They do this often, when they go out at night with no destination in mind. It's Gina's idea of a perfect date, driving around at night and enjoying each other's company while listening to some good music.
Rosa enjoys it too, because when Gina is driving, Rosa can sit in the passenger's seat with her feet propped up on the dashboard and stare at Gina all that she would like.
Sometimes, Gina plays today's hits, and other times, she plays a wild playlist that has no rules except for the fact that nothing sounds the same and almost everything is fair game. Then, they speed off into the night and drive without knowing where they are going.
Tonight, Gina's got her wild playlist on, and they have kicked back to go exploring. Rosa never admits it, but she's always fairly excited when a night like this comes up, ever since they started doing this two years ago.
Before almost a year ago, they did this as friends. Friends who needed to get away from hectic days at work, and friends who just needed to clear their heads in each other's company.
But now, they don't do this as friends anymore, because they are more than just friends now. They steal kisses at stoplights and Rosa sometimes rests her hand right by Gina, because she knows that Gina's itching to take it.
Gina's singing along loudly to a Fall Out Boy song and Rosa is smiling at her as they cross onto another road that is just slightly familiar. Maybe they've been on this road before, but they almost always end up finding something new every single time they adventure out.
The car rolls to a stop at a red light and suddenly a new song is playing. Rosa doesn't recognize the artist, and apparently Gina doesn't either, because she's not singing along anymore. She turns to Rosa with a loving expression on her face. Rosa has been waiting for her to turn so that she can quickly peck Gina on the lips, and suddenly they're lost in each other's faces and thinking about themselves and each other-
A loud honk interrupts the two and Gina curses as she catches a glimpse of the green light that has now replaced the red light.
Rosa has to smile as Gina pushes her foot on the accelerator and speeds ahead. They are silent on most nights just like this, because all they need is each other and their own company.
Their relationship is known in the Nine-Nine, but despite themselves, Rosa and Gina barely show any physical affection for each other at work. They indulge in conversation and laugh and smile and stare, but they always keep their hands to themselves. (Much to Charles's disappointment, which both Gina and Rosa, along with most of their coworkers, had stated was very creepy.)
But when they are alone, they are all over each other and they both love it. They end up sleeping at Rosa's place a lot, and Rosa always takes Gina to work on her motorcycle. For some reason, Charles is always in the parking garage waiting for this scene to unravel, so much to Gina's dismay, Rosa insists on getting to work earlier than Charles.
Gina's singing loudly as drives at 60mph, and Rosa's staring at her face. She probably has every detail about Gina memorized, but she never tires of seeing her.
And maybe it's in that moment that Rosa realizes that she loves Gina a lot. She already knows it, but suddenly she's very aware of it as the clock strikes midnight and they're driving out to some unknown place. Rosa's feet slide down from the dashboard and suddenly she's staring at her own hands instead of Gina, because Rosa isn't sure what to do.
She's definitely never been great with feelings, and sometimes she just doesn't know how to embrace her emotions. So Rosa just sits there numbly and tries to clear her head.
And maybe Gina knows this look on Rosa's face too well, because she turns down the volume of the music and now she's asking Rosa if Rosa is okay.
Rosa nods, but Gina isn't buying it.
"Girl, seriously. What's up. You can tell me, you know that?" Gina says.
Rosa doesn't say anything, but after hearing these words come out of Gina's mouth, Rosa feels as if she wants to be in a wedding venue in a white dress with flowers in her hand and say "I do" as Gina stands next to her.
And so another realization hits Rosa: she wants to marry Gina, and Rosa feels terrified.
She wants to marry Gina Linetti, damn it.
Rosa doesn't know how to reveal this to Gina. Sh can't just ask, just like that. Gina Linetti would want something beautiful and extravagant. Rosa doesn't even have a ring. And she doesn't even know how to ask Gina. And what if Gina says no? Then what would happen? They'd be broken apart. And what if Gina said yes and then decided to break off the engagement later? She's done that before, about eight time with eight unfortunate people. What if Rosa becomes the ninth?
Rosa's ideal proposal would be to just ask out of the blue and get engagement rings later, not some "get down on one knee and cry" sort of bull-crap. But it's Gina. Rosa guesses that she'd do that, but only for Gina.
"I love you, Rosa," Gina says. It snaps Rosa out of her trance and looks up to see Gina studying Rosa's face. She manages to croak out an "I love you too," and looks down at her hands again.
