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"_ HELP!" _

Judy's ears shot up as she heard the cry, and her eyes jerked to the fence near their patrol car, which shook slightly as a lamb emerged from around it. She looked just over fifteen, and was hunched over slightly holding the side of her that was turned away from them.

Nick immediately stood and moved to the lamb's side, his nose twitching. However, upon seeing the ZPD fox despite his uniform, she screamed and began to run, half limping down the sidewalk away from them. Judy ran after her, shouting.

"ZPD ma'am, we don't mean you any harm!" and then, "Nick, do you know what's going on?"

Nick shouted his own words of reassurance, but they were ignored until the Lapin officer managed to get in front of the panicking sheep. She stopped finally, whimpering as Judy realized what was troubling her. She had a gash several inches long on her side, and blood was slowly seeping from it. The girl was holding something in her hand that wasn't busy covering the wound, her eyes darting from side to side skittishly.

"Ma'am please calm down, you're safe now." The rabbit's tone changed to a much more caring demeanor despite her brief sprint, classic training to calm down victims of an assault. Judy quickly scanned over her wound. It looked deep, from what she could see at least. The lamb tensed as she heard pawsteps behind her and she spun around to see Nick jogging to their position, his tail swishing slowly.

The lamb screeched again and raised her hand quickly, revealing the item that she had been clutching.

Judy realized a second too late what it was. "Wai- Nick! Watch-"

The vulpine had no time to stop before he got a face full of fox-away. He made a noise unlike anything the rabbit had ever heard before, halfway between a screech and a pained yelp. Nick fell to his front and tumbled a few times before pressing his paws to his eyes, shuddering and retching.

The lapin's pupils shrunk as she saw her partner go down, swatting the small canister of fox-away out of the victim's hands and raising her radio to her lips as she ran to the incapacitated form of her good friend. "This is officer Hopps, 10-52, we have an injured civilian and officer Wilde has been incapacitated, he needs medical attention too." She kicked herself, they really needed a code for a non life-threatening officer down situation. Or just to use common English instead of this mumbo-jumbo. Not like the codes really saved much time or were any sort of secret.

The telltale noise of sirens was immediately detectable to the bunny's enhanced hearing, and she was pleased that they seemed to be close. Nick shied away from her touch and she whimpered as she reached for him. His eyes were beet red, hands pressed to them to keep light away. Tears streamed from his face, matting down the fur over his cheeks and down his muzzle. The injured fox whimpered in return as she pulled his paws away, trying her best to roll him over so that the light would stay out of his eyes without rubbing any more irritant into them.

"I-I'm fine carrots-" he coughed roughly, the motion rattling his chest, and choked out the last of his sentence, "go... help the cut one." His voice sounded like death itself.

Judy's ears shot up, in her haste to help her partner and anger at the lamb she had ignored a potentially life-threatening injury. Nick looked bad, but he wasn't the one bleeding out.

The sound of sirens approached, and Judy returned to the skittish lamb, helping her to keep the wound sealed as paramedics arrived. They took the lamb into the ambulance after sedating her, hearing the rabbit's explanation of what she had done before. Nick was also pulled into the ambulance, and the doors were shut before Judy could get in despite her constant protesting. The vehicle sped off.

Judy was left standing in the dust and she whimpered, her ears falling to her back. Her mind was still racing. Everything had happened so quickly she hadn't really been able to think beyond the facts of the case. Who even had stabbed the lamb? Violence wasn't unheard of, in fact it was unfortunately far from irregular in the crowded city center. Yet, the more that she tried to worry about the cause of the situation, the more she simply worried over her partner. He had already been acting so strangely, and she had seen what fox-away did in textbooks back in the academy. It wasn't permanent damage, but it certainly wasn't pleasant or pretty. Her foot tapped quickly in frustration.

She climbed back into her cruiser and sighed, setting a course for the hospital. No doubt a crime of this profile would require a thorough report, something she was not looking forward to.

