Judy had just finished cleaning her kitchen when she heard a knock at her door that she hoped signaled Nick's arrival. She did one last quick lap around the apartment before answering the door, just to make sure she hadn't left any messes lying around.
"Uh, Judy?" she heard Nick call nervously. "Could you hurry up and open the door?"
"Just a minute," she called back as she discovered a pair of carrot-print panties she had accidentally left next her sofa. Thinking fast, she stuffed them in her back pocket and ran to the front door.
Opening it, she found Nick turned away from her door and out towards the hallway. On the floor to his left was a large suitcase that drew Judy's curiosity for only a moment before she looked around him to see what had drawn his attention away from her door. Apparently, he had been cornered by her elderly beaver neighbors, the Woodsmans, who were now arguing with him.
"-So listen here, mister hotshot Caracal," Mr. Woodsman lisped, full of false bravado. "I don't know exactly what your intentions are towards Officer Hopps-"
"Honey, I don't think he's a Caracal, he's too tall," Mrs. Woodsman said.
"Eh? Serval then, who cares what species he is?" Mr. Woodsman shot back.
"Don't be mean, dear."
Or maybe they were arguing at him? None of them seemed to have noticed Judy opening the door. Knowing that Nick wasn't in any real danger, she opted to leave them in the dark and let the near-sighted couple continue their discussion.
"Alright, fine. We'll ask him, then," Mr. Woodsman said before turning back to Nick. "What species are you, sonny?"
"I'm actually a fox, sir," Nick said in a helpful tone.
"Fox? No, no, that can't be right. Far too exotic," Mr. Woodsman replied. "Well, whatever you actually are, you better watch your step, sonny! I won't tolerate misbehavior!"
Now this conversation was starting to turn towards uncomfortable territory, and Judy could only imagine how bad it must be for Nick.
"Um. Actually Mr. Woodsman," she interjected. "Officer Wilde here is a close friend of mine who wouldn't hurt a fly, and I'd appreciate it if you didn't treat every friend that comes to visit as if he was going to go savage and eat me."
The relief on Nick's face was palpable, but Mr. Woodsman didn't look even the least bit mortified. In fact, he just looked confused.
"Eh? Eat you? Is that some sort of euphemism?" He asked quickly.
"Oh. Oh, my," Mrs. Woodsman added with a blush.
"Don't get all embarrassed now, Bertha. I have a scolding to finish," he said before turning back to Nick. "As I was saying, I don't care if it's this 'eating' she's talking about, 'spanking the monkey' or 'going all the way' as kids call it nowadays. No means no. And if the lady wants a ring first, by gum, you wait, understand?"
Completely flabbergasted, Nick simply said, "Yes, sir."
"Good," Mr. Woodsman said before turning towards their apartment and walking away, grumbling about 'whippersnappers' and 'sexual liberation'.
Mrs. Woodsman opted to merely wink at Judy and follow after him.
Just as awkward silence began to settle in Nick grinned and asked, "Shall we go inside, so I can 'eat' you?"
As Nick dragged his suitcase through her front door, Judy began to feel a little apprehensive. He had been suspiciously secretive about what exactly his 'solution' entailed and initially she had been happy to just go along with it because he had mentioned that he would finally be visiting her at her new apartment, but almost immediately after she had begun to have second thoughts. In any other situation, she might have just kept those thoughts to herself but-
"Before you tell me your plan, I wanted to let you know that I seriously entertained the possibility that this might be some sort of trick to find and steal the recording," she said plainly and confidently.
"Carrots, I-," Nick began with a frown but she stopped him.
"I also entertained the idea of copying the recording multiple times and hiding the copies all over the apartment, just in case," she continued, taking satisfaction in the surprised look on Nick's face but forced that emotion down in favor of sincerity.
"I put this possibility aside because I know you, I trust you, and I know that you are stronger than alcohol," Judy could feel herself start to ramble, but the words just seemed to pour out of her mouth. "but I had to tell you that I considered it, because I know you."
Her eyes began to sting as she continued, "I know that you're brilliant and witty and charming and clever and add in the fact that I trust you and it becomes obvious that you probably already know exactly how to trick me into just giving it you and I-" she stopped as she felt something soft on her face.
Looking up, she found Nick caressing her cheek. Gently, he wiped away a single tear with his thumb.
"You dumb bunny..." he said in that way that Judy found both mean and endearing at the same time and was so soothing that she couldn't help but lean into his paw and smile.
Then he grinned that stupid smug grin of his, "It's in your underwear drawer, isn't it?"
Judy's ears quickly went red for the second time that day as she began to stutter, "Wh-What? I- I don't know wh-what you're talking about."
"Really? Then you won't mind if I go and take a look?"
"Of course I would mind, you pervert. It's my underwear drawer!"
"Uh-huh, okay."
"I'm serious! You are completely wrong."
"Sure I am, Carrots," Nick laughed as he turned and walked back towards the door, "Tell you what, I'm going to coincidentally choose this moment to take a five minute walk down the hall and back and I'll just assume I'm wrong when I get back."
"Y-Yeah! You should! You're totally off-base on this one, Wilde!" she half-shouted.
He just chuckled lightly as he turned the knob and strolled out the door. The blushing bunny stared angrily at the door for a moment before stomping off to her bedroom to re-hide the recorder pen.
Author's note:
I just wanted to thank everyone who's following this story, really helps give me confidence to keep working on this. Also feel free to leave a review, I've got a pretty thick skin so don't worry too much about upsetting me.