Been a little while huh?

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THE BURROW

The 'Witness Protection Group', as the ZBI Agents had taken to calling them, were already on their way to Bunnyburrow via the train. Agent Bull had been assigned to them as protection, and if they had any request that might involve them leaving their safe zone for whatever reason, Bull would feed it back to Agent Wilde, who would more than likely say no.

Before departing Zootopia, Wilde had given Nick and Judy very specific instructions. They could leave the Hopps Warren, but for no more than two hours a day. They were not to leave the centre of Bunnyburrow, and they were to be escorted wherever they went. The last point was one Wilde had insisted on most of all: they were not to take it upon themselves to investigate, interfere or intervene if any suspicious activity occurred.

Nick wondered if that particular point had been made because of Judy's habit to go off reservation.

Their restrictions were not the only thing they had to deal with: their agreement to take their renewed relationship one step at a time was inevitably going to elicit negative reactions from Judy's family when they found out. As it was, though they had agreed to house Nick, the Hopps' had made their displeasure with Nick plain to Judy. Bonnie less so, but she had made it plain that she planned on having a chat with Nick. However, Judy had the thought that her father would be on the warpath. It wasn't even the same anti-fox sentiment Stu displayed when he was much younger. He was gunning specifically for Nick. Judy knew she would have to have words with him.

The train passed the Bunnyburrow sign. A small smirk appeared on Nick's lips as he saw it, and Judy kicked him lightly.

"What?" Nick said. "I didn't say anything!"

"But you were thinking it," Judy replied.

"The next station is Bunnyburrow. Please remember to take your belongings with you, and mind the gap when leaving the train."

"That's us," Judy got up, picking up her briefcase. The others picked their belongings up and followed her out onto the platform. There wasn't a welcoming committee waiting for them – in fact, the only one waiting there was a light brown-furred rabbit doe. She wore a light blue dress and had green eyes. She ran forward and hugged Judy.

"Aunt Judy, welcome home!" the doe said.

"It's so good to see you, Cotton!" Judy hugged the doe back. Cotton let her go, stared at Nick, stepped towards him. Nick tried not to let his nervousness of the situation show on his face.

It didn't do him any good, because Cotton slapped him, straight in the muzzle. Nick recoiled, and his paw flew to his face, feeling for blood. Nicholas and Robin glanced at each other.

"Cotton!" Judy shouted.

Nick's paw dropped to his side. He stared at Cotton.

"That is for abandoning Aunt Judy when she needed you," Cotton glared at Nick, gritting her teeth. "Be thankful Aunt Judy is here."

"Fair enough…" Nick replied. "I almost forgot you aren't seven anymore."

There was a pause while Cotton continued to glare at Nick.

"Cotton, where are Mom and Dad?" Judy interrupted.

"I talked them out of coming," Cotton answered. "And that wasn't easy. Trust me, what I just did is nothing compared to what Grandpa wants to do to you." She shot another glare at Nick. Then her gaze shifted, spotting Nicholas. She rushed over to hug him. He resisted half-heartedly.

"Come on, Cotton," Nicholas said.

Judy stepped up to Nick and checked his face.

"Are you okay?" Judy asked Nick.

"I probably deserved worse," Nick replied. "She's right, you know."

"Nick, you have got to stop beating yourself up," Judy frowned.

"I will if you will."

"Touché."

Cotton drove the group to the Hopps Warren. Agent Bull followed to ensure they got there safely, and then left to set up a monitoring station close by. Cotton guided the group into a study off the main hall. Inside was Bonnie Hopps, sat alone. She stared at Nick and Judy, who had walked in with their paws intertwined. She examined Nicholas and Robin carefully afterwards. Robin seemed nervous – this was new to him. The thought of being surrounded by many rabbits didn't set him at ease either.

Nicholas' apparent apprehension was caused by something else entirely. Not all of his cousins were as accepting as Cotton. Those that openly expressed their hate towards him were in the minority. Nevertheless, the anguish caused by them was enough to feed into Nicholas' insecurities for a very long time, and that was not something so easily gotten-over.