Rosa just wants to marry Gina. She does not want to be afraid of doing this, of asking Gina to marry her.
Only cowards run away, she reminds herself, and starts planning a proposal in her head.
She would buy Gina a gorgeous ring, and then take her out to a surprise dinner. Then, they'd go on a walk and Rosa would propose and Gina would say yes and then they'd kiss and get married in two months and-
You're getting too far ahead of yourself, coward, Rosa thinks to herself. What if Gina says no?
Gina would say no, and then walk away and Rosa would be left on one knee holding the most beautiful and expensive ring ever and then Rosa would be crying, which was something she barely ever did and Gina would laugh and say that she never loved Rosa at all and-
Shut up. Rosa wills her mind to stop overthinking and decided to do the simple thing. Buy a ring, take Gina for dinner, propose. She doesn't want to think of what will happen after that.
She looks up at Gina, who is driving with a mild expression of concentration on her face. Music is still playing softly, as Gina hasn't bothered to turn it back up.
"I have to use the bathroom," Gina announces, pushing her foot down further on the accelerator.
"There's a gas station coming up in a few miles. Also, you're speeding. Like, a lot," Rosa tells her.
Gina loosens her grip on the steering wheel. However, she doesn't bother to slow down and the speedometer never dips below seventy until Gina pulls into a deserted gas station and parks the car.
"Come with me," Gina says to Rosa. "There might be murderers in this place."
"I wasn't gonna let you go in by yourself," Rosa assures her as they get out of Gina's car.
The inside of the gas station is just as deserted as the outside, except for a clerk who is sleeping at the register. Rosa tells Gina that she is going to look around as Gina heads off to the bathroom.
A small machine catches Rosa's eye in the corner of the shop. It is like a gumball machine, but full of little rings and other trinkets instead of gum.
Rosa recognizes this kind of machine. When she was younger, they had one at the pizza place that her parents would sometimes take her and her sisters whenever one of them got a good report card. Back then, they'd save all of their quarters to get goodies and cheap plastic necklaces out of the machines.
Rosa walks over to it in interest, and does a double take when it reads INSERT $1.00.
Well, things in New York had gotten more expensive.
She has a couple of ones in her pocket, and she feeds it to the machine. A small plastic container pops out and Rosa opens it to reveal a purple bracelet.
Try again.
Rosa stuffs another bill into the machine and opens the container. This time, it holds a large green ring with a plastic emerald heart attached to it.
Rosa pockets it quickly, just as Gina walks out of the bathroom. Rosa quickly turns to the closest rack of items and pretends to be browsing through it.
Gina raises an eyebrow. "Uh, Rosie, why are you looking at fireworks?" And then her eyes gleam. "Are we pranking someone?"
Rosa looks at the fireworks and meets Gina's eyes. Suddenly, the plastic ring in her pocket feels heavy.
"Uh, no. Let's go."
So as Rosa's heart is beating fast out of adrenaline and fear and excitement, they walk out into the chilly night, to where Gina's car is parked lonely in an empty gas station.
Gina is about to walk over to the driver's side of the car, while Rosa is blinking furiously and trying to breathe.
It's now or never now or never now or never ever ever never never ever never-
"Wait."
Gina turns back to Rosa. "What? What is it?"
Rosa's hands are shaking and her legs are trembling. "I have-"
She sinks down to the ground shakily and props one knee up in front of her. Rosa withdraws the plastic ring from her jacket pocket and holds it up. "Uh… Ginawillyoumarrymebecauseiwannamarryyouandit'sokayifyousaynobecauseit'snobigdealbutijustwantedtomarryyoutheotherdayandnowcanyouwillyoumarryme."
Gina's eyes widen. Rosa may have rambled incomprehensibly for a minute, but she is down on one knee and the ring in her hand says it all.
"How long have you been planning this?" is the first thing Gina asks, because it seems so sudden, and Gina wants to know.
"Five minutes."
Rosa's voice is seriously shaking. She is still crouched down on one knee and it's not a position that she'd like to stay in. She is hoping that Gina will make her decision fast, because Rosa is about to fall over.
"Can I see the ring?" Gina asks.
Rosa suddenly feels very insecure as she hands Gina the piece of green glittering plastic. Gina, however, looks at it curiously and pops it onto her finger.
"Okay. So, when are we getting married?" Gina asks suddenly, and Rosa isn't sure whether to laugh or cry.
