Chapter Eighteen "Sleep"

You would never know what had happened on the bridge last night by looking at us that following morning.

Judy outdid herself in her professionalism, as usual. She was up by five and mostly prepared to get out the door thirty minutes later, even showering to get my smell off her.

Before you think of anything dirty, no. We did not have sex. Not yet.

After everything, we were both content to just pass out on the shared bed of Judy's room.

Judy slept on top of me, ears spread out over my chest and a calm smile on her face. My tail was wrapped around her, she had brought it close to snuggle with. I imagined I looked pretty pleased with myself. The rabbit of my eye had brought me into her den. As she dozed, I remembered stroking her ears. They were as soft and warm as I imagined.

I passed out somewhere around midnight and woke up to Judy's mad scramble to get moving.

"Not a word," she warned me as she peeked outside her bedroom door in the morning. "I don't want mom and dad knowing about this yet. That will cause a fight and we'll be late for work."

Work. That's right.

It was Tuesday and our long weekend was officially over. The trip was over.

We had made the plans from the start to ride into Zootopia early in the morning, taking the seven o'clock train so we'd arrive before nine. Just enough time to make it to the bullpen and get our assignments from Bogo. After spending so long in the sticks, it was strange to suddenly get back to work like nothing had happened.

I shrugged at Judy's request, still being drowsy and too content to argue. A hot shower would fix that right up.

While Judy packed, I went to the bathroom to take care of business. I just needed to get the smell of her off me, nothing too in depth. But the time alone did give me a moment to think on all that had happened last night.

We were a thing now.

Suddenly, everything was different. Every menial task was something new and foreign. I wasn't just showering before work. I was showing to go to work with my girlfriend. Or was she my girlfriend? We had never made it official last night with the words. There had been a lot of hugging, kissing, and snuggling. Maybe Judy was just using me as her personal love pillow. A fox cuddle machine as it were.

I smirked to myself. I'd be fine with that.

The nuances of the day before escaped me.

Most of the bad had been wiped out by kissing Judy. But there were cracks in the wall. I gazed down to my chest to find that the blue pie stain from three days ago had vanished.

Jeanette...I'd have to make things up to her somehow.

Then there was the Hopps Harvest...Oh, jeez. That's right.

Rocky and I had trashed the place. Judy was absolutely correct. Mentioning our newfound relationship to her family was a surefire way to cause more drama in an already tense situation. I was suddenly very glad we would be leaving in just an hour.

But the creeping dread of future thoughts was silenced when I saw Judy waiting outside the bathroom door, tapping her feet.

"Nick," she said with her brow furrowed. "Come on. I forgot to brush my teeth."

I chuckled. "We've been here before, Carrots."

She ignored me, trying to squeeze past to get into the bathroom.

Though we were pressed for time, I wanted to play with her some more.

I kept a strong arm across the door frame, catching Judy in my grasp. She quickly realized she was trapped with me looming over her wearing nothing but a towel. Her ears drooped and the look of delicious fear crept over her face.

I leaned in close to whisper huskily.

"You know...You could have just walked in. I wouldn't have minded."

"That would have been…"

"There's nothing you aren't going to see eventually, Judy," saying her name caused the cutest twitch on her nose. "We're together now, right?"

"We...we..."

I had come to learn in the last night that Judy tugged at her right ear whenever confronted with embarrassing feelings of lust and love. She kept brushing the end of her ear, trying not to make eye contact with me.

"Well, Officer Hopps? What am I to you?"

The question carried little weight to me, but to Judy it was an elephant on her back. I leaned in closer, watching her feet squirm.

"You...You're my—"

I cut her off with a kiss, quick enough to catch her off guard.

I pulled away just as she wanted more, grinning all the way. She was very much the prey in our relationship, while I gloated being the predator.

"Partner?" I asked with a smirk. "You're in trouble, Carrots, if a little morning foreplay is all it takes to get your tongue tied."

The sleight on her composure was all it took to snap her back from her dirty thoughts.

She huffed and broke from my arms, slamming the bathroom door behind her.

I chuckled. I was probably going to pay for that in some way later. But there was a purpose to the encounter.

I was testing to see where the line was.

