[EM RP] So here it is...Merry Christmas...

[idontreallyspar]

The box was under the tree Rachel had made him get, wrapped up fairly simply in red and green paper with a silver bow. It was small, too...tiny. Beside it was the real gift...a longer, though equally small box wrapped in much the same fashion.

One box had Rachel's Christmas gift...the other *didnt'* have Rachel's Christmas gift.

But that was the gag...and the point. The smaller box was *meant* to hold the gold cigar band engagement ring that was currently tucked in his pocket. He couldn't keep his hands off it as he waited for her to show up, slipping his hand inside every so often to make sure it hadn't morphed into something else while he waited.

He'd been sure for a while now that he was going to propose, but the few casual hints he'd dropped had told him enough: Rachel wasn't ready, or interested. Not yet, anyway...but he was sick of waiting, and he figured that maybe this little compromise he had in mind...well, it might go off okay. And what better time to lay it down than Christmas, right?

With Rachel's family out of the picture this year, all it had taken was the briefest mention from him that he wasn't big on the holidays for her to sweep in and declare that they were going to do up Christmas and New Year's right...he didn't know what New Year's would bring, but according to Rachel, Christmas would mean a tree (which she'd dragged him out to buy), a viewing of at least one Christmas movie (which he was praying *wouldn't* be IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE or something), and presents...which he was fine with.

So, he decided to get a little bit romantic and a whole lot sappy. The longer box held Rachel's real Christmas gift...the one she could open and keep and gush over. It had taken some advice from Dixon, but the teardrop opal pendant with silver chain still seemed kind of austere. Still, after conferring with Dixon and even happening across Marshall's wife Carrie at the office, he'd gotten a resounding amount of approval on all sides.

The ring box was empty...and he was just praying he wouldn't scare Rachel off when he explained why.

So the lights on the tree were on, the presents were under the tree, and he'd put together a bottle of wine and made sure the kitchen was stocked in case they felt like eating.

All that was left to do now was wait for her to show up.

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[my_strappyshoes]

Rachel let her eyes keep locked to his, seeing all the slight flickers of something she couldn't recognize. She was trying to guess him, but falling way short, and when he shifted toward her and she let her gaze break to glance to his hands... her heart dropped to her stomach. The words filtered into her head, but they were stuck in some holding area waiting for her stomach to give her heart back to her. Her hands felt like ice suddenly, a general wave of doubt and panic rushed to the surface making her a lot more flustered than she figured she should have been.

Then he dropped to one knee.

The rest of the world could have gone to ruin around her and she wouldn't have noticed. All that she could focus on was his eyes, and the warmth of his hand slowly warming her fingers back up. Each breath she took in stung a bit harder in her lungs, each swallow hurt a bit more as it went down because she knew her answer even before he had asked. Even if she wasn't ready, even if she knew it was too soon it didn't even really matter to her.

All the love that she had for him, all of the moments of near death and survival they had gone through... all of it meant so much more than it could have ever meant to her before. She didn't want him down there on the floor alone either. Her hand clung to his a bit tighter as she slide down the couch toward him, dropping to her knees as well. If she let herself think about it anymore she knew she would cry, and even as it was now she felt that knot building in her stomach as it was.

"Yes." The word was so simple that it almost didn't feel like she had said anything at all. It made it feel almost less of an answer, "God, that's all I need to say isn't it? It feels like I should say more." Rachel paused for a moment just to breathe again, "I love you, and you make me happy, and I'll marry you."

She still didn't feel like it was enough, so she leaned in and kissed him figuring that her actions could speak a hell of a lot louder than her words.

[idontspar.livejournal.com]

She didn't answer right away...it was only a heartbeat, but the silence felt like years.

When she spoke, the 'yes' was all he heard...that and the 'I'll marry you.' Was there really anything else he had to hear?

She kissed him a moment later, and he kissed her back more reflexively than anything...this had to be what it was like to be so happy you could die. He couldn't move...couldn't speak, couldn't do anything...

Until he suddenly stood, hauling her up with him and scooping her into his arms, stepping back to avoid the coffee table (only just barely) and spin her around, whooping joyfully and laughing. He set her down on her feet quickly, drawing back to kiss her...*really* kiss her this time, feeling a new rush of fierce possessiveness as he held her close. His fiancee...his *fiancee.* God, that sounded good.

Drawing back, he took her hand in his and slid the ring onto her finger. "My mother always said if I ever found a girl that could wear this ring, I'd have found my soulmate. I gotta confess...I sorta pulled this out a while back and tried it on you while you were sleeping. I've been carrying it around ever since." He paused, looking down at the ring as it slid onto her finger...again, perfectly.

"Still fits like a dream." he breathed, meeting her gaze before pulling her in for a kiss again.

[my_strappyshoes]

It was a bit of a whirlwind display from Tom that Rachel rarely saw. He usually kept a lot of everything tucked away within him, keeping his emotions to the limited smiles and fits of laughter that she managed to pull from him from time to time. This though was something so out of the ordinary she almost wanted to ask him something personal to make sure it was really him.

When she was back on her feet and he kissed her though she had all her proof right there. When he took her hand and slipped the band on she laughed to hear about his late night dry run. "Lucky for you I have these huge hands then," Rachel teased before getting pulled in for another kiss.

Standing there in his arms she felt different, even if it was just a small bit, because she was now engaged... she had a new label to her as well. She was no longer the girlfriend... she was Tom's fiancé. Rachel pulled from their kiss letting her head rest onto his chest exhaling softly in his embrace, "You are getting very lucky tonight."

[idontspar.livejournal.com]

Tom wrapped her in his arms as she leaned into him, letting one hand drift up to run through her hair as he buried his face against the top of her head, just breathing her in.

At her wisecrack, he couldn't resist grinning. "No," he corrected with a small smirk, "I'm getting very well-laid tonight...which, I might add, is not a bad thing." He paused, drawing back to stare down at her, reaching for her left hand and pressing a kiss to her ring finger, just above the gold band with a small smile.

"I got lucky the second you said yes."

[my_strappyshoes]

Smirking at Tom as he made with the charming routine she laughed softly, "Well I stand corrected then." Drawing up her shoulders she shrugged in his embrace, pulling herself in tighter against his arms. It was more for comfort than contact, but the contact was nice as well. Rachel had gotten so wrapped up in the whole proposal and acceptance and now the loving embrace of the man she loved that she had completely forgotten that there were actual gifts still to be given. She had one for him, and apparently there was a second gift that was not an empty box.

Rachel just didn't really want to do anything else except be in Tom's arms at that moment though. "Can we postpone the rest of Christmas until the morning... make it my first Christmas morning with the man I'm going to marry?" She buried her face against his chest, her hand pressed against him as well. Rachel kept looking at the ring, knowing how much it had meant to Tom's mother and sighed again feeling his hand rubbing against her back lightly. "I just kind of want this to stay just like this for now."

[idontspar.livejournal.com]

He could feel the shift of her in his arms even though he wasn't looking directly at her...he could feel the brush of her thumb against his shirt and the tilt of her head enough to know she was staring at the ring. The notion made him irrationally happy...that she really and truly liked the ring.

And her request was a welcome one as he smiled, kissing the top of her head and drawing back enough to look down at her. "Can we sit down first?" he quipped, earning himself a laugh before he got serious. "Yeah, I'm game for holding off...how 'bout we compromise and curl up with one of those stupid Christmas movies you wanted to watch?" he offered, his smile growing as he waited for the playful swat or biting remark he was sure that he'd earned for daring to call her precious Christmas classics 'stupid'.