(Monday, April 11)

It was the middle of the day, and Judy was on her lunch break. She had been munching on some store-bought carrot sticks, (that weren't quite as good as the ones back home) when Clawhauser had come in and sat down opposite her. And of course, he wanted to hear about Judy's new kind-of-boyfriend.

"So, what's his job?" he asked.

"He's a salesman," said Judy. "He was kinda vague on the details, though."

"Do you know anything else about him?: asked Clawhauser.

"Just that he doesn't have a criminal record."

"Thats always a plus!" said Clawhauser. "But you should probably find out more. Ask him about his hobbies or something."

Judy looked thoughtful. "I'll keep that in mind." At that moment, the bell rang. Both mammals sighed.

"Back to work," said Clawhauser.

"More like paperwork," said Judy, angrily. "Which is like work except it's not real work because it's all on stupid paper!"

"You should really talk to the chief," Clawhauser said. "He can't keep you with the basic stuff for too much longer, right?"

Judy sighed. "I talked to him a while ago, and he didn't seem too angry. But I don't want to risk it."

"Maybe I'll ask for you?"

Judy's ears drooped. "I don't want you to get in trouble."

But Clawhauser shrugged. "The chief and I have known each other for a long time. He might listen to me."

"Okay," said Judy. "If you're sure."

Then she started heading back to her desk.

—

"Here's your cut," Nick softly said, while handing over Finnick's share of their earnings. Finnick gave a quizzical eyebrow when he accepted the money.

"Is something wrong?" asked Finnick, "You've been acting kinda quiet today."

"I don't know… I guess I've been doing a lot of thinking."

"It's about that girl, isn't it?"

Nick turned to face his friend. "How do you know?"

"With guys like us, it's always about a girl," He let out a slight laugh before turning to Nick and saying, "You ended things with her last night, didn't you?"

Nick paused before quickly saying, "Yes, of course I did."

"You did the right thing," Finnick said. "Look, I know you feel bad about Jodie…"

"Judy."

"Whatever, man," said Finnick. "The point is, it's over. You're not dating a cop anymore. And in a few years, this'll be one of those stories we laugh about."

Nick mumbled, "You're gonna laugh abut it today, aren't you?"

Finnick chuckled. "You know me so well, man. Anyway, ciao for now!"

And with that, he climbed into his truck.

—

Judy was in a bit if a grumpy mood when she got to her apartment. She hadn't heard back from either Clawhauser or Bogo, and she was paranoid about what might happen at work the next day.

Hopefully, talking to Nick would help her end the day on a brighter note.

She went onto her laptop and logged onto Z-Harmony. Subconsciously, she wondered why she always had to be the one to invite Nick over to chat. But she shrugged and invited him anyway. She could think about that some other time.

Nick spoke first. "Hey, Judy."

"Hey, Nick. It's good to hear your voice again."

"Really?" Nick asked with a bit of a smirk. "It's not every day that a girl tells me she loves my voice."

"Oh, har har," she said, with very little enthusiasm.

"You sound kinda tired," said Nick. "You feeling all right?

"It's just my job," Judy said with a sigh. "I've wanted to be a police officer ever since I was a kid, and now it's happened and I just spent all of today filing out paperwork."

"Not exactly living the dream."

"Not even close," said Judy. Then she forced herself to perk up a bit. "But enough about me. I'd like to know more about you."

Nick could feel the fur on his back standing up on end. "There's really not that much to say."

"Well yesterday, we talked about me a lot," Judy said. "I think it's only fair that we talk about you tonight."

Nick's eyes darted around as he tried thinking of a good topic. "Uh, I can tell you that I've lived in Zootopia all my life."

"Really," Judy said, interested. "I just moved here and I'm still not 100% used to it."

Nick's ears perked up. "So you're a small town girl who moved to the big city to become a cop?"

Judy shrugged. "Pretty much."

"Maybe the reason you haven't been assigned to any cases is because you don't know the city well enough."

"That might be a factor," Judy said, wondering why the thought had never occurred to her before. "My next day off is this Sunday, I should look into…" She paused. "We're getting off topic. It's so typical of me to talk about myself."

"Well, I can't imagine my life story is as exciting as yours," said Nick.

"Come on," said Judy, eagerly. "Tell me something about yourself. Anything."

"Well, uh…" Nick hesitated before saying, "I didn't have a lot of money growing up."

"Oh no, I'm sorry." Judy's ears drooped before she started to feel slightly curious. "How did you live? What was your family like?"

Nick was getting uncomfortable with all these questions. "I really don't wanna talk about my family right now," he said.

"Why not?"

Nick took a deep breath. "Judy, if there's one thing thats abundantly clear to me, its that you're an extrovert and I'm an introvert. You like talking about yourself, and I don't."

"Well," said Judy. "I don't want this relationship to feel one-sided."

"I understand that, it's just…" Nick sighed, trying to find the right words. "I don't really talk about my personal life. I'm not used to it."

"Okay," Judy said. "I can respect that. But if you ever want to talk, I'm all ears."

Judy found herself gesturing to her ears on instinct, then she chuckled.

"What's so funny?" asked Nick.

"Nothing, nothing." Then, she had a thought. "But let me ask you this… why did you sign up for Z-Harmony?"

Nick paused. The question was reasonable enough. After a few moments, he said, "Well, I guess it was for two reasons. One, because I'm 32 and I've never been in a serious relationship. I'm a bit of a late bloomer in that regard."

"And two?" Judy inquired.

Nick thought for a moment. "The thing that a lot of mammals don't realize is that no matter what your species is, you're going to be judged for it. You're gonna be judged for being a predator or a prey mammal, for being too big or too small, for being associated with one negative stereotype or another…" He took a deep breath. "I guess I signed on because I was tired of being judged."

Judy found herself thinking back to various moments throughout her life, every time someone had told her that she couldn't be a cop because she was a bunny, plain and simple. There had been nights when she had found herself wishing she could be something else.

"I know what that feels like," she said, lost in thought.

"When you're on this site, you don't have to be judged. It feels nice, doesn't it?" Nick said, smiling.

"Yeah", Judy said with a sigh. "But sooner or later we're gonna have to tell each other what kind of mammal we are. When is the right time for that?"

"There are no rules," said Nick. "Heck, we could tell each other right now if we wanted to."

"…I don't think I'm ready for that," Judy said.

"Me neither," Nick said, grateful that she hadn't taken the opportunity to admit her species. He hadn't really meant it.

After a moment, Nick looked at the time. "Wow, it's getting late."

"All right," Judy said. "That's a good place to end for tonight."

"Uh, so I'll talk to you tomorrow?" Nick asked.

"Definitely." Judy said, Okay, bye."

"Bye."

As Nick signed off, Judy found herself thinking about him. He had been very vague about his past, but it was clear that he had not lead an easy life. She briefly wondered what his species was, before shaking her head furiously. That didn't matter now.

What mattered was that Nick needed someone.

And Judy intended to be that someone.

—

Author's Note: I'm so grateful for all the support this story has gotten. As I'm writing this, we have 64 comments, 69 favorites, and 131 follows. But as exciting as those numbers can be, it also makes me really nervous about disappointing you guys.

I've read a number of comments that say, "You should have them meet like this." While I appreciate these comments, I want you to know that i already have the rest of the story planned out. Also, for the record, the NightHowler conspiracy will not play any part in the events of this story.

Thanks for all your support. I'm sorry this chapter is a little short. I'll try to make up for it with the next one!