Family Time
The Wiley Residence, Canyonlands, Sahara Square, 9 and a half months after Ray's Story
"Make a left here." Sharon says to Ray.
They are riding in the white station wagon through a suburb in the western part of Canyonlands, just outside of Coyote Canyon.
"At this stop sign make a right." She instructs.
Ray drives down a small street filled with mostly ranch style houses, pastel colors seem to be the theme to most of the residences, With the occasional adobe structure here and there.
"And there it is, that yellow house on the left." Sharon tells the fox.
Ray pulls the car into a wide driveway, already occupied by several cars and a minivan.
"So this is Casa De Wiley, huh?" Ray says as he looks over the house.
A medium mammal sized Ranch house with a attached garage. the yard is well maintained with a rock garden and some cacti lining the one side. A brick walkway leads from the driveway to the front door.
"Yup, this is home." Sharon says. "Here, take the bag with the food in it." She hands him a tote bag with some plastic food containers.
As they get to the door, Ray reaches for the doorbell. Sharon unceremoniously reaches over his arm, knocking it out of the way as she grabs the doorknob and opens the door. As she steps inside, followed by the fox, she calls out.
"Mom, Dad, we're here!"
A cry of young voices from inside answers.
"Aunt Sharon! Aunt Sharon!"
Four coyote pups, two slightly older boys, about 7 years old, and a younger girl and boy, both about 4, come running to the doorway at the new arrivals.
Sharon crouches down and spreads her arms as the young ones get near. They all pile in into a big group hug with their aunt as Ray looks on. One of the older boys, seeing Ray, asks.
"Whose that?"
"Luke, that is my boyfriend, Ray." Sharon answers as he disentangles herself from the pups and stands up.
"He's a funny looking coyote." The other elder boy says.
"James!" Sharon scolds, but Ray just laughs.
"I may be funny looking for a coyote, but I am perfect fine looking fox." Ray says, matter of factly.
"Foxes are red." the youngest boy says. Ray recalls that his name is Markus.
"A lot of us are. but I happen to be a different color fox, called a Marble Fox." Ray tells the pups.
"How come I aint never seen one before?" asks Luke.
"Well, as far as I know, I am the only one in all of Zootopia. The only other Marble I ever met was my grandpa." Ray notices there only seems to be three pups in front of him now. He glances around and see the young girl has someone gotten behind him and is slowly reaching out to touch his tail.
"There are none of you left?" Luke inquires.
"It's not like that, I'm just a regular Red Fox, I just have a very rare fur color. There are a few around the country that I know about." Ray keeps an eye on the young girl, Kimberly, as she strokes his tail with a big grin on her muzzle. The boys, seemingly bored with the questions go running off suddenly, back deeper into the house were they came from. Ray hears one of them exclaim.
"Mommy, Aunt Sharon has a funny looking fox as a boyfriend."
Sharon is watching Kim stroke Rays tail with fascination. Suddenly Ray twitches his tail so that it jumps up into her face. This sends the young coyote into a fit of giggles as she tries to grab onto the fox's tail.
"Looks like you have a new friend" Sharon says to Ray as they head into the house, Kim being pulled along by Ray's tail.
Dinner is server after introductions were Ray meets the pups parents, Cindy and Steven, and Sharon's other sister, Amy, and her husband, Joseph. The conversation is light, focusing mostly on Ray as he is the new face at the table. The usual questions about his job and history. They spend some time talking about his work with the ZPD. After dinner, the males and the pups all go into the living room while the girls stay at the table and continue talking over coffee.
"You're serious about this fox, aren't you?" Asks Sharon's little sister, Amy.
"It's working out between us, yeah." Sharon says with a smile.
"Come on, give us the dirt. Every time you talk about him it's, Ray is so good at this, and Ray is perfect that. Everyone has flaws. What are loverboy's in there. We can't know if we should let him marry our sister till we get to know him, warts and all." Cindy demands.