Nick squinted, hissing at the light through strained eyes. He tried to raise a paw to shield them, but found that for some reason he was unable to.

"Nick!" Judy's voice split the air, and she couldn't stop it from cracking half way through the exclamation. The vulpine felt a pair of tiny bunny paws on his arm, and he tried his best to squint at her properly.

"Carrots, not so loud okay? Head still not doing so great," he rasped out, letting a small smile take his features. He couldn't see that his partner was in the room still, but it was comforting, the slight touch. And, thank goodness that the sedatives that he was apparently on stopped his sense of smell, as well as... well, the rest of him from working properly, otherwise the close proximity might not have been so helpful after all.

A doe came to the side of the bed, smiling gently. She was dressed in the standard uniform of a nurse. "Officer Hopps, this is your partner, no?"

"Yes?"

The nurse nodded. "I thought so, I remember seeing you two on the news."

Judy flinched at that. So, maybe they were kinda famous after all.

"Anyway, he'll be fine, don't worry. We get this kind of stuff all the time. Now, normally it's just mace or pepper spray, but fox-away is a little bit nastier especially on... err, foxes. Messes with their systems more specifically. Anyway, while there won't be any permanent damage, he'll be out for a few days. I'm not writing him clear until Monday, and the symptoms should gradually grow weaker naturally over time. We've done all we can do clear away the chemical from his fur, but the rest of it was already integrated far enough that it would do more harm than good to extract unless he really wanted to be shaved. Foxes tend not to react so well to that. Bed rest and proper hygiene is the best treatment at this point."

The rabbit nodded, making sure that Nick was still paying attention. He was, at least as far as she could tell.

"Of course, he's going to need someone to look after him as well, to make sure that-"

Nick's eyes nearly shot open at that, then they immediately closed to a squint at the burning sensation that followed. "Wait, what?"

"Well you can hardly see, Mr. Wilde. You'll need someone, like a close family member or a good friend to look after you for a time while you recover. To make sure that you're taking care of yourself and that it doesn't cause any further injury."

The vulpine seemed near panic at that thought and Judy frowned, he was acting all strange again. There had been times before where he had visited to watch movies or to pick her up on the way to police events, so she wasn't exactly sure what the problem would be with her sticking around to take care of him. She gulped, starting slightly as her ears heated up. She had just assumed that she would be the person looking after Nick. While she knew he didn't have any real close family or friends in Zootopia, perhaps it was a bit arrogant to immediately deem herself worthy of such a personal position.

"I think I can take care of myself just fine, thank you very much. I just need... a shower, or something." His voice was already starting to return, but he coughed again as he finished his defense. He certainly did not look like he just needed 'a shower or something'.

"No... Nick, trust me, I can take a few days off, I've got so much vacation banked. I mean, I've got to use those days sometime." She leaned in, putting a paw on his upper arm.

The nurse left the room momentarily as the fox shook his head, shrinking from her touch a bit. "No Carrots, that would be a very bad idea. Just, trust me on this one okay?"

Judy's face fell from that of care for her partner to one of suspicion, her eyes narrowing. "What is going on with you? You were close to telling me before this mess, and there's definitely something wrong beyond the fox-away."

Nick sighed, his ears falling back. "Listen Judy, I would tell you, but just trust me when I say that you don't want to know this one." His short-term sedatives had mostly worn off by now, so he slowly sat up, feeling the edge of the hospital bed and moving his legs to dangle over it. It was a huge bed for him, but they all had to accommodate even the largest elephant.

The bunny's ears fell to her back and she whimpered. He'd called her Judy that time, he didn't usually do that unless it was something serious. "Okay... but, I'm still gonna look after you while you recover, you can't expect me just to... leave you like this."

The red fox chuckled gently. "It really looks that bad?" Then, remembering, "Oh shoot, what about that lamb, is she okay?"

Judy nodded, frowning. "Yeah, she was lucky, whatever stabbed her missed most of the major organs. She hasn't woken up for questioning yet, so we still really don't know what happened. Higgins was nearby so he checked out the fence and around it. He found some blood but nothing else to go on." Her expression soured as she continued. "I'm gonna try to get her charged for assaulting an officer. I don't care how badly you're hurt, you can't just attack people."

