Disclaimer: Zootopia and all related characters are owned by Disney. All other characters, product names, trademarks, and copyrights, belong to their respective owners.

…..

Nick stepped into the hospital lobby as the doors slid open. It was a treat to be walking in versus being carted in on a gurney, not that he remembered anything from that night a week ago after being beaten up.

He was a little early, figuring he might get caught behind a slow-moving tractor he'd allowed a little extra time to get here. Lucky for him the roads had been clear, and he'd been able to get the convertible up to a fast enough speed that he was able to enjoy having the top down, something he'd wished his dad could have experienced years ago.

Looking around, he saw the lobby was empty except for a couple of young margays sitting on a couch and a female, probably their mother, talking with the receptionist. Figuring he had time to kill, Nick walked over to where the two younger felines were sitting.

As Nick approached the seating area, he noticed that the larger margay looked to be a teen boy, maybe seventeen, and the other cub was a young girl, eight or nine, with a splint on her arm. Accidents happen to kits all the time, but he was a cop, and this town wasn't always as friendly to predators as it should be.

"Hi there, I'm Officer Wilde, is everything okay?"

The teen, looking a little frustrated, put out a paw, "Hi, I'm Riley Purrbrook, and this is my sister, Chloe. She fell while climbing a tree and broke her arm," nodding toward the older female at the reception desk, "and my mom's trying to get her in to see a doctor." Grumbling, he added, "They're making her do a lot of paperwork first."

Nick nodded, "Yeah, bureaucrats everywhere are all about the paperwork; I'm sure it'll only take a few more minutes." Turning to the girl, "So, you fell out of a tree, huh, you know that can happen to anyone, I had to rescue a bunny kit from a tree about ten days ago," extending his claws, "had to climb using just my claws, that was pretty scary."

Riley leaned toward his sister, "Remember that video I showed you?" Chloe nodded as her brother continued, "That was him."

Chloe started to laugh quietly and whispered, "Really?"

Nick, figuring anything he could do to brighten the mood of a hurt cub, rolled his eyes and mock groaned, "Is there anyone, anywhere that hasn't seen that video?"

The little girl laughed a little more and shook her head as she perked up.

The mood quickly soured as the shadow of Mrs. Purrbrook cast itself over the small group.

"Come on, that… that animal won't check Chloe in, so we can't see a doctor here. Riley, go get the truck, we have to go somewhere else."

"But, Mom, where? The guy at the clinic said she needed a hospital and the next nearest hospital is–"

Standing up, Nick interrupted, "Excuse me, Mrs. Purrbrook, my name is Nick Wilde, and I'm with the sheriff's department, maybe I can help."

Mrs. Purrbrook shook her head, "I don't think so, not unless you can help her find our insurance information." She growled, "Damn rabbit, I'd like to show her a thing or two, making my cub wait."

Nick nodded, "You know, my partner in the city says I'm pretty good at getting other mammals to do paperwork, how about if you let me see if I can work some magic here."

Nick and Mrs. Purrbrook went back up to the receptionist's desk, and Nick politely cleared his throat.

Without looking up from giving herself a manicure with an emery board, the 20ish-year-old doe said, "What?"

Nick looked at the nameplate on the desk, and politely said, "Good morning, Courtney, Mrs. Purrbrook here needs a doctor to look at her daughter right away."

Still focused on her stubby claws, Courtney replied apathetically, "Can't find her insurance information in the system, they need to make an appointment and come back another time when they can pay cash upfront."

Mrs. Purrbrook broke in, "We absolutely have insurance, Mr. Pawfield is very good about making sure all of his employees have full coverage for anything they might need." Turning to Nick, she added, "The Pawfields are wonderful, they are very fair with all their employees regardless of their species."

Nick nodded, "Courtney, you heard Mrs. Purrbrook, please look again."

"No."

Nick's lip twitched, something wasn't right, he knew the medical staff here from when they'd taken care of him, they had treated him without bias and had given him as good of care as anyone else in town would have received. He looked around to see where the Head Administrator's office might be and if a conversation about this female was in order.

About to try again with the obstinate doe, Nick heard Riley call from the waiting area behind him, "Mom, Chloe's crying, would you hurry please."

'Fuck it.'

Turning to Mrs. Purrbrook, Nick said in his best fake pleasant voice, "Ma'am, would you come with me, please."

Mrs. Purrbrook followed Nick as he went over to the couch and gently picked up the young girl and headed to the emergency room. Looking over at the older margay that was standing stock still watching him, Nick calmly said, "This way to the ER, ma'am. I'm checking your daughter in, myself."

As they both moved away, Courtney yelled after them, "Stop this instant; you can't go back there with that girl."

Nick turned his head slightly and yelled back, "Watch me!"

Mrs. Purrbrook looked at Nick and then back to her son, "Wait out here, Riley, I'll find you as soon as we're finished."

