Chapter 16: Side effects
Judy double checked the map on her phone, then confirming what the screen was telling her with what she was seeing outside the windshield, she finished driving across the small bridge they were on and pulled over to the side of the road. "We've arrived, everyone!" she announced to the other occupants of the car. "James? Dahlia? Ready?"
From the back seats, she head Fangmeyer snort with laughter. "You sound like we're about to go on some great adventure, Hopps," she said, "remember that we are here to watch over some boring event. I don't see what's gotten you so excited over there."
Judy shrugged. "We're going to be interacting with the community in a positive manner!" she explained, "it's a far more important part of our jobs than just catching bad guys! Am I right or am I right?"
James chuckled. "With you around Hopps, no part of this job is boring." He let out a long yawn. "But first thing's first, let's find a large enough bench and get that report over with. Sound good?"
"No point in delaying the inevitable," Dahlia agreed. "This can easily take us several hours, and I would personally prefer to get it out of our way and in Bogo's inbox sooner rather than later."
"Then we are agreed," Judy confirmed as she unbuckled her seatbelt. "Nick? How are you holding up?" She glanced over to the passenger seat when her partner didn't answer. She let out a small smile of sympathy as she reached over to shake his shoulder. "Nick, we're here. Time to wake up, you promised!"
Nick's head was leaning against the window, eyes closed and tongue dangling out of the corner of his mouth as he snored away even as she started to shake him. His snores abruptly ended when she gave his shoulder a particularly hard shake, causing his head to lift away from the window and collide back with it with an audible clang. "Ow! Carrots! What gives?" Nick furiously rubbed the spot where his head hit the window, glaring at his partner. "You said you'll let me sleep until we arrive!" he complained.
Judy blinked at him. "And we are here, Nick. I tried to be more gentle with you, but you wouldn't budge. Remember Bogo's orders after all – they are for your own well being, after all."
"Yeah, yeah," Nick grumbled as he unbuckled himself and slid out of the car. Closing the door behind him, he looked around him, surveying the area. Judy had found a rather unique place to stop the car: the road they drove in on, after crossing the small bridge, ran parallel to the grassy park, serving as one of its boundaries. Underneath the bridge, the ground dipped away to either another road or something else entirely, with the slanting ground marking another edge of the park. All in all, Just had parked their can right at one of the corners, so they can easily view the entire event from where they were.
In fact, further into the park, it looked like a large group of mammals were already busy setting up.
Nick's eyes then wandered up past the park and the buildings behind it, to the ones further away, and further up still to the pale blue sky. As much as he hated to admit that Judy might be right, but the warm day and sunny skies of Savanna Central on this day did feel really nice, especially compared to the underground caverns they were stuck in the previous day. Perhaps it was still the nighthowlers talking, but being able to relax and see the sky stirred something primal within him that Nick didn't even know he missed.
"Wilde? Nick, you all right there, buddy?" It was Wolford, walking into his field of view. "You completely dazed off there for a while."
Nick caught James' gaze, and nodded. "I'm fine. Just realized how good it feels to be outside, I guess," he commented, earning a smirk from the other officer.
"See? Looks like Doc Honey Badger might know a thing or two about her craft. Speaking of which..." Wolford help up a small insulated lunch box. "Breakfast is waiting for you for whenever you will want it."
Eyeing the box, Nick shook his head. "Not yet. Still not feeling up to it," he admitted. "How come you're all fine, anyways? Shouldn't you be even worse than I am?" he complained.
James grinned. "Beats me. Doc said the meds react differently to each mammal individually. Got lucky, I guess. Can't say that I am not enjoying you in this lousy mood of yours, Wilde. A lot more peace and quiet for the rest of us." Since Nick wasn't going to be eating his breakfast yet, Wolford opened the car door and placed the box inside away from direct sunlight. He did pull out a bottle of water from it, though. "But even if you aren't going to be eating yet, you still have to hydrate. And yes, even I will be making sure that you won't be skipping out on it."
"Whatever you say, mother," Nick retorted, but still accepted the bottle and even took a swig.
Judy's voice grabbed both of theirs attention. "Boys! If you're done there, we're all set up here!"
Glancing at one another, Nick and James headed over to where Judy and Dahlia were ready for them, occupying a bench meant for the largest of mammals, and with a laptop ready in front of them. Nick glared at the empty form waiting to be filled out. "And I had to wake up for this?" Especially knowing what Bogo wanted out them, completing the paperwork was going to take far longer than he felt he had the patience for.
"You know, I'm not even sure why I'm needed for this," Wolford commented casually, glancing between the screen and freedom in the form of the event at the park that they were supposed to be 'guarding'. "It's not like I wasn't either savage or passed out for more than half of this."
