"You know you're in love when you can't fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams." Dr. Seuss

Judy was in a state of agitation, sitting next to Nick in a cinema chair. There were music videos playing in the cinema hall and some beavers brought beverages and snacks for everyone. Their guests were chatting and frequently some came to the newly engaged couple to congratulate personally. Evelin was holding two glasses of carrot juice and sat next to Judy.

"Hey, Juju." She grinned, handing her one of the glasses.

"Thanks, Eve." The rabbit sniveled, rubbing her nose with the back of her paw. "Since when did you two plan this?"

Nick and Evelin shared a quick look and both snickered. It was Nick who was speaking first.

"Oh, just a few weeks ago. It was rather difficult to have so many animals involved but everyone keeping it a secret. Especially from you." He winked. "And when Evelin and Sven planned to marry this weekend, the temptation was too big to just ignore it."

"I was so excited that I should accompany you to the cinema, and when Sven and I planned to marry this weekend, this was just the perfect moment to get you here without raising your suspicion." Evelin smiled widely.

"Well, I really didn't suspect anything. If anything I thought this whole wedding-thing was scarring to Nick." Judy smiled defeated.

"Oh, it is!" Nick nodded with a serious look, nipping on his own glass of sparkling wine.

"At least we can party each other's bachelor party today with all of our friends!" Evelin grinned. "I hope you haven't forgotten about our little deal, sis. I'm still going to be your chief bridesmaid on Sunday, right?"

"Of course you a… wait, what?!" Judy nearly let her glass fall down, jumped off her chair and starred to Evelin.

"And it wasn't even my idea." Nick quietly laughed. "When Sven and you, Eve, generously suggested a double wedding, I didn't hesitate too long. I think it is a great idea!"

"What?!" Judy quickly turned her head around to Nick, now starring at him disbelieving.

"It will be really fun, and everything is prepared anyway so we can seize the moment!"

"WHAT?!" Judy now turned again quickly to Evelin again. Her unnatural high-pitched voice let a few faces turn to them.

"Anyway, can you be both, bride and bridesmaid?" Nick asked curiously and Judy turned back to him again, this time just staring with an open mouth and unable to articulate herself.

"Sure thing, why not? We had this already a few times in the past." Evelin answered contemplatively.

Judy was on the brink to fall in a faint; she rolled her eyes and tried to get hold of Nick's arm, stumbling. The fox quickly grabbed her on her shoulders and propped her.

"Hey, everything okay, Judy?" he asked worried and directed her back on her seat.

"You are joking, right?" She looked at Nick with a bit of panic in her eyes. "Right?" She turned to Evelin, but only got a huge smile as response.

"Oh, I'm definitely not joking regarding my … sorry, our wedding!" she hugged Judy and gave her a kiss on each cheek. "Relax, sister. The most nerve-stretching are the weeks and days before the wedding. You only have one day left of that and everything is already prepared."

Judy couldn't talk. She couldn't even think at the moment; her whole body was malfunctioning right now. Nick's arm was about to enfold her around the shoulders and she just toppled over to him.

"I think this was a bit too much." Evelin snickered and Nick smiled, nodding still a bit worried. But Judy sprung off her seat suddenly, grabbing a glass of champagne from a tablet a beaver was carrying past their tier. She emptied the glass with one slug, Evelin and Nick watching her amused.

Nick had planned this evening for nearly two months. Actually he wasn't in such a hurry to marry her only two days after his proposal. But Evelin thought it would be just perfect to have a double wedding with her sister. And when she offered him to share her special day with them, he eagerly agreed. And why should they even wait a few weeks or months to host their own wedding? It seemed a really great idea and both families, Sven's and Evelin's, were agreeing that it would be great to make it a double wedding. But that also meant, that Judy was thrown in at the deep end now. And Nick didn't want her to feel uncomfortable and would defer their wedding without hesitation if Judy was unsure about it.

