Nick and Judy arrived at her apartment around 6:30, about two hours after the bank heist and the attempts on both of their lives. Both were soar with massive pounding headaches. Who knew that almost dyeing would feel this crappy, Judy grimaced. She looked over towards Nick just in time to see him collapse on her couch.
Judy's first thought when getting home was to get as many drugs in her as she could without overdosing. She slowly walked over to her bathroom and dug through her drawers fishing for painkillers. She grabbed the bottle and downed a few, hoping this would help the pain go away.
"Hey Nick," Judy called out, receiving a loud grunt in reply. "You want some pain killers?" She asked him.
"Yes please," he groaned. She lobbed the bottle of pills over the couch at Nick, landing on him with a small thud. "Thank you." Nick wasn't feeling the best physically. Not as bad as Judy, but enough to make him feel like shit. It was his mental state that was mostly messed up. The near death experience caused a lot of thoughts to jump into his head, some of which he had been suppressing for good reasons. Nick heard the shower turn on, immediately thinking that sounded really good.
Judy was checking herself out in the mirror, finally getting a look at the damage the explosion caused on her. She'd already seen how Nick looked, his uniform being slightly charred and torn. She looked much worse, explaining why she felt the way she did. She was much closer to the explosion, getting her thrown through the air and landing straight on her face. The front of her uniform being shredded, multiple burn marks on the back of it, minor cuts all over her body, and having a large gash down her forehead that had been slightly bandaged.
Judy groaned, suddenly realizing that she was in no shape to be going out tonight. She was actually looking forward to going out on that date; unfortunately, now she's going to have to cancel.
I've never needed a shower more than I do now, she sighed, stripping out of her cloths and hopping into the relaxing hot shower.
Nick was now sitting up the best he could after downing the medicine. The thoughts bouncing around in his head, along with the silence, was slowly starting drive him crazy. He had buried those thoughts for a reason, and having them resurface was causing unwanted emotions. So to distract himself, he decided to turn on the TV. Of course the first thing to pop up was the news; the story being about the heist.
The screen switched to multiple shots of the bank, around the area, and the charred remains of their squad car. Holy hell, Judy and I are immensely lucky getting out of that car when we did. We'd be nothing but unrecognizable, burnt up carcasses right now if I wasn't bored of just sitting around. He wanted to switch the channel, but was compelled to keep watching and couldn't help to start listening.
"Tragedy has stricken the city of Zootopia today, as a group of mammals have robbed the Bank of Zootopia, as well as the attempted murder of two of Zootopia's finest. At approximately 4:30P.M, an explosion from a police cruiser across the street from the bank caused mass panic. Four animals are reported to be dead from the explosion, and as many as twelve have suffered injuries from the explosion; three of whom are in intensive care. The two officers injured at the scene are speculated to be that of officer Judy Hopps and officer Nick Wilde. The ZPD have refused to release any statement at this time about the events of the bank heist…"
"Sweet cheese and crackers, I'm going to get bombarded with texts and calls from family for the next week." Nick looked away from the news and turned around to see Judy standing a little ways away from the couch with a look of annoyance. She was now dressed in a t-shirt with pajama bottoms, looking a little better then when she left; which honestly isn't saying much. The shower had helped relax her body and the pills were starting to kick in.
"Just means they care for you," Nick told her as she walked around and sat next to him.
"I know, but getting asked 'Are you okay?' 278 times can get a little old," she said, recalling the time after they solved the 'Nighthowler' case when she was hospitalized for her injuries. The News got ahold of that information, and when her family heard about it… let's just say it took a couple of days to reply to everyone.
"Fair point," Nick agreed. As he said that, Judy's phone buzzed signaling a text.
"And it's begun," she sighed, picking up her phone and started casually texting away. Nick looked over at her perplexed. She seemed so calm, while Nick was tightly gripping onto one of the couch pillows for comfort. Judy happened to look up and see him like this, and became concerned with her friend.
"Are you okay?" Judy asked.
Nick slightly shrugged, "Not really," he admitted, surprising Judy. "How can you be so calm after that? We almost died." He emphasized.
Judy pondered about that for a second; yah, she wasn't really feeling that affected by her run in with death. "I knew the risks when I signed up for this," she responded. "Facing death should be expected everyday in our line of work," Judy concluded. Still, it didn't sit well for the fox. "Aren't you supposed to be mister no emotion," she chuckled, but Nick wasn't laughing. On this very rare occasion, he wasn't in the mood for jokes.
