"It must have been about a year after my overdose that it happened…"

He had recovered from the overdose, but it wasn't as easy as it just going away. He had to go through therapy, classes, and many different kinds of prescriptions to try and conquer the symptoms that he had been left with. But when none of them worked his parents simply decided that they were going to help him live with these new parts of his life.

Nick had become a new fox from his experience, all the side effects that he now had to live with were troubling at first but in a few months they were simply a minor distraction to him. But that didn't mean he had mentally come back from that traumatizing experience.

The once lively and bright young fox had become a hull of his former self. He found himself becoming more and more distant from the other mammals around him, continuing to believe that none of them truly existed, even those he saw everyday.

His family was the one group that he saw the most, and the only mammal out of the three that he could count on to always be there was his mother. It was strange, his father had practically stopped acknowledging his existence, and his brother had become so enraptured in working for his father that he had stopped spending time or even talking to his now distraught older brother.

Meanwhile Nick had returned to school. Everyday his father would take him and his brother to where they needed to go. Nick would go to school, while Isaac would continue to sell. Now that Nick was out of the picture he was making double what the older fox had been making.

Needless to say his father had started showing favoritism towards Isaac, Nick thought that maybe there was a chance that his father didn't know that he had taken from his stock but in reality Edward knew. The oldest of the tods had been looking into how much of his stock his son had taken, but as soon as he had passed the $500 mark he stopped counting out of complete rage.

Even Isaac had begun to act more hostile towards his brother, knowing that his father was the one truly in charge of the household. The two of them grew closer, but not in a normal father son sort of way, more like a ruthless leader and his loyal follower. The two of them would often mentally antagonize Nick, something he didn't even notice was happening half of the time. Edward knew that there were eyes on him now. He knew his wife was suspicious of what he was doing so he refrained from doing anything to his son…

For now.

Nick was doing good in school. His mind had more or less recovered over the past year but he could still feel himself becoming uneasy around new mammals, often questioning whether the mammals were real or just a creation of his imagination.

It was just about winter time in the city, his 13th birthday had just passed and things were going well. Class had just gotten out and he had begun his simple walk home. At some point his father had just stopped picking him up after school, so Nick had just walked, and surprisingly enough he actually enjoyed them. They allowed him time to clear his head of all the noise that was going on in there. But this one was different, normally he would have been walking with his friend Finnick who he had met his first day back at school. The smaller fennec fox was a rather intense individual but Nick appreciated the company of another fox nonetheless.

But the smaller fox had gotten after-school detention for climbing into the vending machine to try and get a free snack. So now Nick walked alone.

And even worse the sky above him began to darken as a storm brewed in the atmosphere. He wasn't worried, the walk was only about 30 minutes and he had walked through the rain before. He didn't begin to hustle until he heard the first clap of thunder.

The loud boom startled the young fox into a run, one that he did not stop until he had gotten himself to the front steps of his house.

Before he even opened the front door he could hear the yelling. His parents didn't fight too often but ever since the overdose it seemed that the fights occurred much more frequently. He did what he always did when this was happening and opened the door. He quickly stepped into the house and shut the door behind him, not even looking up at his parents who were standing in the kitchen doing their arguing. Nicks mom instantly turned around and smiled when she saw her son, she came over and greeted him, taking a knee in front of him.

"Hey sweetie how was school?" She asked gently. Nick simply shrugged, not really wanting to go into detail about all that had happened throughout the day.

'I can save that for the dinner table' he thought to himself silently.

"Alright, why don't you go upstairs and get started on your homework, we will talk about it later okay?" She said as if reading his mind.

Nick nodded and went up stairs. The second he shut the door to his room the screaming came back as his parents went back to their arguing.

'What a day. First Finnick, then the storm, now this?' He thought to himself. Shrugging it off he decided to get to work on his assignments.

He worked for awhile, often hearing his parents stomp around to continue their argument in a different room. He continued to work until he heard his door open and in walked the dripping wet form of his brother. Normally he would've just walked in and ignored him, but today his eyes locked right onto Nicks and instantly were filled with anger.

"Oh you've really gone and done it this time" he said stepping by the him.

"What are you talking about?"

"They're arguing about you, and your overdose" Isaac said as he took his soaking wet clothes off. Nick's ears perked up in surprise, they had never argued about that before, or at least he had never noticed them argue about it before.

