Judy woke slowly.

She was somewhere soft and warm. Gentle sunlight filtered through the window, yellow curtains framing a perfect blue sky. Walls painted a very particular, very calming shade of green. Lilac bedsheets in a white plastic frame.

On a desk across from her, out of place like it followed her from a nightmare, her helmet. The red still stark, but white snaking through the shattered black glass.

She stirred. Her sleep had been dreamless, pleasant and empty. But seeing her own damaged helmet immediately brought a wave of fear.

It passed as soon as it came – she was alive, wasn't she? That alone was a miracle. Judy turned, then blinked in surprise. Nick.

He was crumpled on a chair next to her bed, fast asleep. He had changed clothes since she last saw him, now wearing a spectacularly awful red shirt made his earlier choices seem sane. The shirt was clean, but his fur was ruffled, uneven.

Still. He looked nice.

She must have made a noise, or shifted too loudly, because suddenly he sprung to life. Panic flashed on his face, but it turned to relief when he saw her. "Carrots! Oh, it's so good to – I'm so glad you – uh–" Giving up, he just gave her a smile. It was the most genuinely happy she had ever seen him. "...Hi."

"Hey." Her voice was rough, and she coughed. "Good to see you, Slick." She returned his smile, then glanced around. "This... isn't jail."

His smile turned grim. "Don't speak too soon." He nodded to her wrist, and she dragged her eyes over. A tiny pair of handcuffs restrained her to her bed.

"Oh." She stared, trying to ignore what her nine year old self would think. But her natural optimism soon kicked in. "Well. Still better than prison, right?"

"Sure. For the record, Bogo wanted to arrest you. He was furious. Like... genuinely terrifying. But you got brought here instead. Guess your injuries, uh..." He cleared his throat. "Guess you were in bad shape."

He pointed over his shoulder, towards the door. The room was empty except for them.

"Used to be a guard in here with us. Changed on the hour, and every one glared daggers at me. I suppose glaring at you would've been pretty pointless. But then Lionheart dropped by, and did... something. After that, I was the only one here."

"Thanks. You didn't have to..." She gingerly repositioned herself, trying to sit up. "What happened, exactly? The last thing I remember is..."

The security room. Nick clutching her tightly. Green eyes soft.

"...the security room."

"Right." He shifted position too. "Well, I was trying to keep you conscious when the EMTs arrived. One let slip that you didn't need to stay awake, and then you laughed at me – and hit me – and mocked my valiant efforts to keep you alive. And then you passed out mid-sentence."

"Oh," said Judy.

"Yeah. Bundled you into an ambulance and brought you straight here. They let me ride along, but they yelled at me when they realized I hadn't told them I'd been shot, which I guess is–"

"Whoa, whoa!" Judy tensed, and felt a fresh wave of pain. "You were shot!?"

Nick blinked. Then he smacked his forehead. "How do I keep forgetting that? You'd think it'd be a little more memorable. Here, check it out!"

He lifted his ludicrous shirt to reveal a bandage on his side, the white stark against his orange fur.

She stared. "Nick..."

"No big deal. Just grazed me. Stung like hell, but all I needed were a few stitches." He lowered his shirt with a sheepish grin. "They were more concerned about the, uh, psychological effects. I told them, 'Hey, I'm already drowning in mental and emotional problems, what's one more?'"

Judy returned his smile, but the humour didn't reach her eyes.

"I stuck around after that," he continued. "You were in surgery. Amazingly, that fang didn't hit anything important, so–"

Her ears perked. "So I won't be here long?"

He raised his hands. "Yeah. You'll only be off your feet for a couple weeks."

"...Oh."

"You still got gored, Carrots. And crushed, and bruised, and flung into a door, and had a rabid wolf chew on your foot." He sat back. "Well, actually, the door thing wasn't so bad. The helmet took most of that impact – no head trauma. Guess it was a good idea after all."

Judy frowned into empty air. "...Okay. I see."

A little smile. "Try not to sulk too much, okay? I know you're... an active gal, but you're amazingly lucky to walk away with only a few weeks rest and rehab. Since the alternative..." He swallowed, abandoning the sentence.

