Again, thank you for being patient with me, I've have an extremely busy weekend with work and today all i wanted to do was sleep before writing/uploading this! Sorry for any mistakes, as it is now 02:05 here and my eyes hurt!
Hello to my new followers, thank you very much, and thank you to the rest of you for keeping up with the story you lovely lot!
Nick smelled her before he saw her, and instantly his heart dropped to the pit of his stomach. He could feel his mouth watering and his nostrils flaring, his inner self calling out to a vixen he barely knew. How could he let her get wedged so firmly beneath his skin? Never before had he let anyone get to him like this, not even his best friend, because he had never needed anyone quite like he felt he needed Ffion. It was insane, of course, but that didn't stop the constant need to be near her, to talk to her, to be with her. Yet the conflict was so real. It wasn't him, Nick Wilde, that needed her, but rather his instincts. That pained him more than anything, knowing that despite everything, from proving himself as a reliable predator and a true friend, he couldn't fight his own nature.
In a desperate attempt to ignore her, he pulled out his phone and began furiously playing a game he had downloaded the first day he bought the device. He could feel Judy's eyes looking at him quizzically, and of course she caught on quickly as to why Nick began acting so strange yet again. He hated it. He hated how she could see through him and know what was going on, hated the anger it fuelled from her. He understood why she would be angry, because if the roles had been reversed he would have been too. They had a job to do, a case to crack, and yet here he was wanting to chase the tail of a vixen he'd barely had a friendship with so many years ago.
"Hi, Ffion!" Judy cried out enthusiastically, whipping herself around gracefully. Nick froze, gritting his teeth. Oh, no, what was she doing now? "Beautiful day, isn't it?"
"Stunning." Ffion replied from behind him, though her voice sounded bored. Nick continued to play his game, which was nothing more than trying to aim a basketball through a hoop to gain a high score. Ffion's scent made him want to choke it was so strong, and the desperate urge to turn around was unrelenting. He wanted to grab Judy and run, just so he wouldn't succumb to the inevitable.
"What can I do for you?" Judy asked her pleasantly.
"You can do nothing for me, rabbit." He heard Ffion snap aggressively, making him twitch in discomfort. He had the need to defend Judy, yet his jaws felt as if they had been forced shut, almost as if he were wearing a muzzle all over again. "Nick? I thought maybe we could grab some food? It's lunch, after all."
"We're a little busy." Judy interrupted.
"I thought you were supposed to be taking the day off, fluffy?" Ffion retorted. Judy finally stood her ground after walking backwards a few steps, placing her hands on her hips like a scolding mother. Nick stopped in time with her, yet he never lifted his eyes from his phone, refusing to face Ffion. He was stronger than this, he knew he was. He had to be.
"And you need to but your snout out of my own business." Judy snapped back.
"Okay!" Nick finally burst out, not wanting to get in the middle of a fight. "How about we have a slight change in direction, maybe take a more friendly approach?"
"I simply asked if you wanted to go out for lunch, and she stuck her whiskers in." Ffion said, throwing her paws up in frustration. Judy giggled, shaking her head mockingly.
"Actually, I asked if you needed any help and you bit my head off."
"I'll show you the meaning of biting your head off, you little-"
"Enough." Nick finally snarled, glaring between the bickering animals. Judy merely smiled innocently, raising an eyebrow in question towards the vixen. "Ffion, was there really any need for that?"
She glared at him furiously, stepping towards him with an intent he didn't quite understand. He could see the strands of fur stand on end in anger, and it was the first time he had ever truly seen her yellow eyes blaze. He felt the sudden impulse of protection, and moved ever so slightly closer to his friend, who seemed none the wiser of the threat that stood before them. It wasn't the viciousness of a savage he had faced before in the eyes of a panther or an otter, but the rage of a being who wasn't getting their own way.
"Um, maybe we could get lunch another day," he told her, trying to keep the nervousness out of his own voice. Never in his life did he think he'd be slightly afraid of his own kind, yet at the same time that pull to her never left him, and to deny her of her wish made his gut twist in remorse.
"Why not now?" she demanded. "The rabbit more important than me?"
He said nothing in response to that, and instead muttered. "I have work to do."
"Like what?"
