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never had no kits,\" until one day, her son showed up in town.\n\n\nI rarely write fan fiction, and when I do, I mostly do it for fun and to practice my ability at wordcraft. I decided to write a story about Kody Grey, a character I made. After writing the whole thing, I went back in and toned it down a bit since somethings didn't really make much sense for the over all plot. I don't think I'll post the original version, but here's the more edited story. It's a bit of a mix of comedy and seriousness.\n\nThumbnail taken from TVTropes.org and is a screenshot of the Bunnyburrow sign from Disney's Zootopia", "description_bbcode_parsed": "Josephine Grey always told her family and the entire town of Bunnyburrow that, "I ain't never had no kits," until one day, her son showed up in town.


I rarely write fan fiction, and when I do, I mostly do it for fun and to practice my ability at wordcraft. I decided to write a story about Kody Grey, a character I made. After writing the whole thing, I went back in and toned it down a bit since somethings didn't really make much sense for the over all plot. I don't think I'll post the original version, but here's the more edited story. It's a bit of a mix of comedy and seriousness.

Thumbnail taken from TVTropes.org and is a screenshot of the Bunnyburrow sign from Disney's Zootopia", "writing": "Chapter 1: Second Family\n\nRay let out a snort as he slowly pulled the silver-gray military-esque vehicle up to the farmhouse. The house was nothing incredibly special. It was old, built more out of utility than comfort. It had two floors, though the second floor was much larger than the first because of the overhanging porch.\n\nThe house was white, or least it had been at one time. Most of the paint had seeped into the wood siding and no one had gotten around to painting it in at least a decade, maybe more, Ray wasn’t exactly sure. The roof was even more faded than the walls, looking more light gray then black. Surprisingly though, the front yard looked like it had been cut that morning, even the dirt road that lead up to the house from the highway had been freshly oiled to keep the dust down. Ray was very thankful for that.\n\nSlowly, he pulled on the interior latch and pushed the door away from him before sliding out of the black cloth seat. Like the farm, his automobile was practical. The company had made their name making the General Purpose Vehicle, nicknamed the Gee-Vee, for the government. Of course, the nickname was mocked. People started calling them Jeeves, and the name stuck so much so that the company began selling the vehicle to the general public under that name. Ray pushed the door on his Jeeves Buckaroo Infinty and slowly started to make his way towards the farmhouse.\n\nIt was a little odd coming here. He felt a little out of place on a farm, but he just had to grin and bear it. Ray hadn’t learned about his blood family until a few years ago. He had been adopted as a kit by an inter-species couple in Zootopia, but the fox had always stood out from his adopted family who were all mutts or Pure Bred German Shepherds. Ray wasn’t even his full name either, it was Raynard. Raynard Schaiferhund.\n\nThe red fox let out a little chuff as he shoved his hands into his pant pockets. He wasn’t fancily dressed one bit, then again, what do you wear when you’re meeting your real family for the first time? He certainly wasn’t going to show up in his uniform, any one of his uniforms, so being plain clothes had been the best choice. He was dressed in a pair of blue jeans, a plain looking blue shirt, and a brown leather bomber jacket with a nameplate and wings.\n\nLike his species implied, his primary color was red and various shades of that one color. From the tips of his ears to the tip of his tail, his body was covered in a kind of deep red like the cherries on a sundae or in a cocktail. The fur around his eyes was red-orange and in his ears, but unlike many of the other foxes he’d met, he didn’t have the red-brown stockings on his forearms or legs or tip of his tail, rather it was concentrated under his armpits and right above his groin. The only other color on his body was an off white almost gray that ran from his nose spreading out to the sides of his lips. It covered his jaw before shrinking to his throat only to spread out as it went down his chest and belly all the way to his groin, but it wasn’t like he was planning on showing off his body to anyone.\n\nThe fox was chunky. He’d always been a bit chunky. Yeah, he had a nice big belly and a semi-flabby chest, but his biceps were large. He was basically made for hugging and snuggling, something he really enjoyed.\n\nRay stopped as he looked up at the farmhouse, the vulpine chewing on his lower lip as his ears flicked around the top of his head. Was he really going to do this? Yes. Yes, he was. Slowly, the fox put one foot in front of the other as he looked at the faded white screen door.\n\nChapter 2: Ma’s Callin’\n\nGideon Gray bent over in front of an oven. His pastry shop already had a line of people going out the door, all of them waiting for another fresh batch of pies. The chubby vulpine pulled the oven’s door open. A warm sweet aroma started to fill the air. Everyone in the shop took in a deep breath, almost simultaneously before letting out a contented sigh. “Thay’re dun,” the brown and dark red colored man said as he reached a mitted hand in to pull out the tray. “Ya’ll gotta letum sit now, but I gots lots uh them fer sale,” he said to the crowd before returning to the register.\n\nHe was just about to make a sale when the old phone started ringing. Gideon looked over his shoulder. “’ay Travis! Culdya get that,” he asked before turning his attention back to the wolf in front of him. \n\n“Sure thing, Gideon,” the ferret called back from the dish washing station. He grabbed a towel and whipped the water off his hands before making his way to the old in wall rotary phone. “Gideon Grey’s Real Good Baked Stuffs. Made with fresh produce from Hopps Family Farm,” Travis started on the usual shpeal, but the woman on the phone didn’t let him finished.\n\n“Travis! War’s Gideon? I needs to talk to ‘im,” the vixen’s voice seemed to roar over the speaker, making the ferret almost drop the phone. “Of course, Mrs. Grey. I’ll get him.”\n\nTravis placed his hand over the transmitter as he looked over at Gideon. “Hey, Gideon! It’s your ma,” he called out to the chunky tod, “Sounds important.”\n\nGideon’s ears flicked around on the top of his head as he handed the pie filled box towards a heavy-set gray wolf. “All right. B’there in a second,” he yelled back at the ferret before punching the sales button on the register. The rusty colored fox made his way back towards the phone, taking it from the black-footed ferret’s hand before the other male moved to take over the register. \n\n“Yes, ma,” he said into the transmitter, curious to know why she was calling.\n\n“Gideon! Get yer rump down t’tha house! Y’ain’t gonna believe who j’st showed up,” the old vixen howled over the phone.\n\n“Who? Who showed up, ma?”\n\n“Gideon. Y’member yer daddy’s sister?”\n\n“Aunt Josephine?”\n\n“That’s th’one! Seems her lil’ boy showed up t’tha house.”\n\n“Ma, whatcha talkin’bout? Aunt Jo never had no kits,” Gideon replied to his mother, genuinely confused about what he was hearing.\n\n“That’s cause she don’t like t’talk’bout it. I’ll ‘splain when ya git here, just git here,” the woman said before hanging up on her son.\n\nThe tod blinked a few times before hanging up. “But Aunt Jo never had no kits,” he said to himself, “So who in tarnation was this guy?”\n\nGideon slowly turned around and looked over at Travis. “I gotta head t’tha farmhouse, Travis. Ya’ll gots the register.”\n\nA doe rabbit looked over Travis’ shoulder. “Gideon! Are there going to be any more fresh pies today,” she inquired, only for the throng behind her to echo her question with an in unison, “Yes?”\n\nThe fox just shrugged his shoulders, “I dunno. ‘Pends on when I get back I’spose. But Ya’ll don’t worry now. I’ll be here extrarly t’make more.”\n\nThere was a collective sigh of relief as Gideon hung up his apron and made his way through the kitchen and out the back door to his truck.\n\n\f\n\nChapter 3: Stranger\n\nThe drive from the pastry shop to the Grey Farm took about thirty minutes. It wasn’t terribly far, around twenty miles or so, but it was a comfortable distance, just far enough to make family visits rare but close enough to not be too much of a hassle. It was something Gideon needed.\n\nHe’d grown up an only child, which wasn’t bad in and of itself, but he’d also grown up the only fox in the whole town. Being surrounded by bunnies and other prey species had been intimidating. He had always been husky and he had always been bigger than the other kids. Well, not the older kids, and they’d been the most cruel to him. That had led to a great deal of personal issues, mostly with his confidence, but then again, he’d gotten some of it at home. Since he was an only child, his parents attention had been greatly focused on him, pushing him to succeed. But when he failed he wasn’t told that he tried, no. When he failed he was given a lecture about how he didn’t try hard enough. \n\nOne thing he had learned was that he was really good at cooking, especially cooking pastries. He’d helped his mother bake cookies and pies almost every weekend for the Sunday school and during the bake sales. And every time he had failed at something, he’d go back and do something he knew he was good at over and over again until he entered the Tri-County Pie Contest. He’d gotten second place the first year he entered, but the next year, he won the grand prize. That was when he told his parents he’d be moving out and into town to be a pastry chef.\n\nThey had had some genuine concerns, but in the end, gave in. His father, Joshua, had even given him the money to buy the old two story bakery and apartment from the elderly goat couple that had been looking to retire to Zootopia’s more temperate areas. After that, things just started to come together. His parents were actually proud and happy, not to mention he was able to make amends with Judy.\n\nBut none of that really mattered as the chubby fox pulled into his parent’s driveway. He noticed the new car with Zootopia License plate number RB57H. “Huh,” the fox muttered to himself as he pulled up to the farmhouse, “Wunder what that plate means.”\n\nRay looked at the two old vixens as he took a sip of Lemonade. His eyes moved from one to the other then back again. It was a fairly strange, not to mention awkward, moment. The tod took one more sip of lemonade before placing the half empty glass down the living room table, but not before making sure there was a coaster under it. No one seemed to want to say a word as Ray started to lean forwards in his seat, hands clasping together. He knew this whole ordeal was going to be odd, but the silence just made everything seem worse. Thankfully, Josephine broke the silence.\n\n“Ya looks like yer daddy,” the old vixen said in a low voice as she put down her lemonade. “I know we talked lots on th’emails, but,” she paused briefly as she started to tear up, “Jist seein’ ya in th’fur…”\n\nJosephine never finished her sentence as she started to break down and cry, tears flowing down her face as her sister-in-law slid out of her chair to head to the bathroom. She returned a few seconds later with a big box of paper tissues. “It’s all right, Jo,” the other vixen said as Ray’s mother, his real mother, grabbed a hand full of tissues to wipe under her eyes.\n\n“Oh lordy, jist look’t me, all bawling like a kit,” Jo said as her nose quivered trying to regain some semblance of clam as she looked at her son. “I’m jist s’proud’a’ya.”\n\nRay wasn’t sure what to say at the sight of his birth mother crying and then her words of pride. His ears splayed against his head as he looked down and away then back up at her. “Thanks mom,” he said softly while scooting forwards in his chair. He would have said more, but then someone walked in.\n\nGideon walked into the living room. It was just like how he remembered. It looked like something out of a movie; everything was old, made out of wood, but expertly crafted to last until judgement day. Even though the outside of the house had seen better days, the inside looked immaculate, just like how his momma like it. But he wasn’t greeted with the usual fanfare he got when he came home. \n\nHis eyes moved to the four wooden chairs gathered around the living room table. His mother was there, trying to comfort a crying Aunt Jo. Both of the vixens were sitting across from another tod, who looked kind of like himself, though, he didn’t have any brown markings or brown hair on the top of his head. His gaze moved between the three other foxes before finally speaking. “Ya’ll right Aunt Jo,” Gideon asked as he looked at the curvy woman then back over to the tod, “Ya need m’t’make’m leave?”\n\nThe tod’s mother, Jeane, gave her son an icy glare that confused the fox for a second, “Gideon!”\n\n“What ma? ‘f he’s makin’ Aunt Jo cry,” he tried to reply but his mother cut him off. “Gideon! Sit yer rump down! We gots ‘slaining to do.”\n\nThe heavy tod just blinked a few times. His mother hadn’t talked to him like that since he was a kit. He looked over at the new tod sitting across from his mama and aunt, giving him a little growl as he unceremoniously plopped down into the chair.\n\nJo sniffled a few more times as she finally gained enough composure to say something. “Gideon, I know yer’s lost as last year’s Easter egg by all this, but,” the old vixen sniffled again and Jeane finished her sentence, “There’s lots you don’t know.”\n\n“Whatchya’ll talkin’bout,” he asked as he slowly turned his head to look at Ray, “And who’s this?”\n\nJeane just glared at her son, “Gideon! Shut yer trap!”\n\nThe tod’s tail tucked between his legs as his jaws locked up tight.\n\nJo let out a long sigh as she looked at Gideon and then over to Ray, “I should probably start at the beginning.”\n\n\f\n\nChapter 4: Aunt Jo\n\nJosephine Grey had been eighteen when she went to the big city. Her parents had cried, and her brother, Joshua, had given her a great big hug. It was a special moment for everyone since she was the first Grey to go to college, but it also meant that she’d be in Zootopia and away from her family for the first time. After a few tears, she’d managed to get on the train before it rocketed away.\n\nJo had always been pretty, though, she’d rarely heard anyone say so outside of the other predators that lived in Bunnyburrow. She was tall for a vixen, but not overly so, and she was curvy. Her body was covered in a soft reddish yellow that looked almost like faded orange. Most of the guys told her that she should be in pictures, and she had agreed, though, not the pictures they were thinking of. She wanted to be a movie star. She didn’t have much in the way of acting outside of school plays, so she’d worked hard to get into Zootopia University’s School of Performing Arts.\n\nJo giggled as he sat on the train. It was never hard for her to turn heads, mainly because she looked so different from most of the foxes the passengers usually saw. She had figured that it was her fur color, but in reality, they were actually staring at her because her wardrobe screamed country girl. She’d worn short shorts and a plaid short-sleeve shirt. Her long legs drew everyone’s attention, which only got more interesting when she’d gotten off the train at Zootopia station.\n\nAs she headed towards the metro line to the university, she received several calls and whistles from several felines and wolves. Of course, the attention only made her laugh and blush as her long fluffy tail flicked around behind her. She was loving the attention, especially since it was coming from a more diverse group of animals, most of whom hadn’t seen a girl wear shorts that high up on her hips.\n\nAfter another short ride, she’d finally made it there. Her eyes dancing up and down the old gothic architecture as she walked into the registrar’s office. The paperwork was the worst part though. Forms had to be signed in triplicate. She had to hand over a check for almost $5,000, the most money she’d ever had in her hands let alone seen, and that was just for her first semester. Finally, after everything was done, and she had signed up for freshman courses, the registrar handed her the keys to her dorm room.\n\n“You’ll be rooming with another vixen,” the mare had said as she pushed the keys towards her, “Classes start next week.”\n\nJo had taken the keys and given the horse a warm smile, “Thank ya’, ma’am. I look forwards t’meetin’er.”\n\nThe woman just chuckled as she drank in the vixen’s accent, “I’m sure she will too.”\n\nJo let out a sigh as she plopped down on the bed. She was the only one in her dorm room, and from the looks of things, her roommate hadn’t even moved in. Part of her was saddened by the prospect of not meeting her roommate today, but she figured that the other girl would be here later on. She was a week early after all.\n\nSlowly, Jo sat up and started to claim her spot in the small room. She took the right bed, dumping out her clothes first before putting them away in the nearby closet. The vixen then turned her attention to making her bed. She’d done that every morning since she could remember, even making her brother’s bed so their parents would skin him alive for being messy. The memory couldn’t help but make her giggle a bit as she smoothed out the white cloth over the mattress before tucking in each side. Once the clothes were put away and the bed was made, she didn’t really have much else to do other than arrange her toiletries, but that could wait a bit. Something in her begged for her to start exploring not just the campus, but the city. She had just started to think about that when her stomach began to growl at her.\n\n“Guess it’s time fer sum grub,” she giggled to herself as she grabbed her keys and headed to the dining hall.\n\nChristopher Rowan, “Chris” to his friends, sat in the dining hall munching on a sandwich. The red fox was tall and muscular, almost looking like a miniature wolf more than a fox. He could have gone somewhere else to eat, but Chris liked watching all the new students come in. “New meat,” he chuckled to himself, eyes darting over the throngs of Freshman and transfer students. There were a few cuties here and there, though, most of them were prey species or domestics. He knew most of them wouldn’t consider talking to him, let along shacking up with him for the night, but it was fun to just watch and imagine. He’d almost given up on his day dream when he watched a vixen wander in.\n\nThe tod blinked a few times, a hand moving to adjust his sunglasses as he gave her a good once over. He stared at her while taking a long sip on his soda, eyes dancing over her curves but mostly focusing on that long fluffy tail and what it was attached to. “Country bumpkin,” Chris churred to himself, a sly grin wandering over his lips as he watched her order something in a thick accent that took the server a few times to understand, “I’m gonna tap that.”\n\nIt took Jo a few minutes to get through the line, mostly because the servers needed her to speak even slower than she already did, but finally, she had gotten her burger and fries. She walked away from the counter, a smile on her face. She held onto the tray as her eyes looked around for someone to sit with.\n\nThere was a pack of wolves sitting around one table, all of them eyeing her and panting. The alpha gave her a wink, which made her blush. She knew that in the big city, it wasn’t uncommon for inter-species relationships, and even marriages, to happen, and it wasn’t like the idea didn’t sometimes wander through her head, but she politely declined and kept walking. She was just about to sit alone when a voice called over to her, “Need a seat?”\n\nChris was smiling as Jo made her way over to him. He was finally getting a closer look at her and he liked what he saw. “Thank ya,” the vixen replied as she slid into the seat next to him.\n\n“So, what’s your name,” he asked, trying to be nonchalant and a tad distant as if he wasn’t already stripping her nude in his mind.\n\n“Josephine, but everyone calls me Jo,” she replied as she blushed, “I ain’t seen many foxes round yet.”\n\nChris smiled as he turned his full attention to her, “We’re around, but we’re a minority.”\n\n“I figgered as much since I gots a my-norty skollarship here.”\n\n The tod couldn’t help but chuckle at her accent. It made him wonder what she would sound like in the sack. “I’m Chris by the way,” he added as he pushed his hand towards Jo.\n\n“It’s a pleasure t’make yer ‘quaintance,” the vixen said as she gripped his hand. Chris was a bit surprised by her hand strength, but even more surprised by the way she shook his arm up and down. Then again, he should have expected this from a country girl.\n\n“You new here,” he asked even though he already knew the answer.\n\n“Yup! First time to tha big city. Errythin’s’big here!”\n\nThe tod laughed, “It’s why they call it the big city.”\n\nJo giggled, “I s’pose so.”\n\nChris gave her a smile as he chose his next words to be filled with entendre, “You looking to go exploring?”\n\n“Course I am! I wants t’see errythin,” Jo replied, her face beaming brightly.\n\n“Free later?”\n\n“I gots nuthin’ t’do ‘cept hit th’book-stirr.”\n\n“I know all the best places in town,” the tod smirked, “I’ll show you a great time.”\n\nChris had been right. He had shown her a great time. The tod dragged Jo all over the city over the next week. They hit all the touristy places during the day, mostly museums and public buildings, and then Chris took her out every night to bars, restaurants, clubs, and discotheques. Unlike other vixen he’d been with though, Jo wasn’t about to let him see what was under her daisydukes, something that frustrated him quite a bit. So the two continued on like this, though their explorations moved away from weekdays and over to weekends once classes started up.\n\nIt was the last week in September and the first week in October when Chris finally was able to get what he wanted. He’d spent half of August and nearly all of September trying to get into Jo’s pants, but it was all about to pay off. He’d been working on her for some time, and he knew that tonight was the night as he wrapped his knuckles on the door.\n\nJo was right behind the metal door, a big smile on her face as she slipped out into the hallway. “Ya ready, sugar,” she asked as her tail flicked around behind her.\n\n“I sure am,” Chris replied in a deep murr as he put his arm around her, leading her out of the dorms and towards his car.\n\nThe vixen and the tod hit up their favorite discotheque called “The Glacier” over in Tundra Town. Jo always had to wear an extra layer when they went there, but she certainly enjoyed the synth music. It was very different from the songs her parents played back home, and the beats were always fun to dance to. That’s what they did most of the night, dance, their bodies bumping against one another as the music boomed around them.\n\nIt was close to midnight when Jo and Chris left, the vixen leaning against the tod as they trudged through the snow towards his car. “That was wonderful,” the woman said in a soft churr, her head leaning against his shoulder. The tod just murred deeply as his hand slowly slid up and down her side, “It’s gonna get better. Ready for a drive?”\n\nJo nodded as she followed him to the car, sliding into the passenger seat as Chris started the engine. “Wur ya thinkin’,” she asked as she looked over at him. “I know a nice quiet spot, don’t worry,” the tod replied as he gave her a warm smile.\n\nChris was right again. The spot he found was quiet, then again, public parks usually were at night. Jo was still coming down from the high of dancing as she pressed her back into the seat. “Mmm… Thank ya, Chris,” she churred warmly, eyes closing as she let out a stretch. She almost wanted to doze off right there, but she felt a hand on her thigh.\n\n“Don’t thank me yet,” the tod replied in a lusty murr, his paw gently squeezing her denim covered leg as he leaned in to give her a kiss right on the lips.\n\nJo blinked a few times as she felt his muzzle pressing against hers, his hand kneading her thigh. He’d done something like this before, and she’d given him a good smack across the muzzle for it, but tonight felt right. Slowly, she started to melt into the kiss, her own tongue beginning to lap against his as her hand moved to rub over his chest.\n\nChris growled deeply. It was all going according to plan. The tod kept kneading over the vixen’s thigh more and more as their lips smacked together over and over again, the two vulpines lost in lust.\n\nSlowly, Jo broke the kiss to blush. “How… How’re we gonna do it up here,” she asked as she stared into his eyes. Chris just chuffed, “Backseat. Why?”\n\nJo just blushed deeper, “I… I ain’t never done nuthin with a guy b’fore.” Her words just made the older fox grin wider as pulled away from her before reaching over the vixen to pull on the seat adjustment knob, “Tonight’s your lucky night.”\n\nJo let out a yip as she felt her body fly down. She hadn’t expected that at all as she looked above her at the rumble seat. The fox blushed as she slowly rolled over before climbing onto the bench seat. Chris didn’t wait long to join her, crawling in beside her to place his hand right back onto her thigh. The vixen blushed as she stared at him. “Chris… maybe… maybe we should wait. I’m,” she started to say, but the tod cut her off, “In heat. I know. Don’t worry. I’ll wear a condom.”\n\nChris’s promise was hollow. He didn’t have any condoms, and he wasn’t going to wear one tonight. \n\n\f\n\nChapter 5: Truth\n\nJo rarely forgot that night. She kept trying to get Chris to come over and let her feel him inside her again, but the fox seemed distant and aloof. It was a bit odd until Jo started to realize that he’d only been interested in her for that one reason. Part of her was resentful, especially since he was one of the few foxes on campus, but another part of her knew that something like this could happen. She’d seen it happen in high school, especially with jocks. “That’s wut he is,” Jo muttered to herself, “jist a big, dumb ol jock. And I wuz just his one nighter.” She was just going to have to live with the fact her first was an ass, something she resigned herself to fairly easily.\n\nThe next week, Jo was uncomfortable. The vixen seemed to twitch all the time in class, her hands constantly moving to adjust her bra, but each time she did, she just felt more uncomfortable. In truth, her breasts ached, her back ached, everything ached. She didn’t seem to enjoy the foods she used to like at all. She felt bloated most of the time and every so often, she’d get cramps. Plus she kept waking up late for her morning classes and once she got there, she kept getting up all the time to urinate, missing parts of the lecture.