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

…..

Looking up at the ceiling, Judy sighed. She should be asleep, but no matter how many sheep she counted, it wasn't happening. And… it probably didn't help any that every sheep she pictured was Doug Ramses wearing a speedo. Talk about a nightmare.

'Maybe some warm strawberry tea. Uncle Lewis always had a cup of tea whenever he read us kits bedtime stories.'

Squirming out of her snoozing fox blanket, Judy leaned over, gently kissed Nick on his nose and whispered, "I love you."

A sleepy "mmmmm" and a smile followed by purring was enough of a reciprocal response to her declaration that Judy smiled herself before crawling the rest of the way out of Nick's bed.

Standing next to the bed, Judy started toward the secret door in the closet when she heard a quiet growl come from her fox as he rooted around for a missing something.

Shaking her head at how overprotective foxes could be, even in their sleep, Judy marked Nick along his muzzle and, after he relaxed and started to purr again, whispered, "Go back to sleep. I'll be right back."

Judy skipped crawling back into her room for a hoodie in favor of grabbing the denim shirt Nick wore yesterday, and she'd thrown on a chair in the corner after helping him take it off before bed.

Shaking her head as she wrapped the shirt around her like a robe to cover what her blueberry-themed pajama shorts couldn't, Judy chuckled as she thought, 'Maybe for a mating day gift, I'll buy him a selection of denim shirts in different colors to compete with the Pawaiian shirts I can't figure out how to stop him from wearing.'

With an ear up at the door listening for Zach, Judy cracked the door open and was glad to see that her watchful PAW patrol guard was sound asleep in a sleeping bag at the end of the hall, looking worn out from a long day of parking duty, or in fox terms, mentorship.

"You might need to reread the chapters of my guide on alarms and traps if you're going to fall asleep on duty."

About to step out of the room, Judy got a tingle down her back and looked down.

"Sweet cheese and crackers," whisper-groaned Judy, seeing a pair of threads strung across Nick's doorway and attached to an air horn.

"On second thought, I need to disappear that book I wrote."

Over the strings and past another tripwire, Judy made it to the kitchen in one piece, and with the rest of the warren still sound asleep.

Putting a half-full tea kettle on the stove to boil and promising the cooking gods she would watch it like a hawk, Judy rummaged around in the pantry for her mom's box of flavored teas.

A packet of strawberry Chamomile in paw, Judy waited for the proverbial pot to boil.

Not a wink of sleep so far tonight. All she could think of was her and Nick's conversation in the barn earlier. Not the joke he made as they were leaving, for which he would suffer at a later date, but the part about waiting until Nick's tour was over before telling anyone they were courting.

Huffing to herself, Judy thought, 'Courting? Yeah, right. Like you don't want to jump his bones this second, mark every single inch of him and scream to the high heavens that Nick Wilde is your mate.'

Smiling at the thought of doing that at dinner in front of everyone and visualizing her dad's reaction, Judy sighed.

"Probably not the best plan unless you're trying to give your dad a heart attack."

"Judy? Is that you," came a voice from the hallway.

"Hey, Mom. Yeah, it's me. Sorry if I woke you up."

Bonnie padded up to the counter, saying, "It's okay, you know me…"

"Uh-huh, you have a sixth sense about your kits needing to talk. Well, not tonight, I'm just a little hyped up from today and wanted a cup of tea."

Bonnie nodded, "Of course, no need to talk. Got it. So, would it be okay if I joined you?"

"Sure," said Judy, grabbing a second mug and filling both with boiling water.

"What flavor?"

"Earl Grey, please."

Fixing both mugs, Judy slid one to her mom and, walking around to the other side of the counter, sat on the stool next to her.

"So, is Nicholas already asleep?"

Judy rolled her eyes, "Yes, for a mammal that professes to be nocturnal, he can fall asleep at the drop of a hat."

Bonnie sipped her tea and said, "Thank you for sharing Nicholas with us these last two months. I know the whole family, especially the kits, will be sorry to see him leave once his deputy job is finished."

Judy smiled and then sighed, "Everyone but Dad. He'll probably be doing the happy dance for a week knowing Nick's gone."

"Maybe, maybe not," nodded Bonnie. "Your dad is complicated. He's been processing a lot as of late. On the one paw, I'm sure he was thrilled to hear about Lucas and Andie. On the other—"

"Janae and Dalton," said Judy. "You know, it's only a matter of time before one or the other pops the question."

Bonnie took another sip and said, "I think that combine is already harvesting."

"Huh?"