Nick held up a hand as she spoke. "And I'll refuse to show up in court. Carrots, think with me for a second. I'm a fox. I was running at her, a lamb, after she had been stabbed."

"Yeah, but that doesn't give her any excuse to-"

"She was scared Judy, I'm a natural predator, remember that time in city hall after we found all the caged nighthowler victims? Foxes used to eat sheep just like they used to eat bunnies."

Judy winced at that, whimpering. He still remembered her reaction to him that day, she had been praying that could become a distant memory sooner than later. "But... you've done so much for this city... I-I was hoping that maybe the celebrity status could at least help people realize that foxes, and not just foxes but you of all people can't be defined by your species' reputation... I thought things were getting better..."

Nick heard the distress in her voice and slowly climbed down from the bed carefully, feeling the air to find her. The rabbit was looking down and accidentally caught a paw to the back of her head, but didn't mind as he found her shoulders, resting his hands on them. "Carrots, things are getting better, trust me. But, people don't think when they're scared. Who knows, maybe a fox stabbed her and she mistakenly didn't see the uniform."

Judy nodded and then realized that wouldn't be an appropriate answer, speaking up. "Yeah."

Nick bit his lip, keeping the smile up as he continued. "And hey, if you really want to deal with fox fur getting all over your stuff then that's fine by me. I couldn't think of a better partner."

The lapin's ears burned at that, her face heating up as she smiled. "Yeah," she agreed, punching his arm, "stop resisting ya big pest. And brush yourself, you're getting red hair all over the car."

She knew he took good care of himself, but ribbing him about it always got a reaction. This time though, it did not.

"Alright, this is way worse than I thought it would be," Nick groaned.

Judy tried to suppress a chuckle as she moved to help him off the ground, his paw had caught the edge of a chair upon entering his own apartment, sending him tumbling to the hardwood floor.

The rabbit slowly observed the room as she helped her partner to his feet, struggling against their difference in weight. His apartment was far from what most would consider 'nice', but then again she had to admit that hers was the same, if not worse.

The room was much larger than that of her own entire home, but with a lower ceiling and slightly dimmer lighting. There was a door on her right coming in the main entrance painted brick to match the reddish-brown interior wall color, and another in the farthest left corner of the room. She finished helping the fox to his feet and slowly guided him to the kitchen. "So this is what your place looks like, huh?" She hadn't yet had a chance to visit the fox in his own home, even if he had been on the force for just over a month now.

"Yeah I know, it's probably a mess, but I did warn you fluff." He was guided to a chair, frowning. "You know, I would really love to see. The whole blindness thing isn't exactly to my liking."

Judy nodded, smiling smugly. "And you thought you would be fine alone? Either way it should mostly wear off by tomorrow enough for you to see a bit, but it'll take until Monday to get that excellent eyesight of yours back."

Nick would have rolled his eyes, were they open. "You're never gonna let that go, will you Carrots?" When he had been admitted to the department in the city center he had taken an eyesight test as well as hearing per the usual requirements. However, upon being asked what the smallest letters on the vision chart were he had recited them perfectly, having seen and memorized them on the way into the ophthalmologist's office. Thus, he was listed as having 20/5 vision, a technical medical impossibility. To date the record had not been corrected, and would not be for four more months until his biannual inspection.

Judy was about to respond that no, she wouldn't, but her speech was cut off by the ringing of her phone. She brought it up to her face, it was her parents. They were requesting a muzzletime session and her ears flicked upwards at that. It had been maybe a week and a half since she had seen them, what with their huge family Judy was happy that she normally got to talk with them every week or so.

She reached up to Nick's counters, jumping onto one to allow her access to a cupboard. Her partner's house was a bit scaled up, much too large for the comparatively half-sized bunny. She opened the cabinet with some difficulty to which Nick's ears perked up, following the sound of the call and her moving around.

