Saying the past week had been a roller coaster of emotions for Judy was like saying an elephant was kind of large in comparison to a mouse; it was very true, but terribly understated.
She'd been held as a prisoner at the hospital for a total of nine days. That was over a week of having to suffer through some of her parents' antics, hospital food, and being stuck in a bed with no easy way of moving around by herself. Dr. Bales had told her she was lucky to still have her leg intact and soon functional as the damage inflicted to it could've easily caused severe nerve damage or resulted in her missing relatively sizeable chunks of it, but she couldn't have cared less about her own condition back then. It had gotten a little more bearable once she'd convinced the staff to let Fru and Ben see her, but the visits never lasted for too long as they both had their own personal lives to take care of. Even Finnick had dropped by to get everything sorted out. Understandably, the fennec had been more than mildly discomforted by the news.
She'd also gotten another chance at seeing her fox on her second to last day there. Unlike during the first meeting, this time she'd been able to keep her emotions mostly in check, which had seemingly had a calming effect on the locked vulpine as well. She'd been absolutely dying to touch him through the feeding gap, but had been stopped by the nurse watching over her. Despite the numerous theories Dr. Bales had told her they'd made based on the information she'd provided them with, they'd still been unable to find whatever substance was causing the predators to turn feral. Apparently, some had even argued against the idea of a toxin having been used at all, as it should've already exited at least the first few victims' bodies. Judy had of course had a few counterarguments to this- mainly in the form of shouts.
Possibly the most positive thing that had taken place amidst the boredom had been the second, very brief visit from chief Bogo himself. Pretty much all the Cape buffalo had said was that they now had a lead to follow and that a proper investigation had been set up. It wasn't much of an assurance of things eventually returning to normal, but it did manage to arouse a spark of hope somewhere deep inside of her.
That's a part of the reason why she'd felt rather conflicted when it came time for her to leave. Knowing that Nick hadn't returned to normal yet and that only her presence would calm him down had made leaving a lot harder than she'd first thought, but it was somewhat of a necessity for her mental health and wallet. A single additional day spent stuck in that pale white room while feeling as awful as she had would've driven her mad. That said, what had been waiting for her outside the hospital had tested the limits of her sanity as well. While Judy had known that the case had caught much attention on the media's part, she hadn't been expecting the dozen and then some reporters waiting for her right outside the hospital. It had taken her a good amount of effort to push through them all without throwing a punch or two at the most intrusive of the bunch, but luckily she'd had her parents to aid and calm her.
Now though, standing in front of her apartment door with a pair of crutches, a new wave of anxiety and trepidation filled her. She'd insisted on coming with her mother to pick up some of the necessary things she'd need for her upcoming stay at Bunnyburrow, but was starting to reconsider her decision. She'd thought she would be healed enough, strong enough to push away the memories.
Dumb bunny.
Slowly reaching the key towards the door lock, she took in one last deep breath, completely oblivious to the concerned look in her mother's eyes. Some struggling with her shaky paws and a twisting motion later, the door was pushed open, revealing the space she was once happy to call her apartment. Some relief washed over her when she saw no blood puddled on the floor, but instead smelled a variety of cleaning agents, mostly the scent of artificial lemon. In fact, excluding the dust, the whole room was in perfect order. Even her hearing aid had been placed on the table top.
Feeling a gentle paw grip her shoulder, she breathed out slowly and turned to her mother.
'Honey, if it's too much-'
With a second of hesitation, Judy brushed the older doe's paw off her shoulder and dragged herself inside, only having minor difficulty with getting used to the crutches. "I can handle it, Mom. I'm not afraid of an empty apartment." Not daring to lie to her mother or herself more than that, she hurried to the bathroom to pick up her toiletry. "My suitcase is in the cabinet. Top shelf. There's a chair if you can't reach it." Tiptoeing to reach her fur comb, her nose mere inches away from the mirror cabinet's shiny surface, her head turned to her reflection. She frowned upon seeing her bloodshot and wet eyes giving away her true feelings, and with yet another sigh, wiped them clean.
Despite Judy's clumsy condition, it took the two does less than ten minutes to pack up everything essential and prepare the rest of the apartment to stay vacant for some time. The suitcase was splayed on the bed, and was mainly filled with her clothes and college supplies. Judy figured studying would suffice as a good way to keep herself distracted, but that it was also a necessity to keep up with her fellow students. On top of that, she still needed to call to work to explain the details of the situation, but that would need to wait for later.
'Is that everything, Bun Bun?' Bonnie asked using her paws, wanting to get her daughter out of the apartment as soon as possible.