Storming into the ER, Nick yelled out, "I need a doctor here!"

"Nick, what are you doing in here, I thought you were meeting with–"

"Carol, I need your help. I've got a little girl here with a broken arm."

Carol quickly waved toward an empty examination room, "Put her in there," following Nick, Carol pointed, "on the bed. I'll get Doc Livingston."

Nick set her down, "Mrs. Purrbrook, come in, Nurse Carol will be right back with the doctor."

"Officer Wilde, we won't get in trouble for this, will we?"

"No ma'am, I'll take care of everything, you just stay here with your daughter and don't worry, Doc Livingston is a great doc, he worked on me when I was hurt last week."

"Thank you."

Dr. Livingston came rushing in with Nurse Carol, "Nick what's going…," looking at the girl on the bed who now appeared to be frightened by everything that was going on, Dr. Livingston calmly asked in a much more gentle voice, "Hi, I'm Doctor Livingston, you look like you hurt your arm, may I examine it?"

Nick closed the curtain to the exam room and walked back out to the lobby. As soon as he was through the double doors to the reception area, he heard Riley shouting and then Courtney yelling. Picking up the pace, he jogged to where Courtney and Riley were squared off across the receptionist's desk, arguing in front of an older buck in a suit and tie.

Entering the fray, Nick put his arm around the teen to calm him a little, and then asked in a pleasant voice, "What's going on here?"

"That's him, Mr. Furrguson. He's the one I told you about."

Riley pointed at Courtney and yelled, "She said they're going to call the Sheriff and have all of us arrested."

"Who's getting arrested? What in the blazes is going on?"

Everyone turned to see who had suddenly joined the argument. The Hospital Administrator, Mr. Furrguson, was the first to reply, "Madam Mayor, how nice to see you."

"Yes, I'm sure it is, now someone tell me what's going on."

Gesturing to Nick, the doe blurted out, "This animal– "

"You mean Officer Wilde of the Bunnyburrow Sheriff's Department?"

"Uh, yeah, he, um, took a margay cub back to the doctors for treatment without the right paperwork."

Riley gasped at seeing the Mayor, predators got fired for a lot less than what this fox had done, jumping in to defend Nick, he blurted out, "He only did that because YOU couldn't find our insurance paperwork." Turning to the Mayor, "Ma'am, please don't fire him for helping my sister, she broke her arm this morning, and we had to come here. If you want, call the Pawfield warren, they'll tell you what happened."

Ackerbunn patted the boy on the shoulder, "Don't worry, son, Officer Wilde isn't the one that needs to be worried about their job right at the moment."

Ackerbunn stepped over to the desk and glared at Courtney, "Pull up this family's insurance record, now!"

Courtney looked at Furrguson and then back to her keyboard. After typing for a moment, she said in a quiet voice, "Must have been a computer glitch, it came up this time."

"A computer glitch, right. I'm betting the only glitch is in your attitude toward predators, now admit this boy's sister."

Typing the doe grumbled, "Allowing that animal into this hospital is a mistake."

Waiting until Courtney had completed the admission form and submitted it, Ackerbunn said in her coldest voice, "You want to talk about mistakes? Allowing your father to talk me into letting you have this job just because of his position in the Burrow was a mistake. A mistake, I am thankful to say, I do not have to live with any longer. Miss Hayes, you're fired."

Turning to Riley, Ackerbunn asked, "Officer Wilde and I were going to go get something to eat, would you care to join us, my treat?"

Motioning for the teen to join her as she started toward the cafeteria, Ackerbunn put her arm around the margay's shoulder and led him away while Nick stood with a grin on his face watching the speciest doe fume as she gathered her things.

Nodding, Nick moved to catch up with the Mayor, and as he walked past Furrguson, he heard the buck complain, "She can't do that."

Nick paused and nodded toward the Mayor in satisfaction, "She just did."

…..

Pawson was in the breakroom eating his lunch and reading a short story about one of his favorite movies on his phone, kind of crazy what you could find on the internet, but it was something to do while he waited for Hopps.

Looking up, said bunny interrupted him just as the two main characters of the story were about to kiss, by dropping her lunch sack on the table and then hopping into the chair next to him.

"You won't believe what the ZPD legal liaison said when I asked them to contact ZooRyd for us and request a copy of Griffin Rogers' ride record." Folding her arms across her chest, Judy huffed, "Go ahead, guess."

Pawson looked at the irritated bunny and said, "Um."

Judy threw her arms up in the air, "Exactly! They said they'd try to work on it and get back to me. What kind of attitude is that?"

"Well…"

Tearing open her sack lunch, Judy shook her head, "I know, it's like they don't realize we're in the middle of trying to solve an important case. What do you think, should I go to Bogo, get him to make a call?"

