I'M HERE! I'm here, I'm not dead! So, so sorry everyone but it was the festivities and I kinda got carried away and if that wasn't enough of course I got sick! Took me some time to get better and then some more to finish this chapter (I was lacking inspiration by times) But now it's finally here. Again I am so sorry about the delay, I know I promised I would release the epilogue in 2016 and then go back to my other story but hey… what can you do?
Anyways… Here is your (very late) christmas gift to you all. Hope you enjoy.
It took some time for Judy to realise it. To be fair, she had only just woken up and her mind was still clouded with sleep. But slowly the gears in her head started churning and as it came to her, her eyes opened wide.
"It's christmas…" She whispered to no one in particular.
She shot up from her bed with wide excited eyes.
"It's christmas!" She repeated with more enthusiasm this time.
Judy ran towards the closet and opened it to reveal the selection of clothing. Done with the fancy victorian dresses that, she had to admit, looked good on her. Now was the time for something actually comfortable. She would usually dress up in her pajamas on christmas morning and join her siblings but she was spending this christmas with her colleagues and friends. So instead of the traditional attire, she opted for something a little more appropriate while still remaining comfy.
She put on a christmas sweater her mother had made for her last year and cotton leggings. It might not be the prettiest of outfits but she didn't care. What was important was that she was comfortable in it.
Judy walked down the stairs of the mansion two steps at a time. The whole murder mystery thing was fun but she was glad it was over. She had enough of pretending to murder her friends and… Whatever Nick and her were… She'd have to talk with him about that later.
Just thinking back at how he had reacted after he had asked her out and she had said yes. They had been both smiling for at least 15 minutes after that without saying a word. Even now she still felt giddy when she thought about it.
She shook her head, trying to cast away the image of his smile. God did he look handsome when he smiled… Actually he pretty much always looked good. The way his orange fur would blow in the wind and how soft it looked… the way his eyes were so enticing she could get lost in them for hours…
Judy shook herself again. Now was not the time to go all teenage love over her partner. Now was the time to celebrate christmas with her friends. She was sure she would get plenty of time for the former at a later time.
There wasn't much in this world that Nick disliked more than getting up early. The reason he would usually do it was because the benefits outweighed the cost. And these benefits usually wore the name carrots and no of course he wasn't thinking about the vegetable. But today, Nick had a different reason to set his alarm early (although his usual motivation was still there).
Today was christmas day…
It had been so long since Nick had celebrated christmas. The last time he did was when he was twelve before he started hustling. After that the only thing that was different for christmas was that he wouldn't spend the day out on the street trying to scam mammals out of their money. Finnick and him had agreed to take a day off every christmas, not because they wanted to but because it was useless since there was barely anyone out.
But this year it was different. This year Nick had actually something to look up to, something in the form of an overactive bunny with whom he was desperately in love with.
Nick smiled. How long now had he been in love with her? He didn't know himself when it started but for quite some times now she had been the only thing filling his mind in his down times. He never thought he would see the day where he had a shot with her. After all he was a fox and she a bunny. He would have never dared to ask her out, in fear of ruining the friendship that they had, if it wasn't for how she had acted in the wine cellar. Even then he hadn't meant to ask her out. But when she had asked him how she could make up to him the words had just slipped out.
It was all for the better though. Now he knew how she felt and now he had a shot.
And it just happened that this shot was on christmas day. Who knew, maybe this was a christmas miracle? It certainly felt like one to him.
Nick walked to his closet and chose to wear his signature green pawaiian shirt and khaki shorts, a surefire way to get the ladies. He then walked down the stairs to see that everyone was already up even though he had gotten an early start.
"Mornin' every…"
Nick's sentence died on his lips when he saw judy. She looked beautiful… The way her leggings complimented her hips and her… well you know… It nearly drove him mad.
He quickly shook his head.
"Mornin' everyone." Nick tried again.
"Mornin'." They answered together.
Nick sat next to Judy on the couch.
"Nice sweater carrots."
Judy was wearing a knitted sweater depicting a bunny with what he assumed to be a cop hat on. Fitting...
"Thanks. My mom made it last year." She then seemed to size him up for a moment before speaking again. "You know I could ask her to make you one if you want… I think it would look cute on you."
Nick gave a hearty laugh.
"I can imagine you… 'Hey mom could you make a christmas sweater please. Yeah it's for a fox.' And then your father faints."
"Aw don't be like that. My parents know about you and they love you."
"You're parents are fine with you being friend with a fox?"
"Of course! You don't give them enough credits."
Nick cocked an eyebrow at her.
"Weren't they the one to give you the fox repellent?"
"Okay, yes admittedly they did do that… But that was before. They've change now."
"In my experience mammals don't ever really change carrots."
