He was late for dinner. Again.
Molly understood that it came with the job; the late nights with only a phone call, if she was lucky. Sometimes he had to go into work when they were in the middle of something, a quick kiss on her cheek and a promise to return quickly before running out the door. But again, it was understandable. Sometimes a case needed to be solved right away, or they had a good lead, or the team just got so engrossed that they lost track of time. Normally it wasn't that big a deal. She would just wrap up his food for later or even feed it to the dog. But tonight was different.
Tonight was their anniversary.
It was five years today Greg had mustered up the courage to ask Molly out to dinner. Granted, it was just a corner booth at Angelo's and he was called away for a case about half way through, but it was a date none the less. By the time he called her a couple days later, she had already resigned herself to believing she'd done something wrong and wouldn't be hearing from him again. And he couldn't believe it when she agreed to a second date; most women would have gotten out early, not wanting to deal with coming second to a job. But Molly was different, he guessed. After all, there were certainly times when her own work would drag her out of bed in the middle of the night.
And that's what made them work so well: a mutual understanding that while work may take them away from each other at times, when the option was available the couple would always choose to be together.
Despite this, however, Molly couldn't help but feel frustrated as she cleared the hard wood table of the home made meal she had taken the day off from work to make. Of course, the one night I go out of my way to do something nice for us is the one night this week he's late without calling. She huffed to herself, tossing the dirty plates into the sink to clean later. Grabbing her glass of wine, she took several steps toward the living room before doubling back to snatch the nearly full bottle off the counter.
Slumping down onto the couch, Molly drank her way through several glasses of wine before the sound of a key entering her front lock could be heard an hour later.
Cautiously, as if sensing trouble, Greg slowly entered the apartment before closing the door behind him. Seeing the sour look on his girlfriend's face, he immediately opened his mouth to apologize, only to be shut down before getting the chance.
"Please don't even start, Greg. And stop looking at me with those...those puppy dog eyes! The one night I asked you to turn down any cases, the one night we were supposed to do something special and you worked late."
"Molly please-" Greg sputtered
"Please? Please what?"
The DI took a deep breath before reaching into his coat pocket, as if to grab something. "Molly, these past five years have been amazing. We get on so well, and our work has never been an issue. You are always here to great me with open arms and a warm meal when I finally get off, and I'm always ready with a hot bath after you've had a long night at the morgue. You always know just what to say that gets my old heart pumping, and I don't want to go another night without you being mine." Greg pulled a small black box out of his pocket before walking over to a very dumb struck Molly, still sitting on the overstuffed sofa.
"What? Greg I-"
Kneeling on one knee, Greg opened the black box, revealing a simple white gold band with a single round diamond cradled in the metal. "I love you, Molly Hooper. And I would be honored if you would be my wife."
Molly sat quiet for a second, trying to believe what she was seeing. When it finally registered, she leaped out of her seat and into his arms, almost knocking them both to the floor. When Greg was able to pull away enough to get a good look at her, he could see streams of tears running down her face.
"So is that a 'yes' then?" He asked with a slight chuckle in his voice.
She beamed back at him, replying, "Yes! Yes, of course I'll marry you!" Leaning forward, her lips gently met his. Their kiss turning hungry, Greg finally allowed the couple to topple to the floor before tangling into each others limbs.