A/N: Hey, reader! First I would like to thank you for returning to my story and I hope that you are enjoying it. I sadly have found what keeps me from writing. I started this fic as a way to spite another author who was in a group chat with me. Now that time has passed I am no longer in said group chat and thus lost a lot of my inspiration to continue it. I am not without it though, as seeing follows, favorites and reviews always gets me excited! As embarrassing as it is to beg for the previously mentioned, I will say please. Leave reviews good/bad I love reading them as they let me know what you enjoy/dislike and I can adjust properly!

Please do enjoy 7!

"What do you think you're doing here in my study, son!?" a yell pierced the once silent air of the Hopps warren.

The only thing the target of Stu's wrath could do was defensively raise his hands and slowly turn around and face the Hopps patriarch, who was not in the best of moods seeing someone other than himself in his study.

"Come on, let's hear an answer! What makes you think you can enter my study!?" Stu loudly asked.

The amount of noise Stu was making attracted all sorts of attention from other Hopps family members. The nearby hallways and doorways flooded with prying eyes and ears to find out what was going on. Those who attempted to get close enough to see the direction of their father's anger were only met with a petrifying gaze that made them back off almost immediately.

After warding off the few children that dared approach, Stu brought his gaze back to the intruder. Still no word has left their mouth and they remained in the same pose as if bound that way. Stu continued the one sided stare down until the waterworks on the intruder started with a large amount of stammering.

"Looks like you got that mouth working," Stu huffed. Looking back to the crowd he let out a frustrated sigh as he walked in and slammed the door. It was silent for what felt like an hour as the door flew open with Stu holding a bunny by the neck.

Stu looked down and started with a firm voice, "now tell everyone what you learned."

The crowd instantly recognized their brother, Connor, who between sniffles explained to the crowd that their father's study was off limits.

Abigale shook her head after the years old memory came to an end.

"He was way too hard on poor Connor," she sighed, "the closest of us got dish duty for a month. Beats getting yelled at to tears though. Even going this way reminds me of the angriest I've seen dad. I wonder what he keeps…"

*THUD*

Abigale was torn from her thoughts as something crashed into her. She took a second to collect herself as she looked at the speeder. She was met with a small police officer looking back at her, Judy. Judging by the direction she was headed Abigale guessed someone was about to get tattled on. She also knew that while dad was probably in bed, her mother was busy with the younger litters and probably didn't want to deal with a police report at the time. "Let's see what the issue is," Abigale sighed to herself.

Judy quickly apologized for ramming into her sister and made an attempt around her being stopped by an arm right in front of her face.

"I already apologized, Abby! Now let me go!" Judy cried, "a sneaker is caught and could escape soon!"

Abigale rolled her eyes, "excuuuuse me, officer, but do you know the speed limit in this area?" This got a giggle out of Judy. "Just because you enforce the rules doesn't mean you can ignore them. Now! Where are you coming from and where you going?"

Judy loved when her siblings played along with her police fantasies and stood at attention as she briefed Abigale on her recent chase, "I was chasing a culprit who was covered with a sheet, ma'am! I caught up to them too late as they escaped into dad's study!" Judy finished with a serious tone but was betrayed by a grin and giggles.

Abigale recoiled slightly at the mention of the study, thinking it was one hell of a coincidence that she was just recently thinking about. Should spare whoever is currently in there and scold them herself. That'll save everyone in the house some sleep and not completely embarrass the culprit. She needed to convince Judy to let her handle this. "Look, Judy, do you know what'll happen if Dad finds someone has been in his study without permission?" Judy simply shook her head. "Now you weren't around when Connor got caught, but it's a whole lot of messy, you understand? I could tell you about it later, but just let me handle this. Okay?"

Judy looked up at Abigale with concern and disappointment plastered on her face, "But I wanted to solve it." She let out a soft sniffle as her eyes trailed to the ground. Abigale's foot started thumping causing Judy to look back up at her. With arms crossed and an expression that said "not having it" she slowly shook her head. This caused Judy to lose the facade, "Oh come on, pleeeeease?"

