Chapter 21: Code Blue

As they sat in the small clinic's waiting room, Nick looked around at the uncomfortable stares of the other couples. He could hear a pair of pigs whispering near them. "It's just disgraceful. A fox and a bunny. Interspecies freaks." He heard. He was trying to drown out their harsh words when the elk nurse finally came out. "Hopps, Wilde." She called as Nick and July stood up. They came back to the exam room and answered all the questions. Eventually, the otter doctor wheeled in the ultrasound machine. It was time once again for Nick to have a thrilling yet terrifying experience.

"So, mom." The doctor spoke up. "I see you said you were having a lot of kicking. I bet that shows you've got a pair or two of rabbit feet in there. Today, we'll be able to tell the species and gender of the four."

As Nick held July's paw, the doctor rolled up her shirt and squeezed out a dab of ultrasound gel onto her stomach. Nick squeezed her paw even tighter as the doctor put the small probe onto the bunny.

As he moved it, you could begin to hear a faint heartbeat. Then two, three, and four beats as a group of tiny kits came into view. The doctor looked back at the two to see their faces lit with joy. "Well.. Baby 1 is right here.. and SHE appears to be mixed." The otter pointed at the screen to the kit. "You can see a longer tail than a bunny, but you can see large ears like one. And there is one of her paws. Baby 2 is here.. and SHE looks like a bunny. Short tail and long ears." Nick looked back down at July. "Wow. Two girls. Looks like I might be outnumbered." "Make that three girls dad. And baby 3 looks like a fox." Nick smiled. "Looks like I'm outnumbered. Now I'll have to deal with four moody girls." July bumped him for that comment. "And baby 4 looks like a boy. A mixed boy. Short ears, short tail." Nick bent down and kissed July as the doctor took a picture of the ultrasound and packed up the machine. "I must say, even the non-mixed kits could be mixed fur colors. You could have a white and red fox. Or a grey and red bunny. We won't know until they're here." The doctor put his paw down onto her belly and then made an uncomfortable expression. He pulled his paw back up quickly, and he saw on the tips of his paw, dark red blood. He looked back down and pulled her shorts down a bit to see her blood-soaked panties. His eyes widened, and so did Nick's. His entire world slowing down. The doctor shot over to the phone and dialed a number. The intercom kicked on and the doctors voice could be heard. "CODE BLUE INITIATION IN EXAM ROOM EIGHT. CODE BLUE INITIATION IN EXAM ROOM EIGHT." July started to lean up, but the doctor pushed her back down by the shoulder. "Stay lying down. You need to stay calm for their safety." Two doctors burst in with a gurney and moved her onto it. They pushed Nick back as they took off out the door to the ambulance waiting outside.

Nick was told not to follow the ambulance. He was told to go to Zootopia Medical Center and to ask for them. The ambulance sped off, and soon.. so did Nick. He pulled out his phone and dialed her parents. They should be the first to know. "Hey Nick. How is it?" Bonnie said, obviously preoccupied with something else. "Bonnie. July is on her way to the hospital. We were at the clinic and she started bleeding. I don't know what's wrong. Meet me at ZGH." He hung up as he turned on the police lights and siren and sped through the red light ahead of him.

As he arrived at the hospital, he frantically asked the triage nurse about July. She pointed him to a room where he burst in to find only a doctor. "Officer Wilde. I'm so glad you're here." The caribou said. "July was taken to surgery. She has.." the doctor took a deep breath to compose himself. "She has a ruptured placenta. As of right now, our obstetrical surgery team is trying to repair the damage. Right now she has about a ninety percent chance of living. The kits.. only about thirty percent." Nick felt his heart drop. He felt his world crumbling. Crushing him with the rubble. "Keep in mind. You only had about a ten percent chance of getting her pregnant, so miracles do happen. But don't raise your hopes too high. We'll let you know when she's out of surgery." With that, the caribou left the room, leaving only Nick and his thoughts.

Soon Bonnie and Stu showed up. They brought with them Johnny. Johnny was the same age as July, one of her brothers. As they sat together in the room, Nick eagerly waited for the news. He waited for the words 'she's alright.' Or 'she made it.' But he simply sat there, until five hours after arriving, the doctor returned. This time, with two other staff dressed in surgical scrubs.