"So that's a yes?" Rosa asks, sounding a little bit more hopeful than she'd like to sound. She stands up and brushes off her black leggings before tucking her hands into her pockets.
"Of course! Why the hell would I say no to someone like you, Rosie? I've been waiting a lifetime for you to ask me for my hand in marriage."
Rosa has to smile, because Gina is gazing at the ring adorably.
"You- you like the ring?"
"Yeah. It's cute. But can we get like… rings that aren't plastic? But seriously, Rosa, I'm going to treasure this thing forever and ever," Gina says. She reaches for Rosa's hand and Rosa obliges, pulling her hands out of her pocket.
"I'm just surprised it fit. But then again, all fabulous rings just have to fit me," Gina preens. Rosa looks on in adoration.
"Wow. I just got engaged at midnight in an empty gas station," Rosa says, glancing around in awe. Gina smiles.
"Yeah, I've been engaged in many different places, but this definitely is a first. Now, can we go home so that I can take pictures of this ring because all of my followers have to know about this good news." Gina leads Rosa back to the car and Rosa gets in with a light heart.
She feels like a heavy weight has been lifted off of her chest, and she's feeling happier than she's ever felt before, because she's getting married to the love of her life and-
"How are we gonna tell Jake and Amy? And Charles, oh jeez, he's going to die of excitement," Gina says, starting the car.
"We could announce it in the briefing room?" Rosa suggests. Then she frowns, uncertain of this idea.
"Or we could just take a picture of my hand and put it on the Nine-Nine group chat. Everyone's on that," Gina says.
When they get home to Rosa's apartment, it's nearly two in the morning, and Gina pulls her phone out in excitement and snaps a picture of her hand with the big green heart ring on it next to Rosa's hand. Rosa is now wearing the plastic purple bracelet, and she decides to just keep it forever.
They put the picture on the group chat and decide to sleep, because they both still have work tomorrow and they weren't expecting to get home so late.
The next morning, both Gina and Rosa are surviving on six hours of sleep and they arrive to work on Rosa's motorcycle. Charles is sitting on the hood of his car and sipping coffee. His eyes light up as he sees them.
"Ohmigod, it's dianetti!" he squeals loudly. Rosa rolls her eyes as she and Gina get off of her bike.
"Did you guys hang out last night? Did you guys have-"
"Do you ever shut up?" Gina cuts in, but her voice is light and playful. "Anyways, don't you know?"
"Know what? Am I missing something? I better not be missing something because my I lost my phone charger and now my phone is dead but Jake said that he'd lend my his, because Jake is amazing and he's super cool and he's my best friend!"
Rosa heads for the stairs, and Gina follows her. "Why do you always take the stairs; it's so much easier to use the elevator, " Gina informs Rosa. Rosa grunts and waits up for Gina at the top of the stairs.
Five minutes later, they are all in the briefing room, and both Rosa and Gina are tense. No one has showed any sign of knowledge about their engagement, so as Captain Holt is talking of a dead man named Robert Carson, Rosa stands up to interrupt him.
"Didn't anyone check the group chat?" she asks. Jake frowns and pulls out his phone.
"It's a picture of Gina's hand with a plastic ring on it. And it's right next to your hand. You're wearing a bracelet. By the way, Charles, I'm gonna need my charger back soon because I'm at thirteen percent and my phone's gonna die soon," Jake says.
"Gina posts pictures like that all the time. What's the big deal?" Terry asks.
It's Charles who puts the pieces together. "Oh my god. Gina is wearing a ring. On her ring finger. And she's still wearing the ring. And her hand is next to Rosa's. They're getting married!" He cries, and promptly faints.
Everyone looks to Rosa and Gina to confirm this. Gina holds up her ring for everyone to see, and Rosa nods in conformation.
"Ohmigod you're getting married!" Jake squeals, and rushes over to hug Rosa. Terry has a tear that is threatening to spill out of his eye, and Captain Holt offers his congratulations.
"We're gonna get really nice and fancy rings later," Gina tells them.
"When's the wedding? Can I-"
"Yes, you can be our wedding planner," Rosa tells Amy, and she beams in joy.
"I'm so excited," Gina chirps.
And Rosa can't believe it. She's surrounded by people that she loves and cares about, and sitting right there, is her wife-to-be, who is a literal angel. Rosa feels ecstatic.
She's getting married. And to the one and only Gina Linetti.
