A/N: I was re-reading my story and just noticed all the typos/grammatical errors. I'm really sorry about that, usually I'm so meticulous about those details but I've just been so excited to finally start writing. I really want to thank you for the reviews, you guys are too kind! It really means a lot to me that you like my story so far, it really does! Which brings me to my next point, I'm really hype to start getting into the mystery and introducing you guys to the mastermind and his plan; but I'm gonna have to take a break from writing until the weekend, maybe. I have two huge tests to prepare for and I want to brainstorm a little bit more to really make sure what I have planned is the route I wanna take. Anywho- onto the next chapter!
"Ma'am, please calm down! Ma'am!" a polar bear shouted, trying to contain the feisty rabbit. Though she was small, she could pack a punch. Judy tried with all her might to push past the bear but he was indomitable.
"Please, you don't understand! I'm his partner! I need to see him right this second!" she screamed back. Her face was flushed and there was sweat rolling down her back. Judy's mind was set on one thing and one thing only: Nick Wilde.
A thunderous set of footsteps came barreling down the hall towards the struggling mammals. Judy instantly recognized the dark figure, it was Chief Bogo. He was scowling and his fists were clenched.
"Officer Hopps you will leave this polar bear alone at once, do you hear me?" he roared. Judy stubbornly backed away, crossing her arms rather violently. She looked like a child, it must be said, but she had reason, "Now I know you're worried about Officer Wilde but he needs to rest. You can wait here, like a good Samaritan."
Judy opened her mouth to protest but a huff from Bogo's nostrils silenced her. She swore she actually saw steam puff from his nose. Stomping her feet, she made her way to a chair and plopped down. She was fuming but she knew she had to keep her emotions from running wild, it was part of the job.
"It's a good thing you called us when you did, Hopps. I don't think Nick could have held on much longer," Bogo said in a hushed voice. He took a seat next to the enraged bunny, finding himself intimidated by her icy stare, "I know you wanted us to wait so that you could help with the search, but we both know that would have done more harm than good."
She nodded in agreement, a hard lump forming in the back of her throat. Judy's eyes stung, more than when she accidentally squirted ketchup in them all the way back in elementary school. She always categorized that moment as one of the most painful experiences of her life, but this one took the cake.
"We did manage to find this, however-"
"Did you catch the python?" Judy needed to know more than she needed to see Nick.
"Uh... no. He was gone once we got there. It was only Nick at the scene and he was in too nebulous to tell us what happened. Team A did find a trail of blood, however, but it faded away about 1,000 feet into the maze," Bogo replied with a heavy heart. He felt at fault for not being able to lock up Zootopia's public enemy No. 1.
"Chief. I'm sorry, but isn't that your job? Shouldn't you be out there looking for the snake that almost killed-"
"My name is Charlotte Wilde, I'm here to see my son!" Judy was dumbfounded at the sight of Mrs. Wilde. Not that she didn't expect her to show up, she was Nick's mother of course.
"Mrs. Wilde, don't worry he's stable right now. I got to him as quick as I could and the EMT rushed him here immediately," Bogo rose to meet the finicky vixen. He laid a hand on her shoulder and guided her down the hall with the help of the polar bear. She looked back at Judy, with an expression like she wanted to tell the bunny a long-held secret.
Judy felt trapped in the plastic seat, her heart ached for Nick. Running her paws over her ears, she inhaled and exhaled deeply. She went to her happy place: Bunnyburrow. She pictured her siblings and her parents down at the farmer's market picking out the ripest fruits they could find. Without warning, Judy was overwhelmed with emotion. They came flooding in all at once, implacable no matter how much she tried to repress them. Before she knew it, she was crying. Fat, hot tears poured from her purple eyes and her nose was running. She did her best to conceal her sobs, wiping snot on her paws.
"Officer Hopps?" Bogo returned to the waiting room. He was startled at the sight of Judy. He'd never once seen her cry, she was much too professional, "Officer, please. Get a hold of yourself. Hopps, you're making people stare..."
Judy's whimpers showed no signs of stopping, "I'm sorry, Chief. I just can't help it. I let Nick down, I let you down. I was being selfish and stupid!" Bogo looked down at the bunny before him. It made him remember the first time one of his cases went south. Only his flashback ended with a funeral and twenty years of alcohol poisoned guilt.