"Nick. She made it." The doctor began. 'Wait, she? SHE!?' Nick thought to himself "all of them did. But.." as the weights began to lift from the family, they stopped halfway. 'But.?' "But.. there's no guarantee of the kits.. mental.. health. They were deprived of oxygen for a period of time that.. that could.. could cause.. defects." Nick's heart fell, it fell through the floor of the room he was in. "Defects?!" Nick shouted, on the verge of tears. "What do you mean?!" Nicks tears broke the dams in his head, and began to rain down. "D-D-Do you.. y-you mean?" Nick struggled to even speak. The thoughts of what the doctor was saying were too much for him to comprehend. "Nicholas. We mean.. there's no guarantee.. we're saying that.. they could be.. brain dead. Nick, the kits run a risk of having disabilities, or health concerns, or brain function impairments. And as sad as it is.. that's the truth. There's nothing I can do.. or you can.. to change those odds. If there was.. that's what we would do. But there is nothing we can. We need you to be strong." As Nick lay on the ground, crumpled, the pain just too real, he wasn't sure what he would do. If she knew. If she should. What would happen to them. As Nick's tears poolled below him, the doctors left him to be alone. But before they could, the main surgeon came to Nick and put a hand onto his shoulder. "She doesn't know yet. It's up to you wether she does." With this, more thoughts came through Nick's mind. But mostly he just hurt. The tears made him hurt physically. The news made him hurt inside. They made something inside him hurt for those tiny, helpless kits. And for once in his life. Nicholas Wilde couldn't cheat his way out of the inevitabilities. He couldn't weasel his way through. All he could do was hope. Something he never did more than right now.

As he made his way through the hospital, struggling to see through the tears, he as stared at by everyone there. He made his way into the OB unit and came to the room marked with HOPPS. He came into the room to a tiny bunny in a bed for an elephant. She smiled wide from his entry, but her smile quickly faded when she saw his tears. "Nick? Why are you crying? Th-They told me the kits all made it." She said, trying to calm him as he came to her. He came up to the bed and bent down onto his knees to look her in the eyes. With this, July knew something was wrong. "J-July, they t-t-told me that.." as Nick struggled for words, he began to cry again as he looked down at the floor, away from her now misty eyes. "They might not.. n-not carry.. t-to term. They m-m-might.. be.. d-d-dis..a-abled." He said, with one final sob before a gasp for air. "I don't want you to- to go through that July. I don't. I don't. Really." "Nick. It's okay. We-we'll go through this.. together. I don't want that either. And that won't happen. We'll have four little balls of fur." She said, fighting back her own tears until Nick held her. As they sat together in the oversized bed, they just held each other until a cry of hope came. A cry of hope in the form of a tiny kick from their kit. As the two felt the tiny child kicking, they felt hope. More than they could imagine. They felt proud. Proud of all they had done. And most of all, they felt love. Love for the tiny things that were their kits. That were their life. Their angels. "They're our love. That's what we have. Four little balls of fur that no matter what, will be loved." He said, as he stared into her eyes. They shared a passionate kiss that may have never ended if not for the nurse coming in. "I'm sorry if I'm.. interrupting." She said awkwardly "but some bunnies are here. Bonnie, Stu, and Johnny Hopps. Should I let them in?" "Yes. That would be fine." Nick said as he let go of July and stood up. He walked over to his radio, excused himself, and went into the hallway. "Chief Wilde to base. Copy base, over." He said. Clauhouser responded, "10-4 chief Wilde. Base copies. Relay your 16, over." "10-4 base. Requesting 18 22-77's at ZGH, bravo target code 2. Protection for officer Hector, Onyx, Private, Private, Standard. Over." "10-4 chief. Dispatching officers to your VC, over." As Nick re-entered the room, the family was talking, and Bonnie of course was feeling July's belly. The nurse soon re-enters with several electronic devices and an ultrasound machine. "Alright ms. Hopps. We are going to check the kits' heart rate and take a look at them. Alright?" July just smiled back at the nurse. "Alright." She said. 'Happy even when things like this happen. I love that.' Nick thought to himself as he came over to hold her paw.

The nurse put electrodes on her belly and turned on four small monitors. Soon, the monitors each picked up a small pulse and began to show their rhythm. All smiled as they saw the healthy heart rates of the kits. And soon, the nurse put the ultrasound probe back onto her belly, and soon.. Nick got to see his kits once again.