She repeated the phrase and Alfred's heart skipped a beat. For a half-second he wondered if this was news to her, and if they were going to have to stop and talk about that now — not that he would have had anything to say, because he didn't know where it had come from or why he was thinking about it or why he was suddenly convinced he wouldn't. But then she smiled, and his whole body felt a little lighter — it was like a candle had flickered at the end of a long tunnel, and it wasn't much, but it was light when he had been muddling through in the dark for so long already.
I'll do anything for us. Hearing that unleashed a torrent within him, like a dam breaking, and suddenly he knew how they'd gotten here and why he'd been feeling this way. It wasn't the sort of thing she would have had to say out loud two months ago, because he'd already known that she was willing to go through whatever it took for the two of them, and that he would never dream of asking her for anything more than what her family had already subjected them to. Her commitment to this relationship had seemed boundless because it was sufficient, and he'd never given it another thought. But something had shifted during their last fight, when she didn't really understand why he didn't want her to go underway with the Voyager and she didn't understand why he didn't want to talk about it and she didn't understand why he couldn't just give her a straightforward answer or apologize for sending her back home on the docks at the Thames that morning. His whole world revolved around her, whenever she was near enough for him to be aware of her, and she didn't seem to get it. And that had led to doubt creeping in, and the things Jo had said during their fights had drifted back to mind like debris from a wreck riding the high tide. Maybe he was giving up on too much of himself, and maybe Zelda wouldn't have done the same. Maybe he was making all the sacrifices and she couldn't even be bothered to minorly inconvenience her family — maybe despite what they'd said at Christmas she wouldn't ever entertain the idea of moving forward if they didn't have her father's blessing, and maybe Alfred would never earn it. Maybe he'd stop sailing and get a house in the Sanditon and rearrange his whole life for her, and in the end he wouldn't be any better off than he was now, seeing her here and there at parties.
So when she said I'll do anything for us it was a flood of relief; he only realized what had been broken with them before because this sentiment, offered so earnestly and sincerely, patched the hole perfectly.
"Let's get married," he said with urgency, pulling back enough that he could look into her eyes. "Tonight. We don't even have to tell anyone."
I'll do anything for us. Hearing that unleashed a torrent within him, like a dam breaking, and suddenly he knew how they'd gotten here and why he'd been feeling this way. It wasn't the sort of thing she would have had to say out loud two months ago, because he'd already known that she was willing to go through whatever it took for the two of them, and that he would never dream of asking her for anything more than what her family had already subjected them to. Her commitment to this relationship had seemed boundless because it was sufficient, and he'd never given it another thought. But something had shifted during their last fight, when she didn't really understand why he didn't want her to go underway with the Voyager and she didn't understand why he didn't want to talk about it and she didn't understand why he couldn't just give her a straightforward answer or apologize for sending her back home on the docks at the Thames that morning. His whole world revolved around her, whenever she was near enough for him to be aware of her, and she didn't seem to get it. And that had led to doubt creeping in, and the things Jo had said during their fights had drifted back to mind like debris from a wreck riding the high tide. Maybe he was giving up on too much of himself, and maybe Zelda wouldn't have done the same. Maybe he was making all the sacrifices and she couldn't even be bothered to minorly inconvenience her family — maybe despite what they'd said at Christmas she wouldn't ever entertain the idea of moving forward if they didn't have her father's blessing, and maybe Alfred would never earn it. Maybe he'd stop sailing and get a house in the Sanditon and rearrange his whole life for her, and in the end he wouldn't be any better off than he was now, seeing her here and there at parties.
So when she said I'll do anything for us it was a flood of relief; he only realized what had been broken with them before because this sentiment, offered so earnestly and sincerely, patched the hole perfectly.
"Let's get married," he said with urgency, pulling back enough that he could look into her eyes. "Tonight. We don't even have to tell anyone."
MJ made the most Alfredy of sets and then two years later she made it EVEN BETTER