Revisions

by TheUnknown3-1

Nick's blueberry plan is thwarted by Dawn Bellwether's organization and it nearly costs the duo dearly. The experience of succumbing to the Nighthowler serum changes the red fox's psychology to a degree. Nearly two-years later, the continued trouble with PTSD leads him further into the darkened den and forces an adaptation after graduating from the Police Academy.

24. Tender Winds, Within Snowy Hills

A/N: If you would like to follow for more constant updates and / or to keep in touch, you can find me at TheUnknownOne_3 on Twitter.

December 24th, 2020

Waking up prior to her normal workhours was not normal for Judy. At least, not when she was at home. Her mind was slowly whirring to life even though her eyes popped open immediately: only to find that they were so bleary that it required her to rub at them a bit to clear her vision. Noticing her location on the bed, she began to wonder if it had been the tip of Nick's tail that had woken the doe. She was laying in the middle of his circular sleeping position and had somehow managed to scoop his fluffy tail into her arms to hold onto it all night long.

The most definitive answer was that it was Christmas Eve morning and that alone was already adding extra fuel to her already upbeat nature. The entire warren would surge like an ocean tide due to all the new family activity. She hoped that Nick would not become the main attraction as he had during the first trip, for his sake. It was clear that he was exhausted and sore despite being able to hide things so well within the warren. She hoped that there would be a couple of other mammals, who were not bunnies, to help distract the glut of kits that would be there. The doe also thought that Nick might have had something up his sleeve for the holiday season; but it was just too hard to tell these days. He was always honest and did not hide much, but it a secret had to be kept for a spell, he would be able to do it.

Judy had thought a bit about how little time they had been able to just hang around each other during this second trip yesterday and had decided to whisk the todd away not long after lunch so they could both relax and chat. Nick background derived a demeanor for listening to her tell him things about the warren, which he did not already know, as opposed to speaking about his own cumulative history. He was adamant about learning about the doe's family. They had ended up talking for hours before deciding to get some rest prior to the Eve's festivities. Neither of them seemed bothered that they both stayed in her bed to do so. Falling asleep together used to be something that was exclusively reserved for late movie nights on his couch. But… Judy could not really imagine sleeping alone anymore. The todd's silent approval of that activity made her yearn for it in her heart. Being help in that high of a regard and trust meant that she would probably always find her way into his bed in the future.

She knew that the time to say something was fast approaching.

The doe needed to make her move before another female stepped into his life.

Not that you know what to do yet, the dry voice of Hope popped in quietly.

A flash of annoyance fueled her to lean in, brushing her ears out of the way before laying a soft kiss on the top of Nick's forehead as he slept in. It was a small victory for her, but it was something that meant a lot to the doe.

Slow and steady, Jude, she thought to herself and to the Council as a whole.

After gathering all of her senses properly, Judy looked over the shoulder of the fox to find that the clock was not reading that it was five-o'clock in the morning, but instead it was ten. That threw her for a loop because she had been convinced that it was the time for her alarms to go off. With a sigh, she was glad that it was not in fact a workday. She would be in some serious trouble if she had not known that Nick would have woken her up long before such an error had been made. With it being this late in the morning, Judy knew that she would inevitably be swept away by her sisters to all begin preparations for the dancing and music that would begin sometime around seven in the evening. They would probably offer to help her with her dress and makeup, if she decided to wear any of the latter. The doe had no clue what Nick would end up doing for himself while she was away.

He's probably going to get abducted, too, Judy thought to herself with a grin. The question is by who…?

It was most likely that he would disappear at the whim of her father or brothers. Possibly both. Marcy would be too busy spending time with her mother's family and there would be no way for the little doe to escape the responsibility of being present: if she had wanted to not be there, to begin with.

Judy decided to wave off her wandering thoughts. She ignored the desire to give the large fox another smooch on the forehead and twisted her way off the bed as quietly as possible so that she could dress for the first half of the day. The doe had already moved her gifted dress to the private bathroom that was in her room. The beautiful navy-blue dress was neatly hung up for her to hop into at a moment's notice and, in case things went really well, she had also picked out a matching, but reserved set of lingerie to go with the dress itself. They were slightly lighter in blue color than Nick's gift and they were neither too skimpy nor bold for a first time together. The doe was not trying to be overly optimistic but, like with how males carried condoms around all the time, she wanted to be ready to "go to work" if the opportunity presented itself.

The doe's nose began to twitch wildly as she considered the actions that she was thinking about. There was a sudden realization for Judy. She was not nervous or second-guessing the thoughts that she was having. The train-of-thought was entirely based on the preparation to do what she needed to do.

It was only after she had dressed up in sweatpants, t-shirt, and a sweatshirt that Judy walked back over to the bed slowly. She had changed her mind. Once she was close enough, she leaned over and gave Nick another kiss. This time, on his cheek. They had not stayed up too long, but Judy was still a little surprised that he was still so tired. The doe brushed a paw over the top of his head for a moment. She knew that Nick had not had any further refills on his medication in a little while and she had not noticed any sort of recent nightmare activity. At least, none that was manifesting in physical reactions prior to waking the todd at night.

The only thing that's really changed for Nick is that I've been sleeping in the same bed more and more often…

There was no such thing as a perfect night. Judy knew that Nick was in that damnable clearing, from time-to-time, with his adversary. There had been a couple of tiring nights for the doe, as well, after she had been awoken from the inside of the house on Shady Cove Circuit.

Judy made her way out of the room, quietly closing the door behind herself, before working her way to the bathroom to handle the first orders of business. Her shower was quick and concise; resulting in a quick change of undergarments prior to redressing as she had in the bedroom. The doe decided to take the adventure upstairs at a jogging pace while hitting the stairs hard to give herself a bit of a workout. She had been absolutely slacking in the physical fitness department during her time off at the warren. Fortunately, the bunny's metabolism was getting her as slimmed down as she had preferred. That was something that she was glad to have been birthed with: considering that it aided Judy's ability to stay fit enough to thump the carrots out of any mammal that decided to spar with her. In training or otherwise.

As soon as she rounded the corner, exiting the stairwell, she nearly ran right into Kathleen. Of course, it looked like the younger sister had been waiting for her to come upstairs for the day's activities. The doe was grinning.

"Goooood morning, Judes!" Kathleen said wistfully.

"Morning, Kathy." Judy replied suspiciously. "How was breakfast?"

"It's really good, as always. Though, it smells like you ate already." Kathleen giggled with a wink.

Of course, the shower didn't work well enough, Judy thought sourly.

Judy stepped past her sister without bothering to respond to the jab. She knew that, as soon as breakfast was over, she was being kitnapped, and that there was absolutely nowhere to hide. Judy loved her family, but it finally sank in that she really should have stayed in bed with Nick.

...

Nick was off to a very late start to his Christmas Eve.

The bed that he was laying in had been saddeningly cold by the time he woke up.

And, the clock read that it was rapidly approaching the lunchtime hour as it hung on the wall near the door to Judy's room. The only comfort that he was feeling was due to the fact that he was thoroughly smothered in the scent of the little bunny doe whom he had shared the bed with. Judy's earthly scent almost always managed to calm his nerves. These days, nearly to the point where he would occasionally forget that he had not woken up from the meadow as often as he previously had. The todd remembered it, this particular morning, simply due to how sharply the mental mechanics had kicked in. Judy's scent had dulled over the hours that she had been gone; and, Nick could tell that several had passed since then.

It was such a benefit that nothing seemed to be odd about him smelling more like the bunnies of the warren as opposed to the fox that he was. It was not the rolodex of scents that drove him crazy, so the todd decided to forego a shower. He dressed for the remainder of the first half-of-the-day, as he would do occasionally. A simple set of jeans and a long-sleeve shirt was enough to appease the relaxed nature of the todd. Of course, he rolled the sleeves up above his elbows prior to exiting the room.

A pitstop was made in the shower hall, so that he could relieve himself and brush his teeth, was made before he took off for the dining hall as fast as the crutches would allow.

Upon entry to the kitchens, Nick noticed a specific group of bucks sitting at his usual table in the far corner. Stewart and Robby Hopps were prominently stationed at the head of the table while it looked like the son was being chastised by the father. The brothers, sitting around them, looked thoroughly entertained by what was going on. So, Nick quickly gathered up a plate and some utensils before heading over to see what the issue was. An inkling thought sat at the back of his mind: something about the todd loving the fact that he was considered a part of the family now. Nick did not feel obliged to move off and sit by himself anymore.

Once Nick had moved close enough to the table, which was a feat in and of itself considering that he was trying to manipulate two crutches and not spill his plate onto the floor, he saw that Robby seemed to be rather beaten up. Both of the surrounds of his eyes were tinged in a darkening hue and his left ear seemed to be wounded.

"What the hell happened to you?" Nick exclaimed.

"I needed a clothes iron." Robby reminded the todd simply.

The todd's mouth opened and closed in contemplation while he roughly took a seat at the table so that he could eat.

"Riley decided she wasn't gonna yield one to our brother." One of the wiser of the younger bucks, Victor, explained shortly.

William, Walter, Wyatt, and Warren Hopps were all grinning like buffoons as they sat around their – barely – older brother. The five seemed to be extremely close from all of the times that Nick had seen them around. They were always polite and helpful if Nick had needed a paw with some of the work. Victor was the one that led the group, oddly enough, but the rest of the hierarchy was in that exact order.

"Ol' Rob pushed too much on the issue." William chuckled.

"So, they got into a tussle." Warren continued before taking a drink of his orange juice.

"And, surprisingly enough, Robby ended up knocking her out." Walter popped in.

Nick's gaze was flying around the table as he took in all of the new information. Robby was only supposed to help him get his suit pressed. And, that had not even been the todd's idea to begin with! Robby was not supposed to get into a damned brawl, with a sibling, to complete said task.

