"They're getting married tomorrow?! Didn't they say they'd been dating less than a year?" I asked. Judy shrugged thoughtfully.
"Sure, but they've been partners for longer than that. So it's not just the 'significant other' relationship they're building off of." Still, that sure seemed fast. I nodded anyway.
"And Bogo's okay with us attending?" I asked. Judy nodded.
"Lucy said she'd cleared it with him. It won't take very long anyway, it sounds like it's just a civil ceremony."
"That explains the two-week vacation, I guess." I slumped back into the couch, the wheels in my mind still spinning.
Judy gave a little cough, just the tiniest little ahem you can imagine.
"What's that, Carrots?" I asked, shaking myself from all thoughts of matrimony to face her again. She looked very hesitant; her ears were red and lowered, and she couldn't take her eyes away from her paws, which she twisted in her lap.
"Could we, um," she began, her paw-wringing picking up pace. "Could we go back to, ah, what we were doing before the call?"
That brought me back to earth with a resounding crash, and I felt my own ears grow hot as well. Sly Nick, however, took back the reins.
"Before we were interrupted, you mean?" I asked smoothly, inching my way closer to Judy. She nodded. "Where were we, Fluff? Any ideas?" She looked up briefly as I continued to get closer and closer.
"Was I…here?" I asked, punctuating the question with a kiss to her neck. She shivered, and I remembered acutely that day at the Natural History Museum, the way I'd gripped her neck in my jaws…
"Or maybe…here?" I asked again, this time kissing her ear gently, and she positively shook.
"Definitely getting closer," she murmured. I chuckled, and lifted her chin with a finger.
"Ah, I remember," I said, gazing—probably pretty stupidly, all things considered—into her eyes.
This time we pressed against each other as our lips met. You'll forgive me not being able to describe much beyond that—I was otherwise occupied.
After a healthy amount of time (and perhaps, just a bit of mutual petting), we broke apart. Judy was ball of energy, chest heaving and ears quivering.
"I've never done anything like that before," she said, twisting her paws in her lap again, though this time out of delight rather than nerves.
"And that's probably about as much as we should do for a while, too." I said. She looked up sharply. "Don't get me wrong, I…I am enjoying it. Don't you worry, sweetheart." Her cheeks and ears colored slightly at that epithet. "We just shouldn't rush things, physically at least." Judy eventually seemed to agree to that as some of the passion from our activities began to ebb.
"That makes sense," she said. She stood up from the couch, then stopped. "Nick," she began. "I know you said we should go slow, but…you could sleep in my bed. If you wanted. It's better than the couch!" She began to get more and more animated as the concept gripped her.
"Well, I'm sure it is," I replied, laughing a little at her enthusiasm. "The couch usually doesn't come with a lovely bunny to snuggle." I stretched my arms and popped my back. It had been a long day, hadn't it? A long few weeks, really. Just feeling the stress build and build and now most of it seemed…gone.
"Lead the way, Judy."
…
If I thought it was nice waking up in Judy's lap, then waking up with her in my arms was bliss. I suppose it may have had something to do with the handsome fox curled around her, but she was still fast asleep.
"Wake up, Carrots," I said softly. "We've got to get to work." She stirred lightly, groaning a little as she began to stretch. Drowsily she opened her eyes.
"You're not allowed to sleep anywhere else now, Slick," she said, a small smile forming. "I forbid it." I gave a chuckle that shook us both.
"Is that so?" I asked. She nodded, curling back up into me.
"Yes," came her muffled reply. "You're too comfy." I shifted slightly, bringing my paw up to brush Judy's ears.
"I was going to find an apartment in your complex when my lease ran out."
"Well look at that," she said, lifting her head back up to grin at me again. "You found an apartment in my complex! And it even comes with a roommate!"
"Let's walk before we run, Fluff," I said, feeling just the slightest bit uneasy now. "We do really need to get going, though." Judy turned around to check her phone.
"Cripes! We're going to be late if we don't hurry!"
I could feel Bogo's smug, self-satisfied smile burning a hole in my forehead as we made our way to our seat in the bull pen, my eyes determinedly staring at the floor. We weren't late, per se, but relative to Judy's usual standard of being ridiculously early to work every day, it was as if we were showing up two hours late in the same clothes from last night. As we took our seat, Judy looked around curiously at the disquiet we'd caused in our wake.
"What's that about?" she asked. "We're not late."
"We might as well be walking in holding paws, though," I shot back under my breath. "Over half the precinct has money on us getting together." Judy whipped around, a scandalized look on her face.
