I RETURN! A SECOND CHANCE TO CARVE YOUR SKULL... wait hang on, this isn't my script?!

Well... I'm back everyone. It's been a hectic few years, had a lot going on, I got married to my own Bruma among others.

Now It's been a while so if my writing isn't quite the same, or not quite up to par, or this chapter doesn't seem to fit with the flow properly...

Well too bad I can't do anything about it :D so sit back and just enjoy the ride.

Chapter 24

Nick hesitated in front of the door.

Which was stupid because it was his front door. Most of him knew that was stupid because he'd long since memorized the plans the builders had been given. The only issue was the bathroom. Noct had said that he'd arranged for a bathroom as good as the one they'd seen at Chrysalis Tower.

Now that was fine; Nick was actually rather envious of Noct's accommodation, not that he'd ever tell the panther, the problem was a bit more indirect. Nick had let Noct in on the whole situation, Noct had access to the building plans and had obviously made a change when it came to the bathroom. The reason Nick was hesitant to open the door was because, and if anyone knew Noct it was Nick, there was no guarantee that Noct's meddling had stopped at the bathroom.

The image of Noct's first visit to his apartment flashed into Nick's head.

Now come on, he may not have liked it originally, but he seemed to approve of the changes…

Yes… but we aren't going to know anything for sure till we open the door.

Nick sighed, took a deep breath, and grabbed hold of the door knob.

Click

Other than the sound of the lock, the new door was silent as it swung open. Nick's eyes flicked from side to side as he cautiously stepped inside. Be it a mixture of late nights at work and actually hanging out with Finnick, but Nick hadn't actually been back to check on the progress of the apartment all week. Then he'd received a text early this Saturday morning from Noct saying it was all finished.

Nick was slightly annoyed that Noct had seemingly ended up in charge of the whole thing but could only really roll his eyes at it. Broken Clockwork may have pulled a few strings to get all the planning permission and other paperwork out of the way, and currently Noct was Broken Clockwork.

Still, as the fox padded into the apartment, Noct didn't seem to have done anything crazy. There was a wall to his left with a general storage room near the door, but the room opened up to the right with the lounge. It was bigger than it used to be and actually a few steps lower than the rest of the apartment, several couches, a couple of bean bags, a humongous TV hanging on the wall. Nick stepped down from the 'corridor' and gave it a quick once over, but everything seemed okay, the sentimental things he'd wanted kept were all here and the new things were of the 'brand spanking' variety.

Nodding to himself, Nick kept walking forwards and climbed the few steps back up into the next part of the apartment which was the kitchen. It opened onto the lounge, though the slight height difference between the two rooms provided a bit of privacy. It also meant the you had a clear view of the TV in the kitchen no matter who was sat in the living-room.

The kitchen itself was fairly minimalist, clean counters with sinks and cutting boards, lots of space and cupboards, dining table in the centre, and plenty of life improving gadgets. Washing machine, tumble dryer, dish washer, blender and food processor, microwave and a rather large and complicated looking oven just to name the ones Nick noticed immediately.

Nick frowned for a moment before trying a tower of cupboards that went from floor to ceiling. Though he was sort of expecting it, the 'cupboard' needed a stronger tug that he thought, and when he did pull it open the entire column of 'cupboards' opened up to reveal an enormous fridge freezer. Noct had very conscientiously had it filled with food and Nick grinned as he swiped a few blueberries from where they were sat pride of place in the middle of the fridge.

Tossing the delicious blue balls of goodness into his mouth, Nick shut the fridge and headed out of the kitchen. Beyond the end of the kitchen the 'corridor' became one in more than name only, though it wasn't particularly long. At the end of the corridor there were two doors one to the left and one to the right.

"Choices, choices" Nick mused to himself as his gaze switched between the two doors. Finally, he settled on the right and went through.

The right-hand door led to Nick's birthday present, the indulgent bathroom that Noct had commissioned for Nick.

