If Nick had held his smartphone any tighter, the screen would have cracked. "It doesn't matter that it was seventeen years ago!"

In the parking lot of the apartment complex, a beaver who lived three doors down from Elizabeth briefly looked toward the fox shouting outside his car before continuing to her own car.

"Nick," Judy said at the other end of the phone, "he was a jerk, but he changed and I forgave him. Sound familiar?"

"I didn't think you'd ever be a real cop and I called you a 'dumb bunny.' Gideon didn't think you'd ever be a cop at all and he clawed your face. These are hardly equal offences."

"True enough. But he was ten when he did that, and he wasn't as bright as you were at that age. I told you because I didn't feel it was right to keep it from you, not so you can teach your little half brother a lesson that he doesn't need to be taught. If you want me to go to Bunnyburrow with you and to stay at the farm, you'll have to promise that what I just told you will stay between us."

Judy heard silence for a moment before Nick gave his answer. "All right. For you, Judy, I promise."

"Good. I'll let Mom and Dad know to expect us sometime tomorrow afternoon and that we're bringing a guest. Everyone always enjoys your visits, and I'm sure they'll enjoy meeting your dad. Oh, you might want to warn him about the kits, though."

"Yes, it will be their first time exploring a fox who's a little older. I'm sure he'll find it cute to be hopped on—or 'Hoppsed' on—by the youngest members of your family." He paused for a moment. "I should tell him the 'cute rule,' though: that to call a bunny 'cute,' you need to be a bunny, be in a relationship with a bunny, or be intent on annoying the ever-loving fluff off a bunny."

Judy lightly groaned. "Skip that last one, Slick."

"Sure, cutie."

He was miles away, but Judy could still see her fox's sly smile.

"All right," Nick said. "I'm going to head home now. We'll see you tomorrow morning at six."

"Good night, Nick. See you tomorrow. I love you."

"Love you too, Fluff."

— § —

July 15, 2017

Judy was waiting outside her apartment building when Nick pulled up in his red Herd Mustang convertible at 6:02 a.m. John was in the passenger seat.

"You're late, Nick!" Judy called over to him with a laugh.

Nick lifted himself up a little in his seat so Judy could see him better. "Yes, but"—he adjusted the knot of his tie and shook the collar of his Pawaiian shirt—"fashionably late."

John opened his door and took a few steps toward Judy as she was walking toward the car. "Good morning," he said as he extended his paw. "You look familiar. Have we met?"

Judy shifted her bag to her left paw and smiled awkwardly as she took the fox's paw. "Good morning, Mr. Wilde."

"Oh, you can call me John. We're friends now. Please don't feel awkward. You and Nick had a job to do yesterday, and I'm OK with it. I have no hard feelings."

Judy nodded lightly. "Thank you."

John let go of Judy's paw but continued speaking. "I was also just doing a job yesterday. When performing surgeries, I always kept my personal opinions out of what adult mammals were willingly paying to have done. You came to my office looking for rhinoplasty, and I just wanted to give you what you wanted. But let me just say that Nick was absolutely correct when he said that you're perfect just the way you are."

Judy chuckled lightly and blushed even more. "Thanks."

John offered to take Judy's bag, and he set it on the opposite seat as he got into the right back seat. Judy sat next to Nick up front.

"So, do you remember how to get to Bunnyburrow?" she asked.

"Drive for two hundred miles and then turn left onto the dirt road."

Judy rolled her eyes. "Come on, Nick. You know that the streets in Bunnyburrow are paved."

— § —

After belting through the first chorus, Judy stopped singing along with "Try Everything" on the radio. "John, don't say anything you can't," she said, "but since we already know, what was it like working on Gazelle?"

It was two hours into the journey, and everyone was enjoying being together as city gradually faded to country. As they didn't have to think about driving, Judy and John were especially able to get into conversation and really get to know each other for the first time. John was happy that his son had such a great girlfriend, and Judy recognized John as a flawed but good mammal whose regrets were genuine.

