Judy pushed the door back open, suppressing her reaction to scream in pain. "Oh come on! We can't stay in the city, it's just... just..."
Stu sighed. "He is savage?" He asked slightly scared. He then looked at the fox who was currently lying on the floor, seemingly embarrassed. "So why is he behaving like that?" While this exchange was happening, Bonnie spoke to the smaller rabbit in the back.
Judy turned to look at Nick. She thought about it for a second. "I don't know, but I won't complain, he is the sole reason I'm still alive." She smiled awkwardly when she said that. "By the way, do you have anything I could eat? I didn't eat much recently." She smiled more now.
"Of course dear. Come in, come in." Bonnie answered.
"Okay Nick." Judy started before turning to face him. "You will behave, yes?" Nick nodded. Then he started heading towards the door. That was when it hit him, the wall of noise that emanated from inside of the warren. His eyes widened and his ears lowered, his body recoiled rapidly and he took a few panicked steps back. The three rabbits by the door are looked perplexed and then laughed a bit.
"Who would've thought a savage fox would be scared of some rabbits?" Mr. Hopps joked out-loud.
Judy then crouched down to his level, even though he was on the ground again, holding his ears down. "It's okay, nothing will happen to you." She whispered gently. Nick looked up for a second, only to see her nodding gently. "Come on, you behave and you will be fine." Nick reluctantly stood up and whined. "Oh get in, it's not that bad." He took a few steps but then seemingly stopped. Now Judy gave up trying to be nice. "Mum, Dad, can you help me?" She then started pulling the fox in. Nick shook his head violently, trying to resist the force of three rabbits pulling him in. "You're lucky it is late," Judy started between huffs and strains. "Otherwise we would've called the younger ones."
"Ooh yes, we really would've." Mrs. Hopps said while pausing for a second.
Finally, the fox relented as he slipped and fell face first into the warren. "Ooof, Nick are you okay?" Judy instantly asked, hoping he wouldn't get angry from that. She quickly tried to pick the fox up and calm him down, just in case. While this was happening, Stuart closed the door, just so he couldn't escape.
"So mum, what did you tell him?"
"To tell everyone to go to sleep, it is late after all." Judy nodded in agreement. "But by the sounds of things, they didn't go to sleep yet, so give me a few seconds, I'll be with you in the kitchen, okay?"
"Sure thing mum." Judy chuckled to herself.
"She definitely still has her work cut out for her." Stuart commented. "Anyways, let me help you two." he added afterwards. When he said that, he headed towards them to try and take their jackets. Judy took her coat off and handed it over.
"Thanks dad." Now that the door was closed, she felt a great sense of relief. It was like every single pressure, every fear just left. Because of this she exhaled calmly and tried to take Nick's coat off. "Come on, you need to take it off." Nick lifted one paw and once the sleeve was removed, he swapped the paws around, still keeping his balance with the paw he just put down. Judy removed the admittedly slightly muddy coat and gave it to her dad. Stu looked at the coat for a second and decided to have it washed instead. He folded it up and carried it around.
"There should be something in the fridge, if you are dying of hunger right now." Stuart added before heading over to the laundry room.
"Well Nick, it's only us two. Don't make a mess, and you know what?" Nick looked over to Judy with piqued interest. "Wanna go to my room?" Nick nodded slowly, he still wasn't sure how safe he was in here. "Come on then, nothing will hurt you, silly." 'Not now at least, just wait until tomorrow' She thought to herself, causing her to chuckle.
Judy decided to go downstairs. Nick followed shortly after, still unsure of where to go. They walked down a few flights of stairs, where Judy dragged her paw along the wall, reminiscing about her childhood nostalgically. "It seems to be so long ago, you know." She chuckled to herself. Nick looked at the wall perplexed. "I always wonder what goes on in that head of yours." She smiled softly. Her expression then changed, she looked slightly more upset. "Especially now." She looked slightly upset and looked down to the ground. Nick walked up to her and licked her cheek to try and cheer her up. It broke her thoughts for a second and caused her to giggle. "Nick, that's still... ugh, you really are you." She shook her head and wiped her cheek quickly. "Okay, lets go."
