WingedKatt here. I hope you have some metformin and insulin shots handy.

Daisy was in the breakroom looking at her watch. It was already 10 minutes after 5 and Ryan still hadn't showed up yet. If it was anyone else, she would have assumed he'd bailed on her. But this was Ryan and she knew he wouldn't do that to her. Which made her wonder what had happened to him? Was he in a wreck? Did his dumb brothers pull a prank on him and he's now having an epic wrestling match with them? Or did he get called out on a veterinary emergency?

Glancing at her phone again, she saw that there were no new messages from Ryan. This made Daisy wonder just how important this dinner really was to him. Although she knew he wouldn't just bail on her for no reason, the fact that he was late and hadn't sent her a text with an explanation made her wonder if this dinner was as important to Ryan as it was to her.

Ryan had made it sound like a really important dinner date (she preferred thinking of it as a date), but maybe it wasn't to him. Maybe he was just bored and wanted to hangout before the sleepover tonight.

Daisy was staring at her phone and chewing on her lip while wondering if she should just call him when she suddenly felt a presence behind her. Before Daisy had a chance to turn around, a pair of strong arms circled her waist and pulled her against a warm chest, even as she heard Ryan's soft voice in her ear.

"Sorry I'm late." His warm breath tickled her ear. "Something came up."

Taking a deep breath, Daisy hardly moved for fear he would release her. Touching her lip briefly while enjoying his warm embrace, she asked, "Something important?"

"It was to Judy," he replied while hugging her a little tighter. With his heart skipping a beat, Ryan couldn't believe how good it felt to feel Daisy's body pressed against his, to be able to hug her in such an intimate way. Feeling her warmth against him also reminded him how much of a dumb bunny he'd been to not take the initiative sooner.

With a crease crossing her brow, Daisy glanced over her shoulder and asked, "You were with Judy?" She knew Ryan had been with Judy earlier but thought they had split up after the meeting. Had he been with the bunny this whole time? What was Judy to Ryan? Was there more between them than Ryan let on earlier?

Ryan met her beautiful blue gaze and shook his head. "No, I was with someone else, someone she's been hoping to meet again." At Daisy's raised brow, he said, "You remember the foxy friend she had in Zootopia, don't you? The one she was missing?"

Daisy's eyes widened. "You mean Nick!? He's in Bunnyburrow!?"

Ryan grinned widely. With a nod, he explained, "A couple of my sisters saw him at Gideon's bakery this morning so I stopped over there to talk to him."

Turning around in Ryan's arms, Daisy gave him her undivided attention as she said, "And what did he say? Is he willing to come on the trip tomorrow? And why hadn't he gotten a hold of Judy before now?"

"Judy left her phone at home this morning and so missed his calls earlier. But she has her phone now and Nick was able to talk to her. He's meeting with Judy even as we speak and will be joining us for the sleepover later tonight."

A bright smile crossed Daisy's face. She was glad that her new friend was able to meet with Nick. To know she wasn't the only predator with a very close bunny friend was nice. Nibbling her lip again, she asked, "What was he like? Is he nice?"

Watching her nibble her lip and wanting to kiss her (she was too cute!), Ryan nodded. "Yeah, he was. He was easy to talk to and seemed easy going. He hasn't been in Bunnyburrow long, but he was already friends with Judy's sisters Shaylee and Melanie and her cousin Marty, if that tells you anything."

Daisy perked up. Being a predator, she had heard about Marty Hopps and how he was good friends with several foxes already but hearing about Shaylee and Melanie—neither of whom were close to any predator—was a little shocking. But it did show that Nick truly was easy to get along with, otherwise he would have scared the two does off.

Smiling at Ryan, Daisy replied, "I look forward to meeting him, then."

Ryan smiled back, saying, "Yeah, I'm looking forward to spending more time with him, too." Drawing one of his paws up from behind her back, Ryan held it up with one finger pointing towards the ceiling. "But that's for later tonight. Right now," he booped her little black nose with his blunt claw, "we have a date to go on."

Daisy's nose twitched as her bright, blue eyes widened. "Date!? You're actually taking me on a date!?"

Caressing her cheek, Ryan nodded. "That's the idea." With a slight pause as his brows furrowed, he added, "Unless . . . you don't want to date me."