\n\nOut of everything that hurt and generally annoyed the vixen, Jo’s nipples were the worst. They’d become especially tender to the slightest touch to the point she could barely take a shower. Her tender nipples were only exacerbated by how tight her bra’s felt, so much so she had to go out and buy new ones. \n\nPart of Jo wondered if she was pregnant, but that couldn’t have been true. Chris had worn a condom. He’d told her he had. Her worries were put aside some when she had found she’d bled a little. It was a good sign at least, so she brushed off any ideas about her pregnancy. That was until she visited her OBGYN.\n\nDoctor Barry Brown was a kind old dog. Like his last name implied, he was a brown lab and that was basically his only color outside of the slowly encroaching white on his muzzle from age. He rather enjoyed his line of work, and most of his patients enjoyed being around him. It probably helped too that the old dog wasn’t attracted to women at all, so it made his line of work much easier.\n\nBarry smiled as he made his way into the examination room, his eyes looking at the vixen in front of him as he looked over her chart. The doctor over in Bunnyburrow had been gracious enough to fax over her files, so he had a good starting point. “Hello, Miss Grey, I’m Doctor Brown,” the lab had said as he slipped between her legs to examine her.\n\n“Has anything changed since your last exam,” he asked as he started to investigate. Jo let out a sigh, “Well… I did have… relations with a feller about a few weeks ago. Since then, I been all uncomfy. My boobs hurt. My nipples hurt. I keep wakin’ up late fer class, and I jist feel so achy all the time.”\n\nThe doctor felt his ears go back, “Well. I can see why. Miss Grey, you’re a month pregnant.”\n\n“WHAT!”\n\n“You’re pregnant, Miss Grey, and from the look of things, you’ve been so for a month.”\n\nJo shook her head, “That… that cain’t be true! I had my period!”\n\nDoctor Brown slowly looked up at her. “Miss Grey, I’m sorry to tell you this, but what you found was bleeding from implantation, not your period.”\n\nThe vixen started to shudder, her eyes tearing up, “But… But I cain’t get pregnant, Doctor. I’m th’first one in m’famly to go to college. I jist… I jist cain’t!”\n\nSlowly, the old lab slid out from between Jo’s legs, sliding the rolling stool around so he could sit next to her. “Miss Grey. You are early enough along that you might want to consider having an abortion if you want to continue to go to college.”\n\nJo blinked a few times at his sentence, but especially when he said, “abortion.” The option hadn’t occurred to her yet. She could get one and it would be like this never happened. But it did happen, and she could never erase that whether she had the kit or had the abortion. She would of course have to tell her family about it at some point, whether it was years down the road or when she showed up during summer break holding a kit in her arms.\n\nJo let out a long sighing whimper as she started to think about every option she had. “Lemme… lemme think on it, doc.”\n\nAfter the appointment, Jo had a lot to consider, but the first thing she needed to do was make sure Chris knew what he’d done. She’d found him in the cafeteria again, talking to a wolf girl. “Course he’s doin’ that,” she growled as the vixen made her way behind him to tap on his shoulder.\n\nChris was just about to get that wolf bitch to meet him in the dorms when he felt a clawed finger tap him twice. Slowly, he turned around, eyes opening in surprise. “Oh… hey Jo,” he started to say in surprise while trying to keep his tone casual.\n\n“Don’tcha ‘hey Jo’ me ya egg-suckin’ dawg,” the vixen snarled at him. Mood swings were a sign of pregnancy, but this was no mood swing, she was out for blood.\n\n“Who the hell are you,” the wolf woman asked, as she gave Chris her own snarl. The tod tried to take command of the situation, but Jo cut him off, “This no-legged dog sweettalked me, and knocked me up!”\n\nUnfortunately for Chris, the vixen had yelled it in the cafeteria, so every eye in the room was on him. The wolf who was sitting beside him gave the tod a snort before sliding away. The fox started to growl as people began to whisper amongst themselves. “Then abort the little fuck and move on,” he said before turning back around.\n\nJo’s eyes went wide for a brief second before her strong hand reached out to grip him by the nape, digging her claws into his fur and flesh. “You dun sewed yer oats in me, and you gots to reap whatcha sew,” the vixen snarled back at him.\n\n“I’m not marrying some redneck country bumpkin,” Chris roared back as he used one strong hand to knock hers off his neck, spinning around in the process.\n\nEveryone in the cafeteria stared at the two snarling foxes, some of them whispering about how they may have gone savage. “Like hell ya’rn’t. You made yer bed, and you gots t’sleep in it,” Jo roared back, her claws extending.\n\nChris just smirked, “Go on, bitch. Hit me. Scratch me up real good in front of ALL these people. You’ll get booted out of here, and my father will sue you and your Podunk little farmer family for all they’re worth.”\n\nJo’s nostrils flared over and over again as she glared at Chris. They stared at one another for a few seconds before she pulled her claws back in. “One day, Chris Rowan, yer gonna reap whatcha sew. And don’t be ‘sprised if I spit on yer grave,” the vixen said one last time before storming off.\n\nThat was the last time she ever saw Chris Rowan, but it was also the last time Chris Rowan managed to get laid at the University.\n\n\fChapter 6: Options\n\nJo didn’t abort the child, even though she’d thought about it many times over the remaining trimesters. It didn’t help that being pregnant hurt her attendance during her Freshman year, but she had been able to get and hold a 3.0 Grade Point Average, mostly because of her papers. The more the months ticked away, the more her pregnancy showed, but the more determined she was to at least finish her Freshman year. \n\nThe whole ordeal had been rough on the vixen, and even more so on her parents who rarely heard from Jo at all. She’d talk to them on the phone every few days, but she never sent home any new photos, which made them a bit curious about what was going on. It confused them even more that she didn’t come to visit on holidays or breaks. The more Jo was silent, the more everyone worried. They’d thought about heading to the big city to see their little girl, but they couldn’t get much in the way of farm help.\n\nThe semester finally ended in mid-May, something that Jo had been extremely grateful for. With college done for the time being, she could at least focus on what to do next. She’d started to think about names for the kit brewing inside her when she received a call from the registrar’s office. It was a bit strange, especially considering it was from her counselor. The vixen figured that she wouldn’t hear from them at least until August when classes started again, but she went along with it.\n\nThe woman behind the desk was tall and skinny, but that was to be expected from an antelope, though Jo didn’t really know which of the various antelope subspecies she was. “Miss Grey,” the woman said as she leaned over her desk, “I realize that you have been up into a very awkward situation, and I hate to burden you further. But many of the staff have noticed your condition and are wondering what your plan is if you wish to continue to attend Z.U.”\n\nThe vixen just looked down, “I… I hadn’t really done much considerin’. I’ve jist wanted t’finish the year.”\n\nThe antelope nodded her head, “I understand, but the University doesn’t offer any family housing, and children aren’t allowed in the dorms. You’d also be away from the child for long periods of time, and we don’t offer any day care services.”\n\nJo started to sniffle. The sniffle turned into a pout. The pout turned into sobbing. “I… I don’t know what to do! I cain’t afford a house, er a nanny, but I cain’t send him back home t’my parents! I’d die of shame,” the vixen started to openly wail as her hands moved to rest on her cheeks, “I cain’t quit college! I jist cain’t! I’m th’only Grey to ever go t’college. But I cain’t let my kit grow up without a mama or a daddy.”\n\nThe antelope woman slowly slid out of her desk, moving around to grab some tissue paper. She handed it to Jo as a hand moved to her shoulder. “I understand, Miss Grey, but there are other options,” the woman said, “you could put your child up for adoption.”\n\nThe vixen looked up at her with blood shot eyes as tears kept flowing, “Adoption?” The antelope nodded, “Yes. There are lots of couples who can’t have children that are looking to adopt. I could put you in touch with one of them if you like.”\n\nJo just nodded her head, “Please.”\n\nChapter 7: Adoption\n\nJo let out a sigh as she looked through the numerous couples looking to adopt. Most of them wanted sheep, or bunnies, or kittens, or other domestics, but none of them seemed to want fox kits. The more she searched through the profiles, the more she became disheartened. The vixen’s hand gently rubbed over her swollen belly, “I’ll find ya a mama and a papa, Kody. Don’t you worry.”\n\nShe’d found out not long after the meeting that she was pregnant with a boy. She’d started to call him Kody from that day forwards. It felt odd to name a child that she was going to give up, but it was the only way she could really keep from going crazy.\n\nMay and June passed by with very little in the way of prospects for her yet to be born child, and the more she thought about it, the more she was open to the idea of coming clean to her parent and sending Kody to live with them. At least he would be with his own blood kin. It was the first day in July that she finally found someone she liked.\n\nThey were a domestic inter-species couple. The wife was a mutt; part German Shepherd, part Irish Setter, part Boarder Collie, part Welsh Corgi, and part coyote. She wasn’t able to have children at all, partly because of her size, but mostly because she was barren. The husband was a pure bred German Shepherd on his second marriage. But what really caught Jo’s attention was that they were looking for a tod kit. It was the first time she’d seen anyone list tod kits on their dossier, most of them wanted vixen kits. But it got better. The husband was an airline pilot, which meant he made enough money to comfortably provide for his family, which was perfect. Kody wouldn’t have to worry about anything when he grew up.\n\nSlowly, Jo made her way into the hall, towards the hanging in wall phone. She punched in the number to the adoption agency.\n\nBrenda Schaiferhund was surprised to hear the phone ring during lunch. It was a weekday after all and most telemarketers called during weekends. Slowly, the mutt woman slid out of her chair and headed over to the ringing telephone. Brenda was a mutt, but most of the time she was mistaken for a Vallhund because of how short she was. She had to climb onto a chair to get at the phone, picking it up and pressing the transmitter to her ear. “Schaiferhund residence,” she said into the receiver.\n\n“Mrs. Schaiferhund, this is Mrs. O’Donnell with Open Hearts Open Arms. I know you were looking for a tod kit, and we found one. A Miss Josephine Grey contacted us back in May about putting her son up for adoption. We just got off the phone with her, and we think he would be a perfect match,” the voice said into Brenda’s ear.\n\n“How old is he,” was the first question. The mutt bitch was very curious. She didn’t have a problem adopting an older kit, but part of her wanted to raise him up from a baby.\n\n“Miss Grey is due in the next week or so,” the woman replied, “Second week of July, I believe.”\n\nBrenda just about dropped the phone and fell out of her chair. It was what she wanted. It was perfect. A kit to raise from childbirth, like he was her own son.\n\n“Mrs. Schaiferhund?”\n\n“I… I’ll need to talk this over with my husband, but I think… I think he’s exactly what we’re looking for.”\n\n“Of course, Mrs. Schaiferhund. Please call me back as soon as you come to a decision.”\n\n“Yes. Yes, of course.”\n\nThe woman on the other end hung up with Brenda still holding onto the handset.\n\nJohan Schaiferhund was rummaging through his corporate mail in the pilot’s lounge of Trans-National Airlines. He’d just finished a flight that morning, a long eight hour ordeal with two stops to refuel and change passengers, and he was ready to call it a day. The pure bred German Shepherd started to make his way towards the lounge door, when one of the dispatchers poked his head out of his office. “Hey Johnny, your wife’s on the line, says it’s urgent.”\n\nJohan blinked a few times. His wife never called him at work unless it was an emergency. The last time he’d gotten one of those calls, the shepherd’s parents had passed away, so it made him a little worried. “I’ll be right there,” the dog replied, making his way towards the dispatcher’s office. The other man, a stocky bulldog, handed him the phone. “What is it? What’s wrong, honey,” were his first words.\n\n“Nothing’s wrong. In fact, it couldn’t be better,” Brenda replied, which only confused Johan. “What do you mean,” he asked.\n\n“The adoption agency called. There’s a vixen who’s looking for someone to adopt her tod kit,” his wife’s voice was incredibly high pitched when she got excited.\n\n“How old is he?”\n\n“He hasn’t been born yet! The vixen is due soon though,” the mutt yipped out happily over the phone. The shepherd nodded, “And this is the one, Brenda?”\n\n“Yes, this is the one,” Brenda said emphatically.\n\n“All right. Call them back and let them know.”\n\n“Love you.”\n\n“I love you too,” Johan said before he hung up. The bulldog looked at him, “What was that about?”\n\nThe shepherd just smiled, “We’re having a baby.”\n\n\f\n\nChapter 8: Kody Grey\n\nJo leaned back in the chair as she looked at Gideon and Ray. “Nine days later, I gave birth t’uh healthy baby boy. Brenda’n’Yo-han took him home, and that was the last I ever saw of you, Kody,” the vixen said as she looked directly at Ray. “I figgered they’d rename ya, even though I asked if they’d keep th’name I gave ya,” she said as she let out a sigh.\n\n“Kody’s my middle name, mom,” Ray replied, “I’ve never gone by it since most people just call me Ray.”\n\nHis words made Jo’s face light up, “I’m glad.”\n\nGideon held up a hand, “But Aunt Jo, ya’llways told us you never had no kits.”\n\nJo let out a sigh as she looked over at her nephew, “I never told you, Gideon, but granny and pappy knew. So did yer ma and pa. I didn’t even tell’m til I was done with college. Damn near broke everyone’s heart, even mine.”\n\n“Is that why ya never got hitched, Aunt Jo,” Gideon asked, “Cuz a what happened?”\n\nThe old vixen nodded, “It was hard enough livin’ knowing I gave up one kit. I couldn’t bring myself to get married and have more knowing that they’d have an oller brother they’d never meet.”\n\nThe tubby red and brown fox nodded as he slowly began to lean back into his chair. He had a cousin he’d never met nor heard a peep about til now. It would have been nice if Kody would have been around when Gideon was growing up. There would have been another fox to mingle with.\n\nRay just leaned forwards as he started to wriggle out of his jacket, sliding one arm out at a time. “Mom, you should probably know something,” he said as he slowly handed her the brown leather garment over to her with the name plate facing up. \n\n“My parents told me about what happened when I was eighteen,” he said as he looked at Josephine, “I thought about contacting you several times, but I didn’t have the courage until Brenda and Johann passed away last year.”\n\nHis real mother looked up at him, “What happened?”\n\nRay let out a long sigh as he remembered, “Car accident.”\n\nJo looked down at the jacket again, before moving her head back up to look at her son. “I’m so sorry, Ray. They were such nice people too.”\n\nRay nodded his head, “They were, but after their death, I finally got in contact with you, and… well… just read the jacket, mom.”\n\nThe old vixen looked at her son’s jacket, staring at the two pairs of silver wings, but what really caught her attention was the name under it. Kody Grey. She looked back up at her son, “Ya changed it?”\n\nKody nodded, “Yeah. I’ve been going by Kody ever since last year.”\n\nJo started to tear up again as she stood up, the leather jacket falling away. Her son stood up as well, his arms wrapping around his mother and holding her tightly as she cried on his shoulder.\n\nChapter 9: Loose ends\n\nJo and Kody embraced for a long time over the living room table before the hug finally broke. The vixen had finally stopped crying, though her tears had soaked into the shoulder of his shirt. Gently, Jo eased herself back into her chair, composing herself as she looked over at her son.\n\nKody looked at his mother, his real mother, as he slid back into his chair, resting on the edge of the seat as his elbows pressed into his knees. “Mom, I do have a question. What happened to my father,” Kody asked curiously, “You said he would reap what he sewed.”\n\nThe old woman nodded as she leaned back and daintily crossed her legs. “He did,” she said with a sigh, “From what I ‘member, he caught one a them matin’ diseases a year er two after you were born. Dunno how, but I’m gessin’ it was from him chasin’ girls at the law sk’l his daddy sent him to.”\n\nKody looked at the vixen, “And?”\n\n“Well, yer daddy died in th’ospital. I read th’bitcuary when it hit the papers. All thay err said was he’d c’ntracted a ver-nurr-ee-ull disease and had some complications, dunno what he’d stuck his pecker inta tha’d cause that,” Jo continued. The vixen was rather nonchalant about his death, not even attempting to sound sad at all, “He got wut was cumin t’im.”\n\nThe tod just nodded his head. From the story, his father did sound like an ass, but he wasn’t entirely sure if that was true justice. He’d half expected the story to end with his father knocking someone up and being forced to marry them, but this ending made sure that he wouldn’t have any other siblings to attempt to connect with.\n\n“AIV,” Kody told his mother. “It sounds like he contracted AIV.”\n\nJo blinked a few times as she heard him tell her exactly what his daddy’d contracted. “AIV? In’t that th’ hoe-moe disease,” she asked. The tod just shook his head. He knew his mother was probably thinking in a different era, but it wasn’t really her fault. “No, mom, it’s not the homo disease,” Kody replied as he leaned back into his chair, “no one’s called it that for a long time, especially since it affects everyone, not just the LGBT community.”\n\nThe vixen just nodded her head, “Oh.”\n\nThere was another long, awkward pause in the room as everyone looked at each other. The cards had been placed on the table, but no one was sure what to do next nor the game they were playing. The four foxes just looked at one another, waiting for someone to break the silence.\n\nLuckily Jeane finally said something. “So… Kody… err… what do you want us to call ya?”\n\n“Kody’s fine. I’m still trying to get used to it myself,” he said as he gave his mother a smile before looking at his aunt. The vixen gave her nephew a nod, “Allright. Kody it is then. So Kody, what do ya do fer a livin’?”\n\nJo thought about answering, but Kody answered first, “I’m a pilot.”\n\n“Ya mean like them aero-planes,” Gideon asked as he looked over at his cousin. The other tod smiled warmly, “Yeah. I fly airplanes. In the Air Force.”\n\n“Never thought they’d let a fox in th’Air Force, then ‘gain, never thought they’d let a bunny be a cop,” his cousin said in surprise.\n\n“GIDEON,” Jeane snarled at her son, making the hefty fox press his ears to the back of his head. Kody just brushed it off, “I’m not the only fox, but yeah, it wasn’t easy getting in.”\n\nJo smiled as she looked over at her sister-in-law, “He’s also a college gradiate, like his momma.”\n\nThe tod smiled, “Sure am, though, I didn’t go to Z.U. I went to a different school.”\n\n“Oh? Where’d ya go,” Gideon asked. He’d thought about taking a culinary course at the college over in Wolfsburgh, but he was genuinely curious about his new cousin.\n\n“Grizzly State College over in Bering,” Kody answered with a smile.\n\n“Iddn’t that a mostly burr school,” Jeane inquired.\n\n“Yes, ma’am, but I got a minority scholarship there. That and my Military Service Bill covered almost everything,” the tod responded, but he was only bombarded by more questions from his aunt and cousin.\n\n“Where ya flying out of,” Gideon queried.\n\n“Bout two hours away over at Mammoth River,” Kody said as he sat back in his chair, but his aunt immediately asked him, “What did ya do before th’Air Force?”\n\n “Army.”\n\nGideon blinked, “Hell, looks like us Greys got us ‘nother gen-you-ine war he-roe in th’family, like granpappy ‘n great granpappy.”\n\nKody just laughed, “I guess so.”\n\n“Ya gots any plans for the rest of the day, Kody,” Jeane asked with a warm smile. The tod just shook his head, “No ma’am.”\n\nThe vixen looked at her sister-in-law then over at her own son, “Gideon. How bout you take cousin Kody up int’town. Introduce him to some’a yer friends.”\n\nGideon scratched the back of his head, “Sure thing, ma.” He looked over at his cousin, “Ya wanna take both our cars er?”\n\nKody chuckled, “We can take both our cars. I’ll follow you there.”\n\n\f\n\nChapter 10: Clones\n\nThe Jeeves and the Pastry Truck convoyed back to town, passing by rows and rows of fields full of various different grains, fruits, and vegetables. Gideon had wished his cousin would have joined him in the truck. It would have given them a chance to talk and get to know one another on the half hour drive to town, but if they’d done that, Kody wouldn’t have had any transportation.\n\nMeeting his new cousin had been odd to say the least. Aunt Jo said that he looked like his daddy, but since Gideon had never had any reference point, it seemed more like Kody looked like Gideon himself or Gideon’s father, Joshua. There was definitely a family resemblance between the three tods, though, Kody looked a bit different since he had no brown on him. The fox chuckled, “I bet half them’ll think he’s my long lost brother.”\n\nHe was correct. The first person the two had met after Gideon and Kody had pulled into the driveway behind the bakery was Travis. The black-footed ferret did a double take the first time he saw the two foxes. “You get a clone or something,” he asked as he looked them up and down, “cause having two of you would really help getting more pies made.”\n\nGideon let out a boisterous laugh at his friend, slapping his knee as he held onto his belly, “Naw, Travis. This’s mah cousin, Kody.”\n\nThe ferret looked very confused, “Cousin? How come I’ve never seen or heard of you before? You a distant relative or something?”\n\nKody shook his head, “First cousins.”\n\nGideon’s laugh died down to a low chuckle, “It’s a long story, Travis. I’m still wrappin’ my noggin’ round it m’self.”\n\nTravis looked Kody up and down, “Well, I can see the resemblance.” The ferret stuck out his hand, “Travis.”\n\nThe tod gave the other mammal a firm handshake, “Kody.”\n\n“Nice t’meet you. I’d chat longer, but Gideon and I have to get back to work,” Travis replied with a smile. Unfortunately, Gideon had to disagree with his friend, “Hate t’tell ya this, Travis, but I’m takin’ th’resta th’day off. Gotta show my cousin around town.”\n\nThe ferret blinked a few times before letting out a sigh. He wasn’t going to fight it, mostly because Gideon had made sure to leave a good number of pies ready for baking before he’d left earlier, so at least there would be some fresh ones for the evening rush. “All right,” he said, “But it means you’ll probably have to work tomorrow to stay ahead of the curve on Monday.”\n\nGideon just chuckled, “Travis. I live here. Course I’ll be able t’get ‘headda curve. I’ll see ya Mundy.” Slowly, he made his way around the ferret, beckoning his cousin to follow him.\n\n\f\n\nChapter 11: Grand Introduction\n\nThe pastry shop was packed with people, most of them sitting down to eat but a few were staring at the pastries behind the glass in front of the counter. The animals were so involved in their eating or searching that they didn’t notice when Gideon slid in behind the register, his cousin moving next to him.\n\n“Hey ya’ll,” the tubby tod yelled out at his customers. All of them slowly turned their attention to Gideon, giving him warm smiles. It took most of them a few seconds to realized that there was a near equally chubby fox standing next to him that looked nearly identical to him. Gideon tossed a hand around his cousin’s shoulder, giving him a strong pat, “This here’s m’cousin, Kody!”\n\nIt took a second for most of the patrons to drink in the news. All of them were locals, so hearing that Gideon had a cousin that none of them had ever seen or heard of was strange. Finally though, a little doe bunny kit, one of the Hopps kin, finally said something, “Hello.”\n\nKody was blushing a little at his cousin’s embrace and announcement, so much so that he only gave a casual wave and a quick, “Hello.” Of course, Gideon didn’t really stop talking, “He’s a city boy and a war hee-roe.” The other fox just snorted as he started to push off from his cousin, “I’m not a war hero, Gideon.”\n\n“Sure, ya’re, cuz! Ya been in th’Army n’ th’Air Force. Yer a gen-you-ine war hee-roe,” the tod said as he gave Kody another pat on the back.\n\n“How come we’ve never heard of you before,” Judy’s older brother number 15, named Leroy, asked, “I’ve lived here my whole life and never heard about you until today.”\n\n“Well,” Kody started to say as he moved a hand up to scratch the back of his head nervously. Luckily, Gideon stepped in, “That’s cuz he didn’t know we was kin til last year. You know them newfangled genie-ology places up on th’interwebs? That’s how we found out.”\n\nThe nervous fox wondered if that answer would suffice. It really wasn’t a lie, but it wasn’t a whole truth. Thankfully, the equally tubby fox’s answer sufficed. “Ah, well, it can be hard to keep track of family, especially when you have one as big as mine,” Leroy said with a chuckle. Kody just responded with a nervous laugh, “Yeah.”\n\nUnfortunately, the answer didn’t exactly sit right with Marry-Anne Springer, one of Bonnie Springer Hopps’ many siblings. The two foxes looked too similar for it to just be random coincidence. She wasn’t sure if they had the same sire, but they were certainly very closely related. She’d have to tell Bonnie about this later.\n\nAfter the odd introduction to the store patrons, Gideon had muscled Kody out the door of the pastry shop to start a walking tour of the town. All in all, Bunnyburrow’s town central was longer than it was wide, having been built along a central street. There were a few houses here and there that surrounded the center of the town, newer structures built behind the mercantile buildings so people could walk to work or school, but most of the people that lived in the area lived on farms.\n\nThey walked down the street, the two chubby tods walking beside one another as they spoke, mostly making light small talk about work, until the subject started to change a little to more personal questions. Gideon was the first to ask the question that Kody knew was coming, “So, Kody, you got yerself a sweetheart?”\n\nThe fox shook his head, “No. Not recently. You?”\n\nGideon chuckled as he shrugged his shoulders, “Nah. Been s’busy with work, I haven’t found one.”