Judy felt overpowered with emotions. Nicks proposal was really a great surprise and it was outdoing anything that she ever heard off someone had done. True to the motto of their song 'Crazy something normal' he always tried to surprise her with crazy little things, like the scavenger hunt for their six-month anniversary. But his movie proposal in the cinema really raised the bar, even for his standards. Of course she wants to marry him, she was waiting for this moment for quite a while; but was caught totally off guard today. And even before she could really stomach the news, Nick and Evelin throw her a curve – a double wedding together with Evelin; in barely two days. She was arguing with herself in her head: If she could have planned all of this ahead, it would be a fantastic idea to have a double wedding with her best friend and sister. Wasn't she even a bit envy about Evelin's wedding the whole time, because Nick seemed so indifferent about it? For a while she even considered to propose to Nick during or after the wedding. During all those preparations the last days she realized that she loved this fox so much and didn't want to wait another year or more for him to finally propose to her; but on the other hand, what if Nick wasn't as fond as she was? She was thinking about this right before she watched the movie and now she was finally engaged with Nick and couldn't be any happier about it. Even more, they would be married in less than 48 hours; and not just a quick'n'dirty Zoo-Vegas wedding, but a really big one with all of her family, her friends and colleagues, and together with Evelin. It was just perfect and exceled her most venturous dreams and fantasies; she just was in need of a few calm minutes to ease down. But the sparkling wine would do for now: She grabbed one glass off the tablet the waiter was carrying along her tier and emptied it with one slug.

The alcohol had a quick effect and she felt immediately how her panic and stress decreased. Judy blinked a few times and looked to Nick, who was watching her a bit worried. Did he have said something to her? She couldn't remember; but he looked like having a question. "You crazy fox…" she smiled and grabbed his paw, kissing it softly.

"If this is all too much, Judy…" he started but she just started to laugh.

"Oh, you betcha!" she realized his puzzled look and continued. "I have no idea how you managed to keep this all a secret with a few hundred rabbits involved, but I will not let you retract now."

Nick grinned at her: "I didn't intend to retract, but I was worried you could change your mind."

"Dumb fox!" Judy snickered and jumped against Nicks chest, hugging him firmly. Evelin still snickered and Judy turned around to face her. "And you, sis!" She let go off of her fiancé and planted herself in front of the still grinning Evelin, but then couldn't find any words.

"I love you too, Juju." Evelin finally said and they mutually hugged each other with laugher.

The next day Judy woke up around eleven o'clock with a headache. She tried to remember the last night; they were out partying until three in the morning, or was it even later? Her low tolerance against alcohol made it difficult for her to remember how much she really drank. There was one glass of champagne she drank in one go; and she touched glassed with quite a lot of friends and siblings, nipping on her drink from time to time. But she felt as when she had drunk a whole bottle of champagne all by herself. With a groan she put her pillow over the head but couldn't lock out the pounding inside.

Judy slowly turned around and get out of the bed. She switched the light in the room on and winced immediately. She slid her feet through the thick carpet and viewed herself in the mirror. The only thing she was wearing was her new silver ring on her left paw. She examined it with a smile; it was a plain ring made out of silver with little ornament engravings. With the ring the realization sank in: She was really engaged with Nick now! Then another realization came with it: She would marry him; not some day in the future but tomorrow. The thought gave her the heebie-jeebies and she giggled. It all felt so unreal, just like a dream; but she didn't want to wake up in that case. While still looking moonily on her ring someone cleared his throat behind her. Startled she turned around.

"Nick!" she breathed a sigh of relief. The fox grinned at her and stood off the small armchair he was sitting in.

"Hey, Judy." He said with his deep voice while making a few steps in her direction. He was wearing a green pullover and grey pants and hold his arms up for her. "How are you, my little party bunny?"

Judy grimaced a bit but then smiled and leaned against his body, putting her arms around him. "Like someone surprised me with a proposal, a wedding tomorrow and a big party with too much alcohol."

"Headache?" Nick was speaking quietly, stroking with his paw over her head and ears.

"Uh-hu."

"Poor little bunny." He snickered. "But as I said, I always wanted to seduce the maid of honor." The fox gave her a short kiss between the ears and stroked over her bare back.

"You not only got the maid of honor, but also the bride. I think you got more than you asked for." She mumbled but then giggled.

Nick let her go and squatted, smiling at her. "I have everything I could ever ask for right now."

Judy smiled and gave him a short kiss; but then reconsidered and gave him a long and affectionate kiss, putting her arms around his neck. "I nearly abandoned hope that you would ever ask me." She grinned.

