Chapter 11: The Awkward Breakfast
*= As told in the final chapter of "A Hole in the Wall"
Sunday Oct 26, 6:03am
Feeding Day
Nick was woken up from his sleep with a sharp pain to his lower back. He turned around only to find Judy. She had kicked him hard to wake him up.
"Get up asshole! Breakfast time."
Nick growled at her. Getting up was now painful as that kick did some damage. "Forget 'ought to', I WILL sue her for abuse!"
Cotton came up to Nick and saw that he was in pain as he was putting on his shirt. Her makeup was still on and smeared all over since she slept like that. "Are you okay daddy?!"
"Judy kicked daddy pretty hard. We had a big fight last night and we broke up."
Cotton looked real mad. "That's mean! I'm gonna go over there and bite her!"
Cotton started heading for Judy when Nick grabbed her. "Oh no you don't! Honey, two wrongs don't make a right. We'll just let it go for now, okay?"
"Okay...but I don't like her anymore!"
"Don't be like that. It's important give people a second chance. I was pretty hot-headed myself last night. We just need to talk it out. Now let's go use Gideon's bathroom and get that makeup off. It's all over you!"
Judy entered the kitchen as Bonnie was cooking breakfast. "What's for breakfast...'mother'."she said with a bit of sarcasm that Bonnie didn't catch.
"The seating arrangement's on the board dear. We're having eggs, flapjacks and tofu mini-sausages."
"Oh sure!" Judy said. "With a nice, big helping of TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OF LIES!"
Bonnie dropped her spatula. The truth was out.
"So you finally solved the mystery hunh? I TOLD you to leave it alone. I TOLD you the damage it could do and now look! You're freaking out!"
"YOU'RE DAMN RIGHT I'M FREAKING OUT! I-I-I-I...Who am I to you?! What's my birthday?! Why didn't you EVER tell me this?!"
Bonnie turned around and was whisking the eggs in a bowl. "You're my daughter. You're birthday is April 3rd. Three days before your litter siblings and we...we just couldn't find the right moment."
Judy was weeping and incredibly upset. "The right moment was when I was little and could take this all in! Jack and Jill were my blood uncle and aunt this whole time and never knew! I have blood cousins! I could have been close to them! I could have been the link that kept our families from being divided, but you and dad screwed that all up!"
"I WOULD HAVE LOST YOU!" Bonnie screamed. Tears were running down her face. "Just like I lost that litter to them! I wanted to tell you earlier, I really did but I was so afraid!"
"I would have had family that supported me being a cop instead of holding me back! My REAL parents were brave! My dad was a war hero! MY mom was a spy!"
"And where did that get them?!" Bonnie yelled. "They're both dead!"
Judy slapped her mom hard across the face and the bowl of eggs dropped onto the floor. Judy knew what she did and instantly regretted it.
"Oh God! Mom! Mom, I-I-I-I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to!"
"Get out of my kitchen!" Bonnie growled.
"I-I'm sorry! Please let me help clean u-"
"OUT!" She screamed. Judy ran out. Bonnie sat in the corner and wept.
Moments later, Nick walked into the kitchen with cotton. He saw Bonnie weeping. "Hey Bonnie! We needed to make sure there was...no...broccoli...what happened?"
"Judy found out she was adopted and sh-she yelled at me! An-and then she slapped me! Me! Her own mother!"
"Cotton, help grandma Bonnie out and pick up the bowl and clean up as best you can, okay?"
"Okay." Cotton said. "Judy's mean! She kicked daddy awake!"
Nick sat next to Bonnie and held her hand. "I didn't know until today just how bad her temper was. We had a big fight last night and she tried to slap me then. Are you okay?"
"I-I guess." Bonnie said while weeping. "I don't know. I guess she's right. I should have told her earlier."
"That's no excuse for hitting you!" Nick said. "She's completely snapped. This is my fault. I told her at the worst possible moment. I'll try to chat with her later. In the meantime, would you like some help?"
Bonnie was still sniffling. "Y-yes! That would be nice."
"Well first, let's dry those tears. Cotton honey, can you come here for second?"
"Sure daddy!" Cotton walked up to Nick and he put her on his lap.
"I need the back of your head." Nick said and he turned her around and then rubbed Bonnie's face into Cotton's wool. They all started to laugh.
"I have towels Nick!" Bonnie chuckled.