\n\nKody just nodded. He could tell that his cousin wasn’t exactly being entirely truthful, the tod’s face was flushing, not something people did when they said they weren’t seeing anyone. He just nodded his head. There was a secret Gideon wasn’t going to tell him, but he figured that his cousin might be just like him.\n\n“Gideon,” he leaned in closer, just about to ask him the question that was on his mind when someone stepped in front of them.\n\n“Well hay there, Gideon.”\n\n\f\n\nChapter 12: Bill Blake\n\nBill Blake was a gigantic, solid gray wolf in more ways than one. He wasn’t much taller than most of his kind, but he was heavy. His chest was flabby, his belly was thick and round, but his arms looked like two old pines that grew right out of his shoulders. He looked very intimidating, but in reality, he was a big softie, like a teddy bear stuck in a wolf’s body. \n\nLike Kody, Bill was fairly new to the area, only living there for the last two or three years. He’d been a County Sheriff’s Deputy over in Nutwood County before moving here to become the Sheriff of Tri-Burrows County, which was a bit surprising, since they rarely elected someone they didn’t know well.\n\nThe presence of the wolf made Gideon blush, and Kody raise an eyebrow at his cousin’s reaction. “Hey Bill,” the fox replied as he tried to put on some semblance of calm. He hadn’t expected to run into Bill, especially since the two tods had just been talking about beaus.\n\nBill’s lips parted in a warm smile, “Well now, who’s this cutie next to ya? Yer brother?”\n\nNow Kody was blushing too, his ears flattening as he looked up at the larger man. Kody’d never been super attracted to wolves even though both genders had hit on him multiple times, but he couldn’t help but like this one for some reason.\n\n Gideon stuttered slightly, “He’s… he’s my cousin, Kody.” The massive wolf chuckled as he looked between the two chunky foxes, “And where’s Gideon been hiding ya? He ain’t never told me bout ya before.”\n\nGideon was just about to answer when Kody spoke for the pair, “That’s because I was adopted.”\n\nBill tilted his head, his ears flopping around, “Ya don’t look ‘dopted to me.” Kody chewed his bottom lip, “I was adopted by another family when I was a kit. I didn’t find out I was a Grey til a few years ago.”\n\nGideon blinked a few times. He wasn’t sure why his cousin was spilling the beans to Bill, but he didn’t stop him, only adding, “The family don’t like t’talk’bout it, but he’s Aunt Jo’s kit.” The wolf just nodded as he started to absorb all the new information for a brief second, but then he smiled warmly, “Well, I hope he don’t lock ya up again, Kody. I’d love to get t’know ya, but I gots to get going.”\n\nGideon and Kody were just about to say their goodbyes when Bill gave both of them a massive hug, his face moving in between them to whisper, “Now that I got two of ya, we’re gonna have lots more fun together,” before letting them go.\n\nBill turned around and walked off, leaving Kody and Gideon in a bit of a daze for a brief second. “He’s your sweetheart, isn’t he,” Kody said as he turned to look at his cousin. The other tod bit his lower lip as he nodded his head, “Yeah.”\n\n“So you’re,” Kody started to say, but his cousin cut him off, “I ain’t queer if that’s whatcha mean. I’m… whatchacallit? Bicycle?”\n\nKody chuckled, “Something like that. I think you mean bisexual.”\n\n“Yeah, that’s it. I like gals, but I also like fellers too,” Gideon said as his face was redder than a Russian beat. Kody blushed too, “Yeah. Me too.”\n\nThere was a long pause as they started their walk again, only for Gideon to break the silence. “So. You got a place t’stay here?”\n\n“I was thinking about heading back to my apartment back in Mammoth River,” Kody replied. He hadn’t expected to spend the night in Bunnyburrow, in fact he’d planned to head home after this and be back the next day, it was a weekend after all.\n\n“Naw, cuz. Ya c’n spend the night at my place,” his cousin offered. Kody attempted to refuse, but Gideon wouldn’t let him get a word in edgewise, “Yer stayin’ the night. I insist.”\n\n\f\n\nChapter 13: Bonnie Hopps\n\nBonnie had been clearing the table after feeding her slowly dwindling, Infantry Company sized family dinner. The eldest children had moved out to their own houses in the Tri-Burrow areas, well, all of them except Judy who was living in the big city. She couldn’t help but let out a small sigh, as she picked up the one hundred and fifty plus dishes from the gigantic table and fed them into the dishwasher in groups of twenty. This part always took the longest, but trying to take all the children out for dinner would mean they’d have to take a second mortgage out on the farm, a prospect that the motherly rabbit didn’t find appealing.\n\nBonnie had just about left the kitchen to go read her book, The Tales of Avalon: The Princess of Persia, to pass the time while the dishwasher did its work, when her phone rang. She wasn’t expecting any calls, and part of her hoped that it was Judy, but Judy rarely called the house phone. The pear-shaped woman reached her hand out to pull the handset off the charging unit and stuff the transmitter under her ear.\n\n“Hopps Residence,” she said in her usual calm voice, but she was surprised at who spoke to her. “Hey Bonnie, it’s your sister, Mary-Ann,” the voice said in a voice that sounded like she was ready to spill some very hot gossip.\n\n“Hey Mary-Ann, sounds like you’ve got something spicy,” the mama bunny said as she made her way over to her favorite chair. As much as she enjoyed her novel, that was full of gossip and conflict, there was something about real life that intrigued her more.\n\n“I sure do. You hear about the new Grey in town, sis,” the other bunny asked over the phone. \n\n“Other Grey? You would have told me if Jeane was pregnant”\n\n“Oh no, she’s not pregnant. But get this. Another fox showed up today named Kody Grey. He’s apparently a war hero and Gideon’s cousin.”\n\n“Gideon doesn’t have any cousins.”\n\n“I know! Gideon said that Kody found out about it last year through one of those Geneology websites, but I didn’t buy into it for a second. Those two look like brothers. Apparently, June Oberon, the polar bear who’s married to one of the crop dusters, said that she heard from a reliable source that Kody Grey spilled the beans to Bill Blake in front of Marian Wether’s yarn store. June told me that Kody is Gideon’s twin brother. According to her reliable source, Kody was locked up in the attic this whole time.”\n\nThe whole story made Bonnie blink. Something about all this didn’t sound right at all. Jeane Grey didn’t seem like the kind of woman who would do that to a child for their whole life. Minor punishment, maybe, but she’d always been a loving mother, if not a bit overbearing. “Are you sure, Mary-Ann,” Bonnie asked over the phone.\n\n“If I’m lying, may I be hit by a streetcar,” the other rabbit said, professing that she believed every bit, but Bonnie wasn’t exactly sure, “That’s quite the tall tale, Mary-Ann.”\n\n“And one hundred percent true!”\n\nThe motherly bunny doubted that. “Thanks for telling me,” she replied, “I’ll see you at church tomorrow.”\n\nBonnie hung up the phone before pulling out her m-Phone. The person who could set this whole thing straight would be Judy, because of her access to records, but it wasn’t exactly one hundred percent legal. She hated to put Judy on the spot, but she had a feeling that her daughter might be the only one the people would actually listen to. The curvy woman let out a sigh as she pressed the ScreenTime button.\n\n\f\n\nChapter 14: Judy Hopps\n\nJudith Laverne Hopps stared at the computer screen in front of her. She’d been staring at it for at least fifteen minutes as she typed out another report. The one thing people never learned about was how much paperwork the police had to do every time they made an arrest or completed an assignment. It was a bit of a grinder, but it also made sure perps were put away.\n\nBut at the moment, Judy just wanted a distraction. When her phone started to ring, she just about leaped from her seat for joy. “Finally,” she groaned out as she pulled out her m-Phone and pressed the answer ScreenTime button. Her mother appeared immediately, sitting down in her favorite chair, but she looked different. She wasn’t her normal happy self, rather, she looked worried.\n\nJudy’s ears immediately drooped as she stared at her mother’s face on the screen, “Mom, what’s wrong?”\n\n“Judy, I really hate to ask you, but…” Bonnie didn’t get to finish, “Mom, you know I’d do anything to help you and dad.”\n\n“Oh no, Judy, it’s not like that. You see, there’s a nasty rumor floating around about Gideon’s mother, and I thought… I thought you might be able to clear a few things up. People seem to really listen to you,” the worried mother rabbit told her daughter.\n\n“What kind of rumors,” Judy queried, her face showing obvious curiosity.\n\n“Well… I don’t want to be spreading the rumor more than it already has been spread, but someone named Kody Grey showed up in town today, and Gideon said he was his cousin, but you’re Aunt Mary-Ann says that he’s actually Gideon’s twin brother that Jeane locked away in the attic.”\n\nThe younger rabbit rolled her eyes at the mention of her Aunt Mary-Ann. She was notorious for gossip and rumors. If she’d actually finished high school, she probably could have gotten a job writing headlines and articles for the Zootopian Inquirer or the Bi-Weekly Global News. “Mom, you know not to believe Aunt Mary-Ann,” Judy replied as she shook her head.\n\n“I know, Judy, but I’m more worried that other people in the town will believe her. Do you think you can pull some strings and find out,” her mother begged. It wasn’t the most legal thing in the world, but it wasn’t like Judy hadn’t bent the rules before, especially on her first case.\n\n“I’ll ask Chief Bogo if I can look into it as an identity fraud case, but I can’t promise you he’ll let me investigate,” Judy told her mother.\n\n“I know you’ll try, Judy. You’ve always been a try-er.”\n\n“I’ll let you know what I find out, mom. Is dad around?”\n\n“Stu’s out playing bridge tonight.”\n\n“Say ‘Hi’ to him for me.”\n\n“I will sweetheart.”\n\nThe ScreenTime call ended abruptly before Judy put her phone down on her desk. She wondered if Nick had ever known a fox named Kody Grey, though, really she should have asked her mother for a picture before the call ended. It would have helped.\n\nA thought popped into Judy’s mind. Tim Church was their resident criminal sketch artist. The little rodent could draw a picture of Gideon’s face if she gave him a description. That might actually work. It was at least some place to start.\n\n\f\n\nChapter 15: Bridge\n\nIt was a fifteen minute drive from the actual town to the Hopps Family Farm, and it didn’t really help that Stu had two hundred and seventy six children, around one hundred and seventy of which were too young to leave home. Between having to do riot control to get the younger ones to bed and the older ones to at least turn down the plethora of different music that they blasted throughout the home, he was already going to be late. “Not like this has never happened before,” he said to himself, brushing off the tardiness as if it were dandruff on his shoulder.\n\nKody hadn’t expected his cousin’s hospitality, and he also hadn’t expected his cousin to have guests over that night either. The heavy fox had watched as Bill Blake and a weasel named Jeb Varlet entered the upstairs apartment, all of them exchanging hugs with Gideon before turning their attention to Kody. Jeb gave him a firm handshake, but like that afternoon, Bill had grabbed the tod and given him the biggest hug he’d ever gotten in his life, somehow more powerful than the one from that afternoon.\n\nThe three of them gathered around the dinner table, a large pile of chips in the center with a full deck of bridge cards. There were two empty seats however. “You can join us if you like,” Jeb said as Gideon made his way over to the fridge, getting five beers out. Kody looked at the chair, “Sure, but who’s the last chair for?”\n\nBill laughed, “Stu Hopps. He’s always running late though.” \n\nJeb just chuffed, “He’s been running late since the day I met him back in high school.”\n\nAlmost on cue, Stu walked into the apartment. It really couldn’t have been scripted any better as the fat old rabbit made a b-line for his seat. “Sorry bout that,” he said as looked around the table, not really registering the new guy he was sitting right beside as he reached out to grab the beer in front of him.\n\nThe tod leaned forward in his seat, hand reaching out to grab his beer. He took one sip before he asked, “So. What are we playing exactly?”\n\n“Bridge,” Stu replied as he finally looked over at Kody. The fatherly rabbit had to blink a few times as he looked from Kody over to Gideon and then back again. There were two Gideons. No, there was one Gideon and one fox that looked a great deal like him. Before Stu could ask, Kody piped in, “No. We’re not brother. Just cousins.”\n\n“Ohhhh,” Stu said nodding his head, “By the looks of you two, I’d have to guess first cousins, but everyone knows Josephine never had kits.”\n\n“Well,” Kody started to say, but then decided to hold off on answering, just turning his gaze away from the old rabbit to look at the wolf, “Isn’t Bridge a four-player game?”\n\nBill nodded, “Yeah, but I’m gonna sit the first round out and replace the first loser.”\n\nThe chubby wolf gave Kody a smirk as began to deal the cards out clockwise, almost tasting what he thought would happen later on. The first card went to Jeb, second card to Gideon, third card to Stu, and the final card to Kody. This went on and on again until their hands were built, 13 cards in all.\n\nAs expected, Kody lost the first game to the more skilled players, then again, he’d almost never played bridge, so he’d fumbled through the game spectacularly. This meant he had to sit out as the wolf, weasel, fox, and rabbit continued their game. The tod flopped down onto a nearby couch as he lazily watched the other men trade wins before turning his attention over to Gideon’s television.\n\n\f\n\nChapter 16: Long Night\n\nThe bridge game finally ended late in the night, but the results were not what anyone had been expecting. Stu had actually won the overall game by one point after they played six rounds. The ending scores; 200-199-175-182. Bill couldn’t help but growl at his bad luck. He’d come in last, well, not technically last since Kody had stopped playing after being thoroughly destroyed in the first round after only managing to get fifteen points in thirteen tricks. Gideon had managed a solid second place, and Jeb third.\n\nUnfortunately, once the game ended, the night was over. Stu and Jeb excused themselves. It was late and both of them needed to be back on the farm. The four exchanged hugs before the two of them gave Kody a hand shake.\n\nBill and Gideon’s night, on the other hand, was just starting. The wolf had hoped to get both tods, but Kody had politely declined. Gideon had chuckled a bit and Bill had playfully pouted as they slid out of the living room/kitchen back to Gideon’s bedroom. \n\nKody let out a long sigh as he turned off the tv and made his way to bed, the fox letting out a mighty yawn before stripping down and sliding into bed. He liked his cousin and his friends. And Gideon’s beau.\n\nTwenty-five minutes later, Stu slipped into the house, desperately trying to not make any noise as he crept along the hallway to his bedroom. It was already two in the morning, and he didn’t want to wake anyone. Being as stealthy as he could be, the old rabbit slipped into his bedroom, slowly shedding all his clothing before sliding into bed behind Bonnie.\n\nHis wife groaned softly in a groggy voice, “Mm…. Is that you, Stu? Where? Where’ve you been?”\n\nThe rabbit leaned in to kiss his wife on her cheek, “The game ran long tonight, honey, but for once, I finally won.”\n\n“Mmm… that’s… that’s nice dear,” she said before slowly falling asleep.\n\n\f\n\nChapter 17: The Morning\n\nBill let out a massive yawn, his flabby face contorting as one gigantic arm reached for the sky. The wolf didn’t know what time it was, but then again, he didn’t really care. Groggily, he looked his shoulder, giving a small chuckle. Sometime during the night, the canine had managed to end up as the little spoon. Not that he minded at all, he loved the feeling of his lover against him.\n\n“Mm… mornin’, Gideon,” he groaned, one thick hand reaching back to rub the chubby tod’s head. His beau just let out a warm groan as he gave the back of the wolf’s neck a kiss, “G’morning.”\n\nBill couldn’t help himself as he let out a long murr, “Mmm… ya know, I c’d stay like this all day.”\n\nGideon smirked, “I knows it, and I c’d too.”\n\nThe wolf growled playfully, “Ya wants a lazy Sundie?” The tod thought about it for a few seconds before pulling his wolf in close. “Mmm… Just one more time, and then I gots to get ready fer Aunt Jo. She’ll probably be coming over soon wonderin’ bout Kody.”\n\nBill pouted a little, but he did make sense. “Fine,” he said as he reached over to grab his watch to look at the time, “But we should prolly be quick. It’s almost 11:30.”\n\nKody rolled over in bed, his arms and legs splayed as only as small band of covers concealed most of his own nudity. The first thing he did was look at his watch that read, “12:00.” \n\n“Shit,” the tod snarled as he kicked away the covers, realizing that his mother could be there any minute. He raced out of the guest room in a flash, surprising Bill and Gideon who were sitting at the table drinking coffee for a brief second by the cherry blurr. The wolf’s initial shock turned into a chuckle, “He’s jist’s cute as you, Gideon.”\n\nKody had learned to take quick, five minute showers when he needed to, only focusing on key areas; loins, pits, rump, and the top of his head, only turning the water on when he needed to get wet or when to wash off the suds. The only part of the shower that took the longest was drying off. When he was done though, he stepped out of the shower wearing nothing but a towel, blushing as he realized his cousin and the wolf had seen him streaking a few minutes earlier.\n\n“Uhm…” Kody tried to say, but Bill cut him off, “Dontcha worry bout it, cutie. I didn’t get a good’nuff look atcha. Least not til now.”\n\nThe tod’s face flushed as he made a hasty retreat to the guest room that only made Gideon and Bill chuckle more.\n\n\f\n\nChapter 18: Sundays\n\nSundays were usually skeleton staff days at the ZPD. Most of the officers took the day off, so the only staff there were the part-timers, reservists who would show up every weekend or when the police were short staffed. Judy was half expecting Tim Church to not be there, but crime never seemed to take a vacation.\n\nTim was a mouse. Like all mice, he was tiny, very tiny. Each time he went to the ZPD was like he was in a Kaiju movie, a genre of film that had actually started to become popular in Little Rodentia after Officer Hopps and Duke Weaselton’s chase through the city within a city. Most of his day was spent scurrying to his office, avoiding the larger mammals who could easily crush him, so by the time he got to his office, he was panting and ready to get home. Unlike the rest of the ZPD, though, he hadn’t gone through basic training. He was actually a contractor, an artist that the police paid to sketch criminals when they didn’t have any photographic evidence, which usually meant he had a lot of down time to work on his own projects. At home. Where he was safe.\n\nTim was just about to finish his thimble of coffee when Officer Hopps wandered up to his desk. “Hey Tim,” the bunny woman said as she looked down at the tiny mouse, “I need your help.”\n\n“Oh,” he squeaked, “Have a perp?”\n\n“Something like that. I have a perp that we don’t have any photos of, but just a description,” she replied. Tim just nodded as he pushed himself from his tiny desk, moving over to grab an equally tiny pencil before walking over to a normal sized drawing tablet, “Just tell me what he looks like.”\n\nIf Leonardo was a master, Tim was a god. The mouse was quick, darting over the page as he dragged the pencil around, sketching every detail Judy mentioned as she tried to perfectly describe her enemy turned friend, Gideon Grey. By the time she uttered the last word, Tim was done with the rough sketch and had quickly moved to shading. The whole ordeal took ten minutes, mostly Judy correcting him here and there on his look until the sketch was the spitting image of Gideon.\n\n“This him,” the diminutive mammal asked as he looked up at the bunny. It was spot on. “Yep, that’s the guy,” Judy said as she leaned over the Mouse.\n\n“I’ll send it down to records,” he started to say, but Judy shook her head, “No. It’s fine. I can do that.”\n\n“You sure?”\n\n“Positive.”\n\n“Suit yourself,” Time said as he slid off the pad.\n\nJudy grabbed the bottom of the page and tore it from the sketch pad. “Thanks, Tim,” she called back as she bounded away.\n\nThe mouse just smiled, “Thanks, Judy.” He really was thankful, though. He rarely got to use his talents since everyone had smart phones. The mouse looked down at his watch, “Well, time to head home.”\n\n\f\n\nChapter 19: Ancient History\n\nNick Wilde had been minding his own business at his desk. Sure, he didn’t have to come in today, but part of him was curious to see what happened on Sundays. The red and brown tod sipped on a coffee as he leaned back in his chair, lifting his feet up to drape them onto his desk. “Ahhh… Nothing like a lazy day at the office,” he said as he pulled down his mirror sunglasses. He could probably get away with a nap, but Judy had other ideas.\n\n“Nick,” the rabbit called out to him, her ears straight up in the air as she stopped at his cubicle. The fox lifted his sunglasses, “Hey carrots. What’s got you so excited?”\n\n“Nick, I need you to take a look at something,” the bunny said as held the sketch of Gideon Grey up. Nick felt his eyebrows twitch, “Who’s that?”\n\n“That’s what I’m trying to find out,” Judy asked as she pushed the drawing into his hands. The fox took the drawing and looked it over, eyes tracing over every inch, “Friend of yours?”\n\n“I was hoping to know if he was a friend of yours, Nick.”\n\nNick lifted an eyebrow, “He kinda looks like a guy I knew in High School, Ray Schaiferhund. If you lose the brown and the hair and add glasses, it would be spot on.”\n\nJudy blinked a few times as she started to give Nick a stern look, “Did he ever do anything illegal?”\n\nThe fox just let out a laugh, “Ray? If there was an award for being a Junior Ranger Scout, he would have won it every year. Especially because he WAS a Junior Ranger Scout.”\n\nThe bunny blinked. “But… you told me…”\n\n“That’s because Ray wasn’t raised by foxes. None of the kids trusted me, but they all trusted Ray because his parents were dogs,” Nick said as he slowly slid back into his chair, “They all assumed he was a trustworthy fox.”\n\nJudy couldn’t help but nod. She knew that subject was sensitive for Nick, but she was curious to know more, “So you and he were friends in High School?”\n\nNick shook his head, “I knew him, and we were friendly to each other, but I wouldn’t call us friends. He was from a completely different world. My mother was friends with his mother, but we never hit it off.”\n\n“Do you think your mother could give me a way to get in contact with them,” Judy asked.\n\n“I know how to contact them,” the fox replied before taking another swig of coffee.\n\n“You do?”\n\n“Yeah,” Nick said somberly, “Miss Callie.”\n\n“Does she have a first name?”\n\nThe fox gave her an odd look, “You really need to get a TV, Carrots.”\n\n“Why,” Judy asked with a puzzled look on her face.\n\n“I was talking about Miss Callie the TV Psychic.”\n\n“What do you mean by,” Judy was just about to say something when Nicks words suddenly made sense, “You mean.”\n\nNick nodded, “You remember when we had to help with traffic flow when that car got t-boned in the intersection last year?”\n\nThe bunny’s ears drooped as she nodded her head. Nick sighed as he took a sip, “They were the fatalities.”\n\n“Oh god,” she said softly. Nick nodded his head, “Yeah.”\n\nSlowly, the fox turned in his seat to look right at Judy. “Carrots, what is this REALLY about?”\n\n\f\n\nChapter 20: Investigation\n\nNick listened to Judy explain the situation, though, the fox couldn’t help but laugh the whole time. It was amazing what country bumpkin housewives could come up with when left to their own devices. His laughter made the rabbit stop several times to give him a glare, only for the tod to apologize.\n\n“Sorry, Judy, but it’s hard not to. I mean,” he smirked as he curled up in his chair, bending over himself as he let out another laugh, “Does Aunt Marry-Ann just sit around the house all day watching soaps?”\n\n“Yes, why,” the bunny asked, one of her ears flopping to the back of her head as the other stood up on end. Her answer only made Nick keel over laughing, “Because it sounds like the plot line to one.”\n\nJudy let out a huff, her foot tapping against the ground as she crossed her arms over her chest. “Nick, this isn’t funny.”\n\n“You’re right, Carrots. It’s not funny. It’s hilarious,” the tod said as he wiped away a laughter tear, “Oh you country bunnies and your imaginations.”\n\nJudy couldn’t help but let out a very audible sound of frustration as he gave Nick a glare. “And what do you think will happen with a bunch of country bunnies with active imaginations decide that their imagination makes more sense than reality?”\n\nHer words made Nick pause. She was right. Judy’s father had gotten her that can of fox repellant because of his delusions. What was to say the other bunnies didn’t do something worse? “You’re right, Carrots,” he said, “we probably should do something.”\n\nJudy let out a sigh, “Nick. I have a bad feeling about this. I don’t want to judge, Ray or Kody or whatever he’s calling himself, but I’m concerned he might be scamming them.”\n\nNick shook his head, “Ray was a lot of things, Judy, but never a scammer. A jock, a nerd, a geek, and a goody two paws, but never a scammer.”\n\n“You’d be surprised, Nick. I thought the same thing about Miss Bellewether,” the rabbit replied, the visions of how sweet and kind and noble the ewe had been only to learn it was all a façade. The fox just nodded as he took another sip, “The only way to find out is to start looking up his records, but to do that, you’re going to have to sell it to Bogo.”\n\nThe bunny nodded, “I know. Back me up on this?”\n\n“Sure thing, Carrots.”\n\nChief Bogo was in his office. It may have been his day off, but it was the one place he could find some solitude. If he went home, he would be harangued by his wife to start on the hundreds of projects he’d promised to get around to. Surprisingly, the water buffalo was dressed casually in a ZPD tracksuit and not in his uniform. He was in his office to relax, not to do any actual work. He had just pulled out his cellphone to flip through some pred-prey inter-species porn when a familiar voice came over his desk phone’s speaker.