"Clawhauser? Are you home?" Judy asked as she knocked firmly on the wooden door of her colleague's apartment.

No respond came from the inside, only the sounds of her knocks could be heard echoing throughout the rather musty hallway. The hallway reminded Judy of her own apartment complex that she lives in - poorly conditioned, barely any ventilation and unbelievably gloomy as always in the early hours of dawn. It was covered by a dust packed cream coloured carpet, lit by a small series of rather weak and rusted brass wall lamps. The rooms were lined with a set of old wilted plants in ceramic pots that were wrapped with a number of hairline cracks, a sign that the landlord was clearly not attending to them. Even some of the door plate numbers were missing, perhaps dropped off and became a key artefact for some animal's peculiar metallic number collection.

"I don't think he's in there, Hopps," Nick commented, keeping his shades.

"Just give it a moment, he might be busy with... something!" Judy denied with a look of uncertainty on her face but still being optimistic as always; earning a half-lidded smile from Nick. After a rather dreadfully silent and awkward wait, she knocked on the door once more - this time much stronger, still to no avail. "Clawhauser! Are you home? Hello?"

Her ears shot right up as the door gradually gave way, creaking on its rusted hinges; revealing the living quarters of the chubby officer. Apparently, the door was not locked. A gust of cool wind blew against the pair as the air-conditioned air diffused into the stuffy corridor they were standing in. Judy stood still, paw still held out like she was still knocking as she held a wide-eyed, absent-minded gaze at the scene presented before her. Nick held his position beside Judy, cocked an eyebrow in curiosity as he tilted his head towards exposed portion of the room.

"Dark, dim hallway - Check. Cold breeze that sends shivers down your spine - Check. An unlocked door at the end of an eerie corridor - Check. Totally not creepy at all," Nick muttered with the side of his muzzle as he eyed longingly at Judy. As calm and collected of a fox he was, Nick certainly did not have a soft spot for scary places. Judy let out a soft laugh as she noticed Nick instinctively shifting behind her.

"Come on, Nick! This is scary to you?" Judy joked, gesturing both her paws at Nick. "Its just a semi rundown apartment!"

"I - I am not scared, just you know... self-defence. Yes, self-defence," Nick justified sheepishly, placing both paws on top of her shoulders, gently nudging Judy to take the first step. "As usual, ladies first."

Walking into the living room, the pair studied Clawhauser's rather well-furnished apartment. Just front of them was a two seater cotton covered recliner made complete with a set of four pillows. On the wall opposite the comfy sofa mounted a forty inch digital television accompanied with a slick set of black theatre grade speakers capable of surround sound. A white wood table sat in between, with a zebra stripe patterned wool rug underneath. Adjacent to the wall with the Tv set, an air conditioner ventilated the room with cold air right above a simple metal framed window which looked out into the streets below. Nick whistled in awe as he headed towards the sofa. He pressed his paw on the unbelievably soft seat, ears perking up as he plopped onto the snug two-seater. Looking at the other seat, Nick chuckled as he retrieved a small, hand-sewn pillow he found leaning on the other side.

"Hey Carrots, want to know something interesting I fou- Gah!" Nick exclaimed halfway as he jumped from the sound of a closing door, one paw clutching at his chest as the fur on his tail stood on end. "Did - did you just close the door?"

"Yes I did, we do not want any extra visitors now do we?" Judy replied as she returned from the door. Eyeing on Nick's flustered expression and posture, she covered her mouth with her paw as she snickered. "You were scared by the sound of a door shutting? You silly dork." Nick flushed red from embarrassment. Unable to withstand the awkward moment, he cleared his throat.

"Well, guess what I found, Whiskers," Nick changed the subject as he reached for the pillow which he had previously dropped on the ground. He held it out to her, showing a delicate crochet of what seems like Clawhauser and Gazelle's faces residing inside a heart shape. Right under the heads, the words "I heart you" in a fanciful serif font was stitched onto the pillow as well. Nick let out a wheezing laugh as he pointed at the wordings. "You see this? By god, he surely is head over heels in love with Gazelle!"

"Oh, I did not realize he is that big of a fan of Gazelle," Judy exclaimed as she saw the design on the pillow case. Judy was a fan of Gazelle as well, but she is not a diehard fan like Clawhauser is.

Nick placed the pillow back to its original spot and nimbly hopped off the couch. "You think he might be in the bedroom? Unless for some odd reason, he decides to hide underneath the kitchen counter."