"Is not walking away," she finished. "Yeah. I know." She stretched where she sat. "Don't worry about me. I just need to get comfortable, that's all."

"Exactly," he said, smile returning. "Silver lining! You can actually catch up on sleep. I'm guessing you didn't change your habits much since the night you spent on my couch? You went out like a light, Carrots. It's been more than twelve hours."

"Huh." Judy looked up to a clock on the wall. Noon was approaching.

She realized what that meant.

"Nick..." She turned to him, eyes gleaming. "We made our twenty-four hour deal more than twenty-four hours ago. You're off the hook, y'know."

"Thanks for the reminder," he said dryly. "If you're that desperate to get rid of me, I can go hang out in someone else's hospital room. I was just making sure you weren't dead, that's all."

Judy decided against pointing out the obvious; that Nick had stayed overnight, sitting by her side until he fell asleep himself. Instead, she merely smirked. "Sure. Nice shirt, by the way."

"Thanks. My mom dropped it off for me. She was here a couple hours ago. Shame you were still out, I'm sure you would've enjoyed the show. She really tore into me."

He hadn't even gone home to change. Judy didn't point that out, either. "Oh yeah?"

"Yeah, she had a few good lines." He smiled thinly. "Stuff like 'When I told you to go out and live life, this is not what I meant!'"

She chuckled at that. Nick relaxed a little.

"You, uh... feeling okay?"

"About as good as I could hope, I think. After..." She shook her head, trying to stop the nauseous red memories from coming. "After last night, I'm just glad I'm awake."

"Yeah," said Nick softly. "They patched you up." Another weak smile. "Poured a lot of blood back into you."

"Y'know, I donated blood a couple times. Civic duty. You can't take too much out of one rabbit, but there's lots of rabbits around." She stared at her arm. "Who knows how many people I have in my veins right now..."

Nick's smile strengthened. "Well, isn't that an apt metaphor? You're a real champion of the people now, Hopps." He gestured dramatically, fingers splayed. "The very blood of the city flows through you!"

"Heh..." Judy ran a mental tally of her injuries. "So... my stomach, my blood loss, my ankle? Everything's gonna heal eventually?"

"Eventually. Try to be patient." He glanced upwards. Her heart sank. "They... also took a proper look at your ear."

"Oh," said Judy, and before she could stop him he took out his phone, using the inward camera as a mirror. Judy stared at herself.

There was a hole in her ear. The right. On the inner edge. High. Near the tip.

Forever.

She took it in, trying to get used to it. She had to. It was... smaller than she had thought. Avoiding it had only made it bigger in her mind.

"You have a minimum of hearing damage, amazingly," Nick was saying. She could almost taste his discomfort. "But it's still... I..."

He lowered his phone. The silence was painful. But then Judy looked him in the eye, letting a smirk form on her lips. "You're going to crack so many ear piercing jokes, aren't you?"

For a second, he seemed shocked. But then that classic hustler smirk was shining back at her. "Well, it does look just super trendy."

"I'll pay Koslov back when I see him."

"You'll have to wait. I hear Mr Big decided to go on... vacation. Left just a few hours ago, and took a lot of guys with him." Nick locked his fingers, resting his muzzle on his hands. "Not like him to leave in such a rush. Guess the ground sorta shifted under him. Yesterday, you were just a crazy bunny no-one would even miss, but now..."

"Yeah." She stretched. "I'm gonna tread carefully – that guy is no joke – but I don't think I have anything to worry about."

"What?"

"Oh, I figured it all out a while ago. Because of your awful plan–"

"Sorry," Nick mumbled, reflexively.

"–Mr Big vowed to make an example of me. But then his daughter told him how I saved her life! That must've won me some points, just not enough to call it even. So instead of trying to kill me, he just set the ZPD on my tail." She yawned. "You told me yourself that sometimes he reports crimes against him. And sending me to prison would be a good compromise, right?"

"Uh, yeah." Nick scratched at his neck. "Makes sense. Mr Big probably did file a report on you."

She caught something in his tone. "'A' report?"