With a sigh, Fangmeyer stared up at the two of them. "And I am more than willing to make sure that you spend today the same way if you don't sit both of your tails down and help us complete this," she warned. The looks of nervousness she got out of Nick and James gave her a smirk of pride at how her tone was able to set them in their place. "So here's the deal: Complete the report with Hopps and I, and enjoy the rest of the day out here with us," she focused her attention on Wolford now. After all, he was her partner, and really ought to know to behave better. Plus, he did spend most of the morning back in the precinct bragging that unlike Wilde, he was feeling absolutely fine. "Or, you can spend the same time muzzle first in the backseat of the car, tranquilizer dart sticking out of your a-"
"Okay! Okay!" Nick interrupted in a hurry. "We get it! No need to go there, okay?" He pretended to groan as Judy and Dahlia shared a fist bump with each other. "Besides, we don't want to scare off any of the public now, do we? In fact, here comes one right now." He wasn't even bluffing: while he was more than glad to use anyone as an excuse to move away from the direction this conversation veered off into, it really did look like one of the mammals from the event was walking right towards them.
"Good morning to you, officers!" she, some sort of deer variant, greeted. "Catching up on paperwork?"
"Sure are!" Judy confirmed, lifting one of her paws for a shake. Always the first one when it comes to interacting with the public. "How may we help you, miss-?"
"Foster. Arista Foster," the deer greeted back, shaking Judy's paw. "I am one of the organizers here with the First Species Gathering. It's just that um, I don't want to mean any insult to any of you, but I was hoping that Officer Jones and his partner would be here today. He's the one normally sent out here, and if anything became somewhat of a regular..."
Judy's mind raced at recognizing the name, but it still took her a few moments to remember that he was one of the Precinct Three officers. Of course, it is their territory normally. "Just us for now," she answered, "Officer Jones was unavailable this morning. Sorry about that."
"If he will have the time for it, I am sure he will be able to swing by even for a little," Fangmeyer added politely. "But for today, the four of us are assigned to help you out here, so if you need any help, just flag one of us down."
"Thank you," Foster said, shuffling nervously. "It's just that, Officer Jones, being bison, it really worked with what this event is about. Really fit the spirit, so he showed up for the past… four or five years. But I, really though, don't want to imply anything nor do I wish to make any of you feel unwelcome here..."
"I wouldn't worry about that," Judy reassured her. "We understand."
"Great!" Foster looked relieved that she didn't somehow tread upon some unspoken taboo. "Oh, and one last thing before I leave you all to do your work-" she reached into her purse and pulled out some fliers. "Feel free to join in the event if you want. No need to stay on the sidelines." Handing the fliers out, she gave them all a final quick wave. "Thank you for your time, officers! See you around!"
Turning quickly around, she left, heading back to the rest of the event.
"Okay, with that distraction over with," Dahlia grabbed the fliers from the others and placed them underneath the laptop. "I am not going to be that boring superior officer who says that you will not be allowed to have any fun today." She glanced at Nick and James. "Especially the two you: walking around is supposed to be especially good for you today, so might as well make it interesting. But first-" she motioned at the laptop. "We have a report to get to Bogo. Let's get the worst out the way first, then we can enjoy the rest of our shift afterwards." Rotating the laptop, she placed in a way that allowed her to type but also giving everyone room to sit around it and see the screen with relatively little comfort.
Even with the four of them working together in order to get it done, there was no denying that writing the report to the level of detail that was deemed to be sufficient was long, tedious, and especially boring. For several hours, they labored away at chipping away at the report. To ward off complete boredom, at certain intervals they would pause typing and take a walk around the perimeter of the park, checking up on the event they were supposed to look after to make sure that everything was going all right.
So far, it was.
Nick, for his part, could complete his paperwork to a more than adequate standard when he put his mind to it – Bogo made sure of that. Unfortunately, today was especially one of those days when his mind was everywhere and anywhere but working on paperwork. And so, he often found himself drifting mentally and zoning out.
The noises from the event a short walk's away were not helping him in remaining distraction-free. He stared across the field separating them, finding himself hoping that some nut-job would show up and start making a scene. Not necessarily hurt anyone, but to make a lot of noise. To give them an excuse to get up and have something more exciting to do that was not-
"Nick! Focus!" Judy interrupted his thoughts with a small jab into his sides. "We need your input for this part."
"Huh?" Blinking, Nick stared at the screen, his mood souring when he saw that they were busy writing about the section just before he went fully savage behind the driver's wheel. "Oh, right, this part..." Re-reading the part again, he shrugged. "Looks fine to me. You got it down as I remember it."
