Zootopia - Loves Blind

by OneWolfe

Office Judy Hopps finally has the life she always wanted as a police officer with the perfect partner. However her growing personal relationship with Nick is putting a strain on her job that everyone else can see except them. Love can be so very blind at times. (Drama)

47. Loves Bond 23 - Family Unplanned

Loves Bond

Chapter 23 - Family Unplanned

Creepy, cut out decorations hung from every streetlight and store window across the entire city. There were stylised ghost mammals and skeletons alongside black felines riding brooms while wearing pointy hats. Some windows even had artificial cobwebs where cardboard spiders nested while their beady, red eyes glared at mammals passing by.

The strong smell of wood smoke filled the air to the point that even a small rabbit nose could not have missed it. A chill had finally come to Zootopia and many mammals dusted out their hearths to heat their homes and businesses. All across the city, mammals snuggled together in front of open fires while telling scary stories or watching fear inducing movies with creepy or corny names.

A few kits and cubs could be seen running across the park as they tried on their cutely ghoulish costumes early, for that one day of the year when the entire city held a collective costume party. One bear cub was dressed up like a bloodthirsty half bat, complete with black cape and long, white fangs. Another tiger cub chased the first cub while she flounced and giggled around as a giant, orange pumpkin with a dark green and curly hat on her head. Wearing tight fitting black clothes with bones painted on the cloth in a fluorescent dye, a young gazelle skeleton skipped through the grass while holding both of his parent's hooves.

Spirit's Eve was two weeks away, and the entire city seemed to hold its breath in anticipation for the day when the realm of the dead came the closest to the land of the living. For the kits, it was an exciting day when they could dress up as anything they wished and ran from door to door collecting candy and other treats. Parents could also dress up and share in the excitement or spend the evening visiting friends.

Today was not anything special, but a few kits could not wait to test out their costumes in the park. While the vampire bear and the pumpkin tiger ran around the legs of larger mammals, a young giraffe dressed as a straw stuffed scarecrow yelled at the pair to slow down so he could join them.

All over the central park, decorations were being set up for the big day. Bales of straw were set out to section off one corner of the park, while white sheets were hung from the big oak tree. Under the tree, a dark brown bear strummed a guitar while singing a sad song. A giant pumpkin shaped balloon was also being filled with hot air as it slowly started to take shape in the dew soaked grass.

One expecting parent could not enjoy the early holiday preparations that were going on around the park. Her mission, to find an incorrigible fox, would not allow her to be distracted by the black and orange decorations. She had a very specific mammal to find and all of the holiday colors only made it that much harder to spot his specific fur patterns in the crowd.

Since returning on the express train from Bunny Burrow two days ago, she had spent all of her free time looking for the fox. There was no answer at his apartment door when she had first arrived. She had also asked around the precinct if anyone had seen the uniformed fox, but the only answers were the shaking of heads and frowning of muzzles, even Bogo had refused to put out an APB for the absent fox.

Judy had pounded on his door last night and again this morning, but Nick was nowhere to be found. When her neighbors had retrieved the last of her things from his apartment all those weeks ago, they had also returned her set of keys so now the pregnant rabbit could not open the door to wait on his couch for him to return.

Wolfard had told her that he had seen Nick a few days ago and had given him a ride after a training exercise, but had not seen or heard from the red tod since. Oddly the wolf cautioned her that the fox would probably not be happy to see her at the moment, but he would not elaborate why, so she was left to rely on other resources to find him.

When she finally tracked down the dull orange van that was owned by a grumpy fennec fox, he informed her that Nick was working on some big case. The tiny fox also refused to elaborate when she pressed him for more information.

Wondering what the fennec meant, Judy left him and his van alone for the rest of the day. What big case could the rookie fox have been working on? He had only been in the T.U.S.K. department for a couple of weeks and should have still been in training. Maybe Nick had told his ex-partner he was working a case instead of a training exercise.

It had been two days since she jumped off the train like a streak of tigers was on her tail. The second day had been filled with tracking down more obscure contacts like Weaselton and Fru Fru to no avail. She had even considered calling on his mother, but she was not ready to tell the older vixen what had happened.

Judy had only met Vivian once and was not sure how she would handle the news. Yes, the vixen had helped the mixed couple with their relationship, but the young rabbit didn't know her well enough to ask for further help tracking down her wayward son.

While she was trudging down the stairs after giving up on pounding at the tod's door this morning, a very cryptic message arrived from Finnick. It simply read, "Giant pumpkin, central park, 8:30 am." With no idea what the text actually meant, she raced down the last flight of stairs and took the first bus downtown.

Arriving at the park more than thirty minutes early, the rabbit decided to stroll past the large tree whose long branches still clung to several clumps of brown leaves. The guitar strumming brown bear that sat on a stack of hay bales, was singing a silly song about an octopus while a crowd of college mammals huddled together in the brisk air.

She circled the large park twice while keeping her eyes and ears tuned for any sign of either fox. The cryptic message was certainly something that Nick would have sent, but Finnick might also have wanted to meet her in person. Hoping that it was the former, she headed towards the hot air balloon that was now smiling like a jack-o-lantern over an increasingly large crowd.

Nearing the large basket under the hot air balloon, she heard a snarky voice call her name, "Hey, Fluff." It was a name that she had not heard in several weeks and that voice did not have any of the warmth that it usually carried, yet she smiled at the distant greeting.

Turning around in the crowd, she could not spot the owner of the voice through the forest of tall legs and long dresses. A group of large children had rushed forward to see the amazing flying thing that filled the air above them. The small herd of young elephants and rhinos blocked her sight to where the voice had been moments before.

"Over here, Carrots," the voice called again.

When Judy turned to her right, she saw a red tod in a loud green shirt and a garishly blue tie step around a black wooled ram. He was wearing nearly the exact same outfit that he always wore in the days before they had met, except for the dark glasses that covered his green eyes. She also noticed that while his shirt and tie were clean, yet wrinkly, the fur on his hind paws was matted with bits of mud and grass stuck here and there.

"Nick!" she cried as she rushed to give him a hug, but he smoothly stepped aside and dodged the incoming affectionate rabbit.

"Nick?" Her smile vanished as she looked up at the fox for the first time in many weeks.

To any outside observer, the fox appeared calm, with a pleasant smile across his muzzle, but to his ex-girlfriend and partner there was something wrong. His faux smile could not hide the hint of pain from her and she clearly saw that something seethed behind his mask. When he pulled off his dark glasses to look at her, she could see how red his eyes were, and it was obvious that he had not slept in days.

"What's a nice bunny like you doing in a place like this?" Nick asked with a slightly curious tone. He raised his head and looked around as if expecting someone else to arrive at any second. "Shouldn't you be defending the streets from ruthless parking violators or something?"

"Har har," the rabbit scoffed warmly as she reached up to swing a fisted paw in his direction, but he easily shrugged out of the way.

The fox took another step away from the rabbit and spoke to no one in particular, "Finnick asked me to meet him here. He said that he had something important he wanted to discuss." Turning his back, Nick continued his search for the smaller fox. "What is the ZPD's finest doing here this morning, and out of uniform I might add?"

Ears rising towards the sky, Judy suddenly understood what had happened, and she was grateful to the little fox for setting up the impromptu appointment. Smiling, she looked at the red tod to explain, "I asked Finnick to arrange this meeting. You haven't returned any of my calls or messages."

Nick started to walk away as he tried to hide the lump in his throat, "I am sorry, Carrots, but I really don't have anything to say right now." He tried to slip back into the crowd, but something strong wrapped around his tail and pulled him back.

"Wait, Nick," Judy cried while pulling as hard as she could at the base of the fox's long tail. "Don't run away from me again, Nick."

With a soft bark, he turned around and glared down at the rabbit, "Tell me again who did the running away, Sweetheart?" He pointed a sharp claw at her nose, but she continued to firmly cling to his fluffy tail. "You marched straight out of my life, like the last year we spent together meant nothing at all."

Pulling on his tail again, she looked into his red, sleepless, eyes. "I was hurt, and-and angry, and scared." Tears began to flow freely from her eyes as she continued, "And I let my emotions get the better of me instead of talking to you about them."

His brief flare of anger quickly subsided with a slow sigh as he listened to the rabbit speak. She had an entrancing voice and that unique color in her eyes could hold his attention for hours, so he let her continue without interruption.

"I felt like my whole world was crashing down around my ears. Everything I had worked so hard for, my career with the ZPD, my family, even my boyfriend felt like they had turned on me." She rubbed her muzzle into his tail and tried to wipe the tears that were flooding under her eyes. Sniffling, she continued, "I was so angry that I didn't listen to how you felt. I have been such a dumb bunny."

"I am sorry too, Fluffy," the fox replied with a sigh. "I should have been more considerate of your feelings." The rabbit did not respond to his words as she continued to bury her muzzle into the thickest parts of his tail.

He stood still for several seconds staring down at the rabbit as he watched the tears roll across her heavily matted cheeks. The deep green eyes barely moved as she sniffled and wiped her nose with the back of her paw. Filled with sadness, her own purple eyes stared back at the fox pleadingly. Half a minute passed before her tender cuteness won out and he spread his arms, inviting her into a warm hug.

"There, there," the fox said as he wrapped his own arms around the sobbing grey ball of fluff. He gently patted the top of her head while she cried into his chest.