Nick shifted in his seat. "...Some of the cops in here weren't so mean. Wolford had the third shift. I know his dad, and his aunt, and like three of his cousins, so..." He trailed off, noticing her expression. "What?"

Her smile didn't waver. "Nothing. Just... of course you do. Go on."

"Right. So he warmed up a bit and I managed to get him chatting." He cocked an eyebrow. "You know a guy named Clawhauser?"

"Yeah. Yeah!" Judy sat up a little. "What about him?"

"Turns out he beat you to the punch. Saved Gazelle before you even got to the stage. Real heroic. You might have competition..."

She blinked. "Wow. Is he okay?"

"Oh, yeah. A bit bruised, but he'll bounce back. Hear he's up for some kinda medal, actually." He smiled. "Definitely got into Gazelle's good books, that's for sure."

Judy settled back into her bed, letting out a breath. "Good. That's good to hear..." She looked back to Nick. "And? That's not everything Wolford told you, is it?"

"No. No, it is not."

Nick's eyes went to the window, and stayed there.

"I don't want to rub it in your face, but... yeah. This wasn't a smart idea. Everyone did know it was you, just from basic logic. And to remove any doubt, you left DNA everywhere. Anywhere in the city you've bled – which is too many places – that blood is identifiably from Judy Hopps. The ZPD gathered enough evidence to confirm your identity in, like, an afternoon."

Judy tried to bury her face in her hands, but her handcuffed arm jerked against its restraints, and that made her feel worse. "Oh, god..."

"I know, but–" Nick fished his phone back out, switching from the camera to the web browser. "Silver lining! Again! Everybody knows you're the one who saved the day when the ZPD couldn't. And some of these articles are pretty supportive..."

She perked. "Really?"

"Well, some are more dubious. But there's a lot of enthusiasm for... you." He shook his head, pocketing his phone. "But the underworked arts graduates of the journalistic world have seriously let me down. I've read basically all the online coverage of last night, and there's not a single decent idea for your superhero name. The only one that's any good is 'Red Rabbit', and that's still... eh."

Judy's voice was soft. "I kinda like it."

"Really? No accounting for taste. Personally I think it's way too simplistic. Too Golden Age, y'know? Must be a snazzier option."

"If there is, I never thought of it," she murmured.

She realized her mistake. Nick broke into a huge grin, eyes gleaming. "You little liar! You said you never–"

Judy scowled. "I mean–! Codenames are dumb! This is dumb! Whatever!"

He laughed. "Settle down, Carrots...!"

"Right, right..." She sat back, arms folded. "Don't want to... pull my stitches or something, right?"

"Right. Although maybe they used staples instead. I actually don't know." He shrugged. "Everything I told you was just what I could glean from the staff. I wasn't allowed full access to your information, since that's reserved for spouses and family and stuff. We've got no formal relationship." He smiled thinly. "I don't think we're even officially friends."

Her smile was warm. "Well... I'd be happy to sign the paperwork."

He blinked. "What?"

"To signify that we're officially friends. Bring me the forms, I'll sign them."

He was quiet for a moment. Then he smiled back. "Easy, Carrots. You're still woozy. You have to be of sound mind and body, right? I don't want to take advantage of you."

She laughed. "Yeah, like... I find myself at an amusement park with you or something, with no idea how it happened, and you say 'Don't you remember? We're friends! You signed the paperwork!'"

He shook his head with mock gravitas. "Fate worse than death."

"Have to help you move house..."

"Ugh."

"Listen to your problems and pretend I care..."

"Horrifying!"

They chuckled, then trailed into silence. It was comfortable. But Nick never knew comfort for long. Thoughts crept back in, scratching at the back of his skull; what had gone unsaid since she woke. He took a breath.

"...Listen,"

"Don't."

Nick stared. "But–"

"You don't have to say it." She smiled quietly. "I know you're sorry. About Mr Big, and... probably a bunch of other stuff, too. It's fine, Nick."

"Really?"

"Really. To err is mammal. To forgive, divine."

He managed to match her smile. "You and I both know I did a lot worse than 'err'."

