AN: Yup, that's right, I'm finally back with an update. I had this mostly written out until stupid writer's block took over, and then on top of that, life got in the way. So I want to thank all of you for your never ending patience and in case you're lost from the last time this was up it's best to reread the last few chapters to refresh your minds.
"Doesn't that thing hurt in your arm?" Gideon pointed to Ben's IV that was stuck in his left arm.
The cheetah was looking like his cheery self again after having some fluid being put into him and said with a smile, "At first when they had put it in but now it feels numb."
Nick and Finnick sat on either side of Ben's hospital bed with the taller fox saying, "You really gave us quite a scare, Benny."
The feline's head shrunk down, "I'm really sorry…"
Finnick motioned, "Hey if anyone should be sorry it should be the coach for pushing you too hard. I hope he gets burned."
Gideon said, "It does seem likely given this happen on his watch."
Ben frowned, "But I don't want anyone to get fired just because I fainted from dehydration."
Nick checked his phone and slightly scowled, "Where could Carrots be? She said she be here."
No sooner had he said that, a large basket of flowers with balloons was being carried by a small bunny came into the room as she called out, "Special delivery!" she was followed by Dawn, Fru, and Giselle who were also carrying flowers but Giselle carried a Gazelle bag as well. They set the flowers on the table as Ben was touched by the gesture.
The girls crowded the cheetah as they expressed their concerns and get-well wishes.
"Aw, thank you girls, but I'll be fine. I need to stay in the hospital overnight."
Giselle got out her bag and took out a pink Gazelle t-shirt, a signed Gazelle mug, and a rolled up poster. "As one of my biggest fans I thought you would want some of my memorabilia to cheer you up."
Ben could hardly contain his excited squeals as he unrolled the poster finding Gazelle's autograph on it with the words: To Benny. A sweet and loveable cheetah who always puts his friends first. Hope you feel better!
He faced the smiling Giselle and repeated his thank you so many times that the group lost count.
As the group minus Ben walked away from the hospital, Gideon told Giselle, "You really made his day, Miss Giselle."
The gazelle shook her head, "It was nothing, I was actually going to give him that stuff on the last day of school as a thank you for dancing with me at the Sadie Hawkins dance."
They kept on walking and talking when they started passing a rundown park as Judy turned her head to it and stopped. Nick stopped himself when he noticed her dazed look, shortly after the others did the same and looked at the park. There was litter all over the ground, the playground equipment was broken, and it was sprayed by graffiti, it was just a big old mess.
"That's disgraceful." commented Fru.
"It certainly is." agreed Gideon.
Giselle said, "A park like this should be more respected."
Dawn tsked, "Some mammals just love to ruin things for others."
Finnick mentioned, "Reminds of an area I grew up by. The kids would endanger themselves by playing around in that kind of junk."
Nick saw the hard look in Judy's eyes and waved his paw in front of her, "Carrots? You okay in there?"
Judy slowly made her way into the park before slowly turning around to face her confused companions. She addressed them, "This park deserves better. It should be a place where anyone can have a good time, of children having safe playground equipment to play on…"
Nick questioned, "Just where are you going with this, Carrots?"
"I'm saying… this is our community service project." she gestured around the park with a smile, "We can make this place brand new again! It'll be like it never got vandalized in the first place! What do you say?" she asked them with hopeful eyes.
They exchanged glances for a brief second before Fru declared, "I'm in!"
Giselle beamed, "It's a bright idea, I'm so in!"
Fin shrugged with an amused expression, "What the heck? The bunny's got it going on."
Dawn smiled widely, "It's perfect!"
Judy looked at her fox, "Nick? What do you say?"
Nick showed no emotion as he slowly walked to her, "What do I say? I say…" he rushed to her and swept her up and kissed her square on the lips! "I say you're the most brilliant, superb, outstanding, terrific, splendid, fantastic…"
Finnick muttered to the others, "Can someone hand me a barf bag?" knowing full well his friend was laying on it so thick it was sickening.
"…marvelous, magnificent, fabulous, you know you can stop me anytime now… excellent, exceptional, I'm running out of words here…"
Judy laughed and said, "Alright, you can stop."
He sighed in relief, and smirked at her, "You're making me work for it, aren't you?"
She smirked back, "Oh, yeah." and kissed his cheek.
Dawn called out, "Come on lovebirds, we have to get back to school now."
They whined playfully, "Awww…" but left the cluttered area to join the group and they went back to school.
When the weekend came, the large group started working on their project including Ben who was much better now but his friends made sure that he didn't over do it and as such they had him raking up old leaves that were on the ground. Nick was starting to see it was a good thing that Bogo and Leo joined in after all since they were great at being the muscles of the group and lifted heavy objects from the dismembered playground equipment.
Fru and Finnick worked on clearing up the litter, being the smallest in the group brought them an advantage as they could pick up even the tiniest speck of trash. Giselle and Dawn were cleaning off the graffiti with buckets of water and sponges. As for Nick and Judy, they were working on fixing the broken benches around the park while wearing safety goggles. It help that Judy was knowledgeable of repairing things on a farm.
The project took a few more weekends to complete before the park started looking gorgeous from all their hard work. Finally the day came when they were done and admired their handy work.
Ben squealed out, "This looks so good!" taking a good look around their surroundings.
The park was now clean, new playground equipment glimmered in the sunlight. Green grass and flowers were in place of where the litter was. There was no sign of graffiti anywhere. Judy and Nick look on proudly of their benches staying in one piece.
Ben motioned, "Ooh! We got to take a selfie to commemorate this special moment!" taking out his smartphone.
The group made random agreements and gathered around so they could squeeze into the picture. It wasn't easy since the smaller mammals were stuck in the middle of the bigger mammals and Nick had the displeasure of being under Bogo's smelly armpit. Luckily it didn't last long as Ben took the selfie and they were free to move again.
When they started back for the academies, Nick held Judy back.
The bunny looked on in concern but Nick made a small smile and gestured to the new swing set. Judy caught on and hightailed over there to sit on a seat. Nick got behind her and started gently pushing her forward.
She challenged, "Oh come on, you can do better than that!"
Nick chuckled and gave a smirk all the while pushing harder.
She questioned while swinging higher, "So do you know if you're in the top ten yet?"
"Not yet. First I have to get an A on my family tree project in History class."
"Well that shouldn't be so hard."
"You would think so, but I have to go into detail about my ancestors and frankly, I don't know that much about my family's history."
"Well then, you should go to your mom's apartment and start searching! When is it due?"
He cringed and uneasily said, "In three days…"
Judy screeched to a halt on the swing and faced her boyfriend with fret, "Sweet cheese and crackers! Why didn't you say so sooner!" she grabbed onto his uniform sleeve and started dragging him away while saying, "We are going to work our butts all night until you get that grade!"
"Um, Carrots, are you sure you aren't overacting a bit?"
She glared back at him, "Do you want to be in the top ten or not?"
"Of course I do, but-"
"No buts! We are going to spend every living breathing moment into this project and you will get an amazing grade!" she eyed him, "Got it?"
Nick gulped, "Got it, sweetie…"
Judy kept dragging him away.