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

…..

Karen walked the last hundred yards toward the Town Hall building as a warm down, and reaching the door, she pulled out her earbuds, shut off her iPawd, and went in. It felt good to get away for a couple of hours and do a long run. She wasn't in as good a shape as she had been in high school when she ran track, but for someone who spent most of their day stuck behind a desk, she couldn't complain.

"Daisy?"

Seeing that her Admin's desk was empty, Karen went down the hall and poked her head into her assistant's office, "Ken?"

Empty, 'Where was everyone?'

*squeeeeeak*

Karen turned to see three mammals trudge out of the normally locked door to the building's basement.

"Ken, Daisy. Afternoon Sheriff. What were all of you doing in the basement?"

"Looking for this," said Ken as he jogged the rest of the way to his boss, "You left your phone here so, we couldn't call you. You're never going to believe what Wilde did."

"What happened?" And then, looking at the old book Ken was carrying, she asked, "Is that the Burrow's copy of the Old Law translation?"

Motioning the Mayor toward her office, "Yes, it is, and I think you'll want to be sitting down when we explain what's going on."

Making herself comfortable behind her desk, Karen was about to ask for an explanation when Hoofson set an old, dusty box marked 'Fragile' on the corner of her desk, opened it, and handed Karen a coffee mug.

"Found these on a shelf, nice heft to them, thought you might need one or two."

Karen turned the mug over in her paws, narrowed her eyes, and asked, "Alright, spill. I was only gone for a couple of hours. What'd I miss?"

Ken set the old book on the Mayor's desk and replied, "Remember this morning I told you there was a rumor going around that Edwards was threatening his daughter with banishment for refusing an arranged mating and then getting pregnant and having some road-tripping hare buck's kits. Well–"

Karen waved her paw, "About that, while I was on my run, I heard that her getting banished might be more than just a rumor. Which it better not be, because I'll be monumentally pissed if it is.

"For generations, this Office has had to turn a blind eye to a pawful of crazies and their abusive tenets all because the damn Town Council won't outlaw behaviors like banishment. Well, I'm tired of it. I'm tired of not being able to do anything when they pull crap like this. So…"

Looking at Hoofson now, "Sheriff, if the Edwards doe really was banished, I want you to find her and her kits and bring them here. I don't want any of them out on the street by themselves.

"If I have to, I'll make some calls. I'll see if I can find someone in town to vouch for her. Worst case, I'll find someone in Podunk who can take her in."

Hoofson chuckled, "That's what we were about to tell you. The girl was banished, but Wilde's already taken care of it, vouched for the doe and everything. And if I was a bettin' mammal, I'd say he's taken her and her kits to the Hopps' place too."

Karen shook her head, "But Wilde's not a rabbit. Who the hell let him vouch for the girl?"

Ken smiled as he pushed the Old Law translation toward Karen, "You did."

"What?" replied Karen as she took the book from Ken.

"I have the section marked, take a look."

Opening the old book of highly ornate script to a page marked with a fringed silk ribbon, Karen saw a section entitled 'Burrow Meister' and started reading.

Hoofson spoke up, "Wilde has a copy of the Old Law translation too, and he figured out it's not just an award, it's an official position. He said the Burrow Meister's duties include–"

Karen mumbled, "Mediate, advocate, resolve disputes, uphold and defend the Bunnyburrow leader's decisions…" Looking up at the mammals around her desk she gasped, "What did I do? I thought it was just an award. If I'd known what it really meant–"

Gripping the mug in her paw, Karen started to look for a good spot when she was stopped by Ken setting his phone down on the book and pressing a button.

"Someone took this video and posted it on EweTube."

Karen grunted, "Does anything happen around here without it showing up on the internet?" and then watched as Wilde declared himself eligible to vouch for a rabbit and then, after formally doing so, pick the Edwards doe up and put her in his car.

Ken leaned in, "This is the part I wanted you to see."

'…this is the last time anyone gets banished in this Burrow. Tell people the Burrow Meister has forbidden it or tell them Baba Yaga will hunt them down and punish them if they ever try it again. Either way, I don't care. Dumping a kit on the street to starve is immoral, and this fox won't stand for it.'

