Chapter 2 Visiting the Vivacious Vixen Vivian
Edited by BeecroftA
"Uh, Carrots, if you try and smooth your dress down any further you might just wear through it."
The rabbit paused, giving Nick a frustrated look. "I know, but, it's Founder's Day and...I want to make a good impression with your mom."
"We've been to my mother's countless times before," Nick laughed. "I mean, I could probably make it your third home address behind our home and then our cubicle at the ZPD."
Judy blushed lightly. The casualness with which Nick always referred to their apartment as 'their home', caused all sorts of happy feelings within her. Smiling at her fox, she offered a cheeky reply. "I guess I could always just move into the ZPD. Put a bed underneath my desk, put in a fridge..."
Nick shook his head. "Sorry, but you aren't getting out of sharing our bed that easily. What would I do without my fluffy bed warmer beside me?"
Judy laughed as they pulled up to a familiar house and just as quickly as they pulled to a stop, Judy's nervousness increased. "Nick, I know we've been here dozens of times, but..." her paw fell to her belly, rubbing it gently. "But we're bringing someone else along with us this time."
The softness of Nick's smile warmed her heart as he reached over and gently ran his larger paw over the tiny belly bump Judy had. "And to think in just a month we'll be parents..." Judy nodded, chirring in delight at the thought. She had initially been afraid when she'd found out; wasn't sure what would happen but together, they knew they could do it.
"Well, better get inside before your mom starts calling us about being-"
ring...ring
Both mammals chuckled at the sound, as to Nick's mother, if they weren't ten minutes early, they were late and therefore had suffered some sort of terrible fate on the drive over. It was both endearing and exacerbating to the young couple, but they endured it with love. Nick decided to let it ring as they stepped out of the car, Nick rushing around to the passenger side to help his wife out. She rolled her eyes but appreciated the gesture and gracefully took his paw in hers.
Together they walked paw in paw up the walkway to the elderly vixen's door and rang the bell. Nearly instantly the door flew open and a flustered vixen embraced both bunny and fox in a hug.
"Oh, dearies, I thought something terrible had happened when you didn't pick up!"
Knowing it was futile to mention they were actually fifteen minutes early for the scheduled dinner, they offered their apologies and were ushered inside the room. Instantly their noses were assaulted with an assortment of delicious scents and smells.
"Is that..." Judy's eyes widened and a bright smile lit up her face.
Vivian nodded. "That would be your favorite carrot casserole. And a nice arugula spinach salad on the side."
"Would you like some help getting it all ready?" Judy asked, though her actions spoke otherwise as she was already making her way to the kitchen. Vivian just laughed and invited the bunny to join her in setting up the food. Nick ambled after them, grabbing the dishware and setting the dinner up for the three of them. Before long, the table was set, dinner was served and pleasant conversation began between the three of them. Work was discussed, as well as Vivian's activities with the ladies club, all while Nick and Judy kept quiet about the announcement they so desperately wanted to share with her. It was starting to get to Judy though, as she had to mentally keep her foot from thumping while waiting to tell the vixen the news. Her eyes glimmered with happiness, and it was only Nick clasping her paw discreetly under the table that helped keep herself in check.
After dessert was served, the blueberry cobbler being as delicious as always and both Nick and Judy complementing Vivian on it, the vixen folded her paws in front of her, a glint of a smile on her muzzle.
"So," she began, smiling mischievously. "Do you two have something to tell me?"
Judy's ears perked up as Nick's tail began to wag behind him as a lazy smirk broached his muzzle. "Is there something we're supposed to tell you?"
Vivian's smile grew. "Oh? You mean you don't know yet, Nicholas?"
"Know what?" the tod asked quizzically.
"She hasn't told you?" Vivian glanced at Judy, giving her a knowing smile. Nick glanced over at Judy, quirking his head and flopping an ear. His lazy smile brought a giggle to the bunny.
