Chapter 13: Breed

It was another day before Christmas. The winter sun was slowly illuminating the chilly horizon covered with white down, which reflected the cold rays of the sun. It had been a long time since Judy had slept as well as she had that last night. The evening's conversation with Nick had given her much joy and hope that tomorrow would be even better. The conversation mainly consisted of Nick asking Judy how she was feeling. She made no secret of the fact that she was having a good time, but also comforted the fox that she was thinking about him all the time. Also, in the countryside it is easier to fall asleep and stay asleep because here cars don't drive by every few seconds and there is no one to disturb the quiet of the night or there are no other houses around to disturb your sleep (The Hopps family's flat was set back from the other houses, they were the only ones living practically under the woods). It was an incredibly good and comfortable feeling for Judy, who got up before the alarm clock, which very rarely happened. When she woke up she glanced at her alarm clock, which was on her nightstand - it showed 5.50 p.m.

"I've still got 10 minutes" thought Judy as she planned her day in her head. She wanted to get up at 6.00 a.m. to help her family as much as possible for Christmas. She enjoyed the preparations for Christmas. It was a time when everyone helped everyone, the whole family worked together and everyone got along with everyone. Rabbit had already planned her whole day in her head. Most likely before she could help in the kitchen, she would have to go with her father to the nearby lodge to buy a Christmas tree. Judy always went with Steve, because she could always pick out that one and perfect Christmas tree that would make everyone who saw it thrilled. They will be dressing it most likely in the evening with their siblings. Once they have bought the tree, Judy will be able to help her mother in the kitchen. Since living in Zootopia and living with Nick she has learned many cooking techniques and tricks in them. She had to do it because ambition told her to do it (and she also wanted to score with Nick).

Soon the alarm clock started making its short but also annoying sound causing Judy to be knocked out of her thoughts. She quickly turned off the alarm clock, then jumped off the bed straightening up and looking out the window. It promised to be a nice sunny day.

"Ah, someday Nick and I will walk through this forest together..." thought Judy. After straightening up, she left the room walking quietly so as not to wake anyone. All the doors were locked, so it was a sign that she was the only one most likely to be awake. However, when she got down to the ground floor she noticed Bonnie, who had prepared breakfast for the kids, and Steve, who was reading the morning paper and drinking his morning coffee.

"Hi mum, hi dad " greeted Judy.

"Hi, shouldn't you still be asleep?" asked Bonnie.

"No, you know...in Zootopia it gets up around 5a.m, so that's late for me anyway"

"You can sleep longer..."

"I'm rested, why don't I help with making breakfast?" offered Judy.

"No need dear, I can manage. Make yourself something to eat in the meantime, you and Dad are going to get the Christmas tree today" replied Bonnie.

"This year you're driving" added Steve leaning his face out from behind the newspaper.

"Ah, you finally believe in me " laughed Judy.

"It's not that I didn't believe, you just weren't ready for it..."

"Just kidding hah. I'll have breakfast and we can go" Judy said heading towards the fridge. She opened it and looked for products she would eat.

"All in all scrambled eggs wouldn't be a bad idea " she thought taking a few eggs in her paws then backed out of it. She pulled out a plate then fired up the gas cooker on which she placed the frying pan. She poured some oil on it and a moment later cracked three eggs into the heated pan.

"Wow, since when do you know how to make scrambled eggs?" asked Bonnie ironically.

"When you're alone in town you have to learn something " replied Judy.

"You see, though, the move did you good. Your dad kept saying you couldn't cope "

"Not true!" replied Steve vehemently, but when Bonnie lowered an aggressive stare at him he began to change his opinion.

"I mean...I was just worried"

"You have nothing to worry about dad, I live very well in town, I'm not complaining" replied Judy. By this time her scrambled eggs were ready. She took the scrambled eggs out of the pan and put them gently on the plate.

"Hm...what else could I add..." thought Judy as she searched the kitchen for produce with her eyes. She stopped at the parsley, which focused all of Judy's attention. She picked one parsley of it and scattered it all over the size of her plate. She picked up a couple of loaves of fresh bread, then headed to the dining room to eat her breakfast. Although she had also made scrambled eggs for herself and Nick in Zootopia, she had the feeling that this dish tasted better here in the countryside. Maybe it was because the products were more natural and that's why it tasted better, or maybe it just worked out better for her. She couldn't exactly figure out why everything tasted better here, maybe it was because she was reminded of her childhood, where her mother used to fry scrambled eggs for her. She couldn't decide because it tasted so good that she ate the whole plate of scrambled eggs in no time. As she carried the empty plate into the kitchen, Steve and Bonnie were surprised at the speed at which Judy ate her breakfast.

