Author's Note: Thank you guys for the lovely reviews! They made my time in Japan even better. I was quite homesick for a while, and every time I saw a review, it totally brightened up my day. Don't worry, though. Now that I'm back, these chapters will come rolling out. Hope you're ready...
Also, thanks again to Bearmauls for being a great beta! You're awesome!
The days following the press conference moved like a strained muscle.
Nick and Judy did their research, but three days after the disastrous showing at City Hall, they'd found nothing new at the crime scene. No DNA evidence, no witnesses. Every piece of the grisly environment they'd found so far was too superficial to be reliable, too carefully maintained to gain their trust. If that maniac was planting evidence, it likely led to a trail they didn't want to follow.
Thud.
Nick looked up from the file he'd been staring blankly at in lieu of actual work to see Judy standing at the corner of their desk, her hand still pressed on the thick file of papers.
"What's this?" Nick tipped the front of the file open to see a group of mugshots.
Judy took a seat on the edge of the desk. "Just a list of possible suspects," she informed him. "These are all violent offenders who got out on bail and are reported to still be in the area. I thought it might do us some good to look it over."
Leaning back in his chair, Nick thumbed lightly through the files before lifting a brow at her. "Mm, let's see," he mused as he dropped the files back on the desk and tossed them aside one by one. "Fox. Fox. Coyote. Wolf. Cougar. Fox." He looked up at Judy again, letting the files fall flat against the desk.
"Scary looking list of preds you've got here," Nick noted, cocking his head at her. Judy frowned, but she didn't back down.
"I just looked through the database based on the criteria I told you, Nick," she told him. "And they're all within a reasonable size to fit the description we got from Pheasant Winslowe."
"Well," said the fox, a little more vehemently than necessary, "that's great, but I personally plan to spend my time investigating someone who might actually have a dog in this fight, if you know what I mean."
Features pinched, Judy dropped off the desk and moved close to Nick. "Are you still talking about Jumps, Nick?" she asked in a heated whisper. "Come on! Nothing we found at the crime scene indicated he had anything to do with the murder."
"He wasn't at work," Nick pointed out, his voice low. "And no one from the station was with him. That means he has no alibi for that night. And," Nick held up a hand, "all of this happened AFTER our fight at the bar. Who knows? Maybe he decided to take it out on that nurse. Set it up to catch our attention."
Judy folded her arms. "For someone who's constantly talking about how stupid he is, you are giving him a lot of credit."
Shrugging, Nick leaned against his chair again, eyes sweeping the bustling police station. Jumps wasn't in sight, but he was on duty. Somewhere.
"Oi! Wilde! Hopps!"
The pair of officers glanced up as McHorn approached their desk, expression wary. He moved his shoulders uneasily as he pulled something from his pocket and handed it to Judy.
"Thought you two might want to see this," he said, frowning.
Glancing quickly at Nick, Judy opened the newspaper in hand, only to see a picture of Nick and her splashed across the front page. It was just a still-shot from the press conference, but below that was a full-page article detailing – not the criminal case, as it should have – but every nuance of Nick and Judy's interactions during the conference, as well as well over two paragraphs of speculation concerning their relationship.
Below that, at the bottom of the black and white page, was another picture of Nick and Judy talking together before the conference began, their heads close. The photo was paired with a rather suggestive caption. Below the main article was a set of quotes from various "eyewitnesses" who had seen them together in public.
Their accounts of Nick and Judy in public were often paired with their less than favorable opinions of the matter. As soon as Judy's eyes encountered the word sick, she snapped the paper closed and, after a pause, she calmly placed it on their shared desk.
Nick, who had been reading over her shoulder, moved back into his chair with scarcely an expression to be seen. After a few moments of silence, Nick snorted and shook his head.
"Slow news day," he muttered.
"Thanks for bringing this to us," murmured Judy to McHorn, who nodded before offering her an awkward pat on the shoulder as he moved away. The chatter of the police station sounded like a dull, annoying buzz in her ears.