"What the fuck, Robby?!" The todd exclaimed.

"Easy, Nick." The smaller, but eldest sibling urged. He was busy pressing a frozen bag of peas against one of the knots on his forehead.

Stu simply ran his paw down his muzzle while releasing a pained sigh against his furry paw. All of his sons, with the obvious exception of Robby himself, were chuckling openly.

"Yeah, bro. Riley Hopps is the Judy Hopps of the family's mixed-martial arts following. Robby knocked out the Ronda Rousey of Hopps' over a clothes iron." Warren laughed.

"Fuckin' legend." Victor muttered with an impressed nod.

"And, then, we all learned that it was to help you get your evening's suit in tip-top shape." William's throaty chuckling was growing deeper by the minute. "Which, I will mention, it seems was an objective that was completed."

"Robby!" Nick said loudly, trying to temper himself as he looked around to ensure that he had not attracted any attention.

"In my defense, a 'no' wasn't going to be accepted and her answer, after my sixth ignoring of her exclamations, was to attempt to roundhouse kick me in the temple." The eldest buck at the table explained, laying the peas down on the table before resting his aching head on top of it.

"And, she missed," Stu added. "Which is damned surprising. I've seen that doe whoop the shit out of many bucks…"

"And, then, they go paw-to-paw…" Victor mentioned dryly.

"Robby took a few thumps but ended up cracking her in the chin and knocking her clear back to her ancestors." Wyatt guffawed.

Nick lifted a fork of his mashed potatoes into his muzzle while looking upwards, towards the ceiling, before muttering aloud. "Karma, help this buck…"

"…In his time of need…" William finished, for the todd, like a wiseass.

Nick was flat-out annoyed now. "So, what I would love to know… Why did it have to go that far?" He asked hotly.

Robby rolled his face off of the bridge of his forehead so that one brown eye could look over towards where the todd was sitting. The buck felt just as strongly about his end of the ordeal as the todd was angered by the decision, by the look that he had knitted to his bunny brow.

"She demanded to know my reasoning for borrowing the iron and you gave me no such permissions to share that of what I knew," Robby said through gritted teeth, feeling every bit of the sharpness of the cold bag. "So, when I wouldn't tell her, she got a little defensive."

"But, you told these hooligans?" Nick asked, indicated to the W-litter.

"Naw," Robby said with a grin, turning his face back into the bag of peas before his voice came out muffled. "They already knew."

Nick's ear pinned back against his head as he looked around the table. The embarrassment elevated the heat in his face while the todd was greeted by understanding and teasing grins, indifferent shrugs, and a slap on the back, from William, who was sitting right next to the todd fox at the table. The worst of it came from how Stu's lips were tugging back and forth between a neutral and thoroughly entertained state while he diverted his gaze, past his own wounded son, and towards one of the windows behind the fox.

"You did say you should have asked my father for help." Robby jabbed out weakly.

"You suck!" Nick fired back.

All of the bucks at the table burst out into laughter, though Robby's response was far more muted than the rest, as Nick dropped his fork so that he could rub both of his paws against his muzzle. All of his effort to keep his feelings in a low-profile state and even the bucks, who did not know him all that well, knew that he was in love with Judith Laverne Hopps.

"Even you, Sir?" Nick asked weakly.

"You two stick to one another like glue." The patriarch replied honestly. "None of you have lived to my age, yet. But, I know the feeling of love far better than any of you do."

A low, breezy: "Fuck" was elicited from the todd's covered muzzle.

The entirety of the table heard that one, but they were kind enough not to laugh outright this time.

William decided to turn the teasing against Robby in the moment. "I still don't believe that Riley got the memo, though." The hulking buck mentioned. "I want bets on Round-Two."

"Fuck off, Will!" The eldest son replied loudly.

The low, monotone sound of laughter circulated at the table once again. Even while Nick stoically attempted to dig back into his lunch.

"How are you feeling, Nick?" Stu's voice rang in his head a moment later.

"Sick..." The todd responded honestly.

Nick felt William remove himself from the bench-seat, next to him, and he sensed Stewart slide over next to him. So close, in fact, that the buck wrapped an arm around the todd's shoulders gently. William's weight fell back on the bench, literally, where his father had been sitting. When Nick brought his eyes upwards, from down the end of his muzzle, he found all of the Hopps bucks staring at him with different levels of concern. Even Robby had picked his muzzle up from what had to have been a pleasured feeling that the bag of peas gave him.

"What's wrong, Nick?" Stu asked gruffly, close to his right ear.

"My feelings for your daughter…" Nick began quietly. "They were never supposed to be so obvious that others would be able to pick up on them this easily."

Robby's face plowed back into the bag of peas with such force that the bag's airtight seal popped loudly at the table.

"Awhhhhh." The buck groaned. "Gods-damn."

"Whewf." William belted out.

"I thought that he was in pain for a moment." Victor replied sagely, digging back into his food.

There was no helping the anger that was steadily rising within the todd. The brothers' replies sounded so uncaring: considering the knowledge that they all had of Nick's love for their older sister. It pissed him off… despite the fact that Robby had known for quite a while already. It was a natural emotional response to something so sensitive not being treated in such a manner.

But, of course, Stewart Hopps was a mediator beyond his years.

"All of us sort of had a sneaking suspicion… Considering all the things that we had heard about your lives. Before you had come to the warren together, Nick." The patriarch explained. "And, once we saw your caring nature around her, directly? Well, that set it in stone for all of us."

"We thought that you knew that all of us knew." William offered.

"How many?" The todd inquired.

Victor smiled a little. "I can't name a single buck in the warren who doesn't have some sort of clue. And, I'm smarter than all of these other blockheads combined." The buck tossed a fuzzy thumb at his W-litter compatriots, Robby, and their father.

Wyatt was no slouch. The large buck deftly smacked a paw up the backside of the lithe buck's head for the disrespect.

"And, the does' are both better and worse than us. They know, and while they won't make an obvious fuss about it – one way or another, they are still bettin' on specific aspects of how things proceed from here on." Warren drawled, grinning about what the final statement meant.

Nick sighed deeply while Stu pulled the todd a little closer against his smaller body to reassure him.

"I don't appreciate that," The todd explained. "And, I know Judy would be pissed."

A couple of the bucks cleared their throats uncomfortably as they gave their paws more immediate and careful considerations.

"We aren't trying to bust your balls, Mister Wilde." William offered politely. "You're amongst friends and family here."

Stu nodded and brought a paw up to tussle at the todd's fur atop his head: careful to stay away from the still healing gouges just behind the todd's temple.

"You earned that." The patriarch said. "And, none of us could hate either of you for your feelings for one another."

Nick's ear tilted towards Stu awkwardly. "For each other?" He asked weakly.

Victor grinned with a seemingly confident shrug. "Let's just say that we're pretty sure it's a two-way street." The youngest buck confirmed.

The todd grumbled a little in continued annoyance before refocusing on eating his meal. The other bucks changed the conversation's topic while working through their own plates measuredly. Stu gave Nick enough space to think about what had just taken place while drinking from his cup of coffee. Nick sensed that it was a rather strong cup, to say the least. Probably enough caffeine in it to fuel the buck well past midnight if a decaf was not administered. Of course, the patriarch would need that much energy for the Christmas Eve festivities.

Nick sat upright, with a look of serious consideration painted on his muzzle, after a moment. The fork was set down as he looked around the table. He had everybody's attention again.

"Wait a second…" The todd spoke deeply. "So, what bets have you all made on that subject?"

The only reply heard was the sound of the benches being shoved away from the table, metal utensils clattering around on top of plates, and the urgent shuffling of paws to clear the area. Even Stu Hopps made his way towards the common area with his cup of coffee. Only Robby remained at the table with the frustrated fox: dutifully staring down at his plate while he fed himself.

...

Stewart Hopps could be said to have been thoroughly entertained throughout the entirety of the morning by all of his family members. The youngest kits were playing with the grandkits at every corner of the halls and some of the families of friends had already arrived at their warren for the night. Some of those families were local family friends and their kits was spotted here and there. Easier to spot considering the fact that his family made friends with many other mammals within the Bunnyburrow school district. A couple of young cheetah kits were racing one of the patriarch's fastest grandkits down the halls past the common area. Others were wrestling together or huddled around somebody who had decided to tell them a story.

The fall and winter holiday celebrations were something that Stu psyched himself up for every growing season. He made sure to work the family hard, but fair, so that the cold season could be enjoyed to its full extent. This year was one of those years that he felt that Bonnie and himself had really deserved to go all out. All of their bills were paid for the next three-years due to how well the crops had yielded fruits and vegetables. It was something that he simply could not keep from the forefront of his mind. At least, that normally would have bounced around in his head all day long as it had occasionally in previous years. A half-portion of his enthusiasm was formed from considering Judy and Nick's current dance routine around one another.

The patriarch could not be seen placing bets on how soon Judy would make her announcement. Certainly not when there was no way Bonnie would not find out about a bet being placed. One of his rapscallions would end up giving him away inadvertently. He would have taken the under on his daughter wrapping it up before the New Year, if he had been able to bet at all. There was just no sense on getting thumped by his wife, twice-over, of her own accord and on the behalf of their 'little trier'.

His stroll had lengthened considerably before he ended up finding someone that he had not expected to want to see as badly as it turned out that he did. The buck's ears picked up on Bonnie's voice and guided his hindpaws around each bend until he found himself sidled up to the doe of his life. Of course, it was soon going to be time for Stu to change into his evening attire, but Bonnie was already comfortably wearing a dark green mid-length dress with a sleeved top crimson jacket, and a set of leggings that ended at her knees. The buck had always worn something indicating his readiness to get to work at a moment's notice, of course. Bonnie was the one that pulled out all of the stops when it came to being a mammalian relations darling. And, praise Serendipity, she was stunning. The buck bumped his overall-covered hip into her ample bottom, while she had been talking with two arguing grandkits, to get her attention.

