Nick yawned and stretched from his bed, his covers being brushed aside as he did so. Mid-morning light streamed through his window as he swung his legs over the side of the bed, rubbing the sleep from his eyes as he stood and ambled over to the bathroom. With next to no thought, he went through his morning motions: toilet, shower, teeth, dressing. After roughly a half hour, he had stepped into his living room and stretched for the second time, smacking his lips as he went to the kitchen.

"Carrots, what do you want for breakfast this mor-" Nick froze as he passed the couch, memory trickling into his mind. Judy had, for once, not stayed at his apartment. King had dropped her off at the Grand Pangolin Arms before bringing Nick to his own apartments, the Golden Krown (Why it was spelled that way, he had no idea). The fox slowly turned around and looked over his living room, the couch barren of blankets and pillows.

Nick frowned. His apartment felt strangely... Empty. He had gotten used to waking up in the same place as Judy, either one making a quick breakfast as the other got ready for work. They could either eat separately or together before making the way to the Precinct for a long day of dealing with Bogo or putting up with Robin. Today, though, was different. He had a day off – one of the surprisingly few the chief had given himself and Judy since they began making the biggest pile of paperwork the buffalo had ever seen.

Breakfast was a quick meal of leftover pancakes and a blueberry topping, with a strawberry syrup drizzle on top. It tasted amazing – as should anything made with the Hopps' family produce. Judy was always sure to get Nick some fresh produce from her family's farm whenever someone visited – which was often. And, though he knew she'd deny it, he knew she gave him half of her own helping of blueberries.

Left with noting that required his immediate attention, Nick fell onto his couch with a small huff after cleaning up from his meal. He idly flicked on the TV and began to flip through the channels. "Crap, crap, news, ads, more crap," he mumbled as he went through the channels. He finally rested on a station that played old movies – right now, it was Catsablanca, a classic that Nick had never managed to sit through.

With the movie running in the background, Nick picked his phone up from the coffee table where he'd left it overnight, and began to go through his notifications. Furbook activity, ZooTube uploads, and a few texts. One was from Finnick, sarcastically asking how being a cop was. Nick replied just as sarcastically, saying that it had nothing on hustling. One was from his cell phone carrier, with some kind of new deal he knew he wouldn't take up. And lastly, one from Judy – that one he saved for last. He opened it and looked at her profile picture, a personal favorite he had snuck some time ago.

In it, Judy was curled up in the driver's seat of their cruiser. She was dressed in layers, her ZPD outfit hidden away underneath a hoodie and sweats. A police blue scarf was wound around her neck, and her ears were resting against her back as she held a cup of steaming coffee to her lips. It had been taken during a stakeout in Tundratown the previous year, where she and Nick had helped take down a serial arsonist. Warmth spread in the fox's chest as he looked at the image, and a near-inexplicable feeling of what he interpreted as happiness spread through him. Clearing his mind, he shook his head and read the text.

'Hey Nick, mind if I stop by? Bucky and Pronk are at it again and I want to escape'

Nick suppressed a laugh. He knew how much Judy had grown to be annoyed by her neighbors and cramped living conditions. He had actually offered to help her find a better apartment, but she had refused, saying that she wanted to just save up some money and then she'd look. But still, he'd been keeping an eye out for a place she might like – even if she insisted she was just fine where she was. 'Sure thing, Carrots. U know ur welcome any time' he replied.

It didn't take long for her to send him a response. 'Thanks, Nick! I'll be over in a bit'

Nick nodded, sending her a smiley face before laying along his couch and turning his head to look outside. It was a nice day, few clouds, and not too humid or hot. Then again, it could be his air conditioner helping out, but it hadn't been on just yet. He continued to stare, letting his mind wander about as he waited.

From the weather, his mind drifted to how he should be spending his days off. Undoubtedly, he'd end up having to go out and interact with other mammals at some point – not something he was against, but he did feel like lounging around inside today. Judy would probably drag him to the park to get him some sunlight, where she would join in on some games and slowly coax Nick into doing the same. If he was lucky, he might run into Finnick when he wasn't 'on the clock' – as an officer, he was obligated to put aside his friendship and arrest him, even if off-duty, but if Finnick wasn't caught doing anything wrong, he could treat the fennec as the old friend he was.

Of course, if that happened, the two would likely end up dragging Judy to a bar with them. She'd be against it at first, but she'd go along just to make sure neither of the tods got into trouble or drank too much, maybe even having a drink of something herself. Or Nick could end up watching her, and she would end up getting into a drinking competition with Finnick. That was always an amusing topic for him to think about: a drunken Judy trying to drink more than Finnick, who could easily down his own body weight in beer and still be relatively okay to walk.

