Chapter 24 Settling Down

Judy walked through the darkened streets of Zootopia. Her mood was so much higher than it had been with Wendy, so much so that it was kind of miraculous. She stopped, breathing in the scent of home. Aww, so crisp and clean; this was exactly the type of atmosphere that Judy loved. She smiled and continued walking, counting her blessings and hoping for fun times in the future. After she passed by the police station, she stopped to consider her next course of action. Should she go in? Hmm… probably wouldn't hurt. Hey, maybe if she was lucky, she would see Nick! Oh man, Nick. She had missed him; really and truly missed him. Really, was there a more appropriate way of easing back into her normal lifestyle than going to see her dearly beloved, amazing friend?

With this thought in mind, she went into the station. Despite the fact that it was in the middle of the night, it was still fairly busy. In fact, Judy even saw Nick and Clawhauser talking to each other at the front desk. Judy's smile grew bigger; oh, this was too perfect! She walked over to them, using every ounce of self control she had to not break out into a run. When she got closer, she could hear the conversation Nick and Clawhauser were having.

"I just don't know, Clawhauser!" Nick explained. His usually smug but calm voice was an octave higher than it usually was. "I've searched everywhere, but Judy is nowhere to be found!" His breathing sped up. "It's like she fell off the face of the earth!"

Clawhauser furrowed his brow. "Well… maybe we should expand our search. We should alert the police stations in the towns outside of Zootopia to be on alert." He grabbed the phone off the desk. "Don't worry Nick," he said as he pressed some of the buttons. "We'll find her. I promise."

Nick's breathing rate didn't slow down at all at that sentence. "How can I not worry? What if something terrible happened to her!" He whimpered and started to turn around. "Oh, I would never forgive myself if she wasn't…"

He stopped. Judy smiled at him, on some level appreciating the wide eyed surprise that he was showing toward her presence. Clawhauser looked past him, and his own jaw dropped when he saw their fellow officer.

"Judy?" Clawhauser exclaimed.

Nick took a step forward, holding out his hand as if to touch Judy's cheek. "Carrots? Is that really you?"

Judy nodded. "Yes, Nick. It's me. I'm alright."

Nick's jaw dropped. He didn't speak, just gawked at her like she was some sort of hologram. When he touched her cheek, however, his mood changed completely. He broke out into a smile, grabbing hold of Judy and holding her in the most bear-like hug that a fox could possibly give to someone.

"Carrots! Carrots Carrots Carrots, I'm so glad to see you!" Nick laughed a little, and Judy was surprised to see tears streaming down his red-furred face. "I was so worried! You just disappeared like that, without any warning or note or text or…" he laughed. "Oh, I'm just so happy to see you again!"

Judy chuckled and returned his hug. "I'm glad to see you too, Nick." She buried her face into his warm, furry chest, the action providing her with some of the most relaxed, smooth moods she had ever felt.

Clawhauser still gawked at this display. "Uh… I hate to break up such an awesome reunion, but… Judy, where did you go?"

"Yeah!" Nick let go of his friend. "Where did you go, Judy? What happened to you?"

Judy let out a breath as her ears drooped. "Well…" she hesitated, not knowing whether revealing all of the details of her stay with Wendy was a good idea. "Uh…" Eventually, she decided to speak. She would have to tell them everything eventually, after all. "I was kidnapped."

Both Nick's and Clawhauser's eyes grew wide. "KIDNAPPED!" they exclaimed in unison.

"By whom?" Nick asked, his voice now two octaves higher than it normally was.

Judy bit her lip. She got to explaining everything to them, doing her best to be as faithful to the sequence of events as possible. By the time she was done, both Nick and Clawhauser looked even more confused than they had originally.

"Are you pulling our leg, Judy?" Clawhauser asked.

Judy shook her head. "No, that's what happened. I swear, that's exactly what went down; I haven't been hit in the head or anything."

Nick wrinkled his nose. "Huh. I… I suppose I should have known there was something fishy about that turtle girl the second we pulled her over." He examined Judy. "And I've gotta say; for a girl who clearly cares a lot about fashion, she kind of did you dirty when it comes to the outfit you're wearing right now."

Judy blinked. She looked down at her outfit, all at once realizing that she wore the pajamas that Wendy had bought her. Judy actually giggled as she looked at Bowser's emblem; to the everyday Zootopia citizen, it did look pretty outlandish.

"Yeah," Judy said with a laugh. "It is pretty strange. But I do have to admit, it sure is comfortable."

