(A/N) I am SO SORRY it took me this long to update this story. After the two week gap between chapters 2 and 3 I thought there wouldn't be any more delays like that, but...I was wrong.
I was feeling really good when I posted Chapter 4. I had been at an all-night event with some friends at our church and instead of sleeping, I found an empty room and stayed up for hours writing fanfiction. I mean, what could be better than that, after all?
Well, pretty soon after that, things started to go off the rails for me. A few days after posting Chapter 4, I started to get really nostalgic about the house where I grew up (we moved a year and a half ago, but I had lived there for my whole life until then) and my emotions went out of control. I started remembering things I used to do in that house that I'd forgotten about, and that would just make me more sad that it was over.
Eventually, we found out that my emotions were out of control because of some allergy medicine I'd been taking since last summer. That also explains why I was so distressed about recovering those files on my sister's phone which caused my absence between the second and third chapters. Unfortunately, the withdrawal symptoms when I stopped the medicine were fifty times worse than when I was taking it, and for about a week, I was truly an emotionally unbalanced bunny. I would be crying uncontrollably one moment, and the next I'd be excited about the future and perfectly content. Even reminding myself that it was all caused by medicine and would eventually go away didn't stop the moods.
Thankfully, the symptoms have been subsiding in recent weeks. I'll still have episodes here and there, but I don't feel just utterly hopeless like I did for most of that first week. I'm still recovering and it could be a while before I'm completely back to normal, but this weekend was the first time I felt good enough to sit down and get back to writing this story. I know I said this last time, but I'm really looking forward to the rest of the story and hopefully I can update more regularly from now on. (fingers crossed!)
I'd like to thank writer Zephyr Fyrian for supporting me through all of this upheaval. You are truly the best sister (and friend) I could ever ask for. Sometimes I honestly don't know what I'd do without you.
I also need to thank my parents, a friend of mine who'd previously had trouble with the same medicine, and last but not least, all of my readers. You have all been so positive throughout everything and I want you to know it was not unappreciated. It's because of everyone cheering me on that I was able to get through this.
Wow, I really blathered a lot. Sorry about that; I just like to keep all of you more or less up-to-date on my life. I always enjoyed reading fanfics where authors did that, so...yeah, I don't really have anything else to say. I'm super tired. I'll shut up and let you read the chapter now.
When the day of the visit arrived, Nick woke up to find himself feeling excited, while also nervous at the same time. He was looking forward to seeing Judy again, but he didn't know what to expect about the rest of her family. After all, Judy was the first rabbit Nick had met who actually made an effort to be his friend. Would the rest of her family be like her, or would they be more like most other rabbits?
"Mom," Nick moaned, "are we gonna go soon?"
"Yes, Nicholas," his mother said, sighing. "I've told you five times already; we have to wait for your father."
Nick groaned again and starting banging his head against the wall. His younger brother, Brendan, was currently running around the living room energetically, unable to contain his enthusiasm. Though, to be fair, this was probably because Nick had spent the last several days telling him all about Judy and how amazing she was.
"I can't wait to see all the bunnies!" Brendan said happily. "Does Judy really have purple eyes? I've never seen anyone with purple eyes before!"
"Yes, she has purple eyes," Nick replied dully; while he was equally fascinated with Judy's unusual eye color, he was getting a little tired of answering the same questions over and over. "Mom, why is Dad taking so long—"
"Alright, I'm ready!" Mr. Wilde announced cheerfully, entering the room wearing a suit and tie. "Let's go!"
Mrs. Wilde sighed.
"John, do you really need to dress up so much?" she asked. "It's not like we're going to a wedding or something."
John frowned, looking like a disappointed child. He almost always dressed formal like this, even if it was just for a casual event. It wasn't because he wanted to seem important or anything; he just liked dressing nice.
"I just want to make a good impression," he said.
"I'm not complaining," Mrs. Wilde replied. "I'm just saying you don't have to dress up. No one's giving you a grade for this."
Nick was barely paying attention to the conversation, since he was anxious to see Judy again, but the clothes discussion reminded him of something. Back in the city, his father had seemed to stress a lot about making a good impression at business meetings and such, and part of that was always dressing formally. Nick supposed it was because foxes were always viewed with suspicion by default, and so John had to take extra care to avoid being seen that way. Now that Nick thought about it, it made him feel a little sad.
"Maybe that's why he's worried about it now," Nick thought. "Even Judy was nervous about me at first, and she's unusual for a rabbit. What will the rest of her family think of me? Of all of us?"
"Well, I guess we'd better go," Mrs. Wilde said. "We'll definitely make a bad impression if we don't show up on time."
"Yay!" Brendan exclaimed, jumping up and down like a bunny.
"Finally," Nick said.
John and his wife, May, made their way to the front door, the kits following closely behind them. Brendan was still bouncing around excitedly, while Nick walked calmly and kept his enthusiasm to himself. Yes, he was looking forward to seeing Judy again, but a part of him was still nervous about what her family would think of them, so he didn't really know what to feel.
