Hello, readers! I'm back! And yes, you are FINALLY going to meet the character that this story is based around! That's right! Lucas! He's finally here! It's been a busy past couple of weeks at college, which is why next to nothing beats a lazy Saturday. My only question is "Where does the time go?"

At any rate, please enjoy Judy and Nick trying to get through to this borderline standalone orphan. Thank you for reading and please stay tuned.

Chapter 3: Meeting Lucas

Nick and Judy were on a train bound for Bunnyburrow, where they would then borrow Judy's father's pickup truck and drive out to the orphanage. Noticing that his wife was lost in thought, Nick asked, "Carrots? You okay?"

"Yeah… I'm alright," Judy replied, not looking at him. The night before, she was trying to imagine everything Lucas had gone through since the fire and fell asleep doing so. This, in turn, gave her a fantastical nightmare that was the equivalent to Mary Belly's 'Frankensheep', a masterpiece among horror stories. "I had a bad dream last night… But I keep thinking back to what Bogo said to me when he wanted me to look into the fire."

"I've been meaning to ask you about that. Why would he care? Number one, he doesn't care about anything except getting the job done and possibly the new mayor—she seems like the chief's kind of female. Number two, it's not in the ZPD's field of jurisdiction, so it's not his job or ours," Nick pointed out to Judy, who finally looked up at him with a fierce look in her determined amethyst eyes.

"Because he told me something that was absolutely right," Judy responded.

Flashback…

"I see… So you and Wilde will need to take some time off to retrieve this boy and get him acclimated to the city. Is that correct?" Chief Bogo concluded, looking over Lucas's file with his reading glasses on.

"Yes, sir," Judy confirmed. Getting called to the chief's office was like a student getting called into the principal's office unless the school's administration had a terrible disciplinary board.

"While you're at it, why not look into this fire?" Bogo suggested. Judy looked perplexed. Before the rabbit could speak, the buffalo explained, "I know it's not exactly our realm, but I know you want to. And I think you should, but not as a cop. You're going to be this boy's mother. Don't you want justice for him?"

Moved by Chief Bogo's shocking choice of words, Judy nearly burst into tears when she replied, "Almost as much as I want him to be happy…"

"Then if you meet any friction in this investigation, I will cover you. So will Mayor Lynx," the chief assured.

"Thank you, sir…!" Judy sniffled in gratitude and saluted.

End of flashback…

"He seeks justice in society, no matter what the constraints are," Judy summed up her conversation between herself and Bogo. She wringed her paws and leaned on Nick, who wrapped his arms around her and nuzzled her lovingly.

"I love you, Fluff. And I can't wait to meet this kid," Nick whispered in Judy's ear. Judy nuzzled Nick back and they sat like that for the rest of the train ride. It went by faster than they realized.

The next thing they knew, Pop-Pop was waving his cane at Nick and Bonnie was hugging Judy, saying, "You're going to do so much good for this boy, honey, but are you really ready?"

"I have to be for Lucas's sake," Judy replied. "Don't worry, Mom. I'm ready."

"Jude's got the right idea and the natural instinct," Stu said, completely supportive of his daughter's decision. Stu smiled at Judy and held up the keys to his truck. "Bring us back a grandson, kiddo."

Judy let go of Bonnie as Stu tossed her the keys. Judy caught them and hugged Stu and thanked him profusely, "Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you so, so, so much! I am so happy that I'm going to be a mother and Nick is finally going to be a father."

"Oh, yeah, Carrots, keep subtly rubbing in our age difference in my face," Nick mumbled with a smirk. He was hit in the head by Pop-Pop's cane. "Ow!"

"Be gone, foul demon! Be expelled!" Pop-Pop chanted angrily.

"I'm sorry, Nick," Bonnie quickly apologized as she got between the fox and the elderly rabbit. "Pop-Pop isn't entirely aware that he's not in the eighteenth century anymore. Pop-Pop, did you remember to go to the bank today?"

