Chapter Text
Pushing through the revolving doors into the darkened square, Nick paused for a moment outside the ZPD. After four hours of overtime with what seemed to be the largest stack of paperwork ever assembled by mammal kind, Nick was glad to have the chance to just stand for a moment and inhale the crisp night's air as it tingled his nostrils, before softly soothing his entire being, the tensions slipping off as easily as a coat.
Heading off into the amber tinted night, Nick took in the strange stillness of everything. The raging rivers of mammals had reduced to mere trickle, all heads down into their phones or staring off with vacantly glazed over eyes that take in nothing and mere walk on their automated path to their usual haunts and homes. The noises of bustling pawsteps, cars horns, ringtones, shouted greeting, and incensed accusations had vanished, the low hum of the streetlights being the only note played this quite monotonous part of Zootopia's usually vibrant soundtrack. The explosive colour of day had been transmuted into a more subdued beauty of night which, even with the benefits of night vision, Nick readily appreciated, having spent enough nights out in the open to recognise its wonder.
Nick's legs led him on his own automated path, letting his mind warm up after hours of tedious information having been its only lacklustre nourishment. He tried to think back when he last ate, wading through the spreadsheets and crime reports before finally landing on the doughnut which Judy left on his desk before leaving. It was a nice parting gift, with blueberry jam bursting out in every direction on his first bite, staining his muzzle and paws, which Nick gleefully lapped up.
It had been a while since Nick had been without his ever-present bunny partner. It had been a running joke in the office that they were joined at the hip when they first were partnered together. Not only were they on every case together, but their desks were right beside one another, they had lunch together, got spotted going to the pictures together, got ribbed and asked probing questions when Nick was seen leaving Judy's place on more than one occasion. The couple jokes were ZPD daily routine, even when Judy and Nick revealed the true nature of their partnership, everyone laughed. Even Bogo let out a snort of derision. It was only when Judy's anxious face turned into her trademark steely gaze and calmly stated that she wasn't joking that the laughter abruptly stopped. Any remnants of doubt were gone when Nick took hold of her paw and looked up at everyone, the same daring expression on his usual relaxed face.
In hindsight, although the jokes were sometimes a bit too crass for Judy's, and sometimes even Nick's liking, they made the acceptance of their relationship at the ZPD a lot easier. Even Bogo, notorious for his dislike of work relationships, let it slide, stating in characteristic bluntness that he trusted 'Hopps to keep everything professional between them at work'. Nothing changed really, other than the fact that they were stuck together even more than they had been before and the jokes became interested questions.
But even so, after being together for so long, it was an incredibly strange feeling for Nick to be walking home alone. He kept expecting to hear the pawsteps of the tired but still joyous bunny walking beside him, probably listening to Gazelle while holding his paw. He almost could feel her soft fur entwined with his.
It wasn't as if Judy hadn't a valid reason to be away and he for being 'the responsible one', a role which he was still finding an odd to adjust to, even after becoming a police officer. Indeed, after months of vacillating with work and general procrastination, Judy had finally got her parents to come up to Zootopia and get the business of their blessing ceremony in Bunnyburrow done and dusted. Nick had been sprawled out on the sofa many times while Judy paced the floor on the phone with her mum or dad trying to get this whole thing sorted, he was just delighted that this ongoing soap opera was nearing its end.
After bimbling through the streets, Nick finally reached the flats, the building lit like a beacon in storm, calling all weary travellers to it. After a swift lift ride up, Nick strolled down the corridor and, after fumbling with his keys, pushed the door open and swiftly flung onto the sofa burying his head within the cushions.
Mulling over whether to slip into sweet unconsciousness, the sound of pawsteps softly approaching his made his ears twitch and a smirk to creep around the corners of his face. The sofa bounced a little as Judy hopped onto its edge before lying down on top of him, with her entire being only taking up his torso. Feeling her little frame on his back, her small nose breathing him in, her leg reaching down and entwining with his own, Nick felt complete, as if that lost limb had returned, making him whole.
Turning her head softly, Judy gently whispered to his ear; "Good day then?"
"The. Best". Judy chuckled at Nick's halfhearted and half-muffled sarcasm.