"Judy, this is not your fault. You have to understand that, tell me you understand that! You can't let this fall on your shoulders," Bogo rested his hooves on her quaking shoulders. He soon found himself drawing her into a hug. He felt her grip at his shirt, neither of them spoke. It wasn't one of those conversations that required words for the feelings to be absorbed. Chief Bogo's chest felt so crushed, he wound up trying to fight back tears himself.
"Judy?" a soft voice filled the room. It was Mrs. Wilde. Judy sniffed heartily and swat the last of her tears away.
"Yeah? Yeah, I'm here!" she turned to face Mrs. Wilde who looked exhausted. Judy wondered if she should be the one in a hospital bed. Nick's mother extended her hand out, Judy took cautious strides towards the vixen. She placed her paw in Mrs. Wilde's and felt a wave of comfort roll down her back. Something about this fox made her feel so safe, so secure. Together, they ambled down the hallway in silence.
They soon approached a door, No. 216. Mrs. Wilde squeezed Judy's shoulder before leaning down to say, "It's alright. He needs you too."
Judy took in a deep breath while counting to four blowing out. Her shaking paw turned the knob and she poked her head in the doorway.
"There she is!" Nick's voice greeted her. His voice was rugged but tender, like his typical morning voice. He flashed her a toothy grin and rested his head back on the pillow. Judy didn't know whether to cry over his appearance or his being alive.
"Oh Nick!" she wept, dashing to his side and grabbing a paw in hers, "Nick, I'm so-"
"Shhh, Judes, I know. I am too," he stroked her face with love. If there was one thing worse than hurting himself, it was hurting Judy in the process. Judy took a seat on the arm chair, she assumed Mrs. Wilde had moved it there.
"What happened down there, Nick? More importantly, how did you get out?" Judy stared at Nick, perplexed. If she was being truly honest, she didn't expect to see him alive again.
"Across from Jumbeaux's... in one of those alleys, I picked up a trail of dead skin. It lead to an animalhole and being the heroic police officer that I am, I went down into the sewage system to check it out," Nick's face grew dark, "The smell... Carrots, the smell was awful. His scent was noisome to say the least, and don't get me started on the blood. God, I thought the odors alone would take me out." He stopped speaking once he saw the concern on Judy's face. She wasn't ready to hear the lurid details. She wasn't ready to hear how he suffered a fatal attack alone while she spent the day chatting it up at the docks.
"You know, I'm feeling a little tired. Must be the morphine, this stuff is better than booze!" he joked. Judy giggled and rose from the chair, touched that Nick read her mind, "Actually, Judy, you can stay if you want. I wouldn't mind."
She closed her eyes at his sweet words. Nick Wilde may have been a sarcastic jerk, but sometimes -just sometimes - he said exactly what needed to be heard. Judy pulled the chair closer to the bed and rested her head by Nick's waist. He draped his shoulder over her small figure and she buried her nose between his body and arm.
"You're my best friend, Hopps. I'm glad to know if 'sewer' was my last word, you would have been the one to hear it," he murmured before dozing off. His comment unnerved Judy deeply. She gripped his sheets harder, not wanting to ever let go. She vowed in that moment to never let things get as bitter between them as they had earlier.
Nick drew in a pained breath as nurses stuck more needles into his arms. He bared his teeth while yelling profanities at the employees in his mind. Just then, Judy stirred beside him. When she realized nurses were bustling to and fro around the bed, she stumbled out of the chair and backed away to the corner.
"Oh, sorry, I'll get out of your way!" she managed to say even though she was half asleep. She looked up behind her at the wall, nearly two hours had passed when she was last awake. She was thrown into hysteria, Bogo was probably having a fit over her skipping the rest of the work day. Straightaway, she ripped her phone from its holster. There was a text from the Chief, telling her to take a load off and not to return to the office until she felt ready. As much as she appreciated his concern, she felt as if he was treating her like a token again. Judy could handle herself perfectly fine, she was one of Zootopia's finest after all. Nonetheless, she didn't not take advantage of her time with her friend.
Seven needles and three dosages of medicine later, Judy reunited with Nick at his bedside.
"Your mother was here not too long ago, she brought me to your room," she pointed out, breaking the silence.
