Chapter Notes:
WARNING: this chapter is extremely cute and fluffy.
Enjoy at your own risk!-
Embrace:
The red fox still holding his keys in the lock turned to see Judy standing in the hallway just as confused as he was. "Judy?" he asked out of that sheer confusion before realizing what was going on. "Oh you are the new tenant. I don't know why I didn't realize that earlier. It really is a small world huh?" he asked with a chuckle seeing that not only did the two unlikely friends lived in the same apartment, but they were also neighbors.
Judy blinked in bewilderment, but then a smile crawled across her face. 'This isn't going to be so bad after all.' she thought happily knowing her friend was even closer than she thought. "Well I guess we don't really need to introduce ourselves again. Good night Nick." she said turning back her room.
"Good night Judy." Nick said kindly in return as he pushed Finnick's stroller into their room when he heard Judy struggling to open her door. He stopped mid step and turned to her, "Um officer? I believe you need a key to open the door." he said smirking at her trying to force the door open.
The officer was flustered and embarrassed for having not figured that out and went to dig her keys from her pocket when she froze. Nick being ever observant saw her freeze and began to worry, "You do have you key right?" he asked.
"Yes I just unlocked my door and," she paused with a cringe remembering that she set them down inside and didn't pick them up with her phone. "Left them inside." she carried off. "No, noooo. Nick what do I do?" she asked starting to panic slightly under the pressure of her current situation.
"Wait just calm down. Look I'll go downstairs with you to the front desk so they can let you into your room okay? They charge you after the first time though." he said warning her about the small fee she had to keep in mind for future a short ride down the elevator an already nervous Judy was tapping her foot impatiently on the floor as they went down to the lobby floor. But when they got to the lobby her heart dropped.
A sign was posted on the counter saying they were gone for the rest of the night and wouldn't be open till late in the morning, several hours after she would have to leave for work. Hoping for the best, that maybe the sign was just put up Judy pulled herself up to the top of the counter ringing the silver bell twice, but unlike how she had hoped there was no response. The grey rabbit let her head fall onto the counter as her ears drooped over the space in front of her.
"Wait I know someone who might be able to help." Nick said getting an idea in his head from a friend who had helped him with this problem on more than one occasion.
That statement got Judy's attention as her ears perked up in response and she lefted her head to face him, "What do you mean they could help?"
"I have a friend who knows how to pick locks. She's helped me get back into my room a few times too so she knows how to do the locks here." he explained as they took the elevator back up and pulled out his phone and began calling his friend. By the time they had gotten back to their floor it had already gone to voicemail twice.
Now what bit of hope Judy had gained going back up to their floor fell away as he apologized that his friend wasn't picking up the phone. "Wait. Okay I have one more idea." he said putting a supportive paw on her small shoulder. They went over to the space in between their room and Nick left her in the hallway with the still sleeping toddler as he went into their apartment and came back out in a moment propping the door open as he did so.
"What are you doing?" Judy asked slightly confused and interested as he got down on his knees in front of her door putting down a few paper clips. "Wait are you going to try to pick the lock?" she asked understanding what it was he was doing.
"I've seen her do it and it doesn't look that hard." he said as he straightened out two of the clips into small metal picks. His green eyes focused in on the lock trying to see the tumblers inside the knob as he listened carefully for the clicks that his friend told him about. Even Judy was listening intently as she watched the red fox try his best to open her door for her.
But sometimes ones best just simply wasn't enough, and after a few minutes she sighed in defeat putting a paw on his shoulder now. "Nick it's okay. You don't have to keep trying." she said finally coming to grips with the situation.
"Well there is one more thing we could try." Nick said scratching the back of his neck as he thought about going through with this outrageous idea. He looked over at Jud seeing that she was looking at him half interested and have defeated at how things have turned out. "You could sleep over at our place." he said quietly feeling a deep blush burning under his fur.
Despite how quiet Nick was Judy had heard him loud and clear, in fact that was the only thing she heard as her ears began burning before she heard him continuing on without looking back towards her. "You don't have to but it's the only thing i could think of." he said still facing away from, the burning red almost visible against his fur. She could only imagine how red the pinks of her ears were right now.
"Are you sure? You don't have to to do this if you don't want to." she said just as embarrassed as he was at his kind offer.