As I've said, I've never been in a relationship with a rabbit, much less anyone who wasn't a fox. But I knew the rules of starting a new romance. You needed to find what the boundaries of someone were. Most of that would come with time, naturally talking with each other and finding likes and dislikes. But with Judy, it was different.

Besides being a bunny, Judy was also my best friend. That meant I knew her better than someone I had just met, including how she handled basic social interactions. But how she handled her love life was a complete mystery to the both of us, with Judy having never dated before. It was a puzzle for me to solve. Unexplored territory into the libido of Judy Hopps.

How did she handle kisses on the neck when she wasn't looking? What was her most ticklish spot? Did she mind getting bitten when we were hot and heavy? Most of the questions I doubt even Judy knew the answer to. That only made the temptation to explore them that much more enticing. Like a locked box that only I had the key to.

But that was fun for later. I had precisely thirty seconds before Officer Toot Toot finished brushing her teeth and scolded me for slowing us down.

I shook myself to dry off, not caring that I was probably leaving a mess everywhere.

I went for what was left of my clothes for the weekend. My blues were at work, so I settled on my final outfit. A nice clean set of slacks and a white shirt. The classic. I stuffed everything else in the bedroom into my bag and zipped it shut with some difficulty.

How is it that you always seemed to end up with more than what you originally came with?

By the time I had packed up and gotten changed, Judy still hadn't come out of the bathroom. I frowned and listened carefully. The water was still running but I couldn't hear what she was doing.

Well, if something was wrong, she'd probably call for my help. Getting paranoid this early on in the relationship was a sure sign of clinginess. Not an attractive look.

Instead, I got to work gathering up my bag and fixing my fur before heading out into the main Hopps home. I was almost going to miss the tiny hallways and paper-thin walls. The smell of pie all the time. Not too much though.

The sun was just coming up over the horizon by the time I entered the living room.

Most of the older Hopps were up and in the fields already while the younger kits were still fast asleep. Only one rabbit was awake and sitting in the kitchen. I shouldn't have been surprised to see who it was.

"Morning, Mr. Wilde," said Jenny as she sipped on her coffee.

"Hey, good morning."

There was a sly smile under her mug. "A good night?"

"Couldn't have gone better."

"Good. I'm happy for you two."

Jenny had caught a glance of us from her door before Judy dragged me into the bedroom last night. Even if she hadn't, I wouldn't have been surprised if Jenny managed to piece everything together on her own. Given how she had been the one who dolled Judy up before the faire yesterday, I had a hunch it had been her intent to subtly work us in the right direction.

But memories of the faire brought a certain raccoon to my mind and I frowned.

"You okay?"

Jenny paused in mid-drink. The smile had run away from her face.

"I'm an adult, Mr. Wilde. I can make my own decisions and handle my own problems. It was stupid of me to get emotional with Rocky, especially after his proposal to me."

When she looked at me, I recognized the sleeplessness in her eyes.

"...But to answer your question. No. I am not okay. But thank you for asking."

"No problem."

After what happened, I couldn't help but feel like I owed the bunny some sort of debt. But her expression told me to tread carefully.

"So, what are you going to do?" I asked.

"Probably let the little rodent stew in his own mess while he's doing time. The way I see it, I don't owe him a dang thing. It'll sting for a little while, but I'll get over it. Then I'll bounce back. Rocky's not the first one who's played with my heart and he won't be the first to suffer my wrath later for it. Most predators think they can take advantage of me because they think I'm some meek country bunny."

I snorted as I poured myself some coffee. "Oh, woe to them. I pity the fool who tries to pull that on you."

"Smart fox. I knew I liked you the moment we met. My sister is a lucky bunny."

Jenny frowned at some thought.

"I know the thing with Jeanette was Judy's own stupidity," she continued. "But if you ever do anything to ever harm her..."

Jenny was definitely the closest to her mother out of all the Hopp siblings. I recalled being threatened in the exact same way by Bonnie a few days ago.

I smiled warmly at Jenny and spoke the truth.

"You have nothing to worry about. I plan on doing everything I can to make Judy happy. In fact, I'd even like to make it up to Jeanette. If only to prove I'm not a bad fox."

"I know you're not a bad fox, Mr. Wilde. You've done the unthinkable, something I didn't think I'd ever see. Despite all the young bucks lining up to ask Judy out when we were growing up, she turned every one of them down. You got her to want something other than her career. Be proud of that. But not too proud. Don't want to inflate your ego."