"I'm so glad to hear that. It is a shame though, 'cos if it had been a bad day I might have had something special for you."
With that Judy sprang off the now bemused Nick, who shot up like a bamboo, his eyes wide at the prospect of losing something he didn't know was being offered. Judy stood at the edge of the sofa, her cunning, violet eyes glinting with glee at Nick's bewildered look. Nick quickly composed himself into his trademark half-lidded nonchalance, attempting to capture that elusive prize.
"Oh it was the worst." Nick replied, hamming it up for her. Judy smirked. "Oh was it now?" Judy replied, folding her arms and resting on her weight on her back paw, the classic 'I totally don't believe you pose'. "How bad was it?" Judy questioned, spinning on her heel as she did so before slowly making her way towards the kitchen. Nick hauled himself off the sofa to follow.
"Oh yeah, you don't even know the half of it. I mean, Bogo dropped a massive pile of paperwork on my desk, and then I had to give Clawhauser the Heimlich manoeuvre to stop him from chocking on a doughnut, I had to save the mayor from a gang of raccoons, and… and the coffee machine wasn't working. Utter mayhem!"
Having climbed up her small step so she could see over the counter, Judy remained facing away, slowly making a cup of green tea in that forced slowness that betrays the façade of the act. Nick slipped his arms between her, holding her against him as he nuzzled the side of her face his muzzle.
"Oh that sounds really bad." Judy replied, still not looking at him but hamming it up right back. "In that case, since it was such a bad day you're probably too exhausted to get the special something."
Even though Nick could feel her giggling, Nick knew when to play the drama queen. "Oh, how you could you treat me so Judy!" Nick said, his voice going an octave higher and throwing his paw in the air in mock despair. "A poor, defenceless fox being thrust in the hazardous world of overtime being promised some delectable treat from a bunny as charming as yourself only to have it snatched away, is there no justice in the–".
Mid-speech, Judy span around, grabbed him by the tie, and tugged him in for a kiss. Momentarily startled by her forcefulness, Nick relaxed into the kiss, reciprocating and enveloped his arms around her, holding her in a soft embrace.
There was something revitalising about Judy, no matter how down or exhausted Nick became, Judy always managed to perk him back up, whether it be a kiss, a hug, or occasionally scratching behind his right ear, a weak spot that Judy used sparingly but maliciously. It wasn't as if Nick didn't know and do the same things for Judy. There were many an occasion when walking through the ZPD Nick would gently rung one of his claws up Judy's back, making her shiver in ecstasy before turning in fury and threatening to punch him. It was still worth it, despite the bruises.
"Alright that's enough you" Judy said, pushing the hungry fox away. "I've got to get ready anyway. There's some leftovers in the microwave if you want. I'm just gonna get changed." Any protest Nick might have had evaporated as his stomach snarled at the mere mention of food. Judy giggled and stepped into the bedroom, leaving Nick holding his belly and blushing under his fur.
Nick swiveled the microwave dial without checking what was in there and flopped down on the sofa, the time marked by the growing grumblings of his gut. Soon the microwave pinged and Nick brought out a piping hot plate of veggie stir fry. Popping the plate at the table, and grabbing a pair of chopsticks, Nick wolfed down the plate, placating his body's need for sustenance and ignoring the stinging heat on his tongue.
Just as he finished the last morsel, Judy reappeared complete in ZPD uniform, rubbing the badge with the back of her paw to a gleaming shine.
"Being fancy, are you?" Judy remarked, gesturing to the chopsticks resting by his side.
"Hey, you're just jealous you can't use them." Judy brow knotted with frustration. Watching Judy try to use chopsticks was like watching Clawhauser trying not to eat donuts, both ended messily.
"How was the family anyway? You finally get anything sorted?" Nick asked, quickly changing conversation.
"It was great!" Judy exclaimed as her face lit up, a wide smile instantaneously covering her face cheek to cheek. "Mum and dad even brought up a few of my nephew and nieces. It's been so long since I've seen any of any of them my family so it was good to see a few of them."
"A few?"
"Well, only a couple really. You could hardly get 275 siblings in here!" Judy laughed.