"Ahh…"

Grabbing a carrot stick, Judy sighed, "Fine, you're right, I'll wait until tomorrow to decide, maybe I'll get lucky tonight and find something out on Crazy Ray." Waving her half-nibbled carrot stick in the air, Judy said, "Would you please pass the ketchup."

Pawson slid a bottle over to Judy and raised an eyebrow, "You're not seriously going to put ketchup on your carrots, are you? That would be disgusting."

Judy rolled her eyes, "No, silly, it's for my sweet potato fries." Squirting out a glob of ketchup on a piece of wax paper, she asked, "So, how'd it go with your in-laws last night?"

Connor wiped his muzzle with the back of his paw, cleaning off a little mayonnaise from the egg salad sandwich he was eating. "It went okay, Olivia's mom spent most of the dinner asking me questions about my family, growing up, and what Pack Black Paw is like, I think she wanted to make sure that Olivia's being treated properly."

"How'd it go with her dad?"

"He invited me to play golf with him in a couple of weeks."

"Sounds like you're making progress."

Laughing, Connor replied, "Yeah, at least until he figures out how bad of a golfer I am."

"I'm sure you'll do fine," and then in a quieter voice, Judy added, "it's nice that both of Olivia's parents are trying."

"Yeah," looking at Judy's lunch, Connor asked, "May I try one of those fries?"

…..

Karen was leaning against the doorway to the large combo waiting room and kit's play area. She'd been watching all the activity for a while and was amazed at how good Wilde was with kits. Karen watched as Nick introduced himself to a young mother and then proceeded to perform a few simple magic tricks to entertain her kits as they waited for their booster shots. The kits went from being worried about their shots to excited about what they were going to buy with all the coins that had fallen out of their ears.

Nick was currently sitting with another group of kits, coloring at a small table. Some of the bunnies were trying to help their new fox friend color inside the lines, something that he seemed wholly incapable of doing, while others were trying to explain that there was no such thing as a purple poke-a-dot colored rabbit. As the kits tried in vain to bring out Nick's inner artist, other kits would come up to the table and politely ask to pet his long tail or to touch the Burrow Meister medallion hanging from its chain around his neck.

Karen heard voices behind her and turned to see Nurse Carol, Riley, and two margay females who had to be Riley's mother and sister.

Riley brought the older feline up to Karen and introduced her, "Mom, this is Mayor Ackerbunn. Ma'am, this is my mom and my little sister Chloe."

Putting out a paw, Mrs. Purrbrook said, "Nice to meet you Mayor Ackerbunn, I'm Margaret."

"I'm Karen, nice to meet you too."

Putting a paw on each of her cubs, Margaret looked into the room and whispered to Chloe, "Look over there, they have some new toys for predators that look fun. I see some scratch and sniff books, and that looks like a bin of rope toys, your favorite. And Riley, I think I see a spinning chase toy with feathers, I'll bet that's a lot of fun to play with."

"Rolling his eyes, Riley whined, "Moooom, I'm way too old for toys like that."

Gently pushing him into the room, Margaret chuckled, "Go play and make sure your sister is being careful with her arm."

Margaret, Karen, and Carol all watched the teen explore the room for a moment, and then as he eased over to where the chase toy was, they watched as he poked it with a claw. Riley tried and failed to catch the spinning feather for a few moments and then as he looked back at the group of smirking adults, he blushed in embarrassment and quickly pushed the toy back into the toy pile and went over to where his sister was sniffing a book of scented flower pictures.

All the adults turned away from watching Chloe and Riley as they heard a kit's voice call out, "Right paw, blue."

Carol gasped as she watched Nick tent himself over two kits and slap his right paw on a blue circle. "Nick, your arm!" She called out to the big red kit playing Twister with a group of kits that were much more bendable than him.

"What?"

"Your arm, be careful you don't fall on it and hurt yourself again." Shaking her head, Carol chuckled, "He's worse than all the other kits put together." Stepping into the room, she went from group to group and checked on everyone while keeping an eye on both of her more recent predator patients.

Turning to Karen, Margaret whispered, "Where did all the predator kit toys come from, your office?"

Karen shook her head and whispered back, "We helped, but it's more because of him than anyone else."

"Tail tip, red."

"Hey, no fair, my tail's not long enough to reach," groused a bunny kit.

"Use your ear instead," suggested Nick.

"Oh, okay."

"Riley told me you took care of that doe at the front desk."

"Yeah, she was my fault, I should never have signed off on her working for the hospital."

"Left foot, yellow."

Both females laughed as they watched the fox try and get his leg around a kit and touch his toes to a yellow dot when he lost his balance, yelped, and fell over onto his good side.

"I'm okay, nothing hurt here!" Nick called out as Carol saw him rub his arm as he stood back up, ready for round two of the game.

Carol rolled her eyes and decided something other than Twister would be a good choice if she wanted to keep Nick whole for his checkup later. "How about a story? Everyone who wants Mr. Nick to tell a story, clap."