Judy glanced at the kitchen which was merged together with the living room, just a shy few meters away from the recliner. The kitchen set was mainly of brown and orange - Several orange hard plastic cabinets lined up near the ceiling, combined with a bottom row of kitchen cupboards made of maple wood - which had a fine layer of lacquer finish, making it gloss under the kitchen lights. Polished black marble slabs were overlayed on top of the cupboards and counters. Ironically enough, the counter seemed spacious enough for her to imagine someone large like Clawhauser fitting inside; not entirely, but enough to slot in snugly. An off white refrigerator hummed softly beside the cupboards; its door proudly showcasing a large poster of Gazelle in her usual concert outfit, singing into a microphone. She watched as Nick shuffled towards the fridge, obviously curious to find out what was inside.

"Let's see what he has for dinner," Nick said as he reached for the handle and opened the fridge. He shrugged knowingly as he viewed the contents inside. Every tiered shelf inside it was stacked full of donut boxes. There were different labels on the packages; namely "Jelly", "Frosted" and "Cream filled" were the most common. Some boxes seemed to have been opened before, as shown by the torn surface of the boxes and crumples in the folds. Right next to him, the compartments which hung on the backside of the door were stuffed with a multitude of instant coffee pouches. "Why did I even try to guess, huh? It's obviously packed full of donuts and coffee."

"That is not an ideal healthy diet he's having," Judy agreed, mouth agape at the sheer amount of donut boxes being stored inside.

Closing the fridge shut, Nick patted his paws together as he walked a few paces towards Judy, but stopped after the pulsating pain on his left paw reminded himself of his bruise. "I guess we have the bedroom left to investigate?"

"I guess that is the case," Judy replied.

The pair approached the only other door of the apartment. Hung on the brass door knob was a white acrylic "Do Not Disturb" sign, which Judy did find a tad silly as Clawhauser did claim that no one else lived with him; making the sign's purpose redundant. Nick dropped on all fours beside her, startling Judy as he peeked through the half inch gap between the door and the floor.

"The light is switched on inside the room; I think I see a pair of paws," Nick whispered quietly as he stood up. Sharing glances with one another, Judy nodded as she whipped out her air powered elephant tranquilizer. It was the most suitable, light-weight firearm which she was able to carry and holster on her small utility belt. All other pistols were either too big for her paw to wrap around the handle or that the recoil from firing had thrown her off balance; which resorted to her using a tranquilizer gun instead. Light as a feather, silent as the night and best of all, it was nonlethal and will not cause bloodshed - which Judy favours. Loading a dart into the gun, she held it pointed to the ground, ready to fire. If the shadow inside was a burglar, he is going to be sleeping for quite a while when the dart makes contact with him.

Nick eyed on the gun anxiously. "You better not miss and dart me instead, I have had enough of being unable to move for twenty-four hours," he indicated, remembering the time when Judy had first shot him in the bum for no apparent reason. It instantly turned his muscles into mush and rendered his whole body paralyzed. And unfortunately, he was still conscious after being tagged by the dart. It was the longest and dullest twenty-four hours that he had ever experienced.

"I did not miss, I had it aimed at you the whole time since you were trying to be clever by hiding right above me," Judy muttered softly as she leaned against the wall next to the door. "On the count of three."

Nick tip-toed as he grabbed the door knob, ready to turn it the instant Judy counts down to one.

"Three,"

"Two,"

"One,"

"Hands in the air, ZPD!" Judy shouted as Nick unlocked the door and forcefully kicked it open. Eyes darting across the room, she searched for the target; her aim followed suit. Judy lowered her gun as soon as she saw a chubby cheetah's lower half sticking out of the wardrobe. The whole bedroom was a mess - clothes were flung all over the place, the mattress stockpiled with a huge load of random clutter. She could clearly tell that every furniture in the room was shifted out of their respective places. The dresser was leaning against the bed frame, the cupboard almost restricting the pair from entering the room. And the wardrobe was moving along with the cheetah's body as he stumbled left and right.

"Ah! Do not shoot! It's me, Clawhauser!" the body in the wardrobe exclaimed.

"Yes, we know that," Nick answered as he made his way through the mess.

"Oh, it's you guys! I am soo glad Chief Bogo sent you here!" Clawhauser chimed with relief in his tone.

"What happened to your... bedroom? It looks like an aftermath of a hurricane," Judy exclaimed, picking up the clothes which were littered on the floor.

"It's... a long story. I will explain to you guys later; for now, I need you to do me a favour," Clawhauser replied. "As you can kind of guess - which I hope you should have figured by now, I am... stuck."