Disclaimer: I don't own anyone from the Zootropolis, the rights and the characters belong to Disney and not me...except for the new Box/Funnie baby.
A Wild birth
The room was quiet and the atmosphere was peaceful.
Neither Nick nor Judy couldn't recall feeling this happy since their wedding day. They felt this huge surge of love as their hearts lurched whilst they both looked down at the little newborn bunny-fox kit —the kit that had been named Jake. Little Jake didn't seem to mind his new name as one of his long, thin, rather pointed ears twitched and he gave a small yawn. His short muzzle stretched whilst his teeny mouth opened wide, a chirping, yapping squeak of a sound bursting from his small vocal chords.
It was so loud that it made the two new parents jump out of their respective furs.
Nick proceeded to rub his little son's head with his thumb and he couldn't hold back an even bigger smile as he felt the kit's fur tickle the small, plump, round pad. He had to hold back a laugh to prevent the chance that he could scare his son. Stroking the boy's head with his thumb seemed to get Jake to relax as he started to sink and then stiffen with relaxation, it didn't take long until he was sleeping soundly in the paw pads of his father.
Jake was adorable.
Neither Nick nor Judy had imagined any kit they would have would be so cute. There were so many questions flying around the two new parents minds about what the future held for their son but they quickly decided that would be best to focus on the present, even though they knew that it would be interesting to find the answers to every one of those questions as their son grew.
Judy looked at her teeny kit with adoration, her heart swelling in her chest, whilst Nick exhaled softly through his nose and his bushy tail wagged as tears of joy begun to swell in his eyeballs and the most tender of smiles spread across his muzzle.
The fox tilted his paws gently upright so he could face the little frail life that was being cradled in the pads of his front paws, and he then pressed his upturned snout slowly yet softly against his new son's forehead and planted a tender kiss on the centre of it, he made sure to kiss him as gently as possible since the newborn looked so fragile that he'd break with a single poke of a claw.
Nick thought about his previous life as a rogue fox on the streets of Zootropolis and if this was a dream he never wanted to awaken from it.
His heart melted into a puddle by this point because his little boy was just the sweetest thing he ever saw and hearing his son laugh made his heart melt again. It motivated him to give his tiny tummy a featherlight tickle, but he was careful about the claw on the end of his fingertip and was even more careful that it didn't catch on the feeble kit as he delicately brushed the tip of his finger against his pudgy stomach, making the tiny one burst into a fit of delightful mix of squeaks, chirps and yips which —if Judy and Nick didn't know any better— could have been interpreted as giggles.
Nick instantly stopped interacting his little son with the delightful form of torture and turned to face his exhausted wife. Tears continued to threaten to escape his watery eyeballs and he had to bite his lower lip to keep himself from blubbering like a pup.
Judy wasn't fooled and couldn't resist the urge to make a teasing remark at her husband. "Oh you foxes...so emotional,"
Nick shuffled the swaddled kit and made sure he was comfortably nestled in the crook of his left arm whilst he used his other arm to rub the lingering tears out from his eyes. He tried to rein in some of his emotions and keep his composure as cool as ice, even though he was on the precipice of breaking down and becoming an emotional wreck...again.
"Well don't get too used to it, honeybun. Not even us fantastic foxes can be awesome at emotions all the time."
Judy rolled her eyes and shook her head, deciding to drop the subject and relish in the moment of joy that her new bundle of joy had arrived.
The motherly bunny rabbit police officer had never felt so happy, and she even started fantasising a little bit as she thought about her family meeting her little Jake; she couldn't wait until her parents could meet her baby, although they would probably be a tiny bit uncertain at first, (their reluctance towards predators was a bit hard to thump but they were making big strides) but quickly warm up to him and she could already imagine her bouncy younger siblings and her sensible older siblings reactions as they would probably begin fawning over him.
The thought sent a bolt of excitement through her already-cheerful heart.
Judy felt her eyelids start drooping as exhaustion started to wash over her like an ocean wave and she started to rest her head back against the bed, her breathing started deepening as relaxation took over and the tiredness she had felt after giving birth had finally caught up with her.
