"...They aren't just going to magically appear, you know" Roxie startled at her partners words, and turned to face him. "Besides, you're wasting time just standing there." Robert's words sounded cold, but Roxie knew her partner. Deep down, he was just as worried as her. For good reason too; no one had heard from Eva Rosalene or Neil Watts for five whole days.

It was normal for Neil to miss a day or two from time to time, he'd been working himself ragged lately, and at the right angle dark bags could be seen under his eyes, hidden behind his reflective glasses.

Eva though, she very rarely missed work. Roxie could recall one too many times the poor woman had come into work sick, diligently working away with her office lights dimmed, a cup of tea in hand.

This however, was worrying. She recalls seeing them, hauling Neil's secret machine outside. They'd claimed there was a new client, and that it might be a long mission dismissively. However when she had checked the roster three days later, there was no such thing. No one had seen them, or heard from them since. All her frantic texts went unanswered, and every call went straight to voicemail. They had to be in trouble, there was no other explanation. What if-

"You're doing it again, Rox" She blinked up at Robert. His expression softened slightly, and he sighed "I know you're worried, if it'd help, we can try to look for them. We don't have any clients right now."

Wait, did he mean- "Can we, Rob? Don't we... we have work to do here still" He nodded and her heart soared.

"I've already completed all the work ahead of time, while you were spacing out here. Once you're ready we can-" Robert paused as she zoomed past him into her office, and less than a minute later she was standing in front of him again.

"Okie dokie Loki pockie! I'm all ready to go!" She grinned up at him, practically bouncing. He turned away towards the elevator.

"Alright, let's go then" Roxie still caught the little smirk he tried to hide, despite his best efforts, and followed him down hall.

Half an hour later, they were standing outside Neil's apartment. Robert stood awkwardly next to Roxie as she picked the lock, blocking the view for any would be witnesses.

He huffed impatiently "Rox, how much longer-" she suddenly bolted up and swung the door open with a flourish, causing him to jolt back.

"Alrighty dighty! I've always wanted to check out Neil's place~" She was already inside, leaving her partner to trail after her. Robert flicked the lights on and they took in their surroundings.

It looked... empty. There was your basic furniture but barely any decoration. Junk was scattered here and there, a spare lab coat laying on a chair, dirty dishes stacked in the sink, a single potted plant near the kitchen window, some papers on the coffee table. It was... well, it was exactly what they'd expected of Neil. His bedroom yielded similar results. They turned towards the door dejectedly, ready to move on to the next location when something caught Roxie's eye. She stopped and turned towards Neil's desk, carefully pushing a pile of work tools to the side. It was a blueprint, specifically, the blueprint to his machine. It was more scrawled notes than blueprint if she was being honest. Trying to decipher this would certainly take a while-

"What's the holdup, Roxie?" She turned to face Robert, who was peeking in from the hallway.

"Nothing, nothing~ C'mon, let's get outta here, Robbie" she chirped as she tucked the paper into her coat pocket, striding past him out of the apartment.

Eva's apartment looked more lived in then Neil's had. Pictures were hung up on the walls portraying friends and family, a good portion even contained coworkers from the office. Roxie couldn't help but find herself smiling at one of her and Eva, an office party if she recalled correctly. Multiple potted plants dangled from the ceiling, and even more on tables and counters.

"They look... dry" She heard Robert mention behind her, taking a closer look at said plants, she couldn't help but agree. The soil had turned crumbly, and some of the leaves were yellowing.

"Eva would never let her plants get this bad..." She sighed, wherever Eva was, she hadn't come home in a while. One thorough search later just left the two doctors feeling frustrated. Roxie flopped down on the couch with an exaggerated sigh, and glanced upside down at the other. "Sooo... now whaAAHHHH!" she screamed just as a loud BRIIIIIING rang through the room. "Hey! Uncool Rob!" she yelled indignantly from her new position on the floor, "I can see you trying not to laugh! Ouch..." she grumbled as he hurried away to find the source of the noise.

As it turned out, the sound was coming from Eva's home phone. Roxie watched as her partner answered "...hello?" She could hear frantic yelling coming from the other end, Robert held the phone a little farther away from his ear. "No, my name is Robert Lin, I'm one of Eva's coworkers... yes... I'm sorry, no... do you know where she might be? ...Alright, thank you." After placing the phone back on it's charger, he turned back towards her and remained silent for a few seconds "...Why haven't you gotten back up yet?"

Grinning, she finally rolled onto her stomach and stood up straight. "The floor was pretty comfy after that phone nearly gave me a heart attack, who was that anyways?" He was messing with his own phone now, Roxie leaned forward a bit in curiosity.

"Eva's sister, Traci. She hasn't been able to contact her either, but mentioned a few places we could look-" "Great! Where to first, Rob?!"

He blinked at her "I know you're excited but please..." her grin fell slightly and he sighed "...she mentioned someplace called 'Anya'"

Now it was her turn to be confused, so she turned her head to the side, eyes narrowed "You don't mean... the lighthouse?"