Ken smiled as he picked his phone up.

"Did he just do what I think he did?"

"Yup."

"Can he do that?"

"The Burrow Meister is Old Law, and those sects and other crazies have been around spewing their crap since just before the Commonwealth treaty and the New Law were both ratified. So, if we argue Old Law precedence and lean on the clause where it's his duty to uphold and defend your decisions, I think we might just be able to pull it off.

"Assuming, now that you know what the Burrow Meister really is, you're not going to remove Wilde from the position."

Karen jumped up in her chair, "Remove him? Are you kidding? I want to hug him! He just outlawed one of the most despicable practices this town has ever seen."

Heaving the mug she was holding into the corner, Karen did a fist pump as the shards exploded like a firecracker going off, "Call an emergency meeting of the Town Council for later today."

And pointing at Ken, Karen added, "Call the press too. I want everyone there when I tell them exactly what our Burrow Meister did today.

"Sheriff, I want you there with me, and," turning to Daisy, she said, "Call Doctor Livingston and Nurse Carol Bunfrey, I want them there too."

"What about Wilde, do you want him there?" asked Hoofson.

"No, this could get bloody, and he's got enough on his plate for now, but let him know I'd like to see him in my office first thing in the morning."

Waiting until the Sheriff and Daisy had left, Karen hopped down from her perch and gave her assistant a hug, "We're back, and it's all due to Wilde."

"Do you think we can leverage any of this toward getting the predator equal rights bill passed?"

"I don't know, but I'm sure as hell going to try," and then closing the door behind Ken, she turned back toward her desk and squealed, "Right after I do a double binky!"

-/-/-

Adding a little more gas, Nick checked his speed and grimaced. He'd already been going a good bit faster than he should have as a law-abiding cop, but he had a good reason, and right now, that reason meant he needed to get home as fast as possible.

Nick glanced at the clock on the dashboard and then over to Ruthie, she'd just finished her third meal bar and was halfway through her second bottle of water when he heard one of her kits start to wake up. A couple of baby lip smacks followed by the hiccupping coughs of a hungry kit let Nick know that they were about to be hearing the cries of a baby ready to feed.

Ruthie set her water bottle down and tried to get the kit to suck on her pinkie finger in place of a real feeding, but all attempts at distracting her baby were summarily rejected by the kit spitting out the finger and wailing its displeasure.

As the kit waved its small paws and worked himself up to a real fit, his littermate started squirming and smacking her lips in anticipation of a much-needed meal.

"Mr. Nick, they're hungry and I… I don't think I can feed them," cried Ruthie with a panicked look in her eyes.

"Don't worry Ruthie, were only a few minutes from the Hopps' farm," said Nick giving her a reassuring smile at the same time he moved the car's speed up to the range his partner used when chasing down street racers or sharking for a parking space at lunch.

Nick wound his way through the last few turns, raced into the parking area, and skidded to a stop in front of the warren. Running around to the other side of the car, Nick scooped Ruthie and her now full-on crying kits into his arms and carried her into the warren and immediately started yelling, "Mrs. H, Mrs. H., I need some help here!"

Judy looked up from where she was sitting at the kitchen counter watching her mom, Janae, and a pawful of her sisters prepping dinner. Judy had offered to help her siblings, but between her sore ribs and most of the household being deathly afraid of her cooking, something about her setting fire to a pot of boiling water, she was told to sit down and keep her paws away from anything that resembled a cooking utensil.

"Nick?" Judy called out, and not sure what was going on, slid off her stool and started toward the voice of her frantic-sounding fox.

A moment later, everyone in the kitchen turned to see Nick bursting into the room carrying a teenage doe in his arms. Both Judy and Bonnie gasped at the same time. Judy was going to ask what was going on when the entire room was stunned silent by the cries of a pair of hungry kits.

First to recover was Bonnie, who a moment later was at Nick's side asking, "Nicholas, what's this about?"

