That night, Judy awoke to a strange noise.

It was late, the moon casting a muted gray light on the end of the bed and the floor, the house completely silent with the exception of the rain hammering the windows. Judy could hear the distant late-night traffic in Downtown Zootopia and smiled lightly at the image of tires sliding across wet pavement, the smell of rain in the air. Moving slowly, the bunny sat up and rubbed the sleep from her eyes before glancing over and chuckling at a snoring Nick, sprawled across his side of the bed. Judy held her breath, taking in the thunderstorm silence of the night around her; it was almost comforting. Almost.

Judy felt her fur prickle as her ears straightened to attention, listening intently to the silence that suddenly took on an eerie quality. The children were fast asleep in the next room – but no, they couldn't be; a strange noise was coming from the baby monitor seated on Judy's nightstand. The noise was quiet, barely audible through the sound of the rain outside. It was the kind of quiet Nick would shrug off with a smirk and a casual reply of "it's nothing, Carrots," but something inside of Judy knew better. She looked at the little monitor curiously, then retrieved a dark object from beneath her pillow and tucked it into the band of her pajama pants before sliding from the bed and moving to quietly sneak out of the master bedroom. As Judy moved for the hallway, a curious thing happened – in a very rare moment, her head was advising her differently than her heart. Her head rationally told her that the sound must be one or more of the children awake and tossing around in bed, but her heart – no, her instincts – told her something dangerous was lurking in the night. Unfortunately, a form of exhaustion that stretched much deeper than waking up in the middle of the night prevented her from accurately recognizing this difference between her head and her heart.

Judy wasn't paying enough attention to see that the light in the next bedroom was on, it's soft glow apparent through the opening at the base of the door. Still a little sleepy, the rabbit watched her paws as she opened the door leading to the children's bedroom, letting it click softly open before looking up in a momentarily confused haze and coming face-to-face with something straight out of her nightmares.

There stood Valerie with a tiny Alan cradled against her left hip, and a pistol in her right paw.

"Hi, Judy."

"Valerie," Judy breathed, glancing at Alan and then at her three other children who were huddled together in Violet's bed, whimpering slightly. "What are you–?"

"Call Nicky," Valerie commanded, cutting Judy off. "We don't want him waking up and alerting the authorities without our knowledge, now do we?"

Judy nodded, nervous and still in a tired haze. Judy's heart had sunk when her eyes had rested upon Valerie and Alan, and now she almost felt hopeless. For a brief moment, Judy had a horrific vision of a tiny coffin and–

"Nick!" she called loudly, shaking herself from her thoughts as she knocked on the wall that connected the two rooms – something the couple did during the night whenever one needed help with the children and the other was in bed.

The two listened as Nick obediently shuffled out of bed and toward the children's room at the noise.

"I'm coming, Carrots, what's–?"

Nick stopped at the sight of the scene, absolutely speechless.

"Good," Valerie grinned. "Come have a seat with your other children, Nicky."

"Get out of my home, snake," Nick growled, immediately flashing his incisors.

"Now, Nick," Valerie shot back coldly, gesturing the gun toward the baby fox in her arms and making both Nick and Judy flinch slightly. "You don't want to lose any more children now, do you?"

Without another word and a very concerned look directed at Judy, Nick moved past his wife and sat down with the other three children, taking them into his arms and shushing them gently.

"You are insane," Judy said angrily, her blood beginning to boil. "I won't let you do this to my family."

"What are you going to do, Judy? Dart me and then send me back to prison?"

"Not this time," Judy breathed.

The bunny then pulled a small handgun from the band of her pajama pants and aimed at the vixen. Unbeknownst to Nick, she had started carrying a second gun with her after they were attacked in the Canal District. The gun never left her body. She was ready to end this fight, and she had been ready for a long time.

"I am going to kill you," the rabbit hissed.

At the sight of the gun in Judy's paws, Valerie faltered slightly; this was not Judy's police-issued tranquilizer gun. Nick blinked in surprise at the sight of Judy holding the gun that was meant to kill rather than subdue; there was a cold look in the rabbit's eyes.

"We've been going back and forth for months, and it ends today," Judy said, her voice dropping down a few octaves. "The way I see it, there are two options here: you can put my son down and go back to prison without a fuss, and I can assure you no harm will come to you."

