"You're kidding!"

"I'm not, Mrs. Wilde."

"Nicholas must have had a heart attack."

"He definitely did, especially with him having set up that entire prank. He basically blamed himself for sending me into labor."

"But it wasn't labor?"

"Nope, Braxton Hicks, false contractions. They are completely normal, especially as I get closer to my due date."

"And how did Nicholas react when he learned they were false contractions?"

"While I was breathing a sigh of relief, he actually passed out. I had to drive him home."

Mrs. Wilde snorted with laughter as Judy giggled along with her. It was early afternoon, and the two were seated at the kitchen island in Mrs. Wilde's home, where they had been for the last two hours as Judy told Nick's mother every detail of her last day of work.

It had been a week since Judy's last day, and she had spent half of that day in the hospital, so she wasn't exactly thrilled to be stuck at home as Nick's work schedule remained unchanged. She would follow Nick around in the mornings as he got ready for the day, begging him to take her with him for just one hour.

"It's not happening, Carrots," he would always say.

"Why not?" Judy would whine.

Nick would then roll his eyes, and lean in and kiss Judy's pouting mouth before saying goodbye for the day. One day, he had even made a deal with her.

"Really?"

"Yes, really. You can come with me."

"This is great!"

"Eh, not so fast. You can come with me if you can walk up the stairs without waddling."

"But that's impossible–"

"Then you can't come."

Nick had then stood at the bottom of the steps with a large smirk on his face as he watched Judy attempt to walk up the stairs without turning her feet outward to accustom her new weight.

"That's still waddling."

"It is not!" Judy had yelled indignantly. "Everyone walks like this."

"Sure."

Nick had then taken the two strides required to reach Judy's location (which was barely halfway up the stairs after ten minutes) and kissed her before heading out for work as to not be late. The next day, Judy had blocked Nick's path to the door, her eyes fiery.

"I am going to work with you today."

"Tell you what, if you can sit and stand up from a chair without my help, then you can come to work with me."

"You have got to be kidding me."

"Those are the terms. Take 'em or leave 'em."

Nick had then watched Judy nearly tip a chair over as she fell into it, and then watched her nearly break her back trying to get up without his help.

"Okay, okay. Stop before you hurt yourself."

"I can do it!"

"Carrots, you can barely walk or sit. You won't be comfortable in an office at work."

"But–"

"You have to pee like every five seconds, Rabbit! You can't even get up to do that."

"Fine, I guess you're right," Judy had sighed.

Nick had then helped her up, kissed her goodbye, and Judy no longer begged him in the morning. She hadn't left the house until Nick had announced that he was taking her to his mother's house one day.

"To be honest, the whole ordeal was pretty funny," Judy told Mrs. Wilde. "I just felt bad for the nurses and doctor who had to deal with a scared, pregnant rabbit and a fox who couldn't calm down and take a breath."

"Yes, but that's their job, Honey. They get paid a lot of cash to help you through all of the ups and downs, the happy moments and the scary moments, so it's completely fine to go into the doctor's for apparently no reason if you feel you should."

"I guess that's true."

"So, Nicholas was a bit secretive when dropping you off this morning, any idea why? He wouldn't tell me, and I'm his mother."

"He's attempting to plan a big night for our two-year anniversary," Judy grinned. "He dumped me on your doorstep to keep me from snooping more than I already have."

"That's sweet of him. In all my years of knowing Nicholas, I have never seen him step up as much as I have seen him step up now. Something about you, Judy, makes him different… but a good kind of different."

"Thank you, Mrs. Wilde, but to me, he's the same old Nick that hustled me to buy him and Finnick a Jumbo Pop all that time ago, and I'm glad he's the same, because that's the Nick I fell in love with."

"Carrots, I'm flattered."

Both Judy and Mrs. Wilde jumped at Nick's voice. He was leaning against the doorframe in the entrance of the kitchen, paws in his pockets, and a smirk on his face.

"Nick, you scared me!" Judy laughed as the fox came over and wrapped his arms around her for a hug.

"Sorry, Darling, but I came to pick you up."

Bidding farewell to Mrs. Wilde, the couple left Nick's mother's home and headed out onto Main Street.

"Where are we going?" Judy asked as she watched passing cars.

"I thought you would like to say 'hi' to a couple of friends at work."

"Really?"

"I know you've missed work, so I thought it was only fair that you at least visit from time to time."

Nick pulled the SUV into the parking lot of the ZPD and walked Judy into the lobby, where she took half an hour to catch up with everyone, even though it hadn't been long since she had last seen them. She spoke to Clawhauser the longest, who had been missing her dearly. After she had finished, Judy followed Nick back to the car.

"Now, I wanna do dinner at our place tonight, but I'd like to grab a bite to eat at the diner," Nick stated as he put the SUV into reverse.

"Sounds good to me," Judy smiled.

