Rain had begun to pour outside while Judy paced back and forth in the kitchen. In her nervously tight-clenched paw was a half-eaten twizzler, from the pack of snacks she bought. It was what was left of the junk food, since Nick had gotten into the rest of it while she was at work. It was that and a large bag of potato chips—which she also planned to binge later.

It was half past midnight by now. She had been aimlessly walking through the apartment for almost an hour. Sleep eluded her. Every time she closed her eyes, all she could see was the inevitable disappointment she was going to have to face. The fear of anyone finding out about her friend was eating her up. She couldn't shake away the paranoia, as well as confusion as to why any of this was happening.

Who did this? Who would want to target predators, specifically Nick, the partner of the cop who solved the missing mammal cases one year ago? It was certainly someone who would want to hurt them, but who could it be? More importantly, were they going to hunt more mammals? Was this the start of a Bellwether copycat?

The storm outside was growing worse, but that was the least of Judy's worries. She wasn't usually frightened by storms, having grown up in the Burrows where harsh weather was quite common. Even the loud volume of thunder never fazed her, it only caused an occasional flinch. She was hardly listening to it at the moment. She had tuned out all other sounds besides the voice in her head.

"Think, Judy. Think." She told herself, taking another bite of the twizzler. "How can I get ahold of the Night Howler antidote?"

It wasn't going to be easy. The idea was to get the antidote, but how to do that without showing up to the hospital with a savage animal was the tricky part. She wasn't a doctor so it wasn't like she could just waltz right in and take it. She'd have to come up with a plan, possibly involving a little deceit.

She let out a heavy breath, rolling her eyes. "How am I supposed to think when this just tastes so good?" She muttered, finishing off the last of the licorice. She knew it wasn't wise to eat candy when she was having unexplained stomach problems, but something was causing her to crave the sweets and she couldn't help herself.

"Focus." She told herself, trying to snap out of whatever sugar-high she was about to be on. But as her thoughts trailed back to Nick, she realized that she hadn't seen the fox in hours. The last she saw him, he was avoiding her because of something in his mouth. He might've been sleeping already, but still she had to check and see if he was okay.

Judy resisted the urge to take another twizzler piece and made her way down the hall and into her bedroom. "Nick? You in here?" She called out quietly, in case he was asleep. She glanced around the room, but there was no sign of Nick anywhere.

As she walked in, she kneeled down at her bed and pulled the covers up, and found the fox still laying where she last saw him. He didn't seem to be sleeping, though. His body was too tense. "Nick?" She spoke, causing his ears to twitch. "Hey, what's going on? What are you doing down here?"

Nick didn't look at her, he hardly even acknowledged that she was there. He wasn't mad or upset with her, he was just..distracted. His body was shaking beyond control, his tail was between his legs, and every now and then he let out a small whine.

Judy frowned at the sight. He appeared to be scared, even more so than that morning when she accidentally mentioned muzzles. But what was scaring him so badly this time? "Nick, what's wro—"

Boom. Thunder clapped loudly outside, causing the fox to flinch and lower his head. Now it made sense to Judy. He was afraid of the storm. It was understandable, but she was a bit surprised. She had no idea the Nick Wilde was afraid of thunder.

She might not have been able to help him earlier, but there was no harm in trying again. "Hey, it's okay. It's just thunder, it's not gonna hurt you." She said softly, scooting over so she could be just a bit closer to him. "I know you're scared, but you don't have to hide. I'm here, you can come to me."

Nick shifted his gaze toward her, noticing her paw that she was holding out to him. The last time he saw her hours ago, she was in that exact same position, demanding that he spit out what he had in his mouth. But now she seemed calm and gentle, gesturing for him to join her.

He very slowly crawled closer to her, sniffing the tips of her fingers. He already knew he could trust her, but it was an instinct when he was in this scared state of mind. Hesitantly, he made his way out from under the bed.

"There you go." Judy said with a smile. "It's not so bad out here, now is it?"

Thunder boomed yet again, but thankfully wasn't was loud as before. Still, Nick whimpered and closed his eyes, already wanting to go back under the bed to hide. Judy placed a gentle paw on his back, attempting to ease his nerves. "Shh, hey, it's okay, it's okay. It won't last forever, alright? It's just for a little while." She assured, then patted the mattress above them. "Come on, I'll lie with you until it's over."

They both stood up and hopped onto the bed, making themselves comfortable under the blankets. Judy laid her head on the pillow and held her arms out, signaling Nick to crawl into her embrace. He nuzzled his head against her, curled up into the ball while remaining as close to her as possible. Admittedly, this was much better than hiding under a bed. This was comfortable, this was safe. This felt..natural.

Judy chuckled, rubbing her fingers through the fur on his head. "See? It's okay. You have me, you don't have to hide." She said, watching him slowly close his eyes. "And I'm not going anywhere, okay?"

It was strange talking to him like this, yet at the same time it felt kinda nice. They never cuddled like this, and she never had to comfort him during a storm. It seemed in his feral state, Nick was unintentionally revealing a side of him that she'd never seen before, a much more vulnerable and personal side.

Nick shivered when he heard thunder again, but he immediately calmed down as he felt the bunny hold him closer. "Shh, shh. It's okay." She whispered tenderly, "It'll be okay."

Her gaze shifted toward the window, watching as every little raindrop hit the glass and slid down to the windowsill. She sighed, mindlessly stroking his fur. "Don't worry, Nick. I'm here."