Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It was funny, how much sweeter her carrot mocha tasted in the chilly autumn air. Judy purred, sipping from the warm styrofoam cup clutched between her fingers. A funny little jack o'lantern sticker grinned down at her from the coffee shop window, the glass frosty on its edges.

Her veggie flavored treat wasn’t the only thing that kept the cold at bay however. 

A tiny pulse of warmth, like that of a heartbeat, rippled from a small pendant nestled between her chest and stab-proof body armor. Its otherworldly silver and glowing gems lived fresh on her mind, a very real and believable reminder of an unbelievable mammal (?).

…Or whatever he was.

“Holy Pellets, it’s bloody cold!” The coffee shop door swung open and out stepped another rabbit, a male, in similar police blues, a thermos of coffee steaming merrily in his paw. He puffed a cloud of mist into his open paw in the vain hope of warming himself up.

Judy chuckled and shrugged at her partner. “That’s graveyard shift in October for you.”

The buck sniffed in response, his striped cheek curling into a playful frown as he looked up at the night sky. “I don’t understand why they don’t have a little climate control here in the City Center for nights like this, like Sahara Square.”

Judy rolled her amethyst eyes over the rim of her cup as she took a small sip. “C’mon Jack, it’s only a couple hours till dawn. Grow a spine, and maybe a winter coat while you’re at it.”

“You got it, boss.” Jack relented with a crooked grin, tossing both of their now drained cups into a nearby receptacle. “Got any calls while you were waiting?”

“You mean has Clawhauser gotten back to us on an early morning call that would have us back in the precinct and coincidentally back under a heater? Afraid not.” Judy thumbed the radio clipped to her vest, checking the battery level and volume. “I’d still like to walk Doeburry Street and Hoofland before we call it a night. Just to be sure.”

Jack gave a shiver but grinned anyway. “You’re the boss.” 

Judy gave her cottontail a sassy flick as she turned to cross the street. “And don’t you forget it!” 

Since Jack had joined the force and became her partner earlier that year Judy had found she was truly enjoying her work. Finally having a mammal her size (and another rabbit at that!) as a co-worker was an indescribable blessing, easing her homesickness just a bit. 

Working her dream job, awesome co-workers, a hard-nosed boss that holds hard-won respect for her, an amazing partner that she can empathize with and trust inexplicitly, AND a boyfr- err, person(?) she shares a very special relationship with. What more could she ask for?

Well, maybe a small pay-raise, but doesn’t everyone? 

The Lapine police duo called in their location and direction to Clawhauser then turned off the ill-lit roundabout onto Doeburry Street. 

Being just past three in the morning the sidewalks were empty and frigid. The bodies of parked cars sat as silent and imposing as corpses, windows frosted as unseeing clouded eyes and iced wheels for limbs, frozen in rigor mortis.

Little conversation passed between the two partners. A professional quiet occasionally broken by an observation or amusing quip to pass the time. Every now and then the radio clipped to Judy's vest would squawk, breaking the otherwise lonesome and eerily dead city street with radio chatter that echoed off lonely alleyways. 

“Weird how the chief’s been upping Graveyard patrols lately.” Jack commented distantly, staring down the gaping maw of a dark alley.

“According to LT Fangmeyer, there’s been a sharp uptick in unusual nocturnal activities in the past couple months.” Judy drawled, giving her partner’s elbow a tug.

“ ‘Unusual Nocturnal Activities?’ “ Jack snorted, easily following his partner’s pull. “How’s that any different than business as usual? Just sounds like a normal Zootopian Friday night to me.”

“Strange noises around the subways at night, reported disappearances from a few homeless shelters. Nothing concrete, just…” the doe trailed off.

“Unusual… Nocturnal Activities?” Jack supplied tentatively

Judy shrugged, her necklace scraping a reassuring trail of heat across her chest fur, a little heartbeat of warmth spilled from the pendant to push back the chilling uncertainty. “Something like-”

A thunderous crash interrupted their exchange. The clattering cacophony caused both hearing-sensitive rabbits to flinch back in pain. By the time the noise finally stopped Judy had recovered, her tranq sidearm cleared from its holster and aimed down the alley they had just passed. 

"Something like that?!" Jack asked. He was a few beats behind his senior, still fumbling with his sidearm as Judy called it in on the radio.