"We're okay," she told Nick quietly. "We're okay."
The following day promised a welcome respite. The weather was warm and sunny, the wind just strong enough to be pleasant, and both Nick and Judy were scheduled off from work.
From his spot at a café patio table, Nick turned a stirring stick in his cup of coffee, fighting off the effort to drift into a daze. Mammals moved all around him. Servers took orders and brought drinks. Trays clanged against tabletops. Someone's napkin got caught in the breeze, and a little cheetah jumped up to chase it.
"Heyyyyyy!" A voice rang out quite suddenly to Nick's left, and before he knew what was happening, a tall fox dropped onto the chair opposite his. "Nick Wilde! What's up, eh? Haven't seen you in years!"
Nick stopped his stirring and squinted. "Do I know you?" he asked flatly.
The other fox faltered, but only for a moment. "Aw, come on, you're all famous now, so you forgot me?" When Nick merely blinked in response, the fox groaned a bit. "Come on, we went to high school together! Jimmy! Jimmy Vulpine!"
Ah. He did actually know this fox, but only distantly. Jimmy Vulpine had hardly taken the time to talk to Nick in high school, and that had been quite a long time ago. Suddenly, though, the other fox made it sound like they'd gone to prom together.
"What can I do for you?" asked Nick in a tone that suggested he had no real intention of doing anything for him at all. Jimmy grinned, leaning back leisurely in his seat.
"Ah, nothing, nothing. Just saw you here and thought – wow, I should catch up with old Nick!" The taller flashed him a fanged smile. "So, you're the real deal nowadays, huh?"
Nick tried not at all to look interested in the conversation. "Real deal?" he repeated.
"Yeah, yeah!" The fox leaned forward. "You know, a cop! A hero! And hey, I saw that press conference on tv the other day. Wow, pretty brutal stuff."
He paused, falling silent when Nick's only response was to sip at his coffee.
After a moment of awkward silence, the fox shrugged his shoulders forward and hunched over the table. "But hey, at least you got other stuff going on, you know? So tell me, what's the deal with this bunny, huh?"
If possible, Nick's disposition towards the fox plummeted even further. "Why do you ask?" inquired Nick coolly. "Is there something specific you want to know?"
Jimmy shrugged again. "Eh, you know, I just thought – You know, I don't really remember who you dated in school, and after everything I read in the papers, I thought you might have some good dish for me. I mean, everyone's talking about it, but you're the fox who knows."
"Knows what?" deadpanned Nick. "I can think of a whole book's worth of things I know that you don't."
Jimmy didn't seem to catch the insult. "Come on, you know what I'm saying! I mean, I think it's totally cool you're doin' a bunny. Others may have a problem with it, but not me. I'm not ignorant like that. Plus," he dropped his voice, but not nearly enough for Nick's liking. "I gotta hand it to you. Bunnies? Exotic, right? I heard some stuff."
Nick raised a single brow, but didn't respond.
Jimmy plunged on unabashedly. "So you gonna tell me or what? Cause I heard about bunnies in bed, right? So I was wondering, do they really – "
"If you finish that question," Nick leaned forward this time, placing their faces close. "I will push you in front of the nearest oncoming vehicle and shamelessly claim you committed suicide."
Jimmy blinked, grinning for only a half a second before he spotted Nick's narrowed gaze and set jaw. The other fox glanced around for a moment before standing slowly. With his eyes on Nick, he stepped away from the chair, backed up a few steps and then turned, hurrying away without another word.
Nick leaned back in his chair with a long exhale.
"Hey," Judy dropped into the seat next to Nick, her arms full of treats from the café's bakery. "Who was that?"
Nick sipped at his drink. "Some idiot."
Judy pulled out her baked goods before saying cheerfully, "Well, with you, that could mean anyone!"
Looking over at her, Nick's expression finally relaxed into a small smile. He watched as Judy fished around in the bag and pulled out a small pastry, although it looked large in her hands. "Look what I found for you," she said, edging closer.
