Chapter 29: Life goes on
Early the next morning I woke up cuddled next to Susan, this felt good and right. I nibbled on her neck a bit to wake her up. She lets out with a sleepy sigh, and rolls over and kisses me. We just lay there, until the need to use the washroom becomes too much to bear. It's then I notice I'm in Susan's room, and I don't remember getting up and moving there.
"Silly, we were brought here by grandma when we fell asleep in front of the TV. She just picked us up as one and deposited us here". "You know we are supposed to be sleeping alone, right"? "Yes, Daniel but I have nothing to hide from you", "I know love but we are in society now and we have to act as such, but for the moment I have to go". I use the facilities and get dressed in my room. I then walk back into Susan's room, and pounce on her as she had gone back to sleep. I hear something about a bloody nose as I scurried away.
Grandma is in the kitchen making waffles, as I come in. "Morning grandma", "Morning Daniel Sleep well"? "Yes, I did thank you". "How would you like to make that fruit spread again"? "Love to", I get the ingredients out of the fridge, and cupboard, and put them all on the counter. I then have them mixed as mammals start to arrive.
Dad and Mom come in, looking a little better than they did last night. "Morning squirt", says dad ruffing up the fur on my head, "Morning Daniel", says mom as she hugs me from behind. they both grab a coffee, and sit down at the table. "Morning number 1", "morning number2", Vivian blushes, and grandpa and I just laugh. Grandpa grabs a coffee and sits down at the table as well. My bothers and sisters all stagger in a few minutes later. "Ah, it's good not having to get up so early, and having that hour more in the morning".
"Don't get use to it dad". "Why not Daniel"? "The master of our DOJO says we should all be up at five to start our morning routines. And if your late he might just have to come into your room and kick your butt out of bed". "Are you serious"? "Yes, dad I am, you asked for training and you will receive it". "But does it have to be at five am"? "Yes, dad it does". Dad whines at this. "Oh, suck it up you big baby, says mom. or we can run to the station every morning, and you can be hot and sweaty all day". "Boy I'm glad that's not me", says Peter. "Are you part of this family grandpa"? "You Know I am Daniel". "Then this is for all family members, the benefits will out weigh the cost. After we work out, we can shower and go for a swim". "All right who are you? Daniel would never be this hard on me". "Daniel is not here at the moment, but the DOJO master is". Vivian kisses him "it will be fine love, Daniel is not that hard a task master, but your wife is". "Two against one, no fair". "Get used to it love, we only want what's best for us". "Oh, and dad I won't kick your butt out of bed in the morning", nick gets a look of relief on his face, "I'll send mom in to do it". Nick gets a look of horror on his face, and mom gets a look of glee on hers. "Now everyone this routine starts tomorrow. So early to bed. Breakfast will be after the swim, and you all should be able to get to work on time".
After breakfast mom and dad kiss and hug us all, and head for the station and Peter heads for the hospital. The rest of us head for the pool. We all shower first to get all the loose fur off, and as the pool is private, we just all jump in, in the buff.
Miss Watts comes in for her daily cleaning of the house, she is feeling a little down as there is never that much to do, and the house fells so empty. But as she steps inside, she can feel that the house is different, it feels lived in. As she enters the kitchen, she sees the chairs and the dirty dishes in the sink. She then checks out the bedrooms and finds 10 of them lived in. She is worried that the house had been broken into, and squatters were in the house. She rushes back to the living room for the wall phone, but stops dead in her tracks, seeing naked kits and a naked fox come in the front door.
"Ah, good morning Miss Watts, I'm Vivian Howler, sorry to greet you this way, just let us all get dressed and we will come back to greet you properly. All right guys to your rooms and get dressed". We all scramble and disappear into our rooms. "Miss Watts if you like, you can call Alfred or you can wait for me to get dressed". "I'll wait for you mum". "All right I won't be but a moment, there's coffee in the pot, help yourself". Miss Watts had never been offered coffee before, so she poured herself a cup and sits down at the table. Vivian comes in and getting eight glasses out of the cupboard, puts them on the table and gets the juices out of the fridge and puts them on the table as well. She then pours herself a coffee, and sits down at the table. "I know you have a lot of questions, but let's wait for the kits, shall we"? We all come in like a mini whirlwind, and sitting at the table, we pour ourselves some juice.
