Marry Me!

Don

Me and my usual gang of buddies were sitting in the mess hall, along with Hall, listening to Smokey tell the tale of The Night of The Bayonet, just as Wyoming's jeep rolled up, with Lith behind the wheel. They got out and to our surprise, the trio were wearing skirts and stockings, instead of their usual uniform, which was the same as ours.

She came over, resting her arms on the back of Bill's neck, her head on top of his, with a big smile on her face.

"Hei gutter, hvordan går det?"

"Heya Mousy. Where you been?"

"Å, her og der. You know, driving around London, wondering if I should change my job title to Section Commander Toya's jeep driver, that sort of thing." She waved a hand around casually. She turned as Taylor called to her, but as Taylor got closer, she must have caught her foot on one of the chairs. Taylor went toppling over, taking Lith down with her. Bill and Skip looked and chuckled, and we on the other side of the table wondered what they were laughing at. Well, until there was a disgruntled cry from Lith.

"Taylor, will you get off of me!"

"No way! You're too comfy!"

"I'm not a breast pillow! Get off me you pre-vert!"

As the rest of us looked over the table, it turned out that Taylor had landed right on top of my girlfriend, in a very envious position; a knee between her legs and a hand and face slap bang in the middle of her chest. The skirt she was wearing had ridden up, revealing the top of her stockings… Taylor you lucky bastard.

"C'mon jus-"

"OFF! NOW!"

Lith huffed, pouting with her usual puffed cheeks as Taylor pulled her to her feet, smoothing down her skirt. She caught me pretending to look the other way and put her hands on her hips.

"Were you looking up my skirt?"

"Who, me? No!"

"Liar." She huffed, taking the cigarette from behind Skip's ear.

"Hey, Taylor." Alton called as Lith sulked. "Mouse's sizes; go."

"33, 23, 33."

"TAYLOR!"

"What?"

I almost choked on my drink as Alton shook his head and whispered lucky bastard into my ear. I was sure my face went as red as my hair and I tried to hide my expression behind my glass.

"It's not like no one noticed!"

"Shut up Taylor!" Lith whined, her face a deep red, a mix of angry and embarrassed. She shoved her friend along the mess hall and out in to the field, shouting about how no one else had mentioned it. We could hear Taylor cackling all the way around the corner.

"What was all that about?" Ossy asked, as she appeared at the table. My red face must have said everything and she slapped my arm.

"What did I do?!"

Taylor was back sooner than I expected, looking very sheepish and rubbing the back of her head. Ossy was standing in the entrance, arms crossed and tapping her foot like her daughter was coming back late from a date.

"Qué le dijiste a ella?"

"Nichego… YA skazal yemu."

"Taylor Evgeniya Roebuck…"

"I didn't know she'd get so upset!"

"Evgeniya."

Taylor fiddled with the hem of her jacket and Ossy suddenly pinched her ear. "Ow ow ow! Let go!"

"¿Por qué siempre eres tú? ¡Cada vez que te caes, lo comienzas! ¿Eh?"

"YA skazal, chto mne bylo zhal'!"

"Not good enough." A finger and thumb suddenly reached out and grabbed my ear, pulling me up to stand with Taylor. "¡Y usted! Eres igual de malo!"

"I have no idea what you're saying!" I complained, her grip not loosening.

"He didn't do anything! Alton asked!"

"Oh, he did, did he?" Ossy let go of my ear and turned her attention to Moore, who looked terrified. It seemed like I was off the hook… for now.

Lith

I left the mess hall in a terrible strop and went 'home', to the empty house, Mrs Evans being at her sisters and all. I laid on my bed, having thrown off that god-awful skirt and suspenders, opting for something more comfortable to sulk in, which was a pair of PT shorts and my vest. I kicked my feet at the end of the bed in a total sulkfest. Bloody Taylor; she always said shit she didn't need to say, to people she didn't need to say it to. I'd been lucky she'd not opened her mouth and told Don how I felt about him years ago.

I was supposed to go out, to the Friday night dance with the boys, but I was too embarrassed and pissed off to want to show my face. I rolled over, huffing into the pillow. Maybe a nap would make me feel better…

The next thing I knew, there was a knocking on the door and my eyes shot open. I'd already told Taylor that I wasn't going, which she would have told the others, so I wondered who it could be. Surely they couldn't be that dumb to expect that I would actually go with them? In a bleary eyed, half-asleep daze, I meandered down the stairs, glancing in the mirror to smooth down a stuck up piece of my fringe.

Once I opened the door, it took me a while to register who was standing on the other side. Don looked at me, surprised.

"Er… Hi?"

I looked down at what I was wearing, the PT shorts and my vest, then looked back up at Don. I wasn't impressed by him perving on me earlier and now he had the gall to show up at my front door? The cheek! I scowled at him and slammed the door in his face, locking it before he could react.

"Ailith!"

"Go away. I don't want to talk to you!"

