Hey there, dear readers! Here I am again with chapter seven of The Keyhole! Things are starting to get a little serious in the story, but please bear in mind that cute and heartwarming are the core foundations of this story!

And, once again, this chapter was proofread by my very good friend, Trismegistus Shandy! An amazing writer, whose stories can be found on TGStorytime . com! So be sure to give their works a read! Now, without any further ado, please enjoy the new chapter!

The Keyhole (Chapter 7)

by

Elite Shade

Judy and Nick sat across the kitchen table from Eli, holding each other's paw. They said nothing as they waited for their kit's reaction to what had been proposed just moments ago.

"You really think I need to see a therapist?" the human asked, confused.

"Your mother and I," Nick spoke, giving the rabbit's paw a reassuring squeeze, "both feel that it would be best for you to think about seeing a professional who can help you work through any confusing feelings or...issues that you might have," Nick said, attempting to use the word "issues" delicately.

"...Did I do something wrong?" Eli asked, his face a mask of worry. The look of fear she saw in her adopted kit's eyes was nearly enough to break her heart.

"Absolutely not, sweetie!" the bunny said. "You haven't done anything wrong! We just want to help you, and we both agree that seeing someone would be the best way to do that."

Eli processed what he was told. Outwardly he was trying to convey a sense of calm, while inwardly he felt a familiar sense of dread begin to return. The same feeling he would get just before he was about to be sent somewhere else. But looking into Judy's lavender eyes brought back the memory of her promise to never let him go. Part of him, a part that he had buried since that moment, was skeptical that she would keep that promise. But a newer, more hopeful part of himself wanted to believe her. Eli swallowed and nodded.

If... mom thinks that this might help... then it's worth a try, Eli thought to himself, brushing a stray lock of his brown hair out of his eyes.

Judy smiled before she let go of Nick's paw and hopped down. She walked around the table and hopped up into Eli's lap, wrapping her arms as far as they would go around his torso. Eli gently hugged her back, discreetly wiping away a single tear that had welled in his deep blue eyes. Nick smiled as he was about to get up and join in on the hug, when his phone started to go off. He would have normally just sent whoever was calling to voicemail, but he recognized the ringtone. It was his mother's.

"Oh, hey Mom, look I and Judy are in the midd-" Nick started before a female voice cut him off.

"Don't you Oh, hey Mom me, young mammal!" the voice lectured, making Nick cringe back reflexively. "Would you care to explain how it is that you and Judy suddenly have a kit, and your father and I don't find out that we're grandparents until we hear about it on FURTUBE?!"

Beneath his russet fur, Nick's face paled. He had taken his time in telling his parents that his long-term girlfriend of almost five years had adopted a human kit and that he had become... well he wasn't certain just what he was legally to Eli, but still thought of Eli as his own, because he wasn't sure about how they would take the news. Granted, when he had first introduced Judy to them, they had pretty much immediately adored her.

"W-W-Well, Mom, see, the thing of it is-" Nick started again, only to be cut off mid-sentence...again.

"Oho, no you don't! You are not going to try and wheel and deal me, Nicholas Piberius Wilde!" Nick winced again, convinced now more than ever that the real reason parents gave their children middle names was solely for the purpose of letting them know when they were in trouble.

"M-Mom, I'm not trying to wheel and deal you, I'm just trying to explain that I was going to tell you all about it and introduce you to Eli, I swear. But things sort of happened and-"

"And you had absolutely no problem letting Bonnie and Stu know about him!" Marian said, and Nick's tail curled up a little as he started to hear some of the hurt in his mom's voice.

"Mom... I'm sorry," Nick said while looking down, feeling guilty.

"... Oh Nicky..." the voice of Nick's mother let out an audible sigh, "it's alright. You can make it up to us this weekend."

Nick suddenly froze where he sat, looking like a realistic-looking fox statue.

"Wh-What's that about this weekend?" he asked, already knowing the answer in his heart.

"Why, your father and I are going to be staying with you and Judy and our new grandkit this weekend, of course," his mother said simply.

"Wait, don't you think that that's a little soon?" Nick asked.

"Nicky," his mother's voice turned stern, "we're coming and that's final. We both love you and Judy and Eli very much. See you in three days!" And with that the call ended. Nick just stared dumbly at the phone in his paws, before suddenly looking up to see Judy and Eli watching him, both trying to hold back giggles.