"Like teaching mammals like you to mind your own business." Judy said, the threat clear in her voice. He wanted to clamp his paw over her mouth to keep her quiet, the tension heavy in the air. It struck him that he had never noticed the true distaste between the two; furthermore that he had never truly seen the pair of them together in the first place.
"I think we should go." He urged Judy to move, grasping her shoulders in an attempt to move her along. She of course stubbornly held her ground, eying the vixen with a determined resentment.
Suddenly, with the movement any sly fox obtained, Ffion was there. Sleek, graceful, she effortlessly pushed Judy from his grasp and positioned herself between them, brushing her body to align with his own. The electricity was undeniable, and any kind of rational thought escaped him. She was everywhere, yellow eyes glistening and alluring, her smile almost too seductive to resist. He wanted to relax against her, to embrace her closeness, and let her entire being engulf him. All the frustration and resentment was gone, like it was a dream, and for the briefest of moments it felt like just the two of them.
"Get a room!" someone cried from a passing car; a group of hysterically laughing hyenas.
"Cover that bunny's eyes before she claws them out!" another shouted before bursting into his own fit of laughter. They peeped, laughing as they went, prompting Nick to push Ffion almost harshly away from him.
"I said enough, Ffion," he told her firmly. "I have a job to do."
"How could anyone possibly take you seriously when you have that for a partner?" she pointed furiously at his friend, who now lingered closely to his other side, eying the vixen warily. She looked up at Nick in question, almost checking to see any sign that he may have agreed with the vixen. He opened his mouth to respond, to defend her in a way he knew he was obligated to, but it was like tar blocked any words from escaping. "Do you honestly not think she'll be your undoing? Do you not feel shame? Remember what that wretched group of prey did to you, Nick. Remember how they made you feel."
"I'm nothing like them or what they did!" Judy burst out in a need to defend herself. "They were kids! Kids make mistakes, right Nick?"
"Judy," saying her name was enough to silence her, but he couldn't stop himself from saying the next terrible words rushing from his mouth. "Shut up."
The memories, the pain, the humiliation, were all too much. He remembered the feeling of entrapment, of feeling caged and unwanted. He remembered for those brief moments feeling like a washed up animal, his jaws clamped shut and his eyes burning with tears, his throat raw with anguish. He remembered the name-calling, the reminder that he was a predator, a danger to society as they had known it. He could feel that pain shift into the anger that had driven him up until the moment he met Judy, pulling him down and drowning him in wet cement. For a moment, he found it hard to breathe.
And then the memories faded, and the reality of what he had said kicked in. Judy stood in front of him; her ears flopped down, her eyes wet with the tears he had now caused, and her confident stance now slack and heavy. But she didn't let the tears spill, refusing to let Ffion see them, no doubt.
"I-" he began.
"It's fine." She said, her voice a little wobbly. "It's fine." She repeated, almost as if she were trying to convince herself of a lie. She turned to Ffion, blank faced, numb with shock. "Congratulations, you got your lunch date."
"Carrots-!"
"Take half an hour, Nick, and I'll meet you at the station." She suddenly sounded professional. "I'll get the information on our suspect, see what Bogo thinks, and we'll go from there, okay?"
Never had she sounded so professional, so controlled. It was almost cold. It was as if something had snapped between them, a cord that neither one could see yet had kept them together for this long. She was almost robotic, the lack of emotion in her voice striking a nerve within him he didn't even know he had.
He reached for her but she had already started to walk away. He never even noticed that beside him, Ffion was almost grinning.
The suspect was Grey Sharp, a thirty-year-old black bear with a bad history in rebelling the law. After looking at the footage, Bogo ordered for an instant arrest, yet Judy had a niggling feeling that he wasn't the lead culprit in this operation. He may have been strong and vicious, but he didn't strike her as the cunning, well-calculated type. He was apprehended just hours after the footage was viewed, and during that time Judy wasn't just in a predicament with the case, but also questioning Nick's loyalty.
