Pain. Nothing but pain. There was no moving, there was no talking, there was no thinking, only electric pain coursing through his body from his neck where a red light shone, and kicking and stomping feet all around him. He endured it for as long as he could, but this time his attempt to scream was met with success.
Suddenly it was all gone, the terrors of sleep pushed from his mind as Judy jumped up in shock in his lap. They'd drifted off on his couch while watching classic horror films on a Saturday evening, if he could trust his hazy memory. He clung to that memory to keep the much older, much darker thoughts at bay, his ears twitching in agitation. His left paw was on his neck, his claws running through the fur where his tame collar would be if they hadn't been made illegal at the turn of the century.
"Nick?" Her concerned voice drew his attention away from himself, her brilliant amethyst eyes studying him and her nose twitching a little. It was a clear indication of fear, but the way her hand stroked his chest as she crawled closer made it known that she wasn't scared of him. She was scared for him.
"I'm fine, Carrots," he lied with a shaky voice, not ready to confront what had haunted his night. Still, the evasion seemed to hurt Judy, or maybe it was the way his emerald eyes shone with unshed tears, but either way that wouldn't sit well with Nick. He moved his paw from his neck to her head, lightly brushing his claws over her droopy ears until they twitched with the desire to flick up, but she kept them down against her back so he could keep it up until he was satisfied that her mood had improved. When she gave an accepting smile he was finally able to pull himself together and put the nightmare out of his thoughts.
Then she pushed his paw away in a show of false indignation, tapping her finger against his snout. "Paws off, Mister Wilde. Besides, we have to get ready for the Sunday shift." Nick groaned at the reminder, though he was grateful that they didn't have to start quite as early as usual on the typical Sunday shift.
"God I hope Bogo has another case for us. Patrolling to hand out speeding tickets would be the most egregious waste of a Sunday ever."
"This is the most egregious waste of a Sunday ever." Bogo had not had a case for them.
"If it will stop you from whining then you can pick the music this time." Nick's tail twitched nervously, but there was no other indication that what he was about to do was a bit of a risk.
"I want you to remember that you made this happen. If you can't handle an old Todd's taste then it's your own fault that you had to find out." Nick was thirty-three, but compared to his twenty-five year old partner he could superficially be considered an old Todd in relative terms.
"Thank Zootopia's politicians that we can even listen to music on patrol. There are still a few towns out there where that's against regulation."
"What, like in Bunnyburrow?" Judy shook her head in response. "Listen Fluff, if going against regulation isn't strictly illegal then I don't care."
"It's not against regulation, so I don't care either. Now play something before I change my mind." Nick complied, connecting his phone to the cruiser via Bluetooth and tapping his claw over Weazer & Wool's 'Bunny Holly,' taking a deep breath as it started up. Judy was genuinely surprised when he started singing along, her ears turning toward him as she absorbed the lyrics of the quirky love song she'd never heard before.
She couldn't prevent the reddening of her inner ears when she heard him sing "my girl" while looking right at her. The following "but you know I'm yours. Woo-hoo, and I know your mine," really wasn't helping her blush get any less intense, especially since the music was kept relatively low compared to the police radio and Nick's voice was what primarily carried the words to Judy's ears. Just ask him out already, Judy, she thought to herself. He's obviously too nervous to do it himself. He's singing you a love song and he just implied he'd break the fraternization regulations. "Ooo-ee-ooo! I look just like Bunny Holly. Ooo-ee-ooo! And you're Mary Tyler Moore. I don't care what they say about us anyway. I don't care 'bout that."
As Judy approached a red traffic light she resolved to stop this before her blush could get any worse, turning to Nick fully with a questioning smirk. "You look like a bunny?" She'd really poured on the sarcasm for that one, and his eyes looked downcast for a half-second. She quickly came to the conclusion that he thought she was rejecting him for not looking like a buck, so she continued to put that out of his mind. "You're much too handsome for that. Bucks are just cute." And there was the near imperceptible increase in the height of his smile.
"The weasel who sings it looked like that particular bunny. Same dorky glasses, same eye color, same charming grin."
"It can't be as good as yours, Slick Nick." Just do it. No more hopping around the bush. "You want to go out to dinner this Wednesday?"
"Are you asking me as your friend or as your crush?"
