Hello again, and happy early Sunday morning to my American readers, hope you're as ready for another chapter as I am for bed! Really loved how this came out, but polishing it into the night has been killing me. Hope you Enjoy!
Chapter 3: Intermission
Nick let himself fall into the musty red couch. It was a careful fall for the sake of his shoulder, but still a fall. He was tired and his neck hurt from baring the weight of his slung arm all day. He chewed the tip of his tongue, and breathed out through his nose. The copper beast was biting again. It bit hard into his shoulder with it's single copper tooth.
"It's not the bullet you feel Mr. Wilde," the doc had said, "it's just tissue damage, you'll heal faster if we don't try to remove it."
That moose was full of it. Nick knew what he felt. The throbbing lump of copper felt like a thumb worming its way towards his artery. The pain left him sweating when the medication would start wearing off. He had three hours before he could take another pill.
"Take it like a man, Nick", he could hear his father say. The old Reynard hadn't known anything about pain, he'd always been too damn tough, like a rhino. Nick had gotten very little sympathy from him as a kit when it came to scrapes and bruises. Now though, the old carpenter was probably right. "Take it like a man" was the phrase of the day, or rather, the month, but it was easier said than done.
Nick started to shake as the pain continued to mount. Trying as he was, ignoring it was becoming impossible. He couldn't handle this by himself. He just wanted Judy to be there to share his pain, but he couldn't subject her to that, she already worried enough. He clenched his jaw and sifted his feet through the stained carpet.
It has to stop, NOW. He snatched the orange prescription bottle off the coffee table and, with some difficulty, untwisted the cap. What kind of sick joke was it to give a mammal with a busted arm a safety lid?
Defeated, he poured the tablets into his sweaty paw, separated one out, and plopped it into his mouth. Dumping the rest back in, he threw the bottle to the side and settled back into the couch.
Relax Nick, think of something else...
He took another deep breath and closed his eyes.
Maybe I should clean up before Judy gets here. But the empty soda cans and dirty paper plates would have to wait until the throbbing stopped. Minutes went by ever so slowly. As he sank further back into the old couch, he remembered his first thought when he picked the thing up with Finnick at the thrift shop.
This couch smells like it spent the majority of it's life beneath two fornicating wolves.
He could tell it was wolves because of a stain on the flipped side of the cushion. Oh well, one mammal's love-seat was another mammal's ten dollar couch.
The pain started to ease off, at last; it was gradually replaced by a subtle sense of warmth and comfort. It felt nice, like a warm phantom hug, but he wasn't oblivious to the source of that warmth. Oxycontin was little more than a controlled dose of prescription heroine. Failing to adhere to the instructions on the bottle was playing with fire. Still, the damn tablets were supposed to last twelve hours, but the pain kept returning after eight.
He stood to his feet, wiped his watery eyes, and began to stack a few paper plates and aluminum cans. He carried these to the kitchen cubical in the corner of the room, and dropped them in the wastebasket. There was a lot more of the trash scattered about. The doorbell rang.
"And there's my nurse…" Nick smiled, adjusted his favorite tie, and walked to the door. He twisted the deadbolt and pulled upon the wooden door.
"Hey, you! Wasn't expecting you so early!"
Judy stood in the doorway holding a pizza box. He smiled.
"Yeah sorry," she chuckled, "probably placed the order for this thing too early, didn't want it to get cold."
Curious, Nick pulled the top of the pizza box open. He intentionally widened his eyes, stuck out his tongue, and made a sound of mostly exaggerated disgust.
"How can you eat pineapple on your pizza?"
The rabbit's brow furrowed and her foot started to tap. She was too cute not to jab at. He let the smug smile return as he took the box out of her paws.
"I'll put this in the kitchen." He lifted it with his left paw, led the bunny inside, and then dropped it on the kitchen counter. He got a good whiff of the cheese and the pineapple. It actually smelled great, but it made his stomach flutter - side effects of the medication. He started to go and sit with the bunny, but a familiar craving hit him and he went to dig through the fridge instead.
Judy started unpacking a few items from her bag: a spiral notebook, pen, a few clipped-on black and white photos.
"You brought your notes?"
"Yeah, you told me I could next time."
The fox gestured to his right arm still in the sling.
"That was before I got to go on vacation."
He tried to cover up his despondent mood with dry humor, but it seemed she could tell. She sighed.
"Yeah. Sorry, you're right. I'm getting too caught up in this investigation."
"The Art Museum? I mean yeah, it's weird that nobody can find a point of entry, but-
"I'm on the Vanisher's case now, Nick."
The fox plopped a handful of blueberries into his mouth.
"Oh... Horns let you switch?"
"Bogo said he needed more mammals on the case, yeah."
She started to slip the notebook back into her bag.
"Hang on, Carrots. I didn't say I wouldn't help. Just... movie first, okay?"