"No! I mean . . ." Taking a deep breath, Daisy tried to collect herself. At the thought that Ryan might misunderstand her and call the date off, she tried to keep her voice calm as she said, "I would love to date you, Ryan." Daisy was practically exploding with happiness, but she tried to keep her excitement contained. Tried being the operative word here because she was now grinning like crazy and almost vibrating with joy.

Ryan could literally feel her happiness at the thought of going on a date with him which made him want to kick himself in the tail for waiting so long to ask her out. Resisting the urge to lean down and rub his nose against hers (and stealing a quick kiss), he said, "Well then, you'll need to get changed."

Daisy stiffened up. It had crossed her mind earlier that she didn't really have any clothes for a date. All she had were her work clothes—and blue jeans and a hunter-orange polo shirt wasn't what she considered proper date attire. But Ryan had only said they were two old friends sharing a dinner so she tried not to let it bother her—but now he was calling it a date. What was she supposed to wear? "Changed?" she finally asked in a breathless whisper. She was trying really hard not to panic right now.

Ryan nodded. Tightening his hold around her waist with one paw, he slid the fingers of his other paw through the fur around her ear, saying, "There's no way I'm taking you on our first date wearing hunter orange." Seeing the panic in her eyes, Ryan rubbed her ear and as soon as she relaxed a little, he explained, "So I brought something for you to wear."

Daisy's eyes had closed at the gentle ear rub, but at Ryan's words they popped open. "Really!? You brought me something?"

Stepping back, Ryan took the gift bag Patty-Mae had given him from where it hung at his elbow. Handing it over, he said, "It's on loan." As Daisy took the bag, he explained, "Patty-Mae is letting you borrow one of her dresses—but don't ask me which one. She said I couldn't see it until you were wearing it."

Daisy glanced inside the bag and saw a splash of sky blue. With her eyes widening, she asked, "Can I really borrow this?"

"That's the idea." Turning Daisy around, Ryan gently pushed her towards the female staff bathroom, saying, "Now get changed. We're already running late."

Daisy glanced over her shoulder and flashed him a huge grin, then she hurried into the bathroom to change.

While waiting for Daisy to come out, Ryan walked around the break room looking at the motivational posters hanging on the wall. There was one with a bighorn sheep standing at the top of what looked like Mount Everest with Perseverance as the caption. There was another poster showing the launch of the space shuttle with Teamwork as its caption. Then there was one about Success with a white tail deer running through a valley with the sunrise behind him.

The one he liked the best, though, was one about Challenge. It said: The most profitable decision in your life will be the most challenging. Ryan figured that choosing to date and marry Daisy was probably the most challenging decision of his life. Not a challenge between him and Daisy as they got along remarkably well. The challenge would come when specist pricks who don't think a predator and prey should be together tries to break them up.

But even though being with Daisy could pose a huge challenge, Ryan knew it would be well worth it. The profit he'll get in return can't be measured in money.

With this in mind, Ryan was extremely glad both his parents supported them, along with Patty-Mae and Judy. Especially Judy, seeing as she was interested in a predator herself. And then there was his sister Camellia and her bobcat crush, Jaxon. If they started dating that would be another pred-prey couple.

He really hoped Nick would reciprocate Judy's feelings. Not only for Judy's sake, but the more pred-prey couples there were, the sooner things would change here in Bunnyburrow.

With a twitch of his ear, Ryan heard the bathroom door open. Turning around, his eyes widened when he saw Daisy standing there in a sky-blue dress that hung down to just above her ankle. There was no pattern on the sky-blue material, but there was a faint shimmer and sparkle to it when the light hit it just right. There was also a little blue bow sitting at each side of her waist. The top of the bodice was rounded and the sleeves hung down and flowed around her shoulders and upper arms.

With his jaw slack, Ryan drank in the sight of her. She looked just like a water fairy. All they were missing was a pond in the moonlight.

In a soft, shy voice, Daisy asked, "So? How do I look?"

Ryan snapped his mouth shut and started walking towards her. "Simply stunning. There are no words to describe how enchanting you are."

With a pleased smile crossing her lips, she asked, "You really think so?"

