It was the common morning chaos at family Hopps house: All adult house members help preparing the breakfast for all children / siblings still living with them, take care that all school-aged kits are properly dressed and catch the busses, doing the dishes, collecting the laundry from all rooms and do the housework, e.g. cleaning and the laundry, after a fixed schedule. The day starts at six in the morning and it takes normally about three hours until Bonnie and Stu can breathe deeply. But not for long, because they have to bring some late breakfast to those at the market stall that left early with their wares. The complete household worked like a well calibrated machine. But like with every precise machinery it only takes one grain of sand to bring everything to a complete halt. The sand grain for the Hopps' this morning was a fire in one of the three kitchens. It could be kept under control quickly, but they now had only two kitchens left for all meals to cook, and Stu would have to do some repairs and renovations first. And he was not in a good mood even prior to that kitchen disaster; Nicks' discharge from the hospital would be in the afternoon. He promised Bonnie, Evelin and Judy to behave comme il faut, but he did not yet quite internalize that he would have a fox in his house for the next few days. It was hard to ignore all bias he had against these mammals. But for the sake of Judy he would try his best. So instead of Stu, the oven decided to explode. No one was harmed, but now there was real chaos instead of regular.

"Ralph, can you please help Evelin with your siblings? Annie has started a small revolt because she wants to wait for Nick instead of going to school." Bonnie exclaimed to her son over the sound of dinnerware falling to the floor and breaking into a thousand pieces. "Oh come on, this must be a bloody joke!" She shooed away some younger kits and squatted to pick up the broken pieces.

"Is everything okay?" Miriam asked rushing into the dining room where the noise came from. She was a greyish rabbit, around 19 years old and a little bit smaller than Judy and Evelin. Her brown ears twitched when she heard her mother picking up the broken rest of the dishes. "Wait, Mom, I get a dustpan!" Miriam rushed away again.

Stu gazed through the door with half a dozen small rabbits in his arm. "Honey, I have to drive Jessica's litter to the school with my truck, we missed the school bus!" And in the same second he was gone again. Bonnie sighs and picked up some of the larger shards when Miriam came back with the dustpan and a hand-brush.

"It's okay Mom, I will get this done." She said quickly with a smile, squatted and started to brush the broken pieces together.

"Thank you, my dear." Bonnie stood back up, then noted some blood on her paw. "Oh dear, I think I have cut myself…" She walked to the sink and holding her paw under running cold water. 'And it is only half past eight in the morning.' Bonnie Hopps thought.


"Good morning, Mister Wilde. How is your headache today?" Doctor Greenwood was making his first ward round.

"It is much better then yesterday, thank you." Nick appeared somewhat sleepy but smiled nevertheless.

"What about vomiting? Any feeling of dizziness?"

"No, nothing."

"Well…" the doctor hesitates for a moment, looking at a point beside Nicks' bed. Then he turned his face back to his patient. "I want to do some final examinations today. Also we will change your bandages again and take the stitches out. Your wounds are healing better than expected, congratulations. But you should still keep it slow for a while, and no physical strain." He emphasized the last words somewhat funny, or did Nick just imagined that? Judy was sitting on the chair, holding his paw and now rose to speak.

"Do you think you can discharge him today like planned?"

Doctor Greenwood looked thoughtful at Nick's medical journal. "It seems so; his data looks very promising. But my final go depends on the results of the final tests." He smiled soothing and winked. "Don't worry, you get your fox back faster than you think." Judy's ears burned from embarrassment; then his look fixated again something beside the bed for a short moment. With some hesitation he added a question. "Only one last thing. Did you consider if I should give Doctor Alisson in Zootopia a call?"

Judy embraced Nicks' paw firmly and did not answer immediately. He instead nodded: "I think that would be very nice, thank you Doctor Greenwood." Nick offered a friendly smile and he could smell how embarrassed Judy was at this moment; he stroked her back of the paw with his thumb and Judy relaxed a bit.

