Judy woke slowly as she was extremely warm and comfortable. Hugging her fluffy pillow a little tighter, she rubbed her face into its soft warmth, then took a deep breath. The strong scent of fox musk and violets immediately filled her nose, and Judy's eyes popped open to the dim view of a creamy, white chest. She blinked again in surprise and then the memory of last night came crashing down on her. Taking another deep breath as her ears and nose turned a darker shade of pink, she remembered ordering Nick to drop his drawers before crawling in bed with her.
Burying her face in Nick's fluffy chest again, Judy still couldn't believe how bold she had been. But then again, he had already seen all of her, so it was only right he returned the favor. And what a favor it was. Even though his furry sheath hid everything from view, she still got to see his drool-worthy physique—from his strong arms and powerful legs, to those solid abs of his (she felt his sculpted abs every time he carried her). She had known before that Nick was fit but seeing him in the fur while watching how his orange and cream fur moved over his muscles drove it home to her. Especially as she'd seen many of her brothers running around shirtless back at the burrow, and even some of the jocks on the football teams back in high school, but none of them could hold a candle to the strength and physique Nick held. Their muscles (which their short fur did little to hide) seemed weak and pathetic in comparison.
Although Nick had the lean build of a fox, there was no denying the muscles hidden under his fur. Nor could Judy forget his strength when Nick picked her up to carry her, or he flipped her onto her back when they were rolling around on the bed Thursday afternoon or when he flipped her over onto the deck floor the day before that. Knowing how strong he was, Judy couldn't wait until they could start running and working out together . . . and other physical activities.
Pulling back enough to look up, she saw that Nick's head was laying atop the pillow while she was using his arm as her own pillow. His other arm was draped over her hip, with his paw resting lightly on her fluffy tail. Feeling his fingers and claws lightly moving through her tail fur with every breath he took, Judy couldn't stop her tail from flicking in happiness, even as Nick's fingers unconsciously curled in to grab her tail as it flicked in his paw.
Judy hummed in contented pleasure, even as she stretched her neck to nuzzle Nick under his muzzle. Nick took a deep breath and buried his nose between her ears, even as his paws slid around her back and pulled her more tightly to him while his tail moved back up to cover her back. Being engulfed in such warmth and fluffiness was heavenly and Judy hummed again as she kissed Nick's chin.
Squeezing Judy again, Nick took a deep breath of her mouth-watering scent, then licked the fur between her ears as his mind tried to claw its way up from deep sleep.
Judy giggled beside him, then wriggled her way up so she could prop herself up on the pillow beside his head. Supporting her head with one paw, she reached over with the other and started playing with his ear, then smiled as he flicked it out of reach of her teasing fingers before relaxing back within reach. Giggling again while teasing his ear, she said, "It's time to wake up, handsome."
"Mmm," Nick mumbled as he began playing with her tail again.
With another giggle, Judy leaned forward enough to boop him on the nose, saying, "Come on, we have a long day ahead of us."
Nick squeezed her tail, even as he licked his chops. "Hmm," he mumbled again, then said, "Can't. Too comfortable."
Giving him a peck on the lips, she said, "And what happens when a bunch of predators show up and you're still in bed . . . with me?"
Nick cracked his eye open, then both eyes popped open at the view before him. Licking his lips again, his emerald gaze raked over his fiancé's fluffy white chest. The longer, downy fur of her chest hid her soft mounds, but that just made hunting for them all the more exciting. Who didn't like a good treasure hunt? He certainly did. And exploring his honeybun's body to discover all her hidden treasures was a treasure hunt he was very much looking forward to—just not this morning.
Judy was right, they needed to get up before they couldn't get up. His instincts were no longer telling him to wait, and if he stayed in bed much longer, they might start insisting he knot and claim her. But five more minutes wouldn't hurt anything. Licking his lips again, Nick said, "You really like teasing me, don't you?"
Still playing with his ear and smiling as it flicked this way and that in an attempt to evade her soft touch, Judy replied, "I don't know what you're talking about."
