The pharmacist was entering the details of the prescription Nick gave him into his computer while Judy was sitting in a small waiting corner. Her phone hadn't stopped ringing since she sent the ultrasound picture to Evelin and her parents, apparently all of her family were already informed and now wanted to congratulate. As touching as most of the calls and messages were, there were also some surprised ones. Well, Judy didn't hold it against them – an hour earlier she feared that she wouldn't experience another spring, and now she would be changing her own kits by then. She ended just another call, when Nick approached her with a smile and a small paper package.
"I guess you are the most current news in whole Bunnyburrow by now?"
"I fear my parents are organizing a parade right now." Judy laughed with a wide grin.
"After being the first rabbit becoming a police officer and being the first rabbit marrying a fox, I would have bet you already got your own statue and holiday in the meantime." Nick winked, "But a rabbit getting pregnant seems not so extraordinary to me. Or are you rated as such a lost cause?"
Judy punched him on his shoulder and grinned.
"Let's see if you are still so cheeky when my parents figure out that you got her daughter preggers in their own burrow. You know, we are not only good in multiplying but in math generally."
"It may be a long time ago, but I bet they once had a wedding night, too." Nick snickered and gave her a quick kiss between the ears.
"And what about the night before the wedding, and after the wedding, and the day after that, and…"
"If you are trying to embarrass me, it's not working, carrots." Nick squatted in front of her. "Don't get me wrong, but I love you to bits." He grinned with his fangs visible, making Judy's hackles raise. When her phone rang again, Judy nearly dropped it nervously.
"H-Hey, Clara! Yeah, thank you, sis! … Two kits! … Of course is Nick the father!" she giggled and after linking her arm with Nick they left the pharmacy, still talking on the phone.
It was nearly half past nine in the evening when Judy could finally put the phone on the table without it ringing within seconds again. She let herself fall onto the couch and put her feet up, with a flat breathing and closing her eyes.
"Hey carrots…", Nick was kneeling beside her and smiled softly when she opened her eyes again. He held a few pills in his paw and a glass of carrot juice in his other.
"What's all of this?" she sighed, being used to mostly herbal only meds.
"This is the new one against your pain…", he pointed to a small yellow one, "…and those two are vitamins and iron, like prescribed.
"Thanks", Judy took the pills and swallowed them with a big gulp of the juice. Nick sat beside her on the couch, put her feet on his lap and started to massage them gently.
"How bad is your pain in the chest really, carrots?"
"It's bearable, foxtrot. It just was a long day.", she smiled softly and poked him with a toe. "That… changes a lot of things, don't you think?"
"Well, yes, but we already decided that we want to try to get kits, didn't we?" he smiled happily.
"We talked about it, yes. And there was a low probability that it will actually work. And we only wanted to start with the therapy in about a month at the earliest. But now we are suddenly thrown in at the deep end…"
"Wait a second, carrots. Did you fear I would back down at the very last moment?" Nick raised surprised his eyebrows.
"I…" Judy looked bashfully at her chest.
Nick's smile changed into a shocked, finally a sad look. "You don't really think that I would be a good father at all, do you?"
"W-what? Yes, I do!" Judy said hasty, but Nick just shrugged hurt and wanted to get off the couch. With a quick – and painful – movement, Judy turned around and leaped at his side, holding him back at his shoulder. "Nick! Please…"
Even when Judy tried to not turn a hair, Nick heard in her voice how much pain the last movement must have caused to her.
"Judy, be careful…" he put his paw on her shoulder and looked worried, but the rabbit just pushed his paw away and clung at his neck, sniveling quietly.
"That wasn't what I meant, I swear! I'm afraid that I will fail, not you!"
"You?" Nick starred at her unbelieving.
"I can recite the criminal code, Nick, and arrest a mammal five times my size if necessary. But the thought of having own kits is somewhat frightening to me. What if they got ill? Or they start crying and I don't know what to do? What if…"
"Hey, hey… carrots…" Nick smiled again and kissed a tear away from the corner of her eye. "Don't over exaggerate about this. Being a mother is something coming naturally to you when it's time. And don't forget about the most important thing…"
"That is?" she sniveled and wiped away another tear with her paw.
"I'm always there to support you." He gave her a gentle kiss and smiled encouraging.