"Almost", Judy answered and proceeded to turn down the bed. Once done, she reached under the covers and pulled out a grey, extremely wrinkled hoodie. Pulling it up to her nose, she basked in the smell and feel of it, just like she did most nights before drifting to unconsciousness. Nothing in the apartment matched the sentimental value of the oversized piece of clothing, not even her hearing aid. And that was saying something.
Folding the cloth neatly and placing it in the suitcase before finally pulling the zipper closed, Judy took one last look of her second home. Odds were, she wouldn't come back until she had her mate with her.
Dawn Bellwether wasn't an idiot. Upset, maybe, but not dumb. She knew the operation had failed, and would have to be put down soon before the authorities could make the inevitable link to her. Then again, that would take them a rather long while for the same exact reason. She'd been very demanding in terms of precautions when making her plan, and it had paid off. That carefulness had left her an open backdoor to escape through. But she didn't want to do so just yet. She could trust her safety net for a few more weeks.
"How much longer do you think these'll last?" she asked the ram next to her, staring at the last batch of Night howler. She'd never been too fond of visiting the underground lab, nor the sheep who ran it, but this time it was a must.
"Unless you wanna speed things up a little and put a few more of 'em preds in hospital, I'd say three weeks. At most", Doug replied, ceasing the production and stumbling over to her in his yellow hazard suit. "We're lower on the cover-up juices, though. Probably gonna be out in about two", he continued. Truth be told, Dawn was proud of having come up with the idea of masking the after products of the blue toxin with other chemicals. Sure, the dose weakened the original reaction caused by the pallets, but it also made it nearly impossible for anyone to recognize the toxin. All they needed were two injections and there were no traces of anything out of the ordinary, only minor risings in certain hormone levels. "But you could've asked me that through a phone call which begs the question, why have you stumbled into our fine lair?"
The ewe reached into her blazer's breast pocket and pulled out three rolls of cash. "Can't leave you all without pay, now can I? We're shutting the operation down. No more attacks from now on. We don't want any extra risks at this point."
The ram nodded. "I don't think Jesse and Walter are gonna be all too happy to hear that. We'll still be deliverin' this batch to the hospital, right?"
"Yes, same procedure as always", she confirmed, turning on her heels to make her exit. "I'll let our little mole know it'll be the last one."
"They still don't got the slightest clue about him, do they?"
"Not with the résumé I put together for him", Bellwether stated proudly, walking towards the exit in the back end of the cart. "The only thing that could expose him at this point would be him turning himself in." She stepped out of the wagon and onto the tracks, regarding the other woolen mammal one last time. "Well, it's been a pleasure, Mr. Ramses. I wish you and your friends a successful future in your new jobs for the city."
"Why thank you, Ms. Mayor, that's very kind of you", he quipped back in an innocent tone. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some boring science stuff to take care of." With that, the metallic door slid shut, causing a loud thud to echo in the dimly lit tunnel.
Despite not having reached her goals of cleaning the streets of Zootopia from the dangerous and filthy things known as predators, she couldn't help but smile at the way the ram had said her current title. "Oh lambchops, does it feel good to be appreciated", she muttered quietly as she rose the stairs to the vacant platform.
Family helped- if only slightly. So did home and the pleasant memories of her kithood it awoke. Whenever her thoughts tried to overwhelm her, there was always some activity she could drown herself into. Whenever she began to feel lonely, there was always someone to fuss over her, show her she still had mammals in her life who cared for her. It might've not seemed like much, but just knowing she had someone to always talk to made the coping more bearable, even when she didn't exactly utilize the opportunity.
Of course, there were also times when none of that helped and she found herself in a weepy heap. And despite it having been nearly a month and a half since her first night at the hospital, those times were still just as frequent as back then, if not even more so. She was still missing her appetite too, which was certainly no help in keeping her emotional levels stable.
Judy liked to think that was the reason why her father's sudden aha moment got her so worked up.
Sitting at a dinner table, ironically enough, she could only watch in dreadful anticipation as her father paced back and forth the room, chatting away into his phone about her uncle Terry's encounter with Midnicampum holicithias. The flower had been - and was still being - used around the farm to keep insects off the produce, and had proved to be quite harmful to mammals as well, although in a completely different way. Judy was angry at both of her parents for not recalling the incident sooner, but more than that, was hopeful of it leading to some good news, or even a conclusion. Letting her mother hug her tighter as she clasped her own muzzle with both paws, she took in every detail of her father's expression, intently looking for a smile or any other sign of relief that could be caused by the mammal on the other side of the line. When the buck stopped, and met her gaze with shattered eyes, it was little she could do to prevent her ears from falling against her back in defeat. Many of her siblings at the table seemed to understand the meaning behind the action too, the grey doe receiving numerous sympathetic looks and pouts.