"Says the ex con artist."
"Touché."
"I tell you Nick you don't have to fear anything from my parents. I've told them about you countless time. Heck I'm sure they wouldn't mind having you over for dinner if you ever find the time to come to the Burrows with me..."
"I don't know fluff…" He said looking in the distance.
Judy put her paw on Nick's arm. It sent a shiver running through his spine. He closed his eyes, savouring the contact for one second, and then turned to face her.
"My parents partnered up with another fox and he makes the best blueberry pies…"
"Blueberry pies?"
"You could have as much as you'd like…"
"I might take a rain check on that trip finally…"
Judy smiled and Nick couldn't help but smile back.
"Sorry to interrupt you two…" Came the voice of Clawhauser. "But would you mind getting the cookie platter from the kitchen. I'm afraid that if I go and get it there won't be any left when I come back."
"Sure! No problem big guy." Said Nick with an easy smile.
They got up and walked to the kitchen together. When they arrived, they found the plate to be up on a counter made for bigger mammals, and therefore out of their reach.
"Looks like we have some team work to do." Said Judy. "You grab me and launch me in the air okay?"
For answer, Nick simply put his two paws together so she might step on them to get a boost. She did just so and readied herself.
"Ready?"
Nick nodded.
"Okay in 3… 2… 1…"
Nick pushed her up and Judy used her strong legs to propel herself in the air before she graciously landed on the counter.
"Okay I see the cookies but the plate is too big to just throw off the counter."
"Can you see another way down?"
"No but… wait I think I have an idea."
Nick waited for her to develop but nothing came. He was about to ask her what she was doing before he saw something drop from the counter top.
Judy had taken an apron made for elephants and had tied its end to a drawer knob on the other side of the counter. She then threw the other end of the apron down at Nick, making a slide of the apron in the process.
"Why not have asked anybody else? This seems kind of over complicated." Said Nick.
"Stop whining and prepare yourself. I'm going to send you the plate be ready to catch it."
With this Judy sent the empty plate down the makeshift slide for Nick to catch it. She then sent the cookies one by one, allowing Nick to put them back onto the plate.
"Okay we're good." Said Nick once he had placed the last cookie on the plate. "Now if you'll just get down here so we can…"
"Weeeeeeeeeeeh!"
Nick turned around to see Judy sliding down the apron, heading towards him at high speed. He tried to place himself to catch her but wasn't able to brace in time. Judy hit him and knocked him on his back while she landed on his chest. Instinctively, his arms grabbed her by resting on her back.
Judy laid still on his chest, looking into his emerald eyes. For a moment they both held each other's gaze before Nick looked behind her and started laughing.
"What's funny?"
Instead of answering Nick simply nodded to something behind her. When she turned around at the ceiling to find what was so funny, she saw the mistletoe hanging above them. Her cheeks flushed red and she turned back to find Nick no longer laughing. He was grinning at her with half lidded eyes that took her breath away. He raised one of his paw to rest it on the side of her face, slowly stroking her drooped ear.
Judy found herself to be paralysed. She was unable to move or to look anywhere else than Nick's eyes and lips. So when she saw that his own gaze had lowered to her own lips, her heart started hammering in her chest and she was sure that he too could feel it.
Her heart beat picked up even faster when Nick started leaning towards her. Only then did she find she was finally able to move and the only thing she could do was lean towards him herself.
And then their lips met...
They both closed their eyes and enjoyed each other's taste. At first it was a simple kiss, innocent, chaste, but soon it wasn't enough. Judy snaked her arms around his neck and grasped his orange fur in her paw, trying to pull him deeper in the kiss. They grew more passionate as they simultaneously released all the feelings they had for each other and that they had kept hidden, locked away to grow and eventually blow out.
And now was the time that it blew…
Who knows how long they would have gone for if the need to breath wasn't a thing. But sadly they broke the kiss once they were out of breath. Panting heavily, they looked at each other again before Nick spoke.
"I… Eh… I think we should move on before the others wonder what happened to us."
"Oh… Yeah probably a good idea…"
Judy moved away from Nick and let him get up. They both grabbed opposite side of the plate and lifted it up. They would sometimes lock eyes and quickly look away blushing while they carried the plate together. They didn't speak a word while doing so but even with the awkward silence that had settled, they both couldn't stop smiling…
They finally reached the gathered guests and dropped the plate on the coffee table in the middle of the room. Judy then excused herself and ran off to the toilets, blushing madly.
Once she was out of sight, Nick approached the grinning cheetah.
"I know it was your idea."
"I don't know what are you talking about."
"It would have been more logic to send pretty much anybody else than us to fetch the cookies but you still asked the two smallest mammals in the room. And I bet you're the one who placed that mistletoe just above the cookie plate."
