Tumblr prompt: One person in your OTP proposes using the big box with smaller boxes inside gimmick


"I'm about two seconds from passing out on this couch, so I guess that means it's time to go," Polly said, holding out her hand to Pete so he could pull her up.

"Are you sure?" Piper asked. Alex shot a nervous glance in her direction. Was she really asking them to stay longer? She quickly looked away and busied herself clearing the empty glasses from the coffee table. "I mean, it's almost midnight. You guys might as well stay and do gifts with us."

"I don't know…"

Polly was considering it. Alex made a conscious decision to not look up. Eye contact with any of them would be the end of it. She'd give in and join Piper in begging them to stay, even thought it was the last thing she wanted. She wanted them out. Piper alone. Alex tucked an empty wine bottle under her arm before scooping up another two glasses, and hurried off to the kitchen.

"Oh come on, Pol," she heard Piper pushing and her friend responded in a non-committal tone, with words Alex couldn't quite make out.

She deposited the glasses on the counter top and then the bottle from under her arm. And then her knees stopped working. Alex slumped into one of the bar chairs and buried her head in her hands, anxious fingers sliding through her hair. Breathe. It wasn't the first time that day that she was forced to remind her body how to do it. Every time she thought about it, the systems in her body that usually worked without being told how, seemed to fail horribly.

Nicky was convinced she was making a mistake. Bad timing, she'd said. And when Alex asked what her idea of good timing was, she'd replied with never. Not the best wingman when it came to objective reasoning, but it was the only one she had. And now her friend's doubts were ringing in Alex's head as if they belonged there. Purring and strutting their stuff in a bid to win her over. To make her take them on as her own so she'd change her mind. Alex straightened and took in a deep, steadying breath. That wasn't going to happen. She might be close to throwing up again and she might be more scared than she'd ever been in her life, but there would be no changing of minds tonight.

"Honey…" Alex jumped a few feet off the ground at Piper's sudden appearance in the kitchen. She whirled around to face her, too freaked out to school her features into a state of normalcy. "Are you okay?" Shit. I look like a deer caught in headlights.

"Yeah, I just… you scared me." Alex attempted a light-hearted chuckle but it came out all choked. Oh god. Her throat burned as she forced back down whatever liquid had tried to burst out of her just then.

Piper didn't notice. Thank goodness. She was buzzing on good wine and Christmas. She was always unnaturally giddy this time of year. Mostly it got on Alex's nerves. Nobody should be that happy all the time. Now though, she was grateful, because it was exactly that heightened state of delirium that just saved her ass.

"Polly and Pete aren't staying." The blonde was disappointed and Alex tried to mirror it with a sympathetic head tilt and a slight shrug of the shoulders. Inside she was high-fiving and air-punching. "Walk them out with me?"

"Huh?"

"Our guests… be a cordial hostess and come with me to walk them out."

"Oh, uh…" This is the gap she'd been waiting for. Piper goes out with them and she gets the thing and does the thing so when she gets back, the thing is ready. Alex looked at Piper looking at her expectantly.

"Are you sure you're okay? Maybe should've eased up on the wine."

Wine. Perfect. "Yeah, actually, I'm not feeling so hot. Headache." She swallowed hard. But there was nothing to swallow. Her mouth was dry and her tongue felt like sandpaper. "Would you mind if I hang back? I think I'm going to grab a couple of Tylenols and wait it out on the sofa."

"Hmmm, I think that's a good idea." She placed a soft kiss on Alex's lips. "I've been waiting all week to see your face when you see what I got you. I don't think I could put it off until tomorrow. Take the pills. Feel better."

She watched Piper leave and a shaky breath escaped her lips. Alex heard the muffled notes of conversation starting up in the front room again. And then start to fade. They were moving down the hallway. It would take them five seconds to reach the door and another two for all of them to get out on the street. One. Two. Three. Four. Five.

Alex spun on her heel and rushed into the pantry. She didn't need to switch on the light. She'd memorized the position of the bulk sugar container. Where it sat on the shelf, what the exact level was of the sugar inside it. It was her way of making sure it wasn't tampered with. Alex pulled the heavy container from the shelf and let it drop at her feet. The snap lid could open on one side for easy pouring but she didn't want to pour sugar right now. She ripped the lid off entirely and sent it flying across the small, dark space. They were out on the street now. Alex plunged both her hands into the grainy powder and swished them around. Knowing Pete, he was spouting some stupid anecdote, trying to get Piper and Polly to laugh. Where is it? The sugary hands became more determined in their quest. Piper would laugh. Polly would snark. This would set Pete off on some other tangent. Shit. She should've done this earlier. When Piper was at the store. That would've given her over enough time. She'd thought about it, of course. But in her current state, Alex felt like Bilbo Baggins and preferred not to go close to it until absolutely necessary. She blew a puff of air out of her mouth to clear the hair that was currently obscuring her limited vision in the dark pantry. But her breathing had become considerably frantic in the past few seconds and a sharp intake of breath immediately followed the puff, succeeding in pulling a few strands of hair into her mouth. And down her throat. Alex choked and spluttered as she tried to cough her hair back up. The whole time not giving up on the task at hand. Piper would be getting cold now. She'd be rubbing her arms, dancing on the spot. Telling her friends to get into the cab already. The hands were fishing around the container in utter frenzy, leaving a sugary mess all around it that crunched under Alex's shuffling feet. Shit shit shit! No time. I'm out of time. She was sure she could hear Piper's snow-muted footsteps ambling back up the walk. Obviously that was impossible. But her ears were burning under the strain of trying to pick up on her exact moment of entry into the apartment. Once that happened…

