I kissed Judy. Well, on the cheek, anyway. The moment we connected I felt the biggest rush of energy flood through my body. It felt so right.

It took about ten seconds after my lips brushed the incredibly soft, perfect fur of Judy's face for my brain start working again. Horrified at what I'd done, I scrambled backward too quickly and fell on the floor.

"Is everything all right?" Bonnie called from the other room. Judy, who had raised a trembling paw to her cheek, took a moment to respond.

"Y-yes," she called, still frozen where she stood. She locked eyes with me.

"Judy, I'm so sorry, I don't know what came over me," I half whispered, acutely aware that both of our mothers were in the other room. She crossed the space between us before I could blink and closed my mouth with a paw.

We were so close again. Looking into her eyes, I again found my ability to read mammals failing miserably. Her face was an inscrutable wall.

"I…I drop my mother off at the train station at eight. You can take your mom home then."

I deflated entirely, tail going limp and ears drooping. She wanted to keep up appearances but didn't want anything to do with me otherwise—

"Then you can come back and we can talk." She brushed her paw gently along my muzzle once.

My heart stopped. Then the icy chill that had spread through my body the moment I realized what I'd done started to thaw just in the slightest. I nodded, the tiniest glimmer of hope returning. I could just tell her I was feeling emotional, that my mother being here had me off balance, anything at all other than what had been going through my head at that moment.

Lunch was an interesting ordeal. Mom and Bonnie being, well, mothers, knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that something had happened in the kitchen to change the dynamic between Judy and me. This had Bonnie beaming at me whenever Judy wasn't looking her way, and Mom chuckling slightly to herself at the lovesick way my eyes kept darting to Judy during the meal.

Judy, of course, pushed on through like nothing had happened.

"Judy, dear, what are you doing?" Bonnie asked, sounding slightly scandalized. I looked up from my plate to see my rabbit partner carving herself a piece of turkey. She withered under her mother's gaze. I decided to intervene.

"Look, I know it's supposed to be a little taboo to talk about it, but all of you eat a little bug meat, too, right? What's the big deal if she tries some poultry?" Judy's eyes went wide and she began shaking her head. Bonnie seemed shocked.

"Eat bug meat? Who told you that?" I shifted uncomfortably in my chair.

"Well, Judy said nearly everyone in Bunnyburrow will do it. She said it was a good cure for a hangover." Bonnie turned agonizingly slowly back towards her daughter.

"You've been eating bug meat too?" I realized that Judy had not been entirely honest with me about her little guilty pleasure. Judy set the piece of turkey breast she'd cut down on her plate.

"Okay, Mom, please just hear me out. I talked with my doctor a few months ago and she suggested I incorporate more protein into my diet because my job is so active." She sank into her chair, looking completely ashamed of herself. "I swear. I could give you her number if you're really worried, she's a rabbit too, from Podunk."

"Judith, rabbits aren't supposed to eat meat! We can't handle it!"

"Well, that's not entirely true," Mom interjected. We all turned to look at her. "There are plenty of records of rabbits, especially hares, supplementing their diets with meat in the past. Particularly during the winter." She gave a little smile and took a bite. "I can't blame Judy for wanting to try the turkey, though. It's very good." Bonnie didn't look particularly convinced.

"I'm not asking you to try it, Mom, just—just don't make a big deal out of it. Or spread it to the family," Judy begged. "Please."

Bonnie seemed conflicted and more than a little flustered, but eventually nodded anyway.

"Alright, dear. But I would like your doctor's number. Not that I don't believe you, Judy," she said suddenly, leaning out to take Judy's paw, "or you, Ms. Wilde, but I'd just like to hear it for myself." Mom just sat back, looking very amused.

"Please, Bonnie, call me Renee." Judy quickly took a bite of turkey the moment her mother turned to face mine.

…

We ended up checking out the art museum at my suggestion. Now that was somewhere I really never had been. I'd never managed to work out a good enough con to utilize the space. This ended up working in my favor, though; because I had no memories attached to the place involving my past, I didn't feel the occasional sting of guilt in visiting the museum with Mom.

Eventually, though, it came time to part ways. Mom and Bonnie exchanged phone numbers and embraced when we split up at the station.

I took a long look at Judy before I had to catch the bus to Happytown.

"Don't be long, okay?" she asked, looking up at me and taking my paw gently. I nodded firmly.

"See you in a bit."

Mom let me stew quietly for the first few minutes in the bus before prodding for answers.

"You keep chewing on your tongue like that, and you'll lose it," she said, bumping me slightly with her arm. I laughed quietly. "What's up?" I sat back in my seat and let off a sigh.

"I don't know where to even start, Mom." She smiled widely at that.

"Oh, I've missed you so much," she said, gripping my arm again. "I've missed my little twelve year-old scout, dead-set on making friends with everyone."

"I owe it all to Judy," I said. "And you, of course," I hastily amended. Mom shook her head a little and laughed.

"You love her."

"I really do," I replied forlornly, sinking forward again. "And I think I might have ruined things." Mom sat up, concern on her face.

"What makes you say that?" she asked, rubbing my back gently. I shrugged.

"I kissed her. Just on the cheek." I closed my eyes at the memory of Judy's face so close to mine, to the sweet scent she had. "I don't know what came over me, I've been trying so hard to keep a lid on this, but it just seems like everyone at work knows how smitten I am. It's like being naked, all the time, in front of everybody you know." Mom frowned.

"Why are you trying so hard to keep it from her?"

"I'm scared!" I blurted. "I'm scared that all of this will go away. That I'll make a move and she'll hate me, and that I won't be able to keep this up. I'm scared I'll get thrown off the force and that I'll—I'll go back to being some worthless grifter." I was in serious danger of hyperventilating at this point.

