A/N

This chapter was originally much longer, but after advice from one of my editors I decided to divide it into two. Therefore this chapter is shorter than the original version, and the end might feel abrupt compared to other chapters. Just an FYI.

Chapter 2

A Wilde morning

The next morning, Nick's eyes cracked open to see thin beams of sunlight reflected off the sky-blue wall he was facing. Twisting his neck, he spotted their digital clock on the wooden bedside table.

7am?

His brain checked out immediately and he turned over, instinctively remaining in place. Judy was snuggled up against him. He nuzzled her forehead for a moment before pulling the bedsheets up a bit more.

He dozed for another hour or so before sharp knocking reverberated throughout the house. He awoke immediately, but kept his eyes shut and pulled the sheets above his head. However, the repeated knocking continued for a while – showing no signs of stopping.

He felt the rabbit stretch her legs next to him and smack her lips, before she gazed at him knowingly just under the covers' edge.

'I think you should get that.'

'I'm…' Nick gave a wide yawn, 'not a morning fox.' He took note of their compromised position. 'Especially on this kind of Saturday.'

'We both know who it is.'

The red fox eyed her flatly, gave a stubborn grunt and turned over to face the other way. Judy continued to watch him, and a smile slowly crept across her face as she raised a foot to give his exposed back a quick push.

Nick gave a slight yelp as he slipped out of the bedsheets onto the floor. Judy scrambled out of the sheets and peered over the edge to see the naked fox face down on white carpet.

'You okay, Nick?'

A flick of his bushy tail allayed her fears; enough for Judy to give an embarrassed chuckle.

'How did you manage to get to the edge of a jaguar-sized queen bed?'

You mean how did we manage to get to the edge of a jaguar-sized queen bed.

The answer was pretty obvious to Nick after a moment's thought. After Judy had his shirt off, their passionate lovemaking had his complete and undivided attention. They'd started in the middle of the bed, and ended up wherever they had to go.

'You going to spend all morning sniffing the carpet?'

As the continued knocks echoed loudly in his ears, Nick sighed into the carpet and pushed himself up. He fished a fresh pair of black boxers out of the dresser in front of the bed, and after hastily pulling his tail through the back hole he dragged himself to the front door. Meanwhile, Judy busied herself picking up the mess they made of the room, starting with their discarded clothes.

Now incensed at the persistent noise, he pulled the door open with an annoyed frown, only to be greeted with an overtly innocent smile from an aged vixen, half a head shorter than he was.

'Mom! Ugh… not again…'

'Nicky!' He remained still as she hugged him around the middle, seemingly oblivious to Nick's state of dress and the pungent scent hanging. A green grocery bag she was carrying swung around him and into the back of his left leg, but he kept his balance.

She then strode into the room like she owned the place, pausing between the kitchen and entertainment area, and stretched her neck to look around.

'And where's my adorable daughter-in-law? I really need to kick someone's little round tail at Vexxen.'

A disproportionately loud voice sounded from the laundry in the back.

'You wish, Mary!'

Nick's mother and Judy had become fast friends not long after they were introduced, half a year into Nick's full induction as an officer. She had never directly pushed them to get together, but she made no effort to hide her approval of Nick having the energetic rabbit in his life. After Nick and Judy eventually tied the knot, she had a habit of turning up precisely when it was most embarrassing for Nick. Fortunately, by now, he had become resigned to it.

He shadowed his mother at a slight distance, following her gaze as she stared at their Preystation 4 in one of the TV shelf alcoves. He'd wanted to upgrade, but for some reason the Preystation 5 was notoriously difficult to get at a reasonable price.

'You could play me, Mom.'

Mary gave him a dismissive, flat look.

'That would be just sad.'

She walked over to their kitchen counter and dumped her bag onto it, then backpedalled and grabbed one of their controllers next to the gaming console. After flopping on their couch she powered the console and TV on with the wireless switch.

Nick's ears perked up at the grocery bag, and he heard the distant churning of their washing machine. He slid the bag open and his jaw fell open in delight.

'Blueberry vanilla ice cream?!'

'Mm-hmm,' Mary nodded with self-satisfaction. 'They were on special. Don't see that too often with that brand.'

Nick cradled the five-litre tub like a newborn baby for a moment, before tenderly taking it to their freezer. Mary was already pounding AI opponents into dust on the TV screen as a warm-up, if the over-the-top punches landing and screams were any indication.

