Nick groaned when his alarmed blared, and he blindly pawed for his phone, ripping it off the table and dismissing the alarm before setting his phone down by his side. "Not now," Nick said, groggy. He scratched at his back and yawned, then sat up. He could only squint since the sun had already risen and cast rays of sunshine against the wall of his apartment. Once he got used to the light, he got out of bed, almost tripping over his bedsheets in the process. Then, he ambled to his bathroom across the hall and glanced in the mirror. At one corner of the mirror was perched a picture of him and Judy, a photo they had taken together after Nick had been recruited to the force. In the background was the happenings of the academy graduation party.

Nick smiled at the photo, then smiled at himself in the mirror. His fur was messy and tangled, and he combed his paws through it to try to get the tangles out, only to accidentally catch one of the stubborn ones and yelp, feeling his ears burn even though nobody was there to hear it. He rarely yelped, and it was mostly in pain—he had learned to subdue while afraid. But he knew one thing—he hated how he sounded when he did it. He'd never done it around Judy and didn't plan on it.

Nick brushed it off and, after stripping off his clothes, jumped into the shower, letting the warm water cascade over his head and down his chest and back, filling him with that pleasurable chill that he associated with showers. He stood there in the pleasing flood for a moment before he lathered himself in soap, making sure the tangles he had noticed before were pulled out. Then he shut off the water and dried off with a towel, using a hair dryer too to get the water out of his fur. When he was finally dry, he stepped out of the bathroom with a towel around his waist and retrieved his police uniform, which he had shoved in the corner of his bedroom. He slid his pants on and buttoned them, then grabbed his phone and looked at it, one paw holding the phone and the other holding his police shirt. Nick raised an eyebrow—Judy hadn't texted yet, and it wasn't like her to sleep in.

Judy texted almost every morning. If she had kept it up every day, he would have been really confused. This wasn't the first time she had missed it. He remembered one day she lost her phone, another when it was dead and she couldn't find her charger. Nick shrugged. One of those had probably happened again; besides, no morning text could replace seeing the real living rabbit in her ravishing uniform.

In mere minutes Nick was dressed and out the door. He checked his pockets by patting them—keys, phone, wallet. He smiled and took the elevator downstairs, then ambled through the lobby and gave a raised paw to the landlord, a forty-something wolf wearing tan slacks and a minty green button-up dress shirt. Nick ended up at his car, where he started it and turned the radio up. He hap-heartedly expected Judy to have texted by now, and with a check of his phone he was mildly surprised—she still hadn't texted. Again, he brushed it off, turning up the radio and pulling out of the parking lot and onto the busy street.

After Nick had maneuvered his car into an empty space, he pressed his foot on the brake and shifted the car into park. He did a precursory glance at the station, then took another glance when he didn't see Judy's figure. Weird, he thought, pulling his keys out of the ignition and stepping out of the car. He wasn't too worried, as there had been times he'd think he didn't see something and it was right in front of his face, like the ketchup in the fridge.

As Nick got closer his relaxed expression began fading into confusion. First, he furrowed his eyebrows, then swiveled his head. He almost missed putting his keys into his pocket, focusing more and more on the front steps of the police station. A slight heavy feeling began tugging at his stomach, but he persuaded it away, as he wasn't quite yet close enough to the station.

But as he approached and the station grew closer and more familiar, the heavy feeling came back. The long flat area in front of the station was nearly abandoned, which concerned him. He and Judy met in front of a group of plants sitting near the station, and as that area became more visible, the possibility of Judy being there shrunk. Smaller mammals walking by who he thought were Judy weren't. Nick glanced around the area, thinking Judy had wanted to switch it up that morning, but each place he looked was empty of his friend.

Maybe she's inside, he thought, and for whatever reason, the thought, something he would usually dismiss out of ridiculousness, seemed logical to him. He grabbed one of the long handles of the station's front doors and pulled it open, squeezing in the narrow space he had made. As Nick walked through the spacious foyer decorated with Christmas lights, he pulled his phone out and glanced at it, almost dropping it in the process. No texts from Judy, nothing. And as he tried to put his phone back in his pocket, he almost dropped it too, muttering under his breath, eyes scanning the area for Judy.

Clawhauser sat behind the front counter with an open box of donuts facing him, a paw stuffed in the box and he eyes trained on the delicacies. Once he'd chosen the donut he wanted to eat next, he lifted it to his mouth—then proceeded to immediately set it back down when he saw Nick approach. He didn't look like he usually did.

"Nick!" Clawhauser said when he was close enough. "Are you okay?"

"Have you seen Judy?" Nick raised a paw to his neck and rubbed it. He then cleared his throat and looked at his phone. "Ten minutes till. She's never late."

"Maybe she's in the bathroom."

He shook his head. "But—but you don't understand." Nick paused for a second to process his stutter. "She has never been late."

Clawhauser opened his mouth to speak, but his eyes trained on something behind Nick, which cut him off. Nick felt a paw on his shoulder. Nick glanced behind him to find Wolfard holding a water bottle. "Nick, big guy. Trust me, even people like Judy are late sometimes. I'm sure there's a valid reason." He glanced over the fox's features. "If you're so worried, call her."

Nick blinked. "Oh, yeah. Right." He grabbed for his phone. Why did I not think of that? He quickly scrolled to her contact and dialed her, then held the phone to his ear. One ring. Two rings. Three. Then four, and five. Then a quiet rustle of something. "This is Judy. I'm sorry I missed your call—" The message stopped when he hung up. He tried again, and just like the first time, the call went to voicemail. "She's not answering. She'd pick up if it was me," he said.

"Nick, don't get so worked up over the one time she's late. Remember that time her phone was dead?"

"But she wasn't late that day."

Wolfard sighed. "Whatever. But she didn't answer that time. Maybe this time she's late. Maybe she slept in—"

"She wakes up before I do."

"All right. Maybe something came up at home."

"She'd let me know. And the only way she'd know is if her phone worked."

Wolfard exchanged worried glances with Clawhauser. "Nick, I'm sure she's fine. Let's at least wait until bullpen."

He shook his head. "No. I can feel it, Wolfard. Something's wrong."

"Nick. You need to calm down," Wolfard said. "Getting riled up and worried isn't going to help anyone. Trust me when I say this—she's fine."

"You can't say that for sure." He held two paws out in front of him. "What if she got in a car wreck? What if—"

Wolfard put a paw on his back and pointed to the break room. "Let's go sit down and get your mind off this for a minute. I'll buy you a soda."

The fox slipped away from the wolf's grip. "Thanks for the offer, Wolfard, but I need to go."

"You know Bogo's gonna freak," Wolfard protested.

"Sue me." He stepped away. "Fifteen minutes." He began a brisk walk backwards to the front doors. "I'll be back—" As he was turning around his foot slipped and he fell over, snout slamming into the linoleum floor. Almost immediately he got to his feet and looked back at the two officers. "—in fifteen minutes."

"Nick, wait!" Wolfard began jogging forward but stopped when Nick's tail disappeared out of the door. He turned back to Clawhauser. "There's no stopping him."

"I hope she's okay," Clawhauser said.

Wolfard sighed, glancing at the door. "I've never seen him like that before." He bit his lip and locked eyes with the cheetah. "The only thing I'm afraid of is if he's right."