A/N

The pirates were a bit inattentive and I managed to make a break for it by jumping overboard and swimming for shore. The pirates rather than hunting through the small tropical island after me just set up a big party on the beach and made sure to keep a big pot of coffee brewing. I tried to resist, I really did. But after a few days without coffee, *shudder*. Well they caught me when I tried to sneak into their party to steal some. *sigh* Now they're forcing me back onto a writing schedule. (sad grinch face)

Sorry about any additional fluff in this chapter, the story derailed a bit from the original chapter plan and didn't get as far along in the plot as it should have. Ugh and there's still so much for them to do today!

Disclaimer: Well, good news: I don't have to go back to any meetings with Disney's lawyers. Bad news: Disney's once again on the war path and this time their lawyers are leading it. Also, just as an interesting note: Bose headphones added a clause to their warranty that any damages due to musical renditions of 'My Little Tea Cup' are no longer covered.

Typo Disclaimer: Crap, gonecrazy3000 is almost caught up correcting the older chapters! Darnit, I need more gingerbread cookies! (and coffee).

Chapter 32 – Cold Realities

Well this wasn't how Nick wanted to introduce Judy as his mate to his oldest friend. Maybe he could pull it off as some sort of trick or a hustle. Finnick did look rather dumbstruck, if he just covered her ears…

Judy's head popped out from under his tail and Finnick fell on his rear, eye's wider than Nick had ever seen them.

"Nick is going to be allowed to be a cop!" Judy repeated angrily and added, though it was a bit unnecessary considering their current position, "And he married me! He's my mate and the only mammal I'll ever want! I love him!"

Finnick was just gapping… repeatedly.

Nick had to snicker a little at the scene; he wished he had a camera to take a picture of Fin's face. He had never seen his friend so shocked before.

Nick's chest and ruff had puffed out on their own accord at Judy's words and he couldn't help but marked her between her ears, murmuring, "Can I get that on record? I'd like to listen to that every night."

She turned, chinning him in return, "You know Bogo's got my carrot pen in evidence. And why do you want a recording when you have me?" she kissed him on the nose, before shooting Finnick a glare as if daring him to say something.

"Nick?" asked Finnick, his deep voice very unsteady. Nick looked over to see his friend sitting on the ground, paw still held up to his face to hold the ice pack, though it had slipped through his fingers and fallen to the ground.

"Yep?" Nick said in on overly cheery voice as if there was absolutely nothing odd about the situation.

"I think I need to go to the hospital." The fennec fox said and flopped back, his paw grasping a few times before he managed to find the ice pack and place it back over his face.

Nick watched Finnick with a bit of worry, "Fin, you okay?" he asked.

"I didn't think it was that bad," Finnick mumbled in a deep, confused, and worried voice, "Asshole must have hit me harder than I thought because I just hallucinated that you said you were going to be a cop and then that stupidly cute little bunny popped up out of your bed like-"

"Don't call me cute!" came the angry retort from Judy, "… and who are you calling little?" she added after a second heatedly.

Finnick's finger shout up and pointed in Judy's direction. "Yo, imaginary bunny, shut up or I'll bite you!" his voice shifted from an angry shout to a confused mutter, "Hell, I've got to have a bad concussion or something, I'm arguing with a hallucination, Fuck, why am I'm even hallucinating Nick and a bunny cuddling naked? Godsdamned Nick, this is his fault for not shutting up about that 'cute cop bunny'. That… that… is just so… wrong. A fox and a bunny?" he gave a shudder.

"That's it!" Judy snarled, "There is nothing wrong with me loving Nick, or Nick loving me!" Judy tried to jump up, paws fisted, but only managed to lift Nick partially off the bed with the aborted leap while he yelped loudly. Nick quickly grabbed Judy's hips to stop her from trying that again.

"Nick! By Carrots! How long have we been in mandatory cuddle time?! I need to go give that pipsqueak of a fox a second black eye! Nobody but you gets to say that I'm cute or that they'll bite me!" Judy said incensed now, wiggling and twisting determinedly trying to get free.

