I've been looking forward to this one for a while. I finally was able to do it. Enjoy!
It is late at night as they sit in their apartment with the lights turned off and only the television to brighten the room. She and Nick had put their paychecks together to buy the tv not too long ago, mostly to keep track of the news. But not tonight. Right now animated characters bounce around the screen and the voices buzz in their ears, but none of it really registers. Mostly they just sit there to enjoy each other's company. It's a nice way to be lazy without having to keep composure or deal with the outside world.
Nick leans with his arm propped on the arm of the couch and his head resting in the palm of his hand. It is infinitely more comfortable than all those times he would hang out at Judy's old place and was forced to use the wall as a backrest. Now though, after they finally bought a place together, they had a nice little sitting space.
Judy lays stretched out across the couch with her head in Nick's lap. She yawns, her eyes drifting shut every so often only to snap open again moments later.
Nick idly bats at one of Judy's ears as his eyes too grow heavy. He really should get to bed. It is pushing midnight and even though they are off duty tomorrow they shouldn't mess up their sleep schedule. It took him forever to get it straight in the first place. Still, it's just so much effort. He doesn't want to move, not even an inch, despite how much more comfortable the bed would be to his tired body.
Then the sharp sound of a ringing phone breaks the monotony of the television's sounds. Judy's ears stand erect and both their eyes widen, but neither movie. "Not mine." Judy murmurs as she sees her phone across the room on the desk by the television.
Nick shifts and digs his phone out of his pocket. The screen is bright and he shies away from the sight as it sears his eyes. He quickly hits the answer button and lifts the device to his ear. "Yeah, what's up?" He frowns. "Lloyd? Speak up. I can barely hear you." There is a long minute of silence as the person on the other end rattles on. "No, no, it's cool. Yeah, I can help."
Judy's ear flicks as her intrigue peaks. She sits up and tilts her head in his direction. "Who is it?" She whispers.
Nick holds a hand up to shush her. "No, I'm not doing anything right now."
Judy gapes. "Hey." She hisses.
"I'll be over in a minute. See ya." He slips the phone back into his pocket and pushes himself up off the couch.
"Ex-cuse me." Judy follows suit. She places her hands on her hips and stares him down.
Nick snickers and flashes his trademark smirk. "Come on, Carrots. It may be nice to sit here and do nothing, but doing nothing with you is still doing nothing."
Judy sticks out her tongue. "We are not doing nothing. We are enjoying the pleasure of one another's company."
"Yeeeah, like I said, nothing. But seriously, I have to go." He motions toward the door.
Judy moves past his comments in order to focus on the important things. "So who was it? Who are you running off with at midnight?"
Nick shrugs. "Just an old friend."
Judy narrows her eyes. "So not Finnick." Nick has never once referred to his friend like that. Finnick is just Finnick despite the fact he has easily known the guy long enough to be 'an old friend'.
"Not Finnick." Nick shakes his head. "Someone you don't know."
Judy purses her lips. She really doesn't like the idea of him going out so late with someone she doesn't know. He has already proven to have plenty of bad habits, who knows what kind temptations this 'friend' could pose. She trusts Nick, sure, but she sure as heck doesn't trust anyone else from his past life with him, no one besides Finnick. "Don't be gone long." She points hard at him.
Nick chuckles and swats her finger away. "As you wish milady." He flashes her a smirk as he turns away and heads for the door. "Oh, and don't wait up."
Judy's ears press down at her head and her fur stands on end.
Nick senses her shift and turns back. "Come on, Carrots. Don't worry so much. I'm not saying it because I'll be gone all night. I'm saying it because it's already late. We should have been in bed hours ago. And I know you're tired." He gives her a sharp look. "So go on. I'll be back in a hour or so." He lightly hits her arm with his fist.
Judy sighs. She smiles, but it is a weak sentiment. "Alright." She yawns despite herself. "Just don't be gone all night."
"Scout's honor." Nick salutes her.
Judy snickers and rolls her eyes.
Nick hurries out of the apartment and on his way to his friend. He doesn't bother with the police car, he can walk just fine. So on foot he makes his way through the city and to a place he once frequented back in darker days before he met Finnick. He slips through back alleys and treads roads no one in the force would be caught dead walking unless specifically for a case. He finds his way to a more or less abandoned building and upon seeing the disheveled state of it, a sharp pang of unease hits him. Sure, his friend and quite a few other homeless guys live here so it is logical to call Nick out here, and yet there is a strong sense of wrong about this whole situation.
