Here is the 28th installment. Hope you enjoy.
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If you enjoy this, and you are not also reading my original Log Entries series over on my Blog. Why aren't you? (takes a Nick-esk pose of hurt)
A fresh Log Entry went up when Chapter 26 did. ( Scribblings ) Also. I am now posting them on AO3, so you have even less excuse. It's free, ORIGINAL fiction. "An original story told through the log entries of the pilot and captain of an experimental star ship." So check it out!
Stats: 6500+ on AO3 and 10,000+ on FF with 130 reviews! Wow! I'm feeling the love. I really am glad everyone enjoys this story so much.
Sadly, I do not own and thus can claim no rights to Zootopia or its characters. They belong to Disney.
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Monday Morning, WildeHopps residence.
The alarm on Nick's phone began blaring, and with a silent curse, the fox roused himself. He glared at the offending device for a moment before killing the noise and dragging himself into a sitting position. As his brain booted into wakefulness, he realized that he was alone in the bed, and based on the lack of warmth not his, he had been for some time. Listening carefully, he heard her humming coming from the other half of the apartment.
He quickly made his way towards the kitchen, squinting at the curtains open in the living room allowing the early morning sun to flood the apartment. He was half way down the hallway when he froze, looking up as his eyes finally adjusted. Seeing Bonnie and Stu Standing in the hallway heading his direction. Bonnie and Stu both gasped as Nick's tail flew around himself covering him, it being their gasp that drew his gaze upwards. They stood there a moment before he dove back through the bedroom door shutting, or really slamming it, behind him in his rush.
Nick leaned against the other side of the door for several moments trying to get his heart to retreat from the back of his throat. Banging the back of his head against the door lightly. How the hell am I supposed to look at them now? How can they look at me? Good gods, Wilde! They were just starting to get better and you go and do something this stupid. They're farm bunnies. Of COURSE they were up early to stop by for a visit. He thought to himself.
Mumbling to himself, Nick stood. "Well, first. You have work today. So get dressed."
Bonnie's voice coming through the door. "Nick, dear. I assume you forgot that we would be visiting this morning."
Face-pawing, Nick shook his head. "I remember, just wasn't expecting you this early. I forgot that you all get up before the sun on most days." Mentally kicking himself. Humor is not appropriate right now, Nick! He thought before responding again. "I am so sorry Bonnie. This is so very much not the impression I wanted to give you."
Bonnie's muffled voice coming through the door. She almost sounded entertained. "You have nothing to be sorry for, Nick. If anything, from what I saw, I can understand some of what Judy sees in you."
Judy's voice coming from the Kitchen. "Oh my gods, MOM!"
Bonnie's slightly more muffled voice came through the door. "What, bun bun. He is clearly quite fit and well endowed. That is nothing to be ashamed of."
Nick could almost see the mortified look and beet red ears of his mate as she responded, causing him to smile despite the situation. "Mooooom!"
The even more muffled voice of Stu carried through the door. "I have to say, I think he would be good for some farm work when you visit. Though I think you'll need to keep him away from Ervia, Than, Flower, and Heinric. I mean. He does look big dear. Are you sure he isn't too much for you... size wise?"
Judy's shout was loud and shocked even Nick. "HOLY SCREAMING BOILED BEETS! What is wrong with you two‽"
Bonnie, clearly enjoying Judy's discomfort, responded. "Come now, Judy. It isn't as if we have suppressed the discussion of sex and sexuality in the burrow. Sure, we're just opening up to adding species other than hares to the equation, but objectively I can see how Nick is a very fine specimen for a fox."
Nick could hear them walk away as Judy sputtered and both her parents chuckled. Nick chuckled himself at that. "I'll be out in a few minutes." he called through the door.
"Okay sweetie." Bonnie responded from deeper in the hallway.
