A/N: My first My Fair Lady fic. I think it turned out rather fluffy, but it was rather fun. Reviews are appreciated.
"Eliza? Oh, there you are." Henry Higgins found Eliza in his library, sitting with a certain tenseness in her shoulders that didn't escape his notice. He had imagined everything would go back to the way it had been when she returned, but she hadn't seemed to relax a single moment since the previous afternoon when she had brought him his slippers ("For the fun of it," she told him).
Henry found her sitting perfectly straight now, a volume of Keats open on her lap. With no more vowels to be said, she had announced at breakfast that she would continue her education by studying literature. She didn't waste time, he thought, having supposed she would have spent her first day back in a more restless manner. But here she was, nervous, still, fragile.
"Yes?" she looked up at him, placing a ribbon between the pages of the book on her lap before setting it aside gently.
"Erm—Well, I—" Higgins stammered, rubbing the back of his neck and pacing before her. Stubborn as he was, tenacious, even, he would lose his nerve now.
"Have you lost something?" she asked.
"Lost something?" he echoed. "No. No, I hope not."
"What then?"
"I wanted to ask you something."
"Ask me something?" she tilted her delicate head, watching him pace with an expression of innocent bewilderment.
"That is, I wanted to give you something," he replied, patting his pockets until he found the small blue velvet box he was looking for.
"Give me something?" Eliza murmured, her mouth hanging open slightly as he placed the box in her palm.
"Erm—Yes."
Henry watched her face anxiously as she opened the box, but she kept it downcast and he couldn't quite make out her expression as she saw the simple pearl ring.
"It's the ring you bought me in Brighton," she said finally.
"Yes," he said, plunging his hands into his pockets. He began pacing again. "I found it on the mantle yesterday."
Eliza didn't say a word. She didn't even take the ring out of the box, simply sitting there, her face bent over it. He stood still, uneasy, in front of her.
"Blast it, Eliza, if I'd gone out to get a proper ring I would have talked myself out of it by the time I got to the jeweller's."
Eliza finally looked up at him, positively gaping, her eyes owl-like. Henry searched her face for a moment, but saw only shock, not a hint of joy, and began pacing again.
"You're asking me to marry you," Eliza said after he had crossed before her twice.
"Well," he said, stopping his nervous pacing. Still too disappointed and embarrassed to look at her horrified face, he stared at his shoes. "I have come to—to care for you, you know, and really, I can't—I cannot do without you."
Gathering his courage, Henry looked up at her, and was surprised by a wide, wonderful smile.
"Of course I'll marry you, Henry," Eliza laughed.
The only thing Henry could do was burst out laughing as well, there being no better outlet for the absolute happiness that threatened to explode within him.
"Then put this ring on, you adorable guttersnipe," he said, kneeling on the carpet at her feet.
"Gladly, you heartless brute," she grinned, allowing him to take her hand and slip the ring on the appropriate finger.
