Chapter 3 - Gift

The next morning arrives quickly. Judy sits up from her bed and looks at Nick, again in deep slumber on her floor. She smiles at him, and wonders what it would be like to sleep next to him.

She decides to try it after a minute of pondering: she jumps from her bed and walks over to where Nick sleeps. She falls to her back and lays on the ground next to him, but refrains from hugging him.

She lay for a moment, trying to find sleep, but it refuses to arrive. She gives up and stands from where she had laid, beginning to walk back to her bed.

She stops halfway to look at his tail, which was sticking out of the blanket he sleeps in.

She didn't just look at it, though. She touched it.

Soft. Fluffy.

She grins and sits on the ground, taking his tail between her two paws. She rubbed his tail between her paws for about ten minutes. Shortly after he sat up, very quickly.

She jumps. "Nick," Judy yells with fright, "You scared the living daylight out of me!"

He laughs. "If I so called 'scared the living daylight out of you,' you'd be unconscious right now," he returns to noticing Judy still rubbing his tail between her hands, but is fed up enough to ask her to stop. "Okay, Carrots, I think that's enough tail-hugging for today."

She releases his tail and smiles. "Did you like it?"

He furrows his eyebrows. "Like what?"

"Your tail massage."

He smiles lightly. "Sure. It woke me up, but I liked it, sure."

She smiles back at him. "It's Saturday."

"I know," he laughs. "I know what we can do, if you have nothing to do."

"What?" She looks at him.

He pauses. "Let's go somewhere. I know exactly."

"After we get dressed," she looks at them both. "We can't really go to the place you are talking about if we're in pajamas."

"Right."

Shortly after getting dressed, the two depart from the apartment building, Nick at the wheel for his second time after ten years.

A building named Jack's Music comes into view and Nick turns into the parking lot.

"Music?" Judy says, studying the building.

"Yep. Here's one thing I'll tell you: you'll learn a little more about me today."

"Okay?" Judy says with uncertainty in her voice, following him into the building. They go up to the front desk, and a fox about Nick's height and with similar features walked up to the counter.

"Nick," the fox greets, shaking his hand. "Nice to see ya again. Anyhow," he points to Judy. "Who's this?"

Nick places his paw on her shoulder. "A friend of mine. Name's-"

"Judy Hopps," she says.

"Well, its nice to meet ya, too." Jack shakes her hand. "How can I help ya two?"

Nick nods. "Can you get me my.." he leans close to Jack's ear and whispers something, which was inaudible to Judy.

"Ah," Jack says. "That." He walks away into the back room.

Judy looks at her friend. "Jack must be a pretty good friend."

Nick smiles. "Much more than a friend. He's my brother."

Judy gasps. "Really? His name's Jack Wilde?"

"Yep. Pure blood. You didn't know that?"

She shakes her head as Jack walks back into the room, carrying a large, wooden shiny acoustic guitar in his right paw.

Judy's eyes widen at the sight. "What's this?"

Nick smiles as he takes the guitar from Jack's hand. "My guitar. I leave it here because Jack takes much better care of it than I do." He puts it into position and sits on the nearest stool.

Judy walks up to him. "You can play?"

"Yep," he strums the guitar, perfectly tuned. "Here's a song I wrote about a year ago."

He strums a few clean chords, then to add to it, starts singing.

She'd hear him sing in the shower, out on the street, and some other places, and he'd sounded like nails on a chalkboard.

But this time was an exception. She'd never heard anyone - any mammal, even gazelle, sing this well.

He didn't strain his voice, and the song was perfectly fit for his voice.

She heard him sing:

Judy, when I met on the you on the day,

I saw you there, and come what may,

But I had a little crush on you.

He played a short instrumental, then continued.

We worked together, to solve the case

And honestly, we put our lives at stake

And we figured it out, after a while

And it felt like I had run a mile.

I said, "you know you love me,"

And you said, "do I know that, yes I do."

I felt a bond with you, and wanted to say,

"Is it okay to kiss," but come what may,

The sloth got in our way.

I was kinda sad,

And to not feel bad,

I got distracted looking at you

And it felt like I wanted to, and knew

That you were the best

I could come with you,

Stay with you,

And that's why

I've called you my

Friend.

Nick strummed a chord after the last phrase, then played a mini guitar solo. He ended and put the guitar face up in his lap, looking at Judy.

Her eyes were welled up with tears, and she looked him in the eyes. "Nick, I underestimated you. I've heard you sing before, and not to offend you, but you sounded bad. But now..." she takes a breath. "You are honestly the best singer I've ever heard. I've heard Rat Paisley, Tim McGrowl, and Gazelle, and you're better than them. By far."

