Immoral

by Vellichor29

Trauma can shape a mammal, sometimes physically, sometimes mentally. In a world where shock collars are placed on criminals, trauma seems everywhere. But for Judy, her trauma has made her question her ideals. Is a good man who does bad things still good? Is doing the wrong thing for the right reasons still wrong? Maybe things aren't quite as black and white as she thought.

25. Chapter 25

Chapter 25 – Our Scars Don't Define Us:

Author's Note:

So… first I would like to thank everyone for being patient. I've been busy with school and exam after exam after exam that demanded my attention. And, although I still have exams to study for, I managed to find a few hours to type this out. And it's a longer chapter, hopefully to make up for not just the shorter chapters that I've been releasing these last few weeks, but also my extended absence.

I got quite a few interesting guest reviews, and even a PM last chapter! I'd love to respond to everything (and explain to you all what the PM was about), but I don't want to overstay my welcome. Like I said, it's a longer chapter. So I'll be brief and start with…

A guest reviewer named Relationship, thank you for reviewing! So, first off… yes, you're absolutely right, though I'd prefer the phrase 'putting aside Nick and Judy's relationship' rather than flat out avoiding it. Because I am going to come back to it. These last few chapters I've been mostly focusing on plot and trying to get the ball rolling… and Nick and Judy arguing about what they are, how Wolfy fits in, and where to go from there was just slowing everything down. So, instead, I decided to put their relationship aside (except for a few subtle details that'll be brought to the forefront soon) and focus on getting Nick and Judy alone here in Pawaii… that way they really have the space they need to work out their… relationship troubles.

As for Medic, there's only really one thing I want to focus on. You mentioned a love triangle forming… and I have to ask you to clarify who you think it's between. Because I realize, as I read over the chapter again, that it could be argued that I was implying there was a love triangle forming between Shenzi, Janja, and Wolfard. Which I would like to assure you, there isn't. Wolfard has a mate… if you remember back to the first arc, and she'll be showing up soon enough. If you're talking about the triangle between Judy, Nick, and Wolfgang, then, while I wouldn't call it a… 'conventional love triangle,' it's the only thing I can think of to describe that particular mess.

And finally, to a guest reviewer just called guest, I actually went and watched the first episode of 'Return to Zootopia,' by Brown Table because you mentioned a character named Wolfgang. While I definitely saw a white mammal and I think Judy called it Wolfgang, it did not look like a wolf. At least to me. So it's probably just a coincidence instead of an intentional reference.

With all that being said, let's finally get down to business. And, before I forget… there is mature content in this chapter, viewer discretion is advised. Please, enjoy!

XXX

Most mammals found it difficult to fall asleep in a hotel room. The unfamiliar bed and the new, far too clean environment typically meant many hours tossing and turning. Normally, Nick would agree with this sentiment, even with Judy curled up against his chest, any other night he would've found it difficult to sleep. But not last night.

No, last night the only feeling Nick had was relief. Relief that he was away from that white wolf that Judy had insisted sleep in their apartment. It took every ounce of his self-control not to electrocute the white wolf every time he caught a whiff of him. He had done his absolute best not to complain when Judy took the wolf under contract. He didn't want to upset her.

In truth, he was worried about his gray, little bunny. Whatever sort of trauma she had experienced in Wolfgang's hellhole of a mansion, he didn't know. But he did know that it was odd that the moment Judy had been rescued, she had thrown herself back into her work as if nothing was wrong. Despite her insistence, Nick could tell something was indeed wrong.

She had only been kidnapped for under a week, but that had been long enough to nearly drive him absolutely mad with worry. Who could say whether or not her time as that white bastard's prisoner had warped her mind? It would certainly explain some of her more, at least in his opinion, questionable decisions. He had to bite his tongue every time he considered the idea of Stockholm's Syndrome. In fact, it was becoming difficult to even think of her as his bunny.

But hopefully they could put all that behind him. Although this certainly wasn't a vacation, Nick hoped that Judy didn't plan on working the entire time they were in Pawaii. He hoped to get a better feeling for what was possibly ailing his bunny, and this would likely be their only chance to do this when Wolfgang couldn't interfere. Once he knew what was wrong with her, he would be able to help her. And then they'd be able to go back to the way things were… even if they had three collared servants, one of which happened to be the white bastard himself, and a baby that wasn't his on the way.

Nick let out a loud yawn as his eyes slowly blinked open. Groaning, he pulled his arms closer to his chest, only to discover that there wasn't a gray, little bunny clutched in his arms, like how they had fallen asleep. Sitting up and rubbing the bleariness from his eyes, he glanced around the apartment in an attempt to find Judy.

He found her quickly enough, sitting behind the only desk in the room, papers strewn across the table's surface. She was dressed in her uniform, clearly ready for the day. She either didn't notice him getting up, or didn't react, as not even her ears swiveled as he rolled out of the bed.

"How's my beautiful bunny doing this morning?" he asked as he padded closer to her. He decided to be playful, hoping that she wouldn't be unhappy that he was interrupting whatever she was doing.

"Morning, Nick," she greeted, though only her ears turned to face him.

"You're up early, I see… did you not sleep well?" he asked, letting concern drip into his tone.

"It's nine o'clock, Nick, you slept in," she chuckled, a good sign. "I slept fine."

"Nine? I'm sorry I slept through the… wait, we didn't set an alarm," he remembered, scratching the back of his head. "Why didn't you wake me?"

"I'm surprised me getting up didn't wake you up in of itself," she replied, finally turning to face him with a small grin on her face. "And besides, there was no way I could disturb something so… cute."

"I think that's my line, Carrots," Nick snickered. "Oh well… nine isn't even that late. Maybe I'll go back to sleep… give you something to look at again."

Judy couldn't stop herself from rolling her eyes. "Not a chance, Slick, you're awake now, so it's best that you get showered and dressed for the day," she said.

"That's no way to talk to your lieutenant, Hopps," he smirked, crossing his arms.

"Fine then, I just won't tell you what I'm working on," she stuck out her tongue and turned back around. "Officer Hopps only talks to clean foxes."

"Yes ma'am…" the fox pretended to be defeated as he walked over to their shared suitcase, procuring a fresh uniform for himself. Her acceptance of his banter was encouraging. There's nothing wrong with her… maybe I'm just being paranoid, he chuckled to himself as he headed towards the shower.

Seeing that there were already towels laid out for him, he stripped out of his sleepwear and stepped into the shower. He washed quickly and thoroughly, not wanting to keep Judy waiting any longer than she had to. Once he was clean and the soap had been washed from his fur, he stepped out of the shower and dried off, before dressing in his uniform.

He shined the badge that was displayed proudly on his chest, before exiting the shower, his fur still slightly damp. "One clean fox, as you requested," Nick grinned as he came to a stop next to her.

"Eh, clean enough, I suppose," Judy snickered as she turned to face him. "Jino came through for us, and sent us everything she had on the case. Plus a few of the things we asked for."

"Oh? I didn't realize that she'd be sending it up to us," Nick said as he leaned down over the desk, so he could see everything better. "What did she send us?"

"Pictures," the rabbit replied, gesturing to the dozen or so case files scattered across the desk. "And what little they have on each of the murders. Nick, there's thirteen of them."

"Plus the one last night?" the fox asked as he picked up one of the files and looked inside. There was a picture of a still smoking corpse, as well as the little bit of information they had gathered about the case. Though there wasn't a name above the body, meaning they still haven't identified the corpses.

"Yeah, plus the one last night," Judy nodded as she picked up a different file and flipped through it. "Although they still haven't identified the bodies, Jino gave us a temporary password we can use to access the PPD databanks. We'll be able to identify the bodies on our own time."

"I suppose so, Fluff," Nick chuckled. "So… do we have any reason to go down to the precinct today?"

"Not really… unless we find something major," she replied. "Or if there's another murder."

"Well, let's cross our fingers, then," he said, putting the file down and picking up the next one. "What else did she send us?"

"Uh… there's a letter, here…" Judy said, sifting through the papers, and pulling out a single sheet with someone's messy scrawl on it. "I think I managed to decipher it… it looks like the reason the restaurant was closed last night was because the manager randomly told everyone to go home."

"Wow… is this Jino's handwriting?" Nick asked, squinting at the page as he tried to read what was written on it.

"Yeah, it is," the rabbit replied, before going back to moving papers and files around, trying to find something else.

"Well… that's suspicious," the fox muttered as he set the letter aside.

"That she has messy handwriting?" Judy smirked.

"No," Nick chuckled. "Though it will make written communication difficult. But I'm talking about the reason the manager closed the restaurant."

"Yes, I thought so too. I figure he'd be the first mammal we look into," the bunny replied, before finding what she was looking for. "Jino also sent us a composite list of everyone who worked at the restaurant."

"Hmm… more mammals to interview, I suppose," he sighed. "So I guess we start with the manager, then work our way down the chain?"

"I was thinking we could stay here and identify the bodies first," she replied, picking up another file and opening it.

"While I definitely agree that we should definitely do that, Fluff, I think we should focus on just the murder last night," he said, scratching his chin. "It'll be easier to focus on one murder at a time, since we're certain they're all connected, and this one is the freshest. We should go and interview the manager now before his reasonings for his behavior last night fades."