"Well, that just makes me all the more godly." She lifted both arms, jingling the cuffs. "Judy Hopps! God-Empress of Zootopia! I decree who lives and dies!"

"Uh... pull it back a little."

"All shall bow before me!" declared Judy, her voice rising. "Any mortal who does not pay me tribute shall feel my burning wrath!"

"...How much pain meds are you on right now?"

Judy laughed, breaking character. Nicked joined in, until the door swung open.

"Well, well. I see you're already on the mend, Hopps!"

Lionheart strode in as though he owned the place (which, arguably, he did). A clean suit. A new red tie. Mane meticulous. Almost no indication of the horror just hours before.

Almost.

Judy gasped. "Mister Mayor...!"

Lionheart had three long scars down his cheek, vivid streaks of pink against his golden fur. To their surprise, he laughed. "What, the scars? Great, huh?"

Nick's brow furrowed. "What?"

"They're magnificent! A constant reminder of how bravely I handled the situation!"

Nick and Judy shared a glance. Judy lay back in her bed. "If you say so..."

"I do."

Lionheart strode up, easily settling by Judy's bedside where he could address them both. Black claws tapped against the white plastic, inches from the shining silver handcuffs.

"Thought I'd stop by to see how you are – and give you an update. Both savage mammals are safely in custody, thanks to joint efforts from the ZPD and, ah... some experts contracted by yours truly. With all other victims secure at Cliffside, that's everyone accounted for."

"That's great," said Judy. "But... will they...?"

"We'll see," said Lionheart. "There's no change to their condition yet. But now that we know what to look for, my doctors should be able to synthesize a cure. Which is great news, because my best doctor needs a cure."

Nick let out a breath. "Here's hoping."

"I do a lot more than hope, son. That's how I got this far. For instance, I'm already planning the next move." He gestured grandly with one paw. "As soon as Avinash is back on his feet, I'm going to forgive him in front of the whole city! What a fantastic photo op that'll be. We're doing everything in our power to ensure the public knows the savage predators were sick, not malicious – and keep the blame on Bellwether, where it belongs." He laughed. "It's not like anyone's gonna believe her side of the story! Not when she's smeared over half the..."

He saw the expressions on their faces and trailed off.

"Mmh. Yes."

Nick forced himself to speak. "That tiger's gonna feel terrible when he comes to. About what he... did."

"It wasn't him," said Lionheart firmly, "and it wasn't his fault. I don't care how many therapists I need to pay to convince him of that, I'll see to it."

Judy smiled up at him. "Thank you."

"And thank you! Because of your efforts, we're dismantling Bellwether's operation as we speak. Your new friends Jesse and Woolter already gladly told everything to the ZPD, simply in exchange for... new accommodation."

He leaned a little closer, eyes glinting.

"As Mayor, I think keeping them in a room full of savage predators overnight probably qualifies as 'cruel and unusual punishment'. But off the record... fantastic work."

He straightened up with a cough.

"If Mister Ramses is similarly pliable once we get the Night Howler out of him, that will be more than enough to settle the record. This was all Bellwether. No disease, no cause for alarm."

"What about the cameras?" asked Nick.

"Yes, yes. We salvaged the footage just fine, so that's also substantial evid–"

"No," said Nick, and swallowed thickly. "They... there's footage of me and her. When I..."

Lionheart smiled. "That there is. Your marvellous work is immortalised on film, don't worry."

"'Don't worry'?" Nick scoffed, ears flat against his skull. Every instinct, both animal and hustler, told him to play nice. Stay on the Mayor's good side. But he couldn't. "You're kidding, right?! I don't want anybody to see that! You gotta – you..." He caught himself, shoving his fear into a calm question. "Are you seriously letting other people see it? It was... illegal."

Lionheart didn't reply immediately. When he spoke, it was slightly too smooth. "Y'know the phrase 'history is written by the winners'? Great news. We won. And as such, we control the narrative." Another smile. "And by 'we', I mean a dedicated staff run by a very intelligent publicist."

Nick blinked. "You're... spinning this."

"That I am. Y'see, Bellwether overplayed her hand. She wanted the whole city to see predator turning on prey. But it backfired spectacularly! Gazelle's already calling for calm, explaining what happened to Avinash, and people are listening... and then there's you two. The bunny and fox who saved us all. Myself included!"

