Chapter Three: The Talent Show

A/N: I thought I'd give you some relief from the constant scene skips of the last two chapters and just solely focus on the Wilde kids and how they're dealing with their grief. So not a lot of action this time, just fluff and a very mad Petey which you normally don't see.

I'm not sure if I got the moral across just right. Basically, it's okay to worry as long as you don't make yourself sick from it and it's okay to have distractions if that helps. Plus, you should talk about your worries and fears to get them out in the open.

7:05pm at the Hopps home

Joshua Hopps and a few other Hopps siblings were on the multiple couches in front of the giant, home theater TV watching the news out of Zootopia.

"There's mayhem on the streets as several reports of riots and fires are emerging and RDTV has been completely taken over by former mayor Lionheart. Many of the citizens have gone savage in the downtown district, thanks t-" CLICK!

Spots turned off the TV which infuriated Joshua. "HEY! Tonight's my turn! I was watching that!"

"The kids don't need to see all this doom and gloom right now. Tonight, we're gonna have a talent show."

"NO! It's MY turn! I'm gonna watch the news!"

Spots snarled and growled at Joshua. Baring her fangs. "O-On second thought, a t-talent show would be fine!" said a frightened Joshua.

Spots then shouted ou through the halls. "Okay all Hopps and Grey family members! We're having a talent show tonight in the home theater. If you have a talent you'd like to show off, please come down and we'll put you in the show!"

A rush of kids and adults ran out to the couches and up above the upper hallways to watch. Spots ran into the room with Petey and the girls. "Are you all ready?"

"We're ready!" said one of the little Hopps siblings.

Spots ran out to the little stage. "Okay everyone! Time for our little talent show to begin! First up, is a not quite all-girls group calling themselves, 'Hopping Wilde' take it away girls!"

Petey and three of the Hopps girls were dancing and singing in the back, but stubborn Cindy was singing up front.

"Now watch me flip..."

"Cindy!"

"...Watch me hey-hey!"

"Cindy! Cindy!"

"Now watch me flip!...Flip! Watch me hey-hey!"

"Cindy! Cindy!"

"Watch me. Watch me. Oooooh! Watch me. Watch me. Oooooh!"

"Cindy. Cindy. Oooooh! Cindy. Cindy. Oooooh!"

Wiggly was watching the show when his mother tapped him on the shoulder. "C'mon Wiggly! You're gonna be up soon."

"Okay mama." The pig left with his mother.

Spots and some of the bunnies applauded. Petey then came down with Cindy. "Where's Wiggly?"

"He saw your performance, but he had to leave and get ready for his part. Where's Cotton and Michael?"

"I dunno. Maybe they're gonna perform too. Why don't we go upstairs and get your makeup off? You and Cindy got it caked on like clowns."

As they went upstairs, Ollie the ocelot went on stage next. He sang to the tune of "Modern major general." Gideon,Cole and some of his other kids were back up singers.

"Hello-my-name-is-Ollie-and-you-know-I-am-an-Ocelot."

"I'm-not-a-picky-eater-so-my-food-it-doesn't-cost-a-lot."

"Although-my-favorite-snack-in-the-morning-is-some-tater-tots."

"They're-yummy-and-delicious-and-you-know-they-really-hit-the-spot!"

Gideon and the kids then sang in the background.

"He's not a picky eater so his food, it doesn't cost a lot!"

"You know his name is Ollie and you know that he's an Ocelot!"

Ollie continued.

"Hello-again-I'm-Ollie-and-you-know-I-am-an-ocelot."

"And-when-I-pick-my-nose-I-really-can-produce-a-lot-of-snot."

"I-wipe-it-under-the-table-in-the-hopes-that-I-will-not-get-caught."

"Oops!-I-said-it-out-loud-I-guess-I-put-myself-on-the-spot!"

Gideon got mad. "Wait! You were the booger bandit this whole time?! Get over here!"

"AAH!" Ollie ran off the stage and away from Gideon.

