Hello everyone, I hope you are enjoying my story!

I don't own any Disney characters.

On with the show!

Oh god, oh god, what was she going to do?

Judy was lost.

The fox had just slipped back into unconsciousness after refusing to allow her to call the police. She could not understand what his problem was. Why didn't he want the police and EMTs to help him? They were trained medical professionals, in distinct contrast with her. She had taken nothing but a basic first aid course, her parents too concerned that allowing her to do more would encourage her to follow a career they didn't approve of. After the fox's little outburst she had busied herself with putting what she had learned to use, and had done her best to patch up the fox with what she had on paw. Mostly the tattered remains of his cloths. But he needed clean bandages, and some who actually knew what they were doing. His wounds were extensive but localized to his back. He was a mess, deep bleeding gashes, a clearly dislocated arm, singed fur. This was beyond her, and she knew it, but she did her best like she always did.

But now… now she had to get him back up the embankment. It had been enough of a struggle to get him out of the water, and she had only moved him a few meters. Now she had another 15 or 20 and it was up a steep slope. It wasn't going to be easy.

She began to argue with herself. Calling the police was definitely the right thing to do. They had the resources, the training, and most importantly, the strength to get the fox the help he needed. Under her care his chances weren't good, and she had a duty to him now. She had to help him. But… he had asked her not to, begged her even. And she had agreed. She had promised him not to. She felt a pang of guilt. She was going to have to break that promise, there was just no other option.

The fox coughed, and the noise brought her back from her reverie. He was looking at her again now, dull eyes meeting hers. He beat her then, she would do as he asked, and she gave him a guilty look.

"I'm sorry. I-"

She didn't finished her sentence, but he didn't seem to hear her, he eyes hazy, unfocused. She ignored his gaze, if she wasn't going to call the police then she better get started figuring out how to get him up the embankment. She looked around, but no solution was forthcoming. She weighed her options, none of the them were good. All she could do was drag him.

She hooked her arms beneath his and began to drag him up the slope. It was slow going, and he was so heavy. Since when were foxes so huge? She asked herself as she panted her way up the slope. The fox must have come to again because she could feel his wincing as he caught on the brush. He would just have to deal with it she thought grimly. Serves him right for making me drag him up this hill. She blinked. The stress was getting to her, clearly. She had never been one to be vindictive, but this was certainly bringing it out of her. Why the heck did she have to be the one to find him, of all mammals. Why did a fox, a probably dangerous and criminal fox… She stopped dead in her tracks. Oh god, he is probably a criminal! She was such a fool, why else would this fox be in this state? Normal, non-criminal, mammals didn't just end up in a river, unless they had been in some sort of accident. Oh god, I am a speciesist… College had been an eye opening experience in many ways, particularly when it came to predators. But as hard as she tried, thoughts like that still sometimes crept in. He wasn't a criminal just because he was a fox. He had probably been in a terrible accident, and he needed her help. Right?

Right.

She was done fighting herself over whether or not this was a good idea, she was going to help him. Easier said than done of course, she still hadn't gotten him up the bank, but there wasn't much more. And then it was done, she had dragged him to the top and loaded him onto Johnny, thinking the whole time about just how many favors this fox would owe her when this was all said and done. And then she realized, much to her chagrin, that she still needed more water for the tractor.

The trip back was uneventful, though she constantly had her eye on her charge. He remained unconscious and unmoving, blissfully ignorant of the bumpy ride to the burrow.

She dreaded her arrival, her parents weren't going to take this well. If he had been any other species… Well, no, not any other species… she corrected herself. Her parents weren't fond of any sort of predator, foxes though were particularly subject to their ire. The son the of the local fox family, Gideon Grey, had had a few run ins with Judy during their childhood. He had been a bully, and had singled her out amongst her peers because she was a bit, well, odd, when compared to other kittens growing up. Rabbits with dreams like hers were unusual, and that put a target on her back. Her parents knew about the things he did, really there was no way they could not have. Bunnyburrow was not a "small town" by any means, there were way too many rabbits for that to be the case, but the Greys were the only predators who lived in it, and that meant that the other species who lived there kept a close eye on them. Gideon's propensity for bullying certainly wasn't the source of their prejudice of course, bunnies had long feared foxes, but it certainly justified it. It had for her too; until she went away.