Ryan nodded. "You completely take my breath away."

Daisy's gaze dropped to the ground as she rubbed her arm shyly. With the pleased smile still plastered across her face, she whispered, "You're just saying that."

Stepping up to her, Ryan slipped one paw around her waist and the other he reached up to cup her face. "Shall I show you how much you take my breath away?"

Curiosity lit up Daisy's bright blue eyes as she looked up to meet Ryan's light brown gaze. "How are you goin—mmm." The kiss Ryan stole from her was completely out of the blue. She was in the middle of talking—thus her mouth was open—and Ryan took full advantage of it.

Daisy had always imagined their first kiss would be soft, chaste, a bit hesitant, maybe a little awkward. But there was no hesitancy or awkwardness in Ryan's kiss. Nor was it in the least bit chaste. The kiss Ryan stole from her was confident, deep and thorough and it had Daisy's toes curling in pleasure. With a groan, she slipped her arms around Ryan's back and gripped his shirt. Pulling herself deeper into his embrace, she kissed him back with all the fervor and longing she'd kept bottled up inside for so many years.

As Ryan finally pulled back to breathe, he took a couple of deep breaths and murmured, "See? You take my breath away."

With her chest heaving as she took several deep breaths of her own, Daisy whispered, "Yeah, you're pretty breathtaking, too."

With a wide grin, Ryan stole another deep kiss, which had Daisy groaning in his arms again. Running his tongue along her sharp incisors was exhilarating as was twining his tongue around hers. This was way better than he ever could have imagined.

As he broke the kiss off so they could breathe again, Ryan said in a husky whisper, "You have no idea how long I've wanted to do that."

With a giggle, Daisy said, "I bet I have you beat."

Ryan tilted his head slightly as one of his ears twitched. "How so?"

Slipping her arms up around his neck, she answered, "I first wanted to kiss you a few months after we met."

Ryan's eyes widened. "Really?"

Daisy nodded. "Well, you were the first guy to stand up and fight for me. And you were always so nice and never said a snide comment about me or my species. You never treated me differently for being a predator or a skunk and you went out of your way to help and spend time with me." With a bright smile, she added, "So yeah, I started crushing on you pretty quickly." With her eyes dropping to stare at his chest, she continued, "Over the years my . . . feelings . . . for you have grown much deeper." Nibbling on her lip while running her fingers through the fur at the back of his neck, Daisy waited for his response to her confession.

Seeing her cute, bashful expression made Ryan want to kiss her again. But he resisted—for now—by saying, "Well, you definitely have me beat in the time department, but there's no way my feelings are any less than yours." Daisy glanced up sharply and Ryan cupped her face again. "I love you, Daisy. I've been in love with you for the past two and half years and I've been a real lunkhead for waiting so long to tell you."

Daisy's jaw dropped again as her bright eyes widened, then a brilliant smile flashed across her face. It was obvious to her now that Ryan liked her, and she would've been happy with just that, but for him to tell her that he loved her . . . that he had loved her for over two years . . . Daisy's heart just melted.

Tightening her arms around his neck as her tail curled happily behind her, she stood up on tip toes and pulled his face down to meet hers. Stealing their next kiss, Daisy thoroughly enjoyed exploring his mouth and flat bunny teeth before their tongues danced together in an age-old tradition of love and acceptance. Pulling back from the kiss, she whispered against his lips, "I love you, too, Ryan."

With his tail vibrating in happiness, Ryan pressed his lips briefly to hers and then said, "Now that we have our feelings out in the open, should we get going? We're already late for our first date and I really don't want to be hanging around when the security guy decides to look at the monitors and sees us making out in the break room. Especially since I'm not even an employee!"

As Ryan guided her towards the employee exit, Daisy giggled while wrapping her arm around his. "Yeah," she murmured, "that's probably a good idea." Her heart became warm and fuzzy at hearing him call their dinner a date—their first date. Furthermore, Ryan wanted to make out with her which had her heart pounding and her skin feeling a little tingly. With her tail swaying happily behind her, Daisy couldn't wait to find out what it was like to date Ryan. Their time together had always been special, but now she had so much more to look forward to.

