Chapter 5 - Down and Out

Written by Zanrok

Edited by Cimar

Artwork by Mr. Punctual

"Oh this is so not good…" Judy moaned as she sat on the examination table, looking thoroughly miserable after the doc's examination, "What if this makes Bogo change his mind, makes him think small mammals like us can't handle being officers!"

"The Chief won't think that!" Nick said, sounding a bit nasally through the tissues he'd stuffed in his nose. He tried to smile. "I mean we've managed everything that's faced us so far… and… and…" Nick gulped, "We're still ready to go, fresh as daisies, right? … Right?" Nick looked at her with a shaky smile, his ear and nose still twitching occasionally like it had ever since he took a face full of that flower scented perfume in the mall.

Judy's ears dropped. She didn't want to admit it, but even if Nick did smell like a daisy right now, he looked anything but. He looked more like he was about to fall over and as much as she wanted to push through and keep on going, to be the best cop she could possibly be, she wasn't in much better condition than Nick.

Then her ears dropped more as she heard the tapping of Bogo's hoof while the doctor gave him a run down of their condition in his office two floors and a hallway above them.

"...showing symptoms of extreme hypersensitivity to hearing and smell… no clear damage to ears or nose… but clear signs of pain… recommend take off duty… bed rest until symptoms recover… currently in a state of exhaustion… probable little to no sleep… pushing them too hard..."

Judy groaned again, slumping over on the table wishing she could block out the doctor's voice as he continued to describe just how unfit they were. Then, half out of misery and half on a whim, she grabbed Nick's tail and used the appendage as makeshift ear muffs. Nick gave a startled yip and looked at her wide eyed before spluttering incoherently. He stopped, then tried again with little improvement to his spluttering and the smallest of smiles ran across Judy's face as Nick's silver tongue seemed to fail him for once. She snuggled just a little bit further into her ear muff tail and listened to the pleasant sounds it gave off, glad for a distraction that was able to mute everything else for at least a few moments.

Bogo's hoof was rubbing his temple as the ZPD's staff medic finished giving him his report on Wilde and Hopps and he finished glancing through their reports from yesterday. For being the smallest mammals on the force they'd gotten almost twice as much done as any other team had.

"-Honestly Chief, I'm not surprised that this happened," the old armadillo said, looking up from his medical clipboard and adjusting his thick glasses that made his little eyes seem twice as large as his face. "I looked through their medical records and after the nighthowler incident and that train car explosion, neither of them took enough time off, well any time off really, to recover."

"I thought they were cleared medically?" Bogo asked, looking up from the reports (well down really), at Doctor Arzts. "Hopps seemed fine and she did a stellar job on her first assignment afterwards, managed to overhear some crucial information when even Francine couldn't."

"Yes, well… her hearing is good, off the charts actually when I performed a hearing test on her just now, but I don't think it ever fully recovered from the train explosion. It's also clearly causing her pain no matter how much she tries to hide it. They were cleared after that incident, but that doesn't mean they were exactly 100%, just that nothing was seriously wrong enough to mandate rest. Then both of them have been working nearly non-stop. Hopps hasn't taken any time off, in fact she's been working overtime whenever possible and Wilde opted not to take the usual break after graduation but to start immediately afterwards. If you don't give your body time to recover, even the little things can build up to a breaking point. Those two need to take some time off to let their bodies recuperate." The little old Armadillo gave Bogo a pointed glare. "That's a lesson I remember having to beat into a head-strong young officer that didn't know when to take a break back when you started here."

Bogo snorted, as he could remember that little lesson quite well without the reminder.

"Fine Doc. Point taken."

"Carrots! Thats- Come on! My tail isn't a scarf!" Nick spluttered, his voice still high and nasally from the tissues stuck in his nose as he tried unsuccessfully to detach the bunny from his tail.

"Not a scarf, it's an ear muff," Judy muttered. "And I'm keeping it… It works better than those stupid useless earphones I wasted my money on, and this way I won't have to hear the Chief when he says he's disappointed in us."

"I- That's- " Nick spluttered on and tried not to blush as she snuggled his tail around her again. "He's not going to- Well I don't think he would… But you can't use my tail as replacement headphones!"

