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Mike Rowan never expected to find out he had a nephew, and his father, Richard, never thought he'd ever had a grandtod, that was until they both met Kody Grey.", "writing": "Chapter 1: Michael Rowan\n\nMichael “Mike” Rowan sat in his office looking over paperwork. He hadn’t wanted to follow the family business at all. He’d been studying archaeology at Zootopia University when his older brother, Chris, died in law school. He’d never gotten along with Chris, not even when they were kits. Chris was three years older than Mike, and he’d been much much larger. He’d taken every opportunity to embarrass his little brother at every turn, calling it, “Good clean fun.” Since both their parents worked long hours, their father was a lawyer and their mother a doctor, they never interfered. He’d also had to put up with Chris’ exploits.\n\nIt had started in Junior High. Their parents were rarely home, so Chris would throw parties, making Mike clean them up afterwards. He’d sneak girls up to his room when he wasn’t throwing parties and sometimes when he was. By the time, he’d gotten into High School, Chris had managed to garner a bit of a reputation, which only continued into college. He was the family stud, and Mike was his bitch, even though Chris had never molested his little brother. The nickname was mostly derived from how he made his little brother fix all his messes, something that Mike hated doing.\n\nThe tod chuffed as he stared to remember all the bullshit Chris had put him through. The thing that really rubbed his fur the wrong way was how his parents refused to believe that Chris had been a rotten apple, even after he’d managed to contract and die from the Animal Immunity Virus. Mike knew all too well what his older brother had gotten up to. Chris had knocked up several vixens, something he’d worn like a badge of honor. Mike had learned that all of them except one had taken a morning after pill, and he’d even been there when that one vixen had ripped his brother a new tailhole in front of entire school. Even then, though, Chris had acted like it was some kind of honor to know that he’d have a bastard.\n\n“It’s a sign of how virile I am,” the tod had bragged to his little brother not long after the incident, “You’ll be lucky to be someone’s jizz rag.”\n\nMike growled at being called that. Just because he was smaller didn’t mean he was gay, it just meant that he hadn’t gotten whatever genetic mistakes had led to his older brother. Of course, after the incident, Chris hadn’t managed to get any girl to come back to his car with him, so he turned to the next best thing; girly boys. He’d even brag about that too, telling his little brother about all the bitch boys he had begging for his cock.\n\nChris was an ass. He even managed to be an ass on his death bed, attempting to blame the whole thing on one of the tods he’d slept with. The worst part was that he’d managed to contract the disease and spread it around. Mike wasn’t entirely sure when his older brother had contracted AIV, but he was fairly sure that the jackass tod had managed to spread it around before he ended up with complications.\n\nThe worst part of all this, was that Chris had been family. Mike hated Chris, and when Chris ended up in the hospital, he wanted to tell him that it was some kind of poetic justice for everything he did, but he’d never been able to bring himself to say it. In the end, Mike just pitied him.\n\nThough the pity returned to hate when their father outright ordered him to change majors. “I don’t want my firm going over to that shrew, Mousekewitz,” the old fox had growled at his son on the ride back from the funeral, “You’re going to have to take over the family business.”\n\nMike had vehemently protested. Why should he have to pay for his brother’s mistakes? He was the one who stuck his cock into anything that was warm and moist, not Mike. Mike had been a good boy, treating people with respect, not as his next ride. No. It came down to, “preserving legacy,” and, “honoring your brother.”\n\n“Honoring Chris? Are you fucking serious,” Mike had snarled out, or at least he had wished he had, “Chris didn’t know a damn thing about honor. Do you know how many times women came to him sobbing about him getting them pregnant? Do you know he has a kit with a woman he refused to marry? Did you know that he fucked her once and then told her to fuck off?”\n\nMike had shuddered in rage at his parent’s ignorance to Chris’ transgressions. They had built up an idea of him in their minds and no amount of truth was ever going to destroy that. Chris had managed to ruin his life from the grave.\n\nMike had struggled through pre-Law and Law School. He’d hated every minute of it. The only “bright” side to it was him immediately becoming a partner at his father’s firm, the old tod changing the name to Rowan, Rowan, & Mousekewitz. While his father and Mr. Mousekewitz would often be the faces in court if any cases brought to them went that far, Mike was usually the face everyone saw first when they brought their cases to them. It had been his father’s idea to show everyone how, “Young and Vibrant the company is.”\n\nHis father was great at lying, then again, he was a lawyer. The firm of course dabbled in many different kinds of law, though they tended to lean more towards civil law than criminal law. Right now, though, he was neck deep in trying to execute a last will and testimony his father had pawned off on him. It was the Schaiferhund case from last year. The couple had died in a car accident and left everything to their son, much to the anger and dismay of the husband’s ex-wife and her children. It had been stuck in litigation for almost fourteen months as the ex-wife assembled her team of lawyers to challenge the will.\n\nSo far, no one had heard more than a peep from the beneficiary, the Schaiferhund’s adopted son, Ray. Then again, Mike wasn’t exactly surprised. Ray had a job and a life, where the ex-wife was living with family. The last thing he was thinking about was how to fight a woman he’d never known about property that had been promised to him after a divorce.\n\nThe fox looked up and down the paperwork. Everything was straight forward. The ex-wife didn’t have any claim to the property whatsoever because she’d signed over those rights during the divorce paperwork, which had been handled by Mr. Mousekewitz fourty years earlier. Heck, the firm had even helped with the adoption paperwork. Mike just shook his head as he started reading more and more. “I should probably give Mr. Schaiferhund a call to let him know his father’s ex-wife doesn’t have a case,” he muttered to himself as he picked up the phone and started to dial the cell phone number listed under the contact information.\n\n\f\n\nChapter 2: Captain Grey\n\nCaptain Kody “Sly” Grey was panting as he walked from the flight line and back into Base Ops. The thirty year old Captain had a smile on his face and plugs in his ears and decidedly non-regulation mirrored sunglasses on his face as he b-lined his way towards the tall brick building. \n\nHe was covered from neck to boots in green; a green flight suit, a green un-zipped g-suit over the legs of the flight suit, a green MOLLE survival vest, and green suede combat boots which everyone had to wear while flying. His helmet was clutched under one arm, the white orb looking thing had a big red fox head painted in the middle of it, while his breath mask dangled off it from two hooks. It was one hell of a day for flying.\n\nHe’d just walked into Base Ops, giving the Airmammal behind the desk a wave as he’d made his way to start filling out the necessary post-flight paperwork, when he felt his phone start vibrating. The young no-stripe Airmammal gave her superior a nod as if to say, “Take your call, it’ll still be here when you get back.” Kody just smiled and mothed, “Thanks,” as he pulled the phone out of his pocked and headed towards the equipment room.\n\n“Hello,” he said, not bothering to look at the number. “Yes, is this Mr. Ray Schaiferhund,” the voice asked. Kody blinked a few times before answering, “You got him, but I haven’t gone by that name in almost a year.”\n\nThere was a pause on the other end, “But you are… er… were Ray Schaiferhund, correct?”\n\n“Yeah, why?”\n\n“This is Michael Rowan with Rowan, Rowan, and Mousekewitz. I’m calling about your late father’s will.”\n\nKody blinked a few times. Rowan? As in Chris Rowan? His mother had mentioned that his real father’s sire was a lawyer, but it would be a little bit too coincidental. The tod did have a test though, “Which father? I’ve lost two.”\n\nThere was another pause on the phone, “Uhm… were you ever listed on the other father’s will?”\n\n“No. Chris didn’t seem to care I existed.”\n\nThere was another long, very awkward pause, “Then… I’m calling about your… adopted father’s will.”\n\n“What about it,” the fox asked as he started to disrobe from the g-suit. \n\nMichael continued, “As you know, Johan’s ex-wife has been pushing for litigation on the grounds that his last will and testament was written and signed while not in sound mind or judgement. I’ve been reviewing her case, but she doesn’t have any grounds. We believe that it will be thrown out of court because the matter of inheritance was settled during the divorce proceedings fourty years prior. Not to mention the will was signed and notarized about ten years prior to their accident.”\n\n“So what you’re saying is that she’s about to waste a lot of money over a case she can’t possibly win because she signed everything away when Johan and her split,” Kody said in a more matter-of-fact tone. It was something that often rubbed people the wrong way, but his parents had always demanded the truth and he rarely sugar coated anything when it was serious. “Better to just rip the band aid off than to try to peel it away gently,” he’d said a few times.\n\n“Something like that,” the voice replied, “Uhm… Mr. Schaiferhund, most of our records still have you listed under that name. Did you have your name legally changed? If so, we need to update our records.”\n\n“Yeah, I changed it to Kody Grey about six months after the accident,” he replied as he walked out of the Equipment room and back towards the desk in Base Operations.\n\nThere was another long pause over the phone before a, “Thank you, sir. I’ll have our records updated. Please feel free to call us back if you have any questions. Be sure to ask for me since I’m working the case.”\n\n“You’re welcome, Michael,” Kody said before hanging up. The no-stripe Airmammal behind the desk looked over at him with a curious look, but she was a little too embarrassed to ask the officer a question. The fox just chuckled as he looked at the rabbit who was obviously a member of the Hopps battalion both because of her coloring and the last name of, “Hopps,” embroidered on the name plate over her right breast. “Dad’s ex wants to fight a war she can’t win,” he said with a chuckle as he jotted down the last few numbers onto the paper.\n\nThe doe bunny just nodded her head as her superior put the pencil down and headed towards the Heritage room for a snack and a well-deserved drink after the four hour long flight.\n\n\f\n\nChapter 3: Recall\n\nMike put the phone down. Kody. Grey? Grey? Why was that last name so familiar? The tod chewed on his bottom lip as he tried to remember exactly where he’d heard that name before. And then it hit him lick a sack of bricks.\n\nHe’d been sitting in his room reading Of Mice and Males for English 100 when Chris had almost torn the door off its hinges to come in. “Oh man, Mike! I just fucking nailed this tight little vixen in my car,” he’d said, the smell of booze on his lips from obvious post orgasmic celebration down at the bar, “Probably going to have to make up a story about how that bitch tore up the back seat to dad.”\n\nMike had just snorted, not wanting to hear about his brother’s latest escapade. “Congrats,” he replied to his older brother, still trying to read his book, hoping that ignoring the boisterous tod would make him go away. It didn’t. In fact ignoring him just made Chris move over to his brother and slap the book away. “If you keep your head in books you’re never gonna be a stud like me,” the larger man had said, “You’ll just end up with my sloppy seconds.”\n\nMike snorted and chuffed as he glared at his older brother, “I’m not taking your sloppy seconds, Chris.”\n\nChris just laughed back, “I fucked half your girlfriends before you got to them. You’re gonna be stuck with my sloppy seconds the rest of your life. I might even pass that little country gal off to you. In fact, you can fucking have Josephine Grey. She’s perfect for you. Dumb as a sack of rocks and about as buoyant as one too. Dumb bitch even thought I wore a condom.”\n\nMike’s eyes nearly popped out of his head, “You did WHAT!”\n\nChris laughed, “You fucking herd me, kit. I nailed that vixen bare back while she was all in heat and needy. She was begging for my fox cock. You should have seen it.”\n\nMike had blinked in complete and utter surprise, mouth open as he listened to what his brother had just done. “You’re kidding right,” he begged towards his older brother, “Please tell me you’re kidding!”\n\nChris chuckled, “I’m not kidding, runt. I filled that vixen cunt full of cum.”\n\n“Jesus Christ, Chris,” he started to yell, “Do you know what kind of trouble you could get in! What if she gets pregnant!”\n\n“She wouldn’t be the first I’ve knocked up. I’m one virile fox,” his older brother said with a chuckle and a glimmer of pride, “She’ll take her morning after pill, and I’ll push her away until she comes back begging for my dick.”\n\nMike snorted, “And if she doesn’t?”\n\nChris laughed, “If she’s that dumb then she deserves to get pregnant.”\n\n“You’re a monster, you know that,” the younger brother said with a growl. The wolf like fox just laughed before heading out of the room, “You’re just jealous, runt.”\n\nMike remembered seeing Josephine in class the entire rest of the school year. He was even there when she’d confronted Chris about what he’d done. He’d watched every day in class as she began to look more and more pregnant by the week. The last time he saw her for that term was during finals week.\n\nWhen classes started up again that following August, everyone hadn’t expected her to come back, but she did. Everyone was curious about her kit, but she wouldn’t talk about it. The rumor on campus had been that she’d ended up with a miscarriage by the way she acted whenever anyone asked what happened. \n\nMike’s daydream of college ended abruptly as he stared down at the name he’d written down. “Thirty years old. Said he’d lost two fathers. Said his first father was named Chris, and he didn’t care about him. Renamed himself Grey after his adopted parent’s accident. Holy. Shit. This. I just. I just got off the phone with my damn NEPHEW!”\n\nThe near fifty year old fox had to blink several times as he started to figure out what to do next. He probably SHOULD tell his aging father that he had a grandtod, but the information could easily cause issues concerning conflicts of interest. \n\nMike chewed on his lower lip, his ears flattening against his head. He’d never lied to his father, but he didn’t have to tell him the entire truth either. He could easily leave out the messy details of Kody Grey being his grandkit for after the trial. He did, however, want to at least check to see if Kody Grey WAS his nephew. That way, he could be completely sure before spilling the beans to his father.\n\n“I’m probably not going to get to meet him on the base,“ he said as he started to tap the pen in his hand onto the note pad, “But I wonder if I can arrange a meeting over the weekend.”\n\nHe pressed speed dial on his desk phone, hoping that he could talk directly to the other fox, but his call went straight to voice mail. He left him a short message about arranging a meeting, even giving him his personal phone number to respond by text. He’d hung up the phone only to get a text about two minutes later that read, “Sure. Gideon’s Real Good Baked Stuffs in Bunnyburrow. Noon.”\n\n\f\n\nChapter 4: All His Exes\n\nKimberly Heinz was a mutt. She couldn’t trace much of her heritage, but she knew there was some German Shepherd in her, some Weimaraner, and a plethora of other domestic canine species all swimming and mingling about in her DNA. The woman was slowly approaching her eighties and living with relatives in a predominantly retired animals community in Zootopia. One would have thought age would have calmed her down, but it was quite the opposite. She’d soured since her divorce to Johan Schaiferhund.\n\nTheir marriage hadn’t exactly been perfectly picturesque. They’d met in college and got married after graduation, and the honeymoon didn’t last. Johan had joined the Air Force not long after college, so they’d spent a great deal of time moving around from base to base in the early years of their marriage, finally settling down at Rudolf Air Force Base out in the more arid areas. She had hated it though. She hated the base. She hated the distance from home. She hated that he was away all the time.\n\nShe had hated it so much that she got him to change careers from military to civil aviation. But even then, she hated him being gone for days at a time on trips. She hated that he was surrounded with lovely young women who were serving as flight attendants. It had gotten to the point where she suspected him of cheating on her every time he went on a trip, even after he’d sired two pups with her. It wasn’t long until after the third pup was born that she’d filed for divorce.\n\nThe divorce had been very nasty from the start. The two had finally come to an arrangement, though it didn’t please anyone. She hadn’t really thought about Johan and the divorce until last year when he’d died in that car accident and the terms of the will had been read aloud. She figured that he would have at least left her and the three kids they’d had something even after the divorce. But no. \n\nHe’d left everything to that fox kit he’d adopted. Her children and grandpups didn’t seem to care. They’d already made their own agreements with the tod, but she felt like they’d deserved more. Her kids deserved the family’s mountain cabin, not some vulpine slut’s offspring that Johan and that Jezebel had taken in.\n\nThe thought of what happened made her blood boil, so much so that she’d hired lawyers to fight it. But that had been several months ago, and it was now firmly in their hands. She started to wonder if the settlement would ever go through when the house phone rang. The mutt slowly wandered into the small apartment, knowing that it was either going to be good news or bad news.\n\n“Miss Heinz,” the voice said, “this is Oliver Swift from Swith, Downy, & Johns. We’re calling about the Last Will and Testament challenge case you filed with us a few months ago.”\n\n“Yes,” she asked as she waited for some good news. She never got it. “I’m sorry to say, ma’am, but we’ve just gotten off the phone with the judge presiding over the case. It seems that you failed to mention a few details when you came to us pertaining to the divorce proceedings, specifically that you signed an agreement that he gave your children their inheritances after the divorce was finalized. Furthermore, you failed disclose that, as per the agreement in the divorce paperwork, that you and your children would forgo any claim to any inheritances promised to his children from any further marriages.”\n\n“But he’s not his son,” Kimberly snarled angrily. \n\n“Ma’am, Raynard Kody Schaiferhund was Johan Wilhelm Schaiferhund and Brenda McCoy Schaiferhund’s legally adopted son. We have seen all the paperwork. You have wasted our time, the judge’s time, and the time of everyone over at Rowan, Rowan, & Mousekewitz. You should expect a bill from us shortly. Good day,” the lawyer said as he hung up on her, not allowing a rebuttal. \n\nKimberly blinked. She’d lost her case. Not only had she lost her case, she was going to have to pay a mountain in legal fees. The mutt searched for someone to blame but in the end, the only one she found wasn’t herself, no. She blamed Johan. It was all his fault after all. He hadn’t tried to save the marriage. He hadn’t tried to take a different schedule to be home more. He had pushed for the kids to get their inheritances done and over with so he wouldn’t have to give them anything when he died. He hadn’t waited more than a year to marry one of those slut flight attendants. It was all his fault, and it was that fox’s fault. \n\nThat fox should have just given the family cabin to her kids. He should have just given her that lovely house his parents bought and moved into near downtown. He should have rolled over for the real Schaiferhund children, not been greedy and selfish to hold onto things that weren’t rightfully his. And now because of his greed, she wasn’t going to have to figure out how to pay for the lawyer’s fees.\n\n\f\n\nChapter 5: Pillows\n\nKody had headed into Bunnyburrow as soon as Friday was over, leaving almost immediately at five for the two and a half hour drive to his mother’s single floor one bedroom house. He spent the start of the night snuggling with his mother while watching TV together before bed.\n\nJo and Kody’s mother-son dynamic was hard to explain. It wasn’t some Freudian Oedipus Complex. They didn’t feel the need to be together for sexual intimacy, but because they completed each other. They made each other whole. They got exactly what they wanted. Jo got to feel her son against her. Kody got to feel his mother against him. Jo got to have HER son. Kody got to have HIS mother. It was something that the two had wanted desperately forever and now they finally had it. Jo and Kody were like two missing pieces of life’s jigsaw puzzle. They’d been set aside from one another, forced to try to fit with other pieces, but in the end, whoever was putting the puzzle together realized that the two pieces were meant to fit with one another and not somewhere else.\n\nThe two had just finished the last minute of their program when Kody finally said something as Jo lightly stroked the top of his head, “Mom, I got a phone call from a law firm today.”\n\n“What ‘bout, honey,” the vixen asked, her hand still feeling over his soft fur. “It was about my adopted dad’s will, but that’s not really why I’m bringing this up,” He replied as he looked over at her, “Mom, the law firm Johan used for his will, well, it was the one real dad said his father owned. The guy who called me was. IS my uncle.”\n\nHis mother stopped petting him for a second, “Yer joshin’ me.” Kody shook his head, “No, momma. I ain’t joshin’ ya. Mike Rowan called me yesterday. There’s only one law firm in Zootopia with that name; Rowan, Rowan, & Mousekewitz. I googled it. The guy who runs it, Richard Rowan, was daddy’s father. Mike Rowan is daddy’s brother.”\n\nThere was a pause as Jo let the words sink in. For being such a big city, there were quite a few coincidences going on, almost as if they were a part of some kind of tv program or story. Jo also realized that her little boy was finally starting to sound like an actual Grey. The old vixen wasn’t exactly sure what to say, really. The only interactions she’d ever had with the Rowans happened with Chris. She hoped that Chris was the exception to the family, not the rule. “Why’re ya tellin’ me this,” she finally asked out of pure curiosity.\n\nKody bit his lower lip, “Mom, I’m supposed to meet him at Gideon’s for lunch, and I want you to come with me.”\n\n“Why,” she asked as she slowly started to stroke over one ear, feeling it flick around under her fingers.\n\n“I jist. I guess I just want you there to hold my hand when I talk to him. I know I sound like a kit, but, I just,” the tod started to chuff in frustration as he tried to find the words, “I just. I just. I just.”\n\n“Ya wants to know more bout yer daddy, dontcha sweetie. Ya wants t’know if yer daddy’s famly was just like’m,” she said as she leaned in to give the top of his head a kiss, “I s’pose I’m a peck curious too.” Kody sniffled like he was a little kit again, “I’m just learning about where I’m from.”\n\n“It’s all right, sugar fox,” Jo said as she pulled her son’s head against her shoulder, “Ya wants yer mama there to keep ya from actin’ the fool when ya start asking bout yer daddy.”\n\nThe tod sniffed again, nodding his head up and down as he gave out a cute little whimper, “Mmmhm.” The vixen just murred sweetly as she started to rock him back and forth, giving him another kiss on the top of his head, “It’s all right, sweet pea. Mama’ll be there, dontcha worry.”\n\nKody let out a long sigh as his tail curled over his thigh, head resting fully on his mother’s shoulder. His mother continued to run her fingers through the fur on the top of his head, making the tod slowly relax while the movie they had been watching began to wrap up. The old vixen slowly leaned forward to give her son a kiss on the cheek, “Ya should go t’bed, Kody.”\n\nThe tod tilted his head up to give the bottom of her muzzle a kiss before sliding off the couch, “Yeah. A good night’s sleep would help.” He stood over his mother for a second before leaning in to give her cheek another kiss.\n\nThe vixen watched her son walk out of the living room and head towards the bedroom. Jo waited a few minutes before sliding off the couch, her jaws opening wide to let out a yawn as her arms stretched above her head. A good night’s sleep did sound wonderful. Daintily, she made her way to the bedroom before disrobing to slide into the one bed. Long arms wrapped around her son as she snuggled up with him. Her chunky tod made a wonderful body pillow.\n\n\f\n\nChapter 6: Sleepless in Zootopia\n\nUnlike Kody and Jo, Mike had a very hard time sleeping that night, in fact, he’d had a hard time sleeping ever since he’d talked to Kody Grey. The tod stared up at the ceiling, his chest rising and falling as his mind seemed to take its sweet time to fully digest what had happened and what was going to happen tomorrow. He wondered what his new nephew looked like, if he even was his nephew at all and this was just some odd coincidence that Kody was a thirty year old fox whose deceased biological father had been named Chris.\n\nMike’s wife, Helen, slowly rolled over, the nearly fifty year old vixen throwing an arm around her husband’s middle before resting her head on his chest. “Can’t sleep,” she said softly, her eyes still closed as her tiny black nose sniffed over her husband’s chest.\n\n“Yeah,” he sighed as one arm moved to gently stroke over the vixen’s shoulder. Helen was a red fox, like her husband, but unlike her husband, she didn’t have any red in her fur. She was a silver fox, her fur a genetic abnormality that gave her two primary colors; a silvery gray and black, which meant she was very hard to see at night, even for him.\n\nShe softly nuzzled his chest while her hand ran up and down his sized, “You’re still thinking about Chris’ son?”\n\n“Yeah,” he replied as he let out a long, deep sigh, “If he even is Chris’.”\n\nThe vixen slowly over onto her belly, her eyes opening as she rested her elbows on his chest. “There’s always that possibility,” Helen mused, “But if he is?”\n\n“It’s… it’s just strange, Helen, knowing that Chris actually managed to have a kid. He was very to the point over the phone, a lot like how Chris used to be. I’m just worried that I’ll end up running into my brother’s clone,” Mike replied as his ears went flat against his head.\n\n“You could have also called him at a bad time,” his wife replied as she moved a finger out to poke him in the middle of the nose. Mike blinked a few times at the touch, before letting out another sigh, “Yeah. You’re right. It might have been a bad time, but I’m still a little worried.”\n\n“Why? You should be happy that Chris wasn’t his father figure,” the vixen said, her finger slowly moving down his nose and over his lips before resting her hand on his chest. She was right, then again, Helen was usually right about a lot of things. The tod let out another heavy sigh as he started to run his hand down his wife’s spine, “I can’t even imagine what that would have been like.”\n\nThat was a lie, he could, and it was a nightmare. He’d seen divorce paperwork dealing with abusive husbands, and that’s probably how the marriage would have ended. That or a shotgun. But Kody had been spared that, as had Josephine Grey. Mike let out another sigh as Helen chuckled, “MMm… wondering what the kids will think?”\n\nThe tod chuckled. He was curious about how his two daughters would react to learning they had a cousin. Victoria and Alexis would probably be intrigued since, for all the family knew, Chris hadn’t managed to sire any kits. The vixens were only a few years younger than Kody, both of them being twenty-six and twenty-four respectively, so Mike imagined them getting along fairly well. Mike’s minor dream was cut short when he felt Helen slide on top him, her legs splaying around his middle as she sat back. “Want some help getting to sleep?”\n\nMike woke up a few hours later to the sound of his alarm clock. His wife had helped him sleep, but he still had to wake up to catch his train from Zootopia to Bunnyburrow. Sliding out of his wife’s grasp, he made his way into the bathroom, releasing the contents of his bladder before slipping into a nice warm shower.\n\nThirty minutes later, Mike was ready. He’d dressed formally for the occasion, a gray suit with white undershirt and red tie. By the time he’d finished dressing, his wife was already in the kitchen, wearing nothing but a very long night shirt whose bottom reached down to her knee. Mike chuckled softly as he moved in behind her, a hand moving to her rump as he gave her a kiss on the cheek. “I’ll be home for dinner,” he whispered into her ear. His wife chuckled, “Mmm… Don’t eat too much on your trip. You should save room for dessert tonight.”\n\nMike let out a lusty churr into her ear, “I’m looking forward to it.”\n\n\f\n\nChapter 7: The Uncle\n\nThe 10:30 from Zootopia to Bunnyburrow left twenty minutes late, meaning Mike was going to cut the meeting time very close. The high-speed train pulled into the station at 11:50, but it still took a few minutes to get a cab, so by the time the fox managed to get to Gideon Grey’s Real Good Baked Stuff, it was 11:59. The tod paid the driver with a twenty, not even waiting for change as he rushed into the restaurant with barely fifteen seconds to spare. \n\nMike looked around the establishment, unsure of who to look for exactly outside of the fact that he was looking for a fox or at least hoping that he was looking for a fox. The will didn’t make mention of his species, so this Kody Grey could have been anyone. The restaurant was packed mostly with bunnies, but there were three foxes there. One of them was behind the counter, and the other two were sitting in a booth eating a pot pie.\n\nMike had to do a double take at the tod and vixen sitting in the booth. Mike remembered the vixen, it wasn’t hard to since they’d been in the same classes together for most of their time at Z.U. Jo had aged gracefully, must like Helen. He was about to say something when his eyes moved over to the tod. Mike’s eyes almost popped out of his head. \n\nWhoever this fox was, he looked a great deal like Chris even though there were a few differences. From the way of he was sitting, Mike figured that he was maybe an inch or an inch and a half shorter than Chris had been. The fox had Chris’ exact same build, though Chris would never have allowed himself to get chubby. The tod was a slightly different shade of red than Chris. Chris was colored more like a Red Delicious Apple, this tod was more colored like a cocktail cherry. Even though the colors were different, Chris and the fox that Mike was staring at had an eerily similar fur pattern to them.\n\nHe couldn’t seem to say anything as the tod pulled out a phone to check the time. “He’s late,” the vulpine said as he put it down on the table. The vixen took another bite of pot pie, “Don’t get down, Kody. I’m sure th’train’s jist runnin’ late’gain.”\n\n“Kody,” Mike blurted out.\n\n Kody and Jo almost jumped out of their fur as they heard someone say Kody’s name. Slowly, the two turned their heads to look at Mike Rowan who was staring at them like he’d seen a specter. The three foxes blinked at one another for a few seconds before Kody scooted over in the booth, making room for him.\n\nMike was just about to sit next to Kody when Jo intervened by sliding out of her seat. He could see that she was being protective of her son, as any mother would. The tod slid into where the vixen had been sitting, a hand reaching across the table towards Kody, “It’s… nice to meet you, Kody. I’m sorry to have kept you waiting.” \n\nSlowly Kody reached out and took his hand, “It’s nice to meet you too. Mr. Rowan.”\n\n“Please, call me Mike,” he replied, “I’m really here to deliver some good news.”\n\nKody looked at him. “You already did when you told me they would throw out her case.”\n\n“They did,” Mike said as he looked at Kody, right before Travis slithered up to take the demolished pot pie away. “Can I get you anything,” he asked the three foxes.\n\nThe older fox turned to look at the ferret for a brief second, “Could I get what they had?”\n\n“Sure, but that’s a lot of pie for just one fox. Not even Gideon can finish one by himself.”\n\n“You have any smaller ones?”\n\n“Yup. You want anything to drink with that?”\n\n“Just some tea, please.”\n\n“Sweet or unsweet?”\n\n“Sweet, I guess.”\n\n“I’ll bring it right out.”\n\nThe ferret slithered away and Mike turned his attention to Kody and Jo, “Your father’s ex-wife’s case was completely dismissed by the Judge yesterday afternoon. From what I understand, her lawyers received a harsh dressing down for even taking the case because of the details she omitted.”\n\nKody nodded as he took a sip of his lemonade, “I figured that would happen, but you didn’t travel all the way from Zootopia to give me news you could have sent me on the phone.”\n\nMike blinked a few times. Kody looked at him, “What can you tell me about my father?”\n\n“I didn’t know Johan,” the tod responded as his mini pot pie and sweet tea were placed in front of him.\n\nThe cherry fox shook his head, “No, I mean your brother, Chris.”\n\nMike blinked a few times, not touching his food or drink. For some reason, he had forgotten that the internet existed in the near fourty-eight hours since the last time they spoke. There was only one firm with Rowan in the name in the entire city, and it was easy to look up the Zootopia Gazette’s on-line archives for Chris’ obituary. There was a long pause as Mike looked down at the steamy pot pie and the cool glass of sweet tea in front of him, a droplet of condensation starting to run down the side of the glass. “My brother… your father… was an ass.”\n\nJo was surprised, and yet also relieved at Mike’s response. Hearing it from the tod made her feel better. Kody just nodded, “That’s what my mother told me.”\n\nMike looked up at his nephew as he let out a sigh, “She’s right, but mom and dad never saw him for what he was. Hell, they still don’t see him for what he really was, and it’s been almost thirty years.”\n\nKody nodded as his uncle looked him up and down, “You know, you look a lot like your father. A little lighter red, but you do look like him.”\n\nThe younger tod just kept nodding, “But what can you tell me about him?”\n\nMike leaned back as he picked up a fork and started to poke at the pot pie, “He was an alpha male. He liked being in charge. He was always a bit bigger than me, slightly taller, but he didn’t get his nickname of ‘Little Wolf’ until High School, when he hit his growth spurt and decided to pick a fight with a wolf Senior Classmammal.”\n\nKody blinked, “What happened?”\n\n“Chris got suspended for a week, but the wolves accepted him into the pack,” the older tod replied as he finally scooped a portion of the pot pie up and into his mouth. Mike couldn’t help but let out a long churr as the flaky crust, vegetables, and broth seemed to melt into his mouth. “Ohh…wow… this… this is really good,” he said with a shudder.\n\nJosephine smiled, “Glad ye likes it. Kody’s cousin, Gideon, makes’em.” Mike slowly turned his head to see another tod that looked a little like Kody waving at them from behind the register. Everyone at the table waved back before Mike began to munch on the pot pie.\n\n“Do… do your parents know about… my mom? Or me,” Kody asked softly as he leaned in over the table. Mike gulped down another bite before taking a long swig of his sweat tea, “Your grandparents don’t know about Josephine or what happened. Your grandfather does know about you, though not in the way you’re hoping.”\n\nJosephine let out a chuff, “Whatcha mean b’that?”\n\nMike put the glass down, “My dad only knows Kody as Raynard Schaiferhund, Johan and Brenda Schaferhund’s heir. He doesn’t know that he’s Chris’ son. He’s just a client’s son.”\n\nJo snorted, “He never paid attention to what his son was doing?”\n\nThe older tod leaned back and crossed his arms, “He didn’t, and neither did Kody’s grandmother. They were too busy, and Chris was always the model of upper middle class society when they were around. For all his bragging, he was always tight lipped around them. I tried to tell them the truth lots of times, but they won’t listen. I’m pretty sure they stopped listening to me a long time ago.”\n\nThere was another long silence as the three foxes looked at each other. Kody chewed his lower lip as he began to lean back into the chair. Mike let out a sigh as he slowly reached for his tea. “So… uhm… Kody,” he started to ask as he looked at his nephew, “What do you do for a living exactly?” He needed to lighten the overall mood and learn more about the younger fox.\n\nKody smiled as he chuckled, “I’m a pilot. I’m sorry I was a little rough with you when you called me on Thursday. I’d just gotten done with a flight and I was ready to get out of my g-suit.”\n\n“G-Suit,” Mike’s ears and eyebrows quirked in curiosity, “You mean you’re a fighter pilot? Like those guys in that one movie?”\n\nThe younger man laughed as he shook his head, “No. I’m not like those guys in Top Gun. I fly bombers.”\n\n“And you have to wear a g-suit for that,” his uncle asked. The only movie he’d ever seen with bomber pilots had been Doctor Strangelove and a few of the ones made about the Great War, so he wasn’t sure if his reference point was dated.\n\n“Well, the one I fly, I have to. I fly the Canberra,” he replied as he started to lean forward a little.\n\n“Canberra,” Mike said, trying to remember anything he could about the aircraft, but nothing was popping out.\n\n“Yeah, it’s an older plane. They started out as tactical bombers, but now they’re mostly used for weather reconnaissance,” Kody didn’t, actually couldn’t, talk too much about what his real mission was in the aircraft, but he did know that a simple internet search would bring up the ones used down at the Zootopian Aeronautics and Space Administration. A few of the previous model Canberras had been scooped up by them to study weather, and the naked observer wouldn’t be able to distinguish the H model from the F model, so he usually used weather as his cover story.\n\n“So you’re a storm chaser,” Mike asked.\n\n“Something like that, yes.”\n\n“I don’t think there’s ever been a pilot in the family before.”\n\nJo giggled, “We ain’t never had one in our famly neither.”\n\nMike nodded, “You must be very proud of your son.”\n\n“Ah sure am! M’lil kit dun well fer hisself,” the vixen smiled as she put an arm around her son, giving him a one armed hug.\n\nMike chuckled, “His grandfather might be disappointed he’s not a lawyer.”\n\nKody scoffed, “Why would I want to be a lawyer? I love my job.”\n\nThe older tod gave his nephew an envious smile. He’d wanted to say that for years, he mused as he looked down at his watch, “I hate to cut this short, but if I leave now, I can catch the earlier train back to Zootopia.”\n\nThe younger fox nodded, “I understand.” There was a slight pause as he went through his mind, searching for one last question to ask before he found it. He’d spotted the wedding ring on the older tod’s hand, so he might as well ask, “Do I have any cousins on your side of the family?”\n\n“Yes, actually. Victoria and Alexis, they’re my daughters. Your grandfather and grandmother were only children, so that’s about the extent of the extended family,” Mike replied. He figured Kody might ask since he was still learning more and more about the two families he belonged to.\n\nThe younger fox seemed to let out a sigh of relief, “Phew. Sorry, Uncle Mike, but I’m glad. My adopted dad had a HUGE family since he was a Shepherd. I had a hard time keeping track of them all. It kinda felt like every other day he’d tell me about a cousin that I had that I never remembered but met when I was a baby or a little kit.”\n\nThe older tod and vixen chuckled softly, which only made Kody chuckle more. “What? I’m serious? My adopted father had four brothers and two sisters, all of whom had at pups of their own. Honestly, it had to make a flow chart for it.”\n\n“Well, you won’t have that problem anymore, Kody. It’s just your grandparents, me, my wife, and my two daughters,” Mike said with a warm laugh as he started to slide out of the booth, but not before reaching his hand out to shake Kody’s, “It was nice to meet you, Kody. I’m honestly glad we did this.”\n\nKody nodded, “It was nice to meet you too, Uncle Mike.”\n\nUncle and Nephew shook hands for a few seconds before Mike looked over at Josephine, “And it was nice seeing you again, Jo.”\n\n“Whatcha mean, again,” the vixen asked curious. Mike chuckled, “You don’t remember?”\n\nShe shook her head as the tod chuckled, “Professor MacDuck’s Freshman English?”\n\nJosephine tried to concentrate on the memory, remembering the class until he finally popped into her head, “I ‘memberya now! Ya were that cute lookin’ tod who sat in th’front row.”\n\nMike chuckled softly, a little embarrassed by her calling him cute. “Yeah, that was me,” he said as he scratched the back of his head, “You… uhm… thought I was cute?”\n\nJo giggled, “Course I did. All th’vixens I talked t’said yew was, ‘specially Helen Zlatan.”\n\nThe tod chuckled, “Good, cause I married Helena Zlatan.”\n\nThe vixen and the tod laughed as the youngest one at the table looked a little confused. Jo gave her son a pat on the back, “It wuz b’fore yer time, shoog.”\n\nMike just gave a little chuff as he slipped out of the booth. “We’ll have to do this again sometime,” he said as he gave them one last smile before turning about to head out the door.\n\n“Yeah,” Kody said softly, “We should.”\n\n\f\n\nChapter 8: Back Home\n\nHelen hadn’t expected Mike to get home so early. She’d spent most of the day sitting on the couch watching television, popping popcorn into her muzzle as she enjoyed a Neville Longbottom movie marathon, so when the door had opened and her husband yelled out, “I’m home early,” she’d nearly leaped right out of her fur. Though her initial fright easily melted into a more flirty mood. She rarely got her husband home during the day, and usually he was off doing some project on weekends or spending hours locked in his “cave” working on a model or two. She felt like she needed to act, and she did.\n\nThe vixen had rolled off the couch after putting the popcorn down to grab her tod and pull him in for a very spicy kiss that took Mike off guard at first only for him to start to melt against her. “Welcome home, honey,” Helen said in a warm chur, her fingers still gripping his jacket tightly while her tail flicked and flitted about behind her.\n\nMike smirked as he dropped his briefcase to grip his wife by the hips, pulling her in nice and tight. “Can I have my dessert early,” he said as his nose poked hers.\n\n“Oh, we’re DEFINITELY having dessert now,” she quipped back to him before giving him a long, deep kiss.\n\nSeveral hours later, the two foxes were laying by each other in bed, Helen’s head resting against Mike’s chest as the two idly watched the Neville Longbottom movie marathon. “So, what’s he like,” the vixen queried as they kept watching the flashing images on the screen.\n\n“Hmm? Oh. You mean Kody? He’s a good kit,” he said as he gently rubbed his wife’s shoulder, “Not like his dad at all, which, was refreshing.”\n\n“Oh?”\n\n“Yeah. Smart too. I think he knew who I was before I did,” Mike let out a sigh, “He kinda looks like Chris too.”\n\nHelen giggled as she rolled over onto her belly beside her husband, the TV completely forgotten. “So he’s all muscular and dreamy, like your big brother,” she said with at tease that only made Mike laugh.\n\n“No. They’ve got the same build, but Kody’s more husky than Chris was,” he replied only for his wife to giggle, “So he has a cute little curly tail?”\n\n“What,” the tod said in confusion until he realized his word choice, “No. Not like that. I meant… I mean… he’s more tubby than Chris was.”\n\n“Ohhhhh,” his wife said in a slightly mocking tone as she laughed, “Did you find out what he does for a living?”\n\n“I did, actually. He’s a fi… er… bomber pilot in the Air Force,” he said. His wife smirked, “Oh, well, we should probably keep him far away from Victoria and Alexis. My sister dated one after college. She said he would hit on everything that was female and had two legs.”\n\nMike rolled his eyes and shook his head, “No. That was Chris, and he hit on anything with two legs. Besides, I doubt Kody would go after his cousins. That’s just… bleh.” The tod stuck his tongue out at the mere thought.\n\n“I’m just kidding, honey. I’m sure Kody’s a nice tod that would never go after his cousins,” Helen paused before she started to think, “Would you like to invite him over? Maybe see if your father would like to meet his long-lost nephew?”\n\nMike let out a sigh. He was going to have to break the news to his father about Kody, but he wasn’t sure exactly how to do it. Richard hadn’t been to see his son at his home since his grandkits graduated High School, even though Mike had invited him over many times. The only way this was going to work was if they went out for dinner. This was going to get very expensive very fast.\n\n\f\n\nChapter 9: Richard Rowan\n\nRichard was just about to sit down in front of his most famous client, Scrooge Eclipser, at Gordon Ramsey’s 5 Star Restaurant in the famous Oasis Hotel in Sahara Square when his cell phone rang. There were only three times when Richard ever was furious; the first happened when he was a kit and he was refused a lollipop. The second was when he had been denied into Hartbeest because he was a fox. The final time was this.\n\nThe todd, who was nearing his seventieth year, had an inherent desire to murder whomever was occupying the receiving end of the line, though he easily realized that making any kind of treacherous threat could drag his slowly greying muzzle into the courts of justice, answered with a renewed temperament. “Hello.”\n\n“Dad,” the voice said, “I was wondering… wondering if you’re available for dinner soon.”\n\n“Of course I’m available for dinner, Michael,” the tod answered, “the more important question is whether your mother is.”\n\nThere was a long sigh, “Dad, I know she’s busy, but, please, for me, make some dinner reservations for… uhm… six?”\n\n“Six? Why on God’s green earth would I make reservations for six,” he snarled, even as Scrooge and Darlene Eclipsers sat down in front of him. “Dad, don’t pull this shit on me. We barely see one another as it is, just… just make some good promises. Please,” the voice on the other line stated.\n\n“I know we don’t spend much time together,” Richard said, “That’s mostly because we both are adults and both have lives.”\n\n“Dad. Can you make the reservation for next week? Saturday or Sunday?”\n\n“Michael,” Richard said softly into the transmitter as he tried to keep his much wealthier clients from hearing, “Peter could get me a reservation for our entire family if I wanted. What are you asking for?”\n\nMike practically groaned and snarled at the same time, a grrnarl almost. “For the love of God, dad. All I want is for me, your daughter-in-law, a client, and his MOTHER to have dinner with us next weekend because the client has been a with us for thirty years AND his only interaction has been with Mousekewitz.”\n\nThe fox’s face seemed to light up as if a half a hundred candles had been stuck right to his fur. “Client! Mousekewitz! Money! Next Saturday Night. The Oasis Hotel and Casino. Eight o’clock. My treat.”\n\nMike had half expected his father to keep rambling, but then again, the old todd smelled the scent of money and ran at it. He was certainly a good penny pincher, though not a very good father. Something Mike mused as his wife began to nuzzle against his chest, “You’re right. As soon as I mentioned Mousekewitz, he changed his attitude.”\n\nHelen giggled as she kissed her husband on the chest, “Mmm… what can I say? Your father has a one track mind. I figured him out about 2 hours after I met him.”\n\nMike leaned in to kiss the top of her head, “Are you sure you’ve never been married to Richard or one of his clients?”\n\nHelen started off with, “Well…,” but then immediately kissed her husband square on the lips. “Just his son,” she murred deeply as she lay herself upon her husband.\n\n\fChapter 10: Family Matters\n\nKody let out a long sigh as he stretched out on the couch, his head in his mother’s lap while his legs dangled a little over one of the arms. The vixen was gently stroking over the top of his head, her own tail flopped over his belly. “What did you think about Uncle Mike,” he churred as he rested against his mother. The older fox giggled softly, “H’seems a’right. Much bedder th’n’s both’r.”\n\nKody nodded as he let out another sigh, “Yeah.”\n\nJo giggled as she gave her son’s chest a gentle scratch, “Ya thinkin’ bout yer grandsire?”\n\nThe tod nodded, “Yeah.”\n\n“Well, my daddy’n’mama wud be s’proud’aya if they wus here. I’m sure Chris’ daddy’n’mama w’ll be too,” She replied before giving his chest another scratch that only made her son let out a warm murr. The old vixen giggled before giving one pec a playful tap, “I’m sure y’ll get’long wid’m like peas’n’carrots.”\n\nKody chuckled, “I’m sure I will.” He leaned up to give his mother a peck on the underside of her long muzzle before he rolled over onto his side.\n\nThe two watched another movie as they sat in relative silence, the mother still stroking over her son’s head.\n\nRichard slowly walked into his apartment from the meeting with the Eclipsers. It had gone well enough. The old lion had done nothing but talk about how the city and the al-Daube’s were screwing him and his business, and how he was going to run for Mayor in the next election. Richard wasn’t interested at all in the conversation, but it was something he could write off as a business expense since the lion had talked all night about the real estate he owned around Zootopia.