Hello there, dear readers! Here I am with another new chapter of The Keyhole! I'm just so excited for you all to be able to read it! And the kind words and reviews after uploading the last chapter we just so wonderful! Thank you all for giving my stories a read and for just being lovely in general! I hope that you enjoy the new chapter!

The piercing and insistent beeping of an alarm clock rang out through the darkened bedroom. Ralph Wolford rolled over and fumbled with the offending electronic device on the bedside table for a few moments, cursing lightly under his breath before he finally was able to switch it off. The timber wolf rolled back over and reached out with his paws, searching for his mate. After a few minutes of only feeling more of the empty bed, Ralph blearily opened his eyes to confirm that she was not laying beside him. He looked about the room and confirmed that she wasn't there. His ears perked at a sound coming from the open bedroom door and down the hall.

He got up, stretching a little, and padded lightly out the door. He followed the sound, as well as the strong sweet scent of her, right to the kitchen. A smile crept over his muzzle as he looked upon Nadine, the tigress wearing her simple red silk night gown, as she stood at the stove, making scrambled eggs in a skillet. He leaned against the doorframe, taking in the sight of her in the early morning sunlight streaming in beams through the blinds over the kitchen sink. They had been married for almost seven years, and yet every now and again, Ralph was struck by Nadine's beauty once more.

Her nostrils flared in a way that he had, even back when they had first been partnered at the precinct, found to be incredibly adorable, what with the extra little twitch; and she turned to face him. She saw him standing there, smiling in the goofy fashion that made her in equal parts want to roll her eyes and pull him close, and instead chose to play it off with a smirk, which Ralph immediately saw right through.

"Well now, if this isn't a pleasant surprise," Ralph said casually. "You're cooking. Perhaps there's a blue moon out tonight?"

"I woke up early and couldn't go back to sleep," the tigress said with a shrug, "so I decided to do something constructive."

The timber wolf's tail, which had been slowly picking up speed with its wagging, suddenly started to droop as he began to suspect the reasoning for this.

"Bad dream?" he asked, stepping closer to Nadine and gently wrapping an arm around her waist. More than a few of Ralph's friends enjoyed poking fun at the size difference between him and his tigress, what with her practically dwarfing him, along with her very apparent muscular build. But as with everything else about her, Ralph found it simply to be another detail of her that he had long since become infatuated with.

Nadine looked down at the scrambled eggs, using the spatula to help them to evenly cook, her smile disappearing.

"Yes," she said simply, taking a deep breath as turned to look down into her husband's eyes.

"And may I hazard a guess that the dream was in some way connected to the adorable baby mammal that you were completely smitten with yesterday?" Ralph asked as he squeezed her close.

"Yes," Nadine said again as she turned off the burner, and started to transfer the large batch of eggs to two awaiting plates that both already had fried slices of turkey bacon awaiting.

Ralph took the plates and set them on the kitchen table while Nadine pulled two glasses from an overhead cupboard, before heading to the fridge and grabbing the carton of cran-raspberry juice that she and Ralph both enjoyed. She set the glasses down on the table, next to their plates, and filled them with the bright red juice. Ralph patiently took a seat as Nadine put the carton back into the fridge, and sat down opposite him. They stared at each other, smiling, in the companionable silence that they enjoyed with one another from time to time. They both simultaneously reached across the table with a paw, to interlace them together. Despite being married for as long as they had been, Nadine and Ralph were still acting the part of happy newlyweds... making sure to keep things professional when on the job. Finally, Nadine took a breath, and exhaled.

"So... you know how I get whenever I see a little one, especially a baby," she started, her heart fluttering at the sight of Ralph's fangy grin.

"Oh yes, as well as how you get around small, full-grown mammals that you mistake for lost kits and cubs." Ralph distinctly remembered thinking that the full grown fennec fox she had started to mollycoddle would have come at them both with the baseball bat he had spied in the back of the fox's van, had they not been wearing their police uniforms. Nadine had been rendered speechless with embarrassment over her mistake, as was still quite apparent with the blush that was barely concealed beneath her fur.

"Anyway," she huffed, a little defensively, "yesterday... when I held her in my arms... it felt... different..." Nadine said, looking to be trying to find the right words. Ralph immediately knew what the tigress whose paw he was holding was trying to say. His nose was one of the best in the entire precinct, and the scent he had picked up off of his mate yesterday was a very special, almost fruity scent, that he had only ever sniffed out a few times before.

"You didn't want to let her go," Ralph said, remembering how the tigress had frightened the coyote social worker who had come to take the human baby to a foster home with her intimidating presence and narrowed eyes.

"No... I didn't," Nadine said, feeling a fresh pang of guilt that had originally stemmed from the sounds of the human baby crying her eyes out the further away from the tigress she was carried. Ralph had to almost talk Nadine down from running after them and pouncing on the coyote.

"And last night I... I dreamt that she was taken to a foster home, and because they didn't know how to care for a human baby, she ended up hurt, and was just passed over again and again and again, from one unfit home to the next."

