Chapter 5 – Visiting the Zootopia General Hospital
Nick and Judy arrived at ZGH two hours before their evening shift was scheduled to begin. Judy had called Dr. Fleet Monday morning to schedule their visit, asking if her partner could join her. Dr. Fleet told her the more the merrier.
Waiting at the front desk, the cop duo was welcomed by a friendly but tired nurse. She was an ocelot, barely the same height as Judy.
"Hello, I'm Octavia, the nurse on duty on pediatrics today. Dr. Fleet asked me to come meet you. Unfortunately, he is in an emergency consultation and couldn't come himself. He will join us once he is done." Octavia had a rather deep voice that caused Nick and Judy to glance at each other and smile, knowing the other had just thought of their other very tiny friend with a startlingly deep voice.
Nick and Judy shook paws with Octavia introducing themselves. As Octavia led the way through the hospital, she told the partners a little about the children they were visiting. They were headed to the long-term pediatric ward, a special unit for children with diseases or injuries that required constant care and were not safe to be discharged. She assured Nick and Judy that all the little ones were healthy enough to see visitors and that the hardest part for the patients was the boredom of being cooped up all day.
"I'm so happy you both came, the little ones will be so excited to see you in your uniform. I've been telling them all about your role in the night howler case a few years ago. None of them, bless their hearts, really remember the story, but they are excited to meet some of ZPD's finest!" Octavia stopped outside a doorway. Nick and Judy could see through a window that the doorway led to a big room full of brightly colored walls and several toys. There were about 20 small mammals playing in the room, half were bunnies and the other half an assortment of other animals. Connected to this room was two other doors, which they could see led to two rooms. One of the rooms held about 10 uniformly small cots, the other to several different sized beds.
Octavia turned to the partners and said, "Alright, I'll introduce you to the children. Feel free to play with them, they always enjoy having new friends to play with."
The children turned their bright eyes on the two officers as Nurse Octavia introduced them. The little patients seemed mesmerized by the crisp blue uniforms and shiny badges. "Can you all say good afternoon to Officer Hopps and Officer Wilde?" the ocelot asked.
"Good afternoon!" the children repeated obediently.
"They are all yours," Octavia nodded to Nick and Judy.
"Alright!" Nick said brightly to the children, "Who here can tell me what police officers do?" With that, Nick and Judy fell into their routine presentation about the ZPD. They had the whole thing down pat after doing their public affairs duty for the ZPD, having spent a month going to several elementary school classes around the city. They completed their presentation, complete with safety tips and demonstrations, to the applause of many tiny paws and hooves.
"Alright kiddos, now that we've had all our fun, is there a game you would like to play with us?" asked Nick with a smile. The kids started chattering excitedly, calling out different games they could play. Just as they decided to play duck, duck, goose. Nurse Octavia stepped back into the room.
"I'm sorry to interrupt. Officer Hopps could you step out here for a moment?" As Judy stepped outside, Octavia pointed her towards an office door and told her that Dr. Fleet would meet her inside. Judy headed that way with a smile.
Nurse Octavia went back into the play room and announced, "Okay my little bunnies, it's time for your medicine!" "Awww," replied the little bunnies. "Don't worry, you can come back out and play with Officer Wilde and the others later! If you hurry, you can come back faster!" With that the bunnies scampered into the side room with the uniformly sized cots.
Nick turned back to the remaining little mammals, "Alright, why don't we play and the bunnies can join us when the get back." The children excitedly set up the game as Nick glanced out the window to see Judy step inside an office.
As soon as Judy entered, Dr. Fleet stood up from his desk and walked over to her. "Judy! I'm so glad you were able to come!" He took her paw and raised it for a kiss.
"I'm happy we could come!" Judy replied, a little unnerved by his action.
"I'm sorry I wasn't here to greet you, but there was an emergency."
"Oh, no worries at all. Octavia was nice enough to tell us."
"Well, I was hoping that you would speak with our rabbit kits separately for a little bit, let them ask questions about being a bunny in the ZPD. If you, don't mind."
"Not at all, I'd be happy to."
"Great, the Nurse should have moved the kits into their quarters by now. Why don't we head over?"
