MGM owns all characters except OCs.
Thanks scr1 and betherdy babe for beta and input.
A/N: I know there was not supposed to be another chapter before the epilogue, but I could not resist writing the proposal. For those not reading RoryFaller's tag, I don't think you are missing too much at this point. Major fluff warning!
Jennifer Keller sat in the passenger seat of a black Cadillac Escalade outside a small cabin in the Rocky Mountains of British Colombia. Her eyes wandered, as they had all day since breakfast in the lodge, to the large marquise diamond solitaire on her left ring finger. It was set in a white gold band and was two carats according to Jeannie. The physician from Chippewa Falls was never a lover of jewelry or other fancy things, but she had to admit the glances of envy she got from some of the women in the lodge that morning was satisfying. Jennifer knew little about diamonds except that the higher the carat, the higher the value. There's no way I'll wear this on Atlantis. If it got lost, I'd die.
The families had gone into the mountains the day after Rodney's surprise party and spent three days at a lodge near the famous Fairmont Hot Springs. The physicist was a model gentleman since that first night when she told him she was a virgin. Chaste kisses outside her hotel room each evening, a hand on the small of her back or holding her hands where the only contact he made with her. If she tried to force something more, he would only say something annoying like, 'good things come to those who wait' or 'it's not the right time, yet'.
This morning, Rodney acted strange as he met her to walk to breakfast like they did each day. He kept his left hand in his pocket while they walked to the dining room to meet the others. Once he was seated, he fidgeted and barely ate anything.
"Rodney, are you okay?" she asked quietly so as not to upset Madison, who adored her Uncle Mer more than anything. Jennifer quickly learned the little girl was ruthless if anyone slighted her uncle, as the waiter, who brought a glass of water with a lemon slice in it to him, found out a couple days before. The young man scurried off to the manager who ended up giving them their meals on the house.
After glancing at Jeannie and taking a long drink of his coffee, Rodney took Jennifer's left hand in his right and swiped at perspiration forming on his forehead with his left hand. "Jennifer," he said with a strangled voice. Clearing his throat he tried to speak more forcefully, "I… I need to… I mean. I want to ask you something." His face had a look that was a cross between 'I'm going to be sick' and 'I'm so scared I might pass out'.
"Rodney, are you feeling okay?" She asked reaching over with her right hand to touch his face, which had a fine layer for sweat on it. Her hand then settled on his wrist to feel his rapid pulse. "Rodney, I think you better…"
"No!" Rodney shouted causing her to jump.
"Mer!" Jeannie hissed from her seat across the table. Rodney was seated on Jennifer's left with Madison, Jeannie, Kaleb and her dad rounding out the table.
Clearing his throat again, he took a deep breath and dove back into his speech. "Jennifer, I… I love you."
Jennifer's eyes widened as Rodney professed his love for her in front of her father and his family.
"And I love you too," Jennifer said aloud in front of anyone for the first time as well.
"I know you know already, but… well, it's the reason for this," he said ignoring her profession of love because he was preoccupied with pulling a small black box out of his pants.
Jennifer felt all the blood leave her face and her heart stop. Her eyes widened further and tears welled up immediately in her eyes. Is Rodney going to propose to me? Now? In front of everyone?
"I guess I should do this right, since I won't ever being doing this again," Rodney said as he moved out of his chair to kneel in front of her still clutching her left hand like it was a lifeline. His blue eyes zeroed in on her brown ones and did not waver.
"Rodney," she was all she managed at barely more than a whisper. Everything ceased to exist outside of the feel of his strong hand holding hers and his handsome face, which filled her vision.
"Jennifer Anne Keller, I love you. You are my best friend, my intellectual equal and the bravest person I know. I wouldn't be alive without you and I wouldn't want to be if you were not a part of that life," Rodney said as he lifted the box and flipped it open to expose a dazzling diamond in the black velvet folds.
Tears flowed freely down her face as Rodney and the diamond began to swim in her vision. She heard Jeannie sniffling from across the table and Madison giggling at the crying grown-ups.
