And in that illustrates the value of constant practice, as this is a bit ragged, after nearly a month's inaction. For the next installment of "In Memory"

part two
Argh. Waking up at o-dark-thirty, whether she needed to or not. Judy had not slept at all well last night and for the moment resented a lifetime of early rising. Nick's multiple bombshells had kept her tossing and turning all night, made worse by his absence. He was in the other bedroom with the kits.

She got up, all too awake, and slumped to the bathroom for her morning rituals. She looked terrible, beyond bed fur, she had to admit. These weeks of the crisis had worn her down more than she had heretofore been willing to acknowledge. She'd lost weight, and her fur was dull. Scrubbing her face with her good paw, she was shocked to see the loose fur she'd just rubbed off. Then there was her abused paw, now stiff and swollen and hurting.

'Bunnies, so emotional."

But she was supposed to be the strong one. The smart one. The level-headed stoic, certainly in contrast to her over-wrought kin. The Crisis, no one called it merely 'Bunny Fever' or "Bunny Flu' anymore, had brought her one real weakness to the fore. Faced with a problem, she was all about the solution. But if it became insoluble, she didn't get so much frustrated as angry. And feeling helpless in the face of such overwhelming tragedy had left her chronically furious.

She'd put on her professional happy face and go about her duties, oh so dutifully. But underneath she seethed in muffled rage. She was the brightest and the best of the ZPD, there to make the world a better place. And all she could do was stand by while others died. Of course, she chose to ignore or dismiss those accomplishments she had made in the care of the sick or dying.

Nick had been her one refuge from all that. He had been her strength, and her distraction. He was her goof, her off shift companion, her groomer, her cuddle buddy, her lover. They'd been a close couple for a while now, and their intimate times had been rare and special moments. But now she had demanded sex several times now just to forget for a few impassioned moments.

No. That wasn't true. She had to admit it was not the erogenous thrill or even the comfort of that closer than close. It was that, for a moment, she could pretend it was a procreative act, a contribution to life, a very maternal impulse that she didn't know she had in her. Intellectually, she suspected it to be something of a left-over instinct, the desire to repopulate after personal or group loss.

The less said about the guilt in that unfulfilled fact for her, and her Fox, the better.

But now, Nick had the triplets, the living face of the Crisis, here. And he seemed perversely committed to them beyond his natural affection for youngsters.

She had to check on Nick. When he'd gotten his new apartment, he'd gone for two bedrooms half-anticipating the two of them becoming roomies. That they had gone beyond that meant the spare now was for guests, or in this case, the special circumstance. There he was, on his side, curled around the three little things, snuggled into his brush. In that respect it wasn't so different than their visits back to the Hopps warren, though there would more often be more like a dozen of the little fuzzies.

One of them, the boy, stirred. He looked around, his nose questing. Poor thing, sniffing for his mother, no doubt. He saw Judy and momentarily beckoned her, then stopped, regarding her with suspicion. Judy held out her paw to introduce herself and he cautiously gripped a digit and nibbled at her claw to see if she was edible. Finding that she was merely a bunny, he held his arms out to be picked up.

Judy tried, but was unpleasantly surprised at how much pain and how little function she actually had in her injured paw. She still awkwardly got him up and into her arms, and he seemed to enjoy the attention, though looked up at her in puzzled lack of recognition. Seeing Nick's nose begin to twitch, she left the room and brought the little guy to the kitchen to see if he was interested in something more substantial to eat.

A part of her felt like she was back with the family, as she'd help tend to her various younger kin innumerable times in the past. But this one was a bit different. Her 'race' were all a more common brown to light grey color, not this melanistic sport. His darker points were a bit like some of her kin though.

"So, what would you want for an early breakfast?" She cooed, and was delighted to see his face brighten with delighted surprise.

"Gaboo." He said.

"Sticks and Rocks? Are you sure?" 'Sticks and Rocks' being young tender shoots and crunchy seed and nut balls, more of a finger food treat than a regular breakfast item. But she thought she could get away with a little spoiling of the orphan.

And what were they going to do with these? That Social Services was overwhelmed was no surprise. With all the more nuclear families here in the city, kits didn't always have the kind of extended family to fall back to as they did back in the 'Burrow.

