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

…..

Paws on hips, Judy huffed as the ambulance carrying her tranqed lions drove away. She'd lobbied for the EMT to administer an antidote so she could start questioning her charges, but Bogo had overridden her and instead had the unconscious lions restrained and rushed to the hospital.

Turning to her boss, Judy asked, "Alright sir, where do you want us?"

Bogo, looking down at his smallest officer, elbow bandaged, matted fur covered in dirt splotches, and nothing on except a barely-there top and the remains of a skirt that was never more than wishful thinking, said, "At the hospital. Now."

"But sir, you need our help. Nick can sniff around for evidence of the new drug, and I can–"

"Get you and your partner to the hospital, that's what you can do. Neither of you is in any kind of shape to be sifting through a crime scene. You're both injured, and no telling what kinds of chemicals you might have been exposed to before that building went up. So, as of this moment, you're both confined to the hospital until you're tested, rested, and given a clean bill of health."

"Sir?" interrupted Nick, "Does it have to be the hospital? I hate hospitals. I mean, Carrots is as tough as nails, and I wasn't hurt that bad. A beating, a couple of tranq darts, and that ram's shot barely grazed me."

"Look at this," said Nick pulling away his blanket showing Bogo his bandage with only a few dots of blood seeping through. "Roy patched me up fine. Seriously, it's no big deal, I'm already feeling mostly better."

"Mostly?"

"Uh-huh," replied Nick coughing.

Bogo looked at Pawson and said, "Take Hopps and Wilde to Zootopia General. I want them in quarantine right away. And call Dr. Badger, I want her to check them both out ASAP."

"But, sir… you heard Nick, and I barely scraped my elbow getting out of the way of that shot. Seriously, I'm–"

"No buts, Hopps," grunted Bogo as he waved toward the ZPD's armored SUV, "get your tail moving. And for goodness' sake, find some real clothes."

Judy sagged, and her ears went droopy as she mumbled, "Yes, sir," and trudging past Nick, she paused only long enough to hand him his phone before climbing into the back of the SUV.

Nick stared after Judy, and once she was out of view, Nick motioned Bogo closer, "Sir, did you see where she kept my phone? Please, I gots to know."

Bogo nodded coyly and easing closer to Nick as if he was about to whisper an answer to one of the greatest secrets of all time…

…growled out, "Get. In. The. Car. Now!"

Nick backed away from the angry looking bull and quickly hopped up into the car next to Judy, "Seriously, where…?"

Judy silenced her fox with a quick kiss, and then snuggling under his arm, she leaned her head against his softly furred side and closed her eyes.

-/-/-

"Brown, Mr. Brown," said the old wildebeest with a smirk.

"Of course," replied the twenty-something antelope doe behind the rustic bar doing everything she could not to roll her eyes, "and let me guess, you want a martini shaken, not stirred?"

"Yes, my dear," replied Brown as he ogled the bartender in her tight blue jeans and black button-down Turkey Ranch shirt, "and later, if you would bring another one to my tent, personally, I'll be sure to compensate you handsomely. Tent thirty-eight, right near the river under an old oak tree," and with a chuckle, he added, "I can tie a yellow ribbon around one of the branches if you need help finding it."

The doe fake-smiled as she tried to keep from gagging at the old-timer's gawdawful pick-up lines. 'Has anyone, anywhere, ever fallen for that kind of crap?'

"I'm sorry sir, but guests mingling with the wait staff isn't allowed. If you'd like company for the evening, please check in with the herd concierge. I'm sure they'll be able to find someone to accommodate you at a very reasonable price."

Holding her fake smile until the now grumbling old bull had merged back into the crowd, the doe stuffed the signed receipt, with the tent number circled and a time written next to it, into a drawer and delicately picked up the dollar bill he'd left on the counter and dropped it into the tip jar as if it were radioactive.

"Gross," came a female voice from behind the bartender. "He didn't just ask you to spend the night in his tent, did he?"

"Yeah," she groaned waving her hoof around the large mess tent, "I so hate working these back-to-nature herd events. No phones, no internet, no TV, just a bunch of old guys roaming around the plains pretending to be primitive alpha bulls. Yuck!"

…..

