A/N: I've told you the pairings; your challenge is to guess who's featured in each shot before their names are mentioned. Good luck. :)

One| Baby Came Back

The door clicks, creaks, and slams. There's the sound of bags hitting the floor and a huff, followed immediately by more shuffling.

He doesn't look up from the TV when he says, "You're back," working hard to make it sound as disinterested as possible, but he smiles when he says it.

At the door, another – this time slightly more pronounced – huff is his only answer before her footsteps fade back out, heels clicking all the way. When she comes back the second time – with more bags, again, he can tell – he changes the channel, but it's not as if he's paying attention anymore.

"I knew you would, you know," he says instead, increasingly aware of the real effort it's taking to keep his eyes on the screen, and the clicking of her heels slows, but doesn't stop. "You always come back, eventually…" Here, he finally allows himself to look up and finds her eyes on him – narrowed, assessing. She's as beautiful as she's always been. "You need me."

Her fists clench. "You…bastard," she hisses, but doesn't move, seemingly frozen in place as he rises, slowly, from the couch and starts to approach her. "You always think…everything is about you, don't you? You…you…ughhh…" And the last part is a screech of frustration as much as anything else. "You're so…stupid, and full of yourself, and…I-"

"You want help with those bags?" he asks neutrally.

Another screech, and this time she moves to hit him, but he catches her fists, trapping them effortlessly to his chest; and suddenly there's barely a foot between their faces. When she shudders, he feels it, and his pulse responds in kind.

"You're such an asshole…" she whispers, not meeting his eyes.

"I missed you, too," he murmurs, and her eyelids squeeze shut, her anger melting back in the face of something else altogether.

"Why?" she whines at last, but at first he's not sure what she's asking. Then she takes a quivering breath and shakes her head. "Why, huh?" she insists. "Why did you ask me? Why would you…why would you ever…why did you even-"

When he gets it, he feels the first spark of anger, and "Why do you think?" he snaps back. "I asked because-"

"I think you asked because you were scared!" she snarls before he can get his words in. "I think you asked because you didn't know what to do, and you were worried I would leave, and you panicked and…and you…you thought if…" As her words crumble off and her body starts to shake in earnest, his anger fades as quickly as it came, replaced by sudden, blessed understanding.

"Baby…" He lets go of her wrists with one hand and reaches to her chin, tilting it up and brushing a thumb over her cheek as she fights with tears, her eyes still avoiding his at all costs. "Babe, you know you'll screw up your make-up if you cr-"

"Oh, fuck the-" she starts vehemently, but he catches her waist when she tries to draw back, sliding the other hand behind her neck and drawing her to him with both.

"Hey, hey, shhh…" he soothes, waiting until her tension starts to ease before moving the hand at her waist up and rubbing slow, calming circles over her back.

He thinks his heart might literally start performing acrobatics in his throat when she curls closer, fisting her slim fingers into his shirt and burying soft, frustrated whimpers against his chest. He shuts his eyes.

"I didn't ask for any of those reasons…" he says finally. "It wasn't a last minute thing, and it wasn't to tie you down 'cause I was scared or…well," He frowns, "just nothing like that. I asked because…"

Here he takes a deep breath, propping his chin lightly atop her head and feeling the rise and fall of her breathing, taking in the familiar scent of her perfume and relishing in how right she feels, in his arms, just like this.

"I asked because I'd been thinking about it for a long time…" he admits, and the words come easier when he doesn't try to think too much about them, "…and I realized I don't want anybody but you, and I don't think I ever will…and when you're not here, I'd give anything to have you screamin' at me just to make it not so damn quiet…and even when we're both old and nasty and ugly and wrinkly…" She shifts in his grip, "…I still want it to be your voice yapping at me, and so I figured…" She's finally looking at him now, but he pushes on, "…that I can take you rearranging my furniture as much as you like, and telling me I'm color blind, and stupid, and burning my food-"

"Hey-"

"-'cause I don't care about that so much as maybe I thought I did and…I'd rather eat burnt shit four meals a day and never watch anything but Lifetime and the fashion channel than not have you around, 'cause I may be stupid-"

"Baby-"

"-but I'm not so dumb I don't know you care about me, too, and I love you, and no matter how many times you leave I still want you to be a part of my life, so-"

"Dash!"

Finally, Dash pauses, and he blinks down at the woman in his arms. "What?"

Paulina smiles, one of her rare, soft, true, beautiful smiles – the kind that reaches her eyes and goes past her make-up and lights up her face more than any blush or highlights could ever hope to. She reaches up, catching behind his neck and stringing her fingers lightly into his hair in a way that sends shivers through his veins, and "Yes," she whisperes softly, almost nervously, "yes, I will."

And there's no feeling like this in the world.

Dash swallows hard, shutting his eyes. "Really?" he murmurs, needing to hear it just once more, and her laughter ripples through her – like bells and birdsong and the crash of an ocean wave against the shore – and she nods, bringing her other hand up to join the first, her smile brilliant as starlight on snow.

"Yes, I'd love to marry you. I-"

He kisses her, and she never finishes that sentence. She doesn't have to.

A/N: I'm not sure what inspired this. I may well go back and decide it's crap later, but for now I'm edgy and feel like posting something. This is my first story with straight couples, oh my. *pokes the boys and girls together* How strange...

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed yourselves, even though I'm sure most of you probably just wanted to read about Sam and Danny. HAH. I'll get to them eventually. Maybe. Faster, you know, if you review. True story. ^_^ (No, really, though, I promise it will star Danny and Sam at some point; otherwise it would have been cheating to include them in the summary and/or as characters used.)

'Til next time, kiddos.