Nick and Judy are being debriefed in Chief Bogos office. Chief Bogos clean perfectly groomed uniform stands in stark contrast to the battered and disheveled uniforms of his two officers; covered in ash, and grit, Nick has blood on his uniform, a mixture of the wolf's and his own, while Judys uniform is heavily covered in metallic ash, and her jacket is absent, collected for evidence. Not that she wanted it back, it still had chunks of charred gore and blood stuck to it when she handed it over to evidence. Nick has a bandage on the bridge of his nose, his left eye is swollen, and his left arm is in a sling. They are both sitting on the same large mammal sized chair.
Judy recounts the events
"I went to go pick-up Nick, like I do every day, and I parked the car out front and brought up some coffee. He was running late, so I went to go start the car and wait for him downstairs. I turned the key and the car wouldn't start, but then I saw an old goat having a hard time opening his door, so I went to go help him. The next thing I know, Nick is lifting a car door off me."
Nick interrupts, "Sir, these guys came hard; with fully automatic assault weapons, body armor and explosives, this is clearly some sort of hit. Do we have any leads or suspects?"
The Chief sighs and sets his spectacles on his desk, "both perpetrators were pronounced dead at the scene and are currently unidentified. We also have no leads on the unidentified female."
Nick's ears droop, he's never killed anyone before, and he felt sick to his stomach with the idea that he took someone's life. Judy puts her hand on his, and looks at him with concerned eyes.
Bogo continues, "We have our best detectives on the case. Until then, I'm putting Judy in protective custody"
Judy snaps back to attention, "Sir, we need to find these guys and bring them to justice. I don't want to hide in a hole someplace while other officers risk their lives to protect me-I want to help!"
"See these stars on my shoulder? They aren't here for decoration, when you have this many stars you can choose to do whatever you want. But until that day, I tell you what to do!" Bogo pauses and sighs... "You are a good cop, you work hard and this department can't afford to lose you. I'm going to have a unit follow you. I know this is a stretch, but try to stay out of trouble and stay together." He says sarcastically. "Go home and get some rest, mental health services are available if you need them. I'll keep you posted as facts become available. You two are NOT to investigate on your own, you two ARE to stay safe and protected. You two are dismissed."
"Sir, I'd like to look over the evidence, maybe there is a clue" Judy says
"I already have detectives, medical examiners, and CSI agents combing over the crime scene."
"But maybe I will see something they didnt.."
Chief Bogo interrupts, "If you want to investigate crime scenes then work hard and get promoted to detective, until then, Officer, you do your job and they will do theirs."
"But Chief!" Judy attempts to interrupt
"Dismissed!" Bogo reaffirms his calm demeanor quickly fading to anger.
"But..." Nick interrupts
Bogo slams his fists on his desk
"DISMISSED! Do you think I speak to hear myself make noise? Now get out, before you leave this office on suspension, Instead of protective custody!"
Defeated, Nick and Judy climb down from their chair and exit the office. When the door to his office closes, Chief Bogo picks up his phone, "They are leaving the building."
Nick and Judy walk through the precinct quietly barely saying a word to one another. Nick contemplating the circumstances which led him to take another mammal's life. And Judy wondering if there was anything she could have done differently to save that poor woman's life. As they exit the building Judy looks over at Nick. She can see his deflated stature and his ears laid flat. Judy lays her hand on Nick's shoulder and says softly, "You know it wasn't your fault."
"What are you talking about?"
"I've known you long enough to know when something is bothering you."
"What exactly do you think is bothering me?" Nick says defensively.
"That second suspect you..uhh, defended yourself against...do you want to talk about it?" Judy says concerned, her ears drooping back over her head.
Nick shrugs, "Nothing to talk about, I just hope I didn't torpedo the investigation."
She puts her hand on his shoulder "You just seem distracted, is all, if you want to."
Nick interrupts her, forcing a smile "Im just worried I left the water on when I brushed my teeth this morning.. they say you waste 2 gallons of water if you don't shut it off while brushing and that was like..." He counts on his fingers "...7 hours ago". Nick looks contemplative, "My multiplication isn't as good as yours, but that's like a bajillion gallons."
Judy looks at him seriously, "you don't have to deflect all the time?"
"Nothing to deflect, it was going to be me, or him, and it was him. I was a survivor long before I met you, and now I have even more to survive for, so I'm probably going to live forever."