"I want to spend the rest of my life making you happy every day of your life. You know that'll be hard for me, but I know I'm a better person around you. Jennifer, I want to marry you." Rodney continued starting to get into his fast-talking, rambling speech that she normally found adorable.
"Rodney," she said again with a broken voice as she gripped his hand tightly in hers. Her right hand was clutching at the napkin on her lap and it took all her strength not to grab him and pull him to her.
"What I want to say… or ask… I … uh, should ask, right?" Rodney glanced at Jeannie quickly and then at Jennifer. "Okay. Jennifer Anne Keller, will you marry me?"
"Yes," she nearly screamed as she finally relented and launched herself off her chair into his arms almost causing him to drop the ring. "Yes, I'll marry you."
Her lips slammed into his and they kissed for a moment while kneeling on the floor to the sound of thunderous applause as everyone in the restaurant had stopped eating or serving to watch the proposal.
"Jennifer, honey. You're supposed to let him put the ring on first," her father's voice cut through her bliss at having Rodney properly kiss her for the first time in days. "Why don't you sit back down?"
Pulling away from Rodney reluctantly, Jennifer sat back in the chair as a grinning Rodney McKay slid the ring on her finger. She was shocked that it was a perfect fit.
"How did you…" She started.
"Jeannie and your dad. Don't know how they did it, but they gave me a size and I see it fits perfectly. I hope you like it because if you don't, we can get another one. I mean… I want you to have your dream engagement ring. I know we should have shopped for it together, but I wanted to be kind of old-fashioned and ask you dad and get one myself…" Rodney was rambling again as he remained kneeling in front of her clutching her left hand with both of his.
"Rodney!" Jennifer pulled him out of his rambling. "Come here and kiss me again."
Smiling, Rodney gladly obliged.
Jennifer could not stop grinning, which made her mouth really hurt. They had been engaged for only nine hours, but it was amazing. After congratulations from everyone in the dining room, Jeannie whisked Jennifer off to help her pack for the little excursion she and Rodney were on.
It was Friday and the two of them were going away for the rest of the weekend. Her father and the Millers were going on a train trip back down through the Rockies. Jennifer felt bad leaving her father to go on one of his dream vacations without her, but he seemed to really like the Millers. He joked that he had to remind himself what smart-alecky little kids were like because he was convinced she and Rodney would only have 'know-it-all genius' kids and that 'old Grandpa' needed practice with Madison.
Packing and shopping for food and sundries for them to take to the secluded cabin occupied the rest of the day. Leaving Jennifer seated in the rental SUV, Rodney prepared the cabin for them. She had no idea what he meant, but he hauled in several bags in addition to their luggage and told her to stay in the truck until he came for her. Glancing at her watch, she noticed that was twenty minutes ago. What is he up to?
Pulling out a medical journal she grabbed from the SGC, she settled in to read for the next fifteen minutes until Rodney was tapping on the glass window of her door. Once she acknowledged him, he opened the door.
"Sorry it took so long, but I wanted to make it the perfect place for you," he said with a shy grin.
"And since when did you get to be such an expert on what I like?" Jennifer asked. He was so cute when he got flustered and she knew it was wrong to do it on purpose, but she could not help herself.
"Uh… I'm… Ah… I just thought… I mean," Rodney started stammering and getting flustered like she thought he would.
"I'm sorry. You are so adorable when you get flustered," Jennifer confessed. "Now that we're getting married, I really should stop teasing you."
"You…" Rodney was trying hard to look angry. "You've made me into a babbling idiot on purpose!"
"Only occasionally," Jennifer laughed as she placed her hands on his chest and slid them up over his shoulders.
Rodney smiled and lowered his head to kiss his fiance with all the passion he had been holding in check for the last few days.
A/N: I will send this over to RoryFaller again to finish up their weekend in the mountains in her tag of the story. Next stop for me will be the wedding, so major fluff alert for the final part.
