Shaylee sat comfortably in the straw while playing on her phone. It had taken her a while to go through all her photos looking for pictures of Judy. She ended up making a photo file of Judy so it would make it easier to create her music videos of her sister to send to her foxy friend. She had wondered why Judy was taking so long to return, but once she started making the videos, she lost all track of time.

As it was, she had 10 music videos made by the time she finished. She found 7 songs that she hoped were how Nick felt about Judy (or would come to feel about Judy), 2 songs that she was sure Judy felt about Nick, and then finished with a song by Ravenscode called My Escape. From her talk with Nick earlier that day, Shaylee was sure Nick felt that Judy had been his escape—at least there at the end of their crazy adventure.

Hopefully, she could get more information about the press conference from Judy once she arrived. It still made no sense whatsoever that Judy had treated Nick the way she had.

Sitting with one knee drawn up some, and her other leg crossed over it, her foot tapped the air and her head bopped as she listened to the music videos again to make sure they looked and sounded right. The first 7 songs about Nick's feelings for Judy were: She Can by Alabama, It Must Be Love by Alan Jackson, We Found Love by Boyce Avenue, Something Just Like This by The Chainsmokers & Coldplay, She's Everything by Brad Paisley, God Gave Me You by Blake Shelton, and Somebody by Bryan Adams. She then had No One Else On Earth by Wynonna and If I Can't Have You by the Bee Gees for Judy's feelings for Nick. At least, going by what Mandy said about Judy and how she'd been acting the last month and a half, Shaylee assumed Judy felt this way about Nick. She then finished, of course, with My Escape by Ravenscode.

Escape had just started playing when Shaylee heard the thud and scritch of the large, clawed feet of a couple of birds coming up the drive. Turning her phone off, Shaylee scooted to the hayloft door and glanced outside. Judy was coming down the road, but she wasn't alone. Trailing behind her were two emus—a female a little bigger than the bird she rode, having a grayish-brown coat with black tipped feathers, giving the female a unique spotted look. But what really caught Shaylee's attention was a much larger male with bright white, fluffy neck and chest feathers and a dark-brown, almost black body.

It was a gorgeous male, and if not for its size, Shaylee would have sworn it was one of the dwarf emus teenagers preferred to ride. Wondering where her sister got such a large bird (and why!?), Shaylee slipped her phone in her pocket and then turned around and scrambled for the ladder leading down to the barn's main level. As she hopped off the last rung and onto the dirt floor, Shaylee saw Judy stop outside the open barn doors.

As her sister dropped from the saddle, Shaylee pulled her phone out and switched on the video recorder, whispering, "Nick, I hope you appreciate what I'm doing for you." Then Shaylee quickly looked around to find a good spot to stash her phone to record her conversation with Judy. Finding a good spot with a view of the barn floor that wasn't too far away so the audio could still be recorded, Shaylee then waited for Judy to bring the birds in.

Judy patted Pebbles neck with a heavy sigh, then turned her attention to JD and Toot-toot. Stepping over to them, she ran her paw along Toot-toot's side, then ran her paws down JD's fluffy neck and chest. She just couldn't get over how much JD reminded her of Nick, which sent her thoughts right back to all those pointed questions Patty-Mae had asked her. The ride home had been far too quiet and images of Nick (some of which had her ears blushing several shades of red) haunted her the whole way home. Although the ideas certainly intrigued her (Nick was certainly a talented todd and she had already seen what he could do with his tongue and a popsicle)—Judy groaned and buried her head into JD's fluffy feathers.

She really wished Patty-Mae hadn't brought up all these thoughts of Nick just yet. Although she certainly needed to think about them at some point, now wasn't the time. No matter what Patty-Mae or anyone else said, the likelihood of her meeting Nick in the near future was so improbable as to be laughable. And to have all these heated, vivid thoughts and images of Nick running around inside her head was going to be a pain in the tail. Especially if she did finally meet him and found out he could only ever see her as a friend—a rabbit friend. That would just about kill her if Nick friend-zoned her. She would deal with it and hope it would change to something more with time, but still, the initial feeling would kill her.

With a heavy sigh, she pulled her head out of JD's fluffy feathers, then swiped her paw over her nose to wipe the dust off before she started sneezing again. Stepping back up to Pebbles, Judy grabbed the reins again and said, "Come on, let's get you inside so I can get this saddle off you."

Stepping into the barn with the birds trailing behind her, Judy's ears perked forward and her nose twitched at seeing her sister Shaylee grinning at her.