"What do you mean?" Nick asked.

Isaac simply shrugged, "I don't know, but I walked in and dad was screaming about how much of a disappointment you have become"

Now it was Nicks turn to shrug, "oh what else is new".

A door slamming caught Nick's ear, 'it sounds like they just went down into the basement'

That was weird, no one ever went down into the basement besides his father and Isaac.

'Why would they be arguing about me' he continued to ponder before returning back to his work.

He was once again torn away from his work by a loud scream that pierced through the house. A scream that he would never forget. Him and Isaac looked at each other and in that moment they both put their differences aside because they both knew where that scream came from.

"Mom" They said in unison before dashing out of the bed room and down the stairs.

They both nearly fell down the stairs, crawling over each other to get to the source of the scream as fast as they could. The living room was empty which meant that the scream came all the way from the basement. The door was open and looking in they could easily see where the scream had come from.

The sight caused Nick to freeze and his blood to run cold. At the bottom of the steps to the basement was the body of his mother.

"MOM!" He yelled as he trampled down the stairs stopping just in front of her. Now that he was close to her he noticed that her face was covered in a white powder. She was still alive but her breathing was becoming ragged.

She was overdosing, it didn't take a doctor to figure that out, Nick had been learning all about it in his recovery courses, he had a rough idea of what he could do to help her.

He started by wiping the powder off of her face so she didn't ingest anymore.

"Mom, its okay I'm here, I'm going to help you" He said as his paws began to turn white with the cocaine.

Her eyes were frantic, searching around for something that they couldn't seem to find. That is until they landed on him. As soon as they landed on him they stayed still as she stared at her son. Tears began to flow out of Nick's eyes as he watched his mother, her breathing slowing and becoming more ragged. The last thing that happened was the single tear that came from her eye before her breathing ceased.

…

Nick simply stared, there was nothing he could do now…

She was gone…

It was then that he became aware of another presence in the room. He saw movement out of the corner of his eyes and when he looked over he noticed his father was standing there, his face was in complete shock at what he saw in front of him. He knelt down next to his son and checked his wife's pulse.

"Nick go upstairs and call 911" he said quietly.

Nick couldn't move, his body wouldn't move away from his mother.

"Nick GO!" His father yelled, his body finally moved but it moved automatically, just to get away from his already upset father. He ran back up the stairs and grabbed the phone from its holster, dialing the emergency number.

"ZPD please state your emergen-"

"My mother, she's dying, please we need help now" he cried into the phone. There was clicking on the other end of the line before the dispatcher returned.

"Alright an ambulance as well a police cruiser are on the way could you please explain the situat-"

The dispatcher was once again cut off when the phone was ripped from his hands. Nick turned to see his father was standing behind him again and was now speaking into the phone.

What he said he could not remember. Nick just remembered the world spinning around him as reality came crashing in on him. His heart was pounding and his mind was racing. Everything was just too much for him and he collapsed onto the ground.

The last thing he heard was the ambulance sirens as they raced towards his house, and then nothing.

"I was taken to the hospital along with my mother… she was confirmed dead before I ever woke up…"

Silence hung in the hospital room as Judy tried to hold in her tears. Throughout the telling of his story Nick had been zoned out staring at the floor. But after that concluding sentence he shook himself of the memories as his heart rate began to pickup dangerously and his mind began to run, so instead he looked to Judy for comfort.

"That's also the day that I discovered I have my permanent PTSD thing going on. Soon after that me and Isaac were taken into the House of Abandoned and Abused Mammals, while my father was taken in for questioning. He was let go when they realized he had nothing to do with her death but when they went back and found his drugs they took him in and convicted him for possession. He spent and is spending 25 years in jail for it, I haven't seen Isaac in years, and everything else about my family kind of dissolved after that point" He finished. The room once again filled up with silence, until Judy spoke up.

"So is that wh-"

"Yes… that is the reason why you overdosing caused me to freak out. It was so similar to the way that she died that I… I… Just couldn't go through that again. Plus I knew I had these feelings for you, and I didn't know if I would ever get to actually reveal them to you" he locked eyes with Judy, taking her small paw into his hand, the feeling of her touch providing him comfort.