"You're disgusting! You're a vile, disgusting, cruel old animal, and there's no way… no way in heck I'll ever let you do… that to me," yelled a bushbuck doe as she gathered up her things and pushed back the tent flap.

Brown huffed as he ripped a rusty helmet off his head and stood fuming at what was supposed to be his entertainment for the evening after none of the waitresses he'd propositioned had taken him up on his offer to share his tent. "Whore, get your tail back here right this instant. We haven't even done anything yet."

Turning back, the doe pointed a finger at the wildebeest's muzzle and growled, "And we never will. I don't care how much you paid or who you know. The answer is 'NO.'"

Brown, dressed in an ill-fitting, medieval dungeon guard costume, tossed aside an evil looking cat o' nine tails and followed his almost prize outside, "You work here, it's your job to–"

A hulking shape moved in front of Brown, blocking the light from the camps' torch lights and his ability to follow through on grabbing the doe's ears and dragging her back to his tent.

"Did this animal break the rules, Miss Julia?"

"Whaaaa?" said Brown looking up at the largest antelope buck he'd ever seen. A Giant Eland, over two thousand pounds of pure, hard muscle, stood in front of the barely two hundred pound, aging and out of shape, blue wildebeest.

And the Eland was not happy.

"Yes, he did, Frankie. He's breaking the contract; he's trying to make me to do things I don't like. And," Julia hissed, shaking a hoof at Brown, "I smell Nip on the stupid toys you brought. I told you twice when you signed up that I. Hate. Drugs."

Frankie bellowed.

Brown whimpered as he fell back on his haunches.

Julia glared.

"You leave Miss Julia alone," ground out Frankie. "Her contract canceled. You leave here by tomorrow, not come back, ever. You listen, or Frankie breaks your horns and stuffs them down your throat.

"Understand?"

Brown nodded in silence as the behemoth of a bodyguard daintily put a hoof on his charge's shoulder and led her into the darkness and back to the distant lodge.

"Break my horns?" whispered Brown, "Wait until the world is at my hooves begging me for my formula to protect them. Then we'll see who breaks whose horns and who has to watch as I play with my prey."

-/-/-

Judy yawned as she sat, Nick's tail wrapped around her, on an examination table, and waited.

"I'm bored," said Nick.

"Shush, we've barely been in here fifteen minutes."

Nick checked his phone and said, "It's been sixteen."

Judy rolled her eyes and burrowed in a little closer to Nick's side.

Nick pulled Judy in tighter, leaned his head over hers, and asked, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah. And you?"

"Yeah. Except you're ahead of me again in the 'Saving your partner's life' count."

"Pfft, never fell behind."

Gently stroking Judy's back fur, Nick said, "Thanks."

"I was worried about you."

"Sorry, it all happened so fast. One second, I was opening a door to look in the parking lot for bad guys, the next, I was waking up to a spaghetti western style standoff.

Judy sighed as checked Nick's bandage, again, and said, "Thanks again for saving my tail, but you need to be more careful. I don't know what I'd do if something were to happen to you."

Nick kissed Judy on the top of her head and said, "No promises when my bunny is in danger."

Giving Nick a look, Judy said, "Nick–"

Putting a finger to Judy's lips, Nick stopped her scolding by saying, "I promise I'll try to be more careful."

Judy looked up, this time with doe-eyes, and said, "You swear?"

Nick smiled as he drew an X across his heart and said, "Cross my heart and hope to–"

Judy's lips silenced Nick's promise and caused him to lift her into his lap so he could deepen their kiss.

The whole night of craziness hit them both at the same time. The music, the dancing, being around so many mammals who didn't care about seeing a fox and a rabbit having a good time together.

And then almost losing it all to a bunch of psychopathic prey who'd rather see them both dead than happy in each other's arms.

Judy added to the kiss by pulling open Nick's shirt and rubbed her paws through his chest fur as Nick gently used his claws to stroke Judy's ears.

"Mmmmmh," moaned Judy breaking the kiss, "That feels so good. Your claws are amazing."

Judy pressed her muzzle into Nick's thick chest fur, and then went slack against him and started to purr. "That feels even better than Janae said it would."

Nick chuckled, "I aim to please."

Cringing, Judy looked up and asked, "Did I say that out loud?"

"Yup."