Nick laughed, then dipped his head as he pulled her closer and rubbed his face across her fur-covered chest. As Judy 'eeped' in surprise, Nick then released her as he threw the blanket off and rolled out of bed. Scooping his honeybun up with another 'eep' from her, he chuckled as he carried her into the bathroom, then returned to his own room to make the bed and pull out clothes for the both of them. Bringing Judy back into his room, he helped her get dressed then hopped in the shower. He hated washing her delectable scent off, but there was no way he was going to reveal their relationship to a bunch of predators who thought Judy was the cause of all their troubles.
Walking back into his room, Nick dropped his towel on the floor and proceeded to get dressed, all while watching Judy's appreciative gaze. With a wide grin, he asked, "See something you like, Fluff?"
Licking her lips as she nodded, her amethyst gaze raked over him as she murmured, "Like. Love. Want."
Laughing as he finished dressing, Nick replied, "Well, you'll have to like me, love me, and want me later because I need to get you set up for the morning." Coming around the bed, he said, "Starting with breakfast." Stealing a kiss, he then hurried downstairs. He made a fruit smoothie for breakfast, along with some bagels. Setting Judy's half on a tv tray, he carried it to Judy, then returned to the kitchen to grab a fruit bowl. Setting it on the bedside table, Nick brought Judy the book he found on the couch in the piano room the night before and set it on the bed beside her, along with her chew rod he'd also found in the piano room.
With a smirk, he wondered how cute she looked while chewing on it. Handing her several water bottles to make sure she stayed hydrated, Nick then kissed her one last time and nuzzled her between the ears before telling her to text him if she needed anything. Grabbing her breakfast tray, he carried it downstairs and washed the dishes before starting on his own breakfast. He was just finishing his fruit smoothie when the doorbell rang.
Glancing at the clock, he saw that it was just before eight, which made him glad Judy was an early riser. Quickly finishing off his smoothy, Nick set his dishes in the sink and answered the door. Standing on his porch was an old coyote friend who had seen much better days. His friend's once strong body and shiny coat were now a pale version of themselves as he was now skinny and his coat hung limp and lackluster. The coyote was also old enough to be Nick's father, but he now looked several years older, and his once clean and comfortable clothes were now stained, torn, and patched. They didn't stink, though, so Nick figured they'd been washed last night to give a good impression for the job.
Reaching a paw out, Nick said, "Well, hello, Jerry. Here for some yardwork or some painting?" Jerry was the manager at the convenience store down by the train station, but the owner of the store was a mule deer, and seeing as Jerry was now jobless, it was apparent the deer gave all his predator workers the boot.
While shaking Nick's paw, Jerry said, "Well, I think I'd be better at weeding, if that's alright."
"That's perfect, Jerry." Releasing his paw, Nick said, "Just give me a second." Slipping back inside, he grabbed a clipboard with several sheets of paper on it that he could write everyone's name down, along with their time of arrival and when they finished. After writing down the coyote's name and time in, he led him around to the back porch where his yard tools were. "I watered the lawn last night, so the ground is nice and soft, so pulling the weeds up should be easy." As he pointed out where the trash bags were and several different tools used for weeding, Nick heard Jerry's stomach growl.
With his ears perked forward, Jerry covered his stomach with his paw as he looked away in embarrassment, even as the coyote's ears disappeared against his head and his tail slumped to the ground. Nick's ears folded back as he realized Jerry had been forced to miss breakfast, and with everyone coming today being out of work, the other predators would probably be hungry, too. As his ears righted themselves, Nick said, "Do you want some breakfast, Jerry?"
Jerry's ears immediately perked forward, then fell again. "I . . . don't know, Nick. I don't want to be a bother to you." Dropping his gaze to the ground, he started fidgety with his paws as his tail tip gave an anxious twitch.
Nick shook his head, saying, "I have a camp grill in the garage with a griddle." Jerking his thumb over his shoulder towards the garage, he added, "Why don't you get started on the weeding and I'll whip you up some pancakes."