Her fingers unfurled to reveal a heart-shaped blueberry tart.
Nick's lips quirked at a real smile, one which only grew at Judy's earnest expression. When he failed to respond, Judy inched the tart near her mouth. "Oh – Oooh, Nick, you better hurry. I'm going to…" she opened her mouth and prepared to take a bite. "…eat your blueberry tart!"
Nick rolled his eyes, but the irritation from earlier fell further and further away, replaced in an instant by a wild desire to eat that whole tart, because Judy would totally eat it just to spite him.
Gasping dramatically, Judy went to go bite the tart, but Nick was faster, and he grabbed her hand and licked the top of the tart, making Judy groan. "Nooo!" Judy laughed, letting him take a bite out of the tart straight from her hand.
Crunching on his bite, Nick snickered and broke off a piece, giving it back to her. "Probably no point in you being afraid of my germs by now," he pointed out.
"True," Judy nodded in agreement, popping a piece into her mouth and smiling with puffed cheeks. After they'd both eaten the small tart, they remained close on the overly large chair. Nick's eyes drifted over Judy's face; he let his head fall close. Judy brushed his forehead with hers, and the simple affectionate nudge was cathartic in a thousand ways.
It lasted for only a moment before Judy glanced up, pulling away enough to scan the café. Many of the patrons were looking at them, and her purple eyes shifted back to their table. The happy, safe feeling vanished like warm air out of an open window in winter.
"Let's go," said Nick, forcing himself to look away from the stares. They didn't have to deal with this. They could go home, back to his apartment, and pretend like nothing else lay outside of those simple white walls.
It was hiding. They both knew it. But sometimes, it felt too tiresome to do anything else.
It was late at night, long after Judy had gone back to her little shoebox apartment, when Nick's phone rang.
He picked it up, noting immediately how the voice on the other end sounded too alert for the late hour, too clinical for Nick's sleep-muddled mind, and after listening to the dry tones for just a few minutes, Nick forced himself up and into a blind, terrified walk that would later fade into a blur in his mind.
Twenty minutes later, he stood in the austere hospital corridor, unable to make himself sit, despite his exhaustion.
"She is very lucky," the doctor told him.
Nick lifted his head, his hands in his pockets. "She had a second stroke. How lucky can she be?" he asked, unable to keep the irritation out of his voice. The doctor frowned.
"Most mammals don't survive a second one, Mr. Wilde," the doctor informed him. "Your mother has symptoms to contend with, certainly – some left-side paralysis and vision loss. But she's speaking well, and she seems to have her wits about her."
Huffing bitterly, Nick looked away, up at the dim fluorescent light. It had bugs in it. Someone needed to clean it out.
"It'd take more than a stroke to rattle that woman's wits loose," he murmured, too low for the doctor to hear. The doctor continued to talk, telling Nick that Ella was now asleep and would be for a long while. He told Nick he could come back in the morning, there was nothing he could do here.
Nick planted himself in a chair in the hallway and waited.
Several hours passed.
Nurses bustled by. Doctors chatted in the distance. Doors opened and closed. Phones rang.
"Nick!"
He glanced up without moving his head, only to see a grey bunny standing in front of him, her lavender eyes shining as she crouched in front of him, her hands finding his where they sat on his knees.
"Nick, what on earth is going on?" asked Judy, her fingers curling over his. "I couldn't get a hold of you anywhere, and then Olivia at the front desk has to tell me that you're here? That Ella is here? Nick, why?"
"I'm sorry," mumbled Nick, his voice hoarse. He didn't look directly at her.
"Is she okay?" asked Judy in a fearful whisper.
The fox remained silent. He didn't want to look at Judy's earnest features. He didn't want to remind himself that he was a selfish ass for not calling her immediately, because he knew how much she cared for Ella. He sat completely still, eyes looking over her head.
Some distant part of Nick's mind registered that Judy would probably get mad at him. He wished she would. Someone yelling might actually draw him out of this fog. Instead, she waited for him to speak, and when he didn't, she rose to sit in the hard plastic chair next to him.