"Told ya what?" Judy asked, playing coy with the vixen and her husband. "Is there something I should be letting Nick in on?"
Vivian laughed while placing a paw over her muzzle. "Oh you two are just adorable." Pausing in her laughter, she tapped her nose. "A mother knows certain things about marriage and there are certain smells that a nose like mine can catch, now..." she leaned in as her smile broadened. "Forgive me if I'm prying, but, I can smell something different about you Judy." Her voice wavered a bit as her smile broke for a second, only to come back even more fully. "Am...am I about to be a grandmother?"
Judy could hold her excitement no more after a comment like that than a mouse could stop a wave of the ocean. The rabbit grinned broadly and nodded excitedly. "YES!" she stated gleefully, though it came out more as a squeak than anything else. She instantly wrapped her arms around Nick, who rumbled pleasantly while hugging her back.
Vivian clapped her paws together. "Marvelous! When's the due date?"
"Nef mont," Judy murmured from within Nick's embrace.
"Next month," Nick fixed for his wife. "We're not sure on the date, as none of the doctors knew what to expect. They kind of just aimed at a target between a fox's and bunny's pregnancy period."
Vivian wiped a tear from her eye as she rose from her seat. "Come here you two, and give this happy grandmother a hug."
The two obliged, Judy relinquishing her husband only to storm into Vivian's arms, giggling from the joy of the moment as she wrapped her paws around the vixen. Nick promptly joined her, relishing the moment that he knew his mother had waited so long for. The moment lasted for several minutes, the three absorbing the happiness of the moment. Finally, they pulled apart, Judy still giggling from her joy.
"Well," Vivian finally said. "Have you told your parents yet, Judith?"
Her ears flopped around behind her as she smiled and shook her head. "We were going to tell them soon, but we don't have any time off to head up to visit."
"Oh, that is dreadful!" Vivian exclaimed. "When is your next time off?"
"We've had to take overtime and pull hours on our days off due to the summer petty crime wave," Nick exclaimed sullenly. "I don't think we'll have time off until the kits arrive..." His paw wrapped around his mate's back, his tail around her legs as she dipped her head.
"We really want to tell them in person, but..." Judy trailed off, the rest of the sentence as obvious as her sorrow.
Vivian cracked a smile, then let out a few soft laughs.
"What's so funny?" Nick asked, head cocking to the side as Judy did the same. Vivian rolled her eyes at just how alike her son and daughter-in-law were. They really are the best for each other...she thought.
"Well, I might just have a solution to your problem..."
The pair of downtrodden mammals looked at the vixen with hope in their eyes and their hearts fluttering. "You do?" they exclaimed at once.
Vivian nodded. And oh what a surprise this will be...she thought, mulling over what she had planned that evening. She checked her watch, surprised at how quickly the evening had flown by. "But oh my...look at the time. I'm afraid that if I don't go to bed soon, I won't have any energy for my 5 o'clock yoga class so I think we'll have to call it a night."
The doe and tod gave her a saddened look, but took up hopeful smiles. "Alright," Judy answered for them. "Though I hope you'll tell us what you are thinking?"
Vivian shook her head as the bunny huffed in annoyance. "I can't say or else it wouldn't be a secret now, would it?"
"Please?" Judy asked. Nick pressed his paw against Judy's back, moving her towards the door, chuckling all the way.
"Let's go Carrots. If you can't get a secret out of me, there is no chance you'll get it from mother." Nick grinned and ruffled Judy's fur between her ears, chuckling as she sighed in defeat.
"Alright..." the doe muttered before allowing her husband to lead her to the door. Vivian was already there and gave them both a hug goodbye before they left. Waving them goodbye from the door, Vivian found herself leaning against it as her son and daughter in law drove off. The smile on her face was a real one, and as she flipped out her phone and dialed a number, it only grew.
After two rings a very familiar voice answered.
"Hello?"
"Hello there Stu, how are you, Bonnie and the kits doing?...Fine? That's great to hear, now, I was wondering if I could ask a question of you and your lovely wife..."
