The large dance hall, once brightly lit and decorated from top to bottom, was lit by the glow of a single neon sign, which flickered repeatedly as if the glow was about to die out at any given time. Nothing was stirring within the vacant space, the only sound that could be heard, if anyone were in here, was the faint humming of the sign's electricity coursing through it.

In the middle of the spacious hall, a pale blue mist appeared without notice or explanation. From the mist, slowly beginning to dissipate, came the figure of a fox and a rabbit.

The two mammals had an aura of the same ghostly blue around them. They both stood in absolute silence, and the rabbit looked around at where she and her beloved fox now were.

"Surprise, Carrots," said the fox to her side, breaking the absence of sound. He had told her that he was going to be taking her someone that was a surprise, leaving a vague hint that it was somewhere that was near and dear to the two of them.

"What do ya think? Did I choose a good place to bring us to?"

"I don't think you could have chose a better place to take us to," the doe replied. "You were right when you said we were going somewhere special. We've had so many great memories with friends in this hall."

"You got that right," the vulpine replied. "A lot of great memories. Especially that one Halloween dance party where everyone was dressed up. You remember that one?"

Judy knew exactly which one he was bringing up, and the memory of it managed to get a small giggle out of her. "How could I forget, Nick? When you came galloping in that king costume, and Finnick was in that squire outfit behind you…" Laughter, soft but audible, emerged from the gray rabbit. "I'll never fail at remembering that."

"Same here," said the fox to her side in agreement.

"Oh, and how pretty it used to look when the holidays came around. All of the ribbon and holly and the Christmas trees…" The memories that Judy recalled made her smile even wider than she already was. "It's a darn shame, though, that this place had to close after so long. It's been around for so many years and brought a ton of mammals together."

"Well, I guess it was just a matter of putting it up for sale at the right time," Nick replied. "One of the last times we were around here, I remember the owner saying that she knew she wouldn't be around to manage everything forever. But I'm sure somebody will come around someday and make it their own."

Judy nodded. "You're right about that."

"But no matter what changes are made here, we can always come back whenever we want to," the tod beside her said. "Which gives me an idea." With a grin on his muzzle, he suggested, "Perhaps we could appear here from time to time and see if anybody sights us. Might become known as the 'Ghosts of the Dance Hall.'"

The doe laughed once again. "You want to haunt the dance hall?"

"Haunt, Carrots, is such a strong word," said Nick in reply. "I would just call it visiting instead. We wouldn't actually be spooking anybody; we'd just stop by and see the place, that's all."

Their conversation was interrupted by a faint sound coming from the far end of the hall, where music, sometimes by local bands and performers, used to play. Judy's ears perked up as it gradually got louder. A song now echoed across the walls and filled the large and empty space. But the song that she heard was just not any ordinary one.

The tune was slow, consisting with acoustic guitar and other classical instruments that mingled harmoniously, and the chords that it consisted of were romantic. It was the very song that played when she and Nick shared their first dance at their wedding. It was also the song that they danced to on their first anniversary, which they celebrated here.

Judy immediately recognized it and looked over at her fox with a smile. "You had this prepared, didn't you, Slick?" she said.

"One hundred percent," answered Nick with a grin.

The lagomorph remarked, "Just as clever and romantic as a ghost as you were in the waking life."

"Yep. My cleverness is eternal. You have to agree, though; it's the perfect scene. The couple slowly dancing to a loved song, the two of them as inseparable as they were in life."

Judy chuckled delightedly at the fox's wit. "Perhaps I exposed you to one too many romantic comedies," she replied jokingly.

"Hey, I've gotten some of my most romantic ideas from those movies back then," Nick laughed. "I must give credit where credit is due, though. I had two friends of ours set this up for us as a surprise."

In the direction that the music was coming from, another small blue mist appeared. Walking out of it as it went away was an otter couple holding paws. The two of them made their way over to where the fox and rabbit were still standing.

"Mr. and Mrs. Otterton?" Judy said.

Looking over at the otter couple, Nick said, "Thanks again for helping me out, guys. I owe ya one."

Emmitt Otterton smiled back at the fox and replied, "It was our pleasure. We know that you wanted to do something really special for Judy tonight, so we're glad that we could help. And it's my wife's birthday today, as you already know, so I thought we would come here to celebrate that as well." He turned away from Nick and looked back at his beloved wife. "May I have this dance, my dear Octavia?" he asked her.

The Ottertons held paws as they went over to left corner of the hall and started to dance.

Turning his head away from the couple, Nick looked back at Judy. He bowed and offered her his paw, asking the same question of "May I have this dance?"

Grinning delightedly, the leporine held onto his paw. Nick knew that she would never reject an offer to dance, because it was one of the many things that the two of them enjoyed doing together.

Smiling widely as they looked into each other's eyes, the two ghostly mammals danced to the song continuing on around them.

Author's Note: I know that I said that I was going to be doing some stories that were fall-related, but this idea just fell into my head one night and I just had to get to work on it. I promise, though, that there's some short fall stories coming soon.

The idea was come up with something that was about Nick and Judy as ghosts, and this was what spawned from it. I didn't want to make it a sad story that was centered on the concept of ghosts, but rather one that was sweet to read. As cliche as it may sound, I believe that Nick and Judy would be inseparable as ghosts, the same way they were inseparable in life. :)

'Til next time, everybody! :)