"That's that." Doctor Greenwood said with a smile. "The nurse will pick you up in half an hour for your tests, and we will see us for our closing meeting at 3 o'clock." He turned his head to Judy with an inquiring look.

"I will be there, too, Doctor Greenwood." Judy smiled and nodded to him. The old rabbit bid farewell and closed the door behind, and Judy finally breathed deeply. "That was a close call. A few seconds earlier and we would have been caught red-handed." She laughed nervously. Nick, who has looked to the side of the bed where Doctor Greenwood had stand a minute ago, was snickering.

"I think we have been caught red-handed, carrots."

"What do you m…" Nick picked up Judy's bra she had tossed away last night in a hurry and that was hanging on one of the frames of the bed the whole time. "…sweet cheese and crackers!" Judy clapped aghast her paws over her mouth, but Nick just laughed.


It was a quarter to nine when Judy left the hospital in her motorcycle suite again. Nick was collected for his final tests when she kissed him goodbye – 'Caught by the nurse, too!' she thought – and now she was on her way to the crime scene again. The last time she had not investigated the neighbor site, where the bloody knife was found. When she arrived a younger wolf, but very similar in his appearance to Frank Tailor, was waiting in front of the bakery.

"Hello, my name is Officer Hopps. Are you Mister Thomas Tailor?" Judy spoke friendly but also dictatorial to show the wolf that she has no fear because of him.

"Yes Ma'am. I got a message that you want to meet me here at nine. May I ask when I can reopen the bakery? We have a lot of customers who are waiting just now." Thomas said calm, but Judy recognized his indignant fast heartbeat.

"Well, this is still a crime scene and I have to do some further investigations. But I think I can clear your shop during the course of the day." Judy answered and Thomas chuntered something, but finally nodded.

"Okay, thank you officer."

"May I ask you some questions, Mister Tailor?"

"I wasn't at home; I do not know nothing." He sounded frustrated.

"You were delivering goods to your customers when your delivery van broke down. You spend the night in a Motel, about 40 kilometers away?"

"Yes, Ma'am."

"When did you come back?"

"I arrived right at the moment when the sheriff arrested my Dad in front of a dozen customers." Thomas snarled.

"Did you like Mister Aaron Leep?" Judy asked indifferent.

"I did not want him dead, Ma'am!"

"This is not what I asked, Mister Tailor. I just wanted to know if you liked him."

"He was a contentious drunkard, who made life miserable for me and my dad. Even for his own family as far as I know. He spoiled for a fight on sight! He…" Thomas breathed deeply, then said slowly: "No, Officer. I did not like him." Then he added with a glaring gaze: "But I did not shoot him!"

Judy dashed at his words: "Why do you think he was shoot?"

Thomas seemed to be irritated. "I… just supposed it, I guessed. I don't know. He wasn't shoot then?"

"Your father told me, you had trouble with some kids in the last weeks?" Judy continued without answering his question, and when Thomas looked inquiring to her she added: "He reported, there were sticks and small stones thrown in your backyard on-again-off-again." Thomas nodded slowly.

"Yeah, nothing notably. They did not break anything, so we never pressed charges against some unknown. We thought it may be kits doing some test of courage or something similar."

Judy noted something in her notebook, then addressed Thomas again. "Can you show me where exactly you found those things?"

"Sure, Ma'am. Please follow me…" Thomas abled towards the front door of the bakery, getting some keys from his pocket. "It is back in our storage."

Judy followed Thomas through the bakery and into their storage. There were two windows on the right side of the room. Alongside the left wall were big shelfs with supplies and kitchen equipment. At the front wall was a cold storage room and on the right side were big sacks stacked, filled with sugar and different kinds of flour. The rabbit let her eyes wander and examined the corner where the knife was found corresponding to her papers. Then she addressed the young wolf again.

"Where did you found those stones and sticks?"

"A few laid there on the flour sacks, a few in the corner were you currently are and a few times we found them over there in the middle of the room."

"When was the first time you noted those things?"

"Perhaps five weeks ago, maybe six."