"Sorry, I can't hear you up here in the clouds."

She chuckled. "And you are a good fox, Mr. Wilde."

"No," I responded. "But I'd like to think I'm getting better."

"It sure will be quiet around here with you two gone. Mom wanted to say her goodbyes, but she needs to manage the field so we can get back to finishing the fall harvest. Dad will be up soon to drive us to the train station."

"Us?"

"I still want space from mom," Jenny said with a shrug. "She'll be intolerable when she has the 'I told you so' expression on concerning Rocky. So, I'll be tagging along to see you guys off at the train then going back to manage the stand with dad. After that, who knows? Maybe I'll visit you both in a couple of weeks to see how you're doing. I just need a break from crazy parents."

Everyone was going back to work, it seemed.

The vacation was over, though I felt like I needed a vacation after the vacation. Some relaxation time, curled up on the couch with Judy in my arms. The next weekend couldn't come fast enough and there was still so much to do before then.

As I finished up my coffee, Mr. Hopps stumbled into the kitchen. He stopped in place when he saw me leaning against the counter.

"M-Mr. Wilde…"

"Stu. Morning."

In truth, I was in too good a mood to hold the words tossed at me yesterday against the bumbling bunny. Stu had been angry. And we did stupid things when we were angry. I would know. He had been partially in the right anyway, if it wasn't for my change of heart.

If it wasn't for Judy...

Besides all that, the best way to beat hatred was with kindness and honesty.

But there wasn't anymore hatred in Stu's eyes as he shuffled around me to the sink. More nervousness and fear, like he was expecting me to pounce at him when his back was turned.

As the awkward silence filled the kitchen, Jenny showed the impatience of her foul mood.

"Dad…"

"H-Hang on, Jen. I ain't ready just yet."

I raised an eyebrow. There must have been something I was missing.

Stu looked like he was preparing some sort of announcement. He took a big glass of water, chugged it, and then fixed his collar. His ears were held low as he turned around to face me.

"Mr. Wilde," he said, looking down at his feet. "It has come to my attention that I may have acted a little out of line yesterday."

"A little out of line?" Jenny questioned. "Dad, folks are gossiping how you're now considering ending your partnership with Gideon after the stuff you threw at Nick."

"Okay! Okay! I was a major jerk. I said quite a few things I didn't mean after you saved the golden carrot. It was all my fault it even happened anyway. It was me and my dang pride that kept that old thing on display. Like Bon said, it was only a matter of time before someone up and tried to steal it. And we'd have never known who did it or someone could have gotten hurt if it wasn't for you. So, I'm truly sorry for my behavior."

I waved him off. "It's alright, Stu. I'm never going to hold that against you. We can all act a little noots in the heat of the moment."

At the mention of his family's inside joke, Stu's face lightened up a little.

"Nevertheless, I'd like to make it up to you and show you some country hospitality for a change. Especially to make up for the lousy weekend."

I wore a blank expression.

My first thought was being forced to come back to Bunnyburrow for a hoedown or a hootenanny or whatever rabbits did for fun around the sticks. As glad as I was to finally work things out with Judy, I think I wanted to go home and stay there.

You know, just for another year or two. Or ten.

"As you know," Stu continued. "The carrot was broken into two pieces from the crash. We figured it would be a fine time to sell the dang thing for what it's worth. We don't know what that final price is going to be, but...We, uh, we wanted to give you the share of the smaller bit that broke off."

I could feel my eyes widen in surprise. "You can't be serious...That could be over a hundred thousand dollars."

"It's a lot, yes. But it would be a good way to seem sincere. We've never had a need for the carrot's value anyway. The rest of the money is just going go towards repairing the damages at the Harvest, and even then there will be plenty leftover. You're Judy's best friend. And part of the family, as far as I'm concerned. It's more than fair, in my eyes."

That was certainly one way to put it. Did Bonnie put Stu up to this? Once again, I couldn't comprehend the baffling nature of these rabbits. Especially with the guilt I was still feeling.

"Stu, I wouldn't even know what to do with that kind of money."

"I won't take no for an answer."