Jerry's eyes lit up with appreciation as his tail began wagging. "Okay! Thanks, Nick. You have no idea how much this means to me." Seeing as he had lived and worked in the area since he graduated college, Jerry knew Nick well, as he had gotten to know Honey and Daphyd when they first moved to the area and started building their house. Jerry, being fresh out of college and looking for a job, had gotten a part-time job helping Daphyd build their house. He was no carpenter, but he could swing a hammer and hold a board steady, so Daphyd took him under his wings and taught him some of the tricks of the trade. He had even started working under him for a few projects before Daphyd hooked him up with one of the construction companies he had done work for. So, it devastated Jerry after hearing Daphyd and his son died in that tragic car accident.
Jerry had attended the funeral, but it was hard watching his friend suffer after the loss of her family and it was obvious to everyone who knew her that something inside Honey died that day, and was buried along with her husband and son. But after she brought Nick home years later, and started raising him, Jerry could see some of that light and joy once more reflected in the old badger's eyes.
Nick shook Jerry's paws again as the coyote had grabbed his in gratitude, then said, "Well, it's the least I could do." Nick was feeling a bit guilty about not standing up with Judy 3 months ago, even though he was sure that if he had, Bellwether would have found a way to hang him, too, and then they wouldn't have found the clue they needed to hang her instead.
As Jerry grabbed the trash bag and headed back towards the front yard to start there, Nick pulled his phone out and called Finnick, asking him to stop by the store and buy several large bags of pancake mix and several jugs of syrup, then asked if he could stick around and help keep an eye on things while he cooked. Finn readily agreed, as it was for a good cause (and it meant he would be there when Nick picked up his cobbler).
After getting off the phone with Finn, Nick slipped into the garage and called Benjamin Clawhauser. After explaining what he was up to, he asked the excitable cheetah if he wanted to come down and help keep an eye on things, too. Since Judy was hiding up in his room, and he was going to be cooking, Nick needed an extra pair of eyes on the yard crew.
"Ohh! I would love to help, Nick!" Benjamin exclaimed. "My family runs a soup and sandwich line three times a week, so I have paper plates, cups, along with plastic spoons and forks that I can bring over."
Nick's ears perked up. He had a few paper plates and plasticware, but he wasn't sure he had enough. "That would be a huge help! Thanks, Benji."
Benjamin beamed. Since he was a cop, along with one of his sisters (she was in the Sahara Square district) and several cousins (his dad and uncle were retired cops), they were able to retain their jobs. A couple of his cousins also owned their own businesses, so they were also able to keep their jobs and retain their predator employees. Seeing as they came out relatively unscathed from the whole 'savage predator' scare (they were still ostracized and yelled at by prey, but they didn't lose their jobs or homes), Benjamin and his family wanted to help out those less fortunate than themselves, which is why they did the soup and sandwich lines.
On this note, Benjamin spoke up, asking, "Have you thought of anything to feed them for lunch yet?"
Nick's ears dropped as did his tail. "The whole needing my yard weeded and the house painted was kind of a spur-of-the-moment thing, so no, I haven't."
"Well, you don't worry about a thing. I'll call my brother and see if he and my cousins can cater sub sandwiches or something."
"Are you sure?" Nick asked as his tail began wagging.
With a wave of his paw and swish of his spotted tail, Benjamin replied, "No sweat. I told you, this is what my family does." With a big grin, he explained, "They have an agreement with several predator owned shops that donate some of the supplies to feed jobless predators and their families. So I can get everything set up with just a phone call."
Nick was grinning now as his tail began wagging faster. "You're a godsend, Benji." At the cheetah's laugh, Nick added, "If you can have them arrive about 11:00, that would be great. I want to wrap everything up by noon."
"Okay, I'll let them know." Benjamin had been finishing up a large breakfast when Nick called, but he suddenly didn't feel so hungry anymore. Seeing as he no longer had time for the rest, he'll just save the rest for later. Before he could jump up from his seat, though, Nick added another comment that had his eyes sparkling and a happy squeal escaping his mouth.
"As payment for your help, I have another date video you can watch with Judy once everyone leaves."
With his free paw scrunched up against his fat cheek, Benjamin asked excitedly, "Really?"