Judy sighed. "Nick, this is not the time for you to act like you don't care," she scolded, but there was a hint of concern there as well. "We know what happened, but we don't have your perspective. And unless you won't tell us, we won't know what to write, we won't be able to add it in for you." She reached over to the laptop and shifted it closer to him. "You don't even have to tell us. Just type down what went on inside your head."
"Oh, well, about that," Nick glanced at Fangmeyer. "I mean, do I really need to? Like, won't that be more fitting for a medical report for that? This is a police report, we need to tell what happened, not talk about our feelings."
Dahlia stared back, urging him on with her gaze. "Nick, with Nighthowlers, often everything that happened is inside someone's head, you know that. Bogo specifically asked us to get you and James not to hide anything. He won't hold anything against you either, if you admit to something that you know you did that you normally wouldn't."
So Nick looked at Wolford for help. But James only shook his head. "Don't look at me, I was out of it by then," he explained. "Nick, we understand-" he motioned at himself, "especially me. I'm in the same boat as you are on this. And we're not going to force you to say anything you don't want to. But it's nighthowlers, Nick. You know what they can do, and unfortunately-" he hesitated, "well, fortunately perhaps, but there's just not a lot of data when it comes to what it's like to be under their influence. Every little bit helps."
With a groan, Nick nodded. "Well, it's not really that," he admitted, "just that, well, like this part, for example," he pointed at a section of text, and started reading it aloud. "'Officer Wilde nearly drove into the vehicle in front of him in traffic, only narrowly avoiding a collision by swerving to the side and into a parking meter'." He let out an embarrassed grin. "How do I put it? It's completely wrong..." Taking the laptop, he started to type as he explained. "I didn't 'miss' the car in front." He chuckled nervously. "Deliberately trying to ram it is the more correct description of what I was doing."
"Nick, you didn't!" Next to him, Judy shuffled closer to him.
"Sorry Carrots, but I remember it, well, mostly. And not that I want to," Nick explained. He stopped typing, staring at the screen. "I did realize what I was trying to do as the last second though, hence the swerve. But well, everything then was making me just absolutely mad, I can't really describe it. Wolf, care to elaborate?"
"Everything making you angry sounds about right as to what I felt," Wolford confirmed. But I didn't have much time to realize what was happening until I got to the point that I don't remember anything past it. It's like… severe anger that gets fuzzier and fuzzier, only for the next thing you know, you wake up on a hospital bed." Wolford frowned. "Okay, very obvious obvious, but now that I actually felt it first hand, let me tell you: Going savage su-u-ucks."
Judy and Dahlia grinned at how he stretched out the last word to emphasis it even more.
"And so does recovering from it," Nick grumbled, still staring at the screen, making the occasional correction or adjustment. "Actually..." With a sigh, he reached out to delete everything he added, but stopped before he could carry it out. "I don't mind Bogo seeing this, but since this specifically is going to be sent to both the ZIA and the Ocelotians, can we leave this out? Just mentioning that I was behind the wheel when I went savage is already making me rather nervous." He glanced down at feeling Judy reach for his paw, and he smiled back at her gesture.
"Sure, Wilde, we can do that," Fangmeyer reassured him, and swiveling the computer back to herself, proceeded to do just that. "I'm just going to leave the minimal needed to keep the report making sense, is that all right?"
Nick nodded, grinning nervously. "Yeah, if you don't mind."
"Actually, in that case, same for me," Wolford added hastily, tugging at his shirt collar.
Fangmeyer glanced at her partner, pausing in her editing. "Really James, now you too? Why the sudden change of mind?" When he struggled to come up with a proper excuse, she shook her head to show that she didn't care for the reason. "Don't worry, I get it. I for one, know that I would also be nervous about having something like that be written down about me. Just would have been nice to get this request and hour or two ago."
"Sorry," James mumbled, "didn't think about it too much until now. Got carried away by the moment, I guess. But hey, it's not like that time was wasted! I'm not asking you to delete all of that, just move it out of this specific report."
"Don't worry, James, I got it the first time you said it," Fangmeyer replied with a huff. Scanning through the text and making the necessary adjustments, she got to a point where she felt good about the progress they made. Taking a quick look at the clock on the screen, she saved their progress and closed the lid down. "We will still need to go all over it again, and that can take another additional hour at least," she announced, "why don't we take a lunch break and relax for a bit? Besides, laptop can use a charging before we use it again."
Returning to the car, Dahlia quickly plugged in the laptop to charge, before pulling out the cooler with their lunches.
Nick especially glared at his with a look of pure hate that Judy swore she never knew him capable of. "Not hungry?" she asked.
