Is this heaven?

That was the first thing Nick thought when he opened his eyes. At first, all he could see was a bright, foggy light—a vague indication that he was no longer drowning in the car. But after he blinked a few times, his vision came back into focus. And he couldn't believe what he saw.

He was surrounded by bunnies. Dozens of them. They were all crowded around him, staring at his face in silent awe. Even as he became more and more conscious, and started to dart his eyes from one bunny to another, none of them reacted. They just kept looking at him, curious and strangely interested in him.

Or is this hell…?

Nick tried to lift his head, but it felt heavy and weighed down. After trying to sit up even just an inch or two, he collapsed, too dizzy to continue. After resting for a few seconds, he managed to look down in the direction of his feet. Past all the inquisitive bunny faces that crowded his sight, he was able to see a thick blanket lying on top of his body, and light pouring in from a small window in the wall on the opposite side of the room.

The room itself was not very big; he was sure he would knock his head against the ceiling if he stood up straight. The walls seemed to have been made out of dirt—or rather, they were carved straight from the dirt itself. The only furniture in the room, besides the bed he currently lay upon, was a simple bunny-sized wardrobe beside the window, and a small end table beside the bed.

Looking around for too long made him feel light-headed again, and he rested his head back on the pillow. Well, if I am dead, this doesn't feel much different from being alive. He closed his eyes and tried to take a deep breath. However, as he inhaled, he choked, and found himself coughing uncontrollably. It hurt to cough, but he couldn't stop, and after only a couple of seconds, he was coughing so hard that he couldn't take a breath.

This is definitely hell. A fox, in torment, surrounded by cute bunnies who can't do anything to help.

Someone placed a paw on his chest and pressed firmly. Nick felt his lungs contract under the pressure, and something push past his throat. He was barely able to turn his head to the side before he felt the water emerge from his mouth. It was embarrassing, throwing up in front of so many watchful eyes, but to his relief, the coughing stopped, and he was able to breathe again.

The paw slid up from his chest and rested on his cheek, stroking his fur tenderly. For a moment, Nick allowed himself to enjoy the feeling. He didn't know who had just saved his life—he could barely even remember his own name at the moment—but whoever it was, they were making sure he knew he was not alone, and that he was safe with them. He felt his consciousness slip away from him, but this time, he was at peace.

Maybe this is heaven, after all. Funny, I never thought I'd be surrounded by bunnies in heaven…

His eyes snapped open. Wait. Bunnies?

A bunny was kneeling down on the floor next to him. She was the one stroking his cheek—the one who had just saved him. And, the more he began to remember, the more he realized this was not the first time she must have saved his life.

He jerked up. "Judy!" he screamed. He tried sitting straight up, but once again, he grew too dizzy and collapsed back on the bed. He tried again, but this time he heard a sharp beep in his ear—an indication that his shock collar had registered his accelerating heart rate.

Judy placed both paws on his shoulders to try and calm him down. "It's okay, Nick," she assured him in a soft voice. She placed one paw back on his cheek and gently angled his head so he could match her gaze. She smiled at him. "You're alive. You're okay. Just relax."

Oh, he was alive all right; the throbbing at the back of his head was proof enough of that. But even though he was in pain, Judy's gentle voice and touch helped to quickly calm him down. With no strength to fight back, he obeyed, and lay back down on the bed. As soon as his head rested on the pillow, the throbbing faded, though it did not entirely disappear.

He took a deep breath, and vowing to never take oxygen for granted ever again. He forced himself to stay conscious, focusing all his attention on the bunny in front of him. Her beautiful amethyst eyes were a stark contrast to the dull, earthy colors of the rest of the room. She was no longer wearing her officer uniform, instead sporting a yellow tank top and blue jean shorts. The tips of her ears, which were normally black, were now dyed to match the gray of the rest of her fur; if he hadn't known better, he might have mistaken her for a different bunny altogether, and he suspected that was on purpose.

As he started to fully regain his senses, he took a good look around, trying to figure out where they were. Clearly, it wasn't a hospital—nor, he realized, any place he had ever been before. He had spent a lot of time in Zootopia, and in all his years he couldn't recall a single instance of being in a place like this, surrounded by this many bunnies.

"Where are we?" he finally managed to ask.

"A safe house." Judy looked around the room and smiled at the other bunnies—all of whom, up until now, had not said a word or moved an inch as long as Nick had been awake. "This is my old bedroom, where I grew up."

"So…" Nick tried to take another look around the room, but found the many eyes staring at him to be too distracting. "We're in Bunnyburrow?" For a second, he was impressed. Somehow, Judy had dragged him from the river and got him all the way to her hometown—hundreds of miles away from Zootopia, and just as far away from everyone who was trying to kill them.

