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Friday was hard on Judy, not seeing her vulpine partner in the morning somehow managed to dampen her normally bulletproof ever-cheery disposition. She found her ears drooping more than usual, and when she noticed something interesting happening they perked up, waiting for a dry quip from her quick-witted partner that never came. In fact, it was miserable. She tried to shake herself out of it over the day, but was unable to fill the noticeable hole in her life even for just twenty-four hours. What had gotten into her? You meet a fox and suddenly you can't bear to be without him for a few hours? She pouted, annoyed at her dependence through her patrol. When she returned home, she also found it hard to sleep. The scent in her room, or lack thereof, made her first realize that Nick's apartment smelled a lot like him, specifically in the misty, lavender kind of way, and second just how comforting and nice the aroma was. Something felt... empty without it, like there was something missing that was usually vital to her life.

Speaking of things that stuck with her on the way out of Nick's apartment, she spent nearly an hour in the showers of her own apartment complex trying to get all of the crimson fur off of her. She tried her best to avoid blocking up the drains with the stuff, but suddenly felt a bit embarrassed at just how covered she really was. She almost needed a lint roller, that is if it wouldn't tear out her own shorter fur. Anyone that had seen her for the past day or so at least might make some assumptions, and again her mind rebelled by not really minding too much about that.

Luckily, she didn't have to go without her fox for very long. Over the weekend Chief Bogo had her come back in and 'bring the fox as well' after an audible sigh over the phone. So, she pulled a blue blouse on to somewhat fit in with her coworkers' color scheme and a pair of jeans to match, strolling up the street from the bus stop on her way to the station after only a few minutes. Sure enough, Nick seemed to take his time getting there. He arrived nearly twenty minutes later.

"Hey Carrots!" the red fox called from the same bus station she had come from, sauntering at his usual pace. The rabbit could still see the veins in his eyes, but the whites had gone back to their proper pearly sheen, she was happy to see that he was smiling as well.

"You look a lot better, Nick," she finally responded as he approached her. A tiny balled up paw came up to punch his arm.

"Ow, well I certainly won't be feeling any better when you break my arm, Hopps. Repetitive stress injuries are a thing, you know."

Judy grinned as she walked with him into the building, waving on her way past Clawhauser. "What, want me to punch somewhere else?"

The vulpine flicked his tail in annoyance, rolling his eyes. "No, I would like to submit a complaint to HR though."

The bunny's face scrunched up at that. "Ugh, don't remind me about that stag."

Nick recalled vaguely that his partner had been pulled into the HR office recently, and couldn't help but ask. "Not a very savory character, fluff?"

"Not at all!" she pursed her lips on the journey to the Chief's office for the second time in almost as many days. "First of all he was 'worried about my mental state' after the Bellwether case, saying that most officers didn't have to go through the same sort of stuff and offered me a paid vacation so I could 'recover'."

Nick chuckled and interrupted slyly, "Yeah, seems like a real jerk..."

"Nick! He did it because he thought I couldn't handle it, thought that I might scare myself to death or something I bet." she pouted.

"Maybe it's standard protocol?" the fox offered, but Judy's ears shot up at that.

"Yeah, just like complaining about personal quirks is," she grumbled, now outside Bogo's door.

"Hmm?"

"He said that he could switch me to a different partner if I felt 'marginalized'. He heard you calling me carrots and thought I might be offended." the lapin spoke quietly and quickly, but Nick's hearing was still good enough to pick up on it.

"Ah, so that's what the whole angry thing is about..." he smiled slyly, "Don't worry about me Fluff, I can take care of myself, trust me. You don't need to defend me from some HR rep with too much time on his hands."

The rabbit officer seemed satisfied with that and nodded as she finally opened the door. The Chief had a pair of glasses that seemed minuscule compared to the size of his head on and was reading a red file. Well, all the files were red, but this one was prominent for its name, Lucy Woolson. "Hopps, Wilde, I don't want to have to deal with any more funny business today. Lucy is in room four for questioning over the events of the last few days. She's been making a full recovery. Also," he took his glasses off to acknowledge them more directly, "her dad might be here. Try not to offend him, he's a friend of the mayor's and I'd rather not get yet another call about a certain fox or bunny."

