Judy arrived back at the precinct before Nick did. She parked the cruiser back in Officer Swinton's spot and got out.

Maybe I need to ask about trading with her permanently. That was a pretty comfortable seat, Judy thought.

She looked down at her uniform, which was still noticeably dirty from her confrontation with the raccoon earlier. She did her best to dust it off and to straighten her collar. Judy did not normally wear her dress blues on duty, but she had needed to look her best for her presentation earlier in the day. Now, her neck was starting to itch and Judy had to resist the urge of wanting to rip her tie off.

Judy walked inside the main station. Technically, she was now off-duty, but she had to wait for Nick to get back, so she headed to her office cubicle to get some paperwork done. After a while, she grew bored, so she meandered around, microwaving some carrots for a snack, chatting with Officer Higgins about his weekend plans, and eventually making it to the lobby. Behind the reception desk was a rather… rotund cheetah eying a doughnut intensely. Just as he was about to bite into it, Judy called out to him.

"Clawhauser!"

Clawhauser's gaze shot over to her direction. "Hiya, li'l bunny!" he called back cheerfully. "It sounds like you had an eventful day!"

Judy skipped up to the front of the desk and looked up at Clawhauser.

"Those kids kept me busy all day! It was great! There seemed to be a ton of interest in police work." Judy fidgeted with her tie, working it loose. "You may have some visitors here very soon."

"Oooh, I can't wait!" Clawhauser replied while licking the crumbs around his mouth from the doughnut he had just inhaled. "And you also stopped an escaping suspect!"

Judy quickly raised a finger to her lips and tilted an ear in the general direction of Chief Bogo's office. "Shhhh! I showed up after Nick had already arrested him, remember?"

Clawhaused stared at her quizzically for a moment, then mouthed an exaggerated "Oh!" and leaned closer to Judy.

"Of course! I forgot," he whispered.

"Hopps!"

Both Judy and Clawhauser jumped at the sound of the deep voice coming from their right. Chief Bogo glared down at them from the balcony above, having seemingly materialized out of nowhere.

"Hey Chief Bogo!" Clawhauser was his usual jovial self around everyone, the chief included.

Chief Bogo ignored him and instead focused his attention on Judy. "My office. Now." He paused for a moment and then asked "where's Wilde?"

"Here, sir. At your service."

Judy turned toward where his voice had come from and saw Nick strolling toward them, one hand in his pocket.

"Good. You can join Officer Hopps in my office." Chief Bogo turned and disappeared from view as quickly as he came.

"After you," Nick said to Judy when he reached the front desk.

"I think he'll be more interested in talking to you," Judy replied and made a shooing motion toward Chief Bogo's office. Nick grinned and strolled forward.

"I hope not."

"See ya," Judy waved goodbye to Clawhauser and followed Nick up the stairs.

Chief Bogo's office was almost completely dark, with the only light source coming from the blinking notification light of the intercom on his desk. Judy contemplated leaving the door partly open for a second, but decided against it. Chief Bogo stared at them intensely from behind his desk, his face periodically basked in red, as Nick climbed onto the only seat available in the room, one that was designed for mammals much larger than himself, and then scooted over to make some room for Judy, who gladly jumped up beside him. They sat there for a moment and Judy could feel the buffalo's disapproval as he noticed the tie hanging loosely around her neck. He then glanced over at Nick's tie, which was seemingly always worn loose. Chief Bogo was obviously contemplating some kind of comment, but, in the end, said nothing.

"Say, Chief, what brings us all to your office on this beautiful day?" Nick asked after a moment of uncomfortable silence.

"I heard that you two were involved in a chase today," Chief Bogo responded in a surprisingly measured and soothing tone.

"Well, sir, that's not exactly correct,' Judy chimed in, hurriedly. "You see, I showed up after the chase was over."

Hopefully this works, Judy thought as she glanced over to Nick, who briefly flashed a sly smile in her direction.

"Is that so?" Chief Bogo responded, and Judy could tell that he was mulling her statement over. "Wilde," he said finally, turning his gaze to Nick. "It sounds like you're the one I need to talk to. Where are our suspects now?"

"Being booked right now, sir. Officer Fangmeyer volunteered to take care of it. We will begin interrogating them tomorrow."

"So everything is in order, then?"

"Yes. Is a congratulations in order, sir?" Nick said, raising an eyebrow.

