The Fox and the Rabbit Reloaded.

Chapter 1 - After the Concert

Judy and Nick walked out of the Zootopia stadium. Mammals of all kinds flanked them as the enormous crowd that had come to see Gazelle filtered out.

The bright lights of the marquee still flashed, casting shadows in front of the crowd as it shuffled along through the narrower exits. Mammals talked excitedly about the dazzling concert as they made their way, eventually spilling out in a wave into the parking lot.

Nick had to admit it had been a good concert, and the end production had certainly been something to see. He was not the huge Gazelle fan Judy and Clawhauser were, but it had still been fun. That was not even mentioning the backstage pass they had gotten for a pre-show meetup, either. Even he had been a bit star struck rubbing elbows with the famous singer before the show.

The crowd slowly thinned out as mammals broke off for various parts of the packed lot to their cars or elsewhere, but neither Judy nor he owned cars. They both agreed that in a city like Zootopia, it made much more sense to use the subway or bus. Their run-in with Flash earlier in the day being somewhat of a case in point.

Nick was still floored Flash had been the speeding bandit. They had let his old friend off with a warning, much to the displeasure of Chief Bogo. However, the chief had let it slide when they explained how Flash had helped them in the missing mammal case, and that they owed him one. Having almost always been on the other side of the law, Nick was well aware of how fluid and adaptable said 'law' was at times. Even Judy had employed some of the questionable, at best, tactics herself during the missing mammal case, but he was okay with that.

Judy was in an ebullient mood as they walked out and towards the subway station on the far side of the parking lot. She was skipping along ahead of Nick singing, arms pumping up, "I messed up tonight! I lost another fight!"

Nick smiled and inwardly chuckled as he watched her spin around and hop step backward.

"I still mess up, but I'll just start again!" she sang then stopped abruptly. She spun around, facing away with arms up. "Nick, this was amazing!" she exclaimed, looking up toward the sky. The summer sun had almost set and stars were starting to pop into existence. She was walking backward just in front of him. "Your first day, our first case solved," she said and rolled her eyes and smirked, "Even if it was Flash.... and we got to pal around with Gazelle before that fantastic concert! How cool was that?"

Nick smiled despite himself... or was it a smirk? He honestly had a hard time telling when he was smirking or smiling anymore. It didn't feel like smiling, so he slotted it over to the 'smirk' column. Especially considering the mood he was in.

"Well, I gotta say Carrots, that was pretty cool," he said. He had to admit, it had been a pretty darn good day in general, and yes, getting a backstage pass from Zootopia's biggest pop star was a pretty good cap to his first day as an official police officer. So why am I feeling so... what? he thought. He couldn't put a name to how he was feeling. Giddy came to mind, or anxious. He absentmindedly rubbed at his chest, which seemed to ache any time he was around Judy these days.

Just my luck, he thought, best day of my life and I die of a heart attack. The more he watched his partner hop around to an imaginary beat, watched her ears flop to and fro as she swung her hips, the name for what he was feeling started to form in his head. Despite trying to perpetuate the lie he had so carefully maintained and crafted over those months, he was beginning to understand. He was starting to come to grips with why he was on edge, but tried to tell himself it was still a mystery.

The way Judy turned and grinned at him, how her top front teeth poked out from behind her lips, how she was still wired and full of energy after an amazing show, it was all getting burned into his brain.