Thank you everyone for your patience, I changed this story about 15 times before I finally settled with this version that I really like! I hope you do too! Sorry for any grammar errors. Enjoy!
"We have been looking at this tape for hours" said Jessica as she leaned against her chair throwing rolled up pieces of paper in trashcan.
Yes, it was true, her and Nick have been staring at the screen for hours, Mr. Smith was right, there was no real "proof" of anyone stealing those flowers, but yet they are gone the next morning. Nick zoomed in closer, still nothing. His brain hurt, he needed a break.
"Do you think someone tampered with the camera?" said Nick
Jessica roller her eyes, "I doubt it, what's so important about those flowers anyways?"
"Um, that there stolen?"
"There just flowers"
Nick sighed, why were the flowers stolen? Were they worth more somewhere else? He would have to do some more digging into the origins of the flowers. But for now he checked his phone for 100th time, still no text from Judy.
Last he heard from her was last night when she told him not to text and drive, but that is the last thing she sent, she must have gone to bed and forgot. Jessica noticed his worried stare into his phone.
"You okay? You have been checking your phone a lot" she gave him a worried glance
"Oh it's nothing, just waiting for a friend to text back"
"Yeah speaking of friends, thanks for leaving me with Higgins you ass.. you know I don't like him !" she snapped
"Hey now, I was being generous, I got you ride"
"Yeah because you went off to find that rabbit farm girl!"
Nick froze….how in the hell….
"I'm not an idiot I could smell her in your patrol car and I have eyes Nick I saw the way you were acting around her at that blueberry stand!"
"I have nothing to hide Jessica but what I do with my private life is none of your concern" he said calmly.
"We are partners!"
"Yes, at work, once work is over we are friends Jessica"
"Do you like her!"
"Yes"
Jessica was on the brick of yelling, "Why! She isn't even the same species as you! Why would you want to be with someone who isn't even the same species! I'm pretty sure 10,000 years ago you would have ripped her throat out!"
Nick flinched at thought, a deep growl rumbled in his chest. Jessica knew she crossed the line, she crossed her arms staring hopelessly at the computer screen.
Nick sighed, Jessica liked him and he knew that, of course he never did anything to lead her on to thinking that he returned the favor, but I'm sure it still hurts.
"Jessica" he whispered
She looked up at him, her eyes still set ablaze.
"I cannot give you what you seek"
Her eyes lowered, her ears pinned sadly to the back of her head. "I know" she whispered
An awkward silence filled the room until a light knock was at their door.
It was Officer Higgins
"Chief wants to see you"
Judy hissed as she placed a cloth of rubbing alcohol on her side where a large cut laid. Her heart still pounding in her chest.
Last night she barely escaped with her life as the wolf lunged at her. Fast on her feet she dodged him but one of his dual claws caught the side of her shirt and ripped into her skin. She yelped as she fell backwards, falling onto the sacks of potatoes.
The wolf turned back around, he was not going to miss a second time. His eyes glowed like fire in the night, Judy moved backwards until she ran into one of their gardening rakes, she quickly grabbed it in her hands and swiped as hard as she could towards the wolf. The wolf screeched in agony as the rake cut into his eye and disappeared into the night.
Judy's heart was in her throat, adrenaline still pumping in her veins she grabbed a sack of potatoes and ran back to the house, clutching her side. Throwing them by the front door she ran up to the stairs, straight to her bedroom and locked the door.
What the hell just happened?
"Judy? Dinner is ready!" her mother called for her
Judy peeked her head out of her room, trying desperately to catch her breathe. "I'm not hungry mom", she hissed as the cold air was stinging her cut.
"You need to eat sweetie"
"I will eat later!"
Her mother didn't bother her anymore, Judy legs began to feel light as she crashed onto her bed, darkness closing in around her.
