Judy POV

When I got back upstairs to my room the same two nurses who helped me into the chair helped me climb back into the hospital bed. Now that I had a chance to move around, a bed was the absolute last place I wanted to be. At least I would be able to leave tomorrow.

I decided it was probably time to call my parents, even though it felt like an impossible task to explain to them everything that had happened. I wasn't entirely sure what I was allowed to say to them anyway. Even so, they deserved some sort of explanation.

Before I opened my video calling app, I used the phone camera to try and fix my appearance as best I could. Being in the hospital for three days, my fur was a little greasy and sticky up at odd angles. My eyes looked tired, but there wasn't much I could do about that.

Once I was content with how I looked I opened the app. My finger hovered over the call button but it was as though an invisible force was preventing me from actually pushing it.

"Come on, Judy, it's just your parents. Push the button." I whispered out loud to the empty room. I tried a few times until my finger slipped just enough to push call. I gasped, like it was somehow a surprise when the phone started to ring.

It only took two rings for the static photo of my parents to change to show my mom and dad squeezing together to both see the screen. "Oh! Judy, Oh my gosh, Stu, it's Judy!" My mom called out even though my father was right next to her.

"Heya Jude, how are you doing? It looks like you're still in the hospital, huh?" My dad asked.

My mom pushed him out of frame a bit and her face filled the screen. "Judy, baby, what happened? Are you okay?" She looked around as if angling her own phone differently would help her look around the room.

Here goes nothing, I thought to myself. I took a deep breath and held up my hand to stop her from rambling on so I could explain. "Mom, dad, I'm okay, really. I was right about the midnicampum holicithias. Nick and I found the mammals who were targeting predators but we got into a little trouble getting the evidence to the ZPD. My leg got a bit cut up but the doctors say I should be able to leave the hospital tomorrow. It is really feeling much better."

That felt like just enough information to satisfy their paranoid curiosity without giving away too much information. I didn't reveal anything that might be confidential about the case and my leg did, in fact, get cut up. They didn't need to know what it was that cut my leg.

When I went back home after finding the missing predators, I had told my parents about Nick. Sort of, I told them that I met someone with a lot of knowledge of the inner workings of Zootopia and that I convinced him to help me with the case. I also told them that after we found the missing mammals, I had said something to this friend that really hurt him.

I was very careful to avoid stating what species he was, I hadn't even mentioned that he was a predator at all but I had a sneaking suspicion that my mom figured it out. I was grateful for that previous omission of information at this moment. It made it easier to protect Nick now.

"How did your leg get cut up? Judy, what kind of trouble did you get into? Are you safe now?" My dad pushed back into view to ask his questions.

I didn't get a chance to answer him when my mom piped up with her own follow up question. "What happened to your little friend, Nick, did he get hurt too?"

This was where it would start to get tricky. There were a few ways I could frame my answers so that I wasn't exactly lying to them but also didn't give them any information I didn't want them to know.

"Well dad, as you know we were trying to get evidence involving savage predators and we ended up encountering one. This savage predator scratched my leg but it wasn't too bad and he was apprehended very quickly. And yes, Nick is okay. He is also in the hospital but he is recovering."

I held my breath as I watched my mom process this new information. She nodded, which was good. "Oh, Judy, we are just so glad you are okay." The tense expression on her face at the start of the phone call was softening a bit. She asked a few more questions about the case itself, questions that weren't too hard to answer.

Eventually a new doctor came in to check on my leg again and I used the opportunity to hang up the phone. I promised I would text my parents what time I was supposed to be released tomorrow. It was decided that my dad would take the train to Zootopia and meet me at the hospital, then we would find the truck and he would drive us back to the farm.

I wasn't ready to permanently leave Zootopia, I didn't want to leave at all until I knew Nick was alright. But it would be nice to recover in peace and quiet on the farm for a few days. Plus, I had terminated the lease on my apartment, so I didn't exactly have anywhere to go back to in the city even if I wanted to.

