"So, Wilde… Um… How was it?"
Judy looked up from the notes in her hospital bed. She was getting tired of all the white and all the beeping, but right now it seemed to be the safest place. After all, this 'Clefts' group just wanted to put everyone IN the hospital, not make them check out.
Her partner looked up at the ocelot. His green eyes looked tired, and there were bags under them. After Talens had been allowed to move around, Nick had done the paperwork to have her transferred hospitals to the Downtown district and to transfer her into Judy's room.
Judy shook her head. It had been a long week. After a few days, she'd had to have another surgery. Nick had joked about that, too- "Rabbits are meant to hop about, not fly like birds." She had laughed and had the surgery. Her parents had visited, and that had been uncomfortable. Nick had vanished quickly when they arrived, moving with more agility than she thought he could, what with all the bandages and splints he was forced into. They stay focused on her being in another explosion thankfully.
Then she had been given a roommate. One who was apparently going to help on the case. Judy had met Talens only in passing, but the officer had seemed oddly quiet and not as strong as she'd thought. Losing her partner had had a major effect. Even when Nick was around, it took him a bit to get her into looking into the paperwork.
So it was a tad shocking to hear her speak out of nowhere. Whereas Judy was looking at files and photos, Nick was holding the same report he'd had for the past hour. Talens was laying in her bed, staring at the ceiling. Of the three, the senior officer was being the least helpful. Not that Judy would say that out loud; she knew how to be tactful.
"Talens, are you really asking me how the funeral went?"
Judy gulped. The air seemed thick. Nick was the only one mobile and well enough to up and go, so he had been the one at the funeral. There was a large service to combine all the officers that had died in action, but he had stayed longer for Sans individual and more family-oriented service. She reached out to touch him, knowing he was still too far away. His tail wasn't, and she managed to touch it slightly. To her surprise, Nick didn't move it away.
"Sorry," came the mumbled reply as the ocelot turned over in her bed. Nick sighed and rubbed his eyes.
"It was… hard." Judy looked over at the bed, seeing the back become smaller as Talens curled up. "The Chief said some kind things about her. Her family cried over the casket. Her brother gave the eulogy and talked about her growing up."
Talens just kept her back to them, curled up tight. Judy could hear the faintest of sounds and knew the officer was crying again. She wasn't coping well. She wasn't sure how Talens had d gotten back on the case, but she was still in grieving.
"I was asked to talk as well." Judy turned her eyes to Nick, but he wasn't looking anywhere. His eyes were closed. "I didn't know what to say, so I talked about the Academy. About how I thought she'd have an amazing career ahead of her. About how she'd stopped us from killing each other in that apartment. I didn't know what to say, so I said everything I could."
Talens just kept crying the longer he talked. Judy wanted to help, but she didn't know what to do. She'd never been in that situation. She couldn't help. The room wasn't doing anything for anyone right now, though. Despite Nick getting his paws on everything they had on the case, it was too fresh. Too overpowering. She set the files aside.
"Talens, would you like something to eat?" Judy pulled on the tip of Nick's tail. He turned his eyes to her, opening them enough for her to nod to the wheelchair next to him. Now that he didn't need a crutch, he had volunteered to push her anywhere she wanted to go. He was being a lot more clingy than she'd thought he'd of been.
"I think I'll go get some food. Would you like some?" she asked again. The mass of sheets and fur in the bed didn't respond. "Or would you prefer us to leave you alone for a while?" This time, a small bit of movement occurred. It was slow and deliberate, but unmistakably a nod of some kind. Judy gestured to Nick to hurry.
"Alright. We'll give you some peace and quiet. I'll bring you back something, okay?" The bundle made another positive movement. Nick had finally got the wheelchair over to her, so Judy managed to climb down into it. They left the room and Nick closed the door behind them. Judy pulled out a card and showed it to her partner: "FOOD"?
