Chapter Twenty-Two

The Great Discussion

Pots of boiling water bubbled upon the hob. From the rising steam, a red fox pulled his head and turned to face the room, beaming to the rabbit who was sat upon a sofa in the adjoining living room.

"Hopps darlin', you want me to fix you up some of that spiced 'carrot' gravy you liked?"

"You know the recipe? Yeah, great!"

In the sectioned off area of the living room which worked as the kitchen in Nick's apartment, the fox grinned as he swished his back on the rabbit and reached into his fridge. He took out a packet of chicken cubes and pulled open the seal.

"Oh, I know all sorts of secret recipes, Carrots. For instance, want to know how to make Gold Soup?"

"Put twenty-four carats in it?"

"Arh, shucks. You've heard it."

"No, silly fox, just figured it out." Judy watched the fox in something of a daze — he looked mellifluous just by making dinner, so fluent and graceful — but for all the attention she had on him, she failed to notice that what Nick was actually pouring into the pot was anything but carrots.

"So," Nick asked, more than a little suggestively, "is there anything you wanted to do... later."

"Hmmhm, one or two things. But there's this one really important thing that I can't decide on."

"And what's that?"

"Nick," she muttered, "you know the one."

"To pluck your flower?" Nick answered in a graceful manner, turning his head half towards her with a sly grin upon his face. She nodded once, blushing, and he chuckled before turning back to his preparations. "Don't worry so much about it, Hopps. I'll be gentle, it'll be great. And if you're not ready to go that far, pfft, you think I care?"

He turned to face the rabbit who was listening intently, leaning his back on the cabinet as he continued. "Look, Judy, our relationship has gone further and moved faster tonight than I ever dared to hope to think that it could be outside of a dream. So don't you ever feel like you have to do something you're not ready to do just to please me. I'm already happier than I ever thought I could be. Just to see you sitting there. You don't even have to do anything… to see you sitting here and to know who you are to me and what I am to you, is just... so— beyond… anything I thought I was worthy of in this life."

She held his gaze for a moment, smiling, but then she sagged. "Actually, Nick," she floatingly interjected, her gaze dropping to her lap, "the, err, 'one or two things' I wanted to do was to talk to you about our future together. Kids, marriage and... 'so on'."

"Wow, are all bunnies this forward when it comes to relationships, or is it just you?"

She snickered lightly and would have called him 'jerk' if her mood wasn't so fixated on the conversation to come. "This time, it's all rabbits." She patted the seat beside her. "Come, sit down."

Nick stood in motionless silence for a moment, then he gave mind to the simmering pots of food and adjusted them down to a low heat — if his assumption was right, this conversation could go on for quite a while.

"There's something else I want to talk to you about too," she added honestly as he crossed the room, "other than our relationship. I know you've already told me just about everything you can about your past, but, I need to know. How did you get... this?" From her pocket Judy pulled the Ruger SR, Master Edition.

Nick sat down beside her on the old, well-worn sofa. He reached across and took it carefully but unsurely from her paws. "What do you know of this?"

"They found a bullet at Ladders. It matches the gun. They think this is the murder weapon."

"And they think I'm the murderer now?"

"No. They don't know you have it."

"Do you think I did it?"

"No! No, of course I don't."

"Well, it's pretty suspe—"

"Yeah but you're Nick! You wouldn't kill anyone."

"Then why bring it up?"

"Because they think it's the murder weapon! Jefferson said it's only a matter of time before the people at Ruger find the paperwork that assigns this gun as belonging to you— and when that happens… they're going to come straight over here looking for you. It'd be better to tell them right now than to let them figure it out on their own, to then come over and probably arrest you on the spot without the chance to explain yourself you'd get by telling Bogo personally."

"Well, I don't know what to say Hopps, but that gun hasn't seen the light of day for three years. I shot it for the first time since-then today and it's been beneath my bed ever since."

"They know it's definitely a gun of that model, and since it's the only one ever made, then—"

"Who told you that?" Nick interrupted, incredulously.

"You mean… it's not the only one?"

"No, Judy. This gun has a sister."

"A sister? So... there are two? Then the other gun is the murder weapon!" In excitement, Judy leapt off the sofa and reached for her phone. "We gotta tell Bogo, Nick. We gotta tell him there's another—"

"Hopps!"

