The Waters of Atlantea Chapter 22

Authors Notes: Surprise! Two chapters in one month for a change. Thanks for all the great reactions to a deeper dive into the truly repugnant nature of Nemo's organization that lives deep within the Atlantean society and seems to have some kind of stranglehold on it.

…Nick and Judy's adult beach suite. Daybreak…

As the early morning sun rose above the horizon, rays of sunlight flashed across the water and beach. The new day's light filtered through the curtains covering the hotel room's sliding glass back door and shone on Nick and Judy's nude bodies lying on top of the covers in the middle of the gigantic bed. The pair was stacked one on top of the other like a couple of slices of sandwich bread. They were already awake at daybreak because they couldn't resist each other.

Nick sighed simultaneously with Judy, laughed at the coincidence, and they basked in the feeling of total fulfillment after their latest après sex calm. Her beautiful lagomorphic figure was spread fully across his torso, with one paw around his neck while she played with a tuft of his neck fur with her other paw. Her supple legs remained wrapped around his lower waist and hips, and they were still locked together following their loving embrace. Regrettably, both knew that soon they would have had to separate to shower, dress and greet the next day of their honeymoon fun.

Soothing Judy's ruffled neck fur and massaging the extremely sensitive base of her tail to her contented humming sound, Nick remarked, "It's just another relentlessly nice day in paradise, Carrots."

She laughed and tickled him underneath his chin, "Yeah I guess so, Nickie."

In response, she kissed him emphatically, closed her eyes, buried her head into his thick chest fur, and was very pleased to be in his arms. She was satisfyingly warm inside. Her ears flopped on either side of his snout, flushed with the love fever that was only gradually subsiding.

Nick thought how useless a blanket was when he was constantly blessed with Judy's warmth.

From her position draped over Nick, she took a deep breath, and she returned to sitting upright on him, without disturbing her secure position framing his hips. She glowed in the feelings they shared, and had both paws free to massage his chest and belly fur. At the same time, she squeezed him with several Kegels, grinned, and watched the surprise grow in his eyes as he experienced her intensely personal contractions that made him wince in delight. Judy loved doing something new to her husband neither could see, but both could feel intensely while still joined. It was an intimate massage like no other.

"So… I guess you like that?" she chirped breathlessly, practicing her new technique on her husband more earnestly.

"Um hmm," he admitted, while still trying to catch his own breath, "You're just full of little surprises."

"I sure hope so," she cooed, very satisfied with her effort to please him.

Nick gazed up at her and reached out both paws for her bosom. She eagerly leaned into his gentle stimulating caresses while he mused, "I sure do like our new routine, Carrots: wake up, have 'good morning' sex, shower, eat breakfast, go to morning activities, eat lunch, go to afternoon activities, have 'pre-dinner' sex, drink and dine, attend evening activities, have 'good night' sex, sleep, and repeat! Maybe we should stay 'resigned'."

Nick's humorous mention of three-times-per-day-sex prompted Judy to wiggle his warm, wet nose with her paw. She leaned over slightly and asked her husband, whispering into one ear with a sing-song voice, "If only we could fox. Every day like this won't pay the bills. But… aren't you forgetting that we need to have 'afternoon delight' sex?"

It had been some time – bored and alone in their apartment on a rainy day when the power failed for 24 hours - since they enjoyed the activity for the first time.

"When do we get to do that?" Nick asked urgently, and gave her a wide-eyed expectant glance that made her giggle.

"Today, fox. We move to the 'couples beach hideaway' part of our schedule."

"Sweet, Carrots!" Nick grasped Judy's hips a little tighter, delaying their separation from the excitement of that knowledge. It was taking Nick a really long time to enter his refractory period, and that was just fine with her. She was very content to stay right where she was. Every little motion together gave her cascading thrills.

She poked his nose insistently, "But first we go for a jet ski run and a parasail flight."

He change his mind about their extended cuddling, "Let's go, then. Let me free, rabbit. Time's a-wastin!"

"I never thought you'd wanted to leave me early," she grinned, leaned over kissed his snout, dismounted him carefully, grasped his paw, and willingly pulled him toward another delightful shower together.

They finished their usual morning cleansing and dressing routine, including recharging her Key.

Nick was always uncomfortable about her interactions with the Key, "I still worry that thing is going to steal your soul or something."

She assured him seriously, "I know that no matter what, I have you to save me."

To emphasis her point, Judy smiled and gave her husband a lingering emotional kiss, then turned their focus to the day's events. She confirmed where the activities were located on the aquatics cove. She was glad that she checked. The motorized water sports were on the opposite side of the inlet from the swimmers beaches, scuba, and sailing. She punched the path into her resort app GPS to give them the fastest walking route.

They were ready to take on their busy day once again.

"We look good beachcombers, rabbit," Nick mentioned, admiring their images in the full length mirror, with her in her latest bikini and wrap, and him in his trunks and sleeveless tee. He hefted their day pack over his shoulders, and held Judy her from behind, holding her in front of him in the mirror.

"We look good dressed in any way, fox," she agreed, and added, whispering slyly, "Even naked."

Nick enjoyed her teasing, "Especially naked, Carrots."

He kissed the nape of her neck, giving her a little chill, and she giggled in agreement, "We will be again soon, lover. I promise."

Returning his kiss with a peck on the cheek, they doused the lights, locked the door, pocketed the card key, and both rushed paw-in-paw for breakfast and their action-packed morning.

