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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."