It had been a long week. The kind with screaming kids and petty domestic issues on just about every other call, followed by piles of paperwork that Nick loved to discuss his hatred for. She didn't want something horrible to befall Zootopia, but if something were to befall it, a little bit of a excitement would have been welcomed. Lately, it had seemed the cases of interest and interesting patrol stories passed her by, happening exclusively on her days off, leaving her to deal with dysfunctional households and unruly kids roaming the streets.

	She was brought back to the words Nick said to her the day they met, about her optimism and dreams being crushed by the unrelenting city atmosphere. Her ideals were still intact, in fact, they were far more grounded than they had ever been, but a break was in order to recharge her batteries.

	When she opened her eyes and greeted the morning, she felt that familiar surge that started in her knees and vibrated out, forcing her yawn into a smile. The last couple of mornings had been unusually dreary, but today was the first day in awhile where she had something to look forward to besides sitting in a police cruiser trying to kill time with Nick.

	The first thing she did when she woke up was grab her phone. Her heart jumped when she saw the two voice messages – one from her parents, and the other from Nick. She played the first one:

	“Hi, honey, we hope everything's going well... I know that we were going to come see you today, and your dad feels absolutely horrible about this, but he came down with the flu and isn't in any condition to travel. He insisted at first, but... We don't want you to get sick, and getting him there and back would be... a bit of a challenge. We know today is very spe-”

	She ended the message and promptly let her hand go limp, the phone falling face down on the bedspread. Her wall had never looked so cold and hard, but she stared at in silence, relating to it, feeling that same cold, hardness in the pit of her stomach. She pulled her bottom lip into her mouth as she lifted the phone back to her ear and played the second message.

	“Hey carrots, it's me. I was wondering if you'd be able to do me a huuuuge favor... I got some stuff I gotta take care of today – can't really go into detail, but trust me, it's for a good reason and I'm pretty much gonna be tied up all day. There's this package. I need you to pick up; it's gonna be from my neighbor. She lives in the same apartment building as me on Cypress Grove, but she's one door down, in 2211. Don't worry, she's gonna be expecting you. Just be extra careful with the package – oh, and don't look inside! Trust me on this. Thanks, carrots. Enjoy your paperwork. Just bring it home after work and I'll pick it up sometime tonight. click

	Judy set the phone down and stared straight ahead. Her eyes teary and her body heavy. She always loved hearing from Nick, and never-minded doing her only real friend a favor, but the call had been missing something she desperately needed to hear, especially from him, especially today.

	She rolled out of bed and dropped her pajamas. She pulled the pants of her uniform to her hips and let out a heavy sigh as she secured them tightly to her waist. Looking in the mirror, it was obvious how depressed she was, but she doubted anybody would comment on it.

	Patrol was particularly boring, as was any day Nick had off that she didn't. She was mad at him for his thoughtlessness, but she still wished that he was there. Somehow, he always knew what to say to break her out of a funk, or just break up the monotony of the day. Her rough start had left her feeling nostalgic, one of her least favorite emotions, especially when alone.

	As the day wore on, she took increasingly consistent glances at her phone, waiting for a call or a text or anything. Paperwork was a chore, more so than usual, and the longer things dragged on, the more she wanted to go home – even though that sounded equally as dreadful.

	She had been ruminating on Nick's 'favor,' on and off, for the entire day; the thought becoming more frustrating by the hour. The indecency of asking a favor she could not refuse was bold enough, but his thoughtlessness was what really peeved her. It wasn't that he was supposed to remember, they hadn't even known each other an entire year, but the thought did little to ease the tightness in her chest, which a single call or text from Nick could have fixed.

	When her shift ended, she did as she was told and headed to his apartment building. It was a bit run-down, more so than she had originally expected. He had talked big the day she blackmailed him, claiming he made $200 a day since he was a child, but she was beginning to think it was an exaggeration. The maintenance on both the outside and inside were shoddy enough so that she avoided the elevator, and the stairs were covered in dust from going long periods without any thorough cleaning 

	When she arrived at 2211, one door down from Nick's apartment, she knocked and waited nearly a minute. Suddenly, the peephole blacked out, and the slow unlocking of what must have been the door equivalent of a bank safe following after. The door creaked open and an old Siamese looked back at her, her eyes squinted behind two thick frames and her skin hanging low.

	Her lips curled into a smile. “Oh.. Are you that friend of Nickolas I was told about?”

	Judy repressed the urge to bust out in laughter. “Yes, I'm Judy! It's a pleasure to meet you, Mrs...?”

	“Call me Thelma, deary. Please, please, come in! I have Nick's package right in the backroom. Feel free to take a seat.” 

	Judy followed her inside, her breath taken away by the densely packed room, filled with ornate objects looking as if they had great spiritual background. She observed the trinkets, noticing a commonly occurring theme involving an eye; and one particular statue, about the size of her head, that displayed a tear falling from the eye, onto a torch carrying a flame.

	“Do you like it?”

	Judy looked up at the Siamese who had entered the room, holding a box with both hands. It was about twice the size of a shoe box, but was wrapped in a soft, black, velvet blanket, with a black bow on top assuring no “accidental” opening would occur.

	“It's really pretty. I've never seen anything like it.”

	“Hmm, yes, it is one of my favorite pieces... It's a shame.” She wobbled over to Judy in a slow and uneven fashion. “This type of art is rare around these parts, so it doesn't surprise me you haven't seen anything like it.”

	“Rare...?”

	Oh, yes, very rare. I would go into more detail but Nick specifically asked me not to preach.” She laughed wryly.

	Judy frowned. “Why would he do that?” 