Judy smiled lightly and crawled over his cheek. "See, that is why you will be the greatest dad ever. You always know what to say to make others feel better and something special."
"That's only because of you." He took her paw and kissed it. "You bring out the best in me."
"Sorry, I really didn't mean to hurt you, Nick." She put her arms around his neck.
"Come here, carrots…" he put his arms around her shoulders and propped her back up; Judy closed her eyes and exhaled, her pain lessen slowly. "You have to be more careful!"
"That's nothing, Nick." She smiled at him. "It did hurt much more to see your face earlier and to fear that you would turn away."
"Okay, enough apologies now." Nick winked. "You bunnies are so emotional…"
"And it's getting only worse during pregnancy." Judy giggled and crawled over his chest, reaching out her head and kissing him lovingly.
When her phone rang again, she groaned. "Sweet cheese and crackers!"
Nick snickered and reached out for the phone, handing it to Judy who accepted the call without looking on the display.
"Yeah?"
"OH MY GOODNESS!" – Clawhauser's voice was so loud she winced and had to hold the phone away from her ears. "I CANNOT BELIEVE THAT YOU TWO ARE GETTING KITS, THIS IS SOOOO SWEEEEEEEET!"
"Thank you, Ben. Yeah, it really came as a surprise for us, too!" she rolled her eyes smiling while Nick giggled quietly.
"I ALWAYS KNEW YOU TWO ARE THE SWEETEST COUPLE EVER, BUT THAT IS JUST PUTTING THE CHERRY ON THE CAKE!"
"Yeah, thanks… but Ben, could you be a little bit quieter? I have some headache and the phone always makes someone's voice so much louder…"
"OH! Oh… of course! I'm just so excited! I even wanted to come along to congratulate you personally, but wasn't sure if you are even at home at the moment!" – Benjamin was considerably quieter now, but still loud enough for Nick to overhear him without the phone being on speakers.
"The phone is okay right now, Ben." Judy hurried to assure him, then asked somewhat curious: "How do you even know about it already?"
"Oh, Clara had told me during our phone call! She was all aflutter about it!"
"You are talking with Clara on the phone?!" – that caught Judy by surprise; Clara was her only litter-sister and normally telling her everything, no matter how irrelevant it might be.
"Sure, we … ", he suddenly stopped talking and nothing but a short gulp was heard over the phone.
"I don't wanna even know, Ben…" Judy tried to suppress a giggle. "Any chance you are not going to tell everyone at the precinct about my pregnancy, yet? I guess I should tell Chief Bogo first…"
"Oh! He already knows it! Sorry, Jude, but I couldn't contain myself and had to send a group text to everyone!" they could hear how Clawhauser had put his paw above his mouth and inhaled excited. "Was that a mistake?"
Judy and Nick rolled their eyes simultaneously.
"It's okay, Ben. I guess this was inevitable." The rabbit sighed with a smile and Nick kissed her softly on the forehead, grinning from ear to ear.
"OH THIS IS JUST SOOOO CUTE!" the cheetah screamed ecstatic and even Nick winced this time. "DO YOU ALREADY HAVE NAMES?"
They were laying together in the hot and steamy water of their bathtub, the phone finally put into silent mode and relaxing for the first time that day. Judy was floating briefly below the water surface, her head resting on Nick's chest with closed eyes and listening to his heartbeat with a dreamy smile.
"Your sister Clara and Clawhauser…?" Nick whispered out of a sudden and Judy began to giggle.
"Oh, don't even get started! I had no idea, and I'm not sure if I want to know anything about that anyway!"
Nick chuckled, "If I'm correct, since you are married now she is the oldest Hopps' daughter being single, isn't she?"
Judy punched his leg, making the water splash around. "Nick! Behave yourself!", but she had to giggle, too. "She had a girlfriend for nearly five years, but she broke up with Clara one and a half year ago. So it's not what you are thinking about, they are supposedly only good friends!"
"I would subscribe that immediately if there wouldn't be that little incident at our wedding. Wasn't Clara one of your witnesses?"
"Sweet cheese and crackers!" Judy put her paw over her mouth and laughed, eventually wincing and holding her chest. Nick put his paw above hers and crawled her arm slowly.
"Be glad that you are on sick leave, can you imagine what I will have to bear next week?" Nick sighed playfully.