Judy seemed to think for a moment, before letting out a soft sigh. "Yeah, you're right… I just wanted to identify the bodies and find family that we might be able to contact," she said, closing the file she was holding, and setting it on the desk.

"We'll come back to that after we've gotten our interviews, at least the manager will be able to identify the corpse from last night," Nick said, giving her a small smile. "Is there anything else I should know about?"

"Well, after looking at all the pictures, I'm ninety percent sure that our killer is different from the one that was active in Zootopia," she shrugged. "There were no rings around any of the bodies in the pictures. Again, there's still a possibility that someone could've wiped them away before snapping the photo, but…"

"You're still confident that the killer is different," he finished. "I agree, Fluff. The next body that the PPD find, we'll make sure that no one touches or goes near it until we get there. Then we should be able to know about the ring for sure."

"Good idea," Judy agreed, slipping off the chair, and stretching. She had clearly been sitting there, working for a few hours. "I'll call Jino in the car, tell her what we're thinking, and see if she wants to meet us at the manager's house."

"Sounds good, Fluff… did her list give us the manager's address?" Nick asked as he leaned back over the desk, searching for the list of restaurant employees. But, as he moved files and papers around, he spotted something that didn't look like part of the case. "Huh… what's this?" he muttered. Cocking his head, he pulled the red flyer off the desk and looked over at it.

"Yeah, it did… West thirty-first street, I think," Judy answered his question, completely missing his discovery on the desk.

Oh, this is too perfect, Nick chuckled internally as he read the flyer over. Jino must've sent it with the case files in case he and Judy wanted to spend a little time away from the case. The Pawaiin Festival of Love… interspecies couples encouraged. "Hey Carrots, what's this?" he asked, turning around to reveal the flyer in his paw.

The bunny's eyes widened as they landed on the red slip on paper in the fox's paw. Her nose crinkled as she remembered what the flyer was about. "That? That's probably just some joke one of the PPD officers decided to pull on us, slipping it into the package Jino sent us."

"I think it's something Jino sent us so that we'd know we didn't have to spend all our time here working on the case," Nick chuckled, glancing back at the flyer. "I don't know… it sounds fun."

"Nick… we're not here for fun, we're here to solve a case!" Judy protested, crossing her arms.

"I'm not suggesting we blow the case off, I'm just saying this might be a fun way to spend our downtime," the fox replied smoothly. "Look, it starts tomorrow night, probably around the time that we'd be done for the night."

"Downtime? Nick, we don't have downtime! We have to spend every moment we're not asleep trying to catch this criminal!" the rabbit argued. "We only have a week, after all…"

"Exactly, a week," he smirked. "Which is more than enough time. We've already made more progress in one day than the entire PPD did in a week."

"Still, the more time we spend on the case, the faster we catch him," she huffed. "And the faster we can go back home."

His ear flicked when he heard her say that. "Do you not like it here?" he asked, cocking his head. Suddenly, his worrying from earlier in the morning returned.

"It's not that, it's just…" she trailed off, her ears falling behind her back.

"Just what?" he asked.

"I'm worried about Wolfgang…" she admitted. "And I thought you would be too… considering that neither of us are there to keep an eye on him."

"I trust Wolfard, Judy… and he has both remotes," Nick said, crossing his arms. "Wolfgang is in good paws. Come on, Fluff! This is likely the only time we'll be in Pawaii, we should live a little!"

Judy frowned. Even though she knew Nick was right… she couldn't help that little part of her that was still worried about Wolfgang. "Even then, Nick, we should still finish the case as quickly as possible… I don't want the murderer murdering anyone else, and I definitely know Bogo won't enjoy an… extended absence," she sighed.

"Oh, screw that old buffalo-butt!" Nick exclaimed.

"Nick…"

"Fine, I see your point. How about a little deal, then?" he grinned, glancing at the flyer again.

"What kind of deal?" she asked, her eyes narrowing.

"Well, like it or not, spending every waking moment working isn't good for either of us… and I'm sure you agree that we should at least have a little fun. So how about this… we spend at least an hour at the festival every day that we're here," he smirked. "Only an hour, maybe when we first wake up, or right before we go to bed, so we have a little time to unwind before or after our day."

"That sounds… reasonable…" Judy muttered, unable to see any fault in his reasoning.

"Perfect!" Nick grinned. "The festival opens tomorrow with a banquet and a moonlight dance, we can start with that event."

"And what would happen, say, if we managed to catch the murderer tonight?" Judy asked, smirking as Nick set the flyer back on the desk, before leading the way towards the door. They still had interviews to conduct today, after all.

"Then you win… no fun for us," the fox sighed, rolling his eyes.

XXX

Are you ready?

Of course.

Are you sure?

Yes, damn it!

Then go get 'em!

Wolfgang's ear flicked when he heard the faint sound of bickering. He attempted to sit up and open his eyes, but the bright light reflecting off the white of the room caused his eyes to snap shut again and a deep groan emanate from his chest. His head began pounding, protesting his intention to sit up, forcing him to lie back down and clench his eyes shut as he waited for the pain to fade.

The moment the pounding vanished, awareness crashed back into him. He could hear the incessant beeping of some machine next to him, he could feel something odd sticking out of his arm, and it even felt like there was something in his urethra when he had tried to sit up. But, besides his head and neck, both of which ached, the rest of his body was fairly comfortable. As if he was lying on a soft bed, propped up ever so slightly.

I'm in a hospital, Wolfgang realized as the events of the previous day came crashing back into him. He had been electrocuted by Nick… though he couldn't quite remember why. And it had been quite a shock too, if he remembered correctly. He must've been knocked unconscious… at least they had the decency to take him to a hospital… they could've left him lying on the cold warehouse floor. But one question still reigned supreme in his mind, How long have I been out?

But his internal musings were cut short as he heard the door open and close. He strained his ears, but couldn't hear the mammal's footfalls. Confused, Wolfgang cracked an eye, before immediately shutting it again when he recognized the mammal that had entered his hospital room. It was a snow leopard in a nurse's uniform… and one that he recognized. It was his sister-in-law, his brother's wife, Snow.

What the hell is she doing here? Wolfgang growled internally as he did his best to even out his breathing. He wracked his mind as he tried to remember if Snow was a nurse before marrying his brother… but he was fairly certain she wasn't. So then what was she doing here?

The snow leopard licked her lips slowly as she swore she saw him crack open an eye. Ooh, why did I agree to do this?! she screamed internally as she checked the heartbeat monitor next to his bed. Unable to find anything that looked like an off switch, she bent down and pulled the plug, killing the machine, and silencing its inane beeping.

Swallowing softly, she stood up carefully, keeping her eyes glued on Wolfgang's form. She made her way to the other side of the bed slowly, never taking her eyes off of him. Biting her lip, she looked at the IV connected to his arm. Looking at the deceptively simple apparatus, she searched for the knob that would stop the IV from sending anything else into Wolfgang's bloodstream.

Sucking in a deep breath, before letting it out slowly, she reached underneath the blankets and wrapped her paw around his arm, ready to bring it to the surface. That was the breaking point for the white wolf, as he was unable to stay still as she touched her. "May I help you?" he growled, eyes snapping open despite the brightness of the room.

She practically threw herself across the room as she flinched away from him with a loud 'eep!' He glared at her as she recovered from her fright, straightening her back and squaring her shoulders, as if she was trying to look intimidating. That's when he noticed something odd… her uniform. It didn't quite look right. The skirt was too short and the top was showing far too much cleavage…

"Er… no, uh… you can't," Snow shook her head rapidly.

His eyes narrowed immediately. "Oh? It seemed as if you wanted my arm," he said, moving his arm out from under the covers so that it rested on top of them instead. He spotted the IV attached to his arm and realized that was what had felt so weird.

"Yeah, uh… I did…" Snow muttered, stepping forward again. She carefully gripped his arm, before pulling the needle out of his flesh. He didn't even flinch as he was freed from the IV.

"You aren't a nurse, are you?" he asked, still glaring at her. She froze as she went to unhook the IV from where it was hanging. She turned around slowly with a nervous smile.

Damn it, she muttered internally as she wracked her mind in an attempt to come up with some reason she was here. He was right, she wasn't a nurse before she had been married to his brother. She had been a prostitute. The particular outfit she was wearing now was once a part of her repertoire, for her 'patients' that liked a little bit of roleplaying. "Uh…" she trailed off, still unable to find an adequate excuse.

"Why are you here?" he growled, his suspicions practically confirmed. Once again, he tried to get up, but his pounding head forced him to stay laying down.

"Well, I, uh…" she trailed off once again, her fear of him clearly getting the better of her. It wasn't like she was nervous… no, she was usually quite forthcoming, but Wolfgang terrified her. And him killing her beloved certainly didn't help her fear of him.

He tensed as he saw her reaching into one of the pockets of her uniform, before pulling out a simple syringe. "You're here to kill me… aren't you?" he asked softly, recognizing the liquid in the syringe. It was a particular poison his brother liked to use. It was extremely difficult to detect and killed nearly instantly.