Nick grimaces and shifts back and forth. Maybe he should just go home. Judy probably won't sleep until he returns anyway and she needs to, so for no one else but her benefit it would be best. "Pssh." He rolls his eyes at himself. Carrots's suspicious line of thinking has rubbed off on him for sure. And she is hardly ever right. So he proceeds, keeping a sharp eye out for his friend.
Nick perks as he sees him. Ah, there. He trots over. "Hey, Lloyd." He smiles.
Lloyd, a coyote, waves. "It's been a while, eh, Nick?" He smiles, but there is an edge to it.
Nick nods. "Years."
"I hear you're a cop now too." He chuckles. "How the tides have turned."
Nick grins. "You don't have to tell me. Honestly I'm just as amazed as any of you. So, what's up? You sounded kinda uneasy on the phone." In fact, he seems rather nervous right now. Everything from his laughter to the way he keeps shifting just seems off.
Lloyd looks to his right, over and over, trying to direct Nick.
Nick blinks. He frowns and tilts his head. That terrible sense of foreboding comes back with a vengeance. His stomach drops and his fur stands on end. Carrots may worry too much, but he knows when shifty folks are acting shiftier than usual, and this is definitely not in Lloyd's character. "Lloyd?" He takes a small step back. His eyes dart in the direction Lloyd keeps looking, but as far as he can tell there is nothing but shadows. It should ease his worry, but it only intensifies the feeling.
Lloyd swallows hard. Too late now. As fast as Nick is, he just didn't get it fast enough. He draws his arm from behind his back. "I'm sorry." He pulls the trigger.
Nick tries to move, but it's too late. He yelps and crumples as the bullet digs into his leg. He curls forward, grasping at the wound as if that will be enough to ease the pain. Of course it won't. Blood seeps from the wound and coats his hands in red. He gasps and his breathing intensifies. He cranes his neck to stare up through wide eyes filled with shock and confusion at Lloyd. He wants to ask why, why, but he can't find his voice in the chaos of his mind.
Lloyd bows his head. "I'm sorry." He really did call him because he needed help. In the interim things just changed. They found him. Threatened him with death if he didn't do this.
A high pitched laugh erupts from the darkness. Following the laughter, a figure steps out of the shadows and into view. "Nice to see you again, Nick." She smiles in an eerily sincere way. You know, after you sent me to jail."
Nick starts and scrambles away from her. He makes it mere inches before the crippling pain in his leg is too much to handle. He whimpers and his ears fold on his head as he tries his best to exude some measure of strength and defiance.
"Oooh, moving is not such a good idea with that leg." She shakes her head as she clicks her tongue on the roof of her mouth. "Fortunately, it isn't bad enough to kill you."
Nick's lips curl into a snarl and he scowls mercilessly up at her.
"Unfortunately, that's the least of your problems." She takes out a small gun not unlike the one she used months ago to make predators go savage.
Nick's panic rises. Despite the pain he tries to get farther away. Stupid really, that gun can fire far and fast enough to hit him any amount of distance he is capable of moving right now.
"Oh, don't worry." Bellwether coos as she twirls the gun about. "This isn't what you think. You won't go savage." Her face darkens and her smile twists into something truly terrifying. "It's much, much worse." She shoots.
Nick shies away, but just like the first time the shoot hits straight on. He braces for something terrible, only nothing happens. He feels the same amount of pain as before. He makes a face and opens his mouth to deride Bellwether, and then it hits. It starts as a prickling and within seconds burns. White hot pain floods his system, every inch of his body seized with pain. He writhes on the ground, whimpers and moans escaping his lips.
Bellwether chuckles. "You like that? It's a little something I cooked up, just for you." Her eyes shine with malice. "It's a nifty chemical that activates the pain receptors in your brain, making your body think you are suffering pain all over. Cool, right?" She approaches and bends down next to him. "And it only gets worse."
Nick stills himself as best he can, his body trembling terribly. He pants from the effort as he stares straight at her. She won't stay still though, or maybe that's just him. His vision wobbles and the pain makes him light headed.
"See, as you go longer and longer without treatment it will get harder and harder to breathe. Another cool chemical in there." She giggles. "It'll take a couple hours though. Long enough to be absolutely miserable but short enough so no one will find you until you're dead."
Nick does his best to force it down, but he can't keep a whine from passing his lips.
"Yes, poor doggie. If it makes you feel better though, the pain from the first chemical tampers off a bit as time passes too." She pats him on the head. "And the best part?" Her mouth curves into a wicked grin. "Judy will find you. Because that's what Judy does. And your death, it'll kill her, yes, but it'll also drive her to search relentlessly for your killer. And when she finds me, I'll kill her too."
