As the train thundered into the station, Nick and Amy both jumped on a lamppost a few train cars' length apart from each other and watched as the doors opened. As mammals began piling out of the doors, Nick and Amy looked from one end of the train to the other while searching for the small horde of bunnies that were scheduled to get off. As the train cars emptied and began refilling with no sign of the rabbits, Nick glanced across the heads of the crowd at Amy and made a palms-up motion with his paws as if to say, 'Where are they?'

Amy shrugged back, then looked at the train cars again. Finally, on the last train car a pygmy hippo talking on his cellphone stepped off and the missing bunnies piled out behind him in quick succession just before the doors closed. "Hey, Nick," Amy hollered across the crowd, "last car!" As the red fox turned to look at her, she motioned towards the back of the train just before it took off for the next stop in the Rainforest District.

Having heard her, Nick nodded, then hopped down from the pole and dodged and scurried his way over to the tan bunny. Together they then made their way to the eight bunnies standing on the train platform while carrying boxes and looking around. As they got closer, they could hear Stu complaining to Bonnie about the porcupine who was blocking the small mammal door and the 'tub-o' who had stopped in front of the larger mammal door to answer his phone and nearly trapped them on the train when it took off again (with the influx of other mammals they couldn't even get around him to the medium mammal door!).

Bonnie nodded as she couldn't refute her husband's grumblings. After the fiasco this morning and almost missing the train back in Bunnyburrow, being trapped on it as it left the Zootopia station would have been awful icing on their cake, wouldn't it? Luckily the hippo got off before the train thundered away again—barely. Bonnie was sure the doors almost closed on poor Chess's tail.

"Mom, Dad!" Amy hollered over the clamor of the crowd, even as she waved her paw at them.

Almost on cue, 16 pairs of bunny ears swiveled sideways before the rabbits they belonged to turned to see a light tan doe scurrying towards them from the opposite side of the platform. With a relieved smile, Bonnie said, "Amy, am I glad to see you. This place is positively a zoo!" Looking behind her daughter at the red fox hot on her heels, Bonnie's smile widened. "Nick, it's so good to finally meet you in person."

"It's nice to finally meet you, too, Bonnie," Nick said as he stepped forward. Reaching over to take the box from Bonnie, he added, "Here, let me take that from you."

As Nick relieved her of the box, Bonnie replied, "You're such gentlemammal."

Nick flashed her a bright smile (though he was careful not to show his teeth), then turned to Judy's dad. "Stu, it's nice to meet you."

"You, too, Nick," Stu responded as Nick took his box and added it atop Bonnie's box in his other paw. The older buck was studying Nick with a critical eye, though he kept his voice warm and welcoming. Glancing around, a frown touched his expression. "Where's Judy?"

Nick's ears flicked back even as Bonnie smacked Stu's arm. "Stu," she hissed at him.

"Dad," Amy said, "Judy doesn't even have her stitches out yet. Do you really want to see her hobbling around on crutches through this busy train station where large mammals who don't watch where they're going can step on her?"

"Uh, no," Stu responded a little sheepishly. When he and Bonnie had first sent Judy off to the police academy nearly a year ago, he was terrified that she was going to get into a confrontation with some larger predator that turned into a scuffle, just like how she was clawed by Gideon when she was just a kit. Or get seriously injured during one of their police exercises with her being a small bunny and all. And then when Judy mentioned how she had to fight in the ring as part of her training, he was up with nightmares for months.

And it wasn't just the predators he worried about. A lot of large prey mammals could easily hurt a much smaller rabbit through carelessness or underestimating their own strength. So, when they shipped Judy off to the big city with her working in Precinct One, Stu just about had a heart attack. He was proud of Judy, for sure—she was his little-tier—but her career choice left a huge, fearful knot in his heart. And when she came home three months ago all depressed with her dreams in ashes and mobs running amuck in Zootopia (Judy had come close to being hospitalized several different times while trying to break up the protests), it reaffirmed his conviction that small rabbits were never meant to be big city cops. It was just too dangerous.

Stu's worries were no less now. Bellwether was caught (thanks to his little trier and the fox she was now rooming with), so the protest and unrest in the city should calm down, but that didn't put an end to his worrying. His little bun-bun was moving in a with a fox who she had warm feelings for…how could he not worry about her? He was grateful to Nick for keeping Judy safe and alive, for opening up his home to her and taking care of her in her time of need, there was no doubt about that.

