Judy woke up the next morning alone, no sign of Nick. It confused her at first, not seeing her partner sleeping in for as long as feasibly possible. That was of course, until she remembered today was her day off, just her's. The duo would usually do whatever possible to schedule their days off around each other's, but that would not always work out for them. Today was one of those days. The fact that she didn't have to usher Nick out the door herself was a pleasant surprise, he was normally a mess if she didn't push him.

Wanting to make the most out of the several hours of being alone, Judy quickly got cleaned up. Once her morning routine was said and done, she checked her phone for any messages. Sure enough, there was one, from her mother. "So, you're bringing this elusive boyfriend over this year?" read the message. Judy practically jumped out of her fur at reading it, she had completely forgot about asking Nick to come over to her hometown for the holidays.

Last night, the idea seemed like the next logical step for their relationship, but now? Now it felt like it was too much too fast. Her parents had gotten better about accepting predators recently, but seeing their daughter date one? With a small sigh, Judy dutifully replied with a yes, knowing fully well she couldn't back down from this. Nick seemed so eager last night. Well, eager perhaps was not the best way to describe it, he definitely hesitated. Accepting was perhaps the more apt way of putting it.

"Oh God, do not tell me I'm the immature one here…" she groaned, reflecting on it. Nick really had been taking leaps and bounds in terms of acting more mature, but had Judy? She always prided herself on being resolute and understanding, yet here she was acting iffy about something she herself suggested. An embarrassed blush enveloped her face as she pondered this. She'd have to try and be better about this. If Nick was going to make such an effort, she would too.

Resolution slowly coming back to Judy, she began to try and formulate the best way to introduce Nick. Maybe over a video call, a nice, very distant, video call. Of course, that wasn't the best idea. If her parents got spooked or uneasy, they could simply hang up on him. They have been known to be somewhat blunt before, so she most definitely wouldn't put it past them.

Meeting face to face for the introduction was also possible. No way for either party to just walk away, especially not her parents. But, that method too was riddled with complications. For one, fox repellent, despite working with Gideon, Judy would be willing to bet her life her parents still carried a canister of it somewhere. She frowned a bit. Why was she selling her own parents so short? They've grown a lot recently, surely they'd be willing to accept Nick, right?

With a quiet sigh, Judy opened up her messages again. She needed to trust everyone more. Nick would be fine, her parents would be fine. Scrolling through her photos, she found one of her and Nick together, cuddled up close on their bed. After a brief moment of psyching herself up, she sent the photo to her mother.

For an instant, Judy felt great. She had managed to just rip it off like a bandage, no more drawing out the inevitable. That instant of pride was soon however overtaken by a sudden twinge of worry. She hadn't talked this over with Nick, she hadn't tried to ease her mother into it, she just pushed in! Starting to freak out, Judy looked at her phone. Her mother hadn't replied yet, thankfully, and without another instant of hesitation she turned her phone off.

Judy slumped down in bed, covering her face in a pillow as her breath slowly went back to normal. She shouldn't be this afraid. Half of Zootopia knows that she and Nick are a couple, why not her parents? Nick made her happy, and if her parents couldn't accept that, that's on them. But that was not the crux of the issue, Judy believed deep down that her parents would be accepting. They accepted her when she wanted to be a police officer, save for some less than encouraging speeches, but they accepted her for that nonetheless. Was it because what she was doing was in some ways taboo? Was she afraid that what she was doing would be looked down upon? Yeah, people in the city had varying reactions, but they were just strangers. This was her family.

More than just her family even, it would be all of the Burrow. What if they didn't accept their relationship? Judy's head was starting to hurt from all this. She loved Nick, and she loved her family, why was that so hard? Clinging to her resolve, she decided to be optimistic. She was excited last night, and she would try to be again.

The rest of the day passed in relative monotony. Judy decided to be uncharacteristically lazy, to "fill in the void an active Nick is leaving" she joked to herself. It wasn't that hard to push aside the focus on the holidays, mostly because Judy was so eager to leave it behind her. Deep down she knew she'd have to confront that, but that could wait until she could talk it over with Nick.

It was late afternoon when he finally came home. Decked out in his uniform, carrying boxes of take out. "Hey! Why didn't you answer your phone?" Nick asked, mildly irritated. Judy blushed the moment she realized she had never turned her phone back on. She reached to go do it, but then thought of the picture she sent her mother. Judy was not ready to face that, not yet. Seeing Nick was distracted by putting the food in the kitchen, she quickly slid her phone into the space between the mattress and the boxspring.

"Oh! Uh, I misplaced my phone earlier, I'll have to keep looking around for it." she called, feigning an exasperated tone. She didn't like lying to Nick, especially over something so trivial, but she didn't want to focus on the holidays right now, not on meet ups or the like. She wanted to focus on now, to be happy. "But enough about that! I'm starving!"