"Damnit, not again…" Nick groaned groggily as he looked at the busted clock on the wall. That was the third clock in a month, and the second in the same week. He felt a small furry paw push his shoulder. He turned to look at the rabbit attached to it. Fluff looked worried about something.

"Nick, it's 5:30. We have to be at work by 6:00. Remember?" Her question hung over him and he huffed. Not only a broken clock, but a wake up call.

'How'd she get in my room?' he thought. He ignored the thought because it was early and it didn't matter much. "That's the one part of this job that I-" he felt muzzle open and a long yawn came out. When it was done, he rattled on. "Really wish I could change about being a cop." He hated early mornings. He silently wished for the days he could wake up when he wanted and do whatever he wanted. Not for long, though, because he liked where he was now.

He walked towards the bathroom, peeling off his shirt and closing the door. Right now, modesty came after relieving himself and hot water. After he completed the first he took off the rest of his clothes and entered the shower. Despite being exhausted, he made sure to wash himself properly, especially his tail. He'd never say it, but he prided his tail.

He continued his morning cycle. Out of the shower, into the heater. Or drier. It never fully dried him, but left just enough moisture to make him feel fluffy. He'd never quite gotten used to that feeling. When that was done he left the bathroom, glad that the door was shut and Judy was out. He got dressed, pulling on his pants and shirt before buttoning and zipping up everything. On went his dark tie before he grabbed his aviators, his keys, wallet, and phone. He opened the bedroom door and saw Carrots at the island. Unlike her, he knew his eyes were better adapted to the dark. He looked to his right and saw her parents. They liked to sleep in until right before the sun rose, and Nick didn't see any point in waking them up early. He turned back into his room, returning after he'd gotten some supplies.

He motioned to Judy before scribbling down a note for her parents. He pushed it towards her and asked, "Sound good to you?"

She blinked in the dark and pulled out her phone, turning on the light. Nick squinted quickly, the light blinding to his night vision. He let out a hiss at the visual pain.

"Sorry," she murmured to him before blocking off some of the light and read the note. She nodded and looked at him. "You sure about this?"

"They like to wait until 6:45, 7 AM to get up if I remember right." He remembered well enough despite his exhaustion. They'd made sure to start each day with pancakes, a morning job, and interrogation.

She nodded at him, oblivious to his thought process. He led the way out of the apartment and turned, locking the door. He turned to the door and took a deep breath before walking that way.

"Coffee," he said. She didn't argue with him but instead just made an affirmative huff. He was grateful. She hadn't known the night he had. He didn't want her to. Bad dream after bad dream had plagued him, and that was after he finally fell asleep much later than usual. Each dream involved Judy. And each dream had turned into a nightmare too.

As they went down the stairs, Nick noticed Judy falling behind. She may have slept better than him, but her leg had to be sore. He slowed down just as she stumbled, raising his arm to keep her from falling. He felt her paws shake on his arm.

"Thank you," she said. He nodded and led the way towards the Precinct. The walking lights turned green as if on cue, and he was grateful. He turned into a nearby 24/7 diner. Ma's it was called. When he was young, it'd be called Horney's. Apparently people weren't very inventive with names.

"Good morning... Jesus, did you get into a bar fight, Red?" His ears dropped to his head. Almost no one still knew that nickname. Just because it described him when he was young and now didn't mean he liked it. Still, it was early, he was tired, and she had something he wanted so he let it go, shaking his head.

"You're one of the few who calls me that, Ma." He didn't know her real name. He doubted anyone did. "I need something with some kick this morning, I didn't get much sleep."

The older monkey nodded at him and called out for a double shot expresso. Thank god. He needed the pick me up. Plus, she'd said his name so he knew he'd get the extra treatment they provided him. She always charged him about a dollar more per item, but because she remembered how he liked it he never complained.

Fluffy McGee had started to talk to Ma and Nick zoned out, trying not to fall asleep on his feet. He reached for his wallet to pay for his drink.

His gray partner pushed forward into his vision with a, "I'm paying this morning." He shrugged and push his wallet back down before turning and leaning on the hot case. He wanted to be left alone to fall asleep on the heavenly glass.

"I told you, no leaning on the counters, kid." Ma had this voice that could wake the dead if she used it right. It was friendly enough, but he knew she was telling him not to fall asleep. He'd done that in the past before, and she hadn't been too happy with him.

"Don't call me kid," he mumbled. He wasn't 24 anymore, when everyone looked down on him. She may have been almost twice his current age, but that didn't help. He turned around as Ma gave him his expresso. Judy had gotten some donuts and something to drink. As they walked away, he heard Ma wish them a good day. Judy said something back to her. Nick just waved.

Once they were outside, he started walking towards the Precinct again and lifted his cup, taking a tentative sip. It wasn't scalding hot, and the cup was larger than usual. 'Thank you, Ma,' he said in his head, continuing the sip into a long draught. He hadn't realized he'd drank it all until he looked back down and noticed Carrots staring at him.

He wanted to laugh. She didn't know about Ma giving him special treatment. He felt his insides warm up a bit and he felt better. Had he been more awake a few minutes ago, he might have teased Carrots about spoiling Gazelle fanboy one.