"Janae's wearing a promise necklace. I noticed it a couple of days ago when she invited Dalton to stay here through the Carrot Days festival."

"She is? That little… All the grief she's given me, and she… I can't believe she didn't tell me. Wait until morning, I'm going to—"

"Judy," said Bonnie, chuckling, "Please don't interrogate your sister. I'm sure she has her reasons for waiting to drop the bomb, as you kits like to say. Besides, you girls always liked to think you were good at keeping secrets, and I'd hate for her to know I already knew and spoil her surprise when she's finally ready to tell everyone."

"Yeah," nodded Judy, "Janae never was very good at hiding her feelings."

"Mmm-hmm," replied Bonnie, trying not to smile. "There's been a lot of that going around lately."

"Uh-huh, you probably need to keep an eye on Kristy and Charlie, too."

Both does took sips of tea.

Judy traced a pattern on the countertop with a claw.

Bonnie watched Judy come to a conclusion.

"I know what happened to David… and Cynthia."

Bonnie, to her credit, just nodded.

"Is Dad going to be okay with Janae and Dalton being mates?"

Bonnie took a breath, "I don't know… but I do know that I will make sure it's okay, no matter what."

"The morning Dalton was attacked, when we drove Janae to the hospital… That wasn't just a panic attack. It was the beginnings of Mors Tristis, wasn't it?

"The same as what happened to David after he and Cynthia weren't allowed to see each other anymore."

Bonnie went still.

"I heard you say 'Mors Tristis' after David passed. You were in the kitchen crying. I didn't know what it meant until a fox friend of mine in the City explained it to me. It's like being bunny-bonded, except a lot stronger."

"And deeper," said Bonnie, nodding slowly. "I'd never heard of it either until my grandmother called and mentioned it that day you heard me in the kitchen. She assumed I already knew all about it, but I didn't.

"If I'd known, I might have been able to—"

"Mom, you didn't know. There's not anything you could have done. It's not your fault that your kits all fall so hard for their mates that they create a bunny-bond on steroids."

"I know, but look at what almost happened to Janae, what did happen. I should have told you kits, and especially your father, about Mors Tristis a long time ago. I guess I thought David was… different, and no one else would ever suffer the way he did. I guess I was wrong."

Setting a paw on her mother's arm, Judy said, "It's okay, my friend in the City, Sister Mary, had never seen a rabbit suffer from Mors Tristis before, either… She was very comforting, and then she laughed when I told her we called it the bunny-bond."

"Thank you, dear," said Bonnie, putting her paw on Judy's. "I'm so sorry you found out about it the way you did."

Nodding, Judy felt the comforting touch of her mother's paw on hers. She knew her mom would do what she could to help Janae, but…

Pulling her paw away, Judy leaned back a bit and said, "Dalton's attack was a setup. Nick and I think he was tranqed by a prey mammal, probably a rabbit, and dumped in Predville. We also think that while he was unconscious, a malnourished fox was forced to claw him."

"Oh, my," gasped Bonnie.

"Someone set everything up so the predators in town would get blamed and… make it open season on harassing predators or outright running all of them out of town.

"So, I'm worried it's not just Dad against us, but the whole town."

Bonnie smiled momentarily at Judy's slip and then said, "Nicholas asked me nearly the same question about Janae and Dalton when you were still in the City."

"He did?"

"Yes. You know Nicholas was the one that tricked them into their first date, don't you?'

Judy nodded, "Janae told me. I told her then she should have asked Dalton out when they were in high school."

"I told Nicholas the same thing. But he was quite concerned that he'd put the two of them in a dangerous situation. He asked about the troublemakers in town and how they would react to a doe being mates with someone who wasn't a rabbit."

"What did you tell him?"

"I told him the laws against interspecies couples being mates were ridiculous, and the tenets against rabbits and hares being together were just as foolish.

"I also told him Dalton's mother and I would watch out for both of them. I guess in that respect, Joylyn and I failed our kits."

"Mom, there's nothing either of you could have done. Whoever attacked Dalton was going to do it no matter what."

Bonnie nodded, "I also told Nicholas that most of the rabbits in Bunnyburrow are decent folk and that there are only a few bad apples in the basket."

Judy took a sip of her tea and, rolling the taste around in her mouth, finally swallowed and said, "I think that's the part that I worry about most, the crazies in town and what they might do to the family if any of us were to rub it in their muzzles by their mixed relationships showing up on the news, or social media, or something.

"I wouldn't want the family to suffer because of something I…"

Judy let her buck teeth rub her lip briefly before saying, "Something Janae might do."