Judy managed to somehow reach a glass, bringing it down to set on the counter in front of her as she finally answered the call. Her mother's familiar face filled the screen, and she smiled at her. "Hey mom!"

"Hey there Judy! It's been a while, hasn't it?" Bonnie smiled through the screen to the bunny officer.

"I mean, a week and a half mom, but you could say that I guess. Oh! I almost forgot, say hello!" She beamed, panning the camera to encompass Nick in his blinded state, who graciously waved a paw at the source of the sound. He was ever so slightly off, so the wave went more into the empty space to Judy's right than to any party.

"Oh my goodness, well there must be a bit that you're leaving out! And oh dear, what ever happened to Nick?" Bonnie's eyes widened as she looked over the fallen fox.

"Well, remember that fox deterrent that you insisted I take here with me when I first left?" Judy pursed her lips, frowning slightly.

Her mother's eyes widened even further, "Oh Judy, did you need to finally use it on him? Oh I know how that can be traumatic, I mean you think you know someone but then they just-"

"Mom! What are you talking about? A lamb that had been injured attacked-"

Nick interrupted her this time, "A lamb who had been scared half to death-"

"Exactly, but still, attacked Nick when we were trying to help her! I mean, it's not permanent and Nick says he won't press charges, but he's still out of commission for a few days. I'm taking them off to take care of him, since he can't... well, see." The lapin's heart sunk as her mom assumed that Nick was the party at fault in this case, and that he had tried to hurt her of all people in some way. She tried to cover it up with a smile and more chatter, but her ears drooped. She moved the phone to push her upper head out of frame.

Bonnie smiled nervously at Judy's affirmation that she would be helping Nick. "Oh, well let him know that we're thinking of him back in Bunnyburrow!" she responded, ignoring that he could obviously hear them, "And Judy, may I talk to you later when you're home? Personal information."

The bunny officer's forehead shrunk a bit in confusion, then she smiled and waved away the worry. "Oh don't worry mom, Nick knows me better than just about anyone in the city, and plus, I'm staying overnight here."

Bonnie's eyes widened further at that, but she was shocked out of it a bit by her husband apparently entering the room. His face appeared in frame after a few moments.

"Hey there Jude the dude! Oh, and Nick! Gotta say we've only seen pictures, but it's great to finally catch you live!" he interrupted, then quickly in a much quieter tone but still that was still very audible, "Why is he squinting?"

Bonnie responded in the same 'hushed' tone. "He just got hit with fox-away on patrol Stu, let him be." She swatted at her husband's arm.

"I told you Judy would need that some day-"

The rabbit officer tapped her foot on the floor, interrupting, "It wasn't me!" she blurted out, exasperated. "Some lamb flipped out on him, I don't even carry that stuff anymore."

Nick was busy chewing his lip and pretending he wasn't listening and hearing everything, but the way his ears twitched at every several words and his lack of really trusting himself to get anywhere besides around his immediate surroundings what with both his eyes and nose thoroughly disabled still kept him notably involved.

Both of the bunny cop's parents cringed slightly as she said that, expressions dropping to that of well-meaning concern. They lowered their voices, a tactic that had proven totally ineffective before, but seemed to at least reassure them that only Judy could hear them.

Stu spoke first, "You know, you really should carry that, I mean Nick might be great and all but still it might come in handy, it works on most canine and vulpine species you know, not just for foxes!"

Bonnie nodded, "And we just want you to be safe is all-"

"Exactly! And even if it isn't Nick-"

"Who we're sure it won't be-"

"You could still use it on other criminals that might be trying to hurt you!"

Judy tried to interrupt, "Mom, Dad, I can just carry pepper spray if you care that-"

Stu nodded, "Whatever you like, but maybe fox-away would come in more handy you know, totally knocks the target species out if you hit 'em right!"

Bonnie shushed her husband, interrupting, "Look Judy it's okay if you don't want but..." she lowered her voice again, this time making it harder for Nick to hear. Still easy, but harder than before. "Are you sure you want to stay overnight at that house? I mean..."

