The next morning, Judy was still awake and hadn't slept all night, she was red eyed and exhausted from the night before. It was painful for her to see Nick like this, limp, motionless, and looked as if he was broken.
"Oh, Nick. What did Jeremiah do to you?" she thought to herself. Just the thought about what Jeremiah did to him started to bring tears to her eyes, but what really puzzled her was what he said to her.
"Don't. You. Ever. Say that I am a coward, I have lost everything I loved, and didn't get to choose like what I gave you.....I am not afraid to die, or of anything else." It rang in her head like a bell, but she didn't could care less, Nick was now safe and that was all she cared about at the moment.
Just then, she heard the door open a crack. She turned to see Bogo, who had come to see how both Judy and Nick were doing, and found Judy sitting in a chair right next to Nicks' hospital bed. She was holding his hand inside of hers, but Nick wasn't awake, but was sleeping from the medicine that the doctors gave him for his nerves.
"How is he doing?" he asked as he walked in.
"the doctors gave him some medicine for the pain, but I know he is doing better." Judy said as she stood up to stretch her legs a bit.
"That's good, and.....how are you doing?" he asked gently. Judy paused a moment when she heard his question, and her ears drooped a little.
"I don't know, to be honest. I know I should be happy and relieved that Nick is safe, but Jeremiah told me something that I haven't been able to get out of my head. I mean, I am relieved that he is safe from Jeremiah, but....." she stopped suddenly as Bogo brought a chair and sat a few feet away from her. "But I can't help feeling like I have underestimated him, almost like I feel pity for him, and I feel sorry for shouting that word at him." She said as her ears dropped completely to her back, and sat back down in her chair.
"Judy....." Bogo said suddenly. "I.....I need to tell you something....." Bogo added and stood up and walked to the window. Judy was confused by the way his voice sounded, almost like he was keeping something from her. Almost like a secret. "When Jeremiah made that threat to me, it was a personal one. To be completely honest with you, when I was a new recruit in the ZPD, I was put on a case of a hit and run/murder case with a partner. We had just gotten the file and began looking through it, when we found that this case was about a completely different species of animal in Zootopia. It was of a female snake, much like Jeremiah before he became this way, only she was hit by an unknown vehicle and had been shot three times. At first we thought she was going around town by herself, but we later found that Jeremiah was with her and listed him as a suspect. Once we had located him, not only was he there with her, but watched as they shot her all three times and left her limp body out into the pavement. After I began investigating in this further, I soon discovered that he was the one that called 911. When the ambulance showed up with the first responders, he was cradling her and holding her head with the end of his tail. His eyes just flowing with tears and the right side of his face was gushing blood from being cut from something. We tried tending to his wounds, but all he would do was push us away and shout "don't touch me. Save her! Save my wife, Megan!" but the doctor at the hospital refused to help her." Bogo explained, and leaned forward on his knees. Judy felt like tears began to form in her eyes. "When they put Megan in the ground, no one really came to the funeral because they were snakes, and looked down upon them because of it. Jeremiah was the only one who attended, and the only one who was there at her funeral. Which is why he has this bitterness and anger towards Zootopia, and to the ZPD because we failed to find and bring to justice the one or ones who did this to him." Bogo finished, and his eyes had grown a little red from telling this to her.
Judys' ears were still droopy, and she felt more sorrow towards Jeremiah.
"But it still didn't excused him of what he did to the both of us." Judy said as she looked back at Nick.
"I don't think that Jeremiah wanted to, but was forced to. It seems as if he never tries to harm anyone without a reason to." Bogo responded, and they continued to talk for a little while longer until Bogo looked at his watch and saw that it was getting late, and decided to head home. "You should go home and get some rest, Judy. He isn't going anywhere." He petitioned softly. Judy nodded and began to leave the room, until Doctor Nial Antlerson, one of the finest and most brilliant Doctors in all of Zootopia and very good friend to both of them, stopped her.
"Miss Hopps?" he said as he walked towards her.
"Yes, Doc?" she asked as she turned towards him.
"I have Nickolas' bloodwork, and I have both good news, and bad news. The good news, is that there isn't any serious damage to his entire nervous system. The bad news is that even though both were controlled doses that he was given, it is still in his system." Nial said as he handed her a glass of water, while Judy was still a little shocked from all this.
"How can this still be in his system?" she thought to herself, as she sat down on the bench right outside Nicks' room.
"We are working on something that will wipe out whatever it is in his blood, but will take some time to do so." He said as he put his hand on her shoulder. "I will call you when I have more results, but you should probably go home and get some sleep." He added, and began walking back towards the lab for more testing. Judy thought about it for a while, before standing back up and opening the door to see Nick one more time before she left. Her ears perked up suddenly as she saw Nick sitting upright and looking at her, his eyes started to tear up a bit as they grasped each other in their arms. While outside in the parking lot, Bogo had just gotten inside his vehicle and started it up.
"I only hope it isn't too late to turn Jeremiah back from this path. Can he still be saved from this?" he thought to himself. But it is a question, only time will tell.
