This Doe Saved My Life, a zootopia fanfic

This story was inspired by Simple Plan's "This Song Saved My Life" and I would recommend listening to it. As is a dick with this stuff, just go to youtube and put in "Simple Plan This Song Save My Life" and you'll get it.

"Mom, what's going on?" Judy asked as her father lead her around the burrow by the hand. He had to do this since she was blindfolded, an uncommon situation. Judy was confused and slightly scared. Nick and she had been invited to Bunnyburrow for the weekend and having nothing better to do, decided to do so. It was had been a pleasant first day, the couple ended up visiting Gideon and Sharla, catching up with her family and just spending some quality time together. Their jobs being hectic as they are, they rarely had the time to just be together aside from in the bedroom. However, as night had fallen and they returned home, Nick had said he needed to go to the bathroom as they had settled down to watch a movie with the family, or at least a third of it.

That had been an hour ago.

Her family had been constantly saying everything was fine, but Judy had gotten very anxious. Finally, after having to flail her way from a group of fifty siblings she managed to get out of the room when she was stopped by her mother and several brothers who had been waiting outside the screening room placed the blindfold on her. This was doing nothing to curb her anxiety as she at first tried to fight them off, but was ultimately defeated when Mac, her largest and strongest brother, effortlessly picked her off the floor so she couldn't run. Resigned to her fate she had finally calmed down enough for Bonnie to explain that the blindfold was only temporary, and that she'd have to trust her for a few minutes

"Sorry Judy, Nick swore us to secrecy," her mother replied from ahead of her.

"Nick set this…whatever this is up?" Judy asked, her fears abated a little.

"Yep, and don't worry we're almost there," Bonnie replied. Suddenly, Judy felt a draft of air from up ahead followed by the familiar creak of the main entrance to the burrow. The cool night air greeted her confirming she had been lead outside. She was cautiously told where to put her feet as she made her way down the small staircase that lead out in to the main driveway of the burrow. A few seconds later, her feet having narrowly avoided several discarded toys, balls and gardening equipment her mother stopped. Judy heard her mother move behind her and then felt Bonnie place her arms on her shoulders. A few more seconds of awkward manoeuvring later, and Judy found herself sat on plastic lawn chair.

"Can I take this thing off yet, it's getting tiresome," she said, her foot starting to tap. She was starting to get suspicions that when she took the blindfold off she'd have a guillotine with her fox with his head poking out. Considering how her father had taken the news of her and Nick dating the first time she had come here, she would not have been surprised.

"One second bun bun," Bonnie said, and she heard her mother shuffle off. She heard some low whispering but couldn't quite make out what was being said. Suddenly her mouthed shouted. "OK dear you can take the blindfold off now!" Glad that the deception was over, Judy removed the blindfold and opened her eyes.

She was not prepared for what she saw.

In front of her sat Nick, behind a keyboard., microphone placed level with his muzzle. To his right was her father, holding a bass that Judy swore she hadn't seen him touch for fifteen years. On Nick's left sat…FINNICK? The fennec looked as surly as ever, but was holding a tiny electric guitar plugged into a nearby amp, like most of the equipment. Just behind them were her sister Lata with another electric guitar and her brother Lars sat at a drum kit. However, what really confused more was another couple of dozen Hopps family members stood in a semi-circle behind the group, holding candles.

"Judy," Nick said, slightly higher pitched than normal due to nerves. He stopped, cleared his throat and began again. "Judy, do you know what day this is?"

"Uhm…" Judy began starting to panic again. The date was obviously important, but it wasn't their anniversary of getting together, not of their first date or even when Nick had graduated from the academy.

"Don't worry Carrots," Nick said, picking up on her panic. "I'd be surprised if you did as I don't think it was as significant for you as it was for me." He paused and breathed in. "Today, two years ago, was the first day we met."

"What!?" Judy said her panic getting the best of her. She started to feel horrible, how could she forget that?

"Judy really, don't worry," Nick repeated. "On that day, you met a dashing handsome fox who swept you off your feet, hustled you out of $20 and later in to his be…"

"AHEM!" Stu said not at all subtly pointing behind Judy. She turned and saw that somehow, without her noticing, the rest of the Hopps clan had sat behind her, many of the younger ones at the front.

