Chapter 9
My story is inspired by the movie Bright. I don't own Bright or any original movie characters
After Nick left a few hours later, I slept like the dead. We talked a bit about everything, asking questions and learning about each other. Honestly that's probably my favorite part about it all. He explained to me that he was fairly recently blooded by the Fogtooth Clan by saving Ward from a burning house. It starts to make more sense why this neighborhood doesn't mind them being around. I still have to earn my stripes, pun intended.
While we're on a domestic disturbance call, Ward is questioning a neighbor. I'm walking back to the truck and Nick meets me halfway. "Hey….." looking back at Ward to see where he was.."Hey, Aella, I wanted to tell you that I had a good time las-"
I cut him off: "NOPE!…" I lowered my voice. "..Nick you can't talk about this here. I don't want anyone to hear us."
He nods, "oh…right, okay." He hasn't realized it yet, but there are certain faces he makes, that remind me of when Ollie makes puppy dog eyes at me. When Nick makes a certain face, I can't help but fold. And he's making it now.
So I whisper, "But I had an amazing time with you last night too", sending him a small side smile.
His ears flicked and his eyes got a little brighter as a small smile crawled across his face.
He's looking off at Ward, who's now walking towards us. He quickly whispers, "Can I see you tonight?"
Pretending to read my little notepad, I say "mmmmhm".
As we're leaving this call we quickly head to another. Another squad was requesting backup.
We arrive on scene and there's two cops trying to subdue a huge orc wearing a black hoodie, dark jeans, and a beanie. His beanie says something but I can't read it between the swings of the original cop's baton. We're in front of a gas station, so there's a couple people standing around watching. Ward sternly looks at Nick before he gets out of the truck…as if he's silently reminding him of something. We head over and I go over to a woman orc who's crying and holding her face at what's going on in front of her. She's probably with the orc in the hoodie. I try to keep her calm and out of the way. Nick went over and picked up the orc after cuffing him, and got him into the other squad truck. He starts walking back to the other officers to find out what's going on. Ward heads inside the store to look around and figure out what happened. When Nick comes back over to me, the orc I was "comforting" started screaming and charged at Nick. She was faking her crying, and she was suddenly pissed that a orc cop arrested her husband. She started swinging at him calling him a traitor and a false orc. He tries catching her arms to stop her and avoid having to hit her but was failing miserably. I run after her and try to stop her from swinging but she was swinging too fast and hard, and her strength was more than I was expecting.
Nick wasn't doing a very good job, he couldn't see between trying to guard his face and catch her flailing arms. So I did what I thought would work. I kicked the back of her knees, bringing her down. I got my arm around her neck and forgot all about Nick standing in front of me. She tried getting me off of her, but orcs don't have very good range of motion. Her flailing slows and her arms drop…her whole body goes limp within a few seconds. I look up at Nick and he's looking at me with wide eyes and surprise, catching his breath.
Ward jogs over, "whoa what the hell?"
I gently lay the woman down and cuff her hands behind her back. She won't be out long and I don't want her swinging again when she wakes.
Nick explains that she just started attacking him out of nowhere. But Ward wasn't asking about what she did. "She's an orc Nick, why the hell didn't you take her down? Why did Stone have to take her? You wouldn't be putting that clan shit before your badge would you?"
For the first time, I see Nick get angry. He grits his teeth and gets in Ward's face. "Hey fuck you, she was swinging at my face I couldn't see a fuckin thing! I've already told you about what my badge means to me.."
*okay so this is what captain was talking about...*
"hey hey!.." I say, walking up to Ward. "I don't have a problem taking someone down, I would have still done it if she was attacking YOU!"
"Yea, difference is I would have been the one to put her ass down. Not played patty-cake with her" Ward says, glaring at Nick.
I'm not gonna put up with this. I get in between them: "Ward! …the fuck man? He just helped them bring that guy down, you think he can't handle a female? He didn't want to hit her, so I got her. Wasn't gonna just let her attack him. Chill out…"
Ward stalks back to the truck glaring at Nick. I can tell Nick is looking at me but I didn't want to give the impression that I did it because I like him. I did it because he's my partner. "Come on, let's get this bitch in the truck and head back to the station, I'm hungry."
Nick nods and picks up the orc woman. He sits in the back with her while Ward drives back to the station. Ward didn't say a word the whole way.
Later that evening right after shift he came over. He still had that face I saw after I corrected Ward's tantrum. Kinda smug, kinda curious…but silent. Like he's waiting.
I get 2 beers from the fridge and he meets me on the couch. He sits down, and still hasn't said a word since he's come in. I open his beer and hand it to him. I don't let it go when he grabs it, making him look at me. I ask him, "Nick….what's going on. You've never been this quiet before…."
He sighs and looks up at me. "I just…I saw something today that I haven't seen in a very long time. A human was defending me. Even if it was as stupid as today was, or it could have been something huge, it means a lot to me. It shows me that you care…and not a whole lot of people do." he looks away, trailing off and taking a swig of his beer.