However…

He turned back to Judy and frowned. "So it's not a safe house," he snorted.

Judy smirked. "Yes it is." She raised her two paws and held them apart. "A safe house, with a space in the middle. A house that is safe."

The irony was not lost on Nick. When they had first met, he had sold "red wood" to a construction crew, and Judy had not appreciated his choice of words. He should have known that she would one day find the opportunity to pull the same wordplay on him. He just didn't expect it would happen so soon after he had brushed against death's door.

He conceded a small smile. "Yeah. That's cute."

Judy finally turned her attention to the other bunnies in the room. She stood up and clapped her paws. "All right, guys, that's enough," she announced. She walked over to the door and opened it. "No more staring at the fox. Time to leave and let him rest."

Finally, the bunnies turned their attention away from him. Many of them let out disappointed sighs. A few protested Judy's orders. Nick swore he heard one of the smaller ones ask if they could stay just a little bit longer. But, to his relief, they all nonetheless complied, and after only a surprisingly short time, they had all vacated the room, leaving just him and Judy alone.

He glanced and Judy and smiled. "Let me guess. Your family?"

Judy closed the door and folded her paws behind her back. A blush flashed across her face. "Yeah, it's a bunny thing." She walked back over to the bed. "I have almost three hundred brothers and sisters, and a lot of them have kids of their own."

"And I take it they've never seen a fox before?"

"Some of them haven't," she confessed. "Gideon Grey helps out a lot on the farm, but these younger ones aren't old enough to work yet, so they haven't met him." She sheepishly knelt back down beside him. "I hope they didn't scare you."

He raised an eyebrow. "Scare me?" he repeated, wondering if he heard correctly.

"Well, yeah." Judy placed a paw near his forehead, though he could not feel her touch on his fur or skin. "I can't imagine what that must have been like. One moment you're drowning, and the next…"

For the first time, Nick realized that something was wrapped around his head. Judy was busy moving it to the side. Within a few seconds, she had pulled it away from him, and he saw that it was a white bunny-sized towel; she had probably dampened it in warm water earlier to help his body fight off a cold from the river.

He finished the thought for her. "The next, you wake up, surrounded by dozens of bunny kits, wondering which side of the afterlife you ended up on."

Judy stood back up and folded the towel. "Yeah. I guess I've put you through a lot lately." She paused, clearly deep in thought, before finally placing the towel on the night stand beside the bed. "It's all my fault," she whispered.

Nick had a hard time responding. Yes, she had put him through a lot. The Trunk Hotel, the shock collars, the Gazelle concert—and the worst part was, they still weren't out of this yet. They were now little more than fugitives, forced into hiding away from an entire city that had only ever looked up to them. If Judy had covered her tracks as well as he hoped, they might even be presumed dead.

It was not a pleasant thought—and Judy was right, it was her fault. It was her fault he was still in his shock collar right now. It was her fault they had failed at the Trunk Hotel. It was her fault they were here in Bunnyburrow, faking their own deaths to protect their lives. And it was her fault…

He closed his eyes tight. No. This isn't her fault.

He was still alive, because of her. She had saved his life, and had taken him hundreds of miles to safety to keep him alive. No matter what had led up to his moment, that was what mattered most.

"I'm safe now," he finally said. He caught her gaze and locked eyes with her as he continued. "I'm alive. And so are you." He forced a smile. "And like you said, we are in a safe house, so there's nothing to worry about now. Right?"

His words seemed to help her feel better. She let out a short sigh and smiled in return. "Yeah, there's just one problem."

A sound interrupted her. Nick turned his attention, as best he could, toward the open door, beyond which the sound had come from. It took him a moment to recognize the sound as that of another door opening, far away. "Hello!" a voice echoed from down the hallway. "We're home!"

Judy grimaced. "And there it is," she murmured.

Nick looked back at her, suddenly uneasy. "What? What's the problem?" he asked.

Before she could answer, a bunny appeared in the doorway. Nick had seen enough photos of Judy's family to instantly recognize her as Judy's mother, Bonnie. She was holding two bags of groceries, one in each arm, and had a smile on her face. "Welcome home, Judy!" she proudly exclaimed. "Cotton called me while were in town, said Gideon Grey brought you in, so your father and I decided to grab a few things for…" Her voice slowed to a stop as she finally saw Nick, lying down on Judy's bed. Her eyes widened, and the grocery bags in her arms began to shake. "You… and…" was all she was able to say after that.