A knocking at the door interrupted his thoughts. Nick swiftly rose off the couch and started walking towards the door, looking down and smoothing out his current outfit – ZPD tank top and navy blue sweatpants. After feeling satisfied with his appearance, he nodded once and opened the door, prepared to greet Judy and welcome her in – only, it wasn't her.

Robin stood at the door, dressed in cargo sweats and an asymetrical hoodie, one side angling further down to his knee while the other stopped at his waist. In true Robin 'style', the entire outfit was black, and he had his single strap backpack on. Nick couldn't help but let his lips fall to show his slight disappointment before he regained his composure, letting his old smirk fall into place. "Ah, Robin. To what do I owe pleasure?" he said, with only a hint of sarcasm.

"Hello, Nick," Robin said, voice quiet. He sounded stressed, or saddened by something. "Don't look so happy to see me."

"Who, me? Oh, I'm just ecstatic," Nick replied. "It's not every day that the fox who's led to my car getting totalled and my side filled with glass comes for a visit!"

Robin's response was a sigh. "That's... Actually what I wanted to talk to you about. Hopps, too – is she here?"

"Carrots? Nah, she's not here," Nick said. "Though I was waiting on her."

"Right, well... I suppose I can just tell you and trust you to pass on the message?" Robin asked. Nick shrugged, before nodding and leaning against the doorway, arms folded.

"Let me hear it," Nick said.

Robin took a deep breath, as if steadying himself. "I wanted to tell you both that I'm sorry for all of this. This entire, crazy, stupid scenario, getting you both hurt, dragging you two around by your tails... You shouldn't have to put up with all this crap, or me. I didn't mean to get you two involved, not like this. I wanted to get all the information I could, and bring it to the ZPD, but things sort of went to hell and all of this happened. Now I'm not entirely sure who to trust, aside from a few, and I'm deciding to fix this the only way I think works.

"I'm leaving this, as it were. I'll be helping still, but I'm not going to drag you or Judy around anymore. I have a meeting tomorrow night, and I'm pretty sure I'll be able to get the information the hard drive lost then. I'll pass it off to you, and go from there. Until all this is resolved though... You likely won't see me again. I'm sorry to you both."

Nick waited a moment, nodding shallowly as Robin talked, and waited until he was done before speaking. "Ya done?" Nick checked. Robin nodded. "Good. Then listen to me. Your idea to 'fix this' isn't going to work. Ah-buhbuhbuh-" he said, holding up a paw as Robin started to interrupt. "That's not to say I doubt you or anything like that. No, what I'm saying is, it won't make anyone feel better or do better. In fact, it puts you at risk, and us as well. We've made more progress on this together than apart. So why does splitting apart now make sense? It doesn't," he said, turning to walk into his apartment. He went to the kitchen and poured himself a glass of water, turning to wave Robin in and motioning for him to shut the door.

"Much as I hate to admit it, your friend was onto something last night when he stopped me from following you and Judy. Do you know what he told me?" When Robin shook his head, Nick continued. "He told me, basically: We work better, together. Maybe as separate teams, yes, but still together. If you and Judy had driven the shooter to the car, it would've been better to have us there, as opposed to just one mammal. And he was right about that."

Robin stood silently on the other side of Nick's counter, listening, before he gave a shallow nod. "Then what should I do, huh?" he asked.

"Don't just run off, for starters," Nick said. "Phraxus has been targeting you primarily. Going solo just makes it easier to take you out. You said you had a meeting for tomorrow? Then let's set up a way to check it together. Like you said, we can go from there."

Robin waited a minute longer before nodding again. "Alright," he muttered. "I'll wait, work things out with you and Hopps. Should we all just meet somewhere tonight?"

Nick shrugged. "Couldn't hurt, right? Besides, it could take Carrots a bit to get here, depending on how she decides to do it."

"Right. But I'm leaving it up to you where we go to eat," Robin said. Nick grinned.

"But I'm not paying. Deal?" he said.

"Deal," Robin replied.

Without another word, the taller fox walked out of Nick's apartment. Nick watched him shut the door before nodding and walking back to his couch, replaying his conversation with King last night back into his head.

Nick pushed himself to the door as Judy jumped out, ready to follow her and Robin. If there were shots being fired, he didn't want to leave Judy. But King put a paw in front of him, stopping the reynard. "Hey, hold up," he said.

"Hold up?" Nick asked. "My partner's running off to where there's being shots fired, I'm going with her."

