A/N: This story is part of my Lucy Thorne world. It fits into the timeline after Shielded Bliss.
A roulette wheel began to slow down, sending the ball bouncing down towards the numbered slots, which were coloured either black or red, apart from the two zero segments which were green.
"Red! Come on! Red!" Alexa Bliss called out from the far end of the table. She sounded about as drunk as she looked. She took a large sip from the cocktail that she was holding while she waited for the roulette wheel to come to a stop.
Standing beside her, Dean Ambrose downed the rest of his beer. He had decided that whatever the result of this spin, it was time for them to call it a night. Somehow, on the first night of their short vacation in Las Vegas, they were actually in profit. After sharing a very enjoyable few hours in the hotel and casino where they were staying, he figured it was time for them to go up to their room and end the night with the surprise that he had planned.
Alexa didn't know it yet, but the surprise was the real reason he had suggested that they could go and spend a couple of nights in one of Vegas's most luxurious and expensive hotels, despite the fact that they lived less than half an hour's drive away.
The roulette wheel's ball came to rest in the red segment for number five.
Cheering loudly in celebration, Alexa almost spilled her cocktail onto the table. That wouldn't have been a popular move at all, Dean knew. He carefully took the drink from her. "Steady, darlin'."
"Three wins in a row, baby," she slurred delightedly.
"You did great," he smiled. Actually, it was pretty ridiculous that she had called red three times in a row and won all three. Definitely a time to quit while they were ahead.
A large stack of chips was deposited in front of them. Dean picked them up and handed them to Alexa. "Why don't we go cash these in and we can go up to the room?"
"Aww, but we're doing so well," she protested.
"Exactly," he grinned. "Let's quit while we're ahead. That way, we'll have plenty to play with tomorrow."
"Okay, baby," she smiled drunkenly, looking up at him. "I suppose we could go back to the room, if you made it worthwhile."
"That's the kind of deal I can get behind," he said gruffly. He offered her cocktail back to her. "Drink up and we'll get out of here."
Since they were not going to be playing any more, he took her hand and gently led her away from the table so that someone else could occupy their spot.
After slurping up the rest of her cocktail, Alexa seemed to sway slightly on her feet for a second. "I think I might have had one too many of those," she admitted with a childish little giggle that Dean found adorable.
"I think so too." He linked his arm with hers so that she had something to keep her steady while they slowly made their way over to a window where they could cash in the chips they had won.
Five minutes later, they were up on the ninth floor of the hotel, walking back into their room.
"I'm glad you suggested coming here. I had so much fun," Alexa said, heading over to stand in front of the mirror in preparation for letting her hair down for the night.
"Beginner's luck," he said with a sideways grin.
"Definitely," she giggled. "I'd never played any of those games before. Maybe I could be a pro?"
"I think you should stick to the wrestling, darlin'." He was discreetly rummaging through one of the side pockets on the travel case they had brought with them, looking for the item that he had hidden in there. By the time she had let her hair down, he had found it and had stepped up behind her, holding it out of her sight.
"Love you," she said sweetly, looking at him in the mirror.
"Love you too." He gave her a kiss on the top of the head, then stepped closer to her, wrapping an arm around her waist.
"Mmmm," she purred, as content as could be at being held by him.
"So, I kind of planned this out ahead of time, and I had a whole speech ready, but it's all gone now," he said awkwardly.
She turned her head and looked back up at him, totally lost. "Huh?"
"I didn't just bring us here to try out a few casino games and spend a couple of nights in a hotel." He brought up the ring case so that she could see it, and popped the lid open, revealing a silver ring with a pink diamond. "I want you to marry me, darlin'."
Alexa felt the buzz from the alcohol clearing quickly. Being with Dean Ambrose, she was used to surprises. She expected the unexpected. But this was something else. She hadn't seen a proposal coming. In typical Dean fashion, it wasn't the most romantic way of doing it by a long stretch, but that was how he was, and she loved him the way he was.
Looking at the ring, she found it so beautiful that it almost took her breath away. The pink diamond in particular was a wonderful touch. He knew how important it was to her to always have the pink in her hair, symbolising a show of strength with victims of breast cancer. She knew that Dean, in turn, had always found the pink attractive, and wouldn't have wanted her to change it, even if she had thought about doing so. Pink had become a special colour for both of them, and he had recognised that with his choice of ring.
"What a lovely ring," she gushed. "Dean, it's beautiful."
"Is that a yes?" he asked, still holding the case for her. Then he realised that, having messed up what he wanted to say, he hadn't explained what he actually had in mind. "I don't just want us to get engaged, darlin'. I want us to get married. If you say yes, I want us to marry tomorrow."
"Tomorrow?" she asked, even more surprised. They had talked in the past about how they wanted things to be when the theoretical time came for them to tie the knot, and had agreed that they would go for a small and private service. Both of them, but especially Dean, were not keen on the idea of their personal lives becoming a public matter. He had expressed his wish that if they could get married without another living soul knowing about it until it was done, that would be perfect for him.
Alexa had agreed to a quiet service, with no public attention, but she had insisted that at the very least, she would want her best friend Lucy Thorne to be there with her. Dean had been happy to agree to that, and had said he would invite Seth Rollins, Lucy's partner and one of Dean's best friends to the wedding as well. But now it appeared like he was trying to get her to marry him without any of that being the case. As much as she loved him and wanted to commit herself to him, she just didn't feel like she could accept him going back on what he had promised her. She felt awful not immediately taking the ring and saying yes, but she had to stand her ground when things were not right.