There really wasn't anything Stu could do for the fox to make it up to him for keeping Judy alive and safe…but why, oh, why, did she have to move in with him permanently? Why did she have to develop feelings for him that went beyond friendship? Letting a fox pet her ears was wrong. Bunnies just didn't do that. There has never been a rabbit doe in the history of Bunnyburrow who ever let a fox pet her ears or ever developed warm (possibly romantic) feelings for him. He could just hear Judy in his head saying, 'Well, then, I guess I'll be the first.' And that's what had him worried the most.

Bonnie rolled her eyes at her husband's suspicion even as Nick interrupted Stu's silent worries as he spoke up, saying, "Judy is waiting at home with my mother where she doesn't have to strain her injury."

Stu's ears drooped as he realized his blunder. As much as he hated the idea of Judy living with such a large fox (Nick stood a foot and a half taller than he was and was even taller than Gideon by several inches!), Stu didn't want to see Judy getting hurt while hobbling around the busy station or streets of Zootopia. That thought had him scared to death for her. It was definitely better if his bun-bun stayed at home… Home. The thought of the fox's house being Judy's home left a sour taste in his mouth, but Stu tried not to let it show. He promised Bonnie and Judy both that he would give the large fox the benefit of the doubt—for now, anyways.

Ignoring her dad, Amy touched Nick's arm and said, "Nick, let me introduce you to my siblings." Pointing to each of the other rabbits, she introduced the dark-grey doe with white paws and a white snip along her dark nose as her littermate, Alexia. Next was the white and black buck whose name was Chester.

Then there were Judy's littermates. He already knew Janette, who looked remarkably like Judy. The only difference being that Janette's grey fur was a shade darker and her purple eyes two shades lighter. The dark-tan doe with the mahogany eyes was Janelle, and then there was Judy's dark-grey brother Justin, who had deep sapphire eyes.

Alexia and Chester were both glad to see Nick was just as easy going and welcoming as he appeared in the jeep rally videos. Janette was happy to see that Nick was a lot easier to be around when he wasn't trying to eat her sister. Janelle and Justin, on the other paw, were eager to meet the fox whom Judy was so eager to crawl in bed with. Knowing how Judy had always sworn off males and never cared about getting intimate with one (they assumed she would forever be a bachelorette), they couldn't wait to get to know the fox who had such power as to excite their anti-buck sister into demanding he devour her.

After the introductions and a round of paw shakes, Nick led the rabbits up to his wolf-sized jeep. From the videos Alexia had pulled up of Nick's time at the Jeep Rallies, the rabbits knew that the fox's jeep was wolf-sized, so they knew it would be much bigger than themselves—but seeing it in person left them all (except Amy) feeling very small and insignificant.

Although there were large vehicles back in Bunnyburrow, compared to the vast number of rabbit-sized vehicles, there weren't many in comparison. And even when walking by one, the rabbits gave the massive vehicles as much thought as if they were walking by a large boulder. But to be actually getting into such a large vehicle left them with gaping mouths. Other than the train, none of these rabbits had ever gotten into such a large (tall) vehicle before. The biggest thing they could relate it to was a bus or their combine harvester, but even then the seats were still geared towards mammals that were rabbit-sized or just a little bigger—not wolf-sized.

As Nick popped the back door open and jumped up on the foot-bar that was below the bumper, he set the boxes he had taken from Stu and Bonnie down in the back, then turned around to take the rest of the boxes from Judy's siblings. As he took the box from Chester, Nick's nose twitched as he caught the strong smell of a young rabbit doe. Looking at the taped-up box, he saw Judy's Plushies written across the top in blue permanent marker. The fact Judy had a box full of plushies surprised him (she wasn't a kit anymore!), but reading what was in the box, Nick figured one of Judy's young nieces must have been playing with them this morning before they were boxed up—hence the strong smell.

Putting the box down, Nick then took Justin's box and loaded it up, too. With that done, he hopped down and opened the side doors for the shorter bunnies. Five of them piled into the backseat while Amy and her parents hopped into the front seat, with Amy taking the middle seat. Her dad at first wanted to protest his oldest daughter sitting so close to the fox, but Amy shot him down, saying that since she was most familiar with Nick, she should be the one sitting next to him.