"Nicholas," Mom said gently. "Look at me." I lifted my head from my lap. "Never, ever be afraid to love. If you're too afraid you'll get hurt, you'll never be happy."

"She's my best friend, Mom. I can't lose her." I choked back a few tears. "I just can't." Mom wrapped me in a side hug.

"Who says you'll lose her?" she asked. "Go to her. In fact, get off at the next stop and go right back to her. Tell her how you feel." She smiled at me, her dark eyes so warm and bright and filled with love. "And make sure you kiss her right, this time." I took a deep breath, filling myself with resolve.

"Okay."

I couldn't wait for the return bus. Sunday meant I'd have been waiting for another thirty or forty minutes at best. I ran all the way to Judy's apartment, something that wouldn't have been possible a year ago. Yet another thing in my life I owed to Judy.

I was panting lightly as I thundered up the stairs to her apartment. After taking a moment to rake the fur on my head back into a manageable mess and catch my breath, I knocked at the door.

Judy was quick to answer. She had changed from the sun dress she'd been wearing earlier for the kind of tee and sweats she'd wear for movie night.

God, she was beautiful. I was trembling all over out of fear and anticipation.

"Hey, Nick," she greeted, twisting her ear with a paw. "Come on in."

I followed her back into the apartment, where we both took a seat on the couch. I opened my mouth to begin, but she beat me to it.

"My mother invited herself to Zootopia for Mother's Day."

This seemed like such a bizarre non sequitur that I froze.

"What?" I asked, sure I had missed something.

"My mom, she asked if she could come up for Mother's Day. At first, I thought she wanted to use it as an opportunity to convince me to come home," she said, her face falling into her paws. "But then she was asking if you knew any places we might visit while she was here. So I thought maybe she just wanted to see the city. But that wasn't why she came either." I shifted my weight slightly closer to Judy.

"Why did she want to visit?" Judy looked at me, a strange glossy look in her eyes.

"She wanted to meet you," she said.

"Me? Why?" I asked, a little perturbed.

"She told me yesterday, after you went home. She said that she wanted to meet the mammal I so clearly h-had a crush on…"

My jaw dropped, and I was sure I was the picture of idiocy at that moment. Judy continued.

"I don't know how it started or why I didn't see it. But Mom put things together whenever we'd talk on the phone. And so she wanted to meet you, make sure you weren't taking advantage of me or anything." Judy gave a bitter little laugh. "I got pretty angry at her for saying that, but she reassured me that she could see that wasn't the case." She drew her legs up onto the couch and held them tightly in her arms, looking steadfastly away from me.

"I know you were just emotional about your mom earlier, but—but, I just got so confused, and worried that I'd screw things up by wanting more," she said, sounding more miserable by the second.

I couldn't believe my ears.

"Judy," I said calmly, having finally found my voice. "Judy, come here." She shook her head and continued to stare at the floor in front of her. Heaving myself to my feet, I knelt in front of Judy and took her chin in my paw. At my touch, she closed her eyes and brushed her cheek against my paw briefly, before trying to pull away again.

"Judy," I repeated. She looked up at me. "I owe you…so, so much. My whole life, even. You have made," I said, before choking up slightly. I cleared my throat and continued. "You have made my life worthwhile. You are my best friend." I brushed a finger along her cheek.

"Why wouldn't I love you back?" Her eyes widened as I smiled at her, sure that I looked as sappy and as stupid as I ever had. She gave a watery hiccup of a laugh.

"We're both kind of stupid, huh?" Judy said, rubbing at her eyes with a paw.

"Kind of," I agreed.

My heart was pounding in my chest, and I was sure it was loud enough that Judy could hear it. I leaned in, as close as I had before, but nothing like the first time. The first time, it was entirely subconscious. This time it was all my choice.

Our lips met.

Was there something of a learning curve in kissing someone with a different mouth shape? Sure. But by god, I have never felt more alive or happy in my entire life.

After what seemed like hours, we broke apart. My ears burned, and neither of us seemed capable of looking away from the other.

"So," Judy said nervously.

"So."

"Where does that leave…us?" she asked, pulling her ears to one side to brush them anxiously. I cocked my head to one side.

"I suppose that's up to you," I replied. "But as for me…Judy, I don't need to go on any 'first dates' or anything like that to know that…I love you, Judy. I wasn't expecting this—not with you, not with anyone, frankly. You know I've been so closed off, so—so afraid to get hurt again. But I love you, and I will love you until the day I die." It got hard to breathe again, as I worried I'd just committed a cardinal sin and scared her off.

Instead, she gave me a shy, soft smile.

"I—I love you too, Nick." She hesitated, then leaned in close again.

Judy's phone went off. As one might expect, her ringtone was an old Gazelle favorite of hers. It made me chuckle, despite the moment it had just ruined.

Judy groaned and pulled at her ears in frustration before picking up her phone.

"It's Lucy," she said. "I should answer just in case it's something about Loxley." I nodded.

"Go ahead, I can wait a little longer," I replied. Judy smiled at me again, making my whole chest feel light.

"Hello, Lucy?" I could hear the tinny sound of Fangmeyer's voice through the speaker, but not anything she was saying.

"What?!" Judy exclaimed. "When? Tomorrow?" My brow furrowed at this reaction. What was going on? "And Bogo's okay with it?" There was another long pause as Fangmeyer explained something to Judy. "Okay," Judy finally replied, looking a little shell-shocked. "You know we'll be there. Congratulations. Give my love to Dan." She hung up the phone and sank back into the couch.

"What was that all about?" I asked. Judy turned to look at me, still a little stunned.

"Wanna go to a wedding tomorrow? Dan and Lucy need someone to stand in as witnesses at the courthouse."