Judy saluted, nodding once and leaving the room as quickly as she had entered.

"Since when did we start interrogating stabbing victims?" Nick commented dryly as they took a left to reach interrogation room four, down a flight of stairs.

The rabbit shot him a look. "You know that we're not 'interrogating' her, she voluntarily came in to answer a few more questions. We didn't arrest her or anything..." she became progressively more quiet, her voice ultimately trailing off completely as the two noticed a tall, extremely well-dressed ram waiting outside the door of the interrogation room. He was tapping his foot, and for all means did not look very pleased with the current situation.

"Mr. Woolson I presume?" Nick decided that perhaps initiating the conversation would be the best way to handle this one. No point in slinking around after all.

The ram's head darted to the source of the fox's speech, and he noted the two officers approaching. "Ah, Officer Wilde. Must say, I didn't think that they would have you on actual duty so quickly." He sounded at least somewhat apologetic, and it calmed Judy. The rabbit had been standing behind her partner and noticed after a few moments that her fists were curled into balls. She still wasn't happy about what had happened to her partner, regardless of how Nick felt.

"Yeah, I'm sturdy enough to get through that." the vulpine responded, his ear twitching slightly as he caught Judy's expression from the corner of his eye, putting himself quickly between her and the ram.

"Well I should think so! What with what happened to you during the Bellwether incident I don't know if I would have been able to get out of bed for at least a week, yet you went straight through to being a cop! I tell you, it is people like you that make me glad I did this station. I gave a great discount, as you two probably know."

Judy frowned internally. No they didn't know of course, what, were they the treasurer of the city too? And not only that, but what relevance did that have to anything? But, she put up a smiling facade, a skill that one often had to develop on the police force. Nick took over before she had to put any more effort in though.

"Why yes, and I must say, what a beautiful building it is. Truly delightful, really perks me up on a bad day. Now, Hopps and I must be going to see your daughter-" The fox tried to disengage himself and his partner from any further conversation, but failed when the bulky architect interrupted.

"Indeed you must, what I don't understand is why your force is holding my daughter in an interrogation cell after she's just been mortally wounded! I must say, it truly is embarrassing for both me and you! It's not like she would run, why she talks about you two all the time! I must have a word with your supervisor." Mr. Woolson seemed to remember why he was angry, and his voice twisted back from its previous apathy to a much more threatening tone. Nick and Judy shot each other looks, talking to Bogo about this was NOT a good idea. Good leader he may be, he was the PR department's worst nightmare when it came to being disturbed.

"We're merely following procedure, sir. Your daughter may leave whenever she likes, see, the room, it's not for us per se." Judy shot her vulpine partner another look as he tried to defuse the situation, but he ignored it. "Your daughter may have some very... traumatic things to talk about in there when it comes to a case of this importance, and we just can't risk having the meeting in open air. In there, the only people who will hear will be relevant department personnel. That way your daughter doesn't have some nosy secretary spreading rumors about her. For a man of your status and so well-esteemed I'm sure you'd understand the importance of such a measure."

The lapin slowly tapping her foot had a hard time not rolling her eyes. Nick really was laying it on thick this time, she'd seen this tactic of his many a time. In fact, it was part of what convinced her of his innocence when she had first found him in that ice cream shop. How things had changed.

The architect nodded slowly, mulling over what the fox had presented him with in his mind before finally stepping out of the way for the pair. "I'm sorry Mr. Wilde, I must have forgotten who I was speaking to. I shall be awaiting your return here."

Nick smirked at that, and Judy again had to can a groan. All this ego-stroking was hardly what her partner needed. But it got them into the room, so she didn't mind too much.

The pair slipped quickly into the much less comforting design of the interrogation room. Lucy was sitting at the singular metal table positioned in its center. The walls were cold, made of solid unpainted concrete and bordered by glinting metal braces. The room was soundproof of course, and the heavy door swung closed with a slight hiss behind the crimson fox entering behind the much smaller lapin.

