Nick stared up at the moon and was tormented by his thoughts. He hoped that by looking up into the night sky, it would somehow give him the answers he seeked.

Just then, his least favorite mammal came up to him, stating, "Don't think I don't know what you call me behind my back, Wilde."

He turned to face the captain and challenged, "Oh? And what would that be?"

Bogo crossed his arms, "Buffalo Butt."

"Let me guess, Clawhauser told you?"

"He did, but I have also been aware of it for a long time, Baron Wilde."

"But I'm not a baron anymore."

"And the mouse declared I wasn't a captain anymore, but that's not the truth. He's a false king, so his words don't mean a thing. But only you can decide you want be a baron or not. But I'm willing to bet it didn't matter to Hopps whether or not you were of nobility."

Nick had wide eyes as he found himself saying, "You know… it was like for the first time in my life, I could be myself around her. No protocol or hiding my emotions… It was just me and her…"

"I know it was you who helped her with swordfighting. I recognized some of the moves she made during our duel and I also saw how you wanted to protect her when I accidentally cut her arm. Not unlike what a mammal does for his mate."

Nick felt himself blushing. It was true. That day when she was fighting the captain and she got hurt in the process, he wanted to jump in and protect her from further harm.

"So it's obvious you do love her, so why can't you kiss her?"

Without stopping his mouth, he said, "Because I don't know if she loves me…"

The cape buffalo rubbed his chin, "Ah… that makes sense… You're afraid that even if you do kiss her, she won't wake and that would tell you that she never loved you as you love her…"

Nick looked down, feeling so lost on what to do.

"Did she ever give you any reason to doubt that she would ever love you?"

Nick started opening his mouth, but then closed it because as he was thinking back, he found that nothing seemed like Judy did display any emotion that she didn't like being next to him. Well, other than the times that he was being rude to her. But when they first laid eyes upon each other, she seemed intrigued with him as she stared right at him with those sparkling eyes of hers. Then as he apologized to her, she lit up as she became more accepting and friendly to him. Since then, they enjoyed each other's company so much that he found it hard to be apart from her.

Even now he longed for her to be here by his side, awake and full of life.

Bogo spoke again, "I cannot force you. I will not command you like the captain I am. This decision must be straight from the heart. You must decide if you want to kiss her or not. Now, if you'll excuse me, I must prepare for battle. I wish you the best of luck."

Once the large mammal left, Nick thought over what he said. Had it been Clawhauser or Finnick, he wouldn't have listened to a word they said because they would have tried to convince him to kiss Judy. But he knew Captain Bogo was straightforward and he did point out the choice was his alone.

The very next night, Big and Bogo rallied their troops together. Jack and Skye were dressed up regally as they were to enter the castle as guests for the engagement ball. As they were about to leave, they stopped by the infirmary where the brave sleeping bunny was.

"She would have done anything to save this kingdom," said Skye.

"It's up to us now. We must not let her sacrifice be in vain," proclaimed Jack.

"Agreed."

The fox and rabbit left to join the squad, which consisted of a large number of mammals, including Finnick and Clawhauser. They reached the castle where dressed-up guests entered through the gates. Jack and Skye took that as their cue and joined the crowd. Once the last of the guests were in, the gates went down and a force field surrounded the castle.

The ballroom was crowded as guests conversed among themselves or were enjoying the buffet table. The band started playing and Jack and Skye decided to join in the dance to keep their cover from being blown.

Skye said as they swayed to the music, "Remember our first dance at the cheese festival?"

Jack smiled, "How could I forget? You kept stepping on my feet."

She rolled her eyes, "Besides that, it was a nice dance, wasn't it?"

Jack's smile faltered a bit, "I suppose…It was a dance among friends, wasn't it? Meant for fun…"

Her smile faltered this time, "Right… for fun…"

They kept dancing until the music stopped and then the trumpets blew, announcing the arrival of the host.

The Mouse King and Princess Fru-Fru were carried in by two large escorts before setting them on a table, which enabled them to oversee the whole ballroom.

The mouse amplified his voice by the use of his scepter and declared to the entire room, "Good evening! I would like to thank you all for attending the engagement ball of my fiancée and myself. We are thrilled to celebrate as our wedding will take place first thing in the morning!"

