Disclaimer: Zootopia and all related characters are owned by Disney. All other characters, product names, trademarks, and copyrights, belong to their respective owners.

…..

Maneuvering around a truck and into the left lane, Judy glanced over to her fidgeting fox, "You okay?"

"Yeah, just slept funny last night, you know, spending the night on the couch and all."

Judy smirked as she accelerated, cut off some slowpoke, and swung across three lanes of traffic to exit off the highway. "Poor baby. At least your tail got a good night's sleep in bed with me."

Nick grabbed his traitor of an appendage off of Judy's lap and growled at it, "I can't believe it, first my car, and now you. A lifetime together and the first pair of sexy ears you find, you kick me to the curb like yesterday's trash."

Judy hit the brakes enough to make a sharp turn without going up on two wheels and, after leveling out, grabbed Nick's tail while he was pressed against the passenger side door and said, "Be nice. He's very sensitive.

"And your phone dinged."

With one paw gripping the door's armrest to steady himself, Nick pulled out his phone and checked his texts.

"It's from Finn. He talked to Rat–"

"Rat?"

"Uh, yeah, his computer Consultant. He said–"

"Consultant? Please don't tell me you hired a hacker to track down our missing mammal's phones."

Nick bit his lips closed and waited until Judy finished stopping at a light she couldn't avoid before raising a brow.

Judy sighed, "Fine, what did he find out?"

"Both DeeDee's and Billy's phones were last active near the UNZ campus but went offline Friday about when Reese said the two of them met up. They probably shut them off when they got on the Metro."

"Why would they do that?"

Nick chuckled, "A secret boyfriend, overprotective parents, and a cousin who's a cop…. I'm pretty sure DeeDee wanted to make sure no one would be able to figure out what she was up to."

Judy shook her head, "Sounds like we need to put her through a remedial 'Stranger Danger' class."

"Yup, a little Bun-Fu training would probably be good too."

Judy ignored the red light in front of her and instead watched the lights in the other direction as if they were a Christmas Tree count-down at a racing track, and she was waiting for the green. "Anything from DeeDee's texts? Even a number to check out might be helpful."

"Nope, nothing. And Rat's offline for a few days, so we're on our own for anything else."

"Offline? What does that mean? Did his computer break or something?" asked Judy as she watched the opposing light turn yellow and gunned the engine.

Nick slipped his phone back into his pocket and said, "It means 'Or something.' His mom grounded him from all his screens for not doing his chores. He had to call Finn on his family's landline to give us what little he had time to find out."

Judy shook her head, "Grounded. Seriously?"

"Yup, evidently, he'll be serving time at his Grandparent's place this weekend teaching them how to work their new TV and Blu-ray player as additional punishment."

"Great," said Judy as the opposing light turned red, "and we can't ask for any help from the ZPD."

Nick braced himself for launch as he added, "At least we know we're on the right track. Our lovebirds met up to go somewhere together. But where did they go? And what happened to them after they got there?"

Judy saw her light go green, popped the clutch, and speed shifted up to the parkway speed limit, plus five mph, while listening to her partner whimper as he was forced to flash review his life for the second time this morning.

-/-/-

"Hello," called a young voice as the front door opened.

"Good morning, Charlie. Come on in."

"Hi Mrs. Hopps, is Kristy ready?"

"She'll be here in a minute. She's changing into her Scout uniform."

"Thanks."

"I see you have a new merit badge. What is it for?"

"Wood carving. Some of the kits from the troop are going to help Miss Blossom with her carvings. She said she'd share the money she makes fifty-fifty toward our basketball court. 'Xcept you have to have your merit badge to sign up."

"I take it that's what Kristy is doing after you both finish your shift at the food stand."

"Yes, ma'am. Janae's gonna drop us off at Founder's Hall, where Scoutmaster Stoan's testing everyone who needs it. Mrs. Burns said he knows more about knives and carving than she does."

Bonnie chuckled as she opened one of the stoves, "Yes, Mac is right about that. I can't imagine a mammal better with a scalpel than Derek."

Setting a cookie sheet filled with what looked like stuffed rolls on the counter and grabbing a plate, Bonnie said, "Do me a favor, dear and try one of these and tell me what you think."

Charlie sat on his stool with his paws in his lap as he looked suspiciously at the plate Mrs. Hopps slid in front of him.