"Nice, so how many of the clan did you squeeze in here? Ten? Twenty?"
"Yeah, and about twenty kits as well. It was like a little burrow in here!"
The thought of forty bunnies jammed packed into their flat, with twenty young and hyperactive bunnies hopping, swinging, and running everywhere shot through Nick's mind. He was surprised that everything was still neat and tidy, probably neater than it usual. Judy had definitely done the whole 'parent clean' to impress them or at least make us look halfway civilised, with all the pizza boxes and tea mug rings disappeared from the coffee table and the kitchen still clinging on to that freshly cleaned smell unmistakable in last minute cleans.
"Must have been snug" Nick grinned. "Get any of the nitty gritty details sorted when I was away?"
"Yeah, we talked about tonnes! Johnny's finally gotten engaged to Linda Warren, I swear they have been going out since primary school so it's about time they got together. You should have seen the look on his face when dad brought it up, he was practically beat red! The wedding's happening later so mum's gonna have to get more burrows sorted for the new bunnies soon, which could be very soon if you listen to what Jillian say. Mum and dad's partnership is going really well. Apparently, blueberry pies are going down a storm at his bakery. According to mum he's got order months in advance and, since he's started doing morning tea, he gets a queue of rabbits so long down the street he's had to get help! It's great to see his life turn around after everything while growing up. Oh, and also…"
Judy wittered on for what to others might have seemed an eternity but to Nick was a frankly brief catch up on what was going on back in Bunnyburrow. Despite knowing all the Bunnyburrow's juicy gossip and being married into the family, Nick had never had the chance to go down there to see everyone who's life he knew in deep, vivid detail.
It was hard to get the time off, what with being part of the ZPD as well as being partnered with its most enthusiastic member, but even going on their days off never seemed to happen. In any case, Stu and Bonnie had come up and met them in Zootopia several times. Nick had been nervous on their first meeting, but they got on well enough now, Stu even cried for joy and hugged them both when Judy told them they were engaged.
Since then Stu had been trying to get them down to Bunnyburrow for a proper family meeting but it always remained a forever next time, with things just coming in Bunnyburrow that Stu and Bonnie had to sort out that stopped them short of going down. Not this time though, Stu had a look of determination in his eyes at the weeding. Nick could tell come hell or high water, they were destined to go down to the Hopps'.
"That's great and all Carrots" Nick interrupted "but I did mean about the blessing that we're meant to be doing. You know that thing we've been trying to get done for months?"
"Oh right! Yeah, sorry, I can get a bit carried away sometimes. Well we got all the guests sorted out that aren't family sorted out so expect quite few there, it is a majority bunny event. We're going to be using the barn so we can most the family to fit in and the rest can watch from the door, and Father Hareton will do blessing. Apparently, it'll be his first interspecies blessing so he's quite excited."
"That's good, I don't think we can use Mr Big's persuasion every time we need the clergy for something."
Judy giggled. "Don't worry, I don't think word of that made it down the grapevine to Bunnyburrow quite yet so I think we're alright. We've settled on 17th next month so we can get the time off and they can get everything sorted for us."
Nick nodded in agreement, finished up his dinner and, with Judy's eyes boring into the back of his head, made the conscious effort to stick his plate in the dishwasher instead of its usual home of the sink to be met by seven or eight of its brethren over the coming days. Judy jumped out the chair and started heading over to the door.
"Have you told your mum yet?"
Nick let out a sigh. "I've been waiting till we had everything confirmed with your side. You do not know how many texts I've had off her?"
"I think I do, you keep forgetting to put the thing on silent And I wake up to your ringtone going off at three in the morning. Does your mum ever sleep?"
"God knows. Knowing her I wouldn't put it past her to set an alarm at ridiculous o'clock in the morning just to send those messages and then go back to sleep."
Nick's mum Vivian was one of those vixens that, having reunited with their child after so long of being kept apart due to Nick's previous lifestyle, had sought to make up for lost time by being the embarrassing mother she had missed out on and was revelling in every moment. The wedding had been no different, with her telling every story she could remember from Nick's childhood to embarrass him to his ZPD colleagues, deliberately trying to be 'cool' and 'hip' and 'down with the kids', as well as loudly proclaiming what her grandkits would look like, making both he and Judy so red they could have been roses.
