Every pair of eyes in the room remained on Nick, who stood completely still in the middle of the room, soaked to the bone with sticky red punch. A few animals coughed uncomfortably.
"Okay everyone, go back to your drinks," the Chief announced loudly.
In the most awkward way possible, the crowd slowly began to converse and continue on with the party without the birthday fox and the party hostess bunny. Nick stood there, regretting his actions as he became angry with himself for being so stupid and so mean to Judy. What was he thinking? What had he done? Without a word, Nick walked out of the ZPD. Worry filled his heart as he looked for their car in the darkness.
"Damn it, Nick, she's all you've got and you just messed it all up," he muttered to himself as he scoured the dark with his night vision, trying to remember where he had parked.
A few minutes later, he found Judy sitting in their SUV that was parked toward the end of the lot. He hesitantly knocked on the window of the passenger door. Judy looked up at him; she had been crying, which made Nick's heart fall at the sight of her. Amazingly, she unlocked the car for him without a word or a mean look. He got into the passenger seat and sat there quietly. Judy sniffled and then let out a small giggle, making Nick look over at her in complete surprise.
"Leave it to the dumb fox to mistake a surprise birthday party for me cheating," she muttered.
"Leave it to the sly bunny to plan a surprise birthday party so well that I have no other choice but to assume you were cheating," Nick chuckled.
Judy looked up at him with a small smile, which Nick returned.
"I take it you aren't mad at me anymore?" he asked nervously.
"No, I think I got all my anger out in there," Judy replied as she gestured a paw at the ZPD, which was alight with the party. "And besides, it wasn't all your fault. I messed up too."
Nick couldn't help but sigh with relief, which Judy scoffed at.
"Nick, do you ever think about how our life is kind of like one big movie?"
"Like with villains and good guys and guns and drama and love and junk like that?"
"Exactly like that."
"Then yeah, I do."
Nick looked down at Judy fondly. This amazing, hilarious, intelligent, ambitious, gorgeous little bunny was not only in his life, but an animal that he could call "his," and that was the greatest feeling in the world.
"Thanks for the party, Carrots," he said as he leaned in to kiss her, but then drew back suddenly, a new thought coming to mind. "Hey, how did you know when my birthday was, anyway? I don't think I've ever told you…"
Judy glanced away sheepishly.
"Well, you see, about a month ago it occurred to me that I've known you for over a year and we've never really celebrated your birthday, so I just–well, I just looked it up in your police file."
Nick chuckled as he continued to lean in for a kiss.
"Well, that was pretty clever of you – hang on!"
He drew back again.
"You didn't happen to read anything else in there, did you?"
"Oh, not much... Nicholas Piberius Wilde," Judy grinned mischievously.
Nick couldn't help but laugh.
"Sly Bunny."
"Dumb Fox."
Nick kissed her gently, his lips lingering on hers. The kiss lasted for a few blissful seconds, before Judy pulled away.
"Hey, I have something for you."
She then handed him a cheesy birthday card that had a cartoon fox pictured on the front. Raising his eyebrows at Judy, Nick opened the card to find a note from her:
Dear, Nick;
I know we don't usually do birthdays, but we have known each other for so long and at this point, it's silly not to. I wanted to use this card to say the words I haven't been able to actually spit out. Life is busy and messy and we never really take the time to slow down and really acknowledge one another, so I thought this card would be a wonderful way for me to do that. What I'm trying to say is that I have you to thank for how far I have gotten in my life and in my career. You are truly the greatest best friend, partner, and life mate I could ask for. I look forward to the long life I know we have ahead of us, a life that I would love to spend every minute of with you. I am also so amazed and proud of what you have become since I have met you. You are not as bad as everyone makes you out to be, and I'm glad you gave me the chance to get to know the real Nick Wilde. Also, don't tell anyone this, and I'll deny it if you tell people, but I consider you my personal hero.
Love,
Judy
"By the way, my middle name is Laverne."
Nick looked up from the card, a confused expression on his face.
"You asked me almost a year ago, when we started dating. It's Laverne."
Nick stared fondly at Judy, the "greatest feeling ever" sweeping over him again as he did so.
"Thank you, Carrots," he whispered as he leaned in and kissed her again.
Once they had parted, the two then leaned back in their seats, savoring the moment.
"I guess we should go back in there," Nick finally sighed after a while.
"Do you really think we should after what just happened?" Judy grimaced.
"Fair point."
"You should probably go change soon though."
"Why?"
"You smell like punch, and it isn't a good smell on you," Judy giggled.
"Yeah, thanks for that, by the way," Nick laughed.
"Sorry."
"No, it's okay. I deserved it. I was a jerk to you."
"Yeah, but I lied to you."
"True, but I should have trusted you. That's my job and I failed miserably. I shouldn't have jumped the gun, especially after all we've been through."
Judy smiled thoughtfully at him. Words couldn't express how grateful she was to have ever met him.
"I love you, Nick."
"I love you too, Judy."
"No more surprise birthday parties?" Judy giggled.
"No more surprise birthday parties," Nick snickered.
A peaceful silence fell over the car once more as the two watched the party continue on inside. The party had now reached full volume, as laughter and music could be heard from outside. Nick smiled as his glance fell over his friends enjoying the night, even Finnick, who by the looks of it was flirting with a gazelle.
"Nick?"
"Yeah?"
"Do you remember that night you broke my favorite toothbrush holder?"
"Ha, don't remind me."
Judy playfully punched his arm.
"I'm serious, do you?" she asked.
"Of course, why?"
"Do you remember why you broke it?"
"Yeah, I thought you were pregnant. Then I thought you were cheating. Turns out you were just planning a party. Nice, huh? Now I gotta buy a new toothbrush holder for you…" Nick trailed off at the thought of going shopping for something as pristine as a toothbrush holder.
"You thought I was pregnant," Judy said.
It was a statement, not a question, and it left Nick very confused. He looked up at her, his eyebrows knotting slightly.
"What are you getting at, Carrots?"
"Nick, I'm pregnant."
Nothing. Dead silence. The silence filled the car, the tension so thick it could have been cut with a knife. Nick looked at Judy, a mixture of emotions playing across both of their faces. Feelings of shock, wonder, pride, excitement, and worry swept over them.
"How long have you known?" he breathed.
"I found out the day after."
"Do you know how far along you are?"
"Six weeks."
"Are you feeling okay?"
"Yeah, food is gross, though."
"That explains lunch today, and this morning when I couldn't find you, you weren't in the women's locker room the whole time, were you?"
"I had a doctor's appointment."
Nick nodded and couldn't help but smile at his cunning, deceiving, sly, little bunny. The two stared at each other, green into amethyst and vice versa, and they grinned. They beamed at the thought of the chaos to come. Their journey had only just begun, even with two years of knowing one another and one year of dating. As Nick let Judy's words sink in, he thought of the very first time they met.
"…Officer...?"
"Hopps! Mr…?"
"Wilde, Nick Wilde."
Then, with one word, Nick seemed to summarize everything. This single word seemed to describe their love, their entire life, and their current situation. This word would always be used for them, the bunny and the fox, no matter the moment.
"Wow."
Thank you so much for reading! If you have the time, please leave a review to let me know what you thought of the story.
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-Taylor (TatorTotTottish)