"Sorry Stu," Nick said, embarrassed. The Hopps patriarch gave him a stern look, then smiled and nodded. "Anyway, for you that was the day you met me. But for me? That was the day you saved my life."

At a loss for words, Judy simply raised her eyebrows. Well she had saved Nick's life, but that wasn't until the next day during their chase with Manchas where she had saved Nick from a fall that would have surely killed him.

"Judy," Nick said, snapping her out of her thoughts. "I bet you're thinking of the next day with Manchas right?" He smiled as she nodded. "Yeah you saved my life during that chase too, but it really was the day we met that you really saved it. Even if I was still breathing without having met you I surely would have been dead inside if I had continued with my life the way it was. But ooh no! Some crazy sexy bunny comes barrelling in and changes everything.

"You may be wondering why I've been busy at least one night a week for the last couple of months? You know I told you I used played the piano? Well I've been brushing up on my skills with Finnick and he helped me write something. Something that I have trouble putting in to the right words, because they needed to be special. He helped me get them down how I needed to…and then your family helped with the rest."

"Yeah you better appreciate this flopsy," Finnick growled. "I had to spend way more time than usual with this dingus."

"Love you too Fin," Nick said blowing a kiss to the fennec. "Anyway…Judy, here's your anniversary present. I call this 'This Doe Saved My Life.'"

And with that, Nick began to play A short melody on the keyboard, and his voice, sombre and low began to sing.

"I wanna start letting you know this
Because of you my life has a purpose
You helped me be who I am today
I see myself in every word you say
Sometimes it feels like nobody gets me
Trapped in a world where everyone hates me
There's so much that I'm going through
I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you."

Suddenly, the rest of the group started to play, Finnick starting with a sharp chord as Lita and her father picked dup the melody and Lars started beating the drums. With that, Nick threw his head back and belted out a heartfelt chorus

"I was broken
I was choking
I was lost
This doe saved my life
I was bleeding
Stopped believing
Could have died
This doe saved my life
I was down
I was drowning
But she found me just in time
This doe saved my life."

As the lyrics ended, the music lowered, becoming lighter and more reminiscent of the opening. Judy was enraptured. Her Nick, her wonderful, infuriating, ridiculous Nick had written this for her. Tears of happiness started to fill her eyes and soon made dark trails down her cheeks. She barely had time to breath when Nick began singing again.

"Sometimes I feel like you've known me forever
You always know how to make me feel better
Because of you my mom and me

Are so much closer than we used to be
You're my escape when I think I could just drown
I turn to you
Whenever I feel down
You let me know like no one else
That it's okay be myself"

The tears were uncontrolled now. She wanted nothing more than to run over to the mammal she loved and never let him go. If she hadn't been so enraptured, she would have noticed that a few of the rabbits behind her had decided to go with the old cliché, and brought out lighters and started swaying them back and forth. But for her, the rest of the world did not exist at that point. It was just her, Nick, and the music.

All through this Finnick, Stu, Lita and Lars kept pace, belting out the notes, Judy was surprised at how hard her dad was playing, obviously out of practice but managing to keep the music going. Finnick though had his eyes closed through the whole thing, mouthing along to the words. Connie moved wildly back and forth hands her hand moving with practices ease. And Lars bashed the drums like he had a personal vendetta. She forced herself to keep listening as Nick began the next verse. He threw his head back as the words came and sang it to the heavens and Judy swore she saw a small number of tears flickering in the candlelight.

"You'll never know what this MEEEEEANS TO MEEEEEE!
That I'm not alone
That I'll neeeeever haaaave to beeee"

Judy sensed the end was coming as Nick began the chorus again, but she wanted nothing more than this moment to last forever.

"I was broken
I was choking
I was lost…"

Then suddenly, as if the entire purpose was to make sure there was no misunderstanding on how important these words were, even if the title of the song hadn't made that clear enough, the dozens of Hopps stood behind the band sang the most important line together and repeated to do so for the remainder of the song.

"THIS DOE SAVED MY LIFE"

"I was bleeding
Stopped believing
Could have died"

"THIS DOE SAVED MY LIFE"

"I was down
I was drowning
But she found me just in time"

"THIS DOE SAVED MY LIFE"

The end of the song came far too soon for Judy, but she listened intently as Nick sang his heart out, backed up by her family members. If sen could have focused anywhere else but on her fox, she would have noticed that there was not a single dry eye in the audience or band. Aside from Finnick but there's no helping some mammals.