A roar of clapping from all the kits encouraged Nick to the front of the room where, after a few moments, he was standing in front of an audience of kits, a few adults, and both the margay cubs all sitting crisscross on the floor.

"Thank you for getting rid of her, mine wasn't the first family she'd given a hard time to about admission paperwork."

"Alright kits, today I'm going to tell you a story about how the first bunny police officer, Judy Hopps, and her incredibly handsome fox best friend found a bunch of missing mammals."

"I'll try to do a better job of picking who I sign off on in the future."

"…and then we saw on the JamCam video that the van went into a secret tunnel…"

"Well, it looks like you've picked a winner with that one," said Margaret nodding toward Nick.

"And then Officer Hopps had a brilliant idea, you know she's super smart by the way, she started to howl just like this…"

As the kits laughed and clapped at the howling fox, Margaret added, "Word in the community is that you're going to try and resubmit your predator rights bill."

Hunched over and high stepping on his toes, Nick mock whispered, "And then we crept around, just like this, until we found all the missing mammals locked up in rooms."

"Were they sad, Mr. Nick?" asked a young doe.

"Yes, they were, but don't worry, Officer Hopps was there to fix everything."

The little doe crawled up next to Chloe and picking up the feline's good arm, she put it around her so she could nuzzle in close.

Both Karen and Margaret almost cooed at what they were seeing, and after a moment, Karen said, "Yes, and I'm doing everything I can to get it passed this time."

"But then the guards came, and we had to hide. Making scared motions with his arms, Nick's voice trembled as he said, "I was so scared, but then Officer Hopps saved us."

"What did she do, Mr. Nick?" asked the doe still pressed against Chloe's side.

"She flushed us down a huge toilet…"

"Eww," called out all the kits.

"You know, if there is anything any of us in the community can do to help, you only need to ask."

"It was like the bestest water slide ever. Nick waved his arms around and wiggled his body and tail, "I did this the whole way down."

"Thanks, I might take you up on that, here's my direct number, you see anything like what happened this morning, call me or if you'd rather call our storyteller over there," Karen checked her phone and then wrote a number on the back of her card, "here's his number too."

"And then we swam to shore and crawled out of the water, we were totally soaked. My fur was all wet and yucky. I looked like a big mop."

"Even your tail, Mr. Nick? It looks so soft."

Nick swung his tail around and tickled the young doe next to Chloe as he replied, "Yes, even my tail."

"After we shook ourselves dry, Officer Hopps called the ZPD headquarters for extra help, and they sent helicopters and vans and a whole bunch of police to help her rescue all the missing mammals. The end."

"Thank you. Do you know if he has a mate? I might know of a few females that would like to have a talk with him if he doesn't."

Nick bowed with a flourish to all the clapping kits.

Smirking, Karen replied, "Sorry, I don't know anything about his status, and be sure to tell any of those females you talk to, that unless they're vixens to keep it quiet, that's a law I can't do anything about right now."

…..

Judy poked her head around the door to where Pawson was talking with another officer, "Hey Connor, I've got to go. Penny texted me, and they had a volunteer drop out for tonight, so I'm headed over to the encampment early to help out with the meal setup."

"Alright, I'll let Bogo know you had to leave early. Are you sure you don't want me to go with you and help ask questions?"

"Thanks, but no. Thorn asked me to keep things low key, and you're not exactly a low-key kind of guy."

"Point taken. If you need anything over the weekend, give me a call."

"Thanks, I'm working a short shift tomorrow, if anything comes up, I'll let you know."

"Good luck, Judy, see you Monday."

…..

Nurse Carol was chatting with Nick as she led him on an impromptu tour of the East Wing of the hospital. Carol had just finished tearing Nick away from all the kits in the play area, and the twelve-story wooden block building they were about to christen for the city of Blocktopia, when Nick had turned around too quickly and suddenly became a one-fox demolition crew with his tail.

After apologizing profusely, and paying for his unpermitted razing of a city monument by giving each kit a hug and a mini sheriff sticker, Nick was enjoying the slow walk to Doc Livingston's office where he was due to get his arm examined.

"…and this is our Geriatric Ward. Here we have several patients with unique needs and–" Carol's pager vibrated. Reading the code on the small screen, she turned to Nick and said, "I need to call Doc Livingston, wait here for a minute."

Nick hung by the Nurse's station for a few moments and then spied a small kitchenette with a vending machine down the hall. Figuring a snack was in order, Nick let his stomach lead him toward the promise of a sugar buzz.

Halfway down the hall, Nick was passing an open door when he heard what sounded like a kit's voice calling out, "Help me, please. I'm scared, please…"

Nick looked back for Nurse Carol and saw her still on the phone, so he poked his head in the room to see what was going on. Lying on the bed was a very, very old rabbit buck. He had on a light hospital gown that covered his pure gray fur, and his ears were limply draped across the pillow his head was lying on. As Nick stood in the doorway, he could see a set of thick glasses on the table next to the old-timer along with a few get well cards and a small vase of fresh flowers.