The hospital continued on in the same fashion as before, but Nick and Judy sat in companionable silence for a long while. Finally, Nick let his head fall back against the wall, and he spoke to Judy, while looking at the ceiling.
"You know," he said, wondering at the same time if it was dawn yet, before realizing it must be, because Judy was already there. "It doesn't matter what else is going on in your life. You can be in the middle of something great… or you can be on the trail of a serial killer. It doesn't matter. Life – " he took a deep, trembling breath as Judy watched, attentive. "Life doesn't always give you room for a breather. And it's really unfair, but that's just the way it is."
He closed his eyes. "Because when your mom gets sick," his voice dropped and cracked a little, eyes pressed shut. "You get sick with her. Just like all those times she got sick with you."
He tried to press back the tear, but it managed to slip through anyway, damp against his fur. Just one, but the trail it blazed down his cheek burned like fire.
Judy's hand moved over his, smaller than his, but it felt so much stronger.
"Nick," she said softly, turning to face him even though he refused to look at her. "I know you're used to doing things by yourself. And if you want me to leave… I will," her own voice trembled. "But I won't go far," she continued more firmly. "And I'll wait. For when you want me to be here. Because you don't have to do things by yourself anymore."
Nick opened his eyes, turning his head slowly to look at her. Every breath felt like a tremor in his chest.
"You never have to do anything alone again," she promised him in a whisper. "Not if you don't want to. It's your choice. But no matter what you decide…" she touched her other hand to her chest. "I'll be nearby. Just in case you need me."
Ella's words rose to the forefront of his mind, as they did so often.
One thing you have yet to learn is how to show others you care.
Telling her I don't want her to get hurt isn't a good way to show someone I care?
Showing her that if she DOES get hurt, you'll always be there… that might be a little better.
At last, Nick squeezed Judy's hand in return and let his eyes shift to hers, the image of her face coming into focus for the first time since she'd arrived. His voice was still hoarse, but it sounded better to his ears now, stronger.
He asked, "Have I ever told you… you are about a thousand times smarter than me?"
Judy blinked, caught off guard, but when Nick offered her a tiny smile, she bit her lip in an effort not to cry before she curled up in the chair next to him and tucked under his arm. He wound it around her small form and kissed the top of her head. "I'm not," she murmured, but Nick shook his head fervently, denying her argument with a series of tuts, earning a small, teary giggle from Judy.
"What can I do?" she asked, looking up at him. "How can I help you and Ella?"
Nick shrugged, ready to tell her there was nothing she could do. But when he looked down at her earnest expression, he pushed back the instinct to dismiss her help. "Well," he said with a sigh. "You can talk to Bogo and get him off my back about not showing up this morning."
"I called him before I got here," she said with a nod. "But I'll let him know what's going on. Hopefully we can get someone to cover your shifts." She frowned. "I'll probably have to go back. Bogo can't afford to lose both of us right now."
Nick nodded, and after a few more minutes of coffee and vending machine trips, Judy reluctantly left Nick at the hospital. After several hours, a nurse came to get Nick, and he was finally allowed to enter Ella's room.
Clinging to the strength he'd managed to scrounge up that morning in the waiting room, Nick crossed the hospital room to Ella's bed, where she dozed against a bed pulled partially up to a sitting position. The amount of wires and monitors around her bed and plugged into her fur almost sent Nick into a fit, but he reigned it back.
"Nick…" his mother reached forward and took his hand. "There you are. Big… worrier." Her speech was a bit slow, but it was constantly being interrupted by heavy breaths. She was just weak from the stroke, Nick told himself.
"Right here, as ordered," he teased, sitting on the edge of her bed like a little kid. One of the advantages of being a smaller mammal – the oversized furniture all but personally invited him to share Ella's space, be near to her. "Judy's at work," he told her tenderly. "But she was here, earlier." He swallowed past a lump that rose very suddenly in his throat. "She's the one who's worried about you, old vixen."
