(okay, so this takes place after the whole "Judy and Gideon reunion" thing, because I don't feel like doing it. It's nice and all, but I'm pretty sure we've seen it enough to know two things:

1, Gideon is a bumbling cutie-pie, no pun intended. And 2, Judy figures out the whole night-howler situation. Yay. Also, found out why my grammar is so horrendous, it's cuz' of LibreOffice. The thing I use to write this. It likes to correct things when I type them a certain way, but then leave actual mistakes alone. Love this thing a lot, but I guess I'll need to fix it)

Gideon just stared after Judy flying down the dirt road. "What was she talkin' about?" he tilted his head n' raised an eyebrow in confusion. He wasn't the only one, he figured as much from the strange looks Bonnie n' Stu had given Judy before she left. "No idea! Why would she just left like that?" Stu shook his head in disbelief. "Well, whatever it was, it must have been important. Then again, it seems everything is important to her." Bonnie chuckled lightly. Both men nodded in agreement. "well, better get going Mr. H, Mrs. H. have a nice day." Gideon started towards the truck while wavin' to the couple. They both waved back to him, too.

"Stay out of trouble, son! And be careful!" Stu called out to him. "sure thing, Mr. H. and thanks again." was Gideon's reply.

"Oh Stu, do you have to talk to him like he's just a kit? he's a grown fox, he can take care of himself. Oh, and drive safely, Gideon! Have a gorgeous day, too." she'd called out, also.

"you tell me not to baby him, then you go and do it yourself?" he'd glanced at his wife with a look. "Oh be quiet, you, or you're going to have to help me with the laundry." was all Bonnie said.

Stu gasped, "You wouldn't! Would you?" he asked with his hands together and a hopeful look in his eyes. Bonnie smirked and rolled her eyes.

Gideon smiled at the conversation between the two, and started to drive off. He shuddered at the thought of having to do that much laundry.

Gideon was making his way to the bakery, he'd gotten an order for some cherry pies. He remembered the events from earlier today, and smiled again. Today was great.

He was supposed to deliver them to the 'McHorns' place on Portage road. He tried to remember who they were, but he didn't really care about that stuff as a kit, so he didn't know.

After he'd gotten on to the road he was looking for, he'd slow down at every upcoming house to read the number aloud. "4213… 4214… Here we go, 4215." he turned onto the driveway.

…

…

…?

This place… looks familiar? Maybe he'd ridden his bike past here as a kit?

It was a fairly sized house, brown brick with what looked like an' observatory in the attic, he could only assume that because there was a large window in the one place.

He'd parked, and had gotten out, looking at the house.

Observatory... Oh.

Oh no. This house. He now knew why it looked familiar.

His Grammama marched him up these steps to make him say sorry to some of the kids he picked on once.

Maybe if I just leave the pies, knock on the door n' make a run fer it, I won't have to talk to anybody.

Gideon placed the pies gently on the porch, knocked, and turned to leave, when the door swung open.

Gideon cringed. If the writer wasn't kid-friendly, he might make me say 'something stronger than darn'

"Pies are here! A female voice called out, then gasped in apparent shock. "Who...?" she asked. Gideon just turned around to face them. It was Sharla. 'something stronger than darn'.

"A-ah was jus' droppin- ahem dropping off the pies that were ordered. I'll be leaving now." he'd tried to avoid a conversation.

"Gideon?!" Sharla sounded more surprised rather than scared. "What do you mean 'dropping off the pies'?" she was now starting to sound a lil' worried.

"I-i need to go, have a nice day, ma'am." he turned and walked towards the van. Sharla only stared at him in a mix of anger, shock and fear.

Sharla was still standing in the doorway, when her mother had come up behind her. "Who was it, Sharla? Was it the baker with the pies?" her mother looked out and saw the pies, and picked them up to take them in. "They sure left in a hurry, whoever they were. Did you talk to them?" "Uh, yeah. I did. But… it was..." Sharla took a second to process this.