"In the morning I'll call my friend again to come help, but you still need a place to sleep tonight." he said with his voice still low as he tried to explain his reasoning. With both of them reluctantly and embarrassingly agreeing to it not sure how things were going to play out they made their way into his room as he locked the door behind him; something he has done hundreds of times, but never once has he felt so strange as he did so. He unbuckled Finnick from his stroller and laid him on their bed while he went to look through his small dresser.
He had gotten out a pair of shorts that he no longer wore and a shirt before holding them out for Judy to take. "I don't think you really want to sleep in your uniform and protective gear." his voice quiet and his ears hot. "You can take the first shower while I get him ready for bed." he told her.
"Oh, um, thank you." she said trying to keep her voice even as she accepted the clothes and headed into the small bathroom to shower. As she showered she couldn't help but think about how small and modest everything was. But more so she couldn't help but smile as she saw the few bath toys in a bucket in the corner of the tub. After making sure she has shampooed her fur and scrubbed the bottoms of her feet she rinsed off and used one of the towels to dry off before putting on the new change of clothes.
She hung the towel back up to dry as she stepped back out into the room. "Okay, I-I'm done." she stuttered still slightly under her embarrassment at having showered in someone else's apartment who she just met that day. Once Nick had taken him and his son into the bathroom with an extra towel she set her uniform down on the chair along with all her protective gear and sat on the foot of the bed. Her purple eyes wandered around the dimly lit room seeing it was nearly detail for detail the same as her own room, but yet it felt so much more lived in and homey than her apartment.
While she sat there she could hear Nick showering Finnick as the kit was splashing and playing with his toys, and it was clear by the laughing from both the foxes behind the door that while it might be a rough life but it was a happy life. After a while longer the two freshly cleaned foxes came out of the bathroom, the smaller in a blue pajama onesie sucking on his pacifier as he stepped out, and behind him his loving dad wearing simple shorts and a shirt to sleep in; but it was obvious that he usually didn't sleep in a shirt because the way he kept pulling at the collar.
As Finnick went to climb up on the bed instinctively Judy helped him up smiling as he looked at her as he sat down next to her. "Judy, uh, I hadn't thought about this before, but" Nick's voice failed him as he took a deep breath and a hard swallow. "But tonight is going to be a cold night, and there isn't another mattress or anything. And the only good blanket is the one on the bed." he said carrying off for a moment. Judy was going to say something but it felt like Nick was still trying to think or what and how to say what he was thinking. "Me and Finnick don't take up a lot of room on the bed, so there is more than enough room for you too." he said finally finishing what was on his mind and letting her take in what he said.
Judy's purple eyes wandered from the fox in front of her to the bed she was sitting on before she realized what he was saying and the blood began burning under her cheeks again. It took a few minutes with their flustered movements before everyone was settled in Nick's bed with the covers pulled over them. Judy was laying facing the far wall with her back to the other two, behind her was a decent gap before Finnick with his pacifier with in his mouth laid with his back to her as he snuggled into his dad's chest, and finally Nick with his back against the wall to give Judy as much room on the bed had his arms wrapped lovingly around his little boy as they always were when they went to bed. And with that he gave the little fox in his arms a kiss goodnight on his forehead.
It had taken a while for everyone to fall asleep, the young fox fell asleep right away with the lole of his dad's breathing and the warmth between them. But for Nick and Judy things took quite a while for the two of them to fall asleep given the circumstances they were in; and it was indeed a cold night for the small trio.
Judy woke in the middle of the night as the soft yet distinct sound of whimpering caught in her sensitive ears, a sound she was familiar with after helping to raise dozens of her siblings. With the gentle moonlight seeping in from the window she could see Finnick whimpering slightly as he moved about somehow escaped from his dad's arms. She spotted his binky there on the bed between then taking it in her paw and brought it back up to his mouth, and happily the young kit accepted it and it stopped his small cries. But as Judy pulled her paw away his small paws grabbed onto her arm holding it against him; being away from his dad had made him cold in the night and now he was trying to find warmth.
While Judy was no mother it didn't stop the maternal instincts from kicking in as she scooted closer to the small fox wrapping him up in her small arms and holding him gently against him. She could feel him holding onto the borrowed shirt she wore and bring his tail in on himself as he cuddled against her. Before Judy fell back asleep with the kit she couldn't help the tired smile crawl across her face as she sleepily nuzzled her nose against the top of his head. "Good night Finnick." she yawned quietly to him in her sleep.
