Welcome to chapter 2! Those of you who have read the previous version will know this is where we introduce Judy and her son, Nicholas Junior.

Thanks to the reviewers: GhostWolf88, aomagrat, August Greyeyes, x_uve, yoshifan30, OrangeBlossom46, Takeshi Nakamoto

CHIEF CONCERN

"E… excuse me?"

Sat in the chair across from her, looking at her sympathetically, as if she had seen this all-often, was her doctor, a middle-aged hare jill.

"There's no risk to you or your child if you decided to carry on," the doctor repeated.

It felt like a truck had hit Judy. She suddenly felt very sick.

"If you still want to go through with the termination, I can schedule it in," the doctor said, "but your concerns about the pregnancy causing you damage, even in the short term, while understandable given the circumstances of the conception, aren't grounded in fact. If you do decide to go through with it…"

The doctor's words started fading as Judy started to panic, much like she had before, when she learned she was pregnant. The panic then had clouded her mind, and her judgment.

She had quickly arranged a 'pre-appointment' with her doctor, the moment she found out she was expecting. During the wait, her anxiety skyrocketed and she acted irrationally. She had nightmares of dying in childbirth, or being severely, permanently harmed by it. She hadn't wanted Nick to know, because she was petrified that if he did, he would abandon her. It happened anyway, and there was the doctor, telling her all these irrational fears were just that – irrational, and unfounded.

Judy knew she had made a terrible, terrible mistake, and she knew it had cost her the best thing that had happened to her.

"Bucket," Judy said, holding a paw to her mouth. The doctor passed her the bucket and Judy vomited into it.

"Feeling better?" the doctor asked.

"No," Judy replied weakly.

"I understand why you were concerned," the doctor said, "but, while hybrid pregnancies are rare, they're not unheard of, at least for mammals of certain 'size classes'. You'd never see a mouse carrying an elephant's child, but the largest mammals in your 'size class' have conceived with mammals close to your size. I believe that was a wolf and a hare… have you talked to the father about this?"

"He's… not around," Judy had to repress the urge to be sick again as she said that, unsure whether it was that she was expecting, or that she had a profound, heavy sense of regret for what had happened.

It was all wrong.

That feeling persisted for some time afterward. She never went back to make that appointment, but she always regretted that the pre-appointment hadn't been two weeks before.

Before Nick left.

Judy's eyes opened. She was in bed, an oversized bed meant for two medium-sized mammals. She had never gotten around to getting rid of the thing, even when it had, for the longest time, carried the scent of the fox that had since vanished from her life.

She had spent a long time beating herself up after the fact. Over her inability to find Nick, over her inability to get past the anguish she had felt at that. Over the fact she had been so… 'unlike herself', as her mother had put it.

'Why did I have that dream now?' Judy thought as she sat up and rubbed her eyes. Her gaze fell upon her uniform, hung neatly in the closet.

The uniform was very different to the one she had worn years ago. It was a blue police shirt and trousers. On each side of the collar of the shirt, there were four stars.

The rank insignia for the Chief of Police.

'Sometimes, I really hate this job,' Judy thought to herself as she swung her legs out of bed. Without Nick and with a son, she needed security. So, she buried herself in her work, and because of that, she began climbing the ranks of the ZPD. Bogo was chosen to become Commissioner, a position created by the Mayor that would oversee the Precinct and act as the go-between for the ZPD and City Hall. Despite some past… grievances that some of her colleagues had held, she had beaten out the competition and become Chief. One of the things she had done was to reinstate the position of Deputy Chief, which she gave to the runner-up, Trisha Fangmeyer.

Bringing her thoughts back to the present and dressing herself, she checked herself in the long mirror affixed to the wall. Most days, she didn't like what was staring back at her, but she had a duty to fulfil.

Judy surveyed the living room as she stepped out into it. The apartment was the same apartment that she had since she moved in with Nick. For most mammals, that might have been reason enough to move away. But, for some reason, Judy didn't want to let go of the apartment. There were bad memories here, but there were some good ones too.

"Nicholas, you're going to be late for school," Judy called. Out of the room adjacent to her bedroom came a teenage rabbit. Or, it appeared to be, until one observed it for more than a few seconds. The first thing to note was the 'rabbit' was much taller than he should have been. His ears were shorter, narrower, with pointed tips. His muzzle was slightly longer, and his tail wasn't the typical rabbit's tail, longer but not as long as his father's tail. His fur was a light brown, as if it were mixed from the colours of his parents. He had his mother's eyes.

