As Nick and Judy exited the town hall after just having registered as mates, Nick was trying to determine roughly where he and Judy were within a fox relationship, other than uncharted territory. At this point, he didn't have a clue. The only thing he was sure of, was that now that they were registered, Judy would probably be insisting on him always referring to her as his mate. That would certainly raise quite a few eyebrows around members of other species, and especially foxes. Well, that was easy enough to fix, wasn't it? He grinned a little thinking of what Finnick's face would look like when he found out.
Judy interrupted Nick's musings, "Nick, would you mind if we separate for a little while, and then meet somewhere for dinner? There are a couple of things I want to purchase, and I'm sure it would be boring for you to be just standing around waiting for me."
Nick smiled, he had been just about to suggest the same thing, "That's fine. I need to pick up a couple of items too." Nick tossed Judy the keys to the truck. "You take it. I will either walk to where I need to go or take a cab, assuming this town has taxis."
"Yes, we have taxis. There is a taxi stand right over there. But you take the truck, Nick. I only need to go a couple of blocks from here."
"No. You may not be limping anymore, but you are still on light duty for the next week. If you push it, either you will be limping again or worse, you will reopen that wound. Besides, I can use the exercise."
"Says the fox that was sick enough earlier today, that I had problems waking him up."
Nick smiled at her, "Details, details, now take the truck. When I say I will take a cab, I actually will, unlike you. Besides, I'm feeling much better after getting some proper food in me. So where do you want to meet and when?"
"But sir, I don't want you wasting your money. I don't know what couple you are purchasing it for, but I assure you that there are other things you could buy for them that would make much more sense. If they are getting married, then I'm sure they would prefer cash or another gift that will allow them to start their family sooner."
Nick was getting frustrated. He had been arguing not only with this damn hare, but the several rabbit customers in the shop. It was ridiculous, whoever heard of a store where everyone tried to talk someone out of purchasing something he was pretty sure they had in stock?
"Okay, I get that rabbits don't buy them. But the question is, do you have any that would fit a doe?
"Well, yes, but they would be expensive, and it would take a couple of days to get it resized."
"Fine. Just let me see what you have, and let me worry about the cost. Speaking of which, how much more would it cost to get one resized in the next hour? I'm in a bit of a time crunch here, and I need it today."
Judy cringed as she pushed open the door to the store. She hoped no one she knew would see her entering or leaving it. It was her last stop, and it had taken her awhile to get up the nerve to come here. In a perfect world, she would have just ordered it discreetly online, but since she and Nick had just registered as mates, she wanted it for tonight.
As Judy entered, she made a straight line to the doe sitting behind the counter. She tried to ignore looking at all of the items on display and blushed as most of the store's patrons looked up at her from the things they were examining. As she walked past the other customers, she noticed that several of the bucks smirked at her. God, Nick, you had better appreciate this, I think this is worse than when we were at the Mystic Spring Oasis.
The doe behind the counter grinned at Judy as she approached, "First time in this type of store?"
"Um... Yes." Judy held her phone out to the bunny, "Do you sell this?"
The attendant glanced at the image on the screen and raised an eyebrow, "I'm sorry honey, but that only works on foxes. It won't do anything for a buck."
"I know. Do you have any?"
"I do, but I only sell it to vixens. I can guess what you want it for, and I'm not going to sell it to someone just to get some petty revenge on a tod by embarrassing him in public. I don't need to have an angry tod in here threatening to sue me. Besides, we get hassled enough from the community as it is."
Judy couldn't help blushing even more, "You don't understand. It's actually for my mate, Nick. He is a fox, and we just registered today. Since it's our mating night, I want to do something special for him."
Judy could see the skepticism in the bunny's look. Then she saw the doe's eyes go wide, and Judy realized that the doe had probably just caught the scent of Nick's mark on her, a mark entirely different from that of a buck.
"I don't know… I have never heard of a bunny marrying any predator before, let alone a fox." The doe's nose twitched several times. "Well… I'm not sure if your mate is a fox, but you are wearing a predator's mark. I guess I can sell it to you, but I can't guarantee it will work since you're a rabbit. But if it does, you and your husband should be in for an enjoyable night."
The doe went over to a wall display and quickly returned, placing a box on the counter. "Is that all you need? I have some fox shaped marital aids you might be interested in for when you have exhausted your mate or for when he's not available."
"No. This is all for now." Judy's ears were burning, "Besides, my husband has had no problems keeping up with me in the bedroom."
The assistant grinned, "Really?" then chuckled, "Well, I was always a little suspicious about those rumors that only a buck could keep up with, and satisfy a doe. I suspect those rumors were probably all started by a bunch of bucks trying to keep all of the eligible does from straying outside of the species."