The Hopps compound was then nearly over-flowing in distant kin from all over the Tri-Burrows and beyond with youngsters and oldsters alike as too many of those in middle years were either helping in the crisis or themselves victims. There had even been talk of Nick and Judy taking in a few kin for the duration, a notion that got nowhere even before Judy had a chance to object, with Bonny and too many of her Aunts insisting that they needed to keep everyone close for their special attention.

She watched him gnaw away at the treat. From what little Nick had told her, and likely what little was known, these poor things were going to be a particularly awful legal challenge. With so little to go on, finding blood kin would be awful, and only when that was exhausted could anyone consider adoption. In the meantime, an orphanage or foster care would have to do.

Judy had a bad feeling about that. Nick seemed determined to hang on to them, at least for the time being. She knew he loved all little kids, regardless of species. The joke being that he was still one himself so could relate all too well. Had he gone broody with the Crisis and all? She understood her reaction, but for Nick, a fox, didn't seem quite right.

And there was the other thing. Nick's proposal. Not the most romantic situation or delivery, but he finally asked and she'd said yes. Of course. At any other time it would a massive thing, but at the moment, with everything else going on, all she could muster right then was a small, "It's about time."

The little boy added, "Bauthime!"

"I agree. But what are we going to feed your sisters?" He has still working on his treats, but that wouldn't do for proper meals. Judy looked around the kitchen for other young bunny appropriate food and figured out some shopping was going to have to be in order. And not just food. Other than a single blanket they were found in and a few diapers from the Precinct's emergency baby supplies, they had nothing at all for them.

She considered her paw again, and her general level of fatigue. Perhaps she ought to take a personal day? Mammal Resources and her Watch Commander would not be happy with her now rather marginal condition. They might even tattle on her to Bogo, and he was the one beast in her chain of command she really dreaded to have to deal with at the moment. Not and be in any position to negotiate with him over Nick's and her's evolving relationship that was already technically way over the line regarding policy.

"Blah! Goo poo poo!" The boy exclaimed with a sour face. A point Judy matched when she discovered he needed a change.

"Tell you what stinky boy, looks like both of us could use a proper shower."

"'Ower, 'ower, 'ower." He chanted.

They got going in the shower, the little guy loved the spray, stamping his feet and flailing his arms in delight. Judy stood over him, more taking in the soothing warmth than worrying too much about the washing at the moment. She trailed her arms to channel rivulets of water on his head and he squealed oh so happily at that. Oh Glob, how she missed that with her own kin back in the day, as there simply too many bunnies to afford many private showers.

Then a clatter in the bathroom. Nick in pee-zombie mode. Not really awake, but in need of taking care of biology. His proper wake up time wasn't for a little while yet and he staunchly resisted any semblance of wakefulness any earlier than necessary. Having done his business, he stopped, as though puzzled as to why were the lights on and the room all steamy. He peered into the shower stall and shook himself more awake.

"Madame Hopps. I am shocked. Shocked I say. Carousing with some strange male, not your intended. What would poor Master Wilde think if he were to discover your indiscretion?"

The male in question recognized Nick and squealed, "Spoo! Nick! Boosh!"

"I heartily agree. But that was outlawed long ago." Nick turned to regard Judy. "You okay?"

Judy gave him an apologetic little smile. "It's kind of hard to be all up when they need a diaper change." She then added, "I think I'm going to take a day, mainly for me." She held up her battered paw. "But we'll be needing things even if we keep the terrible trio for even just a few days."

Nick looked at her hopefully. Was it that she was getting better, or the prospect of her warming up to the kits? She had to smile back, dumb fox.

"You'd better get back to the bedroom, as I'll bet there are two young ladies who are wondering where their bed-warmer went." Which brought a joking leer from Nick. "And a likely need of changing too." Which brought on a spectacular act of crushing despair.

Then Judy spent a good while drying the two of them off. He liked the attention and seemed a cheerful little beast, but would pause at times to look and sniff at Judy, perhaps in hope she had changed into his mother or something.

She resisted the urge to hug him, but did pick him up and carry him to - ah, the living room, where the small batch of baby stuff had been left. And there was Nick, examining his handiwork. Fresh little bunnies.