"Do I even want to know about all your manly rituals?" Judy grinned.
"I have no idea what you are talking about! That's my first time having a pregnant girlfriend!"
"Oh, really? How do you even know, maybe there is a little Nick junior hustling his schoolmates you have no idea about." She giggled when she realized Nick's heartbeat going faster.
"Hey, that's not fair! Foxes have a bad record, but we are really faithful regarding our partners. Also, there is no Nick junior … yet." He winked – "And I'm never mentioning your ex-boyfriends, you jealous little bunny!"
"You know that I had no boyfriends in Bunnyburrow…" Judy muttered embarrassed.
"Oh, come on. Maybe no serious relationship, but someone to smooch and grope? What about prom night? I bet you were the queen!" he snickered.
"I missed the prom night because when I finally decided to go, everyone already had a partner and I didn't want to be the only one going alone. You should read your wedding ring again. It was really no exaggeration when I said you were my first – and last one. I was some kind of a nerd, you know. Nothing too popular with the guys." She snickered quietly.
"I bet, you were the cuties nerd ever… and they have no idea what they missed." he kissed her between the ears.
"Evelin is always ragging me because I never dated another rabbit, but went to the Wilde-side on the first try."
Nick groaned and let his head sank beneath the water surface for a few seconds. When he emerged again, he said playfully annoyed: "Such a lame joke out of your mouth… I hope your sense of humor isn't heritable!"
"Who knows…" she stretched her arms above her head, cuddling the fox lovingly, and giggled. "But be assured that I don't regret having waited for you."
"How would you know? I always thought I would be the best of the top, but as it seems now you just have no other reference!" he nibbled on her ear with a grin.
"Sorry, foxtrot. You were just the first one unlucky enough to take my heart by storm." She giggled and pedaled with her legs in the water. "And be careful with your tail, that's tickling!"
"Oh…" he whispered quietly, "That is not my tail, sassy bunny…"
Judy panted for breath, biting on her lower lip, but her little claws grasped into his fur.
"I'm back, carrots!", Nick opened the apartment door with two big paper bags on his arms. "They didn't have the yogurt with fresh carrots this time, so I got you a small selection with different fruits. Oh, and guess which farmers carrots and potatoes got the award 'Vegetable of the Month' – again." He snickered.
"If it would be anything different than the Hopps' brand, I would be in surprise, foxtrot." Judy laughed from the living room.
After bringing the groceries into the kitchen and putting them away, Nick walked over to the living room, where Judy was sitting at their couch table, bent forward over some kind of big book. He threw a grape into the air and caught it with his snout.
"Do you also like some fresh grapes?", he offered her a small bowl with a bunch of green grapes.
"Yes, thank you!" she smiled and waved with her paw for Nick to sit beside her, closing the book in front of her. "Come here, Nick. I want to show you something…"
"Mh? What is it?" he put the bowl on the table and sat next to his rabbit, looking at the book in front of her. On the front was a big photo affixed of them, sitting under a tree on a small hill on the edge of the Rainforest District, leaning against each other and watching dreamy the distance and high buildings of the Sahara Square. Nick remembered this very moment, Evelin shoot the photo half a year ago during one of their visits shortly after they moved into the new apartment. Above the photo was written with a gold and silver gloss varnish marker: 'Chronicles of a Relationship'
Nick's eyes widened and he stroke with his paw over the cover, then smiled slyly. "I hope this story has a happy end… mind, if I take a closer look at it?"
Judy snickered and shook her head, then kissed him lovingly on his cheek. "You put so much afford in your marriage proposal and our wedding, but I never had the opportunity to return the favor appropriately."
"You said 'Yes' when I asked you to marry me… that already was the greatest gift." He smiled and leaned his head against hears.
"Maybe that also was a bit self-serving." She grinned and crawled with her paw over his head and ears. Oh, how much she loved those small and pointed ears of his!
Nick snickered and opened the photo album. On the first double-sided page, there was a short profile of Judy on the left side: A photo of her as a child in her police costume and saluting, her full name, birthdate, species, gender, likes and dislikes, hobbies, and her favorite quote 'Make the world a better place!'; at the bottom was her paw print from her first child ID – on the right page was a similar profile for Nick ('I promise to be brave, loyal, helpful, and trustworthy!'), including his own paw print and a rare picture of him saluting in his boy scout uniform.
