DISCLAIMER: I put my bid to own Zootopia down on the table when Merlin came over to visit. Unfortunately, when he alakazammed himself back to the middle ages, he took the bid and half the table with him. So I still don't own Zootopia.

Thanks to TheoreticallyEva for her editing and commentary! She's awesome, people!


"Doug Ramses, Damian Hornby. You two are under arrest. Don't make this difficult. Give yourselves up!"

It took a moment, but the delivery van's door eventually opened. At least somewhat. Nick and Judy both had their weapons drawn and aimed at the cab. Nick had reloaded while Judy had gone to get the megaphone, and both were on edge. The doe brought the megaphone up again.

"Get out of the vehicle, nice and slowly, with your hooves up!"

Nothing happened again for a moment. Unfortunately, when something did happen, it wasn't what they wanted. An arm appeared out of the open van door, gun in hoof, and fired off a shot. The two officers dropped into cover as bullets began pinging off the cruiser. The van's passenger fired off four shots before retreating inside the cab. He slammed the door shut, and Doug tried to take off, but with three flat tires on one side, it went nowhere in the moderately deep snow.

"We have eyes in the sky on you. Just make this easy and throw out your weapons!" Judy switched to her radio. "Any available units, 240 requesting backup on Denali Road north of Nome Street."

No sooner were the words out of her mouth than their targets opened fire again. Judy peaked around her door. Hornby was hiding behind the cab door and bracing his arm on the windowsill. As she watched, the Texas longhorn ejected his clip and slammed home another one.

Judy thought quickly. "Nick, we'll never get him engaging head-on like this." She looked around, spying a newspaper vending machine on the left side of the road. If they could make their way up that side, they'd have better cover, thanks to their cruiser and a larger blind spot. They'd also be in a better position if one of the two decided to try to make a run for it. "Nick, take cover behind our driver's side door! I'm heading for that newspaper vendor!"

Nick glanced around for a brief moment before he saw the vending machine she was talking about, and he nodded. "I'll go first and give you some cover fire!" He moved up to the open door, keeping himself pressed against the cruiser as he did. He peeked over the doorsill and gestured to Judy.

The doe ran for the newspaper vendor, diving to the ground just as a bullet pinged off the side of the steel box. She crouched behind it, out of sight, hoping that the thin metal and newspapers inside, if any, would be enough.

She peered around the side of the box. No sign of Doug. The helicopter hadn't reported in, and Hornby was still focused on Nick. Assessing the battlefield, she came to the grim realization that Nick would be out in the open until he could get to the side wall of the van. She wasn't in any better a position, unfortunately.

Fortunately, Nick was out of the line of fire for the moment. He slowly advanced down the side of the delivery van, keeping an eye on the longhorn bull in the mirror. Judy was forced back into her hiding spot by another errant shot that hit the ground and sent a spray of snow up thirty feet down the sidewalk.

The doe peeked around the newspaper vendor again. Nick had gone for the ground, too, and was now in the process of climbing back to his feet. Surveying the scene quickly, her blood ran cold. Doug had used the distraction to sneak around the backside of the van and was now taking aim at Nick, and she didn't have a good angle from which to fire on the ram. "NICK! BEHIND YOU!"

Without thinking any further, Judy charged out of her hiding place, straight for the fox. Nick, back on his feet, began to turn to see what she was shouting about. Too slow. Judy reached the fox and jumped, twisted in the air, planted her feet on Nick's chest, and pushed.

At the same time, there was the sound of a gunshot, and Judy felt like a sledgehammer hit her, knocking the breath out of her and sending her rolling a few feet away. Rolling back on her front, she brought her own gun to bear. Wincing through the pain in her chest, she aimed through the snow and pulled the trigger once, twice, three times.

Doug staggered back, then twisted to the side and finally reached up to grab at his woolly neck. Unfortunately for Judy, she was out in the open, and she knew it. The doe glanced around, quickly, and decided that the underside of the truck was their best cover. She got up and, despite her lungs and chest screaming at her, ran for the van's underside, grabbing Nick as she went past. A few more shots were fired before she dove underneath, pulling Nick with her, though she couldn't say from whom.

