Let The Wind Blow Back Your Hair
He brings up the question one night (at least, he attempts to start sowing the seeds) when he's sitting on her bed waiting for her to find these shoes she insisted the whole way over here were definitely in her closet. There's a thin layer of dust over just about everything in her apartment and like, okay, thinking about this logically is what he's been doing for the past three and a half weeks and he thinks he's got some good examples on that front, thinks he might actually be able to convince her that it's not too soon.
"How long have you lived here again?"
She ducks her head out to look at him and good God, she's got a lot of clothes. He's almost in awe, leaning tower of denim and a thousand pairs of shoes. "Uh. Six years I think? Dunno. Can't remember." She laughs, disappears back into her clothes and her voice is muffled when she says, "Pretty sure I signed the lease drunk. But. I was young and stupid. You know, so whatever."
He clears his throat. "You ever think about moving? You're kind of far from work all the way out here." That's it, start it off casual, don't just spring it on her.
"Uh. Couple times. But the rent's awesome."
"Yeah," he mutters to himself, "that's because you're out in the middle of nowhere." He raises his voice. "I'm pretty sure there was a drug bust down the street last week."
She laughs, still inside the closet. "Oh stop. It's not that bad. Ha! Told you they were here!" She sits on the ground and does them up, these complicated straps he doesn't think he could follow even if he had a map. Sticks her foot out in the air. "What do you think?"
What does he think? He thinks that she's in a dress sitting on the floor with one long leg in the air. He thinks he can almost see her underwear and actually, what in the hell do they have to go anywhere for again?
"Okay. We can go now!"
He makes a face at her, thinks she's just so cute when she makes the same face back at him. "Oh well, as long as you're ready."
She talks to him about how her shoes are already hurting her feet and she has no idea how she's going to walk all the way there in them but aren't they so pretty and like, he's just gone silent, nodding at her every now and then but basically, he's thinking that she should leave the shoes on and-
"Are you coming or what? And you huffed and puffed all the way over here saying we'd be late!" She laughs at him.
And the thing is, they're already late, or at least they will be and he's just-he's hideously unconcerned.
They get in a cab though. He doesn't want her falling and breaking her neck or a kneecap or anything.
She holds onto his arm as they walk in, snickers and tells him that she's totally out of practice walking in heels, has gotten way too used to those regulation boots and then she kisses his cheek, heads over to where a bunch of women are crowded around a table. He watches her, a little dazed as she and Jules hug each other.
"What's eating you?" Sophie Lane is standing right at his elbow and he almost jumps, didn't even notice her.
"Hi," he says, leans over to kiss her on the cheek. "How's it going? You look nice. Ed here?"
"Left him at home with Izzy," she says with a grin. "No, no. He's around. I'm pretty sure he's telling Sam all about the joys of the birthing experience."
He thinks he makes a face at that one (look, he remembers grade nine Science class as well as the next person but he was always caught up in Chemistry and Physics, thinks they could have skipped Bio all together, especially that video).
"Wow. That girlfriend of yours has some seriously sexy shoes," she says admiringly.
He thinks he makes another face at that because yes, yes she does and also, really good legs. And she's funny and pretty and half the time, he has no idea how on earth he convinced her to ever go out with him. Winnie catches his eye, raises her eyebrow at him from across the room. It is beyond stupid for him to be like turning red but he is. Sophie totally catches it, very nicely doesn't say anything. Sam and Ed would have never let him forget it.
He gets a drink, says hi, gets pulled into a conversation by Jules' youngest brother. Sam's parents are kicking around, so's his sister (he sees her whispering something in Winnie's ear, his girlfriend laughing, head tipped back and he wonders what in the hell Nat could be saying to her) and like Jules' dad and two of her brothers, Raf and his girlfriend and he sees Wordy and Ed laughing next to the bar and it's just-it's a lot.
He half wonders if he's supposed to do something tonight, best man and all of that shit but when Sam asked him it was all, "Just hold the ring, stand there, you don't have to do anything else, I swear." So. He'd said yes. Now wonders if maybe Sam missed a few details. (Winnie's been asking him about his speech, which is pretty much non-existent at this point in time.)
Plus he can't help but look around and miss Lew. Which. The guy's been dead for years, hundreds of Team events since then, and also, he feels like an asshole, being kind of melancholy at something that should be so happy. You'd think he'd learn to get over it a little but-
Just one of those things.
He slips outside for some air, thinks it might have been a good idea to take Winnie's suggestion and not wear a tie, balls it up in his pocket, unbuttons the top button of his dress shirt. Sighs.
"You okay out here?" Sam closes the door behind him, hands him another beer, takes a pull of his own.
"Just. Yes. Fine. You?"
