"Carrots, I've got a good feeling you're gonna love the food from that new place," Nick remarked happily. "The family running it was so nice, and I even got a little discount 'cause I'm a first time-"

The space was blanketed with dead silence as he stepped inside, setting the plastic bags containing the take-out he picked up down on the kitchen floor.

"Customer," he muttered, finishing what he had been saying when he first walked in.

Nick looked around for where was, walking over to the living room and making his way to the extra room that served as a small office space.

He could hear Judy muttering to herself, obviously due to some sort of frustration. She was in that office space, sitting in the chair by the desk with the nearby lamp on and her phone in her paw.

"I thought I'd bring us both some take-out from that new restaurant," Nick said from the open doorway. "They even had one of your favorite dishes on their menu."

The rabbit's ears perked up. "Huh?" she mumbled audibly, setting her phone down on the desk and spun her swivel chair over to face the fox.

"The new restaurant that just opened down the block a couple of weeks ago," the vulpine repeated. "You know that vegetable medley you liked at the other place with the snow peas in it? They make their version of it, so I ordered some."

"Oh, yeah, the restaurant," Judy replied, remembering the place that the fox was talking about. She turned back to the desk, turned the lamp sitting upon it off and rested her head against the back of her chair. "Gods, where is my head at today?" she muttered to herself.

"If you'd like, I'd be happy to help you find it," was Nick's snark reply, after overhearing the mumbling words of the rabbit.

The gray doe produced a quiet snicker and grinned back at him. "You could try to find it, Nick, but it'd be no use," she said to him. "By now my head's already crossed the border and traveled off into another country."

As the lagomorph let out a light sigh, the vulpine walked over to where she was seated. "What's the matter, Fluff?" he asked his bunny.

"If I tell you the details, I'm afraid you'll find them a bit silly."

"Please," Nick replied. "You're lookin' at a fox who excels at silliness from time to time. I'm pretty sure whatever's coursing through your mind doesn't even fit in that category."

"You're not gonna laugh, right?"

"Come on. When have I ever laughed at this bunny sitting beside me?"

Judy paused for a moment. "That time I walked into that wet cement after encountering one another."

"Right," Nick replied, recalling that particular moment from before they became partners at the ZPD. "But that was some years ago. And since then I've become a changed fox, a mammal in blue. And if there's on the mind of my partner, both on and off the force, then I'm surely going to lend you my ears."

"I'll confess in advance that what's on my mind's probably making a mountain out of a molehill. My mind's just… been elsewhere, if you will.

"Well, I know what'll cheer you up," Nick interrupted. "You wait right there and I'll be right back."

As he walked out of the room and back out into the kitchen, Judy remained where she was sitting. She heard the ruffling of bags, obviously coming from what the take-out Nick had ordered had come in.

A few seconds later, the fox ran back into the room, carrying a white paper bag. The tod reached into the bag and pulled a pancake-shaped confection of some sort.

"Dorayaki?" he said, holding what he now had in his paw in front of Judy.

The doe was unsure of he was saying. "What?" was all she said in response.

"This confection," Nick replied. "It's called a dorayaki. Do you want some?"

"What is it?"

"Between these two patties is supposed to be some kind of sweet paste made from red beans," Nick replied. "You gotta give it a try. They're pretty good, and I'd be a liar if I didn't say that I ate a couple of the ones I ordered before bringing them here."

Judy smiled at her fox, producing a giggle as she kindly took the confection from Nick's paw and held it in both of hers. She took a small bite out of it, nodding approvingly at how it tasted.

"Wow, that's sweet," she remarked

"I know, right?" Nick said in agreement with her, proceeding to take out another dorayaki from the bag. "You want another one? There's a couple of more I haven't eaten yet."

"Save them for dessert," Judy replied.

The fox nodded and placed the confection back into the paper bag. "Good idea. Don't wanna spoil the appetite before we get to try out some of the cuisine." He went to walk out of the room and make his way over to the dining area. "Come on. I'm gonna go get the table set."

A few moments later, the food that he had ordered awaited her as she took a seat on the chair Nick had already pulled out for her. In several take-out boxes were several different oriental dishes, including one order of sesame soba noodles, as well as the veggie medley Nick knew was Judy's favorite dish of this kind of cuisine.

"You got us quite a variety," Judy remarked as she grabbed one of the boxes and began to serve herself.

"Yep," Nick replied, nodding his head with a smile on his muzzle. "Thought we'd get an idea of what the majority of what they offered tasted like."

The rabbit laughed under her breath. "Reminds of me of that one time when we were at that international food buffet, and when you went around and grabbed something from each section."

"We only live once, Fluff, so why not try all of the cuisine this world's got to offer?"

"Good point, Slick. If that's the case, then the dish I can cross off the list is that sweet pastry you gave me."

Sometimes all it took was something as simplistic as confections to make one's day better.

Author's Note: The dorayaki that was mentioned within this story is a sweet treat that's part of Japanese cuisine. I was inspired to incorporate it into a story after seeing a movie called Sweet Bean, which is about a baker who makes them. Highly recommend giving that a watch, 'cause it was beautiful! :)

Anyway, hope you liked this little story. Not much to it this time around, but hopefully it was still an enjoyable slice of life. As always, let me know what your thoughts were on this. Your thoughts, good and bad, are always gladly appreciated.

'Til next time, everybody! :)