Chapter 10

'What do you suppose is going on over there?' Peter Burke asked as the foursome sat, sipping wine. - a little too much wine.

'Were the security cameras left on?' Neal asked, eyebrows raised in anticipation.

'Would you two listen to each other, you sound like a couple of wrinkled up, gossipy biddies' Sara grumbled as she raised her arms up in exasperation.

Neal frowned at his wife; the image was a little jarring, to say the least.

'Wrinkled up? Seriously?' he said, doing his best to look hurt.

'Neal Caffrey, I swear to God, if you as much as sneak a peek at that footage, I'll… I'll…'

'You'll what?' Neal asked, challenging his wife. 'You're dying to know what's going on over there just as much as I am.'

Elizabeth piped up between two sips of the Merlot they were enjoying - their third bottle and it was only 9:30.

'Sara's right' she said, her voice slightly slurred. 'Hope and Cameron are entitled to their privacy. It's their night, not ours' she said half-heartedly.

Peter threw his wife a look of disbelief; she was the nosiest person he had ever met. As a matter of fact, throughout his years with the Bureau, he'd often thought of enlisting her help in interrogating their most ruthless criminals.

'Hope will tell us when she's good and ready' Sara claimed as she reached across the table to refill her glass.

'Guys, I just thought of something' Neal said, his face suddenly pale. 'What if she says no?'

'What?' the remaining three chanted out.

'Look, we don't know the ins and outs of their relationship. Maybe Hope will think it's premature to get engaged' he continued as everyone grew quiet.

'Is that even a possibility?' Peter asked as Sara and El looked on, suddenly quiet.

'Naw…' Sara said as she exchanged worried looks with Neal. 'Hope is crazy about Cameron; she confided in me that…' she stopped suddenly as everyone leaned in to hear what she was about to say.

'What the hell am I doing?' Sara said as she stood and began pacing. 'She confided in me!'

'Look, we all love Hope and we only want what's best for her, right?' Peter said as he eyed Neal's laptop, sitting nearby on the kitchen counter.

'Don't even think about it, Peter Burke!' Elizabeth warned as she noticed the twinkle in his eye.

'Are you saying you can watch the closed circuit feed online?' Sara asked, her curiosity suddenly piqued.

Neal looked at the three expectant faces. 'Sure. Sometimes, I check… randomly, you know, like on the odd Wednesday night when… everything is locked up for the night.'

Peter was on board immediately. 'We could… just have a quick peek and make sure everything is… you know, locked up and secure' he said, grasping at straws.

'This is a very bad idea' Elizabeth warned as everyone stared at each other, trying to figure out who the holdout would be.

'But there's no sound, right?' Sara asked as she began to falter.

'We would just be checking to see if Hope made it there safely' Peter rationalized.

'Just a minute or two and then… that's it, we turn it off' Neal said as he felt everyone begin to waver.

Four pairs of eyes glanced back and forth as temptation won out and suddenly, the sound of chairs scraping on the floor was heard as they all reached for the computer.

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'Did you make this yourself?' Hope asked, although she was reasonably certain of the answer. Cam was a decent cook by anyone's standards but this… well this, was five star cuisine.

'I wish I could take credit' Cameron said as he looked down at his plate. 'But I worked all day. I had it delivered from Le Coprin.'

'Le Coprin?' Hope repeated. 'Cam, you probably blew a whole week's salary on this!'

Cameron reached over and took her hand, giving it a gentle squeeze. 'I wanted tonight to be special. And besides, you're worth every penny' he said with a loving smile.

Hope set down her fork and leaned forward, taking both of Cameron's hands in hers. 'You have done a lot of romantic things over the past three years, Cameron Armstrong, but I think you might have just outdone yourself tonight.'

He winked at her and smiled mysteriously. 'Wait until you see what I got us for dessert.'

Hope returned to her plate, not wanting to miss out on a single morsel of the delicious meal. The mood Cam had managed to create was so enchanting, she momentarily forgot they were sitting in the middle of her dad's gallery. She let her eyes rest on her boyfriend, watching as he took a bite of the heavenly food; he was everything she could ever want in a man - sweet, caring, attentive, loyal, a man with a good heart who tried to do good every chance he got. She couldn't imagine her future without him and she was suddenly filled with sadness at the thought of having to leave him to return to Pittsburgh in just a few short days.

'I wish I didn't have to go back on Sunday' she blurted out as Cam's eyes came up to meet hers.

'Hope, it's just a couple more years' he answered, the voice of reason. 'And this is your future; we have our whole lives ahead of us.'

'Well, right now, it feels like it will never end' Hope moaned.

'I was thinking I could drive up in a couple of weeks; maybe your dad would give me a couple of extra days off.'

'Yeah?' Hope said as a smile returned to her face. 'That would be great!'

'It's a plan then' Cameron concluded. 'And before you know it, it'll be May and you'll be back for the summer. Think about it, four whole months living in the same city' he added with an encouraging smile.

'I like the sound of that' Hope agreed.

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'Honey, move! I can't see' Sara whined as Neal prepared to log onto the CCTV website.

'It's camera three' Peter called from behind as Neal glanced over his shoulder to glare at him with a look of annoyance.

'I know it's camera three' he answered, his voice impatient.

