A/N: Hello everyone! Welcome to the first chapter of Sweet Treatment. A story following Dr. Sarah Hopps and her girlfriend Trisha Rose, FanFiction's recently voted No. 1 O/C couple (The ballots were lost but I was told it by someone who knows a friend of an admin).
Special thanks to Bluelighthouse for allowing me to continue Sundae and Trisha's beautiful story from 'A Bunny CAN Go Savage.' (Bluelighthouse is Trisha's original creator)
HUGE thanks to OceRydia for the wonderful cover art they have created for this story.
Disclaimer: I do not own Zootopia, but if I did these two would totally be characters in the next film. Now excuse me. *googles breaking into concrete vaults*
With each new spring there would always be a new treasure trove of wildflowers just waiting to be plucked from the soil. Fresh new scents for one to enjoy and immerse themselves in. To deeply sniff the pleasant fragrance as the breeze carried it along the hills and valleys. It was an experience that many lost interest in as they grew older. Time to 'stop and smell the roses' became less meaningful as responsibilities filled the day and that which was seen as more 'important' tended to squeeze out the simple things that once brought joy to them.
Immune to this phenomenon, at least for a time, were children. It was the innocence of the young that allowed them to see flowers as more than a pretty decoration and instead see the life within them. To feel the wavy stems that blew in the breeze. To touch the soft petals that came in so many beautiful colors. To watch as the new morning would let them bloom into the day. It was children who would see the beauty and marvel at what adults would overlook and ignore. And so it was a child that stood on a hill, picking wildflowers to add to a special bouquet they were going to give their mother.
Humming to herself, Sarah Hopps skipped along the grassy knoll, stopping as she found unique colors to add to her surprise for her mother. She knew that working the carrot stand, especially during the Carrots Day festival, was a really hard job and always made her tired by the end of the day. So she decided that she would do something to make her day that much better. Already she had added more than thirty flowers to her original daisy, but even though it was big enough already, she couldn't but pick one more with a such a pretty color. And then another. And another. She knew that if she didn't get a hold of herself that she would need two paws to carry it and that seemed a little excessive to the eight year-old.
Satisfied with her now very large bouquet, Sarah decided it was time to head home and find a vase for her special surprise. On a normal day, heading home would be something of a scary and saddening experience for the young doe. But with nearly all of her siblings out at the festival and the house almost empty, she figured it would not be so bad.
Coming over the crest, she was surprised to see the road was not empty as it had been since late morning. A solitary figure was walking the dusty road, head held high in the air. Sarah could tell it was a bunny by the height, and a young one at that, and prepared to climb back over the hill to avoid being seen. However, as the figure got closer, she saw that the rabbit's head was slightly misshapen. No, not misshapen. The bunny was wearing a hat. One that she had seen just the night before hanging in the closest of her closest friend in the world. "Judy!"
Shocked by the sudden voice, the gray rabbit wearing a homemade police costume whipped her head around to match a face with the voice. Spying the sudden tumbling form up ahead of her, she let out a large smile and jogged over to the struggling mass at the base of the hill. "Hey Sarah. What are you doing out here?" Bending down, she took her younger sister's paw and hauled her upright. "Shouldn't you be at the festival?"
Even though she was only eight, Sarah still had a piercing gaze that struck right through you. It was one born out of necessity as a way to ward off some of the harsher elements of her life. For Judy, it made her feel ashamed for having brought it up. "You know why I'm not, sis." Wincing at the sadness in Sarah's voice, Judy glanced around wildly, hoping to change the subject and get her sister's mind off of her troubles. Her eyes landing on the wildflowers in her paw, the petals only slightly damaged on a few of them from the tumble, she brought her attention to them.
"Are those for me?" she teased, knowing quite well that Sarah would not have risked leaving the safety of her room just to pick flowers for her. However the distraction did seem to do the job. Sarah's eyes wandered back to the bouquet, grinning wide at her accomplishment. I wish she could always be this way, Judy mused, enjoying the rare smile she was seeing on her sister's lips.