Stepping into the room, Nick quietly asked, "Are you okay?"

As Nick waited, the buck squinted and tried to focus on him and then said in the childlike voice Nick had heard from the hallway, "Hi, my name's Tommy, my Great Grandpap said he would be right back, but I don't know where he is, and now the bad mammal wants to take me away. I'm scared."

Nick softly padded into the room and stood next to the buck's bed. Looking down at the old buck, Nick figured that he must be suffering from some form of dementia or something that made him think he was a little kit again. "Hi, my name is Mr. Nick, would you like me to wait with you until your Great Grandpap comes back?"

"Yes, please." Closing his eyes for a moment, the buck continued, "I don't want to go with the bad mammal, I didn't mean to make Ruthie sad, I'm sorry."

Nick leaned forward to put his paw on the old-timer's shoulder when his medallion swung out on its chain in front of the buck.

Reaching up, Tommy carefully caught the swinging medallion and held it in his paw. He used his thumb to rub the medallion's engraving of a buck holding a sword, point down, in one paw and scrolls in the other, and then asked, "What's this, Mr. Nick?"

Nick smiled, he'd gotten asked that a lot by the kits downstairs. "That's the Burrow Meister medallion, I helped a couple of kits and the Mayor gave it to me, it's very special to me."

The old buck smiled big, and his eyes went wide, "Wow, you're the Burrow Meister, I can't wait to tell my Great Grandpap that you're here. He'll be so happy to see you again."

Nick patted Tommy's arm, sat down in the chair next to the bed, and said, "I'm glad to hear that, but I don't think your Great Grandpap and I have ever met before."

Nodding his head as if Nick were trying to keep a secret, Tommy replied, "My Great Grandpap told me all about you. He said that when he was little like me that you helped his dad and his grandpap save the farm. He told me that you talked to the mean people at the bank and made them stop trying to take away the farm and that you even made them give back some of the money they'd taken because they weren't following the rules like they were supposed to."

Nick started to tell the old buck that he was mistaken, that he must be mixing him up with the old Marshalls that Sheriff Hoofson had talked about his first day in town, when he felt a soft paw on his shoulder. Looking around, he saw Nurse Carol standing behind him, a look of concern on her face.

"Nick…", motioning Nick to the door out of earshot of the buck, Carol whispered as quietly as she could. "Nick, Thomas just turned 110 years old, and he doesn't have much time left, we're taking him to hospice as soon as his niece arrives. Sometimes it's like he's a kit again and sometimes he's just incoherent, he hasn't been in a normal lucid state in weeks." I don't know what you said to him, but this is as good as we've seen him in a long time, anything more you can do would be a big help to the family."

Nick nodded and went back to the bed, "Tommy, I'm looking forward to seeing your Great Grandpap again, and I'm glad I was able to help your family all those years ago."

Tommy sniffed, "Mr. Nick, do you, um, do you think you can help me now?"

Nick looked at Carol and saw her shrug her shoulders, "Sure, Tommy, I'll try real hard to help you, what do you need me to do?"

"Please make the bad mammal leave me alone." Tommy wiped a tear out of his eye and then continued, "I made my sister mad, and she told me that the bad mammal would take me away because of what I did."

Putting his paw back on the buck's arm, Nick asked, "What bad thing did you do?"

Sniffing again, "At Ruthie's birthday party last month, I took her most favorite shooter marble, the one that was pink and all glittery, and I lost it outside somewhere. I looked all over, but I couldn't find it, and now the bad mammal is here just like she said he would be."

Carol leaned over and whispered into Nick's ear, "She passed over forty years ago."

Nick took Tommy's paw in his own and looked the old buck in the eyes, "Tommy, I know that Ruthie loves you very much. She was just angry for a minute when she said that about the bad mammal. I'm sure if she were here now, she would tell you that she'd forgiven you a long time ago and that she was sorry for saying those things to you."

Tommy gently squeezed Nick's paw, "I wish she were here; I miss her so much."

Nick breathed in deeply, "When my dad left my mom and me, I was so sad I couldn't even cry. My mom hugged me extra tight and told me that the ones we love never leave us. They watch over us and try to help us when we need it. She also told me that if I wanted to feel my dad again, all I had to do was close my eyes and picture him in my mind and think about how wonderful it was when we were together, and then I'd be surrounded by his love again."

"I'll try." Tommy held Nick's paw tight, closed his eyes, and then smiled as he whispered, "I'll think of Ruthie, and you think of your dad, maybe they'll both come."