Bonnie rubbed her mug between her paws as she gathered her thoughts. 'All this time, Judy's been worried about what would happen to us if she took Nicholas as a mate. What the town would do, what Stu would do.'

"Fifteen, twenty years ago, attitudes about those who weren't born rabbit in Bunnyburrow were different than they are now. Some were worse, more were neutral or ignorant of what was happening. Your dad was in the ignorant category for a long time.

"You remember Uncle Lewis and why he was awarded the Burrow Meister?

"Yeah, he rescued four kits from a burning house."

"Yes, he did. But what almost no one in town knows is that not all the kits were rabbits. One was a jackal kit named Wyatt Ringtail. Uncle Lewis rescued the three nearly unconscious rabbit kits from the closet, but just as he was almost out the door of the house, all the kits started screaming at him about their friend still somewhere in the bedroom."

"It turned out that the parents went in together and hired a babysitter. Unfortunately, they hired a rabbit doe who liked talking on her phone more than watching kits. And then they went out for dinner and dancing at a club on the opposite side of the Burrow from where they lived.

"The parents were out longer than they were supposed to be, the babysitter fell asleep, and Uncle Lewis made a second trip back into the house to save that little boy.

"If he'd left that kit under the bed, he'd be alive right now. Or that's what a certain few folks believe."

Judy gasped, "Uncle Lewis never would have left someone behind."

"I know, and deep down, Stu knows it too. But there's still a hole in his heart from losing Uncle Lewis.

"It was because of your dad's heartbroken reaction and what some of the townsfolk might think that drove Old Mayor Burns to step in and make sure the fact that Wyatt wasn't a rabbit was kept hushed up. He and Mayor Owens were deathly concerned that the old-timer isolationists in town would catch wind of the truth of what happened and start blaming the town's predators for an accident they had nothing to do with.

"Sadly, your father losing Uncle Lewis and then shortly afterward you getting clawed by Gideon hurt his soul. I hoped for a long time he would heal, but most of his steps forward were followed by steps back. He took out his pain on your friends and got worse still with predators until, finally, no one was spared.

"Not even you."

"So, I can't win," said Judy. "No matter what I do, someone gets hurt. And what happened to David, that could happen to—"

"NO!" said Bonnie, a little louder than she should have while grabbing Judy's paw, "No. Things are different now. That's what I'm trying to tell you.

"Years ago, I worried so much about this town. But lately, I've seen it get better. Mayor Ackerbunn getting elected and, even with her predator bill of rights on hold, trying to bring the town together. The impact your generation is having on the attitudes in town. More mammals reaching out to those in Predville. Subtle, very positive changes in policy benefitting predators and all prey regardless of species.

"But that article," said Judy.

"Yes, we still have a long way to go. But with what I've seen and heard happening since Nicholas showed up, it's almost a completely different town. And then today, your father not only allowed a fundraiser for a predator run clinic to be held on our farm, but he spent most of the day cooking and drinking moonshine with a lynx. Today felt like I had my Stuart back, the one that turned a blind eye to my family selling Sharla and Gideon Uncle Lewis' old bakery and the one who let his family go into business with a predator.

"Honey, back when Uncle Lewis passed, I would have been worried that what happened to Dalton would be the norm, but today, the new normal in this town is predators and prey, rabbits or not, all pulling together to make Bunnyburrow a better place to live.

"And so much of what's happened is due to Nicholas.

"He's a wonderful boy, and I so want to see him and his girlfriend from the City put aside their worries and move their relationship from courting to something more permanent."

Judy wiped a tear out of her eye and said, "Do you really think that would be okay?"

"Yes," said Bonnie, "You tell his girlfriend, she has my blessing to ask Nicholas to be her mate. And if they need a place to hold the ceremony, I'd be honored if she wanted to hold it here."

Judy sniffed as she nuzzled her mom, "Thank you."

"You're welcome," replied Bonnie, and as she usually did, started to mark her daughter… until she caught the strong scent of Nicholas' mark. Smiling, she squeezed Judy tight and then broke the hug.

Brushing Judy's ears back, Bonnie gently pet them a few times, she wanted to pull Judy back into a hug and lull her to sleep with a mother's grooming, but she knew that wasn't her place anymore, so instead, she buttoned a button to close Judy's overlarge borrowed shirt, straightened the collar, and petting down a tuft of fur on Judy's cheek, said, "I think it's time you got back to bed. It's going to be a busy day for you and Nicholas tomorrow, and you both need your rest."

