The guys are at the bar while the girls are chatting back at home. Cece and Schmidt are having a date night. Cece assumes it’ll be simple, but Schmidt says he’s got a lot planned. As for Jess, she says that after two long years on the dog adoption wait list, now’s the time. But, Nick has other plans. Tonight’s the night he’ll propose to Jess. He almost asked her in the park, but a squirrel stole the ring. He also almost asked at a game, but when they were on the kiss cam, he went for the laugh and kissed the old man next to him.

When Nick comes home, he sees a bunch of pet-related items and Jess tells him the news. Nick is excited (it’s been two years, after all) but tries to push the two to go out to dinner. Jess isn’t so sure — she wants to prep for the adoption home visit early.

Remember how Winston is colorblind? Aly gets him glasses to correct that, and he finally realizes that fruit and candy are different colors. He’s not a fan of blue. “Oh, I did not solve this Rubix Cube,” he says, picking up a very unmatched cube.

It’s time for Cece and Schmidt’s date. Cece tells him she’s ovulating, so it’s time to plan for baby #2! But, their hotel reservations fall through, so they weirdly enough plan to crash with Winston and Aly.

Nick and Jess prep for their dog adoption by looking at dog photos. See, last time Jess saw the dog she was going to adopt, named Harriet, she failed the exam since she got real weird about it and loved the dog too much. So, this is all healthy prep.

Meet Mario

When the new dog, Mario, stops by, Jess can’t help herself. She runs into her bedroom for a second to scream, since Mario is damn adorable.

Schmidt talks to Winston about the possible pregnancy, revealing that she was super mean to him while carrying Ruth. “I knew this day would come, but. I thought I had more time,” he admits.

Back at the dog adoption, Jess tries not to get too emotional seeing Mario play with a toy she got for him. The adoption counselor is happy with how things are going, since Jess gave her a real “Of Mice And Men” vibe last time around.

Jess takes Mario into a room with Nick to get some of her extreme cuddles out of the way without scaring the adoption counselor. Nick, on the phone with both Jess’s dad and the woman who takes reservations at the restaurant he was planning on proposing to Jess at, takes a pause in the conversation to listen in. The woman says she doesn’t realize he’s “taking care of a sick relative” (chill out, Jess!) and will do the best she can to get him a later reservation.

Schmidt finally admits to Cece that she was scary while pregnant, and Aly states that she was so shocked by Cece’s pregnant behavior that she took a video. Upon watching, Cece doesn’t even remember acting that way. Aly also has one of Schmidt being super coddling, proving that these two were the worst during that time, and it’s a good thing this show skipped years.

That Last Step

Jess and Nick are at the interview stage with the adoption, and the question comes up of who Mario would go home with if they broke up. Nick, trying to move this along, says he’d be the one to take care of Mario. But Jess can’t believe that Nick would even think they’d break up, and things take a turn. Jess feel like Nick is ready to leave her with nothing but dog poop bags. Angry about the argument, Jess takes Nick’s phone as the restaurant calls and angrily tells them they’re not going to be there tonight.

Schmidt and Cece both believe things will be different this time around, and plan to try for baby #2….at the loft. Where the dog adoption couselor is still hanging  out. Kind of weird, guys. Especially since they try to “do it” with Mario on the bed. And that’s the big incident that makes the adoption counselor believe that Mario is not for Nick and Jess.

While trying to take him away, Mario ends up escaping. Jess and Nick chase him down, with Nick jumping over a bush to ensure his safety. Sweet. Jess realizes Nick’s getting a call from her dad, and that’s when she (finally) realizes that the restaurant he’s been trying to book was the first place they went on a date. “I just wanted everything to be perfect,” Nick says. And with that, he put down the dog and is met by the gang. “Jessica Day, will you marry me?” he asks. Jess says she wants to spend the rest of her life with him, and raise the dog with him and maybe have babies someday. “Time Of My Life” plays (not the David Cook single) because, callback to the pilot. The news leads Jess’s dad to happy tears.