Chapter Text
Judy was running.
It was all she could do. She burst past the other ZPD officers in her way, not caring about anything else other than getting to Nick. He had come back, even after everything, and now he was going to fall. She scrambled up the stairs, not worried if anyone was behind her. She barged through the door onto the top of the Weather Wall where Nick and Pawbert had been. And there he was, on the edge, about to meet his death.
Judy didn't hesitate. She didn't worry about if anyone was behind her, or if there was another way. The case didn't matter anymore. Nothing else did, except making sure he was safe at her side. And if he fell, she would go with him.
Judy shot up, breathing heavily as she tried to process where she was. She felt the carrot pen in her hand, and played it instinctively.
*Love ya, partner*
Nick hadn't fallen. She had made it in time to catch him, and Gary had pulled them both back up. They had gotten the patent, stopped the Lynxley's, cleared their names, and restored the Reptile Ravine. It was just a dream. They were fine. Everything was fine.
Relief flooded through her, and her breathing slowly calmed down. Then she looked around at the little room she was in, and remembered where she was. She remembered the ram, and the blood soaking her partner's uniform and covering her hands. Nick being wheeled off to the hospital while she could only watch, not knowing if he would be ok.
"Are you ok, dear?"
Judy looked up at Vivian standing above her, dark circles under her eyes. Judy nodded, managing to hold back tears in front of the vixen. "I'm alright. Just a bad dream."
Vivian nodded sympathetically. "You've had a stressful evening. I'm not surprised you're having nightmares about it."
Judy got up slowly, still trying to shake the fog from her head. "It wasn't that. How's Nick?" she asked before Vivian could dig any deeper.
"He's doing better," Vivian answered "The doctor said that he should be fine, he'll just need to rest a bit. They'll be letting visitors see him soon."
Judy was floating at the news. "Is he awake yet? And what time is it?"
"Not yet. And it's only 7:30, so it's not too surprising." Vivian took a look at Judy, trying to analyze her face. "Are you sure you're alright dear? You didn't get an awful lot of sleep."
"I'm fine," Judy said, trying to brush off her concern.
"Alright then," Vivian said doubtfully. "What were you dreaming about, anyways? If you want to talk about it, of course."
Judy probably should have known that Vivian was going to ask about that, but part of her didn't mind. "It was about the Weather Wall," she explained as they made their way into the main area of the hospital. "I couldn't move, and all I could think about is that I couldn't help Nick. Then, when I could move, I knew I had to save him."
Vivian put an arm around her shoulder, comforting the rabbit. "I remember Nick telling me about that. I'll never be able to thank you and Gary enough for catching him."
"It's no problem, Vivian. Just doing my job." The two made their way into the waiting room, taking a seat slightly away from other animals.
"Still, you did quite a lot in order to make sure he stayed alive," Vivian said. "Running through half the ZPD and jumping after him is quite a lot to ask of anyone, especially after what that awful lynx did to you."
Judy's ears flushed a little, feeling awkward about getting praise from her best friend's mother. "It wasn't a big deal. He means my partner, that's what we do. Besides, he probably saved my life more than I saved his. And he almost died to do it." And he almost did again, Judy thought to herself
Vivian made an unsatisfied hmm. "You know, I've talked with Gary about that. He said that Nick was willing to sacrifice himself to get the anti-venom to you. But he mentioned something about what you did that was interesting, too."
Judy tilted her head up at Vivian, not sure where this point was going. "And what'd he say?"
When Vivian looked into her eyes, it felt like the vixen could see into her soul, and into the darkest secrets of her mind. "He said that he wasn't sure that you knew you were behind him when you jumped. That you jumped after Nick not just unworried about dying, but expecting it. And the more I see about how you care about him, the more I'm inclined to think he's right."
Oh no, Judy thought, eyes widening in surprise. She had hoped that Gary hadn't realized that she just threw herself off a cliff with no plan. Apparently the universe was not kind enough to allow that. She tugged on her ear, hiding her face as best she could. "I don't know what you're talking. What makes you think that?" she asked, trying pitifully to put on a straight face.
Vivian raises an eyebrow, her emerald green eyes still staring directly into Judy's soul. "Judy," she said firmly. "Were you or were you not planning on jumping after my son to his death even if Gary wasn't there."
