Better Off As Lovers

Chapter 5: There's An Albatross Around Your Neck

Nick and Judy struggle with internal conflicts while searching for a way out of their external ones.

::

There's an albatross around your neck

All the things you've said;

And the things you've done

Can you carry it with no regrets?

Can you stand the person you've become?

(Oh, there's a light.)

(Your albatross; shoot it down.)

::

The door clicked shut behind Chief Bogo, leaving Judy standing alone. Nick wasn't awake yet, and she didn't feel like wandering around the unnervingly large apartment. Judy sighed – she seemed to be doing that a lot lately – and ran a paw over her ears.

Reluctantly, she shuffled back into the room she'd claimed, feet dragging with unseen weight. She idly switched between a few songs on her iPod for a few moments before switching it off; bored and lonely despite Nick's audible snoring only feet away. She considered waking him, but decided against it. Nick hadn't said anything to her last night after he was unceremoniously 'given the boot' from his landlord. He was probably angry with her, and he needed just as much sleep as she did. He was going through this, too.

Judy groaned, rolling onto her stomach and gripping her pillow. Oh, god. She thought, Maybe we should have done a better job of hiding this. Our relationship is still so new; all of this public attention is going to tear us apart. A small tear rolled down her cheek, and she brushed it away angrily, but to her dismay, more followed.

Her mind drifted back to the paper Bogo had dropped off; her curiosity got the best of her, and she tip-toed through the living room, and stood on her toes, reaching up for the paper on the table where she had left it. She scanned the front page with desperate eyes.

Midnight Escape? It read.

Judy's eyes jumped down to one of the several pictures donning the page. Several pale pictures – washed out from the bright flashes of the cameras – jumped out at her. She faltered upon seeing a picture of Nick, looking pathetic and sad; eyes squinted against the bright light; the dark bruise under his eye reflecting the bright flash. Hesitantly, Judy dared to look at her own picture. Her eyes were cast downwards in one, looking empty. In another, her hands were pressed to her head; her eyes were clenched shut, and her ears were flat against her skull.

Judy flung the paper at the wall, watching with satisfaction as the papers separated and fluttered to the ground. She slumped to the floor, chest heaving.

The creaking of springs in a cushion startled her. She spun around, meeting Nick's eyes wildly. He was sitting up now, eyes cracked open, looking at her in surprise.

"You okay, Carrots?" He asked, voice raw from sleep.

Judy fumbled for words. "I – yeah – I'm fine." She took Nick in; right eye swollen and discoloured; clothes rumpled from sleep. His form appeared insignificant on the gigantic couch, almost as if it would swallow him whole at any moment. "What about you? Are you fine?"

He shrugged. "I'm fine in the sense that you don't have to worry about me; but other than that, no. And I'm guessing you aren't either."He glanced at the papers sprawled across the floor. "Bring those over here. We should probably read those."

Her nose twitched. "Ah, right." She bent down and collected the scattered papers, trying in vain to organise them. A dry laugh escaped Nick.

"Don't worry about sorting 'em." He smiled faintly, trying to ease the tense atmosphere. "Just bring them over."

Judy crossed the room slowly, and hauled herself onto the couch; Nick offered a paw to help her up. She shoved it away stubbornly and pulled herself up. "I've got it." She huffed, throwing herself down on a pillow two times her size.

Nick just shook his head, and shifted closer to read the papers over her shoulder. "Can I see some of them?" He asked, voice soft in her ears.

"Yeah, yeah." She offered him half of the crumpled stack, and they perused them in comfortable silence.

"Are you mad at me?" Judy asked suddenly, dropping the papers into her lap and turning around to face Nick.

Nick's ears swiveled around, his head jerking up sharply. "What?"

Judy hunched over; head in her hands. "Are you mad at me? Because of me, we're both hated by the public; our lives are literally in danger – you were kicked out of your house." Judy sighed, taking a shuddering breath. "Maybe our relationship was too new to handle this."

Nick laid a supportive paw on her shoulder. "I'm not mad." He said. "Not at you, anyway. I'm mad that other animals don't understand us. I mean, yeah, it sucks that I don't have a place to live, but I guess I don't really have to worry about that right now. And –" He was cut short by Judy wrapping him in a hug. His mouth fell open. "Carrots, what are you –"

"I'm giving you a hug." She snapped, tightening her vice grip on the fox. "I'm not the only one having a tough time. You need support, too."

Nick rolled his eyes. "You bunnies are so –" he began, but was cut off.

"Nick." Judy growled. "Just let me hug you. Just because you're a guy doesn't mean you can't have feelings." Nick sighed in defeat, and reluctantly accepted the hug. "Don't think I didn't notice that." She remarked sharply. "You can sacrifice your masculinity and accept a goddamn hug."

Nick smiled; and he leaned into the hug gratefully.

If Judy noticed, she didn't say anything.

()

Judy's eyes cracked open and darted around the dark room. She must have been asleep for hours – her head was pounding; her mouth was dry. Groggily, she tried to pull herself up, but was held down by a warm arm.

Memory of heir lazy afternoon trickled slowly into Judy's brain. They'd spent the afternoon draped on the couch, alternating between discussing articles in the paper written about them; laughing together over the preposterous gossip, and watching some medical drama with an unorthodox, grumpy doctor.

"Why do you like this show so much?" Nick had asked, gaze lazily following the actors on-screen. "I mean, I get that the doctor is a handsome fox like me –" Judy rolled her eyes at that. "but he's older. Plus he feeds right into typical stereotypes. He's sleazy and rude." He finished, complaining.

"Actually," Judy began matter-of-factly, "He wasn't always like that. His leg and drug addiction are what make him sleazy." She explained. "I like this show because it points out the sad facts of life."

