Story Title-Can a Fox Love a Bunny?

Act II-The Burrows

Chapter IX-Guilt

(Author's Notes) Hello. Yes, this is two days early. The reason for this is that I'm leaving tomorrow for a family reunion over the weekend and won't be able to upload this chapter on Saturday. I didn't even realize I was leaving until yesterday so I had to wrap up this chapter a little early so I could get it out before I leave. It's still a good 4,000+ words though, so hopefully it isn't too devastating. I hope you enjoy!

"Chronic remorse, as all the moralists are agreed, is a most undesirable sentiment. If you have behaved badly, repent, make what amends you can and address yourself to the task of behaving better next time. On no account brood over your wrongdoing. Rolling in the muck is not the best way of getting clean."― Aldous Huxley, Brave New World

Nick POV

8:10 p.m. Tuesday

I stared lazily at the vibrant colors of the setting sun on the horizon. Warm oranges, reds, and yellows blended together like a tropical fruit smoothie splashed across the sky. In the center, half of the bright yellow orb that was the sun was still visible above the horizon.

It was truly beautiful, but as I looked down to my side I knew it could never compare to the bunny walking beside me. The colors of the sunset shone in the fur of Judy's face as it swayed in a light breeze. I saw a twinkle in her amethyst eyes as she stared at the sunset in awe and wonderment. Happiness and content seemed to seep from her like juice from an overripe berry. She was like an angel come down to Earth, and she was mine.

Not for the first time, I thought about how lucky I was to have her in my life. She, unlike all the mammals before her, had given me a chance to show her who I truly was, a good mammal. Despite the way she had found me, a criminal, she had believed that I could do better and eventually gave me the means to join the ZPD alongside her. Sure there had been some bumps along the way, but she had stood beside in all the hard times when no one else would. And now, not only had she chosen to believe in me and give me the chance to be a good fox, she had chosen to spend the rest of her life with me and to become my mate. She had chosen to love me and nothing would ever be more important to me than Judy's love.

Judy suddenly diverted her attention to me and noticed my staring. "What's the matter? See something you like?" she asked me playfully.

I smiled at her slyly, "Only the most beautiful bunny in the world," I replied honestly, at least in my opinion.

"My dad was right, you do have a fetish for bunnies," she teased, poking me in the chest.

When Stu had said that back at the house, I had turned it into a joke to relieve some of my stress from the situation...Perhaps it wasn't one of my best ideas but I didn't actually give the idea any thought. Now that Judy said it again though, I found myself wondering. I certainly enjoyed Judy's body, her fluffy little tail, her velvety ears, her adorable nose, and her strong legs, but whether that was because it was Judy or because she was a rabbit I was unsure. None of the other rabbits I had met so far had exactly appealed to me but it's not like every vixen I saw did either.

Without enough evidence to determine a verdict, I shrugged, "Maybe I do, maybe I don't. What I do know," I wrapped my arms around Judy from behind, "Is that I love you," I kissed her between the ears, "And I will never leave you for another bunny, even if I do have a rabbit fetish. And not just because we're mates either, but because I really, truly do love you." My words were completely honest, corny as they may sound, and I knew that Judy could tell as she reached her hands up over her head to wrap them around my neck, standing on her tippy toes and stopping her walking to do so. She then pulled me down to kiss her, upside down.

At the first the kiss was sweet but the longer it went on the more passionate it became until I found myself pushing my muzzle into Judy's face as hard as I could. I inhaled her scent deeply, reveling in the Judy-ness of it and I felt a flame ignite deep in my chest. As much as I wanted to continue, Judy and I didn't exactly have a good place for such activities and my back, although almost normal, was not completely healed just yet. So I finally broke the kiss, repressing a whine that fought to escape my throat at the loss of contact. Judy also looked slightly disappointed but was able to smile at me as well.

