As soon as she got the text from the fox, Judy knew exactly where to meet him. Walking across the familiar bridge on the outside of the city, the one that held an extreme amount of significance to her, she made her way over to where he was.
Just like she assumed he would be, Nick was in his reclining chair. He got up as soon as he heard her coming closer. "Hey there, Carrots," he said to her.
Smiling as brightly as ever, she simply replied, "I got your text. What was it you wanted to show me?"
"Well, since this is the spot we like to sit at, I thought I would give it a personal touch."
"What's that?" Judy asked out of curiosity.
Nick gestured for her to follow him. "Come over here and I'll show ya."
The gray doe followed the tod as he led her over to closer to where the bridge stood. Over to the left of it was a tree that was small in size, but would eventually become larger with the passing seasons in the future. The tree was not what the fox wished for her to see, however. It was what was recently surrounding it.
A series of small plants encircled the tree. They didn't appear like they were ready to bloom and unleash their beautiful colors to the world just yet, but Judy could see a small bit of color on their closed-up flowers. The flecks of color she saw told her that they would eventually grow into flowers that were shades of deep purple, red, and light pink.
"Don't remember those flowers being there before," Judy admitted.
"They've got a nice place to grow now," Nick said with a look of pride on his muzzle. "A contribution to the bridge's surroundings by yours truly."
The lagomorph smiled back at him. "Those are cosmos plants, right?" she inquired.
The vulpine responded, "Yep. I wasn't sure which ones to get, since I needed something that'd grow in this amount of sunlight. The guy at the store helped me out and said these ones would do the trick."
"You went to Leif's garden shop for them?" Judy asked.
Nick shook his head. "The only time I stopped over there, the sloth didn't really have anything interesting. Was mostly shrubs and other stuff."
The gray leporine nodded before looking over at the plants that would blossom someday. They delicately blew to the side the wind gently blew across the area. "Can't wait to see them bloom," she said. "I'm sure they'll be very pretty here."
"I think they'll look nice, too, Fluff," Nick replied.
"Never knew you had a green claw," Judy remarked.
The fox nodded and said, "I've had some experiences with growing plants in the past. My mother always had these garden beds she'd grow some flowers in. The echinaceas were always my favorite, and she'd let me help her put them in the dirt."
The bunny smiled as he shared her a memory from when he was growing up. She, too, could recall the first time her parents let her do a little help out in the carrot fields back home.
"You know…" Nick said. "There was actually something else I wanted you to meet me here for."
"Oh?" Judy was now curious as to what he meant. "And what is that?"
"Well, first of all," the tod began, "those flowers are actually supposed to be symbolic."
"Really?" inquired the rabbit.
"Yep. According to the little tag they put on the containers they came in, it said that cosmos flowers symbolize joy and wholeness."
Judy, despite her plant knowledge that she had possessed from growing up on the farm, did not know about this. She knew that certain types of plants had symbolism throughout history, but she never heard about what that particular flower represented before. "Never knew that before. Guess whoever said you learn something new everyday was right."
"I agree. I didn't know about that 'til I read that." To avoid getting sidetracked, he continued on with what he had planned to tell her. "Anyway, they say they're to represent those two things: Joy and wholeness." He looked away from the plants and back over at the doe standing not too far away from him. "And those are the two things that a certain bunny brought into my life."
Judy happily smiled back at the fox. The sounds of cars honking their horns in the distance could be heard by the two, and they turn their attention in the direction the noise was coming from. "Sounds like the roads are busy," she remarked.
Nick sighed and shook his head, just as more honking from that distance was heard. "Could the car horns be any louder?" he muttered under his breath. He turned around, his paws cupped around his mouth, and shouted, "Hey, traffic! Quiet down over there. I'm tryin' to talk to someone here!"
The doe could only laugh at the antics of the fox in front of her. She always had and she probably always would. "You were saying?"
Nick continued, "You've brought such a great amount of joy with all of the time we spent together. There's no doubt about it. Being able to go to so many new places, help mammals out on the force… Had we never met, I wouldn't have been able to have so many new experiences."
"Like us freefalling from a great height into rushing waters," Judy remarked in reply. "You know, back at Cliffside."
Remembering that particular moment from a good amount of time ago, the fox chuckled."That was quite a pulse-pounding experience. But an unforgettable one, too."
"Not to mention swinging across a vine in the Rainforest District," the bunny added.
"That too." After a temporary pause, he said, "So, Judy…"
Her ears perking, the lagomorph remarked, "I suspect this is something special."
"You're absolutely right about that," the tod said. "One hundred percent. This is something I've wanted to say for awhile, and I believe here is the best place to tell you. It's gonna make the day a super special one."
"Well, don't leave me hanging," Judy said after a long pause between the two. "What is it?"
Nick reach into his pocket and pulled a small velvet box that was pinkish in color. He got down on one knee and opened it up before her, unveiling the diamond ring with sapphire accents nestled safely inside of it.
The moment he did this, the gray doe gasped in surprise and covered her mouth with both paws, looking at the ring and its shimmering beauty.
"Judy Hopps," the fox said softly. "Will you marry me?"
Teardrops began to course down her cheeks in that moment, and a smile of pure happiness took shape across her face. "I think you know the answer to that," she remarked in reply.
With a happy grin, he inquired, "I'll take that answer as a yes, am I correct?"
"A definite yes!" Judy responded.
In that instant, she affectionately wrapped her arms around him and embraced him with a tight and loving hug, and Nick leaned in and gave her a gentle kiss. The smile on the vulpine's muzzle grew wider as he held her even closer in his own arms. He was now hardly able to contain the excitement he was feeling inside now that she had accepted his proposal.
He took the precious ring from out of its protective box, placing it delicately onto the bunny's finger. Her eyes still watery from the tears of joy, she looked at the gorgeous diamond that was glittering in the sunlight.
Nick said not a moment ago that this day was going to be a super special one, and special it was.
Author's Note: Hey there, everybody! This little story I came up with marks my one-hundredth chapter. Woot woot! Here's to one hundred more! :)
To celebrate this, I thought I would a fluffy story about our favorite fox and bunny. And what better way to do that than with a proposal? Hope I did a good job on this and that it managed to put a smile on your face.
I want to give my thanks to every single one of you that has been reading these little stories of mine, as well as the other ongoing stories that I've been writing. It means the world to me to know y'all are enjoying them! :)
On another note, I've had some other story ideas buzzing around in my head recently that I hope will be interesting. Instead of writing them out and turning them into full-fledged works of their own, however, I decided it would be a nice idea to make them into short stories like this. A good of number of those will be alternate universe stories that I plan to share here with you all real soon. Also have some short stories about Jack and Skye that I've been working on as well. :)
As always, your thoughts on this story, whether good or bad, are always gladly appreciated.
'Til next time, everyone! :D