AN: This was my first attempt at writing a fanfic, which I posted somewhere in late December. But today (1-15) I decided to do some editing to the story. Cleared up some continuity, added some more detail, etc. I think it's a better story now than it was before, but feel free to post a review and let me know what you think of this little one-shot, eh? :)

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"It wasn't supposed to go like this", Judy thought to herself as she ran down the stairs and out the front door with Nick right behind her.

She slowed down a bit and grabbed her partner's arm so she could get a better look at it. He grunted a bit, in pain, but he didn't look down and he didn't stop running. it was bleeding quite badly from the gunshot wound he'd just taken.

She fumbled at her belt for a moment and got a grip on her radio. "This is Hopps! 10-32! 10-33! 10-39! 10-78! Clawhauser, do you read me?" She started panting from the sprint out of the building and around the corner to their cruiser, but she still held the radio to her ear.

"Backup is on the way! They'll be there in two minutes! Get clear of the scene, right now! Are either of you injured?" The fluffball of a cheetah was adorable, most of the time, but he did make a really good dispatch officer.

Judy keyed her radio again, "We're clear! We're clear! Almost to the car now! Officer Wilde has been shot, but I'm uninjured! Repeat, one officer shot, one uninjured!" She slammed into the side of the car, then yanked the door open as she shoved Nick inside. She didn't bother to go around to the other door, and instead climbed right over her fox to jump into the driver's seat.

She twisted the key, dropped the gear lever, and floored the gas pedal... almost all at the same time. The big SUV screamed past the front door of the apartment building, and she was SURE she saw one of the suspects looking out the door as they went by, though she couldn't tell which one it was. She turned left at the intersection and left again on the next street, coming to a stop.

She huffed a few times, trying to slow her breathing down. She looked over at Nick. "How bad is it Wilde?! Did he hit the bone!? How are you doing?!"

Nick was panting, to relieve the stress, and the pain, and from the heat of the sudden dash to the car... but he had to smile and laugh just a bit. "Judy, slow down. Backup is on the way, thanks to you. It's just a bit of blood, and no that pig didn't hit the bone... thank goodness."

He reached over with his good paw and grabbed hold of hers. "It will be okay, just calm down before you pass out. The guys will be here in a minute and I don't want to explain why YOU are unconscious when I'M the one who got shot in the arm." His chuckle was followed by a wince of pain, which caused her to panic and crawl into the passenger seat of the car.

"Nick, you can't just laugh this away! You just got shot by that stinking pig!" She crinkled her nose a bit and chuckled herself. "I swear, he hasn't had a bath in more than month. You'd think a mammal would have enough nose to know better." She perked her ears up, hearing the sirens that were headed their way.

"Yeah, well... some mammals are just too stupid for their own good.", said Nick. "Which is probably why they were trying to sell a truckload of stolen electronics in the first place. I just wish we would have called that backup BEFORE we busted in the door, y'know? But I certainly didn't expect guns because of hot radios..." He laughed out loud at his statement, but he still had that crease of pain across his face while holding his arm tight.

The sirens and flashing lights turned the corner right in front of them. Three cars passed them and went straight to the address they were investigating but one pulled up and stopped in front of their cruiser. Officers Wolford and Fangmeyer jumped out of their car and ran over.

Judy leaned over and pushed the buttons to lower the windows, right before Wolford stumbled to a halt next to Nick, asking, "Who got injured!? We heard the call over on Elm street! How many weapons did you see? What happened!"

Officer Fangmeyer came up on the driver's side window and looked across at his partner. "Wolf. Would you give them a minute to calm down and answer you already?". He smiled at Judy, noticing that she was obviously not injured, and asked her, "So what happened to your partner, Hopps? Did he make one too many sarcastic comments for his own good?"

Nick hooted with laughter at that one, which caused Judy to flatten her ears and glare at him, but she continued wrapping her spare shirt tightly around his arm. Nick leaned forward and said, "No, we just ended up in a place where they were really unhappy to see us. I guess that one pig was pretty young, and skittish, and he decided to take a shot at me. Darned shame that he was also a pretty good shot." He moved his arm forward and back, but winced at the effort. "Also a darned shame he just went from 'stolen property' to 'attempted murder' in a matter of seconds."

Wolford barked a quick laugh, but leaned down and put his paws on the door. "Don't you worry, Wilde. We have an EMT bus right behind us. And those perps aren't getting away either. There's about ten officers over there arresting them right now. We had cars coming in from three different directions after Judy called a 'mammal with gun', emergency, and 'lights and sirens', right on top of 'need backup'. Scariest radio call we've heard all year, actually."

Nick looked up with a smirk, saying, "Thanks Wolford. It's nice to know that the pain and blood weren't in vain after all." He drooped his ears down and frowned, looking down at the floor. "Though I'm still disappointed that he managed to get the drop on me in the first place. He was the smallest mammal there, and I guess I looked at him last..." He growled and mumbled for a bit, still looking at the floor.

Wolford reached in and patted him on the shoulder, saying, "Ah... don't worry about it, man. Happens to the best of us. I'm just glad he only put a dent in you, instead of something more serious." The wolf spread his muzzle in a big, happy smile, panting and lolling his tongue out of the side of his mouth.

Nick just smiled and touched the wolf's paw, saying, "Yeah, I'm glad he only hit my arm. It could have been a lot worse." He winced again, feeling the pain that was starting to get to him and looked over at Judy...

She looked absolutely furious at him, which gave him a pause.

"Officer WILDE, you have just been SHOT, in the line of DUTY! Do you realize how SERIOUS this is?"

Nick looked at her, ears laid flat and eyes wide, but then looked down at his lap wondering if he'd done something wrong.

"You could have been KILLED, Nick! That shot could have been... fatal!" She was starting to get tears in her eyes, but she didn't care. "I could have lost you, right there! But you just want to joke about it!" She started to sob and her voice tightened. "I could have lost you, Nick! And you don't even care about... that... and... you..." She finally couldn't hold onto her reactions anymore and just grabbed his head, pulling it to hers and started quietly crying.

Fangmeyer and Wolford stood back and nodded once to each other. Wolford said, "I'll just go check on how those arrests are going...", and Fangmeyer starting talking into his radio as they both walked back to their own car.

Nick leaned over and held one side of Judy's muzzle with his good paw, looking deep into her lovely amethyst eyes saying, "Carrots, I'm fine. I'm still here. I'll be the action hero of the precinct for the next month or so, and you know that's a good thing for my ego."

She hiccuped and looked up into those lovely green eyes of his, making herself smile. "You just milk that for all it's worth, Nick. I know if anyone can do it, that would be you." She sniffed and wiped her eyes, looking closely at him again. "Dumb fox."

He just leaned back into the seat and held her paw again, looking back at her. "Emotional Bunny."