The sun was rising as they entered the Burrows and Nick was starting to get tired. He yawned and turned to Judy.

"How far are we from the hotel, I need to take a nap" he said and she began to look it up on her phone. After a minute of scrolling she looked at him slightly nervously.

"Well" she said "The hotel is still about an hour away but there's something closer" Nick looked at her expectantly "It's my parents' house" she finally finished. Nick nodded and kept driving letting Judy talk herself through this.

"I mean I wanted to go there anyway, but maybe after I had a little time to prepare" Judy was panicking quietly next to him and Nick looked over.

"We can go to the hotel if you want" he said, but Judy shook her head in response.

"No" she said "You're tired and we have to go there anyway. Might as well just tear off this Band-Aid now" Nick nodded, slightly amused by Judy's internal crisis as he took the exit for her parents' house.

They pulled up into the driveway about a half an hour later when the sun was still barely over the horizon. Nick went to the trunk to unload their bags calling to Judy as he did.

"You did remember to call them and say you'd be showing up right" he asked opening the trunk, Judy lowered her ears as she answered him.

"Yeah I uh remembered. I texted them last night" she said with a nervous smile, Nick shook him head and chuckled bringing his paw to his face.

As Judy had her arms crossed and was tapping her foot at Nick, who was having a laugh at her expense when the front door to the farmhouse swung open.

Out walked two rabbits one Nick saw was holding another peanut sized rabbit, and these two walked towards them. Nick motioned at Judy to turn around with his paw. Judy turned and on seeing her parents her ears leaped to their full extent and she hopped in the air running to them she embraced them both at the same time. Nick watched the whole display and smiled again as he walked forward to make his introduction.

"And who is this" Judy's mother asked with a smile as Nick drew closer. Her father Nick saw seemed to be glancing nervously between Judy and himself.

"Oh this is uh well he's" Judy stammered, Nick quickly moved forward extending his paws.

"Nicholas Wilde" he said, saving Judy before she exploded "I'm Judy's partner at the ZPD". Judy's parents glanced at her as they shook Nick's hand, she offered them a hesitant little smile and nod.

"Well might as well come inside" her father started "You can help us finish setting up Stephens birthday party" he finished as he waved them in.

As they walked inside Nick leaned into Judy's ear and whispered "Why didn't you tell me it was someone's birthday, we could have grabbed something". Judy turned to him and answered back in an equally quite voice.

"I have over two hundred siblings; every day is someone's birthday" she turned back forward. Nick had to admit that was a good point and also he began to wonder what exactly was waiting for him past that door.

As they entered the house Nick took in the cozy design, the simple walls, the ornate banisters. Everything seemed to have been designed to create a comfortable, den like appearance. It also became clear to him that Judy's parents seemed to have money, something he never would have guessed by how they dressed and acted.

They were led through the house Judy being shown all that had changed including an addition her father was trying to build, and Nick being shown everything, absolutely everything.

"And this juicer" Judy's father, who had introduced himself as Stu began "I got at the market for a steal. Why it would make juice out of anything in no time". Stu had led Nick into the kitchen while Judy and her mother went upstairs, Nick did his best to be friendly but something was making him nervous.

"Which reminds me" Stu said though it was obvious he was about to change the subject, Nick flinched waiting for it. "How exactly do you and my Jude get along" Stu asked, Nick looked at him questioningly.

"Oh Hopps" he said "We get along fine, as much coworkers can". Stu nodded and tapped on the counter.

"Do you usually drive your coworkers a couple hundred miles to see their parents" Stu continued his line of questioning. Nick could see Stu's head working and could tell that behind his simple appearance he was definitely a smart man.

"We're actually here on a case" Nick continued his story "Hopps just wanted to swing by and say hi that's all. Can I have one of those" he said pointing to a batch of blueberry cookies on the counter, Stu nodded.

"Well Nick here's the thing" Stu said as Nick grabbed a cookie and started nibbling it "I not only raised Judy, I also have raised and am raising over two hundred other kids that her mother and I made". Nick nodded as Stu continued "The point is I'm no stranger to these sort of things and can see when somethings up".