"Oh yeah there was indeed a mistletoe above the cookies. What a coincidence…"
Silence…
"So did it work?"
Nick chuckled.
"How long?"
"What do you mean?"
"How long now have you been trying get us together?"
"Ever since Hopps came back to the office one day and couldn't stop talking about the guy she had met that helped her solve the nighthowler case. You should have seen her, She couldn't stop yapping about how she had convinced him to apply at the academy and how she couldn't wait to be partners with him…"
"Wait! So you hadn't even met me and you wanted to set us up?"
"Yeah basically. But when I finally did meet you then I was sure of it. It was easy to tell by the way you looked at her and how you literally worshiped the ground underneath her feet."
"I wasn't THAT obvious!"
"Yeah you can keep telling yourself that."
At that moment Judy came back from the bathroom, looking like she had splashed water on her face.
"Okay so what do we do now?"
Clawhauser looked at his watch.
"Wait 30 seconds…"
"What? Why…"
Clawhauser interrupted the fox by holding up a finger, motioning for silence.
They looked at each other confused and thirty seconds later the front door opened.
"Lewis is very punctual." Explained Clawhauser.
"Oh oh oh! Guess who's there."
The cheetah dressed as Santa Claws came around the corner, holding a large bag that Judy could only assume was full of present. She recognised the cheetah as Clawhauser's boyfriend and the one who had played Lord Spots on the very first night.
Clawhauser immediately rose up and went to kiss his boyfriend.
"I went to the precinct and picked up the exchange gifts for you guys." Said Lewis.
He came up to the gathered crowd and took out gifts from his pouch. He then handed over the gifts to the appropriate mammal.
"So just to have a refresher of the rules. You give your gift to the person you picked and then they give theirs to the one they picked and so on."
"Who's the first to give?" Asked Nick.
"We can spin the bottle to find out." Proposed Wolford. "Here that one will do."
Wolford laid an empty wine bottle on the coffee table in the middle of the room. As they all gathered around it, he gave it a good spin. The bottle finally started to slow down before it settled on Judy.
"Bunnies first."
"Oh great! Judy picked up the gift that Clawhauser's boyfriend had brought."
"Here you go Chief I hope you like it!"
She really did. She went through a lot of trouble to find out what the chief would like. She had to go around the office until she finally found someone who knew is last name, then go through the annuary to find his number, then call his home until his wife picked up to ask her what Bogo liked… At first she thought that a DnD set was a joke...
McHorn approached Nick with a gift almost half as big as he was.
"Here you go Wilde."
"Jesus what is this? A sink?"
"Close but not quite… just open it."
Nick started ripping the wrapping paper with his claws. The first thing he saw was plastic… very colorful plastic…
"This is… a baby toilet seat…"
The plastic seat cover was made for larger mammals and therefore the right size for a full grown fox.
"Like this we won't ever have to pull you out of the precinct's toilet." Said McHorn with a huge grin. He was visibly enjoying this.
And so were the others apparently because the room had erupted into laughter.
"It's funny…" Began Porkins with short breath. "...because he really needs it!"
"No I don't!"
"I got to take a photo of this." Said Fangmeyer. "Come on Wilde grab your present and say cheese!"
Instead Nick rolled his eyes as his ears flattened against his skull. It didn't stop the tiger from taking a picture though.
"This is so hanging on the break room board for all the others to see."
"Come on Nick don't be rude. What do we say to the nice rhino?" Playfully said Judy.
Nick sighed.
"Thanks McHorn. It's very considerate of you."
"No prob amigo. Now's your turn."
At this Nick's mood lightened a bit. He took the only remaining gift and handed it over to Judy.
"Here you go carrots, this one is for you."
Judy looked at the bag which contained the gift, hidden under a pile of stuffing paper. She then looked back at the smiling fox who was holding the bag. She smiled back and accepted the gift before pulling the stuffing away. She gasped and looked at Nick, a sparkle in her eyes, as she pulled out the fox plushie holding two tickets for Gazelle's upcoming concert.
"You enjoyed the last one so I figured why not do it again?"
"Thank you Nick I love it."
"How did you even get those? They sold out over a month ago." Asked Clawhauser.
"Let's just say that Finnick usually knows how to get hard to obtain items…"
Judy quickly put her gift aside and jumped up to trap him in a hug.
"I like the plushie too…" She whispered.
"Figured your collection could use a bit of diversity…"
Judy pulled away and looked him in the eyes.
"Thank you Nick I really appreciate that."
"Ha well… Nothing's too good for you carrots."
They sat down and the others took their attention off of them to turn and talk to their neighbours. The room broke off into multiple discussions, one of which Nick was listening to before Judy tugged at his sleeve.