Judy fully hid her face in her hands, not able to handle and more of Vivian's scrutiny. "Yes," she mumbled out. "I only kind of knew Gary was behind me, and I didn't know how close. It's just," She dragged her hands down her face while looking up at Vivian, trying to find the words to say. "He just means too much to me."
Vivian wraps Judy up in a tight hug. "It's ok, Judy," she said quietly. The two separate, and Vivian smiles fondly at the small rabbit. "We all tend to do crazy things for love."
Judy smiled back, finally starting to feel better. "Yeah."
Her ears quickly shot up in alarm, flushing red as she realized what she just said. "Uhhhh, I mean- he's my best friend, I don't- what gave you- I didn't-." She dropped her head into her hands, sighing in defeat. "I'm going to be able to convince I didn't mean it like that, am I?"
"Not a chance, dear. For one," she said, counting on her hand. "I've seen the way you look at him like he's the most important thing in the world. Secondly, we just went over how you jumped off a cliff with no plan of survival. Third, you constantly introduce him as your 'partner'. And, last but not least," she leaned in, whispering almost conspiratorially. "I happen to know a thing or two about bunny boxing. Something you seem quite fond of doing with my son, sweetheart."
If Judy had thought her ears couldn't get more red, she was quickly proven wrong as Vivian listed her reasons she knew Judy was in love with Nick. "Oh."
"Yeah, oh. That poor boy's arm has got to have a few bruises."
Judy winced, thinking back to the several times a week she punched her partner in the arm. "Sorry about that."
"Oh, don't worry about it, I think it's sweet. And if Nick had a problem with it, I'm sure he'd tell you. Just try not to hit him too hard in the immediate future. He's going to need time to rest."
"Yes ma'am," Judy affirmed. "I'll make sure to go easy on him. Just… please don't tell him. I don't want to lose him."
"Don't worry, I'm not planning on it," Vivian assured, relief flooding the rabbit. "But you better soon. He's important to you, right? You'd do anything for him?"
Judy nodded her head immediately. "I'd die for him."
Vivian chuckled at the quick response. "Oh, I have no doubt about that. But dying isn't always the most important thing you can do for someone, sweety."
Judy looked up at Vivian in confusion. "What do you mean?"
"Dying only takes one quick decision," Vivian explained. "It's over quickly, and the person dying doesn't have to do anything afterwards, because, you know, they're dead.
"But being there for someone, being better for someone you love. That's hard. That takes consistent time, effort, and care to be the best possible version of yourself for someone else."
"Like completely changing the direction of your life just be close to someone," Judy cut in, starting to understand the point Vivian was making. Nick wasn't just willing to give up his life for hers. He was willing to change it, to join her in the ZPD, to be more emotionally vulnerable. Just to be better for her.
Vivian nodded. "Or believing in someone who no one has for almost three decades, and giving them a chance to be better. Don't undersell yourself, young lady. You've done a lot for him, too."
Judy sighed. "I guess that's true. Just-" She took a deep breath, trying to collect herself. "Please don't Nick, ok? I don't want to ruin anything about our friendship."
"Oh, don't worry, I have no intentions of telling him anything of the sort," Vivian assured the bunny. "But you better tell him. Let it sit for too long, it might just ruin things anyways. Or someone else will come in and sweep him up before you can." Judy's heart sank at the idea of Nick falling for someone else, some vixen who was nice, pretty, and most of all, safe. And certainly not some crazy rabbit who constantly dragged him into danger.
She was also completely unaware that Vivian would be willing to bet her life savings on Nick ever falling for someone else over Judy, and Vivian had no plans on telling her. That'd be much too easy for the two lovebirds.
Judy looked back up at Vivian, face scrunched up in thought. "Do you think-"
"Mrs. Wilde?" a voice called out, interrupting her question, and the two look up to see a coyote doctor walking up to them. "I just wanted to let you know that your son's room is open for visitors."
"Is he awake?" Judy asked, quickly turning her full attention to the doctor and any news she might have.
The doctor shook her head. "Not yet. His body's been through quite a lot lately, so it's getting all the rest it needs. But I expect he'll be waking up at some point later today, so if you want to stay until then, you can."
