A/N-Some of you might remember Shaw from Game Theory, he was the nice little innocent man, I had this bouncing around in my head before that, and then my lovely Beta, garretelliot, who I have to thank quite a lot for pointing out my little errors, decided she wanted to see more of him, so I decided, well, I have this fic idea, and I need another guy for it...I only own Shaw and no one else, they all belong to Tim Kring and NBC. Enjoy it!
It was a wonderfully warm night for early fall, hitting well into the low seventies, that just warm enough to be comfortable without making one run as soon as possible to air conditioning. She walked along, basking in the heat, wholeheartedly enjoying it. "So." She said, looking out over the murky Charles River.
"So." He repeated, his arm wrapped tightly around her.
"What gives with all the fancy stuff?" He laughed, a deep, rich laugh.
"Can't a man have a romantic notion every now and then?" He complained and she grinned, shrugging before resting her head on his shoulder.
"I suppose. But it's just so not you." One blond eyebrow quirked upwards. "I mean, you're the obscure movie and greasy heart attack on the plate food type. Not Chez Rive and moonlight walks." He grinned at her, a full smile to rival the Cheshire cat's.
It was true though, she was so used to seeing the man in loose jeans that were so frayed she wondered how they didn't fall apart with each step he took and his ratty green bomber jacket that seeing him dressed up in a suit was a very surprising thing. She was amazed at how good he looked when he cleaned up, when he actually put more than twenty seconds of thought into his appearance.
"So? Unpredictable is my middle name." They sat down on a bench and she gave him a long hard look.
There was something that he was hiding. The green eyes were definitely hiding something, and his eyebrows were knit together, as if he was trying to tell her something, and something important. The question was, what was it? And would it be something good? "Shaw-" she started, and he cut her off with a deep kiss.
"Jordan, I've been thinking." He told her, and she felt her shoulders stiffen. That was never good. Those three words, I've been thinking, were never a good sign. They usually meant something very bad, such as a breakup, or some bombshell that she didn't want to hear. He laughed once at her reaction. "Relax, it's not like that. Not like that at all. I mean, well, we've been together for what, a year now?"
"Something like that." She said and he nodded, blond hair falling into his face and quickly being swiped back out of it by long fingers.
"Well, I've been thinking, and I realized that I've never been in one place this long before, not since college. And well, you're the one thing that's kept me in Boston, and well, I don't want to leave." She felt her breath catch as he slid off the bench, falling to one knee and fishing a small box out of his pocket.
She felt blind panic wash over her. She looked around desperately for something to distract her, wishing, praying for a dead body to fall out of the sky, something, anything to stop this. This couldn't be happening. "So, Jordan Cavanaugh-" He continued, "-Will you marry me?" He opened the ring box to reveal a gorgeous diamond flanked on each side by sapphires.
"I-" She trailed off. She wanted him, not this, she loved him, but didn't know what to make of it, what to do. "I-I-I-I don't know what to think." she admitted to him and he gently cupped her face with one hand.
"Don't think, just answer." He told her softly. "Please, just say yes."
She took a deep breath, and tried to think of a way to phrase what she wanted to say. "Shaw, I love you-" She started and he looked at her, disappointment filling his pale eyes. "I just need to think, OK?" She said, and he stood up.
"It's OK." He said, offering his hand to her to ease her up from the bench. "I understand." He told her, kissing her on the cheek, and she smiled faintly.
"Thank you." She said, turning and kissing him with less restraint than he had shown.
"At least take the ring." He said, gently sliding it onto the third finger of her right hand.
"Shaw-" She started and he cut her off.
"You've been through a lot Jordan, no need to explain, just take your time." His voice was gentle, soft, but she could hear the disappointment in it as they walked back, arm in arm.