His eyes went to Judy, warm despite his smirk.

"I knew from the moment I saw you that you were destined for greatness. Your methods may be unorthodox, but you've rewarded my faith in you ten-fold. I'm so glad we were able to work together."

He returned to Nick, resting a paw on his shoulder.

"And as for you... well, suffice to say John would be proud."

Nick slid out of his grasp. "With all due respect, I'm not a hero. All I did last night was survive. And I broke a lot of laws to do it."

"Who are you talking to, kid?" replied Lionheart. "I am the law. What I say goes. Oh, which reminds me–"

Moving casually, as though straightening his tie, Lionheart took a tiny key from his jacket pocket and undid Judy's handcuffs.

"There."

Judy stared in awe at her wrist. Free. "Whu..."

"Consider yourself officially pardoned. Well, actually, don't. Paperwork isn't processed yet. Consider yourself unofficially pardoned."

Nick stared too. "You can do that...?"

"Full disclosure – pretty sure my power to pardon crimes is only supposed to cover local ordinances like littering. Not, y'know, assault and battery, resisting arrest, voluntary mammalslaughter, etcetera etcetera..." He waved a hand. "But I think the three of us can agree what's right and what's legal don't always align. I have your backs. That's all you need to know."

Nick couldn't find a reply. Judy could. "Thank you, sir."

"First rule of politics, kids; quid pro quo." Lionheart set the handcuffs aside. "This city owes you. I owe you. So if there's anything else you need, or just want... well, I'm all ears."

'Ears' reminded Nick of an associate – and a promise he'd made. "Um, my friend – he helped us last night, drove us to the stadium? – he could use some money..."

Lionheart raised an eyebrow. "Ah, how selfless of you. Friends first. How much exactly?"

Nick danced out a shrug, readying himself to haggle. Start high and concede ground slowly. "Well, he said one hundred thousand dollars, but I'm pretty sure he was jok–"

"Chump change," he said. "I'll scrounge that, no problem."

Nick waited for the punchline, for Lionheart to laugh and make his real offer. He didn't. "Uh... can we get a hundred thousand dollars?"

Lionheart scoffed. "You guys want to be paid the same amount as your driver, huh? I think you've earned a little more than that. More like half a million. Each."

Nick's eyes widened and ears perked and his heart almost stopped. He had taken a lot of shocks in the last few hours. This topped them.

Judy choked. "Half a–?! Mister Mayor, where will you even get that money?!"

"Parks budget," he said simply.

"Oh, no, please, that's–" She cringed. "I mean, you can't."

"I'm sorry, has the parks department ever stopped a conspiracy from destroying the city? As far as I'm aware, it has not. We can skimp on the swingsets, kids. You two earned this." He smiled. "Besides, consider it a down payment. Your first paycheck for your new job."

"What?"

"Hopps, you're hired!" His grin turned sheepish. "Not immediately, of course, that'd be ridiculous. Take as much time as you need. Go home and rest. Drink orange juice! You need to make new blood. But once you do, I want to put your talents to good use."

"Good use...?" Judy echoed dumbly.

"This city is safe again, thanks to you. But it's still scared. The citizens are reeling, and tension like this wouldn't dissipate overnight. Bellwether may be gone, but she did some damage." He leaned in. "That's why I need you. What you stand for. You could be a symbol of unity." A knowing smirk. "And once you're back in the field... I may have less symbolic work for you."

Ah. Familiar territory. "Sounds good, sir."

"Glad to hear it."

"What about me?" said Nick. "You're not just sending me home, right?"

"Wouldn't dream of it!" said Lionheart. "You two are partners, after all. Though Mariah's a bit dubious about having two vigilantes. Says it's a numbers thing..."

"Um... whoever 'Mariah' is, she needn't worry." Nick was resolute. "I have a different idea."

"Oh?"

He smiled weakly. "This... this sounds so stupid that I think my mouth is trying to pre-emptively reject it, but... I want to be a cop."

Judy blinked. "You...?"