"I suppose so." Chief Bogo leaned back in his chair. "It seems that you successfully stopped a very dangerous situation before it could get out of hand. No one got hurt. Yes, everything is order."

Yes! Judy was pleasantly surprised by Chief Bogo's reaction. With luck, he wouldn't bother inquiring about what Nick was doing earlier in the day.

"Except for this!"

Judy jumped as Chief Bogo slammed an envelope-sized piece of paper on the desk in front of them. Judy leaned in to get a closer look. It was a photo. On it was the side view of a fairly junky looking car. Next to the car stood a weasel with his arms crossed and an agitated expression on his face. Judy's eyes gravitated to the front bumper of the car. Part of it was broken off and hung down, almost scrapping the ground. Judy winced.

Oh no.

"Explain yourself!" Chief Bogo rumbled.

She again looked to Nick. He was still eying the photo. Eventually, he sat up straight and looked Chief Bogo directly in the eyes.

"Sir, I made a calculated decision. The suspect was escaping. I needed to stop him as soon as possible, for the safety of everyone in the area. This car was preventing me from giving chase," he said, gesturing at the photo. "As you said, the situation could have turned so much worse if I didn't… do what I did."

Judy's eyes darted back to the chief, trying to gauge his reaction. He had his fist pressed hard on the desk and his eyes were wide and his heavy breathing communicated how incensed he was. After a moment, he let out a grunt and his expression softened.

"Duly noted." Chief Bogo sat back in his seat once more and let out a sigh. All of a sudden, he seemed more tired than Judy had ever seen him. "I'll get this cleaned up for you. You're dismissed. You too, Hopps."

Judy couldn't help but smile. The chief could be intimidating, but he had a softer side and was generally understanding when it came to any problems his officers had.

"Thank you, sir." Nick said as he jumped down from the chair. Chief Bogo had already picked up a case file and was paying them no mind.

Judy was the first to head out the door. Once she was out in the hallway, she turned back around to face Nick, and gave him a little approving nod. He mouthed "that was close" back to her and reached up for the handle to close the chief's door. Just then, Chief Bogo's voice bellowed back out at them.

"One more thing, Wilde!"

Judy tensed up and Nick turned to face the chief once more.

"Y-yes, sir?"

"Were there really no traffic violations on Herd Street today?"

"Believe it or not sir. Everyone was on their best behavior today. Not much I could do about it," Nick replied, his voice brimming with confidence.

For just a brief second, Judy worried that Chief Bogo was going to call Nick out for not doing his job, but he instead replied with a half-hearted "alright." Nick closed the door and tip-toed away. Perhaps she imagined it, but Judy thought she heard a laugh come from inside the office.

Nick and Judy hurried down the hall to the safety of the officer's lounge. Judy couldn't contain it any longer and let out a laugh of her own.

"Congratulations, Nick. You got away with sleeping on the job," she said, still giggling.

"Hey, now. It's not like I meant to. I think this might all be your fault." Nick scratched his chin, pretending to be in deep thought.

"My fault that you fell asleep?" Judy paused. "You know what? It is my fault," she said with another laugh. Judy suddenly grew more serious. "I'm sorry for making you work so hard," she said with all the sincerity in the world.

Nick rubbed the back of his head. Judy couldn't tell if her apology made him uneasy or not. "No need to apologize, Carrots. It needed to get done and you were busy today."

"It's not done yet," Judy replied, taking Nick's paw in her own. "If we hurry, we can finish everything at a reasonable hour tonight."

Without protest, Nick allowed Judy to lead the way out of the station and to the parking lot.

Judy pulled the cruiser up in front of the apartment building and shut off the engine. It was already dark outside but the parking lot they were in was brightly lit by a flood light. The building itself was short compared to other apartment complexes in the downtown area, having only six stories, and appeared to be fairly new. Each window had bright red brick trim around it, and the whole place seemed somewhat upscale. In the parking space adjacent to them sat Ewehaul truck.

"Home sweet home," Nick said, as he unbuckled his seatbelt.

They both got out of the cruiser and walked over to the Ewehaul. Nick opened up the back, revealing moving boxes stacked to the ceiling.

"Wow, Nick! You managed to do all this?" Judy was taken aback by just how much stuff was in there.

"You helped a little bit, Carrots," Nick replied teasingly.

Judy thought back to the previous day. She had started packing as soon as she had gotten home, but she had gotten a late start and it took a lot longer to get everything packaged than she had anticipated. Eventually, she had to accept Nick's offer to help, even though she hadn't wanted to bother him.

