Family day part 2

"Tell me more about your family, whiskers." Nick said while he drove toward The Burrow- the main city of the bunnies and Judy's hometown.

He could see the large purple buildings in the distance as he drove across the bridge that connected Zootopia to the outside world. It would be an hour until they made it to Judy's farmhouse. She grew up with a family of carrot farmers, which was really no surprise to him. It explained why she was so happy all the time; you had to be if you were forced to get up before dawn just to dig up some carrots. He couldn't think of anything more boring.

"I only met your parents, and I don't really know much about the rest of your family." He continued. Judy smiled widely, so wide that he thought that she would get a facial cramp.

"Well!" She perked up. "I had 247 brothers and sisters, but now it's 300 since my mom just gave birth two months ago."

His face fell and he let out a nervous laugh. "W-what? Are you serious?"

"Oh yeah!" She exclaimed. "I'm a member of the fifth litter she had!"

His ears lowered; he already dreaded meeting all 300 of her brothers and sisters, not to mention the amount of uncles and aunts and their children. Is that why The Burrows always built new homes? For the growing populations? He shivered at the thought.

He sunk in his seat as Judy continued, each new fact making him sick to his stomach with anxiety.

"I'm also an aunt of 150 bunnies altogether from my older brothers and sisters, and a great aunt for about 100 of them. I also have over 500 cousins and 300 aunts and uncles from my mom's side!"

He cringed, his knuckles turning white due to how tight he was holding the steering wheel. "W-why so many? Doesn't that make you go crazy?"

She tilted her head when she looked at him. "No. Why would it? Don't you have any brothers and sisters?"

"I-" he looked off to the side. "I don't want to talk about my family now."

"Oh..." Her ears lowered. "Sorry, I guess I do argue with my brothers and sisters sometimes but that's because I was the runt of the litter, but they love me! It's just a normal sibling relationship." She said, waving it off and not wanting to go on. She couldn't help but think that Nick never mentioned his family to her. While she managed to get him to meet with her parents once before, Nick never had taken her to his family home. She thought it was best not to push it. He would tell her in his own time. Hopefully.

Nick pulled up on a long dirt driveway that led to Judy's home, a massive farm house that could house over 1000 bunnies. Judy's family farm had acres and acres of massive land, all good for one thing: growing carrots. Obviously. In the distance, away from all the dirt and manure there were oak trees lined up, leading into a mini forest. He had to admit, the awful smell aside, it seemed to be a pretty nice place. That feeling disappeared once he saw the hundreds of vans parked in front of them.

He pressed on the brake pedal, putting the car into park behind a large white van. On the window was a stick figure family; it filled up the whole window space. The passenger doors slid open suddenly, with twenty five bunnies jumping out alongside their mom and dad. Judy gasped loudly and rolled down the window.

"That's my older brother! Hello Johnny! Hi Marsha! Hey Kids!" she exclaimed loudly, making the family turn with large smiles on their faces. Nick eyes widened when he saw that the mother was pregnant. It looked like she was about to burst.

"Hi Judy!" they all replied, but one look at Nick made their smiles disappear in a second. He put up his paw, waving at them with a polite smile. Not giving him a second look, they turned on their heels to avoid any sort of interaction with him. He frowned and sighed heavily. His forehead hit the wheel. Judy placed a paw over her heart at her extended family's reaction to him. She knew that bunnies and foxes usually didn't get along, but that was no reason to give him the cold shoulder. He hadn't even done anything to warrant their cold behavior. Judy placed a gentle paw on his shoulder.

"Don't take it so hard, I swear they'll like you." she softly said, trying to cheer him up. He looked at her with unimpressed eyes. She leaned in, giving him a tender kiss on the cheek before wrapping her arms around his neck. "Aw come on, by the end of the day, everyone will love you."

"I highly doubt that." he replied bitterly, followed by a scoff. "But what does a fox expect from a society of bunnies?"

"Nick..."

"Maybe I should go." he stated, lifting his head up and removing her paws from him. "This was a bad idea."

"No!" Judy shouted, more loudly than she meant to. Nick raised a brow when she covered her mouth. "I mean, no, because I really want you here." she said, giving him a sweet smile and making her eyes grow extremely large. His eyes narrowed in suspicion. She batted her eyes innocently, trying to add to her cuteness.

"Why exactly did you bring me here?" he asked.

Judy began stroking her ears, continuing to bat her eyes. "Oh Nickie, what do you mean? Because I wanted to show you to my family, of course."