"Hey, Judy, I heard you'd gone riding this morning, but I wasn't expecting to see you come back with some new birds." With wide eyes as she stared at the large male, Shaylee asked, "And where in the world did you find such a huge Dwarf emu!?"

With a grin spreading across her face, Judy said, "Well, Patty-Mae Leaps has been breeding the Dwarf emus bigger and calling them King emus. This is actually one of the smaller ones."

Shaylee pointed to the large male emu and said, "He's one of the smaller ones!?"

Judy ears were perked forward as she laughed, saying, "Yeah, he's one of the smallest ones."

Shaylee's jaw dropped as she glanced between the two birds, then asked, "And why do you have them?"

Judy continued to smile as she said, "I bought them." At Shaylee's stunned look, Judy laughed and explained, "I'm going to sign up for the Search and Rescue Mounted Patrol and work a few seasons there." With a grin as she looked back over her birds, Judy added, "I'm taking them up in the mountains Thursday morning to make sure they're mountain worthy before I sign up."

"Oh?" Shaylee murmured curiously. The fact Judy was finally pulling herself together and getting on with her life was a good sign, but she wondered how Nick figured into her plans. Judy wasn't one to give up once she set her mind on something. And going by how Mandy went crazy after learning Nick was a todd and not a buck, it was obvious Judy had set her mind on Nick. Wondering how Judy planned on getting Nick back while looking the two birds over, she then asked, "And you needed two birds for that . . . why?"

With another laugh (it felt wonderful to laugh again), Judy led Pebbles and the other two birds over to the hitching post and tied Pebbles up, then walked over to grayish-brown female and said, "Well, I bought Toot-toot here for myself—"

"Toot-toot?" Shaylee interrupted her. How did she come up with such an odd name for an emu?

Judy didn't explain as she moved over to the larger male and said, "And this is JD. I bought him for a friend."

Shaylee's face took on a look of shock once more. "You . . . bought . . . an emu . . . for a friend?"

Running her paw down JD's fluffy, white chest, Judy said, "Well, more like, because JD reminds me of a friend. And if I ever see my friend again, then I would like to go riding with him." Rubbing her paw down the white feathers again, Judy added, "My friend's a bit bigger than your average bunny so he'll need a bigger bird to ride comfortably."

"Oh?" Shaylee murmured again as she suddenly saw how Nick factored into the equation of Judy buying two birds. Clasping her paws behind her back, she rocked on her heels and asked, "Does this friend have a name?" With a hum, she waited for the answer she knew was coming. Seeing JD's fluffy white neck and chest, she immediately thought of the swath of creamy-white fur of Nick's neck that disappeared beneath his shirt. And like JD, Nick was quite a bit bigger than Judy.

Judy's ears dropped and she didn't immediately answer. After a moment of petting JD, Judy glanced over her shoulder and answered, "Nick. His name is Nick Wilde."

Shaylee watched Judy a moment. She was obviously uncomfortable and the peppy energy she had a moment ago was now gone. After a moment, Shaylee asked quietly, "Is this the same Nick that Mandy mentioned to me earlier today?"

Judy's ears shot up and she spun around, saying, "Mandy mentioned him!?" Rubbing a paw over her face, she exclaimed, "What did she say!?"

With a shrug of her shoulders, Shaylee answered, "Well, she might have mentioned the fact you've been dreaming about him, and bawling over him, and that you were . . . interested in him."

Judy dropped her face in her paws and leaned back against JD. The tall bird squawked at her and ruffled his feathers, but otherwise stood still. Judy was glad of this as she didn't feel like falling backwards onto her tail.

As Judy didn't answer, Shaylee glanced at her phone still recording the conversation, then back at Judy and asked, "Well, was she right? Are you interested in Nick?"

Taking a deep breath, Judy looked off out the barn door. With a heavy sigh, she said, "Yes, I am." Now that she finally understood her feelings about Nick, she didn't want to deny how she felt about him, even if she wasn't ready to admit what species he was. If her mother ever found out she was chasing a predator, she'd never hear the end of it. Judy had enough on her plate already, without needing to listen to her mother's tirade about how she needed to settle down and start popping out kits. She could just hear her mother's voice now. 'Bun-bun, it's a rabbit doe's greatest joy in life to have kits and raise a large family. How can you possibly have a family if you hook up with a predator, and a fox at that!? You know foxes can't be trusted. Have you forgotten what Gideon did to you? How can you even think about laying with a mammal with such sharp teeth and claws? You know you'll be hurt, Bun-bun.'

Judy rolled her eyes at her mother's imagined concern for her choice of a mate. Trying to push her mother's pessimism back down, Judy looked at her sister and met her eyes, saying, "I do like him. I really, really like him."

