A quick note to my readers before we continue...

I'd like to apologize for my lack of presence these past few months, as I was dealing with many personal issues that have since been rectified. Hopefully, I can return to a regular upload schedule once this chapter goes online.

Furthermore, yes, Nick smokes. I have my reasons for this narrative decision that will be revealed in coming chapters, but I'd like to state that I do not condone the act of smoking, and my attempt is not to glorify the act of smoking in any way. Don't smoke, kiddos.

With that taken care of, please enjoy the third chapter of You know you love me!

The smell of lingering cleaning chemicals. The oppressive florescent lighting. The sounds of coughing and an ever-present feeling of dread that hung over the two mammals as they left the hospital were all things that neither would miss.

The hospital had discharged Judy just hours prior, prescribing her the usual treatment for such an injury; Antibiotics, crutches, and her worst nightmare, limited physical activity for the next week. Rabbits were active mammals, she protested, but the decision was final.

The rabbit wore a scornful look on her face as she was wheeled out of the front doors in a wheelchair, Nick pushing her along through the parking lot. Neither mammal spoke as he helped her up into the passenger side seat, placing the crutches into the trunk and walking around to the driver's seat.

"I feel transgressed and violated..." Judy finally says, looking down at her half-shaven leg as her vulpine friend started up the engine.

"Really? I think the look suits you quite well, Carrots," Nick replies with his usual smug grin, pulling out of the hospital gates and navigating them to the other side of Sahara square. Thankfully, he had arrived to pick her up early that morning, so traffic was minimal.

Despite the dirty look Judy had flashed him from the comment on her leg, the first few minutes of the car ride were silent. The buildings towered above the two, landmarks that still held a sense of freedom and opportunity for Judy, but looked like nothing more than the bars of a prison cell for the fox beside her.

Inside her head, Judy began to replay the events leading up to this moment, her mind wandering back to the moment she had caused such a divide between her and Nick. The press conference had been a blur to her in the moment, the flashing of cameras and constant barrage of questions, but hindsight held mercy, and spared no detail in her mistakes.

From that moment, the day she saw her newest, and most treasured friend and ally walk out those doors, the days had been harder than any before. Though she had made her mark in life, and finally achieved her dream, she felt nothing but a lingering dread, and an overwhelming loneliness.

The riots, the protests, the attacks, all of it ensured she had no time to sulk as she had been on-duty more often than not. Seeing mammals turn on eachother, such atrocities and hatred weighed on her fragile heart, until she could take no more. She resigned from the force in front of Bogo and Bellwether, unable to repent for her mistakes in any other way than to forfeit her lifelong dream.

Her parents had never been more excited to see her home, her father especially so, now that the "damned preds" were such an issue in the city. Had she the energy to spare, she would have told him just how wrong he was, but she surrendered to him, and spent the preceeding three months in her room, wondering how she'll ever recover.

The months went by in a blur, dragging on in her mind as it swirled with miserable thoughts and her deep, aching guilt, wondering why she could have said such hateful things in front of the mammal she would have trusted her very life with. The monotony of working on her parents farm did little to distract her, and even her only escape out in the country, her music, only seemed to worsen her guilt and sadness, until the day that sweet tod Gideon came by with his pies, and the answer to her ever-lingering question.

"Carrots?" That familiar voice once again bringing her back from her own memories, melting her fear and self-doubt away with his gentle tone.

"Oh, yeah, I'm listening." She replies, an utter lie.

He flashes her a knowing smirk before returning to his driving. "Were you? Then you wouldn't mind reading the passage to the class, would you?" He says, mimicking a teacher who caught his student daydreaming.

"Not funny, Slick." She replies, returning her gaze to the road ahead. They were deep into Sahara Square by now, moving along at a decent pace to their destination. Judy had half expected someone like Nick to be using Low-Income housing on Foxtrot.

In fact, she wondered just how he was doing in a city with so much against him, and with such incredible odds stacked against his very survival. There was no doubt Bellweather would have had eyes on him, if only to eliminate those with the capability to unearth her plot; It was nothing short of a miracle that he remained unharmed.

"You're daydreaming again." Nick interjected her thoughts once more, this time calling her out on her wandering thoughts outright.

She responded with an exhausted, resigned sigh. "Sorry, Nick. The past three months weren't easy, what with protecting the city, moving back home, and then coming all the way out here to find you."

The fox beside her did his best to keep eye contact with her as he kept cognizant of the traffic. "I know, Carrots. How did you find me, anyways? I know for a fact you weren't just leisurely strolling through the park to get some fresh air."

"Fennick told me where I could find you. He said you were probably hanging out under the bridge on the north side of Temperate park."

Nick rolled his eyes upon hearing the diminutive fox's mention. "I'll be sure to thank him later, then." He says to himself, taking mental note to chew him out for breaking his promise, even if it improved the situation in the end.

Judy looked out the window once more, taking in the scenery. However, it all seems just a bit too familiar, how the taller building had all receded into residential suites and country clubs; Surely Nick didn't live in the luxurious spaces rented out here… Did he?

"Uhh, Nick? Where exactly do you live anyways? Where are you taking me?" She asks, as he interest is piqued, to which Nick only smirks. Not a good sign…

"Oh, don't worry; You'll see when we get there. However, I do need to warn you, I've only really got the bare necessities."

She would have taken his statement at face value, but the way he was smiling, the way he put extra emphasis on the word "Bare", all of it just seemed suspicious to her. And then it clicked…

Oh no…

They turned the block around an apartment complex, revealing the front of that familiar building.

No no no...

Judy's eyes went wide as they pulled into the parking lot, Nick keeping that sly grin plastered on his face as his bit of playful revenge is set in motion.

Sweet cheese and crackers, Nick, WHY!?

Nick laughed to himself in his head as he watched her suspicion evolve into fear, and finally dread over the course of seconds, fighting back the urge to laugh at her disdain for the place they had just arrived at.

"What's wrong?" He teases, opening the door. "I thought you loved coming to Mystic Spring Oasis!"