"Mh-Mh." Judy made a few notes, then let her eyes wander again. "I will have to take a few photos and make a true to scale sketch. This may take a while, Mister Tailor."

"I can give you a blueprint of this and the other rooms, if you need one?" Thomas offered, then added because of Judy's inquiring look: "We planned to make some reconstructions, therefore we have the blueprints at our fingertips."

"Well, that would be of great benefit, Mister Tailor. Thank you!"

Judy started to make a few photos of the room, the windows, the flour sacks and all other interior while Thomas Tailor walked to the office to get the promised blueprints. After he handed the rabbit the plan, Judy measured again a few important points to make sure the blueprints were still up-to-date. After a while she nodded satisfied and walked back to the main shop, where the wolf was waiting for her.

"Can you lead me to the bedroom of your father, please?"

The wolf raised his eyebrows but nodded. He leads Judy to another door with stairs behind that went directly to the living quarters. They went down a corridor and Thomas opened a wooden door. "This is my fathers' bedroom." Judy nodded and entered the room. She only seemed interested in the only window, opened it and looked outside. She made again some photos, closed the window again and went back to Thomas who was waiting in the doorframe.

"I think I now have everything that I need. Do you want to supplement anything else to your testimony Mister Tailor?" she asked and looked friendly to the wolf.

"No, Ma'am."

"Okay, you can remove the barrier tape for your shop then." She filled out a form and put her signature at the bottom. "Here is your receipt that the shutoff of your property is officially raised. I apologize for the trouble caused."

Thomas snorted, took the receipt and leads Judy back to the shop where she bid farewell and left the bakery. She had a lot to think about now. The rabbit sat on the motorbike and drove off to the police station.


"Ralph, could you please answer the door?" Stu shouted from under the cupboard. He had dismounted the defect oven and was now checking the electrical connections. Actually he would have been at the market stall by now, but repairing the kitchen had a higher priority in a household of over 200 rabbits.

"It's Gideon, Pa." Ralph entered the kitchen with the fox.

"Hi, M-Mister Hopps!"

"Hand me the phasing tester, please!" Stu loudly said without looking up. Ralph let his eyes wander but Gideon found it first. "Thanks Gideon."

"I will leave you two alone, Jennifer needs my help with the laundry." Ralph said and disappeared through the door.

"Trouble with the o…oven, eh?" Gideon guessed while looking at the sooty old oven.

"Yep. Caught fire this morning, a short circuit I just fixed." Stu said while re-appearing from under the cupboard. "Sorry, I forgot your delivery!" the rabbit suddenly realized.

"N-No problem. Really! It is just unusual for you to be tardy, so I wanted to make sure everything is alright." Gideon smiled to Stu Hopps.

"Today everything is going higgledy-piggledy, not to mention we have still prepare everything for Judy's fox… I mean friend… fox-friend… boyfriend that is." Stu seemed to be edgy but Gideon didn't mention it.

"She has a fox boyfriend?" he sounded amazed and made big eyes.

"Well… yeah…" Stu still wasn't comfortable with this topic, particularly discussing it with Gideon.

"You don't seem to b-be very happy w-with it, Mister Hopps, are you?"

"To be honest, I have some reservations. After all I am only a worried father, ye 'now."

Gideon smiled. "L-Let me guess, foxes are trustless a-and are s-self-serving?" he winked at the old rabbit. Stu didn't answer and Gideon continued. "Don't w-worry, Mister Hopps. As a fox I h-hear such things a-all of the t-time. And you just w-want to protect Judy, d-don't you?"

Stu was twitching with a rag in his hands. This conversation was really awkward to him and he smiled awry to Gideon, shrugging. "She is my little princess…"

"W-well, I don't want to i-interfere, Mister Hopps." Gideon slowly continued. "B-but you should know a thing o-or two about fox relationships…"


It was half past two when Judy finished her report to Sheriff Darcy. He had listen to all the things she had done in the last 24 hours regarding the case.

