Midnight had fallen and Nick shivered against the cold as he popped another blueberry into his mouth. He had been staking out the road that lead in and out of Bunny Burrow for hours from behind the town's welcome sign and was beginning to grow restless. Normally on a stake out, he'd be dozing off behind his sunglasses while Judy kept a listening ear out but tonight he was his own. Nick shifted as he watched a family of Badgers drive by and the ache of loneliness intensified within him. There would be no dozing off for him tonight. He had slept alone all of his life but the prospect of sleeping without Judy in bed with him was enough to make him never want to sleep again. And they weren't even mated.

Nick laughed ruefully to himself. She must be some kind of mammal for her make him find a Bunny attractive. In the past, he had always found the of idea inter-species relationships repugnant. A Sheep with a Ram was perhaps ok and maybe a Wolf with a Coyote. He couldn't tell the difference between the two anyway but a predator and a prey? That was completely was unheard of. And then he me Judy. It was her personality that got him first. Her ever optimistic, no-one's-going-to-keep-me-from-my-dreams attitude was so infectious that it had even resurrected the little justice loving fox cub who had died within him years ago. Falling in love with her had been a slow burn but he could clearly remembered when the first embers had began. It was a year and a half ago on the bridge in the Rainforest District. When he saw Chief Bogo glaring down and berating her , she had valiantly turned him for a witness. That was something that no one did when it came to foxes. Everyone saw them as too shifty to trust, but Judy hadn't given calling on him a second thought. That was when the first seed was planted and it had just blossomed from there.

He couldn't lie though, he did enjoy certain physical aspects of her as well. Those big violet eyes that had the power to see through who he was today to the Fox that he could be tomorrow. That cute pink nose that twitched whenever she was happy or sad. One of his favorite parts of the day was waking up and kissing it every time she went to turn off the alarm clock. Her ears, that weren't at just sensitive to sound, were one of his favorite areas of her body as well. He loved stroking, kissing, and nibbling on them at odd times when no one was looking. She'd shiver so much some times, her badge would rattle and a good amount of the officers in the precinct thought that she was perpetually cold. Nick knew for a fact that quite a few of them planned on getting her sweaters on her next anniversary of being on the force. In his mind, he could imagine the look on her face when she opened the fifth or sixth gift box and found another wool pull over waiting for her. She'd smile and be profusely grateful to the other officers but once she got him alone, she'd scrunched up her cute little nose, and her long coal tipped ears would flop down to the middle of her back. Then she'd pop her curvy hip out to the left and place her paw on it in the sexy way that never failed to catch and hold his attention. Sexy, he thought, when had he started thinking of Bunnies as 'sexy'? He certainly thought of them of cute but everyone did. Nick thought back to all of the Bunnies that he could remember ever seeing before and after meeting Judy but none had captivated him so. No, he wasn't attracted to Bunnies, he was in love with Judy and Judy alone. But that was over. He sighed and tried in vain to push away the memory of her beautiful eyes tearing up. The pamphlet, he thought, read the pamphlet. It would be something to do to take his mind off things. Pulling it out of his pocket, he leaned back against the sign and began to read.

" Midnicampum holicithias otherwise known as Night Howlers is completely harmless unless ingested. Should a friend or love one accidentally ingest it, do not panic. Alert the local authorities immediately so that s/he can be contained and assisted properly. Do not worry. Although the nectar of the plant can cause brief insanity, once it is in one's system, it is not contagious. However, speed is of the essence. Prolonged exposure to the Night Howler nectar for over 24 hours could result in permanent damage. Please see your general practitioner for more information."

Nick closed the pamphlet up and thought for a moment. According to Judy, he had been administered the antidote immediately after being hit with the poison. If not within minutes, then at least within hours. The nightmares he could understand, the mind worked in mysterious ways. And the muscle soreness was brought on by the serum, not the Night Howler, so that he could explain away as well but what didn't make since was what he smelled today. Why today of all days had that scent come to him? He wished that he'd had Judy with him right now. He was good at getting out of trouble but not at figuring out how he'd gotten into it in the first place. Judy. What was she doing right now? Was she still crying? Had she cried herself to sleep and now lay alone in her bed? Would she be expecting his warm kiss on her cold nose in the morning once the alarm clock went off and would that make her start crying again? Nick hated himself for what he had done but did he really have a choice? He would have hated himself more if he had went savage and murdered her.