"You're kidding me!" I shook my head wearily.
"Unfortunately, no," I replied. "I heard it from Clawhauser myself." Judy buried her face in her paws.
"That's enough rabble-rousing for one morning! Quiet down!" Bogo shouted, and the room eventually grew quiet. "First off, Hopps and Wilde, you have somewhere to be. Come see me in my office once you get back." Judging by the blank stares Bogo was getting from nearly everyone else in the room, I figured it was a safe bet that few, if any, of them were privy to Dan and Lucy's impending marriage.
Slipping out of our shared seat, I gave Bogo a little salute and we began to make our way out.
"And don't forget to give Wolfard and Fangmeyer my congratulations!" he called out after us as we left the bull pen. Unsurprisingly, the chatter sprang back up as he said this.
"What does Bogo want with us after the ceremony?" Judy asked as we made our way to the motor pool. I winced.
"Remember the ride-along?" She nodded. "He told me that you and I were—how did he put it—'emotionally-constipated mammals' that would eventually figure out our feelings towards each other." My tail bristled slightly at the memory of that cramped car ride. "I think he knows we've figured it out."
"He's almost spooky," Judy said, fastening her seat belt and turning Z-240 on. "Though it makes sense, I guess. He was a really good detective before he made chief."
The Savannah Central Circuit Court actually lay kitty corner to the precinct, being something of the civic center of the district. It was a big marble edifice, with lots of pillars and fiddly bits and quotes from famous statesmammals everywhere.
However, Dan and Lucy were not getting married in Savannah Central—they were getting married in a much smaller courthouse in the Rainforest District.
Frankly, the Rainforest District was a place I still tried to avoid. Real pretty and all, but just constantly either humid or pouring rain. Not to mention our encounter with Manchas and the hundred-plus foot drop we nearly died at.
Really, it was the almost dying part, though. I could take the humidity. Still, we had a car this time, one that had four wheels and a roof and didn't top out at 10 miles per hour. And I really did like Dan and Lucy.
The cruiser came to a stop.
"Can't take it any further," Judy said, turning the car off. "We'll have to take the tram."
"Of course," I groaned, heaving myself from my seat.
"C'mon!" My partner looped her arm through mine before I knew what was going on and dragged me bodily into a tram. "Oh, I've wanted to come back here for so long," she said, leaning a little against me as the tram began to ascend.
"Really? The place we nearly got mauled to death before nearly falling to our deaths?" She gave me a look.
"It's the place I met the real you," she said quietly. I sighed.
"Oh, Carrots," I said, taking her paw in mine while we were away from prying eyes. "You really are a sentimental rabbit."
I suppose the Rainforest District wasn't all bad. When you broke out of the lower canopy, and the morning mists were still hanging around, it was actually quite beautiful.
I would have been content in a dump with Judy curled up against me, though.
It didn't take long to arrive at the top, where the much smaller (and in my opinion, much more interesting) Rainforest Courthouse awaited. It was fashioned to look like some sort of ancient temple—all square blocks and vines hanging from every corner.
Dan and Lucy were waiting for us inside the lobby, along with another wolf and two other tigers. The tiger pair looked to be Lucy's parents, but the other wolf certainly wasn't old enough to be anything other than a sibling or cousin to Dan.
"Looks like you don't need us as witnesses after all," I said, smirking as I moved in to shake Dan's paw and give him a hug. He was wearing a nice collared shirt with a plain tie, and Lucy had dressed in a white sundress.
"We just needed an excuse for Bogo to let you two off," Lucy said, kneeling down to embrace Judy before turning to envelop me in her arms. "We're so glad you could make it."
"Congrats, Fang," I said, beginning to wonder if I was going to run out of air. Thankfully she let me go after another moment, and turned to introduce us to the others.
"Mom, Dad, this is Nick Wilde and Judy Hopps, friends from the precinct." Her father gave us a warm nod. Dan grabbed the other wolf by the elbow.
"And this rascal is my little brother, Sam," he said, ruffling the fur between his brother's ears as he did so. The other wolf waved his paws about to get him to stop.
"Could your parents not make it?" Judy asked. Dan's face tightened ever so slightly.
"Eh, the pack's never been super on board with me dating a tiger. They're the main reason we're doing this sort of 'on the fly'," he said, gesturing to the courthouse around him.
"Oh, I didn't mean—" Judy began, a look of absolute contrition on her face. Dan cut her off.
"Nah, it's fine. The ones who count are here, right?" He took Lucy's paw and kissed her cheek tenderly. Judy looked about ready to melt at that.