"Gosh darn it, why can't you do it?" Pop-Pop asked.

"Excuse me? I have 276 kids to worry about; I don't care of a fair amount of them are on their own now—I think you have more free time than I do!" Bonnie exclaimed in a huff. She faced Nick and said, "The truck is behind the house."

Judy ran to the Hopps residency and went around the back, Nick not far behind her. Judy thrust the key into the ignition and turned it. The truck's engine roared to life. Before putting the truck into gear, the rabbit asked her vulpine husband, "How do my ears look?"

"Like ears," Nick responded. Judy rolled her eyes, put the truck into gear and hit the gas.

It took them about half an hour to get to the orphanage, where they were greeted by a doe that Judy had made a few phone calls to earlier in the week. The doe greeted them, "Hello, there! Mr. and Mrs. Wilde?"

"That's us," Nick replied, wrapping an arm around Judy. "Where's the kid?"

"He's…locked himself in his room again. He's probably got his earbuds in, listening to Gazelle or a pop idol group," the doe replied, sighing in exasperation. "Follow me, please." The doe took them to a closed door and started knocking. "Lucas?" There was no response. She jiggled the knob. "It's unlocked!" Her tone of voice was surprised.

Nick and Judy glanced at each other as the doe opened the door. The room was dark. The light from the hall was shed on a baby blue room covered in posters of a variety of singers and bands, mostly female artists. A red fox wearing square-framed glasses and wearing a Gazelle T-Shirt and pajama pants with chipmunks on them was sitting on the floor, holding his head in his paws. Judy took one look at the boy and walked into the room, and then she kneeled down in front of him. "Lucas…?"

Lucas timidly looked up at Judy. There were those big, pleading sky blue eyes. Lucas trembled nervously, hugging his knees. He said nothing, but to Judy, his eyes, his body language and the scars on his wrist said it all. Nick knelt down next to Judy and greeted, "Hey, buddy? How are you?"

Lucas looked like he was undergoing a lot of anxiety inside. He seemed to settle down a bit seeing another fox. Maybe Nick reminded him of his biological father. Judy wasn't sure, but she knew that she and Nick needed to work together to get through to him.

"D-do you guys run a foster home…?" Lucas asked, very soft-spoken.

If there was ever a time that Judy was thankful for her keen hearing, it was right then. She spoke softly, trying not to startle him, "No, Lucas. We know you've had a rough time in foster care. You've seen things you shouldn't have seen, felt things no one should ever feel… Yeah, I admit, I've done my homework. I want to help you learn that it gets better."

"We both do," Nick added.

Lucas looked at Judy, then at Nick. Judy said to the fox, "Everyone needs a family… Someone to lean on… And that's something you've been denied for six long, painful years."

"…" Lucas said nothing, but he understood everything that was going on. Rubbing the scars on his left wrist, he seemed to contemplate their proposition.

"We don't need an immediate answer," Nick informed the younger fox. "We just think that you need someone to fall back on. You can't stay here forever. Once you're a legal adult, you're on your own."

"Won't I be anyway?" Lucas asked softly.

"That's different. You'll always have family in both the city and the country. Lucas…take our paws… You're not alone. You don't have to be alone anymore. Please…" Judy held out her paw to Lucas. Nick did the same.

"It'll be a rough transition. We know you'll be scared. You'll be okay," Nick assured.

"…" Lucas said nothing again, but he took their paws. Tears poured from his grateful blue eyes. Judy gave Lucas a tight hug, also crying tears of joy.

"This was the first step," Nick said with a satisfied smile before getting up and turning back to the doe. "Now, do you know of anyone who was nearby his house on the night of the fire?"

"I suppose I could look into some reports from his first foster home, but it was six years ago and those foster parents are in prison now," the doe answered as she was getting paperwork ready for Nick and Judy. "But why?"

"Because, as Lucas's new mom and dad, we want to bring the kid some closure and justice," Nick answered, looking back at Judy hugging Lucas.