The hard part was over, they were married. It seemed like an impossible feat after all those years ago when Nick first joined the ZPD but here they were, the night after their wedding, snuggled up against each other in the honeymoon suite of their hotel. Nick pushed himself up against the headboard, groggily pawing at his half shut eyes, and surveyed the morning scene that confronted him. The room was nothing to brag about really, a small box-ish room with all the fixtures and fittings hastily crammed in. But it had everything they needed, a well stocked mini bar, complete with carrot juice, small cans of Fursters and a few now empty spaces where wine had been, a great view of the Meadowlands, and a queen size bed that Nick and Judy had thoroughly tested the night prior.

Nick had wanted something a bit more lavish for their honeymoon but, given their not so lucrative jobs, this was probably a the best for what could afford. The hotel was one of those renovated jobs, with the old exterior remaining intact while the inside had been overhauled and turned into a modern hotel. It was quite comfy to give it it's due, if not a little on the compact side, but the fact that it catered for both prey and predators had definitely bumped it up the list. Yet, while Nick seceded in the end, he had hoped to give Judy something a bit more opulent for their honeymoon.

Despite Judy, as well as his wallet, continually reminding him that they couldn't afford anything too luxurious, with Judy adding that she didn't want anything like that, Nick still felt obligated to try to get the very best Zootopia had to offer. After trying, and failing, to get Bogo to give him a raise or an advance on his meagre wages, Nick had worked extra shifts to get the cash but he knew it wasn't enough. He had only stopped trying when Judy confronted him about a large ball of money she'd found in his pants drawer while cleaning the flat. He tried to lie, trying to palm Judy over with lame excuses about some rainy day money, but Judy's serious face eventually brought out the truth that he'd been selling pawpsicles during his time off.

The look of disappointment hurt more than anything after Nick revealed the roll of money he had made. She looked so crestfallen that all the words he wanted to say to justify his slip back to the grey area of illegality disappeared. She shoved the money into his paws and left the room, weeping, leaving Nick with a sense of filth on his paws that he couldn't wash away. The next day, with Judy still not talking to him, Nick walked up to Clawhauser's desk and inserted every last note of illicit gains into it the Police Charity Fund. While Clawhauser and other officers praised him for his generosity, all Nick could do was weakly smile and bury his shame down to his core. But then, halfway through inserting one of the last few notes into the box, he felt a tiny pair of paws wrap themselves round his waist with an accompanying head pressing into his back.

"Don't you ever do that again Nick." Judy said, her voice slightly muffled against his uniform.

Nick sighed, shoved the rest of the bills into the box, and turned round to teary eyed Judy. Wiping away one stray tear, Nick replied "I promise Carrots; I promise".

Looking down at his side, the usually unfathomable ball of energy that was Judy remained placid and still, curled into a fluffy ball, recharging after last night's festivities. Nick gazed down at Judy's fur and, giving into temptation, gently brushed his fingers against the soft facial fur of his partner. Her intensely soft fur sent a tingle up through Nick's fingers, sending joy to his brain and shivers down his spine. It was a point of intense adoration and jealously for him, wishing his own fur was a soothing to touch as his own, but just being in that silent room with Judy lying next to him, his fingers gently massaging her fur, the hazy light filtering through the curtains, as if the morning sharing the city's tiredness, and with a muffled soundtrack of cars and mammals playing in the background, Nick felt completely at peace.

Not wanting to break the delicate nature of this scene, Nick slowly reached over for the bedside phone and dialled through to reception. Unfortunately, the receptionist did not appear to have the clairvoyance needed to see that it may be possible that half past six in the morning was possibly not the time to practice their loudest and chirpiest greeting;

"Sweet Sanctuaries Reception! How may I help you today?"

"Jesus Capybara, could you keep it down please?" Nick, having recoiled from the phone and was now holding it at arm's length. Nick quickly looked over to see if Judy had awoken from the equivalent of an air raid siren being thrust down your ear canal yet somehow Judy remained blissfully unaware of the tinnitus that Nick feared he was probably developing.

"Sorry but my wife's still asleep so could we maybe just use our inside voices from now on?"

The girl was gasped, clearly mortified and proceeded to stammer down the phone a strewn of apologies, all of them somehow getting progressively quieter than the last, as if she was testing the volume for which she should speak.