Her frantic movements caused a sudden series of explosions to go off in Nick's mind, and everything in the world but Judy seemed to fade into sudden insignificants. Judy opened her mouth to make another angry retort but only managed to let out a startled 'Meep!' followed by a moan as his mouth locked over hers in something too primal to really be really be called a kiss.

Judy wasn't the only one making frantic movements anymore and Nick felt his whole body shudder and explode as Judy now clutched at him seeming to try and get as close to him as she possibly could instead of away. Her whole body suddenly went tight shaking against him while she tried to gasp out his name. Nick couldn't help but growl back in pleasure at the obvious sign that his mate wanted him, enjoyed him, needed him, just as much as he did her.

A deep voice from the outside their bed, muttering desperately, "This is just a nightmare, that punk at the bar knocked me out cold and this is just a nightmare,-" brought Nick back to the present after what he hoped hadn't been too long. The feeling of his mate was still making his mind spark, but he could at least think now… mostly… a little.

He looked over the bed at Finnick, who had his eye's closed and his paws holding his large ears as he continued to mutter. Nick turned back and looked at Judy who at least no longer seemed angry judging by the dazed, happy grin on her face as she snuggled into his chest.

Nick sat up holding Judy to him and leaned back against the dresser drawers behind the makeshift bed and covered Judy with his tail. He grabbed a sheet and brought it up covering most of her too. Nick's emotions were running high and hard and his instinct to protect his mate was beating at him. Friend or not, he couldn't stop the protective and possessive urge to defend his mate that having Finnick, another male fox, in their den right now was causing. If Nick hadn't known and trusted Finnick as much as he did, he expected he'd probably be snarling. She was his mate. He'd do anything for her, anything to protect her. He marked her again and used the reassurance the action brought to put a leash on the instinct to drive the other fox away from his mate, that their sudden flair of passion had brought on.

Nick took a calming breath, the mixed scents of him and Judy and their night and morning workout, another reminder that she was his, helped to steady him. He looked back down at Judy and smiled.

"Um, Carrots," he said, and Judy looked up at him while still nuzzling against his ruff, "You just reset our cuddle timer."

She looked at him for a second and blinked, then frowned in concentration for a second before letting out what had to be the world's cutest, 'oh.'

She shifted around a bit, sending a few more pleasurable sparks flaring in Nicks mind and after seeming to confirm that, yes they were well and truly stuck, settled down snuggling her back up against his chest.

"This is just a nightmare, oh Fuck me, I'm gonna need to see a shrink after I wake up, that or a bar… and a bar, a few bars," Finnick continued to mumble and Judy after glancing at the small fox still laid out on the ground, giggled and whispered to Nick,

"Did we break the little bad fox?"

Nick grinned back and gave her a quick peck before grabbing a pillow.

"This is just a nightmare, This is just a-" The small fox's muttering came to a sudden halt when the pillow, almost as big as him, smacked him square in the face.

"Fin!" Nick called as the smaller fox throw the pillow off in a splutter of curses.

Nick placed his muzzle right between Judy's ear, which perked up at his movement framing his face. He wrapped both arms around his mate and hugged her back into his chest.

"Fin," Nick finally seemed to have Finnick's full attention as the smaller fox craned his head up from the floor to stare at them, still wide eyed, "Judy is my mate."

Nick waited as Finnick tried to speak. After the third or fourth attempt, he finally got out, "This still has to be some Fucking nightmare…"

"I can hit you with another pillow if your still not convinced." Nick said in reply smirking.

Finnick still looking confused growled back, "Do that and I'll grab my bat and-"

There was a growling sound from under Nick's chin and Judy's ears angled around and down, laying back against Nicks shoulders, while her paws tighten over his arms. "Grab your bat, and I'll feed it to you." Judy ground out

Finnick looked more startled than anything else. His eyebrows creased in a frown as he ignored Judy and looked right at Nick.

"Nick, if this isn't some nightmare, then What The Hell?" he asked seeming half confused, half angry. "Feisty little mammal or not, she's a bunny!"