"Careful, it's still hot."

Not touching it, Charlie took a cautious sniff.

'It didn't smell bad, not like yesterday.'

"I'm trying out a recipe Brian Leapwell gave me. He hasn't started serving them at his diner yet, so if you like them, I'll let him know."

"What is it?"

"It's a sausage, egg, and cheese breakfast roll-up.

"I rolled out some puff pastry, added cooked ground turkey sausage, scrambled eggs, and cheddar cheese, brushed it with beaten egg, sprinkled on a pinch of salt and pepper, and cooked it for fifteen minutes in the oven."

"Sounds pretty good, I guess."

"No chicken hearts or mushrooms, I promise," added Bonnie.

Charlie, grimacing more than smiling, picked up the roll, blew on it, and tentatively took a small bite.

And then a bigger bite.

"Wow, that's good. Can I have another one?"

"Of course, dear, help yourself."

Bonnie started tidying up as Charlie started in on another roll-up. Setting a few dirty utensils in the sink, she asked, "Do they need more salt? Brian told me not to use too much without tasting them first."

"Morning Charlie," said another teen voice hopping up onto the stool next to the ferret.

"Good morning, Kristy, Is Janae driving you both to the stand?" asked Bonnie without turning around.

"Mup. Mmmm."

"Don't talk with your mouth full dear."

"Mmokay."

"You guys ready to go?" came another voice, followed by more yummy sounds.

"These are good, Mom. What's in them?"

Bonnie dropped the wooden spoon she was washing and slowly turned around to see Janae with half a roll-up in her paw.

"Good?"

Both does nodded while Charlie sat wide-eyed, mouth open, not quite sure he'd just seen what his eyes had clearly seen.

"Egg, cheese... and turkey sausage."

Janae paused chewing and looked at Kristy.

Kristy looked at the remaining bite of roll in her paw and looked back at her sister.

Both girls shrugged and stuffed the final bits into their mouths.

"You want us to take the rest to the stand, so Dad doesn't see them?"

Bonnie let out a breath in relief, "Yes, thank you, dear. Your dad was in an off mood last night, so that sounds like an excellent idea."

Setting aside one roll-up for her own taste test, Bonnie covered the rest with plastic and handed the plate to Charlie, saying, "I'm trying out another predator recipe this afternoon. Would you like to stay for dinner and taste test it for me?"

Charlie looked at Kristy and brightened up, "Sure Mrs. Hopps, that sounds great. I'll call my mom and make sure it's okay."

"Can Charlie stay for a sleepover?" asked Kristy, "Can he, please? We can build a campfire outside, make some S'mores and watch for falling stars. It'll be like training for our camping merit badge."

Bonnie mom-hmmm-ed as she watched Kristy slide closer to Charlie in her excitement, and both kits nod enthusiastically at Kristy's brilliant idea.

Janae, thinking quickly, added, "I can ask Dalton over too. He's been teaching me about the constellations, so we can camp out with Kristy and Charlie and watch them while we all stargaze and, uhh, eat S'mores and stuff."

Bonnie raised a brow.

Janae smiled innocently as she held up a two-fingered scout sign and said, "Just stargazing, Scout's honor."

Bonnie shook her head, "Alright. Charlie, have your mom call me after you talk with her. And I'll make sure there are two guest beds available for tonight."

-/-/-

Pulling up on the emergency brake and sliding sideways into an empty parking spot next to the sidewalk, Judy waved a paw and chirped happily, "We're here."

Nick opened an eye just a crack and, seeing that the warp speed light trails were gone, brushed any residual cosmic dust off his shirt and, carefully getting out of the car, started to–

"If you roll around on the ground thanking the gods for sparing your life, I will punch you."

Straightening back up, Nick cleared his throat and said, "Nope, just happy to be here, with you," and under his breath, whispered, "alive and with all my body parts still attached."

"I heard that."

"Heard what?"

"I heard that you're about to be sleeping on the couch again."

"Still don't have a couch."

"Still not my problem."

"It will be if I take my tail with me this time."

Judy paused at that, "Hmmm…."

Seeing he'd stymied his bunny in thought, Nick waved down a coed who he'd seen coming from the alumni building just on the other side of a large UNZ logo done in flowers. "Excuse me, could you tell us where the main library and the student counseling offices are?"