"Yes!" Her fingers finally closed on the object, terrifyingly cold in its sugar ocean, and Alex straightened quickly, dusting it off on her pants as she stepped back into the kitchen, the sudden light of the room making her squint.

"Alex?"

Shit! She was inside already? Her voice sounded like it was coming from the bedroom. Good. She probably thought I went to lay down. Alex used the extra time to straighten her hair. And her face. She couldn't give anything away.

"Alex?" Piper called again.

This time she was a lot closer. Making her way back to the kitchen, no doubt. She nervously fidgeted with the glasses on her nose, but her hands were shaking so badly she ended up knocking them off her face. Alex glimpsed Piper's slim figure appear in the kitchen right when she was in the middle of her crazy spaghetti-armed scramble to save the black frames before they hit the ground. Great. Way to play it cool, Vause.

"I'm not going to ask," Piper said as Alex finally managed to trap her glasses between her hand and a sticking out hip.

The blonde moved soundlessly into the kitchen, taking care to skirt around the brunette who stood rooted to the spot, looking like a wax figure of someone executing a butt-slapping dance move. While being scared shitless at the same time. Better pull it together or this ship is sunk. Alex replaced her glasses while Piper opened another bottle of wine. By the time she turned back around, it was a cool and collected face that Piper was looking into.

"I don't want to drink alone, but you can just sip slowly if your head's still really bad." She held a glass out to Alex and took a sip of her own drink.

Hands don't fail me now. Alex stretched out her hand to take the drink and was relieved when everything worked the way it was supposed to. Piper moved into her, wrapping her arm around Alex's waist as they made their way to the front room. The brunette dipped her head slightly to the side and inhaled. The sweet smell of Piper instantly filled her up and a warm sense of calm spread through her. She should have done that ages ago. Just ran up to her in the middle of dinner and sniffed her head. It would've saved her a lot of unnecessary panic.

Piper broke away and started toward the couch but Alex stopped and grabbed hold of her hand and when the blonde looked back questioningly, Alex wordlessly tipped her head to the side, motioning at the space in front of the fireplace. Her intentions were met with a warm smile and Piper let Alex lead her around the table, the two of them sinking onto the plush rug together.

"Mmmm… good idea," Piper said. She placed her glass on the table behind them and drew her knees up to her chest, curling her arms around them.

A nod. That was all Alex could manage in that moment. Her stomach flipped over twice and she looked at the clock on the mantle. Three minutes to midnight. Might as well be a hundred years. She could feel Piper's gaze burning into her, but preferred to focus on the warmth of the dying blaze in front them instead, the wilting flames dancing their last dance. And now we wait…

Alex lifted her glass to her lips and took a generous gulp of wine, grimacing slightly as the bitter taste swirled over her tongue before she swallowed. If only she had something a little stronger, she thought, absently twirling the stem of the glass between her fingers. Then she could breeze her way through a blur of a gift exchange. But that's just it, the voice in her head spoke up now. You don't want it to be a blur. You want the knot in your belly and the sweaty palms and the pounding heart. Because that means you're not wrong. Alex finally turned to look at Piper. Chin resting on her knees, eyes glazed over and burnt orange instead of blue, staring into the crackling embers. It was all Alex could do to keep from reaching out and touching her, just to make sure that she was in fact real.

"I think next year we should definitely try the apricot glaze," Piper murmured, and it was a while before Alex registered that she'd said anything, so caught up was she in the quiet vision of her.

"Yeah, definitely," she eventually croaked, her voice broken from too little use and her throat closed from too much nerves.

Piper turned to her then. "Is it about tomorrow? Lunch with my family?"

"What?" Seriously… what?

"The way you've been acting… like you're having a nervous breakdown but in stages, instead of all at once."

"Oh… I mean…"

"We've put it off for long enough, Al. You're a part of my life and you're not going anywhere. My parents have to get that eventually."

I'm not going anywhere… The drumming in Alex's ears started to subside a little and a warmth spread through her chest that had nothing to do with the fire in front of her. She checked the time again and this time Piper looked too.

"Midnight!" Excited clapping broke the cloak of serenity that had enveloped them and Alex's gaze dropped to fall on a beaming Piper, practically jumping out of her skin with excitement. "Oh my god I can't wait to see your face!" It was clear she was trying to contain herself but this was Piper, and it was Christmas, so naturally she was failing.

