Nick had never been one to cry often, but that didn't mean he didn't cry at all. He cried when those Junior Ranger Scouts muzzled him once during his childhood, he cried when his father died, and he cried when Judy nearly had her throat ripped out by that silver fox almost a year ago, but now... he didn't cry at all.

Now, Nick blankly stared up at the ceiling of the ambulance as the vehicle quickly sped to the Zootopia Hospital. He was strapped to a gurney with tubes and wires going here and there. A mask was strapped to his face in order to help him breathe. In any other situation, he would have been highly anxious due to the feeling of being muzzled the mask was giving him, but right now, he wasn't even focused on how much of his blood was soaking into the bandages the antelope paramedics were constantly changing.

No, Nick was focused on Judy. Nick was focused on his girlfriend… his pregnant girlfriend… his pregnant girlfriend who was currently in a second ambulance on her way to the same place as him. A million questions flooded his mind as he stared at the white metal ceiling above his head. Did he get to her in time? How hurt was she? Was the baby okay? Were the babies okay? Her scream still echoed in his ears...

"Stop being ridiculous, nothing is going to happen."

"You don't know that. It's too dangerous for you."

"Why, because I'm pregnant?"

"Yes! Please, just go back to the car with me. Please, just know when to quit, Judy."

"Fine… Give me your phone and I'll call the Chief to let him know what we saw."

Then she was gone, dashing into the building without him. He heard her scream. He ran after her and –

Judy had been lying on the floor, a shallow, but large set of gashes in her left side. Above her, towered two massive polar bears, both snickering. In that moment, Nick realized that the entire thing had been a set up; the polar bears had known the police were tailing them, and they had waited patiently for a naive bunny to come bounding in, quickly followed by her improvising fox partner.

"Judy!" Nick had screamed before darting to her.

She had been holding a paw to her side to stop the little, but steady flow of blood from her wound. As soon as he reached her, Nick had placed a paw over hers, gently applying more pressure. Looking up to survey the room, Nick realized with horror that there were two more polar bears leaning against the wall just behind the first pair. It was then that another horrific thought dawned on him: they had never stood a chance, not against these four massive bears, but then again, that was probably the whole point...

Looking around once more, Nick noted that the room was dark, only lit by a few dim lights and the bright moon that was peeking through the windows, and that there were several boxes stacked around large tables and shiny cars. The building was a typical make-shift base of operations. One of the polar bears (the one that had been closest to Judy when Nick had first arrived) stepped forward, resulting in a low growl escaping from Nick's throat. Now in a protective stance around Judy, Nick glared up at the massive bear.

"Get back," he hissed.

The bear laughed a hearty chuckle that shook his shoulders. All of the bears were in sleek navy suits, giving them a very serious persona, and once the bear stopped laughing, he carefully smoothed his suit with a gigantic paw. That paw, Nick noted, contained claws that were stained by blood... Judy's blood.

"You made a stupid decision coming here, little fox," the bear spoke confidently. "We're about to show you exactly what happens when you mess with us."

In the minutes that followed, Nick was beaten down to nothing more than colors of black, blue, and purple, but he stood his ground, ensuring that Judy was not touched. However, his vision was beat from him after a certain period of time, and whether or not Judy was further injured, he was unsure. Other details were also fuzzy, such as how long the two had been in the building and who called for help. Did Judy call for help? If she did, did that mean she wasn't hurt too badly? These questions also haunted Nick as he continued to stare upward. Although Nick had wavered in and out of consciousness after too many hits, he remembered seeing Judy lying on the hard floor next to him in the building, seeing the paramedics arrive, seeing the Chief and hearing that everything was going to be okay from the massive cape buffalo, and seeing Judy being loaded into an ambulance, but none of these things made him feel better.

"We didn't even have our tranquilizers," Nick thought. "We didn't stand a chance and I just let her go into that building. This is all my fault. Oh, God, please let Judy be okay. Please, let her be okay. This is all my fault."

That last sentence played over and over in Nick's head on the way to the hospital until those five words were burned into his brain. Those five words eventually made Nick cry, even though Nick had never been one to cry often.