Nick put his right paw above his heart and looked shocked. "But madam! How dare you think that?"

Judy snickered and beat him softly on the arm. "Dumb fox."

He gave her another kiss and Judy sighed pleased. "I think you should dress up and maybe we are on time for lunch." Nick winked at her. "I already missed breakfast because I couldn't get my eyes of you."

"How long were you watching me?" Judy asked curiously while searching for their bag with fresh clothes.

"Oh, just three hours or so."

"You little pervert!" Judy stuck out her tongue at him but Nick just laughed. Someone was knocking quietly at her door. While Judy was slipping one of Nicks big shirts over Nick said "Come in."

Bonnie Hopps was opening the door and when she saw both awake she smiled. "Oh, good, you are finally awake. We are having lunch in about two hours, so I thought you two may want some waffles as a late breakfast." She winked and then looked at Judy. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." Judy smiled but her nose twitched a little. Bonnie grinned at her.

"Well, you should drink a glass or two of water. Your head should get better then soon." The older rabbit turned around to Nick. "For you some coffee, I guess?"

"Thank you Bon, but I will stick to tea, too." Nick smiled.

When her mother was gone again, Judy sighed and walked over to the mirror to brush her fur. "How much champagne did I drink exactly yesterday?"

"Evelin and I tried to stop you after your third glass, but we saw you with at least two more." He could hardly manage to stop grinning and walked over to her, taking the brush from her paws and continue the brushing.

Judy grimaced a bit: "Did I do something… dumb?" she looked at him through the mirror.

"That depends how you define 'dumb'." Nick grinned and Judy let her shoulders and ears sank. "Your spontaneous singing performance of 'Try everything' was definitely not bad at all.

"Sweet cheese and carrots…"

"Don't worry, Ralph filmed most of it." Nick winked and Judy put her paws before her mouth.

"He didn't!"

"Oh yes, he did!" Nick laughed. "And Clawhauser did a great dancing performance to it, you two should go on tour with it."

Judy blushed and with a quiet whine she turned around and buried her face into Nicks' pullover. He patted her back and smiled softly.

"Come on, it was really funny and everyone had a good time." When Judy didn't react, Nick suggested: "Should I carry you into the kitchen or are you strong enough to go on your own?"

With a short chunter Judy linked her arm with Nick's and they slowly walked to the door and then toward the small kitchen near their room.

"I cannot believe, that we are really engaged." Judy grinned while looking at her new ring.

"Don't worry, carrots, not for long. Tomorrow at this time …"

"You are really totally crazy, aren't you?" Judy snickered. "What if I would have refused your proposal?"

"I would have looked a proper Charlie and there would have been some awkward silence with all those guests around." Nick shrugged. "Apart from that I would possibly still be exasperatedly getting drunk." He unwittingly hugged her a bit tighter.

"Hey, don't worry, everything was just perfect." Judy smiled, still a bit tired. They finally sat down in the kitchen, getting served by Bonnie despite Nick's objections.

While eating some waffles, Nick turned around to Judy. "You should get dressed after this, we have to drive to the city; Mister Charmander is waiting for us." He winked and Judy raised an eyebrow.

"Mister Charmander, the name is telling me something. Who is he?"

"He is the owner of the jewelry. We have yet to choose some wedding rings."

"Cheese and crackers!" Judy gasped. "I didn't even think about that. And I didn't think of a vow, too! Do we have our own introit? And who will be your best man? And I need to nominate a few more bridesmaids beside Evelin! And…"

"Wooh, wooh, wooh, relax carrots!" Nick grinned from ear to ear. "We have the whole day to resolve all open questions. But let's do it one at a time. And currently we are having a late breakfast." He put his paw onto hers and stroked the back of it with his thumb. Judy took a deep breath.

"Oh, Nick. You have totally overrun me with this wedding, I'm just worried that something is going to go awry, you know?"

"Everything will be fine, just let it go."

"I wish I would have your assurance!" Judy laughed.

"You are the one who inspire me with confidence." He winked and grabbed another waffle.

When Nick and Judy entered the small jewelry shop, the owner – a black cat with a few white spots – greeted them happily. "Hello Miss Hopps, Mister Wilde!"