Nick stepped out onto the porch and was met by a pleasant cool breeze as he followed his family to the car. He didn't say a word as he got in his seat and put his seat belt on. Over in the other seat, May was having trouble getting Brendan to sit still so she could buckle him in.
"Surely the bunnies will get along with him," Nick thought. "All that jumping around, he practically is one."
Soon enough, Brendan was buckled up and May went to take her seat in the front. John turned on his GPS and then pulled out of the driveway and onto the road.
"Do you really need the GPS?" May inquired. "We've driven by the Hopps' farm several times; it's not that far from here."
"Well, I just want to make sure we go to the right place!" John replied. "We've never been there before. I don't want to drive past by accident."
"Ok, then," May said, shaking her head but smiling.
John had a tendency to be a little eccentric at times, but May had pretty much gotten used to it by now. From what Nick could tell, they joked around a lot but usually got along really well.
While his parents continued talking, and Brendan was bouncing around in his seat, Nick looked out the window at the countryside and tried to relax. He figured it wouldn't be long before they arrived at the Hopps' family farm, as his mother had said it was less than twenty minutes away, so he tried not to feel anxious at the thought of seeing Judy and her family very soon.
"Judy's mom invited us over, so that must be a good sign, right?" Nick thought optimistically. "If they hated foxes, then they probably wouldn't have invited us."
He tried not to worry too much about the visit, but it was hard not to. Judy was the only real friend he had in Bunnyburrow so far, and the thought of anything disturbing that friendship scared him. He knew he was incredibly lucky to have met a rabbit like Judy, and didn't want to count on finding another like her.
"Maybe Bunnyburrow wouldn't be such a bad place to live, if I have Judy to talk to…" he thought wistfully.
Nick thought back to when his parents had first announced the move. He had been passionately against the idea; he had pleaded with them not to make him move and had cried himself to sleep that night. Of course, John and May didn't want to leave Zootopia either, but there was nothing to be done about it. After being laid off from his last job, John had gone through several months of unemployment before he was hired at a new job in Bunnyburrow.
Needless to say, as hard as it was for a fox to find decent employment, there was no question that John would accept the job. It didn't pay a lot, but it was preferable to unemployment. Still, Nick had never liked the idea of moving to a town populated by rabbits, the most likely species to distrust foxes. Before the move, he had met a few other rabbits his age, and he never liked how noticeably afraid of him they were. That was several years ago, and it was the first time he'd felt self-conscious about being a predator. He didn't like that feeling, and he knew that being in a town filled with bunnies—a fox's natural prey—would only make it worse.
But then Judy had come along. Nick recalled how he'd felt when he first noticed Gideon bullying her. It had made him so angry, seeing a predator using their strength to take advantage of weaker prey. By the time he confronted Gideon, he had already stopped thinking rationally. All he knew was that a bunny was being hurt and she had no way to defend herself, so he decided to defend her himself.
Nick was still quite proud of that decision. In a way, it seemed to validate all of the qualities he'd pledged to uphold in the Scouts' meeting.
"I'm never going back there," he thought. "I don't need to make friends there anyway. I have a friend, and she's a better friend than any of them ever could be."
Nick looked up and saw that, to his surprise, they were already pulling into the Hopps' driveway. In the midst of his introspection, he'd lost track of time. But sure enough, they had arrived at their destination, and there was no delaying the inevitable any longer. Whatever happened would happen soon.
"Alright, let's go meet them!" John said enthusiastically, parking the car and getting out.
"Hold on; I still have to get Brendan out of his—" May started, then noticed that Brendan had already figured out how to unbuckle himself.
"I don't think he's even a little nervous," Nick realized. "I don't think he really understands the whole predator/prey thing yet. He seemed really confused when I told him about getting muzzled…"
Brendan was only six, three years younger than Nick, so it made sense that he would be oblivious to things like that. Nick couldn't help but envy him a little; life would be so much easier if he could just ignore all the bad things and make them go away.
But life wasn't like that. That was something Nick was beginning to learn, something he would come to learn more and more every day.
John led the way up to the porch, May following beside him. Nick was slowly walking up behind them, while Brendan rushed past all three of them and hurried up to the door.
"Go ahead and knock, Brendan," May said.
"I get to knock?" Brendan replied excitedly. "Yay!"
John laughed and May smiled. Nick, meanwhile, was still playing out scenarios in his head. Would the visit go well? Would everyone get along? As worried as he was for himself, Nick also worried about his little brother. He did not want Brendan to have to experience the prejudice against foxes, to feel embarrassed or even ashamed because of what he was. Maybe that was impossible to avoid, living in Bunnyburrow, but Nick would do his best to shield his brother as much as he could.
By the time Nick joined the rest of his family on the porch, Brendan had already knocked on the door about twenty-seven times and May was trying to calm him down.
"Alright," she said, gently pulling her younger son's paw away from the door, "now let's wait a little while and see if they come to the door."
Brendan looked a little disappointed, but he was still smiling. He stepped back from the door and the four foxes waited several seconds. Soon enough, the door opened to reveal a rabbit doe with purple eyes similar to Judy's, except hers were less vibrant. For the briefest moment, there was a flicker of uncertainty on the rabbit's face, but it disappeared almost as soon as it had come.
