Chapter 5:

Meet The Parents

"So how are things going in Zootopia dear?" Mr Hopps asked over Facetime.

"Things have been super quiet right? No more bad guys or anything dangerous right? Mrs. Hopps asked.

"Oh sure mom and dad. Last week I apprehended four criminals involved in a shootout in downtown Zootopia," Judy said knowing that would throw them off. Sure enough they both gasped loudly. "And yesterday I hunted down a mad Polar Bear in a car chase."

Mrs. Hopps nearly fainted.

"Judy, you have to be more careful...what ever happened to being a meter maid?" Mr. Hopps said.

Judy sighed. "That was a temporary thing. I literally saved Zootopia...the world actually! My meter maid days are over!"

"Alright dear just...just be careful," Mrs. Hopps said.

"We meant to ask you if you wanted to spend the weekend over here Judy," Mr. Hopps said.

"Oh yes, we hardly ever see you anymore. We really miss you. Maria is going into the sixth grade and Tommy just lost a tooth last week."

Judy couldn't help but smile. "Sure, I'll come over."

All of a sudden the door to Judy's apartment opened and Nick walked in.

"I'm letting myself in," he announced.

"Sure, you can come in," Judy said rolling her eyes.

"Judy, who's that?" Mrs. Hopps asked.

"That's just my partner Nick," Judy said. "He often comes in uninvited."

Nick gave her a thumbs up from where he was digging through the refrigerator. "You know you love me, carrots."

"We didn't know you had a partner," Mr. Hopps said.

"She needs one to keep her from dying on a regular basis," Nick said pulling out bread and peanut butter.

"We want to meet him," Mrs. Hopps said.

"You do?" Judy said resisting the urge to blush. It wasn't like her and Nick were dating, she shouldn't feel awkward about it.

"Of course we do. Anyone who is a partner of yours we want to meet."

"Well, okay. Do you want to meet my parents Nick?"

Nick shrugged as he bit into his peanut butter and jelly sandwich. "Sure, why not?"

"Wonderful! We'll see you both this weekend!"

*WW*

A few days later they were in Judy's car driving towards Bunnyville.

"So where is this place again?" Nick asked.

"In the middle of damn nowhere," Judy replied. "You'll see why I had to leave. I couldn't stay here forever."

Nick snickered. "I think you would have made a very good carrot farmer."

Judy pushed his arm. "Whatever."

"What's your family like?"

"Well I have ten brothers and sisters…"

"Ten brothers and sisters?!" Nick exclaimed. "Damn, and I thought being an only child was rough."

"And I'm the oldest out of all of them. I have a twin sister, Clara, but don't let her tell you she's older," Judy said. "Imagine how much fun that is. And my parents are a little uptight but they're nice."

"Do you think they'll like me?"

Judy hesitated. "Well…"

Nick wasn't expecting that reaction. "Well what? You think they won't like me?"

"It's not that, my parents are just a little…"

"Let me guess, they don't like foxes?"

Judy sighed. "It's not that they don't like foxes, it's just…"

"Just what?!"

"Remember the fox repellant?" Judy finally said.

Nick's eyes got wide. "No…!"

"They're not that bad anymore, I swear!"

Nick crossed his arms. "But you didn't tell them I'm a fox, did you?"

"Would you stop? It doesn't matter." She put her hand on his. "My parents are going to like you either way."

He looked down at her hand on his. It felt nice and warm. Then he looked up and they made eye contact. She blushed and pulled her hand back realizing what she was doing. He blushed as well and they sat in awkward silence for a while.

Eventually they pulled up to Judy's parents house.

"Home sweet home," Judy said as they got out of the car. They hauled their bags to the front door and Judy rang the doorbell.

"Judy! You're here!" Mrs. Hopps said giving her a hug.

"Hi mom," Judy said.

Mrs. Hopps froze when she saw Nick. "And, um, I take it this is your friend…"

"Nick Wilde," Nick said extending his hand.

"Nice to meet you Nick. Judy, you didn't tell me Nick is a…"

Suddenly a smaller bunny ran up behind them. "He's a fox!" she exclaimed.

"Yeah, wonderful, we all realize that I'm a fox. Let's move on now," Nick said.

Judy squeezed his hand comfortingly. "Something smells really good in here," she said changing the subject.

"Oh you're just in time, I'm making carrot crumble cookies just for the occasion," Mrs. Hopps said obviously distracted from the fox thing.