Shaylee nodded as this was the answer she was expecting. With a deep breath as her nose twitched, she slowly asked, "And how do you think he feels about you?"

Judy's shoulders slumped. With her face in her paws again, Judy moaned, "I'm pretty sure he hates me."

Shaylee's ears drooped and after another glance at the camera, she asked Judy, "And why do you think that? From what Mandy said, he went out of his way to help you."

"He did, Shaylee." Dropping her paws, Judy looked back at her sister as she hugged herself dejectedly. "Nick not only went out of his way to help me, but he risked his life to do it. And I . . . I was such a horrible friend. I was small-minded and treated him so badly. Then I said such awful things about him, and to him, and then I . . ." Dropping her gaze to the barn's dirt floor while rubbing her arms morosely, Judy thought of that awful day. Nick's betrayed face flashed before her eyes and she just wanted to start bawling again—after digging a hole and burying herself in it.

Shaylee rubbed her own arms. She wanted to go to her sister and wrap her in a tight hug, but doubted she would get the answers she needed if she did (her sister would probably be crying too hard to answer any other questions). Taking a deep breath and wringing her paws together, she glanced quickly at the camera, then stepped closer to Judy and asked softly, "What did you do, Judy?"

With a sniffle, Judy wiped a paw across her face then said, "Nick, he . . ." Judy took a shuddering breath and continued, "He wanted to prove how little I trusted him, so he . . . he scared me and I reacted exactly how he expected me to." Burying her face back in her arms with a sob, she cried, "I wish I'd never taken the stupid can of Fox mace from Dad."

Hearing Judy mention the can of Fox-Away, Shaylee seized her chance to bring up the fact Nick was a fox without giving away the fact she knew him. She was going to beat Nick with a frying pan if he still insisted on playing Mandy's stupid game for a week. With a flick of her tail, she pointed out, "Since Nick had a problem with fox mace, and you said he scared you, does that mean he's a fox?" At Judy's sharp glance, Shaylee added, "You admitted you said some really hateful things about him and that speech at the conference was pretty hateful towards predators."

Judy's ears shot up for a moment, then dropped back down her back. Rubbing her arms again, she leaned against JD and stared out the barn door again. In a nearly soft whisper that Shaylee almost didn't hear, Judy finally replied, "Yeah, Nick is a fox. A red fox." Half expecting her sister to call her insane or stupid or some other such name, the hug Judy received left her in a daze.

Seeing Judy's melancholy expression while remembering how Mandy reacted to learning Nick was a fox, Shaylee stepped forward to pull her sister into a tight hug. "It's okay, Judy. If you found love in the arms of a fox, then I'll support you."

"You will?" Judy asked in a dull voice as she still couldn't believe her sister's complete acceptance of her attraction to a predatory fox.

Still hugging her sister, Shaylee replied, "Of course, I do. You were always happiest when you were with your predator friends. And they always did give you more support than any of us rabbits." With a light chuckle, Shaylee added, "And I never could see you settling down with some buck. A boring bunny buck was never your type."

Judy gave a shaky laugh as her arms finally circled her sister and returned the hug. "Yeah, bunny bucks have never caught or held my interest." With a deep breath while trying not to cry, she added, "Now if Mom could just figure that out, I'd be doing good."

Shaylee laughed softly for a moment, but then calmed down and said, "Seriously though, why were you scared of Nick? Was it because he was a fox?"

"NO!" Judy shouted. Taking a deep breath, she buried her face in Shaylee's shoulder while mumbling, "It's wasn't Nick I was afraid of."

"It wasn't!?" Shaylee exclaimed as she was at a complete loss as to why Judy showed such fear if she wasn't scared of Nick.

Judy shook her head against Shaylee's shoulder, and consequently getting her sister's shirt damp with a few of her unshed tears. "Nope."

Pushing back out of the hug, Shaylee gripped Judy's upper arms and met her anguished gaze. "Then why did you act so afraid!?" She was sure that this was the crux of the matter with Nick being able to see Judy as a potential mate. If Judy was going to show irrational fear of him for being a predatory fox, then there's no way he could ever see her as a mate.

After another sniffle, Judy took a deep breath and said, "I . . . I wasn't acting." With another sniffle and wipe of her eyes, she explained, "For a split second when Nick bared his teeth and claws at me, I was truly terrified."

As Judy's gaze dropped back to the ground, Shaylee hastily glanced at the phone, hoping this confession wasn't going change Nick's mind about keeping an open mind in regards to their relationship. Focusing back on Judy, she said, "But you weren't afraid of Nick, correct?"

