Work Text:
The faint ding of his cell phone before his alarm went off in the morning could only mean one thing: Carrots. Who else would already be awake at this unnatural hour?
With a groan, Nick flipped on to his back and blindly reached for his phone, eyes still shut in his reluctance to completely surrender to wakefulness. Bringing his phone to his face, blinking blearily at the light, Nick frowned at the text.
“Hey Slick, taking a sick day today. I think I have the flu. Sorry in advance if Bogo puts you on parking duty.”
With a jaw-cracking yawn, Nick rubbed at his eyes as he hit the call button. His ability to type out coherent sentences didn’t usually develop until after his second coffee. However, any sleepiness was immediately batted away when he heard her voice.
“Hey, Slick,” Judy croaked, a fit of coughs punctuating her greeting.
“Jeez, Carrots. You sound awful.”
“Ugh, I know. I feel awful. I think I caught Molly’s flu when we visited this past weekend.”
“You overly-affectionate bunnies. Probably should have kept your distance.”
“Hey, not fair. She was hanging all over you and you didn’t get sick!”
Heaving himself into a sitting position, Nick smiled softly at the memory of the past weekend. Illness aside, Nick should probably be thanking Molly right about now. “Yeah, but viruses can’t pass from prey to predator, and vice versa. Just one of the many benefits of having such a handsome fox as your partner.” Judy chuckled, which immediately triggered another round of coughing. “Sorry Carrots, I’ll try to keep the comedy to a minimum so you don’t hack up a lung.”
“Hold on,” she croaked out. Nick heard a muffled thump, as if Judy had put the phone down on her bed, immediately followed by a metallic clang which signalled the unscrewing of her water bottle cap. A moment later, she was back. “In all seriousness, though, I am sorry about calling out on you. You either have parking duty or paperwork all day since you don’t have a partner.”
“It’s all right, I’ll just have you do my paperwork for the rest of the month to make up for it,” Nick smirked, pulling himself to his feet. He started trudging across his apartment in search of a clean uniform for the day. “Just focus on feeling better. Want me to get you anything once I’m out of work?”
“No, I’ll be okay. Thanks though. I’ll . . .” There was a pause, Nick had expected for another coughing fit. Instead, Judy said in a small, almost bashful voice, “I’ll miss you.”
Nick’s heart flip-flopped; gosh, he was 33! Too old for butterflies, right? “I’ll miss you too, Carrots. I hope you feel better. I’ll call you later to check in.”
“Thanks Slick, talk to you later.”
_ _ _
About half an hour later, Nick stepped into the line at his favorite coffee shop a few blocks from the precinct. Typically, he’d meet Judy at the subway station as he would step off his bus and they’d grab their morning caffeine and baked goods before finishing the journey to work. Somehow, it didn’t feel right being here without her. Funny, after what seemed like a lifetime of solitude, even something as simple as grabbing coffee without her felt unnatural now that he had that bunny in his life.
“Where’s your girl?” the bobcat barista said as he got to the register. “We got some more of those carrot-zucchini muffins that she likes, just put out a fresh batch.”
My girl. “Out sick today, Steve,” Nick adopted his trademark smirk, his eyes hidden behind his aviators as he reached for his wallet. “Flying solo today. Just a large latte, double-shot of espresso, with a blueberry muffin for me.”
“Aw, that’s a shame.” Steve said, punching his order into the register and bagging a muffin from the display case. “Hope she feels better.”
“Thanks,” Nick replied, taking the proffered muffin and tapping his credit card. Making his way down the counter to wait for his drink, he adjusted his sunglasses and pulled out his phone, studying his background wallpaper. It was a selfie of him and Judy from this past weekend, taken at the county fair in Bunnyburrow. She was laughing, a stuffed fox held toward the camera victoriously as Nick had snapped the photo, an arm around her shoulders and his face turned toward her with a smile. He studied his expression in the photo, noting that the look on his face was nothing short of besotted. My girl. Nick grinned at his phone.
