The next afternoon during lunch break, Clawhauser was skimming through a magazine, seeing if there was anything of interest in it, when Nick greeted him.

"Hey, Claw." the fox said, strolling over to the front desk in his uniform and signature smirk.

"Hey, Nick!" Clawhauser responded happily, smiling widely as he put the magazine away.

"I just wanted to say 'thanks' for talking to me yesterday," Nick began, "Your advice really helped."

The cheetah smiled. "No problem, I'm glad I could help out!" He then leaned forward a bit, looking down at the fox. "How'd it go with Judy? Have you told her yet?"

"Well, thanks to you, Carrots and I have a date next Tuesday." Nick replied, his smile getting wider and a proud tone making itself apparent in his voice.

"Aw, that's great, Nick!" Clawhauser exclaimed excitedly, his tail curling behind him. He would have hugged him if the desk wasn't between them. "You're gonna have a great time with her, I know it!"

Nick nodded in agreement. "She said that she's been wanting to ask me out for a while, but didn't really know how to."

The cheetah giggled softly. "I bet she was relieved when you told her how you felt, then?"

The smaller predator nodded again, grinning. Seeing the fox truly happy like this made Clawhauser excited about Judy and Nick's relationship. It was a nice change from the usual sly attitude he usually went around with.

"Where are you taking her?" Clawhauser then asked, interested.

"A nice restaurant in Tundratown; Beatrice & Woolsley, I think it's called. Judy helped me pick it." replied Nick. "It's a little pricey, but I know a guy who could help with that."

Clawhauser then noticed that lunch break was over, and officers were returning to their work.

"Sounds nice! Tell me how it goes, alright?" he then requested, looking back down at his friend.

"Sure thing. See you, Claw." Nick responded, giving the cheetah a little wave before going over to rejoin Judy. Clawhauser watched them happily for a few moments before getting his magazine back out.

The rest of the day went normally until around six. Clawhauser was at home, on a video-watching session on his laptop, when he received a text from Nick. The message said that he had told Judy about how Clawhauser talked with him and gave him advice, and that Judy wanted to know if the cheetah wanted to hang out with them. Clawhauser smiled and replied, saying that he would, and inviting them over. He then went around and tidied up his apartment, even though it hadn't gotten that messy since the night previous. At around seven, there was a knock on his door.

"Hi, Clawhauser!" Judy exclaimed, beaming up at the cheetah after he had opened the door. Nick was smiling at him next to her, his paws in his pockets.

"Hey Judy! Hey Nick!" the larger predator replied, smiling at the both of them, moving out of the way and opening the door up more. They came in, Judy looking around, commenting on how clean it was.

Clawhauser got them drinks and they sat down in the living room space, him sitting in the armchair this time while Judy and Nick sat on the couch. The cheetah congratulated them on getting together and they talked for a while, about the police force, recent news, and other general things. Eventually, the talk turned back to Judy and Nick's relationship.

"So what's the next step?" Clawhauser asked Judy. The bunny thought a bit about it. "Well, I guess next up is telling my parents.."

The cheetah noticed that neither Judy nor Nick looked too thrilled at the concept. "How do you think that'll go?" he then asked.

"I.. don't know.." Judy said slowly, " I mean, my parents are really nice and all, but they aren't really too fond of foxes.. Well, they weren't, but since I saw them, they seem like they've opened up more." she explained.

"I just think the fact that I'm dating a fox would be a much bigger deal to them."

Clawhauser glanced over to Nick as Judy talked, and noticed that his smile had almost fully disappeared. It seemed that he was almost as nervous about this as she was.

"The rest of my family should be fine, except for maybe a few of my older siblings.."

"I think it'll be fine, Carrots." Nick chimed in, "If they don't like me, they'll come around soon enough."

"Yeah.. I shouldn't be that worried, but.. You know. They're my family, so what they think means a bit more.."

Judy's ears had drooped at this point.

"I don't know, I just want them to be happy." she finished after sighing. Clawhauser glanced at Nick again, the fox looking slightly distressed at the sight of his partner's worrying. Nick glanced back, giving the cheetah a meaningful look.

"..Would you like a hug, Judy?" Clawhauser asked, looking back at the bunny. Judy nodded softly and went over to him, jumping up onto the chair and hugging him, the cheetah hugging back. He gently pet her fur, being more careful than he was with Nick since Judy was significantly smaller.

"I'm sure you're thinking a bit too much about this, Judy.." he said quietly as he rubbed her back. "From what I can tell, your parents don't seem that bad, if they've opened up more like you say they have. I know they love you, so they'll see that you're happy with Nick, even if it takes some time.. When they accept you and him together, the rest of your family will most likely follow suit."

"Carrots, even if they don't agree with you, they still love you just as much as I do." Nick added, giving a small smile to his partner.

Clawhauser nodded. "And if they do start treating you badly, just let me give them a call and talk to them, okay?"

Judy nodded gently, smiling weakly again.

The cheetah continued to cuddle Judy, him and Nick saying comforting things to her to cheer her up, and eventually she was fully relaxed.

"Thank you, guys.. I was just panicking a little.." she said, still lying against Clawhauser.

"No problem, Judy." he said, smiling down at her. "Wanna stay like this for a bit?" he then asked. She nodded wordlessly with a small smile. Clawhauser looked at Nick, who was watching, and smiled more. "Come on, Nick." The fox rolled his eyes a tiny bit, but happily hopped down from the couch, climbing up onto the chair, the cheetah using his free paw to help him up. He cuddled up against Judy, and Clawhauser hugged them both.

"We'll be okay, Carrots." Nick said calmly as he relaxed a bit.

A few minutes of silence passed before it was broken, Judy looking up at Clawhauser.

"This is really nice.." she commented, giving him a small grin, Nick nodding in agreement next to her, his eyes closed.

The cheetah also nodded. "My mom used to do this whenever I was upset and it always helped, so I figured it would work with others."

"You were right." the bunny said, resting her head back down.

The three of them stayed like that for a while until they started to get sleepy and decided it was time to leave. Clawhauser helped them both down and got up, moving over to the door and opening it for them. "I'm always up for doing this again, if you'd like." he said, making sure the two got their drinks from the coffee table.

"I might have to take you up on that offer." Nick commented as the two went out the door, grinning at the cheetah. "Same here," Judy added, "Thanks so much for this, Clawhauser. It really helped."

"Any time." he replied, smiling. "I'll see you guys tomorrow!"

"'Night, Claw." Nick said, Judy waving goodbye as they walked down the hall to the elevator.

Clawhauser watched them for a few moments, then sighed contentedly and closed the door.