Judy shook her head, saying, "Nick never did anything to make afraid of him. Once we both got to know each other and truly started working together, then he always put my needs above his own. He was smart, and funny, and he truly cared about me. He was the first mammal in the city to show me that I mattered." Looking up to meet Shaylee's interested gaze, she added, "He stood up and fought for my dream, Shaylee. No one else has ever done that for me."

Shaylee nodded as she figured this was the tipping point in getting Judy to fall for Nick. If he hadn't first fought for, and then joined her in her dream to be a cop, Judy probably wouldn't have developed any feelings for him. He would have just remained a friend to her. Reaching up to wipe a few more tears off Judy's face, Shaylee then asked her, "So if you weren't afraid of Nick, what were you afraid of?"

Judy rubbed her arm as her gaze dropped once more to the ground. With a soft mumble, she answered, "Everything, I guess."

"Huh?" Shaylee asked. This was not the answer she was expecting.

"It was the case." Looking up briefly, Judy explained, "We were looking for this cute, little otter who'd gone missing. The first day looking for him was frustrating, not scary, but it seems the second day was just one scary event after another. The last mammal to see Otterton was this jaguar limo driver named Manchas. Otterton had attacked him and nearly took his eye out, but I couldn't really see how such a sweet little otter could do that to him. I mean, I saw the scars over his eyes, but even then, I couldn't see the otter doing that. Mrs. Otterton is smaller than we are, and she was so sad and heartbroken, but gentle—really gentle. And seeing Mr. Otterton in the family photo she had, with him standing happily with her and their two kits—he just seemed so small, kind, and . . . and docile."

Rubbing her forehead while remembering that fateful night, Judy continued. "When we first started talking to Manchas, he was really timid and fearful." Dropping her paw to meet her sister's gaze, Judy explained, "The attack really haunted him and seemed to have robbed him of his large, predatory status, making him no different than frightened prey." Shaking her head at the bizarreness of what happened next, she added, "But when Manchas unlocked the door to let us in so we could question him about the attack, something happened to him." A haunted look of her own entered Judy's amethyst gaze as she said in a strained voice, "He went savage on us, Shaylee."

As a shiver ran down her spine, Judy grabbed her ears and pulled on them while remembering that terrifying experience. Taking a deep, jagged breath, she went on, saying, "At first, it looked like he was in pain, like something was eating him from the inside or something. But then he turned on us and chased us with every intention of killing and eating us!" Pulling on her ears again, she exclaimed, "Shaylee, it was so scary! I've never been so scared of anything in my whole life!"

Taking a gasping breath, Judy added, "We were in the Rainforest District, hundreds of feet up in the air, trying to outrun a savage jaguar who was snapping and snarling at our feet and tails, while at the same time, trying not to slide off the slick branches and falling to our deaths." Tugging on her ears again, Judy exclaimed, "His teeth made this awful clacking sound when he snapped them inches from our tails, and his claws were so sharp and must have been as long as my whole paw!"

Shaylee's jaw was slack as the media had never mentioned Judy being attacked by any savage predator, and of course, Judy hadn't mentioned it herself. "So what happened?" she finally asked.

Taking a deep breath, Judy started pacing as she remembered the frightening events that took place during her first case. "Well, I was a cop and I knew I couldn't panic or we'd be dead. Nick was a civilian, so I knew I had to protect him somehow. I also needed to find a way for us to escape or somehow neutralize the threat. So, I buried my fears deep down so they wouldn't affect my judgement." Shaking her head as she hugged herself, Judy continued pacing as she said, "We obviously escaped, but then Manchas disappeared before backup arrived, so then we had to find a savage jaguar on top of finding our missing otter."

Judy paused to take a breath, then continued, "With Nick's help we found all our missing mammals, but when we found Otterton—that sweet, little otter—he tried bite my head off!" Staring at her sister, Judy pulled on her ears again as she described how terrifying it was to have an otter try to rip her face off and claw her to bits from the other side of a thick glass window. And then watching a tiger try to bite her friend's head off right afterwards—the whole thing was scary. And then nearly getting caught minutes later was a whole other kind of scary. But Judy didn't let herself feel the fear because she had to get the evidence out and a case to close, so she buried all that fear she'd been feeling deep down and out of sight.

Shaylee nodded as everything was finally starting to make sense. Walking up to pet Toot-toot's fluffy feathers, she met Judy's distraught gaze and said, "So, during the press conference . . ."

