*thunk*

The noise surprised Nick. After hours of staring at countless case files, only taking breaks to write down small annotations in the margins, the sudden noise brought him back to the real world. He glanced over his shoulder and noticed his partner wilting over her manilla folders, using the ridiculous amounts of paperwork as a makeshift pillow. The immediate silence of the room was only interrupted by small, soft breaths.

Nick sighed as he rubbed his eyes. They stung like he hadn't blinked in hours. He slowly stood up and lazily thrust his fist in the air, feebly celebrating his victory over his partner in resisting the temptations of sleep. Reaching into his pocket, he walks behind Judy to pose for a picture. This was the first moment he'd beaten her at being even slightly responsible, dammit. Of course he was going to capture it! And, you know, rub it in her face whenever he could, obviously.

Putting on his best zero-percent-tired-one-hundred-percent-responsible lazy grin, he stuck up two fingers behind and over Judy's head.

*click*

Nick stowed away his phone and lazily collected all of the paperwork on his desk, shoving it into a folder, completely disregarding any form of organization. "Alright Carrots, let's get you home."

Kneeling down, Nick wrapped an arm against her upper back and behind her knees, cradling her small, fuzzy body. He slowly lifted Judy up from her desk, letting her lean against the back of her chair. Soon enough, her head naturally fell backwards, revealing a tiny smile as she slumbered. When he was finally standing up, Judy let out a tiny yawn, followed by soft, unintelligible murmurs and nuzzled her forehead into Nick's chest.

By the time he reached her apartment, he could have sworn he was carrying a soft, furry ball with ears and a cotton-ball tail. The night was fairly brisk, so Judy had curled up into an adorable ball of fluff in order to stay warm. When he opened the door, only the sight of a gravely under-furnished apartment greeted him. Closing the door as quietly as he could, he walked over to her bed, one of the only pieces of furniture in the room. As he slowly pulled Judy off of his abdomen, she sleepily attempted to grasp at her portable, fleecy space heater. Unfortunately for her, her space heater was currently more coherent (and responsible!) at the time, and she found herself getting further and further away from her warmth.

"G'night Carrots", Nick whispered, bringing his arm up to softly scratch behind one of her ears. He stood back up, turned around, and began to walk towards her door.

"mmnnnnoo.. nniiiiiiiiccccck"

Nick stopped. He wasn't sure he was able to process this much adorableness. Walking back and kneeling next to Judy's bed, he kneeled down and continued to scratch behind her ears, feeling her scalp rub up back against his hands. After a couple of minutes, she rolled towards the edge of the bed, grabbing his arm and clutched on, gripping it in the fuzziest hug it had ever experienced. It didn't have a chance. Nick slowly tugged his arm back once, only to be met with a "mnnoooo". He tried again. "mmmmnnnooooooooooooo". He sighed. She nuzzled her cheeks against his fingers, only stopping when the strength of the grip on his arm changed from "fuzzy hug" to "crushed by fuzz".

"Carrots."

"no."

*sigh*

He crawled under the covers, giving up on his neigh-impossible task of returning back to his home. He rested his other arm behind Judy's head, scratching the back of her neck as he settled into his home for the night. She slowly gave up on her brutal attack on his forearm, redirecting her efforts to his torso. Maintaining optimal surface-contact-area with her furry space heater, she was finally able to rest, burying her face in Nick's tuft of neck fur. He wrapped both of his arms around the small of her back, cuddling with her as if she were a stuffed animal. As he felt the warmth radiating against his chest, he slowly closed his eyes.

"yes."