Judy hobbled out of the physical therapist's office. She had outright refused crutches or a cane, but willpower and pride did nothing to quell the burning pain in her leg, the fact that it felt like a lead weight to drag around, or that it would buckle if she put hardly any weight on it at all with her knee bent. Thankfully, Nick was waiting for her.

He rushed towards her from where he had been standing in the shade, stopping when she held up her paw. She covered the last few steps between them, latching onto him once he was in reach.

"Ah! Not so tight, Carrots. Remember the whole 'multiple cracked ribs' thing?"

"Right, sorry!" She loosened her grip, still a little wobbly.

He wrapped an arm around her as they slowly made their way towards his car. "So, how was your first therapy session?" he asked.

"Painful. They said I should be mostly fine within a week, but it'll take maybe a month to fully recover." After they reached the car, there was a moment of fussing. Judy eventually let Nick pick her up and place her in the seat. She glared at him as he stifled a grunt of pain. "I'll get out on my own," she said pointedly, giving him a very Judy Hopps smile.

"Be my guest," he said, padding around to the driver's side.

"Aren't you gonna close my door?" Judy called after him.

Nick shot her a shit-eating grin as he opened his door. "You're a big rabbit, you can do it yourself."

Judy harrumphed, leaning out of her seat, but the door handle remained just out of reach. She looked back, sticking her tongue out as Nick watched with amusement. She stretched a bit further, grabbed the handle, and slammed the door closed with a vengeance.

"Take it easy on my car, Carrots. I want it to last." They both buckled in after Nick started the car. He pulled out into traffic for the drive back to the precinct.

"Har har. Anyways, what's your prognosis?"

"Take it easy for a week, no serious exercise or heavy lifting for two more."

"So we're both out of commission for now?"

"Yup. I bet Bogo has plenty of paperwork for us to do in the meantime, though."

"Oh, joy."

Nick's car slowly advanced through the heavy traffic as he expertly ducked through side streets, avoided slowdowns, and used a loose definition of yellow lights. After twenty-five minutes of idle chatter and complaining about other drivers, they pulled into the Precinct One parking lot.

The door swung open and Bogo looked up from his report, watching as Hopps and Wilde entered the room. Wilde was clearly supporting Hopps.

So, a cane would be too shameful, but not being carried around everywhere by her fox.

He allowed himself a little smirk as they made their way towards his desk. When it became clear they were going to have trouble getting into the chair together, Bogo motioned for them to stop.

"As you were. This shouldn't take long anyways." He laid the report down and carefully removed his reading glasses, slipping them into his shirt pocket. "Since I don't want to see two of my best officers like this for long…" He paused while they exchanged gleeful smiles. After a moment, he cleared his throat, and they looked back at him.

"As I was saying, since I don't want you incapacitated for long, you'll be on desk duty for now. You have plenty of paperwork to fill out anyways."

"We won't let you down, Chief!" Hopps remained enthusiastic as ever, even at the prospect of a week's worth of bureaucracy. Wilde just nodded in agreement, but he was still smiling.

"Speaking of paperwork, besides all your incident reports, you're both going to have to be approached by Internal Affairs for review of your involvement in deadly shootings, although honestly that shouldn't take long to clear up. Wilde, we're going to want to keep mum about what you did to that horse as much as possible."

The fox coughed and looked down at his feet. Hopps gave him a brief squeeze and looked up at him.

"Some mammals from the DA's office are here to take initial statements from everyone involved. They'll find you at your desks."

"Oh, boy," Nick muttered as they turned for the door.

"Oh, Hopps, Wilde."

The pair turned back to see Bogo gazing at them with the closest thing to a mischievous smile his face could manage.

"Seeing as you have both been injured in the line of duty, and experienced significant emotional trauma…" He paused, enjoying the concern written across the two mammals' faces. "Once you finish all your reports and duties, you'll be getting ten paid days off. Ta-ta!"

Bogo held up his report as a wall to shield himself from Hopps' excessive gratitude until he was once again alone and in peace.

Nick trudged out of the conference room, dripping with fatigue. His normally proud posture had degenerated to a sad slump, tail dragging across the ground, ears hanging dejectedly off his head rather than eagerly pointing outwards, and eyelids partially-closed in a way that was neither wide awake nor his characteristic smirk. He took a few steps, waited a moment for the door to finish closing, then began muttering curses under his breath. It took him a while to notice Judy.