Judy heaved a heavy sigh as she released her ears to hug herself again. Rubbing her paws over her biceps, she said, "Standing up in front of the media was scary in its own rights, but then when Nick scared me . . . Shaylee, he took the same stance as Gideon when he clawed me and I was suddenly 9 years old all over again." With a shake of her head as her nose began twitching incessantly, she continued, saying, "At that point, it was like something inside me snapped." Waving her paws in the air, she said, "All that fear I had buried deep inside bubbled up to the surface and I panicked."

Dropping her face in her paws again, Judy moaned, "Shaylee, you should have seen Nick's face." Shaking her head still held in her paws, she groaned, "The look of hurt and betrayal won't leave me any peace, and then his anger that rushed up to replace it." Picking her head up, Judy stared at her sister as fresh tears spilled down her face. "How can he forgive me, Shaylee? How can he still care about me when I treated him no differently than all the other back-stabbing mammals who've hurt him!?"

Shaylee stepped up to Judy and gripped her forearms again, saying, "Listen to me, Judy, Nick does not hate you. After everything he did for you, all the times he put his life on the line to stick with you and protect you—there's no way he could hate you."

"But—" Judy started before being cut off by her sister.

"No buts. Yes, you hurt him, and yes, you disappointed him, and yes, he was angry with you—but that doesn't mean he hates you. He might have saved your life, but you forget, you also saved his life and that's not something he can easily forget. You couldn't have hurt him that deeply unless he first felt deeply for you, which means he'll come looking for you sooner or later." Judy didn't look very convinced, so Shaylee added, "Look, if Nick was great enough for you to fall for him, then he's not some shallow jerk who would throw your friendship away so easily."

Pulling Judy in a tight hug once more, Shaylee whispered, "Judy have a little faith, okay. Before you know it, Nick's going to be driving into town in a classic black convertible asking to see you."

The black convertible Judy had seen earlier that day flashed through her mind, but she immediately pushed the image away. To think that was Nick's car was just wishful thinking. Although he bragged about making $200 a day since he was twelve, Judy had to wonder. Nick's clothes weren't anything fancy or expensive—loud—but not expensive. And the one time she saw him in a vehicle, it was in his partner's loud van (the picture on the van's side was 'loud' as was the bang as the engine backfired). And of course, Nick's partner was the one driving. If Nick did own such a vehicle, wouldn't he want to drive it around? She certainly would.

With images of Nick still dancing through her head, Judy sniffled while silent tears ran down her face as she hoped desperately that Shaylee was right, but half afraid to believe it at the same time. Burying her face in Shaylee's shoulder again, she whispered, "I hope you're right, Shaylee. I really hope you're right."

Rubbing her back, Shaylee, replied, "I am, you'll see." Glancing at her phone, she pointed towards it as if pointing to Nick, then pointed down at Judy while mouthing, 'Call her or I'll strangle you.' While still staring at the phone, Shaylee said, "In fact, I'll be really surprised if you don't hear from him by the end of the week."

Judy gave a slight laugh. She didn't really believe she'd see Nick so soon, but the simple fact Shaylee was rooting for her and Nick relieved some of her worries and calmed her heart. As her tears dried up, she whispered, "Thanks, Shaylee."

"Anytime, Judy, I'm here for you." With another squeeze, Shaylee stepped back from their hug.

Before anything more could be said, though, the back door of the house swung open and several of the older kits streamed out yelling, "Dinner's in 15 minutes! Come inside and get washed up or you'll go hungry!" The kits were sent out to tell everyone working in the fields, the tractor garage, or with the birds that it was dinnertime, but as soon as they saw the new emus Judy had bought dinner was completely forgotten as they 'oohed' and 'ahhed' over the massive (to young bunnies) King emu.

Luckily, JD was good natured, and other than squawk at them and ruffle his feathers while preening with pride, he didn't seem too bothered by the young bunnies. With the distraction the young bunnies provided, Judy was able to set her worries of Nick aside as she led the birds (and her younger nieces and nephews) deeper into the barn so she could put them in their own stall, all the while telling the inquisitive kits about how Patty-Mae had bred the Dwarf emus into the much larger King emus.

While Judy was distracted, Shaylee hurried over to grab her phone. Looking into the camera, she whispered, "Nick, if you ignore my sister after this and continue playing Mandy's stupid little game then I will wring your fluffy red and white neck. Do I make myself clear?" With that, she stopped the recording and turned off her phone before pocketing it. At least with this, Nick will know exactly how Judy feels about him and why she acted the way she did back at the press conference. Nick now had no excuse for not falling for her sister and when Shaylee saw him later tonight, she'd make sure he saw this.

...

