Chapter 5: Transfusion

Nick stared for another 5 minutes at Judy unconscious, lying coldly on a white snow-white bed, with two IVs, apparatus and an oxygen bottle standing next to her.

Nick imagined how bad such a person must feel in such a position, or maybe she didn't feel anything anymore, she just wanted to leave this world...

"Mr Wilde" he was snapped out of his flowing train of thought by the doctor turning to the fox.

"If you wish, we can test you for a blood group match today, and we'll call you in the afternoon and let you know what we're going to do next" the doctor communicated. Nick didn't hesitate for a moment, he immediately nodded with a movement of his head. After accepting the offer, the two men made their way to the lift to go to the very ground floor where the blood collection point was.

Once they were in the corridor, Nick noticed that no one was already in the waiting room. The only person in the room was the receptionist, who, while drinking her coffee to stay awake, was typing something on the computer, presumably documents of various kinds.

"This way please," the doctor asked, leading the fox into a small room where there were two armchairs and instruments for drawing blood. The fox sat down in the seat indicated by the reindeer then took off his jacket and sweatshirt to then roll up the sleeve on his grey shirt.

"This won't take long Mr Wilde, the only thing you might feel is a slight prick at first..." Announced the doctor putting the gloves on his hands. He took a syringe with a needle, then sat down opposite the patient. He leaned gently towards Nick and inserted the needle into Nick's hand. Fox groaned a little in pain at first, but felt nothing after that. The doctor drew some plasma then slid the syringe out putting it aside.

"That's enough blood. We will call you later and tell you if your blood is suitable for transfusion" the doctor replied as he put the syringe away and threw the gloves in the bin. Fox meanwhile put his sweatshirt and jacket back on. They both headed towards the exit and stopped by it talking about Judy for a while longer.

"Doctor, be honest...what are the chances that Judy will make it out alive?" The fox asked. The doctor sighed. Nick could see he didn't want to answer that question too much, but he had no choice anymore.

"Depends a lot on the liver. If it needs to be transplanted the chances are... just depends on how long she has to wait for the new organ" the doctor replied.

"Yeah...sure...thanks, command" replied Nick, then walked off towards his car. The rain was still falling, but no longer as much as before. It was now a light drizzle. Nick got into his car, then drove away from the hospital site.

As he drove he tried not to think too much about what might happen to Judy. He thought about it so much that now all he would want to do is jump into bed and fall into a deep sleep hoping to wake up rested. Unfortunately, he knew that this would not be the case. In addition, he was supposed to report for patrol at 8 a.m., but Nick figured he wouldn't show up on time. He wanted some rest and hoped that Commander Bogo would understand. Out of curiosity he glanced at his watch on his phone, he was surprised to see 4.30 a.m. It reinforced his assumption that he would be late for his patrol, he didn't think of any other option. As he drove home he also thought about what he would do when it turned out that Judy would have to have a liver transplant. Just as the doctor had said, this was a big problem that was not easy to deal with. Just then again in the back of his mind, deep down he felt that Judy's blood must not be shed in vain.

"No Nick, you can't do that..." Thought Nick immediately negatively waving his head from side to side. He's a police officer now, he couldn't do this, he couldn't break the law...

When Nick arrived home he parked under the garage and then walked into the house. Without even turning on the light in the living room he threw his jacket on the sofa then went into his bedroom. He took off all his clothes, leaving only his boxers on, put his clothes on the ironing board and went to bed. A few minutes later he fell asleep...

A few hours later

A few hours later, when the sun had long since set over the horizon and the temperature outside was already fairly warm, Nick was just waking up from his long sleep. He immediately turned off his alarm clock, which gave a regular sound, then sat up on his bed. It hadn't been his best night's sleep, and it showed. He had fine bags under his eyes, and his disheveled fur on his head confirmed the poor quality of his sleep. Fox, after sitting up for a few moments, headed to the bathroom to have his morning toilet. In the meantime he saw his costume, which was ready to wear. Thanks to the washing, the uniform looked like new and in addition it was dry, so Nick could put it on right away.

After his morning toilette, the fox went to the kitchen to eat breakfast. To be honest, if it wasn't for the fact that he had to eat anything to have a bit of strength he wouldn't have eaten anything. His breakfast consisted of cereal and all in all that would have been enough. Seeing that it was already 10.30 a.m. on the clock and that he was already over 2 hours late Nick wanted to get ready to leave as soon as possible.

Once she had eaten, Nick headed to the bathroom to put on his navy blue uniform. Although there was not a single trace of blood on it, Nick imagined dimly the dark stains that were caused by his partner's blood. He sighed heavily, standing in front of the mirror he smiled to himself for a moment to improve the expression on his face, but was unsuccessful. He was too down for this simple trick to help.

"ah, screw it" Nick sighed, then left the bathroom.

He saw if he had all his papers and left the house locking the door.

He got into his police car and then started driving towards the police station. The time on the clock was 10.45 a.m. Fox was moderately concerned about this, he was more waiting to hear from the doctor who was to call him about the blood transfusion. He hoped that his blood would be suitable for it, if his blood didn't match, it would be a big problem again, of which there was already no shortage.

