Chapter 25

A/N: Hello all! I'm back again with another chapter! I have put in a bit extra thought and imagination into this chapter because of my delay. This is still due to the rise in schoolwork and my finals start next month! In this chapter, we pick up from the cliffhanger when Stu was taking his 'device' out of his holster and Judy realising what her father is doing! I hope you enjoy it!


Everything seemed to have stopped in such a small span of time. Nick, looking in horror was being faced with a charged fox taser by a seemingly angry but petrified Stu Hopps. A scared and shocked Judy was holding her paw out in front of her father and suddenly whacked the fox taser out of Stu's grip. As the lethal weapon struck the ground, the charged death wish buzzed at the grass and suddenly switched off with a click.

Stu was defenceless so he did the next best thing he could think of, confrontation. He suddenly grabbed Nick's tie and yanked it closely to his angry little face with his enemy gagging as the tie tightened around his neck. He pressed his nose against Nick's own as Nick's heartbeat became rapid, not in love but with absolute shock. "What do you want fox? Why are you here? Why are you near my daughter?"

Nick, too distressed to even spill out the words from his mouth started to feel dizzy. The father of the love of his life that welcomed him with wide open arms was a long distant wish. He tried to pry Stu's fingers off his tie but his strength was slowly wilting away like a dying violet. "I… I..." he wheezed out.

"Dad!" shouted Judy with her voice shaking like a bush being stroked by the wind. "It's okay! He's with me! He is my boyfriend!" She started to clasped her paws together as Stu looked to her in amazement and disbelief.

Stu flinched at the word that just left his daughter's mouth. He felt it hit him, but he didn't believe it. He thought it was after effect of the shock. "R- really?" Stu said. "Do you really think that this savage, no-good mammal could possibly be with you?" he said as he continued to stare death into Nick's eyes.

"He is!" shouted a voice. Frank suddenly stopped his car and slung his driver's seat door open and ran to the three mammals. "This fox is a really good friend of hers! He is MY good friend too so don't expect any harm from him!" he persuaded with a serious look beaming through his specs.

"Wh- who on earth are you?" stammered Stu and he shook meekly.

Judy looked at the saviour of her partner and thanked God that he was here for her and Nick. "Oh, thank god…" she said quietly.

"Now let go of the fox's tie," Frank continued. "And we'll start all over again. What do you say?"

Stu felt trapped. For one, there was a once sly fox in his grip and two, a wolf coming from the wild. Two predators were best friends. He suddenly let go of Nick's tie and looked coldly to Frank.

As the death grip was finally released, Nick quickly loosened his tie and took in deep and desperate breaths and coughed a few times. He bent down and held his kneecaps as he took in several more needy breaths. The bunny that was by his side quickly patted his back and hugged him tightly with a tear leaking from her delicate eyes.

"Nick, are you okay?" questioned Judy, waiting for an answer from the starved fox. "Oh, god… I'm sorry that this happened to you!" she said patting his back softly and kissed him on the lips.

"I- I'm okay, whiskers..." wheezed Nick. "I- I thought that they wouldn't like me at first..." He turned to see Judy on the verge of tears. To quickly calm the situation, he held her by the waist tightly and wiped her tear away from her eye. "Look here, I won't let anyone else hurt me or hurt you. Whether it is emotionally or physically, I won't let it happen. I promise." he said with a warm tone with some stray shakiness.

The bunny smiled and hugged him tightly that she didn't want him to leave her grip. "Okay Nicky… I will always remember that and I trust you with all my life… forever." she whispered into his ear and then softly gave the outside of it a quick peck.

"And I know that you're overprotected, I appreciate that..." continued Frank in the background. "But maybe next time, without jumping to conclusion, ask them to tell them about themselves and if you just do that, you'll find out that they aren't as bad as you thought they were in the beginning."

Something quickly clicked in Stu's head and his whole face drained from blood as a pale colour appeared on his face. If he got any paler, he would have looked like Powder as a bunny. "O- oh, I'm so sorry, sir! Please forgive me! I- I'm just a very overprotective and stupid bunny! I should have never judged you from the claws on your paws! How can I ever make it up to you?"