"You'd have to be pretty hungry " said Bonnie to which Judy only replied with a laugh.

"Come on Dad, let's go"

"As he drinks his coffee " replied Steve taking a small sip of his coffee. Judy sighed heavily. She took the keys from the cupboard next to her and pulled her father by the hand leading him towards the exit.

"Judy..."

"The coffee will wait, let's get going!" said Judy putting on her leather boots and warm beige jacket. Steve, despite being most eager to get back to his coffee and newspaper, didn't want to extinguish Judy's optimism. He put on his black boots and a grey tailcoat with fur on the inside. They were both ready to go.

"Let's go, if you want to so much " said Steve.

"We'll be back and we can cook together, see you later" turned Judy to Mum. They said their goodbyes , then Judy and Steve left the house.

Judy was behind the wheel, just as Steve had promised for his daughter. At first she had trouble getting a grip on the slippery tarmac (she'd run a red light once), but on the whole she did pretty well considering she only drove when she was on duty. At other times Nick gave her a lift. The lodge they were heading for was five kilometres from their house, run by a friend of Steve's, old Lance, who had been running the business for a good few decades. He was an old and humble man who never had high prices, he always sold Christmas trees or other plants the cheapest in the area. As he said himself, he didn't care about money, just about making people happy. Judy remembered him from where they had bought a Christmas tree from him for several years for Christmas and it was always wonderful. When they arrived at the site, Judy parked the car at the entrance of the woodsman's wooden house, whose ceiling was covered with a thick layer of snow. Heavy precipitation and snow falling from the trees had pelted the man's house. Judy was the first to get out of the car, then she knocked on the forester's door. A moment later, an elderly man appeared in front of the door and smiled modestly at the sight of them.

"Oh, Judy, Steve! Welcome! I think I know why you're here!"

"Howdy! You have the best merchandise around" countered Steve shaking hands for Steve.

"Your daughter has grown even more beautiful!" countered Lance kissing Judy's hand, to which she giggled.

"Come on, as always I have several Christmas trees to choose from" said Lance closing the door behind him so the frost wouldn't get inside the house. She then headed towards the woods where he usually put Christmas trees for sale shielded by protective netting.

"Here, you can choose which one you want" Steve communicated pointing with his hand to the 8 Christmas trees that stood before them. Judy immediately approached them to look at them up close while Steve and Lance chatted to each other.

"So Judy works for the police ?" Lance asked.

"You have a good memory! It's been a year and you still remember..." replied Steve in awe.

"Well, yes I have a good memory. Does she like it there?"

"As you can see she's full of energy, so I guess so. She hasn't complained once about work yet so I guess she enjoys it," replied Steve to which Lance just nodded his head. As they talked, they both looked at Judy, who was taking turns looking at the Christmas trees to pick out the one.

"But I see she's still childish," Lance added.

"Maybe it's better for her...she'll find time to get serious. When she finds a boyfriend and starts a family..."

"Honestly, I don't think that will happen any time soon " replied Lance. Steve did the asking now, most likely he already wanted to ask Lance something, but then Judy's shout got their attention.

"Okay, Dad, this one we take!" cried Judy pointing to the Christmas tree 5 from the left.

"We take that Christmas tree, how much do we pay?" asked Steve.

"Sixty dollars," replied Lance. Steve pulled from his pocket a small leather wallet in which he kept his ID card and money. He took out the required amount and handed it to the old man. He didn't even count the amount, he just put the money in his pocket. Steve then helped Judy carry the Christmas tree to the pickup truck. The tree itself was quite heavy and the snow hanging on it gave it more weight. Once the tree was on the trailer, Steve attached the tree with ropes. Everything was now ready to go.

"Command Lance, Merry Christmas!" said Steve and Judy said goodbye to Lance.

"Merry Christmas!" replied Lance. Judy and Steve got into the car, this time Steve was driving.

Once they were home, Judy completely forgot to help for her father in dragging the Christmas tree into the house. Steve called out to her, but she ran home so fast to help for Bonnie that there was no way to stop her. Steve sighed heavily, then grabbing the tree by the trunk began to drag it home. When Judy entered the house she saw Bonnie in the kitchen with her eldest daughters (who were 16 and 18) preparing all sorts of dishes to go on the Christmas Eve table. The whole kitchen was busy, because on every counter there was a pot filled with some kind of mixture, on the board there was a cake prepared, on the cooker there were dishes cooking. There was no room for anything superfluous. Judy walked past the kitchen to take off her jacket and shoes. Then she jumped to her mother to ask what she could help with.