“Latte for Nick?” The cool and collected mask slamming back in place, Nick grabbed his coffee from the counter, dropping a dollar into the tip jar.
“Later, Steve!” he called over his shoulder as he headed out the door.
_ _ _
While he didn’t want to admit it to himself, Nick was beginning to worry. After the morning meeting where he was assigned parking duty (to no one’s surprise), Nick had sent Judy a selfie of himself scowling in the clown car and reflective vest, with a caption of “you owe me!” There had been no response, but Nick figured Judy was probably asleep.
He texted her on his lunch break. He had gone to that new burrito place that opened a few blocks from the precinct.
“I went to El Sol’s today for lunch, we’ll have to go once you’re back! Definitely better than BugBurga’s sad excuse for a burrito. Why would a burger place sell burritos anyway?”
No response . . . No read receipt, either. Well, that was probably fine, right? He had spoken to her around 6am this morning, lunch was at noon . . . she was probably still sleeping, which was good. She needed her rest.
But then he texted her again around 3, and still no reply. “You sure you don’t want me to pick anything up for you after work? Eating those nasty frozen carrots probably isn’t helping your situation.” Nothing.
Granted, Nick was new to the whole boyfriend thing . . . Actually, was he even her boyfriend? He realized they never had The Talk about what they were . . . or weren’t. They only had one official date so far, after all. Was he being clingy by texting her so much? Was it even considered clingy to worry about the welfare of your sick maybe-girlfriend? Girlfriend or not, she was still his best friend and his partner. Boyfriend/girlfriend sounded so juvenile. He had a girlfriend when he was fourteen, for Pete’s sake. The word seemed so insufficient for what Judy was to him.
_ _ _
As 5pm rolled around with no response from Judy, Nick had made a decision. He knew if the tables were turned, Judy would stop at nothing to make sure he was okay (and probably would have called him nonstop due to his lack of response). Stepping out of the precinct, Nick swung by Judy’s favorite cafe, ordering a carrot smoothie and a pint of the vegetable soup to go. Her apartment was only two subway stops from the precinct; he’d stop by her apartment and then make his way home. At least it would put his mind at ease to see her.
Making his way to her apartment building and trudging up the two flights of stairs to her floor, he rolled his eyes as he already heard Bucky and Pronk fighting before he even made his way down the hallway to her door. How she could sleep through that racket was a miracle. Then again, he himself slept underneath an elephant gym.
He knocked on her door. “Hey Carrots, you awake? I brought you some food from Garden Grill.” No response. He waited a moment, then knocked again. “Hey Carrots, it’s me, open up!” Silence. Wait, was she even home? Maybe she had lied about the whole sick thing and had just been acting ill on the phone. No . . . Judy couldn’t act to save her life. He pulled out his cell phone and fired off a text. “Are you home?” Alarm bells rang in his mind as he heard the faint ding of her phone on the other side of the door.
“Don’t bother, fox - she’s as sick as a dog. No offense,” Bucky called through the wall. “You’ll get sick too.”
“A fox can’t get sick from a bunny, you moron!” Pronk responded.
“You shut up!”
“No, you shut up!”
“Can you both shut up?” Nick responded, trying to quell the worry that was now pulsing through his veins. He gently tried the doorhandle, but obviously it was locked. He definitely felt like he would be crossing a line by barging in unannounced. As a last-ditch effort, he called her phone. Unsurprisingly, he heard it ringing in her room. But still, no response. Even if she had been asleep, her ringtone would have woken her. “Sorry Carrots, consider this a police wellness check,” he murmured as he jiggled a claw in her lock. Blessedly, it opened, and he silently reminded himself to install a deadbolt on her door (after he got a key for himself).
The room was dim and stuffy as he let himself in and shut the door, dropping the takeout bag on the minifridge beside the entrance. A number of odors assaulted his canine noise immediately: sweat, sick, and Judy. The combination was off-putting, and immediately his eyes adjusted to the darkness as he surged forward into the room. His eyes alighted upon her small form in the bed, completely buried in the blankets. With dismay, he noted the many soiled tissues that cluttered her nightstand, along with a wastepaper bin that looked to have vomit in it.
