A/N: Words cannot express how happy I am everyone loved the last chapter. :) Here's the next~
Nick hummed softly to himself as he snagged the box of cereal from the top of his refrigerator, popping it open and poured some into a small bowl.
"Alright, kiddo, want any soy milk?" He asked, smiling at Sam who simply beamed.
"Yes please." His son replied.
He practically bounced in his seat as Nick poured the soy milk into the bowl and served it to Sam, who gave a quiet thanks. The older fox fixed himself a bowl and sat next to his son as they quietly munched on their breakfast. Neither really knew what to say as yesterday's emotional outburst was letting out a few days worth, or in Sam's case a few years, of pure unadulterated emotions that neither had shown to anyone before. And now? Now they were trying their best to start adjusting to having someone new in their lives. It was really sinking in for the father and son, this was real, this was all happening. Nick was a Dad, Sam had a Dad. The thought both excited and scared Sam, to tell the truth.
Nick peeked at Sam out of the corner of his eye as he pretended to read the newspaper and realized his son was doing the same thing. And now the quietness was even more awkward as Nick cleared his throat and they went back to eating. Both were unsure of what to say or do since neither really knew eachother well at this point. Sam was making quiet tapping as he drummed his fingers on the table, frowning a bit. Being a kid he had a lot of energy to burn, and he was usually hyperactive and talkative back at the Orphanage. But at the moment, he wasn't sure whether he should jump for joy at the fact he was finally with a real parent, or try to act like those... what was it? Rich kids who ran at the sound of their father's whistle?
Was his father anything like that? So far all signs pointed to "No" but he was still a bit leery of his new parent.
Meanwhile, Nick was lost to his own thoughts.
Nick and Judy had a bit of a talk as they had set up Sam's room yesterday while his son was enjoying having cable tv in the livingroom, and he realized just now that he would have to set a parental block later on. He smiled softly as he recalled what had transpired...
Nick chuckled a bit as he scooped up some old balled up paper from one of their many paperwork stress reliever nights. When Nick had complained that he had way too much paperwork to be filing out for Bogo, Judy balled up a blank piece of paper and chucked it at his head. It had only escalated from there, one of the many nights where Nick loved how close they were as best friends. Super long boring or exciting cases or not, he couldn't ask for a better partner or friend.
It was sad actually, how they had neglected to clean up the guest room beforehand, neither had really thought about it while they were heading to pick up Sam. He would have had a need for a proper place to lay his head for the night, obviously. Nick had mentally kicked himself for forgetting something so simple.
It was near six in the evening. Judy had been relieved from work earlier than usual due to telling Bogo of meeting Sam, as Bogo himself told her that it would do Sam good to have her around. She was still expected to come in tomorrow for work and was allowed this small reprieve to allow Sam a chance to settle in. It was strange... maybe she should move in with them afterall? They already felt like a family in her eyes, oh sweet cheese and crackers, what was she saying? Of course they were a family!
The rabbit hummed softly as she picked up an old shirt of Nick's that she had worn one night. It still held their mixed scent...
"It's funny, you know me as an OCD neat freak. Yet, this room doesn't really reflect it." Judy chuckled, giving the shirt one last look as memories coarsed through her. She gave it a heafty toss to the overflowing hamper in the corner of the room, joining the other laundry that neither of them were really looking forward to doing.
"True enough." Nick nodded, moving the dresser to another spot to make the TV easier to see from anywhere in the room, while he watched Judy leap around the room as she cleaned.
"And all this cleaning we're doing, I forgot to give you a maid outfit." He grinned.
"Oh ha ha. I wouldn't be caught dead in one of those." Judy rolled her eyes. "They're way too skimpy, I don't know how those ever came to be."
"I don't know, I think you'd look good in one." Nick gave a throaty chuckle, his smirk widening. "Maybe I should buy you one... for your birthday." He added with a wink.
"Oh geez, please don't. That's the last thing my parents need to see me getting." Judy shuddered, anticipating the possibilities of what her parents would say or do.
But then again... she felt a bit guilty imagining the scenario of being in a maid outfit in front of Nick... she shook her head to clear her thoughts.
Don't think like that! she chided herself.
"Who said they had to know?" Nick winked, and Judy laughed at their playful, almost flirty, banter. It was one of the many things she loved about their relationship.