He dug through more of the grocery bag, finding several boxes of home-made meals. The largest, filling the bottom, looked particularly appetizing.

'What's this big one?'

'Beetle quiche.'

'Really? You made it all by yourself?'

'It's not like I haven't made quiche before.'

He opened the plastic lid, sniffed, and frowned slightly.

'Wait… is there eggplant in this?'

'Of course.'

Nick's ears flicked back in displeasure. As he turned to look at her, her eyes remained glued to the screen.

'Don't give me that look! You need to keep yourself eating properly if you want to stay in shape as a police officer. God only knows what kind of junk you ate last night.'

Nick sniffed again, his ears lowering with disappointment.

'You could've at least put some blueberries in…'

'Oh for Christ's sake. There's more than one type of berry in the world, dear.' She smiled slyly as she continued to face the TV. 'Besides, you don't to let yourself go. I imagine Judy won't be too thrilled with that prospect.'

There was a sharp "eep" from the bathroom and a faint splash of water. Nick grinned in that direction for a moment before returning his attention to his preoccupied mother.

'Why Mrs. Fox – what a strange list of priorities you have.'

Judy was back a few moments later, fully dressed with her face washed and refreshed. She took one look at Mary on the couch before swiping a controller and hopping in to sit next to the vixen.

'Oh, it's on!'

Nick couldn't help but smile warmly as he watched his wife and mother so naturally playing together. He had long since been forced out of the competitive circle; Judy speed and memorisation once she picked the game up were too much for him to handle. And Mary only worked at the local supermarket a couple of days a week, and had far too much free time on her hands. Not to mention her begging them for a console of her own as a Christmas present – which Nick had reluctantly obliged.

He walked a little closer to see what characters they were using. Judy had picked a kangaroo with a pair of boxing gloves, and Mary was using a big brown bear wearing a belt and ridiculous lopsided top hat. Back when he was a teenager, Nick had got into the earlier iteration of the series, but freely admitted that the main reason he got it was the exotic black-furred vixen on the front cover. Nowadays, it felt strange that the game had brought his wife and mother closer together.

There was a "KO" exclamation from the announcer, and Judy stamped a foot, while Mary laughed triumphantly.

'Can't keep up with me, Cottontail!'

'Not fair! You got a warm up! And Nick was distracting me.'

Judy paused for a moment and slowly looked up at Nick's half-naked form as he continued to watch. Mary similarly gave him an odd look.

Nick couldn't help smirking devilishly as Judy's gaze wandered over his chest and arms, the inside of her ears turning pink.

'Uh… Nick? Could you maybe put a shirt on in the next century?'

'Why? Seems to me like you're enjoying the view, fluff.'

Her eyes scrunched shut as she balled her paws into fists on either side. 'You are seriously distracting me right now!'

Mary nodded in agreement. 'You will get cold, dear.'

Nick harrumphed mockingly as he turned around.

'I'll have you know it is every male's wish to walk around their house on a Saturday morning in their boxers. Especially in Summer.'

'Well, right now it's my wish to beat Mary at least once today,' Judy said sheepishly.

'So… flattery, is it?'

Judy unconvincingly tried to keep her eyes off him, and her lips were sealed tightly, which was enough confirmation for Nick.

Well, well… Flattery, and God's gift to mammality. These women know how to push my buttons.

As he continued to stand there, a scrunched-up paper ball suddenly hit his nose, prompting a yelp as he recoiled. He glared over at his mother, whose gaze ripped away from him as she looked off in the corner innocently.

'Did you just get that from the garbage?'

'I don't know what you're talking about, Nicky.'

Well, you brought blueberry ice cream, so I can forgive you this one time.

His glare softened, before he shrugged and went back to the bedroom. He opened the mirror cabinet and sought out the first shirt he could reach – putting a blue one on. Then he had a quick wash in the bathroom, before going back to the kitchen as he fished out a couple of small bowls and a carton of almond milk.

'You had breakfast yet, Mom?'

'Yes, dear.'

As Nick looked around the kitchen, he thanked the stars the house was already furnished with a ceramic white counter just the right height for him and Judy. There were still some overhead wooden cabinets built into the wall that were too high out of reach for them normally, but they got around that with a fox-sized stepladder and using them for much of their storage.