Pressing her muzzle back into Nick's chest, Judy chuckled too, "Good."

Starting to relax back into Nick's ministrations, Judy's free ear shot up and rotated toward the door, "Someone's coming."

Nick looked over at the elephant-sized, metal blast door thick enough to fend off a legion of savage monsters, locked in place by a dozen door bolts, each thicker than him, then back down to his bunny, "Are you ever going to tell me how you do that?"

"Hello, may I come in?" came a female voice from a speaker box next to the door.

Judy pecked Nick on the lips before rolling out of his lap and saying, "Come on in, we're not savage or anything."

"Yet," added Nick with a smirk.

"Behave," whispered Judy as they waited for the hydraulics to unlock and swing open the door.

"Hi," said a golden-brown furred puma in her late twenties, wearing an over-large blue lab coat and carrying a computer tablet. "My name's–"

"Olivia?!" said Judy.

Olivia smiled, "Yes, that's right Officer Hopps. I didn't think you'd recognize me. Nice to finally get to meet you in the fur. Connor has told me all about you two."

"Please call me Judy, and my scruffy-looking partner here is Nick," and to Nick, she added, "Olivia is Connor's mate. She's a nurse and works over at Zootopia Central in their NICU."

"Not anymore," said Olivia, shaking Judy's paw, "as soon as Connor told Dr. Badger I was a nurse and his mate and that I might have figured out more than I should have about you guy's case, she had me transferred here to help out, just in case."

Judy nodded as she said to Nick, "Olivia was the one that gave Connor and me the tip on where to find Little Bill." And looking back at Olivia, she grumbled, "you know I had to buy Connor lunch for that."

Nick chuckled as he took Olivia's paw and shook it, "Nice to meet another mammal that knows how to hustle my partner. Welcome to the team, and whatever Connor said about me is totally not true."

Looking at the now smirking fox with his tail wrapped around his scantily clad bunny girlfriend, and both of them with mussed fur that had to be from a recent make-out session, convinced Olivia that everything Connor had said about both of them was absolutely true.

"Of course, we all know how canids can be with their wagging tongues, right Judy?"

"Yup," said Judy with a giggle.

Nick rolled his eyes.

"So, since Dr. Badger is busy with the two tranqed lions brought in right before you, she asked me to take care of you guys. Who wants to go first?"

Nick waved a paw at his partner and said, "I think ladies first is the rule, especially when needles are involved."

Unwrapping the bandage from Judy's elbow, Olivia said, "The blood work admissions gathered is almost done, so no more needles. Just a few simple checks.

"How does your elbow feel?"

Judy shrugged, "Fine, it's barely a scratch. I just bumped it wrong."

Nick sniffed at Judy's arm and said, "I concur, Dr. Hopps, a few days of bed rest, and you'll be right as rain."

Judy pushed Nick's muzzle away and shook her head as Olivia grabbed a blood pressure cuff and the stethoscope from around her neck to check Judy's vitals and breathing.

"Your Blood pressure is good, heart rate is normal for a rabbit, and no sign of smoke inhalation. Are you feeling light-headed, seeing sparkle patterns, or have any ringing in your ears?"

Judy shook her head, "No, I'm just a little tired."

"Understandable," replied Olivia turning to Nick with pressure cuff in paw, "it sounds like you two had quite the evening.

Nick nodded, "Yup, which is why we should probably be going home to rest. What do you think, Carrots? Out of here on the count of– Ow."

"Relax, Nick," Judy said, reholstering her other, fully functioning, elbow, "Olivia isn't going to bite you."

"I don't know," replied Nick whispering as Olivia moved to start examining him, "you know nurses, always trying to poke you with something."

An eye roll and a few preliminary checks later, Olivia dawned a concerned look and said, "Nick, your heart rate is a little elevated. I need you to please relax and think happy thoughts, otherwise, I'll have to…"

Looking up at a smiling Nick and over to Judy, who was now petting his tail tip, Olivia cleared her throat and said, "Uh, Judy, could you… you know."

Judy looked back and forth between Olivia and Nick and then to her lap, where her paws were busy elevating her fox's heart rate. "Oops, sorry," said Judy releasing Nick's tail. "Try it now."

"Yes, that's better," said Olivia wrapping up her stethoscope and moving on to Nick's bandaged side.