When the tearstorm finally subsided and she stepped back sniffling and rubbing her wet nose, he looked her over and commented, "Have you gained weight?"

"Yes," she nodded emphatically.

Tilting his head to the side, he asked quizzically, "Did you miss me so much that you quit your exercises regiment? Or have you been spending all your free time with Clawhauser's donut stash?"

"No, silly," she giggled warmly with only a faint touch of the previous sorrow remaining under her still moist eyes. Clasping his paw in both of hers, she looked into his dark green pools. "This is what I came here to talk to you about." She was also bouncing happily in the wet grass.

A hint of fear lit the back of the fox's eyes as he remember Wolfard's warning. Why would an athletic rabbit such as Judy, suddenly be gaining weight? Her figure had also filled out quite nicely and she had a curious glow to her nose and ears, but Nick did not want to know the answer. A dark dread washed over him as he watched the pretty, smiling bunny try to explain.

When the words finally escaped her muzzle, the fox felt like he had been hit by a falling anvil from one of those silly cartoons. Staring blankly at the rabbit, he refused to hear the words that flew swiftly from her small mouth. With his ears laying flat against the side of his head, he had to ask her to repeat what she had said.

"I said that I am pregnant, Nick," she explained again with a bright and cheery smile as she rubbed her growing belly.

After the initial shock had subsided, the fox's reaction was anything but pleasant. His muzzle turned as cold as a blizzard in Tundratown and he dropped her paws with enough force to cause them to slap against her jeans.

Once again, the fox turned away from the rabbit and marched back towards the crowd. With a voice like a frozen pawpsicle, he replied, "So you only came here to shatter my already broken heart into a million pieces." Muzzle pointed at the ground, he dragged his tail limply across the dew soaked grass as he continued to speak in a flat, emotionless voice, "I think we shouldn't see each other anymore. It will be better for both of us this way."

In the fox's mind he was cursing himself for not listening to Wolfard when he had warned that the rabbit had someone else in her life. He should have stayed away and not fallen for her sweet, seductive charms once again. She had nearly caught him in those dangerous emotions like love, before ripping out his heart again. This was the last time he would be fooled into letting her in and he almost regretted the pain that followed.

"Oh, Nick. Wait!"

He never saw the rabbit step forward and clench her tiny paws into balls of grey steel. With his gaze focused on the ground before him, he did not see her eyes burning with a fierce determination and her nose thrust into the air like a raging bull. He never saw the two long ears sweep forward like two black and grey spears while her hind paws stomped across the wet grass. The tod failed to take note of the rabbit jumping ahead of him, to forcefully block his way, until she spoke again.

"It's yours," the rabbit's words flew through the air to pierce the fox's heart causing him to freeze mid step. One hind paw raised in the air while his arms ceased their forceful swing. The tail dragging along the ground was the only thing that kept the immobile fox from falling over.

"You are the father, you Dumb Fox," Judy once again declared firmly. She held her paws up like she was holding a precious gift out for him to take.

"I'm the father," the paralyzed fox uttered softly. "I am a father!" He cried before the shock overwhelmed his senses and his eyes rolled back into his head, but not before his tail lifted happily in the air.

With the support of his tail gone and the rest of his body going limp, the fox toppled forward to plant his long snout deep into the dew soaked ground. His muzzle made a soft, squishing sound as it quickly sank into the fresh soil.

"Nick," Judy cried as she rushed over to the fallen fox.

The rabbit pulled the fox's long muzzle out of the wet grass and soil with a soft slurping sound. His eyelids were wide open, but she could not see any of the emerald green that used to be there. With his long muzzle resting in her lap, she patted his cheek tenderly and called his name.

"What is going on down there?" A hippo standing next to them asked gruffly. She was wearing a long, flowery dress that barely covered her broad ankles. The large mammal had come to the park with her son and had not noticed either of the small mammals until she heard the yelling near her hooves.

Without looking to see who had spoken, Judy continued to shake the fox urgently. "Come on, Nick. This isn't funny anymore. Please wake up." She could feel his breath on her fur and saw his chest rise and fall, so she knew that he was still alive.

"Do you need any help?" the hippo asked again as a small crowd of larger mammals began to gather around the fallen fox and the concerned bunny.

"No," Judy shook her head. "He should be fine in a few moments. Just give him some space and some fresh air."

The thought of giving the fox some fresh air made the rabbit's nose twitch curiously. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly before closing his wide open jaws. Leaning towards his muzzle, she wondered why she was suddenly so nervous. She had kissed him thousands of times before, both in private and in public, but why did this feel so different?

As her soft pink lips neared the end of his snout she realized that she was scared of how he would feel when she suddenly kissed him after having been apart for so long. Her nose began to race anxiously and her paws shook as she puckered her lips and gently pressed them against the fox's mouth.

Pulling away again, she softly breathed out the words, "Please wake up. I can't do this alone."

A dark red paw raised up from the wet grass to press against the base of her ears. The rabbit suddenly felt herself pulled back towards the fox. At first, she struggled to escape the unfamiliar grip on her head, but when their lips met again, the memory of the loving fox she had missed so much came rushing back and she leaned into his kiss with a warm, pleasant hum.

"Eww," the hippo female cried as she turned away from the affectionate couple sprawled in the grass. Other cries of disgust followed from the crowd before they turned and stepped away from the snogging fox and rabbit.

A large column of flame billowed up into the giant pumpkin balloon with a loud roar that matched the growing heat inside the rabbit's chest as she repeatedly kissed the fox laying across her lap.

"I'm going to be a father?" the fox asked shyly.

The rabbit's only response was to nod and kiss him again and again.

---

Two small mammals sat across from each other near the window of the quiet diner. It was a small, out of the way shop in the middle of the city with a completely unremarkable front door. Few mammals knew that the eclectic restaurant even existed, but that was perfect for the recently reunited couple.

A dark and cozy brown colored every surface, from the chairs and tables to the wooden panel walls. Even the floor was covered in rich brown, chert tiles that had been polished till they shone in the dim light that filled the hushed dining room. Mosaic lanterns hung over each table, providing seated guests enough light to see while leaving the rest of the establishment in a comfortable gloom.

Sunk into the center of the room was a large round bar where diners could order drinks or spend the evening carousing with friends. This early in the day, the diner had barely opened for lunch and the bar was closed and quiet except for the shrill hiss of the cappuccino machine.

In the back corner, near a small window where the curtains had been drawn tight, sat a red-furred fox with black tipped ears and bright green eyes. Across the table from the fox sat a grey rabbit with deep purple eyes and a white muzzle. With her arm stretched across the small table, she held the fox's paw tightly like she was afraid that he would disappear if she let go.

Squeezing his larger paw, she looked into his eyes, but his mask had returned and she could no longer read the feelings that he was trying to hide. His expression wasn't cold, but she could tell that the faux smile that covered his muzzle did not suit the hint of pain behind his eyes. She knew that she was the reason for his pain when she had walked out of his life, but he had also hurt her at the same time.

"Nick?" Judy asked, squeezing the fox's paw again. "Please talk to me."

"What is there to talk about?" Nick asked sadly. He leaned his chin into the one paw that was still free from the rabbit's desperate grasp.

Sighing, the bunny pulled on his paw and looked back at the fox with a frown. "Don't give me that."

"What?" he shrugged, trying to avoid the rabbit's glare.

She folded her fingers between his own and placed her other paw on top to make a black and grey sandwich of fur and fingers with a small hint of white peaking between the edges. "There is a lot to talk about, Dear. I have not seen you in three weeks. What have you been up to?"

Nick sat up and placed his paw on top of hers with a gentle pat. Sighing, he watched the stack of paws resting in the middle of the table, but he never said another word. Before she could turn a paw over and grasp at his, he pulled back from the attention and grabbed at a tall glass of water that sat on his side of the table. Lifting the glass to his lips, he kept his eyes focused on the rabbit on the opposite side of the table.

After several uncomfortable sips, he finally broke the silence, "There isn't much to say."

Judy blew a puff of air through her small, pink nose and let her ears fall behind her head. She took another deep breath before asking, "Tell me what you have been doing, how is the new department treating you?"

The fox shrugged and tried to pull his paw away, but the rabbit held it firmly in place. "It has been fine."

She dug a sharp claw into the back of his paw with a soft growl. "That is not what I have heard." Rubbing her claws across his paw she stared into his eyes dreamily. "I heard that you had a hard time the other day, so please be honest with me, Sweetheart."

A crack formed in the fox's mask and Judy imagined that she could hear the shattering of glass. "What do you want to hear?" He waved one paw in the air, exasperated. "Do you want to hear that I hate this new job? Is that twitching nose of yours waiting to hear me say how every day has been torture since you left."

The pair of grey, fluffy ears flew forward and her eyes grew wider as the fox continued his confession. Her jaw dropped as she watched his mask crumble and tears filled his large green eyes.

"Do you want to know how I can barely make it through the day without you here beside me?" He tugged at his trapped paw again with a fierce snarl. "What is this? Do you want to hear me beg on all fours like a savage? Do you want me to tell you how I cry myself to sleep every night? Or do you want me to say how much I hate selfish rabbits?"

With a paw over her muzzle, the rabbit gasped as she watched the river of tears flow down the fox's cheeks as he poured his heart out to her from across the table. Ears standing straight, the floodgates that she had been holding back for the last two days while she searched for her fox finally broke. Her own tears started to drown her sparkling purple eyes.

"Is that what you want to hear?" The fox cried as he finally pulled free of the rabbit's grasp.

Judy shook her head fiercely. She wanted to tell him that she didn't want to know how much they had hurt each other. At the same time she wished she could nod and tell him that yes she needed to hear him tell her how he felt. All she wanted was for him to stop hiding from her and to open up and show her who he really was.

Once the fox's paw was free, Judy did not hesitate to fly across the table. With a single, swift motion, she stood in her seat and leapt into the air completely clearing the table between them.

He let out a loud squeak as she wrapped all four paws around his chest when she landed in his lap. Her ears slapped him loudly across the muzzle as she placed her head on his shoulder and pulled him into a tight hug. After a brief instant of shock, the fox put his own paws around the shuddering bunny in his lap.

"So I take it that you do want to see me beg?" Nick asked glibly. The cheerful smirk that she loved returning to his muzzle.

Shaking her head against his shoulder, she sobbed and choked, "I should be the one begging, Darling." She sniffled and rubbed her tiny nose on his broad shoulder. "I should never have left you like that."

Patting her back gently, the fox asked curiously, "Then why did you?"

Pulling back from his embrace, she kept her legs wrapped around his waist while she leaned her back against the edge of the table. She rubbed the back of her paw across her nose while she sniffled loudly. "I-I don't know." Shaking her head, she looked deeply into his eyes. "All I remember is that I was very mad at you, and confused about where our relationship was going. And I was scared."

With his paws on her hips, he looked back at the sad rabbit sitting in his lap, in the corner booth of a quiet restaurant, that was tucked out of the way in an alley, downtown. Luckily they were the only guests in attendance so early in the day, or they might have attracted a lot of unwanted attention. The waitress had yet to return with their drink orders so they were left alone for the moment.

Looking into her dark purple eyes, he asked, "Go on?"

Another sniffle escaped from the bunny before she continued, "I was mad at you, and Bogo and everything else that went wrong that day. You had left me to work for that horrid T.U.S.K. department." A very unbunny like growl escaped her lips as she glared at the fox for a few seconds, "I felt like you didn't want me in your life anymore, like you had thrown me, I mean us, away in that transfer request."

One small rabbit paw clenched into a fist and struck the larger fox on the front of the boney ball where his arm joined with his shoulder. Despite the difference in sizes, the larger fox jerked back in pain before rubbing at his newest sore spot.

The tearful rabbit suddenly scowled at the mildly injured fox. "Why did you do it?" she asked in a tone that made it sound like she had been struck instead of him.

"Do what?" he asked, continuing to rub at his shoulder.

Her scowl deepend as she raised another fist, but she let it fall when the fox flinched slightly. "Why did you give Bogo those transfer papers?"

"I was afraid that he was going to separate us," Nick explained while trying to escape from the rabbit's glare.

"He was already going to do that," Judy declared, folding her arms across her chest. "Nothing we did was going to prevent it."

He lowered his muzzle slightly to look at the rabbit's folded arms.

"Why in a field of rotten cabbages did you transfer to the one place I asked you not to?"

The fox made a muffled noise and shrugged his shoulders.

Sighing, she realized that she was going to have to push the fox a little harder if she wanted an honest answer from him. Lifting his long chin, she dropped the scowl and looked into his eyes tenderly before softly kissing the end of his nose.

"Nick?" she asked with as much sweetness as she could muster. "Why did you file that transfer? You know we could have spent a wonderful time together with that two week suspension?" She leaned forward to kiss his lips, but he quickly pulled away.

Shaking his head, the fox tried to explain, "And then Bogo would have decided to give us the worst possible assignments in the city. He would have, would have." Something caught in his throat and he began to choke on the words. After several violent coughs, he had to take a long gulp of ice cold water.

After Nick was able to breathe normally again, Judy looked into his green eyes and asked again, "He would have what? What were you afraid Bogo was going to do?"

"Nothing," the fox coughed again before changing the subject. "The T.U.S.K. team is not really as bad as you think, Carrots, and the offices are only a few blocks from Precinct 1. It's close enough that we could have our lunches together."

Judy lifted both of his paws and gave them a gentle squeeze. She looked at how his large, black paws seemed to fit nicely in her own as she tried to frame the next question in her mind. Shaking her head, she decided to follow where her fox was leading the conversation instead of the rebuttal that was resting on the end of her tongue. "Ok. Tell me about them, this new team of yours."

A single grey paw unintentionally began to stroke at the rabbit's growing belly as she asked, "Why should I allow the father of my child to work at such a dangerous place?"

Glancing down, the fox took note of her involuntary gesture before he spoke, "Well first of all, I am not joining the bomb squad."

With a loud sigh, the rabbit visibly relaxed and she leaned back against the table. Her ears lifted into the air and turned to face the fox while her nose wiggled curiously. "So what are they having you do?"

Smiling, the fox squeezed the rabbit's paws before he replied, "They have been training me to recognise and track different scents."

The rabbit's eyes brightened at the fox's words. "That sounds exciting. So you could be as good with your nose as Wolfard?"

Chuckling, Nick shook his head. "No. That old wolf has a nose that is larger than my head." He held up his paws about shoulder width apart and the rabbit snickered. "His depth of scent perception is the best in the city. In my entire career I could only hope to be half as good as him."

"Don't cut yourself short, slick," Judy encouraged with a second pop to the fox's shoulder.

"I am also training to be a sniper," the fox added casually.

Shock crossed the rabbit's muzzle, but before she could reply, a female elk coughed lightly as she approached the table. When Judy noticed that the waitress had returned with a glass of fresh squeezed carrot juice and a double shot of cappuccino, she leapt from her fox's lap and flipped into the seat next to him. In the deft move to escape the fox, Judy never once let go of his paw.

Once they had placed their lunch orders and the waitress had returned to the kitchen, Judy stood up in the booth's cushion and softly planted a kiss on Nick's fluffy cheek. "So will you let this Dumb Bunny back into your life? Can I still be your girlfriend?"

The warm smirk that the rabbit loved so much instantly returned to the fox's muzzle. "I don't know, Carrots."

Pretending to pout, she quivered her nose sadly at the fox while a tiny whimper rose in the back of her throat. She continued to bat her eyes at him, but he did not relent.

Taking a quick sip of his hot drink, he looked back at the sad rabbit. "I am certainly open to negotiations," he quipped.

Her sad eyes and pouty muzzle vanished to be replaced with a very cute smirk of her own. "What kind of negotiations?"

With one sharp finger in the air, the red fox instructed, "A vixen should be responsible for all the household chores and make sure that a hot meal is waiting for the tod when he returns home from work?"

Laughter burst loudly from the rabbit's muzzle as her fist once again collided with his arm. "What old fashioned sitcom did you learn that piece of trash from?" When the fox sitting next to her shrugged, she added, "And I am not a vixen, Dumb Fox."

"That is painfully obvious," Nick returned while rubbing his arm. He wasn't sure if the pain of her fists out weighed the pleasure he found in making jokes at her expense. It only took half a heartbeat for him to know the truth and he decided to press on.

Leaning towards the rabbit at his side, he began to pucker his lips but instead threw one more jest in her direction. "You know you love me."

Judy beamed at their all too familiar banter. Her heart skipped a beat and she cursed herself for ever leaving this wonderful mammal that held her paw. With a slow wink, she held her free paw over her tummy and jibed, "I think the kit growing in my belly would say otherwise."

"Oh really?" Nick leaned over and spoke near the rabbit's expanding stomach. "Hey little buddy. Does your mommy love your daddy or not?"

The rabbit spat out several giggles before two plates of food arrived. A filet of grilled white fish slathered in tartar sauce sitting between two thick slices of well buttered toast with a broad leaf of purple cabbage was set in front of the pregnant rabbit. On the plate next to the fish sandwich was a large pile of fried potato wedges that had been paw rubbed with a warm, peppery cayenne season mix.

Placing the grilled fish sandwich in front of the rabbit, the waitress gave the fox a strange look as he pulled his long muzzle away from the rabbit's round belly. She had seen him talking to the smaller mammal's stomach but had not caught the words, so she thought this was the strangest pair she had ever seen. Even stranger was the fact that while the rabbit ordered fish, the fox went with a light salad.

Before the waitress could walk away from the back table, she thought she saw the fox wipe a large drop of drool from the rabbit's cheek. The whole scene was borderline disturbing, but the couple was sitting in the darkest corner of the restaurant so they weren't much of an annoyance. With a pained smile, the elk decided to not toss out her only customers for their unusual behavior.

Wiping away the obvious drool that fell from the corner of Judy's mouth, Nick pointed to the large sandwich in front of the small, grey rabbit. "That is an awful lot of fish, Carrots. Are you sure you can handle that much food?"

With both paws, Judy picked up the sandwich and tore into it with a ravenous appetite. After swallowing the first bite, she spoke quickly before her big flat teeth ripped off another chunk, "I feel like I have been starving all day." Another mouth full of fish disappeared along with a few potato wedges. "Mmm, I have been craving greasy fried food all week, especially fish and burgers."

Nick daintily stabbed at his salad before he pointed out smugly, "You are having a fox's baby, Darling." He waved the forkful of lettuce around in the air several times before carefully placing it in the middle of his tongue.

Her mouth full of fish and chips, Judy growled loudly at the fox's aggravating antics. Angrily, she mumbled out of the corner of her mouth, "And who's fault is that?" For only a brief second did she take her eyes off of the two-paw sandwich to glare fiercely at the fox sitting beside her.

Nibbling on a chunk of diced cucumber, the fox ignored the bunny's ire. Instead he kept the playful smirk planted on his muzzle as he asked, "How exactly does that happen anyway?"

Potato wedge halfway to her lips, she waved it in his direction before swatting the end of his nose with it. She then began to stab at his large black schnoz with her food while she explained, "You of all mammals should know exactly how it happened." The sharply pointed potato then drifted down his chest while she continued, "You put your, um … into my, ah … well you know, and then, you, you … nevermind."

Her entire muzzle had turned bright red along with her nose, but not from her earlier anger. The red had swiftly run up the length of her tall ears, but before the tips had turned crimson, she popped the potato she had been waving around, into her mouth, and gave the fox a sly wink.

The hint of a warm smirk crossed her muzzle as she turned her focus back towards the remains of her fish sandwich. Despite the fox's further interrogation she did not say another word until her plate was licked clean.

"Yes, Carrots," Nick stated as he watched the rabbit's embarrassment grow and suddenly shift to something enticing. "I understand how it happened, but what I don't understand is how a fox and a rabbit could conceive anything together."

Stabbing another large clump of salad, the fox gave a big yawn before he shoved the food into his mouth. "Isn't that biologically impossible? I mean, I have never heard of anything like this before."

Two more forkfuls of veggies passed the gate of sharp fangs before another yawn escaped the fox's muzzle. "Sure, we have seen some strange things, like those three panda sisters with the long spindly legs of an equine, or that half zebra half antelope child. But aren't we able to explain them away as being closely related species or from strange undiscovered mammal's living in the deep jungles of the far east?"

Holding the large plate in both paws, Judy continued to lick the remains of her lunch as she spoke, "But what about those other kitnappings?"

"Which kitnappings?" Nick asked, slightly confused as his eyes drooped heavily.

Putting the empty, and well polished plate back on the table, Judy replied, "Don't forget the other hybrids, like that rabbit lemur child, and Mrs. Fisher's kits."

Another yawn left the fox unable to speak for several moments. "Why is this all happening now?" He took a slow sip from his cappuccino before continuing, "Living on the streets, you would hear rumors about hybrid kits once every few years, but it was mostly from highly disreputable tabloids. Don't you think it's unusual that we are seeing so many all of a sudden."

Snapping her fingers, Judy's eyes took on the same excited glint she got whenever she had discovered a new clue. "What if those tabloids were right? What if there have been more hybrids than we knew about before and they have all been hiding in plain sight?"

Nick covered his wide open mouth with his paw as the sound of the yawn echoed across the nearly empty room. "I don't know about that, Carrots. There have been mixed couples in this city for centuries, why aren't there thousands of hybrids running all over the place? What is the oldest hybrid we have seen so far?"

Judy's enthusiasm faded slightly as she thought about the fox's question. "The three panda's we found in that shipping container were probably the oldest. Yan, the one that we found wandering downtown, couldn't have been more than 19. What are you getting at?"

"I, I," the fox slurred as his head slowly fell onto his half eaten plate. His open jaws held his head up like an 'A' frame support, preventing him from choking on the lettuce as he softly snored.

Punching the fox in his nearest arm, Judy called his name, "Nick! What is wrong with you?" When he did not respond, she shook him firmly and asked again.

Several shakes later he finally opened his eyes and responded, "Tracking a tapir for two days straight, no sleep." Closing his eyes again, he made several more snoring noises.

Shoving him again, Judy asked, "Nick, why were you tracking a tapir?"

With barely audible mumbles, he responded, "Zanne set me to following a convenience store thief. Bastard had me crawling through the sewers before hopping a ferry to the western Marshlands where he finally went to ground in a soggy old cabin." Nick pushed his plate aside and laid his head into his folded arms with his nose turned towards the rabbit.

"Aw, Nick," she sighed. "Why didn't you tell me that you hadn't slept in days."

"Three," Nick tried to hold up a paw to show her how many fingers, but it was caught under his own head. "Maybe four days without sleep. I stopped counting after he ditched me in the wilderness."

Pulling on her sleepy fox, Judy managed to get him out of his chair and hauled him towards the door. "We should get you home before this place decides to charge us by the hour."

"Just toss me in a booth near the back, Carrots. I will be fine."

"No!" the rabbit exclaimed. "I am taking you home so you can get a good night's rest."

"Whatever you say, Sweetheart," the fox replied as he fell limply across the rabbit who was struggling to hold him upright."

---

The apartment smelled strongly of unwashed fox. Normally Judy found comfort in the scent of her boyfriend, but the rank odor that filled the air as she pushed open the door, caused her nose to itch and she was forced to hold back a sneeze. She suspected that the apartment along with the fox had not been cleaned since she had stormed out three weeks ago.

With a half sleeping fox draped across her strong shoulders, the rabbit nudged the door open far enough that she could carry him inside. She was surprised that she had made it up the long flight of stairs to his apartment while hauling the two extra mammals. Not only was she carrying the growing weight of her unborn baby, but the kit's father had been drifting in and out of sleep since they left the cozy restaurant and she was forced to half drag, half carry his weight up the many steps.

Hauling the drowsy mammal that was more than twice her weight, she closed and locked the door. She brushed aside his tail making sure that it would not get caught before she looked around the large open room. It only took the rabbit a second to spot one cause of the offensive smell. The sink was full of unwashed dishes, and the kitchen counter was littered with the remains of fast food and boxes from her boyfriend's favorite takeout

Passing the dining table she noticed that the crystal vase still held the dried and crumbled remains of flowers Nick had bought all those weeks ago. Even the salad bowl remained sitting exactly where she had left it. The table had not been touched since she had last been here.

Putting the weeks old mess to the back of her mind she lugged the scruffy red fox across the room where she unceremoniously plopped his sleepy body on the couch. She had to move aside the tear stained plush rabbit laying in the middle of the cushions. Nick began to slump and sink into the cushions as soon as his tail touched the soft fabric, but she propped him up before sitting next to him with the grey, corduroy rabbit in her lap..

A full minute passed while she warmly held his paw with both of hers and stared blankly at the coffee table that was covered in empty boxes of food and soda cans. She tried to find the words that would magically turn back the clock and make the mess that was now her life return to where it was more than three weeks ago. Her ears drooped along with her muzzle as she thought about how they had come to this, and how she had gone from being exceedingly happy to pregnant and depressed.

Leaning against the sleepy fox, her thoughts drifted back to the week prior to being dragged into their bosses office and told that they could no longer work as partners. That week had been one of the happiest in her entire life, even beating out the day she graduated from the police academy. While she thought about all the intimate things she learned about herself and the fox that sat beside her, one paw rose up from where she clutched her tod's paw to scratch at the middle of her breast bone.

Two deep, red scars still could be seen below the fur that desperately tried to grow around them. Nick had given her those marks, and the matching pair on her back the first night they had mated, but she had never asked him if they held any meaning to foxes. She had read online that for some wolf clans, the mating marks were a strong symbol of commitment that was more binding than wedding rings, but she could not find anything but conflicting answers about fox traditions.

Squeezing his paw firmly, she turned to her boyfriend and rubbed at her chest while asking, "Nick? What do the bite marks on my chest mean?"

The tod's eyes opened wide as he watched his rabbit rubbing at her chest, but he let out a long yawn before he could reply, "It's really nothing, Carrots. Don't worry about it."

"That's not what I heard," Judy said warmly, trying to hold back the disbelief in her voice. "I have found lots of different explanations, and all of them say that these marks are very important, so please don't tell me that it's nothing."

Sighing, the sleepy fox tried to pull away from the curious bunny, but she only leaned closer to him. "I had not intended to give you those." He looked down at the paw his bunny was squeezing between her own. "One second I was worried about hurting you, the next my jaws were wrapped around your neck and we were mating."

Leaning towards the sad fox, she lifted his muzzle where she planted a soft kiss under his wet, black nose. "And I am so happy. About everything that happened that night. I wouldn't change a thing." Several more kisses punctuated her words.

"Really?" He asked curiously between sweet rabbit kisses.

"Of course, Honey," she explained affectionately, with her soft lips only a single centimeter from the end of his muzzle. "But, I still want to know what these marks mean." She placed her tiny pink nose against his larger black one as she finished her statement with a tender boop, "To you."

He pulled away from the rabbit's poignant affections, and thought about what to say while gazing into her purple eyes. Several unblinking seconds passed before he opened his jaws with a deep sigh, "I don't know about other red foxes, but for me, when I think about those bite marks." He paused and turned away from the rabbit, but she grabbed his chin and gently turned his muzzle back to stare into his deep green pools. Caught in the bunny's intense gaze, he swallowed and continued, "They are claiming marks. Like I put a big red sign on your head that says you are mine. No other fox would touch you unless they wanted to get into a fight. It is very possessive of me, I know."

Embarrassed, he tried to pull away from the rabbit again, but she held his long muzzle firmly between her small paws. "Oh, Nick," she whispered tenderly as she kissed the side of his mouth. "Why didn't you tell me?"

Yawning again, the fox's jaws opened wide enough that the small, affectionate rabbit, could have easily put her head between his deadly, sharp fangs. He shook his head at her question as he was swiftly losing the battle with drowsiness. On the ride back to his apartment, he had been able to take a short nap, but the numerous cups of coffee, and the attractive bunny in front of him were not enough to keep his eyes open any longer.

Judy watched her foxy boyfriend slowly slump in the couch until he was stretched out across its length, from the tips of his triangular ears to the ends of his sharp clawed toes. As he drifted from a sitting position to laying, she explained how happy she felt knowing what the marks ment, and how she was disappointed that she was unable to mark him in return.

Turning her back, she rested against his stretched out stomach while she continued to talk about their relationship. She talked about the dates they had been on, and ones she would like to share with him, someday. Her boyfriend's breathing slowed while she chatted away romantically and rubbed gently at his chest as it slowly rose and fell beside her.

Her ears shot up straight as she looked at the sleepy fox sprawled across the couch. "I have been thinking, Honey," Judy declared suddenly. "I would like to make our relationship more permanent."

The fox snorted softly in reply, but she patted his arm as she explained, "I would like for us to move in together."

His eyes popped open for a second as he mumbled, "Weren't we already living together?"

"Yes," she nodded. "But a lot of my stuff was still back at my old apartment." A slow sigh escaped the rabbit's lips as she thought about the night she had stormed out of this apartment and her boyfriend's life. "My lease will be up at the end of the month so I want to stay with you, permanently. That means making room for all my clothes, and my books, and we even have to find some place to put all my favorite plushies. I don't expect you to want a horde of rabbit plushies taking up half the bed, do you?"

A loud snore was the only response from her boyfriend as he slept through her rambling speech.

"Nick?" Judy asked with a warm giggle as she watched the beautiful fox sleeping carelessly beside her.

Without another word, she lifted her hind paws off the floor and stretched out beside the fox. She nuzzled the back of her head against his chest before she tossed his tie out of the way. Carefully so not to wake the exhausted fox again, she wrapped his long arms around her body and cuddled warmly against him. As she drifted off to slumberland, she felt an orange, bushy tail curl around her and she subconsciously twisted one of her legs around it to hold on tight and make sure it would never leave her again.

Hours passed as the pair of reunited lovers slumbered together once again. The rabbit's nose twitched slowly as she drifted in and out of her dreams while the fox that was wrapped affectionately around her snored loud enough to rattle the apartment windows. Shadows slid across the room as the sun rose from late morning to midafternoon while the fox and bunny slept.

Judy's dream of chasing elusive foxes through the forest near her kithood home was suddenly interrupted. She knew that something had woken her from a deep slumber, but she kept her eyes closed while she tried to figure out her strange, uncomfortable environment. This was not the rickety old bed in her apartment, and the soft, and fluffy thing that tickled her nose was not one of the plushies that she normally slept with.

There was also a strange, panting sound that she could not quite identify coming from behind her. As strange as the noise was, it was also very familiar. Sleep and dreams had not quite released the bunny as she struggled to remember the name that belonged to the heavy breathing sounds.

"Judy?" A clawed paw shook her shoulder bringing her back to full wakefulness. She slowly sat up and pushed aside the fuzzy orange tail that had been tickling her nose. Suddenly the memory of how she had found herself napping on Nick's couch came crashing back as he called her name again.

Turning to look at the disheveled fox sitting beside her, she reached for his paw and spoke with a sweet smile, "Good morning, Darling."

A brief hint of terror seemed to fill the fox's eyes as he struggled to accept her presence in his life once again. When he realized that she actually was sitting beside him and not some phantom, sleep deprived dream, he squeezed her paws and asked nervously, "Judy, are you pregnant?"

Nodding, she replied to the serious expression on his muzzle, "Yes."

Sighing loudly, the red tod wiped a dark-furred paw across his forehead before asking his next question, "And I am the father?"

Again Judy nodded but instead of the seriousness of earlier, she began to giggle before cupping his worried muzzle in both of her paws. "Yes! You are the father!" she exclaimed and began to plant tender kisses from one corner of his mouth to the other.

"And how do you know?" he asked urgently. "Have you been to see a doctor?"

"Um, n-not r-really," she stuttered for a second as she thought about his question. Quickly her expression changed from tender and caring to annoyance before she planted a tiny fist into the red tod's green clothed shoulder. "I had an ultrasound, but after that I was too busy trying to track down the wayward father so I could give him a piece of my mind."

Not bothering to rub the newest sore spot on his shoulder, Nick smirked at her and replied, "Let's keep the lobotomy to ourselves, Carrots."

"Har, har," the rabbit scoffed as she rolled her eyes at the fox's return to his everyday antics and crude jokes. If she was honest with herself, she did enjoy his sharp wit and unusual sense of humor. It was refreshing compared to all of the farm jokes she had grown up around, and was one of the many things she loved about this fox. She would never tell him how his bad jokes warmed her heart, not for as long as he lived.

"Seriously, Sweetheart," Nick declared, grabbing his rabbit with both paws. His intense glare quickly shifted back and forth between her pretty, purple eyes, to her slowly swelling belly. "I may not know anything about rabbit's, or pregnant females, but I do know that we need to get you to a doctor."

Taken aback by Nick's sudden concern, Judy tried to escape from the fox's strong grip. "I am fine, Nick. The baby is fine. I had an ultrasound back in Bunny Burrow before I came looking for you, and they told me that everything is fine."

Shaking his head, he explained a little more firmly, but with care not to hurt the smaller mammal that he held in his clawed paws, "I am sure the rabbit doctors are all very good at what they do, but I bet they don't know the first thing about mixed species pregnancies. We need to see someone who has dealt with our kind of situation before."

Nodding, she placed a small paw on his arm and smiled back at him. "You are right. No normal doctor could even begin to understand what is going on with a rabbit having a fox's baby. I have already had so many urges and cravings that my mother and sisters never experienced during their pregnancies. We do need professional answers, Honey."

Nick tapped the end of his chin thoughtfully before he answered, "I think I know exactly who can give us the answers we need."

---

Brown and drying grass covered the artificial hill that separated the street from the large parking lot in front of the clinic. Tall oak trees resting on the side of the hill had shed most of their golden leaves as the autumn chill filled the afternoon air. The sidewalk that ran along the base of the grassy hill had been swept clean of the fallen leaves allowing pedestrians to pass without tripping over the crunchy and crumbled foliage.

At the end of the small hill, where it opened to provide access to the sparsely populated lot, sat a large cement block that was partially obscured by a young oak tree that still held onto many of its brown leaves. From the back of the compact Zuber vehicle, Judy could make out the letters that had been boldly mounted to the side of the block as they turned into the lot, "Pembroke Family Planning Clinic & Reproductive Research Center."

In moments a grey rabbit and a red fox were hopping out of the personal cab as they approached the main entrance of the huge glass building. Two giant pine trees loomed over the mixed couple that cautiously pushed open the large, transparent doors with their paws clasped together.

Paw in paw, Nick and Judy entered the lobby and headed towards the front desk. Before the pair could take two steps past the doors, the rabbit stopped in her tracks and began to chew on a sharply clawed finger. Her ears had fallen behind her head and her nose twitched with apprehension.

"I don't know about this, Nick," Judy said while she pulled anxiously on his paw.

"What's wrong, Fluff?"

Shaking her head, she looked up at the reception desk. "I remember what that nasty ibex said about inters the last time that we were here, and we were only friends and coworkers until a few months ago."

"And he is still in jail the last time I looked," the fox explained.

"But what will the other's think of us?" Her paw began to thump on the smooth stone floor at the same rate as her twitching nose.

This was not the same fearless rabbit that had faced down a savage jaguar and saved his life more than a year ago. The tiny mammal that was growing inside of her womb had obviously taken control of her emotions and was playing skip rope with them. Like the weather on the northern coast, she could switch from bright and cheerful to a raging torrent in the blink of an eye, leaving the fox shocked and wishing that he had brought a raincoat.

Nick had not seen his rabbit this nervous since she was preparing for that dreadful press conference that had torn their budding relationship in two. Before she could say another word, he bent down and gave her a big hug. Without speaking, he squeezed her tightly in his strong arms causing her to sniffle as her eyes moistened.

After a long minute had passed, she patted his back and whispered a sweet, "Thank you." Her emotions swiftly switched again and she giggled as she pushed away from the fox, but continued to hold his paw tightly.

Stepping forward, she pulled her mate across the broad lobby and directly up to the main desk. She was no longer concerned with how many other mammals saw them, nor what the receptionist or doctors thought. She was in love with this amazing, wonderful fox, and the rest of the world could rot in a stinking manure pile, but first she had to find someone that could help her ensure that her baby was born healthy and happy.

Marching straight up to the first receptionist she saw, she hopped and called out to the tall yak. "Hello ma'am. We would like to speak with a doctor," she demanded with a hint of warmth in her voice and a complete lack of tact or pleasantries.

The female yak looked down at the small rabbit who tightly held the paw of the fox smiling next to her. Thick dreadlocks covered the tall mammals eyes but they did little to hide the disgust painted plainly across her muzzle. "Do you have an appointment, ma'am?" she asked in a tone that said she had asked the question at least a dozen times today. Her eyes narrowed as she looked at the oddly matched couple standing before her desk. "All of our family providers are not currently taking new patients, so unless you already have an appointment, there isn't anyone who would be able to see you at this time."

Undeterred by the yak's cold demeanor, Judy charged forward cheerfully. "I recently discovered that I am having his baby," Judy stated, giving her fox a wink and pulling tightly on his paw. "And we were hoping that someone here could help us out."

Nick stepped up to the counter and added, "If we need to make an appointment first, that is fine. We can come back at the earliest opportunity."

Excitedly, Judy bounced on her toes while patting the edge of the counter. "We heard that your research department has a lot of experience handling hybrid pregnancies." She rubbed at her stomach with a soft hum. "It has been quite obvious that we are going to need some special help with our current situation."

The receptionist's eyes grew wide as she had a hard time believing what the small couple was saying. Before she could utter another word, Nick stepped in again, "Since she is a rabbit, we don't have a lot of time to wait until another doctor is free. Please, can you help us out?"

Jaws open in shock, the yak mumbled loudly, "You, a rabbit, got pregnant from a fox?" Pointing a large hoof down at the pair, she was about to demand that they leave the premises immediately when her fellow nurse, and receptionist stepped in with a gentle hoof.

"Sue-Ann, Deary," a middle-aged gazelle said with her manicured hoof on the yak's shoulder. "Why don't you let me handle this nice couple." She then whispered something into the yak's ear, but Judy's tall ears could clearly make out every word, "Jak made a fresh pot of decaf, and I made sure he left a cinnamon twist just for you."

"You're too kind, Janice," the yak said, her dreadlocks flopping to one side as she stood up from her chair. "I do have some things that need my immediate attention. If you will excuse me." Without another glance at the fox and rabbit couple, she strolled towards the nearest door that led into the rest of the clinic.

Janice took the chair that had been previously occupied by the unfriendly yak and adjusted the seat until she was able to clearly see the fox and rabbit standing in front of the counter. Raising her glasses higher up on her nose, she leaned over with a pleasant smile on her muzzle.

"So, let me get this straight," Janice smiled down at Nick and Judy as they looked back curiously. Her light brown eyes took in the small grey rabbit as she spoke, "I thought I overheard you say that you were having his baby?"

"Yes," Judy replied, nodding emphatically. "We were hoping that someone in the research department could explain how it happened among the many other questions we have."

"Well," Janice said with a slight frown to her muzzle. "The research department is in the other building, and can take years and a lot of paperwork to qualify for any of their experimental treatments. We wouldn't want to harm any of our patients accidently."

"Janice," Nick said with the fatherly tone that Judy had heard him use on the day they had first met. "As I explained to Sue-Ann earlier. Judy does not have a lot of time before our kit is born. We simply do not have years to wait for answers."

The fox looked down at his pregnant mate with his eyes full of sorrow and longing. He squeezed her paw gently and continued, "She may only have a month or two before giving birth. No one knows what could happen with a fox-rabbit birth, and we very much need expert help. Any regular doctor simply will not do."

A warm smile returned to the gazelle's muzzle as she replied with her eyes focused on the expecting mother, "Don't worry folks. I was not about to turn you away, but I will have to contact the other building and let them know the situation. I am sure that someone over there will be happy to help with your condition, but I cannot make any promises."

"Alright," Judy nodded, a hint of sadness flashed across her eyes. "We understand, and thank you for any help that you can provide." She was about to step back from the counter when an idea brought a sparkle to her eyes. "Please tell them that Officers Hopps and Wilde are asking for help. And remind them that we helped them out several months ago."

The gazelle's pleasant smile never wavered as Judy added her new request. "Ok, officers. Please give me a moment to let our researchers know you are here and ask them if they are willing to help." She motioned with her nose towards several chairs that were seated a few meters from the counter. Lifting the desk phone off its receiver, she turned away from the nervous couple.

As the pregnant rabbit pulled her mate towards the chairs to wait, she clearly overheard the gazelle's conversation and her ears perked up at what she heard.

"Yes, ma'am," the receptionist was saying into the phone while trying to cover her muzzle with a painted hoof. "I am very sorry to disturb you in the middle of your delicate research, but we have a situation yellow here." There was a long pause before the gazelle spoke again, "Yes, I know it's not urgent, but you told me to call you immediately as soon as one walked through our doors."

Another long pause followed with the nurse mumbling in agreement to the unknown speaker on the other end of the phone. Stuttering, the gazelle finally cut in and added, "It's Officer Hopps." A short silence filled the air before she replied again, "Yes, the rabbit. And her partner the fox. Yes, they are claiming that he is the father."

After that, Judy was unable to understand the rest of the conversation since Nick had started rubbing her tall ears. The sensation of his sharp claws against the insides of her sensitive ears cause all the tension in her small body to melt away. With a loud hum, she sank into the large chair that they shared and let the fox's ministrations engulf her senses, calming her entire body until they heard the receptionist call their names.

Back at the counter, the gazelle was beaming at the mix species couple. She clapped her hooves together excitedly as she spoke, "Great news you two. Our research director, Dr. Pembroke, has taken an interest in your situation and has asked for the opportunity to oversee your pregnancy."

Janice stood and placed several pieces of paper on top of the counter, separating them into two piles. "Since you are both new patients, we will need you to fill out these forms and provide your insurance information."

"Both of us," Nick asked puzzled.

"Yes," the gazelle smiled at the fox's awkward question. "With all of our family matters we require information from both parents. You are of course having this baby together?"

"Right, how silly of me," the fox smirked shyly while his mate gently rammed her elbow into his soft gut.

Sitting back on the large comfy chairs, an hour passed while the couple filled out their separate stacks of medical forms. Each page of the long forms went into a great detail concerning medical history and current conditions. They even required extensive family history and a list of all the medications both parents were taking. There was even a section for if they had traveled abroad recently.

The expecting mother was also required to provide a comprehensive explanation of her diet along with all of her cravings and physical changes that had occurred in the last couple of months. Finally she had to fill out a list of doctors that she had seen in the last year and fill out a release form to request her medical history from them.

When Judy reached the part where she was required to fill out her address, she glanced over at Nick for several moments. She was planning to move in with him permanently, but she wasn't staying there now. Seeing her questioning gaze, Nick gave her a slow wink before returning to his own paperwork. Without a second thought, she quickly filled in the address for her apartment at the Grand Pangolin Arms. Once the move into Nick's place was done, she could change it to their shared address.

After the extremely long paperwork was complete and returned to Janice, Nick and Judy still had to wait another thirty minutes before an older honey badger called their names from across the lobby. She was dressed in casual business attire that gave Judy the impression of a family therapist instead of a practicing physician.

With an outstretched paw, the badger greeted the couple, "Hello, my name is Doctor Bernese. I am one of the obstetrician's here at Pembroke. The research director has asked me to escort you to her office."

"Wait," Judy cried. "I remember you!"

The friendly badger held the secure door open for the oddly mixed couple and smiled as they passed. "Have we met before?"

"You were here when my partner and I were investigating the break-in back in the spring."

Dr. Bernese squinted her eyes at the fox and rabbit who were still firmly holding paws. "Oh, I think I remember. Were you the two police officers that arrested Dr. Wallia?"

"Yep, that's us," Nick agreed.

"It's a real shame about all those things he did," Dr. Bernese said sadly as she led them down several winding halls towards a pair of elevator doors. "He was so broken up after the death of his wife. I just can't believe he would turn to crime because of it."

When the doors opened, she politely ushered the pair inside with a single paw. Once inside she opened a small panel under the normal numbered buttons and inserted a small coppery colored key. Turning the key and pressing a button, the elevator began to rise. The elevator rose four floors before it stopped and the doors opened again with a quiet swish.

Stepping out of the elevator, Nick and Judy found themselves in a completely sterile room with plain white walls and no furniture. The badger doctor walked up to the only other door and swiped her identification badge across an unassuming strip on the side of the wall. When the door beeped and a light in the center of the strip turned green, she pulled down on the handle and pushed open the door.

"Sorry for the confusing route," the badger apologized. "But this really is the quickest way to the director's office. And besides, I really didn't want to brave the cold air outside today."

Both fox and rabbit chuckled together and explained that the weather really wasn't all that bad, but the tour of the building was interesting all the same. Nick actually whistled as the badger led them through the next secure door and out onto the glass walkway that joined the two buildings.

The short walkway that spanned over a grassy field was made entirely of glass. The walls, floor and ceiling were entirely transparent and Nick took a cautious step before venturing out into what felt like open air. Both the doctor and the pregnant rabbit showed no signs of fright as they walked across the nearly invisible supports.

Despite the solid glass beneath his paws, Nick still took each step cautiously as if the entire walkway would vanish like a cloud. He firmly squeezed Judy's paw as she had to practically drag him across the glass floor. It wasn't until they were halfway across that she noticed the red tint in his eyes had not subsided after their short nap earlier. He was probably still under the effects of sleep deprivation, and walking across clear glass four stories above the ground had him weak in the knees.

On the other side of the walkway, Dr. Bernese quickly opened the next door and led them through another series of twisted halls. All of the halls in this new building were plain white and perfectly clean. No furniture lined the halls, and not a single plant or picture brightened the sterile environment. The entire place felt like a top secret lab from some classic spy movie.

Around one corner, the badger led them down a long hall with a floor length glass window along one wall. Beyond the large window, the couple could see a larger room that was filled with very fancy chemistry equipment.

The lab was lightyears beyond what Doug had set up in that subway car. First off, everything was clean and looked like it was brand new. There were shelves stacked full of different colored bottles, multiple computers and microscopes and something that looked like a microwave oven with more buttons on the front than anything Judy had ever seen before. In the center of the room was a large glass box with four holes where black rubber gloves were secured across each of the openings. The only entrance to the lab seemed to pass through what looked like a very large shower with sprayer heads on the walls as well as the ceiling.

Inside the lab were two mammals that were covered from head to paw in white, plastic garments. Both appeared to be some kind of canid species. Based on their fur coloring and the tails, Judy guessed that the larger one must have been a jackal, while the smaller was a coyote. The coyote was looking through one of the many microscopes as the jackal looked at the computer monitor next to it.

When the badger pushed a button on the glass wall, Judy heard a faint buzzing sound in the distance. At the sound of the buzzer, the coyote looked up from her work and turned to face the glass wall. The frown under her surgical mask quickly changed to a smile as she waved. Judy suspected that the friendly wave was not directed at the badger who had pushed the button, but at her specifically.

The coyote then pointed at where her watch would have been in the tight fitting lab suit and then held up her gloved paw with all the fingers exposed. She then pointed down the hall towards an open door at the other end. After waving again, she returned her focus to the microscope she had been peering through earlier.

"Dr. Pembroke said to give her four minutes," the badger explained, turning back to the waiting couple. "She will meet with you in her office once she is done running her current tests." Dr. Bernese pointed down the hall in the direction the coyote had indicated. "Charles will probably finish up cataloging the results anyways."

Strolling past the long glass wall, the fox and rabbit were led to a lavishly furnished room. The floor length window provided an excellent view of the grounds and the grand towers of downtown Zootopia in the background. Walking up to the thick glass, Judy saw that most of the clinic was surrounded by a mixed variety of trees, creating an artificial forest between this building and its neighbors.

While Judy was taking in the impressive view, Nick eyed the equally impressive crystal desk in the center of the room. Its clear surface was neat and clean with only a large monthly planner occupying the space in front of the faux leather chair and a wide, curved computer monitor sitting off to the side. He could almost make out the keyboard sitting on a shelf hiding under the glass desk top.

"Please have a seat." Dr. Bernese motioned to the couple that had begun to carelessly explore her boss's office like a pair of curious detectives. "The doctor will be with you shortly, and I am sure she would appreciate it if you didn't touch anything."

"Oh, right!" Judy exclaimed as if she suddenly realized where she was. With a hop and a skip, she left the window and its fabulous vista to jump into one of the comfortable seats in front of the desk.

When Nick continued to browse the large, elegant bookcase with his eyes, Judy hissed his name and firmly patted the chair beside her. "You can look at the shelves just as easily over here, Darling."

Folding his arms across his chest in an effort to say, "I'm not touching anything," he turned and stepped towards the annoyed rabbit. Once the badger had left, he finally plopped his tail down in the seat that Judy had indicated, but his eyes still roamed the room nervously.

Immediately, Judy caught onto the flick of his tail and the way his eyes scanned the room repeatedly. "What has got your tail in a twist?"

A moment later, the fox responded, "Something just feels odd here."

"Odd? In what way?"

"Like why is the hospital director taking an interest in your pregnancy?"

"I don't know," Judy shrugged. "Maybe no one else is available. Or maybe she is curious to meet a fox and rabbit couple, she is a researcher after all. It could be purely curiosity."

Nick's eyes grew wide and his jaw nearly hit the floor as he gasped in mock surprise, "You know what curiosity did to the cougar?"

The rabbit's head tilted to the side as she rolled her eyes. "Nick, stop it. She could simply be returning a favor." Judy was unable to continue berating her fox when a warm voice greeted them from the office door.

"Hello officers," Dr. Pembroke said as she waltzed into her office and closed the door quietly behind her. "You two are not here in any official capacity, I take it?"

Both fox and rabbit turned their heads to see the white robed coyote smiling back at them. For a coyote she had an odd-looking, mottled fur pattern that seemed like the colors were constantly fighting with each other across her muzzle. Her ears were also two different sizes and colors with one having a patch of tufted fur sticking up like a lynx. She had a very uncoyote-like tail that was half brown and black with a single white patch at the very tip. The other hints of fur that showed through her lab coat were an odd match of colors in a nearly random pattern.

The oddest thing about the doctor as she walked up to Judy's chair was that her hind paws seemed to be covered in a polished bronze material. Her hind paws were also shaped like two-toed hooves instead of a canid's typical flat paws. When the coyote doctor walked, Judy's sharp ears could make out a soft whirr and click with each step.

Stepping near the rabbit, the director seemed to shrink as she reached out a white furred paw. "And I hear that congratulations are also in order."

"Thanks, ma'am," Judy said, shaking the proffered paw.

"Please, Officer. Call me Leah, or Dr. Pembroke if you prefer. But I am sure, by the end of this process we can leave the formalities behind."

"Of course, ma'am, I mean Leah," the rabbit said, returning the doctor's pleasant smile. "And you can call me Judy."

"Ok, Judy, and was it Wilde?" Leah asked as she walked around the desk towards a large, executive style chair. "I am always terrible at names."

"Yes, that is correct. My name is Nick Wilde."

"Great," the coyote smiled as she unbuttoned the long white coat and continued to shrink. "Can you two tell me what brings the both of you here today?"

The fox and rabbit were unable to speak more than a few mumbled words as the doctor removed her coat to reveal that she was wearing a pair of shiny mechanical legs. Once the shrinking had stopped, she pressed a small button on the side of the prosthetics causing a door to open in the front. Inside the mechanism were a pair of shriveled stumps where the doctor's true legs should have been.

Seeing the mixed couple's expression at the sight of her missing legs, the doctor explained. "They were crushed in the same accident that I lost my parents." She waved at the stumps as she swung herself out of the robotic legs and into her large office chair. "It was a massive tragedy in my life, but with a lot of help and support I was able to grow up to have a moderately normal life."

Once she was seated comfortably behind her desk, she turned back to Nick and Judy. "But that is a story for another time. Please go ahead and tell me why you're here." She folded her paws on the clear crystal desk and waited patiently for the couple to respond.

"Well, I am pregnant," Judy declared in a slightly giddy tone.

"And I am certain that congratulations are in order, Judy."

"Thank you, Leah," the rabbit said, trying not to blush.

Before Judy could say another word, Nick blurted out suddenly, "And I am the father." He placed his tail in the rabbit's lap as he firmly squeezed her paw.

Not a single hint of shock crossed the doctor's muzzle. She did not blink an eye or twitch either of her miss matched ears. To the fox's disappointment, her demeanor remained calm, and the warm smile never left her muzzle.

The coyote's mottled head however, tilted slightly and her smile brightened as she asked, "Go on?"

Rubbing her paws together in front of her belly, Judy leaned forward anxiously. "We were hoping you could help us understand how it happened." She then took a deep breath before continuing, "And since you seem to have the most experience with hybrid pregnancies, I was wondering if you could be my obstetrician."

A slight giggle escaped through the doctor's professional smile before she pulled it back with a cough. "Yes, I can explain how it happened, provided you mean beyond the more obvious parts."

Both fox and rabbit giggled as they looked into each other's eyes with bright red blushes filling their muzzles. They also squeezed each other's paws and leaned together as if they were about to kiss but pulled back at the last second. Nick coughed and straightened his tie, while Judy gave the fox an embarrassed grin.

Waiting for the couple to collect themselves, Dr. Pembroke took several slow breaths before she spoke again, "If you had not already guessed, I am a hybrid myself, and yes I am very experienced with mixed species births." She unfolded her paws and held them with the palms up. "Not to toot my own horn, but my record shows that I have delivered more hybrids than any other doctor in the city. So the two of you made the right choice coming to see me."

Judy let out a sigh of relief as she listened to the doctor explain her credentials. Her ears stood tall, and the nose that she didn't even realize had been twitching, slowed to a more sedate pace.

Leaning forward, the coyote grinned down at the rabbit with a slight show of sharp teeth. "Judy, I would be very happy to be your obstetrician for this pregnancy."

"Thank you, Dr. Pembroke," Judy sighed again. "You already eased a lot of my fears by accepting to help us."

"But," the coyote said as she leaned back into her large chair. "I have a few questions of my own before I can begin to answer yours."

"Alright," Nick and Judy both spoke together.

"Firstly," Dr. Pembroke began. "How are you certain that the baby is his?" She waved her paw at the fox who seemed to blanch at the question. His earlier fears returned full force to be displayed plainly on his muzzle.

Quickly, the rabbit jumped to the defense. "I had an ultrasound taken two days ago. It clearly showed that a fox kit was growing inside of me." She patted her barely swelling belly with her mate's paw. "I have not been with any other males, rabbit or fox, so I can only believe that it is his."

With the obvious distress on the fox's muzzle, the coyote added, "I am sorry if that question caused you any pain, but I had to know that you are certain before we can proceed."

"It's ok. We had a fight a few weeks ago and only made up this morning after I discovered I was carrying his kit."

The pleasant smile returned to the doctor's muzzle as she folded her paws together again. "So let me answer your question as to how conception between a fox and rabbit could be possible."

"Great," the fox sighed. "We were wondering that ourselves. I have always been told that such things are impossible, but working in the ZPD I am beginning to suspect otherwise."