As they walked to the side room, now full of bunnies awaiting their turn for their medicine, they could see into the playroom. The two rabbits caught a glimpse of Nick chasing a little wombat, pretending to trip and fall over his tail to the screaming laughs of all the little mammals. Judy smiled at him as Dr. Fleet commented, "Is that your partner?"
"Yep, that's Nick. We've been working together for over two years now," Judy replied with a smile as she looked through the window, missing the troubled look on Dr. Fleet's face. Dr. Fleet then led her through another entrance to the rabbits living quarters. As the little bunnies gathered excitedly around Judy, Dr. Fleet turned to Octavia, "Have you given them their medicine, Nurse?" Octavia replied with a curt nod. "Go keep on eye on the other patients, then," Dr. Fleet said dismissively as he walked back over to Judy.
Dr. Fleet kneeled down and said, "Time for a bunny hug!" The little bunnies chattered happily as they joined arms for a group hug enveloping Judy and Dr. Fleet.
"Alright my cute little bunnies, I asked Officer Hopps to come and talk to you. Did you know that she is the first rabbit in the history of Zootopia to become a police officer?" The little bunnies turned and looked at her with renewed awe.
"That's right." Judy smiled back at them.
"Why don't you ask her some questions about becoming a police officer?"
Judy settled down on the floor and the little bunnies gathered around her. A little white rabbit tentatively raised her paw and asked, "Was it hard to become a police officer?"
Judy motioned the little bunny to come closer, picking up the little bunny and placing her on Judy's lap.
"Well, the police academy was very hard. I struggled when I first got there with a lot of the physical challenges because I was so much smaller than the other recruits. But I worked really hard and figured out ways to use my size and speed to do the job. I ended up graduating at the top of my class!"
"Whoooah!" the little bunnies exclaimed.
Dr. Fleet was leaning against the wall smiling at Judy interacting so well with his patients. The door opened and Octavia poked her head in. "Dr. Fleet, you have a phone call." Dr. Fleet told Judy he would be back as soon as possible and hurried out the door. After he closed the door behind him, he turned to Octavia and snapped, "I told you to keep an eye on the other kits, there is a fox in their if you didn't notice." He turned on his heel and headed back to his office.
After a few questions, the little bunnies all sat close to Judy and cuddled with her. Judy was not phased at all, growing up with 275 brothers and sisters, she knew that bunnies find cuddling comforting. One little black-furred rabbit crawled into her lap and asked, "Aren't you scared to be working with a fox?" Judy, a little taken aback asked why the little bunny would think that. "My daddy said that foxes are bad and they… they don't like rabbits," the little rabbit replied seriously.
"Well, did you know that a fox saved my life?"
"Really? Is that true?"
"Yes it is. Officer Wilde over there has saved my life more than once!"
"What happened?" the little bunnies started asking.
Judy told them how when she met her partner, that he wasn't a police officer at the time, and how she used the think that foxes were no good. She told them how Nick helped her find a bunch of mammals who were kidnapped (leaving out how she had blackmailed him a little). The bunnies stared wide-eyed at Judy as she told him how Nick had saved her life when the evil sheep had tried to hurt her.
"So you see, no mammal is good or bad because of what type of animal they are. Some foxes are mean and some are nice, just like some bunnies can be mean or nice. Officer Wilde is a fox and he is also my best friend," Judy ended.
The little bunnies continued to pepper Judy with questions as Dr. Fleet stepped back into the room. "Can I borrow Officer Hopps?" Dr. Fleet asked the little bunnies, adding please at their crestfallen looks.
"I promise I'll come back!" Judy said as she stood up.
Judy stepped into the hall with Dr. Fleet. "You are a natural with the little ones," Dr. Fleet told her.
"Well, growing up with 275 brothers and sisters, you get the hang of it."
"That's right, I always forget how big families can get out in the country. In the city, most families stick to 20 kits max!" Dr. Fleet chuckled. "Speaking of city rabbits, I thought you might enjoy coming to one of the Bunny Society's cocktail parties. We get together once a month for drinks and dancing, it would be great for you to get to know some of the other bunnies here in Zootopia. The next one is this weekend if you are interested. I promise that it will be more low-key than your dinner!"
"Oh well, thank you. I've been meaning to socialize more outside the ZPD." Judy said, "Which night is it?"