Gently checking the bandage to make sure it was adhering to the shaved section of Nick's fur, Olivia said, "I read the EMT's report. He said you were very lucky that the bullet only grazed your side, a couple of inches lower and we'd be having this conversation in the ICU after a serious surgery."

Judy squeezed Nick's paw as Nick sighed and said, "Yes, ma'am."

"Well, according to the ER nurse, your EMT friend did a good job patching you up. Don't touch the butterfly bandages, they'll fall off in a week or so by themselves. Right now, it's covered with a waterproof bandage so you can take a shower, but no baths or swimming for at least three weeks. Change the covering bandage every other day, and if you see the skin turning red, that means it's infected–"

"And to call you right away, I know," finished Nick.

"You've been shot before?" asked Olivia.

"No, about six weeks ago I impaled my arm on a tree root while carrying an unconscious rabbit doe and her brother on my back. It was dark and I almost drank some river water laced with, uh… never mind, I slipped and, you know."

"Okay," said Olivia, "which arm?"

Nick let go of Judy's paw and showed Olivia his left arm. "You can still see where they shaved it."

"Gotcha. Looks like it's healed just fine," said Olivia kneading the wound area. "Any pain?"

"Aside from some occasional itching, nope," replied Nick

"Did they give you a tetanus booster shot? That's on my list if they didn't."

"See, I told you Carrots," whispered Nick out the side of his muzzle, "she wants to stab me with something."

"So do I, now behave," whispered back Judy.

Olivia smirked.

"Yes, ma'am, they gave me a booster."

"What about these pockmarks under your muzzle fur?" asked Olivia moving in closer to Nick and spreading some of the fur around his muzzle. "Did those happen six weeks ago too?"

Judy's eyes narrowed as she saw what Olivia was asking about and started to growl, "Those bastards. When I get my paws on them, I'm going to rip them apart piece by piece by bloody piece."

Olivia gulped as she took a step back and checking to make sure the containment doors were still shut, just in case, asked, "What are you talking about, Judy? What happened?"

"The kitnappers. They must have muzzled Nick when they tranqed him. I remember the lab mammals talking about them grabbing a fox before throwing some medieval looking gear into the van I was hiding in."

Nick shivering a little as he rubbed his muzzle with his paws but at hearing the bunny growls grow louder as Judy's soft fingers took over searching his fur for damage that would require revenge-mending, he said, "Some spots feel like scratches, but I'm okay Carrots. I don't remember anything that happened after I was tranqed."

"You're sure?"

Nick nodded as Olivia stepped back in at seeing her bunny patient go from savage avenging angel to worried girlfriend.

"If you don't mind," said Olivia holding up her tablet for Nick to see, "I better take some pictures for the record."

Pictures done, and a few dabs of antiseptic cream applied to the scratches, Olivia's attention was drawn back to her tablet by a chime.

Opening up a message, Olivia hummed as she read a few notes, swiped a few times and then said, "Your preliminary blood test results came back, and you'll be happy to know that neither of you has anything resembling Nighthowler in your blood."

And to Nick, she said, "The test picked up the residuals of the tranquilizer used on you, and it looks like it's almost completely out of your system. Some of the underground brands of tranq can cause severe headaches or nausea, especially with how much you must have been hit with, so if you start to develop any of those kinds of symptoms, let me know right away, and I'll get you something to help with the discomfort."

"Olivia," said Judy shaking her head, "I found a box of ZPD issued tranquilizer darts in the van used to snatch Nick, and I think those are what the kitnappers used to grab him. Would you please have your lab send over Nick's blood test results to the ZPD. I'm pretty sure Chief Bogo will want someone to look into where our kitnappers got their supplies."

Nick yawned, "Carrots, it's late, even for someone nocturnal like me. So how about we go home now and examine fox blood for clues later after we've slept for a couple of days."

"Sorry, guys," said Olivia, "I have a note here from Chief Bogo that says he wants you two, 'interred here for the rest of eternity,' and I have another note from Dr. Badger that she'd like you both to stay overnight for observation."

Sighing, Nick thought for a moment until finally nodding once and saying, "Alright, let's go with option B."

Judy rolled her eyes.

