Chapter 31: Compassion

As Judy fell asleep on Nick's plump and strongly built chest, the fox lay still for a few minutes being stared at the bedroom ceiling thinking about his conversation with his ex-girlfriend. He hadn't thought about her at all until now, when they met. He had experienced his breakup quite emotionally, despite the fact that it was a highly toxic love, it hurt him, by the way it was probably normal, the breakup of a relationship often inflicts pain. Then he was helped by Finnick, who supported him mentally by saying that she wasn't worth it, that he did the right thing, this relationship wouldn't have a good future. Finnick knew Caroline very well, before Nick got involved with her the three of them had often hung out, he knew her as a nice friendly girl who never showed toxicity or meanness. After what he had heard from his friend, he himself could not believe that she had changed in such a negative way. She was the first person he knew who would change in such a bad way.

"Exactly, maybe Finnick should find out about this...it'll be lighter for me...it'll probably be better if I write to him and ask to meet" Nick thought. Reaching over to his bedside table he grabbed his phone and unlocked it so he could text Finnick.

"Hi, it's me Nick. Sorry I'm writing so late you don't need to write back now, however how about we meet at our favourite bar at noon sharp? I have a piece of information for you, a real bombshell, you'll be surprised at what I tell you."

This was the content of Nick's message. After sending the text to Finnick, the fox checked the time: 3.45 a.m. Nick put the phone back on the shelf then kissed Judy's head and closed his eyes drifting off into a deep sleep.

In the morning, when the alarm started to make its annoying sound that made you not want to get up, Nick still with his eyes closed turned off his alarm clock enjoying the peace and quiet for the next few minutes. It was a very good night's sleep for him. Granted, he hadn't had any sleep to enhance his rest, but he didn't feel a headache or fatigue when he woke up, and that was already a good sign. Sometimes he woke up with a headache, which made him tired for the rest of the day. When he lay like that, something didn't sit well with him - he didn't feel his partner nearby, who usually didn't get out of bed earlier than him. Fox often prepared breakfast for his girlfriend in bed so that he could make her feel as good as possible in the morning.

"Where did she go?" Nick thought as he opened his emerald eyes wide so he could look around the room. There was only him in bed, his attention caught by the fact that only his dressing gown was hanging on the arm of the bed and only his leather slippers are under the bed. He immediately realised that Judy had got up earlier than her, which surprised him. The rabbit had been half awake on the ride home and now suddenly had so much energy? Fox was curious about this and slid lazily off the bed and then put his slippers on his feet. After stretching briefly he got out of bed putting on his grey dressing gown which he tied over his belt on the way to the living room.

When he stopped at the threshold of the living room, Nick saw Judy alone in the room, holding a mug of warm, hot drink, most likely coffee, in her paws. Her confused, thoughtful gaze said that she was most likely deep in her thoughts. It must have been so, because she didn't even notice the fox that stood on the doorstep for 2 minutes. She looked a little lonely, which surprised Nick a little. He knocked on the wall which drew the attention of the rabbit who greeted the boy.

"Good morning Nick," Judy said quietly setting her coffee down on the table.

"Good morning Judy. Did you get any sleep?" Asked Nick sitting down across from the rabbit. Although she smiled briefly and nodded with a movement of her head, her eyes full of worry and tiredness said otherwise.

"You know your eyes say something else?" Nick asked with a sly smile, to which Judy laughed nodding modestly with a movement of her head.

"I just had a rough dream...and a few things went through my mind that shouldn't have at that moment," replied Judy.

"What kind?" Nick asked curiously. Judy didn't answer right away. She sighed heavily and stared at the skyline, which was already slowly coming to life, incorporating more of the city's neon lights. Nick's caring gaze reflecting off the window made the rabbit agree to reveal what was bothering her.

"I've been thinking about my parents and how they're going to react about you...I don't know, the more I think about it, the more I think it's not going to end well...I know mum agreed, but dad..."

"Hey, don't worry about it for now, it's just us for now" replied Nick touching Judy's right hand rubbing it gently. Fox knew that the rabbit liked having her hand rubbed by his warm hands, so he expected Judy to smile at his comforting movement.

"Something else bothering you?" Nick asked.

"Caroline...I have some kind of weird feeling about her," replied Judy uncertainly, to which Nick burst into laughter, which surprised Judy.

"Don't be jealous, I told you last night what was between us, it's in the past" replied Nick as he finished laughing. Judy couldn't hide her blush, but with her laughter she wanted to show that she wasn't jealous.

"I'm not jealous...I just don't trust her"

"I wouldn't trust your other ex-boyfriend either" Communicated the fox laughing.

"You know I would never cheat on you" said Judy.

"I know, honey I know" replied Nick backing up with a warm smile. At that moment a text message sounded on his phone, he took his phone out of his pocket and read the contents of the message. It turned out to be Finnick asking if they were dating.

"You know what, I promised Finnick that we would meet tonight and I wouldn't want to cheat him and make him uncomfortable...do you want to come with me or..."

"That's nice of you Nicki, but I'll decline. I don't want to get in the way of your manly chitchat," replied Judy laughing modestly. Fox rose from his chair, then put his head around her, kissing her forehead softly.