"Not exactly," Nick answered. "I'm sure I'll be starving soon enough, but I am still feeling like whatever I put in will only go back out the same way, so if you don't mind..." He rummaged through his lunch, pulling out another bottle of water and a small bottle of pills. Spilling a few into his paw, he swallowed the lot and swigged it all down with a large gulp of the water, grimacing at the taste. "Just one more time, then I'm done!" he muttered to himself in a hopeful tone. From the corner of his eye, he saw Wolford taking his own medication, but downing it with some bites of a sandwich.
Judy watched her partner carefully, noting how he looked at them with poorly hidden jealousy as they ate their food. She almost thought to offer him a portion of her meal, but then remembered that it wasn't like he was lacking in his own lunch. "Hey, Nick, while we eat," she offered, "I'm sure you won't mind catching a quick nap in the car-"
"Great idea! On it, Fluff!" Nick said cheerfully before she could even finish her sentence. Moving far quicker than he had all day, Nick just about bounced to the car, sliding into the driver's seat and reclining it all the way back it could, lowering the window half open for airflow.
Finishing up his own lunch faster than the others, Wolford stood up and allowed himself the small luxury of stretching fully after the several hours sitting hunched over a computer screen. He groaned with relief as he felt his various joints move back into their proper places. "If neither of you mind, I think I'll go and take another lap around the park," he announced. "And take my time while at it. Unless you want me to stay so that we can finish the report with you, that is."
"Is your radio with you?" Fangmeyer asked.
"Of course," he scoffed back. "Who do you think I am?"
"Just checking. Hopps? Need him around for anything?"
Judy glanced at the car, and more specifically, at the door that Nick was behind. "Go for it, James. Will give us a good excuse to get Nick out and about again when we wake him up."
Wolford nodded. "Okay then. I'll be close." And just like that, he walked off, leaving the tiger and bunny alone together.
"You know," Dahlia then told to Judy, "we really should be having Wilde be walking as well. Doctor's recommendations and everything."
Judy nodded, but didn't move to go and wake Nick up. "He really should, but at the same time, it's Nick. If he's not eating, then he's really feeling out of it. Most of the time, doctors only tell you to go and walk around once your up to it, not before." She looked up to see Fangmeyer smirking down at her. "What?"
"The two of you are acting like partners who were paired for much longer than you actually were," Dahlia answered.
"Yeah, so what? Nick's my best friend" Judy countered. "What about you and James?"
"Hopps, I'm married," Dahlia countered, blinking at the other officer. She lifted her paw up to show Judy the ring on it. "Speaking of which, I do hope Bogo allows us to actually go home today. But as for James… Yes, I do consider him as a very good friend."
"Your best friend?"
"Well, if you don't count my husband? Uh..." Fangmeyer pondered the question for a moment with a wistful smile. "Yeah, I suppose Jame's my best friend in that case."
"So then it's not that different than Nick and I," Judy finished with a smug grin, returning her attention back to the report. "Okay, okay, enough chatter. Let's get this thing over with."
"You always in a rush to get back into the boring work like this, Hopps?"
Since they needed to go through the entire thing anyways, she started reading the report from the top again, quietly changing some things here and there as she went. Some time later, while she worked on it with Fangmeyer, someone unexpected showed up rather randomly. Judy grinned when she saw her partner shuffle over on his own. "Hey, Nick! Feeling better?"
Nick shook his head, sitting down where he can see the screen. "Not enough. But had nothing better to do, and the car seat isn't the most comfortable," he commented. "Besides, can't risk letting the two of you send this out without me making sure you didn't slip anything in, Carrots. That's my fur on the line in this report, after all."
Judy was about to protest that neither she nor Dahlia would ever do such a thing, but she caught Nick winking at her and realized that it was just him being his usual self acting all casual and care-free. That simple gesture did bring great relief to her though, as it meant far more that he was starting to feel more like himself, especially compared to how out of it he was earlier in the day. "Sure then, here you go. We've almost got it completed anyways."
As Nick did in fact start typing away at the report, Judy smirked when a thought came across her mind. "So Nick," she asked in a teasing voice, "now that you're clearly getting back up on your own feet, how about taking a little walk?"
Pausing in his typing, Nick slowly turned his head to look at Judy. "I thought you were the one who always told me not to procrastinate on the paperwork, Fluff," he muttered dryly. "Why the sudden change of pace?"
"Nick, you know why," Judy countered. Fangmeyer voiced a similar opinion next to her. "It's not like the computer won't be waiting for you when you come back. Just go and grab James, then come back. Not a big deal at all."
Nick smirked back at his partner. "Okay, fine," he relented. But instead of moving, he added, "and done!"
Judy frowned, slightly annoyed at how his smirk only increased at her own displeasure at how he wasn't getting up. "Nick! I'm being serious here! You need to be up and walking around today." She crossed her arms. "On the one day I am letting you get a pass on doing the part of the job you hate the most, and you don't take it. Care to explain why?"
