Just one more chapter after this one :'(

Thank you so much for all of your support, it means the world to me :3

Five days had passed since the Bunnyburrow attack, and Judy found herself back in Zootopia.

She had woken up two days after that fateful night, yet wasn't released for another day after that. She had awoken surrounded by her family, who cued out of the door to see her; a range of all sizes and ages. Her parents never left her bedside through the visits, and on her other side lingered a silent officer, a wolf who kept his head down and his business to himself. It was then that Judy realised she wasn't an officer, but a victim, and nothing made her blood boil quite as much as that thought alone.

Yet, as she reached the cycle of her visitors, who even included Gideon Grey, a certain mammal never showed up. She knew that something was wrong, because Nick would never abandon her in her hospital bed without a reason behind it. She waited patiently on the last day for him to show up, the many rabbits surrounding her becoming a blur attached with mumbled voices, but her heart continually sank when he failed to show up.

But it didn't take her long to figure out what had happened, for Tala never stopped glaring at their father, who looked so painfully guilty it was almost pitiful. He had done something whilst she slept, wounded and alone, because he would have thought it was the right thing to do.

So, on the last evening of her stay in the hospital, she finally spoke up when the entirety of her family wondered off home. She'd asked him without missing a beat where Nick was, what had he done, and the look on his face spoke enough words.

"Why?" she'd murmured, her voice still cracked. "Why did you do that?"

"I… I didn't want him to upset you any further." He'd looked down at his feet as if he knew how silly he actually sounded.

"Upset me? He saved my life, dad, how could you send him away?"

"You were attacked by his own species, I just thought that…"

"Yet you'll let Gideon visit, a fox who attacked me as a kid? Yet you won't let my partner, an officer, come and see me?"

"I let him see you." He'd protested. "You were sleeping. But you were so fragile, in and out of shock all night; how could I let him hang around and see you like that?" He had sighed heavily, already sensing himself losing a battle he never had a chance at winning. "I just wanted what was best for you."

"Then I'm going back if that's true."

"To Zootopia? No, I won't allow it! You're not ready-"

"You've been saying I'm not ready for anything my entire life, dad. For once in your life, just believe in me. I have to go home."

The arguing continued relentlessly into the next day, when she was taken home on a limping leg, a sprained wrist and coated in more than enough bandages and plasters. She refused to show it, but it hurt so much, even then. It felt as if she could feel every individual bone in her body, unstable and bruised in the aftermath of each blow she had suffered that night. It was so hard not to shake with the pain and tiredness, and keeping the wincing at bay was nothing short of a challenge. It even hurt to have her ears up, so she kept them down and pressed against her heavily bruised back.

Tala had helped her pack, because she wanted her to go home as much as Judy herself did. It surprised her, really. Tala had always looked up to Judy, so sending her away seemed like the last thing she wanted to do. It unnerved Judy, in truth. Something had happened to Tala to pull her in a direction she wasn't born to follow. She wasn't frightened or constantly on edge, but bold and stubborn, just like Judy was. But Judy never asked, because something told her she would find out another way as to what happened that night.

In the doorway of Judy's old bedroom, which was far away from the destruction of the front door, which was already undergoing repairs, her assigned officer knocked tentatively on the door.

"Miss Hopps?" he said, waiting for both rabbits to look up from their work of clothes and suitcases. "May I ask what are you doing?"

"I'm going home." She replied sternly, shakily rising to her feet. The officer didn't argue, but instead looked somewhat proud, perhaps even relieved.

"I'll get the car ready, ma'am."

She smiled gratefully, and looked down at Tala, who was also smiling. "I'm going home." She murmured again, more to herself this time.

"Tell Nick I said hi." Tala replied, startling Judy, just again she chose not to ask. There was only one mammal she wanted to hear from, to explain to her exactly what happened once she blacked out, and he was prowling somewhere in the streets of Zootopia, the city where she belonged.

Judy Hopps was returning home as a wounded, exhausted rabbit, yet she was going home with a strength like no animal ever known.

When she arrived at her apartment, two cases on either side of her, her heart felt like it was in her mouth. Police tape blocked the doorway, and the door itself was swinging gently on its hinges, the lock broken. Inside, her window was still open, a soft, cold breeze whistling inside and teasing small, white feathers on the ground. The room looked even bleaker than she remembered, but that wasn't without some added elements.