"Fair enough," she said.
"Great, I figured we could watch something on Netflix, I got Clawhauser to share his account with-
"Actually, I brought something this time, Nick."
"Oh," he covered up his brief surprise with a smug smile.
"Wait, Don't tell me. It's one of those chick flicks where the girl,"
He gestured towards the bunny.
"...is in trouble and she can't get out of it by herself. Luckily, along comes a sweet handsome devil,"
He popped another blueberry into his mouth and then placed his paw on his chest.
"...and only with his help can she- or, if you prefer, only through the power of true love"
He rolled his eyes.
"...can they escape their dire situation, and come out on top. Am I on the money?"
"Actually," she picked up a black video tape with a blue paper cover, "I was going to suggest Star Wars, but I did bring my whole binder of DVDs, so if you'd rather, we can watch Twilight-"
"Is that a VHS tape?"
"Yes sir."
"So would it happen to be, the…"
"Unedited version? Yup. Handed down from the pops."
The fox giddily jogged across room and took it out of her paws. The front cover had Luke the cheetah and old Ben the lion on the front. It was also distinctly missing the "Episode IV" marking.
"Oh yeah, this'll do!"
He sat down enthusiastically and started looking over the paper sleeve, front to back.
"Wait..."
He let his ears fold back as he groaned.
"I don't have a VCR anymore."
The bunny just smiled, and laid her head in his lap.
"Tell me you love me."
His fur stood up a little at that, but only for a moment.
"Are you going somewhere with this?"
"Say it first."
He sighed, feigning annoyance, and obliged her in an even tone.
"I love you, now what is it?"
"Oh come on, you can do better than that."
"Carrots..."
The bunny pulled a large black box out of her bag, and held it up to his vulpine nose. Nick blinked.
"You brought a VCR?"
"I was worried you might not have one."
He smiled.
"Well you are a little worry wart, aren't you?"
"Yep. By the way, how's your shoulder doing?"
"Uh-huh, I was wondering when that was going to come up. But look at you, whole three minutes without asking, I'm proud of you, Carrots."
"I try to impress. Now, answer."
"It's fine. It hasn't hurt that bad since I left the hospital, but thank you for your concern, Nurse Hopps."
He grabbed a hold of the black box.
"Now are we gonna set up this dinosaur or not?"
It took roughly fifteen minutes for the two mammals to figure out how to plug the VCR into Nick's TV. It seemed as though the cables wouldn't match up, but Judy eventually thought to try using a coaxial. They both cheered and laughed when the finally got the Vizio logo to appear on Nick's little flatscreen. Left-handed high fives were exchanged.
Judy put in the tape and hopped onto the red couch, Nick got the food.
"Here," Nick handed Judy a plate with two slices of pizza and sat down next to her with his own plate. The rabbit hit the play button and Nick flipped the switch next to the couch, casting the room into darkness. The TV started to glow and the movie began.
As the previews cycled passed, Nick began picking the pineapple off of his pizza.
"You really don't like the pineapple?"
"It's just not going to agree with my stomach, don't worry about it."
"Shoot, promise I won't get it next time. Is it the medication?"
"Yeah, and I said don't worry about it, you get the pizza you want, Carrots."
He clawed at the little jiblet of fruit left on the pizza.
"...Also clever pun."
"What pun? I didn't make…"
He watched her nose wiggle and her ears droop as she figured out what she'd said.
"Oh god, I'm an idiot."
"I do believe that comment has mortally wounded me," he placed a paw against his shoulder.
"...well, almost, anyway."
"Ha, ha, very fun-"
"Shh, it's starting!"
He perked up immediately as the yellow text scrolled out of sight. The camera panned down to the horizon of the dusty tan baige, just before the thin rebel ship whizzed past. The TV flashed as lasers shot across the screen. It didn't take the two of them long to get engrossed in their movie time. Nick even managed to stay quiet until, a good ways into the movie, when Ben Kenobi uttered the oh so foolish words.
"And these blast points, too accurate for sand people."
Nick looked over at Judy, and then back at the screen.
"Only imperial stormtroopers are so precise."
He started to crack up, and Judy just gave him a funny look. This led into a conversation about the terrible aim of storm-troopers, and soon they were into a big old nerdy debate about the legitimacy of the prequels. Oh the commonalities they never would have shared had it not been for that fateful day in that elephant ice cream parlor.
Hope you enjoyed folks! There will be more to see next time, and we will most certainly dive into the big juicy heart of the plot, then. Unfortunately the other half of this chapter just kept growing out of control, so I had to lop it off and give it it's own spot next week. There's a lot more I need to do with that half before then. Good news is I've already put work into chapter five, so hopefully I won't have to cut the next huge chapter in half. I can just finish it up.
Ciao, and remember to leave a review if you've got the time; helps me learn!