After a few days with my parents, I would reach out to Chief Bogo about rejoining the police force. I wasn't even sure when I decided I would go back to the ZPD. It didn't even feel like a decision that needed to be made, it was just where I belonged. By the time the doctor left, my eyes were beginning to feel heavy and found myself quickly drifting off to sleep.

*O*O*O*

"I'm not gonna leave you behind. That's not happening."

"I can't walk."

"Just, we'll think of something."

Nick peered around the corner slightly to see where Bellwether and the rams were at, absently tossing another blueberry into his mouth. Content they were far enough away for the time being, he turned back to me. He started to toss another blueberry but froze.

"That's it."

"What's it?" I asked, wincing at my leg. I knew the bandana Nick tied over the wound would help with the bleeding but it made the pain worse.

Nick set the case with the night howler serum on the ground and opened it up. I was about to ask what he was doing but stopped when he pulled the gun out and held it up.

"Okay, with four of them out there we stand basically no chance of making it out of the museum, right. Especially with your leg."

"Very optimistic, Nick, go on."

"So, Mayor Cotton-Candy is going to catch us, that is pretty much a given. And when she does catch us, she's not going to just take the case and then let us go. She's gonna want us dead, or worse."

I interrupted him. "Do you have an actual plan or are you just pointing out how screwed we are?"

"Shush, I do have a plan. What is the best way she can silence us both AND build on her whole predator vs. prey narrative?"

"I don't know Nick. We need to hurry this up, though." I braced on the wall and pulled myself to my feet, careful to avoid being seen from around the corner.

"Well, I think if Zootopia's hero cop is killed in action by a savage fox, that would really raise tension in the city. If she is smart, as soon as she gets this she will shoot me with it."

I stared at him with wide eyes. "Nick, no. We will get out of here, she is not going to shoot you. I'd destroy the serum or something before I would let that happen."

He popped the back of the gun open to reveal the little blue orb. "Actually, my plan is that we let her shoot me." He was grinning and it almost made me mad. This was a serious matter.

"Nick, are you serious? You are such a…" He removed the blue orb and filled the open spots with blueberries before closing it back up and dropping it into the case again. "A clever fox." I changed the ending of the sentence. This idea was brilliant.

*O*O*O*

I woke up in a startle from the dream/memory. I barely slept at all. The entire night had been plagued with nightmares, my room switched from being too hot to cold and back, and all of the machines were just too loud.

By the time Dr. Fangford came in to see me at 7 am, I had already been awake for three hours. I was watching some comedy on the hospital tv since I didn't want to drain my phone battery.

"Good morning, Ms. Hopps. How is the leg feeling today?" He asked in a cheerful voice, washing his hands in the little sink. Lyra was behind him again. I couldn't help but notice a new light shining in her eyes. Despite the slight bitter feeling in the back of my throat, I was happy for her.

I adjusted my pillows myself to allow me to sit up better. "It's good. I'm ready to go home!" Despite my fear for Nick, I was feeling pretty good over all. I had a plan for moving forward and the first step would be getting away from these stark white walls.

The doctor checked my leg and commented that everything looked very good. He wrapped it in a similar heavy duty bandage to the one from yesterday. "Well Ms. Hopps, I think I can go ahead and get started on your discharge paperwork. While I work on that, I am going to have you go ahead and get dressed and then go with Nurse Band here. She is going to bring you to our physical therapy room upstairs." His smile was wide and genuine but I felt my heart drop in my chest.

"Thank you, sir." I was practically ready to climb out of bed right then and there. The doctor barely made it out of the room when I was pulling the sheets back and gently pulling my leg to the edge of the bed.

"Well, someone is eager. Here is your shirt and then we have a pair of pants for you, they aren't super cute but they will do. I will be just outside, give me a holler when you are ready to go."

