Nick had changed into his civilian clothes and had a taxi take him to Judy's apartment complex. On the way there he called a friend of his who worked for Zagat. After asking about the otter's family, Nick asked the otter if he would be able to arrange for a table at the sushi place to be available for two at 7pm, which the otter was grateful to oblige. Nick said his thanks and hung up right around the time the taxi pulled up next to Judy's apartment. He sent the bunny a text and was told she was coming down. He asked the taxi to wait for him, and got outside to wait for his partner, wondering if she'd dress up again tonight. An answer was quickly provided him when the rabbit came hopping down the stairs in a seductively revealing slit skirt and light blue dress shirt opened down to her chest. She grinned when she saw the look of consternation on his face. "Tonight will be the night." She thought proudly.

"Hey you sly fox!" She said, cheerfully feigning innocence. "Let's see this sushi joint, I'm starving." Nick quickly shook his head.

"Yeah, well I hope you came prepared because Chef Ji-roh is straight from Japan ready to show us ignorant big city types what real Japanese cuisine is all about." Nick suavely regained his normally composed persona and opened the taxi door for the bunny. It took everything he had to not reach out and touch her when she pulled herself into the taxi seat. Within a few minutes they found themselves outside of a modern looking pagoda roughly two stories high, with a worn green roof and a small koi pond bisected by a curved wooden bridge.

"Wow, this place looks amazing." Judy was astonished by the amount of detail and concern that had gone into producing the traditional feeling of the restaurant. Nick, looking at her, agreed. A lean deer greeted them at the door by name and led them to their specially prepared corner booth on the first floor. They had a fantastic view of the sushi prep area where the leopard cat Jin-Roh was hard at work, deftly slicing fish and vegetables into the appropriate size and shape, while his assistant prepared the rice and seaweed wraps and cooked tempura.

"I don't even want to ask how you got us a table here. This place is packed!" Nick grinned, making a mental note to send the otter responsible for the evening something nice. He ordered them drinks and let the night take its course. Judy seemed to love the restaurant, she read through the description of each and every sushi option and finally settled on a vegetarian Heaven and Hell platter meant to evoke the senses of Heaven and Hell by the clever use of scorching spices and the soothing sweetness of fresh fruit. Nick settled for a more traditional mackerel dish that he knew he would enjoy. He had ordered them a bottle of sake that he had been recommended by the otter and poured the two a healthy dose of the delicious rice wine. Judy stood up and held out her cup to Nick.

"This place is amazing Nick, but not as amazing as you, because without you I'd have nothing. To you, Nick." Nick held up his cup to match her toast but pulled back before the china clinked.

"Carrots, without you I'd still be hustling popsicles on the sidewalk to a bunch of robot chipmunks…to us. Banzai!" With his piece said, the two clinked cups and downed their respective drinks, which he immediately refilled.

"Seriously Judy, I owe you a lot. You're the first person to see me for who I could be, not what I was pretending to be. That means a lot to me." Judy swirled the sake in her cup in a gentle circular motion, trying not to look as nervous as she felt. At work, she did a good job, no a fucking great job of not allowing her feelings for Nick to come to surface. But bottling up like that frustrated her to no end, especially at night. She couldn't live like that forever, and so she had finally committed to making a move. The only question she had was if Nick wanted her the way she wanted him. Their first assignment after they had started working together officially she had said that she loved him, but before he could say anything else they had almost been killed by a sloth in a sports car and they had never talked about it again.

"Well, you believed in me. You had my back when no one else did, and you've always supported me even after I acted like an idiot."

"Well, you were too cute a girl for me to let you cry like that." Judy's eyes went wide with surprise, which Nick quickly noticed and grimaced.

"Well would you look at that, Gazelle's here." Nick coughed, immediately trying to recover. Judy let him save face, but felt encouraged. Maybe there was a chance after all. She took a sip of the sweet rice wine as the waitress interrupted their conversation to set down two porcelain trays of sushi in front of them. Judy's tray was alternating between a blackish green and a cantaloupe orange tint. Nick's dish was a simple progression of several cubes with several colored morsels pressed into the rice. Nick aggressively popped a cube into his mouth and groaned.

"Oh man, you definitely don't want to try this." Judy grinned at the provocation but didn't take the bite. She had the initiative for the moment; maybe she could play it to her advantage. She chewed a sweat piece of sushi, relishing the bursts of flavor masterfully worked into the piece. That leopard cat really knew his business well. She nodded, eyes closed. She had the momentum, now was the best time to push.

