A knock on the door. Immediately, his heart rate was up. It was none of those his few friends used. He wasn't expecting anybody either.

A second later the bat was in his hand. There was no sense in staying silent. This wasn't a no parking area. Also, the cops had no reason to suspect him in here, anyway. Whoever had knocked knew he was here. What counted now was initiative.

His mind was prepared to take on anybody behind the door. He put his hand against it. A deep breath. Then, he shoved it open.

"Who is it?" he barked at... a bunny?

Adrenaline still pulsing through his veins, it took him a moment to realize it. This was no mobster to claim his turf. No enforcer to remind him of any debt he may or may not have yet to pay off. Not even one of those neighborhood patrols who had found a predatory threat on their block. It was just a bunny.

No.

Not just a bunny. Without the uniform it was hard to tell at first. It was that bunny.

He had to fight his own mind, the sudden urge to still put that bat to good use. Yet despite what she had done to Nick, messing with a cop was never a bright idea. On or off duty was of no matter.

"I need to find Nick." She had some nerves. "Please."

"Why?" Finnick snarled. "Not satisfied with what you've done to him so far?"

"No! I mean, I never meant to do anything to him. It's just that I... I..."

Finnick held up his free paw. "Whatever you gonna say, can it. I don't want to hear it. Last thing I'll do is rat out a friend to the fuzz. So, move it."

He had already turned around, ready to slam the door shut. But a soft paw on his arm held him back.

"Please, wait!" the bunny pleaded.

He had to admit, there was something desperate in her voice. But he had witnessed himself what she was capable of. Nick was one of the best in his game, yet she still had managed to outsmart him with just a plastic pen. His grip around the bat tightened again. The path to her next promotion would not go through his yard.

Swirling around, he shoved her arm away. She stumbled backwards. Before he knew it himself, the bat was pointing right at her nose.

"Listen, whatever your game is, I'm not playing. So, unless you've got-"

"Please, just let me explain." She ducked under the bat, stepping closer to Finnick.

The fennec fox looked her over. Her eyes were glistening, like she was close to breaking into tears. He could hear her heaving breaths. Was this really a ruse? Or could she possibly be even better than he already assumed? He knew it was against better judgment, but he motioned her to keep talking.

"Thank you." Even the relief in her smile seemed genuine. "This has nothing to do with the ZPD. I quit the force. So, would you please help me find Nick?"

Finnick lowered the bat. "Okay, first of all, stop saying 'please.' I can't stand that. Second, why would you quit? Last I heard was you being everybody's darling hero. And third, you still haven't told me what you want from him."

She grimaced. "I'm no hero. They wanted me to be, but I'm really not. And that's why I quit. It was the only thing left to do after what I did. I... I just messed up everything."

"Yeah, no kidding." Finnick looked down at his weapon of choice before tossing it back into the van.

She took another step closer. "But I believe I can fix this. I now know what really happened to those predators. But I need Nick's help to do this. That's why I need your help finding him."

Another surge of anger rushed to his head. "You really think that's going to happen?"

She folded her hands in front of her chest. "It has to. Things are so messed up right now and this is the only way I can fix it."

"Yeah, things are messed up, all right. Wanna know what? Nick is messed up. You've messed him up good, bunny."

"I know, I know," she admitted with drooping ears.

A growl escaped his throat. "You know nothing. Whatever you think you know, you don't. The kid's been through too much already. He sure doesn't need you to do any more of whatever you did to him."

He had waited for that pained sigh to come. She was riding the remorse train pretty good. Finnick would give her that. But he would have never expected her next words.

"This is about the junior scouts, right? What they did to him?"

"Yeah. That and... other stuff." His voice revealed more than he had wanted to. "How'd you find that out?"

"Nick told me. The whole thing about the muzzle and how they set him up. You've got to believe me, I never meant to hurt him."

He frowned. Mammals telling him what he had to believe. Never a good crowd. But that she knew about the scouts? A completely different story. Finnick unlocked the other half of his van's back door and swung it open. With a wave of his paw he told the bunny to take a seat next to him. She didn't hesitate.