"Yes, but it wouldn't have been funny." Nick replied. He got on an apron and helped whisk some more eggs while Cotton got dishes ready and Bonnie started cooking tofu sausage.
"Nick?" Bonnie said. "I take back everything I said last night. I hope you and Judy work things out. You're a darn good man and I really want you in my family."
"Thank you Bonnie." Nick said. "That means the world to me."
Later on, people started gathering around the table. Bonnie let Nick move the seating arrangements. He put Judy across from him, but not next to him. He still wanted to talk with her, but didn't want her close. He put Cotton on one side of him and Jenny on the other to make Judy jealous. Julie and Gideon sat next to Judy and he put the rest of the family randomly on the other side of her including her litter brother, Jesse right next to her. This would prove to be a mistake.
Judy sat down with Julie to the right of her and Jesse to the left. Jesse was getting pretty chubby now, but trying to impress Judy by flexing, mentioning he had been working out more. Despite the millions of lady bunnies around, he was still having troubles getting a steady girl. He and Judy had a past. A past he kept secret, but enjoyed thinking about from time to time.
Judy mainly ignored him and was still reeling from the news. She was also feeling guilty for slapping her own mother or at least, her foster mother. She couldn't stop thinking of what her life would have been like as a Hareson. Would Jack have encouraged her? Would she have felt less oppressed and more free? Then there was Nick. Everything was so great yesterday and now, she could barely stand to look at him. Part of her still loved him, but the other part felt betrayed. Zootopia was her home now, but Nick wanted to drag her back to Bunny Burrow just like her parents.
Nick started to set out plates. Cotton had a hard time getting into her chair, but Jenny helped her. She smiled and rubbed her wool head. Judy could see right through her. She was trying to be more nice and motherly to put up a front around Nick. Finally, Nick, Bonnie and Jamie helped put out the food and everyone sat down.
Judy looked over at her mother who was at the head of the table with her father, Stu.
"I'm so sorry mom!"
"I don't want to talk about it." Bonnie said calmly.
Things went quiet for a little bit, then Judy spoke to Nick. "Could you pass me the pepper?"
"Oh, I don't know." Nick replied sarcastically. "Am I worthy enough? Maybe I need to save the Mayor from a burning building and have my name in lights before I'm possibly worthy enough to pass the great Judy Hopps pepper!"
"Please Nick! Not Now."
Nick realized he was starting to get hot headed. "You're right. I'm sorry." and he passed the pepper over.
Jenny decided to keep up the breakfast talk going in the worst possible way. "So Judy! What's it like knowing you're adopted?!" She said it loud enough for the entire table to hear.
Judy yelled at Nick. "You told her?!"
"N-No! I only talked to Bonnie!" Nick replied.
"I overheard it." Jenny said. "You poor, poor thing! It must be hard on you losing your whole identity!"
"Gee Jenny! You poor thing!" Judy said back. "It must be hard knowing men will only ever love you for your body which will go all flabby in your late forties and then you'll have no one!"
Nick was desperate to change the topic. "Bonnie, these tofu sausages are fantastic!" He then sipped on his orange juice.
"Oh my gosh!" Jesse said. "Do you know what this means?!"
"Don't say it Jesse!" Warned Judy.
"Technically...we DIDN'T have incest!"
Nick spit out his orange juice.
"Daddy, what's 'incest'?" Cotton asked.
"Oooooh boy!" Nick had to think fast. "Ummmmm...It's...It's those nice smelling sticks you burn like candles! Y'know, like that song 'Incest and Peppermints?' "
"Oooh! So that's how the song goes!" Gideon said. "Well ah'll be danged! That's puts a whole new twist on it, ah tell ya whut!"
"Judy! How could you!" Bonnie shouted. "He's your litter brother!"
Judy interrupted. "Okay one, he's not my litter brother! I don't actually have litter siblings now and two, I was 16 and in immense heat! He...he was my first mate. Also, we're rabbits! It's fairly common! You and dad are first cousins!"
"First mate?" Cotton asked. "Like a pirate?"
Nick couldn't believe her innocence and wanted to laugh. "Yes honey, EXACTLY like a pirate. Look, ummm...why don't you sit with the kids a the other table? I'll bring you your food. This conversation's getting a bit...PG-13."
Cotton wobbled over to the other table. "Awww! I wanted to hear about pirate Judy!"
"Speaking of pirates..." Judy said while glancing over at Jenny. "Yo!...Ho. What were you and Nick up to last night?"