\n\n“I will make sure that goat fucker won’t be able to expand outside of Sahara Square,” the lion had roared out. The feline’s words had made Richard’s imagination run a bit wild as he said, “I wonder what it would be like.”\n\n“What what would be like,” the lion responded with a very confused look on his muzzle. “To fuck a goat,” the fox said completely non-chalantly.\n\nScrooge and his jaguar wife, Darlene, looked at the fox with amazement, the two of them completely stunned by what Richard had just said. The fox didn’t really pay any attention to it as he kept eating. The whole irony of Scrooge’s rant about how he hated Ali al-Daube, one of the four Emirs that made up the United Mammal Emirates, while sitting in one of the restaurants in the hotel and casino that the Emir owned was not lost on the fox. In fact, it made him chuckle, only making the Eclipsers more nervous.\n\n“You brought the subject up,” Richard said between bites, “It was only natural that I look at further discussing the issue. Though, you are wrong about one thing. Ali doesn’t fuck goats, you’re thinking of his son, Shakir. Though, last time I checked, I don’t think gazelles are considered goats. I’ll have to google it when I get home.”\n\nThe lion and jaguar pair gave each other nervous looks, each one wondering if they should leave and find another law firm. The fox just waved his hand, “But I digress. I think you might have a good shot at the mayoral office, though, you’ve got stiff competition. I hear Shakir al-Daube might even run for it.”\n\nThe lion snorted, “Hyena’s are fit to run anything. He’ll just drive it right into the ground.”\n\nRichard looked around at the five star restaurant filled with hungry mammals, “It seems reality is quite intent on challenging your last statement.”\n\nScrooge snarled, “Don’t you remember what they did in Kitara? Whole damn country fell apart into Civil War.”\n\n“You mean the one ruled by lion kings that fell apart because the king’s brother murdered him and took over, and attempted to create a socialist utopia by nationalizing all the land and businesses before killing holy mammals causing a mass exodus? And when the nephew showed back up, he tried to blame the whole thing on the hyena population, the same population that ended up killing him in the street on his way to the airport to escape? That one,” Richard retorted, “It seems to me that you’ve got a lion-centric view of history. If it wasn’t for those hyenas, the nephew would have never gotten back into power.”\n\nScrooge growled as his wife picked up her purse. “We’re leaving,” the lion said with a snarl, but Richard looked at him, “And I can assume you no longer wish to do business with me?”\n\n“You’re damn right,” Scrooge replied.\n\n“That is too bad. I was looking at making a sizeable donation to your campaign, but it looks like that money will be going to Shakir instead.”\n\nThe lion blinked, “How much are we talking?”\n\n“Oh, I was going to donate around say two million dollars.”\n\nIt wasn’t a bad sum, and the lion never refused money, “Fine. I’ll still do business with you.”\n\n“Excellent! Are you going to stay for dessert? I hear the chocolate cake is amazing.”\n\n“No,” Scrooge said as he took his wife’s hand, “We’re still leaving.”\n\n“Suit yourself. It just means more for me.”\n\nThat’s how the business meeting had ended, with Richard stuck with the very pricy bill, but he was going to claim it as a business expense on his tax return. What was $745.28 including tip between friends?\n\nThe memory of that slowly began to fade as he looked around the house. He noted his wife was not present in the living room, rather, she was laying face down in bed and sounding like she was clear cutting an acre of rainforest. Richard hadn’t married Ruby for the noises she made while sleeping though, he married her because she balanced him out, well, that and he’d managed to put Chris inside her on their third date.\n\nThe tod chuckled as he stripped down before crawling into bed with her, something that neither of them had gotten to do much of after they’d entered into their respective career fields. It was a bit of a miracle that they’d managed to produce a second kit at all with how little procreation time they’d shared. \n\nThere had been a time in the early days of their marriage when Richard had attempted to convince Ruby to be a stay at home mother, but she would have none of it. She’d gone into heavy debt to get her medical degree and by god she was going to use it, something that ultimately boiled down to them rarely sleeping in the same bed with each other at the same time.\n\nRichard was just about to see if he could get some special time with his wife, when the vixen reached her hand up to grip his muzzle. “Not tonight,” she said briskly before letting go. The tod thought about protesting, but the clear cutting sound started anew. Growling, Richard rolled over and started to think about what it would be like to fuck a goat.\n\n\f\n\nChapter 11: Cousins\n\nIt had become a bit of a tradition for Victoria and her younger sister, Alexis, to do a group call with their parents on Sundays. It was usually a fun time as they were all able to catch up with each other quickly. Victoria had been the first to call into the group chat, her parents image popping in on the screen. \n\n“Hey dad! Hey mom,” Victoria said to the screen with a smile. The vixen was a nice shade of dark orange, a few tones lighter than her father, but from her proportions, she resembled a younger version of her mother though Victoria was a few inches shorter. She could see her parents smile as they responded with, “Tori! It’s good to see you!”\n\nEven though her name was Victoria, the vixen had started calling herself “Tori” in high school since it was quicker to say. The younger red fox smiled, “How’ve you been?”\n\nHer mother shrugged her shoulders as she sat beside her husband. “Oh, we can’t complain,” she churred sweetly, but Mike chuckled, “I’ve been very busy.”\n\n“How’d the…” Tori started to ask when Alexis popped in. Alexis was almost a clone of her mom, sharing the silver and black markings, though she was also just an inch or two shorter. For being the younger sister, she was actually an inch taller than Tori. The younger silver fox grinned, “Hey!”\n\nMike and Helen smiled at their two daughters on the computer screen. “Alexis! Happy you could join in,” Mike said as he looked between his daughters, “You’re mother and I have been fine, though I’ve been very busy lately.”\n\n“I was just about to ask about that Last Will and Testament case,” Tori said before her father injected, “Oh yes. I have some interesting news about that.”\n\nThe young vixens’ ears popped up, “Oh?”\n\n“Yes, it’s been thrown out of court, but there’s more to it. It seems the defendant,” their sire paused for a second, “Do you remember your Uncle Chris?”\n\nAlexis nodded, “Kinda?”\n\n“Didn’t Uncle Chris die before we were born,” Tori asked.\n\n“He did, but you remember when you were in high school and I told you to be careful around tods?”\n\nThe two vixens nodded. “You also told us to never forget about taking our birth control,” Tori replied.\n\n“Not until we were ready to have kits,” her sister interjected.\n\n“Well. Uncle Chris was the reason why,” their sire said as he looked between them, “Grandpa and Grandma don’t like to admit it, but Chris had a bit of a reputation for… getting around with girls.”\n\n“Ohhhh,” the two vixens said in surprise. Now his advice made sense. They knew he didn’t like to talk about Uncle Chris much, so hearing their father bring him up meant they were about to learn something new.\n\n“What does Uncle Chris have to do with your case,” Alexis curiously inquired. Her father let out a sigh.\n\n “Well, your Uncle Chris… had,” the tod paused for a second, realizing that, while he was talking to his little girls, they weren’t “little girls” anymore, they were women in their mid-twenties, “Chris got a vixen pregnant during a one night stand, and when she wouldn’t abort the child, he refused to marry her.”\n\nTori and Alexis stared at their father. They had never heard this story, then again, why would their father ever tell it? They knew Uncle Chris was a touchy subject, but they were just now realizing how touchy it was. “What… what happened,” Tori slowly asked.\n\nMike looked at his girls, “Well, the last time we saw her pregnant was the end of the semester. Everyone figured she was going to drop out and go home, but when Fall Semester started, she was back. She wouldn’t answer anyone’s questions about what happened, so everyone just assumed it was a miscarriage.”\n\n“Did she,” Alexis asked before adding, “Have a miscarriage I mean.”\n\nTheir father shook his head, “No. She put him up for adoption.”\n\nThere was a long pause as everyone just stared at each other until Alexis asked, “Dad. What are you trying to say exactly? What does this have to do with that case you were telling us about?”\n\n“The defendant was… er… is your cousin,” the older tod finally blurted out. The two vixens blinked several times before Tori spoke, “How long have you known about this? Why haven’t we ever met him?”\n\nMike let out a long sigh, “I didn’t know until yesterday. I called him on Thursday to tell him about the case being thrown out, but I wasn’t sure if he really was Uncle Chris’ son until yesterday when I met him in person.”\n\nAlexis, who was a few years younger than her sister, decided to ask, “Well, what does he look like?”\n\n“He looks a lot like his father,” he replied, but then realized that they never met Chris so that wasn’t a good reference point. Helen chuckled as she pushed away from her husband, disappearing off screen for a few seconds before returning with a family photo of college age Mike standing next to his older brother. Chris wore a huge smile, though his younger brother was scowling a little bit. \n\n“Like the one on the right,” the silver vixen said, holding the picture up to the camera.\n\nTori nodded but Alexis let out a giggle, “He’s kinda cute.”\n\nTheir father chuffed, “Well, not exactly like him. He’s a bit heavier than his father, but they look very similar.”\n\n“Can we meet him,” Tori inquired, “It’s only fair since you got to meet him that we do.”\n\n“I haven’t told him about this, but Grandpa Rick wants to meet him for dinner,” their father replied only to say, “Don’t… don’t tell Grandpa Rick about this though, I… uhm… haven’t told him that his client is actually his grandtod.”\n\nTori dragged her paw over her breasts in an ex, “Cross my heart.”\n\nAlexis giggled softly, “I won’t tell, but what’s his name?”\n\n“Kody Grey. He’s a fi… er… bomber pilot,” their sire replied, “I never asked what his mother does for a living, but they’ll be in town on Saturday. I can see if they can come earlier if you’d like to meet them.”\n\n“YES,” the younger sister said with a smile, though Tori was more collected, “Sure.”\n\n“All right. I’ll send you a text with a time,” Mike said with a smile.\n\n\f\n\nChapter 12: Jo and RJ\n\nKody Grey was sitting behind a desk typing out an email when his cellphone buzzed, a text message showing up on the screen. “Kody. Rick wants to meet you and your mom Saturday Night,” it read, “Can you guys make it?”\n\nThe tod thought about it for a few seconds before typing back, “Sure. Where? When,” before hitting send.\n\nA few minutes later, his phone vibrated again, “Oasis Hotel and Casino. 8:00 pm.” Kody stared at the message. It would mean a very late Saturday night, but on the bright side, he did have a house in Zootopia, the one he’d inherited from his parents. His reply was fairly quick, “Sure.”\n\nAnother text message came over the phone not long after he replied. “Could show up early? Cousins and wife want to meet you.”\n\nKody chuckled, he figured something like that would happen. “Sure. Meet at my parent’s house. 6?”\n\n“6 is fine. See you there,” Mike replied.\n\nKody slowly put the phone down. He was going to meet his paternal family, though, he was curious to see how his mother would react to meeting them. The tod started to figure out all the logistics of the day trip. It might be best to get to Zootopia Friday night if not mid-Saturday morning. He hadn’t been back to the house in a while, so he’d need the extra time to clean the house and stock the fridge. The fox was actually happy he hadn’t put it on the market.\n\nKody picked his phone back up, scrolling over to his mother’s contact information and pressing the call button. He’d never called her in the middle of the day during the week, so he was curious to know what she was up to.\n\nJo rarely talked about her work, not that she didn’t enjoy it. The vixen was very photogenic, though she’d always been surprised that she was able to stay in front of a camera even though she was now in her late fourties. \n\nIt had started in college. To make some extra money, she’d started posing for the art department’s drawing classes. That had led to her posing for some of the photography students as well. By the time she’d graduated college, she had a good portfolio to show off. \n\nNone the less, she had done some less than savory pictures in her mid-twenties, things she was embarrassed about now, though none of them had been pornographic. Most of her time spent in front of the camera back then had been in skimpy clothing or nude, though because of her pride and what happened with Chris Rowan, she hadn’t allowed herself to engage in sexually graphic photography. If she had, she could have easily made a larger name for herself. She had made a more than decent living, though she had made sure to save everything since her parents taught her to be quite frugal. \n\nJo could have easily afforded to live in Zootopia, not that she hadn’t when she was more active as a pin-up girl, but she moved back to Bunnyburrow the first chance she’d gotten, using her savings to buy the house she’d lived in for the past twenty years with a check rather than taking out a mortgage. She liked being close to family, and she liked not having to deal with the hustle and bustle of the city. She also liked being able to pick and choose which shoots she would do, mostly due to her age and her reputation within the industry.\n\nJo was in the midst of hosting a guest, a younger raccoon girl called RJ, when her son called. The vixen was surprised to get a call in the middle of the day during the week, but she was more than happy to talk to her son.\n\n“Hey shoog,” Jo said with a happy smile, “It’s not likeya t’call durin’ th’week.”\n\n“I know mama,” Kody replied with just a light hint of the drawl he was starting form, “But Uncle Mike sent me a message. Apparently, he wants us to go to Zootopia on Saturday to meet his family before meeting with Granddad and Grandma.”\n\nThe vixen giggled as she looked up at RJ, the raccoon girl looking a little perplexed. Jo covered the receiver for a second to say, “It’s my boy. Just gimme a minute.”\n\n“Oh, that sounds sweet, sugar fox,” the vixen smiled, “I’d love t’meet’m. Did they say war?”\n\n“Well, we’re meetin’ Uncle Mike and his family over at my adopted parent’s place at six, then going to the Oasis Hotel and Casino for dinner at eight. I was thinking that we could head to Zootopia Friday night or Saturday morning. I… uhm… I haven’t exactly been keeping up with their old house since the accident,” her son replied.\n\n“Well, I think we sh’d go Saturday mornin’. I think the first train leaves a might early, but they’s got one at seven we c’d take.”\n\n“Perfect. I’ll see you Friday night?”\n\n“Of course.”\n\n“All right. I’ll talk to you later, ma.”\n\nJo giggled a little as her son hung up. He’d slowly started to develop the accent from being around her and the rest of his kin. It was cute in a way, a city boy starting to sound country. The raccoon sitting across from her still looked slightly confused.\n\nRhapsody Journey Drystan, aka RJ Drystan, had grown up over in Todsglen, a predominantly fox town one county over in Sherwood County. Her parents had been music lovers, so much so that they named her after their favorite song, Volehemian Rhapsody, and their favorite band, Journey. The raccon had always hated her name though, so she had insisted on everyone calling her RJ as soon as she’d been able to form coherent sentences. RJ looked like a fairly typical raccoon, her body mostly grey with black gloves and socks and a black mask.\n\nRJ was only about three or four years younger than Kody, and like Jo, she also had managed to get herself involved in being a photography model, though her tastes had run a bit… different to Jo. She hadn’t engaged in anything pornographic, but the raccoon woman did have a taste for posing in leather. RJ had met Jo early on in her career and had bonded with her tightly, seeing her like the mother figure that she hadn’t gotten a during her tumultuous youth over in Todsglen, primarily due to both parents being engaged in the on and off again logging industry over there. \n\nThe raccoon had taken every opportunity to come visit her mentor in Bunnyburrow whenever she had the chance, which had been a great deal since the industry as a whole tended to focus on two major age groups; the 18-25 and then the 35-50 demographics. The two had shared a great deal about one another over their careers, and right now, RJ was more than confused because Jo had never before mentioned her having a son.\n\n“When didja have a kit and why didntcha tell me before,” she asked, feeling hurt. The vixen shook her head as she sighed, “I never liked talkin’ bout it, RJ. I dun gave him up as a kit, then thrity years later, he cum back lookin’ fer me. I’z still tryin’ t’get used t’my boy callin’ me mama, and it’s only been two months since he cum back.”\n\nRJ nodded softly. She’d never been a mother, so she didn’t know what it was like to lose a child and then have them come back, but somewhere deep down, she understood. “I’m sorry, Jo,” she replied, a hand reaching out to gently pat the vixen’s knee, “We’z always been truthful with each other, so I guess I’z just a little confuzzled when you said yer boy wuz callin’.”\n\nJo put her hand on the younger woman’s, giving her a warm, motherly smile that RJ loved so much, “I know, darlin’. I guess I sh’d tell ya the whole truth.”\n\nAfter the vixen finished her story, the raccon girl was in a bit of shock. I made sense why she never got into the more lewd aspects and why she’d never gotten married. Jo had her pride, and she was a beautiful woman, but what happened with Chris, well, that would change someone to the core. RJ thought about saying something, but she stayed quiet for a few minutes, digesting all the information her mentor told her.\n\nIt wasn’t like RJ hadn’t gone through similar things. Everyone was damaged in their own way. Everyone had their own personal daemons. The raccoon’s had been her father. She could vividly picture the old man coming home smelling like saw dust, Pratt’s Blue Ribbon, and cheap whisky. Her family had lived paycheck to paycheck, though her father had blown most of it on drowning his sorrow because he’d never attended High School so he couldn’t get a better paying job in a town that was becoming more and more urbanized when the mills and logging camps started to fade away.\n\nHer mother had told her that he’d been happy and loving once, but after four children, being unskilled labor, and the dwindling need for large amounts of timber due to an increased reliance on plastics, he’d managed to find himself in a downward spiral that had ended exactly how RJ thought it would. \n\nThe raccoon remembered the phone calls, the first one from her mother followed quickly by the County Sheriff. RJ had been eighteen and over at a friend’s house “studying”, which had really been the two raccoons’ secret code for the horizontal mambo. She’d finally gotten to second base with the boar raccoon when her phone went off the first time that night. Her mother had been in tears talking about how her father had come home drunk again, but this time he’d taken his 12-gauge out of the safe to wrap his muzzle around the barrel before pulling the trigger right in front of her.\n\nThe Sheriff’s call had been nothing more than a formality. RJ never shed a tear for her father, either because of the shock or because she never cared for him or both, not even during the closed casket funeral. Her three brothers all stayed in town afterwards to help their mother. Neal became a plumber and part time Sheriff’s Deputy, Ross became an electrician, and Gregg worked as an airframe and power plant mechanic at the local airport. RJ, on the other hand, left town the second she graduated High School. \n\nHer soon ex-boyfriend had been trying to become a photographer, so she’d downloaded all the picture’s he’d taken of her off his digital camera and started showing them around to different places until she’d finally managed to get a job at the same place Josephine worked. And the rest, well, the rest was just history.\n\nRJ just stared at Jo for a long minute before finally saying, “Christ. I… Jesus… I… I didn’t know. I’m… I’m so sorry.”\n\nJo just waved off her words, “Nothin’ t’pologize fer, RJ. Besides, I gots my lil boy back, though, he ain’t s’little nor is he a boy no more.”\n\nThere was a bit of a silver lining to everything it seemed. RJ leaned back in her chair, her eyes still fixed on Jo for a few seconds before she caught sight of a photo she hadn’t seen until now. “Is that him,” the sow raccoon asked as she looked at the picture of a tod in very formal military attire. RJ couldn’t help but think how handsome the fox looked in khaki’s, then again, she’d never really thought about tod foxes as handsome before.\n\n“That’s him,” Jo said before reaching over to take hold of the picture, staring at it for a second before handing it over to the raccoon, “One good lookin’ tod, ain’t he?”\n\n“Yeah,” she replied, staring at her mentor’s son, “One good lookin’ tod.” The words felt odd coming out of her mouth, but they were true. He did look great in that uniform, though RJ started to wonder what he’d look like out of it. \n\n“Is he coming to visit soon,” the raccoon asked. The vixen giggled, “He comes home every weekend to spend time with his mama, course, we’s going t’Z’topia this weekend t’visit his daddy’s kin.”\n\nRJ looked down at the photo then back up at Jo, “Mind if I stop bye?”\n\n“Not’t all, darlin’.”\n\n\f\n\nChapter 13: Going Home\n\nSaturday came quickly. Kody had spent Friday Night with his mother, the two waking up early to take the 7:00 am Express train to Zootopia. Kody hadn’t been back to the city since his parent’s funeral a little over a year prior, but Jo had gone in for a shoot around two months prior. The two foxes sat next to one another, idly chatting about what had happened during the week during the hour long ride.\n\nWhen the train pulled into the station, Jo and Kody were a bit surprised. Neither fox had expected to be greeted by anyone, so when RJ stood there waving at them with a big grin on her face dressed in a red mini-skirt and a crop top, Jo didn’t really know what to say.\n\n“Hey Jo,” the sow raccoon called out before making her way through the throngs of people towards them. “Hey thar RJ,” the vixen replied, her arms opening wide as the two shared a warm embrace, “I didn’t ‘spect ya’d b’here t’meets us.”\n\nRJ giggled softly, “Well, I errd ya say ya’d take th’ seven o’clock, and ya did say I c’d stop bye. I jist thought I’d meets ya ‘ere since I don’t knows th’dress.”\n\nThe older woman giggled before looking over at her son, “I figgered we’d jist take a cab.”\n\nKody shrugged his shoulders as he looked at the two, “Well, I don’t have a car here, s’I had planned on taking a cab.”\n\nRJ giggled and smiled, “Ya’ll save yer money. Jist gimme th’dress an I’ll takes ya there.”\n\nJo smiled, “Thank ya, RJ.” The vixen let go of the raccoon before it finally hit her, “Oh! RJ! I plum fergot. This is my boy, Kody.”\n\nKody put out his hand, taking hers for a firm yet gentle handshake, “It’s nice to meet you.” Kody was a bit surprised that his mother had a friend so much younger than her, and it made him a bit curious. But he didn’t mind. RJ was lovely to look at, and he’d never really thought like that about a raccoon before.\n\nThe sow raccoon smiled as she looked him up and down, “Yer a might nicer lookin’ in person than in yer photo.” The tod blinked at her words. She’d apparently seen at least one photo of him, probably his official War Department one he’d sent his mother. The fox looked RJ up and down in return, a warm smile crossing his face. “Thank you,” he replied, “You’re a might good lookin’ yerself.”\n\nRJ smirked as she gently let go of his hand. She wondered what it would be like to date a fox, but she thought about saving that thought for later. “Jist faller me. We’ll take m’car. Jist needs th’dress,” she said before turning around and walking way, her hips rolling back and forth.\n\nKody’s ears perked as his mother giggled softly. “I thinks she likes ya,” she giggled as the two foxes began to follow the raccoon. “Yeah, I think she does,” her son replied, eyes glued on RJ’s back. Jo leaned in to whisper, “Ya likes her too?”\n\nThe tod nodded his head as he blushed slightly, “Yeah.” The vixen giggled, “Well, I thinks ya’d be cute t’gether.”\n\nKody looked over at his mother, “But I don’t know a thing about her.”\n\n“We gots a car ride and all day fer that, sugar fox,” Jo said as they followed RJ out of the station and into the parking garage.\n\nThe raccoon’s car was nothing special, it was a small four door, some Nipponese brand that neither fox seemed to pay attention to. Kody had initially wanted to slide into the rear passenger seat, but his mother insisted that he ride shotgun. The tod was glad that the vixen had pushed him into the seat, because after giving RJ the address, the two started chatting.\n\nMost of what they bantered back and forth was small talk. Kody wasn’t surprised to learn that she was a pin-up model, she certainly had the body to be one, but the raccoon amazed him with the knowledge that his mother was one. He hadn’t really expected that. He blinked several times as it sunk in, only making the sow raccoon giggle and his mother blush.\n\n“She’s been a bit of a mentor t’ me,” RJ said softly as she turned down the street, her cellphone announcing that they were only a block away, “Almost like a second mama.”\n\n“She’s more of a mom to me than my adopted mom,” Kody replied as he leaned back in the chair, his arm moving to rest on the elevated center console. The fox inadvertently brushed his arm against her, making the two of them blush slightly. Before he could apologize, the raccoon’s phone announced, “You have arrived at your destination.”\n\nThe three mammals turned their head to look out the window. The house wasn’t like ones found in suburbia or out in the farms of Bunnyburrow. It was a small, two and a half story building connected a series of other small two and a half story buildings that ran down the street. It almost reminded Jo of the ones she’d seen in downtown Bunnyburrow, the same kind of building that Gideon’s pastry shop and apartment occupied on Main Street. \n\nThe building itself was old, or as the real estate agents had called it, rustic. It was a predominantly red brick and wood construction, built long ago, which meant his parents had managed to get the ten room house for a very low price. With six bedrooms and two baths, his father had hoped to be able to host family visits, but that hadn’t worked out the way he wanted. His brothers and sisters were aging to the point where they rarely travelled any more. His children were busy, and his grandpups had their own lives.\n\nKody hadn’t seen the place since the funeral, and for it not being kept up for a year, it didn’t look half bad. He had been happy that he’d kept up the payments on the amenities. His parents had had a great deal of money in their savings account, but since he was never there, the bills had been low outside of phone, internet, and TV. Slowly, the two foxes and one raccoon slid out of the car. It was the only downside to the house, it didn’t have a garage, so all parking was on the street.\n\n“Shall we,” the tod asked as he looked between his mother and her friend.\n\n\f\n\nChapter 14: Casual Banter\n\nThe door was still locked and there were no broken windows, but the scene they walked in on was fairly sobering. All of the furniture was still there, but everything was covered in bedsheets, something the tod had done before closing the house up. The floor and several of the flat surfaces had a layer of dust on them from not being cleaned, and the fridge was completely bare. Kody looked over at his mother and RJ, now happy that there were three of them rather than two, “I think we should be able to get away with some sweeping and dusting.”\n\nHe was right, for the most part. The main floor hallway and kitchen had a wood floor, so sweeping it up hadn’t taken long. The longest part of the whole ordeal had been vaccuming the carpeted floors in the other rooms, dusting all the furnature, and cleaning the bathrooms. It took them around two hours to get everything done, though, there wasn’t a sweet reward in the refrigerator for them. Kody had taken a trash bag to it after the funeral, making sure it was completely clean before leaving. The tod apologized to his mother and RJ for that, but he knew where a corner store was where they could get some temporary groceries.\n\nJo thought about going, but she decided it might be best for her son to spend more time with RJ, so she declined his offer to join him on the trip down the block. The sow raccoon had smiled, walking over to him and taking his hand, “Lead th’way, shoog.”\n\nThe fox was right, the store wasn’t very far away, in fact, they’d passed it when they had turned down onto the street the house was on, just about a block down the road. The raccoon held onto Kody’s hand, the two continuing their chatting as their tails flicked about behind them.\n\n“Ya know,” RJ said softly, “I never thought foxes was cute til I met ya. I must say, I like bein’ round ya, Kody.”\n\nThe tod blushed a little, giving her hand a squeeze, “I never thought raccoons were cute til I met you, RJ. You… uhm… want to… do this again sometime?”\n\n“What? Clean yer house,” the raccoon giggled as she gave him a little elbow. The fox chuckled, “Naw. I mean… ya know… get together, jist… without my mama around. You’n’me.”\n\n“Kody, are ya askin’ me on a date?”\n\n“I guess I am,” he said with a warm smile. RJ grinned, “Well, I lives here in Z’topia, but I’ve been thinkin’ bout moving over t’Bunnyburrow.”\n\n“Really? Well, you’re a lot closer if you’re there instead of Zootopia.”\n\n“Though, I could move to Mammoth River,” she said with a soft smile, “If I had a reason to.”\n\nThe fox’s ears perked up as he grinned, “Well, you’re welcome to come visit me any time you want.” Slowly Kody leaned in to whisper, “Even… spend the night at my place.”\n\nThe raccoon smirked as she gave his hips a bump, “It’s a nice offer. Though, I was wondering if ya’d like to get together after meetin’ yer grandpa.”\n\n“I don’t see why not. You could even spend the night there if you want. We’ve got six bedrooms.”\n\n“Oh, I think I know which one I’ll be staying in,” RJ said with slightly lusty glimmer in her eyes that only made the tod grin, “I’ll need your number to let you know when we’re getting back.”\n\n“Ya c’n give it t’me after we get some groceries,” she replied before leaning in, “Don’t ferget some p’tection.”\n\nKody felt his tail droop over RJ’s, lightly brushing against it, “I won’t.” He leaned in to give her a peck on the cheek before they stopped at the corner store.\n\nThe trip took around thirty minutes, including the walk to and from the store. The jackal behind the counter didn’t seem to care as RJ and Kody walked in and grabbed the barest of necessities; beer, wine, lemonade, soft drinks, coffee, sugar, creamer, chips, salsa, and cheese dip. Hidden amongst those items were a box of condoms and a tube of personal lubricant. The jackal behind the counter didn’t seem to break a sweat nor acknowledge the contents, just content to do his job with no small talk whatsoever.\n\nAfter running his debit card, the jackal bid them, “Thank you. Come again.” It wasn’t like they would be doing that anytime soon, but the sentiment wasn’t exactly joyous, more said as though he were a robot reciting preprogrammed words. It didn’t really matter to RJ and Kody one bit as they made their way out and back down the street towards his house.\n\n\f\n\nChapter 15: RJ and Kody\n\nRJ and Kody smiled as they walked into the house to put the groceries down on the counter in front of the tod’s mother. “Well, that was fast,” Jo replied with a smile before opening the fridge. Kody tried to reach in to get the condoms and lube, but his mother found them first. The vixen giggling as she raised an eyebrow at the raccoon and tod, “Ya’ll plannin’ on sum fun t’night?”\n\nHer son reached a hand behind his head, scratching himself as he looked embarrassed. RJ just giggled softly as Jo smiled, “Well, I ain’t gonna keep ya from yer fun.” Kody blinked a few times as he started to drink in what his mother was telling him. “Go on. I c’n handle putting up groceries,” the vixen said softly. \n\nThe tod and the sow looked at one another for a brief second before they snatched up the box of condoms and tubes of lubricant and bolting up the stairs. Jo couldn’t help but laugh warmly, watching their tails flick behind them, “I figgered they’d hit it off, specially by the way they enjoyed talking to one another.”\n\nKody and RJ didn’t stop until they were in the upstairs hall, the two pausing to look at one another before the five rooms in front of them. It was a good thing that they had all been converted into bedrooms save for the one bathroom. The tod looked confused, trying to pick a bedroom, but the sow grabbed his hand and made the choice, dragging him into one of them before slamming the door.\n\nThe door had barely closed when the two started to make out, lips smacking together as his hands reached out to rub over chests and sides. Kody’s paws slid down to RJ’s rump, slipping under her mini-skirt to give her cheeks a grope while her own paws dove under his shirt to rub over his chest. They finally broke the kiss, chests rising and falling before the two broke away from each other. Their hands moved quickly, pulling their tops off before quickly working off their pants and underwear to stand before each other completely nude. They stared at each other, drinking in each other’s forms and colors before moving back together, arms wrapping around one another as they began to kiss deeper than before.\n\nThe raccoon and tod tongues danced a lewd dance with one another as hands began to slide over chests and over spines, a scent of arousal filling the air. They broke the kiss one more time, RJ smiling. “Yer pokin’ me,” she said softly, as Kody blushed, “H… hard not to.” The sow murred as she kissed his chest, “I ain’t c’mplainin’. It feels nice, course, it’s gonna feel better in a minute.”\n\nThe tod blinked for a second, but then watched as she reached paw down to warmly grope over his testicles, rolling them against her paw pad before sliding down onto her knees in front of him. The raccoon smiled before opening her jaws to wrap her lips around the fox’s length, making him let out a long, gasping moan.\n\nRJ closed her eyes as she began to bob her head up and down Kody’s member, lips sealing themselves around the pulsing, throbbing mass. He was much bigger than any boar raccoon she’d ever had, very different tasting as well, but she was enjoying it. She could tell he was too by the way his hand had moved to the top of her head to warmly scratch between her ears and the heavy moans coming from his lips.\n\nKody gulped a few times as he throbbed in her muzzle, trying to keep himself as hard as he could, but oral sex rarely brought him to orgasm. His mind was too focused on what would happen next, feeling himself buried inside her. “R…. R… RJ…. I…. God damn. I want…. I want you,” he quivered as he gulped. The raccoon slowed her slurping, her lips leaving his member with a cute little plop, “I wants ya too.”\n\nRJ smiled as she waddled backwards on her knees for a few steps before sliding onto her hands and knees, crawling around and raising her tail up so the fox could get a good look at her supple pink lips. Kody couldn’t keep himself from falling down onto all fours, crawling after her, letting out a playful growl as her tail brushed over his cheeks. Strong hands reached out to grab her by the hips, dragging her back towards him. The experience made the sow raccoon giggle as she looked over her shoulder, “I jist luv it when a man gets all domnint on me.”\n\nKody gulped deeply as her rump pressed against his hips, his member slipping between her pert round cheeks. He could feel the heat of her sex against his groin as his tip lightly poked against her backdoor. The raccoon giggled softly, “Mmm… yer a kinky fox, ain’t chat.” The tod blushed. He wasn’t thinking of her back door, but he was certainly in good position, “I… uhm… I…”\n\n“It’s all right, shoog. I likes kinky,” she said with a wink as she started to grind her backside into his groin. The fox groaned hotly as he started to grind harder against her. She wanted him and he wanted her, and he was half attempted to give it to her right there when he remembered the box of condoms and what happened to his mother. “L… let… let me get a… condom first,” Kody stuttered as he slowly forced himself away from her to rip open the box to pull out a small foil package.\n\nThe tod ripped open the container, his chest heaving up and down as he worked the silicon sleeve over his engorged length until it was down all the way to the base. The fox had been so focused on trying to make sure he and RJ were protected that he hadn’t noticed the raccoon climbing onto the top of the bed, her legs spread wide as she slowly ran her finger between her thighs. “K… Kody,” the raccoon moaned out softly as she slid her finger into her sex, “h…. have ya ever… h… had a… kinky girl b’fore?”\n\nKody blinked trying to remember his previous girlfriends, but all of them had been rather vanilla. The guys he’d run into had usually been the kinky ones, but he’d never dated any of them. “N… no,” he replied as he stood back up, his member still hard as granite as he made his way over to the bed. RJ blushed deeply, “Ya know, us raccoons… we can get… really kinky.”\n\n“What do you mean?”\n\nThe sow blushed deeper as her hands moved up to rub over his chest. “Ohh… great fox,” RJ cooed out, “Please do with me as you wish, master.”\n\nKody’s eyes just about popped out of his head from her words, but what she said certainly hadn’t killed his desire for her. “You mean you’re into…”\n\nThe raccoon nodded, “I’m a sub.”\n\nThe tod really felt like he HAD died and gone to heaven. RJ was submitting to him, and Kody had an inkling of what that all meant, but he wanted to know a bit more, “So you like…”\n\n“Being tied up. Blindfolded. Giving up control.”\n\n“So… you want me to…”\n\n“Take control, master.”\n\nHer last sentence sent Kody right over the edge. His hands moved to caress her cheek as he leaned in to kiss her deeply, his body sliding atop hers as he took control of the situation. Strong arms wrapped around her as he fell upon the raccoon, his length slipping into RJ’s body in a single thrust that made her moan out and gasp, “Yes, master! I’m here for your pleasure!”\n\nKody had never had a girl like this before, and it was turning him on more and more by the minute as his hips pumped back and forth. His arms held onto her tightly as his nostrils blasted fiery breath across her neck. All RJ did was hold on for the ride, loving every second of it as she was pressed tightly into the bed.\n\nTo say it had been a while for Kody was a bit of an understatement. The fox had found himself going for long periods of time without sexual interaction. He’d already been so enthralled with her when it had just been kissing that hearing her call him master and giving herself over to him didn’t make him last much longer than about seven or eight thrusts. With a long gasping moan, his entire body shuddered as he started to fire his seed into the condom, filling it full and then some.\n\nRJ was a tad disappointed at the first go, but then again, she wasn’t surprised. By the way he’d warmed up to her, she could tell he hadn’t found a partner in a while, then again, she hadn’t either. Not that she didn’t get guys hitting on her, but the raccoon was very choosy. Why shouldn’t she be? She may be a submissive, but there were limits. She’d managed to find guys who took advantage of her submissiveness, using it as ground to abuse her with a paddle or a riding crop and things she was not keen on enjoying. Even though their first time hadn’t lasted long, she had enjoyed it, enjoyed the feel of him atop her, the feel of him holding onto her tightly, the feel of him inside her. “Ohh…. Master,” RJ cooed sweetly as her hands moved to gently caress over the scruff of his neck.\n\nKody was a little embarrassed that he hadn’t lasted long, his face flush as his cheeks tinted a darker red. “I.. I’m,” he was about to apologize when RJ stopped him with another long kiss, though, this time much deeper, something that made the tod blink a few times before melting into it.\n\nThey did it three more times that afternoon; first with her sitting upon his lap, his hands upon her breasts as her hips rose and fell upon his, the bed squeaking and creaking. The second time in the more traditional style, the raccoon bent over as the fox pressed his chest to her back, muzzle kissing and nipping over her cheek and shoulder. The third and final time that afternoon was on her belly, her tod atop her, kissing the back of her neck and holding her tightly as he pressed her into the bed. When the final time was over, the raccoon let out a cooing moan of, “Ohh… master,” for which her fox gave her a warm kiss on the cheek.\n\nKody slowly pulled out of RJ, groaning hotly before rolling over onto his back beside her. The sow groaned softly as she crawled onto him, her head resting on his chest while her fingers lightly began to run through his fur, travelling up and down the happy trail to brush over his still wrapped up member. “Mm… master,” she said softly, giving one pec a gentle smooch, “Ya were th’best master I’ve had in a long spell.”\n\nThe tod blushed softly as he gave the top of her head a warm kiss while one hand stroked over the raccoon’s back. “T… thank you,” he said softly while RJ giggled, “I c’n tell ya’njoyed it.”\n\nThe fox blushed, “Did… did you?”\n\nRJ leaned up to give him a smooch on the cheek, “Course I did, master.” Kody blushed hotly when she called him that, something that only made the raccoon smile more and more. “Ya likes that, don’tcha, master,” she asked again as her hand lightly brushed over his condom clad length. The tod’s ears flattened against his head, “Y… yeah.”\n\nThe sow smiled as she leaned up to whisper, “I’d love to call you that all the time.”\n\nKody gulped as he slowly rolled over, his hand moving to caress her side, “I… I could get used to that. And this.”\n\nRJ’s hand moved up to caress his cheek, “Second date, shoog?”\n\nThe fox leaned in to give her another warm kiss on the lips, “MMm… I’m hopin’ fer more.”\n\n“Me too,” the raccoon cooed softly between their lips smacking together.\n\nJo giggled to herself as she sat on the couch watching some TV, her ears picking up on the sound of Kody and RJ’s passions. She figured her son and her friend would hit it off, and she wasn’t surprised where it ended. The two seemed to get along wonderfully from the second they met. RJ was almost a member of the family, and someone that she wouldn’t mind her boy hitching his reigns to. If Kody decided to put a ring on her finger, the vixen would be thrilled. She’d already thought of the raccoon as a surrogate daughter, so it would be nice to have her be her real daughter, well, daughter-in-law.\n\nThe sounds of her boy and his new sweetie died down for several minutes before being replaced with that of running water. Jo smirked, wondering if the two were showering together and figured they probably were. She waited a few minutes before RJ and Kody reappeared, holding each other’s hands before sliding in beside her on the couch, the two staying very close.\n\n“’Njoy yerselves,” the elder fox said with a giggling grin. Kody blushed hotly, while RJ grinned over at his mother, her hand moving to give the tod’s thigh a grope, “Sure did.”\n\n“Good,” the vixen said with a warm motherly smile as she leaned into the couch, “Ya knows ya two makes one cute couple.”\n\nHer son’s face flushed even more as one burly arm reached around to pull the raccoon in closer, “Thanks, mama.”\n\nRJ leaned in to give her new master a smooch on the cheek. “I gots t’be headin’ home, but I’ll see ya soon,” she said before leaning in to whisper into Kody’s ear, “Master.”\n\nThe tod’s face managed to flush even more as he murred to her, his head turning to give her a soft kiss on the lips, “See you later.”\n\nSlowly, RJ slid off the couch, her hips rolling back and forth as she made her way out the door. Jo turned her head to her son. “Thinkin’ bout puttin’ a ring on her finger?”\n\nKody nodded his head up and down, eyes fixated on RJ as she stopped at the door to blow him a kiss before leaving, “Yes.”\n\nChapter 16: Meeting the Family\n\nThree hours after RJ left, Mike, Helen, Tori, and Alexis showed up at the house. Kody was glad that the paperwork had included the home’s address because he’d forgotten to send it to his uncle. To say the meeting was a little strange was the least of their problems. Tori and Alexis hounded the tod to no end, asking him question upon question, the two vixens more than just curious about him. It was both flattering and a little creepy at the same time. Luckily, Uncle Mike and Aunt Helen were able to calm them down a bit with the help of their newly discovered Aunt Jospehine.\n\nUnlike her son, Jo had thirty years of practice avoiding some of the touchier questions, giving them answers that would suffice just enough that they wouldn’t pry more. Her son did have a lot to learn, especially when it came to single, curious vixens that were just a year or two younger than his new sweetie, a subject that inevitably arose.\n\n“So, Kody,” Tori had said as she’d gently stirred around the contents of her glass of merlot, “You seeing anyone?”\n\nThe way she asked it, the fox could have sworn that she was hitting on him, and he wasn’t the only one. Luckily, Kody was able to counter quickly, “I am. Her name’s RJ. Are you?”\n\nThe orange fox just shrugged her shoulders as she took another sip, “Oh, off and on. How long have you and her been dating?”\n\n“Not long,” he replied before taking a healthy swig of lite beer, “We just started going steady.”\n\nMike interjected before Alexis or Tori could get a word in. “That’s great, Kody. Is she another fox,” the older tod was hoping that his answer would scare his daughters away. He was very surprised at the way the two were acting around him, and part of him wondered if they just assumed they were acting on all the rumors they’d heard about country folk and incest.\n\nKody shook his head, “No. She’s actually a raccoon.”\n\nEveryone who wasn’t his mother looked a little perplexed. Interspecies relationships weren’t uncommon, but usually they stayed within their own Genus. Helen was the first to offer up a bewildered response of, “That’s… very… progressive?”\n\nThe younger tod just chuckled softly to himself, though Jo gave her own little smirk as Tori and Alexis pouted, something that made Mike even more uncomfortable than he already was. He reached up to adjust his tie a little, “Well, so long… so long as you two are happy, that’s really all that matters.”\n\n“Oh, we are,” Kody chuckled as he took another sip as the questions died down for a few brief seconds before Helen decided to keep the line of questioning to more simple items, “Are you originally from Zootopia?”\n\n“Not exactly, Aunt Helen. I actually grew up over in Paludosi over in the Meadowlands District, but most people can’t find that town on the map, so I usually just say Zootopia.”\n\nThe vixen was still getting used to being called that. It still felt strange, but then again, Mike had told her that Jo was still going through a similar adjustment herself. “Really,” she asked, “Where are you living now?”\n\n“I’m stationed out in Mammoth River, but I spend every weekend down in Bunnyburrow to rediscover my real roots.”\n\nHelen smiled as she took a sip of wine, “It must be strange learning about your new families.” The tod nodded, “It has been an experience, but so far, I like everyone I’ve met.”\n\nMike smiled happily, “Well, it has been interesting finding out that I have a nephew. I honestly never expected to meet you, Kody.”\n\n“It’s been great getting to know ya’ll,” the fox said with a genuine smile, “You really don’t know how nice it is to finally be around other foxes. My adopted dad’s family always gave me weird looks and hid the fine china when I came to visit.”\n\nMike and Helen blinked, “Really?”\n\nKody shrugged his shoulders, “Well, they all grew up in Dearborne. I heard my dad talk about when the first fox family moved in, a bunch of the kids decided to take a few shots at them with bb guns.”\n\nThe room was completely silent. There were still a lot of mammals that distrusted or outright hated foxes, but Mike and Helen had always thought that it was more a country thing and not something that happened in Zootopia, especially not in the suburbs. Then again, if Mike remembered right, Johan would be in early eighties, meaning he would have lived in a very different time. Part of him wondered if him adopting a fox was some kind of penance for his actions back then, though it could have been his wife that wanted one. The truth would never be known though.\n\n“Zootopia was very different back then,” Helen said, though she easily remembered how the whole city had been ready to explode nearly two years before during the Night Howler Scare. Maybe things weren’t as different as everyone believed it was.\n\nKody took another sip of his beer before setting it down on the table to look at his watch. It was nearly seven thirty. “We should probably get going if we’re going to make it to the Oasis,” he said as he looked up at his Aunt, Uncle, and cousins. Mike looked down at his own watch and gasped, “Yeah, if we want to get there on time, we’ll have to leave now.”\n\nAlexis and Tori gave everyone a pouty look, but they knew their grandsire didn’t like to be kept waiting. “You want to get together some time, Kody,” Tori asked sweetly, her smile very warm and inviting.\n\n“Sure. I’d love to,” the tod replied, his tail flicking about behind him, “It was great meeting the both of you, and I’d love to get to know you better.”\n\nAlexis grinned back, “We’d love to get to know you better too, Kody.”\n\nThe fox smiled, though he still wasn’t sure if he was being hit on or not.