Hey, so 'Desperate Measures' is getting a bit heavy and then I just got the idea for this one shot. It's very RaiNy and sweet and light. I hope you all enjoy!
Also for reference, Ryan and Natalia have been dating for two years and Natalia moved into Ryan's condo six months ago!
Ryan reached over to the passenger seat of his car and grabbed his towel, which he slung haphazardly over his right shoulder as he climbed out. He walked wearily up to the door of his condo and emptied the remains of his water bottle over his sweaty face before stepping inside.
Tiny droplets of water splashed down onto the floor as Ryan seized the towel to dry himself off. Maybe pouring water all over himself had been a bad idea, but he was too hot and tired to care.
"Nat, I'm home." He called, slumping unenthusiastically into a chair in their kitchen.
"'Kay baby, I'll be right down." He heard her voice sing merrily.
Seconds later his beautiful girlfriend appeared in the kitchen wearing a short summer dress and a huge floppy beach hat. "Ta-daaa!" She stretched out her arms and gave him a quick twirl.
"Hat?" Ryan grunted, trying to express his curiosity in as few words as possible.
Natalia's eyes lit up and she began to speak excitedly. "I know isn't it cute? At first I was like 'hmm maybe I'll give it a miss' but them Calleigh forced me to try it on and now I love it!" She gave a squeal of delight. Ryan smiled fondly at her, shopping with Calleigh always put Natalia in a good mood.
"It looks nice on you." He said, trying to inject some enthusiasm into his voice for the sake of the woman he loved.
Natalia shot him a playful grin. "Aww icle Ryan got himself all worn out at the gym." She teased, causing him to flush.
"I was there for a long time." He grumbled, resting his arms on the table and burying his head in them.
"And you sure do like to feel sorry for yourself." Natalia quipped with a giggle.
With his face still buried, Ryan stuck up three fingers. "Three hours Nat," he whined, "you could give me a bit of sympathy."
"For something you chose to do. Not a chance. It's waaay more fun to tease you." She patted the back of his head.
"Hmph." Ryan struggled to bury himself deeper, out of the reach of her condescending pats.
"It's actually a shame you're so worn out," Natalia said, her voice becoming seductive as she slowly began to massage his back, "there are so many things I want to do to you right now."
Ryan let out a low moan as she leaned in close to whisper dirty things she knew he fantasized about. He knew she was only doing it to tease him, that she never intended to do even half the things she was suggesting, but despite himself Ryan could feel himself slowly becoming aroused. He glanced down at the tight exercise shorts he had worn to the gym, he only ever wore them when his girlfriend wasn't around for this exact reason. He wondered how quickly things would become extremely uncomfortable.
"Nat." He gasped, drawing in a shuddery breath as Natalia began to nibble his ear softly.
She stepped away and examined her boyfriend to make sure her flirting had had the desired effect. Satisfied, her eyes travelled back up his body to meet his, and she adopted a huge grin. "You're such a guy." She said gleefully.
Ryan shot her a dark look. "You're dirty." He complained.
"You love it!" Natalia's eyes sparkled.
"I'm going for a shower." He stood and flounced off, pretending to be cross. Truth be told, he didn't think it was possible to beanything more than slightly irritated with that perfect woman.
. Ryan stepped out of the shower twenty minutes later and wrapped a towel around his waist. He was glad he had resisted the temptation of Natalia's teasing, because tonight was going to be a special night.
He padded softly across the landing, leaving a trail of wet footprints from the bathroom to the small box room at the back of his condo. Pre-Natalia, the room had been an office, of sorts. Ryan had used it to store his laptop and a whole array of other odd gadgets he had accumulated, they had stood (all in their original boxes) neatly lining every shelf. Ryan remembered the hours of time he had spent alphabetising them. Since Natalia had moved in six moths ago, however, the room had been adopted by her and cleared out and filled with what seemed to Ryan to be junk even more pointless than his own. He now thought of the room as Natalia's girly haven, and he tried to steer clear of it.
"Hey gorgeous." He leaned in the doorway, watching his girlfriend losing a fight to make the lid of a shoe box stay down.
She looked at the shoebox angrily, before wordlessly handing it over to Ryan. He flipped open the box and quickly reorganised the pair of shoes so that the lid would fit.
"Thanks, I was having major shoe rage." Natalia laughed, gazing up at her boyfriend lovingly.
"Happy I could help. Actually I just came in to remind you about dinner tonight." He said nervously.
"How could I forget? It's the third time you've mentioned it today." Natalia smiled sweetly.
"Oh . . . good, you have no excuses if you're late then. I'll pick you up at seven."
"Pick me up? What are you talking about?" She asked curiously, as she selected another shoe box to engage in combat.
Ryan held out his arm. "Hand it over," she did so with a relieved expression, "I'm heading out now, there's something I want to . . . take care of. So I'll be back at seven to take you out." He handed back the box he had finished tidying.
"Huh. Okay baby, how mysterious," Natalia grinned up at him, her eyes flashing in excitement, "were you planning to put some clothes on before undertaking this mission?"
"Har har," Ryan intoned as he left her sitting cross legged on the floor, "you'll wish you'd been nicer when I refuse to help you with anymore shoe boxes."
"Shoes!" He heard Natalia squeal to herself as he entered their bedroom to get dressed.