It wasn't that the temptation wasn't there to accept that kind of cash. But on me it felt so undeserving. No one knew that I had honestly been considering working with Rocky the whole time to steal the gold in the first place. If I took Stu's money, that would just make me feel horrible and it'd never see use. I'd probably just give it to someone else.

That's when I had a clever idea.

"Alright," I said, crossing my arms. "But hear me out. I have a special request."

Stu raised an eyebrow. "Let's hear it then."

"Gideon's sister, Jeanette, has the idea to move into the city and start her own bakery. Believe me when I say I know how hard it would be to finance that dream. I wanted to make up for our break up yesterday by giving her a loan to get her business started. But I want to do it without her knowing it was me. So, my request is for you to offer her the loan instead."

"That's...That's mighty kind of you, Mr. Wilde," Stu said somewhat surprised. "Are you sure?"

"She'll put it to better use than I could," I said, winking to Jenny.

"Very well. I'll pass it along to her through Bonnie. She's sweet on Jean."

"I'm glad."

That would at least make up for some of the trouble we had caused Jeanette this weekend. I'm sure Judy would be happy about the idea too.

At that moment, Judy walked into the room with her bag in paw.

"Ready to go," she said, though she had the expression that suggested she was hiding something.

"Everything good, Fluff?"

"Y-Yeah," she replied. I noticed Jenny had cast a knowing look at her little sister. "Let's...Let's just get going. We don't want to be late and miss the train. Bogo will kill us."

"Just pack up the truck and we can head out," said Stu.

Everything was stowed away in fifteen minutes.

By the time we left the house, it was around six and the sun had just broke through the horizon, giving the burrows a golden glow. On the porch, a few of the kits had woken up to wave goodbye to Judy and I.

Even Pop-Pop managed to crawl from his bedsheets and gave me some parting words about potential marriage to Judy. I had to explain to him that I was way too young to be thinking about that yet. Give it a year or two and you might have a fox grandson-in-law, if things went well.

Judy and Jenny shared seats in the back of the Hopps truck while I rode passenger with Stu.

There wasn't much left to say besides our farewells, especially after Stu had made his apology to me.

I asked him to give Bonnie my best, which he guaranteed me he would. I had a promise regarding my mom to keep to Mrs. Hopps as soon as my work day was over. One that I fully intended to keep as the start of a penance.

When we reached the station, we had a half an hour to kill before the train arrived.

The goodbyes were slow and sweet, with Judy hugging both Stu and Jenny. Plenty of 'I love you's' and promises to call in the future. Jenny even gave me a hug and Stu was brave enough to grant me a firm pawshake.

"Come back real soon now, you hear?"

"Count on it," I lied.

We could finally break away when the train pulled up.

Ten minutes ahead of schedule, typical for rabbit public transportation. I could breath a sigh of relief as we stepped off the platform, waving goodbye one last time.

Good bye, Bunnyburrow. Were I to never see you again, it would be too soon.

Judy shared in my sentiment as the train pulled away.

"Thank goodness," she muttered as she collapsed into her seat.

"Oh, come on, Carrots. It wasn't that bad of a trip."

I couldn't say that with a straight face, especially with the glare Judy was giving me.

"It's going to be another six months before I even consider going back home."

"Good," I leaned low to whisper into her ear. "That means we get more time to ourselves then."

"N-Nick, come on. Not here."

"If not here then where? We have a two hour train ride ahead of us, followed by eight to ten hours of work. We should probably use that time to discuss us, right?"

Around us were a bunch of rabbits from the burrows, chatting and blissfully unaware of the heated words I was sharing with Judy.

I leaned back into my seat, sharing the same look of concern Judy was wearing as the gravity of our new relationship finally hit us.

When were we going to discuss to these new feelings for each other if not on the train?

We had a full day of work after the ride. I needed to know where we stood before then and what our plan was going forward.

"We can't keep it hidden forever," I warned Judy. "Everyone's going to eventually figure it out. Jenny already knows what's up."

"Oh, crackers," Judy whispered as she hugged her legs to her chest. "Our co-workers…"

"I bet Clawhauser is the first one to put it all together. Once he figures it out, it's all over. Everyone in the precinct will know."

"I know…"

"I imagine that the TV news is going to love it. 'Officer Hopps and her exclusive fox partner seem to be the latest celebrity item. More at eleven.' Views are going to skyrocket. They've already been pitching that idea around for months."