"Your really were on the go, Judy." He smiled at her. "And what are your conclusions? Is Tailor our contravener?"

"I'm not feeling confident about that." Judy said after thinking for a moment. "I just gave you my first report. I'm still waiting for the postmortem examination report from the coroner and a few laboratory tests. I send the samples to our forensic lab in Zootopia and should get the results by tomorrow."

"Your young folk and your gadgets" the hart laughed friendly. "In my young days we did not have all this. But we got our contraveners nevertheless."

"I just want to do my job thoroughly, Mike." Judy replied his smile with a wink.

"That's okay, Judy. You don't have to hurry, take your time. Mister Tailor isn't going to run away and there seem to be no other suspects at the moment."

Judy were disagreeing with Sheriff Darcy, but she was clever enough to not speaking it out loud. Instead she nodded and gathered all documents together and put them into her case file. She left the police station ten minutes later and shook her head. "Take your time…" she murmured quietly, rolling her eyes. The work attitude of the local police was jangling her nerves. She took a look at her phone: Ten minutes to three, she would have to hurry to be on time.


"What's the matter Stu? Did you finish the repair of the oven?" Bonnie rushed into the damaged kitchen and saw her husband standing at the window, looking outside. The she noticed the still disassembled oven and stopped short. "Hon?" She put her bandaged paw on his shoulder and the male rabbit cringed.

"Oh. Sorry, dear. I was absorbed in my thoughts. What did you say… oh my green carrot! What happened to your paw?" Stu turned around and grasped his wife's paw carefully with his.

Bonnie waved aside. "I just cut myself on some broken dishes. Nothing serious, Stu." She smiled exhausted. "This forenoon really seemed to be jinxed." And when she noted her husbands' look she quickly added. "No, it has nothing to do with Nick being discharged today!"

Stu smiled but seemed to be a little sad nevertheless. "That's not what I was thinking about, hon."

"But?"

"I had a talk with Gideon…"

"Ah! Oh, no, we forgot todays delivery of fruits, didn't we?"

"No… I mean yes, we did!" Stu waved the forgotten fruits aside like an annoying bug. "But we did not talk about those. Well, at least not at the beginning." Bonnie looked bemused, Stu seemed to be more rattled as usual, but she waited patiently. "We talked about Judy… and Nick."

"Oh…?" Bonnie feared that Stu could have said something by accident that disgruntled Gideon. He was at least a good customer. But this was also the first time, her husband named the fox by his name.

"I always thought about foxes that they are… you know… on the go. It was always one of my biggest fears, that Judy is only a liaison for this fox and he would leave her with a broken heart. I would hate that! She is my little princess…"

"Oh, Stu…" Bonnie put her hand back on his shoulder. "You cannot protect her from everything."

"Yes… I mean no, I cannot, I know. But Gideon… he explained me, that foxes aren't polygamous at all! They search a partner and mate for life."

"But, that's a good thing, Stu!" Bonnie smiled widely to him.

"Yes, it is. On the one hand. But when I am mistaken about Nicks intentions, don't you see the implications of this?"

"What could be bad, when you are wrong this time? Our daughter will not get her heart broken by a Casanova, like you worried the whole time is a good thing, isn't it?"

"Bonnie!" Stu took his wife with both paws at her shoulders and looked with a wild mix of emotions into her eyes. "If he really loves our Judy like she always said, he will eventually marry her for sure!"

In Bonnies eyes were happiness and amazement alternating. "Oh… oh!"


They sat in a threesome in Doctor Greenwood office and looked at some X-ray photographs on a light board.

"As you can see, the fracture of the right femur is smooth and not very large. It will still take a few weeks to heal, but I don't expect any complications." The old rabbit was pointing to the first picture, showing the radiogram of Nick's leg. "The ancon is intact, which is good news. We weren't sure about this because of the tumescence. The forearm isn't split, but we had to apply two screws as you can see on this picture." He again pointed to one radiogram, this time with two clearly visible screws. Judy grimaced but Nick put smiling his paw on hers to ease her. "I think this will heal equally well, but it may take two months, perhaps ten weeks until we can get rid of this cast, too."

