This chapter took longer to get out than I had wanted. I didn't have much time to write and I wanted to put out two chapters back to back since Nicks chapter was gonna be a little bit darker. I wanted to make that chapter and the next a little bit longer but I would have to add a bunch of extra fluff that I don't want in order to do that so instead I will just combine the two short chapters into one.

Nick POV

Nearly four hours after Judy left my apartment I was still laying back in my spot on the couch, my eyes not leaving a particular spot on the ceiling. My stomach had been growling for a while now and I was trying to remember when I last ate anything. It may have been yesterday morning.

I rolled off the couch and landed on the floor, choosing to stay there for a while until I had the will to get up. It wasn't long before the hollow feeling in my stomach became too much to bear and I had to drag myself to my feet.

My fridge was empty except for a small stack of microwave meals. I pulled one off the top, not bothering to read what it was, and tossed it into the microwave. The glow was harsh against my eyes that had long since adjusted to the darkness in my apartment.

While my food was cooking I pulled a half full bottle of Jim Bear Whiskey from the freezer and yanked the lid off. Not bothering to find a glass, I took a couple large swigs directly from the bottle. As I slammed it down on the counter there was another loud knock on my door.

I couldn't imagine who it would be this time. I just paid rent two days ago so it wasn't my landlord. Finnick hasn't tried to come over since he picked me up from the hospital, plus he always texts first. I was fully expecting that Judy wouldn't leave me alone but she would surely wait a day before pestering me a second time.

Earlier this morning she had announced she was the one outside my door, whoever was out there now was silent. There was another, louder, knock. I took two more sips and stumbled to the door, taking the bottle with me. The microwave beeped behind me and I cursed silently under my breath.

I pulled the door open just a little. Standing in the hallway was, in fact, Judy. This time in regular street clothes rather than her police uniform. She was wearing a deep green t-shirt and faded looking jeans. I tried to steady my voice as much as possible before speaking to her. "Waddaya want, Judy? I told you to leave. S'not safe for you to be here."

I tried to close the door but she jammed her foot in the way, wincing in pain a little as it crushed against the frame. "Nick, I am not leaving until we actually talk." I had admired her stubbornness in the past, even if I would never admit it to her. Now it was just infuriating. I was stronger than her, I could probably push the door harder and force her to move her foot but the last thing I wanted to do was hurt her.

"Told you I don' wanna talk. Goway." Taking another sip of the whiskey, I leaned against the door, forgetting that it wasn't closed. It swung open even more, I stumbled to the side, and Judy took the opportunity to walk further into the apartment. "Dammit." I mumbled, straightening myself.

"Nick, sit down, now." She pointed to my couch. I didn't move. She crossed her arms and tapped her foot in rapid succession on the floor. Locking eyes with her, I tipped the bottle back again, not breaking eye contact as I drank down as much as I could in one go.

Judy closed the front door and yanked the bottle out of my grasp as I was tipping it back for another drink. She turned and walked into the kitchen to open and close cupboard doors until she found where I kept my glasses. Filling one with water, she joined me back in the living room and pointed to the couch again. "Now."

"S'my apartment. You can't tell me whaddado." I said while walking toward the couch like she said. She put the glass in my hand and sat in front of me glaring until I had downed half the water.

"Okay, Nick, I am not leaving until you tell me what is going on. This," she gestured to my whole body, "isn't you. So start talking." Pressing my hand to my chest, I faked being offended.

I took another sip of water, trying to think of what to tell her. Or if I was going to tell her anything. I decided I would not. "You don' even know me. Maybe thissis just what I'm like." I folded my arms in front of my chest as much as I could while still holding the glass of water.

Judy leaned in a little closer. "Maybe I do, maybe I don't. But Finnick definitely does and he agrees that you aren't yourself." That little traitor. I opened my mouth to protest but Judy put her hand up to stop me. "If you are going to open your mouth it had better be to drink more of that water."

I lifted the glass to my lips and sipped it while glaring at her from over the rim. "Not only does Finnick agree that you are not yourself right now. He told me what happened when he picked you up from the hospital. Nick, I need you to tell me. Did the night howler antidote not work or something? Is that why you are acting like this?"

I liked not telling her anything but it felt like she had me in a corner now. "If the ani… ando… antidote di'n' work I wouldn't be able to talk to you or be walkin' on two legs. You know that. S'obviously it worked. Just di'n' work all the way. Doctor said there's still serum in my blood. Di'n' really need her to tell me that, though. I can feel it." I finished talking and downed the rest of the water in the glass.