"Mm-hmm. It's uncut and unreviewed, so you'll get to see everything as it happens." With a chuckle, he added, "You'll probably have to fast forward some of it, but I'll leave that up to you and Fluff."
With another happy squeal, Benjamin replied, "Payment accepted. I'll be there as soon as I can."
Nick hung up the phone and slipped it back into his pocket, then grabbed the camp stove stowed in the back of the garage and wheeled it out. Since Honey liked to have friends over (or go camping with), she had bought a large grill and griddle that could accommodate medium-sized mammals, so the grill was set up on wheels to make it easier for smaller mammals (like him and Honey) to move around and transport.
Setting it up near the back porch, Nick saw several other predators who had showed up while he was in the garage. Stepping up and shaking their paws (one was a wolverine with a dark reddish-coat, a large male raccoon, and two spotted skunks—the raccoon and skunks being animals that were good at doing delicate digging without digging up the whole yard), they informed him they had already signed in and asked where he wanted them. Nick directed them to different parts of the yard, and then pulled out several tables and set them up. About that time, Finn showed up along with several more workers, one being a black bear named Tyrone and a small, female brown bear named Yolanda. They both opted to paint the house, seeing as they were tall and would make the painting go by in a flash.
With Finn taking charge of the workers, Nick got to work making their breakfast, with Benjamin showing up just as the first pancakes were finishing, which made the cheetah's arrival perfect timing. After setting the paper plates and plastic spoons on one of the tables, he announced he had protein shakes, too, with several of the predators offering to help him unload the back of his SUV. With them being jobless, getting the right amount of protein required to stay healthy was a real problem for a lot of predators right now.
To make everything fair, they used the sign-in list as the order in which the preds were fed. Those who arrived earliest were fed first, and then they went down the list. With everyone either working or eating, it meant everyone had something to do, and with food in their bellies, the workers were able to work much more efficiently and much happier. As the saying goes, a full predator is a happy predator.
As it was, the two bears along with two Indian tigers ended up painting the house. While the bears painted the walls, Jasmine Tigre and her sister Jessabelle, did the finer detail of painting the trim work while their husbands, Tony and Lance, painted the porch and deck railing.
For the yardwork, they ended up with quite a few of the smaller predators, several minks, a few more raccoons, a pair of swift foxes, a family of fennec foxes he and Finnick knew, along with another wolverine, a pair of badgers, and a bobcat couple. A trio of wolves showed up around 9:30 and got right to work with bagging and hauling the weeds to the curb, which totaled out to 31 mammals in all. But with everyone diligently working, the large yard and house gained a new life as the weeds were pulled up, the grass was mowed, and the hedges trimmed while the fresh paint made the house look brand new.
And right on schedule, Benjamin's extended family showed up with lunch. This was a huge bonus for the predators as they were expecting to spend some of their hard-earned cash on lunch or dinner (many of them skipped a meal or two to save money—whenever they could earn it). While his workers finished their tasks and started chowing down on lunch, Nick grabbed the clipboard and slipped inside the house, then made his way down to the bunker. Raiding the huge safe for the second time since Honey died, Nick calculated the amount of money each predator earned, then pulled out the cash from the wads of cash Honey had stashed here while she was still alive.
Although she had a bank account where her paychecks and royalties for her inventions were deposited, along with a large savings account where a large portion of her money was transferred to, Honey didn't completely trust banks, and knew that having cash on hand for an emergency was important. So, she kept a certain amount of her pay in her bank accounts, enough to pay the bills and then a little extra, and the rest went into this 'emergency fund' for as long as Nick had known her, stopping only when she got too sick to go to the bank and draw out the money. And then, after Honey had died, Nick had closed her bank accounts, using the money to pay off her medical bills and a few other loans she had out, and then paid for the funeral. The rest of the money he deposited here in the safe.
To say Nick and Judy were literally sitting on a fortune would be an understatement, and if he ever decided to put it in a savings account, he could probably live off the interest alone. But that was neither here, nor there. Writing down the amount he was drawing out, and the reason for it, on the registry that was kept with the money, Nick locked the safe back up and climbed the stairs to his small 'office' in the piano room. Pulling out a box of envelopes, he wrote out everyone's name on separate envelopes and then put their money inside.