The duo continued down the stairs and then followed a corridor. The corridor was bright and covered with cute and bold designs that were practically screaming at everyone inside. There were then many pictures hung up around the walls, each suggesting an event or special occasion that has occurred. There were many picnics, a few awards, science fairs and other great accolades. Nick looked at all of them with a glancing interest. "They interest you? We, and when I say we I mean my parents, try to keep memories of each litter and you'll also see that I'm in half of them." She smiled contently when she looked at them. The short memories flashed through her mind when she looked at every picture. "Good old days, where everything was easier and we weren't drugged out of our mind because they wanted good mammals to do bad things." Judy started to tear up, hating her current condition, hating how she was practically defenceless right now, hating how she basically had to hide away and hope for the best. Nick felt it, he felt the hate and the anger building up. Because of this, he wanted to distract her and so he nudged her to go down the corridor further. "Okay, okay, we'll go to my room now." She laughed quietly. She was still quite melancholy though.
"My room is here." The door had a plastered police poster on it and also a fake badge pinned on top of it. "Well, fun fact, you are the first non-Hopps male to be going inside of here." She said proudly yet disappointedly. It was a weird mix but somehow she achieved it. She opened the door and... "What are you three doing here?"
Three kits were sitting in a circle on the floor and were playing on their phones together. The three looked up like a deer in headlights. Then they saw the fox. They all were about to scream but they also covered each others mouth to prevent each other from making any loud noises that could get them in any trouble. The muffled noise was quite unpleasant to the fox but to Judy, it was music to her ears. "Please don't tell mummy." One of them pleaded.
"I won't, this time, but rest assured next time, I may not be so lenient." The three ran out and headed to their rooms. "Ugh, they messed it up." Judy ran over to her shelf and tried to reorganise everything that was on it. Until Nick 'tried' to help by moving his paw on top of it and knocking a few things down. That was when Judy stopped and reconsidered doing this right now.
"I'll fix this next time." she finally declared. She then pointed to around her room. It was covered in posters and placards of ZPD promotional material but at this point it could be called propaganda. She looked at them in hindsight and cringed slightly at their sight. "They are quite old." she reasoned with herself. "Anyways, Nick, what do you think of them?" Nick turned to look at the bunny that was present with him in this room. He took a big whiff of everything at once and then nodded gently. "I'm happy you like it at least. Oh boy was I just so ugh back then, you know what I mean?" She closed her eyes and counted to 5 in her head. "Well, we should get back to the kitchen, mum and dad are probably there already." She headed towards the door, but Nick still just watched everything that was inside. "We'll come back here later, deal?" Nick turned slowly and waltzed over to the rabbit. She stroked his fur on his neck and cheek. "We'll get through this soon, I promise."
The two walked back upstairs to the kitchen. When they got there, they were still the only two present. "Well then, I stand corrected. You want some blueberries?" Nick became really energetic and nodded wildly. "That's what I thought." She commented smugly under her breath. She walked to the fridge and Nick followed extremely closely behind. She opened it up ever so slightly, and Nick instantly caught a whiff of the blue gooey balls of goodness. He squeezed his muzzle in and grabbed the box with his mouth as Judy was opening the fridge further. "You really couldn't wait, huh?" Nick devoured the blueberries rapidly and left very little in the small container. "I was going to give only a few but..." Nick lowered his head. He felt ashamed, as he licked his lips for any remaining residue from the meal he just had. "Why do I even bother?" She finished.
Just then, Mrs. Hopps walked in and saw the disappointed Judy and the upset fox beside her. "What happened?"
"He ate all the blueberries from the box." Judy answered instantly. "I'll clean the container now." She headed towards the sink and turned the tap on. "So, what happened while I was away?" Was the question she thought of first.
"Oh, you know, nothing much. Not many rabbits are as adventurous as you but I think some of the younger ones might take inspiration from what you did. They aren't as scared to take risks anymore, not that we helped with that." Judy smiled as she heard that. She finally knew definitively that she truly helped mammals be better. No matter how small, it was a great start. "But really, it isn't any different to when you were around here. How are things on your end?"
Judy froze as she recalled her recent memories: the dark room, the constant bashing against the cage, the poor food. She started to shake and dropped the container into the sink.
Just then she dropped to the floor and curled up into a ball. She trembled and covered herself. Nick instantly reacted by circling her and covering her with his body. He acted extremely defensively. She just hugged his tail tightly and refused to let go. She shut her eyes and just repeated to herself "It's safe." over and over again, until she seemed to have slightly calmed down. During this time, Bonnie rushed over and tried to help, but she was too slow to reach her daughter and received a growl instead. As option B, she decided to call an ambulance.
