A year. It had been a whole year since Judy had seen her fox friend. A year of not hearing his dumb jokes, of not getting annoyed at his way of turning her words around and throwing them back at her.

Officer Hopps drove slowly through the streets of Savannah Central, searching for any crime on her rather boring patrol. Zootopia had been quiet lately in terms of crime, something that made Judy proud. Yet when she lay in bed at night, all she could think about was how she missed the thrill of chasing criminals. It was satisfying and unsatisfying in one confusing bundle.

But what hurt her the most in these quiet patrols was the fact that she could think. When she was busy, she could forget. Some turned to unconventional methods of forgetting pain, but Judy found solace in work. But with the ZPD at its strongest, and Zootopia at its calmest, all the little bunny could do was think.

And that was dangerous.

She had never done well with separation, especially from those she cared about. Sure, leaving her parents and siblings was different. She could easily contact them at any time. But Nick knew how to disappear, how to blend in.

Judy would be lying if she said she didn't still have the note he gave her. He'd said she'd stolen his heart. Nick would have never said something like that without meaning it.

That raised another thought, one that confused the bunny intensely.

Did she feel the same way? Sure, she loved the fox... but as a friend? As more?

Judy wasn't sure she would ever make a decision on the matter, and the radio crackled to life as if agreeing with her.

"Officer Hopps," Clawhauser came in, the sound of crunching clearly audible. "We've got an armed robbery in progress at Lemming Brothers Bank." The sound of crunching continued, and Judy resisted the urge to cover her ears at the irritating sound.

"Got it. On my way."

"Be careful, Bun."

Judy rolled her eyes and turned her siren on, the lights of the police car flashing brightly. Barely a minute had passed before Judy found herself in front of the very bank being robbed. The bank's alarm was blaring so loud that even her police siren had trouble matching the volume.

Judy hopped out of the car and headed straight inside, staying aware of her surroundings. She stepped over the broken glass of the door as she surveyed the area.

She almost laughed at the sight, but instead went with an annoyed groan.

Duke Weaselton was standing in the middle of the bank, a variety of mammals on the floor as the scrawny weasel demanded money.
"Really, Weaselton?" Judy sighed. "You know you're not a good enough thief to do something this extravagant."

"Shut it, rabbit," Weaselton spat, pointing his taser at Judy threateningly.

Judy took a glance at it and shook her head. "It's not even loaded, Duke."

"You don't know what you're talking about."

Judy confidently strode towards the weasel and snatched the taser out of his hands without a second thought.

"Duke Weaselton," Judy said, taking her cuffs out and tripping Weaselton as he tried to run away, "you are under arrest."

~Prey~

The door of Weaselton's jail cell closed heavily behind him, and the weasel simply sat on the metal slab that would be his bed for the time being.

Officer Snarlov stood next to Judy as the two mammals shook their heads at the sight.

"How many times are we going to have to arrest this guy?" Snarlov asked, scratching an itch under his chin.

"As many times as we need to before he realizes he needs to just get a job at Bug-Burga."

Snarlov chuckled at what the little bunny said as she walked out of the room and over to Clawhauser's desk, the polished wooden workstation covered in sprinkles as usual.

"Hey, bun bun," Clawhauser said, leaning over his desk to get a better look at Judy. "Good job nabbing that weasel."

"Yeah, for like the third time in the past four months. At this point, I'm tempted to ask the chief to 'lose' the key to his cell."

Clawhauser laughed and smushed his paws against his face as he said, "You're so bad, Judy."

"Hopps," called Chief Bogo from the upper level of the precinct. "My office, now." Judy said her goodbye to Clawhauser and headed to the chief's office immediately.

Bogo's chair creaked as he sat down in it and leaned back a little, a sigh escaping his lips.

"As rare as it is for me to say these things, Hopps, I just wanted to let you know that you've been doing a good job in your police work. Thanks to you, and my other officers of course, crime rate has gone down quite significantly. But, despite your great work on the force, I feel like we've waited long enough. You're getting a new partner."

Judy blinked. "What?"

"Your new partner will be here tomorrow. I'm sorry, Hopps. It's happening."

"You agreed that we would wait for–"

"Wait for Wilde to come back, and I did, Hopps. It's been a full year of nothing. I humored you for this long, but you need to realize that he is not coming back. We're lucky enough as it is the media hasn't been up our tails about our first fox officer being absent for so long. And with the kidnappings we managed to keep under our belt, that made things even more difficult." Bogo straightened a pile of papers and put them in a folder in one of his drawers.

"Chief Bogo, I don't need a partner. I've been taking care of things on my own."

"And now you'll be solving crimes and catching suspects even more efficiently. This discussion is over, Hopps. Now go home, you look tired."

Judy hung her head in disappointment and left the office, following orders and heading home.

~Prey~

The door to Judy's very spacious apartment opened silently as she lazily pushed it, only walking in when the door stopper prevented it from making a fresh dent in the wall. This had been Nick's apartment. And he had just given it to her like it was nothing, even going as far as to pay in advance for a small amount of time so Judy could get used to the price.

Judy closed the door behind her and collapsed on the couch, reaching for the remote and turning the television on, the movie from the night before ready to be replayed.

The rabbit let the movie start over, the ridiculous romantic comedy it was, and changed out of her police uniform, got a shower, and went back to her living room with a set of pajamas on. The movie was about to return to where it was before the bunny had fallen asleep last night.

Judy relaxed on the couch with a glass of carrot juice in her hand, sipping on it as she thought about her new partner. What mammal would he be? Would he be all business, or would he make Judy's patrols mildly more tolerable? She sighed as she thought about Nick again. Bogo was right. They'd all waited long enough, and Judy had never been the type to wait so long. Then again, she determinedly sped through school and police training just to achieve her dream of becoming a police officer. Nick was just one guy, one fox, one mammal. So why, after a year, couldn't she just forget about him?

She reflected on this as she drained the glass of juice and set it on the coffee table with a crisp clacking sound. It didn't take long for the officer to start nodding off, determined to finish the movie before she fell asleep. Yet, when everything went black, Judy wasn't sure if the movie had ended, or if she had given into her body's needs after another long, boring day at work.