"Hello, Mister Charmander!" Nick replied and went straight to the counter with the rings; then he turned around to Judy. "Okay, I have already chosen a few of my favorites, but to start with I want you to get an overview and select your own favorites unaffected."

Judy smiled: "Okay, that may take a while then." She winked at him and Nick snickered quietly.

There was a broad range of rings, some plain gold or silver, some with small gems and even a few with big rocks. Some gemstones were placed isolated on the rings, some went all around and there were even a few assembling small figures. Judy looked a bit unsure and finally asked the cat:

"There are no price tags on the rings?"

"Oh, I removed them before you entered the shop at his command." The jeweler nodded towards Nick, who was looking at some cufflinks a few meters apart and smiled. "You should not be influenced by the prices."

Judy sighed and wanted to object, but abstained. She knew perfectly that a discussion with Nick about this now would lead to nothing; he was at least as stubborn as she was when he set his mind on something. The rabbit smiled softly and nodded to Mister Charmander. "Okay then."

"If I may suggest something: You should first make a decision what material and therefore color the ring should be."

"Mhh, I'm a bit unsure. Normally I'm not wearing a lot of jewelry, you know?" Judy smiled a bit sheepishly.

"Do you want the ring to be dashy?" The cat got a plain ring made of gold from a socket and when Judy hold her paw towards him, he slipped it on it. "Your grey fur has a bold contrast with the gold, so it is clearly visible. Or you could go for something subtler in silver or platinum." He took another ring made of silver and slipped it on the finger beneath the golden ring.

"Is this silver or platinum?" Judy asked and considered her paw from different angles.

"This one is made of silver, it's slightly darker than platinum." He grabbed a third ring in a considerably lighter grey and slipped it on the same finger than the one made of silver. "You have a rather dark grey fur on your paws, that makes the one made of platinum better visible. But at the same time it's not as bold as a golden ring."

Judy was looking closely on all three rings, holding her paw in all kinds of different directions and lights. Nick strolled beneath and watched her smiling.

"Mh, I think the one in silver is too similar to my fur. What do you think, Nick?"

Nick took her paw with the rings in his and had a close look at all three rings. "Well…" he finally said, "I think out of those three the one in silver is on the third place."

Judy nodded and slide the silver ring off her paw. "I think the same." She gave it back to Mister Charmander who put it back to its socket.

"Maybe you should try one ring in white gold, this one is rather dark and reddish." Nick suggested and a few moments later Judy had two other golden rings on her paw, each a bit brighter than the one before.

"I really like the white gold, but it's a bit too showy." Judy said her thoughts out aloud. Nick chuckled quietly.

"Maybe we should combine both materials then; a ring made of platinum but with a light golden accent?" Mister Charmander interjected, trying to be helpful. "Or inversely, a golden ring with some platinum accents to soften it." He walked over to another showcase and took a black drawer from it. He put it down in front of Judy with about a dozen rings made of platinum with different golden appliqués or adornments. Then he took a second drawer and put it beneath the first one; this time with rings made of gold with platinum appliqués and adornments.

Judy groaned and rolled her eyes. "Those are all beautiful! How should I ever decide which one I want to wear for the rest of my life?"

Nick laughed and put his paws on her shoulders. "No need to hurry, just relax and take your time." He started to knead her shoulders and Judy sighed, but smiled softly.

After spending over three hours in the jewelry shop, Judy finally had reduced her selection to two rings: The first was composed from two parts of the same size, one in platinum and one in white gold. They were separated by a small rille and a single white diamond was worked into the surface. The other one was mainly brushed platinum and with polished rilles on both sides. The platinum was separated by a small golden ring after a third, with a rille in it. There was also a white diamond worked into the brushed platinum surface. Judy viewed both rings on her paw and finally turned her head around to Nick who was leaning on the counter a few steps away to not affect her decision.

"Okay, sly fox. I think I have found my two favorites. What do you think?" She presented him her paw with both rings. Nick straighten up and made a few steps in her direction, curiously looking at her paw. After a short moment he started to grin, then snickered quietly. "What's so funny?" Judy was exhausted and raised her eyebrows.

"Nothin', carrots…" he snickered, then took his phone from his pocket, scrolled through a few photos then showed it to Judy. On the photo were three rings, one with not two but even three layers in different colors. The other two rings were exactly the same she was currently wearing.