"Wow, that was a lot longer than mine." She offered him a coffee as she spoke.

Nick lazily grabbed the cup that took her two paws to hold steadily. He had stolen one of the wolves' mugs early on to 'account for his nocturnal instincts.'

"Yeah, I think there are more insurance liabilities when preds kill prey," he said acidly. Still, he straightened up and eagerly sipped the coffee before quickly souring again. "How do I always forget how bad the coffee is here?"

"Because you're a dumb fox." Judy laughed, eliciting a small smile from Nick.

"Let's just hope I wasn't too dumb with what I said in there." He lifted his left arm for Judy to grab onto him. It had been six days since the conclusion of the Ney Case, and while she was mostly walking around on her own now, he had already developed a habit of helping her around.

Judy gently pushed his arm back down. "I'm fine, Slick. At least we're done with the interrogations."

"Now we're on to the paperwork! Woohoo." He barely stopped his jazz paws in time to avoid spilling coffee all over himself.

They made it back to their desks and began working. Stacks of forms slowly diminished, pens scratched, and websites that hadn't been updated in ten years crashed. Nick reached for his coffee mug and found it disappointingly light. Judy ran out of baby carrots to munch on. Nick's eyes glazed over as he filled out the same online form for the third time. His fingers felt numb around the mouse. When it failed to submit again, he threw up his paws and kicked his chair away from the desk, rolling over towards Judy.

"I quit. Wanna hit the break room, Fluff?"

"Sure." Judy got up, stretching out her entire body. "Ugh, we need to learn to take breaks more often. My knees shouldn't be popping when I stand up." She balanced on one leg, stretching and flexing the other, then alternated.

"That's on you. If I keep suggesting breaks, you just call me lazy." Nick gave her a playful shove, tipping her off balance. Judy caught herself on the edge of her desk as he walked out of their cubicle.

"Why, you little–" Judy jumped at him, clinging onto his back with her arms around his neck. The pain in her right leg from supporting herself was worth it as she started to give him a noogie.

"Ah! Cut it out, Carrots!" He swatted at her lightly.

She relented, giving him a kiss on the top of the head before pulling herself up to sit on his shoulders.

"Next time, don't push me while I'm stretching."

"Stop being so adorable when you're off-balance then." He started chuckling and it soon spread to her as he strolled toward the break room, his claws clacking down the long hallways of the Precinct One building. It had very quickly become an unspoken rule—like how no one talked about the betting—that all the officers ignored the couple in their midst. If Bogo was content to let it fly under the radar, then they would too.

This did not stop a good bit of giggling and quick glances as the two went by, especially as conspicuously as now, with Judy sitting on Nick's shoulders and the two animatedly chatting. It also didn't stop some officers from scowling or huffing in protest and turning back to whatever they were working on. But, overall, they were a good-natured bunch, and very much looking forwards to dragging the couple along after work for some ribbing.

Judy hopped off his shoulders as they entered the break room. It was empty; the enormous chairs were strewn around the room, some pulled together in groups away from the two tables. The pair walked towards the coffeemaker in the kitchenette.

"You want me to make the coffee, Fluff?"

"No, just give me a boost and–" Pain shot through Judy's right leg as she took another step. Her face contorted into a grimace before she wrangled it back to a smile. "I'll be–"

"Lost your chance. You can get the next one, Short Stuff." Nick stuck his tongue out at her as he climbed up the cabinets and scampered onto the countertop. "Would you be so kind as to toss me the mugs?"

Judy threw them up and leaned against the cabinet door while the coffeemaker started bubbling. Her ears brushed against one of the handles, perking when she heard Nick begin to hum. He sat down on the edge of the counter, with his tail hanging low and swishing back and forth behind him. It swung before Judy like a pendulum, and her paw began to reach for it while she listened to Nick's low tune.

She grabbed his tail as the coffeemaker chimed that it had finished. Nick yelped and jumped up, wrenching his tail out of her light grasp.

"Warn a guy next time, won't ya!" Nick coiled his tail around himself, stroking it to smooth out the raised fur.

"Sorry! It was just so mesmerizing. What was that tune you were humming anyways?"

"Oh, it was just some old song my mom would sing."

