It had been two months since he was shot. No matter how many times she saw him, it never got any easier. To see her best friend, a savage… It just was almost too much to bear. Every once in awhile, she could almost swear she saw a hint of the old Nick behind those crazed eyes. "Look! Did you see that? He recognizes me!" She'd say every time he looked her in the eye.
"Ms. Hopps, that is simply his natural instincts. He thinks you're threatening him." Was the response she'd get every time from the attending doctor. Slammed back into reality. She knew he couldn't recognize her, but she visited him every day after her patrols.
"Oh Nick," she said, putting a paw to the glass. "If I could have you back, even for five minutes…" He looked at her. Her ears perked up momentarily. Just before she was about to say something, he ran into the corner of his cell. She sighed. She was beginning to wonder why she thought he would ever be "normal" again. "It was…" She paused. "It was good to see you again." She sighed. As she got up to leave, the doctor put his hand on her shoulder.
"I understand how difficult this must be for you." He said. "We are trying the best we can to figure out a way to reverse this. Until then, this is the best we can do."
"I understand." She said. "It's just… How could this happen?" As she stroked her ears back, Nick wandered over to the glass side of his cell. As he put a paw to the glass, Judy again had the feeling that he understood what was happening. "Thank you doctor."
On the subway ride home, she simply stared out the window. She didn't want to think of much of anything. As she was recollecting the day's events, her phone rang. It was her parents. "Hi Mom. Hi Dad. How are you?" She sighed.
"Hi sweetie! We're good. How are you?" Her parents responded in their typical happy manner.
"I'm fine. Visited Nick today. I think he recognized me, but the doctors say not." Judy said.
"Honey, we know how difficult this is for you. But you really should try and do some other things as well. You don't seem as energetic as you used to be." Her mother said, a sympathetic yet cautious tone in her voice.
"It's fine, mom. It's just that I miss him so much. I feel like he's still here, but he's not. He's some…" She began. "Beast." The words pained her to speak. Was that all he was, some mindless animal, destined to forever live in a cage? It couldn't be. "I need to get going. Talk to you later." Just before her parents responded, she hung up.
"Now approaching Grayson St. Station." The automated PA system said. She was so caught up in her own thoughts she hadn't noticed she was the last animal on the train. As she walked up to her apartment, she kept thinking about Nick putting his paw on the window. Did he recognize her? Or was she just so desperate that anything he did looked like something else?