The following morning, Judy was gloomily waiting outside the coffee shop she usually met Nick at before they went in to work. As it turned out, a television show about a bunny cop had been just about the worst thing she had ever seen on television. Black and White had been an hour of rushed, hackneyed plot and clumsy dialog between an overemotional rabbit and a stoic angst-filled wolf, mercifully broken by commercial breaks that always seemed to occur after a particularly dramatic line. Even worse, it seemed as though the majority of her exceptionally large family had also watched it, and they had spent the night blowing up her phone until she had had to turn it off so she could sleep.

As she waited for her partner, she was scrolling through a chain of text messages to see if there was anything worth responding to. As she was debating the merits of telling her nieces, nephews, and more anxious siblings that cops didn't typically get into shootouts with evil drug-dealing business tycoons and their seemingly endless flunkies, Nick finally showed up. "Morning, Fluff," he said, as though it were any other day and not the day after the premiere of a terrible TV show very clearly inspired by her life.

Judy was in no mood to play games. "Just get it over with."

"Get what over with?" Nick asked, apparently puzzled.

"You know, the mocking. About the show. Just... get it out of your system, OK?" she asked.

"Oh, that? I didn't watch it," Nick said casually.

Judy blinked at him. "Seriously?"

"I spend all day being a cop and doing cop stuff. Why would I waste my precious free time watching a show about cops?"

"I thought you'd want to make fun of me."

"Oh, Carrots," Nick sighed as he leaned down so they were more or less on eye level, "Why would I need a TV show for that when you already give me so much material to work with?"

Judy rolled her eyes at that, but she couldn't deny to herself that she was happy that he hadn't watched it. They got their coffee and walked to the station, Judy vowing that she was going to take whatever happened in stride.

"Change your name, Carrots?" Nick asked as they approached their shared cubicle.

The sign that read "Hopps," positioned above the one that read "Wilde," had been replaced by one that read "White." "Still alphabetical, though," Nick noted.

It was a little joke that they got into sometimes, him insisting that her name was above his because it was alphabetical and her insisting that her name was above his because she had seniority. Judy sighed, "No, I guess I'm not the only one who watched that stupid show."

The bunny's last name on Black and White was, of course, White and the wolf's was Black. Whoever had come up with that had probably thought that they were pretty clever, but Judy didn't. "Ah," Nick said, "Well, you should probably go find Karl and switch nameplates back."

"Karl?" Judy asked.

"Karl White. You know, the rhino that works down in legal? He's the only White I know who works here, but he probably finds it a lot funnier than you do."

Nick's talent for names and faces was impressive, but even that paled in comparison to how he seemed to know and get along with all of their coworkers. He had only been an officer for about two weeks, but he made it seem as though he had been working at the station his entire life. "Right," Judy said, pulling the nameplate off the cubicle and running to make the swap before the morning roll call.

"My great-grandparents changed it from Weiss to White, you know. If they hadn't done that, why, I bet we wouldn't be talking right now! Funny the way things work out, isn't it?" Karl asked.

The rhino had spent the past five minutes talking to Judy. Or, rather, talking at her, since she had barely been able to say why she had gone to visit him before he launched into a rambling monologue that started with him calling himself stupid for failing to notice that his nameplate had been switched, wove through compliments about Judy's deductive skills and a comparison to those of the bunny on Black and White, detoured through a minor dissertation on why the best coffee in the city wasn't from the shop that Judy's cup had come from, and had hopefully hit the end of the line on the history of Karl's family name. At the very least, it was the first time she had the chance to interject. "Yes, it's very funny. Listen, it's been nice talking to you but I really have to make roll call so I'll see you later, OK?"

She didn't wait for a response before she bolted, her (apparently inferior) coffee in one paw and her nameplate in the other as she rushed to make the bullpen before Bogo did.

The ribbing that followed over the next few weeks, Judy decided, was of the good-natured variety that indicated that her coworkers thought of her as part of the group. Or at least, that was what she decided to tell herself. It didn't seem mean-spirited, at least, and she even began bonding with some of the other officers over discussions of the ludicrous plots that had very clearly been written by mammals who knew just about nothing about police work. On the other paw, Clawhauser was a legitimate fan of the show and did his best to defend it. "You just like the bunny, that's all," Wolford accused.

"She's just so cu-" Clawhauser cut himself off with a glance down at Judy, "Strong, but vulnerable, you know? And she just looks so soft..."

He said the last part with a somewhat dreamy look on his face. Judy couldn't deny that, at least. The actress, the improbably named Holly Leaves, really did look incredibly soft in a way that was probably only achievable with a full team of stylists and the help of camera magic. "And you probably just like the wolf," Judy said, looking at Wolford.

"I'm just like him," Wolford said with a toothy grin, one paw on his chest, "Always cool and collected."

"Big talk from a mammal who tackled a porcupine," Judy retorted, "We saw how 'cool and collected' you were getting quills pulled out of your muzzle and chest."

"That was one time!" Wolford protested over Clawhauser's giggles.

"One time too many, I'll bet," she said.

As she spoke, she saw Nick walk into the lobby area, having changed out of his uniform and back into his rather garish civilian clothes. Contrary to the usual stereotypes about males and females, it always took him longer to shower and change at the end of the day. She had never asked, but assumed that it was because his fur was longer. Idly, thinking back to Clawhauser's comment about the fur of Holly Leaves, she wondered how soft Nick would be if he let her pet him. Judy quickly banished the thought. "We'll catch up tomorrow," she said to Clawhauser and Wolford, as she ran from the reception desk to catch up with Nick for the walk to the train station.

They fell into an easy rhythm of conversation as they made the walk and waited for their respective trains. Later, as Judy was making a late dinner, her phone started ringing. She smiled as she picked it up, anticipating a call from either her parents or Nick. To her surprise, it was from Bogo.

"Hello?" she answered.

"Hopps. Get your partner and get back to the station. There was an attempted murder of an actress. The mayor wants you on it," Bogo said, cutting to the point with the characteristic bluntness she expected of him.

Judy could feel in her gut what the answer would be, but she still asked the question. "Which actress?"

"Holly Leaves."