Chapter Seven

ZPD Yule

Ice crackled underfoot as Nick Wilde and Judy Hopps trudged their way across the short walk from the police cruiser to the sizable bar where the annual 'Christmas ZPD gathering' was held. The two officers had changed from their uniforms and into more casual attire. They continued their conversation as they walked from the car, pulling their thick coats closer around them as they stepped out from the vehicle, while the icy wind and setting sun were contributing to the rapid drops of temperatures in Tundratown.

"After all, Carrots, I'm by farrrr the better chef."

"That's not true. Okay, it's a little hard to make fine dining when you only have a microwave, but what about that time I cooked round yours? Remember, the night before you left for the academy?"

"I do, Carrots, I do. Fact is, I'm still chipping bits of it out of my oven." Despite the fact that the temperatures in each of the precincts were meticulously maintained through a series of either: heaters or coolers, when it was Christmas time in Tundratown, with its snow and cold weather, it would invaluably become more popular for a couple of days with mammals wishing to get more into the 'spirit' of things. Judy muttered something too quiet for Nick hear as she sped up, pulling the door to the pub open and stepping inside, and holding it open with a gloved paw as Nick followed a moment later.

They removed their outer garments, coat, gloves, scarf and other wears that required attentive attention. Nick again commented on Judy's barrel-like appearance as he helped her out of it all. Taking her coat and hanging it upon a hook along with his own, Nick turned to Judy on the front porch of the pub after glancing out through the window of the wooden door which led to the main room — wherein was visible most of the rest of the ZPD, engaged in some boyish and foolhardy bar game.

"Ready for this, Carrots?" Nick asked after a deep exhale, looking in at the sight within. It had taken longer than anticipated to fill out all the paperwork as — after half an hour — Nick had decided his time would be better spent at seeing how many balls of screwed-up paper he could throw into a bin at twenty paces.

"Yea, you said we can leave off early, right?" Judy asked in uncertainty, while still being cross at him for leaving the horridly tall piles of double paperwork onto her, not only because she had to do all the work yet again but because they were nearly an hour late and everyone around them, by this point were... rather drunk.

"Absolutely, there's no need to drag this on any more than necessary." Judy was looking forwards to tonight about as much as Nick looked forwards to his yearly dentist appointment... which he only took because Judy forced him too, i.e. would rather be stuck in a lift for six hours. "Suppose this is the first Christmas away from home?" he asked with motes of confidence to his deduction, while still watching the interior of the pub.

"Yes." He looked down at her from the delivered, an eyebrow raised at the way she huffed it and how her ears tried to droop behind her head before she forced them back up again and opened the door, stepping in and letting it shut behind her. Nick, naturally swift, slipped inside as the door shut just close to the last hairs of his auburn-tipped tail. He put on his best smile as he saw Judy forcing the same with a welcoming — if somewhat slurred — cheer arose from the other officers.

"Mry Chrismss!"

Nick affected a lazy two fingered salute while Judy smiled and waved as the room full of much larger mammals returned to their prior conversations. Nick lent towards Judy's ear so she could hear over the din. "Can I buy you a drink, missy?"

"Please. I think I'll need it to get through tonight."

"So what can I get... look out," he warned sharply, his voice dropping as a large mammal started over to them, "here comes Buffalo-Butt."

"Hoop san While!" Bogo roared in greeting as he came to stand before them — swaying slightly and holding a metal tankard which could double as a beer barrel for mammals of their size — before continuing, "I buy youa dink, first round s'on the Chef."

"Oh, hey, Chief!" Judy replied, "Thank you, but that really won't be—"

"Hey, hay, hay. Hopps, what are you doing?" the panicked fox whispered into her ear. She turned to him, squinting in confusion, "free booze?" he said simply, shrugging. In reply she rolled her eyes and turned back to Bogo... and with that drinks were ordered and they joined the other off-duty ZPD officers. Over the course of the evening, however, the two of them became separated and, although Nick kept an eye on Judy as she sat alone while he, being far more sociable than her, was able to mix and mingle.

Nick circulated, talking to each of the other officers for the smallest amount of time possible while still being polite — using his silver tongue to contrive a reason for the conversation's hastened ending — before returning to Judy.

At last able to rejoin her, Nick slid himself into the long seat that lined most of the walls next to Judy. Close, very close. He knew he was probably sitting closer to her then she would have thought appropriate but she needed the comfort and she was probably drunk enough for him to get away with it as he had seen her order several drinks over the course of the splendid evening.

"How ya' holdin', Carrots?" The glass paused en route to her mouth, she turned her head slightly to look at him out of the corner of her eye.

"No one's talking to me," she gloomily gave voice to.

"I'll talk to you." This comment managed to get a smile out of her and she slid her warm arm around Nick's waist and pulled herself closer. What little distance there was between them was now gone.

