Nick learned in the morning that they were going to be living here from now on. A quick look at his father's tail confirmed yesterday wasn't a dream.

"What happened to your tail?"

"Well..."

John's stalling tactic worked since Bonnie demanded Vivian help Nick take a bath. Given his injuries, they didn't feel like he could do it himself. Despite the embarrassing situation, Bonnie didn't want him stinking up her home.

One experience he wished he'd forget later; Nick was no longer a foul-smelling fox. Bonnie tried to find him some new clothes too, but she failed, either way, they were going to get him a new wardrobe as soon as the stores opened.

For breakfast, Bonnie assigned him a spot at a table away from his parents. The rabbits next to him around his age were nervous too.

"Are you going to eat me?" the rabbit beside him said.

Nick didn't know what to say. He had fancied imagined going feral at times... rather than settling for scraps but never dared to try. Insects found among multiple piles of dirt were hardly an appetizing meal.

There were whispers among the nearby rabbits too – they didn't want him here.

Bonnie announced, "The Wildes will be living with us from now on."

"He's a fox!" a rabbit said.

"Are you out of your mind?" another piped up.

The chatter grew.

Was that it? Did Bonnie expect that this was all it would take? Nick wanted to run – and the rabbits sitting beside him grew nervous too.

Say something.

Bonnie didn't say anything for quite a while. "Ahem. He's still a kit and I will not see one suffer if I can help it."

"What about them? We don't need them." A rabbit pointed at Nick's parents.

"They're going to be working here to pay for the wall they broke," Stu said. "Honest foxes who didn't run away for once. Either way, they will now be living here. We can always turn them into pelts if they cheat us."

"What the fuck, Stu!" Bonnie said. "I thought we agreed on what to say."

Swearing in front of an audience mostly younger than fourteen drew quite a few gasps.

"Do not mention anything about 'The Rug' at all."

"Uhh, honey, you just did," Stu said. "Even I didn't go that far."

"What's this about 'The Rug?'" Vivian asked.

"Let's just eat breakfast. I've already prepared the food," Bonnie said.

Food served as a distraction from the tension in the room. It was still there despite how Bonnie tried to move on. For a family of over two hundred, there wasn't any variety. Everyone got a sandwich and that was it. Nick bit into the sandwich. There wasn't any meat since this was a rabbit household. The food was still better than what he normally got to eat.

"Time for school," Bonnie said.

It was a way to get rid of everyone in the house aside from the new foxes.

"Now, what's this about 'The Rug?'" John asked.

"Come," Stu said.

Stu led the way to a television room. The room contained a rug made from a red fox.

"We can take them," John said.

Two foxes easily pinned the two rabbits down with Nick watching on the sidelines. John pinned Bonnie down while Vivian did the same to Stu.

"Now – now, this won't happen to you," Bonnie said.

"You threatened us," John said.

"I wanted your kit to be happy. I could see the neglect."

"And why should I trust you?"

"Your kit and your mate would not have left here alive if I wanted them dead. I allowed her to return with Nick because of what she told me. And how has that worked out? A broken arm. You have a big problem. Where are you going to run and hide?"

"Any more surprises?"

"Uhh… we have flowers that make someone go crazy when they eat them," Stu said.

"So, you can poison us," Vivian said.

"And we would be dead. Oh, what big teeth you have. Come on, say the other part. 'The better to eat you with my dear.'"

"That's about a wolf."

The rabbits remained pinned while both parties thought about what to do next. Nick didn't feel like it was his place to speak.

"Replace the rug since we're going to be living here," Vivian said

"We can do that," Bonnie said. "We're going shopping right after."

"And if you dare turn on us, we'll take at least one of you down," John said as he let Bonnie up.

"Why did that fox end up there?" Vivian asked.

"Rather not talk about it," Bonnie said.

They replaced the rug in the middle of the room with another one.

Stu drove them to the nearby mall with his truck. The sole purpose was for Nick to pick out clothes that he liked. The four adults trailed behind him as he picked out whatever suited his fancy. He certainly took his time.

Nick changed into an outfit just like the one Batfox would wear. It was something he wanted but could never have. A red fox dressed in a nearly completely black outfit save for the Batfox symbol.

Given the time spent, they had a quick bite to eat at a nearby restaurant. It was another taste of real food – this time with meat. He had insect steaks and more. Everyone wanted to take their time as if pushing off something they didn't want to do.

As much as they wanted to delay the inevitable – it was time for the talk when they arrived home. It shouldn't have been that surprising but it was quite another to hear explicit confirmation.

