CABIN IN THE SNOW
It was late in the evening, the sky began to get reddish, like in every autumn day. Nick was almost done with his shift, but this time Judy wasn't with him, the bunny hurt her leg so the fox was joined by another officer, Ryan Whitefang, one of his partners at the police academy.
After driving through Sahara Square they stopped at gas station in Tundra Gate, the point between both districts.
Nick went in to get a pair of coffees while the wolf stayed in the car. Some seconds later the fox walked out and gave one of the drinks to his partner.
"Thanks, dude" Ryan got the paper cup and sat on the car hood.
The fox observed the beautiful sunset that covered the city as he took the first sip of his drink, then he got his phone out and decided to quickly call Judy.
"Nick?" the bunny answered the call with his sweet voice.
"Hi, Carrots..." the fox couldn't help smile "...how's my bunny doing?"
"Meh...my leg is fine...but being in bed all day is very boring" said Judy with a cute and sad tone of voice.
"Oh, don't worry, Fluff...maybe later I can stop by your little apartment and get some dinner"
"That would be great..." the bunny shyly smiled "...anyway, how was your day?"
"Calm and...different without you" Nick's blush could hardly be felt by the cold.
The couple couldn't even exchange a few more words before a car passed at full speed next to the fox and the wolf.
"Wilde!" yelled Whitefang before getting in the car.
Nick quickly reacted and got in the car, but with the rush, he didn't hang the phone up.
"Nick?" the bunny kept calling his name before hearing interferences.
"This is Officer Whitefang calling for backup!" Ryan talked through the speaker but didn't get any response "...this doesn't work!" the wolf put the speaker back after hearing nothing but interferences.
"There must be some kinda signal inhibitor in the car" said Nick while chasing the car through the dense fog of Tundratown. She
"But the database should work, right?..." said Ryan as he touched the screen in front of him "...yes!...let me just check the plate..." he typed in a few things as the fox tried not to lose sight of the car "...got it!...his owner is Daniel Goldstein"
"Goldstein!?...like the bank robbers!?" asked Nick without looking at his partner.
"Yep" the wolf loaded his gun.
Suddenly the car in front of then turned hard right, making them chase him through an icy road. When Ryan finished with his gun he tried to shoot the tires of the car a few times until he hit one, making it lose control and crash against a curve guardrail.
The fox tried to turn and break, but it was too late. The cars collided.
"Nick!..." desperately called Judy immediately after hearing the crash, since they broke the signal inhibitor "...NICK!" the silence made her immediately jump off the bed and trip.
The bunny quickly got up and, limping, grabbed her jacket and car keys before walking out of her apartment. Once she was in the car she called Ben while driving through the streets of her neighborhood.
"Judy!...how's your leg goi-" could say the cheetah before Judy interrupted him with a worried tone of voice.
"Ben!...I-I need your help!" stuttered the bunny as she drove in Sahara Square.
"What happened?" Clawhauser noticed her worry.
"I think that Nick and his partner crashed with the car...do you have their last location?" Judy's arms began to tremble.
"Let me check...Wilde...Whitefang..." the cheetah typed something in his keyboard "...yeah, it's a few miles away from Tundra Gate...I just sent it to you" the bunny's phone vibrated after few seconds.
"Thanks, Ben" Judy hung up before taking a deep breath and keep driving.
Some minutes later, the bunny was already struggling to see through the dense fog of the tundra. Judy's phone beeped when she arrived to the location Ben sent her, she slowly got out of the car and started walking until the bunny saw a red and blue flashing light in the distance.
Judy hurried and tripped a few times before she could see the two cars. Her ears tensed and her eyes opened wide as she ran towards the crashed police car.
"Whitefang!" the bunny quickly opened the car door when she saw the wolf inside the vehicle.
"Hopps?" sighted Ryan while trying to open his eyes.
"Oh God..." Judy noticed many cuts on his face due to the broken windshield and a thick piece of metal that went through one of his thighs "...wait..." she checked the car and noticed that the fox's seat was empty "...where's Nick?" the bunny looked around, nervous.
"I don't know...after the crash...it's all...blurry" said the wolf with a weak voice.
"It's okey...help is on the way" Judy comfort the other officer before walking around the car to Nick's side, she opened the door and found his phone under the seat, the screen was broken but it was still working.
After a few more seconds of investigation, the bunny accidentally stepped on something cold and wet, blood.
"What the-" Judy couldn't finish the sentence when she saw several drops of blood on the road.
She followed the trace of blood a few steps more before noticing some tire marks. The bunny kept walking down the icy road, trying not to slip or trip as she got faster. Judy ran until she found more tire marks that got into the snowy forest and, without hesitating, the bunny started running through the trees.
