With a prolonged groan, Judy sat up in her bed, wearing a long, white t-shirt. Pain flooded through her head as she awoke. She cringed and brought her paws up to her temples, giving another moan.
"Ow... ow..." Judy's eyes squinted blearily in pain. She felt awful; like she might throw up. "Sap of a birch... what happened to me? Did I get knocked out? Were we on a... case...?" Judy's vocalized thoughts were interrupted by looking at the corner of her room, where a casually-clothed Nick was slumped up against the wall. Judy gasped in fear, getting out of bed and stumbling as she walked over to Nick and shook him. His eyes were closed.
"Nick! Nick!" Judy said in a worried voice that held a bit of a whine because of her pain. "Get up, please!"
"Guh..." Nick cringed as the morning light invaded his eyes. "Carrots. Ah, hey." Nick grinned. "How you feelin'?"
"Like the wrath of grapes..." Judy whined.
"Pretty close to accurate, I'd say," Nick chuckled. "Anyway, good morning."
"What... happened last night?" Judy rubbed her eyes and her head, looking loopy. "Nnnnngh..."
"Oh, you don't remember? This'll be fun," Nick grinned, slapping his paws together. Judy flinched at the sound.
"Nick," Judy whined, then her voice dropped. "Nick... Nick..."
"What what what?" Nick tilted his head back and forth.
"Think I'm gonna be sick..." Judy wailed. "Huh! That rhymed..." She looked woozy.
"Oh jeez, uh," Nick looked around. "Where's the bathroom in this glorified closet!?"
"Right behind you- just... m-move," Judy hurriedly fled into the bathroom and Nick winced and shut the door behind her. What followed were very unpleasant occurrences, paired with equally unpleasant sounds. Judy groaned, slumping against the floor and remaining there for several minutes in case she wasn't finished. Indeed, she wasn't. Her head blazed with pain, exacerbated by her recent activities. "Ugh..."
When Judy picked herself up and trudged back to the main room, Nick was gone. "No... Nick..." Judy sat on her bed in a daze, and minutes passed like hours. She wanted to know what had happened to her last night, and why Nick was in her apartment. What she really wanted to do was go back to sleep, but her severe headache would prevent that. Judy tested it out by laying down on her bed. Indeed, it felt even worse to lie down. She looked at her phone. It was Saturday.
"Well, at least I'm not going to be fired," Judy shrugged, looking at the time. There was a knock at the door. "Yeah?"
"Delivery for a Ms. Carrots?" An unfamiliar voice said. Judy's nose twitched a couple of times and she headed to the door, peeking out. It was Nick, who grinned widely.
"Nick..." Judy sighed, then frowned softly. "Where'd you go? Oh..." Judy looked at his hands.
"Got a coffee just how you like it," Nick handed her a paper cup, "a little pain reliever for your head..." he placed a bottle on her desk. "And a blueberry muffin." He held this out to Judy, but yanked it away when she reached for it. "That's for me. You'd probably 'lose' it if you had it."
"Y-yeah, fair point," Judy sighed. A smile found its way onto her face. "Thank you Nick... you're so good to me..."
Nick munched on his muffin. "I sure am." Judy took a couple of the pills from the bottle and slurped them down with her coffee. She sat back down on her bed while Nick sat on the chair at her desk, turning it around to look at her. Judy still looked a bit confused. "So Carrots, what do you remember about last night?"
"Urgh, it's so hard to recall," Judy scrunched up her face. "We went out drinking with some of the other ZPD Officers, didn't we?"
"We did do that, very good," Nick said conversationally, eating more of his muffin. "What then?"
"It uh... starts to get indistinct after that," Judy gave a nervous giggle, having another sip of coffee. "I must have drank a lot? ...Drunk a lot?"
"There you go," Nick nodded. "Wow. You should be a detective."
"Nick, ugh," Judy let out a huff. "But that doesn't explain what you're doing here."
"Oh boy, the fun part!" Nick grinned, finishing off his muffin. "Since you don't remember anything, I get to tell you whatever I want about last night and there's nothing you can do to dispute it!"
"Nick, please, I have a headache..." Judy whined, her eyes squinting from the bottom.
"Okay, so did you start wildly gossiping with Clawhauser about how madly in love you are with me?" Nick grinned.
Judy gasped. "No... please tell me I didn't do that..."
"Did you bet some of the heavyweights that you could out drink them?" Nick continued.
"I must have been really drunk before that if I thought I could take someone like McHorn on..." Judy put a paw to her mouth.
"Did you then invite me to your place, where our antics got so crazy that I ended up against the wall?" Nick chuckled.
"Oh zucchini on rye... no..." Judy wailed, closing her eyes.
"Or?" Nick's voice drained of levity. "Did a dumb bunny keep drinking past what I suggested numerous times because she was 'having fun' and punched me pretty hard in the side when I suggested she call it a night?"
"Ugh, I must have done that one..." Judy pouted. "Sorry. What are you doing here, then?"
"Thankfully, you're a lightweight in more ways than one," Nick explained. "Brought you home."
"But you stayed," Judy pointed out.
"Knew you'd feel like crud in the morning, knew you'd probably never gotten yourself that drunk before, wanted to make sure you'd be taken care of in the morning," Nick counted on his fingers.
"You really are too good to me," Judy said lightly. "And I really do feel like a piece of squash, in more ways than one."
"I've been there before, Carrots," Nick chuckled. "How do you think Finnick must have felt when he had to deal with a drunk something like three times larger than him? You can just be more careful next time."
Judy laughed lightly. "Don't know if there will be a next time, especially because all of those other scenarios you proposed sounded entirely plausible."
"Hey, I know my bunny," Nick shrugged, but his voice was confident.
"Really? Is she your bunny? Was that decided upon when I was drunk, too?" Judy gave him a very small smile that carried fondness with it.
"Are you going to tell me you're not?" Nick smirked. Judy's ears felt hot and she looked away.
"She's your bunny," Judy sighed. "You do take good care of her."
"There we go," Nick chuckled, petting her ears a bit.
"My head hurts too much for this sappy stuff," Judy whined, turning her head back to him then looking straight at him with her big, purple eyes. "Can you tell me you love me later, after the medication has kicked in?"
Nick leaned forward with a smarmy expression. "What if I already said it though, last night?"
"Then tell me again later," Judy smirked, tossing her empty cup at Nick. Nick laughed as the cup bounced off of his nose. "Not so loud..."
"Call me if you work up an appetite, Carrots," Nick got up, gently touching her on the shoulder. "Lunch's on me."
"Really, you don't have to be so nice. Especially after me hitting you last night?" Judy winced.
"Oh don't worry," Nick said, opening the door to her apartment and looking over his shoulder. "Once you offered to pay for three rounds of drinks for everyone at the bar last night, I figure its the least I can do." He winked one of his green eyes and left.
"Oh my gourd!" Judy grabbed at her phone to check her credit card's transaction history.