"You can't do this!"
"Watch me!"
"Please, you can't just leave!"
"You wanna bet me, Wilde?"
Judy opened the door to the burrow and waddled out into the cool night. Working around her swollen abdomen, she readjusted the bag that was slung over her shoulder before turning back to look at Nick.
"Carrots, wait! Where are going to go? You can't be by yourself like this."
"I'll stay with Gideon."
Nick's heart fell, the balloon in his chest deflating forever.
"No, please. Carrots–Judy, I love you."
"It's over, Nick."
Nick awoke with a start as he sat up in bed, gasping for air. His fur was matted from the cold sweat his nightmare had caused and his ribs ached from his heavy breathing. It was the middle of the night and the room was dark, only dimly lit by the moonlight that filtered through the partially open curtains.
"Nick? What's going on?" Judy asked in a sleepy voice as she carefully sat up and placed a paw on Nick's arm.
Nick glanced down at her abdomen and sighed before looking back up into her tired eyes.
"Nothing, just a nightmare," he sighed.
"Do you want to talk about it?"
"No, it's okay. Go back to sleep, Carrots."
"Nick…"
Her voice was soothing, yet worried. Her tone alone brought a small smile to Nick's face.
"I'm fine… really. Go back to sleep," he reassured her.
"You need to sleep too."
"I will, I'm just going to go and get a glass of water first."
Trying not to disturb Judy any more than he already had, Nick quietly slipped out from under the sheets and carefully crept from the room. From the corner of his eye, he saw Judy lean back into the bed and snuggle back into the blankets just before he exited the room.
Nick and Judy had been set up in a guest bedroom at Judy's family burrow for the night, but not until Stu had finished making several jokes about the two sharing a bed. Nick had laughed with the rabbit, but still felt as if the jokes held partial truth. Nick thought about these jokes as he quietly crept around the burrow, trying not to wake the hundreds of baby bunnies. Once in the kitchen, he turned on the sink and filled a glass of water. With a heavy sigh, he turned around to find a bedhead bunny standing by the kitchen table.
"Gah!"
CRASH!
"Jesus Christ, Judy!"
Nick quickly covered his mouth with a paw before dropping his volume down to a whisper.
"Warn me!" he hissed.
"Warn you?" the tired bunny laughed.
"Cough or something! Announce your presence!"
Judy glanced down at the wet kitchen floor that was now littered with glass shards. Her eyebrows rose as she looked back up at Nick.
"That's the third thing you've broken in the last year. That cup isn't even ours."
"I blame you."
"You would," Judy scoffed as she reached up and lightly smoothed her ruffled fur.
Nick grabbed a small towel from a nearby kitchen drawer and threw it down onto the wet floor.
"I thought you were asleep," he whispered.
"I was worried about you."
"So, you thought scaring me would help?"
Judy giggled.
"I didn't mean to scare you!" she exclaimed with a smile.
Nick smiled back at her before directing his attention to the digital clock on the stove.
"Ugh, is that really the time?"
Judy then looked over at the clock and let an over exaggerated look of disgust dawn on her face. It was 2:00 AM.
"It's not too bad," she shrugged.
"It's too late. I say we fake illness and cancel our activities for today and just go home."
"We aren't canceling," Judy chuckled. "It'll be fun."
"Pie at Gideon's bakery, yeah, sounds like a blast."
Sarcasm heavily dripped across Nick's words. At lunch the previous day, Gideon had dropped by to bring the Hopps family a pie to share that night. He and Judy chatted for a while, leading to Gideon inviting both her and Nick to visit his bakery sometime before they left Bunnyburrow. Judy happily accepted, of course. At the mention of Gideon, Nick shivered slightly as his nightmare briefly flashed at the forefront of his mind. Judy noticed his change in facial expression as the shiver went down his spine.
"What was that?"
"Nothing."
Judy thumped her foot quietly.
"What was your nightmare about?" she questioned.
"Just stuff."
"Stuff like what?"
"Stuff like you."
"What about me?"
"Just stuff, I don't know," Nick shook his head.
"Nick…"
There it was again; the tone that made Nick want to tell Judy everything in seconds. Nick took a deep breath and ran a paw over his face.
"I had a nightmare that you left."
"That I left?"
"You know… left."
"Oh."
Judy's face fell, but she quickly regained composure and took Nick's paw in her own.
"I'm not going anywhere, Nick. You don't have to be worried about that."
"I'm not worried about it, but that nightmare obviously wasn't great."
Judy nodded thoughtfully.
"We're still going today, though," she finally said.
At this, Nick groaned dramatically before pretending to die by slumping on the floor.
"Always the theatrics," Judy sighed before sauntering back to their room.
After pulling himself off of the floor and then cleaning up the mess that the shattered glass of water had left, Nick followed her. The two talked for a little while, mostly argued about going to Gideon's bakery or not, and then fell asleep. They were awoken a few hours later by the squeals of the first baby bunnies awake for the day.
"Nooo," Nick groaned as Judy pulled on his arms, out of breath from the effort. "I don't want to go."
Judy rolled her eyes and made a noise of disgust, throwing her arms up in defeat as she did so.
"Fine, stay in bed. I'll go to the bakery myself."
Nick popped up from the bed immediately.
"I'm up," he said.
Judy laughed and pushed him back onto the bed before lying down on top of him and giving him a very passionate kiss on the lips, which Nick accepted gratefully.
It didn't take long for the two to get ready for the day and to pack their things, but Nick complained the entire time, making Judy giggle when he did. They were planning to say goodbye to Judy's family, go and visit Gideon at his bakery for a few hours, and then leave Bunnyburrow afterward. They were hoping to be home sometime in the evening so they could have the rest of the night for themselves and get ready for the beginning of their week. It only took them an hour and a half to be completely ready to go, and once they were ready, they stood just outside of the front door of the burrow and bid everyone farewell.