"Come on," I told her, "We should get back to Tris' house, it's getting late and she's probably wondering why we're not back yet." After arresting the shotgun toting buck, we had brought him to the local precinct and had been forced to go through the process of explaining to the officers there that, "Yes, I am a fox," and, "Yes, I am a police officer," and, "Yes, this rabbit did almost shoot me," and, "No, I am not lying because I'm a fox." Then we had been forced to do the paperwork because, "You were the one who arrested 'im."

Once it was all said and done, it had already passed lunchtime so Judy and I had stopped at some restaurant that I swear served nothing but salad and carrots. I didn't have a problem with any of the food but some bugs wouldn't have hurt. Also, the distrusting glares from the other customers as well as the waiters certainly put a damper on the mood. I might have grown a little frustrated were it not for Judy sitting beside me whispering, "Ignore them," over and over again.

After that I needed to cool down a little so Judy and I decided to resume our walk on a different path, this time devoid of a farm and instead surrounded by lovely rolling hills of green dotted by the yellow and white of daisies. Eventually, after seeing the sun starting to dip below the horizon, Judy and I had realized it would be best to head back to Tris'.

Judy and I resumed our walk in silence until we rounded the corner to a small neighbourhood of decently sized houses as far as normal bunny families go. The houses certainly weren't as big as the Hopps' family house but they still looked like they could fit several dozen bunnies all the same.

The house that Tris lived in with her husband was painted the same yellow as the dandelions in the yard. It was a perfect rectangle with the exception of a small greenhouse jutting out on one side. A small porch led up to the door in the center of the front face of the house, hedges on both sides. It was the perfect cookie-cutter house, completely symmetrical and devoid of any imperfections.

"Looks like Tris' husband is home," Judy said beside me.

I looked at the driveway and saw Tris' navy blue truck where it had been when we left but next to it I now also saw a white van which I assumed belonged to Tris husband. According to Tris, he had been working at his gardening store when we had dropped off our stuff so he hadn't actually met us yet, nor did he know that we would be staying at their house. If he was here now, it was likely that Tris had told him by now but his reaction to the news was still unknown to me and I felt slightly uncomfortable thinking that a repeat of today's earlier events with Judy's parents was possible. Tris had assured us that he would be fine with it though, and I sincerely hoped she was right, both for the sake of Judy's emotions and the fact that we didn't really have another place to stay at.

We made our way up the driveway to the front door. "Are we supposed to knock?" I asked Judy.

She shrugged and bit her lower lip in thought, "I don't know, maybe. We are going to be living here but it might be best to be polite."

I nodded and knocked on the door. "You bite your lip when you're thinking," I informed her as we waited for the door to open.

"I do?" she asked, slightly flustered. Her ears drooped just a tiny bit out of embarrassment.

"Yes. I think it's cute," I admitted. It was definitely, undeniably cute as was much of what Judy did—yet another one of the things I liked so much about her.

She humphed and looked like she was about to say something when the door opened to reveal Tris standing there in a kitchen apron. "Hey, guys. You know you don't need to knock since you're going to be living here. Actually, I'll you guys the spare key in case Cal or I aren't home." I assumed that Cal was the name of her husband.

"Speaking of Cal," Judy spoke, "We saw his van in the driveway. Where is he?" she asked, standing on her tippy toes to look past Tris.

"He's in the kitchen," she said, leaving the entrance to allow room to get in, "Come in, dinner's ready." She walked down the small entrance hall and through a door on the far end which led to the kitchen from what I saw on my short first visit.

Judy and I followed after into the large kitchen which seemed to be necessary in rabbits' homes to cook for their generally large families. The counters formed an "L" in the corner immediately to left upon entering the room. An island was placed in the center of the kitchen with several stools around it. The room continued on beyond the island to a very large dining room table.

Sitting in one of the stools at the island was a rabbit buck wearing a red and black plaid shirt and jeans. His fur coat was completely gray and his appearance would have seemed completely average were it not for his shockingly electric blue eyes.

