Judy and Nick were both quiet, lost in their thoughts, trying to make sense of the information they had just learned.
The bunny tried her hardest to remember every interaction she ever had with Dr. Wood, but there were only the two times: when she and Nick had bumped into him after Tony Stripes had attacked City Hall, and the day after the Gazelle concert. Both times, they had been amicable with each other, and Dr. Wood had even seemed to go to great lengths to keep her job secure in the ZPD. And no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't remember a single thing she had said to him about Nick.
So why did he tell Nick I was scared of him?
Nick was sitting in his spot on the couch, eyes darting back and forth as he remembered all that Dr. Wood had told him. He kept opening his mouth to say something, but was never able to get out more than a few words at a time before his voice trailed off and he had to gather his thoughts again.
"If he said that, what else…?"
Judy turned to look at him. "What else did he lie about?" she finished.
Nick blinked, shaken from his thoughts, and turned to look at her. His face flashed a deeper shade of red as he realized he had been unintentionally thinking out loud. "Yeah…" He pursed his lips. "But I think the more important question is, why? Why would he lie about that—why would he lie about anything?"
It was something Judy wondered herself, and the uncomfortable truth was that there was no benevolent answer. Dr. Wood had been deliberate when he told Nick all these lies about her. She was not afraid of Nick, and she did not order a psychological evaluation of him, and she certainly did not call the fox a threat to society—but Dr. Wood had told Nick that she had said all of that, and more. Perhaps he was trying to test his mental capabilities to perform for the ZPD…
No. She shook her head. Doctors are required by law to never lie to their patients. And if Chief Bogo found out about this, he would have fired Dr. Wood in a heartbeat. She scrunched her nose. So… what is it?
"You don't think…?" Nick's voice caught Judy's attention once again. His eyes were wide, and his breathing shallow. "Is he… The shock collars…?"
Judy felt her heart drop in her chest. Even though he was struggling with his words, she knew exactly what he was asking.
"Is Dr. Wood involved in this conspiracy?" She knelt back down on the floor in front of Nick and stared at him. "What makes you think that?"
"The shock collars," Nick repeated. This time, he was able to articulate this thoughts more clearly. His attention remained focused on Judy, his eyes locked with hers. "Dr. Wood told us that he had an appointment with me the day before I was given my shock collar. How could he have possibly known that?"
It was a good question, and it would have been easy to use it as an excuse to paint the beaver in an unfavorable light. Even so, Judy did not want to jump to conclusions. "Maybe Rolfe told him the ZPD would be distributing dummy collars the next day?" she offered.
Nick shook his head. "No, that's impossible. The shock collars were Rolfe's idea, but Dr. Wood couldn't have known about them, because he didn't meet with Rolfe until after he mentioned my appointment."
Judy realized that Nick was correct: they had ran into the beaver before he had met with the mayor and his new assistant. The beaver had not only mentioned the upcoming appointment with Nick, he had even known exactly who Nick was when the fox introduced himself.
It was a lot harder to excuse that one…
"And what was it you told me?" Nick added. "When you met with him after the Gazelle concert. He told you that he was planning on—"
"On recommending that you be given a working shock collar anyway." Judy's voice was slow, her attention focused on remembering the conversation she had had that day. "He said it would 'do you good', and that I had saved him the trouble." She growled at that last part; even when Dr. Wood had said it, she had been appalled by his lack of professionalism.
"Exactly." Nick leaned forward, coming close enough to Judy to whisper his words—as if saying them too loud might risk making them be true. "Why would he say that? I was a cop with the ZPD, and he knew giving me a working shock collar would keep me from doing my job."
"Especially after…" Judy was about to mention the incident where she had gone savage and slashed his face, but the embarrassment overtook her. Her ears flattened against her back and she hung her head, unable to look Nick in the eye any longer. "You know," she quietly finished.
Nick saw her shame and, not wanting to prolong the unpleasant memory, quickly changed the subject. "And why were you talking with him that day in the first place?" he asked.
