Nick barely registered that the train had stopped. The entire trip from the city to Bunnyburrow had been a blur. As soon as the train left the city limits Nick had zoned out, leaning his forehead against the window and trying not to think about the weekend ahead. He couldn't even remember the last time he had been this far from home. He lifted his head as the other passengers started to mill about. Shuffling out of the row, he grabbed his bag from the overhead compartment. Why couldn't he just play this cool? He could do cool. He exhaled, pasted on a smirk, and stepped out of the train car. He slung his bag over his shoulder and jumped as the goat behind him let out an angry bleat.

"Sorry! Sorry!"

He scrambled to free the strap from the goat's horns as they stumbled onto the platform. A high, unmistakable laugh let him know that no, he would not hear the end of this anytime soon. He smiled in spite of himself, straightening his tie as the goat stamped off in a huff. From Nick's perspective, the crowd on the platform was an ocean of rabbit ears. One set of ears was talking to him.

"Nick! Over here!"

The pushy ears bobbed as his partner tried to wave him down. His smile widened for a fraction of a second. He reigned it back in. Be cool. This should be effortless for him. For God's sake, he was with her just about every day of the week. When they weren't working together, she was usually dragging him to a concert or to try out some new restaurant. But he knew there was a difference. That stuff was nothing. But this? This felt like a Thing.

Judy finally wormed her way to the front of the crowd. "Nick!" She was beaming. "I'm so glad you came." He nearly lost control of his bag again as she hugged him.

"Missing me already, Carrots? It's only been a week."

"And let me guess, it was your most boring week on the force."

"I was in shambles, Carrots. A wreck of a man."

She laughed. "Is that right?"

"They were sweeping pieces of me up off the break room floor."

"Oookay, okay."

They made their way to the beat up old thing Judy insisted was a truck. Nick finally registered the countryside around him. He sucked in a deep breath and shut his eyes for a second. The late spring sun was still on the comfortable side of warm. Even in a train station parking lot, the air smelled cleaner here than in the city.

"So, how's the Hopps legion these days?" said Nick as he tossed his bag in the back.

"Hah, let's just say that mom and dad have earned that vacation."

"You mean to tell me that the ZPD's fearless Officer Hopps can't handle a few kids for a week?"

"A few hundred."

"Well, you're very welcome for the backup."

"Backup? What I need is an organized crime task force."

He laughed, and for a moment Nick's anxieties quieted down. Sure, this wasn't his turf, but it was just him and Carrots hanging out like usual. She asked about his boring week, and he made fun of her attempts to keep the rabbit horde in line. They battled over the radio dial. Judy swatted away his attempts to honk the horn at a pair of bushy-faced Llamish farmers that insisted on riding their tandem bike in the middle of the lane. Eventually, Judy turned down a long dirt road. It dead-ended at the burrow.

"So this is Chez Carrots," said Nick, stepping out of the car and re-shouldering his bag. The burrow looked like half a house being swallowed by a large, grassy hill.

"Yep! This is home," said Judy, her hands on her hips as she admired the view beside him. "Well, the part you can see from above ground, at least."

"Personally, I'd like to see the part with a rocking chair and a tall glass of sweet tea."

"Oooh, that part. See, that part of the burrow is just down the hall, past the uncooked dinner, buried under the unfinished laundry."

She grinned at him as she pushed open the burrow door. "But if you work quick, I'm sure you can find it by sundown."

"Ah, the legendary hospitality of the carrot farmer."

He followed her in. Overstuffed chairs and couches crowded the brightly-lit living room. At least a fifty hats and jackets hung on an coatrack carved from an entire tree trunk. By fox standards, the room was enormous, but the sheer quantity of stuff in the room almost made Nick claustrophobic.

"I've gotta say, you bunnies have a interesting sense of interior design."

"Hey now, window seats are prime real estate in a burrow, what with most of it being underground and all. Come on, I'll show you your room."

A dozen tiny rabbit heads poked up from books, naps and video games to get a look at the visitor.

"Oh, uh, hi. Nicholas Wilde." He gave them a small wave. They stared. "So, about that room…", he said, not taking his eyes off the crowd that was gathering before him. He looked up to see Judy halfway down the hall. "Carrots!" Something grabbed his tail. "Hey, wait up!" He jogged after her, dodging around a wrestling pair of brothers and stepping over a tea party to catch up.

"Don't you ever do that to me again," he said, stopping to catching his breath beside her at the end of the long hallway.

"You poor thing." She smirked at him.

He looked up and promptly forgot whatever smart remark he was about to say. At the end of the hallway, the burrow sprawled out before him. Elevators and massive staircases carried bunnies up and down the levels of the complex, and countless hallways fed into the central hub in which they currently stood. Nick caught a faint whiff of earth. They were definitely under the hill at this point.

"Here. You might wanna hang onto this." She slapped him in the chest with a rectangular fan of paper.

"Ah yes, the resort brochure."