"It's okay, it's okay" Nick whispered into the phone, cutting off the girl's fourth apology "I just wanted to make you aware, okay. Anyway, I was just wondering whether we could get breakfast sent up to our room?"

"Oh, sure. Have you booked it?" the girl whispered back, having regained some composure and speaking the same level as Nick.

"Er, no but I want to surprise my wife. You see, we just got married."

"OH, CONGRATULATIONS!". Loud and chirpy had made an outstanding comeback before the girl realised the severe error she was making and near soundless whisper jumped back in the driving seat. "I mean, congratulations! I'm sure we can do something but it'll just take a little while. What room are you in?"

"Room 34"

"Okay, just let me put you on hold for a sec. Now where's the hold button again…" A loud beep pierced Nick's eardrums before a loudly whispered sorry was heard before the phone started playing Gazelle's Try Everything. Nick giggled, remembering when he and Judy had gone to Gazelle's concert after the Night Howler case. She'd got him dance and everything. Nick had always wondered whether his feelings for her had started there or whether they it was just the catalyst for the linger feelings that he already held for her. Either way, hearing that song made Nick look instinctively look over to Judy.

"My wife" Nick thought. That's what he called her. Sure, he said it a ton at the wedding reception, bandying the phrase quite freely as he and Judy made their round the tables, which had taken an age since they had pretty much invited the entire ZPD to their wedding, but somehow that completely normal admission that Judy, the rabbit still sleeping next to him, was his wife hit him like a speeding train. "Yeah, you're my wife" Nick thought, a smile spreading across his face.

The wedding had been a beautiful affair. Judy had chosen a small church in Meadowlands that seemed right out of a fairy tale. Gothic architecture and everything. Nick knew there were probably better churches in the area, and probably cheaper, but he knew she was a sucker for stuff like that so he could hardly say no to her, yet his wallet was having other ideas. They had tried to haggle with the vicar on price but he was probably the world's most stubborn mule.

"I'm sorry but the price is the price" The mule said, just elongating the price every time he said it. It must have been his phrase as the week since after every point and argument Nick and Judy made the mule just thought for a moment, scratched his chin with his hoof, sometimes going for his teas, but always ending with that same, damn phrase. "the price is the price".

They hated to stereotype mammals but they were barely beyond the church doors before Judy started coming up with very interesting and colourful ways to describe exactly what she would like to do with the mule and his obstinacy. Nick, trying to be pragmatic about it all, told Judy it was fine, they'd just get another church. It was only a church anyway; they were tons in Zootopia. Hell, they could have it at the ZPD if they wanted. But Judy wasn't to be calmed and stormed off, leaving Nick to go home and attempt to get a short notice booking.

After an hour or so of frantically and hopelessly trying to find anywhere to book their wedding, Nick threw the phone and flopped against the sofa, letting out a defeated sigh. It was the world was conspiring against them as none of their choices seemed to have room and all the others has issues. They were out in the boonies, or in a casino, or in the naturist club, or just preds or prey only church. Even some of the ones that Nick was certain catered for both types of mammals suddenly came up with questionable reasons for not being able to marry them until some undisclosed date in the future and even then there might be something that might crop up.

Wondering what the hell they were going to do, the door opened and Judy came in, looking as if she had calmed down and threw herself face first onto the couch face first beside Nick.

"Any luck?" came the muffled voice of Judy, face still firmly planted to the sofa's plump cushion.

"We seem to be getting a few no's Judy. And then those no's are joining with other no's and are forming a club that welcomes all those who are refusing Nick Wilde and Judy Hopps be wed sometime this millennium. It's a pretty popular club. They do snacks and everything".

Hearing muffled giggling, Nick looked down to see Judy turn round and clutched against his arm, with her purple eyes looking up into his own. Holding his gaze for a brief second Judy leant in and gave Nick a soft, sweet kiss. After having being rejected by what seemed to be the entire marriage licence holding class, this instantly soothed his internal distress. Judy broke the kiss, went up to hug him and whispered into his ear. "Don't worry, everything will be fine".

Going to bed feeling a great deal better about everything, Nick felt a renewed certainty that everything would sort itself out in the end, what he didn't expect was for it to be sorted so quickly. Instead of being woken in the early morning by a certain energetic bunny prodding him in his side, he was woken up by the shrill screech of his phone. Mentally chastising himself for not outing it on silent, Nick picked up the phone and hit accept.

