A/N: I guess I was a little late in relieving ya'll from the cliffhanger, buuuuuttt….now you have this chapter to look forwards too! Enjoy!

BTW, many people are asking me if this is a JudyxNick fan fiction. Well, I'm afraid you're just gonna have to find out at the end! Though I did leave you some hints…Just stick with me! Please!

21

Date Night

It was over. All over. There was no point in life anymore. Nick seemed like a goner. It'd take far too long to find the cure and Jaws died within…what? 3-4 weeks? Yeah. And it'd probably take months to find the cure.

Judy was on her bed in the dark, curled up on top of it. Her conversation with Doctor Barns didn't go well and Judy regretted everything she said to him. It was mostly screaming and crying coming from her, nasty words about how doctors were so terrible and how he would never find the cure for Nick. But she only said those things all out of fear. And Doctor Barns stood pretty calm through it all.

Nick? Die? No…he couldn't. And he wouldn't! Judy was going to help Doctor Barns find the rabies cure, no matter what it took. It had to be hidden somewhere on the internet. Who would just throw it away, thinking that there would be no need for it in the future?

Judy glanced at her clock. 3:45am. She couldn't sleep, knowing that her fox was in danger. Judy felt the threatening tears, but she couldn't cry! Not at all. What good did crying do for her? It only made her feel worse and lose hope for Nick.

Judy decided that she needed to get Nick off of her mind. And she found another thought. Her date with Jed. That would be tomorrow. Technically, today was Wednesday—it was just super early in the morning. Judy probably should sleep, but sleep was impossible.

She heard her stomach rumble and she realized that she was starving. She had nothing to eat that day, especially after the news from Doctor Barns. Maybe she should go get some food. Icy's Café might be open, still. I guess I can get something to eat there.

Judy slipped off of her bed and grabbed her phone from her nightstand, slipping it into her wrinkled, jean shorts. Her blue shirt was soaked with tears from earlier, but she didn't care if she looked like crap. Anybody could judge her all they wanted; they just didn't know what she was going through.

Judy took the short walk to Icy's Café. They were a 24/7 café and Judy was glad because she really needed something to eat.

She walked inside the brightly lit shop and the smell of coffee and pastries hit her nose. It smelled so good and her stomach rumbled tremendously. She didn't realize how hungry she really was.

"Hello, Miss," the bear at the front counter said. "What can I get for you today?"

"I'll take some lemon bread and a coffee," Judy replied, letting a yawn slip through her. The bear nodded and grabbed a coffee cup, filling it quickly with coffee.

"Want creamer?" she asked. Judy nodded. "Also, how much lemon bread?"

"Three pieces," Judy responded. "Thanks."

"No problem, Miss."

The bear finished with Judy's coffee, grabbed the lemon bread, and then handed it to Judy.

"That'll be $4.36," she said.

"Okay," Judy mumbled, grabbing money out from her wallet in her pocket. She handed it to the bear and walked off to a booth. She was about to enter the one that Nick and her usually sat at, but she was surprised to see someone else sitting there.

Alay.

Judy gritted her teeth and let a growl like sound escape from her lips. She walked up to the table and glared at the vixen.

"What are you doing here?" she demanded.

"What's the matter, sweetheart? Can I not just be here? Is there a law against foxes being here? Because in that case, Nick and I should have been arrested a while ago."

"Don't you dare mention that fox," Judy growled.

"What's the matter? Do you hate him?" Alay cooed. "Hey, aren't you supposed to be in Bunnyburrow, anyways?"

"Not ever since Nick's incident!" Judy shouted.

"What happened?"

"Don't you dare 'what happened' me! You know very well what happened! It's all part of your scheme!" Judy hissed.

"What scheme?" Alay snorted. "You assume things too much."

"I'm a police officer!" Judy said. "I don't assume, I investigate, Alay Flake! We already discussed that that's not your real name, but did we discuss that you don't have a brother named Jake Flake? And what about your feelings for Jaws—the bear who tried to assault you! How many more lies are you holding back?!"

Alay's face said it all. She was lying. There was no way she could hide her guilt.

"You knew what was going on with Jaws! You went to the hospital to see him, and he died! And it was your plan all along for Nick to get rabies and die too!"

Alay tried to hide the tears behind her eyes, but her eyes watered majorly. Without a word, she slipped out of the café booth and headed for the doors. She pushed through them and raced down the streets.

Judy stood there for a second, trying to figure out what just happened. She let a criminal run loose, too. She grunted and headed for the door, but not to go find Alay. That'd be absolutely useless. No, Judy would have to find a different technique for capturing that criminal.

Judy took the short walk back to her apartment, eating her lemon bread on the way there. It was satisfying, but sweet. A little too sweet for Judy's taste.