Judy jumped up and took the glass to refill. She was back in just a few seconds. Her expression had shifted from anger to fear. She looked a lot like I remembered in the museum. Yanking the water from her hand, I began drinking this new glass quickly.

I pulled the glass away from my lips and scoffed. "There it is. That is 'actly why I di'n' want you here. That look of fear in your eyes. I di'n' wanna see it and I knew, I knew as soon as you knew what I was now you w'd be scared of me." I tossed the rest of the water back.

Judy didn't jump up to refill it this time, instead she tilted her head to the side in confusion. "What look? Do you mean in the museum when they handcuffed you and I was standing right there in front of you?" She turned her attention to her arm, picking at the fabric.

My stomach growled again. I considered getting up and getting my food but the way this conversation was going, I figured Judy would probably be leaving soon. "Yeah. In the mus'um when I almost killed you 'nd you were scared of me because well, duh, I almost killed you."

I wasn't sure what reaction I was expecting from Judy but it was definitely not the laughter I got. It wasn't a super joyous laugh, just sort of a mix of pity and nervousness. "Nick! Yeah, of course I was afraid. I had just watched something terrible happen to my best friend and I was helpless to do anything about it. I was afraid but I wasn't afraid OF you. Nick, I was afraid FOR you. I was afraid they might not be able to cure you or that when they did you might not be the same. Honestly, I was afraid of something exactly like this." She waved her arms around, gesturing at everything around her.

I tipped the glass in my hands back against my lips forgetting that it was empty. My head was spinning, I really wasn't sure what to make of what she just said. And I definitely wasn't in the mindset to fully process it.

Judy reached a hand toward my arm but stopped and changed directions to rest it on my knee instead. "Okay, the antidote didn't fully remove the serum from your blood so you're still, what? Partly savage? That's why you are acting like this?"

I wanted to tell her yes, to blame everything she saw on the serum but that just wasn't the case. Aside from the feeling in my chest that had dulled from a burn to just a tingle, I didn't feel any different. At least, not most of the time. When I was really angry or agitated or something, that was when the feeling started to burn and everything changed. Like it did when those guys hit the van. Like it was doing right now.

The 'way I was acting' wasn't some side effect. It was just me giving up the last little bit of hope I had for my life. Always being seen as shifty and untrustworthy was something I was used to but adding savage and dangerous into the mix was just too much to handle. Of course, I couldn't tell that to Judy.

"Yes. No. I-I don't know. I'm sorta fine mostta the time but then sometimes something just…happens 'nd I can't control it. 'nd that makes me dangerous. I put Finn in danger in the van, I'm putting you in danger right now." My heart was racing more and more as I spoke and I could feel my senses heighten, the world around me seemed to sharpen and it felt like my body was burning through the alcohol faster than normal.

I hadn't even noticed when my words stopped slurring together as much. By now everything around me looked and sounded different. The heat had made its way up my throat and I took a deep breath that sounded much like a growl. My eyes flicked to Judys briefly before turning down to the floor.

As a fox I had excellent night vision but everything in my dark apartment was suddenly much sharper than normal, and the sound… I could hear everything. The slight hum of the electronics, Judy heart beat, the neighbours talking down stairs. It was all pounding in my head. I could feel my heart starting to race.

Jumping up from the couch, I ran into the kitchen and rested my head on my arms against the cold stone counter top positioning it between Judy and I. My head was spinning with some much extra stimuli and the heat in my chest was moving to my limbs. I felt another slight growl escape my lips.

Both hands dug into my arms on either side. I could feel my claws piercing slightly into the skin but the pain helped bring my mind back to focus. A few deep breaths later and I raised my head back up.

I expected to see Judy rushing to leave. Instead she had stood up and followed me halfway into the kitchen. One hand was reaching part way out toward me, the other at her side. When I locked eyes with her she slowly began to move toward me until there was just the small kitchen island between us.

Judy spoke in a soft voice. "You said that you can't control it but you just did. I saw your eyes do the thing that Finnick was talking about. The same thing they did in the museum. Nick, you are incredibly talented and incredibly strong. I know you can control this. And I want to be there to help you."

At that moment I was feeling okay, I had caught it and pulled back but I hadn't been as agitated as I had last time in the van. While I wanted to hang onto the bit of hope she was handing me, it would put her in danger and I couldn't do that. "Judy, you can't save me." I turned my back to her.

I wanted to be harsher in my words. I wanted to scare her away from me like I did after the press conference. But I couldn't do it. I couldn't growl at her or bare my teeth or threaten her.