"Hello" Nick answered, still groggy from his rude awakening.

"Hello, Mr Wilde?". The voice was unmistakeably that of the mule vicar, but with drawl being replaced by quite an urgent tone.

"Oh, hello father" Nick replied, a little surprised. "Isn't a bit late to call, it's…" Nick quickly checked the time on his phone. "It's just gone three in the morning."

"Oh, so sorry about the late hour but I was wondering er, if we could talk about your wedding plans."

Nick, still lying in bed with his eyes struggling to remain open, bolted upright, fully awake. "Sorry, could you just say that again?"

"Er, I was just er, wanting to talk about your wedding plans. I think I can find a way to... oh God…to make it work."

"Erm, are you alright there? You sound a bit distressed."

"Oh no Mr Wilde, I'm er, I'm fine. I just feel bad for about how I treated you earlier today. I know you must be anxious about getting married so I thought maybe I could er, lower the price for you."

Was this the same mule that sat there and repeated the same phrase for twenty minutes only earlier today? This was a bit weird but, for now, Nick wasn't going to question it. Judy was going to love his little surprise in the morning.

"That's very generous of you, thank you. What sort of reduction were you thinking of?"

"Oh well I thinking around the ball park of twenty per…ahhh!"

Suddenly the vicar's voice became muffled, as if he were being dragged away from the phone. Nick was confused, had he stubbed his toe or something? Or was the prospect of giving a twenty per cent decrease giving him a coronary?

"Try again". Another voice was there. He couldn't quite make it out but it definitely wasn't the mule's low voice, a much higher, sterner voice this time. Nick swore he recognised it.

"Hello again M-M-Mr Wilde, I was just looking at the numbers I'm sure we could do a… fifty…". Again, indistinct yells emanated from the receiver.

"What was going on with that mammal?" Nick thought. "Is he having some sort of attack? He's acting as if he were being held over...". He stopped and quickly looked over to Judy. "She wouldn't."

Quickly putting the phone back to his ear, he could make out the quiet but unmistakable voice of Mr Big, telling the vicar that he would do best to give his personal friends a better deal. He could hear a few yeses before the mule was presumably thrust back towards the phone while he still was held suspended over the icy abyss.

"M-M-M-Mr Wilde? Are you s-s-s-s-s-still there?"

"Yes. I am. You mentioned something about a payment reduction at your fine church?" Nick replied, making sure to say reduction loud enough for Mr Big to hear.

"Erm, yes. Yes of course. After consulting with a…higher power… I have come to the decision to waive your fee entirely!"

Nick was astounded. He knew Mr Big loved Judy for saving Fru-Fru, but getting the church for fee was a huge wedding gift. "Well" Nick thought" "at least I won't be needing to pull double shifts like I thought I would".

"That's perfect, thank you Father and thank your higher power for helping you come to this noble decision."

"I, I will. Thank you Mr-". The phone got cut off.

Nick put the phone down and looked over to Judy. He could see it all. Judy fuming at not getting her dream, calling Fru-Fru for a nice chat over coffee, tactfully complain over not getting her dream wedding because of this one mule vicar, Fru-Fru telling Daddy over dinner about Judy's horrible predicament and then Mr Big taking matter into his own, and a few polar bears', paws.

"Sly bunny" Nick thought, before turning over and going back to sleep.

The vicar must had thought his trauma was over, but Nick had to stifle a chuckle on the wedding day as he went white as a sheet as Mr Big's entourage arrived at Judy's invitation. He and his polar bear guard Koslov, usual stoic expression and all, sat shoulder to shoulder with Chief Bogo and the rest of the ZPD. To call it slightly awkward was a bit of an understatement, with Koslov remaining his completely passive face whilst rubbing shoulders with the increasingly irate Bogo. The not too improbable possibility of a full scale battle sequence between the ZPD and Mr Big's goons would erupt, with extra helpings of bullets and blood had flashed through Nick's mind on more than one occasion, but Clawhauser's utter fascination with Mr Big's minute third granddaughter in his paws managed to soothe Bogo's temper. He even managed to crack a smile while Clawhauser oohed and ahhed over the mob boss' little one. For all his machismo, Bogo was a complete sucker for kids and, seeing little Judy and her brother Ivan in the next polar bear's hands, he seemed to forget about his neighbour's villainous activities and joined Clawhauser in fawning over the artic shrews.