\n\n\f\n\nChapter 17: Ruby Rowan\n\nRuby Rowan hadn’t exactly been thrilled when Richard sprung the dinner date on her without asking, though, there was a small part of her that was happy to get the news. The two rarely went out for dinner together, then again, they rarely ate dinner together at all due to their schedules. The vixen usually worked nights at the hospital, and her husband worked all day, so their primary interaction was around an hour in the morning and an hour in the evening when the two were passing one another for work.\n\nFor being in her late sixties, Ruby looked astounding. Her muzzle was greying more and more every year, but she allowed it to. It gave her an air of nobility and wisdom, as if she was the queen of the hospital, which in many aspects, she was. Like her name implied, the vixen was a vibrant shade of ruby red, which contrasted a bit with her husband who was more a red-brown color. Unlike Richard, she didn’t have any brown on her at all, save for a little patch that she only ever showed to her husband the few nights the two would actual engage in intercourse.\n\nFor now, though, she was dressed quite beautifully, her dress cut medium length in the back and a little low in the front. Richard had been a bit surprised at the dress she picked, but he certainly was not complaining. “My dear you look absolutely gorgeous in that dress,” the old tod said as he took his wife’s hand to help her out of the car, “I don’t think you’ve ever looked more beautiful than you have tonight.”\n\nRuby smiled. Her husband was paying her a compliment, something he rarely had the chance to do. “Thank you, Richard,” the vixen replied as she slid in beside her husband. Her tod slipped the valet a twenty before escorting her down the carpeted walkway into the Oasis.\n\nTo say that the hotel and casino wasn’t opulent was to say the Sahara had too much rain. The al-Daube family had purchased the old place from the previous owners and had actually closed the palm tree shaped building for a year to renovate everything until the interior looked like the luxurious palaces that most people had only seen in movies. The floors had been replaced with marble. Fixtures had been plated with pure gold. The Arabian frescos been painstakingly reconstructed using the finest of paints, marbles, and jewels. Even the light fixtures had been replaced.\n\nIt was said that Ali al-Daube bought the hotel and casino as a way of testing if his son could take over the family business. He’d not only done that, he’d gone far and above his parents’ expectations. The last Richard had heard, Shakir had managed to rake in somewhere in the high hundreds of millions in revenue that had covered the initial purchase cost and was slowly recuperating the cost of the renovations. Between the gambling, the three five star restaurants, and the exclusive deal that Shakir had managed to broker with Gazelle for her to perform on stage there, the hotel was packed nearly every day.\n\nRuby had been to the Oasis a few times after all the renovations were complete, but those had been for work. This was the first time she was actually coming to the Hotel and Casino without having to drag a briefcase along. The vixen gently nested against her husband, the tod dressed up in a dark colored business suit, as the two made their way towards Gordon Ramsey’s. “We should do this more often,” Ruby said with a smile. Richard grinned back, “Yes, we really should. Hopefully when your schedule isn’t so busy, we can do this again, and maybe we could have sex after.”\n\nThe vixen chuckled before giving his chest a pat, “Oh you.”\n\n“What? I’m serious. I haven’t gotten to enjoy your feminine wilds in almost a month. If we weren’t about to meet with Mike and Helen and a client, I’d skip dinner and whisk you straight up to one of the rooms,” the tod said as he stopped dead in his tracks. Ruby kept going, but Richard yanked her off her feet, pulling her towards him to hold her against him.\n\n“You’re a hopeless romantic, you know that, Richard,” the vixen said with a smile.\n\n“Ah yes, my dear, I am quite hopeless, but not romantic.”\n\n“Don’t you mean it the other way around?”\n\n“I know what I said,” the tod replied as he slowly pulled her back up onto her feet, “Now. I think we should get to the restaurant. Unless you’d be interested in skipping dinner entirely and getting a room for the night.”\n\nRuby smirked, “Let’s get dinner first before we think about any dessert.” The vixen paused for a second, “You did remember to tell Mike and Helen and your clients which restaurant it was, right?”\n\n“Of course I did,” her husband said.\n\nUnfortunately, Richard didn’t, so his four guests ended up being about ten minutes late. The elder fox wasn’t exactly thrilled when Mike, Helen, and their two clients were escorted to the large booth he and his wife were occupying. He didn’t seem to pay the other two any attention, his focus firmly on the youngest of his two sons. “Took you long enough,” he said as he gave his son a glare before turning his attention over to Helen, his expression changing completely, “Helen! So wonderful to see you! How are my grandvixens?”\n\nMike chuffed as he and his wife slid into the booth. He wasn’t exactly thrilled by the way his father acted, and in truth, neither was Mike’s mother. Helen, on the other hand, kept her smile and air of civility. “Oh, they’re doing well, Richard. They would have loved to join us, but they had to head home,” the silver vixen replied.\n\n“Oh, what a shame,” Richard seemed to pout, “I should have made the reservation for eight, so we could see them again. I’m very sorry Ruby and I have been so busy.”\n\nRuby had been fairly quiet up until then, her gaze looking over at the strange tod and vixen who were now sliding into the booth’s seats. He looked like her late son, Chris. She couldn’t help herself as she gave a few shocked blinks, doing a double take before slowly looking over at Mike and Helen. “Y… yes… We’re both very sorry. The… the hospital… the hospital,” the vixen couldn’t seem to finish her sentence or keep her concentration on her son and his wife, her gaze moving back to stare at the reddish-yellow vixen and the tod beside her, the tod that looked strikingly like her son.\n\nKody and Jo could see the older vixen staring at them, her eyes almost popping from her skull. Slowly, Kody reached his hand across the table towards her and her husband. “I’m…” the tod was just about to say when Mike decided to interrupt, “Mom, Richard, this is Ray Schaiferhund, the one I told you about on the phone.”\n\nRichard looked down at his wife as she took Ray’s hand, his ears perking at her expression. “Ruby, if you keep your muzzle open like that, you’ll have a dinner of flies before the food gets here,” He said before following her line of sight. His eyes moved down her slender deep red arm, seeing another striking red hand holding hers. It was trying to pull away from the astounded vixen’s grasp, but even though the arm was obviously muscular, even though it was hidden by a grey jacket and white long sleeved shirt, Ruby’s grip was like a vice. Slowly his gaze moved higher up the arm, over the shoulder to stare into the muzzle and eyes of, “CHRIS!”\n\n“Dad, that’s not Chris. That’s Ray Schaiferhund, you know, the client I told you about whose parents had Mr. Mousekewitz draw up their Last Will and Testimony,” Mike tried to keep the reigns of the conversation, but it was useless.\n\n“Mike! Is this some kind of sick joke? I mean, it’s sick, and I fail to see the humor in it, but still. Is this some kind of sick joke? Did you have your older brother cloned? Because if you did, you didn’t do a very good job,” Richard said as he glared right at his son, “I mean, look at him. His fur is the wrong color, and he’s too chubby. I do applaud your effort, but why didn’t you bring him home for your mother and I to raise him?”\n\nJo finally decided to get in the conversation, “He ain’t Chris! This is Chris’ boy, my boy.”\n\nRuby was too in shock to say a word, just staring at Kody as he kept trying to free his hand from hers, but Richard couldn’t keep his mouth from motoring on. “So Mike used you as a surrogate mother for a clone of Chris?”\n\n“I didn’t clone Chris!”\n\n“Well, that’s obvious. He’s a very poor clone, son. But I still applaud you for trying,” his father replied.\n\n“Please… G…. Grandma… l…. leggo my hand,” the young tod whined as he tried to get his hand free. Ruby’s hand immediately let go, the fox’s hand flying back to slap his chest, “G… Grand… mother? W… what… what do you…. mean by that?”\n\n“Yes. I’m very curious to know why my son’s clone is calling you that as well,” Richard interjected as he stared at Kody.\n\n“Chris… Chris was… was my father,” the youngest tod at the table said.\n\n“Then why is your name Ray Schaiferhund?”\n\n“It’s not. Well… not anymore. My name’s actually Kody Grey. I changed it last year.”\n\n“If you’re my grandson, why isn’t your last name Rowan?”\n\nJo intervened, “Because Chris never married me.”\n\n“Chris would never do such a thing,” Ruby said with a huff, “he was a good…”\n\nMike interrupted her, “Yes he did, mom. I told you that for years and you never believed me. Now here’s proof.”\n\nRichard looked skeptical, “Chris was a model student. The pinnacle of upper middle class society. What you have here is a clone.”\n\n“I’m not a clone, Grandpa Rick,” Kody snarled at him, “Chris…”\n\nThe eldest tod held up his hand. “I can guess what you’re going to say. First, you’ll tell me that my son was sleeping around. Second, you’ll tell me that he managed to knock up your mother and refused to marry her, which would have been completely out of character for him. Third, you’ll tell me that you were adopted by these Schaiferhund people. Finally, you’ll tell me that years later, after your parents’ accident, you started looking for your family.”\n\nEveryone except Richard and Ruby blinked.\n\n“Dad. How… how did you know,” Mike said completely aghast.\n\n“Know what?”\n\n“What you just said was,” Mike started to say before Kody butted in, “Was exactly what happened.”\n\n“Wait. What?!”\n\nRuby shuddered a little, her eyes starting to tear up. “Oh… God… you mean… you mean my Chris,” the old vixen began to cry as she grabbed her grandtod and nearly hauled him over the table to give him a big hug. \n\n\f\n\nChapter 18: The Worst Day of His Life\n\nRichard was still not convinced of the fox’s identity, giving him a few once overs throughout the dinner. He wanted to say something, but Ruby kept giving him the glare she always gave him when she wanted him to be quiet. The old tod’s ears flatted against his head in submission, content on eating his food while his wife asked the Chris clone every question under the sun.\n\nThe dinner ended rather quickly, much to Richard’s delight and his wife’s sorrow. Ruby gave her newly discovered grandtod another crying hug, the whole ordeal taking a lot out of the aging vixen, but she was happy that Chris had managed to sire such a kind son. Her husband on the other hand, refused to even make eye contact with Kody, much to everyone’s distaste as the party began to slowly break apart.\n\n“Well,” Richard said as he watched his son, daughter-in-law, Josephine, and Chris’ clone depart not long after the bill was paid, “I have to commend Michael. I was surprised he was able to find a lovely vixen like her to carry Chris’ clone.”\n\nRuby gave her husband an icy stare, her lips curling up in a growl, “He’s your grandtod, Richard.”\n\n“Honey, if he was our grandtod, Chris would have told us about him,” her husband replied, “Besides, it was a nice jesture for Mike to have his older brother cloned, even if the clone wasn’t perfect.”\n\nThe vixen grabbed the tod by the muzzle, her fingers holding his jaws shut as she glared into his eyes, “You’re not getting ANY dessert.”\n\nRichard blinked as he let out a muffled, “Tonight?”\n\n“Not tonight. Not tomorrow night. Not any night until you can come to terms with having a grandtod,” she snarled at him, “Now. I’m going home.”\n\nRuby released Richard’s muzzle before sliding over his hips, wiggling herself over him before slipping out the other side of the booth’s chair. The old vixen turned to look at him, her husband’s expression that of complete and utter shock, “Are you coming?”\n\nThe tod looked confused, his head looking over at where Kody had been sitting before moving over to his wife. “You can’t be serious! No dessert! Ever,” he whimpered towards her, but Ruby wasn’t budging, “None, until you can apologize to your grandtod.”\n\n“I’m not apologizing to a clone,” he said with a growl.\n\n“Fine then. You can walk home,” the vixen said with a chuff before walking right out of the restaurant.\n\nRichard brewed to himself as he crossed his arms, the weight of what had happened starting to sink in. “Oh my god,” the old tod said, “I can’t have sex with my wife.”\n\nMike and Helen had spent the entire car trip back to Kody’s house profusely apologizing for the way his father had reacted.\n\n“I don’t know what came over him,” Mike said as he kept his eyes on the road, “I’ve never seen him act like that before. I know he had some delusions about Chris, but that really took the cake.”\n\nKody didn’t say a word. The fox was naturally upset. The only grandparents he’d known had been his adopted maternal grandmother, and she’d past away nine years ago. Now that he had a new family, and learned that he had blood grandparents, he’d been hoping they’d welcome him with open arms like Jo’s family had. Like Uncle Mike, Aunt Helen, and their daughters had. To say the meeting hadn’t been soul crushing on some level was an understatement. Yes, his grandmother had hugged him tightly, welcomed him as a member of the family, but his grandfather had seem cold and aloof.\n\n“He called me a clone,” the tod finally said, the hurt in his voice obvious as he brewed a little bit. Jo leaned over to give her son a tight, motherly hug, “Don’tcha worry, sugar fox. I thinks he’s jist in shock is all. Yer ganny seems t’loves ya though, and that’s the one that counts.”\n\nThe youngest fox in the car let out a whimpering sigh. She was right. Richard would come around, eventually.\n\nKimberly Heinz let out a snarl as she looked down at her watch. She’d been waiting three hours to confront Johan’s little adopted monster about his unearned birthrights. The mutt was just about to head home for the night, when she saw a car pull up in front of the house. The bitch smirked as she saw four foxes get out of the car, all of them exchanging hugs before half returned to the car and half made their way into the house. She decided to wait a few minutes so the car would pass her bye before she acted. She stayed seated on the bench next to the bus stop. No one seemed to pay attention to old ladies in outdated clothing waiting for the bus, even this late at night.\n\nJo let out a long loud yawn as she and Kody stepped into the house. “I’m gonna hit th’hay, shoog,” she said as she started to make her way up the stairs. Her son nodded as he looked down at his phone, staring at the screen. “Ya gonna call her,” the vixen staid as she stopped to look over her shoulder at her son.\n\nThe tod paused, thinking it over as he stared at the screen, “I’m not… I’m not sure.”\n\n“Ya should,” she replied softly, “Might help talkin’ to someone else. Ya know, someone who wuzn’t thar.”\n\nKody let out a soft sigh. She was right. He really needed someone other than his mother to talk to right now. “Yeah,” he said as he pressed the button to bring up text messaging to slowly type in a message before firing it off.\n\nRJ had been laying around most of the night, the thoughts of her tod atop her filling her mind with happy, lustful thoughts. She’d even put on a collar before rummaged through her collection of toys to find one that felt exactly like Kody, thought, it wasn’t like the real thing. She was just about to enjoy another cry of passion when her phone buzzed, pulling her out of her dream. Her clawed hand grasped and groped at the phone, her heart in her chest as a lusty smile crossed her lips. She typed back with one hand, “I’ll be there in ten.”\n\nKody grinned at the message before typing his own back to her of, “See you soon.” He’d barely hit send when the doorbell rang. The fox’s ears perked up. There was no way RJ could have made it to his house, and he wasn’t expecting visitors, but it would be rude to not answer the door. Slowly, the tod walked over, his hand reaching up to grab the handle, turn it, and pull the door open.\n\nKody was very surprised to see a grandmotherly looking domestic dog of no particular breed standing in front of him. She was dressed in a very old looking sweatpants with matching sweater that had shoulder pads in it. Whoever this woman was, her sense of fashion had crawled into the woods and died a long painful death sometime back in the late 1980s. “Are you Ray Schaiferhund,” the old woman asked in a shaky voice.\n\nThe fox blinked, “Yes.”\n\n“May I come in,” the bitch asked as she started to move closer to him. Kody was just about to protest when he felt something poke him in the gut. The mutt didn’t ask again as she pressed the nose of her pistol into the fox, a smile on her face as the tod realized what was happening. “Sure,” he said slowly as he started to back up, “be my guest.”\n\nKody didn’t get a great look at the pistol, but he had an idea of what it was. Johan had had a decently size gun collection, one of which had been a Walter PPK, the same kind of gun the bitch was holding up against him. The shepherd had had to sell his collection when he’d moved into Zootopia proper because of how strict the laws were, but something told Kody that whoever this woman was didn’t care about laws and had gone to great lengths to get it. The problem with the PPK was that it was almost useless at long range, but this close, she could easily kill him.\n\nThe old dog kept the gun against Kody, even as he tried to back away to put some distance between them. “You’re a damn thief,” she started to growl, still staring right at the fox as she shut the door behind her with her foot. The tod looked very confused as he started to raise his voice, hoping to attract some attention from his mother, “What are you talking about? I’ve never stolen anything from anyone!”\n\n“You’re a damn liar! You stole this house from me and my children! You stole that cabin too! It was supposed to go to our children! Not some slut’s kit,” the mutt screamed as she slowly cocked the pistol. When she said that, a sudden realization of just who he was dealing with him Kody like a sack of bricks.\n\n“Look, lady, you had your chance to file the suit and it failed. You lost. Just leave,” the fox said, trying to calm the situation down as he moved a good four or five feet away from Kimbery Heinz. “I’m not leaving until you sign everything over to its rightful owner,” the bitch snarled back, starting to waver her pistol around.\n\nJo had decided to take a nice warm bath before heading to bed. The old vixen was just about to slip into the tub when she heard yelling. There was a woman’s voice and her son’s voice, but the woman yelling wasn’t RJ, it was someone else. A look of concern crossed her face as she grabbed a towel, wrapping it around herself to cover her nudity before making her way down towards the stairs. She was half way down them when she saw the dog bitch pointing a small pistol at her boy. Her eyes went wide for a second as the woman looked up and over at her, the gun following her gaze.\n\nIt was just the opening Kody needed. The fox flew at the dog like greased lightning. The tod lowered his shoulder, feeling the mutt’s gun arm sliding over him, the pistol flying up into the air as he used his weight to slam into her, strong arms wrapping around her. Both he and the bitch slammed into the wooden door with a loud crash and an even louder bang as the pistol went off, the round flying into the ceiling.\n\nKody could feel and hear something in the canine crunch and snap, even as his ears were ringing from the gunshot. The impact of her spine slamming into the door had knocked out every molecule of air from her lungs, but her face was a mask of pain. Fingers slackened as the gun clattered to the floor, bouncing around on the wood as the fox slowly moved away, turning around to look at his mother.\n\n“Call the cops!”\n\n\f\n\nChapter 19: Night Shift\n\nJudy Hopps loved being a cop, but there were some annoyances. She and Nick had been put on night shift the previous Monday after two of the regulars on the shift managed to get the stomach flu. It was only a temporary assignment, but it meant that they’d had to completely change their sleep/wake cycles only to have the joys of switching them back. For now though, the fox and bunny were enjoying another coffee, the caffeine helping them stay awake as their bodies continued to fight being awake so late into the evening.\n\n“So, Carrots,” Nick was just about to say something when the radio crackled, “Car 2-4-0. Car 2-4-0. We have a 2-4-5 at Pack and 22nd.”\n\nThe two looked at each other before the fox reached out to flip on the siren and lights while the bunny grabbed hold of the transmitter as her foot pressed down on the gas pedal, “Dispatch, this is Car 2-4-0, we’re on our way.” The gigantic, tank like vehicle lurched out of its parking spot, and into the empty street.\n\nJudy handed Nick the transmitter, “Gotta focus on the road.”\n\nThe tod just nodded as he pressed the microphone, “Dispatch this is Car 2-4-0. Do you have any further information for us?”\n\nThe mammal on the other end of the line seemed to pause, “Car 2-4-0, suspect forced their way into the house and held up the owner at gunpoint. Owner is holding them until police arrive. An ambulance has also been dispatched to the location.”\n\n“Dispatch this is Car 2-4-0. What’s the location?”\n\n“2233 Pack Street. Owner is one Kody Grey, alias Raynard Kody Schaiferhund.”\n\nJudy nearly slammed on the brakes as she heard the name, “WHAT!”\n\n“It’s not time to discuss this, Carrots! Drive! Drive! Drive!”\n\nThe rabbit smashed her foot down on the gas pedal, the vehicle whipping around a small Nipponese car in front of them.\n\nRJ had jumped in her bathtub for a quick shower before sliding into a black version of her earlier crop top and mini skirt ensemble from earlier that day, only this time, she had decided to completely forego the underwear and complement her look with a collar. She’d been happy with the way it all turned out, so much so that part of her considered adopting the look whenever she and Kody got together.\n\nThe raccoon was just about half way to the fox’s house when she heard a loud siren and saw rotating blue and red lights. Her initial reaction was to attempt to pull over, but she couldn’t because there were cars parked on the shoulder of the street. Luckily for RJ, the vehicle whipped around her, the officers completely ignoring her as they roared down the road.\n\n“I wonder what that was about,” the sow raccoon said softly as the police car sped off into the night. Unfortunately, about five minutes later, RJ caught up with the police car outside of Kody’s house, seeing it and another one parked right next to an ambulance.\n\nThe first thing Kody did after he pulled away from his father’s ex-wife as she crumpled down to the floor was tell his mother to call the police. The second thing he did was to grab her Walter. The small pistol looked almost comical in his grip, almost like a child holding onto a squirt gun than something that, in the wrong hands, could cause a great deal of bloodshed. \n\nHe wasn’t sure how long it would take the police to get there as his humming ears started to tune into his mother’s sobbing voice talking to the 9-1-1 dispatcher. The one thing he did know, was that Kimberly Heinz was in no state to hurt anyone. The fox pointed the firearm away from her and up at the ceiling. His finger depressed the magazine release button, the still full metal rhombus falling down to the floor with a clatter, before pulling back on the slide to eject round that had been automatically loaded into the chamber. Years of practice started to take hold as he pushed down on the barrel slide button as he pushed the slide forwards, releasing the barrel from the body of the pistol, disassembling it just before tossing the pieces down on the ground.\n\nThe mutt was howling and whimpering, grasping for air and screaming about how she thought her hip was broken, that and her continued ranting about how everything was his fault. Kody just rolled his eyes as he grabbed the scruff of her sweater to drag the woman away from the door.\n\nOnce she was out of the way, Kody slowly plopped down on his rump, his chest heaving up and down as the adrenaline rush started to die off. He had just started to relax as the front door burst open. Four officers poured into the room, two of them had pistols drawn and two others were carrying some sort of pistol shaped taser. One of them was a fox, one was a wolf, one was a polar bear, and the last one was a bunny. Out of the group, two of them looked familiar; the tod and the rabbit.\n\nOfficers Snarlov and Fangmire had been the first to arrive on the scene, the two of them taking charge of the situation as they waited for back up and the ambulance to arrive. The grey wolf and polar bear had taken up positions behind the passenger side of their squad car, pistols drawn and pointed at the house.\n\nOfficer Hops and Officer Wilde slammed on their breaks as the pulled right in behind the other ZPD vehicle, the two leaping out to take up their own temporary fighting positions. “What’s the situation,” the rabbit had asked as she drew her own standard issue 9mm. Snarlov looked over at her, “Right now, ve halv-eent hoard a ting. De repourt from de howz and de nay-boars said der voz won shot fierd.”\n\n“The meat wagon is on its way, but we don’t know what’s going on in there,” Fangmire added. Judy and Nick didn’t care for the nickname the wolf and a few other of the ZPD officers had given to ambulances, but it was often an accurate assessment. The fox, polar bear, wolf, and rabbit looked at each other before they all nodded. “Stak on me,” the arctic bruin said as he lowered his own 9mm, pointing it down at the ground.\n\nThe four officers lined up behind one another; Snarlov in front, Fangmire and Wilde in the middle, with Hopps bringing up the rear. Judy and Nick were the only two to holster their firearms, pulling out their own standard issue tasers that looked a great deal like a very flat pistol. The four of them bent over, arms pointed to the ground as they hurried to the front door just as the ambulance pulled up behind the two squad cars.\n\nNormally, when they’d assault a building, they’d duck and cover behind one of the walls, staying away from any windows, but this house was small and very old. Stacking in front of the door was a terrible idea, but it was their only option. Snarlov roared out, “Z-ye-P-ye-Dee! Opeen ap!”\n\nWhen there wasn’t an immediate response, everyone looked worried. Fangmire blurted out, “We’ve already got probably cause.” The polar bear nodded, not even giving the wolf’s words a second thought. One massive leg rose up and kicked out, the bruin putting his entire weight behind the kick. Because he was so massive, the door gave way. Part of Judy was surprised he didn’t manage to knock the thing off its hinges as it flew open to smash into a wall, but there was no time to think.\n\nThey poured inside, firearms and tasers drawn as they scanned the area. A vixen was gasping at the group, clutching a bath towel tightly around her, while a domestic canine was rolling around in pain. Parts of what had once been a pistol were scattered around the floor while a very familiar looking fox was leaning against the far wall.\n\nThe officers all looked at each other, before they began to holster their side arms. Snarlov moved over to the screaming, howling, cursing mutt on the ground as Fangmire made his way over to the door, waving at the medical personnel to enter the house. Hopps leaned down to grab her microphone, “Dispatch, this is Officer Hopps. All clear.”\n\n“Hopps?” the chunky tod said with a curious look on his face as Nick slowly made his way over to him, “Hey Ray… I mean, Kody. Long time, bud.”\n\nKody gave the other fox a queer look, as if he was trying to remember who he was, but his body was so full of adrenaline that his memory wasn’t working as well as he’d hoped. “Who are,” the tod started to say before Nick interrupted, “It’s the uniform, isn’t it? It’s me, Nick.”\n\n“Nick? Wilde,” the fox said, his memory slowly starting to come back to him, “I haven’t seen you since… High School?”\n\n“Yep, it’s me,” Nick replied with a chuckle. Kody slowly started to regain some of his memory, “Yeah. Bonnie told me you were a cop now.”\n\nJudy slowly made her way over to the two tods, her gaze moving to look at Kody. “Mom said you looked a lot like Gideon,” the bunny said before holding out her hand, “Judy Hopps.”\n\nThe fox nodded as he took her hand, “Kody Grey. Sorry we didn’t meet in… uhm… less… dramatic circumstances.”\n\nThe rabbit was just about to say something when she and Nick were pushed out of the way by a reddish-yellow vixen. The woman tossed her arms around the fox, tears running down her cheeks as she held him tightly, her bathrobe loosening a little. “Oh God! My baby! I thoughts I’d lost y’gain!”\n\nKody held his mother tightly, giving her a kiss on the cheek, “It’s all right, mama. I’m fine.”\n\nNick’s eyebrow raised and Judy’s face flushed, “Uhm… Hi Jo.” The bunny spun around to look at her partner, “We should get her a blanket.”\n\n“And coffee,” he replied as he looked over at the Emergency Medical Technicians who were carting the domestic dog out of the house on a stretcher, “Hey, we need a blanket over here.”\n\nFangmire and Snarlov had been doing most of the coordinating with the EMT’s so when they finally left, the wolf and bear were able to fully take in the rest of the scene. Fangmire’s eyes had raised a bit at the sight of the lovely, older vixen in nothing but a towel, a chuckling smile on his face, “I’ll get the blanket.”\n\nSnarlov had rolled his eyes his partner. “Fine. Yoo doo zat. I vill be tak-ink der state-mints.” The massive arctic bruin pulled out a pad as he walked over to Nick, Judy, Jo, and Kody. “Mee-stair Goo-ray, vill yoo be press-ink char-geez?”\n\nKody blinked a few times, “Are you fucking kidding? Of course I’m going to fucking press fucking charges!”\n\nNick was surprised at the language coming out of Kody’s mouth. He’d never thought he’d ever hear Ray Schaiferhund curse, but then again, that was High School. People change. Judy on the other hand almost died from shock at hearing such filth.\n\nJo gave her son a bop on the nose, “I tolds ya. Y’ain’t gonna use that langage round me or guests.”\n\nSnarlov chuckled as he pulled out a pen, “I vill be need-ink yoor o-feesh-al state-mints den.”\n\nKody started on the tale of what happened, everyone listening intently as Fangmire returned with a blanket. He casually draped it over the vixen, giving her a big warm toothy grin. Jo’s only response was a courteous smile and a, “Thank ya, shoog,” that made the wolf blush more.\n\nThe polar bear was writing as fast as he could, even though he spoke English, it wasn’t his first language, so most of his notes were written down in the Cyrillic alphabet. “Tank yoo, Mee-stair Goo-ray foor de state-mint. I vill be need-ink won fram yoor ma-ma.”\n\nFangmire, who up until then had been idly staring at the vixen, spoke up, “I can help you with that, Snarlov.”\n\nThe gigantic polar bear rolled his eyes as the two tods and doe bunny raised an eyebrow. “I vill nat be need-ink yoor halp, Fang-my-air. I kan han-dall dis,” he said as he made his way over to Jo, offering the vixen a hand to help her up. The woman smiled and took his paw, sliding up onto her feet as she held onto the blanket that covered her skimpiness. The two moved to a table in the kitchen, slowly starting to talk about what she knew.\n\nFangmire looked a little bit dejected, but Judy butted in. “Fangmire, I need your help cordoning off this place. We don’t want,” the bunny was just about to finish when a raccon burst through the door to slam into Kody, her arms wrapping around him as she burred her muzzle into his neck while tears streamed down her face. Judy let out a sigh, “We don’t want something like this to happen.”\n\nKody wrapped his arms around the sobbing raccoon, his hands moving up and down her back as he kissed the top of her head. “I’m all right, RJ. Shhh… Everything’s going to be fine,” he said, trying to calm her down as their tails curled around one another.\n\nJudy looked a little upset, her foot starting to tap against the floor as Nick leaned over to chuckle into one of her long ears, “Jealous?”\n\nThe bunny snorted, “No. It just means Crime Scene is going to have a lot more work on their hands.”\n\nSnarlov finished his interview with Jo before making his way over to Fangmire, Hopps, and Wilde. “I halv der state-mints and kontakt een-for-mat-cee-ya. Seens dey vill be press-ink char-geez, ve may need dem to kam een four four-der een-tear-v-yooz,” the polar bear said as he looked between the bunny, fox, and wolf before looking over at the raccoon who was hugging Kody tightly, “Hoo eez dat?”\n\n“Question of the night it seems,” Nick quipped as he turned his head to look over at the raccoon-fox couple, “So, R… Kody. Who’s the girl?”\n\nKody had finally calmed RJ down enough to where he could concentrate on the officers. “This is RJ. She’s,” he looked down at her, “She’s my girlfriend.”\n\nNick chuckled as he turned to look at the other three policemammals, “Simple question, simple answer.”\n\nSnarlov nodded as looked over at Kody, “Mee-stair Goo-ray, vill yoo be need-ink a loy-yar?”\n\nThe tod shook his head, “I will, but I already have one in mind.”\n\n\f\n\nChapter 20: Fox Hunt\n\nThe first phone call Mike had gotten that night was from his mother, Ruby. She’d managed to wake him up at midnight, her voice frantic. “Mom,” he’d groggily said, “Calm down. What? What’s going on? What happened to dad?”\n\n“We had a… a disagreement about how he acted towards Kody. I told your father that we wouldn’t have sex until he came to terms with having a grandtod,” she said in a slightly calmer voice, “I left him at the restaurant and told him he could walk home. I figured he’d take a cab, but that was almost three hours ago. I haven’t heard a peep from him!”\n\n“Oh. Christ,” her son said, his mind starting to slowly awaken from its slumber, “He could be anywhere.”\n\n“I know! I sent him a few text messages asking where he was and when he was coming home. I even called and left a message, but he hasn’t responded. I’m worried about him, Michael,” the vixen started to panic.\n\n“I’ll go look for him, mom. I promise,” the tod replied as he slowly rolled out of his wife’s grip, “I’ll let you know if I find him.”\n\nHelen was half asleep when she started to ask, “Was that another telemarketer, dear?”\n\nMike looked over at her, “No, honey. Richard’s gone missing.”\n\n“Mm… that’s nice dear. Tell him I said hello,” the vixen groggily replied, his words not even registering in her brain. Mike shook his head. She could really sleep through anything.\n\nHe’d just about finished putting on some slacks and a t-shirt when the second call came. It had caught Mike a little off guard, half expecting it to be his mother. “Mom, I told you, I’m,” he started to say when he was cut off by, “Uncle Mike!”\n\nThe tod blinked a few times. It was Kody. Why was Kody calling this late? “Hey, Kody. I have some bad news,” the older fox began, only to be interrupted, “Uncle Mike, my adopted dad’s ex-wife just tried to kill me!”\n\n“What?!”\n\n“The cops are here. They just took our statements, and asked if I was going to press charges.”\n\n“Are you?”\n\n“Is the Pope Catholic?”\n\nMike had to admit, it was a dumb question, but he kept the conversation going, “I figured. You want me to represent you?”\n\n“I do. I need you and grandpa to,” Kody was just about to continue, but it was Mike’s turn to interrupt, “Kody. You’re grandsire’s missing.”\n\n“What? How? When?”\n\n“Apparently, he and your grandmother got in an argument, and she told him he could walk home. He hasn’t been answering his phone, and now she’s worried.”\n\n“You need help looking?”\n\n“Yes.”\n\n“Any idea on where to start?”\n\n“I was going to head down to the Oasis. It’s a good starting point. I can come pick you up.”\n\n“No need. RJ’s here, I can get a ride with her.”\n\n“Okay. Start at the Oasis and spread out from there. Let me know if you find him.”\n\n“I will, Uncle Mike.”\n\nThe tod hung up the phone. He wasn’t sure what was going on, but tonight seemed to have spiraled out of control.\n\nKody held onto RJ as he looked up at the four officers, “I’ve got representation, but I need to go. It seems my grandsire doesn’t want to answer his phone, and now everyone’s worried.”\n\nThe four weren’t sure what to say at first, but Judy finally said something. “Since your house is now a crime scene, I’ll see if I can find a place for Aunt Jo to stay.”\n\nNick was slow to offer an option, “I could give my mother a call. She’s not far from here. It’ll be cheaper than a hotel at least, and she always enjoys company.”\n\nKody smiled, “Thanks.”\n\nSlowly, the large tod leaned in to give the sow raccoon a kiss on the top of her head, “RJ, I need your help finding my grandsire.” The woman nodded as she gave him a kiss on the cheek, “I’d do anything for you, master.”\n\nThe four officers’ eyes perked up, though Judy’s just about popped out of her head. Nick however, started to chuckle, even as Kody looked completely embarrassed, “I didn’t know you were into that kind of thing, Kody.”\n\nThe other tod cleared his throat as he picked RJ up before getting back onto his feet. “We have to get going,” he replied as he carried her out the door. Judy gasped a little, her hands moving to her lips as the fox, polar bear, and wolf smirked. “I think she was planning on a very different evening,” Fangmire said with a chuckle.\n\nRichard Rowan grumbled to himself as he sat on a barstool nursing his fourth beer. He hadn’t been to a single’s bar in quite some time, not since his college years back in the Age of Aquarius. The fox started to remember those times, a smile forming on his lips. It had been a very different era and a very different life, filled with lots of marijuana and copious amounts of free love. He’d even dated outside of his own Genus, something that was still seen as strange, but before that era, had been illegal in several counties until the Mammal Right Movement. The memories of his college years came back to him, only to be utterly destroyed by the terrible music of modernity.\n\nSlowly, the fox put his drink down, his head swimming a little from the beer. He rarely drank craft beers, and his body wasn’t used to the much higher alcohol volume. It was in this inebriated state that he first noticed a young goat woman sitting next to him. She was probably the same age as that Chris clone, maybe younger, then again, it was hard to tell since Richard had always been terrible at guessing ages.\n\n“Excuse me,” he said as he looked at her, “I have a question.”\n\nThe goat woman turned her head, a puzzled look on her face, “Yes?”\n\n“I was meeting with a client the other day and a very interesting subject was brought up that I forgot to research. Tell me. Are gazelles considered goats?”\n\nThe woman looked very confused, “Uhm… I… I think so? I don’t really know?”\n\n“Ah. Interesting,” the fox said as he reached over to take another drink, “Then fucking a gazelle is considered fucking a goat?”\n\n“Excuse me,” the bewildered woman said, her eyes popping open.\n\n“I’m merely curious. You see, my client brought up a mutual acquaintance whom he called a ‘goat fucker’ and yet the person is known for fucking gazelles. I was curious to know if gazelles are considered goats.”\n\nThe goat was still confused and very upset, giving Richard a very stern glare. Slowly, someone walked up behind her, a very strong looking billy goat. “Is this asshat bothering you, babe,” he asked as he gave the doe goat a kiss on the cheek.\n\n“Oh good! I think you can end this debate for us,” the fox said with a drunken smile, “I was talking to a client and he brought up goat fucking, which made me curious. So I have to ask, what’s it like?”\n\nKody and RJ were wandered down the street. They’d already gone to several bars, but they hadn’t managed to find Richard anywhere. They were just about to consider crossing the street to check out another drinking establishment when Richard flew out a window to crash down at their feet along with several chunks of glass.\n\n“And stay the fuck away from me and my girl,” a snorting billy goat bleated at the drunk and mostly conscious well-dressed fox spread out on the pavement.\n\n“Richard,” Kody yelled out in amazement as he leaned down to help his grandsire up. The drunken old tod gave him a goofy smile, “Chris!”\n\n“But,” the fox was just about to say before Richard’s gaze turned to look over at RJ, still smiling, “Coontang!”\n\n“Coontang,” the raccoon said with a weirded out, almost angry look as the old fox continued, “I thought you two were dead!”\n\nKody and RJ looked at one another, the two clearly unsure about what to do as they helped the old fox onto his feet. But before they could react or say anything, Kody’s grandsire tossed his arms around them and pulled them in close for a big hug, “Oh it’s good to see you two again, Chris and Coontang. You have no idea how much I’ve missed you two.”\n\nThe raccoon gave her boyfriend a curious gaze, but he mouthed, “Just go with it,” back at her. “Yes,” RJ said quickly, “I’m Coontang. It’s nice to… see you?”\n\nThe old fox gave her a big kiss on the lips. “You have no idea, Coontang. A day hasn’t gone by that I haven’t thought about you,” he replied with a smile before turning to look at Kody. “And Chris,” Richard paused as he looked him up and down, “You’ve put on a little weight. Looks like they’re feeding you well.”\n\nKody nodded, “Yeah. D… Dad. They’re feeding me well, but we need to get going. M… Mom’s worried about you.”\n\n“Oh she’s always worried about me. I can’t seem to disappear for more than five minutes before she starts calling the police. But if I must go home, I’m happy that it will be with you two.”\n\nThe raccoon and fox shook their heads as they moved to help Richard walk down the street. The two were silent for a few strides, trying to put as much distance between them and the single’s bar as they could before Kody finally spoke. “Uhm… Dad,” the younger fox started to say as he looked over at his grandsire.\n\n“Yes, Chris?”\n\n“I… I have a lot to tell you.”\n\n“Of course you do, son. Please, tell me what it’s like in heaven. Is it great? Is it like that Naturalist Club I hear so much about?”\n\nKody blinked, “Uhm… yeah… It’s… It’s just like that, dad. But… that’s not… not why we came back to help you.”\n\n“Chris and I came back because Chris has some things he wants to get off his chest,” RJ added, playing along with Kody.\n\n“Oh? You know you can tell your old fox anything, Chris. You know that.”\n\n“Dad,” Kody said softly, “I… I did a lot of bad things while I was here.”\n\n“Nonsense! You were the perfect son!”\n\n“Dad. I slept around with a lot of women. I mean a LOT of women,” Kody replied, but Richard cut him off, “I knew you were stud, Chris.”\n\n“Dad, I got a girl pregnant.”\n\n“You got a girl pregnant? And never told me? When did you two get married? Why wasn’t I invited to the wedding?”\n\n“That’s just it, dad. I got her pregnant, but I didn’t want to marry her. I just wanted to have sex with her. When she told me about it, I pushed her away. I never married her.”\n\n“Chris! You can’t be serious,” Richard growled, “I raised you to be a fox! Not a mouse! When I knocked up your mother with you, I married her! Are you saying you didn’t have the balls to?”\n\n“I was scared, dad. I didn’t want to be tied down to just one girl, so I told her to abort the tod she was carrying.”\n\n“Chris,” Richard said, heartbroken, “You mean I… I’ll never have a grandtod?”\n\nKody shook his head, “Dad, she didn’t abort him. You know those foxes you met tonight, Kody and Josephine Grey?”\n\n“You mean that lovely vixen and your clone?”\n\n“Jo was the girl I knocked up, dad, and that wasn’t my clone. That was my son.”\n\nRichard looked astonished, his eyelids blinking several times as his mind processed Chris’ words. Slowly, he turned his head to look over at the sow raccoon, “Coontang? Is this true?”\n\nRJ nodded her head, “It’s true.”\n\nThe old fox started to break down and actually cry, “I… I… I just… I just.”\n\nKody gave his grandsire a hug, “It’s all right, dad. I know you thought he was a clone, but Kody’s my son, and all he wants is to have is his real grandsire.”\n\nRichard sniffed a little, “Then I’ll be the best grandsire Kody’s ever had!”\n\n“I know you will, dad. But right now, you need to get home.”\n\nRichard watched as his son hailed a cab, the yellow vehicle pulling up as the weasel in the front seat poked his head out, “Yo! Where’s ya headed ta?”\n\nKody opened the door and pushed Richard inside. “He’ll tell you,” he said as he passed the man a twenty. The weasel just shrugged his shoulders, giving them an, “Okay,” before turning his head around to look at the sprawled out, drunken fox in his back seat, “Hey Mack. Where to?”\n\n“Home. Peak and 4th.”\n\nRuby Rowan hadn’t chewed her claws since she was a little girl. Her mother had broken her of that habit, but right now, the vixen was so full of worry that she couldn’t think. She could barely keep her eyes on the TV screen. Mike hadn’t called back, and Richard, well, she had no clue where he was. She was just about to head to bed when the front door of the apartment burst open.\n\n“Honey! You’ll never guess who I met,” Richard yelled out, the old tod sounding happy and inebriated as he stumbled into the hall. Ruby didn’t waste any time as she ran to her husband, her arms tossing around him to pull him in nice and tight, “Richard! Where were you? I’ve been worried sick!”\n\n“Oh, don’t worry about me, Ruby. You’ll never guess who I ran into though.”\n\n“Who,” his wife asked as she looked up at him with a puzzled gaze.\n\n“Chris and Coontang!”\n\n“Chris? Coontang?”\n\n“Yes! Chris says hello by the way.”\n\n“Richard. Chris is dead. And who the hell is Coontang?”\n\n“I know Chris is dead, honey. And Coontang was an old girlfriend of mine from college before I met you. But that’s not the point,” her husband said as he let out a sigh, “Chris… Chris came back from heaven because he had something important to tell me. Did you know that fox we met earlier was actually his son? Chris told me the whole story. I didn’t believe him at first, but Coontang said it was the truth. I can’t believe I treated young Kody like that, but I can’t believe our son didn’t have the balls to marry Kody’s mother. But I’ll make it up to them! I’ll be the best damn grandsire Kody’s ever had, and the best father-in-law too.”\n\nRuby blinked a few times. She hadn’t expected Richard to do an about face, but it was even harder for her to digest her husband’s story. Slowly, she pushed away from the drunk fox, wondering if she should call a psychiatrist when her phone buzzed in here pocket. “One… one second, honey,” she said raising a finger up as she grabbed her phone.\n\nMike had sent her a text that read, “Kody and RJ found dad. He’s drunk. Thought they were Chris and an ex. Just roll with it.” A sudden realization came over her as she slid the phone back into her pocket. “Well, you do remember what I said we’d do if you came to terms with having a grandtod,” the old vixen said with a smile.\n\n“DESSERT,” the fox beamed at his wife, a drunken smile crossing his face as his eyes lit up.\n\n“Yes. Dessert.”\n\n\f\n\nChapter 21: Grandpa Rick and Grandma Ruby\n\nKody Grey let out a chuckle as his grandsire and grandmother sat across from him and his mother in one of the booths at Gideon Grey’s Real Good Baked Stuff. All four of them had met up for a nice Saturday Lunch. It had been two months since the incident at his adopted parents’ house and the “visitation” Richard had had from his son and his ex-girlfriend, but in that time, the old tod had taken every opportunity to get to know his grandtod and his pseudo-daughter-in-law, even during the trail that put Johan’s ex-wife in a psychiatric hospital. \n\nUnfortunately, though, the trial had put a great deal of strain on Kody’s relationships with his adopted family, so much so that he wasn’t on speaking terms with one of his step-sisters, even though he was still good friends with her son and his other step-sister and her family.\n\n“I have to say, Josephine,” the old fox said as he took another bite of pie, “I am really enjoying your family. Your nephew’s pies are the best thing I’ve ever tasted, and I’ve had my share of pies. Cream and otherwise.”\n\nRuby gave him an elbow, but the other two foxes chuckled. The one thing they were still getting used to was how unfiltered the tod could be. “Gideon’s been winnin’ prizes all over th’place. Won the Tri-Burrow County Fair twice now,” Kody’s mother said as she took a sip of sweet tea.\n\n“And I can see why. I think I could come here every day for lunch if it wasn’t for all the money I’d spend on train tickets.”\n\nKody turned his attention to his grandmother, “So what were you about to say about the hospital?”\n\nRuby smiled, “Well, I’ve decided that I’ll be retiring next year, but until then, I managed to push for the day shift so I have more time.”\n\n“You mean so we have more time,” Richard interjected between bites of food. The vixen chuckled, “Exactly.”\n\n“So ya’ll cum visit mo’ften,” Jo asked curiously.\n\n“Of course. We’ll have much more time on our hands for the grandkits,” the old tod said with a smile, “Speaking of grandkits, should we be expecting any great grandkits, Kody?”\n\nThe youngest one at the table blushed a little, a hand moving to scratch the back of his head, “Uhm… RJ and I haven’t really discussed that yet.”\n\n“Ah,” his grandsire said before taking a big gulp of tea, “Figure out when the wedding will be?”\n\nKody blinked, “Uhm… we haven’t even gotten that far either.”\n\n“Taking it slow, I see. It’s a good strategy,” Richard said only to get another elbow in his side, so he decided to turn his head over to Josephine. “So. Josephine. Any tods in your life?”\n\nKody’s mother blushed and giggled, “Naw. I cain’t thinks of any, then ‘gain, I ain’ts been looking.”\n\n“Well, even if you do, you can always think of me as your father-in-law, even if you and Chris were never married.”\n\n“Awh, that’s sweet a’ya Mister Rowan.”\n\n“Please, call me daddy.”\n\nJo giggled as Ruby gave her husband another jab to the ribs. Kody wasn’t sure what to make of that last statement, but at the moment, he didn’t really care. He was just happy to finally start having a real family again.\n\n", "writing_bbcode_parsed": "Chapter 1: Michael Rowan