As he was thinking, he saw a vehicle driving slowly by with no lights on. That was odd because the road into Bunny Burrow had no street lights of its own so whoever was traveling in that truck either had incredible night vision like himself or was more of a fool than he was. The vehicle expertly switched lanes to avoid some farming debri on road. Yup, definitely night vision, he thought. But what other mammals had it like him? He snapped his fingers. A Ram. Climbing down quickly from his perch, he followed the vehicle stealthily from the side of the road.

It stopped at an old barn and sure enough, Jessie the Ram got out of the driver's side of the truck and closed the door quietly before entering the dilapidated structure. Nick came around the front of the vehicle and jimmied the hood open. Since it was the only means of transportation there aside from some old plane, he figured that if he disabled it, there would be no means of escape for the wooly culprit and his Weasel master. Acting quickly, he pulled and cut several wires leading to the engine and fuel tank. Making sure that the truck was permanently disabled, he threw the severed cables into the tall grass, aiming in different directions. Closing the hood back up, he moved towards to the door of the barn as quietly as he could but heard a stick break behind him. He turned to see who it was but before he could, something heavy and blunt met with his rib cage. The wind was knocked out of him as he fell to the ground and his unknown assailment took that moment to levy a final blow to his head. There was the shortest moment of pain and then his whole world went dark.

"Psst, psst,"

Nick's head throbbed and he wanted nothing more than to stay asleep and dream about holding Judy in his arms but the constant noise was waking him. Tasting blood in his mouth roused him though and he sat up quickly but bit back on a howl as pain shot through him. His discomfort was only a momentary concern though as his eyes darted around wildly, not really focusing on anything. Who' s blood was this, he thought frantically. "No, no, no, no," he chanted and tried to stand but the metal restraints chained to his wrists pulled him back down to the ground. Landing on his tail, he rolled over onto his hurt side and his body was racked with agony. "Judy!" he called out, "Judy!" Had he done the unthinkable? He couldn't remember what had happened.

"Dag nabbit boy," he heard someone with a thick southern accent whisper frantically, " if you don't shut yo mouth, you'll have em in here any second now."

Nick grimaced as he turned to see a shabby red furred fox crouching off to the side of him. "Who are you?" he hissed, "and where is Judy?"

"I'm Gideon Grey, the baker and if you're talking about the Hopps' daughter, I don't rightly know. You were the only one they dragged in." Everything was coming back to Nick now and a pain of a different kind lanced through him as he remembered breaking up with Judy earlier. The blood in my mouth, he thought, someone hit me. He licked his tongue around his gums to make sure that he hadn't lost any teeth and once he was satisfied with what he'd found, he sat up gingerly.

"Where are we?"

"We're..." Gideon stopped short as a menacing Weasel walked in laughing.

"Judy! Judy!" he called, openly mocking Nick. The fox stared at him with a hatred that burned so hot that his green eyes blazed.

"Now listen here Travis," the other fox said, "this here has gone on long enough. Cut this short and let us go. You aint got nothing to gain from this."

"Don't call me that," the weasel said baring his teeth, "I'm Trey now, ya hear me, Gid?! Big-city-don't-take-nothing-from-nobody-Trey and you best not to forget it."

The stocky Fox in overalls shook his head, " I don't care what you be going by now, I'm not letting you grow that poison on my family's land, even if'n it weren't illegal."

The Weasel laughed again, "I don't need yo family's stupid ol' land for nothing no mo Gid. I done gone and grew it myself elsewheres. And 'sides, you aint gonna have no use for no land anyway when I'm done no how."

"Whatchu talking about Travis?"

Nick was growing tired of the exchange. He didn't care about any of their land but he knew what poison Gideon had refused to grow. "Why do you hate foxes so much Trey?" he asked. The only thing holding his pain at bay was his anger even though he fought to keep it in check. "You're a weasel, the same mammals who hate us, hate you too. Making us go savage isn't going to win you any point with anyone."