"But the words..." she continues, taking the guitar from his lap, pulls him down by the tie, and kisses him on the cheek.

She looks back at him with a smirk on her face. "I loved them."

Nick sat back up on his chair, looking around to anyone who'd seen him. Unfortunately, Jack stood in the background, looking straight at him, laughing. "Oh, brother. That's why I warned ya to never play a romantic country song around females. You'll woo all of 'em."

Nick smirks. "Wasn't expecting that reaction, though."

"Thanks again, Jack," Nick says as they exit the music store.

Judy smiles. "You know what? I feel like a date."

Nick's eyes widen. "That was literally the last thing I expected to come out of your mouth right then."

She shrugs. "Well, yes or no?"

He smirks. "Sure."

"You feel like Zihop or something?" Judy asks as she pulls into the parking lot of the establishment.

"Why not?" Nick replies with a grin.

The two enter the restaurant and are seated fairly quickly. They order after receiving drinks.

Judy takes a sip of her orange juice. "You know I'm paying for this, right?"

Nick nods. "Usually typical for the date-asker to pay for the meal."

Judy smirks. "Is this your first date?"

"Yep."

"Well, what are we supposed to do? I know there are boundries and all that other stuff."

He nods. "This may seem a bit random, but I heard your bunny families have a lot of kids."

She chuckles. "That's right. I have 275 siblings."

His eyes widen. "That is a lot of kids to take care of. Hope you didn't have just one bathroom."

She laughs. "Never had the interest to count the bathrooms. Or the time. Hotels were a mess, too. We once rented an entire Zoliday Inn Express building for a simple family vacation."

Nick laughs. "Amazing," he pauses for a moment. "Do you have any hobbies of some sort?"

She nods. "Whenever I have free time, I typically enjoy reading a good book, sitting down to a movie, listening to music, or giving hugs."

He nods. "I think the hug part is my favorite about you."

She smiles. "My favorite thing about you is your ability to sing and play the guitar."

His eys widen slightly. "That's your favorite?" He stops for a moment. "I think that comment deserves a gift."

"Well," she asks eagerly, "what is it?"

He smiles. "I thought you were the one with the patience. I'll give it to you out in the parking lot."

She grins. "That's fine with me."

The two eat their food and depart from the restaurant. Judy quickly reminds Nick of the gift.

"Oh, yeah," Nick says. "I changed my mind. Wait 'till we get back to the apartment."

"Why?" She almost yells, but she stops herself. "Sorry. What? Why?"

He smiles. "Testing your patience."

She playfully punches him in the shoulder. "That's why I like you, you sly fox."

He shrugs. "Like me all you want, but you'll have to wait 'till we get to the apartment to get that gift."

"Okay, if you want to wait until we get to my apartment, then let's go."

"That's why I like you, you dumb bunny."

Shortly after arriving at the building, Judy eagerly reminds Nick of the present awaiting her. He took his time and tells her he'll give it to her in 'a minute.'

Nearly ten minutes later, Nick stands from his bed.

"I think it's time to give you that gift. But first, I'd like to say something," he pauses. "Carrots, the way you reacted after my song surprised me. I thought I might get a polite applause, or maybe a hug. But I didn't expect a full blown emotional breakdown. I liked it, though. Now I think its appropriate to give you this gift."

He moves from the chair across the room to next to Judy on her bed. He looks into her eyes. "Judy, I'd like to confess my attraction to you. You're an incredibly beautiful bunny, and I was almost considering buying a ring to propose to you. But I couldn't afford it, nor do I think its is the right time to. But I can give you this."

He turns to her again and kisses her. He seperates quickly and blushes. "I appreciate you, Carrots."

She doesn't say anything, one reason being that she remained speechless, blushing as red as a tomato, smiling back at him. She finally has the courage to speak. "I appreciate you too, you dumb fox. But if it's okay with you, I'd like to ask something. I'm not mad or disappointed. I'm just asking a question: Why don't you think its the right time to propose?"

"For one," he begins, "I don't think it's appropriate since we've been on only one date. I also lacked the money to afford it. I love you, Judy, but we're not far enough in our relationship for either one of us to propose."

"It's okay," she gives him a warm embrace. "That's enough for me right now."


Hello, guys, CrazyWriter here. I thank anybody who has read this chapter. The next chapter will be written within the time period of one day and two months from the time the previous chapter is written. If you want to give me suggestions, please do so, and anybody who also wants to ask me a question, wants me to add something to this current chapter, wants to suggest something for a future chapter, please PM me or send me an email (address is in my profile) and I will get back to you as soon as I can. Any constructive criticism is appreciated, but please try to avoid flares, as they will not be tolerated and will be immediately removed/reported. Thank you for your cooperation.