Nick flexed his feet in the bath water before turning his head back to Judy. "Got to admit," he said, "thought we would be using tomato juice."
"Nope," Judy said as she rolled up her sleeves to start scrubbing Nick's back. "It's an old remedy, but it doesn't really do much as you would believe," she explained as she reached for the washcloth. "It can cut through the oils of the skunk spray, but the smells linger and not to mention you wind up turning a little pink."
She looked over his red fur. "Although, since you're already red might not affect you as much."
Nick raised an amused eyebrow as he ran his hand through the water. "So, what exactly am I soaking in?"
"Mixture of liquid dish soap, baking soda, and hydrogen peroxide," Judy confirmed and started to scrub behind his ears.
Nick shut his eyes. "Mmmm, not going to lie, that feels good. Ever considered quitting the police force to be a masseuse?"
"Nope," Judy said in a flat tone as she poked his arm and sighed. "I still think Bogo is over reacting. We don't smell that bad."
Nick raised an eyebrow. "Carrots, we got sprayed by a whole parade of skunks, I can barely stand the smell."
"I guess," Judy said with a pout Nick couldn't help, but find cute. "But banning us from the station until we stop reeking of skunk? It's not like it's our fault."
It really wasn't.
Weaselton had made the run for it when he and Judy were about to arrest him for selling digestible night howler pellets.
Ever since the Bellwether incident, interest in using night howlers had spiked to the point some sellers had figured out how to manufacture them into pill form. Seemed some animals, especially prey species, liked the idea of going savage to get stronger. The pills weren't as dangerous as the pellets Bellwether used, but they'd been quickly ruled illegal since they caused unpredictable behavior.
Didn't stop animals like Weaselton from selling them to make a fast buck. Worst yet, Weaselton wasn't even selling the real stuff, but cheap knockoff pills. They weren't as deadly, but too many of them could make an animal real sick.
Nick gave the crook points for assuming he could lose them in a middle of a parade. The middle of a skunk parade though? He lost ten points for that one. He then lost a hundred points for trying to take one of the skunk volunteers as a hostage.
Seems he forgot skunks spray in defense. Nick had to admit, watching Weaselton get blasted with a face full of the stuff was hilarious. The other skunks deciding to join in and spray to save their comrade? Not so much since he and Judy had been in the blast radius.
Thus, when they entered the police station, just about every officer and crook they passed pinched their noses as they walked by. Nick was even certain he saw a couple of potted flowers wilted.
He sighed as he ran a paw over his ears. "I wouldn't normally complain about getting a couple of days off, but I would prefer being able to walk outside without causing a literal stink."
"Well, it could be worse," Judy commented as she poured water over his head. "We could also have to wash Weaselton."
Nick pondered on that and stuck out his tongue as he grimaced. "I don't even want to think about the last time that guy had a bath."
Judy then smirked as she stepped back. "Okay, done the back, you can probably handle the rest here, right?"
Nick nodded as he took the washcloth.
He didn't mind being naked in front of Judy, he did use to be part of the naturalist club way back when, but he knew Judy wasn't fully comfortable with the concept. However, they both agreed they would need each other's help to fully ensure they scrubbed the spray off. Their arms could only reach so far back.
"I'll give a shout when I'm finish and do the same for you," Nick said.
"Sounds good," Judy said as she took his clothes. "I'm going to put these in a double layer bag to bring to the laundromat later."
That will be fun, Nick thought, grimly. We'll be lucky if we don't get banned from the laundromat as a result.
He sighed as he picked up the washcloth to wash the rest of his body. Nick scrubbed as hard as he could until he was certain if he stayed in the water any longer he was going to feel like soggy cereal.
Nick then climbed out, shook off the water and reached for the hair dryer. His tail took the longest to dry, as it always did, but once he was certain he wasn't going to drip on the floor, he grabbed his bathrobe and emerged into the main room.
"Done," he said as he pointed over his shoulder. "Your turn, Carrots."
Judy nodded as she reached for her clothes and a small bottle. "I'll call you when I need help."
Nick gave a thumbs up as he turned his back to grab a bottle of soda from the fridge. He leaned back to sip it as he gazed around their small apartment. It wasn't very big, but it was warm, clean, and just big enough with two rooms for him and Judy to claim as their bedrooms.
Nick hadn't expected for he and Judy to become roommates when they became partners. However, the first time Judy took him to her grim hole of an apartment, the idea just instantly popped out of his mouth.
"You! Move in! With me! NOW!" Nick had declared, as he fought the urge to just drag her out of there.
His old apartment hadn't exactly being the Ritz, being in the basement of an old building with leaking pipes almost covering every inch of the place. Although, he doubted even a spider would avoid Judy's apartment.
Judy has brushed off the suggestion at first, but Nick insisted. He was NOT letting his partner live in some greasy hole. Judy had then thumped her foot and looked ready to argue… until her noisy neighbours shouted through the walls.
"Just live with him already! Geez!"
