Nick slid down into the chair next to Judy. He didn't smell. He wasn't covering his eyes with his sunglasses. He wasn't even late. In fact, he was perfectly on time, but Judy could tell without even looking at him what he had been up to the night before. She could always tell.

"Late night?" she asked with slightly more irritation than she had intended to convey.

"You know the rules, Carrots. Don't ask any questions you don't wanna know the answer to," he replied nonchalantly.

Judy puffed out her cheeks in frustration and returned her attention to the front of the bullpen.

The rules.

It didn't take long after Nick joined the force for her to figure it out, and it had only taken one confrontation to get him to admit it. Nick Wilde was an alcoholic. The admission had come with some conditions, those being the aforementioned "rules" they would both follow. So long as Nick never broke his side of the agreement, there was nothing she could do, but the day he did, she could go straight to Chief Bogo with what she knew.

Judy squatted on the floor next to Nick's sleeping form, carefully studying his face. She couldn't understand why he was doing this to himself. She had thought he was happy, he hadn't showed any outward signs otherwise, at least not since he had graduated the academy. Now that he had an "actual" job, no, better, a career, there were so many prospects for the future, and by extension, so many reasons for him to be happy.

He was smart and hard-working (even if he would deny it to his dying breath), so he would definitely be promoted to captain in a year or two. He was young and charismatic, so it wouldn't even be out of the question to run for political office since police officers had plenty of opportunity to build rapport with the animals of Zootopia. That was all without even mentioning that he probably had scores of females lining up to date him because of how fit and handsome he was.

Then again, if he does, why does he keep coming to my tiny apartment late at night?

However, Judy found it hard to ignore the evidence presented to her eyes, namely the tight, well-toned evidence showing from beneath his slightly open shirt.

He must spend half his free-time at the gym to keep himself looking that good. There are probably a ton of ladies checking him out there at least.

Nick stirred in his sleep, knocking Judy out of her thoughts and she realized that in the stupor of her reverie she had unconsciously begun to reach out to try to touch his chest. She quickly snatched her paw back up to her chest in embarrassment.

What am I even doing? Staring at him like this? It's creepy.

Before she could berate herself further, Nick finally opened his eyes.

"Oh, hey. Morning, Carrots. Sorry I came knocking so late again last night," he said with a yawn but his apologetic tone quickly shifted to his usual teasing grin. "Though I am a little sad you made me sleep on the floor again."

"Like I would share the bed with you reeking of booze," Judy said in annoyance.

"So you're saying that if I come over here sober, you'll let me into your bed?"

Judy's ears went red at the suggestion, "That's not - You- I'd- !"

Nick just laughed, not the laugh he used when he was buying time to think of a comeback or when he was nervous, but the deep throaty guffaw he had when he found something genuinely funny, those few moments when Judy could tell he was completely happy, and let down the mask he usually wore.

"Calm down, Carrots. I'm just having fun with yah... Or am I?" He said with another mocking grin. "Either way, though, I'll get out of your fur now. I'm sure you didn't want to waste your whole day off on me."

He's in a good mood and he's being honest. I'm probably never going to get a better chance to than this.

"Wait, Nick."

He stopped in his tracks and turned around that smug grin still on his face and Judy felt her heart beat even faster in her chest.

Don't lose your nerve now, Judy. This is important.

"Would you mind staying a little longer? I need to talk to you about something," she asked softly.

Nick's expression quickly went from smug to concerned, "No, of course not, Judy. What's the matter?" He answered as he sat on the floor in front of her.

He clearly understood something was wrong. He didn't know what it was, but he was clearly ready to help in any way he could, which was another sign in her favor.

"Nick, you know that I'm your friend and I care about you very much," she began delicately, and Nick's expression instantly soured. He obviously knew where the conversation was headed, worse, he had probably heard it before.

Crap, Judy, you're losing him. Planning this out was a mistake. Maybe I can at least keep him in an open state of mind.

"You've come to my apartment late at night three nights this month and every time, you've been completely drunk," she improvised, and his expression softened.

Better.