She awoke with sudden realization of last night's events, she sat up noticing she didn't attend to her cut. Her shirt still torn and blood stain, she even managed to get blood on her bed. A light knock on the door,
"Judy you awake? It's time to start the morning chores" said her mother
Shit
"Be there in a minute" she rushed to the bathroom, throwing of her shirt and pouring the rubbing alcohol on top of her wound. It burned like hell as she quickly grabbed some gauze from under the bathroom sink and wrapped it tightly around her waist. She disposed of her blood stain shirt, praying to god no one will find it.
She couldn't tell her parents, no, she wouldn't tell her parents. Whatever happened last night was a freak of nature and for all she knew this can turn into something bigger. Plus, her parents would send her to the hospital if they found out about her cut, and she hated hospital's.
Wait a minute, Nick!
She needed to call him and fast, he could help her. She quickly felt around her pockets, they were empty, her phone must have fallen out last night. She put on a black long sleeve tee to hide her wound and a pair of jeans. She ran outside passing by her mother and her siblings without a word. She searched the front yard, nothing. She dashed behind the barn and it was laying there in the mud, screen half cracked barely enough battery life left. There was a message from Nick from this morning.
"Morning, I'm not sure if you fell asleep last night but I didn't hear from you. Anyways, I will be back in the burrows today for another assignment, I would like to see you again".
She quickly replied, "Yes, we need to talk"
She looked down to see the wolf's prints were clearly visible in the mud from their encounter last night, she pulled out her phone and snapped a few pictures.
"Yes, we need to talk"
Nick stared hopelessly at the phone screen, worried out of his mind. What did they need to talk about?
Jessica was driving this time, since Nick was trying to text and drive. They were heading to the home of the Greystones, the wife had reported her husband missing 48 hours ago, and hadn't return home since.
The Chief assigned them their new assignment this morning while Officer Higgins took over the grocery store theft case. He believed this missing mammal case had more importance for their attention. Nick opened the file on his lap reading over the case, the address to the house was not that far from Judy's home, he can see her afterwards.
"Do we have a last sighting on him?" said Jessica
"His wife was the last person who had seen him, according to his boss he never made it to work"
"Maybe he left his wife for someone else" Jessica grimaced
"I doubt that, it says here they have been married 25 years"
Jessica muttered something under her breath
Judy tried helplessly as she tried to stack the boxes of radishes into her father's truck. Her side ached.
Her mother noticed her off balance and came to her side, gripping her shoulders.
"Judy are you alright? You haven't been yourself"
"I'm okay"
"I think you have been working yourself too hard, remember what the doctors said"
"I know what they said…"
Her father came out of the house with a worried look in his eyes.
"I just got off the phone with Mr. Gibbs, apparently Mr. Greystone has gone missing"
Judy froze
"What?" her mother gasped, "When? How?"
"I guess he never showed up to work two days ago, his wife called the police, I guess they're at her house now"
Could that be Nick?
"My heavens, poor Mrs. Greystone… are you alright Stu? He was your close friend" Bonnie came to his side, wrapping her arms around his shoulders.
"I just hope they find him Bon" he reassured her. "Thanks Judes for loading up the truck for me, I best be off" he gave Bonnie a quick kiss on the cheek, hopped in his truck and drove off.
Judy needed to slip away, the Greystone house was not far away.
"Mom, I think I'm going to lie down" as she began walking through the front door.
"Ok sweetie, let me know if you need anything" her mother started to walk towards her garden that sat next to the side of the house. Once her mother was out of sight, she threw off her sun hat and dashed behind the house. The Greystone's house was only a couple houses down, she could cut threw and be there in no time, although her cut was slowing her down.
Jessica need to take a breather, there was only so much crying she could take. Mrs. Greystone cried the moment her and Nick arrived. Gushing all over them about her missing husband.
Sheesh, mammals can be such babies.
According to his wife, he never came back from work two days ago and no one has seen him since. They couldn't even find his car. Nick assured here that they will try everything that they can to find her husband, the old wolf flew forward, staining Nick's shirt with tears. That was Jessica's cue to leave before her big mouth got the best of her.