"No silly, they're for mom. I figured it would be nice for her at...the end of...the...Judy! What happened to your face?!" Slapping a paw up to cover her cheek, Judy quickly turned the other direction, hoping to keep her little sister from seeing the worst of it all. In interacting with her, the gray doe had inadvertently turned too far, exposing the scratches she had wished to hide until she could get home and patch herself up before her parents saw.
"It's nothing, Sarah. Don't worry about it. Just a small scratch. I uh, wasn't paying attention and I...umm...I walked into one of the display signs." Even to her own mind that sounded pathetic and she wasn't surprised when her sister didn't seem to accept the explanation.
"Judy, those are claw marks. Something happened with that Gideon, didn't it?" Known as the biggest bully around town, he always had it in for Judy, oftentimes mocking her for thinking differently. Sarah was also one of his favorite targets. She was an easy one to pick on as there was almost no one who would come to her rescue. But beyond some shoving, she had never seen him angry enough to claw someone. "You know what, don't answer that. I know it was him."
"You can't tell mom and dad." The sheer panic coming from her big sister made her pause in thought. Sarah wasn't a tattletale. She mainly kept to herself in and out of the burrow. If she saw something dangerous she would alert her parents right away, usually earning the scorn of her siblings though that wasn't anything new to the young doe. Judy though, Judy was different. She was one of only a handful of her family that would defend her. Take the time to play with her or talk with her. If she wanted this to remain a secret, she would keep it, but that didn't mean she wasn't going to help.
Catching the gray paw in her own, Sarah started heading down the road. "C'mon. I'm gonna help you clean up before mom and dad see." While she was always bothered about going back to the burrow, Sarah wasn't about to let her sister walk around bleeding when she knew how to take care of it. Judy simply followed along, letting the younger bunny, though only by one litter Sarah would constantly remind her, lead her home.
Getting inside the house undetected was very easy for the two bunnies as it was mostly deserted. The festival was one of the few they had each year so it tended to draw quite a large crowd who were all eager to visit the stalls and go on an occasional ride, their siblings included. Making their way to the upper bathroom, Sarah went straight to the first aid kit, pulling down the large box with some difficulty until Judy came over to help. Together, they lowered the rather ungainly box to the floor, making sure to keep everything from falling out.
Digging through the organized mess was somewhat of a pain. If Sarah was in charge of the 'magical box' as she liked to think of it as, she would make sure it was completely organized so that everything could be gotten quickly. "Okay, I think we have two options but you're not gonna like either one, I think."
"Just lay it on me, sis. I'm a big doe." She wasn't too concerned with what the treatment would be, only that she didn't want her family to find out. All she needed was to give them extra ammo to throw at her about how dangerous being a cop was. She already suspected she'd be fighting their fears for a very long time to come.
"Okay...um, this one," Sarah laid a jar of brown goop on the floor in front of them, "this one will heal it pretty much completely but you'll have to wear this." The gauze pad seemed innocuous but Judy knew it would give away the fact that she had been in a fight, though as one sided as it had been she didn't think it really qualified as one.
"Mom and dad would know something bad happened. It has to be something that they won't notice."
"Okay. That brings us to the other idea." Bringing out a small jar, the young doe unscrewed the cap to show a paste of pale green and a faint odor of dandelions. "I saw mommy put this on dad once when he got cut on the tractor. It closes up cuts really fast and you don't need to cover it up, but it doesn't heal like the other one does. You'll have scars on your cheek."
That made the slightly older bunny pause. Did she really want something to remind her of a childhood bully for her entire life? It wouldn't matter, she finally decided. They weren't going to change what she wanted to be, and she doubted they would ever really impact her life. However her parents finding out about it could cause a problem down the road. "Let's do this one." Handing her sister the pale green paste, she sat on the step stool next to the sink so she could reach her face properly.
Taking a generous amount of the green goop in her paws, Sarah began rubbing it beneath Judy's fur, making sure to get it deep into the skin. While the slashes had long since stopped bleeding, the skin was still rather raw and could split open if enough force was applied. After the ministrations of her sister however, they seemed to be sealed up. None of the damaged flesh was visible any longer. "Oh Sarah, this looks great! Mom and dad will never know!"