They were the first guests to the wharf to get their pick of the jet skis. They patiently listened to the safety and operations briefing. They prepared matching dark blue jet skis – the ones with the biggest engines – and mounted them. The pair revved their engines side by side, feeling the power they controlled, and under instructor supervision, practiced turns, accels, and decels near the dock. The instructors cleared them for the recreation.

After a final familiarization run, the pair pulled up alongside each other. Judy remarked over the throaty idling of both machines, "This is just like riding the department's ATVs."

"Minus the wheels, of course, but I think these are better. This baby is a 1 liter two stroke with turbo. The ATVs are just 800 cc, and simply aspirated," replied Nick.

Judy was impressed with Nick's knowledge, and quipped, "Since when did you become such an expert mechanic? Have you been studying?"

Nick shrugged, "Nahh. I've only been hangin' around Flash and his hot cars for years."

Nodding with the realization she should have already known, "Well, duh. I guess that was obvious, right?"

"I forgive you for your mistake, rabbit," Nick scoffed with fake haughtiness.

Responding with feigned anger, "Knowing what a scoundrel you were when you were hanging around Flash the most, you should be asking me for forgiveness, fox."

Nick shrugged and winked at his bride, "Ehh. I just figure I'm living a lifetime of redemption being married to you, Carrots."

Judy blushed, leaned over across the small gap between the bobbing jet skis, gave her husband a satisfying public kiss, and didn't care if it was a PDA, "That gets you afternoon delight 'dibs' for sure, you romantic old fox."

He grinned, "I didn't realize it was that easy, lagomorph."

She quipped snidely, "Hmmm… according to urban legend, you other species think that every lagomorph is always 'easy'."

Nick chuckled absolving himself of all blame on the matter, "Remember: I didn't say that, Carrots."

Judy responded, "I won't hold you to it, fox. Besides, it isn't that simple with this little gray bunny rabbit anyway. There's a catch."

"Oh? What?" Nick dared to ask.

Judy had lured him into her trap and gave her husband an evil grin, "First, fox, you have to beat me in our race."

"Wait! Race? What race?" Nick replied in shock.

But Judy couldn't hear him, or didn't want to. She looked straight ahead with determination, gunned her engine, spun her jet ski in place, and sprayed him with a gigantic wake. The rabbit was gone in an instant, and disappeared toward the horizon, heading for the resort's jet ski course for the more adventurous riders.

Nick narrowed his eyes, hunkering into his saddle, accepting her sudden challenge, "Well, it takes two to tango, Carrots. Game on!"

He knew there would be no afternoon delight for Judy without his participation. This race, like most of their many other personal competitions, would only determine 'who's on top'. Nick roared off after Judy in hot pursuit. In the distance, he could see her fur, ears, and cottontail flap in the wind. He had a perfect view of her bikini-clad hourglass shape approaching rapidly from behind. But Nick's jaw dropped and his tongue fell out of his mouth. Judy's latest bikini had very little material and Nick could see a whole lot of gray hindquarters' fur exposed. This was first time she'd ever worn a thong bikini bottom, which had been hidden from Nick's view until now by her wrap. The string top was small enough she looked topless as well. For some unknown reason, Nick had missed her putting it on. He always watched her dress in the mornings, and this outfit would have been hard to ignore.

"Maybe I don't want to win this race," he thought, he mused, distracted by the delectable sight of her body from behind.

At top speed, the fox and rabbit jet ski riders bounced over the waves after each other. Spray and exhaust streamers blasted straight up as they accelerated.

Only as Judy whipped her jet ski into a hard right turn did Nick realize they were already at the ski slalom course, marked with buoys of different colors to indicate turn patterns. He took an earnest breath and bore down for the maneuvers ahead.

The slalom course was very challenging. There were many convoluted 'S' patterns, a chicane that allowed only one jet ski through at time, several very tight hairpin turns, and a long straightway where they could floor the skis to top speed.

The instructors, still near the docks, were impressed with the lagomorphs/vulpine couple. All of them were still occupied with the rest of the class near the docks, all novices, most of whom couldn't even execute a turn without falling off into the water. It was going to be a long morning for the staff.

One instructor, a harp seal, said to his colleague, a harbor seal, as he looked out to the fox and rabbit heading into the course, "I think those two have done this before."

She answered, "Nope. Their form said it was their first time. But they did mention that they ride mountain bikes and cross-country ATVs where they come from."

Her co-worker concurred, "Close enough. I wonder where they live, and what they do for a living?"

She replied, "That's none of our business, but maybe we can ride with them after these other novices get their sea legs."

He scoffed, "If they get their sea legs. Let's give them to the 'new guy'. He needs the practice teaching. Nature knows this bunch needs the help."

"Good idea," the female instructor replied, while she watched Nick and Judy race, laugh, and taunt each other out on the course, then added, "They could take us, dude."

The male harp seal was more confident, "I wouldn't give them that much credit. We're all-Atlantea champs. C'mon, let's head out there."

Revving her engine, the smaller harbor seal cheerfully agreed, "I'm right behind you, mammal."

Oblivious of their class instructors' conversation, the end of the course had the most exhilarating part before making the next lap: 10 meter ski jump. Both could see it looming ahead.

Nick had caught up, worrying Judy that she could lose. The rabbit yelled over to her mate, now side by side, rapidly converging on the ramp, "'Ready for this?"