"Did you ask me to go and fetch Wolfy? Yes you did." Nick replied smugly. "Turn around."
Swiveling her head around, Judy was rather surprised to find that sure enough, Wolford had indeed showed up. "James! You're back!"
"Why so surprised, Hopps?" was his answer, tone a low pitch that was rather different than what it was when he had just left them. "Also, nothing to report from the walk. Boring as expected."
Fangmeyer stood up to inspect Wolford better, noting how his tail hung limply behind him with a certain lack of energy that it normally contained. "You feeling all right? Your tail's sagging."
James shook his head. "Think the med's are kicking in, and not in a good way," he replied with a groan. "Hard and fast too." With a heavy sigh, he sat down on the bench, just about shoving Judy out of the way in the process. "Just… give me a minute," he added, closing his eyes and taking in long, slow breaths.
"Hey, James, you all right there?" Fangmeyer asked uncertainly, not liking how he was now acting significantly worse than before. "Need us to call Bogo and ask to return to the station?"
"Naw, I'll be fine," he answered, opening his eyes slowly. "Like I said, just need a minute."
"Well, okay. We'll continue with the report then. Just say if anything changes," Fangmeyer told him. "You can relax here, or even hop in the car like Wilde had."
When Wolford didn't answer her, she figured that he was where he wanted to be, so let him mind his own business as she returned her own attention back to their work. Out of the corner of her vision, she spotted Nick watching him with a concerned, empathetic expression. Even though they had worked together on and off for over a year now, it still warmed her to see how the fox got along so well with those that he would consider to be straight up as the enemy before his 'occupational switch'. But at the same time, it also hurt her seeing Wolford twitch in discomfort every now and then, knowing that there wasn't anything she could do to help him.
The four of them worked quietly, only making the occasional adjustment. James was clearly using the opportunity to try and relax, but even as he added his own input to their work, there was no mistaking how he fidgeted constantly, trying and failing to get a more comfortable position.
"James, are you-" Fangmeyer began.
"I'm okay, don't worry. Just need..." Wolford glanced around him, scanning quickly for something. "Be right back!" He broke of into a sprint, heading straight to the car. No, not the car, but past it, and disappearing down the incline leading to below the bridge where they parked next to.
"I'll go check on him," Fangmeyer said with a firm tone, standing up as well. "You two stay here. Don't need to make a scene and attract attention." Minding her own words, she walked normally over to and past the car, to the incline. It was a grassy hillside, covered in small bushes and the occasional tree and ending with a water filled canal at the bottom, but to her disappointment and concern, no Wolford. But it didn't take her long to find his location when she head the sound of hurling coming from a large clump of bushes close by.
"James?" she called out, eyes looking out for any visual sign of him. "You okay down there?" She waited for him to answer, but when he didn't, she tried again. "James..?"
Then finally. "I'm fine!" His voice called out "I'll be right up!"
Fangmeyer hesitated. Something didn't sound quite right with him. Or maybe it was just her imagination. Then again, if he was busy throwing up, there was more than enough reason not to sound fine. And so, willing to give him some time, she decided that she can afford to wait. "Okay! I'll be by the car waiting." With a few steps, she was back where she told him she would be, and leaned against a door, impatiently counting the seconds until Wolford would emerge. As she waited, she found herself rapidly growing impatient as he failed to emerge as promised. Trying to distract herself, Fangmeyer pulled out her phone and used it to browse the web, anything really to keep her mind from wondering back to worry uselessly over her partner.
The important thing was that James was fine, and based on the lack of any loud or sudden noises from below, he was still down there hiding.
"Dahlia! We're done!"
Quickly hiding her phone, Fangmeyer looked up eagerly, only to feel a sudden rush of confusion when she didn't see Wolford coming up. Then her mind caught up with her and she realized that it wasn't him anyways. He didn't sound like Judy, nor would he refer to himself in the plural. Turning her head around, sure enough, Nick and Judy were walking over, computer in paw.
Taking the compute from them when they arrived, she quickly scanned through it, already more than familiar with this version of the report and nodding when she got to the end. "Looks good. We're calling it and sending it to Bogo then?"
Judy nodded back. "If you don't see any other last minute changes, then sure." She looked around, searching for the missing member of their group. "Um, where's James? Didn't he say that he'll be up soon?"
Fangmeyer blinked, but then remembered. Right - bunny hearing. "Uh, yes, he did say that," she confirmed.
"That was close to ten minutes ago," Judy elaborated.
Cursing at herself, Fangmeyer stomped over to the incline again. "James!" she yelled out at the bushes below, now anger creeping into her voice as she fought to suppress her worries over his state. "You coming up or what?"