Nick chuckled weakly and held Stu's delicate paw softly, his claws retracted. "It's okay sir. I understand, and I don't expect anything from you at all. The name is Wilde. Nicholas Wilde. It's a pleasure to finally meet you."

Stu smiled weakly and chuckled nervously as he looked into Nick's calm emerald green eyes. "Heh heh, you do seem like a nice mammal, Nicholas. I'm sorry I lost my short temper with you. I'm also sure that you are a great mammal that my Judes deserves. The fact is, Judy hasn't had a good experience with predator's in her past..." he then quickly turned to Judy. "Also, I'm sorry that I have upset you Judy. I feel like a horrible mammal for doing that."

"I understand, Mr. H, and I'm pretty sure that this bundle of-" Nick suddenly stopped and chose his words very carefully in front of another bunny. "Joy and sweetness understands too giving that you are her father. I also haven't had a good experience with prey myself in my youth. But let me tell you this, never let them see that they get to you." he said smiling.

Frank chuckled and tipped his specs. "Well you two, what did I say? I told you it will be okay if you got to know each other, especially about your past!" Frank patted Nick and Judy's back. "Well, I'd better get going. Hear from you two soon, yeah?" he chuckled and went back to his car and called goodbye for a final time and drove off into the distance, leaving a dirty dust trail behind him.

All of a sudden, a female bunny wearing the identical pink plaid shirt that Nick loves to see Judy wear emerged from behind Stu's perked ears. It was Bonnie. "Stu? Who's the gentlemammal?" She then spotted her daughter holding her arm around Nick's waist. "Hello, bun bun! We missed you so much!"

Judy uttered her beautiful and cute giggle as she looked between her father's ears. "Hey there, mom!"

"This is Nicholas, Bon… he is Judy's… boyfriend..." Stu said and kissed Bonnie's cheek from the side.

Bonnie's eyes glimmered and reached her paw out to Nick and held his paw gently. "Hello, Nicholas! Welcome to our humble abode! We hope that you'll find it a very welcome environment!"

Nick chuckled softly and looked at Stu from the corner of his eyes and nudged him softly. "Yeah… it was very welcoming indeed."

Stu blushed bright red, so red that he looked like one of his freshly grown tomatoes. All of a sudden, a little bunny appeared from Bonnie's small leg and looked up with curiosity in its eyes. "Mommy, who's that? Hello Judy-kins!"

"Hello, Cotton! This is Nicholas, he is my boyfriend!" said Judy with enthusiasm. Now knowing that her father was calling Nick her boyfriend, she felt comfortable with saying it around her other siblings.

Nick smiled to Cotton and waved to her. "Hello… Cotton. How are you?" He said with a warm and friendly tone.

Cotton slowly waddled up to Nick with shy looking eyes and clung onto his leg smiling to him. "Hello, Nicholas… you look like a nice foxy!"

Nick blushed and patted her head gently. "Heh heh… you look like a very smart and adorable bunny. Your sister is a dream to have."

The mini bunny looked to Judy who was seen holding Nick's paw and giggled softly. Cotton started to giggle softly and teased Nick and Judy. "Nicholas and Judy sitting in a tree! K-I-S-S-I-N-G! First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes a baby in a baby carriage! Hee hee!"

Nick chuckled and played with Cottons little ears. "Heh heh, we are in love..." Nick then kissed Judy's ear and secretly whispered in it. "That all could come true if I'm lucky." he whispered and Judy giggled as she swatted his muzzle playfully.

"Maybe Nicky, just maybe."

"Well," said Bonnie as she walked by Nick's side. "How about you two come in and I'll get some tea ready? I'll make some blueberry cupcakes!"

Nick licked his lips and trudged inside with Cotton, still hugging onto his leg. "Sounds delectable." he responded with a chuckle.

Stu still felt a bit uneasy with Nick and his paw kept on reaching for his can of fox spray in his jeans pocket, but he knew he had to resist. He was so used to pulling out his defensive weapons whenever he saw a threat towards him or anyone he loved that his instincts were starting to actually get on his nerves. 'No, Stu…' he thought to himself. 'Give Nick a chance. He seems like a nice fox… besides, Bonnie seems to be getting along with him, and Cotton absolutely adores him.' The pair walked into the sitting room and sat down next to Nick and Judy as Bonnie got some grub ready for all of them.