If there could have been an award for the fastest redirect of emotions, it would have been given to Bonnie's sudden embarrassed laughter upon realizing who it was that was messing with her. Her smile had always been radiant when she was in a good mood. Kind, when she was being reserved. Bonnie did not hold back a hip-check of her own once the grandkits had scampered away.

"How's everything going, my love?" Stu asked quietly, wrapping a paw around her waist to bring the doe's body closer to his.

"I'm thinking that some of the kits are going to be making a pretty Christmas penny off of some of the others." Bonnie said with a low laugh.

Stu snorted, raising his eyebrows to emphasize the agreeing nod that he gave off. "I was thinking the same thing." He admitted openly.

"You didn't make any bets, did you?" Bonnie asked hopefully.

"After the year we just had, why bother?" The buck said with a guilty enough smile to show that he had been considering it. "You?"

Bonnie leaned up on her toes just enough to close the distance between the two so that she could be discreet.

"Only on how long it would take you to get another set of buns in the oven." The doe whispered to her husband.

"And, how long were you thinking?" Stu asked with a chuckle.

"Four- or five-days." Bonnie admitted.

Stu turned towards his wife with a wide grin, taking her paw into his before slowly beginning the long walk back to their master bedroom.

"I am so glad that you're challenging me right now." The buck admitted.

The two rabbits shared a laugh as they walked paw-in-paw through the corridors of the Main Hill.

Stu was going to need more coffee later on and there was not a single thing that he could find to complain about in that knowledge.

...

Nick had been dragged around by Robby for quite a while before it was decided that the todd needed to be taken down to R-Hall. The todd had ended up meeting nearly a hundred family members and family friends of the Hopps'. He had not expected to end up as exhausted as he felt by the time they had gotten on the elevator. Fortunately, Victor had shown up with a hefty mug of coffee just before the doors had closed. The two bucks were more than happy to quietly endure the ride down while Nick nursed the hot beverage. It had been purposely made with only a light dose of sweetener: which was a godsend in and of itself. When the shutters opened, Nick was surprised to find that the bucks of the W-litter were already waiting for the trio.

"Are you guys the hit squad or the executive protection unit?" Nick asked dryly.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" William asked Nick as he walked by, jabbing his elbow into the todd's shoulder far more firmly than what was necessary considering that the buck was quite a bit larger than the todd.

Robby led the band of merry mammals into his room and shut the door behind him. The private bathroom had enough mirrors in it to show Nick where his suit had been placed after having been pressed by the crazy buck. There was a bit of clarity of how idiotic Robby was by how much blood was clinging to the carpet of his bedroom. What was clear that it was more likely than not all his.

Nick glanced over at Robby out of annoyance. "You're an idiot." The fox commented finally.

"Oh, he's definitely going to be in several Hopps memoirs because of that incident." Victor replied with a laugh. "Now, c'mon. You are wasting time. Go get your trousers on so that we can help with the rest of your suit."

Nick was surprised by how much a firm demeanor Victor had and, even more so, by the fact that none of his brother seemed bothered by the disrespectful or arrogant nature – as it could be described – was exude by the youngest buck. Half of the W-litter was too busy messing around on their iCarrots to bother keeping up with the conversation. Coming out of high school meant that they were all far more concerned with any relationships that they had currently in their lives. Victor fired off a thumbs-up to the todd, urging the previously requested amount of movement, before he stepped away to speak with William. So, it was off to the bathroom with the limping todd.

Quite honestly, Nick had no clue how he was going to manage dancing in his current state. Five- or six-hours of sorting out the Hopps family relations had left him extremely sore. And, they were still at least two-hours away from the common area being filled with those kinds of activities. The todd could see Robby's lopped ear just breaching the doorframe as he sat down on the edge of the shower tub. He stripped the pants off of the hangar and laid them aside before unzipping his current set, and carefully rolling them off of his wounded leg.

The gauze wrapping was still firmly in place and as clean as it had been when Veronica put it on the day prior. Between Thomas and the doe, they did a great job at all the medical duties within the warren. Nick could not recall any others being in the infirmary, as staff, at that particular moment. The todd ended up finding that the toilet seat cover was far more advantageous of a location to park so that he could begin sidling his trousers up his legs, careful not to catch his hind-claws caught in the material. He would either tear it or hurt himself. More likely than not, it would be both scenarios rolled into one.

There was a clatter of the belt buckle when Nick lifted the article out of the box. He slid it through all of the loops and left it hanging open and undone so that the new undershirt would be able to be tucked in. Which came into paw after the todd removed his day shirt and it was slipped around his waisted, between pants and boxers, fluidly before he cinched the belt down to a tolerable level. The material of the pants, around his thighs, was a little tight due to his winter coat, but that would help put a little more pressure on his wound so that he could stay upright longer. Despite making it sorer later on. He could deal with that.

Nick stood up and used the wall to help himself out of the bathroom, purposefully jabbing Robby in the back with the doorhandle on his way out with a grin, before heading over to lean against the bedframe. Robby shot the todd an amused glare before grabbing the torso pieces from the hangar. Nick brought himself upright as much as he could while William hooked the jacket so that he could drape it out for Nick to poke his arms through. Fortunately, the cuffs on it were not as tight as the undershirt was. Though, he did have to adjust them so that they fit a little more tightly.

"You look like this one television character. Just without a proper cane and the associated addiction to painkillers." Robby laughed, stepping up to Nick so that he could begin

"I could use a cane." Nick admitted, ignoring the jab at his issues entirely.

Victor had walked over to the group easily. "If you break this one, I'll see to it that your ass is thoroughly kicked." He indicated, offering the fox a brand-new cane.

The gleam of the mahogany handle was outlined by the light coming from the ceiling above them. If Nick was to give a critique of the new instrument; he would end up saying that it was quite the extravagant tool. He was impressed by the craftmanship of the cane.

"We can't kick his ass, Vic. For any reason." William offered a degree of support for Nick.

"Why not?" The older sibling asked, seemingly perturbed.

"It would be labeled as discrimination and specism." The leader of the W-litter laughed openly.

For a few moments, William had been the only one to laugh about the potential issue. Nick had noticed that the rest of the group, within Robby's room, had become rather uncomfortable due to the conversation's turn. Everybody was being extremely considerate of the fact that Nick was born from their most natural-of-threats. Even the rest of W-litter was slightly put-off by their most senior-of-brother's comment. It did not bother William, in the slightest, to shut Victor down. It did not even matter that Nick had understood exactly what the buck had meant by the comment. The pinch of momentum, of which William had, ended up driving Nick's own laughter at the sentiment. The todd could see how much that bothered the group of bucks, but the scenario was far too funny not to laugh at. Nick did not see it as "discrimination" nor did he see it as "specism".

Nick turned enough to smooth some of the lines in the jacket and trousers before giving himself a onceover via the mirror. The cane made it look extremely obvious that the todd was having an awkward time of using it. It was leaned up against his hip so that he could momentarily straighten his tie before resetting his stance. He could see all of the Hopps brothers grinning like idiots through the reflection over his shoulder. What Nick had not realized was that Robby had, at some point, been distracted long enough to hop around the room trying to get a pair of khaki dress pants on.

"Alright! C'mon. Y'all get dressed and meet back up at the office. I want to down some beers before the ladies arrive and all hell breaks loose." William belted out.

"None of you young bucks are old enough to drink yet…" Nick commented, though it sounded more questioning than that of a statement.

"As long as we do it at home, mom and dad don't care." Warren answered.

"And, the drinking age is eighteen out here in the boondocks, so what's less than a year?" Wyatt added.

Walter lunged to hook Victor in a merciless chokehold, while the younger buck attempted to kick his brother and escape, as he wore a huge grin. "But, this little bugger! He just gets carrot juice!" The defensive lines-buck exclaimed teasingly.

"I'm drinking beer, too, you oaf!" Victor spluttered.

"But, not too much!" Warren waltzed over to his littermate and grabbed Victor around the waist, curling the buck under his arm like he was a piece of luggage. "You've got a lady-love to impress, too! You can't be actin' all smooth-brained – like the rest of us cave-dwellers."

The group was making its way out of Robby's room while Victor was attempting to pummel his brother.

"And, Nick!" William bellowed over his shoulder. "I know you don't drink, but you're gonna share one with us tonight!"

"Why's that?" Nick asked, trying to keep from smirking.

"'Cause you're gonna owe us a round for keepin' Tom off your back tonight!" Wyatt laughed.

"What are you going to do?!" Nick turned around suddenly.

The bucks all laughed as the door opened and they began to file out.

"C'mon, what's he going to do? Physically resist one of us for a limited amount of time before being carted off anyway?" William chortled. "Robby! Make sure he ends up at the office!"

And, with that, the door shut behind the rambunctious Hopps rabbits. Victor was still trying to whack Warren upside the head the entire time. A crashing sound brought Nick's attention back over to Robby. Apparently, he had gotten one of his hind-claws stick in the fabric of his trousers and fallen over. The todd could not help but shake his head with a low chuckle.

It was the one beer that he would, more likely than not, enjoy having.

...

With the bulk of the current Hopps kits being of-age or near-enough to, it made sense that there was more of a separation between the those who were practically adults and those who were obviously kits. It was so different than the last couple of years that Judy had been home for the holidays. There were so many new faces due to the high number of fresh relationships that were being orchestrated by her siblings. Some of them were making the poor doe blush behind the glass of wine that she was nursing. Judy was finally seeing, first-paw, how some of her siblings were attempting to pair-off with mammals who were not of the lapine-persuasion. Several of them were courting predators, as well.