"Well, they still might find out. The paste has a slight odor and if mom or dad notice it they'll know what you used and you know how mom is about getting us to spill our beans." Both does shuddered at the idea of trying to hide it from their mother. They could usually run a lie over their dad pretty easily but their mother could spot one from a corn field away.
"How long until thats gone?"
"The smell? Like three days, I guess? Should be healed in a week. Dad's took two but that's because mom caught him working on the tractor again when he was supposed to not work." They knew that their father would keep working with a broken leg in the middle of a tornado. Farming was his passion, something neither of them shared.
"You know, Sarah," Judy started fixing her police cap back on her head, making sure it was straight in the mirror, "You seem to know your stuff." Turning back with a smile on her face, her purple eyes found her sister's shocking pink. "Maybe you should be a doctor. Maybe we can both make the world a better place. What do you say?"
A broad smile across her young sister's face was all the answer she needed.
Later that evening, Sarah found herself wandering the burrow halls, the idea Judy had given her being the only thing wandering through her mind. She had never given much thought to what she wanted to do when she grew up before. She had mainly spent her days trying to fit in with her siblings until ultimately giving up only to start the futile attempt the next day.
"Hey, let's play hospital!" The sound of one of her brother's echoed out of the great room and into the hall she currently found herself in. Normally she tried to stay away from her siblings when they were in groups, individual siblings sometimes being a lot nicer. But after getting the idea of becoming a doctor in her head, she desperately wanted to play.
Timidly turning the corner, she approached the group currently pulling toy ambulances and dolls and toy stethoscopes from the chests. "Can I play?" Though she had hoped not to see this time as it happened every time before then, the sight of her siblings visibly freezing in place made her wince. She counted five bunnies who turned their head to stare at with distaste.. It was the first warning sign Sarah would pay attention to but she hoped that today would be the day they finally let her join in.
"I can be the doctor! Maybe I can practice for when I'm a real doctor when I grow up! And then I can make sure everyone here at home is healthy and-"
"You can't play." The words about the future died on her lips at the sneer of contempt on her brother's face. Michael was a couple of litters older than her so his size was a bit daunting to the young and slightly undersized rabbit. He was also one of her siblings who was the most cruel to her.
"I-I can't?" Her voice was filled with resigned regret, the tone of someone used to being put down, especially over years of torment. It was also tinged with disappointment over her hopes at being accepted once again dashed. The large form of her brother suddenly loomed over her as he stood. With a growl, he put his paws on her shoulders and shoved her, hard. Sprawling backward, she fell to the wooden floor hurting her hip in the process. Tears immediately sprung to her eyes while she watched two more of her brothers stand and come up behind Michael, their arms folded across their chests and harsh looks on their faces. Her two sisters remained on the floor, continuing to pull out toys for their games, one with a look indifference to what was being done to her sister, the other giving Sarah a pitying look but saying nothing.
"Nobody wants to play with you. Nobody even wants you here, Sarah. We all hate you. Now go away." With that, they turned their backs on their injured sister, letting her lay on the floor in pain and misery. Sniffling but trying not to let the tears flow, Sarah stood and quickly made her way from the room. The previously deserted hallway was slowly filling up as the Hopps clan was returning from the festival for dinner.
Still shaken from her experience in the Great Room, Sarah tried to avoid as many of her family members as possible, hoping to not have to repeat the scorn and ridicule she had just been treated to. In her haste to flee, she did not notice her mother herding the children inside. Even with as many children as she had, Bonnie was always on top of each child and what was happening to each of them. Who had a bad day, who got an F in math, who was dating who, and especially when one of her kits was extremely upset, like her multi-colored daughter she saw fleeing down the corridor. Always worried about her special girl, Bonnie left the youngest ones in their older siblings care as she headed off after the young doe.
Following her was relatively easy. Sarah was not exactly being silent as she hid herself inside the walk-in linen closet, though Bonnie did not expect her to. Not with the amount of sadness she had seen on her face. Opening the door, she gazed upon her daughter, her black and gray ears visible over the white arms covering her face. Seating herself on the floor next to her, Bonnie slowly reached out and pulled her daughter in close. Sarah came the rest of the way, curling up into her lap and burying her face into her mother's stomach.
