Nick could tell Judy and Bonnie were trying to speak quietly, but even so, he could hear them clearly through the closed door. He briefly considered escaping out the bedroom window when he heard Judy say, "I can't believe he didn't tell me about this yesterday."

There was silence for a few moments, until Bonnie replied, "Maybe you should wait until he comes back from camping before you discuss this."

"What? Why?"

"For the same reason he didn't bring it up. He didn't want you to worry about it all weekend."

"Mom, that's really dumb."

"Honey, I understand how you feel. Your dad does this every now and then too, and it irritates me. But there isn't anything you can do about the article right now, is there? He's just trying-"

"Seriously? Mom, I've been lied to and cheated on in relationships before-"

Bonnie replied in a scolding voice, "Judy, it isn't like he's being unfaithful-"

Nick could tell things were escalating, so he decided he'd eavesdropped long enough. He took a deep breath and put on his cheesiest grin before he opened the bedroom door. "Good morning Mrs. Hopps and Car-"

Judy scowled and interrupted him. "We need to talk."

Bonnie huffed at Judy and smiled at the fox. "Good morning, Nick." She gave him a sympathetic look as her daughter dragged him back into the bedroom.

Nick was surprised at Judy's scent, an odd mixture of anger and sadness that was unfamiliar to him. He didn't have long to contemplate Judy's emotional state before she closed the door and said, "Cripes Nick, it would've been nice if you'd warned me about the latest ZG article before we sat down to dinner last night. We could've discussed it then, instead of my mom seeing it in the paper later and my dad freaking out."

"Come on Fluff, it's not-"

Judy shook her head. "Please just listen, Nick." She sighed, a glum look on her face. "I get it, I know you tend to avoid tough conversations. But I need to know what Chief Bogo said about the ZG article."

Nick shrugged. "Not much. He wanted to put me on administrative leave but sent me home instead. And we'll probably get a friendly visit from the folks at Internal Affairs on Monday." He took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. "I'm sorry I didn't talk to you sooner, Judy."

"Look, I don't want to end things on a bad note before you leave for a few days."

Nick put on his smarmiest smile and opened his arms wide. No matter how pissed she got, he knew she had a hard time resisting the offer of a hug, and sure enough she rolled her eyes and stepped forward to embrace him.

Her voice was slightly muffled by his chest. "You might want to put some pants on before you go back into the living room."

Nick chuckled. "So your mom doesn't appreciate the carrot boxers you got me?"

Judy peered up at him with a serious look on her face. "I'm sorry I got so bent out of shape. How about I make it up to you?"

He knew she probably meant something breakfast related, but he couldn't help but tease her. "Ok, if you think you can be quiet." Judy gave him a puzzled look, and he continued. "You know, because your mom's in the other room-"

Judy spent the next few moments noisily chasing the laughing fox around the room as she tried to punch him, until her mom knocked on the door and asked if everything was okay.

Nick fiddled with the straps on the backpack while he nervously watched the crowd of rabbits waiting for the bus to take them to the woods. The Hopps family had already packed Judy's backpack for her, so all Nick had to do was add some of his clothes and he was ready to go. The pack was a bit small for the fox, but it would fit after a few adjustments.

Nick pulled on the pack and watched Judy speak to her parents before she bounded over to him and said, "Try not to, uhh-"

He interrupted her. "Make your dad hate me more than he does already?"

Judy sighed. "He doesn't hate you." She smirked and continued, "And I was going to say, try not to die in the woods, Mr. City Fox."

Nick laughed. He looked at Bonnie and Hazel, both of whom whispered to their husbands before the bucks turned to look nervously at him. "Great, they're getting nagged to be nice to me."

Judy followed his gaze and said, "I know it's hard, but try to be patient with them, especially Zeke."

Nick smirked. "Oh, so now you're nagging me?"

Judy chuckled and shook her head as she adjusted the straps on his backpack. "Not nagging. More like begging." She finished tightening the last strap and patted his chest. "There."