\n\n“Hey Chief. Officers Hopps and Wilde want to talk to you about opening up a case,” Clawhauser’s soft voice rang out. It had taken the bull completely by surprise, making him drop his phone on the ground. His alone time had been spoiled. Angrily, he pressed the intercom button on his phone. “DAMNIT CLAWHAUSER! IT’S MY DAY OFF!”\n\n“I know, sir, but it sounds really important,” the fat leopard replied.\n\nBogo just growled to himself, “Damnit Hopps.” His day was going to be ruined whether he liked it or not. At least he hadn’t managed to pull up anything on his cellphone before Clawhauser’s call. The bull pressed the button again, “Fine. Send them in.”\n\nJudy and Nick already knew that Bogo was in a bad mood when they entered the office. His expression was a scowl.\n\n“Chief Bog, I was hoping to look into a case of identity fraud,” she said, expecting Bogo to cut her off at any minute and tell her, “no,” but he just sat there, stone faced. “I believe the perp may have a history of it in Zootopia.”\n\n“Where’s the perp now,” was the only question he asked.\n\n“Bunnyburrow,” Judy said hesitantly.\n\n“That’s out of our jurisdiction, Hopps.”\n\n“I know, but…”\n\n“Hopps, you can’t go digging through their records unless Bunnyburrow ASKS for them,” the bull replied.\n\n“Yes, sir, but…”\n\nBogo didn’t let her finish, “But! We both know you’re just going to walk out that door and do it anyway. My official answer is no, Hopps, and if this whole thing comes back to bite us, you are going to have to take the heat. Understand?”\n\nJudy was stunned. Bogo was right, she was probably going to ignore him anyway, and they both knew it, but she hadn’t expected him to turn the tables on her. “Yes, sir,” she replied while nodding her head.\n\n“Good. Now get out of my office,” the bull said abruptly.\n\nWhen the bunny and fox left, Bogo waited a few seconds before reaching down to grab his phone and do what he’d come here to do.\n\n“Well. That went better than I thought,” Nick chuckled as he walked down the hall next to Judy.\n\n“Yeah. Almost too well,” the bunny replied as she looked down at the image of Gideon Grey that the fox had said looked like Ray Schaiferhund, “So, what else can you tell me about Ray?”\n\nThe fox just shrugged his shoulders, “Not much. He joined the Army after High School, went to college while he was in, then went into the Air Force. He was stationed over in Mammoth River last I heard.”\n\nJudy blinked, “That wasn’t ‘not much,’ Nick.”\n\nNick shrugged his shoulders, “What can I say, his mom was friends with mine, so you end up hearing all kinds of things. Have an idea of where to start?”\n\nThe bunny tapped her chin, “We could try requesting his military records.”\n\n“Good luck,” the fox chuckled, “Remember the last time we tried that? It took them weeks. Besides, it would show our hand.”\n\n“Well, we could start looking him up in the database to see what we have on him, maybe something will show up,” the rabbit said as she looked down at the drawing again.\n\n“Best place to start.”\n\n\f\n\nChapter 21: A Matter of Public Record\n\nJudy ran the name Ray Schaiferhund into the system, but nothing came up. Then she tried Ray’s new name, Kody Grey. She was nearly immediately given almost all the information she wanted. Her eyes wandered over the screen, “Let’s see here. Fingerprints. DNA Profile. Record of Aliases. Criminal Record. License Plate information. That looks like that’s about it.”\n\nThe rabbit scrolled over to click on the License Plate information. “Huh,” she said as she looked at the license plate, “RB57H. I wonder what that means?”\n\n“I have no idea, but he makes enough money to afford a Jeeves Buckaroo Infinity,” the fox said. \n\n“I wonder what’s in his criminal record,” Judy pondered as she closed the license plate information to look at the short list of criminal offenses. Nick chuckled, “Nothing greater than a parking ticket. Told you, Carrots.” The bunny rolled her eyes as she went over the list of previous names. There was only one. “Raynard Kody Schaiferhund,” Judy muttered to herself, her eyes dancing over the profile.\n\nNick let out a chuff, “Seriously? Raynard?” Judy looked over her shoulder, “What’s wrong?”\n\n“Raynard is another name for fox. Seriously, who names their fox kit after his own species,” the tod said as he shook his head.\n\n“Yeah, but did you see his middle name? Kody,” the rabbit said softly, “it’s a part of his original name.”\n\n“Maybe that was the only part he liked,” Nick said as he took a sip of coffee.\n\n“Maybe,” she said as she closed the Criminal Record, “there’s something here that I’m missing, Nick.”\n\n“You could try looking up his parents,” the fox replied.\n\n“I could, but their records would have been sealed,” Judy retorted, “But maybe…”\n\nThe bunny didn’t finish her sentence as she pulled up a web browser and typed, “Schaiferhund, Zootopia, accident,” into the search bar. What came up were articles and obituaries from the last year’s car accident, especially pictures of the parents; a German Shepherd and a corgi-wolf looking woman. Judy blinked a few times, “Nick, didn’t you say Ray was raised by dogs?”\n\n“Yeah, he was adopted. Everyone knew it, why,” the fox asked and then it dawned on him, “Adoption paperwork.”\n\nJudy felt her ears droop, “I guess we didn’t need to look up his records after all.”\n\nThe tod chuckled, “Dummy bunny.”\n\nThere weren’t many adoption agencies in Zootopia, in fact there were only two; Our Lady of Zootopia and Open Heart Open Arms. Our Lady of Zootopia was quick to answer their inquiry. They’d never heard of nor had a client with the last name Schaiferhund. \n\nOpen Hearts Open Arms on the other hand was a different story. When they’d called, they were answered by a Mrs. O’Donnell. She had a warm grandmotherly voice to her, almost cheerful, though she immediately got down to business, “We have many children who are looking for loving parents and a good home, Miss Hopps. Are you looking to adopt?”\n\n“No, ma’am. I’m trying to find some information on some clients of yours, a Mr. and Mrs. Schaiferhund,” Judy replied, trying to wrangle the conversation away from the other woman. There was a long pause as Mrs. O’Donnell seemed to collect herself, “Yes, I remember them. I was so very sad to hear about their passing. It’s so hard to find someone that is looking for tod kits, and when you find someone that wants one, they always stand out. I hope nothing terrible has happened to poor Raynard.”\n\n“That’s actually why we’re calling, ma’am.”\n\nThere was another long pause, followed by some sniffling, “Please tell me he’s all right.”\n\n“He’s fine, ma’am, but we’re a little concerned since he changed his name after his parent’s accident to Grey and made contact with another family with the same last name.”\n\nThere was a deep sigh of relief before a more business tone returned to her voice, “It’s not uncommon for our adoptees to try to rediscover their roots later in life. He’s not the first one to take his parent’s last name, especially the mother’s last name.”\n\n“His mother’s last name? Do you know why?”\n\n“From what I remember, his father sexually assaulted his mother and then refused to support her when he found out she was pregnant, which is why she put him up for adoption.”\n\nThere was a long pause as Judy chewed on her bottom lip, “Did she ever file charges?”\n\n“Not that I am aware of. I believe the father died a year later.”\n\n“You… you wouldn’t happen to remember the mother’s name, would you?”\n\n“I certainly do. Josephine Grey.”\n\nJudy blinked a few times as she tried to absorb what she was hearing, “Josephine. Grey?”\n\n“Yes. I can’t tell you much else. She never contacted us after the adoption was completed.”\n\n“Thank you,” the bunny said, her voice and hand a little shaky.\n\n“Thank you, Officer Hopps. Please give Raynard our best if you see him.”\n\nThe rabbit hung up the phone, her eyes wide. Things were actually starting to make sense for some reason.\n\n“You okay, Carrots,” Nick asked as he planted his hand against the wall by her face.\n\n“Nick. I’ve got to call my mom.”\n\n\f\n\nChapter 22: Relativity\n\nAfter throwing the linens into the washing machine, Gideon and Kody parted ways with Bill, each giving him a big hug and a warm kiss. The wolf couldn’t help himself though as he gave both of their rumps a firm grope. “Thanks fer th’venin’, Gideon,” he said to his beau before looking over at Kody, “ And thanks fer th’show, Kody.”\n\nThe two clothed tods blushed not only from the words, but also from the strong wolf’s hand. Slowly, Bill let go as he gave each of them another smooch. “I’ll sees yew two tods ‘round,” he said before departing.\n\nKody and Gideon looked at one another, both of them chuckling as they watched the wolf leave. “I… uhm… I have to say. Bill… is pretty sexy. For a wolf I mean,” Kody said as he scratched his head. His cousin chuckled, “He sure is ain’t he? He really likes ya.”\n\nThe other tubby tod’s face blushed, “I know.”\n\nGideon put an arm around his cousin’s shoulder, “Don’t go stealin’m from me.”\n\nKody chuckled as he shook his head, “I won’t.”\n\nThe two tods shared a laugh together when the door to the apartment opened.\n\nJosephine had expected her son to show up at her house after Gideon showed him around, but since that hadn’t happened, the vixen just assumed he’d stayed the night with his cousin. There wasn’t anything wrong with that, he did need to integrate with the family, and what better way to do it then spending time with your cousin. \n\nIt was half passed noon now, and Jo was more than a bit curious at what was keeping her boy from visiting his mother’s home. “Only way t’find out what he’s up t’is to head to Gideons,” she told herself that morning, so she slipped on a little yellow sundress and headed for her nephew’s.\n\nThe first thing she’d noticed when she pulled up was Bill Blake heading out the back door, whistling with a big smile on his face. It was certainly a curious sight, but she’d also heard a few things here and there that he was hooking up with her nephew. She didn’t have a problem with it. Gideon was an adult and he liked what he liked, though she was a bit curious about her son. She knew a bit about him, though his preferences for partners wasn’t one of them. Jo really didn’t care if her boy liked men or women, he was her little boy, and she loved him. She’d loved him enough to give him away and now he’d returned to her.\n\nSlowly, she slid out of her car and headed to the back door. Bill had locked it, but Gideon had given keys to all his kin, so it was only natural that Jo had one. She slid the key into the lock and turned it before opening the door.\n\nThe first thing she heard when she entered the bottom floor was the humming of a washing machine. Nothing too unusual for a Sunday, really. Slowly, the old vixen started to make her way up the stairs, her paws pressing into the wooden steps as her hand held onto the guard rail.\n\nThe sound of humming turned into laughter, making the vixen start to smile. “Sounds likes them boys really like each other,” Jo said softly to herself, “Guess it was a good ideer fer Kody to spend the night with his cousin.”\n\nLightly, she wrapped her knuckles onto the wooden door at the top of the stairs. The laughter died off slightly as she slowly pushed it open, a warm smile across her muzzle. “Ya ready t’go visit suma mama’s friends?”\n\nKody smiled, “Sure, mom.” He looked over at his cousin for a brief second before giving him a hug. “I’ll see you later.”\n\n“Sure thang, cousin.”\n\nKody and his mother left out the back entrance to the pastry shop, the tod following the vixen down the stairs only to move in beside her. Tentatively, Kody reached his hand over to take hers before leaning against her. Jo looked down her arm and smiled. He was holding her hand. The old vixen couldn’t help but imagine her son twenty eight years younger and doing the same thing. It was a sweet thought that almost made her cry.\n\n“Mom, do you want to take my car or yours,” her son asked.\n\n“Hows about yers, Kody.”\f\n\nChapter 23: Brunch\n\nEven though Bonnie Hopps and Josephine Grey knew each other, they had never been friends. Sure, they’d chatted a few times, but they’d never actually formed any bonds outside of church. Though, all that did change once Judy left for the big city. She had opened up to the idea of having fox friends, and the first one had been Jo. She’d invited the vixen over for Sunday Brunch several times, and the rabbit was expecting her to show up for some time but so far, she’d been a no-show.\n\nBonnie was just about to give up when she saw a very different car pull up to the house. It wasn’t Josephine’s, it was too new plus the plates were all wrong. “RB57H,” she said with a puzzled look, but then she saw two people slip out of the vehicle. One of them was Josephine and the other one looked like he could have been Gideon’s brother. It was clear though that, whoever this Kody Grey person was, he certainly WASN’T some long-lost brother that was locked in the attic. No one locked in an attic for 30 years could afford a car, at least that’s what Bonnie thought.\n\n“Whatcha looking at, honey,” Stu said as he moved up to give his wife a side hug.\n\n“Josephine’s here,” the bunny said, giving her husband a sideways glance, “And Kody Grey.”\n\n“Kody Grey,” Stu said a little stunned. He rarely had any of the Bridge group over, so it took him off guard, “Oh yeah! I met him last night at Bridge. Nice kid.”\n\nBonnie raised an eyebrow, “Really?”\n\nThe fatherly rabbit nodded, “Yeah. Not a very good Bridge player though. He got knocked out the first round.”\n\nUnfortunately for Bonnie, her sister Mary-Ann was also there. “Well, Jeane probably didn’t give him many games to play in the attic,” she chirped out as she spooned another helping of a carrot and cheese omelet into her mouth.\n\nStu just rolled his eyes, “You actually believe that story?”\n\n“It came from a reliable source,” she replied after taking another bite.\n\n“And what about the time your ‘reliable source’ said that Judy and Nick’s police car was t-boned at an intersection? You nearly killed your sister from fright,” the father bunny said as he glared at his sister-in-law, “I wouldn’t be surprised if he turns out to be Josephine’s long lost son instead of a plotline you stole from one of your soaps.”\n\n“I stand by my record,” Mary-Ann huffed out.\n\n“Yes. O and two hundred.”\n\nBonnie glared at her husband and her sister, “I want them to have a nice time, so you two need to stop your bickering.”\n\nStu nodded as he walked back into the kitchen to grab a plate full of eggs before moving to the couch. Mary-Ann just huffed as she continued eating, while Bonnie made her way to the door.\n\nJo and Kody were half way up the walkway when Bonnie opened the door. “Josephine, it’s wonderful to see you,” she said as she and the vixen exchanged hugs. The bunny slowly turned her attention to the tall tod, “And this must be Kody.”\n\nJo looked a little puzzled as she looked at the bunny doe, “How did you know?”\n\n“Oh, you know how word gets around a small town when someone new shows up, especially when Gideon made a big announcement about his new cousin to everyone at the pastry shop,” Bonnie continued, reaching her hand out towards the tod. The fox smiled as he shook her hand, “It’s nice to meet you, Mrs. Hopps.”\n\n“You can call me Bonnie, Kody, but please, come in. We’ve been waiting for you two,” She said as she stepped aside for the two foxes.\n\nJo slipped inside first, followed by Kody, the two of them making their way to the kitchen to grab some eggs and a cup of coffee before making their way to the living room. Bonnie was just about the join them when her phone started to vibrate, “Please excuse me for a minute, Judy’s calling.”\n\nThe two nodded as they looked between Mary-Ann and Stu, who were glaring at each other as they tried to be polite. Kody leaned into whisper into his mother’s ear, “I wonder what this is all about.”\n\nJo leaned in, “Mary-Ann is hard to get along with.”\n\n“No, I’m not,” Mary-Ann quipped back, the two of them forgetting about how powerful rabbit ears are.\n\n“Yes, you are,” Stu retorted, “All you do is watch soaps all day and think the world is just like them.”\n\n“Because it is,” the bunny woman scoffed.\n\n“No, it’s not,” the rabbit man retorted.\n\nJo and Kody just looked at each other, deciding to stay out of it.\n\nBonnie made sure she was in the kitchen before she answered the ScreenTime call. She had just started to say hello when Judy butted in, “Mom! Mom! I found out everything. Everything makes sense now.”\n\n“Shhh! Judy! Not so loud. Kody and Josephine are here,” her mother said, holding a finger over her lips.\n\n“That’s just it. Kody IS Josephine’s son. I talked the adoption agency. Josephine was sexually assaulted while she was at college and put Kody up for adoption. He grew up under a different name until last year,” Judy said excitedly, loving how she cracked the case, “You remember when Aunt Mary-Ann said she heard Nick and I had been killed in a car wreck? That wasn’t us. That was Kody’s adopted parents. He changed his name almost six months later to Kody Grey and started looking for his real mother.”\n\nBonnie blinked a few times as she started to drink in the news, “Judy, you haven’t been watching any of Aunt Mary-Ann’s soaps, have you?”\n\n“No, mom! I don’t even own a TV! I just got off the phone with Open Hearts Open Arms. I talked to the woman who worked the case. Nick even knew him in High School,” Judy sounded exasperated at her mother, “Mom, when have I lied to you?”\n\nHer daughter had a point. Judy hadn’t lied to her, well, hadn’t lied to her in years. She had always been a truthful girl. But the more Bonnie thought about it, the more her daughter’s version made sense, but she did have one question, “Judy, did you find out what kind of car Kody drives? Maybe a license plate?”\n\n“Yeah. A Jeeves Buckaroo Infinity with personalized Zootopia Plates #RB57H,” she replied.\n\nBonnie seemed to sigh with relief, “Thank you, Judy.”\n\n“No problem, mom. Oh, by the way, if no one wants to believe you, tell them Mrs. O’Donnell wishes Kody her best.”\n\nBonnie just nodded her head, “I’ll tell them?”\n\n“Thanks mom,” Judy said quickly before hanging up.\n\nBonnie looked at her phone a bit longer before sliding it into her pocket and headed back to the living room.\n\nWhat greeted Bonnie was her husband and sister fully engulfed in an argument about her ability to create amazing stories that were basically stolen from her daily soap operas, much to the discomfort of the guests. “Stu! Mary-Ann,” the woman cried out as her foot stomped the ground in frustration, “What did I tell you.”\n\nStu’s ears drooped, “I’m sorry, dear.” Mary-Ann however, just seemed to beam like she’d been the victor in the argument. Bonnie just rolled her eyes as she slowly slid into her chair, “I’m sorry, Jo, Kody.”\n\nJo just brushed it off as she sipped her coffee, “It’s all right, Bonnie.”\n\nStu looked over at Kody, “So, Kody, you didn’t talk a whole lot last night at the Bridge game. Where are you from?”\n\nKody took a sip of his coffee, “Zootopia.”\n\nMary-Ann scoffed a little as she took another sip. Stu glared at her and Kody just raised an eyebrow. Bonne decided to ask the next question, “Zootopia? Really? You know our daughter is a police officer there. Do you know Nick Wilde?”\n\nKody perked his eyebrow. He did know Nick, well, knew him in a casual sense. He was more acquainted with Nick’s mother because she was friends with his own mother. He wondered if he should put up a charade or not, but he might as well answer truthfully, “Yeah, I know of him. I went to High School with him. Why?”\n\n“He’s our daughter’s partner on the force,” Bonnie replied with a smile. Stu added, “He’s the reason we ended up partnering with Gideon Grey.”\n\nKody just nodded his head, “That’s interesting.”\n\nMary-Ann wasn’t buying it one bit, so she decided to ask something in a fairly sarcastic tone, “Really? So this is your first time to Bunnyburrow?”\n\nThe tod looked at her, “I drove by it when I was assigned to Mammoth River, but yeah, this is my first time to actually be here.”\n\n“You sure,” she asked, “You sure you haven’t been hiding up in Jeane’s attic?”\n\nEveryone looked at the bunny woman with massive eyes and open mouths. “What,” Mary-Ann asked, “You all were thinking it.”\n\n“Mary-Ann Juniper Springer,” Bonnie yelled out, “How DARE you ask a question like that to my guests!”\n\n“It’s the popular rumor in town. Besides. I heard from a reliable,” she started on her usual line, but was completely cut off by Bonnie, “No Mary-Ann. No more of this ‘reliable sourse’ non-sense. The first time I heard your gossip, I called Judy. Judy managed to find the actual truth! Do you know what it was?”\n\nEveryone was surprised at how angry Bonnie was, though Jo and Kody were even more surprised that she’d actually called the police about it. “Ya called Judy,” Jo said in a little bit of disbelief. Bonnie turned her attention back to Josephine, her ears drooping a little, “I’m… I’m sorry, Jo. But, I wanted to make sure my sister’s story was just her over active imagination.”\n\nKody looked between his mother and her friend, then over to Mary-Ann giving her a scowl. A hand reached down to squeeze his mother’s paw as he looked at her. Jo looked down at her son’s hand as she let out a long sigh. “Kody. Kody’s my little boy,” she said with a heavy heart, “I… I met a feller in college. He winded me and dined me. When he planted his oats, he wouldn’t man up ‘n help me raise him. I thought bout cummin home, but I’z too a’feared a what erryone’d say. So I put my little boy up fer ‘doption when he was a kit,” She looked over at her boy, giving his hand a squeeze, “There ain’t a day gone by that I don’t wish I woulda cum home with Kody instead of putting him up fer ‘doption.”\n\nKody leaned over and glared at Mary-Ann, “My parents told me about the adoption and about my real mother when I was eighteen, but I didn’t have the courage to contact my mother until my parents died in a car accident last year. I had my name legally changed to Kody Grey because I wanted to be a part of her life again.”\n\nJo let out a sniff, “He cum back t’me. Thirty years later, he cum back to me.”\n\nThere was a long pause as Bonnie looked down. “I’m sorry I pulled Judy into this,” she said softly, “I just… I just needed to be sure.”\n\nMary-Ann’s ears drooped a little as she looked at the other four in the room, “I… I’m…” she was about to say something, but Stu couldn’t help but cut her off, “I told you so.”\n\n“Stu,” Bonnie yelled as she glared at her husband. \n\n“What? I was,” he said in a slightly defeated voice.\n\nMary-Ann looked away. She’d been proven wrong. Again. But this time she felt more horrible than any of the other times. She felt miserable, and she couldn’t seem to find words to say she was sorry. Jo just looked at her, “Mary-Ann, if ya want to make it up t’me, tell erryone th’truth.”\n\n“How much of the story do you want me to tell,” she asked.\n\n“Alluvit.”\n\nMary-Ann nodded. It wouldn’t take the Bunnyburrow rumor mill long to get this disseminated. However, Bonnie did have one thing to say, “Kody, Judy said she had a message for you from Mrs. O’Donnell.”\n\nKody looked a little confused, “Mrs. O’Donnell?” His mother, however, knew who it was, “What did she have to say?”\n\n“She says she wishes you the best.”\n\n\f\n\nChapter 24: No Goodbyes\n\nMary-Ann had finally been right about something. The rumor of Kody being Jeane’s attic dwelling son was quelled quickly when the bunny gave everyone the truth. The whole truth. The raw truth. It only took a few hours, because by the time Kody and Jo left to go get dinner, people were already saying how sorry there were to Jo about what happened and wanted to know more about her son. Kody didn’t really like talking about himself too much, but he was happy to oblige them with whatever information they wanted.\n\nAfter answering every question under the sun, it was time to get home, though, he did have a few things to do first. Their first stop was back over at Gideon’s apartment. The two foxes made their way in through the back of the store and up the stairs. Gideon had been waiting for them, his arms open wide to his aunt and cousin.\n\nJo waited as Kody gave his cousin a big old hug and a pat on the back. “I’ll see you next weekend,” he told his cousin.\n\n“Join’s fer th’Bridge game, cousin,” Gideon asked with a smile. Kody just chuckled, “Bridge really isn’t my forte. I think I’ll just sit and watch.”\n\nHis cousin laughed, “Suit yerself. Wanme t’tell th’gang y’ll be back next week’nd?”\n\nKody smirked, “Of course. And don’t forget to tell Aunt Jeane and Uncle Josh.”\n\nGideon chuckled, “I will.”\n\nKody leaned in to whisper, “Give Bill my best.” The words just made Gideon smirk as he whispered back, “I sure will. He’s looking forward to the next meetin.”\n\nKody smirked as he gave his cousin another pat on the back. The two broke the embrace as Kody headed back over to his mother, gently taking her paw into his hand and walking out with her.\n\n“Ya likes yer cousin, dontcha, shoog,” Jo asked as the slid into the car. Kody chuckled, “Hard not to like Gideon.”\n\nThe vixen giggled, “Well, ya certly were when ya had him in bentover in th’shower.” The tod just blushed as he started the car. His mother leaned over to put a paw on his thigh. “Nothin’ wrong with ‘spermentin’ with yer cousin. Ya both seemed t’joy it,” she said into his ear as her, “Jist ‘member I wants me sum grandkits.”\n\nThe tod chuckled as he leaned in to give her a smooch on the cheek, “Yes, mom.”\n\nKody had picked the perfect weekend to meet his real mother and his real family since that Monday was a holiday. He’d spent Sunday night at his real mother’s home, in his real mother’s arms. Every minute felt perfect, felt right. He’d woken up that morning refreshed and new, giving his mother a kiss on the cheek before sliding away to take a shower and get ready to head back home.\n\n“Yer gonna cum visit me again,” Jo asked as her son sat down for breakfast. “Every weekend, mom,” he said with a smile as he took a bite of scrambled eggs. Jo smiled, she was going to have to get used to being called that from now on. Maybe she should start looking for a husband since she had her son back.\n\nThough if she did, it might mean that she couldn’t snuggle up with her little boy, though it might be a price she would gladly pay to finally have a complete family. Then again, she would be happy if it was just her son and her. So many things to think about in the four days until he came back to visit. She’d probably have to discuss it with him as well.\n\nKody just chuckled as his mother sat down next to him to eat her breakfast. “Now, ‘member t’brush yer fangs erry night and watch out fer loose women,” she said as she smiled at her little boy, but her words only made him chuckle, “Trying to play catch up on thirty years of mothering?”\n\n“Summin’ like that,” she said, “Jist ‘member that I’lways love ya.”\n\nKody leaned over to give her cheek another peck, “I love you too, mom.”\n\n“We gotta do summin’ bout yer accent though,” Jo said with a smile.\n\n“But I don’t have an accent,” he replied.\n\n“Xactly. Yer a Grey now. Ya gots to sound like one.”\n\nKody just let out a boisterous laugh.\n\n", "writing_bbcode_parsed": "Chapter 1: Second Family