"Thank you, doctor," Vivian said gratefully as she and Judy followed her to the room Nick was staying in. They walk through the door, and Judy finally sees Nick for the first time since they took him in the ambulance. Nick lies on the bed, strapped up to beeping devices and an IV slowly dripping fluids into his arm. "So how is he doing, Dr. …?" she asked, peering at her name tag. "Clawford?"
"Well, he did lose a lot of blood," Dr. Clawford explained. "But he was lucky enough to not have any vital organs hit, and we were able to stop the bleeding and and get a transfusion in time. After that, it was just a matter of patching him up and keeping him stable. He'll be out on the streets in no time."
Hearing the doctor saying that Nick would survive for sure, Judy felt a huge weight finally lift off her shoulders. She walked over to Nick's bedside and grabs his hand, trying to feel his warmth without coming off as too weird in front of her best friend's mother. "Do you know when he's going to get better?" she asked, looking back at the coyote.
"A couple weeks at least," Dr. Clawford answered, taking a look over a clipboard. "He's got a couple broken ribs, a concussion, some internal bleeding, and of course a deep cut on his back." Judy's eyes had widened as the doctor explained what Nick had gone through, but Clawford continued on. "To be frank, he's very lucky to have made it. A few vital organs were narrowly missed, and he was extremely weak from the blood loss when he got here. If he got in a few minutes later, or if you didn't cover his wound properly, we would have had a much harder time keeping him alive."
"Is there going to be any long term damage?" Vivian asked on the opposite side of the bed, hand on her sons arm. Judy had been wondering the same thing. She already wasn't handling Nick being hurt because of something that in her eyes was partially her fault, no matter how much Vivian or anyone else said otherwise. Adding a potentially permanent injury on top of that, especially one that makes him no longer able to be partners with her, might be the thing to finally cause her to break down
To both of their relief, the doctor shook her head. "As long as he takes the proper time to heal fully, he should be able to come out of this with just some scarring on his back. Just make sure he doesn't start trying to save anyone before he's actually better, ok?"
Judy nods her head, determined to make sure her partner got the full recovery he deserved. Even if she had to force him to stay in bed, he would get better.
"There is still some paperwork that needs signed though, Mrs. Wilde," Dr. Clawford said, cutting off Judy brainstorming ways to make Nick healthy and comfortable. "Nothing major, just stuff going through the medical procedure."
Vivian nodded her head, making her way towards the door. "Why don't we take this outside for a minute? It'll give me room to read these papers without all these machines beeping around me."
Dr. Clawford nods her head. "That's no problem. Just follow me for a moment."
Judy watches from the bedside as the two leave the room, sad to see Vivian leave, but still glad to get at least a minute alone with her fox. Although when Vivian shot a wink to the rabbit just before she closed the door behind her, she started to suspect that last thought was the plan.
Alone at last, Judy finally let herself drop the I'm-perfectly-fine-don't-worry-about-it mask, or at least what she had been able to keep up through the exhaustion and worry. She let her upper body collapse onto the bed, still holding onto to Nick's hand, and lets out a huge sigh.
"I was so worried," she said, voice shaking as she tried to hold at least a little bit of herself together. "I thought I was going to lose you again." She thumbed over the faint scars on his right paw, a permanent reminder of the last time she almost lost him. "Your mom's here. She's been amazing, as always. Seems to be handling better than I am, but she was probably just busy trying to make sure I'm ok. Making sure I feel better, as if it's not her son in the hospital."
She looked up at his face, analyzing every detail she could. She usually tried her best not to stare, but it's not like he could could catch her now. And of course the one time I actually can, his face is half covered with bandages, she thought to herself bitterly. "The doc said that'd you be ok. You just need to fully rest before getting back into the swing of things. No running around and saving the city for a couple of weeks, ok? I need my partner back."
Nick just lay there, unaware of anything in the world. "I'm so sorry," she sobbed quietly. "You keep putting yourself in danger for me, even though I'm the reason you're there in the first place." She buried her face in her arms, still holding his hand as tears start to seep out slowly. "Please, please, don't do that again. I don't know I can take it."
"I make no promises," Nick's voice groans out above her.
Her head whipped up to see the fox with a smirk on his face, emerald green eyes looking down at her. "Nick!" she shouted, immediately jump up to hug him. "You're awake!"