I brushed my hand over the small stack of clothing she left on the bed. The pants were a thin white fabric with a drawstring at the top. Underneath them was the pink shirt I wore when I got to the hospital. The soft fabric had a little dust on it and a small stain of blood on one of the sleeves. I picked a piece of red fur off of the collar and held it in my fingers before letting it flutter to the ground.

Pulling the shirt on took less than a second, the pants were a little bit harder since I couldn't bend my knee all the way. When I finally managed to get them on I called to Lyra that I was ready. She pushed a wheelchair into the room and motioned for me to sit down. "Lyra, can't I just walk? I can lean on the wall or something." I hated the helpless feeling I had yesterday wheeling around the hospital.

"I'm sorry, Judy, it's just procedure. I think they will give you a crutch in phys." She pushed it a little closer for me. I rolled my eyes and sat down.

We went in silence to the physical therapy room, two floors up from my room. Lyra kept making noise in the back of her throat like she wanted to say something but stopped herself each time. When we got to our destination she cleared her throat, "Okay Ms. Hopps, Dr. Fern here will be working with you. I will be back in about an hour!" She said, cheerfully, leaving with the wheelchair in tow.

I waved as she left and pulled out my phone to send a quick text to my dad. The train ride would be about three hours from Bunnyborrow. If he caught the next train out of town, he would probably get to the hospital just a little bit after I was free.

"Ready to get to work, Ms. Hopps?" A deer in pink scrubs stepped away from a small desk in the corner of the room. "We're just gonna work on getting you walking with a crutch today and test out your range of movement."

*O*O*O*

'Testing my range of movement' felt like I had just done a full workout. By the time Lyra came back to get me I was exhausted. True to what Lyra said, Dr. Fern traded the wheelchair for a single crutch. We had to test out a few different sizes to find one that worked for me but once we did, it didn't take long to get the hang of things.

Lyra was much more talkative on the way back down to my room. She babbled on and on about nurse gossip. I tuned her out for the most part. My dad texted me that his train would get into Zootopia just a little after eleven, and then he would take a cab to the hospital. Currently it was only nine thirty.

Lyra helped me gather my things before we met back with Dr. Fangford to go over the small pile of paperwork he had for me. Everything was pretty self explanatory. I had a prescription for some light pain meds to take over the next few days. I needed to use the crutch any time I was on my feet for the next week at least, after that it would be up to my physical therapist to decide when I was done with it.

We discussed where I would be going for therapy. I explained that I would be back home in Bunnyburrow for a few days but was planning to move into the city again. The doctor pulled out a laptop and found information for two different physical therapists for me, one in each location.

I got a few bandage changes and was told how to clean my leg and re-wrap it. The doctor asked if I had any questions but I couldn't really think of anything. At least not for him. I knew I would have to talk to my therapist about returning to police duty.

But ten fourth-five I was free to go. I tucked my paperwork into the small plastic bag I was given with everything else I had with me when I was brought in, including the plastic carrot pen. I pressed the play button on the side but only got static. We cleared it in preparation for recording Bellwether's statement that we never ended up getting.

Tossing the pen back into the bag, I pressed my hand to the round button by the elevator door waiting for it to open. Inside, I pressed the button for B1 before I even realized what I was doing. I still had at least half an hour before my dad would be here. I decided not to correct my mistake, I would check with Dr. Clawson before I went back up to the hospital lobby.

When the elevator doors opened on floor B1 I was met by the same young nurse as before. She glanced up at me from her computer and I could have sworn she rolled her eyes. "Sorry, Ma'am, you are going to have to leave."

I hobbled up to the desk, still a little bit unsteady on my new crutch. "Please, I just want to check on a patient really quickly or talk to the doctor. I'll be in and out, I promise."

This time she definitely rolled her eyes. "Like I said before, only nursing staff, cops, and APPROVED visitors are allowed back there. You are not on the approved visitors list." She went back to her computer as if I wasn't standing in front of her anymore.