"Oh! Hello there!" Lucy peeped out as they walked to the table. She was bouncy and full of more energy than was probably good for her as evidenced by the large bandage over her abdomen. The lamb winced, sitting back in her chair.

"Woah there, settle back, we don't want you getting hurt again after all..." Nick was at the table in a flash, his hands padding the air gently.

Judy joined his side, watching the prey opposite her nearly vibrate with excitement. What could she be so happy about?

"I-I just wanted to say I'm a huge fan of both of you and I'm so so so sorry Nick!"

Oh, so that was it. Great. Something about the juvenile's use of the fox's first name really bugged the rabbit, enough to continue her bad mood from the fox-away incident.

"Hey, I'm well enough to be here, aren't I?"

Great, and now Nick was getting all funny with the little lamb. Again, Judy couldn't place it but something seriously rubbed her the wrong way about this.

"I'm still so sorry, if I had known it was you I would never have done that! I love you two, you're like super famous at my school, and all the stuff you two do. It's like an action movie but real!" The lamb was bouncing in her chair, and Nick couldn't help but chuckle a little. Fangirling was not something that he was totally prepared for yet, though the one school visit he had done so far certainly had exposed him to it.

"A lot of that is probably exaggerated then-"

"Yeah, speaking of which, we really should get to your story Ms. Woolson," Judy cut him off, still brooding, "We asked you to come in and answer a few questions because we were curious about the events that transpired the day of your attack. If you still don't mind answering a few..."

The lamb nodded, her eyes widening suddenly in worry that she had disappointed them. "Oh yes of course!"

"Good," the rabbit continued, "So, Ms. Woolson, you claim that the suspect who assaulted you was male, and a gray fox. Is that correct?"

The lamb nodded, keeping her lips shut.

"Are there any other details that you remember? Anything can help, height, relative build, certain distinguishable markings?" Nick chimed in, and his return to professionalism made the bunny next to him's ears rise gently.

The lapin nodded to herself at her partner's change in demeanor, smiling gently. Perhaps he had noticed her slightly grumpy visage and decided to get to the point. In fact, she wondered whether or not he was doing it because of his training or just for her enough to miss the lamb's response to that question. Damn, she really should pay more attention, what was with her and spacing out around him so much? Nick was giving her a weird sideways look now, oh shoot.

"Well, that's a shame Ms. Woolson, it really would help us identify the assailant if we knew anything more, you really don't remember anything besides his species?" The vulpine's words carried a bit of an edge, but it was lost on the lamb. Judy thanked him internally for catching her up again.

"...No, I'm sorry sir."

Now the rabbit officer understood the look her foxy friend had given her before. As much as crime dramas liked to pretend there was as way to one-hundred percent tell if someone was lying, there wasn't. Even a lie detector had a high enough failure rate to lack enough certainty to be used in investigation. Yet, if one was looking for a good hint that someone wasn't telling the truth, nervous hesitations before simple recalls of memory like the one Lucy had just pulled was certainly a big one.

Judy narrowed her eyes at the lamb ever so slightly, so as to not yet appear threatening. "Are you sure, Ms. Woolson? I must say, because we have no reports of any such gray foxes. You might be misremembering?"

Lucy Woolson was not a trained spy, and she likely wouldn't get very far in an acting career as she let off another tell, eyes flicking nervously between the two officers. "No, I... It all happened so fast that I just don't know what really happen-"

"Lucy." Nick cut her off, but this time his tone was much less speculative. It was a soft voice of reason and understanding, calming to the girl before him. "Listen, we know that it must have been very traumatic for you to go through what happened. You're very lucky you weren't hurt any more than you were, but you're also very strong. I mean, hell, you took down a police officer, and I'm not even one of the old flabby ones. I'm freshly trained! You should be proud of yourself for getting out of whatever situation that was, but in order to help you we need to know what really happened. There aren't any reports of a fox or anything nearby the scene, but maybe if you recall why you were there in the first place it could all come back to you?" The vulpine smiled gently.

Judy's eyes didn't leave her partner for some time, that was the best 'good cop' she'd ever seen. Like, better than the example they gave the new recruits in training as the perfect setup. Nick really was a good cop, well, not in the good cop bad cop way, just in the generally skilled style. She was glad he decided to go through with this career, and was becoming more and more confident in her choice of a partner by the minute. Then again, that only counted if one was allowed to be more confident than one-hundred percent.