It was a bit sad that no other kids could have been there since the church was too small for Judy's vast family to fit in, but Stu promised to have their own little celebration. Judy perked up a bit at that, although Nick was imagining nothing little about it, imagining in great detail the tidal wave of bunny washing over him, pawing all over him to better inspect their new uncle. Nick could already see Judy laughing at Nick's obvious peril which he didn't know whether to be hurt or warmed by.

And then the organ played, the congregation rose, and the doors opened. She was breath-taking. It was the only way to describe her. The lily white wedding dress was a bit of lie, but it still looked amazing on her. It was perhaps the only time that Nick had seen anything stereotypically girly on her and she looked as natural on her as her own fur.

After that, the wedding became a blur. Hymns were sung, vows spoken, rings exchanged (Nick got both Finnick and Flash to be his best men in order to avoid the inevitable slow ring acceptance) and then then, with those oft quoted words uttered, it was sealed. They were married.

Just as Nick began to think of the succulent taste of their wedding cake, and the several slices Clawhauser snuck away, Gazelle's voice was once again replaced by the ever cheerful voice of the receptionist.

"Hello there! Sorry for making you wait for so long but I've just checked with my manager as she says that's fine. We just need to know what you want. I didn't catch whether you're a predator or prey so which menu would you like?"

"Well what's on them?"

"Oh right erm, we've got Carrot Pancakes with Blueberries on the Prey menu and Smoked Salmon with Eggs Benedict for Predators."

"We'll take two of the Pancakes please, I feel kinda bad when I steal the blueberries from Judy."

"Oh alright then, we'll get them sent up to you."

"Thanks. What's your name by the way? I didn't catch it earlier."

"Oh its Sandra. Sorry I was meant to say that at the beginning. I'm pretty new here."

"I would never have guessed" Nick said, smirking to himself.

"Oh, thank you" Sandra replied, slightly giggling. Clearly the sarcasm went over this mammal's head. "I hope you have a good stay Mr…?"

"Wilde, Nick Wilde"

"Oh a fox then. Well I hope you have a great stay. It sounds like your wife is a lucky vixen."

"Tha-". Nick caught himself. Vixen? Did this girl not have a list of people staying with them? "Erm, my wife's not a vixen. She's a rabbit"

Silence. It was something that Nick had faced before, the stunned silence that went with everyone when they found out a fox was in a relationship, and now married to, a bunny. It shouldn't have been a surprise, they'd had that reaction for years but to have it after they tied the knot felt as if it was new kind of judgement, as if the fact that they were now officially together as a married couple instead of just living together that put a whole new level of judgement upon them. Nick remained silent, waiting for Sandra to make the first move.

Eventually, the voice reappeared, significantly less chirpy than before. "Oh, that's…different. Well I'll get that breakfast sent up to you. Bye". The phone went dead.

Nick hung the phone and lay looking at the ceiling. He was wrong. The hard part wasn't over. Somehow, after four years together as a couple, a year of living together and finally gotten married, Nick thought that the tide of opinion had finally shifted towards acceptance. It was stupid of him to think that it would change everything, that the looks would be given, the harsh words uttered under their breaths that Judy would hear every syllable of, and the outright slurs given to them. It had lessened as time had gone by but it was still there, still under the surface, forever lingering.

"So breakfast in bed then? You certainly know how to treat a girl."

Nick turned over to see a pair of purple eyes gazing back at him. Judy looked as beautiful then as she had last night, bedhead and all.

"So you were awake then? Sly bunny"

"Dumb fox". She leaned in, kissing Nick on the cheek, her morning scent sending Nick into blissful reverie. "It'll be alright"

Nick looked down and saw one of Judy's comforting gaze. He put his arm around her, bringing her into a gentle embrace. "It'll be alright Nick; I know it will"

Nick looked down at his new wife. All the voices telling him of the challenges and hardships they would inevitable face after this, that things would not always be alright, that things would still be hard, maybe harder, from now on. But all Nick could do was kiss Judy on top of her head and say "I know Carrots, I know."

Hello there! So this is my first ever fan fiction (you can probably tell) and I would love it for you to read and tell me where I need to improve, what you lied and so on. There may be more chapters in the future so if you like my style, or hate it and want to continue shredding my work, please watch this space. Of course, all Zootopia characters are property of Disney and I do not own any of it.