The fox opened a cabinet in the corner and retrieved a couple of cereal containers – one that had a blue lid for Judy, red for Nick. Surprisingly, most normal cereals they could both eat, but Judy specifically went for those high in fibre – her favourite called "Haybells" that reminded Nick of sugarcubes, but yellow and surprisingly chewy.

Nick filled his bowl up to his satisfaction, and filled Judy's up with a smaller helping of both cereal and almond milk. Being careful not to spill them, he gripped the bowls and placed them on the TV table, going back and fishing two spoons for them. Judy nodded to him gratefully. She soon put down her controller, and Mary took the initiative to play online while Judy kept her bowl in her lap.

Nick took his time as he ate his cereal, watching the video game characters beating each other up in seemingly countless ways. Fighting games felt like one of the most entertaining genres for him to watch rather than play, while still being very quick and sporadic.

After they had both finished, and Judy initiated another round with Mary, he heard his phone ringing from his room, where Judy had left it. He got up gradually to avoid jostling Judy while she was concentrating, and moved to fetch his phone, only to see "Chief Bogo" as the caller. He smirked as he pressed the screen to answer.

Sometimes I think "Chief" really is his first name…

'Good morning, Chief! How's the day treating you?'

'Ugh, do not give me that, Wilde. If I call one of my officers on one of their days off, at this time of the morning, how do you think my day is going?'

His menacing tone did nothing to dissuade Nick's bravado.

'Well, it sounds like you need me to bail you out. What will it be; my silver tongue, or my devilish good looks?'

He heard Bogo growling and muttering away from the phone for a few seconds. When he answered the phone again, his voice was lower and calmer, which prompted Nick to adopt a serious expression.

'We brought in a young lion early this morning. He was loitering around Central station last night, and was found this morning. Normally the ZSS would be handling this, but for some reason, they refused to accept him.'

Nick's brow furrowed with interest. His own experience with the social service was not the best, but he'd never heard of them outright refusing to help someone homeless.

'What was his name?'

'Gregory Sunride.'

Nick frowned for a moment as he thought through all the last names he could think of.

'Sunride? I thought they were a wealthy family. Why would their son be out and homeless?'

'That remains unclear. His family also refused to talk when we contacted them.'

Nick went over the situation in his head one more time.

'So you want me to come in and interview him, right?'

'It is – as you say, Wilde – your "silver tongue". Given your successes with wolf delinquents in the past… and some would-be roof jumpers, I figure you would be interested. Delgato and Johnson, being lions themselves, have already tried, but they're not used to dealing with youngsters whom we suspect have suicidal tendencies.'

Suicidal tendencies?! I hope he's not serious. Ugh. It's Bogo we're talking about.

Nick's initial playful demeanour had now evaporated.

'I'm on my way, Chief.'

Bogo hung up before he could, and Nick drew up straight and searched for something presentable to wear to the station.

'Bogo need our help?' Judy called from the living room.

Nick paused for a moment, and grunted with annoyance at himself.

'Forgot to ask, but he requested me. Anyway, I'm heading over to the station.'

Judy didn't say another word until Nick had showered properly, brushed his fur, and gotten a fresh set of dress blues, along with his dark shades that she was convinced he loved more than her. When he was fiddling with his keys and phone in his pockets in the middle of the room, she spoke up again.

'So Bogo specifically called you? That is interesting…'

'Hmm?' Nick paused to study his wife, who was smiling with some sort of satisfaction he couldn't place. 'What is it, Carrots? Did I leave something on myotherwise spotless face?' He smirked. 'Should I take my shirt off again?'

Judy rolled her eyes, but maintained a smile. Her gaze lingered on the small insignia on his uniform's collar: two arrow heads pointing up, but with a small diamond nestled the bottom, denoting rank of "Detective Grade 1". It was a rank they shared.

'Oh, no. It's just nice that Bogo is asking you for something like this considering how you two started out.'

Nick managed a small smile as he recalled his early days on the force. No matter how much Bogo would rebuff his attempts at humour, the fox's playful demeanour never slipped, much to Bogo's chagrin. For a time, Judy was concerned his job would be at stake if he kept on ribbing Bogo like that. The other officers also were slow to warm up to their new fox officer, as his reputation wasn't shed overnight. However, things had changed when a particular nasty incident occurred between wolves in a rather bloody scuffle.