The house stilled glowed with the dim flicker of candles and the aroma of long forgotten pies. Laura's house, much like Laura, had the quality of warmth that never seemed to fade. Scraps of present wrappers littered the couch and floor and trailed into bedrooms and bathrooms. Laura had an abundance of small cousins that must have decided the house was much too clean.
Laura herself sat with a few of them, playing along with their toys, with a gaudy red Christmas bow atop her head. She's had it on all day. Carmilla sat with a mug of hot cocoa and sipped it by the tree. Carmilla could watch Laura's family all day if it hadn't been such a weird concept. And in a way she had, but Laura was adamant on keeping Carmilla right next to her, and in front, rather than letting her retreat back to the corner.
Laura looked up at Carmilla just then and Carmilla smiled instantly. The tapping of her fingers on the mug ceased for a moment or two, and then Laura turned her attention back to her little cousins, and Carmilla began her nervous habit once more. Carmilla wasn't the one to get nervous, she was the one who made people nervous. But this, this feeling was something else entirely.
She got up then, because she couldn't stand to draw it out any longer. She crossed the living room and went into the kitchen. She couldn't believe she was doing something like this. Again, this was something else.
Laura's father was a big man. Carmilla hadn't expected anything less from the stories Laura had told her on the way here. But he was nothing more than a giant teddy bear, a good heart wrapped in many layers of thick bone, muscle and laugh wrinkles. He had an edge to him, though. One that came out every time Laura did something that could possibly have terrible conclusions. Like back flips on the trampoline. He didn't let his eyes off of her. But Carmilla could hardly blame him, he hardly got to see his daughter much these days.
Papa Hollis looked at Carmilla with expectant eyes.
"I knew it," he said, smiling a huge grin. Carmilla rolled her eyes and gave a smile of her own. "I knew you wouldn't wait until everyone left."
"Can we just get this over with?" Carmilla had to tone down the annoyance in her voice, she had been doing it all day, for the sake of a family that knew nothing but good times. And honestly, Carmilla didn't want to snap at them anyway. They were too good of people.
"Yeah, yeah." Mr. Hollis said, and gave a look that Carmilla swore had Laura written all over it.
Mr. Hollis set his drink down and went into the living room, after Carmilla took her place back where she was sitting, so nothing looked too suspicious.
"Hey Laura?"
Laura whipped her head around at the sound of his voice. "Yes?"
"Can you get that old picture of me and you from my bedside table? I want to show Carmilla."
Laura looked terrified. "But, da-"
"Now, young lady," Mr. Hollis said, in a joking voice. Laura looked at Carmilla was a nervous glance and Carmilla had to keep herself from smiling too big.
Laura detached herself from her two little cousins and made her way up the stairs. Carmilla waited and listened for the door to open and shut until she got up from her place. Mr. Hollis had spent the night taking each family member aside, the older ones that is, and giving them the rundown of the sappy plan Carmilla had made inside her head for this moment. And now, much to Carmilla's excitement, it was happening.
Everyone gathered in the living room, little ones sitting on bouncing laps, and aunts hugging the arms of chairs. Uncles, with a beer in a hand, leaned against the walls and everyone waited as Carmilla pulled out a small black box from underneath the tree. One she had made sure to stick up between the branches so no one pulled it out on accident. Carmilla didn't trust herself to keep throughout the night for the off chance of her loosing it.
She stood in front of everyone, a few feet away from the end of the stares, and waiting for Laura to come down. It took her awhile, to say the least.
"She's probably looking for it on a high shelf," an Aunt suggested, and the entire family laughed. Including Carmilla.
Finally. Finally Laura came down. She held a picture tight to her chest like a football. Carmilla slipped the box in her back pocket for a quick moment.
"Hey, I got the-" Laura looked up to see her entire family staring back at her, Carmilla included. "What's going on? What did I miss?" Laura smiles and Carmilla's heart beat stops (it was pretty faint to begin with, but still).
Carmilla thought, that in that moment, Laura had never looked so breathtaking before. And of coarse, she had said this in the past, but looking at her now as someone who might just be her wife someday made Carmilla tear up. Her face was warm, glowing, so impeccably soft. The red sweater she wore was dark and brought out the undertones of brown in her eyes and the pink in her cheeks. Her was hand still in mid-sweep of tucking her hair behind her ears.
"Seriously, what's going on here?" Carmilla realized then that she had just been staring at her like an idiot, rather than doing her part.
Carmilla felt the eyes of numerous people on her back, but it wasn't as nagging as before. Not now, as she took Laura's hand in her own.
"So, um," way to go Karnstien, you're killing it, she thought, but then proceeded. "I've been wanting to do this for awhile now, and I wasn't sure where to begin." She pulled the box from her back pocket but kept her hand pressed to her back. "And I think we all know that I'm not good at making speeches."
This got a chorus of hushed laughter from behind her, and that made Carmilla feel a little more at ease.
"And I've told you a thousand times that I love you, but I want to make sure that I can keep doing that for the rest of your life." Carmilla brings out the small black box and presses her thumb to the back of it. Laura's arms drop, as well as her mouth, as Carmilla gets down on one knee and flicks the box open. "So, if I promise to always be there to remind you of how much I love you, will you marry me? 'Cause it will make it a whole lot easier if you do." Her family laughs, but Carmilla is only looking up at Laura.
Laura presses a palm to her mouth but does nothing to stop the tears that come. The picture still hangs in her grasp, all but forgotten, showing a dorky picture of Laura and her dad. Laura's chest is heaving as she looks up from Carmilla for the first time, to see all her family smiling and crying too.
"Yes," Laura gasped. "Yes, please, yes!" She throws herself at Carmilla and Carmilla just about falls backwards. But she doesn't, she catches herself and Laura, and still manages to keep the ring in one piece.
"IloveyouIloveyouIloveyouIloveyou," Laura whispers to her as her face is pressed into the crook of her neck.
"I love you too, cupcake."
Laura lets Carmilla go for only a minute so that Carmilla can slip the ring on her finger. Laura holds out a hand.
"Uh, love, it's the other hand." Carmilla reminds her and Laura's family lets out another bout of laughter. Pictures flash and small bits of clapping ensue after the ring, much to Carmilla's relief, fits right onto her finger.
Laura takes Carmilla up into another all-consuming hug, and all Carmilla can focus on is Laura's laugh that sounds like she's crying and how she smells impossibly good.
"Okay, okay." Mr. Hollis says, and Laura lets her fiance go to engulf herself in her father's arms.
"Dad!"
Carmilla can't keep herself from smiling this time, blinking away the tears that she really didn't want Laura's family to see. Laura's aunts came up to hug Carmilla and pat her on the shoulder while dabbing their eyes with tissues. All the little kids were excited, although Carmilla was sure they didn't have any idea what was happening. The family was one big swarm of warmth and laughter, Carmilla almost got overwhelmed. Until a certain tiny cupcake found her way back through all of her relatives arms, and wrapped herself into Carmilla again, kissing her relentlessly for everyone too see.
"Carm this is..." She paused to wipe her eyes again. "This is so perfect. Thank you." She gave Carmilla a quick kiss. "I love you."
Carmilla would have wanted to gag at how sweet everything seemed to be, had her fiance not been staring up at her like she hung the moon.
"I love you too, Laura.
Notes:
I told you. So much fluff. I'm sorry, but I had to too.
Merry Christmas, Newtonmas, Yule, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and whatever else I missed. For whatever you celebrate, I hope you had a great one. And if you didn't, know that I love you and I hope this helps :)