"Do you think he's awake?"

"I don't know, should we check?"

"Guys, if he's still sleeping, we shouldn't wake him up yet."

'Too late for that,' Nick thought to himself, holding back a groan as he tried to ignore Judy's younger siblings from outside Jack's room. It was rather early the next morning, and despite the buck getting up minutes prior, the red fox was content to just stay where he was: on an air mattress, blanket pulled up past his head. He was about to go back to sleep when he heard:

"Is Nick awake yet?"

Nick's eyes shot open at the sound of his sister's voice. He heard the younger kits answer negatively, only to then hear Skye say mischievously, "Well, let's wake him up!"

The door suddenly opened, and Nick barely had time to roll off the mattress and onto the floor before a flying white mound landed where he was prior. He looked at the vixen, who now wore a disappointed expression on her face.

"Aw, come on!" she pouted.

Nick smirked as he stood. "Sorry, but no crushed fox today."

Skye huffed out a breath and turned to kits standing outside in the hall. "Go get some breakfast, guys; we'll be up in a minute, OK?"

Everyone nodded. "OK!"

With that, Nick and Skye were left alone in the room. The todd faced his sister, asking, "What're you-"

He was cut off when Skye suddenly jumped up and tackled him onto Jack's bed. Nick groaned as he tried to get out from under the vixen.

"Really?!"

Skye laughed mischievously as she got off him. "We're heading out to town square in a few minutes. Will you be ready by then?" The todd gave a thumbs up, and she left the room, still giggling.

Nick shook his head as he got up to change. 'How does she have this much energy in the morning?' he thought as he pulled his shirt off over his head. After he changed out of his pajamas, the todd left Jack's room and made his way down the hall, passing some of the Hopps kits along the way. The first couple times he was here, Nick would constantly get lost in the burrow; over two years later, he now knew the place inside and out.

A few minutes later, Nick found himself walking upstairs to the living room and to the kitchen. Once he entered, he immediately began to look for his sister, Jack, and Judy. Spotting them, he grabbed a plate of food and headed over to them.

"There you are, Slick," Judy greeted as Nick sat down next to Skye.

"Yeah, what took you so long?" the vixen asked with a smirk, taking a sip of her orange juice. At the last second, Nick nudged his sister, causing some of it to go up her snout and up her nose, making her cough.

"Whoops," the red fox said unapologetically.

Once her coughing went down, Skye grabbed a napkin and glared at her brother. "You're an asshole."

"You're adopted."

Shaking her head, Judy said, "We were going to head out in a few minutes; Jo and Corey are going to meet us at the fountain. That sound good?"

"Yeah," Nick answered, nodding his head. Taking a bite out of his hashbrown, he took a look around the kitchen, noticing that his mother was nowhere to be seen. He turned to Skye, who was cleaning herself up, and asked, "Hey, where's Mom?"

His sister took a quick look around before she shrugged. "Um, I don't know. She was in here earlier."

"I think she's outside talking with Aunt Bonnie," Jack said.

"About what?"

"Dunno," the buck answered, shrugging his shoulders. "She just came in here and then Aunt Bonnie pulled her out of the room to talk."

Judy ate a spoonful of cereal. "Hope everything's alright." Nick nodded and went back to his breakfast.

After finishing up and placing their dishes in the sink, the four of them left the kitchen. As they made their way through the living room, Nick saw his mother and Bonnie standing by the back door, speaking quietly to each other. He slowed down, letting the others continue without him to the entry way, and he could make out what Bonnie was saying:

"Viv, you need to get that checked."

Nick could see his mother roll her eyes as she said, "I'll do it when we get back to the city-"

"No, you should do it now before you leave."

Vivian opened her mouth to say something when her eye caught her son. Immediately, she perked up and smiled. "Morning, sweetie."

"Hey," was Nick's only response. He gave her a long look before asking, "Is everything OK?"

"Yeah, everything's fine," Vivian quickly answered. "Don't worry about me."

"…I wasn't until you said that."

His mother shook her head with a smile. "Nick, everything's OK."

At that, Bonnie cleared her throat and gestured towards the vixen's paw. Nick looked down and saw that one of her fingers was wrapped in a bandage, his eyes widening. "Mom, when did-"

"Last night," Bonnie answered, interrupting the younger fox and shooting his mother a look.

Vivian huffed out a sigh. "OK, fine. I cut my finger last night, and took a while to stop bleeding," she said. "But I checked it again this morning; it's fine now."

"You should still get it checked out," the Hopps matriarch argued.

"Bonnie, it's-"

"Mom," Nick interrupted, drawing both of their attention. "Mrs. Hopps is right."