She entered her small, crummy apartment quietly. She sat on her bed and sighed. She hated her life, hated everything bad that was happening to her. Why her, a poor little bunny? Why did she have to be going through so much?

Judy finished her coffee, spent some time on social media, and before she knew it, she was asleep.

##############################################################################

Judy woke up a little bit late on Thursday morning, but it wasn't too late. It was only 11:00am. She could have slept in later, but she was wise enough not to. She had stuff to do today before her date with Jed. Thinking about that got her excited.

First off, Judy searched through the remains of her clothes for a good outfit. She'd change for tonight, but she had to run errands today and she wanted to look good. She found some jeans (which would be hot in the summer heat) but it was the only thing she had to wear. She needed to also take her dirty clothes to the apartment keeper and have her wash her clothes.

Judy grabbed a purple shirt and slipped it over her. She stuffed her wallet in her back pocket along with her phone and marched out of her room.

First stop, the grocery store. Judy climbed out of the police car—that chief Bogo lent her—and walked into the cool building. Wearing jeans was not a good idea, but it was the only thing she really had. Her parents really needed to ship her clothes to her.

Judy needed food majorly. She had no food in her apartment, but then again, she had no room to make anything. She could only really eat microwaved food, but that stuff was kinda gross.

"Let's see, I need carrots, celery, blueberries…" Judy stopped. Blueberries. They made her think of Nick. Judy felt something inside sting her. Nick.

She shook her head and pushed the thought out of her head. She continued to list the food she needed.

"Chocolate would be good," she told herself. "And I need lettuce. Maybe some chips to munch on. That sounds pretty good to me. Oh, wait. I should get some pizza too."

Judy walked around the market, spending most of her time in the produce section. She grabbed all of the vegetables and fruit that she needed and then grabbed her chips, chocolate, and pizza. Judy wondered how she didn't notice that she was all out of food at home, but she was stocking up a bit now. She didn't eat very much, but when she did, she ate everything she could possible eat.

After Judy paid for her groceries, she headed for the car and set the bags in the back seat. Then she got into the driver's seat and pulled out of the parking lot. She drove down the road to go to the Zootopia Central Hospital just to check up on Nick.

The traffic wasn't too bad, but it was a little slow. Judy turned on the radio and listened to a song by Taylor Pig: I Wish You Would. It reminded her a bit about hers and Nick's fights and how they always thought they'd never get back together. But they always did in the end. End. Would Nick have an end to him?

"JUDY! Don't think such thoughts! Don't lose hope on him!" Judy scolded herself out loud. She listened to the song some more and felt her ears droop. Why did she have to think of him? Probably because I'm going to see him, duh.

Judy reached the hospital within 20 minutes. She parked her car at the front parking lot and ran into the building. She waved to Josh and walked up to the counter.

"Hey, Josh!" she greeted. The lion looked at her.

"Are you here to speak with Dr. Barns?" Josh wondered.

"Just for a minute. I want to get Nick's report for today or whatever you call it," Judy replied. "Is the doctor busy?"

"No, I don't think so. Let me call his office and see if he's there," he said. He used his desk phone to call in on the office while Judy thumped her foot, impatiently.

"Alright, he's in his office."

"Thanks!" Judy exclaimed, running down the halls and waving at Josh. She walked up to Doctor Barn's door and knocked on it lightly. Before letting him get a chance to answer, Judy walked into the room and saw Dr. Barns sitting down at his desk with his computer in front of him.

"Dr. Barns," Judy spoke. The badger looked up at Judy and nodded.

"Hello, Miss Hopps," he smiled.

"Just call me Judy," she said. "And I would like to apologize for the other day. I was just angry and upset and I…"

"I understand, Judy," Dr. Barns said. "Lots of mammals like to blame the doctors and I'm used to it. But they only do it when they hear shocking news or when they're upset."

Judy nodded and looked at the ground, pursing her lips. "I was wondering if you had news on Nick and if I could maybe…see him?"

"Give us a few more days, okay Judy? He's going through a lot of tests and stuff right now. But once we put him in his glass cell—where you can look at him conveniently and safely—then you can visit him."

"Okay," Judy mumbled. "But how is he? Has he woken up yet?"

"Of course," Doctor Barns chuckled. "He's a feisty creature and we all have to wear suits to protect ourselves, but we have him strapped down and we tranquilize him a lot."

"The tranquilizer medicine won't damage his brain or anything, will it?"

The doctor shook his head. "No, no it won't."

"Okay, well thank you," Judy smiled. "I'll be going now and leave you to your…researching?"

"Yep."

Judy nodded. "Okay, bye Dr. Barns!"

"Bye, Judy."

##############################################################################

Judy was frantically searching through her tiny closet for something to wear tonight. Just earlier she had to text Jed and told her what her address was and they engaged in a friendly conversation when Judy looked at the time and it was 6:45! She only had 15 minutes to get ready!