Twilight gleamed through the open window and the curtains fluttered in an almost synchronized dance as the wind slipped throughout the room.
"It... kinda got crazy at the Orphanage, huh?" Nick spoke up after a bit of silence.
"I would be surprised if it didn't end up like that." Judy admitted, tossing out a bit of old trash she had pulled out from under the bed as her eyes scanned the room for any more impurities.
"Yeah well... it felt good to get it all out, and I'll bet it's the same for Sam." Nick replied, letting out a breath as he grinned at her, looking into her eyes.
"Thanks, Judy. For being there." He spoke sincerely, with a smile to match.
"What are friends for?" Judy beamd warmly back at him.
"True..." Nick took a seat so they could take a break for a minute. "I mean it, thanks for everything. I wouldn't be here without you."
"I know I don't say it enough," Nick cleared his throat, giving another one of his genuine smiles to his best friend as she sat next to him on the bed. "But honest to God, I'm happy to have you in my life. You've changed me, all of me, for the better. I don't know what would have happened to me if all of this hit when we never knew each other and actually, I'd rather not think of it."
"All that matters is here and now, better to let the past stay in the past." Nick sighed, looking down at Judy and leaned over to give a gentle chaste kiss to the forehead. "You told me to not hide what I'm feeling? Well... I'm happy. To have you here with me. Happy to have Sam here. And I'm happy that Sam adores you so far."
Judy let out a choked gasp of emotion, tears of joy slowly brimming as she took Nick's hand and gave a gentle squeeze.
"Anytime." She whispered, scooting closer as she looked into his eyes. They were warm, caring and every time she looked into them she always lost herself. Cliche or not, it was the truth. Almost as if they were magnetized, they started to lean close their eyes going half-lidded as they were an inch apart.
"Dad!" Sam burst through the door, causing Judy and Nick to jolt apart a few feet. The young fox stopped in the middle of the room, looking around in awe. "Is... Is this room all mine?"
Nick nodded, getting up to kneel next to his son. "Yeah, this room is all yours, Sam. And I'm very happy to let you have it. I know it's not much, but we'll do our best to get you some more stuff to let you personalize it."
Sam said nothing and simply hugged his father tightly. "Thank you. I've never had a room of my own."
"Well, now you do, kiddo." Judy giggled warmly as Sam hugged her too.
"So what did you need, Sam?"
"Can we watch the newest Batmammal movie together? All three of us? Please?" Sam gave his best puppy dog eyes.
"I don't know, Judy, how can we say 'no' to that face?" Nick allowed a smirk to play over his faced as Judy giggled.
"Sure thing, Sam." Judy nodded, grinning from ear to ear as they walked to the living room.
"So," Sam spoke up after the two had been almost deafened by the pervading silence, his clear voice snapping Nick back to reality. "You didn't get anything from the Orphanage, Dad?"
Nick shook his head. "Na-da. Zip, nothing. I've only moved a few times but this letter was from an address I've never lived at." He got up and went to his work desk, pulling out the letter from the top stack, showing it to Sam. "See? This looks nothing like my paw-writing." Nick showed his signature to him and shook his head again.
"Yeah, nothing like mine." He pulled his pen and signed his signature on a blank sheet of paper, showing it to his son who simply nodded.
"This one is all loopy." Sam pointed to the forged signature, then pointing at Nick's original. "And this one is kinda...hard to read."
Nick bit back a chuckle, grinning a bit. "Yeah I know, my paw-writing is kinda bad."
"But enough of this," Nick scrapped the paper with his signature on it and got up to set the forgery letter back on his work desk. "Go ahead and finish up your breakfast, kiddo. We got a big day ahead of us."
"What do we have to do today?" Sam asked, wiping a bit of milk from his lips with the back of his paw as he worked on eating up the rest of his food.
"...You're going to be meeting your Grandma Marian for the first time." Nick replied with a smile.
Nick's phone buzzed: "Hey, Slick Nick~ Going on break right now for lunch, hope everything is going okay for your first morning."
Judy's phone bleeped not even five minutes before she clicked her phone to standby, turning it back on she put in her password:
"Yeah, it's all good here, Carrots. I'm actually getting ready to take Sam to meet my Mom."