"Mr. and Mrs. Wilde?" she inquired.
"That would be us!" John confirmed.
"Nice to meet you," the rabbit said, smiling as she reached her paw out. "I'm Bonnie Hopps. Sorry about the driveway; it always confuses the delivery people."
Both John and May laughed at this, then each shook Bonnie's paw and introduced themselves.
"Alright, come on in," Bonnie said, stepping back inside the house and holding the door open. "My husband's waiting in the kitchen."
John and May followed her into the house, Nick and Brendan walking behind them. The two older foxes had to bend over slightly to step through the doorway, but luckily the ceiling inside was just tall enough that they could walk without crouching over. Since Nick and Brendan were still small kits, they didn't have any trouble fitting inside.
"Hey, are they here?!" shouted a familiar, excited voice from somewhere in the burrow.
Judy came running and almost slammed right into her mother as the group was rounding a corner. As soon as she saw Nick and the other foxes, her face lit up and she waved at them.
"Hi!" the bunny kit said cheerily. "You must be Nick's family! I'm Judy!"
"Hi, Judy!" Brendan replied with equal enthusiasm. "My brother told me so much about you! He said you were really nice and the best bunny in the world and you have purple eyes!"
Nick suddenly felt very embarrassed and wished he could have left the room. Sure, he had said a lot about Judy to his brother, but he was pretty sure the phrase 'best bunny in the world' was Brendan's own doing. Still, when Judy turned to face Nick, he felt like he was shrinking into the floor.
"Well, that was very kind of you, Nick," Judy said; was it just Nick's imagination or did she look a little embarrassed too?
"How about we go to the kitchen?" Bonnie suggested. "My husband's making some coffee, if you'd like some…"
"Excellent!" John said eagerly. "I always enjoy a good cup of coffee!"
"You don't have to be so dramatic about it," May replied jokingly, as Bonnie led them down the hall towards the kitchen.
As they walked, Nick couldn't help but feel impressed by the Hopps' residence. There were so many hallways branching off from each other that he didn't know how anyone could ever remember how to find their way around. It made sense, with the amount of kits that lived here, but it was still pretty amazing to see it in person.
"Do you like our house?" Judy asked, chuckling slightly; apparently she had noticed Nick staring.
"U-um…yeah, it's really cool," Nick replied, caught off guard by the question.
"I love it!" Brendan said, jumping up and down happily. "It's such a fun place! I want to stay here forever!"
Nick and Judy both laughed.
"I'm glad you both like it here," Judy said. "Today is going to be so much fun! I hope my brothers and sisters don't bother us too much. James is so annoying."
"How many brothers and sisters do you have?" Nick asked. He remembered his mother telling him that the Hopps family had a lot of kits, but he couldn't remember how many.
"Two hundred and seventy five!" Judy answered. "Sometimes it's hard to remember everyone's name."
"Wow…" Nick said, speechless. "I guess it probably gets loud?"
"It's always loud!" Judy laughed. "I share my room with about twenty or so of my siblings, and sometimes it's too crazy in there to think, so I like to go outside. There's a lot of cool places I like to go on the farm. Maybe I can show you some today if my mom lets us go outside!"
"I-I'd love to see them," Nick replied.
"Why did I get nervous just now?" he wondered. "I shouldn't be nervous about Judy; I already know she's nice. I guess I should be nervous about meeting the rest of her family, but not about talking to her…"
Just then, they entered the kitchen, where a male rabbit wearing a cap was pouring himself a cup of coffee.
"Oh!" he exclaimed, jumping when he saw the new arrivals. "Uh—um—I—"
Bonnie sighed, putting a paw to her forehead as if embarrassed.
"This is my husband, Stu," she said.
"Um…yeah, nice to meet you!" Stu said quickly, setting his coffee mug down on the table before hurrying over to shake paws with Nick's parents.
Unlike Bonnie, who had only seemed nervous for a split-second when she'd first seen the Wildes, Stu was very obviously uncomfortable. He was polite, but it was clear that he was still a little apprehensive of foxes. Nick noticed how the buck kept nervously eyeing his parents' claws when they shook.
"Alright, have a seat," Bonnie said politely, probably trying to diffuse the tension from Stu's awkward introduction. "I think the coffee's done."
"Hey, Mom?" Judy spoke up.
"Yes, dear?"
"Can we go play outside? I don't want to play in my room because James is always in there being crazy."
"As long as it's ok with Nick's parents," Bonnie replied.
"Of course," May said, pleased to see the kits were getting along so well. "Just don't wander off, ok? Make sure we can still see you from the house."
"Ok," Judy agreed. "Come on, Nick, let's go!
(A/N) Well, what did you think of the chapter? I apologize for ending it so abruptly; I didn't initially plan that, but I thought it was an ok stopping point and I really wanted to upload something as soon as possible. Don't worry, the next one will pick up where this one left off.
I hope to upload again soon. Things are looking up!
P.S.: If everything goes well, I may actually be moving back into my old house someday! I realize you're probably tired of hearing me go on and on about my troubles, but I felt like saying that, so there you go!