Vivian looked between her friend and son. After a beat, she sighed and put her paws up in surrender. "Fine, we'll get it checked out before we leave tonight."

Bonnie smiled as she put her paw on the vixen's shoulder. "Thanks, Viv." They then heard a small crash come from the kitchen, making the two foxes jump and the doe sigh. "If you'll excuse me," she grounded out, making her way past them and to the kitchen.

Once the kitchen door closed, Vivian turned back to her son. "Nick, I appreciate your concern, but I really don't need-"

"So, you're saying you wouldn't say the same thing to me or Skye?" Nick interrupted, crossing his arms and shooting her an unconvinced look.

That caused the vixen to pause, only to give a small smile and shake her head. "You sound just like your father."

"That's a good thing, right?"

"A very good thing," Vivian immediately answered. "Anyway, you guys got any plans for today?"

"Yeah," Nick answered, nodding his head. "We were planning to head to the arcade." He then heard footsteps from behind him, and he turned to see Jack walking towards him.

"There you are, we were wondering where you went; you comin' or what?" the buck asked.

Vivian giggled. "Alright, I won't hold you back any longer. You kits go and have fun."

"OK." With that, Nick gave his mother a hug and went to follow Jack down the hall to join the others. Along the way, though, his mind was still on the bandage around the older fox's finger.

'If it's really fine,' he wondered, 'then why was the bandage all red?'

'Why won't my cut stop bleeding?'

The red fox was barely paying attention to the sounds of the arcade around him as he sat at the table, searching up the question on his phone. He and the others had met up with Josie and Corey about twenty minutes prior, and were now spending the rest of their afternoon playing arcade games. Nick looked up and around to search for his sister and friends; he found Skye, Judy, and Josie racing each other in Meowrio Kart, while Jack and Corey were walking away from the air hockey table, paw in paw. He smiled to himself at the display; he might make jokes at the buck's expense, but even he couldn't deny how happy the two of them looked together right now.

Nick looked back down at his phone to see that his question had yielded results, and he quickly scrolled through what came up. After reading a few, however, he was no closer to finding a definitive answer, making him groan.

"Everything OK?"

Nick jumped slightly, and he turned to see Josie sit down at the table; he hadn't even heard her coming. She chuckled as she said, "Someone's jumpy; you good?"

He nodded as he set his phone down. "Yeah, everything's good, just, uh, checking up on something."

"What is it?" the doe asked. Nick passed her his phone, and she quickly looked through it before looking back up to him. "What brought this up?"

Nick sighed. "My mom cut her finger last night, and it apparently took a while to stop bleeding. She said everything's OK now, but…"

Josie nodded her head in understanding. "Gotcha. Find anything?"

"Nothing really helpful," he answered, shaking his head. "There're so many different answers. They range from how deep the cut is, which is something that I don't know, and I doubt it's something like, uh," Nick grabbed the phone and read out, "hemophilia, whatever the hell THAT is."

"Oh, that's a condition where, uh, your blood doesn't clot properly," Josie answered. At the todd's perplexed look, she added, "I learned that from my dad; he doesn't see it in patients often, but every now and again it pops up."

"Ah." Nick was silent for a beat before asking, "So, Mrs. 'My dad's a doctor', in your opinion, what do you think it is?"

Josie snorted at the title. "You know that just because my dad works at a hospital, it doesn't make me an expert, right?"

"But you still know more about this stuff than I do," the fox reasoned. "Is there anything you can think of?"

The brown doe leaned back in her chair, looking up in thought. Eventually, she said, "OK, so, we don't know how deep the cut was, right?" Nick shook his head. "Does she take any medication?"

"Not as far as I know."

"Does she drink any alcohol?"

"Not really." Nick's ears then perked up. "Wait, we had a campfire last night; I think she might have had some wine there."

"Then that might be it," Josie said. "Alcohol's a blood thinner, and if you have a deep enough cut, it'll take a while for the blood to clot up. Is she getting it checked out?" At the todd's nod, she said, "Then I wouldn't worry about it right now; let the doctor find out what's wrong, and then go from there."

"OK," Nick said, feeling a lot better about his mother now. He took a look around and smirked when he saw Jack and Corey, who were currently trying to one up each other at the basketball machine. "They seem to be having fun," he said, gesturing towards them.

Josie looked over and smiled in response. "Yeah. They're cute, aren't they?"

"I haven't really talked to Corey much this trip," the todd confessed. "How's everything going with him?"

Josie shrugged. "He said everything's fine back home, but you can tell he misses being here."

"Well, yeah," Nick said before giving a sly grin. "His grandparents are out here."

