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Hello there, dear readers! I'm excited to bring you the newest chapter of The Keyhole! Once again, this chapter was proofread by the awesome Trismegistus Shandy! Be sure to let me know what you think! And please, enjoy!

"Aren't you just a little cutie," Bonnie Hopps cooed to the human infant in Sharla's arms. The black-wooled ewe, while fairly short herself, still had to lean down a bit to allow the older bunny to ogle little Jeremiah, who was babbling excitedly in her arms.

"I think he likes you, Mrs. Hopps," Sharla said. Presently, she was wearing her air force uniform, which was a crisp light blue shirt and black slacks. There were several small badges pinned just above her left front shirt pocket. This uniform also came with a blazer; on the shoulders were the bands that denoted her rank as lieutenant. She had just returned from the nearby base.

"Please, Sharla, I've asked you before to call me Bonnie," Bonnie said as she reach over to tickle Jeremiah's chin. The baby squealed in delight, reaching over for Bonnie's ears. She deftly evaded him, while still cooing at his cuteness. Bonnie herself was wearing a pair of overalls, a pink flannel shirt, and a sunhat. She had been working in her garden when Sharla had decided to stop by, baby in tow.

"Sorry, Bonnie, it's a little hard going from formal address to informal in the same day." Sharla let out a sigh, but her smile only grew as she looked down into her arms and nuzzled the baby.

"Gideon stopped by earlier, to pick up some additional supplies for his shop. He seemed... a little tired..." Bonnie said, remembering the bags underneath the fox's eyes.

"Yeah, Jeremy here kept having nightmares last night, so Gid kept waking up to comfort him. He kept telling me to go back to bed, that he'd got everything covered. So I decided to give him a break and take this little guy to work with me," Sharla explained, letting out a soft yawn.

"They let you walk around with a baby on the base?" Bonnie asked, surprised. Sharla smiled and shook her head.

"No; there is a daycare on the base, but I did keep checking up on him," Sharla said, starting to bounce Jeremy in her arms as he started to get a little fussy.

"It's not easy trying to balance a career or a business while also taking care of a baby," Bonnie said, reaching up to pat the ewe on her shoulder. "You know, if you ever need a babysitter, just give me a call or stop on by."

Sharla took a moment to think that over. "Actually, I might just go ahead and take you up on that offer, Bonnie. It has been a while since me and Gid had us some, ahem, alone time," Sharla said, suddenly blushing beneath her dark wool as she realized what she had just said in front of her best friend's mother. "O-Oh! I-I-I mean, uhm, M-Mrs. Hopps, uh, B-B-Bonnie, what I mean to s-say w-was--" Sharla was silence by a wave of Bonnie's paw.

"Oh hush, sweetheart," Bonnie said with a warm smile, "don't you go gettin' flustered on my account. I know exactly how important some alone time can be between a couple, especially considering how much time and energy babies require."

Sharla's face was still blushing, hidden by the darkness of her wool and skin, but she smiled back. "Thanks Bonnie... uhm," Sharla said, looking at Jeremy for a second before continuing, "would it be possible fer you to watch him tonight... I was actually kinda hoping to surprise Gid, once he got some rest, with dinner tonight... and I was hoping that I could find a way to make it romantic. I even... heh, have a new dress that I was planning on wearing."

Bonnie chuckled as she thought about what it was like to be that young and in love. "Oh course, Sharla. Just bring little Jeremy over whenever you're ready for your date night."

"Thank you , Mrs. Hop-- er-- Bonnie!" Sharla said excitedly, making the baby squeal in pure joy once again.

At that Moment...

"I don't see why you had to go and drag me here on our day off," Chaz whined, the timber wolf looking sourly at his rhino partner.

"I didn't drag you anywhere," Arnie said with a roll of his eyes, "you just invited yourself, like you always do." The two, dressed in casual jeans and T-shirts, were walking through the front doors at a New Dawn facility, located in the heart of Savannah Central. They nodded to two homeless mammals, a skunk and a fox, sitting on the bench outside. "Besides, it's not like it would kill you to help out your fellow mammals."

"It might," Chaz said, his tail tucking itself between his legs at the look that Arnie shot him. They entered the building into a long hallway, with several mammals walking from one room to the next. As they started passing by open doors, Chaz couldn't help but peek inside. They passed by several classes being taught, a few sessions of group therapy, and several different support groups.

"The closed doors," Arnie's voice rumbled as they walked, catching the timber wolf by surprise, "are private one-on-one therapy sessions; checkups, drug counseling, and stuff like that."

"Oh," Chaz said, sniffing the air. He had initially been worried that, with his superior sense of smell, he would have been overwhelmed at this place. However, aside from the normal scents he picked up in the city, he didn't smell anything that would make him turn tail and run. A small part of him felt a pang of guilt, for assuming that the place was going to reek.

"So, what do you do here?" he asked, curious as to where they were going.