Nick smiled with relief and Judy kissed him on his paw, smiling too. Doctor Greenwood smiled lightly, then continued. Your head wound is looking good after we took the stitches out. There may remain a small scar, but it should not be visible under normal circumstances through your fur. Also we didn't realize any neurological deficits." He added with a sly smile: "That is, disregarding your sarcasm. But I think that has nothing to do with your head wound." Judy laughed at Nicks' dumbfounded look and Doctor Greenwood winked.

"Your abdominal wound is also in a very good state. I think we can take the stitches out in a few days. Until than I want to see you daily in our clinic for a change of bandage. There will be a scar staying behind, but not too many animals will get to see it I guess." He winked again.

"By no means!" Judy snickered and Nick sighed.

"When my good looks are my top capital. Ouch!" Nick rubbed his side where Judy had poked him with her elbow, and grinned.

"On the whole, you were really lucky Mister Wilde!" The old rabbit cleared his throat and continued with a smile. "But you should keep it down for a while. And as long as you have those casts you are only allowed for desk duty. But at the earliest starting next week, when all stitches are out and no inflammation happened." He took a look in Nicks medical journal. "As I can read here, you are living alone…?"

"Well… that's true… technically speaking." Nick grabbed the back of his head with his right paw and smiled awry.

"On a practically side, you could need some assistance from time to time. As I previously said, you should keep it down." He looked at Judy with a soft smile.

"No worries, Doctor Greenwood. Each of us has technically his own apartment, but we are either both at his or mine together. I will support Nick as much as I can." She smiled with pleasant anticipation.

"Hmm…" Nick looked contemplative. "Maybe we can have some of those lab co… OUCH!" he rubbed his side again, snickering, while Judy scowled at him and tumbled with her feet on the floor. "All right, carrots! No costume then." He bends over to her and gave her a kiss on her head between her ears.

"One last thing…" Doctor Greenwood started again and reminded them thus of his presence. Nick smiled while Judy leaned against the chair embarrassed. "I called Doctor Kathrin Alisson for you and send her your medical journal, Mister Wilde." He handed the fox a business card of Doctor Alisson, then addressed Judy. "If you agree I can submit yours, too, Miss Hopps. As I said, you need a family doctor close-by and she is specialized on inter-species-relationships."

"Okay, if you think so." Judy spoke quietly and the doctor nodded.

"Great, that's that! I will make your documents ready and will submit them in the next few days." Then the old rabbit turned to Nick again. "I will prepare your discharge papers and an attestation for the ZPD. You said, you are taking care of him at home?" The last sentence was addressed to Judy, who eagerly nodded. "I will make some papers ready therefor, too. You can take a seat in our waiting area in the lobby, a nurse will hand you all necessary papers in about half an hour." He stands up, and so did Judy and Nick. Doctor Greenwood shakes hand with both of them and smiled. "We will see each other on your daily check-up. Get well soon, Mister Wilde! Miss Hopps." he nodded and they bid farewell.


"Do you have to go back to work today again, Judy?" Nick using her real name, the slight tremor in his voice and his palpitating heartbeat; they were all indications, that the idea of staying at the Hopps' house without Judy on his first day out of the hospital was nothing he would be thrilled of. Judy smiled softly and firmly squeezed his paw.

"Don't worry, Nick. I took the rest of the day off as I still have to wait for some reports. But don't be afraid of my parents." She winked smiling.

"I am not afraid! Just… a little… worried. What about your older brother?"

"Joshua? He and his family were driving homeward two days ago. And as far as I can tell my other siblings are more than welcoming you. Evelin and Ralph promised to keep an eye on you when I am out and about. And Annie has made quite a list of animated cartoons you have to watch with her." She snickered and Nick smiled softly.

"She is really adorable, you know." Nick said with a moony smile. "Actually most of your brothers and sisters are really nice."

"Yes, they are. Most of the time." Judy winked.

