Gotta say... I'm woefully stupefied at my forgetfulness.

I wrote this LAST YEAR and gave it to a friend to post on their collaborative work between other authors... but I never posted it on my own account. Woweee!

Welp... a little late, but hopefully the feels from the season are still lingering well enough to warrant a peek at this and subsequent joy at having read it. XD

Read, review, fav, follow, and do enjoy. And grab that strange snack. Mine today is a sandwich... made from a bunch of candy and pressed between graham crackers. in the middle i have reese's cups and andes mints. Don't judge me. I love peanut butter and mint. odd combo but i somehow like it.

Decorations were being hung, lights plugged in, and a tree being positioned in the station lobby. Nick looked on with a blank expression, his general indifference and forced neutral expression turning sour as he contemplated the return of his least favorite season.

"Why the sour mug?" a shorter mammal next to the red fox chimed, giving his chest a light thump from the back of her paw. "Haven't known you to look like that when decorations are out."

The tod sighed, raising a paw to scratch at the tip of an ear.

"Not really a seasonal mammal of joy and such," he replied evenly. Judy's ears fell at his lackluster tone, his eyes doing a double take in her direction as he realized his folly of a statement with his choice of words. The fox sighed. "Don't take it too seriously, Fluff. Haven't done much celebrating since I was a kit."

"Oh right… you haven't had many to celebrate with," the doe simply surmised. The tod nodded and shrugged. Judy perked up. "But now… you have me, Clawhauser, most of the officers in the precinct, and maybe Bogo… depending on what he cares to celebrate." She mumbled the last part in a questioning manner that made the fox chuckle lightly.

"I guess you're right," Nick breathed out with a slowly spreading smile.

"Aren't I always right?" the grey rabbit jibed with a playful wink. To her frustration, his smile turned into a roguish smirk.

"Would you like me to list all the times you were wrong?" he asked with all due sarcastic sass. "Seriously… I could go into my desk and dig out the list."

Judy splayed out her paws in feigned defeat, rolling her eyes as she voiced, "Alright, alright. I get it. You've had your fun." A long, drawn out breath left her in a slow laugh. "But… you should use this chance to get in on all the seasonal traditions. Eggnog, decorations, caroling, mistletoe, ugly sweaters…"

"Don't you have a small group of siblings who make you those for your birthday?" Nick asked in sincere curiosity. Judy whirled on him with a paw clenched, digit extended towards his snout in admonishment, whereas she opened her maw to chastise him for his remark…

Before she sighed slightly and tilted her head back and forth in ambiguous agreement.

"Also, what was that about mistletoe? Isn't that a poisonous plant?" the tod followed up with asking.

The small doe paused and gave him a look as she inquired, "Yeah… how do you know that but not the tradition about it?" The fox groaned in response.

"Your dad went on and on last time we went to your parents about certain plants. That was one of them."

"Oh… well, it's a plant that, when hung up above and two mammals stand under it, you kiss under as part of tradition," Judy explained. If Nick's ears perked up any harder, they might have shot upwards from his skull and flown towards the ceiling like arrows. "You seriously didn't know that?"

The red fox was lost in his own little world for a few seconds, the wheels in his head turning. He jarred his mind back to the present when a certain rabbit's eyes turned slightly concerned at his lack of response.

"Oh… uh… I guess not," he murmured slowly. "Haven't paid much attention to the seasonal stuff since I was twelve."

Judy smiled and turned to walk down a hallway, Nick subconsciously following her as she spoke, "Well, enough about that. You somehow seem in brighter spirits now with that wide grin. Not sure whether I should feel glad or concerned with that turnabout."

"Let's call it…" the fox slowly said, snapping his fingers as he searched mentally for the words, "an excitable revelation." the doe shrugged.

"At least it put you in a more seasonal mood," she breathed, not seeing the longing stare that the red tod gave her, as he trailed behind. His mind was a whirling maelstrom of ideas and schemes.