As the bunny handed the bag to Judy, she glanced around making sure no one was near before leaning across the counter and asked in a quiet voice. "So, tell me. Just between us, what's it like mating with a fox? Are any of those rumors about predators in bed true?"
Bonnie and Stu were in the front of the dining room. Both were standing on chairs so that they could see out over their large family.
Stu spoke up in a loud voice, "Okay, everyone settle down. We have an announcement to make."
Bonnie waited briefly until the room quieted before saying, "I know it is inconvenient for some of you being here for the second day in a row and I'm sorry about that, but this is important. As I'm sure you are all aware by now, Judy has taken Nick as her mate. But what you probably aren't aware of is that this afternoon Nick and Judy registered as mates. So as of today, Nick is now a member of this family, and I expect all of you to treat him as such."
She looked around as her kits whispered amongst each other. While she could see several unhappy faces in the crowd, but the majority of the older kits seemed to be accepting of the newest family member. The younger kits all seemed very excited by the news. She had seen Nick playing with them the previous day, and she was sure their excitement was at the prospect of having someone new with which to play. During the summer, it was hard to arrange things for the young kits to do away from the farm, so anything new for them was always welcome and exciting.
"Since Judy and Nick are now mates, the land we put aside for her now belongs to her and Nick. Judy has already sacrificed a lot for this family, and she has more than earned it."
Bonnie could see the anger in several of her kits eyes at the announcement. She knew that those kits had been holding out hope that she and Stu would have changed their minds, and not given Judy that particular plot of land.
She was about to step down when she saw Steven standing up, "Mother that's not fair, Judy doesn't even want that land. She has said that many times and they are not even going to be living here. You should either break it up and divide among the rest of the family or keep it as shared family property. Besides, we still have a significant amount of this year's remaining crops on that land."
Bonnie shook her head, "It's their land. Once we have finished this year's harvest, we will turn it over to them. If they don't want it, then they can always sell it."
"But that's even worse! The family would be losing a significant amount of prime farmland, and then we would have strangers doing who knows what in the middle of our land."
Bonnie glanced at Stu, and she could see the concern on his face, as he gave her a small nod. She didn't like it, but Steven did have a good point. Over the years, several big corporations had come by offering to purchase any land their family had been willing to sell. Every time they had refused, mostly due to Judy's insistence that they shouldn't.
Bonnie sighed, "Fine, we'll talk to Judy and Nick about it, but I'm not sure if anything will change. We promised her that land, and this family wouldn't be where we are today without Judy. She deserves that land or the money that it's worth."
She paused a moment, trying to get back on track, "So as I was saying before, when Judy and Nick get here, we expect everyone to do their best to welcome Nick into the family."
Nick and Judy were finally heading out of the town, after having dinner at a chain restaurant that catered to both predators and prey. While Nick would have preferred taking Judy to some place nice, but they hadn't had the time since he had wanted to pick up a little surprise for the kits afterward.
Judy's family would be expecting them back soon, and with the additional stop he was planning on making, he knew they were already going to be getting back later than they probably should.
Nick glanced at the skyline, trying to judge how much longer it would be before sunset. As they left the town, Nick turned down one of the side roads.
"Nick, you turned off too soon." Judy watched as Nick just flashed her a toothy grin. She sighed, "So should I ask where we're going?"
"You'll see."
"Nick, my mom is going to be angry if we are too late getting back to the house."
"She can wait. Besides, if she gets upset, just blame it on me."
They continued driving for the next 10 minutes as Nick occasional checked the navigation app on his phone. Judy now had a suspicion of where they were going, though she didn't know why. Judy's eyes narrowed as she looked at her mate. Was their coming here coincidence, or did Nick somehow know just how much this place meant to her? If he did, then just who had told him? She had never told anyone about it. Judy watched out the window as they turned down the familiar dirt road. It was less than a minute before they entered the meadow and she could see the calm water of the lake.
They got out of the truck and walked down to the edge of the lake. Nick smiled, he had been lucky. He had been told to be here at sunset, and they had just made it. The view was breathtaking. The lake sat up on an outcropping above the valley's floor, and from where they stood they could see out across the small body of water and down into the valley. The red hue of the sunset was reflected beautifully across the calm surface. It looked like one of the pictures from off a postcard.
Nick heard Judy gasp at the sight. "I have always loved that view, but tonight it's perfect." As she took in the view, she had to know, "So how did you know about this place?"
Nick chuckled as he held her, "We foxes have our ways." If he ever saw that old doe that had told him about this place at the store again, he was going to have to thank her. He held Judy for a few minutes simply enjoying her company and the view. After a little while, he separated from her, "Close your eyes, Judy. I got you a little something to remember this day."