"I know, I was sleeping... or at least pretending to," the fox sheepishly admitted. Judy gaped at him as if he slapped a kit, "Don't give me that look, Carrots. You would too if-"
"If what?" she argued. Judy and Nick had a battle with their eyes. No one wanted to be the bad guy in this situation, they both understood that.
"Carrots, I don't wanna fight. I mean, look what happened last time," Nick chuckled, gesturing to the bandages and stitches on his body. Judy agreed hastily, not knowing why she acting to bellicose.
"Tell me what happened, Nick. Please."
"Are you sure? Alright... let's see: the trail, the sewer, the smell... right. So I followed this guy's scent all through the tunnels. I must have walked hundreds of miles in the sewers, it was awful. There are many other things I prefer to do in the dark!"
"Anyways, I get to a point where I'm practically breathing the python in. And, Judy, I never had a bigger urge to... to hurt something. I don't know what gear my mind was on, but it scared me. I really wanted to inflict pain on this animal... that's never happened before," Nick's voice shrunk. His ears drooped and he looked at Judy as if he were a child and he was just busted for eating dessert before dinner.
"Well, Nick, you got in plenty of fights when you were a cri- conman, don't even worry about it!" Judy defended him, not wanting to harrow his insecurities.
"No, Judes, this time I really wanted to hurt him. Without reason too. And the worst part..." his breathing became labored and he was scared the words he wanted to say would be too heavy to get out, "I wouldn't mind if he was the one in the hospital. Or six feet under. The truth is, I wouldn't regret it at all, Judy."
She slid her hand from the bed back to her lap, processing what Nick had said. This isn't my Nick. He would never do such a thing, he's higher than that. It's just the drugs talking.
"That doesn't matter right now, what matters is what you can tell me about the attack," her voice had a persistent ring to it. Nick looked into her eyes for reassurance, but they were hollow. He worried he broke a string that held them together.
"Um, so I'm pressed against this corner, cocking my gun and preparing to tranquilize him. But when I jump into the sector- God, Judy it was... words can't describe it. He had a whole gazelle down his throat. Her head was just lolling there as he scarfed her down," Nick broke out in sobs, covering his eyes with a paw. With the reflexes of a cat, Judy hopped into the bed. She was pleased to know not all of his humanity was gone. She cradled his head and he hugged her close to him. She could only imagine the scene he described. She became nauseous just thinking about it.
"So I try to shoot the python, but he lunges at me and I trip over my own fucking legs. That's when he gets me in the shoulder and starts-" a sob escaped from him," starts trying to strangle me. I really thought I was gonna die and he would start eating me too!
"I don't know how but I reach my gun and get him in the mouth. That's when I called you. You were the first thing on my mind, as much as I hated you walking into this case, I could never hate you full time. You're my family."
Judy had dried herself of tears for the day, but she felt smashed yet honored all at the same time. Her head was light while wrapping her arms around her partner's neck, clasping onto him.
"And you're mine, Nick. I'm so sorry you had to go through that alone! I should've been there! I should've listened to you this morning, you were right about going to Jumbeaux's first. If I could have helped, we could have locked this guy up by now!"
Nick pulled away, still keeping a paw on Judy's petite shoulder, he wiped his eyes and took a shaky breath.
"He was gone when I came to. Bogo, McHorn, Francine, and Wolflord were there. But no snake. Judy, I used my strongest dart and it didn't even slow him down," Nick concluded. Fear echoed within his voice.
"Oh my god," Judy whimpered. She was counting on the fact that Bogo was searching every inch of the city while they spoke. She thought about all the citizens living as they always did, in ignorant bliss. Judy had been tricked by the mist that painted Zootopia as an immaculate society but luckily Nick had knocked sense into her. She could now see the blemishes the city possessed. One of them, the biggest one, was the python.
"You need to go out there, finish what I started. I can't imagine what this serpent's planning on doing next. I can't believe that Zootopia's gates are open to strangers like him. How many more maniacs are we gonna let into our home before we do something about it?" Nick's voice rose to a yell.
Out in the hallway, Mrs. Wilde had her ear lightly pressed to the door of her son's room. Tears cascaded silently from her eyes; the fox who speaking wasn't her Nicholas. It wasn't the kit she raised by herself. It wasn't the boy who ran off thinking it was the only way to keep her safe. This was a monster in itself, filled with rage and detestation.