His nose recoiled. "Nickie? Since when are you the one to give nicknames?" Her eyes shifted slightly while she tried to come up with an excuse. He had seen enough to make his verdict. "You're actually hiding something from me! Why am I here?" He demanded, crossing his arms.

She let out a deflated sigh. "Okay, the truth is, the reason I wanted you to come is because..." She pursed her lips, making him lean forward. "My ex-mate is here too."

His eyes widened. An ex-mate? She had never told him she had been in a relationship with another animal before. He thought he was her first. It actually made him felt special. He was her first mate, first kiss, first friend, and everything else. Now that was tossed out of the car's window. Knowing that some other animal had had his own paws on Judy made him feel almost annoyed that he wasn't the first one.

"He's a family friend!" Judy began running her paws down her face, stretching it. "So my parents had to invite him too!" She rubbed her temple next, feeling a migraine coming on. Just the thought of seeing her ex made her body fill up with anger. After what he said to her, she would never be able to forgive him. She took a breath before continuing. "That's why I wanted you to come with me...because the other day, he called me."

"What did he say?" He asked immediately, but not because he was jealous. He would never act like that. So what if an old flame called his mate? It was nothing. She was with him now. He simply wanted to know for the sake of curiosity.

Judy sighed again, hitting the back of her seat with her back. "He called asking me to come back and be his mate, saying he was sorry and all of these..." Her hands clenched into fists. "Lies! I told him that I moved on and that I was bringing you and of course, being the animal that he is, he didn't believe me. That stupid jerk." she growled.

Her eyes softened when she looked back at Nick. "And now you know..." She frowned when he did not give her an instant response. He just sat there with his paw on his chin, staring off to the side with a dull face. "Are you angry?"

He chewed the inside of his cheek before replying in a straight face. "We should make out in front of him."

"Nick!" She yelled out, completely mortified. Her face was so pink that she was practically glowing.

He moved forward, scooching his bottom towards her, coming as close as possible.

He grabbed her paw, brushing her knuckles with his thumb. "Aw come on, it would be funny! In fact, we should practice right now."

He pursed his lips, leaning forward. She pushed his face aside, giggling.

"No way! I could never do that!" but she couldn't help giggling at the thought of showing her ex up. Just the mental image of his reaction made her giggle uncontrollably. Nick moved away and

laughed alongside her, snorting slightly. He always loved hearing her laugh.

"You know, if you told me that this morning I would have been more than happy to come along." He winked, wagging his tail. She nodded, her laughter dying.

"I know, I just didn't want you to worry about it. Maybe we won't even see him. There is a lot of bunnies." She smiled. He was surprised when she rested her head on his arm, wrapping her arms around him in a hug. Nick felt his heart began to beat faster when she nuzzled him right on his chest. He pulled at his collar, feeling a little warm. He was tempted to wrap his own arms around her fragile frame, but he decided against it because he would be unable to let go. "I'm glad you're with me, Nick." (Why Nick, you're blushing. Hehehe)

He gave her a wry smile. "Me too, Whiskers." He heard her hum happily. She pulled away while she wrapped her paws around his tie knot. He felt her nimble fingers loosen and brush along the striped fabric, trying to make it look straight and presentable.

"Can I tell you something?" She asked, running her finger around her left ear in an almost shy manner.

He grasped her paw that was still on his tie. "Sure. You can tell me anything, unless it's a secret, then it's going straight on my fur-book feed." He snickered but stopped when her expression turned serious. He patted her paw. "I'm kidding, I'm kidding...tell me."

Her ears went down, a small blush spreading across her face. "I'm happy..."

"You're always happy."

"N-no, I mean...I'm happy that I found you and that I'm with you and that I found someone better."

He blinked, and saw that she unable to look up at him. Her ears were already red. He pressed his lips against her forehead, giving her a tender kiss before pulling away. Her paw immediately went up to where he touched her.

"Me too, Judy."

They decided to walk in while holding paws. Judy wanted to show her family that she had decided to become mates with someone outside of her own kind. Nick didn't argue, but having hundreds of bunnies eyeing them did unnerve him. They were walking through the back yard, where tables and chairs were set up, reaching a mile down the grassy yard. Nick stayed close to Judy as she waved to and smiled at each of her family members while maneuvering through the large crowd.

"Hi Uncle John! Billy! Marty! Jessica! Auntie Beth! Cousin Jack! Samantha! John Jr! David!"