Judy opened her mouth to protest the prejudice, but was cut off by her mother too quickly.

"I'm sure Nick is really sweet and everything, but he's a fox-" again, her daughter began to open her mouth but she rushed to finish, "-and it's spring, Judy. Spring! For all the good he may be it's pretty hard to deal with those instincts."

Judy felt her skin start to heat up in anger, but she snuffed it for now, trying to think of what her mother could mean by that. Time on the force as well as in the academy had taught her how to control her temper a bit better than that, if just barely. "What do you mean about it being spring?" she finally managed, her tone notably controlled.

Her parents looked to each other guiltily. This was a talk that maybe was a little delayed, but they hadn't exactly expected their daughter to deal with anyone outside her own species in that regard. Bonnie finally took up the answer after an awkward pause, speaking softly. "Oh, Judy... you know what foxes go through this time of year... It can make them a little... Well, you get the idea."

The rabbit officer frowned, thinking again, then had a moment of revelation. Of course! Nick was suffering severely from his allergies, it must be a common fox issue. She winced guiltily, realizing that she had done very little research on foxes to accommodate for her partner, while she knew for a fact that Nick had at least done some reading on bunnies from a few casual comments on patrol.

The lapin turned to her partner, then back to her phone, nodding. She could understand her parent's concerns, after all he had been acting awfully strange, if mostly just unfocused. "Oh, don't worry at all mom, we'll be fine. I'm actually helping him out with that too, I picked up some medicine on the way to his apartment for it!" She responded cheerily.

Bonnie's jaw dropped, and her husband stood in what looked like horrified shock for several moments before Judy's mother blushed, looking away from the camera. "Well, we thought you would have said something about that before hand, but I guess just... be careful, okay?" She seemed very concerned, scared even, and her dad was worse, just clamming up entirely.

"Okay?" Judy laughed nervously. "Well, gotta go, thanks for talking bye!" She quickly pressed the 'end call' button, closing the connection over the faces of her concerned parents. Whatever was bugging them they would get over soon enough, and she wasn't in the mood to listen to them referring to Nick like he was going to pounce on her and tear her throat out at any moment. She sighed, turning back to the fox who had a strange expression of his own.

His face was even redder than normal, and he was pulling his ears back, brushing the fur on his head with his claws nervously. "Carrots-"

Judy shushed him. "I'm sorry about that Nick, really. My parents are still a little skittish about all of this... they're good people, and they're getting better slowly. Still, that doesn't give them any excuse to treat you like that! I mean they acted like you're going to jump me or something!"

Nick cringed at that and wished that he could see, something to be able to at least moderate his own expressions. "Carrots!" He finally quieted her, holding up a paw as he put his other over the bridge of his muzzle. "That's... they were..." He stopped, searching for the proper way of explaining what was actually going on. The fox sighed, not formulating an answer for some time. "Have you done like, any reading on foxes?" He sounded hopeful, but knew that the answer would be.

Judy's ears had fallen to her back when he yelled, but they drooped even more when he presented that question out loud. "Uh... I-I've been meaning to..."

Nick nodded. "I could tell... Honestly maybe it's for the best that you didn't, or at least this part. I don't have allergies."

Judy's face scrunched up. "You don't...?" Her nose twitched slightly, and she whimpered, a bit hurt. Surely he had a good reason at least to lie though, right?

"I uh... well, It's spring. And I, I get kinda weird during spring," then, finding a way to defuse the tension with humor, "something in my biology, based in my DNA, so to speak." He smiled at that, it made him a lot more comfortable, but the rabbit only shrunk back even further.

"I'm sorry about that Nick, really... I was horrible to-"

"Fluff, it was a joke... well kinda. Do you know what a heat cycle is?" The fox tensed. It was out now, Judy would know exactly what he was talking about. He just prayed that she didn't notice his likely not-so reserved staring at her earlier. Of course, with his luck, it wasn't likely to be that easy.