AN: Shorter chapters then the main story of Distilled Dreams to help fill in the AU around the OCs that will be reoccurring. Much like some side quests while they add to the main story they are not necessary to the main plot so feel free to skip them if you wish. I hope you enjoy.

Distilled Dreams: Side Stories

A Bandit to Steal a Bunny's Heart

Chapter Seven

"Ma...I can explain," Rocky tried to say. His mother had all but forced both him and Audrey into the chairs around the kitchen table and was standing in front of them. Her tail swished, arms crossed in front of her, and one of paws tapped steadily while she glared. Rocky shrunk into his seat. He had never seen his mother this mad before. Not when he had broke an old vase that had belonged to his great grandparents. Not the time she had caught him sneaking out the window to spend time with his friends. Never once did her anger come close to what was radiating off her now.

"Explain quickly," his mother said. "Who is this bunny, why is she here, and why dose it smell like the two of you have been...been fucking like rabbits!"

"Umm... ma'am I am..." Aubrey started to say.

"Hush hussy! You'll get your turn to explain why you wormed your way into my son's life," Rocky's mom snapped coldly at the bunny.

"Ma!" Rocky said standing abruptly with a growl. "Take that back!"

"Don't you talk to me like that boy!" his mother returned the growl.

"DONT CALL MY MATE A HUSSY THAN!" Rocky yelled standing with just inches between them.

Silence. Silence so deep that anyone of the three could all but hear the others hearts beat. "Mate? Mate!? MATE!" Rocky's mother screamed at her son. "You've been gone for two weeks and you are calling her your mate! How many dates did I set up for you with good sows from good families since you couldn't be bothered to find one yourself over the years! Not one of them held your interest for more then a date or two!" She waved a paw at the doe dismissively. "They would have made you a good mate not this...this country slut who probably tricked you into bending her over a hay bale just so she could get a ride to the big city and a place to stay until she was tired of spreading her legs for you!"

"Mother..." Rocky's voice was cold as he trembled in rage. "Apologize to Aubrey."

His mother ignored him as she continued her rant as tears welled up in Aubrey's eyes. "If you wanted to play around and experiment with prey you could have just gone somewhere and rented one for an hour and got it out of your system! But you bring one home with you! What will the neighborhood think! What will my friends think once they learn what you brought home with you!"

Rocky grabbed his mothers arm his voice low and cold with furry. "I don't see how who I love and who loves me has anything to do with anyone else. Either apologize to my mate or get out of our home and don't come back until you do."

His mother jerked her arm away from his grip and took a long look at Aubrey glaring all the while and took a deep breath in. With slow deliberate care she spit a wad of phlegm on Aubrey's feet before spinning around and walking out of the room while Rocky stood in stunned silence. "Don't come crying to me boy when that slattern steals everything that isn't nailed down when she is done using you and breaks your heart." She called before slamming the front door.

The sound of sobbing tore at Rocky's heart as he looked back at Aubrey. Tears flowed freely now as she used her ears to hide her eyes and muffle her cries. Slowly he walked to the sink and used it to wet a hand towel. He knelt in front of Aubrey and cleaned the phlegm from her fur. "I am sorry Honey Bun...I didn't know. I didn't know she was like that." Once he was done he carefully pulled his mate into his arms and rubbing her back as she gripped the front of his shirt crying into his chest.

Rocky sat on the sofa while Aubrey slept. Her head was on his lap and he absentmindedly ran his paws lightly over her ears. It had taken him a few hours of carefully stroking her ears and softly reassuring her that he wasn't going anywhere for her to calm down enough to fall into an emotionally drained sleep after the unfortunate meeting with his mother. He was deciding how to get her up to bed when a soft timid knocking sounded from the front door. He glanced at the clock and realized how late it had gotten. With a stifled groan from stiff leg muscles he carefully moved Aubrey off of him to answer the door.

"Rocky what did you do to make mom so pissed!?" The eighteen year old raccoon sow said the second he had opened the door. Without waiting to be invited the sow ducked under his arm and let herself in. The back pack she had on brushed the fur on Rocky's arm as she just barely cleared it.

"I know its late but please Emilia come in. I insist," Rocky sighed sarcastically to the empty porch closing the door and turning around to see that his sister was staring at Aubrey asleep on the couch. He placed his hand on her shoulder and walked her to the kitchen stopping to pick up the cooler he had forgotten about on the way. "We can talk in the kitchen quietly without waking her up."

Emilia sat watching her brother unpack the cooler and store the containers and bags in the fridge. He pulled out a bottle of cheap beer and a can of soda when he finished putting the food away. Twisting off the top he took a long drink off the bottle after handing her the can. She cracked the lid of the can and took a sip before talking. "Okay what is going on? Mom was practically frothing when she came home today. You get sent out to Bunnyburrow for a couple of weeks for a job and now there's a doe is sleeping on your sofa."

"That's pretty much it. Ma was here waiting to complain I missed the last couple of family dinners while I was on a job and started insulting my mate for not being a raccoon before I could even introduce her."

Emilia had made a terrible mistake of taking another sip of soda when Rocky was talking and choked on the soda in surprise when he said the word mate. She tried to cough as quietly as she could to clear the soda from her lungs before she could talk. "Mate?!" Emilia hissed.