"Speaking of, I was thinking it might be fun to meet your parents."

"Really?" It came out terser than Nick had intended as he handed the mugs down.

"Yeah, I was thinking, since we're gonna have so much time off soon, it'd be fun go meet 'em," she continued as Nick climbed back down the cabinet face. "After that, we could take a day or two off, then head out to the Burrows for a few days. It'd be great!"

"Don't you think it's like a little early for meeting parents? We've only been, um, together for what? A week and a half?" Nick grabbed his mug back from Judy and leaned against the couch next to her.

"I mean, if you don't waaant to-"

"Don't you dare try to guilt trip me!" Nick whipped his free paw up to point at her. They locked eyes for a beat before breaking into giggles.

"I'm not guilt tripping you, just saying that if you really don't think this is gonna work out or you're embarrassed of me, I guess we don't have to meet each other's parents." Judy smirked at him.

"Har-har. Well, if you're so inclined, I guess we can do it. Although you'll have a hard time meeting Dad."

"Why's that?" Judy was sure she was walking into a trap, but sparring with Nick over this would just throw a wrench in her plans when things were going so well.

"Well, he's been dead for most of your adult life," Nick said, taking a sip of coffee.

"Ohmygodimsosorr-"

"Ah ah ah ah ah. It's okay, Judy, it's just a joke. Well, not a joke that he's dead, but you know what I mean." Nick gently pressed a finger against her muzzle as he quieted her, feeling her twitching nose calm. "Anyways, I'll get in touch with Mama Wilde to see when's a good time for us to come over. I'm gonna leave the planning of the Bunnyburrow trip up to you."

It was Judy's turn to take a sip of her coffee, drinking deeply. It left the throat dry and scratchy. Truly awful. She took another sip.

"No worries. This is actually really exciting. I've only been back once since the Nighthowler case. That oughta put Mom and Dad in a good mood, even with you there."

"You paint a beautiful picture of tolerance and cohesion, Officer Hopps."

Judy just leaned against his arm and chuckled.

The next few days passed in a blur. They would wake up, get ready, clock in, do paperwork for hours on end, clock out, and more or less collapse on the couch in Nick's apartment. Their evenings were filled with takeout, movies, TV, and sleep.

On the afternoon they finally finished, the pair danced into the Precinct One atrium to drop off their last few files to Clawhauser. He informed them with a little too much glee that the chief wanted them to come to the morning briefing tomorrow before starting their vacation, ostensibly to receive a commendation for their work on the Ney Case. They were too caught up in their own celebrations to notice anything was amiss.

Nick stopped at a liquor store on the way back to his apartment. It was as seedy as they come, with a paint job from the '80s at least, missing lights and letters in the sign, and rusted iron bars covering the cracked windows. Inside, dirty linoleum tiles wound through veteran shelves chock full of booze. An old wolverine stood behind the counter with a halo of cigarette packs and lottery tickets behind him. He had a shotgun very obviously poking up from behind the counter next to him.

"What exactly are we doing here, Nick?" Judy whispered.

"Serrano is an old friend. I thought we'd get something to celebrate, maybe play a little drinking game."

They approached the counter, and Nick waved at the stocky predator.

"Ah, Nicholas, long time no see. Glad you're not here cleaning out my shelves anymore, eh?" His ample belly shook beneath his apron as he laughed. It was a rough, gravelly laugh that bared his chunky fangs and shook his long whiskers. "And how'd he trick you here, little lady?"

"We're partners, actually. Just solved a big case, and Nick wanted to celebrate."

"Which is why we came here. I want two of your finest, Serrano."

"Must be quite the occasion then. Go easy on her," Serrano said as he bent down and unlocked a safe hidden beneath the counter. Thick glass bottles clinked against each other and his claws as he rummaged and rearranged for a moment before standing back up and producing two elegant cut-glass bottles of whiskey. He gently placed them on the counter and slid them across.

"What's that gonna cost me?" Nick asked.

"Four hundred."

"Done."

Judy just looked between Nick, the bottles, and the wolverine as Nick counted a few bills out of his wallet and handed them over.

"Catch."

She barely looked over and caught the bottle Nick had tossed at her in time.

"That one's yours."

Once they were back in the car, Judy looked over at Nick, cradling the large bottle in her lap. "Why'd you just accept that price at face value? What happened to Slick Nick the hustler?"