"Well I guess I'm just not as comfortable with death as you," he shot at her, probably a little too aggressively. Judy was taken back by his sudden aggression, but when she saw his face soften Judy knew he was just stressed out.
"Sorry," Nick apologized, lowering his head. It's not my life I'm stressed over, he wanted to tell her, but restrained himself from doing so; He didn't want to make things weird. Nick hadn't felt this helpless about his emotions in a long time. Why can't you just tell her?
"Its fine, I think you just need a warm shower and some sleep," Judy suggested. Nick decided to go along with it, and told her that she was probably right.
"As for me, I'm heading off to bed," the bunny yawned, jumping off her couch. Another buzz got her to look back down at her phone and cringe, "After I reply to the rest of these," she grumbled tiredly, walking to her room. "Good night, Nick," she called back to the fox.
"Good night," he responded. When he heard her door shut, he slumped down into the couch looking exhausted, hurt, and defeated. Why are emotions so hard?
Nick decided to take Judy's advice, and walked his way over to the bathroom to take a shower. After he got done with that, he went to the guest bedroom and collapsed onto the bed.
Nick still couldn't get the image of Judy's motionless body on the road out of his head. Things had just gotten a whole lot more complicated in the lupines life, and he was feeling miserable.
"You have to tell her," Nick whispered to himself, falling asleep with that on his mind.
In a rare turn of events, Nick was the first one to wake up in the morning. However, it wasn't warmly welcomed. Through the entirety of the night He couldn't stop having nightmares about Judy dying: weather it was at the bank, somewhere else, or even sometimes by his own paws. Needless to say, it wasn't his greatest night of sleep. He had thought that the night before was bad, but with the lack of sleep and the stiffness of his body he could hardly even move his body. He woke up and could immediately feel the effects from last night. His first thought (after realizing he hadn't actually torn Judy's throat out) was the pain killers in the front room. The fox knew it was going to be difficult journey when be could barley sit up in the bed.
Out of fear and paranoia, Nick couldn't help but first waddle his way over to Judy's room and check in on her, and he was slightly surprised to see her still sleeping. She was usually the one up early. He didn't feel like disturbing her and decided to let her sleep in on their day off.
So when Nick was slowly making his way towards the front room he became confused when he heard the TV on. Did I leave it on last night he wondered to himself. He turned the corner and saw a pair of gray rabbit ears sticking up over the couch. It took a few moments for it to click in his mind that it wasn't Judy sitting down.
Nick was too exhausted to even react. He just stood there not knowing what to do. The 'intruders' ears twitched, hearing Nick walking up behind him.
"That you, Jude?" the rabbit asked, then, an almost exact male lookalike of Judy, peeked up over the couch expecting another rabbit. Instead, he got to see a shirtless fox standing in the middle of the hall. "uh, You're not Judy," he stated shocked.
"Yah, and neither are you. So can I ask what you're doing in her apartment?" Nick inquired of the stranger, with slight hostility.
"I'm Judy's brother," he reveled, "Who are you?" He shot back.
"I'm her partner," Nick replied, more calm now knowing that this was one of Judy's siblings.
"Really? I didn't know Judy swung that way," the buck said in a shocked manner. Nick heard the joking tone in his voice and rolled his eyes.
"No, not like that. I work with her at the ZPD," he corrected. They stared at one another for a second, before the rabbit started laughing. Nick gave him a curious look wondering if this was actually one of Judy's siblings.
"I know, I just wanted to mess with you," he chirped. "Of course I know who you are, Nick. Judy has talked a lot about you."
It's too early in the morning for this, Nick thought to himself. And I still feel like shit. Fortunately for him, he heard paw-steps coming up from behind him meaning he could use Judy to defuse this awkward situation.
"Good Carrots, you're he- whoa, you look like crap," Nick exclaimed, seeing the bunny hunched over. Judy tends to hold herself up straight with confidence, having such a high strung personality. She was like this usually no matter how she felt. But now here she was looking like she would collapse at any moment. A part of Nick was slightly amused, but the other part was worried about the state she was in.
"Thanks for the compliment, slick," she replied in a gravely voice. "Do you have the bottle of painkillers?"
"Damn, Jude, looks like this fox wrecked you last night," the other rabbit laughed out.
Judy's head snapped up and looked over to where she heard the voice ready to give a piece of her mind to the pervert, but upon seeing the male rabbit looking at her from over her couch she became confused. "Hayden?" she questioned. Nick stood shell-shocked and couldn't believe that he heard what he heard from one of Judy's siblings. Sure, it was something he'd say to mess with the prude bunny, but he never expected it to come from one of her siblings.
