Nick's feet were once again aching as he walked up the stairs to the room that he unofficially shared with Judy. He would have gladly ridden the train back but Matthew began to cry every time he tried to board. This frustrated Nick because he had already paid for his ticket but eventually, the little creature won out and he seemed to delight in this. His teeny-weeny pudgy paws reached out for everything from tree limbs that Nick had to stretch out for him to touch, to low growing wild flowers that peeked out from the sidewalk. Nick's back was sore from the strain of bending up and down and holding the baby as he explained the world to him, but he didn't mind. In fact, in a way he couldn't quite understand, the whole exchange reminded him of his father and himself when he was a child.

"Ahhh * #%," he swore as he felt a hole in the lining of his jacket which his keys had slipped through. "Sorry Matty," he whispered, "all that I need is for your mother to hear you cussing and know that you learned it from me. Then I'd really be in for it," he chuckled, "maybe I could blame Clawhauser. Think she'd believe me? Here, let me set you down," Nick said and grimaced as he knelt. The baby babbled his discontent and clutched at Nick's leg. "Hey, hey, kid, settle down will ya, if I don't find my keys, we'll both be sleeping on a park bench, or worst, at Finnick's. And let me tell you, you don't want to sleep at Finnick's. For a little guy, he has a snore to wake the dead. Hey, maybe when we go to visit my parents, we can bring bring him along. A few beers, a few sleeping pills, who knows what could happen." Nick laughed and then looked down at little Matthew as he fished the keys out of his pocket.

"Sorry Matty," he said once again, " you're going to learn quick that your new dad has a morbid since of humor at times but you'll get used to it. Or your mother will just force me not to use it around you, we'll see. Usually she would have heard me at the door by now and opened it." He fumbled with the key in the cylinder and when he opened the door, he saw why Judy hadn't heard him. She was sitting in their only chair, in front of the dresser. Her ears were plugged up with ear buds that played a sad Gazelle pop song about unrequited love as she held one of Matthew onesies in her paws and. A large bowl of fresh blueberries sat on the table next to her. "Hey Carrots," Nick said boomingly and Judy saw more than heard him.

"Hey Nick," she said softly as she took out her ear buds. Normally she would have smiled widely and jumped into his waiting arms but instead she just looked at him with eyes that were puffy and barely open from crying and Nick's heart broke.

"Judy I..."

"No," she said raising a paw, " I need to say something. First, I know that hate you for me to 'feel sorry' for you but I don't care. I'm sorry about what McKitt did to your family. You didn't deserve to lose your dad and your mother didn't deserve to lose her husband. I'm sure he was a good person and I'm sorry that you had to see him go." She sniffled. "McKitt is just evil and once I found out the baby's connection to him, I should have just agreed to put him in foster care instead of keeping him with us until he was placed with a family. That was wrong and inconsiderate of me. I thought I was just trying to do what was best for the little guy but really I was being selfish. I had grown attached to him and, and," Judy's voice broke, but she wiped her tears away and continued, "and I just wanted to keep him. I started falling in love with his little coal-black nose , the squishy little pads of his paws, the way his big green eyes looked at me like he, like he," Judy paused to compose herself and bit her lip, "like he was home. But I know now that I was just seeing what I wanted to see not what was actually there. You were right, he needs to be with his own kind, not some silly bunny who wants a baby, but foxes who can show him what he needs to know."

"Hmmm," Nick said, still playing it cool, "well, you are right about two things, Carrots, you should have listened to me and you are quite the silly bunny. But," he said turning to his side and bending down, "since this little creature seems to have a penchant for silly bunny-like things such as carrots, love and affection, and I think he'll do just fine with you as a mom."

"Oh Nick," Judy said and her eyes went wide as he stood up holding Matthew. When the baby saw Judy, he became ecstatic with excitement and fought to get out of Nick's arms. "Traitor," Nick whispered to him as Judy picked him up and both bunny and cub held each other tightly. "And I guess since he has a thing for cute bunnies like me, he really is with his own kind." Nick hesitated. " I was thinking, you know, if you didn't mind, we call him Matthew, name him Matthew, after my dad, you know, if we adopt him."