Judy raised her head again, though her ears remained drooped. "Well, he's the psychologist for the ZPD."
"Is he?" Nick's question caught Judy off-guard. "Think about it, Carrots. He's an independent psychologist, but he was assigned by Rolfe to evaluate the ZPD's predator officers after getting their shock collars. We didn't even know he existed until last week. He's not a part of the ZPD, so…" He leaned back in his seat and crossed his arms. "Why did you meet with him, specifically?"
"Because Bogo…" Judy stopped herself from finishing that sentence. While it was true that Bogo had told her to meet with Dr. Wood, it was only because Assistant Mayor Rolfe insisted. And based off what they had heard at the Trunk Hotel, it was clear that Rolfe himself was involved in the conspiracy—though, to what degree, it was still unclear.
If Rolfe is involved… and Dr. Wood is working with him…
"But why?" Judy stood back up and turned around, hugging herself as the feeling of discomfort grew in the pit of her stomach. "Why would he be involved in this? What would he have to gain from it?"
Nick rested his head against the back of the couch and closed his eyes, exhausted from all the thinking from the past few hours. "I don't know, Carrots. I just don't know. What does anyone have to gain from any of this?" He took a deep breath and let out a long, loud exhale. "I just want to go home, take a nap, and wake up when this is all over," he lamented quietly. "I miss being a cop and just having to worry about petty theft and speeding boars." He let out a single snicker. "Honestly, right now I'd even take parking duty," he mumbled under his breath.
Judy heard him, and let out an involuntary chuckle. While she wouldn't go that far, she had to admit that she missed the usual days on the job as well. It was usually slow and unexciting, but right now she would have preferred that to hiding in a hole hundreds of miles away while the city collapsed further in on itself.
"I'd probably take press conference duty," she admitted. She turned back around to look at him again. "Just standing there, doing nothing for a few hours…"
She paused. Press conference…
Nick opened his eyes and looked at her. He raised an eyebrow. "What is it?" he asked.
The bunny leaped onto the couch beside Nick, snatched her phone off the end table, and opened the ZNN app. "There's a press conference going on right now," she quickly explained. "I don't know what it's about, but I know we need to watch it!"
The fox's curiosity only increased as Judy opened the live video and filled it to the entirety of the phone's screen. "And you know this how?" he inquired. Judy placed a finger on her lips, answering his question while at the same time dodging it.
Assistant Mayor Rolfe stood behind a podium, City Hall prominently visible behind him. A dozen microphones were pointed in his direction. A news ticker scrolled along the bottom of the screen, repeating the phrase "Breaking News" over and over again in an endless loop.
It appeared as if the press conference had only started a few moments prior; Rolfe was in the middle of reading his prepared statement, and a few animals visible in the reflection of the windows behind him were busy writing down notes as he spoke. "I want to make it absolutely clear," he said, "Mayor Lionheart will return to work tomorrow. Dr. Aaram at Zootopia General Hospital has personally assured me that Mayor Lionheart is in excellent health, and this temporary setback has not impeded his ability to perform."
The ticket on the bottom of the screen updated. It now read: "Lionheart in Hospital – Rolfe New Interim Mayor".
Judy's heart sped in her chest. The conversation she and Nick had overheard in the Trunk Hotel reverberated in her mind. Rolfe had promised he would become the new mayor of Zootopia soon, and it was happening now. Even though he had just assured the press that Lionheart would return, and even though the headline made him out to only be the interim mayor…
She glanced over at Nick, who shared her worried expression. She could tell just from the look on his face that he was thinking exactly the same thing she was: Rolfe had just taken over Zootopia, and there was nothing they could do about it.