"I don't know what you mean sir" Nick said chewing on his cookie and Stu merely nodded.

"Well I'll admit it" Stu said "I'm a bit speciest and am a bit disturbed by this whole thing. But Jude never listened to me anyway and if she really wants a fox maybe she'll just have to learn the hard way" Nick raised his brow at all this "But listen here Nick, I want you to know that if you hurt my girl, I have a shotgun" and with that Stu left the kitchen.

Nick blinked and finished his cookie grabbing another one as he watched Stu leave. He must admit that was the most civil speciest conversation he had ever had, but he now had the sudden urge to buy beer or perhaps something stronger.

He pulled out his phone and pulled up his and Judy's messages. "Your dad just gave me the talk" he typed "Going to a liquor store, want are you going to need" he sent the message. As he was walking out the door he got his reply "Something strong".

After a little driving around Nick pulled into the dusty driveway of the store that looked like it was out of an old western. The sign above the door said simply "liqur serves all" Nick shrugged, alright, he thought as he went inside. Behind the counter was a middle-aged hedgehog with a pair of thick spectacles, Nick nodded at him and he returned the nod.

Nick walked down the aisle looking at the selection they had, all cheaper stuff but there were some good brands. He grabbed a bottle of whiskey for himself and moved onto their wine section. Judy liked the sweeter wines, usually shrewish wine, so he went down to find some. He found one bottle of decent shrewish wine and grabbed that, taking both bottles to the counter.

The hedgehog wrote up the charge up in a notebook much to Nick's surprise. Nick handed him the money which he put in a safe behind him, bidding him farewell Nick took his bottles and went out the door.

As he put the liquor in the passenger seat his phone started vibrating, he pulled it out and checked the caller id. Weaselton, he answered with a snarl.

"This had better be what I want to hear" he warned, he could hear Weaselton whimper slightly.

"Yeah, yeah" the weasel said "I tried to call your partner, but she didn't answer so I thought maybe" Nick rubbed his eyes with annoyance, he didn't have time for this.

"Get on with it bud" he said cutting off the stammering weasel.

"Right, well I talked to a buddy of mine" the weasel continued "and he said that the stuff isn't made here, it's shipped it" Nick was listening carefully now grabbing his notebook from the glovebox and scribbling down what he heard, using the hood of the car as support.

"Go on" he said urging Weaselton on.

"Well, he said that every Sunday morning they get trucks, like moving trucks two or three of them and they're just full of the stuff" the weasel paused probably to suck on his cigarette "That's what he said".

Nick wrote everything down and went over it quickly. "Listen" he said "Did he say who drove the trucks, who unloaded, the license numbers anything" he waited for a response. There was a short pause before the answer came.

"Yeah, yeah. He said it was young kids, you know did the lifting country kids" the weasel said and Nick shook his head.

"What kind of kids" he asked "What species".

"Well like country kids, goats, foxes, rabbits" came the answer, Nick perked up.

"Was it mostly rabbits" he asked, pressing forward.

"Yeah I think so, mostly rabbits. Man that's all I got" Weaselton said, Nick grinned.

"That's all I need buddy, thanks. You did good" he hung up the phone before Weaselton could ask for anything and went over his notes. This was big, it could just crack the case, he just needed to make one more phone call. He had better talk to Judy before making that one though.

Driving back Nick kept going over the conversation in his head, not the one with Weaselton that one was pretty straight forward. No he kept thinking of what Stu said, she would learn the hard way, that was what had been eating him. Learn what?

What was she going to have to learn, that he could break her heart? Please, he had been the one that opened up to her even though he had always hide from everyone, but on the other hand he was still keeping things a secret. To be fair some of those things he can't tell anyone and that's not even his choice. But he was still a fox, on that Stu had a point, was he really going to commit. Nick pulled over to the shoulder resting his head on the steering wheel thinking, he opened his phone and searched till he found what he was looking for. He paused and looked at the address, was he really doing this, he reached over to the bottle of whiskey and took a swig. Yes, it appears he was. He spun the car around and took off in the direction the GPS told him.