But now she was bringing a fox home. The species that she had grown up believing were sly tricksters, bullies, liars, cheats, etc.

She sighed. It had been an interesting day.

Judy was yelling.

So was her mother.

So was everyone actually.

The entrance into the burrow had been about what she had expected. Her mother had looked as though she would die of fright, and some of her younger siblings had run from the entrance hall screaming. She had briefly considered trying to sneak the fox into the burrow, it could be done, but she had gotten stuck as to what to do with him once she had him inside. He needed medical attention, probably plenty of rest, food… of some sort. She wasn't sure what foxes ate. If she hid him in the burrow chances were he wouldn't get most of those things. So her only real option had been to make it clear that she had a wounded fox, and she need help taking care of him. Well, she hadn't gotten to the second part yet.

At the moment she was standing in the middle of the entrance hall having a screaming match with a good part of her family, while the fox lay in a heap at her feet.

"I already told you mother! I have no idea who he is, but I need to help him. We need to help him!"

"Help a fox Judy?! He would probably just as soon pick your pocket as he would help you cross the street and you want to help him?! Foxes are a menace Judy, and I won't have one in my burrow!"

"How can you say that mother? This fox hasn't done anything wrong! He will die if we don't help him!"

"Then call the police, Judy! You of all rabbits should know to do that! Even if we wanted to help him, what would we do? We can't feed and take care of a predator, we are farmers Judy, not a bunch of doctors!"

Her mother was right of course, she should have called the police. Should have called them when she found him and should still call them now. But she couldn't. She had promised him not to, and her word was gold. Still, she wasn't sure how to explain that to her parents. They had of course been the ones to instill this iron adherence to keeping her word, but that didn't matter now, not when a fox was in the burrow.

"I can't…" She said as she looked away from her mother in embarrassment.

"What?!" Bonnie stared at her daughter in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"I- he- he asked me not to, and I promised I wouldn't."

It had sounded just as bad as she thought it would. Bonny's initial reaction upon hearing this had been one of shock, but as she processed what her daughter said, Judy watched as different emotions swept across her features.

"Judith. Laverne. Hopps." Bonnie spat out in rage, "You mean to tell me that you brought that- that monster into my home because you promised not to call the police to help him?"

Judy withered under her mother's gaze. She had never seen her this angry, and again, for the third time in about 24 hours, Judy found herself on the defensive in an argument with one of her parents.

"Mother, we have to help him." was all should could reply. She really had nothing. No reason for not calling other than that she had promised. And that now seemed so silly.

"Oh we will Judy, I am going to call the police right now, I am sure he deserves to be locked up anyhow!"

Judy barely stopped herself from flinching. Such blatant speciesism was almost painful, doubly so hearing it come from her mother. It was just all so wrong. If this fox had been some other animal, a sheep perhaps, or another bunny, he would have been welcomed into the burrow with open arms and nursed back to health as quickly as possible, no questions asked. There was no question of it in fact. It would have been simply a matter of course. The same sort of courtesy clearly wouldn't be extended to the fox she had just dragged through the door. This wasn't right. Judy wasn't going to let this pass. She was honestly at her rope's end. The constant fighting over the past day had left her on edge. She was tired of it. Tired of letting her parents walk all over her, tired of them treating the things that were important to her like they didn't matter, and tired of the backwardness of it all. Any other animal...

"Judy, get him out of the house now! He is bleeding on the floor!" Bonnie yelled, as she walked towards the phone phone on the wall.

Her mother's heartlessness was shocking. Bonnie was many things, a fighter, hardworking, loving. Many things indeed. Judy would have never thought before now that "cruel" was one of those things. This was something she simply wasn't prepared for, and she stood there gaping, trying to process what she had just heard.

The fox was trash. That was what her mother was saying. Trash that could be discarded out of hand, not even deserving a moment's second glance. She realized her mother had never even made a move to help treat his wounds, even now while she dialed the police she simply wanted him thrown from the house. It was appalling. This was cruelty on a level Judy had never experienced, a blatant disregard for a fellow mammal that Judy just couldn't comprehend. That it was coming from one of her parents was all the more galling. She never saw it coming. Never.