Ray let out a snort as he slowly pulled the silver-gray military-esque vehicle up to the farmhouse. The house was nothing incredibly special. It was old, built more out of utility than comfort. It had two floors, though the second floor was much larger than the first because of the overhanging porch.

The house was white, or least it had been at one time. Most of the paint had seeped into the wood siding and no one had gotten around to painting it in at least a decade, maybe more, Ray wasn’t exactly sure. The roof was even more faded than the walls, looking more light gray then black. Surprisingly though, the front yard looked like it had been cut that morning, even the dirt road that lead up to the house from the highway had been freshly oiled to keep the dust down. Ray was very thankful for that.

Slowly, he pulled on the interior latch and pushed the door away from him before sliding out of the black cloth seat. Like the farm, his automobile was practical. The company had made their name making the General Purpose Vehicle, nicknamed the Gee-Vee, for the government. Of course, the nickname was mocked. People started calling them Jeeves, and the name stuck so much so that the company began selling the vehicle to the general public under that name. Ray pushed the door on his Jeeves Buckaroo Infinty and slowly started to make his way towards the farmhouse.

It was a little odd coming here. He felt a little out of place on a farm, but he just had to grin and bear it. Ray hadn’t learned about his blood family until a few years ago. He had been adopted as a kit by an inter-species couple in Zootopia, but the fox had always stood out from his adopted family who were all mutts or Pure Bred German Shepherds. Ray wasn’t even his full name either, it was Raynard. Raynard Schaiferhund.

The red fox let out a little chuff as he shoved his hands into his pant pockets. He wasn’t fancily dressed one bit, then again, what do you wear when you’re meeting your real family for the first time? He certainly wasn’t going to show up in his uniform, any one of his uniforms, so being plain clothes had been the best choice. He was dressed in a pair of blue jeans, a plain looking blue shirt, and a brown leather bomber jacket with a nameplate and wings.

Like his species implied, his primary color was red and various shades of that one color. From the tips of his ears to the tip of his tail, his body was covered in a kind of deep red like the cherries on a sundae or in a cocktail.  The fur around his eyes was red-orange and in his ears, but unlike many of the other foxes he’d met, he didn’t have the red-brown stockings on his forearms or legs or tip of his tail, rather it was concentrated under his armpits and right above his groin. The only other color on his body was an off white almost gray that ran from his nose spreading out to the sides of his lips. It covered his jaw before shrinking to his throat only to spread out as it went down his chest and belly all the way to his groin, but it wasn’t like he was planning on showing off his body to anyone.

The fox was chunky. He’d always been a bit chunky. Yeah, he had a nice big belly and a semi-flabby chest, but his biceps were large.  He was basically made for hugging and snuggling, something he really enjoyed.

Ray stopped as he looked up at the farmhouse, the vulpine chewing on his lower lip as his ears flicked around the top of his head. Was he really going to do this? Yes. Yes, he was. Slowly, the fox put one foot in front of the other as he looked at the faded white screen door.

Chapter 2: Ma’s Callin’

Gideon Gray bent over in front of an oven. His pastry shop already had a line of people going out the door, all of them waiting for another fresh batch of pies. The chubby vulpine pulled the oven’s door open. A warm sweet aroma started to fill the air. Everyone in the shop took in a deep breath, almost simultaneously before letting out a contented sigh. “Thay’re dun,” the brown and dark red colored man said as he reached a mitted hand in to pull out the tray. “Ya’ll gotta letum sit now, but I gots lots uh them fer sale,” he said to the crowd before returning to the register.

He was just about to make a sale when the old phone started ringing. Gideon looked over his shoulder. “’ay Travis! Culdya get that,” he asked before turning his attention back to the wolf in front of him.

“Sure thing, Gideon,” the ferret called back from the dish washing station. He grabbed a towel and whipped the water off his hands before making his way to the old in wall rotary phone. “Gideon Grey’s Real Good Baked Stuffs. Made with fresh produce from Hopps Family Farm,” Travis started on the usual shpeal, but the woman on the phone didn’t let him finished.

“Travis! War’s Gideon? I needs to talk to ‘im,” the vixen’s voice seemed to roar over the speaker, making the ferret almost drop the phone. “Of course, Mrs. Grey. I’ll get him.”

Travis placed his hand over the transmitter as he looked over at Gideon. “Hey, Gideon! It’s your ma,” he called out to the chunky tod, “Sounds important.”

Gideon’s ears flicked around on the top of his head as he handed the pie filled box towards a heavy-set gray wolf. “All right. B’there in a second,” he yelled back at the ferret before punching the sales button on the register. The rusty colored fox made his way back towards the phone, taking it from the black-footed ferret’s hand before the other male moved to take over the register.

“Yes, ma,” he said into the transmitter, curious to know why she was calling.

“Gideon! Get yer rump down t’tha house! Y’ain’t gonna believe who j’st showed up,” the old vixen howled over the phone.

“Who? Who showed up, ma?”

“Gideon. Y’member yer daddy’s sister?”

“Aunt Josephine?”

“That’s th’one! Seems her lil’ boy showed up t’tha house.”

“Ma, whatcha talkin’bout? Aunt Jo never had no kits,” Gideon replied to his mother, genuinely confused about what he was hearing.

“That’s cause she don’t like t’talk’bout it. I’ll ‘splain when ya git here, just git here,” the woman said before hanging up on her son.

The tod blinked a few times before hanging up. “But Aunt Jo never had no kits,” he said to himself, “So who in tarnation was this guy?”

Gideon slowly turned around and looked over at Travis. “I gotta head t’tha farmhouse, Travis. Ya’ll gots the register.”

A doe rabbit looked over Travis’ shoulder. “Gideon! Are there going to be any more fresh pies today,” she inquired, only for the throng behind her to echo her question with an in unison, “Yes?”

The fox just shrugged his shoulders, “I dunno. ‘Pends on when I get back I’spose. But Ya’ll don’t worry now. I’ll be here extrarly t’make more.”

There was a collective sigh of relief as Gideon hung up his apron and made his way through the kitchen and out the back door to his truck.

\f

Chapter 3: Stranger

The drive from the pastry shop to the Grey Farm took about thirty minutes. It wasn’t terribly far, around twenty miles or so, but it was a comfortable distance, just far enough to make family visits rare but close enough to not be too much of a hassle. It was something Gideon needed.

He’d grown up an only child, which wasn’t bad in and of itself, but he’d also grown up the only fox in the whole town. Being surrounded by bunnies and other prey species had been intimidating. He had always been husky and he had always been bigger than the other kids. Well, not the older kids, and they’d been the most cruel to him. That had led to a great deal of personal issues, mostly with his confidence, but then again, he’d gotten some of it at home. Since he was an only child, his parents attention had been greatly focused on him, pushing him to succeed. But when he failed he wasn’t told that he tried, no. When he failed he was given a lecture about how he didn’t try hard enough.

One thing he had learned was that he was really good at cooking, especially cooking pastries. He’d helped his mother bake cookies and pies almost every weekend for the Sunday school and during the bake sales. And every time he had failed at something, he’d go back and do something he knew he was good at over and over again until he entered the Tri-County Pie Contest. He’d gotten second place the first year he entered, but the next year, he won the grand prize. That was when he told his parents he’d be moving out and into town to be a pastry chef.

They had had some genuine concerns, but in the end, gave in. His father, Joshua, had even given him the money to buy the old two story bakery and apartment from the elderly goat couple that had been looking to retire to Zootopia’s more temperate areas. After that, things just started to come together. His parents were actually proud and happy, not to mention he was able to make amends with Judy.

But none of that really mattered as the chubby fox pulled into his parent’s driveway. He noticed the new car with Zootopia License plate number RB57H. “Huh,” the fox muttered to himself as he pulled up to the farmhouse, “Wunder what that plate means.”

Ray looked at the two old vixens as he took a sip of Lemonade. His eyes moved from one to the other then back again. It was a fairly strange, not to mention awkward, moment. The tod took one more sip of lemonade before placing the half empty glass down the living room table, but not before making sure there was a coaster under it. No one seemed to want to say a word as Ray started to lean forwards in his seat, hands clasping together. He knew this whole ordeal was going to be odd, but the silence just made everything seem worse. Thankfully, Josephine broke the silence.

“Ya looks like yer daddy,” the old vixen said in a low voice as she put down her lemonade. “I know we talked lots on th’emails, but,” she paused briefly as she started to tear up, “Jist seein’ ya in th’fur…”

Josephine never finished her sentence as she started to break down and cry, tears flowing down her face as her sister-in-law slid out of her chair to head to the bathroom. She returned a few seconds later with a big box of paper tissues. “It’s all right, Jo,” the other vixen said as Ray’s mother, his real mother, grabbed a hand full of tissues to wipe under her eyes.

“Oh lordy, jist look’t me, all bawling like a kit,” Jo said as her nose quivered trying to regain some semblance of clam as she looked at her son. “I’m jist s’proud’a’ya.”

Ray wasn’t sure what to say at the sight of his birth mother crying and then her words of pride. His ears splayed against his head as he looked down and away then back up at her. “Thanks mom,” he said softly while scooting forwards in his chair. He would have said more, but then someone walked in.

Gideon walked into the living room. It was just like how he remembered. It looked like something out of a movie; everything was old, made out of wood, but expertly crafted to last until judgement day. Even though the outside of the house had seen better days, the inside looked immaculate, just like how his momma like it. But he wasn’t greeted with the usual fanfare he got when he came home.

His eyes moved to the four wooden chairs gathered around the living room table. His mother was there, trying to comfort a crying Aunt Jo. Both of the vixens were sitting across from another tod, who looked kind of like himself, though, he didn’t have any brown markings or brown hair on the top of his head. His gaze moved between the three other foxes before finally speaking. “Ya’ll right Aunt Jo,” Gideon asked as he looked at the curvy woman then back over to the tod, “Ya need m’t’make’m leave?”

The tod’s mother, Jeane, gave her son an icy glare that confused the fox for a second, “Gideon!”

“What ma? ‘f he’s makin’ Aunt Jo cry,” he tried to reply but his mother cut him off. “Gideon! Sit yer rump down! We gots ‘slaining to do.”

The heavy tod just blinked a few times. His mother hadn’t talked to him like that since he was a kit. He looked over at the new tod sitting across from his mama and aunt, giving him a little growl as he unceremoniously plopped down into the chair.

Jo sniffled a few more times as she finally gained enough composure to say something. “Gideon, I know yer’s lost as last year’s Easter egg by all this, but,” the old vixen sniffled again and Jeane finished her sentence, “There’s lots you don’t know.”

“Whatchya’ll talkin’bout,” he asked as he slowly turned his head to look at Ray, “And who’s this?”

Jeane just glared at her son, “Gideon! Shut yer trap!”

The tod’s tail tucked between his legs as his jaws locked up tight.

Jo let out a long sigh as she looked at Gideon and then over to Ray, “I should probably start at the beginning.”

\f

Chapter 4: Aunt Jo

Josephine Grey had been eighteen when she went to the big city. Her parents had cried, and her brother, Joshua, had given her a great big hug. It was a special moment for everyone since she was the first Grey to go to college, but it also meant that she’d be in Zootopia and away from her family for the first time. After a few tears, she’d managed to get on the train before it rocketed away.

Jo had always been pretty, though, she’d rarely heard anyone say so outside of the other predators that lived in Bunnyburrow. She was tall for a vixen, but not overly so, and she was curvy. Her body was covered in a soft reddish yellow that looked almost like faded orange. Most of the guys told her that she should be in pictures, and she had agreed, though, not the pictures they were thinking of. She wanted to be a movie star. She didn’t have much in the way of acting outside of school plays, so she’d worked hard to get into Zootopia University’s School of Performing Arts.

Jo giggled as he sat on the train. It was never hard for her to turn heads, mainly because she looked so different from most of the foxes the passengers usually saw. She had figured that it was her fur color, but in reality, they were actually staring at her because her wardrobe screamed country girl. She’d worn short shorts and a plaid short-sleeve shirt. Her long legs drew everyone’s attention, which only got more interesting when she’d gotten off the train at Zootopia station.

As she headed towards the metro line to the university, she received several calls and whistles from several felines and wolves. Of course, the attention only made her laugh and blush as her long fluffy tail flicked around behind her. She was loving the attention, especially since it was coming from a more diverse group of animals, most of whom hadn’t seen a girl wear shorts that high up on her hips.

After another short ride, she’d finally made it there. Her eyes dancing up and down the old gothic architecture as she walked into the registrar’s office. The paperwork was the worst part though. Forms had to be signed in triplicate. She had to hand over a check for almost $5,000, the most money she’d ever had in her hands let alone seen, and that was just for her first semester. Finally, after everything was done, and she had signed up for freshman courses, the registrar handed her the keys to her dorm room.

“You’ll be rooming with another vixen,” the mare had said as she pushed the keys towards her, “Classes start next week.”

Jo had taken the keys and given the horse a warm smile, “Thank ya’, ma’am. I look forwards t’meetin’er.”

The woman just chuckled as she drank in the vixen’s accent, “I’m sure she will too.”

Jo let out a sigh as she plopped down on the bed. She was the only one in her dorm room, and from the looks of things, her roommate hadn’t even moved in. Part of her was saddened by the prospect of not meeting her roommate today, but she figured that the other girl would be here later on. She was a week early after all.

Slowly, Jo sat up and started to claim her spot in the small room. She took the right bed, dumping out her clothes first before putting them away in the nearby closet. The vixen then turned her attention to making her bed. She’d done that every morning since she could remember, even making her brother’s bed so their parents would skin him alive for being messy. The memory couldn’t help but make her giggle a bit as she smoothed out the white cloth over the mattress before tucking in each side. Once the clothes were put away and the bed was made, she didn’t really have much else to do other than arrange her toiletries, but that could wait a bit. Something in her begged for her to start exploring not just the campus, but the city. She had just started to think about that when her stomach began to growl at her.

“Guess it’s time fer sum grub,” she giggled to herself as she grabbed her keys and headed to the dining hall.

Christopher Rowan, “Chris” to his friends, sat in the dining hall munching on a sandwich. The red fox was tall and muscular, almost looking like a miniature wolf more than a fox. He could have gone somewhere else to eat, but Chris liked watching all the new students come in. “New meat,” he chuckled to himself, eyes darting over the throngs of Freshman and transfer students. There were a few cuties here and there, though, most of them were prey species or domestics. He knew most of them wouldn’t consider talking to him, let along shacking up with him for the night, but it was fun to just watch and imagine. He’d almost given up on his day dream when he watched a vixen wander in.

The tod blinked a few times, a hand moving to adjust his sunglasses as he gave her a good once over. He stared at her while taking a long sip on his soda, eyes dancing over her curves but mostly focusing on that long fluffy tail and what it was attached to. “Country bumpkin,” Chris churred to himself, a sly grin wandering over his lips as he watched her order something in a thick accent that took the server a few times to understand, “I’m gonna tap that.”

It took Jo a few minutes to get through the line, mostly because the servers needed her to speak even slower than she already did, but finally, she had gotten her burger and fries. She walked away from the counter, a smile on her face. She held onto the tray as her eyes looked around for someone to sit with.

There was a pack of wolves sitting around one table, all of them eyeing her and panting. The alpha gave her a wink, which made her blush. She knew that in the big city, it wasn’t uncommon for inter-species relationships, and even marriages, to happen, and it wasn’t like the idea didn’t sometimes wander through her head, but she politely declined and kept walking. She was just about to sit alone when a voice called over to her, “Need a seat?”

Chris was smiling as Jo made her way over to him. He was finally getting a closer look at her and he liked what he saw. “Thank ya,” the vixen replied as she slid into the seat next to him.

“So, what’s your name,” he asked, trying to be nonchalant and a tad distant as if he wasn’t already stripping her nude in his mind.

“Josephine, but everyone calls me Jo,” she replied as she blushed, “I ain’t seen many foxes round yet.”

Chris smiled as he turned his full attention to her, “We’re around, but we’re a minority.”

“I figgered as much since I gots a my-norty skollarship here.”

 The tod couldn’t help but chuckle at her accent. It made him wonder what she would sound like in the sack. “I’m Chris by the way,” he added as he pushed his hand towards Jo.

“It’s a pleasure t’make yer ‘quaintance,” the vixen said as she gripped his hand. Chris was a bit surprised by her hand strength, but even more surprised by the way she shook his arm up and down. Then again, he should have expected this from a country girl.

“You new here,” he asked even though he already knew the answer.

“Yup! First time to tha big city. Errythin’s’big here!”

The tod laughed, “It’s why they call it the big city.”

Jo giggled, “I s’pose so.”

Chris gave her a smile as he chose his next words to be filled with entendre, “You looking to go exploring?”

“Course I am! I wants t’see errythin,” Jo replied, her face beaming brightly.

“Free later?”

“I gots nuthin’ t’do ‘cept hit th’book-stirr.”

“I know all the best places in town,” the tod smirked, “I’ll show you a great time.”

Chris had been right. He had shown her a great time. The tod dragged Jo all over the city over the next week. They hit all the touristy places during the day, mostly museums and public buildings, and then Chris took her out every night to bars, restaurants, clubs, and discotheques. Unlike other vixen he’d been with though, Jo wasn’t about to let him see what was under her daisydukes, something that frustrated him quite a bit. So the two continued on like this, though their explorations moved away from weekdays and over to weekends once classes started up.

It was the last week in September and the first week in October when Chris finally was able to get what he wanted. He’d spent half of August and nearly all of September trying to get into Jo’s pants, but it was all about to pay off. He’d been working on her for some time, and he knew that tonight was the night as he wrapped his knuckles on the door.

Jo was right behind the metal door, a big smile on her face as she slipped out into the hallway. “Ya ready, sugar,” she asked as her tail flicked around behind her.

“I sure am,” Chris replied in a deep murr as he put his arm around her, leading her out of the dorms and towards his car.

The vixen and the tod hit up their favorite discotheque called “The Glacier” over in Tundra Town. Jo always had to wear an extra layer when they went there, but she certainly enjoyed the synth music. It was very different from the songs her parents played back home, and the beats were always fun to dance to. That’s what they did most of the night, dance, their bodies bumping against one another as the music boomed around them.

It was close to midnight when Jo and Chris left, the vixen leaning against the tod as they trudged through the snow towards his car. “That was wonderful,” the woman said in a soft churr, her head leaning against his shoulder. The tod just murred deeply as his hand slowly slid up and down her side, “It’s gonna get better. Ready for a drive?”

Jo nodded as she followed him to the car, sliding into the passenger seat as Chris started the engine. “Wur ya thinkin’,” she asked as she looked over at him. “I know a nice quiet spot, don’t worry,” the tod replied as he gave her a warm smile.

Chris was right again. The spot he found was quiet, then again, public parks usually were at night. Jo was still coming down from the high of dancing as she pressed her back into the seat. “Mmm… Thank ya, Chris,” she churred warmly, eyes closing as she let out a stretch. She almost wanted to doze off right there, but she felt a hand on her thigh.

“Don’t thank me yet,” the tod replied in a lusty murr, his paw gently squeezing her denim covered leg as he leaned in to give her a kiss right on the lips.

Jo blinked a few times as she felt his muzzle pressing against hers, his hand kneading her thigh. He’d done something like this before, and she’d given him a good smack across the muzzle for it, but tonight felt right. Slowly, she started to melt into the kiss, her own tongue beginning to lap against his as her hand moved to rub over his chest.

Chris growled deeply. It was all going according to plan. The tod kept kneading over the vixen’s thigh more and more as their lips smacked together over and over again, the two vulpines lost in lust.

Slowly, Jo broke the kiss to blush. “How… How’re we gonna do it up here,” she asked as she stared into his eyes. Chris just chuffed, “Backseat. Why?”

Jo just blushed deeper, “I… I ain’t never done nuthin with a guy b’fore.” Her words just made the older fox grin wider as pulled away from her before reaching over the vixen to pull on the seat adjustment knob, “Tonight’s your lucky night.”

Jo let out a yip as she felt her body fly down. She hadn’t expected that at all as she looked above her at the rumble seat. The fox blushed as she slowly rolled over before climbing onto the bench seat. Chris didn’t wait long to join her, crawling in beside her to place his hand right back onto her thigh. The vixen blushed as she stared at him. “Chris… maybe… maybe we should wait. I’m,” she started to say, but the tod cut her off, “In heat. I know. Don’t worry. I’ll wear a condom.”

Chris’s promise was hollow. He didn’t have any condoms, and he wasn’t going to wear one tonight.

\f

Chapter 5: Truth

Jo rarely forgot that night. She kept trying to get Chris to come over and let her feel him inside her again, but the fox seemed distant and aloof. It was a bit odd until Jo started to realize that he’d only been interested in her for that one reason. Part of her was resentful, especially since he was one of the few foxes on campus, but another part of her knew that something like this could happen. She’d seen it happen in high school, especially with jocks. “That’s wut he is,” Jo muttered to herself, “jist a big, dumb ol jock. And I wuz just his one nighter.” She was just going to have to live with the fact her first was an ass, something she resigned herself to fairly easily.

The next week, Jo was uncomfortable. The vixen seemed to twitch all the time in class, her hands constantly moving to adjust her bra, but each time she did, she just felt more uncomfortable. In truth, her breasts ached, her back ached, everything ached. She didn’t seem to enjoy the foods she used to like at all. She felt bloated most of the time and every so often, she’d get cramps. Plus she kept waking up late for her morning classes and once she got there, she kept getting up all the time to urinate, missing parts of the lecture.