"Sure," said a twenty-year-old porcupine wearing a UNZ student tour guide shirt. "The library is halfway down the campus quad on the left, and the main counseling offices are on the far side of the quad. But none of the student counselors will be around until next week. Depending on what you're looking for, you could try the registrar's office. It's in between the counselor's offices and the student center, but they're only open Tuesdays and Thursdays during the break."

"Closed?" said Judy coming over to where Nick was. "But we needed to talk to someone about, uh–"

"Housing," interrupted Nick stepping closer to Judy, "Grad student housing. For us. This fall."

The porcupine smiled as she looked back and forth between the fox tod wearing khaki pants and a blue long-sleeve button-up shirt and the rabbit doe wearing blue jeans and a pink gingham blouse, "Housing for a pair of roommates? Sure, except the only place open that might be able to help you guys out today is the student center. Up near the information desk, you'll see some bulletin boards off to the side. That's where a lot of the off-campus housing is advertised along with club activities and other on and off campus student events."

Pointing back toward the building she'd just come out of, the girl added, "If you're interested in seeing the on-campus University housing for grad students, you can sign up for a tour at the alumni center. They run those tours on the weekends, but last I heard, they only have a few singles left."

"How about the University owned off-campus listings? I've heard those are a little more flexible in who they'll rent to versus the private landlords around the campus."

The porcupine doe, finally noticing the fox's tail brushing up against the bunny doe's leg, nodded as she pulled a contact card out of the folder she was carrying and wrote something on the back. "The University owned listings are only available to students with accounts, give this card to the guy running the library desk, and he'll set you up with a temporary account so you can browse the student-only University classifieds."

Judy took the card from the sow, "Thanks."

Winking at Judy, the coed replied, "No problem. Good luck to you both."

Watching the porcupine make her way toward a group of sorority buildings, Judy chuckled, "Grad students? One of us might be a little old for that."

"Hey, don't knock yourself like that, Carrots, you don't look a day over twenty-five. Me, on the other paw, you're only as old as you feel, which means in predator circles, you'd be considered a Cougar.

Slipping the contact card into a pocket, Judy gave Nick a peck on the cheek and said, "Come on, honey, let's go see about housing, and while we're at it, what this account might let us see about DeeDee."

-/-/-

"Your mom's doing what?"

"She's trying out predator recipes, you know, like with meat in them," replied Janae while sitting on a storeroom table twirling an ear. "She made turkey sausage rolls this morning and had Charlie try them out."

"Were they any good?" asked Dalton as he scanned merchandise into his family's store inventory system.

"Yeah, pretty good, I guess. Just different, I mean it was meat, and I'm a bunny."

"Whoa," said Dalton, now staring at his girlfriend like she'd sprouted fangs, "you had some too? And you liked it?"

Janae shrugged, "Uh-huh, it was a lot better than the salty bug paste I had to eat that night we played truth or dare in high school."

"And the fish?"

"Eww, that was disgusting how old and slimy it was, I almost threw up."

"Not everything you had to do that night was bad, was it?" asked Dalton, ears droopy against his back, bottom lip pushed out in a fake pout, and…

…a twinkle in his eye."

Janae fake sighed, "Oh, I don't know, I guess there was one dare that wasn't too bad."

"Oh, yeah. Which one? Eating the ghost pepper jelly, or–"

Janae silenced Dalton by reenacting the dare and kept him silent for a couple of minutes longer than she did in high school just so he'd know that it was her most favorite dare ever.

"Want to spend the night?" asked Janae coming up for air.

"What?" replied the dazed buck.

Giving Dalton a peck on the lips, Janae said, "Kristy and Charlie are doing a sleepover camp out tonight so they can stargaze. I volunteered you and me as chaperones to keep an eye on them." And cutely nibbling her lip, asked, "Soooo, do you want to come to my house tonight for a sleepover and help me count stars?"

Dalton's response took a solid five minutes to give and didn't involve any words.

-/-/-

"Shall we?" asked Nick with his paw out.

Judy smiled and, putting her paw in Nick's, replied, "Yes, we shall. Library first?"

