It was still only early evening on the world's longest day and Nick and Judy were getting ready for their date night. The plan had changed since the morning, they were supposed to be going up to the waterfalls near the farm, but Nick had spotted a nice restaurant in town that advertised itself as 'the place for every mammal, every time'. After asking Judy about it she said that she had never been in but had always wanted to try it. That was it decided, with everything that had already happened today, a sit-down meal sounded a lot more appealing than a walk through the woods anyway.

"Do you think this will be OK?" Judy asked from beside her dressing table. Nick turned around to take a look and he was utterly gobsmacked at how beautiful she looked. Judy's dress was long, but it hugged her figure perfectly, the material floated from the waist down and a slit in it allowed better movement for her and a teasing glimpse of her leg for Nick. It had another two cut outs, one on each side, they came around just far enough to show a little white fur from her stomach. The whole dress was covered in red sequins that were still sparkling in the fading light.

"Wow Judy, you are beautiful." Nick always made sure to say "you are" rather than "you look" because he felt that Judy was beautiful on the inside as well as on the outside, it didn't matter to him if she picked up on the difference it was just something he did.

Nick was currently wearing suit pants with no shirt, tie or anything else but he still walked over to her and placed his paws on the exposed fur at Judy's sides just above her waist.

"is it not a bit much?" Judy asked nervously.

"It's perfect sweetheart." Nick couldn't resist kissing her deeply, it was a release that both of them needed and they very nearly got carried away with themselves. They probably would have if it wasn't for a knock on that damned bedroom door.

"this, this is why we will never live with family." Nick said with his lips about an inch away from hers making her laugh quietly

"Come in." He called once he had removed himself from her.

"It's only me", Bonnie said as she opened the door carrying a white shirt that almost drowned her. Judy had asked her to iron it for Nick after much protest from the fox, he claimed that it was unfair to make Bonnie iron it, but he knew that she would make a much better job at it than he ever could.

"Here you are Nick, freshly ironed, in fact it's still warm." Bonnie handed Nick the hanger with the shirt on before catching Judy in the corner of her eye.

"Oh Judith, you look amazing." Bonnie cooed. She trotted over and straightened the odd stray hair out on Judy before standing back and taking in her daughter. Judy could feel her ears burning and turned around to finish herself off before she turned redder than Nick.

"I'll leave you two to it." Bonnie said, taking one last look before she left.

Judy was planning to drive to town, but Nick insisted on a taxi so that they could both have a glass of wine and hopefully some fizz if things went to plan. They were sat out on the farmhouse porch waiting for the taxi to arrive when Judy realised how ridiculous they must have looked sitting in a sequin dress and a full suit on the porch of a farmhouse surrounded by mud and fertiliser with the rumble of a tractor engine as the background noise. Nick checked his watch for the 100th time, 4:43 the taxi was supposed to be picking them up at quarter to 5 so it shouldn't be long. As if by magic a set of headlights swung into the farmyard, Nick slipped his paw into the inside pocket of his jacket, his heart stopping for a moment when he brushed against the little box he had snuck in there while Judy was distracted by Bonnie.

"I think that's our lift slick." Judy said, swishing her way to her feet, she hadn't been so excited for a date night in a long time, but she didn't know why. Perhaps it was because it was in her home town or maybe it was because It was one year to the day since their first date.

"After you." Nick held the back door of the car open for Judy. Much to his relief this car was much bigger than Amy's lunchbox on wheels, so there was plenty of room for both of them.

"where are we going tonight?" The driver asked. He was a wolf but had black and brown markings mixed in with his grey fur.

"The wild olive, Oxford street." Nick answered. Getting a wide-eyed look in the rear-view mirror from the wolf.

"What's the occasion?" the driver asked.

All Nick could think about was how this point in the conversation was usually when things went south. The moments silence must have answered the question for him because the wolf laughed a little before he set off.

"It's ok, I get it. You know it's surprising how common it is. Being a taxi driver you see what most mammals don't, but I have to say, I've never seen a fox and a rabbit before."

Nick sighed with relief. "You're just about the only one around here with that opinion."

The car pulled up right outside the restaurant.

"That's $6.50 please." The wolf turned to face the pair in the back. Nick handed over $10 and told the driver to keep the change. He was in a very generous mood on this holiday.

"Have a nice evening." The wolf said as they both hopped out of the car. Nick had saved the drivers number to use again, having a friendly taxi drivers number was always helpful especially in a town like this.

Judy walked around the back of the car and hooked arms with Nick for the short walk to the front door which Nick held open for her. He straightened up his tie and red handkerchief he had found in his luggage before walking over to a buck rabbit that was the host.

"Hello sir and welcome to The Wild Olive. Do you have a reservation?" The Buck said respectfully but a slight twitch in his nose told Nick that he wasn't entirely comfortable.

"Yes, Wilde, table for two." Nick said with a smile but making sure not to show his teeth, he felt like he must have looked so stupid, but he was committed now.

