Welcome to the seventh circle of fluff. It's like if you were on fire but the fire was pillows. Shut up, it makes sense. Well…. Maybe not. Oh, who cares. Anywho, I hope you like this chapter, though I have had little time to give it the love I feel it deserves. Don't worry however, I shall proceed to make sure the next chapter gives as much. Or takes. Whichever sounds more correct. (I'm slaphappy right now and feeling pretty loopy from lack of proper sleep. So please do excuse my idiocy)


"Please please please don't tell dad," Judy pleaded. "I don't know how he'll react and I would prefer to make a more planned out visit to tell him."

Her mother shifted a bit on the bed they both sat down on while her daughter made her odd and desperate plea.

"I don't see why you would need to hide it," Bonnie replied softly. "In fact, giving him that information sooner will help him get used to it so you don't have to worry about it later as much."

Judy twiddled her paws together, rolling them around each other nervously as she looked to the door of her room, half expecting her dad to make an unannounced and possibly ill-timed visit.

"I feel it would be better if we weren't using a time to hide from the press to tell him this. You know how well he takes news like this. When a couple of my sisters even decided to get involved with something 'exotic' like hares or even rabbits from families he had disagreements with, he got a little…." Judy held her paw out and teetered it to mimic a scale.

"Crazy?" Bonnie finished for her with a look of understanding. "Yeah, he gets like that. And having as many daughters as we do only gives him too many chances to be as such."

"I just want to get into a more secure place with Nick before I bring him before the parents for judgement."

"How long has this been going on?" inquired Bonnie innocently.

Judy's nose wiggled a bit before she said, "Only since the other day, when I stuck around to take care of him after a raid in which he got hurt. Don't worry, he's fine. Just got a little roughed up apprehending a criminal who ran off. We…" Judy tried to word everything carefully so as not to reveal Nick's exposure and alarm her mother, "had a disagreement concerning something stupid and ended up divulging a few things in the heat of the moment. Don't have any regrets though. I'm glad it was all laid out for us, because I have been pretty well occupied with too many conflicting thoughts concerning him lately and our revelations only clarified everything."

"Sounds like a good thing. It won't ruin your friendship?" Bonnie held up her paws defensively as Judy gave her a slightly insulted and confused look. "I'm just making sure."

Judy's expression settled as she explained, "Well you taught me that a best friend can make the best mate. And Nick is my best friend and I still feel that is completely true. We still joke and talk like we usually do, he treats me with respect and might be a bit overly conscious about my feelings, though it's rather sweet in the way he goes about it. I don't know whether we jumped into this too soon or not, but everything feels right. I don't feel like I have to pretend or restrain myself in certain aspects now. He already knows how I am and much of what I need."

Bonnie had a haze to her eyes and a soft smile that emulated the warm feeling stemming from her melting heart.

"Alright," she conceded, "I'll keep this to myself for now. Though, please do make it a point to include your father soon. He may get a little cuckoo but he still deserves to know how you're doing and who you include in your life. I'll also try to deter him from sending any bucks your way as well. He had these grand notions of inviting a few over to meet and greet with you while you were here. That could have been a dramatic disaster." Both mother and daughter laughed at that. Judy leaned in to hug her mother, letting out a relieved sigh.

"I can honestly say I feel so much better that you know this," Judy softly said. "I was pretty tense about… well… all of it. We're not exactly a conventional couple." Her mother raised an eyebrow. "And… I was very worried whether you and Dad would accept this."
"Well, Judy, I can't say I understand or even like it, but I do like Nick and he treats you well as I am told."

Judy nodded gently.

"I should go check on Nick," Judy mentioned, getting up to leave. "I am taking care of him after all. Plus, I have his medicine." Bonnie nodded understandingly.

Both of them left the room, splitting up as Bonnie went towards the kitchen and Judy strode off towards Nick's temporary room.

Upon reaching the hallway leading to that room, Judy nearly bumped into her father rounding the corner, mumbling to himself. He stopped short and gave his daughter a warm smile.