"Yeah! Keep it down, we're trying to sleep here!"
After that, Judy blushed and seemed to lost the will to argue and agreed to move in with Nick.
His old apartment would have been big enough to accommodate Judy, but they both decided it was better to have one that was closer to the police station. Besides, Nick had been certain those ancient pipes were going to burst with water someday and he rather not finding himself stomping through a flood.
"Okay, ready!" Judy's voice called out.
Nick set the bottle on the counter and entered the bathroom. Seeing a pair of ears and a little face peeking out from a mountain of bubbles caused him to raise an eyebrow.
"Really?" he asked
"If I need to take a bath to get rid of skunk spray," Judy said as she twitched her ears, while covered in suds. "I'm having it be a bubble bath."
Nick chuckled as he picked up the bottle containing the solution Judy mixed together earlier and a washcloth.
"Okay, I'm doing your back," Nick warned, being careful not to peek around the front...not that he could see much with the bubble mountain in the way.
Judy nodded and almost seemed to melt as Nick started to wash. "You're right, that does feel good."
The fox smirked as he went up to her neck. The only area he wasn't going to touch was her tail. He knew tails were extremely private for rabbits, and Judy could easily do that part herself.
"After this, want me to order pizza?" he suggested.
"It's definitely a pizza night," she said as she scrubbed her ears. "But how about with our usual vegetarian, we get some garlic bread to go with it?"
"Wasn't the whole point of this bath was that we wouldn't stink?," Nick teased.
"We won't stink."
"No, but our breath will if we have garlic bread."
Judy snorted as she leaned forward to give Nick a better angle. "Fine, then how about two extra large pizzas, because I'm starving."
"That I can agree with," Nick said as he stepped back. "And done," he said as he handed Judy the washcloth over her shoulder. "I'll leave the rest to you."
"I won't be long," Judy replied as she started to wash her arm.
"Take your time," Nick said as he went to leave, "pizza needs time to get here." He found himself already dialling the number on his phone as he shut the door.
He called in the usual order, along with asking for two slices of carrot cake for dessert. Judy only tried to eat sweets on special occasions, and he had a feeling today counted.
He then turned on the tv to wait, and within half an hour he heard the pizza guy arrive. Aw! The benefits of having a pizza restaurant placed across the street from you. He had insisted to Judy they live in this apartment building for that very reason.
Nick paid and tipped the guy and had just finished putting the boxes on the coffee table and lifting the lids as Judy appeared in her smiley carrot printed pjs. She saw the opened box of carrot cake and seemed slightly surprised, but then gave an approving nod.
"Good call," she said as she took a slice of pizza from the box.
"Want to watch a movie on HerdFlix?" Nick asked as he reached for the remote. "We can finished the one we started last night."
Judy quickly gulped down her slice. "Okay, movie sounds good," she replied as she started to briskly move around the room. "Let me just finish brushing my fur, get my clothes hung up, check the phone for messages-"
Nick tuned her out as he silently sat on the couch and got the remote ready. Quietly, he then watched the rabbit madly hop around the room getting things done and organized. Eventually, she then steered towards the coach, and promptly let her body drop bonelessly next to Nick's as if she had been turned into a ragdoll..
"Ahhhhh," she said as she sighed in content. "Now, I'm good."
Nick chuckled. First time he'd seen Judy do that, he had no sweet clue what she was doing. Eventually, Judy explained that hopping around rampantly and then flopping against someone they trusted was an old rabbit habit to relax.
Nick had chuckled amused, and was slightly touched that he apparently counted as someone she could trust.
"Not going to lie," Nick said as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders, "that will forever make me laugh."
Judy rolled his eyes. "What? It's super common in Bunnyburrow."
"It's still a 'quirky' thing to do," Nick teased.
"Says the guy who dives headfirst into snow," Judy said with a smirk.
"Hey, I found our car keys didn't I?" Nick retorted, as he puffed out his chest pretending to be insulted. "It's a grand fox tradition to dive into snowdrifts."
Judy poked him in the arm as she grabbed two slices and handed one to Nick. "How about we start that movie, partner?"
Nick took the slice and grinned as he hit play. "Way ahead of you, partner."
They then proceeded to nestle against each other as they ate pizza and watched. Half an hour in, Judy had fallen asleep and slumped against Nick. The fox simply smiled as he pulled the blanket over her.
"At least, if we stink, we do it together," he commented to himself as he reached for the carrot cake.
Author's Note: The Skunk Pride Parade was actually something that was mentioned at the end of the junior novel and couldn't resist using it.
Also, I know foxes are actually omnivores, but the directors have mentioned that Nick is actually a vegetarian hence why there's no mention of him needing to eat crickets and such.
Finally, rabbits do run madly around and then suddenly flop against an animal/person they trust. It shows they can be completely relax and foxes do dive head first into snow. It's how they hunt for mice, and it's hilarious. Go look it up on youtube if you've never seen it.