Judy faulted. Her smile fading, her gaze settled upon the fox, her finger hovering above the 'call' button. "What? What is it?"

Nick grunted slightly. He reached out to the rabbit and took her by the arm, pulling her back down onto the sofa as he spoke, "Look, let me get this straight, Officers Jefferson and Leopolde, two very well respected mammals from the M.I.B., have declared this gun the only one if its kind. Yes?"

"Erm... yeah."

"Whereas I, still a newbie to the police force by most accounts and the murder suspect no less, state that there are, in fact, two. Yes?"

"Yes... what are you saying?"

"Who is Bogo likely to believe?"

"Oh…" was the absolute dejection that came as a single exhale from the doe's disappointed lips.

Nick sighed. "Yeah, 'oh' is right. If two of Bogo's detectives say ther—"

"But Bogo knows you, Bogo trusts you. He can't possibly think you're involved."

"Bogo also can't be seen to be treating his officers any differentially when under suspicion. If word gets about that he overlooks crime within his own ranks, he'll be tossed outta the 'Chief's' chair quicker than you can shake a fist at a blind snake!"

"Well... I know you're innocent."

Nick snorted, thinly. Reaching out to the rabbit he put an arm around her, pulling her across the sofa and against his side, putting his arm tighter around her once she was close. "Thanks, Hopps. That's a real big help."

She thumped the forearm which was wrapped around her with her fist, triflingly. "Enough with the sarcasm, Sweetheart."

…

In the room directly above, sat upon a cheap bed with aging steel springs, Jack Savage muttered to himself, adjusting the dials on his listening device as he leaned back from the wall. "So she does believe him to be innocent," he muttered, making notes upon a pad. "I suppose she has no reason to suspect, and given these recent… proclamations…"

His brow raising, Jack flipped back a page in his notebook, which detailed the words said between the two of them since they had entered into Nick's room — and all which he had observed of them upon the roof, wherein he had sight but not sound of their exchanges.

…

"I'm not being sarcastic, Judy," Nick replied, unaware of the rabbit six feet above making notes, "I'm serious. If you have faith in me, well... you've already seen the difference that makes. From hustler to cop in a little over a month? I never thought it possible. And it wouldn't have been without you to guide me."

Judy chuckled nervously blameless — warmed in both body and spirit by the close comfort of 'Nick', but then, a frown grew. Judy rested her paw upon the muzzle of the gun Nick was holding. "I do have to ask you some questions, though."

Grunting slightly, Nick let go of it and Judy fumbled with the sudden weight as she took it. "What do you want to know?" Nick asked slightly rockily as he sat back.

"First off, do you have any idea who might own the other gun?"

"Yes," he answered bluntly, "in fact I know exactly who owned the other gun."

"Owned? Why is that the past tense?"

"Because she's dead."

Judy felt she knew the answer, but she had to ask anyway, "Who is?"

Nick sat back further, edging away from Judy slightly to turn to her in the seat. He pointed to the gun, his ears low, his breathing coming and going harshly in grunts. "There's, err, an inscription, on the side," he mumbled, "you might, wanna, take a look."

The rabbit stared blankly at the fox for a moment, then, she looked down at the gun she still held in her paws. She flipped it over, holding the unloaded device by the grip. She spotted the inscription just above the ident' number, and she read it out loud.

"To Nick–Love Scarlett." She looked up again, a questioning expression on her face, in time to see Nick had been wincing at hearing those words out loud.

"Scarlett always had this passion for guns and shooting," he began, "we used to spend hours on the shooting range after we started going out. I bought this gun, had it made for her back when we were with the Krey Twins. I was on a much higher income back then. I got it engraved, gave it to her, and a few weeks later she'd gotten an identical copy for me… except the inscription was reversed. Whatever bastard killed Scarlett stole it that day."

"I didn't have a clue where to find it. I was too afraid to seek it out, because that would mean getting back in touch with The Firm which I had only just freed myself from, and, at the time when Bogo was tearing their ranks apart. After that, I guess it just wound up in police custody somewhere, probably stolen by a 'commander' at some point and with good reason. Those guns made us the best damn shooters in the club. We were even asked to attend an international competition once."

