Down to the Burrows

Chapter 2: Arrival

Judy and Nick both got an early start, after doing some packing and making sure that they got everything, the duo made it to the train station.

Nick had then gone to get some hot chocolate and some pastries for him and Judy, as they then got on the train leading to Bunnyburrow.

It was just a bit of silence at the moment until Nick decided to break the ice.

"You doing alright, Carrots?" he asked Judy, as she looked a little spaced out at the moment.

"Oh, yeah," Judy said, as she took a bite of her pain au chocolat, then looked Nick, "I'm quite sure that mom and dad will love having you there."

"So, that quite means that you told them?" Nick asked, as he ate a bit of his blueberry muffin.

"Oh, I did." Judy replied, remembering the call from the other night.

The Other Night…

Judy had just got into her PJs, and then brought her phone out as she called up her parents' number.

As she waited for them to answer, Judy began to think how things would go between them and Nick.

She hoped that it goes so smoothly, and that things would work out well between her partner and her family.

As soon, something came from what Clawhauser had said, about them being a couple, but that was ridiculous, they were just friends…

…Aren't they?

They did had some time together, enjoying each other's company during and off work, as well had enjoyed having lunch and dinner, and even hanging out her apartment or his at times, watching movies…

"Hello?"

It was then that the voice of her mother snapped her out of her thoughts, as Judy realized that they had answered the phone, as she picked it up to see her parents' face on there, her mother taking care of one of the baby siblings of Judy's.

"Hey mom, hi dad, sorry about that." Judy said with a smile.

"Hey there, Jude the Dude," Stu spoke up, "how are thing going, still busy making the world a better place?"

"Yep," Judy replied with a nod, "one step at a time."

"Oh, we're so proud to hear that, dear." Bonnie said, which earned a smile from Judy, as the bunny cop felt much better hearing that, much better than the previous one when her parents learned that she was a meter maid (being the safest job on the force, according to them).

"Anyway," Judy spoke up, "how are things going back home? I take it that everyone will be getting ready for the hoedown in several days time?"

"Oh, you bet!" Stu said, excited, "Us and your 275 other brothers and sisters, your cousins, nephews and nieces, grandparents, everyone will be getting ready for it!"

"Well, it would great to know that I'll be coming down here in time for it." Judy said.

"Really?!" Stu said, as he and Bonnie were happy to hear the news.

"That's great!" Bonnie exclaimed, "Everyone's going to be quite excited to hear that, especially Cotton, I bet she'll be over the moon to see you again!"

"I know." Judy said with a smile, as she looked to one of her pictures, one of them showing her with a young bunny, both smiling happy.

The little bunny, named Cotton, was Judy's favorite niece, as she and Judy had quite a nice time having fun, play games and enjoying each other's company, even before Judy started her training to be a police officer.

"Hey, um, guys," Judy said, deciding that it was time to let them know, "about the coming down for a while thing, there's something else that I wanted to talk to you about."

"What's that, Jude?" Stu asked.

"Well, you know about my partner, Nick?" Judy said.

"Oh, you mean that fox that you've been working with?" Stu said, "Of course, what about him?"

'Here goes…' Judy thought as she said, "Well, I've kind of invited him to come to over to see you guys…"

Judy looked to her parents, as they had a bit of stunned looks, worried about how they would react.

"Really?!" Bonnie exclaimed.

"Look," Judy said, preparing for the worst, "if you don't want me to bring him along that's ok, becau-"

"That sounds like a great idea!" Bonnie said.

Judy suddenly stopped as she heard what her mum, said.

"Wait… really?" a stunned Judy asked.

"Of course," Bonnie stated, "it would be great to get to know him so much more during your stay, right Stu?"

Much like Bonnie, Stu looked quite stunned a little at what her daughter said, until his wife snapped him out of it.

"Oh, uh, yes," Stu said, "of course! That's brilliant!"

"Hey dad," Judy said, "just remember that Nick isn't all bad, he's a very nice guy once you get to know him, like you did with Gideon, remember?"

"Well, yeah," Stu stated, "it's just that it's quite a surprise that you'd be brining your boyfriend over to see us and-"

"BOYFRIEND?!" Judy said in alarm, as she started blushing again.