As Nick closed his eyes and bowed his head slightly, he heard a gasp from behind him. He took a quick look and saw a young doe standing in the doorway with her paw over her muzzle. Nurse Carol quickly went over to the doe and whispered something in her ear.

Nick turned back to Tommy and quietly thought about his dad.

Carol stood next to the young doe with a paw on her shoulder as they both watched the two silent mammals. The doe looked at the nurse and then back to her great, great uncle holding paws with a red fox in a police uniform. Not sure what was going on, but trusting Nurse Carol, she decided to watch and wait for a few minutes.

With his eyes still closed, Tommy smiled and turned his head toward Nick, "Thank you, I knew the Burrow Meister would be able to help me. The bad mammal went away, I think Ruthie told him to leave me alone." Opening his eyes, Tommy paused and then quietly asked, "Mr. Nick, would you give this to Ruthie the next time you see her and tell her I'm sorry for losing hers."

Nick opened his eyes and saw that the old buck was holding his palm open to give Nick a blue and gold shooter. Nick reached out and took the marble and then nodding, said, "I'll keep this with me until I see her."

Nick saw a relaxed, content look sweep over Thomas' face. The buck's eyes then sharpened as he said in a clear voice, "Thank you, Officer. I think I'm ready now. These old bones need a rest."

Nick smiled, "Of course, sir. But, if you're up to it, there's someone here that would like to talk with you first." Waving for Thomas' niece to come over, Nick stood up and said, "It was an honor meeting you, sir." Looking at the marble in his paw he added, "I'm sorry there's not anything I can do to help."

"Thank you, son, you've done more than I could have ever hoped for."

Bowing slightly to the old buck, Nick moved to the doorway and stood with Nurse Carol for a moment as they both watched the two rabbits, generations in age apart, support each other with the love that comes from being family.

Thomas hugged his niece and then laughed with a joy he hadn't felt in years, so many burdens had been lifted from his tired shoulders that he felt as light as a feather and ready to fly to the heavens.

Feeling her uncle's joy, the young doe looked over to Nick, and with tears in her eyes, she smiled and silently mouthed a 'Thank You' and then turned back to her uncle and nuzzled him for what she knew would be the last time.

…..

Walking down the sidewalk, Judy made her way between a treed area and a small industrial park to a large, grassy open space. The encampment sat on the backside of the complex against a greenbelt. Judy saw a couple of vans and a few mammals, mostly predators, unloading supplies.

Judy looked around and saw Penny helping with the unloading of an old green minivan. Waving to the Stoat, Judy walked up. "Hi, Penny."

Penny hugged her new friend, and said, "Hi Judy, I'm so glad you came," and then in a whisper, she added, "and thanks for not wearing your uniform, a lot of mammals around here get nervous around cops."

Whispering back, Judy replied, "No problem, I was warned by a friend to keep a low profile." Judy broke the hug, pulled out a pair of work gloves, and asked in a louder voice, "What do you want me to do first?"

Judy had come to work, and for the next hour, she helped everywhere she could. As the larger mammals set up the tables that would be used to serve the food, Judy cleaned up the areas where the camp's mammals would be eating. There were at least twenty picnic tables that needed a wipe down, and ten portable heaters to set up. Judy made sure the heaters were fueled and ready to be used later.

Next up, Judy helped unpack the health kits. One of the local church congregations had spent the previous weekend putting together the kits. Each kit was a large sealable bag that contained a toothbrush, toothpaste, soap, a fur brush, bandages, claw clippers, and a washcloth. Penny had told her that the ZMS set up a few portable sinks, but they couldn't put them everywhere, and the kits provided basic necessities to those that couldn't access the ZMS resources.

After putting out the health kits out on one table, Judy unloaded another box, this one contained another congregation's to-go bags of food the residents could eat later. They'd put together bags for both the predators and the prey. The prey bags contained grain-heavy meal bars, some fruit, and single-serving oatmeal cups. For the predators, they put together bags of high protein meal bars, bug chips, and fish jerky.

As Judy put out the predator bags, she started to turn her nose up at the fish jerky when she noticed it was made from salmon. Judy examined the packaging to see who made it and gave herself a mental note to look up online who sold them. It might be nice to pick some up for Nick to snack on during their next movie night.

After finishing her setup tasks, Judy washed her paws off at the portable sink and went to join the groups prepping the food service tables. Seeing that all the prey volunteers were working on the prey food, Judy went over and joined Penny and two other small predators as they laid out a burrito station.

As the food was set out, a line started to form. Since the majority of the residents were predators, the line was longer on their side. The predators had multiple stations to choose from, there were stations for tuna casserole, fish tacos, and the end station where Penny and Judy were, bug and tofu burritos.

Penny gave Judy a quick demo on how to put the burritos together and made sure Judy had plenty of ingredients to work with, and then they started making a few of each type of burrito, wrapping each one in a foil sheet for the mammals making their way down the line.