"My partner's doing that, too. You think I wanna just sit here and wait? Hell naw." The panther took a deep breath, and steam began to pour from his mouth as he spoke, the inside of the car growing colder with the open door. "Look, we all work well together – well enough to start hurting Phraxus, right? But we stick to our old teams. If we want to work together, better, we gotta split up a bit. Robin's putting a lot of trust in Judy to watch his back – and I'm sure she's doing the same. She'd rather have you there, but she knows about taking risks.

"Think of it this way. Say the shooter gets away from them, but heads in this direction – one of two available. We can cut them off and catch them here. But I can't do that alone, and you can't either, so we gotta do this together. Make sense?"

Nick looked at the panther, quietly processing the words. There was logic there, yes, but that didn't change the fact that he didn't want to let Judy run towards gunfire with a mammal they had been trying to bring to custody not long before.

Come on, take a risk. Try everything, a little voice in his mind said. Sounded an awful lot like Judy, too. And so, he nodded, sitting back in his seat.

"Good," King said. "Now hey, shut the door, it's freezing out there."

Of course, Nick had relayed why he hadn't gone with Judy and Robin to her on the way home. She was slightly worried at first, but it gave way to understanding after a bit of King's input and explanation.

Nick looked up sharply at the sound of his door opening again, Judy stepping inside. She was dressed in a pair of skinny jeans and a pink plaid shirt, a plain pink t-shirt showing underneath. "Heya, Slick," she said, as if annoucing her presence. Nick grinned.

"If it isn't my favorite little vegetable," he commented. "Was wondering when you'd get here!"

"And if it isn't my favorite couch potato," she shot back. "No wonder you can get winded so easily."

Nick chuckled and waved the rabbit inside, turning his attention back to the TV as it ran the credits for Catsablanca. It took some effort, but he bit back a retort he knew was hidden in some crappy old romance movie he'd seen. Instead, he opted to change subjects and get one of the less desired tasks at hand out of the way. "Robin stopped by," he said.

"He did?" Judy asked, jumping to the couch cushion at Nick's feet. He wriggled them lightly to try and tickle at her sides, to which she giggled lightly and swat at them. "What'd he want?" she asked.

"To apologize for, and I quote: 'dragging us around by our tails', 'getting my car totalled and us hurt', and for us 'putting up with his crap.' He also said he was planning on going solo after tonight, but I told him otherwise." Nick said, beginning to flip through the TV channels again.

Judy wrinkled her nose, slightly in confusion. "He really said that? Even though we're the ones who decided to help out and not bring him in?" Nick nodded, to which Judy gave a laugh. "We told him, didn't we? 'You make it sound like we have a choice'."

"That we did, Carrots, glad to see your memory is as sharp as ever." Nick said.

"Sharper than your wit," she said, giving him an amused sideways look.

"Carrots, you wound me," Nick said, planting a paw over his heart. "I thought we were friends."

"Friends, yes, but a liar I am not," Judy stated.

"Ouch," Nick muttered, though he was unable to suppress the grin spreading across his muzzle.

óÓÒò ~

The day dragged on, until later in the evening when Nick and Judy were meant to meet with Robin and King at a restaurant in the Rainforest District, called the Rainforest Café. Despite the name, it was an actual restaurant with a casino design, poker tables and different sets of cards adorning the walls. One small portion of the restaurant was even filled with slot machines for any mammal who was willing (or drunk) enough to try their luck.

For Nick and Judy, the place was a different setting. While Nick's daydreams of meeting up with Finnick and one of the officers taking care of the other while they drank a little too much hadn't come to fruition, he and Judy had spent most of the day watching TV on his couch, mocking the old movies they decided to stick with. Laughs were shared, snacks thrown, and a good time overall was had. But when the time was reaching late enough, they began to clean and get ready to make the trek to where Robin and Nick had decided to meet up.

The fox and panther were already seated and waiting for Judy and Nick when they entered, a badger waiter showing them the way. When handed their menus, Nick was surprised to see a fair helping of predator-friendly meals available. Of course, with a rabbit at the table, it went unsaid that those meals wouldn't be eaten tonight – so instead he opted for a grilled cheese and tomato soup meal. King had a helping of tofu alfredo, Robin ordered a salad, and Judy decided to try a potato curry that was available.

As the waiter took their menus before heading to the kitchen, orders written down and ready to be handed off, an uneasy silence fell onto the group. It felt somewhere between business and curiousity. Nick cleared his throat, linking his paws together and setting them on the table. "So, what were we all here for again?" he asked.