The room was decorated in small tiles, most were a gentle cream but every so often there were flecks of turquoise or green glass. There was a main light, clear white to provide good vision, but there were also many secondary lights in blues and greens that were gentler on the eyes and gave the room a cosier atmosphere.

First, on the left near the door, was a sectioned off toilet, but that barely registered with Nick as he stepped inside. To his right was very fancy sink and mirror, all flowing chrome pipes with a swirling basin. Nick noticed that all his toiletries, other than the ones he took to Finnick's, were already in place. Next to the sink was a full body blow dryer like the ones in the rainforest district and Nick was almost tempted to hop in and test it out.

To Nick's left was a bath, although, similar to the one at Noct's home, this seemed more like a small swimming pool. Nick walked over and leant over the edge, it was stepped and he was fairly sure he could see water jets built into the sides. The bath was shaped like an irregular splodge apart from where it reached the far end of the bathroom where it went right up to the wall.

The bath took up the left-hand side while a darkened glass wall sectioned off about half of the right-hand side. Wandering down the space left in the middle of the bathroom Nick found the entrance to the walled off section. It was, as he'd thought, a shower like Noct's, more settings than you could need and plenty of space.

Nick snorted but he couldn't help feeling a little warmer inside. He's spent a long time away from Broken Clockwork, a long time as a small bit hustler, big, crazy, expensive things were still slightly unnerving to him. But this was so very like his brother and Nick knew if their positions were swapped he would have probably been even more lavish.

Leaving the bathroom there was only one other place to go as Nick opened the door on the other side of the corridor.

This was the bedroom and Nick couldn't help let out a low whistle when he saw it. For a start it was bigger than it used to be, it ran pretty much the length of the apartment. Plenty of wardrobe space up against one wall, more space in fact than Nick thought he would ever be able to use. The bed itself was big, Nick did a slight double take as he walked past it, he'd ordered one a little bigger than his last one since he liked to sprawl when he slept, but this one was even bigger than he was expecting.

I knew he wouldn't be able to keep his paws to himself Nick thought with a frown before shaking his head at least a bigger bed isn't too drastic a change.

Other than that, Noct didn't seem to have messed with the designs too much. There was still a large bay window taking up the far wall to the left. As Nick was checking everything over he noticed a piece of paper lying on the bed.

Nick

Hope everything is to your liking, I swear I didn't mess with too many of your designs. I took the liberty of installing self-darkening glass, the controls are by one of the bed side tables. Also there's a TV that folds down from the ceiling.

Nick stopped reading and glared up at the ceiling, sure enough he could make out the slots that he assumed the TV would slide out of.

But other than that I haven't done much, not going to tell you about anything else though, so have fun finding out. The keys are in the fruit bowl in the kitchen. Oh and I deodorised the whole place once the last builder had left, figured you wouldn't want the whole apartment smelling of about seven different species of sweaty animal. Speaking of that I noticed that you forgot air conditioning so added a climate control. But that's the last one I'm telling you about, seriously.

Noct

Nick shook his head and smiled, he had noticed that the apartment didn't smell of anything in particular, and more importantly the air conditioning was a good call as he had completely forgotten about it.

Taking one last look around the bedroom Nick headed back to the kitchen where, just as the note said, there were a pile of keys sitting in the fruit bowl on the dining table. Nick hopped up onto one of the chairs and just looked around his new apartment a little absentmindedly. Sure, he'd planned the layout, mostly, but actually seeing it in person? Well, it was a bit much for him, it wasn't too long ago that he was considering a bridge as acceptable or Finnick's van as luxury accommodation.

"And yet here I am" he mumbled softly to himself "And I guess there's only one mammal I can blame for all this"

Nick's ears perked up as he thought this.

Right, Judy…

Yeah, let the fun begin.

Nick smirked as he reached for his phone.