The tinkling of her sisters' laughter brought the purple-eyed doe's mind back groundside. They were all staring at Judy with humored grins: reading every thought that crossed the doe's mind. Kathleen's attention was split between teasing her older sister and making eyes at a specific bobcat, who was over at the desserts table speaking with two of their brothers and a couple of guests, and she was obviously desiring to get a little closer to the tom even at that very moment.

"Geez! Where are they at?" Kathleen grumbled loudly, still looking on.

"Don't be so impatient." Vera urged. Even the mother was beginning to sound perturbed by the overall wait. It was clear enough from the tone on her tongue.

Judy was nervously looking around the common area while her paws unconsciously smoothed out the edges of her dress.

I've never looked more ridiculous in my whole life, a portion of her mind thought mercilessly.

The truth was that Judy had not ended up trying on the dress prior to the Eve's evening. Not even Judy could argue how well it suited her. How well it fit. How deeply it made her feel desired. Due to Nick's reasoning, the fitment of the dress felt like his own paws were comfortably wrapped around her hips. She was dreading the fact that the mental image was slowly causing her to overheat and drench her undergarment. The thought-process drowned the self-deprecation as if an earthquake had struck-forth a tsunami.

One thing that Judy did not want to do was become so intoxicated that it hindered the duo's final meeting. The problem was that she was shaking from how nervous she had become. The doe was also a little cold, if she was being honest. It would have been smart to have worn stockings…

Or, some garters to accentuate this set of lingerie, the Rebel smirked internally.

Judy's internal heat was doing nothing to dissipate the chill on the area around the table that the group was currently milling around. The problem was that she was tired of looking like a scared and meek little doe. She was cold and the conscious decision was made to liberally top off her glass and head for the nearest hearth where she could warm her fur and tame the gooseflesh that was hidden beneath her shades of gray and white.

It was both annoying and reassuring that Judy's entourage ended up slowly converging around the chair that she had decided to take up residence in. There were two different hums within the area. One from the conversations that were being held by her merry little band of tagalongs. Another was from the larger, overall area where the rest of the mammals were. Those conversations were heard in nothing more than snippets as it was more of an unrelenting drone of noise in the doe's head. It was only overcome by her more immediate sisters as her toes and ankles began to become comfortable again. The kindness of the external heat source enabled Judy to focus, once again, on their conversations instead of zoning out into the environment around her.

"So, where's Derek, Ver'?" Joy inquired from a nearby seat.

The mother smirked behind her own glass of wine. "He'll be around later." Vera spoke in an even tone despite the visual betrayal. "Exhaustion seems to be an issue for the poor buck."

The clarity of why Derek Hopps was not present only deepened the level of embarrassment that Judy currently had. She could not believe how bold her younger sister was being; in regard to passively speaking about the couple's sex life.

Maybe that's how it is for pregnant does?

Judy shoved the thoughts out of the forefront of her mind. The resulting physical reaction caused the necklace to brush abruptly against the fur of her cleavage. The chorus of giggles was drowned away due to the falling of her long, lapine ears. A paw tentatively reached up to her chest and grasped the charm that was hanging at the midsection of the chain. The doe's cheeks puffed out while a freed paw brushed her hot ears across her left shoulder before capturing the glass of wine again. The area around the fireplace was becoming crowded due to the amount of her 'favorite' gossiping sisters. There was still plenty of time before the regularly scheduled dance would occur, after all. Julianna, Joy, Kathleen, and Vera all had their own plans for the remainder of the night and yet they were dead set on overseeing their sister's transfer to the todd's paws before they would get down to their own business.

Judy's body was spun on her toes slowly as she felt a change in the demeanor of the group that was surrounding her. Joy surprised her littermate by grabbing a hold of Judy's shoulders roughly: sporting a look of absolute determination.

"Judith!" Joy stated urgently, sparing a quick glance over her shoulder. "I swear, if you don't tell that fox what you need to tell him, they're going to have to arrest me for knocking the stuffing out of you!"

"What the hell?!" Judy exclaimed over the low thrum of music from a far-off stage in the common area.

She turned, ever-so slightly, to give her littermate an earful for being rude: only to find that they were all staring into the depths of the crowd.

"No…" Vera spoke in an awestruck tone. "I'm with Joy on this one."

"What are you guys staring at?" The gray doe asked in confusion.

Julianna's paw reached out to gently place her digits on the top of Judy's head just before turning it towards where they were all looking. It was unlike this particular littermate to be so quiet. Browns and grays and whites melted across her sightline until the movement of her head was halted. There was nothing out of the ordinary about the crowd of bunnies who were near to one of the table arrangements besides one of the bars. Some of her larger brothers were had just come through the doorway a little further down. They were all dressed nicely for the occasion and lazily carrying bottles of beer between their digits. Laughing about something that one of them said and sharing conversation jovially.

Judy's mind briefly registered that it was Wyatt who had cleared a little area just inside the room. It was how her sisters had seen the surprise first. Robby was slowly meandering alongside Nick as they made their way over to the snacks at the bar. The todd's russet fur seemed to shine brightly under the overhead lights. The suit that he was wearing was accentuated by a white undershirt. It was as if his body had been blanketed by a clear night's sky, full of stars, from her distance. A bright red tie flowed down the center of his chest as if it was a bow on a present. The todd walked with a limp, heavy to one side as he took care to stay atop of a pleasant-looking sandalwood cane, and his free paw was wringing the bottleneck of his own beer as if it was a chicken's neck. He took a clipped sip from the bottle once the group had made it over to a table. Nick seemed to be more interested in listening to the stories than speaking.

Judy would have chuckled at how stiff he seemed with the beverage if it had not been for the fact that she could not breathe. Her ears had steadily fallen down behind her shoulders and the disbelief of the whole situation, which she was now in, was reflected by how wide her eyes had become. Her jaw felt a little slack and parched. The doe's confidence, it turned out, had apparently been fleeting.

A flash of annoyance struck Judy when Vera slowly turned around to step up to her older sister with a gentle smile accentuating her lips. The same thought had flashed across their faces and Vera was careful enough to remove the glass of wine from Judy's reach before acting as the caring mother that she was. Judy felt the doe's paws running down her side: smoothing away any wrinkles that could be seen in the dress. The only annoying part about everything was that Judy could not see Nick to continue getting an eyeful of the todd. Judy's three sisters were dutifully crowded around her so that nobody could see where she was while still being able to make their own visual assessments, at the same time.

"You'll do just fine, Judes," Vera explained quietly. "You find an opening once he finishes his drink and talk to him like normal. Don't drink anymore wine. And, then you ask him for a dance.

"What do I talk about?" Judy squeaked out, voice shaking a bit.

Vera's smile was soft and kind as she began to brush a paw over the immaculate front of Judy's dress.

"Well, you should start by saying hello and compliment him on how dashing and handsome he looks this evening." The young mother instructed sweetly, pawing the charm on the necklace so that it on prominent display.

"You didn't tell us that he could dress up like that, Sis." Joy whistled.

Judy finally caught her breath and started brushing herself down self-consciously. "I have never ever seen him in anything this nice outside of his Class-As." The doe said, floundering a little in her mind.

Vera's paws caught ahold of Judy's, and it made the gray doe look up suddenly. The young mother had the same warm smile adorned on her muzzle as she tried to pass on the sense of calm to her sister. One paw was brought up and Judy felt it brush over her forehead and cheeks.

"It's Nick, Judy." Vera reminded her. "He's not a stranger. You know how well he treats you already."

"Is she ready?" Kathleen asked urgently. "Nick's got maybe a quarter of his drink left."

Vera grinned widely before leaning in to give Judy a quick hug.

"She's ready."

The three sisters all cleared the way so that Judy could see through the crowd again. Some of her family was flitting back and forth to begin lighting candles on each of the tables surrounding the designated area for the dancefloor. The sunlight was barely shining through the glass dome above the hall: only illuminating the fattest of snowflakes that were following on the front of the incoming snowstorm. It was actually surprising to see that the sun was not being obscured on the far-off horizon.

Judy's sightline finally cleared enough so that she could catch another glimpse of her friend. Nick's fur looked amazing, and he had somehow managed to tame the wintertime tufts that usually stuck out from under the collar of his shirts. From a distance, Judy could not tell that his head was banged up. One of cuts on his ear was large enough to see, but it had been cleaned up so well that it looked as if he had had it all his life.

"Go on, Judy!" Joy urged her happily.

The doe blushed a little as she slowly wandered away from her sisters: taking the long route around the room. Most of her family passed her by while politely waving and wishing her a merry Christmas's Eve. Some of them grinned and gave her well-wishing winks as they moved out of the way for her to continue her mission. Judy decided to duck into the hallway to make better time transitioning to a new vantage-point: dodging the does from the kitchen crew before popping through the doorway that Nick had originally entered the hall from.

The todd was no more than three yards away now: his tail swished back and forth slowly while he conversed with her brothers. He looked so carefree and as if he was having a grand old time. Nick might have been injured but his posture kind of conveyed the message that a huge weight had lifted from his shoulders while being in the warren. Nervous paws brushed her dress down once more before nervously clasping together behind her back. Her hindpaws tentatively carried her closer to the todd little by little. The group was goofing off and she was finally able to listen in to their conversation over the sound of the music. The sound of a bottle being set down on the glass tabletop was followed by Nick's humored but disgruntled voice.

"Do you want another one?" Robby asked, clearly talking about getting the todd another drink.

"Absolutely not. Those are terrible." The fox replied with a chuckle. "It tastes like the dirt that you brush off of a carrot after you pull it out of the ground."

"It's probably just you." Warren jabbed back. "That's a top-tier bottle of beer in the Burrows."