"You suggested I buy those useless ones. Gave me your guarantee they'd help and they don't, so I'm turning them in and taking this fuzzy set instead," Judy countered, still not releasing his tail. She seemed to be taking an almost perverse delight in getting one over on him and figuratively, (and literally), yanking his tail. It almost made her seem like her usual energizer bunny self.

"Thats... Thats… Hey you're not allowed to hustle me like that!" Nick said aghast. His voice sounded far too weedly, what with the tissues still stuffed in his nose, making it impossible to sound like his normal suave self. It was throwing his internal sense of balance off and in a fit of irritation and embarrassment he reached up and yanked them out.

But before he could make any sort of suave comeback, the full force of that gods awful artificial flowery perfume, seeming even stronger than before, slapped him again like Sergeant Buffinthehorn had done his first time in the boxing ring at the academy. His vision seemed to go fuzzy for a second and he felt lightheaded and dizzy.

There was the sound of someone saying something, his name maybe, and then again, this time sounding worried. His head was still spinning when he felt something touch his muzzle, something that smelled pleasant. He turned his nose, rubbing it desperately into the furry paw against it, sniffed all the while to try and rid his nose of the perfumed stench that clung to him and the antiseptics that clung to the examination room and a thousand other scents that bombarded his nose.

"Nick!" Judy meeped, and her scent was suddenly sweeter and smelled more embarrassed as he snapped back to the present, only to realize he'd been madly snuffling Judy's paw…

...and started snuffling down her arm toward her now blushing neck.

"Um... I, ah… Sorry!" Nick managed to squeak out, his voice even higher and squeakier than before without even the help of the tissues. He flushed even harder than Judy had. "Look, I ah, didn't mean to- it's just you smell nice and-" Nick facepalmed and groaned feeling mortified before rushing on as Judy's ears started turned pink and her scent spiked further. "Sorry Carrots! Please I didn't mean to start sniffing you like that! It's just… just… my nose has been giving me trouble and that perfume and all the other smells- I just needed something to clear away all that from my nose..." He finished in an incoherent mumble, feeling horribly embarrassed. Judy wasn't even looking at him and her scent was a chaotic mix, embarrassment chief amongst it.

Even still, Nick couldn't bring himself to pull to far away from her. He hated artificial floral scents, and Judy's scent seemed to be the only thing that helped.

"Judy, look I-" Nick stopped suddenly, a stray air current through the doorway bringing a warning to his nose.

"Carrots, Bogo incoming!" Nick hissed, and her ears snapped up only for her to flinch and then snap them down quickly.

"Bogo and the doc are coming down the stairs," Judy whispered back, straightening up and trying to look professional. Nick copied her, but couldn't help but think that they failed more than a bit to strike the image of the ZPD's finest. Judy still lacked her usual perk and he could see bags under her eyes. And as for himself, Nick was having trouble keeping his usual grin in place.

They waited there for a few seconds before Judy shot him a quick look and quietly asked, "How could you tell by smell that Bogo was coming?"

Nick shrugged, "Good nose, and Bogo throwing open doors always causes a bit of a draft."

"Ya, but Bogo's office is three floors up, It couldn't be that much of a draft."

Nick shifted uncomfortably and mumbled, "Nose has been giving me trouble for a while now, just been really really sensitive."

Judy gave him a concerned look, apparently having no trouble hearing his mumbling, "Is it really that sensitive? I mean I don't think even Wolford's nose could pick up something like that from here."

Nick's nose wrinkled again, still burning from the perfume and other scents but he resisted the urge to cover it with his paw as well as the much stronger urge to scoot closer to Judy. Well, mostly. He didn't think she'd notice his slight shift on the examination table… though, given the slight rise of confused embarrassment in her scent she might have…

"Ehem, well I didn't know your hearing was good enough to pick him up leaving his office either," Nick said hurriedly, hopefully distracting her.

Judy blushed at that and then muttered something which he, without her radar bunny ears couldn't pick up. Something about the train explosion, overly loud noises, and headphones that didn't work as well as fuzzy foxy- she suddenly shut her mouth with a snap and her scent spiked hard with further embarrassment.