Judy was currently lounging on her bed in her tiny little apartment with her eyes shut tight. She'd just finished a call to her parents, she had found that if she took the initiative to phone home roughly once a week it did wonders curbing some of her parents' manic worrying, but as much as she liked hearing about home the calls always left her feeling a little drained.

BBVVVZZZZZZZZ

Judy groaned and groped out with her left hand. She'd purposefully put her phone on silent so she could get a moment quiet but the vibrate function was louder than she'd counted on.

"Hello?" she answered a little grumpily without bothering to check the caller ID.

"What's up Carrots? You sound like you woke up on the wrong side of the cabbage patch today"

"Hey Nick" said Judy opening her eyes and suddenly feeling a lot more chipper "I just got off the phone to my parents and I was feeling a little tired"

"Oh? I thought you liked talking to your family?"

"I do, it's just recently they keep pestering me about whether I have a boyfriend or not yet, I get the feeling they might start trying to set me up with people soon"

There was an awkward silence on the line. Judy felt her ears rapidly start burning up in embarrassment at what she'd just said but suddenly her words were escaping her, and she didn't what to say.

"Yeah, well, family huh" said Nick as he cleared his throat "I'd have thought they'd have enough single sons and daughters to bother if they got that sort of itch"

"I know, but I'm the only one of my siblings who moved further away from home than the edge of the Tri-burrows Area so I kinda stick out at home" Judy gave a gentle sigh that set Nick's tail shivering "A-anyway, forget all of that, why'd you call?"

"Oh nothing crazy… I just wondered if you wanted to be the first person to get the tour of Casa del Wilde?

...

...

...

Carrots?"

Beep

Nick looked down at his phone as the call cut off and raised an eyebrow.

"Hmmm" pondered Nick, scratching his chin as he wandered over to the fridge "going off the delay before she hung on me, adding on the boost in her mood following that call to her parents, multiplying by the amount of time she hasn't been able to visit while the building work has been going on… I'm predicting she won't think to take her car, given the distance she has to cover…"

Nick started humming to himself as he fished a whole load of vegetables out of the fridge. Picking up one of the pristine, new kitchen knives, Nick began to prepare a salad with practiced skill. The knife paused for a moment as he was slicing up some lettuce, Nick had just noticed how used to dealing with vegetarian food he was now. Smirking slightly, he carried on with his preparations.

Seven minutes later the fox had a large bowl of fresh, mixed salad and a litre bottle of spring water ready and he carried them out the front door and waited on the landing.

Another minute or so went by before Nick's ears pricked up, there was a rapid drumming coming from the stairwell.

Sure enough, a few moments later a grey and purple blur flew up the stairs and nearly ricocheted off the wall down the corridor towards Nick. Somehow the blur managed to slow down just as it arrived in front of the fox, and it revealed itself to be Judy, her eyes shining like stars.

She looked at Nick expectantly, but he made no indication that he was going to let her in. A few seconds later Judy's breathing started to grow heavier, and Nick's eyes narrowed slightly as he held out the bottle of water. Just as her body started to complain, heavenly nectar appeared before Judy's eyes, she grabbed the bottle and began to drink deep gulps of water. Taking a shuddering breath Judy was about to say something when Nick held out the salad and a fork he had produced from somewhere.

Judy froze for a moment, her brain not quite comprehending how her bodies needs were being met so instantaneously. Then Nick's gesture wormed its way into her head, she was touched and a little embarrassed, Judy could almost feel her ears starting to flush. But then her stomach sucker punched her brain and demanded the food that was so tantalisingly close.

The rabbit snatched the bowl from Nick's hands and the fox's eyes widened slightly at the vicious scene of herbivorous savagery that took place before him. After the last shred of greenery disappeared into a fuzzy, grey abyss, much faster than even Nick expected, Judy let out a contented sigh.

"Feeling better now Carrots" smirked Nick holding his paw out for the empty bowl.