"Which is why, I think you may have… just a… tiny bit of a drinking problem," she said, bringing her fingers up to indicate something small and she instantly regretted it.

His mood went right back to sour, but this time it almost seemed, sad? Disappointed? But it was only there a moment before she saw him put his smug mask back on.

Oh, no. Please, Nick, don't do that. Don't do what I think you're going to do.

"Is that what you think? Just a tiny bit of a drinking problem?" He asked, standing up.

Not knowing where he was taking the conversation next Judy could only be honest and hope for the best.

"Yes?"

"Well then, I guess you should be just a tiny bit worried about it," he said with a grin as he turned to leave. "I'll talk to yah later, Carrots."

Judy's emotions were thrown into turmoil. A storm brewed in her mind, in the short time before he reached the door. She was just a little happy that he wasn't angry at her, but she was also sad, because she had genuinely wanted to help Nick overcome this, but the feeling that won out over the others in a landslide was anger, anger that he could so easily put his facade back on and crack jokes at her expense when she was only trying to help him.

"You know what, Nick? No. I was trying to be gentle about this, but if you walk out that door without us having this out, I'll… I'll… I will go straight to Chief Bogo today, and tell him to get me a new partner," she said threateningly.

His head ducked as he froze in place then slowly turned around. He looked hurt, as if she just slapped him across the face and it broke her heart to see it.

"Would you… Would you really do that to me, Judy?" He asked clutching his tie at the chest.

It's tough love, Judy. Tough love.

"Y-Yes, Nick. I would."

Another choice she would regret, as it only served to make him angry.

"You would quit being my partner, just because I came over to your place wasted a couple times?" He snarled, taking a step forward,"Is that how little I mean to you?"

Judy's anger quickly fell as she came to a realization.

I wouldn't be able to do it. I would probably get halfway into the precinct only to go cry my eyes out in the bathroom, and never mention it to him again. I'd act as if nothing happened, but that would only make things worse.

"I… I don't know," her ears fell below her head as she lied, but it was only a little bit a lie. "I don't know if I could. Quit being your partner, just like that."

Nick deflated in front of her, seemingly sympathizing with her predicament. Judy looked to the floor shuffling her feet and twiddling with her paws as she continued.

"But I can't just let this go. You're well on your way to hurting yourself. Either by alcohol poisoning or some accident when you're drunk," she couldn't help but give a sad laugh. "Probably when you're walking your way here."

Nick groaned causing Judy to look back up at him. He was dragging his paw down his eyes and muzzle and she could've sworn he heard him mumble something about "meddling rabbits" before turning to look her in the eyes.

"Alright, alright, alright. Gimme your pen recorder, I know you've bought a new one," he said.

Once more, Judy had no idea where he was going with the conversation, but he was being honest again, so she quickly pulled it from her desk drawer and complied.

Pressing the record button, he spoke into it at a conversational volume, clearly annunciating every syllable, "I, Nicholas Piberius Wilde, officer of the ZPD, hereby admit, of my own free will, that I am an alcoholic."

Turning off the recorder, he looked solemnly down at Judy and sighed. He gently shook the recorder in his paw, staring at it, thinking about what, Judy couldn't say. Finally, he presented it to her with his usual air of nonchalance.

What is this?

"Judy, I'm going to give this to you, to use as 'evidence', to make it easier for you convince Bogo, or Clawhauser, or whoever to help you stage an intervention for me, if and when my drinking becomes a real problem, but- " he said sternly, pulling the record away again. "I'm trusting you to not use it until absolutely necessary. In exchange, I'll do my best to curb my drinking without you trying to stick me in rehab or something. Okay?"

Judy smiled in understanding as she accepted the pen. It wasn't enough to force him to quit drinking, but the recording would be enough to make his work life impossibly difficult if he didn't. "Thank you, Nick."

Well, it's not exactly what I was hoping for, but it's a start.

"I'm glad you're happy with this, but there are some rules I'm gonna need you to follow," he said with a grin.

Author's note:

I came back to this chapter to do some editing and I noticed it was still getting new traffic so I want to tell new readers to feel free to leave a review. I've got a pretty thick skin so don't worry too much about upsetting me.