When we walked in, the buck stood up, a warm smile breaking his face. He approached us, paw extended to Judy, "You must be Judy, Tris has told me a lot about you. My name is Cal, if Tris hasn't told you already. It's nice to finally get to meet you," he said in a light, warm voice as he shook Judy's hand.

"It's nice to meet you, too," Judy returned.

He then turned to me, "And you must be Nick," he shook my hand as well.

So far, I detected no sort of resentment or fear from Cal which was a good sign so I decided to let myself open a bit, "I believe that's my name, yes," I said with a grin.

Cal laughed shortly but became serious quickly, "Look, Tris told me everything and I want you to know, I'm perfectly fine with it. I'm sorry about what you two have had to go through for being mates." I could tell he was being sincere both form his voice and the sadness in his eyes and it made me feel at least a little better that there was someone else who didn't care.

"You don't need to be sorry, it's not your fault," Judy told Cal.

"Doesn't mean it doesn't still suck," Cal said, "No one should have to go through what you two have already because you love someone."

"Thank you," I said. As much as it felt good to listen to someone fight on our side for once, I didn't really want to talk about any of the things that happened to Judy and I at the time. Plus, I realized how hungry I was now that I was in the kitchen with the smell of food attacking my sensitive nose so I added, "You said dinner was ready?"

"Yes," Tris said. She had been standing near a pot during the introductions but now picked it up and carried it past the island and her husband to the dining room table that could probably fit upwards of 50 bunnies at a time. Four bowls were already placed at the table so that two would sit next to each other across from the other two.

Judy and I took a seat next to each other on one side of the table while Tris and Cal sat across from us. The already strong smell of food became suddenly overwhelming when Tris lifted the lid to the pot. My mouth started salivating at the delightful scent and my tail wagged happily behind me. Obviously Tris didn't notice because she said, "I'm not sure how much you like vegetables, Nick, but I also put some beetles in the oven for you. They should be done any second now."

I smiled a little. It seemed that nearly every bunny had it in their heads that foxes didn't eat vegetables. "Well it smells delicious. Foxes are omnivores and I like vegetables too. Except brussel sprouts, I hate brussel sprouts."

"Oh, that's good," Tris said and ladled some sort of soup within the pot into each of the four bowls.

Unable to ignore my stomach for a second longer, I took several large spoonfuls of the soup. I involuntarily let out a small whine of pleasure which prompted the three rabbits at the table to burst out in laughter. "That good, huh?" Judy asked through her laughter.

I simply nodded, too busy shoveling more soup into my mouth. We ate in silence for a little before a ding from the kitchen signaled that something had finished cooking. "That must be the beetles," she said as she stood up. She went into the kitchen and took the beetles out of the oven, returning with them and placing them next to the large pot of soup.

"Thank you, Tris," I said, grabbing a few beetles and putting them on my plate.

Judy grabbed a few as well and began munching on one, prompting Tris and Cal, neither of whom have seen Judy eat a beetle yet, to stare at her, similar to the events of yesterday's lunch with Judy's parents. This time Judy seemed prepared however as she said, "Yes, I'm eating a beetle and I think you should actually try them as well, they're really good."

Tris seemed to not have heard anything Judy said. "You're eating beetles?" she asked incredulously. "I'm sorry, but they look so disgusting. How did you even manage to work up the courage to put that in your mouth?" She gagged slightly but managed to hold herself together.

"Well, Mr. Slick, here," Judy nudged me with her elbow, "tricked me into it." She was feigning annoyance but I could easily see her barely concealed smirk.

"This sounds like something I want to hear," Cal spoke up, "How did he manage to get you to do that?"

"Well, we were having breakfast and Nick told me to try one. I didn't want to back down but I figured that I wanted something out of Nick in return so I told him I would do it if he tried a carrot. He agreed so I tried the beetle, obviously I liked it."

I decided to take over the story at this point, "What Carrots didn't know was that I already liked carrots so I had no problem eating one after that."

Cal just looked confused, "Why would carrots know that you liked carrots? What?"