In an instant her hand was resting on my shoulder. "Well, it won't be the first time someone told me I can't do something and I proved them wrong." I kept my back to her, not daring to turn around and risk her seeing the tears that threatened to spill over my eyes.

*O*O*O*

Judy POV

I slept better last night than I had in days. While I was still pretty exhausted, I was sure that one cup of coffee would be plenty.

Walking into the precinct I waved enthusiastically to Clawhauser at his desk. "Well, someone's in a better mood than yesterday. It's your last day on desk duty isn't it. Good luck!" He motioned me to the box of doughnuts on the edge of the desk. Every Friday Clawhauser buys two dozen to share with the precinct. Based on the array of sprinkles, powdered sugar, and bits of chocolate on his uniform, I guessed he has probably had multiple himself.

Armed with my coffee and my doughnut I walked into the bullpen. Stopping at my normal seat in the back I started to climb but stopped and changed my mind. If I was going back to real cases it would be nice to have an idea of what was going on in the city. The rhino officer seated next to me gave me a small smile when I sat down and then turned back to his conversation.

I settled into the hard chair and snacked on my doughnut with the last little bit of my coffee. Just as I was taking my last bite, Chief Bogo walked in and slammed a stack of files down hard on the podium. He sighed deeply and shifted his eyes across the room before he addressed us.

"Good morning everyone. I'm just gonna jump right into this. A new street drug has been gaining popularity among mammals all over Zootopia. Our intel says that this drug is most commonly being referred to as 'Nite Bite.' The DEA has been able to get ahold of the drug and run some tests on it. It appears to have a low dosage of night howler in it as well as a load of other chemicals."

The chief met my eyes briefly when he mentioned night howlers. "This drug is being marketed as a way to 'let your wild side out' and is popular among both prey and predator alike. I have a few assignments in different areas."

He began reading off teams of officers and handing them files. My mind was racing. I barely noticed when the last officer took their file and began walking out. The chief turned to leave and I jumped up in my seat.

"Chief Bogo! I know I am supposed to be on desk duty until tomorrow but this case is right up my ally. I mean, at this point I think I am kind of the expert on night howler serum. Please, let me handle part of the investigation."

The water buffalo rubbed a hoof across his face. "The reason I didn't give you an assignment has less to do with you being on desk duty and more to do with the fact that you don't currently have a partner. This is dangerous police work. I'm not sending an officer out alone."

When Nick and I found the fourteen missing animals and I was bumped up from parking duty, Chief Bogo tried to assign me to a partner. I refused because I was sure that I would still be able to convince Nick to join the ZPD.

When I was reinstated last week he tried again, insisting that I needed a partner if I was going to be out doing real police work. I once again refused. I knew I would have a week of desk duty anyway and I thought I would be able to find Nick and actually convince him this time. But I never really had the opportunity.

With what I know about him now, I wasn't entirely sure that would even be possible but I still refused to work with another partner just yet. That didn't mean I couldn't convince him to help with this case. It might be good for him to get out and focus on something, plus he was the one who helped me with the last night howler involved police case.

"Sir, please. Give me an assignment, I promise I won't be out there alone. I am the best officer for this job." I folder my hands together to plead.

Chief Bogo looked like walked to slam his head into the podium. I put on my brightest smile. "You're planning to work with the fox again on this aren't you? The one who is NOT an officer."

"Sir, he was very interested in joining the ZPD, he just needs a little more convincing." Chief Bogo held a hoof up to silence me. I leaned forward not the table slightly, waiting for his answer.

His expression turned into a wicked sort of grin. "I'll make you a deal. The last task I have here involves finding the original supplier of Nite Bite. I will give you this assignment and two weeks, that's fourteen days, to find the supplier. You may work with your fox and I will pretend I don't know anything about you bringing a civilian into another classified police investigation. But, within those two weeks you need to convince him to actually apply with the ZPD. If, after the two weeks are up you have not found the supplier AND I don't have his application on my desk, I will be assigning you a partner. Do we have a deal?"

I wasn't sure which would be harder, finding the supplier in two weeks or convincing Nick to join the ZPD after everything he's been through. But, if he does in fact agree to help me with this case and he refuses to apply for a job after two weeks then he probably never will. I will have to accept working with a new partner anyway.

"Deal," I said. He handed me the case file and held up two fingers before he turned to leave the room. I was finally doing real police work and trying to make the world a better place again. Now, I just needed to convince Nick, who may or may not be able to control episodes of being a savage predator, to help me on a similar case to the one that got him into this situation.

Maybe I would need that second cup of coffee after all.