She hadn't seen a lot of this coming, she thought wryly. She had been taken off guard by her parents a lot over the past day. She should have been prepared for it. These things had been slowly building over the past 2 years, even longer really. The speciesism too. She had grown up with it all around her, though she supposed she hadn't realized the depth of it.

The beep of a phone key being pressed tore her away from her thoughts. Her mother was dialing. She had to stop her, she had made a promise. The pedestal on which she held her parents was crumbling, but that was one value she would certainly hold on to. She would always keep her word. She was going to stop this.

"NO!" She screamed as she leapt towards her mother. Bonnie started at the sound and her gaze shot towards her daughter. She didn't even have time to react before Judy had torn the phone from her paws and smashed it against the floor.

"J- Judy, what have you-"

"I said no, mother! We are going to help this fox, just like we have helped other mammals who needed it. If you want him to stop bleeding on the floor then you had better help me stop it." She gave her mother an icy glare. She was immensely disappointed with her, and she radiated a cold fury.

Bonnie stared back at her for a moment, and then let out a defeated sigh. Judy watched as her mother knelt down next to the fox and began to inspect his wounds, resigned to assisting the wounded mammal.

"Judy, I don't know how much I can really do here…" She trailed off, clearly shocked by the extent of his injuries. "It's shaking…"

The fox was shaking, Judy realized, but she didn't understand what that meant. Was he cold? The hall was by no means cold, it could even be called warm.

"The fox is a he mother."

"I don't see how it matters." Bonnie goused back.

Judy rolled her eyes and turned towards her siblings who packed each doorway that lead away from the hall.

"Max!" She called out more forcefully than she meant to.

"Y- yes?" Came the hesitant reply from a white spotted rabbit looking on at the scene from the second rank.

"I need bandages right now. Go get them."

"But its for-"

Judy sprang up and stormed towards her younger brother, he face a mask of fury.

"You will go get those bandages right now or so help me-"

"Okey! OKEY!" He squeaked as he bolted down the hall towards the infirmary.

"And bring a blanket!" She called after him.

Judy returned to the foxes side and looked at her mother.

"What can we do mom?"

Bonnie looked up at her and bit her lip. "I- I don't know. Not much. We need to clean his wounds and stop this bleeding for good, but I can't do anything for his shoulder… or his leg."

Judy looked him over. Her mother was right, they needed professional help. They couldn't do this on their own.

"We need to call the police. They can-"

Judy fixed her mother with another cold stare which stopped her in her tracks.

"No, that isn't happening." She pondered for a moment. And then it came to her. "We need to call Dr. Wright!"

Dr. Wright was the family doctor and had been since before Judy was born. He had helped deliver her in fact. He was semi retired at this point, the Hopps family being the only one he still saw. The old hedgehog had been there for ever major Hopps medical event for the last 25 years and Judy hoped he would come through for them again now.

Bonnie gasped. "Judy, we can't call him!"

"Why not?" She asked as she gave her mother a wary glance.

"He'll…" She trailed off again as she looked down at the fox.

"He'll what?" Judy demanded.

Bonnie glanced up at her daughter and withered under her glare. She didn't respond, just shook her head.

Judy dialed the doctor.

Dr. Wright didn't even ask questions, he was on his way out the door before Judy even hung up. Bless him she thought. At least someone around here cared enough about their fellow mammal to help them when they were in need, regardless of their species.

Now all they had to do was wait, and she sat on her haunches next to the fox resolving to say nothing to her mother until the doctor arrived. Bonnie seemed to agree to the arrangement because she said nothing as they sat. Judy glanced around the room the ring of her siblings were slowly drawing closer. Where was Max?

"Is that a fox?" Asked a small voice behind Judy.

Judy turned around and smiled at her sister Dalila, she obviously hadn't been paying close attention the arguing. "Yes it is."

"Is it one of the Greys?" Asked one of her brothers.

"No, Reggie, I don't think so."

"Foxes all look the same, how can you even tell?" Reggie replied.

She shot him an exasperated glance. "He is not one of the Greys." She replied firmly.

"Aren't foxes dangerous?" A murmur of agreement spread through the crowd.