Nick noticed this and his eyes lit up with worry and concern for his wife and quickly took action. He sat himself down on the edge of the bed, positioning himself behind Judy so she could rest her head against his abdomen instead of the waiting pillow propped up against the headboard. He was so alarmed that his bushy tail immediately stiffened and an arrow of a gasp shot straight out from his lungs.
"Judy?" He asked, minding the volume of his voice around the sleeping bundle resting in his arm, "Are you okay?"
Judy just nodded, her eyes drifting close as she tried to fight off her sudden bout of fatigue and exhaustion. She heaved a deep breath that accumulated within her chest and let herself ease into the soft fur of her lover and she let her ears twitch as she took in the sounds around her...her eyes snapped open when she heard a different and rather unpleasant rumble of a noise.
She raised her head back up and raised an eyebrow at her lover.
"Was that your stomach growling, Mr. Wilde?"
Nick let out a humourless chuckle in response and he raised his free arm to scratch the back of his head sheepishly. It was true, he hadn't eaten anything since the previous night. He had been so wrapped up in his worry and uncertainties about Judy and the birth of his baby that he found that his appetite had flown and abandoned him until now. He was sure if his body wasn't covered in fur then he would have been blushing a deep crimson colour right now.
"Uuuuuh...no?" He lied.
Judy glared. She knew her husband was lying through his fangs right now, and she promised to kick him in the head just for that when she wasn't tired and he wasn't holding their precious little Jake. She was about to open her mouth and demand that he go and eat something...however then a question popped in her head and her anger melted away, there was something she had been meaning to ask now that she thought about it.
"Nick...?"
"Mmhm?"
"Why did you choose "Johnathan" as a middle name for our kit?"
"...!"
Nick cringed, his tail stiffening once more, uncomfortable to answer that question. He could feel his ears flicking backwards as his eyes dropped down towards the floor with a mix of shame and shock whilst he subconsciously tensed, also raising the kit he cradled in his arm. He knew that the question would pop up eventually but not this soon, and he didn't want to have this conversation in front of his very young son...but he knew it was only fair since Judy had just been through pain and turmoil and she earned the right to hear his answer —especially after she was brave enough to explain about her "Uncle Jake", the good bunny she named their son after...
It took a few moments of struggling to find his voice until he finally replied.
"...You gave our son the first name "Jake" to honour your late uncle, right?"
Judy nodded, her face a full on frown of confusion as her mind absorbed the tense atmosphere like a sponge.
"J-Johnathan was the name of my dad."
That confession made alarm bells ring throughout her entire system and shock overwhelmed her as fast as a Red kite swooping down to catch innocent and defenceless prey.
The bunny officer's ears would have stood straight up if it weren't for her lack of energy but her eyes certainly conveyed her surprise of what she'd just been told. This was the first she'd heard anything of Nick's father, she had certainly heard (and even met) Nick's mother on a few occasions but Nick hardly spoke of his dad. She'd assumed that she would hear about him one day but she never expected it would be the day their only son was born.
Nick could register his wife's shock but simply forced himself to continue before she could speak and break the momentum he'd forced himself to gather to tell this tale.
"My father was a fox who had a dream to work as a tailor where he could accommodate all kinds of mammals, whether it be the smallest mouse or the largest elephant, and felt that all animals would be treated as equals...plus he needed to work to get my mother and I money so we could live." Nick managed to crack a hint of a smirk before continuing, "So he went to lots of banks in hopes to get a loan so his dream could hopefully be fulfilled but he was turned down because the bankers didn't think an untrustworthy fox should be trusted with running a legitimate business."
Judy's eyes narrowed in silent anger. So the bankers didn't think a dream could become a reality based on who the dream was coming from? Thought it would be wasted all because he was a fox with that rubbish reputation slapped on to him...? She privately wanted to smack such narrow-minded mammals who thought like that.