Nick boasted, "I'm always ready!"

"That you are," she mused to herself.

Nick claimed boldly, "Here's where I win this race, Carrots."

"We'll see about that," she replied over the combined noise of their machines, meeting his challenge with her own.

Both racers pushed their jet skis throttles to 'max', and instinctively leaned over their handlebars to lower their CG and wind resistance. They hit the ramp simultaneously with a terrifying scraping sound, their engines screamed being out of the water, and both riders and machines soared into the air.

"Wheee!" Judy shouted with utter glee.

"Yoo hoo!" chimed Nick in chorus. He loved the soaring feeling.

In mid air, they discovered that balance was tricky, as wind gusts coming across the water threatened to upend them. Nick splashed down hard, kicking up a huge wake around him as his jet ski reentered the water. His engine strained as it propelled his vehicle forward. Amazingly, Judy was still airborne, and far out-distanced Nick, kicking up her own monstrous splash with her landing another 25 meters down slope from Nick.

Both stopped, regrouped, and circled back at the end of the course.

Nick was truly impressed, "I give up. You got me, Carrots. That was some serious 'air' there. Does your ski have wings?"

Judy grinned confidently, not resisting the urge to brag about her impressive victory, "Being small does have its advantages. Your big fat fox body weighed your jet ski down. You never had a chance!"

Nick exaggerated, "Fat? Who's fat, Carrots? I'm all muscle."

He showed off his biceps with a few arm curls with fake pride. He was in fact in fantastic shape except for a little extra weight around the middle, so Judy laughed and gave him a dubious grin.

She permitted him the benefit of the doubt, blew him a kiss, and snickered, "Mostly, fox. I still love you."

"Love you too, Carrots. But I lost. That means…"

She reassured him, "…It means you still get your way with me. I was thinking about a little 'sympathy sex' for my foxy loser of a husband."

She made an "L" sign with her paw and gestured that it was meant for him.

Her snarky comments were titillating, but he quipped back to her in a total fabrication, "Who says I even want 'sympathy sex' from a lagomorph?"

"I know you too well, Nickie," she laughed, and got set to say one of his favorite phrases in unison with him.

"'Any sex is good sex with you'," they recited together while they also pointed at each other, emphasizing the 'you', and both doubled over with a hearty guffaw.

Still laughing and shaking her head in complete amusement with the predictability of her husband, "Oh dear me fox, what am I ever going to do with you?"

"Grow old with me?" he suggested, with an unexpectedly serious tone.

The tender thought of being mates forever took her breath away while they were in the midst of celebrating their honeymoon.

Judy replied, with her voice full of adoration for her husband, "That would be nice, Nickie. Very nice."

They were so close together that she leaned across between the jet skis and gave him a totally satisfying deep kiss.

They broke the kiss before the instructors pulled up next to them, but gave each other a lingering look. The clueless instructors arrived and complimented the pair, "You mammals are good. How are you doing?"

Nick answered first, "Quite well. This is almost like driving ATVs on a really bumpy road."

"Except the road doesn't move," Judy emphasized.

The female seal invited them to a challenge, "You guys race hard. Do you wanna take us on for your next lap through eh course?"

Nick asked, "What about the others?"

The male answered, "We left them with our co-worker. They won't sink or drown."

Nick and Judy exchanged that unspoken look of acceptance, and answered their instructor, "Sure!"

The four riders were pretty evenly matched. The lifeguards took the first race, but to their surprise, Nick beat everyone in the second race, catching a perfect gust of ocean breezes that buoyed him for a long ski jump run out. Judy won the third race. Some of the other students felt confident enough to cruise out to join them. But this was only about the four of them.

"One more before the class is over?" the harbor seal instructor suggested.

"You're on!" Judy accepted the challenge enthusiastically.

This was a very determined race. And it was clearly 'every mammal for themselves'. The four were neck and neck through the last turn into the final jump. All of them bounded off the ramp, but at a time when a huge wind gust blew the small female instructor off her mount. She screamed, flew off her jet ski as it somersaulted end over end, and she hit the water very hard and very fast, actually skipping a couple of times like a flat rock, knocking her senseless.

Judy heard the harbor seal's scream and turned around, seeing the tumbling jet ski and horrible sight of the instructor flipping and flailing after being jettisoned from her machine.

"Nickie!" Judy could only exclaim.

Quickly turning to see what Judy witnessed, Nick grimaced and acknowledged somewhat more calmly, "I see her. Let's go!"

Both riders quickly stopped, turned instantly, and raced to the fallen seal life guard. Both fox and rabbit switched into their first responder mode instinctively to rescue the motionless resort staffer.

Judy reached for and steadied Nick's jet ski, hooking a bungee cord to lock their vehicles together to create a more stable platform.

"Locked and loaded, Nick," Judy confirmed in a dead-serious tone, uttering a phrase they used as partners whenever they were on duty to tell each other that one had the other's back.

That gave Nick the cue. In one smooth and rapid motion, Nick leaped from his saddle, dove into the ocean, grabbed the unconscious seal bobbing face down in the water, and with raw strength, hoisted the victim across Judy's jet ski passenger saddle on her belly. Judy steadied the limp form as Nick administered artificial resuscitation, causing the instructor to cough up a lot of water, gasp with a gut wrenching sound, and start breathing again. Judy massaged her back to help the female seal spit up the remaining sea water lodged in her lungs.