Her floor was coated with claw marks, and her pillow was so shredded it was beyond repair. Her duvet was flung across the room, and the bed was not perfectly aligned with the wall, the dust on the floor indicating as such. She slowly edged her way inside and pulled down the tape delicately, suddenly frightened, and tried to make sense of what had happened here. It certainly wasn't like this when she'd rushed home, which now felt like a century ago.

She grimaced when she dragged her belongings through the door, her body not allowing it. She gave them a few futile attempts before she flopped to the floor in defeat, rubbing her back and biting back the tears that burned her eyes and throat. Yet it felt good to sit, her muscles no longer straining, and she let the gentle breeze tease her face in a soothing manner, trying to ignore the devastation around her.

Facing the window, she outstretched her slightly mangled leg that was wrapped furiously in bandages, and she wondered what damage had actually been caused. She'd never been bitten before, and it was certainly a memory she was going to forget any time soon. The pain had been so real, teeth crushing bone, and for a moment she thought that maybe that cliff had actually saved her from far more damage.

She teased the bandage, testing her limit, when something glinted from the corner of her eye. Confused, she rolled onto her side and peeked beneath the bed, and something sparkled ever so faintly in the shadows yet she couldn't quite make out what it was.

She reached for it painfully, stretching her body because she tried not to move from her position on the floor, and managed to grab it. She wished she hadn't. In her paws, the straps mangled and the metal heavily scratched, was a muzzle. It was a muzzle that Nick had described from her childhood, heavy and brutal, and suddenly she felt sick to her stomach. She rose to her feet without thinking, limply keeping hold of it, and put together what must have happened.

Nick had come looking for her, but got cornered. He was muzzled, and then he panicked, hence the destruction of her room. That was why he never replied to her radio calls, because he couldn't. Instead he had been living out a nightmare he had thought was buried deep and forgotten.

"Carrots."

His voice was so real yet so gruff, like it pained him to speak. She turned slowly, still holding the monstrosity in her paws, and was met with Nick leaning against her doorframe, his head pressed against the wood and his eyes eyeing the object she held. He was wearing a button down shirt, a light blue one, but the top two buttons were undone, briefly revealing bandages beneath. And he looked so tired, the most tired she had ever seen him, but he was there and he was real.

She looked between him and the muzzle. She didn't utter a word, too angry to do so, and turned back to the window. With all of her power, she threw the muzzle straight through the window, so harshly she lost her footing and winced with the effort. She was closing and locking the window before it had even hit the ground, panting with anger, before she faced her partner once more.

His ears were up, his eyes surprised, and he was pushing himself off the frame. They stared at one another for another few seconds, drinking in one another, the past five days of separation dawning on them in that one moment. But Judy couldn't think straight. She couldn't think about how she felt, because her feet were already telling her.

Nick caught her effortlessly as she leapt at him, grunting ever so slightly with the contact. Her arms wrapped tightly around his neck, as if she was never going to let go, and she buried her face in his fuzzy throat. His arms were wrapped firmly around her, and he took a few steps inside her apartment before they began to fall, his back sliding down the wall as he hugged her to him as closely as possible. He nuzzled her, his snout hidden beneath her drooped ears, and Judy had never felt so warm. She just held onto him, crying silently into his neck, and he shared her silence. There was nothing to be said, not yet. They were back together, stronger than ever, as if they had never been apart.

Finally she was home.

"What happened, then? After I passed out?" Judy asked some time later, the pair sat comfortably in the window sill of her apartment, watching the sun go down and admiring the explosion of red, orange and blue in the sky. They sat opposite one another, facing each other, contently. Nick was pulling at the threads of his bandages protruding from beneath his shirt, and Judy was resting her wounded leg on his lap whilst the other was bent at the knee, her chin resting upon it as she gazed at the fox.

He shrugged in his familiar lazy manner, tying a tiny knot in the thread. "What's to tell? We're here, aren't we?"

"My curiosity betrays me, Wilde."

He chuckled, briefly meeting her eyes. "True. Let's see… I believe that Ffion tried to coax me into joining her and her "crew", run away into the sunset if you will, and I said no, obviously, and I guess we heard the ZPD approaching… to put it lightly, she started running for you like she wanted a really big hug and I intervened by means necessary."

"Hardy ha ha," Judy said sarcastically, lightly kicking him with her good leg. "In other words, she was going to kill me."

He didn't answer but looked at her grimly, like the thought of it physically pained him.

She sighed, rubbing her eyes with her good palm, keeping her sprained wrist tucked safely into her stomach. "Thank you, Nick. Thank you so much."

"I hardly went out and bought milk for you, Carrots; a thank you won't be necessary." This time he was the one to nudge her. "I should be the one thanking you."