"Judy, if Serrano was going to overcharge me, I wouldn't have a single friend left in the world. Besides, he owes me for singlehandedly keeping him in business for a few years." He started the car and pulled out of their spot. Judy's ears fell.

"So, that wasn't just a joke then."

"Sadly. I told you, I went through a real rough patch after that whole Tundratown wolf business."

They drove back mostly in silence.

When they got back to Nick's place, he beelined for the couch just like the last few days.

"Aren't we gonna grab some glasses or something?" Judy asked, hesitating halfway across the living room.

"Ah, I don't drink often anymore, but I still do it like the saddest wino in Happytown." He yanked the glass stopper out with his teeth and spat it onto the floor, then took a large swig from the bottle. "Ahhh, that's the good stuff."

"At this point, I don't even know why I'm surprised." Judy crossed to the couch and assumed her customary position in Nick's lap. She pulled her own stopper out, and, after a moment of trepidation, tossed it near Nick's.

"Atta girl. Now, rules," he said, reaching for the remote. "Take a drink every time you laugh. If you're a real emotional bunny, you have to take a big one. Got it?"

"Ha-ha. You're on, Red." Judy took a tentative sip from her own bottle. The whiskey was a light amber, and it went down suspiciously smoothly. A second or two after swallowing, her mouth and throat were engulfed in fire, and the smoky after-taste doubled. She did her best to nonchalantly clear her throat.

"Strong stuff, right? Anyways, winner is whoever finishes their bottle first, or passes out last." He took another drink and turned on 21 Pack Street.

Nick raised his bottle to his lips again, and was disappointed when nothing dripped out onto his tongue. He moved the bottle away and looked at it. He couldn't quite tell where exactly in space his arm or the bottle were, and the light scintillating off the many surfaces of the bottle only made his head spin worse.

Judy was asleep on his chest. At some point she had unbuttoned his shirt and rolled onto her side, burying her head and paws in his chest fur. Her nose twitched slowly as she took long, soft breaths.

Leave it to Judy to remember to sleep on her side even when she's zonked out on more booze than most rabbits should drink in a week.

He gently put his empty bottle down on the floor next to the couch. The loud thunk and jarring in his elbow told him that his perception of gentle might need to be recalibrated. He turned his head, and once the rolling inertia stopped, saw that Judy's bottle was also on the floor, still about a quarter full.

Can't let that go to waste.

He slowly—this time actually slowly—leaned forward and grabbed the bottle, then settled back against the arm of the sofa. He downed half of it in one go. When he could feel his tongue again, he let out a quiet "woah."

Turning back to gaze at Judy, he began to pet her head with his right paw while his left still held the bottle. She twitched a bit in her sleep, pushing her head against his fingers. The message was clear. He turned his fingers and pressed his claws against her scalp, scratching and massaged from her brow back to the sweet spot between her ears.

He allowed himself another deep drink when she let out a contented sigh and settled back against his chest. He took the opportunity to stop and switch to his favorite activity: running his fingers through her tail. Now her sleep was so deep that she didn't even react as he marveled at the softness, running the hairs between the pads on his fingers.

He opened his eyes and realized he had nodded off while playing with Judy's tail. The bottle hung empty in his left hand, half on the floor. He let go of it, and his arms wrapped around the bunny on top of him, hugging her close as his head lolled over to the side and he drifted back to sleep.

"NICK! IT'S 7:15! WAKE UP!"

"Ugh, just five more min– oh, fuck." Nick bolted upright, and immediately regretted it as his head exploded in pain.

"We're just lucky I woke up since we totally forgot to set an alarm. And that we started drinking so early. So, in a way, your terrible habits helped us." She smiled at him.

"How are you smiling instead of being in excruciating pain?" he grumbled.

"Oh, it hurts, really fucking bad," she said, standing up and stepping off the couch. "Now get up, I gotta make sure your uniform is clean enough you don't have to change."

Nick complied and slowly raised himself off the couch. Judy inspected him quickly, re-buttoning and tucking his shirt in in the process, and then he returned the favor and inspected her. Once they were done, he left wordlessly to grab some aspirin from his bathroom, returning with the bottle of pills and two glasses of water.

"I don't think I can drive us. You up to the task, Carrots?"