"Good choice," said Olivia nodding sagely. "Follow me, and I'll show you where you're staying."

Nick slid off the examination table and, helping Judy down, asked, "We don't have to spend the night restrained and tied to a bodyboard like Hannibun Lecter or chained to a wall inside a padded cell, do we?"

Olivia looked at Judy and, nodding toward Nick, made a seriously face.

Judy shrugged and shook her head, "Come on Nick, be nice to Olivia, or I'll restrain you myself."

Following Olivia out into the hall, Nick whispered, "Fine, but if you hear some tapping coming from a pipe, that's me plotting our escape plan. Two taps followed by one, means you sneak out inside the food cart. Three taps means use the window, and we'll meet in the alley."

"And one punch to the stomach means I flush you down the toilet again," replied Judy passing through another thick doorway and into a plushly carpeted hallway.

"Yeah, good idea Carrots, except instead of a punch, how about four slow taps followed by two quick ones," said Nick passing by a couple of nice pieces of decorative artwork on the walls.

"Nick…" groaned Judy stopping in front of a set of elaborate wooden double doors. "We don't need an escape plan. No one's going to sneak in and do evil experiments on us while we're sleeping."

Olivia pushed open the doors to their room and said, "Judy's right. I had my dad make a phone call, and the hospital freed up one of their VIP rooms, so you two won't be bothered until brunch in the morning."

"Whoa," said both Nick and Judy simultaneously.

The medium-mammal suite was five-star all the way. The main room had double-height ceilings, floor to ceiling wood-panel walls, a dining room with a chandelier over a gold inlaid marble table to the left, a fully apportioned executive office through a doorway on the right, and in the main room, an oversized plush couch in front of a new Ultra-High Def projection system, with matching loveseats to either side.

Stepping in, Olivia gently closed Judy's mouth before pointing toward a hallway on the other side of the room and said, "The bedroom and bathroom are through there. As far as clothes, the best I could do on such short notice was a few basics that I put in the dresser. I've got the staff looking for some small-mammal clothes, and I'll drop them off as soon as possible."

"Yum," said Nick lifting an elegant metal cover from a plate on the dining room table.

Olivia chuckled, "And yes, I ordered you two a late dinner in case you decided to shelve the escape plan and have something to eat."

"When did we go from being in a hospital to being in the royal suite at the Sahara Square Taj Mahal?"

"We're in the VIP section. The hospital added a couple of suites for visiting dignitaries or the special families of anyone being held in savage isolation. It wouldn't be good for security if the press noticed the rich and famous commuting in daily to visit mammals that might not technically be here."

Judy gave Olivia a hug, "Thank you, this is great."

"You're welcome," and whispering into one of Judy's ears so only she could hear, added, "I didn't want to worry Nick, but technically we're still in a hospital, so there are call buttons in all the rooms and a nurse's station right around the corner. If you need anything, call and someone will be in here in a hot second."

Giving Judy one last squeeze, Olivia said, "Good night, you guys, see you in the morning,"

Moments later, the large doors closed with barely a click…

…and a giggle as strong wolf arms encircled Olivia and pulled her into a hug.

"Connor, stop someone–"

Olivia's protest was quickly silenced and turned into heavy breathing, wandering paws, and a tie game of tonsil tag.

Finally breaking their kiss, Connor nipped at Olivia's neck fur a few times before putting his arm around her and escorting her down the hall.

"Thanks for taking care of those two. It makes my job a lot easier knowing they won't be trying to sneak out of their room and join in on the investigation."

"How bad was it?"

"Bad, the coroner is going to be busy for a while taking care of what we find in that rubble."

Stopping in sight of the nurse's station, Olivia checked over her mate, "Are you alright? I didn't even ask. I'm such a terrible mate. You deserve–"

Connor stopped his mate's emotional spiral with a kiss and, to make sure she got the right message, said, "You're an amazing mate, and I love you more than anything."

"Are you sure," pouted Olivia looking down at the oversized lab coat she was wearing, "I'm kind of all… you know."

"You're beautiful, you always have been and you always will be."

Olivia grabbed her mate's paw and led him to the nurse's station.

"Yeeees?" asked the duty nurse with a smirk.