"Tradition… huh."

0000000

After a long day and many hours of paperwork, Judy rubbed her eyes and ran her paws through her fur to rest on the back of her neck. She tilted her head back to eye her partner, who appeared far more chipper than usual, especially since the two of them have been straining their eyes in equal measure to look at tiny text and Nick seemed nearly completely unfazed by it.

Her brow furrowed in slight irritation. To her recollection, he is almost never this… lacking for frustration or complaints as he was now.

"And now you have the sour mug," came his annoying observation of her current state.

"Just wondering what has you looking so energetic after a whole day of catching up on paperwork," the grey bunny explained. "By this time on any other day, you've listed every dish you might cook over the burning embers that once used to be our reports."

The red fox barked out a laugh, getting up to cross the threshold between their desks. With a sigh, he leaned on her desk, a leg propped up and tail swishing eagerly.

"Let's just say I've discovered a thing or two since our conversation earlier that has 'piqued' my interest in the holidays," Nick cryptically divulged in a low tone. The grey bunny facepawed.

"Oh goodness…" she breathed, making the fox stiffen nervously. Her paw slipped from her muzzle as she rolled her eyes, training them sardonically on him. "You found out about the pickle didn't you?"

A false smile plastered on his snout as the tod's eyes flicked back and forth in an effort to fill the void in his lack of understanding.

"Yes!" he chose to belt out, hoping to keep his interests concealed. "I found out about the pickle. How about we get out of here and grab a bite to eat?"

"Sure."

The two then left their desks, with Nick guiding the pair down the usual hallway to the cafeteria. Up ahead, above the entryway, was a mistletoe attached to the door.

Nick had used a few separate bathroom breaks and drink or food runs from their day of paperwork to both pick up and set up those strange plants at key points that the two traverse often. The red fox tod wanted to hustle a kiss out of his bunny. As potentially manipulative as it seemed, he hoped it might lead to more.

The entryway approached and his paws shook from a twinge of nervousness, being at the precipice of a hopefully receiving an obligatory kiss.

Suddenly, Judy turned from the entry and continued onwards towards the receptionist desk near the front.

"Uh… Fluff? Where ya going?" The fox attempted to ask as coolly as he could muster, letting the confusion bleed in just a bit.

"Clawhauser offered me something his girlfriend cooked up earlier," she voiced as the distance between the two enlarged. "I figured it would be better than cafeteria food. Wanna come with and try it? He extended the offer to you too, but at the time, you were off on a break or something when he popped by."

Nick internally groaned but remained level headed. That wasn't the only mistletoe he set up and he could guide them to another nearby. He let out a slow breath and put on his half lidded stare with the charming grin.

"Sounds great, but can we take the long way around? With all that sitting and staring at paperwork… I just wanna stretch my legs a bit."

The rabbit shrugged and followed him as he took a hallway with a lengthier route towards the front desk… and right towards another mistletoe the fox had set up. He needed a distraction though to keep her from correcting his detour too early.

"Oh!" He exclaimed. "I have… a joke."

Judy groaned but gestured for him to fire away and get it over with. "Let's hear it."

"What might you call a hefty sailor?"

The grey doe raised an eyebrow and gazed unamused at her partner for several seconds,

"Don't wait for me," the bunny said with a light chuckle. "I know I will never guess it."

"Well… one might say the sailor was on the portly side."

Silence. The air felt unmoving and still as Judy's face reflected that same description. At least… it stayed like that for all of two seconds that felt like two minutes, before she broke down and starting giggling. It stopped as abruptly as it began, when the doe let out a couple short snorting laughs and covered her mouth with a paw. Her cheeks burned crimson from the embarrassment, eyes narrowing at him.

She stopped and pointed down another hallway, saying, "We almost missed the turn here."

Nick opened his maw to complain or correct her, seeing one of the other mistletoes nearby that he set up. He facepawed and gave up on the second attempt.