It was later that night, Judy went outside his room and down the hall to get a quick drink, before she said her good bye and goodnight to Nick. He rested his head back and began to close his eyes, before he heard something right next to him. Looking over at the nightstand at his right, and saw that it was a small box with a note on it, and beneath that was his phone.
"I forgot to give this back to along with your phone. I am truly sorry for this inconvenience. Signed, J." he read, and opened the box to find a ring. The ring. The one that he is going to give to Judy and ask her a question, before he was taken. As he gripped the box tightly, the door began to open and he shoved the box into his pocket so Judy wouldn't see. Nick wanted his question to be a surprise to her, and didn't want to spoil anything. Judy walked in and had brought water for the both of them, and sat down in the chair right next to Nicks' hospital bed. Even though she refused to leave, he persuaded Judy into going home to get a full nights rest because she had to go back to work tomorrow morning. He was still slightly in pain, the controlled doses he endured damaged his nerves, but not to the point of complete nerve loss or any loss. He didn't care, Judy was here and that is all he cared about before falling sound asleep.
That morning, Nick woke to find Judy asleep in the chair next to his bed, and looked at the clock to see that it was almost 7:30am.
"Carrots." He whispered softly, saying that word again made him realize just how much he missed saying that to her. "Carrots." He whispered again, this time a little louder, this time she opened her eyes. "Good morning, carrots." He said gently to her as she stretched. "It's almost half past seven, and I don't want you to be late for work." He added as he began to stretch as well.
"Well then, I guess I better go and get ready for work." She said as she stood, and kissed him suddenly on the cheek.
"You sly bunny." He said with a smirk.
"You dumb fox." She replied and began to walk towards the door.
"Have a great day, carrots. I love you." He added as she began to open the door and leave.
"I love you too. Goodbye, Nick." she said as she closed the door and headed for work. At least, that is what he wanted to say to her and to have happen, but he was asleep from the medication the doctors gave him. What they gave him had a drowsy effect, and made him sleep in until almost ten. When he opened his eyes, he noticed that Judy wasn't here, but gave a smile. Knowing that Judy was out there making the world a better place, and continuing the case they were both assigned on.
"Was Jeremiah the one who took them and if so, why?" he wondered to himself, before a nurse came in to check on him and see how he was doing. Unlike the other nurses, this one had a soft voice and a gentle touch that Nick saw as a gift for her to use, until the needles came that is. It was another one of the drugs that was needed, to repair any of the damage done by Jeremiahs venom. This one however, made him feel weird all over, as if his entire body went to sleep all at once. These effects only lasted a few minutes, but changed to almost like the effects from the venom lingered like ant bites, but not as painful.
Later that evening, Judy called the hospital to talk with Nick about her day, and was redirected to the room he was staying in. They talked for a few minutes, maybe an hour, they didn't know. It was like time had forgotten about them so they could talk to each other, and listened to what they said, until Judy had to go and drive home. Nick refused to let Judy talk, or text as she drove, he didn't want his favorite bunny to get into an accident and get hurt.
"I love you, Nick." Judy said as she began to walk out the ZPDs front doors.
"I love you too, Judy. Goodnight." Nick echoed.
"Goodnight." Came the response, and both hung up. Nick laid his bed back and began to close his eyes. He was almost asleep, when suddenly, the lights began to flicker in a violent way until they died, almost all at once. The room was dark and eerie, even the little window in the door was dark, like even the lights in the hallway had died. Nick was a little drowsy, but felt like a presence was in there, with him. It was a familiar presence, but he couldn't put a finger on it. Then out of the corner of his left eye, a shadow had appeared right next to him! He looked, but before he could speak.....
"Hello, Nickolas....." it was Jeremiah!
"W-what are you doing here? How did you get in here?" Nick asked with surprise in his voice, sprinkled with fear.
"I just came to check up on you to see how you were doing, but also to give you these." He answered as he placed two phones on the nightstand next to his bed.
"What are these for?" he Nick asked questionably.
"These phones, are a direct line to my personal phone and are completely untraceable, because they go off the dark network. Both you and Judy will be able to contact me and I you two." He explained as he took out his watch to check the time.
"Why would we want these?" Nick asked with a frown, staring at Jeremiah through his green eyes.
"Because you have questions. Questions that need answers, questions that go to a bigger puzzle than the both of you, and the entire ZPD could even comprehend." He said, dancing around his knowledge without giving anything away, and began to slither towards the door, but stopped. "Get better soon, Nickolas. You need every ounce of strength you have to survive a coming storm. Oh, and tell Judy I said hi, won't you?" Jeremiah said, before the lights suddenly came on high beam, blinding Nick for only a moment before the lights resumed their normal beams. Jeremiah had disappeared exactly how he appeared, this time he left a warning that was more believable, but was also unsettling towards Nick. It made him think deeper then he thought before, but it still didn't sit well and stuck in the back of his head like a headache. Then he glanced over at the phones, and saw a serpents head imprinted on both of them. It was a flip phone like the ones from a few years back, only these were designed to withstand an EMP.
"why would he need to proof it from an EMP?" Nick thought to himself, before nodding sound asleep.