"My life
My life
THIS DOE SAVED MY LIFE!

My life
My life
THIS DOE SAVED MY LIFE!

My life
My life
This doe saved my liiiife."

The music faded as Nick sang the last line by himself. Judy watched as he took his paws from the keyboard and breathed out. Throughout the song he had kept his eyes closed, being lost to the music and focusing on it intently. Finally, he opened his eyes and stared straight in to hers.

She couldn't help herself anymore, Judy scrambled out of the chair, racing over on all fours for a few seconds and jumped over the keyboard in to Nick's expectant arms, having experienced a Judy tackle hug before. It didn't stop her from knocking him on his ass thought, and soon Nick's world became nothing fur Judy rubbed her chin all over his face marking him as much as she could. All around them, the onlooking Hopps applauded. Yes, there were some wolf whistles as well as Judy practically tried to make herself a permanent part of Nick's body and scent.

"So, I take it you like the song Fluff?" Nick asked knowingly.

Judy stopped rubbing herself all over him, looked up into the eyes that yes, she could now see had been crying as well, and launched herself up to meet his lips. She ignored the audience, especially Finnick's growls of feigned annoyance. She separated herself from Nick long enough to pull him from the floor and stared directly in to his eyes. "Me. You. Barn. No clothes. NOW!" she commanded and dragged him off to the far side of the house towards the main barn for the farm.

"Thanks for the help everyoooooone!" Nick managed to get out before he was summarily dragged away. Meanwhile her parents and family just stood there as the slightly terrified fox was forced to follow his arm lest he lose it.

"So…I think we can call that a success," Stu said, as he stretched his fingers. It'd been a while since he'd played that hard for so long, but if the speed with which Judy was dragging Nick off, it seemed to have the desired effect. "I think I'll have to throw out some of the hay in the barn by tomorrow though."

"Stu that was a wonderful thing you did for them," Bonnie said hugging her husband.

"Eh well I feel like I owed it to Nick, I mean I wasn't real friendly to him when Judy brought him home for the first time, but honestly I can't see her with someone else."

"Yes, it's wonderful when you find your soulmate" Bonnie said as she nodded in agreement. "Also, I have to say that seeing you playing brought back some…fond memories."

"Really…" Stu said turning to his wonderful wife and noted her smile. "What kind of memories?"

As if to answer, Bonnie grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the house, while shouting to the rest of her family that she and Stu were not to be disturbed for a while. The older siblings groaned, knowing they'd just been saddled with keeping the younger ones entertained for the next couple of hours.

The next morning Nick awoke. His throat was dry, his legs ached like no one's business, and he just knew he was not going to be standing for at least another hour. Despite being completely nude, he found himself comfortably warm thanks to the small beautiful and very naked rabbit sprawled across his chest. He smiled and blew in to one of her ears, causing her nose to twitch adorably until she was stirred.

"So, did you like the song?" he asked not having gotten a vocal answer last night.

"Judy looked up at him, memories flooding back to her of last night…and then pushed herself up off Nick's chest and straddled him, a look of pure lust in her eyes.

"I'm going to take that as a yes," Nick said, as Judy began to show her appreciation again…

Notes:

So, the story here is I was flipping through my MP3 collection on the way home from work when Simple Plan's "This Song Saved My Life" started playing. I had never listened to it before, pretty much only listening to their very angry song "Last One Standing" in between the various Metallica, Iron Savior, Rammstein, and miscellaneous Disney and game soundtracks. You could say it struck a chord with me as when I got home, I played it for my wife as we held each other.

We both cried happy sad tears.

The song just really resonated with me on how my wife makes me feel and what she's done for me. I sometimes have trouble expressing that in words, and the song managed to do it.

So then because my mind is weird, I turned it into a Zootopia fic, adjusting the lyrics slightly. I dunno how successful this came out, but I enjoyed writing it.

Now to listen to the song on repeat for a million years.

Notes:

We both cried happy sad tears.

The song just really resonated with me on how my wife makes me feel and what she's done for me. I sometimes have trouble expressing that in words, and the song managed to do it.

So then because my mind is weird, I turned it into a Zootopia fic, adjusting the lyrics slightly. I dunno how successful this came out, but I enjoyed writing it.

Now to listen to the song on repeat for a million years.