"Nick, you shouldn't have, you have already spent far too much money on me this past week."
"It's my money to spend, now close your eyes and no peeking."
He waited until he was sure her eyes were closed, "You know, I got into an argument about this with half a dozen rabbits at the store. They all insisted that rabbits don't do this and that I was wasting my money. But you did say we would go forward with how foxes do things. So, I'm holding you to that."
Judy was puzzled, trying to figure out what Nick was talking about.
"Okay, open your eyes."
Judy blinked several times. Then her eyes went wide at the fox on kneeling one knee in front of her holding out the small box containing the ring.
Nick smiled up at her, "Judy Hopps will you…" It was all he managed to get out before a gray blur of fur struck his chest, and Judy's lips met his.
It was a minute before they stopped for breath.
Nick chuckled as he held the crying rabbit, "Judy, traditionally the male at least gets to finish asking the female first. So, I can take that as a maybe?"
Judy kissed him again briefly before answering, "Of course I will marry you, you sly fox." As she leaned in and kissed Nick, she felt yet another stab of guilt for not having told Nick everything about registering.
Nick was sitting on an old blanket he had found in the back of the truck at the edge of the lake. Judy was nestled in his lap and couldn't help smiling as her eyes moved once more from the sunset back down to the ring on her finger.
Nick noticed her gaze, "So you're not angry that I bought you the ring? I know rabbits don't do engagements, but it's a fairly significant event in a fox's life, and it didn't feel right to skip it."
Judy took Nick's paw and intertwined her fingers with his, "Of course not. With all the things, you have conceded to for this relationship; this is nothing in comparison. Besides, I have seen so many mammals propose on the TV and in the movies that I always wondered what it would be like having someone propose to me."
"Well, how was it?"
Judy reached up and pulled Nick's muzzle down and kissed him, "It was perfect. It's something I will remember for the rest of my life."
After a little while, Judy's gazed dropped down to the ring again. She frowned as she looked at it, she couldn't help feeling guilty. All afternoon Judy had kept telling herself that she hadn't lied to Nick, everything she had said to him about registering had been the truth. But the fact was that she had intentionally withheld the most important thing about it from him, and it had been eating at her all afternoon. Today was their registration day. It was supposed to be the happiest day of her life, but how could she feel that way, knowing that she had betrayed the fox she loved on one of the most important days of their lives?
Judy sighed, Nick was going to be furious with her. But it would be far worse the longer she waited, and already she could barely handle the guilt. Judy reached down and removed the ring. She didn't deserve to wear it, not until Nick knew everything. No, she would just have to deal with the consequences, even if it meant going back tomorrow and unregistering.
"Nick, we need to talk." She looked at the ring in her paw and fought back the tears that had already started to form, "I know you are going to be angry at me, and I deserve it. I'm sorry Nick, but I wanted to be with you so much that I intentionally didn't tell you everything I should have about registering.
"Nick, as you now know, rabbits don't do engagements, and there's a reason for that." She paused a moment steeling herself since she was sure she was soon going to be facing an enraged fox, "It's because rabbits are only concerned about registering, and not about getting married." She paused, letting Nick absorb that before continuing, "A lot of rabbits never bother getting married. Marriage is still kind of a new concept for rabbits, one that we borrowed from other species.
"When two rabbits get married, it's different than for other species. Because of the size of our families, and costs, we usually have two ceremonies, one with each family. The ceremonies just consist of the mates holding paws and reciting a few vows to each other. There's no minister, religious ceremony, rings, or receptions. We don't bother with any of that. We just express the love that we feel for our mate in front of others that we love." Judy just closed her eyes and waited for Nick's rebuke.
When Nick hadn't growled or snapped at her for over a minute, she finally risked opening an eye and looked up at the fox. She started to relax when she saw that Nick didn't appear to be angry, just deep in thought.
"So, when rabbits register, but don't marry then…", he stopped, giving up, and just asked her, "Judy, what does that make us?"
Judy reached up and touched his muzzle as she answered in a quiet voice, "I'm not sure what other species might consider us. But to other rabbits, you are my mate, the father to the kits we will have…," she paused, still a little unsure how Nick would react to it, "and my husband."
After a short time, Nick just nodded, "I suspected it might be something like that from all those forms and disclaimers." He paused a moment before saying, "Judy, I'm still going to insist that we have a wedding ceremony sometime after I graduate from the Academy, and we are going to have wedding rings. I don't want there to be any question in anyone's mind that we belong to each other."