"Dean, we talked about getting married. I know we agreed to do it quietly, without people knowing about it. The thing is, we also agreed that I could have Lucy there with me. She's my best friend, Dean. I really don't think I'm asking too much to have her there. I can't…"
"Lucy and Seth are here," Dean cut in, mad with himself for how wrong the moment had gone compared to how he had imagined it beforehand. "I arranged for them to fly in today so they could be with us tomorrow. I searched up and found a nice little chapel just outside the city, and I booked us in for tomorrow afternoon. But first, I need you to say yes."
"Lucy and Seth are here?" she asked slowly, now wishing she hadn't put away so many cocktails.
"Yes. Lucy, Seth and Clementine are here, in the hotel." Clementine was Seth and Lucy's adopted daughter, who had been living with them for about a year now, since her birth parents had died. "I told them that I was going to surprise you with this, and asked them to be there for us, assuming you said yes."
Alexa realised that was the third time now that he had effectively asked her to marry him the next day, although none of them had actually been put to her as a question. "You did all of that? You set it all up for tomorrow?"
"Yeah, darlin', I did. It was what we agreed, so…"
She turned around so that she was facing him. The emotion of the moment was starting to get to her. "I need you to ask me properly, Dean. You haven't asked me to marry you. You haven't asked me to marry you tomorrow. I don't want you to tell me you want it, I want you to ask me."
"You're right," he said, looking slightly embarrassed. "Alexa, will you marry me? Will you marry me tomorrow, in the chapel I booked, with Lucy, Seth and Clementine there with us?"
Alexa felt her heart fluttering. There was no way she could have said no to that, even if she wanted to, which she didn't. He had made the effort to surprise her with the stunning ring, to arrange for their friends to be there, and to book a nice chapel for the service. By a large margin, it was the most romantic thing she had ever known him to do. She saw nervousness in his eyes, but also unconditional love. She felt every bit of that love for him in return. She broke eye contact with him and took the ring out of the case. It slipped perfectly onto her finger. "Yes, Dean, I will marry you," she said softly, looking back up at him.
"I thought you were going to say no for a minute," he said with obvious relief.
"So did I," she smirked, teasing him. "As if I could, after you arranged everything like that. And I had absolutely no idea you were doing it. When did you even buy this ring?"
"I can't say too much, darlin'," he grinned. "All you need to know is, everything is set for tomorrow. We don't need to do any of that awful wedding planning BS. Lucy is going to take you and Clem out tomorrow morning to get you all made up, then you'll be meeting me and Seth at the chapel. Then we'll become Mr and Mrs Ambrose."
"Oh, Dean," she breathed, feeling tearful. Her emotional reaction had nothing to do with the alcohol she had consumed; it came purely from the overwhelming love she had for him. "I can't wait to be Mrs Ambrose. Alexa Ambrose has a ring to it."
"Yeah, it does," he said softly, in about as loving a tone as he could ever manage. "I know it's not what most girls would want for a wedding, but you know I'd hate every minute of a church service. I would be so out of place."
She touched a finger to his lips. "Sshhh. I'm going to love our wedding. The only problem I had was with Lucy not being there, as we agreed. I thought you were trying to go back on what we said, but I should have known better. You've already taken care of it all, and I think that's lovely beyond words. My mom and dad aren't going to be happy about not being there, but they'll get over it. They'll be happy that I'm happy, and I most definitely am happy. You're my world, Mr Ambrose. I can't wait to make my lifetime commitment to you official tomorrow."
Saying nothing, Dean embraced her. In itself, the gesture told her how much her words meant to him. Even with her, hugging wasn't something that he did all that often. He just wasn't that kind of guy.
"Then I suppose we'd better start looking at somewhere for a honeymoon," he said after a moment.
"Yeah, we had," she smiled happily, not that he could see her face with how she was resting her head on his chest. She knew that a lot of women would struggle to understand how she had such a happy relationship with Dean, with all of his odd ways and emotional awkwardness. But she also knew that below it all was a man at least as caring and loving as anyone else's husband; probably more so than most.
For his part, Dean was also thinking that he was a lucky man. He had never truly imagined himself being in a position where he wanted to marry a woman and put down lifelong roots with her. He had never thought there would be a situation where he would look at a woman and be proud to tell people that she was his wife. Indeed, that had been part of the reason he had bailed on his previous relationship with Renee Young. She had wanted that kind of commitment from him, as well as a child. He hadn't felt ready for it at all, which was why he had effectively run away, right into the arms of Alexa.
Neither of them were particularly proud of the way their relationship had started, sneaking around in hotels and backstage at arenas, having sex behind Renee's back until he found the courage to end it with her. But now, they didn't look back at the start. No matter how it had come about, they were meant to be together. They were meant to be Mr and Mrs Ambrose. He decided that he had to try and find something to say to let her know how he felt in that moment, as she had just done for him.
"Thank you for making me happy, Alexa," he went with as an opener, after pulling back slightly so that he could look her in the eye, finding the words as he spoke them. "I never thought it would happen for me. I never thought there would be the right person. I never thought I even deserved the right person, if they were out there. You know I've been with other women. You know I spent a lot of time with Renee. At one time, I was even convincing myself that she was the one. But she wasn't. You are. You're the one for me, darlin'. You're the only woman who could be Mrs Ambrose. I love you. I love you more than a simple man like me can find words for."
Alexa had been biting her bottom lip while she listened to his heartfelt words. "I love you just as much," was all she could manage to say.
"Remember that tomorrow night when I'm so drunk you have to carry me up here," he quipped, the normal Dean quickly returning.
She smiled, appreciating the joke. "I guess I'm about to sign myself up for a lot of years of doing that."
A/N: It's good to be back writing in this world! I missed it! This will only be a short story, but I have a lot of short stories planned for this world.
I hope you enjoyed this first chapter, and you're looking forward the wedding? Who is excited to see our other couple, Lucy and Seth again? And little Clementine? How do you think she will like going to Alexa and Dean's wedding?