"Wait…" Alex's outstretched hand touched Piper's knee and the blonde surveyed her curiously. "Me first."

She got up (Wow, the legs work. That's a good start.) and made her way to the small tree in the corner of the room. The floor around it was littered with gift wrapped surprises in all shapes and sizes and Alex kneeled down, stretching over various name tags until her hand fell on the only one she was interested in. Piper's eyes were dancing with excitement when Alex returned to her seat beside her, holding a large box covered in bright red paper and finished off with a gold bow.

"I think I know what it is," Piper said and made to take the gift. But it was stuck.

Alex, head hung low, eyes closed, breathed deep and exhaled slowly through her nose. This is it. She felt Piper tugging on the box in her hands but her fingers weren't ready to let go just yet. Once that happened…

"Uh, Alex?"

Her fingers responded to Piper's voice by defying her one and only command - wait until I'm ready before you let go. And Alex was left feeling like someone who had just been thrown into a raging ocean, trying to grab onto a steady chance at life, but couldn't find one. Who was she kidding… she'd probably never have been ready. So it was a good thing that Piper was like a little kid when it came to this kind of thing or she would've been holding on for who knows how long. The blonde lifted the box to her ear and shook it dramatically, all the time wearing a wide grin. Alex bit the inside of her lip and watched as shreds of paper were ripped off and carelessly tossed aside. She opened the box. Alex noticed the slightest furrow on her brow as she found another smaller box inside. Piper looked up at her, eyes narrowed.

"What are you up to?"

Alex tried to smile but felt her face distort in some weird way instead. Luckily Piper's attention was elsewhere, as she started unwrapping the second box, a little less violently now that her curiosity was piqued.

Another container, roughly the size of a shoebox this time.

Piper just shook her head, still wearing that silly smile, and proceeded to get through the next lot of wrapping. Alex bit her lips together when the last of the paper fell to the floor and Piper lifted the lid. She looked to the fire, half expecting to find it blazing full on because god, it was suddenly way too hot in there and when she looked back, Piper was holding the last of the boxes in the palm of her hand. But she wasn't unwrapping this one. She wasn't even looking at it. Blue eyes were staring straight at her. No more giddy smiles or childish excitement. If there was any kind of saliva in her mouth to speak of, Alex would've done another one of those hard swallows. As it turned out, there wasn't. So she didn't.

"What's in this thing?"

Why don't you open it and see? Is what she would've said if she were a normal person capable of normal speech. In that moment, there was nothing normal about the Alex sitting in front of her girlfriend wishing she'd open the box already and wishing she wouldn't open it. The sound of tearing paper filled the silence around them and Alex watched with bated breath (honestly, she wasn't sure she'd been breathing at all since she got back from the tree) as Piper gently removed the wrapping. Look at her face. You're going to want to look at it. Really look. Eyebrows shot up and then furrowed and then relaxed.

"Al?..." It was a whisper.

Blue eyes lifted to meet her. Maybe they were welling but Alex couldn't be sure because her own were kind of misty too.

Piper held up the smallest of the boxes. It was black velvet.

"Am I opening this one?"

"If you want to…" Her voice trailed off.

"It doesn't matter if I want to. That's not the point."

"It's your choice. I can't make you open it if you don't want to."

"Alex…do you want me to open it?"

"Yes." Wait, isn't that Piper's line?

"What am I going to see when I do?"

"What?"

"I just don't want to be surprised…"

"You love surprises!" Is she for real right now?

"Usually, yes, but this is… this is…"

"Just open it already!" Knot in her belly, sweaty palms, pounding heart… It was real. Really real…

Piper perched the box on the tips of the fingers of her one hand and gently lifted the lid with the other. Alex saw the fleeting look of surprise wash over her features and then get replaced with confusion. Her own fingers were already digging around in her pocket.

"Earrings?"

"In case you didn't like the ring I got you." Piper's head shot up to see Alex holding out a diamond ring that seemed to be trembling profusely. "It was in the sugar." Wait what?

"What?"

"Nothing. This is a ring. Please take it. Or don't," Alex stammered.

"You don't want me to take it?"

"Not if you don't want to."

"Why wouldn't I want to?"

"I don't know… maybe you like the earrings better."

"You can never have too many earrings."

"Exactly."

"But I think I'd like the ring…"

"You would?"

"Yes." There it was – her line. The smile was back now. She made to take the ring from Alex.

"Wait." She pulled it just out of Piper's reach. "I should probably tell you… if you take this, you're going to have to marry me."

And Alex was suddenly thrown back under the blonde's weight as she dived her over in a mess of discarded wrapping and empty boxes. She could feel Piper's smile on her lips as she kissed her, warm and sweet, with a hint of salt from the tears that were now mixed there too. Alex snaked her arms around her fiancé and melted into the feel of her, struggling to think what she was so freaked out about in the first place. Of course she'd want the ring. Why wouldn't she say yes? She was a part of her life. And she wasn't going anywhere…