"Woah, where did you get this photo from? I didn't even know that any copies still exist!"
"Your mother is wearing it in her purse and was kindly enough to let me copy and restore it." Judy smiled happy when she noticed Nick's touched facial expression.
The next few pages summarized Judy's childhood in Bunnyburrow: A photo of her as a baby bunny right after birth, from her own litter, her first day in the kindergarten, a poorly drawn crayon picture made by her of her family with all of her 39 siblings at that time, helping her parents on the fields and sitting in their market stand handing a customer a small bag with carrots, playing in the crops, letting fly a kite together with a few siblings, … on six pages were the most cute moments and photos of Judy Hopps that Nick had ever saw, all together with small comments and headlines by her. Nick turned another page, expecting more photos of her, but on the next page was a photo of a young fox and a vixen, holding a cute little baby fox in their arms. He was thunderstruck from the insight what he saw. There were even more photos of him he had never see before: Playing with his mother, crawling over his father's stomach or clinging at his tail, his first birthday cake with a single candle, him hiding behind some large potted plants in their old family home, … he browsed through the following six pages full of old, long forgotten childhood memories and had tears in his eyes.
"Your Mom sent me all those photos while we were staying at the burrow after our wedding. She kept them all those years and when I told her what I planned to create for you, she was more than eager to help me out…" Judy put her arm around Nick's chest and crawled through his fur, comforting him with a wide smile.
"Oh, carrots…" Nick sobbed quietly after a while and tried to calm down.
Judy put her paw on his' and helped him to turn another page. At the top was written: 'There were throwbacks and sad moments, too…' – on the left side were photos of Judy with a broken arm when she was four, a scary and bleeding scratch wound on her cheek (with a poorly sketched fox head beside it), a photo of her in a nice little dress standing alone with a sad face in their parents kitchen ('Prom Night, first and last time I wanted to wear a dress!') and lastly a photo of her as a baby, together with Ralph and Clara – her litter siblings; but beside baby Judy was another small bunny, a small flower drew beside her. The comment below the photo was: 'A gang of four for only 36 hours, until our little sister Flowers already left us behind in grief.' – that was another bombshell for Nick, he had no idea that there was a fourth child in Judy's litter and she had never talked about it before. She wasn't talking right now, too, just cuddling with him and crawling his fur. The fox slowly put his arm around his little bunny and cradled her feelingly. His look was already browsing over the opposite page that contains what he had already assumed. There was a photo of his boy scout uniform thrown in a corner of his room, a picture of him at his ninth birthday in front of his cake but sitting alone with his parents at the table, their old family home with a 'Sold' sign in front of it and at the bottom a picture of him and his mother in black clothes during his father's funeral. As sad as those pictures were, they weren't really hurting anymore, being a part of him for already such a long time. At the bottom was written with the silver marker: '…but even when they always accompany us, they did not negatively affect the mammal we grow up as in the long run but helped us forge our character.'
With a last look to the group photo of Judy's litter, Nick slowly turned another page. 'We lived our life…' was written on top of it, and beneath were mixed photos of Judy during her time at the High School and Police Academy, and Nick taking guitar lessons and finishing Public School. 'And finally succeeded' was the next headline, together with photos of Judy's graduation at the police academy and Nick selling pawsickles in front of his push cart with a sly grin – obviously secretly made by Finnick to blackmail him eventually.
Nick had to grin somewhat: "Not really a big accomplishment to sell pawsicles to hamsters, compared to your graduation."
"You were quite satisfied back then, weren't you? And as far as I remember you didn't earn as little as now." She nudged him with her elbow and Nick snickered, turning another page.
'First met as opponents' was the next headline and Judy had made up a 'Wanted' poster with Nick's picture and 'Fiscal evasion' written beneath it, and a photo of her posing in her uniform and with her drawn stun gun, grinning slyly. – 'Confronted with prejudice' headed the next page, together with an affixed cut out news article showing Judy during the press conference and blaming predators eventually going savage again. Below that was the crinkled 'Junior ZPD' sticker that Nick had thrown away after the press conference; on the opposite page was the likewise crinkled application form for the police academy by Nick.
