It hit him like a ton of bricks.

He was going to propose. Tonight.

His hands felt clammy, and he wiped them on the expensive material of his slacks. This was unusual. He was never nervous. He feared that he was losing his calm, suave touch.

He glanced up at her from his book. She was wearing her auburn hair down, completely natural. The waves softly tumbled down her back in such a way that made him completely breathless. She was absorbed in her novel. It was an older book, written about Regency England. She absolutely adored reading classics, and made that point often, especially when he decided that he liked more contemporary works.

She smiled softly. A small secretive smile that she only wore when she was reading, and thought no one else could see her. Something she never realized was that he was always watching for that smile.

He slumped down lower in the armchair and stretched his long legs out. The library was too quiet for his liking. Like it was holding its breath, waiting for the big announcement that was planned for tonight. Ian felt like that himself, a subtle tightening of his chest, not enough to be suffocating, but definitely enough to be sorely uncomfortable. He blew out a breath, and roughly pushed his dark hair out of his eyes.

Amy glanced up from her book and fixed her gentle jade gaze on him. "Everything okay?"

"Fine. Just peachy," he said, his accent getting more prominent, something it tended to do when he was stressed.

Amy arched an eyebrow.

He managed a small smile and got up to sit next to her on the couch. "I'm fine, love. Going crazy in this goddamn library that's entirely too quiet for my liking, but fine."

She sighed in exasperation and snuggled close to him, returning her attention to her book. He slid an arm around her and shifted so she would be more comfortable. Tracing patterns on her arm with his fingers, he stared at the musty shelves without really seeing anything.

It wasn't as if he hadn't thought about this before. He had been obsessing over this dinner for a long time, trying to get it perfect. He knew his girlfriend better than anyone, but he still couldn't be sure if she would like what he had planned for tonight. True, she usually seemed perfectly content with whatever he had planned, just as long as he was with her, but this was different. This was huge.

He ducked his head and pressed his lips against her hair, inhaling her warm, familiar scent. She shivered slightly in his arms, and scooted closer, as if she was cold.

"Okay, what's wrong? You're as stiff as a board," she said, closing her book and setting it aside. She turned in his arms and looked up at him with an endearing sparkle in her eyes.

"Am I? Hadn't noticed."

"You've been tapping your foot for the past hour, you haven't turned a page since we sat down, and you check your watch every four seconds. Spill it," she said, seeing through him completely, like only she could. He felt a smile pulling up a corner of his mouth, but he suppressed it.

"I really don't know what you're talking about."

"Okay, not buying it mister-" he cut her off by leaning down and pressing his lips to hers. He felt her gasp in surprise and clutch his sweater with both hands. He pulled away after a moment and looked down at her. It was a simple kiss, but she was blushing madly as she glanced around the immediate area.

"Are you crazy? We're in a public place!"

They had been dating for five years, yet she still felt self-conscious whenever he did anything other than hold her hand in public. Most of the time, he had found that little quirk endlessly amusing and adorable, but now it just added to the seething unease in his stomach.

"All part of my charm, darling."

She tried to look annoyed, but failed miserably. She instead had that dazed look on her face, the same one she always wore after they kissed. He smiled and dropped a light kiss on her nose, and then stood.

"Come here. There's something I need to ask you," he said quietly, holding out his hand to help her up. She tilted her head slightly in confusion, but abandoned her book and accepted his outstretched arm.

He had decided to do it now. Somewhere along the way, he decided to screw his carefully planned evening and just do it now. He had the ring with him, of course. He'd had it in his pocket every day for a week.

So, when he led her to the open space between the shelves and the reading area, he wasn't nervous. He felt a charged atmosphere surround them, whispering the possibilities of this moment. Amy was aware of it, and stared with wide eyes as he got down on one knee and opened a small velvet box he had pulled out of his shirt pocket.

"Amy Cahill," he said, choosing not to use her full name, as she despised it, "Will you marry me?"

The very air seemed to tense as she gaped at him, eyes shining and both hands over her mouth. For a long moment, she didn't do anything.

But, in the next second, she had leapt on him, throwing her arms around him and whispering yes over and over again. He was shocked for a second, his heart bursting with radiant happiness. But, he returned the embrace with just as much enthusiasm. He felt as if everything had melted away, leaving just him and his fiancée.

He let her go and stood up. Taking her hand he slid the engagement ring on the appropriate finger, and closed both his hands around the much smaller one.

"Can you believe that I spent months planning a dinner to tell you this? Would you do me a favor and re-enact this scene when we get to the restaurant? The waiter's going to be horribly disappointed if I deny him his part in the greatness that is Ian Kabra's life," he said, trying not to smile and give himself away.

Amy laughed, her face streaked with tears of joy. She stood on her tiptoes and kissed him. Right there. In front of the whole library.

He vaguely heard cheering in the background. Huh, he thought distractedly, maybe the library isn't so bad after all.

So.

Huh.

I can honestly say that I have no idea where this came from. Much less why. It was written in the timespan of the drive back home from the mall, on my phone. I was suddenly hit by inspiration and just made a note on my phone to capture it before it was lost forever, as that tends to happen to almost every story idea that comes to me.

I love this couple to DEATH, and will never give up on them! Never, ever, ever, ever in a million years. Just saying. But, this awful piece of writing doesn't do them justice in the least bit, so I'm sorry, my babies.

I love the idea, just not the writing. Ah well. Let's see what ya'll think(:

P.S. This is finals week for me (kill me now), so reviews would be greatly appreciated! Bring me out of the depression of being knee deep in algebra and world history!

-Courtney(: