Chapter 11 – Recovery

Classes over for the year, Dylan had been spending time with Rick on fleshing out their business. They'd gotten some of their classmates to sign on to work in the gaming department. Some were going to work with the current code, to sell to any phone company that wanted the mobile games. Except to Horizon. Be shady, get shaded. Others were going to be working over the summer learning the code that Dylan had learned on Earth. The long term goal for the company was to smaller, more efficient computers, tablets, and smarter smart phones as well as games for both mobile devices and computers.

The other thing he was doing was practices with the band, which is where he was currently. Dylan had been working with Rachel, the Roe Deer, on a couple of songs for her to sing, such as Wide Open Spaces by The Dixie Chicks. They were currently practicing one of Dylan's favorite songs She thinks my tractor's sexy by Kenny Chesney. After going through the song several times Dylan called a break.

"Okay guys, ten minutes then we'll work on another song. Figure out which one you'd like to work on."

Even though Dylan could play any of the instruments except for the drums, he preferred to let the others play while he did the vocals. That changed if the song called for using his banjo. No one could play it yet although Beth was interested in learning how.

He was drinking some water when his phone rang. Looking at the caller ID he saw that it was Zoey. Smiling, pressed the accept button and said "Hey Zoey! Everything okay?" He heard an Australian sounding voice on the other end.

"Dylan? This is Desiree, I'm one of Zoe's roommates. Could you come over? Zoe needs help."

There was only one thing to do. "I'll be right there. Give me the address."

"3213 Hill Drive, apartment 1, and thank you!"

"You're welcome." he responded automatically.

Dylan turned back to the band and yelled "Gotta go guys, got an emergency!" He grabbed his keys and headed for the exit. He'd parked his jeep in the Conservatory parking lot so it wasn't too far away.

Dylans mind was multi-tasking, one part was driving and paying attention to the road, another was working out the route to Zoe's address as there was no GPS here, and another was wondering what was wrong with his friend. He didn't have a lot of those, so each one was precious.

It turned out that the address was just inside the outer edge of the downtown area. The apartments here were more like townhomes than the big, sprawling, monoliths like where Dylan lived that had twenty or more apartments on a single floor. Finding the address, Dylan parked in the area designated for medium mammal vehicles and walked the half block to Zoe's apartment. It seemed that the building had three floors, each one with a single apartment. Zoe's was on the first floor.

Dylan pressed the button marked "1" next to the door. Less than ten seconds passed when he heard a very tinny "Yes?".

"This is Dylan, I'm looking for Zoe." A second later the door buzzed. He opened it and stepped inside. He was in a small foyer with a set of stairs going up on the left wall and a short hallway next to it that ended in a door with a gold colored "1" on it.

The door opened before he was even able to knock. Standing there was a sheep with a serious look on her face. "Dylan! Thank the gods you're here! Desiree and I are at our wits end." She grabbed his arm and tugged him into the apartment prior to continuing, "She seemed okay until finals were over, then the next day she refused to get up. Nothing we did would make her register we were even in the room. Seven days and all she's done is use the bathroom and drink a little water!"

Suddenly one of the closed doors opened and a racoon stormed into the living room "Oh NO! Get that thing out of our house! I don't want it anywhere near me!"

Two voices, one of them the sheep's, the other, with an Australian accent, both yelled back at the racoon "Layla! SHUT UP!" Dylan rather liked the way they harmonized, almost as if they'd been practicing. He was sad that this person was so speciest against him but he felt it was a mind over matter issue. He didn't mind because they didn't matter.

The Racoon, Layla, shouted back "NO! I pay rent here and I don't want to be around this... this... FREAK!"

The mammal with the Australian accent, a koala, had come around the kitchen counter unnoticed earlier. But now, with her fur puffed up in indignation, she walked right up to Layla, put herself muzzle to muzzle with the racoon and said "Amanda and I out vote you, so either shut up or GET OUT!"

Layla just huffed and then, glaring daggers at Dylan, walked back into the room she came out of and slammed the door.

Amanda turned to Dylan and explained. "Sorry about Layla. Desiree and I have been taking turns sleeping on the couch while the other stays with Zoe. She would talk about you all the time, at least until a little over a week ago. She broke up with her boyfriend but she seemed okay until the day after finals."

By now Desiree had walked up to the pair, looked up at Dylan and said "Please help her."

"I'll do the best I can. I'm not a Psychiatrist, but I am her friend."

Both girls pointed to the closed door on the other wall so Dylan walked up to it and knocked. There was no answer so he knocked again and said "Zoe? It's Dylan. Can I come in?" There was still no answer so he just turned the knob and walked in.

The curtains were closed but there was still enough light to see by when Dylan's eyes quickly adjusted. He could barely make out a lump under a blanket on the bed to the right side of the room. Zoe was laying on her side, facing the wall, with only her tail sticking out.

The entire room smelled like an old dog blanket. Dylan wondered how long it had been since Zoe had taken a shower, or even changed her clothes. Dylan knelt down next to the bed and sat there for a few minutes. He wanted to wait before talking to let his scent sink in so that Zoe would notice it. If she was this depressed, then she may not be paying much attention to her senses.

After a few minutes, he decided she'd had enough time to process his presence so he began to talk.

He told her how his business was going and how he had enough money coming in now that he was looking for another apartment. He chuckled when he explained how they refused to sell anything to Horizon after they tried to do him dirty. And how Rick was having the time of his life taking apart Dylan's old cell phone and how Rick would rant about the tech.

He started telling her about the band and how it was coming along. How he'd love to have her there when he performed. Dylan saw her tail twitch at that, so he continued.

He told her about the song they'd just finished practicing and even sang it acapella for her. While he sang, he reached out and started to gently rub her coat. Dating Fabienne had, at least, taught him that, even though these people were evolved, they still liked the kinds of things similar mammals liked back on Earth. Scratching Fabienne lightly behind under the chin when they kissed made her purr.

When Dylan had finished singing, he was at the point where he was lightly scratching Zoe behind the ears. He noticed her tail was wagging slightly. He felt better now that he was able to get some kind of response from her.

"What's a tan?" He heard her ask. Her voice was rough from lack of use and being dry. Dylan grabbed the glass of water next to a water pitcher that hand been placed on the nightstand and handed it to Zoe who rolled over onto her back and sat up to drink.

After she had drank the entire glass Dylan asked teasingly, "What was that again? Sounded like you were asking what a tan was?"

Zoe used her right paw to weakly smack Dylan across the chest, but she was smiling slightly as she did so. "Jerk."

Dylan chuckled quietly then explained "Since humans have only a light coating of hair on most of our bodies, including the arms, our skin tends to darken from prolonged exposure to the sun. We call that a 'Tan'."

Zoe snorted, handing the empty glass out to him. Dylan refilled it then handed it back. Zoe just looked at him, whereupon Dylan just said "Hun, you're borderline dehydrated, you need to drink more water."

Dylan noted that Zoe seemed a bit bemused at that, but she took the water and then drank some more. About halfway through the second glass she stopped and asked "What does 'hun' mean?"

Dylan wasn't surprised that term didn't carry over. He'd found a few words that had never cropped up here in Zootopia. Evidently, this was one of them.

"Uh, it's a word that's short for 'honey'. It's a term of endearment where I'm from."

Zoe was having a hard time. Her brain didn't seem to be working as well as it usually did but her emotions were on point. Dylan's simple yet heartfelt use of the

word 'hun' hit her right in the empty spot that had been in her heart. She started to feel warm again instead of cold and alone. Someone cared for her.

"Oh." She said. Then she started kicking herself mentally. 'Oh'? Couldn't I come up with a better word than 'Oh'? I'm more articulate than that!

Dylan, of course, not having the insights to Zoe's mind and feelings, had no idea of what he had done. All he knew was that Zoe seemed more responsive, more aware of things.

"Okay Hun, how about we get you up and into the bathtub? Then we'll get you fed, maybe sit on the couch and watch a movie or something alright?"

Zoe looked at Dylan somewhat surprised. "You're staying?" She asked.

"Zoe," Dylan said as he cupped her muzzle and looked dead into those, oh so blue eyes of hers "You are my friend and I care about you. I'm not going anywhere until I'm sure you're going to be okay."

Zoe started crying and Dylan wondered if he'd messed up somewhere when she suddenly lurched forward, wrapped her arms around his neck, and hugged him fiercely. Or, at least as fiercely as she could given her current physical state. Dylan automatically wrapped his arms around her and hugged her back. Each of their cheeks were tight against the others. Dylan could feel her tears still coating her fur.

"Thank you for being here for me." she whispered.

Dylan smiled widely and said "Anytime you need me Hun."

They held the hug for several more minutes before Zoe cleared her throat and said "About that bath?"

Dylan grinned "Yeah, about that bath. You know Amanda and Desiree have been worried about you. Desiree was the one to call me and let me know something was wrong. I'm a little hurt that you didn't call me like I asked you to if you needed anything."

Zoe felt herself flush with shame. She should have called him, or even just let Amanda and Desiree help her.

"I'm sorry."

"No, Hun. Don't be sorry. I just want you to know that you have people that care for you. You have people you can rely on."

Why she did it, she didn't know, but she reached down with her paw and grabbed his hand, tugging him gently toward the bedroom door. When they opened the door and the light flooded into the room, Zoe squinted her eyes against the brightness, so she wasn't able to see the gleeful expressions on her roommates faces as Dylan helped her out of the room.