He shrugged. He began to push her towards the elevator. Despite having left the room, both of them were quiet to be polite to Talens. Judy grabbed her group and pulled out another card instead. She showed it to Nick, and he smiled a little. They both enjoyed this option.
"Oh. M. Goodness! Judy! Nick!" came the excited squeal from the bed in the room. Judy found herself smiling back at Benjamin Clawhauser. He had this air that surrounded himself and seemed to fill the room. It was happy and excited and wonderful. Judy took in the smell of roses and lilies that were on almost every visible surface in the room. It'd of probably been every surface, except for the food card next to the bed that was stacked with donuts.
"Benji, I want to know how you get away with it," came Nick's voice behind her. "If I had that many donuts in my room, they'd steal them from me."
"I have a huge amount of deliveries!" he replied excitedly. Judy almost wondered if he'd jump out of the bed. Instead, she realized that it wasn't really a possibility, thanks to the casts covering the lower half of his body. He'd been caught in the ramming, which had broken his legs. According to the doctors, he was lucky to not be paralyzed.
"I'm glad to see you so happy, Benji," Judy said as she reached out and touched his paw. Clawhauser smiled at her.
"Thanks, Judy. Oh, guess what, guess what?"
"What is it, big guy?" Nick sounded exhausted to Judy. She wished he'd go sleep somewhere. Instead, he constantly stared at that page. Unless he was pushing her around.
The friendly cheetah pulled out his phone and showed them his new screensaver. It was a photo of him next to Gazelle, the famous singer that he was a huge fan of. "Someone got her a letter that explained everything. I got to talk to her for twenty minutes and take a few pictures!" He looked ready to pop with happiness.
"That's great!" Judy squealed with him. She didn't tell him that it had been her who had written the letter to her agents.
"Isn't it, Carrots? It's like he had someone set that up for him!" Nick was being witty again, and she swatted at his paw on the chair. She didn't want Clawhauser to know it was her.
"It really is!" she said back. "Did you let her meet Bogo?"
Benjamin laughed. "He met her in the hall, actually. I think he got her autograph before he went back to the Precinct reconstruction." Judy nodded. She knew he was a fan of the singer too, but she'd forgotten about how quickly the Precinct had to be rebuilt. There was nowhere else to hold criminals in the meantime except at the other Precincts. Thankfully, 3 and 5 were offering full aide to help 1, 2 and 8 get back up and running.
They quickly got into talking about everything from new songs to cakes and donuts. Nick ended up eating a few and so did Judy. After about 30 minutes, she tried to find a way to excuse themselves politely from his room.
Nick was nice enough to help her. "Benjamin, Fluff here's tired. I think I should take her back to her room."
Clawhauser nodded. "Come back and see me soon, okay?"
Judy nodded. "If I wasn't stuck in this chair I'd come see you every day!" He smiled at that. As Nick began to push her towards the door, he stopped. Judy looked up to see him with a faraway look in his eyes.
"Clawhauser, do you remember it well?"
She felt her face drop. No one wanted to talk about the attack. Everyone was healing. She turned her head down, not wanting to see what Benjamin's face looked like as Nick asked his questions. She wanted to stop him, but knew he had a reason.
After a moment, she heard his voice. "Yeah, Nick. It was scary." His voice sounded feeble and quiet.
"Was Grayson driving?"
Judy's ears popped up out of curiosity. This wasn't what she expected him to ask.
"It was all so fast, Nick. But I don't think so. The place was bright, but I don't think there was anyone in the driver's seat."
Judy looked up at Nick. His eyes still had a distant look, but she could see the fire within them, too. He was working out something in his own way. Something she'd missed. He turned back to the room.
"Thanks, buddy. Sorry for bringing that up, I was just curious."
"No problem." Clawhauser's voice was getting a bit more perky now that he knew he wouldn't be asked anything else. Judy turned in the chair to look at him.
"We'll visit again soon!" she waved at him as Nick pushed her out the door. After it shut, she let him push her towards the elevator. After the doors closed, he looked at him.