Slow walking the broad greenspace that ran through the center of the UNZ campus, Judy marveled at the size and variety of buildings that made up the campus. Tri-Burrows College catered to small and medium-sized mammals since there weren't that many mega-fauna out in the Tri-Burrows. Here though, UNZ had facilities for all of Zootopia's mammals, from the smallest mouse to the largest elephant.

Of course, that made most of the buildings pretty huge for Judy and Nick, but all of them had been outfitted with multi-sized accommodations like doorways, desks, and configurable offices to accommodate everyone regardless of the size of the student or the professor.

As they walked past an open-air amphitheater and a few sports fields off in the distance, Nick waved his free paw around and asked, "Bring back any memories?"

"A little. Tri-Burrows had a pretty campus, but it wasn't as big as UNZ's or quite as metropolitan."

"So, what did my country bunny do when she wasn't studying herself into a stupor? Tractor pulls, square dancing, maybe dorm-brewing some moonshine?"

Judy shrugged, "No brewing or dancing, and it's my brothers that are into tractor pulls. I mostly hung out in the library and studied a lot."

Nick squeezed Judy's paw and said, "I heard, a Criminal Science degree and then some."

"Yeah, the City Council changed the MII requirements for ZPA admission my senior year, and I had to take another year of classes and do an internship before I could apply."

Nick steered his bunny toward a koi pond surrounded by some trees on the edge of the greenbelt.

Judy stood at the edge of the pond and watched the fish until she felt Nick's arms wrap themselves around her waist.

Judy relaxed into Nick's chest and pulled his arms tighter around her.

"Thank you."

Judy bent her head back and looked up at Nick, "What for?"

Nick kissed Judy in between her ears and said, "Sponsoring me into the ZPA, getting them to waive the MII degree requirement, and generally talking the ZPD out of throwing me in jail for being a hustler."

Judy turned around in Nick's arms and smiled up at him, "Nobody was going to throw you in jail for bending the law the way you did, double-secret probation maybe, but no jail time."

"Double-secret probation?"

Pecking him on the lips, she chuckled, "Yup. And with good behavior, you should be off that list in no time."

Booping Judy on her nose with his, Nick replied, "You know what I'm talking about, you took a big risk sponsoring me. I'm betting you could have lost your job if I'd screwed up bad enough. I would have been responsible for destroying your dream."

Judy covered Nick's muzzle with a soft paw to silence him and said, "I never would have found those missing mammals or uncovered Bellwether's plot without you. We were a team, and I wanted you as my partner.

"Besides, plenty of mammals get into the ZPD with less than perfect backgrounds and no degrees."

Nick raised a brow.

"Fine, all I had to do was explain that you're a good guy, you're smart, you think well on your feet, you know the city like the back of your paw, and you'd make an excellent cop."

"Uh-huh."

Judy gave Nick a dose of doe-eyes and smiled innocently.

Nick rolled his eyes, "Not gonna work this time, Fluff. What did you really tell them?"

Judy huffed, "I did tell them all that."

"And…"

"And if they didn't admit you to the ZPA, I wouldn't let them lose my resignation, which meant they'd have to explain to the city why I quit and how a couple of civilians did the job they couldn't."

"You hustled them."

Judy shrugged cutely, "Maybe a tiny, little, itty-bitty bit."

"Carrots…"

"All I did was talk them into giving you a chance, the rest was all you." And with a bit of a smirk, Judy added, "And you proved me right. Even Major Friedkin was impressed with how well you did."

Nick groaned, "You mean after she ran out of nicknames to call me when I died, right?"

"Yup, although I might have given her a couple of ideas, you know, just in case your death count was bigger than mine."

Nick's eyes narrowed, "That was you? I always wondered how Friedkin was able to stay so creative."

"Yup," said Judy coyly as she hugged Nick tighter, "'Fuzzy Tail' and 'Sweet Lips' were my favorites."

"'Sweet Lips'? I don't remember Friedkin ever–"

Judy silenced her fox with a peck on said sweet lips.

Blinking a couple of times, Nick wagged his tail and rooted around for more of his bunny's delightful kisses.

Judy giggled as she wormed away from her fox's questing muzzle and, grabbing Nick's paw, she said, "Come on, the library's right over there, and while you're looking for clues on DeeDee, I'm going to look and see if they have any guides on degree programs for working mammals."

"Why?"