Some more words were exchanged before Stu hung up and sat opposite to the two does. With a sigh, he lifted his paws from the table top and signed. 'I'm sorry, Jude. They said they'd already got the same hint from others. No major developments so far, but they're-'
"They're working on it, I know, just like the ZPD is", she spat with an uncharacteristically venomous tone, done with having to receive the same news over and over again. "But it's been over a month already! How have they still not found the frigging antidote?!"
Deep down Stu couldn't agree more with his daughter, but he still maintained a neutral and calming façade, needing to show his kit that everything would eventually turn okay. Bonnie was quicker on the verbal side however, detaching from Judy just enough to be able to move her arms about. 'Honey, I'm sure they're doing their best.'
A flash of desperate anger crossed the younger grey doe's face. "I don't want their best!" she shouted and got up from the bench, having no trouble doing so with her now fully healed appendage. In need for some fresh air, she strode towards the hallway that led to the front entrance. "I just want my life back."
"I want Nick."
The world was a blur for the red fox when he came to, both visually and mentally. The feeling was very similar to having been woken at an ungodly hour in the early morning after a hard night of drinking. Before he even realized it, his body was overcome with a combination of terrible nausea and what felt like a series of explosions inside his skull, his stomach immediately deciding to empty its contents in response. His reflexes were barely fast enough so that he missed the mattress, which he now recognized was not his own. The vulpine tried to get up, but found that his limbs were virtually limp.
Breathing heavily, Nick moved backwards to lean against the wall, trying to get a better look of the dark room. His mind was racing to put the pieces of the puzzle together, but he simply couldn't recall how he'd ended up there. The last memory he had was of visiting Finnick for whatever reason.
As his vision cleared, he noticed an odd gleam seemingly float in the air by the window. Multiple seconds ticked by before he could make out the outline of what looked like a glass wall dividing the space in half. Suddenly becoming very aware of what his current imprisonment, nudeness, mental haze, and the mild aches all over his body were pointing towards, he let out a loud gulp, slowly looking down at his own body for any evidence of what he thought had happened.
Thankfully, after a thorough inspection, he concluded that the worst injuries on him were a few spots of tangled, unkempt fur. The small sensation of relief upon the discovery was short lived however, as another realization dawned on him: he hadn't seen the fennec by himself.
Bolting onto his feet and pacing to the glass wall, he did his best at fighting back the second wave of physical unwellness. "Hello?" he shouted into the direction of the doorway on the other side, "Is anyone there?" He waited for a response, and was eventually rewarded with distant but clearly urgent steps originating from the other side of the door. The vulpine's heart rate picked up substantially as he noted a surveillance camera at the top right corner of the room, monitoring his every move. Before he could add the aspect to his growing scale of theories of his whereabouts though, a sound of metal clinging together caught his attention, quickly followed by one of the door clicking open. The moment seemed to stretch on forever until light finally flooded in as the door came open, the baby blue of his assumed capturer's outfit freeing Nick from his fear filled misery. It was just a nurse. He was just in a hospital.
Leaning against the transparent surface for support, he watched the nurse, a rather small male meerkat, walk inside with wide open eyes. Feeling himself calm down a little, Nick could organize his remaining panic into a coherent line of thought, which he then vocalized. "Where's Judy?" he asked hurriedly, worry evident in his tone. "Is she okay?"
The meerkat, still looking as if he'd witnessed a miracle of some sort, pulled out a phone from his pocket and dialed in a number before turning back to the larger carnivore. "Judy Hopps?" he inquired in a high-pitched voice. "She was dispatched just over two months ago, but what you really should be worried about now is your own well-being. Are you feeling alright?"
Terror awoke deep inside the vulpine. "Hold on, did you say two months? And she was here too? What the hell happened?"
"Answer the question first, sir."
"Yeah, I'm fine, just a little nauseous. No biggie."
"Alright, good", the meerkat stated, bringing the phone up to his left ear. "Just a minute, sir, I need to contact our project leader. She'll answer all your questions, alright? I'll go get you something to wear, and something you can clean that mess up with."
The nurse was already about to head off when Nick opened his muzzle for a final time. "Hey, could I borrow your phone for a sec once you're back by any chance?"
Judy was comfortable. Though still very much distressed emotionally, there was little to nothing she could've changed to put her body more at ease. The warmth trapped under the blanket combined with the grey hoodie which she was hugging to her nose, had her at the brink of yet another happy dream of the past. Sleeping had in fact quickly become one of her favorite pastimes during her stay at Bunnyburrow. The sandman was the only one who could make her forget all about the unjust reality, and instead make her focus on the pleasant memories she had in store. But as everything else good in the prior months, the comfort was bound to be ripped away from her.