"She was the first of a pawful of A-listers who came to me over the years," the former surgeon replied. "I won't share their names, but I will say that Gazelle was responsible for bringing most of them to me. It was a bit of a shock the first time she came in, but I always tried to treat her like any other patient. I think she appreciated that I never threw a big fuss over her and that I was never visibly starstruck."

Nick chuckled. "The opposite of Clawhauser."

Judy let out a laugh too. "Yes. Benjamin Clawhauser, a cheetah who works at the front desk at our precinct, is a huge Gazelle fan. And I mean huge. He knows every word to even her most obscure songs. He has a ton of her merchandise, and would probably try to buy one of her used Botox syringes if he could get his paws on one. He would never stalk her or intentionally make her feel uncomfortable, but he wouldn't be able to stop smiling if he ever got the opportunity to provide security to her at one of her concerts, which is a longtime dream of his."

John chuckled. "All syringes were destroyed as biomedical waste. None ever made it to eBray. Anyway, just as she appreciated that I never made her feel like the celebrity in the room, I appreciated that she was willing to come to me at all. What she says about equality in public she believes just as much in private. My business was successful and served mammals of all sizes and species, but I still lost many potential patients because of being a fox. Anti-fox sentiment was a problem that sometimes happened as a tailor too." He paused for a moment and then smiled. "But Zootopia and the world are getting better. Being arrested by fox and rabbit police partners proves that we're moving in the right direction."

— § —

Nick slowed down a little to reduce the amount of dust being kicked up as the asphalt suddenly ended. "What was that about the streets of Bunnyburrow being paved?"

Judy crossed her arms. "Well, most of them are. I haven't been this far down Lutein Lane before. Gideon always comes to the farm; none of us have been to his shop."

John had never eaten a butterfly, but his stomach felt like he had eaten a kaleidoscope of them and forgotten to chew. The moment was close. By some miracle, his older son had been able to accept him again in a day. Would his younger son be as accepting?

After about half a mile, Nick turned right into the dirt parking lot of 960 Lutein Lane. Only one other vehicle was in the lot: Gideon's van, parked in front of the right corner of the building. "Well, this is good," Nick said as he parked near the left corner of the building. "We're early enough that he's probably not too busy." He shut the car off and turned around to his father. "Well, it's the moment of truth. You sure you don't want to do this together?"

John nodded. "I'm sure. I don't want this to be any more difficult for him than it already has to be. He has to want to see me; I won't force him."

"OK," Nick said. He turned back around and opened his door. "Wish me luck."

"Good luck," John said.

"You'll do great, Nick," Judy said.

Nick smiled and then walked up to the large window in front of where he had parked, looking for a moment at the variety of cookies, brownies, and cupcakes tempting customers through the glass. It was one of two windows at the front of the wood building, the other displaying mouthwatering cakes and pies, both whole and individually cut pieces. Guitars used to be displayed in one window and a drum kit in the other years ago when Bobby Catmul ran a musical instrument store there before moving the business to Zootopia.

As Nick stepped through the entrance, located between the two windows, he was greeted by the pleasing aroma of hundreds of goods, both baked and still baking. A bell hanging on the back of the door jingled as it was opened and shut.

Gideon looked over his shoulder at the new customer as he slid a loaf of zucchini bread into the oven. "Good morning!" He was a bit surprised to see a fellow fox in his establishment. There were so few foxes in Bunnyburrow that he thought he knew them all.

"Good morning," Nick replied as he walked toward the counter. "My friend says you make the best blueberry pie in the tri-burrows."

"Your friend is mighty kind," Gideon said, now completely in front of his customer.

"I was hoping to get a slice." Nick smiled. "Or to at least start with a slice and then maybe have some more if it's as good as she says."

"Sure! You get the first slice of the day." The business owner picked up a metal pie server and bent down a little to access the glass case built into the counter. The case had all kinds of cakes, pies, and other tasty treats, all different from what was displayed in the windows. He picked up one of the eight pre-sliced slices and put it onto a ceramic plate, which had the bakery's smiling pie logo on it, along with a fork. "Here you go," he said as he set the plate on the counter.

"Thank you," Nick said. He picked up the plate and held the slice right up to his mouth, taking his first bite without using the fork. Some blueberry filling spilled out onto the plate. "Mmm, this is good! Judy was right."