The 'rabbit', Nicholas, was Judy's son, and Nick's.

"You're not even dressed yet," Judy remarked, a frown on her face. Nicholas was in loose trousers and a vest.

"Whatever," Nicholas grumbled. He retreated in to his bedroom.

At a first glance, anybody would assume that Nicholas was simply going through the typical teenage years – rebelling against parents, acting moody and irritable, being defiant… Judy believed there was more to it than that. He had become a troublemaker. She didn't have enough fingers to count the number of times he had been brought to her at work, because it had happened so often in the past couple of years. It wasn't even that he had fallen in with the wrong crowd either – as far as she knew, he didn't have any friends at school – when he went, that was. She was willing to admit that because of her job, she wasn't able to spend much time with him. Care sometimes fell to her family. But she also suspected that his unusual nature was also at play here.

"Here we are," Judy pulled up in her car at the entrance to St. Barks High School. Because of his truancy, she had made it a point to drop him off and collect him every day these past few weeks. Nicholas was sat in the back, uninterested in anything.

"Well, you'd better get going," Judy remarked. Nicholas scoffed, opened the door and hauled himself out of the car. The door slammed shut and Judy watched him go in to the school gates. Satisfied, she pulled the car out of the spot and headed for Precinct One.

Little did she know, Nicholas had waited for her to go, before turning around and leaving the school.

A short distance away from her apartment, in the heart of Zootopia's Savanna Central district, sat Precinct One. In an age of progress, the building had only minor updates to it in order to keep it functional, while the surrounding buildings had evolved over the course of time.

As Judy stepped into the Precinct, some of her officers caught sight of her and nodded in acknowledgement.

"Morning, Chief!" came the call of Benjamin Clawhauser from the desk. The portly cheetah had been a permanent fixture of the front desk ever since Judy had been at Precinct One. He was starting to show his age now, grey spreading from his muzzle.

"Morning, Clawhauser," Judy nodded back. She headed for her office, situated on the second floor of the Precinct. Inside was Commissioner Bogo, sat in the chair opposite her own. His forehead had wrinkled from the frowning he had done over the years as Chief himself.

"Chief Hopps," Bogo acknowledged her.

"Commissioner Bogo," Judy returned as she clambered into her chair, "to what do we owe the pleasure today?"

"Just a routine stop, Hopps," Bogo answered.

"Everything is going fine," Judy said, "We're doing well for arrests and prevention. I'll have my report for that ready by the end of the month."

"Good," Bogo replied quietly. "And the family?"

Judy's nose twitched briefly as she considered what to tell him.

"About the same," Judy said finally.

"My boys went through the rebellious stage when they were Nicholas' age," Bogo reminisced. "It's tough, but he'll get through it. So will you."

"Sometimes, I wonder," Judy sighed. "Sometimes, I wish I could be the old me, but…"

"The perils of the office you hold," Bogo nodded, "and I know them well."

Judy's eyes flicked to a photo on her desk. It was of a younger Nicholas, taken during a somewhat happier time. He was four, and the photo was in Bunnyburrow, with Nicholas playing with some of his cousins. Even then, he was taller than them, but back then, they didn't question it.

"Sometimes, I feel lost," Judy admitted.

"Lost, Hopps?" Bogo repeated.

"I'm forty-two and on my own. Have been since…" Judy paused for a moment, deciding to leave it unsaid. "This job just gets lonely sometimes. All I wanted to do was make the world a better place, but…"

"We aren't going to repeat you handing your badge in eighteen years back, are we?" Bogo raised an eyebrow. Judy stared hard at him.

"No," Judy denied, "I know this job's important, but I… I don't know…"

"Judy," Bogo said, "you are not alone. Whatever you decide to do, I stand by your choices."

Judy sucked in a breath.

"Akida, what if I said I was thinking about resigning as Chief?" Judy asked.

"Do you think becoming Chief was a mistake?" Bogo asked.

"No… but I know I've made mistakes," Judy acknowledged. "Boy, have I made them."

"Is this about… Wilde?" Bogo put forward.

"In a roundabout way, I guess it could be," Judy gritted her teeth.

"He did resign and vanish," Bogo pointed out.

"And I did what I could to find him," Judy said, "to put things right. Even then, I couldn't get it out of his fennec friend or his mother."