They sat in a spacious room with Nick in the middle.

"I guess I'll start," Vivian said. "Nick, we've been lying to you for three years."

"What do you mean?" Nick asked.

"Do you remember the day your father ended up in debt and Raymond started hanging around?"

"As if I could forget."

"Nothing Raymond did was an accident," John said.

"Explain."

"He intentionally hurt you."

"Intentionally…" Nick said, at a loss for words. He knew how much Raymond hurt him. And to think the clumsy bear wasn't clumsy at all. "But you said it was."

"I know," Vivian said.

"They're lying, aren't they?" He turned to Bonnie.

Bonnie shook her head. "I thought it would be best that you knew."

"Your father went into debt, and Mr. Big wanted assurance that we would pay it off – and if we didn't earn enough, Raymond hurt you," Vivian said.

He tried to think of all the time he spent with Raymond in a new light. Along with what his parent did. They made him write lines for acting out and made him accept Raymond's apologies. All of that was a lie.

"And because you ended up here two days ago, your father lost his tail."

Were his parents trying to blame him? "I hate you!" Nick said as he ran out of the room. He ran into the room where it all began. After leaping on top of the bed, he curled into a ball and wept.

They didn't chase after him.

And the first one to greet him was Judy. Not that she was looking at him when she carelessly tossed her backpack on her bed. She dived onto the bed without checking if it was empty.

"Ow," Nick said as her backpack bounced off him.

"Oh, it's you. What are you doing here?"

He didn't answer because there were no good answers.

She sniffed. "You smell much better. What have you been up to all day?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Fine, why don't we play something?"

"Uh… what are you doing?" Nick said as she stroked his tail.

She quickly let go of his tail as if she had been caught. "Nothing at all, nothing. You saw nothing."

"I'm just going to go…" Nick walked out of Judy's room.

The home itself was a maze, and he didn't know where he was going anyway. There were many rabbits around now, and someone invited him to their room.

"So, you're the new fox," the rabbit said. "Here – so you don't eat me in the future." He gave Nick a toy car.

Nick blinked. "Uhh… thanks?" The bunny was brown with green eyes and wearing a blue shirt.

"Glad to hear it."

"What's your name?"

"Call me Tom."

Nick left – and as he walked around, more and more rabbits wanted to pay tribute. He couldn't even keep track of everyone who wanted to give him a gift. They looked similar enough and it was going to be more than he could carry around. The next rabbit volunteered to help him carry stuff around.

"What's all this?" Vivian asked when she saw Nick carrying multiple toys around along with a bunny helping him carry everything.

"Stuff they gave me so I wouldn't eat them," Nick said.

"We're not going to eat anyone here. Give them back."

Vivian made him go to return the most recent gift.

"Here, I'm not going to eat you." Nick gave this one a comic book.

"I didn't give you that. My gift isn't good enough…" the rabbit said.

"No, no, we're not going to eat you."

"And you don't even remember me. How am I supposed to believe that?"

"Why do you think my son would eat you?" Vivian asked.

"You're a fox, and foxes are dangerous. They trick others. I gave him this by the way." The rabbit took a piece of candy from Nick's pocket. "You can't believe what they say."

"I don't think I can convince you."

Vivian led Nick to their room where he dropped all he was carrying.

"How are you feeling now?" Vivian asked. "Do you want your own room?"

"You lied to me, and yes I want my own room." Nick didn't know what his mother expected. Forgiveness wasn't that easy.

"Fine, I'll go find Bonnie and you can have your room." Vivian sounded somewhat disappointed.

Mere minutes later, they were relocating everything Nick had to his new room. Not that he knew where he was as this place was still a maze to him. This place had no dirt wall unlike a few of the other rooms he visited. He couldn't dig as he wanted to here. Who was he to complain about this already?

Supper was another forced interaction with his parents. They were sitting far away from him, but still fully in view. At least, they didn't speak to him as they ate. The rabbits around him seemed no less nervous.

The others talked about what happened at school, but he felt left out since he didn't go. Just as he finished eating, Bonnie came over to talk to him. "You're going to school tomorrow, now, do you want to be in grade one or three?"

"Three," Judy yelled.

Nick said nervously, "Uhh, three?"

"Thank you." Bonnie walked away.

The one good thing was that he didn't have to talk to his parents at all. Nick went back to his room to sort out all the items the rabbits gave him. There was quite a collection of things. He finished organizing his room and lay on the bed to rest. Far longer than he intended.