She leaned against the hood of the patrol car with her aviators on taking in the nice breeze. Her ears perked at the sound of tiny feet heading her way, but she did her best to ignore it.
"Excuse me?" a voice as soft as the wind spoke to her
She didn't need to lift her shades to know who it was, she could smell her already, the smell that stunk up Nick's car. It was that dumb bunny.
Jessica clamped her teeth together, curling her tail around her feet. She lifted the shades to see the rabbit that ruined her love life. The bunny was breathing franticly like she ran to get here. She clutched her side for some odd reason and her eyes darted all around the yard and back up at her, waiting for her response.
She could see why Nick had an interested in her, she was beautiful for a bunny. Hatred grew at the pit of her stomach as instincts wanted to rip her throat out.
What does Nick see in her
"May I help you?" her voice slipped a little letting venom come out in her words.
"Is Officer Wilde here?" her breathing becoming steady
"He's busy" she glared at her
The bunny could sense the hostility from the artic fox, she stood tall and crossed her arms glaring back at Jessica.
"I guess I will wait for him here then if you don't mind" said Judy
"Sorry bunny this is Police business" she smirked, "Don't you have a carrot to grow or something?"
"Don't you have someone else to pick on fox?" Judy snapped
Jessica froze lifting her shades, "Watch it Rabbit, you don't know who your talking too"
Jessica and Judy glared at each other, you could cut the tension with a knife
Nick hugged Mrs. Greystone for the 100th time as he bid her farewell, he reassured her that he would give her any updates on the whereabouts of her husband. He didn't even make it out the door until the wind blew her scent in his face.
He looked up to see Judy was by his car and to make matters worse Jessica was there too. Typically, he wouldn't have mind but Jessica's body language said otherwise, he knew her all too well and she glared at Judy like she was an afternoon meal. Nick walked fast towards them, Judy heard him coming and looked up at him smiling where as Jessica didn't change her posture.
"Judy" he smiled, firmly placing himself between her and Jessica
"Hey" she smiled back, Nick noticed something off about her
"It's lunchtime and I'm starving" Jessica cut in, giving one more glare to the bunny.
"Go ahead without me Jess" said Nick
"I'm not picking you up later" she snapped
"I can drive you" Judy whispered
Nick smiled at the idea, "I'll see you in 30 minutes Jessica"
Jessica grunted as she got into their patrol car and sped off, leaving a dust cloud for Nick and Judy.
"What's for lunch?" Nick smirked
"I can make you something back at my farm, it's not that far"
"So your telling me you ran all this way here just to see me? How thoughtful" he winked
"Well I needed to tell you something, but your partner seemed a little tense around me"
"I'm sorry about that"
"Don't apologize, let's go"
Judy walked off towards the dirt road, she felt the electric pulse sweep through her body as Nick causally intertwined his hand with hers. Judy's body turned red hot as Nick's thumb drew circles around the palm of her hand.
"Does this bother you?" Nick motioned to them holding them hands
"No, I don't mind at all" she whispered
They walked for about 10 minutes until they reach the Hopps mailbox, Judy froze not really thinking this through. She didn't want to explain to her parents who Nick was just yet, plus her siblings would be all over him, she needed to talk to Nick privately.
"How does lunch in the barn sound?"
"Lunch anywhere with you is fine with me, but why?"
"I need to talk to you privately and I won't get the chance if my family is around…."
"Sneaking me around on the first date… how romantic" Nick smirked
"This is not a date!"
Nick couldn't help but laugh at how red Judy was getting. Judy took Nick through the corn field on the side of the house, being careful not to be being spotted.
Judy peaked through the brush, she didn't see anyone on their back patio, she can hide him in the barn easily. Nick started gently rubbing his hand on the small of her back. Judy smacked his hand away.