I looked back at Cal with an equally confused expression before I realized what he meant. "Oh no, Carrots is one of my nicknames for Judy. When we first met I...wasn't exactly the nicest guy, potentially borderline speceist. The name kind of stuck though, now it's more of a symbol of how comfortable we are with each other," I looked at Judy lovingly and she returned the expression, having never heard me say that before.

"You two are so cute," Cal interrupted our moment, "I think I will try one of these, if Judy likes them so much," Cal said, picking up one of the beetles. He stared at it for a solid couple of seconds before tossing the whole thing in his mouth and bringing his teeth down on it in a large, Crunch. His expression remained motionless for a second while he chewed before he moaned. "What have I been doing with my life," he lamented, "These things are amazing." Cal grabbed several more beetles and began shoving those in his mouth now as well.

Judy laughed a little, "Told you."

The rest of the meal was spent in silence as we all hungrily gobbled down the food. Once we were done, we all helped to bring the bowls, pots, and tray to the kitchen and then into a dishwasher. After, we all found ourselves sitting down in the living room which was connected to the dining room/kitchen.

Unlike the Hopps' living room, there was only one small couch and two well-worn armchairs as far as seating. An oak coffee table sat in front of the couch on on the wall facing the couch there was a much smaller flat screen than the one at the Hopps'.

Tris and Cal each sat at one of the arm chairs leaving Judy and I sitting side by side on the couch. Judy had her head rested on my shoulder, her eyes closed and her ears drooping as she let out a hum of contentment. I saw Cal staring at us for a few seconds before he spoke up, "So how did the two of you meet?"

Judy opened her eyes and her ears stood up straight, smacking me in the face. "Oh, sorry, Nick," she apologized before turning her attention to Cal, "It's sort of a long story," she explained, "But the short version is, he used to be a con artist and he hustled me into buying him a jumbo pop for one of his cons. Then he turned out to be an important suspect in a case I was working on so I hustled him into helping me solve the case, which we did. Afterwards, I convinced him to become a police officer and, a year later, here we are," she finished. I nodded my agreement to her story.

Cal just laughed after hearing the story. "Hold on, so he hustled you? Then you hustled him?" Judy and I both nodded, "How did you two get along with a start like that?"

I answered for us, "We didn't really, not at first. Like I said earlier, I was sort of a big jerk until she saved my life," I admitted with an air of melancholy.

"I wasn't exactly much better, you know," Judy said reassuringly, giving my paw a squeeze. I hadn't even noticed that she had grabbed it. "All I did was judge you because you were a fox."

I gave her paw a squeeze back and looked up to see our hosts were staring at us uncomfortably, the mood having changed dramatically. I didn't really want to stay in this atmosphere any longer than necessary so I said, "I think we're probably going to head to bed now."

"Oh, okay," Tris said, cheerful once more, "I set everything up for you. Do you remember where the room is?"

"Yes. Thank you again for letting us stay here, we're very grateful," I said as Judy and I stood up. "We'll see you tomorrow."

"Goodnight," Tris and Cal said in unison. With that, Judy and I walked up the staircase against the wall of the room and to the guest room we had put our stuff in earlier. It hadn't escaped me that Judy had been quiet since talking about her mistake when first meeting me, however, I opted to wait until after we were completely ready to bring it up.

Eventually, I was lying in bed, completely naked, alongside an equally naked bunny. I was laying on my back and Judy was snuggling into my side. I had my arm draped around her, paw playing with the fur on the side of her face. Judy still hadn't said a word since we got upstairs so I finally decided to breach the silence, "Judy, you know I've forgiven you for your prejudices when we first met, right?"

"Mhm," was the only answer from Judy, who absentmindedly began to run her paw through the creamy fur of my chest.

"Well then what's got you so down?" I didn't want to call Judy a liar but something was definitely up and I couldn't think of anything else that could be causing her to be this upset.