"T-They have?"

"You don't watch the news much, do you, Carrots?"

"Well, according to one fox, I live in a hole in the wall."

"Fair enough. My point is that it's only a matter of time, Fluff. Nosey mammals have already been talking about us. This is going to come out eventually. So, why not sooner rather than later?"

"Because it scares me Nick. You know what Bogo is like when it comes to fraternizing in the workplace. He'd split us up. Then there's my parents...Crackers, this is going to send my mom into conniptions."

"Call it a hunch, but I don't think Bonnie would mind as much as you think she would."

"Regardless! I'm just worried, Nick. I'm scared what everyone's going to think of all this. I know you're right. But this is still new to me. I've never done this before. You know I haven't. I'm still scared I'm going to mess this all up. And I don't…"

Judy paused and looked down at her feet.

"...I never want to hurt you again."

I frowned as Judy slumped further into her chair.

Alright, Nick. Your new love interest is worrying about your future together. What can you say to make her feel better?

"Carrots," I began. "To be honest, all this scares me too. And I'm not going to sit here and pretend there aren't going to be some obstacles to overcome. But…You make me want to be a better mammal. And I want to believe in this. In us. I will do everything I can to make this work. There's only one mammal in the entire world who could make Nick Wilde go straight after he spent twenty years hustling for a living. Judy Hopps, you are one amazing mammal. And I love you for it. With all my heart. What happens next, we face together. Right?"

I've always had a way around big speeches, little moments to inspire mammals. Usually, they were for hustling folks. But I meant every word I said when it came to Judy. And, by the look in her eye, she knew that too.

"...Right," she said, smiling and hugging my arm. "Partners?"

"Partners."

"Thanks, Nick. I needed to hear that."

"You know you love me."

"Do I?" Judy yawned and rested her head against my shoulder. "Yes. I do."

Five minutes into the ride home and Judy was sleeping against me.

You'd never know how much of a handful she was from watching her dozing. Or how amazing a mammal I knew she could be.

It took someone special to inspire you to reach for greater heights. To snap you out of a funk you never even knew existed.

Looking back, it felt like all my days hustling were just a holding pattern until Judy stumbled into my life. Like I was the walking dead and she breathed new life into me. If I had known her even a few years earlier...

But regret was a wasteful thing, or so my mom would say. And we had a future to build together and work to do. Even though I could watch her sleep all day...

I glanced out the window into the passing golden trees on the landscape. Soon that'd disappear into the suburbs before we reached the outer districts of Zootopia. Then we'd face the fun of a full day of ZPD work. Complete with Bogo screaming, Clawhauser gossiping, and terrible cafeteria food. Back to the grind, as they said. Following the worst vacation of my entire life.

Given the choice though? I'd do it again. Every time. For her.

Ten minutes into the ride home and I rested my own head on top of Judy's.

I closed my eyes and finally, finally drifted into a peaceful sleep.

A/N

Hey, we finally got there! My first major fanfic done and dusted!

I'm not going to pretend it's been a flawless story, but I enjoyed writing it a lot and it taught me so much for the next tale. And trust me, there will a next story.

To those of you who have stuck around until the end, thank you very much. I've read each of the comments. The words of support have been awesome. I've made some amazing friends (you know who you are) in the process. And the feedback has been constructive and helpful. You all have my deepest gratitude for joining me on this strange trip.

So, where do we go from here?

I'd like to take the time to announce what the next story I'm cooking up is:

This time, we're going with an AU story that's sort of a role reversal between Nick and Judy. The plot is, after getting assigned to Bunnyburrow, Nick is trying to find his way back to his family with a job in precinct one, back in Zootopia. The problem comes in the form of Judy, who is the town troublemaker and a punk to boot. It's a tale of the two butting heads and coming to terms with each other, both growing in the process. That's all I can say without there being major spoilers. There's a lot of music and some pretty sad moments so far. And it will be much longer than Noots was (I'm writing chapter 23 as of posting Noots' final chapter).

If that kind of story interests you, stick around. The plan is to be finished writing it in about a month. Going to take my time with this one though and learn from my mistakes with Noots, with editors and beta-readers.

Keep your eyes posted for the Punk of Podunk. And thanks again.