Giving a grateful grin to Amy (which her dad didn't see), Nick then started the jeep and asked, "Are you guys ready to meet Judy?" He originally wanted to ask if they were ready to enter a fox's den, but then thought better of it as it probably wouldn't go over very well with Stu. The older buck was still trying to talk Judy out of living in said fox's den, after all.

As the rabbits all voiced their agreement, with Stu being the loudest, Nick put the jeep in reverse and backed out of the parking space. Merging with traffic, he headed back down the street towards his house.

-/-/-

After Nick and Amy left, Judy sat on the couch next to Vivian and twiddled her thumbs. Yes, she was actually twiddling her thumbs. She was super nervous about her dad and wondering if she and Nick would be able to tell him about their engagement. She really didn't want to hide their relationship from her dad, but if he was still dead set against her dating Nick even after meeting him, then there was no way she would be able to tell him that she was marrying this drool-worthy, hot-hunk of a fox in just a few short days.

Seeing (and smelling) Judy's nervousness, Vivian reached over and grabbed one of her small bunny paws and gave it a light squeeze. "Are you nervous about your family meeting Nick?" she asked in a soft, understanding voice. Vivian could certainly understand why the sweet bunny might be nervous to introduce her family to her much larger, red fox fiancé.

Judy's ears drooped. "Yeah." With a shake of her head, she clarified, "It's not my family I'm worried about—it's my dad." Taking a deep breath, Judy added, "My dad has always been wary of predators, but when I was 9, I was clawed by a red fox todd who was a few years older than me." With her nose twitching lightly, she further explained, "Ever since then, my dad has been on an anti-fox campaign about how dangerous they are and how they can't be trusted."

With a shrug, Judy said, "I also told him that just because Gideon happened to be a fox and a jerk, not every fox was a jerk, too. I mean, I know hundreds—and I mean hundreds—of rabbits, bucks and does alike, who are jerks. So, there was no reason to classify all foxes as vicious jerks just because I happen to meet one who was."

Vivian gasped at Judy's telling, even as Vivian realized just how big of a miracle it was that Judy and Nick not only found each other but were able to find love together. It also showed just how special of a bunny Judy truly was. That she didn't let the scars of the past prevent her from finding and accepting the love of the future. Her son really had found himself one remarkable love story.

Reaching over, Vivian wrapped both arms around Judy and pulled her into a side-hug. "Oh, Judy," she murmured, "I'm so sorry that happened to you."

Leaning into Vivian's embrace, Judy shrugged. "The attack wasn't completely unwarranted. Gideon and I were having an argument and after he shoved me to the ground, I kicked him in the face. I'm really surprised his nose didn't start bleeding."

Shaking her head, Vivian said, "Judy, even if you did kick him, since you didn't draw any blood, there was no call for him to. And especially for him to claw a prey kit who was so much smaller than he was—there's never a call for it."

Judy gave another small shrug. "In the end, I guess it all worked out for the best. After all my talk about how we don't need to fear predators, that Gideon had just been a jerk who happened to be a fox, and how I knew a ton of rabbits who were jerks, I guess my words finally sunk in because they recently forgave Gideon and are now business partners with him. He's a pastry chef, and, according to my dad, he's the best in Bunnyburrow."

Judy's eyes glazed over slightly as she remembered Tuesday morning when Gideon showed up with his pies and how her dad had praised her old bully for his pastry skills and then announced how they were now partners. She had first thought she'd heard wrong, but no, she hadn't. Remembering how proud her dad had been to be partners with a fox gave Judy a small smidgeon of hope that Stu would accept her engagement to Nick.

Vivian was shocked into silence for several moments, then she asked slowly, "Your…parents…are business partners…with the fox who once attacked you?" The very idea was incomprehensive to the older vixen who had seen her share of small prey mammals holding on tightly to their grudges against foxes and refusing to let them go to their dying breath.

Hearing the disbelief in the older vixen's voice, Judy responded, "Trust me, I was as shocked as you are. Believe-you-me, that was the last thing I expected to hear from my father." She was thinking of the bag of fox-away-products he'd tried giving to her and the harm the one small can of fox-mace had caused.