"You really kept those things all the while?" Nick raised his eyebrows in surprise and Judy gave him a soft kiss on his cheek.
"I knew that I made a big mistake the moment you walked out of that door and wanted something to remember you always… you had my recorder pen with your voice so those litter was all that was remaining."
Nick smiled and rubbed his snout over her head while turning another page of the album.
'Finally finished what we once started months ago' – together with another cut out news article with Bellwether arrested, a picture of a basket with blueberries and in a small affixed plastic pocket Nick's boy scout bandana he had used to bandage Judy's leg in the museum.
He laughed, stroking with his paw over the plastic pocket. "You are a little pack rat, Misses Hopps-Wilde!"
Judy giggled and shrugged with her shoulders. "Maybe?"
On the next few pages were photos of Nick on the police academy and the headline 'Surpassing himself' – concluding with Judy giving him his badge on his graduation. The next double-sided page was a big poster of the Gazelle concert they were attending a few days after; in the middle were their tickets affixed and on another page were quite a few photos of them from different angles, standing arm in arm in the Hollow Bar and sharing their very first kiss on the dance floor. Obviously they were photographed by nearly every colleague that was still present at the bar back then.
The following pages were full with their first weeks as a couple: Their second place on the biathlon, Nick sitting in a wheelchair with casts and Judy's little sisters climbing on him, a photo of Nick's final welcome in the big living room of the Hopps' burrow together with dozens of Judy's siblings and their first photo on the family tree wall in the background, during a walk in the park or the streets of Zootopia, sitting in a café, sharing the small beds in their former single apartments, dozens of selfies, their final move into the new common apartment they were still living in, a few small awards they got during work, the little papers with hints from the scavenger hunt Nick performed for their six months anniversary … then there was a affixed invitation to Evelin and Sven's wedding together with the tickets for the cinema Judy went to with Evelin two days before the wedding. On the next page was a photo of Nick kneeling in front of an all in tears Judy Hopps, holding a ring in his paws and asking her to marry him. Below the photo Judy wrote with the gold and silver markers in big letters 'Yes!', together with a photo of her plain engagement ring – and her singing enthusiastically (and most probably drunken), dancing on a seat during the party in the cinema. Another ten pages were full with pictures of their wedding, showing them alone, together with Evelin and Sven, their witnesses, dancing on the party, with their parents and also a photo of the brooch – a family heirloom of the Wilde family – Judy got as a gift from Nick's mother before their wedding.
One of the last pages caused Nick to wince slightly, the cut out news article of the assault against Judy with a car bomb stared him in the face. Above the article was written: 'The price of finally realizing the truth was high…' and beside was a copy of Judy's X-ray image and a photo of dozens little shrapnel. Nick tightened his hug slightly, then read the text below the news article: 'But as it was initially Bellwether's case bringing us together, it seems almost natural that another case associated with her marked the beginning of a new chapter in our own family chronicle…' – he turned the page and saw what Judy had pasted into the album when he returned from shopping nearly one and a half hour ago: The ultrasound image Doctor Alisson had made just yesterday, showing two little beating hearts. Below it was written: 'Our personal little miracle and the greatest gift we could ever hope for' – a few pages were still empty and Nick slowly closed the thick album with shaking paws.
"I…", Nick began to speak but paused again, not knowing how to express what he was feeling right now. After all that time Judy still managed to surprise him with the most unique and touching present someone had ever made for him. He wanted to hug her, say how much he loved and yearned for her, how much her gift really meant for him, … but he could only stare at the closed album, being in an emotional stupor like the day before when he learned that Judy was pregnant.
Based on his reaction on the surface one could be worried that he didn't really liked the gift, but Judy knew her fox better and could hear his heart beating at an almost alarming rate. Rendering her otherwise nimble-witted fox speechless and stunned was probably the greatest compliment. She pulled Nick's upper body back against the couch at his shoulders and crawled on his lap, putting her arms around his neck, cuddling him lovingly. It took him a while to regain his full consciousness, putting his arms around the furball on his lap and snuggled his face against Judy's.
"You are incredible…", he whispered into her ears, sniveling silently.
"You really sat the bar high in the past, foxtrot.", Judy snickered and gave him a soft kiss.
"We are definitely even, carrots.", Nick gave a short laugh and replied her kiss affectionately.