“Got it Judy,” Clawhauser’s normal cheer was overshadowed by trepidation. “JuZzz BzzZZ -arefulZzZzz–”

“Clawhauser?” Judy unclipped her radio and checked the readout. Full battery. No reception. “Pellets. Local radio repeaters must be out. Hold on, I’ll just use my cell-”

“Hopps!” The doe heard her partner hiss. She looked up in time to see a pair of dull red eyes peering out from the dark alleyway, followed by a pained whimper. 

The doe slid her phone back into her pocket and cautiously approached the whimpering mammal. “Sir? This is the police, we are here to help. Are you hurt?”

“H-heEellp mee…” Came a hoarse garbled plea. 

“Don’t move sir, we will come to you.” She cautioned

Jack stopped her, hefting his flashlight. “I got this Hopps, you call it in on your cell.”

Judy nodded and retrieved her phone, trusting Jack to take care of himself for the time being. Her cell flickered to life, however, “No phone reception either…?”

“HOPPS-!”

A thunderous clatter of trash cans, a thud of a body impacting stone, and a grunt of pain stabbed a frigid spike of fear through the doe’s chest. She looked up just in time to see the beam of her partner’s flashlight spiral away into the alleyway’s depths, its dim light briefly outlining a twisted bipedal form crouched atop a pile of refuse for a brief moment.

Judy let loose a tranq dart at the creature as she fumbled for her flashlight. “Savage?! Jack!” 

A rattling chuckle was all she got in response. 

The doe flicked her light on, casting its beam over an empty alleyway, only crumpled trash cans and a heap of shredded trash bags lay before her.

"JACK?!" She cried, her heart beating madly against her ribs. 

Just beyond the edge of her light a pair of dull red eyes grinning out at her. 

"J-Jack?" 

A giggle slithered from the dark, followed by a groan of pain somewhere in the alley. Jack. 

Her breath rolled out in rapid terrified puffs as she stared down the thing at the end of the alley, her tranq pistol clutched in clammy paws.

Time bent in odd ways in that everlasting moment. She felt a frigid wind bite at her trembling legs and nip at her erect ears. It was so unreal, staring down an unnatural abomination that had dragged her friend away. Like something out of a horror film. 

Or one of her nightmares.

“Heeeellp MeeehehehHEHEHEHEHEHEHE…!” The creature’s giggles rose to a fever pitch. It's scathing screech rebounding off of the frosted brick walls and inside of Judy’s own skull.

As chilling terror crawling down her ringing ears and across her spine a tiny flare of heat pulsed firmly against her breast, her silver pendant flaring hot to chase away the cold, enveloping fear.

Her shaking paws steadied and her flagging heart steeled ever so slightly.

“Give him back.” She breathed.

It's eyes drifting from one side of the alley to the other. Just out of sight, four paws crunching over refuse and crumpled metal, pacing back and forth like an impatient predator.

" I said, give him back. "

The creature’s pacing stopped short. A deathly silent beat, then another. Its ever staring dead red eyes never blinking once, then a rasping warble. “C-C-C-Come and get him, little morssssel."

Her answer was a tranq dart just a few inches below those soulless red eyes.

A wet thud and the eyes finally blinked. Then they narrowed into a grin. "Y-y-y-You'll have to do bett-t-t-tter than that little mors-!"

The creature dipped as a gray furred missile narrowly skimmed passed where its head was a second before. Judy took grim satisfaction at the look of shock on the creature's thin, twisted muzzle.

Weasel, she noted. Bulging eyes, ratty hoodie and far too many teeth spilling from between its black lips.

Unnatural. Wrong.

Her feet impacted against the side of a dumpster. Flipping swiftly to the cold concrete to face the thing the bunny loosed another tranq dart. This time her flashlight illuminated the dart impacting the weasel's chest, sinking into its flesh right next to its fellow.

"That tickled." The thing let out an amused wheeze, dull bulging eyes swiveling around in its skull above a shark-like smile. "My turn."

Judy was fast. Top 10% physical performance in precinct one and top 20% in the nation. Even in the current frigid conditions she would still be near top form with adrenaline surging through her veins.

None of that meant jack squat when her shoulder crumpled against the side of the dumpster, her ribs buckled and her breath driven from her lungs. 

She hadn't even seen the thing move.

The bunny let out a weak wheeze as she slid to the ground, her fingers clutching at air, her tranq pistol lost somewhere in the dark. Her flashlight skid to a halt, rolling to a stop against her foot, illuminating the weasel looming over her. Her vision swam as she saw a long snake like tongue flick out and glide over rows of jagged shark-like teeth.