"I am," she nodded slowly, her voice soft. It wasn't her idea… no, far from it. If it were up to her, she would've stayed as far away from the white wolf as she possibly could! But when she was approached by two close friends of hers who also had vendettas against Wolfgang, she wanted to be the one to pull the trigger. Or rather, push the pump of the syringe down.

That day still haunted her dreams. She had hunkered down behind a tombstone the moment bullets began to fly. She only peeked out from behind her cover to make sure her husband was still okay. And he was, for at least a little while. But her heart dropped the moment he saw a round hit the side of his head, practically blowing his brains out.

The world seemed to stop turning as she watched his lifeless body fall to the ground. She had been just a lowly prostitute before she met him. And he, a very powerful crime lord, had found her beautiful. Her… beautiful. She had never been called that in all of her career as a whore… just sexy or foxy, or even slutty in some cases. But he had called her beautiful, and she fell in love with him.

And he reciprocated, even though he could've done so much better than a whore off the side of the road. He married her long before he knew about his father's stupid clause in his will. He may not have been the best or most caring man on the planet, but they loved each other, and that was all that mattered in her mind. And to have all that snatched away by a single bullet… made rage bubble up in her chest when she thought about it.

"You know why, right?" she growled, now completely livid at him.

He raised an eyebrow at her shift in demeanor, but didn't question it, or taunt her at all. "I believe so, yes," he nodded slowly. Snow and his brother's marriage may not have been the best or most stable, but they had clearly spent time trying to make it work. It was understandable that she was angry he killed her beloved.

"Good," Snow growled as she padded forward. She grabbed his arm once again, her grip much tighter than before as she handled the syringe with her other paw. She planned on inserting the needle where the IV had been. "Then at least you understand why you have to die."

"I wouldn't have time in an entire day to list the reasons I deserve to die," Wolfgang snorted. Though this did provide an interesting conundrum he was now confronted with. Before Judy had picked him up and put a collar on him, he had expressed the desire to die, to be sentenced to death by the court, or to have Judy put him out of her misery herself. Was that instinct still there?

"I don't care about your list of reasons… I only need one," Snow snarled, bringing the needle closer to his skin, but didn't quite insert it. She couldn't help hesitating… she was still afraid of him. He should've lashed out and did everything he could to survive, and the fact that he wasn't made her wary of a trap.

"Then do it," he growled, his amber eyes burning a hole in the side of her head. "I killed many mammals without mercy the same day I killed your beloved. I killed allies, guards, and my sister just as I did him. That day, I was wrath… but now I am too weak to even stand up. You are now wrath, and have the right to pass judgement on me, just as I did your husband."

Abort! Abort! Mission abort!

Both mammals could hear someone shouting loudly just outside of the hospital room, but they both chose to ignore it. "Wrath, huh?" Snow muttered as she slipped the needle into Wolfgang's flesh. But she didn't push the plunger down.

"Indeed," Wolfgang hissed as he felt the needle enter his flesh, right where the IV had. "Some mammals have made too many mistakes in their life to warrant redemption. Often, the sinful deserve nothing more than death… and wrath is needed to pass judgement on them. For the longest time, that's what I had done… but now judgement is to be passed onto me."

Snow! Snow, get the fuck out of there!

Snow's ear only flicked as she heard her name being called. "Then I judge you to be guilty," she snarled, her thumb putting just a little bit of pressure on the plunger of the syringe, almost ready to push it down and end Wolfgang's life. "And I sentence you to eternity in hell."

Snow-

With a loud bang, the door was thrown open and a timber wolf and a hyena rushed into the room, stopping the snow leopard before she could push the plunger down. "You!" Wolfard growled, pointing at Snow.

Snow let out another loud 'eep!' and backed away from Wolfgang before she could get any of the poison into him. Wolfard and Julia padded closer into the room, both of them glaring at Snow. Behind them, a lioness and a tigress stumbled into the room, both of them panting.

"We couldn't hold them back!" the lioness panted, clearly exhausted from trying to prevent Wolfard and Julia from entering the hospital room. "Why weren't you responding to our warnings?"

"I almost got him, damn it!" Snow shouted, clearly panicking as she backed up into a corner of the room, unable to find a way to escape the two mammals bearing down on her.

Wolfgang watched calmly as his cousin and Julia cornered the whimpering snow leopard. Letting out a sigh, he reached down between his legs and grabbed something that felt like a catheter. He pulled it free with a grunt, before pulling the syringe that was still in his arm. The temptation to push the plunger down wasn't even there, the desire that had screamed for death inside of him was gone.

He rolled out of the bed, ignoring the fact that he was only clothed in a hospital gown, and padded over to Snow. His head was still pounding, but he bit his tongue and forged forward. Nearly dying had blunted the pain, but he wasn't sure how long it would last.

"It's times like these that I wish I carried a gun and pawcuffs everywhere," Wolfard growled, not noticing his cousin approaching him.

"What are we going to do with her, and those two vermin out there?" Julia asked, smirking slightly at Snow. She had never liked the snow leopard, and now she had a good reason not to.

"Call the ZPD, I suppose," Wolfard growled. "There's nothing else we-" he started to say, but was cut off as Wolfgang gently pushed him aside. The timber wolf's eyes went wide as he watched his cousin push past him, lean down, and wrap his paw around Snow's neck.

"Oh shit…" Julia muttered, which Wolfard quickly echoed as Wolfgang exerted a surprising amount of strength for someone who had just been in a hospital bed. The white wolf hoisted Snow off the ground, pushing her against the wall as he picked her up enough that she was on eye level with him.

Her feet dangled off the ground, kicking at Wolfgang's stomach futilely. Her eyes widened as she spotted the syringe still clutched in one of the white wolf's paws. She burst into tears, bawling hard as she struggled and squirmed in his grasp even harder in an attempt to free herself. "I'm sorry!" she screamed, her wriggling making no progress against Wolfgang's iron grip.

"I know," Wolfgang said softly, his voice almost too hard for anyone to hear over her crying. "But wrath doesn't fear death. It's supposed to embrace it… even if it's the one being killed."

"Wolfgang," Wolfard growled, realizing what the white wolf intended to do. But Wolfgang ignored his cousin, raising the paw holding the syringe, and preparing to drive it into the snow leopard's neck.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Snow repeated over and over again, fresh tears falling out of her eyes as she realized that this was it.

"Wolfgang!" Wolfard repeated, stepping forward, and grabbing the white wolf's shoulder. But Wolfgang only shrugged him off, before bringing his paw down at a frightening speed, the needle aimed right for Snow's neck…

Wolfgang!

The syringe slammed into the wall instead of Snow's neck, the point of the needle bending beyond repair or use. Judy… Wolfgang muttered internally. He had heard her voice… she was so disappointed in him. He let go of the snow leopard and she collapsed onto the ground, curled up into a ball, and wept.

He took a step backwards, dropping the worthless syringe onto the ground. Luckily, it didn't shatter. What was he doing? What had he almost done? Judy… his precious, little bunny, didn't want him killing anyone. Even when he had gotten her to admit that sometimes killing was necessary, she still hated it.

Wolfard let out a sigh of relief, that had been close. He moved his thumb off the button of the remote and slipped it back into his pocket. He knew the shock wouldn't have stopped Wolfgang from killing the snow leopard, but he was glad he had seen the needle change trajectory before he pushed the button. He wouldn't want to have to cause Wolfgang to stay here another day.

Wolfgang turned around with a scowl on his face, heading towards the door. "Let's go," he growled, glaring down at the lioness and tigress as he passed them. Wolfard had half a mind to tell the white wolf that he was only wearing a hospital gown, but bit his tongue in the end. He and Julia turned around and followed Wolfgang out of the hospital. Wolfard sent a quick text to the ZPD, telling them to get down to the hospital and arrest the three women. He knew that there was no need to wait for the ZPD… the females were far too mortified to move, and Snow and particular was likely having a panic attack.

XXX

Janja padded up to the door of his house and turned the handle. It was unlocked. Burglars weren't something he ever really had to fear. Not with Scar in the house nearly twenty-four seven, nor with the ten-foot high walls that surrounded his estate. So he kept his door unlocked more of the time.

Shenzi followed behind him, significantly less skittish than the first time she had been to his home. "Welcome back," Janja grinned as he opened the door, letting the female in first. A scrumptious aroma wafted throughout the house, blasting the two hyenas' noses the moment they stepped into the house. Someone was cooking something delicious.

"Uh…" Shenzi blinked as she stepped into the house, glancing around her. A smile danced across her lips, slowly spreading over her muzzle. "Uh… Nice Hyena? What smells so good?" she asked, still smiling, as she took in the grandeur of his home.

"I had Scar make us something for an early dinner," Janja grinned. It was much too late to call it a lunch, but far too early to call it dinner. "And it does smell very good." He shut the door behind them, before leading her towards the kitchen.

"Really? What did he make, Nice Hyena?" Shenzi asked, glancing back over at him. She had a happy gleam in her eyes, one that she always had when she entered Janja's home… she just loved it there.

