Five years (for Cimar)
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"So, ready Slick?" she asked.
"Born ready," Nick said back.
Judy gave him a knowing look and pressed the button, the slideshow beginning. The first picture wasn't strictly the first taken, but Nick smiled at their 'historic reproduction'. Nick and Judy, standing side by side, outside a certain ice cream parlour.
The fox smirked. "Funny. Wasn't there some fox away there?"
Judy gave a look back. "Funny. Wasn't there a fox in an elephant costume there."
"Touche," Nick agreed, as it flipped forward. "And you could say the same about this number too."
"Yup," Judy agreed, as she saw the pair posing by an odd sight. Even after a couple of years, that booted stroller still stood there. So, on seeing it years later (and after recovering from the laughter) they'd posed once more. The bunny smirking up at him, clipboard in paw, while he looked down, not so much dead inside but tax audited instead (a far worse expression, naturally).
"You know," Nick pondered. "I heard someone tried to move it a year ago, and there was a protest by the locals. It's their booted stroller, dammit!"
Judy giggled, only for her ears to stand upright. "Look-look-look. The actual first one." They'd found it almost by accident, buried in an old police report, but after asking they'd been given leave to include it in their own. They didn't know who'd snapped it, but whoever it was they were eternally grateful to. There they stood, after Lionheart had been put in the back of a cruiser, facing each other in the dark of the night and the spray of the mist. Paws against paws, high over heads, a victory high-eight, the case closed.
Or so they thought.
The press conference… They knew it was there, they felt it, but through the trials they faced they came through. A picture of them, together, under a certain bridge, smiling. Not the original, another recreation, but after that came something that really was the real deal. Grainy bodycam it may be, but their grins, her arms around him and a carrot pen in paw. The only thing missing was a certain ex-mayor.
They'd got a friend to airbrush out the little puff of her wool that had snuck in.
On learning who it was, they'd paid them for the honour.
"Of course, this is where the fun begins," Nick said, as the pics carried on. There, in a small swarm of Hopps siblings, sat Judy on a hospital bed, tie dragging Nick into view. With a few younger siblings, she wasn't the only one.
"The fluffle discovers the manual vulpine guidance system," Judy boasted, Nick giving a pronounced shiver. And, while he'd had to be hauled in for that one, he was on centre stage for the next, wheeling Judy on and out of the hospital.
His (old) apartment was next, the fox snapping the shocked expression of the bunny on seeing the inside of 'the piped dream house'.
"I still can't believe you lived there," she said.
"Let she who did not stay at the grand pangolin arms cast the first stone."
She was reduced to annoyed nose twitch as it flipped on to the next image. Them posing in front of Clawhauser on her first day back, an important date for Nick too. There, in his paw, stood an unassuming letter, but one with something very important inside.
Nick's tail couldn't help but wag.
The next image came on, the pair capturing a mid-celebration snuggle selfie of themselves, Nick's face positively screaming with goofy joy. A letter in his paw the reason. "T'was a good day," the fox reminisced.
Judy smirked. "As opposed to the following ones."
He scowled as the next few images showed him in various stages of getting fit or, as he remembered it, bunny mandated torture. Either running or exercising while looking half dead, or collapsed and filling in the other half after. Things changed though and, in those months, a trained eye would see his muscles growing and hardening, his pecs defining themselves and, near the end, a slight recovery on his face as he began to tame the beast. And then, there he stood in a blue ZPD academy shirt and shorts, giving a half wave and salute as he marched off into the academy. "You know, after all that prep, it was a bit of a let-down," he teased.
She raised a finger. "Prior planning and preparation prevents pitifully poor performance, my vulpine valedictorian."
And then, there he stood, paw up in a salute as she pinned on his badge. And then, there they stood together, in front of Clawhauser once more. Only this time, they were both dressed in their blues. It wasn't her first day back, it was their first day together.
"The first of many," Judy reminisced.