15 minutes later

Nick made his final appearance at the station at 11.15 a.m. This was the time Nick got out of his car. He was not particularly surprised when he saw that only his work parking space was free. Everyone at work was maxed out at 9a.m.; by 11a.m. everyone had been working for a long time. When Nick entered the police station he was immediately stopped by a shout from the commandant that came from the first floor of the building.

"Nick!" Shouted the commandant from above. Fox looked up to see Bogo showing with a motion of his hand to go to his office. He obeyed the command by going to his office, after all he had no way to defend himself anyway and didn't particularly care about the call. He knocked on the door and went inside. Bogo was already waiting for him, he showed his hand for the fox to sit down opposite him. The fox obediently followed the order and sat down opposite the commandant. Without saying a word to each other they stared at each other. Nick was a little puzzled by the situation , he thought the commandant would yell at him, but he didn't look like he was going to do that.

"What about Judy?" Asked the Commandant after a moment. His tone was surprisingly low and calm, which surprised Nick. The Commandant had never spoken like this before. He always spoke in a loud and booming voice, but never in a calm and quiet one.

"She's not well... she may need a liver transplant" Nick replied.

"Not good...not good..." The commander sighed heavily.

"If it wasn't for this action...if I'd gone with her..."

"Nick it's not your fault. You had to obey her, don't blame yourself. It's the fault of whoever shot her, our boys are already looking for him, we need to get him..."

"Do you know anything about him?"

"We have a file on him, we know he stays in the northern part of Zootopia, but he hides too well" replied Bogo.

"Mhm" sighed Nick thoughtfully as the commander pulled a card from a drawer and handed it to the fox.

"What is it?" Asked Nick when he received it in his paws. As it turned out, it was a temporary release from work.

"Look Nick, everyone knows that at the station you and Judy have a strong relationship. You need to get some rest. It's Tuesday today, you're off until Sunday, rest, rehab, you need to rebuild yourself mentally," Bogo communicated.

"Well...if you say so" replied Nick uncertainly.

"Get some rest Nick, you'll still have time to work out" replied the commander. Fox had nothing to say. He got up from his chair, thanked him and left the office to walk to his car. On the way he met the eyes of others. They were full of pity and sympathy. Nick tried not to pay attention, but deep down he was annoyed by these looks that gave nothing away. He didn't like pity, not like this. These were embarrassing looks that the fox wanted to avoid. As he left the station, his phone rang. Fox picked up the phone and to his delight, it was the doctor.

"Good morning Doctor, how are you?" Asked Nick immediately as he answered the phone.

"Hello Mr Wilde, I'd like to ask you to come to the hospital. Your blood matches Judy Hopps blood type, we will be performing a blood transfusion" replied the man calmly.

"Sure! I'll be there in 15 minutes" Nick replied, then hung up with the doctor. His mood immediately improved. When he heard that his blood matched Judy's plasma he was pleased, it was already a step towards Judy's recovery. He started the car and drove out of the car park heading towards the hospital.

Once Nick was outside the hospital he was a little stressed about the procedure. He had never had a blood transfusion before, so he didn't know what was in store for him. He didn't know if it would hurt him or not. He entered the hospital with a bit of trepidation, there was already a doctor waiting for him who was standing at the entrance.

"Hello Mr Wilde. Please follow me " said the doctor walking towards the lift. They got into it, after which the doctor chose floor number 5.

"Doctor, I'm not quite sure what this is about and I'm a bit stressed...will it hurt?" Nick asked with slight uncertainty.

"Well, will it hurt...hm...just a little, but you should be dead by time"

"About time?" Repeated a surprised Nick.

"You will have to sit by the patient for several hours" replied the doctor. Despite the doctor telling him to worry about it he wasn't worried about it. He was happy to be by Judy's side and wasn't really in a hurry to go anywhere. When the lift opened they headed towards the room where Judy lay.

"We need to get the suits on before we go in, we still haven't checked Judy's liver status" the doctor communicated as Nick was about to go inside. The doctor handed over a white jumpsuit for the fox, with a cut out on the left sleeve. It was a fairly thick suit that covered the whole body, it was weak to walk in, but no bacteria could reach Judy's weak body. When they went inside, Nick stopped at the entrance and looked sadly at Judy. He hadn't been this close to her since the shooting, he missed it. He approached her slowly looking at her dead and cold face.

"'You'll be out of these Carrots soon' thought Nick touching her soft left paw.

"Mr Wilde, I'd like to get started now" remarked the doctor as he prepared the necessary materials.

"Yes sure, sorry" said the fox. He sat down in the designated seat, then stuck out his left paw. The doctor, with the greatest care, inserted the needle slowly, into Nick's vein. The fox groaned a little loudly at the throbbing sensation, but the pain quickly changed to a smaller and smaller sting until finally Nick could only feel the blood rolling from the needle into Judy.

"What now?" Nick asked to which the doctor laughed.

"We just have to wait..." Replied the doctor sitting down opposite the fox.