"Clawhauser! You seen the Rabbit today?"

"She isn't with you?"

"She wasn't at the apartment this morning; left before I woke up."

Nick noticed it before Clawhauser even realized he had done it: a fleeting glance of worry crossed the cheetah's face, and it wasn't a glance that meant, "I'm worrying about Judy," it was a glance that meant "I'm worrying Nick will find out."

"Hey… what was that?" Nick asked, his eyes now scanning Clawhauser's.

"What was what?"

More glances of worry. Nick placed his hands on his paws and fixed the oversized cheetah with a lazy expression.

"Alright, spill it."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Clawhauser, you can't lie to me. You know where Judy is, don't you?"

"Noooooo."

His reply was nervous and drawn out, and his eyes kept darting over to the closet just a few feet down the hall from the reception desk. Nick sighed as he began making his way to the closet.

"You two are really killing me, you know that?"

"Nick, no!" Clawhauser yelled as he attempted to get down from his chair and stop the fox before he could open the door, but Nick was in better shape than the cheetah, and he reached the door first.

Pulling it open, Nick was shocked at the sight before him, and frankly, he was kind of angry too.

"Clawhauser! There are like dozens of boxes of donuts in here, Big Guy, and you didn't share any of them with me!"

In the supply closet, some of the shelves had been cleared of their usual contents and replaced with Clawhauser's secret stash of donuts.

"Don't tell Chief," Clawhauser whined.

Nick chuckled as he reached in a box and grabbed two glazed donuts.

"It'll be our secret," Nick smirked, then shut the closet door and made his way toward the ZPD offices.

"Now I have secrets with both of them," Clawhauser muttered as he watched the fox's receding figure.

Nick still couldn't find Judy. She wasn't seated in her office cubicle; in fact, the cubicle looked completely untouched since yesterday. He thought Clawhauser of all people would know where to find Judy, but it turned out he was just a donut hoarder. However, he might still know something. Nick had just assumed the donuts were all he was hiding.

Nick set the two donuts down on his desk and looked around curiously, wondering where the bunny had gotten off to. That morning, Nick had awoken to find that he was the only one within the apartment. Judy hadn't left a note or texted him, but she did leave the keys to the SUV and had taken her ZPD badge. Yes, Nick was worried, but he wasn't about to let himself panic; this bunny was more than capable of taking care of herself. Nick briefly thought of the time a fox had attacked Judy in an alleyway after she had pursued him, Nick not far behind. He quickly shook his head of the images that began to flash in front of his eyes. He didn't need to be reminded of those types of things.

Nick then decided to go grab coffee from their favorite coffee shop. If he couldn't find Judy, he might as well have coffee. He had just exited the ZPD offices and was making his way to the lobby when he heard it: Judy's voice. He was just in front of the locker rooms, and Judy's voice could be clearly heard from the women's locker rooms. It sounded as if she was on her phone.

"…He definitely suspects something, Fru Fru…"

Oh, and apparently, she was talking to Fru Fru, an arctic shrew who also happened to be the daughter of the crime boss, Mr. Big. The two had been good friends ever since Judy had saved the shrew's life just a day before her wedding. But who was the "he" they were talking about? They couldn't have been talking about him, right? That would mean that Judy was lying to him. Nick leaned against the wall just outside of the women's locker room and listened eagerly.

"…I mean, I don't think he suspects anything like this, because this is big, like I mean, really big! I just don't know how much longer I can keep this up…"

So, she was lying to him.

Nick's ears flattened against his head as he thought about their conversation the night before.

"…All of this lying and sneaking around is just a lot of work, and maybe it will be worth it? I don't know… Who have I talked to? Well, I let Clawhauser know, of course, and the Chief. Flash? Well, I mean I did have to practically wait at the DMV for six hours but I talked to him too. Now Finnick is a tricky little guy to get a hold of, but I managed it…"

Nick's eyes narrowed. Clawhauser? The Chief? Flash? Finnick? Geez, talk about "friends."

"…Ha, no, I'm not really worried about him finding out on his own… Oh, believe me, Nick may be a fox, but he's really not that hard to outwit. I did hustle him once, you know. Yeah, super easy…"

In the hall, Nick was trying not to throw a fit. He had his hands in the air, gesturing violently.

"'Super easy?'" he whispered in astonishment.

"…Anyway, I'm telling him soon, so no worries… Yeah, I have everything planned, so I'll let you know. I'm just so nervous to tell him. He is going to be so mad… Alright, I will … Okay, talk to you soon, Fru Fru."

Nick's eyes widened as he realized she was coming out of the locker room. He quickly bolted for the men's locker room, attempting to make it look as if he had just casually walked out. However, that went horrible wrong as Nick slipped and fell in the middle of the hall.

"Nick?"

Judy was standing with her paws on her hips, looking down at the crumpled mess that was Nick.

"What are you doing?" she asked, her voice suspicious and slightly worried.

"Oh, me? I was just… racing Clawhauser."

Judy's eyebrows shot up.

"Racing Clawhauser?"

She looked around and saw Clawhauser seated at the reception desk. He waved cheerfully at her, which she returned before looking skeptically back down at Nick.

"He won," Nick laughed as he stood and brushed himself off.

"Uh-huh," she giggled.

"Where have you been, Carrots? I've been looking for you."

"I lost my phone, thought it was in the locker room."

"Was it?"

"No, so I guess I'll just keep looking."

Lie number twelve.

Nick's eyebrows rose slightly as he noted the lie and how easily it slid from her lips. How many times had she lied to his face to the point where she was now comfortable with it?