Nick just smiled awkwardly and remained quiet. He noticed all of the glares and looks of disgust, and they made him uncomfortable. He wondered if Judy was noticing their stares while she waved. Normally he wouldn't have cared what they thought of him. Before he met Judy he avoided bunnies because he thought they were nothing but annoying and aloof. He had hated the way they whispered to each other when he passed them on the street, thinking he wouldn't hear their harsh words. They had judged him without even knowing him. That was exactly what he had given them whenever he met them, treating them like they expected a fox to treat them. It was only after Judy saw past that and realized who he really was that things had changed.

Meeting Judy was possibly the best thing that could have ever happened to him. Judy was the reason that he had changed what he thought about her kind, though only just a little. Being her mate, he had to try his best to get along with everyone while also showing them that he was a good, adequate guy. Judy pulled him through the crowd, suddenly seeing a couple of bunnies that caught her interest. His eyes squinted as he looked across the distance and saw her parents, who were busy setting up tables.

"Mom! Dad!" Judy called, waving at them with her free arm. Nick saw that her father was busy carrying six babies, three on each arm and balanced precisely. He was obviously too preoccupied to have noticed her daughter's call. Her mother's ears perked when she saw her and Nick.

"Judy! Nick! I'm so happy you came!" She said, rosy cheeked.

"Hi mom." Judy said when her mother wrapped her arms around her in a hug before pulling away.

"We were worried that you weren't coming since you're so busy being a police officer in the city."

"I'm always happy to come over, Mom."

"Oh! And what a lovely dress! Did you pick this out yourself? Stu! Come here and see your daughter!" She called out loudly to her husband, who was busy trying to wrangle his struggling babies.

"Which one?!" He called back as a baby climbed all over his face. While slowly inching towards them he spun around, trying to balance the fussy babies.

"Judy!"

"Hold on, I'm coming!"

Judy shook her head upon seeing her father's struggles. She tugged Nick's sleeve, making him come closer toward them. "He picked it out, Mama."answering her mother's question about her dress.

Judy's mother hummed happily, giving Nick a smile. "Oh well aren't you sweet?"

"Only to your daughter, Mrs, Hopps." Nick replied smoothly, putting his arm around Judy's shoulder. Her mother flicked her wrist at them, laughing.

"Oh isn't she lucky to have you?"

Judy and Nick glanced at each other, giving each other a smirk before her father came stumbling in with crying bunnies in his arms.

"Are they my new brothers and sisters?!" Judy asked, excitedly taking one fussy baby away from her father, who was more than happy to loan one out. Judy bounced her crying sister in her arms, soothing her and quickly quieting her cries. Nick was surprised by how fast she got the baby to calm down. He winced as the other babies began shrieking and writhing in her father's arms.

"Oh no!" Judy's father, Stu, cried out. Her mother swooped to the rescue, taking two of her children out of his arms.

"Stu, this is the 28th litter. I thought this time you would get the hang of it. Here, Nick, would you be a dear and hold little Patricia?" She asked, putting a pink swaddled baby into his arms before he could protest. His arms stiffened as he held the foreign object. The grey bunny writhed violently underneath her blanket, wanting desperately to be freed and voicing her discontent loudly. He cringed at the shrill cries, and began to sweat nervously. Judy laughed loudly at how inexperienced he was.

"Nick, it's just a baby." She told him, rocking her other baby sister in her arms, who was asleep.

"Easy for you!" He griped, facing her while. "Here, maybe you should hold her!"

"Just bounce her. She's just sleepy." She said gently. "Like this." She bounced her sister slightly, rocking her arms at a gentle pace.

Nick looked down at the screaming baby and slowly began bouncing it. At first he thought he was doing it wrong since the baby continued to cry, but after a while she soon started to quiet down. "There you go...see? Even someone like you can take care of a baby."

Nick glanced at the baby, finding her looking up at him with large curious eyes. His thumb stroked her tear soaked cheek gently.

"Yeah..." he muttered with a smile. "Guess so."

Judy's mother placed a paw on Judy's shoulder. "She always had a gift with the children. I know you'll be a good mother one day, sweetheart."

"Aw thanks Mom!"

"That's what I kept saying, right my sweet cottontail?"

Judy whirled when she heard that agonizing, pride-stricken voice. Strolling right up to them was a bunny dressed in a pin-striped suit. He was taller than most bunnies, his shoulder were broad from years of tolling in the fields when he was young. His fur glistened in the sun, shining as bright as his perfect white teeth that poked out through his chivalrous grin. She wanted to punch him right in his mouth.

Nick's eyebrows rose in an unimpressed gaze at the pompous bunny who suddenly came into their conversation. He immediately did not like him. More so when the cheeky bunny came and looped his arm around Judy's waist.

"Miss me, Judy?"