Disclaimer: Zootopia and all related characters are owned by Disney. All other characters, product names, trademarks, and copyrights, belong to their respective owners.

…..

Nick surveyed the warren as he walked behind the small group of rabbits making its way across the yard toward the Gardiner's front door. This building had a flat roof and was laid out differently from the Hopps' house. The wrap-around porch was wide and comfortable looking with lots of windows, but as Nick looked closer, they all had shutters with what looked like gun ports cut into them. Looking up on the roof of the house he saw what had to be a parapet that ran all along the edge.

Nick stopped in the yard as he tried to figure out what he was looking at. The house and a couple of barns were in the center of an arc-shaped earthen berm. The wall looked ancient with a stone base topped with thick wooden timbers. Huge amounts of dirt had been piled up in front of the wall and gently sloped away forming the grass covered berm. The top timbers had cuts in them every yard or so and behind the berm, there were large stone pads set in the ground. In the distance, Nick saw that the pads furthest away from the house were occupied by large contraptions that looked like catapults or cannon.

If he didn't know any better, Nick would swear that the whole setup was some sort of defensive emplacement or frontier fort just like he would have built when he and his friends played army growing up.

Bonnie and Janae stopped once they noticed Nick wasn't moving and looked back.

"Mrs. H, what's the berm for? Flood control or something? And what are those things over there?"

Bonnie looked toward what Nick was pointing at and then back to him. "The Gardiner's warren is one of the Border Warrens. Back before the Accords, the border families were responsible for defending Bunnyburrow from raiders. I don't know much about how defenses work, but I'm guessing what you're looking at was set up to help them in case of an attack."

Nick chuckled and then asked, "Oh, did marauding bunnies from Podunk try and steal the Burrow carrot harvests?"

With a grunt, Stu interrupted, "No Officer Wilde, predators raided our farms for meat."

"But rabbits don't raise chickens or…"

Stu stared at Nick until he stopped speaking.

"Oh."

Giving the fox a disgusted look, Stu walked up to the door and knocked.

Janae smirked and nudged Nick with her elbow as she walked past, "Smooth there, Wilde."

As Nick and Janae reached the porch where everyone else was waiting, the front door was opened by a rabbit doe in her early forties. "Stu, Bonnie. I'm so glad you were able to come tonight. And Officer Wilde, the mammal of the hour, welcome." Stepping back from the door, Mrs. Gardiner, waved the small group in.

Bonnie smiled, "Thank you, Evelyn. Bonnie motioned toward her daughters, "You remember Janae and the shy one hiding behind her sister's leg is Sunni."

"I'm not shy," said a pair of ears poking out from behind Janae.

Nick smiled at Sunni and then shook hands with their hostess, "Nice to meet you, Mrs. Gardiner, thank you for inviting me into your home, it's quite impressive." Motioning toward Stu, he continued, "I'm staying with the Hopps' and I thought their home was unique in how impressive it was, but yours is in the same category. Being a city fox, it's hard to wrap my brain around the amazing architectural achievements that both your families have accomplished here in Bunnyburrow."

Patting Nick's good arm, "Please call me Evelyn and thank you, the Gardiners are the oldest of the Border Warren families and have lived here since the founding of Bunnyburrow. Which means, we've had plenty of time to add on or remodel when the need arose."

"Speaking of adding on, Stu you need to see the new barn we're putting up if you have time after dinner."

Everyone turned to see Sarge walking up. "Son, how are you feeling?"

Nick greeted his host, "Much better, Mr… umm Sarge."

Nick stood still for a moment, thinking. Apparently, the Gardiner's were a very old and prestigious family, much more so than he had initially prepared for. Nick mentally modified the form he needed and turned slightly to properly face his hosts.

"Hold on there, Nick," said Sarge, "I've served with a fox or two over the years, so I know something about your community and their pomp for special occasions, besides it's written all over your face." Taking a step toward Nick, Sarge put his paw on the tod's arm to gently keep him from leaning forward. "From one mammal who's served to another, you're our guest of honor and as such, you shall bow to no one in my warren." Smiling, he added, "Rank has its privileges, eh?"