"I cooked the eggs!" Nick said, trying to desperately steer the conversation away. "For the love of holy God, does someone want to talk about the eggs?!"
"Don't you worry your pretty, little, hare head." Jenny replied. "He stopped himself before getting to all the bases. He just groped me a little."
Nick had his paws over his face. "Oooooh I am so dead!"
"What the hell is going on?" Asked Stu.
"Well, it's a good thing for you he didn't get too far. You would have been disappointed. Isn't that right 'second place'?" She was referring to the fact that Nick was only the second biggest mate she'd had.
Nick was getting pissed. "Judy. Don't start this. I'm warning you. Let's keep this civil."
Judy picked up a tiny, Vienna-sized tofu sausage. "Hey look! It's your shaft!"
That did it. Nick made a fake, sarcastic laugh. "HAAAHAHAHA! Real funny. Real damn funny!" He then picked up his plate of two flapjacks and held them at a horizontal angle. "Look! It's your breasts! No, wait." He took off one flapjack. "Okay NOW it's your breasts!"
Stu was trying to de-esculate the situation. "Y'know what? I think it would be a good idea if we all just calmed down and changed the subject."
"Y'know what would a good idea?!" Nick said. "Not telling your family for over a year, A YEAR! That your partner was a fox! Like you're ashamed of him! Oh! Oh! And then deciding out of the blue to kick him out of his own apartment and take over the lease, then letting him stay as a guest like you're doing him a damn charity!"*
"You know what's an even BETTER idea?"Judy asked. "Adopting a child out of the blue WITHOUT any consideration to your girlfriend who specifically told you NOT to adopt anyone! Oh, but not just ANY child, but the niece of my worst enemy AND she's handicapped which will bring a ton of expensive medical problems with it! This is irreversible! She'll be with us, with YOU forever! NOT ONLY THAT! But we live in a one-room apartment. Where the hell is she going to sleep?!"
Nick hung his head down. "Touche'. In all honesty though, I did try to call you at one point, but there's like...ZERO bars out here!" Nick pulled out his cell phone. "I STILL can't get a signal!"
Stu and Bonnie looked at each other. "Yeah, the town's been having a problem with that too!" Stu said. "The cell towers have been down for weeks! Luckily, we have our own cell tower at the factory."
"Yeah!" said Gideon. "That's how me and Julie were able ta talk yesterday. Kinda our own, private family plan!"
"So NO ONE without connections to your tower can contact the outside world?" Nick asked.
"Well..." Gideon thought. "They could by land line but hardly anyone uses that anymore!"
Judy interrupted. "Well...you STILL could have come home and discussed this first OR used Gideon's phone!"
"I know, I know." Nick replied. "It's just...when I found out it was Dawn's niece, I felt a bit responsible for her being there. On top of that she REALLY wanted out of there that very day and...and...she's sooo adorable! Her sad eyes just made me melt! I couldn't help myself! Look, we need to have a long talk, but for now, can we please...PLEASE stop fighting at the table?...For your parents sake?"
Judy sighed "I guess. I just...I can't look at you right now. I'm going outside for some fresh air!" Judy stormed out the door.
"Well this was the second most awkward breakfast we've had." Stu said.
"What was the most awkward?" Bonnie asked,.
"Those hillbilly cousins of yours. Remember?"
"Oh yeah." Bonnie replied. "There was definitely some incest going on in THAT family!"
"Right on the kitchen table!" Stu added.
Judy stood just outside the house. It was getting cold and some of the storm going on in Zootopia was spreading out to Bunny Burrow. A light rain fell so Judy decided to stay under an awning. Judy watched as the newsboy dropped off the paper. She quickly grabbed it to keep the paper from getting wet, plus she wanted to read the Sunday funnies. She looked at the front page of the newspaper.
The Burrow Times
THIRD MONTH OF QUARANTINE
The third month of mandatory quarantine is in effect. All citizens are to remain in Bunny Burrow unless given special permission by the mayor or Stu Farms. Go to the nearest hospital if you show any signs of infection. Tell no outside family members.
Curious, Judy skipped ahead.
DON'T FORGET! TODAY IS FEEDING DAY
Keep all of your wanted children inside from 12pm to 3pm
Check page 53 for a list of fun, indoor activities.
Remember. Do not resist!
Judy was about to go inside when she noticed a giant "X" on the front lawn. She was concerned and had a lot of questions.
"What the hell is going on in this town?!"
Next Chapter: Church Chat