"Well, and how do we get there? I don't think I can take a piggyback ride on your motorbike with my casts." Nick pointed to his casted leg.

"I messaged Evelin that she can pick you up at four o'clock with the truck, and I will follow you on the bike."

"Sounds like a plan." Nick winked and put his arm around Judy, waiting for the nurse to bring his discharge papers.


"Okay, Mom. I'm driving to the hospital now to pick up Nick and Judy. Anything I should take to the booth?" Evelin had the keys for the truck in her paw and gazed through the doorframe into the damaged kitchen. Stu had repaired the oven and was now working with the others on the fields. Bonnie was cleaning up everything so the kitchen could be reused for making dinner.

"No, my dear, thank you. Sorry that everything is a bit bustling today, I know you wanted to go out with the girls today." Bonnie said with a sorry look on her face.

"That doesn't matter, Mom. You know, you can always count on my help if you need me. We can go to the city tomorrow, too." Evelin smiled and gave her mother a small kiss on the cheek. "I will be back in half an hour, max." she waved goodbye and walked to the truck, where Annie was already sitting on the driving seat.

"And where do you think you are going, little lady?" Evelin grinned sly and put her paws on her sides.

"I want to pick up Nicky with you!" the little bunny squealed excitedly and clapped with her cute paws.

"Does Mom know where you are?" Evelin looked skeptical and her young sister shook her head. Eve sighed and shouted: "Mom, Annie is coming with me!"

"Okay, see you two later!" Her mom answered promptly and waved through the kitchen window. Annie waved back and Evelin took her with both paws and seated her in the middle.

"Buckle up, Annie …" Evelin waited patiently while her younger sibling put the seatbelt on, then started the engine. "Okay, let's get a fox for our burrow." She winked to her and drove off while Annie was cheering.

The Hopps house was a little aside of the town center and it took them unhurried about ten minutes to arrive at the hospital. "Do you want to wait here for us to come b…" Evelin stopped asking because Annie was already unfastening and reached out with her little arms for her bigger sister to pick her up. "That's that." She laughed and took Annie on her arm from where she quickly crawled on her shoulder like a parrot of a pirate.

They strolled unhurried to the main entrance, but Annie was twitching at Evelin's left ear. "Hey, stop that, grasshopper!" Evelin protested mildly, but Annie exclaimed.

"They are over there, look! Nicky!" the little rabbit was shouting with her high pitched voice and Evelin winced a bit. To her left side was a big parkway to take a walk or to relax. On a park bench near the border of the parking lot sat Nick; Judy sitting across his legs, one arm put around his neck. When they heard Annie's shouting – as supposedly the whole park had – they both looked in their direction and waved. Evelin walked smiling to them.

"Hey, there are you already. And…?" Evelin looked to Nick. "How are you? Everything okay?"

But Nick couldn't answer straight because Annie jumped from Evelin's shoulder into Judy's lap and Nick made a hissing sound. "You must be my white rabbit that leads me into the burrow, right?" he winked to Annie who snickered and gave him a sweet little kiss on Nicks' nose. "Aww, thank you sweetie!" Nick gave Annie also a quick kiss between her ears, then looked up to Evelin. "Wow, my three favorite woman at once, today must be my lucky day!"

Evelin rolled laughing with her eyes and Judy pinched him in his ear. "Ouch!"

"Okay, let's go." Evelin waved them to follow her. "Do you need some help, Nick?"

"Nope, I got a pair of those." Nick picked up two crutches from behind the bench and Judy slipped down on her feed with Annie in her arms. Nick got on his feed by himself, propping with the crutches, and smiled. "Right behind you, Eve."

Although his protests Judy helped Nick getting into the truck and Annie was fasten his seatbelt for him, beaming. "I caught my first fox, too, Judy!" Everyone laughed, then Judy replied with a wink:

"Trapping them isn't the problem, but getting rid of them again." Now everybody but Nick was laughing again. Evelin got on the driving seat and Annie hopped between her and Nick, buckling herself up. "I'm right behind you, we meet at home." Judy waved them goodbye and Evelin started the motor.