"J-Just a moment!" he answered back desperately.
Once again, Fangmeyer found herself taken aback. Sure, he had his reasons for wanting to hide out, but there was something in his voice that was really off. For someone who trusted her to protect his life against dangerous criminals, there was something too unusual to just ignore. "James, I'm coming down!" she warned.
As she carefully made her way down the slope, she could hear him shuffling about quickly behind the bushes. Stopping next to the bushes, she could just make out hints of his fur and the blue of his uniform from through the gaps in the branches and leaves. "James? What's wrong?"
"Nothing!" he replied quickly, but still didn't emerge from his hiding spot.
Frowning, Dahlia spotted a gap in the bushes that she could squeeze through and get to him. "James, I'm coming in," she warned again. This was just getting too ridiculous and she needed to get to him and find out just what in the world was going on.
"...Please don't."
She hesitated, despite telling herself that nothing he would say would stop her. It wasn't that he asked her not to go, but how. There was no mistaking the pleading desperation in his tone that conveyed just how much he didn't want get to go after him. Fangmeyer quickly ran through the possible scenarios in her mind, trying to figure out what might be the problem. There was no way that it was the nighthowlers reverting into effect. James wasn't sounding angry or in any loss of control, so there was no way that they were the reason.
Was it that he didn't want her to see him puking? That couldn't be it at all – their line of work meant that they would inevitably run into something so unappealing that meals would be expelled from time to time. It was such a common problem that new cops would routinely be given advice along the lines of 'if you have to puke, do it around the corner and get back to do your job'. And James was no rookie fresh out of the academy, so there was no way that this would be the reason for his behavior. Coming up blank, Fangmeyer made up her mind.
Taking a heavy sigh, she edged towards the gap in the branches. "James, I know you don't want me to, but I'm going." Forcing the bushes aside, she pushed her way in, freezing when she got her first good look at her partner, and at his wide, shame-filled eyes. Her eyes traveled up and down the rest of him, instantly recognizing exactly why he didn't want her to be here even as he now tried to hide away from her, shrinking into the bushes behind him.
"Oh, James..." Backing out of the bushes she just went through, Dahlia pulled her phone out again. "James, I'm going to call Bogo. You can't continue working like this," she said, knowing that he could still hear her. "Get you back to the station. Hopefully he'll be able to get that Doctor Honey to figure out what's wrong as well. And… stay here, I'll get you some things from the car."
"...Okay."
There was an almost sort of relief in his voice with that single word. It was almost as though Wolford was finally relieved that Fangmeyer had finally went in and caught him, and therefor giving the opportunity to stop pretending that he was fine.
Silently dialing Bogo's number from memory, Fangmeyer climbed back up the sloped ground to the car. He answered quickly, almost making her forget what she wanted to say as she wondered if he had been hovering over his own phone the entire day, waiting for something to happen. Throwing the thoughts aside, she quickly began to give him an update on Wolford's condition, all in the meantime grabbing the supplies she wanted from the car. Cleaning supplies, spare rags, even a spare shirt that looked roughly his size. She didn't want to know where it came from, but it looked clean enough and would do its purpose.
The entire time, Nick and Judy stood by, worried expressions as they overheard the conversation. As Judy opened her mouth to ask a question, Fangmeyer frantically waved at her to stay quiet, still busy with the phone and Bogo.
Closing the door to the car, arms full of things she grabbed for James, Dahlia carefully made her way back down to him, head tilted to keep the phone from falling. She didn't like what she was hearing from Bogo.
"-until I can get someone else to replace your shift, I'm afraid I can't have you drive back with Wolford," Bogo was explaining, "and I can't leave Hopps and Wilde without a car either. Let me check some things here for a second." He hung up, giving her a short break, allowing her to get closer to James without worrying about needing to keep the phone presses against her ear.
Stopping next to the bushes again, Fangmeyer called out to him to let him know that she was back, just in case he somehow missed the noise of her approach. "James? You still here?" Rather a silly question, considering that she could see glimpses of him through the plants, but she wasn't bothering with being creative in letting him know of her presence.
"Y-yeah, I'm still here," he replied back quietly. "Listen, I'm really sorry about this. But had I known that it would get like this-"
"Don't worry about it," she replied, cutting him off. "This stuff happens, all cops know that. And besides, someone in your situation-" her phone buzzed as Bogo called back. "Uh, Bogo's calling. Here, I'll shove the stuff through these branches here and you'll be able to grab it." Answering the call, she used one paw to answer the phone and the other to move the supplies over to her partner. "Yes, sir?"