"Everyone is in a hurry to marry me off, it seems." Sharon sighs. "Well, he can be stubborn at times."
"Aren't we all, give us something more then that." Cindy Says.
"Oh, I though I knew stubborn till I met him. Hell, that is how we started dating. He was a patient of mine and he kept asking me out every time he saw me. I mean, every, single, time. Finally, when he was done with his checkup schedule, he practically made all the plans before I even agreed to go. Never mean or creepy or anything, just, determined."
A happy yell from in the living room interrupts the conversation. Sharon looks into the room and sees that while the two adult coyotes are sitting watching some kind of sports on the TV, and the older pups are playing their gamepads, Ray is laying on his back on the floor with Kim in his hands, waving her around in the air like she is flying, while Markus is climbing on top of his stomach.
"That's another thing. What was he in the hospital for, he seemed to avoid that question mom asked it before." Cindy questions.
"It was kinda traumatic for him. he doesn't like talking about it to many people." Sharon says quietly.
"Well, what was it?" Amy asks.
Sharon thinks about exactly how much to tell them, then says. "He got into a fight."
"A fight? Must have been one heck of a fight to land him in the hospital for that long." Cindy says.
"I am not sure if I like the fact that he is going around getting into fights like that." Her mother says.
"He doesn't make a habit of it, Mom. He had a good reason."
"And this is?" Her mom inquires.
"There were some girls that were in danger. Ray ran in to help. Maybe not the smartest thing to do, but he did it for the right reasons. He saved their lives." Sharon says.
Sharon looks into the living room again. Ray now is on all fours pouncing at the two young cubs as they scurry away from him. She frowns a bit when she notices that he is favoring the one leg due to the injury to his right. Something that will never fully heal. He seems to be adapted to it, and he never complains about it to her, even though she knows it hurts him sometimes.
"So he is stubborn, and runs off to play hero without thinking. What else?" Cindy Grills.
"Why does there have to be something else." Sharon exclaims.
"Oh come on, out with it." Amy demands.
Sharon lets out a deep breath. "He… He can be closed up about his emotions."
"So he's a male, that not news." Amy chides.
"No it's more then that. After the… fight, he was having problems, nightmares and such. it took me months to get him to talk about it, and even longer to get help. It just frustrates me sometimes. He is so good at listening to me and being there for me when I need it, but he gets so closed off when something is bothering him."
"Anything else?" Cindy asks.
"No that's it. I swear." Sharon demands.
They all get up to look into the living room as Ray plays with the pups. He has his tail in his hands and is swatting the two young ones back and forth as they laugh and try and catch it. Cindy watches Sharon looking at the fox then proclaims.
"Well, I guess he is good enough, we will let you keep him." Amy laughs at this.
"Oh thanks. I was going to keep him anyway, no matter what you said." Sharon states, then look at her mother. "What about you mom? Has he won you over yet?"
"He's good with the pups." She says.
Sharon laughs and says.
"Fine, It's settled, he stays, now enough about me, what about this baby shower Amy?"
They sit and talk for over an hour, planning the details of the party and the invite list. Suddenly Cindy looks up like she just noticed something. She cocks her head and listens.
"It's quiet in there." She says.
She gets up and looks into the living room and immediately breaks out into a wide grin.
"Oh Sharon, you have got to see this." She says in a whisper.
Sharon gets up and peers into the room as Amy and her mother follow with curiosity. Ray is laying on the couch with his left leg draped over the side and his mouth open in a gentle snore. In the crook of his arm, Markus lays with a pacifier in his mouth. Kim is laying face down, arms outstretched in a hug on Ray's stomach with Ray's tail is grasped in her one paw. She is moving up and down with every breath the fox takes. All three of them sound asleep.
"He actually wore them out." Cindy whispers with a hint of disbelief in her voice. "If you don't keep him, I am gonna steal him away as a nanny." Cindy continues as Sharon takes a photo with her phone.