Patting Nick lightly on the back, Sarge said, "Come on in and meet the family and make sure you try some of Evelyn's famous jalapeno cheese balls, careful though, the really hot ones are on the red plates."

After greeting Stu with a clap to the shoulder, giving Bonnie a hug, and greeting Janae and Sunni, Sarge ushered them all toward the great hall. Nick stopped at the entryway of the dining hall with Janae and Sunni next to him. "How do you bunnies do it? I can't imagine one family, all by themselves, building something like this in Zootopia, just amazing."

As he stood there in wonder, Nick's ears twitched at a clomping sound getting louder as it came closer.

"Mr. Nick, Mr. Nick, you came."

The clomping tried to speed up but became unstable instead. Nick turned just in time to see Alex lose his balance trying to run with a foot immobilized in a medical boot.

Nick reached out and scooped up the bunny before he could fall. "Hey buddy, you gotta slow down, I don't want you to hurt your other foot." Setting him down and ruffling his head fur. "How's your ankle?"

Alex looked around quickly and then whispered, "I'm fine, Mom's making me wear this just cause the dumb doctor says I have to. Luckily, Mom won't know if I take it off when I'm outside."

"Yes I will Alex, take it off and you're grounded," said a voice from the other side of the room.

"Sorry, bud, looks like you're wearing the boot." Nick turned to Janae and Sunni who had hung back with him while the real adults had gone into the great hall.

"Hey Alex, I'd like you to meet a couple friends of mine." Motioning to the does, "This is Janae and her little sister Sunni." Reaching behind Janae, Nick gently took Sunni's paw and led her to Alex.

"Sunni, this is Alex, he's one of the bravest bucks I know. He rescued his big sister and then helped me when I hurt my arm. He even tried to chase off some bad mammals that wanted to hurt me."

As Sunni listened to Nick, her eyes widened in wonder. When he finished, she just stood and looked at Alex.

Alex suddenly found the big toe of his uninjured foot very interesting as it poked at a small knot in the floor.

"You helped Mr. Nick?"

Alex nodded without looking up.

Sunni moved closer to Alex and then without warning hugged him. Squeezing tight, she said, "Thank you for helping my friend."

Sunni released Alex after a few moments and then leaned into Alex and whispered, "Mr. Nick's not a bunny, so he needs lots of help on how to do things right."

Alex smiled at Sunni, "Yeah, he does. He almost drank the water from the river."

"Ewww."

Both kits looked at Nick and giggled as he shrugged his shoulders.

Janae did an excellent job of keeping her own response to a snicker as she patted both kits on the back. "Sunni why don't you find us a good place to sit and I will be right there."

"Can we sit with Alex, can we, pleaaase?"

Janae nodded, "If it's alright with his Mom and Dad that would be fine with me."

Both kits fist pumped, "Yay!"

Janae and Nick were about to follow the kits into the dining room when Sarge came back with one of his daughters in tow. The doe was wearing pink slacks, a white top, and had a blue and brown cloth bangle around the base of her left ear.

"Janae."

"Abby."

The two does hugged and then gave each other a quick nuzzle. Sarge smiled, "Nick, before the evening gets too crazy, I wanted to introduce you to my daughter, Abigail. She was the leader of the team that found you and the Thrasher kits at the pond."

Nick straightened up, "Miss Gardiner, I owe you a debt of gratitude. The animals that were attacking us were about to get down to business. If you hadn't shown up when you did, I'm not sure if any of us would have made it out of there. Thank you."

Abby nodded, "Please call me Abby, I'm glad we made it in time to help. Dad has a sixth-sense about trouble and when the balloon went up, we 'hopped to.'" Chuckling at her own joke, she added, "It's what we train for."

"Well, I owe you one."

Abby reached into a pocket and pulled out a red cloth and handed it to Nick. "Your arm was wrapped up with this. I thought you might want it back, so we washed it for you."

"Wow, thanks. I thought I'd lost it." Nick quickly folded his kerchief up with one paw and slipped it into his pocket."

Sarge patted Abby on her back, "You kits chat, I have a few guests to attend to."

As soon as Sarge was out of earshot, Nick leaned toward Abby. "Abby, you said you do a lot of training. Before we came in, Mr. Hopps said that the Border Warrens used to have to defend Bunnyburrow from predators hunting uh…"

"Rabbits?"