"I know. Out of evr'one on the force— and even mer parents to thome exss-tent… I know I can all'ays talk to you." Her arm was very warm. She turned to him, the glistening eyes not quite managing to focus, "I know youloveme, dumb fox."

He lent back at her breath slightly, it hung heavy with the scent of alcohol. That and the heat coming from her arm gave him the distinct impression she had, perhaps, had a few more than she should have. He watched with some concerned interest as she raised the glass back to her lips and took another sip. "Hey, Carrots. How many of them have you actually had?"

Downing the remaining third of the glass she placed it down on the table. "S'only my fifth."

"Your fifth! Jeez, Carrots, you know you've got the alcohol tolerance of a four year old!"

"Yea... get me another will ya?" She held the glass beneath his nose, he took it and set it out of of her reach.

"I think you've had more than enough, Hopps. You have work tomorrow for heaven's sake!"

"Don't worry about it, Nick, I'm fline. Bethides, mer rabbit meter-aboly-ism'll clear allthatup by morning. Won't even have an'angover."

"If… you're sure. You ready to split yet?"

"A-miy' ever?"

And with that they left. With the other officers too busy with their game of darts to notice them leave, they slipped out and into the confines of the otherwise empty porch. Nick retrieved Judy's coat, et cetera, from the hock and passed it over. She tried twice to put it on but couldn't, for some reason, quite manage to. Nick suggested that this was because of the alcohol she had been drinking but Judy denied and resented the implication that she was drunk... whilst propping up the wall to stop herself from swaying.

After helping her dress, Nick fussed with his own coat, though did not put it on, as Judy thanked him for only having half a point, so he was still sober to drive meaning she could have a few more drinks, and told him that she would do something to make up for it. A point upon which — in her rather drunk state — she was most insistent upon.

"No need, Carrots." Nick defied for the third time.

"C'mon, Nick, I need some way of making it up to you."

"Honestly, Hopps, don't worry about it." She pulled to a stop, swaying between him and the exit-way from the empty porch.

"Don't give me that," she replied playfully, but stubbornly, "there must be something I can do." Nick stood watching her for a few seconds, his mouth slightly open in thought. He smiled at her and then raised a paw, twitching his index finger in the gesture to 'come hear'. Judy, after a moment, swayed forwards and did so. The index finger moved to point at the floor just before him in a 'closer' gesture. She, again, moved after a moment and stood slightly less than a foot from him, her neck straining slightly to look into his face. Then he knelt down, shifting low onto his knees, so his head was level with hers.

"Okay Judy, you want something to do for me? Well here it is, or rather there it is." With that he raised his index finger a third time and pointed up. Watching as her head slowly rise to look upon the ceiling, enjoying the expression of surprise that crossed her face at what she saw there.

Mistletoe.

When she looked back down to him, their faces inches apart, she stared for several seconds. While Judy decided what her reaction would be, Nick decided he would make his own theories.

...

This is what Nick expected...

"Dumb fox," she'd tease, followed by a shove on his shoulder before the rabbit would carry on walking away like nothing had happened, she would think of it as one of his many jokes without giving it proper thought, and he would be no closer to reaching his goal. And he wouldn't be able to blame her.

This is what Nick hoped for...

A quiet little giggle would escape Judy's lips after which she'd look away in embarrassment with slightly quivering ears, a hint of red covering her cheeks, and then would the sweet and gentle kiss, smelling of cherry, be planted on the side of Nick's muzzle, , followed by the sight of a snickering little bunny retreating hurriedly from the noisy pub.

...

And this is what Nick got…

Her eyes locked upon Nick with surprising intensity, but the focus of her amethyst eyes was not on his emeralds, they were on his lips. She moved forwards and there was no giggle or blush, no timidity or unease, no second thoughts or trepidation, just a kind of 'drunken brashness'. She took a step firmly towards him and reached out her small strong paws. They grabbed him firmly by the collar, tugged him hard towards her, parted her lips, stuck out her tongue; and gave Nicholas Wilde the most passionate kiss of his life.

His eyes shot wide as she pulled him towards her, he opened his mouth to voice his surprise but at that given moment small their lips met, while the surprise was taken advantage of by Judy's small tongue which entered between teeth and inside Nick's mouth.

The tongue was now roaming the inside of his mouth, along the edges of his teeth, probing his incisors and curling around his own-but-longer spongy flesh. A little of her scent and her taste made it to him, but most of what he smelt and tasted was the rather copious amounts of alcohol she had been drinking.

She moaned into the kiss as she pushed her tongue a little deeper, then she pushed a little more. Nick was unable to think or move as the small tongue worked its way around the inside of the furthest depths of his needy mouth, her paws tightly grasping the fur on the back of his neck.

She pulled back from the kiss to a loud smacking sound as they parted. She eyed the fox — statue like, apparently stuck in the moment past — as she rubbed her arm across her mouth before she turned and started to walk out of the door at a steady pace.

Just as if nothing had just happened.