Ella laughed weakly. "Of course… She is – so sweet… and loving. Like you."
His mother touched his cheek, and Nick closed his eyes again, tears threatening. The stress of the past few months felt ready to topple over, and for one terrifying moment he could never explain, he saw in his mind's eye the body of that bunny from his mother's retirement home, pulled apart and viciously murdered.
He didn't feel sweet or loving. He felt tired and frustrated. So worried his heart was sick, and that sickness was leaking out into his limbs. Sick for the thought of Ella being in pain. Sick for the thought of those young victims. Sick for the thought of Judy being in danger, Judy being hurt. That psychopath was pushing them to their limit. He was laughing at them, he was trying to draw them out, make them slip up, and here was Ella, so weak it enveloped his heart in grief.
It was hard to think about moving forward with when every path felt completely eclipsed.
"Nick," his mother called his name again, and he re-opened his glassy eyes to look up at her. "You are alright," she told him, her voice suddenly firm, like it had been when he was a wayward teen. "You are strong. And Judy is strong. And I am strong. And you are doing so much good in this world. Day by day."
Nick struggled for words. "Aren't we supposed to be talking about you?" he asked at last, trying to sound light, but failing miserably. His mother smiled.
"We are talking about me, son… about how proud I am of you."
"I just want you to get better," he said stubbornly, sounding childlike and indignant, even to his own ears. "If there is a single good thing I do in this world, I want it to be that. I want to make you better."
"You do," she told him simply. "You always have." With that, she curled him close in her arms and held him in her own frail limbs until the nurse arrived and told them that visiting hours were over.
With one last loving reassurance, Ella made Nick leave and scolded him for missing work.
One of the televisions in the hospital waiting room played some kind of continuous news channel.
Sometimes it covered mundane local events or sports, but most of the time, it was a montage of the victims of the Morehouse case, along with snapshots of Nick and Judy, mostly working on the case, but sometimes there were candid shots of them out and about.
"I saw them in the park together," said a female tiger on the television, her taut expression making it quite clear how she felt about it. "Personally, I feel like this whole interspecies social agenda has gone too far. It's ridiculous, and I don't want my children seeing it."
An elephant vehemently agreed with her when interviewed next. "What's next? They gonna start teaching that kind of stuff in schools? It's not natural, and it's gonna tear this city apart, just like before when the preds were attacking everything!"
"It's sick is what it is," chimed in a passing gazelle when the reporter stopped her. "If one of my kids was a part of something like that…"
"Stop making it sound like some kind of cult," scowled a young female wolf from a nearby sidewalk, barely visible in the corner of the screen. "Two consenting adult mammals should be able to do whatever they want! It's not hurting you, and it's none of your business!"
"What would you do?" asked the reporter eagerly to the gazelle as she glared at the wolf. "If one of your children was involved in this sort of relationship?"
The gazelle scoffed and shifted to glare at the young wolf. "I'd put a stop to it."
Despite Ella's scolding, Nick spent the next few days with her at the hospital, only returning to work after his mother had recovered a bit.
When he arrived at their desk with Judy, he realized it was covered in flowers, cards and gift-baskets. Astonished, he turned to see nearly all of the other officers standing nearby, huddled together and watching him.
"We didn't want to overload her room at the hospital," said Francine rather shyly.
Nick watched them for several moments, unable to speak until at last, he managed, "Thank you."
One by one, the officers approached him and offered genuine words of sympathy and encouragement. Though Nick had never made much of an effort to speak with many of them, it did not stop each one from promising to help cover any more shifts he needed, or transport the many flowers to his home, or cook meals that his mother might need once she got out of the hospital.
After they'd left, Nick moved slowly to his seat, which was almost entirely eclipsed by flowers and gifts. When he sat down and realized his view was completely obscured by bright pink petals, he leaned back in his chair and covered his face with his arms, hiding a few tears and a very small but real smile.