"Ahem!" Robby cleared his throat, having looked up long enough to notice the doe that was creeping up on the group.

The sound brought everybody's attention right to Judy as she nervously approached the table with a slow gait. All of her brothers smiled warmly, but Nick muzzle looked as if his brain had just seized up like a computer at the precinct. The todd had to step out and around the barstool that he had been resting on so that he was not rudely sitting.

"Hey, Judy!" William greeted her warmly.

The W-litter each hooked another bottle of beer out of the bucket of ice that was in the center of the table before giving her a wave.

"We've got some stuff to take care of before tomorrow." Wyatt explained. "Y'all have a good evenin'."

Robby walked over and gave his sister a hug.

"Same for me, Sis. I'll see you guys later." The buck said before dismissing himself with the younger brothers.

They seem to be in high spirits, Judy thought before she turned back to look at Nick.

The todd was still awestruck. Completely surprised by how the dress, which he had bought, looked on the doe standing before him. Judy fell into stride quicker than she had anticipated due to the fact that Nick looked like he was back on his heels mentally. She stepped around to the table and sat down next to him with a slight grin and primly folded paws: waiting for the fox todd to take his own seat again.

"You look absolutely stunning, Judy." Nick finally managed to breath out some words as he continued to look her over.

"Almost as if someone knew that I would." The doe offered kindly, giving him a wink. "And, you look quite handsome this evening, Nick."

"Thank you." He replied, sounding a little nervous as he adjusted his tie.

The doe smirked internally at the todd's mental floundering. It was endearing to witness, and the reaction seemed to confirm what others had told her already. Nicholas Wilde may have been secretly in love with her. Judy offered him a paw by reaching out to the bottle that he had been previously drinking from: rolling the Bunnyburrow Buckwheat bottle across her palm with a quick thumbing.

"Not exactly the kind of drink that you'd expect to have at a Christmas party, huh?" Judy asked with a giggle.

Nick grinned a little while offering a shrug. "They wanted to have a beer with me. Robby helped me with the suit so that I didn't agitate my ribs any further, so I made sure to be gracious enough to answer the call to have a drink." He explained.

"How are you feeling?" The doe inquired, sounding concerned.

"I took some painkillers before we all rolled upstairs." Nick reassured his partner.

Judy shot him a gentle glare. "You need to be careful with your low alcohol tolerance and taking those medications." She ordered.

"I know, but if I hurt myself tonight, Tom's going to make you push me around in a wheelchair." Nick chuckled. "I did it for you, to be honest."

Judy snorted at the mental imagery of Nick being forced to traverse the warren in a wheelchair while she was his designated aide. Before they had gotten to know each other as well as they had; Nick never would have offered her so much leverage over him by admitting the situation that he was potentially in like that. The fact that he trusted her so deeply to do so made her heart swell in her chest.

It was not as difficult to keep the unspoken promise to her sisters: wherein Judy did not grab another glass of wine as soon as it was convenient to do so. A loose plan had been formulated with them and it was easier than she had anticipated to fall into the steps of the idea. To his credit, Nick made it so easy to do. There was enough time before the dancing hour that Judy could lean back, relax, and converse with the todd. He ended up having so many questions for her regarding more of the background of the Hopps' holiday season. Nick looked worn-out, but he was so happy to listen to her explanations for this or that.

When the two seemed to need a little bit of food, Nick was quickly out of his seat to make sure that there was something at the table for her – at the minimum. There was no argument that he would listen to as far as her concern for his leg went: even after he had to carefully hobble back to the table with a precariously held platter of finger food. Nick was not bothered by doing it one little bit: showing off a tender smile that raced her heart before heading off to return with some cups of water. It was obvious to both of them that they did not want any alcohol: no matter how much each of them might have felt like they were drowning in the moment. Judy's buoyancy was rising quickly, but she could tell that Nick would periodically become extremely shy in her presence. Usually right after his emerald-green eyes had, again, roamed over the lapine body that sat next to him. His attempt at subtlety was absolutely flattering as well as how respectful he was about each glance.

Longing… Not lustful.

The two were hungry, of course, but it was the food that was left relatively untouched.

There was probably something to be said about seeing a shorter female standing close to the interest male: who was having to look down at her to give a questioning look. Nick also had to be willing to not let his eyes roam her form while she reached up to take his paw. Judy had been forced to hop down to the floor, whereas Nick was pulled away from his seat – simply sliding off the chair to stand next to the adventurous doe. He was only slightly taller than her, after all.

Judy kept her urgency tamed with a soft paw around his index digit and a slow, perusing pace so that Nick could keep up without being drug along. The doe found herself shooting Nick her most award-winning of smiles while pointing out different aspects of the house. It was quite different under all of the red, white, and green tones from the light strings. Holly wreathes, gentle kissed with the red berries in random splotches, were hung all over the warren now. All of them were high enough to stay out of reach of the smaller kits, of course. With as much garland as had been strung it was amazing that nobody had been decorated in it. If Judy had woken up, strung in it, she certainly would not have been surprised in the slightest.

The thing was… All the greens of the decorations did was accentuate Nick's eyes while he looked around. The lovely todd seemed so enamored with her family's history that he was not even paying attention to the fact that Judy was able to look him over repeatedly. Being able to do that made the doe's body feel giddy. Especially when she saw the height of where his tail was held and how the tip flicked back and forth with a quick eagerness. She wasn't going to lie. The inner Council was fangirling so hard that it was pretty stupid. It was like she was fifteen all over again. Worse, only because, now she adequately understood what everything meant.

At the far end of the passageway, Judy politely excused herself so that the duo could utilize the bathrooms before continuing on with Judy's plans for the night. Several minutes passed, finding the doe staring at her own goofy smile in the mirror while she washed her paws. Nick did not seem to have his own plan for the evening and it was perfect for allowing the doe to commit to the plan that she did have. A drying of her forepaws brought them down over her dress once again. It was right on the threshold of being time for scheduled dance hour and the nerves were starting to take hold.

Judy crept out of the does bathroom to find that Nick was standing down at the nearby entryway to the hall. He was leaned up, on his strongside, against the frame of the door while he waited for the doe patiently. Judy could see well enough through the doorway to spot several pairs of rabbits who were already dancing around to band's music. Fortunately, his ears were high and to the front: paying no attention to the slim doe who was quietly moving up to join him. Judy could feel her tail wiggling happily above her behind.

A brush of fur along the blade of her paw was felt before Judy even realized what she was doing. There was a subsequent and kind curl of her digits around the todd's larger paw a second later. The doe's mind followed up with a nervous smile, hopeful eyes, and a gentle squeeze of her grip.

"Nick…" Judy whispered as she looked into the todd's eyes. "Will you dance with me for a little while?"

Surprise carved itself over his muzzle for a split-second before a sheepish tone blanketed the fox's features. Nick's ears splayed out sideways while pearl-white fangs showed from under his lips: all the while, he was nervously glancing out at the couples who were already spinning around the vast dancefloor.

"Will I be able to keep up with you?" Nick asked in turn with a chuckle.

If she had not already been in such a good mood, Judy probably would have been a little crushed by how anxious her friend sounded. Instead, the gray doe twisted her body around in front of him – not even for one moment taking her eyes off of his – before tugging, ever so slightly, on his paw.

"I won't leave you behind." Judy heard herself say lovingly.

...

Stewart Hopps was sitting at the head of the main table and looking on at all of the family within the common area. From the elevated table, he could see everything that was going on as far as his aging eyes would allow. He was slightly tuned in to the conversation that a nearly exhausted Bonnie Hopps was having with one of the guests of the evening. Tuned in mostly because he was entertained by how embarrassed the matriarch was. He had been challenged and met said challenge with an appropriate vigor, and he was sipping on another coffee to signify said victory while watching over all of his family and their guests.

The earbud that he was wearing finally crackled to life and immediately forced the buck onto his elbows against the tabletop in front of him. Nobody had really noticed the fact that he had been lazily pawing at a discrete pair of binoculars since they had gotten back from the master bedroom.

"We have a confirmation of movement, General." Victor's voice came through evenly.

"What's their twenty?" Stu asked quietly.

"Big Red and Princess Amethyst are at the nine-o'clock of the hall… Inbound for the Ballroom Floor, over." His son replied.

Stu snapped the binoculars to the upper-left portion of the dancefloor so that he could scan around. It only took a minute to find the russet-furred todd amongst the sea of rabbits. It was helpful that he was a head taller than everybody and had a starker color compared to the rest of the area around him. The patriarch could not help but chuckling out an otherwise silent thank-you to the todd; for being a fox as opposed to being a buck rabbit.

"Excuse me for a little bit, ladies." The few mental vestiges, which were being dedicated to his localized hearing, alerted him to a change of his wife's tone. "Really, Stewart? Binoculars and, I'm willing to bet, the communications wiring… all out on Christmas Eve…"

The older buck had a satisfied grin plastered to his muzzle as he quickly twisted out of his seat, stepping around to the back of Bonnie's chair before he dropped the binoculars down in front of her so that she could take a look.

"That smile is the reason why, my love." Stu whispered into her ear. He sounded rather pleased with himself.

The binoculars were pulled up to her eyes just in time to see her daughter, Judy, hovering near a rather sharply dressed red fox. Nicholas Wilde had just hung the handle of his cane on the back of one of the stools and was carefully peeling off his suit jacket so that it could be draped on the same chair. Her eyes were alight with something that neither of the doe's parents had seen before. And, Stewart was not joking one bit about how sincere and pleasant Judy's smile was. The doe, of course, was trying to keep her emotions even, but even Bonnie could see nearly every tooth in the young doe's head.

"Boomer… This is the General," Stu spoke quietly over her right shoulder.

