Midnight.
Chapter 22: Ready to Run...
Why did the Chief send her home? How did anyone expect her to sleep when Nick was out there somewhere, in the paws of crooks who had already made attempts on their lives? Sure, her shift was already over by the time she had woken up in the hospital, and maybe it wasn't the best idea for her to return to duty immediately after being tranquilized; but did everyone really expect her to just 'go home and get some rest'? The thoughts were driving her insane as she repeatedly shifted in the bed, vainly trying to find comfort in the sheets. She had been laying on the mattress for over an hour now, and felt no closer to falling asleep. And the blankets, the pillows, they all smelled so much like him. She deeply inhaled to smell Nick's scent tied with her own in the bedsheets. Where was he? The thought had her pushing down tears in a war she was quickly losing. For once... He wasn't there. And she needed him. She needed him there every night. He had to be there, to hold her, to make her feel warm and safe. And now, she was all alone.
"What did they do to you, Nick?" she asked the empty room before sitting up in the bed, the first few tears making their way down her cheek. Even that reminded her of him, how gently he held her when she cried in his lap. How softly he has spoken into her ear. How much love emanated through every single thing he did with her. She remembered the way he used his paw to wipe the tears off her muzzle, and how sweetly he had kissed her afterwards. Judy knew she wouldn't ever fall asleep surrounded by his scent, and it was only pushing her worry for him farther and farther.
What if Nick was dead?
She tried to push down the thought, that even considering the possibility of him not coming home would have been too much for her. She couldn't stay in this bed anymore, only being able to think of him and what could've possibly happened. She had to get away from all this worry, all these ideas. But there was no-one to hold her. No-one to embrace her and tell her it would all be okay. Wiping off the tears, she stepped out of the bed and blindly walked towards the bathroom in the darkness. Making her way in, she flipped on the light switch to catch a glance of herself in the mirror. It was obvious she had been crying. Taking off her nightgown, Judy stepped into the shower and tried to burn away the horrible thoughts in her mind with steaming hot water. The burning sensation of the heated water running down her fur, the impossible aching in her heart, she was almost ready to lay down on the shower floor and cry. Almost, until her muzzle picked up that same familiar scent, that was when she remembered Nick's words the day she had joined him in the shower.
Just like the rest of their apartment, the shower she was in had been marked by them, another reminder. Another reminder of how much she loved him, and how much he loved her. And with that, she lost the battle and fell to her knees on the shower floor.
without a shoulder to muffle them on, Judy's whimpers filled the shower, the bathroom, and her entire apartment. And not a soul heard them.
It was a knocking on the door that eventually brought her out of the miserable heap she had become on the floor. Very slowly, she lifted herself up and turned the shower water back off. Ignoring the chill of the air around her, she didn't even bother wiping the tears away before wrapping a towel around her to provide some dignity while exiting the bathroom and heading towards the apartment door. She probably could've gotten dressed, or looked through the peephole, or tried to make herself presentable in any way at all- but Judy couldn't find any reason to care. Throwing open the door, she was greeted by a familiar face.
"Oh, oh! I'm sorry!" Came Derick's immediate reaction to seeing her in a towel, her fur completely matted by the shower. He followed this by taking a step back and gazing both of his eyes upwards and away from her exposed fur. She actually found herself a little embarrassed now that she was actually standing in front of someone in nothing more than a towel. At least it was a fellow officer, she thought to herself. "I had no idea you'd be in the shower this late, my apologies"
"What is it, Derick?" She didn't mean to come off as rude or impatient, but she was already being pushed to her mental limits. For a second, Derick lowered his head just enough to glance at her face. Her eyes, in particular. He could obviously tell not all the droplets on her muzzle were from the shower. "It's past midnight, why are you here?"
"oh, uh, well you see... umm..." For all the training the ZPD SWAT team does, one would think a member was capable of conversing with a bunny, fully clothed or not. Derick's eyes seemed to be intently examining the hallway tile above her. His mouth, struggling to find the words. "I know where Nick is"
Judy didn't try to slam the door in her colleague's face, but accidentally did so before her mouth could even speak the next words she planned on saying. Nevertheless, she just yelled it louder so he could hear her through the door.
"I'll be ready in three minutes!"
And with that, she didn't waste a second while rushing into the bedroom and hastily throwing on the first clothes she found.
11:00 PM (an hour earlier)
Derick was tired. It had been a long day at the ZPD... warehouse? Whatever, at least he was home for tonight now. Or so, he planned on being when his car pulled up to the parking garage connected to his apartment building. As he pulled into his usual parking spot, he got out and began walking towards the elevator to take him up to the apartments. As he pressed the button on the inside of the elevator, prompting a slight beeping noise, he began combing over the most important parts from his day at work. He had been sent with 19 others to assist Nick and Judy at the suspected Lieutenant's home. But by the time they arrived, all they found was the body of a single weasel, some droplets of blood leading out the doorway, and some scattered items thrown onto the floor from the receptionist desk. After just a few seconds, however, an elephant had appeared clutching Officer Hopps. They took in the bewildered mammal for questioning, and escorted Hopps to the hospital. They notified her emergency contacts, and soon her parents had arrived. The question on everyone's mind at that point was largely the same: Where was Nick? It didn't make any sense at all they would find her and yet her partner had vanished. From the signs they saw in the lobby, however, combined with that statement given by the elephant- they had all come to fear the worst. Nicholas was kidnapped or worse, and they had no way of finding him. Derick also remembered seeing the tears in that poor bunny's eyes when she realized why Nick wasn't in that hospital room with her. Perhaps he would have tried to give her a hug for reassurance, but he understood it wouldn't have meant anything to her. Not by him. This had Derick even thinking back to when he saw Nick holding her after pulling the bunny out from the center of a major shootout. He couldn't imagine how Hopps might have been feeling at this moment, after the Chief sent them all home for the night.
As the Elevator doors opened, Derick stepped out and towards his personal room. Maybe he would've noticed it if he wasn't so tired, or perhaps he would have picked up some other hint on his way in, but Derick didn't even notice his door had been unlocked when he walked through it. The situation became very apparent either way when he immediately spotted the white fox calmly sitting on his couch just opposite of the entrance.
"Hello Derick" the bone-chilling coolness of the words sliced through the air around him as his pulse quickened at the realization of just who was in his home. "I'd like to offer you a deal"
A wolf now blocked the doorway Derick had entered through, most likely having followed in behind him. There were two more of these wolves standing beside Franko, machine guns steadily sitting in their paws. He must have expected Derick's stunned silence, because he continued on nearly without pause.
"If you decline, I kill you... Hmm, perhaps that isn't enough? Okay, I'll kill you and three of your fellow officers" The impossibly cold words coming from Debauch's mouth made him want to respond, to say anything back. Perhaps he would plead? Beg? Threaten? Whatever it was he wanted to say, however, was lost by the squeezing dryness in his throat. "You see, I want you to lure a bunny for me"