"C'mon!"

"No!" I huffed, crossing my arms. "Just because we're going out, doesn't mean you've got easy access to my knickers!"

"Baby! Come on, I didn't mean to look!"

"But you did!" I scolded, turning to walk back to my room. "I already told you, I don't want to talk to you, so go away!"

"No, I won't!" He argued. "I'm not letting you walk away, again, without telling you exactly what I think!"

I bit my lip… I supposed it wouldn't hurt to listen to him…

"Go on..."

He sighed and I could tell he was rolling his eyes and running a hand around the back of his neck.

"Ailith… you know what? Yes, I was looking up your skirt, but you can't tell me, that if I have a girlfriend as gorgeous as you, that it's wrong for me to be sexually attracted to you!"

I suppose he had a point… I'd often found myself blushing when he took off his shirt to play basketball in the street, wanting to feel his skin under my fingers.

"Now, I could have killed Alton and Taylor for broadcasting your measurements, but Goddammit, I am a man proud of his woman's perfect figure, because at the end of the day, it isn't theirs."

"Who said it was yours either?! I'm not an object!"

I heard him groan, visualising him putting his head in his hands. Don didn't have that great a way with words… he was always putting his foot in his mouth. He sighed and I felt him slide down the other side of the door. I was already sat on the mat inside the house. I tucked up my knees to my chin and let him try and backfill the hole he'd made.

"I don't want an easy way into your panties, Lith… I don't care how hard I have to work for it, or how long it'll take to get there… I'm not with you for that."

Now he started to sound earnest.

"I just love being you, you're just amazing to be with, you're beautiful and I'm not going to deny I want you… are you still there, or am I talking to the door?"

I hesitated, "I'm still here."

"Can you please come out and talk to me?"

I sighed, relenting, telling him I'd get changed and meet him outside. I chucked on my blue culottes with the little white birds on, some dolly socks and my trusty Chuck Taylors and opened the door. He was waiting on the steps down to the front door, like a homeless puppy, in his best dress uniform. He looked handsome, even if I hated to admit it. I put my fists on my hips as I stood before him and his face lit up, upon seeing me come outside.

"Well?"

"You look really pretty!"

"I wasn't asking how I looked!" I snapped. "Just finish what you were going to say so I can get changed and go back to sleep."

His face fell a little and he glanced at the floor, "Can we… can we go for a walk?" I rolled my eyes, but I still locked the door and marched off up the garden path.

We wandered down the road from Mrs Evans' and into the field we usually snuck out to. He sat down and looked at me hopefully, patting the patch of grass beside him. I once again rolled my eyes, but I sat down next to him.

"You really do look nice."

"I wasn't making a special effort."

"That's what's so good about you; you don't need to try, you always look beautiful." I huffed and looked away. I sensed a disappointed look on his face, but didn't want to turn around. "I didn't mean to make you so angry… I just can't help doing dumb shit when I'm with you… it's like my brain doesn't want to work."

"I've noticed."

"Don't you want to be with me anymore?" He finally asked, in a small, almost childish voice. Oh dear… now I had upset him. I turned to see him looking at the grass with a hurt expression and I sighed, stroking the back of his hand with the back of mine.

"I'm sorry… for hurting your feelings… I wasn't really mad at you, but you were just there…"

Don curled his fingers around mine, loosely entwining them.

"For a minute, I really thought we were done for! And I just got a ri-" Don suddenly stopped talking. Excuse me what? He'd just bought a what? My eyebrows shot up and he tried to back pedal. "I, er… never mind."

We fell into an awkward silence, one that we'd not fallen into for a long time. I began to feel a burning on my cheeks, not from the sun as it turned out, but from Don staring at me.

"What?"

"You're beautiful."

I felt myself flush, "Anyway… were you done telling me what you think?"

He chuckled and chewed his lip thoughtfully.

"No, but I need you to stand up and cover your eyes."

I raised my eyebrows dubiously. What on Earth did he have in mind now? I wondered, as I got up, placing a hand over my eyes.

"If you dare try anything funny, I'll dump you right now."

He laughed, nervously. I knew he wasn't sat beside me anymore and he'd taken my hand, but I had no idea what he was up to.

Don

In the summer light, the way it hit her, made it look like she had a glowing aura around her. I wondered if she'd ever looked as beautiful as she did to me right at that moment. I burned it into my mind and engraved it on to my heart, so that no matter what happened, I would always have that image of her, this perfect image of her.

I sucked in a deep breath, stopping still. It was now or never; I had to ask now, especially before she realised what a dumbass I was.

"Ailith." My voice sounded so serious I could have sworn it wasn't mine. She took her hand away from her face to look at me, a breath catching in her throat as she realised I was kneeling.

"What are you doing?" She asked, giving me a nervous laugh. She watched, stunned and held in place by me holding her hand, while my other searched in my top pocket, producing the ring that I'd been carrying around, hoping for the chance to ask her properly.