"Nick honey. I did it because we're partners. I would have done it even if we weren't. Ward was wrong and that's it." I explain to him.
"Yea I get that. But I've been dealing with this shit since I got here…so seeing someone actually say something about it kinda felt good." he shrugs.
I scoot closer to him and kiss his cheek. "You're a good cop Nick. And a badass orc, so don't let Ward's bullshit get to you."
He picks at the label of his beer "oh what he says doesn't bother me, I just wish he knew how much being a cop meant to me" He looked at me then.
I know I said I was going to keep it a secret, but I hate that he's feeling like this. "Nick, Ward knows. He knows your badge is everything to you."
He looks at me curious, nostrils flaring in and out. "…What?…" he asks.
"When I kissed you the other day?…you were standing in line getting food and he came back to the truck. He said you are a good cop. He knows how much it means to you. I think he just holds you to a higher standard, and I'm sure he gets frustrated at all this orc shit going on right now." I take a drink from my bottle.
He's looking at me, thinking, nodding. "But don't say anything to him, about me saying this." I tell him.
"Alright." he settles.
I get my phone and open my food delivery app, "you hungry?"
He perks up a bit and his ears flicker, "I could eat…"
I nod, "mmkay, what do you want…" I scroll through the cuisines, choosing chinese food for me.
"I'm getting chinese…want that too?" I ask him. He nods but adds: "uh yea thats fine. I'll take a couple vegetable things, I don't eat meat."
I look at him, a bit surprised. "you don't eat meat?…"
He explains that humans eat too much processed foods for his comfort, and he keeps his shape and strength from eating well.
An hour and a half later I'm putting leftovers into my fridge. His phone dings and he's looking at it intently, thinking over something. "Everything okay?" I ask him.
"Yea, um…." he trails off, reading more from his phone. "…Dorghu just asked me to come down to his club. Says there's something I need to see."
I stop what I'm doing to look at him. "Dorghu?….Fogtooth Leader Dorghu?"
"Yes. He's the one who blooded me, I don't want to disrespect him by declining." He tells me, putting his phone down and leaning on the table. I couldn't tell if he was torn between not wanting to leave me, or having to go see Dorghu. Or both.
"Alright, looks like we're headed to the club!" I move to head to my room, but he blocks me.
"No." he shakes his head. "I don't want you mixed up in this. I don't want you hurt. I don't know what he wants..."
I look at him, half lovingly, half annoyed. "Nick, do you forget I'm a cop? What happens if something goes down and you need help?" He looks at me and I can see him mulling it over.
"Aella he doesn't like cops. He doesn't even like that I'M a cop…" he says.
"Okay. Does he know I'm a cop?"
I can see a light bulb appear in his head: "well..no"
"Alright then. To the club we go" I smile and walk past him to my room to change. Nick was already in jeans and a hoodie, so he was fine. I knew I needed to look presentable if I was to avoid standing out.
I'm in my walk-in closet humming a random song while finding an outfit, and I hear Nick go and sit on my bed.
I come out of the closet wearing a pair of torn tight jeans, thigh-high boots, and a comfortable wine-colored shirt. I'll put my leather jacket on when we leave. I'm not one for dresses or heels.
Nick's ears twitch when I move to the bathroom. I'm putting on my makeup and he leans in the doorway. "….so are we going to be..you know….together while we're there?" He's more asking permission than wondering what the plan is.
I think about it and decide sure, we can be together as a couple. Nobody will recognize me anyway.
While I'm on duty I don't wear makeup, and my hair is pulled back in a bun. Tonight, I wont be in uniform, I'll have makeup on and my hair down. After I tell Nick, he moves back to the living room to watch TV while I finish.
When I come out of my room he stands, looking me over. His eyes are bright and a little surprised.
"Wow..Aella, you look amazing. They'll never guess that you're a cop!"
I smile and tell him "Yep, that's the point" I giggle. "You ready to head out?" I ask him.
He comes back to reality and nods, grabbing his keys.
He walks to the door and I follow him, also admiring him in his outfit. He wears fitting clothes, nothing baggy, but nothing too tight. He dresses well but comfortable, and I like it.
We step outside and I see a huge black GMC Sierra sitting in my driveway.
"Um?….Nick, you drive this?" I ask him, as he closes the door behind us.
He looks at the truck, and back at me. "Yea?…wh-….why, what's wrong?"
"nothing…it's just a really sexy truck" I say as I walk to it. He stands there for a moment confused at me calling a vehicle 'sexy'. He sees me standing at the passenger door, and he snaps back to reality. He comes over and the door unlocks automatically, before he pulls it open. He offers his hand to help me climb in, literally. He shuts the door behind me while I buckle in. He gets in and starts the truck and I'm looking at him, admiring the way he looks IN this truck. He sees my side eye with my smirk and he says "what?…you look at me like that a lot"
I laugh, and we're off to Dorghu's club.