Leading Nick out of the grotto, Judy smiled sweetly as she said, "You'll need a degree if you want to make Detective."

"Detective?"

"Uh-huh."

"You know, instead of night classes, there's this guy I know who for a hundred bucks can get me a degree in anything I want, and for another fifty, I can probably get you a master's degree in Plant Husbandry or Theater."

Judy rolled her eyes, "Don't worry, I'll set up a study plan for you. You'll be fine."

"I won't have to eat dorm food, will I? I've heard it's horrible. And what about Prom? Do night schools even have Proms? If they do, you have to go with me. I'll rent a powder blue tux with lots of ruffles, and…"

Pulling her dorky fox into the library, Judy gave the library assistant the card the tour guide had given them, and a few minutes later, she deposited Nick at one of the computer kiosks.

Flipping through the student guide and degree course catalog the assistant had given her, Judy said, "Look, you could get a degree in Finance or Criminology."

"I think I know all I need to know about the criminal mind. Besides, I found something better."

"What? Something on DeeDee?"

"Nope, a one-bedroom apartment. Three blocks off campus, fully furnished and big enough for two studious mammals."

"Does it have a couch?"

"Yup, a big fluffy one."

"Good, because that's where you'll be sleeping if you're not searching on DeeDee."

"Here's what information she's set public. Phone number, email, a page to post publications, and her online resume. Did you know she worked as a camp counselor?"

"No. Anything posted on her profile that talks about Billy or where they went Friday?"

Nick searched around in a couple of blog entries until he found a link that used DeeDee instead of Sofia, and clicking the link, Nick smiled as his tail snaked out and tickled his partner.

"Find something?"

"Uh-huh, a few party pictures posted under her nickname. DeeDee isn't quite the wallflower Corin thinks she is."

"Yeah, and she might want to learn about privacy settings before school starts and someone else sees those pictures. Anything else?"

"Nope, and without a warrant, or a little help from Rat, there's not anything else I can get into."

"Okay. Student center next then," shrugged Judy.

*Tap Tap Tap*

"Nick, what are you doing?"

*Tap Tap Tap*

"Nothing."

"You're applying for that apartment, aren't you?"

*Tap*

"Well, if you're going to make me sleep on the couch, I figured I'd get us a place that had one."

Judy reached over, logged her fox out with the tap of a key, and said, "I've got a better idea. How about I put together a few extra-credit assignments you can do to me tonight to avoid the whole couch thing."

"Do to you?"

Judy smirked and sashayed out the main door pretending not to notice the fox stalking her tail.

…..

Making it to the Student Center after one quick stop to discuss, in private, an aspect of his extra credit assignment that he wasn't clear on, Nick and Judy found themselves standing in front of an empty 'Welcome' Desk.

Not seeing a bell or buzzer, they wandered around the lobby area and checked out the bulletin boards that the Student Guide had told them about.

Seeing a mix of flyers advertising everything from tutoring to housing to upcoming frat parties, they worked their way down a hall until Nick stopped in front of a large set of double doors.

"Look, a theater. Come on, let's take a look."

"Nick, we're investigating, not going to a movie. I'm sure whoever is working the desk will be back in a minute."

"Wrong kind of theater, Carrots. This one's for plays, concerts, and other dramatic endeavors of which I am sure you partook of in your misbegotten youth oh so long ago."

Judy sighed, "Fine. Five minutes, then we go looking for someone we can talk to."

Leading his buddy-cop costar into the dimly lit auditorium, Nick threw up an arm and said, "I can see it now, Sharla standing stage left holding an astronaut's helmet in her hooves, Howie stage right holding a pen high, and you center stage front, telling an entire audience that you were going to become a police officer. Wow! I bet you'd bring the house down."

Nick made it all the way to the stage before he realized he was alone.

"Abby sent you a video of my play, didn't she?"

Hopping up and taking a seat on the stage, Nick replied, "Now, now. You, of all mammals, should know that a CI's name is privileged information and must be kept confidential no matter the cost. Imprison me, starve me, you can even make me watch opera, but I won't talk, this fox protects his sources to the bitter end."

Judy made ready to punch Nick's dangling leg.

"Stop, it was Abby. But, don't go after her, she said she's working on an old recording of you trying to sing in a grade school talent competition."