Nick slowly opened his eyes and woke up in a bed, dizzy but warm and comfy. He tried to get up but a sudden pain on the chest stopped him. The fox took a look of the room before hearing footsteps on the other side of the door.
*Click*
The door opened and an arctic vixen with a black robe and blue eyes walked in the room with a tray on her paws.
"Oh...you're awake..." she walked towards the bed, left the tray on the bedside table and sat on the edge of the bed "...how do you feel?" asked the vixen while softly caressing one of Nick's cheeks and checking his wounds.
"My whole body hurts" said the fox while looking around the room.
"Mmm...you need to rest from the crash" the vixen took a sip of tea from a cup that was on the tray.
"The crash...where's Whithefang?" asked Nick while resting his paws on the vixen's shoulders.
"Oh, your partner...well...a...piece of metal went through him so I couldn't get him out of the car but I called an ambulance and the police should be be here soon so it's fine, you don't hav to worry" she held the fox's paws while comforting him.
"What about the other car?"
"He...died..." answered the vixen while looking away "...here, have some tea...it'll help you relax" she offered him another cup after a few seconds of silence.
"By the way..." the fox took a sip of the hot drink "...what's your name?"
"My name is Dana..." smiled the vixen as she gently fondled his cheek "...Dana Goldstein"
Nick's ears tensed, he quickly tried to react and get up but the vixen pushed him back and immobilized him before getting a cloth from her pocket and covering the fox's muzzle with it. He tried to fight but the intense pain of his chest and the chloroform of the cloth finishing up making him asleep in a few seconds.
SEVERAL MINUTES LATER...
Nick woke up again with a strong headache, the first thing the fox noticed when he opened his eyes was that he was tied to the bed, he tried to move but the ropes were too tight. Once he gave up, Nick looked around, there were a few candles on the bedside table and on more furniture in the room.
"Hmm hmmmm hmm..." some humming was heard from the other side of the room, followed by a few steps and metal sounds "...oh...Officer Wilde..." said Dana after opening the door and walking in the room while sharpening a knife "...glad to see you awake" the vixen crawled on the bed and got on top of the fox.
"What are you gonna do, kill me?" said Nick while trying to get free.
"You can call it that if you want..." smiled Dana as she slowly cut the fox's shirt, revealing the many wounds he had "...but I prefer to avenge my brother" the vixen leaned towards him while running her paws through his chest.
"Fuck you" said Nick after spitting on her face.
"Well that's not real nice..." Dana cleaned her face "...you know what?...I'm gonna just..." she grabbed some duct tape from the bedside table drawer and covered his muzzle with it "...stay still...there you go" the vixen stared at the frowning fox in silence for a few seconds before grabbing something else from the drawer.
Meanwhile, Judy was still running through the fog, tripping in the snow and trying to stay on her shivering legs. She kept going for a few more minutes before falling on her knees and crawling to a tree to sat under it. The bunny tried to calm her breath when she suddenly saw some light on the distance, Judy stood up and slowly walked towards the light before hearing a loud groan that tensed her ears and made her run again until seeing a cabin.
The bunny walked up to one of the windows and took a look inside, it was the living room, with a chimney, a couch, a table and other furniture. Then she kept walking around the house until peeking from another window. Judy opened her eyes wide when she saw Nick tied up to the bed with a shock collar around his neck and another female sitting on chair in front of him and holding what it appeared to be some sort of remote control. The vixen pressed it and Nick tried to scream of pain with his muzzle closed.
Judy immediately hid and thought for a few seconds before walking crouched to the porch and throwing a rock that found on the floor to one of the living room windows.
"What the..." Dana's ears tensed before she walked out of the room.
The bunny hurried and slowly opened the bedroom window from the outside, catching Nick's attention. The fox tried to warn her but Judy quickly removed the shock collar and untied one of his paws.
"Hey!" they both turned when the vixen came back.
Dana pressed tried to use the remote but since it didn't work she threw it to the bunny, who dodged it and tried to reach the knife on the bedside table but the vixen got it.
"Why, look who we have here...the famous bunny cop that solved the night howlers case" Dana slowly walked towards her, cornering her against the wall.
The vixen was about to open her mouth again but Judy suddenly threw a bunch of candles to her, making Dana flinch so she could slide under the bed and get out of the room. The predator followed her but as soon as she walked in the living room a lamp hit her on the head, she fell on the floor and Judy tried to get into the room but the vixen grabbed her by the ankle.
Both mammals on the floor fought for the knife until one of Dana's paws pushed the knife to the middle of the living room, then Judy crawled to get it before the vixen would pull her but this time the bunny could cut one of the predator's paw pads before kicking her chest with both foot.