-/-/-

Back under the gnarled, old oak tree, Nick couldn't believe Judy's eager responses to his hungry kisses. It felt surreal to have a rabbit wanting to run her paws over his body and her fingers through his fur, or that she would get a kick out of exploring his sharp teeth with her tiny tongue. It was incredibly addictive and a huge boost to his confidence. The sweet taste of clover blossoms and honeysuckle that exploded across his tongue every time they kissed further added to his addiction.

So, it was a bit of a let-down when she finally got his last shirt button free and began running her fingers through his belly fur (it felt incredibly good!) only to run into the bandage wrapped around his middle which held his gauze patch in place over his knife wound. Her discovery at finding a bandage covering his fur brought their heated, tasty make-out session to a screeching halt.

Breaking off their latest kiss, Judy stared wide-eyed at him, her nose twitching furiously as she cried in a soft, scared voice, "Ni-ick!?"

Nick met Judy's worried gaze for a moment, then closed his eyes and dropped his head back against the rough bark of the ancient tree. He was already planning to tell Judy about his back injury but hearing the pain in her voice made him want to brush the seriousness of it off. He suddenly didn't want her to know that it had nearly killed him.

"Ni-ick," Judy cried softly again. "What happened?"

With his ears flicking back, Nick said stiffly, "Obviously, I was hurt." Judy stiffened in his lap at his terse reply and Nick realized he had slid back into 'hustler Nick'—the side of him that Judy disliked and the one he was trying to get rid of. With a heavy sigh, he rubbed a paw down his face and murmured, "Sorry. That didn't come out right." Dropping his paw, he met Judy's watery gaze again.

Reaching forward, he cupped both her cheeks again and wiped at the tears pooling at the corner of her eyes. "I wasn't going to hide the injury from you." With a slight shrug he added, "I kinda need you to look at it and see what kind of doctoring it needs."

Judy's ears were already drooping after discovering the bandage and receiving Nick's curt reply, but now they dropped flat against her back. "You haven't seen a doctor yet!?"

Nick rolled his eyes. "Fluff, I'm a fox without medical insurance. And even if I did have insurance, I would still need to fight tooth and claw just to see a doctor and it would still be a tossup on whether he'd help me or not. But without insurance—there's no way. At least, it's that way back in Zootopia. I'm afraid to find out how it is here in Bunnyburrow.

With a sniffle, Judy slowly shook her head in denial. How could the insurance companies treat any mammal so cruelly? And all because they were biased against a particular species! Or the doctors and hospitals for that matter? How could society treat foxes so wrongly? What did they ever do to anyone? With another sniffle, Nick handed her a red handkerchief he had pulled from his pocket. Wiping at her nose, she asked, "So what happened?"

With a deep breath, Nick answered, "I was knifed in the back."

A look of utter devastation crossed Judy's face as her mouth dropped open. "You were stabbed in the back!? By who?" Before Nick could answer, Judy squared her shoulders and sat up straighter in Nick's lap, even as her sorrowful look was replaced with one of rage. Reaching up to grab Nick's open shirt, she pulled herself closer until their noses were just inches apart. In a slow, cold voice she asked, "Who. Hurt. You?" Thinking of her very specist family members and remembering the promise she gave to Bobby, Judy added, "And it better not have been anyone in my family."

Nick's eyes widened at Judy's sudden change. He was already smitten with her adorable angel look, but this avenging angel she had just turned into completely took his breath away, even as she warmed her way deeper into his heart. Furthermore, Judy's avenging angel look went way beyond cute and adorable—she was just plain hot and sexy!

As Judy opened her mouth to repeat her question (she was feeling a little irritated that Nick didn't answer right away and wondering if his silence meant it was one of her family members), Nick swooped in and stole a hot, demanding kiss from her.

Groaning into the kiss, Judy suddenly found herself flat on her back and staring up at the leafy green underside of the old oak tree. Or she would be looking at it if her eyes weren't closed as she groaned into the unexpected and passionate (but thoroughly enjoyable) kiss. By the time Nick drew back from the kiss, Judy's head was spinning, both from the pleasure, as well as the lack of oxygen.