Ralph squeezed her paw gently, reassuring her that he was there for her. "There was nothing more that you could do, Nadine," he said in a soothing voice. "You didn't have a choice in the matter." While Ralph hadn't gotten as much time with the little mammal himself, he too had fawned over her a bit himself, as well as feeling a pang in his own heart when the time to hand her off to Child Services had come all too soon.

"I know, but..." Nadine said, a small smile playing on her lips. Ralph's ears started to lay flat against his head, having seem that specific look on his wife's face several times over the years.

"Nadine, what are you planning?" he asked, with a slight tremor of nervousness in his voice.

"Well... you know how Judy was given custody of the very first human cub to appear all those months ago?" she asked, Ralph's suspicions steadily growing.

"Yeah?" he said.

"Okay so... I found out that the chief was able to pull some strings to help fast track that."

"And you were thinking about us asking the chief to help us do something similar with a human pup you and I found yesterday and only spent a few hours with?" Ralph asked, his throat dry. He grabbed his glass of juice with his free paw and started to take a drink.

"Sort of..." Nadine said as she let go of Ralph's other paw and looked down at her plate with a slight guilty expression on her face. "I already called him a little while ago before you woke up, and I was able to convince him to do something similar for us."

Ralph had of course seen spit takes on TV shows and in movies before, but never before that very moment had he believed that they were something that ever happened in real life. He turned away just a fraction of a second before it happened, managing to avoid spewing a muzzleful of juice over his mate's face. He coughed for a few moments and tried to catch his breath.

"WHAT?!" This morning was not at all going how the timber wolf had expected. "Nadine, how could you do something like that without even waiting to talk to me about it?" Ralph asked, hurt at being left out of the discussion.

"I'm sorry, Ralph," Nadine said, meaning it, "I just sorta got the thought in my head, and the next thing I knew I was talking with Bogo on the phone, making our case as potential foster parents."

"I... uh..." Ralph just couldn't find it in himself to be too angry with the downcast-looking tigress before him. He also wasn't too surprised at her desire to take in the human infant, what with the rare and strong fruity scent he had been smelling all around her ever since yesterday. It was actually even stronger today. Nadine, big strong, tough-as-nails Fangmeyer, wanted to become a mother. The last time he had smelled this particular aroma was just before they had been informed that they would never be able to have children of their own. He remembered how, despite the mask of calm and confidence his mate had worn, Ralph had seen how much the knowledge had deeply hurt her. And the pain of disappointment he had felt at the time was crushing for him as well. Not getting to be a daddy, not getting to hold a pup of his very own in his arms; that knowledge felt as though someone had sucker-punched him right in the gut. But he'd put on a brave face, much like Nadine had, in order to comfort her.

"I guess... I can't be too mad, what with how much you were doting on her..." Ralph said, his earlier smile returning. Nadine's face lit up as her eyes found his.

"I just can't believe that the chief would be so willing to help us with this," Ralph said, taking another sip.

"Well, he said that he wasn't particularly surprised at my call, after... uhm... catching a certain scent while we gave out report to him in his office yesterday..." Ralph did another spit take, once again coughing as he had also inhaled some of his drink.

"So... uh," Raph said after he had gotten his coughing under control, again, attempting to change the subject, "so, did he say how much paperwork is going to be involved?"

"A bit... also..." Nadine said, chewing on her bottom lip.

"Also, what?" Ralph asked.

"A representative is going to be coming here in a few days for an inspection, to make sure that we're prepared to take in a baby," Nadine said, her smile cracking through her attempted mask of calm.

"Oh... what does that mean?" Ralph asked, his mind instantly going to ideas of baby-proofing their home, stopping to realize that his tail was wagging with his building excitement at the possibility of it all.

Are Nadine and I really gonna become a mommy and daddy?! he wondered to himself. This morning was proving to be quite full of surprises for Ralph Wolford. He looked across at his mate, his paw once more holding hers. He slid his thumb over her wedding ring, which was a slightly larger match to his own, before he leaned across and kissed her passionately, almost knocking their plates off the table.

Meanwhile...

Baily yawned as he waited on his coffee-maker to finish filling the pot. He smiled as he spied his reflection in the mirror from his bedroom, having left the door open after shuffling out into the kitchen. He looked at his copper-red hair that was now tickling the back of his neck, and came to the conclusion that he was going to be needing a haircut soon, before he set about making himself some toast. Once more he was getting an early start before catching the bus that would take him into Tundra Town.

He yawned again as the gurgling from the coffee pot finished, and he switched it off, before grabbing himself one of the mugs Sophia had bought him. He smiled as he held it in his hand, with an intricate design on it that she had told him symbolized her favorite fake radio show podcast, Welcome to Sunset Valley, that she frequently watched on FurTube and was always telling the human man that it was a show he would definitely enjoy.