"Um… well I don't know about Wolford," Nick added quickly trying to fill the sudden awkward gap, "But ya… I can tell Bogo left his office, hell I could tell you what flavors of donuts Clawhauser is eating right now."

Judy looked rather dubious at that claim and he managed to dredge up enough charm to scoff theatrically before ticking of on his claws. "Chocolate frosted with sprinkles, maple, sugar, cream filled with slightly stale bavarian creme, raspberry jelly filled and glazed. At least a dozen." He sniffed the air cautiously, wincing as he did so. "Make that three dozen, delivered while we've been in here and if that stale cream gives anything away, it would be from Blargy's off Fifth and Mane."

Judy was looking at him with what might have almost been a bit of awe in her expression as Nick used the moment to slip just a bit closer to her… just so her scent could give his nose some relief from all the other less-pleasant-than-donut-scents he could smell as well of course.

"Hell, Carrots," Nick continued talking to keep her distracted from how close he'd scooted over on the table. "I can tell that Bogo got ink on his uniform sometime in the last half hour, a uniform he got dry cleaned yesterday judging by the slight starchiness scent that wafted by just now. Bit unlucky for him, but given that he got lucky last night, I'd say Karma is still doing her job."

"Wait, you can tell that?!" Judy spluttered, her eyes a bit wide at the little piece of gossip and Nick grinned seeing as she was fully distracted. She almost looked like a miniature Clawhauser hearing the latest office scuttlebutt, well... except she was cute in a completely different way than the friendly tubby cheetah, or so Nick thought.

"Sure Fluff. He wasn't the only one who got lucky, Wolford and Fa-*ehem*" Nick coughed into his paw. "Well I probably should say as they've been trying to hide it, even done a decent job of it, though the fact that they totally have the hots for each other is a huge give away if you know what scent clues to pay attention to."

Judy looked utterly shocked at this, and Nick summoned up the energy from somewhere to give her one of his grins, and tapped his nose. "Might not be as cool as your radar ears, but canine noses have their uses too."

"Y-You're t-telling me…" Judy squeaked, eyes huge, "That you can t-tell when a m-mammal g-gets t-turned o-on…" Judy's voice had continued to rise, sounding almost terrified now.

"I, um, Noooo-" Nick spluttered quickly, his brain catching back up with his mouth, while his nose registered the sudden explosion of scents from Judy. Terror… mortification… attraction… embarrassment… extreme attraction… nervousness… more embarrassment… even more than extreme attraction… Nick's mind was trying to keep up with all the inputs while he panicked. But Judy's ears snapped up, trained on him like two lie detecting sensors and Nick gulped, voice squeaking like skidding tires as he shifted mid-word attempting to equivocate his falsehood. "-oooot really! It all sort of depends, Carrots! Really! Scent clues like that can be really subtle and hard to pick up on! It's not something just any mammal can sense!" Nick tried smiling disarmingly but Judy didn't seem to be buying it. She was gaping at him with a sort of horrified bunny in the headlights look.

"Judy, I swear I'd never try using my nose to pick up on how you might be feeling!" Nick continued quickly, worriedly. Many prey mammals tended to freak out a little when they figured out just how much canines could pick up from scents. "I mean, that was just an accident that I sniffed you before!" Nick winced even before the last word was out of his mouth and his internal hustler screamed at his flustered mind to Shut up! Shut Up Now You Idiot!

Judy's eyes got even wider as a heavy flush ran rampant across her cheeks and her scent spiked to new heights.

Nick opened his mouth, then remembered his own advice and shut it, feeling his own raging blush spreading under his red fur and up to his ears as his heart seemed to hit the panic button and went galloping off in panicked circles.

Judy's ears twitched almost like she could hear it and suddenly both of them were looking anywhere but at the other.

Bogo entered the examination room right behind Doctor Arzts and frowned as he saw his two officers, who looked even worse now then when he's seen them earlier. The way Hopps was staring across the room her nose and one ear twitching spasmodically while Wilde had his ears splayed back and a almost pained look on his muzzle didn't help their ruffled, exhausted looking state. In fact Hopps complexion looked unusually flushed, possibly Wilde's as well, though it was harder to tell with his fur color.

