I just want to give everyone who's been reading this story a big thanks, and a double thanks to those who have left any amount of reviews. I think I finally know exactly what to do with this story, but it's going to end up a long one, and multiple parts – so if you're interested, buckle down! This should end up being a crazy ride by the end.

I've also finally decided on my formatting – there's been inconsistencies, but I think I have this down now.

Disney owns basically everything about Zootopia, save the custom characters.

~ óÓÒò ~

Judy groaned as she flung herself onto her bed, the creak it emitted making her wince. She sat up with anticipation, rolling her eyes as she heard her neighbors stir.

"Hey, the meter maid's back!" a voice sounded from the other side of her wall.

Bucky.

"She's not a meter maid anymore, idiot! She's a cop!" came another voice.

And Pronk.

With a grunt, the uniformed bunny shoved herself from her bed and grabbed a change of clothes, making sure the door was shut and locked before changing, doing her best to block out the sound of her neighbors arguing. She glanced at the clock – 10:12 PM.

"Don't those two ever sleep?" she muttered, wincing as one of their loud voices broke into her mind. "Only sometimes!"

Judy shook her head. "I need to get out of here," she whispered to herself.

"But you just got back!" Pronk yelled.

Judy grabbed her keys and bag, immediately heading back out the door. At first, the Grand Pangolin Arms had a certain level of charm when Judy had arrived in Zootopia little over a year ago.

"Greasy walls... Rickety bed... Crazy neighbors... I love it!" she had exclaimed.

She wanted to go back and kick herself for not moving out when she could.

After a time, the paper-thin walls, lack of basic facilities, and ugly interior of her glorified closet had begun to get to the little rabbit. She had no bathroom or sink of her own, instead having to use a community shower across the street – which was far from clean most times – or at the Precinct, which she preferred. As for food, her apartment had little room for anything but a simple microwave and mini-fridge. Should she desire anything beyond a bowl of cereal or TV dinner, she had to use the apartment's open kitchen on the base floor of the building; this, however, was in a similar state to the restrooms. A lack of dishes – clean ones, at least – as well as cooking supplies made it relatively useless. Most of the residents in the building bought their own small kitchen appliances instead.

And the result of this lack of amenities was a once-energetic police officer bunny who now found it difficult to get a decent night's sleep and a real meal.

Initially, the conditions shouldn't have been too different from life back at home – mom, dad, and nearly 300 siblings, of which Judy was among the oldest.

But living life alone and having to entirely care for herself after watching over the city was simply too exhausting for her at times.

Judy blinked her amethyst eyes open as the cold night breeze hit her face. In her thoughts of how things here had changed, she hadn't realized her own feet carrying her down the stairs and out the front doors. She looked left and right, shivering slightly before looking down at her outfit – black running pants with a sky blue T-shirt, the bottom portion of it and her sleeves being a lavender color. Her homemade bag was slung over her shoulder, the paw-stitched eyes and smile looking up at her with joy.

Upon further examination, one could see the fabric becoming faded and the stitching slowly undoing itself, a corner of the smile almost coming loose, and an eyes having string flowing in the wind. It had been through quite a bit with her, she realized.

Judy looked up again, noticing that her surroundings had again shifted. She was no longer outside her apartment, but now headed for the train station.

Where am I even going? She thought to herself, shaking her head when nothing came to her. She'd have to find out on her own.

~ óÓÒò ~

Little over a half an hour and two train rides later, and Judy stared up at a different apartment building, the originally vibrant sign being at too odd an angle to read. Every other time Judy had been here, it had been during the day, meaning the lights were shut off. This had kept the sign from catching her eye to read it, making her mentally kick herself later and take note to check next time.

She always forgot.

What she never forgot, however, was the route to get here. After all, it was where her partner lived.

Judy bounded up the steps and pushed into the lobby, nodding at the pretty looking skunk behind the desk. She smiled back.

"Can I help you, dear?" she asked the rabbit, smiling softly as her ears raised a bit.

"I'm here to see Nicholas Wilde," she replied, giving a smile.

The skunk laughed, leaning back in her chair enough for Judy to catch her name – Katy.

"It's a little late for visiting, don't you think? Unless you're planning on spending the night with him?" she asked, a mischievous yet friendly glint in her eyes. "He's had lookers for some time now, never thought one would hook him though." she added.