"Mrs. H., Ruth Anne hasn't eaten in a couple of days, and she can't feed her kits, please, she needs your help."

Putting a paw out, Bonnie brushed back the doe's ears and gently said as if she were explaining to one of her daughters how to crotchet, "Of course, dear. Everything will be fine." And then turning to her own kits, she barked out orders with a voice that would have made Sarge proud.

"Lewis, you run to Katlynn and Bradley's room and let your sister know that Ruth Anne needs help feeding her kits and will be there in a minute. Judy, show Nicholas where their room is. Janae, find Michaela and tell her she has some patients that need her and then fix Ruth Anne some soup and a plate of vegetables. Maggie, grab some water bottles and take them to Katlynn's room. Colton, you and Cody go to the storage room and grab some baby furniture and set it up in the room next to Katlynn and Bradley's, and then go to the laundry and get linen for the beds and some towels."

No one moved.

Clapping her paws together, "You heard me, let's get moving!"

"This way, Nick," Judy said as she led the way through a series of hallways and a ramp to an upper-level section of the warren set aside for newly mated couples, and those couples, or in the case of one of Judy's unmated sisters, those single moms, with young kits.

Nick, following Judy, saw Lewis at the end of the hall waving. Reaching the room, Nick stepped in and looked for where to set Ruthie and her kits down.

The room was large by bunny standards, definitely big enough to be comfortable for a new family with a doorway leading to another room behind a curtain. Nick stood as a doe, a year or so older than Judy, was bending over a crib where four kits swaddled in blankets were sleeping.

The doe, Katlynn, Nick assumed, straightened up, pulled her robe closed, and turned to face the crowd of mammals that had just arrived.

"Is this Ruthie? Lewis said someone needed help feeding her–"

The kits, tired of all this activity that didn't involve them eating, started crying again.

"Nick put her down on the bed," and then following the fox, Katlynn sat down on the bed too. Reaching into the sling, Katlynn gently gathered one of the kits up and held her to her chest. "My kits didn't eat very much, so I can take care of yours until you're able."

"Thank you, I wish I could help, but I can't."

Katlynn arranged herself and cradled the kit she was holding up to feed her when a voice from the doorway had everyone turn and look.

"Nicholas, thank you, but I believe the girls can take care of the kits by themselves."

Nick turned to look at Bonnie and then back to Katlynn, who was in the process of pulling open her robe to position the second kit, and…

"Uhh, yup, no fox needed for this part," and in the blink of an eye, Nick was in the hallway leaning against the wall, whistling.

Judy followed Nick out at a more leisurely pace and joined him in the hallway just before Lewis came out blushing enough that his ears were tinged red.

Looking between Nick and her brother, Judy rolled her eyes and scoffed, "Males."

Lewis, ignoring his sister's smirk, walked up to Nick, put out a paw, and said, "Thanks for finding Ruthie. I spent most of yesterday afternoon walking around town looking for her after I heard about what happened."

Nick returned the pawshake, "I'd like to think it was me, but I swear somebody had to be watching out for her because I still can't believe all of what just happened, happened."

Judy folded her arms across her chest and, looking between the two males, said, "Okay, so what's going on? You said her name's Ruthie, Ruthie who, which warren is she from?"

Bonnie came out of the room and, closing the door behind her, asked, "Ruth Anne Edwards, right Lewis? She's Border Warren."

Judy shook her head, "Edwards? Poor girl, I heard her older brothers are crazy bigots, almost as bad as their dad."

Bonnie glanced at the closed door and then ushered her kits down the hall to an empty play area. Looking at Lewis, she asked, "So what's going on? Why were you looking for her yesterday, and what happened that Nicholas had to bring her here?"

Lewis looked down, "She met some guy who was passing through town a couple of months ago, and they hooked up."

Nick groaned, "Oh, no. Buckstein told me he saw her and some buck canoodling at one of the fields by the high school."

"It wasn't her fault. He asked her out, said he was a college student in New Yak, and… and she lied about her age, so maybe after, um, he'd want to take her with him. I think she wanted to get away from her dad so bad, she was willing to do anything. I should have told her how I…" and then remembering who he was talking to, "I should have tried harder to help her."