"As if you haven't been crushing on me too." Judy was distracted from her happiness for how smoothly things were going when her ear perked back toward a banging sound. It was faint, the music and Nick's laugh making her unsure if she'd really heard anything, but she held up a paw for him to shut up and brought her window down, scrutinizing the very familiar van beside their cruiser. "Finnick?" She knew he'd just ignore her if she didn't pull the megaphone, his loudly banging music the perfect excuse to pretend his perfect ears couldn't hear her through the window.
"Carrots, is that thing really necessary?" She hesitated for a moment, the perpendicular traffic in front of them thinning out as the intersection was readying to let them through.
She depressed the trigger on the megaphone. "Pull into the parking lot two blocks down on the left, sir." Nick sighed dejectedly behind her, and she thought she saw Finnick's grip tighten on his steering wheel.
"Judy, this is a bad idea." Nick's tone only convinced her that she was right, and that made her gut clench up. She felt like she was going to be sick, but she followed Finnick closely, watching at the moment of truth. He would either turn into the parking lot, or he would try to out drive her. Both vehicles were totally still at the turn for a few seconds, long enough for the car behind the cruiser to let loose with its horn.
Slowly the van pulled in, parking in the back away from the other cars mammals had driven to the hardware store, Judy parking right beside him. When she looked at Nick his confident smirk was gone, replaced by a disappointed frown, an expression she returned in the full realization of what he'd wanted her to do. "Come on, Nick. We need to have a talk with our friend."
"So he's your friend too, huh?" His feigned surprise and sarcastic chuckle gave Judy the urge to kick him in the face for implying that she was the one in the wrong, but it also made the sick feeling in her stomach so much worse. Every step she took toward the silver, unpainted door made the feeling twist and knot in her gut as she glanced at the contrasting mural occasionally. Nick was standing right behind her, and the megaphone trembled in her paws as she lifted it, but Nick placed his paw on it and gently pushed it back down. "Act casual, Fluff."
Finnick obviously heard him, kicking the door open and smiling at them like nothing was wrong. "Ya two coppas know ya can't be taking time off to chat like this for long. Who da fucks gonna pass out speedin' tickets." He rather conspicuously spoke over his music rather than stopping it, but Judy had good ears too and Nick's chuckle was a bit too late to distract her from the distinct clang of a hoof hitting metal from the back. Just like a limo, Finnick had a handy little barrier separating the front from the back. The only windows to the back were on the back doors and covered by red velvet so no one could see inside. His extended pedals mirrored Judy's so he could drive the vehicle large enough for much larger mammals.
She hated the thoughts that drove her, but she wouldn't deny the truth. "Can we have a look in the back, Finnick?"
"Officially? Hell no. By the look of your ear you must think you got probable cause, so." He added a shrug, flipped off the music, killed the engine, and jumped out of the car, slamming the door closed and starting to lead them toward the back.
"We don't have probable cause, Judy," Nick's voice raged in her ear, a trembling whisper as his uneven breath hit her fur.
"We are not having this conversation, Officer Wilde."
"I did this for you, Nick. She's good for ya. I ain't gonna get in the way of that. You just keep bein' better than they expect of us and that'll be good enough for me."
Nick crossed his arms and scowled at Judy, leering down at her as she wilted in front of him, her ears folding back as she resisted the urge to sniffle. "I'm not doing this to him. You open the God damn door."
For some reason, when he said it like that, she just couldn't do it. She thought she was in love with him, she sure felt that way, but she was beginning to wonder if she even knew him at all.
"Nick, stop throwin' a tantrum and open the door for ya girl." Finnick was calm but serious, his gaze intense and his ear twitching with suppressed rage. Nick took the hint, but he didn't like it, shaking his head as he pulled the door open for the two shorter mammals, and all three of them got a good look at the stallion tied up and unconscious, laying on the floor with his bound legs occasionally twitching about as if he was having a running dream.
"Sweet cheese and crackers!" The nauseous feeling disappeared the moment her fears were confirmed, replaced by a growing numbness that had her body responding on autopilot when Nick grabbed her shoulder and pushed her forward.
"Get in the car, Fluff. You too, Fin."
"Don't make this no harder than it already is, mam."
"Just do it! We're gonna have ourselves a little conversation about business."