Heat rolled through Nick, boiling through his veins as his brain was both speeding fast, yet unable to muster a single thought. His eyes still wide, his mouth still open, the world started spinning slightly like it was he who was drunk, or like he was about to pass out or had been holding his breath for too long. Yet, it was also like he was charged with electricity, like he could leap over a mountain, run through deserts, swim across oceans deep and terrible.

Judy's kiss was all of these thing and more, he was paralyzed entirely and could have remained like that had Judy not spotted his apparent mental and physical shutdown, returned, and tugged him several times by his tie. After about the fifth tug he slowly shifted his gaze to look at her, giggled once, then fell over backwards in a daze… Judy exhaled a single, long and heavy sigh, lurched back to the bar and ordered another drink.

Nick knew not how long had he lay there in a blissful daze, but eventually Judy returned with a cup of water and poured it over him. "Argk!" he yelped as he leaped up and off the floor to look into Judy's impish face, "c-c-cold!" he stuttered as he pawed at his soaking shirt.

"Well then," she began as she put the cup upon a cabinet, "you'll just have to take it off then."

He glared at her for a few seconds — not entirely trusting her not to whip her phone out the moment his shirt was off — but it was drenched and they were about to go into the open cold night air so he had little choice. It was either take off his shirt or freeze like a fresh pawpsicle. It didn't matter too much anyway, once he had his shirt off he could put his coat on and be covered again. A smile split his muzzle as a thought came like a wanted memory playful. "You want me to do 'The Stripper' again?" he asked with amusement that was overflowing without visible restraint.

"That won't be necessary... I have it on my phone."

"Wha—" Then Judy clicked a button on her phone and a saxophone jazz band started playing 'The Stripper'... Nick's ears sank, his head lowered into his shoulders in obvious embarrassment and then, with a grumble, he turned his back on her and hurriedly slipped his shirt off. Despite the fact he did this with none of the flair of last time, Judy whopped and whistled at every move, every detail about the fox's behavior simply radiating fluster to the rabbit. But a minute later and the fun was over. Nick threw his dripping shirt at the rabbit and managed to wet her slightly as payback before slipping into the warmth of his fur-lined coat and doing up the zipper.

She has been getting just a few too many one-ups on me, Nick thought, I think it's about time I got her back for a few things.

They came to the front door, keeping it closed and staying in the warmth of the porch for as long as they could before absconding to the blizzard without. The snow was coming down in near visible sheets by this point. It crackled underfoot as they made a brisk march to the police cruiser as the ice below had been cored thick with snow and both mammals were glad they would soon be leaving this chilly place. Seconds later and they were within the comparative warmth of the police car, starting the engine and turning the heaters on full blast before setting off home.

Nick looked at Judy from his place in the driver's seat after stopping at a red light, a grin spreading across his face as he saw her deep in licking her lips, clearly still lingering on the 'incident' they just shared. "Taste something you like, Hopps?" he asked smugly.

She glanced over to him, the reek of alcohol still strong. "Yea... it's you." By the way her eyes roamed the space around him without being able to actually focus, Nick guessed she had about thirty seconds of consciousness left in her. He could do just about anything he wanted and she would have no memory of it later.

"Taste good, do I?"

"Hmm, not bad." It was time to get her back. While he perfectly enjoyed what had just happened, the way it was dealt — that, and the glass of cold water and the discomfort of having to go through the stripper act in such a way — meant that, in Nick's mind, she fully deserved what was coming to her.

"However," he interjected, controlling his grin, "seeing as I'm a predator and you're a rabbit; it should be me tasting you."

"Well that's tough, because I—" Nick found himself no-longer able to control his grin. "What? Nick, what is it?"

And then the fox lent forwards and tasted her. Licked her with a tongue across her face: it started beneath her chin and slowly but surely worked its way up along the side of her neck in a motion that made her visibly shiver; it then worked across her soft cheek in a way that made her eyes drop shut; and then his tongue slowly seeped up the length of her ear in a way that made a deep blush form on her cheeks before he sucked — just for an instant — upon the tip of that delicate ear in a way that made a soft moan escape her lips.

With a final rush he slid himself down between her ears, pushed his muzzle atop her forehead and licked her once more in the space in the top of her head between the two, cupping her warm face in both paws before lowering it against the cushioned passenger seat. Her head instantly rolled to the side and it was clear Judy Hopps, had passed out. The traffic light, for the second time, turned green. This time Nick, pleased with his work, pushed his foot off the break.

Was it too much? He thought to himself as he drove. Possibly, but she had it coming to her, and it's not like she's gonna remember it tomorrow. That, you see, was the irony of the situation. As much as he enjoyed both Judy's passionate kiss in the porch of the bar and the taste of her he just stole... they would tournament his dreams while Judy — he was ninety percent sure — would have forgotten the whole thing come morning.

"Come on, Hopps," the fox muttered to as he pulled away gently, "let's get you home."

…

Author's notes:

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Grooms decision thus chosen blind.

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