"I have no idea… let's go find out," the red-eyed hyena grinned at Shenzi's excited expression. He loved the radiant look in her eyes, and it made him jubilant to know that he was the cause of that happiness. He led her into the kitchen, where Scar was just taking what looked to be a turkey out of the oven.

"Look! Look, Nice Hyena, a turkey!" Shenzi exclaimed, her face lighting up even more as she saw Scar place the turkey on top of the stove. She clapped her paws together happily, letting a giggle escape her lips as she bounced up and down in place. Turkey was her absolute favorite… she had only had it once before at the Mean Wolf's house… but it was so delicious!

Scar flicked his ears and looked over at them, still wearing his oven mitts. He raised an eyebrow as he saw Shenzi's excitement, but for the most part, his bored, slightly aggravated expression didn't change. "Hello, Janja… and Shenzi," he sighed.

"Turkey is an excellent choice, Scar," Janja grinned at the female hyena's reaction. "How long should we wait for it to cool?"

"Oh… not long," the black-maned lion shrugged as he took off his oven mitts and stashed them in a drawer next to the oven. "Just a few minutes and I can cut it up for the two of you."

"And yourself," Janja smirked. "You'll be dining with us tonight… there's enough turkey to go around."

"Of course, sir," Scar nodded, leaning back against the counter as Shenzi smiled up at him. Janja nodded, mostly to himself, and busied himself with gathering plates, silverware, and glasses, before heading off towards the dining room.

"Is the turkey good, Black Lion?" Shenzi asked, still beaming up at the lion. Any fear she had of him the last time she had visited Janja's house was gone.

"Hmm? Oh yes, very good," Scar grunted, glancing down at her. Shenzi giggled again, bouncing up and down once more as she waited with the lion for the turkey to cool. Several minutes passed before Scar grabbed a carving knife and picked the tray up again.

Shenzi followed behind the black-maned lion as he headed into the dining room. The dining room was massive, easily twice as big as the huge living room, with a gigantic table stretching nearly end to end, just like in the Mean Wolf's house.

They made it into the dining room just in time to see Janja finish setting the table, humming a tune to himself. He had set the table a bit… oddly, if one thought about it. There were three places set up with plates, glasses, and silverware. Two set up on the right side of the head of the table, and one on the left. Apparently Janja didn't intend to sit at the head of his own dining room table.

"Go ahead and start carving the turkey, I'll go get us drinks," Janja said as Scar set the turkey down. The red-eyed hyena turned towards Shenzi and gestured her to take the second seat set up on the right. "Any preferences?" he asked her.

Scar grabbed the carving knife he had brought and began to slice up the turkey. Shenzi, with a little giggle, sat down at the spot Janja had gestured for her to. "Um… I want s-soda!" she requested, still smiling at him.

"Soda it is," Janja chuckled, heading back towards the kitchen. He came back a moment later with a two-liter of soda and a tray of ice. He poured each of them a glass, before giving them all two ice cubes, no more, no less.

"Thanks Nice Hyena!" Shenzi grinned, immediately dragging the glass closer to her. She picked it up carefully, using both of her paws, before taking a few sips.

"You're welcome," Janja chuckled again as he screwed the cap back onto the two-liter, before sitting down next to her. Scar finished carving the turkey a moment later, before passing out strips to all three of them, starting with Shenzi, then Janja, and lastly himself.

"Mmm… this turkey smells really good!" Shenzi exclaimed, looking down at the pieces Scar gave her. "T-thanks Black Lion!"

Scar only gave her a curt nod before digging into his food. Janja sent a small smile towards Shenzi before he began to eat as well. Seeing that she was being left behind, Shenzi furiously gobbled up the food on her plate.

The three mammals ate for a few minutes, filling their plates once, or in Scar's case, twice more. They ate in silence, at least until Shenzi looked up at Scar, tilting her head as she did. "Um… Black Lion?" she asked. Something had clearly been weighing on her mind.

Scar blinked, looking up at her. "Yes?" he asked, sounding slightly annoyed.

"How are you?" she asked, sending him one of the sweetest, most innocent smiles Scar had ever seen.

He paused, glancing away for a moment in an attempt not to let Shenzi's infectious nature overwhelm him. "I'm fine," he mumbled after a second of deliberation.

Janja's ear flicked as he continued to eat. He decided against interrupting. If Shenzi wanted to talk to Scar, he would let her. It was why he invited the black-maned lion to dinner with them… so Shenzi wouldn't feel as if he was excluding the collared servant. He had a feeling that Shenzi would've insisted he invite Scar to dinner anyways.

"That's good!" the female hyena beamed. Scar huffed and rolled his eyes, looking back down at his food as he ate. But Shenzi, who couldn't take a hint, wasn't done yet.

"Do you… do you have a mommy?" she asked, still smiling sweetly. "I have a mommy… I think everyone has a mommy. What's yours like?"

"… Excellent. Why?" Scar deadpanned as he looked over at her, dullness filling his voice. This wasn't a subject he was particularly fond of.

"Oh… because, well… I don't see your mommy anywhere… and I just wanted to know!" she replied, nodding her head rapidly, as if that in itself explained the randomness of her question. Scar's eyes narrowed, partly in confusion as he tried to follow her logic.

Janja, on the other paw, couldn't help the snicker that escaped his lips. "Yes, Scar… where's your mommy?" he smirked, glancing up from his plate.

"Nowhere of your concern, sir…" Scar replied, his voice sipping into a very light growl. Though, he had a feeling the red-eyed hyena knew exactly where his beloved mother was.

"You… you don't know? That's alright!" Shenzi exclaimed, immediately seeking to comfort the black-maned lion. "You know, I don't know where my mommy is either… so it's okay to not know!"

"I know where my mother is…" Scar grumbled, his expression souring.

"You… you do?" Shenzi asked, suddenly looking a little confused. "Uh… then where is she?"

"Probably still married to a wife-beater," Scar replied, his growl getting a little lower than it had been before as he clenched his claws tightly against his paw pads.

Janja's smirk fell when he realized where the conversation was going. But, before he could say anything to derail Scar's train of thought, Shenzi spoke up. "A wife-beater? What's that?" the female hyena asked, still just as curious as she had been before, not sensing the tension in the air.

"It's when a male beats his wife, and no matter how much damage he does, his wife will still stay with him… because she's an idiot and still believes there's a little spark of love in there somewhere," he growled, his frown deepening even more. "And because… she loves her children…"

"That… that sounds pretty bad…" Shenzi cringed. "Does… does the male hurt his wife?"

"Of course… that's the 'beater' part of wife-beater," Scar snarled, glaring at her. "Of course he hurts her… he hits her and claws her-"

"C-claws?!" Shenzi interrupted, her ears flattening against the back of her head as her eyes widened in fear.

"Scar…" Janja warned, but his warning went unfounded as Scar continued his tirade.

"Yes, Shenzi, my father uses his claws to hurt my mother," Scar growled as if he hadn't heard Janja issue a warning. The lion's expression had darkened from a simple frown, to one of pure rage, his teeth bared as he growled at Shenzi. "Claws to make her bleed and whine and cry out in pain-"

"Scar!" Janja repeated, much louder than before.

"Stop!" Shenzi wailed, jamming her paws over her ears and closing her eyes, shaking her head violently as she did. She didn't wanna hear it! She didn't wanna be reminded of Mean Lion? Why was Black Lion suddenly acting and sounding like Mean Lion?!

The moment Shenzi blocked her ears, and as Scar meant to continue in what he felt was righteous anger from her pressing a sensitive issue, a little beep issued from his collar. He paused, his heart immediately dropping, just before the first shock rushed through him.

Janja glared at Scar as the electricity coursed through his body, causing him to fall out of his chair, and hit the ground from the spasm it caused. "I warned you," the red-eyed hyena grumbled as he turned to comfort Shenzi. "Are you okay?"

"Did… did he stop?!" the female hyena whined, her paws still firmly jammed over her ears as she stayed still, shaking from fear.

"Yes, he's stopped," Janja nodded, gently placing a paw on her shoulder. He moved it in small circles, giving her a gentle massage in an attempt to calm her down.

"R-really?" she asked, opening one of her eyes a peep, and looking over at where Scar had sat. She couldn't see him, as he was still on the floor, groaning and trying to recover from the shock. "Uh…" she trailed off, looking back at Janja, before taking her paws off her ears slowly. She glanced over at Janja before leaning over and grabbing him in a desperate hug.

Janja let out a relieved sigh as she wrapped her arms around him. Deciding to push his luck a bit, he hugged her tight and pulled her off her chair, setting her on his lap so he could bring her closer against his chest.

Shenzi, still feeling somewhat distraught, didn't care one bit as she hugged the red-eyed hyena back, burying her face into the taller hyena's chest. Meanwhile, on the other side of the table, Scar managed to pull himself back up onto his seat. He let out a low groan, his paws grasping at the table as he fought to keep his balance on the chair. He always hated that Janja had made the collar around his neck stronger.

Janja's eyes flicked over to glare at Scar. Though, perhaps it wasn't all for the worst. After all, Shenzi was in his arms and on his lap, right where he wanted her to be. So he said nothing, and settled for glaring at Scar and hugging the smaller hyena.

