"It's open!"

Once the cheery voice on the other side of the door confirmed it was unlocked, the fox in his police uniform slowly opened it up and walked in. A long and exhausted sigh was what he huffed as he took his first steps back into front living room. After the day that he had, he was glad to be back at the place he called home.

After closing the door behind him, Nick strolled from there into the dining room, one paw holding what he had brought home behind his back. Judy was setting napkins and forks for the two of them when he found her, and the scent of something amazing was coming from the kitchen not too far away.

"Welcome home," the rabbit greeted with the warm smile she always gave him when he returned.

The spirits of the fox, weary from the events of the day, were brightened up just by getting to see his bunny after his shift at the ZPD was over. "Gosh, what a day," he remarked with another sigh.

"What happened?" Judy wished to know.

"Had to pursue someone trying to speed away," Nick told her, recounting the most eventful portion of his day on the force. A leopard got pulled over at a traffic stop, and when Fangmeyer got his information and went back to his car, the guy, well, just took off like that."

"Oh, wow," the leporine responded as she continued to get the table ready for the dish she had made for the two of them. During her time at the ZPD, she herself had to deal with quite a few runners, both on paw and by vehicle, so she knew all about that scenario. "How far did he try to go?"

"Uh, from Savannah Central into Tundratown, so past the district lines," the vulpine answered. "Folks could've gotten seriously hurt out there and it was 'cause the guy decided to run. All because of a warrant from awhile ago, he told us once we got to him."

"Well, it's a good thing nobody was hurt and that everything went safely for you and everyone else out there," she replied with relief before coming back over to where he was.

Nick smiled back at her, turning himself around so she didn't what was still being held behind his back. "I'm just glad to be back home with you, Carrots."

"Glad your home, too, Slick. Skye gave me this recipe of hers and thought I'd give it a whirl. How does pasta primavera sound after a long day?"

"That sounds pretty good to me, Fluff," he answered with delight. "Oh, and by the way, I got you these." He held the paw holding the bouquet of flowers he got for her out in front of her. "You didn't think I'd forget about Valentine's Day, did you?"

Judy's eyes lit up at the pretty red and light pink roses Nick was holding. "Oh, these flowers are beautiful," she said, taking in their aroma before taking a petal from one of the flowers off and taking a bite of it.

As she smiled back and nodded her head, Nick looked back at her in surprise. "Uh..." was all he could say, uncertain as to why she had just tasted one of the flowers from the bouquet.

"You didn't know?" Judy asked him.

"Know about what?"

"About these flowers. Rabbits love the taste of rose petals, especially red ones. It's kinda like a thing back home that a rabbit tastes the flowers from a bouquet given to them by someone they love."

Nick, quite honestly, hadn't known about this before. The flowers he normally got her every other Valentine's Day were a variety, so he didn't know about this custom until he surprised with that bouquet of roses. "You bunnies..." he chuckled.

"I'm gonna go put the rest of these in a vase," Judy said merrily. "And right after that, it's time for us to sit down and eat."

"Just some of that pasta you made for me is fine," the vulpine replied. "I dunno if rose petals would sit too well in a fox's stomach."

The bunny turned back and laughed before making her way towards the kitchen, proceeding to search for something to place the flowers in so they would live longer.

Judy searched through the cupboards she kept the dinnerware and such in, standing on her tippy-toes and retrieving an empty glass jar from the shelf. She carefully took it over to the sink and started to fill it with water, taking the flowers and placing them inside of it.

"There we go," she said to herself before heading back to the cupboard door to close it.

Exhaling another sigh, Nick slowly strolled from where he had been standing to the kitchen. He enveloped his arms around Judy, who was just starting to grab the empty plates to place the supper she made for the two of them on.

"I'm sorry, Fluff," he apologized.

"Why are you sorry?" Judy wondered naturally, since his sudden apology didn't seem sensical.

"Because I wanted to give you a great Valentine's Day today," explained Nick, in wrapping his arms from around her. "I wanted to be able to get you something really special and be able to spend the day with you. But then I ended up having duty and that put a bit of a wrinkle in my plans. Given how busy places are right now, it was pretty darn lucky that there was still flowers at Mr. Otterton's shop when I got there."

"Nick," the doe responded, "you know you can't control when the schedule's when either of us are on duty. We're police officers, and you know that crime never takes a day off."

"I know, it's just... I'll tell you what, Carrots. If all goes well next year, I'm gonna make up for it with the best Valentine's Day presents you've ever seen. I'm talking the largest bouquet of followers, the biggest box of chocolates. Heck, I'll throw a lasso around the moon and pull it down if that's what it takes to see a smile on my bunny's face."

Judy smiled back at him, shaking her head. "You know don't have to get me anything on Valentine's Day," she said sincerely from her heart. "It's just another day on the calendar, only this one's a real favorite for all the candy companies of the world. You oughta know a thing or two about how commercial it is. I'm sure back in the day when you were selling those pawpsicles, you had some kind of sales pitch for marketing them on Valentine's Day."

"Yeah, I did," admitted Nick, smirking upon remembering. "But I just was kinda disappointed, I guess, when I couldn't get you anything special. I mean, I know I brought some flowers, but it's not extravagant. You're my world, Judy, and for all the happiness you've brought into my life these last few years, I felt that I could at least return the favor and get you something really spectacular. You know?"

"I don't need extravagant or spectacular," answered Judy. She held up a paw for him to see it, the diamond ring on her finger shimmering in the slightest manner as the reflection of the light above them casted onto it. "Us being together and there for each other is the greatest gift any mammal could ask for. Better than any chocolates or flowers in the world."

The fox glared down at his paw and at the wedding band he wore on his finger, smiling back at his bunny. "Yeah, you're right."

"Aren't I always right about these things, Slick?" she returned with a smirk. She then walked up to him and affectionately put her arms around his waist, holding closely onto him as she embraced him.

Nick honestly couldn't have agreed more with Judy's sentiment she told him a moment ago. The gifts mammals around the city were rushing to get their spouses for Valentine's Day were nothing compared to the gift of the love that the two of them unconditionally shared for one another.

It was a gift that could never be taken from them.

One that brought both of them equal joy every day of the year, and would continue to bring them joy for the rest of their lives.

Author's Note: Happy Valentine's Day! It's the perfect time to write something sweet and fluffy, so I hope y'all liked this short story I came up with for this holiday. :)

As always, your thoughts, good and bad, are always appreciated. Don't have anything else much to say this time around, so, once again, I just wanna give a quick "Thank you" to everyone that's been reading and keeping up these stories of mine. It really means a lot to me.

'Til next time, everybody! :)