The entire event was all done in a blink of an eye. The harbor seal's male colleague was slow to notice the trouble, but once he did, responded quickly, spun his vehicle around, and reached the rescue scene quickly. He was frantic to do something, but realized Nick and Judy had already done all the first aid that could be done, and that his colleague was recovering.

Dizzy, the little harbor seal regained her senses, look at Nick and Judy, and managed to say unsteadily, "Thank you, thank you so much. I… I think I'm OK now."

"Just take it easy. You took quite a spill," Judy comforted her fellow female softly.

The male seal was astonished at Nick and Judy's instantaneous response to the emergency, "How did you do that?"

Nick and Judy looked at each other, and were quite guarded in their response, in order not to reveal much about their background, "Well, guys, we have a lot of first responder training."

"Thanks. I owe you big time, mammals," the female seal stated effusively, smiling gratefully at both, struggling to sit up on the saddle with Judy supporting her shoulders. She threw up again.

"Sorry…" she apologized.

Nick shrugged, "Not a problem. That's what we do."

The harbor seal offered, "I have to pay you back somehow… how about a free session later in your vacation? We'll teach you some 'free style' acrobatics. I promise we'll be more careful this time."

That sounded like real fun, despite the risks they'd just experienced, and she turned to her husband, "Nickie?"

The fox responded with a broad grin and a wink, "Absolutely, Carrots."

Judy replied to the instructors with real excitement, "OK, then. We'll call you when we figure out our schedule."

Nick suddenly felt exhausted after his rescue, "Maybe we better call this session finished. This was a little too much excitement for me."

Judy agreed, "It's about time to go back, anyway. "

The foursome cruised back together to the docks at a much more cautious pace. One of the city's EMT units was waiting dockside for them to check out the lifeguard. The ambulance lights were drawing quite a crowd. The instructor closer to shore had to call in any incident, and apologized, "Sorry guys. That looked really bad. I had to report it."

The female accepted what needed to be standard safety procedure, "I know dude, but I'm fine. These two guests sure knew what to do."

The EMT interjected, "It appears that they do, but just the same, Miss, I need to check you out before you can go back to work. And ma'am and sir, I need a statement from you."

Nick and Judy were very reluctant to do anything that would officially make them visible to city authorities, "We really don't want to make a big fuss about this, please. This is our honeymoon. We knew what to do under the circumstances. We just did it, and we want to get back to our fun."

The lead EMT was understanding, but was also insistent, "I just need a statement, mammals. You can remain anonymous and you don't have to sign the report."

"Well… OK," Judy answered with uncertainty, but Nick agreed. Both realized that not giving a statement would be even more suspicious. Walking the fine line between remaining incognito and being too public was really stressful for them.

It didn't take long, and they described their rescue as clinically as any other first responder or police mammal would do and in the terminology the EMTs would understand, which gave the Atlantean EMTs the hint that these two land dwellers were "professionals". The fox and rabbit also could see that the water sports director was waiting nearby. He clearly wanted to meet the seal's rescuers and to give his young instructor staff a very stern safely lecture about being too aggressive having fun with the hotel guests. The resort front desk day manager also walked up to listen, wanting a full report of the incident. He had directed the ambulance to the water sports venue after the 911 call.

Curious on-lookers, expecting something more awful, dispersed and went about their business. No one seemed overly curious about Nick and Judy - to their relief. They scanned the snouts and muzzles of the "lookie-loo's" for revealing body language.

The aquatics director thanked Nick and Judy for their rescue of his staff, and they shook paws. The shift manager gave them a free 'drinks and dinner' coupon for saving the staffer's life, but he was being practical as well. Hopefully the expensive gift would keep this couple from suing the resort and making bad social media comments. It was a free full course dinner and drinks coupon to the 5 star restaurant in the resort's highest tent tower overlooking the entire city, which Judy knew they couldn't possibly afford on their own. Her eyes widened and she looked at the manager.

"This is for your trouble, kindness, and quick thinking, ma'am and sir," the day shift manager, a water buffalo, offered with a kind smile.

Still shocked, Judy gushed, "This… this is so generous, sir! We're… uh… not sure what to say."

"You don't need to say anything. It is our true pleasure to serve one of our best guests," he stated, with a slight bow to her. He'd checked. This couple had booked one of the most deluxe honeymoon packages for their two week stay.

With the incident resolved and goodbyes made, Judy reaffixed her wrap back around herself, gathered their stuff and started toward their next activity venue. Nick whispered to his bride, still examining the free dinner tickets they'd been given, plus a free gown and tux rental for 'proper attire' at the lavish restaurant, "Wow Carrots, if we go around looking for trouble to fix here at the hotel, we can get this entire honeymoon paid for!"

She snickered, snatched the tickets back and put them in a safe place in the day pack, and scolded, "Dream on, fox."

Walking along the boardwalk briskly to their parasail class, Nick looked at her now modestly covered rump, and blurted, "Uh, Judy. About your bikini…"

"Oh? So you like it?" she grinned and wiggled her hindquarters to draw further attention to her body. That made him dizzy, even with her covered. That cute little twitching tail of hers always got his attention.

He could barely think, but asked, "Where did you have that hidden?"

Nonchalantly she explained, "Oh… it was just a little honeymoon surprise I was keeping for you 'til later. But after last night, 'later' seemed like 'right now'."

"Are you violating any city lewdness ordinances with that thing, Judy?" he teased.