"Right," Robin muttered, running a paw over his muzzle. It was clear he was agitated, or anxious. "Tomorrow night, nine o'clock, Moonlit Rose. Before I talked to Lucas, I got a call telling me to meet whoever it was there, at that time. I've got a feeling it was Frost, and if I'm right, he'll have the missing information from the hard drive. I was going to do it alone, but Nick made a good point to not. So, I got a few earpieces we can use to talk to one another while doing this; they're in my bag."

"Right. So how should we do this?" Judy asked, taking a sip of her glass of water. The table was left in silence briefly, the only noise being from the speakers and other patrons, and ambient music, all of which helped keep their conversation from easily reaching unwanted ears.

Nick spoke again, ears rising as he got the idea. "Simple," he said. "Two of us head in, the other two stay outside and wait in the parking lot. The two that go in get whatever we need, then come back out and get to the ZPD with it."

"Alright," Robin said. "But who's going with me?" He looked around the table, almost expectantly. King held up his paws.

"Aye, I gotta drive," he said. Robin nodded, before turning to look at Nick and Judy.

Nick nudged Judy's shoulder with his elbow. "Hey Carrots, you've already gotten to run off with Robin. I should probably go this time," he said, referring to what King said the night before. The rabbit nodded, stretching.

"I'm okay with that," she said. "Besides, the less walking around I have to do, the better – that gas gave me a cough that's not going away easily."

Nick frowned at this; he knew about the tear gas, he could smell it on Judy once she returned to the car with Robin, both covered in snow and water. He also knew that too much exposure for any mammal could be permanently harmful to their health. But he didn't know how long Judy had been exposed to it, how much she'd breathed in, how much it hurt. That part bothered him.

Almost as much as the stares he could feel the group getting. The fur on the back of his neck was slightly rising from it, and given the slight twitching of Robin's ears and King's shifting gaze, they were aware of it as well.

It was an odd group, he supposed. Two foxes, a pather, and a rabbit. One of these things is not like the other, he thought, amused.

"I've been there before," Robin said. "They frisk mammals down pretty well. But I refuse to go in with just my bare paws."

"You got claws, you'll be fine," King said.

"You know what I mean," Robin huffed. "Baton, knife, something, anything. But they won't let me in otherwise."

"Do you really need to bring a weapon with you?" Judy asked skeptically.

"I only beat the intruders because I had a weapon. And hey, the enemy is mainly predators – of which, foxes are on the smaller side," Robin said. "My melee skills are a little lacking, I think."

"And you really think they're going to go after you at the club?" Nick asked.

"Wouldn't doubt it," King said. "They got to him in his house, a club is ten times easier."

"So then we've got the problem of either convincing you to go in unarmed, or getting you in armed," Judy said. "Any ideas?"

The group took a break here as their waiter came by and delivered to the group their meals. The typical rounds of thanking the waiter, getting drinks refilled, and a moment of silent eating occurred before anyone decided to speak again.

"Your badge," Robin said, looking at Judy.

The rabbit paused at bringing her spoonful of soup to her mouth, staring up at Robin curiously. "My badge?" she said.

"Your badge," he repeated. "Flash a ZPD badge and you can get away with a baton or something."

"I can't just give you my badge," Judy said, looking around the table. "That could put me on desk duty for a month if Bogo finds out, on a good day – which never happens. Worst? I get fired."

"Then I'll give it to Nick when we get inside or when we leave," Robin said.

"We could still get in a lot of trouble," Nick pointed out.

"C'mon, don't make them put their jobs on the line," King said, leaning down to Robin, who just shook his head and muttered 'jobs or a life?', to which King slapped him in the back of the head. "Your blowing it out of proportion. Use your brain for once."

"I am," Robin said. "Unlike you. Think about it, they get me while I'm unarmed? Even with Nick helping, that's not gonna do me any good if-"

"Are you saying we don't know how to fight?" Judy asked.

Robin looked at her, shaking his head. "No, I'm not saying that, I'm saying-"

"Then you're doubting us," she accused. Robin opened his mouth, but quickly snapped it shut.

"We can defend ourselves and other pretty well," Nick said. "It's in our job description, you know." He added a small smirk before taking a sip from his soup.

"I... Have a very serious problem going anywhere unarmed. You really can't let me?" Robin asked, tone almost becoming a whine, like a child who wasn't getting his way.

Nick was about to reply before Judy sighed. "I'll look over the policies about it tomorrow. Maybe you can briefly take it as part of an 'investigation'. But I'm not going to promise anything, so don't get your hopes up."

