Chapter 8: The Family Dinner

*=This is just my way of getting anyone who hasn't read my other stories up to speed on my current canon.

Also, Nick's talk with Bonnie is part of my own personal view on religion and is not meant to offend anyone else's personal views.

The family was gathered around the main table. Stu and Bonnie were at the head of the table. Nick and Judy were sat next to each other and by Stu's side. Since Cotton was an unexpected guest, she sat on Nick's lap. Julie was positioned next to Bonnie while Gideon was being punished by Stu and put across from his fiance' and next to Judy. Judy was confused.

"Why aren't you with Julie?" She asked.

"A'hm...Me and yer father had a bit of a fight and ah'm bein' punished." Gideon replied. "N-not that sittin' next to you is punishment 'er nothin'! Ah'm sorry...do umm...do you still have those scars?" To this day, Gideon still felt guilty for what he did in his youth.

Judy brushed her fur on her left cheek to show the very faint scars.

Gideon wept a little. "Ah'm so sorry! Ah was such a little bastard back then!"

Judy put her paw on his. "It's okay Gideon. It's in the past and I'll soon have a wonderful stepbrother."

Gideon wiped his tears and smiled. "Thank ya kindly."

Judy looked around and thought about what Nick told her earlier. "I can do this! I can figure this out! Now who in my family is different from everyone else?Everyone's fur is either tan, brown or gray. The gray's mostly from my mother's side. Fatsy Patsy is huge, but over half my family is chubby. I'm the only one with black tips but...but mom said there's a few hares on her side of the family and those ear color genes passed onto me. Hmmm...it has to be someone near my age or older. Jack said it was before he married Jill...AH! I should ask mom!"

Judy talked to her mom as other bunnies set out bowls of stew for the guests. "Hey mom! When did Jack and Jill get married?"

Bonnie got mad. "I know what you're up to dear. Stop it!"

"I'm just curious." Judy asked.

"Been over twenty years now pumpkin!" Stu said. "Not that we talk to them anymore."

Nick chuckled. "Jack and Jill?! Do they live on a hill and fetch a pail of water?"

"Yes and yes." Judy replied.

Nick was surprised and chuckled some more. "Well grab me a bow and call me Robin Hood!"

He looked down at Cotton who was hesitant to eat the stew. "Try the stew honey!" Nick took a big gulp of the stew himself and realized why she was so hesitant.

It was poor to say the least. The carrots didn't taste right. Despite all of the washing, Bonnie did have a bushel shoved in her armpits and Julie had some stuffed...in other parts but mostly, it was just a bad batch.

Gideon was the first to speak up. "These carrots taste odd but...familiar. I kinda like it!"

"Oh!" Cotton said. "I-I just remembered. I'm allergic to tomatoes! Do you guys have any hay or grass?"

Nick was horrified. "Oh my gosh! I forgot to check your info the nun gave me! I'm the worst father ever!" Nick pulled out her chart. It included a diet plan, the medicines she needs and what food allergies she has. Peanuts, broccoli, chocolate (which fits Nick fine since chocolate could kill him) but no mention of tomatoes. He looked down at Cotton. She had a guilty expression on her face. She was lying and now she knew that Nick knew she was lying.

Nick just smiled at her and gave a wink. "Yup! Says right here. 'Tomatoes'."

Stu added. "Well, now that we don't plow the fields, Mr. Saltlick doesn't work here so we have no need for hay. Got some straw for the chicken nests!"

"I can make you a lettuce and straw salad if you'd like." Bonnie said.

Cotton seemed pleased. "That would be great! Thank you Mrs. Hopps!"

Bonnie added. "I have some left over carrots I could a-"

"N-No thank you! That's okay!" Cotton said quickly.

Gideon looked over at Nick and Judy and wanted to make some small talk. "So ummm...what have y'all been up to?"*

"Well, Carrots here wrecked our squad car." Nick said.

"Hey!" Judy protested. "You wrecked one too!"

"I have an excuse. I hadn't driven in 15 years and was inexperienced."

"Yes, and THEN you got us into a high-speed chase with some squirrels who hijacked a 4x4!"

"We ended up driving into the Steeples center in the middle of a giraffe soccer match. I was dodging left and right between the giraff's giant legs!"

"The ball alone was half the size of our car. I thought it was gonna crush us!"

"Yeah, but then Carrots here did a super flip-kick and knocked it 'BAM!' right into the squirrels!"

"Only for you to drive right off the bridge and into the freezing river...You. 'SNIFF!' You almost..."

Nick put a paw on her shoulder. "I almost died, but you saved me. I'm okay now. Oh! Then I solved a spooky mystery!"

"Oh yeah! There was a convenience store that was being robbed, but the merchandise seemed to float away all on it's own! I was starting to think it was ghosts! But Red here figured out it was just chameleons."

"Red?" Stu asked.

"That's my pet name for Nick. Like how he calls me 'Carrots' and 'Fluff''." Judy replied.