The brown bunny snorted. "Of course. Duh." After a beat, she asked, "Do you talk with your grandparents much?"

"Nope."

Josie was surprised by the blunt response. "What? Really?"

"Well, uh," Nick gestured with his paws, trying and failing to find the right words, eventually just settling on, "it's complicated."

"What's complicated?"

Nick and Josie turned to see Judy and Skye sitting down at the table next to them. "Our grandparent situation," Nick said to his sister.

Skye shrugged. "There's not much to it," she said. "There aren't any on Dad's side, and we don't talk with the ones on Mom's."

"What do you mean?" Judy asked, crossing her arms on the table, now curious.

"Dad grew up in the foster care system, so even he never met his parents; didn't even know their names," Nick explained. "And something happened between Mom and her parents, so we don't talk with them."

Skye nodded. "We only met them once, and it was like, what, five years ago?" she asked Nick.

He nodded his head in confirmation. "We were ten when we met them, so, yeah, five years ago."

"Really?" Josie asked, surprised.

Skye smiled, though there wasn't much joy in it. "Yep. Granddad was sick and had asked to see Mom one last time before he died. Did an entire road trip across the country to meet them and our aunt and uncle for the first time."

"And ever since he croaked, we haven't talked to our grandmother, aunt, or uncle since then," Nick finished up.

"Geez," Judy breathed out, shaking her head.

"Do you know what happened?" Josie asked. "Between your mom and her parents?"

Nick's brown scrunched up in thought before he said, "You know, now that I think about it, I never really asked her."

"I think I asked one time on the trip," Skye recalled, "and all Dad said was that she and her parents had a disagreement and left it at that."

Her brother snapped his fingers at that. "That actually makes sense, because while they were nice to us," he gestured between himself and the vixen, "they seemed really distant to her and Dad." Skye's head tilted in confusion. "What?"

"I don't remember them talking with me much on that trip outside of 'Hello'," the vixen said, crossing her arms on the table and looking up in thought.

"I think you were still in your shy phase at that time," Nick said.

"Wait, what? Skye had a 'shy phase'?" Judy asked incredulously.

The todd smirked. "We called her 'Shy Skye'." That got a light shove from his sister, causing him to laugh a little. "OK, fine: I called her that."

"And you said you wouldn't call me that again," Skye grumbled under her breath.

Nick held up his paws in surrender, smiling. "My sincerest apologies."

"Back to the discussion at paw, though: do you think your mom's parents disapproved of your father?" Josie questioned.

"Wouldn't make sense to, he was nothing but courteous to them, and he had a well-paying job, so he could support their daughter and grandchildren," Skye reasoned. She shrugged and finished with, "I don't know."

The table fell quiet for a few seconds before Nick stood. "Well, that's enough storytelling," he said, rubbing his paws together. "I need to go beat Stripes at Whack-A-Mole before the day's done, and I can't do that sitting here."

Judy smirked, getting up as well. "I'll go, too; it's always fun watching you get your tail beaten."

"Yeah, like you need an excuse to watch his tail," Josie said under her breath, causing Skye to smile. Before Nick or Judy could respond, both the brown doe and white vixen stood and started walking towards Jack and Corey. The todd and bunny looked at each other and shrugged (though Nick swore her ears were slightly redder than normal) and started to make their way over, only for Judy to suddenly bump into another mammal, sending her to the floor.

"Oh, I-I'm sorry," the other mammal quickly said, extending a paw. Nick took a look at them, noticing that they were a fox, though this one was more on the round side.

'Why does he look familiar?' he wondered. Nick then noticed Skye looking back at them, staring daggers at the other fox, which surprised him. 'Does she know him?'

Judy grabbed the paw and stood. "No, you're good; I wasn't paying any attention."

There was a small but awkward pause between the two of them before the fox cleared his throat. "Well, um, I'll see ya around."

"Yeah, uh, see you," Judy said, nodding her head. With that, Nick and Judy went over to the others, Skye still glaring at the other fox walking away.

"If looks could kill," Nick said to his sister.

That caused her to look his way, saying, "Don't you know who that was?"

Nick shrugged. "He looked a little familiar, I guess."

"Seriously?" Skye asked incredulously. "Remember? Two years ago? The Carrots Day Festival? The reason we met Jack and Judy?"

Nick's brow scrunched up as he thought back to the day that he and his sister had met the bunnies. He remembered how they went to the festival, how they saw Judy's play, and how afterwards they defended her and Jack from this portly looking…

Nick's ears pressed back against his head. "Wait, was that-"

"Yep," Skye confirmed, nodding her head, glaring at the exit where Gideon Grey had just walked through. Only, this time, Nick joined her.