"This is Boomer – send your traffic, over."

"You have a green light for Operation Tender Winds. Fade it out and slow it down until the targets leave the floor, out." Her husband ordered.

Bonnie snapped the binoculars over to the main stage and saw that one of her eldest sons, Brody Hopps, had a paw up to his folded-over ear. Once his orders were in, the buck looked up towards their table and he fired off a thumbs-up even though his face conveyed no change in emotion. The buck was on leave from his unit within the Zootopian Marine Corps and he was likely the one that taught most of the warren all of the lingo that the Marine used in his day-to-day life while serving.

"Copy that, Hotel Actual. Fadin' out and slowin' it down, over." The matriarch heard the buck's drawl of confirmation due to the proximity of the communications plug now. "All stations on this net, this is Boomer One-Actual. Operation Tender Winds is a-go and I have the authority within the A.O. There will be no requests until the HVTs exfiltrate the area. Out."

Robby: "This is Romeo One-One, Boomer. I copy."

"Wyvern Squad copies, over." William responded.

"This is Viper One-Sierra… I am standing-by, over." Victor.

"Whiskey-Papa One-Two's got you ten-by-ten, Boomer." Bradley relayed.

If there had been a way for her to thump the buck, who was in charge of the music, Bonnie Hopps would have done it. And, then, she would have used the theoretical third paw to smack Stu upside the head for egging on all of the militarized comradery between the siblings. But, seeing as she did not possess said third paw, Bonnie merely sighed as she maneuvered the binoculars back to the duo.

They had moved and that startled her a bit.

The music was already beginning to fade, changing on the back end, and Bonnie could still hear several more confirmations – from various sons – over the device that her husband had tucked away in his ear. The matriarch was too busy trying to reacquire her daughter and the roguish todd to pay any sort of attention to the commentary.

The magnified tubes eventually fell across their path again. Finally allowing Bonnie to watch as Judy was shyly towing Nick, out onto the dancefloor, by his paw. The young doe had said something funny because the creamy-white portions of his muzzle were bouncing with a humored response. Bonnie's nose began twitching as she noticed how clearly the todd was limping. A mother's desire to protect those, who were near and dear to the family, would not be denied.

"She asked him to dance with her!" The matriarch belted out even though her annoyances were present.

Bonnie could feel her ears rising past, and brushing, her husband's muzzle on the way to a fully alerted posture. It was surprising to find that Judy had done that, but it also made the mother wonder if tonight was the night of admissions. Nick had been paying attention to where they ended up on the floor, careful not to get too far out into the middle, before he tugged a little on the doe's paw. Judy came about with a grin that fell away as soon as she noticed how serious the todd seemed.

"And, it's about time she did somethin', too." A voice chimed in. "If they kept dancin' around each other any longer, they would have turned into a tornado."

Bonnie flicked her eyes away from the event transpiring on the dancefloor long enough to find Robby sitting a couple of seats down, beer in his paw, and his hindpaws propped up on the tabletop rather rudely. Fortunately for him, his mother was too focused on making sure to not miss anything that happened with her daughter to care enough to berate his behavior.

Robby's fortune only lasted as long as he had managed to keep his mouth shut.

"So, if they have kits… Would they be bunnies? But, like, orange?" Robby wondered aloud. "Could you imagine that? A little doe like Marcy. It would be like a sassy little tangerine bouncin' down the hallways."

Less than a minute later, Stewart Hopps was chuckling while he looked through the apertures of his reacquired binoculars. He could hear Bonnie and the steady string of thwap'ing sounds as a rolled-up newspaper was being brought down on the head of his son nearby.

That boy's mama did say that she'd whip his ass… He thought to himself as he began laughing a little harder.

...

Judy found herself staring up at Nick after he had halted her forward momentum across the dancefloor and before she even had the chance to make a verbal inquiry as to what the issue was, Nick took two steps into her personal space. The todd's larger paws switch roles: his right let go of her left, falling to the middle of her back due to her lack of height, while his left paw grasped her right and repositioned their arms so that they sat comfortably, but slightly offset, between the two mammals' chests.

Nick had said that he could slow-dance – and the curiosity, in the moment, made her wonder if he could waltz or not – and there was no way on Earth that Judy was going to pass up on the opportunity to find out. And, the todd did not wait for the doe to return to the current moment. He stepped to in a slowly turning pattern while engaging her eyes with his own deeply. The music had taken a turn for something more romantic as opposed to being Christmas-themed. It had been a little odd to hear the last song fade out in the middle of the main chorus.

His sudden forwardness slowed the doe's progress of building confidence. Judy had not expected Nick to take the lead even though that was exactly what he was supposed to have done. She suddenly started thinking about all the things that could go wrong while her cheeks burned and her eyes fell down between the duo. There was one very interesting button that was done up, just above the center of his stomach, at her eye-level.

"You can stand on my paws, if you want, Carrots." Nick offered.

She absolutely did not shiver upon feeling his breath against the top of her head.

She absolutely did realize how close the two actually were.

Judy pushed her torso away from the todd just enough to look down at the little gauze wrappings on some of his toes. It pained her heart to see him hurt like that. On the other paw, Nick probably would have joked that they looked like little, nondescript Christmas presents. The doe could find it in herself to laugh about it yet. That would only come through the due course of time and she knew it.

"What about your paws. I don't want to hurt you." Judy's voice suddenly came out.

"Well, if you're going to lead, I can always stand on your paws." Nick replied cheekily. He was more than happy to take some of the heat on her behalf. "I told you that I suck at dancing."

Judy released a giggle as she slipped back up against the todd's torso. He was clearly joking about that because she would not be able to move and he would probably crush her smaller toes. She could very well lead him around the floor, though.

She felt his right paw release her before holding it up in front of her nose. Carefully guessing at what he wanted, Judy grabbed a hold of it with her left, taking it away from where it had been grasping against the back of his shirt. She was not tall enough to have draped her arm over his shoulder. Her smaller digits wrapped onto his larger paw as if she was about to take to a pull-up bar. Only, the 'bar' ended up lifting her and his snout brushed past her cheek to watch their hindpaws. Nick timed it perfectly so that hers ended up just above his metatarsals.

Judy's heart skipped a beat as Nick seamlessly guided her paw back to his shoulder before brushing it down her side and around to the small of her back again. He had not missed a single step during the maneuver and, now, she was standing high enough for him to dip his muzzle close to her cheek. The todd made sure to be polite enough not dip so low, over her shoulder, to seem as if he was taking some sort of initiative. He was so close to the doe that she could feel the brush of his whiskers against her cheek, but could not see what that long, orange and brunette-tipped tail was doing over his shoulder.

Please, curl around me, she begged internally.

"You have to be careful, Slick." Judy whispered her concern.

"You know how it is, Fluff..." Nick chuckled so deeply that she could feel the reverberation throughout his body. "There will be a safety briefing, about my shenanigans, at the precinct when we get back."

Always one to be the jokester, there was nothing Judy could really offer to get him to calm down and pay attention to his own needs. It was not the way the todd was wired. So, Judy slipped one forearm at a time up his chest and around his neck as high as she could muster before resting her cheek on the front of his shirt-covered chest. Confidence grew, while a happy set of tears slipped from the doe's eyes, when she heard the literal sound of Nick's heart skipping a beat after she had latched onto him. Judy hoped that the hitch in her breathing had not been felt by the todd as she held onto him.

Anybody who was watching the duo, and there were plenty of interested pairs of eyes, ended up staying for the long-haul. Some couples, who had previously been dancing, ended up yielding the floor before finding nearby tables to watch from, smiling all the while, and converse about the newest subject of the night. The songs, that the band played, melted seamlessly between one heartfelt instrumental to another several times over. And, all the while, the red fox todd and the gray bunny doe seemed to break all the conceivable rules when it came to how closely they could mesh their bodies during the slowly spinning gait of their dance. Time slipping by without so much as a care.

It all started when Nick's fluffy appendage, having a mind of its own, curled around the back of Judy's legs and the hem of her dress. It was like watching a sparkler fountain post-ignition and at half-speed on camera. Judy's legs slowly began to curl up higher on his hips; looking almost as if she was kneeling even though she was hanging off of the fox's shoulders. Nearly an hour later, Nick looked as if he was clutching a pile of warm clothes that had just come out of the dryer. He had slowly hiked the doe, inch-by-inch, up his stomach and chest. Judy, in turn, had ended up burying her forepaws and muzzle into the side of his throat while the todd had curled his head around her shoulder intimately.

Neither of the two would have been able to tell anybody how long Nick had ended up taking them around the floor. Long enough for only their onlookers to notice how heavily pawed he had become on his left side. The todd was far too concerned with making sure that the doe did not fall out of his grasp to care. His left forearm had directed his paw up and underneath her ears, cupping the back of her head, while his right arm had scooped her up underneath her buttocks so that the doe could be brought up higher against him. The todd did not notice how heavy his gait had become throughout the time that he had answered Judy's request for a dance.

He did not care, after all.

Something inside Judy slowly, but steadily alerted the doe to how late it had become. So late, in fact, that if the interior lights had been extinguished, the stars might have been visible through the dome above them. Assuming the weather would cooperate. And, to be able to have this kind of a dance, with Nick, in the middle of June or July? That would be a heavenly experience for her. She had not even told him about the Summer Festival and how they would be dancing in the yard, under the falling sun or the rising stars, yet. Just thinking about how happy she was ended up setting off another hitched breath against his frame: one that was no missed this time.

"You alright, Fluff?" Nick whispered, uncurling from around her so that he could look into her eyes. "What's wrong?"

"Absolutely nothing."