"But Chief Bogo said that..."

She cut me off with a sigh that was almost a growl. "Chief Bogo said that was a one time thing. When he left yesterday he told me that he didn't want you going back and pestering the doctor or something like that. Sorry hun, but a little bunny like you really doesn't belong here."

Now I was getting mad, my good foot tapped on the ground in quick succession. "What is your problem with me? What did I do to you? I am just here to see a friend of mine." I set my bag on the floor and gripped the top of the desk with the hand that wasn't holding my crutch.

"It's not what you did to me necessarily, Officer Hopps, it's what you did to all predators. Your little speech about 'biology.' You didn't think that would hurt a lot of innocent predators or paint a target on all of our backs?" She raised her voice as she spoke and I was completely taken aback.

There was nothing I could say in my own defense. I didn't even want to defend myself, this was the second time in a few days I was reminded of how stupid I had been. "You're right. It was wrong of me. I wasn't thinking at all when I said those awful things. And I am so unbelievably sorry for any pain that it cost you. I now know that I hurt so many with my ignorance, including the friend that I am here to see."

Her eyes were wide. I'm sure she was expecting me to get angry and raise my voice back at her, she definitely wasn't expecting an apology. Her voice held a shadow of the anger from before but wasn't nearly as intense. "I still can't let you in."

I was ready to literally beg when the locked door opened from the inside. Dr. Clawson stepped out with an exasperated look on her face. "What is going on out here, I heard yelling and oh, Ms. Hopps."

"Dr. Clawson!" I left my bag where it landed on the floor and went over to the doctor, shooting a smug look at the nurse. "I am leaving the hospital today, I just wanted to see how Nick was doing before I left. Is he doing any better? Have you given him more of the antidote?"

The doctor removed her glasses and cleaned them on her coat before she answered me. "We administered a sound dose of antidote to all of the predators this morning, including your friend. I do believe most of them will be going home very soon."

She flipped through a few clipboards in her hands, stopping at the last one in the stack. I held my breath. "Mr. Wilde is a different story. There have been promising changes in his brain activity but outward behaviors haven't changed much. He nearly bit one of my nurses this morning."

The doctor stared at the clipboard but her gaze looked vacant. Like she wasn't actually reading anything on the clipboard, just avoiding my gaze. I glanced around her shoulder into the tiny window in the double doors even though I knew I wouldn't be able to see far enough to Nick's room.

"A change is a good thing right? He is getting better, just slowly?"

Dr. Clawson finally looked back at me. She had a sad smile on her face. "I do think we can bring him back. It's just gonna take more work than the others. His progress has been slow but there is definite progress there. I need to get back to my patients and you should probably get off that leg." She gave my shoulder a small squeeze before returning to the locked hallway.

With a tiny glimmer of hope, I turned back to grab my bag from its spot in front of the desk. Before I went back to the elevator I had one more question for the nurse at the front desk.

"You said each patient has one approved visitor. May I ask, who is the approved visitor for Nicolas Wilde?"

She raised an eyebrow at me. "Wait, the fox is your friend? I uh, I didn't expect that. Um, I can't give you the name of his one visitor but I can tell you it's another fox. A really short one with a bad temper."

Finnick. I suppose that would make sense. "Would you mind giving a note to him next time he visits?" I quickly dug through my bag for a small pad of paper and the carrot pen before the nurse could object. I scribbled out a short note asking Finnick to give Nick my number when he was better. I was careful writing the number on a second page, making sure it was legible.

The nurse let out a small puff of air from her nose when she took it. I hoped the note had a better chance of getting to him if Finnick had it then if the hospital staff waited for Nick to recover.

My phone vibrated in my pocket and I pulled it out as I stepped onto the elevator. My dad had just arrived at the hospital and was asking where to meet me. I quickly texted him back to let him know that I would be up to see him in just a second.