"Miss Watts, I'm sure you have lots of questions, but let's get the big one out of the way. Susan would you start please". "Hi I'm Susan K O'Hare"," Hi I'm Cindy P O'Hare", "Hi I'm Suzie Q O'Hare" "an I'm Rick O O'Hare, Hi". AS they introduce themselves Miss Watts's eyes get big and she Exclaims, "How"? "Well most of their story has a classified stamp on it, but what I can tell you is their identity was confirmed by the Z CIA, these are the O'Hare children, the other four are my grand kits. Daniel"? "Hi I'm Daniel J Wilde", "I'm Terry L Wilde", "I'm Davis M Wilde", "and I'm Ava N Wilde". "Ah, grandma I don't think she's doing so well". In fact, she was positively green. Miss Watts visible gulped and tried to bring herself back under control, we helped by projecting calm. "This is a lot to take in Folks, give an old woman a few would you please"? "Miss Watts I can see you are no older than me, and I know its quite a shock, in fact when I found out, I fainted, so take a few no one will judge you". She visible works at getting herself under control, while we just project calm to her.
"So, are you the guardian of the children"? "No, that would be my son and his wife Nick and Judy Wilde, I'm just their grandmother". "You mean Nick Wilde as in first fox cop Nick Wilde"? "Yes, that would be my son". "Oh, my, I idolized him for stepping out and showing the city, foxes like us could be trusted. I didn't know he was married". "Yes, he married Judy Hopps about 3 ½ years ago". With this her paws flew to here muzzle, "you mean the first bunny cop married the first fox cop"? "Pretty much, yes". "I have followed them both, and idolize them both, they broke the stereotypical constraints for their species, and really proved that old bumper sticker", "Zootopia where anyone can be anything".
She then looks ay Susan, "Oh, Justin and Jenifer would have loved to meet you all". "But they did Miss Watts". Susan jumps down and gets the white portfolio, she brings it and lays it in Miss Watts Paws. With trembling paws, she opens it and starts to look through it. "Are these all real"? "As real as any memory you may have, these pictures did happen". "Wow, this is beautiful. I have never seen them look so free. And at play yet, Mr. O'Hare was so stern, he didn't seem like the type to play". "Well we were his children, and there wasn't enough time before we had to say goodbye".
"So, where did you meet them"? "We met them in the meadow". "Meadow? As in on the south side of Zootopia"? "No Miss Watts, the meadow is a special place, and a very hard place to remember". "Oh, the dream meadow. Tell me, does Gab Still run the meadow"? We were all floored, and in shock. "You know about the meadow"? "Oh yes, When I was little, I visited the meadow a lot, and Gab was always there, to laugh with, and to cry with. He was my comfort, when my life fell apart as a little Kit. But slowly as I got older, I went less and less to the meadow tell finally I stopped going all together. I do miss him; he was such a great help". "So, you met your parents there"? We all shake our heads yes. "And when was this"? "The three days that they were in a coma in the hospital". "Oh, I'm glad they got to meet their kits before they passed, I hope it was a great comfort to them". "It was Miss Watts, it was".
Nick and Judy come in the front door to a squeal from Clawhauser, "O.M.G. tell me, tell me, please"? "Yes, Clawhauser we did get Daniel back and a little more". Nick hold up his phone with a picture of me and my siblings. He lets out another squeal, "Oh, tell me, names"? "Daniel you know, Terry is standing next to him, Davis is standing next to Terry, and our daughter is Ava. You will get to meet them tomorrow; they will all be here for practice. Oh, Clawhauser we need a change of address form". "So, it's true then, Delgato said you guys live downtown now". "Yes, it's true, hence the change of address form". Clawhauser reaches into his file folders and hands Nick a change of address form, "Thanks Spots", says Nick.
"Wilde's, my office now". "Hark I believe the Chief is calling". Judy lightly punches Nicks arm; Nick just smirks as he rubs his arm. Nick knocks on the Chiefs door, "enter" is heard as Nick opens the door. "So, Wilde do you have a trouble magnet? And if you don't, why does it always seem to find you"? "Well chief'…. "sit down Wilde, that was a rhetorical question. So, would you like to tell me what happened at the O'Hare Apartments last night"? "Well sir, I was trying to get home when the mammal behind the desk made some very derogatory comments to me, and when he wouldn't let up I pulled out my key card to call the elevator, turned my back to insert it into the elevator, the mammal at the desk tasered me at this point". "When did you move in to the O'Hare Apartments"? "Ah, yesterday sir". "How can two cops on your salaries afford the place"? "We can't sir, but as the Guardians of the O'Hare children, we moved in with them". The Chief put his Hoof to his forehead and starts to rub.