"Hello?"
"Hello, my daughter just collapsed suddenly, I don't know what is happening, please help."
"Understood, we will send someone over as soon as possible." The dispatcher responded calmly. "Please remain calm, it will all be fine."
"How am I meant to be fine? My daught-"
"We understand, please sit tight, what is happening now?"
"I don't know, a fox is covering her."
"Can I speak to him then?"
"Not necessarily, unless you can communicate with feral creatures." She spoke slightly less panicked but still stressing out over the entire scenario.
"Ma'am, what do you mean by feral?"
"Well, he may have turned savage but he-" She then heard some form of warning be given to the mammals that were meant to come and help.
That was the moment Judy was starting to let go of her guardian. "I'm not in danger, I'm at home, nothing will hurt me here." She muttered to herself. "I'm safe, at home." She finally concluded and let go of her defender and tried to get up, but enjoyed the warmth of the fox. "Okay, Nick, you can get off me now." She stated softly. Nick complied and walked off of the rabbit he was protecting and sat down beside her. He tilted his head and watched carefully.
"It looks like she is fine right now but I don't know what happened?"
Just then, there was a ring at the door. Stuart opened the door and ran to the kitchen with the paramedics. "Who is the individual we should be worried about?" They were two rabbits with heavier gear on, assumedly for the savage predator. One prepared tranquillisers and the other spoke to the parents.
"My daughter is the one curled up on the floor in the corner." The rabbit nodded and approached her. The other medic walked around and aimed his dart gun at the fox.
Nick noticed this and turned towards him. "NO!" Judy yelled out as she saw this happen. Nick turned his head towards her and curled himself around her. "Sorry for shouting." Nick just licked her cheek. The two medics stood astonished at what has just occurred before them.
"Did she just..." One of them asked quietly but perplexedly.
"I was gonna ask the same thing." The other retorted just as quietly.
The parents looked on worriedly. "Is there anything you can do to help?"
"Not really, it seems the two are connected instinctually. Not much we can do to heal that." One of the medics responded. "But I do want to talk to her." He proceeded to try and approach her. Nick turned his head towards him and growled.
Judy grabbed Nick's head and turned him towards her. "It's fine, nothing will happen." She noticed the medic go towards her and it took all of her strength to try and not move away from fear.
The medic crept towards the two, still trying to stay somewhat safe. "Hey." He calmly started and the other three just watched curiously. "I just want to ask a few questions." Judy shyly turned towards him and responded.
"W-What?" Her voice was shaky at best and absolutely mortified at worst.
"You don't need to be worried about me." He showed his paws before him to present that he was safe. "I won't hurt you or him." He kept trying to shimmy closer and closer. Finally, he reached the two. He pulled out a flashlight. "Can you look at this for a second?" Judy reluctantly complied and reacted normally to the sharp light. He nodded then spoke again. "What happened?"
"I-I don't know, I was just washing a box then my mum asked how it was going for me, then all of a sudden I don't know."
"So when you were asked what happened, this started?"
"I think so."
The medic turned towards the parents, where Bonnie nodded. He sighed. "This might be some form of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder."
"B-but it could just be th-the drug in my body, r-right?"
The medic thought about it for a second. "Maybe, but I doubt it. You just need to learn to deal with this. I will tell your boss about this, if you tell me who it is."
"Chief Bogo knows." She blurted out.
He froze for a second as he considered his options. "Judith Hopps?"
"Yeah, why?"
He shook his head. He then chuckled, "You are like an inspiration to us rabbits here, you know. I can't help you directly, but you can recover if you face your past." Judy nodded weakly and shakily. "I would recommend some form of therapy though." Judy nodded again. The medic pulled out a small piece of paper and a pen then wrote something down. "I recommend her." He pawed the paper over. "I think we are finished here." He stood up and backed off carefully.
When he reached his partner, he was almost instantly scolded. "What were you thinking? What if you were eaten by him?"
"She may have needed my help, I couldn't just leave her alone." The medic responded aggressively. Then he turned to everyone else in the room. "Anyways, we'll be leaving now, I wish you all a good week and goodbye."
"See ya guys." The other medic added. Because of that, the first medic bonked him on the head.
"Remain formal."
"Sorry about that." The other paramedic stated after a few seconds of rubbing his head.