"Judy, that was fifteen years ago," Bogo emphasised. "You have to stop beating yourself up over what's done, and move on."

"It's harder every day," Judy said, "because I'm starting to see him more and more in my son. The things Viola Wilde told me about Nick's teenage years… and it's not typical teenage rebelliousness. You know how many times I've seen him brought here because he was causing trouble, or pulling some hustle? What kind of Chief am I if I can't even keep my own son under control? What kind of mother am I?"

"I'm starting to fear you might be handing your badge in," Bogo breathed heavily. "Judy, I know Nicholas' birth wasn't the most conventional, but you have done the best you can under the circumstances. Don't beat yourself up about that."

Judy kept Bogo's gaze for a moment longer. She nodded again.

'Time to change the subject,' Judy thought.

"So… what's on the docket today?" Judy put on a pair of glasses to read the paper in front of her.

"Mainly smaller crimes," Bogo remarked. "A burglar broke into Gnu York Electronics but got away empty-handed, there was an attempted ram-raid of the banyan Street Convenience Store, and a gang have begun to cause nuisances in Happytown."

"Sounds like this will be fun," Judy sighed, picking up the docket. She made her way to the door but paused as her paw reached the handle.

"Thank you, Akida," Judy said, "for hearing a dumb old bunny out."

Bogo nodded in acknowledgment and Judy left the room.

Mid-afternoon, Judy was back in her office, reading reports. She had to check herself from falling asleep out of boredom or allowing her mind to drift to times gone, when she was out there herself.

'How could this be just as boring as writing them?' Judy wondered. The report in question was to do with a car collision that took place just outside Savanna Central Station the day prior. The responding officer was fairly new, one from the last intake, as the report indicated.

'A need to impress… where have I seen that one before?' Judy thought shrewdly.

A knock came at the door.

"Enter," Judy looked up from her desk, taking her glasses off. The door opened and the figure of Stan Fangmeyer, Trisha Fangmeyer's younger brother, stepped inside. The tiger usually carried an amused air about him, but he was not amused this time. Beside him was Nicholas, wearing a scowl that made it plain he was not happy at being caught.

'Again,' Judy added mentally. She resisted the urge to raise a paw and pinch the bridge of her nose in exasperation.

'Can this boy go one day without getting himself into trouble?' Judy thought.

"Thank you, Officer Fangmeyer," Judy sighed. "Could you leave us alone for a minute?"

"Yes, ma'am," Fangmeyer stepped outside the room, shutting the door behind him. Judy got off her chair and approached Nicholas. She crossed her arms and glared at him.

"Well?" Judy said.

"'Well', what?" Nicholas answered back.

"Don't answer me back," Judy warned, allowing an icy edge to her voice. "Tell me what it is this time. Did you steal something? Did you get into a fight? I can't see any ruffled fur and you're not in cuffs, so please tell me you didn't at least do something illegal!"

"Why do you care?" Nicholas replied in a snarky tone. "Think I'm embarrassing your position, Chief?"

This wasn't the first time Nicholas had thrown that particular accusation in her face. The first few times she had taken this from him had stung, and it had fed into her uncertainties as of late, but she had to admit: she was starting to become weary of having it thrown at her.

"I'm not just the Chief, Nicholas!" Judy protested. "And I care because I'm your mother! You're fourteen years old, for Fox's sake!" Judy crossed her arms, "I care less about you embarrassing me in my position than I do that you've taken to your fox side! You've taken on the worst of your fa…"

She got no further before Nicholas angrily cut across her.

"I'm nothing like that coward, so don't even mention his name to me!" Nicholas snarled, with his fists balled. The snarl revealed the fangs beside his front teeth.

Judy took a steady breath.

"Heaven knows I've tried to tackle this," Judy said. "I've tried to get you to open up to me and tell me what is going on. At the rate you're going, you'll end up in jail."

'Or worse,' Judy added on in her thoughts, 'I don't want to have to see you put in the hospital!'

"And you'll put me there?" Nicholas scoffed. "Some mother you are." He turned to leave.

"Get back here, Nicholas! We're not done yet," Judy growled.

Nicholas let out a breath through his nose and spun back around.

"What are you going to do? Ground me?" he mocked. Judy's scowl deepened.

"I'll do worse than that," Judy said. "I'll send you to your grandmother's."

Nicholas' eyes widened slightly at those words.