Sitting down, he said: "Gotta admit, that surprised me. Took him over a year to even mention his family around me. Let alone those junior jerks. How come he told you that?"

"To be honest, I don't really know what it was. A lot happened that day. But I'm glad he did."

"Didn't stop you from stabbing him in the back, did it?"

"Well... No, it didn't."

Finnick sighed. This bunny did not make it easy for him. Those drooping ears sure had their effect. And how was he supposed to vent on somebody who just went along with everything he said? Maybe that's what made Nick open up to her. She made staying mad at her uncomfortably hard.

"Okay, listen, bunny-"

"Judy."

He blinked. "What?"

"My name is Judy. Judy Hopps."

"That's good for you." It had been a last attempt. One he knew had failed on the spot. Not bothering to fight the twitch in the corners of his mouth, he added: "Ugh, what the heck. Name's Finnick. So, as I was going to say, if you really want me to help you, fill me in. What happened? I thought he was gonna show up an hour after I left you, chewing my ear about your little excursion. Instead, he disappears for two days, then calls me in the middle of the night like he had just won the lottery. Rambles something about the two of you solving the case of the century and how he's gonna tell me everything later. And next thing I know, he's crashing in my van and wails like a pup who lost his mommy. I try to find out what's up, but he doesn't wanna talk about it. All I could get out of him was that you turned out to be 'just like all the others' and he's done with trusting anybody. So, what's your side of the story? How did you get him to tell you about his past and how did that turn into you kicking him to the curb?"

She fidgeted around as she listened. Finnick wasn't sure anymore how much of that was show. In any case, just watching her going through what he had said made him uneasy.

She took a deep breath. "To make it short, after you left, we followed a string of leads to find Mr. Otterton. You know, the missing otter I wanted Nick to help me find. One of those was a jaguar, who went, for a lack of a better word, mad when we were at his house and attacked us."

Finnick raised an eyebrow. "Attacked you? What did you do to him?"

"Nothing. He was most likely poisoned or drugged, though I don't know how. Not yet. That's one of those things I need Nick's help to find out. He chased us all over the area. Tried to kill us with his bare claws. I barely managed to chain him before he got Nick."

"Wait a sec'." Finnick held his paws up. "That sounds like you saved his life."

She gave him shy grin. "Yes, but I only had to because he refused to leave me behind."

She waited a moment, staring at him with expecting eyes. Yet he was still caught in her revelations. At least why Nick had shared those things with her seemed a bit more comprehensible.

Taking his silence her own way, she continued, "Anyway, that's when we, um, finally got away from him. We returned with back-up, but the jaguar was gone. Taken by then-Mayor Lionheart's timber wolves, as we learned later. So, the Chief did demand my badge."

That earned her Finnick's attention again. "Just because that jaguar got away?"

"No, because I had an agreement with him. I'd find Mr. Otterton within 48 hours and he'd let me finally be a real officer. Otherwise, I'd resign."

That still didn't make any sense to him. Yet since he wasn't interested in her life story, he let her move on.

"I was about to comply, but then Nick stepped in. He spoke up for me, when no other would. If it hadn't been for him..."

"Yeah, I get it, he saved your fluffy butt. And then?"

"Well, then he and I took a sky tram to get out of there. And that's when it happened."

Finnick grinned. "By 'it' I hope you mean Nick telling you about the scouts."

He had to admit, not getting her even the least embarrassed was a bit disappointing. She simply nodded. "So, long story short, Nick came up with the right idea that brought us back on track. We found not just Mr. Otterton, but all mammals that had gone missing. I assume you got the rest of that from the news?"

"For the most part." As far as what the front pages gave away. He never wasted any money on newspapers. "At least that you're the best thing to happen since ever."

"That's what Mayor Bellwether wanted to make of me. But like I said, I more than screwed up when I spoke to the reporters. Right then and there. I said terrible things to Nick and, well, about predators in general."

"Let me guess, you never meant it that way?" Finnick scoffed.

