once again, shout out to the Zootopian Authors Association for help with this chapter. you guys are just the best betas and friends that I could ask for! and hello, friends reading this! my name is Sally and I am addicted to writing angst lol. I really hope you all like this one!

Life is going great for Finnick, until Judy asks him to help her find Nick's mother. Now Finnick will have to reunite with the vixen he once called Ma...who he hasn't spoken to in eight years.

Chapter Text

Going legit was a lot easier than Finnick had imagined it would be. Dishwashing wasn’t really anything to sneeze at, but it was possibly the easiest thing he'd ever done in his life. Just get the dirty dishes clean, don’t slack off and things don’t pile up. It didn’t take long for the owners to use him as a busboy, too, which was also easy. Just wipe down tables. They ended up asking him if he wanted to be a host, but he quickly turned that down.

Talking to animals had never been his strong suit. That had always been Nick’s thing.

Speaking of, Nick had already been at the police academy for about four months. In about two months he would be back as the first fox police officer Zootopia had ever had. Finn was proud of him; how could he not be? He’d always known that Nick was meant for better things, a better life. Now he would have it. He deserved it.



So do you, a tiny voice whispered in the back of his mind, but he quickly shook it off.

Everything was fine as it was now. He was happy, his brother was happy, his best friend was happy. Judy still insisted he stay in the apartment instead of his van, but that was fine. The couch was better than the mattress in the back of his van. Besides, it was best to get her used to having a fox roommate sooner rather than later. Nick was grosser than him. The thought made him smirk.

For the first time in a long time, life was good.

Or so he thought.

“I need to find Nick’s mom.”



Finnick choked on his beer, staring over at Judy from the other side of the couch. “Um, why?”



“Nick wants me to give her an invitation to his graduation from the academy.” She pulled an ear over her shoulder and stroked it.



He set down his beer, hoping she didn’t notice that his paws were shaking. “Why can’t he just send it through the mail?”



“He wants it to be more personal.” She wasn’t looking at him, keeping her eyes trained on a random spot on the wall.



Yeah, right. There was more to it, he just knew. Normally he would have pushed her on it, but right now he was too tired, so he just sighed and leaned back into the couch, arms crossed over his chest. “Why do you want me to go with you? You could just go by yourself.”



“I don’t know her, though. It might come off as weird if I went there by myself. Plus,” she glanced over at him, biting her lip, “I’m kinda nervous.”



Fucking damn it, did she have to look at him like that?? He groaned, uncrossing his arms to drag his paws down his face. “Ugh, fine! I’ll go with you!”



She grinned and launched herself across the couch to hug him. “Thank you!” She let go and moved back over to her spot. “So, when are you off next?”



“On Thursday.”



“Okay, good, me too. We can go then. I’ll call Nick tonight to let him know.” She smiled at him again and leaned back into the couch, focusing on the movie playing.

But Finn couldn’t. In fact, he couldn’t focus on anything else for the rest of the night. After Judy bid him good night and went to bed, all he could do was lay down on the couch and stare up at the ceiling, his heart pounding and his mind racing.

He was going to see Marian Wilde again. He hadn’t seen her in about 8 years, and in just a few days he was going to see her again.

She was gonna eat him alive.

Finn groaned and turned on his side, pulling his blanket over his head. “She’s gonna kill me. Inari help me…”

Thursday came far too quickly for his liking. He had been dreading it ever since Judy convinced him to go with her. He'd slept in his van the night before, much to her chagrin. He just needed some time to himself, to try to prepare himself and get ready. Rest didn’t come easy, and he ended up passing out well past midnight after spending most of the night panicking.



He woke up to a knock on the door, and it opened to reveal Judy standing there in jeans and a pink plaid shirt. She climbed inside, holding out a mug to him. “Good morning.”



“Morning.” He sat up, yawning as he reached out to take it from her. He brought it to his lips, sipping the hot liquid inside. Coffee. Thank Inari. He sipped more, needing the caffeine to wake up.



Judy sat down beside him, waiting patiently for him to finish his coffee before speaking. “Do you want to come inside before we go?”



Dread settled over Finn and he swallowed the final mouthful of coffee, slowly shaking his head.



“Okay.” Judy stood up, brushing her pants off. “Do you think you can be ready soon?”



Finn nodded, handing her the empty mug. “Yeah. Gimme like ten minutes and I’ll be ready.”