Lucy nodded, and her face melted further into the bag of nerves that both officers could tell she really was here. "I'm so sorry! Just, everything I say in here is confidential, right?" she gushed, her eyes staying locked to the fox's.

Nick nodded gently. "No one you know will ever know about whatever you say. That is, unless you did something really bad, like murder, in which case I would ask how you managed to hide the body so well." Again, he tried humor. This time it seemed to have at least some effect, the lamb settled slightly.

"Well..." She paused as Judy pulled a carrot-shaped pen from her side, bringing up a notepad. So much for total confidentiality. "My dad, he doesn't give me much money, see? Says he wants me to work for it. I really kinda got in a rough spot with a few gang members over some scrape on their car, I-I've never been good at driving..."

Judy's ears perked up at that. Now there was a motive. She jotted down a short summary, this was seeming more and more mundane. "Why didn't you report the accident to the police, or the gang involved?" She questioned, keeping her own voice neutral.

"They said they would hurt me if I did!"

Again, another question answered. Nick subtly shot her a look. That would explain why the lamb had been 'misremembering' so many details.

"Don't worry Lucy, we won't let them hurt you, okay?" Nick spoke up, again his deeper tones almost naturally calming.

The quivering lamb settled, if only slightly, at his reassurance. "Thank you, but I didn't know what to do at first so I..." she took a breath to continue but snapped her mouth shut instead, letting the statement trail off.

Judy's writing hand stopped. The bunny looked up at Lucy, her eyes narrowing slightly as her forehead shrunk. "You...?"

"I stole some of my dad's old plans for a few places, okay! I-I don't even remember which ones, they said it would all be okay if I did what they asked but then when I went to give it to them they jumped me! There was this big gray wolf and he ran at me and I just threw the case at them and ran!" She was shaking now, eyes glistening with the first traces of tears.

Judy started to open her mouth, but again Nick stepped in as he had many times before to comfort the younger sheep.

The vulpine leaned forward, looking into her eyes understandingly. "Thank you, and I don't think you need to worry about what you did too much. I would rather think you learned your lesson about stealing or getting involved in gangs?"

She nodded, breaking eye contact with him to stare at her hooves. "Y-Yes sir. Sorry sir. Just, please don't tell my dad!"

Nick smiled gently, keeping his voice calm. "Don't worry, I don't think that will be necessary. Could you do just one more thing for me?"

Lucy nodded quickly, the wool atop her head bouncing with it.

"What was the name of the gang, did you happen to catch it?"

The lamb thought for a moment, racking her memory as to whether or not she had overheard enough of their conversation to place a definite name. "I'm pretty sure that they called themselves the Silver Paw or something?"

Nick filed the information away, giving his lapin partner a quick look. Judy looked right back, 'Silver Paw' was not any sort of gang they had ever heard of, and it was required that they have a general knowledge of the local criminal organizations. It could be a smaller lesser known one, or perhaps something that was just starting up and hadn't been involved in anything to date, but normally even the more dangerous small gangs took some time and growth to turn to serious violence such as stabbings.

Lucy was still staring at both of them apprehensively, and Judy decided that now might be a good time to wrap up the interview. After all, they did have a lot to work with. A motive, a species, even a name of an organization. This was a lot better than what they normally had to deal with. Not to mention those missing plans, it's not like architectural blueprints were any sort of hot seller on the black market or anything.

The bunny closed her small pad of paper, slipping the carrot pen into her back pocket. "Ms. Woolson, thank you very much for your cooperation with the ZPD. We really appreciate it, you gave us a lot of good information. Thanks to your honesty we'll be much better prepared to find whoever did this to you."

Lucy beamed at the praise, her watery eyes quickly disappearing to be replaced by sheer joy. Her dad must not have been lying, she certainly was nervous around the famous officers beyond just the typical questioning nerves seen in most suspects or informants, and their praise was taken very highly.

