There was nothing to do. Dear the bunny angels above, she was bored. Judy had watched tv for a few hours, but there were no good shows. She'd received a few phone calls, too. Fru Fru had called and the two had had a wonderful talk about Judy's namesake, and how much she'd scared Mr. Big with her injuries. He was happy to not have lost a god daughter.
She also had a call from her landlord. The old armadillo had a dull voice, but she had informed Judy that she wasn't going to charge her for the past month since she was in the hospital for over half of it. Maybe the old female was softer than she let on.
Clawhauser had taken up about half an hour, too. He hadn't been able to leave the Precinct, but despite working dispatch he somehow had made time to laugh and squeal and make her feel better for half an hour over the phone. What really bothered Judy was Nick.
'Why hasn't he called?' was all she could ask herself. He was protective of her, more so than she'd realized until she'd found out from the nurses how much so. At one point he'd tried to fight off the nurses when she'd woken up and gone crazy. She didn't remember it, but apparently pain and surgery had done some weird things to her. The orderlies had ended up having to hold him back so they could restrain her and restitch her up. So why hadn't he called?
She had tuned out the hospital as much as she could. There were many clicks and whirs in her room alone, forget the mammals in the hallways and other rooms. Because of this, she actually jumped when there was a resounding knock-knock-knock at her door. She didn't bother saying anything, because she knew whoever it was would come in. As the door opened she turned her ears and immediately felt a small pit of despair wash over her.
Into the room came her mother and father, dragging along Nick behind them. Well, almost dragging. He looked exhausted, his forearm in a sling and bags under his eyes. She felt like he'd seen something terrible. Judy turned her attention to her mother and her father. Stu hadn't done much for his look, as his trademark overalls had a bit of dirt on them, and she could smell berries on his fur. Bonnie, her mother, looked like she'd been crying for days. Her eyes were puffy and she looked like she was about ready to bolt any which direction.
"Mom… Dad… I didn't know you were coming." Immediately both of her parents moved forward towards her. She noticed Nick's eyes widen as he stepped back. Whatever he'd gone through, they'd done it. She felt herself smile at the thought; it was going to be a good story.
"Honey, oh my gosh! What happened? Are you okay?" Bonnie's voice sounded high pitched, fearful even.
"Mom, I'm awake. I'm fine. See? Healthy as can be!" Judy felt herself smiling, hoping they wouldn't notice her stitches through the gown. She looked up to Nick, hoping he hadn't said anything. He shook his head, as if reading her thoughts. She smiled, glad he somehow had that ability.
Stu reached out and took her paw. "You see now, Judes, this is why we said you shouldn't go off to the big city! You saved it six months ago, sure, but look at you now!"
Her mother agreed, quickly appearing over his shoulder. Judy had to force herself to stay calm; they had this effect when they got together.
"Exactly! You ended up in the hospital and didn't even tell us!"
Judy felt her fur rise on her neck as her ears drooped. She felt guilty, although she knew she hadn't done anything wrong. "Sorry," she muttered.
"In all fairness, Mrs. Hopps, she couldn't really call you. Coma's have that effect." Judy looked up at Nick. Despite looking worn out, he could still make jokes. She held back the urge to giggle, noticing her mother stiffen.
Bonnie Hopps turned to look at the fox. "Thank you very kindly for the update, Officer Wilde." She turned back to Judy, and Judy wanted to disappear into her bed. "You have quite the partner, Judy."
Stu held her paw tighter as he said, "I know he's your partner, and you've said good things, but he surprised us to death when he showed up out of the blue." She saw Nick's eyes squint for a moment before he sighed and shut his eyes, his paw resting on his muzzle.
"An officer shows up unannounced. That's not too scary, right?" Her parents looked mortified at her idea.
"Do you know what he did to us?" her mother asked her. Judy shook her head; it was a question she couldn't know; her parents already seemed to have forgotten she'd just woken up. "He pulls up to our house and walks up to the door. Imagine our surprise, a strange fox in a uniform. He knocked on the door and I opened it. You know what he did then?"
Judy turned her eyes to Nick, noticing a slight smirk on his face. "No, Mom. What'd he do?"
Her father's paws shook where he held hers. "He introduced himself and said he was Officer Wilde from Precinct One and was your partner. You've talked about him, but you never told us he was a fox! And then, and then…" Stu drew in air. "He took his hat off and informed us that you were dead!"
She looked in horror at Nick. "Nick!" He removed his paw and stared back at her, those deep green eyes showing he was laughing inside. "You didn't!"