Shenzi continued to give him that desperate hug with her head pressed against his chest, not wanting to turn around and look at Scar. The black-maned lion said nothing, only turning back to his food, and continuing to eat.

Letting out a soft sigh, Janja finally pulled away from the female. "Come on, we should finish eating before our food gets too cold," he said.

"Is Black Lion going to be mean?" she whispered, looking up at him with wide, frightened eyes.

"No… he's done being mean," Janja reassured her, sending a quick glare at the lion.

"Really?" she asked, carefully sending a glance towards Scar. The black-maned lion let out a grunt before nodding his head reluctantly. He didn't once look up from his plate, though he could feel Janja's burning gaze boring a hole through his skull.

"See? He's going to be nice now," Janja gave Shenzi a small smile. "Go ahead and finish dinner."

"Okay…" Shenzi nodded carefully. She hesitated, but eventually untangled her arms from the red-eyed hyena's frame, before getting off of him. She once again sat down at her own chair, sending Scar another frightened glance, before grabbing her fork and beginning to eat again.

Janja nodded, mostly to himself, as he finished his meal. Scar had almost ruined the night for them… the next time he and Shenzi did this, they were definitely leaving Scar out. Shenzi seemed to calm down pretty quickly once everything went quiet again, causing Janja to let out a sigh of satisfaction. Crisis averted.

Or so he thought. Once Shenzi had just about finished eating, she looked up at Scar again, curiosity replacing fear. She either ignored or didn't notice the agitated look that had shown up on Scar's muzzle. "Uh… Black Lion?" Shenzi asked, suddenly speaking up.

Scar raised an eyebrow before slowly looking up at her. He definitely looked a little more cautious than he had been a moment before. "What?" he asked, no malice in his voice this time.

"Well, uh… where did you… get that mark?" the curious hyena asked, tilting her head to the side. Oh no, Janja muttered internally as he once again opened his mouth to prevent the conversation from proceeding, but Scar beat him to the punch.

"Your boyfriend gave it to me," he grunted, staring at her with an almost dead look in his eyes.

"My… uh… my boyfriend?" Shenzi asked, cocking her head, and looking more than a little confused.

"I mean Janja… he's the one who gave me this scar," the black-maned lion huffed.

"Though it was your own fault," Janja growled, cutting in before Shenzi could say anything else. Though he was a little more than disappointed that Shenzi didn't remember that they were dating…

"Yes, I suppose it was my fault," Scar snorted, before rolling his eyes.

"Why was it his fault, Nice Hyena?" Shenzi asked, looking over at Janja with wide eyes.

"He attacked me," the red-eyed hyena explained. "Of course I defended myself, and luckily I had my trusty rapier sitting nearby…"

"Oh. So… he was being a mean lion then too," Shenzi said, blinking a few times.

"Oh yes," Janja snickered, remembering back to the first week he had Scar's contract. It had been thirteen years since then, but he could still remember Scar's rebellious nature. "He was vicious in our younger days together… but after I slashed his eye like that, I found a way to put a stop to his behavior."

"What was it?" Shenzi asked, cocking her head again. Scar let out a loud huff, one of his paws shooting up to rub at his neck, underneath the collar that sat there.

"I made an upgrade to his collar… a heartbeat monitor," Janja explained. "That way I wouldn't have to constantly have my thumb on the button"

"A… a heartbeat monitor?" she asked, flicking one of her ears. "What does that do?"

"When he gets too agitated, excited, or even if too much adrenaline is pumping through his system, the collar activates on its own and delivers a rather nasty shock," Janja explained.

"Is… is that what happened when he was being… mean a moment ago?" the female hyena asked softly.

"That's exactly what happened," Scar grunted, beating Janja to the punch.

"It's been quite a while since you've gotten worked up like that, though," Janja smirked slightly. "I was starting to wonder if the collar wasn't working anymore."

"Well I guess it still fucking works," Scar snorted, rolling his eyes again.

"Indeed it does," Janja chuckled, before turning to Shenzi "Now then," he said, rubbing his paws together as he saw that she had finished eating. "I have a few ideas on how we can spend our afternoon together, Shenzi dear."

"How?" Shenzi asked, turning to smile at him. That excited gleam lit back up in her eyes at the thought of doing something with Janja.

"I had Scar bring up a few blueprints from the catacombs," Janja explained. "I figured we could work on what he brought up."

"Building something? With you? That sounds like lots of fun!" she exclaimed, beaming at him once again. "I love building stuff with you!"

"And I like building stuff with you too, Shenzi," the red-eyed hyena chuckled, basking in her excitement. He loved her warm glow so much. "I have the plans and quite a bit of building material in my workshop," he said, before standing up. "Scar, take care of the dishes and leftovers when you're finished eating."

"Of course, sir," the black-maned lion grunted as Shenzi stood up, letting out a happy giggle.

"Come, Shenzi dear," Janja grinned, extending a paw. She grabbed it enthusiastically, and he led her towards his workshop, where they would burn the hours building something.

"What are we building?" Shenzi asked as she let him drag her along to his workshop.

"No clue," Janja chuckled. "But that's half the fun!"

XXX

The drive back to Nick's apartment was thankfully silent. Wolfard was driving with Julia sitting next to him up front. Wolfgang was in the back, his arms crossed, and his expression serious. Julia licked her lips slowly as she resisted the urge to glance at the white wolf. The tension in the car was palpable.

Wolfard's paws gripped the steering wheel hard, it was all he could do to keep them from shaking. He's still incredibly dangerous, the timber wolf muttered to himself as he did his best to focus on the road and nothing else. Even with the remote in his pocket, it didn't feel like he was the one in control. After all, he hadn't been the one to save Snow… Wolfgang had merely decided not to kill her.

"Why didn't Nick and Judy come to pick me up?" Wolfgang asked after several minutes of silence. He had been so caught up in the moment at the hospital, he didn't even notice his cousin was the one picking him up and not his contractor.

"They're gone," Gray replied, not glancing back at the white wolf through the rear-view mirror. "They went to solve a case in Pawaii, I mean."

"Ah…" Wolfgang muttered. "So they sent you to babysit me?"

"Call it what you will, no one trusts you to be left on your own… and I think your actions at the hospital proved that," Gray grumbled, slowing the car down for a stoplight.

"I didn't kill her," Wolfgang rolled his eyes.

"You almost did… and that's the point," Gray growled.

The white wolf let out a sigh, there was no use pushing the issue. He supposed saving one soul didn't save his. Putting one paw against his temple, he began rubbing as the headache began forming once again. The pounding had disappeared when he first got out of the hospital bed, but now it was coming back… and quickly increasing in strength. "Did they solve the missing weapons case?" he asked a moment later.

"The what?" Wolfard asked, stepping on the gas once the light turned green.

"Nick and Judy… did they solve the previous case they were working on?" Wolfgang repeated.

"You were only out for a day," Wolfard shook his head. "So, no… they didn't solve that case. Bogo assigned someone else to it and sent Nick and Judy to Pawaii immediately."

"The case must've been important, then," Wolfgang muttered as Wolfard pulling into Nick's apartment's parking lot. The three mammals hopped out of the car, before heading towards the building.

"I don't know much about it… but I think it was a serial killer case," Wolfard shrugged as they made their way into the building heading straight towards the elevator. "So yes, very important."

Wolfgang snorted as Wolfard hit the button for Nick's floor. Of course the case was important… but it didn't look like the white wolf would be able to get any more details from his cousin. "Does Bogo still want my help on the missing weapons case?" he asked as the elevator began to rise.

"Why would Bogo want your help with a case?" Wolfard muttered, crossing his arms.

"A deal we made," Wolfgang explained, a smirk playing on his lips as he sensed jealousy. "I help him with the case, he gives me my mansion back. Nick's apartment is a little cramped, in case you haven't noticed."

"Well, I'm afraid I'm not privy to information about the 'missing weapons case,' as you call it. I don't even know which officers have been assigned to it," the gray wolf shrugged. "So no, I have no idea if he still wants your help."

"Considering they are my weapons and warehouses… I assume he does," Wolfgang said as the elevator came to a stop, and the doors opened. The three mammals exited the elevator and headed towards Nick's apartment, which was only a few doors away.

"I think Judy kept the file that Bogo gave you… uh, I think she put it on her dresser," Julia spoke up.

"I'll be sure to take a look at it, then… the sooner the better," Wolfgang grunted as he put his paw against his head again, it had started throbbing once again. "But first, Advil," he groaned as Wolfard unlocked the door and headed inside.

Wolfgang stumbled into the room, and saw that the couch had been folded out into a bed. Perfect, he sighed to himself as he padded towards the makeshift bed, only to pause in his step. His ear flicked as he scented the room, noticing a scent that didn't belong.

"Are you okay?" Julia asked, cocking her head. He had stopped in the middle of the room, his nostrils flaring.

"I'm fine… I just need Advil," Wolfgang grumbled, before heading towards the foldout once again. He collapsed onto the bed with a soft groan.