"What do you mea- O-oh," Judy started, feeling her cheeks heat up. "N-No, it's not like that!" she stuttered, ears falling a bit in embarrassment. "H-He and I work together, a-and he forgot something at-" Judy began to lie – she didn't want anyone to think she and Nick had anything going on between the two.

She was interrupted with another laugh.

"I'm only yanking on your leg, you know. Just hope it isn't the lucky one." she chuckled. "He's up on the fourth floor, room-"

"I know, A113," Judy interrupted. She frowned and felt her cheeks burn more once she saw Katy smirk, realizing she'd just added fuel to her small fire. "You two have fun," she snickered, waving off the bunny as she turned her attention to some papers on her desk.

Judy only gave a nervous chuckle as she went over to the elevator, hitting the button for the fourth floor. The ascent was in quiet, save the ambient music that barely covered the groaning machine pulling her upwards. It's almost like a hotel, she thought with a small smile, ears perking as the elevator let out a ding and the doors slid open.

Judy wandered along the hall, looking at the doors as she went, occasionally casting the cream colored carpeting a glance, coming to a stop outside Nick's door. She looked down at her silver phone, wincing at the time: 11:03. Would Nick even be awake at this hour?

Judy bit her lip, internally debating with herself on if she wanted to knock or not. She stood in silence before raising up her right paw and rapped against the door, before letting the hallway go quiet again.

Wait, why am I even here? She thought, looking up in surprise. It hadn't even occurred to her why she had come here. Then again, there weren't many other places she could've gone to at this time of night. Most restaurants, aside from fast food places and some of questionable repute had closed hours ago, as had every shop in the city.

At the same time, however, Nick was likely to be fast asleep by now. Their day had been a long and dull one, save the final hour or so with the robbery. The duo would look into that further the next day, but as it was they had been late leaving the Precinct. Chief Bogo would likely have a talk with the two before their interrogation of the wolf suspect, found to be a Dylan Crawford. The backpack they had found with him had been filled with the money stolen from Alex Hunt, but there was no sign of the "moldy onions" that Ron had mentioned. Judy brushed this off as just seeing things, though she couldn't help but let her memories drift back to when Chief Bogo had called Night Howler seeds as that same thing after she had caught Duke Weaselton stealing two dozen of them.

She looked up, ears raising as the door before her made a sound, like a bolt being moved. A moment later, a pair of tired green eyes looked out from beyond a red muzzle, the door cracked open slightly. "You're here awfully late, Fluff..." Nick said, his voice dripping with drowsiness. "What's up?" he asked.

A brief glance told Judy she had probably just woken him – unkempt fur, a white tank top, shorts. His eyes were dull compared to their usual bright emerald, and his tail hung low, much like his ears. He was doing the same to her, a tiny flicker of curiosity showing in his eyes as he waited for a response.

Judy just stared at him dumbly. She hadn't figured that out yet – her train of thought was going all over the place. "Hello, earth to Carrots?" Nick spoke up, making her shake her head and try giving an explanation. "S-Sorry! I... Don't really know why I'm here, honestly... Or why I'm here so late... Or-" She paused as Nick held up a paw.

"Carrots, it's fine. You know you can come by whenever." He opened the door more, as though to invite her in, as he began to walk towards his kitchen. Judy slowly walked in after him, shutting the door quietly.

Compared to where she lived, Nick's apartment a castle. The living room was spacious for the smaller mammals like him, easily able to fit a large sofa, TV, a massive recliner, and a few other random objects, including several various plants. This wasn't enough to keep the room from feeling slightly empty, however, as it was initially designed for someone more of a wolf or tiger's size. To the right of it was a well furnished kitchen, a counter separating it from the living room, stools set on one side for any guests that might come by – as rare as that would be for Nick. To the left of the living room, a hallway led to Nick's bedroom, and the bathroom. Judy, despite being here often, had never explored into Nick's room, thinking of that to be his domain, though on the few occasions she grew too curious for her own good she'd stolen a glance.

Compared to the rest of the apartment, his room seemed to be in total disarray. Clothes scattered about, fast food wrappers everywhere, papers lying about, the shades almost always half-drawn. His bed never seemed to be made, the pillows missing half the time. At one point she had found his blanket on the floor before the door, and spotted a smashed alarm clock on his wooden nightstand. The thought made her chuckle – her partner was not a morning mammal, and it showed.

