"I don't regret things, because I learn from my mistakes. If need be, I always make amends." - Marc Warren

Everyone makes mistakes.

But without regret, there would be no mercy, no forgiveness, and no amends.

There is a reason why we often remember the bad memories more so than the good ones: Because without a sense of regret, there would be no amends.

Judy wished she could say that she slept peacefully, and without any disturbance whatsoever.

Sadly, that was not the case.

Not only was she subject to fitful and restless sleep, but when it finally did manage to find her, she was plagued with night terrors that made her sweat in her sleep.

When her eyes first peeled back their lids as the morning light shown through the window, the only thought on Judy's mind was sleep, and how much she wanted it.

After unsuccessfully trying to find rest for another ten minutes, Judy simply gave up and chose to check the time. She rolled her head to the clock which hung above the exit.

10:58 A.M

Woah... Did I really sleep for that long?

Despite being victimized to harrowing nightmares stacked atop an uncomfortable sleeping environment, she more or less slept like a rock when the weakness finally settled in.

Judy always woke up at 5:30 sharp on weekdays (with a few exceptions here and there, of course), and the titular bunny followed the likes of her strict sleeping plan without hesitation. She was a morning-mammal, after all. So the bunny couldn't help but feel surprised at the sloth-worthy achievement of sleeping for nearly twelve hours straight.

It was quite unlike her.

Huh. I must have needed it... She thought to herself as she stole another glance at the clock.

11:00

She soon decided to get up and move around, as she hated sitting in one place for too long. As she dropped to the floor from the height of the chair, her footfall brought a soft patter to the silence of the room. She bent forward and stretched her taut muscles, enjoying the pleasurable feeling of her ligaments unwinding and popping themselves into place.

Just when she was moving on to her lower back, a flicker of movement caught itself in the corner of her vision.

Judy swiveled her head in the direction of the bed that occupied the other side of the room.

Its occupant had stirred.

Nick...

The bunny slowly approached the foot of the bed before stopping and placing her paw on the end of the bed-frame.

She trained her eyes upon the still sleeping form of her mate, Nick, who was passed out cold on the bed: A mound of pillows buried beneath the majority of his upper body.

She began walking towards the crown of the bed, sliding her paw along its rim as she did so. When her paw reached Nick's, she momentarily clutched and caressed it before letting go and continuing towards the direction of the nightstand.

For a second there, she could have sworn the paw had squeezed back.

When the bunny stood before the tiny table, she reached up to its surface and groped around for the medical-records that the antelope doctor had left the previous day. Her fingers eventually found their target, and she gripped the smooth paper tight, crinkling it around her hold as she brought it down towards her face.

Ever since she had first laid eyes on the broken form of her mate in the street; arm jutting out an an unnatural angle and blood spewing from his shoulder, Judy had wondered what exactly his injuries were.

Now, gazing upon the unfiltered ailments that nearly took her mate's life; She wished that she no longer knew.

Dislocated Shoulder

Three Broken Ribs (2 True, 1 False)

Internal/External Bleeding - Loss of 1/5th blood capacity

Severed Auxiliary Artery - Critical Condition

Minor Concussion

Judy grit her teeth as she crumpled up the medical-record paper and threw it to the other side of the room. It weakly ricocheted off the back of her chair and fell to the floor with a soft crinking sound. Judy knew that she probably shouldn't have done that, but she didn't care. The only thing she trulycared about was laying half-dead just to her left.

Because of you...

That malicious voice penetrated her thoughts once more. She probably would have gone for a round-two against the crumpled paper ball, before a weak voice broke the air;

"Carrots..." The voice coughed lightly. "Is that you?"

Judy slowly turned tail and stared down the meaning of her existence.

"Nick!"

Her body, shaking in trepidation and excitement, threw itself upon the Fox that meant the world to her.

She grasped him in a tight hug before a nagging voice in the back of her head reminded the anxious bunny of Nick's injuries, and she quickly retracted, pulling away from his wheezing form. When her eyes met his, a tidal wave of relief flooded over Judy's mind, completely wiping away and submerging any of her previous and remaining grievances.