Michael “Mike” Rowan sat in his office looking over paperwork. He hadn’t wanted to follow the family business at all. He’d been studying archaeology at Zootopia University when his older brother, Chris, died in law school. He’d never gotten along with Chris, not even when they were kits. Chris was three years older than Mike, and he’d been much much larger. He’d taken every opportunity to embarrass his little brother at every turn, calling it, “Good clean fun.” Since both their parents worked long hours, their father was a lawyer and their mother a doctor, they never interfered. He’d also had to put up with Chris’ exploits.

It had started in Junior High. Their parents were rarely home, so Chris would throw parties, making Mike clean them up afterwards. He’d sneak girls up to his room when he wasn’t throwing parties and sometimes when he was. By the time, he’d gotten into High School, Chris had managed to garner a bit of a reputation, which only continued into college. He was the family stud, and Mike was his bitch, even though Chris had never molested his little brother. The nickname was mostly derived from how he made his little brother fix all his messes, something that Mike hated doing.

The tod chuffed as he stared to remember all the bullshit Chris had put him through. The thing that really rubbed his fur the wrong way was how his parents refused to believe that Chris had been a rotten apple, even after he’d managed to contract and die from the Animal Immunity Virus. Mike knew all too well what his older brother had gotten up to. Chris had knocked up several vixens, something he’d worn like a badge of honor. Mike had learned that all of them except one had taken a morning after pill, and he’d even been there when that one vixen had ripped his brother a new tailhole in front of entire school. Even then, though, Chris had acted like it was some kind of honor to know that he’d have a bastard.