She forced herself to look back at the livestream. Rolfe was nearing the end of his speech. "My heart goes out to Mayor Lionheart. I wish him a speedy recovery, and I look forward to seeing him return to City Hall tomorrow." He looked up from the paper in his paws and stared at the crowd in front of him. "Ladies and gentlemammals of Zootopia, I know I am not very popular among you—especially not among my fellow predators." He stood a little bit taller; Judy couldn't help but notice his dummy shock collar catch a bit of sunlight and reflect it into the camera. "But it is my hope to prove myself to you during this short absence of Mayor Lionheart. I can make no promises, except that I will do my best."
A few mammals in the crowd clapped, but most of them simply continued writing down notes; it was a press conference, after all, and most of the attendees were reporters.
"At this time," Rolfe concluded, "I will turn the mic over to Chief Bogo of the ZPD, who has a few things he'd like to say." Rolfe stepped aside, and immediately, the much bigger, hulking form of Bogo entered the frame and took his place in front of the microphones. He cleared his throat and began talking.
"Thank you, Interim Mayor Rolfe." Bogo emphasized the word so slowly and strongly, it was obvious to everyone in attendance that he wanted to make sure the wolf did not forget that his position was only temporary. He turned his attention to the crowd. "Citizens of Zootopia, as chief of police, it is my job to ensure the correct transition of power has been followed during times like these. This afternoon, Mr. Rolfe informed me that Mayor Lionheart had been sent to the hospital for a non-life-threatening medical emergency. I did not want to believe it myself, but—"
"Wait a minute…"
Nick's voice broke Judy's concentration. She turned down the volume with one of her paws, and turned to look at him. "What is it?" she asked.
Nick pointed at her phone, frowning. "Didn't those idiots in the Trunk Hotel crush this thing into a million pieces?"
Judy was confused for a second, before realizing that Nick was talking about her old phone. "Oh. Didn't I tell you?" She flipped the phone over so the back side faced up. "New phone." She rubbed the frosted glass with one paw. "See? My old one was white, this one's blue." She flashed a smile in Nick's direction. "And this is a newer model, too!"
Nick stared at her in bewilderment. "And when exactly did you get this?"
"You remember when I went into town to get our swimsuits?"
The fox continued to stare at her, struggling to understand how she could be so casual about this. "So you decided to pick up a swimsuit for a male fox and…" He glanced back at the phone. "A new iCarrot?" He looked back at her, his confused expression slowly turning into one of worry. "Didn't you think that would look a little suspicious?"
"I got a new swimsuit for myself as well," Judy pointed out. She once again flipped the phone so they could look at the screen. "And besides, I needed a new phone."
Nick snorted. "You really couldn't live without MuzzleTime for a few days?"
She rolled her eyes in response. "Oh, come on, do you really think so little of me?" she asked in a teasing tone of voice. She quickly exited out of ZNN and loaded up the messages app in its place. "Here, allow me to demonstrate."
She typed a message out and sent it, so fast it was impossible for Nick to follow along. She quickly returned to ZNN and cranked up the audio.
Bogo was still talking. "We at the ZPD are still hard at work investigating these attacks." He brought a hoof down on the podium, though probably not as aggressively as he would have preferred. "I repeat, they are not savage attacks. We still don't know what they are, exactly, but to call them 'savage' is irresponsible and, moreover, incorrect. Unlike what some of you so-called journalists have been reporting, these predators are perfectly cognizant during their attacks, they have no traces of Night Howlers in their blood streams afterwards, and no, Infur Wars, there is not a previous pattern of violence among them." He glared at the mammals in the crowd, picking out the ones he especially disliked and gave them dirty looks. "And I will remind all of you here: this press conference concerns Interim Mayor Rolfe, not an ongoing investigation with the ZPD. As such, I will not be taking any more questions on the matter, and I will encourage all of you to exercise discipline." He gritted his teeth and once again brought a hoof down on the podium. "Discipline, I say!"
A loud feminine squeal filled the air.