"How much stuff can you possibly have in that apartment of yours?" Nick had asked over the phone.

"More than I thought!" Judy stared at the pile of a dozen or so boxes that were probably to too heavy for her to carry down the stairs by herself. "I had my mattress to take care of. I needed to pack my bean bag chair. And I couldn't forget Rowdy!"

"Wait, you still have that thing?" Nick was referring to the giant plush bunny dressed in cowboy garb that Judy had won at the amusement park. Nick pulled no punches when he said that it had the creepiest smile he had ever seen plastered on its face. Judy thought it was adorable.

"We definitely won't have time to get it all in the morning," Judy said, ignoring Nick's question.

"You're sure that you have to be move out by tomorrow?" Nick asked.

"Absolutely. I'm shocked that I haven't gone hoarse from arguing with the management here." Judy glanced at her phone screen to check the time. 11:30. "It's getting late. Are you sure you want to come over? Do you have everything packed?"

Nick chortled. "Of course. Did you think I would procrastinate on this?" Judy later found out that he had indeed done just that.

Nick arrived at Judy's apartment a little after midnight. Despite her protests, he had insisted on taking care of everything himself, saying that Judy needed her sleep for the day ahead. She couldn't quite remember when she had fallen asleep, but she woke up that morning to a completely empty apartment. It even looked like the floor had been swept.

Judy looked over at Nick now. He still appeared really tired and Judy could tell that he was still slightly uneasy about the whole idea of moving. Impulsively, Judy jumped up and wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him into an embrace.

"Thank you so much for doing this!" she exclaimed, and watched as Nick hesitated for a moment before his features settled into a small smile.

"Don't thank me yet. All of this…" He motioned to the contents of the Ewehaul. "Needs to get up there." He pointed to the fourth floor of the building.

"Do you have the key?" Judy asked. She knew that Nick had driven the Ewehaul here in the morning on his way to work and had checked them in. Nick dug into his pocket and produced two identical keys. Judy reached to grab one, but he closed his paw before she could.

"Make sure that you don't lose this. I know that you have a hard time with that."

"Are you mocking me?" Judy pulled away and elbowed Nick playfully.

"I just know that once is a mistake, twice is two mistakes, and three times means you have a problem keeping track of keys." Nick tossed Judy the key and she grabbed it out of the air. "I don't want to have to bail you out again."

Judy turned away from Nick and started hopping toward the apartment building.

"Hey, Carrots, where are you going?"

"I'm going to go see what it looks like!" she called out over her shoulder. Behind her, Nick shrugged and started after her.

Judy reached the fourth floor and then stopped, realizing that she had forgotten the apartment number. She looked back down the stairwell and called down to Nick.

"Nick! What's the number again?"

"Four twenty six! Four-two-six!" he called back up to her, as he methodically worked his way up the stairs.

Judy skipped down the hall and skidded to a halt in front of the desired door. She fumbled with the key for a moment before the lock finally turned. She swung the door open and beheld the sight before her. Nick finally made it up the stairs and walked over to her.

"So what do you think?" He asked, sounding genuinely curious.

Judy paused for a moment before exclaiming "I love it!"

She danced around the apartment, inspecting everything. A full kitchen? Check. It'll be nice to eat something not out of microwave for once. A couch? With a coffee table? Check and check. That will be more comfortable than a wooden chair. A bathroom? With a vessel sink? And a full shower? Check, check, and check. Anything is better than… Judy shuddered at the thought of the bathrooms at her old place. Never mind. She spun back to Nick who was still waiting in the doorway.

"It's even more perfect than I had imagined!"

Nick and Judy had spent the preceding couple of months shopping around for apartments, with none of the options standing out. They were always either too small, too far away from the precinct, or too expensive. Then one day, Judy just happened to drive by a billboard in the process of being taken down. The words on it had been stuck in her mind: New plots available in Chestnut Farms! Judy brought it up to Nick the next morning.

"Something about it made it sound like home," she had said.

"Chestnut Farms, not Carrot Farms, Carrots. Besides, there's a reason they were taking the sign down."

It was a good thing that Judy decided to call anyway. The next thing she knew, she was signing paperwork for the last available unit at the Chestnut Farms apartment complex.

Still, she hadn't seen the interior of their actual apartment until now. A big wave of relief rushed over Judy. Deep down, she had been very nervous about this whole move as well. It was a huge change for both her and Nick and she didn't know exactly how to feel. Standing in the living room right then and there, her nerves were eased somewhat. It felt right. It felt like home.