Olivia cleared her throat and after handing over her tablet, said, "Teresa, please schedule Officer Wilde for another blood draw tomorrow. Dr. Badger wants to make sure all the tranq is out of his system before he's released. Also, Officer Hopps would like the reports on Officer Wilde's blood toxicology tests sent to the ZPD lab for further analysis."

"Yes, ma'am," replied Teresa. "Anything else?"

"No, I'll be in the breakroom for a few minutes. Page me there if you need me."

Teresa looked Connor up and down before winking at Olivia and saying, "Of course, the breakroom's all yours for as long as you need it."

Taking her mate's paw in hers, Olivia pulled him around the corner and down the hall…

"Is everything okay? What do you need in the breakroom? I should be getting back to investigating what's left of the drug lab for any sign of what made those lions go savage."

…pushed open a door, slammed it shut, and roared just before jumping into her mate's arms.

Teresa smiled as she blocked out an hour on the breakroom schedule, this was 'Savage Containment' after all.

-/-/-

"Anything else, sir?" asked McHorn.

"No," replied Bogo. "Be sure to thank the TUSK teams for me. Their response times were excellent."

"Yes, sir," said McHorn nodding, "hell of a mess. Too bad our ram basically offed himself. I would have liked to spend a little time with him in one of the Precinct interrogation rooms hearing all about his operation."

"We'll figure it out, it's just–"

"Excuse me, sir," interrupted Schweinly.

Both the large mammals turned at the new voice coming into the lit command area and walking up to the back of the mobile command center that had replaced the now unnecessary medical triage area.

"Yes–" started Bogo but was halted by a growl from McHorn.

The boar, already nervously twisting his hooves together, quickly looked down at McHorn's challenge and remained silent while his superiors looked over the disgraced officer. Schweinly's uniform was torn and dirty from trying to jam himself under the ambulance, and he was not quite fully recovered from the subsequent bladder release. His holster was empty with his tranq now in evidence, and his badge was missing from his uniform shirt.

McHorn took a step closer to the boar and ground out, "You panicked, and even after what you did to Hopps on patrol, she saved your miserable hide. I think–"

"McHorn."

The angry rhino looked at his boss, "I overheard Collins and–"

"Go relieve the TUSK teams. We'll talk tomorrow."

"Yes, sir," replied McHorn with a dismissive grunt toward the now trembling boar.

Once McHorn had exited into the darkness, Schweinly held out his badge for Bogo and said, "Officer McHorn is right. Officer Hopps saved my life tonight, and I owe her a debt I don't know how to repay."

Taking the badge, Bogo asked, "And the incident?"

Nodding, Schweinly almost whimpered as he said, "Yes, sir. I need to amend the patrol report I submitted from when Officer Hopps and I were assigned to help that TV crew a month ago."

-/-/-

Judy headed to the bedroom while Nick checked out the rest of what Olivia had ordered them for dinner.

"The bed in here is enormous. I bet I could fit the whole kerfluffle on it for naptime."

"Right, like anyone could ever get that squirmy pile of fluff to take a nap," replied Nick. "Come try some of this dinner, it doesn't taste like hospital food at all."

Exploring the empty walk-in closet, Judy opened the top dresser drawer, where she found a few pairs of unisex hospital underwear in different sizes, some hospital booties, and a couple of small-mammal sized gowns.

Lifting the fox-sized, blue hospital gown out of the drawer and turning it around in her paws, Judy chuckled, "You should see the clothes Olivia was able to find for us. You're going to love the open-air feel of the gown on your tail."

Nick swallowed his bite of bug pate before yelling back, "Can't wait to see you in yours, although what you have on right now is already pretty nice."

Gown in paw, Judy walked over to a sitting area and stood in front of a large dressing mirror.

Her top was marginally intact, with only threads of torn material for the ring to grasp and hold the two halves together. The tattered, barely-there skirt was significantly more 'barely' and a lot less 'there' than when she first pulled it off the hanger hours ago. Her fur was matted with sweat, and she had splotches of ash everywhere from her ear tips and tail to her toes.

And she smelled vaguely of spilled umbrella drink with a hint of gunpowder.

"I don't think so, Slick. I'm a hot mess."

"Hot yes, mess no way. Come on and eat something, there's a popcorn shrimp dish with your name on it."