"It's Saturday at 8:30 at The Burrow." Dr. Fleet replied, referring to a swanky underground bar.
"Perfect, that's my night off this week!"
While Judy was in the hall with Dr. Fleet, Nick was wrapping up his game of duck, duck, goose with the kits just in time for Nurse Octavia to round them up to get their medicine. At the kids groans, Nick winked at Octavia and told them that he had to leave soon anyways and promised to come back for a visit soon. After the kids hugged Nick good-bye, he headed to the bunny ward to let Judy know it was time to go. As he went in, the little bunnies ran towards him and gave him a bunny group hug. A little surprised, he kneeled down and hugged them back.
The little black bunny looked up at Nick and asked, "Is it really true that you saved Officer Hopps from an evil sheep when you didn't have too?"
Nick laughed and said, "Yes, yes I did."
"But whhhhhy?" The bunny replied.
"Because, Officer Hopps was my friend and she needed my help. You should always help your friends when you can."
"But weren't you scared? You could have DIED!?" the little bunny replied seriously.
Nick looked the little bunny in the eye, "Of course, but I was more scared of Officer Hopps getting hurt."
"Ohhhhhhhhh," the little rabbits replied.
Nick glanced out the window into the hallway and saw Judy talking with another Rabbit, he knew it was probably the Doctor she had told him about. He turned back to the bunnies.
"Want to hear a secret?" Nick asked the little bunnies. They all nodded their heads vigorously. "You promise not to tell anyone, not even Officer Hopps." All the little bunnies nodded their heads again and crossed their hearts.
"Well," Nick said gathering them close to him, "Officer Hopps saved my life."
"How?" asked one of the bunnies.
"She saved my life by being my friend," Nick told the wide-eyed bunnies. "No one wanted to be my friend because they didn't like foxes, but Officer Hopps believed that I could be anyone I wanted to, even a cop just like her."
"Whooooah," the bunnies replied.
"Remember, it's a secret!" Nick said standing up. "And sadly Officer Hopps and I have to get back to work, keeping Zootopia safe!"
Back in the hall, Dr. Fleet took Judy's paw and said, "I'm glad you can make it, I would love if I could be your date."
Judy felt a blush as she glanced to the side, looking in to the bunnies' room to see the little rabbits hugging Nick. Judy smiled at the sight and looked back to Dr. Fleet's searching eyes.
"Well, I…" stumbled Judy, noticing that Dr. Fleet's eyes were light green and not the emerald she remembered from the other night. "I would like that," she finished looking shyly away.
"It's a date then! I'll pick you up at 8?"
"Yes, that would be nice. I'll text you my address." She said brushing the fur on her ears nervously.
She jumped as the door opened next to her, Nick stepping out of room.
"Hey, Car… Officer Hopps, it's about that time." Nick said glancing at Judy's paw in Dr. Fleets.
"Oh!" Judy exclaimed as she retrieved her paw hastily. "Just let me say good-bye to all the kits!" she rushed into the room forgetting to introduce the two males who were left standing awkwardly in the hall.
Nick recovered first from Judy's abrupt exit. "You must be Dr. Fleet. Nick, Nick Wilde. It was nice of you to invite us," Nick said, holding out his paw. The rabbit hesitated a second then shook Nick's paw briefly with a curt nod replying stiffly, "So glad you could come." The smile on Nick faded as they both turned to watch Judy saying good-bye to the children, standing in silence until Judy returned.
"Well, thanks so much for inviting us," Judy said to Dr. Fleet. "I wish we could stay longer, but our shift starts soon."
Dr. Fleet took her paw again and looked her in the eye, "You're welcome to come back anytime. It was so kind of you to come." He kissed her paw and added, "I look forward to seeing you on Saturday."
The golden-furred rabbit released Judy's hand and said, "Good-bye until then," adding as he glanced at Nick saying, "Officer Wilde." Nick nodded in reply before he and Judy turned to head out.
Judy was positively skipping as they waved good-bye to Nurse Octavia on their way out. Nick glanced at the smile on Judy's face and asked, "Did you have fun?" Judy launched into a long description on how much she enjoyed the visit, failing to mention her Saturday night plans or notice how subdued Nick was as they went about their work the rest of the night.