Coming to a stop beside her bed, he slowly peeled back the blankets. He gasped as he saw her. “Judy!” Eyes shut and body shaking, Judy was curled into a fetal position in her bed. Her thick flannel pajamas (a gift she had just gotten from her parents this past weekend) were soaked through with sweat and stuck to her back. Her ears were flushed and droopy. Nick placed a paw on her forehead, alarmed to find her burning with what felt like a high fever. Glancing around the room, he couldn’t locate a thermometer. Either way, not good.
“Judy! Judy, can you hear me?” He shook her shoulder, bending over to get closer to eye level. What was he going to do if she was unresponsive? He had no experience whatsoever in taking care of sick people. Should he call an ambulance? Was that excessive? Should he carry her to an urgent care facility?
To his great relief, her eyes opened a crack. “Nick?” she croaked, her gaze meeting his but immediately unfocusing again.
“Judy, you’re burning up,” he pulled the blankets off her completely, his mind going a mile a minute. “We have to get your fever down, or I think I might have to take you to a hospital.”
“I’m m’kay,” she murmured, closing her eyes once more. “Jus’a flu.”
Nick shook his head, quickly dialing his phone as he pulled aside the curtains and threw open the window. The evening breeze rolled into the room, alleviating the smell of sickness just a little. “Mrs. Hopps!” he exclaimed as the call was picked up.
“Nicholas! How are you, dear?” Judy’s mother answered the phone cheerily. Nick could hear a babble of rabbit voices in the background.
“I’m fine, but Judy’s in rough shape,” he said quickly, looking around the room for Judy’s water bottle. “She caught Molly’s flu, we think. I came by her apartment after I got out of work and she’s in bed. High fever, congested, looks like she’s thrown up too. I’ve never really dealt with this before. What should I do?” He realized as the words tumbled out of his mouth that he sounded outright panicked. To his relief, Judy’s mother answered calmly.
“Oh goodness, poor Judy. The flu does a number on us rabbits. Comes on quickly, but luckily it tends to leave quickly, too. The best thing you can do is keep her fever down and keep her hydrated. Has she taken any fever reducer? Ibupawfin?”
Nick switched the phone to speaker mode and put it on the nightstand, shoving aside a pile of tissues to do so. “Judy, did you take any ibupawfin?”
Judy’s eyes cracked open once more as she croaked, “This morning, when on the phone with you."
“What time did you speak to her on the phone, dear?” Mrs. Hopps asked.
“Around 6?”
“No wonder her fever’s so high, it wore off hours ago. Give her two tablets, have her drink whatever she can keep down, and make sure she’s in light clothes. No blankets until that fever is down. A cool compress would help, too.”
Snatching the bottle of ibupawfin from the table, Nick unscrewed the top. “Thanks Mrs. Hopps. I’ll let you know if anything changes.”
“Thank you, dear. And thank you for taking care of our Judy. She’s lucky to have you,” Mrs. Hopps replied warmly before ending the call. Nick would have probably basked in the warmth of the praise longer had it not been for the sick bunny beside him.
Fishing two tablets from the pill bottle, he grabbed the smoothie cup from beside the door and made his way back to Judy. “Carrots, I can’t find your water bottle. Drink some of this and take the medicine. We have to get this fever down.”
Her eyes cracked open again blearily as she regarded the smoothie cup. “I don’ think I can keep it down.”
“Where’s your water bottle then?”
“I dropped it.”
Glancing under the bed, Nick spotted the large metal water bottle that had rolled onto the floor and picked it up. Unscrewing the top and placing it on the table, he turned his attention once again to the bunny. “Can you keep some water down?”