Immediately behind her, another bunny walked into the room—Judy's father, Stu. His eyes were closed, and a smile was plastered on his face. "Look! We brought you some breakfast!" He opened his eyes. "I hope you're in the mood for…" His eyes settled on Nick, and like Bonnie before him, he suddenly found himself at a loss for words. "For… for…"

Their reactions were not anything new to Nick; he had been subjected to prejudice his entire life. But the fact that it was Judy's parents who were acting this way caught him off-guard. He found himself dumbfounded at the whole thing, and for the next several seconds, an awkward silence filled the room.

Stu, never taking his eyes off Nick, leaned his head in Judy's direction. "Judy," he whispered loudly, "hand me your fox taser."

Judy didn't have a fox taser. She didn't even carry her fox repellant anymore; she had thrown it away months ago. Nick knew she would never own anything like that ever again, so the absurdness of Stu's words caught him by surprise. He wasn't sure if Stu was making a very bad joke or if he was somehow serious, and he didn't know what he could possibly say in the moment to lessen the tension in the room.

Luckily, he didn't have to. Judy immediately took a step forward and threw up her paws. "Dad, he's with me. It's okay."

Stu jerked his attention to her in disbelief. "You brought a fox to our home?" He feverishly gestured in Nick's direction, nearly knocking the groceries out of Bonnie's arms as he did so. "To your bedroom? To your bed?"

Almost instinctively, Judy quickly stepped between her parents and Nick, who was still having a hard time fully comprehending what was going on. She stood there for a few seconds, and when she was sure that her father wouldn't suddenly pounce on the fox, she took a deep breath, stepped aside, and placed a paw on Nick's forehead. "Mom, Dad…" She patted her paw. "This is Nick."

Her parents' attention moved from her, to Nick, back to her, and back to Nick. He tried to force a smile, but all he could manage was a weak baring of his teeth—which, he was sure, did more harm than good.

Bonnie spoke up for the first time—but not before dropping her bags of groceries on the ground in shock. "Nick? I thought Nick was a raccoon!"

Nick stared at her, wondering if he had misheard. A raccoon…?

Stu, lost in his own thoughts, started stuttering. "But Judy, he… I mean, you and… You two are…" He gasped and covered his mouth with both paws. "Judy, your boyfriend is a fox?"

Nick blinked. "Boyfriend?"

Judy threw her paws up in bewilderment. "He is not my boyfriend," she quickly insisted, and then immediately added, "And what is wrong with you two? I thought you were over this! I mean, you've been working with Gideon Grey for how long now? And…" She struggled to find the right words to use next, so instead she placed her paw back on Nick's forehead. "Look. Nick's hurt. He almost died last night. I brought him here because this is a place where he can recover, without putting him in danger." She raised her voice again—something Nick wasn't used to seeing from her. "And the last thing he needs right now is this kind of behavior from you! Look at him!" She pointed at the shock collar around his neck. "That right there? Predators have to wear those now. Predators are branded, just for being predators, and it has already hurt Nick in ways you can't even imagine. So can you please just—"

Bonnie threw up her paws. "It's all right," she said quietly. "It's all right. Calm down, dear."

Judy's face was red with rage, but she listened to her mother and stopped shouting. She swallowed hard, then finished, softly, "He's my friend, and he is welcome in this home."

Nick stared at her, completely awed by her loyalty to him. Perhaps she was just mad at her parents for their insensitivity, but he felt there was more to it than that. She seemed more protective of him than usual; speaking so strongly to her own parents was something he didn't even know she was capable of. Maybe it was because he had come so close to dying…

Or maybe it's something more…

Stu and Bonnie both lowered their heads in shame. "Sorry," Stu murmured. Bonnie jabbed him in the ribs with her elbow, and he quickly added, much more loudly, "We're very sorry, Nick." He raised his head back up and locked eyes with Nick. He offered a friendly smile. "Judy's right. You are very welcome in this home. You can stay as long as you need."

Bonnie reached down, grabbed the grocery bags off the ground, and walked over to the two of them. She put on a cheerful smile and handed the bags to Judy. "This is breakfast. You two enjoy yourselves, okay?"

Judy accepted the bags and smiled back. "Thanks, Mom." She put the bags on the floor beside the nightstand and hugged Bonnie tight. "It's good to see you again, Mom."

Bonnie returned the hug. "You too." When she released the hug, she turned her attention to Nick and smiled warmly. "It's nice to meet you, Nick. When you feel better, we should talk more."

Nick offered a weak smile in return. "I'd like that," he replied.

Bonnie turned on her heel and walked to the door. Judy walked to her father and gave him a hug as well. "I'm so glad you're home, sweetheart," he said.

