Nick groaned at the blaring sound of his alarm going off at six o'clock sharp. His face buried in pillows, it took a few moments for Nick to convince himself that he did in fact need to get out of bed, a very difficult thing to accomplish. Complaining as he did so, the fox grumpily turned the alarm off, stood, and stretched. With a few yawns and a few slaps to his own muzzle, Nick managed to get himself into working order.

"Good morning, Carrots," Nick smirked as he turned to his wife-to-be, who was surely up and dressed already.

His smirk disappeared at the sight of the empty bed.

"Carrots?" Nick called out as he walked to the master bedroom's bathroom, which he also found empty.

Judy's toothbrush was dry and neither the sink nor the shower had recently been used. Confusion etched into his facial features, Nick made his way through the bedroom, noting that Judy's police uniform was still hanging in the closet and that her badge was still resting on her bedside table. The drawer of her bedside table wasn't completely closed, which caught Nick's attention as it was odd for Judy to leave things open or out of place. Covering his bare chest with a t-shirt he swiped from the floor, Nick opened the drawer completely, immediately noting how organized it was. It took a moment before he realized what was missing.

"Judy?" Nick called loudly, becoming increasingly worried when the echo of his voice was the only answer.

Now moving at a faster pace and investigating his surroundings, Nick left the bedroom and ventured down the hall, where he checked on the kids who were still fast asleep – Robin snoring louder than rush hour traffic – before he made his way down the stairs. All looked well, until Nick entered the kitchen, his feet falling on cold tile.

The sight of the room made his stomach turn.

Judy's tranquilizer gun was lying alone on the floor near several drops of blood, an overturned frying pan not far away. The only other object that was out of place in the room was a tranquilizer dart that stuck out awkwardly from one of the nearby cabinets.

"Judy!" Nick yelled out, quickly picking up the tranquilizer gun and cocking it, ready to take aim if necessary.

"Daddy?"

Nick wheeled around, tranquilizer gun in hand, only to find his four children all standing at the entrance of the kitchen looking ruffled and sleepy. Violet stepping forward as she began to speak again.

"Daddy?"

All four of the children had slightly baffled expressions as they attempted to make sense of their surroundings.

"Hey, kiddos," Nick cooed.

Quickly thinking and lowering the tranquilizer gun, Nick glanced at the scene around him once more before he ushered the children away from the kitchen with reassuring tones, then down the hall, and out onto the porch. Grabbing the car keys as they left the home, Nick placed all four children in their family SUV, where he buckled them all in safely, started the car, and put on one of the educational music CDs that Judy had purchased for the children a few months prior. With the children occupied by the music and the toys they had a habit of leaving in the car, Nick left the driver's side door of the car open as he stood on the driveway's warming concrete in the morning sun. Phone in hand, it took mere seconds for the right animals to be notified. Within the hour, at least six ZPD vehicles, more than a dozen officers, and Chief Bogo himself were at the Wilde Home.

Once everyone had been informed of the situation and CSIs had begun investigation of the house, it took seconds for Nick to begin throwing out orders, something he didn't feel he needed permission for.

"You," he snapped at a nearby rhinoceros officer, who immediately stood at attention. "Take my keys and drive my kids to 304 South Phoenix Drive. It's a blue house with a huge garden out front, you can't miss it. It's my mother's house. Take three escorts with you – absolutely no less than three, you got it? I want officers posted outside of that house at all times. I want to know of anyone coming around that house and no one is to let my mother or my kids out of their line of sight until this is all figured out, you got that?"

The rhino nodded at Nick's strict voice, then took the SUV keys and immediately went to work, but Nick had already turned to another officer, this one a polar bear.

"And you, get two escorts and head to Bunnyburrow. I want officers at the Hopps Home at all times as well, but do not notify anyone there of what has happened, you hear me? You keep things low profile. I want reports on any suspicious activity. Go."

Following in the rhino's footsteps, the polar bear also took his orders and left. A very exhausted Nick then turned to a smirking Chief Bogo.

"That's one way to get the things you want," the cape buffalo commented.

"I need to know that they're safe," Nick muttered bitterly.

"I understand, Wilde, we're doing everything we can here–"

"Look, no offense, Chief, but don't give me that. I'm one of your highest-ranking officers, I don't need the talk we give to grieving girlfriends who think their boyfriends are missing when they're really just being unfaithful with their secretary. My wife is missing," Nick bit back.

At the look on the Chief's face, he amended part of his statement.

"Wife-to-be, fiancé, whatever you want to call her – she is the mother of my children and the love of my life and my partner, so we aren't going to do 'everything we can here,' we are going to find her no matter what that takes."

"I hear you, Wilde," the Chief growled. "Why don't we start with what happened? Start from the beginning, tell me everything."

"I already told you: I woke up this morning and Judy was gone."