Judy stared at the photo, her muzzle twitching slightly. Finally, she started to laugh and leaned her head against Nick's body. "I don't know what to say."

"You two are really complementing." Mister Charmander said with a wink.

"You two have hatched this, don't you? It's a hustle!" Judy grinned to Nick, who gave her a kiss on her forehead between the eyes.

"I solemnly swear, that's no trick at all, carrots!" Nick laughed. "Okay, which one do you like better?"

"Oh, no!" Judy gestured with her paws averting. "This decision are we making together!" she winked, took of both rings and hold them towards Nick. "You have to try them on, too." Nick and Mister Charmander both grinned at Judy. "What?!" she asked perplexed.

"These are both female rings, there is a male counterpart for them. Just a second…" The cat walked to another showcase and came back with two rings in his paw, both slightly bigger and a bit wider as the female versions. "Here you are, Mister Wilde."

Nick put each ring on a paw and hold them to Judy. It took the rabbit just a short look until she pointed to his left paw. "This one, definitely. The other one with the golden half is stinging with your fur color." She stated and Nick considered his paw with the ring made of brushed platinum and the thin golden ring in the middle of it. After a few seconds he started to smile and nodded approving.

"This one it is then."

Judy made a small leap into the air and grinned from ear to ear, looking at her own ring on her left paw. "Holy carrot, I cannot believe we have really our own wedding rings!"

"Do you want keep those white diamonds in the edging?" Mister Charmander interrupted her cheering.

"Are there even more things to decide?" Judy sighed and looked incredulous to the cat and to Nick.

"Only if you want a different gem color." The shopkeeper smiled softly.

"Well…" Nick coughed slightly and Judy turned her head to him. "When I may suggest something?" he smiled to Judy who eagerly nodded.

"Of course! Everything that shortens our decision is welcomed!" she grinned.

"Could you show my impatient fiancée the diamonds I selected yesterday?" Nick winked to Mister Charmander who nodded with a smile and went to the backroom. A short moment later he came back with a black tray. On it were two small diamonds, one with a light purple color and one with a light green one – each resembling the color of Nick's respectively Judy's eyes.

While Judy's eyes were growing wide Nick explained: "I thought about getting the purple diamond into my ring and the green diamond into your ring. They are resembling the eye color of the respective other, so when we take a look at those diamonds it's like looking into each other's eyes…" Nick couldn't really finish his explanation when Judy turned around, hugged him with her arms around his neck and gave him a passionate kiss.

"Yes. Definitely yes!" she beamed and Nick smiled.

"Okay, it's a bit ambitious, but I think I will finish fitting them into the rings today." The cat smiled and, while Judy kissed Nick again, added: "That's leaving just one last question open."

Judy's ears drooped and she quietly moaned, but Nick just laughed. "The engraving, carrots."

"Cheese and crackers." Judy sighed.

"Nice one." Nick snickered but Judy rolled her eyes. "What do you think, each of us is writing an individual saying down on a piece of paper without showing it. So we keep a little surprise for tomorrow, what do you think?"

Judy thought about it for a moment. "Hm, sounds good. But I want to have our wedding date on both, and our names." She turned around to the cat. "Or would this be too long?"

"That depends on the rest of the text. Maybe you two gave me your sayings and I will try to fit it together with your names and the date of tomorrow. If it's too long, I can abbreviate your names and only put your initials in it."

"That's fine with me!" Judy replied and looked to Nick who nodded.

"Yepp, sounds good."

"Well, here is a notepad and a pen for you both, you can sit down at the table over there and I will prepare everything in the meantime."

Judy and Nick each took a notepad and a pen, and sat down; each thinking about a short saying for the respective other.

When Judy and Nick finally left the jewelry it was already afternoon. They walked arm in arm along the main street and Judy leant her head against Nicks arm.

"Do you already know who will be your best man?"

"I tried to persuade Finnick, but to no avail. He is still reproaching me for getting to the force." Nick shrugged and Judy scowled.

"Any other idea?" she asked.

"Well, I have done a bit of research. The best man may be the brother or best friend of the bridal couple. And if one of the groom's friend is mainly responsible for the couple getting together, it's some kind of gratitude for it. He is also responsible for the wedding preparations. And in some regions it's common that the best man is the body guard of the bridal couple."