With tears of joy streaming down her face, and her breaths becoming splintered, she struggled to find the following words.

Besides, after everything they had been through in the past few hours alone, she literally didn't even know where to start.

"Nick... I-" She sniffed softly. "I'm so glad that you're okay!" She finished, her feet anxiously tapping against the tile floor, a soft pattering noise accompanying the action.

The fox chuckled. "I dunno 'bout okay... But hey, as you probably noticed: It takes a lot to kill me." He said.

Judy stifled a light grin at his words, and she promptly brought her right paw up to her face in an effort to wipe away her continuous tears.

A moment of silence settled before the two of them.

At first, it was nothing more then hushed tranquility.

But soon after, it became dreary and stiff.

Both animals awkwardly avoided each-others gaze. Nick's smile had melted, replaced by a look of bitter contempt.

For a few short minutes, no eye-contact was administered.

No words were spoken.

The only sound was their steady and heaving breaths, accompanied by the whir of the medical machinery throughout the room.

Silence became the dominant force in that period of time.

Judy shifted her weight from foot-to-foot; rubbing her arm in apprehension and stealing glances at Nick every few seconds only to be met with muted emotions from the fox. Nick stared down a corner in the room, blinking slowly, refusing to break eye-contact with the nook. He wore a faceted poker face - Judy had no idea what his thoughts were.

The bunny's conscious took the convenient moment to express its own thoughts;

Dumb Bunny... Look what you did! You broke him!

Judy sighed. She was fed up with all this.

Tired of Nick being so distant, tired of that insidious voice in her head, and most of all, she was tired of letting this be broken any longer.

She shattered the silence without hesitation;

"Nick..." She stopped, taking a brief moment to breath in deep. "I... I know what you're thinking... And... a-and I'm so sor-"

The fox shushed her mid-sentence.

"Whiskers..." He swallowed once. "Judy."

Uh-oh... The bunny thought.

When Nick called her by her real name, instead of some made-up nickname, then it was clear that he was trying to be serious. Judy didn't know what to expect of his coming words: She braced herself for what was to come. What he did next was so unexpected that even Flash himself couldn't have registered it with his lethargic perception of things.

Reaching over with his good hand, he undid the straps that secured his cast arm in place.

After that, without saying a single word, he dropped the bandages, and with eyes full of sorrow, he spread his now unrestricted arms in an unmistakable gesture.

Judy's pent-up tears burst forth as fitful sobs shook her entire body in exasperated shudders.

She leaned in towards Nick and embraced him in hug.

"Oh, you bunnies..." The fox mused. "Always so emotional."

Despite having been no more than a full day's length apart from one another, with the way they embraced each-other in that moment, it may as well have been a lifetime.

As Judy buried her face into Nick's good shoulder, she felt an inviting warmth heat up her entire body. Alongside this, she felt a shiver of something slither its way down the length of her spine. she deduced it to be unbridled relief. All the while, she ran her paws through any available (and non-damaged) tufts of fur on his back, neck, and head.

For a short time, no words were spoken between the two mammals as they simply entwined in one another's enticing warmth.

But eventually, Nick concluded his previously commenced words. The finalized statement was simple, but it was more then enough to melt the bunny's heart...

"Judy... I love you, and I'm so sorry for snapping at you. This is all my fault." He wheezed.

Judy, without severing the hug, leaned back to stare him in the eyes. Her amethyst orbs shined warm and bright into his own emerald ones.

"Oh Nick," She stifled. And to believe that she had nearly lost him just a few hours ago.

"I'm so sorry." Both mammals then said in unison.

After the laughs had died down, the two of them conversed in idle talk, explaining their different experiences with the car incident. Judy started to get a little teary-eyed when she described the scene of the accident from her point of view, but Nick's reassuring words and bad jokes soothed her agitation like a cool wind blowing through Sahara-Square.

Bonds may have been broken and damaged, but in the end, amends were made that strengthened their union greater than anything they had yet to experience.

The entire time, both animals replayed the memories, both good and bad, from the previous day. And with that, there was no regret to be found.

They had made sweet, sweet amends, and they were all the stronger because of it.

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