"You two are friends?" asked Nick.

"Yeah, from school, we had a lot of classes together, and we'd hang out when she was with her younger siblings in town."

Nick's eyes narrowed as his inner cop took over, "She's pretty young. What else do you know about this boy? I'd like to have a little talk with him."

Shrugging, Lewis replied, "Nothing. She didn't get his phone number, and neither of us could find him on social media." Balling his fists, Lewis practically yelled, "That damn buck, Ruthie was just a fling to him. I swear if I ever find him, I'll pound him into the ground. Ruthie is the most wonderful girl in Bunnyburrow, and she makes one mistake, and her whole life is ruined."

Bonnie squeezed her son and said, "She'll be okay. I'll give her father a call, and as much as I don't like talking to him, I'll let him know she's here."

"Mom, you don't understand, her dad banished her for having a hare's kits. That's why I was looking for her yesterday. Right after her kits were born, he kicked her out of his warren. She doesn't have anywhere to go, and no one's going to vouch for her, so she's on her own."

Now in a quieter tone, "I was going to set up a space for her in the south barn, I figured she could stay there, and no one would know."

Bonnie and Judy both shouted out at the same time, "WHAT!"

Turning Lewis, so he was facing her, Bonnie growled out, "That old bastard did what? Go find all of your brothers, I'm going to…"

"Nick, get my gun out of the lockbox. You and I are going to go have a talk with that nutjob of a…"

"Whoa, hold up, no need for a lynching–"

"Yes, there is," countered Judy.

"Damn straight," added Bonnie, "I'm with Judy. Nicholas, where's her gun?"

Nick started waving his paws, "Please, Mrs. H., Carrots, calm down. I vouched for Ruth Anne, I mean I'm not totally sure what vouching is, but right now, I'm hoping it's enough of something that I don't have to arrest either of you for burying some old guy's corpse in an unmarked grave."

"You what?" asked Judy.

"That's not possible," came Stu's gruff voice from the hallway. "You're a fox, and foxes can't vouch for anyone. Besides that, you have to know something about taking care of rabbits to vouch for one, and you don't know diddly about squat as far as rabbits go."

Nick straightened up, but before he could reply, Judy jumped in front of him and, waving a finger at her father, yelled back, "Nick knows plenty about rabbits. He's helped me with all sorts of things in the City, and I wouldn't be standing here talking to you if it weren't for him watching out for me."

Nick reached out and pulled his angry bunny into his chest. And then, with his paws on her shoulders to calm her, he said, "Mr. Hopps, it's a little complicated, but I'm allowed to vouch for a rabbit, and Sheriff Hoofson was the one who witnessed it."

Turning to Bonnie, "Although it'd be helpful if someone told me exactly what vouching is, hopefully, I didn't just adopt a whole family," and then whispered to Judy, 'Not that I'm opposed to kits, just not right now."

Judy elbowed Nick lightly in the chest and, dropping her ears so no one could see her blushing, said, "No, vouching's not the same as adopting."

Bonnie came over and, standing next to Judy, said, "It's a lot like being a godparent," turning to Judy, "Didn't you say you're the godmother to a friend's kit? That's so sweet. You should invite them to visit sometime."

Coughing, Judy replied, "Sure, Mom."

"As I was saying, vouching for a rabbit without a name, which is the situation for Ruth Anne since she was banished from her family, gives them standing amongst the Burrow families. And…" pointing at Stu, "means that there shouldn't be a problem with her and her kits being here while Nicholas is staying with us.

"Right, Stuart."

Stu glared at Nick and grumbled, "Barely, assuming the Burrow leaders accept that a fox can vouch for anything," and then walked away.

Judy raised an eyebrow, "So, Slick, mind telling me how you hustled the Sheriff into letting you vouch for Ruthie?"