Judy held the oversized hospital gown in front of her, and after a moment, she smiled, tossed the gown back on the dresser, tore off the tattered remnants of her skirt, and brushed some ash off her skimpy black bikini briefs and…

"Uh-oh."

Judy patted herself down, and after an inappropriate wiggle, she hid away the almost forgotten multi-pack of condoms under a gown in the dresser. "Smooth move, girl. Can you imagine what would happen if Nick had found those on you?"

Catching her smirking reflection in the mirror, Judy shook the naughty bunny thoughts out of her head and…

…sashayed out to the dining room where her boyfriend was eating.

It was a good thing Judy knew first aid because Nick needed a healthy dose of mouth to mouth shortly after she walked in.

…..

Judy smiled as she watched Nick clean his plate. He'd slowed down his eating a little once she sat down at the table and started on her shrimp plate.

"Distracted," he'd said. "And slow too," she'd replied, snagging a forkful of salmon off Nick's plate.

"Pretty decent for hospital food, don't you think, Carrots?"

"Yup," said Judy, yawning, followed by a tired, "Dibs on the first shower."

Nick chuckled as Judy headed to the bathroom, "Far be it for me to contest bunny-dibs, I can wait. I mean, I don't know exactly what my tail was dragged through, and it feels like my kitnappers must have tossed me in a dirty cage because I've got bits of moldy hay and lioness hair all over my fur. But, you know, ladies first."

Judy slowed at Nick's words, then pausing with her paw on the door handle for a few moments, turned to her tease of a fox and said quietly, "My elbow still kind of hurts. Maybe, if you don't mind, you could come in and help me wash my back."

Closing the door behind her, Judy rushed over to the shower, turned on the water, and slipped out of her clothes while she waited for the water to heat up.

'Sweet cheese and crackers, girl. What did you just do? A balcony make-out session is one thing, but…'

'What you've wanted to do for days now,' replied the reflection in the mirror. 'Better hurry, I hear him coming.'

Glancing at the door, Judy pulled open the opaque shower curtain and slid into the large stone tile shower.

'VIP for sure,' thought Judy as she adjusted the water controls on the front wall and stepped under the cleansing spray coming from the two shower heads hanging from the ceiling. Turning slowly to thoroughly wet herself down, she ignored the pawheld spray head but debated turning on the body sprays mounted on the side wall.

'A little more steamy might be nice.'

'More steamy, yes. From hot water, no,' came a thought.

Judy groaned as she pulled her ears over her eyes, "Stop being such a bunny."

About to reach out and turn off the water so Nick could have the shower to himself, Judy heard the shower curtain rustle.

"Hey, Judy. Are you okay?"

She froze.

"Uhmmm–"

'Wait,' interrupted inner-Judy. 'What did he just say?'

'He said Judy, not Carrots, not Fluff, not any of the other nicknames he's ever used, he said Judy.'

'How many times has he ever called you Judy? He's nervous too.'

'And worried about me, and sweet, and handsome, and always there for me, and a dork, my best friend, and the most loving guy I've ever known.'

'He's your fox.'

'And I'm his bunny.'

Brushing back her ears, Judy gave Nick a smile as she took his paw in hers and guided him into the shower. "Yeah, I'm better now." And then, handing him a bottle of fur shampoo, she stretched tall, gave him a quick kiss on the side of his muzzle, and said, "Thanks."

Slowly turning away from Nick, Judy pulled her ears out of the way to better expose all of her back fur, and other parts, to her fox's gentle paws.

She felt Nick's eyes traverse her body, the tingle of his look started mid-leg, paused at her tail, flowed up her back, paused again on her head, and ended with her blushing ears.

Buck teeth nibbling at her bottom lip nervously, Judy waited a couple of breaths and… wiggled her tail.

"Carrots…"

"Yeah, Slick?"

"You know, this whole 'best behavior' thing is killing me, right?"

"I know, me too. So, how about after you finish with my back, I do yours?"

"And my tail?"

"Of course, anything you need a paw with."

Setting the shampoo down on the shower bench next to him, Nick wrapped his paws around Judy's mid-riff, pulled her into his chest, and asked, "Anything?"

Feeling something new trying to press against her tail, Judy leaned back into Nick's chest a bit more and said, "Depends."