Once at the hospital, Nick was immediately taken through several different procedures and tests to determine exactly how much damage the polar bears had done. He never saw Judy, even though the first words out of his mouth were always along the lines of "have you seen my girlfriend? Is she okay? She's a little grey bunny. Please, she's two months pregnant," whenever he saw a nurse or a doctor. Eventually he was sedated for medicinal purposes.

Judy went through the same process Nick went through when she arrived at the hospital just a few moments after his arrival. Her injuries were lesser in extent, tallying up to four severe gashes (one of which went as deep as to expose a small portion of an unharmed rib), severe bruising, a broken humerus, and a broken clavicle, all on her left side. The rest of her body escaped primarily unharmed, with only a few scrapes and bruises here and there. Nick's injuries, on the other hand, tallied up to a ruptured spleen, three shattered ribs, a snapped leg, a total of five different sets of four severe gashes (almost all tearing into the lover levels of his muscles), and severe bruising all over his body. Judy remained awake for the entirety of the night's events, witnessing Nick's brush with death, the arrival of help, the trip to the hospital, and the treatment of her wounds. It didn't take long for Judy to be bandaged up, have her bones reset and cast, and to give her statement to the Chief about what happened, all while asking about Nick, only to receive awkward silence in reply.

By the time Judy had been comfortably placed in a hospital room for two, Nick had been taken to surgery to deal with his ruptured spleen and a few other complications with his internal organs that had arisen since his hospital arrival. In the room, Judy was informed of Nick's condition, which quickly broke her down in tears. On top of his sustained injuries, Nick had begun bleeding internally, which surgeons were attempting to counter at that very moment. The doctor, a stoutly little female badger, attempted to calm Judy by also letting her know that her babies were perfectly fine and that from what the ultrasound had revealed, her and Nick were expecting four little babies.

"Four babies?" Judy had asked, incredulous.

"Yes, ma'am. Congratulations!"

"Ha, oh, Nick is going to love this," Judy had chuckled at the thought of Nick's reaction-to-come.

She remembered what he had said when she informed him about the possibility of having more than one baby.

"Stop saying that, you're freaking me out."

"That's my job."

"Well, then, mission accomplished."

The news did cheer Judy up slightly, but this joy quickly vanished when she was left alone in the room with an empty bed that Nick would later fill. Nick's surgery lasted almost three hours, resulting in Judy calling her parents and informing them of the incident.

"Yes, I'm okay, but could you two come down here?... Thank you... I love you too, see you soon... Bye."

Sighing heavily, Judy leaned back on the two large fluffy pillows that occupied her stiff hospital bed. Careful to not move her left side too much, Judy placed a paw on her abdomen.

"Hi, babies," she whispered. "It's mommy. Daddy isn't here right now, but he'll be here very, very soon, okay?"

Judy felt tears sting her eyes at the thought of Nick.

"I can't wait for you to meet him," she whispered as the tears spilled over and streamed down her cheeks.

Her head filled with thoughts of Nick:

"…Officer...?"

"Hopps! Mr…?"

"Wilde, Nick Wilde."

…

"I think I – no, I know I–I love you. I love you, Nick."

…

"I love you, too, Darling."

...

"Yes."

"'Yes' what?"

"Yes, I'll be your girlfriend, Nicholas IDon'tCareWhatYourMiddleNameIs Wilde."

…

"Thank you"

"What for, Carrots? The kiss?"

"For letting me know when to quit."

…

"Then again, I'm already yours for life, right?"

…

"You muzzle me, but you know, in a good way. I love the way you muzzle me."

…

"Ha, I–I think the best–the best part is that–that we totally had sex!"

...

"Nick, I'm pregnant."

"Wow."

…

"Please, just know when to quit, Judy."

But she didn't know when to quit, and that's what had landed them there in the first place.

"This is all my fault," Judy sobbed as she covered her face with her hands. "This is all my fault. This is all my fault. This is all my fault."

Outside, late night was turning into early morning, but it was nearly impossible to tell with the drizzle of rain that tainted the sky in a perfect grey. Outside, the world bustled as animals awoke to go to jobs or care for families, while a little bunny sat crying in a hospital bed, waiting for her fox to safety get out of surgery, which was taking place just upstairs.

"This is all my fault."