“letsssss make a deal, little morssssel." The thing hummed. It stooped to all fours and slithered until they were nose to nose, its dead red eyes inches from her own, hot, rancid breath rolling over her cheeks. "Die for me sweetly, and perhaps I'll kill your friend quick."

Judy heaved, struggling in vain to pull her limp arms to do anything as it closed its claws around her throat and squeezed. Her lungs jerked and heaved, but no breath came through. Her paws floundered uselessly like a drowning mammal, searching in vain for a refuge from her encroaching death.

Her paws found purchase on the creature’s skeletal arms strangling her instead. 

At the edge of her failing hearing she thought she heard screaming.

Then she tasted cold, rancid smoke and suddenly she could breathe.

 She looked up, her vision swimming as the weasel skittered away from her, horrible screeches of pain ripping from its maw as black smoke bellowed from what was left of its claws.

"BURNS! IT BURNSBURNSBURNSBURNSBURNSBURNSBURNSBURNSBURNS-!!"

The doe let out a wet cough and fell on her good side as broken agony lanced through her shoulder and flank.  trying to crawl away from the screaming creature thrashing about in frenzied pain.

The weasel's screeching cut short and Judy froze. She could feel its malevolent rage prickle at the hairs on the back of her neck.

"I-I-I'm going to ssssskin you a-a-a-alive, litt-t-t-ttle morssssel." It hissed.

Judy stiffly rolled to her back on the freezing cold concrete ground to face the creature and retort. All that came out was a weak sputter, specked with quickly cooling blood. 

She could see the monster hunched over in clear pain, cradling its still smoldering paws to its chest outlined by the streetlights' weak glow that spilled into the alley.

It was not the creature's shape that now drew her attention. 

It was the vulpine shadow that loomed at the mouth of the Alley way, silent as the grave.

The weasel noticed its victim's gaze was not on it. It turned to face the alley's mouth then flinched back.

The last thing Judy remembered before she slipped into darkness were eyes of emerald fire and a smooth, smokey voice asking, "Shall we make a deal, little morsel?"

—-------------------

Judy was touched, truly she was, by LT Fangmeyer’s concern. She knew the tigress had just finished a thirty-six hour shift a few hours ago. For her feline supervisor to drag herself out of bed to show up at o’dark thirty spoke volumes to the police veteran’s character.

“Are you absolutely sure you can’t identify the second person? Anything???”

The grilling Judy received on the back of the ambulance as the EMT taped up her scrapes and secured her injured shoulder? Well… it was just less touching.

“ Yes. ” Judy grunted as the skunk EMT tugged at a bandage a tad too hard. The bunny shot the Skunk a dirty look then turned back to her supervisor. “I only got a good look at the assailant.” 

“The weasel?” She looked to Officer Cartwright, the responding Wildcat cop standing next to the Tigress scribbling on his notepad, and nodded. 

“Yeah, normal height, rail thin build, matted fur, bugged out eyes. Seemed psyched out of his mind. Crazy strong, too strong for an emaciated homeless beggar.”

“Like Clawhauser after a baker’s dozen.” Came a woozy declaration from the inside of the ambulance.

“What Savage said.” Judy sighed as her partner plopped down on the back of the ambulance next to her. She looked out of the corner of her eye. “You doin’ alright?”

“Little pecker broke my arm.” He mumbled, gesturing to the cast slung across his chest. “That and I’m on four different kinds of painkillers, so I’m doing pretty okay. Though I’m pretty sure I can smell colors right now.”

That got a few chuckles from the group. Even the skunk EMT cracked a smile. 

“Well, Jack’s drug trip aside, I don’t think you two have anything else you can do here.” Fangmeyer said, weariness heavy in her voice. “I spoke to the Chief a few minutes ago. He said to take the next week off.”

“Geez, you all should have told me that all it took to get a few days off was to break my arm sooner. I’d have gotten jumped by a crackhead ages ago.” Jack drawled.

Fangmeyer snorted with a shake of her head. “Hopps, make sure your partner here gets home in one piece once you two are done at the hospital. I’m gonna go home and pass out until Sunday.”

“But, today is Friday?” Officer Cartwright piped up. 

“ Exactly. ”

Judy chuckled. “Have a good night Angela.”