There was no doubt in Nick's mind that this wouldn't change at the blessing but he wouldn't miss it having her there for the world. She may embarrass him but she felt he deserved it. For so long he had been an embarrassment, a con artist fox, the perfect stereotype. Now that was all different. They reconnected, they bonded. She met Judy and loved her for all she was and all she had done to help Nick from the very first instant. If there was anyone to fight their corner, it was his mum, so if a little embarrassment was what he had to pay, then so be it.
"What time will you be finished?"
"Sometime about four or five I believe, unless somebody gets too drunk then it might be later."
Doing the overnight shift wasn't a pleasant prospect, but all the money they'd spent on the wedding they needed some coppers in the bank.
"Okay, well I'll be especially quiet for when you get in then." Nick said, walking over to her and hugging her goodbye.
"You better be" Judy shot back. "otherwise a certain fox will be sleeping on the couch for quite a while."
"Love you too." Nick chuckled. "Now go on or you'll be late."
Judy smiled. "Dumb fox." Planting a small peck on his cheek, Judy whipped round and bounded out of the door.
With the sounds of her paws quickly receding down the stairs, as Judy and apparently slow moving lifts were never a good combination, Nick relaxed back into his usual place in the old sofa and began to idly flick through the TV stations, eventually settling on some low budget noir film from the 50's. He'd not seen it before but right from the off he knew the villain would be a predator of some sort, seeing as how all the main detective was the stereotypical hard drinking ram tormented by his past and doesn't go by the book but he gets the job done, dammit!
That and it was the 50's. All predators were villains in the 50's. And the 60's. Well the 70's, 80's, 90's and even to an extent the 00's if you wanted to be pedantic about it, but it was changing slowly. Last year he saw a film with a panda as a villain. Not the main villain but, it's a start at least.
Felling quite snug, Nick's eyes began to close, allowing his mind to switch off while the noir film became background noise and then silence.
Waking up bleary eyed and slow witted, his brain not fully woken up from the short nap, Nick turned his head to see the film had ended and the late night ZNN news was on, with a snow leopard having a difficult time interviewing the almost evangelical preaching of giraffe, emblazoned with a massive Herbivism badge on his suit lapel. Nick swiped up the remote and turned the TV off in a single well practiced motion, before making his way to bed.
Switching on the light, Nick made for the en-suite. Nick was proud of the fact they had an en-suite attached to their bedroom. Whereas Judy had had a communal bathroom at the Grand Pangolian Apartments and, before Nick went on his apartment hopping days, Nick either had to use public bathrooms or very public bathrooms.
As Nick opened the door and reached for the light switch inside, his ears perked up to the sound a small creak coming from within the bedroom. Swiveling his head around, Nick saw the wardrobe door slowly moving open, creaking all the way as it did so before stopping half open.
"Odd" Nick thought, moving across the room to close the door. Just as his paw reached the wooden door, force already prepared in his arm to slam the door shut, a pair of small paws caught his eye. A pair of small bunny paws. Too small to be Judy's. Swinging the door open, a tiny grey blur at his paws. It only took a moment for the vagueness to take the form of a half-turned bunny, with bright blue eyes staring up at him.
For a moment both Nick and the bunny remained motionless, as if blinded by headlights, unable to move away from the oncoming danger yet still not realising their imminent fate.
"Hey kid," Nick said, coming to senses first "you alright?"
Nick moved an inch in the bunny's direction and it was if the bunny was electrocuted back to life, jolting back to life, launching herself away from Nick and straight up against the wall behind her. Her eyes were truly open now, taking in the fox before her and the rest of her body reacted accordingly, her nose began to twitch; her body hunkered down against the wall with only her paws gripping against the faint bumps and crevices keeping her from collapsing; her breathing becoming rapid and harsh, her eyes momentarily darting away looking for an escape. A trapped prey.
"Woah! Hey, hey, hey!" Nick said, throwing his paws up. "I'm not gonna hurt you. You alright there?"