Judy's face twitched into a smile, spreading from ear to ear. "Good idea! What better way to have him warm up to you than to have his new Grandma spoil him with sweets?"
She tapped her phone screen off, deciding to take the bus to the new coffee shop that Clawhauser had recommended to her a few days ago. From what she recalled, they had a carrot spice cappuccino that was simply to die for. Well, she had to see if it could live up to her mother's old family recipe, so she would be the judge of Clawhauser's claims.
Her phone went off. "Oh dear God, I don't know what I would do with a hyper-active six year old kid. I already have a hyper bunny to deal with." The text read, followed by a winking fox emoji.
"Har har, very funny."
"Hiiii Miss Judy!"
"Was that Sam?" Judy suppressed a giggle, smiling.
"Yeah, he wanted to say 'Hi'."
What she got next was unexpected, Nick sent a voice recording of Sam: "Hi Judy! I'm glad you becaome my friend yesterday!"
"Hi, Sam. I'm glad I became your friend too. You be a good boy, ok? I'll see you after work, deal?" Judy sent her own voice text.
"Ok! Can't wait!"
Judy chuckled to herself, it was strange when she thought about it. The boy was so open and optimisic as any other child, yet there was that small hesitation she sensed every time he talked to either of them. It was better not to press him to open up more and just let him warm up to them in time, not forcing themselves on him. At least that was what she thought, or maybe it was just her police rule-bound mind over-thinking things, again.
"Me again." Nick texted her again. "So uh... about that text I sent you last night. About wanting to talk about personal matters."
"Are you okay?" Judy stared at her screen, figuring that Nick was a bit hesitant seeing how he took a while to respond, watching the pulsing dots as he typed.
"...I'll have to talk to you later about it, Sam wants to take the cruiser out for a ride."
Judy's ears went droopy at both the fact that she was blocked from further helping him out and the thought of the 'joyride' he had planned. "PLEASE don't get any scratches or dents, or Bogo will have both of our badges if you bring in one more busted car."
"I'm sure Bogo will understand this time if there were a few, especially if I have Sam use his 'Wilde Charm'. And besides, those last two times were not my fault! They rear-ended me on purpose."
Okay, Judy will admit, the thought of Sam using the so-called 'Wilde Charm' made her laugh out loud, disturbing the other passengers as it was a bit louder than she realized. Muttering a quiet sorry, she texted back:
"Possibly. Just be careful you two, I don't want to get called off early from my lunch to come after you."
"I promise, Mrs. Wilde~" Despite that joking remark, Judy caught herself rolling off his surname with her own... Wilde-Hopps? Hm, interestingly fitting.
"Good, Mr. Wilde~" Judy clicked her phone screen off again, approaching her stop and disembarked, humming a nameless tune as she spotted the coffee shop a few buildings down.
As she approached the shop, reading the name in big bold letters "The Shanghai". Seemed like another high-end shop, hopefully it wouldn't break her wallet. She pressed her paw on the railing and slipped inside, greeted by the cool airconditioner as her eyes took in the small quaint building. Like the Orphanage, it balanced elegent and humble quite well. It was honestly a bit unsettling, she was so used to her humble beginnings in Bunnyburrow. She didn't know what to think of all this, as Nick put it, 'fancy-schmancy' artwork and structure put into the small business. Maybe they were just that good.
"Can I help you, Officer?" Judy was jolted out of her admirations that she failed to notice a young Raccoon waitress standing before her, who simply bowed.
"I apologize for startling you. My name is Yuuko, I will be your waitress for your stay. Or if you prefer to take your order on the go, we can accomodate that as well." She spoke with a wavering voice, as if she were intimidated by the rabbit.
"Thank you, Yuuko. And it will be for here, please." Judy responded kindly to the young mammal, who simply bowed again and led her to a table with a modest view of the city.
"What would you like to drink?" Yuuko asked timidly, fidgeting with her server platter.
"A friend of mine recommended me the carrot spice cappuccino, could I have that to start with?" Judy answered politely, giving a warm inviting smile to try to loosen up the raccoon who again bowed and left without a break in her stride.
"Hm..." Judy frowned softly, deciding it was simply the girl was over-worked and decided not to probe any further. It was being too nosey, afterall.