A few moments later, they pulled into a parking space in front of the diner. They were seated at a booth near the front windows again before they were welcomed by a friendly waiter, who knew their orders by heart, of course. Once left alone, Nick turned to Judy. She was dressed in black leggings and an oversized logo t-shirt that had actually been his at one time.

"Have I ever told you that you're beautiful?"

"Nick, I don't know what to say," Judy smiled, a slight blush tinting the color in her cheeks.

Looking away slightly, she let a grin flash across her facial features as she attempted to compliment him back.

"You are just–"

Judy stopped suddenly. When she had looked away, her attention had partially focused on two deer sitting at a nearby table. It had taken her a second, but Judy realized that the two were whispering and glancing at her and Nick every now and then. The entire feeling of the situation put Judy on edge, which Nick noticed immediately.

"Hey, Carrots, you okay?"

Judy looked away and forced a smile on her face once more.

"Yes! I'm fine, sorry, got distracted. What was I saying? Oh, well you are just too sweet to me. I don't deserve all of this."

Nick gave Judy a suspicious glance, but said nothing of it, only continued the previously pleasant conversation.

"You deserve a lot more. You do so much for me, and I rarely tell you how grateful I am– Carrots?"

"Huh?"

"You keep dazing off. What are you looking at?"

"Nothing!" Judy quickly covered as she once again tore her attention from the two deer who were now paying their check and standing to leave.

Nick saw the two deer, now getting ready to walk past the booth they were occupying and smiled pleasantly at them before turning back to Judy. Judy saw the disgusted reaction both of the deer had and almost said something, her ambition getting the best of her, but what the deer said next stopped her cold in her tracks. Whispering to one another, just loud enough to be heard as they passed Judy and Nick's booth, Judy caught bits of the conversation.

"…prey and predator. How distasteful…"

"…worse that it's interspecies…"

"…no respect at all…"

"…having children and probably married…"

"…what an abomination…"

Judy looked down at her swollen abdomen, her feelings mixing together as her thoughts whirled around in a dizzying cycle. Nick's voice seemed to come from a faraway place.

"Carrots?"

Judy didn't answer, but looked up slightly to now direct her gaze at the edge of the table. Hot tears stung her eyes and began to run down her cheeks, the paths burning her already flushed face. She tried to tell herself that she was imagining things, that she didn't just hear what she thought she had just heard, but the facts were there, so she instead tried to remind herself that she was just emotional and probably overreacting. Nick's voice was there again, his tone low and slightly concerned.

"Judy."

Had she heard them correctly? She had never heard something so unsettling in her entire life. Should she do something? Judy suddenly felt an arm slink around her waist as her body naturally leaned against Nick's, her face hidden in his shoulder. She heard Nick's voice in her ear, his breath hot against the base of her skull.

"Come on, Carrots."

She felt Nick pull her up onto her feet and lead her from the restaurant, letting the hostess, Dawn, know to cancel their order as they passed through the doors. Nick guided Judy to their SUV, where he lifted her up into the passenger seat and slid in next to her, shutting the car door behind him. He then wrapped his arms around Judy once more and let her cry. Nick said nothing as he thought over what had just taken place. He had, in fact, heard the two deer, and had even moved to stand up and confront them, but that's when Judy had started crying. He had then made the split decision that she was more important in that moment. Nick knew that if Judy wasn't so far along in her pregnancy, she probably would have stood and caused an entire scene in the diner due to the nature of her personality, but it was clear that things were starting to get to her. She was always tired and emotional and scared now that her pregnancy was coming to an end; something was bound to make her snap at one point, but Nick had wished that it had been anything rather than what had just taken place.

"Hey, it's okay. I'm right here," Nick murmured as he ran a paw over her back.

Judy let out a loud sob into his shoulder and gripped him tighter. Nick rested his head over hers and felt a pain in his heart for this little bunny. She deserved the world on a silver platter, not this amount of stress and tears.

"I don't care what anyone else says, Rabbit. I love you, and that's all that matters."

Almost an hour later, Judy pulled herself together enough to let go of Nick so that he could drive them home. Once home, Judy went and collapsed down on their bed without a word, while Nick went out again to get her some chocolate from a nearby convenience store. That night, the two didn't end up having a fancy dinner to celebrate their two long years together, but rather stayed in bed, eating chocolate and various things they found in the kitchen as they talked about a variety of topics. It wasn't the perfect evening that Nick had planned for, but it was wonderful for them just the same.

"Hey, Carrots."

"Yeah?"

"Kids cost a lot of bucks, you know?"

"That's the worse pun I've ever heard," Judy laughed, the first time since that afternoon.

Nick smiled at the sound.

"You know you love–"

"Don't even say it," Judy laughed again, while Nick faked a pout and smiled lazily.

"Why not?"

"Because I love you," she grinned. "And that's all that matters."