"Fangmeyer, I've got two updates. First, I was able to get a message from the doctor: nothing to worry about, just a side effect of the medications Officer Wolford is on. Second, I have Officers Andersen and Snarlov on their way over. They were done with their work underground and were returning, so happening to be the closest to your location." There was a long sigh from Bogo through the phone. "Unfortunately, it does mean that Count and Trigger are with them still. Try to find a way to fit them into the car, I don't want them wandering about the city at the moment. And on top of that, the doctor also wants Hopps and Wilde back at the station along with you and Wolford. Wilde mostly, doc says better get him off the streets before he has the chance to get effected like Wolford just had."
Fangmeyer's frowned with annoyance at this news. Not only were they now going to have to figure out how to place more mammals than seats into the car, James was also going to need more room than usual on top of that. Still, compared to other challenges of being a cop, this was nothing. "No problem, sir. We'll figure it out," she reassured Bogo. "I'll let everyone know what they need to do."
"Good. ETA is about five, ten minutes. Now, may I speak to Officer Wolford, or is he unavailable?"
"Let me check, hang on," lowering the phone, Dahlia raised her voice again. "James? It's Bogo. Got a second to talk to him?"
There was the sound of frantic shuffling from the other side of the bushes, but then Wolford's arm popped out through the branches. "Hand him over," he replied, and as soon as Fangmeyer had her phone in his paw, the arm disappeared back behind the greenery.
Deciding not to eavesdrop on the conversation, Fangmeyer walked back up to the car and to the other two waiting officers. Quickly, she explained the situation to them. "-Oh, and as for that report, might as well just hand it over to Bogo in person," she finished saying. Just in time too, as the sound of Wolford made them aware that he was back.
James managed to clean his uniform up enough so that it wasn't completely obvious that something was wrong by looking at him. But there was no mistaking the tail tucked between his legs, ears flat over his head, and the defeated, vulnerable expression on his eyes. Not to mention, as he came closer, handing Fangmeyer back her phone, an unpleasant odor - a mixture of cleaning agents and the very things they were failing to block, wafted over in everyone else's direction.
Wrinkling his nose in disgust, Nick shuffled off and away to try and avoid the worse of the stench, earning him a dirty glare from Judy.
James paused, looking hurt at seeing the fox's reaction. "Wilde, not a word-" he started to argue.
"I was already this close to being in the same boat you're in now," Nick argued back, paws blocking his nose and mouth. "And I didn't have any breakfast or lunch to lose." He glared back at Judy. "So if neither of you will mind, I want to keep my distance."
Not wanting the two bicker, Fangmeyer walked over to her partner and nudged him away. "Let's get you inside and turn the air on, James," she said gently. Leading him over to the passenger side door, she allowed Judy to argue with Nick as she instead took care of her partner. He was hesitant to actually sit down, but she reassured him that there won't be any trouble with cleaning up the seat afterwards, so he eventually relented, but not without opting to sit in the back rather than the front.
"Don't want the car air to be blasting through me and at everyone else," he argued back when Dahlia insisted that he still take the front seat. "Besides, back seats are easier to clean."
Fangmeyer then remembered that he was most likely not yet aware of a piece of news that was one of the other reasons she wanted him to sit in the front. "James, the closest officers to replace us here are Andersen and Snarlov," she explained, "they didn't have a chance to drop Count and Trigger off at the station yet. Back seats are going to be very cramped."
Wolford cursed when she said this. "Stick them in the front then," he argued back, crossing his arms in anger. "Hell, let them drive! I don't want either one of them complaining about something I had no control over. And besides, I'm already sitting down. And I don't want to get back up again until we get back to a place with a shower." He looked at Fangmeyer, pained expression urging her to drop the subject. "Moving around is uncomfortable enough as is."
She gave him a sad smile in return. "Don't know about letting them drive, but if you insist, I'm not going to argue. Just try not to let this get to you, okay? You'll be fine again soon." James grunted back, even managing to return a hint of a smile, but didn't say anything. Dahlia then allowed herself to try and think of how to best fit two pilots along with the four officers in the one car with its four-and-a-half seats. Several ideas came to her, but they were tossed aside when the sound of a car engine, just background noise for the entire day with the traffic all around them, caught her attention. Looking away from James, she smiled in relief when the reassuring sight of a second police car drove over, pulling over, and parking next to them.
"Heard you lot got into a bit of a pickle, figured you could use an extra set of paws!" Anderson announced with a grin as he got out of the car. Spotting Wolford glaring back at him past the open door, he shrugged innocently. "You all right there, buddy?"
"Does it look like I'm all right?" James growled back, getting annoyed at the unwanted attention he was receiving.
Andersen shrugged as Snarlov joined him outside their car. "Could be worse," he replied plainly.