Nick couldn't look his wife in the eyes anymore as he mainly focused on little Jake, his own eyes wistful and his own voice starting to tremble.
"Time after time my dad was turned down, his dream was rejected so many times that he'd cringe whenever he would hear any thump that sounded anything remotely like the thump of a stamp of rejection being forced on a piece of paper. Slowly his dreams and hopes started to vanish, the lively fox I knew wasn't there anymore and he was even made a laughing stock by other foxes in the community...until he..." He shut his eyes, forcing himself to finish the story in spite of the lump that formed in his throat.
"...Until he died a broken fox, leaving my mother and I to fend for ourselves."
Judy's heart crumbled when she heard those words leave the lips of her jovial, wise-cracking husband. She had no idea that had happened to him and she felt terrible that nothing could be done to rectify it, plus it started to make sense why Nick's life took the downward plunge it did...plus with the whole "Junior ranger scouts incident", it must have all accumulated into a ball of negativity for him.
"I'm so sorry...I didn't know..."
Nick simply hung his head low.
Silence ruled over the Fox and rabbit pair for a moment until the latter shook her head once again when she realized she needed to change the subject and so, fighting back tears of sympathy, the bunny rested a comforting paw on Nick's arm she smiled up at him and softened her voice.
"...But, in that case, I think "Johnathan" is a perfect middle name..."
The fox blew out a shaky breath and tried to calm his nerves for the umpteenth time today. He had not meant to lose control of his emotions like that, but it felt good to unleash that pain that had been clogging his throat and shattering his heart from the inside out. He froze, though, when he felt something turn in his paws and then grab his thumb.
He looked down when curiosity got the better of him and what he saw made his heart melt into a puddle of gooey mush.
Jake had turned on his side in his sleep, despite being wrapped in the cloth swaddling him, and had managed to seize him by the arm, wrapping both tiny arms around it as best he could; warmth flowed throughout Nick's body as he smiled down at his hour-old-son since he had never witnessed anything so sweet and a huge smile spread across his muzzle. The fox raised his arm so he could leaned down and lovingly nuzzle his son's tiny face. He even let his paternal instincts take over for a moment and started giving him small licks of affection, the kit purred softly in his slumber when he felt his dad lick the top of his head as gingerly as possible.
"Thanks, little guy~" Nick cooed.
Judy just watched on with a smile.
However the moment was ruined when Nick's radio buzzed all of a sudden.
The device had been tucked into a pocket attached to the shirt of his police outfit, right beside his police badge, and it basically vibrated due to the volume of the garbled voice erupting from it.
Both the fox and bunny reacted in shock.
Judy's eyes shot wide open and her ears simultaneously followed their example as they, too, shot right up in alarm whilst Nick was so shocked that he almost tumbled off the bed but managed to jolt up instead in a frenzied manner as his tongue zipped back into his mouth and he felt his ears shoot up instantly when he heard the rumble of his police radio. He instantly grabbed the radio out from its pocket and pressed his finger against the button to actually hear the intelligible nonsense bursting from the radio.
"Wilde! We need you to come to the station as soon as you are done with being kissy your wife."
Nick felt both annoyed and really perplexed at the same time. His mind was racing with thoughts. How did Bogo know he was kissing Judy? Why did he need to come to the station? Why did he have to pick the worst time to interrupt his time with his family? He fought the urge to rub his temple to fight off an oncoming headache in annoyance as he lowered his voice slightly yet called into device, also sighing into it in exasperation.
"Oh sweet cheese and crackers, chief! This is the worst time possible!"
"I know but you're the only officer around since for some reason Fangmeyer, Delgato, Grizzoli, Pennington and even Clawhauser had decided to galavant off somewhere without permission." Came chief Bogo's acidic reply and Nick could easily hear the frustration and infuriation practically seeping from his tone. The fox could easily visualise the African buffalo rubbing his temples in agitation right then and there, he also felt his stomach drop. He wanted to get Clawhauser and the other officers visiting to go but he didn't want to betray them since Bogo sounded miffed already.