"Ugh," groaned Judy as she hopped up and sat next to Nick. "Please don't tell me that, I was awful. They gave me the hook barely a minute into my song."

"You were great in the Carrot Days play. Nine years old and ready to take on the world."

"Thanks."

"Super cute, too."

"All bunny kits are cute."

Wrapping Judy with his tail, Nick smirked, "I wasn't talking about the nine-year-old Judy."

Judy shook her head as she put her arm around Nick and asked, "Have you always been such a smooth-talking fox? I bet you were quite the heartbreaker growing up."

"Moi? I don't know, maybe there were a couple of vixens in third grade that might have been interesting, but the young Nicholas Wilde wasn't very good at recognizing a good thing even when it was wrapped up in his tail."

"So, where did you refine your drama-fox moves then, hustling?"

"Yeah, mostly. But I, like my partner, first tried to refine his skills in the theater. You're looking at the youngest Merry Mammal to ever appear in one of Sister Mary's school plays."

"Merry Mammal?"

"Yup, Robin Hood, a favorite of foxes of all ages. And one of the few plays that had enough parts that half the school could be in it."

"So, you played one of Robin's Merry Mammals, rob from the rich, give to the poor?"

"Not just one of Robin's Merry Mammals, the most important one. I played Merry Mammal #4, and I had the most important line in the whole play."

Judy grinned a buck-toothed grin and asked, "Really? What was it?"

Nick jumped to his feet and, standing in the center of the stage, pointed toward the back of the theater and said in a deep yet nervous voice, "Sir Robin, over there. Someone's coming."

Judy clapped, "Encore, encore," and, putting two fingers in her mouth, whistled while Nick took several bows.

"Thank you, thank you. You're too kind. We'll be playing here all week. Don't forget to tip your waiters."

Having spun around and now sitting crisscross, Judy asked, "Did your parents record your play? That's one I'd love to see."

Nick just smiled and nodded as he thought back to that afternoon. "Probably not. I remember my mom had an old still camera and took pictures, but not my dad, he was too nervous to hold a camera steady."

Judy chuckled, "Nervous?"

"Yeah, he'd been helping me with my line all week. After school, before bedtime, he even set up a practice stage in the backyard with a couple of mannequins as a fake audience."

"You should have heard my mom, 'dork' was the nicest thing she called my dad for getting all out of control helping me practice."

"That was sweet of your dad. I bet you knocked it out of the park with your line."

Nick groaned, "Not exactly, I froze."

Judy went wide-eyed, "Really?"

"Uh-huh, I absolutely froze, it was like time slowed down, and all thought drained out of my brain. I saw all the parents and kits looking at me, and I couldn't think, I just stood there with my arm out pointing at nothing."

"Oh no," Judy gasped, putting her paws up to her muzzle. "I'm so sorry."

"My eyes darted around, and just before panic turned into terror and I ran away, I focused on my dad.

"He was sitting on an aisle seat near the front. And for the life of me, I couldn't figure out what he was doing. He looked like he wanted to jump out of his seat but couldn't, and his arms were out like he was trying to pull the line out of my mouth. His eyes were wide, and I could tell he wanted to mouth something, but he was afraid my mom would punch him.

"He was like a mime contortion artist. It was one of the goofiest things I'd ever seen my dad do."

"He was trying to help you, wasn't he?"

"Yup, and he did. He distracted me enough that I remembered my line before the teacher had to prompt me. I squeaked it out in time for Robin Hood to draw his sword and defend all of us from the evil Sheriff of Nottingham."

Judy slid closer to Nick, "Might have been fun to be in your play. Do you think Merry Mammal #4 would have risked it all to rescue Doe in Distress #2?"

Nick tapped his chin, "Well, Maid Marian was kind of hot, I mean, for a fourth-grader, although she and Robin used to spend a lot of time in the dressing –"

Soft lips silenced the fox.

"Mmmmhh."

A small tongue parted Nick's lips and searched for its larger mate, and once the two found each other, they danced, moaned, and explored all the wonders of a predator's sharp teeth before moving over to taste the fox's prey.

One of Nick's paws moved from Judy's waist to her tail, and in concert with tasting his girlfriend, he started her vibrating with the delicate application of his sharp claws to Judy's sensitive tail fur.

"Nick…"

About to moan back a response, Nick was blinded by the bright stage lights coming on.