The pastry chef smiled. "Thank you. Though much of the credit belongs to the Hopps Family Farm for growin' the blueberries. I get all my produce fresh from them."

Nick scooped up the spilled filling with his fork. "That's my girlfriend's parents' farm."

"Now ain't that a small world? So it's Judy you're datin'?"

Nick nodded.

"I went to school with Judy and several of her siblings from the third grade on. I was a year older on account of havin' to repeat it. Before then, I went to school with some of Judy's other siblings." He chuckled. "There were Hoppses in every grade at Woodlands Elementary School, if I recall correctly."

Nick nodded. "It's a big family. When I was here another time, we were at the diner and Stu started showing me the photos he had in his wallet of all his kits. I finished four cups of coffee before he was done."

"Yeah, it's a big family. Mostly farmers, but that Judy wanted to be a cop since almost forever. I'll admit I wasn't the nicest guy when I was younger, and I didn't think she'd ever get very far. But I'm glad I was wrong and that her dream came true. You know, she doesn't know it, but I think some of her dreamin' even rubbed off on me and helped me finally find the courage to start my own business."

"That's our Judy. She rubbed off on me so much that six months before we started dating, I became her police partner." He took another bite of his pie, continuing to use the fork. "Mmm. Aren't blueberries just the greatest?"

"You know, I like 'em, but raspberries are my favorite. I can't get enough of 'em." He looked down at his plumpness and patted his belly. "Although maybe I should try."

Nick chuckled. "I wonder if it's genetic."

Gideon cocked his head. "My weight?"

Nick shook his head. "No, no. I mean, I got my green eyes from my mother, and I share her love of blueberries. I don't know about your mother's eye color, but your father is crazy about raspberries."

"Well now, my mother did have blue eyes like me, but I can't say if my father liked raspberries or not. I, uh ... I never knew him. Ran off before I was born is what Ma told me."

"Hey, I can relate a little. I knew my father, but my parents divorced when I was seven. I didn't see him again until yesterday, twenty-seven years later. I learned a lot of things yesterday, including that I have a half brother here in Bunnyburrow. Today I learned that my half brother shares my father's love of raspberries."

"Here in Bunnyburrow? Wow, there aren't too many foxes here in Bunny—"

Nick nodded slowly as Gideon realized. "Yeah," he said softly. "You have a half brother who loves blueberries." Nick glanced down at the pie. "Especially these blueberries." He set his plate down and held out his paw. "I'm Nick. Nick Wilde."

"Gideon Grey," Gideon said as he shook Nick's paw. "Oh my. No one ever told me I wasn't an only child."

"I don't think your mother knew about me when she briefly knew our father. And even if she did, there was no reason to ever have to tell you."

"So he never wanted to see you after seven like he never wanted to see me at all?"

"That's not true. Dad loves us both."

"But Ma—"

"Didn't tell you the whole story."

"But, but—"

"Gideon, listen to me," Nick said softer and calmer. "I know this is all a shock to you. It was for me yesterday. Dad absolutely made heartbreaking mistakes, but my heart breaks for him too. But we can't change the past. We're all a family now."

"H-how do I know you're not p-p-playin' an awful trick on me?" Anxiety and sudden skepticism brought out the baker's occasional stutter.

"Dad and Judy are outside. We came up from Zootopia this morning just to see you. Because we care about you, and questions you've had all your life deserve answers."

Gideon thought for a moment and then shook his head. "I-I-I can't. This is t-too much for me." He turned around and started walking into the kitchen. "En-enjoy the pie, Nick," he said with a wave. "It's free." He turned right and disappeared behind a dough mixer.

Nick sighed as he heard a door open and shut out of view, presumably to an office accessible through the kitchen. He picked up his plate and felt both guilty and respectful as he finished the last few bites of pie. He turned around 360° to look at the place one final time before he left, noticing a tip jar on the counter that he hadn't seen earlier. On one small piece of paper taped to the jar was written, "Tips—thank you! This month's tips donated to," and on a second piece of paper, indicating it was regularly changed, was written, "Bunnyburrow Junior Rangers Pack 31." Nick took out his wallet and pulled out a twenty-dollar bill and one of his ZPD business cards. He put the bill in the jar and left the card next to his empty plate on the counter. "It was good to meet you, Gideon," Nick called out into the kitchen. "Thanks for the pie." He then turned around and left the shop.