"Judy, please. I need you to promise me that you won't tell mom or dad about whoever is in there," she pleaded. The younger sister was unimpressed as now her arms were crossed. Abigale looked right into the violet eyes and outstretched her paw, "We can solve it together, just please."

The small gray bunny relented and hugged her sister, ignoring the provided paw, "okay. You can tell me about Connor on the way there!" Abigale happily agreed as they made their way.

Nick was in a panic. He was trapped in the one room that even in emergencies you wouldn't go to and stuck in there because of the family officer! He paced the room chewing on his claws as he attempted to craft an escape plan. Unfortunately there was one way in and out of this room and beyond that barrier was a straight hallway making it almost impossible to get out without being seen by the guard he believed to be right outside. Perhaps he could throw the sheet back on and run past her? No, that wouldn't work! On his way here she was nearly close enough to pull the sheet off, imagine if she started closer. He would have been caught for sure!

Nick continued pacing the room trying to think of something as a foul odor made it to his nose. He took a deep inhale and almost immediately regretted it, swiping and scratching along his muzzle in a desperate attempt to block out the smell. He blanched and started a coughing fit as he fell to all fours. Grabbing the sheet he brought with him and bringing it up to his nose he felt as if he could breathe properly again. Nick, still coughing, wondered what that smell could be as he scanned the desk and shelves in the room. "Argh! Not now," the fox scolded himself, "I gotta find a way out of here!" he stopped for a minute realizing the commotion he made with the coughing fit didn't get a reaction from outside. With the sheet still covering his mouth and nose he walked silently over to the door and put an ear to it. He didn't hear anything so he turned the light off and looked for shadows coming through the space under the door. Again nothing. With the hope that she was actually gone he opened the door ever so slightly and let out a sigh of relief. Nick quickly adjusted the sheet to be comfortably held, holding his breath as to not inhale whatever that noxious gas was.

The door to the study opened quickly, yet quietly. Nick closed the door with the same care of which he opened it and bolted down the hall. As he made it past the first intersection he could hear Judy's voice. She was talking with someone! He didn't care to listen for who it was as anyone Judy brought back to find him would be bad news! His ears pinned to his head as he thought of being caught. Nick thought to avoid anyone and everyone as his little chase earlier had a small crowd. "Time to take the long way," Nick suggested as he made a quick pivot.

Judy continued hammering Abigale with questions about the event with Connor. She knew that the study was off limits so digging for more details about Connor would hopefully reveal more about her dad's decision. The only details she got, however, were about Abigale got an unfair dish duty sentence along with a few others and that Connor was crying while being made an example of. Judy huffed, upset that most of her questions weren't getting the answers she wanted, maybe buggingConnor about it later could reveal a bit more?

"That face you're making says you want to know more," Abigale teased, "now don't go and annoy Connor about it. I already tried getting his story." Judy fell silent as she rubbed her face as if trying to remove this 'look' Abigale mentioned. Giggling to herself, Abigale looked ahead seeing the target hallway intersection and guided her currently self-blinded sister around the corner with a paw on her back."Think the perp is still in there?" Abigale said with a semi-serious tone.

Judy lit up at her sister's lingo, "has to be! I wasn't gone for that long!" Judy beamed as they approached the door. Both hesitant to even touch it, Judy met the gaze of Abigale who seemed to also be worried about going in. Ears pinned to the back of her head, Abigale reached for the door opening it slightly. Judy immediately peaked in scanning what she could make out of the darkness, unfortunately there was no one.

There wasn't much to the room. It looked how you might expect any office to look. A wide desk facing the door, two cushioned chairs in the corner wish a small table between them and the walls almost completely covered by bookshelves. While unassuming, the room gave off an uncanny, almost menacing, feeling. There were no windows and the only light was spilling through the crack of the door keeping the room shaded and imposing.