Nick's brow had furrowed. "Why? You're so optimistic?"

Judy was silent for a moment, eyes busy scanning a hateful article. "Just because I'm optimistic doesn't mean I'm not realistic. Life is messy and more often than not, bleak." She had replied, voice more curt than usual. "But I've found that without optimism, life becomes very dark and depressing very quickly. It's better to put on a smile and greet each day with a positive attitude than to let reality drag you down."

Judy frowned at the memory of that particular topic of conversation. Optimism has been hard to come by recently, she thought grimly. She glanced at Nick, who had a small smile on his face – which was currently resting on her side. Carefully, she reached over to pull the large TV remote towards her, and turned the TV back on. To her delight, the marathon of her medical show was still on, and she leaned back, pulling Nick closer. He shifted in his sleep and slung his other arm around her.

She stayed like that for another hour at least; interrupted only when her phone buzzed on the coffee table. Reluctantly, Judy freed herself from Nick's grip, and hopped down to grab it. It was a text.

Curious, she opened it; the message was from Bogo.

Congratulations, the City Manager and Mayor are trying to talk lawyers out of taking your little fling to court. I'll drop off some papers later. Maybe we can find a loophole out of this – I'm not letting the courts take my star officers without a fight.

Judy's eyes widened; she could practically hear Bogo's angry growl through the screen. She reached onto the couch and changed the channel to a News Station. The anchor on-screen was already relaying to the public the details of the impending case.

Apparently, there was a group forming. One who had bought lawyers to declare Nick and Judy's relationship illegal.

Oh, fuck.

"What time is it?" Nick's voice startled her. She turned to face him.

"Um, two thirty, I think."

He yawned, showing off his pearly white teeth. "Wow. We've been lazy today-" He eyes fell on the screen, and he jolted upright on the couch. "W-what's that?" He asked quietly.

Judy slowly turned back to the screen. "That," She drawled, "is the legal system trying to screw us over."

::

Bogo dropped by later that day, but it was only to drop a large stack of papers at Judy's feet, and to give her and Nick a disapproving look. "Now you know the extent of the mess you've gotten yourself into." He had grumbled.

"Yeah, I get it, I messed up." Judy had snapped back, and dragged the papers farther into the apartment.

::

"I don't get it." Nick said, shoving several papers away. "Why would Bogo drop off a word-for-word copy of the constitution?"

Judy groaned from her spot across from him; they were sitting on top of the table, the stack spread out between them. "I don't know, but he obviously thought something might be in here." Her forehead creased with frustration as she flipped through the many pages. They'd been tirelessly looking through page after page of information for nearly two hours, and her eyes were getting tired.

Suddenly, she stopped on one page in particular, her eyes darting across the page hastily. She leaned forward, bringing it closer as if it would make the words clearer. Nick stopped, looking up at her; intrigued. Just as he opened his mouth, she blurted out, "Nick, look at this!"

The fox practically fell over in his haste to crawl across the table; papers flying everywhere. He knelt down next to Judy, who was eagerly pointing to a sub clause. "It's a clause regarding marriage." She whispered to him. "It doesn't say anything specific about who can get married; it just gives the different areas power over how long mammals have to wait, how to get divorced; you know, the generic stuff." For the first time in days, her eyes weren't glassy with hopelessness; her arms waved animatedly. "Nick, do you know what this means? Us being together is perfectly legal. Those lawyers don't have a case!"

Nick's face remained blank. "But that doesn't solve the social side of things." He rebutted. "Mammals dislike it because we can't have children. They think our union would be counterproductive to society."

Judy folded her arms. "Right now I'm more worried about covering our asses than gaining backing on this, Nick. It's our right to be together, and I'm going to uphold that." She said. "But it's not our right to make other mammals agree with us. There are going to be major cons no matter what situation we end up in."

Nick's eyes were locked on the floor. "Yeah, I guess you're right about that." He admitted, and Judy's face flooded with relief. "About what I said– I change my mind I'm sure if we tried hard enough –" Judy cut him off with a harsh glare, and his face split into a wolfish grin.

"Seriously?" She raised her eyebrows. "You're asking me for sex? Now? Of all possible times?" She rolled her eyes and hopped down from the table, landing with a soft thud. "Just call Bogo and tell him what we found, you loser!" Judy walked off into the kitchen in search of food.

Nick laughed, picking up the paper Judy had shown him. He read it a few times, just to make sure what Judy had said was really true. He couldn't believe it. Nick slid off the table and grabbed his phone from the couch.

He dialed it slowly, as if rushing things might ruin everything. He paced around the room while the phone rang once, twice, thrice – biting his nails – before it picked up.

"Wilde." Bogo greeted him roughly. "What have you got?"

Nick grinned. "Good news, actually. Judes found something."

Bogo didn't respond at first, and when he did, he sounded surprised. "She – I – what – she did? What is it?" He sputtered.

Nick glanced across the apartment at Judy, who was hoisting herself onto an over-sized countertop to browse through the pantry. "We'll tell you tomorrow. Is it okay if we meet you at the station?"

"I don't think that's the best idea-" Bogo began.

"Great. Meet you at eleven." Nick said, hanging up.

"Hey, Jude!" He called. Judy looked up, shame flooding her face. She was elbow-deep in a bag of chips, crumbs littering her face and tangled in her whiskers. Nick stifled a snort of laugher. "Make sure to actually get a shower tomorrow. We're going into the station."

::

A/N

Hmmm, I wonder who can catch the references this time. I don't explicitly mention them by name. (Kudos to the person who found the Parks and Rec and Supernatural references, by the way.)

Things are about to get happier for you, as readers; but a lot more complicated for me to write as an author. It may take a week or so for me to work things out and put out a new chapter, so I hope you understand.