The bunny's eyes stopped darting and looked at him with such intensity that it almost made Nick feel guilty. She looked at him as if everything for her had melted out of existence, everything around her, everything outside the room, the building, the city, the state. Only she and he remained, with this being the last thing her deep, sapphire eyes would see.
"So" Nick began tentatively "I'm guessing you're one of the Hopps' aren't you?" The bunny's ears perked up a little, the intensity of the stare became less fearful and more curious. Okay, Nick thought, it's a start.
"Guessing I'm right then, aren't I?" Nick chuckled. A smirk quickly flickered on the bunny's face. "Were you here to visit your sister Judy?"
The bunny eye's widened with surprise, before she gave a tentative nod.
"Okay and you were here with you mum, right? And your brothers and sisters?"
Again, the bunny silently nodded, having now come out of her attempt to merge with the wall and now stood straight, cautious but not totally afraid now. Looking at her, it was kind of hard to believe that she was related to Judy in anyway. For one thing, she was minuscule. She barely came up to Nick's thigh, with her shortened ears just creeping above his waist. Nearly everything about her was miniature, her paws, hindpaws, legs, almost every aspect of her was diminutive. Except her eyes. Compared to the rest of her tiny body, her eyes seemed alert, as if possessing another form of sight granted by the two vast oceans of ultramarine iris'.
"Yeah" the tiny, sharp voice escaping from her.
Nick relaxed a bit. "Good to know. Sorry but seeing as there's a couple hundred of you, I lose track of who's who. What's your name?"
"Molly" she replied, her body relaxing as if all the tensions simply fell away just by simply introducing herself.
"Nice to meet you, Molly. My name's Nick." He said, gently offering a paw.
Tentatively, Molly moved forward and gripped onto Nick's smallest paw pad, with Nick being careful to shake gently and not to fling around this sentient plush toy of a bunny.
With Molly now out of the wardrobe and sitting on the sofa, fiddling with the TV buttons which was almost the size of her, Nick dialled Bonnie's number, wondering if Nick was the first or four hundredth and first mammal to report one of her kits being left behind somewhere. If I had that many kits, Nick thought, I could probably go years without noticing twenty of them gone, let alone a small one. After a few rings, a monosyllabic voice came down the phone.
"Yeah?"
"Er, hey, is Bonnie?"
"Yeah."
Helpful child, Nick thought.
"Can she come to the phone, please?"
"Yeah."
Still nothing.
"Can you ask her?" Nick asked, his patience already wearing thin.
"Kay." The rabbit replied followed by a loud shout "MUM! PHONE!". A little while later, with a few notes of scolding in the background, Bonnie's familiar voice came on the line.
"Hello, who's this?"
"Hey Bonnie, it's Nick."
"Oh Nick!" Bonnie replied, her voice going up an octave. "How are you? Judy told us you were doing a long shift today. Sorry we missed you but we had to get back and get the young ones to bed."
"Er, yeah, about that…" Nick said, his free paw almost instinctively rubbing the back of his neck. "Seems you've left a small one back at ours."
From the noise that came down the other end, it was safe to assume that Molly was indeed the first she had lost and that the entirety of Bunny Burrow, and anyone who with a sense of hearing within a five-mile radius of the phone Nick was holding at ear drum disintegrating distance, now knew.
It took a while for the power of speech to put the power of panic into a headlock, with Molly now paying full attention to Nick who was both holding the phone at full arm's reach away from him and soothing the remnants of his ear with this free paw, but soon Bonnie calmed enough for intelligible words to stutter out of her mouth.
"Who – oh cheese and crackers – wh-wh-who is it? I thought we got them everyone?! Stu, get everyone up! We're doing a headcount right now! I could have sworn I got everyone, oh carrot sticks."
"Bonnie, calm down." Nick said, eventually getting through the panicked warble and hopefully preventing the military inspection going on in the background. "It's Molly, I've got Molly here, okay. Please calm down. You're kind of panicking her and me as well to be honest." Nick looked over to Molly, already clasping one of Judy's cushions to her body, her eyes fixated on the wailing receiver.
"Molly? It's Molly! Stu I told you to keep an eye on Molly! Well clearly you didn't 'cos Nick's got her! I'm sorry Nick is she okay?"
