Chapter 6
AN: Much obliged to this small group of readers and reviewers we've got going here. There's plenty more story to come and considering I started a new job it might not update as quickly. That said I've got the rest planned out in basic plot points but if anyone's got any suggestions or any characters, original or canon, that they'd like to see don't be afraid to shoot your ideas my way.
Nick was trailing kisses down Judy's spine. The curtains were open and silver moonlight illuminated the well-defined muscle on the rabbit's back. His blunt claws raked gently down her sides in slow lines and he smiled as she shivered. Her foot was tapping impatiently against the bed but Nick was enjoying drawing it out. His hands reached the hem of Judy's underwear the same time as his mouth did.
Delicately, slowly the fox peeled the pink cotton away like valuable wrapping paper. He had to be extra careful; sometimes he tended to rip Judy's bras and panties apart in his eagerness. Not tonight though. Tonight they had all the time in the world. It was their second last night and tomorrow was being spent with the whole family. Nick was going to enjoy this one if it killed him. Considering the frustrated moans coming from Judy it just might.
With a light slap Judy's underwear hit the wall and she arched her back up off the bed. Nick lipped his lips loudly eliciting a giggle and shake of the tail from Judy. His tongue and fingers began to work their magic as Judy's first groan literally sent vibrations through his skull. He smiled against her; tonight was going to be fun. He kept going until it started to sound like Judy had been in the desert for three days without water.
Then there was a creak. Nick paused. Judy's never made that kind of noise before, he thought. He shrugged and went back down. Another creak. Nick's head snapped around. He sighed.
"This was bound to happen," he said in disappointment.
"What's wrong?" panted Judy, obviously annoyed.
In the crack of light from the doorway there was a much smaller rabbit. Little Nick was pushing with all his might against the door. He hadn't seen them yet so focussed was he on opening the door. They had blocked it with a cabinet for just such an occasion but clearly security needed to be tightened. Judy looked around ready to tell Nick to get back to work but then her eyes widened.
"Phone," she commanded, holding out her hand.
Quick as a flash Nick handed over the iCarrot phone and Judy typed out a simple message of SOS to a group chat she had with some of her sisters. Down the hall Nick heard a door slam before he saw Rosie grab Little Nick. She took her time leaving, brown eyes trying to commit every visible line of Big Nick's body to memory. He winked and she scampered away. He turned back to an expectant Judy.
"You bunnies," he said in amazement. "So prepared."
"And impatient…" she reminded him. "That thing of yours has been up since dinner. Are you going to use it or not?"
"This thing of mine Ms Hopps, isn't some toy or tool. It's an elegantly crafted multi-purpose organ that must be used responsibly and at the right time and place."
"Yeah well it's only being used for one purpose tonight and now is the time and this is place. Get to it!"
"My, my how romantic…"
"Nick," she pleaded. He grinned at that.
"Very well Ms Hopps I'm going to have to ask you to roll over and, as we say in the ZPD, spread 'em!"
"With pleasure Detective."
SAME TIME. BONNIE AND STU'S BEDROOM.
"You hear something honey?" asked Stu. "Like a groan or something?"
"Oh probably just the wind dear…" said Bonnie, popping a set of ear plugs in and making a mental note to use extra strength detergent on those sheets.
THE NEXT EVENING. HOPPS BURROW GARDEN.
"I gotta say Carrots your parents put on quite a spread," said Nick around a mouthful of blueberry pie.
"You should've seen my twenty-first birthday," replied Judy.
"Burrow wide hangover?"
"More than one burrow too."
"Yeesh than who stacked the hay?"
Judy just laughed and Nick joined in. Under the direction of Bonnie Hopps several teams of Judy's brothers assisted by Nick, Gideon and Travis had set up ten trestle tables. Each was big enough for twenty and sat all the guests comfortably. Nick and Judy were at the head table which Nick preferred. Being stuck down the end meant having to remember a lot of names. It was easier up top with Gideon, Travis, Bonnie, Stu, Kyle, Rosie, Little Nick and of course Judy.
One hundred rabbits had been chopping, cooking and baking for twelve hours and the results were nothing short of phenomenal. Carrot stew, carrot curry, roast carrots, fried carrots, boiled carrots, braised carrots, carrot cake and carrot pie. Judy's younger teenage siblings made an effective catering team though the service declined as the night went on as more and more wine started to disappear. Nick didn't care, he was off duty.
"Hey Nick you hear that wind last night?" asked Kyle, his face red and his eyes glassy.
"Yeah loudest moaning I've ever heard," agreed Nick, a smirk spreading slowly over his face.
Only Judy and Rosie could hear them, everyone else was wrapped up in their own conversations. Out of the corner of his eye Nick saw the ears of the two female bunnies begin to glow a deep cherry red. He smiled roguishly at Kyle who winked drunkenly back.
