FSE

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H** ello there, dear readers! Before this new chapter begins, I would like to take a moment to say one thing about Net Neutrality. I urge anyone reading this, who cares about free speech, to please, write your local and state representatives about it, all of our voices shouting back NO! made a difference once, and can do so again! Sorry to get political there, but please, this is something that concerns everyone who has an online presence. Please, don't do what I did and just assume everything will be fine. Please, get involved, before it's too late. Together, we can save Net Neutrality!**

With that said, please enjoy the new chapter!

NOTE: This is going to be an "Eli-centered" chapter.

"Nervous sweetie?" Judy asked while looking back in the rearview mirror at Eli.

"N-N-No...I'm fine." Eli said, still wringing his hands as Judy shot a quick look to Nick in the passenger seat, seeing him flashing her a wink, before her eyes returned to the road. The fox turned to look back at Eli, smiling reassuringly.

"Hey buddy, you know that if you feel uncomfortable about this whole trip, neither Judy nor myself will get mad at you about it, right?"

"...I...know..."

"So is something troubling you?"

"Uhm...I guess...maybe I'm a little worried..."

"About what sweetie?" Judy pressed as the car moved off the freeway towards an exit ramp, a traffic sign reading Bunnyburrow 20 Mi.

Eli shifted uncomfortably in his seat a little before answering. "A-Are you sure that...uhm...th-the rest of your family knows about...me being...different?"

"Of course sweetie! They've all been paying attention to the news reports about the human arrivals, and I've spoken about you so much to them. Not to mention a few of the pictures that they've seen."

"Pictures?"

"Yup! Mostly of you when you're smiling, and of course that time Nick convinced me that sneaking you out of the hospital covered in bandages was a good idea." Judy said, noticing Nick roll his eyes, and then spotting Eli smiling a little. "So of course my brothers and sisters are super excited to meet their newest nephew, their kits are all excited to meet their newest cousin, and my mom and dad are just thrilled at the idea of getting to finally meet their newest grandkit." Judy said, noticing Eli still smiling a little, even as he looked out the window at the passing by rolling hills with a slight blush on his face.

Ever since they had filled out and submitted the adoption papers, Judy had been obviously intentionally referring to Eli as her kit every now and again, more often each day. At first Eli was embarrassed by the title, but now couldn't help a warm feeling in his chest each time he heard her say it. Granted, when she had done so while they were out in the city, he did notice a few passing mammals giving them both funny glances, but did his best to ignore the looks. However, despite Judy's reassurances, Eli couldn't help but think of those stares now, and wonder just how the rest of the Hopps family was actually going to take meeting him in person.

Images of small rabbits running in terror and yelling at Judy for bringing him played over and over again in his head as they started passing even more rolling hills, now dotted with fields and farms. It wasn't much longer before he felt the car slowing down, and was broken out of his depressing thoughts by the feeling of a comforting paw resting on his shoulder. Eli looked up to see Nick giving him a smile, Judy having already exited the vehicle.

"We're here buddy. Ready?"

"Uh...I-I guess..." Eli said, looking down.

"Well let's not keep everybody waiting then." The fox said, catching Eli's eye and giving him a wink. Eli smiled a little again, and then got out of the car at the same time as Nick, who made his way to stand right next to him. Eli could see a large, yet short, farmhouse. Judy looked to be excitedly hugging and chatting up a group of rabbits, before she turned to the two of them and motioned for Eli and Nick to approach. The fox led the way, with Eli nervously following, getting up close to the front porch.

"Hi there Nick!" An older rabbit in overalls a flannel shirt and a ball cap said. "Long time, no see!"

"Nice to see you again Stu." Nick said, stepping forward and shaking the rabbit farmer's paw.

"Oh wow. Is this...tall...person Eli?" Stu asked. Judy nodded and smiled, walking over and gently taking his hand in her paw, giving it a gentle squeeze, and pulling him forward.

"Dad, I would like to introduce you to your new grandkit, Eli!" Judy said excitedly. Stu stood there, looking the boy up and down, before smiling and holding out his paw.

"Put her there son!" Eli nodded and reached out, taking the extended paw and gently shaking it, before being surprised to find himself being pulled into a hug, or at least his legs. "Betchya'd never thought that one day you'd have a rabbit for a grampa!" Stu said with a laugh as he released the still mildly confused boy, before the rest of the bunnies on the porch, twenty in all, introduced themselves as some of Eli's new aunts and uncles, and proceeded to hug Eli as well. Eli started to feel his fear fade away, and smiled, before they all heard a low rumbling that was quickly getting louder.

"Uh, I think that I may have left my phone in the car, be right back." Nick said as he started to jog off the porch towards the car, looking suddenly nervous. He didn't get three feet away from the porch, before a flood of tiny bunnies all surged forward, and stopped when they noticed the fox.

