Judy dabbed the corners of her eyes with her embarrassingly lime-green shirt. Having Motti's family in a safe and controlled environment really let them cut loose, and they reminded the bunny of her own family with how they poked fun at one another and laughed together. Even Cassie was shocked at the level of sass from Motti's mother, particularly in regard to Kijvu's not-so-successful attempts at romance. He took it all in stride, however. Everyone was happy at the second chance at life that being there at the bed and breakfast had afforded them. It might not be home, but it wasn't the mine.
Originally, Judy had intended to just bring them their food, but Charisse invited her to play a paw or two of poker with them. She might have said no to Cassie, but the somewhat rude lioness' sister was a lot more genuine. The bunny didn't care to offend or insult her. Unfortunately, a couple of sets of cards brought them ultimately to midnight. The doe, still laughing, finally separated herself from the party upstairs. It was winding down anyway.
It was actually kind of surprising to Judy that Nick had not come upstairs to check on her. She'd been gone well over two hours. As she hopped down the stairs to the dining room, she expected that maybe he was assisting the ZBI with security stuff or maybe spinning up the honey badger about sheep. It was quiet as she got to the bottom.
There was no one in the dining room. Judy went into the next room, the living room, which was pretty dark. She moved over to it, pondering if Nick had just gone outside. She halted mid-step as she saw the scene in the living room. Honey was sitting on the couch quietly with Nick slumped over her lap, pinning the larger badger a bit against the arm of the couch nearest to Judy. Nick's eyes were closed. Honey was stroking his ears. A rush of anger prickled through the bunny, but she stamped it down.
She knew what happened.
"What happened here?" Judy asked sweetly. Honey visibly flinched at that, startled.
"He fell over," she said in a rather uncomfortable tone. "I was just... I mean, his ears are... I was..." She looked back fearfully at Judy. "Don't tell him." she whispered, stowing her paws down by her hips and shrinking a little under his partner's gaze. Judy sat down on the other side of Nick, knowing that he probably never meant to flop over on the badger. She had no doubt about why, however.
"He's not really slept much in about three days, really," Judy explained. She wondered how long it took Nick to fall over like that. Did Honey actually pull him over to hold him? She was a fan of both the bunny and the fox. Was she not able to ignore the temptation to be that close? It was kind of cute, if just a little creepy.
"He was... He was tellin' me. About th' things you two have done," Honey said in a meek whisper. Her intense and fanatic enthusiasm from before had passed. Her tone was a lot less overwhelming. It might have been because the fox was sleeping. She respected Nick and didn't want to wake him. Judy watched her slumbering partner's slow, rhythmic breathing. Seeing him asleep has the usual effect. It made her feel sleepy and safe again. She could probably reach over and pull him over onto her instead. However, she worried that she might hurt herself if the doe pulled wrong, so she left him where he was. Honey continued explaining. "He told me about th' thing with Darmaw. I... I really had no idea it was like that. I'm sorry if I seemed careless about what you both have gone through. I... I guess it's easy to forget that you aren't really... that different from me." She stroked Nick's ears again. It was pretty hard to resist that, the bunny knew.
"You don't have to apologize. We don't talk to just anyone about that. It sucked." Judy leaned up a bit, getting in on the fox-petting. She hadn't held and touched him enough since they left. She needed this. She didn't care if Honey was there. Even if the badger tried to spread it around, the fact that she was the one saying it would actually likely do more to dispel the rumor than enhance it.