Bogo leaned over to the doc and whispered, "They're not running fevers too are they?"

Doctor Arzt's adjusted his coke bottle glasses and examined them, before snorting. "They weren't before but it's possible they could be starting to, what with the state they're in. Could also be signs of, oh what is that sickness called? I think my old medical books called it Fuchs Liebe Hase? No matter, with a bit of rest that will probably sort itself out too."

Bogo hid his worry for his officer behind his normal scowl and speared the two officers with it.

"Right. Hopps, you have all the makings of a good officer," he snorted, glancing over at the miserable looking fox. "And you too Wilde, if yesterday was anything to judge by, but both of you need to learn a lesson a lot of good rookies have trouble with." He increased his scowl to make sure they'd take the point, and added a bit of glare just for good measure, "You can't do your jobs if you're not taking care of yourselves." A little bit of extra displeased glare and both the fox and bunny wilted a bit.

Good, I think they got the point. Bogo thought and snorted again.

"Both of you are off duty for the next three days. Go home. Get some rest. Get better. I need you two in top condition, not muddling through your day where you're likely to get yourselves or someone else hurt because you're under the weather. And I'll have Doctor Arzts check both of you when you get back too just to make sure you are back in shape for work." Bogo pointed out the door with one last snort. "Francine will drop both of you two off at your homes. I don't want to see or hear from either of you till your better. Now, GO!"

Hopps was up and out the door before he'd quite even finished and Wilde wasn't too far behind. Bogo gave a short amused snort as he watched them disappear. Hopefully they'd listen to his order to rest and get better just as well as they listened to his order to go.

Nick ducked his head back under the stream of water in his shower as he tried for the sixth time to scrub all traces of the fake flower perfume off himself.

The ride back in Francine's cruiser had been the most awkward experience of his life. The only saving grace about it was that the elephant sized cruiser had given them plenty of space to awkwardly avoid each other. He wasn't sure if Judy was freaking out over what he'd let slip about canines and their insights into other mammals feelings or if she'd possibly caught on to his own feelings, but either way she'd been freaked out about something and he wasn't sure what he could do to try and fix it. Maybe if he just gave her some time, it would all blow over? Maybe? Hopefully?

Nick finished rinsing the shampoo out of his fur and got out of the shower. Only for traces of the smell to still burn his nostrils.

Nick growled in irritation as he dried off and then flopped into his bed, burying his nose in his sheets, but that provided no relief. He growled and rolled over on his side. He still felt exhausted, mildly nauseous, and just wanted to drift off to sleep where he wouldn't have to think about his nose or his feelings or how his apartment smelled musty after so long or Judy or that awful stupid clingy perfume or how even sleeping on Judy's floor felt more comfortable than his apartment now.

hours later…

Nick finally gave up tossing around in his bed.

Never, not once in his life had he ever had trouble falling asleep. He'd even walked down to his old hangout by the bridge in the abandoned industrial facility, but not even lounging in the sun had been any relief and he'd slunk back to his basement apartment in dismay as clouds soon obscured the sun. He was exhausted, beyond exhausted really and feeling like warmed over road kill; that and his nose seemed to be worse than ever. There was only one thing that he could think of that might help at this point and it was a stupid idea; A horrible, awful, idiotically stupid idea, but he was desperate.

Maybe if he begged? Nick thought, his ears flat against his head as he grabbed his hawaiian shirt and threw it on. He'd never begged for anything before, not in his lowest moment, but he'd never felt quite this desperate either. Well maybe after the skunk butt incident, but running had been an option then. It wasn't like he could out run or even hide from the smells bombarding his nose. (he knew, he'd already tried).

With a sigh, Nick locked his door and headed out only for the muggy late afternoon sky to open up and the first drops of rain to pelt him.

Nick looked up at storm clouds and wondered if Karma had something against him in particular.

"I ordered dinner yesterday! It's your turn to order tonight!"

"You just dialed the number! I actually ordered!"

"Doesn't matter, That still counts!"

"What do you mean? That doesn't count! Just shut up and order!"

"You shut up and order!"

"No, you shut up and order!"

"No you shut-"

Judy groaned her head popping up from the pile of stuffed animals she was trying to hide under and threw one at the wall.