"Depends on what?" asked Nick as he nipped at Judy's neck and shoulder.

"Depends on if we're done washing our fur before the hot water runs out."

Nick paused mid-nibble and said, "Well then," and grabbing back up the shampoo and squeezing out a dollop into his paw, "one well-scrubbed bunny coming right up."

"Mmmmm…."

-/-/-

Olivia set the bag she was carrying down and brushed her lab coat flat, well, as flat as she could considering... She'd waited a bit to let her two newest patients get comfortable before dropping off the toiletries and better-fitting, real clothes she'd promised to find them.

'Not like you really had much choice in how long to wait, right girl?' thought Olivia with a smile, 'Darned canid anatomy.'

Knocking lightly on the VIP suite door, Olivia listened for a response.

Nothing.

Knocking louder, Olivia waited a few moments before opening the door enough to poke her head through. "Hello, Judy? Nick? I've got–"

"Mmmmhhhh, that feels so good. You're amazing," came a female's voice along with the sounds of a shower in progress.

Poking in a little farther, Olivia noticed steam wafting out the partially open bathroom door.

"Your paws feel amazing too, soooo soft," answered a male's voice.

Olivia's eyes went wide as she gasped, "Oh, my!"

"Did you hear something?"

Olivia quickly tossed the bag onto a chair just inside the room and quietly shut the door.

"Oh my, indeed," repeated Olivia, now leaning against the door, "Connor was so right about those two."

…..

"Nope, I didn't hear anything," replied Judy steering Nick's muzzle back to hers, "And even if I did, there's still hot water left."

-/-/-

"Mom?" said Torrie into her phone as she hopped down from the stage now that the movie credits were rolling. "Is that you?"

"Put your paws on your hips."

"Yes, Torrie, it's your mother. What's all that noise going on?"

"Uhh… Tonya and I are at a… a play. With some friends. Cause it's, you know, Friday night."

"No," replied Bonnie, "it's Saturday morning, so how about you put your sister on? I'm trying to find Judy, and I think it would be better if I talked to a daughter who knows how to tell time."

"Uhhh…"

"Torrie?"

"Well…"

"Where is Tonya?"

"She can't come to the phone. She's, uh, kind of making out with the guy who played Riff Raff."

"You bring your tails in tight."

"Rocky Horror?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Up on stage, the both of you?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"You didn't go as Janet, did you?"

Torrie cringed, "Sort of."

"TORRIE CLARICE HOPPS! Do you know how much trouble you're in? I never–"

"It wasn't my fault," whined Torrie, "Nick made me. I wanted to go to a dance, but he and Judy needed my fake ID to go undercover, so I was stuck taking Tonya to a movie. So, blame him, not me."

"Fake ID?"

Torrie sagged, "Sort of."

"But it's the hipbones we thrust."

"One chance," growled Bonnie.

"Yes, ma'am."

"Judy's not answering her phone. Do you know where she went?"

"To a rave with Nick. I lent her some clothes and my ID so they could go party while I'm stuck here with Tonya."

"That's enough of that attitude, young lady. I want you to stop by Judy's apartment on the way home and–"

"I can't, Judy got booted from her place a couple of weeks ago, and she didn't say where she'd moved to. She said it was all hush-hush work stuff."

"Kicked out? Judy never said anything about that when she was here."

"I don't know, I just found out today when I was helping her with her party clothes."

"That really makes you crazy."

"Judy let you pick out clothes for her?"

"Uh-huh, she was pretty hot looking after I was done too."

"And the two of them are out together, right?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"And no one knows where Judy is staying?"

"No, ma'am."

"Alright, dear. If you hear from either of them, please give me a call."

"Uhhhh," was all Torrie got out before the line went dead.

About to slip her phone into her pocket, Torrie was almost knocked off her feet by Tonya giving her a hug.

"Let's dance the time warp again."

"Best night ever!" yelled Tonya. "This was great. And did you see how cute that muskrat guy was? He asked me out to dinner tomorrow night."

Torrie's phone chimed with an incoming text.

"It's from Mom, you need to cancel your date," said Torrie showing Tonya the message.

Tonya's eyes narrowed as she looked up from the phone and glared at her sister, "We're grounded?!"

"Let's dance the time warp again."