Nick could feel Judy's anger rising again and gave her a squeeze and a small nuzzle with his chin, settling her a bit.

He looked right back at Finnick and simply said, "I love her." and Judy seemed to melt back against him, her ears lost their angry tilt.

Finnick on the other hand stared back at him before spluttering, "But!... but… Bunny," he pointed at Judy, and then at Nick, "Fox-"

Nick shrugged, and said again as if that didn't matter at all, "Yes, and I still love her."

Finnick's head flopped back to the ground, and he said in a still confused but now defeated tone, "You realize that you're never going to be able to fall in love with a vixen now, right?"

"I don't want to fall in love with anyone else." Nick said patiently, "She's my mate, Finnick, and I love her with all my heart."

"Dumbass. You're hearts apparently a stupid fool," Finnick growled, "What is your heart going to do when she leaves you?"

Nick's throat seemed to go dry at just the thought of Judy not being there with him and his arms tightened their hold on her. He didn't think Judy would ever leave, but the very idea of losing his mate was terrifying. To have to try and wake up without her? To not be able to feel her or hold her paw? To not be able to see her caring, loving smile? His heart was suddenly pounding in his chest.

Judy spoke up, but surprisingly, her voice wasn't really angry. Instead it was full of absolute unwavering conviction, "I am never going to leave Nick! He's mine, My mate! And I will always be with him!"

Finnick looked back up and locked gazes with Judy. For what felt like a few minutes but probably wasn't nearly that long, Nick just watched as they just stared at each other seeming to wage some sort of silent battle.

Finnick eventually frowned. He got up and turned around heading for the stairs.

Right before he turned the corner, Finnick stopped and turned back.

"Dumbass, when you and your bunn-," his frown deepened, and he grudgingly seemed to change what he was saying, "mate, are done. Get your lazy ass cleaned up come help me move the crap out of my van."

He turned and stomped up the stairs muttering, "That Tiki-bar still better be stocked…" before the door slammed shut.

Nick let out a breath he didn't even know he'd been holding.

"Cheese and Crackers," Judy hiss out, "First my parents and Jill, then 'Mr. Toot Toot' seems to get his tail in a twist!" she gave a huff, "What by carrots was his problem? I thought after I told him I'd messed up, apologized and he helped me find you that we might actually get along."

Nick had to smile despite the situation; having his bunny sitting on his lap all huffy and mad with her fur up was for some reason, absolutely adorably cute. Well at least when she wasn't mad at him.

He nuzzled her and rumbled happily letting his paws stroke gently through her silky fur.

"Give Finnick a bit of time," he said and then chuckled, "and maybe a pack of beers." Nick stopped for a second thinking. "I really wanted to ease him into the idea of you being my mate. I knew he'd never believe it until he heard it from me, or well…"

"Walked in on our morning workout?" Judy finished and Nick grimaced sheepishly.

"Or, that." He admitted.

"So what got a burr stuck up his backside about us?" Judy asked.

Nick thought for a few moments trying to figure out the best way to explain Finnick to her. His rumble picked up as he felt her paws start stroking his tail. Gods, he loved when she did that, he could stay here happily all day with her doing that.

"I've told you a bit about the trouble I had growing up, right?" he said, still rumbling contentedly.

"um-hum," Judy said nodding, still stroking his tail.

"Well, Fin's had it rougher than me. I was just a fox, Finnick was a small fox." Judy looked up at him with a questioning glance clearly not understanding.

"Your too kind hearted and caring of a mammal to see what that means." He kissed her nose, "I'm bigger than you Carrots. Finnick isn't. A lot of mammals around our size that might just keep their scorn to glances and comments for me felt like they could actually push him around since he's smaller than them."

Nick gave Judy a second to think about that. He watched as her brow furrowed but rather than sympathy or pity a bit of her outraged anger returned. "Why do so many mammals have to be bigoted asses?" she muttered. Her use of a word that was almost a real curse made Nick chuckle.