She took a step back and bit her bottom lip as she looked him up and down appraisingly. Judy started to speak, but Nick cut her off when he picked up on her scent and waggled his eyebrows. "Like what you see, bun bun? I know I cut quite the rugged and dashing figure." Judy rolled her eyes just as Peggy came running up to Nick, her arms outstretched. He hugged the little bunny and said, "Hey squirt, are you coming too?"

Peggy nodded enthusiastically and Hazel walked over carrying a small carrot-shaped backpack. "She insisted on coming when she found out you were going. Can you help Zeke keep an eye on her?" Hazel laughed as she tried to put the backpack on the kit, who was bouncing around excitedly. "Hold still, you little stinker, while I put this on you."

The bus from the new warren arrived. Nick loaded his pack into the back of the bus before he hugged Judy goodbye. He boarded the bus and nodded at the driver, an older black and white doe with the biggest buck teeth he'd ever seen. Nick chose a seat near the front, a few rows back from Stu.

As Nick settled in, he saw a young buck in the seat in front of Stu staring at him. The small rabbit noticed the fox and stuck out his tongue. Nick started to respond by making a weird face which Stu almost saw when the older buck turned to look in his direction.

As Stu started to lecture everyone in earshot about staying safe in the woods by not straying off the trail or eating plants they might find, Nick was distracted by Peggy when she bounced down the aisle and sat next to him. Zeke, who had been following behind the little bunny, scowled and hesitated briefly before he walked past them. The scent of anger and another negative emotion Nick couldn't identify rolled off the buck and made him cringe.

Moments later, the bus pulled into the street and headed for the edge of town. Nick closed his eyes and smiled. Unlike Zeke's scent, Nick recognized Peggy's happy scent as she quietly played with toys and crayons that she passed back and forth among the other kits.

Nick pondered the mysterious bunny scents that he'd come across that day. What was the scent from Zeke? When he'd first met the buck, he had smelled like anger and fear. But lately Nick noticed Zeke didn't flinch away from him like some prey animals did, so the new scent didn't seem to be fear. Anger and sadness maybe? It was some nuanced smell, and now that Nick thought about it, it reminded him of the scent he'd gotten from Judy earlier that day, which was odd.

Even though he spent plenty of time around Judy and her family, he still had trouble deciphering some of the rabbit scents. Like some of Judy's more amorous emotions, whatever this one was, it produced a scent different enough from the analogous fox smell that it wasn't clear to him what emotion it represented. Judy hated that Nick could read her scent most of the time, though it wasn't always clear to him exactly what she was feeling.

Thinking about Judy made him realize he already missed her. Since Nick had brought his phone, and they were already well outside the city, he decided he should turn it off to conserve the battery. But before he did, he teased Judy one last time:

About to turn off my phone. Texting you from the last place I have cell service, so you know where to start searching for my body.

After Nick and the rabbits unloaded the bus and made their way to the trailhead, Stu took a deep breath and made a satisfied noise and said, "Just smell that clean air."

Nick took a deep breath and sneezed loudly, which elicited a laugh from all the rabbits crowded around him, except Zeke.

Peggy lagged behind as she stopped to examine every bug, mushroom, and flower that caught her eye. Nick sauntered along beside her, determined to keep an eye on her while enjoying the scenery. He was surprised at the wide range of new smells in the air, and he had to admit that the fall leaves looked amazing.

The rest of the rabbits were spread out along the trail ahead of Nick, with Stu and Zeke in the lead. The fox noticed a few times that Zeke paused as if to wait for Peggy, but Stu seemed to be encouraging him to stay up front.

The path forward got steeper, and the trail began switching back and forth to make the ascent easier. After they had been walking for almost half an hour, Nick noticed he and Peggy were far enough behind that the closest rabbit disappeared out of sight, so he decided the best way to catch up was to cut straight up the side of the hill to the path above, instead of following the switchback. He picked up Peggy and waded into the waist-deep brush as he trudged uphill towards the place the last rabbit had disappeared.

Nick got halfway to the trail before he realized he'd made a terrible mistake.