"Check in on the folks here, see how they're doing, if they need any help, or just someone to talk to. Also I help to pitch in with the kitchen now and again," Arnie explained as they came out into a large cafeteria. Chaz looked around, seeing mammals eating and conversing, some sitting in chairs around several communal televisions, some playing chess, and some looking over suits and ties on racks, of various sizes for many different species. Chaz remembered how Arnie explained that there were businesses that donated suits to help the homeless mammals look more professional when they would apply for jobs, as well as to help them have some more variety with what they had to wear.

"Over in the back there is a communal laundry room. You'd be surprised how often the things most mammals take for granted are sorely missed when you don't have access to them anymore," Arnie said, pointing across the room to another set of doors. Right next to them was an older male cheetah who was standing near them, muttering to himself.

"And don't mind Mr. Spottickson," Arnie whispered when he noticed Chaz staring uncomfortably, gesturing to the cheetah, "he's harmless. He's just spent a lot of time all alone."

"Are a lot of them like that?" Chaz whispered back.

"They're all just mammals, Chaz. Unfortunately, there are a lot of homeless mammals suffering from some mental illness or another. In some cases, it's part of the reason why they're homeless in the first place. But they're just people, who need a little help. That's what New Dawn's all about," Arnie said as he led Chaz past some tables. Arnie received several warm greetings and offered some back in return.

"Huh, this place seems a lot more lively than that soup kitchen we helped out at," Chaz said.

"Well yeah," Arnie replied. "It's always a good thing when people are willing to donate their time to helping others, but soup kitchens... they really don't do enough to help. Don't get me wrong, they're helping to feed those with a meal, but that doesn't really do anything more. When they're done with their meal, they're still homeless. Here, we try to help those that need it in other, more long term ways."

Arnie then walked over to a table where an elderly female squirrel was playing chess against a warthog who seemed to be in his forties. "Hey there, Mrs. Sciurillus, Mr. Phaco, who's winning?"

"I am, naturally," Mrs. Sciurillus said with a smirk.

"Not this time," Mr. Phaco said with a grunt, nodding towards Arnie. "Oh, hey, Arnie," he said as he moved a bishop to take one of his opponent's rooks, "I just got myself a job down at that auto shop, around the corner."

"That's great, Steve, told ya that those classes would be a big help," the rhino said, excited.

"And yet he still argued that he wasn't going to be learning anything new," the squirrel said as she took the warthog's queen, much to his annoyance.

"Hey, I took the classes and I passed all the tests, alright?" he said as one of his pawns took her bishop. "What about you, Mary? Have you spoken with your niece recently?"

"I have," Mary said as she moved her knight into check; "she and I have a lot of catching up to do. I think that she thought I was dead."

"Well, what's important is that you two are talking," Steve said as he moved his king out of the way, unknowingly into an easy checkmate for Mary.

Chaz listened to the conversation between the two friends as he looked around. He watched as a moose, who looked to be still in his twenties, grabbed a suit off the rack to go try on in the changing room. He saw a few volunteers going about and offering help to various mammals. He even saw one of the volunteers talking to Mr. Spottickson, who responded, and even cracked a smile. Chaz's tail started to wag as he looked back at Arnie, now involved in the conversation with the two who were already setting up for another game.

I guess there are worse places to spend your day off, he thought to himself.

Elsewhere...

Russell was walking home from school, flanked by his two newest friends. On his left was Roger, a hippo who enjoyed collecting Enchantment: the Congregation cards. On his right was Erik, an otter and captain of their school's swim team. Russell's first day of school, despite his nerves, hadn't been too bad. He had accidentally gotten on the wrong side of a male lion in the halls, until Roger and Erik had stepped in. The two had already been long-term friends, and had been more than accepting of the human, who had become a part of their group ever since.

"This time, I just know I'm getting Osula, the Quartz Dragon stratumtraveler card!" Roger said as he held up the booster pack he had just bought at the store he had begged the three of them stop at on the way. It was a game shop that also sold comic books and various trading cards. The employees all seemed to know Roger.

"You say that every time," Erik said, nudging Russell who smiled down at him.

"Well, this time will actually be it!" Roger said as he carefully opened the booster pack and started going through all the cards. He smiled and read off a few cards and how rare or common they were, as well as how useful there were for his various decks, before he finally got to the last one.

"Oh, not another Triston the Trickster," the teen hippo complained before sighing and shrugging off his backpack and unzipping it. He pulled out a little plastic container just for the transportation of his cards and put his new ones in it. He zipped it all back up into his backpack and put it back one, his mood brightening right back up. "Next time, guys, next time."

Russell and Erik laughed at Roger's antics, the hippo joining in. The three friends chatted about classes they had, what females had caught their attention, which always flustered Russell, much to the bewilderment of his friends, and other such things high schoolers discussed. Erik explained that he had practice tomorrow, so it would just be and Russell walking home solo. Russell had been surprised, and happy, to know that his new friends lived really close by. First, it was Roger's place that they came upon, the hippo telling his friends that he would talk to them later, before heading inside. The next was Erik's house, which was, admittedly, a bit on the small side. Soon, after fist bumping with his otter friend before he too headed inside, Russell was walking the rest of his way home.