The two huddled there under the vehicle for a second, and Judy took the opportunity to listen to her surroundings. There was the sound of Hornby moving in the cab, and the harsh noises of a fresh magazine being rammed home. Behind the van, she heard a heavy thud that sounded an awful lot like a body hitting the ground, along with the clatter of a weapon.

Could it be…?

She didn't have time to think about it. There was still one mammal to go, and she would have some serious questions about why she hadn't heard from the helicopter, warning them about Doug's actions. "HAWC2, what's your status up there?"

She got nothing but silence.

"HAWC2, do you read?"

More silence.

"Anyone able to read? Zulu 240 requesting a radio check."

Nothing.

"Nick, try yours." The fox nodded and did so, a frown on his face. He got the same frustrating results. What was going on?

They didn't have time to think about it, though. Judy heard a rustling sound coming from the cab above her, like a mammal was shifting from the passenger seat to the driver's. That was all the warning they had before the van was dropped into gear and the tires just behind them spun.

They scrambled out from under the van, this time on the driver's side. The van itself wasn't getting anywhere, but that wasn't stopping the driver from trying. Snow kicked up everywhere from the spinning tires.

The van's wheels stopped spinning, and Hornby tried backing up instead. Clearly, the longhorn wasn't used to driving in winter conditions, and he began spinning the tires in reverse, gunning the engine for all the good it did him. The two officers dove out of the way of the onslaught of snow, ice, and pebbles that the tires kicked up.

Judy's chest sang out in pain, and she gasped, just able to hold in the grunt as agony shot through her. Pushing through it, she got back to her feet and ran for an alcove for a business entrance on the side of the road. She and Nick made it to the alcove, hiding against the cold brick wall. By the time they got there, the pain was almost unbearable for the doe. Of course, Nick noticed.

"You're hurt, aren't you." Nick's tone was more a statement than a question.

The doe shook her head. "I'll be fine, Slick. Let's do this." She took a breath. "Got any ideas?" The van began fishtailing, sending a fountain of snow and ice everywhere.

The fox thought for a moment. "He won't open his door, so maybe he needs some encouragement!"

"What do you mean?"

"We have to dart him. Shoot out the windows if we have to." As Nick spoke, the van swung back in the other direction. One of the tires must have found a bare patch because it jerked forward before coming to a stop again, even more stuck than before. In the meantime, Nick waved frantically at the chopper above them, then made a hand gesture that looked like a phone and a slicing motion across his neck. After months of watching him, Judy understood that immediately to indicate that their radio was dead.

Judy's eyebrows went up and she grinned, despite the pain lancing through her chest. "Let's do it!" Her grin dropped. "I only have two rounds left."

The fox nodded and brandished his own weapon.

"I have four." Nick, being the one closest to the edge, peered around at the struggling van.

"Hornby really doesn't seem to know what he's doing." As if to emphasize the tod's point, the van's engine roared. There was the brief sound of squealing tires and metal crunching and shattering glass. "… Or he's just panicked." Something else caught Nick's eye. "Carrots, look."

Judy looked to where Nick was pointing, and the answer to why Doug hadn't been shooting at them all this time was immediately apparent. The ram lay face-up on the ground behind a set of sidewalk trashcans and recycle bins, his wool and the ground around him soaked in blood from a wound on his neck. The ram's oval pupiled eyes were open and unfocused, and his bloody hoof lay at his side. No movement at all.

Nick sighed. "I can't see the cab from here."

Judy paused, then shrugged. "We'll have to make do."

The fox shook his head. "You're hurt, Carrots. No way you're going out there."

Judy shot Nick an icy glare. "You know not to tell me what I can and can't do, Nick."

Nick sighed. "Carrots, you're clearly injured. You should know that an injured combatant is a liability rather than an asset."

"Look around, Nick. Our radio isn't working, the helicopter overhead is no help, and no one else is here. So, like it or not, you're stuck with me."

Nick's expression was one of frustration, but he nodded without saying a word.

Judy holstered her lethal, pulled out her dart gun, and moved toward the van's rear. For the moment, it had stopped moving. "You go up the driver's side, Nick. I'll take the passenger side."