"Huh, yeah, I saw how accurate you were on the roof. That was pretty impressive shooting, Slick."

"Impressive? Seriously, Hopps, 'Deadeye's the word for it." Judy giggled. Nick, delighted by the sound as he had always had, carried on the tease, "What do you think? A tattoo, 'Deadeye' right across my forearm?"

"Noo!" she mock-shouted, climbing onto him and putting the fox into a clumsy headlock. "Nick," she warned, "I swear to God, if you so much as think of getting a tattoo, I'll—"

"I submit, Judy, I submit!" He cried as those small soft paws worked around his neck. "I promise, Carrots, I won't ever think of getting my fur permanently dyed ever again."

"Good..." she breathed, her head close to his ear. She did not move back. However she did loosen her grip and so the headlock became just a very intimate hug. Judy's head moved forwards and she kissed the fox on the corner of his mouth. "Because you're perfect, just the way you are."

Nick turned his head to look at her, a smile gracing his lips. He raised his paws and touched them upon her back. He lowered them and lifted the rabbit carefully off her feet. Judy responded and, not taking her arms from around his neck, looped her legs about his waist. The rabbit off her feet, Nick raised his legs off the floor, turned, and slid his body beneath her — going from sitting to lying on his back down the length of the sofa.

Gently as ever, the fox then lowered Judy's legs from around his waist and onto the padding of the sofa. The rabbit stood over him, looking down at the fox with great fondness in her eyes as she dropped herself down — her muscular but fine legs on either side of his body with her knees level with his hips — as she kissed him most lovingly upon the lips that gave way to her tail wiggling as the contact gave buzz to her nerves... neither quite noticed, but it was a very suggestive position...

"So, Detective Inspector," Nick gave life to wording again, "what else did you want to know?"

"Ooh, I think we can belay the rest of the interrogation for now. I think we have more pressing matters—"

She leaned towards him, again sure of herself in the fact that she wanted to be close to the fox and that she knew the fox wanted to be close to her — yet unsure of herself in what she now had to say, or how to decide on the starting step. .

"Nick, there are three things that I need to talk to you about. Kids, marriage and sex. You take pick of what you want to cover first."

"Sooo, just to be clear, this kind of directness is quite common among bunnies?"

"Yeah. Usually two rabbits will know where the other stands on all of those matters before they even start thinking about each other in that way — or by the end of the first date at least — actually, most of the time it's a matter of finding a compatible mate rather than a loving one. So, which one?"

"Urrrgh," he started, pathetically, "I like sex—"

Judy snickered, a most appropriate blush working up her cheeks, a blush which she forced down with a stern paw. "I knew you were gonna pick that one," she pouted, putting heavy, alluring emphasis on the next words that made the bushy tail on the side to twitch audibly, "you dirty fox."

Nick cleared his throat uncomfortably, tugging at his collar a little as he tried to keep things professional... knowing full well that if he didn't keep his mind in that 'professional' place, he'd be rising like a skyscraper in seconds. "Well, aside from the obvious reasons," he filled, "it's probably the easiest to deal with."

"Yeah, alright. So, look, I want to have sex with you, Nick, I really do," her words, just like her thinking, halted for a moment as she felt slow movement just underneath where she sat, it was crawling just through the middle of her rump and towards the front, to which she was quick to register what was happening in a reaction of a throbbing heart and twitchy paws, yet she forced herself to continue and not look desperate in the eyes of the aroused fox, "b-but, my parents, they—"

"You're afraid of what they'll think? I understand," Nick expressed a partial truth that she was to say, his voice carrying a sort of amusement that she well-knew the source off, due to the heat underneath her now being absorbed by thine own."

"No, it's not just that. My parents, they believe in having sex only after marriage. Now, I don't know if I believe in that myself and, if you think it'd be okay, I'd still be more than happy to share a bed with you some time… tonight, if you'd have me, but— I... I don't know. What do you think?"

"What does this relationship mean to you?" Nick asked after a moment and a slight readjustment that gave grind to her nethers because of the bulge between her legs, yet he kept a stern gaze in careful fixation on nothing. "Is this a bit of harmless fun in the daylight and a fool-around with a close friend, or is this something more serious?"

