Dear Reader,
I would like to take a moment to thank all of you for your outstanding patience with me during this story. While I'm usually very good about planning out my story-path, and then executing my plan... I realized that I had written myself into a bit of a corner. With the ending I had written, much of Nick's actions came-off as malicious. While Nick has certainly become the king of bad-decisions; his actions are mostly misguided, and not sinister. In any case, I'm not going to make any promises on an upload schedule (my senior project for my Bachelors-Degree will surely throw all of that off coarse) however, I am going to shoot for one upload a week until we are done.
Enjoy,
Something had happened to Nick.
Something malignant had occurred in the fox's brain. Like water which rises slowly to a boil, Nick had not recognized the danger until it was too late for him to escape his own broiling inferno. However strange it may seem, Nick knew he was in hot-water, but could not feel the scalding ramifications of his own actions.
Instead, the fox felt… numb.
Nick wondered when the horrible little thing had happened in his brain. Where, the fox asked, did he take such a wrong turn? Perhaps it was when his old friend, and "business-partner" Finnick, moved on and found a new partner in crime. Perhaps it had happened a year ago… Nick could recall several potential instances of brain damage, which could have all attributed to his poor judgement. Perhaps, Nick wondered sadly, it was just his lot in life to ruin all of his own opportunities.
Simple… predetermined… facts…
Nick was pulled back to reality by the sound of his fiancé rolling over in bed next to him.
After Judy's bachelorette party, Nick had carried the black-out-bunny all the way back to their shared apartment. The rabbit had been so intoxicated that she only lightly stirred when Nick tripped and accidentally banged her head on the wall in the hallway.
Nick felt awful as he reached out to pet Judy's sleeping head, and to make sure she didn't have a lump on her skull. Nick paused for a moment, as he realized that he had actually felt something. While not a good emotion, the fox took comfort in the assurance that he had not become a complete sociopath over the course of the last two days.
Laying his head back down on his pillow, Nick snuggled himself against the side of his sleeping spouse. Judy instinctively draped an arm over his exposed chest as she curled in to steal the fox's warmth.
Nick stared blankly at the ceiling, unable to sleep. The fox had too much to contemplate to sleep. Nick methodically weighed his options, contemplating his next move. Judy needed an escape, the fox reasoned. Judy needed a honey-moon to relax after the wedding. However, Nick was just short of recouping his losses and affording a vacation. Nick fought for a solution, milling over every detail in a bitter attempt to formulate a plan.
Hours passed in the blink of an eye for the fox, whom was only brought back by a soft "boop!"
Looking to the culprit, Nick locked the lilac eyes of his gorgeous lover.
"Hi!" giggled Judy as she guiltily retracting her paw from the tip if Nick's nose.
"Morning," offered Nick, suddenly aware of how light it had become in their bedroom.
"Good morning … Mr. Savage…" teased Judy, tilting her chin in an attempt to give her most enticing stare.
Nick shook his head at the rabbit before pulling the covers over her face. "What a shame," said the fox flatly "I really did like this one…"
Judy laughed before exploding out from under the covers, "You're stuck with me Wilde!" shouted the bunny as she moved to straddle the Fox's chest trapping him in the bed. "And you're gonna marry me today, whether you like it or not!"
Nick chuckled at the stern rabbit as she folded her arms down at him. After calculating his responses Nick finally relied; "well if it's gonna happen, I might as well try to enjoy myself…"
"That's the spirit!" chirped Judy before leaning in to give the fox a kiss.
Nick reached up to embrace the back of Judy's neck while they kissed, only to have his paw swatted away by the rabbit.
"No!" said Judy, holding out a single digit of admonishment to the fox, and fixing him with a laughably stern brow. "I am saving myself till marriage, Mr. Wilde!"
Nick barked a laugh at the bunny as she refolded her arms at him.
"Don't you laugh at me fox," scolded Judy. "I am a proper maiden, a-and I want to be… pure… on my wedding night!"
"Is that so?" asked Nick with a smirk.
"Mm-Hm," replied Judy with an affirmative nod.
"You sure you wouldn't rather I…" Nick slowly brought his claws up for emphasis, "ravage you... instead?"
"Nope…" replied Judy, shaking her head at her captive.
"Well all right…" said Nick, dropping his paws back to the bedding in defeat. "Not even a little bit? Just like… half of you! I could ravage the bottom half of you, and no one would be any wiser."
Judy snapped a paw to her mouth in a failed attempt to hold back a laugh at the fox's teasing. "Nick! No, you can't… ravage any of me…"
"What about the back half?" asked the fox, half laughing at his own crude humor.
Judy let out a hard laugh, as she attempted to feign disgust.
"That way, stick with me fluff…" Nick held up his paws in an attempt to negotiate with the rabbit. "You'll be all business in the front," the fox waved a paw in front of his muzzle for emphasis "and my business in the back!"