Meanwhile, Spots was in Mike's old room, removing the makeup off of Cindy. "Boy, they really did a number on you guys."

"Papa." Cindy replied.

Spots giggled. "Yeeah. I'm your 'papa' hunh? Papa loves her little girl. Do you want to keep the dress."

"No!" She yelled as she started tearing it off with her teeth.

"Don't rip it!"

While Spots was attending to Cindy. She didn't notice that Petey found Cotton's drawing on the bed. "Oh no! SHIT! Spots! Look what Cotton drew!"

"I-I know." Spots replied. "We didn't wanna worry you and Cindy."

Petey was getting really upset. "You all knew?! Why didn't you tell me?!"

"I just said! We didn't want you to worry! Besides, I called mom and dad and sent them the drawing. Dad's gonna do his best to stay away from Rusev. They've been warned, so everything should be okay."

"It's not okay! Cotton's drawings always come true! How could...FUCK!...How could you keep this from me?! From Cindy?!"

"Look, when Cotton found out, she freaked out so bad, she barfed! There's nothing we can do but worry!"

Petey was absolutely enraged. Tears were in his eyes. "We're family! We don't keep secrets from each other! You're a bad sister!"

"Petey please! Stop! I just wanted to protect you!"

Petey punched his big sister in the shoulder. "I HATE YOU!"

He ran off crying. Cindy chased after him. "Pee-Pee!"

Spots sat on the bed. She buried her face into her paws and cried. "I can't do it! I just can't!"

Meanwhile, Michael, Bean and Cotton were talking to one of Michael's older brothers, Johnny Neon. "You want to borrow my drum set?" Johnny asked Michael.

"Yeah! Bean can grip a dart with his ears. I wanna see if he can grip drumsticks and maybe play the drums!"

"A limbless boy playing the drums. That would be some act."

"Yeah! Me and Bean can be a rock and roll act!"

"Can I be in the band too?" Cotton asked.

"As what? A dancer girl?"

"A MUSICIAN!" she said angrily.

"You don't know any instruments!"

"I'm seven! And neither does Bean yet! I can learn!"

Johnny seemed happy. "I'm just glad you're learning to take up musical instruments. I always wanted to be a rock star. To see my name in lights...Not any more tho. Since the...accident...AHEM! Anyway, let's see what you can do Bean."

Michael gave the drumsticks to Bean and tried to help wrap them around his ears. Bean had a bit of difficulty with it. "This is hard!" The limbless bunny said.

Michael reassured him. "It's okay! It just takes a bit of time and practice."

Bean tried one more time. It worked. "Okay, I got a good hold of them. Now what?"

"Try that drum set ove-"

Michael was interrupted by a very loud and angry bunny. "MIKE!"

Michael looked over and saw Petey approaching. "What's up Pete? Your make up is runn-OOF!"

Petey was in full rage mode and in tears. He tackled Michael and started punching him."Mommy and Daddy are gonna die and you don't even FUCKING! care!"

Michael pushed him off. "Petey! Watch out for my eye! It's only two days old and still healing!"

Cindy and Cotton grabbed hold of Petey while he was yelling at Michael. "How could you not tell me! You too Cotton! I hate you! I don't wanna go back to my old family! What if...TURD!...What if my birth mom gets out again and tries to take us back?! I'd rather die!"

"Bad Pee-Pee!" Cindy shouted as she held Petey down.

Michael went over and slapped Petey while he was being held down which infuriated Cotton. "Michael! No!"

"You think we're not worried sick?!" Michael shouted. "Cotton barfed, she was so worried! I'm scared out of my mind! I don't want mommy to diiiie! But...SNIFF! But I can't do anything! I can't stop the bad guys from hurting them! All I can do not to be scared out of my mind is distract myself! That's why I'm helping Bean learn the drums! What can I do Petey?!"

"...I don't know. I...SNIFF! I just wanna cry and be held!"

"We can do that." Michael replied and him and his family went in for a group hug and they cried together. Cindy didn't quite know what was going on, but she hugged and cried too.