Patty-Mae was just riding back to the barn on one of the large male emus when she saw Joey and his brothers Branden, Toby, and Kenneth, along with their sisters, Bethany, Valerie, and Joyce, drive up and pile out of the Joey's bronco. Joey's siblings all waved to her as she rode up on the large emu with a fluffy, white chest, and then Joey saw her as he climbed from the vehicle.

With a wide, surprised smile, Joey called out to her, saying, "Hey, Beautiful! I thought you were coming tomorrow." Joey was a chocolate rabbit with black ears and a black muzzle who was right at home on a bird or working with wood making a variety of things, from simple, little carvings to antique looking furniture.

With a shrug, Patty-Mae replied, "I was, but something came up so here I am." Dropping from the saddle, she gave Joey a tight hug and a quick kiss.

With a wide grin, Joey wrapped his arm around her lower back as he turned toward the barn. As they began walking towards the barns so Patty could put up the emu, Joey asked, "So what came up that brought you to me?" With a wink, he turned his head to watch her.

With a bright smile, she answered, "I sold two of my King emus today."

With wide eyes, Joey exclaimed, "Really! That's great. Who bought them?"

Wrapping one arm around Joey as she held the reins with the other, Patty-Mae flicked her tail as she teased him, saying, "You'll never guess who."

"Oh, come on, Patty!" Raising his chocolate-colored paw to swat her ear (even as he glanced down her back at her fluffy tail as it bobbed back and forth—she had the cutest tail of any bunny he'd ever seen!), Joey repeated, "Come on, tell me."

Flicking her ear out of reach of her boyfriend's playful paw, Patty-Mae laughed, saying, "It was Judy Hopps." Joey froze and Patty-Mae took several steps forward before realizing her boyfriend was no longer beside her. Turning around as her emu sidestepped and followed the reins around back of her, she clasped her paws behind her back and rocked on her heals with a smug smile on her face while waiting for Joey's reply.

"Wait," Joey said in disbelief as the bird stared at him over Patty's head. "Judy Hopps!? As in the cop!?"

Patty-Mae rocked on her heals again as she said, "Yep. Judy bought that pretty, little grayish-brown female with the black-tipped feathers, and then she bought Shorty."

Waving his paws out in front of him, Joey said, "Hold on. Hold on. Wait!" Resting one paw on his hip, he pointed at his girlfriend and said, "You mean to tell me that Judy Hopps, who set Zootopia ablaze 4 months ago and then came home all depressed just one month ago, came all the way out here to buy 2 of your birds?"

With a grin, Patty-Mae nodded, but then said, "Well, she originally just came for one bird—she wants to sign up for the Search and Rescue Mounted Patrol."

With a head shake, Joey said, "Well, I guess she'd need her own bird for that." Patty-Mae nodded, and then he asked, "And Shorty?"

Stepping back over to Joey, Patty-Mae hooked her arm through his and began walking towards the barn again as her King emu stepped sideways and fell in behind them as Patty-Mae led him towards the second barn. With a hum, she said, "Shorty was more of a spur of the moment buy."

"Oh, really?" Joey asked a little dubiously. Although he didn't know Judy personally, for a rabbit wanting to be a big city cop, there were plenty of mammals watching her—and even more rumors floating around. And from what he'd seen and heard, Judy didn't seem to be an impulsive buyer. She liked to plan her life out and account for every penny.

"Hhhmm," Patty-Mae replied. "Shorty reminded her of a friend she made in Zootopia, and should she ever see him again, she'd like to go riding with him."

Joey gave her a funny look, saying, "But Shorty is a lot bigger than your average Island emu. What city rabbit would want to ride him?"

With a laugh, Patty-Mae asked, "And who said he's a rabbit?"

"Oh, so he's a he? And he's bigger than she is?" Joey pointed out curiously.

Patty-Mae grinned, saying, "I figure he's probably about a foot or so taller than she is."

"So, Judy likes the tall type." Most hares and jackrabbits were taller than rabbits (Patty-Mae was two inches taller than he was), but the tallest ones that might fit his girlfriend's description were all jocks that either played basketball or football. But Joey really couldn't see Judy falling for a jock as they were some of the worst bullies who teased her for wanting to be a big city cop. Bringing his attention back to Patty, and hearing her hum of agreement, Joey pointed out, "And she bought an emu just for him?" Even if she liked the guy, this seemed a bit much.

Patty-Mae shook her head. "Not so much for him, but more of the hope that she'll see him again. The hope that she'll be able to have that ride with him."

Joey was silent for a moment, then asked, "Did they have a fight or something?"

Patty-Mae flicked her ear while saying, "Something like that . . . four months ago."

