Song: "Better Place" by Rachel Platten

"Thank you, Mrs. Hopps, but I don't think I can eat another thing," Nick chuckled after Bonnie offered him vanilla sorbet. He had just finished supper with Judy, her parents, and a few of her younger siblings. They had noodles with vegetables, bread rolls, and blueberry cobbler for dessert.

Bonnie let out a short laugh. "I suppose I went a bit overboard for your first time staying the night with us. But I want you to take the cobbler home. My little ones will fight over the rest of it like there's no tomorrow."

"Ha, I bet," commented Nick, glancing at the small bunnies sitting around the ginormous table.

"Nick will probably take the entire thing and finish it before tomorrow night," Judy said.

Nick gasped dramatically. "Carrots, I cannot believe you'd take me for a glutton. I know my limits."

"Not with blueberries, you don't," quipped Judy. "Remember the night I had to take care of you because you were sick from eating too many blueberries?"

"That was one time," Nick replied, crossing her arms. "Besides, I was going through a crisis that day after we had to do all that paperwork."

Bonnie smiled at the pair. When she and Stu first met Nick, they were a bit wary about them being in an interspecies relationship, but they eventually warmed up to the fox after seeing the way he treated their daughter.

Stu couldn't help but cackle. "How many blueberries would you have to eat for that to happen, son?"

Nick appreciated Stu's term of endearment, although he didn't know how to feel about it the first few times the rabbit had called him "son." Never knowing his own father, Nick didn't feel the need for one. Family was never important to him until he met Judy's crazy, enormous one. Over the past year and a half of dating Judy, he was exposed to entirely different traditions, ideas, and conversations—a lot of which he found surprisingly comforting. Maybe he was a family guy, after all.

"I honestly have no idea," Nick answered Stu's question with a bashful chuckle. "My mom always said I'd turn into a blueberry if I kept on." He rolled his eyes. "Gotta love those classic mom jokes."

"You'd probably just eat yourself, slick," Judy teased.

Nick wrapped his arm around her. "You could've done better with that one, fluff."

Judy gave him a look as Bonnie and Stu began clearing the table with a couple of her siblings. "You two feel free to relax. We have plenty of helping paws," Bonnie said.

"Yes, let that blueberry cobbler settle before coming back for seconds," Stu added, playfully eyeing Nick. 

"He's never gonna let me live that down, is he?" Nick asked Judy.

"I don't doubt it," replied Judy, an amused smirk on her face.

Nick sluggishly got up and held out his paw for Judy. "Why thank you, Officer Wilde," she giggled, taking his paw and getting up herself. "Whew. How does it feel standing up after all that food?"

"Terrible, Officer Hopps," he hiccuped. "Great. Here come the hiccups."

"You have horrible luck with those." Judy patted his back.

Nick's upcoming sigh was interrupted by another hiccup. "I'll just hold my breath for the next minute or so."

"Wanna get some air?" Asked Judy. The house was beginning to feel a bit stuffy. All Nick responded with was a hiccup and a short nod.

The summer heat had just died down to the perfect warm temperature with a breeze. Judy beamed when she saw that no one was using the white front porch swing. "We should sit here and watch my siblings play." She gestured to the six little bunnies playing soccer on the lawn. "And oh, this sunset is incredible!"

Nick admired his girlfriend as they got on the swing. He'd never understand how she got excited about everything as if it were her first time, but he loved her for it. She had a pure sense of wonder that never really left her since childhood.

"Nick, are you even listening to me?" Judy's chipper voice interrupted his thoughts. "I know you're trying to get rid of your hiccups, but you could at least enjoy the sky instead of staring at me."

Nick pointed to the sky and made a thumbs down signal with a head shake. Then he pointed to Judy and gave a thumbs up with a strong nod.

Judy scoffed, her cheeks growing hot. "You have all day to look at me. The sunset only happens once a day."

Nick gathered another breath. He began to signal with his paws again but realized what he was trying to tell her was far too complex for that. He pulled his phone out of his back pocket and typed in the notes app: yes, but I want to enjoy every moment I have with you. You're more important than colors in the sky. Life is short, and so are you❤️

Judy read his note and gave him a flat look. "You had to end it with a degrading height joke, didn't you?" She laughed heartily.

After shrugging with a 'you know me,' look, Nick leaned back in the swing and slung an arm over Judy's shoulder.

Nick's hiccups vanished after a few minutes, much to his relief. He was starting to feel woozy from holding his breath repeatedly. But he didn't say much after. It was nice to sit in silence with Judy.

That silence was soon ruined by a high-pitched, "MOM, I'M GOING OUTSIDE," from inside the house. Out ran one of Judy's little sisters.

"Hey, I wanna play ball, too!" The small bunny exclaimed, excitedly hopping up and down before sprinting towards the porch steps. Unfortunately, she was a little too excited, and with one misstep, ended up face-first on the ground.

"Ooh, Olive, are you ok?" Judy flinched.

Olive quickly got up and dusted herself off. "Yep! Wasn't my first time falling down these stairs!" She raced to the field where the others were playing.

"Don't play too hard, clumsy!" Nick called after her.