Nick cleared his throat and–

"Hey guys, someone open the door for me," said Janae as she walked past the group carrying a food tray toward Katlynn's room. "Oh, yeah, the Mayor's getting ready to start a press conference, something about the Burrow Meister outlawing banishments."

Lewis ran after Janae to help her with Ruthie as Nick put a claw under his collar, smiled at the two foot-tapping does in front of him, and said, "Uh, maybe it'd be better to hear about it from the Mayor."

-/-/-

Bogo unlocked his encrypted phone and growled into it already knowing who was calling, "What have you got for me, Clawhauser?"

He should be at home, eating dinner with his mate, or helping her by having another father-daughter talk with Miss Hormonal that refused to come out of her room until she got her car keys back. No, instead of being a father or a mate, he was in his office, late, being a detective.

A failed one at that, another day and still no Mule, still no clues as to who hired him, and no word on the street about a new drug. All he had was a pair of low-level Nip dealers, a missing landlord, and a drop of blood that Dr. Badger said was equid but didn't match any known mammal in her surprisingly extensive database.

"Nothing on my mole hunt yet, sir. But I think you'd better take a look at BNN, Nick's in the middle of something in Bunnyburrow."

"You'd better not be telling me that Wilde was assaulted again because if you are, I'm going to personally rip Ackerbunn a new one and then send my own people in to find out who's responsible and nail their hide to the wall."

"No, no, sir, Nick's fine, he's not hurt at all. It's something else he's done that's made the news, and the Mayor's called a press conference to talk about it."

Bogo groaned, "Of course, my day's not long enough already, and now I have to deal with another of Wilde's pranks. Which part of 'lay low' does that fox not understand?"

"Yes, sir. I'm sure–"

"Never mind. Goodnight, Clawhauser."

Switching over to a browser, Bogo clicked a saved link and brought up the BNN live feed on his phone.

-/-/-

"How do I look?"

"Like the cat that ate the canary," replied Ken as he brushed a few hairs off his boss' jacket.

"Yeah," grinned Karen.

"Are you sure you want to do this now? Taking on all the crazies in town is going to cost us."

"It's worth it. The last time I was in front of the Town Council, I was begging them to pass my reforms. This time, I get to ram one of them down their throats."

"And Wilde? He's only got another month with the Sheriff's Department."

Karen adjusted her assistant's tie and said, "That's next week's problem, today I get to stick it to all the speciest warrens that think the law doesn't apply to them. I've dreamt of this day since we were in college together."

The door to Karen's office opened as Daisy poked her head in and said, "Madam Mayor, they're ready for you."

Ken smirked as he followed Karen toward the conference room, "Do you think they have any idea what's about to happen to them?"

"Not a chance in hell," whispered Karen as she strode up to the podium and waved for everyone to take their seats.

Waving to Daisy, who was sitting at a computer in the back of the room, Ackerbunn said, "Good evening. Before I begin, I'd like for everyone here," Ackerbunn motioned to the reporters and camera-mammals arrayed in the back and along the sides of the room, saying, "and everyone watching from home, to see what transpired this afternoon in front of the General Store."

Daisy dimmed the lights and started the video as Ackerbunn stepped to the side and watched the video, somehow enjoying it more this time than the previous dozen times she'd already watched it.

'…and this fox won't stand for it.'

Ackerbunn dawned a stern look as the lights came back up and she surveyed the room now filled with shocked rabbits.

"What the hell was that video? Who gave that pelt the right to interfere with the old ways of our warrens?"

Looking directly at the outraged Councilor, Ackerbunn said, "I did."

Waving a paw around the room, Ackerbunn continued, "I appointed Nicholas Wilde to the position of Bunnyburrow's Burrow Meister. What you saw in that video was the Burrow Meister, acting within his legally authorized mandate, advocating for, and helping a doe who'd suffered from one of the cruelest, most archaic practices ever to come into being in Bunnyburrow, banishment.

"More importantly, you also saw the Burrow Meister outlawing all future use of that most heinous tenet."

"No!"

"That's not possible, the Burrow Meister is just an award."

Ackerbunn shook her head, "No, it's an appointed position, an Old Law position to be filled at the discretion of the head of Bunnyburrow, by whomever she chooses."