Judy decided to spark a conversation hoping that it would make the weak bond between the two a bit stronger. "Well dad, want to know how us two met?" she said as she held both Nick's paws tightly in her grip, never wanting to let go. It was the same case with Cotton. She still hugged onto Nick's leg and never wanted to let go, like she was clinging onto dear life.

"I love you, Nicholas!" said Cotton with happiness in her eyes.

Nick looked down and carefully picked her up and sat her on his lap as he stroked her fluffy ears. "Aww, isn't that sweet of you… Fluff?"

Cotton giggled softly as she felt her ears getting stroked and Nick's mistake. "Cotton, silly! Not Fluff!" she said giggling.

Nick eyes widened and blushed brightly as his mistake was revealed to him. "Whoops, dumb fox..." he said giggling.

Judy giggled and pinched his cheek affectionately. "You're not a dumb fox to me. That mistake was kinda cute coming from you, Nick."

Nick's ears quickly perked to the sound of Stu, also giggling with his paw over his mouth. He felt like him and Stu was getting closer and at a pretty quick pace too. Judy decided to carry on with her story.

"But then, my chance came when I caught him for tax evasion and he agreed to help me out with the Night Howler case and succeeded in solving! As a result, I invited him to become my partner and he did! Well, not without its complications, but that is not important!"

As Judy babbled on about the work parts and Nick's recovery until it finally got to the good part. "So when we came out of the hospital, we went past this beautiful river and Nick finally poured out his true feelings for me, and, the moment when my heart nearly stopped came when he held my paw… we then kissed the following few nights ahead of that after he took me to the Entertainment District! And it leads up to now, where we… might have something very important in our presence." she finished as she quickly looked at her stomach and then back to Stu.

Stu rested back in his recliner and chuckled. "Well, that is some roller coaster of a ride until you two got together!" he said.

Bonnie suddenly came back into the sitting room with a tea pot, mugs and some great smelling cupcakes. "Grab and growl!" she said with a cheerful tone as she rested everything onto the sizeable coffee table. "Don't tell me that I missed a good story!" she said with a soft giggle.

"I'll tell you about it later, Bon!" Stu said as he grabbed a mug and poured some tea for Nick. "For you Nicholas!" he said offering the mug of hot tea to the red fox.

Nick obliged and took the cup off Stu's paws. "Thanks, Mr. Hopps! Boy everything smells good!" he said as he reached out for a blueberry cupcake and started to drool at the mouth. As he was about to take his first bite, another little bunny emerged from the door. Nick did not notice the bundle of fuzziness as he concentrated on taking his first bite. The bunny quickly signalled something or someone to come forward and ran towards Nick. All of a sudden, a herd of out of control bunny rabbits stampeded towards Nick and took over his body!

"Hey, a visitor!" said one.

"Your fur is really soft!" called another.

"Your tail is as cute as mine!" shouted another.

Nick couldn't move, He was scared stiff as his body was being invaded by about twenty bunnies, all clinging on to him with big wide smiles. Nick started to whimper softly as he realised the horrible truth.

"My poor cupcake!" he said as he saw his treat on the floor, helpless and beckoning him to eat it as Judy, Stu and Bonnie giggled uncontrollably. Judy didn't want to forget this moment so she quickly took out her phone and pointed to Nick and her siblings.

"Say cheese and crackers everyone!" she called out.

"Cheese and crackers!" boomed the rabbits.

Nick gave two thumbs up with gave a cheesy smile. "Cheese and crackers!"


A/N: Now with Nick and Stu's little worries dealt with, they are getting along very well! Stu and Bonnie are still unaware for the possible special mammal that could be growing around them! That's all from me tonight! I would like to give a big shout out to my followers and fans alike that have been with me during the making of this chapter and for who have been here since the beginning! I would not have gone this far into the novel without your support! Next chapter will be out soon! Stay cute! -RetractedEmotions