Title: Probability
Fandom: Criminal Minds
Pairing: ReidPrentiss
Summary: "Did you know that the divorce rate for women between the age of thirty-five and thirty-nine is only 5.1%? The rate for males between the age of twenty-five and twenty-nine is 22.3%, which—when averaged—means, if we were to get married, our union would have 86.3% chance of survival." - "Is this your way of proposing?" - "The odds would be in our favor."
-ReidPrentiss-
It all starts out quite innocently.
It's the day after their one-year anniversary, and they're lounging in bed fully sated and satisfied. She's not expecting the ostensibly clinical timbre of his voice. But she knows him better than to accept the ostensible as absolute truth.
"Did you know that the divorce rate for women who marry between the age of thirty-five and thirty-nine is only 5.1%? The rate for males between the age of twenty-five and twenty-nine is 22.3%, which—when averaged—means, if we were to get married, our union would have 86.3% chance of survival."
Emily blinks, and hopes she's not jumping to foolish and propitious conclusions when she asks, "Is this your way of proposing?"
Spencer looks hesitant when she turns to look at him, and the detached tone of his voice is betrayed by the nervous uncertainty that plays across his face. It makes him look even more like a nervous schoolboy, and suddenly, her thoughts regress to the beginning of their courtship—the days when she worried that their ten year age difference was just too much, that it was sick, and she was too old and he was too young.
"The odds would be in our favor."
Her doubts begin to slowly drown at the sound of his voice, as an unmitigated thrill passes through her. Her reservations are struggling to keep afloat, to warn her of the danger of the matrimony she's been offered, but she ignores them—doesn't throw them an emotional lifejacket, doesn't let her insecurity consume her.
Because she loves him.
Because he loves her.
And really, with only a 13.7% risk of divorce, how could she turn him away?
Without her permission, a felicitous tear escapes her eye.
"Yes," she says, and she realizes that she's full-on crying now, and he's peppering kisses on every surface of her face, and she's so happy. Others might think it's too soon, sudden, abrupt, and wrong. It'll be difficult and trying as marriage always is. But then he murmurs, "I love you," so assuredly, and she knows that they'll get through it.
The numbers—86.3%—are on their side, after all.
"As beautiful as fire, against the evening sky, you fuel the lost desire. I no longer want to die."
– "Take Me Away" Seether