"So if I'm so cute why is it you've never invited me to your apartment?" By the sounds the fox made she swore she might have killed him. He thumped his chest a few times as his ears flattened themselves against his head. Not a good sign. Furious with herself, Judy took what she hoped was a casual sip of sake.

"Well…I guess I didn't think you'd want to. I didn't want to push…" He let the sentence trail off, praying to the gods that she would pick up on the signal.

"Well now I'm intrigued. Don't tell me you live in a mansion and have been getting off on making me live in some tiny box of an apartment!" Judy laughed lightly, trying to mask her embarrassment at mentioning something so base at a dinner table.

"Since you insist, Carrots, I will show you my apartment in all its glory. After dinner." The fox grinned, watching the tiny bunny intently from behind his sake cup.

Nick led the bunny up to his flat. It was a conservative place, a decent sized kitchen and living room with a large window overlooking the intersection in front of the building that also gave a fantastic view of the city street. She guessed that he had gotten it with the money he made before they had met, when there was no telling how long the money would keep coming in. Nick left her to take off her jacket to mix them drinks before settling on the couch just below that magnificent view, dangerously close to the little bunny. Judy took a sip of the bourbon and felt a little of the bravery she had had at the restaurant flood back into her cheeks. This was where she had wanted to be, ever since their first day working together as partners on the beat. For a year she had gone to bed alone in her tiny apartment, staving off the daily torturous desire she felt burning between her legs, dreaming about having him. She had faced down a savage jaguar, more recently seen absolute carnage at its most bestial state, but those paled in comparison to failing here. The struggle about whether or not to even attempt what she was now doing had taken her months to overcome, the risks were great indeed. If he spurned her, everything they had been would be broken. She took another sip of bourbon. Nick sat his drink down and she thought he was about to make a move on her when he clapped his hands together and some soft music started playing from a stereo system he had set up next to the TV.

"Alright Carrots, you've seen my little den. What do you think?" The fox gestured towards the room as the music picked up pace.

"It's nice. Nicer than I expected." Judy sat the drink down on the minimalist coffee table and folded her hands in her lap chastely. Nick noticed all of this quietly. Not for the first time since she had met him, she wished she could read his thoughts.

"Well, it has all the modern conveniences a bachelor fox could ask for. Clap activated entertainment system, a fully stocked refrigerator and bar, a view of the city great for distracting pretty girls long enough to really look at them, and a comfortable bedroom with mood lighting. Here-"He stood up suddenly, tumbler still in hand. "-let me show you." He strode into the bedroom, leaving the bunny sitting on the couch.

Where she had been nervous before, now her legs trembled weakly. Judy couldn't back down now. She cautiously stood up and unconsciously let her excitement show as she hopped to the bedroom door and paused for a moment. Nick's paw appeared from behind the door and pulled her into the room and into his arms. It was then that the paper thin pretense of friendship was discarded for something more. She felt his lips on hers; he tasted like the caramel bourbon she had been drinking. She felt his paw sliding up between her thighs, heard the material of her skirt pushed aside, felt his large paw between her legs pulling aside her silk panties to caress her sex. She kissed him deeply and wrapped her tiny hands around his neck while he undid his trousers, then he put his hands on her butt and lifted her. She wrapped her toned legs above his waist and felt his tongue in her mouth. She sucked gently on him, which put him over the edge. She could feel his need pass between her thighs, and released her right hand to guide him into her. Her hand wrapped around a thick tapered shaft of pulsing heat that she pointed anxiously into her own wet sex.

Nick's first unbelievably pleasurable thrust into her made her gasp and hiked her legs up almost to his ears. She squeezed his shaft, resituating herself before letting go to his lightning quick thrusts into her. She lost count after twenty, letting her body react to the torturously deep penetrations. In a series of jerky motions her pelvis shifted upwards with the thrusts and she felt her body shatter into her first orgasm. Her body convulsed and edged Nick over the finish line and she felt his hardness break, and the subsequent flood of semen deep in her trickling out. Nick fell down backwards on the bed and Judy fell forward onto his chest with an obscene shlick as he exited her. She could hear his heart hammering beneath the soft orange and white fur and only just began to hear his heavy breathing comingling with hers like incense at a temple. She felt the sticky spreading around her groin but didn't bother going to the bathroom, instead squeezing her legs together. That was hers, she didn't care for anything else except that she had finally done it and with the only person she had wanted to do it with. And, she imagined, with someone who wanted her just as badly.