"It wasn't that bad! When I saw their faces drop, I told them I meant you nearly died in a major accident. Of course, I didn't expect your parents to hit me and slam the door in my face…" He rubbed his neck absentmindedly.
Stu turned to look at him, visibly angry. "What would you do if a stranger appeared and told you your daughter was dead?!"
Bonnie was quick to defend her husband. "And why would you say it in front of all our children? We spent hours calming them down afterwards!"
Nick immediately backtracked. "I said I was sorry! I was still nervous about meeting you since you're Judy's parents and she always says good things and here I was, about to tell you how she'd been injured. I just got nervous and it all came out wrong!"
Judy knew Nick could get flustered when it was something important. She knew the situation needed to be defused, what with her parents looking ready to kill her partner. "Mom, Dad, calm down! Nick is my partner, and he would never say that on purpose!"
Her mother turned to look at her. "It scared us half to death!"
Stu grabbed her hand again. "I'm so glad you're okay! Your siblings will be so happy to hear that!"
Judy sighed. Her parents were overprotective of her, and at times they went overboard. But right now, she didn't mind. It was sweet of them. But she knew they weren't being fair to Nick. "It's okay. I'm fine. I apparently get to rest a few more days before I can go."
Her mother quivered in front of her. Literally. Judy could see her legs trembling. "Good! You need your rest! Your father and I have decided to stay here and look after you until you're discharged!"
Her father sidled up next to his wife, and Judy felt that same pressure from before. These two were quite a force. "You should really come home, Judes. The chief of police is looking to retire in a year or two, and he could always use a new deputy."
Judy shook her head. "You don't have to do that. And Dad, I'm going to stay here. I'm making a difference here. I can't back down after this, I need to push forward." She noticed her partner slinking towards the door. "Nick! Where are you going?" She didn't mean to, but she heard a pleading sound in her voice.
Nick froze and turned to her. "Well, Carrots, I see your family has control of the situation here. And since they interrogated me for nearly three days with little sleep, I can barely keep my eyes open. So I was going to-"
"Wait. What?" She looked at her parent's worried faces. "You two interrogated him?"
Her mother's ears drooped slightly. "He surprised us, Judy. He scared us half to death, and then made a mess trying to explain himself. So we wanted answers and your siblings were frightened so we asked him to explain everything clearly."
"Don't forget the part where you barely let me eat or use the bathroom," she heard the sarcastic voice say. Her mother's eyes looked dark again.
"Nick, stop it!" Judy motioned for him to come over, which he begrudgedly did. She looked him closer. His clothes were disheveled, he had bags under his eyes, and he stank. Not over the top, but she could tell he hadn't bathed in a few days. She looked at her parents.
"I know he upset you, but it's clear how much stress you put him through. Don't you know he was injured too? Don't you know that he tried to fight off the nurses to keep them from restraining me?" She felt angry tears running down her face, and she didn't dare reign them in.
Her father looked at the fox, shocked. "Wait, he was in the crash, too? He never acted hurt."
Nick's paw touched her shoulder. She looked at him, and saw him shake his head. Something in his eyes surprised her. She couldn't tell what it was. Possessiveness? Fear? It was the look she'd seen an addict use when watching them collect the drugs, but it was different too.
"Nick?" She heard herself asking. She felt his paw squeeze slightly, as if he was verifying something.
"It's fine, Carrots. They're worried about you. I'm just your partner who said the wrong thing and scared them half to death." He turned to her parents. "Again, I'm sorry for everything coming out wrong before, Mister and Misses Hopps. It's been a long few weeks and I haven't been at top shape lately. I'll let you spend some time with your daughter."
All eyes were on him as he looked back at Judy and smiled. She felt his paw squeeze her shoulder again, lightly but at the same time with the strength to move boulders. Judy found herself both confused and comforted by the action. With a turn of his tail and a few swift steps, Nick had left the room.
Bonnie spoke up quietly. "Stu, I think we went a little… overboard." He nodded his head in agreement. Judy just found herself staring at the door, wondering just what else Nick had in his past that he hadn't told her about yet. She shook her head and looked at her parents, seeing a confused look on both their faces.
"So… Where do you want to begin?"
AUTHOR'S NOTE: So, my phone blew up earlier. Apparently, after the last few chapters I've gained nearly double the followers. I know it's only six or seven more, but for a newbie that feels huge. I hope you guys like where the story is going. Don't worry, we're almost past the dialogue heavy scenes- gotta have them, and there's a lot to gain in them. I hope you don't mind me taking liberties, as the next chapter will be have a lot of background reveals and since there's virtually a blank slate thanks to the movie, I'm about to get creative. As always, I'd love to get a review!
Jay AKA Pyre