"So, are you telling me, that not only do you have your own kits, but you are now responsible for the O'Hare Kits too"? "Yes sir, that is correct". "Where do the O'Hare kits come in"? "Sir, they are the littermates to my son. We Know that Heather Thomas was the surrogate mother to all eight of them. They consider themselves as bothers and sisters to each other, and refused to be split up". " I am so getting a head ache, when was all this decided"? "Ah, yesterday morning when the Z CIA brought Daniel back. The Z CIA did DNA tests on all of them to verify their identity. The O'Hare's refused at this point to be split from our kits, and the Z CIA agreed that it was unwise to split them up. At this point the kit's lawyer arrived and signed guardianship over to Judy and I". "So, Hopps, are you ok with all of this"? "Well chief it is a lot to get use too, but I believe Nick and I can handle it". "I hope you can for both your sakes".
"Sir, we are having two prisoners transferring in from the Z CIA, they could be responsible for the death of Heather Thomas". "Who was Heather Thomas"? "Chief, she was the fox that was assaulted the morning Daniel came to us. We believe that Mike's cruiser camera will show these two assaulting Heather". "Is the footage good enough for facial recognition"? "We believe so sir. There is at least five seconds of still frame to work with". "What about the clinic bombing"? "Sir, is still going through the files, but they have proven this institute was responsible for the clinic bombing". "Do they have a motive yet"? "Not sure sir. They have not contacted us with any new information yet". "Well keep on it, it would be nice to close those two files". "Yes, sir it would".
We arrive at the DOJO a little late as they had a hard time finding a cab for all of us. We all just walk in and Vivian and I just wave too Maurice as we walk by. Mr. Delaront comes over, "well Daniel I see you brought the whole family, today". "Yes Sir, we are finally all back together. The institute is no more". "Very Good Daniel, so who are all of you"? My mates all give their first names. "Sir, I've had a strange request, I was told to tell snowflake, hi". Mr. Delaront bursts out laughing, "so how is our little white vixen doing"? "Skye is doing fine sir; she is a tactical officer for the Z CIA ". "Is she now? She always had a no-nonsense approach to the way she approached life". "Sir, Snowflake"? "Well Daniel, I was on a retreat in tundra town, I was out side doing my routine, when I noticed a little white vixen watching me. As I watched her, watching me, a big snowflake landed on my nose, because I was cold it stayed there for the duration of my routine. She came over and called me snowflake and asked if I could teach her".
"So, teach her I did, she was the best student I ever taught". "Sir, did you notice any kind of flaw in her fighting"? "No, Daniel, why do you ask"? "Well sir when I was fighting with her, I noticed she had a hesitation in her fighting. She seemed to have to think about which move to make, she had a small lag time and I took advantage of this, to beat her in the ring". "Daniel, when she left here, there was no lag time, she was a flawless fighter, one of the best. But you still beat her"? "Yes sir, I did. I think I might have an idea as to what has got to her, sir do I have your permission to help her"? "Daniel, you have every right to help another fighter. You do not need my permission to help her". "Thank you, sir".
"So, what can I do for your family today"? "Sir, we need testing for my family, I need to know were to start with them". "Then let's begin". Test them all he did, Susan was disappointed with a brown belt but could understand why. She had never fought for real before, she only had my memories and experience to work from. The rest of the family had purple and green belts. "Daniel their forms are good but they lack power". "Yes sir, they could not show the institute that they were learning fighting so had to go with what I could show them from my memories and experiences only". "What do you mean show them"? "Sir we have a mental bond, and they could see how things were done, but could not practice the moves". "This is the first time they have fought"? "Yes sir, it is". "Then I'm amazed, do you want us to teach them as well"? "If you would sir". "Then at the same time you are here, they must be here also". "We will be here sir". "So, your training for today begins now".
Miss Watts was in seventh heaven, not only was the house lived in again, but it was O'Hare children. The sound of laughter coming from the other room before they left, had gladdened her heart. She finished up making the beds, and cleaning the kitchen, and was now dusting the Living room. When there was a knock at the front door. She knew it had to be an authorized person; she went to answer the front door. Alfred stood outside the door. "Good after noon Alfred", "Good after noon Miss Watts, may I come in"? "Why certainly, would you like some coffee"? "No, I won't be staying long", he says this as he drags a box into the room. "What's this"? "It's a left over from one of the move outs. It's a paw station 4 for the kits". "Oh, I'm sure they'll love it". "It has a few games, not sure how to hook it up though". "I'm sure the kids will figure it out, thank you sir". "Don't mention it", he says as he leaves. Miss Watts goes back to cleaning.