"Oh, don't mind your father," Bonnie said, "I'm sure that he'll be quite a nice fellow once we meet him."

"Sure," Judy said, "and you promise not to have anything like that Fox Taser on you when he gets there?"

"Oh don't worry," Stu said, "they all boxed up and down in the basement."

"That's good," said Judy, with a sigh of relief, "so we'll be seeing you both at the train station, right?"

"Oh, we'll be there," Bonnie said, "and we'll be looking quite forward to ths year's hoedown, as I said, everyone will be there."

"Even cousin Zack?" Judy asked.

"Oh yes," Bonnie nodded in agreement, "Zack will most definitely be there as always."

However, Judy noticed the uneasy look on Bonnie's face when she said that, as she then decided to speak up.

"Hey," she said, "I know that Zack can be a bit difficult, but don't forget that he does well at times, even if he's crazy (despite him denying it)."

"If you say so, Bun-bun," Bonnie said, as a smile came back on her, "we'll see you and Nick very soon."

"Thanks you guys," Judy said, "love you and see you later."

"You too," Stu said, before asking, "also, just to clarify: Nick's not your boyfriend, is he?"

"Bye, dad!" Judy said, trying not to be rude while trying not be embarrassed, as she then hang up.

Once the phone call ended, Judy let out a sigh of relief and stress, as it looked like Clawhauser's thoughts on her and Nick being more than friends seemingly spreading.

"So I take it you and fox boy are a couple?" Bucky's voice spoke out from the other side of Judy's apartment wall, causing Judy to groan.

"Ugh, not you too!" she groaned.

"Hey, Bucky," the voice of Pronk shouted, "leave her alone! She doesn't want to take about her relationship with that fox with you! It's too much for her to handle!"

"Oh can it, Pronk!" Bucky shouted back to Pronk.

"No, you can it!"

"YOU CAN IT!"

YOU SHUT UP!"

Judy then groaned a little, though a small smile seemed to perk up, as hearing her annoying neighbors made her fell a little better and put her previous thoughts out of the way.

Present day…

"Something funny, Carrots?"

Nick's question got Judy to snap out of her train of thought, as she looked to Nick.

She then gave out a bit of a smile as she replied, "Something like that."

She then looked to Nick as she said, "I want to let you know that my family is going to love you, trust me on that."

"I'm sure they will," Nick said, feeling not so worried, "I bet your small family would be quite alright with a fox hanging around."

It was then that Judy giggled at that, getting Nick's attention, as she said, "Oh, my family is more than just small."

"Really?" Nick said, as he continued drinking his hot cocoa, "How many are you in your family?"

Judy smirked as she replied, "about 275."

That answer really shocked Nick, as he spluttered a bit of his warm drink, as it went the wrong way a bit.

Once, Nick felt all right a bit, he looked to a smiling Judy, hoping to see if she was joking.

"You're kidding, right?" Nick asked.

Judy then gave him a shake of her head, her smile still glued on her.

"You're not kidding." Nick said, still eye wide.

"Nope." Judy said, "I'm serious, and most of my very young brothers and sisters can be quite handful, too."

Nick was so stunned that he could only muster up one thing to say about the large number.

"Oh boy."

Bunnyburrow train station

At the station, the parents of Judy Hopps were waiting patiently as they were expecting her train to arrive.

Soon, they heard the announcer call out the train from Zootopia arriving to their stop, as the train reached the station and came to a halt.

"You doing ok, Stu?" Bonnie asked, as she looked to see her husband looking a little rattle, not quite scared, but a little ok.

"Oh, I'm fine," Stu replied, "just a little nervous on meeting this Nick fellow, that's all."

The train doors opened, and several animals were getting on and/or getting off the train as the parents kept an eye out for their daughter, and then there she was, with her bags, and right behind her was Nick, who brought his own bags too.

"Here's our girl!" Bonnie said happily, as she and Stu welcomed them with open arms, as Judy went up to them and gave them a hug.

"Hey mum, hi dad," Judy said, giving them both a kiss on the cheek, before coming out of the embrace.

"How was the trip, sweetie?" Stu asked.

"Oh, it was nice," Judy said, "no problems at all."

It was then she gestured Nick to come up to her parents, which he understood and came up to them.