Judy let out a long, drawn out sigh before answering quietly, "I'm just thinking about all the other mamals who are still thinking like I used to. You know, in the article about us they said that you probably forced me into the relationship because you're a predator and I'm a prey. I just...I wish that mammals could get past their prejudices and see others for who they truly are, not just their species," I thought Judy was done but then she continued, "And I can't help but feel that that's partly my fault because of the press conference. I gave prey an excuse to fear predators," Judy's small frame was racked by a sob and her breathing grew shallower and I immediately rolled onto my side and wrapped her in a hug tightly against my chest.

"Judy," I began talking in a soothing voice and her breathing evened out a little, "No matter what you say, prey have always been afraid of predators. It's a sad fact but it's a fact all the same. It's not your fault. You are doing the opposite of making it worse, every chance you get you show the world that there's nothing to fear from predators," I chuckled softly, "You're kind of a hero. My hero anyways." Judy's breathing had returned to normal and she wasn't sobbing so I took that as a sign that she had calmed down.

I pulled out of the hug a little so I could look at Judy's face and saw two trails of tears running down her cheeks. Now, though, she was smiling and I gave her nose a quick peck causing it to twitch uncontrollably in the most adorable way ever. "Awwww," I couldn't help but let out, "Your nose is so cute."

Judy scowled at me, "Nick, I've told you not to call a bunny cute before. You did it at the front door earlier too, you have to stop," she pouted.

I was not one to give up something like this so easily, however, so I said, "Judy, listen. I know it's not polite to call a bunny cute because it's stereotyping but this is different than if I were to call any other bunny cute. I say you're cute because you're my mate and I find you attractive and I love you. I'm not saying that you're cute for any reason other than that I think it's the truth and it just isn't fair if I'm not allowed to call you cute, because you are," I had wanted to say something like this to Judy for a very long time because, admittedly, I had thought she was cute even when we were just partners. Now that we were mates though, I was able to really drive home the argument where before it would have just been me saying, 'I want to call you cute because you are cute' and that might have sounded kind of weird.

Judy continued to scowl at me for a few seconds before it faded away to be replaced by a resigned look, "Fine, I'll give you this but you better not abuse it or I'll revoke this privilege," she said, sounding like a mother who had finally relented to her child's begging to go to the movies, "Thanks for the talk, too," she added, voice softening.

"You're welcome. Besides, like I told your siblings, I hate seeing sad bunnies. It makes me sad and then where would we be? I think we should probably go to sleep now, I have a feeling tomorrow's not going to be easy and we need our energy." Judy just hummed her consent and I snuggled closer to her once more, my muzzle occupying the space just above her head, between her ears. I tightened my arms' hold on her and wrapped my tail around her as well in what was quickly becoming our favorite sleeping position. I heard Judy purr softly at the embrace and I contentedly let out a sigh, knowing that Judy lay at my side.

Sadly, I did have a bad feeling about tomorrow, so for now, I enjoyed the comfort of sleeping next to Judy as best as I could in preparation for the next day.

(Author's Notes) A few announcements: the next chapter should come out on time, seeing as I'll have the same amount of time I normally do, so no worries there. For the week after that, however, I'm going to summer camp with my boy scout troop. I'll be pretty busy while away and I'll only be able to write with paper and pencil *shivers* so I don't think I'll be able to write the full chapter while I'm at camp. I will have a chapter out the Saturday after though. I could possibly do another short chapter like chapter 7 while I'm at camp, seeing as it wouldn't be very long, and post that once I get back. Tell me in a review or a PM whether you would like to see that or if you would prefer I hold off for a longer chapter the week after I get back.

Now that that's over, what did you guys think of Cal? I've introduced a few OCs already but each time I can never be sure if I did a good job with them. If his description was lacking, please tell me. I've said this multiple times already so you guys know by now that I want to hear your criticism. Any comments or literally anything you guys have to say about Cal or any other part of the story, please share with me.

I believe that's it for now, so au revoir et bonne journée, all you lovely people. (Yes, I'm taking French). This is Jay, signing off.