Robin gave her a thankful look, before taking a bite of his salad. Nick, if anything, felt annoyed by the other tod's actions – reduced to whining because he couldn't bring his flashy baton or knife. Both of which were items Nick made a mental note to check the legality of. Even if Robin helped immensely with the case, carrying an illegal weapon would not help him in any way. Assault would be the last thing to worry about as far as he was concerned.

After that conversation, dinner talk became less of a strict, business-like discussion, and more of a conversation between mammals just catching up. King was proud of the new upgrades his car had gotten – some adjustments to the frame for a sleeker design, upgrades for handling, etc. Judy brought up the idea of taking a trip to her family when everything was over – that one caught Nick's attention, and Judy was insistent that he come along, despite his idle attempts to deny it. Eventually, though, he gave in like he knew he would – though he didn't miss the subtle whipping motion King made, or Robin's silent chuckle.

Nick asked King about places to get a new car at, since his old one was totalled. The panther just asked for what kind the reynard would like, and he'd do the rest. Robin mentioned that his grandpa owned a body shop in Savannah Central, and that he might be able to help out. Judy asked if he could make long distance trips or help order parts for her family's dying old pickup, and Robin said he'd look into it.

Throughout the meal and conversation, Nick felt eyes on the group, but as time wore on, it lessened and left him more comfortable. Comfortable enough, in fact, that he'd started telling old jokes – the good kind, rather than the cheesy pun-based ones Judy was so often tormented with at work.

Apparantly, patrons on the other side of the restaurant could hear some bouts of laughter so well they complained, and so the group was promptly asked if they wanted a dessert, before being given the bill. King paid for the meal this time around, and before long, the group parted ways. Judy and Nick declined an offer to be given a ride home, opting instead to take a walk and train ride to their respective apartments.

Nick said goodbye to Judy outside her apartment, before trudging back home, humming one of the tunes played in the restaurant. The food was good enough, he decided, that he and Judy should stop there one night for a meal.

So, a date.
It's not like that.
Oh, sure it isn't. Movie nights, sleeping over for long periods of time, spare keys. No no, it's not at all like that.
It's friendship. A good one at that.
You have half of her clothes at home. Your fridge is filled with mainly her favorite food.
She stops by often, so what? And hey, she likes what I like.
Keep telling yourself that.

Nick shook his head as he walked into his apartment building's main lobby. Katy looked up from her newspaper as he walked past. "Uh-oh," she said.

Nick paused with one foot in the elevator before he leaned out and looked at the badger. He had heard her say that enough times that he knew when she had caught on to something. "'Uh-oh' what?"

"I've seen that look before, Nicky," she said. "Who're you thinking about?"

"No one," Nick said.

"Heard that one before, too," Katy replied, grinning. "You know I notice all these things. Bet you twenty I know who it is, too."

"If you've guessed no one, you've earned your money," Nick replied, stuffing his paws into his pockets.

Katy rolled her eyes, getting up from her seat and walking over to Nick. "You know," she said, "You can't ignore whatever you're feeling. If it feels forced in one way or another, slow down, but don't ignore it. You've loosened up ever since you helped solve that Night Howler case, but you're still a closed book to even yourself at times."

"The inner mechanisms of my mind are an enigma," Nick said, smiling smugly. "Not even I understand them."

"Which is a load of bull," Katy snorted. She brushed a few crumbs of bread from the fox's shirt. "Just keep that in mind, okay? Open up to yourself, if nothing else."

Nick's response was a nod, accompanied by the fox rolling his eyes. Katy returned the gesture with a shake of her head before going back to her desk. "Now go to bed, it's late," she said.

"Yes, ma," Nick chuckled, before stepping into the elevator. He stifled his laughter as he was brought upwards, Katy's words rolling around in his mind.

She was right; the fact that he wasn't sure how he felt wasn't a good thing. He added it to the list of things he needed to work on.

óÓÒò ~

Finally got the writing juices flowing again – I'm so sorry for that disappearance! Literally every time I wanted to write, it began to turn into something completely different, until I sat down and started that, but then my creativity and muse just went dark. It was a needed break, though, as I realized I wasn't entirely satisfied with the chapters I've put out recently. They feel rushed, half-baked. Admittedly, this one may be subject to the same criticism. Which is why I'm going to start taking things a little slower – if I don't feel satisfied with what I've written, I won't just push it out the door. You guys deserve quality from me, not quantity. And this goes for all my stories, not just ANFiT.

I'm also going to work on responding to reviews starting now – it's a great way to get feedback and criticism I've yet to use, for some strange reason.

Hope to see you all again soon, either here, or with one of my other works.

~ óÓÒò ~

N'yrthghar