Beep
(Judy is severely injured)
Nick absent-mindedly wondered if he should be offended there was no fox-sized chairs in this room, forcing him to sit in an elephant sized one, his feet and tail dangling.
He wondered if he should drink this lukewarm coffee that he held between his paws before it got gold.
He wondered if he should shift in his seat, he was starting to feel numb from sitting still for so long.
He wondered, and he wondered, and he wondered…so he didn't have to remember.
If he didn't remember, if he didn't think about it, then everything would be fine. Just don't remember, just don't remember, just don't remember.
A hoof was suddenly placed on Nick's shoulder, heavy but reassuring.
"Wilde," Bogo's voice was uncharacteristically soft, "Are you alright?"
And then it was all back, like rewinding a movie Nick recalled what had happened. He had been handed a coffee by a somber Fangmeyer, before he sat down in an empty chair of the ER, before Bogo threw a towel around his shoulders because his uniform was wet and his fur was starting to frost over.
Then his memory jumped cut to hours before this, he and Judy (who was perfectly fine) were in Tundra Town, hunting down the fur smuggling otter that had escaped them in the Rainforest District. Somehow they had ended up in a chase, running through snow backs in the edges of the town, the otter firing bullets at them that they continuously had to dodge. Nick had managed to run ahead of Judy (who was perfectly fine) and ran out across a lake of ice after the otter, luck being on Nick's side the otter stumbled on the white surface and Nick tackled into him, knocking him to the ground and accidentally knocking the criminal unconscious as he did so.
Muttering a 'whoops' Nick quickly handcuffed the now fainted otter and turned around with a smug smile to face Judy (who was not perfectly fine), and saw her standing in the middle of the lake.
Something dark red stained her side, trailing down her hip and leg. But the rabbit wasn't paying attention to her clearly very serious bullet wound and instead was staring in horror at the ice beneath her feet. It was starting to crack.
When it did, and when Judy disappeared under the freezing cold water, it was like Nick had an out of body experience, not being a part of the nightmare only observing. He watched himself scream her name, her real name, and rush to the broken ice, half of his body plunging into the freezing cold water and trying to see through the icy blackness and managing to grab Judy's arm. He pulled both himself and her out, placing Judy before him, the bunny was passed out and there was a large dark stain that was her blood on her drenched uniform. Nick watched himself perform CPR, and while Judy coughed up a lung full of water he called Clawhauser and demanded an ambulance. They would be there in five minutes. And then Nick watched as he picked Judy up and held her to his chest, wrapping his tail around her to try and keep her warm while trying to staunch the blood of her wound that of course she didn't speak up about it because she was such a brave and stupid bunny.
The ambulance arrived and drove them to the hospital (Wolford had arrived to take the still unconscious otter into custody) and they took Judy away to tend to her wounds and her low body temperature. Nick knew what was going to happen and he shared it with Bogo.
He smiled up at the buffalo, "Of course I'm fine, Chief."
Bogo furrowed his brow, "Really?"
Nick waved his paw, "You really think this is going to take down, Carrots? She eats bullets for breakfast, I've seen it."
Bogo didn't reply, only giving Nick one more sympathetic glance before walking back to the other officers that were already there. They all looked so grave and grim and Nick really didn't get it, yes Judy got hurt, but that was part of the job. It's not like she was in any danger, it's not like she got hurt that badly.
"Nick?"
The fox's ears pricked and he saw his mother walk into the waiting room, Violet in her arms. Nick smiled at the sight of the two and jumped off the chair, throwing the untouched coffee into a nearby trash bin as he did so.
"Squeaker," he greeted his daughter who smiled at the sight of him and reached her paws toward him. He took her from his mother and tossed her in the air a few times making her giggle.
But Mrs. Wilde was giving her son a weird look, "What happened?"
"There was an accident," Nick tugged Violet's pitch black cotton tail. "Carrots got hurt."
Her mother gasped in horror but Nick quickly shook his head, "Don't worry, Mom. Carrots will be fine, we've been through worse."
She didn't look like she believed him, "You are certainly taking it well."
"Why wouldn't I be?" he asked.
Just then an armadillo in a doctor's coat walked in, "Officer Wilde, Chief Bogo, can I talk to you two in the hall please?"
Nick handed his daughter back to Mrs. Wilde before following the two prey into the hallway.
"How is she?" Bogo asked once the doors shut behind them.
"Chief Worrywart here thinks it's serious," Nick rolled his eyes as if the buffalo was a drama queen.
But the armadillo's expression was dour, "I'm afraid it is."
Nick's ear twitched.
"We managed to take out as much shrapnel as we could find," the doctor began, "But it's possible we missed some. And she lost a lot of blood, and we're trying to bring it back up but her body temperature is very slow she could go into shock…"
Nick's mouth ticked and he could feel Bogo's eyes on me as he asked the next question, "So you're saying…?"
"We could lose her."
Nick's paws flexed.