After meeting up with Clawhauser, who apparently offered some healthy organic meal to the two as a means to avoid eating it himself, the two had to run around and distribute their paperwork to the right departments and officers. The tod had counted on that and attempted many times to herd his partner towards a prepositioned mistletoe.

Suffice it to say, future attempts were thwarted somehow. A detour here to drop something unplanned off or pick something up. Seeing a random co-worker that the doe needed to ask a tedious question. Even a spilled cup of tea after tripping on her own feet. It made the fox want to snarl out in frustration.

The day ended rather anticlimactically. The red tod lost most of his earlier moxie for the current plan.

"Tomorrow is another day…" he muttered to himself.

0000000

It was a simple matter to say the next day ran into the same problems. A cooler head allowed him more perspective throughout the day though. It appeared that Judy might have been avoiding each mistletoe as she saw them. It was tough to see at furst, but Nick could see her stiffen near each placed one and quickly do something or say something to change their route or such.

Normally, they wouldn't be making rounds in the precinct two days in a row, but the end of the year was approaching. That meant they needed to wrap up any unfinished reports and get them filed properly. With the past weeks of shopping for the holidays and all the craziness that ensues, requiring officers to respond, it made for quite a backlog for many officers in most precincts.

The plus side is it gave the red tod another chance to ensnare his partner in a trap to kiss her.

Trap…

He shook his head and tried for another word that sounded less… misunderstood. Nothing came to mind so he pushed on.

The only other problem with his second chance was that they only worked half a shift today. Nick even attempted to recruit Clawhauser in on the scheme of his. He was all too cheerful to help. If the fox hadn't clapped a paw over his mouth at the time, his squeal might have drawn the attention of every officer in the precinct, not to mention all the glass that might have needed replacing.

"Hey, Slick," came the soft coo of his partner's voice, her paw waving in front of his face to bring his attention back. He looked around and noticed they somehow made it back to their desks.

"Huh? Yeah? What's going on?"

The grey doe chuckled nervously.

"Your ears are flattened. What's bothering you?"

The red fox forced his ears to perk back up, a task easier said than done, and greeted her concerned stare with a roguish smirk.

"Of course I'm fine," came his forced reply.

After a few seconds of her inquisitive gaze, Judy finally perked up and clapped her paws together.

"Great!"

The unexpected change in her demeanor unsettled the tod for a moment, but he did his best to brush it off, knowing the rabbit was far from likely to explain herself just because he would ask.

The day passed far too quickly, even for a half day shift.

Nick unlocked the door to his apartment, having been far from successful in his plan to pry a kiss from Judy. In his paws was a bag full of some great smelling, but probably quite terrible for one's body take out from a place nearby.

Dropping his keys in a small basket, the fox tod collapsed in his nearby sofa, letting out a long sigh of relief to be home.

Opening his bag of food, he dared to find the delectable goodness that was his meal with tired paws…

Until his doorbell rang.

The tod groaned and closed the bag once more, making a dramatic show of straining to lift himself up and trudge to the door. He assumed it was his neighbor knocking to make some sort of vague complaint. Ever since becoming a cop, she would either bother him with a complaint, or make one about him specifically. It was all too general to do anything about it and wasn't technically considered harassment.

Upon opening the door, it of great surprise that his partner stood there in the light of the flickering hallway fluorescents. She was in a turtleneck long sleeve that form fit a bit too much for winter clothing and jeans.

"Can I come in?" she asked after seeing the flabbergasted expression on the fox's muzzle. He instantly stepped aside and allowed her to pad her way in.

Before Nick could ask any questions, Judy turned to him, face contorted in a mix of emotions.

"I know what you've been doing," she belted out quickly and concisely. "Not exactly making it very discreet."

"I don't know what you're talking about," the fox automatically replied.

"Oh don't bother," she pursued with a smile. "I put all the pieces together and know you've been setting up mistletoe everywhere in some half baked scheme to swindle a kiss out of me. For whatever reason."