When they drove on the road alongside the fields, Nick asked amazed: "Judy told me that all those fields belong to your family?"

"Most of them, yes. But we don't farm all by ourselves, we rent two third of them out to other families. But we still have more than enough work for all of us." Evelin commented proudly.

"You are still living at home?"

"Yepp, I have an education in parenting and work in one of the daycare facilities for children in the town. Helping Mom and Dad with my siblings was a great preparation." Evelin laughed lightly.

"Ah, that's good to know! When we have qu…" Nick paused for a moment. "Uh… I mean, when I need a short break of your younger siblings…" he cleared his throat and Evelin just grinned, but didn't say anything. "I hope you don't have to take a day off just to pick me up?" Nick was reaching behind his head with his healthy paw and tried to change the subject quickly.

"That's okay, I have a lot of vacation days. And it's easier to take care for your family instead of the foreigner's children. Even if you are somewhat bigger than my other fosterlings." She winked in his direction.

Nick was dumbstruck for a moment; this was the first time a member of Judy's family – beside her – had named him a part of the family. Was it just a casual phrase or did Evelin said that on purpose.

"Why are you looking so funny, Nicky?" Annie was asking the fox, twitching on his shirt.

"Probably because I called him part of the family, my dear." Evelin laughed lightly, but Annie looked serious.

"But he is Judy's friend, isn't he?" the little rabbit asked curiously.

"Yes, he is." Evelin nodded with a soft smile.

"Then he belongs to our family!" Annie decided beaming and hugged Nicks' arm. The fox was still unable to speak and instead patted the young rabbit on her head, smiling stirred. Then his looks went to Evelin and they said 'Thank you' without speaking a word. But before Nick would start to get even more emotional, Judy passed the truck with switched on flashing lights, waving and driving ahead of them for the rest of the way.

Judy stand beside the motorbike and put her helmet on the handlebar when Evelin arrived at the house. Their mother and a few of their siblings were coming out of the house and Nick had a lump in his throat. "It's like I'm going voluntary in a trap…" he thought and gnashed nervously with his teeth. Annie hopped out of the window and ran beaming to her mother who was currently hugging Judy. Evelin unfasten her seatbelt and turned to Nick, noticing his gaze.

"Nick?" she asked slightly worried. "Is everything okay? Do you have pangs?" He didn't react until she put her paw carefully on his shoulder. He composed himself rather quickly, but for a moment Evelin could see the angst in his eyes. In the meantime, Judy was looking to the truck because neither of them got out of it. She said something to her Mom, then hopped to Nick's side of the car that he just opened.

"Is everything okay, Nick?" Judy asked somewhat anxious, but the fox just smiled at her and nodded.

"Of course, carrots. My leg has gone to sleep during the ride, that's all. Caution!" The latter Nick said just before he jumped out of the truck, landing on his left foot. Judy looked at with her 'I don't believe anything you just said'-look – especially as she could hear his way to fast heartbeat – but get his crutches from the cargo area of the truck. "Thank you, Fluff" he said, but Judy stabilized him on his left side nevertheless. "I can go on my own, Judy." Nick sighed, but his rabbit just shook her head.

"You should not overreach yourself Doctor Greenwood said! And as long as you are under our supervision…" Judy explained, but was interrupted by the fox.

"'Our' supervision?"

"Yes, our supervision. Evelin will have a look after you when I'm away, or Ralph when she is busy. But some of us will always be around you."

"Just in case you got some bloodthirstiness…" Evelin said, grimaced her face and walked like a Zombie in those movies. Judy and Annie laughed, and Nick snickered at least. Bonnie, who was within earshot by now, looked shocked to Evelin and put a paw before her mouth.

"Eve!" she hissed in her direction, but now Nick was laughing, too.

"Don't worry, Misses Hopps. I know she is only joking." Nick said and Evelin grinned first to him, then to her mother.