The sound of grinding gears filled the air, and the van lurched again, still stuck. As she passed by Doug's body, Judy bent down and took the ram's pulse. Nothing. The ram they'd sought for the better part of a year was gone.

A conflicting surge of emotions ran through her before she clamped down on it. She couldn't think about that now. She had a job to do. She shook her head and continued around the rear of the van to the passenger side, advancing on the cab again. She could see the longhorn bull in the mirror, clearly focused on something in the cab and not what was going on around him.

It made for an easy approach as she moved along the side of the van as quickly as her pained chest would allow and leapt onto the fuel tank, then up to the cab door. She peeked over the edge of the windowsill, thankful it was still open. At the same time, Nick's head popped up on the other side, and he used his weapon to tap on the glass.

The longhorn started, stomping on the gas pedal in the process. The van lurched and nearly threw the doe off. She grabbed the door handle and used it to anchor herself to the vehicle to pull herself up.

She couldn't. The pain became too much, and she almost lost her grip. The part of her mind that wasn't screaming in equal parts pain and frustration at her own perceived weakness told her that she needed to come up with a different idea.

"Damian Hornby, stop what you're doing, shut off the vehicle, and put your hooves on the ceiling!" She aimed her dart gun at him for emphasis.

The distraction worked. Hornby looked at the doe and chuckled. "You can't stop what we've started, filth lover. You can only accept the inevitable."

"Spare me your soapbox speech, sir, and do as I told you."

"All I need to do is kick the door open, and you'll not be a problem anymore, rabbit. You won't even have time to get your shot off."

Judy cocked her head, as though considering the statement. "Well, maybe you're right. I probably wouldn't be able to get the shot off. But he would."

"What?"

In the time Judy had spent firing verbal jabs at their suspect, Nick had removed a dart from his pouch and opened the driver's door. A half second later, the dart was buried in the longhorn's leg.

The longhorn blinked, looked down at the feathered dart in his thigh, then shook his head and gunned the engine again, desperately trying to get some traction. Judy held on, her chest expressing its rather vocal displeasure at her activity and making her want to scream.

It wasn't long before Hornby started losing coordination and focus as the chemicals worked through his system. Finally, his hooves dropped from the steering wheel and gas pedal, and he started to slump over. "What have you done, you filth?" He spoke at barely above a whisper as he tried to glare at the officers.

Judy pulled herself through the window, granting one last red-hot spike of pain before it turned into a dull throbbing. She turned and stared at the bull, arms crossed. "Defending the city, just like we are paid to do. Oh. And you're under arrest, if you didn't know that already."

Nick smirked. "We'd read you your rights…"

The bull fell over unconscious.

"… but frankly, you're not worth the breath at this point." Nick finished his statement.

The silence that descended was almost deafening. After the raid, the shootout chase, and final shootout, it seemed almost eerie. Unnatural. Overwhelming, even, at least to Judy. Pulling out her flexicuffs, the doe secured her new prisoner, then turned to Nick.

"And that's it." Judy's statement seemed completely inadequate, given what they'd just been through.

The pair looked around. They were on a commercial street, and none of the businesses seemed to be opened. A side effect of the city lockdown. Her sensitive ears picked up sirens in the distance.

"No way we'll be able to move him on our own, Carrots. We need that backup."

"I can hear sirens, Nick. Hopefully, the helicopter called them over." Judy crawled over to the driver's side and hopped down. This was the wrong thing to do, though, as her chest exploded in pain and she dropped to her knees, yelling.

Nick was immediately at her side, helping her up and cradling her. The fox frantically searched for any sign of blood, despite the doe's protestations, and batted her paws aside as he worked the straps loose on her armor's chest piece. It eventually came loose, and the fox pulled it away from her body, breathing a sigh of relief when he saw that her bodysuit underneath was undamaged.

Of course, relief can always turn back into dread, and that's exactly what happened when the fox noticed the frayed hole in the doe's chest piece. It didn't take him long to figure out what had happened. Judy had taken a round to the chest, but her armor had stopped it. Just barely. Any more powerful a weapon, and the bullet would have penetrated.

A feeling of horror washed over Nick, realizing how close he'd come to losing her, and what was probably causing her pain now. Nick keyed his radio. "Dispatch, this is Zulu 240, anyone on this frequency?"