"Bucky, Pronk, could you please please keep it down just this once?"

*whispered* "Uh oh, bunny girl doesn't sound very good."

"Think its relationship problems? Her boyfriend doesn't seem to be staying over tonight."

"Naww… She's not playing her melancholic radio sound track, must be something else."

"No, you're just as wrong about this as you are about who ordered! I tell you, it's got to be boyfriend issues."

"Fine, prove it and I'll order!"

There was a banging on the wall and then Pronk's voice.

"Yo, bunny girl, you aren't having problems with your foxy boyfriend are you?"

The Thump as the bunny doll that hit the wall this time was considerably louder than before as Judy nearly growled from under her pile.

"No I am not! And he is not my boyfriend! And you two need to stop speculating on my dating life and quiet down!"

There was a few blessed moments of Bucky and Pronk free noise, in which she could only hear what sounded like every other sound in the apartment, before there was another hushed whisper.

"Don't say it! I'm ordering. Just don't say it. I mean it!"

"..."

"Don't!"

"Told you!"

"Gahh. Will you shut up! No, no not you- Damnit they resteraunt hung up on me because of you! Here I tried, now it's your turn to order!"

"No You order!"

Judy groaned and rolled out from under her pile of bunny dolls and tossed her useless headphones onto her desk, muttering darkly. She couldn't rest like this, and it wasn't only Bucky and Pronk that were driving her nuts, even over the rain outside she could hear the aardvark couple arguing two floors below her, the dhole watching the soap opera, 'All my Kits'... even the doors to the apartment squeaking shrilly as someone entered the building five floors below.

Judy looked at the fox doll she was still clutching in her arms and her embarrassment and confusion about how to handle her growing feelings toward Nick roiled and collided with the fact that he might be able to tell that she liked him and not in a, 'Do I love you? Yes, Yes I do (but only in a platonic way!)'. Carrot sticks, he, probably could tell given how just being near him made her feel all warm and fuzzy. She wondered just how long he might have known and what it might mean that he'd never said anything about it. She could tell that he'd been panicking before in the examination room from the wild beating of his heart. Was he just trying to figure out how to avoid the subject? Maybe just not knowing how to let her down? Oh carrot sticks, did he just see her as another silly stereotypical country bumpkin bunny crushing on someone? But it wasn't like bunnies normally had crushes on foxes. Oh-sliced cucumbers-she-really-was-crushing-on-Nick… hard…

Judy flopped back onto the bed sending some dolls tumbling to the floor and looked up tiredly at the fox plushy she held above her.

She wasn't sure if it was the exhaustion from the unrelenting, never ending noise around her and the accompanying throbbing in her head it caused, or the questions regarding Nick and what he thought of one silly stupid bunny crushing on a fox that was keeping her up. Regardless, she hadn't been able to rest at all.

Finally coming to a long overdue decision, she put the plushy down and got up, heading for her door.

She didn't like sitting around and just worrying. She'd go and find out… and even if she was only ever going to be Nick's friend, he might let her stay over so she didn't have to listen to Bucky and Pronk and could finally get some real sleep. That was something a friend would do, right?

Ignoring Bucky and Pronks ongoing and now not so whispered argument as well as the sound of some other resident dripping water on the floor as they slowly walked down the hallway, Judy grabbed her raincoat and opened the door… only to just about run into Nick as he stopped, paw outstretched to knock on her door.

Judy stared for a few seconds as some water dripped from his soaked fur, splattering on the ground, sounding like cannon shots to her in her surprise, and every sound around her seemed to fade except for the rapid beating of Nick's heartbeat.

Tha-Thump-Tha-Thump-Tha-Thump-Tha-Thump-Tha-Thump-Tha-Thump-Tha-Thump-Tha-Thump-Tha-Thump-

"Hey… Carrots… I, ah…" Nick swallowed hard.

Tha-Thump-Tha-Thump-Tha-Thump-Tha-Thump-Tha-Thump-Tha-Thump-Tha-Thump-

...and his heartbeat seemed to almost double before Nick, soaked and bedraggled, attempted one of his grins… and failed… before rushing on quickly.