With fallen-back ears and glistening eyes, closing while she leaned up, Judy felt every twitch of her nose before her pursed lips met his softly. She guessed that the todd saw it coming because there was no delay in his response. It crashed all of his dancing momentum as the doe felt the two of them come to a halt on the floor: neither caring if they ended up in anybody else's way because of it. Even though her ears were down, Judy could still hear several surprised gasps and excited chattering from the occupants of nearer tables. It did nothing to change the focus between how good his lips felt against hers and how her right paw had come up to grasp the todd under the chin caringly.

A tender warmth accompanied the nearly liquified state of the kiss between Nick and Judy. And, it was too short. A soft disengagement of the melded spot between the two was accentuated with an appreciative upward nuzzle with the side of Judy's snout against his longer one. When she stopped, her muzzle pushing his whiskers back against his face, the doe rested for a couple of seconds before releasing a sign of contentment.

"Will you come with me, Nick?" Judy murmured.

Nick's only reply was to slowly lower the doe to the floor with a look of shellshock written in a metaphorical cursive across his features. Judy smoothed out her dress, while dutifully ignoring the rest of the room, before she grasped Nick's paw softly. He was already locked-in to the "follow her" mindset, so she led him back over to the table where he had left his jacket and cane.

Judy placed him exactly where she needed him to stand for the moment before turning the chair around enough for her to appropriately use it. It was only then that she grabbed the edges of her dress, at three- and nine-o'clock on her frame, and hiked it up to jump onto the seat cushion. Judy could not help but smile at the look of contented confusion that Nick had on his muzzle. The edge of his lips was trying not to tug into the smallest of curled smiles at how he had just been treated while his eyes were half-lidded. He completely missed the fact that Judy had committed to some acrobatics so that she could sweep his jacket into her paws, turning it around, before standing on the edge.

"Turn around, please." She directed him politely.

The sound of her voice seemed to break the spell that he was under, taking just long enough to look at what she had meant for him to do before taking a step forward with a twist. A raised right arm smoothly went into the sleeve so that Judy, who was standing slightly higher than needed, could wrap the portion of the back around his shoulders evenly. Then, his left forearm was fitted appropriately. The doe had hopped back down onto the floor so that she could unhook the cane before he had even turned around: offering it to him politely.

Judy felt like she was ice-skating from how happy she was. As soon as Nick took the cane, she seamlessly took up her position on his opposite side and slipped her paw back into his. Judy slowly walked Nick out of the common area and into the corridor that separated the main hall from the kitchens.

"This is Boomer One-Actual to all stations on this net. Fire mission complete on Grid Square Echo-Charlie-Four-T'ree-One-Five. I say again, the fire mission is complete. Our HVTs are moving out of the A.O., break..." Brody reported over the radio. "Boomer Element is standing down at this time and returning to normal posture in zero-five mikes, break… Operational command authority is being passed back to Hotel One-Actual, over."

Stu could see alright with just his glasses as he watched Judy lead Nick away. He was ecstatic by the event – that he assumed had happened – on the dancefloor. Robby was sitting in the chair between his two parents while nursing another bag of peas in one paw while cradling his handset in the other.

"This is Romeo One-One… Solid copy on your traffic, Boomer. The General confirms that he has the ball, over." The buck reported on his father's behalf.

"Copy that, Romeo One-One. Boomer One-Actual is signing off, out."

Bonnie, having retaken possession of the binoculars, was split between happily grinning at what she was witnessing and trying to stifle the desire to roll her eyes upwards to the heavens due to all of the night's theatrics from the bucks within her warren.

The click of the locking mechanism, on their main door, indicated to Judy that they were within a relatively safe environment for her emotions to push beyond what had been shown over the previous twenty-minutes. The duo was still in the process of squeezing each other's paws rather harshly. Even though the todd possibly could have been conflicted by the events, which had transpired on the dancefloor, he seemed to have felt enough hope to be clasping onto her smaller paw as hard as he was.

Judy had to remind herself of how new of an experience that this was for Nick. Yes, it was cute, and adorable, and endearing, but it was also at one of the highest points of intimacy for the todd. It was not as if the two were on the cusp of their coming-of-ages while being together. That would have offered a little more latitude for poking fun at one another. Judy could feel herself mentally hammering on the accelerator, though. There was no way around the lust-driven feelings, aided by all her love for the todd fox that was within the room with her, but a long-tempered understanding of patience managed to cool the urge to outright attack Nick.

Once the door had shut, rather audibly, Judy was adamant about one thing. Do not let Nick's paw go. And, she did not. Instead, the doe gently pulled her friend over to the edge of her kithood bed.

There was no stopping the mental fireworks at that point.

Judy's paw found the piece of cloth, which she had become extremely accustomed to grasping over the years, before her mind could even begin to comprehend the movement. Or how the feeling of the silk of the todd's tie glided over the fur on Judy's forepaws. Her left was holding onto his paw while the right was dragging him down to her level.

Even though it was the female making the first move, Judy felt her knees shaking rather violently when her lips met Nick's again. Fortunately, the doe felt every single brush of their two furs even as her lips closed against his own. She also felt his body kick into an entirely different gear to answer her invitation. It caused Judy to immediately curse the fact that the dress, of Nick's choosing, was long enough to hinder the need to wrap her leg up, intimately, around his thigh to drive the emotions further.

Judy swore that the whole warren heard her a moment later.

Nick swept a forepaw up her elevating leg, gently grasping at her upper thigh – oh so close to the bottom of her buttock, causing the doe to release a pleasured and prolonged squeak of pleasure into his muzzle. It was not a moan. It sounded worse in her head than it actually was. Unfortunately, Judy released a harshly similar sound – since Nick was already carrying half of her torso's weight – when her body involuntarily raised the opposite leg. Nick read every single pulse of her muscle spasms without making so much as a sound. Instead, and all of the sudden, Judy was lifted completely off the ground: the intimate center of her thighs pressed into the modest midsection of Nick's stomach throughout the change of position. She could feel nothing below her core's entrance to give any sort of indication where Nick's mind was currently at in the depth of his own pleasure.

The connotations of eagerness and enthrallment, from Nicholas Wilde, was entirely felt at the center of his paw-pads. Through the rolling of his shoulder muscles as the todd hefted the doe's body a little higher against his chest. Each move was accompanied by a shudder in his lower stomach and the muscles that wrapped around the iliac crests of his hip bones. Judy knew that Nick was not straining to lift her weight. He was very silently trying to sort out the feelings that were accompanying his physical response to the doe's forwardness.

Her kiss was not like the first one that she had given the todd.

And, she was not even going to talk about his "retaliatory" nature in the second kiss that the duo shared later.

He wanted his first kiss on his own terms… A voice poured out from within.

Judy was not going to talk about it.

But, she was going to act on the tenderness of the memory.

That was sacred to her.

Judy knew where the two were.

Nick had her lapine body hefted high against his own vulpine figure; still standing beside the bed that the doe had led him over to.

He was cradling her against his body.

Cradling was the right verb due to the fact that Nick was attempting to keep his paws in line. Judy did not need to have the physical responses explained to her. The todd's padded digits were contracting against the plushness of the dress material that was currently hugging her hips. They were not one bit intrusive: the motions were reserved and respectful. He was testing the waters on what was allowed and what was not.

There was a flare of annoyance within Judy's mind; overruling the desire to keep the kiss romantic for a moment.

That was long enough, of course.

Judy's short tongue slipped between Nick's lips in a rather forceful manner – looking back on it, the doe would inevitably view it as extremely rude – to make tender swipes against the todd's incisors and canines. Rude, but respectful enough to request permission for access.

If there had ever been a noise that could be described as something that would "incite" the doe, it was the sound that Nick made after she committed to "speaking" to him in the French. He did not whine. The todd groaned and every single fiber of his torso shot up – on-end – in his own desire to grant the doe's request.

The prey's tongue was met by a larger predator's tongue tenderly. He was shy about it. Neither of them had kissed one another this deeply. The resulting honesty was found in the gray-furred doe's whimpering into Nick's muzzle. In turn, the todd lost all focus on being able to stand up any further.

The cane, that Nick had simply propped against the edge of the bed, slapped against the wooden floorboards after steadily becoming dislodged from the sheets. Judy's knees softly smushed against the material of the comforter on her bed while Nick had tumbled backwards against it. Neither of them broke away from the evolving French kiss. A comforting brush against the right side of her body was immediately met with a paw. It was a little surprising to find Nick's own paw sneaking around her waist in pursuit of wherever his tail was headed. Judy would not have noticed the significance if it had not been for the fact that her left paw landed atop of his own. His paw was attempting to clasp onto his tail so that there would be a measurement of control on the rogue appendage.

A move of redirection brought the todd's paw up to the side of her face: urging him to not worry about the fact that his tail was now wrapped firmly around her slender hips. What she did finally realize, in the process of having slid down his stomach now that he was sitting, was that she could finally feel him pressing upward against her pubis. The thing that Judy did not notice was the forward roll of her hips as the doe's focus was redirected from her lower body back to her muzzle. Both of the duo received one hell of an electrical shock to their senses from that: softly gasping into each other's muzzles.

Slow down, Judy, her mind told her.

Once the doe reoriented her senses, she was finally able to feel how far behind Nick was mentally. The todd was still focused on exploring the kiss: his tongue tentatively pushing into her smaller muzzle as he began to become more confident that the transpiring event was real. Judy began to lick at the bottom of his larger tongue lovingly. Nick was exploring her mouth: dragging his tongue over her buckteeth before driving it down and around her tongue with a swirl. It sent sparks up and down the doe's spine just as much as the ministrations from his paws were. The right was cupping and stroking her cheek while the left was periodically squeezing her hip. A forward rock followed against his chest and drove Judy deeper into the kiss each time. Both of them were consciously concerned that the other's body was getting too far away, and Judy was desperately trying her best not to blatantly rub their clothed sexes together in the process.

