A/N: Next chapter goes up on Friday, April 3rd. :)
"We really should set a date, love." Ellie chuckled.
"I know," Al kissed her neck and smiled when her hands found his hair. "But this is much more entertaining."
Ellie giggled, "Yes but this doesn't get our mothers off our backs."
"No one's on your back, love. It's Boxing Day. Everyone else has more important things to do than fuss about our wedding date." Al pushed up on his elbows to smile down at her.
Ellie pushed up from his pillows to kiss him. "Maybe I'm just excited to have a date set."
Al followed her lips as she lay back down.
"Afraid I'll run away?" He teased as his hands wandered.
"I just want to know exactly how long after you graduate I have to wait for you to be on the same continent as me."
Al slowed his pace and sighed.
"I'll be honest, part of me forgot that we'd be in different countries for part of this engagement."
Ellie pulled him down to the bed with her and curled into him. "I'm fine with long-distance, I just want a timeline of when it's going to end, you know?"
Al pulled her close. "Well, you graduate in May."
"And you're done that following December."
"Do you want a winter wedding?" Al asked. "I know some women are picky about what season it is. Like Allie wanted an autumn wedding last year."
Ellie chuckled, "If I were getting married here I'd be picky about the season too."
"Not all of us are blessed to grow up someplace that looks like Utopia," Al poked her side, grinning when she pressed closer against him.
"Excuses, excuses," she kissed his chest. "I guess my only thing about winter weddings is that I don't want it near Christmas or Valentine's Day."
"Define, near."
"Within four weeks."
Al felt his brain slipping into his logical side, which was oddly comforting.
"Ok, not January then, or February, or the beginning of March."
"If we wait till early April there are some gorgeous colors."
"Are you alright with Easter falling on our anniversary every now and again?"
"Oh, I forgot about that." Ellie huffed.
"So, May?"
"That's a full year after I graduate. That's nearly an eighteen-month engagement."
Al sighed, "Does Newfoundland have a university?"
Ellie balked. "Not one you can transfer to, love. Why do you think a lot of us go to school somewhere else?"
Al felt like he'd just found himself stuck in an infinite loop. "It's worth looking at though, isn't it?"
Ellie sighed, "You're probably right."
She pushed off the comforter and pulled his shirt over her head. "Come on, we might as well have breakfast while we figure this out."
Al grabbed his joggers and followed her out into his kitchen. He turned on his laptop while Ellie flipped on the kettle.
He groaned as his internet search seemed to prove Ellie's point.
"Unless I change my majors and minor, transferring doesn't make sense."
"And there's no way for you to finish this summer?" Ellie set his mug down in front of him.
"I don't think so, but I'll double-check."
Al went over all the courses he had lined up and what he lacked for both majors while Ellie threw breakfast together.
"No luck," Al sighed. "Both my capstone classes aren't offered in the summer. I have to take them in the fall."
Ellie set his toast down next to him and plopped down at the table.
"Well, then I guess that leaves us back at square one."
Al pushed his hand into his hair. "I'm sorry. I should have tried to figure out the timing with you beforehand."
"Don't be silly," Ellie murmured through her bite of toast. "We'll figure it out."
Al shut his laptop to focus on his breakfast. El looked much less happy than she had when they had lazily woken up that morning, and it bothered him. Weren't engaged couples supposed to be ridiculously happy?
El finished her food and sat staring off into space for several long moments when the far left corner of her mouth ticked upwards just a bit.
"I suppose we could have a destination wedding after all."
"What?" Al furrowed his brow. Did she not want to get married in Newfoundland?
"The answer's pretty obvious. May would be the easiest with me not wanting to have our anniversary near holidays and you having to start classes up in June."
"Wait," Al felt like his brain had just skipped a gear. "El I can't Portkey back and forth daily for classes."
"I know," Ellie reached for his hand. "But if we lived here," she gestured around them, "you wouldn't need to."
Al stopped breathing. "Ellie, I can't ask you, you've been so excited to go home, and that would make it so much longer…"
"Al," she squeezed his hand, "I don't want a long engagement. And a few more months here in England won't kill me. We'll plan the wedding, spend our break getting married and have a short honeymoon, and then we'll move back in here until you've finished school. We'll just say my Christmas present next year is moving home."
Al held her gaze, "You're absolutely sure of this? Because we can figure something out if you're not."
"Let me grow too, Al." Ellie chuckled. "Nmi' says it's important to not set too much of our lives in stone. It's when we bend and stretch ourselves that we grow. A life well-lived is a life spent outside one's comfort zone, love. Yes, I want to go back home. But I don't want to be there without you. You're more important than all that."
Al leant over and brought his lips to hers. This woman! This brilliant woman who was too good for this world and somehow she'd fallen in love with him. And as he tried to pour these feelings into his kiss, Ellie responded by deepening the kiss and tangling her hand in his hair.
"We should tell our mothers we have a date," she murmured as he began kissing down her neck to that spot near her collar bone.
"We'll get there," Al chuckled as she responded to his touch. "But first I'm going to show you exactly what that little speech of yours did to me."
Then he picked her up and carried her back to what would soon be their bedroom as she laughed.