Judy thought for a moment as she examined the label for the dosage chart. The calculations churned in her mind for a moment before she shook a pill out, considered breaking it in half to get the proper dosage, considered her headache, then swallowed the whole pill.

"Probably not. I'll call a Zuber."

They got to the precinct with enough time to walk at a leisurely, headache-reducing pace to the bullpen. The pair took their usual seat to an added chorus of stomping and hollering at their first appearance in what felt like months. Bogo arrived shortly with his daily briefing.

"Things are still relatively quiet following the successful conclusion of the Ney Case. I'll be giving out your assignments for today in a moment, but first, I have one special announcement. As I'm sure you all noticed, our two smallest officers are back with us today. What you may not have known, is that our very own Officer Wilde is also quite an accomplished dancer."

Nick's ears perked up, and he looked directly at the chief. Bogo stared back at him, face cold and impassive. Slowly, the corners of his mouth lifted to form a grin. Behind him, the projector screen was slowly descending from the ceiling.

"Sergeant Higgins, if you'd be so kind as to get the lights."

Bogo stepped to the side as the hippo turned off the overhead lights, and a pop beat began to fade in over the speakers embedded around the room.

Nick was in full panic mode as he looked around the room, and saw that many of the other officers were stifling giggles. He looked back and Bogo and saw the buffalo actually had a hoof over his mouth and was shaking with silent laughter.

"Wait, is that Carrot Pop? Why's Bogo playing some old bunny song?" Judy said.

Nick tried to compose himself as he turned to respond to her. On the screen, four rabbits in skimpy sundresses were dancing on a colorful background.

Hey hey, Mr. Fox, what are you doing in the garden again?

Hey hey, Mr. Fox, would you take me home to your den?

"What, does he think just because there's a fox in the music video that it's you? Might as well say I'm one of the bunnies then. I'm gonna talk to him about this afterwards, it's totally specist and inappropriate."

Hey hey, Mr. Fox

Hey hey, Mr. Fox

Nick had to resist the urge to tug on his collar, or better yet, dash out of the room.

Hey hey, Mr. Fox, can you be my lover boy?

"Maybe I should have told you about this sooner…"

Hey hey, Mr. Fox, will you be my foxy toy?

His attempt to continue was cut off by a wall of laughter as a young Nick Wilde danced onto the screen in a tight tanktop and short shorts, his head fur grown and combed into a pompadour. In the corner, Bogo was doubled over and pounding on his thigh while Judy looked between Nick and the screen. Nick slumped forwards onto the desk.

He could barely even hear the song over the laughing and wheezing as he lay there. He perked a bit when he felt Judy lay a paw on the back of his head, and opened one eye to look at her.

"Hey, there's hardly a bunny in the world who can say they got any fox, let alone the Mr. Fox." She smiled down at him, and Nick allowed himself a wan smile. "Plus, this is about the best way I could possibly learn about this since you'd never tell me, you dumb fox."

Nick groaned and began preparing himself for the weeks of ridicule as Judy turned back to watch the rest of the video and continued idly scratching his head.

Fin.

Author's note: Well, it's finally done, and what a ride it's been. Thanks to all of you who stuck it out to the end, and sorry these last couple chapters took so long.

First off, thanks to the amazing TGWeaver for the Carrot Pop comic that allowed me to have this little thread running through the story. You can check it out here, or look up his tumblr (warning: NSFW).

This chapter is pretty obviously teasing a sequel since I've had an idea for a real fluffy one for a while. Also, I'd kind of exhausted the whole plot already, and didn't want to resort to another smut scene to pad out this chapter. Now, I wouldn't hold my breath for that sequel if I were you. Feel free to follow me, or, if you're on ao3, the series that I'll add this story to, but if I even do get around to writing that story instead of just drawing (which is what delayed these last two chapters so much), I'm gonna try to write it all before posting so that I don't do this to y'all again where I take so long to update.

If you wanna check out my art, most of which is Zootopia-related, you can follow me on tumblr (since ffn doesn't do links, checkout out pretty-ok-m8 dot tumblr dot com). I'll probably be doing some scenes from this fic once I finish what I'm currently working on.

So yeah, any thoughts or feedback would be appreciated. This was my first fanfic, and pretty much the first significant piece of creative writing I ever did, and it's been a hell of a ride. Hopefully I'll be back with more, better things in the future.