"Feel free to return home now, again, we can't thank you enough Ms. Woolson," Nick permitted her as he stood from his chair, instinctively helping Judy from hers. Rabbits were certainly one size that didn't exactly fit the 'one size fits all' furniture in the police station. The lamb followed them out, and the two officers gave the billionaire pair a quick goodbye before the sheep scurried off to catch some play.

Judy began the walk back out of the police station, she could write her report from home and didn't want to spoil her day off fretting over the intricacies of paperwork. Yet, she did have to admit that the case intrigued her. "Pretty good in there Nick. She seemed to really like you."

The Fox padding beside her smiled at that praise as they passed Clawhauser's desk, waving to the massive cheetah. "How dare you," he teased quietly, "but is it just me that feels really weirded out by all this?"

The bunny shook her head. "No, I get what you mean. Since when are blueprints hot ticket items on the black market?"

"Since now I suppose," the vulpine responded as he pushed open the front door of the police station. "I just can't think of why. Like, who would need blueprints off of some fancy architect?"

Judy subconciously kept her pace slow and leisurely, and the fox strolling beside her had to consciously keep his steps shorter to maintain his position next to the bunny. Her ears perked up as she got an idea, turning her head to watch Nick as he walked. "Burglars use that stuff! I mean, I bet that anyone who's a client, well, is rich enough to be a client of Mr. Woolson's business would be a great target for theft! Shoot, if only Lucy remembered which of those plans she gave them..."

The red fox swished his tail behind the lapin, nodding quickly. "Now you're thinking like a hustler, fluff."

Judy shot him a look, rolling her eyes. "Either way, we should get some police detail to keep a watch on any of Woolson's clientele."

"And let the rest of the city go without police for a while until they can upgrade their own security, while simultaneously destroying his business? Whatever we do, carrots, we've gotta do discreetly. Speaking of which, perhaps now's not a great time to be talking over case details?" the taller officer offered, stepping into a bus which had stopped on its route. "See you at your place for a movie tonight?"

Judy perked up at that, looking left to right, ensuring that no one had been listening in on their conversation. It looked like they were lucky. "Uh sure, see you then, slick!" She was a little taken aback by his sudden offer, but admittedly pleased. The days without him were harder than she had thought and seeing him for a movie would be nice. Man, she really needed to get some more friends or something, clinging to Nick's leg all day probably wasn't hugely desirable to the fox.

Judy rolled her eyes, tapping a paw against the floor of her tiny apartment. Nick was late, as usual. He was always late by just a few minutes, just enough to slightly annoy-

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK

And there he was, right on schedule. Twelve minutes late on the dot.

Judy opened the door to see him smugly smiling down at her.

"Hey Carrots, what's up?"

The rabbit rolled her eyes. "You're late. Again. I mean it's not like you're ever late for work!"

The fox swished his tail as he entered, flicking it in the lapin's face. "If I thought it took any work to enjoy your company, I would be on time."

Judy flushed a bit red at that, shutting the door behind her. "Okay slick, whatever you say. Though, whatever happened to that heat thingy of yours? You're not a walking fox-zombie anymore."

"I got some alone time to... uh, meditate. Helps me keep it contained you know? That first day I didn't have time. Forgot to wake up early enough to." The fox was a bit too red himself for his story to be believable, but luckily he was facing away from the bunny at the moment.

"Funny, you really don't strike me as the meditative type..." Judy raised an eyebrow, but the vulpine was quick to shut down the conversation before it continued.

"I'm not." His tone was a bit uncomfortable, and she dropped it gracefully.

"So, what do you want to watch, big guy? Savage Seas?" she offered the choice innocently.

Nick smirked. "Carrots, we both know that you only want to watch Savage Seas because of that one bunny actor you think is hot."

Judy turned red again, punching her friend in the arm. "Do not! Just because I'm a female bunny doesn't mean that I-"

"Fluff, you own like every single one of his films," the fox cut her off, chuckling as he flicked through the list of 'owned movies' on her computer. "Savage Wilds, The Bun Who Loved Me, Goldenhorn, From Zootopia With Lo-"

The bunny had been turning redder as Nick listed her collection off, and she finally cut him off. "So what if I like his movies! Doesn't mean I think he's a hunk or anything, and so what if I did? I mean..." her voice faltered slightly, "it's not like I'm ever gonna meet him or anything."