"Nick, that would be wonderful," Judy said smiling through tear of happiness, but then she froze. "We're not married and even if we were, there's no way that the state would let us adopt Matthew while we're renting a room."

"Oh yeah," Nick said, raising a digit as if he forgot something, "about that." Judy stared at him curiously as he fished through the pockets of his jacket. When he didn't find anything, he began to pat himself down feverishly and smile nervously at Judy. "It's a," he said, "its a, somewhere in here, just give me a minute and I had something that I wanted to ask you too."

"Uh-huh," Judy, said, still not understanding what he was talking about. An envelope fell out Nick's inside pocket and he knelt down to pick it up. "And what do you have to say about all this, Matthew?" the gray bunny said as she bounced the baby in her arms.

"Mwurry me!" Both Nick and Judy looked at the baby in disbelief and he spoke again, "mwurry me!"

"Nick?" Judy said breathlessly as she stared down at him on one knee.

Nick gulped, suddenly more nervous than he could ever recall being in his life. "Thanks a lot kid," he said with a nervous playfulness, "you stole my thunder." Then he looked at Judy. "But will you? Marry me that is, not him." He looked away a little ashamed, "I couldn't afford to buy you a nice ring, but as odd as it may sound I did just buy us a house today. It has three bedrooms and a good size back yard for Matthew to play in." When Judy didn't say anything, Nick got even more nervous and began to rub his neck. "I know this probably isn't the most ideal situation to be in and I can appreciate that. But, um, you don't have to give me an answer right now. If you need some time to..." Judy cut him off by grabbing his paw and pulling him up into a group hug.

"Yes, yes, of course I'll marry you Nick. I don't care about a ring, I care about you, I care about Matthew, I care about our new family." Just then, Judy's cell phone rung and she quickly answered it.

"Hi mom, hi dad,"

"Hey there Jude the Dude," said her father as her mother squinted into the phone's camera.

"Judy," she said, "have you been crying? What's going on?"

"Mom, dad, me and Nick have been dating for a about a year and a half, we just got engaged, we're going to get married, we just bought a house and this is our son, Matthew Nicolas Wilde, the second."

"The third," Nick corrected in a whisper.

"Oh, yes, thank you Nick, the third."

"Cheese and crackers," Stu Hopps breathed before he fainted.

"Stu, Stu get up," Judy's mother, Bonnie, said as she pulled on his arm, and then looked at her daughter. "Judy I don't even understand how this is possible, how can a fox and bunny have a child, its not heard of."

"Oooo," Stu said, finally, coming to, "Bon, I just had the weirdest dream, Judy said that she was marrying a fox, they were moving in together and she had his baby."

"She did Stu, that's exactly what she said."

"Oooo crepes," he said and passed out again.

"Stu, Stu, uh Judy, your father and I will talk to you later but congratulation to you and Nick on the engagement. And I don't know how you made a baby, you should have been married first but none of that matters now. We'll be coming to visit you soon with a few of your brothers and sister and we can't wait to meet our new grandson."

"Ok mom, see you then,"

"I wanna see," Stu said as he stood up again, " I want to see the baby." Judy angled the camera so that her parents could see Matthew clearly and the baby smiled and babbled gleefully.

"Awww," Bonnie said, "he has your fur Judy."

"But he has my ears," Stu said proudly, "short ears run on my side of the family."

"And Nick's eyes," said Bonnie.

"What do you mean Nick's eyes? My cousin Bernny has green eyes, he got 'em from our great Aunt Neeta. Those eyes run in my family too."

"And he can talk too," Judy said delighted, "go on Matty, say something for grandma and grandpa."

"Ahhh, * #%," Matthew said with the biggest smile on his innocent like face.

"Ooooo," Stu said as he fainted again but Bonnie stood there staring into the phone's camera in shock. Judy quickly hung up and then turned to Nick and frowned angrily.

Nick shrugged and smiled, " Oops," he said, "he must have heard it on the train or something."

"Bame claphoser," Matthew said still smiling and Judy's frown deepened.

"Have I ever told you how much I love you because you make me such a better person?" he said and then tapped her nose lightly with his paw. "Because you do."

Judy swatted his paw away. "We're going to have to work on that language around Matthew, right?"

Nick's ear folded back meekly, "yes Carrots,"

"Good and I love you too."