“It’s a sign of how virile I am,” the tod had bragged to his little brother not long after the incident, “You’ll be lucky to be someone’s jizz rag.”

Mike growled at being called that. Just because he was smaller didn’t mean he was gay, it just meant that he hadn’t gotten whatever genetic mistakes had led to his older brother. Of course, after the incident, Chris hadn’t managed to get any girl to come back to his car with him, so he turned to the next best thing; girly boys. He’d even brag about that too, telling his little brother about all the bitch boys he had begging for his cock.

Chris was an ass. He even managed to be an ass on his death bed, attempting to blame the whole thing on one of the tods he’d slept with. The worst part was that he’d managed to contract the disease and spread it around. Mike wasn’t entirely sure when his older brother had contracted AIV, but he was fairly sure that the jackass tod had managed to spread it around before he ended up with complications.

The worst part of all this, was that Chris had been family. Mike hated Chris, and when Chris ended up in the hospital, he wanted to tell him that it was some kind of poetic justice for everything he did, but he’d never been able to bring himself to say it. In the end, Mike just pitied him.

Though the pity returned to hate when their father outright ordered him to change majors. “I don’t want my firm going over to that shrew, Mousekewitz,” the old fox had growled at his son on the ride back from the funeral, “You’re going to have to take over the family business.”

Mike had vehemently protested. Why should he have to pay for his brother’s mistakes? He was the one who stuck his cock into anything that was warm and moist, not Mike. Mike had been a good boy, treating people with respect, not as his next ride. No. It came down to, “preserving legacy,” and, “honoring your brother.”

“Honoring Chris? Are you fucking serious,” Mike had snarled out, or at least he had wished he had, “Chris didn’t know a damn thing about honor. Do you know how many times women came to him sobbing about him getting them pregnant? Do you know he has a kit with a woman he refused to marry? Did you know that he fucked her once and then told her to fuck off?”

Mike had shuddered in rage at his parent’s ignorance to Chris’ transgressions. They had built up an idea of him in their minds and no amount of truth was ever going to destroy that. Chris had managed to ruin his life from the grave.

Mike had struggled through pre-Law and Law School. He’d hated every minute of it. The only “bright” side to it was him immediately becoming a partner at his father’s firm, the old tod changing the name to Rowan, Rowan, & Mousekewitz. While his father and Mr. Mousekewitz would often be the faces in court if any cases brought to them went that far, Mike was usually the face everyone saw first when they brought their cases to them. It had been his father’s idea to show everyone how, “Young and Vibrant the company is.”

His father was great at lying, then again, he was a lawyer. The firm of course dabbled in many different kinds of law, though they tended to lean more towards civil law than criminal law. Right now, though, he was neck deep in trying to execute a last will and testimony his father had pawned off on him. It was the Schaiferhund case from last year. The couple had died in a car accident and left everything to their son, much to the anger and dismay of the husband’s ex-wife and her children. It had been stuck in litigation for almost fourteen months as the ex-wife assembled her team of lawyers to challenge the will.

So far, no one had heard more than a peep from the beneficiary, the Schaiferhund’s adopted son, Ray. Then again, Mike wasn’t exactly surprised. Ray had a job and a life, where the ex-wife was living with family. The last thing he was thinking about was how to fight a woman he’d never known about property that had been promised to him after a divorce.

The fox looked up and down the paperwork. Everything was straight forward. The ex-wife didn’t have any claim to the property whatsoever because she’d signed over those rights during the divorce paperwork, which had been handled by Mr. Mousekewitz fourty years earlier. Heck, the firm had even helped with the adoption paperwork. Mike just shook his head as he started reading more and more. “I should probably give Mr. Schaiferhund a call to let him know his father’s ex-wife doesn’t have a case,” he muttered to himself as he picked up the phone and started to dial the cell phone number listed under the contact information.

\f

Chapter 2: Captain Grey

Captain Kody “Sly” Grey was panting as he walked from the flight line and back into Base Ops. The thirty year old Captain had a smile on his face and plugs in his ears and decidedly non-regulation mirrored sunglasses on his face as he b-lined his way towards the tall brick building.

He was covered from neck to boots in green; a green flight suit, a green un-zipped g-suit over the legs of the flight suit, a green MOLLE survival vest, and green suede combat boots which everyone had to wear while flying. His helmet was clutched under one arm, the white orb looking thing had a big red fox head painted in the middle of it, while his breath mask dangled off it from two hooks. It was one hell of a day for flying.

He’d just walked into Base Ops, giving the Airmammal behind the desk a wave as he’d made his way to start filling out the necessary post-flight paperwork, when he felt his phone start vibrating. The young no-stripe Airmammal gave her superior a nod as if to say, “Take your call, it’ll still be here when you get back.” Kody just smiled and mothed, “Thanks,” as he pulled the phone out of his pocked and headed towards the equipment room.

“Hello,” he said, not bothering to look at the number. “Yes, is this Mr. Ray Schaiferhund,” the voice asked. Kody blinked a few times before answering, “You got him, but I haven’t gone by that name in almost a year.”

There was a pause on the other end, “But you are… er… were Ray Schaiferhund, correct?”

“Yeah, why?”

“This is Michael Rowan with Rowan, Rowan, and Mousekewitz. I’m calling about your late father’s will.”

Kody blinked a few times. Rowan? As in Chris Rowan? His mother had mentioned that his real father’s sire was a lawyer, but it would be a little bit too coincidental. The tod did have a test though, “Which father? I’ve lost two.”

There was another pause on the phone, “Uhm… were you ever listed on the other father’s will?”

“No. Chris didn’t seem to care I existed.”

There was another long, very awkward pause, “Then… I’m calling about your… adopted father’s will.”

“What about it,” the fox asked as he started to disrobe from the g-suit.

Michael continued, “As you know, Johan’s ex-wife has been pushing for litigation on the grounds that his last will and testament was written and signed while not in sound mind or judgement. I’ve been reviewing her case, but she doesn’t have any grounds. We believe that it will be thrown out of court because the matter of inheritance was settled during the divorce proceedings fourty years prior. Not to mention the will was signed and notarized about ten years prior to their accident.”

“So what you’re saying is that she’s about to waste a lot of money over a case she can’t possibly win because she signed everything away when Johan and her split,” Kody said in a more matter-of-fact tone. It was something that often rubbed people the wrong way, but his parents had always demanded the truth and he rarely sugar coated anything when it was serious. “Better to just rip the band aid off than to try to peel it away gently,” he’d said a few times.

“Something like that,” the voice replied, “Uhm… Mr. Schaiferhund, most of our records still have you listed under that name. Did you have your name legally changed? If so, we need to update our records.”

“Yeah, I changed it to Kody Grey about six months after the accident,” he replied as he walked out of the Equipment room and back towards the desk in Base Operations.

There was another long pause over the phone before a, “Thank you, sir. I’ll have our records updated. Please feel free to call us back if you have any questions. Be sure to ask for me since I’m working the case.”

“You’re welcome, Michael,” Kody said before hanging up. The no-stripe Airmammal behind the desk looked over at him with a curious look, but she was a little too embarrassed to ask the officer a question. The fox just chuckled as he looked at the rabbit who was obviously a member of the Hopps battalion both because of her coloring and the last name of, “Hopps,” embroidered on the name plate over her right breast. “Dad’s ex wants to fight a war she can’t win,” he said with a chuckle as he jotted down the last few numbers onto the paper.

The doe bunny just nodded her head as her superior put the pencil down and headed towards the Heritage room for a snack and a well-deserved drink after the four hour long flight.

\f

Chapter 3: Recall

Mike put the phone down. Kody. Grey? Grey? Why was that last name so familiar? The tod chewed on his bottom lip as he tried to remember exactly where he’d heard that name before. And then it hit him lick a sack of bricks.

He’d been sitting in his room reading Of Mice and Males for English 100 when Chris had almost torn the door off its hinges to come in. “Oh man, Mike! I just fucking nailed this tight little vixen in my car,” he’d said, the smell of booze on his lips from obvious post orgasmic celebration down at the bar, “Probably going to have to make up a story about how that bitch tore up the back seat to dad.”

Mike had just snorted, not wanting to hear about his brother’s latest escapade. “Congrats,” he replied to his older brother, still trying to read his book, hoping that ignoring the boisterous tod would make him go away. It didn’t. In fact ignoring him just made Chris move over to his brother and slap the book away. “If you keep your head in books you’re never gonna be a stud like me,” the larger man had said, “You’ll just end up with my sloppy seconds.”

Mike snorted and chuffed as he glared at his older brother, “I’m not taking your sloppy seconds, Chris.”

Chris just laughed back, “I fucked half your girlfriends before you got to them. You’re gonna be stuck with my sloppy seconds the rest of your life. I might even pass that little country gal off to you. In fact, you can fucking have Josephine Grey. She’s perfect for you. Dumb as a sack of rocks and about as buoyant as one too. Dumb bitch even thought I wore a condom.”

Mike’s eyes nearly popped out of his head, “You did WHAT!”

Chris laughed, “You fucking herd me, kit. I nailed that vixen bare back while she was all in heat and needy. She was begging for my fox cock. You should have seen it.”

Mike had blinked in complete and utter surprise, mouth open as he listened to what his brother had just done. “You’re kidding right,” he begged towards his older brother, “Please tell me you’re kidding!”

Chris chuckled, “I’m not kidding, runt. I filled that vixen cunt full of cum.”

“Jesus Christ, Chris,” he started to yell, “Do you know what kind of trouble you could get in! What if she gets pregnant!”

“She wouldn’t be the first I’ve knocked up. I’m one virile fox,” his older brother said with a chuckle and a glimmer of pride, “She’ll take her morning after pill, and I’ll push her away until she comes back begging for my dick.”

Mike snorted, “And if she doesn’t?”

Chris laughed, “If she’s that dumb then she deserves to get pregnant.”

“You’re a monster, you know that,” the younger brother said with a growl. The wolf like fox just laughed before heading out of the room, “You’re just jealous, runt.”

Mike remembered seeing Josephine in class the entire rest of the school year. He was even there when she’d confronted Chris about what he’d done. He’d watched every day in class as she began to look more and more pregnant by the week. The last time he saw her for that term was during finals week.

When classes started up again that following August, everyone hadn’t expected her to come back, but she did. Everyone was curious about her kit, but she wouldn’t talk about it. The rumor on campus had been that she’d ended up with a miscarriage by the way she acted whenever anyone asked what happened.

Mike’s daydream of college ended abruptly as he stared down at the name he’d written down. “Thirty years old. Said he’d lost two fathers. Said his first father was named Chris, and he didn’t care about him. Renamed himself Grey after his adopted parent’s accident. Holy. Shit. This. I just. I just got off the phone with my damn NEPHEW!”

The near fifty year old fox had to blink several times as he started to figure out what to do next. He probably SHOULD tell his aging father that he had a grandtod, but the information could easily cause issues concerning conflicts of interest.

Mike chewed on his lower lip, his ears flattening against his head. He’d never lied to his father, but he didn’t have to tell him the entire truth either. He could easily leave out the messy details of Kody Grey being his grandkit for after the trial. He did, however, want to at least check to see if Kody Grey WAS his nephew. That way, he could be completely sure before spilling the beans to his father.

“I’m probably not going to get to meet him on the base,“ he said as he started to tap the pen in his hand onto the note pad, “But I wonder if I can arrange a meeting over the weekend.”

He pressed speed dial on his desk phone, hoping that he could talk directly to the other fox, but his call went straight to voice mail. He left him a short message about arranging a meeting, even giving him his personal phone number to respond by text. He’d hung up the phone only to get a text about two minutes later that read, “Sure. Gideon’s Real Good Baked Stuffs in Bunnyburrow. Noon.”

\f

Chapter 4: All His Exes

Kimberly Heinz was a mutt. She couldn’t trace much of her heritage, but she knew there was some German Shepherd in her, some Weimaraner, and a plethora of other domestic canine species all swimming and mingling about in her DNA. The woman was slowly approaching her eighties and living with relatives in a predominantly retired animals community in Zootopia. One would have thought age would have calmed her down, but it was quite the opposite. She’d soured since her divorce to Johan Schaiferhund.

Their marriage hadn’t exactly been perfectly picturesque. They’d met in college and got married after graduation, and the honeymoon didn’t last. Johan had joined the Air Force not long after college, so they’d spent a great deal of time moving around from base to base in the early years of their marriage, finally settling down at Rudolf Air Force Base out in the more arid areas. She had hated it though. She hated the base. She hated the distance from home. She hated that he was away all the time.

She had hated it so much that she got him to change careers from military to civil aviation. But even then, she hated him being gone for days at a time on trips. She hated that he was surrounded with lovely young women who were serving as flight attendants. It had gotten to the point where she suspected him of cheating on her every time he went on a trip, even after he’d sired two pups with her. It wasn’t long until after the third pup was born that she’d filed for divorce.

The divorce had been very nasty from the start. The two had finally come to an arrangement, though it didn’t please anyone. She hadn’t really thought about Johan and the divorce until last year when he’d died in that car accident and the terms of the will had been read aloud. She figured that he would have at least left her and the three kids they’d had something even after the divorce. But no.

He’d left everything to that fox kit he’d adopted. Her children and grandpups didn’t seem to care. They’d already made their own agreements with the tod, but she felt like they’d deserved more. Her kids deserved the family’s mountain cabin, not some vulpine slut’s offspring that Johan and that Jezebel had taken in.

The thought of what happened made her blood boil, so much so that she’d hired lawyers to fight it. But that had been several months ago, and it was now firmly in their hands. She started to wonder if the settlement would ever go through when the house phone rang. The mutt slowly wandered into the small apartment, knowing that it was either going to be good news or bad news.

“Miss Heinz,” the voice said, “this is Oliver Swift from Swith, Downy, & Johns. We’re calling about the Last Will and Testament challenge case you filed with us a few months ago.”

“Yes,” she asked as she waited for some good news. She never got it. “I’m sorry to say, ma’am, but we’ve just gotten off the phone with the judge presiding over the case. It seems that you failed to mention a few details when you came to us pertaining to the divorce proceedings, specifically that you signed an agreement that he gave your children their inheritances after the divorce was finalized. Furthermore, you failed disclose that, as per the agreement in the divorce paperwork, that you and your children would forgo any claim to any inheritances promised to his children from any further marriages.”

“But he’s not his son,” Kimberly snarled angrily.

“Ma’am, Raynard Kody Schaiferhund was Johan Wilhelm Schaiferhund and Brenda McCoy Schaiferhund’s legally adopted son. We have seen all the paperwork. You have wasted our time, the judge’s time, and the time of everyone over at Rowan, Rowan, & Mousekewitz. You should expect a bill from us shortly. Good day,” the lawyer said as he hung up on her, not allowing a rebuttal.

Kimberly blinked. She’d lost her case. Not only had she lost her case, she was going to have to pay a mountain in legal fees. The mutt searched for someone to blame but in the end, the only one she found wasn’t herself, no. She blamed Johan. It was all his fault after all. He hadn’t tried to save the marriage. He hadn’t tried to take a different schedule to be home more. He had pushed for the kids to get their inheritances done and over with so he wouldn’t have to give them anything when he died. He hadn’t waited more than a year to marry one of those slut flight attendants. It was all his fault, and it was that fox’s fault.

That fox should have just given the family cabin to her kids. He should have just given her that lovely house his parents bought and moved into near downtown. He should have rolled over for the real Schaiferhund children, not been greedy and selfish to hold onto things that weren’t rightfully his. And now because of his greed, she wasn’t going to have to figure out how to pay for the lawyer’s fees.

\f

Chapter 5: Pillows

Kody had headed into Bunnyburrow as soon as Friday was over, leaving almost immediately at five for the two and a half hour drive to his mother’s single floor one bedroom house. He spent the start of the night snuggling with his mother while watching TV together before bed.

Jo and Kody’s mother-son dynamic was hard to explain. It wasn’t some Freudian Oedipus Complex. They didn’t feel the need to be together for sexual intimacy, but because they completed each other. They made each other whole. They got exactly what they wanted. Jo got to feel her son against her. Kody got to feel his mother against him. Jo got to have HER son. Kody got to have HIS mother. It was something that the two had wanted desperately forever and now they finally had it. Jo and Kody were like two missing pieces of life’s jigsaw puzzle. They’d been set aside from one another, forced to try to fit with other pieces, but in the end, whoever was putting the puzzle together realized that the two pieces were meant to fit with one another and not somewhere else.

The two had just finished the last minute of their program when Kody finally said something as Jo lightly stroked the top of his head, “Mom, I got a phone call from a law firm today.”

“What ‘bout, honey,” the vixen asked, her hand still feeling over his soft fur. “It was about my adopted dad’s will, but that’s not really why I’m bringing this up,” He replied as he looked over at her, “Mom, the law firm Johan used for his will, well, it was the one real dad said his father owned. The guy who called me was. IS my uncle.”

His mother stopped petting him for a second, “Yer joshin’ me.” Kody shook his head, “No, momma. I ain’t joshin’ ya. Mike Rowan called me yesterday. There’s only one law firm in Zootopia with that name; Rowan, Rowan, & Mousekewitz. I googled it. The guy who runs it, Richard Rowan, was daddy’s father. Mike Rowan is daddy’s brother.”

There was a pause as Jo let the words sink in. For being such a big city, there were quite a few coincidences going on, almost as if they were a part of some kind of tv program or story. Jo also realized that her little boy was finally starting to sound like an actual Grey. The old vixen wasn’t exactly sure what to say, really. The only interactions she’d ever had with the Rowans happened with Chris. She hoped that Chris was the exception to the family, not the rule. “Why’re ya tellin’ me this,” she finally asked out of pure curiosity.

Kody bit his lower lip, “Mom, I’m supposed to meet him at Gideon’s for lunch, and I want you to come with me.”

“Why,” she asked as she slowly started to stroke over one ear, feeling it flick around under her fingers.

“I jist. I guess I just want you there to hold my hand when I talk to him. I know I sound like a kit, but, I just,” the tod started to chuff in frustration as he tried to find the words, “I just. I just. I just.”

“Ya wants to know more bout yer daddy, dontcha sweetie. Ya wants t’know if yer daddy’s famly was just like’m,” she said as she leaned in to give the top of his head a kiss, “I s’pose I’m a peck curious too.” Kody sniffled like he was a little kit again, “I’m just learning about where I’m from.”

“It’s all right, sugar fox,” Jo said as she pulled her son’s head against her shoulder, “Ya wants yer mama there to keep ya from actin’ the fool when ya start asking bout yer daddy.”

The tod sniffed again, nodding his head up and down as he gave out a cute little whimper, “Mmmhm.” The vixen just murred sweetly as she started to rock him back and forth, giving him another kiss on the top of his head, “It’s all right, sweet pea. Mama’ll be there, dontcha worry.”

Kody let out a long sigh as his tail curled over his thigh, head resting fully on his mother’s shoulder. His mother continued to run her fingers through the fur on the top of his head, making the tod slowly relax while the movie they had been watching began to wrap up. The old vixen slowly leaned forward to give her son a kiss on the cheek, “Ya should go t’bed, Kody.”

The tod tilted his head up to give the bottom of her muzzle a kiss before sliding off the couch, “Yeah. A good night’s sleep would help.” He stood over his mother for a second before leaning in to give her cheek another kiss.

The vixen watched her son walk out of the living room and head towards the bedroom. Jo waited a few minutes before sliding off the couch, her jaws opening wide to let out a yawn as her arms stretched above her head. A good night’s sleep did sound wonderful. Daintily, she made her way to the bedroom before disrobing to slide into the one bed. Long arms wrapped around her son as she snuggled up with him. Her chunky tod made a wonderful body pillow.

\f

Chapter 6: Sleepless in Zootopia

Unlike Kody and Jo, Mike had a very hard time sleeping that night, in fact, he’d had a hard time sleeping ever since he’d talked to Kody Grey. The tod stared up at the ceiling, his chest rising and falling as his mind seemed to take its sweet time to fully digest what had happened and what was going to happen tomorrow. He wondered what his new nephew looked like, if he even was his nephew at all and this was just some odd coincidence that Kody was a thirty year old fox whose deceased biological father had been named Chris.

Mike’s wife, Helen, slowly rolled over, the nearly fifty year old vixen throwing an arm around her husband’s middle before resting her head on his chest. “Can’t sleep,” she said softly, her eyes still closed as her tiny black nose sniffed over her husband’s chest.

“Yeah,” he sighed as one arm moved to gently stroke over the vixen’s shoulder. Helen was a red fox, like her husband, but unlike her husband, she didn’t have any red in her fur. She was a silver fox, her fur a genetic abnormality that gave her two primary colors; a silvery gray and black, which meant she was very hard to see at night, even for him.

She softly nuzzled his chest while her hand ran up and down his sized, “You’re still thinking about Chris’ son?”

“Yeah,” he replied as he let out a long, deep sigh, “If he even is Chris’.”

The vixen slowly over onto her belly, her eyes opening as she rested her elbows on his chest. “There’s always that possibility,” Helen mused, “But if he is?”

“It’s… it’s just strange, Helen, knowing that Chris actually managed to have a kid. He was very to the point over the phone, a lot like how Chris used to be. I’m just worried that I’ll end up running into my brother’s clone,” Mike replied as his ears went flat against his head.

“You could have also called him at a bad time,” his wife replied as she moved a finger out to poke him in the middle of the nose. Mike blinked a few times at the touch, before letting out another sigh, “Yeah. You’re right. It might have been a bad time, but I’m still a little worried.”

“Why? You should be happy that Chris wasn’t his father figure,” the vixen said, her finger slowly moving down his nose and over his lips before resting her hand on his chest. She was right, then again, Helen was usually right about a lot of things. The tod let out another heavy sigh as he started to run his hand down his wife’s spine, “I can’t even imagine what that would have been like.”

That was a lie, he could, and it was a nightmare. He’d seen divorce paperwork dealing with abusive husbands, and that’s probably how the marriage would have ended. That or a shotgun. But Kody had been spared that, as had Josephine Grey. Mike let out another sigh as Helen chuckled, “MMm… wondering what the kids will think?”

The tod chuckled. He was curious about how his two daughters would react to learning they had a cousin. Victoria and Alexis would probably be intrigued since, for all the family knew, Chris hadn’t managed to sire any kits. The vixens were only a few years younger than Kody, both of them being twenty-six and twenty-four respectively, so Mike imagined them getting along fairly well. Mike’s minor dream was cut short when he felt Helen slide on top him, her legs splaying around his middle as she sat back. “Want some help getting to sleep?”

Mike woke up a few hours later to the sound of his alarm clock. His wife had helped him sleep, but he still had to wake up to catch his train from Zootopia to Bunnyburrow. Sliding out of his wife’s grasp, he made his way into the bathroom, releasing the contents of his bladder before slipping into a nice warm shower.

Thirty minutes later, Mike was ready. He’d dressed formally for the occasion, a gray suit with white undershirt and red tie. By the time he’d finished dressing, his wife was already in the kitchen, wearing nothing but a very long night shirt whose bottom reached down to her knee. Mike chuckled softly as he moved in behind her, a hand moving to her rump as he gave her a kiss on the cheek. “I’ll be home for dinner,” he whispered into her ear. His wife chuckled, “Mmm… Don’t eat too much on your trip. You should save room for dessert tonight.”

Mike let out a lusty churr into her ear, “I’m looking forward to it.”

\f

Chapter 7: The Uncle

The 10:30 from Zootopia to Bunnyburrow left twenty minutes late, meaning Mike was going to cut the meeting time very close. The high-speed train pulled into the station at 11:50, but it still took a few minutes to get a cab, so by the time the fox managed to get to Gideon Grey’s Real Good Baked Stuff, it was 11:59. The tod paid the driver with a twenty, not even waiting for change as he rushed into the restaurant with barely fifteen seconds to spare.

Mike looked around the establishment, unsure of who to look for exactly outside of the fact that he was looking for a fox or at least hoping that he was looking for a fox. The will didn’t make mention of his species, so this Kody Grey could have been anyone. The restaurant was packed mostly with bunnies, but there were three foxes there. One of them was behind the counter, and the other two were sitting in a booth eating a pot pie.

Mike had to do a double take at the tod and vixen sitting in the booth. Mike remembered the vixen, it wasn’t hard to since they’d been in the same classes together for most of their time at Z.U. Jo had aged gracefully, must like Helen. He was about to say something when his eyes moved over to the tod. Mike’s eyes almost popped out of his head.

Whoever this fox was, he looked a great deal like Chris even though there were a few differences. From the way of he was sitting, Mike figured that he was maybe an inch or an inch and a half shorter than Chris had been. The fox had Chris’ exact same build, though Chris would never have allowed himself to get chubby. The tod was a slightly different shade of red than Chris. Chris was colored more like a Red Delicious Apple, this tod was more colored like a cocktail cherry. Even though the colors were different, Chris and the fox that Mike was staring at had an eerily similar fur pattern to them.

He couldn’t seem to say anything as the tod pulled out a phone to check the time. “He’s late,” the vulpine said as he put it down on the table. The vixen took another bite of pot pie, “Don’t get down, Kody. I’m sure th’train’s jist runnin’ late’gain.”

“Kody,” Mike blurted out.

 Kody and Jo almost jumped out of their fur as they heard someone say Kody’s name. Slowly, the two turned their heads to look at Mike Rowan who was staring at them like he’d seen a specter. The three foxes blinked at one another for a few seconds before Kody scooted over in the booth, making room for him.

Mike was just about to sit next to Kody when Jo intervened by sliding out of her seat. He could see that she was being protective of her son, as any mother would. The tod slid into where the vixen had been sitting, a hand reaching across the table towards Kody, “It’s… nice to meet you, Kody. I’m sorry to have kept you waiting.”

Slowly Kody reached out and took his hand, “It’s nice to meet you too. Mr. Rowan.”

“Please, call me Mike,” he replied, “I’m really here to deliver some good news.”

Kody looked at him. “You already did when you told me they would throw out her case.”

“They did,” Mike said as he looked at Kody, right before Travis slithered up to take the demolished pot pie away. “Can I get you anything,” he asked the three foxes.

The older fox turned to look at the ferret for a brief second, “Could I get what they had?”

“Sure, but that’s a lot of pie for just one fox. Not even Gideon can finish one by himself.”

“You have any smaller ones?”

“Yup. You want anything to drink with that?”

“Just some tea, please.”

“Sweet or unsweet?”

“Sweet, I guess.”

“I’ll bring it right out.”

The ferret slithered away and Mike turned his attention to Kody and Jo, “Your father’s ex-wife’s case was completely dismissed by the Judge yesterday afternoon. From what I understand, her lawyers received a harsh dressing down for even taking the case because of the details she omitted.”

Kody nodded as he took a sip of his lemonade, “I figured that would happen, but you didn’t travel all the way from Zootopia to give me news you could have sent me on the phone.”

Mike blinked a few times. Kody looked at him, “What can you tell me about my father?”

“I didn’t know Johan,” the tod responded as his mini pot pie and sweet tea were placed in front of him.

The cherry fox shook his head, “No, I mean your brother, Chris.”

Mike blinked a few times, not touching his food or drink. For some reason, he had forgotten that the internet existed in the near fourty-eight hours since the last time they spoke. There was only one firm with Rowan in the name in the entire city, and it was easy to look up the Zootopia Gazette’s on-line archives for Chris’ obituary. There was a long pause as Mike looked down at the steamy pot pie and the cool glass of sweet tea in front of him, a droplet of condensation starting to run down the side of the glass. “My brother… your father… was an ass.”

Jo was surprised, and yet also relieved at Mike’s response. Hearing it from the tod made her feel better. Kody just nodded, “That’s what my mother told me.”

Mike looked up at his nephew as he let out a sigh, “She’s right, but mom and dad never saw him for what he was. Hell, they still don’t see him for what he really was, and it’s been almost thirty years.”

Kody nodded as his uncle looked him up and down, “You know, you look a lot like your father. A little lighter red, but you do look like him.”

The younger tod just kept nodding, “But what can you tell me about him?”

Mike leaned back as he picked up a fork and started to poke at the pot pie, “He was an alpha male. He liked being in charge. He was always a bit bigger than me, slightly taller, but he didn’t get his nickname of ‘Little Wolf’ until High School, when he hit his growth spurt and decided to pick a fight with a wolf Senior Classmammal.”

Kody blinked, “What happened?”

“Chris got suspended for a week, but the wolves accepted him into the pack,” the older tod replied as he finally scooped a portion of the pot pie up and into his mouth. Mike couldn’t help but let out a long churr as the flaky crust, vegetables, and broth seemed to melt into his mouth. “Ohh…wow… this…  this is really good,” he said with a shudder.

Josephine smiled, “Glad ye likes it. Kody’s cousin, Gideon, makes’em.” Mike slowly turned his head to see another tod that looked a little like Kody waving at them from behind the register. Everyone at the table waved back before Mike began to munch on the pot pie.

“Do… do your parents know about… my mom? Or me,” Kody asked softly as he leaned in over the table. Mike gulped down another bite before taking a long swig of his sweat tea, “Your grandparents don’t know about Josephine or what happened. Your grandfather does know about you, though not in the way you’re hoping.”

