Judy kicked the blanket off of her as she awoke, her fur still wet from the tears she had released during the night. The moon was still in the sky, the sun no-where near rising. She looked at the alarm clock beside the bed - reading 04:30 AM. She had been tossing and turning all night since the dream of her and Nick getting married - becoming Mates for life... How much she wished it wasn't a dream - how much she wished it was reality... But it wasn't.
She sat in silence, once again holding Nick's badge against her - sniffling back her tears. Judy grabbed her phone, unlocking it and opening her picture's. There she scrolled through each and every picture of Nick, all the selfies they had... A soft smile made it's way across her face as she looked at some of the expressions Nick pulled. Those first few months after the missing mammals case, after Nick was accepted into the ZDP had been some of the best months - the months in which Judy began to understand her feelings towards the vulpine more clearly, the months in which she began to truly start to understand him. Tears pricked at her eyes as she thought about everything they had done together.
She came across the picture of Nick when he first met all of her siblings... How easily they all just accepted him, adored him. She smiled faintly as she looked at the picture, seeing Nick barely visible against the ocean of siblings who had all tackled him at the time of the picture. She thought back to it, her siblings were so easily accepting of him, they adored him, yet her parents weren't so easily swayed.
She still didn't understand why they didn't like him... Was it because he was a fox... Surely not... They had grown to like him over time, even as far as commenting on how they wished they would be mates. Judy smiled at how red Nick got at the moment, it was obvious through his crimson red fur.
She shut her phone down, not wanting to look at any more. She looked once again at Nick's ZDP badge, stroking it with her paw. "Oh Nick..." She sighed. She sat awake through the rest of that night, up into the early morning. The sun shone through onto her body, reflecting off the badge. She hopped out of the bed, walking to put on her ZDP uniform, before changing her mind... Just wearing it reminded her so much of Nick... Everything in her life did now.
She walked out of her bedroom, spotting Tao wide awake on the couch, talking with someone on the phone in hushed tones. The vixen noticed Judy's presence, and quickly bid the person on the other end of the phone goodbye before ending the cool, arousing Judy's curiousity.
"Who was that Tao?" Judy asked the vixen.
"Huh, oh it's no-one you would know. Just someone who I used to know back where I lived" Tao quickly answered her, intriguing her even more - though she decided not to act on it.
Her phone vibrated, showing a text from her family that read 'Judy!- we've only just heard about what happened to Nick... We're so so sorry... Call if you ever need us"
A small piece of paper fluttered by the couch, Tao seemingly unaware. Allowing her curiousity to influence her actions, she approached the paper, grabbing it in her paws to stop it fluttering. The paper appeared torn in half, and the writing was faded, yet the small lapin's keen eyesight could read the faded ink and the indentations it created. 'How had no-one ever noticed this before?' The answer to that question didn't matter to Judy, but the answer that did intrigue her was that of a different question she asked herself 'What actually is it?'
She began to read the hardly visible words, taking her time to study the patterns of the the indentations from where the ink was. Something about it's style seemed familiar, and then it struck her tiny form that it was written by Nick. This new realisation caused unrivalled curiousity to flood her form - yet it was also swarming with loss and sorrow at the memory of the fox no longer being a part of her life.
She began to read it silently in her thoughts - yet only little of the message remained, as the bottom half of the paper appeared torn off.
'Your love' the title read. 'For my beautiful Mate-to-be Judy Hopps... A little song I have written for you. I still do not believe that you stuck by my side through everything we have been through... And I thank the stars that decide my fate every day for your continued love and affection. The song below is...' The rest of what he had written was missing, most likely on the remaining half of the paper she did not have in her possession. She carefully folded the paper before placing it in her pocket, before wiping the tears from her eyes as she hopped up next to Tao. She watched as Tao flicked through the picture's of her and Nick, lauging and joking alongside a few other foxes, one or two of which she recognised - the light grey fox who stood with his arm around Nick's shoulder she recognised to be Nick's adopted brother; Caelum, and stood on the other side was Tao. She sighed, wiping tears from her eyes as she locked her phone and placed it in the pocket of her dress.
"I miss you" she mumbled to herself.
"We all do Tao..."
The golden vixen rose to her feet, walking to the window and looking out of it into the sky. She averted her gaze, before heading to the door. "I'll be back in a bit Judy..." Tao told her as she walked out the door, closing it behind her. Judy looked around the now empty apartment, before a second text came through on her phone - another one from her family. She hopped up onto the couch, curling into a ball as she sat against one of the arms. Pretty soon, tears once again began falling from her eyes, and she bothered not to attempt wiping them away, for more just fell to replace them.
"I love you Nick... Always will..."
AN: Sorry this update has been so long, but like I mentioned in Runaway, I have had pretty bad writer's block on all of my stories. It's slowly starting to clear up on this story, but it's still there, a fog and mist in the back of my mind. Sorry again for delay. Rate and leave your thoughts in a review - you have no idea how much they help. :) Until chapter 11, farewell Zootopians.