"Carrots,-I-know-I-freaked-you-out-before-and-I'm-sorry,-I-didn't-know-you-didn't-know,-well-I-guessed-you-didn't-know,-but-I-didn't-want-to-tell-you-because-other-mammals-usually-don't-take-it-that-well,-and-I-didn't-want-you-to-freak-out-and-I'm-sorry-and-I-don't-want-this-to-come-between-us-because-you're-important-to-me-and…and Judy I'm really sorry."

Judy just stood there for a second,

...you're important to me…

The phrase seeming to repeat in her mind until the sound of a few more drips of water hitting the floor and Nick shifting uncomfortable brought her back to the present.

Judy looked at him, looked at the state he was in, ears, tail, even his grin drooping in exhaustion and his fur soaked through from the storm, and couldn't help but ask in a tone of confusion.

"You… you came all the way over here, in the storm, instead of resting… just to apologize?"

Tha-Thump - pause - ThaThumpThaThumpThaThumpThaThump

Judy's ear twitched at the telltale sound of Nick's heart as he stood there, stock still, before finally saying, "I… ah… not entirely…" he swallowed and mumbled looking down at his feet, "I… I can't get to sleep at my place… the smells… I… I wanted to ask if I could spend the night... here..."

Nick wanted to spend the night at her apartment? The idea sent a thrill of excitement and warmth through her as well as a bolt of terror. If he didn't already know, if he only suspected, well spending the night with her mind now thoroughly stuck thinking about him would certainly tip him off scentwise.

Nick's nose made a twitching noise and Judy looked up in time to see his eyes widen just a little as his heartbeat spiked again. He brought his paws up making quick gesturing motions.

"I don't want to make you uncomfortable Carrots, I can sleep on the floor again… I-"

Judy didn't quite hear the rest of what he said because two hushed voices very close to the wall caught her attention.

"Man… he's really in the dog house with her isn't he…"

"Has to be. At this rate they're never going past this stage two denial…"

"Yep, and consigned to sleeping on the floor, not even the couch…"

"Wait, does she even have a couch?"

The comments from her neighbors were the breaking point for Judy. Her head hurt, she was exhausted, her feelings where a muddled confused mess and she was absolutely sick and tired of listening to Bucky and Pronk, especially listening to them discussing her love life, or lack thereof…

"They want something to talk about, I'll give them something to talk about." Judy muttered darkly as she clenched her fists.

Nick had stopped talking, apparently hearing the non-to-subtle voices as well, and Judy stopped giving the wall a Bogo glare and turned back to the dripping wet fox in her door way.

"Nick," Judy said in a clipped voice. "You don't have anything to be sorry for, but if you think you do then you can apologize by coming in and doing exactly what I say, understand?"

Nick looked confused at her sudden vexation, so she simply grabbed his loose, bedraggled tie and pulled him into the room, slamming the door behind him. She pulled him over to her bed and then with the tie, pulled his head down so she could whisper in his ear.

"Follow along, Okay?" she said in a almost gleefully vengeful voice before giving the wall and its two irritating voices one more glare. Nick, though he still looking confused, nodded, and Judy, judging from the voices debating her dismal chances of a love life in anything but quiet voices went over to the wall where she judged their ears were pressed up against it and slammed her shoulder into it.

She grinned at the startled yelps from the other side and in a dramatically high falsetto voice that would have gotten her laughed off her high school drama club shouted, "OH, N-Nick!" then thumped the wall a few more times before walking past a now gaping fox and jumped onto her bed. She starting to bounce up and down, making it squeak faster and faster. She could here Bucky and Pronk spluttering incoherently and what sounded like one of them tripping over and falling down on the other side of the wall.

She wished she could see their faces right then. But since she couldn't, she bounced on the bed more enthusiastically and added some more sound effects just for good measure.

Judy was trying not to giggle manically as she listened afterwards to the stunned and confused sounding Bucky and Pronk. Nick once he'd caught on to her little game, had had some brilliant little additions to her little prank.

"No way-"

"But-"

"Even for a bunny!"

"Ninja cop metermaid bunny?"

"I- but- she-"

"Ninjad that fox?"

"She's no crouching tiger! She's a bunny!... right? Right?"