No answer, just like before. The fox let out a string of choice words and made his way back to the cruiser, loading Judy into the passenger's side and running around to the driver's side. In his haste, he didn't even notice that the car's interior light didn't come on. He climbed into the driver's side and started the car.

Or tried to. When he turned the key, nothing happened. He tried again. Still nothing. A look at the dash showed him a battery needle that was barely registering and nothing else at all. The rest of the cruiser's instrumentation was also dead. He swore again.

Then again, maybe it wouldn't matter. At that moment, Nick's ears picked up the sound of approaching sirens. The fox looked up at the helicopter overhead and gave them the thumbs up. Whatever they'd been doing up there, it was clear they'd called backup to the duo's location. He'd be certain to have a word with Bogo about whatever went wrong with their equipment, though.

Nick returned to the passenger side, where Judy was sitting, gasping and grasping her chest with a look of extreme pain on her muzzle. He maneuvered the doe to a prone position, then ran around to the trunk, pulling a thick blanket out and bringing it back to cover her. The temperature in Tundratown was cold enough as it was, and with her injury, short fur, lack of jacket, and no working car heater, Judy was already in trouble.

The fox bundled the rabbit up as gently as he could so as not to aggravate whatever was wrong any further. Judy protested through her pain, but Nick didn't give her a choice, glaring at her a moment as he did so.

It was a few moments later that a line of cruisers came into view, followed by an ambulance. The cruisers fanned out and pulled to a stop, completely blocking the road. Chief Bogo climbed out of the lead vehicle, along with Fangmeyer, Rhinowitz, and another two officers Nick didn't recognize.

The chief spotted the fox and immediately made his way over, gesturing to his officers to spread out and secure the area. At the back of the pack, the paramedics jumped out of their ambulance and began making their way toward the two small officers.

"Report, officers."

Judy grunted and tried to shake off the blanket and stand up, but she gave up after a while and instead gave a salute. "Sir. Two suspects taken down. Hornby's in the van, knocked out with a TQ. And—ahhh!"

Nick knelt by Judy's side, his face a mask of concern. "And Judy's been injured. Took a round in the chest, and something might be broken. Doug's here, too, but I doubt he's in a very talkative mood." The fox gestured over to the back of the delivery van, where he knew Doug's body was.

Chief Bogo bent down to look at the bundled rabbit. "What happened?"

Judy gritted her teeth and answered. "We were in a firefight, sir. And Doug got the drop on Nick. So, I…"

"So, she kicked me out of the way and took the bullet herself. Then she dropped Doug. With her lethal." Nick's blunt statement earned him a glare from the rabbit and a look of deep concern from Bogo.

The paramedics finally got to the duo, and one of them peeled off to inspect the body that a couple of the officers were waving them over to see. The two remaining paramedics, both antelope, gently unwrapped Judy and began asking her questions—where it hurt, how badly on a scale of one to ten, what happened, and a litany of others.

Bogo collected their weapons and badges, standard procedure for a police-involved shooting. "So, to be clear, Doug fired first?" The chief was obviously looking for a full understanding of what went down.

"To be honest, Chief, they started firing at us long before we were even out of our cruiser, and our first shots on them were to disable the vehicle. That didn't end well for them."

Bogo nodded. "And your lack of radio communication? After your last pursuit update, we didn't hear anything more."

Nick's frown deepened. "Hopps and I are wondering the same thing. We couldn't raise anyone. Not even the chopper overhead. We both tried, several times."

At that, Chief Bogo's frown turned into a full-on scowl. "We'll have to talk to technical about that. We'll need to find out why. I assume you tried the radio in your cruiser."

The paramedics lifted Judy onto a gurney and began bundling her up again. Nick turned to follow them. "We didn't have the chance. We were in the thick of it by the time we figured out our radio wasn't working. And when we got back here, the cruiser wouldn't even start." As they made their way back to the ambulance, Nick noticed his doe's eyelids growing heavy. "Stay with me, Carrots."

The paramedics looked up. "We just gave her a mild sedative, officer. We need to take her to the hospital for some X-rays. She may have broken ribs or a broken sternum."