Judy ended the hug so she could stare straight into his eyes. "I've got things to talk about. With you and mom." She glanced at Nick, then turned back to Stu. "Alone," she added.

Stu raised an eyebrow. "Alone? But what about—"

Unable to put up with him any longer, Judy turned him around and gently pushed him to the door. "Talk to you later," she merrily stated as she pushed him past the threshold.

Stu whirled around and raised a paw. "Honey, just to clarify…" He pointed in Nick's direction. "He's not your boyfriend, right?"

Judy shut the door.

Nick had a hard time processing what just happened. The whole exchange had taken just a few minutes, but he was practically exhausted from just listening to the conversation. The thought of meeting Judy's parents someday had crossed his mind in the past, but in all the times he had thought of such a day, he had never expected it to look anything like that.

"Would you mind explaining to me why they thought I was a raccoon?"

Judy turned away from the door and walked back to his side by the bed. "I have no idea," she sighed, exasperated. She knelt down on the floor and began unpacking the grocery bags, moving items onto the nightstand as she went. "Breakfast time," she cheerfully announced.

Nick had a hard time turning his head to look at the food, but he felt his mouth water at the smell of bread, eggs, and chocolate milk. He usually didn't eat breakfast—he preferred waking up as late as possible before going to work—but he was really looking forward to eating a big, tasty meal after the night he'd just gone through…

His smile faded from his face as he pondered that. "Carrots…" He waited for her to look at him before continuing, "What happened?"

The bunny slowly turned back to her bags and finished unpacking them. Then she stood up and leaned her head over Nick's face so he could see her better. "Can we talk about it later?" she requested. "I don't want to relive that right now."

The look on her face could only be described as anguish. Whatever had happened, it had taken a toll on her—and Nick suspected the outburst at her parents a few minutes ago had something to do with it as well. He quickly nodded in understanding. "Okay, we can talk about it later," he agreed. Relief flowed into Judy's face, and Nick, trying to find a change of subject, turned his attention back to the rest of the room. "Are you're sure this house is safe?"

"Absolutely," Judy replied with a confident nod. She stood up straight and started pacing around the room, proudly showing it off. "As long as you stay in this house, nobody will know you're here—"

"Unless your parents blab," Nick murmured.

Judy shot him a look, but they both knew her parents would not give him up—no one in all of Bunnyburrow would. She cleared her throat and continued, "You can stay hidden inside the house, and I can blend in outside with all the other bunnies." She gestured to her outfit. "You'd be surprised how hard it is to recognize someone famous when they're wearing something different."

"Or when they've dyed their ears gray," Nick added, glancing at the tips of her ears. "For the record, I liked them better before."

Judy bashfully flattened her ears against the back of her neck. "Better safe than sorry, okay?"

She was right, of course. Nick knew from personal experience—which he would never admit to out loud—that it was easy to disappear in a crowd of your own species. With the precautions Judy had taken—dyed ears, completely new outfit, and possibly even changing her accent while in public—she would have no problem hiding in plain sight, and with that ability, she would be able to go wherever she needed to in Bunnyburrow. If Nick needed medication, or if the two of them needed food, or even if there was a secure location where she could call up Chief Bingo at the ZPD, Judy would be able to make it all happen without a single mammal knowing it was really her.

Clever bunny.

Judy's phone vibrated in one of her pockets. She whipped it out and let out a sigh of annoyance. "Looks like my dad's gonna have an aneurysm if I don't go out there and explain all this," she mumbled. She pocketed the phone and opened the door. "Get some rest, Nick. I'll be back soon."

"Are you sure you want to leave me all alone in your own bedroom?" Nick teased. He reached over to the nightstand, opened up the drawer, and pulled out the first item he felt. "I mean, you never know what I'd find, looking around like…" He looked at what he had grabbed, a bottle of prescription pills, and raised an eyebrow. He read the label out loud, his tone suddenly confused. "'Suppressants'? What exactly are these suppress—"

Before he could finish, Judy ran over, snatched the bottle from his paw, and hid it behind her back. Her face flushed red, and without saying a word, she slowly backed out of the room, maintaining eye contact with him the whole way, before finally closing the door behind her.

For a moment, Nick stared at the door, wondering if he had missed something. After a while, however, he decided it was probably best to leave it alone. He rested his head back on the pillow, suddenly very tired, but not too tired to fall asleep just yet. He grabbed one of the muffins off the nightstand and took a bite out of it.

He smiled as the flavor of the muffin filled his mouth. Blueberry. He closed his eyes and took another bite, allowing himself to fully relax for the first time in a long, long time. Never has blueberry tasted so good.