She nodded back, hopping out and shutting the door.



He groaned and rested his head on his knees, trying to keep his breaths even. Holy shit. This was really happening. He had known this day would come some time, but he really hadn’t expected it to be this soon. What would he say? What could he say? It had been eight years without contact. She probably hated him…



He growled and lifted his head, slapping the side of his temple to literally knock the thoughts out of his mind. Not now. Flopsy was waiting for him. He got up and hurried to grab a change of clothes.



Ten minutes later, Judy was back in his van and they were off towards Bayou Bay in Savannah Central. “She lives in Happytown,” Finnick told the bunny.



“Happytown?” Her ears turned towards him, curiosity in her eyes. “Nick’s mentioned it a few times, but he never really explained what it is.”



“It’s a housing project Zootopia started years ago to try to fix the homeless problem. Especially with ‘lower predators’, like foxes and weasels and coyotes.” He huffed, tapping his claws on the steering wheel. “It failed, but a lot of the mammals stayed there and called it Happytown, and it just stuck.”



“Why does Nick’s mom still live there?”



Finn shrugged. “It’s her home. She’s comfortable. Plus, that’s where Cash is.”



“Cash?”



Shit. He sank a little lower in his seat, his jaw clenched tight.



“Finn.” She put her paw on his shoulder, shaking him gently. “Come on. We’re not keeping things from each other any more, remember? Best friends?”



“You’re so fuckin’ stubborn.”



“I think you mean persistent!”

“Nope, stubborn.”

“Finn.”

He glanced at her out of the corner of his eyes, cursing when he saw that wide-eyes look. Damn it.

“Please?” She leaned into him, fluttering her eyelashes.

“Ugh, fine, just get off me.” He waited until she moved and focused on the road again. It was pretty busy for the afternoon. “Cash is Nick’s dad. Well, was.”



“Oh, right. You mentioned before that he died, right?”

“Yeah.”

She was quiet, and he glanced at her again. “Now, don’t go getting sad. It was nine years ago, we’ve all had our time to be sad and cry over it.” He shrugged, turning onto a smaller road. “Marian had him buried close to the compound she’s living in. She always said she didn’t want to leave him.”

“She sounds wonderful.”

Finn nodded, a small smile on his lips. “Yeah. She really is.”

They were quiet for the rest of the drive. Finnick could feel his heart pounding as they got closer to Happytown. Then suddenly they were driving through a dingy neighborhood with trailers and tiny houses dotted between wide ranges of housing compounds. The pavement of the road was cracked and full of potholes, the patches of grass between the sidewalk brown and muddy. There were groups of mammals gathered in corners, trading things quickly with nervous looks, and cubs played in driveways or on porches while watched sharply by their parents.



All of it made Finnick’s lip curl up. Fuckin’ Happytown. What a dump.

He pulled up in front of one of the little houses towards the end of the neighborhood. He turned the van off and leaned back in his seat, feeling his heart pounding again. Shit. He was here. He hadn’t been in years. What was he going to do? What was going to happen? Would she hear him out? Would she even let him talk? Would she even look at him?

He looked over at the bunny seated beside him. “I can’t do this.”



“Yes, yes you can.” She reached over to grab his paw, giving it a squeeze.

“No, I can’t!”

“Finn,” she tried to reassure him, but he didn’t want to hear it.

“Gods, what do I even say??” Finnick was panicking again, shaking. “She probably doesn’t even want to see me!”

“Yes, she does.”

“You don’t know that!”

“Yes, I do.”

He looked her in the eye, desperate. “How?”

She opened her mouth, then closed it, then opened it again. She took his paw in both of hers, swallowing hard before looking at him. “So, uh, listen. There’s something I need to tell you.”



Oh, gods. He snatched his paw away from hers, his ears folding down on his head. “Judy. What did you do.”

She grinned sheepishly, rubbing the back of her neck. “So, uh, I may have already talked to Nick’s mom. Aaaaaaaand she may be expecting us today.”

“Judy!” Finn snarled at her, his hackles raising. “What the fuck?!”

“Why are you yelling at me?!”

“Do you even realize what you’ve done?!”

Her ears fell down though she managed to glare at him. “I’m trying to help you! That’s all I’ve been doing!”