"Is that all?"

"Well, that's as far as we can tell. She'll probably have some bruising as well, but other than that, she should be fine." They began loading Judy into the back. The fox tried to follow, but the two antelope blocked his way. "Sorry, but family only."

Nick's glaring at the two paramedics did no good until Judy's voice came from the inside. "Let him come with me. I want him with me."

The two antelopes gave her a look of surprise but acceded to her request and let the fox through. Nick climbed into the ambulance and seated himself across from the paramedic, next to Judy's head.

Outside, Bogo turned around and took stock of the scene. Rhinowitz and the two Precinct Twelve officers he'd brought with him had dragged one mammal out of the cab of the delivery van and cuffed his wrists and ankles. He walked over. "Report, Rhinowitz."

The rhino grunted. "Single dart to the left thigh. Appropriate for a mammal his size. We pulled him out of the driver's side. Might have been trying to escape, or he might have been the driver all along. We don't know yet. He's breathing, though."

"Good. So maybe we can question him later." The chief looked down at the Texas longhorn in disgust. The face was instantly recognizable from the briefings, and Bogo had to hold himself back from doing something extremely unprofessional. Instead, he motioned to the remaining paramedic, who appeared to be finished with the other body. Fangmeyer stood alone nearby.

Bogo walked over to his tigress officer, staring down at the bloodied body of Doug Ramses. They stood in silence for a moment before Fangmeyer spoke.

"It was him for sure, wasn't it, sir."

Bogo sighed. He knew what she was asking. Under normal circumstances, he would have had to dole out the line that he couldn't comment on an active investigation. It was something he didn't mind doing to the press—the less they knew, the better, until said investigation was all wrapped up in a neat little bow—but he hated doing it to his fellow officers.

However, normal circumstances went out the window, jumped on a boat, and sank with all hands yesterday. IA could bark at him if they wanted. He didn't care.

"As far as we know, yes."

Bogo watched his officer for a long moment. The tigress barely moved, though her features hardened, and he could see tears forming in her eyes. "I gotta say, sir, it's taking everything in me right now to not break every bone in that body."

The chief nodded. A part of him felt the same way, knowing the mammal whose body lay in front of him was responsible for the loss of one of his best officers. The other part—the part that strived to be professional in his duties—won out, of course, so he simply crossed his arms and spoke. "That's understandable, I think, officer. But we need to stay professional. We can push for a posthumous trial for him. That might help bring closure."

Liz Fangmeyer nodded. "Still want to kick and beat him to a pulp, though. Just… let me be the one to tell Debbie, please, sir? It'll be better coming from me."

A ghost of a smile formed on Bogo's muzzle. "That I can do."

Fangmeyer nodded and was silent for a long while before she turned and walked away, returning to her cruiser without a word. Bogo watched her go before turning back to the body. He couldn't touch it until the coroner showed up, and he'd have to get Rivers and Longtooth to do the investigation and pull IA into it as well, something to which he wasn't looking forward.

A small corner of his mind reminded him to be thankful for the fact that no news crews had shown up so far, and none of his officers were killed. On top of Doug, whom Bogo could tell had taken three rounds in total, four mammals at the warehouse they'd raided had been killed in the firefight, two turned savage when a barrel of Night Howler toxin was punctured, and the rest had been captured. He had yet to hear from the other teams, though.

He looked down at the ram. "Good riddance to you."

The coroner's van showed up a few minutes later, and two pygmy hippos, bundled up for the apocalypse and looking quite unhappy with the cold, immediately made their way over to the body. Damian Hornby was lifted onto a gurney and into an ambulance to be taken to the hospital for a checkup and a date with his new living quarters.


Elsewhere in the city, Sergeant Higgins eyed up the warehouse he and his team were set to storm. The building was one of only a few left said to be owned or rented by their target group. Intel on the building beyond what was available from the city was sparse, so he could only go off a floor plan.

The hippo gestured to the team of fellow officers, and the group advanced on the front door. Unfortunately, much to the surprise of everyone, they didn't get very far. Fifty meters from the front entrance, a massive explosion tore through the building, sending flames, shards of glass, and chunks of debris flying everywhere.