Nick bares his teeth and emits a low growl, but there is nothing he can do. As close as she is to him – inches – he just can't find the energy to move, not in any meaningful way. It takes all his strength not to crumple on the ground.
"Well," Bellwether hops to her feet. "Tata!" She waves over her shoulder as she scurries off. "You," She points at Lloyd. "Come on." She nods. "You can go back to whatever it is you do after a few hours, but until then you're coming with me. Can't have you spoiling everything." She aims her gun at him.
Lloyd swallows hard. He nods and follows after her, but not before passing a final glance over his shoulder at his friend. He wishes he could help, wishes he was brave enough to take a chance at it, but he is not. So he simply leaves his friend to die.
Nick can feel it. Already each breathe is harder, more deliberate. It's no longer a natural process. Now he wishes for the pain that came with being shot. It was bad, but it was nothing like this. As frantic as his thoughts are, his mind clouds over. He can't put together anything coherent or logical. He sinks further and further, his breathing growing more and more shallow as time passes him by. In the end, there is only one thought that rings clear. "Judy…" He whimpers. I want Judy here. So very badly.
…
Judy tosses and turns in her bed. She sleeps, but it is fleeting and comes in short bouts of five or ten minutes. She groans as she awakes for what must by the thirtieth time and she flops over face first into the pillow. "Kill me now." She bangs her head against the pillow again and again. She peers up from the whiteness to take a peek at the clock. One thirty. "Uuuuuugh." She knows why this is happening though. It's all Nick's fault. That dumb fox had to go out at midnight and leave her here waiting on pins and needles.
Her face lights up. Then that's how she'll fix it. She leaps from bed and treads the short distance to his room. She rounds the corner and her heart plummets. What? He still isn't there. Her face creases with confusion and her mind whirls with the possibilities. Did something go wrong? Was he in trouble? Her heart speeds up. Or did he just get roped into drinking by this 'friend' and is now out there being a drunken fool? A spark of anger lights within her. It is definitely a possibility.
She frowns. Still, she just doesn't think so. Her foot drums against the floor. She has a terrible sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. She can be a bit of a worrier, sure, Nick has pointed it out on almost every occasion, but she trusts her instincts. And she trusts Nick. He said he'd be back in an hour or so. It's getting close to two. And that screams of disaster, not of a change of plans. He would have called her if he had. She races back to her room and snags her phone. No missed calls, just as she knew there'd be. She scurries to open her phone tracker app, hitting the wrong key three times in her franticness before finally opening it. "Nick." It brings up a map with a little blinking dot. "What the hell…?" It's a dark part of town, deep in the territory of many hustlers and far worse individuals. Damn it Nick. He isn't moving either, not according to the tracker. That's it.
She sprints from their apartment and out into town. She rockets through the streets, taking paths even Nick wouldn't tread. She doesn't care. She'd face down any and everyone who stood in her way to getting to Nick. He still hadn't moved either, not for the ten minutes it has taken her to get to the area. There. She shoves her phone in her pocket and hurries on, scanning every inch of the place in her search. And then she sees him.
Her heart constricts and she gasps at the sight of him lying motionless on the ground. Blood. His leg. "Nick!" She bolts and slides down next to him. "Nick, Nick, can you hear me?" She takes in deep, steady breathes to try and control herself. Still, her hands tremble despite her efforts. She spots the splay of blue on his neck and a shiver races up her spine as memories of that first case bombard her. No, no, focus. Focus. Injured leg and…and…something else.
"Nick." She lifts him into her arms and checks his neck for a pulse. Her own heart stills as she struggles to find his, finally just barely catching a tiny beat. His breathing is dangerously shallow too. "Nick."
Nick's eyes flutter open halfway. A mass of blurred colors paint his vision. But there's someone there. Someone familiar. He can't see her, but he can smell Judy's scent. Judy. He tries to speak, but his lips won't even part. The only sound he can make is a tiny whimper.
"Oh my God, Nick." Judy runs her hands over his face. "Thank God you're alive." But he won't be for much longer. "I'm gonna get you help. Ok? Just-Just hang on a little longer." Her eyes burn. "Okay…okay…" She dials 911 and shouts for someone to please come to their address. When she looks back at Nick, his eyes are closed again.
"Nick?" Her voice is a breath, hysteria creeping up on her. "Nick, come on, stay with me." Her eyes well with tears that spill over and onto his fur. "Stay with me." Her voice cracks and sobs choke her. She buries her face in his fur and holds him tight. "Nick!"
See? See? It was important that they share an apartment otherwise poor Judy would have never known. Also, whoops, an arc. Sort of. Won't be too long and I hope you have fun with it too. Please review!