"What about Wolford, McHorn, Snarlof or Higgins?"
"Wolford and McHorn are too busy with an undercover investigation taking place at Sahara square and Snarlof and Higgins are doing some reconnaissance work at the Rainforest district."
Nick growled irritably.
His son had been born, he couldn't leave him nor Judy!
"Umm, sir?...I could-" Judy started to interrupt while moving to get out of bed with little Jake still fast asleep in her arms but was quickly stopped by both Nick wrapping his bushy tail around her and Bogo snapping at her as if knowing her exact thought process.
"Hopps, you get back in that bed!"
The now-intimidated rabbit grumbled as she just settled back into the hospital bed.
Bogo sensed the fox police officer's stress and his reply came off as trying to sound reasonable but sounding almost (if not more) as stressed as he was. "Wilde! The others have left their posts without telling me and we need somebody to man the main streets of Zootropolis."
"Well actually the others are here at the hospital...!" Nick explained, trying to keep the agitation out of his voice and face but that was when he was met with an awful silence that quickly made him realise what he just said. He'd just sold out Clawhauser and the others! On the other end, Nick could feel his stomach twist with horror as the tension rose on Chief Bogo's side.
Almost like a minute and a half of an uncomfortable silence had passed the entire hospital room by; it was as if Bogo was processing what he had just been told. It felt like an eternity had passed until Bogo spoke again but he spoke with a dark, dark tone in his voice.
"...I shall be there soon."
And with that, the walkie talkie shut off and everyone in the entire room (even the nurses) were silenced and left struck by a sense of impending doom.
Nick tried to get rid of the tension left in Chief Bogo's wake as he leaned down and proceeded to lean down and lovingly nuzzle Judy's face with his muzzle, causing her to giggle from the affection, then he delicately kissed her just above her brow. He couldn't remember feeling so much joy since he was a kit and his mother had managed to get him a junior scouts uniform for him before they strapped that accursed muzzle on him and kicked him out.
"You feeling alright, Carrots?" He asked softly.
Judy managed a small nod of her head and hummed in confirmation.
The bunny wrapped one arm around his neck in a hug, burying her face into his fiery red fur and just feeling her heart swell ten sizes. She also had worries about how their kit would turn out but at the same time she was determined to pour just as much love and effort into raising this kit with her husband. She felt her eyelids grow heavy with exhaustion and she let out a soft, contented sigh.
The fox and bunny police officer duo snuggled each other.
Nick was completely overwhelmed with joy and happiness because of the occasion where their son was born. However, he wasn't going to deny that in the midst of his happiness that he was deeply concerned that any child that he and Judy would ever have would have turned out to be a mutant or something but he also couldn't deny now that their kit was extremely adorable.
Eventually, Judy unhooked herself from his neck and she started to lay back down into the bed with her lover's assistance. Nick started to a bit at the blankets so they could be pulled over her frail and rather weakened body and made sure to tuck her in gently so she could relax and hopefully start to get some rest in order to recuperate after all she had been through.
After the bunny had been properly tucked into the hospital bed, she didn't hesitate in accommodating the little bunny/fox hybrid in her arms once more.
Unbeknownst to them, though, all of their ZPD comrades had snuck in and they couldn't help but smile adoringly at the scene unfolding before them...Clawhauser was especially finding this so sweet that it could make all manners of teeth (or fangs) fall out as he raised his own paws up, rolled his claws up into fists, pressed them up against squished each of his chubby cheeks to squish them and he squealed at the diabetes-inducing view of Judy and Nick enjoying their new little bundle of fur.
"Awwwwwwwwwwww..." The cheetah crooned.
However, the adorable moment couldn't last.
"WHERE ARE YOU MISERABLE LOT!?"
Nick, Judy, little Jake, Clawhauser and everybody else in the room quickly snapped their heads up when they heard that voice break the silence —the atmosphere took a dive from nice and peaceful to tense and to the point where the rage was really palpable. Eyes were wide and mouths were agape as their hearts took a deep plunge straight down into their stomachs and the group each could feel an electric charge of shock and fear course through their bodies when they each heard that loud voice which everyone working at the ZPD recognised.