Every one of the team members were knocked to the ground and out of breath as the shockwave moved through the air and through the ground. The sound was incredible and the heat from the fireball immense. Both left the hippo dazed, disoriented, and with a high-pitched ringing in both ears. He was forced to scramble away.

The fireball from the explosion gave way to a raging inferno that slowly shrank in size, yet still towered above where the roof of the warehouse had been. Shaking his head in an effort to clear his thoughts, Higgins keyed his microphone. "Sergeant Higgins to all units! Sound off! Everyone OK?!"

He had to strain to hear, the ringing in his ears not helping at all, but the calls eventually came in.

"Whitemaw here! Officers Barron and Smith are down!"

"Davidson, checking in! Landed bad and got a bloody road rash, but I'm OK!"

"Parkinson, all good here, just got the wind knocked out o' me!"

"Gillingham, I'm fine, but no response from Officer Gonzales!"

Swearing under his breath, the hippo pulled out his phone and called for fire and ambulance. They hadn't even gotten to the building, and he had three officers down. "I'm calling for fire support and medivac. Cover all the building exits!"


Nick's ears folded down flat as he watched Judy get wheeled into the x-ray room. He didn't want her out of his sight any longer than she had to be, not after what had happened.

He'd almost lost her. A more powerful shot, a flaw in her breastplate, or sheer horrible luck could have taken her away. He'd promised to keep her safe, and he'd almost broken that promise. If he had just been paying better attention, Doug might not have gotten the drop on him. He almost lost her because of his mistake.

The fox sat there in the waiting room. It might have been minutes, hours, or days, though he doubted it was the latter. Either way, he lost all conception of time as he stewed in his thoughts, mentally beating himself up. When the nurse called for him, though, he missed it the first time, and the second. On the third, he blinked, looked around, then at the clock, then at the nurse, a she-wolf in purple scrubs.

"Officer Wilde? Are you OK, sir? I've been trying to get your attention."

He plastered his easy grin on his face. "No worries, ma'am. Just a bit distracted. What can I do for you?"

"Officer Hopps is asking for you, sir." The she-wolf gestured for the smaller canine to follow her, and she led the way through the double doors into the emergency room, then down several corridors, making random turns until the fox was thoroughly lost before finally arriving at one of the rooms. "In here, sir. The doctor's waiting for you. Officer Hopps wanted you here."

Nick nodded and pushed into the room. It was a typical hospital bedroom—bland, sterile, and utterly devoid of character. The two occupants glanced at him, Judy giving a smile and the female panda doctor looking him over before shrugging. The doe was wearing a hospital gown rather than her armour and uniform.

"Miss Hopps didn't want us to begin without you, so now that you're here, we can talk about what's wrong."

The doctor brought out a tablet computer and unlocked it, pulling up a series of X-ray images. "You have a cracked sternum, Miss Hopps. Three cracked ribs as well. Not a full fracture, but enough that you're going to be in a lot of pain and out of work until it heals."

Judy frowned. "What do you mean, 'out of work'?"

The panda put the tablet away. "I mean that I will be writing a letter to your superior and informing him that you will not be on active duty for at least a month, and then desk duty only for another month after that."

The doe looked a bit scandalized. "I can still do my job."

The doctor was firm. "Absolutely no activity for a month. I might be persuaded to give you a few hours a week for desk duty, though, given the circumstances. Minimal activity involving your arms and chest. Absolutely no lifting ANYTHING heavier than a few pounds and nothing over chest height. Don't even raise your arms above your shoulders. If you want to get better fast, you have to take it easy."

The doe frowned. "How will I get dressed?"

The doctor shook her head. "That's something I can't really tell you. It'd be best to have someone you trust help you, and I have to stress no lifting your arms above your shoulders. If you do, the crack could become a full fracture, and you'd be in a lot more pain and would be out of work even longer."

The doe's ears dropped behind her head. Nick knew what kind of workaholic she was, and any time away from the job wasn't going to thrill her.

"I'll write you a prescription for some pain medication, but I have to stress that even if you're feeling better, don't go assuming you are. I'm scheduling you for a checkup in two weeks, and you'll get another one every two weeks after that. Your boss will also have a doctor's note from me for your medical leave."