"Foxes?" he laughed and Nick realized that whether he had ever been exposed to the Nigh Howler or not, he still would have had the urge to rip the little creature's throat out. "I don't hate foxes. Don't care much for Gid though, but that's just cus he was my friend and then decided that he didn't want to steal and fight no mo." The Weasel wiped his long snout, "he got too big for his britches, thought he was better than me once he started actin' like a little house wife baking treats in the kitchen."

"I never thought I was better nobody Travis, but I grew up. I gots me a family and a business now and both treat me right. You could have one too if'n you stop fooling around with this mess and come back to your senses."

"Don't tell me what I can have!" The weasel yelled in a shrill, then he turned his attention to his attention to Nick. "And I aint never had no plans to make foxes go savage. That cheetah was just a test and you just got in the way when I was aiming at that dumb Bunny."

"Judy?" Nick whispered to himself as he used a claw to pick the lock that confined him.

"Yes Judy, yo precious partner. She started all of my woes. If she had never become a cop, Gid would still be pulling jobs with me instead of pulling pies out the oven. But she still gonna pay, she and every Bunny in Bunny Burrows is once I'm done. Was hoping to have mo fun with you fox cop but it bes that way sometimes."

Fun? With me? Nick thought but he didn't have time to dwell on that right now, he needed to find out what the crazed Weasel had in mind for the Bunnies. "What do you mean," he said slowly as he counted his breaths carefully as a way to manage his pain. Without moving his eyes, he spotted a few matches and a can of what looked like kerosene next to a wooden rake.

"Well, aint it obvious? Fo a city Fox, you aint none to bright. I'm gonna make the biggest batch of the Night Howler poison that anybody in this world has ever seen. Then I'm gonna use that ol' crop duster outside to rain it down on every Bunny in the countryside. They'll all go stock raving crazy!"

Nick's eyes went wide with disbelief. Who would want to hurt a bunch of Bunnies? "Why?" he said shocked, "you can't gain anything from making them go savage, what will that accomplish?"

"Nothing, I just wanna have some fun."

"Travis," Gideon pleaded with his former friend as he strained against restraints of his own, "please you cant do this. There's children out there. Babies. You can't just..."

"What I say about you trying to tell me what I can and can't do, Gid?!" Travis yelled, as he extended his claws. Gideon's eyes went wide with fear as he watched the menacing Weasel slowly coming towards him. "Please Travis, please."

"A little too late fo begging Gid, you shoulda listened to me first off. Now I gotta learn you a lesson." Before the Weasel could reach Gideon, Nick used the last of his strength to kick out at him with all of his might and the small creature to double over in pain as all of the air was knocked out him. Travis coughed and spit blood onto the hay covered floor as he laughed again.

"Aint Jessie learned you nothing with that bat across yo back and face? I swear Foxes must be the dumbest creature's in this earth."

"You're right," Nick said as he stood to the great dismay of Travis, "or at least you are about this one. But I'm smartening up really quick and you better too. I don't care who you lost and who took'em away from you, you try to hurt Judy and swear I'll kill you myself even if I die trying."

"Jessie! Jessie!" the Weasel called frantically and the the fat Ram lumbered in.

"Yes Boss?"

"Get him!" Travis said as he pointed at paw at Nick but the Fox one step ahead of them and quickly ran over to the rake, adrenaline taking over.

The Ram laughed. "You can barely stand Fox, but you're gonna fight me with a rake? Bring it on."

Nick made like he was going to reach for the rake but grabbed the the box of matches instead and lit one as he picked up the kerosene. "I've never smelled wool burning before but thanks to you, I have had a craving for meat recently. How are those lamb chops treating you?"

"Travis," Jessie said as he frantically gripped the weasels shoulders, "he's crazy, he gonna set us on fire! He's gonna burn this barn down with us in it!"

"Stop it you idiot!" Travis yelled back, and pulled away from the scared Ram, "and he's not gonna set nothing on fire. If he did , he'd kill himself and Gid too."

"I meant what I said, I'd die to protect my fellow officer," Nick said choosing his words carefully just in case he made it out of this alive, " and if I'm correct, that's the same Gideon Grey that held Judy down and scratched her face when she was nine so I don't have much love for him either."

"T-t-that was years ago,"Gideon stammered, " and I already apologized to Judy for that. You ask her, I did."