“I can try,” she murmured. Sliding an arm behind her back, Nick lifted Judy slightly into a reclined seating position, popping the two tablets into her mouth, and holding the water bottle to her lips. With a cautious swig of water, she gulped down the tablets with a groan. Gently, he lowered her back down to her pillow. She reached for the blankets with a shaky paw.
“No can do, darlin’” Nick said, batting her paw away gently and pushing the blankets away further down her bed. “You’re burning up.”
“I’m so cold,” Judy whimpered, and the sound nearly broke his heart. It was truly unsettling seeing his bunny in such a state.
“Your mom said to keep you in light clothes. We probably should get you out of those pajamas.” He glanced down at her body in her sweaty, heavy pajamas.
Judy cracked open one eye, and regarded him with a weak half-smile. “Not before the third date, Slick.”
If he weren’t orange already, Nick was pretty sure he would be bright red right up to his ears at that. “What?! No - I didn’t mean me, or, I meant . . .” His stammering stopped when Judy giggled softly.
“I’m just messing with you, you dork. Top drawer.”
Nick plodded over to the small dresser at the foot of Judy’s bed and pulled open the drawer, trying his best not to look at the bras and underwear that shared the drawer with her pajamas. Another time, Nicholas. He couldn’t help but laugh at the t-shirt he saw folded on top, though - it was the Foxy Dad shirt that he had worn for their failed bust a few months back.
“Didn’t know you were raiding my closet, Carrots.” He held it up as he returned to her bedside. Judy only smiled softly in response, eyes still closed. Nick regarded her for a moment as she still laid weakly in the bed. “Do you need help?”
Eyes shut, Judy’s eyebrows furrowed for a moment. She gave a single nod. “I’m so dizzy,” she murmured. “I feel so nauseous when I even open my eyes.”
“Okay,” Nick hesitated for a moment, but there was nothing for it. Without pausing and making it more awkward, he slipped the t-shirt over her head. Quickly undoing the buttons of her top (and determinedly not letting his gaze go below her shoulders) he pulled her into a seated position as she slid her arms out of the sleeves. He pulled the oversized t-shirt over her arms as she put them through the holes. Thankfully, the t-shirt reached well past her knees once on, so the pajama pants were removed quickly and with minimal embarrassment on both of their parts.
Grabbing the bunch of dirty tissues in one paw and the dirty waste paper bin in the other, Nick turned to the door. “Be back in a few.” He made his way down the hallway toward the communal bathroom, happy to see that the stalls and showers were unoccupied at the moment. Dumping the trash and rinsing the bin, Nick made his way back to Judy’s room.
She was back in the fetal position, curled up and shivering. Putting the bin back in its place beside her bed, Nick pulled up her desk chair and sat beside her. He ran a paw over her forehead, noting that her temperature was still concerningly high. “I hope the ibupawfin kicks in soon. I’d try to get you to drink more but I’m afraid you’ll throw it back up.” Judy only nodded, her brow furrowing once more. Wetting a washcloth with the water from her bottle, Nick placed the compress on her forehead. Beyond that, he supposed all he could do was wait.
_ _ _
It felt like this past weekend had been years ago, when really only two days had passed since they had made their return trip. Last Thursday had been a federal holiday, and so Judy had made plans to go see her family for the long weekend. When Nick had half-heartedly wished her a good trip when she divulged her plans, she had laughed brightly. “You’re coming with me, Slick! My parents wouldn’t hear of you spending the holiday alone!” And so sure enough, he found himself beside Judy on the express train to Bunnyburrow, listening to her chatter on about her home, her family, and what she planned to show him once they were in town. A small part of him wondered whether he would be treated differently since he was a fox.
“There aren’t just bunnies in Bunnyburrow. I went to school with a fox, actually!”
“Yeah, wasn’t that the fox that clawed your face? I see I’ll be in good company.”
“Oh stop, we were just kids. People can change,” Judy quirked an eyebrow at him. Message received.