Judy laughed so hard at Nick's teasing that she accidentally snorted. Seeing the Fox's muzzle light up in excitement at her embarrassment, Judy seized the moment for escape.
"Hay, wait, come back!" laughed Nick from the bed, as the gray rabbit made a mad dash out of the room. "Half of you is mine!"
"Brush your teeth Wilde," laughed Judy from the living room. "We've got to get moving!"
Nick sunk into the bed in defeat. As the fox lay still, he felt a creeping sensation in his heart; it was joy. The fox let out a sad laugh as he shook his head at himself. Making his way to the bathroom, Judy continued to yell directions to the fox from the other room.
"Phillipe needs me to come into the church a little bit early…" called Judy from across the hall. "And once I'm there, you're not going to see me until I come down the isle."
"When you come down the aisle?" yelled Nick, toothbrush still in his snout. "I thought we established that you were gonna wait for me!" Nick let a stupid grin spread across his muzzle as he heard Judy's angry footsteps coming to the open bathroom door.
"Listen, fox" spat Judy, pointing a finger at the disobedient predator. "I am coming down the aisle today, and if you don't like that then… write your congress-mammal!"
Nick laughed at the rabbit's miniature rampage, and held up his paws in resignation. "Ok, you win…"
"Much better!" chirped Judy with a sugary-sweet smile. Springing to the fox's side, Judy gave Nick a kiss on the cheek before making her way back out of the bathroom. "I've gotta go, Nicholas. So get a good look because this is the last you'll see of me until tonight…" At that, the rabbit did a small spin to show off the simple green dress she had changed into. "Also, you're gonna have to check on my family before the wedding. Make sure Daddy isn't going to faint or anything like that."
Nick chuckled at the thought of the old rabbit passing out during the ceremony. "Can do, fluff" answered the fox, pulling the brush out of his mouth. "I love you, Judy" called the fox as his fiancé stepped out of the room.
Peaking back around the corner, Judy blew a quick raspberry before disappearing from view.
Nick chuckled to himself as he turned to look in the mirror. "Yikes," said Nick as he examined his own reflection. "That rabbit must really love you…" It was clear to see that he had not slept last night. Nick's fir was matted in several places, and his eye's looked sunken from a lack of sleep. Opening the medicine cabinet, Nick found something which made the little bleed in his brain return. Grabbing the small glass bottle from the shelf, Nick rolled it over in his paws.
Hydrogen-Peroxide is mostly used for bleaching fir or sterilizing scratches. Ironically, it was Nick whom most always ended up getting scratched by Judy on accident, not the other way around. However, Nick remembered an alternative application; In Nick's case, the chemical worked as a powerful Emetic.
While Judy and Nick had mostly analogous diets, there was one particular instance of inadvertent poisoning, which sprung to mind.
Nick had come home late one evening after having to file extra paperwork for a case the duo had closed. Judy had bested the fox in a game of Rock-Paper-Scissors, and thus the fox was sentenced to "death-by-file-clerk." The file-clerk in question... was a sloth. Inevitably, the process of logging the closed-case for permanent-record took several exhausting hours, and by the time Nick made it home; the fox was all-but dead. Crawling across the couch to where Judy was watching television and eating ice-cream, the exhausted candid draped himself across Judy's lap. Judy obliged the exhausted fox as he lazily opened his mouth in an attempt to beg some of the frozen treat off of his spouse. Feeding Nick his portion of the bowl while they watched It's Always Bunny In Philadelphia, Nick remembered the sudden illness which had set in no later than his fifth bite.
"Carrots…" asked Nick, attempting to blink the gray away from the edge of his vision. "What's in that ice-cream?"
"I think its got dates and raisins…" replied Judy, entirely distracted by the on-screen antic. "Why?"
Nick's eyes nearly bulged out of his head at Judy's statement. Rocketing off of the couch, Nick inadvertently sent Judy's bowl of ice-cream flying as he made a mad dash for the bathroom. Raisins, while deplorable for many reasons, happen to be extremely toxic and ultimately fatal to all members of the canine family. Fortunately, Nick had foreseen such a problem arising and already had a bottle of the vomit-inducing medication in their shared bathroom. While Nick spilt his contents to the porcelain-throne, Judy begged for forgiveness. In the end, Nick narrowly avoided the hospital, and Judy was forgiven.
Chuckling at the terrifying antics, Nick was brought back to the present. Setting the bottle on the counter, Nick decided to take a shower to try and get ready for the day.
Oh hot-diggity!
Did you just read another whole chapter? Yes, yes you did. Did you enjoy it? I sure hope so! If you did, then read another! But before you go, please be sure to write a review, leave a favorite, or make a suggestion. I do this for me, but also for you guy. So please, give me your thought.
-Enjoy the next chapter!
