idontreallyspar: ([Civvies] On The Town)
Maybe it was a delayed reaction from the blast last year. Some toxin he inhaled, or some kind of allergic reaction to his new aftershave. Something...anything but the truth, because it was just too ludicrous, too sappy and sentimental and...*right.*

He'd been looking at the world through sunglasses...had been for years, because now everything was brighter. The sun, the colors...the taste of food, the way a cool afternoon breeze felt on his skin. The world had changed overnight, in tiny, insignificant ways that turned everything into a tapestry he'd never seen or felt before.

And it was all because of one little word.

Yes.

Not for the first time, Tom found himself transfixed by the glitter of gold and prismatic blue as he helped Rachel stuff the last of the small stack of envelopes...her engagement ring never left her finger, and he was pleased that the opal pendant he'd also given her for Christmas rarely left her neck. If it wasn't on display, he could usually see the gleaming silver chain peeking above the collar of her shirt, but today the v-neck t-shirt she wore let the chain hang free and the glittering teardrop stone stand out sharply against her pale skin.

"Here," he finally declared, handing her his last envelope, "you lick that one. I wish you'd have gotten some of those self-sealing envelopes for these invitations...and remind me *why* we're sending formal invites to our engagement party again? I thought we were keeping things small, and I *know* this stack has grown."
idontreallyspar: ([Hatch] Graceson)
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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