Judy had to stifle a laugh as Bogo's face burned bright red. He tried to maintain his composure, but when the squeal began to sound a second time, he scrambled to pull his phone out of his pocket and silence it. "My apologies," he awkwardly mumbled as his thumbs swiftly moved across his phone's screen. "I must have forgotten to silence this before…" He tried forcing a smile, then stepped aside so the many microphones would not pick up Gazelle's squeal a third time.
Rolfe once again stepped back up to the podium. He stared after Bogo, a perplexed expression on his face. "Okay…" He cleared his throat and addressed the crowd again. "That will end this press conference. Any further questions can be directed to the offices of both the mayor and assistant mayor." He took a short bow. "It's been a real slice of heaven." He stepped away from the podium and, as the camera tracked him, he walked into the main entrance of City Hall.
Nick shot Judy a look as the rabbit started to chuckle uncontrollably. "So…" He looked from her to her phone, and back to her again. "You've been messaging Chief Balto all this time?"
Judy put a paw to her eyes to keep them from watering. "Yes!" she exclaimed. "And it's hilarious! Did you see the look on his face?"
"Yes, I did, and I'd pay a lot of money to see it again," the fox admitted. He waved his paws at her phone in exasperation. "But there's no way this is a secure line!"
Judy stopped laughing long enough to pull open her messages app once again. "I know, you dumb fox." She brought up her message history with Bogo and showed it to him. "The chief and I are talking to each other in a new language." She flashed him the same sly smile he was so good at. "Look: it's called 'code'," she sarcastically finished.
The last several messages were, indeed, written in code. When Judy had put in the request for the lab tests on the coffee cup, she had written, "Can you buy some pinto beans the next time you're at the market? ~L". And when she had informed him they were safely hiding in Bunnyburrow, the message read, "I'll be visiting your cousins this weekend. I'll call you when I arrive. ~L"
Nick looked at her, his own sly smile slowly starting to form on his face. "And let me guess. 'L' stands for…?"
Judy nodded. "Laverne. As in Judy Laverne Hopps." She locked her phone and set it back down on the table. "Do you remember when I sent that text to Bogo before we went into the Trunk Hotel?"
Nick's face lit up in realization. "You were letting him know that you were switching over to code?" Judy nodded, and Nick chuckled at her ingenuity. "Clever bunny." He reached over to her and patted her on the head. "You know I love you, right?"
It was an innocent question, one that Nick had asked many times in the past. She had always acknowledged that yes, yes she did know that. But the deeper meaning to his question had always evaded her.
Until now.
Now she knew, Nick did love her. She had come to the realization the day before, during their second date. Nick loved her—as her best friend, and as something more. He had spent every day of his life getting stronger for her. He had spent as much time with her as he could, both at work and while off duty. He had all but admitted that he had feelings for her, and that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her, so there was absolutely no doubt in her mind that, yes, Nick loved her.
Answering Nick's question was easy. There was, however, a more important question that now presented itself to Judy.
Do I love him the same way?
It was a question that she struggled to answer. She certainly felt close to Nick; after all they had been through, it was hard not to. And she trusted him with her life, just as much as he trusted her with his. And she certainly had enjoyed the dates they had shared so far; in fact, the one from yesterday was one of the best days of her life that she could remember.
She did love Nick… but just how much?
After their first date, she remembered feeling a mixture of excitement and anxiety at the thought of the two of them being together. She struggled with feelings of imposter syndrome—that Nick wouldn't want her, because their personalities were just too different, or because she kept finding new ways to make his life miserable, or even just because of the fact that she was a bunny and he was a fox. And in the days since then, she had made Nick's life miserable, nearly gotten him killed, and even physically hurt him the night she had gone savage.
But it was clear, in the week since then, that he didn't care about any of that. To him, she was perfect—flaws and all—and he wanted to be with her. She was sure right now, if she allowed it, he would hug her tight and never let her go again. He had forgiven her, he had been there for her, and he had never stopped loving her.