Judy stared concernedly, despite the distractions underneath that were giving her body jolts of need, while she formulated an appropriate answer. She didn't want to be so direct with this, but she knew it was imperative she told the absolute truth at this most pinnacle moment.

"I..." she began... "I would be happy— no, more than happy that I'd count myself blessed if we were to spend to rest of our lives together."

Nick's eyes went from gazing out at nothing to starring at Judy intensely, lost for words as the meaning sunk in. Judy felt his heartbeat quicken dramatically beneath her as the big source was full of sanguine nurturing, his mouth moving soundlessly before he managed to speak again.

"W-well, it's decided, then."

A cheeky grin and a flush grew on the rabbit's face as she quietly huffed, "You mean, we can do it?"

"No. If this was just a bit of fun between two close friends, then sure, I'd take you to bed, no harm done really. But if we're going to go all the way together, to the point where we may marry and might never take on another mate in our lives. Then we have to respect your parents' wishes."

"I... I see." Judy was disappointed, but, at the same time, she was also elated that Nick had reacted only positively towards the idea of them being together permanently and glad that he respected her as he did.

"Next thing, Nick..." Judy leaned close into his side for comfort. This was the hard part. "Nick— leaving whether we actually want to, to one side—" she looked up into his solemn face. "Do-do you think we would be allowed to marry?"

Nick's head twitched — shaking ever so slightly — then the fox brought up a tender paw and started, softly, to caress the rabbit's drooping ears. "I don't know Hopps… I don't know. But, I'm sure there's something we could do. If it comes to the worst — if there aren't any priests willing and if we can't get the approval of your father — then we could always hold a private ceremony. That's how foxes usually do it — just you and me — no one else. Just you and me in a cottage in the woods, in a place of outstanding natural beauty. It wouldn't be legally recognized, but, so long as it matters to 'us'... what difference does it truly make?"

"You know what? I think that sounds really wonderful. I think we should do that. Even if we are allowed to marry in the traditional way, I still think we should do that."

The fox grinned as a new 'tease' came to mind. "The only problem then, of course, is that you've got the risk of spending three days alone with a shifty fox; who knows what might happen!" With a rush, the fox pushed his jaw to Judy's shoulder, putting a line of playful nips across her fur with his teeth and growling playfully as Judy giggled, until she sat forwards, twisted around and clamped her paw firmly shut over his muzzle.

"How'd you get to be such a dumb fox?" she said through the giggles of delight he was responsible for bringing forth.

He raised his paw to hers and took it off his muzzle, holding it in his paw and caressing it tenderly as he spoke, "Years of practice, Carrots. Years of practice."

"Why do you always have to spoil tender moments like this?"

Nick lowered his muzzle to Judy's neck a second time, but instead of a line of nips, he pressed his lips gently against her fur, fondly listening to the airy sight of contentment that was released by the rabbit. "You mad?" Nick asked all of a sudden.

"To fall for you? I must be."

"No, mad 'at' me."

"Nick," Judy settled back into his chest a little, "I could never be mad at you for being who you are. I'm in love with you, Slick, and I fell in love with you a long time ago; you don't need to be anyone, apart from the wonderfully charming fox I fell in love with to make me the happiest bunny on this earth."

Judy pushed her lips against Nick's and the fox kissed her back, hungrily. The kiss quickly deepened, but Judy forced herself to back out of it before she forgot all about the third point she wanted to talk to Nick about.

The look of disappointment on Nick's face, as she peeled herself away slightly to sit upon his lap, pained the rabbit deeply, so Judy chased aside the uncertainty, of whether she should be talking about this or not, away and asked her question directly in a bid to make things easier for him. "Would you like to have kits someday— not soon, maybe not even with me, just at all, with anyone, ever. Is that something you would want?"

"I can't say I've ever really thought about it. I guess after the time I had with my parents, I figured I'd never have cubs of my own, but," he added with a slight smile, "that's an opinion very liable to change. You?"

"Well, my parents certainly think I am. Since sisters of mine, who are younger than me, started to turn into grandparents, Mom and Dad can't stop asking about whether I have a boyfriend yet or not."