"Strange though," continued Kyle. "It only went on for about twenty minutes every hour."
"Yeah. Though it did end with a real high-pitched scream around dawn…"
The ears were roaring red like the fires of Hell and Nick knew it was time to call it quits though clearly Kyle didn't or he was too hammered to care. As Kyle began to open his mouth Judy stood up and quietly announced she was going to the bathroom. Nick put his paw to his face as he felt Rosie's icy cold glare pass over him and settle on Kyle.
"I wish you could last twenty minutes," said Norma-Jean, Kyle's girlfriend. The male rabbit went a red that probably hadn't been catalogued yet.
"I better go apologise," he murmured; attempting, and failing, to get up.
"Save it til morning buddy," said Nick kindly. "You've had a bit too much. Besides you're her brother. You too will always be good. I'm in a little more danger."
Nick stood up, grabbed his glass and made for the burrow itself. He stepped into the kitchen and over several young KO'd rabbits. He could understand. Nick wasn't really a fan of wine but the stuff they made out in the burrows was good and it was cheap. These kids had probably been having a glass at dinner since they were about thirteen. He spotted Rosie's litter sister Gina.
"Hey," he called. "You see Judy?"
"Yeah," she replied, her voice slurring a little. "She was headed for the bath *hic* room."
He nodded his thanks and moved on down several corridors and through a few different rooms. She'd stopped crying by the time he found her though her eyes were red and her fur was wet. She was sitting on the stairs just above the bathroom.
"Hey Carrots," he said quietly. "You OK?"
"Oh you know," she sniffled. "Us bunnies, so emotional."
He smiled and sat down beside her. She leaned into him and he hugged her tight, his chin resting between her ears. For a while they just sat there. Feeling each other's warmth, listening to their breaths and heartbeats and breathing in the scent of the other. The sounds of the party could be heard even this deep in the burrow but they were content with each other.
"Was it about what Kyle said?" Nick asked.
"Not really but that did kick-start the waterworks," Judy replied, her voice still quavering. "I've been thinking about this Monochrome Gang. About us. About what Bogo said about being a detective two months ago*. I'm worried Nick, no not worried, scared. I'm scared I'll lose you. I'm scared you'll lose me. I'm scared we'll lose each other in that whole mess that's brewing back in Zootopia. Maybe I'm not making sense but that's what I feel."
Nick squeezed his bunny even tighter. He felt a lump in his own throat form at what Judy said. He'd be lying if he said he'd never thought about the things Judy mentioned. He tried to think about a life without her and all he saw in his mind's eye was emptiness. He saw pain masked behind a sarcastic façade that smirked, no, sneered at him. As if it was laughing at him for trying to better himself.
"I never told you about my father did I?" he asked.
The rabbit shook her head, still a little tearful, and so the fox began.
"My dad's name was Jonathan Wilde, Jon to his friends," explained Nick. "His dad left the family at an early age and his mom died of vulpine stomach cancer when he was sixteen. He was left to care for his younger sister Ann-Marie. He made things more difficult for himself as the years went by. Gambling turned to debts. Debts turned to mugging. Mugging turned to armed robbery. He paid off his debts and started living the high life only a criminal with cash to burn could. His sister was in nursing school but refused to talk to him because of the bad crowd he'd fallen in with. It started out as a booze cruise through the local dives every few nights. Then they started doing coke when they could afford it and crack when they couldn't…"
Judy looked up at Nick when he paused. Her eyes were dry but his weren't. Dark tracks ran though the fur on his cheeks. He didn't sob or catch his breath. Instead he kept going, talking in a monotone that suggested he'd done this before. Talking about memories while fighting to hold them back. It wasn't something Judy was used to, she tried to be as open as possible. She said nothing, waiting instead lest she disrupt Nick's recollection.
"He was married at this stage," he continued. "A beautiful young vixen by the name of Rachel Brush. Needless to say he was bad at marriage seeing how he'd knocked her up and married her when she threatened to bring him to court. That was how I came along. Little Nicholas Piberius Wilde was brought into a world of crime, violence and pain. He grew up fast but the bruises still hurt just as much. His dad broke furniture, plates and dishes and when there was nothing left for him to drunkenly smash he hit his son. And that's how I spent the first dozen or so years of my life. I don't remember the exact time, the memories are hazy and sometimes they really hurt."
Judy stared up at Nick from her place in the crook of his arm. He stared straight forward at the wall in front of him, crying silently. The wall was decorated with pictures of Judy's family. Graduations, birthdays and weddings staring back at someone who had never experienced any of those things, at least not properly. He felt a paw gently grip his left cheek. He offered no resistance as Judy pulled his head towards her.