Judy slumped and nodded, knowing there wasn't much she could do at this point. The doctor left to get what she needed for Judy, leaving the two alone.

On one paw, Nick was thrilled that Judy's injuries would heal with time, and a small part of his heritage was happy to get the chance to take care of her. However, he was still focused on the reason they were there in the first place: His mistakes.

Judy must have sensed something was wrong. "Nick?"

"I'm fine."

"And just like that, I know you aren't fine."

"It's nothing."

Judy sighed. "Nick, you should know by now that that doesn't work on me. What's going on?"

Nick was silent for a long while. "It's my fault we're here."

That took the doe by surprise. "What do you mean?"

The fox gritted his teeth. "I mean you were almost killed because I wasn't paying close enough attention."

"Nick… It's not your—"

"NO!" The fox's shout caught the doe by surprise. "I almost lost you because I didn't pay attention to you or to what Doug was doing!" Nick quieted down. "It should be me in that bed."

The doe gasped. "Nick, don't say that!"

"What, you don't like hearing that, Judy? Well, I don't like the idea of trying to go on without you!"

Judy snapped, her fists balled in rage. "Well, neither do I, Nicholas! I feel the same way!"

That was the first time he'd EVER heard her yell at him in anger, and it shocked him into silence. For a moment, neither of them said anything. Judy took a breath, winced in pain, and let it out. "Nick, I was the one who was supposed to be watching your back. I screwed up and let Doug get the drop on you. I wasn't watching closely enough. So maybe… maybe I deserve to be here."

Nick shook his head, a lot calmer. "No, you don't, Carrots."

Judy sighed, and her shoulders slumped. "Nick, you've been a part of my life ever since my first day on the job. Yeah. That one." They both let out a wry chuckle at the memories of that particular day. "But you have no idea how much it meant to me for you to save my job like you did in the Rainforest District, when Bogo tried to take my badge."

She sighed again. "Those two and a half months without you were awful. And when I came to find you under the bridge, you could have told me to buzz off, or dumped me right after the museum. You didn't." For a moment, the doe hesitated. "You know I had a dream once where you did that? You were so cold and left me right after the museum. I turned my job down at the ZPD and went back home again and tried to drown my sorrows with alcohol. And…" She trailed off.

Nick was silent for a long moment, staring at the floor.

"You know I'd pretty much given up, Judy. This last year has been one of the best of my life. I have my mom back. I have you at my side every day. And… I get to help try to make a difference. I get to be—"

"—Brave, loyal, helpful, and trustworthy."

Nick looked up and grinned slightly. "Yeah, I do. And it's because of you, Judy. You're the one that gave me the courage to get up and try again. And if I lost you…" He, too, trailed off, not wanting to think about that possibility.

The doe sighed. "The only thing we can do is watch each other's backs. Keep each other safe. I know any one of our friends would do that for you, Nick."

Nick nodded. Privately, he only felt he knew Liz well enough to trust her with Judy's safety. Maybe the chief as well, or the two detectives with whom they'd been working. Maybe that would change over time. He took a breath. "Listen, I'm sorry I yelled at you, Carrots. You just scared me. REALLY scared me."

Judy nodded. "I'm sorry I yelled back." She opened her arms for a hug but was reminded, quite vocally, about her current situation, and had to let her arms drop.

Of course, the fox noticed her discomfort and walked over to her bedside. He pulled her close, cradling her head against his chest and stroking her ears.

"I love you, Judy."

"Right back at you, Slick."


A/N

Well, that chapter was intense! Sorry to all those that wanted me to stuff Doug into a wood chipper and turn it on. At least we're going to get the chance to do that with Hornby! Maybe...

I hope everyone is doing OK in this scary new world, with the Coronavirus. Here in Canada, we're under a state of emergency in many places, with many stores closed, and travel anywhere discouraged - many businesses are even ordering their people to stay home. Everyone stay safe and healthy, please.

No one found any references in the last chapter! Can you find any in this one?

Coming up on April 3: Aftermath!

Questions? Critiques? Did Archimedes have Arthur write with chalk on your wall? Leave a comment!