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The hesitant jangling of keys in the lock caused Judy to stir, and the quiet cursing of a deep voice outside the door dragged her out of the throes of fitful rest and back into the world of wakefulness. Infomercials for obviously fake or useless products blared on the TV, and when she checked the time on her phone, she realized she must have fallen asleep on the couch waiting for Nick to come back from the grocery store.
It was strange; normally if he got home and he found her asleep on the couch, he’d just curl up there with her, or pick her up and carry her into the bedroom, bridal style. The fact that he hadn’t done that tonight meant one of three things: he was mad at her, he thought she was mad at him, or he wasn’t home yet.
The keys jangled at the lock again and another quiet curse floated through the wood, barely loud enough to be heard by her rabbit ears. It sounded suspiciously like Finnick, but she couldn’t be sure.
Judy got up and went to the door, grabbing the umbrella from where it was hanging on the old-fashioned coatrack that Nick had insisted he put in the entryway. “Who’s there?” she demanded, in a voice loud enough that she knew whoever it was out in the hallway could hear her.
The sound of the keys stopped, and there was a pause for a moment before a voice that was definitely Finnick replied, “It’s your boyfriend and his buddy Open-the-motha-fuckin’-door-you-stupid-rabbit.”
Judy unlocked the door and threw it open, only half expecting to see Finnick – somehow – supporting a very inebriated Nick. And in the light of the TV, that’s certainly what it looked like.
Finnick pushed past the rabbit in the door and brought Nick over to the sofa. Judy followed, closing the door and locking it behind her. She hit the light switch on her way, and almost immediately wished she hadn’t.
It was very clear to her right from the beginning that Nick was in no way inebriated. Instead, he looked like he’d just gotten back from a bar-fight. His fur was matted, his clothes were torn, his knuckles bruised and bloodied.
“Oh, Nick…” Judy’s voice seemed to get him to respond, and he slowly lifted his muzzle until he could look her in the eye with both of his. Or rather, with the one of his that wasn’t swollen shut.
Judy was by his side in a heartbeat, question after question frantically flying out of her mouth as she tried to piece together what had happened to him. He’s badly hurt! Someone had attacked her fox!
A soft growl from Finnick caught her attention and stopped the flow of words from out of her mouth. She glanced at him, but instead of the usual hostility in his eyes, there was a silent command: Shut up. Listen.
Judy turned back to Nick. He was shaking by then, trembling. His ears were pinned back as low as they would go, and his tail was curled around into his lap, pressed tightly against his abdomen by his forearms.
“It…” Nick paused, licked his lips once, twice, then tried again. “It was Marty.”
“Who’s Marty?” Judy asked after a beat.
“Marty the coyote. He was a bully in high school. Got involved with some of the local gangs. A lot of kids did back then. Where I grew up, anyway.”
“So what happened?”
“Marty… Marty saw me come out of the liqueur store. He saw the bag in my hand. He followed me. Some of his buddies got ahead of me. Cornered me. Down a back alley. Told me to give them my money. My alcohol. My phone. Said they’d kill me if I didn’t. So I gave it up. Put the beer down. Took out my phone. Put it on top. Pulled out my wallet. Took out the money. Put it on top. Put my wallet back.”
Nick took a deep shuddering breath. Judy noticed that he had started to rock back and forward slightly, but he shied away from her arm as she tried to put it around his waist.
“They told me to take out my wallet. They wanted it. I said no. They pulled out guns. I said okay. I pulled out my wallet. I put it on top. They came towards me. Said they remembered me. Marty put his gun away. Came right up to me. Punched me in the face. The others came forward… They… they started hitting me, k-kicking me…”
Nick swallowed hard. He was really rocking back and forth now, his good eye wider and the pupil smaller than Judy had ever seen it. His breathing pattern changed, and Judy recognized that it would lead to hyperventilation, definitely a sign of trauma starting to set in.
“In the hall closet is a spare blanket,” Judy directed Finnick in a quiet but firm voice. “It’s bright blue. I need you to go get it and bring it back. Nick’s body is reacting to the trauma and we need to make sure that we can keep him calm.”
The fennec fox left without a word, returning only a moment later with the tightly-knit wool blanket that Judy’s mother had made for her when she went off to university. Together they draped it over Nick’s shoulders, and Judy started to speak to Nick in soothing tones, trying to keep him calm. Her training said it didn’t matter what you said to a person in that condition, so long as the tone was soothing and you weren’t using any trigger words, so Judy took up a similar mantra to the one while Nick was having a panic attack when they were first told they had to work with the ABI. “It’s okay, you’re okay, you’ll be okay, Nick. I promise. You’re okay, you’re safe here. This is your home. You live her with me. You’re at home and you’re safe. It’s okay, Nick, you’re safe here. No one can hurt you here. You’ll be okay. You’re safe here.”
After a little while, Nick finally stopped and calmed down enough that his breathing regulated and he wasn’t shaking anymore. “S-sorry,” he murmured.
“It’s okay,” Judy replied. Finnick murmured his agreement. “Are you okay with physical touch?” Nick nodded mutely. “Can I hug you?” Another nod, and Judy gently wrapped her arms around the fox’s waist, encircling the arms that were still pressing his tail against his abdomen, and careful to not put too much pressure on Nick’s arms as she hugged him.
Nick slowly leaned over until he was laying down on the couch. Judy moved with him so that she wasn’t trapped, and ended up laying down pressed tightly to his back as he faced the back of the couch. His breathing deepened until Judy was sure he was asleep.
Finnick came over and murmured behind her. “I’m gonna crash in your guest bedroom for the night, in case you guys need anything else.”
“Thank you,” Judy murmured back. “And thank you for bringing him back here.”
“Eh, it was the least I could do. I mean, the state he was in, I was just lucky that I showed up when I did and chased those coyotes off.”
Judy turned her head towards him, careful to keep her body still, and looked at him incredulously. “You chased off a pack of hyenas? By yourself?”
“Hey, listen here bunny girl, I may be small but I can pack quite a bite! Especially when I pull out my baseball bat!” Then he added with an almost sheepish grin, “Besides, it didn’t hurt that I had a few of Mr. Big’s polar bears in the vehicle with me. The coyotes? Even for dumb dogs, they weren’t stupid enough to get into a firefight with a group of polar bears in black suits.”
Judy rolled her eyes at him. “Thanks, Finnick. I really do appreciate you helping him.”
“Don’t mention it, Flopsy. After all, what would the two of us do without this fuckin’ furball?”