"UNCLE NICK!!!" The kits all exclaimed in unison, and surged towards Nick, as he tried to run. All too quickly, though, he was overcome by the tide of kits, who then took this time to begin climbing all over him, giggling.

"Hey kids!" Stu called out, causing all of the kits on Nick, who appeared to be about to collapse beneath the combined weight of them, to turn and look back.

"Come meet your new cousin Eli!" Stu said, gesturing to the snickering boy, who stopped and looked a little worried. As quickly as they had arrived, the swarm of kits clambered off of Nick who, aside from some spots of mussed up fur, looked relieved. They made their way to Eli back on the porch, and just when he braced themselves for them to start scaling him, they all stopped and simply stared.

"Uhm...h-hi." Eli said. Just then, a young kit girl wearing a bright green sundress stepped forward.

"Are you really my new cousin, Eli?" She asked.

"Uhm...y-yes..." Eli said.

She looked at him curiously for another few moments, before she smiled and rushed forward, hugging Eli's ankles.

"Hello Eli, I'm Jenna!" The little girl kit said with a giggle, just before the rest of the kits rushed forward to also take turns hugging Eli who, after some beckoning, leaned down to hug them back. Nick, sensing that it was now safe, strode over to Judy with his arms crossed and a slight sour look to his muzzle.

"Oh sure, with him they take turns hugging, and with me they just clamber all over." He said softly to Judy.

"Well, they were all told that they're newest cousin was a little skittish and nervous, I'm sure." Judy said as she snapped some pictures of a few of the smaller kits asking Eli for a ride atop his head, with him happily complying. "You on the other hand are their rough-and-tumble Uncle Nick, the big brave officer." Nick tried to hide his smile at that, and failed miserably, startled by a tugging sensation on the tip of his tail. Turning around, Nick smiled at the site of a rabbit toddler, giggling and hugging his tail, while trying to toddle off with it.

"Hey there little guy," Nick said, making the young kit stop and look up at him with wide eyes, "just where do you think that you're goin' with that?" The rabbit giggled and ran up, his arms extended in an obvious sign that he wanted the fox to pick him up. Nick smirked as he bent down to pick up the little gray kit, who when he was at eye level with him, the kit found the fox's ears very interesting, grabbing them in his little paws.

"Okay little guy, that actually kinda hurts." Nick said wincing, while Judy just took a few pictures of Nick with her nephew, cooing at the sight, while Eli was trying to memorize the long list of new names being introduced to him.

Meanwhile...

"Oh c'mon Ethan!" Russel said as the little gray fox kit giggled from where he had latched on to the teen's right leg, his tail wagging happily. He had started hugging Russel just after they had both finished breakfast. Russel had planned to play some more on his new YZbox 2, that the Spitz's had decided to buy for him out of the blue, when the little kit had decided he wanted to hug Russel.

"He wants to play with you." Gloria, an 8-year-old giraffe girl who was also one of the Spitz's foster children, explained.

"Why me though?" Russel asked, reaching down and gently patting Ethan on the head.

"Dunno, he just seems to like you a lot." Gloria giggled. Russel looked down at Ethan, about to tell him no, when the kit, seeming to guess what Russel was about to say, somehow made his eyes seem even larger, and watery. Russel sighed, and then picked Ethan off of his leg, carrying him into the living room. The second he set the kit down, Ethan made a run straight for a nearby toy chest, opening it and reaching in and pulling out a box. On it said Snapos, and once opened, Ethan poured out the contents, which were all multicolored little blocks that clipped together. Ethan sat down in front of Russel and smiled wide as he started assembling something excitedly. Russel briefly thought of leaving the kit to his blocks, but decided against it.

"Okay, I guess that you really want me to play with you, so here goes." Russel said as he bent down and sat next to Ethan, and started to stick random pieces together. After a few minutes, Russel was finishing up his semi-lopsided windmill, whilst Ethan was finishing up what was apparently a tower of sorts. When they had finished, Russel gave the blades of his windmill a spin, suddenly feeling Ethan hug his side. He looked down at the little fox and smiled. Ever since being placed in the Spitz's care, the little fox had immediately taken a liking to him.

At first, Russel had been expecting the worst from the Spitz's, and that sooner or later they were just going to be getting rid of him. Three weeks later, and Russel was starting to feel more and more comfortable. He had yet to really get to know any of the other foster kids, not counting Ethan. They had been kind enough to him so far though.

"Oh Russel!" The two turned to see Mrs. Patricia Spitz, a siberian husky, standing in the doorway. "Thank you for watching little Ethan!" She said as she strode over, with a large grin on her face, and reached down to scoop Ethan up into her arms. The little fox giggled and leapt into Russel's lap, wrapping his tiny arms as far around Russel's stomach as they would go, clinging to him.

"Oh Ethan, we have to get you ready for another wonderful day of pre-school, and you Russel have another appointment with Barry." Patricia said, gently stroking Ethan between his ears, while resting a gentle paw on Russel's shoulder. Ethan squeezed tighter, indicating that getting ready for pre-school was the last thing that he wanted to do right now.