"Yeah, um, do you guys still worry about that sort of thing? I'm wondering because I saw what looked like cannon out front."

Abby furrowed her brow and thought for a moment, "Are you worried that we still train to fight off predators?"

Nick rubbed the back of his neck and suddenly felt embarrassed that he had even said anything. "Um, well when you say it out loud like that, it does sound kind of crazy. Sorry."

Janae leaned into Abby and whispered in her ear. Once Janae straightened up, Abby covered her mouth with a paw and laughed. "Oh, no, that's funny."

"What?"

"We're not training to fight predators, we train for EMR, Emergency Medical Response. Since the warrens out here are so far out of town, we have to be able to respond to accidents like tractor injuries, falls, burns and lacerations or worse from some of the machinery we use."

Gesturing toward the front of the house, Abby smiled and said, "What you saw out front are pumpkin launchers."

Nick tilted his head in confusion.

Abby rolled her eyes at the fox's perplexed look. "Yes, a long time ago the Border Warrens fought off predators with spears, bows and arrows, and other primitive weapons, but nowadays, we build catapults and cannon so that we can compete during the Carrot Days Festival to see who can shoot a pumpkin the farthest, or the most accurately. Our warren has won the distance competition the last four years straight. Our best distance so far is around fourteen hundred yards. Logan and the other engineers think they can get another fifty yards out of their new designs. That's why the launchers are set up out front, they've been testing them all week."

Nick laughed, "You guys shoot vegetables out of cannon for fun? Wait until I get back to the city and see Judy, this should be good for an entire afternoon of teasing."

"Well, technically pumpkins are fruits, but yeah, it's a lot of fun to watch."

Dawning a more serious look, Abby reached out and patted Nick on the arm, "Nick, I know some of the warrens around Bunnyburrow can be a little speciest with regards to predators, but don't worry about Dad, he has a lot of predator friends he served with while in the Army, and he doesn't stand for any of that kind of behavior around here."

Abby made to go when Janae reached out to stop her. Pointing at the bangle on Abby's ear, she asked, "Who's the lucky buck?"

Abby giggled and motioned to a table with three bucks talking, "Liam Thumper, he asked me if we could be exclusive last night. Isn't he cute?"

The girls giggled and cooed while Nick rolled his eyes. Sneaking away from the girl talk, Nick focused back on the great hall. The hall was almost as large as the Hopps' dining hall, but there weren't nearly as many rabbits in attendance. From what Nick could tell, the Gardiner family was maybe a third of the size of the Hopps' and the oldest kits couldn't be any older than about twenty-one years old.

Surveying the room again, this time for a place to sit, Nick saw Sarge waving him over to where he was talking with a small group of adults at the front of the room.

As Nick maneuvered himself around the tables filling up with bunnies, he started to realize something, they were waving at him and smiling and there weren't the usual looks of disgust or fear, it was as if they didn't mind him being here. Nick genuinely smiled when a buck in his teens raised a paw for a high-four. Nick slapped his palm and laughed when he got a "Hooah!" in return.

Sarge put his paw on Nick's back and motioned to the rabbits he was talking to, "Nick, I'd like you to meet a couple of very special guests."

The bunnies in front of them parted, and Nick was surprised to see Mayor Ackerbunn standing next to an old buck who must have been in his mid-sixties.

"Madam Mayor, it's a pleasure to see you again."

"You're looking well, Officer Wilde."

"Thank you, Ma'am. A good night's sleep and some real clothes both helped a lot."

Laughing, Karen motioned to the buck next to her, "I'd like to introduce you to Mayor Theodore Burns. He retired about twenty-five years ago and has been a mentor of mine since I was in high school."

"It's an honor to meet you, Sir."

Sarge excused himself to go find his mate and help get dinner started, leaving Nick to talk with Mayor Burns and Mayor Ackerbunn. After a few minutes of chatting with the mayors, Nick spied Sarge taking his seat and was about to excuse himself to find his, when the Thrashers came over to join the conversation and thank Nick again. Jessie, mostly recovered from her injuries, gave him a big hug while Logan was glued to her side making sure she was alright.