He considered again just how luck he was to have Judy in his life now. His only regret was that he hadn't met her years earlier. She didn't only care about others but she was someone who would stand up for them too.

"Because not everyone has someone as wonderfully as you in their lives," He said and nuzzled her again, "Most mammals aren't that bad but it only takes a few really mean pieces of work to make it seem that way." He kissed her behind the ear, "It also only takes a few really good mammals to make you see the better side of things and believe that you can make the world a better place."

Nick felt her paws holding his tail hug it to her but before she could speak he continued.

"Part of why I love you is that you are such a mammal, Judy." He silenced her protest with another kiss, "Despite what you might think, you are. And as for any mistakes you might have made, you always try to fix them, and I love you for that too."

"Nick," Judy said in a small choked voice holding his tail. He just held her for a little while, trying to show and share just how much he cared and loved her through the contact.

"Finnick is in some ways better and worse than I am. I think once he comes to know you, he'll show just how good of a friend he can be. He's certainly been a better friend over the years to me than I've been to him. He might be a surly tough little bastard on the outside but Finnick really cares about his friends and will always be there for them." Nick let out another chuckle, "Hell, if you ever have the chance and half a day, ask Flash how he, a sloth, got onto the track team when we were in highschool. The other mammals would never have allowed it if it wasn't for Finnick."

Nick's chuckle faded away, "Fin doesn't trust anyone else besides his friends though, and that distrust certainly runs deeper for prey."

"Is that why he seemed so upset about us?" Judy asked

Nick shrugged, "Besides the weirdness of being an interspecies couple? Ya, probably."

Nick grinned down at the frown Judy shot up at him and kissed her nose. "Come on Carrots," he chuckled, "I love you more than anything else, even blueberries" he laughed at her expression, "but you can't say that this isn't a bit weird." He smiled again, "That doesn't make it a bad thing, just different. Before meeting you, I never would have even imagined that I'd end up being attracted to let alone loving and mating some mammal not a fox. Can you say you wouldn't have thought it was odd or ever even considered me as a potential mate before this all happened?"

"Fine, so it is… different. You're still always going to be my fox. I don't care how weird it is." she conceded grumpily.

Nick nuzzled her cheek murmuring, "Always." and she chinned him back.

"Fin might think it's weird but once he gets over the shock of it, he won't hold that against us. It's just not who he is."

"Really?" Judy asked hopefully and Nick grinned.

"Don't get me wrong, he's going to give us grief about it. Expect no end of jokes and ribbing about it from him. But that won't stop him from being our friend. He just doesn't know you right now and is probably worried about me. Just give him some time."

Judy looked up at Nick, a small smile forming, "You think he'll really come to consider me a friend?"

Nick kissed her nose and the smile widened. "Finnick doesn't easily change his opinions and he makes friends even slower." Judy's smile seemed to halt, but another kiss kept it from fading, "however, I think he's already got a soft spot for you. I was surprised he actually helped you find me." Nick smiled, "I don't think you'll find it too hard to get him to think of you as a friend, he's already half way there."

Her smile made Nick feel warm and happy, and this time she leaned up and kissed him.

…

After a period of cuddling and some naturalist style grooming from Nick, which made Judy giggle, they were finally able to separate.

Nick just laid back, lazily smirking and watched his mate as she left the bed and stretched. He watched as her toned yet still nicely curved frame flexed making her gray coat and white belly fur ripple in the dim light of the room. He didn't think he'd ever get enough of this view. Judy was not beautifully in the way a vixen was and from what she'd told him she wasn't beautifully by rabbit standards either, but she had an elegance he'd never seen before. A combination of softness mixed with strength that he found unbearably attractive. She might not be beautiful to others but he thought she was absolutely gorgeous.

Judy stretched again, giving out a small groan as she did so and Nick had to check to make sure he wasn't drooling.

"Carrot sticks! I can't remember being this sore after a workout since the obstacle course at the academy." She looked over at him and a smirk appeared on her face, as she leaned down stretching again, tail perked high.

