Story Notes:

James again, and we are back with another set of stories. This is my version of a fic revolving around some form of Finnick's and Nick's life together.

There will be some heavy moments and possibly mild death and blood so be ready.

Enjoy!-

The Past is in the Past:

Nick and Judy were standing in their full police attire outside of the abandoned building that Nick used to share as a hideout with Finnick. Ever since he had helped Judy solve the Night Howler case Nick hadn't come back here, after leaving that behind him for his new one he didn't want any more reminders; but standing here now after three years made him doubt his resolve for their current case

Standing next to her closest friend and partner Judy could see the hesitation in his emerald eyes, and hesitation is what got officers hurt; and even killed. "Nick, if you can't do this we don't have to." the bunny said trying to talk her partner out of his current mindset.

"I'm not going to let you go in there alone Judy. You are my partner, and more importantly my friend." he said in response to her suggesting for him to back out of this. While it snapped him out of his hesitation now he had to decided if he really could handle this case; he thought he was impartial, but maybe he was to involved to notice.

"Which is exactly why I'm saying we give this to another team. I don't think we should be on this case." Judy said worried more about him more than herself.

While Nick didn't like the idea of having to arrest the fox who was once his friend, he couldn't stand the idea of not being able to face his past now that it has resurfaced in front of him. "I could turn a blind eye to him hustling, but robbing banks and jewelry stores isn't the same. We can do this together." he stated, and that statement not only gave himself the courage he needed but also Judy the reassurance that he was okay.

Nick pushed open the large warehouse door just enough for Judy to slip under his arm and for him to sneak in behind her. But even as he did so the rusted metal creaked with the movement, now anyone inside knew they were there; and that made the officers cringe. "Hurry come on!" Nick hissed quietly at his partner as he grabbed her paw and pulled her after him. Using his strong eyesight to help see through the dark he lead her through the maze of buildings old and broken remains of the factory machines that used to run the place.

"You go right I'll go left." Judy whispered quietly before heading off towards the left side of the building before Nick could say anything.

The red fox turned to see his partner already ducking past falling roofing, and that was the only thing preventing him from following after her. "Judy be careful. Finnick isn't afraid to fight dirty." He radioed her his warning before heading off the search his side. Things were quiet in the building, he and Judy both checked in with each other once already and they hadn't found the mammal they were looking for yet both began suspecting they scared him off when the pulled up to the building.

Just as Nick came to the back of the building and was about to meet up with Judy his radio began giving feedback. "Judy what was that? I didn't hear you." He called into his radio waiting for the response.

"It's been a long time hasn't it partner?" A deep voice came through the speaker, a voice that he didn't want to hear so confident. "Why don't meet us over at the front?" He asked, but the demand was clear. As soon as Finnick ended the radio call he stuffed it into his pocket as he leaned against his bat, it had never failed to get the job done, with one swing from the shadows it connected with Judy's unprotected midsection and sent her to the floor near unconsciousness. With a scowl on his scuffed muzzle he leaned over the down officer grabbing her by the back of her chest protector and dragged her along with him, "Let's go cottontail." he said to the unresponsive mammal.

Nick had ran through the broken building trying to find the quickest way back to the front where he and Judy had first came in. But his hurry had gotten him to the meeting point first, he couldn't see any signs of his partner or their current target, but soon he began to faintly hear the sound of something dragging on the floor. He turned to the direction the sound was coming from to see Finnick walking out between the collapsed shelving with his chipped and beaten bat in one paw, dragging Judy behind him with the other.

Judy began coming to and started to struggle in the criminal's grip. "Let her go!" Nick yelled as he pulled out his tranquilizer gun aimed at Finnick. He was prepared to pull the trigger in a heartbeat without doubting his decision, but the small fox wasn't going to be taken down so easy.

When he saw Nick going for his tranquilizer gun he brought the still fighting officer up in front of himself and just at the last moment before the trigger was pulled Nick jerked his paws up to avoid shooting his partner with the tranq; the knock-out bullet in turn went flying somewhere into the darkness behind the two small mammals. "That's right, don't want to hurt your little partner now do you, officer?" he said those words with such venom and malice towards his long time partner. "Now drop it, or I drop her." he said before the sound of a metal spring clicked.