John and Judy watched Nick walk toward the car without signaling them to come in, thinking that maybe Gideon was going to come out instead.

But Nick shook his head as he walked up to the passenger side. "I tried. But it's not going to happen."

"Oh, Nick," Judy said sadly. Her ears drooped.

John sighed. "Well, he has every right to feel the way he does."

"It was just too much too quick. He had believed all his life that his father had run off before he was born."

John shut his eyes. "That breaks my heart. But I guess what was Cinza—or Gwen, you said her name was—supposed to tell him? That he's here only because I was an adulterer who was himself being used?"

Nick opened his mouth to say something, but he couldn't find the words. All he could do was put a paw on his father's shoulder for a moment.

Nick went around to the other side of the car and sat down in the driver's seat. He started the engine for the short drive to the farm, where they would still spend the day and stay overnight before making the trip back to Zootopia in the morning. He shifted into reverse.

"Nick, wait! Nick! Nick!"

Nick had already backed out of the unmarked area of dirt his car had occupied when he saw Gideon running toward the car and shouting at him to stop. He pulled forward again and shut the engine off.

Gideon walked up to the passenger side of the car and looked past Judy to Nick. "Nick, like I said, that pie I gave you wouldn't be the same without Hopps produce"—he looked at Judy—"and the only reason I have Hopps produce is because your parents' minds were opened by you, Judy, and they were willin' to no longer judge me by my past mistakes." He took two steps to his left so he could be right in front of his father's door. "So I should be willin' to not judge someone by their past mistakes either." He extended his right paw. "I'm Gideon John Grey. I was born on May 21, 1990."

John's heart skipped a beat when he heard his son's full name. He took his paw. "John Joseph Wilde Jr."

A look of shock came to Gideon's face, but it quickly faded into one of closure. "I never knew where the John came from," he said after a moment. "Now I know it's the same place my love of raspberries comes from."

John smiled. He broke his grip with Gideon to wipe a tear from his eye. "A mutual friend tells me you make the best raspberry pie in the tri-burrows."

"Judy is mighty kind. Would you like to come in and try some? I have a pie with seven slices left, and I can tell you that the Hopps raspberries taste great this morning."

John nodded. "I'd like that."

Gideon smiled. "Good!" He took a step to his right. "Nick, Judy, you too. I've got more blueberry pie, carrot cake, and so many other tasty things. We're a family now, so let's have a reunion."

John, Nick, and Judy got out of the car and followed Gideon inside. When the final one had entered, Gideon locked the door and flipped the "Come in, we're open" sign around to read "Sorry, we're closed."

— § —

Rabbits were a tough species to grow up around. Everywhere he went as a kit, every day, in every direction, Gideon was surrounded by hopping, jumping, bouncing families, fluffles led in almost all cases by a married father and mother. As large families were common—"The Bigger, the Better!" was the unofficial burrow motto—single-parent warrens in Bunnyburrow were rare; rarer still were kits born who didn't at least know their father.

Knowing he was different from his peers was hard enough. Being teased for being fatherless and illegitimate was the worst of all.

While Nick and Judy helped themselves to whatever baked goods they wanted in the shop, John was sitting with Gideon in the office, silently listening to him talk about his early life. But at this point, he had to say something. He shook his head. "A parent can be illegitimate, Gideon, but no child ever is. Never use that word again."

Gideon nodded. Then he thought for a moment. "Was she illegitimate too?"

"Cinza? I mean, your mother?"

Gideon nodded. "She was always pretty good to me, but I don't think I was planned. She never said anything about how she knew you before the heart attack took her two years ago."

"I'm glad to know she was good to you. And I'm sorry for your loss."

"Thank you."