He makes a face. "I think this whole thing is stupid," he says, which - not news, he's been saying that since his mother first suggested it. "What's even the point of an engagement party, we're getting married in two weeks, why not just have one thing?" He doesn't say that in just over two weeks, they're also going to have a kid running around (that's Jules though, not giving a shit if she's wearing white and set to give birth the week after).
Spike laughs, nods sympathetically.
"You still okay to hold the ring, right?"
He rolls his eyes. "Yes. I just have to stand there, hold the ring, hand it to you. I think I've got it covered."
Sam scratches at the back of his neck and clears his throat. "Yeah well. I think you might have to say something at the reception. Sorry."
Spike rolls his eyes again. "I knew it." Shakes his head dramatically. But. It's not really that big a deal. Plus, Winnie can help him write it, she's good with words. He clears his throat. "So. Everything going well with the new Team One soon-to-be baby?"
"Everything seems fine," Sam confirms. "I don't know, it's stupid to be so excited, it's not going to be able to do anything but sleep and cry for the first two years but. A kid. Married. Crazy."
Spike wants to ask him how they knew, like how could you ever know you want one person every minute for the rest of your life? It just - it seems like a lot of minutes to account for, is all he's saying.
Sam's looking at him. "You okay?"
He spends a good thirty seconds clearing his throat and then just says, "Yeah. Fine."
Sam looks like he's going to say something else but Winnie ducks her head out, calls their names from the door. "Planning to run off together?" she says with a grin.
Sam laughs but Spike just stares at her, how there's a piece of hair falling in her face and how when she smiles, her eyes do too, thinks she's just the most beautiful woman he's ever seen, all those good genes and how amazing she is, that look on her face like she sees everything, misses the next thing she says but Sam laughs, claps him on the shoulder and then heads inside. Winnie comes to stand with him, gives him a concerned look. "You okay?"
"Yeah. I'm good."
She crosses her arms and like, she's in a dress with these tiny little straps, shoulders almost bare and it's just a little chilly so he slides his hands up over her skin, tries to get her warm, tries to ignore how soft her skin feels.
"We should go back inside," he says. "It's cold out here."
She just looks at him steadily. "Not if you're not okay."
"I'm okay," he says. "Just. Thinking."
"Lew?" she guesses and like, back before they were dating, he used to wonder if she could read his mind, those shrewd guesses that always seemed to be right (used to freak him out a bit, actually, until Jules pointed out one afternoon that no one could actually read minds, that was all in the movies which – he knew that).
He shrugs at her and she leans forward and kisses him, slides her arms around his neck and doesn't say anything else. He hugs her back, likes the warmth of her in his arms.
"Back to what we were talking about earlier," he says when they're both standing behind the closed door, inside just a shade too warm now.
"Hm?"
"Maybe you should just move in with me."
She stops dead, foot in the air mid-step and her face whipped around to face him.
She doesn't look horrified though so he takes that as a positive sign. "What do you think?"
"I-what? When were we-what?"
He clears his throat. "You want the logical answer or the one that makes sense?"
She raises her eyebrows. "Why don't you give me the logical one first."
He nods slowly. "Okay well. There's the obvious. You're over all the time. Paying rent for a place you're never at seems like a waste. We'd save gas probably. No more paying two sets of electrical bills. Or water bills. Or internet bills. We could get good cable. You know. With the movie channels. Um. And we can double up on groceries."
She looks deep in thought for a moment. "Okay. And the other one?"
He shrugs. "Uh. I want you there?" He doesn't have quite so many examples for the other one.
She stares at him for a second and he wonders if he should have just stuck with the logical arguments, wonders if maybe it's just him that the other argument makes the most sense to. "Is this just because Sam and Jules-"
"It isn't," he interrupts her, knew she'd think he was getting caught up in you know, weddings and babies (she's just-she's said some stuff about how people do things on this stupid schedule and he knows what he means, he does but. It's not like that).
"Okay then."
"Okay then what?"
She huffs a little, like duh, what does he think she means but there's no way he's going to assume this (he has twice before, assumed things, and both times, it ended with her glaring at him across his kitchen table so. Not going to make that mistake again). "Okay then, yes. We should move in together."
She sounds so matter-of-fact that he nearly laughs. "Yeah?"
"Yeah. I just. You know. Hope all my stuff fits."
"Talking about your shoes?" he says, feels like he's grinning at her. "Those might be a problem."
"The shoes come or I don't," she threatens but she's smiling, looking at him with this soft expression on her face.
He sighs like it's some kind of scourge he's going to have to bear, thinks maybe they can extend the closet into the wall a little. "I guess if those are my choices..."
She leans up and kisses him though and she's soft and warm in his arms and really, he's wondering if anyone will miss them if they leave right now.
"We've already got one kid on the way, let's not try to double it up," comes a familiar voice. Nat Braddock's standing in the doorway grinning at the two of them.
Winnie laughs, looks at him with her cheeks turning pink and he leans over, presses his lips to hers and they walk back into the room together, fingers intertwined.