It was a lovely Sunday morning at the downtown of Zootopia. As the sun rises from the east, it always shines so bright even in this district when the mammals are about to start their day. The kind of morning we usually get in this city.
In the suburbs near the downtown, there was a new home that had been built at the district about 20 years ago. Despite being new, it was very similar in style to my old childhood home, with its walls, color scheme on the inside and picket fences. The morning light shined peacefully at it, as there was morning dew on the lawn too.
So much time had passed since I moved in there, after a few years that had been the best time of my life. Even though I´m not an elephant, I can still remember those years like yesterday. The golden era of Nicholas Piberius Wilde, so to speak.
After many years as a lonely hustler, I now had a home of my own. But I didn´t have to live in it alone this time.
Some time before I moved in here, I had gotten married to someone very special to me. It all happened that one fateful day when I met that wonderful rabbit, Judy Hopps. A story so many mammals already know in this city. Even though we started out as semi-reluctant allies, we eventually started a very caring and functional friendship, which carried onto our relationship as partners in the ZPD. For a long time, we kept the city safe and stopped some of the greatest threats Zootopia faced, from mobsters to power-hungry politicians. Whether prey or predator, no villain stood a chance against us.
But that was not the only good thing that happened during that time. Eventually, Judy and I started to realize the true feelings we had for each other, despite how different we may have seemed on the surface. Our simple partnership soon turned into something more gentle and affectionate, which brought joy and hope to our lives even when things got rough. So many sacrifices we made for each other, but they were all worth it. There was no need for me to go back to the life of hustling anymore at all.
When time went on and our successes grew stronger, it only got better for us. She and I did not only get married, but Judy was also promoted to the chief of the force as Bogo retired. I changed my post too and became her loyal sergeant and second in command. I felt so proud for her; so far she has done such an excellent job looking after all the young and eager new recruits, like a teacher with her students. No wonder Chief Buffalo Butt was generous enough to give her that post, maybe he does have good judge of character after all.
Despite Judy being busy at times with her job, married life with her had been wonderful so far. We even adopted a daughter of our own, a cute little vixen named Bianca Wilde, who´s now 11 years old. What a cheerful little kit she is, since she has so much in common with both me and Judy. Nowadays, she´s in the girl scouts with many friends in them, and she was currently on a camping trip with them too, coming back home in two days. It´s so comforting to hear foxes don´t face prejudice anymore.
Currently, me and my wife were sleeping snugly upstairs in our bed, which was big enough to hold both of our weight despite being rather small by mammal standards. It was located next to a cozy fireplace and its mantelpiece, which had several memories of our days together decorating it, from my hankie and Judy´s carrot pen to our wedding and graduation photos. The last of the photos had Judy sitting on the desk of the chief, with the name Wilde in her uniform instead of a Hopps. There was also Judy´s old lamp from her apartment.
Just looking at the hankie and the pen always fills me with so much nostalgia, more than a single photo album ever could. I can still hear her saying the words "Felony tax evasion" in my ears during the start of our first adventure together. Maybe I´m a sentimental old fool already, but it makes me a bit misty whenever I remember those days.
Mrs. Judith Laverne Wilde herself slept in my arms, in her purple nightdress that she had started to use more instead of her pajamas since we had gotten married. Judy was already in her late 40s, but she was still so beautiful for a bunny. She had gotten a little plumper during her younger years, looking a lot like her mother already, with a couple of wrinkles too, although her legs and paws were still very strong, and she still had those same hips I had always found attractive. Not only had the former miss Hopps changed from the outside, but the inside too. The way she had matured and grown as a person during our past adventures showed how great material for a chief she truly was. Now there was a girl who had been loyal to her dream to make the world a better place, I must say.
In my 50s, I had started to show my age too, for my fur was more scraggly and I had gained weight as well. Not that Judy minded it at all. I myself slept in my shorts only as I held my wife close and gently. The morning had already come, but we were in no hurry to wake up this Sunday at all. Not to mention I don´t like loud alarm clocks, and neither does Judy. Especially after Finnick gave me an extremely noisy one years ago as a birthday present. Good riddance to that metallic piece of junk.