The door to her room opened in a quick motion, allowing a passageway inside for the light in the hallway. The sudden brightness stabbing at her eyes, she couldn't make out who had disturbed her slumber, but decided to pout nonetheless. Her expression turned even more sulky when she felt the warmth surrounding her disappear as the blanket was pulled away from her, forcing her to sit up and regard the blurry character.
As her vision sharpened though, she soon recognized the fiend as her mother; her mother who was digging through her wardrobe, talking on the phone, and - judging by the way her shoulders were rapidly slumping and rising - crying. Judy's heart was immediately sent to a freefall upon the sight, naturally expecting the very worst. "What is it?" she asked with some tremor, both in her body and in her tone. She only got a pair of jeans thrown at her in response, followed by a pair of socks and a checkered, yellow flannel shirt to cover up the tank top she was wearing.
But then the older doe turned around and met her seeking gaze, effectively wiping away all her fears. The few tears that darkened the fur under her eyes hadn't been shed in sadness, but in joy.
Setting the phone on the nightstand, Bonnie hugged her kit, took a step back, and signed: 'Get dressed, sweetheart. Nick's waiting for you.'
After having been filled in with the events that had led him in the situation he was currently in, Nick was afraid. Even though he'd had no control of himself, and couldn't blame himself for that, he'd hurt Judy- badly. No matter how well he knew that the rabbit had loved him immensely, he was afraid that she'd now look at him in a different light; see him as a threat instead of someone who'd do anything to protect her. As idiotic as the thought would've seemed only a few hours before, he was afraid she wouldn't want to be with him any longer. He could only hope things hadn't changed too drastically.
Tapping his claws in a rapid rhythm against the metallic frame of the bed he was sitting on, he kept glancing at the wall clock just above the doorway, keeping up a constant fight against the anxiousness that was trying to boil his insides. It had been well over three hours now since he'd called Bonnie. He'd spent most of that time listening to some bunny doctor ramble on about his condition and how they wanted to proceed with his care now that he was no longer acting like he wanted to kill everything in his field of view. No one had any clue why he and everyone else going through the same treatment had recovered, but he was glad nonetheless. The red fox had also been moved to a standard room instead of the cage he'd been trapped in earlier, though the door would be kept locked at all times to prevent any unfortunate incidents from occurring.
Shifting his eyes to his paws, once again, he inspected them with barely any thought. There was nothing else in the room that was as distracting as watching the keratin of his claws collide with the chrome pipes, the action producing an almost euphoric cling with each tap. However, this time there was something different about it; something that didn't quite match his movements, nor even the ticking of the wall clock. Perking his ears and ceasing the tapping, he quickly recognized the disturbance as a little patter coming from the hallway, growing clearer and more acute each second. Snapping his head towards the door, the fox swallowed past the lump in his throat.
Sure enough, a pair of grey, black tipped ears appeared in the vertical window slit of the door, ones which quickly fell out of view as the bunny on the other side realized that turning the door handle wasn't much help. Before she could breach through the wooden barrier though, another set of perked rabbit ears moved to where hers had been, and there was an audible beep from a keycard lock.
Nick didn't need to wait long for the door to fly open as Judy rushed past the doctor inside, connecting teary eyes with him instantly. However, as he'd feared, she didn't run to him, which was completely understandable. All her prior haste was gone and replaced with hesitation. It showed in the way she was sobbing, it showed in the way she was inching towards him, it showed in the way her nose was twitching, it showed in the way her ears were standing up in alert, and it definitely showed in the way she was looking at him- as if he wasn't there.
Or maybe, hopefully, she simply couldn't believe he was there. It had been months, after all.
Giving her a meek smile, he slowly offered his paw to her, begging her to join him on the bed. Multiple stretched moments passed as she stared at the appendage with unblinking eyes and a quivering lip. Nothing in the world had ever made him so terrified as the thought of her never reaching back. And that was slowly becoming reality to him.
Tears of desperation began dwelling in Nick's own eyes as he tried to drill into the rabbit's soul with his gaze, tried to convey just how much she meant to him. And finally, just as he was about to give up all hope, there was a change in her expression, a slight softening that soon broke into a sad smile.
"Oh, N-Nick", she muttered under her convulsing breath and leaped, latching onto him with enough strength to actually hurt his ribcage. Burying her face in the scruff of his neck, she let all her pent-up sentiments flow free. "I've- I've missed you so much, you- you dumb fox!"
The vulpine, struggling for breath, could only do his best at calming her down, running his paws along her now droopy ears and hugging her even tighter. Kissing the top of her head, his eyes shifted to the wide open doorway where three rabbits stood, all looking very ready to break down, themselves. He was family.
"I know, Judy. I know."