Out of everything that hurt and generally annoyed the vixen, Jo’s nipples were the worst. They’d become especially tender to the slightest touch to the point she could barely take a shower. Her tender nipples were only exacerbated by how tight her bra’s felt, so much so she had to go out and buy new ones.

Part of Jo wondered if she was pregnant, but that couldn’t have been true. Chris had worn a condom. He’d told her he had. Her worries were put aside some when she had found she’d bled a little. It was a good sign at least, so she brushed off any ideas about her pregnancy. That was until she visited her OBGYN.

Doctor Barry Brown was a kind old dog. Like his last name implied, he was a brown lab and that was basically his only color outside of the slowly encroaching white on his muzzle from age. He rather enjoyed his line of work, and most of his patients enjoyed being around him. It probably helped too that the old dog wasn’t attracted to women at all, so it made his line of work much easier.

Barry smiled as he made his way into the examination room, his eyes looking at the vixen in front of him as he looked over her chart. The doctor over in Bunnyburrow had been gracious enough to fax over her files, so he had a good starting point. “Hello, Miss Grey, I’m Doctor Brown,” the lab had said as he slipped between her legs to examine her.

“Has anything changed since your last exam,” he asked as he started to investigate. Jo let out a sigh, “Well… I did have… relations with a feller about a few weeks ago. Since then, I been all uncomfy. My boobs hurt. My nipples hurt. I keep wakin’ up late fer class, and I jist feel so achy all the time.”

The doctor felt his ears go back, “Well. I can see why. Miss Grey, you’re a month pregnant.”

“WHAT!”

“You’re pregnant, Miss Grey, and from the look of things, you’ve been so for a month.”

Jo shook her head, “That… that cain’t be true! I had my period!”

Doctor Brown slowly looked up at her. “Miss Grey, I’m sorry to tell you this, but what you found was bleeding from implantation, not your period.”

The vixen started to shudder, her eyes tearing up, “But… But I cain’t get pregnant, Doctor. I’m th’first one in m’famly to go to college. I jist… I jist cain’t!”

Slowly, the old lab slid out from between Jo’s legs, sliding the rolling stool around so he could sit next to her. “Miss Grey. You are early enough along that you might want to consider having an abortion if you want to continue to go to college.”

Jo blinked a few times at his sentence, but especially when he said, “abortion.” The option hadn’t occurred to her yet. She could get one and it would be like this never happened. But it did happen, and she could never erase that whether she had the kit or had the abortion. She would of course have to tell her family about it at some point, whether it was years down the road or when she showed up during summer break holding a kit in her arms.

Jo let out a long sighing whimper as she started to think about every option she had. “Lemme… lemme think on it, doc.”

After the appointment, Jo had a lot to consider, but the first thing she needed to do was make sure Chris knew what he’d done. She’d found him in the cafeteria again, talking to a wolf girl. “Course he’s doin’ that,” she growled as the vixen made her way behind him to tap on his shoulder.

Chris was just about to get that wolf bitch to meet him in the dorms when he felt a clawed finger tap him twice. Slowly, he turned around, eyes opening in surprise. “Oh… hey Jo,” he started to say in surprise while trying to keep his tone casual.

“Don’tcha ‘hey Jo’ me ya egg-suckin’ dawg,” the vixen snarled at him. Mood swings were a sign of pregnancy, but this was no mood swing, she was out for blood.

“Who the hell are you,” the wolf woman asked, as she gave Chris her own snarl. The tod tried to take command of the situation, but Jo cut him off, “This no-legged dog sweettalked me, and knocked me up!”

Unfortunately for Chris, the vixen had yelled it in the cafeteria, so every eye in the room was on him. The wolf who was sitting beside him gave the tod a snort before sliding away. The fox started to growl as people began to whisper amongst themselves. “Then abort the little fuck and move on,” he said before turning back around.

Jo’s eyes went wide for a brief second before her strong hand reached out to grip him by the nape, digging her claws into his fur and flesh. “You dun sewed yer oats in me, and you gots to reap whatcha sew,” the vixen snarled back at him.

“I’m not marrying some redneck country bumpkin,” Chris roared back as he used one strong hand to knock hers off his neck, spinning around in the process.

Everyone in the cafeteria stared at the two snarling foxes, some of them whispering about how they may have gone savage. “Like hell ya’rn’t. You made yer bed, and you gots t’sleep in it,” Jo roared back, her claws extending.

Chris just smirked, “Go on, bitch. Hit me. Scratch me up real good in front of ALL these people. You’ll get booted out of here, and my father will sue you and your Podunk little farmer family for all they’re worth.”

Jo’s nostrils flared over and over again as she glared at Chris. They stared at one another for a few seconds before she pulled her claws back in. “One day, Chris Rowan, yer gonna reap whatcha sew. And don’t be ‘sprised if I spit on yer grave,” the vixen said one last time before storming off.

That was the last time she ever saw Chris Rowan, but it was also the last time Chris Rowan managed to get laid at the University.

\fChapter 6: Options

Jo didn’t abort the child, even though she’d thought about it many times over the remaining trimesters. It didn’t help that being pregnant hurt her attendance during her Freshman year, but she had been able to get and hold a 3.0 Grade Point Average, mostly because of her papers. The more the months ticked away, the more her pregnancy showed, but the more determined she was to at least finish her Freshman year.

The whole ordeal had been rough on the vixen, and even more so on her parents who rarely heard from Jo at all. She’d talk to them on the phone every few days, but she never sent home any new photos, which made them a bit curious about what was going on. It confused them even more that she didn’t come to visit on holidays or breaks. The more Jo was silent, the more everyone worried. They’d thought about heading to the big city to see their little girl, but they couldn’t get much in the way of farm help.

The semester finally ended in mid-May, something that Jo had been extremely grateful for. With college done for the time being, she could at least focus on what to do next. She’d started to think about names for the kit brewing inside her when she received a call from the registrar’s office. It was a bit strange, especially considering it was from her counselor. The vixen figured that she wouldn’t hear from them at least until August when classes started again, but she went along with it.

The woman behind the desk was tall and skinny, but that was to be expected from an antelope, though Jo didn’t really know which of the various antelope subspecies she was. “Miss Grey,” the woman said as she leaned over her desk, “I realize that you have been up into a very awkward situation, and I hate to burden you further. But many of the staff have noticed your condition and are wondering what your plan is if you wish to continue to attend Z.U.”

The vixen just looked down, “I… I hadn’t really done much considerin’. I’ve jist wanted t’finish the year.”

The antelope nodded her head, “I understand, but the University doesn’t offer any family housing, and children aren’t allowed in the dorms. You’d also be away from the child for long periods of time, and we don’t offer any day care services.”

Jo started to sniffle. The sniffle turned into a pout. The pout turned into sobbing. “I… I don’t know what to do! I cain’t afford a house, er a nanny, but I cain’t send him back home t’my parents! I’d die of shame,” the vixen started to openly wail as her hands moved to rest on her cheeks, “I cain’t quit college! I jist cain’t! I’m th’only Grey to ever go t’college. But I cain’t let my kit grow up without a mama or a daddy.”

The antelope woman slowly slid out of her desk, moving around to grab some tissue paper. She handed it to Jo as a hand moved to her shoulder. “I understand, Miss Grey, but there are other options,” the woman said, “you could put your child up for adoption.”

The vixen looked up at her with blood shot eyes as tears kept flowing, “Adoption?” The antelope nodded, “Yes. There are lots of couples who can’t have children that are looking to adopt. I could put you in touch with one of them if you like.”

Jo just nodded her head, “Please.”

Chapter 7: Adoption

Jo let out a sigh as she looked through the numerous couples looking to adopt. Most of them wanted sheep, or bunnies, or kittens, or other domestics, but none of them seemed to want fox kits. The more she searched through the profiles, the more she became disheartened. The vixen’s hand gently rubbed over her swollen belly, “I’ll find ya a mama and a papa, Kody. Don’t you worry.”

She’d found out not long after the meeting that she was pregnant with a boy. She’d started to call him Kody from that day forwards. It felt odd to name a child that she was going to give up, but it was the only way she could really keep from going crazy.

May and June passed by with very little in the way of prospects for her yet to be born child, and the more she thought about it, the more she was open to the idea of coming clean to her parent and sending Kody to live with them. At least he would be with his own blood kin. It was the first day in July that she finally found someone she liked.

They were a domestic inter-species couple. The wife was a mutt; part German Shepherd, part Irish Setter, part Boarder Collie, part Welsh Corgi, and part coyote. She wasn’t able to have children at all, partly because of her size, but mostly because she was barren. The husband was a pure bred German Shepherd on his second marriage. But what really caught Jo’s attention was that they were looking for a tod kit. It was the first time she’d seen anyone list tod kits on their dossier, most of them wanted vixen kits. But it got better. The husband was an airline pilot, which meant he made enough money to comfortably provide for his family, which was perfect. Kody wouldn’t have to worry about anything when he grew up.

Slowly, Jo made her way into the hall, towards the hanging in wall phone. She punched in the number to the adoption agency.

Brenda Schaiferhund was surprised to hear the phone ring during lunch. It was a weekday after all and most telemarketers called during weekends. Slowly, the mutt woman slid out of her chair and headed over to the ringing telephone. Brenda was a mutt, but most of the time she was mistaken for a Vallhund because of how short she was. She had to climb onto a chair to get at the phone, picking it up and pressing the transmitter to her ear. “Schaiferhund residence,” she said into the receiver.

“Mrs. Schaiferhund, this is Mrs. O’Donnell with Open Hearts Open Arms. I know you were looking for a tod kit, and we found one. A Miss Josephine Grey contacted us back in May about putting her son up for adoption. We just got off the phone with her, and we think he would be a perfect match,” the voice said into Brenda’s ear.

“How old is he,” was the first question. The mutt bitch was very curious. She didn’t have a problem adopting an older kit, but part of her wanted to raise him up from a baby.

“Miss Grey is due in the next week or so,” the woman replied, “Second week of July, I believe.”

Brenda just about dropped the phone and fell out of her chair. It was what she wanted. It was perfect. A kit to raise  from childbirth, like he was her own son.

“Mrs. Schaiferhund?”

“I… I’ll need to talk this over with my husband, but I think… I think he’s exactly what we’re looking for.”

“Of course, Mrs. Schaiferhund. Please call me back as soon as you come to a decision.”

“Yes. Yes, of course.”

The woman on the other end hung up with Brenda still holding onto the handset.

Johan Schaiferhund was rummaging through his corporate mail in the pilot’s lounge of Trans-National Airlines. He’d just finished a flight that morning, a long eight hour ordeal with two stops to refuel and change passengers, and he was ready to call it a day. The pure bred German Shepherd started to make his way towards the lounge door, when one of the dispatchers poked his head out of his office. “Hey Johnny, your wife’s on the line, says it’s urgent.”

Johan blinked a few times. His wife never called him at work unless it was an emergency. The last time he’d gotten one of those calls, the shepherd’s parents had passed away, so it made him a little worried. “I’ll be right there,” the dog replied, making his way towards the dispatcher’s office. The other man, a stocky bulldog, handed him the phone. “What is it? What’s wrong, honey,” were his first words.

“Nothing’s wrong. In fact, it couldn’t be better,” Brenda replied, which only confused Johan. “What do you mean,” he asked.

“The adoption agency called. There’s a vixen who’s looking for someone to adopt her tod kit,” his wife’s voice was incredibly high pitched when she got excited.

“How old is he?”

“He hasn’t been born yet! The vixen is due soon though,” the mutt yipped out happily over the phone. The shepherd nodded, “And this is the one, Brenda?”

“Yes, this is the one,” Brenda said emphatically.

“All right. Call them back and let them know.”

“Love you.”

“I love you too,” Johan said before he hung up. The bulldog looked at him, “What was that about?”

The shepherd just smiled, “We’re having a baby.”

\f

Chapter 8: Kody Grey

Jo leaned back in the chair as she looked at Gideon and Ray. “Nine days later, I gave birth t’uh healthy baby boy. Brenda’n’Yo-han took him home, and that was the last I ever saw of you, Kody,” the vixen said as she looked directly at Ray. “I figgered they’d rename ya, even though I asked if they’d keep th’name I gave ya,” she said as she let out a sigh.

“Kody’s my middle name, mom,” Ray replied, “I’ve never gone by it since most people just call me Ray.”

His words made Jo’s face light up, “I’m glad.”

Gideon held up a hand, “But Aunt Jo, ya’llways told us you never had no kits.”

Jo let out a sigh as she looked over at her nephew, “I never told you, Gideon, but granny and pappy knew. So did yer ma and pa. I didn’t even tell’m til I was done with college. Damn near broke everyone’s heart, even mine.”

“Is that why ya never got hitched, Aunt Jo,” Gideon asked, “Cuz a what happened?”

The old vixen nodded, “It was hard enough livin’ knowing I gave up one kit. I couldn’t bring myself to get married and have more knowing that they’d have an oller brother they’d never meet.”

The tubby red and brown fox nodded as he slowly began to lean back into his chair. He had a cousin he’d never met nor heard a peep about til now. It would have been nice if Kody would have been around when Gideon was growing up. There would have been another fox to mingle with.

Ray just leaned forwards as he started to wriggle out of his jacket, sliding one arm out at a time. “Mom, you should probably know something,” he said as he slowly handed her the brown leather garment over to her with the name plate facing up.

“My parents told me about what happened when I was eighteen,” he said as he looked at Josephine, “I thought about contacting you several times, but I didn’t have the courage until Brenda and Johann passed away last year.”

His real mother looked up at him, “What happened?”

Ray let out a long sigh as he remembered, “Car accident.”

Jo looked down at the jacket again, before moving her head back up to look at her son. “I’m so sorry, Ray. They were such nice people too.”

Ray nodded his head, “They were, but after their death, I finally got in contact with you, and… well… just read the jacket, mom.”

The old vixen looked at her son’s jacket, staring at the two pairs of silver wings, but what really caught her attention was the name under it. Kody Grey. She looked back up at her son, “Ya changed it?”

Kody nodded, “Yeah. I’ve been going by Kody ever since last year.”

Jo started to tear up again as she stood up, the leather jacket falling away. Her son stood up as well, his arms wrapping around his mother and holding her tightly as she cried on his shoulder.

Chapter 9: Loose ends

Jo and Kody embraced for a long time over the living room table before the hug finally broke. The vixen had finally stopped crying, though her tears had soaked into the shoulder of his shirt. Gently, Jo eased herself back into her chair, composing herself as she looked over at her son.

Kody looked at his mother, his real mother, as he slid back into his chair, resting on the edge of the seat as his elbows pressed into his knees. “Mom, I do have a question. What happened to my father,” Kody asked curiously, “You said he would reap what he sewed.”

The old woman nodded as she leaned back and daintily crossed her legs. “He did,” she said with a sigh, “From what I ‘member, he caught one a them matin’ diseases a year er two after you were born. Dunno how, but I’m gessin’ it was from him chasin’ girls at the law sk’l his daddy sent him to.”

Kody looked at the vixen, “And?”

“Well, yer daddy died in th’ospital. I read th’bitcuary when it hit the papers. All thay err said was he’d c’ntracted a ver-nurr-ee-ull disease and had some complications, dunno what he’d stuck his pecker inta tha’d cause that,” Jo continued. The vixen was rather nonchalant about his death, not even attempting to sound sad at all, “He got wut was cumin t’im.”

The tod just nodded his head. From the story, his father did sound like an ass, but he wasn’t entirely sure if that was true justice. He’d half expected the story to end with his father knocking someone up and being forced to marry them, but this ending made sure that he wouldn’t have any other siblings to attempt to connect with.

“AIV,” Kody told his mother. “It sounds like he contracted AIV.”

Jo blinked a few times as she heard him tell her exactly what his daddy’d contracted. “AIV? In’t that th’ hoe-moe disease,” she asked. The tod just shook his head. He knew his mother was probably thinking in a different era, but it wasn’t really her fault. “No, mom, it’s not the homo disease,” Kody replied as he leaned back into his chair, “no one’s called it that for a long time, especially since it affects everyone, not just the LGBT community.”

The vixen just nodded her head, “Oh.”

There was another long, awkward pause in the room as everyone looked at each other. The cards had been placed on the table, but no one was sure what to do next nor the game they were playing. The four foxes just looked at one another, waiting for someone to break the silence.

Luckily Jeane finally said something. “So… Kody… err… what do you want us to call ya?”

“Kody’s fine. I’m still trying to get used to it myself,” he said as he gave his mother a smile before looking at his aunt. The vixen gave her nephew a nod, “Allright. Kody it is then. So Kody, what do ya do fer a livin’?”

Jo thought about answering, but Kody answered first, “I’m a pilot.”

“Ya mean like them aero-planes,” Gideon asked as he looked over at his cousin. The other tod smiled warmly, “Yeah. I fly airplanes. In the Air Force.”

“Never thought they’d let a fox in th’Air Force, then ‘gain, never thought they’d let a bunny be a cop,” his cousin said in surprise.

“GIDEON,” Jeane snarled at her son, making the hefty fox press his ears to the back of his head. Kody just brushed it off, “I’m not the only fox, but yeah, it wasn’t easy getting in.”

Jo smiled as she looked over at her sister-in-law, “He’s also a college gradiate, like his momma.”

The tod smiled, “Sure am, though, I didn’t go to Z.U. I went to a different school.”

“Oh? Where’d ya go,” Gideon asked. He’d thought about taking a culinary course at the college over in Wolfsburgh, but he was genuinely curious about his new cousin.

“Grizzly State College over in Bering,” Kody answered with a smile.

“Iddn’t that a mostly burr school,” Jeane inquired.

“Yes, ma’am, but I got a minority scholarship there. That and my Military Service Bill covered almost everything,” the tod responded, but he was only bombarded by more questions from his aunt and cousin.

“Where ya flying out of,” Gideon queried.

“Bout two hours away over at Mammoth River,” Kody said as he sat back in his chair, but his aunt immediately asked him, “What did ya do before th’Air Force?”

 “Army.”

Gideon blinked, “Hell, looks like us Greys got us ‘nother gen-you-ine war he-roe in th’family, like granpappy ‘n great granpappy.”

Kody just laughed, “I guess so.”

“Ya gots any plans for the rest of the day, Kody,” Jeane asked with a warm smile. The tod just shook his head, “No ma’am.”

The vixen looked at her sister-in-law then over at her own son, “Gideon. How bout you take cousin Kody up int’town. Introduce him to some’a yer friends.”

Gideon scratched the back of his head, “Sure thing, ma.” He looked over at his cousin, “Ya wanna take both our cars er?”

Kody chuckled, “We can take both our cars. I’ll follow you there.”

\f

Chapter 10: Clones

The Jeeves and the Pastry Truck convoyed back to town, passing by rows and rows of fields full of various different grains, fruits, and vegetables. Gideon had wished his cousin would have joined him in the truck. It would have given them a chance to talk and get to know one another on the half hour drive to town, but if they’d done that, Kody wouldn’t have had any transportation.

Meeting his new cousin had been odd to say the least. Aunt Jo said that he looked like his daddy, but since Gideon had never had any reference point, it seemed more like Kody looked like Gideon himself or Gideon’s father, Joshua. There was definitely a family resemblance between the three tods, though, Kody looked a bit different since he had no brown on him. The fox chuckled, “I bet half them’ll think he’s my long lost brother.”

He was correct. The first person the two had met after Gideon and Kody had pulled into the driveway behind the bakery was Travis. The black-footed ferret did a double take the first time he saw the two foxes. “You get a clone or something,” he asked as he looked them up and down, “cause having two of you would really help getting more pies made.”

Gideon let out a boisterous laugh at his friend, slapping his knee as he held onto his belly, “Naw, Travis. This’s mah cousin, Kody.”

The ferret looked very confused, “Cousin? How come I’ve never seen or heard of you before? You a distant relative or something?”

Kody shook his head, “First cousins.”

Gideon’s laugh died down to a low chuckle, “It’s a long story, Travis. I’m still wrappin’ my noggin’ round it m’self.”

Travis looked Kody up and down, “Well, I can see the resemblance.” The ferret stuck out his hand, “Travis.”

The tod gave the other mammal a firm handshake, “Kody.”

“Nice t’meet you. I’d chat longer, but Gideon and I have to get back to work,” Travis replied with a smile. Unfortunately, Gideon had to disagree with his friend, “Hate t’tell ya this, Travis, but I’m takin’ th’resta th’day off. Gotta show my cousin around town.”

The ferret blinked a few times before letting out a sigh. He wasn’t going to fight it, mostly because Gideon had made sure to leave a good number of pies ready for baking before he’d left earlier, so at least there would be some fresh ones for the evening rush. “All right,” he said, “But it means you’ll probably have to work tomorrow to stay ahead of the curve on Monday.”

Gideon just chuckled, “Travis. I live here. Course I’ll be able t’get ‘headda curve. I’ll see ya Mundy.” Slowly, he made his way around the ferret, beckoning his cousin to follow him.

\f

Chapter 11: Grand Introduction

The pastry shop was packed with people, most of them sitting down to eat but a few were staring at the pastries behind the glass in front of the counter. The animals were so involved in their eating or searching that they didn’t notice when Gideon slid in behind the register, his cousin moving next to him.

“Hey ya’ll,” the tubby tod yelled out at his customers. All of them slowly turned their attention to Gideon, giving him warm smiles. It took most of them a few seconds to realized that there was a near equally chubby fox standing next to him that looked nearly identical to him. Gideon tossed a hand around his cousin’s shoulder, giving him a strong pat, “This here’s m’cousin, Kody!”

It took a second for most of the patrons to drink in the news. All of them were locals, so hearing that Gideon had a cousin that none of them had ever seen or heard of was strange. Finally though, a little doe bunny kit, one of the Hopps kin, finally said something, “Hello.”

Kody was blushing a little at his cousin’s embrace and announcement, so much so that he only gave a casual wave and a quick, “Hello.” Of course, Gideon didn’t really stop talking, “He’s a city boy and a war hee-roe.” The other fox just snorted as he started to push off from his cousin, “I’m not a war hero, Gideon.”

“Sure, ya’re, cuz! Ya been in th’Army n’ th’Air Force. Yer a gen-you-ine war hee-roe,” the tod said as he gave Kody another pat on the back.

“How come we’ve never heard of you before,” Judy’s older brother number 15, named Leroy, asked, “I’ve lived here my whole life and never heard about you until today.”

“Well,” Kody started to say as he moved a hand up to scratch the back of his head nervously. Luckily, Gideon stepped in, “That’s cuz he didn’t know we was kin til last year. You know them newfangled genie-ology places up on th’interwebs? That’s how we found out.”

The nervous fox wondered if that answer would suffice. It really wasn’t a lie, but it wasn’t a whole truth. Thankfully, the equally tubby fox’s answer sufficed. “Ah, well, it can be hard to keep track of family, especially when you have one as big as mine,” Leroy said with a chuckle. Kody just responded with a nervous laugh, “Yeah.”

Unfortunately, the answer didn’t exactly sit right with Marry-Anne Springer, one of Bonnie Springer Hopps’ many siblings. The two foxes looked too similar for it to just be random coincidence. She wasn’t sure if they had the same sire, but they were certainly very closely related. She’d have to tell Bonnie about this later.

After the odd introduction to the store patrons, Gideon had muscled Kody out the door of the pastry shop to start a walking tour of the town. All in all, Bunnyburrow’s town central was longer than it was wide, having been built along a central street. There were a few houses here and there that surrounded the center of the town, newer structures built behind the mercantile buildings so people could walk to work or school, but most of the people that lived in the area lived on farms.

They walked down the street, the two chubby tods walking beside one another as they spoke, mostly making light small talk about work, until the subject started to change a little to more personal questions. Gideon was the first to ask the question that Kody knew was coming, “So, Kody, you got yerself a sweetheart?”

The fox shook his head, “No. Not recently. You?”

Gideon chuckled as he shrugged his shoulders, “Nah. Been s’busy with work, I haven’t found one.”

Kody just nodded. He could tell that his cousin wasn’t exactly being entirely truthful, the tod’s face was flushing, not something people did when they said they weren’t seeing anyone. He just nodded his head. There was a secret Gideon wasn’t going to tell him, but he figured that his cousin might be just like him.