"It was Gideon Grey, Mama." she said quietly. Her mother looked a little surprised, "Oh, is that all? I wondered what he was up to now. Did he say if he baked them himself or not?"

Uhm, excuse me, mother, this was the tod that tortured me when I was little, or do you not care?

Sharla picked what she said next carefully, "Don't you remember what… he did when we were kids?" "Hm?" "He tormented us, Ma! Gareth an' I!" "I know what he's done, Sharla, but I found out about something about him that made me… wait a minute." her mother pointed at Sharla's hand. Sharla looked at the fist she'd made, and opened it up to show the money…

She forgot to pay him. "Why didn't you pay him?" her mother questioned her. "I didn't mean to! I just was so surprised, and h-he..." Sharla knew what was next.

"You need to go give that to him. Go on, he doesn't have all day." "But ma, why are you sticking up for him?" Sharla was getting irritated. Didn't her ma care about her?

Mrs. McHorn sighed, "Fine. Close the door, Sharla. I need to tell you somethings I think you need to know about Gideon."

What? What does that mean? Sharla shut the door and followed her mother to the kitchen, and sat down at the table.

Her mother placed the pies in the pantry, then came back out, "Gideon… has had a really hard life. From what I hear, he has lost everybody he'd ever loved when he was just a child..."

Gideon's mind was a mess. She hates me. What happened? I was able to tell Judy I was sorry, but I just got so… so… shy with Sharla.

He was never going to make up for what happened, was he? "what do you mean, 'dropping of the pies'?, forgot foxes aren't supposed to have a normal job… this was the worst.

When he finally made it home, he didn't feel too great. His gut hurt like he had been punched there, not that he'd never been punched there before.

He made his way into the house, and just laid down on the couch, trying to get his mind off of the pain.

He drifted off soon after, into a dreamless sleep, still in pain.

Sharla was making her way to his house, because it was now 8:43, and she doubted that he was going to be at the bakery. Unless he was, then she was wasting gas and time.

Her mind was still winding about what her mother had told her. His pa n' ma, both before he was even ten. I never knew, I just thought he was a big jerk!

Apparently, her ma had said something to Bonnie about how some parents should teach their kit how to treat others recently, and used Gideon as an example.

Bonnie just blinked. "Eveline, it's not polite to speak ill of the dead, you know." "Dead?!" Mrs. McHorn raised her both her hooves to her mouth in shock, "Are you sure?" "Very much so. We only found out recently." Bonnie nodded sadly. "When did they pass away?" Eveline asked still in shock. "His father died before he was born, and his mother died when he was 6. I used to wonder why he'd changed so drastically." Bonnie responded, getting back to her coffee. "How did nobody find out, that's usually something everybody in bunnyburrows hears about!" Eveline muttered, and reached for her coffee, "Because they were foxes, Evie. When it's them, nobody seems to care." Bonnie said quietly, emptying her coffee cup.

Eveline stopped, and put her hoof down. She wasn't in the mood for coffee anymore.

Sharla was pretty sure she was speeding, but she didn't care. Her ma told her everything she'd heard about Gideon, even the counseling his grandparents had to get him.

Now she could see why he'd acted that way. Not really, but losing a parent is hard, losing both is harder. she'd know, she was a teacher.

I can't believe how many of us were hypocritical. We treated him like a monster, and then we acted like we were in the okay.

Sharla remembered she'd called him "no good" once, too.

"His house was supposed to be on the next turn, if I'm lucky, he'll be here." Sharla thought aloud, making the turn. There it was, in all it's glory.

She parked, then took a breath. Got out of the car, and walked to the porch, and stopped to look around.

It wasn't messy, in fact, it looked boring. Big yards weren't much use unless you had a garden or had children, and Sharla was pretty sure Gideon didn't have either.

She let out the breath she'd been holding since she'd gotten here. It smelled wonderful.

She knocked.