Julia raised an eyebrow, but went to fetch the painkillers Wolfgang desired, as well as a glass of water. Wolfard disappeared into Nick's room, only to come back a moment later with a confused look on his face. "Uh… where's Shenzi?" he asked, glancing at Julia.

"What do you mean?" Julia asked, filling a glass with water.

"I can't find your sister," Wolfard explained, glancing around the room as if Shenzi was hiding from them.

"You can't… find her?" Julia asked, setting the glass down. "What do you mean you can't find her?!"

"I mean that she's not in the living room, or in the bathroom, or in Nick's room… unless there's some hidden room in this tiny apartment, she's gone!" Wolfard growled, clearly doing his best not to panic. Something that Julia wasn't doing a very good job of.

"No! Of course there's not a hidden room!" Julia all but screeched, forcing Wolfgang to cover his ears and groan again. "I told her not to leave the apartment, she should still be here!"

"Calm down Julia, I'm sure she didn't just wander off…" Wolfard tried to comfort the distraught hyena.

"Then she must've been taken! She wouldn't just go outside for no reason… someone must've come and taken her!" Julia shouted. The idea that she had just been reunited with her sister, only for her to be ripped away once again was clearly too much for the golden-eyed hyena to take.

"No! Uh… I'm sure Shenzi is fine," Wolfard floundered, failing to comfort Julia. "The door was still locked when we came in! Someone must've had a key…"

Julia let out another wail, causing Wolfgang's headache to worsen. So he silenced her with a loud snarl. "Shut up both of you!" he growled. "Shenzi is fine. Use your nose, cousin, what do you smell?"

"Uh…" Wolfard trailed off, before doing what his cousin asked. Tilting his snout towards the ceiling, he sucked in a deep breath of air through his nose. "I smell Nick and Judy quite well, despite how much time has passed since they've left… and I smell Shenzi."

If Wolfgang noticed the red tinge rising onto Wolfard's face, he didn't comment on it. Shenzi's scent was once again saturated with lust, making it very easy to pick out and distinguish from Julia's. "And?" Wolfgang asked, clearly expecting another answer.

"Um… a male… a male hyena, I think," Wolfard furrowed his eyebrows as he tried to pick out the different scents in the room.

"Exactly," Wolfgang nodded. "A male hyena that happens to be Janja."

"Janja was here?" Julia asked, her sniffling stopping nearly immediately. She scented the air, but couldn't quite pick out the scent of the red-eyed hyena. "Well… that's a relief…"

"Who's Janja?" Wolfard asked, cocking his head.

"Janja is Shenzi's boyfriend," Julia sighed, wiping a tear from her eye. "He probably stopped by and took her out on a date…"

"I should also mention that Janja left a note," Wolfgang smirked as he held up a small slip of paper. "I accidentally sat down on it."

"So… so you let me panic, knowing that she was fine?!" Julia huffed, crossing her arms.

"Pretty much," Wolfgang shrugged, a small smirk still playing on his muzzle.

"Oh, you're so rude," Julia pouted, turning around so that her back was to the white wolf. "You can come and get your own damn Advil."

"Julia…" Wolfgang groaned as he tried to sit up.

"Nope! That's what you get for making me worry!" Julia huffed again.

Wolfard glanced between the two, noticing the grins on both of their muzzles. Playful banter? What the hell… he muttered internally. To his knowledge, his cousin had never been playful. Whether it was something he had developed thanks to the collar, or a side the white wolf only showed to Julia, he wasn't sure. But he slowly backed out of the room, heading towards Nick's room. "I'll just go get that file for you…" he mumbled.

Wolfgang ignored his cousin and slowly sat up, one paw clutching the side of his head. The headache was killing him, and he needed the painkillers. He managed to struggle to his feet, before taking a few steps towards Julia. She was still holding the glass and painkillers, though her back was turned to him.

He made it to the counter and grabbed a hold of it with a shaky paw. It was all he could do to help keep himself standing. "Can I have the Advil now?" he asked, smirk still playing on his lips.

"Nope," Julia shook her head, not turning around.

"Come on…" Wolfgang said, his playful tone faltering as his headache throbbed even harder.

"Say you're sorry," Julia smirked, crossing her arms again, though she was careful not to spill any of the water from the cup she was carrying.

"What?" he asked, cocking his head.

"Say you're sorry," she repeated, finally turning around. There was a frown on her face, but it was clearly forced.

"What for?" he asked, narrowing his eyes.

"For making me worry about my sister! My little heart couldn't take losing her again, and in that moment, I thought I actually had!" she exclaimed.

"Oh… fine… I'm sorry for making you worry. Can I have the painkillers now?" he asked, rolling his eyes.

"There, now was that so hard?" she asked, smirk once again rising on her face as she set the glass full of water and three red pills onto the counter.

"Excruciatingly so," he returned the grin as he swiped the pills off the table before she could take them back. He popped the pills into his mouth, and downed the glass of water, swallowing the pills.

"Here's the file," Wolfard said as he popped back into the living room. He spotted the two at the counter, but decided to set the manila folder onto the foldout. "I'm going to take a nap."

"I think I could use a nap too," Julia agreed, glancing at Wolfard out of the corner of her eye. She watched him swiftly retreat into Nick's room, before shutting the door. A loud click signaled the door being locked.

"You go ahead… I have a case to work on," Wolfgang chuckled as he turned around and made his way back towards the bed, stumbling slightly as he did.

"Oh no you don't," Julia shook her head as she easily outpaced him, and beat him to the foldout. "You need your rest even more than me or Gray."

"Julia…" the white wolf grumbled. "The sooner I get this done, the sooner I get my mansion back."

"Well, your mansion can wait until later," the hyena said, snatching the folder off the bed before Wolfgang could grab it. She stored it onto the side table on her side of the foldout, before giving the white wolf a wide smirk. "After a nap with me."

"There's no changing your mind, is there?" Wolfgang grunted as he lied down on his side of the bed. Without Shenzi there, there was plenty of room for the two larger mammals. But that didn't stop Julia from immediately pressing herself against him, as if her sister was taking up a third of the foldout.

"Nope," Julia grinned, getting comfortable next to her favorite white wolf. "You'll be able to think better once you're rested, right?"

"Right…" he sighed. It wasn't like he had the strength to resist her at the moment. Walking around with the headache took more out of him than he'd want to admit. Julia only kept grinning as she waited for his eyes to close. She made sure to wrap her arms around him as she too fell asleep. She figured if she had a tight hold of him, he couldn't wait for her to fall asleep, then slip free. She wanted to make sure he got a good nap… after all, she was right. He needed it.

XXX

The hours had passed quickly, and the two hyenas had yet to finish whatever it was they were attempting to build. There were lots of parts and pieces that needed to be constructed from scratch. It would likely take several days to do, and even though they had completed a good chunk of the work, neither of them could tell what they were building.

So they had decided to take a break. Janja sat on his couch with Shenzi's head resting on his lap. Scar stood behind the couch dutifully, with his arms crossed as he stared at the two hyenas. The black-maned had remained nearby all night, just in case the red-eyed hyena needed something from him.

"Nice Hyena?" Shenzi asked, a happy, relaxed smile on her face as she looked up at Janja.

"Yes?" Janja smiled, looking down at her. He could feel Scar's burning gaze on the back of his head, but he chose to ignore it.

"What time is it?" she asked, letting out a little giggle as she grinned back up at him. She liked his smile so much…

"It's just passed seven, my dear," he replied a moment later, a soft chuckle escaping his lips.

"When do I have to go back to Nice Fox's place?" she asked, flicking her ears.

"Whenever you want to go back, I'll take you back," Janja replied, still giving her that soft smile. "But if you want, you can spend the night here with me."

"Oh… well… yeah, I was going to ask that next," she replied, beaming up at him.

"You want to spend the night here with me?" he asked.

"Well… yeah!" she responded, nodding her head. "You know, cause… I liked building stuff with you… and I got more questions!"

"Oh? What sort of questions?" he asked, cocking his head.

"Um… well… questions for later," she replied, giving a sweet, innocent look. Though she couldn't help but glance at Scar for less than a second.

Janja's smirk widened as he saw her eyes flick over to Scar, understanding what she meant by 'later.' "Oh," he grinned. They were questions for when they were alone. "In that case… Scar, don't you have something better to do?" the red-eyed hyena asked, turning to glare at the black-maned lion.

"I figured staying here and waiting for an order of yours would be the best way to spend my time…" Scar sighed.

"Well, I have only one more order for you. Scram," Janja said, waving the lion away. "You're on your own for the rest of the night. Don't bother me. Call your family, if you want."

"If you say so, sir," he replied, the end of his muzzle twitching into a little smirk. "You two enjoy your night… don't forget protection, though."

"Don't lecture me, Scar," Janja's ear flicked as Shenzi shot him a confused look.

"Whatever you say, sir… goodnight," the black-maned lion smirked, turning on his heel, and padding out of the room, leaving Janja and Shenzi alone.

Shenzi waited a few minutes until she was sure Scar was out of earshot. "Um… so… Janja…" she started, now that she was sure Black Lion was gone. "Uh… I looked up that… that thing you told me to…"

Janja blinked a few times before a grin split his muzzle. "Oh?" he asked. "What did you think?"