Lionheart was surprised too, but he recovered. "Interesting! Following in her pawprints, eh? Yes, yes... I love this idea! The first fox cop, right alongside the first rabbit..." Lionheart grinned hungrily into the middle distance. "That's so marketable..."

"Uh... sure." Nick grinned too. "What's the requirement for police academy? Just a clear criminal record? That's already in the bag thanks to you, New Best Friend!"

Lionheart chuckled. "Yes, yes. Like I said, no problem." He put a claw to his chin. "To my understanding, you'll also need a college degree..."

"You're looking at a proud graduate of Greentail Community College."

"Good enough!" said Lionheart brightly. "Just about..."

Judy went to say something, but decided against it. They looked too happy. She let them have their moment.

Not that it lasted. Lionheart was always brisk. "We'll hammer out the details later. I'd better head. Lots to do. Gonna stick my head in on Gary on the way out – he's down the hall, if you want to visit. Chances are he'll get to you first, though."

"Is he okay?" said Judy.

"He's fine. He knows Larry will be too, in time, and that's keeping him going. His arm's pretty bad, but, uh... he's much more concerned about..." Lionheart gestured to his neck, laughing. "They have him in one of those cone things! He hates it! God, it's hilarious."

Nick and Judy did not laugh.

Lionheart trailed off. The room got a little colder. "What? I'm trying to see the funny side, that's all. I don't need your judgement."

Judy raised her paws. "We're not–"

"You better not be." By now the air was icy. "No-one felt this crisis worse than me. I lost three good men. More are injured, one of them hanging by a thread. And there is no way in hell I am letting their sacrifices be in vain. I am going to destroy every single piece of Bellwether that remains, every accomplice, every idea, every strand of wool. If it's the last goddamn thing I do."

"Of – of course," said Nick.

Lionheart watched them both. "I hate to end things on a sour note... but there's something I should make clear right now."

He glanced down to his tie, straightening the red fabric with slow, deliberate movements.

"The official line is that we fixed this. My operation saved the infected individuals, while you two took out the cause: Bellwether. This was a team effort. And it still is."

Eyes, stony, still on the tie.

"I have a lot of enemies. A lot of people who might... dispute my narrative. That's politics. Nothing I can't handle. But hypothetically, if something did happen to me, to my administration... well, that pardon I just signed for you wouldn't be so effective, would it?"

He looked up. No trace of humour remained. Only scars.

"You're my people now. So I trust that I can count on you. Are we clear?"

Judy nodded. "Yes, sir."

There was a pause. Nick realized Lionheart was waiting for him. "Uh – yeah. Yes."

"Good."

Just as suddenly, he brightened again. He went for the door.

"Well, I'll be seeing you. Rest well – you earned it. I knew you were destined for greatness! Moment I laid eyes on you. Never doubted you for a second..."

And like that, he was gone.

"Man... did that creep you out too?" said Judy. "Or is that just the blood loss talking...?"

"No. That was pretty creepy. I hope we made the right decision."

"'Decision'? Nick, what decision? The second the ZPD started hunting me, we ran out of options."

Nick shrugged. "Well, there was one option. You could've given up at any time. Skipped town and hoped things worked out by themselves. And you didn't."

"Neither did you."

"Guess not."

Judy seemed terse. Nick cleared his throat.

"You... alright?"

Her little mouth twisted. "I'm... trying to find a polite way of phrasing this..."

"You're recovering from almost fatal injuries. I'm used to getting yelled at. Let me have it, Hopps."

Judy took a long breath, through her nose, then let him have it. "Why would you possibly want to be a cop?! They'll treat you like garbage, Nick. Worse than me!"

"Well, you've been nicer to me lately," said Nick with a quiet smirk.

"You know that's not what I meant. I worked so hard to make it into the ZPD, and I screwed up, big time! Yesterday, I hit one of Precinct One's finest officers with a trashcan! Do you really think they'll trust you? Judy Hopps' fox friend?"

Nick wasn't looking at her. His eyes were on the window again. "...All I can do is hope they will."

Judy scoffed. "Nick Wilde, famous optimist. What changed?"