"What pieces?" he asked in denial. Knowing he was caught however, Nick decided to change tactics. When he actually thought through his own question, only one answer popped up. "Benny can't keep his mouth shut well can he?"

"Don't blame him," the doe began. "Blame yourself for thinking that incorrigible gossip could keep his trap shut about it."

"Fair point. So, now you know."

"Only that you wanted to trick me into kissing you. I still don't know why."

Her face turned stern and the tod could easily surmise where her thoughts were going.

Was this a joke? A prank gone too far at her expense? A means to knock her down a peg or two for fun?

He took a deep breath, choosing his path and sticking to his guns before he lost the will to do so to a lack of nerves.

"I'm in love with you and hoped something like that might make it easier to get closer to you so I could figure out if you were open to the same thing."

Judy's jaw went slack and eyes bugged out. She clearly wasn't expecting him to say that, or at the very least, not expecting it to be so easy.

"That… was way too easy…" she breathed slowly.

"So… what do I do now?" he inquired, splaying out his paws in trepidatious anticipation of her answer to him spilling his heart out.

"Well," Judy started, shrugging and looking up, "if you raise your head, I think you might have an answer."

The red tod's head snapped upward and came to see the mistletoe hanging in his den area. He did a double take to look back at the tilted head and awkward smile that his partner nervously held on her muzzle.

"How?"

"Does it really matter?"

"Not in the slightest…" Nick sighed, leaning in close and using a paw cup Judy's cheek, letting her push into it. His claws extended just enough to rake through her fur, making the doe shiver as she gave his palm a tentative kiss.

As his paw wrapped around the back of her head to pull her in, the bunny's ears fell back and eyes glazed over. His own heart hammered in his chest, fearing that this moment was some delusion of a lovesick mind.

The warm breath that exchanged only millimeters from each other, neither closing the gap immediately. Her nose twitched and his flared.

Judy took the dive furst and connected her lips with his, starting with a slow and firm press against him. Nick fell into it, his head swimming in a pleasurable daze of the ambrosia seeping from the moment they were sharing.

Her paws joined the equation, cupping them around his snout and turning the slow kiss into a series of pecks and nips. His other paw roped around her and rested on the small of her back, pressing in to make her arch, pressing her chest into him. A soft hum left her muzzle, sending a delightful vibration through the fox's body.

The heated moment had to come to an end, given that neither of them had well and truly taken a breath during their entire exchange.

A few deep breaths and awkward flickering stares later, the two were silently eyeing one another with growing grins.

"I think it's only fair that I say 'I'm in love with you too', since I was blindsided with that unexpectedly easy to pull from you confession earlier," the grey rabbit voiced with a paw brushing her ear back.

"If you don't mind my asking," the fox tod countered, "why did you avoid all those mistletoes anyways?"

"I wasn't kissing you on any other terms but my own," came her reply with an accusatory glare towards him.

"Ah… you make a good case. On that note, I have another question…"

"Shoot," Judy chirped.

"What, in the name of all that is good, is this thing about a pickle?" Nick asked in sincere curiosity. His expression turned confused when the doe only laughed in response, to which he rolled his eyes and kissed her once more to keep her mouth closed.

"Shut up," he joked.

"Only as long as you keep your lips on mine."

"Deal."

Been a while since I peeked at this so I had to give it a reread. I don't believe I explained the pickle but it's a tradition where a pickle ornament is hidden on the tree for the kids to find on Christmas morning. Usual it's a competition whereas the one who finds it gets a generic bonus gift.

I only found out about it in the past couple years so Nick's reaction was pretty much based on me asking people who kept bringing it up and refusing to tell me, like it was some dirty and big secret. *rolls eyes*

Anywho, hope everyone enjoyed their Christmas and whatever amount of food they were forced to inhale from pushy family members. XD

Until next time, it's been a hustle, Sweethearts.