"Ah, I love you...you must know that because I talk about it every day" laughed Nick as he let Judy out of his embrace. He headed to their bedroom where he stayed for a few minutes so he could get dressed. After leaving the room Nick was dressed in long jeans and a cotton blue sweatshirt. He then took a black leather coat out of the wardrobe and put it on.

"See you around, I'll be back in a few hours," Nick said, after putting on his shoes. After saying goodbye, he left behind him closing the door.

One hour later

An hour after Fox left his flat to meet his friend, it took him over almost an hour to reach their Maestro Caffe. This was a result of the winter weather, which caused much heavier traffic jams and an overall much lower average speed to cover the road, due to the ice that lay on the road. Although the fox was in no hurry anyway (his day on the police force was only going to start when he and Judy got the call to turn up at the police station. Their case was still not finished), he was annoyed by the constant red lights and the fact that he had to stop at them to avoid causing an accident.

When he finally arrived at the meeting place, he stopped at the nearest parking space to the entrance of the facility. He was still puzzled as to why there was so much activity of people in this cafe. At one time, a few years before, the place wasn't a very popular meeting point, compared to now, but a big influence was the restoration of the place, which was now bigger, cozier, but most of all, it encouraged people to stay there. The exclusive yet simple design made the place really pleasant to stay in and with a good conversation you didn't want to leave. Nick and Finnick had already experienced this once when they talked for several hours in the café.

Stepping inside the pub, the fox put his coat back on the coat rack, and immediately saw a snowy white, low height fox sitting at one of the tables by the window gazing out at the nearby buildings covered in snow.

"I didn't know the pizza delivery guys had today off" exclaimed Nick walking up to Finnick, who seeing his friend stood up. They shook hands in greeting and sat down in their seats.

"I didn't know dogs had today off too" laughed Finnick ironically.

"In theory, no. But Judy and I have missing persons cases in the foxy district and we're off until we get called for duty" explained Nick.

"So you're solving the case I told you about" replied Finnick curiously. His voice and gaze said he wanted to know more details about it which Nick was well aware of.

"Last night we were gathering information on the missing. It was a long night, believe me...do you know what's going on out there right now?"

"I don't know, you can't get in or out of the city, only special units can do that," Finnick replied.

"The crowd is going crazy, screaming, the army is fighting with the residents, firecrackers are all the time... I knew it wasn't a good place to live, but I didn't know it would get worse..." Replied Nick with a conscience. He was a little bitter that the truth was spilling out about the fox district. He had once hoped that this place would improve, that it would be a good place to live, but recent events had robbed him of the illusion that sometimes you can't fix things.

"Well, it's a good thing someone familiar isn't missing, you'll worry less and all..."

"Well, that's not entirely true," interrupted Nick to his friend. The puzzled look on Finnick's face said he needed an explanation.

"No?" Finnick asked.

"No... my dad's missing..." Sighed Nick heavily. The words were quite hard for Nick to say, the subject of his dad was generally a hard topic to talk about, one he avoided as much as possible.

"Well...you'll be him..."

"Of course I will! It's my job, I do it purely professionally" replied Nick firmly.

"Maybe this is a sign for you to let it go though, try talking" suggested Finnick. He knew full well what was going on with Nick, he knew it had been a tough time for his friend, but if it were him he would try to get on with his father himself.

"You all say to try...but it's not that easy. You know what it was, a few years ago," Nick sighed. There was an awkward silence between them. Nick looked a little nervous, he didn't want to pursue the subject any further and Finnick was well aware of that. Finnick looking at Nick's eyes could read a kind of anger, but at the same time sadness and disappointment. He didn't want to continue this awkward topic for Nick and thought about something else. At that time he remembered that Nick had mentioned the bomb in a message.

"You mentioned something about a bomb..." Finnick began, breaking the silence.

"Ah yes! My operation is being coordinated by someone other than Commander Bogo. And you may not believe it, but Caroline is actually the police chief of the fox district."

"Caroline?" Finnick repeated.

"My ex from high school."

"She? Really? Impossible, after all she was practically just like you" replied Finnick bursting into silent laughter at Nick's news. He knew the girl very well and knew that she wasn't fit to be a police officer.

"She's changed, just like me. I mean I don't know if in her personal life, but somehow she must have since she became a commander" Nick replied thoughtfully.

"Hm, and does she know she works with you? Does she still remember you?"

"Let's say she even remembers too well...when I was about to leave the room she wanted to talk to me, it turned out she wanted to talk to me about our relationship...but I quickly broke off the discussion" replied Nick.

"Hm...I don't blame you, from what you told me, she's changed completely"

"You know, I personally don't have anything against her, but the distaste from the relationship remained..." Nick sighed. Finnick merely nodded with a movement of his head.

"Are you going to talk to her again?"

"No, you know, I think there's nothing to talk about. I've got Judy now and..." Nick's statements were interrupted by the phone ringing off the hook, it was Judy calling him. He excused himself from Finnick for a moment, picked up the phone and spoke to his girlfriend for a brief moment. After the conversation, he put the phone in his pocket, got up from his chair and held out his hand for his friend.

"My job is about to start. I have to go, we are supposed to get some new assignment...see you later" Nick communicated. After shaking hands Nick walked away taking his winter coat with him.