"How ya doin, Jude?" he asked politely, his paws pulling at his overall straps.

"Uh… great?" she replied slowly with a grin.

"Where ya going? Checking on Nick?"

Judy nodded, trying almost too hard to avoid being easily read like her mother had just done. She barely lasted five minutes hiding what Nick and her were trying to solidify between them before getting caught. Granted, her father wasn't as… clever as her mother in that regard, so all might not be so bad. She still wanted to be as stoic concerning that subject until the next day or two was up.

"Well don't get too friendly with him. I think he might be misinterpreting your kindness for intimacy," her father stated rather bluntly, using the same polite tone, which only made it worse.

He had just ruined Judy's internal thought process on how to avoid the subject by putting a sledgehammer through it metaphorically. She strained mentally to not put a paw to the bridge of her nose and pinch it in exasperation.

"Dad, please don't say it like that," she forced out between clenched teeth, trying hard not to defend him too much for the sake of sanity, not that there was much left. "He's my best friend and I'll treat him as kindly as I wish. If he gets the wrong message, then that's my problem to set straight."

"Alright honey," he replied with a shrug. Judy breathed a small sigh of relief. "I just want you to have a chance to meet a nice buck without him hanging off you, scaring them off." And there was the second sledgehammer to the conversation. The grey rabbit doe groaned internally. This was getting hard to take. She desperately wanted to defend Nick and take her father's conversational legs to stand on out from under him. Instead, she allowed him to pass as her tail drummed angrily behind her.

Once her dad was out of sight and earshot, Judy ran off towards Nick's new and temporary room.

"Hey there, Slick," she greeted him happily as she opened the door quickly. Nick was sitting on the small bed, barely big enough to comfortably hold him, with his head in his paws. His claws were lightly dragging at his snout, as if trying to distract from the now. "Did my dad…" she trailed off.

"Yeah, kind of…," Nick replied ambiguously. "Asked about your love life, inferred I might be interested when I got defensive of you, and while he seemed to believe I wasn't when I said so, he warned me to keep an emotional distance so others would have a chance to court you or whatever."

"I'm so so sorry," Judy poured out, holding both her paws to her chest, leaning in towards the red fox to lock her gaze to his in comfort. When he looked up, Judy smiled gently in slight concern. Nick's eyes were quivering between normal and predatory slits.

"Are you ok?" the rabbit asked, reaching out to rest a paw on his shoulder.

"I… I'm fine," Nick replied, his pupils still quivering as his voice seemed slightly hoarse. It was as if he was trying to hold back a low growl that was rising in his throat. "I think the things I heard plus the things I couldn't help thinking, screwed with my instincts."

Judy got up to lock the bedroom door, figuring someone walking in on their conversation would be bad to say the least.

"How do you mean?" Judy gently inquired as she leaned over towards Nick and slunk up under his muzzle to nuzzle into his chest and chin. His arms spread and she curled up into his lap as he lifted her slowly.

"It was like…" Nick gestured vaguely as Judy rested her ears against him and nestled in against his warmth, "your dad threatened you… or our relationship… something like that. I kept control but I feel that same possessive feeling I had before when confessed to you… only…"

"Only what?" asked Judy while she ran a paw over one of Nick's lean arms. It wasn't overly muscular looking but looks were very deceiving. His arm felt very stiff and sturdy, enticing the grey doe to dig her fingers in with a high degree of biological curiosity. Nick was fairly aware of her ministrations but chose to answer her question instead of indulging in his want to ask her one.

"Only worse…," he finished. She froze a bit, looking up to his face and biting her bottom lip curiously.

"Do you need anything like before? I'll help however I can."

The fox's eyes shifted more towards the slits than round pupils for a few seconds before he closed said eyes and took a deep breath.

"There's a lot I want, especially with such a… cute… look as the one you're giving me, but if I can't get a handle on this myself, then how can I expect to deal without you around when I need to control this?"