The two left almost silently. The parents just looked at their daughter with intense worry. They didn't know what to do right now. "Hey, sweetie, how about you just go sleep now?"
Judy sat on the floor and just stared into the floor. She didn't know what to do right now. It was something... different to her. Nick turned to the elder rabbits then turned back to the slumped bunny. He forced his muzzle in front of Judy, causing her to wake from her trance. "Nick, not now." She muttered just enough for the fox to hear. He whimpered in response. "Nick, don't be like this." She sighed. Nick then moved his head away and looked at the elder rabbits one more time, before going to the main door.
He trudged to the door, feeling completely unwanted in this situation. By the door, he bit the handle and pulled it open. Outside now, he decided to go and run around. Completely isolated from anyone that could fear him.
Back inside
Judy groaned. She felt bad for pushing Nick away like that. Bonnie now walked up to her and hugged her. "You can't just stay here like this the entire time, dear."
"She's right, you know, it's not comfortable to sleep here." Stuart added. "Maybe go to your room. At least there you can lay in bed."
Judy finally broke. "I've never felt this weak, this powerless. How can I be a police officer if I can't even have a conversation without being scared? If I can barely sit next to a rabbit that is supposed to help me?" She started to cry. "How?!" Bonnie just hugged tighter. Her eyes were blank as she didn't know what to say in this situation. Her mouth was slightly downward. She hated seeing her daughter like this and Mr. Hopps was in no better shape. They were both equally hurt to see their child in such a state. "I-I couldn't even interact with my boss appropriately." Judy sobbed. "A-and my-my partner is nothing more than a mute pet." Then she stopped for a second. "Wait."
"Listen, it will all-"
"No, where's Nick?" Everyone froze for a second and looked around. They were all too preoccupied to see where he went. "We need to find him before he does something bad." Everyone started to run out of the room and all around the house.
After a couple of minutes, Stu saw the front door, open. "Oh no." He then turned around quickly into his house. "Hey, Judy, how bad would it be if, lets say he was outside?"
"Very, why do you, oh sweet cheese and crackers." The other two rabbits ran to the front door. "You didn't lock it?"
"It slipped my mind, I'm sorry I was too-"
"Not right now. We need to find him." Judy ran past her father and started screaming for him. "NIIIIIIIIIICK, WHERE ARE YOU?!" She spoke as if she was expecting to hear a response.
In a nearby forest. (BTW Nick will be eating very soon so you have been warned but it's quite tame so I wouldn't worry too much but just in case this is here.)
Nick strolled aimlessly around, not knowing where he was. This on top of the fact that Judy just pushed him away just scared him. He was lost and terrified of what could happen. It looked like he was going in circles even if he was moving constantly in a straight line. He curled up next to a tree and watched patiently. He was starting to get hungry. A box full of blueberries wasn't really good for filling yourself up. He needed a proper meal. He decided to now stand up and keep going.
After a few minutes, he heard water. He ran towards it and wanted to see what was there.
It was a running river. He looked inside the river to see if maybe there was something there. Something possibly edible. He watched carefully until he noticed something move. A that slight twitch. He pounced into the water and extracted his claws, impaling the fish that was there. He then held the fish down and gripped it in his jaw, dipping his head into the water. He placed the fish on a bed of grass and bit into it. He ripped the scales off then ate the inside. He bit into the meat and ripped a chunk off before chewing it. He was delighted by the taste and continued eating the fish, until it was only bones left. Nick was satisfied from his hunted meal but was still hungry for more. He decided to repeat his actions and try to grab a different fish from the river. He once again sat and watched the water to see if something else was there. His eyes darted across the water and saw nothing for a while, then another fish appeared. Nick leapt into the water again and dug his claws into his unwilling prey. He once again grabbed it and placed it into the same bed of grass. He clawed the scales off and ate the flesh of the fish. The meal now fully satisfied him and filled him up. The only issue now was that his snout was covered in blood. He decided to wait by a tree and rest.
He heard many noises, mainly due to his improved hearing. He kept twitching and watching around, scared he would be attacked at any moment.
At the town centre.
Stuart and Bonnie ran around semi-calmly to try and not scare anyone. They walked around and noticed that everything is quite calm here. "He's not here." Bonnie eventually stated after a few seconds of searching.
The edge of the forest.