"Oh my sweet little girl. What's happened to make your beautiful face be stained with such large tears?" Bonnie knew what had most likely happened. It was something the poor doe lived through everyday of her life. No matter how many times she and her husband tried to make the other children understand that their sister was perfectly normal, they would not be dissuaded from the stupid superstition they had heard when she was born and since then from the elder rabbits around town. With every attempt to stop the notion from spreading, eventually the entire burrow was under the assumption that their sister would bring them pain and misery if they didn't shun her. Some even went so far as to get violent. It broke her heart every day to see her in tears and she spent nearly every night crying herself to sleep trying to think of some way to make her baby girl's life better.
Puffy eyes turned upwards, her bright pink eyes meeting her gaze. "Why do they hate me, mommy?" The sadness in her voice caused the matronly rabbit's breath to catch in her throat. "What did I do? Did I do something bad? Is that why everyone hates me?"
"Oh my sweet baby girl." Cuddling her as close to her chest as she possibly could, Bonnie stroked the different colored ears of her unique, young doe. "Sarah Hopps, you have done nothing wrong. Not once in your whole life have you done anything wrong. Not to anyone. You are the sweetest little girl in the whole world." Trying to gather herself so that she wouldn't see the pain in her own eyes, Bonnie lifted her chin, her eyes tracing over the black fur traveling along one side of her face while the rest was a pure white. "Honey, sometimes mammals are tested. It's not always right and it's not always fair, but it always makes them stronger than they ever would become without it. Your sister Judy is like that and look how driven she is to make the world a better place, no matter what she has to stand up against to do it." Stroking her daughter's ears that lay down her back, she continued, believing in her next words and making her believe in them too. "Sarah Hopps. All of the hardship you've been forced to endure, what your father and I haven't been able to protect you from, will make you stronger than you could ever believe. And one day, when you're ready, you my special little girl, will do great things."
16 years later...
Double doors crashed open as two EMTs rushed a gurney through. Their soaked jackets and the illuminated rain from the ambulance lights revealed the storm that had crept up on the city, catching most mammals unprepared. Met halfway down the hall by a small but energetic mammal wearing a white lab coat and a small group of nurses in blue scrubs, one of the EMTs handed off a chart to an intern shadowing the doctor.
"What do we got?" The question was fairly routine but it never failed to amaze any of the staff or the ambulance crews how commanding the small mammal could be despite her stature and species. Any and all doubts about how well this doctor could perform their duties went out the window that first shift so many months ago. Now there was nothing but respect in their eyes.
"Timber Wolf." The lead EMT, a large brown bear rattled off the details. "Mid to late twenties. Found collapsed outside Safe Harbor's Tavern. Unresponsive. Crashed twice on the way here. Vitals are erratic, blood pressure slowly dropping."
"Alright, get him into mid-OR three. Daniels, I want an EKG on this canine now. Gordon, get a crash cart in case this guy codes again." A young badger and a lynx nodded and took off down the hall. They passed by several rooms, noticing small mammals being treated for wounds or burns before turning the corner into the middle-size mammal wing, grabbing the third operating room down the hall. The two large EMT's as well as a polar bear nurse stood on the gurney sides.
"Ready? And one, two, three!" They slid him onto the surgical bed before removing the board and returning it to the gurney before wheeling the excess bed from the room.
"Alright, let's hook him up to vitals. I want a BP reading now. If he's been dropping since being picked up I want to know why. Newbie!" The intern that had been hovering behind the doctor gave a startled bleat, hesitating momentarily before moving to the doctor's side. "I want you to get his shirt and pants off. We need to examine him for any marks or bruising from a possible fall. Anything to explain his unconsciousness." Not one to argue, the hornless ram moved into action immediately, snatching up a pair of scissors and quickly making short work of the male's clothes.
"Doctor, BP still steadily dropping."