"Um… ninja disguise?"

"No, no, no! Not possible! I just- she skipped stages!

"Bunny?"

"She hopped stages!"

"Is that allowed?"

"NO!"

"Check the dating guide?"

"I did!"

"Horoscope?"

"Has nothing!"

"There's gotta be something!"

Nick pulled his ear away from the wall and put his paw over his mouth to stifle his snicker while Judy buried her face in her pillow and started laughing.

As good as the bit of amusement and revenge against her neighbors was, Judy was left feeling bone tired when her laughter finally trailed off. She glanced over to see Nick sitting against the wall, still grinning but looking like he might pass out at any second, right before he sneezed. Then sneezed again and started rubbing his nose. Judy realized he was still sopping wet from the rain outside. Infact, not only was he soaked through but he'd left little puddles of water all across her floor.

Judy groaned, and careful to avoid the water, crossed to her dresser and tossed him a towel.

"Nick, we need to get you dry before you catch a cold on top of everything else," Judy said and then took a closer look at his soaked clothes and long russet cream fur before sighing. It was beautiful fur, and any other time her mind might have started wandering off in other directions thinking about that fur, but she was so tired. It felt like her body was crashing and she simple couldn't spare the extra brain power to think past the fact that his long fur was utterly soaked and holding water like a sponge.

She grabbed another towel and tossed it to him before also pulling out her handheld fur dryer.

"Here…" she stopped and let out a jaw wrenching yawn before continuing, "Cover up with that and I'll throw your shirt and pants in the dryer down the hall while we deal with your fur."

Nick gave her an embarrassed look that had her flushing even in her exhausted state as she quickly turned around.

Even with the use of her small fur dryer it took close to a half hour to dry Nick's fur as well as his boxers, since he'd been to embarrassed to part with those in her small room, and have her toss them in the dryer with everything else. Judy wasn't entirely sure whether she was relieved or disappointed in that, though helping Nick dry off was its own little reward for her. His longer fur might be a pain to dry but it had the advantage of floofing to ridiculous levels, absolutely ridiculously cute levels, and Judy was sure that when her brain wasn't so sleep deprived and actually functional, that she would very much enjoy thinking back on his floofiness. But today and the day before and the still pounding headache and tiredness was hitting her like a sledgehammer. It was all she could do just to finish helping Nick dry off.

"Thanks Carrots," Nick said as she turned her fur dryer off and let out another jaw popping yawn, "And thanks for letting me crash here… I'll just…" he gestured toward were he'd made his makeshift bed yesterday only for his already exhausted droopy ears to wilt.

Judy followed his paw and saw the puddles of water still all over her floor and groaned. She was too drained to do anything more. She hadn't been able to get to sleep earlier despite all her effort. But now that Nick was here, it was like a flip had been switched and she couldn't keep herself awake any longer.

Judy looked between the wet floor and Nick, then back at the wet floor and then at her bed as a wave of tiredness rolled over her and she fought not to pass out.

"Nick…" Judy said, already feeling like she was half asleep as he turned his head wearily toward her. She flopped back onto her bed, curling up on one side then raised her paw, finger outstretched, mustering as much seriousness as she could at that moment, though she could already feel herself drifting off. "Too tired, so just this once... if you promise… no funny business… you can share…" she gestured tiredly at the other half of her small bed.

Nick didn't respond for a moment and Judy was almost asleep when he finally did. Though she could hear his heart make a small skipping sort of sound. It brought a smile to her sleepy face. She rather liked the sound that Nick's heart beat had made.

"Y-you sure Judy?" he asked sounding a bit nervous, though his voice was edged with exhaustion.

Judy snuggled into her pillow a bit and mumbled, "No funny business…" before starting to drift off again.

There was the sound of slow hesitant movement and then the sheets crinkling as a weight settled next to her on the bed. A weight with a warm floofy presences and a strong pleasant tha-thumping heartbeat that made all the other noises around her disappear as she focused on it. And right before she lost herself to the first deep, unbothered sleep she'd had in far, far to long, she felt the briefest sensation ruffle the fur on her shoulder and neck, like that of a muzzle snuggling up, breathing in a long and slow and letting out a contented sigh.