Judy noticed this and sighed. "Guys, it's fine, really."

"Carrots, this is the guy who tried to take a swipe at you-"

"Wow, really, I didn't notice!" the doe said sarcastically. "Look, he's already apologized, and I don't like holding grudges; can we move on from this?"

Nick and Skye just stared; they couldn't believe what they were hearing. "You want us to move on from the fact that he tried to hurt you once? How do you know he won't try it again?" Skye asked.

"He's not the same guy from two years ago," Jack interjected.

Corey nodded his head. "Yeah. I mean," he gestured between himself and Jack, "he helped us with Chuck, remember?"

Nick looked back at the exit and sighed. "I guess…"

"And it's not like we're buddy-buddy with him," Judy added. "We just tend to stay clear of each other most of the time." At Skye's uncertain look, she sighed and firmly stated, "Just drop it, OK?"

After a beat of silence, Skye sighed. "Fine, but if he tries anything…"

"Then we'll let you city folks take care of it," Jack said. "Now, I'm told that someone here wants to contest my spot as the Whack-A-Mole champion?"

Nick smirked and said, "You're on, Stripes." The group made their way over to the machine, Jack swiping his pass and grabbing the mallet, giving it to Nick.

"Foxes first," he said, smirking.

Nick grabbed it, smirking as well. "Watch and learn."

"Oh, we'll be watching, all right," Corey said, standing next to Jack.

Nick rolled his eyes as he stood in front of the machine, waiting for the round to start. Once it did, Skye glanced a quick look at Judy, noticing that she was more focused on her brother's tail instead of the game. She held back a chuckle.

'Girl, you are hopeless.'

"OK, so, do you go there and practice that stupid game every day, or what?" Nick accused the striped bunny as they walked back to the Hopps residence. It was much darker out now, and the gang had just left the arcade, having said goodbye to Josie and Corey a few minutes prior.

Jack couldn't help but laugh as he shook his head. "I swear, I haven't been there since your last visit here."

"He ain't lying," Judy confirmed. "He's a freak."

"Yeah, freaky good at Whack-A-Mole!" Jack exclaimed, doing a pose.

Skye smirked. "Not sure that's something to be proud of, dude."

"Yeah," Nick agreed, giving a sly grin. "I mean, do you want to be known as the guy who's good at hitting smaller mammals with a mallet?"

Judy burst out laughing as Jack's eyes got wide. "Phrasing, phrasing!" he frantically claimed. "Besides, YOU tried to beat me at it, so what does that say about you, huh?"

"He's got you there, Slick," Judy said, still laughing. Nick just shook his head, amused.

A few minutes later, the four of them arrived at the household. They entered and, after walking through the entry way and dodging Judy's siblings, made their way to the living room. Once they arrived Nick saw his mother sitting on the couch, reading a book she brought. He looked down at his mother's paw and saw (to his relief) a fresh bandage around her finger.

Vivian then noticed the kits. "Hey, guys! Did you have a good time?" At their nods, she smiled. "Good! Nick, Skye, we're heading out in a few minutes, so go make sure you have everything, OK?"

"Yes, Mom," Skye answered while Nick nodded his head again. The younger vixen turned and went down the stairs with Jack and Judy, while Nick stayed behind.

"What's up, Slick?" Vivian asked, looking a little confused.

"So, is everything…?" Nick trailed off, though his mother seemed to know what he was asking.

"Yeah, it's fine," she answered, which made Nick visibly relax. Vivian smiled; her son was such a sweetheart. "Needed a few stitches, but nothing too bad. Even did a blood test, just to cover all our bases."

"What did it say?"

Vivian shrugged. "Don't know yet; we'll get it in a few weeks."

"OK," Nick said, feeling better. "Well, I'm going to go grab my stuff."

His mother nodded, returning to her book. Nick went downstairs to Jack's room, making sure all his stuff was packed. Seeing that it was, he grabbed his bags and made his way back upstairs, running into Skye and the bunnies on the way.

Once they reached the living room, Vivian walked out of the kitchen, Bonnie and Stu behind her. "You guys ready to head out?" she asked, grabbing her purse and her bag.

Nick nodded his head, grabbing his mother's car keys off the coffee table. "Yeah, here," he answered, tossing them to her…only for her to toss them back to him.

Vivian chuckled at her son's confused expression and said, "You're the one driving, Slick, not me."

The todd immediately perked up. "Really?"

"Wait, why does HE get to drive?" Skye asked, looking a little indignant.

Nick scoffed. "You know why, Lead Foot."