There were mutters of concern, which the Mouse King frowned at and tapped on the bottom of the scepter. Large lightning bolts burst from his scepter and went up in the air, making the room gasp. When they died down, the room forcibly applauded.

Skye uttered, "Jerk."

Jack whispered, "Then let's stop him from being more of a jerk than he already is."

They carefully made their way past the guests to the entrance, unaware a weasel was watching their every move.

Nick entered the infirmary and slowly made his way to Judy, who was still sleeping on the bed. He sat down beside her and made sure they were absolutely alone before he spoke softly.

"Judy Hopps, you have no idea what you've done to me. I have fallen hopelessly in love with you and I'm afraid that if I kiss you and you don't wake up, that will tell me that you could never return my love. But… it's a risk I'm willing to take for you. I care about you so much that I will do everything within my power to see you awake again. If I am not the one for you, then I would search for the one who is meant to be with you. No matter how much it hurts me, your happiness and safety is all I need." He sighed, "Here goes nothing…" He lowered his muzzle down and pressed his lips gently onto hers. It was short and sweet as he lifted his face up and waited.

Nothing seemed to happen and Nick gave a disappointed sigh, but then suddenly, he saw her stirring and his heart raced in excitement.

Her amethyst eyes fluttered open and she looked at her surroundings in confusion.

"How… how did I get here?" She turned to see Nick, who was crying, and asked in concern, "Nick? What's wrong? Why are you…?" But she didn't get to finish as he wrapped his arms around her in a tight embrace and uttered.

"You dumb, wonderful bunny…"

Once he let go of her, he smiled at her before turning serious, "You were under a sleeping curse."

"Sleeping curse?"

He nodded, "And true love's kiss was the only way to revive you."

"True love's…?" Then she blushed furiously as she covered her face and muttered, "Nick, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean for you to find out this way…"

He just gave a tiny smirk, asking, "Just how long?"

She slowly looked up at his shining emerald eyes, "Since… your apology. I didn't think I was falling, but as time went on…" Then a thought occurred to her, "But if you didn't know ahead of time… Why did you kiss me?"

He was his turn to blush and rubbed his neck awkwardly, "I've more or less fallen in love with you, too."

Her eyes widened, "How long?"

"Honestly? I think it was the first time we've met. It didn't occur to me until Captain Bogo made some interesting points about us. It's crazy, but everyone around us knew before we did that we were in love." Then he asked, "Now I'm curious about what exactly happened to you that made you fall under a sleeping curse in the first place?"

"I don't remember much about what happened, but I was trying to get information about the secret passageways in the castle."

"The passageways? Carrots, the passageways were sealed off by the Mouse King when he made his force field around the castle. Who told you about them?"

"A weasel by the name of Duke."

"Duke Weaselton?! Carrots, that guy is working for the mouse!"

"Well, if that's true, why was he here on the base?"

His eyes widened in shock as a revelation came to him, "No wonder we had to move our base around! Duke was able to hide among us and told our locations to the mouse!"

"And he knew about the prophecy! He led me to the castle where the passages were!"

"From there, he baited you and you fell under the curse!" Nick gnashed his teeth.

She covered her face again, "I feel so stupid…"

"No. It's my fault. I shouldn't have left you alone." He wrapped his arms around her in comfort and she snuggled against his chest. He stroked her ears as he said, "So what if a prophecy says we're mistaken. I see now that we're not a mistake of any kind."

She smiled at his words and sighed fondly before asking, "Are you going to tell them about Duke?"

"It's too late for that. They've already left."

"What?!" She moved out of his grasp and sat up, "We have to hurry and warn them! Duke is going to know everything about the attack!"

"You mean I'll warn them! You're staying right here!"

"No way!"

"I almost lost you once. I don't want to lose you forever!" Tears formed in his eyes.

She gaped at those tears before releasing a small smile and went to him. She wrapped her arms around his neck before kissing him in one swift move.

"You won't lose me, now that I finally found you… And you want to know something? Before I fell asleep, my thoughts drifted to you. And that I was sorry that I didn't tell you sooner how much I love you."

His eyes widened, and then he smiled in pleasure.

She continued, "We're in this together. Nick, let me go with you so I won't be afraid of losing you the way you almost lost me."

He sighed before giving a single nod. With paws entwined, they rushed out of there, hoping they were not too late.