Josephine let out a chuff, “Whatcha mean b’that?”

Mike put the glass down, “My dad only knows Kody as Raynard Schaiferhund, Johan and Brenda Schaferhund’s heir. He doesn’t know that he’s Chris’ son. He’s just a client’s son.”

Jo snorted, “He never paid attention to what his son was doing?”

The older tod leaned back and crossed his arms, “He didn’t, and neither did Kody’s grandmother. They were too busy, and Chris was always the model of upper middle class society when they were around. For all his bragging, he was always tight lipped around them. I tried to tell them the truth lots of times, but they won’t listen. I’m pretty sure they stopped listening to me a long time ago.”

There was another long silence as the three foxes looked at each other. Kody chewed his lower lip as he began to lean back into the chair. Mike let out a sigh as he slowly reached for his tea. “So… uhm… Kody,” he started to ask as he looked at his nephew, “What do you do for a living exactly?” He needed to lighten the overall mood and learn more about the younger fox.

Kody smiled as he chuckled, “I’m a pilot. I’m sorry I was a little rough with you when you called me on Thursday. I’d just gotten done with a flight and I was ready to get out of my g-suit.”

“G-Suit,” Mike’s ears and eyebrows quirked in curiosity, “You mean you’re a fighter pilot? Like those guys in that one movie?”

The younger man laughed as he shook his head, “No. I’m not like those guys in Top Gun. I fly bombers.”

“And you have to wear a g-suit for that,” his uncle asked. The only movie he’d ever seen with bomber pilots had been Doctor Strangelove and a few of the ones made about the Great War, so he wasn’t sure if his reference point was dated.

“Well, the one I fly, I have to. I fly the Canberra,” he replied as he started to lean forward a little.

“Canberra,” Mike said, trying to remember anything he could about the aircraft, but nothing was popping out.

“Yeah, it’s an older plane. They started out as tactical bombers, but now they’re mostly used for weather reconnaissance,” Kody didn’t, actually couldn’t, talk too much about what his real mission was in the aircraft, but he did know that a simple internet search would bring up the ones used down at the Zootopian Aeronautics and Space Administration. A few of the previous model Canberras had been scooped up by them to study weather, and the naked observer wouldn’t be able to distinguish the H model from the F model, so he usually used weather as his cover story.

“So you’re a storm chaser,” Mike asked.

“Something like that, yes.”

“I don’t think there’s ever been a pilot in the family before.”

Jo giggled, “We ain’t never had one in our famly neither.”

Mike nodded, “You must be very proud of your son.”

“Ah sure am! M’lil kit dun well fer hisself,” the vixen smiled as she put an arm around her son, giving him a one armed hug.

Mike chuckled, “His grandfather might be disappointed he’s not a lawyer.”

Kody scoffed, “Why would I want to be a lawyer? I love my job.”

The older tod gave his nephew an envious smile. He’d wanted to say that for years, he mused as he looked down at his watch, “I hate to cut this short, but if I leave now, I can catch the earlier train back to Zootopia.”

The younger fox nodded, “I understand.” There was a slight pause as he went through his mind, searching for one last question to ask before he found it. He’d spotted the wedding ring on the older tod’s hand, so he might as well ask, “Do I have any cousins on your side of the family?”

“Yes, actually. Victoria and Alexis, they’re my daughters. Your grandfather and grandmother were only children, so that’s about the extent of the extended family,” Mike replied. He figured Kody might ask since he was still learning more and more about the two families he belonged to.

The younger fox seemed to let out a sigh of relief, “Phew. Sorry, Uncle Mike, but I’m glad. My adopted dad had a HUGE family since he was a Shepherd. I had a hard time keeping track of them all. It kinda felt like every other day he’d tell me about a cousin that I had that I never remembered but met when I was a baby or a little kit.”

The older tod and vixen chuckled softly, which only made Kody chuckle more. “What? I’m serious? My adopted father had four brothers and two sisters, all of whom had at pups of their own. Honestly, it had to make a flow chart for it.”

“Well, you won’t have that problem anymore, Kody. It’s just your grandparents, me, my wife, and my two daughters,” Mike said with a warm laugh as he started to slide out of the booth, but not before reaching his hand out to shake Kody’s, “It was nice to meet you, Kody. I’m honestly glad we did this.”

Kody nodded, “It was nice to meet you too, Uncle Mike.”

Uncle and Nephew shook hands for a few seconds before Mike looked over at Josephine, “And it was nice seeing you again, Jo.”

“Whatcha mean, again,” the vixen asked curious. Mike chuckled, “You don’t remember?”

She shook her head as the tod chuckled, “Professor MacDuck’s Freshman English?”

Josephine tried to concentrate on the memory, remembering the class until he finally popped into her head, “I ‘memberya now! Ya were that cute lookin’ tod who sat in th’front row.”

Mike chuckled softly, a little embarrassed by her calling him cute. “Yeah, that was me,” he said as he scratched the back of his head, “You… uhm… thought I was cute?”

Jo giggled, “Course I did. All th’vixens I talked t’said yew was, ‘specially Helen Zlatan.”

The tod chuckled, “Good, cause I married Helena Zlatan.”

The vixen and the tod laughed as the youngest one at the table looked a little confused. Jo gave her son a pat on the back, “It wuz b’fore yer time, shoog.”

Mike just gave a little chuff as he slipped out of the booth. “We’ll have to do this again sometime,” he said as he gave them one last smile before turning about to head out the door.

“Yeah,” Kody said softly, “We should.”

\f

Chapter 8: Back Home

Helen hadn’t expected Mike to get home so early. She’d spent most of the day sitting on the couch watching television, popping popcorn into her muzzle as she enjoyed a Neville Longbottom movie marathon, so when the door had opened and her husband yelled out, “I’m home early,” she’d nearly leaped right out of her fur. Though her initial fright easily melted into a more flirty mood. She rarely got her husband home during the day, and usually he was off doing some project on weekends or spending hours locked in his “cave” working on a model or two. She felt like she needed to act, and she did.

The vixen had rolled off the couch after putting the popcorn down to grab her tod and pull him in for a very spicy kiss that took Mike off guard at first only for him to start to melt against her. “Welcome home, honey,” Helen said in a warm chur, her fingers still gripping his jacket tightly while her tail flicked and flitted about behind her.

Mike smirked as he dropped his briefcase to grip his wife by the hips, pulling her in nice and tight. “Can I have my dessert early,” he said as his nose poked hers.

“Oh, we’re DEFINITELY having dessert now,” she quipped back to him before giving him a long, deep kiss.

Several hours later, the two foxes were laying by each other in bed, Helen’s head resting against Mike’s chest as the two idly watched the Neville Longbottom movie marathon. “So, what’s he like,” the vixen queried as they kept watching the flashing images on the screen.

“Hmm? Oh. You mean Kody? He’s a good kit,” he said as he gently rubbed his wife’s shoulder, “Not like his dad at all, which, was refreshing.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah. Smart too. I think he knew who I was before I did,” Mike let out a sigh, “He kinda looks like Chris too.”

Helen giggled as she rolled over onto her belly beside her husband, the TV completely forgotten. “So he’s all muscular and dreamy, like your big brother,” she said with at tease that only made Mike laugh.

“No. They’ve got the same build, but Kody’s more husky than Chris was,” he replied only for his wife to giggle, “So he has a cute little curly tail?”

“What,” the tod said in confusion until he realized his word choice, “No. Not like that. I meant… I mean… he’s more tubby than Chris was.”

“Ohhhhh,” his wife said in a slightly mocking tone as she laughed, “Did you find out what he does for a living?”

“I did, actually. He’s a fi… er… bomber pilot in the Air Force,” he said. His wife smirked, “Oh, well, we should probably keep him far away from Victoria and Alexis. My sister dated one after college. She said he would hit on everything that was female and had two legs.”

Mike rolled his eyes and shook his head, “No. That was Chris, and he hit on anything with two legs. Besides, I doubt Kody would go after his cousins. That’s just… bleh.” The tod stuck his tongue out at the mere thought.

“I’m just kidding, honey. I’m sure Kody’s a nice tod that would never go after his cousins,” Helen paused before she started to think, “Would you like to invite him over? Maybe see if your father would like to meet his long-lost nephew?”

Mike let out a sigh. He was going to have to break the news to his father about Kody, but he wasn’t sure exactly how to do it. Richard hadn’t been to see his son at his home since his grandkits graduated High School, even though Mike had invited him over many times. The only way this was going to work was if they went out for dinner. This was going to get very expensive very fast.

\f

Chapter 9: Richard Rowan

Richard was just about to sit down in front of his most famous client, Scrooge Eclipser, at Gordon Ramsey’s 5 Star Restaurant in the famous Oasis Hotel in Sahara Square when his cell phone rang. There were only three times when Richard ever was furious; the first happened when he was a kit and he was refused a lollipop. The second was when he had been denied into Hartbeest because he was a fox. The final time was this.

The todd, who was nearing his seventieth year, had an inherent desire to murder whomever was occupying the receiving end of the line, though he easily realized that making any kind of treacherous threat could drag his slowly greying muzzle into the courts of justice, answered with a renewed temperament. “Hello.”

“Dad,” the voice said, “I was wondering… wondering if you’re available for dinner soon.”

“Of course I’m available for dinner, Michael,” the tod answered, “the more important question is whether your mother is.”

There was a long sigh, “Dad, I know she’s busy, but, please, for me, make some dinner reservations for… uhm… six?”

“Six? Why on God’s green earth would I make reservations for six,” he snarled, even as Scrooge and Darlene Eclipsers sat down in front of him. “Dad, don’t pull this shit on me. We barely see one another as it is, just… just make some good promises. Please,” the voice on the other line stated.

“I know we don’t spend much time together,” Richard said, “That’s mostly because we both are adults and both have lives.”

“Dad. Can you make the reservation for next week? Saturday or Sunday?”

“Michael,” Richard said softly into the transmitter as he tried to keep his much wealthier clients from hearing, “Peter could get me a reservation for our entire family if I wanted. What are you asking for?”

Mike practically groaned and snarled at the same time, a grrnarl almost. “For the love of God, dad. All I want is for me, your daughter-in-law, a client, and his MOTHER to have dinner with us next weekend because the client has been a with us for thirty years AND his only interaction has been with Mousekewitz.”

The fox’s face seemed to light up as if a half a hundred candles had been stuck right to his fur. “Client! Mousekewitz! Money! Next Saturday Night. The Oasis Hotel and Casino. Eight o’clock. My treat.”

Mike had half expected his father to keep rambling, but then again, the old todd smelled the scent of money and ran at it. He was certainly a good penny pincher, though not a very good father. Something Mike mused as his wife began to nuzzle against his chest, “You’re right. As soon as I mentioned Mousekewitz, he changed his attitude.”

Helen giggled as she kissed her husband on the chest, “Mmm… what can I say? Your father has a one track mind. I figured him out about 2 hours after I met him.”

Mike leaned in to kiss the top of her head, “Are you sure you’ve never been married to Richard or one of his clients?”

Helen started off with, “Well…,” but then immediately kissed her husband square on the lips. “Just his son,” she murred deeply as she lay herself upon her husband.

\fChapter 10: Family Matters

Kody let out a long sigh as he stretched out on the couch, his head in his mother’s lap while his legs dangled a little over one of the arms. The vixen was gently stroking over the top of his head, her own tail flopped over his belly. “What did you think about Uncle Mike,” he churred as he rested against his mother. The older fox giggled softly, “H’seems a’right. Much bedder th’n’s both’r.”

Kody nodded as he let out another sigh, “Yeah.”

Jo giggled as she gave her son’s chest a gentle scratch, “Ya thinkin’ bout yer grandsire?”

The tod nodded, “Yeah.”

“Well, my daddy’n’mama wud be s’proud’aya if they wus here. I’m sure Chris’ daddy’n’mama w’ll be too,” She replied before giving his chest another scratch that only made her son let out a warm murr. The old vixen giggled before giving one pec a playful tap, “I’m sure y’ll get’long wid’m like peas’n’carrots.”

Kody chuckled, “I’m sure I will.” He leaned up to give his mother a peck on the underside of her long muzzle before he rolled over onto his side.

The two watched another movie as they sat in relative silence, the mother still stroking over her son’s head.

Richard slowly walked into his apartment from the meeting with the Eclipsers. It had gone well enough. The old lion had done nothing but talk about how the city and the al-Daube’s were screwing him and his business, and how he was going to run for Mayor in the next election. Richard wasn’t interested at all in the conversation, but it was something he could write off as a business expense since the lion had talked all night about the real estate he owned around Zootopia.

“I will make sure that goat fucker won’t be able to expand outside of Sahara Square,” the lion had roared out. The feline’s words had made Richard’s imagination run a bit wild as he said, “I wonder what it would be like.”

“What what would be like,” the lion responded with a very confused look on his muzzle. “To fuck a goat,” the fox said completely non-chalantly.

Scrooge and his jaguar wife, Darlene, looked at the fox with amazement, the two of them completely stunned by what Richard had just said. The fox didn’t really pay any attention to it as he kept eating. The whole irony of Scrooge’s rant about how he hated Ali al-Daube, one of the four Emirs that made up the United Mammal Emirates, while sitting in one of the restaurants in the hotel and casino that the Emir owned was not lost on the fox. In fact, it made him chuckle, only making the Eclipsers more nervous.

“You brought the subject up,” Richard said between bites, “It was only natural that I look at further discussing the issue. Though, you are wrong about one thing. Ali doesn’t fuck goats, you’re thinking of his son, Shakir. Though, last time I checked, I don’t think gazelles are considered goats. I’ll have to google it when I get home.”

The lion and jaguar pair gave each other nervous looks, each one wondering if they should leave and find another law firm. The fox just waved his hand, “But I digress. I think you might have a good shot at the mayoral office, though, you’ve got stiff competition. I hear Shakir al-Daube might even run for it.”

The lion snorted, “Hyena’s are fit to run anything. He’ll just drive it right into the ground.”

Richard looked around at the five star restaurant filled with hungry mammals, “It seems reality is quite intent on challenging your last statement.”

Scrooge snarled, “Don’t you remember what they did in Kitara? Whole damn country fell apart into Civil War.”

“You mean the one ruled by lion kings that fell apart because the king’s brother murdered him and took over, and attempted to create a socialist utopia by nationalizing all the land and businesses before killing holy mammals causing a mass exodus? And when the nephew showed back up, he tried to blame the whole thing on the hyena population, the same population that ended up killing him in the street on his way to the airport to escape? That one,” Richard retorted, “It seems to me that you’ve got a lion-centric view of history. If it wasn’t for those hyenas, the nephew would have never gotten back into power.”

Scrooge growled as his wife picked up her purse. “We’re leaving,” the lion said with a snarl, but Richard looked at him, “And I can assume you no longer wish to do business with me?”

“You’re damn right,” Scrooge replied.

“That is too bad. I was looking at making a sizeable donation to your campaign, but it looks like that money will be going to Shakir instead.”

The lion blinked, “How much are we talking?”

“Oh, I was going to donate around say two million dollars.”

It wasn’t a bad sum, and the lion never refused money, “Fine. I’ll still do business with you.”

“Excellent! Are you going to stay for dessert? I hear the chocolate cake is amazing.”

“No,” Scrooge said as he took his wife’s hand, “We’re still leaving.”

“Suit yourself. It just means more for me.”

That’s how the business meeting had ended, with Richard stuck with the very pricy bill, but he was going to claim it as a business expense on his tax return. What was $745.28 including tip between friends?

The memory of that slowly began to fade as he looked around the house. He noted his wife was not present in the living room, rather, she was laying face down in bed and sounding like she was clear cutting an acre of rainforest. Richard hadn’t married Ruby for the noises she made while sleeping though, he married her because she balanced him out, well, that and he’d managed to put Chris inside her on their third date.

The tod chuckled as he stripped down before crawling into bed with her, something that neither of them had gotten to do much of after they’d entered into their respective career fields. It was a bit of a miracle that they’d managed to produce a second kit at all with how little procreation time they’d shared.

There had been a time in the early days of their marriage when Richard had attempted to convince Ruby to be a stay at home mother, but she would have none of it. She’d gone into heavy debt to get her medical degree and by god she was going to use it, something that ultimately boiled down to them rarely sleeping in the same bed with each other at the same time.

Richard was just about to see if he could get some special time with his wife, when the vixen reached her hand up to grip his muzzle. “Not tonight,” she said briskly before letting go. The tod thought about protesting, but the clear cutting sound started anew. Growling, Richard rolled over and started to think about what it would be like to fuck a goat.

\f

Chapter 11: Cousins

It had become a bit of a tradition for Victoria and her younger sister, Alexis, to do a group call with their parents on Sundays. It was usually a fun time as they were all able to catch up with each other quickly. Victoria had been the first to call into the group chat, her parents image popping in on the screen.

“Hey dad! Hey mom,” Victoria said to the screen with a smile. The vixen was a nice shade of dark orange, a few tones lighter than her father, but from her proportions, she resembled a younger version of her mother though Victoria was a few inches shorter. She could see her parents smile as they responded with, “Tori! It’s good to see you!”

Even though her name was Victoria, the vixen had started calling herself “Tori” in high school since it was quicker to say. The younger red fox smiled, “How’ve you been?”

Her mother shrugged her shoulders as she sat beside her husband. “Oh, we can’t complain,” she churred sweetly, but Mike chuckled, “I’ve been very busy.”

“How’d the…” Tori started to ask when Alexis popped in. Alexis was almost a clone of her mom, sharing the silver and black markings, though she was also just an inch or two shorter. For being the younger sister, she was actually an inch taller than Tori. The younger silver fox grinned, “Hey!”

Mike and Helen smiled at their two daughters on the computer screen. “Alexis! Happy you could join in,” Mike said as he looked between his daughters, “You’re mother and I have been fine, though I’ve been very busy lately.”

“I was just about to ask about that Last Will and Testament case,” Tori said before her father injected, “Oh yes. I have some interesting news about that.”

The young vixens’ ears popped up, “Oh?”

“Yes, it’s been thrown out of court, but there’s more to it. It seems the defendant,” their sire paused for a second, “Do you remember your Uncle Chris?”

Alexis nodded, “Kinda?”

“Didn’t Uncle Chris die before we were born,” Tori asked.

“He did, but you remember when you were in high school and I told you to be careful around tods?”

The two vixens nodded. “You also told us to never forget about taking our birth control,” Tori replied.

“Not until we were ready to have kits,” her sister interjected.

“Well. Uncle Chris was the reason why,” their sire said as he looked between them, “Grandpa and Grandma don’t like to admit it, but Chris had a bit of a reputation for… getting around with girls.”

“Ohhhh,” the two vixens said in surprise. Now his advice made sense. They knew he didn’t like to talk about Uncle Chris much, so hearing their father bring him up meant they were about to learn something new.

“What does Uncle Chris have to do with your case,” Alexis curiously inquired. Her father let out a sigh.

 “Well, your Uncle Chris… had,” the tod paused for a second, realizing that, while he was talking to his little girls, they weren’t “little girls” anymore, they were women in their mid-twenties, “Chris got a vixen pregnant during a one night stand, and when she wouldn’t abort the child, he refused to marry her.”

Tori and Alexis stared at their father. They had never heard this story, then again, why would their father ever tell it? They knew Uncle Chris was a touchy subject, but they were just now realizing how touchy it was. “What… what happened,” Tori slowly asked.

Mike looked at his girls, “Well, the last time we saw her pregnant was the end of the semester. Everyone figured she was going to drop out and go home, but when Fall Semester started, she was back. She wouldn’t answer anyone’s questions about what happened, so everyone just assumed it was a miscarriage.”

“Did she,” Alexis asked before adding, “Have a miscarriage I mean.”

Their father shook his head, “No. She put him up for adoption.”

There was a long pause as everyone just stared at each other until Alexis asked, “Dad. What are you trying to say exactly? What does this have to do with that case you were telling us about?”

“The defendant was… er… is your cousin,” the older tod finally blurted out. The two vixens blinked several times before Tori spoke, “How long have you known about this? Why haven’t we ever met him?”

Mike let out a long sigh, “I didn’t know until yesterday. I called him on Thursday to tell him about the case being thrown out, but I wasn’t sure if he really was Uncle Chris’ son until yesterday when I met him in person.”

Alexis, who was a few years younger than her sister, decided to ask, “Well, what does he look like?”

“He looks a lot like his father,” he replied, but then realized that they never met Chris so that wasn’t a good reference point. Helen chuckled as she pushed away from her husband, disappearing off screen for a few seconds before returning with a family photo of college age Mike standing next to his older brother. Chris wore a huge smile, though his younger brother was scowling a little bit.

“Like the one on the right,” the silver vixen said, holding the picture up to the camera.

Tori nodded but Alexis let out a giggle, “He’s kinda cute.”

Their father chuffed, “Well, not exactly like him. He’s a bit heavier than his father, but they look very similar.”

“Can we meet him,” Tori inquired, “It’s only fair since you got to meet him that we do.”

“I haven’t told him about this, but Grandpa Rick wants to meet him for dinner,” their father replied only to say, “Don’t… don’t tell Grandpa Rick about this though, I… uhm… haven’t told him that his client is actually his grandtod.”

Tori dragged her paw over her breasts in an ex, “Cross my heart.”

Alexis giggled softly, “I won’t tell, but what’s his name?”

“Kody Grey. He’s a fi… er… bomber pilot,” their sire replied, “I never asked what his mother does for a living, but they’ll be in town on Saturday. I can see if they can come earlier if you’d like to meet them.”

“YES,” the younger sister said with a smile, though Tori was more collected, “Sure.”

“All right. I’ll send you a text with a time,” Mike said with a smile.

\f

Chapter 12: Jo and RJ

Kody Grey was sitting behind a desk typing out an email when his cellphone buzzed, a text message showing up on the screen. “Kody. Rick wants to meet you and your mom Saturday Night,” it read, “Can you guys make it?”

The tod thought about it for a few seconds before typing back, “Sure. Where? When,” before hitting send.

A few minutes later, his phone vibrated again, “Oasis Hotel and Casino. 8:00 pm.” Kody stared at the message. It would mean a very late Saturday night, but on the bright side, he did have a house in Zootopia, the one he’d inherited from his parents. His reply was fairly quick, “Sure.”

Another text message came over the phone not long after he replied. “Could show up early? Cousins and wife want to meet you.”

Kody chuckled, he figured something like that would happen. “Sure. Meet at my parent’s house. 6?”

“6 is fine. See you there,” Mike replied.

Kody slowly put the phone down. He was going to meet his paternal family, though, he was curious to see how his mother would react to meeting them. The tod started to figure out all the logistics of the day trip. It might be best to get to Zootopia Friday night if not mid-Saturday morning. He hadn’t been back to the house in a while, so he’d need the extra time to clean the house and stock the fridge. The fox was actually happy he hadn’t put it on the market.

Kody picked his phone back up, scrolling over to his mother’s contact information and pressing the call button. He’d never called her in the middle of the day during the week, so he was curious to know what she was up to.

Jo rarely talked about her work, not that she didn’t enjoy it. The vixen was very photogenic, though she’d always been surprised that she was able to stay in front of a camera even though she was now in her late fourties.

It had started in college. To make some extra money, she’d started posing for the art department’s drawing classes. That had led to her posing for some of the photography students as well. By the time she’d graduated college, she had a good portfolio to show off.

None the less, she had done some less than savory pictures in her mid-twenties, things she was embarrassed about now, though none of them had been pornographic. Most of her time spent in front of the camera back then had been in skimpy clothing or nude, though because of her pride and what happened with Chris Rowan, she hadn’t allowed herself to engage in sexually graphic photography. If she had, she could have easily made a larger name for herself. She had made a more than decent living, though she had made sure to save everything since her parents taught her to be quite frugal.

Jo could have easily afforded to live in Zootopia, not that she hadn’t when she was more active as a pin-up girl, but she moved back to Bunnyburrow the first chance she’d gotten, using her savings to buy the house she’d lived in for the past twenty years with a check rather than taking out a mortgage. She liked being close to family, and she liked not having to deal with the hustle and bustle of the city. She also liked being able to pick and choose which shoots she would do, mostly due to her age and her reputation within the industry.

Jo was in the midst of hosting a guest, a younger raccoon girl called RJ, when her son called. The vixen was surprised to get a call in the middle of the day during the week, but she was more than happy to talk to her son.

“Hey shoog,” Jo said with a happy smile, “It’s not likeya t’call durin’ th’week.”

“I know mama,” Kody replied with just a light hint of the drawl he was starting form, “But Uncle Mike sent me a message. Apparently, he wants us to go to Zootopia on Saturday to meet his family before meeting with Granddad and Grandma.”

The vixen giggled as she looked up at RJ, the raccoon girl looking a little perplexed. Jo covered the receiver for a second to say, “It’s my boy. Just gimme a minute.”

“Oh, that sounds sweet, sugar fox,” the vixen smiled, “I’d love t’meet’m. Did they say war?”

“Well, we’re meetin’ Uncle Mike and his family over at my adopted parent’s place at six, then going to the Oasis Hotel and Casino for dinner at eight. I was thinking that we could head to Zootopia Friday night or Saturday morning. I… uhm… I haven’t exactly been keeping up with their old house since the accident,” her son replied.

“Well, I think we sh’d go Saturday mornin’. I think the first train leaves a might early, but they’s got one at seven we c’d take.”

“Perfect. I’ll see you Friday night?”

“Of course.”

“All right. I’ll talk to you later, ma.”

Jo giggled a little as her son hung up. He’d slowly started to develop the accent from being around her and the rest of his kin. It was cute in a way, a city boy starting to sound country. The raccoon sitting across from her still looked slightly confused.

Rhapsody Journey Drystan, aka RJ Drystan, had grown up over in Todsglen, a predominantly fox town one county over in Sherwood County. Her parents had been music lovers, so much so that they named her after their favorite song, Volehemian Rhapsody, and their favorite band, Journey. The raccon had always hated her name though, so she had insisted on everyone calling her RJ as soon as she’d been able to form coherent sentences. RJ looked like a fairly typical raccoon, her body mostly grey with black gloves and socks and a black mask.

RJ was only about three or four years younger than Kody, and like Jo, she also had managed to get herself involved in being a photography model, though her tastes had run a bit… different to Jo. She hadn’t engaged in anything pornographic, but the raccoon woman did have a taste for posing in leather. RJ had met Jo early on in her career and had bonded with her tightly, seeing her like the mother figure that she hadn’t gotten a during her tumultuous youth over in Todsglen, primarily due to both parents being engaged in the on and off again logging industry over there.

The raccoon had taken every opportunity to come visit her mentor in Bunnyburrow whenever she had the chance, which had been a great deal since the industry as a whole tended to focus on two major age groups; the 18-25 and then the 35-50 demographics. The two had shared a great deal about one another over their careers, and right now, RJ was more than confused because Jo had never before mentioned her having a son.

“When didja have a kit and why didntcha tell me before,” she asked, feeling hurt. The vixen shook her head as she sighed, “I never liked talkin’ bout it, RJ. I dun gave him up as a kit, then thrity years later, he cum back lookin’ fer me. I’z still tryin’ t’get used t’my boy callin’ me mama, and it’s only been two months since he cum back.”

RJ nodded softly. She’d never been a mother, so she didn’t know what it was like to lose a child and then have them come back, but somewhere deep down, she understood. “I’m sorry, Jo,” she replied, a hand reaching out to gently pat the vixen’s knee, “We’z always been truthful with each other, so I guess I’z just a little confuzzled when you said yer boy wuz callin’.”

Jo put her hand on the younger woman’s, giving her a warm, motherly smile that RJ loved so much, “I know, darlin’. I guess I sh’d tell ya the whole truth.”

After the vixen finished her story, the raccon girl was in a bit of shock. I made sense why she never got into the more lewd aspects and why she’d never gotten married. Jo had her pride, and she was a beautiful woman, but what happened with Chris, well, that would change someone to the core. RJ thought about saying something, but she stayed quiet for a few minutes, digesting all the information her mentor told her.

It wasn’t like RJ hadn’t gone through similar things. Everyone was damaged in their own way. Everyone had their own personal daemons. The raccoon’s had been her father. She could vividly picture the old man coming home smelling like saw dust, Pratt’s Blue Ribbon, and cheap whisky. Her family had lived paycheck to paycheck, though her father had blown most of it on drowning his sorrow because he’d never attended High School so he couldn’t get a better paying job in a town that was becoming more and more urbanized when the mills and logging camps started to fade away.

Her mother had told her that he’d been happy and loving once, but after four children, being unskilled labor, and the dwindling need for large amounts of timber due to an increased reliance on plastics, he’d managed to find himself in a downward spiral that had ended exactly how RJ thought it would.

The raccoon remembered the phone calls, the first one from her mother followed quickly by the County Sheriff. RJ had been eighteen and over at a friend’s house “studying”, which had really been the two raccoons’ secret code for the horizontal mambo. She’d finally gotten to second base with the boar raccoon when her phone went off the first time that night. Her mother had been in tears talking about how her father had come home drunk again, but this time he’d taken his 12-gauge out of the safe to wrap his muzzle around the barrel before pulling the trigger right in front of her.

The Sheriff’s call had been nothing more than a formality. RJ never shed a tear for her father, either because of the shock or because she never cared for him or both, not even during the closed casket funeral. Her three brothers all stayed in town afterwards to help their mother. Neal became a plumber and part time Sheriff’s Deputy, Ross became an electrician, and Gregg worked as an airframe and power plant mechanic at the local airport. RJ, on the other hand, left town the second she graduated High School.

Her soon ex-boyfriend had been trying to become a photographer, so she’d downloaded all the picture’s he’d taken of her off his digital camera and started showing them around to different places until she’d finally managed to get a job at the same place Josephine worked. And the rest, well, the rest was just history.

RJ just stared at Jo for a long minute before finally saying, “Christ. I… Jesus… I… I didn’t know. I’m… I’m so sorry.”

Jo just waved off her words, “Nothin’ t’pologize fer, RJ. Besides, I gots my lil boy back, though, he ain’t s’little nor is he a boy no more.”

There was a bit of a silver lining to everything it seemed. RJ leaned back in her chair, her eyes still fixed on Jo for a few seconds before she caught sight of a photo she hadn’t seen until now. “Is that him,” the sow raccoon asked as she looked at the picture of a tod in very formal military attire. RJ couldn’t help but think how handsome the fox looked in khaki’s, then again, she’d never really thought about tod foxes as handsome before.

“That’s him,” Jo said before reaching over to take hold of the picture, staring at it for a second before handing it over to the raccoon, “One good lookin’ tod, ain’t he?”

“Yeah,” she replied, staring at her mentor’s son, “One good lookin’ tod.” The words felt odd coming out of her mouth, but they were true. He did look great in that uniform, though RJ started to wonder what he’d look like out of it.

“Is he coming to visit soon,” the raccoon asked. The vixen giggled, “He comes home every weekend to spend time with his mama, course, we’s going t’Z’topia this weekend t’visit his daddy’s kin.”

RJ looked down at the photo then back up at Jo, “Mind if I stop bye?”

“Not’t all, darlin’.”

\f

Chapter 13: Going Home

Saturday came quickly. Kody had spent Friday Night with his mother, the two waking up early to take the 7:00 am Express train to Zootopia. Kody hadn’t been back to the city since his parent’s funeral a little over a year prior, but Jo had gone in for a shoot around two months prior. The two foxes sat next to one another, idly chatting about what had happened during the week during the hour long ride.

When the train pulled into the station, Jo and Kody were a bit surprised. Neither fox had expected to be greeted by anyone, so when RJ stood there waving at them with a big grin on her face dressed in a red mini-skirt and a crop top, Jo didn’t really know what to say.

“Hey Jo,” the sow raccoon called out before making her way through the throngs of people towards them. “Hey thar RJ,” the vixen replied, her arms opening wide as the two shared a warm embrace, “I didn’t ‘spect ya’d b’here t’meets us.”

RJ giggled softly, “Well, I errd ya say ya’d take th’ seven o’clock, and ya did say I c’d stop bye. I jist thought I’d meets ya ‘ere since I don’t knows th’dress.”

The older woman giggled before looking over at her son, “I figgered we’d jist take a cab.”

Kody shrugged his shoulders as he looked at the two, “Well, I don’t have a car here, s’I had planned on taking a cab.”

RJ giggled and smiled, “Ya’ll save yer money. Jist gimme th’dress an I’ll takes ya there.”

Jo smiled, “Thank ya, RJ.” The vixen let go of the raccoon before it finally hit her, “Oh! RJ! I plum fergot. This is my boy, Kody.”

Kody put out his hand, taking hers for a firm yet gentle handshake, “It’s nice to meet you.” Kody was a bit surprised that his mother had a friend so much younger than her, and it made him a bit curious. But he didn’t mind. RJ was lovely to look at, and he’d never really thought like that about a raccoon before.

The sow raccoon smiled as she looked him up and down, “Yer a might nicer lookin’ in person than in yer photo.” The tod blinked at her words. She’d apparently seen at least one photo of him, probably his official War Department one he’d sent his mother. The fox looked RJ up and down in return, a warm smile crossing his face. “Thank you,” he replied, “You’re a might good lookin’ yerself.”

RJ smirked as she gently let go of his hand. She wondered what it would be like to date a fox, but she thought about saving that thought for later. “Jist faller me. We’ll take m’car. Jist needs th’dress,” she said before turning around and walking way, her hips rolling back and forth.