Nudging Penny, Judy motioned toward the prey table and said, "Is that Cecelia?" Penny spied the llama and wanted to shake her head. Cecelia had on designer slacks, a silk blouse and sequined foot covers.

"I don't even know why she's here; she almost never comes to help. I don't think she'd recognize hard work if it slapped her across the muzzle."

As mammals came through the line and made their requests, Judy scooped out bugs, seasoned tofu or both, rice beans, cheese, and sauce and quickly made a burrito. It wasn't too long before she was able to put one together as well as Penny, or any of the other volunteers.

Looking out at the eating areas, Judy spied an old pampas fox as he slowly made his way to one of the more remote spaces and sat down. Judy passed out another few burritos and looked back at the fox to see that he was still sitting alone. A large hyena growled at Judy for not paying attention to what she was doing and then looked at what Judy saw and sneered, "Damn Fox, don't see why anyone lets them come around here."

Judy shook her head, Toni was right when she said foxes were looked down upon by everyone, even those at the bottom gave foxes a hard time.

Judy finished making the extra-large combo burrito the Hyena had asked for, and then after handing it to her, Judy made two smaller combo burritos. Turning to Penny, Judy said, "I'll be right back."

Putting the burritos on a plate, Judy walked over to the prey serving table, picked up a bowl of blueberries, and then grabbed a water bottle from the cooler. Navigating her way around all the larger mammals, Judy headed toward where the fox was sitting. Judy set the plate and water down next to the old fox and then turned on the heater in the center of the area he was sitting in. A moment later, with the space warming up, Judy turned to the fox and said, "Sir, if there is anything else I can get you, just let me know."

Once back at the serving table, Judy helped with the burritos for another twenty minutes until the worst of the line was done. Penny knowing that Judy needed to get a little work done, nudged the bunny, "Judy, how about you grab a plate and join the residents, you deserve a break."

Seeing what Penny was doing, Judy thanked her and grabbed a pawful of bell pepper slices and some baby carrots. Judy had wanted to sit with the old fox for a bit, but when she looked over to where he had been sitting, she saw that he was gone and the seats were now all occupied by a group of prey mammals.

Judy saw a few predators, including the hyena from earlier, sitting around another heater. Judy walked over to an empty seat and asked, "Is it okay if I sit here?"

The Hyena, showing all her teeth, growled out, "No prey, don't need your kind here."

Judy looked around at the other mammals on the benches as a couple gave her a sour look, and the others just shrugged."

Sighing, Judy looked around for another group to sit with when she heard someone calling to her from a group a few yards away. Judy gave a last look to the hyena messily finishing her second large burrito and quickly walked over to the other group.

Coming up on a group of about a half dozen predators, two of them scooted apart to make room for her. A middle-aged Bobcat patted the space next to her and hissed, "Don't mind them, they don't get along with anyone."

Greeting everyone on the benches, she said, "Hi, I'm Judy," and then turning to the Bobcat, "Thank you for inviting me over."

A weasel squinted at Judy, "Yup, one good meal a week, might as well enjoy it with your friends. Have you had any of the flounder yet, it's a lot better than the sardines they usually serve?" Leaning over, the weasel put a foil-wrapped street taco made with seasoned flounder, on Judy's plate, "Here you go, you fennecs like fish, right?"

The Bobcat next to Judy shook his head in disbelief, "Magloo, put your glasses on, you just gave a prey mammal a fish taco. Judy here is a rabbit, not a fennec fox, you blind old coot."

The weasel reached into his pocket and pulled out a pair of glasses with very, very thick lenses, put them on and continued to squint at Judy, "I thought you looked kind of funny for a fox, sorry about that."

Judy chuckled, "Don't worry about it, I get mammals calling me a fox more often than you might think."

"It's the ears, got me all confused."

"Wear your glasses, you know you can't see without them."

As the back and forth continued, Judy sniffed the taco under discussion, and after glancing around to see that everyone was focused on the blind weasel, took a little nibble. Judy nodded to herself and added flounder to her list of foods not to talk with her parents about, and then leaned back and watched, and laughed, as everyone else in the small group chimed in to give the old weasel a good-natured ribbing for not being able to see his own paw in front of his face.

Finishing up the last of her vegetables, Judy set her empty plate down and interrupted the friendly argument just as the mammals had moved from eyesight comparisons to a scent detection contest. "Ah, guys, have any of you seen Ray Simon? I heard he used to stay here, and I was hoping to meet up with him?"

The Bobcat next to her shrugged, "Crazy Ray? I haven't seen him around here for a while." Nodding toward a jackal sitting on the next bench over, the bobcat yelled, "Hey, Pills. Judy's looking for Crazy Ray. Have you seen him around?"

"Nah, haven't talked to him since that day I made him let the ZMS medic treat his infected paw and I haven't seen him since he went all crazy and howled at everything that moved."