"Yeah she's fine. To be honest I almost jumped out my pelt when I saw her coming out my wardrobe."
"Coming out your wardrobe?"
"Yeah, that was a bit weird." Nick admitted, trying to laugh it off. "Guess they were playing hide and seek or something and she fell asleep."
"Yeah, that makes sense. She does end up in some weird places that one. Always wandering off somewhere." Bonnie replied, her tone with an air of slight exasperation.
"Good to know, so when should I bring her down?"
"Huh?"
"Molly. I've got the day off tomorrow, I can drive her down if you like."
"Oh no" Bonnie cried "Th-there's no need for that! I, I can come and pick Molly up! I can be there before dawn if I get the next train. Stu, when does the -"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Nick interrupted. Bonnie was a great mum, but sometimes her maternal nature kicked into overdrive. "There's no need for that. If you're dead set on coming up, then by all means come up but you don't need to rush. Molly's fine and I'll get her all sorted for when you come up tomorrow, sound good?"
"Erm" Bonnie hesitated "okay, if that's alright with you and Judy."
"It's fine and I'm sure Judy will love having one of her siblings over for a little bit."
"Oh, so where's Judy then? Has she just popped out then?" Bonnie asked.
Nick remained silent. Surely Judy told her that she was on duty tonight? That's not something Judy would forget about. No, she's definitely told them, Bonnie's just forgot that's all. Just as the first breath of his reply came out, Bonnie quickly interrupted him.
"Well, I'm sure Judy will be back soon. She just loves her siblings so I'm sure Molly will be fine with her. I'll ring tomorrow to let her know when I'm coming up then, okay? Lovely to talk to you Nick. Bye!"
Before Nick could utter even the first sound of the word bye, the hang up tone rang into his ear. Shoving the phone back in his pocket, Nick looked over to the expectant bunny, her eyes wide with anticipation.
"Is, is mum coming then?" her voice still barely over a whisper.
Nick sighed. "Yeah, she'll be here first thing in the morning Little Miss Hide-and-Seek. And" looking at his watch" I think it's time someone went to bed. We can discuss the whole you being in the wardrobe thing tomorrow, okay?"
"Okay." Molly yawned in reply, the tiredness seeping in as soon as bed was mentioned.
Turning the TV back off, Nick herded Molly to their room and plonked her in Judy's and his bed. With her tiny head placed in front of two massive pillow and her body not even fifth of the bed's length was almost too cute for words.
Stifling an almost compulsive aww, Nick headed to the door to fall asleep back on the sofa.
"Mister Fox?" the tiny voiced called out.
"Yeah?" Nick replied, turning back towards her, his paw on the doorknob.
"Why are you in Judy's house?"
That threw him for a loop for a moment.
"Erm, I live here."
"Why?" came the instantaneously reply.
"Because I married Judy. I'm her husband." Nick replied, half laughing at the near absurdity of the question.
Molly just stared at him, eyes wide and jaw dropped. In a weird way, it was almost refreshing to have someone so openly shocked at the thought of a fox-bunny couple instead of just getting the usual looks of disdain.
"But you're a fox."
"Very good detective skills there, Molly" Nick replied, a little sarcasm peeking through.
"But isn't Judy married to a bunny?"
Nick stiffened up. Why would she think that? Why would she say that? A million other thoughts passed through his head while the young bunny looked on for an answer.
"Well really" Nick replied in a faux offended tone. "she could have at least told me!"
Molly giggled, causing Nick to smile. It was cute, not that he;d ever say it.
"When she gets home I'm going to have a word with this naughty bunny about and her other husband but before then I want you to have a good night sleep, alright little-un?"
"Okay" came the giggled reply, before Molly turned over, tucking the covers round her as Nick left, switching the light off before closing the door.
Grabbing a spare blanket, Nick tried to make himself comfy on the sofa but the sleep that had come so easily before now eluded him expertly. Why would Molly say that? Surely, we must be the talk of Bunnyburrow by now? A fox and a rabbit married? The way Judy told him about the place it would have been going through the gossip mill for at least another century. Something was wrong here and, turning over and shutting his eyes to try and catch some needed sleep, Nick knew, one way or another, he was going to find out.