At this promise, Valerie scoffed, but Judy continued.

"There are a lot of animals who want you dead, Valerie, but I promise you will be given the highest security the ZPD can offer," she paused, her eyes deadly and her voice dropping to a hiss. "But if you refuse… well, then I am going to empty the clip in this gun – and I can assure you that I never miss a shot."

"Is that so?" the vixen spat back.

"It is," Judy said with a small chuckle. "Unless you kill me, of course. But I think we both know I'm a lot tougher than I look. Failing really isn't a characteristic of mine."

The vixen could only laugh a hollow laugh at Judy's threats, but Judy felt Valerie's nervousness, saw her body tense.

"Surprised?" Judy asked playfully.

"You think you're so tough, Judy, Love, but you're only inflating your own ego."

"Oh-ho, I'm the one inflating their ego?" Judy laughed dryly. "You're only here because I've hurt your feelings more than anyone else."

"Hurt my feelings? What are we – cubs?"

"Admit it, Valerie, I have everything you want. I have a job you failed to attain, married the fox you never stopped having feelings for, had his children. I built my life from the ground up, and have done it again and again over the years. You think you can come in and tear it all down? You haven't even made it over the fence," Judy spat with venom.

Valerie only stared, a grimace on her face. It was evident she hadn't been expecting this level of resistance from the bunny. The claws were out, that was clear.

"Now, put my son down," Judy said coldly after a few moments of stale silence. "Or I will shoot you."

"Did you really think it was going to be that easy?" Valerie sneered back quickly. "You aren't in charge–"

"No, I don't think you understand," Judy said loudly over the fox. "I'm done with your games and I'm done listening to you talk. Now, put my damn son down."

"And what if I say 'no,' Judy? Are you really going to shoot me in front of your family, shoot me while I'm holding your baby? Don't tell me you'd allow him to be traumatized in such a fashion."

"Nick, take the children outside," Judy stated coolly, her eyes still on Valerie.

"Carrots, don't listen to her; she's only trying to anger you," Nick whispered.

"Well, it's working," Judy remarked bitterly. "Take the kids outside. They don't need to see this."

"Carrots, I'm not going anywhere," Nick argued, his voice rising with agitation.

"Go," Judy said firmly. "Unless Valerie here objects?"

"Not at all," Valerie replied sweetly. "This is between us. I'll attend to them later."

"Well, then it's settled. Take them to the car, Nick."

"Judy, you can't be serious–"

Judy shot a glance at Nick. To Valerie, the glance exchanged between the two looked threatening, almost toxic, but between the couple, the message read loud and clear: "trust me."

Without another word, Nick scooped the three remaining children and quickly ushered them out of the room, leaving Judy and Valerie (and, of course, Alan) alone.

"Feel better?" Valerie smirked.

"Much. Put him down."

"No," Valerie said defiantly. "Come on, Judy, Sweetheart! Don't just stand there with that look in your eye, and your paw on the trigger, throwing threats at me. Do something!"

Judy only remained still, letting the tension in the room peak as she watched Alan wriggle uncomfortably in the vixen's grasp.

"You want to know why you can't pull that trigger?" Valerie laughed violently. "You're weak!"

"Why don't you put that gun down and find out just how 'weak' I am?" Judy smirked.

An evil grin flickered across the predator's face.

"Is that a challenge?"

"Yes."

Without a moment's hesitation, Judy took aim at Valerie's right shoulder and fired. Before Valerie could even register the noise of the gun or the sudden pain spreading through her shoulder, Judy was on top of her, both guns cast aside, a shocked Alan wrestled from the fox's grasp. Then the bunny was gone, racing toward the front door with her son cradled against her chest. She slid down the carpeted stairs before immediately throwing herself right and down the hallway that led to the front door, which had been carelessly left open just as she had known Nick would do. The terrifying growls coming from Valerie not far behind pushed Judy harder as she ran for the exit.

"NICK!" Judy screamed as she turned and slid hard into the open door to stop herself. Nick was there, just at the base of the porch steps as he had already been running to get back to Judy after hearing the gunshot. In a split second, the couple's eyes caught one another through the pouring rain, their expressions wild. Without a moment's hesitation, Judy threw Alan in an upward arc out of the door just before a furious Valerie slammed into her. Judy saw Nick dive forward and catch the little fox in his arms. At the same time, she kicked her feet out in an attempt to stop the fox who was now viciously snapping her razor-like teeth at the bunny.