Judy brought a thumb to her mouth looking down at the bottom of the door as if trying to remember something. Quickly glancing up at Abigale and back to the door she took a small step forward just before where the hardwood of the hall ended and the carpet of the office started. She wasn't technically in the office as she slowly swung the door even further open, revealing more detail to the room. More details that Judy wasn't interested in as none of them were who she was looking for.

Judy began thinking again trying to remember anything about who she was chasing. They were about a head taller than her with ears down. Failing to come up with any other detail as the escapee was mostly covered by the sheet. Maybe?

Abigale interrupted Judy's thought process, "welp, looks like they did get away."

"Yeah… No sheet?" Judy thought out loud.

"E-excuse me?" Abigale stated, a little shocked, "what did you say?"

"Whoever it is, they had a sheet over them," Judy offered, "other than that they were running from 'H-I-J' hall. Maybe that narrows it down a bit?"

Abigale, relieved that what she heard from her sister was only misheard, had a sinking feeling. After this little investigation with Judy she was going to check-up on Nick. Something told her she needed to be there and quick. It likely wasn't a coincidence seeing as whoever was in dad's study came running from 'H-I-J' hall. Giving out an exasperated sigh, "it's getting pretty late, Judy. Probably won't finish this tonight, so why don't you head to bed? We'll talk in the morning, mm'kay?"

"But we could finish! Maybe someone else near H-I-J saw something!" Judy protested. She began walking down towards the intersection on her way to further the investigation, but noticed Abigale wasn't following her. "Come on! Everyone is probably in bed by now!"

Abigale pinched between her eyes, "bed is where we should be right now. You're in that hall, so let's get you to bed and ask anyone around?" She desperately wanted Judy to drop this for tonight, as Nick was likely the culprit in her own eyes. Luckily Judy agreed, likely convinced by her own perfectly timed yawn.

Judy sleepily held up her paw, "yuuuuuhh, I am getting tired." Abigale took her paw as they walked their way back to the H-I-J hall.

Abigale hoped to all that is good in the world that they wouldn't run into anybody and it seemed that hope was recognized as they didn't even hear so much as another set of steps. Quietly sighing she began thinking of ways to drop Judy so she could talk to Nick privately. At the beginning of the destined hallway was a bathroom, so Abigale decided to send Judy to her room alone as she waited in the bathroom. After washing her face in the sink she slid her back on the wall ending up sitting on the floor as she gave out an exhausted sigh and scooched closer to the door listening for a door to close.

"HEY!" Judy shouted followed by the slamming of a door.

Abigale heart dropped as she shot back to her feet, making her feel just a little light-headed. Throwing the door back open she speedily exit the bathroom only to see Judy opening a door further down the hall and entering quickly. Abigale thumped her foot angrily, "damnit…" As Abigale made her way to Nick's room she noticed heads, ears and faces emerging from other rooms and she told them all, "go back to bed, it was just Judy," which seemed to work as most of the rooms she passed closed again.

Nick was making swift progress down hallways, able to avoid the few crowds of older siblings that were awake using his ears and nose. He knew the route he was taking quite well and was rather easy to navigate, even if it's a longer trip. Speeding past rooms that were used either for storage or guests certainly wouldn't have any mammal in them, to Nick's knowledge, the house wasn't entertaining any guests. With this information he could stop worrying about making too much noise as well as not having to worry about hiding his body with the sheet.

Nick itched at his nose, remembering the stench from the study, "that'll be why I'm not going there again… What was it though?" Nick came up with several ideas of what could be. Maybe he doesn't want us to go in there because there is a dead body or maybe it was his forgotten stash of food! He shuddered at the thought of something just rotting in there envisioning a large pile behind the desk or stuffed into the cushions. Nick blanched as he dismissed the thought.