Nick continued. "Anyway, because we wrecked the two squad cars, we've been put on parking duty until Judy's car gets repaired. I got put on a missing mouse case after I found the two children of the CEO of 'Mousey's" department store had taken shelter in my apartment. The chief decided to make my apartment their hideout until their parents were found. I was a dad to them for three days. Their evil aunt wanted the Mousey's fortune, so she shot Chris and kidnapped Cindy. Thankfully, Chris only had minor injuries and I got the aid of our only mouse cop, Brie to save Cindy. Meanwhile, I had to deal with the aunt's main thug. A nasty, redneck fox by the name of Jake. Chris managed to get the city of Little Rodentia evacuated while me and Jake clashed in the city like giant monsters. Me and Judy managed to save the tiny city along with Chris and Cindy."

Nick held onto Cotton tight. "Judy can you...Can you take the next part?"

Judy rubbed Nick's back. "Over those last three days, Nick had gotten attached to the mouse pups and the parents were never heard from so he thought he'd adopt them himself but...when he got to the station and Nick was going to fill out paperwork, the parents had finally come out of hiding now that the danger had passed. It broke poor Nick's heart."

She tried to cheer him up. "BUT! The parents did make him the godfather of those pups and they honored him for saving the city with "Nick Wilde Day" in Little Rodentia. That was yesterday. Then last night, we had a game of bowling with our friends. We found out Wolford's wife was pregnant, Fangmeyer and Clawhuaser are an item and that's when Nick decided to finally break the friend zone and me and him became lovers."

Nick smiled. "Best night of my life." He leaned over and kissed Judy. Bonnie, who just came in from making the salad dropped the bowl on the table.

"Disgusting!" She yelled.

"Bonnie dear!" Stu yelled back.

"I'm sorry honey! Nick seems like a decent man, but...it's a sin! It's unnatural and it goes against all our religious beliefs! It's bad enough with Julie and Gideon. I just...I can't take it anymore!" and she stormed off into the kitchen.

Judy was obviously upset. Nick took it in stride. He got up off the chair and set Cotton down by herself. "You eat your salad, honey! Daddy's gonna have a talk with grandma Bonnie!"

Judy looked over at Nick with concern. "...Nick?"

Nick rubbed her shoulder and kissed her cheek. "It's okay. I got this." He then walked into the kitchen.

Gideon tried to end the tension. "So uuhh...seems like ya'll got a bit of a rodent problem! Lot's o' tiny mouse crimes and whutnot!"

"Well, that's the thing!" Judy said. "A lot of rodents have been committing crimes to pay tribute to some crime boss who calls himself 'The Big Cheese'. We still don't know much about him except he might be a predator and he wants to bring prey down in a big way. Predator crimes have also been on the rise and they'd been talking about some 'purge day' that's supposed to happen soon. The prey in the city are in great danger. In fact the reason the mice are paying tribute to this guy is to help protect themselves when the purge goes down. Something really bad is going to happen in the city very soon and me, Nick and the ZPD need to put a stop to it right away!"

Stu didn't like it one bit. "This sounds way to dangerous pumpkin! You need to come back home and avoid all this mess!"

"No dad!" Judy shouted. "I'm a police officer and it's my duty to protect the citizens from anyone who would do them harm. If I die protecting them, so be it!"

Meanwhile, Nick finally found the kitchen. He saw Bonnie sitting at the kitchen table, alone and weeping. "Finally found this room! You think you could teach me to bake pies later?"

Bonnie looked up. She was still angry. "What do you want?!"

"I wanted to thank you."

Bonnie was confused. "...What?"

"I wanted to thank you for your honesty. I don't know what he's up to, but your husband has been kissing my butt since I got here and I can tell he's not sincere. As much as it hurts me, YOU were honest and said what you felt. I like people who are up front with me."

Judy couldn't look at Nick, but felt better about him. "Well...I'm sorry, but the Book of Bunny says 'do not let a fox into your home..' "

Nick finished. " ' Lest your children are devoured.' It also says you should stone us with rocks and set us on fire."

Bonnie was surprised. "How do you know all this?"

"I studied religious scripture at the academy. I thought it was important for me to understand some of the beliefs and cultures of the other mammals out there rather than relying on old, stupid stereotypes. Best to know where people are coming from if I'm going to protect and serve them. You don't believe I'll devour your children, do you?"

"No. Of course not." Bonnie replied.

"And I don't believe you'd set me on fire. Hit me with rocks MAYBE, but..."

Bonnie giggled.

Nick picked up Bonnie's bible. "There are scripture's similar to this in the book of the Fox King. You see, in both books there are some great teachings about loving and respecting one another. However, there are many parts that are outdated. Times change, people change. This book never will and I believe we shouldn't follow ANY religious book to the absolute letter, but take heed to it's good teachings."

He held up Bonnie's bible. "This is a guide book. Not a rule book. Don't let beliefs of the past rule over what you know in you heart is right. Finally, I want you to know this. If me and Judy get married, adopt children and you still hate me, I'll still love you because your Judy Hopps' mother and you raised her well."

Bonnie was weeping. He kissed her on the cheek and started to leave. "Nick!" She yelled out.