"What about any of that is even remotely funny?" he asked, trying to make his own voice sound stern, but failing.

"Oh, Slick," Judy said, "it's just too funny to see you act so afraid of your mother. I mean, she's just the sweetest mammal I've ever met."

"Yeah, because she adores you. According to her, you helped to make a better mammal out of me," Nick said, almost petulantly.

"Well, she's right," Judy said just before she reached up and kissed Eli on the cheek. She then hopped down and walked back over to her seat by Nick and climbed back into it, taking his paw into hers, "just as you helped to make me into a better mammal."

Nick smiled, then noticing Eli looking embarrassed at their display. "What's the matter, bud? Can't stand when your folks get a little lovey-dovey?" He snickered, before Judy used her free paw to punch him in his arm. The fox winced and rubbed the spot. "I was going to say that I know exactly how that feels, Carrots."

"Uhm... Nick?" Eli asked, suddenly realizing something.

"Yeah, bud?" Nick answered.

"Does this mean that you're my dad now?" Eli asked. Almost immediately after him asking it, one without Judy's sense of hearing could have heard a pin drop.

Meanwhile...

"Robert." Marian called up the stairs, the older russet-colored vixen tucking her phone into her purse which was sitting on on the nearby coffee table, "did you find it yet?"

"Not yet, honey," a deeper voice called back down, followed almost immediately by a loud thunk and some choice curse words.

"Now don't you go using that kind of language in front of our new grandkit!" Marian admonished, looking into a mirror on the wall as she adjusted the cream colored cardigan she was wearing, her green eyes shining with excitement. "According to Bonnie, humans seem to be very skittish." After their initial introduction, Nick and Judy's parents had become fast friends, and kept in regular contact with each other.

"That's a laugh, a bunny calling a much larger animal skittish," Marian herad Robert say, followed by a chuckle, followed by another loud thunk and some more cursing, indicating that Robert had once again bumped his head against something, again.

"Robert," Marian used a warning tone in her voice.

"Honey, I promise I'll be gentle around him." There was an even louder thud followed by an audible crashing sound, along with a shattering. "Uh-oh..."

"Robert, please tell me that that wasn't the ceramic goat I was repairing for Teresa," Marian groaned.

"Okay, it wasn't the ceramic goat you were repairing for your friend who never stops talking, Teresa," Robert's voice called back, just before there was some sort of shuffling sound.

"Then what was it?" Marian asked, her left foot tapping.

An answer was not forthcoming.

"It was the ceramic goat, wasn't it?" She asked.

"Of course it was the ceramic goat. Why would anyone just leave it perched on some boxes in a dark room?" Robert called back.

"What kind of a fox doesn't have night vision?" Marian shot back.

"It's darker than normal in this room!" Robert shot back, his footsteps indicating that he was walking towards the stairs.

"You need to get your eyes checked," Marian chided, not for the first time.

"My eyes are just fine!" Robert said as he descended the stairs, an old cigar box in his paws.

"Robby," Marian said to the large, arctic fox with the piercing blue eyes, "you really need to see an optometrist."

Robert sighed, "I can see just fine, honey."

"I'm over here, Robert," Mrian said as she watched her husband turn away from the orange and red colored rain coat hanging near the front door.

"... I knew that..." he said, his perked ears picking up the sound of his mate's sigh of exasperation, followed by the sound of her taking in another breath, surely to begin lecturing him about going to an eye doctor.

"I found it!" he said, hoping to forestall the conversation yet again.

"We'll see about that," Marian grumbled as she took the cigar box from his outstretched paws and opened it. Despite her annoyance at the stubbornness of Robert, her muzzle broke out into a smile as she looked at the contents of the box. In it were a few pictures of the three of them together when Nick had been a little kit, along with some small trinkets that he had collected... before the ugliness at the Junior Ranger Scout meeting. Marian moved a few things around before she found it. She smiled, Robert having been correct in his assumption that he had found what they were looking for. It was a little worn, but she could fix that easily enough.

"There it is, good job, Robby," Marian said, leaning up a little to kiss her mate on his muzzle. His tail started to quickly wag back and forth as he leaned in to kiss her back. After their muzzles parted, Marian playfully thumped his chest.

