Zootopia Police Academy, seven months ago…

It was a beautiful spring day at Zootopia Police Academy. The vast immaculately-trimmed green field that normally housed the obstacle course had been cleared, and in place of the usual sandpits, ice walls and jungle gyms stood a handsomely decorated stage with blue curtains bearing the Zootopia police crest, facing a sea of white folding chairs of numerous sizes. A large crowd of animals had turned out that day for the graduation ceremony; most were already in their seats, others were still up and about making conversation with the academy graduates being honored that day. Some were friends and family of the graduates, and some were simply ordinary citizens eager to witness the history that would be made today: the first rabbit officer welcoming the first fox officer into the force.

As he stood there, nursing a coffee and gazing through his new police sunglasses at his fellow cadets mixing and mingling with the many friends and family members who come out to the ceremony, Nick Wilde himself could not help but feel a twinge of regret. It wasn't his choice to become a police officer, the prospect of that was looking better than ever; it was that his mother was not here to see this. He had almost called her several times over the last few weeks of his academy days, even once pressed send before abruptly hanging up, but every time he had chickened out in the end. He wasn't ready to take that plunge yet, not until he was officially Officer Wilde and he could march right up to her door wearing his new uniform, maybe with his new partner in tow. Of course that meant opening up a whole can of worms to Judy, but he was reasonably sure the bunny would understand his regret over what had happened. He supposed his mother would like Judy; they had the same idealistic personality.

And speak of the bunny…

"Hey, Carrots!" he called out.

There she was, dressed to her best in her fancy police blues, ducking and weaving her way through the crowd clearly looking for someone, most likely him. Judy's ears perked up at his voice, and she dashed up to him. Nick idly wondered why she was showing up so close to the start of the ceremony; punctuality was usually Judy's forte.

"Nick! There you are!"

"Hey, where have you been? The ceremony starts in like five minutes."

"There were…" the bunny looked nervous for some reason, "some last-minute details I had to arrange."

"Aww, let me guess: you were worried your speech might start another civil war and rewrote it on the spot?"

"Oh no, I'm all ready for that. It's just, um… how are you? You nervous?" The bunny seemed to be stalling for something, but Nick played along.

"Me? Pshaw! Sweetheart, you know nothing gets to me. I don't do nervous."

Judy's eyes darted to somewhere the vicinity behind Nick. "Would… you be willing to bet on that?" the rabbit asked anxiously.

Nick frowned in confusion. "What are you talking about? Carrots, what's going on?"

"I… brought someone to see you." And then Judy pointed her finger at something, or someone, behind Nick. The fox turned around, and then his jaw dropped, and he quickly threw off his sunglasses to make sure his eyes were not deceiving him.

An elderly vixen was walking towards him, and besides the new grey lines in her fur she was almost unchanged from Nick's last memory of her from over nine years ago. She was wearing a turquoise blouse and a long dark purple skirt, a fashion style he had long known her to favor, and her expression, instead of angry like he might have predicted, was one of both great trepidation and longing.

"Mom…?" Nick's felt his paws tremble as he began striding towards her; slowly and clumsily, as if he were sleepwalking. His mother walked no faster, and looked every bit as nervous as he felt, her paws clutched together and her eyes shimmering with unshed tears. It seemed to take ages for the two to reach each other; and when they did, both just stood there, staring into each other's faces and struggling to think of what to say.

"Mom, I…" Nick stammered. There was a knot in his throat he couldn't seem to work around.

"I'm sorry," Mrs. Wilde burst out, her eyes pleading at him.

"Eh-what?" Nick asked, confused.

"I'm sorry about… that notebook, I shouldn't have –"

Nick was stunned, "What are you talking about? It was my fault."

"It was mine," his mother insisted.

"Mine."

"Mine."

"Mi-"

"Oh Nicky!"

And with a sob Mrs. Wilde threw her arms around him, and mother and son finally embraced each other. And as he hugged his mother more tightly than he ever had in his life, Nick began to feel a tidal wave of joy and relief wash over him, weights of regret and shame lifting off his shoulders and realizing just how much his mother must have felt the same way all these years.

"I'm so sorry, Mom," he whispered into her ear.

Mrs. Wilde nodded onto his shoulder, too overcome with emotion to speak. And standing by watching the reunion was Judy, trying not to choke up herself and mentally cheering that her assumptions of Nick's feelings towards his mother had not been wrong.

Nick and his mother remained in embrace for over a minute before they finally broke apart, gazing into each other's eyes.

"What…what are you doing here?" Nick asked before he could stop himself.

Mrs. Wilde gave a little huff. "You didn't really think I would miss your big day, did you?"

"Well no, but…how are you here?" Nick's gaze shifted from his mother to Judy and then back again.

"That's… kind of a long story." Judy piped up sheepishly. Nick didn't understand, but he had a sudden suspicion that the memory box he had left with Judy months ago had something to do with it.

"Look at you. Just look at you." Mrs. Wilde gripped her son's arms and scanned him up and down, beaming with pride at how handsome he looked in his new uniform.

Suddenly Judy sniffled beside them, wiping her eyes a little with the back of her paw.

"I'm sorry, but we better get ready, the ceremony starts in a minute." And then she quickly hugged both Nick and Mrs. Wilde before rushing up to the stage.