Judy spoke up, "Um, Mr. Pills-"

"Just Pills, they call me that because I used to be an Orderly, got hurt real bad, lost my job, and ended up here because I took too much of my own medicine." Chuckling at his own joke, he sighed and then got serious as he added, "Be careful when the docs prescribe you painkillers, too much, too often, and you'll end up here like me, depressing everyone you know around a portable heater.

"Sorry, you were asking about Crazy Ray?"

Judy nodded, "Yes, I was wondering if you knew of anyone who might know Crazy Ray, I need to find him."

Standing up, Pills moved away from the eating area and motioned for Judy to follow him.

"You the one that Thorn said might be around?"

Judy nodded slightly, "Yeah."

Pills pursed his lips before asking, "You're a cop, aren't you?"

Judy nodded again.

"Why are you looking for him?"

Judy hesitated for a moment and then replied, "Thorn told me what happened to Crazy Ray just before he ran away, and he also told me a couple of residents might have gone missing from the encampment. I'm looking into it."

"You're not after Ray for some sort of crime or something? Trying to put him away?"

"No, I promise, I just want to talk to him."

After a little shuffling, the jackal replied, "Okay, I can't help you on finding anyone that's gone missing lately, you'd have to keep asking around about that. But, if you want to find Crazy Ray, that old fox you gave that plate of food to earlier is the one to ask."

Judy nodded, "Who is he? He disappeared before I could talk with him."

"Don't know, he's never told anyone his name, just shows up every now and then. All I know is he's the only one who could ever make any sense of Crazy Ray."

Heading back to where his meal was sitting, Pills wished Judy good luck and sat back down.

Judy grabbed her plate, and after refilling it, she spent the rest of the meal time talking with as many of the residents as she could, unfortunately, she didn't come away with anything very helpful. One mammal would mention a friend they hadn't seen in a while, just for another mammal at a different table or eating area mention seeing the very same mammal in the last week. By the end of mealtime, Judy was pretty discouraged.

After writing a few notes down, Judy found Penny and helped with cleanup. The team was pretty organized, and some of the residents pitched in to help, so the cleanup only took about forty-five minutes.

As the last few trucks and vans were being loaded, Judy saw Penny closing up her minivan, now stuffed full with leftover supplies. Heading over, Judy caught her friend as she was getting in the driver's seat.

"Hey, Penny, thanks for inviting me out."

Penny glanced at where Miss Packler was standing next to her car about twenty yards away, staring at Judy and her with her arms folded, and asked, "How'd it go?"

Judy shrugged her shoulders, "Not too well, no one's seen Crazy Ray since his episode. I suppose on the plus side, no one could think of anyone that had gone missing that someone else hadn't recently seen, either."

"Well, there's always next week."

Judy nodded, "Yeah, sign me up."

"Good, I'll do that. Are you sure you don't want a lift?"

"No, I'm good, the Metro station isn't that far away."

Penny hugged Judy and said, "Call me if you need anything, thanks again for coming out."

Judy returned the hug and then waved goodbye as Penny left. Judy turned and let her paw drop as she heard the rumble of Miss Packler's sports car as she pulled it out of the parking area and stopped just before turning on to the street. Judy watched through the car's open window, as Packler turned, gave her a look, and then followed Penny's minivan toward the highway.

Taking a last look around, Judy headed back to the Metro station. Even though she hadn't found anything out on Crazy Ray, she was happy she'd come out. She'd met a bunch of nice mammals and been able to help out a bit.

Continuing to think to herself about the evening, she wasn't paying as good of attention to her surroundings as she should have been, and was startled by a gruff voice coming from near a dumpster she was passing.

"Hey, rabbit."

Judy stopped and turned toward the voice, "Yes?"

"When you came over, I could smell fox on you, barely there, but it was there."

Seeing that it was the pampas fox from earlier in the evening, Judy replied, "My partner is a fox, and I help coach a soccer team of mostly foxes from Sister Mary's."

"Decent female that one," and a moment later, "heard you were looking for Crazy Ray."

"Yes, sir, I am. I only want to talk with him, nothing more."

Looking around to make sure no one was within earshot, the fox said, "I haven't seen Crazy Ray for a while. He doesn't come to the camp like he used to, ever since he started going on about how monsters abducted him." Sighing, he continued, "He's not the same mammal I used to know, and he won't talk to me about what's eating at him."

"I'll try to find out, if you let me."

"Are you serving again next week?"

"Yes, sir."

"We'll talk then."

"Thank–," Judy was cut off by the old fox handing her a piece of paper.

"Find one, and you'll find the other," was the last thing the fox said before quickly walking off.

Judy opened the paper and saw two names scrawled in pencil on it. Looking up, she saw the fox was gone. Putting the paper in her pocket, she continued to the Metro station, maybe she'd found something helpful after all.