Judy finally decided to wear a light pink dress that she had since she was a senior. It was a pretty dress, not too plain and not too fancy. It was perfect.

Judy slipped that on and combed back the fur on her face. At least this date would take her mind off of him. Judy shook her head and continued to clean herself up.

Finally, her doorbell rang. Judy ran to it frantically and answered it, meeting eyes with Jed. His beautiful, blue eyes were shining and he was looking as handsome as ever. If Judy could, she would have melted from his presence. Yeah, that's how good looking he was.

"Hey, Judy. Are you ready to go?"

Judy nodded, lost at words. She expected Jed to hold out his arm for her to hold onto, but instead he held out his paw and Judy put her small paw in his bigger one. Together, they walked down to Jed's fancy car.

##############################################################################

"And here we are!" Jed exclaimed, parking the car in a parking lot. Judy looked at the place that they were at: Alfonso's Garden. This must be a really popular place for dates, Judy thought.

Jed got out of the car and walked around to the passenger door and opened it up for his date. Judy stepped out and smiled.

"Thank you."

"No problem, sweets," Jed winked. He grabbed Judy's paw and gave her a beautiful smile. "Let's go in."

They entered the Italian restaurant and the good smelling scent hit Judy's nose. The lights were dimmed in the restaurant like they were in romantic dinner scenes. While Jed talked to their host, Judy felt memories flood through her of when Nick and her had captured the criminal in the kitchen. Oh, Nick.

"Come on, Judy. Let's sit down," Jed said, leading Judy to their booth. It was a nice little spot and Judy started loving their date from the start. They ordered their food and chatted about randomness until their food came. It was really fast service.

"So…how was your day?" Jed wondered.

"It was pretty okay. I woke up late and shopped for food. What about you?" Judy replied, taking a bite of her spaghetti.

"Well, I had a tough day at my job. My boss decided to give me an extra hour and he said that he'd pay me extra, but I doubt it. He's a fox, you know. And foxes are untrustworthy."

"You think so?" Judy snorted, trying not to get mad.

"Well, duh. Foxes are sly, as we all know and…criminals 10% of the time," Jed said.

"Even Nick?"

"Oh, Judy. I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that…" Jed responded. He changed the subject quickly. "So, how are your parents?"

"They're good," Judy said. "Though they were upset that I left early."

"I wouldn't blame them," Jed said. "I mean, if it weren't for Nick…"

"What do you mean if it weren't for Nick?" Judy's ears felt hot with rage. Where was Jed going with this?

"Well, if he hadn't gotten into that accident…"

"That was NOT Nick's fault!" Judy hissed. "He couldn't control going sa-out for a stroll at night!"

"Foxes are creatures of the night, so I guess he couldn't resist," Jed shrugged. "That's when they come out the most to, you know…"

"Kill mammals?" Judy growled. "Foxes are innocent creatures! They're just like any other animal or any other animal are just like them."

"Haha, no. Foxes are sly and untrustworthy," Jed snarled. "And why are you sticking up for a fox? Didn't you once tell me that one hurt you when you were younger? And what about how Nick scares you?"

Had Judy ever really told him that? Maybe she did.

"Gideon Gray happens to be a very fine gentleman now and Nick had some issues…" Judy spoke.

"Yes, he had some issues. He was a killer, evil fox!" Jed spat.

"The only animals are see who are evil and untrustworthy are racist animals like YOU! Good night!" Judy exclaimed, slipping out of her booth. She left Jed in the booth, probably cursing his head off. Judy stormed out the restaurant doors and began walking on the sidewalk. It'd probably take about 15 minutes to walk home, but she could do some thinking in that time.

Judy felt a boost of anger shoot up her every time she thought of Jed. Shortest date ever.

I'd like to thank my guest reviewer "TMM" for telling me about this song and how they think of that song every time they read my fic. You're so awesome, TMM!

Sorry about Taylor Swift's animal name. LOL, just a while ago, I thought that Taylor Swift would be a pig if she were any animal, so…Yeah.

I'd also like to suggest a great Zootopia fan fiction to you called "In and Out of Love" by AngloFalcon. It's REALLY good and I suggest that you read it. It's got loads of drama, humor, and mystery. Go check it out!

Also, if you like Miraculous Ladybug, check out an awesome fan fiction by LilyTheNinjaGirl called "Secrets and Betrayals." That has so much drama and mystery and angst that I can't wait until she (Lily, my BFF) updates!

One more thing…I'VE OFFICIALLY (After you review this chapter) HAVE REACHED 300 REVIEWS! You guys are just SOOOOOOOOOOO awesome! Thank you for being really supportive and loving my story!

That's all! Thank you!