"You can be the first to make a citizen's arrest fox," she joked.

"Not unless you cause cardiac arrest in me first by wearing that," Nick retorted.

The couple laughed together. Nick rolled his eyes and took her paw in his more securely. Judy thought that he was so cute when he teased her relentlessly. She wanted to be back in bed with her husband even more than usual, but resisted her desires, at least for a little while. With each passing day in this paradise, it was harder for her to exert any self-control being around Nick. She wanted to sleep with him every minute and bear the first 'rabox' hybrid kit since Michael. She knew Nick felt the same.

Soon they reached their next destination in the vast resort complex. Resort Atlantis really was "one stop shopping" for any recreational sports activity they could think of doing in Atlantea. The sightseeing off-site was yet to come after they exhausted everything they could do inside the resort.

"Well, here we are!" noted Judy.

The place matched her GPS pin on the hotel app, and the sign above them said: "Resort Atlantea Parasailing: tickets and reservations required".

"This is gonna be great," Nick grinned, rubbing his paws together in anticipation.

Judy dutifully dug their coupons out of their daypack, and approached to the kiosk next to the boats and parasails. This activity was mostly empty of other patrons. Parasailing was not for the faint of heart.

"So folks," the parasailing director asked, "Are you brave enough to try this?"

"Darn right we are," replied Judy with confidence, with an emphatic head nod by Nick.

"Are you mammals going one at a time or…?" another staff member asked, a plump beaver.

Judy interrupted the aardvark with excitement, "We want to parasail together."

The fox snorted, "That way - if we crash and drown, we die together."

"Nick! Be nice!" Judy exclaimed and chastised him.

The hotel staffer was amused by this couple, "We assure you, folks, no one is going to die. Right this way now to the ride. Make sure you stow all your personal items securely."

Judy shed and stuffed her wrap in their bag, stunning Nick again, but he was better prepared as long as he concentrated. They signed all the release and insurance forms, then they went down to the dock with their personal boat captain and the parasail attendant. Dockside, they got the obligatory safety briefing, and practiced getting into the harnesses.

"All aboard now!" the captain invited. The couple gave each other very broad smiles, and expressed their excitement with a snug paw hold.

The pair sat in the back of the powerboat while the captain took them out to deeper waters. They enjoyed the wonderful view from the water. As they proceeded, the parasail attendant made sure that they were securely fastened in the twin harnesses, and that the safety locks were in place, so they weren't pulled up into the air prematurely. As they cruised slowly, the attendant carefully unfurled the parachute and watched it inflate overhead slightly behind the stern of the tow boat. The colorful canopy billowed out, and it was clearly sized for small mammals. Off in the distance, a much bigger boat towed an elephant couple using two huge cargo chutes. The jumbo-sized couple was animated in their excitement, and Nick and Judy knew they were next to go flying once the elephants cleared the course.

Nick joked to Judy about the pachyderms, "See that? If we were tied to their parachutes and our cable broke, we'd soar into outer space."

Judy laughed and grinned and noted, "You silly fox, you're certainly 'Mr. Snarky' today. What's got into you?"

"Your thong must've knocked me senseless today, Carrots," he replied.

Judy made a fist with her paw, and lightly tapped on his forehead, "Be careful, Nick, or I'll knock you senseless."

He gave her one of his best smiles, "You already have, Carrots."

She blushed, bussed Nick's cheek, and while admiring him, daydreamed a moment about their life together while waiting their turn with the other parasail boats and riders. A hundred images of Nick and her flashed through Judy's mind: working hard on the beat on the streets of Zootopia, fixing meals together, curled up the sofa together just watching TV, endlessly loving each other in bed in an equally endless number of techniques, snuggled together quietly in the dark to sleep, bathing, wrestling over the last dab of toothpaste, walking in the rain with no umbrella, the shattering image of being scooped up by Nick at the last second just before her death drop from the glass windows of Assembly Hall, and dozens of other things. It was so much fun being with Nick doing anything and everything in life together.

Even doing nothing together for Judy was nice as long as it was with Nick.

There was absolutely no question in her mind that Nick was her best friend, and they were literally having the time of their lives in paradise. She loved the never-ending teasing, mixed with very serious moments, and even more serious affection. They were quite literally "best friends – with benefits", as Nick teased her more than once, but with the additional "best benefit" of being married. It was a well worn phrase, but definitely applied to them. Her mother had told her how amazing married life was and as a little girl bunny, she always admired the kind of relationship her parents had together. She knew in her heart that Nick and she had the exactly the same kind of devotion, despite being more unconventional in their lifestyle to her parents.

"What?" Nick responded to seeing her day dream gaze while they sat side by side in their harnesses.

"Oh… nothing... I was just thinking about you. And us," she reflected softly.

"Hmmm. I guess you can't go wrong doin' that, Carrots," he replied affectionately, then leaned over to give her a big, sloppy, noisy, wet smooch. He almost licked her, which was part of their intimate grooming routine. She shivered in delight.

"Stop that, you!" she teased and wiped her muzzle. He tasted really good, but knew that in public she couldn't have another helping of her husband's snout.

Nick was not that reserved.

"Make me," he shot back, and gave her another wet kiss that she tried to resist at first, but quickly leaned into his affection. She nearly swooned.

The parasail attendant had enough of their mushiness, and brought the couple back to reality, "It's about time to fly folks, so check that your harnesses are secure."