And I have never stopped loving him…
She had done awful things to him, of course, but Nick had forgiven her, and she needed to forgive herself. She needed to admit that, all along, she did have feelings for him, and as she sat there with him in this very moment, she realized that she had never allowed herself to feel them before.
It was time.
She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, searching her soul for the feelings she knew were there. She pictured Nick in her mind: the sly smile, the red fur, the emerald eyes, the silly Pawaiian outfits he always wore…
Her heart fluttered with excitement.
Nick's voice echoed in her mind, though she wasn't sure if it was something he had said for real or if she was just making it up. "I have a lot of thoughts to sort through, and a lot of feelings for you that I'm not sure how to express. But I do know one thing, and I think it's time I stopped trying to deny it."
She imagined the gentle feeling of the fox's lips pressed against her cheek. He lingered for a few seconds, before pulling back. "I love you, Judy Hopps."
He had never called her by that name before—her full, real name. And somehow, hearing it right now, even if it wasn't real, made her feel something she had never felt before.
Endearment.
Her breath caught in her throat. Whether the words she heard were real or not, she knew Nick felt this way about her. It was the warmest, most impassioned feeling she had ever experienced. It made her feel protected, comfortable, and safe with him. She wanted to feel this way forever, and knew that as long as she was with Nick, she would.
So this is love…
She felt a smile form on her face against her will. Yes. I love Nick. It was a realization that was a long time coming, but she could finally admit it to herself, and the thought brought her joy. All of her doubts were stripped away, and all of her excuses were silenced in her head. She loved her fox, and it was about time that she admitted it—both to herself, and to him.
My fox…
"Nick?" she asked.
"Judy!"
The voice called out before Nick could respond. She snapped open her eyes just in time to see Sara round the corner. Her sister ran into the den, phone raised high in the air. "You're not going to believe this…" She quickly stopped in her tracks. "Oh." She bashfully stared at the two of them; Nick's paw was still resting on Judy's head, and Judy had a dopey smile on her face. "Am I interrupting something?"
Judy was still half-stuck in her daydream, and didn't quite understand her sister. Nick, however, was suddenly embarrassed at being caught with his fox paw on a bunny's head in her own home, and pulled away bashfully. "No, not at all!" he quickly assured Sara. "We were just…" He struggled to come up with an excuse. "Uh…"
Judy finally came to her senses. She felt her ears heat up with embarrassment, suddenly very conscious of just how close she and Nick were sitting together on the couch. "Oh! Uh…" She found herself struggling just as much as Nick in coming up with excuses. "Yeah, we were just…" She grabbed her phone and held it up. "Researching!"
Nick nodded. "Yes, that's it! Researching! For the…" He once again stumbled over his words. "Uh…"
"The case," Judy finished, smiling in Sara's direction. "Yes, the very important case we are working on!"
"That's it!" Nick agreed. He gave Sara an unconvincing grin. "The case, of course!"
Sara stared at them, unamused. She gave them a few seconds to try and come up with a better excuse, but when they just continued smiling at her in silence, she gave them a mischievous smirk of her own. "You know, I could tell Mom and Dad what I saw—"
Immediately, Judy and Nick threw their arms up, both of them repeatedly and loudly begging for her to not do that. Sara continued to stare smugly at the two of them as they pleaded, repeatedly, for her to not say a word about it to her parents. It was only when Judy became vocal about her worries that Stu might kill Nick if he found out, and Nick said he was scared to death that he would be turned into a pie of some kind, that she chuckled and relented.
"Don't worry, your secret's safe with me," she assured them.
The way she said it caused Judy's ears to burn all the hotter. "Sara, we weren't doing anything!" she assured her sister.
"I didn't even touch her!" Nick cried out. A second later, he dropped his voice to a mumble and added, "Okay, I did touch her." He once again reached out his paw to Judy's head and started rubbing it, this time a bit more aggressively than before. His voice once again rose as he tried to convince Sara of his innocence. "But I was only rubbing her head! That's it! Nothing more! Isn't a guy allowed to rub someone's head every once in a while?"