"Nick look at me," she said. It wasn't a plea but a command. "You're not him and you never will be. Not while you have me. We're a team and we always will be no matter what happens. I might not understand the whole foxes mate for life thing but I know how much you mean to me and I want that feeling to go on forever. And I want that forever to be something we share for, well, ever..."
Nick said nothing only brought his muzzle down to hers. As the sounds of laughter and music drifted in Judy smiled against the fox's mouth. Happy and content that she knew him in such a complete way. There was no more learning to be done, only growing together.
THE NEXT AFTERNOON. BUNNYBURROW STATION.
"For the last time dad we are not taking all this back with us!" snapped Judy.
"Zebra repellent, leopard mace, skunk Tasers and of course a single use panda tranquiliser," listed off Nick. "As much as I appreciate the gesture Stu I'm afraid I agree with Judy. It'd be detrimental to our work as ZPD detectives to carry all this around not to mention irresponsible."
"I told you they'd be like this," hissed Bonnie.
"You can't blame a rabbit for trying can you?" responded Stu.
There was a smaller group seeing them off this time. Only Judy's parents, brothers Kyle and Nick and her sister Rosie had come along. Gideon and Travis were busy at the bakery and summer was nearly over so the burrows were working overtime to bring in the hay. A distant honking signalled the Zootopian Express' arrival.
Nick let Judy go first, knowing his goodbyes would be the longest if only because of Little Nick's vicelike grip on his leg. She hugged both Kyle and Rosie and lovingly embraced both parents before Nick hobbled over to bid his farewells. He shook paws with Kyle as Little Nick's grip increased exponentially.
"Don't you hurt my sister now," the rabbit warned in a low voice.
"Don't worry," replied Nick with a wink. "She knows too much for me to even consider a break-up…"
"What was that Nick?" called Judy
"Just planning a poker game for the next visit!"
He hugged Rosie next. Her eyes were the same colour as Judy's and if it weren't for the black and white fur the younger rabbit would have been the spitting image of her sister. Her eyes were wet as well and Nick smiled at her. He recognised infatuation when he saw it and he was pretty sure it was only because he was a fox. Ah the reckless curiosity of youth, he thought.
"I'm not the mammal for you," he whispered, almost apologetically. "Someday soon you're going to make a mammal close enough to your own age very happy. As for me? Were I twelve years younger and not head-over-heels for your sister I'd be writing you poetry already. Take care Rosie."
His voice was a whisper so low that only Rosie could hear it and she gasped slightly when he said her name. He stepped back before her grip could tighten and moved onto Stu and Bonnie where the three of them began the attempt to detach Little Nick from Big Nick.
"3, 2, 1 heave!" said Bonnie.
It took three tries but with a final wail of loss Little Nick was removed from his hero just as the train pulled in.
"Stu, Bonnie thanks for everything," said Nick and he meant it too. "I'll see you next time round."
He hugged them both so they couldn't see that his eyes were clouding over with emotion. As he let go of Stu Bonnie pulled him in tighter.
"You're not coming back until we get that guest bedroom soundproofed," she swore. "I doubt anyone in the burrow got so much as half a night's sleep the last few nights."
As quickly as it happened the moment was over and Nick stepped back in ashamed shock. He could still feel a small glimmer of perverse pride deep down though. Still making the girls go wild for Wilde, he thought lasciviously. With a final wave Judy and Nick stepped onto the train bound for Zootopia. They hadn't been sitting down a minute when Judy's phone began to ring.
"Detective Hopps here," she answered. "Is there a prob- Speaker phone? Yeah sure."
"Afternoon Chief," said Nick. "How's it goin-?"
"Shut it Wilde," came the buffalo's rumbling baritone. "I've got problems up to my ears back here."
"That's a lot of problems sir."
"You bet it is! And you know my biggest one?"
"No sir, what?"
"I'm stuck with the biggest case since the Nighthowler Incident and no detective's to solve it. I mean Delgado and Fangmeyer are good but…"
"Hey c'mon Chief that was mean!" came the wolf's voice.
"Shut it Fangs! Sorry my office is being refurbished so I've been forced to use the canteen. Anyway my point is I need you two back here pronto. Two city council members have just been abducted by the Monochrome gang. They're building up to something big and no one knows what. I need you both in plainclothes here tomorrow morning. I never wanted to throw you into the deep end like this but we're running out of options here."
"You don't need to worry Chief," assured Nick. "We'll handle it!"
"Couldn't have said it better myself sir," agreed Judy.
"Good see you both tomorrow and Francine says hi."
Judy put her phone down and looked up at Nick in determination.
"Ready to go to work?"
"As long as it's with you partner."
· If you'd like to read what Bogo said about being a detective I'd advise you to go back and read my other story Buffalo Bogo & the Detective Dilemma.