"Yes, much" replied Judy rather breathily, she leant back to do some stretches and missed the effect her voice had on Nick "How did you do that?"

"I just know my partner that's all" chuckled Nick as he waited for Judy to finish up "are you ready now?"

"Yes!" Judy almost shouted as she bounced up and down on the spot "Let me see!"

Nick felt a warmth in his chest, he was actually rather proud of what had been accomplished here, and he wanted to share it with Judy.

"Alright then Fluff" said Nick as he reached behind him for the door handle "Bienvenidos a mi casa, mi cassa es tu casa"

The door swung open smoothly and a grey blob brushed past Nick and rushed inside. Nick slowly padded inside to find Judy stopped still a few steps into the apartment. The fox smiled gently as he took in the look of wonder on his partners face. Then Nick caught himself, shook his head clear, and moved past Judy to head for the kitchen.

So far Judy was still caught up in the living room, she was comparing it to her memories of how it used to be and things weren't quite adding up. With a twitch of her ears, Judy looked around and noticed Nick sat in the kitchen watching her with a grin on his face.

Kitchen? she thought but it's bigger than I remember too…

"Nick?" she asked slowly as she still kept looking around "I swear you didn't have this much space before, what's going on?"

"Well I may have bought one or two of the other apartments on this floor" said Nick watching her expression, sure enough it turned to worry and concern "Don't get your cute little tail in a twist, Carrots. There were enough empty apartments at the moment that we could safely transfer all my neighbours to different accommodation."

"Wha… but… how? How did you get them to agree and what about the landlord? And did you just call my tail cute?!"

"Oh there wasn't any issue with the landlord and when we offered to take a third off their rent the residents were more than happy to move" said Nick with his trademarked sly grin as he pointedly avoided her last question.

Judy's eyes narrowed slightly as she went back over that last sentence, what she was fairly certain was the correct answer was slowly worming its way into her head and she started to massage her temples.

"You bought out the landlord, didn't you?" she said accusingly at Nick.

"Well, I didn't" said Nick laughing lightly "this apartment complex is now one of Broken Clockwork's assets. And Noct seemed quite happy with my plans for the place. Oh, and we've given Donald a substantial raise"

"I don't think I'm ever going to get accustomed to the fact that you guys have such large influence" said Judy exasperatedly "this kind of thing just feels… not right"

"…" Nick's face dropped almost as much as his stomach did, he hopped down from his seat in the kitchen and hurried over to stand in front of Judy.

Judy froze slightly as Nick reached out and gently pulled her head till it was leaning sideways against his chest, she was too confused to feel shy and the fox's heartbeat served to calm her down anyway.

"Hear that?" said Nick quietly.

"Yes, it's your heart you dumb fox"

"Sound familiar?"

"Of course, I've heard it enough while we're out in the field" said Judy with a grin.

"Hey" replied Nick reproachfully "if my heart races on the job, its worrying about my partner" Judy grabbed hold of Nick's T-shirt tightly "what I'm trying to say is… I'm still just me Judy"

They stayed like that for a few minutes, Judy was enjoying the closeness while Nick was taking in every little twitch of the grey ears in front of his muzzle.

"Alright come on" said Nick pushing them apart "you've barely seen the place yet"

Judy's ears perked right back up as she span around and began a more detailed explore of the living room. After a quick run around the room she flopped down on the sofa in front of the TV and stretched out.

"Ok, you know what? I'll overlook what you did to get this place because this is heavenly" Judy smiled dopily as she sank into the cushions.

"I guess I did a good job designing the place" chuckled Nick as he walked back up into the kitchen to get himself a glass of water "you've still got three rooms to go"

Fuzzy ears flicked up over the back of the sofa, quickly followed by the rest of Judy as she vaulted over the back of it and bounced up the steps into the kitchen as well. There wasn't anything absolutely out of this world with the kitchen, it was just a very nice, very modern kitchen, the kind that you'd see in commercials and then dream about owning. Judy wasn't that interested in going through every single cupboard so finished with the kitchen fairly quickly. Seeing this Nick just gestured down the corridor and slowly wandered after the grey flash, Judy seemed to have regained her energy again.