"Wilde, Wilde... ah there we are. Your table is ready if you'd like to follow me." Nick raised his eyebrows at Judy. They were used to eating in diners and fast food joints, occasionally they would go up market for a date night, but this was by far the poshest place they had eaten in a long time.

The host seated them and after taking a drinks order and handing out some menus he disappeared back to the front desk. Most of the dishes were vegetarian with a couple of chicken options but Nick wasn't having meat tonight, in fact he would be lucky to have anything at all. The names of the dishes didn't give much away, if it wasn't for the description under each one, he would just have to pick one and hope for the best.

Their waiter came over with the wine they had ordered and poured them a glass each, leaving the bottle on ice at the table. Although they had hardly been apart for the last week or two, Nick and Judy still found more than enough to chat and laugh about. The evening was going perfectly: they had ordered their very fancy starters and mains, neither of them knowing quite what to expect but nonetheless all of the food was delicious.

They were Just finishing their mains when Nick reached around to get his suit jacket off the back of the chair to fight off a nip in the air, while straightening out the jacket he felt the little box in the inside pocket and his relaxed mood went straight out the window. His ears must have given him away again because Judy gave him a puzzled look.

"My wallet's gone." Nick said flatly and quietly.

"You're joking." Judy said equally flatly and quietly, but a smile crept its way to Nicks face and Judy's look turned to a serious one.

"Stop it." She huffed before cracking a smile herself.

For the remainder of the meal Nick's heart was almost jumping out of his chest. The atmosphere between them never changed from the happy, carefree one they had had for the rest of the night, but Nick was more nervous now than he had ever been. Every time her amethyst eyes met his he got butterflies and the feeling he got when she laughed or brushed her ear with her paw was like nothing he had ever felt before.

'Pull yourself together Nick, for god's sake.' He told himself in his head, but before he had chance to do that the waiter came and cleared the table. He felt almost weightless when he placed his paw on top of Judy's in the centre of the table, the slow blink and genuine smile that she gave him very nearly melted him into a foxy puddle.

"Car- Judy, I'm so thankful that you followed this shifty looking fox into that ice-cream parlour, and that you hustled me into helping you, although I did let you." He paused for a second, he wanted to get this right. 'there's no backing out now' his brain told him.

"Because if you hadn't, I wouldn't be sitting here now, with you. And there is nothing else I would rather be doing." Nick said, smiling at her and squeezing her paw. Judy flicked a single tear away from her eye in an attempt to stop the little makeup she was wearing from running.

"So, Judith Laverne Hopps." Nick pulled his paw away and slipped it into his jacket, before carefully slipping off the chair and onto one knee beside Judy. Both of Judy's paws shot up to cover her mouth and the glisten from a tear rolled down her cheek fur.

Nick flicked open the ring box and at the same time said. "Will you make me the happiest fox in the world? Will you marry me?"

"Yes! Oh Nick yes!" Judy squeaked in happiness. Her arms went around him, and they shared the most tender, loving kiss. A round of applause spread through the room as the rest of the guests and staff realised what was happening. The kiss ended with them resting their foreheads together and gazing helplessly into each other's eyes. "I love you." They both said at exactly the same time. Giggling to themselves they parted and Judy held out her paw for Nick to slip the ring on. It was a perfect fit.

"It's perfect." Judy said, admiring the ring. It was slim and discrete but had a band two bands of tiny diamonds entwined around an amethyst and an emerald. It was unusual but that's the reason Nick had it made, everything about them was unusual

"How did you know the size?"

"I just know these things." Nick said, holding Judy's paw in both of his.

The rest of the meal was just as perfect, they got a bottle of champagne and an amazing cheesecake with congratulations handwritten in a chocolate sauce on top of it, all on the house. Nick paid the cheque with a little resistance from Judy as usual. For the whole taxi ride home Judy sat snuggled under Nicks arm, smiling stupidly at her ring. They pulled up outside the farmhouse to the whole family crammed on and around the porch with a homemade congratulations banner strung up with fairy lights hanging from the porch roof.

Normally Judy would have been embarrassed but she was so excited to show off her ring she leapt out of the car and ran to show it off to Bonnie and Stu, which of course met with the waterworks from Stu. Nick caught up once he had paid the driver. Stu placed a paw on Nicks arm and swallowed a lump in his throat. "Come here son." He said before dragging Nick down into a manly hug, complete with loud back pats and a straightening of coats once it was done.

"Where's Amy?" Judy asked. She couldn't see her in the crowd, but she didn't expect to.

"She's waiting in the lounge with the little ones. Go in and see her." Judy skipped off to find her sister, leaving Nick outside.

"Nicholas, I'm so happy for you both, and I don't think there's a better matched pair of mammals alive." Bonnie said, holding her future son in law's paw.

"Thanks Bonnie, it really does mean a lot."

Bonnie nodded and with a pat on the arm she told him. "You go and find your fiance." The biggest grin spread across Nick's muzzle, the fact that Judy had said yes just fully sinking in.