Fangmeyer waved over her broad shoulder as she strode to her parked car.

Jack let his shoulders sag then he turned to her and asked, “So, a week off. Got any plans once the painkillers wear off and you’re no longer stuck in bed rolling in agony?”

Judy let out a soft chuff of laughter. "Probably binge watch Nutflix while searching for the bottom of a tub of carrot ice cream."

Jack gave her a look she couldn’t decipher then he let out a huff. Steam rolled over his face from the cold air in a forlorn manner. “Sounds like a plan, boss.” He winced, shooting his broken arm a weary glare. “What a night…”

“Yeah…” Judy murmured, holding her pendant to her eyes, it's once silver finish charred and its gems dull, the once warm living metal now cold and dead. “What a night.”

Chapter Text

Judy lasted exactly two days in a drugged fuzzy haze before she went stir-crazy.

A new record in her book. One record that she honestly had no intention of breaking further.

It didn’t help that a certain vulpine had been gnawing at the back of her thoughts. That and her blackened pendant burning a hole on her bedside table.

It was about eight on a Sunday morning when she finally had enough. So, despite her complaining muscles and throbbing shoulder she decided against taking her pain medication to keep a clear head. It hurt but she thought it worthwhile as she gingerly pulled on a soft yellow sundress her mother had given her that spring. It was the easiest thing to put on given her injuries. Gingerly gathering her things in a small black purse she began the arduous journey down the dozen-odd flight of stairs.

Though that night in the alley was by far the most intense, this was not the first time Nicholas had made his presence known since last Christmas. Since she had returned to Zootopia that January Judy had been noticing a few stray oddities magically appearing throughout her workday. 

Early in spring she discovered a folded note signed with the tinge of charcoal and hell-fire tucked between the pages of one of her paperback novels containing a few vital details on a case she had been working on. A few times during a particularly grueling shift, Clawhauser notified her of food delivery that found its way to the reception desk with her name on it. Inside she would always find a delicious meal from a small shop she had never heard of from around the city, then a tiny intricate white rose, folded from the food’s receipt.

It would appear her foxy paramour was good with his paws. She noted that down for… future investigation.

A paw-painted egg hidden in her desk drawer on Easter, a tiny basket of vegetables still fresh from Bunnyburrow gardens in Summer, hints, notes, and one time even a voluntary witness for a crime she had been investigating this past August. Always she would find tokens of his affection, as unique and unusual as the creature himself, all to contribute to her work life or provoke a little smile.

But since last Christmas, never, not once, had she ever seen the fox himself, until a couple of nights ago in that dark frigid alleyway. 

She stepped onto the pavement and sucked in a sharp breath when the chilly October air bit into her throbbing shoulder. She took a slow breath, careful of justling her arm slung against her ribs. The air, as chilly and sharp as it was, did soothe some of her unease. At the very least she wasn’t actively trying to crawl out of her fur or chew her blasted throbbing arm off stuck inside her shoebox apartment.

“Are you alright dearie?”

She stepped back from an elderly caribou couple holding hooves as they enjoyed their Sunday sabbatical, the elderly Caribou doe looking down her weathered snout at her with who she assumed was her husband craning his neck to look at the despondent bunny. 

“Oh, thank you ma’am I’m fi-” Judy winced when her shoulder tugged against her sling. Oh yeah, she almost forgot about that. She sighed. “I’ve been better, I suppose.” She answered with a tired half shrug. 

Judy felt a knot of shame curl in her chest at her vulnerable admission to a couple of complete strangers. She looked away, resigned to petting her ears where they drooped across one shoulder.

The elderly couple traded a brief glance at each other before the old caribou bull tipped his head, conceding some silent conversation they had had.

“Say,” The old caribou bull said, voice wizened and throaty, “it's a lovely Sunday, have you been to the Autumn Gardens in the Old City Square? I ‘eard it, young bunny gals like yerself are all about botanical displays.”

“Well,” Judy felt an uncharacteristically demure blush heat her cheeks and ears. “You’re not wrong.”

“I often am, though you’d think otherwise iff’n ya talked to the missus.” 

“Oh, you!” Said missus huffed, poking the cheeky old male with a bony elbow.

For some reason Judy felt a stone drop in her stomach at the couple's warm hundred-times-rehearsed exchange. She shook herself then rallied her positivity and flashed her best country mile-wide smile, which was little better than a shaky tilt of her lips. “Thank you sir, ma’am. I think I may just check them out!”