"Carrot crumble cookies?" Nick said. He'd had a lot of cookies but carrot crumble didn't sound very appetizing.

"They're delicious, I promise," Judy said realizing the skepticism.

"Maria, how about you take Judy and Nick upstairs and show them the rooms we set up for them?" Mrs. Hopps said.

"Sure," the little girl bunny said. They followed her upstairs. She looked like a younger version of Judy. Nick imagined her being just as strong willed and beautiful as Judy in a few years too. "You're really hot. No wonder Judy likes you so much."

Judy froze with embarrassment. "Maria…!"

Nick smirked. "Oh really? Tell me more Maria."

"She talks about you all the time."

"Maria stop!"

"She said you're an ass but she forgives you because you're so sweet."

Judy ran her hands through her hair mortified. "Just stop talking Maria!"

"That's nice of her," Nick said elbowing Judy who wouldn't look at him. "I think she's very sweet too."

Judy could feel her face burning but secretly she liked hearing him say that.

"Oh my god, Judy, you're here!" said the bunny who came around the corner. She reached out and gave Judy a hug. Nick did a double take when he saw her. The resemblance to Judy was uncanny. The only difference between them was Clara had darker hair and while Judy dressed a bit edgier with a cropped tank top and a plaid shirt tied around her waist, Clara wore a checkered pink dress reminescent of a farm girl.

"Clara!" Judy exclaimed. She turned to Nick. "Nick, this is Clara. Clara, this is Nick."

Clara looked Nick up and down with the same distaste her mother had. "So this is Nick."

Nick held out his hand to her. "Nice to meet you Clara."

Clara shook his hand. "Nice to meet you too Nick. So um, how long have you two known each other?"

"About 5 months," Judy replied. "We're partners at the ZPD."

Clara nodded stiffly. "Mm hmm, I see. Well, you two make yourselves at home. I'll see you at dinner." With that she went downstairs.

Nick could sense an odd tension coming off of Clara and he didn't know what to think of it. "What's wrong with Clara?"

Judy shrugged. "She's probably just tired or something. She's really sweet, I promise."

An hour later it was dinner time and Mr. Hopps had come home from the farm. "I'm home everyone...who let the fox in here?!" he exclaimed when he saw Nick sitting on the floor with Judy and her siblings playing Monopoly.

Nick stood up and extended his hand to Mr. Hopps. "I'm Nick Wilde sir, Judy's friend…"

"Judy's friend huh?" Mr. Hopps said suspiciously. He was not very pleased to see that Nick was a fox. "Judy, would you come into the kitchen with me?"

Judy rolled her eyes. "Sure."

"Why didn't you tell us Nick was a fox?!" Mr. Hopps said once they got into the kitchen where Mrs. Hopps was finishing up dinner and Clara was setting the table. Clara looked up and smirked when she saw Judy come in with their father.

Judy sighed. "Why does it matter that he's a fox? I thought you guys didn't care anymore."

"Of course not but when someone close to you is a fox then we have a reason to be worried."

"Stu, give him a chance," Mrs. Hopps said.

"You know how foxes are!"

"Dad, that's not true!" Judy exclaimed.

"You should listen to dad, Judy," Clara said. "You know we're all just looking out for you."

"He's very kind I swear. You've just got to get to know him."

"I don't know dear…" Mr. Hopps said.

"Would a vicious fox be doing this?!" She opened the door and gestured to Nick playing Simon Says with her youngest brothers and sisters.

"Nick, Simon didn't say touch your toes! You're out!" they said.

"Alright, alright," Nick said. He looked down at the younger one who had been hugging his tail for the past 15 minutes. "Having fun little one?"

"Your tail is fluffy," he said.

Judy closed the door and crossed her arms. "Well?"

Mr. Hopps sighed. "Well...I guess I'll give him a chance." He still didn't look happy about it but Judy figured she had won for now.

"Dinner is ready," Mrs. Hopps said.

Everyone sat down for dinner to the delicious food Mrs. Hopps had made.

"So how did you two meet?" Mr. Hopps asked suspiciously.

Nick chuckled. "Long story."

"I caught him illegally distributing products and hustling people. Also tax evasion," Judy replied.

Mr. and Mrs. Hopps nearly spit out their drinks. Judy's younger siblings giggled. Clara hid another smirk.