The fox snickered, "Let's get to that when it comes, shall we? I think you've already got enough to think about without throwing three million other rabbits into the equation."

"Hey," she giggled, "come on, there aren't that many, you know..."

"Still a heck of a lot of 'em, Missie."

"Yep, almost three hundred, and all of them from just two rabbits, Mom and Dad! Can you imagine?"

"Boy... remember when we first met? You only had two hundred and seventy-five back then…"

But she just continued through him amidst the sprout of excitement, "That could be us in a few... ooh—" Judy trailed off... because Nick was turning pale. "But," she added quickly as to try and plaster the instantly deepened situation, "we wouldn't need to have that many. It's only in the country where rabbits have that many offspring. In the city, we're more likely just to have a couple'a dozen."

"Dozen!?"

"Oh don't give me that look, Nick," she teased, "that's only one litter, after all."

"Could... couldn't we haggle about this?"

"With my haggling skills against yours? I'd have to be crazy!"

"Give it a go, Hopps, and remember what I taught you."

"Alright, tell me how many you'd want, give me a number to work from, and we'll start from there."

"Well, err, how about one?"

"How about twelve?"

"Two?"

"Twelve."

"Three?"

"Twelve!"

"Fo—"

"Twelve!"

"You really haven't got the hang of this 'haggling' lark, have you?"

Judy raised herself on her knees, pushing Nick's body slowly back with a paw, as she moved further atop him. The fox's body leaning to a forty-five degree angle as the body of the rabbit came pushing heatedly against his.

"How about four?" Judy asked, all trepidation as to whether this was something, either Nick or herself actually wanted, lost in the dizzy excitement of the moment. "Think about it, Nickey." She pressed her lips against his, softly. "Me, you, and four little kits to call our own."

The fox pulled his arms close around the rabbit's body. "Well now, that sounds like something I read in the Quangasa once."

"The Quangasa?" she asked in a sort of a confused tone.

"Yeah, because I'd have to be in the Holy Utopia for life to be that good." Judy snuggled herself closer into him, tucking her head in beneath his in a way that was somehow so comforting to both of them, sighing contentedly as her eyes started to fall shut and her breaths levelled out and became deeper.

"Aww, has the wittle cutesy bunny got herself all tired out?"

"Not so tired that I couldn't put you on your ass if I wanted," she stated without opening her eyes, "and yes, I never thought a conversation could be so draining. I guess it's a different matter when you're talking about love, sex, marriage and kits."

"Yep. That's some pretty heavy conversationing to be having with the guy you've barely been dating for less than an hour."

"Is that all it's been?" she mumbled as sleep began cradling her in, "seems like longer."

"I think, Jules, in our own special way, the two of us have been dating secretly since the day we first met. Dating so secretly, that we didn't even realize it ourselves."

"Hmm, yeah, I think we have." Judy opened her eyes, meeting the fox's lovely gaze as she spoke in a sleep-slurred mutter, "How did that line go in that song you sung? Here in your arms I suffer no more? I'm just glad, so glad things have worked out the way they have." All Nick could do was smile, as he felt the small form of the rabbit settle closer into his chest, her eyes falling closed with a beaming smile on her expression and with her breath turning to a shallow purr.

Nick found himself very glad he had turned down the heat on the hob — that he could enjoy the warmth, purring and sweet smell of his lover for half an hour more before having to rise.

Judy opened her eyes one last time, meeting the fox's jades warmly and cherishingly as she spoke, "I love you, dumb fox."

The fox leaned forwards. He pressed his nose softly against Judy's for a moment, then kissed that delicate, pink protuberance before whispering in reply, "I love you too, sly rabbit."

The rabbit grinned sleepily, then her gaze lost focus, her eyes fluttered shut and Judy fell into a comfortable, contented, deep and happy rest...

Tho, as the rabbit slept, upon the outskirts of town, a small, wooden rowing boat made port upon the quiet earthen bank; the white figure who stepped out witnessed only by the moon and the stars, by the heaven and the earth, as the moon slowly rose over the still and silent cityscape, of Zootopia, the Idyll Mountains, and the holy spire of Mount Zoophon, which stood like an imperious father above all.

…

Author's notes:

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Grooms decision thus chosen blind.

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