“Oh, you’re welcome dearie.” The kindly caribou doe hummed, her wrinkled eyes flicked to something past Judy’s shoulder and she added with a smile, “though it’d be a shame to go alone.”

Judy gave a shrug. “I suppose, but I don’t have anyone to go with at the-”

“Hopps?”

Judy startled and spun around on her heels, her ears springing up in surprise. “Jack! What are you doing here? Your place is on the other side of Savannah Central!”

Sure enough, her partner was standing behind her, swaddled in a black hoodie and thick sweatpants, one of the sleeves was dangling empty, his slung arm peeking out from behind his front zipper. The rabbit sheepishly rubbed one of his feet up and down his calf, the faint dustings of a blush colored the inside of his ears.

She noticed that look in his eyes, the same indecipherable expression from that night in the alley. 

“I… came to check up on you.” He said with a small half-shrug. It was then Judy noticed the to-go bag hanging from his good paw. “I figured that a salad from your favorite veggie-bar would do you good. So… I came here.”

Judy felt a rush of affection spill from the tips of her ears to her toes, pushing back the October chill.

“Jack, thank you.” Judy took the offered to-go bag feeling her lips pull into her first genuine smile since the alleyway.

“N-no problem.” He stammered. Odd, normally he is better composed. Maybe it's because they have an audience? The two Caribou were still there. Then, Judy had an idea.

“Hey Savage, want to go to the Autumn Gardens with me?” Jack blinked, caught off guard at the offer. Judy felt her smile slip a little and added, “Only if you want to. I know we are both hurting but, well… it beats being trapped inside all day. You know?”

Jack swiftly recovered, flashed her with a bright smile of his own. Judy hadn’t realized how tired he had looked up until now. Getting attacked by that weasel creature must have been harder on him than she had thought. 

"I'd… I think a day on the town is in order." He said, looking pleased. He tilted his head. "Where did you hear about the Autumn Gardens? They aren't exactly advertised."

 "Oh! I heard about them from these two.” Judy gestured to the elderly caribou couple.

“They’re over at ol’ Saint Rose Church, just off the old main square.” the elderly caribou matron rasped. Seeing that the buck was seemingly distracted she leaned in conspiratorially, a mischievous glint in her wrinkled eye.

“Don’t worry dearie.” The old caribou female snickered and patted her husband’s behind. ‘I have a thing for tails too.”

“What?” Judy asked.

"Nothing!" Jack yelped, suddenly sounding winded. “Nothing at all!”

“Go on, youngsters.” The caribou bull groused with a grin. “Be a shame to waste such a nice Sunday morn’.”

“Have a great day!” Judy happily waved as the couple bid them goodbye and continued their leisurely stroll, then she turned back to her partner with a weary smile on her muzzle and her cellphone in her paw. "C'mon, we got flowers waiting on us."

"But I thought I just got you a salad?"

"Hush you."

Chapter Text

“You know, I had wanted to be a cop since I was a kit.” Judy admitted. Jack gave a sideways nod. They had talked about their kithoods at length before. A fond smile spread across Judy’s muzzle. “Since I was nine I’d stay up late hiding under my covers reading up on Zootopia.”

Judy gestured with her good paw at the gracefully aged red brick buildings framed by neatly trimmed shrubs and charming creeper vines. “Considering how much I’d read on Zootopia, I’d thought I would have heard about the old main square before now.”

Jack shrugged, “It's more of a local thing. When I went to Southern Zootopia University a few buddies brought me to an open air market, hoping to find a few cheap deals on used furniture. Technically it doesn’t exist so it's a good way to filter out the tourists, ya know?”

“Makes sense.” She conceded. “Know anything about St. Rose?”

“It’s old, real old. Like, before the Species Accords old.” Jack tilted an ear to a rusted iron cross peeking over a tall brick wall across the cramped cobblestone street. 

“The Accords were almost a thousand years ago!” Judy exclaimed. She fought to keep a wince from her expression from her bruised ribs. 

Jack paused, noticing her small jerk of pain then continued on, gracefully ignored it, giving a half shrug and a smirk. He pointed to the old iron cross above the brick wall. “The belltower and the back part of the chapel are all original, I'm told. We can go through the front and take a look? It’s facing the old main square.”

“Sure!” 

Judy wasn’t sure what the old main square of Zootopia would look like, but whatever assumptions she would have made would have been miles off the mark. 