Dana got up and rested her back against a shelf and Judy grabbed the knife and threatened her with it.
"Fuck...that's it" said the vixen before breaking a vase that had a gun in it with her bloody paw.
*BANG*
The predator shot but the bunny could get behind the couch that got shot too. Dana slowly approached the sofa but Nick, who untied himself, fell to the floor due to the pain of his chest, neck and legs when he tried to walk out of the room. Judy took advantage of the situation and attacked the vixen, pouncing her and making her drop the gun.
They both struggled with the knife until Dana snatched it from the bunny's paw and got on top of her, she grabbed it with both paws, lifted and...
"Judy!" screamed Nick as he tackled Dana from the back, saving the bunny.
The fox and the vixen fought while Judy slowly got up, due to the pain, Nick couldn't avoid Dana from getting the knife and trying to stab him, but in a quick move the bunny could snatch the knife.
"What?..." said Dana after Judy pushed her back to the floor and a red and blue light came through her windows "...No!" the vixen fell on her knees before a couple of officers busted the door and arrested her.
"Nick!..." the bunny turned around and ran towards the fox, who also embraced his partner "...god...I thought I would never see you again...when I saw all that blood on the road and-" she couldn't avoid letting a few tears roll down her cheeks.
"It's okay , Carrots..." gasped the fox "...thanks to you" he hold her tight before slowly getting up and walking out of the cabin.
Luckily for them, the ambulance that attended Whitefang was there to attend Nick too.
30 MINUTES LATER
The fox was all set, sitting on the edge of the backdoor of the ambulance, covered with a blanket and drinking some water.
"Better?" Judy's voice made him turn.
"Yeah" warmly smiled the fox.
"Well...Bogo wants to know what happened...after that we can go home"
"Okey" Nick caressed the top of the bunny's head before walking away.
10 MINUTES LATER
Judy was drinking some coffee with 2 more officers when suddenly the fox hugged her from behind.
"Ready to go?" Nick nuzzled her head and smiled.
"Y-yeah" the bunny looked at him and smiled back.
They got in a car with the other officers, who drove them to Judy's car that was parked on Tundra Gate. The bunny and the fox got in the car and looked at each other with a smile that warmed their hearts and blushed their cheeks before Judy drove to the fox apartment. When they arrived, they looked at each other again until Nick broke the silence.
"Would you like to come in?" asked the fox as he unfastened his belt and turned towards the bunny.
"Huh?" the confused bunny dropped her ears when Nick held her paw with both of his paws.
"Yeah...it's been a week since we only talk on the phone and all these days at work with an empty seat next to me...made me realize that I really missed you and that...I need you in my life" the fox stared at Judy's tearful eyes while smiling.
"Oh...Nick..." the bunny let Nick hug her "...I missed you too" they both look at each other's glowing eyes before the fox wiped her tears.
"Let's go then" said Nick before the couple got off the car and walked into his apartment.
The fox opened the door and turned the lamp of the living room and walking to the kitchen, Judy got comfortable on the couch while her partner came back with a pair of cups of wine.
"Cheers" they both said before sipping their drinks.
A few minutes later, they were already cuddling and enjoying a boring movie on the TV when suddenly Nick noticed that one of the bunny's paws was hurt.
"Judy...what's this?" the fox gently examÃnate her paw.
"Oh...it must been from when I fought with that vixen...don't worry it's not a big wound" the bunny snuggled up with Nick again.
"What do you mean don't worry?..." he lifted Judy and got up "...I'll be right back" the fox walked to his bathroom.
After some seconds of waiting, Nick walked back to the couch with a first aid kit.
"Nick, it really doesn't matter...it probably won't get infected" said the bunny as the fox held her paws and began to heal her.
Nick cleaned and disinfected the wound, then he gently wrapped her paw with a bandage and finally applied a soft kiss. They both started at each other for just a couple seconds before Judy kissed the fox, making him fall back, Nick caressed one of the bunny's cheeks while she crawled on top of him.
"Ahh!" the fox groaned when Judy rested her paws on his chest.
"Oh god...Nick, sorry...are you okey?" asked the worried bunny while helping the fox to get up.
"Yeah, don't worry..." he kissed her forehead and fondled her cheeks with both paws "...why don't we go to bed now?"
"Okey" said Judy before Nick lifted and carried her to his bedroom.
The fox slowly put the bunny on the bed and got in too before gently covering them both with a soft and warm blanket. The couple could feel their breathing and their eyes slowly closing due to the fatigue of the day but before falling asleep they shared a last sweet kiss before cuddling and sleeping.
FIN