Nick was sure he was drooling now.

"Humm, a hot shower is just what I need to loosen up," Judy said still stretching but Nick's expression froze as his mind seemed to hit a speed bump while driving far far too fast. "I'll even let you join me if you promise to be good this time." She continued with a playful tone before standing back up and walking toward the bathroom.

Nick's mind looked at the broken wreck of his previous thought process and panicked, trying frantically to hail down a cab and get moving again.

"Umm… ah…" he started speaking then realized he didn't know what he was trying to say. Judy shot him a smirk and flicked her tail before turning through the door.

"Ah, uh, Judy… about the shower…" he started brokenly, before jumping to his feet and frantically following after her.

"about the-" he tried again, a bit panicked, as he rounded the corner but was blindsided by the sight of his mate smiling and giggling as she stood on his step stool in front of the oversized sink looking into the mirror and turning to see herself.

She looked over at him, smirking and giggled, "My fur is all over the place!" She giggled again, "How is that 'grooming'? Bunnies don't do that but if we did we wouldn't call it 'grooming', it's more like the opposite of grooming."

Nick despite his panic, could feel his cheeks and ears heating up and mumbled something about instincts and family.

Judy laughed, hopped down with a light groan as she landed and came over giving him a sweet kiss before leading him by the paw to the shower.

"Don't worry, I love how you're so cuddly afterwards and the 'grooming' is cute." She giggled again, "But after our shower why don't you groom me the normal way?" she said with a huge smile, puling the shower curtain closed behind them and looked at the unmarked nob on the water pipe leading to the shower head above them.

"Now which way do you turn this for hot water?" she asked happily.

Nick's throat seemed to nearly close in on itself and he squeaked, "About that…"

…

Nick followed right behind Judy as she shot out of the shower. He quickly grabbed one of the very thick and fluffy towels he kept in there and quickly wrapped her up, before grabbing one for himself with a shiver. Despite all the yips, yelps, squeaks and Meeps that they'd made in the shower there hadn't been any fooling around. They'd been far too busy washing each other as quickly as possible and trying to use one another as a shield from the cold stream of water from the showerhead.

"So-o wh-hy w-would so-someone make-e a s-show-er w-without hot w-water?" Judy asked shivering as Nick worked to dry her first.

"This is a warehouse." Nick said now working on her ears. Judy sighed in leaned into him still wrapped up almost completely in the big towel, "There wasn't a need for hot water when they built it, so there isn't any at all. That shower was originally just an emergency shower I repurposed."

"W-well I can s-see why you hate m-mornings if you have to wake u-up to that everyday." Judy mumbled from within the towel, "We are g-going to have to do something a-about that."

Nick smiled having finished with her ears and head and moving the towel down so he could see her head.

"What I'm going to do is find us a real den." He kissed her on the nose and placed his against hers, which had mostly stopped shivering. "One with a big water heater so we can take long hot showers."

She caught him in a quick kiss before he could lean back and finish drying her.

"That sounds like a good idea." She said her normal happy look starting to return.

…

By the time they were dried, groomed, dressed and ready for the day it was after 8. It was still too early for Nick's taste but it at least wasn't the hideously evil hour of the morning when Judy's alarm had gone off at. Nick sighed thinking about it. He had a feeling that he might be getting up far earlier than he was used to in his future. Maybe he could compromise and keep the evil alarm from corrupting their weekends? Maybe if he promised extra cuddles and-

Judy's stomach suddenly let out a rumbling growl and Nick laughed.

"Keep working on that, you almost sounded like a fox!" he said grinning at her as she blushed slightly.

"At least my stomach didn't cause someone to faint!" She shot back, and her stomach growled again, louder this time causing her to blush a bit more, "Um, do you have anything here for breakfast?"

"I was thinking we could grab a bite to eat on our way to check out my dad's old shop this morning-" he was interrupted by a third, smaller rumble of her stomach, which made him grin, "but, if you're afraid your stomach will eat itself before then, I keep some food in the mini-fridge under the desk."