We were all bone weary by the time the day finished, we all were ready to fall over were we stood. Some of us fell asleep on the ride back. Instead of going to the top floor, we went for the showers and the hot tub to soak. The hot tub was made for large animals, so we had plenty of room to soak and float, it felt divine. When we all looked like prunes, we got out of the hot tub, and I dived into the pool. Not the smartest thing I had ever done, it was quite the shock to the system, but very invigorating. Again, we were all naked when we came in the front door, and Miss Watts just laughed when she saw this.
Nick and Judy were walking home, arm in arm, after a long day. As they come in the front door, they were greeted by a smiling JR. "So, JR how's life treating you"? "Very good it would seem Wilde's. I hear it was you I have to thank for this job". "No thanks required JR, I'm just glad that a good mammal is sitting behind that desk". "I'm sorry Nick, I can remember taser training, my back teeth tingled for a week". "Mine still are". They both laugh. "So, I hear you got your son back". "Yes, we did and a little more". "The papers were all over the abduction and the return, I think it's still in the paper today. Ah, what do you mean a little more"? Nick pulls out his phone and shows JR the kits pictures. "That little stinker did not tell us he had brothers and a sister; it was quite the shock Saturday morning". "Oh, I bet it was. So, when did you move in here"? "Ah, yesterday"? "Nick, I know you can't afford a place like this, you working for Mr. Big again"? Nick and Judy fall down laughing at this. As he gets himself under control, he flips the phone to another photo. "No, JR it seems that the O'Hare Kits are my kit's littermates. They were all born to the same surrogate mother, we just moved in with them. Judy and I are the guardians of the O'Hare's". "Wow guys that's big, Mr. Big style". We all laugh some more, "Well JR we have to go, we may have to put out some fires up there". JR laughs, "see you guys around", "see you later".
Mom and dad come in the front door and we all come to greet them. It's a few minutes before they can enter and relax. We then go back for the game we had been playing. "Whoa guys, where did you get that"? "Alfred dropped it off today, and Rick hooked it up". Mom and dad watch for a bit, and go settle down in the kitchen for a cup of tea. Miss Watts acting really nervous, flutters around the kitchen.
"You must be Miss Watts", says Nick. "Yes, I am", she holds out a little book, "could I have your autographs please? I've been a big fan of both of you, and have followed you for some time". "You're not stalking us, are you"? AS she laughs, she responds, "No, Mr. Wilde, I have not been stalking you, some ones else was, and I see she caught you". Judy laughs and blushes at the same time. "So, can we call you by your first name? and what is it"? "Well, it's kind of embarrassing, it's Petunia, but most people call me Pat". "Well if we call you Pat, you will just have to call us Nick and Judy". "But Mr. Wilde, it's not right". "Who says it's not right? Judy and I have no Airs, we are just normal working people like yourself". "If. If you don't mind"? "We don't mind, we would prefer it". "Thank you, Sir". "No sirs either, no Airs remember"? "Thank you… Nick".
Vivian comes in from taking a short nap. "Hey mom, how did your day go"? "Very tiring, they are pushing me harder now that I have my black belt". "You have a black belt? How long have you been studying"? asks Pat. "About a 1 ½ years Mis Watts, I have had three full days a week for the last year of training". "Why would you do that"? "Well, Daniel got me hooked with isometrics and I found I liked it". "Is it hard"? "At first yes, but as you progress it become easier". "Would I be able to learn that"?
"It depends what you want it for". Pat sits down hard, and in a small voice, "I want to defend myself, I don't want to be afraid any more". With this she breaks down crying. I come into the room. "This has something to do with what happed to you as a kit, doesn't it"? Pat just nods her head yes. "Would you use your training to hurt people"? "No, Daniel, I just don't want to be afraid any more". "And when you are trained, would you seek revenge on the people that hurt you"? "NO, most aren't alive anymore, and the ones that are, I have not been in contact with for some time". "Are you willing to be here every morning at five am"? "Yes, I would, I haven't slept well for years, and am awake most mornings before five". "Then the DOJO here welcomes you". I give her a hug; "the teacher won't be to hard on you, but he will be fair". "Oh, look at the time I should be going". Pat jumps up drying her eyes and heads for the door. She takes her coat out of the closet, and turns back to see me smiling at her she smiles back as the door closes.
"Guys is it my imagination, or does Daniel seem to draw mammals out"? "I think it's just his positive attitude that seem to draw mammals in". "Could be, he seems to bring out the best in mammals, and they seem to want to do their best for him". "Well, what should we make for supper tonight"?