Watching from the end of the head table was the oldest living member of the Gardiner warren, ninety-year-old, Joseph Gardiner, Sarge Gardiner's grandfather, known to everyone in town as Grandpa Joe. Unfortunately, Grandpa Joe was getting fidgety.

"Grandpa Joe, what's wrong?" The teen buck sitting next to him asked.

Waving a wrinkled finger at the crowd, "We should be eating, I'm hungry."

"Mayor Ackerbunn and the Thrashers are still talking with Officer Wilde, he's the one that rescued their kits, Jessie and Alex, the other night."

"Who are they talking to?"

The younger buck pointed at Nick, "The red fox, right there, that's Officer Nicholas Wilde of the ZPD, he works in the sheriff's office."

Grandpa Joe grumbled to himself, "A fox in the warren, that's different. Hmm, Wilde, a fox named Nicholas Wilde." Grandpa Joe stared intensely at the fox standing in front of the main table chatting with a half-dozen bunnies. Age had slowed him down, but some things you never forget, for Grandpa Joe, a red fox named Wilde was one of those things.

Grandpa Joe leaned over to the buck next to him and whispered into his ear. The buck leaned away and gave his Grandpa Joe a 'what the hell' look.

As Grandpa Joe stood up, he patted the buck on the back, "Hurry up son, this is something important I need to take care of right now."

Grandpa Joe, leaning on his cane, walked around the table and slowly shuffled his way to where Nick had just finished talking with everyone and was now looking around for a seat.

Evelyn, with a look of worry on her face, leaned over to her mate and nodded toward the elderly buck, "Robert what is Grandpa Joe doing, I thought you said he'd behave."

Sarge shook his head, "I don't know, something's got him riled up though." Waving his paw, he caught Logan's attention through the din of bunny conversations and then motioned for him to help Grandpa Joe.

Logan hopped up and offered his arm to Grandpa Joe.

Grandpa Joe gently pushed away Logan's arm, "Thank you, son. This is something I need to take care of myself."

Focusing on Nick, Grandpa Joe walked a few more steps and then gruffly asked, "I heard tell your name's Wilde is that correct?"

Turning to the new voice, Nick faced an old buck with a slight stoop looking up at him waiting for a reply. "Yes Sir, Nicholas P. Wilde, ZPD."

"You're from the city, right?"

"Yes Sir, Zootopia born and bred."

"Have you ever heard of an outfit named 'Suitopia', it was run by a Mr. Wilde and his son?"

Nick's eyes widened at that question, "Ah, yes, Sir, that was my dad's shop."

"Was?"

"Yes, sir. He died when I was twelve and since I'm the last of the Wilde line, there wasn't anyone to take over the shop and keep it open."

Nick opened his wallet and fished out an old photograph his mom had taken years ago, "Here's a picture of my dad and me in front of his shop. I was about eight when it was taken, and Happytown was a better place back then than it is now."

As Grandpa Joe examined the old picture, he could see how proud the older fox looked with his arm around his young son standing next to him. Handing the picture back, the elderly buck saw that his great-grandson had returned from his errand and was now carrying an old camouflage coat and a notebook.

Gesturing the young buck over, Grandpa Joe took the coat and showing it to Nick, asked, "Is this your family's work?"

Nick looked at the label sewn into the collar of the coat the old buck was holding and as he read the text stitched into the cloth, goosebumps spread across his skin and his fur puffed out. At the top was written 'Suitopia' in block letters, with 'Wilde & Son' and a set of initials, 'JNW', below it.

Looking at the old buck, Nick nodded, "Yes, sir, it is. I don't recognize the initials, but since this coat is so old, I assume the work was done by one of the first Wildes to settle in Zootopia. My dad's name was Jonathan P. Wilde, and I remember he always stitched 'JPW' into the label of everything he made, it must have been a family thing."

Grandpa Joe nodded to Nick and then turned to face the room full of bunnies. Pounding his cane on the floor, he commanded everyone's attention. Once the room was quiet, he began to speak in a surprisingly strong voice. "I know that we are all here tonight to celebrate the safe return of these two kits and to thank the mammal that found them. I'm sure my grandson Robert has some inspirational words prepared, but I'd like to say something myself."