Judy smiles and punches him in the sling shoulder.
Nick recoils playfully "ouch, ouch, my fake injury!"
Judys expression quickly changes from playful to concerned "wait!? Your fake injury?!" She furrows her brow, and tilts her head confused.
"I guess there is no sense tryin' to trick you, Carrots". He pulls off his sling and puts it in his pocket.
"You were faking?! Where did you get that thing"
"I had this thing just laying around. I used it in some hustles back in the day. I wanted to distract Chief Buffalo-Butt from my tardiness, and it worked." He rubs his chin, "maybe I should keep it on, I could probably hustle a free ride home. "
Judy shakes her head, "C'mon Slick, let's just take a cab, if you're that broke we can split it."
"It's not the money, it's the principle." Nick retorts with a sly smirk then continues, "split it? Judy are you inviting yourself over my place? What will the neighbors think."
"Someone tried to kill us Nick, we should stay together, and my place doesn't have a tv...or a private bathroom."
"Yeah, we wouldn't want to make our assassins splurge on two bombs.. at least you'll die in good company?"
"Why is Finn coming over too?" Judy says with a sly smile reminiscent of Nick's. "Witty banter in the face of certain death? I must be rubbing off on you". says Nick, with a sly smile of his own.
Judy smiles, her worries feel far more distant.
The cab ride to Nick's apartment in Happytown was a quick 20 minutes. Being dismissed from work early allowed them to avoid all the evening traffic. The street on Nick's block was quartered off with police crime scene tape, as a dozen uniformed police officers held back camera crews, reporters and the occasional curious bystander. Among the usual uniformed police were armed officers, wearing Thicker bulletproof vests with revolver style pistols on their hips. Beyond them was a reminder of what had occurred earlier in the day. Judy's cruiser was barely recognizable; scorched metal twisting away from the drivers seat, which must have been the site of the initial explosion. Two cars behind had varying degrees of fire damage, while the car directly in front seems to be in almost as bad shape as the cruiser itself.
There was blood splatter on the wall of Nick's apartment complex, where a bad guy had struck it like a fly on a windshield. And a far larger pool of blood on the ground, with the chalk outline of a mammal in the middle of it. 30+ little yellow evidence markers littered the ground, showing where bullet casings and other crime-related evidence may have been found.
Nick and Judy, still in their uniforms, dirty and weathered from their earlier experience were permitted to cross the police lines without objection. Their ears drooped as they saw the aftermath of the devastation. Judy sees Detective Kobal, a wolf/coyote hybrid, with light brown fur on the top of his muzzle and head, going down his thick wolf mane. Lighter brown circles around his light brown eyes face him the appearance of wearing a mask, and lighter cream colored fur on the sides of his muzzle extended down his neck and over his cheeks. He appeared to be in his early 40's, wearing dark grey dress pants, a red button down shirt, a dark grey sport coat, a black and silver checkered tie that'd been loosened, and his badge hanging on a chain around his neck. He seemed to be directing the investigation and taking notes on a small tablet.
Nick interrupts Judy's thought process "I think I recall him taking the day off to go to his daughter's recital."
Judy started to change her path of travel towards Detective Kobal, "Maybe I should ask him.."
Nick intercepts her and puts his arm around her shoulder "maybe we should just let him do his thing, we can pick his brain later."
Kobal notices Judy looking at him and gives a friendly smile and nod, then quickly looks back at his tablet as he realizes what has done.
Nick holds Judy a little more firmly, as he felt her start to pull towards the detective "that was acknowledgement, not an invitation, Carrots."
"Nick, maybe he has questions for us!" Judy says, as Nick ducks under the last line of police tape between them and the door to Nick's building, and then holds it up for Judy to walk under.
"I'm sure he won't have any problem finding us if he wants to ask us a question." Nick says jokingly.
Judy sighs in resignation. They walk up 4 flights of stairs and down a dingy hall to Nick's apartment. Nick unlocks the door and begins to open it "oh-my-God!"
"What?!" Whispers Judy, with a tinge of panic
"I DID leave the water on!" Nick says, as he slowly turns to Judy with a big smile on his face.
"Ugh" Judy says, as she pushes past Nick into his apartment.
"Hey, I didn't even invite you in yet?"