Yes of course, both said together, exchanged longing but slightly embarrassed glances. The inside of their ears blushed, realizing their intense PDA may have been off-putting to the hotel staffer.

The captain steered his boat into the parasail course buoys, and made sure there were no intruding boats or stray cetaceans or pinnipeds traversing the course. He gave the "high sign" to the attendant who instructed, "OK folks, Cap'n Morgan says we're ready to go. Are you all set?

Nick and Judy each gave him two thumbs up.

The captain thrust the throttles forward, picked up speed briskly, and at 35 knots, the attendant released the clamps and set the cable at neutral. The wind took Nick and Judy up and away quickly.

"Whoo hoo!" shouted Judy.

"Yee haw!" exclaimed Nick.

She gave him a weird look, and commented, "'Yee haw'? You don't even like country that much, fox."

Flippantly, Nick commented, "Well I have to now; I'm married to a country bunny."

"True that," she nodded in agreement.

Nick added, "Besides, 'whoo hoo' was already taken."

She rolled her eyes, chuckled, and patted his arm affectionately.

The pair held paws fully aloft and just watched the beautiful views from high altitude. All they heard aloft was the sound of the wind rushing through their fur and the canopy above. They barely heard the roar of the tow boat far below. Judy managed to take some good photos with her cell from high aloft of the scenery: the boat and its long wake in the deep blue ocean, the hotel in the distance, the beaches in the foreground, and the jungle-covered mountains behind providing a lush green back drop. She was able to get a good shot of the vast expanse of the Marine Institute off in the distance up the coast one way, and the river delta and vast Atlantea harbor and shipyards the other direction. She even snapped a couple of good shots of Nick hanging by the straps and a selfie of them together.

Nick complimented her, "That'll be perfect, Carrots."

Judy was pleased and added, "I'd Photoshop that into an on line postcard if we hadn't promised to not advertise our honeymoon to anyone. "

Nick suggested, "Maybe after this is all over, we can have a slideshow and dinner party for our friends in our new house. I've been meaning to try that new roasted Portobello steak recipe anyway."

"That's a great idea fox," Judy responded, and mouth watered, realizing she was hungry again. They needed to stop for something to eat after this class.

They parasailed up and down the coast within the confines of the resort's parasail run several times.

Nick looked up at the harness fasteners, reached for them, and said, "What happens if I touch that?"

Judy replied in alarm, "No, Nick, don't! That's the emergency parachute release."

He soothed her concern, "Relax, Carrots. All we'd do is soar off to a deserted island and live alone together forever."

A little alarmed, Judy thought that he might just do it, and warned, "A romantic idea, but no, fox. Just no."

He grinned as she gave him that worried look, took her paw, calmed her, and they enjoyed the ride. It was quite relaxing to soar together.

After a few minutes, she observed, "I think you know how the fox bats feel now, Nick."

He really appreciated her remembering his thoughts earlier, "Probably so, Carrots, and I didn't have to grow leathery wings to do it!"

Both laughed.

From below, the parasail attendant called up to them, "Sorry guys. Time to reel you in!"

"Bummer," looked at their watches wondering the time had gone, and heard the grinding sound of the power winch. It seemed the 90 minutes had just started, and they were kind of disappointed.

Nick suggested, "Carrots, when we get home –how about trying some skydiving?"

"After this, you might even talk me into that, fox. This was fun!" she concurred, then added, "Nick, you know what happens next, right?"

"Afternoon delight?" he asked expectantly.

The thought thrilled Judy, but she corrected him humorously, "Wrong, doofus. We move - then that."

Shaking his head Nick praised, "It sure is a good thing that you are in charge of our itinerary, Mrs. Tour Director. I can never keep it all straight."

Kissed him right on the snout, "Me too, fox. If it was all up to you, we'd never ever get out of bed."

"And that's bad?" he challenged her with a mischievous grin.

"No, lover. That's very good," she smiled softly and pecked him. It was hard to keep her desire for him in check, either.

…Bart's Girlfriend's Apartment, Downtown Atlantea…

Bart had a wonderful late night reunion with Deborah – although she gave Bart a flipper-wagging, stern lecture about being gone for so long. They repeated their activity in an even more satisfying morning session. This was the first meaningful relationship he'd had since… well… since his wife was killed in a firefight years ago that he'd blamed himself for ever since, but was allowing himself to fall into something new and exciting. Bartholomew was exhausted from their intimacy, as only Deborah could do it, and he only reluctantly left her for a hard day's work. He promised to be back about dinner time. Her kiss and scent lingered on his snout as he took the bus from her downtown Atlantea flat to the resort.

He waddled to the registration desk with purpose, flashed his forged badge and credentials with a stern look to the very nervous young clerk, and lied, "I got a complaint from one of the hotel guests. There's some kind of pest infestation in their room."

The clerk was a little shocked by the assertion. Having a city inspector show up unannounced, not to mention that Bart presented an intimidating image, she remained polite and calm, but offered, "Just a minute sir, I'll get the day shift manager for you to talk to."

She went behind the desk into the office and explained the situation to the hotel manager, also a walrus . He came out to the desk, and asked, "May I help you, Inspector?"

Bart explained the bogus claim. The manager narrowed his eyes, examined the inspector, and challenged the complaint, "It's strange they wouldn't report that to housekeeping first. We pride ourselves on customer care in any situation."