Taking a deep breath, Nick quickly texted Judy letting her know they were nearly finished, then made his way back downstairs and out the back door. At twelve o'clock on the dot, he told everyone they were finished and they could come get their pay. Reading down the list, he handed everyone their envelope with their payment enclosed, thanked them for their hard work, and then shook their paws before bidding them goodbye.
As the last worker left, Finnick entered the kitchen carrying several dishes and serving utensils they had used in feeding everyone and started washing them, along with the dishes they had used for making breakfast for their workers.
While Finnick was in the house playing dishwasher, Nick met Benjamin and his family just as they were starting to clean up after lunch. All the leftovers had been divvied up among the workers, those with families waiting at home were given the largest portions, so there wasn't anything in the way of food to pack up. But the bags of trash were carried up front and put by the curb. After which, Benjamin happily introduced him to his younger brother, Timothy—an amber-eyed cheetah who was home from college for the summer), his twin sister Chelsea (a fellow cop with a black streak down the middle of her head which perfectly divided her black spots), then his Uncle Richard (one of his ears had been torn in a fight) and cousins Fredrick (also a cop who had a scab healing on his cheek from a blow taken when he was trying to break up a protest) and Susanne who had a smattering of tiny black spots that trailed down the bridge of her nose (owned a copy store).
Nick shook all their paws while thanking them profusely for providing the lunch for his workers. Benjamin's family waved off his thanks, saying how impressed they were that he was willing to pay so much for the work provided. Nick merely shrugged, explaining how, as a fox, he knew what it was like to get paid peanuts for hard work rendered, and he didn't want to be that kind of boss. A job well done deserved to be well paid.
The Clawhauser family readily agreed, but as they were getting ready to leave, Nick stopped Uncle Richard and pressed an envelope into his paws.
Looking down at the fat envelope, he looked back up at the fox and asked, "What's this?"
"That's to go towards your fund to help hungry predators." Glancing at the chubby cheetah beside him, Nick smiled, saying, "Benji told me how you run a soup and sandwich line three times a week, so put that money towards whatever supplies you need."
Richard was impressed, but as he looked inside, his eyes grew wide as saucers. Inside were four $100 bills, eight $50 bills, and ten $20 bills, equaling a 1000 dollars. Glancing back up to Nick with disbelief on his face, Nick simply shrugged with a flick of his ear, saying, "I inherited a . . . small fortune," he held his forefinger and thumb a centimeter apart, "when my adopted-mom passed away five years again, and I've hardly touched it." Waving towards the group, he added, "I think it'll go to better use if you have it."
"Are you sure?" Richard pressed. "Won't you need it?"
Nick shook his head. "I own my home and I have no debt, so put it towards those who don't have a home or a job." As Benji's siblings and cousins looked in the envelope to see how much the fox had donated, Nick stood a little straighter as he stated, "And besides, come this time next year I'll be a police officer."
This shocked everyone but Benjamin, who had already discussed this with Nick and Judy the day before. Motioning towards Nick, Benjamin said, "Yeah. Nick has already turned in his application and the Chief signed it." Standing proudly next to Nick, Benji added, "He enters the Academy this fall." With a squeal, he pressed his paws to his chubby cheeks and looked down at his new friend, saying, "I cannot wait to see you in uniform. I bet your blues will go great with your reddish-orange fur."
Benjamin's family were a bit shocked, but hearing Benji confirm the fox's words, they immediately started congratulating him. Chelsea and Fredrick each grabbed a paw and started shaking them. Any doubt they had about a fox joining the force (at least this particular fox) had already been laid to rest seeing as he had not only hired all these predators and paid them decent wages, but had also donated so much cash into their predator relief fund.
"Oh! This is going to be great!" Chelsea exclaimed. "It's about time we saw more of the smaller predators on the force." With her stunning blue eyes twinkling brightly, she added, "I have a bobcat friend who enters this fall, too. Her name is Beverly and she was worried she might be the only small mammal there this fall, so I'm glad to hear she won't be alone."