'What's that? What's that?' Elizabeth shouted as she pointed to the computer screen.

'That's upstairs' Neal answered as he clicked onto the appropriate camera.

'What the…' Peter cried out as a partial image of the back room was revealed on screen. 'How come the camera is off centre!'

'I don't know!' Neal snapped back. 'You spend more time there than I do.'

'Look, look, that's Hope's arm' Sara called out as an elbow appeared in the frame.

'Oh, oh, and there's Cameron's foot' added Elizabeth, pointing at the screen. 'At least, I think it's his foot…'

'Neal, can't you do something about the camera angle?' Peter complained. This was probably payback for the four of them doing something so horribly devious.

'Sure Peter, I'll just reach out with my eighty foot arm and adjust it from here' Neal answered sarcastically.

'Someone must have accidentally hit the camera' Peter concluded as Neal rolled his eyes.

'You think so, Sherlock?' Neal responded caustically.

'Oh, look, I can see Hope's shoulder!' Sara called out excitedly.

'Cam's getting up!' Elizabeth said as Neal gave her a dirty look; the play by play was really quite unnecessary considering they were all glued to the screen.

'He's walking over to the… oh, shoot, he's out of camera range again' Sara complained as she absentmindedly smacked Neal on the shoulder.

'Ouch! Sara!' Neal cried out.

'Sorry honey, sorry' she said as she patted his shoulder gently.

'Oh, he's coming back. He's got something in his hands… oooh, do you think it might be the ring?' Elizabeth asked as everybody squinted to get a better look of the grainy footage.

'It looks like a platter with a lid on top' Peter called out from the back as Cameron disappeared out of camera range once more.

'I think that's Cameron's knee!' Sara called out as she pointed excitedly. 'Oh, my God, he's down on one knee.'

Everyone waited with bated breath; without sound and with barely a glimpse at the odd body part here and there, there wasn't much to see and yet, all four of them stared mesmerized at the computer screen, holding their breath.

Suddenly, Hope appeared in camera range, standing and throwing her arms around Cameron's neck as everyone erupted in cheer.

'Oh my God!' Sara cried out as she latched on to Elizabeth, her best friend wincing in pain at having her arm squeezed with such unrestrained enthusiasm. 'Our baby is getting married!'

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'So what's this dessert you've been going on about?' Hope asked as Cameron appeared at the table with a beautiful sterling silver platter with a dome on top.

'The presentation is pretty dramatic, I'll give you that' she said as Cam stood in front of her, waiting for her to discover what was inside.

Without warning, Cameron dropped to one knee right in front of her and Hope's eyes grew in surprise as he lifted the lid from the platter, watching her intently as her eyes went to the small velvet box hidden underneath.

He heard her gasp, her breath wavering as she began to put two and two together.

'Hope Ellis-Caffrey' Cameron began, his voice shaky. 'I thank God every single day that you walked into my life three years ago. You are the most amazing woman I have ever met; you're strong and independent, funny, warm and loving and sexy… and I love you madly, desperately, passionately. All I want, more than anything, is to spend the rest of my life with you by my side, building a future together. Hope, my sweet, sweet Hope, will you marry me?'

Hope sat with her mouth hanging open, not quite believing what she was hearing. Here was the man of her dreams, the man she couldn't imagine being without, declaring his undying love for her and she froze, overcome with emotion as he remained kneeling in front of her, anxiously awaiting her response.

'Hope? Please… say something' he pleaded.

'Yes, yes, yes, a thousand times yes!' she declared as they both stood. She threw her arms around his neck, Cameron instantly lifting her up off the ground as he kissed her without restraint.

'I love you, I love you, I love you' she repeated between kisses as tears began to flow from both of them.

'Oh, the ring!' Cam said as he came to his senses.

'There's a ring?' Hope repeated with a heartwarming giggle.

'I hope you like it. Your dad said you would' he said as she opened the box and lifted it up to show her.

'My dad?' she repeated as she wiped her eyes.

'I asked for his permission…' Cam explained as the tears started to flow again.

'That's the sweetest thing I've ever heard' Hope blubbered as he slipped the ring onto her finger.

'It's absolutely perfect!' she exclaimed as she admired her hand. 'I should have gotten a manicure' she laughed through the tears.

'You're perfect… just the way you are' he said as he held her hand, feeling her shaking in his grasp.

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The four culprits sat at the Caffrey kitchen table, feeling guilty as hell now that the wine had begun to wear off. Their eyes moved suspiciously from one another and finally Neal spoke, slowly and deliberately so there would be no mistaking his intention.

'This never happened' he declared solemnly as everyone looked down, shame apparent on their faces. 'Look, we just got a little carried away, that's all.'

Peter, Elizabeth and Sara nodded although anyone with one good eye could see they were feeling terrible about their lack of discretion.

'It's not like we heard anything…' Sara reasoned.

'And the picture quality was really poor…' El added.

'And now that we've ascertained that Hope got there safely, we can just pretend this never happened' Peter said as everyone nodded.

Neal's phone chirped with an incoming message and all four of them jumped out of their skin - a reaction only the guilty would have.

'It's Hope' Neal said as he lifted up his phone for everyone to see.

It was a picture of her hand, sporting a beautiful diamond solitaire with the message: 'You'll NEVER guess what I got for my birthday!'

TBC