Nick swerved around the last corner almost back to his room. He slowed his pace passing a few doors as he looked up where emerald and violet met. Nick looked down to his sheet tucked into his arm then started to sprint to his door. He luckily beat Judy to his room, but she was quick and too close for comfort. He heard her yell out and quickly slammed the door. Too slow as the door swung back open, hitting him back. Nick scrambled for his sheet as he threw it over himself again. Tail tucked into his chest and claws digging into the fabric as it was attempting to be taken from him.

"It's not gonna work this time!" Judy stated triumphantly, "I caught the fox!"

"The..? The f-fox?" Nick quietly said. The feelings of misplacement and unbelonging surged back as one of his siblings referred to him as only 'the fox.' Fighting back tears he released his grip on the bed sheet, which resulted in it being swiftly removed from him. He swiftly stood up and with painful and aggressive eyes stared down the bunny who was currently sharing a room.

Judy backed off a bit at the sudden movement of Nick, dropping the bed sheet as she caught his gaze. "I-I-I c-caught you," she stammered out.

Between sniffles Nick let out a low growl and flexed his paws. He argued with himself on how and if he should yell. Abruptly interrupted before he could even speak by Abigale who barged into the room closing the door behind her, "That is ENOUGH!" she nearly shouted. She had put up with plenty of fights between her siblings, but this one could have been bad considering how emotionally scared Nick was currently. Luckily she got there when she did.

Nick relaxed slightly at the sight of Abigale, but in that moment of silence he noticed his posture, his threatening growl and the expression of Judy. He immediately remembered his previous nightmare and quickly relaxed his paws and fell to his knees sobbing, "I'm mu-muh sur-sorry!"

Abigale quickly came to Nick's aid and she gathered the broken fox in her arms and began stroking between his ears and down his back. This seemed to calm Nick down slightly. Judy just stood beside watching the whole thing, still a bit taken aback by Nick's sudden change of attitude from when she first entered. Nick eventually came to as he hugged Abigale tightly and stood up. Abigale silently ordered Judy to sit up on the bed as she brought Nick over. Judy on the left and Nick on the right of Abigale.

"Alright," Abigale took in a deep breath, "let's talk about tonight, huh?"

Nick and Judy both nodded their heads. Nick started talking about his nightmare and running away from Henry along with others. Abigale only listened as she continued to smooth down his still matted fur along his face and back. Judy shrunk at the detail of him running away. She didn't know and apologized for chasing him through the hall and barging into his room. She also talked about running to get Bonnie or Stu. Both Nick and Abigale cringed as they thought of what could have been had Judy been successful.

Abigale, smoothed down the last bit of fur on Nick's head and looked him right in the eyes, "Now you're not in trouble," Judy opened her mouth to protest, "at least not with mom and dad, but being in the study doesn't go without punishment. Judy, you are not going to tell mom or dad about what happened tonight. Actually don't tell anyone, I am handling it."

Judy understood and promised to keep it a secret, even twirling around to show she wasn't crossing her ears.

"Thank you," Abigale hugged Judy tightly, "now I need to talk to Nick alone and after this you should definitely be in bed."

"Alright, Abbi," Judy returned the hug and looked to Nick, "sorry that I said 'fox', Nick…"

Nick slightly flinched as she said it again, but silently accepted the apology as Judy exited the room. Nick glanced up at Abigale and was surprised at the look on her face. It wasn't one that was going to discipline him, but he broke the silence quickly asking between sniffles, "so… how bad am I in trouble?"

Abigale didn't immediately respond as tears began to well up at the corners of her eyes. She brought Nick into a tight, reassuring embrace, "not right now, Nicky." She held Nick in her arms and whispered, "I love you, Nick and nothing you do can change that."

Nick began crying again as he snuggled closer to Abigale, "even though I'm a fox?"

Abigale loosened her grip on the hug as she matched Nick's gaze, "Of course!" She paused, "Get the brush from your desk, Nicky. It's time we talked about this."

Hope you enjoyed it! Again if you could leave reviews of what you do and don't like I would be grateful for both! Keep on keeping on!