Fangmeyer sighed in a half-amused, half-annoyed manner. As much as the jabs at one another were a normal affair for working as a cop, sometimes she wished that the guys could just shut up and focus on the work at hand. "Boys, do you mind?" As Andersen grinned and focused back on his own car, she turned her own attention to other matters that needing dealing with. "Hopps! Wilde! A moment, if you may?" She waited for the two smaller officers to run over before explaining what she wanted from them. "Wilde, if you won't mind grabbing the pilots?"
"Yeah, sure, no problem." Nick wandered off to the second car, his usual carefree smirk plastered over his muzzle, making it hard for Fangmeyer to gauge an estimate as to how he was feeling now. Not that it mattered really, they would all be soon back at the station anyways.
"Hopps, there is going to be the problem of fitting all of us inside," she instead told Judy. "Have any ideas on how to get everyone inside? Especially since..." her voice lowered to just shy above a whisper, despite the fact that the wasn't going to say anything that no one around them didn't already know. "...Especially considering how James is now," she finished.
"I suppose Nick can drive, it won't take him too long to readjust the seat to his size," Judy responded quickly enough, her voice trailing off as she thought about it some more. "And I suppose we can have you hold me. Doesn't violate any codes that I am aware of." She couldn't help but grin as she looked over to where Nick was waiting on Count and Trigger. "I can already hear Count complaining about being cramped in the back with us, so he can sit in the front, I don't mind."
"Agreed with you there," Fangmeyer said quickly, nodding as she did so. "But what about Trigger? From what James said when I just talked to him about it, he didn't seem to like the idea of having him in the back either."
Judy tilted her head in confusion. "Uhh, but if we place him in the front as well, who will drive?"
"I don't know," Fangmeyer answered truthfully. "Count is definitely out because I'm not even sure if the seat will go back far enough to let him drive. But Trigger?" She huffed, thinking it over. "I suppose he's not the worst choice, but I don't even know if he knows how to drive. Do pilots even need to know how to drive before they are allowed to fly?" she eyed Judy as she pondered it over. "I mean, as silly as it sounds, but we're cops. We can't just stick someone we know doesn't have a valid driver's license on them behind the wheel." She motioned at Judy to paw over the car keys, eyeing them when she took a hold of them. "Don't want to place either one of them in the back either," she muttered under her breath. Making up her mind, she glanced back at Judy. "Hopps, would you be comfortable letting Trigger drive then? I'll sit next to Wolford, and like you suggested, you can sit on my lap, and we'll have enough seats."
Judy immediately remembered how Trigger was in the morning, and even earlier than that, at night. Truth be told, she didn't actually feel all that comfortable letting him drive. Knowing that he was on the sleep-deprived side compounded with what was most likely a bad mood, mixed in with those stupid shock collars, meant that she had her worries about the idea. But as she was about to voice her concerns to Dahlia, she glanced in Nick's direction, spotting him coming back to her with Count and Trigger in tow.
Contrary to how he was in the morning, Trigger was looking far more cheerful, even sporting a hint of a sly grin on his muzzle as he was talking with Count about something. The collar around his neck confirmed the lack of any serious emotions, glowing a healthy green. Well, in that case, it was only a relatively short drive back after all…
"I think he'll be fine driving," Judy concluded, nodding at Fangmeyer. "Just make sure that he actually knows how to though."
Nodding back, the larger officer smirked as she looked over at the pilot in question. "Hey Trigger! You know how to drive a car?"
Trigger stopped in his steps, confused expression. "Uh, yeah," he answered back, sounding like it was the dumbest question in the world. "Why..?"
"Then congratulations!" Smirk deepening, Fangmeyer tossed the keys over, which to his credit, he caught in the very last second. "You've been to volunteered to drive us back to the station."
"Uh, okay..." Trigger stared at the keys, blinking with confusion at the sudden change of pace.
Next to him, Count had other priorities. "Hey, how come Trigger gets to drive and I don't?" he asked in a peeved tone.
"Because one," Fangmeyer said impatiently, "Hopps drove in, so the seat installed is far too small for you. And two-" she hesitated, realizing that she didn't actually have a good reason to give to him as to why exactly he wasn't allowed to drive. "Two because we said so," she concluded. "Just get in the car, and don't say a word."
Shrugging, Count glanced between Trigger and the car. "Can I call shotgun?" he asked quickly.
"Yes, we were planning on sticking you there anyways," Fangmeyer replied. "Now if you don't mind, get in the car. And please, for the love of everyone involved, spare us your commentary when you do."
"Eh, whatever," Count muttered, gently pushing Trigger forwards. "Come on then, you were given a job to do. Try not to mess it up."
Trigger nudged Count right back. "You're on!"