'That got your attention,' Judy thought. Bonnie Hopps might appear to be soft and caring, but she had a strict side when she needed it. Judy knew it, and Nicholas knew it too. It was all from the experience of raising almost three hundred kits. She wouldn't even take nonsense from Stu, and Stu was her husband.

Judy knew there was something else at play here, as well: his other grandmother. She knew that Viola Wilde was dying. She knew what was causing her deteriorating condition: an inoperable brain tumour that had, these past few weeks, even started to rob her of her memories. Judy hadn't dared go around there herself, but she had been more than happy to let Nicholas form a relationship with Viola.

Now that relationship was gone, robbed by something that Judy couldn't just have arrested. Viola only recognised the 'nice young rabbit boy who comes to see her'. Sooner or later, she would be gone completely. Judy shuddered to think how much worse Nicholas would be after that.

"Look…" Judy stepped forward, "I know it's hard."

"No, you don't," Nicholas answered back.

"What?" Judy blinked.

"You don't!" Nicholas repeated, his voice louder this time, "You're not the freak of nature that should never have been born!"

"You're not a freak!" Judy protested, taken aback by the sudden outburst. "And why do you think you shouldn't have been born?"

"Oh, I'm not?" Nicholas rounded on her. "What do you call me? I'm not a fox, and I'm not a rabbit. I've tried living both ways. You know the last time you took me to Grandma and Grandpa Hopps? I had some of my cousins have a go! 'Freak! Funny freak! Box freak! Abomination! You shouldn't have been born!' You don't know what it's like because you're too busy with your job!"

"I'm trying, Nicholas!" Judy said. "I'm trying to be there for you!"

"You job just gets in the way," Nicholas snarled.

"No, you won't let me!" Judy pointed a finger at Nicholas. "How am I supposed to be there for you when you won't let me in?!"

Nicholas opened his mouth to retort but seemed to think better of it. Judy stepped up to him. She grabbed his shoulders.

"I'm your mother!" Judy said. "First and foremost, you come first, no matter what I do here. And I've tried to be there. But you're just as closed off as your father was."

Nicholas let out a snort, though he allowed the comment about his father to slide.

"When are you going to tell me about that?" Nicholas demanded, "You tell me that he ran away before I was born, but I've heard that you two had an argument! I've heard whispers when I'm in Bunnyburrow!"

"A moment ago, you told me not to even mention him," Judy said.

"I want the truth!" Nicholas raised his voice.

"It's…" Judy began, "it's complicated. One day, I'll tell you everything, but right now, you're too…"

"Too young and too conflicted," Nicholas finished bitterly. He had heard this before.

"I'm sorry, Son." Judy said, "I really am. I know it's been so much harder from you since learning that Grandma Wilde is…"

Nicholas looked away.

"Whatever," Nicholas said finally. "Can I go now, or do you want to grill me some more?"

Judy gave in to the urge to pinch the bridge of her nose. Thoroughly exasperated, she nodded.

"Go," Judy said. "Just don't get yourself in any more trouble."

Nicholas glared at her for a moment longer before leaving, slamming the door behind him. Judy returned to her desk and opened the drawer where she kept a bottle of Furball Cinnamon Whisky. She wasn't a heavy drinker, but this job had given her a taste for it. She only drank when things got to her. She figured it was better than other vices she knew cops could get, and she did regulate herself.

Staring at the bottle, she decided this wasn't the right time, so she put it back and closed the drawer.

'Why do I feel ten years older than I am at times like this?' Judy wondered. Her eyes moved to the photo on her desk of the younger Nicholas, and as she had more times than she cared to admit, she found herself wondering where she had gone wrong.

'Where's the Nicky I did my best to raise?' Judy asked herself. She hadn't dared use the nickname for a long time.

Breaking her out of her thoughts, her phone buzzed. Picking it up, she found a message from Nicholas.

'I'm going to be round Grandma Wilde's. Pick me up when you're finished.' It read.

Sighing heavily, Judy put the phone back on her desk and picked up the next report in the pile.

This chapter has the most obvious changes compared to the original, since I still needed the content and context of the material in the POV sections, but since I'm barred by self-decree from using those again, I had to re-frame them. The result actually winds up being a great deal longer than the original (this chapter is eight word-document pages compared to 5 of the original). Ironically, 'much shorter chapters' was the mantra I had for the original but that's not going to be the case for this version. I think it worked, but what do you guys think?