"Ya know, they probably could have used a shower too before putting on new diapers."

To which, Nick gaped and blushed deeply.

"Oh, like you've never shared a shower with a bunny before."

"I didn't think they were that bad, for the moment." And he demonstrated a hearty sniff at the two. Judy had to laugh at the slight flicker in his reaction. They were 'okay', at least to his indiscriminate sense of 'clean', but they likely could use some attention before the day was out.

"And they are likely hungry too."

"Think they'd like that bit of left-over pizza?"

"Nick!" Said in real concern. "That greasy mess would go right through them in the worst way."

Seeing his alarmed reaction and reminder head slap, she knew that the Dumb Fox could forget that rabbits couldn't deal well with two of his basic food groups, sugar and grease. She could cope with a little nibble on occasions, but didn't dare consider anything like that for the little ones.

"There are a few of the young shoots left. The boy didn't eat them all."

Nick went into the kitchen to fetch the food. "You know, we ought to call them something more than 'the boy' and 'the two'.

"And I'll bet you already have ideas?"

Nick returned with some goodies for all of them and a somewhat guilty expression. "Yes - ."

At that, some of the anguish of the day before came back. Nick was getting way too invested in these three and in that Judy had a sudden worry for his sake.

"Nick. You know we can't keep them."

Nick tried to make a childish pout, but she could see a twinge of pain behind it.

"I know." He lied. "But I thought we could use them as a dry run, so to speak." More lies, with a touch of desperation.

Judy fought the various reaction urges. She so needed a respite from everything. She was so tired, and her paw ached, and - . Finally, a weak whine. "Nick. I'm going to bed. Call the precinct that I'm taking a day - or two." She looked to her fox, "And you can bring the nightmares in with you when they're done."

While she still dreaded how this might end for Nick's sake, she wasn't going to begrudge his immediate desire. And they weren't awful, as kits go. But, with everything else going on at the moment, it was just too much.

Later, Judy woke feeling a bit better, having her big red bed-warmer at her back helped. And an added detail, the three were snuggled up against her, buried in Nick's brush. How could she object to that? Seeing them still stung a bit, and she was still worried about Nick. But there were immediate issues that needed to be attended to. She extricated herself, leaving everyone to snooze a bit longer.

She put herself together for some shopping, hopefully to just be Citizen Hopps, an anonymous bunny in the big city. But, of course, she had her badge and comm in her purse, resisting the urge to bring more of her tactical kit too.

Baby hardware first. Along with more diapers, they needed some outfits. Nothing 'gendered' though. She fleetingly considered novelty elephant styled onesies, like Finnick's old costume, though scaled for the tiny ones. But, instead found some in a rather good match to Nick's base color. He might appreciate that. Then pieced together some other outfits that ought to work.

While roaming the aisles, she came across a fox couple with a tiny kit in a baby sling across the father's body. She approached, ears up and eyes wide in delight. "Hi. Can I ?" Her interest all too obvious.

The parents cocked their heads in canid puzzlement, compounded by some ill-concealed nose action. Nick was likely strong on her. The mother smiled and looked to her Mate, who cautiously leaned down for Judy to get a better peek.

"She's so precious." Judy whispered. The kit was little more than a newborn, and had the smoky grey of such rather than the rich reds of her parents. "Thank you ever so." Judy's eyes were a bit wet, the little thing was so wonderful, and so unobtainable for her and Nick.

As though she could read her thoughts, the mother reached out to touch Judy's arm in comfort. "Be as happy as you can with your mate."

"Thanks. We will."

Well, that was an unexpected little thing, and Judy wasn't entirely sure she wanted that kind of encounter at the moment. But she did, and it got her thinking about all the things she didn't want to be thinking about.

On to groceries.

Only the Very Healthy stuff. Nick would have complained about how boring rabbit food could get, but despite stereotypes, they were grazers by nature and biology, so carrots and other sugary root veggies were actually right out. So the basket for check out looked more like it was full of lawn and garden clippings than 'groceries'. The check out clerk was surprised to see the mix of fox favorites in there too.

