I would like to thank PizzaSteve3902, DrummerMax64, Guest, Aninat131, HawkTooth, RemyW, PotterHead13, Cimar of Turalis WildeHopps and Guest for their reviews of "Movie Night"! And if you haven't read that story, I definitely recommend reading it first b/c this story directly follows it. There will be two chapters per update for this piece – one flashback, then the main event. I hope you enjoy it, and thanks for reading!

Precinct One – Savannah Central, Present Day:

"Yawwwnn..."

Nick yawned loudly as he sat in his cubicle. Despite it being mid-afternoon, he still felt as tired as he had early that morning. Normally he wasn't one for mornings anyway being nocturnal, but twice this past week (including today) Chief Bogo had called in all officers in for early-morning briefings over a new gang that had been active in Savannah Central lately. Sitting working on this dull paperwork didn't help either, being bored always made Nick sleepy.

Even if he had only an hour to go in his shift, he needed coffee, and the closest source he knew of was the pot they kept in the breakroom. He stood up, stretched, and leaned over the front of his cubicle towards his partner Judy's.

"Hey Carrots, you want any coff-"

But she wasn't there. Nothing was at her desk except a stack of filled-out reports and the usual pictures of her family. That was odd, he hadn't even heard her leave. He'd thought he'd heard her phone buzz a few minutes before, but he hadn't thought anything of that.

Reasoning she was probably in the bathroom or something, Nick left his cubicle and trudged off towards the breakroom. But as he walked, Nick added this little disappearance to a growing mental list he was keeping. Judy had been acting rather strange lately, ever since that night they'd watched Robin Hood together. She'd been distinctly quiet during their past few patrols, during which she was usually a bundle of energy; she'd cancelled two after-work outings with him, he'd seen her texting at work, which she almost never did, and at least once he'd walked in on her talking on the phone only for her to hang up the instant she saw him. Something was going on with that bunny, but what?

When Nick entered the breakroom, to his chagrin, he found the small-sized coffee pot completely empty. Grumbling to himself he opened the cupboard under the counter to look for more coffee mix, but came up empty-pawed. Now positively snarling he stole out of the room and down the hallway, aiming for the front door and from there the Snarlbucks across the street. Maybe he could snitch a doughnut from Clawhauser on the way out. He was just about to turn a corner into the lobby when he heard a voice:

"…sure this will work, Judy?"

Nick's ears perked up.

"Sure I'm sure. Nick may a sly fox, but he's really not that hard to fool. I did hustle him once, you know."

It was Clawhauser and Judy, talking at the reception desk about him. Rankling at that last statement and interested to know more Nick hugged the corner and listened from out of their line of sight as best he could:

"But what if he does know and he's just hiding it?" Clawhauser asked.

"Believe me, if he did, he would be rubbing it in my face," Judy replied, "All you've got to do is keep this secret just a little longer. You can do that, can't you?"

Clawhauser raised his right paw and crossed his heart with his left. "Don't worry Judy, your secret is safe with me, just like with Liza Spotley!"

Nick mouthed Judy's words just as she spoke them: "Who's Liza Spotley?"

"She was my best friend back in high school, and this one time she was seeing two different cheetahs at once, and she told me and I kept her secret even though one of the guys she was seeing was my own cousin!"

"Cheetah was a cheatah…" Nick muttered under his breath.

"Well, that's encouraging to hear," Judy commented before taking a swig from a bottle of water she was carrying. "I'll level with you Clawhauser, this whole thing has been a lot harder than I thought. We bunnies don't do this often you know - I hope it's all worth it in the end. You know, all this sneaking around just for a few seconds of excitement."

Nick's jaw dropped, and he leaned in closer. Just then, Judy choked on her water and coughed, and Nick missed Clawhauser's next question. Judy's response, however, confused the fox even further:

"*Cough*, sorry, Finnick? Oh, he's all for it. He's game for anything that gives him a chance to pull one over on Nick."

Clawhauser didn't look convinced. "I remember meeting him; never would've thought he'd be into something like this."

"That's because he tried to throttle you because you thought he was a lost little boy," replied Judy. Nick stifled a snort, recalling an incident when he'd invited Finnick to visit him at the station. "…Believe me, Finnick may put up a tough exterior, but he's actually kind of sweet once you get to know him."

Nick's eyes popped in his head. It couldn't be… Carrots and FINNICK?

BOOP! BOOP!

Nick nearly jumped out of his fur, before realizing it was just the alarm on Clawhauser's dispatch microphone. The cheetah was prone to distraction, so he kept the beeper at the highest setting to make sure he didn't miss it. He picked up the mike:

"I'm sorry Judy, I gotta take this."

"It's okay, I better go – Nick might notice I'm gone soon. Later!"

Panicking, Nick whipped around and took off like a shot, scurrying down the hall and back into his cubicle just in time before Judy crept back into the area. Nick peeped past the edge of his cubicle as best he could, and saw the rabbit creeping down the hall in his direction, walking slowly on the balls of her feet as if hoping not to be noticed. He waited until she was about to walk into her cubicle before he stood up and spoke:

"Hey Carrots, what's up?"

"BWA!" the rabbit jumped, "Uh, nothing! I was just… refilling my water bottle." She shook the bottle she was carrying for emphasis, which was hardly convincing since it was only half-full. Nick decided not to mention the little conversation he had just overheard, and instead probe lightly for now.

"Okayyy… but isn't the filling station back THAT way?" Nick pointed back behind him, the opposite way Judy had just come from. The bunny nodded, slowly.

"It is… but the one in the lobby has MUCH better water! Have you ever noticed? I swear they treat the visitors here better than they treat us officers. Welp, better get busy!" The bunny hopped back in her chair and started scribbling at random on her report sheets, clearly wanting this line of questioning to end.

"Uh… okay." And another item was added to Nick's mental list. He sat down for a second, and then he got right up again. "I was going to ask if you wanted any coffee, but it looks like you've had enough already."

"Yes! Yes, I have!" Judy declared. "In at six this morning, boy, I must've had three cups today!"

And another item: Nick hadn't seen Judy with a cup of coffee all day. She rarely even drank the stuff.

"As long as it wasn't Red Bull…." The fox uttered with a grin, hoping to put her at ease with a little humor.

"Ha ha, yeah, I wish my mother had never mentioned that story." Judy muttered. She neatly straightened the papers on her desk, tucked them in folders, and then tucked the folders under her arm. "There! That's all my reports done for today, so I think maybe I'll check out a little early. Later Nick!" She scampered off before Nick could even answer.

"Uhhh, later?" Nick slumped in his seat. And yet another item for the list. Never before had he known that bunny to leave work early. Once, he had heard, she finished all her paperwork with an hour still to go so she spent the remaining time helping a janitor wash the windows before clocking out.

He mulled over Judy and Clawhauser's conversation in his head. It had sounded for a second like Carrots and Finnick were having some kind of secret relationship, but looking back on some of the other things spoken between her and Clawhauser it didn't seem to fit, never mind how laughable the very idea was. Whatever that rabbit was hiding, she had implied that she was planning on telling him soon, but Nick intended on getting to the bottom of this before then. Not hard to fool, his fluffy tail!