	She smiled in return. “Don't worry about it, dear. Here's what you came for. And be careful with it, make sure Nickolas gets it in one piece.”

	She looked curiously at the box, examining it from all sides and closely registering the weight. “Can I... ask what's inside?”

	“You'll see soon enough.”

	Judy left with the box held gingerly under her arm, becoming further frustrated as she ruminated more on the suddenness of the errand, but remaining dutiful in her responsibility to get it to him with no hitches. The breeze felt good against her fur, but created a dreary atmosphere in the unusually unoccupied streets of Zootopia, leaving her bitter, any sense of lingering optimism atrophied.

	It was unusual for her to reminisce on home so much, and with such resolve. She knew she would wake up tomorrow hating herself for having had these thoughts, but there were moments where she worried Nick was right – or would be in time. Maybe the city wasn't a place for a country girl, even if deep down she was something more than that.

	The question of whether or not she could make it had been answered, and for the most part, she had; but there was the worry of change, like an old car misfiring in her chest, leaving it sore and filled with a thick, greasy smog. She could feel the mush around her as she walked to her cruiser, as if she were couriering a package through a swamp.

	She stopped at the park on the way back and strolled around, taking a walk through the center of an open field, and then down the walkway, admiring the aesthetically pleasing arrangement of trees leading up to the pond; but the nature only made her homesickness worse, and all the couples walking hand-in-hand or plopped down in the grass deepened the loneliness.

	The benches were harder than she remembered, causing her to sit-up uncomfortably straight, and they made her bottom hurt after only a few minutes. She considered going to lay in the grass, but it felt like too much to do in her depressed state, even more so while she was alone. Every other time she had been there, Nick had been with her, and she wondered if that was why it seemed so much more bleak now that she was alone...

	Nick.

	Her lips bent into a hard frown and her jaw tightened. The thought of his face -- smug and... mocking, always. Even if he didn't feel that way deep down, it was always there; and the only time it wasn't was when she knew she had a problem. 

	She headed back to her cruiser and headed for her apartment.

	Nick had a tendency to read into things wrong, and he would often take great offense from meaningless, off-the-cuff statements. It was a vulnerable side to him that she found endearing, and at times, even downright adorable; but his fits could sometimes last hours, and when he was mad, he'd hardly speak two words. Anger and embarrassment were the two biggest things that wiped that smile off his face, and both came from his child-like insecurities.

	When she arrived at the parking garage, she parked, grabbed the box, and headed for her apartment.

	Judy smiled dimly from her reminiscing on Nick, feeling increasingly regretful for having judged him so harshly, after all he had done for her. Even his few flaws were endearing. But it still hurt that he had forgotten, and it was a memory she would keep bolded in her mental catalog.

	When she got to her door, she put the key in the deadbolt and discovered it was already unlocked. Her breath caught in her throat and her heart started to pound. She positioned her back against the wall next to her door and slowly set the package on her other side, drawing her gun from her side pocket. She swallowed hard and put her hand on the door knob. Without uttering a single word, she pushed the door open and aimed her gun straight into the apartment. 

	To her left was a fabulous clutter of pots, books, and plastic bags, but she looked past them, honing in on the red mass covered in cheap fabric, topped off with a clip-on tie, lying curled up on her bed, soundly asleep.

	She inhaled deeply, letting her gun lower back into its holster. The apartment was a mess, the lack of cabinet space left her “kitchen” area covered with open recipe books and adhesive paper notes, along with a portable stove top and a large pot simmering on top of it. The smell was familiar, and sitting on the floor atop some cut up paper bags were some carrots that had been half chopped.
 
	Judy brought the package inside and set it on her desk next to her laptop. She walked over to the kitchen supplies and examined a hand-written note: “Recipe for carrot stew – EXTRA CARROTS!:”

	She looked over at Nick, tears in her eyes, her lips curling into despair. She took a bite of the stew, her cheeks tingling from the intensity of the flavor, her mouth watering from the thought of another bite. She looked over at the package, her eyes widening as she stared at it.

	Her feet propelled her forward and she immediately undid the bow on the top, pulling the velvet down, revealing a green box. Her fingers stroked the top of the thin, oiled cardboard, and in one motion she opened it up, showing a homemade cake covered with white icing and “Happy Birthday, Judy!”, along with a plethora of crudely drawn carrots made with orange icing. With it, a quick, surprisingly eloquent signature in the top right corner, the only red icing on the cake. There was also another signature, written with more care, but with what seemed to be with the same shaky hand that had written her happy birthday; it clearly read “Thelma.”

	Tears overflowed from her eyes as she stifled back cries. Nick's eyes opened and he yawned, looking around oblivious, until his gaze drifted in the crying bunny's direction.

	“O-Oh.” He quickly uncurled himself and sat awkwardly on the edge of her bed, still dazed from his nap. “I guess I...” He scratched the back his head, “...Um, Carrots, wh-what's wrong?”
	
	*Sniff* “I can't believe... you did all this...”

	“Oh,” he smiled. “Sorry that I... broke in.”

	She chuckled, smiling and choking back tears. “You don't have to apologize for that.”

	“So,” he swallowed. “You uh, like it?”

	She nodded in response.

	“Okay, okay, that's a start...” He stood up from the bed and put his arms out in front of him. “Do you need a hug?”

	She nodded again.

	He smiled. “Okay, bring it in here. One quick one. Before the stew gets cold.”

	She walked forward and rested her forehead against his chest. He put his arms around her and pulled her in, just like the first time she had cried in front of him. She hugged him back and wiped her tears in his fur.

	“Thanks for remembering.”