"And the reality would surprise you, Mr. Wilde."

"How is that?" Judy said, her nose twitching curiously.

"Well. What we define as a species specifically means just that. A group of mammals that are unable to breed and reproduce with other mammals outside their own group."

"Ok, so why is it happening now?"

The mottled coyote leaned her head back and raised her paws in a half shrug. "Those definitions were created more than two hundred years ago by stuffy old men with more money and free time than they knew what to do with. What they called science at the time was seriously flawed and subject to more opinions than real fact."

She leaned forward as the rabbit's eyes grew wider and the tiny pink nose raced furiously. "Recently, after all the great cities have started to abandon the fear and segregation that drove our society, we have learned that the boundaries that define species are not the hard and fast rules that we once thought."

Leah let her words sink in for a second before she continued, "Many species have been able to intermingle, but only between close relatives. For example some canidae and most lagomorphs have the ability to produce healthy offspring. Not together mind you." She said the last bit with a small chuckle.

Nodding, Judy added her own insights, "Yes, quite a few of my cousins are part hare. And my father swears that there is a Snowshoe in our lineage somewhere."

"I know a red and grey mixed family, but I never considered them as hybrids."

"So you two can see where I am going with this? My own lineage is troubled though. My parents were from two canids that should not have been able to create any offspring."

Judy leaned forward with a soft look in her eyes. "Why is that, Leah?"

"I am part coyote and part jackal," she said like it was the answer to all the world's problems. When she saw the blank looks on her patient's muzzles, she elaborated, "Jackal's have never been able to mix with any other species. Coyotes and wolves can interbreed, but not jackals. They are just too far separated from any of the other canids. There is still some debate if they are even canids at all."

Sadly she looked over at her bookcase before her gaze returned to the fox and rabbit couple. "Wolves, it seems, can mix with many other canid species of relative size. My colleague says they are somehow lucky, but I have pointed out to him that it is their odd chromosome count that makes the difference."

"So how were your parents able to have a pup?" Judy asked, her voice filled with kindness and concern.

A small tear dripped from the coyote's eye as she sniffled. "They tried again, and again for years to conceive. But their specific species were just too different and there was no hope, no matter what they tried."

With a slow smile Nick added, "But you're here, so they found something that worked, didn't they?"

"That's right. But it wasn't the miracle you're thinking it was," the doctor put her muzzle in her paws and began to softly shake for a moment, until two small grey arms wrapped around the long white coat.

"If this is too much we can come back another time," the smaller mammal said, trying to cheer up the distressed doctor.

"Sorry, you're too kind," she hugged the rabbit in return. "I just didn't realize how much talking about it would affect me. However, I will try to continue."

Once the rabbit returned to her seat and reached for her mate's paw, the doctor sniffled and said, "Maybe I should start from the beginning."

"Please," Judy replied warmly.

"My parents spent their whole lives helping mammals, big and small, have the families they always wanted. But the one thing they could never have was a child of their own."

"That is very sad."

"Yes," Leah nodded. "They joined the Peace Corps shortly after they were married, traveling from one poor village to the next providing medicine and care for mothers who only had slightly better than a muddy puddle to give birth in."

Both small mammals sat entranced by the doctor's story of her parents' struggles through war torn countries and the remotest of villages. She captivated them with tales of wild bush country and steep mountain slopes where crude barbarians ate grass buried under paws of snow.

"So after years of trying to have a pup, how did it finally happen?" Nick asked. "You said they found something, something you said was not a miracle."

"That's right," the doctor nodded, her tears seemed to have vanished at this point. "While they were on their third tour, my mother became very sick. She almost died in those dense jungles before they could get her anywhere near a civilized hospital. After she recovered they returned to Zootopia only to find that she was pregnant."

"With you?" the rabbit interjected.

Lowering her head again sadly, Leah replied, "No. That's why this is so hard to talk about. That first conception did not survive to term."

"That's terrible!"

"Trust me, it only gets worse."

"Oh, no. What happened?"

"There were at least a dozen failed attempts before I was born, I was the first one to survive, but barely. I have so many issues with my genes that I have to stay on medications constantly just to keep breathing."

"So the miracle they found in the jungles was flawed?" Nick said with a nod.

"Yes. When they went back to that jungle a year later, they found an insect that had bitten my mother," the coyote explained. "At first they thought it was the venom, but years later they finally stumbled across the answer. That insect carried a virus that can copy one host's DNA to another, thus allowing my mother to get pregnant by my father."

"Wait a second!" Judy exclaimed as she suddenly stood up in her chair. "Those are the viruses we found in those stolen pills."

"Yes, exactly," the doctor replied, nodding. "Have I explained the process to you before?"

"Possibly. It was several months ago, and you did explain why the drugs were so important, but I don't remember all of the details."

"And because you were on the case to track down the failed pills that were scheduled to be destroyed, I suspect that you may have come into contact with the virus itself."

Judy placed both paws over her muzzle as her jaw widened in shock. Her ears fell behind her head and the twitching nose slowed to a crawl. She sank into her seat and softly moaned, "Oh no."

A dark grin crossed the doctor's muzzle as she asked with a serious and very official tone, "Did you happen to ingest any of those pills, either intentionally or accidentally?"

"No," Judy said, shaking her head as a new stream of tears pooled under her eyes. "Never!"

Not convinced with Judy's answer Dr. Pembroke continued, "Did you ever handle any of them with your bare paws? Come into contact with anyone taking the medication?"

The rabbit continued to shake her head.

"Brief contact wouldn't be enough. A hug or handshake would not transfer the virus." The coyote watched the rabbit's eyes continue to widen as the fox squeezed her paw. "Touching the fluids is not sufficient either, you would have to ingest them through kissing, heavy petting, or intercorse."

"No, no, no," the rabbit continued to mumble loudly.

"Tell me," the doctor asked. "Did you ever have any strange fever's while you were working on the case?"

Nick swiftly turned to the rabbit and gave her an intense look.

Stuttering, Judy replied, "Y-yeah. I came down with a sudden fever at the beginning of summer. It was when my parents were here for their anniversary."

"Ok," Dr. Pembroke sighed heavily. "I feel like this is partially my fault that you were involved with the case. If I had known that you two were an intimate couple, I might have warned you about how viral that treatment could be."

"It's ok doctor," Judy said warmly. "To be honest, I am actually happy with how things turned out."

"Are you sure about this, Judy?"

"Yes, of course," she chirped, pulling the fox closer as she planted a wet kiss on his lips. "It is such a wonderful gift to know that I can have a family with my mate and best friend."

"Me too, Honey," Nick replied between his rabbit's passionate lips.

"Well, in that case," the doctor said while grinning at the affectionate couple smooching in her office. "I am going to have to run some tests to be sure."

Pulling back from her foxy lover, Judy returned to the doctor. "Ok, what kind of tests?"

"First, I am going to need to take some blood samples from all three of you."

"Three of us?" Judy cut off the coyote as she looked back and forth between the doctor and her mate.

"Yes," Leah said with a nod. "You, the kit and the father. I need samples from all three of you. Not only will I be looking for signs of the virus, but any other issues that may cause complications. Once I have the samples you can come back in a few days."

Her eyes lit up, as the bunny leaned forward. "When do we get started?"

Leaning back into her large chair, Dr. Leah Pembroke frowned at the rabbit's enthusiasm. "I know everything I have told you so far seems to be good news, but I must warn you that most couples like yourselves, never even conceive. And the rates for carrying a kit of such disparate parentage to full term are very low."

"So what you are saying is to not get our hopes up?" Nick said almost coldly to the doctor sitting across the expensive, crystal desk.

"I am sorry, but that is the hard truth of your situation."

So many emotions had run through the rabbit since she had woken up that morning. Fear, anger, grief, love, hope and surprise, even a bit of relief had crossed her muzzle at some point today. Now they all came crashing down on her small body at once.

With a loud wail, the emotional bunny lept into her fox's arms and dumped the last of her remaining tears into his lap while he gently rubbed her long ears affectionately.

---

[A/N] This chapter, nay, the entire second part of this story (Book 2), was inspired by the first chapter of the Violet Diaries. When I read that story, I picture the shocked look on Nicks muzzle when she tells him the news. I wanted to bring that feeling to this chapter. In that story we skip over all of the drama and the relationship that brought them to this moment. I felt that in this story, I need to go into greater detail of that relationship and the struggles the characters go through to hold onto it.

The drama and break up that lead to this point may have felt a little long, but Book 2 will have a total of thirty chapters once its complete so its only a small portion of you look at the entire the whole.

And this brings us to the end of on plot arc and the start of another. What did everyone think of the first scene? I really wanted to try and make it feel similar to the bridge scene from the movie. Please let me know if I accomplished my goals for this chapter, or if I still need to work on my writing skills.

Things will start picking up again from here on out as we move towards the end of part 2. There are only a few more chapters left so all of the pieces will be coming together and I wonder if anyone has been able to solve the remaining mysteries yet. If you are still guessing at this point, it might be a good time to go back and reread part one. There could be a lot of clues in the first part that should be starting to make sense at this point. In fact I have started my own read through of the previous chapters to help me focus on finishing up the final parts.

Thank you very much to everyone who has stuck with me this long and for each and every comment. It really helps me keep going on this extremely long project and hopefully many more stories to come.

OneWolfe~