The voice boomed and then reverberated throughout the entire hospital; it was as though a furious sonic boom of a voice had decided to come and threaten to bring the entire building down and make it crumble into rubble. Everyone could feel their blood become as cold as a pool of water in the arctic and their hearts started to beat faster and faster as one question forced itself into the forefront of their minds:
How long would it take for Chief Bogo to arrive and scream everyone's ears off until they went deaf?
They didn't have to wonder for long because it wasn't even fifteen seconds until the sound of ear-bleedingly loud hoof steps that may have well have passed for thunderclaps, intermingling with the sound of frustrated grumbles and mutters. Chief Bogo said nothing as he forcefully swung the door open, his face a mask of silent fury as his he scowled so hard that it was a wonder his ace wasn't aching. He ground his teeth and snorted aggressively through his nostrils as he snarled as he stormed into the hospital ward and he proceeded to stomp his way up to the small cluster of police animals who had become tardy.
He bared his teeth menacingly as he let out a deep-throated growl, the tip of his nose wrinkling up in hostile distain.
He wasn't going to let any of his troops leave their posts to goof off and not tell him about it.
The African buffalo hardly even acknowledged the bunny and fox two feet away from him as he charged like an angry bull at the group of missing-from-action-officers and stomped his hooves down on the marble floor of the hospital. It was plainly obvious that whoever was on the receiving end of the buffalo's frustration had signed a death warrant.
The building tension coming from him alone made every animal in the room cringe.
Everybody knew how scary Chief Bogo could be when he was angry and nobody, not even the wisecracking Nick Wilde, would have dared to cross the line of his mood threshold...not unless they wished to keep every limb on their body completely intact or have a death sentence anyway.
One of the biggest things that would get Bogo to show some of his infamous iron hoofed-displays of intimidation would have to be politics interfering in police matters, messes, disobedience, insubordination, officers wasting time, someone slacking off, somebody looking at him the wrong way, someone showing an attitude with him and (worst of all) if somebody deciding to blab about him being a massive fan of Gazelle.
Everyone knew far too well not to enrage the Male Cape buffalo.
He was the chief of police for a reason.
The fuming bovine's ears flicked and tail swished with agitation as he stopped in front of the officers and then proceeded to reach forwards and seize Clawhauser by the ear. The cheetah yelped painfully as Bogo grabbed his ear and he swallowed anxiously, he knew that he was going to be punished for leaving without asking and he sort of resigned to the fact because he knew that he should definitely ask next time...but how could he not come and witness both history of the birth of the first predator and prey mammal and to see the kit of two of his cohorts?
The chubby, donut-loving cheetah had a feeling that a long, long lecture and two months of organising boring forms and having a donut ban was in his near future.
"Ahh! Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow!" The chubby, donut-loving cheetah cried out as he started to be dragged out of the room with the other visiting police officers from the ZPD following close behind with their heads hung collectively low as they seemed to fear for their faces being melted off with the inevitable screaming lecture session from Bogo they were going to endure whence they got back to the station. A few eyes observed the scene as the group filed away and started to leave.
Bogo growled out through clenched teeth to the police officers, "You lot are in DEEP trouble."
Then the angered chief of police stopped halfway on his way out the door and turned to face both Judy and Nick, somehow managing to soften his facial features towards the two of them, as he spoke to them in a surprisingly much kinder tone then the one he was using a second ago —although his voice remained serious, it was a lot softer.
"You two...I expect to see you both back on the force very soon, alright?"
Both fox and bunny nodded and saluted to the police chief, it went without saying that they were going to go back to work after everything had settled down and they would have to get to that road when they crossed it. Regardless neither of the two could help but wonder how that would go for them, how would other animals see them now they had their young son? They both glanced at each other and then back down to a still-sleeping Jake. It was a miracle he hadn't awoken yet!