“Gideon,” he leaned in closer, just about to ask him the question that was on his mind when someone stepped in front of them.

“Well hay there, Gideon.”

\f

Chapter 12: Bill Blake

Bill Blake was a gigantic, solid gray wolf in more ways than one. He wasn’t much taller than most of his kind, but he was heavy. His chest was flabby, his belly was thick and round, but his arms looked like two old pines that grew right out of his shoulders. He looked very intimidating, but in reality, he was a big softie, like a teddy bear stuck in a wolf’s body.

Like Kody, Bill was fairly new to the area, only living there for the last two or three years. He’d been a County Sheriff’s Deputy over in Nutwood County before moving here to become the Sheriff of Tri-Burrows County, which was a bit surprising, since they rarely elected someone they didn’t know well.

The presence of the wolf made Gideon blush, and Kody raise an eyebrow at his cousin’s reaction. “Hey Bill,” the fox replied as he tried to put on some semblance of calm. He hadn’t expected to run into Bill, especially since the two tods had just been talking about beaus.

Bill’s lips parted in a warm smile, “Well now, who’s this cutie next to ya? Yer brother?”

Now Kody was blushing too, his ears flattening as he looked up at the larger man. Kody’d never been super attracted to wolves even though both genders had hit on him multiple times, but he couldn’t help but like this one for some reason.

 Gideon stuttered slightly, “He’s… he’s my cousin, Kody.” The massive wolf chuckled as he looked between the two chunky foxes, “And where’s Gideon been hiding ya? He ain’t never told me bout ya before.”

Gideon was just about to answer when Kody spoke for the pair, “That’s because I was adopted.”

Bill tilted his head, his ears flopping around, “Ya don’t look ‘dopted to me.” Kody chewed his bottom lip, “I was adopted by another family when I was a kit. I didn’t find out I was a Grey til a few years ago.”

Gideon blinked a few times. He wasn’t sure why his cousin was spilling the beans to Bill, but he didn’t stop him, only adding, “The family don’t like t’talk’bout it, but he’s Aunt Jo’s kit.” The wolf just nodded as he started to absorb all the new information for a brief second, but then he smiled warmly, “Well, I hope he don’t lock ya up again, Kody. I’d love to get t’know ya, but I gots to get going.”

Gideon and Kody were just about to say their goodbyes when Bill gave both of them a massive hug, his face moving in between them to whisper, “Now that I got two of ya, we’re gonna have lots more fun together,” before letting them go.

Bill turned around and walked off, leaving Kody and Gideon in a bit of a daze for a brief second. “He’s your sweetheart, isn’t he,” Kody said as he turned to look at his cousin. The other tod bit his lower lip as he nodded his head, “Yeah.”

“So you’re,” Kody started to say, but his cousin cut him off, “I ain’t queer if that’s whatcha mean. I’m… whatchacallit? Bicycle?”

Kody chuckled, “Something like that. I think you mean bisexual.”

“Yeah, that’s it. I like gals, but I also like fellers too,” Gideon said as his face was redder than a Russian beat. Kody blushed too, “Yeah. Me too.”

There was a long pause as they started their walk again, only for Gideon to break the silence. “So. You got a place t’stay here?”

“I was thinking about heading back to my apartment back in Mammoth River,” Kody replied. He hadn’t expected to spend the night in Bunnyburrow, in fact he’d planned to head home after this and be back the next day, it was a weekend after all.

“Naw, cuz. Ya c’n spend the night at my place,” his cousin offered. Kody attempted to refuse, but Gideon wouldn’t let him get a word in edgewise, “Yer stayin’ the night. I insist.”

\f

Chapter 13: Bonnie Hopps

Bonnie had been clearing the table after feeding her slowly dwindling, Infantry Company sized family dinner. The eldest children had moved out to their own houses in the Tri-Burrow areas, well, all of them except Judy who was living in the big city. She couldn’t help but let out a small sigh, as she picked up the one hundred and fifty plus dishes from the gigantic table and fed them into the dishwasher in groups of twenty. This part always took the longest, but trying to take all the children out for dinner would mean they’d have to take a second mortgage out on the farm, a prospect that the motherly rabbit didn’t find appealing.

Bonnie had just about left the kitchen to go read her book, The Tales of Avalon: The Princess of Persia, to pass the time while the dishwasher did its work, when her phone rang. She wasn’t expecting any calls, and part of her hoped that it was Judy, but Judy rarely called the house phone. The pear-shaped woman reached her hand out to pull the handset off the charging unit and stuff the transmitter under her ear.

“Hopps Residence,” she said in her usual calm voice, but she was surprised at who spoke to her. “Hey Bonnie, it’s your sister, Mary-Ann,” the voice said in a voice that sounded like she was ready to spill some very hot gossip.

“Hey Mary-Ann, sounds like you’ve got something spicy,” the mama bunny said as she made her way over to her favorite chair. As much as she enjoyed her novel, that was full of gossip and conflict, there was something about real life that intrigued her more.

“I sure do. You hear about the new Grey in town, sis,” the other bunny asked over the phone.

“Other Grey? You would have told me if Jeane was pregnant”

“Oh no, she’s not pregnant. But get this. Another fox showed up today named Kody Grey. He’s apparently a war hero and Gideon’s cousin.”

“Gideon doesn’t have any cousins.”

“I know! Gideon said that Kody found out about it last year through one of those Geneology websites, but I didn’t buy into it for a second. Those two look like brothers. Apparently, June Oberon, the polar bear who’s married to one of the crop dusters, said that she heard from a reliable source that Kody Grey spilled the beans to Bill Blake in front of Marian Wether’s yarn store. June told me that Kody is Gideon’s twin brother. According to her reliable source, Kody was locked up in the attic this whole time.”

The whole story made Bonnie blink. Something about all this didn’t sound right at all. Jeane Grey didn’t seem like the kind of woman who would do that to a child for their whole life. Minor punishment, maybe, but she’d always been a loving mother, if not a bit overbearing. “Are you sure, Mary-Ann,” Bonnie asked over the phone.

“If I’m lying, may I be hit by a streetcar,” the other rabbit said, professing that she believed every bit, but Bonnie wasn’t exactly sure, “That’s quite the tall tale, Mary-Ann.”

“And one hundred percent true!”

The motherly bunny doubted that. “Thanks for telling me,” she replied, “I’ll see you at church tomorrow.”

Bonnie hung up the phone before pulling out her m-Phone. The person who could set this whole thing straight would be Judy, because of her access to records, but it wasn’t exactly one hundred percent legal. She hated to put Judy on the spot, but she had a feeling that her daughter might be the only one the people would actually listen to. The curvy woman let out a sigh as she pressed the ScreenTime button.

\f

Chapter 14: Judy Hopps

Judith Laverne Hopps stared at the computer screen in front of her. She’d been staring at it for at least fifteen minutes as she typed out another report. The one thing people never learned about was how much paperwork the police had to do every time they made an arrest or completed an assignment. It was a bit of a grinder, but it also made sure perps were put away.

But at the moment, Judy just wanted a distraction. When her phone started to ring, she just about leaped from her seat for joy. “Finally,” she groaned out as she pulled out her m-Phone and pressed the answer ScreenTime button. Her mother appeared immediately, sitting down in her favorite chair, but she looked different. She wasn’t her normal happy self, rather, she looked worried.

Judy’s ears immediately drooped as she stared at her mother’s face on the screen, “Mom, what’s wrong?”

“Judy, I really hate to ask you, but…” Bonnie didn’t get to finish, “Mom, you know I’d do anything to help you and dad.”

“Oh no, Judy, it’s not like that. You see, there’s a nasty rumor floating around about Gideon’s mother, and I thought… I thought you might be able to clear a few things up. People seem to really listen to you,” the worried mother rabbit told her daughter.

“What kind of rumors,” Judy queried, her face showing obvious curiosity.

“Well… I don’t want to be spreading the rumor more than it already has been spread, but someone named Kody Grey showed up in town today, and Gideon said he was his cousin, but you’re Aunt Mary-Ann says that he’s actually Gideon’s twin brother that Jeane locked away in the attic.”

The younger rabbit rolled her eyes at the mention of her Aunt Mary-Ann. She was notorious for gossip and rumors. If she’d actually finished high school, she probably could have gotten a job writing headlines and articles for the Zootopian Inquirer or the Bi-Weekly Global News. “Mom, you know not to believe Aunt Mary-Ann,” Judy replied as she shook her head.

“I know, Judy, but I’m more worried that other people in the town will believe her. Do you think you can pull some strings and find out,” her mother begged. It wasn’t the most legal thing in the world, but it wasn’t like Judy hadn’t bent the rules before, especially on her first case.

“I’ll ask Chief Bogo if I can look into it as an identity fraud case, but I can’t promise you he’ll let me investigate,” Judy told her mother.

“I know you’ll try, Judy. You’ve always been a try-er.”

“I’ll let you know what I find out, mom. Is dad around?”

“Stu’s out playing bridge tonight.”

“Say ‘Hi’ to him for me.”

“I will sweetheart.”

The ScreenTime call ended abruptly before Judy put her phone down on her desk. She wondered if Nick had ever known a fox named Kody Grey, though, really she should have asked her mother for a picture before the call ended. It would have helped.

A thought popped into Judy’s mind. Tim Church was their resident criminal sketch artist. The little rodent could draw a picture of Gideon’s face if she gave him a description. That might actually work. It was at least some place to start.

\f

Chapter 15: Bridge

It was a fifteen minute drive from the actual town to the Hopps Family Farm, and it didn’t really help that Stu had two hundred and seventy six children, around one hundred and seventy of which were too young to leave home. Between having to do riot control to get the younger ones to bed and the older ones to at least turn down the plethora of different music that they blasted throughout the home, he was already going to be late. “Not like this has never happened before,” he said to himself, brushing off the tardiness as if it were dandruff on his shoulder.

Kody hadn’t expected his cousin’s hospitality, and he also hadn’t expected his cousin to have guests over that night either. The heavy fox had watched as Bill Blake and a weasel named Jeb Varlet entered the upstairs apartment, all of them exchanging hugs with Gideon before turning their attention to Kody. Jeb gave him a firm handshake, but like that afternoon, Bill had grabbed the tod and given him the biggest hug he’d ever gotten in his life, somehow more powerful than the one from that afternoon.

The three of them gathered around the dinner table, a large pile of chips in the center with a full deck of bridge cards. There were two empty seats however. “You can join us if you like,” Jeb said as Gideon made his way over to the fridge, getting five beers out. Kody looked at the chair, “Sure, but who’s the last chair for?”

Bill laughed, “Stu Hopps. He’s always running late though.”

Jeb just chuffed, “He’s been running late since the day I met him back in high school.”

Almost on cue, Stu walked into the apartment. It really couldn’t have been scripted any better as the fat old rabbit made a b-line for his seat. “Sorry bout that,” he said as looked around the table, not really registering the new guy he was sitting right beside as he reached out to grab the beer in front of him.

The tod leaned forward in his seat, hand reaching out to grab his beer. He took one sip before he asked, “So. What are we playing exactly?”

“Bridge,” Stu replied as he finally looked over at Kody. The fatherly rabbit had to blink a few times as he looked from Kody over to Gideon and then back again. There were two Gideons. No, there was one Gideon and one fox that looked a great deal like him. Before Stu could ask, Kody piped in, “No. We’re not brother. Just cousins.”

“Ohhhh,” Stu said nodding his head, “By the looks of you two, I’d have to guess first cousins, but everyone knows Josephine never had kits.”

“Well,” Kody started to say, but then decided to hold off on answering, just turning his gaze away from the old rabbit to look at the wolf, “Isn’t Bridge a four-player game?”

Bill nodded, “Yeah, but I’m gonna sit the first round out and replace the first loser.”

The chubby wolf gave Kody a smirk as began to deal the cards out clockwise, almost tasting what he thought would happen later on. The first card went to Jeb, second card to Gideon, third card to Stu, and the final card to Kody. This went on and on again until their hands were built, 13 cards in all.

As expected, Kody lost the first game to the more skilled players, then again, he’d almost never played bridge, so he’d fumbled through the game spectacularly. This meant he had to sit out as the wolf, weasel, fox, and rabbit continued their game. The tod flopped down onto a nearby couch as he lazily watched the other men trade wins before turning his attention over to Gideon’s television.

\f

Chapter 16: Long Night

The bridge game finally ended late in the night, but the results were not what anyone had been expecting. Stu had actually won the overall game by one point after they played six rounds. The ending scores; 200-199-175-182. Bill couldn’t help but growl at his bad luck. He’d come in last, well, not technically last since Kody had stopped playing after being thoroughly destroyed in the first round after only managing to get fifteen points in thirteen tricks. Gideon had managed a solid second place, and Jeb third.

Unfortunately, once the game ended, the night was over. Stu and Jeb excused themselves. It was late and both of them needed to be back on the farm. The four exchanged hugs before the two of them gave Kody a hand shake.

Bill and Gideon’s night, on the other hand, was just starting. The wolf had hoped to get both tods, but Kody had politely declined. Gideon had chuckled a bit and Bill had playfully pouted as they slid out of the living room/kitchen back to Gideon’s bedroom.

Kody let out a long sigh as he turned off the tv and made his way to bed, the fox letting out a mighty yawn before stripping down and sliding into bed. He liked his cousin and his friends. And Gideon’s beau.

Twenty-five minutes later, Stu slipped into the house, desperately trying to not make any noise as he crept along the hallway to his bedroom. It was already two in the morning, and he didn’t want to wake anyone. Being as stealthy as he could be, the old rabbit slipped into his bedroom, slowly shedding all his clothing before sliding into bed behind Bonnie.

His wife groaned softly in a groggy voice, “Mm…. Is that you, Stu? Where? Where’ve you been?”

The rabbit leaned in to kiss his wife on her cheek, “The game ran long tonight, honey, but for once, I finally won.”

“Mmm… that’s… that’s nice dear,” she said before slowly falling asleep.

\f

Chapter 17: The Morning

Bill let out a massive yawn, his flabby face contorting as one gigantic arm reached for the sky. The wolf didn’t know what time it was, but then again, he didn’t really care. Groggily, he looked his shoulder, giving a small chuckle. Sometime during the night, the canine had managed to end up as the little spoon. Not that he minded at all, he loved the feeling of his lover against him.

“Mm… mornin’, Gideon,” he groaned, one thick hand reaching back to rub the chubby tod’s head. His beau just let out a warm groan as he gave the back of the wolf’s neck a kiss, “G’morning.”

Bill couldn’t help himself as he let out a long murr, “Mmm… ya know, I c’d stay like this all day.”

Gideon smirked, “I knows it, and I c’d too.”

The wolf growled playfully, “Ya wants a lazy Sundie?” The tod thought about it for a few seconds before pulling his wolf in close. “Mmm… Just one more time, and then I gots to get ready fer Aunt Jo. She’ll probably be coming over soon wonderin’ bout Kody.”

Bill pouted a little, but he did make sense. “Fine,” he said as he reached over to grab his watch to look at the time, “But we should prolly be quick. It’s almost 11:30.”

Kody rolled over in bed, his arms and legs splayed as only as small band of covers concealed most of his own nudity. The first thing he did was look at his watch that read, “12:00.”

“Shit,” the tod snarled as he kicked away the covers, realizing that his mother could be there any minute. He raced out of the guest room in a flash, surprising Bill and Gideon who were sitting at the table drinking coffee for a brief second by the cherry blurr. The wolf’s initial shock turned into a chuckle, “He’s jist’s cute as you, Gideon.”

Kody had learned to take quick, five minute showers when he needed to, only  focusing on key areas; loins, pits, rump, and the top of his head, only turning the water on when he needed to get wet or when to wash off the suds. The only part of the shower that took the longest was drying off. When he was done though, he stepped out of the shower wearing nothing but a towel, blushing as he realized his cousin and the wolf had seen him streaking a few minutes earlier.

“Uhm…” Kody tried to say, but Bill cut him off, “Dontcha worry bout it, cutie. I didn’t get a good’nuff look atcha. Least not til now.”

The tod’s face flushed as he made a hasty retreat to the guest room that only made Gideon and Bill chuckle more.

\f

Chapter 18: Sundays

Sundays were usually skeleton staff days at the ZPD. Most of the officers took the day off, so the only staff there were the part-timers, reservists who would show up every weekend or when the police were short staffed. Judy was half expecting Tim Church to not be there, but crime never seemed to take a vacation.

Tim was a mouse. Like all mice, he was tiny, very tiny. Each time he went to the ZPD was like he was in a Kaiju movie, a genre of film that had actually started to become popular in Little Rodentia after Officer Hopps and Duke Weaselton’s chase through the city within a city. Most of his day was spent scurrying to his office, avoiding the larger mammals who could easily crush him, so by the time he got to his office, he was panting and ready to get home. Unlike the rest of the ZPD, though, he hadn’t gone through basic training. He was actually a contractor, an artist that the police paid to sketch criminals when they didn’t have any photographic evidence, which usually meant he had a lot of down time to work on his own projects. At home. Where he was safe.

Tim was just about to finish his thimble of coffee when Officer Hopps wandered up to his desk. “Hey Tim,” the bunny woman said as she looked down at the tiny mouse, “I need your help.”

“Oh,” he squeaked, “Have a perp?”

“Something like that. I have a perp that we don’t have any photos of, but just a description,” she replied. Tim just nodded as he pushed himself from his tiny desk, moving over to grab an equally tiny pencil before walking over to a normal sized drawing tablet, “Just tell me what he looks like.”

If Leonardo was a master, Tim was a god. The mouse was quick, darting over the page as he dragged the pencil around, sketching every detail Judy mentioned as she tried to perfectly describe her enemy turned friend, Gideon Grey. By the time she uttered the last word, Tim was done with the rough sketch and had quickly moved to shading. The whole ordeal took ten minutes, mostly Judy correcting him here and there on his look until the sketch was the spitting image of Gideon.

“This him,” the diminutive mammal asked as he looked up at the bunny. It was spot on. “Yep, that’s the guy,” Judy said as she leaned over the Mouse.

“I’ll send it down to records,” he started to say, but Judy shook her head, “No. It’s fine. I can do that.”

“You sure?”

“Positive.”

“Suit yourself,” Time said as he slid off the pad.

Judy grabbed the bottom of the page and tore it from the sketch pad. “Thanks, Tim,” she called back as she bounded away.

The mouse just smiled, “Thanks, Judy.” He really was thankful, though. He rarely got to use his talents since everyone had smart phones. The mouse looked down at his watch, “Well, time to head home.”

\f

Chapter 19: Ancient History

Nick Wilde had been minding his own business at his desk. Sure, he didn’t have to come in today, but part of him was curious to see what happened on Sundays. The red and brown tod sipped on a coffee as he leaned back in his chair, lifting his feet up to drape them onto his desk. “Ahhh… Nothing like a lazy day at the office,” he said as he pulled down his mirror sunglasses. He could probably get away with a nap, but Judy had other ideas.

“Nick,” the rabbit called out to him, her ears straight up in the air as she stopped at his cubicle. The fox lifted his sunglasses, “Hey carrots. What’s got you so excited?”

“Nick, I need you to take a look at something,” the bunny said as held the sketch of Gideon Grey up. Nick felt his eyebrows twitch, “Who’s that?”

“That’s what I’m trying to find out,” Judy asked as she pushed the drawing into his hands. The fox took the drawing and looked it over, eyes tracing over every inch, “Friend of yours?”

“I was hoping to know if he was a friend of yours, Nick.”

Nick lifted an eyebrow, “He kinda looks like a guy I knew in High School, Ray Schaiferhund. If you lose the brown and the hair and add glasses, it would be spot on.”

Judy blinked a few times as she started to give Nick a stern look, “Did he ever do anything illegal?”

The fox just let out a laugh, “Ray? If there was an award for being a Junior Ranger Scout, he would have won it every year. Especially because he WAS a Junior Ranger Scout.”

The bunny blinked. “But… you told me…”

“That’s because Ray wasn’t raised by foxes. None of the kids trusted me, but they all trusted Ray because his parents were dogs,” Nick said as he slowly slid back into his chair, “They all assumed he was a trustworthy fox.”

Judy couldn’t help but nod. She knew that subject was sensitive for Nick, but she was curious to know more, “So you and he were friends in High School?”

Nick shook his head, “I knew him, and we were friendly to each other, but I wouldn’t call us friends. He was from a completely different world. My mother was friends with his mother, but we never hit it off.”

“Do you think your mother could give me a way to get in contact with them,” Judy asked.

“I know how to contact them,” the fox replied before taking another swig of coffee.

“You do?”

“Yeah,” Nick said somberly, “Miss Callie.”

“Does she have a first name?”

The fox gave her an odd look, “You really need to get a TV, Carrots.”

“Why,” Judy asked with a puzzled look on her face.

“I was talking about Miss Callie the TV Psychic.”

“What do you mean by,” Judy was just about to say something when Nicks words suddenly made sense, “You mean.”

Nick nodded, “You remember when we had to help with traffic flow when that car got t-boned in the intersection last year?”

The bunny’s ears drooped as she nodded her head. Nick sighed as he took a sip, “They were the fatalities.”

“Oh god,” she said softly. Nick nodded his head, “Yeah.”

Slowly, the fox turned in his seat to look right at Judy. “Carrots, what is this REALLY about?”

\f

Chapter 20: Investigation

Nick listened to Judy explain the situation, though, the fox couldn’t help but laugh the whole time. It was amazing what country bumpkin housewives could come up with when left to their own devices. His laughter made the rabbit stop several times to give him a glare, only for the tod to apologize.

“Sorry, Judy, but it’s hard not to. I mean,” he smirked as he curled up in his chair, bending over himself as he let out another laugh, “Does Aunt Marry-Ann just sit around the house all day watching soaps?”

“Yes, why,” the bunny asked, one of her ears flopping to the back of her head as the other stood up on end. Her answer only made Nick keel over laughing, “Because it sounds like the plot line to one.”

Judy let out a huff, her foot tapping against the ground as she crossed her arms over her chest. “Nick, this isn’t funny.”

“You’re right, Carrots. It’s not funny. It’s hilarious,” the tod said as he wiped away a laughter tear, “Oh you country bunnies and your imaginations.”

Judy couldn’t help but let out a very audible sound of frustration as he gave Nick a glare. “And what do you think will happen with a bunch of country bunnies with active imaginations decide that their imagination makes more sense than reality?”

Her words made Nick pause. She was right. Judy’s father had gotten her that can of fox repellant because of his delusions. What was to say the other bunnies didn’t do something worse? “You’re right, Carrots,” he said, “we probably should do something.”

Judy let out a sigh, “Nick. I have a bad feeling about this. I don’t want to judge, Ray or Kody or whatever he’s calling himself, but I’m concerned he might be scamming them.”

Nick shook his head, “Ray was a lot of things, Judy, but never a scammer. A jock, a nerd, a geek, and a goody two paws, but never a scammer.”

“You’d be surprised, Nick. I thought the same thing about Miss Bellewether,” the rabbit replied, the visions of how sweet and kind and noble the ewe had been only to learn it was all a façade. The fox just nodded as he took another sip, “The only way to find out is to start looking up his records, but to do that, you’re going to have to sell it to Bogo.”

The bunny nodded, “I know. Back me up on this?”

“Sure thing, Carrots.”

Chief Bogo was in his office. It may have been his day off, but it was the one place he could find some solitude. If he went home, he would be harangued by his wife to start on the hundreds of projects he’d promised to get around to. Surprisingly, the water buffalo was dressed casually in a ZPD tracksuit and not in his uniform. He was in his office to relax, not to do any actual work. He had just pulled out his cellphone to flip through some pred-prey inter-species porn when a familiar voice came over his desk phone’s speaker.

“Hey Chief. Officers Hopps and Wilde want to talk to you about opening up a case,” Clawhauser’s soft voice rang out. It had taken the bull completely by surprise, making him drop his phone on the ground. His alone time had been spoiled. Angrily, he pressed the intercom button on his phone. “DAMNIT CLAWHAUSER! IT’S MY DAY OFF!”

“I know, sir, but it sounds really important,” the fat leopard replied.

