February 18th, 1891 - London
@'fallon abernathy'

I'll stop time for you
The second you say you'd like me to
I just wanna give you the loving that you're missing
Baby, just to wake up with you
Would be everything I need and this could be so different
Tell me what you want to do

It was a strange balance, trying to keep his own place, but spending half of his time flooing directly into Fallon and Miss Skovgaard's flat to spend the night. Frankly, though he relished in falling asleep next to Fallon almost every night, he was kind of tired of the back and forth already.

It was just another deciding factor that had propelled him to his mother's house the night for dinner. Mostly to announce he was ready to get serious with a young lady and that they would meet her in time. Beatrice been a little aghast that he was already in such a solid place with a with someone she'd never met, but Jesse had anticipated that and navigated it accordingly. Needless to say, Fallon was going to have to go to dinner sometime soon, but she could decide when she was ready.

He was lounging in her bed watching her get ready to join him, hands behind his head as he leaned against the pillows. They'd already done all of the normal, daily pleasant chit chat, which meant he was going to have to up and out with it before they fell asleep. "There's something for you in the pocket of my pants over there." He started with, hoping the returning of her daisy ring would soften the blow of having to finally deal with his mother.

Jess also had picked out something a little more formal, but that was tucked safely in his bag. One ring box at a time was probably wise, but if she wasn't satisfied with her original ring, he had the backup ready to go.

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   Fallon Gillespie

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The constant back and forth between Jesse's flat and her own was beginning to wear on her nerves. She was used to having an overnight bag at work for if an urgent case arose, but having to live out of one was tedious. It became exceptionally challenging when half her belongings were constantly misplaced at either household. If she had to spend one more morning rushing through their flats to find her brush she was going to lose it.

She thought about proposing to him herself, but to do so was only an acceptable tradition in Ireland on Leap Year. And, seeing as they were neither in either of their native's country or expecting a 29th day to February, Fallon couldn't bring herself to ask. It was her who broke their "engagement" last time, after all. Flat out asking for her ring back left her feeling uncomfortable.

Best to just wait, then.

Fallon was halfway undressed, her pants discarded and her hair a mess, when Jesse spoke from her bed. Casting him a curious look, she reached for his trousers and patted the pockets until she found the small box. She knew he kept the transfigured daisy ring, but was beginning to wonder if he had forgotten about the promise of a matching set. One peek inside the box proved he hadn't.

"Are you ...?" Proposing? Although she had fantasized about this exact moment more times than she cared to admit throughout the past few months, being undressed and wholly unexpecting of it wasn't what she imagined.

  

Jess sat forward, scooting to the edge of the bed as he she ruffled through his things, an apprehensive smile on his face. He'd put some thought into this, about how he would go about it, and had struggled to really nail down how she would life him to go about it. A grand public gesture was not his style, but he honestly wasn't even sure making any kind of a big deal about it was hers either.

"Here's what I think," He held out a hand for both the box and for her to come sit with him. "I held onto this because I knew you liked it, I have another as well. I had dinner with the family last night and told them about my intentions for you. A shock to all but Gabe and Molly obviously, but they pretended well." He chuckled.

"So this is whatever you want it to be," He concluded as soon as he had both her and the ring within reach.

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Not only had he spoken to his family — his mother! — but he had another ring stashed away somewhere for her. Fallon sat on the edge of the bed with her brows raised towards the ceiling. He hadn't mentioned plans with his family, nor had he given any indication that this would be happening so soon. But, that was the joy of a proposal (semi-proposal? What did he mean by 'this is whatever you want it to be'? Did he not want to marry her and that was why he was dragging it out endlessly?

"And your mum is okay with this?" She asked softly, studying him intently. Jesse made his stance clear on New Year's, but she couldn't help but double check. The last thing she wanted was to cause some great divide within his family.

Shifting so that her knee was brushing his, Fallon looked towards the box and back up to him. "What do you want it to mean?"

  

Leave it to her to take his open-ended statement and come back with a question. He supposed he hadn't really known what to expect from her, Jess had... decidedly mixed success with reading her in the past and now he felt like he was off the mark again.

"She wants to meet you, obviously." Jesse half-shrugged. "But it's not like I left a lot of room for discussion." He was almost thirty, he'd just had a good promotion, he was perfectly capable of supporting a wife and a family. Plus Fallon was a perfectly acceptable choice and his mother really had no say in it. "But I think that's just a formality, it's not like she's going to change my mind or anything."

He eyed her carefully as he toyed with the ring box in his hands. "I asked you first." He wasn't the one who had balked at this in the past, not that he was going to say that out loud. She'd mentioned the ring before, but he legitimately could not read the situation clearly and so he wanted her to tell him exactly what it was she wanted out of him right now.

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The last time marriage had come up was at the height of her confusion and trauma. She wasn't sure of anything then, nevermind actually being engaged. But, perhaps that was why he was dancing around the question like it would send her running.