Judy stood by the forest and contemplated entering it. "He wouldn't be in here, would he? No of course not. It's too scary to go inside of. Oh that's exactly why he's in there." She paced around the entrance until all of a sudden. "Oh, screw it." and she charged into the forest. "NIIIIIICK! WHERE ARE YOU?" She screamed, hoping that it would help cut down the time of searching for the missing fox.
After a couple seconds, she turned around and saw that she didn't see the forest edge anymore. "Oh no, oh no, what did I get myself into? Who knows what merciless creature lurks here?" She whispered to herself, not helping her nerves one bit. "NICK! ARE YOU HERE?" She kept running, hoping to run into the fox or to at least avoid any undesirables that could be following her.
By the river.
Nick started to hear some grass rustling. He sniffed a couple times and recognised the scent. "Nick, where are you?" He heard but ignored. Just then, Judy ran through the treeline and almost fell into the river. "Woah." She then saved herself and fell onto her back. She looked around and saw the fox. "NICK! You're here." She hugged him tightly but he didn't react to it. Instead he just growled. "Nick, I'm sorry, I just had some issues. Please don't be like this. I need you." Nick turned around and looked at the rabbit. She was on her knees and pleading. "Nick, please don't leave me. I can't do this on my own." She started to sob. "Nick, don't leave me." Nick just watched before leaning in. She saw the blood cover his snout. This caused her to flinch a small bit and jump back. Nick noticed this and then licked his lips. "Ew." Judy commented when she saw that. Nick stood up and stared Judy straight in the eyes, before quickly lunging in and licking Judy on the nose.
"Eww." She exaggerated her reaction and wiped her nose. She then started to laugh. "You sly fox." She then sighed. "Come on, lets go home." She looked at the river then looked in the opposite direction. She started to shake her head. "I should call my parents that you've been found, huh." She pulled out her phone and called her dad. He answered.
"Jude, we haven't found him, I'm sorry. Any luck on your end?"
She smiled and nodded. "Yeah, he's right here."
"Oh thank goodness. You hear that Bonnie? He has been found."
"Oh that's so great, we don't need to start asking the mammals around here."
"You wouldn't have, would you?"
"Eventually." Her dad confessed.
"Good thing you didn't, I mean what would you ask? Hey did you see a savage fox run through here?"
"You know, she has a good point Stu."
"I know honey, but we would've been desperate at that point."
"I'll see you two at home."
"Yeah, we'll see you at home." The line disconnected abruptly.
"Nick, wanna go home?"The fox nodded. The two then headed in a certain direction. "This way, yeah." The fox lowered his body. "I don't know if I can." Nick insisted. "Fine, but not too fast." Nick prepared to sprint just as he felt Judy hold on tight. Judy noticed this and gulped audibly. As she finished gulping, the two blasted off through the forest and he narrowly avoided every tree and continued in a straight line roughly, until they left the forest and reached the fields. Judy just held tightly, closed her eyes and tucked her head in, even though she knew it was safe. She just couldn't watch, something inside her was just stopping her.
The duo reached the house and waltzed inside. "Lets go to sleep, actually, we need to wait for those two, don't we?" Nick just stared blankly and didn't respond. Then he barked as he thought it would fit the occasion. It really didn't.
Then the other two returned. "Hey, Judy, you seem to be happier now that he is here."
"Yeah, we now know that it's safe, he was down by the river in the woods."
"Huh, he got lost didn't he?"
Judy thought about that question for a few moments. "I don't know if he did, I think he just wanted to run away. Because of me." The last sentence was stated much quieter. She was ashamed she pushed Nick away, this time physically.
"Well, at least we found him."
"I think we are gonna go bed now."
"Yeah, you do that sweetie."
The duo ambled to Judy's bedroom, where Judy laid down and Nick remained on the floor. She understood why and didn't insist. "Goodnight Nick." Nick growled in response.
A/N:So, I'm having more technical issues so as I said in the other story, I'm sorry but don't expect any writing for a short while from me since I need to get it fixed.
Anyways, I finally got to write about Nick and Judy in the burrows, oh next chapter with them will be sooooooo fuuuun, I already feel sorry for Nick.
Now, I really don't know when the next chapter will be written but I will say that Pawson and co. will be doing some police work, I think.
With all that said, I'll see you guys errr... whenever I have my laptop back? And goodbye guys, I hope you enjoyed this.