Dylan looked at them and simply asked "Bathroom?"

Desiree pointed to a door but Amanda ran to it and opened the door for the pair. Dylan lowered the toilet seat and sat Zoe down. He looked at her and asked "You like your baths hot or cold?"

Zoe hesitated before answering. No one had ever asked her that question before. But, then again, no one had drawn a bath for her since she a pup.

"Um, hot, but not hot hot. Sorry, I'm not good at explaining things right now."

"Quite alright Hun. Would you care to talk about what happened to make you stay in bed for so long?" He asked while feeling the water temperature coming out of the spout.

Zoe shook her head. All she wanted was to be here in the company of someone she knew cared for her. "Not right now, maybe later."

"Whenever you're ready okay?"

Dylan shut the water off then turned toward Zoe. "Do you think you can get undressed and into the tub by yourself or should I send in one of your friends?"

"I can do it myself." She affirmed.

Dylan grinned at her "Of course."

He left and shut the door so Zoe would have some privacy. He wasn't surprised to find both roommates right outside the door.

"We don't know how to thank you Dylan. How'd you get her to respond to you? Nothing we tried worked." Desiree asked.

"I don't know, I just talked to her then sang her one of the songs my band's been practicing."

Both were a bit confused. They had done everything except sing to Zoe in an effort to get her out of her depressed state. They looked at each other, both thinking the same thing. Maybe it wasn't so much as what was done as to who was doing it. They both broke out in matching smiles at the exact same time.

Dylan, looking on asked "What?"

"Nothing" Desiree said.

Dylan shrugged and said "Desiree? Would you mind going in and keeping Zoe company? I don't want her to be alone right now. Amanda? Could you get her some clothes for after her bath?"

Desiree gave him a thumbs up before disappearing into the bathroom.

"Sure." Amanda said, "Layla stormed out of here not long after you two went into the bathroom mumbling something about staying with friends. I actually think she went to a motel because I don't think she has any friends."

Dylan agreed. Layla was a very caustic individual.

While Amanda gave replacement clothes for Zoe to Desiree, Dylan was busy stripping the bed and, after being informed of it's location, dumped the bedding in the dirty clothes. Finding fresh bedding was easy as everything was on a shelf directly about the washer and dryer. Dylan gave Amanda some money and had her go get some take out for dinner before he remade the bed.

ooOOOooo

Zoe had already started washing with her favorite fur cleanser Furluxe – Vanilla scent, when Desiree entered. Zoe could see the relief evident on Desiree's features and felt bad that she had caused her friend so much worry.

"I'm sorry for making you worry Desiree. And thank you for calling Dylan."

"The only other thing we could do was to take you to go see a Psychiatrist. Amanda and I didn't want to do that but we care too much for you to watch you sink like you did."

Desiree smirked, raised her eyebrow and said "So, Dylan huh?"

Zoe looked back "What do you mean 'Dylan'?"

"Well, Amanda and I tried everything we could to get a response out of you for the last seven days and you wouldn't move. Dylan goes in there and, within thirty minutes, you come walking out holding paws with him!"

"He's just a friend." Zoe said. But, even to Zoe, that claim seemed to ring hollow.

"Amanda and I are your friends also Zoe. And, just so you know, both Amanda and I think he likes you a bit more than a friend actually would."

Zoe didn't know how to answer that. She liked Dylan, he was a great mammal and it was both fun and relaxing to hang out with him. But, did she like him in that way? Even though she was feeling better, she was still hurting from her breakup with Randall not even two weeks ago. Then she felt a chill run down her spine as she thought Could he even like ME in that way? She shook her head I need to get clean, get something to eat, and get some good sleep before I start trying to figure out life questions. With that, Zoe ducked her head under water before sitting up and lathering the remainder of her fur.

Desiree sat quietly watching the emotions flicker across her friends face. Oh girl, you got it bad. At least you're not clueless like Dylan.

oooOOOooo

Amanda had run down to a local sandwich shop and brought back several chicken sandwiches for Dylan and Zoe, while getting the vegetarian special for her and Desiree. They were setting the table when Zoe and Desiree came out of the bathroom. Zoe was now wearing a pair of dark blue shorts with a slightly lighter T-shirt.

"And here she is! Bathed, brushed, and blow dried! She even brushed her teeth by herself!" Desiree giggled when she finished as she jumped out of the way of Zoe's half-hearted slap.

Zoe walked up to Dylan a bit shyly and gave him another hug. He was more than happy to hug her back. He felt so relieved that she was doing better. Standing, Zoe came up to just under his chin so, naturally, he tilted his head and laid his cheek between her ears. He inhaled the shampoo she had used and gave a low moan in his chest. This made Zoe smile and caused her to relax even more, the remaining tension just melting away.