"Settle down, Mom. The only thing you have to secure are our blueberries." Evelin said with a wink.

"Well…" Bonnie Hopps looked somewhat embarrassed and twitched her paws. "Hello Mister Wilde." She made a few steps in his direction, and reached out to shake his hands. Nick looked with an inquiring smile to Judy who just shrugged, then Nick turned to Bonnie again and hugged her friendly.

"It's just Nick, Misses Hopps. And thank you very much that I can stay at your home for a few days." Nick smiled friendly and Judy admired his deadpan.

"Just Bonnie, my dear." Judy's mother smiled, put a paw on Nicks back and turned to the door. "Come with me, my dear. Take a seat in the kitchen and I will make sure that you get something decent to eat after having those hospital meals."

Judy took a deep breath and seemed relieved when they walked into the house. Evelin put a paw on her shoulder and refrained her a few steps behind the door. She made sure that Nick was out of earshot, then gestured with her head to Judy that she should follow her. With raised eyebrows Judy walked behind Evelin into one of the smaller bedrooms, that were currently empty.

"What is it, Eve?" Judy asked puzzled.

"I am a little worried about Nick." Evelin answered. "I think Nick had a panic attack earlier in the car."

"Oh…" now Judy was worried, too.

"Maybe the whole situation is getting to him. Do you think he is still afraid about Mom and Dad?"

"Mh…" Judy considered this for a moment. "It is not being afraid of them doing harm to him physically I think. But it is hard for him to let anyone get close. He's dubbing it quite good most of the time, but that is mostly masquerading."

"Okay, we will take one step at a time then. Dinner with all of us together could be a little overwhelming for the first day." Evelin smiled and Judy nodded agreeing.

"Good idea, thank you Eve." Judy gave her sister a kiss on her cheek.

"For you always, Juju" She smiled, then they left the room and walked to the kitchen, where Nick was sitting on a chair and Bonnie was serving him some blueberry pancakes and blueberry ice tea.

"Are you treated well?" Judy asked snickering.

"Very well!" Nick smiled widely with a pancake in his hands.

"I didn't speak with you, dumb fox." Judy winked at him and gave him a quick kiss on his cheek before he could start to pout.

"He is very well mannered and seems to love my special pancakes." Bonnie said and smiled proudly.

"Where is Dad?" Judy asked while scrounging a pancake from Nicks plate.

"He is in the fields with the boys. But he should get home in an hour or two."

"Then I will help you with preparing diner." Judy offered eagerly, but Bonnie shook her head.

"You can show Nick our guest room and arrange yourself. And please put your laundry out, I will make sure it will be cleaned by tomorrow. Maybe you and Evelin could show Nick the most significant rooms in the house, I will take care of diner with your other siblings as usual." Bonnie smiled.

It took Nick another fifteen minutes to finish his pancakes and they made some small talk in the meantime. Then Judy and Evelin accompanied Nick to the guest room, Annie hopping alongside. After Nick dropped onto the relatively large bed, Evelin took the recalcitrant Annie on her arms.

"You can unpack your backpack first and settle down for a moment. We will pick you up for a small tour in an hour, that's okay?" Evelin looked at Nick and her sister.

"Great, thanks Eve!" Judy smiled and put the backpack on the floor.

"Thank you, Eve!" Nick replied, and waved a short goodbye to Annie.

When the door was closed behind them, Nick breathed deeply and let himself fall backward onto the bed.

"What's bothering you?" Judy asked after sitting beside him on the blanket. "And don't tell me that 'Everything's okay carrot'-thing again." She added annoyed but with a soft smile. And when he didn't say anything: "Do you feel queasy?"

Nick shrugged and smiled awry. "It's nothing serious, carrots. Your Mom was really nice and your siblings more than ever. Just give me a while to accustom myself to the new situation, okay?" He smiled to her and stroke with his paw her cheek.

"Maybe I can help you to speed up things…" Judy winked with a sly grin. She grabbed his paw and put it down on the bed besides his head, leaning in to kiss him affectionately.