With a slight shake of her head, Judy added, "Just three months ago, my dad tried to foist a fox taser on me when I first left for the city." With a wave of her paw, Judy continued, "So hearing how my parents are now partners with Gideon, it felt like someone pulled the rug out from under my feet—but in a good way." Glancing up at Vivian and flashing her a bright smile, Judy stated, "I'm glad they forgave him and are now partners. Everyone deserves a second chance if they're truly willing to change."

Vivian was quiet for a moment, then asked, "You forgave Gideon, then? Even after he clawed you?"

"Well, yeah," Judy replied. "After the way I treated Nick three months ago, how could I expect to be forgiven myself if I wasn't willing to forgive Gideon." Tugging on one of her ears, Judy explained further, "Gideon was a bully and a jerk to me when we were just kits, but I was a much bigger jerk to Nick just recently so what right did I have to hold a grudge against Gideon? Especially when he was being so contrite and sincere in his apology and had truly turned his life around?"

Vivian was once more stunned by the sweet bunny in her arms. With a slight shake of her head, she leaned down and rested her cheek against the top of Judy's head, saying, "Oh, Judy, if more people could think like you the world would be a whole lot better off and evil mammals like Bellwether wouldn't have the power to hurt people like she did."

Judy nodded in agreement, but didn't say anything for several heartbeats as the comfortable silence wrapped around them. After several moments, though, Judy spoke up and brought the conversation back around to the problem at paw.

"Anyways," Judy said, "back to my dad. He's come a long way in just a few short months, but being friends and business partners with a fox todd is a whole different ballgame from having one living with his daughter and wanting to crawl in bed with her. The fact we'll be married won't matter much to him, and might even be a worse position in his mind because marriage is meant to be permanent so it's not like I can wake up one morning, come to my senses and say 'oh, I made a mistake,' and move out."

Glancing up when Vivian sat up straighter and looked down to meet her gaze, Judy explained, "My dad is still trying to convince me to move out and either get a place of my own or move in with some other bunnies in the city. Forget marriage, my dad is terrified of the idea of me and Nick dating because he's sure Nick is going to hurt me even if it's not intentional." Grabbing both her ears and tugging on them, Judy stared at the fireplace without really seeing it as she added, "He's sure Nick won't know his own strength or will get a little rough with me and accidently hurt me with his teeth or claws."

Although it saddened her, Vivian could somewhat understand where Stu was coming from. And seeing as Judy had already been hurt once by a red fox todd, his fears had some real basis for them. With a heavy sigh, Vivian couldn't really argue with Stu about Nick's intentions and doubted the older rabbit buck would understand a red todd's inability to hurt the mate he had imprinted on.

Trying not to let the dark thoughts sour their pleasant mood, Vivian tried holding onto the hope that Nick could convince Stu that he would never hurt Judy. While thinking this, Vivian remembered Nick's words about Judy's reaction to his natural, predatory weapons.

With a teasing smile, Vivian glanced down at Judy and asked, "Sharp teeth and claws that drive you absolutely…Wilde?" Considering that thanks to Judy's attraction to Nick's predatory physique and lethal weapons she soon would be a Wilde, Vivian found it amusing that this phrase had a literal meaning to it.

Judy groaned and slunk down on the couch as the mention of Nick's sharp teeth and claws immediately made her think of the shower they so recently shared and the 'wilde' time she'd had during it. "Vivian, I'm trying to keep my thoughts clean right now so I don't embarrass myself when my parents walk in with Nick." Hiding behind her ears, Judy mumbled, "If I'm thinking of Nick's criminal claws and sinful teeth, I'm never going to be able to look at them with a straight face." While thinking of his teeth and claws, Judy couldn't forget that sinfully delicious tongue of Nick's and the devastating power it had on her insides. Nor did she need to look up to know what Vivian was now smelling as her body responded to the memories.

Vivian couldn't miss the excited bunny smell Judy was now giving off, so with a soft laugh, she said, "Alright, we won't talk about Nick. How about you tell me about your siblings who are coming? What are their names and what are some things they like to do?"

Feeling infinitely grateful to Vivian for the change in conversation, Judy sat up straighter and smiled as she began telling Vivian about some of her favorite siblings. There was her older brother Chester and her littermate Justin, both married with kits of their own who loved basketball. There was Amy's littermate Alexia who was also married with several litters of her own and who loved reading and writing and illustrating children's books. And then there were her littermate sisters, Janette who was preparing for her own wedding and Janelle, who Judy had just about convinced to look into getting her own foxy boyfriend seeing as she had yet to find Mr. Right among the hundreds of bucks she had met and/or dated back in Bunnyburrow.