Nick and Judy didn't have much leisure time in the next few days.
Perhaps that was a blessing. Everyone could see the media becoming more involved in the case, more insistent on a private moment with Nick or Judy or really anyone in the station might offer some kind of inside scoop. If the papers weren't talking about the murders, they were gossiping about Nick and Judy, or sometimes even speculating on other possible interspecies relationships in the city. Some of those relationships had already been well-known within their communities, but no one had cared. Not until now.
Bogo had been approached by an overly aggressive reporter only once. No one dared to repeat the mistake.
"Today's the day!" Judy beamed at Nick as they entered the hospital. The fox glanced over at her and allowed himself a little smile at her enthusiasm.
The pair came to a stop near a nurse, and Nick signed the release paperwork for Ella. After waiting a few minutes, they looked up to see the old vixen seated happily in her wheelchair, looking livelier than she had in days. Ellis, her usual nurse at the retirement community, wheeled her on with a wink at Nick and Judy.
"Time to return the queen to her domain," he teased, making Ella chuckle. She was still too thin and quite weak, but she was well enough to return home, at the very least. Nick and Judy accompanied her and the nurse to the transport vehicle that would take her to the community.
"Oh, I am just too ready," Ella told them from the back of the van, where Nick, Judy and Ellis all rode with her. "I bet that old Miss Bitterton has been messing up the garden. She has no idea what she's doing."
"I'm sure it's fine," Nick smirked, exchanging an amused look with Judy, who barely contained a giggle.
The van rolled on, moving away from the hospital and to the side of town containing the community. Nick let himself relax. The community had hired more security since the incident. Ella would be safe there, and she was happier when she was in her home. She would recover better once she was away from the hospital.
"What in the hell?" called the driver from the front, and the four mammals in the back looked up, peering through the windows of the van to see the front of Emerald Isle positively crowded with reporters and onlookers.
"Oh, no," Judy groaned, slapping a hand over her face.
The crowd was so thick, the van couldn't make its way through to the gate. The driver leaned on the horn, but the reporters only crowded in further, calling out questions muffled through the doors. Ellis peered out of the window and let out an angry grunt.
"Marcus," he called out to the driver. "Move them out of the way! We need to get Mrs. Wilde inside!"
"What'dya want me to do?" exclaimed the mole driver. "They're in the way! They won't move!"
"We have a patient in here!" snapped Ellis. "My patient!"
Judy jumped up. "Nick and I will move them – "
"Don't," said Ellis immediately, touching her arm to slow her. He looked between her and Nick with a sigh. "No offense, but the last thing you two need is more press. Just stay in here and let me handle it. Okay?"
Nick and Judy glanced at one another before reluctantly sitting back down, even as anger stirred in Nick's chest. Ella frowned deeply as the shouts outside grew louder, the flashing of cameras bright even against the afternoon sun.
"Oh, I didn't want all this trouble," she murmured. "Not for you two. I'm sorry."
"This isn't your fault – " started Nick, but as soon as Ellis opened the door to jump out and clear away the reporters, one of the outsiders ripped open the door all the way and began to call in questions and take pictures of the inside.
"There are rumors that your mother was attacked, Officer Wilde!"
"Mrs. Wilde, do you approve of interspecies relationships?"
"Is your station actively trying to hunt down the murderer?"
"Do you believe it's someone in your family?"
Ellis and Nick jumped forward at the same time and grabbed the double-doors on the back of the van, pulling it closed with all their might before Ellis turned and shoved his way through the crowd. It took several minutes for him to reach security, and all the while, Nick, Judy, the driver and Ella Wilde sat in the dark van, doors locked, wishing for the loud clamoring voices outside to just go away.
After what felt like ages, the new and improved security detail burst from the entrance of the community and managed to push aside the group of spectators and media. The van turned and, at last, drove inside. The gate closed with a mechanical clang behind them, blocking off the last of the reporters.
