"We are gathered here today to mourn the passing of a beloved comrade." As the priest addressed the assembled officers, Judy gazed indifferently at the closed casket. Beside her, she heard Nick choke back a sob as he wrung his own tail anxiously. She opened her mouth to offer some words of comfort, but none emerged. As the sounds around her began to fade and her vision was filled by warm and all-encompassing light, her last thought was to hope that her fox would be alright without her.
Judy hated funerals - especially when she hadn't been very close to the deceased. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't seem to remember the name of the officer that had died. It left her feeling awkward and uncomfortable, and she found herself fighting the urge to leave. She didn't really want to; she wanted to be there to support Nick - who was clearly very upset - but something told her that she just couldn't hang around any longer.
It'd be alright, though. They say absence made the heart grow fonder.
.
She didn't expect every officer to display what Nick called her 'absurd level of permanent enthusiasm', but the way everybody was shuffling around the precinct, it was a wonder that anyone got any work done. Case in point, it looked like Nick was in trouble again for slacking off on his paperwork. Rather than firing back with one of his trademark witty retorts, however, Nick just slumped his shoulders and accepted Bogo's reprimand in silence.
The buffalo trailed off in mid-yell. Stepping around his desk, he placed a hoof on Nick's shoulder and softly apologized for losing his temper.
.
Trouble seemed to be attracted to then like flies to honey. Even on seemingly normal cases they always seemed to end up in some sort of dynamic and harrowing situation. Consequently, Judy had grown accustomed to a life of semi-permanent quasi-fame. So, although she'd gotten used to ignoring her face of the front page of the Zootopia Gazette, for the life of her she couldn't remember what recent case could've caused such a stir.
Eventually she decided it was probably just the media blowing things out of proportion again. She only wished they'd used a better picture of her than her old ZPD headshot. Didn't they have anything more recent?
Sweet cheese and crackers, she'd have posed for a new one if they'd asked her.
.
Every once in a while, either she or Nick (usually Nick) would forget to charge up their cruiser's battery. The electric motor was pretty efficient and Savannah Central was temperate enough that it was rarely an issue - they both preferred to patrol on foot, anyway. But if they were running the heaters in Tundratown or the air conditioner in Sahara Square...
Let's just say that it's pretty embarrassing having to call for a tow truck while you're still on duty.
She considered reminding Nick about that as they sat in their cruiser on the roof of the ZPD parking garage, turning to see him staring out the windshield and tightly gripping the steering wheel. It had been four hours since he'd powered up the motor and he hadn't even taken the vehicle out of park.
.
Office pranks were a part of life at the ZPD, and they actually went a long way toward relieving stress and breaking up tension. But even though she'd long-since accepted them, this was ridiculous.
At the very least, pranks were supposed to be funny. Not only was emptying out her entire cubicle not funny, it wasn't even very creative. More importantly, half the fun of a good prank was seeing the surprise on the victim's face. How did they expect to catch her off guard when everyone in the bullpen kept glancing at her unoccupied desk?
.
Ever since she and Nick had moved in together, it had been a constant battle between his cleanliness and her tendency toward letting clutter build up. She blamed her upbringing, honestly. When you had almost three hundred siblings and countless cousins kicking around, you couldn't expect anything to stay in place for long. Why tidy everything away when it was practically guaranteed not to be there when you came back?
Looking around their apartment, she made a quick mental note to do some serious cleaning just as soon as the opportunity came up – if only for her boyfriend's sake. He'd been such a drama queen about it lately. Every time he'd start to clean up her things, he'd only manage to move one or two items before he started crying.
.
He was doing it again.
Over the last couple of weeks, she'd gotten a little concerned that the stress of police work might be getting to Nick. She wished she could get him to talk about it. She'd tried broaching the subject, but she could never quite seem to find the right words.
So in the absence of some inspirational speech she just stood next to him, offering her voiceless support as he gazed thoughtfully at the pistol on the table.
.
It was so frustrating - no matter where she looked, she just couldn't find her cell phone. She'd tried looking in all the usual spots. It wasn't by the door, though neither were her keys and scarf. She'd checked her bedside table, but it wasn't there either - even though everything else was exactly as she'd left it.
Nick kept sending her little text messages like 'I love you' and 'I miss you so much' and even 'I'm sorry' – probably so she could find her phone by listening for the beeping. It was sweet, but she'd rather he just got out of bed and helped her look for it.
.
Nick had a terrible habit of turning the heat up too high during their Tundratown rotations. She'd warn him that his winter coat wouldn't grow in properly, and she'd be right every time. Even so, since they'd gotten together she'd had no problem acting as his personal nighttime heater.
He must've been particularly bad about it this year, though. Her poor fox, curled up in the middle of their bed and trembling like a leaf. She tried to help him warm up, but she must not have been warm enough.
It seemed like the more she held him, the harder he shook.
.
Her uniform was one of a kind, designed especially for her. She was extremely proud of it and always did everything she could to take care of it. Her mother had taught her to sew years ago, so whenever possible she made time to take care of the basic fixes herself.
She preferred that option, since the only alternative was sending it to the ZPD Quartermaster's office for repair and that took forever. In the meantime, she'd have to wear her backup; the standard ZPD patrol uniform, which she was certain was about seven hundred percent polyester. Much as she hated it, though, she didn't really have a choice this time.
There wasn't much her little sewing kit could do about a hole that size.
.
"Judy, can you hear me?" Of course she could.
"This is...it's like I'm caught in a nightmare." And she'd always be there to soothe the bad dreams away.
"Please wake up, Judy. Please, please don't leave me."
As if she'd ever leave him.
Silly fox.
.
As she walked around the corner, Judy felt a sudden pressure against her chest. The entire world tilted ninety degrees and it took her a second to realize that she was staring up at the sky.
She couldn't quite catch her breath. It reminded her of when one of her brothers had pushed her off the couch. She'd landed flat on her back and had the wind knocked right out of her. It had taken her a moment to get her breath back, after which she'd shown that brother (Seth? Owen, maybe?) who the real king of the castle was.
Suddenly, Nick's face filled her view.
It looked like he was saying something, but she couldn't hear him over the ringing in her ears.
He seemed really upset.
Had his fur always been that shade of red?