"Yep, yep, I'm alive," he said, wincing in pain as he tried his best to hug the excited rabbit back. "As much as I appreciate the hug, I am very fragile right now, so please be careful."
"Oh! Sorry," Judy said apologetically, quickly moving off of him. The incident did little to contain her excitement at her partner waking up, and she was almost immediately hopping in place with his paw in her hand. "I'm just so glad you're awake!"
"Me too, Fluff," Nick said, chuckling at the bunny's energy. He looked at her seriously, scanning her over. "What happened, though? Are you ok? Did you get hurt?"
"I'm fine, Nick, just a few small bruises."
"Are you sure? Because we something pretty hard, you could've gotten a concussion."
"Nick, I've been in a hospital all night. If I needed medical care, I would've gotten it."
"To be fair, you don't always have the best track record with asking for help when you need."
Judy shook her head in exasperation. "Nick," she said, her tone turning much more vulnerable. "I'm fine, seriously. But are you ok?"
"My back hurts a little, but I think that's just because I'm old."
"Nick."
Nick put his hand over his chest in mock offense. "What, I'm serious! At least, I'm mostly being serious. My back does hurt, and I've got a bit of a head ache. Any chance we can dim the lights?"
Judy quickly moved towards the dimmer remote by the bedside, handing it over to the fox. "Much appreciated, Carrots." Lighting now properly situated, Nick turns his attention back to their conversation. "So, what happened? Did we catch Woolter?"
"We got him," Judy confirmed, smiling a little. "Only took one shot to hit him, too."
"That's my girl," Nick praised, happy that they at least got their perp. Judy tried to hide how much the praise affected her, and was mostly successful.
As Nick smiled at her, his face shifted to concern. "Hey, are you ok?" he asked, reaching out to rub at the tear stains covering her face as best he could from his position. "I know you said you weren't hurt, but did you get any sleep at least?"
Judy took his hand in hers, still allowing him hold it there. "I did, actually. But it's been a stressful night, to say the least."
"I'll say. You look exhausted, Carrots."
Judy's heart warmed at the concern, but her primary focus remained on making sure he was ok. "I am a little, but I'll be alright, especially now that I know you're ok.
"And thank you, by the way. You probably saved my life. Again"
Nick's expression softened. "It's no problem. You'd do the same for me."
"Uh huh. And that's why I'm going to make sure you get your proper rest while you heal up. No more adventures for you for the next few weeks."
"No more adventures?" Nick asked, eyebrow raised doubtfully. "But someone's going to need to have your back, and I'm sure as hell not trusting anyone else to actually keep up."
Judy nodded, having already considered that. "And that's why I'm not going to be doing any major field work until you're back."
"Really?" Nick said, blinking in surprise. "The great Judy Hopps, taking herself out of field work? Do my ears deceive me?"
"Nope. I know that me potentially being in danger without you would only stress you out, and that's not a good way to actually heal. So I'll be slowing down a lot until you're ok. And I'll come around your apartment more to help out with anything you need."
"Wow, you seem very determined about this," Nick said, looking just slightly overwhelmed at the rabbit's promises. "You better not be doing just to pay me back for saving you. Because I don't want to start keeping score. You don't owe me or anything like that."
Judy shook her head confidently "Nope! I'm doing it because I want to help my amazing partner. Besides, the quicker you're on your feet, the quicker we're back to making the world a better place."
Nick nodded, smiling at her. "Ah, I see. This is just to get me back to work sooner. Did Bogo put you up to this? Is he hiding under the bed or something?"
Judy threw a friendly punch at his arm, before remembering his condition at the last moment, and switches to throwing a flurry of shadow punches instead. "Very funny, dumb fox. I haven't talked to Bogo much, so no, it's not for that. I'm doing it because I care about you, that's why." She heavily considered finally taking the opportunity to tell him how she feels, but couldn't bring herself to do it.
Before she can actually work up the courage, someone knocked on the door outside. After confirming they could come in, Vivian walked through, immediately making her way to her son with tears in her eyes. As Judy watched the two embrace, she kicked herself mentally for not just sucking it up and telling him.
She smiled as Vivian pulled her into a group hug with Nick. Oh well. There's always next time.