"And I'll be in the front row, cheering you on. Good luck, Nicky!" and Mrs. Wilde gave Nick a little kiss before heading off to her seat.

Nick stood where he was for a moment, still a little stunned, before a familiar bellow alerted him to Major Friedkin's call for all cadets to gather in front of the stage. He hurried over to take his place.

Two minutes later, Judy stood atop the podium on the stage, staring out at the clapping and cheering audience before her and feeling a sense of déjà vu, remembering her own graduation just a year before. Her heart pounded in her chest like it had at her first press conference, but to her surprise, she found she actually wasn't very nervous this time. Partly because there were no flashing cameras and questions being thrown at her now, and also because now she had a speech prepared, and had written from her heart instead of trying to use every piece of advice everyone had given her. She gazed out at the multitudes of mammals in the crowd. The giraffes, the elephants, the sheep, the wolves, countless species and sizes. And in the very front row, on the right side, she could see Mrs. Wilde, dabbing her eyes with a tissue. She was the only fox in the crowd, and by far the proudest face Judy could see. She waved to Judy, and Judy gave a small wave back. And then she looked to the group of graduates that stood before her, standing proud in their finest dress blues with their police hats under their arms and epaulets adorning their shoulders. And proudest of all stood Nick, wearing his sunglasses and holding a cup of coffee in his paw. Their eyes met, and Judy gave him a nod. She gazed down at the paper in front of her and began to speak:

"When I was a kid, I thought Zootopia was this perfect place, where everyone got along and anyone could be anything…"

Watching Judy from the front of his group of fellow cadets, Nick could not help but feel an overwhelming rush of affection for the rabbit. Not only had she given him a new life and a brand new future, but now, somehow, she had brought him and his mother back together. And as Judy spoke, more powerfully and eloquently than he had ever heard her speak before, he lifted up his sunglasses, winked at her, and then removed them. He knew he was last in line to receive his badge since they were given out alphabetically, but he couldn't wait that long, and from the winding-down tone in Judy's voice he could tell the start of the ceremonial pinning was only seconds away…

"Look inside yourself and recognize that change starts with you. It starts with me. It starts with all of us."

And there it was.

As she opened the wooden box bearing Nick's new badge, and turned to her new partner, who was smiling more openly and more genuinely than Judy had ever seen him, Judy noticed something off in Nick's eyes. A strange look that, in a moment like this, could only mean one thing… feeling one more reason to smile herself, she pinned the golden police badge on his chest.

And then they saluted, the crowd cheered, and everyone's police caps were tossed into the air.

Once the hubbub had died down and Nick and Judy started to move off the stage, Mrs. Wilde wasted no time in jumping off her seat and rushing onstage to meet them. And before Nick could protest, his mother had trapped him in a rib-breaking hug and was showering motherly kisses all over his cheeks and muzzle, positively sobbing with joy and happiness.

"Mooommm… people are WATCHING…" Nick hissed through his teeth. Judy giggled.

"Oh Nicky… I'm so proud of you!" His mother moaned between sobs. After a few more kisses she finally let him go, pulled another tissue out of her purse and started dabbing at her eyes.

"I have to go powder my nose, but when I come back, you and I have a lot of catching up to do..." And then she left Nick and Judy alone. As the pair started descending the steps off the stage, Judy decided to bring something up.

"You know, Nick... I couldn't help but notice this strange look in your eyes as I gave you your badge."

Nick gave a little jump, and then quickly brushed it off and put on his most casual face. "Oh, what do you mean?"

Judy gave him a little grin. "Well, I don't know much about fox optometry, but your pupils were dilated, which is a pretty unusual thing in broad daylight. And I think they started to look a little watery when we saluted…"

"It was the sun in my eyes, Carrots. I couldn't wear my sunglasses on stage, remember?"

"Bright light shrinks the pupils, Nick, it doesn't expand them. So either you were on catnip, or you were really, really touched and trying not to cry. Which means, I got to you." She looked directly into his face, her violet eyes piercing him. "So, which is it?"

Nick opened his mouth, trying to spout out another explanation, and then sighed in defeat. "Alright Carrots, you win. You got to me, you always get to me. You happy?"

She nodded.

"Good. Now, please don't mention this to anyone, okay?"

"I promise."

Click. Whirr.

"Alright Carrots, you win. You got to me, you always get to me."

Nick's eyes widened, and he slowly looked downwards: in Judy's left paw was a familiar pen in the shape of a carrot with a little button and a tiny speaker on the side.

"Hey, when did you get that back? I thought it was being used for evidence!"

"It is. This is a new one," Judy casually replied. Nick gaped at her.

"What? You didn't think it was one of a kind, did you? You can get one of these at any office supply store between here and Bunnyburrow. They do come in handy you know. Any time you want to make a memo, remember a number or blackmail a fox, you can use one of these."

She deftly wiggled the pen between her fingers before putting it back into her pocket, and then gently pulled Nick downward and whispered into his ear: "But don't worry, I said I wouldn't tell a soul, and I won't. This little carrot is just for me."

Nick grimaced before making a mental note to buy one of those pens for himself the first opportunity he got. No telling when he could get her to say she was a dumb bunny again.

A/N: Okay, I know my updates for this story are usually two chapters, but I really wanted to give my readers something nice and fluffy for the holidays, so here I make an exception! To my readers and friends on here, I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, and I look forward to showing you more soon!