Nick grinned, as this was a huge improvement from how most mammals would react to a fox trying to become a cop. And learning he wouldn't be the only small mammal attending this fall did ease some of his worries. And if she was friends with Benji's sister, maybe they could meet beforehand and get to know each other, maybe do a study group together or something.
"Yeah," Fredrick spoke up next. "We're both helping her prepare for the Academy. If you want, you can join us and we could help you, too."
Nick's eyes widened as his ears and tail both flicked in surprise. Although he had just considered this option, he wasn't expecting to be invited so quickly and easily. With all the specism and stereotypes against him for being a fox, it always felt like someone pulled the rug out from under him when someone genuinely offered their help without asking for something in return. With a bright smile of his own, Nick replied, "I would like that, thanks." Taking his paw back, he added, "I already have a friend planning to help me prepare, so maybe the four of us can get together and compare notes."
"Ooh! That would be perfect," Chelsea said. "The more the merrier, right!?"
Pressing his paws into his cheeks in excitement, Benjamin offered, "And I could help, too." As several sets of eyes turned to him in surprise, he added, "Well, I can't help much with the physical side, but I can definitely quiz you on all the codes and regulations."
This made sense to everyone as Benjamin was the dispatcher, and then Benjamin squealed, "Oooh!" This is going to be so exciting! We'll have the first fox officer partnered with the first rabbit officer! Oh, this is going to be great! I can't wait." Pausing, he then asked, "Oh, but I wonder who Beverly will be assigned to? We don't have another small mammal on the force."
Nick shrugged. "Although bobcats are considered small mammals, they're on the high-end of the spectrum, so she should be fine with one of the red or Ethiopian wolves if you're going for size comparisons. And there are several prey species on the police force that are on the smaller size that she could be assigned to, as well."
Nodding his head while his tail swayed behind him, Benjamin agreed. "That's right. And who she gets as a partner will largely depend on which precinct she gets assigned to." With a huge grin as he slapped the fox on the back, Benji added, "But I know you'll be getting into Precinct One seeing as that's where Judy is." With a squeal of happiness, he quickly added, "Ooh, are you aiming for Valedictorian, too?"
Tenting the fingers of one paw over his chest, and flipping his other paw through the air, he said with a dramatic flair, "Of course, I am. Fluff and I are equal partners, so if she was Valedictorian of her class, I absolutely must be Valedictorian of mine."
Benjamin laughed at Nick's antics, but then said, "But you know, becoming Valedictorian isn't going to be easy." Counting on his fingers, the large, round cheetah continued, saying, "There's the written exams you have to pass, and the physical training and testing, and then of course, the brutal obstacle course—that's what gets most mammals."
Nick gave it a dismissive wave of his paw. "Written exams are a breeze for me." Tapping his head, he said, "I may not have a photographic memory, but it's close enough to it that I don't forget anything I read." With a shrug, he then said, "And as for the physical part of the training, Fluff has promised to whip me into shape once her leg heals."
Benjamin nodded with a flick of his black spotted ear, then asked, "And the obstacle course? It mimics the Rainforest District, Sahara Square, and Tundratown."
Nick gave another dismissive wave of his paw. "It might take a few tries to figure it out, but I've spent my whole life running around the different districts, so I should do fine."
Benjamin nodded, but then his sister spoke up, as the rest of the group had been staring, flabbergasted, as Benjamin and Nick bantered back and forth. "Wait," Timothy said with a raise of his paw. Pointing to Nick, he continued, saying, "You are going to be partnered with . . . Hopps? Officer Judy Hopps?"
Nick flicked his ear as he nodded, even as Benjamin said, "Of course. Nick helped Judy find the missing mammals 3 months ago and helped her again a few days ago in gathering evidence of the savage attacks and bringing in Bellwether." As his family stared at Nick in shock at what he'd done (they hadn't heard anything about Hopps getting help from a fox, even Chelsea and Fredrick only heard a fox was involved, nothing more, as they were in different precincts), Benjamin added, "He kept her alive during both cases, so Judy asked Nick to be her partner."