At the end of the corridor Nick saw Judy's head flicking left and right as she tried to decide which way to go first. Just like Nick the grey doe picked the right-hand door and disappeared into the bathroom.

This ought to be fun Nick thought to himself as he too pushed the door open and entered.

Sure enough, Judy had frozen on the spot just a few steps into the room, Nick's tail twitched at the look of wonder on her face.

"Oh, I am definitely going to be using this" said Judy absentmindedly as her gaze switched between the bath and the shower.

Nick shook his head sharply to try and clear the sudden image of Judy in the bath from his mind, but it wasn't working very well while he could still see her here in the bathroom.

"You, er, you take your time" the fox mumbled as he hurriedly left the room.

Nick went straight across the corridor into his bedroom and took a shuddering breath.

That is not good for my health

Well I was enjoying it anyway…

…I am not in the mood to talk to you right now

Nick growled lightly at nothing in particular as he crawled up onto the bed and collapsed face first. He seriously needed to get his head sorted out about Judy, he didn't really want to end up tranqed on the bathroom floor again. To be brutally honest… Nick was scared. He hadn't felt this way about anyone since… well, for a very long time. And the few times he'd felt something, nowhere near this level mind you, had been very painful experiences.

Nick nearly jumped in the air when he felt a soft touch on his shoulder. He looked around wide eyed to find Judy kneeling on the bed next to him a piercing look of worry in her eyes.

"Are you ok Nick?" she asked concernedly, her arm pausing, unsure if it should reach out.

No, I'm not…

"I'm fine Carrots" smirked Nick as he flipped over on the bed to lie on his back "So what do you think of my den?"

Judy sat down next to her partner and pulled her knees up under her chin as she watched him.

"I think it's amazing" she said slowly while watching Nicks face intently "do you like it? Are you sure you're ok?"

She's getting better, I can barely hide things from her now

Maybe you just don't want to hide things from Judy anymore, maybe you'd rather be sharing things with her

… shut up…

"I'm fine Fluff" said Nick with a sigh "guess I'm still adjusting to all this same as you, and of course I like the place, I designed it pretty much"

Judy watched as, part way through looking at her, she noticed that tell tale sparkle appear in her partners eyes.

"Actually" said Nick with a smirk "there is one last thing I need to show you"

With the bottom falling out of her stomach, Judy hopped off the bed and followed after her fox who was rapidly moving through the apartment.

Out of the apartment? She though puzzledly as she saw Nick standing there holding the front door open for her.

Once they were both outside again Nick safely locked his apartment and beckoned for Judy as he walked down the corridor. As part of all the building work, the front doors of the apartments that were absorbed into Nick's were removed, Broken Clockwork 'spared no expense' to quote Furassic Park. So the corridor that normally had regular doorways at regular intervals now felt rather lopsided on one side.

Finally, they reached another door on the same side of the corridor as Nick's. Judy was really rather confused by this point, especially as Nick pulled out a different set of keys and began to open the door. Nick pushed open the door and led the way inside, Judy followed while looking around blinking, it was rather dark in here, but it seemed familiar.

"What is…?" mumbled Judy as she walked in looking around "This looks like your apartment but…"

"Everything looks a little back to front?" grinned Nick as he hopped down into the living room "That's because this is the mirror image of my place"

Judy just kept looking around the place in confusion, it felt like there was some sort of simple answer to this mystery that Nick was presenting but for the life of her she couldn't work it out.

"I showed you around Casa del Wilde before" said Nick as he held his arms out and slowly span on the spot till he was looking at Judy again "Now, welcome to Casa del Hopps"

Judy was still looking around, trying to find some sort of clue to what was going on, but she was still paying attention to what the fox was saying. A few seconds after he finished speaking, Judy's brain caught up and her ears swivelled to face Nick, swiftly followed by the rest of her.