Nick looked at himself in the closet mirror. It wasn't that he was bad looking, he was in the best shape of his life thanks to Judy and the ZPD. Still, his mother-in-law seeing him in nothing but his fur was not how he expected to start his Monday. He was just thankful he hadn't had morning wood. Their rather open attitude about it made him wonder if they wouldn't appreciate a gift certificate to the Oasis. Grinning to himself, he recognized that would need some sounding out, but he would one hundred percent have to make sure it was for a day he and Judy were there as well. The fun of seeing Judy's face would be worth a week on the couch.
Quickly getting dressed and making sure his uniform was to Judy's standards, he exited the bedroom he shared with her again. This time he didn't encounter anyone in the hallway, slowly making his way towards the rest of the apartment. He hears Stu speaking.
"Well, just tell us when you are moving and we'll send along a squad or two to help."
Judy's response had a clear smile in it as he approached. "Thanks Dad. We will be sure to take advantage of it."
Nick stepped into the kitchen and dining area, slipped up behind Judy sitting at the table with her back to the door facing her parents, and pulled her back to him, placing a kiss between her ears. "Morning, Carrots. How's the most beautiful bunny in the world doing this morning."
Reaching a paw pack to stroke Nick's muzzle. "Pretty good, all considered." Giving her parents a daggered look. "How's the most handsome fox on the planet doing? Did you sleep well?"
"I did. Though I missed you when I woke, and then had a bit of a shock that finished waking me up with an adrenaline rush. Still gonna need my coffee though."
"Well, my mom did say that you were clearly not all the way awake when they saw you step out of the door."
Looking up at Stu and Bonnie across the table. "I want to apologize, again. When I woke up and she wasn't next to me, my first instinct was to locate her and make sure she is okay."
Bonnie waved her paw as if to wave such trivialities away as unimportant. "Don't worry about it Nick."
Stu nodding. "This is your home, and we are here earlier than even Judy expected. I do have to say, you are in quite good shape. Though, as our only experience with foxes has been Gideon, and now a few others, which we have only met over a meal. You might be exceptional, or just average."
Judy grinned. "Oh, he's very exceptional."
"Careful, Fluff. You'll actually embarrass me."
Judy laughed lightly. "That'll be the day."
"It's possible."
Bonnie smiled. "So, you weren't embarrassed by baring it all to us?"
"Embarrassed... Not exactly. Nearly so. Realizing the situation I was in and that it might embarrass Judy. Yes. I'd walk through Central Park in the fur for her, but only for her."
"I see. Well, you certainly have quite the bit of muscle on you, Nick." Turning to Judy. "Is he really as big as my impression is?"
Judy grinned. "Oh, yes. What Nick is packing, should almost be illegal."
Nick's eyes widened and his smirk fell as he realized what the conversation was about. "Hold on a second. Carrots! You are not actually discussing that, with your mother, are you? Your Dad present as well?"
"Am I discussing you, and us, with my parents. Yes. Yes, I am in fact doing just that. Yes, I get embarrassed at first, but I also get over it. It's why I'm referred to as the prude in the borrow. That said, it's only because I get flustered initially. Don't' know why, I just do. Unless I start it. Told you before. As a family, we're very open about such things. It is one of many reasons why there are so few Hopps does and bucks with pregnancies to their names before they are in a serious relationship. Now, kits after marriage is preferred, but... There are plenty of the family that get married with a liter already birthed, or at least pregnant at the time. You and I are honestly in the minority in that vein. Being that we were not at least expecting when we got married."
"But of course. So, should we discuss mandatory cuddle time?"
Bonnie perked up. "What's that?"
Judy's blush exploded. "Oh, Uhm... That's..."
Grinning, Nick snuggled down with his muzzle next to her neck. "That's when we tie the knot and then have to stay that way for a while."
Bonnie nodded. "Oh. Gideon and his mate mentioned that. You call it mandatory cuddle time? That seems so romantic."
Despite her blush, Judy smiled. "It is. We talk, discuss anything from an active case to differences in culture. It was during MCT that I learned about the claiming bite, and we discussed taking that step."