Her partner smirked, but it was missing some of its usual snarkiness. Nonetheless, he tried to cover it up with a quip. "Admitting there's a problem is the first step to solving it, Carrots. I'm proud of the progress we've made today."

Judy punched him again in the arm, harder this time. It drew an ouch that was loud enough to satisfy the rabbit's embarrassment. "It's not a problem Nick, again, one he doesn't know I exist, and two it's not like he's actually a secret agent. I bet he's a total dick in real life like most actors." She tried to further hide her interest in the male rabbit.

Nick shook his head. "Don't sell yourself short Hopps, I think you're more famous than you know." His voice was more resigned, and Judy perked her ears up at that. Maybe it was true, and at least she could hold on to that. She didn't catch his tone.

"Thanks Nick, though that seems to get in the way more than it helps most of the time. 'Oh Miss Hopps, could you please stop that very dangerous chase you're in the middle of to sign this shirt?'" she chuckled, her vulpine companion following suit.

Nick stood, stretching. "Well Hopps, you pick whatever you want. I gotta go to the bathroom." At this point the fox knew where the restroom facilities were in Judy's building, and escorted himself there.

Judy nodded, sending a lazy half-wave his way as he excused himself. She scrolled through the movies on her laptop. Surely she didn't just like all these because she was infatuated with Jack Savage, right? She couldn't convince herself that it wasn't for that reason at least in some capacity no matter how hard she tried. But there wasn't anything wrong with that. He was a famous bunny actor, and a rather attractive one at that. They were the same species and everything, it was natural for her to strive for that. Plus, it's a harmless fantasy. The character she was in love with didn't exist. Again, the actor could probably be very different in person and she knew how different some could look when they weren't being harped over by hundreds of makeup and costume artists. She convinced herself finally that yes, it was okay that she liked the moves somewhat thanks to the male lead and there was nothing wrong with that.

Also, where was Nick? He left like five minutes ago, he should be back by now. She scanned the room, as if that would help in an apartment the size of a large refrigerator. No sign of her partner as expected, but a buzz on the table in front of her made her ears stand up, darting to the source of the sound. The fox had left his phone on the desk, and it must have just gone off. Judy absentmindedly grabbed the device, checking the now-lit screen. The message was from someone called 'Rachel', no profile picture accompanied it and Judy didn't recognize the app that it was being pinned to his screen by. Its symbol looked like a fire with a fox's tail sprouting from it.

There was a bit of scrambling at the door, and the rabbit officer quickly put the phone face down back on her small desk. Who was Rachel? That sounded like a girl's name, a vixen's name even. Did she know any vixens named Rachel? Why did it seem so familiar?

"Hey Carrots, sorry. There was a bit of a line. Honestly, who lives where you need to wait in line for your own bathroom? We gotta get you a better place, Hopps." Nick was already sitting on the bed and Judy's brain was functioning well enough to take her own place on it as well. She suddenly remembered that her parents had sent her something just the other day, prompted by the sight of her friend's phone.

The rabbit absentmindedly pulled her own phone from her pocket, flicking through to her messages. Sure enough, it was right there at the top.

Glad to know you two are getting along well enough! We're here to support you Judy, every step of the way. Though, we are a bit relieved that you're taking things a bit slower than that. What with kids these days and well, our species in general it's hard to find someone who's willing to give that enough time! Be careful still! XOXO

She sighed, sitting back into the bed. At least that was taken care of. Well, sort of. The lapin wasn't entirely sure that her parents weren't still suspicious but at the moment she was a little more concerned with other matters, like whoever the hell Rachel was.

"So, Fluff, still thinking on which of the many Jack Savage series to watch?" Nick had been patiently flicking his tail and finally spoke up, lightly brushing it.

"Oh! Uh, Savage Seas I suppose? I didn't want to just pick without you," she responded, covering well for her lack of focus.

The vulpine nodded, smiling gently. "I'm fine with a bit of bunny hunk, and I'm sure you are too." He reached his arm out to start the film, as Judy was a bit too short-limbed to reach that far.