Both Nick and Judy heard the faint sound, the fox officer was too far away to tell what it was but he knew that Finnick was making a threat. Judy on the other hand was inches away from the sound, and her strong rabbit ears knew exactly what it was as her body froze in fear. "Nick…" her voice was frail and shaky, she couldn't fight her way out without her or her partner being hurt; or worse.

"Yeah you know what that is don't you fuzz?" The small hostile fox sneered in the dim lighting from the overcast sky barely making it in the building. "This little Beretta might not do anything to any other officer, but you two…" Finnick's sneer only seemed to grow as he chuckled, "let's just say you won't be hurting for long."

If there was any one specific trait shared between every officer, it was that they always put the lives of others before their own; and now was no different. "Nick, you need to get out of here." Judy tried to convince her partner, her friend, that he needed to get to safety; even though she could feel the end of the metal barrel pressed just below the back of her chest protector. Was this feeling in her stomach fear for her life or fear for her partners, she didn't know, but she couldn't stop her paws from shaking either way. The fear and danger pumped adrenaline through her blood and she started coming to her senses little by little

"I'm not leaving you Judy." Nick clarified. He wasn't about to leave her in this situation, he wasn't going to abandon her and leave her to be hurt, or worse. "I'm not leaving my partner behind." He enforced, his voice and resolve unwavering and unbending.

That was the tipping point for Finnick. He had heard all he needed to before making his decision, even though he had already made it long ago. "You mean like you left me?!" He snapped at the other fox, his deep voice growling as he spoke. "I was your partner! Me! And you left me out to dry!" He began waving the gun around in his rage. "I had your back since the Ranger Scouts, and what did you do? You came to arrest me! We always did what we did to make it by, but now that you think you're one of them you come barging in again!" The small fox was about to go off the deep end, the feeling was felt by both officers; and it wasn't a good feeling.

Despite living in modern times all mammals still felt pulls from their natural instincts warning them during dangerous situations, and right now Nick's was screaming at him. "Put the gun down Finnick let's talk about this. Come on it will be like old times, just throw down the gun." the larger fox began to reason with the smaller one, putting his paws up and his tranquilizer gun back into his belt to show he wasn't trying to trick the small fox.

The fox with the gun was caught off guard by the statement, it had been years since they had just talked, and maybe that's all that the lonely fox had ever really wanted; was a friend to talk to. "Alright, we can talk." he said calmly, everyone untensed a bit at the calm and level headed decision, especially Judy; who felt the barrel move away from her back. "When pigs fly!" Finnick shouted before jostling Judy slightly and chuckling. "Here's how this is going to go, you are going to decide which partner means something to you; your friend or this cop." he spat before he did something unexpected; he threw the gun to the floor between him and Nick.

The sound of metal clattering to the floor made both officers freeze, it wasn't the sound that worried them but the risk it came with; a loaded gun could be discharged is its hit hard enough for the catch of the hammer to slip and send it smashing into the back of the round. But luckily for everyone present it didn't but now the loaded gun lay there in the middle of the floor; menacingly. With the threat gone Judy slowly began to loosen the fastening on her body armor; if she got them loose enough she could slip away from the still dangerous mammal, and that was her plan. She was almost ready to make her escape before she froze, a familiar pressure on her back sent fear coursing through her once more.

However her playing with the straps shifted her weight enough to alert her captor, "Not so fast cottontail." the fox mocked his captive before clicking the hammer back into firing position of the gun, "Nothing's ever that easy is it? If you don't decide Nick, I WILL." he yelled fully intent on doing whatever he was prepared to do. With a scowl on his face Nick's piercing emerald eyes met Finnick's hate filled orange eyes. This was where their lives had led them; two friends on different paths coming together only to have to end the other's path were it was. But their was a third mammal in the room, and she was tired of not being able to stop this dangerous situation; nothing was going to plan and she knew what Finnick had planned instead.

While a rabbit's eyes weren't as good as a fox's in the dim lighting, she had been in it long enough to get used to it; and right now they were focused in on the gun laying on the floor. She calmed her heart rate and prepared for what she was about to do; deep controlled breaths with her eyes closed steadied her pulse, and now she was ready. Deep amethyst eyes snapped open glowing in the dim light and in that same instance she kicked off the floor with her powerful legs freeing her from Finnick and propelling her to the free gun, and sending the small fox to the floor.