Sure enough, he had received a warm welcome at Judy’s childhood home. Rabbit after rabbit introduced themselves, yet through it all Judy stayed by Nick’s side and helped him navigate the overwhelmingly enthusiastic fluffle. When he had overheard from some of Judy’s siblings that the fair was in town that weekend, the opportunity was too good to pass up. Finally asking Judy out on an official date, the two made their way off on their own.
While Nick had been nervous beforehand, he found that being with her (even on an actual date) was as natural as breathing. They talked and joked as they always did. In the crowd of mammals, she reached for his paw, and led him over to the games. A cheerful evening was spent trying (and mostly failing) at the various carnival games.
“This is rigged!” Nick said with mock rage as he replaced the water pistol in its holster. “I’ll have you know I was the best shot in my class at the academy. And here I can’t even blow up a water balloon?”
“Maybe your skills are getting rusty in your old age,” Judy replied innocently. She winked at him as she pulled him over to the Test Your Strength game.
Lifting the hammer above her head, she brought it down with all her strength on the target. The ball nearly reached the bell at the top, but fell slightly short. “Aw! So close.”
“Who’s rusty now, darlin’?” Nick held out his paw for the hammer, which felt slightly too small in his paw (most things were sized for rabbits here, after all). Lining it up over the target, he too swung down with all his strength. This time, the ball shot up and hit the bell immediately. “Winner!”
Judy laughed delightedly and clapped her paws as Nick picked out a prize: a cuddly stuffed fox. “All he needs is a tie,” he said as he handed it over to Judy. With a grin, she hugged the toy, gave a little hop, and planted a kiss on the side of his muzzle.
For once, Nick was speechless. He stared down at her with a dazed expression as she smiled brilliantly up at him. “Sorry, I missed that last thing you said,” he choked out.
“Then let me say it louder,” Judy said, grabbing his tie and pulling him down slightly so that their lips met. In all his 33 years, Nick was fairly certain that this would prove to be his happiest memory. He had snapped the photo on his phone immediately after, actually.
_ _ _
And now here she was, his vibrant bunny sick and defeated in her bed. With a sigh, he allowed his hand to drift down the length of her ears. To his surprise, she murmured, “That feels nice.”
“What does, this?” Nick ran his paw up and down her silky ears again, eliciting a contented sigh from the bunny before him. “And here I thought bunnies didn’t like their ears being touched. Didn’t you yell at me for that?”
“Bunnies don’t like their ears being pulled. Touched gently is fine. It’s kind of personal, you know? Intimate.”
“Fox tails are similar like that.”
Judy’s eyes opened at this, a weakly playful smile gracing her face. “Oh, do I get tail privileges now?”
“That’s probably a third date thing, too.”
Judy burst into laughter (and then promptly went into a coughing fit). Nick passed her the water bottle. “I can’t wait for that third date.” The humor not quite leaving her eyes, Judy’s features settled into an almost sheepish grimace. “This isn’t quite what I’d picture for our second date.”
“Oh, is this a date? Well, aren’t I the lucky fox. It’s not every day I get to break into my girlfriend’s apartment and clean up her puke.” Nick froze, realizing what he said the moment the words left his lips.
“Girlfriend, huh?”
Nick shrugged, trying his best to appear nonchalant, all the while his heart thundered in his chest. “Well . . . I guess so. If you’re into that sort of thing. I mean, if you want to.”
“Dumb fox. Of course I want to,” gently removing his paw from her ears and taking it into her own, she placed a kiss in the middle of his palm before placing his paw on her cheek.
Nick was pretty sure his heart exploded. He couldn’t stop the grin that split his muzzle, nor the wag of his tail. Judy regarded him warmly, her mouth opened as if to speak and then she swiftly closed it.
“What is it?”
“Nothing.”
“You were going to say something.”
“No, I wasn’t.”
“You’re a terrible liar, Carrots.”
“I - . . .” Judy paused again with a shiver, pulling herself into a tighter ball. “I was just going to say I love seeing you so happy.”