Nick heard Gideon but didn't pay him much mind, all of his focus was on the Ram and the Weasel. "I've had my limit of this," Travis said, "he can't take us both, "tackle him!"

Jessie ran toward Nick at full speed and he got ready to throw the kerosene and drop the match. That's so odd, he thought to himself, the one person that he would miss the most was the same person that he was happy wasn't there. "I love you," he whispered beneath his breath as he closed his eyes, reading himself to drop the match. Suddenly, he heard the Ram cry out in pain and the Weasel in shock. Nick opened his eyes and to his great disbelieve, he saw Judy straddling Jessie and she tased him before he could get up. Nick looked above him and saw a rope hanging from a high rafter and he smiled. Judy had caught them by surprise by swinging down from the rafters and tackling Jessie while he was in mid run. She had been there the whole time, waiting for an oppurtunity to step in. He chuckled to himself. Clever Bunny. Nick blew out the match but stiffened as she ran over to him. "Stay away," he called out to her as he pushed himself against the wall.

"No Nick, I'm trying help you."

"Why wont you just let me protect you?!" He yelled, "You never just let me protect you! On the low bridge, I begged you to leave, I pleaded with you to leave and I don't plead with anyone! I muzzled myself," he said he said beating his paws against his chest, "I cuffed myself, I jumped off a bridge, willing to end my own life and why?! Just to protect you and what do you do? You just keep coming. I couldn't live with myself if I killed you. I'd rather take my own life first but you just keep coming."

"Nick whatever is going right now, its ok, its not you. That Weasel was following us around today. I heard him and that's why I came running towards you and Finnick. I had no idea that you were getting sick and never saw him. Once you left tonight, I knew something was wrong so I retraced our steps and went back to have a talk with Mrs. Otterton. She said that her husband told her that you had asked him about the side effects of the Night Howler and that the strongest one was scent memory. Something wasn't adding up so I went back to the alley and found a wrapper for a scent spray. I couldn't make it out but I knew it came from the Naturalist that we went to before. I paid them a visit and found out that not only had they made the flesh and blood scented spray, but only one who bought it was their newest member, Travis. I called my parents to find out about where he and they didn't know but they did say that Gideon had gone missing. His family has been looking for him for weeks. His wife wanted to go to the police but his mother was afraid that he gotten into something illegal and wanted to wait him out a little bit longer. I knew Gideon had turned his life around and that he'd have no reason to go back so went to the only place that I knew I could at least find Travis. Here, his family's old farm. I went into the main house and found the spray in there as well as pictures from the night you were shot and from earlier in the day when you were throwing up. I knew then that he was behind everything and that I wasn't going to let him get away with what he had done to you so I hid out in the barn. I saw Gideon tied up in here and while I was trying to figure out a way to get him free, I saw the Ram drag you in and so I knew that I'd have to consider my next move carefully."

Judy walked up Nick as he breathed heavily and he collapsed into her open arms . She petted his head and ears gently with her paw as she spoke. "You were right, you know, when you said that we Bunnies so emotional. But we're also analytically too, that's why we make good detectives. And by the way, I decided when we break up, not you and we're not, do you understand me?" Her voice left no room for argument so he just smiled and nodded.

"Boy am I glad to see you Carrots," he said resting his head against her chest.

"Don't you 'Carrots' me and you're hurt. We need to get you to a hospital."

"I know one nearby," Gideon Grey piped up and Judy turned to look at him embarrassed.

"Gideon, I'm so sorry, I forgot that you were there. Nick and... what I mean to say is that Officer Wilde and I are partner, on the force you see and we..."

"No need to explain, Judy, we out here in the country so anything that makes yo heart happy goes. I aint heard nothing, I aint seen nothing, I don't know nothing."

"Thanks Gid,"she said as she lowered Nick gently to the floor and undid the country fox's restrains. He rubbed his wrists gingerly as Judy spoke. "I hope that weasel didn't get far, I called for backup."

"Oh he didn't," Nick said as she took him back into her arms, "unless he's walking to where ever he's going, he's not going anywhere.

"Halt in the name of the Law," all heard Chief Bogo yell loudly as the sound of sirens filled the air and Nick sighed. It was finally over.