"I think you don't need to control this so much," Judy stated rather bluntly. Nick looked a little scared of the comment. "Let me clarify…," she put a paw to her chin. "You should give in when you can to satisfy what you can so you don't end up repressed later. Much like stress relief."

Nick chuckled nervously. "Trust me, Carrots, there's a lot I know can relieve this stress." He sighed heavily. "I'm just afraid that if I give too much slack to this… thing in me… it'll run rampant and I'll hurt you."

"I'm pretty sure you wouldn't hurt me," Judy smugly stated. "You already explained you don't want to prey on me."

"Yes, but what about… everything else?" Nick picked her up and set her gently on the bed, turning to look at her.

"You mean the mate thing? Or those exchanges we had? You got that under control, right?" She seemed rather optimistic about his level of self-control.

"I… yes… but I… don't know if I can keep this side of me chained up all the time," Nick voiced. "Right now, part of me wants to do a lot of things that another part of me finds frightening. You found me cute the other night but that was PG compared to my thoughts now."

"What can I do to help you get back to normal for now?" she asked in all eagerness to help.

Nick's immediate reaction was to roll back onto the bed and crawl on all fours from the end of the bed towards Judy's position. Her ears flopped slowly down her back as she slid back instinctively, much like she did back in the Natural History Museum when he faked going savage. This time, Nick's eyes were actual slits and his gaze was hungry and fletched with shards of regretful restraint. His mind was at war with himself so obviously that Judy could almost see the battle raging in his eyes.

It wasn't too long before Nick was over Judy, his snout pressing into her neck, drawing in a deep breath. Judy's heart quickened its pace as her breathing became rapid and shallow. Her scent spiked in an alluring fashion to the overly instinctive red fox as his state of mind seemed to include an upward surge in the sensitivity of all his senses. His ears flicked as her heartbeat seemed to echo in the small room, his nose felt the poisonous burn of her scent permeate his entire mind in a foggy haze, and his eyes could see every detail of her face in the dimly lit room.

"It's ok, Nick," Judy comforted, giving the affectionate fox a loving stare. His emerald pools exuded a far more relaxed flow to them upon such a glance.

Nick now stopped his intrusive sniffing of her neck to slowly open his maw and rake his fangs over her neck, causing the rabbit to slowly gasp. Her paws gripped the bed sheets but she didn't attempt to pull away or stop him. The fox took this as an invite to go further. He slid his open muzzle around Judy's neck more, pressing his teeth down into her fur. At some point, he had to assume she understood what he was doing. He was making a show of possessiveness over her. He was proving to her and himself that Judy was all his. As much as he didn't want to objectify her, he couldn't avoid thinking about her like that to a certain degree.

Judy let out a slow exhale, tainted with the dregs of a pleasured sound one might hear from someone getting in a hot tub after a long day.

She liked it. Probably more than liked really. Her own mind was a muddled mess of madness. Gerome was absolutely correct. Some predatory features about Nick made this relationship feel so much more… substantial seemed the most appropriate word that came to her mind without dragging it into the gutter. Her foot thumped against the bed happily, to which Nick noticed and smirked slightly.

His tongue reached out and licked her neck as his mouth shifted around her neck, fangs dragging slowly across her fur and skin underneath.

Finally, Nick released her and leaned back, panting heavily and laying on his side next to Judy, whom was raggedly breathing on her back, her legs twitching and sliding back and forth. Nick found the site rather enticing, but he felt a vast amount of the inferred oversensitivity to the situation waning by the second at the satisfying possessive act he committed.

"Lunch is ready," Bonnie shouted kindly down the hall. Nick and Judy stiffened as they stared into each other's eyes. Nick proceeded to get up and lean in towards Judy smoothing out her neck fur and trying to dry it with his paws. She seemed rather embarrassed as the insides of her ears turned near red upon blushing. Once he was satisfied with how she looked, the rabbit combed her claws through her own fur to smooth it out.

"Coming!" she shouted back.