Dylan released her from the hug and guided her to her place at the table. Holding the chair out for her to sit before helping her scoot closer to the table. The roommates looked at each other and smiled. Yep, watching these two figure things out was going to be fun!

Eating slowly so as to not make herself sick, Zoe listened in on the conversation going on around her. She was happy that Dylan and her friends were getting along so well.

It wasn't until Amanda asked Dylan about the latest rumor regarding him and Fabienne that Zoe's ears perked up and she concentrated on everything being said. She'd forgotten that Dylan was supposed to be dating the news anchor and her heart dropped. At least until Dylan responded.

"Actually, we broke up a few days ago. Amicable surprisingly."

Zoe almost sagged in relief. Then she froze for a second when she realized how she was responding. But that was nothing to what she did when Desiree asked what had happened and Dylan explained why Fabienne had started dating him. She stood up and screeched "WHAT!?"

Both Dylan and her friends stared at her in shock. She was actually shaking, her eyes filled with rage. She had clenched her paws and her sandwich, which was in her right paw, was crushed, the bread squeezing out between her fingers with the sauce and bits of chicken dripping onto the floor.

Dylan rose and walked over to her. "Hun, she said she tried to stop it. Remember me telling you how it felt like she was ghosting me? She said that her producer was pushing her to do this."

Zoe gazed at Dylan, wondering how he could be so blind. "Dylan Ambrose, don't you DARE believe a word that comes out of that... that BITCHES mouth!"

Her roommates gasped because Zoe never cursed! Dylan winced since Zoe could be right. Dylan just wanted to believe the best in people and, sometimes, that came around and bit him in the ass.

Zoe started to feel dizzy, not ready for such intense emotion after the last seven days. Dylan was there to help her back into her chair, helped her to open her paw up and drop the mangled sandwich onto her plate.

Amanda went to the refrigerator and pulled out another sandwich, "I thought she might be really hungry so I got her two."

Dylan thanked her from where he was, still standing next to Zoe since she had leaned against him, her head against his torso. He was busy rubbing her opposite shoulder, hoping it would calm her down.

Zoe took in a deep breath and slowly let it back out. She'd never been so angry before, even her last argument with Randall didn't affect her that much. Taking a shuddering breath she said "I'm already full Mandy, I might eat it later."

Dylan scooted his chair next to Zoe's and used his right hand to eat while he used his left to keep rubbing her shoulders and back. After everyone else finished eating they all sat on the couch. Zoe snuggled against Dylan's right side and Dylan putting his arm around her holding her close.

The movie was some kind of historically based fantasy where these large lizard creatures invaded and had to be driven out by all the mammals coming together in order to defeat them. When Dylan looked down at Zoe to ask her how she was feeling, he found her sound asleep.

He waved his free hand to catch the others attention. When they looked, he pointed to Zoe and then put his thumb over his shoulder to point at the bedroom. Amanda nodded while Desiree turned off the TV.

Twisting a little, Dylan was able to slide his left arm under Zoe's legs and lift her. Zoe whimpered, reaching her paw up to fist Dylan's shirt and nuzzled his chest. When Dylan started to lay Zoe down into the bed but her fist wouldn't let go of his shirt. When he tried to pry her fingers away, she whimpered even louder.

Looking up, ready to ask for help, Dylan saw Amanda standing in the doorway. He mouthed 'She won't let go' in an exaggerated fashion. He watched as Amanda smiled and then shut the bedroom door. Dylan stood there for a moment before understanding what Amanda had already known. Zoe needed him. And if she needed him, he'd be here for her. It was a little awkward, but he was able to finally lay down next to Zoe, her paw still fisting his shirt.

Dylan lay there staring at Zoe. She really was very pretty. She had a great personality, was warm and giving. And he loved her sense of humor. He reached out and started stroking the fur on her back, causing her to sigh. He admitted to himself that he was more interested in Zoe than just as a friend, but he was scared that he was reading too much into it. He would just have to wait and see.

When Dylan scooted closer to her, Zoe slid her head down so her muzzle was against his shirt. So, once again, Dylan laid his head on top of hers, nuzzled her head, and drifted off into a deep sleep.

A/N: Okay, that seems like a good place to stop for right now, a bit of drama and a bit of fluff. I got to introduce Dylan to Zoe's friends. Next chapter – more fluff.

I've been thinking about posting my stories on AO3. This would allow me more leeway with how I want my stories to go, especially the ones I write that will be with the Mature rating. I won't give up on FFN here, I'll just be expanding them on AO3.

I will start posting my next fic, Deathtouched, (also a Zootopia fic) here shortly. Possibly as soon as later today. It's a common 'died and woke up in Zootopia' type with just a little twist in the beginning.

Don't worry, The Boss will be back, I have plans for that [insert obligatory evil laugh here].