"The map."

He flapped it open like he was reading the Sunday news.

Judy ducked under his arm, annotating the map and circling areas with a pen. "Blue and pink areas are dorms, bathrooms are green, emergency exits are red."

"Cozy."

"And we are…here!" said Judy, drawing a little star at the end of one hallway.

"Am I bunking with the troops, then?"

"As much fun as that would be, you're in one of the guest rooms. Here." She circled "G6" in the directory. "Follow me!"

She took off and Nick followed, glancing down at the map every so often in a futile attempt to connect the numbers and letters to useful landmarks. He discarded this idea after the second time he nearly collided with one of the scores of Judy's siblings that milled about the burrow. Every so often a bunny would stop and gawk at the fox, but the burrow was so big and busy that they could make their way mostly ignored.

He followed Judy through a seemingly endless set of twisting hallways. Eventually, the earthy smell Nick had noticed was beginning to fade. The din of the central burrow had died down as well.

"We're close to the surface, right?"

"Look at you, getting your bearings already. We'll make a carrot farmer out of you yet, Mr. Wilde."

She threw open a door and stepped inside. "Welcome home! At least, it's home for the weekend."

The room was small, but comfortably furnished. Nick could feel her eyes on him as he surveyed his living quarters. He tossed his bag on the bed. "I gotta say, Carrots, these are some nice digs," he said, sinking into an armchair clearly designed for a mammal larger than a rabbit. "And hey, my own window! I hear these things are prime real estate in a burrow."

She fidgeted with a lamp, not seeming to hear him. "I know it's not much for someone your size. Mom made my dad furnish a few rooms for larger mammals." She smiled, placing her hand on a nightstand that almost came up to her chin. "She's trying to get him to be more...hospitable."

Nick blinked, then smiled back. "Well, I love it."

Judy's smile widened. "Well, don't get too comfortable. Get your stuff squared away and meet me in the laundry room!" She started out the door. "And you might want to lose the tie for now."

Nick unzipped his bag as she stepped out. "Aw shucks, looks like I forgot my farm chore overalls."

"Overalls will be provided!" she called from down the hall.

Nick chuckled to himself as he shut the door. He gave the room another look. The furniture didn't exactly look new, but it was in good shape, like someone had only just now broken it in the way they liked it. Must be second hand. The quilt draped over the bed was definitely hand made. He sat, the bed sinking under his weight, then sighed and flopped back. Everything was going okay so far. So why did he still feel so out of sorts?

After a minute of staring at the ceiling, he sat up and drew the curtains back. From his window, he could see a group of at least thirty young bunnies furiously weeding a recently sown patch of earth. Nick had known that Judy's family was large, but he had severely underestimated the scale of the family business. The burrow was basically a small town. Did they celebrate individual birthdays? What was Christmas like? Nick was an only child. He honestly couldn't even remember his last conversation with his mom.

Nick snapped back to attention. Carrots was waiting for him. He tugged off his tie and tossed it over the back of the chair. He slipped into a pair of jeans and the beat up plaid shirt that had survived his grunge phase. He looked himself over once in the mirror, grabbed the map, and started down the hall. The laundry room was two floors down and on the other side of the burrow. It should be simple enough to find.

He managed to find the East Wing elevator bay without too much difficulty. Three bunnies carrying baseball gear were already staring at the doors expectantly. He fiddled with his phone, trying to be inconspicuous. He could feel one of the bunnies trying to catch his eye. The oldest of the three, by the looks of it. Nick suddenly found his phone especially fascinating.

"Hey! You're that fox! " the bunny said almost giddily.

Nick looked up at the grinning rabbit. "Oh, yeah," said Nick. He tried to sound like he had just noticed they were there. A second passed. He should introduce himself. "Nick Wilde." He stuck out his hand.

"Anthony," said the teen. He looked at Nick's hand, then shook it.

Why was he shaking hands with a teenage? This isn't how you introduce yourself to teenagers. Nick discarded the thought and put on an easy-going smile.

"So you're Judy's boyfriend?" blurted out Anthony.

"What? No, I'm her, uh, partner."

"Our Uncle Jim has a partner," said the youngest bunny from behind Anthony.

Anthony laughed as he saw the look on Nick's face. "No, I think he means he's also a cop."

"What? Yes. Cop. I am also a cop." This was the slowest elevator in the world.

They were still shaking when the elevator dinged. He quickly let go of his hand as the doors slid open. Bunnies filled the already cramped area. The three boys slipped on as Nick scanned over the heads for a spot to stand. The doors started to close. Nick slid his arm in between them, and they re-opened. He started to squeeze in, painfully aware that every pair of eyes was on him.

"Sorry. Excuse me". The doors began to shut again, then reopened as his tail crossed the sensor. "You know what, I'll get the next one."

He turned and walked away from the elevator as quickly as he could, making a point to not look back at the sea of rabbits watching his retreat. He would not be waiting for the next one.