"And through a long series of events he helped me solve the predators case and I asked him to be my partner," Judy said.

"And of course I accepted. Someone has to be the brains on this team," Nick said.

"You the brains? It's definitely me," Judy said.

"Who saves your tail on a daily basis?"

"I do my fair share of saving your tail you sly fox."

"So Nick, where are you from?" Mrs. Hopps asked.

"I grew up in a town outside of Zootopia. I moved there to make a name for myself."

"Hustling people?" Mr. Hopps said disapprovingly.

Nick shrugged. "It was fast money."

"What did your parents think of that?"

"Well I never knew my dad," Nick replied. "And my mother died a few years ago. I never told her about it. It wasn't something she needed to know."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Mrs. Hopps said.

"Don't worry about it. Judy is lucky to have such a big family around though. I think it's really nice to be able to come home to such a supportive family every now and then and have fresh made cookies."

"Well you're welcome into our home whenever you want," Mrs. Hopps said starting to rethink her opinion of Nick. She turned to Judy and gave a smile of approval. "Any friend of Judy's is a friend of ours."

"How did you and Judy get together anyway?" Clara asked curiously.

"I bet it was romantic," said Maria.

"What?" Nick said confused.

"When do you and Judy plan on getting married?" Mrs. Hopps asked.

Nick and Judy looked away from each other and blushed when they realized what was going on. "We're not…"

"I think when you have children you'll want to settle down somewhere quiet. Zootopia is much too crazy to raise a family in," Mr. Hopps said.

"Nick and I aren't dating," Judy interrupted.

"What?!" Maria exclaimed.

"We're just friends," Judy said.

"You said you were partners," Mrs. Hopps said.

"Partners at the ZPD, not life partners or anything," Nick said.

"Yeah." Judy said. Then she realized that her and Nick were holding hands under the table. How did that happen?!

He seemed to notice it too and they quickly pulled their hands apart.

"Just friends."

*WW*

That evening Nick was sitting in the hammock out in the backyard looking up at the stars. Everyone else was asleep but he didn't seem to be able to. He always found sitting outside comforting when he couldn't sleep and being in Bunnyville was much different than Zootopia. He could actually see a sky full of stars and it was interesting.

He wasn't sure what he was expecting when he met Judy's family. Sure enough he had a good time here. Her siblings were funny and sweet and seemed to really admire her. Clara was weird but she seemed nice enough. It was her parents that worried him.

He had hoped to make a good impression with them. It was clear from the beginning that they didn't like foxes. He tried his hardest to change their minds but he wasn't sure if it worked. Suppose he and Judy were to start dating one day, what would it mean if her parents hated him? Would he ever be accepted into their family?

He heard footsteps and looked up seeing Judy come towards her in her pajamas. "What are you doing out here?"

He shrugged. "I couldn't sleep."

"Mind if I join you?"

"Sure."

He moved over and she lay next to him. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and they looked up at the stars. It reminded her of a few weeks ago when they were handcuffed and they cuddled on her couch. It made her happy.

"What does your family really think of me?"

"They love you Nick."

"Doesn't seem like it."

Judy hesitated knowing he was right. "Just give them time."

"I'm not that type of fox. I don't want the world to see me that way. I try to change what people think but when it doesn't work it's kind of like...what's the point?"

"You're so much more than that. You're the kindest most amazing person I've ever met and if people won't accept that then it's their problem...even my family. But trust me, they do like you. My siblings think you're great. And my mom told me that she thinks you're really nice."

"And your dad?"

"Well...we'll work on him. Don't let it get to you, okay?"

He hugged her. "You always know just what to say Judy."

*WW*

They spent a very fun couple of days with Judy's family. Mr. and Mrs. Hopps seemed to accept that Nick was a fox and grudgingly accepted the fact that they weren't dating. But all of Judy's siblings were convinced that the two liked each other and placed bets on when they would get together.

At the end of the weekend they said goodbye to everyone and got in Judy's car to go home.

"Your family is really nice," Nick said.

"I told you they would like you," she said.

He smirked. "You didn't seem so sure before."

"Well I knew they would. There's nothing to not like about you. You're smart, funny, cute...wait, did I say cute? I didn't mean that! I mean, well, I didn't mean it like that…"

Nick reached over and held Judy's hand, deliberately this time. "You're cute too ya dumb bunny."

She glanced at him and smiled, her face rapidly turning red. "Sly fox."