"The only thing now is I still don't know what got her to take that much coke in one sitting, or just in general. Up until that point she had never touched drugs, so why would she suddenly do that?" He asked to no one in particular. The same questions he had been asking himself for years caused him to tense up and for his hackles to raise.

When Judy noticed him becoming distraught she took her other paw and rested it on top of his.

"Thank you for telling me Nick. I know this was a lot for you, and with everything going on I know it didn't make it much easier" she said looking into his green eyes.

He looked back at her and relaxed, glad that he had gotten it off his chest and that she was there now, and not in the same place as his mother.

"And with that you know basically my entire life story. I continued schooling, graduated high school and went straight into bodyguard training" he said with finality as he sat up and cracked his back. He looked up at the clock and noticed that they were supposed to be leaving in 30 minutes. "Well I better go find the chief and tell him we're just about ready to go"

"Wait" Judy called out, stopping him in his tracks. "I don't want you to go Nick, please just stay here until the chief comes to get us, I don't want to deal with any of that just yet"

Nick nodded and walked back over to the bed where Judy cleared enough space for him to hop in. The bed was made for larger mammals so there was plenty of room for the two of them. They simply laid there in each other's arms for the remaining time they had, content with each other's warmth and the new feelings that they shared for one another.

The wonderful moment was interrupted by a loud knock on the door followed by the door bursting open.

"Hopps, Wilde, we need to move now!" Bogo said with authority. The two of them looked at each other before bursting into action.

They grabbed their bags and headed out the door, staying close to the Cape buffalo.

"Chief whats going on?" Nick asked.

"There's been a breach in the hospital, the crowd outside got a little too restless and is now in the hospital and searching for the both of you, which means I need to get you two out of here now. Clawhauser is already out back waiting for you two with your ride." The chief stated continuing his way through the halls.

Nick took his bag and hooked it over his shoulder before grabbing a hold of Judys paw.

"Stay close to me" he said confidently. And just like that he snapped back into bodyguard mode. Judy simply nodded in response, she wasn't 100 percent aware of all that was going on due to her still recovering from her overdose, and the urgency of the situation startled her.

The trio continued through the hallways when the sound of chaos began to grow louder in front of them.

Suddenly dozens of mammals burst into view from around the corner, stopping the group in their tracks. A few mammals locked eyes with them, and one zebra called out, "There they are!". The mob then ran straight towards them. Nick tightened his paw around Judy's, not wanting to face what was to come.

The chief had other ideas, as he grabbed both of the smaller mammals and pulled them into a nearby stair well, shutting the door and holding it closed behind them.

"You two go, I'll hold them off for now. Just keep going down the steps and out the door on the first floor, I will call you once things have calmed down and you two can return to the city safely" The chief said with gritted teeth as he fought to keep the doors closed.

"Thank you chief" Judy said to which the Chief simply grunted in response.

The pair then continued alone down the stairs before bursting through the door on the ground floor. They were immediately met with the moist air of the outside world, the first time that either of them had breathed fresh air in three days. The car was a nice looking van with one of its doors open, sitting just inside the opened door was Clawhauser who waved them in, panic written on his face. The two of them dove in, before he slammed the door and the van took off.

Both Nick and Judy took deep breaths as they left the hospital parking lot. Peaking out the window Nick could see the large crowd gathered around the front of the hospital. None of them took any notice to the van that was leaving, which is exactly what they had hoped for.

Once they were out of the lot Nick sat back and let out a sigh. Him and Judy climbed up into one seat, which was easily big enough to fit them, and got comfortable.

"Might as well get cozy, this is going to be a long drive" Clawhauser told the car.

And a long drive it was, aside from the rhino officer who was driving and the shorter otter officer in the passenger seat, everyone slept. Nick was the first to wake up, the first thing he noticed was the flashing light that he could see through his eyelids. He cracked them open slowly so that he wasn't instantly blinded and what he saw shocked him.

All around him all he saw was trees and the road. The flashing lights was really the sun that was just cresting the horizon being consistently blocked by the passing trees. For a city fox such as himself it was strange. He had never seen such dense trees before in his life. Sure he had been in the rainforest district but that was different, it all felt mammal-made. This…

This was different, nothing here was planted by mammals, it was all natural, all wild.

