Judy let out a sigh as she pawed through one more packet of paperwork. Her desk was littered with stacks of papers she had already completed, with one neat pile to her left of work yet to be done. Of course she knew paperwork would be part of the job, she simply underestimated how long it would feel. She finished way more than she planned to by lunch time, yet she had so much left that it felt a bit like digging a hole at the base of a sand dune. With every scoop, a fresh pile of even more sand took its place.

"Huh," she sighed again and rubbed her ears, which were folded down over her back. Consequently, she didn't hear the mammal beside her.

"Aww what's the matter, carrot? Rough day on the playground?" a smooth voice said from beside her. She swiveled in her chair and looked up in a jump at officer Nick Wilde, who was giving her his trademark smirk and folding up his sunglasses that he liked way too much.

"Nick," she exclaimed. "I'm just a little buried with paperwork thanks to a certain fox," she said and nodded in his direction. Nick feigned a concerned glance and folded his hands over his chest.

"What, me? What could possibly give you that idea?" he pleaded.

"Don't give me that. Chief Bogo came down on both our tails because you insisted that we go easy on your pal at the DMV," she accused him. He dropped the façade and went straight back to his smirk.

"Oh come one now, Flash wasn't hurting anybody. Besides, he did you a huge favor helping you crack your first case."

"I'd hardly call running a plate for an officer a 'huge favor'. And he was going 115, Nick! That's reckless driving, public endangerment, excessive speeding . . ." she counted the sloth's offences on her fingers as she went before he interrupted her.

"Details shmetails," he waved her off. "And what's a little paperwork anyway? Looks like you're almost done anyway."

"Yeah well I've been catching up on all those missing mammal files I haven't done yet, the Bellwether case, and all these misdemeanor cases that keep getting thrown at me and . . . wait, how is it you're not buried too?" she asked him. He shrugged and began organizing her 'done' pile a little cleaner.

"I've got ways. Also, some advice: for someone who has wanted this job since she had baby-fangs, the least you could do is keep your workplace neat," he jested.

"Oh, and you're so tidy, Mr. . ." she began and pointed at his cubicle across from hers only to notice there was not a single paper on it. She got up from her desk and looked at his closely. "Where's all your paperwork?" she asked and turned around.

Nick was thumbing through a pile of stapled forms from her completed pile and was mumbling aloud something. Counting?

"Thirty-eight, thirty-nine, and forty. Great work, Carrot, we'll make a police officer of you yet," he said and gave another wily smile at her as he put his glasses back on. Her eyes shot open and looked at her pile of paperwork, then back at his desk, and back at the pile in his paws.

"You did not," she angrily spat. "Nick!"

"Hey, next time you should pay more attention to the size of your inbox," he said with a shrug, and with that he walked down the hall and downstairs to the records department to submit his paperwork.

Judy groaned and clenched her paws as her foot angrily patted the floor a few times. Darn that fox! He had only been on the force a few days and was already hoodwinking her like a clueless child. She growled at herself for not seeing it coming, but more so at him for being so sneaky.

"Hopps," a deep voice called from behind her. She turned and saw Chief Bogo staring down at her with his arms crossed. "Is there a problem here?"

She had every right to tell the chief of Nick's stunt. He'd likely be on parking duty for weeks or even suspended, and he'd deserve it too. But she could not turn him in because, as much as it pained her, he was her partner and they had each other's backs.

"No sir," she said softly.

"Then get back to it. You're still not done and I don't want to hear any complaints from you," he said and marched off towards his office.

"Yes sir," she said and hopped back into her chair and pulled the next one down. She was going to finish this pile of work in half the time she did the rest, and when she was done she was going to give that fox a piece of her mind.

At the end of their shift, Judy was waiting by the exit doors to the precinct tapping her foot impatiently. Eventually she saw Nick stroll down the stairs along with officer Spitz and officer Higgins. They were laughing at something undoubtedly clever that Nick said on their way out when Nick caught the bunny's eyes. Her glare was serious and she angrily pointed to the ground, ushering him towards her.

"Huh, here we go," he sighed. "You guys go ahead, I'll meet up with you there." He made his way over to the fuming rabbit and looked at her as if he was already bored.

"What I do?" he asked with a shrug.

"You know darn well what you did, Nick Wilde. I should have turned you into Bogo when I could have. I can't believe you tricked me like that!" she said.

"Oh it was just a little paperwork, carrot. No big deal." He said and fought back another smile.

"That's not the point. I need to be able to trust my partner, and I can't do that if I need to be checking over my shoulder for any of his hustles," she complained in a more serious tone.

"You and I both know my hustling days are behind me, hopps," he said with an innocent look.

"Nick, I swear on the farm, I will horse-tranq you," she threatened and angrily turned to leave. Just when she felt like he was beyond reaching, he stopped her.

"Judy," he said with a sigh. "Alright, I'm sorry for tricking you. But you shouldn't lose faith in me, okay? I had my reasons for taking the morning off."

"Yeah? Was Fennec in need of some more jumbo pops?" she said.

"No. Honestly I'm done hustling. It's just today was the last day to grab these before the box office closed," he said and reached into his back pocket. He held out his paw and in it were two slips of paper with barcodes and today's date. Judy snagged one and eyed it closely before letting out a gasp.

"Nick . . . you got us Gazelle tickets?" she said and looked up at him in shock. He avoided her gaze and looked around while scratching the back of his neck nervously.

"Well . . . you play her stuff in the patrol car all the time, she's singing tonight at The Water Hole, and I have a buddy of mine in the business so I figured . . ." he was cut off as Judy started laughing. She hopped forward and wrapped her arms around his torso and continued to laugh as she held him close.

"Soooo I take it you're not mad?" Nick ventured.

"Ha haha I'm furious, Nick! But just for today I'm going to forget about it," she said and let him go.

"See? I told you that you can trust me," he said with a smirk and put his ticket back in his pocket.

"You're such an idiot," she said with another smile.

"Wait, what?" he asked.

"If you needed the morning off for something, all you needed to do was ask and I would have covered for you," she told him.

"Really?" he said a bit bewildered.

"We're partners, Wilde. I've got your back," she said and with that, she skipped over towards the front desk waiving her ticket around. "Clawhauser! I'm going to see Gazelle tonight!"

Nick watched as she and Clawhauser began fan-girling over their mutual favorite pop-star. He was saying something about having his tickets for months and pulling out his phone to show her some app. She gleefully hopped from one side of the desk to another and her face absolutely beamed. Nick felt a wave a relief wash over him as he watched her. It felt good knowing that a bunny, who has every reason in the world to be scared of him, had his back the way she did.