When she followed Jack through an ancient winding alleyway and took her first step into the old main square for just a split second she thought she had stumbled into a fairytale. Regal brick and mortar worn by time and in dresses of living green, cobblestone streets worn by the footsteps of countless generations nestled between uneven sidewalks artfully cracked and lovenly mended. Trees stood eternal vigil between old homes and wrought iron fencing, their canopies blocking out the final vestiges of evidence to the modern city beyond this beloved secluded secret.

“You alright there?” Jack asked, breaking Judy from her revere.

“Yeah. Uh, Yeah!” She shook herself and grinned. “Sorry, just it reminded me a little of parts of town back home.”

“BunnyBurrow?”

“Yeah. A few streets behind the courthouse looked kinda like this, like they were lost in time.”

Jack matched her own grin, though she did note it was a bit strained around the edges. “Well, wait until you see the gardens.” He pointed a blunt claw to the wide buttressed entrance to St. Rose Church that swept across an entire side of the wizened street that opened to the old main square. The construction was of brick and wrought iron, clearly much younger than the modest bell tower cut from fitted stone, though still Victorian era inspired at the very least.

The church’s ancient bell tower let out a sovereign kell marking the end of the day’s final sermon. Mammals of all ages dressed in their Sunday best trickled out of the church’s towering oak doors, kits tumbling down the few sets of stairs followed by their parents as they trailed more leisurely behind. Judy smiled as a tiger kit gently led a much smaller ibex girl down the steps, the girl giggling madly at whatever her friend had muttered. A few ushers held the doors open shaking paws of those that were leaving and waving the kits good bye with smiles and laughs. 

It was an idyllic scene and Judy felt a stone of resentment weigh a little in her stomach. She felt out of place amongst all of this good will. A part of her didn’t want to bring her pain and confusion to these mammals, even if all she was doing was going to see their gardens.

Jack led her through the throng of departing mammals and spoke to an older otter in a neat three piece suit, a little nameplate affixed to his lapel. As Jack spoke the otter glanced at the both of them with a warm smile and directed them to the way into the gardens.

“Thank you Mr.-?” Judy asked.

“Otterton.” The small predator replied. “Though my friends call me Emmet, please.”

“Thank you Emmet.” Judy chirped, in slightly higher spirits now that she saw none of the mammals here minded a couple of mopey beat up bunnies wandering about.

They followed Emmet’s directions to an open iron gate. Judy was pleased to see that she and Jack were not the only mammals there as many families and couples meandered through the grounds. Once they passed through the threshold Judy found that Jack and the elderly Caribou couple hadn’t been kidding!

“Oh my!” Judy shuffled down the stone laden path and found herself in a quasi greenhouse constructed of stained glass and steel giving shelter and warmth to the plethora of blooming flora spilling from dark fertile soil, gated in by swirling iron fencing only half a foot tall to keep the little ones from falling into the bushes.

The stained glass colored the vibrant gardens it protected in otherworldly hues. The doe gingerly made her way deeper into the gardens pointing out certain flowers and plants to Jack, her smile practically glowing. Had she paid attention to the buck just a step behind her she would have noticed that despite the beauty around him Jack couldn’t tear his eyes away from her.

Almost an hour passed before Judy felt her aching body urge her to take a seat on a nearby stone bench, it was then that she noticed the odd way her partner was carrying himself.

“Jack? When was the last time you took your pain meds.”

The buck sitting beside her straightened up from his slouch, as if he could hide how he had been limping before. He also didn’t quite meet her eyes. “Don’t need ‘em.”

Judy rolled her eyes. “Jack-”

“What about your meds?”

Judy felt her righteous bubble of concern leak a little. She huffed sheepishly. “Touche, though I wasn’t the one body checked by a trailer trash super-weasel.”

The buck let out a rough chuckle and relaxed, allowing her to see how he had been favoring one side of his body. “Fair point.”

Judy shimmied closer until their thighs were almost touching then she nudged him gently with her elbow. “No shame in needing them. Taking something to ease the pain doesn’t make you weak.”

Jack snorted but still had a smile on his short muzzle. “Though I don’t need a pep talk, thanks for your concern all the same, Hop- er, Judy.”

“Of course, Partner.” She giggled, swinging her feet back and forth under the stone seat.

“Right.” Jack mumbled, a bit of wind taken out of his sail. “Partner.”