"You call us if you need anything."
"We will, Mom."
"And call us soon, or visit."
"Okay, Dad."
"I would tell you to watch out for predators, especially foxes, but you've taken care of that," Stu chuckled as he gave Nick another heavy pat on the shoulder.
Nick smirked and laughed along with him, while Judy looked bashful.
"You ready, Carrots?"
Judy nodded before giving her parents one more final hug. Leaving Judy's parents at the door, the two walked out to their parked SUV, where Nick helped Judy up into the car.
"Oh, hold on, I forgot something," Nick muttered before jogging back to where Judy's parents stood in the entryway of their home.
Her parents looked on with puzzled expressions as he jogged toward them, wondering what had happened.
"Mr. Hopps. Mrs. Hopps," Nick greeted them with a smile. "I plan on proposing to Judy on her birthday in a couple of months. I'm throwing a party at our house and inviting friends and family. I just thought I would let you know."
At this, Bonnie and Stu smiled.
"We'll be there," Stu said as the couple brought Nick in for a hug.
Nick then jogged back to the SUV and waved to Judy's parents as he got into the car. Judy waved and smiled back at her parents as Nick pulled the car out onto the main road that ran through Bunnyburrow. It was a very short ride until they were pulling into a parking space just outside of a small shop that was striped in lavender and white colors.
"Here we are," Judy grinned as she hopped out of the car without Nick's help.
Nick followed, opening the door of the shop for her once he caught up. The inside of the bakery was filled with animals who sat at various little circular tables and booths that were scattered about, and the entire environment smelled of baked goods. Gideon was standing behind the counter that sat in the middle of the shop, serving a pie to an elderly grandmother rabbit. When he saw Judy and Nick (mainly just Judy), a large smile dawned on his face and he waved to greet them. The fox then set out a sign that read "ON BREAK" and came out from behind the counter to officially greet them.
"Judy, it's good to see ya. Thank ya for stopping by."
"No problem at all. You've met Nick," Judy smiled as she gestured toward Nick, who stood awkwardly nearby.
"I sure 'ave,"
Gideon smiled as he shook Nick's paw. Nick didn't smile back, but he returned the shake. Gideon then led the couple to a booth somewhat near the back of the bakery. He slid in on one side while Judy and Nick slid in opposite.
"How have you been Gideon?" Judy asked.
"I've been good. How about ya?"
"Pretty good. We recently moved to a new home, which is pretty exciting."
"Sounds fun. Say Judy, I 'ave to say that I was pretty surprised when ya called."
"How come?"
"We didn't exactly get 'long as kids, ya know."
"That was the past, Gideon. I wanted to see you again, since it's been so long."
"I sure am sorry, though. About the scratches, that is."
"I know, but you don't have to be sorry."
Gideon smiled gratefully. Judy then asked when he had acquired the bakery and had begun the business, which Gideon happily replied to, but Nick was no longer listening; he was wondering about what exactly happened between Gideon and Judy when they were children. Judy had told him that Gideon had bullied her for being prey, and that he had scratched her one day. The scars from his attack were barely visible on Judy's face now, but they were still there, and Nick saw them every time he leaned in to kiss her. Nick wasn't wondering about this, though, he was more concerned with other details, like how Judy reacted to Gideon when he had scratched her and what led to him scratching her exactly. Nick became lost in thought as he wondered over these minute things. On the trip to Bunnyburrow, Judy had been convinced that Nick was jealous of Gideon, and granted, Nick hadn't done such a fantastic job to lead her away from that idea, but he honestly wasn't jealous. Nick was more worried about Judy's safety then anything, so he wasn't jealous, but rather very concerned. He knew that it had been a very long time since Gideon had done anything violent, but he still didn't like the idea of putting his pregnant girlfriend in any possibly dangerous scenario. Yes, in the car he had reacted somewhat negatively by stopping the vehicle completely, but this was only because of his worrisome ways. Who could blame him? His girlfriend had been in danger several other times before, and now that she was pregnant, it only gave him more reason to watch out for her. Even when he had asked what Gideon's profession was, he only wanted to know to make sure that it wasn't a profession that was physically building; he had been glad to hear "baker."
Nick briefly tuned back into the conversation to here Judy talking about the babies.
"I gotta say, Judy, hearing that ya're dating a fox was a bit surprising to me."
"Nick and I have been good friends for a very long time."
"Just about three years," Nick cut in.
Judy looked at him, shocked that he had said anything at all, but then smiled and allowed the conversation to continue. After some conversing, Nick found that he actually liked Gideon; he seemed put together and an overall nice fox. In the end, Nick was kind of disappointed that the chatting couldn't continue, but they did have to leave, or they would get home much too late. Saying goodbye to Gideon, the couple got back into the SUV and began their journey home.
On the way home, the two laughed and joked as they listened to music and told stories from the past. It was one of those blissful moments where Nick enjoyed seeing Judy's dazzling smile, and Judy loved to hear Nick's laugh when he found something extremely funny. They were just two animals in love, with four babies on the way and nothing to make their world shake.
Until they got home that is.
It was late in the afternoon. Nick was in the driveway of their home, unloading their luggage from the backseat. Judy had fallen asleep about thirty minutes before they had arrived home, so Nick had carefully carried her upstairs and laid her in bed. He was doing a final check of the car to make sure they had removed all of their personal belongings when a dark colored bag was thrown over his head, instantly blinding him as the world went dark.