"Well, I want to marry you, obviously," she said with a short laugh. "And if that means meeting your mum...we'll manage it, I'm sure." Fallon wasn't naive enough to be hopeful that Mrs. Hatchitt would be accepting of her, but hopefully they could navigate any veiled criticisms with ease.

"And you?" She asked, though she really didn't think she had to at this point.

  

Phew.

She said obviously but he had to wonder if she actually knew if she was the least obvious in this respect. He was second-guessing himself constantly, waiting her out, looking for any clear-cut indication she was ready to take the next step. Maybe he'd finally just needed to take that last step of speaking with his mother to be sure on his end, but even as he'd approached the subject tonight, he still hadn't been certain.

He grinned slowly, opening the box that contained her handmade ring. "Well obviously I'd like to marry you too." He echoed holding the box out to her. He'd thought he'd made that pretty clear. Though back in the autumn things had mostly been in jest, Jess had realized pretty early on that he would, in fact, enjoy being married to her.

"So that begs the question, do you want this one, or the other one, or both?" He chuckled as he looked back down at the ring.

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Unable to resist her giddy excitement, Fallon leant forward and kissed him briefly. This was real, they were getting married. Engaged. Bloody hell.

The handmade ring held such vivid memories for Fallon — both wonderful and not. She had frequently ran her thumb over the petals when it was tucked in her pocket throughout the horrors of the Arctic. The pretty bracelet decorated her wrist in the days leading up to the World Cup. For months now Fallon had harbored such guilt over giving it up at all, and now that Jesse was offering it back she didn't want it.

She didn't even want to touch it.

"I, uhm." Fallon looked at it again and then back at him. "Will you hate me if I say the new one? Or a new enchanted one?"

  

Well, that was a bit of a shock to him, but it didn't register on his face. He closed the box with a click and pushed off the bed without a word.

Fishing around in his bag for a moment, though he knew exactly where the nicer box was (folded in his clean socks) but he was stalling for a just a minute. Setting the daisy ring back into his bag in place of the other one, he pulled the simple black box out and turned it over in his hands a couple times.

The ring was a much fancier version of what he'd made. More sophisticated. He had no idea if she'd like it, but there was only one way to find out.

Circling back to the bed, he looked down at her before leveling out the playing field. Down on one knee with the little black box, Jess pulled off the lid and pulled the ring out, holding it out for her to see. "Better?" He asked with a quirked eyebrow and just a hint of a smirk.

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Fallon laughed at the surprising turn of events the night had taken. She anticipated a quickie, maybe, some pillow talk before they drifted off whilst snuggling. A proposal wasn't anywhere on the list, and now Jesse was quite literally on his knees with a ring.

Her eyes lit up with delight with the new ring. (Again, it wasn't that she didn't want the old one, just didn't want the memories associated with it.) "It's beautiful," she answered earnestly. And, even better, it would match her pendant perfectly. Fallon held out her hand for him to put the ring on. "How long have you been planning this then?" She asked jokingly, her grin still stretching her cheeks.

  

Relieved she liked the new one, Jess breathed out slowly, not realizing he'd been holding his breath. He'd worried she wouldn't like it, maybe it was too fussy, too much; worried she wanted something other than this out of a proposal, but she seemed content with it.

Pulling the ring from the box, he gently slipped it on her finger, the sizing charm hopefully working to automatically make it fit. "Oh, long enough." November? When things had finally settled maybe. He couldn't exactly remember, but he'd had this particular one picked out since before Christmas at the very least. It was just hiding out, casually burning a whole in his pocket.

"So I take it this is a yes?" He hadn't actually asked, but she seemed to be agreeing.

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"You haven't asked a question for me to say yes to," she pointed out. Her opinion on the matter was obvious, of course, unless there was something that could be misconstrued about 'I want to marry you'. But, she wouldn't be herself if she didn't try to at least poke a little fun at him.

  

Ah there it was. Chuckling, Jess shook his head a little, holding her hand in his. "Alright let's do it the official way; Fallon Saoirse Abernathy, would you do me the honor of marrying me?" Any nerves that he'd anticipated simply weren't there, but that was probably because they'd both just agreed not a moment ago, that they were on the same page about being married to one another.

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Fallon couldn't help but laugh again. After months of back and forth, possible breakups, dozens of letters, they were going to be married. Well, engaged for now, but married soon enough after. She squeezed the hand holding his as she waited for him to finish asking the question. Merlin, they were really going to get married.

She was nodding before he was fully finished, too excited to sit still for the few seconds required. "Jesse Patrick Hatchitt, nothing would make me happier, yes."

  

Jesse slipped the ring all of the way into her finger and leaned up to kiss her gently. "That settles it then." He grinned against her lips, arms winding around her to pull her close.

So it hadn't been anything special, but it seemed to have done the trick. It was official now, they could be seen in public together, he could introduce her to his family in a more permanent sense and that would be it.

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