Judy quirked her ear at the odd way he said that. She turned to him with concern in her eyes. “Jack?”

The buck gave a shake of his head and shot her a lopsided grin. “If I’d ask if you’d join me and a few of the other footpounders this coming Friday for a drink down at the Drunk Tank, would you say yes?”

“Jack, it’s terribly bad to mix alcohol and pain meds.” She hopped halfway into her lecturing voice then let it go. “You know I don’t do bars. It ain’t my thing.”

“I know. Everyone at work knows Judy-on-duty doesn't do bars, no matter how often everyone at the precinct asks.” He replied with a shrug. “Still, I’d thought I’d offer after the night we’ve had.”

“Jack…” She sighed, pinching her nose between her fingers. Melancholy, mixed with a familiar sense of loneliness and longing suddenly weighed heavy on her shoulders. Maybe… Maybe trying something outside of her comfort zone would be good for her? Lord knows it’d be more lively than going back to her apartment after this and cuddling a cold pillow on her tiny bed suffering through the neighbor’s newest argument.

“You know what? Sure.”

What could go wrong?

Jack perked up, clearly pleased at her concession. 

His elation was cut by Judy thrusting a finger at him and declaring, “But only if you go home, get some rest and take your meds until then!”

The buck held his good paw up defensively and laughed. “You got it boss.” He slid from the bench and offered his arm to her. “Shall we go then?”

“Oh, how gallant.” Judy mocked swooning but still took his arm and walked with him out of the garden to the sidewalk. 

The foot traffic had calmed down in front of the church with only the occasional family and passing vehicle, with a vintage car parked along the sidewalk in front of the sanctuary doors.

The pair walked to the bus stop just off the garden entrance where Jack stopped short prompting the doe to turn around, a curious look on her face.

“Thanks for coming out with me today, Judy.” Jack said, that odd glint the doe couldn’t place shining in his blue eyes.

Still, she grinned back and gave him a careful hug, nestling her chin on his good shoulder. Her eyes drifted to the vintage car parked in front of the church and belatedly recognizing it as a long white cadillac. “Of course Ja-”

“Everything alright?” The buck felt her freeze up against his chest.

Judy carefully extracted herself from her partner’s embrace, her suddenly very male and very lapine partner’s embrace. Her heart pounding, she gave a jerky nod and said a little breathlessly, “I… think I’ll stay behind for a while. Go inside the church.”

All at once the tarnished silver pendant rubbing against her chest fur was too sensitive. Too much.

Jack watched her closely, clearly catching on that something was off. “Do you want me to stay with y-”

“No!” She yelped. Judy cringed at Jack’s startled expression and added, “No thanks Jack. You’re hurting and I…” She gave a fleeting glance to the achingly familiar white cadillac. “I have someone to talk to.”

Jack silently looked to where she had been glancing at, though clearly assuming she meant the church itself. He gave her a reassuring grin. “I understand, see you Friday night? Say around six?”

“Yeah, Six. Sure.” Judy felt bad knowing that she hadn’t heard a word he had said, she just couldn’t bring herself to care at the moment. 

Still she had the wherewithal to bid her partner goodbye, wrapping him in a delicate hug as the bus pulled to the curb.

She gave him a wave before turning to the church, her slight limp wooden with electric nerves and a fragile glass heart.

She knew she was just setting herself up for disappointment like this, hinging the slim foolish hope of seeing him on an old white Cadillac parked in front of a random old church. What were the odds that he would actually appear now?

Still. That thought rang in her mind as she struggled up the steps, her lonely, yearning heart lodged in her throat. Still.

Still, she walked up those steps, still she padded though the ancient oaken threshold, and yet still she entered that solemn sanctuary, pacing down those pews towards an old cross of wood and iron bands reaching to the ceiling.

And yet, as ever, he still had managed to catch her off guard in the most unexpected of ways.

He was there, sitting a few rows from the altar, the nape of his neck shielded by the razors edge of a charcoal black suit, his ears sharp points, tipped in black, his fur deathly red as hellfire.

Her racing heart settled into a powerful staccato thrum, spilling warmth through her aching body. Oddly enough she found herself no longer nervous, only relieved.

She stepped into the pew and as she sidled closer she was struck by the sharp snarl of brimstone wreathed in soft violets. 