"Well, as I learned yesterday myself, she always wanted you. You were very much planned by her. She wanted to be a parent so much that she left Bunnyburrow to find someone to be your father in Zootopia. That's where I owned a tailor shop. Your mother visited it a few times, and though I was happily married to Nick's mother, I started having an affair with her. I didn't know at the time that her only reason for being with me was so she could have you. I didn't know that she was even pregnant until she slipped a note into my suit pocket, calling off our liaisons and asking that I not look for her—or, by extension, you. My wife—soon my ex-wife—found the note before I did. It was the beginning of the darkest moments of my life."

"Ma always told me you ran off before I was born."

"And that breaks my heart, but I understand why she said that." He paused for a moment. "Gideon, I regret what I did to my wife and Nick, and it hurts to now know that I was being used myself. But I have never regretted you. I may not have known your name, your face, or where you were in the world, but you've always had a place in my heart. You're my son no matter the circumstances, and I love you." Tears welled up in his eyes. "I'm sorry you had to grow up without me." The tears spilled over.

As John started drying his eyes on a shirt sleeve, Gideon handed him a clean cloth from his pocket to use instead. He put a paw on his father's shoulder, but after a moment, got up and hugged him completely.

That only made John's tears flow more, and he stood up and returned Gideon's embrace.

With John now holding the only cloth Gideon had with him, the baker had to use his own shirt sleeve after a moment to dry his own eyes.

Silently they stood for several minutes, just holding on to each other.

— § —

After a while of talking together—about their lives, about their mistakes, about happier moments, about things big and small—Gideon left the office with John for a promised slice of raspberry pie. They found Nick and Judy sitting together on stools by the counter, the fox with a third slice of blueberry pie on his plate and the bunny with just crumbs on hers from carrot cake and peanut butter cookies. John pulled out another stool by Nick as Gideon put one slice each on two plates. Then, knowing himself and now knowing his father, he added a second slice to each plate.

"How'd it go?" Nick asked as John sat down.

"We're OK." John put a paw on Nick's back. "Somehow, after decades of hurt, both my sons have accepted me and forgiven me in two days. I don't deserve this."

"You've hurt for decades too, Dad. You deserve at least a few aspirin."

A moment later, Gideon set both plates on the counter. He asked Nick and Judy if they wanted anything more, with Nick being set with his blueberry pie and Judy not wanting anything more at the moment. He then walked around to the other side and took a stool next to John.

For the next while, the four sat together and talked, enjoying each other's company and feeling like they had all been family forever. It was like a Thanksgiving dinner with only the relatives you wanted to see and dessert being the main and only course.

"Many, many years later," John said, now sharing some stories from his careers, "I was looking at ZNN's website one night when I came across a photo of Gazelle and her father at a recent concert. I was going by Dr. Cunningham then and had already treated her a few times. But Gazelle was not what had first caught my attention in the photo. It was the tie around her father's neck, which I instantly recognized as the deep blue paisley one I had custom made for him long before his daughter was a pop star."

"Wow," Nick said.

"You know, coming from Bunnyburrow, I never thought I'd say this," Judy said, "but it really is a small world."

John chuckled. "It really is sometimes."

"It's kinda funny," Gideon said, "but a friend of mine just started a tailor shop a few months ago about five miles from here. I know he's lookin' for some help. It might be just the thing for you if"—he paused for a moment—"if, well, you know."

John sighed. "Yeah, that sounds like something that might have worked. But the job probably won't still be available when I get out in at least seven and a half years, and he probably wouldn't want to hire a felon anyway."

Suddenly, the four heard a knock at the door of the bake shop. Gideon didn't get up, though. "They'll see the sign in a moment. I'll still have plenty of stuff to sell 'em tomorrow."

But the knocking didn't stop. It only grew louder.

"Oh, honestly, now," Gideon said as he shook his head.

"Gideon, you in there?" a male voice yelled through the door. A few more knocks. "I don't have my key. Hello? Hello?"

"Oh, that's right," Gideon said as he stood up. "I shoulda let him know I was closin' today." He turned to Judy. "You remember Travis, Judy?"

Judy nodded. "I do."

"Well, he's my part-time assistant now. Makes a great raspberry coffee."

"Raspberry coffee?" John smiled. "Let him in!"