"I might not be the best person you could have hoped for; I always lose at craps, I'm always borrowing money from you and Skip, and I don't always say or do the right thing… and I'm really hoping the words come out like I want them to come out."

She laughed, with tears in her round chocolate eyes, wiping them with her free hand.

"I love you. I love everything about you! From the day I met you, I think I must have fallen for you and that beautiful face of yours. You're so pure, so sweet and kind. You're the reason I fight so hard, you're the one who always has my back, I would do anything for you… it's you and it's always been you, that I want to spend the rest of my life with."

She bit her lip as tears rolled down her face, laughing at my unintentional pun.

"I might not have anything now, but I want that big house, with the white picket fence. I want to come home to you cooking, to find you gardening, to you pregnant with my child. I want make love to you every night and wake up to the smell of your hair every morning, for the rest of my time on Earth. I want all of that, with you and no one else. It has to be you."

She cried even harder, trying to catch the river falling from her eyes. I took another deep breath and slid the ring up her slender finger.

"Ailith Solveig Astrid Conneely, will you marry me?"

Lith

Don looked nervous when I didn't answer immediately… but his unadulterated confession of his love for me well and truly won me over. If I wasn't in love with him before, I was certainly mad for him now. Ever since I met him, I couldn't imagine my life without him in it.

"When?"

"What?" The question seemed to catch him off guard, looking at me a little confused.

I laughed, "When do you want to get married?"

Don grinned as the realisation of what I'd asked meant, looking like he'd got a million volts through him, "Does that mean you'll marry me?"

"Of course I'll marry you!"

As soon as that ring was securely on my finger, he hauled me up into his muscular arms, spinning me around while I wrapped my legs around his waist. I laughed and gave him a passionate kiss, looking like I'd left him burning for more.

"You're sure you really want to marry me? I've got no experience with men… I'm not even sure I kiss any good."

"If you knew how I felt when I leave you at night, you wouldn't worry about it."

We had decided, between us, that we wanted to get married before we shipped out again, and so the sooner the better. But, Rome wasn't built in a day, and as much as we wanted to get married the next day, we had to give notice to the church first. I was baptised, yes and when we'd gone to Ireland to see Big Granny D (ironically, she was the only person in our family shorter than me), we went to mass, but other than that, I wasn't very religious. I liked to think that there was something out there, that had a say in everything, but I didn't think it was down to just one dude… But Don was religious and he wanted a church wedding.

The two of us walked into the hall and the first people we sought out were our COs. Well, we would have to get permission of them too. My hand gripped Don's tightly, wondering if they would agree.

"I thought Roebuck said Mouse wasn't coming?" Harry asked, looking across the hall as he spotted the tiny Section Leader and her tall red-head Sergeant boyfriend.

"I didn't think she was." Danni replied, looking a little puzzled as the couple made their way over. Mouse pushed Malark forward, half hiding behind him. Malark twisted his cap in his hands, as the officers eyed him, wondering what he was doing.

"Any time today Malark." Buck joked. Malark's face went red and he glanced behind him to Mouse, who was hiding even further behind him.

"Er… Captain Winters, sir… Section Commander Toya… I, er… I mean we um…"

As Mouse took hold of Malarkey's sleeve, Nixon noticed something glinting in the dim light of the rec hall.

"Is that…" he pointed at the thin Claddagh ring on Mouse's small finger. Danni's eyes lit up instantly, looking between the two.

"Well I'll be! Lookit yer face Malarkey! Redder'n' a lobster on a broil."

"That's literally the most Texan thing I've ever heard!"

"Well, that went well." I said to Lith as we danced. Surprisingly, there were no objections from the officers to us getting married, so now all we had to do was plan it. I'd promised Lith not drink so much, so we could enjoy the dance together, so I told the others to save it for the bachelor party (not that I told Lith).

"It did, didn't it?" she grinned as I span her around, her hair shining as she whirled around.

"Would you really do anything for me?"

"I would."

"Would you learn Norwegian?"

"I would."

"And would you cook for me?"

"Anything you wanted."

Lith grinned as I whirled her around again, before I pulled her back to me. I don't think I've ever felt so happy in my life. Here was with beautiful woman, a ball of happiness and sunshine wherever she went, just agreed to marry me, of all people. She had the pick of the bunch and she picked me… I still wasn't sure why.

"I love you." Her voice sounded serious and I looked at her with a curious smile. "You're thinking, why did she pick me, aren't you?"

Well shit, she really did know me better than I knew myself. She laughed at the look on my face

"You're kind, you're caring, I love your sarcasm, I love that boyish look in your eye when you're up to no good… you've always had my back, even when we weren't talking. You love me, even though I'm not normal… you don't care that I don't have anything… You always tell me I'm beautiful… I'm going to marry my best friend, so what more could I ask for?"

"You're too good for me, I swear."