The burning in her lungs forced the doe away from the todd's lips so that she could capture even the smallest amount of fresh air. As it turned out, the duo was completely spent on that front – even though Nick's lungs were a fair bit larger than her own – and the adventurous natures left the two breathing heavily. Nick was outright panting… and, half of the reason for it was simply because the todd fox was overheated. The delicious scent of violets was thick on the air, around the doe, and she knew that the todd could smell the scent of her own arousal as it had begun to surround him.

If only I had known how effective this would be to shut him up sooner, Judy said with a gentle smile.

Nick was watching her the whole time: as if he was able to read her mind.

His smile was sheepish in the silent response.

Both of their eyes tracked down to the doe's rising forepaws. The hardness of the buttons on his suit jacket seemed to ground Judy's mind as she undid them. Then, she could begin to roll the lapels back and away from his shoulders. Once Nick was distracted enough to attempt to remove the jacket, Judy's paws found his tie: carefully loosening the red garment's knot so that he could lift it away once he set the jacket aside.

Once he was busy wrangling the tie, Judy carefully unbuttoned the top of his waistcoat. Three buttons and not one more… yet. The move allowed for the fluffiness of his chest fur to breach through the new, expanded gap in the shirt. The todd's green eyes went wide when Judy sat up on her knees, pressing a forepaw between her legs so that she could hike up the centerline of her dress. It allowed the doe to shuffle forward and forced Nick to fall back on his elbows. And, then finally, he was fully laid back against the pillow.

Her paws found the back of his skull, thumbing gently through the fur under his ears while she sat on his chest very carefully. The doe's lips, again, found the todd's with a gentleness that was not mimicked in her digits. Nick did not seem to mind at all. Judy could feel his eagerness as their lips tentatively melded. The duo fell into their own form of repetition. Lips meeting for several moments before withdrawing as their heads adjusted position to meet again. Breathing was optional: it was only sought out by one or the other once one of the mammal's did not think they could remain conscious any longer.

Judy could feel Nick's eagerness beginning to melt the surprise away: both of his large paws had found her waist and drug her up a little further against his body. Ever the gentlemammal even though she wished that his paws would grasp a hold of her well below the belt. But, Judy knew that every single little kiss would embolden Nick to newer heights of intimacy with the rabbit doe. There was no need to go so far as shoving his paws around her frame or simply removing her dress. That would have been disrespectful to her friend. For now, Judy was trying to make it clear that Nicholas had a green-light to do whatever felt right in the moment. If he wanted to go further, he would let her know in some fashion.

It did not take long before the todd fox's paws shifted around a bit. Another shiver shot down her spine as his right paw slid around her back to move up to the base of her skull. Judy felt Nick's clawed digits carefully and intimately grasp the back of her neck while his left forearm guarded the literally rolling of their two bodies. He decided to turn the two of them over so that he could lean over the top of the bunny.

Two sets of eager eyes met. Both smoldered from the careful activity being conducted in the bed. Judy looked Nick over for a moment. Taking in how good he looked in such a "disheveled" state of dress. Admiring how much of his scruff was on display, as well as how the tips of his fangs poked out from under his lips. He was still trying to catch his breath, after all. When she reengaged the staring contest, that they would periodically have, she found the todd to be a little unsure of what he was about to do. That was not to say that he did not also look hungry. So, Judith Hopps raised a brow slightly as a welcoming grin creased the opposite corner of her mouth.

Come on, Slick…

The teasing nature of Judy's thoughts was extinguished as if the Zootopian Fire Department had rushed in with a hose from a fire hydrant. Nick used his thumb to roll her head to the side slightly, spreading the left side of her neck for his approaching muzzle. She watched as his eyes closed a mere second prior to him ducking out of her line-of-sight. The forwardness of his first tenderly laid kiss, pressed against the fur of her clavicle, caused her whole body to involuntarily shudder against his forearm. Only a bitten lip held back the bulk of her surprised whimper that sought escape outwards and into the surrounding air. Judy was usually nose-blind to her own scents: but there was no denying the sudden spike of her pheromones from the intimate nature of Nick's first step in answering Judy's original push. It was amazing that the todd fox could scent the rabbit doe's desire as well as he did.

The second kiss fell a little higher up the side of her neck.

The third, higher still.

The fourth was felt right against the interior of her scorching-hot left ear.

There was no helping the release of a choked-out moan, partial obscured within a gasping breath.

And, nobody could accuse Nicholas Wilde of playing dirty.

He was merely answering Judith Hopps's feelings for him.

Gods, we hope he can 'play dirty' though, the Rebel chimed in lustfully. Even through the madness of all her firing neurons.

The internal voice of the Councilmember distracted the doe long enough for Nick to dip in and lay a thick kiss right on her muzzle. He was not so shy as to need to work up to slipping his tongue past her lips this time. The feeling made it clear that the todd wanted to taste the lovely doe again. It caused Judy's paws to subconsciously wrap Nick tightly around the back of his neck to drag him deeper into both the kiss and against her body.

Judy wanted to drown in the feeling of being wanted that badly. And, more.

Once his desire was satisfied, Nick committed to a reversal of his previous kisses down the unsatisfied side of her head and neck. On the third kiss, just above the clavicle, he focused in on the spot so that he could suckle at the skin underneath Judy's fur. The tendril within the smaller bunny body snapped like a rubber band that had been stretched beyond its limit. Judy howled from how sudden a climax had snuck up on her and there was no helping the fact that her lower body was grinding itself against the todd's right quadricep now. Her body briefly registered the tone of concern that coursed through his; but quickly found that the emotion was overrode when he moved down to do the same thing, a little harder this time, against the skin over her right clavicle.

Judy nearly punched herself in the muzzle as her lips found a knuckle to cry out against.

Another wave of orgasmic pleasure crashed through her mind like a wave on the beach.

The strength of the feeling resulted in a very final sob of happiness when she was finally able to release her paw.

Tendrils of saliva were pulled away.

It was an absolutely dizzying experience.

Judy's mind swam around in the churn of the oxytocin.

Long enough to miss Nick's gentle rolling-away from her body and the subsequent removal of his waistcoat, in fact. The embarrassment of such an event caused Judy to push her face up underneath his muzzle gently to hide from his view when they met again. An open muzzle released a series of repeated gasps, chitters, and moans into the depth of his russet fur while she did her best to guide his right paw up her back: hoping that he would understand that the dress was feeling extremely restrictive now.

Two-minutes crept past as the two mammals carefully worked her out of the gifted dress. A claw, on his index digit first, having hooked the zipper along the spine so that the shoulder straps could be slid away from their precarious laid perches. Her body twisted to-and-fro as the todd's paws whisked the dress away, and down her torso, and past her long, slender legs before haphazardly draping it over another part of the bed. There was nothing that the doe would be capable of doing about the soaked state of her panties. Even if it was not for the fact that Nick had scooped his left paw underneath her, grasping at her bottom boldly – causing her to gasp in surprise again, so that he could pull her closer to his body while his right arm cradled her head. His lower body curled around Judy's withdrawn legs so that she could rest within his grasp.

Sound eventually returned to Judy's ears after she had pressed her nose against his Adam's apple lovingly. Nuzzling in such a caring fashion… and, in a manner that was reserved for loved ones of rabbits… Nick was too busy huffing deeply, causing the nodule to bounce every now and again, even as his freer right paw brushed over her smoldering ears and down her back. If Judy had wanted to keep some form of modesty by hiding her body, Nick was making sure that was done so on her behalf.

When she was finally able to turn her head up towards Nick's face, he immediately brushed a thumb under the doe's eyes to clear them of the tears that had accumulated and fallen against the fur of her cheeks. Even once across the lower lip to swipe away the slightest bit of saliva that had escaped in the surprise of the orgasms. His eyes were slitted, and his muzzle was adorned with a tender smile, as the two looked each other over once again, even though he was attempting to stifle the overheated nature of needing to pant outright. Judy's was mirroring embarrassment and appreciation, in turn. Still breathing harshly from her own experience.

She could see it now, though.

Everything that her family had been telling her about the todd's adoration for her.

Nicholas Wilde's love for her.

She had not given him a definitive explanation regarding how she felt still.

It was not something that seemed needed to be explained now.

If her actions, tonight, had not been clear enough then she would continue until they were.

The fact was that the todd fox and the doe bunny were both physically exhausted from the time spent with all the Hopps family on the Eve of Christmas. No matter how much desire was held in either of their eyes, the two could do no more than respond to one another's requests for tender kisses. Judy's heat did not dissipate while feeling how pent-up Nick was: the pressure of his erection was now firmly resting against her belly. Their gratitude for one another's loving actions was felt in a randomly dispersed orchestra of kisses that held the feeling of a swiped tongue between one or the other's lips. Appreciative and occasionally cheeky. Desire reigned as it was made clear that the two wished to continue with their efforts.

Nick put a cork in the bottle when he used his thumb to roll her head to the side again: planting a gloriously caring kiss on Judy's cheek in an effort to calm them both down.

She swore that the todd had even considered grooming her head and ears based on the stiffening of his muscles, for a moment. The thought of such a move resulted in a hot surf washing over the doe again, though it was a fleeting feeling due to the depth of her exhaustion. Restraint brought one final kiss to Nick's lips before Judy melted herself into the fur of his chest with two pawfuls.

It was not until Judy began to knead at Nick's clavicle that a gentle spooling of his purr began to be let out into the surrounding air. The spun-up todd was still trying to cool himself off even though his head was firmly rested alongside the bunny. The sound of the purr was a little bouncy due to his erratic breathing but, overtime, it eventually slowed to a flattened balance.

As soon as it was clear that he had fallen asleep, Judy quickly followed him to the darkened shores for her own restful slumber.