Slowly but surely the rest of the car woke up, and soon the dense trees broke way to wide open, rolling hills. Nick couldn't help but just stare at the amount of open space there was, much to Judy's amusement.

She knew he had never seen anything like this, but the look of wonder on his face still made her smile. To Judy the landscape that she saw made her ache of homesickness. It had been years since she had last been home, her life had really taken off the moment she had moved to the city, but she had been so busy that she didn't really miss home, until now.

She was nervous to say the least.

Last time she had seen her parents was at a concert of hers a little over a year ago. That was before her drug problem was known by… well… everyone. And also that was before she had a boyfriend… who is a fox. And as open to change as she was, she knew her parents didn't hold a very similar sentiment.

She recalled a time when one of her siblings had come home with a badger. Needless to say, her father was not happy and ended up chasing the badger away with a pitchfork.

Knowing Nick, she knew that the fox would probably go into protector mode if her father were to do anything like that. All she wanted was for them to get along right off the bat, she knew that they watched the news whenever she was in it so they were well aware of her drug problem and of her newfound relationship. And also, according to Bogo and Clawhauser, they all knew that they were coming.

A nudge on her side broke her away from her thoughts, looking over she noticed that Nick had stopped looking out the window and was now focused on her, concern plastered on his face. She simply turned on her acting charm and smiled warmly at the fox, hoping it would allow him to relax a little. Nick read through her façade, though he didn't mention it.

Clearly she was thinking about something that stressed her out, but if she didn't want to share that was fine, they were in a car full of mammals after all. Plus the end of the ride was soon approaching, their destination slowly but surely getting closer.

The burrow didn't look like much, a normal looking farmhouse could be seen when the van turned onto the gravel driveway. The landscape behind the farmhouse was much more impressive, continuous miles of farm land could be seen stretching as far as several miles stretched out, where it was met by a tree line that looked more like a large wall.

The blue farmhouse was a spectacle to Nick, he had seen plenty of movies that were set in an old-western era, and the house in front of him looked like a replica of one of the houses from the movies. Stepping out of the car he was instantly hit with the freshest air he had ever breathed. There was a light breeze that blew over the landscape, instead of his nose being bombarded by the many scents like it would in the city (especially the common unpleasant ones) he smelled nothing but the crisp air of the late morning, and of course the deep smell of rabbits.

Lots of rabbits.

Nick looked around warily, if his nose was correct (which it often was) then he should be surrounded by a herd of the smaller mammals. But the front yard was empty and so was the fields behind it. All was still…

The tense silence was broken by the sound of the front door. It opened with a creak and out stepped two older looking rabbits, Nick didn't have to question who they were, the way they were dressed and the way that they were the first mammals he had seen step out of this house made him realize that he was looking at Judy's parents.

He turned quickly, hoping that they hadn't noticed him staring at them, and headed to the back of the van. Once everyone was out and all of the bags were unloaded the van turned around and drove off, its destination being back to the city leaving the trio alone to face what lie ahead.

Judy didn't know what to do, she could tell by the way that they were standing that they didn't really know what to do either.

Mr. Hopps was first one to make a move. He came down the front steps and stopped, still a good distance away from them.

Nick read the situation, he read the mammals that were involved, but he primarily read the older rabbit's actions and emotions.

The consistent looks that he would flash towards him, the hesitance to speak, the upright body posture. He was nervous of Nick, and so was his wife who stayed up at the top of the steps. The rabbit cleared his throat and looked to his daughter.

"Judy… we need to talk." He simply stated before turning around and heading back into the house, the female rabbit following close behind. Judy looked up at Nick, worry filling her eyes. Nick took her bag and his own and threw it over his shoulder, putting his paw on Judy's back as they walked towards the house, hoping that his subtle gesture would relax her nerves even a little.

'This is just another step' he thought to himself, 'one that is hundreds of miles away from home…'

Hey everyone, long time no see. School is hard. That is all I will say. Will these chapters be consistent? I honestly don't know. Will they be posted? I hope so. This is actually a chapter I wrote waaaaaay back in October of 2021 but never got around to "finishing it". I hit a pretty bad creative wall so instead of retyping what would have been a lot of stuff, I decided to cut that part off and put it in the next chapter. Consider this a reminder of where we came from and a teaser at where we are going. Either way I missed you all and I look forward to typing to you all more frequently.

Take Care,

DAG