Bartholomew remained determined and reinforced his confrontation, "Maybe they couldn't get through the hotel operator. Nonetheless, they called us, and I'm required by law to investigate any complaint from hotel guests and make a report."

"I know the law, sir," the day manager replied, trying unsuccessfully to not be uncooperative or belligerent. The manager surmised that his was probably another attempt by the corrupt city government to extort more guest room code violation penalty money from the hotel, but he also knew that was the way the tourist business was done.

"Good that you do, and even better if your hotel staff does too," Bart emphasized forcefully, to remind the rude manager who was actually in charge here.

Being proactive to get rid of this guy, the shift manager stated, "So, let's see where the complaint originated. Did you get the guest name, Inspector?"

He replied, "Wilde. W-i-l-d-e. The 'e' is silent."

The manager had the nervous clerk search the guest records to no avail. The young female became quite frustrated, pursed her lips and informed the Inspector, "Sir, I'm sorry. I only have two "Wild" families. Both spelled with no 'e' at the end."

"That can't be right," Bart complained, stretching to see the guest registration list on the screen himself as if the clerk was hiding something.

The clerk remained silent, and gave a look to the manager to let him do the talking with the intimidating city official, "Well, Inspector, that's the closet match we have in our reservation system. Are you sure it wasn't competitor's hotel calling in a fake complaint?"

Annoyed that the manager doubted him, Bart snapped, "No, it was here. Check your records again!"

The clerk, the manager, and the reservations office made a thorough check. Nick and Judy voided being discovered by a lucky coincidence. The room reservation was still in Judy's maiden name, and even though she let the registration staff know at check in about the change in their marital status, they didn't change the reservations from being in her name to avoid confusion or duplication. All the tickets to events were pre-printed already, weeks before their arrival: "J. Hopps and Hopps Guest".

It amused Nick to see the tickets as 'Hopps Guest', and more than once he'd introduced himself as 'Hopps Guest' to the hotel staff, which made Judy roll her eyes.

The manager made himself very clear, "Sorry sir, I've searched every record several different ways. Did you get a room number?"

He lied because of course he didn't have it, "I didn't get the room. It was garbled on the hotel complaint line. That's why I came here first."

The walrus gave him an increasingly skeptical look, and looked harder at the older walrus' name plate. He remained suspicious. He hadn't seen this inspector before.

But he remained hospitable. Any resistance would go in the report against the hotel so he suggested, "So… let's go check this incident with those families. If you don't mind, Mr. Bart, I will accompany you to the rooms."

Bart snapped with the intent to provoke the manager, "I insist on it, so you can correct this situation immediately. You need to hear about the complaint first-flipper, and then maybe you'll be a little more responsive to hotel guests needs."

The insult made the manager's snout whiskers bristle and jaw muscles tighten. He barely avoided saying something nasty to the city official. Not only did he not want to get the hotel in trouble, he knew that being written up personally by the nasty inspector would be career limiting.

Bart knew that killing the shift manager as well as the fox and rabbit as soon as they opened the door to their room would make things a little more complicated, but it was all in a day's work. He'd had more difficult assignments. He wasn't worried about being seen. The jammer in his pocket would make short work of the hallway and grounds security cams. He'd do his dirty work and be off the grounds before any hint of discovery.

They took an EV to speed getting to the wing of the hotel where the first 'Wild' family was located.

The manager sighed, unhappy to be interrupting a hotel guest on what he was still convinced was a false claim. He knocked on the door, "Hotel staff."

A male moose met them, "Yes? May I help you?"

He was very annoyed, and like most mooses, had a bad temper. The room was full of his noisy family herd trying to get ready for the beach. Three young calves jumped on one of the beds, and their mother was trying unsuccessfully to get them to stop. She was arguing with the calves to get their swim suits on. Bart was really disappointed. This was definitely not the fox and rabbit. He had to make something up.

"We're sorry to interrupt your day, Mr. and Mrs. Wild. This is the hotel shift manager and I'm Bart from the Atlantea building inspection team. We got a 'hot line' report that you may have reported a problem."

"What kind of problem?" The moose wanted this conversation to end so he could help his overwhelmed wife. The bull moose was actually worried about a noise complaint about his "Wild" family. They'd already had neighbors bang on the walls to tell them to 'keep it quiet over there!'.

The bull was curt, "I don't recall making a complaint. One of the calves must've been playing with the phone again. I told them not too."

Bart was explicit, "It was about a pest infestation."

"Really?" he asked with alarm, "Is there?"

He hated bugs, especially the swarms of black flies that came out in the muggy summers up north. Moose skin especially tender to their bites.

The walrus manager assured him, "That's what we're here to check out."

The male turned to his spouse, shouting over the din of the calves still acting up, "Hey, honey? Did you complain about bugs?"

"No dear."

He replied to the walruses to get them to leave, "It must be some other family. There's nothing here. My kids would scare away any bugs."

"I heard that," the bull's wife scolded. She'd just about had her fill of this long vacation with her misbehaving kids. She didn't need that snarky comment from her husband.

Neither walrus wanted any more of this brewing family argument, so Bart tried to end it abruptly, "Sorry to have bothered you folks."

The manager reached into his pocket, "We apologize for the intrusion. Here's certificate for a free dinner for all of your family."

"Wow! That's really nice of you," the bull said gratefully and even smiled. It was expensive to feed his family.

The door closed and the manager glared at the inspector.