"What changed," said Nick levelly, "is that I killed somebody."

Silence. Judy hadn't realized how cold the room was until now. She could feel her fur standing on end. "Who? Bellwether?"

"Yeah. When I said I stopped her, I..." He swallowed. "Yeah."

Judy was quiet for a moment. Then she rallied. "She was crazy. She needed to be taken down."

"I know, I know! But..."

"You feel guilty? Seriously? All the lives you must've saved–"

"By killing someone!" he snapped, finally dragging his eyes back to her. "What part of this don't you get?!"

An uncomfortable pause followed. Nick sighed, ears flat.

"Sorry. No sense yelling at you. It's just – I don't think I can call this a victory. Maybe if you'd done it, you could've... I dunno." He took a deep breath, then it out slowly. "...She's dead. There were probably other ways of solving that problem, but I went for the easy option, and now... yeah." His voice trailed into a choke. "Yeah."

Judy's voice was soft. "You really feel bad, huh?"

"I do. Maybe it's dumb, but... I really do." He brought his eyes back to her. She saw a strength there. "So the next time this happens, I want to do it right. I want to know how to do it right. Not just throw something together that happens to work by sheer chance. And I think police training is the best way to get that."

Judy met his gaze. Then she closed her eyes with a soft chuckle.

"Jeez, Hopps, you don't have to laugh at me..."

"No, it's not that..." She looked up, tired but wry. "I just realized... I sound exactly like my parents. If you want to be a cop, be a cop. Anyone can be anything, right?"

He perked up. "Thanks, Judy."

"I'd be more than happy to help you apply. I still have all my textbooks, and once I'm back on my feet, I can prepare you for the physical training."

"Yeah!" He was getting enthusiastic now. It was a little odd. But endearing. "And if you get your job back, we could even be partners!"

"Oh – oh yeah. Maybe." Uniforms. Badges. Regulations. Rules. Bogo. The job she had fought for since childhood. Her dream.

...Not any more. Not after the glorious freedom of the night.

Instead, she channelled Nick – and didn't let any indication of her thoughts flicker on her face. "Hey, do me a favour. Find Lionheart before he leaves. Beg him not to give us one million dollars of municipal money. Stall him or something."

He winked. "Got it, boss. I'll be happy to heroically step in and take your share off your hands."

Judy scowled playfully. "Get out of here, you dumb fox!"

"I'm going, I'm going!"

He went. Judy listened as his footsteps grew dimmer. Soon, the room was silent except for the quiet beeping of medical machinery.

Judy took a deep breath, settling back into the bed. She closed her eyes and tried to relax.

She opened her eyes again.

Her hands worried the bedsheets. She shifted. She looked to the window, the beautiful blue sky outside. But it was too distant. Slowly, her purple eyes travelled back to her helmet. Red all too real. She stared at it.

It stared back.

boom. done. yes. touchdown. hoooooo boy

Well, here we are! Fun fact: this is my first novel-length story that isn't a crossover! That said, it's basically "Zootopia as Netflix!Daredevil, produced by Rooster Teeth, narrated by budget Lemony Snicket", so I don't think I ended up too far out of my comfort zone. That said that said, it's honestly a relief to finally have this story wrapped up. Good to be on the other side.

My infinite thanks to everyone who read this, and that goes triple for those of you kind enough to leave comments. Special shout-out to people who said something along the lines of "Oh, is this going to happen?" or "I bet the next chapter will go like this!", because half the time my reaction was "man, that's a great idea, too bad i didn't think of that". Once again, this story was proof-read by my great sister Sparklefists. Writing buddies~!

In the (extremely unlikely) event you want more, I've got some Zootopia one-shots, one of which – "Patient Zero" – now retroactively functions as a brief prequel to this story. Hooray for re-using OCs! I also have a longer fic, "Of Heists and Hustles", which I'm super proud of. It's a crossover (see?) with Sly Cooper, but the focus is on Nick and Judy, and multiple people have told me they greatly enjoyed it despite only knowing Zootopia. Lucky, considering how the SC fandom is so, so tiny in comparison.

Well, enough from me. Thanks again, and see you around!