"The one and only," he declared, gesturing to himself. "Seems someone forgot about their little brother staying at their place," he teased. Judy had to think for a second, and when she remembered what she was supposed to do she face palmed.
"I was supposed to pick you up this morning at the train station," she seethed, feeling bad for not going to get him. "I am so sorry."
"Its all good," he said, jumping down from the couch, and walking over to her. "I heard what happened yesterday, and after awhile of you not showing up I assumed you weren't feeling the best. Luckily, I had your address and just caught a cab here from the train station," he explained to Judy.
"Yah, but how did you get in?" Nick asked, still a little confused by it.
"Oh, I have my ways," he replied ominously, waving his paws around mysteriously, gaining looks from both Nick and Judy. "Also, Jude sent me a spare key ahead of time," he added nonchalantly.
"So now that that's all cleared up," Hayden said as he opened his arms up wide, "I think I need a welcoming hug from my sister." He gave her a cheesy grin, and Judy couldn't help but laugh at her brothers silliness. She slowly hobbled over to him and brought him into a hug.
"Oh, I've missed you, and everyone else back in the burrow," Judy sighed.
"Yah, mom and dad wish you'd visit more," he informed her, "but you know I'm your favorite," Hayden joked.
"Only in your dreams," she laughed out. She drew back from the hug, both of them still holding their smiles. It was a nice reunion for the siblings, a pleasant moment shared by them. The moment was ruined, however, when Judy swung her fist hitting Hayden hard on the arm. "That's for that comment earlier, you pervert," she chastised.
"Ow, it was just a joke," he barked. "Damn, you hit so much harder then you used to," Hayden whined as he rubbed where she hit him.
Nick was still slightly confused by everything; he would have to blame that explosion he was apart of last night for his slowness. He got that Hayden was Judy's brother, but what he didn't know was why he was here. Judy hadn't mentioned anything about this to the fox; not that she really had to.
"So, what are you doing here?" Nick asked.
"I'm going to college here at Zootopia University, and it was cheaper for me to stay with good old Jude," he explain, still rubbing his arm where Judy hit him.
"Yah, Hayden's a bit of a genius," Judy told Nick, proud of her little brother.
"Is he now?" Nick wondered.
Hayden gave a slight shrug, "I mean I'm getting a full-ride scholarship to go here, which doesn't happen often, so I have that going for me."
Nick never would have guessed that the rabbit standing in front of him would be that smart. By the way he looked and acted didn't indicate that he'd be that intelligent. Hayden was slightly taller than Judy, but looked very similar when it came to appearance. He had a slight tone to his body; not looking like the stereotypical nerd. That, and he's already displayed his personality; which was a whole thing on it's own. It takes 'not judging a book by its cover' to a new level. Still, he was actually enjoying the rabbits personality. It matched his quite well.
Hayden and Judy decided to sit down and catch up with each other. They had been pretty close when they were kids, even if they were born a couple years apart. Hayden always saw Judy as an inspiration for how she always strived to achieve her dream even when everyone told her it was impossible; ignoring all the insults and scorning she received. Judy always loved being around him for his sense of humor, and for the fact he always believed she could became a cop; plus having him around to help with homework was always nice.
As the two of them caught up with stuff like family and their personal life's, Nick felt like he should leave. He had some things he needed to clear up and it would be difficult if he stayed here. He gathered up all his things, changed into his street cloths, and got back into the front room. Judy looked over towards the fox and tilted her head.
"You're leaving?" She asked him.
"Yah, I have some things I got to take care of," Nick told her. I wish I could tell you now, unfortunately it's not that easy for me.
"Okay then, be safe and keep out of trouble," Judy said.
"You know me, I'm always getting into trouble," he joked. Judy gave an amused nod, knowing her fox very well. He did tend to get himself into interesting situations, but she knew he could 'fox' his way out of it.
They said goodbye to each other and Nick walked out of the apartment, leaving Hayden and Judy alone. He still looks distressed about something.
Hayden gazed over at his older sister with a mischievous smile, "He seems… nice," the buck chose his words carefully, as to not get hit by her again.
Judy rolled her eyes at the comment, knowing full well what he meant by it. "Yah, not a chance," she scoffed.
"Eh, he's too old for me anyway," Hayden sighed, resting his chin on one of his paws. Judy gave him a disgusted look.