Judy raised an eyebrow. "Clumsy? You know that's not her name, right?"

"I know it's Ophelia or something, but I can't remember all those names, Carrots," Nick shook his head, "so, I just came up with my own names for them."

"Wait, how long have you been doing this?" Judy laughed.

"Since the first time I visited. How do you even remember all those names?"

"You get used to it when your mom and dad are always making babies," said Judy with a toothy grin. "It's a way of life here."

Nick stretched his arms. "Well, I figure as long as I remember your name, I'm good to go."

"Of course, you wouldn't forget my name, dumb fox," Judy giggled.

Nick glanced at the porch steps. "Hey, I think your sister may have scraped a knee."

"Huh?" Judy responded. Nick pointed to the spots of blood coating the dark wood. Judy squinted. "Whoa, how did you even see that?"

"Excellent vision, sweetheart."

Judy cringed. "I think she'll be ok. I got injured plenty of times on the farm, especially since I was always getting into trouble."

"You and trouble in the same sentence?" Nick smirked.

"It was 'trouble' to my parents," clarified Judy. "I was always active and outside. There was a lot to explore." She looked off at the vast green hills in the distance. "I remember this one time, I went sledding with a couple of my older sisters, and we ended up splitting the sled on a tree trunk. We weren't supposed to use that hill, but it was the steepest, so I wanted to go."

"Pfft," Nick laughed out a puff of air. "I could see you trying to do something crazy like that.

Judy scooted closer to her boyfriend and rested her head on his shoulder. "My sister Genevieve just got a small concussion."

"Child's play, Carrots," Nick stated. "You haven't heard about the time I went snowboarding with Finnick."

Judy perked up. Nick and Finnick had known each other since they were both young kids, and she loved hearing about the two wreaking havoc.

Nick smiled at Judy's attentiveness and began his story. "We were about thirteen or fourteen, and Finnick knew a great spot for snowboarding. I've always wanted to do it, but my mom told me it was too dangerous, so Finnick snuck me out of the house while she was away with friends." Nick looked out, reminiscing. "And boy, it was so much fun, but I quickly learned why my mom didn't want me doing stunts like this."

"Oh god, I can't imagine how this will go," Judy snickered.

"I tried to do a flipping trick with the board but landed on my side on a sharp rock. Long story short, I had a broken arm in two places and had to wear a cast for three months," Nick concluded.

"Sweet cheese and crackers," Judy pinched the bridge of her nose. "You're lucky you didn't die."

"I've cheated death many times, darling," Nick cooly replied.

Judy giggled. "I'm aware, silly. We've both cheated death multiple times."

"And I have a world full of scars to prove it. The crazy part is, most of the scars aren't from my time as an officer," Nick chuckled.

"You act like we chase down violent criminals every day," Judy said.

Nick stifled a laugh. "A fox can dream." He looked at his girlfriend. "How do you not have any scars, fluff?"

With a witty remark already in mind, Judy opened her mouth but closed it when she remembered that she did, in fact, have a scar. The incident with Gideon Gray happened over seventeen years ago, and she hadn't thought about it at all anymore. Nevertheless, she responded astutely. "Would you like to bet on that, Officer Wilde?"

Nick lifted his eyebrows, intrigued. "You have a scar? Is it from work?"

"No," Judy gave him a goofy smile. She turned her left cheek towards Nick and started feeling around for it under her fur. "Ah, there it is." She traced three of the "fossilized" scratch marks on her cheek. "I got these from a bully when I was younger."

Nick's ears fell. "A bully? What happened, Judy?"

"Oh, it wasn't that big of a deal," she fibbed. "I was nine when it happened. It—was a fox, but we were just kids. He's changed a lot."

"Judy," Nick stated gently, "why didn't you tell me about this?"

Judy looked down at her lap. "I didn't think it was that important. He bullied me verbally. The scratch was just that one time."

Nick placed his paw on her shoulder. "It doesn't matter how many times it happened. It still hurt you, and..." he didn't want to bring up the time he and Judy fought, but he felt a tinge of guilt for getting angry at her back then. "...Is that why you had—you know—on you when we first met?"

Eyes widening, Judy shook her head. "No! I mean—maybe that was part of it, but—" she let out a long sigh. "It's complicated. My parents were always warning us about foxes and whatnot, but the bullying incident only fueled their fear. I feel awful for believing all of it, Nick."

"You didn't have a choice back then. You were just a kid," Nick assured, now rubbing her shoulder. "Please don't feel bad for what was ingrained in your brain as a child, carrots."

Judy gave him a loving smile. "Thank you for forgiving me back then, Nick. I wake up grateful for that every day." Her eyes watered.

With a tender look, Nick kissed her forehead. "Hey, everything's good now. You've made such a big difference in not only my life but also in your own family's lives. The way you described how your parents used to be is nothing like the bunnies I know today. They treat me like family, Judy. I feel like I'm home when I'm with you."

Judy laughed joyfully through her tears. "Really?"

"Really." Nick pulled her against his chest. Relaxing her shoulders, Judy fell into his warm embrace.

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Scars tell many stories and can take a long time to heal. The most damaging scars of all are the stories we're told to believe about others.
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