Bonnie got up and walked over to Judy. Nick let go of Judy's paw and Judy hugged Bonnie.

"Welcome home, honey," Bonnie said.

"I wish it were for good reasons," Judy hugged her mother back. After a moment, the two does let go of each other.

"I asked Stu to leave this to me," Bonnie told Nick and Judy. "This is going to be a difficult time and… well…" Bonnie's eyes flicked to Nick.

"Nicholas, you and I are going to have a little talk," Bonnie said.

"Uh, sure."

"Cotton, would you show Judy, Nicky and Robin to their rooms?"

Cotton nodded.

"Come on, Aunt Judy," Cotton said. "Grandma and Nick need some privacy."

Judy started to follow Cotton out. She turned back to Nick.

"Mom will just corner you sooner or later," Judy said, giving Nick a sympathetic look, "so you might as well get it out of the way. I'll keep an eye on Robin… if he's okay with that."

Nick glanced at Robin, who let his slight displeasure at being left with Judy plain by his expression. Nevertheless, he followed Judy and Nicholas out of the room. The door shut behind them, leaving Nick alone with Bonnie.

Bonnie sat in a chair, crossing her legs and placing her paws on her knee.

"You probably already know what I'm going to talk to you about, Nicholas," Bonnie said, her expression remaining neutral.

"I have an idea, Mrs. Hopps," Nick said.

"Good," Bonnie said. "This will make things a lot easier if we're on the same page."

Bonnie took a deep breath. She crossed her legs and placed her paws on her knee.

"I gave Judy a chance to give her side of what happened," Bonnie said. "I want to hear yours. Why did you react the way you did?"

Breathing deep, Nick sat down in an adjacent chair.

"I lost my temper," Nick admitted. "Usually, I keep myself clam, or at least looking like I'm calm. I… have no excuse for that."

"I understand you were probably in shock from finding out," Bonnie conceded, "and I have had words with Judy about letting you find out that way. But I still want to understand your side of this."

"There isn't much to understand," Nick confessed. "I took the nuclear option. I couldn't bear the thought of being near her at the time, so I quit. I left for Mexicat to clear my head, and I thought I was only going to be out there for as long as that took. Maybe a few weeks… but…"

"Fifteen years is a long time," Bonnie said. "I know you kept in contact with Viola, but she always hoped you'd come home."

"How'd you…?"

"Just because you and Judy broke contact, doesn't mean I didn't keep in touch with Viola. If you'd come home, you would have learned the truth a lot sooner."

"If you were in touch with my Mom, then you would already know about Skye."

Bonnie took a deep breath.

"Yes, I do know. I wouldn't have asked for you to separate from her. Who knows if you'd even reacted the same way as you did had you come back sooner. There's no point guessing about what might have happened. I've had talks with Judy over the years about beating herself up over it."

"I… hate that I didn't come back. I hate that I let my temper get the better of me. No… I don't just hate it… I'm ashamed of myself. You're right, though. There's no point dwelling on 'what ifs'. That doesn't make it easier. I could sit here all day, saying that I didn't mean to hurt Judy, or how I wish I could go back and change things. I was hurt, and I didn't consider Judy's feelings in everything. And wishing you could change things is pointless. You can't change the past."

Bonnie let her knee go and leaned forward.

"I'm not angry with you," Bonnie said evenly. "I understand you had to leave for a while to clear your head. But I don't think I need to say just how disappointed what you did afterwards has left me, Nicholas. I don't see the point in attacking you. I can see your shame is real."

"Yeah, I'll have a harder time convincing Stu of that."

"Leave Stu to me. Right now, you are being honest with me, and I appreciate that. Judy has defended you ever since you came back. I daresay the talk we had before you came here was her strongest defence of you, which makes me think Judy is still in love with you. And, looking at you now, I can tell you still love her. And I think the two of you have already had a conversation about that. I want to ask 'how can we trust you'? But… it's not really up to us. It's between you and Judy."

"Mrs. Hopps, I do love her. And you're right: we have talked about this. We agreed to take each day as it comes."

"Maybe that's for the best. I'm glad that I wasn't wrong about you entirely. I'm not happy with what you or Judy did, but… I won't interfere."