Sara's mischievous expression faded as she started to cackle. Judy slowly felt the panic leave her body as she realized that her sister was simply teasing them, and apparently having a fun time doing so. Nick's arm dropped off of Judy's head and landed limp on the couch as he, too, realized that Sara was playing a game with them—a mean game, which they would probably laugh at later.
But right now, the only one laughing was Sara.
"Oh, you two!" Sara slapped her knee and closed her eyes as she took a gasp for breath in-between giggles. "You should have seen the looks on your faces!"
The bunny and the fox on the couch both sighed in relief and sagged further into their respective cushions. Nick let out a half-hearted chuckle at the ordeal, while Judy glared at Sara in disapproval. "What did you want, Sara?" she grumbled.
Sara's eyes widened as she remembered why she had come in the first place. "Oh yeah!" She approached the two of them, suddenly serious. She held up her phone and showed the screen to the two of them. "I looked at the papers you gave me. I've got something to show you."
Judy sat back up and looked at Sara's phone screen. Right now, it just showed the results of the coffee cup from the lab at the ZPD—nothing she hadn't seen before. Sara then swiped the screen to the right, showing the prescription Nick had given her. Something was circled in red.
"To most people, this would look like a normal anti-anxiety medication," Sara explained. "But this ingredient here is one that usually isn't included."
Judy glanced over at Nick, who was studying the phone screen intently. According to him, he hadn't even looked at it before giving it to Sara, so this was all new to him as well. "What is it, then?" he asked.
Sara's face beamed with pride. "Well, actually…" She swiped the screen right again, and a new picture appeared before Judy and Nick, one that neither of them had seen before. Sara, in a white lab coat, was taking a selfie with various other mammals, all around the same age that she was, and all wearing identical white coats. "It's a brand-new chemical that isn't even on the market yet. I only know about it because I was involved in the clinical trials during my internship at Pfizroar last semester."
The next picture looked to be a patent application. The text was too small to read, but there was a diagram of the chemical Sara mentioned on the top of the page, breaking it down into easy-to-read language for the patent office to understand. "This patent was actually part of my internship. We were synthesizing a new alternative to a…"
Sara's voice faded, and Judy looked at her sister to see what was wrong. The pride was gone from the rabbit's face, replaced with shame. Whatever she was going to say next, it wasn't good.
"Go on," Judy encouraged.
Sara hesitated for a second, but finally took a deep breath, nodded, and swiped to the next picture. "This chemical in Nick's prescription?" She swiped again, returning to the coffee cup results. This time, a section was also circled in red. "It's the same chemical here."
Judy gasped softly. Beside her, Nick froze.
"This explains everything." Sara pocketed her phone and exchanged looks with the fox and bunny in front of her. There was excitement in her voice, but Judy also noticed something else—almost a hint of dread. "This drug was created to aid victims of PTSD. We had hoped it would suppress their negative emotions, but in our tests—"
"It amplified them instead," Nick finished in a soft, almost inaudible voice.
Sara slowly nodded in response. "And what's worse, after a full dose, our lab rats had no memory of what happened afterwards." She turned to look straight at Judy. "Just like with any other drug, when mixed in with a drink of some kind, it took effect faster, but the effects didn't last as long. Whoever was prescribed this medication must have mixed it in with their coffee that day, and even just a single sip would have—"
"Sara." Judy cut her sister off and stared at her intently, silently demanding a simple answer to her next question. "What is it you were synthesizing?"
Sara hesitated, probably embarrassed to admit it, but finally swallowed, cleared her throat, and answered.
"Midnicampum holicithias."
Judy felt her heart sink in her chest. Her nose twitched, ever so slightly, as her worst fears were realized. "You mean…?"
Sara nodded. "Night Howlers," she confirmed. "Judy, somebody is using a synthetic version of Night Howlers, to cause the predators in Zootopia to go savage."