It was not that much further from Erik's house before Russell was walking up the driveway, past part of Mrs. Spitz' front garden, and using the key to the front door he had been given. No sooner had the teen human had shut the front door than he found a little grey blur of energy attaching itself to his leg and giggling.

"Wussew!" Ethan said, giggling in excitement. Russell smiled down at his little foster brother, and pat his head. It took a little bit of convincing to get Ethan to detach himself from his leg, but soon the young fox kit was reaching up to grab Russell's hand, Russell himself bent down low to take Ethan's paw, and was leading him into the kitchen. Ethan was pointing to the fridge, on which were several crayon drawings and other art projects made by some of the other kids. Russell noticed a new piece which he assumed Ethan had made. It took him a second to figure out what he was looking at, before he realized that it was a picture of himself and Ethan, holding hands and smiling. It was very clearly a young child's crayon drawing, but seeing it made Russell's heart swell.

"He made it in preschool," Mrs. Spitz said, walking in and giving Russell a hug, which he returned.

"It's amazing, buddy," Russell said down to Ethan, whose tail was wagging in delight, before Ethan started to hug Russell's leg again. Mrs. Spitz and Russell both shared a laugh, before she asked him about his day, gently pressing him to be a bit more detailed than just saying it was fine.

Meanwhile...

"So this is the place?" Baily asked aloud as he, dressed casually in a shirt and jeans, and Sophia, wearing a cool white sundress, stood before the front doors of the Mystic Springs Oasis.

"Looks like it," the lioness said to human, taking him by surprise as she looped her arm through his and led the way. "This place looks pretty relaxing to me."

Baily said nothing as he tried to think of something to say, but couldn't do much more than smile back at her.

At the ZPD Police Academy...

"I never thought I would ever have to box a rhino," cadet Walter Cruz said as he took a seat on the gym bench, while a giraffe cadet was taking his place in the ring, "let alone ever win."

"You and me both, buddy," said the hare cadet who was sitting next to him, having already sparred with a rhino earlier. "Don't go taking this the wrong way," Jack said, making Walter ready his eyes to roll, "but your species looks a little on the... delicate side."

"This coming from a little bunny," Walter casually shot back, making Jack furrow his brow.

"I've told you before, I'm a hare, big difference!" Jack had hopped up and was now standing on the bench seat, pointing an accusatory finger at the larger mammal. "And in case you hadn't noticed, I'm the one who softened the big guy up for you." As surprised as Walter was at having defeated his rhino sparring partner, he had been outright shocked when Jack had gotten the best of the one he had fought.

"They change them out after each match," Walter pointed out as yet another rhino got in the ring to spar with the giraffe cadet.

"Once more you get yourself hung up on trivial details," Jack waved away dismissively.

"You sure do have a tendency to get yourself all worked up," said a feminine voice. Both males turned to see Skye, the arctic vixen cadet, smiling at them from another bench. "Then again, bunnies have a tendency to be quite emotional," Skye said.

"Try to provoke me all you want, Skye," Jack said, hopping down off the bench and making his way over to the vixen, resting his paw on top of hers, "we both know that you can't resist me. So, once we graduate, how about I take you out on the town?"

Walter smiled at his friend, who was a persistent little hare. Skye seemed to think it over.

"Alright, let's do it," she said with a smirk. Jack's ears drooped behind his back.

"Well, it was worth a shot," he said, a little dejectedly, as he started to make his way back over to his seat by Walter. He had just sat down, just as the giraffe, Mike, took a punch to the gut, when it finally seemed to click for Jack.

"Wait, did you just say yes?!" he asked, right back in front of Skye in the blink of an eye.

"Sure," Skye said, chuckling at the little hop of joy that Jack couldn't resist doing, "while you can be pretty annoying, I don't think that you're a creep."

Jack looked over at her before shrugging. "Hey, I'll take the win."

"It also helps that you're pretty cute," Skye said, watching Jack for his reaction. His left ear twitched.

"Like I said, I'll take the win," Jack said before making his way back over to the bench to take a seat by Walter.

"And that's how it's done," Jack said, putting his arms behind his head as he leaned back u against the wall.

"What? Wearing a female down until she finally agrees to go out with you?" Walter asked, jokingly.

"Yup," Jack said, smugly.

Outside the Hopps Residence...

"Can it truly be that simple?" Edwin asked after hearing Honey's plan to capture the human boy known as Eli.

"I have every reason to believe that it shall be," she said with a smirk. The two shared a knowing smile, before resuming watching the house from the van.

And there you have it, readers! I hope that you enjoyed the new chapter! Please let me know what you think!