"What was that about?" She couldn't believe he'd be so insensitive! He'd been the same way with Fangmeyer, but that had been different. "Why would you ask him that?"
"Carrots, think. If he wasn't driving, how did the car get into the station?" He gave her a quick look as he lifted his eyebrows.
Without thinking, she responded, "Someone else drove."
"Where's the body?"
"Nick, what do-"
"We recovered parts of Grayson, right? If there'd been another driver, he'd of been in the car. Instead, opening the door activated the bomb. If he'd gotten out, he had to do it before the car crashed into the building. Which means either the car got lucky to not veer off once it hit those stairs, or someone was controlling it remotely."
Judy felt her eyes widen. "Nick, is that even possible?" She'd never heard of such a thing.
"I grew up around street racing, Carrots. It was a fun idea back then. I don't think it's impossible to say it's more than theory by this point. If Clawhauser didn't see anyone else, that car went too straight for too long and should have been losing speed by the time it hit. Instead, it gained momentum and only stopped when it rammed into the front desk."
Judy had read the reports. Everything he was saying made sense. "Is there any other reason you'd say that, Nick?"
"Precinct 8."
She didn't understand. How could that bomb be any different? From the reports, everything had been the same. The ramming, the time gap, the explosion, the disembodied pieces… wait. That was it.
"They only recovered Valts and Sans."
"Exactly, Fluff. Where was the driver or passenger? It couldn't have been rammed the same. They never opened the doors, but reports say no one existed the vehicle that they saw and there was never a moment they didn't have eyes on it."
The doors opened in front of them and Nick began to push the wheelchair forward. Judy was trying to piece everything together in her mind. She'd been looking for connections, checking through the stolen records to see where the vehicles had come from. There'd been nothing. No connections anywhere. If Nick was right about this, they had something to hinge on.
"So, state of the art vehicle control systems that can be remotely accessed and ran. Removing all of their members that we're aware of. If they've got that much to work with resource wise, why would they make themselves known to us? They could easily overpower or escape the police." It wasn't making any sense.
"Simple, Carrots- Opportunity. After the Howlers, there was money to be made and they could strike a name for themselves. Or something changed and they got something that they could use to sky vault to the top. Whatever it is, they're dangerous. They've proved that."
She nodded. This was turning out to be bigger than she'd dreamed. Just like the Howlers, this case was getting out of control. Somehow the Mayor hadn't gotten involved yet. They were almost back to Judy's room when she remembered. "I said we'd bring some food back for her."
Nick just shook his head. "She's likely asleep and she barely eats. Right now, we just have to do our job and be there for her. Keeping her involved helps her find a way to make right by Sans." He leaned down to look into her eyes. She felt those emeralds stare at her and she wanted to say so much to him, how scared she'd been when he'd figured out what was going to happen. She had thought she wouldn't make it, and all she could do was charge after him, hoping that she'd survived.
"Nick, I… well… Sorry for scaring you."
He snorted. "Carrots, I know the cafeteria isn't that good but it's not that scary."
She pushed him in the shoulder, feeling a smile come to her face. "Nick, I didn't mean that. I meant-"
He touched his paw to her mouth. She just looked at him. "There's a time and a place to talk about certain things, Fluff. Not out here." She nodded. He pulled away his paw and opened the door.
Immediately she smelled something amazing. It was earthy and amazing and made her stomach rumble. Even after all the donuts, this smell made her mouth water. Nick pushed her in, smelling it too. "Wait a sec," he said as he froze in the doorway. "This smells like-"
"Glad to see you notice my food before me, Nicky." The figure of a red fox came into view from behind the small wall. The gray hairs looked amazing on Nick's mother. She was wearing a brown color that made her natural red color less blazing.
"Miss Swift!" Judy spoke out. "I didn't know you were coming. Nick's room is on the fifth floor-"
Vivian waved her paw. "The nurses say he spends more time here than there. Apparently they've given up trying to keep him from coming to this room. It's easier to keep up with you two."