“No one makes me happier than you do,” Nick replied softly, placing a kiss on her forehead. When he did, he was happy to notice that she wasn’t quite as warm as she was before. He noticed that her gaze was more focused than when he first came into her room, and while she still shivered a bit, her body was no longer quaking with chills. “I think the medicine is kicking in.”
“I think so too. I felt like I boxed ten rounds with a rhino before, now I think I’m down to three.”
“Think you want to try to drink some of the smoothie? I brought soup too; I stopped at Garden Grill on the way home.”
“You went to Garden Grill? Aww, I should get sick more often,” Judy teased, propping herself up on an elbow while Nick handed her the cup.
“Please don’t, I forgot how much I hate parking duty. I’m pretty sure half of Sahara Square wants me dead.”
“Yeah, I know what that’s like.” After taking a few sips, Judy placed the cup down on her bedside table. “Thank you, by the way. Not just for the food, but for everything. I probably would have been in really bad shape if you didn’t come over here. I don’t even think I realized the medicine wore off . . . I fell asleep after we talked this morning and everything was kind of a blur after that. I think I may have even hallucinated at some point. I thought I was back in Bunnyburrow for a bit.”
“Remind me to make you get the flu shot before we visit again. Kids are germ-factories. If Molly wasn’t my wingman . . .”
“Ha! Your wingman? ‘Mr. Nick? Are you going to marry Judy?’ ‘Well, gee Molly, I haven’t worked up the courage to ask her out on a date yet!’ ‘Judy! You’ll go on a date with Mr. Nick, right? He’s so nice!’” Nick had to laugh at this point. As much as she would hate to hear it, Judy’s Molly impression was nothing short of adorable.
“You have to admit, my plan was nothing short of masterful. And our first date being in Bunnyburrow? At the county fair?” Nick blew a chef’s kiss into the air. “Perfection. I’m expecting the PawMark adaptation of our courtship by next spring.”
“You could have asked me to get a pizza on a random Tuesday, and I still would have said yes,” Judy grinned.
“Call me an old romantic, then,” Nick smiled at her, his usual half-lidded gaze laced with so much more warmth than he would ever afford anyone else. Judy felt her stomach flip, and to her relief it had nothing to do with her illness. Come on, butterflies at 25?
“So, um . . .” Judy began, her gaze diverting from Nick’s to glance down at her striped sheets. “I know you’re probably tired from work, you probably want to get home. You don’t have to stay if you don’t want to -”
“I’m not going anywhere, Fluff.”
Judy’s smile returned to her face, and she nuzzled Nick’s paw once more. “Can you lay with me for a bit, then? Nothing too exciting for now, sorry. I feel too gross to even kiss you at the moment.”
“No worries, Carrots. I’ll collect on the kisses owed to me after you brush your teeth. And shower, my poor canine sense of smell . . . Ow!” Nick rubbed his arm where Judy had punched him. “Jeez, even with the flu you pack a punch.”
“Sorry, bunny thing. We box our mates.”
Nick chuckled as he slid off his tie and shrugged off his uniform shirt, leaving the white undershirt underneath. He climbed into the bed behind her, spooning her little body against his. The contact elicited a shiver from Judy, but she suspected this reaction wasn’t from illness either. His warm, long arms wrapped around her. “So you’re saying all this time you’ve been punching me, you were actually saying ‘I’m into you, you handsome fox?’”
“Something like that,” Judy replied as she snuggled into him. Feverish as she was, she didn’t think she had ever felt as cozy as she did wrapped up in her fox’s arms, his warm fur all around her. She felt his chest rumble with his laugh.
“I really need to read up on bunny mating rituals.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll teach you all you need to know.”
Nick smiled, nuzzling the top of her head. “So when are we having this third date?”
Nick and Judy both jumped when they heard a voice on the other side of the wall. “Yes, please let us know so we don’t have to listen to you two making out!”
“Would you shut up? She was having an intimate moment with her fox!”
“No, you shut up!”
“You shut up!”
Nick banged a fist on the wall behind him, shaking his head. “Maybe the third date should be at my place . . .”