"The body guard?" Judy raised her eyebrows.

"Well, if I want to have a body guard to safe me from all those rabbits during the wedding, I think our Chief would be an ideal cast." Nick winked and Judy started to laugh.

"That would be a sight for the gods! Do you want to ask him?" she grinned.

"He already refused because of his lack of time. But he will be one of my groomsman. Together with Clawhauser and Emmitt Otterton. They all played a big role in our first case."

Judy nodded. "Great selection, particularly seeing Clawhauser and the Chief in a suite will be a highlight." She snickered. "And who will be your best man now?"

"You have to promise not to laugh!"

"I cannot promise to not laugh if I don't know what you are going to say, foxtrot." Judy winked at him and nudged his side with her elbow.

"Your brother Ralph, carrots."

Judy stopped and looked incredulously up to him. "No way!" She really tried not to giggle. "A fox choosing a rabbit as his best man for his wedding with another rabbit?" Judy clasped her paws over her mouth but Nick could still hear her chuckle.

"He was, besides Evelin, the very first of your brothers who supported us and he really is a great friend by now!" Nick started to defend himself. "Also he was a great help during all those proposal and wedding preparations. And additionally I have no siblings, so why not choose one of yours, you have begad enough!"

Judy still snickered, but linked her arms with Nick's again. "I think you made a great decision. And it really means a lot to me that you not only get along with my family but that you became a vital part of it."

Nick smiled, "What about your bridesmaids? I already knew that Evelin will be your maid of honor, of course. But did you already decided who will be your other bridesmaids?"

"I already talked to Jenny, River and Clara and they are more than happy." Judy smiled moonily.

"Clara is your litter sister, Jenny and River…" Nick was intensely thinking, going through all of Judy's siblings in his mind's eye. As a former cons man it was essential to memorize even the smallest details and retrieve them whenever necessary. He had created his own memory palace for this purpose but there were over three hundreds of Judy's siblings and a lot of them look quite similar, too. "Jenny is the brown one with the black spotted ears and two years younger than Evelin." He finally continued. "And River is the only girl in her litter that came nearly five years after yours, and she has a rather light brownish-grey fur color."

Judy grinned, tiptoed and gave Nick a kiss on his cheek. "It's always fascinating to me how you could remember all my siblings' names, even more because you rarely met them."

"I would do anything for love…" Nick started to sing the first line of the world-famous song by Meatloaf.

Judy snickered and started to sing a line from another song: "You'd think that people would've had enough of silly love songs."

This time it was Nick who stopped and looked impressed down to Judy, who just grinned; she rarely sang along with him. He started to smile and looked around acted: "I look around me and I see it isn't so."

Judy started to sing another line from yet another song: "Love makes us act like we are fools. Throw our lives away, for one happy day!"

Nick slyly grinned at her, got on one knee and spread his arms while singing: "I… will always love you!"

Judy nibbled on her lips, Nick was really a great singer and it gave her goosebumps hearing him belting out those world-famous verse from Hitney Whouston. She replied rather quiet and with a soft voice the last verses from the song 'Your song': "How wonderful life is"

Nick joined in with her: "Now you're in the world."

A few passersby grinned at them and some even clapped. Judy blushed but Nick just embraced her and gave her a passionate kiss.

Suddenly Judy giggled and Nick looked inquiring. "What's the matter, carrots?"

"I had just remembered Chief Bogo on my second day at work. He gave me a philippic for arresting Duke Weaselton; and one thing he said back then was: 'Life is not some kind of musical where all your dreams come true'. Well, I think he was wrong."

Nick laughed. "I never thought about being the main actor in your personal musical!"

She smiled and replied: "I really love it when you sing. You have such a deep and velvety voice. Maybe you should make an application for one of these casting shows!"

"You mean 'Zootopia's greatest talents'?" Nick waved the idea aside. "I'm quite comfortable to only sing for you from time to time, but staying out of the spotlights." He smirked. "And by the way, this was the second time you sang voluntary in public in just two days."

"This must be you and the upcoming wedding. I'm feeling like I'm high on drugs since yesterday." Judy giggled and Nick gave her another kiss.