It was clear what her family felt towards foxes, but she still wasn't able to answer the question. In fact, she wasn't even sure how to reconcile what she thought she knew about foxes and what she had before her. This fox certainly wasn't dangerous, not for the moment at least. For now he was no more dangerous than the smallest kitten. But when he woke up? Judy pushed the thought from her mind. He would be no more dangerous then too, she told herself, only half believing it.

"No, he isn't going to hurt anyone." She gave her siblings her most reassuring smile.

Darnit, where's Max?

The infirmary wasn't far, and Judy couldn't imagine what was keeping him…

"Martha!" She called out.

"Right here Judy!" Came the enthusiastic reply from her bi-spectacled younger sister.

Judy smiled inwardly. At least one of them seemed excited about this.

"Go find Max. We need those bandages. And the blanket"

"Right away Judy!" She called as she bolted from the room.

She probably should have sent her in the first place Judy reflected. But how was she to know that some of her siblings might hold the same sort of contempt for the fox as her mother did?

Judy looked back towards her mother. She looked rather disheveled sitting there putting pressure on the fox's wounds. The sight caused Judy to feel a pang of guilt. Her mother worked hard to maintain a delicate balance in the house, and Judy had just thrown a fox shaped wrench in all that. Well, she thought wryly, maybe we will all learn something from this.

"Judy! Judy!"

Martha was back.

"Judy I have everything, I didn't see Max anywhere."

Fury momentarily swept through her and she gritted her teeth against it. Max was going to rue the day he blew her off like this. The fox might've died, and he would have contributed, even if only just. But now was not the time to dwell on it, and she unconsciously smoothed the fur on her head.

She let out a sigh and her fury left her with it. "Thank you so much Martha." She said as she took the bandages from her younger sister and began wrapping up the injured fox with her mother.

"Oh Martha, one last thing."

"Yeah?"

"Let Max know he had better sleep with one eye open tonight."

Dr. Wright arrived 15 minutes later.

The Doctor had swept into the house like a whirlwind. He had brought his equipment with him, most of it in fact, but he couldn't treat the fox alone, and he constantly shouted orders to the Hopps's who had stayed in the entrance hall to watch.

The fox's external injuries had not been life threatening. The gashes would leave scars, and would take a while to heal, but after they had been cleaned, the Doctor had sutured them up quite nicely. The arm was a much more serious concern. Not only was his right arm dislocated, but the humerus had an oblique displaced fracture a few inches above the elbow. It could have been much worse, but Wright was concerned that it would need pins to heal correctly. He set the arm in a cast and hoped for the best. He didn't have the resources to pin the bone at hand, and worse came to worst, he would just have to rebreak the arm if it wasn't healing correctly. That wouldn't be fun for the fox, but the arm would get better eventually. The leg was in a similar condition. Broken fibula, which the Doctor set to rights in only a moment, and a broken ankle, which had been twisted at an odd angle. Again, with the help of a small portable x-ray machine, he was able to deal with the injury.

All things considered, the fox could have been much worse off. He had a few broken ribs in addition to the arm and leg, but his head and spine were fine, aside from a probable concussion,, and so was his tail, more or less. And they had moved him into a guest room, where they pushed a few beds together to allow the fox to lay down.

They still had one major problem however, the fox was hypothermic. Spending the better part of a day in a river will do that to a mammal, even a healthy one.

Dealing with the hypothermia had probably been the worse part for Judy. The Doctor had demanded that she remove his wet clothes, and she had not been prepared to see the fox naked. She had stood there staring at the poor fox until her mother had hissed in her ear and pulled her from her trance.

The Doctor had left after giving them instructions as to how often to change bandages, replace the IV fluid bag, etc. Judy's mother had demanded to know when they could dress the fox again, and the Doctor told them once his temperature was back to normal. But he had promised it wouldn't take too long if things went well. He would come back the next day to check up on his new patient but told them to call immediately if things got worse.

He had left then, and it seemed to Judy that her family had left with him. Not a one had spoken to her since the doctor had left, not even Martha, and Judy was left to brood about the injustice of it all, and on the health of the fox.

Her mother had forbade her from entering the guest room he was in, but the moment her mother had returned to the kitchen Judy defied her. The fox was only alive now because she had helped him, and there was no one on the earth that was going to stop her from checking up on him.