Vivian was interested in learning more about Judy's family and was pleasantly surprised to learn of another one of Judy's sisters (besides Amy) who was now considering a relationship with a fox. As old as she was, there was no way Vivian could miss the attraction Amy showed for Finnick, and if she wasn't mistaken, Finnick was showing some attraction towards Amy, too—even if he hadn't yet realized it himself.

While waiting for the rabbits in question to arrive, Vivian and Judy chatted about Judy's large family and some of the fun they had as kits, even as Vivian noted Judy's smell returning to her normal, mild 'bunny scent'. It wasn't long afterwards that the guests arrived.

-/-/-

As Nick drove down his street, the rabbits in the jeep were gazing out the windows at the large, 2-story houses that were set back away from the road in the midst of their large, manicured lawns and lined with trees, shrubs, and/or flowers. Knowing they were technically still in the 'city,' the rabbits were impressed with all the greenery and splashes of color from the many blooms they passed. Seeing the various shades of green and the wide-open sky that normally couldn't be seen in such a large city, the bunnies all agreed that Nick's neighborhood had a touch of home to it.

Seeing the beautiful homes and wide-open spaces, Stu's arguments for Judy to move out and get her own place were quickly going up in smoke. The older rabbit really couldn't imagine his daughter finding a better neighborhood to live in than this—especially for the price! He still couldn't believe the fox wasn't charging Judy any rent. Even if the place was paid for, he should still be asking a little bit in rent…shouldn't he? Or was bun-bun paying in another way?

Was she playing Nick's maid? Maybe the todd expected her to be the live-in maid and cook or something. Stu tried to keep the thought of what else Judy might be paying him with (mainly her body) from surfacing, but it wasn't easy. He'll just have to watch and see how the two interacted.

Bonnie and the rest of the bunnies, on the other paw, were excited to see the place Judy was now living at and felt that she must have used up all her good luck when she hooked up with Nick and landed a place like this. Judy was truly too lucky! Living in such a massive, over-crowded city and yet still being able to have so much greenery and space, plus fresh air and blue skies. What more could a country bunny ask for when moving to the city?

As Nick turned onto the driveway that passed between the two tall hedge fences that marked the top part of his property, Nick was pleased to see the rabbits' looks of wonder and excitement at seeing the place Judy would now be living at…meaning his place. Furthermore, Nick thanked his lucky stars that he had the foresight to clean up the yard and repaint the house before his honeybun's family showed up today. All the points he had so far accumulated with them probably would have gone right down the drain if they showed up to see an overgrown weed patch and faded, peeling paint.

But now, the weeds were gone, the grass was mowed, the hedges trimmed, the flowers in full view (the shorter flowers couldn't even be seen before because of the tall grass and overgrown weeds), and the house had fresh, bright paint on it. It was now a house and a yard anyone could be proud of and Nick now regretted letting the place go to the weeds. As this was the house Honey had left him, along with the place where he'd spent so many good years of his life, he should have taken better care of it. He'll have to stop by her grave soon and pay his respects and then ask for forgiveness for neglecting his duties as her adoptive son.

As he drove the jeep up and stopped in front of the house, Nick turned off the engine, saying, "Welcome to Casa de Wilde." Glancing over the bunnies, he added, "Shall we go in and say hi to Judy and my Mom, then tour the house before bringing in the boxes?"

"Oh, yes, that will be swell," Bonnie replied, with the rest of the bunnies agreeing to the suggestion. As the rabbits piled out of the jeep and hopped up the porch steps (with Amy in the lead as she wanted to act as the tour guide for Nick's wonderful house), Nick was grateful they had so far started off on the right foot.

WingedKatt here. I hope you enjoyed the chapter. I really wanted to get through the whole get-together in this chapter, but I didn't want to rush it, so next time we'll see how the first Wilde and Hopps family gathering goes.

Ch. 83: A WildeHopps Family Gathering, will post in 2 weeks.

I hope you all have a great weekend. Stay safe. If you have any thoughts or comments, let me know.