"Come on," Nick said to her. "Let's get everything moved in. I need my beauty sleep, you know."

"Hey Nick." Judy had turned away from him and was looking at the two doors toward the back that she hadn't gone into yet. "What bedroom do you want?"

"Do I want?" Nick replied, raising one eyebrow.

"For the both of us, of course," Judy replied lively.

"Well, we'll have to figure that out later," Nick said as he walked out the door. Judy shrugged and followed out after him.

For the next hour or so, Nick and Judy moved the boxes from the truck into the apartment. Up the stairs. Down the stairs. Up the stairs again. Eventually, Judy set the last box down and fell back onto the couch in exhaustion. Nick came over and sat down beside her, resting his arm on the back of the couch. Everything was quiet for a moment.

The silence was interrupted by the sound of hooves coming down the hall. Soon, a llama poked his head in the doorway and looked around.

"Howdy. I saw y'all were moving in. Do you need any help?"

Judy involuntarily groaned. Nick flashed her a look and then hollered back "I think we're all good here, neighbor."

"Alrighty. I'll be seeing you." The llama disappeared from sight and Nick turned to Judy.

"Are you tired, Carrots?" He said soothingly.

Judy closed her eyes and nodded. "Mmmm-hmmm."

"You know that we still have to unpack everything, right?" Nick whispered.

Judy groaned again. He's right, but it's just not going to happen right now. Judy curled up into a ball on the couch and in the blink of an eye leaned her head on Nick's shoulder. She felt Nick tense up for a second, but then he relaxed. Judy felt his arm wrap around her and she wiggled in closer. Judy felt warm in Nick's embrace and she could feel him breathing in and out. It was getting harder and harder to fight the urge to sleep.

"It's alright. I'll get you up in the morning." Judy heard Nick's voice, but it sounded distant. She thought she muttered something in reply, but perhaps not. She felt Nick shift into a more comfortable position on the couch. For the first time in days Judy was able to relax. After all the stress she had been through, she wished that this moment would last forever, but her own tired body had other plans. Everything turned out alright, Judy thought as sleep overtook her.

The snow outside was falling harder now, to the point where the cars parked outside the window could no longer be seen, hidden behind a blanket of white. Crevan cocked an ear, listening to the wind whistle outside. Just another night in Tundratown.

"Do you need anything else, sir?" The bartender, a grey wolf, turned to address the arctic fox while simultaneously cleaning the glassware in front of him.

"I think this will be it for tonight, Lou," Crevan replied before falling silent again, seemingly lost in thought. The bar was completely empty besides the two of them, and, outside of the occasional clink of a glass as Lou set it down, the only sound came from the wind outside. Even when the monotony was suddenly broken by the sound of the door to the bar opening, Crevan gave no indication that he even noticed. A dingo hurried inside, kicking snow off his paws as he went. In his hand was a much smaller, mouselike mammal, a dunnart, that he proceeded to set on the ground. The bartender did not acknowledge them as they trudged up to counter. It was obvious that they were not there for drinks.

The pair stopped when they were directly behind Crevan. It was the dingo that spoke first.

"The boss has a request of you," he said bluntly.

Crevan appeared to ignore him, taking another sip from the glass in front of him, before setting it down carefully. Finally, he spoke.

"Well? I'm waiting." He did not turn to address them; rather, he stared intensely at what little remained of his drink.

"He says to go through with the plan." The dingo was seemingly unaffected by the curt response he had just received. He carried himself with assurance. The dunnart appeared to be the opposite, as he was looking around nervously. He jumped when Crevan let out an exaggerated sigh.

"Why?" Crevan muttered to himself, as he finally turned around on his stool to to face the two mammals behind him.

"What prompted this, Devan?"Crevan said, directly addressing the dingo.

Devan cocked his head to the side and stared at Crevan quizzically. "Have you not heard what happened to the Cooper brothers?'

Crevan matched Devan's stare with an intense one of his own. "No," he said bluntly.

The dingo was clearly taken aback. He shot the dunnart a look. His previous confidence was gone; his face now wore an expression of uncertainty and perhaps a tinge of fear. It was clear that he was carefully mulling over his next words.

"They were… uh… picked up by the ZPD tonight." Devan's gaze dropped, anticipating a storm that never came his way. Instead, Crevan chuckled.