"But you never said that was what you were doing a month ago when you made a fox the Burrow Meister."

"Well, I'm saying it now.

"I reaffirm Nicholas P. Wilde as the Burrow Meister. I reaffirm that it is his job to uphold the law, both Old and New, in accordance with my direction and that of Sheriff Hoofson. I fully support all the actions taken by the Burrow Meister this afternoon. Furthermore, I ratify the edict, as the Burrow Meister so eloquently stated, that none of the clans or sects in this town are above the law, and they will no longer be allowed to flaunt their cruel or speciest tenets in this Burrow with impunity."

Staring down all the shocked councilors, she added, "And I've ordered the Sheriff to arrest anyone who tries."

Smiling pleasantly again, Ackerbunn addressed the cameras pointed at her, "For those of you in town who are curious about the history of Bunnyburrow and would like to examine the Burrow's copy of the Old Law translation, it will be available here in the Burrow Archive."

"What Archive?" asked one of the reporters.

"The one we're setting up with some of the documents and antique pottery mugs my office recently unearthed."

Ken leaned toward Karen and whispered something.

"Actually, just the documents, the pottery, uh, didn't survive."

"Now, if there aren't any other questions, I've invited two members of our esteemed medical community, Dr. Livingston and Nurse Carol Bunfrey, to go over the town-sponsored family and mental health services available to all the mammals, regardless of species, in our community. They will also highlight a few of the church and community charities that have set themselves up to help parents and families in need.

"Thank you."

-/-/-

Nick watched the monitor and smiled as his friends from the hospital took over from Ackerbunn and laid out the network of services available to all the Bunnyburrow residents in need. As the combination Town Council meeting and press conference wrapped up, a creeping, tingly sensation went down Nick's tail until he realized the entire media room, filled with over a hundred rabbits, had gone silent except for a droning voice coming from the TV.

Looking around, Nick saw that every bunny in the room was staring at him, mouths agape, as if he'd just grown a second head.

"Soooo," stretching his arms out as he looked around nervously, "probably a good time for me to head to my room and get some shuteye."

A commotion brewed, and then a loud voice quieted everyone once again.

"Nicholas Piberius Wilde, I am NOT short."

-/-/-

Finn paced in his office, swinging his bat unconsciously, as he finished watching his boy's current boss take her victory lap out on Bunnyburrow's bigoted holdouts.

"What the hell, Wilde."

Seeing the Mayor step down, Finn muted his computer and tossed his bat into an old umbrella stand to join two of its cracked siblings.

"Dumb ass, you should have listened to me a month ago. Going a little old school on a few rabbit hard cases would have worked faster and been a hell of a lot more fun than whatever the hell you're up to."

Sitting back down, Finn watched a doctor and some nurse take questions for a while and then shut the video off.

Anyone, but Wilde, would have walked away. And now I have to worry about the all-seeing eye turning its attention toward someone who is supposed to be laying low.

'Of all the foxes in the universe, how I ended up meeting the only one that would pick helping a stray bun over saving his own tail, I'll never know.'

"Oh hell," grumbled Finn. "Like father, like son. Always trying to help. I just hope this doesn't come back to bite you in the tail."

-/-/-

Bonnie padded down the hall toward Ruth Anne's room and shook her head again thinking about Nicholas and the Mayor's press conference. She'd wanted to ask him a little more about what the Mayor had said, but so had a couple dozen of her daughters, and she hadn't wanted to have to fight her way through all that fur to get to him. Besides, as soon as Amy got close enough to start pawing at the poor boy, she saw Judy grab him by the arm and drag him away from the throng of does.

Funny thing watching Judy with Nicholas, she was always boxing him or leaning up against him, and she seemed to watch his tail more carefully than most of her sisters. If it weren't for the fact that Nicholas was a fox and he had a girlfriend in the City, she would have wondered about the two of them. Of course, they were work partners and best friends, 'It's probably my fault, I shouldn't have asked her to run interference for Nicholas with her sisters. Judy has always had a tendency to get a little overzealous in her duties.'