Both of them, led by Judy, navigated the extensive hallways of the rabbit warren. As expansive as it was grand, the Hopps home certainly used the entirety of the space it occupied to its fullest extent. The Hopps family home was basically a giant hill hollowed out efficiently. Many protrusions made their showing in a fashion denoting rabbits. On top of the windowed outcroppings, small bunny ears topped the peak of most roofs. The foremost entrance was a couple stories tall and looked like a normal size house if taken at face value, but the doors leading inside were large enough to welcome even a rhino or elephant, though getting much further would've been a challenge.

Inside was quite the plethora of hallways and rooms. Near the front of the house was a connected living room/dining area. It was much like a mass cafeteria for some homey looking high school, but with no lunch line. Judy's siblings had to help out as they became older to cook and serve food to the younger ones, usually by catering to each of the long tables and groups as necessary. Luckily, the more siblings there were and older they became, the more help Bonnie and Stu would have to cook and distribute meals without all the chaos that could ensue with a far less organized family.

Nick found it hard to believe that such rambunctious rabbits could be so organized when having a meal, but he also figured that the alternative was eating rather late after a meal should have passed because they wouldn't help move it along or arguments concerning useless matters.

They found a smaller round table near the corner area, already set with platters of food and drinks. Once they sat down, Nick pulled a free plate close and examined the content of the platters occupying their table.

"Don't worry," a voice behind him softly stated, "we have a few things for you that might agree with a predator diet." Nick turned to see a light brown rabbit, slightly taller than Judy and with faded blue eyes, walk up behind him and set a new platter down with meat substitute strips on it.

"Nina!" Judy exclaimed, getting up to hug the slightly taller rabbit. "So nice to see you again."

"I should hope so!" Nina retorted excitedly. "I don't get too many chances to see you, especially after becoming a cop." Nick looked between the two rabbits as they started to talk in a fast murmur of excited stereotypical topics. How they've been, social life, co-workers, life on the job, off the job, etc.

"…and let me introduce my partner on the force, Nick," Judy chirped gleefully. Nick got up and politely held out a paw to the more than cheery rabbit.

"Nick Wilde," he introduced himself, "Fox, Cop, bad joke expert extraordinaire." Judy facepawed.

"Oh, really?" Nina asked intrigued, as she crossed her paws after shaking Nick's. He then cleared his throat.

"Example, what do you call it when a pig causes a ruckus?" Nick crossed his own paws and waited for the brown rabbit to try and answer. She mulled it over a few seconds and shrugged.

"MayHAM!" cheered Nick, more than giddy at the thought of his own pun. Judy punched his arm lightly.

"Ignore him. He's an idiot," the grey rabbit chided more towards the red fox than warned her sister.

"Hard to do that. He's probably the most colorful mammal here," Nina mentioned, raking her gaze over him and leaning to one side to look at his tail.

"Anywho," Nick interjected, "mind giving me a detail or so on you two. I would be most intrigued to hear more than just your name."

"Well, I'm Judy's younger sister, but only by a year." Nick arced a brow, curiosity striking him at the height difference between the two leading him to believe the opposite of who was elder. "We've usually been pretty close knit, even for a family as large as our own."

Judy piped up, "With dreams such as mine back when I was younger, I didn't fit in well with my other siblings, much to my not so surprise. Nina here didn't really agree with them either but liked talking to me about it. I guess we got along well because she showed me respect and didn't outright rain on my dreams with negativity. Just personal observations if I asked her a question needing an honest answer."

"You make me see like a saint compared to what I remember," Nina gently added. "I usually thought I was being too harsh on you by being honest about what I thought, but I guess I never said anything to attempt to make you give up."

"Pfft," Nick scoffed, "I probably did far worse on the day Carrots and I met than some respectful honesty ever would have done." Nina's brow raised.

"Carrots?" she asked.

"Oh right," Nick mumbled at first, picking up the volume as he gathered his voice to answer, "that was a nickname I gave your sister here when we met. Started out demeaning… BUT has kinda evolved into a term of endearment." Judy nodded proudly.