Kody’s ears perked as his mother giggled softly. “I thinks she likes ya,” she giggled as the two foxes began to follow the raccoon. “Yeah, I think she does,” her son replied, eyes glued on RJ’s back. Jo leaned in to whisper, “Ya likes her too?”

The tod nodded his head as he blushed slightly, “Yeah.” The vixen giggled, “Well, I thinks ya’d be cute t’gether.”

Kody looked over at his mother, “But I don’t know a thing about her.”

“We gots a car ride and all day fer that, sugar fox,” Jo said as they followed RJ out of the station and into the parking garage.

The raccoon’s car was nothing special, it was a small four door, some Nipponese brand that neither fox seemed to pay attention to. Kody had initially wanted to slide into the rear passenger seat, but his mother insisted that he ride shotgun. The tod was glad that the vixen had pushed him into the seat, because after giving RJ the address, the two started chatting.

Most of what they bantered back and forth was small talk. Kody wasn’t surprised to learn that she was a pin-up model, she certainly had the body to be one, but the raccoon amazed him with the knowledge that his mother was one. He hadn’t really expected that. He blinked several times as it sunk in, only making the sow raccoon giggle and his mother blush.

“She’s been a bit of a mentor t’ me,” RJ said softly as she turned down the street, her cellphone announcing that they were only a block away, “Almost like a second mama.”

“She’s more of a mom to me than my adopted mom,” Kody replied as he leaned back in the chair, his arm moving to rest on the elevated center console. The fox inadvertently brushed his arm against her, making the two of them blush slightly. Before he could apologize, the raccoon’s phone announced, “You have arrived at your destination.”

The three mammals turned their head to look out the window. The house wasn’t like ones found in suburbia or out in the farms of Bunnyburrow. It was a small, two and a half story building connected a series of other small two and a half story buildings that ran down the street. It almost reminded Jo of the ones she’d seen in downtown Bunnyburrow, the same kind of building that Gideon’s pastry shop and apartment occupied on Main Street.

The building itself was old, or as the real estate agents had called it, rustic. It was a predominantly red brick and wood construction, built long ago, which meant his parents had managed to get the ten room house for a very low price. With six bedrooms and two baths, his father had hoped to be able to host family visits, but that hadn’t worked out the way he wanted. His brothers and sisters were aging to the point where they rarely travelled any more. His children were busy, and his grandpups had their own lives.

Kody hadn’t seen the place since the funeral, and for it not being kept up for a year, it didn’t look half bad. He had been happy that he’d kept up the payments on the amenities. His parents had had a great deal of money in their savings account, but since he was never there, the bills had been low outside of phone, internet, and TV. Slowly, the two foxes and one raccoon slid out of the car. It was the only downside to the house, it didn’t have a garage, so all parking was on the street.

“Shall we,” the tod asked as he looked between his mother and her friend.

\f

Chapter 14: Casual Banter

The door was still locked and there were no broken windows, but the scene they walked in on was fairly sobering. All of the furniture was still there, but everything was covered in bedsheets, something the tod had done before closing the house up.  The floor and several of the flat surfaces had a layer of dust on them from not being cleaned, and the fridge was completely bare. Kody looked over at his mother and RJ, now happy that there were three of them rather than two, “I think we should be able to get away with some sweeping and dusting.”

He was right, for the most part. The main floor hallway and kitchen had a wood floor, so sweeping it up hadn’t taken long. The longest part of the whole ordeal had been vaccuming the carpeted floors in the other rooms, dusting all the furnature, and cleaning the bathrooms. It took them around two hours to get everything done, though, there wasn’t a sweet reward in the refrigerator for them. Kody had taken a trash bag to it after the funeral, making sure it was completely clean before leaving. The tod apologized to his mother and RJ for that, but he knew where a corner store was where they could get some temporary groceries.

Jo thought about going, but she decided it might be best for her son to spend more time with RJ, so she declined his offer to join him on the trip down the block. The sow raccoon had smiled, walking over to him and taking his hand, “Lead th’way, shoog.”

The fox was right, the store wasn’t very far away, in fact, they’d passed it when they had turned down onto the street the house was on, just about a block down the road. The raccoon held onto Kody’s hand, the two continuing their chatting as their tails flicked about behind them.

“Ya know,” RJ said softly, “I never thought foxes was cute til I met ya. I must say, I like bein’ round ya, Kody.”

The tod blushed a little, giving her hand a squeeze, “I never thought raccoons were cute til I met you, RJ. You… uhm… want to… do this again sometime?”

“What? Clean yer house,” the raccoon giggled as she gave him a little elbow. The fox chuckled, “Naw. I mean… ya know… get together, jist… without my mama around. You’n’me.”

“Kody, are ya askin’ me on a date?”

“I guess I am,” he said with a warm smile. RJ grinned, “Well, I lives here in Z’topia, but I’ve been thinkin’ bout moving over t’Bunnyburrow.”

“Really? Well, you’re a lot closer if you’re there instead of Zootopia.”

“Though, I could move to Mammoth River,” she said with a soft smile, “If I had a reason to.”

The fox’s ears perked up as he grinned, “Well, you’re welcome to come visit me any time you want.” Slowly Kody leaned in to whisper, “Even… spend the night at my place.”

The raccoon smirked as she gave his hips a bump, “It’s a nice offer. Though, I was wondering if ya’d like to get together after meetin’ yer grandpa.”

“I don’t see why not. You could even spend the night there if you want. We’ve got six bedrooms.”

“Oh, I think I know which one I’ll be staying in,” RJ said with slightly lusty glimmer in her eyes that only made the tod grin, “I’ll need your number to let you know when we’re getting back.”

“Ya c’n give it t’me after we get some groceries,” she replied before leaning in, “Don’t ferget some p’tection.”

Kody felt his tail droop over RJ’s, lightly brushing against it, “I won’t.” He leaned in to give her a peck on the cheek before they stopped at the corner store.

The trip took around thirty minutes, including the walk to and from the store. The jackal behind the counter didn’t seem to care as RJ and Kody walked in and grabbed the barest of necessities; beer, wine, lemonade, soft drinks, coffee, sugar, creamer, chips, salsa, and cheese dip. Hidden amongst those items were a box of condoms and a tube of personal lubricant. The jackal behind the counter didn’t seem to break a sweat nor acknowledge the contents, just content to do his job with no small talk whatsoever.

After running his debit card, the jackal bid them, “Thank you. Come again.” It wasn’t like they would be doing that anytime soon, but the sentiment wasn’t exactly joyous, more said as though he were a robot reciting preprogrammed words. It didn’t really matter to RJ and Kody one bit as they made their way out and back down the street towards his house.

\f

Chapter 15: RJ and Kody

RJ and Kody smiled as they walked into the house to put the groceries down on the counter in front of the tod’s mother. “Well, that was fast,” Jo replied with a smile before opening the fridge. Kody tried to reach in to get the condoms and lube, but his mother found them first. The vixen giggling as she raised an eyebrow at the raccoon and tod, “Ya’ll plannin’ on sum fun t’night?”

Her son reached a hand behind his head, scratching himself as he looked embarrassed. RJ just giggled softly as Jo smiled, “Well, I ain’t gonna keep ya from yer fun.” Kody blinked a few times as he started to drink in what his mother was telling him. “Go on. I c’n handle putting up groceries,” the vixen said softly.

The tod and the sow looked at one another for a brief second before they snatched up the box of condoms and tubes of lubricant and bolting up the stairs. Jo couldn’t help but laugh warmly, watching their tails flick behind them, “I figgered they’d hit it off, specially by the way they enjoyed talking to one another.”

Kody and RJ didn’t stop until they were in the upstairs hall, the two pausing to look at one another before the five rooms in front of them. It was a good thing that they had all been converted into bedrooms save for the one bathroom. The tod looked confused, trying to pick a bedroom, but the sow grabbed his hand and made the choice, dragging him into one of them before slamming the door.

The door had barely closed when the two started to make out, lips smacking together as his hands reached out to rub over chests and sides. Kody’s paws slid down to RJ’s rump, slipping under her mini-skirt to give her cheeks a grope while her own paws dove under his shirt to rub over his chest. They finally broke the kiss, chests rising and falling before the two broke away from each other. Their hands moved quickly, pulling their tops off before quickly working off their pants and underwear to stand before each other completely nude. They stared at each other, drinking in each other’s forms and colors before moving back together, arms wrapping around one another as they began to kiss deeper than before.

The raccoon and tod tongues danced a lewd dance with one another as hands began to slide over chests and over spines, a scent of arousal filling the air. They broke the kiss one more time, RJ smiling. “Yer pokin’ me,” she said softly, as Kody blushed, “H… hard not to.” The sow murred as she kissed his chest, “I ain’t c’mplainin’. It feels nice, course, it’s gonna feel better in a minute.”

The tod blinked for a second, but then watched as she reached paw down to warmly grope over his testicles, rolling them against her paw pad before sliding down onto her knees in front of him. The raccoon smiled before opening her jaws to wrap her lips around the fox’s length, making him let out a long, gasping moan.

RJ closed her eyes as she began to bob her head up and down Kody’s member, lips sealing themselves around the pulsing, throbbing mass. He was much bigger than any boar raccoon she’d ever had, very different tasting as well, but she was enjoying it. She could tell he was too by the way his hand had moved to the top of her head to warmly scratch between her ears and the heavy moans coming from his lips.

Kody gulped a few times as he throbbed in her muzzle, trying to keep himself as hard as he could, but oral sex rarely brought him to orgasm. His mind was too focused on what would happen next, feeling himself buried inside her. “R…. R… RJ…. I…. God damn. I want…. I want you,” he quivered as he gulped. The raccoon slowed her slurping, her lips leaving his member with a cute little plop, “I wants ya too.”

RJ smiled as she waddled backwards on her knees for a few steps before sliding onto her hands and knees, crawling around and raising her tail up so the fox could get a good look at her supple pink lips. Kody couldn’t keep himself from falling down onto all fours, crawling after her, letting out a playful growl as her tail brushed over his cheeks. Strong hands reached out to grab her by the hips, dragging her back towards him. The experience made the sow raccoon giggle as she looked over her shoulder, “I jist luv it when a man gets all domnint on me.”

Kody gulped deeply as her rump pressed against his hips, his member slipping between her pert round cheeks. He could feel the heat of her sex against his groin as his tip lightly poked against her backdoor. The raccoon giggled softly, “Mmm… yer a kinky fox, ain’t chat.” The tod blushed. He wasn’t thinking of her back door, but he was certainly in good position, “I… uhm… I…”

“It’s all right, shoog. I likes kinky,” she said with a wink as she started to grind her backside into his groin. The fox groaned hotly as he started to grind harder against her. She wanted him and he wanted her, and he was half attempted to give it to her right there when he remembered the box of condoms and what happened to his mother. “L… let… let me get a… condom first,” Kody stuttered as he slowly forced himself away from her to rip open the box to pull out a small foil package.

The tod ripped open the container, his chest heaving up and down as he worked the silicon sleeve over his engorged length until it was down all the way to the base. The fox had been so focused on trying to make sure he and RJ were protected that he hadn’t noticed the raccoon climbing onto the top of the bed, her legs spread wide as she slowly ran her finger between her thighs. “K… Kody,” the raccoon moaned out softly as she slid her finger into her sex, “h…. have ya ever… h… had a… kinky girl b’fore?”

Kody blinked trying to remember his previous girlfriends, but all of them had been rather vanilla. The guys he’d run into had usually been the kinky ones, but he’d never dated any of them. “N… no,” he replied as he stood back up, his member still hard as granite as he made his way over to the bed. RJ blushed deeply, “Ya know, us raccoons… we can get… really kinky.”

“What do you mean?”

The sow blushed deeper as her hands moved up to rub over his chest. “Ohh… great fox,” RJ cooed out, “Please do with me as you wish, master.”

Kody’s eyes just about popped out of his head from her words, but what she said certainly hadn’t killed his desire for her. “You mean you’re into…”

The raccoon nodded, “I’m a sub.”

The tod really felt like he HAD died and gone to heaven. RJ was submitting to him, and Kody had an inkling of what that all meant, but he wanted to know a bit more, “So you like…”

“Being tied up. Blindfolded. Giving up control.”

“So… you want me to…”

“Take control, master.”

Her last sentence sent Kody right over the edge. His hands moved to caress her cheek as he leaned in to kiss her deeply, his body sliding atop hers as he took control of the situation. Strong arms wrapped around her as he fell upon the raccoon, his length slipping into RJ’s body in a single thrust that made her moan out and gasp, “Yes, master! I’m here for your pleasure!”

Kody had never had a girl like this before, and it was turning him on more and more by the minute as his hips pumped back and forth. His arms held onto her tightly as his nostrils blasted fiery breath across her neck. All RJ did was hold on for the ride, loving every second of it as she was pressed tightly into the bed.

To say it had been a while for Kody was a bit of an understatement. The fox had found himself going for long periods of time without sexual interaction. He’d already been so enthralled with her when it had just been kissing that hearing her call him master and giving herself over to him didn’t make him last much longer than about seven or eight thrusts. With a long gasping moan, his entire body shuddered as he started to fire his seed into the condom, filling it full and then some.

RJ was a tad disappointed at the first go, but then again, she wasn’t surprised. By the way he’d warmed up to her, she could tell he hadn’t found a partner in a while, then again, she hadn’t either. Not that she didn’t get guys hitting on her, but the raccoon was very choosy. Why shouldn’t she be? She may be a submissive, but there were limits. She’d managed to find guys who took advantage of her submissiveness, using it as ground to abuse her with a paddle or a riding crop and things she was not keen on enjoying.  Even though their first time hadn’t lasted long, she had enjoyed it, enjoyed the feel of him atop her, the feel of him holding onto her tightly, the feel of him inside her. “Ohh…. Master,” RJ cooed sweetly as her hands moved to gently caress over the scruff of his neck.

Kody was a little embarrassed that he hadn’t lasted long, his face flush as his cheeks tinted a darker red. “I.. I’m,” he was about to apologize when RJ stopped him with another long kiss, though, this time much deeper, something that made the tod blink a few times before melting into it.

They did it three more times that afternoon; first with her sitting upon his lap, his hands upon her breasts as her hips rose and fell upon his, the bed squeaking and creaking. The second time in the more traditional style, the raccoon bent over as the fox pressed his chest to her back, muzzle kissing and nipping over her cheek and shoulder. The third and final time that afternoon was on her belly, her tod atop her, kissing the back of her neck and holding her tightly as he pressed her into the bed. When the final time was over, the raccoon let out a cooing moan of, “Ohh… master,” for which her fox gave her a warm kiss on the cheek.

Kody slowly pulled out of RJ, groaning hotly before rolling over onto his back beside her. The sow groaned softly as she crawled onto him, her head resting on his chest while her fingers lightly began to run through his fur, travelling up and down the happy trail to brush over his still wrapped up member. “Mm… master,” she said softly, giving one pec a gentle smooch, “Ya were th’best master I’ve had in a long spell.”

The tod blushed softly as he gave the top of her head a warm kiss while one hand stroked over the raccoon’s back. “T… thank you,” he said softly while RJ giggled, “I c’n tell ya’njoyed it.”

The fox blushed, “Did… did you?”

RJ leaned up to give him a smooch on the cheek, “Course I did, master.” Kody blushed hotly when she called him that, something that only made the raccoon smile more and more. “Ya likes that, don’tcha, master,” she asked again as her hand lightly brushed over his condom clad length. The tod’s ears flattened against his head, “Y… yeah.”

The sow smiled as she leaned up to whisper, “I’d love to call you that all the time.”

Kody gulped as he slowly rolled over, his hand moving to caress her side, “I… I could get used to that. And this.”

RJ’s hand moved up to caress his cheek, “Second date, shoog?”

The fox leaned in to give her another warm kiss on the lips, “MMm… I’m hopin’ fer more.”

“Me too,” the raccoon cooed softly between their lips smacking together.

Jo giggled to herself as she sat on the couch watching some TV, her ears picking up on the sound of Kody and RJ’s passions. She figured her son and her friend would hit it off, and she wasn’t surprised where it ended. The two seemed to get along wonderfully from the second they met. RJ was almost a member of the family, and someone that she wouldn’t mind her boy hitching his reigns to. If Kody decided to put a ring on her finger, the vixen would be thrilled. She’d already thought of the raccoon as a surrogate daughter, so it would be nice to have her be her real daughter, well, daughter-in-law.

The sounds of her boy and his new sweetie died down for several minutes before being replaced with that of running water. Jo smirked, wondering if the two were showering together and figured they probably were. She waited a few minutes before RJ and Kody reappeared, holding each other’s hands before sliding in beside her on the couch, the two staying very close.

“’Njoy yerselves,” the elder fox said with a giggling grin. Kody blushed hotly, while RJ grinned over at his mother, her hand moving to give the tod’s thigh a grope, “Sure did.”

“Good,” the vixen said with a warm motherly smile as she leaned into the couch, “Ya knows ya two makes one cute couple.”

Her son’s face flushed even more as one burly arm reached around to pull the raccoon in closer, “Thanks, mama.”

RJ leaned in to give her new master a smooch on the cheek. “I gots t’be headin’ home, but I’ll see ya soon,” she said before leaning in to whisper into Kody’s ear, “Master.”

The tod’s face managed to flush even more as he murred to her, his head turning to give her a soft kiss on the lips, “See you later.”

Slowly, RJ slid off the couch, her hips rolling back and forth as she made her way out the door. Jo turned her head to her son. “Thinkin’ bout puttin’ a ring on her finger?”

Kody nodded his head up and down, eyes fixated on RJ as she stopped at the door to blow him a kiss before leaving, “Yes.”

Chapter 16: Meeting the Family

Three hours after RJ left, Mike, Helen, Tori, and Alexis showed up at the house. Kody was glad that the paperwork had included the home’s address because he’d forgotten to send it to his uncle. To say the meeting was a little strange was the least of their problems. Tori and Alexis hounded the tod to no end, asking him question upon question, the two vixens more than just curious about him. It was both flattering and a little creepy at the same time. Luckily, Uncle Mike and Aunt Helen were able to calm them down a bit with the help of their newly discovered Aunt Jospehine.

Unlike her son, Jo had thirty years of practice avoiding some of the touchier questions, giving them answers that would suffice just enough that they wouldn’t pry more. Her son did have a lot to learn, especially when it came to single, curious vixens that were just a year or two younger than his new sweetie, a subject that inevitably arose.

“So, Kody,” Tori had said as she’d gently stirred around the contents of her glass of merlot, “You seeing anyone?”

The way she asked it, the fox could have sworn that she was hitting on him, and he wasn’t the only one. Luckily, Kody was able to counter quickly, “I am. Her name’s RJ. Are you?”

The orange fox just shrugged her shoulders as she took another sip, “Oh, off and on. How long have you and her been dating?”

“Not long,” he replied before taking a healthy swig of lite beer, “We just started going steady.”

Mike interjected before Alexis or Tori could get a word in. “That’s great, Kody. Is she another fox,” the older tod was hoping that his answer would scare his daughters away. He was very surprised at the way the two were acting around him, and part of him wondered if they just assumed they were acting on all the rumors they’d heard about country folk and incest.

Kody shook his head, “No. She’s actually a raccoon.”

Everyone who wasn’t his mother looked a little perplexed. Interspecies relationships weren’t uncommon, but usually they stayed within their own Genus. Helen was the first to offer up a bewildered response of, “That’s… very… progressive?”

The younger tod just chuckled softly to himself, though Jo gave her own little smirk as Tori and Alexis pouted, something that made Mike even more uncomfortable than he already was. He reached up to adjust his tie a little, “Well, so long… so long as you two are happy, that’s really all that matters.”

“Oh, we are,” Kody chuckled as he took another sip as the questions died down for a few brief seconds before Helen decided to keep the line of questioning to more simple items, “Are you originally from Zootopia?”

“Not exactly, Aunt Helen. I actually grew up over in Paludosi over in the Meadowlands District, but most people can’t find that town on the map, so I usually just say Zootopia.”

The vixen was still getting used to being called that. It still felt strange, but then again, Mike had told her that Jo was still going through a similar adjustment herself. “Really,” she asked, “Where are you living now?”

“I’m stationed out in Mammoth River, but I spend every weekend down in Bunnyburrow to rediscover my real roots.”

Helen smiled as she took a sip of wine, “It must be strange learning about your new families.” The tod nodded, “It has been an experience, but so far, I like everyone I’ve met.”

Mike smiled happily, “Well, it has been interesting finding out that I have a nephew. I honestly never expected to meet you, Kody.”

“It’s been great getting to know ya’ll,” the fox said with a genuine smile, “You really don’t know how nice it is to finally be around other foxes. My adopted dad’s family always gave me weird looks and hid the fine china when I came to visit.”

Mike and Helen blinked, “Really?”

Kody shrugged his shoulders, “Well, they all grew up in Dearborne. I heard my dad talk about when the first fox family moved in, a bunch of the kids decided to take a few shots at them with bb guns.”

The room was completely silent. There were still a lot of mammals that distrusted or outright hated foxes, but Mike and Helen had always thought that it was more a country thing and not something that happened in Zootopia, especially not in the suburbs. Then again, if Mike remembered right, Johan would be in early eighties, meaning he would have lived in a very different time. Part of him wondered if him adopting a fox was some kind of penance for his actions back then, though it could have been his wife that wanted one. The truth would never be known though.

“Zootopia was very different back then,” Helen said, though she easily remembered how the whole city had been ready to explode nearly two years before during the Night Howler Scare. Maybe things weren’t as different as everyone believed it was.

Kody took another sip of his beer before setting it down on the table to look at his watch. It was nearly seven thirty. “We should probably get going if we’re going to make it to the Oasis,” he said as he looked up at his Aunt, Uncle, and cousins. Mike looked down at his own watch and gasped, “Yeah, if we want to get there on time, we’ll have to leave now.”

Alexis and Tori gave everyone a pouty look, but they knew their grandsire didn’t like to be kept waiting. “You want to get together some time, Kody,” Tori asked sweetly, her smile very warm and inviting.

“Sure. I’d love to,” the tod replied, his tail flicking about behind him, “It was great meeting the both of you, and I’d love to get to know you better.”

Alexis grinned back, “We’d love to get to know you better too, Kody.”

The fox smiled, though he still wasn’t sure if he was being hit on or not.

\f

Chapter 17: Ruby Rowan

Ruby Rowan hadn’t exactly been thrilled when Richard sprung the dinner date on her without asking, though, there was a small part of her that was happy to get the news. The two rarely went out for dinner together, then again, they rarely ate dinner together at all due to their schedules. The vixen usually worked nights at the hospital, and her husband worked all day, so their primary interaction was around an hour in the morning and an hour in the evening when the two were passing one another for work.

For being in her late sixties, Ruby looked astounding. Her muzzle was greying more and more every year, but she allowed it to. It gave her an air of nobility and wisdom, as if she was the queen of the hospital, which in many aspects, she was. Like her name implied, the vixen was a vibrant shade of ruby red, which contrasted a bit with her husband who was more a red-brown color. Unlike Richard, she didn’t have any brown on her at all, save for a little patch that she only ever showed to her husband the few nights the two would actual engage in intercourse.

For now, though, she was dressed quite beautifully, her dress cut medium length in the back and a little low in the front. Richard had been a bit surprised at the dress she picked, but he certainly was not complaining. “My dear you look absolutely gorgeous in that dress,” the old tod said as he took his wife’s hand to help her out of the car, “I don’t think you’ve ever looked more beautiful than you have tonight.”

Ruby smiled. Her husband was paying her a compliment, something he rarely had the chance to do. “Thank you, Richard,” the vixen replied as she slid in beside her husband. Her tod slipped the valet a twenty before escorting her down the carpeted walkway into the Oasis.

To say that the hotel and casino wasn’t opulent was to say the Sahara had too much rain. The al-Daube family had purchased the old place from the previous owners and had actually closed the palm tree shaped building for a year to renovate everything until the interior looked like the luxurious palaces that most people had only seen in movies. The floors had been replaced with marble. Fixtures had been plated with pure gold. The Arabian frescos been painstakingly reconstructed using the finest of paints, marbles, and jewels. Even the light fixtures had been replaced.

It was said that Ali al-Daube bought the hotel and casino as a way of testing if his son could take over the family business. He’d not only done that, he’d gone far and above his parents’ expectations. The last Richard had heard, Shakir had managed to rake in somewhere in the high hundreds of millions in revenue that had covered the initial purchase cost and was slowly recuperating the cost of the renovations. Between the gambling, the three five star restaurants, and the exclusive deal that Shakir had managed to broker with Gazelle for her to perform on stage there, the hotel was packed nearly every day.

Ruby had been to the Oasis a few times after all the renovations were complete, but those had been for work. This was the first time she was actually coming to the Hotel and Casino without having to drag a briefcase along. The vixen gently nested against her husband, the tod dressed up in a dark colored business suit, as the two made their way towards Gordon Ramsey’s. “We should do this more often,” Ruby said with a smile. Richard grinned back, “Yes, we really should. Hopefully when your schedule isn’t so busy, we can do this again, and maybe we could have sex after.”

The vixen chuckled before giving his chest a pat, “Oh you.”

“What? I’m serious. I haven’t gotten to enjoy your feminine wilds in almost a month. If we weren’t about to meet with Mike and Helen and a client, I’d skip dinner and whisk you straight up to one of the rooms,” the tod said as he stopped dead in his tracks. Ruby kept going, but Richard yanked her off her feet, pulling her towards him to hold her against him.

“You’re a hopeless romantic, you know that, Richard,” the vixen said with a smile.

“Ah yes, my dear, I am quite hopeless, but not romantic.”

“Don’t you mean it the other way around?”

“I know what I said,” the tod replied as he slowly pulled her back up onto her feet, “Now. I think we should get to the restaurant. Unless you’d be interested in skipping dinner entirely and getting a room for the night.”

Ruby smirked, “Let’s get dinner first before we think about any dessert.” The vixen paused for a second, “You did remember to tell Mike and Helen and your clients which restaurant it was, right?”

“Of course I did,” her husband said.

Unfortunately, Richard didn’t, so his four guests ended up being about ten minutes late. The elder fox wasn’t exactly thrilled when Mike, Helen, and their two clients were escorted to the large booth he and his wife were occupying. He didn’t seem to pay the other two any attention, his focus firmly on the youngest of his two sons. “Took you long enough,” he said as he gave his son a glare before turning his attention over to Helen, his expression changing completely, “Helen! So wonderful to see you! How are my grandvixens?”

Mike chuffed as he and his wife slid into the booth. He wasn’t exactly thrilled by the way his father acted, and in truth, neither was Mike’s mother. Helen, on the other hand, kept her smile and air of civility. “Oh, they’re doing well, Richard. They would have loved to join us, but they had to head home,” the silver vixen replied.

“Oh, what a shame,” Richard seemed to pout, “I should have made the reservation for eight, so we could see them again. I’m very sorry Ruby and I have been so busy.”

Ruby had been fairly quiet up until then, her gaze looking over at the strange tod and vixen who were now sliding into the booth’s seats. He looked like her late son, Chris. She couldn’t help herself as she gave a few shocked blinks, doing a double take before slowly looking over at Mike and Helen. “Y… yes… We’re both very sorry. The… the hospital… the hospital,” the vixen couldn’t seem to finish her sentence or keep her concentration on her son and his wife, her gaze moving back to stare at the reddish-yellow vixen and the tod beside her, the tod that looked strikingly like her son.

Kody and Jo could see the older vixen staring at them, her eyes almost popping from her skull. Slowly, Kody reached his hand across the table towards her and her husband. “I’m…” the tod was just about to say when Mike decided to interrupt, “Mom, Richard, this is Ray Schaiferhund, the one I told you about on the phone.”

Richard looked down at his wife as she took Ray’s hand, his ears perking at her expression. “Ruby, if you keep your muzzle open like that, you’ll have a dinner of flies before the food gets here,” He said before following her line of sight. His eyes moved down her slender deep red arm, seeing another striking red hand holding hers. It was trying to pull away from the astounded vixen’s grasp, but even though the arm was obviously muscular, even though it was hidden by a grey jacket and white long sleeved shirt, Ruby’s grip was like a vice. Slowly his gaze moved higher up the arm, over the shoulder to stare into the muzzle and eyes of, “CHRIS!”

“Dad, that’s not Chris. That’s Ray Schaiferhund, you know, the client I told you about whose parents had Mr. Mousekewitz draw up their Last Will and Testimony,” Mike tried to keep the reigns of the conversation, but it was useless.

“Mike! Is this some kind of sick joke? I mean, it’s sick, and I fail to see the humor in it, but still. Is this some kind of sick joke? Did you have your older brother cloned? Because if you did, you didn’t do a very good job,” Richard said as he glared right at his son, “I mean, look at him. His fur is the wrong color, and he’s too chubby. I do applaud your effort, but why didn’t you bring him home for your mother and I to raise him?”

Jo finally decided to get in the conversation, “He ain’t Chris! This is Chris’ boy, my boy.”

Ruby was too in shock to say a word, just staring at Kody as he kept trying to free his hand from hers, but Richard couldn’t keep his mouth from motoring on. “So Mike used you as a surrogate mother for a clone of Chris?”

“I didn’t clone Chris!”

“Well, that’s obvious. He’s a very poor clone, son. But I still applaud you for trying,” his father replied.

“Please… G…. Grandma… l…. leggo my hand,” the young tod whined as he tried to get his hand free. Ruby’s hand immediately let go, the fox’s hand flying back to slap his chest, “G… Grand… mother? W… what… what do you…. mean by that?”

“Yes. I’m very curious to know why my son’s clone is calling you that as well,” Richard interjected as he stared at Kody.

“Chris… Chris was… was my father,” the youngest tod at the table said.

“Then why is your name Ray Schaiferhund?”

“It’s not. Well… not anymore. My name’s actually Kody Grey. I changed it last year.”

“If you’re my grandson, why isn’t your last name Rowan?”

Jo intervened, “Because Chris never married me.”

“Chris would never do such a thing,” Ruby said with a huff, “he was a good…”

Mike interrupted her, “Yes he did, mom. I told you that for years and you never believed me. Now here’s proof.”

Richard looked skeptical, “Chris was a model student. The pinnacle of upper middle class society. What you have here is a clone.”

“I’m not a clone, Grandpa Rick,” Kody snarled at him, “Chris…”

The eldest tod held up his hand. “I can guess what you’re going to say. First, you’ll tell me that my son was sleeping around. Second, you’ll tell me that he managed to knock up your mother and refused to marry her, which would have been completely out of character for him. Third, you’ll tell me that you were adopted by these Schaiferhund people. Finally, you’ll tell me that years later, after your parents’ accident, you started looking for your family.”

Everyone except Richard and Ruby blinked.

“Dad. How… how did you know,” Mike said completely aghast.

“Know what?”

“What you just said was,” Mike started to say before Kody butted in, “Was exactly what happened.”

“Wait. What?!”

Ruby shuddered a little, her eyes starting to tear up. “Oh… God… you mean… you mean my Chris,” the old vixen began to cry as she grabbed her grandtod and nearly hauled him over the table to give him a big hug.

\f

Chapter 18: The Worst Day of His Life

Richard was still not convinced of the fox’s identity, giving him a few once overs throughout the dinner. He wanted to say something, but Ruby kept giving him the glare she always gave him when she wanted him to be quiet. The old tod’s ears flatted against his head in submission, content on eating his food while his wife asked the Chris clone every question under the sun.

The dinner ended rather quickly, much to Richard’s delight and his wife’s sorrow. Ruby gave her newly discovered grandtod another crying hug, the whole ordeal taking a lot out of the aging vixen, but she was happy that Chris had managed to sire such a kind son. Her husband on the other hand, refused to even make eye contact with Kody, much to everyone’s distaste as the party began to slowly break apart.

“Well,” Richard said as he watched his son, daughter-in-law, Josephine, and Chris’ clone depart not long after the bill was paid, “I have to commend Michael. I was surprised he was able to find a lovely vixen like her to carry Chris’ clone.”

Ruby gave her husband an icy stare, her lips curling up in a growl, “He’s your grandtod, Richard.”

“Honey, if he was our grandtod, Chris would have told us about him,” her husband replied, “Besides, it was a nice jesture for Mike to have his older brother cloned, even if the clone wasn’t perfect.”

The vixen grabbed the tod by the muzzle, her fingers holding his jaws shut as she glared into his eyes, “You’re not getting ANY dessert.”

Richard blinked as he let out a muffled, “Tonight?”

“Not tonight. Not tomorrow night. Not any night until you can come to terms with having a grandtod,” she snarled at him, “Now. I’m going home.”

Ruby released Richard’s muzzle before sliding over his hips, wiggling herself over him before slipping out the other side of the booth’s chair. The old vixen turned to look at him, her husband’s expression that of complete and utter shock, “Are you coming?”

The tod looked confused, his head looking over at where Kody had been sitting before moving over to his wife. “You can’t be serious! No dessert! Ever,” he whimpered towards her, but Ruby wasn’t budging, “None, until you can apologize to your grandtod.”

“I’m not apologizing to a clone,” he said with a growl.

“Fine then. You can walk home,” the vixen said with a chuff before walking right out of the restaurant.

Richard brewed to himself as he crossed his arms, the weight of what had happened starting to sink in. “Oh my god,” the old tod said, “I can’t have sex with my wife.”

