For the third morning in a row, she found herself wrapped in her fox's arms. Not that Judy didn't absolutely love it. She was grateful for not having to work today but they did have vacation plans. She went to have a shower and change, when she came back he was still asleep.
"Wake up, dumb fox!" she half-shouted. He sat up quickly and kissed her.
"Ugh! Morning breath!" she gagged afterwards.
"If you're gonna' call me a dumb fox, then I'm gonna' call you a cute bunny," he quipped.
"You can't call me a cute bunny!" she retorted.
"Why not? I'm just telling the truth," he teased flirtatiously.
"That's not fair!" she argued.
Then she heard her old recorder pen click. "Cute bunny," it repeated in Nick's voice.
"Stop it!" she commanded.
He threw the pen aside and kissed her again. "Stop kissing me, your morning breath tastes awful!" she countered when it ended.
This caused him to laugh. "I love you, Carrots," he laughed.
"I love you too, but you are bein' a pain in my tail!" she chided.
Nick got dressed and started out the door.
"Aren't you gonna' wash up? We're leaving town in three hours," she asked.
"Yes but I need to pack up and take care of something on the homefront. You can live without me for a while, can't you?" he explained with a slight tease.
"Alright, just don't forget," she replied.
As Nick drove away from her apartment complex, he dialed his dad's number and put the phone on speaker.
"Hey pops, I need a place to stay while I find a new place," he explained.
"Actually Nick, I've been preparing for that for a long time," John answered, "I have three studio apartments hidden around the park in the case that you or your siblings need it."
"Thanks dad, you always did know how to prepare," Nick commented.
"Will your girlfriend need it too? I don't have these spaces set aside for any of you specifically but only one of them is built for two or more people," his father explained.
"I doubt it. Judy's got her own place right now, I'll let you know if that changes," the younger tod replied.
"How much luggage do you have?" his dad asked.
"Not much, just some bags with spare clothes in them," he answered.
"Any particular reason for this move?" John asked.
"Just trying to bury as much of my time as a swindler as possible," Nick replied.
"Y'know son, you can't run from your mistakes," John explained.
"I know dad, but I don't want my family to pay the price for the stupid things I've done," Nick replied, "Plus, I'm going out of town for a week to meet the Hopps family, I doubt my landlord will understand. He's not exactly the kinda' guy that'll accept something like this."
"Stop by the park before you leave in that case, son," John told him.
"I intend to but what do you need?" Nick asked.
"Just a letter I'd like delivered to them. I don't have their addess though," his dad answered.
"Alright dad, I'll play messenger boy. But I have to ask why you're sending letters to Mr. and Mrs. Hopps," he replied.
"I have something big planned. For now let's just say the Ghost Walker may be open much sooner than I anticipated and things went better with your mother than I hoped," the old tod replied cconfidently.
Packing his things didn't take long and his landlord, David Grrizzlington, seemed to want him out. David wasn't the physically fit kind of bear that's normally seen around the city, he was a digustingly obese grizzly in his mid-30s. The ten years Nick had rented out the attic from David, the grizzly made living there hard. Nick got together his bags of clothes and everything important to him.
"Hey fatass, I'm movin' out!" he told David.
"Whatever," the fat bear told him as grumpily as possible.
"Here's my last rent payment, where's my mail?" he told the bear.
"The usual place," the bear grumped.
"You haven't been opening it again, have you?" Nick asked.
"And if I have?" the bear grumped.
"Mail fraud, tubby, I can run you in for that shit," the fox snapped.
Nick was normally a paitient creature but with David, his paitience evaporated quickly. His relationship with David was turbulent, they went together like fire and gasoline. Nick preferred his relationship with Judy, in fact the bunny occupied a lot of his thoughts these days. He picked up his mail and left his key in the pile's place.
"I'll pick up some change of address forms at the post office," he thought.
With all that said and done, he left without looking back. Closing the last door on his old life as a swindler.
"Straight and narrow from now on, Nick Wilde. You're reconnecting with your family, about to meet Judy's, and maybe soon starting your own. You don't need pissheads like Dave slowin' ya' down," he said to himself outload.
He unlocked his car door and jumped in, throwing his bags in the passenger's seat, "Judy's seat". Apparently, David had realized what he had said because the bear came out angry.