Nick chuckled. "Only you would turn a phrase that you came up with, and now all of our friends use, and then make an acronym out of it."
Stu shook his head. "I kinda get it. The bite. At least I think I do. How it is a show of ultimate trust between you. But did you really need to do it?"
Nick hugged Judy, a purr slipping from him for a moment as he snuggled her. "Stu. It is something that I have a hard time describing to you. The feelings that it illicits in me for Judy. That she claimed me. It is beyond love, beyond devotion. I am fully imprinted on her. There could never be another for me, ever. I know her scent so well I could track her across the city if I really had to. I was already hers, one hundred and fifty percent. I was more than content with where our relationship was.
Judy on the other hand wanted to make sure that I would never, ever, doubt her commitment to me. We talked about it quite a bit actually. I give her credit for recognizing that it was a huge thing for me, and not something to do lightly. Finally, we agreed after hours and hours worth of discussion on it. She wanted to ensure I truly knew, and to be honest. I really needed the assurance, because after the life I lived before Judy. I really don't deserve her, so I was forever worried in the back of my mind that she would realize that."
Judy smiled warmly up at him. "Nick, if anyone is undeserving of the other, that would be me of you." Turning to her parents. "This is perhaps the one sticking point in our relationship. Even now, he doesn't really think he deserves me. I knew he had those irrational doubts. He'd voiced as much during one of our counseling sessions. I knew that he had nothing to worry about, but his life up to that point had taught him otherwise."
"Which is part of why I do not deserve her."
"My point..." Judy elbowed Nick behind her getting a grunt from him. "The only way I could truly convince him, for him to accept that I wasn't going to come to my senses and leave him one day, or find a burly buck while we were on patrol and dump him. The only way I could convince him, could get through to him. To let him know that, no matter what his doubts and fears said, I would never leave him. Was the bite. I am not going to lie, I was scared, but I trust Nick with my life day in and day out. I knew he wouldn't actually hurt me, even in the throws of passion."
"So it was put on me to decide, but I was always afraid. Then the revenge plot got us."
Judy frowned deeply, then looked up at Nick lovingly. "Yeah. That could have been the end of it, but it just proved what I always knew about you. You could never hurt me, no matter what."
Bonnie's frown mirrored and then exceeded Judy's. "What, revenge plot?"
Nick smirked. "Just some of Bellweathers cronies and sycophants. Got themselves some Night Howler pellets and a gun. Shot me, Judy, and a few other officers."
Bonnie and Stu gasped, Stu struggling to stay upright, as Judy shook her head and glanced at Nick. "See." Pointing to her parents and their shocked and horrified expressions. "That reaction is exactly why I didn't tell them. Mom! Dad! Calm down! Yes, both Nick and I, along with several other officers went savage. The larger officers were quickly tranq'd, and the would be attackers apprehended. All while the rest stared at the feral bunny and fox circling each other, and then trying to protect each other from the big mammals that had trapped them in a conference room. Finally they just waited until we calmed down, watching through the window. We snuggled up and fell asleep. At which point they tranq'd us and got us to the hospital for treatment."
Bonnie looked on in shock. "You mean. Even savage, he didn't attack you?"
Judy grinned. "Nope! And I never ran from him. I've seen the video. I chittered angrily at him and he yipped and growled at me, but it was essentially a pair of savages arguing over who was going to protect whom. It was after that incident that we had to go to counseling. We opted, since we were partners, and were married at that point, to also go jointly. The department was paying for it, so why not take advantage. I guess they thought it was kinda odd the way we reacted."
Stu, gripping the side of the table. "So... You were hit by NightHowler, went savage, and yet the two of you were too busy trying to protect each other to attack each other or others? That's... That isn't how I thought it worked."
Nick chuckled. "That is pretty much what the councilor, the doctors at the hospital, and everyone else said. They could only conclude that our bond was so deep that it had entwined with our instincts and therefore even in our savage states, we recognized each other as our mutual mate. If someone had tried to attack us, we would have defended ourselves and our mate, but otherwise no. We were a tiny fox and bunny surrounded by other massive predators and prey. Our first thought was protect our mate."