"Yes?" Nick said.

"C-Come by tomorrow night and...and I'll help teach you to bake a blueberry pie."

"Sounds great!" Nick said . He went to leave, but felt compelled to turn around. "This is none of my business..but she's starting to snoop around. Judy's...Judy's adopted isn't she?"

"Yes." Bonnie admitted. "Her mom died from complications at birth and I was due right away. Jack was too young and not ready to take care of his niece, so we put her in our litter when they were born a week after. Nobody noticed. She's so outgoing and brave! Just like her parents. I'm surprised she hasn't figured it out yet."

"She will." Nick said. "You should tell her."

"You tell her!" Bonnie said. "I-I'm afraid she'll hate me!"

Nick put a paw on her shoulder. "Never! You said some horrible things about me and I still like you!"

"I like you too Nick. Really! I just wish you weren't a fox."

"I do too sometimes." Nick replied. "I'll tell her sometime tomorrow if that's your wish."

"Thank you." Bonnie replied and they decided to walk back out together..

Bonnie and Nick came out right when Stu was bragging how much money the factory was making. Stu then clinked his glass a few times. "Okay folks! I just wanted to say a few words. First off I'd like to welcome our guest of honor. One of the heroes of Zootopia and hopefully my future son in-law, Nick Wilde!"

Nick was embarrassed, but waved to everyone.

"Now onto the BIG announcement!" Stud said. "As you know, times have been tough. A fair amount of bunnies moved in from Hareisburg due to the river drying up there and it caused havoc on our environment! Since we rabbits reproduce much faster than we pass away, our population is at an all time high and has become unsustainable! The Bunny Burrow river had been at it's lowest levels in recorded history. That's why I helped enact the 'fox initiative' to help curb our overpopulation!"

Stu continued. "But here's the good news! As you know, I have a lot of pull in this town and about six months ago, the mayor and I talked to the mayor up north in Carrotville where the river forks out into other rivers and lakes. With my sponsorship, we have made a dam that subverts the water back into our rivers! I'm happy to report that the river is now up to 75% of it's original levels! Not only that, but since we have more water, we're going back into carrot farming starting next month!"

Everyone cheered the family was elated. Even Judy was excited.

"Subverts it from where?" Nick thought.

Stu continued. "And since carrots are still at a premium, we can still sell them at a super high price!"

Gideon and Nick looked at each other in disgust.

Cotton spoke out. "Excuse me sir, but isn't it bad to take advantage of your neighbors like that? They'd love you if you sold the carrots cheaper."

Stu laughed. "Oh-ho, Lambchop! You obviously don't know how business works."

"I have an announcement too!" Bonnie said.

"Uh-Oh!" Nick thought. "She's gonna tell Judy in front of everyone!"

"...I'm pregnant!"

The room went silent. Some bunnies just shrugged their shoulders.

"What?" Bonnie said. "That's a big announcement. Isn't it?"

Stu interrupted. "Honey, you're pregnant 11 months out of the year. You NOT being pregnant. That would be a shocker!" The family all laughed.

The table was officially dismissed. Everyone got up and left. Nick and some of the others were polite enough to take their dishes to the kitchen.

Judy spoke to Nick. "Me and some of my other sisters are gonna watch a Jack Savage movie marathon. You interested?"

"I love those Jack Savage movies..." Nick replied. "But maybe later. I want to spend some quality time with my new daughter."

Just then Stu interrupted. "Nick my boy! Can I rap with you for a second? That's what the hip folks are calling it now, right? Rap?"

"Around here, I imagine they just call it 'hip-hop'." Nick joked.

"Real funny." Stu replied. "Not that kind of rap of course. Do you know what I don't believe in?"

Nick looked around the house full of 300+ bunnies. "Pulling out?"

Stu laughed. "Ha-HAA! Nonono...well...yes. But besides that! I don't believe in chance. I believe in fate! You Nick, were fated to be part of the Hopps family. I also believe you and my Judy were meant to be in Bunny Burrow! Gideon told me you saw how law enforcement is around here! It's a joke! You and Judy could be the law in this town! Really make our world a better place."

Nick liked what he heard. Stu was right. He even used Judy's mantra. The law was a joke around town. With him or Judy as acting sheriff, they could hire more cops and help bring real justice to Bunny Burrow. "Yeah...Yeah! I like that idea!"

"Now, it won't happen if you two don't stay here. Zootopia's got plenty of cops! Try to convince my pumpkin to marry you and live here! You've seen how we are with foxes. It's paradise, son!"

Stu was dishing it out and Nick was eating it up. "It really is paradise, isn't it? Y'know what? I'm gonna do it. I'll ask her to marry me tonight!"

Stu was ecstatic. "Glad to hear! Glad to hear! I'll be waiting for the big news tomorrow! See you later...son!"

"Goodnight...Dad!" Nick smiled back. The two left very happy.

Nick was excited. "I have a feeling tonight's gonna be a VERY big night!"

Nick was right...but for all the wrong reasons.

Next Chapter: Uh-Oh