She snuggled back into the bed, able to fall almost fully against the mattress with her tiny size. Nick maintained a respectable distance from her on the cushion, but was much closer than if they were strangers. The rabbit officer found herself rather fond of the slight warmth radiating from his fur.

After a few moments, the vulpine's ears flicked at a low buzz that radiated from the desk next to the laptop. He reached out, pawing his phone off of the surface and looked to his partner. She seemed not to notice and it was only the opening credits so far of a movie they'd both seen at least four or five times, so he figured it wouldn't be too rude to quickly check it.

"Oh my god."

Judy's ears perked up, and her eyes shot to the scarlet-orange fox beside her. "What?"

Nick for once wasn't paying much attention to the bunny at his side. Instead, he was typing frantically on his phone and looking rather flustered. A splash of darker red ran over his cheeks.

"Who is it Nick?" Again, the rabbit tried to get a response from her partner. Again, it failed.

"Not now Carrots, just give me a second or two..." his fingers were a blur, only stopping to allow him to think over the next barrage to send.

"Nick!"

Nick snapped out of it, his head darting to face Judy's. That tone had certainly caught his ear. It sounded... hurt, almost. He put his phone face down on the bed, letting it buzz once more and taking a deep breath before addressing his partner.

"You ever used any sort of online dating, Judy?" The bunny perked her ears up, pouting ever so slightly as she shook her head. She really didn't like where this was going.

"Well, there's this app called Cinder, it's for like... well, foxes. Mostly when we're in-season, so to speak." Nick was trying his best to make it sound reputable and not just something that teen vulpines used to hook up when they were in heat, he was already a bit embarrassed that he used it in the first place.

Judy felt her stomach churn, her tiny mouth shifting slightly into an uneasy slash. "And?" she finally spat out.

"Well, I just matched with Rachel! You know, that vixe-... you know what? It can wait. Let's just watch the movie, okay Carrots? I'm sorry..." The fox's eyes shifted as he finally turned to see the absolutely crushed lapin at his side, remorse clear in them. It hurt to realize that he had caused his partner pain somehow, but he certainly seemed to have. A paw gently came up from his side, cupping the bunny's chin.

Judy let him touch her, taking a shaky breath. She didn't know what was wrong with her, Nick had every right to get involved romantically with others, especially with his... needs. "T-Thank you. I'm sorry, I really don't know what's come over me all the sudden," she murmured more than a bit embarrassed, ears falling to her back.

"That's okay Judy. I get it, I'm supposed to be spending time with you, not my phone. Just, next time punch me like you normally do, okay Fluff?" The vulpine smiled gently as he spoke, ruffling the top of her head with his paw.

Judy punched his arm, her own features rising to what could be considered at least the beginning of a smile. "Alright, I will ya big pest."

Nick let the pest slur slide, it was something that he was used to coming from an aggressive civilian more than his partner but understood that in this case the context mattered a whole lot more than being politically correct. His warm, bushy tail gently wrapped around his front lightly, the end of it resting next to Judy.

The rabbit herself was smiling again. Something about this fox just made that happen an awful lot. She finally turned her attention back to the screen. Nick was right, she did rather fancy Jack Savage. The current scene was still a bit of exposition, the secret agent rabbit was onscreen wearing a form-fitting black spec-ops like outfit, complete with as many pockets and buckles as possible. A dangerous-looking submachine gun was casually slung over his back, and Judy blushed a bit noting his rather impressive muscle tone as he gripped a bar on the small submersible he was riding in to his mission. She looked up at her partner, remembering touching his abdomen earlier. She shivered slightly.

"Cold, fluff?" Nick was looking back at her, noting her slight stare as he let her have some of her blankets out from under him.

"Oh, no. Thanks though!" She smiled. There was no need to worry about whatever her brain was trying to tell her. They both had work on Monday and an interesting case to solve, whatever this weird familiar feeling was could wait until then. The bunny took in her vulpine companion's scent, sighing out softly as she snuggled into the covers she had rejected just a few moments previously. Nothing to worry about in the world... she was safe.