"I'm so sorry Russel," Patricia whispered into his ear, "but I think Ethan isn't going to be letting go of you at all without some kind of incentive."

Russel nodded, having already dealt with two similar incidents with the little kit. He then leaned down and gently started patting Ethan's back.

"Hey bud. You gotta go to pre-school today, and I gotta see my friend." He rolled his eyes a little when Ethan whined and shook his head. "How about this, after you get home from pre-school, I'll play with you some more?"

Ethan's ears perked up, and his tail started wagging back and forth in excitement. He then detached from Russel's stomach and chest, scampering up the stairs to his room.

"Thank you Russel, that was very nice of you to play with him, and it's even nicer of you agree to play with him some more." Patricia said, giving Russel a hug, before heading up after Ethan, to help the little one dress. Russel sat there, looking at where Ethan just was, and looking at their creations, lost in thought.

Back at the Hopps Farm...

"C'mon Squirt, let's go help with setting up the tables." Eli's new cousin Thomas said. Thomas was two years older, and so the teen bunny happily welcomed his new younger cousin with a friendly nickname he gave to all of his younger cousins. Nick seemed to find the smaller mammal referring to the human as Squirt quite amusing. Judy had been enjoying catching up with her siblings and nieces and nephews, but also was continuously checking up on Eli, ecstatic at how well he had been welcomed by the rest of the family, to the point of having to wipe tears of joy from her eyes periodically.

"He certainly seems to be getting along just fine honey." Bonnie said, smiling as she stood right next to her daughter, also watching Eli as he assisted with his cousins in setting up some of the tables for the family reunion feast.

"He really does." Judy wiped her eyes again before turning and hugging the older rabbit. "When Nick and I first found him...he was just so scared, hurt, and alone, that it was absolutely heartbreaking." Judy said.

"That part of his life is over now honey." Bonnie said softly. "He now has you and Nicholas both to look out for him, not to mention a few more family members now as well." Judy chuckled at that, as well at the sight of three kits riding on top of Eli's head as he moved about the back yard helping out. At that moment is when Nick casually strode up to the two, smiling down at Judy.

"So carrots," Nick said, noticing the small smile Bonnie got whenever she heard Nick refer to Judy by that nickname, "what's this I'm hearing about you having a surprise for Eli?" Judy sighed and rolled her eyes.

"It's nice to know that you can casually interrogate my family Nick."

"What? All I did was strike up a conversation with your uncle Terry over there." Nick said, pointing behind himself.

"Well, if you must know, I was thinking that maybe, in addition to the whole family reunion, we could have a small surprise party for Eli, y'know, to really welcome him to the family."

"Oh? It would have been nice to know much more ahead of time that you were planning on throwing a party." Nick said a little grumpily.

"Nick, it was just a little thought I had, I only ran it by my mom and dad an hour ago." Judy defended.

"And we're already making the preparations!" Bonnie said excitedly.

"Really? What kind of preparations?" Nick asked.

"Oh, well, there's going to be a banner, some streamers, plenty of balloons, also we're setting up all that we'll need for the fireworks display, then the presents-"

"Woah, wait, mom, did you just say fireworks?" Judy asked, suddenly caught off guard, having only originally intending for it to be a simple affair.

"Well yes honey. See, your brothers Max and Jax are on the town council, and already approved the special permit for the fireworks."

"But it's only been an hour!" Judy exclaimed.

"Well you remember how fast we Hopps work sweetie! In fact, I'm pretty sure that we've already gotten the proper permits for the booths."

"What booths?"

"Oh the game booths."

"Game booths, like at a carnival?"

"Exactly. Granted, we are working short notice, so Nicholas?" Bonnie looked up at Nick, who had been enjoying the stunned expression on Judy's face up to this point?

"Yes Mrs. Hopps?"

"Please Nicholas, call me Bonnie."

"Alright, but only if you call me Nick."

"Very well Nick, anyways, since tonight we're going to be having our family reunion, we won't be able to set everything else up in town until tomorrow, so I was wondering if maybe you could keep Eli distracted until we get everything ready."

"I would love to!" Nick said nudging Judy a little to break her out of her stunned trance.

"H-How long will it take mom?"

"Well, after we spread the word to the rest of the town about the celebration, and once the booth prizes arrive, and of course after you help us all to understand the kinds of things he likes and the things that he doesn't like, it should only take us about an hour and a half to set up everything and to lie in wait to surprise Eli."

"Well in that case, how about I take him fishing? I'm sure he would like that." Nick offered.

"That sounds like a wonderful idea Nick."

"Wait," Judy said, "Only an hour ago, all I did was ask to throw a small surprise party for Eli!"

And there you have it readers! I certainly hope that you enjoyed the new chapter! As always, feel free to leave a review!