"GO!' Judy screeched at Nick again as she kicked Valerie backwards and dove at her.

Nick, torn between his wife and his children, hesitated momentarily. Shaking himself mentally, Nick tore away from the spot in front of the porch and ran for the black SUV parked in the driveway, where he rapidly buckled a stunned, but surprisingly silent, Alan into his seat. He then jumped into the driver's seat and roughly backed the car into the street. He didn't even have time to think of Judy as he shifted the car's gear and sped from the neighborhood, snatching up the police radio's microphone from the dash as he did so.

In the house, Judy fought for her life as she heard the SUV's tires screech away. The rabbit kicked, punched, and scratched at the fox, attempting to free herself so that she could make her way back upstairs to the children's room where she knew two guns were lying on the floor. Valerie made it nearly impossible, lunging at her repeatedly, her teeth only centimeters from Judy's face.

"Oh, hell!" Judy yelled in an exasperated voice. "I am so sick of you! I can't get one minute to myself without you threatening my family or blowing up my house!"

Judy managed to slam the fox into one of the surrounding walls in the hallway and tried to make a dash for the stairs, only to be snatched by Valerie once again. Judy kicked away, scrambling up the steps. Valerie on her heels, Judy managed to make it to the children's bedroom and attempted to slam the door, but the vixen's strength outmatched the rabbit's. The two struggled with the door for a few moments before Judy turned and dove for the nearest gun that happened to be her own. Valerie tackled Judy once more just before the bunny's paw could grasp the weapon, this time sinking a bite into Judy's right arm as the two collapsed on the floor.

"Ah!" Judy cried out in pain, still struggling and now feeling her energy beginning to quickly leave her.

Judy was barely able to hold Valerie off as she let out a loud growl and lunged once more, her now-bloodied teeth flashing. The bunny looked around her wildly, her gaze darting across the window in the room and then darting back quickly at the shocking sight that hadn't quite registered with Judy in the first glance. The window was open.

Judy quickly jumped to the conclusion that this was how Valerie must have gotten into their home, but her thoughts then jumped to little Alan and his love of the rain. Here, Judy's head rationally told her that Valerie had opened the window, but her heart – no, her love for her son – told her Alan had naively opened that window to smell the rain and may have just saved her life in doing so. She preferred to believe the latter.

With that, Judy mustered her last bit of strength and kicked at Valerie with everything she could give. The vixen fell back momentarily with a hiss, giving Judy just enough time to snatch the gun. However, Judy knew that if she turned to shoot at Valerie, she couldn't ensure she would hit her target even if she was able to fire off a shot before Valerie tackled her again. She also knew that if Valerie tackled her before she fired, she wouldn't have enough strength to prevent the fox from wrestling the gun from her grasp. No, Judy didn't shoot – in fact, she didn't even turn – she took a couple of long strides and pushed her way out of the window.

Everything then happened very fast. Judy didn't have enough time to scream before she was tumbling on to the top of the gazebo that protected the patio in the backyard and then sliding ungracefully to the flooded ground below. She then ducked for cover when several gunshots sounded from above as Valerie fired her retrieved gun from the window the rabbit had just leapt from. After three missed shots, Judy heard the vixen growl, then heard nothing but the rain pummeling down, the eerie silence in the thunderstorm filling her ears once more. The bunny wiped the water from her face and struggled to her feet, gun in paw, prepared to fight the monster she knew was coming.

Moments later, the glass door that connected the house and the backyard slid open violently, and a nasty growl echoed through the night as a now feral Valerie launched herself on all fours through the rain toward Judy. The image before Judy reminded her of a savage Mr. Manchas racing toward her one rainy night in the Rainforest District many years ago. Though both predators shared the common characteristic of wanting to kill Judy, Mr. Manchas had had no control over his actions, whereas Valerie dreamt of the moment she could tear the bunny apart and that made all the difference.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Click! Click!

The fox collapsed on the ground with a sickly thud, completely still, blood and water soaking her fur and clothing. Judy heard the fox gasp once, then there was nothing but the sound of the rain.

"Oh, God," Judy gasped as she fell back on the wet ground, the emptied gun still in her paw.