Of Princes and Princesses

AvalonReeseFanFics

A/N: Hello my wonderful readers are you ready for yet another cute little chapter? Because we have one coming! We do have some more drama coming up but that will be in the up coming chapters. So don't forget to leave a review and I'll see you guys next Saturday.

19.

Marshall had spent four months planning Kate's birthday.

Four months of agonizing over the details.

He started the day off by meeting her outside the hospital after her shift with a bouquet of her favourite flowers, red and white roses mixed together. It was eight in the morning, and her night shift had just ended, so he took her home. Back to the apartment they joyfully shared together, let her pick a vase to put her flowers in and then they went into her room and they had a nap. The kind where she gets to catch up on all the sleep she missed and he got it to cuddle her the whole time.

When she woke up at noon, he had breakfast ready for her. All her favourites. Homemade waffles, he had practiced making them intermittedly over the past few months until he got it perfect, with fresh cut fruit and powdered sugar. Her favourite mug holding her favourite tea made exactly the way she liked it with a side of bacon and one scrambled egg just for her.

And he got to sit beside her and watch her eat and like every bite of it. When that was done, she got dressed and it was time for part two of the day.

It started with informing her that they would be taking his bike everywhere and he was rewarded with a squeal of delight because that meant he'd be breaking out that brown leather jacket she loved so much and his riding boots that she said made him walk like a cowboy.

It also meant that she would be turning into his little punk princess. And when she came out of there room she was in a nice cinch-waisted forest green dress, with black fishnets and converse shoes. But he didn't care because she was gorgeous no matter what.

He had paid to get a private tour of the Garden of Shakespeare's flowers, where the guide told them all about the flowers, what they meant and how they pertained to Shakespeare's plays. After that they went to Presidio for their Sunday food truck picnic. He bought her anything she wanted. This was followed up by an afternoon in the Exploratorium, loving her childish grin as she ran around the exhibits playing with everything. Then, to top it all off for drinks and dinner at the Top of the Mark, which was expensive but worth it, even if they didn't quite fit in with the fancily dressed patrons around them.

But he hadn't stopped there. He had decided to end the night somewhere special and intimate. He took her to Billy Goat hill, where he helped her up the hill to the romantic tree swing. They sat together side by side in the darkness, the stars above them, Kate nestled into his side, and his arm around her shoulders.

He hoped this was everything she wanted and more. But he wasn't done yet.

"I… uh… I haveni given you your gift yet… did you… uhm… did you want it now or when we get home?"

"A gift?" she echoed. "Oh, Marshall this day was enough, I don't need a gift…"

He silenced her with a shake of his head. No, it wasn't enough. Kate deserved so much more than all of this, he wanted to be the person who gave it to her, but until he hit it big this was all he had to offer.

"I know… I know that you love me… and as you know I'm not quite there when it comes to sayin it back… I was uh… I was just thinking that since I can't quite say it that I might… uhm… show you instead?"

"Show me?" she echoed.

Marshall had spent a long time thinking about what to give her. And if he still wasn't so afraid to bare his heart to her, he might have just said that he loved her. The problem was, he was too afraid, so he went looking for a way to show her and found something else. He put his hand into his pocket to the gift that had been burning a hole into his pocket all day. He was worried about how she'd react. But he thought he picked a good one.

So, he presented her with the ring box and then watched as her face changed. He heard her gasp, watched as she tentatively took the box from him. And then held his breath as she opened it.

He had picked a rose gold ring in the shape of a tiara with tiny studded diamonds imbedded in the band.

A tiara for his princess.

Kate stared at it carefully. Taking it in, staring at it with a strange sort of look on her face. A strange look that he didn't quite recognize. Maybe he had better explain.

"It's a promise ring," he whispered carefully avoiding her eyes. "I'm not ready for that level of commitment yet… I donni tink you are either, but… I… I know that you're my forever. So… uh… I tought it might… that you might be okay with wearing..."

"So, you can give me a promise ring but you can't say that you love me?" she asked softly.

"I'm an enigma, what can I say?"

Kate smiled patiently at him. "I love it," she whispered and his heart soared up into his mouth. Thank god.

"Oh good, cause I have a matching one," he told her pulling out the other ring from his pocket. This one more like a bishop's hat crown in a dark titanium steel. "Cause you're my princess and I'm your prince."

He looked to Kate and found her crying, the ring already on her finger. He knew she was crying because she was happy but it still hit him that he had made her cry. He slipped his own ring onto his finger and then took her hands in his.

"Is that okay wit you princess?" he asked.

She leant in and kissed him deeply. "More than okay my prince."

-AR-AR-AR-AR-

Kate let herself into her old apartment and Rose practically jumped on her.

"Tell me everything. Literally everything."

Kate answered her by showing her the ring and Rose suddenly screamed. Kate couldn't help it she too began to scream and then they grabbed onto one another and jumped around.

"I call Maid of Honor!" she cried.

"It's a promise ring, he gave me a promise ring," she explained and Rose blinked her eyes.

"Okay… I call Maid of Honor when you two do get married at some point, which better be soon cause the world needs the little beautiful half English, half Irish babies you two would create."

"Oh god you're ridiculous," she said but she couldn't keep the smile off of her face.

This promise ring… it meant a lot to her. Like the literal world to her. She was glad that Rose saw it for what it was.

"Now… you… please tell me everything about yesterday's date because he wouldn't let me help at all!" Rose said taking a hold of her hand and dragging her to the couch. "So spill it babe, I want all the dirty details."

Kate just smiled. More than happy to oblige.