While in the group hug, Cindy talked to Petey. "Pee-Pee. Cindy. Cindy-Cindy. I'm Cindy. Michael, Ca-Ca, Pa-Pa. Cindy. Cindy love Pee-Pee. Momma. Dadda. Cindy, Cindy, Michael."

Petey took in his sisters words. "I...SHIT!...I never thought of it that way...SNIFF!...thanks Cindy."

"Cindy. Cindy."

Cotton was stunned. "You can understand what she says?!"

"Kind of." Petey said. "It's the way she says it. It helps that we can feel each other's feelings."

Their group hug was interrupted by hearing some drums being played momentarily. They looked over. Bean had done it. He managed to beat the drums with stick in his ears. "Guys! Check it out! I did it!" Michael forgot about is troubles for a moment and ran up to him. "That's great! Try it again."

Bean hit the drums, but one of the sticks flew off of his ears. "Dangit! Can you get that for me?"

Cindy responded by slapping Bean in the face. "OW! What was that for?!"

"CINDY!"

"She wants you to pick it up yourself." Petey replied. "Sorry she slapped you."

"It's okay," Bean replied. "To be honest, I'm starting to like it." He hopped his torso over and bent down to grab the drumstick with his ear. He managed to get the stick under his ear and he folded and twisted his ear around the stick and he picked it up. "I did it! I think I got a better grip too! You see? Cindy's my muse. C'mere Cindy."

"Cindy!" Cindy wrapped her arms around Bean and gave him a kiss. Bean went back to the drums and while he didn't have the rhythm yet, he could play without dropping the sticks.

Meanwhile, Bonnie was all cleaned up from her..."incident" with Stu in Nick's van. She was looking for her daughter Julie. "Julie! Julie dear, where are you? You're not answering your phone!" She bent down in pain for a moment. "OOH! I'm getting cramps! Julie! I need your help! I may need to..."

She saw Spots the hyena crying while sitting on the floor. Her head was buried in her knees. She was a little hesitant ans she still thought the girl was a bit savage in nature. "I-Is everything okay dear?"

"SNIFF!...No." Spots replied. "I fucked up. I fucked up as a big sister, I fucked up Rose's face, I fucked up trying to save my parents. Now I can't save my parents again! BAAW-HAAW! I'm just a huge fuck up all around!"

Despite her fear of the girl, Bonnie's motherly instincts took over. She walked over and rubbed the girl's back. "There, there dear. Watch the potty mouth. It's not your fault. Wait, what is this about saving your parents again?"

"Look at Cotton's drawing on the bed." Spots replied.

Bonnie took a look at the drawing and was shocked. "Goodness gracious! Why would she draw such a horrible thing?! Also, WOW at the detail! Very talented."

"She...She can see a few hours into the future. She gets an image in her head, but she can't see all of the detail until she draws it down on paper."

"So...So Nick's about to be thrown off a building and...my dear Judy's gonna have her knee shot off?! We have to warn them!"

"I did."

"WHEW! Thank goodness!"

"That doesn't mean it won't still happen! They're out there in Zootopia right now fighting a riot from what I glimpsed off the TV news. I'm trying to ignore it. I...I did something stupid."

Bonnie sat on the bed next to Spots. "We all do dear. What did you do?"

"Cotton was so scared she puked. Michael's worried to death too, so ….I didn't want Petey and Cindy to worry. I'm not sure Cindy even understands, so I made sure Cotton and Michael didn't tell him. Well, he found out anyway and now...SNIFF!....Now he hates meeee!"

Bonnie rubbed spot's head again. "Dear. They always say they hate you when they're angry with you. It'll pass. That said...he's kinda right."

"SNIFF! What do you mean?"

"Worrying sick may sometimes not be too healthy, but so is not worrying at all. They NEED to worry! Pretending like nothing is happening probably makes them feel horrible. They know they can't do anything, but that worry is always gonna be in the back of their mind. If they didn't worry, they'd be monsters. Worrying is the one thing they CAN do."