Giving her mom a quick last hug, Judy hopped off her stool and, making her way out of the kitchen back to her and Nick's room, said, "I love you, Mom. Thanks for the talk."

"Of course, dear. I'll be sure to tell Zachary, and Sunni, to let you both sleep in a little bit extra tomorrow morning."

-/-/-

"Jordan, is that you?" Then reversing the old-style wireless phone pawset, the badger said, "Jordan, are you alright?"

"Dr. Badger, it's me, Dr. Okunpi."

"What's wrong?" said Dr. Badger, feeling around for the switch to her lamp and turning it on. "Who is this? Is Jordan okay?"

"Dr. Badger, Madge, it's me, Brandt Okunpi, your assistant at the lab. It's late, you were asleep, I woke you up, and I'm sure your son Jordan is fine."

"Hang on," said Madge, making her way out of her bedroom and away from her sleeping mate to her office. "Sorry about that, Brandt, you're right. I was asleep, and my son is on a camping trip with some friends.

"What's going on that's so important you needed to call me in the middle of the night?"

"I unlocked the chemical code. I figured it out," replied Brandt. "I know what our prey terrorist group was trying to do, and I know how they were doing it."

-/-/-

ZZzzzzz*

A computer screen came alive with graphs, plots, and a block of green text in a window in the upper right-hand corner of the screen.

Testing Complete. All tests passed, 99.87% Success rate. Press 'S' to save results or 'ESC' to discard.

ZZZZzzzz*

A new text window opened on the screen and sat empty except for a blinking cursor.

Then a character appeared.

I

Then it was gone.

zzZZzzzzz*

I was

Blank again.

hacked hopps not in zoo

The characters erased themselves one by one until the lone blinking cursor was back.

zzzzzZZ*

shes in

An emoji with a broom swept the characters off the screen just before waving goodbye and disappearing, leaving the window blank again.

ZZzzzZZZzz*

The TV monitor on the wall blinked on, changed sources, silently showed an adult program, then went blank again.

Followed by a single line of text appearing on Brown's computer monitor.

zzZZzzzzz*

The lab door quietly opened.

Paws without paw pads made no sound as their 20-year-old owner made his way to the desk where his family's 'employer' was head down, asleep in front of his computer monitor.

Paws, about to grab a tray of drug balls out of the storage cabinet, hesitated as notes on the whiteboard were read, and the automated manufacturing machine was examined.

"Almost ready for another run," came a whisper, followed by one of the two trays of the most powerful formula ever created being picked up. Then, glancing at the text on Brown's screen, the small animal now smiling a bucktooth smile that could benefit from a chewstick, thought, 'Must be a gamer.'

Your Kung-Fu is not strong

ZZzzzzz*

-/-/-

Quietly opening the door to Nick's room, Judy silently slipped in and closed the door. Her eyes quickly adjusting to the dark, Judy smiled at seeing Nick curled around her pillow. Hearing her mom talk about Janae and Dalton, and a little bit about Lucas and Andie, made her feel like there was hope for her and Nick.

Quietly padding over to the bed, Judy sat on the edge of the bed and watched her fox sleep. 'Hope,' thought Judy as she recounted her mom's belief that the town had changed and was now more accepting of rabbits and non-rabbits being together.

'Maybe.'

Running her finger down the front of the borrowed shirt she was wearing, Judy brushed over the closed button just as a smile appeared on Nick's muzzle and his nose twitched. 'He must have picked up a scent that made him happy even while asleep.'

Judy reached out and gently brushed Nick's head fur with her soft paw. 'My fox. If you only knew what you do to me.' Then chuckling, Judy thought about how she was going to pass on her mom's offer to let Nick and his girl in the City have their mating ceremony here on the farm.

His girl in the City with family problems.

'I wonder how Mom will react when she finds out Nick's girl in the City is her daughter? Would she freak? Would she disown me? Would she still let me and Nick get mated here?' Then with a silent groan, the real worry, 'Would she bug us for grandkits?'

Judy sat silently, her fingers worrying the lone closed button on Nick's shirt until she finally decided on a plan with herself, 'First my parents, and if they don't freak too bad, then the Burrow… from a distance.'

Wondering if Sharla might have an in with the space station people, and hoping that would be far enough away for telling the Burrow, Judy pulled Nick's still buttoned shirt off over her head and tossed it on the chair in the corner.

She so wanted to tell her mom about her and Nick.

"Soon," whispered Judy as an arm snaked around her waist and a groggy voice asked, "You okay?"

Judy giggled as she slipped back under the covers, cuddled up to her fox, and whispered, "Yeah, I am now."