"Stop that" she glared at him, even though she enjoyed it very much. She grabbed his hand as they made their way to their barn. She opened the door on the side and ushered him through. It was fairly clean for a barn, a tractor sat in the corner are piles of hay was rolled up into squares. Nick planted himself on a hay stack as he stretched.
"Alright Judy what's for lunch?" he peeked under his shades to see Judy standing in front of him, her hands balled into fists.
"Judy?" he whispered
''Mr. Greystone isn't missing; I saw him last night" she blurted out
Nick got up from the hay stack, holding onto Judy's shoulders
"What are you talking about?" he looked down at her with a worried glance.
"He..um… he attacked me" she whispered, she rolled up her black shirt, revealing her bandage that had little specks of blood still from her cut.
Nick growled at the sight, "He what!? Attacked you! When!? Why didn't you call me!" Nick yelled
"It happened to fast, but Nick listen, he wasn't himself….he was on all fours…growling at me…he wanted to eat me I think"
Nick froze as she let go of her shoulders and pulled out his phone.
"What are you doing?"
"I'm calling Jessica to pick me up and I'm taking you to the hospital"
"No! Nick, I'm fine!" she lurched forward and grabbed his hand
"Your hurt! You need to have that looked at" he snapped
"Nick I'm begging please don't take me to the hospital" Judy wrapped her arms around his waist, trying to use this technique to calm him down. It eventually worked as his body relaxed, placing his arms around her.
"You could have been killed" Nick whispered, his heart ached at the thought.
Judy nodded slightly
"Do you have a first aid kit? I can take care of that cut for you" Nick smiled down at her
"Yeah I have one in the house"
"Alright once I clean up your cut your coming with me"
"What?"
"You're the last person who has seen Mr. Greystone even a victim of Mr. Greystones attack if you will" he paused, "that makes you a key part in this case" his serious face turning into a slight smile.
"What are you saying?" Judy looked up at him confused
"I'm saying, I'm enlisting your services for this case"
Judy made her way back into her house stumbling around the cabinets to find the first aid kit. Her heart pounding in her chest, did Nick really mean what he said? She put those thoughts aside for now as she fumbled for the white first aid kit box and the bottle of rubbing alcohol, she also spotted a basket of blueberries left over on her family's kitchen table. She quickly grabbed them and headed back to the barn, of course she ran into some of her siblings along the way but none of them followed her.
Praise the Lord
She opened the barn door as Nick continued to lay on the hay stacks looking through Judy's pictures she showed him earlier of the wolf prints.
"After I hit him with rake" she continued, "he disappeared into the woods, we just need to find him now".
She handed him the first aid kit as he gestured her to sit down. She sat next to him and rolled up her shirt high enough to be able to get to her cut. Nick opened the first aid kit and put on a pair of sterile gloves as he slowly removed the gauze wrapper around her waist. She hissed a little as some of the white parchment was stuck in her cut. Nick took a cotton ball and cleaned the wound with rubbing alcohol as she tried her best not to whimper.
The sensation of Nick's paws lightly brushing her sides and stomach gave Judy a thrill she had never experienced before. Nick made the finally touches with ointment to keep it from being infected and wrapped it up with a clean new gauze that was a lot softer.
"There we go good as knew" he smirked, his face was fairly close to hers as she looked up at him.
Their noses almost touching and the space between becoming smaller as Judy found herself moving closer towards him, her heart racing. Nick placed a paw lightly on her side, using his thumb to stroke her hips. Their faces drew closer, he moved and she moved, like magnets. The moment was cut short as Nick's phone buzzed snapping both Judy and Nick out of their trace, realizing they were very close to kissing.
Judy face was red hot as Nick looked at her with a huge smudge on his face and gave her a quick kiss on the forehead.
He checked his phone. It was a text message from Jessica.
"Higgins found something on the grocery store theft, you might want to come and see this"
Things are about to get intense.
Leave Reviews below