She turned her head to admire the cityscape, resting her chin in her paw as she eyed the large palm tree building. She only had a vague idea of what it held, as most of the websites simply asked for a membership account number to get access to the site. After trying to apply for a membership, she discovered the price had way too many zeroes and gave up shortly after that. Judy got the vibe that it was for upper-class mammals who pretty much sweat money and wouldn't allow the 'lower-class' mammals in to their 'prestigious establishment'. Maybe one day she could see what it was like, but definitely not today or any other day this year she thought with a bit of 'Nick' humor.
"Ah, here you go, ma'am." once again, Judy was roused from her idle musings as Yuuko appeared back with her drink, bowing again. "Umm, are you ready to order?"
"Oh, I'm so sorry, I was lost in thought that I didn't get a chance to look. One moment please." Judy opened the menu, scanning through it. "I'll have a slice of lemon meringue pie, please."
"Coming right up, ma'am." Yuuko bowed, acceping the menu and left as quickly as she had appeared.
As Judy gently blew on the drink to cool it down, she spared a glance around the room and realized that there wasn't that many customers in the shop. Was Yuuko naturally this timid? While lost in her thoughts, her eyes were drawn to an older male fox that was seated just across from her. She at first paid him no heed but then she had to do a double-take as she thought he looked a lot like Nick. Embarrassingly to say, she was able to easily distinguish the differences. Judy blinked as she realized that she was comparing her friend to this other fox, why did she always feel this way about him? Her heart knew the answer, but her mind and years of living under the roof of her parents teachings made it hard for her to admit it to herself. She had been falling for him.
Oh who was she kidding, she had fallen for him long ago. Yet her fear of over-thinking, over-analyzing everything between them... As much as she hated to admit it, Bellwether had been right about fear working. It frustrated and honestly slightly scared her how much of an influence that night had on both of them, as if the culprit had opened their eyes to what they have been ignoring all this time. She grit her teeth, shaking her head. Judy would tell him eventually, he just found out he has a son... love would have to come a little bit later. Nick had enough on his plate already, she didn't want to make it too complicated for him right away, he went through enough emotions for one week. Maybe that's what he wanted to talk about? It sure seemed like it from the way he sort of dodged talking about it right away.
She quickly shook it off as she took a sip of her drink, letting out a sigh of relaxation as she sat back in her seat, trying to sort out her thoughts. She had started to list out pros and cons of starting a relationship with Nick as she sipped on her drink, enjoying the beverage as it was very close to what her mother had made...
Wait, that's it. Judy realized, her eyes widening. Mom can give me advice on this.
She brought out her phone and clicked the screen on, pausing as she stopped at the lock screen, staring at the selfie she had taken of Nick and herself. She sighed fondly at the memory before typing her password in and hit her MuzzleTime app. Hovering her finger over the 'Call' as Yuuko bowed beside her, sliding the plate of pie in front of her.
"Fresh from the oven." Yuuko said quietly.
"Thank you, Yuuko. Here, for you." Judy smiled, sliding a $10 into her apron. "You've earned it, I've never had such friendly service before."
"Oh, Officer, I can't accept this." Yuuko stammered, her face turning pink as she wrung her paws.
"Nonsense." Judy giggled. "Always keep a chin up, don't let anything get you down."
Yuuko gave a small hesitant smile. "...Thank you, I'll try my best. Thank you again, Officer."
"Please, call me Judy." The rabbit took a gratful bite of her pie. "And compliments to the chef."
"I will let them know, Judy." Yuuko bowed before disappearing into the kitchen.
Judy took a few more bites of pie before wiping her lips on a napkin as she picked up her phone and pressed 'Call', putting in her earbuds as it rang twice before her mother picked up.
"Judy! How are you, sweetie? Everything okay?" Bonnie brightened up, smiling warmly at her daughter.
"Hey, Mom. I'm doing good and everything is okay so far. How's everyone there?" Judy replied, smiling right back. Goodness... she realized that she had been smiling a lot lately. Well, that simply meant that life was going good.
"Everyone is doing fine. Pop-pop is going about his rants as usual." Bonnie chuckled, clearing her throat. "I take it by the twitching of your ears you've got something you need to talk to me about?"
"How'd you-?" Judy began.
"Mother's intuition." Bonnie chuckled. "I didn't spend near 27 years being your mother and not being able to read your tells."