She flicked on a light switch, giving a squeak and covering her mouth as Nick let out a hiss from the sudden bright light. "Sorry!" she exclaimed, moving to turn it back off, only to be stopped as Nick held up a paw again.

"Just warn me next time, hard to chase bad guys if you make me go blind," he said, smiling tiredly as he began digging into his fridge, emerging a moment later with a plastic bottle filled with an orange-blue juice. "Do you want something to drink?" he asked, looking back at her, eyes a bit more vibrant and alert, as she nodded, moving over to his couch, setting her bag down.

There was a clinking of glass and Nick was before her a minute later, holding out one of two drinks. "Thank you," she said, taking it and having a sip before growing slightly wide-eyed and looking down at the contents. "Nick, what's this?" she asked, looking up to see him taking a long drink. "I mixed blueberries, carrots, a few other things into a drink. What do you think?" he turned to her curiously.

She was too busy downing more of the drink to respond immediately. "I love it!" she exclaimed, looking at the nearly emptied glass. Nick just snickered and walked off to the kitchen, returning with a napkin. He swiped at her top lip before she could react, smirking at her surprised expression as he went back to throw it away. "Just don't make a mess, Carrots." She felt her ears redden slightly, and hoped he couldn't see it through her fur. She responded with silence, sipping carefully on the remains of the fox's homemade drink.

"So, why'd you decide to give me such a late visit again?" he asked, leaning against his elbow to look at her from behind the counter. Judy set the glass down, looking at him. "I couldn't really tell you... I wanted to get out of my apartment and my feet just carried me here..." Nick snorted.

"So you came here without thinking about it? I didn't know you liked me that much, Fluff." Judy snorted this time, shaking her head. She stared at him, mouth open as she tried finding words to use against him, but none came. Nick laughed, and Judy felt her ears burn again. She let out a grumble, making him shake his head as he went around the counter, gathered her glass, and rinsed it in the sink.

"Well, it's pretty late now, Carrots. Are you gonna walk home, or did you plan on staying the night?" He turned to her, eyebrows wriggling slightly. Judy gasped and shook her head furiously. "Not you, too!" she groaned. Nick laughed again, head raising. "I'm just messing with you, Fluff. I'm guessing Katy got you with that one?" He grinned and went back over to her.

"How'd you guess?" Judy asked, looking up to him. He shrugged, keeping a smug smile on his face as he set his paws on his hips. "She makes a lot of jokes like that. I don't think she means most of them, though. But seriously, are you planning on crashing here tonight?"

The gray bunny checked her phone: 11:18. "Would you mind if I did?" she asked, giving a small yawn. Nick shrugged, "Depends on where you plan on sleeping, then." He looked around his living room, smile still present, albeit a bit faded now. "I can take the couch," Judy suggested, causing him to look back her way.

"It's not that comfortable for sleeping," Nick warned her. "I can take it instead, if you want. My bed's very-" his eyebrow raised as Judy interrupted. "N-No, I'll be fine on the couch. Really, but thank you, Nick."

Judy watched him click his tongue for a moment, before turning to go down the hallway. "Fair enough... I'll get you some pillows and a blanket."

Judy sat in silence, holding her paws as she listened to Nick rummage around in his room, chuckling softly as she heard something fall and the fox let out a quiet curse, before emerging with several pillows and a mint green blanket. "Will these be okay?" he asked.

Judy nodded, smiling. "Have a little trouble in there?" she teased, watching one of his ears flick. "If you wanna call it that, sure." She snickered softly, noticing his eyes had again grown dull with exhaustion. His usual witty comebacks wouldn't be around for tonight, she realized.

"If you're going to be alright here," Nick said, a yawn interrupting him, "Then I'm going to go back to bed. Have a good night, Fluff." And with that, the red fox disappeared into his room, the door being left slightly ajar. Judy called out a goodnight before carefully placing the pillows and blanket on the couch beneath her, sprawling out as she wrapped the mint green cloth around her. She curled up slightly, giving her phone a final glance as she set it on the coffee table. After giving Nick a silent thank you, she shut her eyes and rolled over, quickly falling to sleep for the next day.