“You can’t just do this shit, Judy! You can’t just throw me into situations like this!” He was almost hyperventilating now, starting to rock back and forth. “I can’t do this shit, I just can’t!” He closed his eyes tight, grabbing onto his ears. “I can’t, I can’t, I can’t--”

“Finn!” Judy grabbed his face, which made his eyes open. She lifted his head, forcing him to look at her. “You can do this. You can. She wants to see you. I’ve talked to her. She misses you. Yes, she’s angry, but I think we both know that she has every reason to be. But she wants to see you.” She smiled, stroking his cheeks which almost instantly made him go limp. “You can do this. And I am going to be with you. Okay?”

He took a breath. Then nodded. “Okay.”



The bunny nodded back, unbuckling herself. “Alright. Let’s do this.”

Gods, this was happening. Finn let out a breath that he hadn’t realized he was holding. He unbuckled himself and got out of the van, staring at the house.

This was it. No turning back now.

They had just started towards the door when it swung open, and there stood Marian Wilde in all her glory. Dressed in black pants and a green blouse that matched her eyes, her fur was a lighter shade than Nick’s. But her spirit and her strength showed in how she held herself. And right now, her body language said she was pissed.

Marian stepped off her porch, marching towards the two with fire in her eyes. She stopped in front of them, crossing her arms and tapping her foot. She stared at Finn, her mouth drawn down in a deep frown. “Well?”

Fuck. He gulped and slowly looked up at her, feeling like a kit again. What could he even say? “Hi.”

“‘Hi’?” She scowled at him, uncrossing her arms to plant her paws on her hips. “I haven’t seen you in eight years, and all you can say to me is ‘hi’?”

He sighed, running a paw over his face. “Marian--”

“No.” She bent over, making him step back so that she wasn’t right up in his face. “Finnegan Malachy Leary--”

Oh, fuck, tripled named. He was in deep shit -- The deepest possible level of shit, perhaps.



“--you are going to listen to me, and you best listen good.” She straightened up, one paw staying on her hip as the other clutched over her heart. “I took you in after your father was thrown in jail, out of the goodness of my heart! I fed you, clothed you, gave you a roof over your head. I made sure you were clean, got to school on time, always helped you with your homework. I helped you through that nasty break up with Clarice--”

“Why are you even bringing her up??” Finn snapped, getting exasperated.



“Don’t you interrupt me, young tod!” the older vixen snapped back, shaking her finger at him. “I did everything under the sun for you! I loved you as if you were my own! Then, suddenly, no contact. Not a call, not a letter, not even a single word for eight years!” She sniffed, and he realized with horror that there were tears in her eyes. “Do you have any idea how worried I was about you? And then my Nicholas does the same thing just a few months later! You just vanished off the face of the earth, and I was terrified.” She looked away, wiping a paw over her eyes. “I was so worried that something had happened to you...that you were cold, and hungry, and alone…”



He didn’t think he could ever feel any lower. “Marian…”

She looked at him, tears falling down her cheeks. “Every day, I have prayed to Lord Inari that you and my son were safe, that you were alive. Every Sunday I would light a candle for you both in Inari’s chapel. Every day, I just hoped that you were okay…”



He was lower than low. He was the worst piece of shit on the face of the planet. Finn stared at his feet, trying his best not to cry. “I’m sorry, Marian. I should have called...I’m sorry.”



Suddenly there was a paw on his shoulder, and he looked up to come eye to eye with her. The vixen gave him a sad smile. “Since when did you stop calling me Ma?”



Something inside of him broke, and she knelt down in time for him to wrap his arms around her and bury his face in her shoulder to hide that he was crying. Just a little. She immediately hugged him back, holding him tightly to her. Finnick let out a choked sound, his paws fisting in the material of her shirt. “I’m sorry, Ma...I’m so sorry…”



“My boy,” Marian crooned to him, not even trying to hide the fact that she was crying, too. “You’re here now, that’s all that matters.”



Finn nodded, unable to form words. She forgave him. She still wanted him. It was more than he ever could have asked for.



He felt the vixen lift her head and could hear the smile in her voice as she spoke. “Thank you, little bunny.”

“It was my pleasure, ma’am,” Judy replied warmly, and he couldn’t help but smile.

He really did have the best friend in the whole damn world.