"Well...We already have enough people at the kitchen" replied Bonnie to which Judy sighed in displeasure.

"Please Mum, I can do whatever you ask " said Judy in a pleading tone. Bonnie glanced around the kitchen looking around for something Judy could make. She stopped at the pastry, someone had to make a poppy seed cake.

"You know, you can get your hands on a poppy seed cake." Bonnie replied, to which Judy nodded eagerly with a motion of her head. All the products were prepared at her station, now she just had to concentrate on following the recipe that lay on the counter and all would be well. To be honest, Judy hadn't made a poppyseed cake yet because there wasn't an opportunity, but she had already made an apple pie, for example, so she already had some experience in what she was doing and was looking forward to the moment when everyone could taste her cake.

Her work went on slowly and precisely. She didn't pay any attention to her sisters, who were scurrying around the kitchen looking for spices, flour, eggs, baking powder, crockery and cutlery. Judy calmly followed the recipe and carried out the instructions on it. On the neatly made dough Judy would pour some poppy seeds into the dough, then twist it and so on until the dough was all twisted. Then the finished one portion was poured into the tin in which the cakes were baked. Judy repeated this process until the tin was full. Then the rabbit would put the tray into the preheated oven where the cakes would bake for 2 hours in the preheated oven.

A few hours later

A few hours later, when Judy had managed to bake 3 trays of poppy seed cake and was exhausted by the monotony of her movements (she also felt the excitement of having managed to make a good cake the first time) she was sitting alone with her mother in the kitchen keeping her company, sitting on a chair talking to her while Bonnie washed the dirty dishes and there were a lot of them. Judy was already tired from the day's work and would love to take a warm shower right now, but she didn't want to leave her mother alone and wanted to start a conversation with her mother about a subject that had been swirling around in her head for some time.

"It's been a long day hasn't it?" asked Judy as she stopped washing the dishes for a moment sitting down next to Judy taking a sip of her warm tea that she had prepared for herself earlier.

"Yes...but there won't be so much work tomorrow...will there?"

"No, you know not anymore, tomorrow will practically be a day off, everything is already ready " replied Bonnie.

"Uf that's good...by the way, I would like to ask you one thing"

"Hm? What is it ?" asked Bonnie curiously.

"Well...I'd like to ask you about relationships...suppose a rabbit falls in love with, say...I don't know, like a fox, what would you think? Would you accept it?" asked Judy. Bonnie didn't hide her surprise when she heard that question. She didn't know how she should react, but Judy nodded with a movement of her head reassuring her that this was a serious question.

"Well...ugh...that's a rather original question, where did you come up with something like that?"

"And somehow, out of sheer curiosity...so how would you respond?"

"Ekh...you know, it's quite a rare and original sight. Pairs of different species are not common and are rather rare. It would be...terribly strange and unusual. How could a fox fall in love with a rabbit? Aside from that fact, if you fell in love with a fox...I would personally accept it if you felt happy, but it would be terribly awkward..."

"But you would?"

"Yes," Bonnie replied. Judy had to hide her joy, but most willingly she would have hugged her mother as tightly as possible thanking her for agreeing. She had to restrain herself, however, and all she did was nod affirmatively and thank her for the answer.

"You know, I'm going to go upstairs. I'm going to take a short bath and go to bed. Good night," Judy replied, then slowly made her way to her room to pull out her nightwear. When she had taken it out of the wardrobe she went into the bathroom to take a bath. When she locked the door behind her, she immediately jumped up with excitement. She couldn't wait to break the news to Nick. It gave her a kick of energy. She undressed in a flash, then stepped into the tub already prepared for a bath.

Warm water with foam that smelled of rose petals was just what she needed at the moment. The foam gently caressed her fur and stroked it, cleansing it of dirt. It was a moment of relaxation for Judy, who was very happy with the day that had worked out as well as it could for her. She could not have imagined a better arrangement of the day. She had lain in the tub for about 10 minutes when a knock came rushing into the bathroom.

"Judy, are you okay?" asked Bonnie.

"Yes, yes I'm coming!" replied Judy getting up from the bath.

"I've been thinking again" thought Judy wiping her body. She dressed her night clothes and then headed to her room. She jumped on the bed covering herself with velvet sheets and texted Nick.