Judy shook her head. "No, I did. I never meant to hurt him or anybody else, but I meant what I said. And that just makes it so much worse. I honestly used to believe it. All those things I learned since I was a little kit. Things I should have thought over so long ago. All I can hope for now is that it wasn't too late for me to see that. And that Nick will forgive me. Oh, I should have never-"

"Whoa, hold it right there," Finnick cut her off. Fake or not, he definitely did not need a bunny breaking down right next to him. "Safe that for Nick."

Her face lit up like a summer morning. "So, you'll help me?"

"Yeah, I will. If you'll help him in turn. And don't you dare hugging me now."

She clenched her paws, like she had to restrain her own arms. She settled for a grateful, teary smile. "Of course. I'll help him in whichever way I can."

"The same way you did before. Just without any backstabbing this time. Speaking of that, I just got to know; something else must've happened between you. It's not like he's not used to slurs and insults. I'd get it if he got angry. But he can deal with that kind of stuff."

"Yeah, well..." She looked down and started rubbing her shoulder. "I asked him to be my partner."

Finnick blinked. He had been kidding before, but now he could see a bright pink shimmer through the fur on her cheeks.

Her head jolted back up. Stumbling over her words, she sputtered, "At the force, I mean."

Finnick couldn't really say that this was any less of a surprise. "Nick? A cop? You asked him to join you?"

"Yeah, he would be perfect for the job. I've seen what he is capable of."

"And you told him that?"

"Of course. After all, I would have never cracked that case without him."

Now things started to add up. "And he was up for it?"

"Absolutely, he had the application form filled out before I was done with... With that press conference. I know he was disappointed and angry with me. But, please, believe me, whatever Nick might think right now, I never stopped believing in him. I just hope that if we can uncover who is targeting these predators right now, I can patch up all these messes at once."

Finnick wasn't sure what he felt. Certainly, it came as shocking news. Yet shock wasn't the right word. For that, something too fuzzy, something he didn't know he was still capable of, snuck up on him.

"Does that bother you?" Judy interrupted his thoughts. "Nick, um, switching sides?"

"No," he stated without thinking. "I'd be glad for him. Wouldn't be first choice if it were up to me to decide. But if anybody deserves a chance, it's him."

"What about you?"

"I'm not important here. And by the way, even if I admit that I don't like that club, I've met decent members before. Things between me and the kid won't change. Much."

"No, I meant, don't you deserve a chance, too?"

Finnick almost barked from laughing. This bunny was unbelievable. Going by her face, she didn't even know to what extent. Wiping tears from his eyes, he said, "Hey, try fixing one life at a time, bunny. This is not about me. I was stupid enough to screw myself over pretty good. I'm better now, not least thanks to Nick. But him? That's something else. Life sucker punched him left and right whenever it got the chance. So, if you can get it to give the kid a break, you've done more for me than I'd dare asking."

"Are you sure I-"

"Yes. When you're done with saving the day, come by again. If Nick trusts you, I'll do, too. Maybe then I'll let you buy me lunch, if that'll make you happy. But for now, just take care of him."

Before she could get into any more of that goody two paws stuff, he gave her the direction she wanted. As she drove off, he found himself staring after that blue truck of hers. That bunny sure was something. He couldn't quite put a finger on what that would be—yet it made him certain he had just done the right thing.

He fished for his cellphone in his pocket. Without looking, he speed-dialed Nick and put the phone to his ear. He didn't wait for a greeting. A wide grin on his face, he said, "Guess who's coming your way."

A/N:

So, this is my first attempt on writing a Zootopia fic. I've read others asking themselves the same thing I did: What happened between Judy and Finnick after the movie cut away? It finally clicked for me when I saw this sketch:

post/144909411605/had-to-get-this-out-of-my-system-before-i-went

(Apparently, this site automatically cuts the url... Well, it's supposed to be directng you to the tumblr user nicolaswildes. Guess if you want to see, you have to reconstruct it.)

This gave me the final inspiration to write the fic. I hope you liked it, any feedback is highly welcome.