"So, after many weeks of talking, and him agreeing. I, in the heat of the moment, took things into my own paws and initiated the bite."
"In that moment, I simply responded, on instinct. It wasn't until after, when I was coming down that I realized what happened. I smelled and tasted blood, when I moved and my shoulder screamed, then I saw the blood on her shoulder and what had happened hit me, hard.
She was watching me with this smile on her face. It was content, satisfied. That look and the realization of what had happened hit me again as reality sank in and knocked the air from my lungs. She had claimed me. Not the other way around, and I think for us, it had to happen that way.
There was no way my subconscious fears were ever going to let me find the right moment, because I didn't feel worthy of her to make such a claim. In that moment though. All those fears, all the doubts, were burned away in the cleansing fires of love for her I felt wash through me. Despite knowing everything consciously, I had fears I was not going to get past. Doubt over my worth and worthiness for her. But then... she chose me, she claimed me, in the most literal and primal way possible for a foxes mate to do so."
"He started crying."
"They were tears of unrepentant joy, and I still tear up sometimes when I think about that fact that you claimed me. I don't think I will ever feel worthy of this bunny, but I will never again have fears that she will leave me." Nick held her tight and marked the top of her head.
Bonnie smiled warmly. "That is truly the sweetest and most romantic thing I think I have ever heard. So the bite is not just about trust, but the statement of, I chose you and no other, ever?"
"That's right. Legal marriages can be dissolved in divorce. Scent marks wash off over time. But a claiming bite. That doesn't just wash off, and no amount of legal wrangling can take it away either." Nick glanced at the time on his watch as it buzzed at him. "And that is my, get your tail out the door, alarm." Kissing Judy. "Behave my love. I'm going to give Bogo the proposal for the task force today. I'll also call Jacob and tell him we will be wanting to take those apartments, after I confer with Mike. I expect they'll want to take the other ground floor unit until the townhouse comes available."
Nodding, Judy smiled and gave him a kiss on the side of his muzzle, then running her chin up the top of his muzzle to between his ears, marking him in return. "That's what I gathered from Lizz. Now get going, or you will have to suffer with break room coffee."
"Bonnie. Stu. It was a pleasure seeing you again, despite my bought of exhibitionism that I hope you will forgive."
Stu laughed. "Not a problem, Nick. With how many kits we have, that was hardly the worst morning display we have seen."
Grinning, Bonnie nodded. "Exactly. And you clearly have nothing to be ashamed of. I'm sure Judy enjoys that view most mornings, when company isn't here."
Chuckling, Nick kissed the side of Judy's muzzle as she groaned. "That she does, but I need to head out as Judy suggested." Giving her another kiss. "You all have a great day. Judy, call me if anything comes up." With one more kiss, he headed for the door, grabbing his keys, wallet, and jacket.
As the door closed, Bonnie smiled at Judy. "You mark each other often, don't you?"
Judy nodded. "We do. It's just something we do, not really even thinking about it."
Stu shook his head. "Serendipity, Judy. You two really do love each other. I just... I'm so sorry I refused to see it. When are you going to come back to the burrow?"
Judy smiled and patter her belly lovingly. "Once these little monsters are born and ready for travel."
Bonnie nodded. "Make sense. Last thing you want is to go into labor on the train or the road if you drove."
Nodding, Judy laughed. "That would definitely not be ideal."
Judy and her parents calling a Zuber some time later to take them to Therus for breakfast.
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A/N Keep the reviews and comments coming, it's making Muse happy, which lets me work on this and other things. And also remember, if you see issues, misspellings, etc... Let me know in PM, I'm under no illusion of being perfect and want to fix those things I miss.
If you are truly enjoying this, you can check out my original work by popping over to my blog, Scribblings. You can link to it here: ( Direct: dcballard (remove the spaces) the forwarding is misbehaving.) and then select Scribblings Blog ( Scribblings ).