The noises fell away, but Nick's anger was slower to fade. Still, it was Ella who was his focus, and he managed to push it aside and help get her up to her room. Ellis reappeared a little while later to introduce her to her new round of medications and make sure she was comfortable.
"Thank you," murmured Judy to the nurse, who simply nodded, his fingers toying distractedly with some tools.
"I wish I could do more," he said after a moment. "The way you and Nick are being treated is insane." He glanced over at her. "I'm sorry. I really am."
Judy accepted his words with a small smile. "We appreciate it."
It took a while to get Ella comfortable again, but eventually she faded off to sleep, and Nick and Judy finally took their leave of Emerald Isle and returned home.
They took the long way out to avoid the reporters.
It was raining again.
Nick haphazardly moved from one laundry basket to the next, sometimes folding his clothes, other times dropping them into piles that may be sorted later, who cared? He hadn't even owned a real laundry basket until he'd met Judy. It was fair to take slow steps at this point.
Glancing up at the grey-tinged sky out of his bedroom window, Nick's lips quirked just a little. He wanted to call Ella again to make sure she was okay, but the last one had ended with something like … I will roll my bushy tail right to your apartment and pop you a good one … so he'd finally relented and just left her to relax with her friends, all of whom had swarmed the apartment as soon as the all-clear was given, ready to treat Ella in any way possible, because she'd been so missed.
Unfortunately, they hadn't been the only ones so eager to talk to Ella.
Those god damn reporters and bloggers and whoever the hell else, they still hadn't left Emerald Isle completely alone, not even three days after Ella's return. And they were sometimes prone to camping out at the places Nick and Judy frequented, ready to capture a shot of the two of them together, though fortunately, they didn't seem brave enough to loiter around the police station quite yet.
It was beyond exhausting. And not only because he and Judy weren't able to go outside comfortably anymore, but also because any time the newspapers or websites didn't have anything new to report, they would just make something up. Props for creativity, particularly on the one tabloid article last week about Judy practicing witchcraft and bewitching him, but on the whole, it was a bunch of trash and Nick hated it more than anything.
"Hey there."
Judy entered the room, pulling off her raincoat as she did so and pushing a hand over her damp ears. She hung it on a hook in the bathroom before re-entering, her eyes on Nick's face. "Laundry, huh? You must really be bored," she teased gently. Nick chuckled just a bit, turning one of his shirts this way and that before he chucked it over his shoulder.
"Yeah, well, the store is too far away for me to buy new ones, figured I'd actually wash something up," he informed her wryly, moving back to sat a seat on the edge of his bed, bouncing a bit. Judy tilted her head at him and moved over to his knees, which he parted to allow her to stand close.
"Can you believe," she said, looping her arms around his neck, "You have your one year evaluation in a few weeks? One whole year as Nick the Cop."
Nick snorted just a bit, dropping his head against her shoulder. "Yeah, some evaluation that will be. I can see it now – Nicholas Wilde: Congratulations on one whole year of being a professional smartass and a screw-up."
"Hey," Judy lifted his head so he met her gaze. She opened her mouth to say something, and Nick was sure a thousand reassurances came to her mind, all battling for an opportunity to spring forth, earnest and sincere in the way only Judy Hopps could be. But instead, she closed her mouth without saying anything, and her expression fell thoughtful before shifting into a full, brilliant smile.
Nick blinked. "What on earth could you possibly be smiling about, you crazy bunny?"
Judy's fingers curled at his head, brushing gently through his fur. Her smile remained, not dampened even the least bit. "Nick," she said softly. "I'm looking at my partner, my best friend, my family… and my love." Nick's eyes widened as she shrugged her shoulders, rosy color rising beneath the fur of her cheeks.
"How can I look at you and not smile?" she asked, as if she really wanted to know.
Nick stared at her, something other than exhaustion and frustration stirring in his chest for the first time in weeks. He stood away from the bed, bringing up both hands to clasp Judy's. He lowered them from his neck and curled them between their torsos, too in awe of her to speak.