Judy seeming to be trying here best to keep her blush from growing as she walked past Nick to the fridge.

He snickered and gave her backside a light pinch causing her to jump with a surprised squeak before she swatted at his paw and give him a glare, though it wasn't very effective due to the pink showing through her fur on her cheeks.

Nick just smiled wider, not holding back any of his admiration and longing for her, "As for me, well I'd like to have bunny for my breakfast." He licked his lips and Judy's cheeks went red.

She marched over to the mini-fridge and opened it, reached in grabbing a yogurt and threw it at him.

"Eat that, you already had bunny last night!"

Nick caught the yogurt but kept gazing unabashedly at her, "Umm, I think your right. Bunny is best for dinner. It'll give me all day to keep your blush nice and red; I'm not much of a chef but I've heard that the longer you simmer something the more flavor it brings out" He said his smirk growing just as Judy's blush did.

"Don't you dare tease me, or I'll… I'll…" She sputtered as Nick walked confidently toward her. He stopped and leaned down and took a long sniff right in front of her at the level of her belly.

"Umm, already smells good. I think tonight might be a feast." He straightened back up still smirking as Judy tried to make some sort of response, her mouth just opened and closed.

He stole a deep, hard kiss and rumbled a bit as she leaned into him. He broke the kiss as quickly as he'd started it, grabbed a plastic spoon from the box over the fridge, turned making sure his tail brushed against her and jumped up to sit in the old office chair before opening the yogurt.

"I'll just have to make do with that and my blueberry yogurt until then." He smirked looking down at his mate who was looking as red as a beat and angry enough that smoke should have been coming out of her ears, though he couldn't tell if that was from teasing and kissing her or breaking the kiss off early.

His smirk grew a little wider, "Can't wait to taste steamed rabbit."

Judy let out a huge huff and turned back to the mini-fridge, no doubt giving him an unintentional but very nice view of her tail.

As they ate, Nick had to hold back his snickers at Judy's mutterings, which included everything from 'dumb fox' to something about vengeance.

After he finished he gave her a light kiss on the cheek and a 'love you too' which seemed to mollify her.

After a few moments, she looked over at him before taking another bite and asking, "Nick, why is there nothing but a few yogurts in the fridge?"

Nick shrugged, "As I said I'm not much of a cook. I usually eat out or grab something I can throw in the microwave. That's," he gestured to the mini-fridge, "just to snack on."

"But why only blueberry yogurt?"

"Who doesn't like yogurt? And as for blueberry; it was on sale and I like blueberries." Nick replied, though Judy still looked like she didn't quite believe his reasoning.

"Hey, you should be happy," he said a bit huffily, "I've never shared my yogurts with anyone! You're a special case."

Judy let out a short laugh and tossed her yogurt container in the trash bin by the side of the desk, before opening the fridge again and grabbing another yogurt and a fresh spoon, then heading for the stairs.

"You're that hungry?" Nick said bemusedly watching her.

She turned back to him grinning before starting up the stairs, "Nope. I'm just going to go share one of your yogurts with Finnick."

"Hey!" Nick yelled and chased after her.

A/N

Bonus points for anyone who picks up and the tv show reference. (It was completely unintentional. I didn't even realize it till after it was written but it's almost perfect *snicker*, if only Judy had an Irish accent!) Hell, if anyone picks up on it I'll even try my best to get the next chapter out early!

Also sorry about the crazy long wait (gasp! It's been 8 days?!), real life and bad weather have a way of messing stuff up.

Thanks again to everyone who has left reviews and favorites/follows (or not since the pirates used all those to buy coffee and trap me into writing again) I've got a back log of comments and questions so I'll probably add an authors note at the end of the next chapter saying thanks and answering those but I want to get this out before I get fluffle flogged… again.

P.S. Why is Fox in the hen house taking care of the boxes and funnies for the pirates? Oh Crap! Did the pirates actually recruit him? NOOO, don't drink the kool-aid Fox! It's spike with rum and if they trap you aboard your never getting away!