Maybe I should just break down and buy a computer... or at least a laptop, he thought to himself as he looked around his apartment. Thanks to the program that Arnie had helped him get into, Baily now had a small, but comfortable, place to live. And in the months that he had been working for the rhino officer's elephant aunt, Phyllis, he had already earned quite a bit that he was mostly using to now pay bills and put up for savings. After so many years of being homeless, Baily was setting aside a proper slush fund, as a potential safety net. However, one look at his mostly Spartan home made Baily consider spending a little on certain creature comforts.

Okay, fine... I'll call up Sophia when she's on her break and ask her to go computer shopping with me, Baily thought, a smile playing at the corners of his mouth as he thought of the lioness. A part of him briefly wondered if he wasn't just thinking of an excuse for the two of them to spend some more time with one another, but then dismissed the idea.

She's just a friend... besides, she's probably only interested in other lions... or at least other felines... Baily thought with a shrug, right before his phone started to buzz on the counter where he had set it to charge. He looked at the screen, and smiled at the picture the two of them had taken together when Sophia had insisted they go out to eat at restaurant called Misty's On the Vine, in the Rainforest District. The picture showed the two smiling at the camera, with her paw around his waist, her tail a slight blur since it had been in mid-swish when the capybara waitress had taken the picture for them.

"Hey, Sophia," he said as he answered.

"Hi, Baily!" The lioness' voice was chipper, as usual. "I totally got up today, forgetting that today was my day off, so I decided to call you and see if you were gonna be free this afternoon."

"Oh, uh, well," Baily said, thinking about what today's itinerary at the shop was supposed to be, "I have a few paw and rune stone readings, but those are all before noon. Also I do have to give the shop a once over, y'know to make sure all the displays are neat and presentable and all that. But," then Baily remembered, "oh yeah! Phyllis is totally gonna be hosting a seance after lunch, and since she hasn't trained me for it yet, I get to go home early!" As much as Baily loved working at Eyevory Tusks, even he enjoyed his days off.

"Awesome," the lioness's smile could he heard in her voice, "so what time will you get off?"

"Around one-ish," Baily said, having long since gotten used to his boss being a little lax when it came to exact deadlines, not that that stopped him from coming in on time or even a little early.

"Oh great! Wanna go catch a movie then?" Sophia asked.

"Sure! Any ideas as to what's playing?" Baily asked, it now occurring to him that he and Sophia had been seeing each other and spending a lot of time in each other's company quite a bit lately, but then pushed that thought away.

"OH! There's the remake of Justice Dis Quiet, and it's supposed to be good and gory!" Sophia's excitement made Baily chuckle. He would have never guessed that the chipper nurse would have been a fan of horror and violent movies, but she had long since showed him otherwise, including showing him her extensive collection at her apartment.

"Sounds fun to me. Should I take a bus to your place?" Baily asked, trying to remember the different busses he would need to take to make it to Sophie's apartment.

"I can always just meet you at the shop and we can go from there," Sophie offered, making Baily blush. Phyllis had been hinting, quite a bit actually, that the two were spending a lot of time with one another.

"Sure, sounds great," he said, suddenly wondering why he felt nervous all of a sudden.

"Awesome! See you at one-ish!" And with that, the lioness ended the call.

Baily poured a mug and looked himself over in the mirror again.

Maybe I should shave today, he thought as he felt the ginger stubble on his face.

Would wearing that blazer that Sophia picked out for me be too much? he wondered, sipping his coffee, preferring it black. His stomach rumbled as he looked at the clock on the microwave, prompting him to set about his normal morning routine, going about it a little faster than usual. Of course, that didn't do anything to diminish the wide grin he now had.

At the Zootopia Police Academy...

"UP AND AT 'EM, CADETS!" Major Friedkin yelled as she stood in the doorway, looking at the cadets, the majority of whom were already up and dressed for the next day of training. The polar bear instructor smirked as she looked at how this batch of recruits had all more or less shaped up. On more than one occasion, she had to actively keep from letting out a snort of laughter at some of their banter and antics, especially when the human or the hare cadets were involved. She nodded in approval before informing them that today they were going to be tested on what they had learned about taking down mammals bigger than themselves, and she looked forward to seeing how Cadet Cruz would be faring against the rhino in the ring. The human had greatly surprised her with his determination, his prior police experience obviously being of great help to him in training. She was also curious to see how Cadet Savage would fare against Craigson, whose pride was still wounded after being taken down by that bunny cadet a few years back, and was especially itching to go toe-to-toe with the hare.

"So, how do you think you're going to do, Jack?" Major Friedkin heard over the din of conversation from the recruits as she turned to go, easily picking out the human's voice.

"Well, a little bunny had to take down the rhino in order to pass, so I think I'm going to do just fine," came the casual banter of Cadet Savage.

"...But you're also a rabbit," Cadet Cruz pointed out.

"No, I'm a hare. Big difference," Jack said, rolling his eyes.

"...Okay then..." Walter said, deciding not to ask for further explanation as they followed the other cadets in filing out of the room.

And there you have it, dear readers! I hope that you enjoyed the new chapter! Also, in case any of you might have missed the teeny tiny little subtle hint that I dropped in this chapter, I am all aboard for the WolfMeyer train! WOO-WOO!!! (Train Noise)