Judy felt herself smiling. It'd been nearly two weeks since she'd met Nick's mother, and in that short period she felt herself completely at ease around her. She turned to look at Nick. He looked stiff, but it wasn't as uncomfortable looking as when they'd first met.
"Well, you know me, Mom. Gotta keep Fluff here outta trouble. Every time I let her out of my sight a building collapses." Judy wanted to laugh and scowl at the same time.
"By the way, Nicky. I thought you said you were a cop. I'm confused about that, because it seems like all you're doing is tearing down buildings like a construction worker."
Judy felt herself giggle. The way these two bickered was different from how her family lived, but still pleasant. It made her feel welcome. "Well, Nick was living under a bridge when before I got him into the Academy. I guess he's bad with actual roofs."
His mother smiled, showing off her white teeth. At one point, Judy would have jumped from the sight of all the sharp points. Now, she just admired how clean they were.
"Nicky, you should keep her. She can keep up."
"Mom, don't talk like that. It's not like there's anything between-"
"Says the fox who kissed a rabbit." Judy froze, her eyes going wide. She didn't have to look at Nick to know he was having the same reaction.
"How'd you find out about that, Mother?" His voice had a curtness that wasn't there a moment before, like he was walking on eggshells. Judy knew exactly how it felt, because she was doing the same thing.
Vivian turned, motioning to the four rabbits sitting near her. Judy wanted to hide. She hadn't expected her parents to show up again, let alone Joshua and Margaret.
She turned to look at Nick, trying to figure out what to say. He looked just as shocked, and she could see the color draining from his face. Before either of them could figure out how to proceed, a quiet voice came out. It was strained and hoarse from all the crying, but Judy recognized it. After all, they were roommates now.
"You sure there's "nothing between you" after all, Wilde?"
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Okay, so I want to say three or things here.
First off, thank you for the reviews. I know you're all blowing up my ego, but I appreciate the praise. Although I have to admit, I ended up laughing when I read Matteoarts comment about "pumping out chapters faster than Octomom can pump out children." That was hard to explain at work, but thank you. I needed that.
Second off, to AZalmega, Astorathgrim, Foxlover91 and everyone else: I am trying to get this done quickly. I like this story, and thus it flows. I write one chapter at a time, and then I edit and publish it. I then begin on the next. So each chapter? I'm not holding back to meet a quota. They are fresh from the press. My fingers somehow don't hurt yet, and I'm thankful for that.
Thirdly, I'm hoping none of you get mad at this chapter (and the next). I need to slow down the pace. Just like a roller coaster, I can't go down or up the whole time, there has to be twists, turns, and pace changes. The plot got really strong and headfast in a hurry, and I need to slow it down a bit. I still hope you like it.
Fourth and final, I went back and changed a few things. I tried to get every officer's name from the movie (same as the map) and it was hard to tell who some of the characters were. It was brought to my attention that Fangmier (as I wrote it) was actually Fangmeyer and instead of a tiger, he was a Timber wolf. When you watch the movie, there were three names called when it came to the missing mammals case for the Rainforest District. The one who took the case was the tiger. Since the first name called was Fangmeyer's, I assumed this connection. I was wrong, and thus I fixed it. I also realized that I had misheard the name "Grizzoli" (Griz-ole-ee) as "Gazotee" (Guz-ote-ee). I first assumed the character was a goat or lamb, but now believe it to be a bear based on the name fix. I have fixed the past two or three chapters to take into account these errors. Thank you to Matteoarts for pointing those out.
Jay AKA Pyre
A PERSONAL CONFESSION: I actually cried while writing the chapter before this one. My idea was to create a powerful chapter, and when I ended up with tears coming down I knew I'd hit that point. If you didn't cry over the guilt and memories, let me know. Next character I kill off I'll be sure to hit it up stronger. Because yes, more will die. You've been warned.