Judy knew that her brother was bi; she's the only one in her family who does. Living with their family in a place like Bunnyburrow brought a lot of traditional thinking. Hayden was too scared to tell anyone for fear of what they might think and or do. The only reason he told Judy was because he trusted her more than anyone else, and yet he was still hesitant to do it. Fortunately for him, Judy didn't freak out over it. She was a little surprised, which was to be expected, but she still loved him.
"Are you seriously crushing on my best friend?"
"And what if I am? Does that make you jealous?" He teased playfully.
"No!" she quickly defended. "Nick and I are just friends."
Hayden didn't looked very convinced, "You could have fooled me," he taunted, gaining a groan from his older sister.
"Why did I ever miss you," she huffed, playfully shoving him. She then slowly got off the couch, still feeling the effects from still being so soar.
"You know you love me."
Judy's heart thumped after he said that, as she remembered back to her and Nicks first day together as official ZPD partners. She could describe it as one of the highlights of her life. That was such a good day she smiled to herself. That was the first of many adventures we've shared over this past year as partners. I wouldn't trade those times spent with him for anything in the world. Nick truly is her best friend, and she wouldn't have it any other way.
"Earth to Jude, you there?" Judy heard, snapping her out of her thoughts. She zoned out mid-step, and was standing still in the middle of the room. "You okay?" Hayden asked, realizing he'd finally gained her attention.
"Yah, I'm fine," she said, continuing towards the kitchen. She was starving and figured Hayden would be hungry as well. It was unfortunate for Nick to leave so early because she was making his favorite: blueberry pancakes; even if it was almost noon.
"Oh yah, I was supposed to tell you to pick up your phone; mom and dad keep trying to call you," Hayden said.
"I know," Judy responded as she was declining a call from them, "I'll talk to them when I don't feel as crappy. I don't want an even bigger headache than I already have."
"Figured."
What the hell's wrong with me. Nick let out a hefty breath as he closed the door to his apartment. It took around an hour for him to get home, and the whole bus ride he took he couldn't take his mind off Judy. The thought of almost losing her plagued his thoughts. If it wasn't obvious already, Nick had strong feelings for his bunny friend, and he honestly wished he didn't; it would make things in his life a lot easier.
He's had these feelings for awhile. The first time he realized he was falling for her had to be when she came back for him under that bridge. They weren't as bad back then, but they've progressively grown stronger and stronger over time; which made them harder to repress.
Nick wished that it was as easy as just going up to her and spilling all his feeling out. He wished he wouldn't have to deal with any of the repercussions that would come if she felt the same way, or if she didn't.
If she does feel the same way, I would no doubt be beyond happy. Having the bunny of my dreams would be an absolute dream come true; nothing would make me happier, but I know there would be consequences. First of all, the precinct has clear, strict rules about partners in romantic relationships. If chief caught wind that we were dating, he'd no doubt separate us and assign us new partners. Then there's the whole social aspect of it. The dirty looks, the cruel mammals, all of that would shower down on us. I know I wouldn't care much about it, that's been my whole life; I worry more for Judy. Not only would mammals that opposed inter relationships constantly pester her, but I know Judy's family is 'traditional'. I don't want to be the reason that tears Judy away from her parents and siblings. He grimaced a little, his migraine starting to return. This was one of the reasons he chose to push these thoughts to the back of his mind; constant stress. He plopped down on his couch and started thinking about the worst part: what if she rejected him.
The fox knows the chances of her not feeling the same way are high; considering where she was raised. He was afraid that he'd ruin their great friendship. We aren't just partners, he repined. We're great friends that do a lot together. I don't want that to end. Then there's the problem with their partnership. If she didn't feel the same they'd still have to work everyday with each other. It would be so awkward all the time, and nothing would ever be the same.
He groaned in frustration as his thoughts continued to clash with each other. He hated feeling this way. Having so much emotional turmoil was foreign for the usually sly, confident fox. But that's just what you do to me, Nick smirked. That's what you've done to me since we first met.
For all the negatives that he could think of, what would always throw them out the window was his urge to be with her. He wanted to have a change in their relationship, and wanted to be with her more than anything. He's dated a lot of mammals in the past; mostly vixens, but he occasionally ventured away from his own species. Yet out of all of them, he'd never felt the same connection as when he was around Judy.
He glanced down at his phone, having the urge to call Judy, to talk with her, to hear her beautiful, smooth voice. He took a sharp breath of air, dialed up her number, and pressed call. It only took a few seconds until Judy answered the phone. Hearing her voice brought a smile to his face.
"Hey Carrots, want to go out to dinner tomorrow?"