The next day was a long one for both Judy and Nick. It was going to be Judy's last day on the job before her maternity leave started and she'd enter the Honeywell Center for the duration of her pregnancy so they could watch her carefully. Hybrids were already a rarity in Zootopian society. Death of the child in utero was common between even closely related species, so having a bunny and fox conceiving?
Neither Nick nor Judy were going to take any chances with her, or the kit, or kits', health. Judy had declared she'd spend the month or however long her pregnancy lasted at the center and Nick would be by her side the entire time. Dave and the other doctors there related to them all they could do for them, letting them know about the offered leave for both parents considering the special and unique circumstances, and both Judy and Nick wouldn't have had it any other way.
So they spent most of the day at the precinct filling out the necessary forms and paperwork regarding the maternity and paternity leave required of them. Clawhauser had thrown a party for them before they left in the afternoon, as massive carrot cake with blueberry frosting trimming around it. The center had a massive edible drawing of a fox and bunny cuddling, hearts floating above them while two bundles, one pink and one blue, were held in their arms.
"I just know you're going to have twins," Clawhauser had whispered to them in quite the loud voice which reverberated around the break room. Several mammals chuckled politely as Judy smiled, bathed in a heavenly glow while Nick wrapped his arms and tail around her from behind. The absolute adorableness of the scene was too much for the cheetah, who let out a high pitched 'awww' before fainting face first into the cake.
Now, the bunny and fox were at home, enjoying their final evening in their apartment. Judy had packed their belongings while Nick had fixed a fine candlelit dinner for the pair of them. After putting on some soft, classical music, they dined, very little said as they each held each other's paws while feeding each other with their free paw. As dinner finished, Nick drew Judy up by her paw, leading her towards the living room where he wrapped a paw around her back, placing the other on top of it and drew her in close to him. Judy's ears fell behind her under the protective feeling Nick gave off as he danced in softly glowing room, lit only by the candles and the love for each other dancing in their eyes.
Judy chirred in complete and utter bliss as she snuggled into the chest of her husband while the two swayed to the gentle music. Rubbing her cheek against his chest, she smiled. "Nick, thank you for being the most loving, caring husband a bunny could ever hope for." Looking up, the soft gleam of the candlelight danced in his emerald eyes. The pair leaned towards each other, meeting in such an elegant, yet simple touch of a kiss that both called it divine. Judy moved her paws from where they were against his chest to around his neck, deepening the kiss.
Knock, knock, knock-knockity knock.
Judy's ears flew up, bopping Nick on the nose. A very vulpine-esque sneeze filled the room, causing Judy to giggle as his nose twitched in its aftermath. "I'll get the door," Judy cooed before waltzing towards their apartment's entryway, feeling like she was walking on clouds.
"Who do you think it is?" Nick asked, a little miffed at the moment being lost as it was. Whoever it is better be important...he grumbled mentally as he started off after his wife, tail swaying quickly behind him.
Judy looked through the peephole and let out a surprised gasp. Hurriedly, she undid the lock and flung open the door to the apartment.
"Mom! Dad!" she cried, jumping into their arms and letting out a soft chitter of laughter.
"Hey there Bon Bon," Bonnie greeted.
"How's my Jude the Dude doing?" Stu asked, grinning as he hugged his daughter back. Glancing behind the grey doe, he saw Nick approaching with a smile on his face. "And how's my favorite fox son-in-law doing tonight?"
Nick laughed. "I'll have to tell Finnick and Jessica that next time I see them," he shot back with a wink. "Unless you've had more of your daughters fall for foxes without me knowing."
"Well..." Stu laughed, rubbing the back of his head nervously while Judy jumped back, her paws covering her mouth and ears shooting up.
"Don't tell me...Jack?" she energetically gasped.
Bonnie nodded. "Right on the corn husk. He proposed to Skye last week. You should have seen him. Poor buck about fainted when he saw her in that red dress for their date. Shaking like a leaf on a tree in a wind storm I'll tell ya."
