Hey everyone. I thought that I should give a one-shot a try, and I had a little idea floating in my head today as I was doing chores (fun stuff, right?). Anyway, I do not own much, and I certainly don't own Danny or Lindsay (if I did, believe me, they would be together by now). So, you know the drill: read, review, and be sure to visit my work-in-progress "Stories of the Past".
I cannot believe that this is happening.
I really can't believe that I am doing this. Can I really do this?
It seems like I am dreaming. As if suddenly, things won't be as perfect as they are in this moment. I look into his eyes, and I know that he is thinking of me. I feel my heart skip a beat every time I see him…
Okay Messer, you can do this. You really can do this…
But I see him now looking at me, and I see his lips moving. He's telling me something, I know, but his voice is drowned out momentarily by this buzzing in my head, the buzzing of my racing thoughts. Oh God, I can feel my heart pounding…
Oh, God, my heart is racing right now. Why am I so nervous about this? Take a deep breath, you can do this. It's just Lindsay…and all of your co-workers are here. Oh God, why am I doing this in front of them?
In front of all of these people…I can feel my cheeks begin to redden. Oh great, Monroe, I think to myself, just great. You're going to make a complete mess of yourself. Oh God. Oh God, oh God, oh God. What is he doing?
So, here goes nothing. I take a deep breath; take her hand, her warm, accepting hand. And I get down on one knee. Alright Messer, no turning back now. You have to face it. She'll say yes. She'll do it…won't she?
Stella must have been the one to gasp from the other table. My only female companion on this team…and the team. Oh my God. The entire team is watching this. Watching us. And now they are listening intently. I feel like my head is on fire. But it's that good kind of fire, the one that though it consumes you, makes you feel warm and cared about. A deep-rooted fire…
I don't know where to start…I had this thing all planned out, really, I did. I had written down what I was going to say to her…and I forget it all now. All I can think of is how much I love her, and how wonderful she is, and how I want to spend my life with her…maybe I should just start telling her these things instead of thinking of them…
As I am thinking of everything, I hear his voice. "Lindsay…" he begins. He called me by my first name. Oh, great. Here come the waterworks. Because I know right now that he loves me. I have known that for a while, but the way he says my name…not calling me "Montana" like he does when he's flirting…no, it's "Lindsay". He's in love…
"Lindsay…" I can see her tears begin to form in her eyes. She knows that I am serious about this. "Lindsay, I knew I was in love with you from the moment I met you, whether or not I showed it. You were the country girl from Montana, and I was the city boy from New York. And I may have joked around with you a lot over the years, but as I got to know you better…I fell for you."
I sit with his hand in mine and try and fight tears. But Stella has already proceeded to the waterworks phase, and is looking at us from behind glistening eyes. My heart is at ease right now, as I relive our moments together…the cases, the flirting, the eventual dating…all leading up to this moment. I fell for him too. I can't speak right now, for fear of scaring him off with my sobbing, but I remember when he had joked about marrying me. I remember when I made the witty comment: "Make tracks cowboy". Whoever knew that this country girl would fall for someone like Danny Messer? But I did, and he fell for me too. And now, look at us…
"…and I realize now," I said, looking deep into her eyes, "that I love you more than I ever thought I could love anyone. And," at this point, I pulled a small jewelry box out from my pocket. There goes Stella again…she's still crying, but now she let out a little 'aw' from her tears. "Tonight, you could make me the luckiest guy in all of New York if you would marry me."
I didn't care about the ring. Quite frankly, he could have put a ring from a toy machine on my finger, and I still would have been as happy as I was in that moment. It wasn't the ring that I loved; it was the man who was presenting it. Now I really couldn't fight back those tears anymore. I let the tears fall into my lap, but along with them came the most genuine smile I would ever produce.
To see her smile…God, I would give anything for her to smile like that forever. I heard Hawkes from the next table say something along the lines of: "Well Lindsay? Is it a yes or is it a no? Because my dinner is getting cold over here." Lindsay let out a little laugh and looked at me, still smiling. "Danny, I love you."
They couldn't handle the suspense anymore, and I couldn't bear to spend another moment as Danny Messer's girlfriend…I was more partial to the term "fiancée".
"Yes." That was all that she was able to say before she stood up and threw her arms around me.
Before I knew it, I was in his arms, spinning around and kissing him, like the end of some old cheesy love story. But this wasn't just any cheesy ending. This was my cheesy ending. It was my happily ever after…the applause included from the peanut gallery. But I didn't care. All I knew was that this may have been the 'happily ever after' for a night, but it was the beginning of a much bigger and better movie than I could ever imagine.