Joey had to think for a moment as four months ago seemed like a lifetime ago. A lot of the fruit in their orchards were ripening so there was picking to do, he was helping Patty out with her birds, as well as his part-time job at the carpentry shop here in town. He had also been practicing for the lizard wrangling competition at rodeo starting this week. And then there were all the savage attacks and protests, a few of which turned into riots, which the news had been giving them daily updates on. Realizing what his girlfriend had been hinting at, Joey's eyes widened. Four months ago is when Judy gave her speech that condemned every predator in Zootopia. Staring at his girlfriend walking beside him, Joey exclaimed, "No way! Judy fell for a predator!?"

With a shrug, Patty-Mae replied, "Well, after everything Judy told me he did for her, I'd say he's a keeper."

Joey shook his head in disbelief, but after thinking about all the predator friends Judy had growing up (she preferred hanging out with predators far more than she ever did her own kind) and the fact she ran into him in Zootopia which was chock-full of predators, Joey wasn't too surprised. When it came to her dreams, Judy always did get more help and support from predators rather than prey.

With another shake of his head, Joey glanced back at his girlfriend and pointed a finger at her, saying, "Just don't mention that to any of my grandparents."

"Well," Patty-Mae started, "I wasn't planning to mention it to anyone else in your family, but why specifically your grandparents?"

"Because when I was younger, especially when my great-grandparents were still alive," Joey explained with a flick of his tail, "they would always go on about how queer the Hopps clan was and how we kits needed to be careful about getting too close to them."

"Oh, really?" Patty-Mae asked with a raised eyebrow. "And what was so strange about them?"

Joey shrugged as he flicked one of his black ears. "Apparently, one of Judy's great-grandmas crawled in bed with a predator and her great-grandfather still took her in. That didn't sit well with the old-timers." Turning to look at his girlfriend again with his deep-blue eyes, he added, "You know mammals were a lot more specist back then and reacted badly to anyone who didn't fit the norm."

Passing the first barn, they walked towards the second barn as Patty-Mae said, "Yeah, Judy mentioned that. It was pretty tragic, actually." At Joey's questioning gaze, she gave her boyfriend a rundown on Cecilia's and Tyrel's tragic love story, and how much love and affection Stuart felt towards Cecilia in protecting her from the town's harsh words and actions.

Joey's jaw went slack, then he exclaimed, "That is so messed up!" Patty-Mae nodded, and Joey shook his head. "They really dumped their bodies in the marsh!?"

"That's what Judy said." Looking at some of the birds still milling about in the corral, with a few in the pasture near the corral gate, Patty-Mae tried to imagine how it felt for Cecilia to realize she would never see Tyrel again. Glancing over at Joey who was lost in thought, Patty-Mae didn't think she'd be able to get over him any better than Cecilia did Tyrel if she'd lost him in such a tragic way. She truly loved Joey and hoped to spend her life with him, so if she ever lost him, especially in such a heartrending way, Patty-Mae knew she'd probably suffer from bouts of depression, too.

Shaking his head again, which sent his black ears flopping against his back, Joey repeated, "That is just so messed up."

Patty-Mae could only nod sadly while hoping Judy and Nick didn't face the same tragedy with their own love story (she really couldn't see Nick not returning Judy's love, not with everything he'd already done for her). Of course, times were changing and interspecies relationships were gaining ground, so there was a lot more hope for their love to succeed whereas Cecilia's and Tyrel's love was doomed from the start.

While thinking about the stories he remembered hearing about the Hopps clan when he was growing up, Joey mumbled, "I guess there's no buried treasure up in the mountains, then."

Patty-Mae's eyes widened as she stared at her chocolate-colored boyfriend. "Buried treasure?" At Joey's glance, she asked, "What buried treasure?"

Joey's dark tail twitched, saying, "It's just rumors and hearsay I heard growing up."

With an eye roll, Patty-Mae said, "Joey, you can't mention buried treasure and leave it at that." Bumping his shoulder with her own, she asked again, "What buried treasure?"

Joey chuckled as he bumped her back, saying, "Apparently, there is none." At Patty's glare, he chuckled again, then explained, "When I was little, my grandparents used to go on about how the Hopps matriarch—they refused to mention her name—was taking cans of silver dollars and wads of cash up to the mountain to bury."

Patty-Mae's expression took on the look of utter disbelief. As her family hadn't been in Bunnyburrow long and had spent a lot of time on their property trying to build up their ranch, a lot of the small prey old-timers (rabbits, hares, and prairie dogs) were stand-offish with her family, which meant they'd missed out on a lot of the town gossip, especially the gossip that pertained to one of the original families that founded Bunnyburrow, the Hopps clan being one of them.