"They won't get anything out of those two. There's nothing to worry about!" Crevan's face broke into a wide, jagged smile. If he was trying to make Devan feel better about the situation, it had the opposite effect.

"The boss insists on this. We need to know what they know." Devan had worked his gaze back up to meet Crevan's, and he added some force into his voice. "I insist on this."

They stared intensely at each other for more than a few uncomfortable seconds. At long last, Crevan relented, turning back around to face the bar again. Behind him, Devan audibly let out a sigh of relief.

"You have something for me, don't you?" Crevan said, holding one paw up behind him in anticipation of receiving something.

Devan wordlessly handed him a manila folder. Crevan took it and immediately began flipping through the contents. Inside were profiles of various ZPD police officers. Their headshot photos jumped out at Crevan as he flipped through. It seemed as if they were all he was looking at, despite the paragraphs of information that lay under them. Suddenly, Crevan froze, his eyes locked on the profile picture of a certain red fox. So that's what you've been up to. Crevan threw his head back and let out a howling laugh, causing everyone in the bar to instinctively jump. Suddenly, Crevan stood up and turned to face them once more.

"Alright. I've found my guy." Crevan turned to the dunnart, acknowledging his presence for the first time. "Is this your guy?"

Devan answered the question, stepping in to help the dunnart who was squirming under Craven's critical gaze. "This is Maxwell Dunn, our resident tech expert." He paused. "He does good work."

"That so?" Crevan's eyes were still burning holes through the diminutive mammal. "Where are you from, Maxwell?"

"O-Outback Island, sir!" Maxwell piped up finally, his voice shaking almost as badly as his legs.

Crevan walked past him without acknowledging his previous statement and headed for the door. He stopped right as he a cracked the door open. "This is the best he can send me…" Crevan muttered under his breath. The sound of the howling wind outside filled the bar and snow began to filter in.

"Be ready, Maxwell." Crevan lowered his voice and was barely audible above the wind.

And with that, he disappeared into night, leaving behind a confused dingo and a very worried dunnart.

Judy's eyes opened slowly and it took them a moment to adjust. She was still on the couch, but there was a blanket over her now and a certain fox was nowhere to be seen. Judy sat up. Sunlight was streaming in through the windows and everything was still in the same position that they had left it in last night. Wait! It's morning! Internally, Judy panicked a little as she remembered that she hadn't set an alarm. Nick was supposed to get me up! What time is it? Judy fumbled for her phone. It wasn't in her pocket. She glanced around and finally located the phone on the floor beside her – it must have fallen out during the night – and checked the time. 7:16. Alright, I'm fine on time, if I hurry. Judy and Nick's shift didn't begin until eight, but, as always, they needed to make sure they got there a little early, lest they risk being reprimanded by Chief Bogo. Speaking of Nick, were is he?

Just then, the front door swung open with a creak, causing Judy to sit straight up. Nick stood in the doorway, fumbling with the key in the door lock, and gripping a brown paper bag in his mouth. He looked over to Judy and, upon noticing that she was awake, quickly grabbed the bag with his paw.

"What's that?" Judy asked as she got up off the couch.

"I figured you would need something for breakfast, Carrots. Or did you not think that far ahead?" he replied.

Judy paused. She really hadn't given it that much thought. She looked at the bag as Nick came over to her.

"Yak in the Box? Classy."

Nick shrugged. "Beggars can't be choosers." He set the food down on the table, produced a couple stacks of pancakes, and then came to sit down beside Judy. For the first time, she noticed that he was a plain t-shirt and shorts. He must have changed sometime last night. Wait a second… Judy looked down at what she was wearing.

"Did I really sleep in my uniform?"

"Yep. It would appear so," Nick replied, brushing Judy's shoulder mockingly. "Now it's all wrinkled."

"It's alright. I probably won't wear this again for a while anyway," Judy said as she inspected her uniform.

"Aw, I think it looks nice." The cooing nature of Nick's words surprised her.

"You're sweet." Judy turned way, half embarrassed, half flattered. "But there's no way you can force me to wear this tie again today."

Nick threw his hands up, indicating that there was no way he would even try. Judy took one bite of pancake, then another. It was better than she had anticipated. Judy glanced over and saw that Nick was checking his phone, presumably for the time.

"I'm going, I'm going!" Judy exclaimed quickly, in between bites.

Deep down, she knew that today was going to be an eventful day for the both of them. There were two particular raccoons that she was interested in hearing from.