Turning a corner, Bonnie smiled as she saw Lewis standing staring at the closed door to Ruth Anne's room. "Lewis, what do you have there?"

Lewis jumped hearing his mom's voice, and said, "Nothing."

"Are you okay?" and then putting a paw on her son's shoulder, Bonnie looked into the box, "What are you doing with all these plushies? Some of these are your most favorite ones."

Lewis looked away, "They're for Ruthie, she told me her dad never allowed her to have any when she was growing up."

"That's sweet of you, I'm sure they'll make her very happy," replied Bonnie as she knocked quietly on the door.

"Come in," came a voice.

Before Bonnie could push open the door, Lewis asked, "Mom? Can Ruthie stay here with us?"

"Of course, dear," Bonnie replied without thinking.

"No Mom, you don't understand. Ruthie's my friend, she made a mistake, and now she doesn't have any family or anywhere she can go. Can we please help her?"

Bonnie rubbed her son's arm and whispered, "Let's see what Ruth Anne wants to do, first."

Stepping into the room, Bonnie was happy to see that everything was in order. Her boys had done a good job filling the room with furniture. Judy and Janae's old crib, now holding two sleeping kits, was against the far wall, along with a small changing table and a rocking chair. A bed, dresser, and a nightstand with a reading lamp were all set up along the wall with the curtained off closet.

Bonnie was also pleased that her daughters had not only found enough baby clothes to dress a kit army, but gotten together and filled the closet with over a dozen different outfits for Ruth Anne to choose from for outings, and filled the large dresser with plenty of hand me downs for relaxing around the warren.

They'd even filled an entire drawer with vegetable-themed unmentionables.

Ruth Anne, dressed in a pair of comfy pink pajamas, slid off the bed and quickly greeted the Matron of the Warren, "Good evening, Mrs. Hopps."

And then in a shy voice, added, "Hi Lewis."

Lewis set his box down on the bed, "Hi Ruthie. Are your babies okay?"

Nodding toward the crib, she replied, "Yeah, I just got them to sleep. I still can't feed them, but Katlynn's been helping."

"I brought you something."

Ruthie clapped her paws together when Lewis spread a horde of plushies out on the bed, and chirped, "Thank you," and then grabbed Lewis for a big hug, "they're wonderful!"

Smiling as the two buns hugged each other, Bonnie checked on the sleeping kits and then gathered up the empty dishes and Ruthie's dirty clothes. "Honey, you need to get some rest, and don't you worry about your kits, if they wake up in the middle of the night, let Katlynn know, and she will feed them again. I'm betting you'll be right as rain and able to take care of them yourself by tomorrow."

"Mom, can I stay with Ruthie for a little while?"

"I'm not too tired yet, Mrs. Hopps, I promise."

Looking back and forth between the two teens, now holding paws, Bonnie rolled her eyes, "Alright, but just for a little while. And Ruth Anne, you're welcome to stay here with us. But just so you know, Nicholas's vouching of you has been confirmed by the Mayor, so if you'd rather stay with another family, I'd be happy to call whomever you want and work out the arrangements for you."

Ruthie's face lit up as she looked to Lewis, who was grinning, and then back to Bonnie, "I can stay here?"

"Of course, dear. Although there is one condition, no more of that Mrs. Hopps nonsense, call me Mom like everyone else does."

"Thank you, Mom!" was all Bonnie heard before she was enveloped in a hug from her newest kit.

-/-/-

Bogo stared at his phone, 'That didn't just happen.'

More than an award, Bogo blinked.

A few groups of rabbits living in the dark ages, Bogo tapped a hoof on his desk.

Wilde figured out a loophole in the Bunnyburrow law, Bogo smiled.

A predator rescued a banished doe and her kits, Bogo started to shake.

A fox just schooled some rabbit crazies on decency and caring by outlawing one of their most abusive tenets, Bogo laughed.

Bogo laughed like he hadn't laughed in months.

"Not bad, Wilde. Not too bad at all!"