"That's my plan, making you addicted to me so you will never leave me!" he winked.

"Mission accomplished." She grinned and they started to walk again along the road.

It was about eight o'clock in the evening when Evelin and Judy sat together in Evelin's room.

"Oh dear, I'm so excited!" Evelin said while brushing through Judy's fur.

"I hear ya!" Judy snickered. "At least you could accustom yourself to the thought of being married tomorrow. I on the other hand…"

"You've not missed much, sis." Evelin grinned.

"Do you ever thought about making a drawback?" Judy asked sheepishly, but Evelin gave her a pat on the back of her head.

"Don't you dare! You are not getting cold feet now, are you?"

Judy hesitated just a split second. "N-no…"

"Sweet cheese and crackers." Evelin gasped, grabbed Judy by her arm and turned her around to face her. "Are you having doubts? About Nick?" Evelin looked a bit worried. "Or have we rushed you into this short-term wedding too much?"

"It's not because of Nick, I'm so in love with him I cannot verbalize it adequately."

"It's all going too fast, isn't it?" Evelin asked and when Judy didn't answer she nodded. "You like to plan and think everything through, I know. But be reassured, that nobody will be angry with you if you feel queasy with this wedding. As long as you are my maid of honor everything will be fine, and we find a new date for your wedding; maybe in spring. Nobody wants to press you into marrying tomorrow, neither Nick nor me nor our parents."

Judy smiled softly to her younger sister. "Hey, don't worry. I'm just flustered, maybe a bit in panic." Evelin replied her smile and Judy put her paw on her sis' arm. "But I will marry Nick tomorrow, come what may! And the two of us will be the greatest brides Bunnyburrow has ever seen!"

"That's the right attitude!" Evelin grinned and gave her one of two glasses with champagne, and hold the other one in the air. "To us, and the poor wretches that will be our husbands in a few hours!"

Nick was sitting alone in the dark kitchen, looking out of the window into the night. He winced a bit when someone put a paw on his shoulders; when he turned his head around, Stu Hopps stand right beside him with a soft smile. "Hey, Stu."

"Hey, Nick." Then after a few moments. "Enjoying the last few hours of freedom?" Stu winked and wanted to brighten the mood, and Nick smiled a bit.

"I was just thinking about my Dad. He would be really glad that I'm going to marry tomorrow."

"He wouldn't be indignant about you marrying a…" Stu was hesitating; he didn't know too much about Nick's deceased father. "…you know, a rabbit?"

Nick raised his eyebrows then shook his head. "No, that would not bother him. He always was a libertine, always trying to improve the relationship between predator and prey. I think he would be even proud about me and Judy." He smiled.

"You miss him, hm?"

"Currently more than ever." Nick nodded slowly and turned his gaze back to the window, looking into the dark. "I had to fend for myself rather early, and even while my mother tried to be there for me, I gave her a hard time. Never was a family-oriented mammal, and now I'm in doubt if I could be a good husband and father."

"The fact that you are worried about it, and all I know about you, proves to me that you will be a really great husband for my beloved daughter. Otherwise I would have never give you my blessings for the wedding." He patted on Nicks' shoulders and smiled: "And as far as I can tell from observing you with my kits, I also think you will be a great father, too."

"Thank you, Stu." Nick replied his smile. "This means a lot to me."

Stu walked over to a wall cupboard and took two glasses and a bottle of Whisky out of it. "This is a really good one, I bought it on the same day when Judy was born." Stu said while pouring some whiskey into the glasses and handing one of them to Nick. "You know, we have a tradition here: Every time we get a new child, we bought a bottle of wine, whiskey or something similar. And on important occasions of those children, we clink glasses with it."

Nick smiled benignly. "You just come up with this tradition, didn't you? I mean, you cannot proper seal a bottle of wine again once opened; also a few hundred bottles of liquor with name tags on it would be quite a sight in your basement."

Stu winked at him. "Never try to outwit a fox, huh? Well, okay, it's not really a tradition. But it's a good story and this Whiskey is really as old as Judy you know. And I think it's a good occasion to have a glass of it." He raised his glass and Nick followed suit. "To you and Judy!"

"And to you and your great family." Nick clinked his glass with Stu's.

"You are already part of the family, my son." Stu proudly smiled and they both took a sip.