"Can he see her now?" Bogo asked for Nick.
The armadillo led Nick through the hall while Bogo went to break the news to the others, the doctor told the fox she was not awake and not to expect her to. He opened a door and indicated for Nick to go in, reminding him nurses would be in and out checking her vitals.
Nick stepped into the room and the armadillo shut the door behind him.
Judy laid on a bed too big for her, attached to a machine that beeped, wires connected to her arm, still as if the beeping machine had flat-lined.
There was a large window with a nice view of the snow and warmly lit buildings of Tundra Town, beside the window was a couch and chair, Nick grabbed the chair and dragged it to the bed and sat down next to Judy.
He smirked at the rabbit, "Good going, Carrots, you officially freaked out the doctor and Buffalo Butt and the rest of the ZPD with your excellent acting skills."
Judy didn't move, her chest moving so slightly you had to concentrate to notice.
"Yes, yes, Carrots. You had your moment of attention, but that machine that won't stop beeping and the whole lying in a hospital bed is kind of milking it, don't you think?"
Beep, beep, beep, mocked the machine.
Nick leaned his elbow on the bed and pulled one of Judy's velvety ears that were ice cold, she didn't move an inch.
"Stop it," Nick said, his humor gone, his smile failing. "This isn't funny anymore."
Beep, beep, beep, the machine was so much slower than his heartbeat.
"Carrots," Nick breathed, leaning closer, his breath ruffling her cheek and still she didn't move an inch.
"Hopps…?"
Beep, beep, beep.
"Judy?"
His voice broke and Nick couldn't breathe, he reached his paw out toward hers, he was trembling, and her fingers were ice cold and he wanted to demand why the room wasn't warmer why she didn't have a thick blanket.
"I know you're not going to let a bullet wound and a little cold finish you off," Nick scolded. "You're better than that, Officer Hopps."
He rubbed his thumb over her knuckles and was staring at the soft rise and fall of her chest as any trace of denial left him and he was floored with the dark and terrifying fact that the beeping could howl a long high-pitched note that wouldn't end but ironically marked one.
"Carrots," Nick sobbed, he hadn't sobbed since the night he was muzzled, "Please open your eyes."
.
Violet laid across her mother's chest, watching her father with big eyes. Nick had laid his head on the bed, paw still wrapped around Judy's and he couldn't stop trembling to save his life. Beside him Mrs. Wilde soothingly stroked his head and it was the only thing keeping him from breaking.
Even Violet seemed to try and comfort him. Don't be scared, her face seemed to be saying, It's Momma, Momma is unbreakable.
Ignorance was bliss and Nick prayed his daughter would never have to wise up.
.
The second day the room was flooded with flowers of every kind, cards, sweets, all from fellow officers, the Ottertons, Fru Fru, guests Nick never acknowledged.
His eyes stayed on Judy's closed eyes and faint breathing, his ears listening to the beep, beep, beep.
But he felt the sympathetic gazes, some full of tears, felt comforting pats on his back, he didn't even move.
.
On the third day Nick decided gentle encouragement wouldn't hurt.
"Come on, Carrots," he tried for a smile that didn't reach his eyes, "I mean, yeah the flowers are kinda nice but you can't actually like this room. It's almost as small as your old apartment." His ears pricked, "Oh, remember that sardine can? I wonder what your neighbors are up to, maybe yelling, probably yelling."
He glared at the beeping machine, "How can you sleep with that thing on? I can barely hear myself think."
Nick looked down at Judy, "Nothing to say? Carrots, talk to me."
Nothing.
"Please?"
Her chest rose and fell.
"Pretty please?"
The beeping continued and Nick was ready to throw the machine out the window, he knew it was suppose to reassure him that Judy's pulse hadn't stopped but instead he felt mocked-reminding him that it was its choice whether it flat-lined or not.
"Pretty please with a blueberry on top?"
.
On the fourth day Nick brought up the obvious: "You know I can't raise Violet without you."
He hadn't let his daughter visit Judy since after that first day, he didn't want her to see the rabbit like this, Violet would only believe her mother was sleeping for so long. She and Nick had been staying at Mrs. Wilde's while Judy was at the hospital, Nick sleeping in his old bedroom that hadn't changed since the day he had left. He would let Violet sleep on the bed with him, curled into his chest and sleeping soundly while Nick rubbed his thumb over her ears that were as velvety as Judy's.
Nick hadn't had a full night's sleep since his denial had failed him, once in a while startling awake and realizing he had blacked out. But most of the nights his eyes stayed open, imagining that while he was here back in the hospital that nefarious beep, beep, beep had stopped.
"You said it yourself, Carrots," Nick continued sitting in his usual place beside the comatose bunny. "I'm practically a kit myself, if you leave it to me she'll wear baggy clothes and eat nothing but junk food and never marry, do you really want that?"