"Wow," Chelsea murmured, even as Timothy muttered, "We thought she hated predators."
"Uh, no," Nick said, "Her little speech came about from several different reasons, but Judy truly regrets what she said and wishes above anything else that she could go back and redo that whole fiasco of a speech."
"Well, I'm glad to hear that," Richard said. "There have been rumors going around about her being on Bellwether's payroll."
A low growl sounded deep in Nick's chest as he jabbed his finger at the much larger predator in front of him, stating, "That is a bald-faced lie. Judy would never intentionally hurt anyone, predator or prey! That psychotic sheep played us both like fiddles, going on about how us little guys had to stick together and help each other out!"
At his family's stunned gaze (no one was bothered by Nick's growl; being fellow predators, they knew his growl was merely an instinctive display of his anger), Benjamin explained, "Nick is right. Bellwether was using Judy and once she was no longer useful and threatened to expose her, Bellwether shot Nick so he'd go savage and eat her." With a shiver running down his spotted back, he pressed his paws into his cheeks, saying, "I've never imagined so much evil could be packed into such a tiny body, but Bellwether was laughing while thinking Nick was going to eat Judy."
Chelsea and Susanne both had their paws over their mouths while listening to Benji tell the tale. "No way," Susanne finally said, horrified. "She was laughing!?"
Benjamin still had his paws pressed to his cheeks, but he nodded at his cousin's question, even as he said, "She was laughing like a maniac. Hopps recorded the whole thing on this little recording pen she had." With his tail swaying behind him, Benjamin added, "Bellwether sang like a canary. She was so sure that Nick was already savage and Judy would be dead in just a few short minutes, so she didn't hide anything and explained her whole plan."
Nick nodded, saying, "If Judy hadn't picked me up in her family's farm truck and if I didn't love blueberries like I do, then Bellwether would have darted me and I don't want to consider the consequences then." Although Nick didn't actually believe he would be able to hurt Judy, even savage since he had already started imprinting on her, it's not like he could tell Benjamin's family about it. And there was always the slight possibility that the serum would have overridden his natural instincts to protect his mate. There hadn't been any research done yet to determine what exactly the mind-altering drug was doing to its victims.
Hearing first paw about what Bellwether had been up to and how she tried to hide her nefarious plot, had a cold shiver running down the spines of Benjamin's family. And even though Chelsea and Fredrick had both heard the story of how Bellwether was caught by Officer Hopps with the help of a fox, they weren't part of Precinct One, and so the details had been sparse, leaving a lot of room for gossip and conjecture.
They discussed the evil ewe's plans a bit more, with Nick giving them a play-by-play description of how everything went down, and then Richard looked at his watch and called a halt to their little get-together. They were doing a soup and sandwich line tonight at dinnertime and needed to leave in order to get everything ready. Saying their goodbyes to Nick, with Chelsea and Fredrick exchanging numbers with the fox so they could get together for the Academy training, Richard then turned to Benjamin and asked if he was coming with them.
"Oh," Benjamin replied, "Not right now. I have a few more things I was going to help Nick with, but I'll be by closer to dinnertime so I can help serve."
"Okay, son," Richard replied. Although Benjamin was his nephew, he watched the younger cheetah grow up and so frequently called him 'son'. "We'll see you later, then."
After seeing them off, Benjamin turned to Nick and squealed. "Nick, I am literally dying to see the video of yours and Judy's date last night!"
Clapping his chubby friend on the lower back, Nick laughed as he headed for the house. "Well, then, let's not keep you in suspense any longer." With another squeal of happiness and anticipation, Benjamin followed Nick into the freshly painted house to say hi to Judy and watch their latest date. If it was anything like their first date, then he was sure to enter fluff heaven again.
WingedKatt here. I hope you enjoyed the chapter. We're now done with the morning from Nick's perspective. Next chapter, Benjamin will have an interesting idea as to why Nick imprinted on Judy so quickly, and then we'll see what Judy was up to during the morning.
Chapter 72: Ancient Instincts, will post in 2 weeks. I hope you all have a great weekend. If you have any thoughts or comments, let me know.