With her chest rising and falling as she sucked in large quantities of life-giving oxygen, Judy opened her excited amethyst eyes and stared into Nick's deep emeralds, even as she now realized that he had both her paws trapped beneath his as he held them at either side of her head, their fingers entwined.

Losing herself in his sparkling green gaze, Judy took another deep breath while trying to calm her pounding heart. Staring intently, she watched as a myriad of emotions flashed across Nick's forest-green eyes. Excitement, pleasure, and hunger being the foremost, but Judy also caught flashes of gratitude and respect which surprised her. Before she could think too deeply on them, though, Nick flashed his bright-white teeth as he asked, "And if I said it was a member of your family . . . what then? What would you do?"

The pleasure and excitement in Judy's eyes disappeared as her rage returned. "What do you mean, 'what would I do?'" Trying to pull her paws free of his grip and failing miserably (Nick was really strong!), Judy exclaimed hotly, "I'm going to hospitalize him, that's what I'm going to do. And when he's finally able to walk again, I'm going to be waiting at the hospital entrance with a pair of pawcuffs and the sheriff to escort his specist tail to jail." She tried to pull her paws free again but gave up when she realized Nick's paws weren't budging.

With his tail wagging a mile-a-minute in joy and gratitude at Judy's willingness to defend him against her own family members, as well as seek vengeance for him, Nick's muzzle darted down and stole another long, hot kiss from her. After three decades of searching (and giving up), Nick had finally found a female whom he not only wanted to be with, but whom he was ready and willing to commit to. So, to find out how dedicated she was in return, in wanting to keep him safe and ensuring justice was dealt to those who harmed him, Nick was past cloud nine and over the moon.

She wasn't even a vixen but a rabbit doe, and yet Judy was still willing and demanding that she stand beside him, through thick and thin. She not only wanted to help him be 'more than just a fox' as she showed him back on the gondola four months ago, but she was demanding that others also treat him as 'more than just a fox'. Nick couldn't believe his great fortune.

With his heart swelling with love for her, Nick just wanted to gather Judy up in his arms and hold her forever. Of course, his instincts weren't content with merely holding his avenging angel. No, his instincts were demanding he smother her in his scent, rut her like there was no tomorrow, knot her, and leave his claiming mark on her.

As Judy lay beneath him as he stole her breath away with his kisses, she was torn. Nick had just told her he had been literally stabbed in the back and instead of telling her who did it, he was distracting her with his hungry affection. Her mind simply wanted to go out and avenge him, but her body was telling her that vengeance could wait and to not ruin the moment.

So, she found herself in a dilemma on whether to break off their kisses and demand he tell her what happened so she could ensure justice was served or to forget it for now and just let him have his way with her. Of course, the naughty side of her mind (which she had just recently discovered) was leaning more towards forgetting the whole thing and just letting Nick gobble her up.

Judy was also torn on whether or not this was actually a dream or not. The rational side of her mind was telling her that this was way too vivid and realistic to be a dream (she could not only smell Nick in this dream, but she could actually taste and feel him!). But at the same time, she never thought in a hundred years that she would be meeting Nick so soon.

Furthermore, not only was she meeting with him, but Nick was kissing her senseless with no intentions of stopping. How could this be anything but a dream!? She had just realized two days ago that she was in love with the slick todd, and then to find herself flat on her back while Nick took liberties with her—how could this not be a dream? But then again, she could never have imagined how good his kisses were, or how incredible it felt to feel his fingers and claws sliding through her fur earlier. And why would she and Nick be under the old oak tree down the road from Bobby's if this was a dream?

As she couldn't figure out whether she was dreaming or not, Judy finally decided to stop worrying and just let Nick have his way with her. She was enjoying it too much, especially as he just slid her paws up above her head and trapped both with one of his own. Taking his free paw, Nick slipped it under her shirt to run his claws through her belly fur. With a shiver of pleasure running down her spine, even as a happy moan sounded in her throat, Judy gave up trying to figure anything out. If this was a dream, it would come to an end soon enough. And if it wasn't, well, she wouldn't complain.

WingedKatt again. I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Next time, Nick and Judy will discuss his back injury in greater detail...and other things. Expect a lot of fluff.

Ch. 26: Nothing Else Matters, will post in 2 weeks. I hope you all have a great weekend. Take care and be safe.