twenty years is all going to fall apart spectacularly. And I'll be there to say I told you so."

And on that note, Finnick climbed up into his van and drove away.

Nick stood there for a long time, lost in thought. The advice made sense to him. He should just end the relationship tonight. And yet, there was a part of him that didn't want to cut off all ties with Judy.

'Why is this so difficult?' Nick thought to himself. You've made up sob stories before. You've deceived hundreds of mammals, why should this be any different?'

But as he pondered, the answer hit him like a ton of bricks; Judy was different because when they had spoken together, Nick had been entirely honest with her. He couldn't remember lying to her once during either of their conversations. And not only had he been truthful to her, but Judy had accepted him for who he was, without knowing that he was a fox.

'That's just the way the site works,' thought Nick. "I'll just end it with her and meet someone else. Someone who isn't a cop.'

But he had a feeling it wouldn't be that easy.

—

Nick arrived at his apartment and took a deep breath. He sat down and opened up his laptop, silently wishing that there would be no notifications from Z-Harmony. Unfortunately, today was not his lucky day.

Z-Harmony

Judy has invited you to chat!

Such innocent words. But those words could mean the end of him if he wasn't careful.

After mulling it over for a minute in his head, Nick mustered up the courage and signed on to the site. Within the span of a few seconds, he and Judy were connected for their third official conversation.

For a moment, Nick didn't say anything. He tried to calm down his nerves. He had to appear calm and collected.

Judy spoke first. "…Nick, are you there?"

He took a deep breath. "Yeah. Sorry about the pause. Connection must be bad." He tapped the side of his laptop. "There, fixed."

His first real lie. At least Judy seemed to buy it.

"How are you feeling?" she asked. "You're not drunk again, are you?"

"No," said Nick, shaking a bit. "After last night, I may never drink again."

"That's good to hear," Judy said. "I mean, I hardly ever drink, so now that makes two of us."

Nick thought about that for a moment. "You know Judy, you're kind of hard to get a read on."

"What do you mean?"

"On the one paw, you go on a dating website because you're feeling lonely, and you're not a social drinker. But on the other paw, you're a cop who likes violent movies."

"I guess I'm complex," Judy said, shrugging. "By the way, why did you get so jittery last night when I told you I was a cop?"

Nick tried to ignore how fast his heart was beating. "Well, it just wasn't I was expecting."

"And the alcohol…"

"Yes, that may have had something to do with it," said Nick. He gave a sigh of relief that the alcohol had given him an excuse for what he said the previous night.

"Okay," said Judy. "And just to clarify, you don't actually have a criminal record, do you?"

"No."

Nick smiled in the knowledge that he was technically being honest. He had never actually been charged with a crime, thus, he did not have a criminal record.

"Good," said Judy.

But there was something that Nick was curious about. "You know, It's funny. I distinctly remember you saying that you had a boring job."

Judy hesitated. She wasn't looking forward to talking about her job, but she didn't really have much of a choice "See the thing about that is… I just started working for the ZPD a month ago. So I haven't been assigned to any real cases yet. Just paperwork and parking duty."

Now, Nick didn't really know a lot about how the police officer job worked. (He'd spent a good portion of the last 20 years avoiding cops, after all.) But even he had to admit, it sounded like Judy was getting the short end of the stick. "So, in other words, you're a meter maid."

Judy let out a very long sigh. "Yes, you could say that. But I have my badge. I earned that badge. I graduated valedictorian of my class, damn it!" She immediately put her paw over her mouth. "I'm sorry, I don't normally curse. It's just…"

"No, I get it." Nick said. "It's slow right now. I'm sure it'll pick up. A month from now, you'll be arresting all the murderers and drug lords you can shake a stick at."

Judy chuckled. "Thanks. I needed that."

The smile on Nick's face began to dim when he started thinking about what Finnick had said. He should probably try to end the relationship now, before things could get too out of hand.

But he wanted to ask her one more question.

"So… what was police academy like?"

"It was unbelievably difficult," said Judy. "Learning all the regulations was one thing, but I also had to put my body through H-E-double hockey sticks. I had to build up an insane amount of muscle. But in the end, I was able to beat a freaking rhino in a boxing match, as well as a cheetah in a foot race."

"Damn," said Nick. "And now you don't even get to use that muscle, huh?"

"Well, I try to stay fit by going to the jogging track before work. Unfortunately, that means waking up at 5:30 every day."

"5:30?!" Nick said, stunned. "Okay, you are seriously incredible. You know that right?"

"Thank you," said Judy. Then she paused, a coy smile on her face. "Unless you say that to every girl you meet."

"Don't try to make this a flirting thing," said Nick. "I've never met anyone like you, regardless of gender or species. Judy, you are just plain badass."

Judy was glad Nick couldn't see her blushing. "Well, you are just plain charming. And sweet. And overall, I'm really glad I've met you."

"Me, too," said Nick. He was smiling in spite of himself.

After a moment or two, Judy looked up at the time. "Ooh, it's getting kind of late."

"Should we call it a night?" asked Nick.

"I guess so," said Judy. So, I'll talk to you again tomorrow, then?"

"…Wait."

"What?"

Nick's palms were starting to sweat. He could just imagine Finnick standing next to him, saying "Do it. Do it now. Say you can't be with a cop."

"I just wanted to say good luck. With your job and everything."

"Aww, thanks," said Judy. "Okay, good night."

"Good night."

Judy signed off. Nick looked up at the sky, pleading for a God that probably wasn't listening.

The fact was, Judy was amazing. She was strong and confident, but she was also funny and had a great outlook on life. She was everything that Nick could want in a girlfriend, or even a friend in general. But she was also a cop. And if he wasn't careful in his conversations with her, she could cause him a lot more trouble than your typical angry ex.

But for the time being, he liked talking to her. And he knew that she liked him. So, he couldn't end things now. He couldn't break her heart.

And even if he did, she would probably track him down and break his arm.

—

Author's Note: I'm pretty sure this is the longest chapter yet.

First off, I hope that everyone who celebrates Thanksgiving had a great time yesterday. Second, I whipped up a new cover image for the story using Photoshop. I hope you like it. And third, I am so pumped up about the love that this story is getting. I mean, we're almost at 100 follows! Thank you so much. I'll keep the chapters coming.