Bogo reassumed his raging attitude and started to continue to literally drag Clawhauser and the other officer mammals out through the doors and back to the station. Somehow Clawhauser managed a toothy smile to the bunny and fox couple and gave them a pained thumbs up.
"C-Congrats, you guys!" He called out through the pain of his ear being tugged at.
Judy and Nick could hardly keep a few guilty looks from etching themselves upon their faces. They knew that the lot of them were in for the punishment for a lifetime for abandoning their posts and Bogo was more then likely going to give them a whole 24-hour lecture on asking for his permission before leaving their duties, they knew that it shouldn't have been able to take 24-hours to give a lecture about this but Bogo finds a way to stretch it out and make it torture.
The room was uncomfortably silent for what felt like hours until Judy finally opened her mouth to speak again, still cradling Jake in her arms.
"Sooooo...when are you planning on going back to work?" She asked.
Nick just smirked down at his wife.
"I am not chasing any crime unless you're by my side, Judy, you're my partner and I'm gonna wait until you're fit enough to fight alongside me like we always have..."
Judy felt seriously touched as Nick then proceeded to give her an affectionate kiss on her head.
"You're so sweet...what did I do to deserve a husband like you?" She asked, giggling softly yet weakly.
Nick smirked at her and replied "I think the best answer to that is "you existed", Fluff..."
Judy looked back down at Jake and started to trace the edge of her thumb along the kit's teeny fluffy face and cooed with oodles of affection. The bunny turned to face the open window beside her bed that had a fantastically magnificent overview of Zootropolis; the town was cast the ember glow of sunlight and mammals of all sorts, breeds, shapes and sizes were walking about the streets of the city below. But her droopy, long ears twitched when she picked up some faint, muffled sounds coming from the outside world.
It never looked so beautiful as it did right now...
Jake opened his mouth and yawned as he seemed to relax and snuggle deeply in his mother's loving embrace as his tiny purple nose started wiggling and his little, short bushy tail started waggling in contentment beneath a single fold of the blanket he had been swaddled up in.
Nick smiled warmly down at his newborn son and said with a voice filled with just as much warmth "Its been a big day hasn't it, little fluff? Well, don't worry. You can sleep all you want."
Instead, though, little Jake simply squeaked as his nose wiggled and twitched with curiosity. He seemed to be taking in the world around him as he finally managed to opened his eyes a fraction and what his parents saw made the both of them gasp in shock and surprise. Even though Jake's eyes were opened the tiniest bit, both Nick and Judy could see pools of bluish-purple in them —Judy's eyes.
After making this discovery, Judy brought her babe closer and pressed a light kiss to the tiny bunny/fox hybrid's tiny purple/black nose and she felt even more love for the kit. Her heart swelled in her chest and this pleasant warmth spread all over inside of her. She secretly hoped that any child she had with Nick would have inherited her eyes, those same eyes that made her different from her scores of siblings and relatives; just when she thought she couldn't love her precious boy more...
Little Jake closed his eyes and purred in contentment as he burrowed his head up against the crook of his mother's neck.
The bunny giggled as she brought her paw up towards his teeny head and started to rub the small tuft of spiked fur atop it, her eyes overflowing with love and adoration as her ears drooped even more. Her son was perfect and she found that she could hold her little one forever and ever; she never wanted this moment to end as she started murmuring lovingly to her infant son, rocking him back and forth in her arms.
"This, my sweet little Jake, is Zootropolis...where anyone can be anything."
A/N: Here's the last chapter, everybody! Hope you enjoyed reading this short story as much as I enjoyed writing it.
I added as much fluffiness as possible and I changed the name of both this story and the middle name of Jake because I did some more research and found that Nick's dad was going to be named "Johnathan", although it's not official. I also went by the story of Nick's dad by going by the deleted scenes of the movie. I'm hoping that there will be a sequel to Zootropolis and hope to see Nick and Judy as a couple.
But anyway, I hope you guys review and favourite this.
If there's anyway I can improve on, please let me know.
-Chloemcg