Grinning at his girlfriend's bewilderment, Joey said, "Most of the old-timers speculated about Stuart buying up so much land in the mountains—it was over 50 acres—and how he'd take his wife up to the mountains for a week or more at a time. Stuart usually returned after a day or two, but his wife, whose name will remain nameless—that's what my grandparents always said," Joey muttered with a shake of his finger, "would always remain in the mountains until Stuart went to get her."

With a shake of his dark head and flick of his black ears, Joey continued, saying, "Needless to say, a lot of wild rumors flew around town on what she was doing up there." At Patty's questioning gaze, Joey said, "They were outrageous to say the least, with some saying she was a voodoo witch trying to curse the town for what happened to her predator lover, while others said Stuart was locking her up in some cave as punishment for her crime of sleeping with a predator."

A paw flew up to cover Patty-Mae's mouth as she murmured, "That's awful!"

Joey nodded as his black nose twitched, saying, "The consensus in town, though, was that Stuart was letting his wife bury money up in the mountains."

Patty-Mae shook her head at how dumb the idea was. "You know how ridiculous that sounds, right?"

Joey chuckled again, saying, "You don't need to tell me, but some of my older brothers believed it. They used to sit around in the evening listening to some of my uncles talk about how they used to sneak up there during the summer and go digging for all those buried silver coins and cash." With a shake of his head, he added, "A freak storm put an end to it, though."

"A freak storm?" Patty-Mae asked, intrigued. She knew that sudden thunderstorms would strike up in the mountains at times. It would be a perfectly sunny day with hardly a cloud in sight, and then within about an hour or two of first seeing clouds a huge electrical storm would hit without warning. It was scary when it hit so everyone who hiked in the mountains were warned to keep track of the weather and watch for thunderclouds gathering on the horizon.

Joey nodded. "They weren't paying attention to the sky and were nearly electrocuted when the storm hit. And in the heavy downpour, they lost one of the emus when it slipped off the trail. Nearly took my brother with him. Luckily, he had grabbed a small tree before going over the cliff the emu slid off of, but he dislocated his shoulder in the process and nearly broke his ankle when it caught briefly in the stirrup."

Patty-Mae had stopped walking as she stared in horror at her boyfriend. Shaking his head while running a paw through his headfur, Joey continued, "And to top it off, they got caught up in flash flood once they reached the bottom." Remembering how close his family came to losing his brothers on that ill-fated (and foolhardy) treasure hunting trip, Joey murmured, "They lost two more birds in the water and one of my brother's nearly drowned. He went down with his bird and washed up on shore downstream. They had to perform CPR on him, and at first they didn't think he made it, but then he started coughing up water and gasping before sitting up to ask what had happened."

Patty-Mae could just hear Joey's older brothers yelling at their drowned brother about how he nearly died. That would definitely have been a terrifying experience, an experience she hoped never to experience for herself. "Wow," she finally murmured. "I guess that would put a stop to all the nonsense."

Joey agreed with a nod. "Yeah. Needless to say, whatever is hidden up in the mountain is still a mystery."

Hearing this, a twinkle entered Patty-Mae's eyes as she bumped Joey's shoulder with her own. "Not if you know the right mammals."

Joey's ears immediately perked up as he asked, "What do you mean?"

With a huge grin, Patty-Mae told her boyfriend about Judy's cabin in the mountains and how Patty had offered their services in fixing the place up—should he wish to join them. It took Joey a minute to get his head wrapped around the idea that Judy owned her great-grandma's cabin in the mountains, but once he did, he readily agreed to the arrangement. After Patty-Mae gave him the details, saying Judy would come by tomorrow afternoon to finalize their plans before picking up the supplies, the two of them reached the barn.

It didn't take the two long to put up her bird and feed the flock, after which Patty-Mae joined Joey and his family for dinner. They visited a bit afterwards as they walked paw in paw through the orchard, with Joey asking more about the upcoming trip. After getting the details he was curious about, he then asked Patty about her day before telling her about his own. Guiding Patty back to the barn so she could saddle up and head home, Joey stole a few kisses then stepped back to allow Patty to mount her emu. With a final wave goodbye, he watched her head home to talk to Ryan about their upcoming trip to the mountains and to see if he wanted to join them.

WingedKatt here. I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Next chapter, Patty-Mae will ask Ryan about Judy and will get some interesting answers.

Chapter 14: Questions and Answers, Part 2, will post in two weeks. Have a great weekend and stay safe. If you have any thoughts or comments, I'd love to hear them.