Looking back at Robert, Grandpa Joe smiled as he saw him drop a couple of note cards on the table and shrug his shoulders.

"As many of you know, during the great war, I joined the Commonwealth Army. There were a dozen of us, both predator and prey, that made up the first small mammal squad ever formed. All of us were ready to serve the Commonwealth and do our part. Unfortunately, the army quartermasters weren't as prepared as we were. They had to scramble to find gear that we could use and what they found didn't fit worth a plugged nickel."

Nick huffed, "Nothing's changed sir, even today the ZPD's got the same problem with me and my partner."

Grandpa Joe chuckled at Nick's comment, it was reassuring to know that government efficiency was timeless. "When our Staff Sergeant found out where we were going to be deployed and that it was going to be in the dead of winter, he knew we would need better gear than what the Commonwealth could provide us small mammals.

"He made a call to a friend and a week later a couple of mammals arrived from the city and outfitted the entire squad with winter gear that was warmer and better made than anything any other soldier had." Lifting up the coat so everyone could see it, he continued. "This here is what they brought, and I know for a fact they weren't paid a dime by the Commonwealth for what they made for us, they did it all because they wanted to help in the best way they knew how.

"A lot of you may be wondering what was so important about a good set of winter gear. Well, our Staff Sergeant's nightmares came true and my squad spent the worst winter of the war in trenches defending a section of the front that was under constant fire. The brigade lost dozens of mammals to the cold and a lot more lost fingers or toes or worse to frostbite.

"For small mammals and especially those of us with short fur, the cold was deadly dangerous. To this day I am certain that most of my unit would have been wiped out by the cold if it hadn't been for those two mammals that outfitted us."

Grandpa Joe put his paw on Nick's arm, "For a lot of years, I regretted not finding those two mammals and thanking them. I know now that I won't ever be able to thank them in person, but tonight I have a chance to do the next best thing."

Setting the coat down, Grandpa Joe opened the notebook and showed it to Nick.

Nick couldn't believe what he was looking at, "I've seen this newspaper clipping before. My dad used to have a copy of it hanging on the wall behind the counter in his shop." The black and white picture above the article showed a squad of twelve small mammals all wearing camouflage coats, pants, and foot covers, standing to the side of the group was a large arctic wolf and two small foxes.

Grandpa Joe pointed a claw at the names listed in the article. Nick looked carefully and gasped.

As everyone in the hall tried to see what Nick was looking at and why he seemed so emotional, Grandpa Joe finished with the rest of his story. "Everyone here may believe that we are celebrating the heroic actions of this young tod, but tonight it is my wish to honor both him and his family.

Those two mammals I mentioned earlier, were a pair of red foxes, the oldest stitched his initials, 'JNW', in my coat, his name was Jonathan Nicholas Wilde."

Grandpa Joe handed his cane to Logan and then nodded at Robert. Sarge stood as Grandpa Joe straightened his old frame up and stood at attention in front of Nick.

Nick looked wide-eyed at the old buck and then around the room at all the rabbits focused on him. Turning back to face Grandpa Joe he wondered what was going on and what everyone was waiting for.

Suddenly, Nick heard the loud voice of Sarge ring through the hall, "Ladies and Gentlemammals, Officer Nicholas P. Wilde of the ZPD and descendant of the honored mammal, Jonathan Nicholas Wilde."

As one, every bunny of the Gardiner warren stood straight up. The Thrasher and Hopps families followed suit a moment later, in a much less practiced manner.

Grandpa Joe saluted Nick. "Sergeant First Class Joseph Gardiner, Sir."

Nick paused for only a moment before standing at attention and drawing on his ZPA training, performed a perfect salute in return.

As Grandpa Joe lowered his paw to his side everyone in the hall started clapping. Grandpa Joe shook paws with Nick and then turned Nick toward the clapping bunnies and they both smiled.

Nick was obviously embarrassed at all the attention but waved his thanks anyway. Grandpa Joe leaned closer to Nick and said, "Son, you did good saving those kits, your family would be proud of you."