Judy didn't, she didn't sit up and say that no daughter of hers would wear baggy clothes that Violet needed her vegetables that she was going to fall in love and get married. She didn't do anything and Nick couldn't breathe but he tried to keep talking anyway.
"You wouldn't dare make Squeaker motherless, would you?" his voice shook. "Would you, Carrots? Carrots?"
.
On the fifth day Nick snapped.
"How could you be so selfish!?" he snapped as he angrily paced the room, his bristling tail and bared fangs enough to keep any visiting nurses at bay.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" he demanded of the unconscious rabbit as he ran his paws down his ears, his nails digging into his flesh. "What makes you think you could just walk into my life and trick me into helping you solve some missing mammal case? What makes you think you could save my life and listen to me and turn me into a cop and make me fall in love with you?"
He faced Judy, his arms held out as if expecting an answer, "And then you go and give me a beautiful little fox-bunny-whatever Squeaker is and suddenly we're living together and I can kiss you whenever I want." He scowled at her, "How dare you let me be that happy and then end up here! What, do you just enjoy watching me suffer!?"
Judy's chest rose and fell rose and fell. Her eyelids didn't so much as flutter.
"Answer me…"
.
On the sixth day Nick became desperate so he tried a tactic he knew Judy wouldn't approve of. He tried blackmail.
"What do you want me to do?" he asked, sitting on the edge of the bed and leaning over her. "I told you I'd do anything for you. What will it take to open your eyes?"
He tossed out suggestions from baking her carrot cake to doing the chores around the house for the rest of his life to even inviting Caleb to a play date with Violet.
Finally he let out a shuddering breath and stared down at her with intense emerald eyes.
"Do you want me to marry you?"
She didn't respond and Nick kept talking: "I will, I'll marry you. We can have any kind of wedding you want, we can have a huge big ceremony with all the ZPD and news casters or you and I can go off and elope-we'd have to come back for Violet of course-but we'd come back as Mr. and Mrs. Wilde."
Nick leaned closer, "Just please open your eyes, twitch an ear, your nose, something. Give me something to tell me you're going to come back to me." He tried to swallow, couldn't, "Please come back to me, Mrs. Wilde."
.
On the seventh day Nick's anger was returning. He sat by the edge of Judy's bed as he usually did, his claws sliding across the thick blanket he had brought from home, when a nurse walked in.
"There's someone on the phone asking about her," she said, indicating to Judy. "They say they're her parents."
Nick's claws dug into the blanket for a second before standing up and walking out to the phone at the floor's receptionist desk, he didn't care that the zebra behind the desk was there to hear him.
It didn't stop him from snarling into the phone, "What?"
He could feel the surprise from the other end of the line, "Nick Wilde?" It was Stu's voice.
"Do you know any other foxes that defiled the rabbit that used to be your daughter?" he asked sarcastically (making the zebra glance at him), having decided before he left Judy's side he was going to take out his anger on the two that deserved it.
They ignored his comment, instead Bonnie spoke with a worried tone, "We heard Judy's in the hospital."
"She is," Nick said flatly.
"Is she okay?" she asked tightly.
"No, she's not," Nick didn't sugarcoat the truth. "She's in critical condition, she hasn't woken up in days, she could die. And guess who's here by her side every day I am, the disgusting fox who gave you the freakish granddaughter."
There was a guilty silence and Nick's eyes narrowed, he glanced at the gawking zebra who quickly turned back to her computer.
"We only…" Stu was trying to explain himself, "It's just…"
"I don't care," Nick cut him off. "You're not my parents or my in-laws; you're just the rabbits who broke the heart of the girl I love. So go grow crops with your kids who didn't follow their dreams and married fellow rabbits. Meanwhile Judy might not have much time left and I want to spend her possibly last days with her, not talking to you."
He slammed the phone down with so much force the zebra jumped in her seat.
.
Nick returned to Judy's room exhausted and not wanting to say another word. He climbed up onto the bed and curled around her, if he cared to look on the optimistic side at least her fur was warm again.
Nick reached his paw across her waist to interlock their fingers together, his tail draped across her legs and his muzzle resting between her neck and shoulder.
He tried to wonder again, his mind slipping away to when he had left Violet and his mother at the apartment, the vixen sitting the baby on her lap to read her one of the fairy tales she used to read to Nick when he was a kit. He had enjoyed the stories of the princesses more than he cared to admit.
He recalled those stories, princesses covered in ashes, princesses trapped in towers, princesses in a cursed sleep…
Nick swallowed, realized he was a desperate idiot, and sat up. He gazed down at Judy's peaceful face for a moment, before leaning down to press a chaste kiss against her lips. When he pulled away he laid his head back down and pressed his muzzle against her shoulder and closed his eyes, feeling pathetic and idealistic and childish and sad.
With his eyes closed he listened to the beeping, felt Judy breathe, and waited and wondered and hoped and prayed and shook with trapped sobs.
Beep.
Beep.
Beep.
Judy's eyes fluttered open.