She looks just like she's caught in some headlights thought Nick as he started to brace himself.

"Here you go Fluff, it's all yours now" said Nick with a small smile as he tossed something to Judy.

Despite how shell-shocked Judy was, her instincts were still there, and she snatched the object out of the air. Glancing down at her paws she saw the set of keys that Nick had used to open this apartment.

He… he can't of… can he?

…

He has, hasn't he? He's gone and bought me an apartment.

A huge, fancy, modern, expensive apartment…

I thought I made it explicitly clear that I didn't want any of the money!

By now Judy's expression had settled into a frown and she looked up from the keys to start berating Nick, only to find herself wrapped up in orange and green. Nick had clearly been expecting Judy's line of thought and had walked over and pre-emptively pulled her into a hug. Which, as he'd expected, threw an imaginary monkey wrench into the gears of Judy's mind.

"I know what you're going to say Judy" said Nick softly "something about the money having too many memories attached, and you refuse to accept any of it. Which is why I'm not giving you a penny of it. I spent my money on things that I wanted to buy. It just so happens that, after buying my own apartment, the next thing I wanted was for my partner not to have to live in a shoebox"

Judy had just about unfrozen when Nick started to talk so she gave him the benefit of the doubt and listened quietly. It had nothing to do with her delight in being held in Nick's arms whatsoever. But as she stood there, she couldn't stop the warmth rising up in her chest.

Now what am I supposed to do she thought frantically as she grabbed hold of Nick's green T-shirt He bought me an apartment… I don't know how I'm supposed to deal with this…

"Judy" Nick saw her ears twitch when he said her name "I know you are probably running around in circles in your own head trying to deal with this. But please, just humour me on this ok? I've seen where you live, and you've always deserved better than that"

"Hey, there's nothing wrong with the Grand Pangolin Arms!" said Judy defensively into Nick's chest.

"Except for your neighbours" grinned Nick as he got a small snort out of Judy, gently prising her off him, Nick knelt down to look the bunny in the eye "Listen Judy, you've done… well I won't go into everything you've done for me, but I just wanted to do something for you this time"

Judy couldn't help it, that warmth in her chest spilt out and seemed to run to the ends of her paws leaving them tingling. Nick could see a little sparkle light up in Judy's dazzling amethyst eyes, a sparkle that soon became a glow as the rabbit threw her arms around his neck and held him tight. Nick jumped slightly as he found his partner hanging off his neck but relaxed and wrapped his arms round her too, it seemed that he'd managed to get Judy to see his point of view.

After a few minutes Nick felt the grip on him loosen and he let go and stood back up. Any frowns on Judy's face had vanished and she looked around the apartment with a fresh gaze now that she knew that it was hers.

It was in fact almost exactly the same as Nick's apartment, at least in the general layout. But Judy noticed that as much as possible Nick had furnished the place with rabbit sized furniture and appliances. After a quick run around the living room and the kitchen, and seeing all the thoughtful touches Nick had added, Judy was practically bouncing up and down on the spot in excitement.

"So what do you think Fluff?" asked Nick as he watched Judy bouncing "do you like it?"

"Do I… like it?! I… Yes… it's…" Nick could make out between Judy's hopping up and down on the spot "I don't… it's… Aaah"

There was too much running through Judy's head to express at the moment and she jumped up particularly high, grabbed hold of Nick's muzzle, and kissed him before she fell back to the ground. Once back on the floor, it was like a small rocket went off as Judy ran around the living room and kitchen once more before shooting down the corridor.

It had been so very quick, and so very light, but to the fox it had been like being struck by lightning. He didn't move a muscle as Judy tore round the apartment again, the only thing about him that was moving was his heart which sounded far too loud in his head.

Did… did that just…?