And then on it went. First sharing of drinks at the 10-7. First time Nick's mother pulled something on an unamused at the time bunny. Sharing snacks, sharing exercise routines, peeks in their selfies and then…
Together, Gazelle singing out above, looking each other. And there, the spark fired.
The next pic was back at Nick's new place, the fox insisting on taking the sofa like a gentlemammal only for, the next morning, to wake up with a bunny snuggled up next to him. Head snuggling into his chest floof, he'd taken a picture from up above, expecting to tease her with it.
"You were mean about that," she scolded.
"You know you loved it."
"I…" she mumbled. Because, ultimately, all his talking about her not getting enough Nick was true, and had been cut off as she'd buried herself back in him again. And then it had clicked for Nick.
The next pic was their first date. Nothing crazy planned, but there had been no better place than the beach promenade, walking along while licking their ice-creams, fond looks shared between them.
And so it had begun. Them not just hanging out. Happy looks, fond smiles, and then the kisses. So, so many kisses.
"How many did we put in?" she asked.
"Don't remember," he pondered. "A hundred!"
"A hundred?"
He smirked. "At a minimum."
And then, they appeared at one of the best restaurants in the city, dressed up to the nines. "First anniversary," she reminisced.
"Three years ago," he smiled.
And then the next pic came on, sent to them by a fellow diner. That date had nearly been ruined when a certain skunkette had loudly called out 'the freaks in love.' But then, before her humiliated boyfriend could work out an apology, or Nick a snarky put-down, she had downed her wine, marched up, yanked her fox close with his manual vulpine guidance system and planted one heck of a kiss. There it stood, in all its glory.
And then, there they stood, outside a new apartment, moving in together. "Is nice," he joked, gesturing around to the place. It had needed some work, and so the next pics showed them together, covered in paint or hauling furniture. But be they giggly or resigned or congratulatory after a long days work, they all had smiles.
Pics of them snapped in bed (where they now slept together), in the middle of breakfasts and dinners and on the sofa. Even a sneaky one in the bath. They got closer and close together until, finally, a new fancy date appeared. Together for two years, knowing each other for three, Judy looked like nothing could better this moment.
And then, minutes later, her eyes were wide and her paws over her gasping mouth, as he opened a box in front of her. "YES!" she screamed, back in the present.
Nick looked on. "I know," he said, pointing at the ring on his finger. "That's why I have this."
She gave him one of her looks (for when he was especially annoying), and he gave one of his (for when he was, even if pretending he wasn't). And so their life together went, building up towards the big day. If anything, it was just like the year before, until right at the end.
Because there they stood, once more on that same day, just a year ago. Him in his suit, her a blushing bride in white. Standing at the altar, then sharing a kiss, then celebrating together. Their honeymoon was a resplendent dose of luxury, the pair practically glued to each other.
"Well, nothing's changed there," she said, hugging him tight.
He looked back and smiled, giving her peck on the top of the head. "Uh-hu."
And so, it continued. The glory of the honeymoon receding, but a long burning glow remaining. In each picture, you could tell that the pair were married, and loving every minute of it.
And then, it flipped forward until finally, they reached the present. Judy ended the slideshow and put the remote down, Nick leaning in to give her a kiss. "One year married, huh?"
"Two years since you proposed."
"Three since our first date."
"Four since we started as partners."
Five since we met," he finished. "And thanks for all of that. I can't wait to see what else you have planned."
She gave a look of feigned shock. "Oh, the slideshow isn't good enough for you?"
"Well," he continued, "I have known some good restaurants, organised some sweet dates."
"And who managed our marriage?"
"Our wedding planner."
"And who hired her?"
"Who've you hired today," he teased, as she shrugged.
"No-one. Though I may have one more thing," she said, bringing up her phone. "Though maybe a picture, first?"
He smiled and joined in, all as she pressed record, and brought out a little something she'd had in her pocket. His eyes, watching the camera, flicked down at the pregnancy test. And the next smile that grew was forever captured for the future.