"...But"

"Let me tell you a story. One of my sons, Jacob, when he was three, one of his little sisters put him down for a second and Jacob fell down into the nearby well."

"Oh my God! What happened?"

"I was worried sick. And yes, I did barf. He injured himself a bit because the water at the bottom was shallow. Which was a good thing because he would have drowned. Anyway, Stu called the fire department to help. I couldn't do anything but watch and worry. I called out to him, but he was unconscious. So while we were waiting for help, I tried to just sit down, knit and not think about it."

"Did it work?"

"No. Of course not. The only thing I could do was worry. My big sister Barbra sat down with me in the kitchen while the fire department helped get him out. We just...sat down and talked for a bit she let me cry and heard my worries. By the time I got it all out of my system, he was rescued. I ran over and held onto him for dear life."

Spots thought about it. "So what you're saying is...We should just worry and panic?"

"No! Keeping your mind off of it is fine if you can manage it, but don't try to deny it. Worry. Talk to the little ones about what is happening and let them tell you their fears and worries. I know for a fact they are all putting on a face right now, but I'm sure they're all scared."

Without hesitation, Spots grabbed onto Bonnie, hugged and cried. "I'm scared too!"

Bonnie wept with her. "Me too dear! Your mother is a brave hero, but every day she's a cop I pray for her safety...SOB! Oh GOD! Please let her be safe!"

"I don't wanna lose another set of parents to that damn Rusev! I'm scared! I'm scared I won't be good enough to raise these kids!"

"Don't be! You're a great big sister who cares deeply for them! I'm sorry for how I thought of you Spots. I'm sure you'll be a great mother someday."

Just then, Petey and Cotton ran in. "Hi grandma! Hey Spots! Me and Cotton are gonna watch Wiggly tap dance! Wanna come?"

Spots wiped the tears from her eyes. "SNIFF! Okay."

"Were you crying? I'm sorry I said I hated you." Petey ran up and hugged Spots. "I'm just so worried!"

"Me. Too. I shouldn't have hid that from you and Cindy. When the talent show is done, we're all gonna have a sit down and talk about it. Okay?"

"Okay mo-...Spots."

Bonnie was confused. "Why is he dressed up like a girl?"

"Your daughters did that to him so he and Cindy could look alike for a sister act."

"I wanna get this stuff off now." Petey replied. "Wiggly likes me better as a...DAMN!....as a boy and so do I. Also, this dress itches!"

Bonnie picked him up. "Okay dear. Spots, you take your little lamb sister downstairs and I'll clean him up and get him into his boy clothes."

"Thanks grandma." Spots replied.

Bonnie then whispered into Spots' ear. "He almost called you mom! See? He loves you!"

Spots smiled. "I know."

Bonnie gave Spots a little shove. "Now go and try to have so fu-OOF!"

"You okay grandma?"

Bonnie rubbed her belly. "Oh yeah. The little ones are just giving me a hard time today."

Spots took Cotton down below onto the couches just as Julie got on the piano and Wiggly, who was wearing a little dancing suit, started to tap dance.

"This is tap dancing?!" Cotton asked Spots.

"Uhhh yeah?"

The little lamb's tail was wiggling 100 miles an hour. "I...LOVE it! How does he do that?"

He's got special shoes with metal tips on the front and back of the soles.

"I wanna learn how to do that! We can put it into Michael's act!"

"What?! Tap dancing and Rock and Roll do not mix!"

"Well they will now!"

Just then, Petey showed up now back in his old clothes. "Hey Spots. Hey Cotton. Ooooh! I like Wiggly's dance outfit! He looks FUCKING! Cute! Oh Spots?"

"Yeah Pete?"

"Grandma wanted me to tell you something...What was it? Oh! She...SHIT!...She said for you to get the hell upstairs quick because she's going into...work?"

"Work?"

"What's another word for work?"

"...LABOR?!"

"That's it!"

"Holy shit! Grandma's having the kits!" Spots ran upstairs and some of the bunnies who overheard followed her.