Ryan grinned to himself as he buttoned up his shirt; Natalia had just started singing a horrendously off key version of The Bravery's 'An Honest Mistake'. In the two short years they had been together, Natalia had changed a lot; the barriers she had erected to keep herself safe had slowly been dropped as everyday she fell deeper in love. The result was a happier and more carefree young woman, very similar to how she had been before Nick had even entered her life.
Ryan suddenly panicked. What if he was moving to fast for her? It had taken her so long to reach this place, if he did something now which pushed her away he worried he would never be able to coax her back.
He took a deep breath. No, he decided. They were ready for this step.
Less than one hour later Ryan had parked his car in a relatively small multi-storey car park. His grey suit hung up in the back, waiting for this evening to roll around. Ryan made his way through the busy shopping centre, glancing down at his watch every couple of minutes to check he wasn't late for his appointment.
He stopped in front of a small shop with large glass windows displaying a range of different jewellery. Here he was.
Ryan took a nervous breath and stepped inside. Immediately he was greeted by a small woman with a long pony tale.
"Good afternoon Sir, can I help you?"
"Yeah, uh, I have an appointment." Ryan replied, feeling faintly stupid.
"Aha," the woman agreed, "if you just follow me over I'll take your name and send somebody to speak with you."
Ryan shuffled after her towards the counter. "It'll be under Wolfe." He told her.
The woman took a look at a small book located behind the tills, before looking up and beaming. "Mr Wolfe!" She exclaimed like a long lost friend.
"Erm, yes?" Ryan was slightly confused.
"Mr Wolfe, my name is Annie, I'm a ring designer and I'll be your representative today." She stuck out a hand which Ryan accepted.
"So, do you have my ring?"
"Oh yes," she gushed, "it's simply beautiful. I'll just nip into the back to collect it for you."
She left Ryan drumming his fingers anxiously on the counter. If anything was wrong with his order, he was screwed. Or not, as the case may be. Either way Natalia's surprise would have to be put on hold. Ryan didn't think he could bear that, not after all the time he had spent deciding on when the right time would be.
Annie appeared carrying a small red box and she flashed another smile at Ryan. "Here it is." She exclaimed excitedly.
Ryan opened the small box, inside was a stunning gold ring with a delicate diamond set in the centre. It looked amazing, he conceded.
Annie checked the small tag which was attached to the box. "It's a size N, is that right?"
Ryan bit back a smile, N for Natalia. He remembered the hours of conversation he had spent trying to get Natalia's ring finger size without her realising what he wanted it for. "It's perfect." He murmured, entranced by the waves of multi-hued light the diamond reflected.
"Wonderful. I must say Mr Wolfe, this is one of my favourite rings we sell. She must be a very special woman."
"She is." Ryan assured.
Ryan pulled up outside his condo at exactly seven, although he knew without a shadow of a doubt Natalia would be at least ten minutes late. He ran a nervous hand through his hair, trying to flatten down non existent imperfections. Ryan had changed into his suit at Calleigh's place. Naturally the feisty blonde knew all about his plans, she had spent weeks working it out of him until eventually he had caved. Ryan privately admitted that Calleigh's reassurance he was doing the right thing had definitely sped the process along.
Natalia appeared in the doorway at twenty past seven, Ryan was impressed. He walked around to the passenger side to take to door for her; marvelling at how, after all this time, she still took his breath away with her beauty.
"So do I get to find out where you were all afternoon?" She asked as she slipped into the car.
"Oho, not a chance." Ryan laughed nervously.
He drove in near silence, letting Natalia's voice fill the car. He never thought it possible to feel so much love for one person.
Eventually they pulled up outside Natalia's favourite restaurant.
"Aww Ry! You were actually listening to me for once," she took his hand and kissed his cheek, "I'll remember that tonight." She winked.
Ryan blushed, he was going to give her a lot to remember tonight, he hoped that would reflect on how generous she would be . . .
"Ryan stop thinking about sex!" Natalia slapped him playfully out of his daydream and his blush grew rosier.
"I don't – I wasn't – Oh forget it." He mumbled.
Ryan and Natalia finished their main and were sat waiting to order dessert. Natalia was studying the menu while Ryan fiddled nervously with the small box inside his jacket. It was now or never.
"Nat," he began, surprised by how shakey his voice sounded, "I, uh, I have something to . . . to ask you."
She looked up. "Ry, we both know you're going to order the cheesecake so let's not bother pretending." Natalia laughed. It was the most glorious sound Ryan thought he had ever heard.
"That wasn't it."
"Oh?" Natalia gazed across at him, interested.
"Erm. Okay. You make me so happy Nat, insanely happy. I'm crazy about you, you're just so perfect." All of his carefully rehearsed lines disappeared from his mind, leaving him stranded.
"I know sweetie," Natalia smiled across at him, "I love you too."
"You're everything to me Nat. Everything. I want to be with you forever." With shaking hands Ryan reached into his jacket and slowly withdrew the ring box. Natalia gasped.
"Would, uh, would you marry me Natalia?" He asked, his trembling hands struggling to open the box but eventually managing it.
Silence stretched between them for what to seem to Ryan to be a lifetime. Just say yes! He prayed silently.
Slowly Natalia opened her mouth and said the word Ryan had been desperate to hear. "Yes."
He stared deep into Natalia's deep brown eyes and saw in them a love so immense it nearly matched his own. All the pieces of Ryan's life slowly fell into place and for the first time, he felt complete.
As you can see, this is a lot different from 'Desperate Measures'. I'm planning a one-shot sequel sometime after I finish DM.
I hope you all enjoyed it. Let me know!