"What could be making it...drop..." A sudden thought, one of dread, flashed through the doctor's mind. "Newbie, check for a puncture. Any sort of hole. I want to know if there's blood matted anywh-"
"It's there." The team of nurses nearby all snapped their heads around to view what the intern was looking at, all blanching at the exposed wound that had been hidden by the waist of the mammal's jeans. Quickly moving over, the doctor dropped and examined the wound.
"Oh dammit. Alright everyone, we have what looks to be a stab wound. Shallow but bleeding steadily. May have nicked a vessel. I want four bags of canine blood in here NOW! If this guy's been bleeding since they picked him up we could be looking at significant blood loss." Turning to her staff, the doctor began quickly began giving orders. "Gordon, sterilize the wound. I'm gonna get in there and see what we're dealing with. Daniels. Daniels? Where the hell is Daniels?!"
The ram had slowly been acclimating to the intense situation unfolding around him but he quickly spoke up, knowing time was of the essence. "He went to get the blood."
The small mammal next to him nodded, her face stoic but her inner self proud at the initiative her nurse had shown. Though she would need to speak to him about following proper procedure, something he always had difficulty with. "Good. Good. We're gonna need it soon if I'm correct. Alright. Newbie, wheel the tray over here. I'm going in."
"Yes Dr. Hopps."
Jumping up onto the stool next to the table, the doe of many colors put her paws at the entrance to the wound. The wound may be a shallow and small to the wolf, but it was still large enough for Sarah to easily slip her paw inside and cautiously feel for any further damage. "Alright, this is deeper than I thought." Pulling back, she used a surgical lamp to peer inside, noting the blood pumping out from just behind the wall of pierced tissue. "Okay, he has a nicked vessel. Very small but if we don't get it closed he won't be getting out of this room with a happy ending."
At that moment a raccoon in blue scrubs burst through the door, four bags of blood clutched in his paws. "Got 'em, doc."
"Good. Get them hooked up and get some blood back in this wolf. Newbie. Clamps." Feeling the cold metal being slapped into her outstretched paw, Sarah quickly inserted them into the wound and pinched off the vessel, reducing the amount of blood he was losing. "Okay. Let's get that closed." It was several very intense minutes as Sarah used her small and dexterous paws to seal up the injury to the wolf's major vessel. Her team worked flawlessly, their training kicking into overdrive as they fought to save the mammal's life. Finally she pulled back with a relieved sigh. Her ram intern quickly wiped her brow, getting the sweat cleared so she could see properly. "Boy. That was a nasty one. Like trying to sew together a balloon with a pinhole leak. Okay, Pawlef," the arctic fox serving under the doctor snapped to attention, ready to act on any order she might be given. Sarah tried not to sigh at the new nurse transferred recently to her team. Her enthusiasm was admirable but sometimes she took it too far. "Clean him and sew him up. Daniels, I want you to assist her."
The two mammals got to work quickly as Sarah took a step back, watching their progress while stripping the bloody gloves off her paws. She had a good team. Competent, quick to act, always ready to go and listen to her orders. They had saved many lives together and this was another they could add to that list.
A loud beeping brought her out of her thoughts, her eyes moving towards the machines still attached to the wolf, watching as his heart rate spiked and then flat lined. "What the hell? Get me that crash cart!" Jumping back onto the stool, she watched as pads were attached to his chest. Grabbing the offered paddles, Sarah called out instructions. "Charge to two hundred. And CLEAR!" The sudden shock to his system had the wolf rising up off the bed, his heart returning to normal before plummeting back to a steady line. "Okay two fifty. Clear!" Once more the electricity surged causing the mammal's muscular system to flex throwing him upward. "Three hundred! CLEAR!" Again, there was no change. The mammal was now an empty shell and Sarah had to treat him as such. "Okay. That's it. I'm calling it. Note the T.O.D. Mammal expired at...11:37 PM. There's nothing more we can do here, team. Daniels, call the ZPD. Tell them they have a homicide on their paws. I'll meet with them when they arrive." Tossing her scrubs in the nearby waste bucket, the doe stalked down the hall and entered the doctors lounge. Seeing she was alone, she let out a heart wrenching shriek and slammed her fist into the nearby couch.