Mike and Helen had spent the entire car trip back to Kody’s house profusely apologizing for the way his father had reacted.

“I don’t know what came over him,” Mike said as he kept his eyes on the road, “I’ve never seen him act like that before. I know he had some delusions about Chris, but that really took the cake.”

Kody didn’t say a word. The fox was naturally upset. The only grandparents he’d known had been his adopted maternal grandmother, and she’d past away nine years ago. Now that he had a new family, and learned that he had blood grandparents, he’d been hoping they’d welcome him with open arms like Jo’s family had. Like Uncle Mike, Aunt Helen, and their daughters had. To say the meeting hadn’t been soul crushing on some level was an understatement. Yes, his grandmother had hugged him tightly, welcomed him as a member of the family, but his grandfather had seem cold and aloof.

“He called me a clone,” the tod finally said, the hurt in his voice obvious as he brewed a little bit. Jo leaned over to give her son a tight, motherly hug, “Don’tcha worry, sugar fox. I thinks he’s jist in shock is all. Yer ganny seems t’loves ya though, and that’s the one that counts.”

The youngest fox in the car let out a whimpering sigh. She was right. Richard would come around, eventually.

Kimberly Heinz let out a snarl as she looked down at her watch. She’d been waiting three hours to confront Johan’s little adopted monster about his unearned birthrights. The mutt was just about to head home for the night, when she saw a car pull up in front of the house. The bitch smirked as she saw four foxes get out of the car, all of them exchanging hugs before half returned to the car and half made their way into the house. She decided to wait a few minutes so the car would pass her bye before she acted. She stayed seated on the bench next to the bus stop. No one seemed to pay attention to old ladies in outdated clothing waiting for the bus, even this late at night.

Jo let out a long loud yawn as she and Kody stepped into the house. “I’m gonna hit th’hay, shoog,” she said as she started to make her way up the stairs. Her son nodded as he looked down at his phone, staring at the screen. “Ya gonna call her,” the vixen staid as she stopped to look over her shoulder at her son.

The tod paused, thinking it over as he stared at the screen, “I’m not… I’m not sure.”

“Ya should,” she replied softly, “Might help talkin’ to someone else. Ya know, someone who wuzn’t thar.”

Kody let out a soft sigh. She was right. He really needed someone other than his mother to talk to right now. “Yeah,” he said as he pressed the button to bring up text messaging to slowly type in a message before firing it off.

RJ had been laying around most of the night, the thoughts of her tod atop her filling her mind with happy, lustful thoughts. She’d even put on a collar before rummaged through her collection of toys to find one that felt exactly like Kody, thought, it wasn’t like the real thing. She was just about to enjoy another cry of passion when her phone buzzed, pulling her out of her dream. Her clawed hand grasped and groped at the phone, her heart in her chest as a lusty smile crossed her lips. She typed back with one hand, “I’ll be there in ten.”

Kody grinned at the message before typing his own back to her of, “See you soon.” He’d barely hit send when the doorbell rang. The fox’s ears perked up. There was no way RJ could have made it to his house, and he wasn’t expecting visitors, but it would be rude to not answer the door. Slowly, the tod walked over, his hand reaching up to grab the handle, turn it, and pull the door open.

Kody was very surprised to see a grandmotherly looking domestic dog of no particular breed standing in front of him. She was dressed in a very old looking sweatpants with matching sweater that had shoulder pads in it. Whoever this woman was, her sense of fashion had crawled into the woods and died a long painful death sometime back in the late 1980s. “Are you Ray Schaiferhund,” the old woman asked in a shaky voice.

The fox blinked, “Yes.”

“May I come in,” the bitch asked as she started to move closer to him. Kody was just about to protest when he felt something poke him in the gut. The mutt didn’t ask again as she pressed the nose of her pistol into the fox, a smile on her face as the tod realized what was happening. “Sure,” he  said slowly as he started to back up, “be my guest.”

Kody didn’t get a great look at the pistol, but he had an idea of what it was. Johan had had a decently size gun collection, one of which had been a Walter PPK, the same kind of gun the bitch was holding up against him. The shepherd had had to sell his collection when he’d moved into Zootopia proper because of how strict the laws were, but something told Kody that whoever this woman was didn’t care about laws and had gone to great lengths to get it. The problem with the PPK was that it was almost useless at long range, but this close, she could easily kill him.

The old dog kept the gun against Kody, even as he tried to back away to put some distance between them. “You’re a damn thief,” she started to growl, still staring right at the fox as she shut the door behind her with her foot. The tod looked very confused as he started to raise his voice, hoping to attract some attention from his mother, “What are you talking about? I’ve never stolen anything from anyone!”

“You’re a damn liar! You stole this house from me and my children! You stole that cabin too! It was supposed to go to our children! Not some slut’s kit,” the mutt screamed as she slowly cocked the pistol. When she said that, a sudden realization of just who he was dealing with him Kody like a sack of bricks.

“Look, lady, you had your chance to file the suit and it failed. You lost. Just leave,” the fox said, trying to calm the situation down as he moved a good four or five feet away from Kimbery Heinz. “I’m not leaving until you sign everything over to its rightful owner,” the bitch snarled back, starting to waver her pistol around.

Jo had decided to take a nice warm bath before heading to bed. The old vixen was just about to slip into the tub when she heard yelling. There was a woman’s voice and her son’s voice, but the woman yelling wasn’t RJ, it was someone else. A look of concern crossed her face as she grabbed a towel, wrapping it around herself to cover her nudity before making her way down towards the stairs. She was half way down them when she saw the dog bitch pointing a small pistol at her boy. Her eyes went wide for a second as the woman looked up and over at her, the gun following her gaze.

It was just the opening Kody needed. The fox flew at the dog like greased lightning. The tod lowered his shoulder, feeling the mutt’s gun arm sliding over him, the pistol flying up into the air as he used his weight to slam into her, strong arms wrapping around her. Both he and the bitch slammed into the wooden door with a loud crash and an even louder bang as the pistol went off, the round flying into the ceiling.

Kody could feel and hear something in the canine crunch and snap, even as his ears were ringing from the gunshot. The impact of her spine slamming into the door had knocked out every molecule of air from her lungs, but her face was a mask of pain. Fingers slackened as the gun clattered to the floor, bouncing around on the wood as the fox slowly moved away, turning around to look at his mother.

“Call the cops!”

\f

Chapter 19: Night Shift

Judy Hopps loved being a cop, but there were some annoyances. She and Nick had been put on night shift the previous Monday after two of the regulars on the shift managed to get the stomach flu. It was only a temporary assignment, but it meant that they’d had to completely change their sleep/wake cycles only to have the joys of switching them back. For now though, the fox and bunny were enjoying another coffee, the caffeine helping them stay awake as their bodies continued to fight being awake so late into the evening.

“So, Carrots,” Nick was just about to say something when the radio crackled, “Car 2-4-0. Car 2-4-0. We have a 2-4-5 at Pack and 22nd.”

The two looked at each other before the fox reached out to flip on the siren and lights while the bunny grabbed hold of the transmitter as her foot pressed down on the gas pedal, “Dispatch, this is Car 2-4-0, we’re on our way.” The gigantic, tank like vehicle lurched out of its parking spot, and into the empty street.

Judy handed Nick the transmitter, “Gotta focus on the road.”

The tod just nodded as he pressed the microphone, “Dispatch this is Car 2-4-0. Do you have any further information for us?”

The mammal on the other end of the line seemed to pause, “Car 2-4-0, suspect forced their way into the house and held up the owner at gunpoint. Owner is holding them until police arrive. An ambulance has also been dispatched to the location.”

“Dispatch this is Car 2-4-0. What’s the location?”

“2233 Pack Street. Owner is one Kody Grey, alias Raynard Kody Schaiferhund.”

Judy nearly slammed on the brakes as she heard the name, “WHAT!”

“It’s not time to discuss this, Carrots! Drive! Drive! Drive!”

The rabbit smashed her foot down on the gas pedal, the vehicle whipping around a small Nipponese car in front of them.

RJ had jumped in her bathtub for a quick shower before sliding into a black version of her earlier crop top and mini skirt ensemble from earlier that day, only this time, she had decided to completely forego the underwear and complement her look with a collar. She’d been happy with the way it all turned out, so much so that part of her considered adopting the look whenever she and Kody got together.

The raccoon was just about half way to the fox’s house when she heard a loud siren and saw rotating blue and red lights. Her initial reaction was to attempt to pull over, but she couldn’t because there were cars parked on the shoulder of the street. Luckily for RJ, the vehicle whipped around her, the officers completely ignoring her as they roared down the road.

“I wonder what that was about,” the sow raccoon said softly as the police car sped off into the night. Unfortunately, about five minutes later, RJ caught up with the police car outside of Kody’s house, seeing it and another one parked right next to an ambulance.

The first thing Kody did after he pulled away from his father’s ex-wife as she crumpled down to the floor was tell his mother to call the police. The second thing he did was to grab her Walter. The small pistol looked almost comical in his grip, almost like a child holding onto a squirt gun than something that, in the wrong hands, could cause a great deal of bloodshed.

He wasn’t sure how long it would take the police to get there as his humming ears started to tune into his mother’s sobbing voice talking to the 9-1-1 dispatcher. The one thing he did know, was that Kimberly Heinz was in no state to hurt anyone. The fox pointed the firearm away from her and up at the ceiling. His finger depressed the magazine release button, the still full metal rhombus falling down to the floor with a clatter, before pulling back on the slide to eject round that had been automatically loaded into the chamber. Years of practice started to take hold as he pushed down on the barrel slide button as he pushed the slide forwards, releasing the barrel from the body of the pistol, disassembling it just before tossing the pieces down on the ground.

The mutt was howling and whimpering, grasping for air and screaming about how she thought her hip was broken, that and her continued ranting about how everything was his fault. Kody just rolled his eyes as he grabbed the scruff of her sweater to drag the woman away from the door.

Once she was out of the way, Kody slowly plopped down on his rump, his chest heaving up and down as the adrenaline rush started to die off. He had just started to relax as the front door burst open. Four officers poured into the room, two of them had pistols drawn and two others were carrying some sort of pistol shaped taser. One of them was a fox, one was a wolf, one was a polar bear, and the last one was a bunny. Out of the group, two of them looked familiar; the tod and the rabbit.

Officers Snarlov and Fangmire had been the first to arrive on the scene, the two of them taking charge of the situation as they waited for back up and the ambulance to arrive. The grey wolf and polar bear had taken up positions behind the passenger side of their squad car, pistols drawn and pointed at the house.

Officer Hops and Officer Wilde slammed on their breaks as the pulled right in behind the other ZPD vehicle, the two leaping out to take up their own temporary fighting positions. “What’s the situation,” the rabbit had asked as she drew her own standard issue 9mm. Snarlov looked over at her, “Right now, ve halv-eent hoard a ting. De repourt from de howz and de nay-boars said der voz won shot fierd.”

“The meat wagon is on its way, but we don’t know what’s going on in there,” Fangmire added. Judy and Nick didn’t care for the nickname the wolf and a few other of the ZPD officers had given to ambulances, but it was often an accurate assessment. The fox, polar bear, wolf, and rabbit looked at each other before they all nodded. “Stak on me,” the arctic bruin said as he lowered his own 9mm, pointing it down at the ground.

The four officers lined up behind one another; Snarlov in front, Fangmire and Wilde in the middle, with Hopps bringing up the rear. Judy and Nick were the only two to holster their firearms, pulling out their own standard issue tasers that looked a great deal like a very flat pistol. The four of them bent over, arms pointed to the ground as they hurried to the front door just as the ambulance pulled up behind the two squad cars.

Normally, when they’d assault a building, they’d duck and cover behind one of the walls, staying away from any windows, but this house was small and very old. Stacking in front of the door was a terrible idea, but it was their only option. Snarlov roared out, “Z-ye-P-ye-Dee! Opeen ap!”

When there wasn’t an immediate response, everyone looked worried. Fangmire blurted out, “We’ve already got probably cause.” The polar bear nodded, not even giving the wolf’s words a second thought. One massive leg rose up and kicked out, the bruin putting his entire weight behind the kick. Because he was so massive, the door gave way. Part of Judy was surprised he didn’t manage to knock the thing off its hinges as it flew open to smash into a wall, but there was no time to think.

They poured inside, firearms and tasers drawn as they scanned the area. A vixen was gasping at the group, clutching a bath towel tightly around her, while a domestic canine was rolling around in pain. Parts of what had once been a pistol were scattered around the floor while a very familiar looking fox was leaning against the far wall.

The officers all looked at each other, before they began to holster their side arms. Snarlov moved over to the screaming, howling, cursing mutt on the ground as Fangmire made his way over to the door, waving at the medical personnel to enter the house. Hopps leaned down to grab her microphone, “Dispatch, this is Officer Hopps. All clear.”

“Hopps?” the chunky tod said with a curious look on his face as Nick slowly made his way over to him, “Hey Ray… I mean, Kody. Long time, bud.”

Kody gave the other fox a queer look, as if he was trying to remember who he was, but his body was so full of adrenaline that his memory wasn’t working as well as he’d hoped. “Who are,” the tod started to say before Nick interrupted, “It’s the uniform, isn’t it? It’s me, Nick.”

“Nick? Wilde,” the fox said, his memory slowly starting to come back to him, “I haven’t seen you since… High School?”

“Yep, it’s me,” Nick replied with a chuckle. Kody slowly started to regain some of his memory, “Yeah. Bonnie told me you were a cop now.”

Judy slowly made her way over to the two tods, her gaze moving to look at Kody. “Mom said you looked a lot like Gideon,” the bunny said before holding out her hand, “Judy Hopps.”

The fox nodded as he took her hand, “Kody Grey. Sorry we didn’t meet in… uhm… less… dramatic circumstances.”

The rabbit was just about to say something when she and Nick were pushed out of the way by a reddish-yellow vixen. The woman tossed her arms around the fox, tears running down her cheeks as she held him tightly, her bathrobe loosening a little. “Oh God! My baby! I thoughts I’d lost y’gain!”

Kody held his mother tightly, giving her a kiss on the cheek, “It’s all right, mama. I’m fine.”

Nick’s eyebrow raised and Judy’s face flushed, “Uhm… Hi Jo.” The bunny spun around to look at her partner, “We should get her a blanket.”

“And coffee,” he replied as he looked over at the Emergency Medical Technicians who were carting the domestic dog out of the house on a stretcher, “Hey, we need a blanket over here.”

Fangmire and Snarlov had been doing most of the coordinating with the EMT’s so when they finally left, the wolf and bear were able to fully take in the rest of the scene. Fangmire’s eyes had raised a bit at the sight of the lovely, older vixen in nothing but a towel, a chuckling smile on his face, “I’ll get the blanket.”

Snarlov had rolled his eyes his partner. “Fine. Yoo doo zat. I vill be tak-ink der state-mints.” The massive arctic bruin pulled out a pad as he walked over to Nick, Judy, Jo, and Kody. “Mee-stair Goo-ray, vill yoo be press-ink char-geez?”

Kody blinked a few times, “Are you fucking kidding? Of course I’m going to fucking press fucking charges!”

Nick was surprised at the language coming out of Kody’s mouth. He’d never thought he’d ever hear Ray Schaiferhund curse, but then again, that was High School. People change. Judy on the other hand almost died from shock at hearing such filth.

Jo gave her son a bop on the nose, “I tolds ya. Y’ain’t gonna use that langage round me or guests.”

Snarlov chuckled as he pulled out a pen, “I vill be need-ink yoor o-feesh-al state-mints den.”

Kody started on the tale of what happened, everyone listening intently as Fangmire returned with a blanket. He casually draped it over the vixen, giving her a big warm toothy grin. Jo’s only response was a courteous smile and a, “Thank ya, shoog,” that made the wolf blush more.

The polar bear was writing as fast as he could, even though he spoke English, it wasn’t his first language, so most of his notes were written down in the Cyrillic alphabet. “Tank yoo, Mee-stair Goo-ray foor de state-mint. I vill be need-ink won fram yoor ma-ma.”

Fangmire, who up until then had been idly staring at the vixen, spoke up, “I can help you with that, Snarlov.”

The gigantic polar bear rolled his eyes as the two tods and doe bunny raised an eyebrow. “I vill nat be need-ink yoor halp, Fang-my-air. I kan han-dall dis,” he said as he made his way over to Jo, offering the vixen a hand to help her up. The woman smiled and took his paw, sliding up onto her feet as she held onto the blanket that covered her skimpiness. The two moved to a table in the kitchen, slowly starting to talk about what she knew.

Fangmire looked a little bit dejected, but Judy butted in. “Fangmire, I need your help cordoning off this place. We don’t want,” the bunny was just about to finish when a raccon burst through the door to slam into Kody, her arms wrapping around him as she burred her muzzle into his neck while tears streamed down her face. Judy let out a sigh, “We don’t want something like this to happen.”

Kody wrapped his arms around the sobbing raccoon, his hands moving up and down her back as he kissed the top of her head. “I’m all right, RJ. Shhh… Everything’s going to be fine,” he said, trying to calm her down as their tails curled around one another.

Judy looked a little upset, her foot starting to tap against the floor as Nick leaned over to chuckle into one of her long ears, “Jealous?”

The bunny snorted, “No. It just means Crime Scene is going to have a lot more work on their hands.”

Snarlov finished his interview with Jo before making his way over to Fangmire, Hopps, and Wilde. “I halv der state-mints and kontakt een-for-mat-cee-ya. Seens dey vill be press-ink char-geez, ve may need dem to kam een four four-der een-tear-v-yooz,” the polar bear said as he looked between the bunny, fox, and wolf before looking over at the raccoon who was hugging Kody tightly, “Hoo eez dat?”

“Question of the night it seems,” Nick quipped as he turned his head to look over at the raccoon-fox couple, “So, R… Kody. Who’s the girl?”

Kody had finally calmed RJ down enough to where he could concentrate on the officers. “This is RJ. She’s,” he looked down at her, “She’s my girlfriend.”

Nick chuckled as he turned to look at the other three policemammals, “Simple question, simple answer.”

Snarlov nodded as looked over at Kody, “Mee-stair Goo-ray, vill yoo be need-ink a loy-yar?”

The tod shook his head, “I will, but I already have one in mind.”

\f

Chapter 20: Fox Hunt

The first phone call Mike had gotten that night was from his mother, Ruby. She’d managed to wake him up at midnight, her voice frantic. “Mom,” he’d groggily said, “Calm down. What? What’s going on? What happened to dad?”

“We had a… a disagreement about how he acted towards Kody. I told your father that we wouldn’t have sex until he came to terms with having a grandtod,” she said in a slightly calmer voice, “I left him at the restaurant and told him he could walk home. I figured he’d take a cab, but that was almost three hours ago. I haven’t heard a peep from him!”

“Oh. Christ,” her son said, his mind starting to slowly awaken from its slumber, “He could be anywhere.”

“I know! I sent him a few text messages asking where he was and when he was coming home. I even called and left a message, but he hasn’t responded. I’m worried about him, Michael,” the vixen started to panic.

“I’ll go look for him, mom. I promise,” the tod replied as he slowly rolled out of his wife’s grip, “I’ll let you know if I find him.”

Helen was half asleep when she started to ask, “Was that another telemarketer, dear?”

Mike looked over at her, “No, honey. Richard’s gone missing.”

“Mm… that’s nice dear. Tell him I said hello,” the vixen groggily replied, his words not even registering in her brain. Mike shook his head. She could really sleep through anything.

He’d just about finished putting on some slacks and a t-shirt when the second call came. It had caught Mike a little off guard, half expecting it to be his mother. “Mom, I told you, I’m,” he started to say when he was cut off by, “Uncle Mike!”

The tod blinked a few times. It was Kody. Why was Kody calling this late? “Hey, Kody. I have some bad news,” the older fox began, only to be interrupted, “Uncle Mike, my adopted dad’s ex-wife just tried to kill me!”

“What?!”

“The cops are here. They just took our statements, and asked if I was going to press charges.”

“Are you?”

“Is the Pope Catholic?”

Mike had to admit, it was a dumb question, but he kept the conversation going, “I figured. You want me to represent you?”

“I do. I need you and grandpa to,” Kody was just about to continue, but it was Mike’s turn to interrupt, “Kody. You’re grandsire’s missing.”

“What? How? When?”

“Apparently, he and your grandmother got in an argument, and she told him he could walk home. He hasn’t been answering his phone, and now she’s worried.”

“You need help looking?”

“Yes.”

“Any idea on where to start?”

“I was going to head down to the Oasis. It’s a good starting point. I can come pick you up.”

“No need. RJ’s here, I can get a ride with her.”

“Okay. Start at the Oasis and spread out from there. Let me know if you find him.”

“I will, Uncle Mike.”

The tod hung up the phone. He wasn’t sure what was going on, but tonight seemed to have spiraled out of control.

Kody held onto RJ as he looked up at the four officers, “I’ve got representation, but I need to go. It seems my grandsire doesn’t want to answer his phone, and now everyone’s worried.”

The four weren’t sure what to say at first, but Judy finally said something. “Since your house is now a crime scene, I’ll see if I can find a place for Aunt Jo to stay.”

Nick was slow to offer an option, “I could give my mother a call. She’s not far from here. It’ll be cheaper than a hotel at least, and she always enjoys company.”

Kody smiled, “Thanks.”

Slowly, the large tod leaned in to give the sow raccoon a kiss on the top of her head, “RJ, I need your help finding my grandsire.” The woman nodded as she gave him a kiss on the cheek, “I’d do anything for you, master.”

The four officers’ eyes perked up, though Judy’s just about popped out of her head. Nick however, started to chuckle, even as Kody looked completely embarrassed, “I didn’t know you were into that kind of thing, Kody.”

The other tod cleared his throat as he picked RJ up before getting back onto his feet. “We have to get going,” he replied as he carried her out the door. Judy gasped a little, her hands moving to her lips as the fox, polar bear, and wolf smirked. “I think she was planning on a very different evening,” Fangmire said with a chuckle.

Richard Rowan grumbled to himself as he sat on a barstool nursing his fourth beer. He hadn’t been to a single’s bar in quite some time, not since his college years back in the Age of Aquarius. The fox started to remember those times, a smile forming on his lips. It had been a very different era and a very different life, filled with lots of marijuana and copious amounts of free love. He’d even dated outside of his own Genus, something that was still seen as strange, but before that era, had been illegal in several counties until the Mammal Right Movement. The memories of his college years came back to him, only to be utterly destroyed by the terrible music of modernity.

Slowly, the fox put his drink down, his head swimming a little from the beer. He rarely drank craft beers, and his body wasn’t used to the much higher alcohol volume. It was in this inebriated state that he first noticed a young goat woman sitting next to him. She was probably the same age as that Chris clone, maybe younger, then again, it was hard to tell since Richard had always been terrible at guessing ages.

“Excuse me,” he said as he looked at her, “I have a question.”

The goat woman turned her head, a puzzled look on her face, “Yes?”

“I was meeting with a client the other day and a very interesting subject was brought up that I forgot to research. Tell me. Are gazelles considered goats?”

The woman looked very confused, “Uhm… I… I think so? I don’t really know?”

“Ah. Interesting,” the fox said as he reached over to take another drink, “Then fucking a gazelle is considered fucking a goat?”

“Excuse me,” the bewildered woman said, her eyes popping open.

“I’m merely curious. You see, my client brought up a mutual acquaintance whom he called a ‘goat fucker’ and yet the person is known for fucking gazelles. I was curious to know if gazelles are considered goats.”

The goat was still confused and very upset, giving Richard a very stern glare. Slowly, someone walked up behind her, a very strong looking billy goat. “Is this asshat bothering you, babe,” he asked as he gave the doe goat a kiss on the cheek.

“Oh good! I think you can end this debate for us,” the fox said with a drunken smile, “I was talking to a client and he brought up goat fucking, which made me curious. So I have to ask, what’s it like?”

Kody and RJ were wandered down the street. They’d already gone to several bars, but they hadn’t managed to find Richard anywhere. They were just about to consider crossing the street to check out another drinking establishment when Richard flew out a window to crash down at their feet along with several chunks of glass.

“And stay the fuck away from me and my girl,” a snorting billy goat bleated at the drunk and mostly conscious well-dressed fox spread out on the pavement.

“Richard,” Kody yelled out in amazement as he leaned down to help his grandsire up. The drunken old tod gave him a goofy smile, “Chris!”

“But,” the fox was just about to say before Richard’s gaze turned to look over at RJ, still smiling, “Coontang!”

“Coontang,” the raccoon said with a weirded out, almost angry look as the old fox continued, “I thought you two were dead!”

Kody and RJ looked at one another, the two clearly unsure about what to do as they helped the old fox onto his feet. But before they could react or say anything, Kody’s grandsire tossed his arms around them and pulled them in close for a big hug, “Oh it’s good to see you two again, Chris and Coontang. You have no idea how much I’ve missed you two.”

The raccoon gave her boyfriend a curious gaze, but he mouthed, “Just go with it,” back at her. “Yes,” RJ said quickly, “I’m Coontang. It’s nice to… see you?”

The old fox gave her a big kiss on the lips. “You have no idea, Coontang. A day hasn’t gone by that I haven’t thought about you,” he replied with a smile before turning to look at Kody. “And Chris,” Richard paused as he looked him up and down, “You’ve put on a little weight. Looks like they’re feeding you well.”

Kody nodded, “Yeah. D… Dad. They’re feeding me well, but we need to get going. M… Mom’s worried about you.”

“Oh she’s always worried about me. I can’t seem to disappear for more than five minutes before she starts calling the police. But if I must go home, I’m happy that it will be with you two.”

The raccoon and fox shook their heads as they moved to help Richard walk down the street. The two were silent for a few strides, trying to put as much distance between them and the single’s bar as they could before Kody finally spoke. “Uhm… Dad,” the younger fox started to say as he looked over at his grandsire.

“Yes, Chris?”

“I… I have a lot to tell you.”

“Of course you do, son. Please, tell me what it’s like in heaven. Is it great? Is it like that Naturalist Club I hear so much about?”

Kody blinked, “Uhm… yeah… It’s… It’s just like that, dad. But… that’s not… not why we came back to help you.”

“Chris and I came back because Chris has some things he wants to get off his chest,” RJ added, playing along with Kody.

“Oh? You know you can tell your old fox anything, Chris. You know that.”

“Dad,” Kody said softly, “I… I did a lot of bad things while I was here.”

“Nonsense! You were the perfect son!”

“Dad. I slept around with a lot of women. I mean a LOT of women,” Kody replied, but Richard cut him off, “I knew you were stud, Chris.”

“Dad, I got a girl pregnant.”

“You got a girl pregnant? And never told me? When did you two get married? Why wasn’t I invited to the wedding?”

“That’s just it, dad. I got her pregnant, but I didn’t want to marry her. I just wanted to have sex with her. When she told me about it, I pushed her away. I never married her.”

“Chris! You can’t be serious,” Richard growled, “I raised you to be a fox! Not a mouse! When I knocked up your mother with you, I married her! Are you saying you didn’t have the balls to?”

“I was scared, dad. I didn’t want to be tied down to just one girl, so I told her to abort the tod she was carrying.”

“Chris,” Richard said, heartbroken, “You mean I… I’ll never have a grandtod?”

Kody shook his head, “Dad, she didn’t abort him. You know those foxes you met tonight, Kody and Josephine Grey?”

“You mean that lovely vixen and your clone?”

“Jo was the girl I knocked up, dad, and that wasn’t my clone. That was my son.”

Richard looked astonished, his eyelids blinking several times as his mind processed Chris’ words. Slowly, he turned his head to look over at the sow raccoon, “Coontang? Is this true?”

RJ nodded her head, “It’s true.”

The old fox started to break down and actually cry, “I… I… I just… I just.”

Kody gave his grandsire a hug, “It’s all right, dad. I know you thought he was a clone, but Kody’s my son, and all he wants is to have is his real grandsire.”

Richard sniffed a little, “Then I’ll be the best grandsire Kody’s ever had!”

“I know you will, dad. But right now, you need to get home.”

Richard watched as his son hailed a cab, the yellow vehicle pulling up as the weasel in the front seat poked his head out, “Yo! Where’s ya headed ta?”

Kody opened the door and pushed Richard inside. “He’ll tell you,” he said as he passed the man a twenty. The weasel just shrugged his shoulders, giving them an, “Okay,” before turning his head around to look at the sprawled out, drunken fox in his back seat, “Hey Mack. Where to?”

“Home. Peak and 4th.”

Ruby Rowan hadn’t chewed her claws since she was a little girl. Her mother had broken her of that habit, but right now, the vixen was so full of worry that she couldn’t think. She could barely keep her eyes on the TV screen. Mike hadn’t called back, and Richard, well, she had no clue where he was. She was just about to head to bed when the front door of the apartment burst open.

“Honey! You’ll never guess who I met,” Richard yelled out, the old tod sounding happy and inebriated as he stumbled into the hall. Ruby didn’t waste any time as she ran to her husband, her arms tossing around him to pull him in nice and tight, “Richard! Where were you? I’ve been worried sick!”

“Oh, don’t worry about me, Ruby. You’ll never guess who I ran into though.”

“Who,” his wife asked as she looked up at him with a puzzled gaze.

“Chris and Coontang!”

“Chris? Coontang?”

“Yes! Chris says hello by the way.”

“Richard. Chris is dead. And who the hell is Coontang?”

“I know Chris is dead, honey. And Coontang was an old girlfriend of mine from college before I met you. But that’s not the point,” her husband said as he let out a sigh, “Chris… Chris came back from heaven because he had something important to tell me. Did you know that fox we met earlier was actually his son? Chris told me the whole story. I didn’t believe him at first, but Coontang said it was the truth. I can’t believe I treated young Kody like that, but I can’t believe our son didn’t have the balls to marry Kody’s mother. But I’ll make it up to them! I’ll be the best damn grandsire Kody’s ever had, and the best father-in-law too.”

Ruby blinked a few times. She hadn’t expected Richard to do an about face, but it was even harder for her to digest her husband’s story. Slowly, she pushed away from the drunk fox, wondering if she should call a psychiatrist when her phone buzzed in here pocket. “One… one second, honey,” she said raising a finger up as she grabbed her phone.

Mike had sent her a text that read, “Kody and RJ found dad. He’s drunk. Thought they were Chris and an ex. Just roll with it.” A sudden realization came over her as she slid the phone back into her pocket. “Well, you do remember what I said we’d do if you came to terms with having a grandtod,” the old vixen said with a smile.

“DESSERT,” the fox beamed at his wife, a drunken smile crossing his face as his eyes lit up.

“Yes. Dessert.”

\f

Chapter 21: Grandpa Rick and Grandma Ruby

Kody Grey let out a chuckle as his grandsire and grandmother sat across from him and his mother in one of the booths at Gideon Grey’s Real Good Baked Stuff. All four of them had met up for a nice Saturday Lunch. It had been two months since the incident at his adopted parents’ house and the “visitation” Richard had had from his son and his ex-girlfriend, but in that time, the old tod had taken every opportunity to get to know his grandtod and his pseudo-daughter-in-law, even during the trail that put Johan’s ex-wife in a psychiatric hospital.

Unfortunately, though, the trial had put a great deal of strain on Kody’s relationships with his adopted family, so much so that he wasn’t on speaking terms with one of his step-sisters, even though he was still good friends with her son and his other step-sister and her family.

“I have to say, Josephine,” the old fox said as he took another bite of pie, “I am really enjoying your family. Your nephew’s pies are the best thing I’ve ever tasted, and I’ve had my share of pies. Cream and otherwise.”

Ruby gave him an elbow, but the other two foxes chuckled. The one thing they were still getting used to was how unfiltered the tod could be. “Gideon’s been winnin’ prizes all over th’place. Won the Tri-Burrow County Fair twice now,” Kody’s mother said as she took a sip of sweet tea.

“And I can see why. I think I could come here every day for lunch if it wasn’t for all the money I’d spend on train tickets.”

Kody turned his attention to his grandmother, “So what were you about to say about the hospital?”

Ruby smiled, “Well, I’ve decided that I’ll be retiring next year, but until then, I managed to push for the day shift so I have more time.”

“You mean so we have more time,” Richard interjected between bites of food. The vixen chuckled, “Exactly.”

“So ya’ll cum visit mo’ften,” Jo asked curiously.

“Of course. We’ll have much more time on our hands for the grandkits,” the old tod said with a smile, “Speaking of grandkits, should we be expecting any great grandkits, Kody?”

The youngest one at the table blushed a little, a hand moving to scratch the back of his head, “Uhm… RJ and I haven’t really discussed that yet.”

“Ah,” his grandsire said before taking a big gulp of tea, “Figure out when the wedding will be?”

Kody blinked, “Uhm… we haven’t even gotten that far either.”

“Taking it slow, I see. It’s a good strategy,” Richard said only to get another elbow in his side, so he decided to turn his head over to Josephine. “So. Josephine. Any tods in your life?”

Kody’s mother blushed and giggled, “Naw. I cain’t thinks of any, then ‘gain, I ain’ts been looking.”

“Well, even if you do, you can always think of me as your father-in-law, even if you and Chris were never married.”

“Awh, that’s sweet a’ya Mister Rowan.”

“Please, call me daddy.”

Jo giggled as Ruby gave her husband another jab to the ribs. Kody wasn’t sure what to make of that last statement, but at the moment, he didn’t really care. He was just happy to finally start having a real family again.

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