"How so?"

He looked at her, his eyes full of depth and sincerity, and in the failing light the green in his orbs seemed to glow. "For believing in me when you had every right not to."

It took her a moment to respond, for his earnestness took her aback. It was rare to see him like this. He preferred to stay true to his sarcastic self, maybe less so than when they first met, but he always teased relentlessly. To see him like this, his eyes so sad and his smile absent, it was almost heart breaking. Yet in spite of everything they had been through, she had always known deep down that he would always be there for her. She never once thought that Nick had abandoned her, not for a second. His fierce love for others was not to be taken for granted, and she knew that more than anyone else in this world. He'd been beaten down and shunned in the light that was Zootopia, which had made him cynical, yet his bond with Judy was like no other. If she could get him to smile with warmth again after years of scheming and hustling and hiding behind an act, then he would never leave her side.

At last she smiled at him. "You really are a dumb fox." She giggled when he blinked with surprise. "Nick, I never doubted you. Out there, running through the tunnels with a jaguar on my tail, I never thought that you were going to leave me behind. I knew you'd find me. You said it yourself; you've got my back if I have yours."

"I know." He smiled back. "Also, thank you for not going bunny panicky on me back there; that would have really knocked my ego boost right down."

"You don't scare me." She assured him.

"Excellent."

"Though everything before that did," she mused. "When Ffion was around before all of… you know, that."

Nick nodded, understanding. "Instinct's a weird thing, carrots. When she was around, it was like we were both outside and everything else was in a glass box. I could see and hear everything, but I wasn't really there. There was a pull I can't even understand myself, and it was infuriating I promise you. It was like nothing else mattered when Ffion was there, even though deep down I knew she was the problem. Everything else could wait, and Ffion was all that mattered, and that I needed to give her my full attention." He sighed heavily, gazing off outside of the window. "All common sense ran away and natural urges took over."

"Do you still feel like that now?"

"The minute I got into that clearing and saw her stalking towards you, you on the ground, everything went from one extreme to the other. I had never felt so angry. All I wanted to do what get between the two of you, and I was already over you because I could think about what to do. That wasn't me out there, yet it was at the same time. All I knew was that I needed to protect you, and that I'd do anything to do it."

A long time passed before either of them spoke again, but it was a comfortable silence. They watched the sun fall behind the clouds completely, the street likes flickering on down below and beyond, and slowly Judy's eyes began to adjust to the darkness of her room.

Eventually, Judy hopped down from the windowsill and sighed at her surroundings.

"I'm sorry about what I did," Nick said guiltily. "I'll get Finnick to help me get it back in shape; he owes me more than a rescue mission, anyway."

She smiled back at him. "It's alright. I should thank him, too." Then she frowned, remembering something. "What else happened that night? My sister was acting really weird, and she said your name."

He frowned, and then nodded. "Yeah, Tala, right? Looks like a smaller version of you?"

"That's the one."

"Yeah, she saw everything. I've got to hand it to her, she was no more afraid than you; you bunnies are tough cookies."

She rubbed her eyes, stressed, having should have known that she had seen more than need be. She felt awful, for no one her age should have seen an act like that. "No, no, no…"

"Hey, don't worry, Finnick was with her the entire time. She was safe."

"Finnick?"

"He's a little softy deep down."

Judy sighed heavily. "There's going to be a press conference soon. We have to get our story straight; rumours will have already spread by now."

"We tell the truth. That's all we can do." He looked sincere when he said it, and he was right. They couldn't do anything else but tell the truth, start to finish, and what the force's next move was. She made a mental list of jobs, the conference at the top. Yet she had some mammals to visit, too. She needed to set right the lives that had been wrecked, and even though they weren't out of the water yet, they were drifting ever closer to shore. The world was not going to turn into further division; they'd had enough of that already.

The predator rebels needed to be stopped, and soon.

"What're you thinking, carrots?"

"We need to make things right. Together this time." She looked up at him as he was shuffling away from the sill, holding his middle sorely as he did. "Starting with the victims after the conference, whenever that is."

"Monday." He said. "Bogo text me this morning. We have two days to prepare."

"Then we get our story straight, because they're going to be ruthless this time around." She replied.

"Why?"

"What's worse than a serum that makes predators go savage?" she asked him, and he replied almost instantly, if not solemnly.

"Predators who go savage on their own accord."

"Right," she said, gathering some feathers in her paws. "And you'll be their first victim."

Thank you for reading!