"Believe it or not, I think I had figured that much out for myself."

"What else is there to tell you?" Nick snapped.

"You're an officer, Wilde! You need to tell me everything; don't leave out any details!" the Chief fired back hotly.

The tension between them was thicker than any fog Nick had ever seen. With a sigh, Nick ran his paws over his face and ears, ruffling his fur in places. He knew that if Judy were here, she would tell him to take a deep breath and try to relax, that yelling wouldn't get him anywhere.

"My alarm went off at six this morning," Nick began calmly. "I got up and Judy wasn't in bed. I just thought she was already ready, you know? She usually has herself and the kids ready to go before I can even get out of bed."

Nick smirked at the thought of how hurried Judy always was. The Chief nodded thoughtfully and urged him to continue.

"But something felt off and the house was too quiet. I checked the bathroom and nothing looked moved or out of place. I checked the closet and saw that her uniform was still there, her badge too. That's when I noticed that her bedside drawer was open. She never leaves it open, it's where she keeps her other tranq gun."

"And the gun was missing?"

"Yeah, so then I knew something was wrong. I checked on the kids, then went downstairs. Everything seemed fine until I got to the kitchen and saw the–saw the–"

"Saw the gun and the blood?"

Nick sighed and nodded his head, agitated. A ram was currently barricading the front door of the Wilde Home with bright yellow caution tape. Nick watched in a daze before he sighed once more.

"I didn't hear a single thing all night, Chief. I can't believe that she was down there all by herself facing who knows what and I was just too busy sleeping."

"These things happen, Wilde. You can't expect to be there for her every moment of every day."

"I should have been there in that moment, though," Nick frowned. "Then, she would have been okay."

"Chief!"

Nick and Chief Bogo looked up to see a badger, sporting a black jacket with white letters spelling out "CSI" on the left breast, rushing toward them. The Chief straightened up at the sight of the badger.

"What have you got, Palawan?"

"All evidence has been collected and is on its way back to the lab for further investigation," the badger stated, his voice deep with significance. "We confirmed that Officer Hopps was the one who fired the tranquilizer gun. Evidence shows she's the only one who came into contact with the gun, besides Officer Wilde."

Suddenly, the badger's face fell slightly.

"And there's one more thing, sir."

"Well, spit it out, Palawan," the Chief barked.

"The blood on the floor was confirmed to have come from a rabbit. We haven't identified if it's Officer Hopps' blood yet, but the chances are fairly high, sir."

Nick grit his teeth and ran a paw over his ears and down his neck once more.

"Do you have any idea who did this, or how they got into our home?" Nick demanded.

Palawan looked slightly taken aback, but remained still and calm.

"We don't know how just yet, but there are signs the security system was down for approximately an hour – from three to four in the morning. We believe someone broke into your home early this morning and that Officer Hopps went to investigate and found herself immediately overwhelmed. We still don't know exactly why the attacker was in your home, but if I had to guess, since there is nothing missing or disturbed in the home… I'm assuming the assailant was there for one of you – maybe Officer Hopps, maybe you, maybe a child – I'm still not certain. The attacker left behind no trace evidence, so we have yet to make an ID."

"So, what I'm hearing is that you know absolutely nothing, am I right?" Nick growled.

The badger attempted to stutter a response, but Nick dominated the conversation.

"Oh, no, wait, scratch that, you do think one thing – you think that someone came into my home with the intention to take a member of my family. Now, tell me how that's reassuring!"

"Watch yourself, Wilde," the Chief threatened easily before he dismissed Palawan with a wave of his hoof. "Let's just take a deep breath and–"

"Oh, and now I've got Mr. Hot Head telling me to be calm. This is all just going astoundingly well!"

"Wilde! Must I remind you that you have a job to do and that I am your superior? Watch the way you speak to me! Take a deep breath and pull yourself together, fox! Hopps is one of my best officers; the ZPD is her family as much as you are, and we're all going to do our best until she's located and returned home safely. Until then, she is the ZPD's number one priority, do you understand me?"

Under the glare of the cape buffalo, Nick nodded calmly, considering the words he had just heard.

"Good," the cape buffalo snorted. "Because you aren't allowed anywhere near this case."

"What?" Nick shot back indignantly. "Chief, you can't take me off of this case!"

"You were never on this case to begin with," Chief Bogo stated firmly. "You're too close to this, Wilde."

"That has never stopped us before! She's my partner!"

"She's also your girlfriend, which is a conflict of interest! You're going nowhere near this case, and that's final!"

The Chief held up a hoof and silenced a fired-up Nick before walking away. Nick stared off after the cape buffalo as he strode away down the driveway, giving orders to passing officers as he went. Ears pressed firmly to his head, Nick could do nothing but stand there, wondering what he was supposed to do next.

"Where are you, Carrots?" he thought aloud, muttering under his breath. "Please, just be safe."