"Hey fox! What makes you think you can just leave!?" the bear shouted.
Nick paid no heed to the bear's angry shouting, he turned up the radio, and drove off. The bear tried multiple times to call his phone but he hit the "reject call" button upon seeing the number.
"Memo to me, have that number blocked," he thought cheerfully.
Upon reaching the park, he started to head for the visitor's entrance but Willie walked up.
"This way Nicky," he told him.
Nick followed Willie through the employee's entrance and was guided to the clocktower that used to be the park's centerpeice, where his father was waiting.
"Hi dad, wait long?" Nick asked.
"Just got back to the park not long ago," John replied.
The old fox turned to the wall and pushed in a brick, a section of fake wall slid into the ground and revealed a metal door. After unlocking the door, John and Nick stepped into an elevator. The apartment was just below the clockworks with a window overlooking the entrance and main street to the park. The apartment was prefurnished but the furnature was covered in tarps and the floor needed to be vaccuumed.
"Put whatever you aren't taking with you in the closet. I'll have the cleaning crew come in here on Monday and start getting this place ready for you," John instructed.
"Thanks dad. But I do have to ask, why is the park so dead right now?" Nick replied.
"I don't open the gates of the park until 4pm on weekdays except during the summer months when they stay open practically 24 hours," he explained.
His phone rang again.
"Judy?" his dad asked.
"I wish, my former landlord he's been calling me nonstop since I moved out of his attic today," Nick replied after looking at the number.
He once again rejected the call and set his phone to block the number. John handed him the letter along with some change of address forms.
"I figured you'd need these so I picked them up on the way back. Just fill them out and I'll hand them in for you, I already have you registered with the park's mail sorting system. Use the employee's entrance when you come home but be careful, we can't have visitors finding out about these apartments," John explained.
Nick set to work filling out the change of address forms and stuffed the letter into his week-long travel bag. When he handed the forms back to John, the older fox hugged him.
"Safe travels son," John whispered.
"Thanks again for everything dad," he whispered back.
As he got in the car to leave the park his phone rang again.
"I swear if it's that fat bastard I'm gonna' have a talk with my carrier," he muttered as he looked.
His anger and frustration turned to happiness.
"Hey honey-bunny," he greeted upon answering.
"Hey it's almost noon, I thought you'd be back by now," she stated.
"Sorry Carrots, things took longer than I thought they would on my end but I'm heading your way right now," he replied.
When he pulled up he saw her on the porch of her apartment complex with her bags. He reached over and opened the passenger door for her, moving his bags to the back.
"Hey sweetheart, hope you weren't waiting for long," he replied.
"Not really, thanks for agreeing to drive out there," she replied.
"Anything for you, Carrots," he told her, looking into her eyes.
"Stop Nick, you have to drive," she laughed.
At that, he drove off, heading to Bunnyburrows. As night fell, he slowed down and rolled back the top.
"Why did you do that?" she asked.
"Might as well enjoy the night, we're not gettin' there 'til late anyway," he replied.
"True, but my parents are expecting us for dinner," she told him.
"Sorry and here I was thinking we were stopping at some diner on the way," he apologized.
"It's ok Nick. Still nervous?" she replied.
"Yeah. Hey Judy," he started.
"What's wrong?" she asked.
He never called her by her first name when it wasn't anything serious, he always called her Carrots, if not that then honey-bunny or sweetheart.
"I just want you to know that no matter what your parents think of me, I'll stay by your side," he told her, "Not for any other reason than you're the one I love. The one I want to be with."
After a quick stop at a red light, over a small hill, and around the bend that followed they found themselves nearing the house she grew up in with a light on at the front porch. Following her instruction, Nick pulled into the drive.
"Go say hi, I'll get the bags," he told her.
She gave him a quick hug and peck on the cheek before jumping out. When Nick caught up, he put the bags down on the porch and held out a paw with a nervous smile on his face.
"Mom, dad, this is Nick Wilde. He's my boyfriend," Judy introduced.
Both her parents were flabberghasted, neither knowing exactly what to say. Gideon came out, apparently surprised as well.
"Nick!? Well I'll be! It IS you! I ain't seen you in what seems like f'rever!" Gideon exclaimed.
"You-you know each other?" Stu exclaimed.
"Sure do, Nick here's m' cousin!" the bigger tod exclaimed excitedly.