The fox was propped up in the bed, thoroughly packed with blankets. He looked almost peaceful, for the first time his face didn't seem to be contorted in distress and pain. And she realized that he was actually quite good looking, as far as foxes went at least. His sleek features certainly had an allure to them, and they stirred something in Judy that she had never before been aware of. She blushed furiously, the color even showing under her grey fur.

Good god, what was wrong with her? For a brief moment she imagined running away with the fox, the foreignness of it all exciting. But most importantly she imagined him freeing her from her parents. He would take her far away, and she could be who and whatever she wanted.

God Judy, this is pathetic.

The whole fantasy was extremely embarrassing, and she quickly pushed it from her mind. She was glad the fox was unconscious, he could not have failed to notice her silliness otherwise.

She took a deep breath and calmed herself. This fox would not help her get away from here. If anything this would just make it more difficult. She suspected that she had burned up any goodwill from her mother for a while, and she had no doubt her father would be just as pleased as her mother was when he found out that there was now a fox living in his burrow.

Judy chuckled. Boy she had really made mess. It was gonna be tough the next couple of days… But such is life. She knew she had done the right thing, and she was glad she hadn't backed down.

It struck her then that she had no idea who this fox was. He really could be anyone. Foxes had a way of getting themselves into all sorts of trouble, and she thought that if she had an idea as to who he was she might gain an inkling of how he ended up here in the first place. She looked around the room for his clothes and found that they were still piled in the corner where she had left them. She searched in the pockets of his shredded pants. There had been something there when she removed them, but she had been a little too distracted to take much notice. She found was she was looking for and she withdrew the surprisingly heavy object from the pocket.

Her breath caught in her throat.

In her paw was the magazine to a pistol.

She jerked away from it in surprise and it fell to the ground with a distinct thud.

This was bad, really bad. Guns weren't totally outlawed in Zootopia, but pistols certainly were, unless you were a member of law enforcement, or in the military. This fox didn't look like either of those, and there was nothing else in his pockets to give her even a clue as to his identity.

The left only one option. The fox was a criminal.

Judy began to panic. She had brought a criminal into the burrow! No wonder he didn't want to go to the hospital, he was on the run! And she thought back to that brief exchange by the river. How he had expended the last of his energy to stop her from calling the police. How he had pleaded with her not to call. Now she felt like a fool. This fox had played her. Had appealed to her empathy and it had worked wonders.

"Of course it was a damn fox." She immediately covered her mouth with her paws, and scolded herself for swearing. The fox didn't stir.

She was as bad as her mother. She shouldn't just assume he was a criminal because he had a magazine. Right? He may very well have the right to carry it. Maybe he was an undercover cop, or part of the mayor's security detail, or maybe even a spy! She rolled her eyes at the ridiculousness of it. If he were any of those things what the heck would he be doing in Bunnyburrow? Plus, there were no foxes on the police force anywhere as far as she knew. Yeah, he was probably a criminal.

But it's not because he was a fox, she reminded herself, it was because he had a part of an illegal firearm. She realized then that there could be numerous reasons why he might actually have something like that, even if he wasn't a policefox, and it was not like he had the actual gun. She wasn't sure about that actually, and she searched the small pile for anything else. She came up with nothing.

She had no idea what to do from there. She knew she shouldn't automatically assume the fox was a criminal, be she was finding it harder and harder to imagine an alternative. And what did that mean for their current situation? Should she call the police? Should she tell her parents?

God no, there was no way she would tell them. That would be one of the dumbest things she could ever do. But what about the police? If she called them now after she had fought so hard to prevent her mother from doing it should have to deal with some hard questions later on. But was it worth leaving this fox here when he might be a dangerous criminal just so she could avoid having to make up some elaborate lie for her parents? Probably not she decided, but then she thought back to how he had pleaded with her. Had made her promise. All it did was make her feel more and more like she had been manipulated.

She heard a noise and turned towards the door.

"I'm home!" Came the distant call of her father as he entered the burrow.

Judy was out of time for now, and she looked back at the fox. He wasn't going anywhere, even if he was a vicious criminal. She would have more time to consider all this, when she wasn't lurking about in a room from which she had been forbidden, and when she didn't have to rush off to be the first one to intercept her father and explain all this.

She grabbed the magazine and slipped it into her pocket, it would be no good if anyone else discovered it, and rushed out to greet her father.