However, there´s one way to wake me up which I always love, which was about to happen next. As soon as she felt the morning light shine through the window on her fur, Judy woke up. Even though she fell asleep earlier than I usually did, she still didn´t sleep as much, despite being younger and smaller than this fox. She had always been a morning person.
Judy yawned cutely and stretched her paws, right before she opened her purple eyes. After such a week full of hard work in the force, all she wanted to do that morning was just relax and cuddle with me. There´s always room for calm moments like that in our lives.
She turned to me, as I kept sleeping all curled up like foxes usually do. Judy smiled lovingly, for she knew what she had to do next.
In an instant, I woke up to a fluffy, glorious feeling as she kissed my cheek softly. When I slowly opened my eyes, the first thing I saw was Judy´s lovely face. What a perfect way to start a day for this fox.
"Good morning, sweetie", Judy said in a gentle tone. It does indeed amaze me how even though she´s proven to be a tough and charismatic leader at the ZPD already, she still has that sweet and bunnylike personality deep in her heart, which shows the most whenever I´m with her, or in how great of a mother she has been to Bianca. I gave a smile to her, stroking her long ears.
"I thought I was the one who was supposed to wake up the Sleeping Beauty", I said to Judy, causing her to laugh.
"You´re incorrect. That title belongs to you, since you sleep more than me or Bianca combined. Besides, you´re a beautiful mammal being, there´s no doubt about it", she said.
"Pot calling the kettle black, Carrots. 49 years old and you´re still dangerously cute", I smooshed her round cheeks playfully.
"What did I say about the C-word?" Judy giggled, giving me a playful noogie. I laughed too.
She gave me a strong bear hug, feeling all the warmth of my orange fur. My wife especially loved it when I wrapped my tail around her, which was still just as fluffy as in my younger years.
For a while, we lied in the bed awake, cuddling and stroking each other´s fluffiest places. Judy kept her eyes closed with a blissful smile on her face as I petted her ears again. She especially liked it when I put my paws through the opening on her nightdress and stroked her nice, fluffy dewlap. The rabbit loved it just as much as she did during our honeymoon night back then.
As we snuggled, Judy noticed how it was already ten o´clock from the digital clock near the lamp next to our bed.
"It´s almost breakfast time. Shall I get you something already?" she asked.
"Pancakes with blueberry jam would be nice, thank you very much", I said. She nodded, knowing how much I loved those.
I couldn´t have been in a happier and healthier marriage. Judy was the kind of woman who valued family and friends above all, caring for and protecting them in any way she could. A respectable doe through and through.
In a few minutes, she brought the breakfast to bed that we shared at the spot. The pancakes tasted great, although her kisses are always even sweeter.
"Life as the husband of the ZPD chief herself ….that´s really something. I´ve come quite far since my days as a simple pawpsicle hustler", I said.
"I´m glad to be such a fine fox family too, Nick. You´ve proven what your kind is really capable of, and I´m so proud of that", she patted my head.
While I was eating, Judy sat on my lap and put her reading glasses on while checking out the newspaper. Nothing truly special or new was on the news this time, but it didn´t need to.
Our love was blossoming at its fullest as we were at the peak of our careers. We didn´t know what to do today yet, but there was no hurry for that either. Just a simple Sunday close to my beloved wife and chief, free to do whatever we wanted that day. Whether a walk in the park, a shopping spree or just staying home, all of them were good choices. And neither of us couldn´t wait for Bianca to come home from her camping trip soon too.
"I love you, my Mrs. Wilde", I nuzzled the shoulder of my love as I held her.
"And I love you, my sly old fox", Judy said, touching my nose with hers. I always loved feeling the touch of that cute little pink nose against my cold, vulpine snout.
Delicious pancakes and sweet cuddling. Not bad for the first morning as the husband of a chief.