Nick woke up in the middle of the night after feeling that something wasn't quite right, while he found that he was shirtless again that wasn't a shock to him especially in his sleepy daze; he never liked the way shirts pulled at his fur in his sleep and always ended up taking them off during the night. A panic filled his chest as he discovered Finnick wasn't curled up with him like they were every night and he shot up into sitting position, but when his sharp emerald eyes caught the sight in front of him he froze. The small light brown fox was cuddling safely and warmly into another figure, one that he at first did not recognize in the soft light of the moon; but for his strong eyes it was more than enough to see her.
But as he took another second longer who knew who was holding his young boy in her arms. She was a small grey rabbit, her long ears draped over the pillow they all shared, her soft pink nose touching against the top of the small foxes head as they both snored ever so lightly. The yellow light of the moon made her grey fur seem to glow peacefully as she laid cuddled with the small mammal in her arms. Seeing that his boy was safe his shock and worry wore off and Nick drifted out of his panic and back into a peaceful sleep.
As the red fox drifted out of consciousness he had pulled the covers over himself and the other two mammals laying there in bed with him and pulled them close to him as he did so. In his sleepy state he put one arm under their pillow and under Judy while he wrapped his free arm over them protectively pulling them both in close to him as he pressed his muzzle gently into the soft grey fur covering the rabbit's head and a warm smile spread across his face as he felt her press softly against the bottom of his muzzle.
It was late in the night when a young fox stirred from his warm and peaceful sleep. His bright orange eyes looked around seeing a red fox behind him holding him close, and then they saw another figure in front of him also holding him close, she wasn't familiar to him like the one he knew was his dad, but yet she held him so tenderly and lovingly. And at the same time he started to remember that he knew her to be nice and kind to him and his dad.
He didn't know the definition of love, and he couldn't put it into words or thoughts just yet, but he knew love as the feeling his dad always felt for him, and the feeling that he felt for his dad. But this person also had that same feelings for him, but. Both feelings were warm and gentle, they both made him feel safe and happy, and he couldn't help but feel so happy. He loved his dad and his dad loved him, but now she loved him too, and he loved her just as well.
The young fox never got the chance to know what motherly love was, he knew his dad loved him with all his heart, but maybe this bunny holding him close felt for him that motherly love he had been missing. Having both the love of his dad and the motherly love from the one he was holding onto was something he never felt before, it was a strange new feeling; and he loved it. Under this newfound warmth and love he slowly went back to bed hold close this new love.
The moon was beginning to disappear and with it the light it shined through the window of Nick's apartment. But not before Judy had woken up half way once more from hearing snoring right next to her ears. She opened her eyes to see nothing, the moonlight now was too weak to help her eyes as she tried to see what was in front of her, but pressed against her chest she could feel the small fox still sleeping soundly in her embrace, and the muzzle of a larger fox against the top of her head. At the same time she felt two paws pressed against her back holding her in close and held her protectively against their owner.
Under their shared blanket she could tell that just the same way she was holding Finnick, Nick was holding her. His soft and fluffy tail wrapped around her to keep her warm and safe and his muzzle against her neck keeping her close to him. She had never been in this type of situation before and didn't know how to react, she had been hugged by her family, and even hugged by her only two boyfriends from high school, but never had she been embraced so tenderly and protectively.
She was still half asleep as she began to enjoy this strange and new feeling she realized she was stroking a paw against the fur on Nick's arm and that he had somehow taken off his shirt before pulling them in close. She froze briefly as she glanced up at his sleeping face just above hers before running her paw over his side feeling how soft and smooth his fur was against her own paw. That gentle touch however seemed to stir the fox, but not from his sleep, instead he simply nuzzled his muzzle against her giving a satisfied exhale as he did so.
That peaceful gesture, that loving touch; was something she had never felt before. Judy had never thought about a family of her own, she was always so focused on becoming an officer she never took time in her life to experience love from others or to give that love. But now in her daze she began to think of what it might be like to have her own family; what it might be like if this was her own family. In this soft and warm moon lit moment she couldn't help but to wish it would never end. This feeling she never had was something she could never imagine. She mindlessly nuzzled her nose to the fox she was holding and nuzzled her head to the fox holding her before drifting back to sleep.
Author's Notes:
WILDEHOPPS!
Let me know what you thought and I'll be back soon!