He was looking much better then last she saw him, where he had been broken and smoking from his fight with one of his brothers last Christmas. Now his form was lithe and sleek, like obsidian, cut sharp and fluid, yet at the edges it seemed he was more suggestion than solid, his crimson fur alight, his emerald eyes glowing even in the noon light.

He was a wild dream personified, stuck somewhere between a wonderful fancy and a seductive nightmare. 

Yet now, here, he was nothing so fleeting as a dream while she clambered onto the pew, her paw hovering just over his thigh, terror seizing her just an inch from touching.

A crimson paw wrapped around her own, the clawed fingertips dwarfing her own. The warm touch yanked a tiny sob from her throat.

"Hi." She managed, her voice watery. She couldn't look at him directly quite yet. She was barely keeping her composure as it was.

A rumbling chuckle shook her bones, heat spooling to her core in pleasant ripples. "Hi." He said, his voice thrumming and smokey.

Finally she turned to look at their intertwined fingers, a tiny smile tugging her lips. "I-I thought demons had a thing against entering churches?"

He laughed, his paw tightening around hers. "Well why wouldn't I be welcome in my own Father's House? Though I did have quite a bit of apologizing to do."

"So those stories are true?"

"Depends on which ones you're referring to." 

She felt a rush of air rustled against her cheek and back where a single wing of black feathers settled around her like a mantle, pulling her against his warm chest gently. She melted against his side, her relief and joy a little overwhelming.

"I missed you, Nicholas."

She felt him shift, tugging her to him. "Please, I'm told that nicknames used around loved ones are common nowadays. Call me Nick."

"Loved ones, eh?" She snickered. "Is that what I am?"

"Yes."

The confident, assured way he stated that blindsided her completely and utterly, in the best of ways, sending a vicious spike of pleasure down her twitching tail.

"Okay. I'd- I like that, I think." She pulled their paws into her lap. "Being your- your loved one, I mean."

"Good." She could hear the smug grin on his thin muzzle. "I intend on demonstrating that love in kind."

Another bold statement out of the blue, another jolt of pleasure. She hadn't figured herself the type to be wooed by declarations of lov- er, faithfulness, but she felt herself swooning regardless. She'd be disgusted with herself if she hadn't known he meant every word.

Finally, she gathered the courage to look up and found those deep pools of emerald flame looking back down at her. 

"Does that mean that… that you're staying?"

He closed his eyes, extinguishing those ethereal orbs for a moment before answering, "Soon, is my hope."

Her heart sank a fraction. "Soon?"

"Very. I have more work to do on my road to redemption before I will allow myself respite."

"Redemption?" Judy asked. "For what?"

Nick opened his eyes to the cross reaching to the rafters before them. "My siblings are all Angels by birth. Those of us like me are demons by choice."

"You saved me and Jack? Doesn't that count for something?"

"that hardly counted, the pendant defended you. I only answered it's plea for help because it was you." He closed his eyes, slouching at his admission. "I have countless millennia of evil to make up for. Demons are antithesis to creation, Judy. I may have turned back towards my Father before we met, yet it wasn't until you that I truly made a difference."

She shifted in his embrace. She had assumed some things, but hearing him speak of it lent a chilling perspective. She couldn't truly grasp the creature she had found herself intertwined. Perhaps though, she thought, that could come with time.

"When?" She asked, tightening her hold on his paw. "When can you stay?"

"By the harvest moon." He answered, squeezing her paw back carefully. 

"That's not an exact time." She groused hoarsely.

"Perhaps, and yet it will be no less true." He chuckled. "I had thought that farmers still kept track of such things?"

Judy hadn't risen to the bait, instead she dared to search his expression, as alien and enchanting as it was, for any flicker of doubt or uncertainty. All she found there, among the otherworldly crimson and glowing emerald was sincerity and devotion.

"Then, I will wait." She told him.

"You will?" He said, his voice a mere whisper.

"Yes." She replied. "As long as it takes."

The fox and bunny stayed like this, tangled together in his father's house until she felt her injuries catch up to her, exhaustion dragging her ruthlessly. Judy vaguely remembered her fox driving to her apartment and leading her to her door.

When she woke she found a single black feather on her bedside table, next to it her silver pendant, shining with new life, and a note in swirling scroll.

Let me shield you with every beat of my heart, so that you may hold all that I am until you are back in my arms.

 To her knowledge Poetry wasn't considered dirty talk, yet Judy still felt she had discovered her biggest kink.