Both Judy and Nick offered laughs and congratulations. They had been rooting for Judy's white-furred brother to date for a year now, and he had finally told them he had found someone, but wouldn't say who. Judy had tried to pry with her other siblings still living at home, but all had been tight-lipped. Apparently all she had to do was just ask her parents.
"What brings you to our lovely home?" Nick asked as he snuck up behind Judy, placing his paws tenderly on her shoulders and squeezing them lovingly while placing a kiss between her ears.
Bonnie smiled at the site of how loving Nick was towards their daughter. It always made her beam with pride at just how much adoration he showered here with. Between the flowers he constantly bought for her, to the surprise visits he planned for her siblings to visit her when she was lonely...Nick was the perfect husband for their daughter.
On the other paw, Judy was the sweetest darling towards Nick that Bonnie had ever seen. While she heard Nick gushing about how endearing Judy was and how supportive she was in his goal to be a good partner, both on and off the beat, to her, she also had made sure that he made friends in the precinct and out of it with her family. She'd introduced nearly every police officer to him on the first day with so much energy and merriment that she made even Bogo smile. Then she had made him the most popular mammal at the 10-7 after dragging him in there one day to meet her friends.
These two are just meant for each other...Bonnie thought with a smile before she answered. "Well, we got a call from Vivian. She said you had something that you wanted to tell us, but that your job kept you from coming out to visit so..."
"...We're here visiting you!" Stu completed for his wife while clutching the straps of his overalls. "So, tell us Jude, what's the news?"
Nick and Judy glanced at each other, the brightest smiles lighting up their faces. Both knew they had to thank the vixen for her kind-hearted act and love they showed towards them. After gazing lovingly into each other's eyes, they turned as one to face Judy's parents. With a deep breath, they exclaimed as one.
"You're going to be grandparents."
Bonnie clasped her paws over her mouth, trembling at the news as a smile crossed her muzzle. Stu blinked once...then twice, then a curiously bemused smile flickered across his face.
"We're...they're...parents," he stuttered, grinning so broadly that even a hyena couldn't match the smile before his eyes rolled to the back of his head and he fainted to the floor.
Both Judy and Nick awoke at the same time, eyes blinking wide as the effects of the dream stayed with them.
"Carrots?" Nick took off the helmet with one paw, while reaching out for hers with the other, finding the smaller grew paw already out towards his own. Judy was smiling, and he could see the beginning of tears in her eyes as she rubbed her fingers over his own larger digits. "Do you think...do you think that dream...is possible?"
Judy hiccuped, laughing slightly as she offered the fox a grin. "I don't know, Nick. I mean, a bunny and fox..." She trailed off, leaving the sentence unfinished for both knew what it entailed. Judy wasn't going to let Nick know yet she had been doing research on the subject, even going so far as to contact the Honeywell Institute with her questions. They had been gentle in letting her down, and though Nick had come in from his errands later that night to a morose rabbit shoveling ice cream into her muzzle, he didn't question her non-committal answers.
A tear graced her cheek, sliding down her fur before a russet-colored paw brushed it off. The same paw lifted her face to stare into the familiar emerald eyes of her husband.
"Doesn't mean we can't try everything," he declared with so much love in his words that Judy felt them hit her in waves of warmth and caring. Not caring they were in public, Judy leapt onto her fox, wrapping her arms around him in a fierce and loving embrace.
"You adorable, dumb fox!" she hiccuped, laughing as he nuzzled her neck tenderly.
"But I'm your adorable, dumb fox," he replied, giving her a quick kiss, savoring the taste of her lips on his. He leaned back to stare lovingly in her eyes. "And don't you forget it."
AN: Now there's the fluff we all know and love. Big thanks to BeecroftA for editing both these chapters. Now, I wonder which story will come next...
But for now, I'm off to Disneyland and D23, so I'll see you all in a week! :)