"…It was just ONE stop sign…"

"And a yield sign, and a school zone, and-"

"OK, OK, fine, I get it!" Skye exclaimed, crossing her arms and pouting a little.

Vivian came over and rubbed her daughter's head in affection. "Don't worry, we'll practice more this week, OK?"

Skye nodded her head before turning to her brother. "Can I at least have the keys so I can unlock the car?" Nick smirked and passed the keys to her. "Thanks." With that, she left the room with her bags, their mother and the older bunnies following her.

"She's not…THAT bad at driving, is she?" Judy asked.

"Nah," Nick answered, waving his paw in dismissal. "She's not that bad, though I don't envy whoever has to do her driving test. In her defense, though, that stop sign was in a really bad spot."

"And the school zone?"

"Oh, that's all on her."

Jack snorted and shook his head, though before anything else could be said, the vixen in question returned. "Alright, Mom says we need to leave now to beat traffic," Skye told her brother, giving the keys back to him. She then gave both Jack and Judy a big hug. "See you guys next time."

"See ya, guys."

"Have a safe drive home, OK?"

"Will do," Nick said, giving them both a hug as well. Shouldering his bag, he and Skye went through the front door out to the car. Putting his bag in the back and getting in the driver's seat, Nick glanced back at the house one last time. While he liked living in the city, there was just something about the countryside that the todd loved. Every time they visited, it always seemed harder and harder to leave…

"Care to start the car, Slick?"

His mother's question broke him out of his thoughts, and Nick quickly started the car and slowly went down the driveway. He breathed slowly out his nose.

"Everything good?" Vivian asked.

Nick nodded his head as he pulled out onto the road. "Yeah, just…felt like this trip went by quicker this time."

Skye nodded her head in agreement. "It really did."

Vivian thought it over a bit before nodding as well. "Maybe a little bit. Did you guys still enjoy yourselves?" At their affirmations, she said, "Well, that's good. Be sure to merge over, honey." Nick nodded and switched lanes. After a beat of silence, the older vixen asked, "How was the arcade?"

The three of them talked for the rest of the trip home, arriving late that night. The trio entered their apartment, dropping their bags off at the living room entrance. "We can unpack tomorrow," Vivian said. "You guys get some sleep; you've got your first day tomorrow."

"OK, 'night, Mom."

"Good night."

With that, Nick and Skye both went to their rooms to change. After cleaning up a little, Nick went to plug his phone in, texting Jack and Judy that they had made it home safe. Stifling a yawn, he crawled into bed and turned out his lamp light, closing his eyes to sleep…

Only to immediately get back up, turn the light back on, and bolt to his desk, grabbing his summer reading book and a notebook. Pencil in paw, Nick opened the book and scoured through the first chapter of To Kill a Mockingbird.

'I work better under pressure, I work better under pressure,' the todd repeatedly thought to himself, trying to rub the exhaustion from his eyes. 'Who needs sleep? Sleeping is for the weak.'

Skye let out a toothy yawn as she slowly opened her eyes, the early morning light coming through her window. She sat up and stretched her arms behind her head, hearing the joints pop. Looking at her clock, she saw it was a little before 7:00; she woke up before her alarm. A few minutes later, Skye exited her room, her backpack slung over one shoulder, and made her way to the kitchen for breakfast. She was pouring out a bowl of cereal when Vivian walked in.

"Morning, sweetie," her mother greeted.

Skye smiled. "Morning, momma."

"You got everything ready for your guy's first day?" At Skye's nod, the elder vixen smiled. "Good. Where's your brother?"

Skye looked into the living room, not seeing Nick. "Might still be asleep; I'll go wake him up."

"OK, but no pouncing," Vivian told her.

"Well, that's no fun."

With that, Skye walked down the hallway to her brother's room. Once she reached it, the vixen entered, only to find him asleep at his desk, using a partially open book and essay as his pillow. She rolled her eyes as she went to wake him up, resisting the urge to push him off his desk and instead shook his shoulder. "Hey, moron, wake up."

Nick stirred from his sleep and slowly raised his head off his desk, his neck stiff as a board. He looked around in confusion before his eyes fell desk, at his book and…

"Fuck," he groaned as he looked at his unfinished essay.

Skye snorted. "You need to get ready; we're leaving in a few minutes." Not waiting for her brother's response, the vixen turned and left the room.

Nick shook his head, working out the kinks. He stood, grabbing his book and paper, and shoved them into his bag; he could finish it on the way to school. He then got dressed and went to join his mother and sister in the kitchen for breakfast.

After all, he couldn't be late for the first day of school.