A sudden silence in the apartment caught Nick's attention and he turned his head rather jerkily to look down the corridor Judy had set off along. At the end of the corridor, by the doors to the bedroom and bathroom, Judy had frozen mid step. She seemed ok but Nick could see her ears twitching intensely even from where he was standing. Before Nick could say anything, a jolt seemed to run down Judy's spine and then she dived into the bedroom to her right and slammed the door shut.

Nick eased his way into the kitchen and slumped down in one of the chairs, his paw held over his heart. Sure enough, as he'd feared, there was a piercing pain that throbbed in his heart. Thankfully everything had happened so quickly, and the pain seemed to pass just as quickly. Letting out a sigh of relief that it was over Nick ran a paw down his muzzle as he pondered the situation.

She's clearly embarrassed, it just took a her a moment to notice what she did…

I know right, isn't she adorable?

Oh shut up, she has just been on an emotional rollercoaster with everything I've dumped on her today, her actions were entirely understandable…

You mean the kiss…

Actions!

Alright, alright, no need to shout, but you know I don't think Judy's the type to kiss any random mammal just because she couldn't process things…

I keep telling you that I'm not talking to you anymore you know?

It never sticks…

…I'd rather go talk to Judy than you right now

With a deeper sigh, Nick clambered out of his chair and padded down the corridor. The corridor suddenly felt a lot longer than he remembered it being, the doors at the end seemed to stretch into the distance. But then, before he could sort out his head, he was already stood outside the door. Nick raised a paw to knock on the door and paused as he tried to work out what he was going to do.

Sadly Nick's normally articulate brain had gone on strike. Trying not to think about what Judy did also meant that the fox wasn't thinking about anything much. Shaking his head, Nick resigned himself to improvising and knocked on the bedroom door.

"You there, Fluff?" there was silence from the bedroom "I'm coming in, Carrots"

Nick pushed the door open carefully, he was fairly certain he would have noticed if Judy was just on the other side but he wasn't taking any chances. The door swung open nice and cleanly without bumping into any rabbits and Nick stepped into the room.

It was pretty obvious where Judy was as soon as Nick surveyed the room, there was a small, quivering lump in the middle of the bed, under the covers. Nick couldn't help but smile slightly as he walked over and lightly hopped up onto the bed. The fox sat himself down next to the quivering lump, which instantly became motionless, as Nick tried to work out what to say.

"I'm sorry" came a very small voice from under the covers before Nick's silver tongue could kick in.

"There's nothing to apologise for Judy" said Nick after a small pause "high spirits and all that, I'm just glad you like your present"

"I feel like 'present' is too small a word to describe what you got me"

"Perhaps" smirked Nick, a lightbulb finally went off in his head and he reached over for something on one of the bedside tables "I've got one last thing to show you"

In Nick's paw was a remote control and, with a click of a button and a whirring from the ceiling, a widescreen TV folded down from the roof and clicked into place giving a perfect view from the bed. Curiously perusing the technology Nick discovered that the TV was running off a central computer system for the apartment and thus had access to a whole load of movies.

"You know, maybe it's because we missed movie night" said Nick scrolling through the list of films "but I've got a hankering to watch Furassic Park" with a click of a button the bedroom was filled with that classic theme music "I'll go grab some snacks fluff"

Just after Nick sauntered out of the bedroom and headed for the kitchen, Judy poked her head out of the covers. Her inner ears were a rosy pink, one of the reasons she even considered leaving her hidey hole was because they had calmed down from the scarlet they had flushed initially. Seeing the TV hanging down from the ceiling, the movie that was just beginning to play, and hearing her partner rummaging around in the kitchen, all helped to calm Judy down more.

She'd been scared, terrified even, that she'd gone and ruined something between her and Nick all because she had been too emotional. But thankfully no damage seemed to have been done and, as she watched her russet coloured friend walk back into the room with his arms full of snacks, Judy couldn't help but wish she could see that sight all the time.