As they walked into the Precinct, Nick left his partner to give Clawhauser his present and headed for the briefing room. He wanted to get some information before Bogo set the day in motion. He walked in as he heard Benji squeal. 'Again, fanboy number one,' he thought. He noticed the officer he wanted to talk to.

A few steps later and he had his paw out towards the taller, lighter ocelot. "Officer Wilde, don't think we've had a lot of chances to talk before."

She took his paw. "Officer Talens. Apparently we've going to be partners for a bit."

He nodded, noticing how bright her teeth were. Even in the brightly lit building, the glare hurt his eyes. "Sorry about you having to look into that. I don't like to make others clean up my messes."

The ocelot smiled at him. "I've seen your messes. I'm glad I'm not the one getting caught up in them."

He smirked. This seemed like a partnership he could deal with. "Actually, I was wondering if you could tell me more about what you found out before the Chief lays more on us."

"He told me you'd guessed most of it while you were doing other tasks. There's not a lot I can tell you."

He nodded, noticing Carrots enter the room. She stared at them, and it made Nick uncomfortable. He didn't know why; he wasn't doing anything wrong. He needed information. Information to help him find who had done this to himself and to her. He looked back at the ocelot.

"Thanks. I look forward to working with you. I've heard a lot of good things." He wasn't lying. She was his senior officer by about five years, and apparently she'd been able to close some larger cases and handle herself well in the field.

"Ditto," she replied.

He walked over and jumped up in the chair next to Judy. Her ears were flopped down on her back and she wouldn't look at him. "She seemed familiar," he heard her say.

He nodded. "That's Talens, who I'm apparently going to be working with for the next few days. I was getting a bit of information from her about the case before the Chief showed up." It wasn't exactly a lie, but it wasn't the truth. He'd tried to get information and ended up with squat but a feeling that his new partner was better off an ally than an enemy.

"About the case?" Nick looked down at her. For some odd reason, he found himself wishing she'd look at him.

"Obviously, Carrots." His mind immediately decided his next choice of words. "Not like I'm gonna ask her on a date in the police station- that's never really been a good place to butter someone up." He smirked at his own joke.

An elbow in the ribs told him he'd hit his mark. If she responded to his goading, she wasn't angry. She was paying attention to him. "Glad to see you're waking up," she said.

"Glad to see you're still you," he chuckled back. He didn't say anything else. He didn't want to bring up last night at all. The stairwell accident could have cost him everything, and he didn't want that. He knew he couldn't take that emotionally. This rabbit had burrowed deeper than he'd let anyone else near, and he wasn't sure what would happen if she disappeared.

The door opened and the Chief entered the room. He pulled out his glasses and Nick had to suppress his urge to laugh. Those tiny glasses looked comical on the buffalo. He began to rattle off assignments.

McHorn and Grafe were told to stay the same. Strung and Buckley got one of the crap jobs. He was already aware of his task as the Chief said it. He wasn't expecting Bogo to invite him to his office afterwards with his new temporary partner, though. He continued his list, and Nick saw Judy visibly face plant on the table. Not loud, just enough to show she wasn't happy. The Chief looked at Nick and he nodded his head, letting the Chief continue.

After the assignments were over, he squeezed Carrot's paw. "I'm going to go see the Chief and I'll talk to you before we make any moves. You may not be on the case, but you're still my partner."

Her violet eyes finally looked at him and he felt himself mesmerized. His mind flashed back to the night before and how she'd looked at him then. When she nodded, he moved away and hurried to the office.

Bogo walked up behind him with Talens and Sans in tow. Nick looked at Sans. She'd passed the academy as well, just not as high as himself. She was a typical badger in appearance, although slightly thinner. "Good to see you, Sans. I hadn't realized you'd come to the same Precinct as me."

The badger laughed. "You're not that special, Wilde. I went where I was assigned."

Before either could continue, Bogo huffed. "Can you continue this later?"

Nick and his former classmate nodded. The Chief ushered them in and sat down, pulling out a folder.

"You know the details of the case enough to survive, Wilde. Anything you don't know you can ask from Talens." He nodded, but scratched the thought. He'd tried that already. "Also, your first stop is Precinct 6, where the fire happened. Your first lead will be the officers on the case, as well as the elephant fire marshall who arrived first." He held out the file.

Talens nodded at him, so Nick took it. Before he could open it, the Chief raised a cloven hoof. "Be warned- according to their files, something was in the accelerant used to start the fire. It burned hot and got everywhere. One of the officers was marred."

Nick opened the file and felt his stomach clench. He had skipped breakfast, and now he was happy about it. Talens looked away and Sans jumped from her seat to run to the trashcan. Whatever she'd had for breakfast was a thing of the past.


AUTHOR'S NOTE: So, it seems like with each chapter I'm slowly adding more words in. I hope it doesn't feel like they're dragging. Also, this marks my fourth chapter of the day out (technically 2 and a split-chapter) but that's a lot for me. Don't expect it to happen often; I just managed to have the time to do so. This is working out well in my mind, and I feel I have a great feeling for where the story is going. I hope the characters feel like a natural progression from the movie to now. As for the little "spark" I added, don't expect it to die. I think I can build it up to a fire pretty well- if I don't focus on it. Hope you enjoyed!