"Well… I was looking at the videos… the first ones that came up… and… I felt like… a heat… down there," she said, pointing down between her legs.

"Ah, that would be arousal, my dear," he explained. "It means you were enjoying what you were watching."

"Yeah… that's what I thought too," she nodded. "An… then it turned into like… and itch, and my paws… had to go down there too!"

Ooh, she's very open, he grinned internally. It was just more fun for him, then. "Did you start rubbing yourself?" he asked, now curious as to how much she would tell him.

"Well… I rubbed my… where my hole is, yeah," she replied, nodding again. She wasn't sure what else to call it. "And… uh… it felt really good!"

"Well it's supposed to feel really good," he nodded, grin widening slightly.

"It did," she beamed up at him. "But… on the video, it didn't show a hyena by herself… it showed a female… and a… a male hyena."

"Yes, of course," Janja nodded, wondering where she was going with this. "That's how it's supposed to be."

"Is it really?" she asked, tilting her head. "'Cause… that was one of my questions. Does it have to be that way?"

"What do you mean?" he asked, cocking his head. "Well… hold on, with all the porn on the internet, there's no telling what you saw. Describe the video you watched."

"Well… there was a male hyena… and a female hyena that looked a lot like my mommy…" she started, trying to recount what she had seen.

"Your mother?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, yeah," she nodded, flicking her ears. "I don't know why… but she really looked like mommy…"

"Huh… maybe your mother used to do stuff like that," the red-eyed hyena shrugged. "Keep going… what were they doing?"

"Well… you know, the hole? Down there?" Shenzi asked, pointing back down between her legs. "And… you know that… stick… that males have? Well… he was…" she paused for a moment, looking a little worried. "He was pushing it into the hole…"

"Ah, yeah, that's how it's done," Janja nodded, realizing what she was talking about.

"Is that really how it's done?" Shenzi asked, looking more than a little scared. "R-really?"

"Yes," he nodded once again. "That's how it's always been done."

"But… doesn't that hurt? Like… a lot?" she asked, looking up at him with wide eyes.

"Uh, no," he shook his head. "It's supposed to feel good. Remember how you were rubbing yourself while watching that video? That's what it's supposed to feel like… only better."

"Really?" she blinked. "But… that's what Mean Lion did, and it… well, it really hurt…"

"Oh, well…" Janja trailed off, remembering what he had read about Shenzi's previous contractor. "He was a lion, and I'm a hyena."

"Is there a difference?" she asked, tilting her head again. "It's still the same… isn't it?"

"No, it's completely different," he shook his head once again. "Remember back to the video you watched… did it look like the male in the video was hurting the hyena that looked like your mother?'

"Well… uh… no," she mumbled, flicking her ears. It had actually looked like her mommy was really enjoying herself…

"Exactly," he nodded. "Trust me, Shenzi dear."

"So it won't hurt, right?" she asked softly. "I mean… it felt good with my paw… but my paw is soft…"

"Well my dick is certainly not soft," Janja couldn't help but snicker. "But no, it'll feel good. I promise."

"C-can we try it, then?" she asked without a pause.

He blinked a few times, but eventually let out a chuckle. "Of course," he nodded.

"Yeah! I mean…" she trailed off, "If you say it feels good, well… I believe you."

"Trying to dampen your excitement, are we?" he smirked. "Well, if you want to do it… then let's go up to my room."

"Yeah… yeah! Let's do that!" she grinned, rolling off of him, and jumping to her feet. He let out another chuckle and took her paw, leading her away from the living room and towards the entryway. He padded up a staircase that sat in the entryway, before walking into the first room on the right of the upstairs hallway.

He shut the door behind them once she had made it inside. He had led her into a nice room, though it did look a little small compared to the overall size of the house. The bed definitely looked big enough for two, though it took up the majority of the space in the room.

"Wow…" Shenzi mumbled, glancing around as she padded deeper into the room. Though the room was small, it felt particularly cozy. A perfect place for two mammals to retreat to when they wanted to be alone. And the bed looked pretty comfortable too… with soft blankets and puffed up pillows.

"Nice, isn't it?" Janja asked as he followed her further into the room, enjoying her curious, wide eyes as she enthusiastically took in the new environment.

"It… it looks comfortable, Nice Hyena!" she nodded happily, glancing back at him with a wide grin. "The bed looks comfy!"

"Very comfy," he nodded, smiling back at her. He wasn't going to push her into this. He would let her do this at her own pace.

She paused, taking a moment to lick her lips. Glancing back at Janja, she finally decided to plop down on the bed. She jumped up onto the soft mattress and immediately sank into the soft, cushy blanket. With a loud giggled, she laid down, sinking even further into the bed.

He couldn't help but chuckle as he watched her seemingly melt into the soft bed. "Comfortable?" he smirked, laying down next to her, sinking in as well.

"Yeah!" she exclaimed. "This bed is just as comfy as it looks! You have a really comfy bed!"

"Thank you," he chuckled as he wrapped an arm around her. Pulling her close against his chest, just like he had done during dinner, he let out a sigh as he relaxed on the bed.

"You know, Nice Hyena… you've got a lot of cool stuff," she turned around in his paws, so she could hug him back. "I've never gotten to use so much stuff! And it's all so nice too!"

"Well, I try," he chuckled, not sure what else to say. "You can use any of it any time you want, you know."

"I know," she nodded, still giving him that wide, innocent smile. "It's why you're such a Nice Hyena! And… and it's why I trust you so much…"

Trust… now there was a word he was happy to hear from her. He had worked so hard these past few days to get her to trust him, to open up to him, and it looked like it was all paying off. A huge smile spread across his face once again and he hugged her a little bit tighter, before pressing a quick kiss against her lips. "Thank you, Shenzi… I'm very glad you trust me," he whispered softly into her ear.

"Y-yeah! How couldn't I trust such a Nice Hyena?" she asked, that happy smile still on her face. "J-J… Jan… ja…"

His heart skipped a beat when he heard his name. He remembered the other day when she had told him that she didn't like using real names. And yet she insisted on calling her friend Banzai by his real name, he chuckled to himself. And now I've earned that honor as well. "Yes… my name," he nodded, his grin somehow widening even farther. "Janja…"

"Yeah!" she exclaimed, letting out another excited giggle. "J-Jan-ja! I said it! I can say it!" He gave her another wide smile as his hold on her tightened a bit. She returned the embrace with equal strength, still ecstatic that she was able to say another mammal's name without fear of consequences. "Jan-ja? So… do you wanna… do you wanna do that thing?"

"Sex?" he asked, cocking his head. In all this excitement, he had completely forgotten the reason that he had led her up here.

"Y-yeah! That thing I saw on the video," she nodded happily.

"I would love to," he nodded.

"Okay! So… what's first?" she asked, returning his wide grin. "What do we have to do first?"

"Stripping… we need to take off our clothes," he replied immediately.

"Our clothes? Uh… okay…" she said slowly, licking her lips nervously once again. She paused for a moment, before her paws reached up to tug at her shirt.

"Is something wrong?" he asked as he decided to start with his pants, pulling them free quickly.

"Um… nothing," she muttered, slowly pulling her shirt off. When she finally had it off, she let out a little, nervous gulp, before tossing the shirt aside. And it was easy to see why she had was nervous…

Hyenas had rather short fur, and that fact made it easy to see the hundreds of white, crisscrossing lines all over Shenzi's skin. From the other side of the room, Janja never would've noticed, but now that he was right next to her, he could see the scars running all over her chest, running underneath the bra she was wearing, down her abdomen, and disappearing underneath her skirt. The only places the scars didn't travel were up her neck, across her arms, or down her legs, where they would've been visible in plain view.

Shenzi stared at him with a scared look in her eyes as she watched him follow the patterns across her chest. She followed his gaze as it dipped towards her skirt, his eyebrows furrowed as he stared at them. "Banzai said they were good decorations!" she blurted out, nervousness overcoming her.

"Decorations?" he asked, his eyes flicking back up to hers. "I wouldn't call them decorations. Maybe… testaments. Yeah… testaments to how tough you are."

"T-tough?" she asked, flicking her ears in confusion.

"Yes… tough," he nodded, remembering back to the file he had read on her. That lion was a real bastard… he's lucky he's already dead, Janja growled internally. "After all, you lasted ten years with an abusive contractor… no one else could've done what you did."

"Um… well… you really think so?" Shenzi asked, her eyes widening slightly. "I mean… I didn't really do a whole awful lot… I just kept screaming as he scratched me. And now… I got all these stupid white marks beneath my fur… they used to bleed, you know…"

"Of course I think so," Janja nodded. "It doesn't matter how much you screamed, it doesn't matter how much you bled… all that matters is that you survived, and that you're safe now."

"I… I guess I did survive…" she replied softly. "Then… then you don't think the white marks are ugly?"

"Of course not!" he exclaimed, shaking his head. "Why would I ever think that?" he asked, before carefully reaching out, and touching one of the longer marks on her chest. His touch was so gentle, she could barely feel it as he traced the scar down her chest and across her flat stomach.