"Mum, dad," Judy said, "I like to introduce you to partner and friend, Nick Wilde."

"Nice to meet you two." Nick said, as he shook paws with Stu.

"Pleasures all ours," Stu said, feeling a little confident following the paw shake, "nice grip you've got there, too, you must be the fox that Judy kept talking about."

"Really," Nick said with interest as he looked to a slowly blushing Judy, "so you've talked to them so much about me, Carrots?"

"Anyways," Stu then spoke up, "I'm Stu, and I like you meet my wife, Bonnie."

"Hello, Mr. Wilde," Bonnie said, as she brought her paw.

"Pleasure." Nick said, as he then kissed her paw.

"My, such a gentleman." Bonnie giggled a little.

"Why thank you." Nick said, as he took a good look at her, "You know, from the way I see you look like you could be Judy's sister."

Judy and Bonnie giggled at that, until Stu spoke up.

"So I guess that you'll be sticking around for the hoedown?" he asked.

"You bet," Judy said, "I've also wanted to show Nick around, show him the ropes on how things are around here."

"Terrific," Stu said, as he then looked to Judy with a smile, "I'm sure everyone will be happy to see you, in fact, there's someone who we've brought along to meet you here."

He then gestured down, so Judy and Nick could look where he meant, and Judy's smile grew as she saw a familiar little bunny, who was wearing a blue top with a pink star on it, and had a light blue skirt to go with it, and was giggling happy to see Judy.

"Hey, Cotton!" Judy said.

"Auntie Judy!" Cotton said, as she rushed up and gave Judy a hug.

Nick was quite surprised to see the very small bunny (to his eyes), as he approached the aunt and niece.

"So," he said, getting their attention, "who's this sweet little girl?"

Judy looked to Cotton as she made an introduction to Cotton and Nick, "Cotton," she said, "I like you to meet my best friend, Nick Wilde."

"Nick," she then said as she turned to the fox, "this is little niece, Cotton."

Cotton looked quite curious as she looked to Nick, she then turned to Judy, who nodded as a way of saying that she can go on say hello to him.

Cotton then looked back at Nick, as she walked up to him, then Nick crouched down to see her as he said, "You know, you almost look like your auntie Carrots here."

It was then that Cotton gave out quite a giggle about the nickname of her aunt.

"I guess maybe," Nick suggested, "I could call you 'Mini-Carrots', don't you think?"

Cotton giggled again at that as she said, "You're funny, foxy!"

"Yes, he can be quite funny," Judy said, as she picked up Cotton to look at her, "and you are just as cute as you were the last time I was here."

"Hey," Nick spoke up, looking a bit hurtful, but with a humorous smirk, "I thought you said that you didn't like it when I say the word cute?"

"Only if I was being called cute by another bunny." Judy replied, with a smirk of her own, while Cotton still giggled at what was happening.

"Anyways," Stu said, getting their attention, "now that we're all here, how about we get moving and head for our family home."

"By all means, lead the way." Nick said, as he and Judy got a hold on some of the bags (Judy holding Cotton's paw while carrying some of her bags with the other, Stu helping out with the rest).

Stu and Bonnie got into the family truck, the same one that Judy drove when looking for Nick long while back, while Judy, Nick and Cotton were in the back, enjoying the sites of Bunnyburrow as they headed off to the Hopps' homestead.

Cotton, meanwhile, was enjoying Nick's tail as she was stroking it and hugging it.

"So fluffy!" she said with happiness and excitement.

"Heh, she's quite a handful, isn't she?" Nick asked as he looked to Judy.

"Oh yes," Judy replied, "but all the same, she's so sweet once you've get well with her. And besides, she only one of the folks I want you to meet."

Nick looked to Judy, as he knew what she was going to say, "You mean…"

"Oh yeah," Judy said with a grin, "Wait until you meet the rest of the family!"

Hope you enjoyed this chapter, True Believers!

Plus, I understand if it's a little late, but I'm so happy that Zootopia/Zootropolis has won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature and I wish the film a little late Happy 1st Anniversary! I just loved the film so much (I even called it that it would win an Oscar too!), for now though, stay tune for more fun as Nick meets the whole Hopps family!