"And I'm making you an appointment to get your eyes examined," she said as she started to walk away, her tail swishing in satisfaction.

"My eyes are just fine!" Robert insisted, staring at the fuzzy form of his wife's tail swishing playfully. He looked up and, after some squinting, made out the look she was giving him, and his own tail curled up as he lowered his head.

"Yes dear," he said after a few moments of her staring at him.

Elsewhile...

"Alright, Russell, how are things?" the large polar bear in the grey suit and red tie asked the human teen who was sitting in the big leather chair across from him. The human had short sandy-blonde fur atop his head, and deep brown eyes.

"Okay... better than they used to be, actually..." Russell said.

"That's always wonderful to hear," Barry said, smiling, "Now I know that I've asked you this before, buddy, but how are you feeling about tomorrow? It will be your first day of school here in Zootopia."

"Uhm... kinda nervous, I guess," Russell said, thinking back to what his old high school had been like and now adding other species like rhinos and tigers to the mix. The thought had him a little worried.

"That's perfectly normal, Russell," Barry said reassuringly.

"I-I know," Russell began, "uhm... but still... part of me is really scared that I'm gunna get trampled or gored or something like that..."

"Well, you certainly wouldn't be the first student to have such worries. But it's also important to know that the mammals of this world have evolved past what you've described to me of your world," Barry said, having been fascinated to learn that humans were the only intelligent species back where Russell originated.

"I get that, I really do," Russell said, holding up a hand, "it's just that we humans are evolved and yet... we can be kinda... cruel..." Russell briefly flashed back to several instances of when he was bullied.

Barry nodded his head understandingly. "It is something that, unfortunately, does happen. However, it's important to remember that cruel mammals are only a small part of the population. It's been my experience that the majority of mammals out there are willing to give others a chance."

Russell looked at his hands, and fidgeted a little. "No one ever believed me when I tried to talk to anyone. The teachers didn't do anything to make the bullying stop. It just got to the point where it became easier to stop trying to talk to anyone at all."

"Which makes it all the more amazing how much you've come out of your shell, Russell. You are stronger than you realize," Barry said, happy to see a smile form on Russell's face. "Besides, I'd be willing to bet that a stable home like the Spitz' helped a lot in that area... not to mention a certain little fox kit."

Russell frowned. "I just don't get it though," he said, looking up into Barry's steel grey eyes.

"What is that, Russell?" Barry wondered.

"Why Ethan likes me so much. It's not bad... I just don't get it..." Russell said, thinking about how the little grey fox continued to follow him around and say his name at every available opportunity.

"Well," Barry thought it over for a moment, "I can't really say. However, what I can say is that, for whatever reason, that little guy seems to view you as a big brother."

That brought another smile to Russell's face, which always made Barry glad. He remembered the scared and sad boy he had first encountered all those months ago. While Russell still needed to work through some issues, Barry was happy to see how far he had progressed since then.

"And the other children?" Barry's voice cut through the comfortable silence that had started.

"Oh, uh... well, they kinda like to hang around me as well, mostly. Not like Ethan does, but still," Russell said.

At that moment...

"Okay, so we know where the first human to appear lives," Honey Badger said to Edwin, as he watched her circle a photo of the boy known as Eli with a red marker, "we just have to figure out a way to get a hold of him. Any thoughts on that, doctor?"

In the days since his escape, Edwin had been enthusiastically discussing the situation regarding the human creatures with his new compatriot. Although the armadillo had begun to notice that Doctor Honey seemed to be more frantic about getting ahold of one of the humans, particularly Eli, than he himself was.

"Well," Edwin began, "we have to bear in mind that the one known as Eli is still currently under the protection of officers Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde, who still seem to view it as a surrogate child, or something to that effect. So that kinda makes it a high risk one to capture, what with the entire ZPD most likely putting all of their resources and mammal power in relocating the creature and apprehending those that absconded with it."

The fidgety badger let out an exasperated sigh. "Fine... I see your point, Doctor... Well then, how about the little one? The one that the otter family took in?"

Edwin thought it over for a moment. "It might be our best bet."

And there you have it, folks! I certainly hope that you enjoyed the new chapter! Be sure to let me know what you think!