"Hey, you guys aren't supposed to be in here. The theater is closed."

Judy pulled back from her fox and, looking toward the door, saw a rabbit doe with her paws on her hips.

"Torrie?"

"Judy? What are you doing here?"

Judy untangled herself from Nick, quickly wiped her muzzle dry, and replied, "Working, what are you doing here?"

Walking toward the stage, Torrie huffed, "I work here, it's my work-study job. Nick, is that you?"

Nick hopped down from the stage and, holding a paw out for Judy as she hopped down, said, "Hi Torrie, nice to meet you in the fur."

Torrie looked back and forth between Judy and Nick and, still a little confused, asked, "What work? You're not wearing your uniforms, and why did you two look like you were making out?"

"We're working undercovers," Nick said, smirking.

Judy brushed her shirt flat while glaring at her fox, "Yeah, undercover. So, you can't tell anyone we're here."

Grabbing her notebook out of her back pocket, Judy hugged her littermate while saying, "We were waiting for the information desk mammal to come back so we could ask them about a girl we're trying to find."

Releasing Judy, Torrie bounced over to Nick and gave him a hug, too, "Thanks again for letting us stay in your place. And congratulations on the whole Burrow Meister thing. I know everyone at the house would like to hear more about what happened beyond what the Mayor said and what was on EweTube."

"Yeah, maybe later. Although, that's part of the reason I'm here. The Mayor and the Sheriff both thought the Burrow Meister being out of town for a few days might be a good idea. So, seeing as your sister needed some foxy help with her investigation, I decided to take a vacation from my vacation and help her out."

Judy rolled her eyes.

"Come on Sis," said Torrie putting an arm around Judy, "The desk mammal should be back in just a minute," and glancing toward Nick a few paces back, whispered, "He's a lot cuter in person, funny too. Do you know if he has a girlfriend?"

"Yes, he does."

"Are they serious?"

"Yes, very."

"Oh, that's too bad. How about a brother?"

"Torrie…"

"What?"

"No."

"Fine, but–"

"No."

Coming up on the still empty information desk, Torrie let go of Judy, ran around the side of the desk, up onto a stool, and a moment later, a doe with a UNZ ball cap looked around blankly for a moment before saying to a pair of black ear tips, "Hi, welcome to the UNZ student center. Can I help you?"

Nick snickered.

Judy shook her head and, stepping over to the small-mammal section of the desk, said, "You're the desk mammal?"

"Ta-da," grinned Torrie throwing her arms wide. "Yay work-study. Especially during break, hardly any work and definitely no studying." And mock-whispering to Nick, "I get paid extra during break and all the free snacks I want.

"Blueberry white chocolate chip cookies?" asked Torrie tossing a small bag to Nick.

"Yum."

"Torrie."

"Fine," said Torrie handing another bag to Nick. "Who are you looking for? Student, faculty, or staff?"

"A first-year student named Sophia DePawly, DeeDee to her friends. She's an eighteen-year-old lioness, and here's a picture of her," said Judy pulling a photo out of her notebook.

Holding the picture up, Torrie grunted, "Nope, I've seen a few lionesses around, but none that still had their adolescent spots. What happened to her?"

"We don't know, she went out somewhere with her boyfriend on Friday, and no one's heard from either of them since."

"Friday?"

"Yeah," said Nick, "we're afraid someone may have targeted her and her boyfriend, and," whispering now, Nick added, "don't tell anyone this part, but there may have been mammals helping set these kits up. You know, sending them to a fake party where they get drugged and taken."

"We're after them too," growled Judy.

"You are?" coughed Torrie. "Are you going to arrest whoever she talked to last and, you know, take away their phone… and stuff?"

"Depends on what happened, but–"

"Carrots, I sent you the pictures I copied from DeeDee's website, they're better than the one Corin gave us."

Judy pulled out her phone and showed the pictures to her sister.

"Uhmm, this lioness?" asked Torrie biting her bottom lip with her large buckteeth.

"Yeah, she would have been on campus Friday sometime."

"Friday?"

Yes, still Friday. Her roommate said she came to campus looking for something spicy to do with her boyfriend, and I'm betting she came here to look through all the flyers.

"Here?"

Judy's eyes narrowed as she watched Torrie shuffle some papers and move around a red stapler.