Bogo just growled to himself, “Damnit Hopps.” His day was going to be ruined whether he liked it or not. At least he hadn’t managed to pull up anything on his cellphone before Clawhauser’s call. The bull pressed the button again, “Fine. Send them in.”

Judy and Nick already knew that Bogo was in a bad mood when they entered the office. His expression was a scowl.

“Chief Bog, I was hoping to look into a case of identity fraud,” she said, expecting Bogo to cut her off at any minute and tell her, “no,” but he just sat there, stone faced. “I believe the perp may have a history of it in Zootopia.”

“Where’s the perp now,” was the only question he asked.

“Bunnyburrow,” Judy said hesitantly.

“That’s out of our jurisdiction, Hopps.”

“I know, but…”

“Hopps, you can’t go digging through their records unless Bunnyburrow ASKS for them,” the bull replied.

“Yes, sir, but…”

Bogo didn’t let her finish, “But! We both know you’re just going to walk out that door and do it anyway. My official answer is no, Hopps, and if this whole thing comes back to bite us, you are going to have to take the heat. Understand?”

Judy was stunned. Bogo was right, she was probably going to ignore him anyway, and they both knew it, but she hadn’t expected him to turn the tables on her. “Yes, sir,” she replied while nodding her head.

“Good. Now get out of my office,” the bull said abruptly.

When the bunny and fox left, Bogo waited a few seconds before reaching down to grab his phone and do what he’d come here to do.

“Well. That went better than I thought,” Nick chuckled as he walked down the hall next to Judy.

“Yeah. Almost too well,” the bunny replied as she looked down at the image of Gideon Grey that the fox had said looked like Ray Schaiferhund, “So, what else can you tell me about Ray?”

The fox just shrugged his shoulders, “Not much. He joined the Army after High School, went to college while he was in, then went into the Air Force. He was stationed over in Mammoth River last I heard.”

Judy blinked, “That wasn’t ‘not much,’ Nick.”

Nick shrugged his shoulders, “What can I say, his mom was friends with mine, so you end up hearing all kinds of things. Have an idea of where to start?”

The bunny tapped her chin, “We could try requesting his military records.”

“Good luck,” the fox chuckled, “Remember the last time we tried that? It took them weeks. Besides, it would show our hand.”

“Well, we could start looking him up in the database to see what we have on him, maybe something will show up,” the rabbit said as she looked down at the drawing again.

“Best place to start.”

\f

Chapter 21: A Matter of Public Record

Judy ran the name Ray Schaiferhund into the system, but nothing came up. Then she tried Ray’s new name, Kody Grey. She was nearly immediately given almost all the information she wanted. Her eyes wandered over the screen, “Let’s see here. Fingerprints. DNA Profile. Record of Aliases. Criminal Record. License Plate information. That looks like that’s about it.”

The rabbit scrolled over to click on the License Plate information. “Huh,” she said as she looked at the license plate, “RB57H. I wonder what that means?”

“I have no idea, but he makes enough money to afford a Jeeves Buckaroo Infinity,” the fox said.

“I wonder what’s in his criminal record,” Judy pondered as she closed the license plate information to look at the short list of criminal offenses. Nick chuckled, “Nothing greater than a parking ticket. Told you, Carrots.” The bunny rolled her eyes as she went over the list of previous names. There was only one. “Raynard Kody Schaiferhund,” Judy muttered to herself, her eyes dancing over the profile.

Nick let out a chuff, “Seriously? Raynard?” Judy looked over her shoulder, “What’s wrong?”

“Raynard is another name for fox. Seriously, who names their fox kit after his own species,” the tod said as he shook his head.

“Yeah, but did you see his middle name? Kody,” the rabbit said softly, “it’s a part of his original name.”

“Maybe that was the only part he liked,” Nick said as he took a sip of coffee.

“Maybe,” she said as she closed the Criminal Record, “there’s something here that I’m missing, Nick.”

“You could try looking up his parents,” the fox replied.

“I could, but their records would have been sealed,” Judy retorted, “But maybe…”

The bunny didn’t finish her sentence as she pulled up a web browser and typed, “Schaiferhund, Zootopia, accident,” into the search bar. What came up were articles and obituaries from the last year’s car accident, especially pictures of the parents; a German Shepherd and a corgi-wolf looking woman. Judy blinked a few times, “Nick, didn’t you say Ray was raised by dogs?”

“Yeah, he was adopted. Everyone knew it, why,” the fox asked and then it dawned on him, “Adoption paperwork.”

Judy felt her ears droop, “I guess we didn’t need to look up his records after all.”

The tod chuckled, “Dummy bunny.”

There weren’t many adoption agencies in Zootopia, in fact there were only two; Our Lady of Zootopia and Open Heart Open Arms. Our Lady of Zootopia was quick to answer their inquiry. They’d never heard of nor had a client with the last name Schaiferhund.

Open Hearts Open Arms on the other hand was a different story. When they’d called, they were answered by a Mrs. O’Donnell. She had a warm grandmotherly voice to her, almost cheerful, though she immediately got down to business, “We have many children who are looking for loving parents and a good home, Miss Hopps. Are you looking to adopt?”

“No, ma’am. I’m trying to find some information on some clients of yours, a Mr. and Mrs. Schaiferhund,” Judy replied, trying to wrangle the conversation away from the other woman. There was a long pause as Mrs. O’Donnell seemed to collect herself, “Yes, I remember them. I was so very sad to hear about their passing. It’s so hard to find someone that is looking for tod kits, and when you find someone that wants one, they always stand out. I hope nothing terrible has happened to poor Raynard.”

“That’s actually why we’re calling, ma’am.”

There was another long pause, followed by some sniffling, “Please tell me he’s all right.”

“He’s fine, ma’am, but we’re a little concerned since he changed his name after his parent’s accident to Grey and made contact with another family with the same last name.”

There was a deep sigh of relief before a more business tone returned to her voice, “It’s not uncommon for our adoptees to try to rediscover their roots later in life. He’s not the first one to take his parent’s last name, especially the mother’s last name.”

“His mother’s last name? Do you know why?”

“From what I remember, his father sexually assaulted his mother and then refused to support her when he found out she was pregnant, which is why she put him up for adoption.”

There was a long pause as Judy chewed on her bottom lip, “Did she ever file charges?”

“Not that I am aware of. I believe the father died a year later.”

“You… you wouldn’t happen to remember the mother’s name, would you?”

“I certainly do. Josephine Grey.”

Judy blinked a few times as she tried to absorb what she was hearing, “Josephine. Grey?”

“Yes. I can’t tell you much else. She never contacted us after the adoption was completed.”

“Thank you,” the bunny said, her voice and hand a little shaky.

“Thank you, Officer Hopps. Please give Raynard our best if you see him.”

The rabbit hung up the phone, her eyes wide. Things were actually starting to make sense for some reason.

“You okay, Carrots,” Nick asked as he planted his hand against the wall by her face.

“Nick. I’ve got to call my mom.”

\f

Chapter 22: Relativity

After throwing the linens into the washing machine, Gideon and Kody parted ways with Bill, each giving him a big hug and a warm kiss. The wolf couldn’t help himself though as he gave both of their rumps a firm grope. “Thanks fer th’venin’, Gideon,” he said to his beau before looking over at Kody, “ And thanks fer th’show, Kody.”

The two clothed tods blushed not only from the words, but also from the strong wolf’s hand. Slowly, Bill let go as he gave each of them another smooch. “I’ll sees yew two tods ‘round,” he said  before departing.

Kody and Gideon looked at one another, both of them chuckling as they watched the wolf leave. “I… uhm… I have to say. Bill… is pretty sexy. For a wolf I mean,” Kody said as he scratched his head. His cousin chuckled, “He sure is ain’t he? He really likes ya.”

The other tubby tod’s face blushed, “I know.”

Gideon put an arm around his cousin’s shoulder, “Don’t go stealin’m from me.”

Kody chuckled as he shook his head, “I won’t.”

The two tods shared a laugh together when the door to the apartment opened.

Josephine had expected her son to show up at her house after Gideon showed him around, but since that hadn’t happened, the vixen just assumed he’d stayed the night with his cousin. There wasn’t anything wrong with that, he did need to integrate with the family, and what better way to do it then spending time with your cousin.

It was half passed noon now, and Jo was more than a bit curious at what was keeping her boy from visiting his mother’s home. “Only way t’find out what he’s up t’is to head to Gideons,” she told herself that morning, so she slipped on a little yellow sundress and headed for her nephew’s.

The first thing she’d noticed when she pulled up was Bill Blake heading out the back door, whistling with a big smile on his face. It was certainly a curious sight, but she’d also heard a few things here and there that he was hooking up with her nephew. She didn’t have a problem with it. Gideon was an adult and he liked what he liked, though she was a bit curious about her son. She knew a bit about him, though his preferences for partners wasn’t one of them. Jo really didn’t care if her boy liked men or women, he was her little boy, and she loved him. She’d loved him enough to give him away and now he’d returned to her.

Slowly, she slid out of her car and headed to the back door. Bill had locked it, but Gideon had given keys to all his kin, so it was only natural that Jo had one. She slid the key into the lock and turned it before opening the door.

The first thing she heard when she entered the bottom floor was the humming of a washing machine. Nothing too unusual for a Sunday, really. Slowly, the old vixen started to make her way up the stairs, her paws pressing into the wooden steps as her hand held onto the guard rail.

The sound of humming turned into laughter, making the vixen start to smile. “Sounds likes them boys really like each other,” Jo said softly to herself, “Guess it was a good ideer fer Kody to spend the night with his cousin.”

Lightly, she wrapped her knuckles onto the wooden door at the top of the stairs. The laughter died off slightly as she slowly pushed it open, a warm smile across her muzzle. “Ya ready t’go visit suma mama’s friends?”

Kody smiled, “Sure, mom.” He looked over at his cousin for a brief second before giving him a hug. “I’ll see you later.”

“Sure thang, cousin.”

Kody and his mother left out the back entrance to the pastry shop, the tod following the vixen down the stairs only to move in beside her. Tentatively, Kody reached his hand over to take hers before leaning against her. Jo looked down her arm and smiled. He was holding her hand. The old vixen couldn’t help but imagine her son twenty eight years younger and doing the same thing. It was a sweet thought that almost made her cry.

“Mom, do you want to take my car or yours,” her son asked.

“Hows about yers, Kody.”\f

Chapter 23: Brunch

Even though Bonnie Hopps and Josephine Grey knew each other, they had never been friends. Sure, they’d chatted a few times, but they’d never actually formed any bonds outside of church. Though, all that did change once Judy left for the big city. She had opened up to the idea of having fox friends, and the first one had been Jo. She’d invited the vixen over for Sunday Brunch several times, and the rabbit was expecting her to show up for some time but so far, she’d been a no-show.

Bonnie was just about to give up when she saw a very different car pull up to the house. It wasn’t Josephine’s, it was too new plus the plates were all wrong. “RB57H,” she said with a puzzled look, but then she saw two people slip out of the vehicle. One of them was Josephine and the other one looked like he could have been Gideon’s brother. It was clear though that, whoever this Kody Grey person was, he certainly WASN’T some long-lost brother that was locked in the attic. No one locked in an attic for 30 years could afford a car, at least that’s what Bonnie thought.

“Whatcha looking at, honey,” Stu said as he moved up to give his wife a side hug.

“Josephine’s here,” the bunny said, giving her husband a sideways glance, “And Kody Grey.”

“Kody Grey,” Stu said a little stunned. He rarely had any of the Bridge group over, so it took him off guard, “Oh yeah! I met him last night at Bridge. Nice kid.”

Bonnie raised an eyebrow, “Really?”

The fatherly rabbit nodded, “Yeah. Not a very good Bridge player though. He got knocked out the first round.”

Unfortunately for Bonnie, her sister Mary-Ann was also there. “Well, Jeane probably didn’t give him many games to play in the attic,” she chirped out as she spooned another helping of a carrot and cheese omelet into her mouth.

Stu just rolled his eyes, “You actually believe that story?”

“It came from a reliable source,” she replied after taking another bite.

“And what about the time your ‘reliable source’ said that Judy and Nick’s police car was t-boned at an intersection? You nearly killed your sister from fright,” the father bunny said as he glared at his sister-in-law, “I wouldn’t be surprised if he turns out to be Josephine’s long lost son instead of a plotline you stole from one of your soaps.”

“I stand by my record,” Mary-Ann huffed out.

“Yes. O and two hundred.”

Bonnie glared at her husband and her sister, “I want them to have a nice time, so you two need to stop your bickering.”

Stu nodded as he walked back into the kitchen to grab a plate full of eggs before moving to the couch. Mary-Ann just huffed as she continued eating, while Bonnie made her way to the door.

Jo and Kody were half way up the walkway when Bonnie opened the door. “Josephine, it’s wonderful to see you,” she said as she and the vixen exchanged hugs. The bunny slowly turned her attention to the tall tod, “And this must be Kody.”

Jo looked a little puzzled as she looked at the bunny doe, “How did you know?”

“Oh, you know how word gets around a small town when someone new shows up, especially when Gideon made a big announcement about his new cousin to everyone at the pastry shop,” Bonnie continued, reaching her hand out towards the tod. The fox smiled as he shook her hand, “It’s nice to meet you, Mrs. Hopps.”

“You can call me Bonnie, Kody, but please, come in. We’ve been waiting for you two,” She said as she stepped aside for the two foxes.

Jo slipped inside first, followed by Kody, the two of them making their way to the kitchen to grab some eggs and a cup of coffee before making their way to the living room. Bonnie was just about the join them when her phone started to vibrate, “Please excuse me for a minute, Judy’s calling.”

The two nodded as they looked between Mary-Ann and Stu, who were glaring at each other as they tried to be polite. Kody leaned into whisper into his mother’s ear, “I wonder what this is all about.”

Jo leaned in, “Mary-Ann is hard to get along with.”

“No, I’m not,” Mary-Ann quipped back, the two of them forgetting about how powerful rabbit ears are.

“Yes, you are,” Stu retorted, “All you do is watch soaps all day and think the world is just like them.”

“Because it is,” the bunny woman scoffed.

“No, it’s not,” the rabbit man retorted.

Jo and Kody just looked at each other, deciding to stay out of it.

Bonnie made sure she was in the kitchen before she answered the ScreenTime call. She had just started to say hello when Judy butted in, “Mom! Mom! I found out everything. Everything makes sense now.”

“Shhh! Judy! Not so loud. Kody and Josephine are here,” her mother said, holding a finger over her lips.

“That’s just it. Kody IS Josephine’s son. I talked the adoption agency. Josephine was sexually assaulted while she was at college and put Kody up for adoption. He grew up under a different name until last year,” Judy said excitedly, loving how she cracked the case, “You remember when Aunt Mary-Ann said she heard Nick and I had been killed in a car wreck? That wasn’t us. That was Kody’s adopted parents. He changed his name almost six months later to Kody Grey and started looking for his real mother.”

Bonnie blinked a few times as she started to drink in the news, “Judy, you haven’t been watching any of Aunt Mary-Ann’s soaps, have you?”

“No, mom! I don’t even own a TV! I just got off the phone with Open Hearts Open Arms. I talked to the woman who worked the case. Nick even knew him in High School,” Judy sounded exasperated at her mother, “Mom, when have I lied to you?”

Her daughter had a point. Judy hadn’t lied to her, well, hadn’t lied to her in years. She had always been a truthful girl. But the more Bonnie thought about it, the more her daughter’s version made sense, but she did have one question, “Judy, did you find out what kind of car Kody drives? Maybe a license plate?”

“Yeah. A Jeeves Buckaroo Infinity with personalized Zootopia Plates #RB57H,” she replied.

Bonnie seemed to sigh with relief, “Thank you, Judy.”

“No problem, mom. Oh, by the way, if no one wants to believe you, tell them Mrs. O’Donnell wishes Kody her best.”

Bonnie just nodded her head, “I’ll tell them?”

“Thanks mom,” Judy said quickly before hanging up.

Bonnie looked at her phone a bit longer before sliding it into her pocket and headed back to the living room.

What greeted Bonnie was her husband and sister fully engulfed in an argument about her ability to create amazing stories that were basically stolen from her daily soap operas, much to the discomfort of the guests. “Stu! Mary-Ann,” the woman cried out as her foot stomped the ground in frustration, “What did I tell you.”

Stu’s ears drooped, “I’m sorry, dear.” Mary-Ann however, just seemed to beam like she’d been the victor in the argument. Bonnie just rolled her eyes as she slowly slid into her chair, “I’m sorry, Jo, Kody.”

Jo just brushed it off as she sipped her coffee, “It’s all right, Bonnie.”

Stu looked over at Kody, “So, Kody, you didn’t talk a whole lot last night at the Bridge game. Where are you from?”

Kody took a sip of his coffee, “Zootopia.”

Mary-Ann scoffed a little as she took another sip. Stu glared at her and Kody just raised an eyebrow. Bonne decided to ask the next question, “Zootopia? Really? You know our daughter is a police officer there. Do you know Nick Wilde?”

Kody perked his eyebrow. He did know Nick, well, knew him in a casual sense. He was more acquainted with Nick’s mother because she was friends with his own mother. He wondered if he should put up a charade or not, but he might as well answer truthfully, “Yeah, I know of him. I went to High School with him. Why?”

“He’s our daughter’s partner on the force,” Bonnie replied with a smile. Stu added, “He’s the reason we ended up partnering with Gideon Grey.”

Kody just nodded his head, “That’s interesting.”

Mary-Ann wasn’t buying it one bit, so she decided to ask something in a fairly sarcastic tone, “Really? So this is your first time to Bunnyburrow?”

The tod looked at her, “I drove by it when I was assigned to Mammoth River, but yeah, this is my first time to actually be here.”

“You sure,” she asked, “You sure you haven’t been hiding up in Jeane’s attic?”

Everyone looked at the bunny woman with massive eyes and open mouths. “What,” Mary-Ann asked, “You all were thinking it.”

“Mary-Ann Juniper Springer,” Bonnie yelled out, “How DARE you ask a question like that to my guests!”

“It’s the popular rumor in town. Besides. I heard from a reliable,” she started on her usual line, but was completely cut off by Bonnie, “No Mary-Ann. No more of this ‘reliable sourse’ non-sense. The first time I heard your gossip, I called Judy. Judy managed to find the actual truth! Do you know what it was?”

Everyone was surprised at how angry Bonnie was, though Jo and Kody were even more surprised that she’d actually called the police about it. “Ya called Judy,” Jo said in a little bit of disbelief. Bonnie turned her attention back to Josephine, her ears drooping a little, “I’m… I’m sorry, Jo. But, I wanted to make sure my sister’s story was just her over active imagination.”

Kody looked between his mother and her friend, then over to Mary-Ann giving her a scowl. A hand reached down to squeeze his mother’s paw as he looked at her. Jo looked down at her son’s hand as she let out a long sigh. “Kody. Kody’s my little boy,” she said with a heavy heart, “I… I met a feller in college. He winded me and dined me. When he planted his oats, he wouldn’t man up ‘n help me raise him. I thought bout cummin home, but I’z too a’feared a what erryone’d say. So I put my little boy up fer ‘doption when he was a kit,” She looked over at her boy, giving his hand a squeeze, “There ain’t a day gone by that I don’t wish I woulda cum home with Kody instead of putting him up fer ‘doption.”

Kody leaned over and glared at Mary-Ann, “My parents told me about the adoption and about my real mother when I was eighteen, but I didn’t have the courage to contact my mother until my parents died in a car accident last year. I had my name legally changed to Kody Grey because I wanted to be a part of her life again.”

Jo let out a sniff, “He cum back t’me. Thirty years later, he cum back to me.”

There was a long pause as Bonnie looked down. “I’m sorry I pulled Judy into this,” she said softly, “I just… I just needed to be sure.”

Mary-Ann’s ears drooped a little as she looked at the other four in the room, “I… I’m…” she was about to say something, but Stu couldn’t help but cut her off, “I told you so.”

“Stu,” Bonnie yelled as she glared at her husband.

“What? I was,” he said in a slightly defeated voice.

Mary-Ann looked away. She’d been proven wrong. Again. But this time she felt more horrible than any of the other times. She felt miserable, and she couldn’t seem to find words to say she was sorry. Jo just looked at her, “Mary-Ann, if ya want to make it up t’me, tell erryone th’truth.”

“How much of the story do you want me to tell,” she asked.

“Alluvit.”

Mary-Ann nodded. It wouldn’t take the Bunnyburrow rumor mill long to get this disseminated. However, Bonnie did have one thing to say, “Kody, Judy said she had a message for you from Mrs. O’Donnell.”

Kody looked a little confused, “Mrs. O’Donnell?” His mother, however, knew who it was, “What did she have to say?”

“She says she wishes you the best.”

\f

Chapter 24: No Goodbyes

Mary-Ann had finally been right about something. The rumor of Kody being Jeane’s attic dwelling son was quelled quickly when the bunny gave everyone the truth. The whole truth. The raw truth. It only took a few hours, because by the time Kody and Jo left to go get dinner, people were already saying how sorry there were to Jo about what happened and wanted to know more about her son. Kody didn’t really like talking about himself too much, but he was happy to oblige them with whatever information they wanted.

After answering every question under the sun, it was time to get home, though, he did have a few things to do first. Their first stop was back over at Gideon’s apartment. The two foxes made their way in through the back of the store and up the stairs. Gideon had been waiting for them, his arms open wide to his aunt and cousin.

Jo waited as Kody gave his cousin a big old hug and a pat on the back. “I’ll see you next weekend,” he told his cousin.

“Join’s fer th’Bridge game, cousin,” Gideon asked with a smile. Kody just chuckled, “Bridge really isn’t my forte. I think I’ll just sit and watch.”

His cousin laughed, “Suit yerself. Wanme t’tell th’gang y’ll be back next week’nd?”

Kody smirked, “Of course. And don’t forget to tell Aunt Jeane and Uncle Josh.”

Gideon chuckled, “I will.”

Kody leaned in to whisper, “Give Bill my best.” The words just made Gideon smirk as he whispered back, “I sure will. He’s looking forward to the next meetin.”

Kody smirked as he gave his cousin another pat on the back. The two broke the embrace as Kody headed back over to his mother, gently taking her paw into his hand and walking out with her.

“Ya likes yer cousin, dontcha, shoog,” Jo asked as the slid into the car. Kody chuckled, “Hard not to like Gideon.”

The vixen giggled, “Well, ya certly were when ya had him in bentover in th’shower.” The tod just blushed as he started the car. His mother leaned over to put a paw on his thigh. “Nothin’ wrong with ‘spermentin’ with yer cousin. Ya both seemed t’joy it,” she said into his ear as her, “Jist ‘member I wants me sum grandkits.”

The tod chuckled as he leaned in to give her a smooch on the cheek, “Yes, mom.”

Kody had picked the perfect weekend to meet his real mother and his real family since that Monday was a holiday. He’d spent Sunday night at his real mother’s home, in his real mother’s arms. Every minute felt perfect, felt right. He’d woken up that morning refreshed and new, giving his mother a kiss on the cheek before sliding away to take a shower and get ready to head back home.

“Yer gonna cum visit me again,” Jo asked as her son sat down for breakfast. “Every weekend, mom,” he said with a smile as he took a bite of scrambled eggs. Jo smiled, she was going to have to get used to being called that from now on. Maybe she should start looking for a husband since she had her son back.

Though if she did, it might mean that she couldn’t snuggle up with her little boy, though it might be a price she would gladly pay to finally have a complete family. Then again, she would be happy if it was just her son and her.  So many things to think about in the four days until he came back to visit. She’d probably have to discuss it with him as well.

Kody just chuckled as his mother sat down next to him to eat her breakfast. “Now, ‘member t’brush yer fangs erry night and watch out fer loose women,” she said as she smiled at her little boy, but her words only made him chuckle, “Trying to play catch up on thirty years of mothering?”

“Summin’ like that,” she said, “Jist ‘member that I’lways love ya.”

Kody leaned over to give her cheek another peck, “I love you too, mom.”

“We gotta do summin’ bout yer accent though,” Jo said with a smile.

“But I don’t have an accent,” he replied.

“Xactly. Yer a Grey now. Ya gots to sound like one.”

Kody just let out a boisterous laugh.

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