Snow and Stars
Jacin knocked on the door again, tapping his foot impatiently. Winter had given him a key to her house a few months ago, but he was hesitant to use it. He also wanted to make his presence known before barging into her house. He knocked again. There was still no answer. Eventually, his patience wore out. He took the key from his pocket and turned it in the door.
He walked through the house, calling for Winter.
"Jacin?" came her reply after a while, echoing from the back of the house. "I said, you could come in."
"You're kidding, right?" he asked, entering the bedroom. A suitcase lay open on the floor, clothes folded neatly into it. "You're in the back of the house. Do you expect me to be able to hear you?"
"Not really." Winter was laying on her bed, face up, staring at the ceiling. "I painted it," she said, in reference to the ceiling.
Jacin looked up. Swirls of blue, purple, and black had been swept across the ceiling, the colours blending together to form a galaxy. White dots had been placed carefully in the fake sky, glowing in contrast with the dark colours.
"Stars," he breathed out.
"Or snow. Whichever you like."
"Which do you?"
"It changes. Right now it's snow, because we get to see it soon."
"We do," Jacin said, smiling at her joy. They were taking a trip to Earth, the first where they were expecting to see snow. To see winter. "What were you doing?" he asked.
"Finishing packing." She smiled at his confusion; how could she be packing, laying on her bed? "My sanity, of course. Sometimes it needs a reminder to stay here. More than the device can do, anyway. All it does is stop Lunar sickness. It doesn't stop… everything else."
Trauma. She'd been hit hard by the rebellion, nightmares (ones that stayed in her sleep, thank the stars) and fears joining her brain.
"Have you finished packing?" Winter asked.
"Yes. I thought I'd come and check on you."
"I don't need checking in on. Just company. Cinder said she found a used android body she could repair and give to me. It won't be as good as Iko, or you, but…"
Jacin sat on the edge of her bed, adding his weight carefully and slowly. Winter had staked claim over an old house in the lumbering sector about year ago, while Jacin was given housing in Artemisia for his continued work as a guard. Winter sat up, tucking her feet under her, and facing Jacin.
"We're going to Earth together, but I feel like I've hardly seen you these past days."
"Yeah, well, packing," he responded gruffly.
"You don't have a sanity to pack," Winter countered, smiling.
"No, I don't…"
Winter pulled Jacin in, kissing him. He relaxed into it, tangling his fingers in her hair. She pulled him even closer, so they were pressing up against each other, and she was almost in his lap. Jacin drew back for a moment of air, but as he leaned in again, Winter sprung up from her bed.
"Oh!" she gasped, bounding over to her dresser. "How could I possibly almost forget!" She opened the first drawer and began searching through it. "Well, I suppose I wasn't quite planning it for now, but I think I will. I was going to wait until tomorrow night, when everything could be just so lovely and romantic. We'd get to see snow then, of course. But now that you're here, I don't think I could wait a moment longer! And this is certainly better than in the ship, isn't it?"
She turned back to Jacin, clutching something in her fist. She studied him for a moment, screwing up her brow in concentration.
"Stand up," she said, inclining her head slightly. He did so, smiling faintly. "Alright, now…" she backed away a few paces, outstretching the closed hand to him.
"Sir Jacin Clay, will you marry me?" She opened the hand, revealing a silver band, small engravings wrapping around it.
A/N: Thank you for reading my story! This may or may not be joined by other stories and turned into a collection, as this isn't my only TLC one-shot (I just can't decide if they should be put together). Review?