"Yes. Here."

"Okay, sure. I can ask around."

"Torrie."

"I'm kind of, you know, busy. I should probably get back to work."

Nick looked around the empty lobby as Judy started tapping her foot.

"Torrie."

"Can I help you?" Torrie asked, smiling big.

"You are like the worst liar in the world, so–"

Nick quietly cleared his throat and whispered, "Ah, Carrots… You're pretty much like the worst ever–"

"Grrrr."

"Sorry."

Judy took a calming breath and said, very carefully, "Torrie, YOU are like the second worst liar in the world," and pausing, looked at Nick until he nodded for her to continue, "so how about you tell me what's going on before I tell mom what you and Trevor were doing in the south barn instead of going to senior prom."

Torrie waved her paws frantically, "No, no, no. You can't tell Mom, she'll ground me."

Raising a finger, Nick asked, "But you're living here, and your mom is over two hundred miles away. How can she…"

Both does glared at Nick.

"Oh yeah, you're right. Go ahead Carrots."

"Spill. Now."

"Fine, I might have seen a lioness that looked like her come in Friday afternoon. And she might have asked if there were any frat parties that I knew of going on that night that she could take her boyfriend to. It's also possible she said her boyfriend was a little bit of a bad-boy type, and she wanted to show him that even a goody-two-shoes like her could party hardy. And maybe she bought him a dope party outfit and wanted to see him in it."

Judy huffed, "And?"

"And nothing, I told her that the frats check IDs, and if her boyfriend didn't have a student ID, they wouldn't let him in."

Judy glared at Torrie.

"What?"

"You know Torrie, I've seen her get a confession out of a grizzly bear. The poor guy ended up in tears, begging her to let him dime out his gang."

"Fine, I suppose I could have told her about these popup raves that happen sometimes."

"What! Raves, you know those are just big drunken parties with music and dancing. Right?"

Torrie raised a brow, "Uh-huh."

"You haven't been going to any of these raves, have you?"

Torrie shrugged, "Maybe."

"Holy creamed corn gumbo with potatoes, do you have any idea what can happen to college girls that go to illegal raves? Do you?"

"Yeah," said Torrie with a smirk. Do you?"

"What? I… I'm a cop, of course–"

Nick put up a paw, "Carrots," and then to Torrie he said, "Your sister and I have reason to believe that DeeDee is in real trouble. She was supposed to call her mom Friday night, but she didn't, and her roommate hasn't seen her since Friday afternoon. We also think that her boyfriend is with her and went missing at the same time.

"So how about you tell us what you told DeeDee."

Torrie huffed, "You have to promise you won't tell Mom," and to Judy, "about anything?"

"You shouldn't–"

"Carrots."

"Fine."

Nick nodded, "Deal, now what did you tell her?"

Torrie pulled out a wrinkled-up flyer with tabs cut in the bottom, each with the same phone number on it. Handing the sheet to Nick, Torrie groused, "I was going to go last Friday, but I got called into work since someone else went home early for the break. Look, the raves are cool, no drugs allowed, just alcohol, and they use text alerts to keep out the troublemakers."

"How does it work?" asked Judy nodding toward the paper in Nick's paw.

Torrie sighed, "You text the names of everyone in your party to that number, and they'll text you back a couple of hours before the rave starts with the time and location. Show your IDs to the ticket mammal, so they know you're old enough to drink, give them twenty bucks, and you're in."

Judy opened her text app, "What's the number?"

Putting a paw over Judy's phone, Nick stilled her fingers, "Our phones are clean, but they'll have to have one of our numbers to text us back. And with Rat offline, I don't think that's a good idea, especially your number."

"Okay, do you know someone that runs this rave and can get us in?"

Nick shook his head, "It'd be a crapshoot on which outfit is running this one, and if I ask around, word might get back to whoever snatched DeeDee and Billy. I think we're going to have to do this the hard way."

"The hard way?" asked Torrie.

Nick and Judy both looked at Torrie.

Looking back and forth between her sister and Nick, Torrie's eyes went wide, "No! No way. If they find out I fronted for two cops, they'll never let me into a rave again. I'll be banned everywhere!"

"Sounds like a win-win. What do you think Nick?"

"Yup. Should free up more time for studying, I do believe."

"But…" whined Torrie.