"Nick I eh… I need to talk to you… Privately…"
Nick looked at the full room before getting up and making sign to Judy to follow him. They went to the dining room before Nick stopped and turned to her.
"So, what is it?"
"I… Well… I was wondering about what happened earlier and… and I wanted to know… I wanted to know why you did what you did."
Nick raised an eyebrow.
"Isn't it tradition to kiss under the mistletoe?"
"Sooooo… That's why you did it? Because of the mistletoe?"
Judy looked disappointed at his answer.
"Not JUST because of the mistletoe. I also wanted to. Did you already forget that I asked you out? Because you said yes and I'm holding you up to that yes."
"No it's just that… I thought for a moment that you might have been teasing me…"
Judy looked down at her feet, slightly ashamed of herself. She played with her paws a bit before Nick took her chin gently forced her to tilt her head and look up at him.
"Hey Carrots… We both know you're not a dumb bunny so get those dumb ideas out of your head. Here I'll prove it for you."
Nick leaned forward and pressed his muzzle against her ear.
"There's no mistletoe above us right now…" He whispered.
Judy tried to look up but was stopped by Nick's lips on her own. She closed her eyes and melted into their second kiss. She had to stop herself from falling by grabbing his neck since her legs gave away. Thankfully Nick realised that and circled his arms around her back to support her. Time slowed down and what felt like a glorious eternity that couldn't last long enough passed in reality after a few seconds. When Nick pulled away he looked down into her stunned eyes.
"So… what does this make us exactly?" She asked timidly.
"I… I don't know… What do you want us to be?"
"Well I don't know. What do you want us to be?" She answered awkwardly.
"I… I don't know. I really, REALLY like you and… And I like this…"
"So… Are we a couple?"
"Do you want us to be a couple?"
GOD YES! She hadn't wanted something so much since she had first decided to become a cop when she was a kit. She hadn't been able to think about anything else for the past few months now… But she couldn't just say that. No she had to play it cool.
"Yes!... I mean… if you want to that is…"
Nope… She was so obvious.
"I… I would like that…"
Judy felt so happy inside it felt like butterflies high on cocaine were having a rave inside her stomach.
"So what now?"
"I guess we're a couple…" Nick said. He then extended his paw for her to grab. "Care to join me… Girlfriend…"
"Keep calling me carrots. It sound better." She said while taking his paw in her own.
"Does that mean I get to call you cute?"
"Once a month in private."
"Yes!"
They made their way back to the living room, holding paws and smiling at eachother…
This was the best christmas ever!
"Ni-ick! Wake up!"
Nick swatted at the paw shaking him.
"Just five more minutes."
"You already had your five minutes. Come on Nick get up, it's our 3 years anniversary."
"Also more commonly called christmas carrots." Nick said while trying to burry his head in his pillow.
"Yes, but we've also been dating for 3 years now so double reason to get up. Now come on or I'll just force you out of bed, you know I can."
Nick laid still as if he hadn't heard her. He waited for her to get close so she could force him out of bed before he suddenly turned around and jumped on her. He pinned her to the bed they shared while he stood above her.
"Well well, look at what I've found. Breakfast in bed. If that isn't a good way to start the day then I don't know what is."
"Breakfast in bed you say hmm? And here I thought you would still be tired from last night's dessert."
"To tell the truth, I kind of am. But how can I resist such a delicious looking bunny?"
Judy giggled and leaned up to plant a kiss on his lips. He welcomed her and put a paw to her cheek as the other found it's way to her back.
"Maybe latter." Said Judy after she broke the kiss. "But right now there's a couple presents under the tree with your name on them."
"Really? I thought you said last night that I had been a bad fox."
Judy gave him a playful punch and a roll of the eyes while he just kept smirking.
"Fine but I have a special present for you too."
"Oh yeah? What is it?"
"Well I can't just tell you that now can I? Just wait here and I'll go fetch it."
Nick jumped out of bed and went to the closet where he had hidden his gift. He looked behind him to make sure she wasn't peeking and then plunged his paw into the pocket of his jacket. He took out the small jewelry box and opened it.
He hoped she would like the ring…
"Are you coming?" Came her voice.
Nick quickly shut the box closed and shoved it in his pocket.
"Yeah yeah I'm coming."
This was lining up to be the best christmas ever…
And… Scene!
So that's it guys the stories over. Let me know what you thinked, I always love reading you guys' comments. Now that this is done with I can finally go back to my other story. If you don't know about it, come and check it out. It's called Bunny and Wilde and it's way longer than this one. I left it off at a pretty juicy moment and now that I took a break from it, I am full of ideas to continue. If you guys liked the mystery in this one, do check it out Because it's full of questions and plot twist and stuff you're bound to like it.
Anyways that's that. See you over there hopefully.