Nick coughed and shook his head, "I don't know about that sir, I was a disappointment to my parents for a lot of years. It's only recently that I've been trying to turn my life around and if it weren't for my partner, I'd probably still be a disreputable fox living on the street and hustling for my next meal."

"Officer Wilde, everyone's got a past, just remember it's in the past. Learn from it, but don't let it define your future."

"You sound a lot like my best friend, always looking for the good in every mammal."

"She sounds like a smart girl, you should make sure you keep listening to her."

Nick helped Grandpa Joe as he sat down and made ready to find his seat when he paused and gave Grandpa Joe a questioning look, "How did you know she was a girl?"

"Son, us males don't' just change everything overnight unless there's a girl involved. Now go sit down, I'm hungry."

Nick found his seat, and the volume in the hall rose as everyone started eating. Nick was surprised when an expertly prepared salmon dish was placed in front of him.

Leaning around the other diners, he caught Evelyn's eye, smiled and mouthed, "Thank you."

Evelyn returned the smile and nodded.

Nick enjoyed the meal immensely. Throughout the meal, bunnies would come by and chat with him, and a few small groups listened to some of his stories. Nick laughed when a group of kits, led by Sunni, asked permission to pet his tail.

Dessert was a delicious carrot souffle, and when he saw Sarge with a cup of coffee, he nearly bounced with joy when the buck pointed out the coffee maker. As Nick was pouring a cup of the black goodness, Mayor Burns found him, poured his own cup of coffee, and as he was adding cream and sugar, 'who does that to good coffee?', asked Nick to join him for a few minutes.

A few minutes turned into quite the lengthy conversation, Mayor Burns was fascinated to hear about Nick's experiences with the ZPD, and he was particularly interested in the Missing Mammal and Nighthowler cases and how Nick had helped Judy even before he was a cop. Nick got a little uncomfortable when the Mayor asked him about his years before meeting Judy, but Nick answered his questions as honestly as he could without dwelling too much on how difficult it was being a young fox growing up on the city streets.

After speaking with Mayor Burns, Nick hunted through the last of the fruit and dessert trays and found a few stray blueberries that needed to be eaten. As he was munching, a few of the older Gardiner teens joined him and started asking him more questions about the rescue and Nick shrugged as they lamented the fact that they couldn't scent track the way he could. He was able to brighten their mood by relaying a few stories about Judy and some of her exploits, in particular, he pointed out her favorite spot to elbow him in the side when he teased her too much."

Nick figured it was getting to be time to go after Stu and Sarge finished their inspection of the new barn and the 'aww moms' started from the little kits having to go get ready for bed. As Nick said his goodnights to the bunnies he had been talking with, he felt a paw on his arm. Janae had come to collect him so they could all leave.

Janae led Nick over to where the Hopps' and Thrashers were talking with Sarge and Evelyn. Nick shook paws with Sarge and then with Mr. Thrasher, who insisted that Nick call him Daniel, and then Nick attempted to shake paws with Mrs. Thrasher who brushed his paw aside and gave him a big hug instead.

Nick was tempted to make a joke about emotional bunnies but stopped himself when he felt Mrs. Thrasher crying into his chest as she thanked him again for saving her kits. The hug, lasted for a few moments until an approaching clomping noise got everyone's attention.

Alex and Sunni had each finished one last cookie and were now making their way, paw in paw, toward the group of adults. They made it almost all the way to the group when Alex stumbled and tripped over his boot again, and would have tumbled to the floor if it weren't for another great save by Nick.

After setting Alex upright on his feet, Nick got down on one knee and said in a light tone, "You really need to listen to your mom and be more careful, alright Buddy? I feel like I'm always catching you, having to find you, or carrying you for miles on my back."

Alex looked down a little chagrined and replied quietly, "Sorry."

Nick took a finger and lifted Alex's chin, "Don't be, for you, I'd do it all again in a heartbeat."

Alex got a teary-eyed look on his face and then gave Nick a hug, "Thank you, Mr. Nick. Thank you for finding Jessie and me."

Nick hugged Alex back and as the buck squeezed his friend tight, maybe, just maybe, one very small, non-emotional tear crept its way down the red-furred cheek of a certain fox.