It was well past two in the morning before she arrived home. Speaking with the cops was never a fun ordeal as it usually involved the death of a patient or someone getting harmed by a criminal seeking medical attention. The last name 'Hopps' did gain her some respect from the officers, something that did not go unnoticed by her colleagues. She gave them all the information she could but they would need to wait until an autopsy could be done the next day. Eventually they bid her a good night and left the hospital, giving Sarah the time she needed to change and head home.
Opening her door, she glanced around to see an empty apartment greeting her. She knew that there were some nights when she would get home and be alone for a little while, however this night was one where she wished differently. Tossing her coat haphazardly at the rack, she didn't bother to pick it up as it crumpled to the floor. Her bag was also casually tossed to the side. The sudden pair of ears poking over the back of the couch did much to improve her mood, a smile brightening up her appearance, not feeling quite so alone against the world anymore. "I didn't think you'd be home yet."
The brown doe's face followed her ears as it rose to see the other rabbit. "I switched last hour shift with Em. I wasn't going to miss you coming home. Did that the last three nights already."
"I know, Trish. It's been a pretty hectic week." Her face suddenly turned cloudy at the thought of her last patient of the night, something Trisha picked up on immediately. They had been together long enough for each to be able to analyze even the tiniest of facial expressions, knowing when the other was being truthful or when one was hurting, much as the white doe was that night.
"What's wrong, Sarah? Is everything o-...Oh no." The doe was nothing if not clever and it took only the sight of her bunny's face and her slumped form to figure out what was wrong. "You lost one today, didn't you?" The mixed rabbit nodded. "Oh, come here, sweetie." Sarah moved towards her girlfriend and let her arms encircle her in a comforting embrace. It was what she needed but the sight of the dead wolf would not leave her mind, as every patient she lost would not.
"I'm gonna go take a shower," Sarah broke free of the arms holding her tight and headed for the safety of the water, Trisha sadly watching her go.
She was worried about her bunny's ability to move forward. It was her third loss in the last six months, but the fact that was a rather impressive record for an ER doctor, though it was a very sad thing to praise, was lost on her. She had felt each death as if it was the candle of a loved one suddenly being snuffed out and she knew it was affecting her. There had been several times through the months where Sarah would wake after having a horrendous nightmare, sobbing that she was seeing Judy or Trisha or Nick taking the place of the dead mammal on the table.
Sleep was becoming more difficult though her resolve never shook. She was the epitome of professionalism at the hospital and the best girlfriend any doe could hope for. Trisha had a feeling though that she would either bounce back soon or be in a much more fragile place. And she was determined to make it the former. Nothing was going to stop her bunny from being the best doctor Zootopia had ever seen. She was skilled, she was compassionate, and she was driven to make the world better, a pact she had made with her sister Judy long ago.
Letting the water cascade over her body let Sarah pretend it was washing away the anguish. Removing the image in her mind of a police officer finding the mammal's family to tell her that he had passed. That she had failed. She was supposed to distance herself from her patients. 'Becoming too attached to your patients could cause a doctor to doubt their ability if they should lose one, potentially leading to more deaths under their care.' It was something that had been grilled into her since day one at medical school. But she had trouble doing so. It never made her sloppy though when she lost one. Only more determined to succeed where she had failed before. She knew it wasn't truly a 'failure' as nature wasn't always so kind as to go along with what they wanted, but it was hard to sometimes see it that way.
So lost in her thoughts was she that she did not hear the curtain parting, nor the soft paws of the mammal coming up behind her. Not until a familiar body pressed up against hers and the soap taken from her paw did she realize someone had joined her. This time she was not against the touch of her doe and let experienced paws lather her fur with soap, moaning as they traveled along her ears before being rinsed under the waterfall of the showerhead. It was the soft lips along her neck and shoulders that had her turning around to wrap her own arms around her beautiful bunny.
Smiling deep, her pink eyes meeting bright blues, Sarah pressed her lips to Trisha's, enjoying the soft feel of the other rabbit's. Breaking apart for only a few moments, she whispered the words she spoke every morning they awoke and every night before they slumbered. "I love you, Rose Petal."
Trisha returned the smile, enchanted by the vibrant eyes of her lover. "I love you too, Sundae."