"It's actually pretty funny," Judy stated, swiftly adding, "To me."

"Good to know you found someone who cares about your dream and works with you. So, how do you two get along outside of work? You seem very chummy." Nina seemed to have asked that question, devoid of any romantic intentions. Nick grinned slightly, liking the general amount of respect she showed her sister.

"Outside of work we drive each other crazy, more so me making her lose her marbles," Nick stated with a tad too much pride. Nina seemed to give him a deadpan expression as she raised one eyebrow suspiciously.

"Is that really something to take so much joy in?" Nina asked incredulously.

"I would think so," Nick promptly replied. "This grey fluff's variety of reactions is well worth the resulting fists of furry I later receive." He waggled his eyebrows at Judy playfully. She groaned as she facepawed.

"What's the point of punching you if you never learn?" Judy asked rhetorically, pinching the bridge of her nose.

"That's what I've said for months now!" Nick half chirped, half laughed.

"How can it be worth it every time?" Judy asked in a hearty tone while also laughing a bit.

"Because it puts you in a good mood, despite your initial annoyed reaction," the red fox replied without a second thought. Judy blinked.

"What?" Nina chimed in. "Really? She gets in a good mood after being annoyed… That's a first to hear for… well… anyone. Anyways, I'll catch up with you later. I need to go clean up after some of the younger kits." Nick and Judy waved goodbye to the taller brown rabbit.

The rest of the day more or less slunk by. Nick avoided direct contact with Stu and Judy kept a figurative eye on Nick the whole time. He was still technically healing. More often than she expected, many of her younger siblings crowded him when they found an opportunity to ask him many questions about him. Ol' Pop Pop got to a few of them and asked the rather invasive question of whether or not Nick was a devil because of his red fur. Nick, to Judy's relief, simply laughed heartily and in all good humor told them the only thing devilish about him was his charming wit, to which most of the kits did not understand. Instead, he rebuked upon his own joke by simply telling them he was no devil.

Nick put both paws on a couple kits heads and ruffled their ears/fur. Giggles cascaded from the group as he smiled gently to all of them, warming Judy's heart that he found a few bunnies in the family that could get along with him. It didn't hurt that he was good with younglings.

Later that night, Judy was visiting Nick's guest room again. The whole day passed with little to talk about besides repetitive conversations with different family members. Thankfully, none so invasive as the relationship topic that the parents inquired them with.

"You know…," Judy started, "it might be a good idea to lock the door again." Nick perked up as he sat on the bed.

"Why is that?" he asked with a tilted head and flicking ears. Instead of answering immediately, Judy got up to lock the door and looked over her shoulder with violet eyes nearly glowing as they locked onto the suddenly nervous fox.

"You have your bouts of possessiveness and such, and right now," she paused as she sauntered over to Nick, pushing against his chest lightly, more to guide than to actually cause him to fall back," I might have something that I need to do. Something I've been waiting for." Her face came closer to Nick's as he leaned back on the bed. Her eyes slowly closed as her nose twitched rather enticingly and her muzzle parted ever so softly.

Her lips gently press onto the tip of his nose, drawing a slight smacking sound when she gave it a peck.

She then pressed her paw into his chest a little harder, using him for balance, as she leaned over him and used her other paw to tilt his muzzle up and into her lips. Even with the major differences in their facial anatomy, the two of them made it work. It didn't hurt that Judy had looked up how best to do this and her slow actions allowed her to do it without too much awkward misfiring.

Nick gripped the bedsheets as his tail swished happily behind him. At first, he feared that this action would rile up the primitive side of him that wanted to make her his mate, but he felt oddly calmed by the gentle press of her lips, her paw, and the soft glow of her eyes as she opened them to reveal a very embarrassed bunny.

When their lips parted with a smeck that echoed around the small room, Judy looked anywhere but his eyes, pulling at an ear on her side that had flopped down during the emotional exchange. She nervously stroked the limp ear as the other one lay against the back of her head.