All in an instant it happened, it happened so fast Nick didn't know what actually happened and out of sheer reaction stepped to protect his partner, and that's when the second instance occurred. As soon as Judy hit the floor she made a grab for the gun in front of her and threw herself over aiming where she had just come from, and at that same time Finnick brought his body up along with his gun. Two shots rang out, the loud noise deafening to everyone, but cutting through the ringing sound was the sound of Nick's voice.

"Ju...dy…" the broken voice came. In his effort to protect his friend, his partner, Nick had shielded Judy with his back towards Finnick. But currently touching his chest was the tip of a gun, and holding the cold metal was Judy's paws. Both officers too afraid to look down fearing the worst; fearing that Judy had just shot him.

Panic began to fill Judy as her eyes widened in horror shaking violently out of her control as they glanced down to the gun in her paws, but there was no blood. Judy had pulled the trigger just barely before Nick had jumped in front of her, the tear in the side of his uniform barely showing his fur underneath. "Nick you're okay. You're okay." She gasped slightly pulling him to a hug, and then reality hit her like a train; there were two gunshots. In her spurt of fear and concern she checked over her partners back with her paws only to have relief wash over her when she found no blood on him.

"Yeah...just like...old times…" a gruff voice behind Nick choked. When the officers turned to look, they saw Finnick holding his midsection, red spilling out over his once light brown fur, and just like that he fell back. Red spraying into the air with the sound of a thud echoing off the walls.

"Blood blood blood, and death." Finnick said dramatically as he squeezed the ketchup bottle he was hiding in shirt causing the red liquid to spray out into the air above him before 'dying' with his tongue hanging out between his sharp rows of teeth.

Judy and Nick stood up together taking the front of the stage, "Thank you everyone, and have a good night." they said before the crowd burst into cheering and the curtain fell in front of them, and back behind them the small fox began laughing his deep sounding laugh. Nick walked over to his friend, offering a paw out to him to help him up, "Need a hand there Bud?" he asked with his smile, and without a pause Finnick took it.

Judy bounced over happily feeling the rush of the excitement from their performance bringing a towel for Finnick to clean off the fake blood. "That was so amazing!" she cheered for the three of them, as they got together the lights began turning on illuminating the fake scenery that surrounded them. "You guys were so right, all it took was some painted cardboard and the dim lighting and this set looked so real." Judy said walking around the fake set that the ZPD had worked on for the past few weeks. With the lights on she could see all the tape and rubber bands holding different things in place.

About a month ago the Zootopia Police Department began planning their annual fundraiser, and this year Judy was picked to choose the main attraction; and plays had always been her personal favorite. She had recently read a story set in the stone ages about two brothers whose paths put them against each other, and to her that was a spark of inspiration. Some of the other officers who were in earlier scenes of the play came over to celebrate their successful play, it had been the best idea in years, and at the same time the two foxes slipped out of the rowdy crowd headed for some refreshments.

They were at the edge of the backstage, Finnick sitting on the end and Nick leaning against it beside him, both of them enjoying the cold soda in their paws as they emptied their first set of cans. The larger despite enjoying the quiet had far too much on his mind, "Hey Finnick?" his voice was serious and solemn.

"Yeah?" the small mammal said after crushing his first can throwing it at a nearby trash can, missing by a few feet.

"I'm really glad that we didn't turn out like things in the play." the officer said as he looked at his badge in his paw, the gold shape meant so much to him, it changed his life. But he never once thought it had meant more than his longtime friend and partner.

Finnick knew what this was about, for a few weeks things had been tense between the two of them, neither knew exactly where they stood with each other anymore. They had their friendship, but now they had their differences; but over a few months they realized that nothing needed to change, they still had a partner they could trust in their friend. However the small fox took the advice of a certain bunny and started pursuing a more acceptable job, and with that life for the trio of friends became easier. "Me too Bud." Finnick replied to Nick with an honest smile as they hit their cans together before tipping their heads back finishing off their sodas.

Author's Notes:

Alright that's a wrap. Well what did you guys think? Let me know in the reviews or in a PM what you thought of it. After this go check out Nicole's story and let her know what you thought.

If you have any requests for a topic for our next set of fics feel free to let us know.

Thank you for reading and reviewing and I hope to see you again!-

-James