"It has been a long time, hasn't it Gideon?" Nick asked.
"How're Alex an' Debbie doin' these days?" Gideon asked.
"They're married," the smaller replied.
"Ain' that sumthin'! I bet Aunt Lilly's a happy lady right 'bout now," Gideon laughed.
Seeing that Gideon and Nick were related put Stu and Bonnie a little more at ease about him.
"Well, let's not stand out here chitchatting, dinner's getting cold," Bonnie stated, "Judy, Nick, you two must be starving. Gideon, would you like to stay for dinner?"
"Love to ma'am, but I got som'more deliveries t' make," he replied. "Hope you don't mind that we're vegetarians, Nick," she asked.
"Of course not, my mother is a vegetarian. Or do you mean having to eat vegetables? I have no problems with that either," he returned as politely as possible.
"So uh Nick, what do you do for a livin'?" Stu asked.
"I work with Judy at the precinct," he answered.
"I told you that daddy," she replied.
"I know Jude, I'm just nervous about my little girl dating-..." he trailed off.
"A fox? I know what I am, Mr. Hopps, but that's something I can't change. All I can ask is that you understand, I love Judy with my whole heart. I wouldn't know what to do without her," Nick confessed.
"Just try to understand, daddy. I've come to love and accept Nick for who he is on the inside," Judy explained.
"I know, it's just gonna' take some time for me to get used to Nick, that's all," Stu replied.
Bonnie on the other hand seemed much more relaxed, still nervous but more at ease than her husband.
"Maybe I should've bought some fish from the market today," Bonnie lamented.
She sat a plate full of steamed carrots, brussel sprouts, and mashed potatoes in front of Nick.
"Don't worry about that Mrs. Hopps. What you made for us is fine," Nick reassured.
After dinner, Judy took Nick by the hand and showed him her old room. It didn't take them long to get settled. Nick remembered the letter he was supposed to give to the Hopps and headed out the bedroom door.
"Where are you off to?" Judy asked.
"Takin' care of something for my old man," he explained.
Just outside the door he realized that he didn't know what this letter entailed. As much as he hated mail fraud, it would be better to see what his father had to say to Judy's parents rather than give them a letter littered with insults and be blamed for it. The letter read as follows.
-Dear Mr. and Mrs. Hopps,
I'm writting to inform you that you are cordally invited to the private grand opening of the Riverside Hotel, open along with the adjoining Wild Times Amusement Park for one week to invitation-only guests. Enclosed is the special invitation good for up to 300 guests. Rooms at the hotel have been set aside for you and your entire family and all expenses are considered paid already. Please contact me on your decision at the following number.
Sincerely, Mr. Jonathan Wilde
(805) 555-2891-
He couldn't believe what a fool he was being. He just spoiled for himself what could've been a huge surprise his dad was planning for him. He checked the envelope to be sure that nothing else was inside, only the special invitation pass. He sighed, tucked the letter back into the envelope and went to give it to the Hopps, provided it wasn't too late in the evening. He found them in the living room, watching a CSI Zoo York.
"Must be where Carrots got the idea to become a cop," he thought with a dry grin.
He waited silently until the commercials started playing.
"I'm tellin' ya' Bon, TV used to be more about shows than commercials," Stu whined.
"Oh hush, Stu," she berated, "Our guest doesn't need to hear your whining about some petty issue."
"Hmm? Oh hey Nick, what're you doin' up so late?" Stu asked.
"Playing messenger boy, my dad sent you two a letter through me," Nick explained handing the envelope to them.
"Looks like it's already been opened," Bonnie pointed out.
"Yeah, I wanted to make sure there weren't any offensive remarks. I'm a dumb fox," Nick stated somewhat sadly.
"Oh posh, you were just being careful," she replied.
"Well Bon, what's it say?" Stu asked.
"Give me a moment to read it, won't you? Honestly, Stu you can be so impaitient!" she returned sternly.
Upon reading the letter her face took on a surprised look and she had to sit back down.
"What exactly is in that letter, son?" Stu asked pointedly.
"Read it for yourself, Stu," Bonnie gasped.
He took the letter from his wife's hand and was equally surprised by it's contents.
"I'm gonna' head off to bed, it's been a long day," Nick replied as he went back to the room.