Once they had all gathered themselves, Marian invited the both of them inside for lunch. Afterwards, they all sat in the living room to talk. There was a lot the vixen had to be caught up on. Finn briefly told her about getting kicked out of Big’s mafia, and the scene he and Nick had pulled afterwards. She rolled her eyes and called them idiots, but he could see the smile of amusement pulling at the corners of her mouth. Judy filled Marian in on what had happened after she met them, about the case and what had happened afterwards. She also apologized profusely over what she had said about predators at the press conference, but Marian had quickly waved her off.



“It’s in the past now, dear,” she told the bunny. “You’ve brought my boys back to me. I can never thank you enough.”



Judy beamed at her, wiggling happily on the recliner she was in. “It’s my pleasure. They’re my best friends and I want to help them in any way I can.”



“You’ve definitely done that,” Finn piped up, which made her smile at him.

The rest of the afternoon they all swapped stories about Nick, giggling and shedding a few tears as they did. Finn just sat back and let the females talk, sipping on a mug of coffee that Marian had offered a while ago. It was good to see his friend and his mother figure talking and bonding. It really helped to put his mind at ease after the last stressful few days he’d had.



At some point Judy started yawning, and it occurred to Finn that maybe she hadn’t been sleeping well either. He suddenly felt really bad for yelling at her earlier. The bunny kept excusing herself every time she yawned, and when she rested her head on the arm rest she fell asleep almost instantly. Marian got up and moved the doe so that her head was on a pillow, and she laid a blanket over her.



“Poor thing is out cold,” Marian said quietly, making her way back over to the loveseat beside the recliner Finn was on.



“She works way too hard,” he mused before taking another sip of his coffee. It was room temperature now, but he wasn’t complaining. Caffeine was caffeine.



“She really is something, isn’t she?”



He gazed at the bunny, nodding slowly. “Yeah. She really is.” He turned his head to look at Marian and frowned at the look in her eyes. “What?”



She shook her head, leaning back in her seat. “Nothing, nothing, just…” She smiled softly at him. “You’re different.”



His brow furrowed and he tilted his head. “How so?”



She smirked. “You’ve gotten soft.”



Of course she would call him out. He huffed, setting the mug down. “Yeah, so I keep getting told.”

“I much prefer this you than Mr. Big’s Star Boy.”



“Haven’t been that in a long time.” He rested his chin on his paw. “I’m just a normal mammal now.”

“I’m glad. You never belonged in that life, Finnegan.”



He shrugged. “It was all I knew. Pa did it, so I always figured I would, too.”



“I know, just…” She frowned, glancing over to her mantle where an oval shaped black urn rested. “I always wanted better for you. So did Chester.”



Cash. Finn looked at the urn too, feeling an ache in his chest. Gods, he missed him.



“Finnegan?”



Snapping out of it, he looked back at the vixen. “Hm?”



Her green eyes were filled with concern, and she leaned over the armrest to get closer to him. “What happened?”



Fuck. He stiffened. “What are you talking about?”



“Between you and Nicholas. You said you had a falling out, and from what Judy said it sounds like you were barely on speaking terms.” She reached out to rest her paw on his arm. “You two used to be so close. What happened?”



“Nothing happened, Ma.” His heart was pounding again, his chest feeling tight. Inari damn it, she was too good at reading him.

“Don’t lie to me, Finnegan. Was it Clarice again?”



“Why do you keep bringing her up?” he snapped, then flinched back at the glare he received for it.

“The last time you had that look on your face, it was because of her.” Marian took his paw, giving it a soft squeeze. “I’m worried, Finnegan. She broke your heart, and I never wanted you to go through that again.”



There was a moment, then he squeezed her paw back. “You can’t keep that from happening, Ma. And no, it wasn’t Clarice. I haven’t seen her since we broke up.”

“But it was a girl again. Who was she?”

Finn sighed, rubbing a paw over his face. “It’s a long story.”

Marian glanced at Judy again then back at him, patting the spot on the loveseat beside her. “I think we have time. Come here.” Her eyes were warm and she gave him a soft smile. “If you want to.”



He hesitated for only a moment before sliding off his seat and walking over, lifting himself onto the loveseat and leaning into her with a sigh. She immediately wrapped an arm around him, resting her head on his. Finn closed his eyes, trying to focus his thoughts and his breathing.

“Her name was Bella. She’s an arctic fox.”

She rubbed his arm gently. “Tell me about her.”



He sighed, then started to speak.