After learning about his backstory, Judy had relied heavily on Nick's words to never let anyone get to her. What he didn't tell her was that she might have had to stand by that notion against him, too. She had never anticipated that he was snap at her, and telling her to shut up was an insult she didn't believe he understood himself. Telling her to shut up was insulting their own friendship. The key in that friendship, what built the chemistry, was the fact that she could never be quiet, that she was always talking and that he teasingly mocked what ever she burst out with. Even then, when trying to defend herself, she felt that he had had no real reason to snap at her. She had just wanted to know he was on her side, and instead he had knocked her clean off her feet in a way that had her head spinning.
But she wouldn't let him get to her.
Even when he came running ten minutes after she had given Bogo the tapes, panting and calling out to her by her nickname, she couldn't even bring herself to twitch in response to his calls. She never replied to him, only waited patiently in Bogo's office whilst the chief watched the tapes in silent disbelief, oblivious to his officer's frantic calls outside for his partner.
Finally, the arrest was made after furious orders down the phone, and Judy calmly left the office. Nick was waiting for her, and she briskly informed him of the progress taking place, not once looking him in the eye.
"Stop talking like that, Carrots, it doesn't suit you." He told her, trying to sound playful behind the panic.
"Like what, Nick?" she asked as calmly as she could.
"Like… like an officer."
"Oh, is that because I can't be taken seriously?" she asked almost too sweetly, bittersweet acid slipping free from her tongue. "Should I, you know, shut up, maybe?"
He was quick to explain, tripping over his tongue in his haste to justify himself to her. "I shouldn't have said that, I know I shouldn't have said that, and I am so sorry-"
"She cheated." Judy interrupted.
"What?"
"Ffion cheated." She clarified. "She wasn't getting what she wanted there in the moment, so she decided to play on your emotions to get what she needed from you. She played you." She shrugged, remaining indifferent, understanding the truth as she said it. "She played you to get to me."
"Why would she want to get to you?" he asked her. "Why would she want to hurt you when she doesn't know you?"
She shrugged again. "She wants me to be the dumb bunny she thinks I should be, not the police officer I am. She doesn't fool me."
"I think you've got it wrong."
"I'd better shut up then, hadn't I?"
She turned away before he could reply, just as she caught a glimpse of Sharp being escorted through the building and towards the questioning rooms. He was bigger than she thought, almost menacing, his face alive with scars from battles she couldn't bear to think about. But she wasn't afraid. She wouldn't allow herself to be, for she was about to question this mammal to his breaking point.
She followed the suspect held between two officers, arming herself with her pad and pen. Nick followed, head down, tail between his legs, not uttering a single word.
Inside the interrogation room, she looked Sharp dead in the eyes without a flinch. He snared back, black beads for orbs piercing, the smell of coal and smoke intoxicating. He was big and threatening, lips always pulled back to present a sneer, ears flat against his head, his claws threatening the wood of the table between them. He was in nothing but a white tank top and dark shorts, causal enough for a bear.
Carefully, she presented still shots of the tape recordings to him, pinpointing him at the scene. Nick looked on in silence, sitting on the edge of the same chair they shared as if trying to give Judy space. She was almost grateful.
"This is you, correct?" she asked, keeping her eyes on him.
"Yes." He replied, his voice low and gravelly, barely even glancing at the images.
Calmly she then presented the photos of the three children he had attacked just the night before, each a family photo of them beaming at the camera with not one care or fear in the world. "And these are the children you attacked last night, yes?"
Sharp shrugged and grinning lazily. "I guess so, yeah."
"Why?" she demanded, drumming her perfectly filed claws on the table, glaring furiously.
"I was told to, of course. I wasn't going to hurt them, though, those little things. What use are they to me, really?"
"Who told you?" Nick asked, leaning forward. "Who told you to attack them?" He was finally speaking like the officer he had been trained to be, and if it hadn't been due to the circumstances in and out of work, Judy would have smiled approvingly.
"Now why would I tell you, foxy?" Sharp answered with another wide, toothy grin. "Or you, rabbit?"
"Why would someone want you to attack innocent children, Sharp? What gain could you possibly get from that?"
There was a long, heavy beat, and it took Judy a moment to notice she was chewing the inside of her cheek in anticipation for another piece to the puzzle, desperate for a distraction from her current state of affairs outside of work. He was the number one suspect, openly admitting to the attacks; he had to know something else that he was willing to share with the police now that he was no longer going to live a free life.
He smiled, leaned in, and said, "You, Officer Hopps."
Ouch