Nick let out a small sigh. However, when he caught Bonnie's eye again, he almost lost his breath. He had never seen a neutral expression look so threatening – even Mr. Big didn't compare.

"But if you mess Judy around again," Bonnie warned, "you'll wish that it's Stu that catches you before I do. Are we clear on that, Nicholas?"

"Yes, Mrs. Hopps. Crystal," Nick gulped.

"Good," Bonnie smiled gently, patting Nick on the cheek. "And don't worry about Stu. I'll have a talk with him."

Nick let out a breath.

"Don't breathe too easy," Bonnie warned. "I might be okay with leaving you alone now that I've had my say, but you'll find others who won't be lenient with you."

Nick gulped lightly.

"You're warned: don't be surprised if you get harsh words or a slap or punch or two headed your way," Bonnie said.

"Honestly, that comes a bit late," Nick rubbed at his cheek.

"Cotton," Bonnie chuckled. "No wonder she wanted to pick you up alone."

A knock came at the study door and the door opened. Cotton poked her head around it.

"Grandma, Gideon and Sharla are here," she said.

Judy had gotten to the main hall before Bonnie and Nick. Gideon Grey was still portly as he was when he was younger, and he now leaned on a cane thanks to an injury from several years prior. Sharla was not much shorter than Gideon. They had both rushed over when they heard Judy was in town.

"How ya doin', Judy?" Gideon asked.

"Been better," Judy said. "But I'm still alive, and that's what counts."

"You betcha," Sharla replied. "We heard about what's going on in Zootopia."

"We're just glad you're fine," Gideon added, a warm smile on his face.

That smile waned when he spotted Bonnie and Nick entering the main hall. Gideon looked to Sharla. She nodded, and Gideon stumbled over towards Nick.

"Wilde," Gideon greeted, his face neutral.

"Gideon," Nick returned.

"Heard you was in town. Truth was, I didn't know what I was gonna say when I saw ya. Thought of all this stuff, like 'foxes mate for life'…"

"I don't exactly roll according to foxma, you know."

"Naw, you never did."

"And anything else you can think of, Mrs. Hopps already said."

"Bet she did. Any of it stick?"

"It wasn't anything I wasn't already thinking or feeling. She just laid it all out."

"Ya know… trust is difficult to come by. We're Judy's friends, and we want to think that Judy knows what she's doin'."

"She already told you? Who doesn't know?"

"Know that you two are gonna try again but take it slow? She told a few people 'round here. Easier to know in advance than have to deal with it on the fly."

"You sound more eloquent than usual."

"Naw, I'm jus' repeatin' what I was told. But… Wilde, Judy might be givin' you another shot, but you're gonna have to earn a lot of trust back."

"Yeah, I got that."

"Ain't even me you gotta worry 'bout," Gideon chuckled. "Imagine that ol' Stu Hopps is gonna have a conversation with ya on the end of a pitchfork, so be careful."

The rest of the day was spent with Nick and Judy getting reacquainted to the town and residents. Agent Bull escorted them around Bunnyburrow. Nick learned a lot about what had occurred since he had last been there. Cotton no longer lived in Bunnyburrow but had been visiting when Nick and Judy's movement into witness protection had occurred. She was an EMT for Zootopia General Hospital's air ambulance. It tickled Nick to know that, in her own way, Cotton had emulated her aunt's ambition to make the world a better place. There was no better way than saving lives.

Gideon and Sharla ran the bakery in town together. They had been married for ten years, and had adopted a fox named Joshua. Sharla had tried to become an astronaut. In an unfortunate irony, she had developed astrophobia. She became ground crew for ZASA for a few years before returning to Bunnyburrow.

As the day drew to a close, everybody went their separate ways, with Nick and Judy returning to the Hopps Warren.

And that's a wrap for this chapter! This was… harder to write than I thought it would be, and that's because the original chapter is very monologue-driven. I needed to try and convey the same story as that, but a lot of that monologue had to be repurposed, rewritten, or changed entirely.

Stay tuned, though, because I'll keep this story going through to its end, no matter how long it takes! Until next time!