Judy just waves him off as she walks into his apartment, past the kitchen, and into the living room. As far as open concept living spaces go, Nick's place is pretty nice. The kitchen has decent counter space, with an island in the middle. There is a half wall into a dining room with a small hexagon table and 4 bar stools around it. Hanging over the island is a small set of pots and pants and a magnetic knife strip, displaying a fancy set of cutlery. Past the dining room is the living room with two doors along the same wall leading into a half bathroom and bedroom. There is a blue L sectional couch facing a fancy 56" Magnafox TV.
Judy looks herself over, "Hmmph, I should have stopped at my place to grab a change of cloths and some toiletries." Judy takes off her utility belt and hangs it over a chair in the dining room.
"Mi casa es su casa, feel free to use the facilities." Nick takes off his duty belt and hangs it over the same chair Judy hung her belt on.
Judy skips off into Nick's bedroom and starts rooting through his chest of drawers. "Where are your sweats?" Judy shouts over her shoulder.
Nick is looking through his blu-ray collection when he hears Judy's request and shouts back "I think 3rd drawer..."
Judy interrupts "I found them, never mind"
"Ok" Nick mutters to himself while he shuffles through his comedy selection.
Judy yells from the bathroom "Want to watch a movie?"
"Sure what do you want to watch?"
"How about a comedy?"
"Good idea!" Nick says, as he continues to sift through his comedy section.
Back in the bathroom Judy turns on the shower and looks at Nick's collection of fur products. Judy whispers to herself "Nick has a greater selection than the salon, yet he always smells like blueberry... well if it's good for the fox, it's good for the bunny."
Nick smiles as he selects 'Crazy Rich Pandas'.
Judy gets out of the shower and wraps a towel around her head and body. She sees a third towel on Nick's towel rack, "hmm, what's the third towel for... his tail?" She giggles quietly to herself. She approaches the sink, and opens the cabinet looking for an extra toothbrush. She opens the cabinet under the sink and finds an unopened toothbrush, "bingo" she grabs it, closes the cabinets and starts opening the package. The mirror is fully fogged up, so she wipes away the fog and puts toothpaste on her brush. When she looks up she seeing black charred eye sockets in place of her own eyes in the mirror and recoils in terror, stepping back and tripping over the toilet. She quickly stands up brandishing her toothbrush like a weapon and sees only her own reflection in the mirror. "Are you ok?... Carrots?" Nicks calls from the other room.
"Y-yeah, I just thought I saw a spider..."
"Oh, ok."
'Judy's not afraid of spiders.. I think,' Nick thinks to himself. He gets up and heads towards the bathroom to investigate.
Judy rubs her face "get a grip Judy..." she quickly tosses on Nick's sweats and opens the door "woah!" Nick and Judy are face to face... "um.. hi?" Says Judy, she continues "what's up?"
"Just came to...Um... kill a spider?" He feigns a smile. Judy slips around him "It's ok, false alarm. What did you find for us to watch?"
Nick glances back and forth in the bathroom "Crazy Rich Pandas."
"Great! I've always wanted to see that." Judy darts off into the living room and jumps on couch.
Nick's paranoias quelled, and he heads back into the living room. "You don't say.." he smiles feeling very satisfied with his choice.
"I'm going to change real quick, then I'll make some food and we can watch that movie"
Nick quickly changes from his uniform to another pair of uniform sweat pants and t-shirt. Pausing only briefly when he removed his white uniform undershirt and sees a small blood spot that bled through his uniform shirt. Nick puts on his smile and heads to the kitchen. "I'll just whip something up real quick". Nick prepares a bowl of carrot tops, roots, and beetroot greens topped with celery and basil in a bowl for Judy. Then he makes a bowl of diced apples and blueberry for himself.
Nick hands Judy her bowl, and plops down next to her on the couch with his own dish. Half way through the movie Nick yawns and checks his watch 1:30am, looks over at Judy to see her fast asleep sprawled out on the couch. Nick gingerly picks up her up, she barely moves, only mumbles some incoherent protests as Nick carries her to his bedroom and tucks her into his bed. He grabs a pillow and heads back to the couch, pausing in the door way. He looks back at Judy roll over bundling herself in blankets. From here he can just see a huddled mass with a rabbit ear poking up and the other laying Lazily on the bedding. With a smile he backs out of the room, and quietly closes the door.