Nick leaned forward and wrapped a paw around her waist with the other to the back of her neck. He lifted her gently and rolled to press her into the bed, hovering over her once again. This time, it was far less threatening as he gently kissed her cheek and nose with little kisses and licks. She smiled as a few of the licks to her nose caused her to giggle.

Suddenly, a click could be heard and both mammals barely registered the sound as their eyes were locked, with nick glowering over her like the predator he was…

"Get away from my daughter!" Stu yelled.

Both the grey doe and red fox barely had a moment to grasp the situation before Nick felt the full force of something impact his side. He was flung off the bed, whereas Judy could barely comprehend how fast her own father rammed into him from the doorway.

She heard a series of frantic yells and punches, leading to a reactive set of whimpers to follow each supposed blow. Her head finally turned to see her dad beating up her boyfriend in the corner of the room. Nick wasn't resisting or putting up any kind of fight. He wasn't even asking or begging him to stop. Just whimpering when an impact hit him.

Stu was punching, kicking, and just plain striking the red fox in a furious rage.

"Stop!" Judy yelled to her father, who was too absorbed in his anger to even react to his daughter's plea.

Nick must have reached a breaking point because he turned his head towards the older rabbit and snarled loudly, his aggressive sound making Stu go tense and hopping away by instinct.

"Oh goodness, bun… He really was poisoned…" his voice quivered. Stu grabbed his daughter and guided her behind him.

"What? No! I mean… technically yes, but not in the way you think," stammered Judy. Nick was growling low in his throat now, the apparent threat to him by physical means drawing out a more primal defense. His tail had become bushy and agitated looking. The fur on the back of his neck raised threateningly. His eyes had become predatory slits as they flitted back and forth between Judy and Stu.

"You mean you knew?! Why didn't you tell me?!" Stu yelled, obviously feeling betrayed.

"Dad… Not now…" Judy tried to more calmly say. Her dad tried to open his mouth again, probably about to yell something else before the grey doe interrupted, "Not. Now."

He swallowed thickly and turned back to the potentially savage fox, trying to keep Judy behind him in a protective stance.

Judy would have none of it. She knew Nick wouldn't hurt her. This state he was in was more or less a protective one. Of her. Of himself.

"How dare he take advantage of you," Stu growled towards the fox. "I don't care how close you two are as friends. He shouldn't push that limit when he obviously can't control himself."

"Dad… just. Stop talking," Judy pleaded, looking at Nick and trying to get out from behind her dad, who held her firm behind him with surprising strength.

"No. I am your father and he just can't do things like that to you."

"I did that," she stated simply.

Stu belted out a stammered, "huh?"

"We were… kissing," she told him tentatively.

"I don't see why that…."

"He's my mate," Judy bluntly spoke, all tone devoid from her voice. The deafening stroke of truth reverberated around the room, even stifling Nick's low growls as he tilted his head upon the evolved part of him recognizing those words.

"He's my mate."


Hey ladies and germs,

I do apologize for the slightly late release. I was working on a few projects for an upcoming con I'm going to… including but not limited to, a cosplay for my girlfriend and I to go as Nick and Judy (Yes, I know. It's awesome. I get to have a fluffy tail and have my girlfriend, whom I've referred to as Carrots since our first date, hug said tail.). I also made said girlfriend this long coming project I started around X-mas whereas I took the stain glass depiction from Beauty and the Beast and made an acrylic painting on a wood surface. Recorded the whole reaction and she cried. It was adorable. I wanted to make that for her seeing as the release of the live action remake is coming out tomorrow.

On the note of the con I'm going to, I will not be writing much or even posting anything until I get back. I will however respond to any PMs and appreciate any reviews. My ego thanks you for all the positives and as for the negatives…. Just try and get through my armor of optimism. *takes heroic pose*

Hope you like the suspense until next time.

All that being said…. It's been a hustle, Sweethearts.