"Well that was embarrassing," the manager snapped.

Bart was not sympathetic, "Look dude, all I do is check out complaints. You say your have another Wild family at the resort?"

He sighed and reluctantly said, "Yes…"

"Let's go check them out," Bart demanded.

The manager rolled his eyes, anticipating the same thing happening.

They drove the EV clear across the other end of the resort. There they encountered the same issue, this time with a family of gerbils in a very small mammal room that Bart could only peer into to talk to the occupants. Bart was exasperated, but didn't show it. A rabbit and fox could never fit in this rodent-sized guest room. Once again the claim of 'infestation' was proven negative.

The hotel manager was extremely upset, and wanted to be rid of the Inspector, for his patience had run out, "Are we done here, sir?" I have real work to do taking care of the guests and real complaints. I believe city government has been the victim of an elaborate prank."

Bart insisted, though not as forcefully, "Not quite. May I walk around the grounds? I want to look for ants, wasps or moths."

The manager had no choice, "You're free to inspect whatever you want to close the report in the hotel's favor."

"Thank you," Bart said insincerely, "I will. Good day."

"Good day to you too, sir," replied the manager rather coldly.

The entire situation was a classic example of how male walruses never got along well, even when they didn't fight over females.

Mentally exhausted, the manager returned to the front desk. His colleague, who'd been subbing for him while the inspections were being conducted asked, "What was that all about? Why was a city building inspector here?"

The walrus rolled his eyes at the female sea lion, "Don't ask. You don't even want to know."

"You have to tell the boss," she reminded him.

"I know, but he'll just get pissed off."

"That's for sure. Everything about the government pisses him off," she agreed and they snickered.

Bart walked the grounds and common areas of the hotel looking around. He did see a couple of gray fox families and rabbit families and momentarily was encouraging, but they were with other foxes and rabbits, and they were the wrong species of fox and rabbit anyway. Bart felt the weight of doing this charade 29 more times if he couldn't connect with his informant. He knew that he would never be discovered impersonating an inspector while he methodically did this. The hotels wouldn't tell the others about being investigated. Pride and competitiveness prevented anyone telling another resort that anything was wrong.

The best part was that he had observed a couple of mixed species couples here. After this assignment was over, he'd infiltrate hotel records, investigate where they lived, and have the Movement operatives in those locations 'take care of business'.

An EV flashed past him across a fountain courtyard loaded with luggage driven by a horse, but he couldn't see what species the guests were in the covered passenger compartment.

After two more hours Bart had seen enough of Resort Atlantis. He was frustrated with the dead end investigation, hoping to catch a fleeting glance of the fox and rabbit somewhere on these enormous grounds. This was only the beginning of the arduous hotel search, while monitoring the results of the worldwide search from the Movement's network of contacts. Surely the fox and rabbit would be turn up somewhere.

It was barely lunch and already he had a headache.

He left the premises went on to the Blue Sea Hotel and Spa next door down the boulevard. He tried to get his contact on the phone again. It was very strange because the new guy was so eager to help. He did leave a voice message concerning a good tip on another mixed species couple at the resort that he'd discovered that needed to be taken care of. The walrus would praise him for the good work. Bart wondered if he could convince him to take a more active role in the fight against mixed species proliferation, and to arrange for that couple to 'accidentally' die of food poisoning from room service. Bart didn't care if he ruined the hotel's rep. That would truly prove the sea lion's loyalty.

…Nick and Judy's Adult Beach room. 20 minutes earlier…

Looking around with the good memories, Judy noted, "I wish we didn't have to check out of this room. We had a lot of fun here."

"But it's even more fun where we're moving!" Nick encouraged. Both knew the bungalow was going to be an even more private, romantic haven for them.

"That's for sure fox," and she got up on tip toes of her hind paws to kiss him soundly.

Savoring the kiss, he stepped back and complimented her, "You look as fantastic as ever, Carrots."

Instead of her bikini and wrap, she wore a flimsy, short, barely-past-hindquarters-length, leg-revealing, pure white sun dress with a modestly cut neckline with spaghetti straps so she could wear and hide the Key in her cleavage. She looked like an angel to him. Nick noticed that more of Judy was exposed than wasn't.

"Thank you, Nick, you're pretty handsome yourself," she replied. Her husband wore a bright flowered tropical button shirt and safari pant shorts.

He pulled the drape aside, and looked out to the bright white beach behind them, with lots of topless bathers playing on the beach and in the ocean.

He didn't stare, having only the image burned into his memory of Judy of being topless on the sand, but commented, "I'm gonna miss our time on that Adult beach."

She came up beside him, soothed his arm, and leaned her head against him, knowing what he meant, and suggested softly, "Our beach doesn't have any clothing restrictions at all, fox. And only we can use it."

He turned, grabbed her by the shoulders and joked, with wide, hungry eyes, "Really? Well… never mind what I said… Adult beach? What adult beach?"

She laughed, rolled her eyes, and shook her head, "Pervert…"

He just grinned and she tweaked the tip of his wet nose. She couldn't wait for their private time together either, but didn't want to encourage him further. The bed beside them was too inviting and the porter could arrive at any time.

They heard the expected knock on the door, walked over, checking for left behind items, and opened the door to the porter.

"Milo?" Judy said with a pleasant surprise.

"Yeah," he shrugged, "'Looks like you got me again. I figure that the hotel thinks I'm part pack mule."