Nick shook his head with a smile. "Because that's what's most important in this scenario." He smiled down at Judy. "Whatever, I'm just glad you're back."

"Me too Nick." Judy's heart welled with joy. "Me too."

…

Wendy couldn't remember the last time she had felt this… conflicted.

Sure, letting Judy go was the right thing to do. All the points that the rabbit officer had made about friendship, as well as all the points made about why she and Wendy would never be friends, made sense. In fact they all made too much sense. Wendy should've known that what she was doing was wrong. One could even argue that she had known all this time, but was pushing the thoughts stirred by her conscience all the way to the back corner of her mind.

How healthy.

But even with that knowledge in her position, as well as the knowledge that Judy was going to be safe and well, Wendy still felt bad. Why? Well… she didn't know where to go from here. She wanted friends; very desperately wanted friends. In Judy's words, she wanted somebody who she could share in the journey of life with. A female specifically. As great as her brothers were, there were just somethings that they failed to grasp.

But could she find someone? That question plagued her mind, making her feel even more lonely than ever. Based on what had happened with Judy, she had reason to believe that she woul never make a good friend. That she was too selfish, too self-centered to successfully keep anyone around. And honestly… that thought terrified her. Not only did she want good friends, she wanted to be a good friend. She wanted to give as much as she took, maybe even more so. The things that Judy had said to her when they were in Zootopia had alerted Wendy of that fact.

And now, making real friends seemed like the most difficult uphill battle that Wendy would ever face. It could potentially take forever for her to strike gold. A thought that actually caused her to cry. She tried wiping her tears, telling herself that all the crying she was doing wasn't going to be productive or beneficial in the end. But even then… she couldn't stop.

As such, she mostly stuck to herself when she got back to Bowser's Castle. She walked slowly and quietly, even taking off her heels to make sure none of her brother's heard her. By the time she got back to her bedroom, her face was soaked. She got in bed, pulling the covers up fully so that they practically covered her face. She curled up into a ball, prepared to sleep the night away and wake up the next morning with a fresh, friendless start.

"Wendy?"

Wendy blinked. She sat up, feeling surprised to see Lemmy in the doorway. The littlest Koopaling came in, looking at her with a concern in his big, shining eyes.

"Is everything okay?" Lemmy looked around. "Where's that little rabbit girl?"

"You mean Judy?" Wendy hesitated. "That's… that's sort of a long story…"

She explained everything that had happened to her to Lemmy, who was all ears. He frowned a deep frown when Wendy got to the end of the story, and his frown only got deeper as Wendy's tears came back in full force.

"I just… I'm just…" Wendy sniffled and wiped her face. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay," Lemmy said. "I mean, it is sad, all that's happened to you."

Wendy nodded. "Do you…" she hesitated, unsure if she should even ask this next question. "Do you think I'll make friends eventually? Like, friends that who will want to stay around me? Friends who… well, I know for a fact I'll keep around for a long time?"

Surprisingly, Lemmy didn't even hesitated to answer this. "Of course!"

Wendy did a double take. "You…" she put her hand to her chest, specifically, right on top of her heart. "You really think so?"

"Of course! You're awesome, Wendy!" Lemmy giggled. "Plus, on top of that, you are very nice and friendly when you aren't busy kidnapping interdimensional bunny people."

Wendy laughed right alongside him. "I… I guess that is true…"

"It's more than true! You're a joy to be around Wendy! We love having you as a sister!" Lemmy's eyes glittered. "And I know that somewhere out there, there are people in the world who would love having you as a friend."

Wendy's face grew warm. She smiled, the action probably the most natural thing that she had done in the last few days. "Thanks Lemmy. You're very sweet."

"You're welcome." Lemmy yawned. "Well… I would recommend getting some sleep. Dimension hopping is enough to tucker anybody out."

"True that," Wendy said. Once Lemmy left the room, she got back under the covers. She thought about the things that Lemmy had said. She was nice and friendly. The others loved having her as a sister. Sure, she still felt guilty about everything she had done, so she didn't know if the words Lemmy had spoken were completely true. But even then, they filled her with hope. They diminished the desperation she had felt all throughout her interactions with Judy.

Wendy smiled. Maybe making friends wouldn't be so impossible after all.

AN: Well… it's finished! Man, it feels so nice to finish another story, especially seeing how this is the first one I finished in September. Thank you guys so much for reading, and a big shoutout to JBlaser for sending me this idea. You are awesome, and I really had fun with this story overall. I'm sorry you had to wait through such a long hiatus.

Well, that will be all for now! Stay safe and stay awesome guys! :)