"Fair enough." Judy sighed, her ears flattened against the back of her head. "I guess to start with, Nick uh..."
She swallowed, trying her best to put on a smile but could only guess what her face looked like to her mother.
"...Nick's a Dad." Judy whispered, noting how Bonnie's expression changed at once. "I-It's not what you think!"
"So... it's not yours?" Bonnie frowned, her ears twitching.
"No!" Judy said, almost too quickly that she bit her tongue. Strangely, Judy felt like a small knife pierced her heart. Why was she so willing to accept that Sam wasn't hers, yet wishing at the same time that he was?
Clearing her throat, she continued: "It was a vixen from his past. She ah..." Now it was Judy's turn to frown, wondering it was a good idea to be discussing this so openly in public and without Nick there to give his side of the story. "Well, I'll have to tell you the full story later, but Samhain Wilde, Nick's son, is six years old right now. I'm gonna do the best I can to help him through this."
"Good for you, he needs a strong mammal like you in his life, I'll bet. Be sure to bring them around so we can spoil him." Bonnie chuckled.
"Oh I'm sure he's getting plenty of that at Marian's." Judy giggled. "That's Nick's mom, remember her from Nick's graduation?"
Bonnie nodded. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but is there more that you wanted to talk about?"
Judy sighed, scooting closer to the window and looked all around the city for a moment to collect her thoughts before finally managing the courage to look her mother in the eyes.
"...When did you first realize you were in love?" Judy asked quietly, causing Bonnie's ears to perk up.
"When... I realized I was in love?" Bonnie repeated, dumbfounded.
"Yes." Judy replied, her ears burning as her nose twitched at what her mother was thinking of her right now.
"Well... with a fox or-?" Judy jumped a bit as she heard a yell she knew all too well and suppressed a sigh.
"EH?! A fox?!" Apparently the phone was snatched away by her grandfather Pop-pop.
"Hey, Pop-pop. How are you?" Judy grinnd sweetly, hoping that he would give the phone back to her mother.
Out of all the mammals that she wanted to know that she had been falling for a Fox, her grandfather topped her own father when it came to 'staying with your own kin' as he said. She resisting the urge to face-paw as her grandfather came into view and looked at her with wide eyes.
"Wha's that? Trudy yer in a t.v.! Wha' are ye doin' in there, young'un?" Otto Hopps adjusted his glasses, squinting at the scream as he waved off Bonnie's paws.
"I was talking to Mom, Pop-Pop." Judy said politely. "Can you please give her back the phone?"
"Yer in love with a Fox, Trudy? I hear tha' righ'? Mine ears ain't what they used ter be, but Ah clearly heard 'Fox'." Otto's nose flared as his eyes narrowed. "We don' need no no-good schemin' fox in our fam'ly. They're fur is red 'cuz they were made by the Devil!"
Judy sighed, setting her phone down and rubbed her face, this is the last way she expected this conversation to go.
"And they'll eat ye alive, Trudy." Pop-pop went on and on before having the phone successfully snatched away by Bonnie.
"Sorry Bun-Bun, we have to give Pop-Pop his meds. If you're still free, we can talk later." Bonnie said quickly as Judy heard a smash of glass and her grandfather's yelling grow louder and the screen paused, the call ending.
"Great..." Judy mumbled, setting her phone down with a sigh and rubbed her temples.
"You okay?"
The rabbit officer looked up to see Yuuko and... Clawhauser? She blinked in surprise, not expecting to see him here at this hour, he was usually busy at his desk filing paperwork for the Chief.
"...Family problems." Judy replied simply, trying to put on a smile and then frowned as she realized Nick had been rubbing off on her, in more ways than one. She wasn't one to usually hide her emotions, she was more of the practical, no-nonsense type.
"Maybe we can help?" Clawhauser took a seat across from her as Judy gave a genuine smile this time.
"That..." She mulled it over, nodding. "Yeah, I need someone to talk to about this, I've been bottling it up for long enough as it is. Thanks Benji."
"Anytime, Judy." Clawhauser giggled, smiling as Yuuko slid in next to him, now on her lunch break.
A/N: Well, that concludes this one. I'll have the next out as soon as it's finished. Tell me what you all thought, I enjoy reviews very much. :)