The small bottle of whiskey was a dangerous detail, but she wasn't keen on more overtly pharmaceutical sleep aids, and suspected the bad days were still not over. And, truth be told, despite her image as a teetotaler, thought there was That Party, she actually liked the rare occasional taste of the nasty stuff.

She had to talk to Nick about that too. She knew he actively avoided anything like inebriation, being the one sober creature in the crowd had saved himself more than once in the bad old days. So she needed him to keep an eye on her. Several of her kin had gone down the spiral of self-medication leading to alcoholism and worse, and she was afraid of the temptation in herself. But not so much not to have bought the damn thing.

Then home again, home again, jiggity jog.

And there was Nick at the kitchen table, beating on his ZPD laptop. She didn't want to know about what he might be looking up. And then she noticed the various odds and ends objects on the table, and on top of the bookcases and counter tops.

"Nick?" She gestured to the new decorations.

"They walk, and like to grab and try to eat anything within reach. Including power cords and a few of your books."

"oh. And where are they now?"

"I have them sequestered in the back bedroom for the moment. And wedged the closet closed, least they pull down and either try to eat or try to nest in everything they can pull off the hangers."

At that, there was an all too happy squeal from the room.

They shared an "uh oh."

And found that the trio had pulled all the bedding off the mattress, including the fitted sheets, and were then burrowing around through the piles.

"I knew I put them in here somewhere." Nick feigned astonishment.

"Well, I'm going to put away the groceries and get all the new bunny gear unpacked. You get to excavate the little brutes and, as long as the bed's torn down, put on clean sheets."

"A fox's work is never done." With a theatrical flourish.

Judy had the food put away in short order, then risked a peek at Nick's laptop. Yes, it was record summaries on the mother. And as bad as she feared. Dawn Scampert had apparently been raised in what used to be an old-school hippy commune warren, so her own linage was all but unknowable. Then, other than some minor Social Service notations, she'd sought medical assistance a few times while as an indigent; she had no record of any kind.

No record of the triplet's birth wasn't unprecedented, but there was likely a maternal genetic check pending now, just to make sure they were really hers.

Nick had talked a bit about street life; some of it was a bit sketchy, petty crimes, small hustles, Nick's own 'business' activities. But it was also about individuals who simply wanted to live off the grid, away from the conformities of modern urban life and 'The System'. She may well have been doing real work, just off book, undocumented jobs of various kinds.

But how did she get into that apartment to die?

And how was the death being categorized? 'Special Circumstances', which meant a formal investigation, more in order to deal with the kits and answer the hows and whys of her last days. Interesting, as that might more a job for Social Services. Perhaps the ZPD was offering a helping paw, as Social was likely swamped with similar cases at the moment. Unless there was something else involved?

The detective division was separate from the regular officer's end of the precinct, so she didn't really know them, aside from some small contact in the fallout of the Bellwether plot and a few other cases since. Part of her wondered about asking around, if there was more information or if she could help. Most investigations needed more mammal hours of time than could ever actually be available for really thorough grind throughs.

But not right now.

And she steeled herself from the temptations of getting too involved. It would likely all end in tears anyway. And there was already too much demanding of her already.

Her attention was broken by happy squeals. Nick was stampeding the little things out of the bedroom and back towards her.

"Nicholas Piberius Wilde!" Judy loudly admonished, "It will not do to have you get your intended trampled by a herd of wild bunnies."

"I thought they came as a 'bury', certainly your kin back in the 'Burrow were such."

She had to give him a raspberry for that, mimicked by all three.

"Now we have a choir." And with that, Nick began to swing his arms as though conducting, while attempting to do a raspberry something that sounded just a bit like the 1812 Overture. The three were overjoyed, and attempted to follow, punctuated with the occasional squeal and laugh.

Much later, with the little ones zonked out and Judy lazing in Nick's arms, Judy dared ask. "So, what were the names you had in mind for the beasts?"

"Well, the boy, being a bunny, I though Johnathan Stuart. If he had been a fox, Stuart Johnathan."

Judy pulled away to give Nick a better face to face.

"And for the girls, Bonny Nichole for the grey and Mary* Judith for smoky."

"Assuring no one in the families could ever object."

"Well, yeah!"


* As I can't get any consensus for Nick's Mom's name, I'm punting.