Rocky held up his paw and glared cutting her off. "I already threw one family member out of my house for insulting her don't force my paw again."

"Mate!?" Emilia said again. "You have a mate?! She is your mate!?"

"Okaaaaay. It was nice seeing you again Emilia but maybe it would be best if..." Rocky said starting to stand only to be stopped by his sisters paws on his hand.

"Oh no you don't brother dear," Emilia said with a wicked smirk. "I've watched too many sow's hopes be dashed on the your ruggedly handsome Rocky shores when they realized you weren't interested in them to not hear this story." Rocky chuckled at her joke about his name and in relief that he wasn't going to need to throw his sister out too and settled back down in his chair and told his sister everything. Well nearly everything. He wasn't about to tell his sister how he and Aubrey spent a few of their nights together.

"...seriously Rocky?! I watched that sow from the Ringtail family do everything but strip and sit in your lap and you didn't give her a second glance but one pair of wiggling bunny hips and you fall head over hind legs..." Aubrey blinked in confusion as she woke up to a woman's voice. It took her a few moments to remember where she was and why her eyes felt like someone had poured some salt in them.

"Shhh..." she heard Rocky hiss realizing she hadn't heard part of whatever the woman who woke her said, "And I don't remember that sow being that bad."

"If that sows dress was slit any lower in the front it would have been a silk night robe without anything to tie it closed."

"It was just a dinner date..." Aubrey frowned in confusion at Rocky's words as she walked towards the kitchen.

"I caught her stuffing her panties into her purse coming out of the bathroom before you left! She was ready to jump your bones the second you where alone together. She asked me if yon where just dense or preferred boars the next time I saw her after you turned her down."

"Should I be worried or taking notes Cuddle 'Coon," Aubrey said stepping into the kitchen with a nervous smile on her face. She knew she likely looked a mess with tear matted fur and blood shot eyes from all the crying she had done. She turned to the raccoon seated opposite of Rocky and noticed the family resemblance. With more confidence in her voice then she felt she introduced herself and held out her paw to shake. "Hello. I am Aubrey. You must be one of Rocky's sisters."

"Cuddle 'Coon?" The sow said looking at Rocky, "You must have forgotten to mention her pet name for you Cuddles," the sow laughed and stood taking Aubrey's paw and pulling her into a hug instead of a paw-shake. "I'm Emilia the middle sister," Emilia said as the hug ended, "Not sure what Cuddles here has told you about me."

"I am never going to hear the end of that am I?" Rocky muttered practically wincing every time his sister said Cuddles.

"No way in hell Cuddles," Emilia said with a grin.

"Okay then Poopsie," Rocky replied with his own grin at his sister.

"...is that how you want to play this brother dear?" Emilia said her grin widening and an evil glint emerged in her eyes. She snaked an arm around Aubrey's back and pulled them together hip to hip. "Because I have plenty of fun stories I could tell your mate here."

"Who says I haven't already told her all the good ones," Rocky bluffed hard. Emilia just grinned and reached up to whisper in Aubrey's ear.

"Oh my," Aubrey said her ears turning red in an instant and turned to look at Rocky tilting her head as a playful grin tugged at her face. "You never mentioned how you liked to sneak out to skinny dip."

Rocky pulled a paper towel from the holder on the table and waved it in the air. "Okay I give up," he said.

Aubrey pulled away from Emilia and put her arm around Rocky instead. "You know there was a little pond on my parents land that some summers when it never really cooled off at night I would slip out and take a dip myself," she leaned in close and gave him a slow kiss, "It was too hot to bother with clothes at that point anyway. The cool water flowing though my fur felt great in the heat."

Rocky raised an eyebrow at that. "Well...I know a place that caters to that sort of thing."

"You're talking about that Mystic Springs Oasis place," Emilia said reaching over and grabbed the paper towel from Rocky's paw and waved it herself. "Gross. Okay I give. I don't want to picture you there."

Aubrey yawned in middle of laughing and triggered a chain reaction in the two raccoons. "Sorry. It's been a long day."

"Yeah it's late even for you Emilia. You should get home before Ma comes looking for you," Rocky said finishing off the last swallow of beer in his bottle.

"Mom isn't going to be looking for me," Emilia said looking down, "I told her I was going to spending the night at a friends house...I was planning on spending the night here." She nudged the backpack she had leaned against the table legs. "I brought clothes."

Rocky frowned, "Why did you lie to Ma?"

Emilia looked at Aubrey for a long moment before looking back at Rocky then down to the floor, "I didn't lie...when mom got home she was mad and went on and on about...well that you brought someone home with you. Unless you have changed since moving out the only reason you would do that is if she meant a lot to you." Emilia glanced up and looked at Aubrey again. "And if she means a lot to you I want to get to know her and be friends with her."

Aubrey felt fresh tears well up. After how Rocky's mom had reacted she was worried her being here would poison the well with his family. She know from the time that she and Rocky had spent talking over the last few weeks that his family meant as much to him as her family meant to her. Walking over she gathered Emilia in a hug. "Thank you for wanting to be my friend Emilia..."

AN 2: Sorry folks but not everyone will be happy about inter-species relationships in the Zootopia world. Unfortunately for Rocky and Audrey one of those that is against them is Rocky's Mother.