Judy let out her breath, not even realizing that she had been holding it, "Of course Nick, we will have whatever kind of ceremony you want, and we can certainly wear wedding rings if that's what you want." She didn't mention that she had never understood the point of wedding rings, since marking was easier, more fun, and free. After all, her parents had been married for over 24 years and had never bothered with wedding rings. But if Nick wanted them, then she was perfectly willing to wear one.
Judy considered for a moment, then decided to go all in, "Nick, when do you want me to change my last name?" She had wanted to do it when they had registered but had thought that it would be too much, too soon, for the fox.
She looked up, watching as the Nick pondered a bit before answering, "Judy, that's up to you, but you may want to hold off until after we are married or at least until after I graduate. Soon you're going to be under a lot of scrutiny, with all the interviews and awards the Mayor has planned for you. It's only a matter of time before the news services are reporting that a fox was involved in the cases. If you suddenly have a new last name, and since it's now public record, it wouldn't be hard for a reporter to discover your mate's a fox. After that, it's not much of a leap for them to guess who was helping you with the cases."
Judy nodded. She had to agree with Nick's reasoning, though she didn't like it. No, if the choice was hers, then she would be changing her last name as soon as he graduated. For her, it was as the rings were for Nick. She wanted people to know immediately that they are husband and wife, whenever they are introduced.
The sun had almost completely set, and Judy knew that they really should be heading to her parents' house, but she did want to know the answer to her original question, "Nick, you never gave me a straight answer, how did you know about this place? Did someone from my family tell you about it?"
"If you really must know, when I was buying the ring, I asked if anyone knew of a scenic location I could take my mate to, and an older doe told me about this place. She said we should be here at sunset if possible. Why? What does it matter?"
Judy sighed in relief, "Just curious, this has always been my special place, and I was sure no one from my family knew that. When things used to get too hectic at home or when I just couldn't deal with my family, this is where I would always come to, to be alone. It has always been my favorite place."
Judy chuckled, "Even when I was a kit, I would often sneak off here. It used to drive my parents crazy when they discovered I was missing since I would never tell them where I had gone." She sighed, "The sad thing is that they only noticed I was missing, like once out of the two dozen times I would come here. I guess that's not saying much about rabbit parenting skills."
"Don't be too hard on your parents, Carrots. It happens more than you think. For a long time, I was my mother's only kit, and she never knew where I was." Nick could see the questioning look on Judy's face and continued, "My mom worked a lot of hours, and from when I was maybe 10 or 11 until I was 13, I only saw her on the weekends or asleep in her bed. I took care of myself most of the time, and she had no idea what I was doing."
"So, what were you doing?"
"Please, Carrots. This isn't the day to get into that. Let's just say that I usually wasn't home, like my mother thought I was, and that I was doing things that no mother would want their kit to be doing at any age."
Nick was thinking of what Judy had said, "Carrots, you said this was your special place, how did you get all the way out here when you were a kit?"
Judy laughed, "The way you got here was via all of the back roads. We are less than a mile from my parent's farm." She pointed into the growing gloom at the ridgeline, "Their house is just over that ridge." She moved her paw down a little, "that trail over there takes you straight to our farm. While we don't mind if people from the town visit the lake, my family owns it, and the surrounding land."
The sun was nearly down as Judy squeezed Nick's arm, "Nick, it's getting late, we really should get going, I'm sure my parents are wondering where we are."
Nick grinned, "Let them wait. Today is our day. You know we are alone, and that water does look really inviting. So I'm thinking, that we could take a little evening dip, and the grass and this blanket are a lot more comfortable than what we were using for a bed in my room."
Judy laughed, "Oh sure, like I'm going to walk into my parents' house, in front of my entire family, soaking wet, and smelling of shame on my registration day. I suspect my family wouldn't never let me live that down."
Nick grinned, "Well, now we have to do it. I have always wanted to know what shame smelled like."
Judy laughed, "In this case, I suspect, a lot like sex and wet fox."
"And what's wrong with smelling of wet fox?"
Judy laughed again, "Nothing if you're a fox. But when you're a bunny, I'm sure it would raise a lot of speculation on just what we were doing and where we were doing it. Besides, the kits aren't going to be up much longer, so if you want to give them your surprise tonight, then we need to get going."
Judy got up, then reached down and helped Nick up, "Come on and let's get this family gathering over with as quickly as we can. Tonight's our mating night, and I want to get to bed with my husband as soon as possible."
Nick stretched and yawned, "Yeah, I know what you mean. It has been a long day. I really could use a good night's rest."
Nick laughed and moved back before the elbow could make contact. "You had better be kidding Nick," she pulled him down into a deep kiss before continuing, "because I have plans for you tonight, Mister Wilde, and they don't include us getting a lot of rest."