Judy brought up their hands and kissed the top of his knuckles. "I know it's crazy out there right now," she said, large eyes looking up at his expression. "I know there are voices out there telling us we're weird and unnatural and wrong. And I know that sometimes, those voices are so loud, it's hard to hear all the others. The ones that tell us that we're okay… that there's nothing wrong with us. But they're out there, Nick. I promise."
The fox looked over her face in a way that could be described as reverent. "You sure about that?" he asked weakly.
Judy's smile faded into a gentler expression and she stepped close, standing on her tiptoes to nuzzle his head with hers. "I'm a bunny, remember? I have great hearing." The pair stood close together and laughed softly, and Judy's eyes closed as she murmured, "There are mammals out there who want to keep us apart…"
Nick brought a hand to her cheek and Judy's words faded away.
Opening his eyes, he pressed a hand at the back of her head. "Let them try," he said simply, tilting his head to catch her lips in a kiss.
The kiss was brief, but when they parted, the two remained close together, so near one another that when Judy tilted her head up to look at him, their lips brushed again and their gazes met instantly. The one look was all they needed, and suddenly they were back together again, this time pulled close in a feverish, passionate embrace that had Judy reaching for Nick's tie, pulling it loose and tossing it aside.
Rain continued to fall outside, no less hellish than it had been that night Judy had first stayed in the apartment, but it meant nothing to the pair inside. Nick's hands jumped up to frame Judy's face, lips covering hers as the two stepped away from the center of the room and brushed against the bed.
As soon as Judy's fingers pulled away the buttons of his shirt, he shrugged it off without breaking their passionate kiss, turning her swiftly to the bed and moving his hands to her own top, which she helped him pull off and toss away.
Her back met the bed, and Nick covered her body with his, a shock moving through him when he felt her hand curl at the top of his pants, dipping inside the seam to urge him closer. The motion drove him to curl an arm around her torso, bare fur against his a fantastic new sensation he more than welcomed.
Pulling away from her lips, Nick slowed himself as he brought his mouth to her neck as he had done before. His teeth, sharper than hers, brushed against the thin fur at her neck and lower. Now, nothing but a small undershirt was there to stop him, and before he could say anything, Judy moved down her arms and pulled it off. Her cheeks flamed, but it was more than embarrassment that claimed responsibility for the heat there.
Moving over her again, this time slow and deliberate, Nick reached up a hand and traced it down her neck and collarbone, over her chest and down the center of her stomach. Her reaction was a slow, shaky inhale, one that curled her toes until they cracked. At her exhale, Nick moved his hand over her rib cage, sweeping his thumb over her fur only to let his mouth take its place.
The slow, questioning touches from before disappeared and Judy curled her legs over Nick until the pressure was too much for either of them. Her body rocked forward in an instinctive bid to relieve it, and a gasp turned into an open-mouthed kiss as Judy let herself fall to her back again. Nick moved over her and pulled away the last of their clothes, all of which fell haphazardly to the floor.
"We can still stop," he told her in a whisper, even as his body screamed at him to shut up.
Judy shook her head, pulling her arms around his neck until their bodies were flush against each other. "Maybe you can…" she teased breathlessly, before they were together again, every inch of their bodies touching as Nick curled his larger hand at her hip and gripped there, his mind and body overcome with desire.
It took all of his willpower – and most of Judy's – to slow them down until he was sure he wouldn't hurt her, but when the moment came and he pressed into her, the intense longing gave way to overwhelming pleasure, and the only thing in the world that mattered in that moment was the movement of their bodies as they rocked together.
"Nick…" gasped Judy.
The pair pressed together in a heated kiss, limbs tangled in each other and the sheets, laundry forgotten.
Outside the apartment, the world moved on as it had before, and somewhere in the city, others gossiped and guessed and judged.
But for a little while, it didn't matter. At least, not to Nick and Judy, who fell asleep in the sheets to the sound of rain outside and stayed in bed much, much later than usual the next day.
Though sleeping in might not have been the most accurate phrase for it.