"Well… Mean Lion said I looked awfully ugly with them…" Shenzi muttered, watching the paw touching her abdomen. "Banzai was the only one to say they were pretty…"

"They are pretty," Janja affirmed with a small smile.

"Oh… thanks," she said after a moment of thought, smiling sweetly at him. "I was kinda… kinda worried. No one else seems to have scars…"

He licked his lips slowly as he sat up. "You shouldn't be worried," he chuckled softly, before tugging off his shirt. "You're not the only one with scars…"

"Well… Black Lion has a little scar, but it just makes him look cool…" she replied, cocking her head at him.

"Yes, well, I have scars too," he said, tossing his shirt aside, revealing his torso.

"Where?" Shenzi asked, tilting her head again with confusion. She didn't see anything wrong with him at all! Janja was perfect… flawless, almost. For being a hyena, he was ridiculously well-sculpted. Years of fencing and training had resulted in a muscled physique, a finely-tune fighting machine.

"It's here… on my back," he all but whispered, turning around. Shenzi's eyes widened as she spotted two small, hairless patches of skin on his back, about half a foot down from his shoulder blades, and with the two marks straddling his spin. The skin had turned black, as if it was a burn.

"Oh…" she mumbled, blinking tears from her eyes as she imagined how much it had hurt. And the patches weren't small. They were circular and seemed to be about three inches in diameter. "That's… that must've hurt! Where'd your fur go?"

He turned back around to give her another soft smile, hoping to keep her from panicking. "They're electric burns," he explained. "From a cattle prod."

"A… a cattle prod?" she asked, flicking her ears. "But… but who would do that to you?! You're a strong hyena! And… and a nice hyena!"

"It happened when I was a kid," he explained, still smiling. "By who, it doesn't matter… they're long gone."

"Well… it still looked like it hurt," she whimpered. "It doesn't hurt now, does it?"

"No, not really," he shook his head. "Nothing really hurts anymore."

"Wow…" she muttered, reaching out a paw and wrapping it around his back. She quickly found the burns on his back, and couldn't help herself from poking the burnt area. "You're a really strong hyena… a really, really strong hyena…"

"Our scars don't define us, my dear… they show that we survived. And that's all that matters," he smiled softly, before leaning over and removing her bra, revealing more scars.

"I… I like that," she smiled as she removed her bra. And for the first time that she had ever had that last protection removed from her chest, she felt… safe. He gave her a soft smile as he gently groped one of the fleshy globes, squeezing it in his paw.

"That's good," he said, his voice dropping in pitch to sound sultry. "Are you ready?"

"I'm very ready," Shenzi replied, grinning happily back at him. She tried to puff out her chest, arching her back off the bed as she did. Her bust wasn't particularly big at all, but she still figured Janja wanted to touch and enjoy them.

And he certainly was enjoying them. While her breasts weren't anywhere near as large as her sister's, Janja still enjoyed the feel of them beneath his paws. "Good, good… let me just take my boxers off," he grinned, letting go of her breasts so he could slip his undergarments off, before putting his paws back where they had been before.

Shenzi grinned as she glanced between his legs, licking her lips a little nervously as she saw his shaft. Even there, Janja seemed more than perfect… she wasn't sure how big hyenas normally were… but he looked exceptionally well endowed, unlike her…

He snickered as he saw her eyes widen a bit. "Don't fret, my dear… it'll feel good, I promise," he said softly, before his paws trailed from her breasts down to the hem of her skirt.

"I trust you," she nodded as Janja gently removed her skirt and panties. "It's bigger than Mean Lion's was… you'll be better than him in every way!"

He chuckled at her exclamation. "Bigger, really?" he smirked as he tossed the last barrier between them aside. One of his paws gently ghosted over her lower lips.

"Yeah, really!" she replied, nodding her head quickly, before she let out a little moan from the touch of his paw. It felt just like it had when she had done it… but better.

"Then you definitely will enjoy it more," he grinned as he pressed his paw a little harder against her core. He wanted to make sure she was nice and wet, so she was actually ready for him. He didn't want this to hurt her in even the slightest.

Shenzi let out another moan, her happy smile getting a little wider. Now she felt excited… she wanted to enjoy this… she wanted to enjoy this with Janja. She let out a surprised gasp when she felt him insert a finger into her center.

"Have you tried pushing a finger inside of you?" he asked, wiggling his finger around teasingly. He could feel her wetness, she was just about ready. He just wanted to tease her a bit more.

"N-no…" she gasped, writing around a little bit as she let out another, even louder moan. "I-I… I didn't…"

He chuckled at the pleasured expression plastered across her face. We haven't even started yet, he smirked to himself. "Well, it feels pretty good, eh?" he asked, pumping the finger in and out of her for a few seconds, before removing it completely. She's ready, he grinned, drawing his tongue across his drenched finger, tasting her on the digit.

"Yeah… yea, that felt good!" she nodded, giggling as she felt him remove his paw. She looked back at him expectantly, waiting for him to do more.

Seeing excitement and expectation shining in her eyes, he crawled over top of her and lined up at her entrance. "Then this'll feel even better," he smirked, before slowly inserting his length into her.

Instantly, a loud groan tore from her throat. She gasped, her eyes widening as she felt his massive shaft push into her. He was, in fact, bigger than Mean Lion had been. On top of that, the lack of barbs, and the smooth, gentle entrance… plus the foreplay… she'd never felt better!

Hearing another moan of pleasure escape her muzzle, he began thrusting in and out of her, his hips slapping gently against hers as his paws went to play with her breasts again, hoping to do everything necessary to keep her feeling good. And she did feel good… she felt amazing. She had no idea this was what sex was supposed to have felt like. And now that she was having it… with Janja, her boyfriend! She loved it!

Her moans increased in volume, so Janja decided to pick up the pace a bit. He could feel her bucking her hips against his, desperate to take him deeper. He let out a groan, as he was feeling just as good as she was now that he was moving faster.

She continued to let out loud exclamations of her joy as his hips smacked against hers. It didn't even hurt! She had one of the happiest smiles on her face that Janja had ever seen as they both enjoyed every second of this. "F-faster!" she groaned out. She could feel something beginning to bubble up inside of her… she wanted more of it!

Janja grinned as he picked up his pace even more, now at the point where he was really railing her. He had bedded quite a few mammals in his life, but Shenzi was without a doubt the best. He leaned over and pressed his lips against hers.

She let out an absolute squeal of joy as she wrapped her arms around his head to keep his lips pressed against hers. She was so happy that she had found someone so thoroughly perfect like Janja… this was better than anything she had ever hoped for. Her grin stretched from ear to ear, excitingly taking the railing she was receiving.

Janja kept pumping into her for another few minutes until he began to feel his climax approaching. He tried to pull his head away from Shenzi, but found that he couldn't. So he pressed harder into the kiss as he did his best to hold back the floodgates, realizing for just a moment that neither of them had protection. Damn you Scar, Janja grumbled as he realized it was the lion's fault for even making him think that in the throes of passion.

Shenzi, however, had no scruples in her mind as she eagerly took everything Janja was giving her. She was still grinning happily as she felt her climax approaching, and she was more than happy to welcome an explosion of pleasure!

He couldn't help but chuckle as he felt her wrap her legs around his waist. Her decision was clear… she didn't want him pulling out. So he pushed himself just a little bit harder as she finally let go of his head. He pulled away and let his tongue roll out of his mouth so he could pant in exertion, using what little time he had before his climax to show her what true pleasure felt like.

It was at that moment Shenzi felt a true high run through her. It was a real explosion, a rush that she had never felt before, an energetic high that crashed into her, and quickly overtook her. She screamed out in pure joy and ecstasy, feeling the happiest she had ever felt in her life.

He let out a loud groan the moment he felt her inner walls clench hard around his length, her juices spilling out over his shaft. She was tight before, but this was on a whole different level, causing him to hit his climax nearly immediately after hers. He slammed his manhood into her, as he couldn't pull out due to her legs around his waist, before filling her to the brim with his seed.

Shenzi collapsed onto the soft bed, panting and gasping from the ordeal. She was still grinning happily, even with her tongue hanging out, clearly having just been given the time of her life. Janja carefully collapsed on top of her, panting just as hard as she was. "Good?" he managed to get out between gasps of air.

"Y-yeah…" she nodded, being nearly unable to say much else. But she didn't have to. That pleasured expression plastered over her muzzle spoke volumes to how much she had truly enjoyed this experience.

XXX

Alright, that seems like a good place to leave it. Whew! That was the longest chapter I've ever written! For any story of mine. I know the last few chapters have been fairly short (especially when compared to this one), but hopefully the upcoming chapters will be longer… though I doubt as long as this one. The last chapter I had over 10k words, by the way, was chapter 14.

Anyways, with that being said, I don't really want to stretch this author's note out. Uh… there's a lot here, and I know Nick and Judy don't feature too heavily, but hopefully you can see all the character development that has, or will, be taking place in the upcoming chapters. As well as how I'm definitely shifting my focus with Nick and Judy towards their relationship.

It won't be solved in a single chapter… or two, or even three, but eventually the 'dynamic duo' will figure out whether they stay together, or they break apart. Stay tuned to find out!